Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Coach Faces Charges in Football Player's Heat-Related Death; TARP Recipients Start to Pay Dividends; Firefighters Strive to Put out Monster Blaze; Questions Still Surround Jaycee Dugard's Kidnapping; A Look at London Financial Outlook

Aired August 31, 2009 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, thank you very much. There are fires, there are wildfires, and there are monsters. We're live in the mountains north of Los Angeles, where 2,500 firefighters are trying to kill the monster.

Eighteen years in captivity but not, it turns out, a conclusion. The case may be solved, but a mystery endures. Why didn't Jaycee Dugard escape?

And it's a rite of summer that sometimes goes tragically wrong. High school football in the August heat. A player is dead in Kentucky, and today his coach is on trial.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillip, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, if the pictures are scary -- and they are -- the numbers are even worse. You're looking at the biggest, fastest and meanest of several California wildfires, the so-called Station Fire just north of L.A.

In five days it's burned almost 86,000 acres, or 134 square miles. It doubled in size yesterday and doubled again overnight. At least 18 homes are destroyed, and thousands more are in danger. Their owners are being kept away until authorities say it's safe to come back home. And well, when that will be and what happens in the meantime is largely up to the weather.

Two thousand five hundred and seventy-five firefighters who are giving this wildfire everything they've got are out there. And yesterday, two of them gave their lives when their vehicle rolled down a canyon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEP. CHIEF MICHAEL BRYANT, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We ask you, please, for your understanding. For your patience as we move through this difficult time and, please, prayers for the family of our two brothers that we lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: I think that's the worst part right there; it's losing property and losing lives. Where do we stand now, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The number 18 is going to look like the beginning of, I think, a terrible season, Kyra. I think -- I think we have pictures; I think this seems bad. I think wait until you see what happens to California in this fire season.

One hundred percent of the state is in drought. Think about that number. There's not one square foot of that state that has an excess of rainfall somewhere. So this drought now is not only this year's drought. It was last year's drought. It was drought before that. This was drought -- this is a five-year, long-term drought.

And this fire, this Station Fire that has basically exploded overnight, and it shouldn't have, because at night it's a little more humid, and things don't burn as fast when it's more humid. It did blow up overnight, because the humidity just wasn't high enough. Our winds are only four miles per hour. This is not a wind-driven -- this is not a weather-driven event. Wait until there is weather. Wait until we do see Santa Ana winds, and wait until you see what happens here in parts of California. Four, three, five, that's not an issue.

Now, I will say because we don't have any real wind, we're not blowing any of the smoke away either that's hanging in some of the valleys. There may be -- there may be more problems with smoke inhalation. People really suffering because of that, compared to the number of people that might suffer from losing their homes.

But this is just really the first fire, although there have been a couple others. This is the first fire that we're going to talk about. There will be many more to come this fire season.

Here's what it looks like. Still going on right now. Rob Marciano is out there. Our Reynolds Wolf is out there. Airplanes, a lot of air attack going through. This is from our affiliate KTLA. These planes are right down on top of the firefighters, protecting them as well, for a wild Mount Wilson. The largest -- you know, I mean, this is the largest telescope in the U.S. Basically, Mount Wilson Observatory invented the big bang theory. And it was in danger yesterday.

Firefighters just took it back and said, "No, you're not going there." And the planes and the helicopters. And they all stopped at least for now. Kyra, how long they can stop this wildfire -- wildfire, nobody is going to be able to predict that.

PHILLIPS: Well, we're going to keep tracking all those live pictures, as you can see, fighting that fire from the air to the ground. Chad, thanks so much.

MYERS: Sure.

PHILLIPS: You know, a forest service commander actually tells CNN that the Station Fire has a mind of its own. Our colleague Reynolds Wolf [SIC] is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): The grim news came late last night.

BRYANT: Please, prayers for the family of our two brothers that we lost.

MARCIANO: Two firefighters killed when their vehicle rolled down a mountainside, part of a treacherous battlefield in these hills north of L.A., where the easiest approach is often from the sky. Helicopters and planes attacking what seems to be an endless wall of fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm afraid.

MARCIANO: On the ground, more than 10,000 homes sitting in the fire's path.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we can do is hope for the best.

MARCIANO: Police blocking off neighborhoods and ordering thousands of people to evacuate, a warning, the governor urged them to take seriously.

