Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Utter Obliteration; Immigration Law Rally; Coal Miner Memorial Today

Aired April 25, 2010 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome to a special edition of the CNN NEWSROOM. You're about to see live pictures right now, actually, out of Beckley, West Virginia.

This is where a memorial service will be taking place this hour for the 29 people killed in this month's coal mine explosion. The worst U.S. mine disaster in 40 years.

President Barack Obama is delivering the eulogy. He will be momentarily. We will be joining that eulogy as it happens roughly about 30 minutes from now and bring that to you live.

And of course the president will also be meeting with family members of those miners who were killed in that explosion.

The other major story we're following for you, this hour tornado devastation in the south. Mississippi's governor calls it, quote, "utter obliteration" in some places including his hometown of Yazoo City.

Alabama was also hit hard and fast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK ELLIS, ALBERTVILLE, ALABAMA CITY COUNCIL: Talked to my dad on the phone. He said, son, they say it's coming right downtown. Just as he said that, it lightened off in the distance and I could see the wall cloud and I could see the funnel cloud drop down. And I said, dad, it's not -- you know it is coming through downtown.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Here's what's happening right now as a result of that severe weather. Rescue crews are out in force across Mississippi after a mile-wide twister tore through that state yesterday. At least 10 people are confirmed dead including three children.

A tornado also touched down in northern Alabama. Part of a huge band of storms that stretched from Missouri all the way to the Florida panhandle.

And of course CNN correspondents are on the scene in so many different locations. Our Ed Lavandera is in Choctaw County, Mississippi. Richard Lui is in Albertville, Alabama. And of course our Jacqui Jeras is here in the Severe Weather Center tracking all of this nasty weather that has swept across the country this weekend.

Let's get started with Ed Lavandera. He's actually joining us on the phone now in Choctaw County.

You're seeing the worst of the damage where you are, Ed. You've been hiking through Mississippi really trying to traverse this state that was hit so hard by this tornado. Give me an idea what you're witnessing.

All right. Therein lies part of the problem. The devastation that has hit much of the southeast, communication is spotty, very difficult to get confirmation sometimes of being able to reach out to people.

We'll try to reach back out to our Ed Lavandera momentarily when we can. Meantime, let's go to Albertville, Alabama where we find our Richard Lui there. The devastation is quite widespread there as well.

Richard, give us an idea.

RICHARD LUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. You talked about utilities and difficulties there. Surely that is the case here in Albertville where electricity still not in many of the homes that were hit overnight.

We're right in the center here of downtown Albertville. About a three by five mile area, 15 square miles where they believe most of the damage is. That's where officials are really zoning in on.

And right behind me you can see some of the damage. This house over here to my right, the rear part of the roof has been torn off. This carport is down here. And the back part of this entire building here, gone.

Now if you look down this road right now, it is clear. But last night it was absolutely filled with brush and trees and remnants from the houses that were hit by this storm. But they came through around 3:00 a.m. and they were able to clear out the entire road.

One of the residents here, which is Frances Willisson. She was in her house when it did happen.

And tell us how you learned about the storm coming through.

FRANCES WILLISSON, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Well, they said that the storm was coming through about 10:15, 10:20, whatever. And so at 10:00 I thought this is not going to be any more than what the other one was. So I just went upstairs and went to bed.

And I evidently went right to sleep. But about 10:25 I heard a very large boom. And I woke up. And the girl that stays with my aunt had already called me once before. And she said let's go downstairs.

Well, my aunt's 82. She had dementia. She did not want to go downstairs. So we got her downstairs finally. But when we were coming down the steps you could hear the air being sucked out of the house. It sounded like a real heavy wheezing, that sort of thing. Ad we went in the den. And we just waited for it to pass. You know you sit by the plate glass window, that sort of thing. So that was -- but we really didn't know it was a tornado.

Amber that stays with my aunt was going to go check on her children because she stays with Jane from 7:00 to 7:00. And when she went out the back door, she said, oh, my gosh. And I went out and looked. And I -- and that's when we saw that the streetscape had totally changed.

