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Angry Fire Forces Thousands to Evacuate; Hurricane Jimena Moves toward Cat 5; Garrido Investigation Widens; Preparing for H1N1 Outbreak
Aired September 01, 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: An explosive wildfire more than doubles in size, now threatening 10,000 homes. But some in southern California refuse to budge.
A new robo-calling ban won't stop telemarketers from bugging you. We've got tips on how to protect yourself.
And oceanfront home for sale. The proceeds go to Ponzi scheme victims. We'll take a walk-through of Bernie Madoff's beach house.
Good morning, everybody, I'm Heidi Collins. It is Tuesday, September 1st, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
This morning we are covering two very dangerous types of storms. One, a firestorm, another, a hurricane. In fact, more than 100,000 acres are now on fire north of Los Angeles today. Containment, they're saying, could take weeks. So we'll get you there.
CNN meteorologist, in fact, Reynolds Wolf is on the ground as firefighters are trying their very, very best to beat back those flames.
And also here in our severe weather center, you see Jacqui Jeras there. She is tracking a very powerful category 4 storm and that is Hurricane Jimena. We'll have the latest on that as well.
Meanwhile, here's what we know about the fire near Los Angeles. The station fire more than doubled in size just yesterday. We'll get into just how big that is in a few minutes. But first, emergency officials have ordered evacuations for around 10,000 homes so far. That number could still grow.
As of right now, 53 structures are destroyed and they are battling the flames, unpredictable winds, and triple-digit temperatures are more than 2,500 firefighters. They are manning the lines, trying to save homes and businesses.
For the tens of thousands of people who evacuated, they are just waiting and hoping. Take a look now at this Google map of the area. It's pretty incredible. It shows just how widespread the fire has really become.
Our Reynolds Wolf is right in the middle of it all. He's joining us now from Tujunga, California.
Reynolds, tell us what you're seeing so far this morning.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, first and foremost, let me tell you what you and the rest of our viewers across America might be seeing this morning. Occasionally you might see something zip, left or right, across your TV screen.
It looks like snowfall, we're seeing a few moths. But the number one thing you're going to see is ash. Ash from a fire that's already burned up over 100,000 acres. It's less than 5 percent -- I'm sorry, at 5 percent containment.
And take a look at what I've got behind me. The remnants of a -- I'm guessing about a three-story or rather a three-bedroom house that has just been almost leveled from the firestorm that came right through here. One of 53 buildings that has been flattened by these flames across this region.
It's an amazing thing to see that when this fire came through here just a few days ago, temperatures superheated to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. You can see the result. I mean just melted everything. Melted cars. This is a Country Squire automobile over here, an older model. Across here you got a twin stall horse trailer. That has just been ravaged and also by the heat.
And unfortunately, this is a scene that's probably going to play out quite a bit over the next couple of days. Again, as I mentioned, this is just an immense fire, tremendous fire, 100,000 acres gone. The weather has been cooperating in some ways and in other ways, it hasn't.
One way it's been cooperating is the lack of Santa Ana winds. You know we have those winds, they -- it seems that over the years that's been like one of the big key elements that drives these fires in central and southern California.
Now, in this fire, we haven't really had strong Santa Ana winds. They really haven't been a factor. In fact, it's been very little wind, very little whatsoever that's caused the smoke really to billow up. It's made it very hard in terms of visibility on how to, not only combat the fire from aloft with air strikes of, say, water or fire retardant.
They have been able to do that but not quite as effectively as they might if the winds were driven in a different direction. Another issue that you have is with these strong winds going through, with the lack of the Santa Anas. When you have them, sure they fan the flames, but we have an idea of where they'll be going.
COLLINS: Right.
WOLF: With this, it's been kind of hodgepodge of where the fire and flames have been going. One thing we have, Heidi, that's been just a great accomplishment of the firefighters is Mount Wilson, which is a key communications point here for the city of Los Angeles and virtually all of southern California. They've been able to keep the flames at bay from that high communication point. Key communication not only for the city but also for firefighters to stay in contact with each other and battle this immense place.
COLLINS: Yes.
WOLF: Let's get it back to you, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. We've been watching that Mount Wilson observatory ever since yesterday so got some good news there.
Reynolds Wolf, we'll check back later with you.
Meanwhile, want to talk a little bit more about just how big the station fire is. Right now it's burned more than 165 square miles. That is equal to 65,800 New York City blocks or all of Philadelphia. It's twice the size of Washington, three times bigger than Boston. But it is not even close to being the biggest for southern California.
Unfortunately, that was the cedar fire back in 2003. It burned more than 280,000 acres, destroyed 2,200 homes, 14 people were killed, and one of those was a firefighter.
