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Wildfires Up and Down California; Kidnapped Girl Found, Virginia Tech Students Killed; Remembering Sen. Kennedy; Bernanke's Identity Theft; The Cause of Sen. Kennedy's Life
Aired August 28, 2009 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Paying their respects -- thousands of people pass the casket of Senator Edward Kennedy. This hour, a look at Kennedy's complicated relationship with his religion.
Banned by the Taliban from going to school, these girls now have a second chance thanks to volunteers not much older than them.
And arresting art. A model faces charges after a nude shoot in a New York museum. We hear from her, the photographer, and the museum.
Good morning, everybody, I'm Heidi Collins. It is Friday, August 28th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
In fact, we have a whole lot going on today. Let's quickly walk you through it now.
Thousands of acres on fire right now in southern and central California. We're going to have the very latest on evacuations going on there, and also our Bonnie Schneider is in the Severe Weather Center right now. She has a look at what firefighters are going to be facing today. It's going to be pretty tough out there.
Also tracking tropical storm Danny, as well.
And finally, this incredible story. Missing girl found woman. Nearly two decades after her abduction, Jaycee Lee Dugard is free, but a happy ending comes with an unbelievable twist.
At this hour, though, firefighters are battling to save hundreds of homes from wildfires burning up and down California. Flames raging from Los Angeles County in the south to Monterey County in the central part of the state. More than 1,500 people were ordered to evacuate wealthy seaside homes in Rancho Palace Verde. That order, being lifted this hour.
The fire there is one of four burning in southern California. And fire officials say they don't know right now how many structures have actually been damaged. Hot, dry weather is certainly not helping firefighters as you would imagine.
I want to get more on that now from meteorologist Bonnie Schneider.
Yes, that is sure making things tough out there, Bonnie. BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, Heidi. We're seeing temperatures that will soar today into the triple digits. That is unseasonable and very hot for this part of California. So with that said, red flag warnings are posted until 9:00 tonight in all the areas you see here highlighted in red and that does include areas in and around Los Angeles, particularly in the mountains and foothills of the region just to the north, just south of Oxnard, not too far from the Glendale area.
And as we see what's going on, you'll find that temperatures certainly in the morning, temperatures already at 67 degrees. That's in Los Angeles. Right along the coastline, the temperatures are cooler, but once you start heading a little further inland, we are expecting those numbers to soar with a hot-dry gust of wind.
Any marine flow coming in, well, to the north we are getting some moisture and some rain coming up into northern and central California. The problem is, there's no rain for southern California. It is very dry in this region. That combined with possible gust of maybe a Santa Ana wind down slope the mountain will aggravate conditions.
And Heidi, we're not forecasting too much of a change for the weekend. The heat will persist and so will the dryness and that makes a big difference in why we have the red flag warnings posted.
COLLINS: Yes. Absolutely. Boy oh boy. All right. We're going to keep a very, very close eye on that story throughout the morning right here. Bonnie Schneider, thank you.
In California, another story to tell you about. A woman is reunited with the daughter who was abducted 18 years ago. Jaycee Lee Dugard was 11 years when she was snatched on her way to school.
Police say since 1991 a convicted sex offender and his wife have kept her locked away in a secret backyard compound. During that time, according to police, she has given birth to two daughters by her abductor. Those girls now 11 and 15 have never been to school, never even been to see a doctor.
I want to get more details on this remarkable and horrific story at the same time. CNN's Randi Kaye now with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): June 1991, she was grabbed as she walked to her bus stop in South Lake Tahoe, California. Her stepfather on the driveway saw his little girl, blond, blue-eyed all dressed in pink, disappear into a strange car.
(on camera): What do you remember about the day that Jaycee disappeared?
CARL PROBYN, JAYCEE DUGARD'S STEPFATHER: The minute I saw that door fly open, I was trying to jump from my mountain bike and trying to get to her. My neighbor was out front watering, so I told her call 911. They had a two minutes head start. KAYE (voice-over): Those two minutes turned into nearly two decades. There were searches, missing fliers, and reward money. Nothing brought Jaycee back. Not even her mother's plea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jaycee, if you hear mommy, I love you and I want you to come home tonight.
KAYE: Jaycee finally did come home Wednesday when she suddenly walked into a police station outside San Francisco with her alleged kidnappers and told officers who she was.