LUI: Frances, thank you so much and I'm glad you made out OK.

And actually, Frances was telling me earlier here, Fred, that she had just had three of her trees cut down here right behind me from 19 down to 16. As you can see she only has three left now standing. Whether she actually needed to have them cut down the day before, maybe not in this case.

WHITFIELD: Richard Lui, thanks so much in Albertville, Alabama.

Let's try this again, go back to Choctaw County, Mississippi, one of the hardest hit from this storm. And Ed Lavandera we think is on the phone with us right now.

Ed, give me an idea what's happening where you are.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Hi, Fredricka. Well, we're in a small town of Ware, Mississippi which is in Choctaw County. And this is an area where five people were killed in this tornado yesterday.

And we are along a little street called White Grove where we believe that three of the youngest victims of this storm were killed yesterday. A 14-year-old girl, a 9-year-old girl and a 3-month-old baby girl as well.

We just pulled into the neighborhood trying to get a sense of how it all unfolded here yesterday. And what we're seeing are massive trees all splintered and shattered to pieces as well as dozens of homes.

It's a small country roads that we're on. But this is a heavily devastated area with a very tragic unfolding here as three of the youngest victims were killed in the area where I am right now -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ed. And what about these three children among the 10 killed in that state? What's your understanding about how that family's doing?

LAVANDERA: Well, we understand that the -- the 14 and the 9-year-old girls were sisters. And that their parents are being treated in hospitals as we speak. The mother of the 3-month-old baby girl, we understand, is a 24-year-old girl who survived.

And they're -- so we're actually just pulling up to the location where all of this unfolded yesterday. So we're kind of beginning the process of talking to folks and family and friends that knew them well.

WHITFIELD: Ed Lavandera, thanks so much from Choctaw County, Mississippi. Appreciate that.

Let's check out in with our Jacqui Jeras in the Severe Weather Center.

So we know this was one big nasty system. Is it still producing severe weather elsewhere?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. It doesn't hold quite the punch that it had yesterday, Fredricka. But we still do have the threat of tornadoes. We don't expect those of EF 3 or greater tornadoes that we see on the ground for a long period of time but we could see weaker tornadoes that still can produce a lot of damage and can be life threatening.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, just in time, as always, right? Jacqui Jeras, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Momentarily we're going to take you back to Beckley, West Virginia. Live pictures right now. This is the place where a memorial service will be under way for the 29 miners who were killed in that explosion earlier this month.

President Barack Obama meeting with family members of those victims, and he will be delivering the eulogy as well. And we'll take that live.

Also coming up, a new Arizona law continues to generate heated controversy. We'll have a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. Live pictures right now out of Arizona where demonstrators are apparently staging a rally against that new immigration law.

Governor Jan Brewer signed it just two days ago. And it requires police to question people they suspect of being illegal immigrants. And it requires legal immigrants to carry registration documents at all times as well.

You're looking at aerial views there coming out of Phoenix. On the ground we understand a number of people have converged for these protests or organized gatherings. Many Arizona Latinos actually fearing this new law will lead to racial profiling.

And CNN's Casey Wian has been talking to a number of people. He's joining us right now from Phoenix.

Give me an idea, the sentiment, what people are saying and how they feel that they can perhaps make an impact on this new law.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, we've had a festive atmosphere out here outside the Arizona state capital this morning. We've got lots of angry protests for several days. We've got now a couple thousand people who have joined together here to denounce this law. They believe it will lead to racial profiling in Arizona.

We had music this morning. But I have to say it's been really a festive atmosphere. The anger of the last few days has really turned into sort of a cooperative spirit, if you will, by these folks who say they want to work against this law.

Now what they're concerned about mostly is one of the law's most controversial provisions. And that is, that it would require police who have reasonable suspicion that someone is in the country illegally to check the immigration status of the person.

Now it does not allow police to pull over anyone who appears to be Latino or a certain nationality without some sort of other reason to contact that person. But it is very clear that these opponents of the bill do not believe that police will abide by that.