As we told you a little bit earlier, more than 2,500 firefighters are battling the station fire right now. They are working 12-hour shifts throughout the night trying to slow the advance.
And joining us live on the telephone with more efforts to get everything under control is Los Angeles County deputy fire chief, John Tripp.
John, we actually have you on the screen, so we appreciate the time this morning that you have. I know how busy you guys are. Tell us, what is going to be the challenge today as you move forward in fighting the station fire?
DEPUTY CHIEF JOHN TRIPP, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPT.: Well, last night there was a lot of progress made. We're trying to get containment on some critical points that would try to slow down the progression of the fire, try to slow down the threat to some of the communities.
A lot of good work was done at the end of the shift yesterday, throughout the night. We extended an eight-mile dozer line, making a containment line with bulldozers yesterday. Yesterday, the first time the 747 was used in California for a retardant line.
COLLINS: Wow.
TRIPP: So this coordinated attack, this major attack is starting to -- we're starting to see some progress in our strategy.
COLLINS: Wow, that is unbelievable, talking about a 747 being up there. What exactly are you telling residents? Obviously, a whole lot of people have been evacuated. You've got to get them out of harm's way. What about those who are sort of on the fire's edge? How are you in contact with them?
TRIPP: Well, first of all, we're telling people to stay in tune with the media, we use you, you're our partner, to get the word out about when -- about the threat of the fire. But there's also -- they have to be ready with their wildland action plan.
COLLINS: Yes. Let's talk about that.
TRIPP: All the southern California fire departments...
COLLINS: Right. Let's talk about that, Chief, because...
TRIPP: All the southern...
COLLINS: I'm so sorry, because there's been a lot of talk about all of this underbrush. One of the main reasons why you're having such a difficult time fighting this because there is so much of it. There is some responsibility on the part of homeowners, right, to control some of that and keep their own homes safe?
TRIPP: Heidi, that's right. And that starts for a whole year of preparation. Southern California fire departments this year looked real hard at what happened in Australia and the amount of fatalities down there last spring. And we came up with a program called Ready, Set, Go.
Getting your house ready is to make sure you're clearing all the vegetation around your house. Not just the dead brush. One thing about the amount of vegetation around a home, it will all burn. It's lumber, it's wood. So it's clearing that so that when, if there is a fire, that radiant heat doesn't consume the home.
COLLINS: Right.
TRIPP: Next is being set and getting set and getting ready to go. That set is having that evacuation plan. Look at the P's - the prescriptions, the photographs, the personal documents, the pets, and having that plan.
And then go. Go before we tell you to go. Because if everyone waits when we tell them to go, everybody gets on the roads at the same time.
COLLINS: Right.
TRIPP: And then it becomes a traffic jam and people can get caught in their cars when the firestorm is coming at them. So, that's that plan we talked about, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Well, Deputy Chief John Tripp, we sure do appreciate your information this morning as we're talking about 100,000 acres now on fire and all of the hard work of your fellow firefighters. Certainly, our condolences as well, for losing two of them. Thank you so much. We appreciate your time this morning. Best of luck to you. To the south, thousands of people are being evacuated now from resorts and fishing villages in Baja, California. Hurricane Jimena just shy of being a category 5 storm could slam that Mexican peninsula as early as tonight.
Jacqui Jeras tracking its every move from our hurricane center. Jacqui, good morning.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, good morning, Heidi. Good morning, everybody.
Yes, this is really an incredible astronomer. Just about as bad as it gets in terms of intensity -- 155-mile-per-hour winds, has to be 156 or greater to be the big daddy of all hurricanes, a category five. And we're not too far away from it.
A lot of times you'll see great fluctuations in storm of this intensity. Tough to stay that strong this long. And so some weakening is going to be possible here before it makes landfall, which could happen even late tonight, but we still expect it to be a major storm.
Let's talk a little bit about some of the things that are going on. We've got some pictures that I want to show you about the evacuations that have been taking place here. About 10,000 people have been evacuated from the southern tip. This is not like the U.S. if you choose that you don't want to leave, you don't get that choice, actually.
They're forcing people to get out, which is actually a good idea, if they continue to make their preparations. Of course, there's always some surfers out there trying to get some of those big waves before the action. Hopefully all these guys have gotten out of there.
This is from yesterday. And you can see how those waves have already been increasing. And you know we're already starting to see some of those tropical storm force winds beginning to hit Baja, California and the Cabo San Lucas area.
Let's talk a little bit about location. If you're not familiar with this area, you know, the resort areas, certainly Cabo, right there on the tip. And then also you've heard of Mazatlan, probably.