PROBYN: My wildest dreams after 18 years, I mean, this is like the total package like winning the lotto.
KAYE: Early Thursday morning, Jaycee's stepfather got the call he's been waiting for from Jaycee's mom. They are now separated.
PROBYN: She goes, "Are you sitting?" And I said, yes, and she goes, "They found Jaycee." And she paused for a few seconds, she goes, "She's alive." So we both cried for about 10 minutes before we could talk.
KAYE: Jaycee's accused kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, are in custody, charges expected this week.
(on camera): Here's how it all unfolded. On Tuesday, a security guard at the UC Berkeley campus noticed Mr. Garrido handing out fliers with two young children. A background check showed he was a convicted sex offender on parole. So Wednesday he was interviewed by his parole officer, at his side, his wife, the two young children, and a woman he called Alyssa.
Alyssa turned out to be Jaycee Dugard. Authorities say Mr. Garrido admitted he had kidnapped her all those years ago and fathered two children with her.
(voice-over): Even though parole officers had visited Garrido's house over the years, nobody ever spotted Jaycee Dugard. Why not?
UNDERSHERIFF FRIED KOLLAR, EL DORADO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: There was a secondary backyard that's screened from you from literally all around, all access through a very small, narrow tarp. Her and the two children were living in a series of sheds. There was one shed entirely soundproofed, can only be opened from the outside.
KAYE: Phillip Garrido served time for kidnapping and rape in Nevada. Out on parole, he wears a GPS tracking device. The children he fathered are now with their mother Jaycee, 11 and 15 years old, police say they've never been to school or to the doctor. Still, they and their mom are free.
PROBYN: I'm just so happy. I haven't gone there.
KAYE (on camera): Where's this emotion coming from?
PROBYN: It's years locked up. I'm an old Vietnam vet that's shell shocked. I mean, how much nerves do I have? You know? To have to go through this?
KAYE (voice-over): Tears of joy after so many years of sadness.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Earlier this morning on CNN we heard from Jaycee's stepfather. He described those first moments of terror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROBYN: Oh, Jaycee walked up the hill on the way to the bus stop and a car had come down and circled and went real slow, it got my attention, that's how, you know, I recognized the car. And it went back up the hill and it waited for her to get to the top of the hill, and once it did, she -- I guess they wanted to see if cars were coming from behind her and the cars above.
Once it got next to her, it cut her off, and basically when I saw the door fly open, I jumped on my mountain bike, I realized I couldn't get to her in time, the hill was too steep. So I rode back down, yelled at a neighbor for 911 and they had like a two-minute head start.
I really had a lot of questions like, you know, how did they get out of there? And you would think they would block the roads off and they would have had them, but they got away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Probyn says he has lived under suspicion unfairly for the past 18 years. He says the stress of Jaycee's disappearance led to his separation from Jaycee's mother.
A new set of killings is rocking the college campus of Virginia Tech today. Authorities say they are treating the deaths of two students as a double homicide. The bodies of 18-year-old Heidi Lynch Childs and 19-year-old David Lee Metzler were found in the nearby Jefferson National Forest. Both appear to have been shot.
Two years ago at Virginia Tech, a student gunman killed 32 others and himself. In January, a doctoral student beheaded a fellow student in a campus cafe.
Mourning a loss and paying respects. You are looking now at live pictures of the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. That is where thousands of people, friends and strangers alike, are getting another chance to say good-bye to Senator Ted Kennedy as his body lies in repose.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick is joining us now from outside the Kennedy Presidential Library.
Deborah, good morning to you. DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And as a matter of fact, they opened up the viewing 15 minutes early because there were just so many people who came. The line now stretches all the way down the avenue, hundreds of people just waiting to see him, to see little parts of what America has lost, but also obviously to remember all the changes he made.
And just speaking to people on the line, you really get the sense that this is one individual who impacted so many people in his own way. One of them Mary Ann Flanigan.
You have a daughter with special needs. You really felt -- you told me that you felt that he was working on your behalf. Describe that.
MARY ANN FLANIGAN, ATTENDED PUBLIC VISITATION: He -- Ted and his whole family were always so helpful to special needs of all citizens. But with my daughter and with a group of children that she, you know, would be with.
