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Surveillance Videos May Hold Key to Finding Potential Mass Killer in NYC; Washington's Big Night; Gulf Coast Oil Spill; Buffett on the Economy

Aired May 02, 2010 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is the top of the hour, everyone. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

A surveillance camera and a tourist video camera may hold the key to finding a potential mass killer.

Last night, someone left a Nissan Pathfinder in Times Square packed with explosive materials. Inside, police found clocks, wires, fireworks, propane, gasoline and an unknown substance. The vehicle was left running with its flashers on at 45th and Broadway. That is the very heart of Time Square.

The area was filled with theatergoers and tourists on a Saturday night. Police have towed the Pathfinder to a garage in the Bronx where it is being processed for clues. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the vehicle's owner and the owner of the stolen license plate have both been identified.

Let's get right to Times Square now and CNN's Mary Snow. Mary, we understand the Mayor is expected there soon?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Don. I'll bring you up to speed. Right behind me, Mayor Bloomberg has gone into that restaurant over my shoulder there. He's now meeting with Officer Wayne Rhatigan and his wife, Tina Marie. Officer Rhatigan is a mounted police officer and he was the first on the scene. A T-shirt vendor last night saw smoke coming from that Pathfinder and alerted Officer Rhatigan.

We are expected to hear from Mayor Bloomberg when he comes out of that restaurant. This, of course, 24 hours after what Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said was a clear intent to cause chaos in this crowded theater district.

This after he said -- this Pathfinder, as you mentioned, had gasoline, propane, fireworks, M-88s (ph) and two alarm clocks and at least eight bags of what is an unknown material but is believed to be fertilizer. It is being analyzed now.

What could have happened, the police commissioner said, that had it detonated it could have caused a significant fireball and looks likely that it may have caused casualties.

In terms of who is behind this, police have looked at the surveillance camera and they have found a man described as a white man, believed to be in his 40s, about a half-block away from that vehicle last night who was seen changing his shirt. It could be coincidental but police are honing in on that and they're also trying to find a man in Pennsylvania who shot video in that area last night that potentially could be helpful.

As in terms of why, intentional (ph) motives, the police have said that there has been no serious claims of responsibility that they are looking at there have been a number of things mentioned.

It happened on 45th Street which is two blocks behind me. And on that block is Viacom. Viacom is the owner of Comedy Central. And a couple weeks ago, as many people are going to recall, there had been a big controversy, because there had been a cartoon looking to depict the prophet Mohammed. There's a lot of controversy, the show was censored.

The police commissioner was asked whether there was any potential link to this incident and he said nothing is being ruled out, however, police are saying they have no direct evidence to link the two. And I might add also that there is an Army recruiting center in this area.

Again, there is no evidence, but the police are looking at a number of things, as you mentioned in terms of the investigation. I'm sorry, go ahead.

LEMON: Yes and Mary, they didn't know if it had anything to do -- I think Dwayne Jackson, the 58-year-old hand bag vendor, right, he's from Buchanan, New York, said he noticed the car and wonder who left it here.

Listen, behind you -- is that where the Mayor is behind you, is that what we are seeing? Because we see some barricades. Can you step out of the way and then give our viewers a look --

SNOW: Yes.

LEMON: -- is that the barricade where the Mayor and --

SNOW: Absolutely --

LEMON: -- is that what all the commotion is about now in Times Square?

SNOW: Yes, you're seeing what reporters are lined up with cameras waiting for the mayor to come out. He has gone into that restaurant with Officer Rhatigan, we're expected momentarily.

And basically, Don, what you're seeing, other than that are curious tourists. And this is a night like perhaps any other in Times Square. This is a very busy time because theaters are going to be getting under way; shows are going to be getting under way soon.

And you might be surprised to hear these tourists saying, you know, they are taking this all in stride.

LEMON: Mary, thank you very much because that's what's happening right now in Times Square. Mary, we appreciate it.

You see all of the -- we see the barricades, the police car, that's because Mary Snow says that Mayor Bloomberg is inside of a restaurant meeting with the T-shirt vendor that he said was so vigilant in helping to thwart this plot.

And now tourists are interested in seeing the mayor and seeing the vendor and you know, who wouldn't be if you are there visiting New York City as all of this happened.

Let's bring -- as we look at these pictures -- can we keep these pictures up, because again this is the very latest in Times Square -- as I bring in our Jeanne Meserve, our homeland security correspondent.

Jeanne, when you and I talked last night this is quite a different scene now in Times Square, you have been doing some great reporting here, giving us new information. And I understand you have some information now to report?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it has to do with response to this whole event by the Transportation Security Administration, which as you know is responsible for security at airports of the surface transportation. According to a Department of Homeland Security official, they have launched the operations at airports on the East Coast to counter vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and other sorts of tactics that might be used in a crowded environment.