COLLINS: Yes.
JERAS: And also Puerto Vallarta. This is going to be moving off to the west of there right now, it's our best estimate. So it's a fairly unpopulated area, but certainly an incredibly powerful storm. Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes. Wow. All right, Jacqui, you let us know if we need to come back to you. Thanks so much.
Iran apparently ready now to talk. This just in to CNN, in fact. Iranian state TV says the government has updated the stance on its nuclear program and will present it to several Security Council nations tomorrow in Germany.
Iran will meet with representatives of the five nations that have veto power in the Security Council. They are United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom. We will have more on this story coming up in about 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, searchers find a bone fragment near Phillip Garrido's home. It could be connected to a cold case, perhaps? The investigation expands into a man suspected of keeping an 11-year-old captive for 18 years.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The sex offender suspected in the kidnapping and rape of Jaycee Dugard is being investigated for links to unsolved crimes. Dugard was kidnapped 18 years ago when she was 11. Authorities say Phillip Garrido held her captive until last week.
Law enforcement agencies have been searching Garrido's and a neighbor's property. And yesterday, announced a discovery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY LEE, CONTRA COSTA CO. SHERIFF'S OFFICE: One bone fragment was found. It was found on the neighbor's property at 1540. It was a small bone fragment and, as you know, Phillip Garrido had access to that property and we know that he used that property. And it looks like he lived on a shed there. So we're taking that bone back for further examination. We don't know if it's human or animal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: CNN's Kara Finnstrom is joining us now live from Antioch, California, with more on this story.
So, Kara, how extensive was this search?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, late yesterday, police announced that at least for now, they have suspended the search, they've completed it, but it did appear to be a pretty extensive search of the Garrido property, which is just behind me here.
It went on for the better part of four days. Police searching the property with cadaver dogs, carting away trailerloads of evidence. They also searched a property next door, as you mentioned.
This was vacant for some time and Garrido actually served as a caretaker of it. So that's why they searched that property and that's actually where they found that bone fragment you referred to.
You may be able to see some of those red flags on the property just behind me. They've actually determined that this property is unfit to live in, and that may be due, in part, to the fact that they literally tore into this property as they were searching for evidence. You can hear the chainsaws and the power tools from the streets. COLLINS: Wow. There's, in fact -- the other possibility that other missing children cases have actually been tie to this same suspect, right?
FINNSTROM: Heidi, they're actually looking into a number of unsolved crimes, including a string of murders in the 1990s. Those victims were prostitutes. Some of the bodies were found near a park where Garrido worked. So that's why they're looking into that.
And then there are two cases of children, two young girls who vanished back in the 1980s. One of them was 9 at the time. Her name was Michaela Garecht. Police are interested in this case. She disappeared about 20 miles away from here in Hayward.
Because, for one thing, these two young girls had striking physical similarities. They also say a sketch of the suspect in that case looks a lot like Garrido. We did talk to the mother of little Michaela Garecht, who was just -- again, was 9 when she disappeared, and she said that as soon as she heard that Jaycee Dugard had been found, she had some hopes that possibly Garrido could be linked to her daughter's disappearance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARON MURCH, MICHAELA GARECHT'S MOTHER: There have been a lot of similarities between the cases over the years. And the method of kidnapping was the same. They were both dragged into cars. The description of the cars was very similar. The girls looked very much like each other.
There have been points in the past where the investigations have crossed with the same suspects. So -- and Jaycee was found very close to home here. So it was just my hope that Michaela would be there with her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINNSTROM: Also, in Dublin, California, that's about 25 miles away from here, investigators looking into the disappearance of Eileen Mishlove. She was 13 when she disappeared.
Heidi, these cases, you know, obviously, very early on in the investigation of other potential cases linked to him.
COLLINS: Yes.
FINNSTROM: But because there's been so much criticism of the fact that clues were possibly missed early on that could have led investigators to Jaycee Dugard earlier, as you can imagine, they're really going to follow up on every lead.
COLLINS: Yes. Understood. All right, Kara Finnstrom, for us, Antioch, California, this morning. Thanks so much, Kara.
In November of 1976, Phillip Garrido asked a woman for a ride in a supermarket parking lot. He handcuffed and bound her and took her to a mini warehouse where he raped her. That woman, Katie Callaway Hall, appeared on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night and talked about the shock she felt when she heard of Garrido's latest arrest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST: How did you find out that the man who went to prison for this kidnapping raped you -- how did you put the two together?