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: This is a huge, and it's a very dangerous fire.

MARCIANO: Not everyone listens. Some, like this man, stay behind, armed only with a garden hose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying my best.

MARCIANO: But most grabbed what they could and left the firefighting to the professionals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Left them a shovel and our hoses.

MARCIANO: But nearly 3,000 firefighters in the fight taking mostly defensive positions, digging in and letting the fire come to them.

COMMANDER MIKE DIETRICH, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: The weather, the fuels, and the topography are dictating our firefighting actions.

MARCIANO: Their biggest problem this time: not wind but unrelenting heat and too much fuel. The area hasn't seen a major fire in six years and is loaded with dense brush.

Up north, winds becoming a very serious threat. Erie pictures from the town of Auburn, near Sacramento, where a number of homes and buildings burned to the ground, that fast-moving fire eating up 500 acres in just a few hours.

And back near L.A., neighbors can only gather on corners and wait, hoping to avoid the same fate. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's still fires here. And like I said, we've got a fire coming down the canyon behind us here, too. So we're pretty much surrounded.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And, once again, that's our Rob Marciano; also, Reynolds Wolf, both of our meteorologists there, working this story for us. Reynolds on the phone now.

Bring us up to date, Reynolds. What are the conditions like?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the conditions from our point here, at Lake Terrace, California, the skies up above. You see some blue, but there's also quite a bit of haze from the smoke that continues to drift down from the hills. Conditions here at this particular spot of the staging area, 93 degrees. However, back in those canyons, I can guarantee you temperatures are considerably higher, and by late afternoon, they will be in the triple digits. You have that, and then you can imagine those temperatures right on the blaze themselves, 1400 degrees. It is just an inferno from the sky.

Those firefighters, the men and women up there, risking everything and doing what they can to keep the rest of us safe.

In the staging area, Kyra, it is really just a sea of all kinds of vehicles. We've got place where firefighters can come into lines. They can take showers. They can wash up a little bit. As I can see from my vantage point, getting something to eat. Many of these guys have been out on the fire lines about 12 hours or so. They've been covered with soot. They've been hot; they're sweaty.

But I'll tell you, there is a quiet resolve about them. They're determined to stay and battle this blaze as long as they have to. You know, it is an amazing thing.

And not only do we have local departments here, but you have people from all over the Golden State that have converged in this region to battle this blaze that, as we mentioned all morning, is now in excess of 90,000 acres, up in smoke, just in this particular area. We've got fires statewide. It's going to be a tremendous mess.

And as Chad alluded to a while ago, we really don't see any relief in sight in terms of Mother Nature helping us out. Sure, we're not expecting the winds to be quite as strong, and the Santa Ana winds not a factor for today. In fact, winds are very light. But the smoke is going to hang. It's not going to be pushed out. It's hard to determine where exactly those flames are going to spread. So strategically, it's kind of hard to stay one step ahead of the fire.

We have been showing you video this morning, of fixed-wing aircrafts and rotary wing aircraft coming in and dropping water, as well as that pink fire retardant. But I'll tell you, in some spots it's impossible to even do that, because the smoke has been hanging around. Visibility is not just limited; visibility is zero. So without those -- that help, a lot of these guys are out there just on foot, without the ability to have the assistance from the air needed to battle a blaze of this size.

Kyra, let's send it back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right. We will keep tracking it. Thanks, Reynolds, so much.

Now, farther north just outside San Francisco, well, there's questions that just are not going away. How did so many years pass before people learned the awful truth that the girls living in a man's backyard weren't just kids, they were captives?

People in Antioch say that part of that illusion was that Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters appeared normal, despite a life that was anything but.

With the many sensitive questions involved in this story, CNN has blurred the images of the girls to protect their privacy.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins me now, live from Antioch, California -- Ed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jaycee Dugard appeared to have settled into an unimaginable routine during her years of captivity. Behind the scenes, she lived in this messy backyard prison.

But to the outside world, she was the creative force behind Phillip Garrido's printing business, designing business cards for businesses all over the town of Antioch. Deepal Karunaratne describes her as intelligent with an attention to detail.

DEEPAL KARUNARATNE, GARRIDO BUSINESS ASSOCIATE: She was always having a very pretty smile on the face. She comes and talking to me and always smiling. And she's a very pretty girl, a very pretty young lady.