He did so much with health care and helping them feel that they were -- they had a voice in the community. And he just did that up to the very end. I had an e-mail from his office on something that I -- matter that I had e-mailed just a couple of months ago. So it was just very important to them and that made us feel special.
FEYERICK: When you walked inside, you've already seen the senator lying in repose. Describe what it was like in there.
FLANIGAN: It was very solemn, respectful. But I just felt a thrill to be able to be here today and to say my personal thank you for all the efforts that he has done throughout his life. And all of the Kennedy family.
I grew up with -- in Massachusetts so you grew up with the whole family. And this is the first such event that I've been able to attend and I just felt that it was an honor to be there.
FEYERICK: And then finally his daughter Kara inside, greeting members as they passed. Tell me. Greeting people.
FLANIGAN: Yes, that was something that we just didn't expect. After you pass the casket, Kara was standing there with her two children and shook each one of our hands. And we could actually offer our condolences to her personally.
FEYERICK: Mary Ann Flanigan, thank you so much. We appreciate your joining us.
And what's so interesting is I was able to go inside and you're just struck by the profound silence in the room, Heidi, and what you see, you see folks walking past, and what it looks like almost a gray wall, but, in fact, those are screens that have been pulled over. Huge bay windows that overlook Dorchester Bay.
So, again, that casket, looking over at the water. But, again, people just really moved by the experience. One woman telling me, you know, it feels so final. What is nice is that on the way into that room, there's a whole display of his life.
One picture, in particular, he's sitting there with his older brother Joe Kennedy, so you have the oldest...
COLLINS: Yes.
FEYERICK: ... sibling and the youngest sibling there together. Again, the line stretches now, certainly a couple of thousand people. Expected to go on at least until 3:00 today. Heidi?
COLLINS: I bet it will. Certainly. All right, Deb Feyerick. Sure do appreciate that live report this morning.
And I want to let you know to stay with CNN for special coverage of the life and death of Senator Kennedy. He's body is scheduled to lie in repose at the JFK Library, which you just heard Deb say, until 3:00 eastern this afternoon. Then a private memorial takes place at the library beginning at 7:00 tonight.
Tomorrow morning, a private funeral mass gets underway at 10:30 in Boston, and then there is the burial service at Arlington National Cemetery. The senator will be laid to rest near his slain brothers, John and Robert.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, he's in charge of protecting your money. Apparently someone needed to protect his. Today, more proof of the dangers of identity theft.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Fake IDs, think that can't happen to you? Well, not even the chairman of the Federal Reserve is immune. Ben Bernanke's wife was a target in an ID theft scheme that preyed on 500 people.
CNN's personal finance editor is here now with ways you can protect yourself and your money.
Hi there, Gerri. Yes, even the Fed chairman can't escape.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right.
COLLINS: This type of crime.
WILLIS: That's right. And I want to tell you some details because it's telling. Ben Bernanke's wife Anna was at a Starbucks near their Capitol Hills home. Her handbag was on the back of her chair and it was stolen by thieves.
What did they get? They got her checkbook, driver's license, four credit cards, and a small amount of cash. Now, what happened from there, a few days later, according to the news week account of the story, the thieves were at the bank trying to cash their checks.
Now this turned out to be a large sophisticated ring of thieves trying to steal identities and fabricate fake identities and sell them. And I've got to tell you, the moral of the story, Heidi, it doesn't matter how smart you are, how high profile.
COLLINS: Right.
WILLIS: You are at risk for identity theft.
COLLINS: Yes, no question. All right. So what are some of the things that we can do?
WILLIS: Well, there's no one fool-proof way of protecting yourself. There's just too much information about you other there. First thing you want to do absolutely is make sure that you're shredding documents that come into your house. You don't put them in the garbage can.
Make sure you're shredding your financial statements, any credit card offers, even something as simple as say your annual statement of benefits from your employer, health care benefits, could be something that thieves could use to steal your identity.
Reduce the amount of mail you get. Make sure you're looking at those financial statements online and not in the real world. And of course, all of this is about protecting your Social Security number because that is the real key to your identity. That one number do not carry it in your wallet, don't scribble it on a piece of paper, and never give it away to people you don't know.