KATIE CALLAWAY HALL, VICTIM OF PHILLIP GARRIDO: I actually heard it on CNN. I was coming downstairs to feed my dog and it was on the television and I happened to walk in front of the television and heard the name.
KING: All you needed was the name?
HALL: All I need was a name.
KING: What went through you?
HALL: I screamed. I started screaming, oh, my god, oh, my god. It's him. He's the one who kidnapped me.
KING: Did you live in fear of him all these years?
HALL: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Garrido was convicted for kidnapping and raping Hall. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison, but released after serving just over 10 years. He was placed on lifetime parole as a sex offender.
Fighting the H1N1 virus this year. Can we count on our nation's hospitals to be ready for a potential outbreak?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Fast-moving flames and thick smoke. What's being called a very angry fire is racing through the canyons north of Los Angeles. New pictures from overnight show it is nowhere near contained. More than 50 homes have burned, up to 12,000 more are threatened.
It will be January before Massachusetts voters get a chance to choose a successor to the late senator Ted Kennedy. But some state lawmakers are pushing to change state law now, allowing Governor Deval Patrick to name a temporary replacement. A public hearing is set for next week.
A sobering statistic. One in 10 people, binge drinkers, that is, end up behind the wheel. Researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say half of them have had five or more drinks. They say bars and nightclub need to make more of an effort to stop serving people who are intoxicated. In fact, while we are on the subject of drinking, there's a really good discussion going on right now on our blog. In fact, we asked yesterday whether you thought that legal drinking age should be changed from 21 to 18, whether or not it should be lowered.
A ton of responses, in fact, more than we've ever gotten on our blog here in the CNN NEWSROOM. So I want to go ahead and read just a couple more to you quickly here, if I can find them over on the "Heidi Mac."
All right. Here. This one says, from Hillary, "Yes, I believe that the legal age should be lowered to 18. By lowering the drinking age, it will remove the appeal to drink to young people. In many European nations, they do not have the problems with drinking that our youth does and their drinking age is much lower than ours."
And this one from Billy, "No, it should not be lowered. As a legal age of 21, 99 percent of 18-year-olds drink and law enforcement, schools and parents do nothing to limit it. If the legal age were lowered to 18, then the same thing would be happening with all the 15- year-olds."
So just a couple of responses that we had gotten on our blog. Again, the most we've ever gotten here so we want to share with you. You can always weigh in, CNN.com/heidi.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: President Obama is meeting today with Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius and other top officials to talk about H1N1, swine flu.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks with Secretary Sebelius about how prepared our hospitals are in case of an H1N1 swine flu outbreak.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So where are we here?
GUPTA (voice-over): In the nation's capital, Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius and I toured the Washington Hospital Center's Ready Room. This is the place where people with H1N1 would most likely be brought for treatment.
(On camera): We're in the -- in a hospital and obviously, this is a...
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HHS SECRETARY: Yes.
GUPTA: ... area that the people may have to visit if they get sick with the flu.
SEBELIUS: That's right.
GUPTA: Do we have enough beds, ventilators, resources to take care of a potential outbreak or pandemic?
SEBELIUS: Well, I think that we have been working, not just since I became secretary of HHS, but working over the last five or six years on emergency preparedness, on hypothetical pandemics. So that's very good news for the American people. We're currently inventorying the respirator stockpile and trying to identify all of the respirators that are in this country.
GUPTA (voice-over): The worry is this -- the need for hospital resources could outweigh their availability. But Sebelius says hospitals have received nearly $3 billion over the last five years to ramp up capacity to deal with a virus or any other emergencies.
(On camera): If there's up to 1 million people who need ventilators and respirators and there's about 60,000 or so intensive care unit beds, the math just doesn't add up. You have rooms like this, but is it going to be enough to be able to take care of all these patients?
SEBELIUS: Well, I think that's one of the challenges. You know, ideally, everybody doesn't get sick at the same time and everybody doesn't need care at the same time. We don't know how this outbreak will look. It's unlikely to be evenly spread throughout the country, evenly presented throughout the country.
So being able to not only identify where things are, but move them quickly, get the assets to where the -- you know, the outbreaks present is one of the mapping strategies that we're engaged in right now.
GUPTA (voice-over): So to find out how ready this hospital might be, I went to the head of the Emergency Department.
(On camera): Do you feel, based on what you're hearing, that you'd be able to handle as many patients as there might be?
DR. BILL FROHANA, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: Given the early predictions, I think we're in a good spot. You know we could always do better.
GUPTA (voice-over): And the American Hospital Association says hospitals are in good shape for H1N1 and they do have emergency plans in place. But some experts say if even half the projected cases materialize, it could overwhelm the medical system.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here now with us. So, Sanjay, with so many people expected to be hospitalized, is it something that we should be talking about as far as the doctors and nurses, too? I mean should they be getting vaccinated?