Let's listen to what some had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE ACOSTA, PROTESTER: What is reasonable suspicion? I mean are we going to get pulled over just for a broken taillight? Or just because of the color of our skin? And if so, is everybody going to get stopped? White people? You know, are they going to be looking for Europeans as well? Or is it just the brown people?

WIAN: What do you have to say to those concerns?

CHIEF JOE MARTINEZ, KEARNY, ARIZONA POLICE: They're really -- they're really unfounded. The Arizona law enforcement community is made up of many Hispanics. And the state of Arizona has a very high Hispanic population.

We've never had a policy of racial profiling. In fact, quite the contrary. It's been -- it's been outlawed.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: Now we're not going to know how this is all going to play out in the streets for another 90 days or perhaps even more than that, late July, early August. That's when this law will actually take effect. Ninety days after the current legislative session.

Opponents of the law say they're going to continue to work against it. There already are plans for lawsuits to be filed, just trying to stop this law. We're not sure if it's even going to go into effect.

But there will be a march over to a church here in Phoenix, Arizona later this afternoon. Folks will be praying for, I guess, divine intervention to overturn this law. For right now things are very peaceful and very festive.

Back to you, Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right, Casey Wian, thanks so much, from Phoenix. Appreciate that.

Momentarily we're going to take you back to Beckley, West Virginia where soon a memorial service will get under way. We understand the location where this service is to take place, people are beginning to file in.

And we also understand the president of the United States ahead of his eulogy that he'll be delivering, he is meeting with family members of those 29 miners who died from that explosion.

You're taking a look right now at the live image right now of that service to get under way in this hour. And of course, we'll be previewing it straight ahead and also taking you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Barack Obama delivers a eulogy this afternoon for the 29 victims of this month's coal mine disaster in West Virginia. He will be speaking at that memorial service that's just about to begin in Beckley, West Virginia.

We of course will take that live and bring it to you. Meantime, CNN's senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is traveling with the president, joining us now from Beckley.

So, Ed, what's the expectation as to what the president will be saying today?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it's a very poignant scene. Let me set that first. You may have seen that there are 29 very simple white crosses on stage right here on the podium where the president will speak.

We've seen that the families representing all 29 of the miners who perished have been given miners' hats and they'll be able to place a hat on each cross representing the loved ones who are lost.

We've gotten a preview of the president's remarks. When you ask what he'll say, among other things he'll say, quote, "We cannot bring back the 29 men we lost. They are with the Lord now. Our task here on earth is to save lives from being lost in another such tragedy. To do that, what must be done individually and collectively to assure safe conditions under ground."

Now on that safety issue, of course, the mining company, Massey, has come under heavy scrutiny in recent days for its safety record. But White House aides have said in advance of the president's eulogy that, of course, he is not going to be ripping the company here.

This is neither the time nor the place for that. There's ongoing investigations looking to the company, looking into the incident, what went wrong.

Even though this happened days, weeks ago, I can tell you, of course, emotions still very raw. I saw one very young girl who was walking with a stuffed animal in one hand and her other hand she was wiping away tears as family members consoled her.

Obviously this is about this community trying to come together and grieve together, and the president coming to show his respects -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And it's interesting, is it not, and very poignant, that the president is going to be there, will be delivering this eulogy? Because there has been a lot said about whether this community would have under other circumstances really embraced this president, particularly because of his approach on climate change and what many in the coal mining community believe to be a threat to their livelihood.

So how is he being received?

HENRY: Well, you're absolutely -- totally on point, Fred, because the president's environmental policies have upset people here in West Virginia who think that he's going to hurt the coal industry.

His motorcade just arrived a couple of moments ago and among the signs, one said, "God hates Obama." You can imagine, there are clearly as you noted some people in this community who are not big fans of this president to say the least.

Going back to the Democratic primaries against Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama lost badly. Deep double-digits against Hillary Clinton. And also lost to John McCain by a bad margin.