COLLINS: Yes. No question. A lot of people are still a little bit lax about that. So hopefully they'll listen today. All right. Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis. Thank you, Gerri.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Universal health care reform, Ted Kennedy called it the cause of his life. We'll look back at what touched off a lifelong campaign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A look now at our top stories this morning. A woman snatched from a bus stop when she was 11 is found alive. California police say a convicted sex offender has confessed to kidnapping Jaycee Dugard 18 years ago, fathering two children with her, and keeping them all locked in a shed behind his house.
Hundreds of families are forced from their homes by wildfires. Thousands of acres are burning in central and southern California. The fires stretched from Los Angeles County north to Monterey County. The firefighters say lots of dry, dense brush are feeding those flames.
And thousands of people are lined up again to file past the flag- draped casket of Senator Ted Kennedy. His widow says she's taking tremendous solace from the huge crowds at the JFK library in Boston. A memorial service is planned for tonight. So here's the question for you this morning. Too much skin at the art museum. One photographer may want to rethink his location choice after his nude model got busted. She was bearing it all inside New York's Metropolitan museum of Art right there in full view of everyone in the arms and armor display. She now faces a public lewdness charge.
So here's what we want to know. Was it art or was it porn? Some people say this is really an easy one, others say, hmm, not so fast. Just make sure you go to CNN.com/heidi. We will bring it up here on the blog. As you can see, we'll bring some of your comments up as soon as you write to us a little bit later on in the show.
Once again, is it art or is it porn?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: You are watching some live pictures this morning from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston where you see thousands of people in line, once again, this morning to pay their last respects to Senator Ted Kennedy.
More than 20,000 people viewed the flag-draped coffin yesterday. The library doors stayed open well past 1:00 a.m. this morning to allow everybody who had gathered.
Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the vigil and services honoring the Massachusetts senator.
Senator Kennedy called universal health care, quote, "the cause of my life." It was a personal campaign that began in the early days of his legislative career with the health crisis of his own.
Here now, CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: In 1964, less than a year after his brother, the president, was assassinated, Senator Ted Kennedy had his own brush with death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Edward M. Kennedy was seriously injured when his private plane crashed in the woods.
GUPTA: Kennedy was in the hospital for months.
KAREN TUMULTY, "TIME" MAGAZINE: This was, I think, the firs first one of -- his first experiences of how completely vulnerable and helpless he could be.
GUPTA: And that was just one piece of an excruciating family medical chart. Strokes, mental retardation, depression and substance abuse. And there was cancer. In 1973, the senator's son, Teddy Jr., then 12 was diagnosed with bone cancer. He survived, but only after losing a leg to amputation.
JOE TRIPPI, FORMER KENNEDY CAMPAIGN AIDE: He really felt that everybody should kind of have the health care that his son had.
GUPTA: The senator himself recently wrote this, quote, "My family has had the care they need, other families have not simply because they could not afford it."
Daughter Kara fought off cancer, as well, beating a lung tumor that was diagnosed in 2002.
TUMULTY: As many things as he had worked on, nothing that struck quite as close to his heart as health care reform. He one time said that universal health care was an issue that burned in his soul.
GUPTA: In 1997, he and Republican Orrin Hatch were behind the SCHIP bill, expanding health coverage for children. And in 2006, he worked with Republican governor, Mitt Romney, to push through a ground-breaking system of universal care in his home state of Massachusetts.
At a crucial point in last year's presidential campaign, the senator threw himself behind Barack Obama and the push for universal health care.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: This is the cause of my life. New hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American north, south, east, west, young, old will have decent quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.
GUPTA: Whether the fight over health reform turns out to be Senator Kennedy's crowning legacy or a final bitter loss is yet to be seen. But even in death, he's a big part of the debate.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: CNN will bring you extensive coverage of the Kennedy funeral all day tomorrow. Services begin with a private funeral mass at 10:30 a.m. Eastern in Boston at our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston. The burial is set for 5:00 p.m. at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
He will be laid to rest near the graves of his brothers, President Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
A school bus hijacked. Terrified students jumped into action to save each other as their bus goes out of control and crashes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Let's get you to Wall Street now. The Dow is riding an eight-session winning strike -- winning streak, I should say. I can't even say it. It's been so long since we've seen this. And there could be some positive momentum for the final trading day of the week.
Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with a preview of the day ahead. And a less tangled pun, hopefully.
Hey there, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And the opening bell rings on the final trading day of the week and we could see some more positive mode. In fact, I'm seeing it on the screen right now. We haven't had a win streak that long in two years.
Do keep in mind that some of the daily gains were less than five points. So the closer...
COLLINS: I don't care.
(LAUGHTER)
It was up.
LISOVICZ: That's right. It's going up. We're going to get to 14000 again, at some point.
COLLINS: Yes.
LISOVICZ: Investors could be taking their queue from overseas. The European Economic Confidence is rising which could bode well for spending.
Here at home, we do have signs that American shoppers are coming out to buy computers. Dell's quarterly profit and sales still fell by more than 20 percent because Dell's cut prices and people are buying cheaper netbooks.
Also companies aren't spending, but Dow offered an upbeat outlook and its shares are up 8.5 percent. Meanwhile, Intel boosted its sales forecast this morning, its shares right now are up 4 percent. Intel makes chips, they are used in a lot of computers. So both of those -- both reports, very encouraging for the tech market.
And let's give you a third one. Apple's iPhone, it'll be hitting the Chinese market at the end of the year. The company reaching a deal with China Unicom, that's the big phone company. It's a huge price for Apple. Do we need to say -- China has more than 650 million mobile phone accounts and Apple shares are up 1.5 percent.
Overall, we're seeing some nice gains at the open. We are on the next to last trading day of the month of august. Can you believe it, Heidi? But what a nice month it's been. The Dow's up 4.5 percent, the NASDAQ's up 2.5 percent, the broader S&P 500 is up 4.5 percent. So a nice month, indeed it's been. And it could be lucky number nine today.
COLLINS: Yes, see, I like that a lot. I think it was actually 15,000 that I was talking about all of those weeks ago. But thanks for lopping off 1,000 there.
LISOVICZ: We're going in the right direction.
COLLINS: Yes, exactly.
All right Susan, we'll check back later, thank you.
Help wanted, 50 jobs, job seekers, more than 1,000. Patterson Air Force base held the job fair yesterday, air force aeronautical systems center. Interviewers were looking for engineers, financial management experts, and other highly skilled professionals. Starting salary around $65,000 a year. Those who don't get hired now, may be one of the 300 or so expected to be hired in the next few years.
If you were looking to bid on the once largest post office building in the world, well, you're out of luck. Chicago's old main post office was auctioned yesterday for $40 million. The building closed when the post office relocated back in 1995. It's been on sale for 12 years. The winning bidder plans to restore the property to serve as a focal point of Chicago.
Once again, I want to give you a live look now at some pictures from the JFK presidential library where thousands of people have been filing past the coffin of Senator Ted Kennedy. Senator Kennedy had spoken of his complicated relationship with the Catholic Church. CNN's Dana Bash now with more on his faith.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ted Kennedy's family chose this church for his funeral mass because he prayed here every day when daughter Kara was diagnosed with cancer. An example of his quiet, but deep Catholic faith.
Did you consider him a religious man?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very much so.
BASH: Father Gerry Creedon counseled Kennedy for more than 30 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an old picture probably goes back to 1980.
BASH: He says Kennedy not only attended Sunday mass, but sought him out to discuss the tenants of Catholicism.
REV. GERRY CREEDON, ST. CHARLES BARROMEO CATHOLIC CHURCH: Most people sat there rather daydreaming or sleeping. I would walk out of church and Ted Kennedy would come up to me and continue the theme I was preaching on.
BASH: Kennedy often said it was his mother's Catholic faith that guided his famous family's political agenda. He used scripture in his push to end poverty and discrimination.
SEN. TED KENNEDY: My favorite parts of the bible are always Matthew 25 through 35, I was hungry you gave me to eat and thirsty you gave me to drink.
BASH: But Kennedy's support for abortion rights flew in the face of Catholic credo.
KENNEDY: Roe v. Wade made it very clear a declaration that is the law of the land, I support that the law of the land.
BASH (on camera): Senator Kennedy once told me he had a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church because he was for abortion rights.
CREEDON: I think he would wish he could have found a middle ground, a common ground with our church institution. I pray for him at mass yesterday morning and I got an e-mail saying you scandalized the faithful by praying for Ted Kennedy.