GUPTA: That's a great question. Here's something maybe you didn't know is that health care professionals are notorious at not getting their flu shots. On average, only about 40 percent do. So, you know, practice what you preach, to some extent. COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: But it's more than that, because, you know, they're sort of the cocoon, if you will, of immunity. The front line workers, they take care of people who are infected. So in order to keep it from becoming more infected, they've got to get the vaccine shot.
That hospital that you just saw.
COLLINS: Right.
GUPTA: They're actually going to make it mandatory in the hospital that health care workers...
COLLINS: Why don't they do that everywhere?
GUPTA: Well, you know, this is a question I asked Kathleen Sebelius as well, the secretary of health, and she said, you know, we're in the there. We haven't had a mandatory vaccine program in a very long time and she says, you know, for the most part, we think that people are going to get the vaccine that need it, but you know, who knows? We'll see how this plays out.
I will tell you this. The overwhelming sort of thing that she was sort of stressing to me was that there is some good news here. There is a lot of preparedness that's going on already. So she seemed optimistic about how the fall will play out.
COLLINS: Now they just need to get that vaccine on the market.
GUPTA: That's right.
COLLINS: Right? Yes.
GUPTA: Mid-October.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes.
GUPTA: OK.
COLLINS: All right, we're watching that closely. Dr. Sanjay, Gupta, thanks for that. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Let's quick get you an update now on the wildfire burning out of control in southern California. More than 100,000 acres have now burned north of Los Angeles. The fire has destroyed 53 structures so far and that number is expected to grow.
Mandatory evacuation notices are in effect for 10,000 homes. More residents have followed those orders, even though some people have chosen to stay behind. It is a new day and a new month, but will it be a new beginning on Wall Street? Stocks retreated a bit yesterday as worries about the economy took over. So what is in store for today?
Hey, Stephanie Elam is joining us now. It's the first day of the month. What do you think, Stephanie, a good day?
(LAUGHTER)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, it's probably not going to start off that way. You know we may change months, but those same worries are alive on Wall Street. Today we're going to get a look at how the economy is doing and the expectations really are high at this point.
At the top of the hour, pending home sales are expected to rise in July. It would mark the sixth increase in a row and a sign, that would be, that the housing market is stabilizing. Meanwhile, manufacturing activity is expected to pick up last month or the first time in a year and a half.
And automakers will report their August sales figures throughout the day. We should see some improvement there as the government's Cash for Clunkers program likely gave sales a boost.
"The Wall Street Journal" says Bank of America is offering to repay part of its bailout money. B of A wants to start by repaying $20 billion. The bank was one of the biggest recipients of TARP funds receiving $45 billion.
Now rivals JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and others have already paid back the government.
And in other news, eBay is looking to sell some of its assets. The company reportedly wants to sell its Skype Internet phone unit to a group of private investors; eBay is looking to get about $2 billion for Skype. So now, as I was promising, Heidi, we're looking at the numbers and we are off into the red right now.
The Dow up 27 points, 9468, the NASDAQ off 7 points, 2001. The S&P 500 off a quarter of a percent in the early going here. So right now, not looking like September's going to be a rosy one.
COLLINS: Yes.
ELAM: But keep in mind, this month is historically a bad one for stocks. So -- and...
COLLINS: OK.
ELAM: This was -- a year ago, this is when all the madness started as well. So we'll have to see how it is a year later.
COLLINS: Yes. All right, very good, Stephanie. We'll be watching. Thank you. A community living in fear after a brutal mass murder. Will the FBI help a small Georgia town catch a killer on the loose? Or do the police already have their man?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: More on our developing story out of Iran. Tehran has updated its position on the country's nuclear program and they plan to present it to several Security Council nations tomorrow in Germany.
CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has more on this story now coming to us live from New York.
So, Christiane, what exactly does this mean? What can we expect to hear here?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, today, for the first time in a long time, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, also the head of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, spoke to reporters and said he hopes for a new round of talks. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAEED JALILI, IRAN'S CHIEF NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR: The package offered by the Islamic Republic of Iran is updated and ready to be presented. We hope a new round of talks will be held to help us make a world full of progress, justice and peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Now, Saeed Jalili's comments were lacking in specifics and nobody quite knows exactly what is in this new updated package or whether indeed it will contain anything that deals with the issue of uranium enrichment. Iran still insists that it will continue uranium enrichment, saying that it's for peaceful purposes, although the West expects that it may be diverting some for nuclear weapons.