So he has a challenge here in general. But, of course, nobody is going to be talking about politics. There'll be some people on the sidelines who, as I mentioned, with some of the signs, maybe some protesters. But inside this convention center, you can bet, from the people I've seen filing in, they're certainly going to put politics aside.

This is about coming together for these miners. And this is clearly an opportunity for the president, as I noted, despite the fact that there are people here who as you noted might not normally welcome him here, to really show his respect for those miners who lost their lives -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And in the meantime, the president's journey to West Virginia comes after an interesting time spent in North Carolina and meeting with Reverend Billy Graham.

Give me an idea what took place in their meeting at the Graham household.

HENRY: Really fascinating because I've learned from Reverend Graham's office that while he is known as the pastor to presidents -- he's now met with 12 of them from Truman to Obama -- Barack Obama is actually the first sitting president to ever visit the Graham home in North Carolina. Richard Nixon also visited, but while he was a sitting vice president. It shows you that, again, this president trying to show respect to Reverend Graham who's 91 years old. We're told that when then candidate Obama in 2008 visited Asheville, which is about 20, 25 minutes away from Reverend Graham's home, he wanted to meet with him then.

The schedules didn't come together. It finally did today. And what I've learned from the meeting, from a spokesman for Reverend Graham, is that the president sort of opened up a little bit about his faith. Talked about the loneliness of the job sometimes. And at the end they prayed together.

The president praying for this 91-year-old spiritual leader who has been in difficult health in recent months and years, but then Reverend Graham concluded by giving President Obama two bibles. One for him, one for First Lady Michelle Obama, and basically prayed for him, his family and his administration, we're told, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ed Henry, thanks so much. We'll check back with you over the course of the next hour and a half or so out of Beckley, West Virginia. Thanks so much.

Of course the topic of conversation that dominated a lot of the Sunday talk shows today included what the president has on the front burner for this week. Financial reform among other things. We'll give you a preview of all the other topics that made the headlines on the Sunday morning shows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. Emergency crews and damage assessment teams are out in force today across south central Mississippi. They're looking for more victims and tallying up the costs from yesterday's deadly tornado.

At least 10 people including a 3-month-old baby were killed when the twister slammed across several counties. Dozens of people, of course, were injured as well.

And the death toll from a massive earthquake in southern China is rising. More than 2200 people died in the 6.9 magnitude quake which hit earlier this month. And dozens of people are still missing. Some 15,000 homes were destroyed and more than 100,000 people have fled their homes in the area.

And confirmation from al Qaeda that two of their senior leaders are dead. Last night an Islamic Web site called the deaths of Abu Ayyeb al-Masri and Abu Omar al Baghdadi a great loss.

The militants were killed earlier this month during a joint Iraq-U.S. operation near Tikrit. The U.S. military considers their deaths a potentially devastating blow to the terrorists.

And it's a day of mourning in West Virginia. President Obama is getting ready to deliver the eulogy at a memorial service of the victims of the April 5th coal mine disaster. Much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. You're hearing the sound now of the memorial service that's about to get under way for the 29 miners who were killed in that underground explosion earlier this month and the 29 white crosses and photographs also there inside this building to symbolize the lives lost.

President Barack Obama will be delivering the eulogy. He'll be arriving shortly after meeting with many of the family members of those 29 victims.

We'll take that live there in Beckley, West Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started seeing the spinning. And you could see the debris as it started spinning around in a circle. And I started hearing trees snap and telephone poles snap and power just went immediately out. And it pushed through here in just a matter of moments.

There's a lot of damage back towards the city. And, like I say, as a lifelong resident of Albertville, it's going to be a lot -- little harder to stomach at first, but we'll be able to pick up from this.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Albertville, Alabama, where, as you just heard, people are reeling from severe storms that spawned a tornado late last night. At least one mobile home park and homes were destroyed.

And earlier yesterday in neighboring Mississippi another tornado tore through that state, killing at least 10 people, three of them children. And right now rescue crews are out in force searching for more potential victims. Whole neighborhoods, entire neighborhoods were leveled and Governor Haley Barbour describes what he saw in his hometown of Yazoo City as utter obliteration.