LAVANDERA: Even Dugard's daughters appeared to live a normal life. These are pictures of the young girls, obtained by CNN. The 11-year-old went by the name of Angel, the 15-year-old Starlet. We've blurred their faces to protect their privacy. The pictures were taken two weeks ago at a birthday party for Cheyvonne Molino's daughter. Molino says Garrido called Jaycee and the daughters "my girls" and often brought them to Molino's wreck yard, delivering bottles of water on hot days.

CHEYVONNE MOLINO, GARRIDO BUSINESS ASSOCIATE: They made it seem like these little girls were, like, living like wolves or jungle kids in the back yard, you know, dungeon. Perhaps that is it, but they didn't give the visual to me that they were. They were polite; they were well mannered.

LAVANDERA: Molino says Angel and Starlet were huge fans of Hannah Montana. She says Jaycee dreamed of becoming a model: always clean and well dressed, no hint of the tragic reality. Investigators have expanded the crime scene at Phillip Garrido's home. They've brought cadaver dogs to search the property next door. Authorities are looking into whether Garrido could be connected to a string of murders in the 1990s.

JIMMY LEE, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, SHERIFF'S OFFICE: What we also know is that Phillip Garrido had access to that property. He used that property, and it looks like he lived on that property in a shed.

LAVANDERA: As we've scoured Garrido's hometown looking for clue, we found this in a hardware store: the name "Phil G." on a donation card. On August 17, this receipt shows Garrido bought a pressure switch and then left a $2 donation to the Children's Miracle Network.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: An eerie irony, considering that Phillip is -- is charged with essentially raping the young woman, Jaycee Dugard, here and fathering two children with her while she was a teenager.

As for Jaycee Dugard, she is with her family. Her location is being kept a tight secret. But we understand she is with several family members and also law enforcement officials and a team of psychologists to help this family through this reuniting process -- Kyra.

PHILIPS: Yes, Ed. It's pretty fascinating just learning all these various details, especially the ones that you're bringing to us. You mentioned this role that Jaycee played in -- in the family business, the printing business. Can you tell us more about that?

LAVANDERA: Absolutely. That printing business was essentially run out of this home, right back here, and we believe that a lot of the printing work was actually done in the backyard, based on some of those photos that we've seen. We've seen some printers and some of the kind of office supplies that led us to believe that perhaps that was -- that's where some of the work was being done.

Jaycee Dugard had access to a computer. We've spoken with several business associates of -- that have dealt with them who had talked to Jaycee over the phone and exchanged e-mails with her.

In fact, one of those people who had done business with Phillip had said that she was -- she was -- they actually preferred dealing with Dugard because they thought that she was more attentive -- attentive to their needs. They describe her as intelligent and very astute and very knowledgeable about what her -- the clients wanted done. So they almost preferred dealing with her.

PHILLIPS: And what about her two daughters? Were they involved at all with the business?

LAVANDERA: We haven't gotten that sense, that they were involved in actually -- the actual work of the business. But what is clear, as we have talked to various people around the Antioch community, is that Garrido would drive around town. He would go and visit his clients. He would take bottles of water to people on hot days. And he often did that with the two young girls in tow, bringing them just as any father might bring their kids along to work on any given day.

So -- and as you heard, one of the people we interviewed, talked to, saying, you know, he would describe them as -- as "my girls." On the surface, showing up at birthday parties and various places around town. That's what people around here are really struggling with, Kyra.

You get the sense from people that they're dealing with a little bit of guilt themselves, that something so horrific happening just in front of their eyes for 18 years. And you get a sense of guilt from a lot of people in this community for not having noticed something or done something about it sooner.

PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera, appreciate it.

Well, you saw the pictures of the girls out in public there, and you heard from people who did business with Jaycee. So why didn't the captives say anything? It could be a case of a Stockholm Syndrome, named after a 1973 bank robbery in Sweden that turned into a hostage standoff that lasted several days. You may remember that one of the female captives developed an emotional attachment to her male captor.

Dr. Frank Ochberg is a psychiatrist who actually helped define Stockholm Syndrome. He's on the phone with me now.

Doctor Ochberg, do you believe that this is another case of Stockholm Syndrome?