BASH (voice-over): Father Creedon says Kennedy often came to him for guidance during well publicized low points in his life. And in the last year too ill to go to church, Kennedy asked him to come give communion at home and never asked others to pray for him.
CREEDON: When it came to the prayers of the faithful as the time normally people make petitions and often times his wife would make a petition for his health and so forth. He never made a petition, but he always had two or three prayers of thanksgiving, gratitude.
BASH (on camera): One of the last letters Ted Kennedy wrote in July was a letter to the pope, which he asked President Obama to personally deliver when he visited the Vatican last month. Neither the senators' aides nor the Vatican would disclose what the letter said. Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The wildfire danger grows by the hour in California. We're looking at some live pictures right now. Thousands of people from Rancho Palas Verdes to Soledad have actually fled their homes ahead of those flames. They're burning through dry brush and steep canyons and of course, as you could imagine, which would make it even more difficult for firefighters. And that being said, the forecast not really all that great.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Forbidden from school, and now they're getting a chance to go back to the classroom. Young girls rebuilding their lives in Pakistan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Checking today's top stories now. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is vowing to make opposition leaders pay for the massive election protests in June. Today he called for them to be put on trial and given stiff punishments for quote, "Orchestrating and provoking the painful unrest." Ahmadinejad says activists on trial right now were deceived by opposition leaders and should be treated with mercy.
A tense meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrook. A senior administration official tells CNN the two men had several sharp exchanges about Afghanistan's recent election. The official says Holbrook emphasized to Karzai the election process needs to be respected and if a runoff election is required, then so be it. Early results show a close race between Karzai and his main rival.
Forbidden to go to school. We're talking about young girls in Pakistan's swat valley, unfortunate pawns in Pakistan's fight with the Taliban. They live in fear of going to school. But now there is some hope for them. CNN's Cal Perry reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a war that separates extremists from more moderate forces clashing in the most beautiful part of Pakistan, the swat valley. The Taliban had intimidated the population, including young girls forbidding them from going to school.
These 26 girls are living witnesses to the central battle within Islam today. They're in Islamabad, part of a program that takes them out of their homes in the swat valley. Helping them, a group of university students of Pakistani background who have returned home from abroad with a simple goal, teach the children the importance of education. She chose to spend her summer here, between the third and fourth years of her studies at Stanford University in California.
UINDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretending to be younger students so they could go to school not wearing their uniforms so they could go to school, hiding their books under their shawls so they could go to school. And at that point, I think we were just so angry and upset and emotional that we decided we had to do something.
PERRY: At times, this group of mentors seems disorganized. She is only 20 years old and has done nothing like this before.
SHIZA SHAHID, SCHOOL ORGANIZER: We need support, we need -- we need, unfortunately more organization, more bureaucratic nitty-gritty that you don't want to do but you have to because we are young and that does come with the burden of not being as easily trusted and not being seen as capable.
PERRY: The idea is simple enough, confidence-building measures, critical thinking lessons, all framed in the context of religious values the children have heard before. But this time, from a different point of view. It's still dangerous, the girls cannot talk about Taliban harassment because while the government is confident the Taliban was flushed out of the region, the ideology of Sharia law may still linger and these girls will have to return to their homes in the swat valley. So we talk about childhood dreams.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to become president and to rule this country in a good way.
PERRY (on camera): You want to become president to prove to people that a woman can become president? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
PERRY: And you decided this how old again are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm 10.
PERRY: I don't think I believe you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay I'm 35.
PERRY: They're young, idealistic, but have seen enough to make them grow up quickly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Cal Perry joining us live from Islamabad. Cal, tell us a little bit more about what these girls have to go through in order to just attend school.
PERRY: Well, when the swat valley offensive started three to four months ago with the Pakistani army going in on the ground, these girls were immediately influenced by this fight. This ideological fight that we speak about in the piece. The Taliban didn't want them to go to school, so they started threatening these girls, they started threatening their teachers.
These girls tell the organizers they had to hide their books, they would change out of their school uniforms, they would lie about their ages, pretend to be younger to continue to go to school. Some of the girls actually had their schools destroyed and they would move to other neighborhoods to continue to go to school.