The tornadoes were part of a massive band of storms that stretched from Missouri all the way to the Florida Panhandle. And we'll check in with meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in a few moments. She'll show us where the storm is right now.

All right. Let's go back now to Beckley, West Virginia, and we know now that momentarily president of the United States will be carrying out the eulogy there as this memorial service for the 29 victims of that underground mine explosion. That's also where we find our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, outside the hall where this will be under way momentarily.

People have already filled in this building and we're seeing pictures now of children who are singing as well -- Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And now part of the reason why there's a delay is that the president is meeting privately now with families of the 29 miners who died. And so, you know, while there are a lot of people in there, there's still a lot of key family members who are not there. And the president is going to take as much time as he needs.

That's obviously a lot of families to work his way through, pay his respects privately. That's, of course, closed to us in the media. The president's remarks will be open. We expect him to speak about 4:15 Eastern time, approximately. That was based on this starting, though, at 3:30. So that has been pushed back, of course.

I think also something to look for at the very beginning, once it gets started, we're going to see Governor Manchin welcome in not just the president, but Vice President Joe Biden is here as well. And then the first lady, Mrs. Manchin, is going to announce the 29 families, various family members to come into the hall.

And you see that there were white crosses -- 29 white crosses on this stage right near the podium where the president will speak. Each family member will get a miner's hat. And they'll be invited to come up, have at least one family member place a miner's hat on each one of those crosses to signify the fallen, of course, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. This is going to be a heartbreaking ceremony as I'm sure it already is for the family members who are there and loved ones. This is very powerful, close-knit coal mining community. Everyone feels like they have been hit hard by this, even if they did not lose an immediate loved one.

HENRY: You're right, Fred. I mean, I saw -- in addition to family members here, I saw some people wearing -- men wearing T-shirts that said that they were part of the rescue team. Of course, all of that played out on our air over many days where people were valiantly trying to save these lives and risking their own lives to do that. Some of those rescue team members are here.

Also, of course, you mentioned the families. I saw one little girl, she couldn't have been more than maybe 7 or 8 years old. She had a stuffed animal in one hand. Her other hand was wiping tears from her eyes as she walked in. Family members were consoling her. Just one story of so many when you see 29 who perished.

Each one, I remember my colleague John Roberts doing a story on one woman who had, you know, a husband, a son, multiple family members who perished. And it's such a tragedy and this is a way of life here.

And the president, in the remarks we've seen already, a teaser of them, really is going to talk about how much mail has flooded into the White House from various mining families around the country reacting to this and urging the president to make sure that safety is stepped up, for example, so that this doesn't happen again -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so while he will be talking about this collective grief that the entire country is feeling for these 29 lives lost, will he go into detail, as far as you know, about how to step up security, how to prevent another loss on this kind of scale? HENRY: He will go into great detail. Let me read real quick something that the president will say. It's more of a broad brush, of course, for a eulogy. He will say, quote: "We cannot bring back the 29 men we lost. They are with the lord now. Our task here on Earth is to save lives from being lost in another such tragedy. To do what must be done individually and collectively to assure safe conditions underground."

And so he's keeping it very general. White House aides in advance have been saying that's in part because this is not the time to go after Massey, you know, the mining company involved here, and sort of start beating up on them in this kind of a setting.

That's something the president has already talked about previously, that there are investigations ongoing to see what went wrong here. And what needs to be done moving forward. And so this is going to be, we're told, about 10 minutes from the president in his eulogy. And so of course, that's going to be more about helping the families with the grieving process than sort of getting into the nitty-gritty of what needs to be done safety-wise -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Had there been a great expectation that the president would be arriving, or did people learn of this just in the past couple of days or did they know for a long time the president would be in attendance?

HENRY: It was fairly recently, Fred. That's a good question because, as you know, there have been many funerals, since there are 29 people who perished, that have played out over recent weeks. This is the sort of collective memorial service. The president -- when a lot of this played out, we were in Prague with the president.