DR. FRANK OCHBERG, PSYCHIATRIST: Kyra, I think it's different. I think this is much more like child abuse, incest. It may have elements of Stockholm Syndrome.

We defined Stockholm Syndrome back in the '70s to help the FBI, Scotland Yard, law enforcement agencies that were beginning to get very good in negotiating with hostage-holding terrorists. And we wanted the negotiator to have a language for understanding something that was quite bizarre: a hostage who could be killed at any moment often developed very, very strong bonds to the hostage holder. But they tended to be older.

And the psychological event that happened is the hostage was suddenly thrust into a situation where they were like a 1-year-old. They couldn't eat. They couldn't talk. They couldn't use a toilet without permission.

And what they didn't realize was the person who was giving them the gift of life, who lets them eat, who lets them talk, who bathes them, starts to feel like a mom of an infant. And that's the very same person who is placing them in deadly jeopardy.

PHILLIPS: So a lot of people, Dr. Ochberg, are saying, "OK, why didn't she run away? She's 29 years old. She's an adult. I don't understand." Do you have to look at the fact that, OK, she was taken at 11. A child is extremely vulnerable and easily manipulated. And then, if that's the case, then how do you define or explain sort of psychologically why she didn't do more to get out of that situation that we see is absolutely crazy?

OCHBERG: Well, the Stockholm Syndrome dynamic could have been there at the beginning, if she was really terrified and if, then, she was treated with certain gifts of life. That might explain how she got hooked in the first place and was, ironically, unusually affectionate towards somebody who kidnapped her and who eventually raped her. Now, it might have been a statutory rape and not done with the threat of force. We don't -- there's a lot we don't know.

But I think we have to look at the millions of abused kids who stay in their families and the millions of abused wives who stay with their abuser. There is something that happens. And it's not enjoying the predation. There's no masochism going on here. There's a life that has been constricted. And you know where your bread is buttered. And little by little, you end up being raised to survive in that particular community and that particular family.

I -- I'm new to looking at this particular case. I've been away. I am really enjoying seeing the smile on the girl's face and realizing how resilient she is. That all goes to a good prognosis.

PHILLIPS: Well -- well, that is a great thing to hear: a good prognosis. And as you follow this case, Dr. Frank Ochberg, I would love to hear what kind of conclusions you come to. We'll talk again. Thanks so much.

OCHBERG: Bye-bye now.

PHILLIPS: Well, a man calls 911 and tells the dispatcher, quote, "My whole family is dead." Detectives now work their way backward through time to find answers. The questions adding fuel to the fear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We don't know the motive; we don't have any suspects. We just know it's horrific. A massacre inside a Southeast Georgia mobile home has left eight people dead. A 911 call indicates the victims were beaten, but police have not confirmed that.

Is the situation in Afghanistan serious? Yes. Can the U.S. succeed? Yes. Twin themes of a just-finished war review by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. He reportedly says the Taliban have considerable influence over a third of the country.

Ten hours of heart surgery. That's what religious broadcaster Pat Robinson went through earlier this month. And now a spokesperson says that Robertson is recovering well at his Virginia Beach home. The 79-year-old founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network had surgery for a type of abnormal heart rhythm.

A high school football player getting ready for Friday night lights dies after running wind sprints on a hot August day. An accident or something the couch could have prevented? A trial starts today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, he's back where he belongs, you might say. Our intrepid business traveler, Richard Quest, is in London after weeklong stops in New York and Hong Kong, to see how world financial capitals are faring in this recession.

And if you're going to be on the road so much, Richard, well, you might as well, you know, find a really nice place to sleep, right?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And there is no place like home to finally down your head. And the hotel I'm staying at, it's a very splendid residence. It's called Chez Quest. The down side of Chez Quest is have to make your own bed and breakfast. But the rooms are cheap and there's always the risk that that your mother might knock on the front door.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's definitely not a good thing, depending on what you're up to. All right. So...

QUEST: Hey, hey, hey. Hey, I'm home. I'm home. I'm home now.

And one of the great things -- one of the great things about finally getting home, after a long two-week trip, is you can change clothes. Now, I don't mean change clothes, but you've got your wardrobe. So all this week, here's the promise. You've seen me wear the same suits over the last two weeks. I'm going to wear a different suit in a different color every day between now and Friday. How's that for you?