But the idea of these death threats, I think is something that we need to talk about to a further extent. I'm happy we can do so on domestic. The principal of the school who came down to Islamabad to help with the program he was under significant death threats from the Taliban. One of the organizers told me the person who threatened his life was then killed by the Pakistani army which was what allowed him, gave him the freedom to come down here and try to help these girls. Heidi?
COLLINS: It's an incredible story. And as we listen, I believe, to the evening prayers behind you there, Cal, explain that a little bit better, if you would, because it's so important when we tell these stories. You say domestic, we're talking about CNN in the United States versus some of our international channels we have here. You certainly don't want to risk the lives of some of these women and girls involved.
PERRY: Yes, and these girls that actually organize this event, that brought the girls down from swat valley. As you see in the piece, they're 20 years old, and that was something that amazed me. When I went in to sort of film this piece with our crew, I thought this story's going to be about these 11-year-old girls and then we saw this other story about 20-year-old girls who are going to schools like UCLA, going to schools like Stanford, going to schools like Oxford, they decided they're going to take their summer break, they're going to come back to where their heritage is and they're going to try to help these girls.
But the bottom line is, they really have no experience in doing this. I asked one of the girls how are you going to run an MGO, they were struggling with the safety issue, with the security issue. They want to show the girls because they want to bring attention to the problem, but in showing the girls, do you then put the girls at danger? Heidi?
COLLINS: Absolutely. Boy, that's a tough one. I certainly appreciate their dedication to their country and the young girls there. Cal Perry, thanks so much. Great story coming out of Islamabad Pakistan for us today.
New York landmarks, the backdrop for these nude photos. But when a model showed up naked at the (INAUDIBLE), police took action.
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COLLINS: Well, you've all heard the expression dog days of summer, right? Mystic, Connecticut, probably knows that saying a little bit better than most, and so does our own Rob Marciano. He's standing there right now. It's a beautiful shot, Rob. You've got a great story though. There's actually a lot of really, really, good and important work going on there.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Exactly, and it's all about dogs. Who let the dogs out. Sometimes I need to be let out of the dog house, that's for sure. We in Mystic Sea Port, Connecticut. If you've never been it's an amazing place, been around about 80 years, an old maritime museum. It has 500 different boats here, four of which are historic landmarks, one of which has a hurricane connection. It's -- they're refurbishing it, it's the oldest wooden whale boat in existence and they're refurbishing it with old wood from hurricane Katrina trees that were killed and they're awaiting some live trees, as well.
You're looking at some of the harbor, see that fancy old- time boat there, it is gorgeous. I am told and it is confirmed that is registered to one Johnny Depp. He is not here, but, nonetheless, that gives a little bit of Hollywood cachet to where we are right now. Not that I'm a name dropper. This is the Mystic River, of course they filmed the movie here as well.
But this weekend, just to kind of promote Mystic Sea Port they have this dog days festival kind of, almost in conjunction with the dog days of summer and they have 50 different dogs out here and we've done a number of exhibitions with some of them. Our first one earlier this morning was with Rufus, he's kind of the grand puba, he's the grand puppy if you will of the event, Grand Marshall. Gorgeous, bull terrier. This guy is the most award winning bull terrier ever. He has 750 titles, 335 of which are...
COLLINS: Best in show, right? MARCIANO: Best in show titles. Including 2006 Westminster Dog Show best in show. And then also what else did we have? We had a search and rescue canine unit out here from Connecticut and he came and found me after I hid for a while just using the scent, of course I give off a pretty old nasty strong scent, but that led him to me quickly.
And then, also, these nuffies, Heidi, amazing huge dogs, 130, 140 pounders and they can actually save people from the water. That's what they were bred to do, they jump in the water off a fishing vessel if somebody happens to fall overboard. They go out and grab on to their hips and they can swim you back to shore. I found one reluctant to volunteer to help us with that. So that's what's going on here in Mystic, Connecticut.
We're also watching Danny, if he happen to make a left turn, we are in position to head to the Cape, just in case, but it looks like that may not be the case.
COLLINS: From the look behind you there it looks very calm on those waters and gorgeous. All right, a lot going on in Mystic, Connecticut. Thanks so much, Rob Marciano. Appreciate that.