So once he returned, you'll remember, he made some remarks. And the White House was looking for the right venue. And so it was only a few days, a week ago that they finally settled that this would be the time, this would be the place where -- you know, for any president.

I remember covering President Bush as well, as much as they want to help a community grieve in a situation like this, they don't want to interfere. A great amount of security around any president. You don't want to sort of invade the space, the privacy of individual funerals that families may have.

This might be, perhaps, where the White House saw a better chance to show respect in more of a group setting after each family has had their chance to grieve more privately. And so it was only just in the last few days, last week that locals here knew that the president was coming for sure -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, thanks so much. In Beckley, West Virginia, where maybe in about 35 minutes or so the president of the United States will be delivering what could be a 10-minute eulogy as Ed was describing. But they're a little behind schedule because the president is spending some important one-on-one time with the family members of those 29 miners killed in that underground explosion. So perhaps his eulogy might have to slide a little bit.

We'll carry that live when it does happen, nonetheless. We'll have much more straight ahead from Beckley, West Virginia, and elsewhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here's a quote now. "Close, but not there yet." That's the word from negotiators in Washington trying to reach a bipartisan compromise on Wall Street reform. The Senate has called a test vote for tomorrow to move the debate forward. And that was the topic of the Sunday talk shows this morning. Here is an excerpt from NBC's "MEET THE PRESS."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS")

SEN. CHRIS DODD (D-CT), CHAIRMAN, BANKING COMMITTEE: Tomorrow if another crisis occurred in the country, we're no better off than we were in the fall of 2008. We have no cops on the beat. Major sectors of our economy are unregulated entirely. You have all of this going on out there, could happen again. "Too big to fail" could happen again if we don't change the law.

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R-AL), RANKING MEMBER, BANKING COMMITTEE: I think we're closer than we've ever been. And will we get a bill by tomorrow? I doubt it. I would always hope so because there's so much involved. But I think we will get a bill if the Democrats want a bill and will give us some things that we think that are substantive in nature like make the "too big to fail -- "send a message that nothing is too big to fail in this country, and tighten up the language.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Senators Dodd and Shelby said they would continue to work throughout the day to try to reach a deal.

And an iconic observatory is celebrating a huge birthday. But do you remember what glitch almost sidelined the famous telescope's stellar discoveries?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories this hour. Rescue workers fanning across the Southeast today after a series of severe storms. At least 10 people were killed. Tornadoes were reported in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama. And in Mississippi, what's being described as a monster tornado almost a mile wide tore a path of destruction across that state.

And in China, the death toll from another massive earthquake keeps rising. More than 2,200 people died when the 6.9 magnitude quake struck northwest China earlier this month. Thousands of homes were destroyed, and more than 100,000 people fled the area. The Chinese government is increasing assistance for orphaned children, elderly widows, and disabled people in the area.

And the British government is not amused. It has apologized for a controversial memo about Pope Benedict's upcoming visit to Britain. The memo, from inside the British foreign office, suggested the pope might like to sponsor a brand of condoms or bless a same-sex marriage while he's on a four-day state visit to Britain in September. And we're told the author has been transferred to other duties.

Well, mystery shrouds the latest unmanned vehicle launched into space. The Air Force calls it the X-37 test vehicle. Very little else is known about this classified project, and as you see in this photo, it looks like a smaller version of the space shuttle. And it's reusable. It was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday and can stay in orbit for up to nine months.

Some people worry that it could eventually be used as a kind of space age weapons system. The Air Force denies that.

And we do know a lot more about the Hubble Telescope. The Hubble has taken the world on a heavenly journey through the universe for decades now, and this weekend actually marks the 20th anniversary of its launch into space. Hubble's cosmic voyage has been filled with star- gazing, breakthrough discoveries and some pretty stunning views of far away galaxies. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One and liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope on a window on the universe.