PHILLIPS: So obviously, you did some shopping in Hong Kong, where they are still doing very well when it comes to at least the tailoring side of the economy.

QUEST: Yes, Hong Kong has been the great economic success, if you like, of my NY-Lon-Kong trip.

New York, I was pleasantly surprised at the optimism. There's a feeling of definitely light at end of the tunnel.

London, now, the city of London, that's the Gherkin building over there. That's the main financial district heading up towards Canary Wharf, which is -- it's sort of like Wall Street mid-town and a bit like the world financial center.

The downside in London is that it was worst hit, bigger beaten up than pretty much anywhere else. It's taken -- the recession in this country has been deeper and longer. And whilst France and Germany are now growing again, the numbers from the U.K. make dismal reading.

So what I'm expecting to see this week, or what I'm trying to find out this week in our last look is, is there a difference? Is that optimism of New York and Hong Kong here in London? I have to tell you, I'm lucky in one respect, Kyra. Because I live here, I bring a certain amount of prejudice and bias to what I'm doing, because I live here. But I'll -- I'll try and get that out of the window before -- I'll try and get my bile out before I give you anything...

PHILLIPS: All right. Bottom line, then. OK, you went to Hong Kong. Obviously, you live in London. You compared things there. And you've now been to the United States. Bottom line, we all have to be feeling good in order to come back together and prosper globally, here in the U.S. And of course it's important for us.

So bottom line, what did you learn? Do we have a long way to go? A short way to go? Can we all just live happily ever after and prosper?

QUEST: Would somebody -- would somebody please pass me a piece of string? Because that's really the answer to it. I mean, this -- how long is a piece of string, Kyra? At the end of it, there's a...

PHILLIPS: I thought you were going to put a cup on the end and talk to me.

QUEST: Well, quite. Let's face it, the way our budget's looking at the moment. Hello, hello.

Listen, the truth is, Hong Kong is doing extremely well. The U.S. is turning around. I think the U.K. is the one that has the most danger I'm worried about. As we look forward to this weekend, where finance ministers from G-20 are getting together, I think that they're going to be -- the key question is how do we get out of the mess? Now we're starting to look better.

PHILLIPS: Got it. Richard Quest, great to see you as always.

Well, it sure seemed like a risky investment. Billions of your dollars going to banks teetering on collapse. A year later, though, Uncle Sam looks a little like Warren Buffett.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's a case being watched by high school football coaches all across the country. Former football coach David Stinson of Louisville, Kentucky, going on trial today, charged in the death of one of his players. Fifteen-year-old Max Gilpin collapsed during practice while running in 94-degree heat last August. He died three days later.

Stinson faces charges of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment, even though Jefferson County Public Schools ruled out any wrongdoing by the coach. Some witnesses say that Stinson denied players water while they ran wind sprints on the day Gilpin collapsed.

Stinson has the backing of nearly a dozen coaches groups. They've helped raise nearly $90,000 for his legal defense. See the three guys in shorts and T-shirts? Well, it's pretty amazing that they have their land legs. Heck, it's amazing they're even alive. Their 23-foot catamaran capsized in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving them stranded at sea for eight days. Nothing but bubble gum and crackers and dirty water to live on.

On Friday, the Coast Guard called off the search. But the very next day, a private boat happened to stumble upon the fishermen sitting on top of their capsized vessel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KURT HALL, RESCUED BOATER: We'd seen a ton of boats. We'd seen some helicopters. And we tried flagging everybody we could. And it was just like, I guess, not our time to go home yet because, I mean, they had come straight at us, and then we'd be like, hey, and there they go. I was like, no. I was like, well, you know, the good man above, either he's teaching us a lesson or showing us something. And finally, you know, when the boat came it was just -- I don't know, it was...

JAMES PHILLIPS, RESCUED BOATER: It was a miracle. It was just -- it was a long eight days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, listen to this. The men managed to suck water out of their washdown tank. That's usually used to hose fish slime off the boat.

Well, around this time last year, America's biggest banks were in big trouble and looking for a rescue. The rescues came in the form of billions of dollars in your taxpayer money. Well, now almost a year later, that government intervention is starting to pay dividends, literally.