But Iran, in its last proposal to the international community about a year ago, said that it wanted to provide greater reassurance to the West, greater security and sort of precautions that we can actually check more into its nuclear program and indeed also that it would talk to the West about things like combating terrorism, combating drugs and other things around the world.
That was in a letter to the U.N. Security Council -- UN General Security Council chief last year.
So these are updates. We're still not sure exactly what it means, but it does come one day ahead of planned talks between the five permanent members of the Security Council in Germany on this proposal.
COLLINS: Right. OK. Well, we know you'll be covering it closely and let us know what comes of it. Sure do appreciate that, our senior international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. Thanks, Christiane.
Eight people murdered, one survivor in critical condition, no suspects. A community on edge and anxious to get some answers. The brutal mass murders happened in a small town 300 miles from Atlanta.
CNN's Sean Callebs is joining us now live from Glynn County.
Sean, what is the feeling there? I imagine people are pretty tense.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think that people are certainly feeling a sense of frustration just because they don't know exactly what is going on.
Authorities are offering no possible suspects, no possible motive, although they just, within the last half hour or so, released the identity of the eight victims who were found Saturday night. They include a father, four of his children, an uncle and two family friends. And the one survivor in the -- in the brutal beating was a 3-year-old who remains in a local hospital.
The grisly scene was found by 22-year-old Guy Heinze Jr. who called 911 and basically said, "my whole family is dead." A little bit later, Heinze Jr. was charged with drug possession and also tampering with evidence. But all indications, he is cooperating with authorities.
But as you mentioned, this community is on edge. There's a sense of frustration that police are not saying more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're cautious. We're not trying to be afraid. And one of the reasons for it is our customers. Of course, we don't want our customers to come in the parking lot. And so we're just being very cautious at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're telling people to be cautious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not knowing, no motives, nobody who -- no nothing about nothing. Somebody knew something. But we don't know -- I hope and pray that they find who did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Now, authorities are also waiting for an autopsy, but in the 911 call, Heinze told authorities it appeared the victims had been beaten to death and authorities describe the scene as simply horrific - Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, there is supposed to be a news conference at 3:00 today I think, isn't that right, Sean, but now we hear that's been canceled?
CALLEBS: Yes. We just got that word as well in the last half hour. We don't know if that's any indication that they're moving forward in the case or they simply have no new information. They don't want to stand out here again for the second day and say, we can't tell you anything, because that is what is breeding frustration here in this coastal area.
COLLINS: Yes, no question about it. All right. Sean Callebs, sure do appreciate that. Thank you.
It is huge, it is powerful and it is bearing down on the Baja California Peninsula. Emergency crews are frantically trying to evacuate thousands of people before the hurricane hits.
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COLLINS: Authorities will try to determine today whether a bone fragment found near Phillip Garrido's home is human and whether it connects him to any crime. Garrido is facing 29 felony counts in connection with the alleged kidnapping, imprisonment, and rape of Jaycee Dugard. The now-29-year-old Dugard had been missing since she was 11.
Midnight marriages taking place in Vermont overnight. The state's same-sex marriage law officially went into effect at the stroke of midnight. Some people just couldn't wait to tie the knot. Vermont is one of five states allowing same-sex marriages. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa are the others.
A new study says communities should do more to prevent childhood obesity. The Institute of Medicine says building bike and walking paths, or attracting health food franchises are the first steps toward curbing the rise in obesity rates. Right now, around 18 percent of young people are considered obese.
Must sell now. It's got a beachfront view, beautiful hardwood floors, and the owner was recently sentenced to 150 years in prison. It's Bernie Madoff's hideaway. And you might be able to get it for a steal.
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COLLINS: Starting today, many robocalls from telemarketers will be illegal, but there are lots of other ways that telemarketers can still annoy you.
Personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here now with how you can tune out and reduce the solicitations.
Gerri, I must get 100 a day. Everybody hates these calls.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: I know.
COLLINS: What can we do? I mean, caller I.D. helps, because I guess you just don't answer, but then the phone rings incessantly.
WILLIS: I know. It's always somebody, right?
Look, as you mentioned, businesses that try to sell products with automated unsolicited calls will face fines of $16,000 per call. But as you said it's not just automated calls that disturb your dinner. Put your name on a do not call list by going to donotcall.gov or you can call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone number you want to register. That's critical.
Keep in mind that nonprofits, polling groups, charities, political organizations are excluded from the do-not-call list and can still call you. You'll also continue to get calls if you bought something from that company. And if you're still getting robocalls or calls from telemarketers that violate the do-not-call registry, get them in trouble. Call the FTC at 1-877-ftc-help.