Also a lot going on this morning right here in the NEWSROOM. Our CNN correspondents are ready to break it all down for you. Let's begin in Antioch, California now with Dan Simon where those fires are really blazing. Dan, good morning.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. We are here in Antioch, California, this is where the young woman, the 29-year-old woman Jaycee Dugard spent the last 18 years there in the backyard. A series of tents and sheds. Authorities were here all day yesterday collecting evidence. We're going to have a live report coming up talking about how this case all unfolded. Heidi?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam in New York. Rebuilding your retirement nest egg could get harder. For the first time ever the IRS may reduce how much American workers can contribute to their 401(k)s. I'll tell you why and by how much coming up in the next hour.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: And I'm Gerri Willis in New York, I'm taking a look at signs the housing market may be in recovery, at the top of the hour.
COLLINS: All right, guys, thanks so much. Dan Simon of course there in California on the missing girl story also the fires that we are following very closely here in the same state. So we'll get all of that to you coming up soon.
And, we also want to know how those new housing numbers are actually affecting buyers, sellers and, of course, the banks, too. It's our "Snapshot Across America" coming up in a moment.
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COLLINS: A photo shoot at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art cut short. Police hauled off the model who was posing with the exhibits but without any clothes. Here's CNN's Jason Carroll.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There are literally hundreds of nudes in the Mets collection dating back to the time of antiquity, when contemporary artists thought, in a way, it was time for another. The folks at the Met say, think again.
(voice-over): In Central Park the musical "Hair." Performers bare all to rave reviews. Times Square this self-described naked cowboy. This is New York, the city where artistic forms of nudity are celebrated, for photographer Zach Heyman a perfect backdrop to shoot his unconventional nudes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm good for the most part, it's been pretty exciting for everyone involved.
CARROLL: Heyman shot in Times Square and even a subway.
(On camera): How did this whole idea come about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The idea started actually, right here.
CARROLL (voice-over): Here is the Metropolitan Museum of Arts. Heyman says the Mets classic nudes not only inspired his work, it gave him the idea of where to shoot his next project with model Casey Neal. Were you surprised when they actually came up and you found out, they're going to arrest me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, absolutely. I didn't really know what to expect.
CARROLL: The photo seen here from the "New York Post" website shows Neal baring it all inside the museum. She now faces charges of public nudeness and endangering the welfare of a minor. Her attorney says the museum overreacted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The museum is an art institution and art institution, by its very nature is supposed to be open minded and subject to new ideas.
CARROLL: To which the museum spokesman says --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no stake or opinion on the legal issues and sort of wish the whole thing would go away.
CARROLL: The incident raising an age-old question, what is art? In 1999, police arrested noted photographer Spencer Tunic after he staged a shoot with 150 nudes in Times Square. Tunic's argument then very much like Heyman's now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it is being questioned as art then I think it has to be art.
CARROLL: We put the question to a few people after showing them a small sampling of Heyman's work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Art, definitely art.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Looks like pornography to me.
CARROLL: The reaction no surprise to Casey Neal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Art is about people either loving it or hating it. And therefore creating this amazing conversation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bottom line is the metropolitan museum is deeply interested in exhibitions and less interested in exhibitionists.
CARROLL (on camera): Ultimately it's up to the district attorney to decide whether or not to pursue the case. As for Heyman he says he'll continue to shoot his nudes in public. His work currently on exhibit at the chair and maiden gallery right here in New York. Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
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COLLINS: All right, so, this story really had us talking this morning, maybe a looking a little bit, too. We wanted to know what you thought. We asked the question on our blog, is it art or is it porn? Go to cnn.com/heidi tell us what you think about it, we're going to reading some of your comments a little bit later on in the show.
Also get this breaking news out to you now. Coming in from Afghanistan another U.S. service member is dead. That means August is now the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the nearly eight-year war. NATO forces say the service member died when a roadside bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan. The death brings to 45 the number of U.S. troops killed this month. We will continue to follow this story all hour long. We'll bring you the very latest just as soon as it becomes available.
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CARL PROBYN, JAYCEE DUGARD'S STEPFATHER: My wife called me and said, are you sitting down? I said, yes. She said they found Jaycee and she paused for 10 seconds and she says, she's alive. And we both cried for about 10 minutes. Matter of fact, my voice hasn't come back yet and we just talked and she had told me that she had actually talked to Jaycee on the telephone.
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