Let's check in with our Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Boy, what a difference a year makes, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, and perhaps the biggest difference is simply that the floor is no longer buckling. I mean, it was a hair-raising time. And you have to remember that the government's most urgent priority last fall was simply to shore up a financial system that was faltering.

So, the government invested $240 billion in our nation's biggest banks. The government in essence becoming the banker of last resort. There were plenty of critics who said it was throwing good money after bad. But nearly one full year later, eight big banks have repaid the government TARP money in full, among them Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, American Express.

The profit of $4 billion comes from paying quarterly dividends and repurchasing those bank shares. You remember, the stock market has gone up quite nicely over the last five months. So, those companies have to pay more. How much more? It's about a 15 percent annualized return. Not bad at all -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, so, can we say that TARP was a success after all, or is there still a lot to look at here?

LISOVICZ: I think you can say both, actually, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: A little of both.

LISOVICZ: Yes. Because on the most basic level, TARP has been a success. It kept the financial industry from collapsing. Remember, when there was this fear, this hysteria last fall, credit seized up, spending stopped, layoffs mounted, right?

So we know things are better. But to the other part of your question, most TARP money hasn't been repaid. And there are plenty of big players who have not repaid. Let's think of, say, AIG, on the hook for $85 billion. GM and Chrysler don't have to repay a portion of their government money due to bankruptcy.

And then finally, Bank of America and Citigroup, each of them owe us in essense $45 billion each. So, and they still have a lot of questionable assets on their books. I interviewed Dick Parsons, the chairman of Citigroup, a few months ago. He says every dollar will be repaid with interest. And that's where the government could make money again. We'll see.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll track it.

So, I know this is a total sidebar, but what do you think of cockroaches? Do they scare you?

LISOVICZ: Don't like them.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: OK.

LISOVICZ: Don't like them.

PHILLIPS: Well, you're not going to like this either, sister. Take a look at this. A king among cockroaches. We actually found it, and thankfully, it wasn't in our breakroom. It's a bug so big, it would give the most calloused exterminator a nightmares, so brace yourself. We are scurrying forward.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A new week means the start of a new school year for thousands of kids and parents. And the H1N1 virus, swine flu, is very much on their minds. Washington is telling local superintendents not to close schools unless they absolutely have to. Britain is doing the same. But France is going the other way. There, whole classes could be sent home or schools shut down if as few as three students in the same class develop swine flu symptoms in a week. The government says that classes will air on TV and radio if necessary. It turns out Jaycee Dugard wasn't out of sight during all those years that she lived with alleged kidnapper Phillip Garrido. Customers of Garrido's California printing business say that Jaycee sometimes handled their orders. They describe her as a polite and efficient woman. Garrido accused of kidnapping Jaycee 18 years ago. He and his wife face life in prison if convicted.

From bad to worse. North of Los Angeles, the station wildfire doubled in size overnight. It now measures nearly 86,000 acres, and it's only 5 percent contained. Two firefighters died late Sunday while battling that blaze.

In Oklahoma this afternoon, funeral services get under way for a pastor killed inside her church. The body of 61-year-old Carol Daniels was found August 23 inside the small Pentecostal church that she led. No arrests have been made.

Jaheem Herrera. we still can't forget his story. The 11-year- old Atlanta fifth-grader who hanged himself last April. His mother says he took his life because of bullies. Jaheem's story has raised a conversation across the country about how serious bullying is and who should be held accountable.

Well, the Georgia Coalition against Bullying stepped up, holding a town hall meeting, raising awareness for all of us. Take a listen to teacher and students who are dealing with the harsh reality of bullying every single day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYLEIS SPEIGHT, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: This year we lost the lives of two youths that committed suicide after enduring months of relentless bullying. We want to hear from you. Especially you today. Today is your day.

Adults will tell you, oh, bullying has been an issue that's always been around. You know, it's just, you know, teasing and, you know, toughen up. It's deeper than that. Our kids are hurting.

JEFF GRAHAM, GEORGIA EQUALITY: With increasingly frequency and increasingly younger and younger people, some of the taunts are the perception of homosexuality. These taunts are going too far.

YEIRALIS BERMUDEZ, SISTER OF JAHEEM HERRERA: I was in Jaheem's class, too. I saw and heard when they bullied my brother, when they called him gay, virgin and ugly. They kept doing it every day until the day he died.