ED WEILER, NASA: I would have never believed in 1990 that the Hubble would have turned out this great. I knew it was going to be great. But it just exceeded all of our expectations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, copy, thanks.

WEILER: I had my own personal list of 10 or 20 things that could go wrong, like most astronomers did. And none of us, of course, anticipated the thing that actually did go wrong. We had a mirror with the wrong shape that was actually going to be launched. That was the shock of the century for all of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a definite kink right at the upper edge of the second panel there, as you can see.

WEILER: We found a way to fix it, which we did and -- the astronauts did in 1993.

Hubble sees the universe as our eye would see the universe. Our eyes are actually sensitive only to a very narrow range of colors from blue to red. When Hubble was launched in 1990, supermassive black holes were a fantasy, a theory, something you saw on "Star Trek."

And one of our goals was to prove -- find at least one and prove it exists. As it turns out, Hubble surprised us. Not only did it find one, but it basically showed us that supermassive black holes are pervasive throughout the universe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff of Space Shuttle Atlantis (INAUDIBLE). JOHN GRUNSFELD, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: I was on that mission as the lead space-walker in May of last year. To me it was phenomenal to go back and see it in such great shape.

WEILER: We had hoped to get 10 to 15 years out of it with frequent shuttle visits. Perhaps every two-and-a-half or three years. As it turns out, we're now 20 years into this program. And thanks to the work of John and the crew on the last mission, we're looking forward to at least another five years and maybe seven, eight, or nine or 10 years, more.

GRUNSFELD: The (INAUDIBLE) Nebula is an example of a stellar nursery where those stars are born inside of stars. Chemical elements are born that make up people, you know, like carbon and oxygen in our bodies is all built inside of stars. So Hubble is answering fundamental scientific questions that in the end tell us about our Earth, about how the Earth was formed, and the solar system, and ultimately how we were formed.

WEILER: The unique thing about the Hubble is more than any other science projects, probably in history, it has truly brought science to the public.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. Extraordinary images. It's as if they added like food coloring or something to the images. Of course, we know they didn't. Those were real live photos.

Are you filling in the cracks, plugging up the leaks? How Uncle Sam could reward homeowners for taking such steps to reduce energy costs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Storm survivors have some pretty terrifying tales to tell. Our Ed Lavandera found out firsthand when he visited people in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in the aftermath of that storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I get the sense from what you guys were describing to me, that you were right in the middle of it, it was on top of you, literally.

ROB SAXTON, TORNADO SURVIVOR: It was. It was glass, debris flying. When I got out of the car thinking she was going to get out behind me, I looked back and she wouldn't even get out of the car, she was so scared. And I was standing up against the building and debris was just flying by me. And it was hitting my legs and glass was flying. I said, debris could kill me. I dove back in the car and told her, come on, we got to go, we got to go.

LAVANDERA: Actually, what was it like for you?

ASHLEY SAXTON, TORNDAO SURVIVOR: It was terrifying. I mean, it scared me to death. I've never been in anything like this before in my life.

LAVANDERA: The road that brings you into the hardest hit part of Yazoo City, which is called Old Highway 16, is mostly impassable. Hundreds of these trees snapped along the way. And in the last few hours they've been able to clear the roadway to a pretty decent extent. But we had to find a couple guys here who were kind enough to bring us in on four-wheelers to navigate through most of the area to try to see the extent of the damage and to talk to people who survived this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been here 15 years. My wife and I have been in the house for five years. Believe it or not, it was pretty at one time. And me and my wife and my daughter was out in the front yard and we sat out there. And the weather kept getting bad. And I thought I heard something back over here. And then my wife heard something coming out of the southwest. And it sounded like a freight train whistle.

My wife and my daughter and I were down here. And we were just balled up. And you could -- being the house is up off the ground, you could just -- the wind was like -- was trying to suck you out from under the house.

LAVANDERA: This blue truck you see right here along the road, we're told it was driven by a man who's name is Ricky Shivers (ph). That he was in that car when it flipped and rolled three times. He was able to get out of the car, but we understand right now he's one of the injured in the hospital.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. Some pretty extraordinarily and very frightening images there. Jacqui Jeras in the severe weather center.