COLLINS: I'm ready. I'm ready to get them all in trouble.
(CROSSTALK)
Speaking of annoying things, I don't like when I get a bunch of junk mail either.
How do I cut down on that?
WILLIS: Let's cut on that, too. You obviously get an avalanche of mail, opt out of receiving these offers. The Fair Credit and Reporting Act will help you. You can go to optoutprescreen.com. They have a number, too, 1-888-5-OPTOUT. Keep in mind, if you already have a credit card with a particular company, if you have a visa or a MasterCard, you'll still get offers from them. But another way to cut down on those offers, don't give out your zip code went you're asked by a cashier at a retail store.
COLLINS: I never do.
WILLIS: That goes everywhere.
COLLINS: I would tell them...
WILLIS: Good move.
COLLINS: ...I can't or I don't know it, or something. Then they just think I'm stupid.
So what about computer spam, because I get a whole lot of that, too.
WILLIS: Oh, yes. Junk e-mail messages from people you don't know. These days our inboxes are practically overflowing with bogus messages. To cut down on the spam, use a different e-mail account for buying products online. Keep your preferred e-mail address for personal use between friends and family. And then you create this new e-mail account with somebody like Hotmail or Yahoo! for when you're buying online. Don't make that personal e-mail address public, and don't write your e-mail address on paper forms. When companies ask you for an address, not only will they spend you spam, but your address may even be sold to a third party. So you've got to protect that as well.
COLLINS: Yes. Very good.
All right, some good tips. Appreciate that. Our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Thank you.
WILLIS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Staying in power isn't very easy in Africa where coups almost seem as common as elections. But one man has managed to stay on top in Libya for 40 years. Today, the country is celebrating.
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COLLINS: Voices of celebration in Libya. Exactly 40 years ago today, military officers overthrew Libya's king. The leader of that group was a 27-year-old Moammar Gadhafi. In the 40 years since, attitudes between Gadhafi and the West have changed quite a bit.
Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live for us this morning in Tripoli, Libya.
Nic, what are we expecting to see there today?
Nic, not sure if you can hear me. If you can, we're hoping to find a little bit more about what we are expecting to see today as people in the country of Libya sort of celebrate these 40 years.
I think that Nic is not able to hear me. So we will check there...
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Heidi, good morning.
COLLINS: Oh, there we go.
ROBERTSON: Right now behind me is Green Square. This is in the middle of Tripoli. It's been turned into a parade ground today. We're expecting Moammar Gadhafi...
That's right. Well, what you're seeing behind me is Green Square. So, Heidi, I don't know if you're able to hear me now, but what you see behind me is Green Square in the heart of Tripoli. This has been turned into parade ground. We're looking at the stage behind me here. This is where we're expecting Moammar Gadhafi to arrive in just a few minutes time for a huge military parade. We saw, we believe, Raul Castro come in and sit down on the stage. Hugo Chavez is in the country, the leader of Venezuela. Robert Mugabe, the leader of Zimbabwe is here. President Bashir from Sudan is here, along with a lot of other world leaders.
And they're going to watch the Libyan military march. We've seen fighter jets flying overhead. There's going to be flight pass today as well. The pilot has been flying low over here going straight up in the air. A lot of sirens going off around here. Security beginning to tighten because this parade is going to be the centerpiece for a day of national celebration. Tonight, there will be huge theater performances, videos commemorating the past 40 years during the revolution, and plays commemorating the past 5,000 years of Libya's existence. So a national holiday and a huge day, and a day when President -- Col. Moammar Gadhafi can really feel that he has a lot of friends, because there are a lot of world leaders coming here to support him today.
COLLINS: All right. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson there for us in Tripoli.
Very difficult sometimes to get those live shots in as you would image from so far away. So we will continue to follow the story throughout the day right here on CNN.
Pleading with the Iranian government for word about their loved ones. Family members of three Americans detained in Iran are still waiting for any update in their case. The three were arrested while hiking in July after they apparently wandered over the Iraq border to Iran. But what were they doing there in the first place?
The mother of one of the hikers explained to AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NORA SHOURD, MOTHER OF SARAH SHOURD: Even though it may seem, here, like it's not the most normal place to go, in the Middle East, it is a very normal place to go. If you lived in Damascus, it would be a place you would want to go for a vacation. It's a beautiful place, and Damascus is really hot this time of year, so -- and they're all hikers, they all love being outdoors. So, you know, Sarah had a week off. It's kind of normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The families are asking Iran to allow Swiss negotiators in to see the hikers.