SIMONE MILSAP, STUDENT: I have been bullied, and most of the time I'd retaliated because I let the anger get the best of me. I had got in trouble with the law. So, now I had to learn my lesson, and I know not to let bullies upset me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are national studies that show 160,000 children stay home every day out of fear of being bullied. KOREY PRENDERGAST, STUDENT: I've had a student call me the "n" word three times in front of the teacher. Went up to the front office. They did nothing about it. The teacher came up to the front office cussing me out, telling me he didn't hear it. It's also the administrators that are a part of it.

AUSTIN LAUFERSWEILER, STUDENT: At my school, there was a lot of homophobic bullying. The staff wouldn't really recognize it as bullying behavior, and they didn't do anything about it. So, there's actually training held at my school that I was part of that -- it was a voluntary training, and it taught teachers how to recognize this bullying and how to put it down.

CAROLYN HUGLEY (D), GEORGIA STATE HOUSE: Georgia does have an anti-bullying law, but our law only refers to students in upper grades, and we all know that bullying doesn't just automatically start at grade six.

CORTEZ HARRIS, STUDENT: The child is being bullied, and he tells his mother, and she does nothing, the administration does not care because the parent does not care. But when you get in their face, they have no other choice but to change.

DENNIS MILLER, POET: So, shake your brother's hand and give your sister from the heart a hug. Start the tolerance with end the violence and be willing to show your love.

DR. JOYCE WILSON, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: When we begin to start looking at each other as brothers and sisters, and we're responsible for one another, and we can step in.

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: We need to set national guidelines before we end up with a collection of these suicides. One time is too many.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, if you're looking for help in dealing with bullying, here's one place you can turn: the Department of Health and Human Services has put together this Web site, Stopbullyingnow. We've got the Web address on the bottom of the screen there. The site includes tips for parents and tips for children.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Pressure's growing, and time is short. We're heading toward the final showdown on the make-or-break issue of health care reform. Lawmakers across the country holding town halls today from California to Iowa to Virginia and beyond.

But soon, the time for talk will be over. Congress comes back to Washington right after Labor Day. President Obama back at work today, though he's planning a long Labor Day weekend at Camp David.

Ali Velshi, our man on the CNN Express, heading this hour for what used to be the refrigerator capital of the world, Evansville, Indiana. But no more. Whirlpool dropped a bombshell last week, saying it was closing shop.

Ali joins us now on the phone from Tennessee, on his way to Indiana, taking a deeper look at what's happening within our economy -- Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, Kyra. Yes, we are in Tennessee, as you said, headed up toward Evansville, Indiana, where we're going to talk to -- we've already been speaking to some people. We sent some people ahead of us.

But I'm going to be meeting with residents there, talking about the economy generally, about health care, about the effect that this closure is going to have on that town. Now, Whirlpool had a little over 300 people working specifically in this Evansville plant. Much of that work is now going to be shifted to Mexico.

So, while we're seeing some recovery around the economy -- you and I have talked about this, certainly in the stock market, some stability in housing prices -- the reality is jobs are the big deal right now. And if you are now confronted with a job loss, that makes it feel worse for you.

Now, these plants -- this plant is going to shut down in 2010. That's when those jobs will be lost. But that means families are going to have to start to make plans now about whether they're going to relocate, what else they can do, and perhaps hope that this recovery comes back faster than they would have expected, so that they might be able to find work elsewhere.

But factory shutdowns are always very telling about how people deal with the economy. Because it's a tough, tough thing for people to deal with. A whole lot of people are all of a sudden faced with the same problem, except there were jobs available. Now you've got a whole lot of people competing for them.

PHILLIPS: And once you hit Indiana, on your way to -- what's the next stop? Minnesota?

VELSHI: Well, we're going to end up in Minneapolis by about Friday. We're going to go through Iowa. We're going to -- you know, we're going to stop where we can find people to talk to. And that's not too hard when we're traveling in the CNN Express, the big 45-foot motorcoach.

But, you know, we kind of just want to hear people's stories. Two weeks ago, we were on the road. Health care was certainly the biggest issue. It may still be.

But for a lot of people, there's been a lot of talk in the last month or so about this recession ending right now, right under us. We want to know how people about that. Do they feel that's the case? Do they feel things are a little bit better? Or do they still feel that they're mired in a bad, bad economic situation personally? And as soon as we get that information, I'm going to bring that back, and we're going to be talking about it here on CNN.