Hopefully no more tornadoes could be spawned from this particular system, because it is still on the move, right?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Absolutely. And we have that threat at this hour across parts of Florida. We did have a warning at the top of the hour which has since expired. But you can see those storms as they moved across central parts of the state caused a little bit of wind damage. Some trees reported down in the Gainesville area. And also we had some reports of small hail about the size of nickels.

You can see the area has cleared out now. But we're watching as this next batch of showers and thundershowers that's over the Gulf of Mexico, this is going to make its way on-shore and move through some of the same areas. So be aware that there are more storms which are coming.

Now the north side of this system, you can see that swirl here. We're expecting a greater potential for maybe some wind damage out of these storms. So a severe thunderstorm watch in effect still for northeastern parts of Ohio into western Pennsylvania. We've got some pretty nasty storms around the Pittsburgh area at this hour -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right. Jacqui, appreciate that. We'll check back with you.

And we are just minutes away from President Obama's eulogy for victims of the West Virginia coal mine disaster that took place earlier this month. Right now you're seeing a montage of photographs right there in this hall. And you're also seeing all of those white crosses representing the 29 miners who were killed in that explosion. We'll have live coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Plugging up drafty windows. Beefing up insulation in the attic. Homeowners who make their houses more energy efficient could see double the benefits. One, by reducing their utility bills. Another from the government.

CNN's Kate Bolduan explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIMBERLY MOTT, HOMEOWNER: I swear I just cleaned up.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Herb and Kimberly Mott say, like any family, they're trying to plan for the future. Just look in their basement and attic. The Motts are greening their Fort Washington, Maryland, home.

K. MOTT: If I do something, then my children will benefit from it. They'll see the importance. And then they'll keep going. And then maybe we can reverse this awful cycle that we've gotten into with our planet.

HERB MOTT, HOMEOWNER: I'm interested in green, but I'm interested in saving green in my pocket.

BOLDUAN: That's the kind of thinking the White House wants to persuade more Americans to adopt, through a proposal called "Homestar." The plan is still working its way through Congress but would offer rebates of up to $3,000 for upgrades like new appliances, furnaces, and insulation, with additional rebates possible after a full home energy audit. It has quickly earned the nickname "Cash for Caulkers."

(on camera): This government program is modeled after another government program from last year, "Cash for Clunkers," which offered car buyers a rebate for trading in their gas guzzlers for more fuel- efficient vehicles. Now people could get a payback for investing in energy-savers at home.

Let me show you. From drafty windows to leaking ducts, the government's goal here is to promote energy efficiency as well as jobs. And that's where people like David Braggins comes in.

David, what is the problem that you're trying to fix here? DAVID BRAGGINS, EDGE ENERGY: Well, in most homes, some of the biggest leakage is in the basement area. And what we're doing is sealing off where the basement foundation wall meets the main level. And by properly sealing this, we're eliminating the source of a lot of air leakage in the basement.

BOLDUAN: So what's the benefit then to the homeowner?

BRAGGINS: The less air leakage the homeowner has, the less their energy bill is, because the only function of their heating and cooling equipment is to replace the air that's lost in their house.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): The benefit for Braggins's home energy company? He hopes for a bounce in business. But not everyone sees the program as a win/win.

DAVID KREUTZER, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Yes, people will be happier. They'll be more likely to buy the energy efficient appliance, if somebody else helps pay for it. But that doesn't mean that it stimulates the economy or creates jobs. Because that money that they give to me has to come from somebody else, who now is spending less.

BOLDUAN: The Motts say it's the other way around.

K. MOTT: We need to take care of our people here. We need to be able to give them jobs. And if it means that, yes, we need to dig a little deeper to do that, it's going to benefit this country in the long run. That's what I think.

BOLDUAN: They hope their $4,700 investment now will pay for itself in utility savings in about five years.

Kate Bolduan, CNN, Fort Washington, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)