There's an awful lot going on this morning in the NEWSROOM, and our CNN correspondents are ready to break it all down for you.
Let's go ahead and begin with Reynolds Wolf on the firelines in California - Reynolds.
WOLF: Heidi, over 120,000 acres scorched, only five percent contained and it's still burning. We'll bring you the very latest from Southern California right here on CNN.
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kara Finnstrom in Antioch, where the search of suspect Phillip Garrido's property is now over, but the police investigation is expanding with investigators looking in whether he could be linked to the disappearance of other young girls.
JERAS: And I'm CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras near hurricane headquarters. Hurricane Jimena is now about 150 miles away from the coast of Baja, California. Find out about this powerful hurricane and something else that's brewing in the Atlantic.
COLLINS: Wow. All right. Thanks, guys, very much.
Also, we're going to look at rehabilitation of Wikipedia. A source of a lot of information on the Internet that's working to improve its reliability now. Watch for the color-coding.
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COLLINS: Want to buy Bernie Madoff's beach house? Well, your chance is here.
Our Christine Romans is joining us now live from New York with more on this.
So, Christine, the U.S. government sort of boxing up Madoff's possessions, getting ready to sell his assets. And we have a first look at his beach house now.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We do, Heidi. And it may be the only real legitimate investment that paid off that Bernie Madoff made. He bought this house for $250,000 back in 1980. The U.S. marshals said they want to get $7 million for it. It is a beachfront cottage in Montauk on Long Island. But see for yourself for micro-countertops in the kitchen, smallish bedrooms.
COLLINS: Really?
ROMANS: Kind of an unshaped sectional couch. You watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROLAND UBALDO, SUPERVISORY DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL: What we have here is a four-bedroom, three-bath house. The living room, the kitchen and the master bedroom all own a view of the ocean. From the master bedroom leads out to a porch over here with an amazing view. Left to right nothing but ocean shoreline. The market value is $7 million. And that's what we're looking for.
What we gain from the sale of this house is going directly to restitution for the victims. All of the personal property will go to an auctioneer and be auctioned off. And I'm talking about from chinaware, to silverware, to the rocking chair that Ruth Madoff may have sat on while reading a book, watches the waves roll in, to the desk that Bernard Madoff used here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It's on an acre and a half on a bluff above the beach with all those beachfront views. And it's 150 feet from the shoreline, Heidi. Something you can't do anymore. You can't build that close to the shore anymore. So that might be one of the reasons why it's more valuable. Again, the location is stunning. But this is, you know, by no means lavish along the lines of a multibillion dollar Ponzi fraudster. But there is a look inside of the cottage. $7 million.
I'm sure there are people who are going $7 million for that?
COLLINS: For that?
Formica?
ROMANS: Location, location, location.
COLLINS: Yes, well, absolutely. I know there's also some nervousness from charities who are learning that they might be forced now to turn money over to the Madoff trustee.
What's that about?
ROMANS: Well, it's interesting. Because here this house is part of $22 million in property that's going to be sold over coming weeks and months, and all of the belongings. And it will be divided up among the victims. But the trustee, Irving Piccard, he confirmed to us today that he is looking at the charities and the investors, that the charities case by case, Heidi, to see if maybe, if they took out more money over the years from their Madoff investments than they ever actually put in, they may actually have to owe the big pool of restitution. Think of that.
All of these years, you know, taking money out of your Madoff investments, and in the end to be told, you might have to pay some money back. So there's nervousness this morning.
That's right.
I mean, think about it, some people maybe put in $1 million dollars, took a 10 percent out every year in their interest...
COLLINS: Yes.
ROMANS: As years passed, you might have taken out more than you ever put in in the first place.
COLLINS: All right. Christine Romans following that story for us.
ROMANS: Sure.
COLLINS: Thank you, Christine.
ROMANS: Are you going to bid on it, Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes. Sure. When they change it for Mica (ph).
Here are some of the other stories we are watching right now.
This woman is under arrest for her alleged part in a major identity theft ring. Authorities say it's the same group that stole the identity of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's wife. Police Shonya Michelle Young would impersonate the victims using fraudulent I.D.s and credit cards.
Kansas getting ready to gamble. They'll become the first state to own their own casino when they open up later this year in Dodge City. Now Dodge City is where the TV show "Gunsmoke" was set. They're hoping the money from the casino will help offset big budget shortfalls.
The former Miss California USA is filing suit against the pageant officials who took her crown. Carrie Prejean is accusing them of libel, slander and religious discrimination. She says she was stripped of the title for talking about her opposition to same-sex marriage. Pageant officials said she was fired for missing public appearances.