PHILLIPS: Sounds good, Ali. Look forward to it.

VELSHI: All right, Kyra, good to talk to you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Well, now to a pest so mighty, it might need some help fitting under the sink. In fact, if this thing checks into the roach motel, it can check out anytime it darn well pleases.

We're talking about a giant burrowing cockroach from Australia. You ready for this? Three and a half inches long. Now, if you think about it, that doesn't really seem that big. But really think about that -- three and a half. And that doesn't even -- we're talking about one and a half inches thick, OK? That's kind of scary, I guess. I don't know.

Well, it's supposed to be the heaviest insect on earth. Plus, it's hairy, we're told, too, a Rottweiler among roaches. Unfortunately, we don't have the right to the picture or I would love to show it to you. But these lovely vermin can live up to eight years and are said to make great pets. You can order yours today. If I see this thing in my kitchen, I'm definitely not using my shoe. I'm calling in an air strike.

Well, you know, the government program that helps you modify your mortgage if you're struggling to pay? How's that program going anyway? So far, so not good. Red tape, the runaround, the wrong information. Why is something that's supposed to help such a hassle?

Plus, robo calls -- you know them, you love them. Pick up while you can, because starting tomorrow, robo callers get called on the carpet.

The Lockerbie bomber out of prison, breathing the air of freedom for the first time in years. Was his release the result of an oil deal between Britain and Libya? We've got the latest from London.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: To a lot of people, he's the most despicable person in the world, the man convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people. Now, a troubling new question about the bomber's controversial release from prison: Was it tied to an oil deal between Britain and Libya?

CNN's Phil Black reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Lockerbie bomber in a hospital, on a drip, breathing through an oxygen mask. Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi looks like a dying man, according to a British journalist invited to his bedside, who was unable to independently verify the state of Al-Megrahi's health.

Asked if he his release from prison in Scotland was linked to British trade deals, he would not or could not offer an answer.

QUESTION: Do you feel that you were released because of a commercial deal with Britain and Libya?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's too sick to answer.

BLACK: But that is the question that is still being asked in Britain, especially after this story in this story "Sunday Times" newspaper. Its headline, "Lockerbie bomber set free for oil."

JACK STRAW, BRITAIN JUSTICE SECRETARY: The "Sunday Times" headline suggesting that the Lockerbie bomber Al-Megrahi was released as a result of a deal for oil is wholly untrue. There was no deal over the release of Mr. Megrahi.

BLACK: The paper says an oil exploration deal between Libya and British company BP was only ratified by Libya's parliament after the British government agreed a prisoner transfer deal between the countries would not exclude Al-Megrahi specifically.

Britain's justice secretary, Jack Straw, admits the government had pushed for Al-Megrahi not to be eligible for transfer under the agreement, but Libya refused, and Britain relented.

But the deal always allowed for the Scottish government to veto any transfer.

STRAW: To underline this point, what makes these allegations absurd is that this debate is academic, that there has been no release under the prisoner transfer agreement.

BLACK: Al-Megrahi's application under the transfer agreement was refused by the Scottish government. Instead, he was released under Scottish law on compassionate grounds because he's dying of cancer.

Scotland's first minister insists justice was his government's only consideration.

ALEX SALMOND, SCOTTISH FIRST MINISTER: If you have to make a difficult, controversial decision, a challenging decision, then for goodness sake, let's take it for the right reasons. And the right reasons were to release a dying man on compassionate grounds and not to allow any other factor -- international politics, trade, whatever oil deals may or may not have been made -- not allow any of these to affect the decision..

BLACK: The families of Lockerbie's victims believe it's all more fuel for the growing suspicion here that trade and Al-Megrahi's freedom were discussed by Britain and Libya at the same time.

PAMELA DIX, BOMBING VICTIM'S SISTER: For Jack Straw to indicate that it is academic to discuss the prisoner transfer agreement because Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds is an insult.

BLACK (on camera): Opposition political parties are now growing louder in their calls for an open inquiry to examine Britain's relationship with Libya and the extent to which Al-Megrahi has been mentioned in negotiations between the two countries. One opposition politician says it now seems British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been hiding behind the Scottish government's compassion for a dying man while really being influenced by his own compassion for commerce.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)