They are also coordinating with Customs and Border Protections to do more random screening of passengers on both domestic and international flights. There also was a conference call today between the TSA and security officials at airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia to discuss partnering with Customs and Border Protection to identify additional flights that might need some random screening.

In addition of course --

LEMON: Jeanne, can you just stand by really quickly here, I want to say that in Times Square, we are looking at Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I would imagine he is preparing for a press conference there, Jeanne. He's going to talk very shortly. Do we want to listen in to the mayor?

We're going to -- Jeanne as we get ourselves together here because this is a little bit impromptu, we weren't sure he was going to show up this early and we'll get to the Mayor of New York City in just a moment.

Continue on with your reporting.

MESERVE: In addition, the TSA already has transportation security officers working in New York City subways. They've been looking up on high risk programs there where they're doing some additional bag searches, random bag searches of people in subways --

LEMON: Hey Jeanne, I hate to cut you off, I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. But we're going to get to the Mayor and we'll get back to you, Jeanne. I'm sorry about that.

Mayor Bloomberg and I imagine this is Dwayne Jackson, the 58- year-old T-shirt vendor or hand bag vendor from Buchanan, New York who helped with this.

Oh -- this is the officer. Pardon me. Pardon me, my information is wrong. This is Officer Wayne Rhatigan, Wayne Rhatigan the mounted police officer. Excuse me for that -- let's listen.

All right, there you go Murphy's Law there. What are you going to do? It's technology. We'll get back to that. But again, Officer Wayne Rhatigan alerted by Dwayne Jackson, as we have been reporting here on CNN. He saw something suspicious and notified the mounted police officer.

That mounted police officer, again, Wayne Rhatigan, the Mayor meeting with him, we are told, to have dinner and what have you. And I imagine he's going to get some sort of special commission or honor for this. We have that feedback. Let's listen in.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: -- when we have the bombing at the World Trade Center. And hopefully we've learned our lesson, if not from them but certainly from 9/11 in 2001. There are some people around the world that find our freedom so threatening that they are willing to kill themselves and others to prevent us from enjoying it. But we're not going to let them win.

And I think you see here a perfect example. Officer Rhatigan did exactly what was trained. Pushed the people away, brought in all the reinforcements necessary. The police department and fire department and Office of Emergency Management working together, took control, de- armed the car, got the explosives and the gasoline and the propane out of the car. And we're conducting an investigation.

Commissioner Kelly, earlier in the day as many of you know, at One Police Plaza gave an update on the investigation and I really have nothing to add from that. We are getting a lot of cooperation from Washington, from the FBI and from Homeland Security.

I got a call early this morning from Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Security, offering any assistance that we needed. The President called later in the day to say that he wanted to make sure we were getting the kind of aid we need from the FBI and all federal agencies. And I assured him that we were; we have great relations with the FBI, with the CIA, with Homeland Security. It's probably as tight today as it's ever been and certainly for the last eight years.

And the President also asked me to convey to Officer Rhatigan, the President's personal thank you for keeping us safe. The President and his wife would like to come here to New York City and we want them to come back and he said he feels perfectly safe in doing so knowing that people like you that work for the greatest police department in the world.

So we are here to have some fun and have a nice time. As you can see, Times Square is chockablock full of people as (INAUDIBLE) described it, masses of humanity. But this is the crossroads to the world. And people feel safe in New York and they will continue to come here.

So it's -- it's unfortunate that this happened. I'm confident that we will find out who did it. As the commissioner, police commissioner said earlier in the day, there is no evidence that this is tied in with al Qaeda or any other big terrorist organization but rest assured we'll do everything we can.

We have all of the resources from the federal government, thanks to the President and Secretary Napolitano and the FBI. And we will use those and the abilities of the world's greatest police department. The 35,000 uniformed officers, 55,000 employees of the police department and the other agencies in New York City.

All of these things require cooperation among all of the agencies and the Office of Emergency Management does that. The fire department was here last night. Thank God they didn't have to do anything. The Department of Environmental Protection is the one that's testing the things that were in the car. So it just goes to show you that none of these agencies work alone but thanks to the great cooperation that we've built in this city among all agencies, the public is safer.

We take any questions? If anybody has any? Sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Mayor, you referred to the see something, say something. In New York it has almost become a cliche. People hear it all the time.

BLOOMBERG: And they do it all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what -- what message do you want this to send to people who might just sometimes shrug their shoulders and not pay attention to something like that?

BLOOMBERG: Quite a contrary, I don't follow the logic this is a good example. People did that and we're safe because of it. And my message always is you've got to leave it to the professionals.

Officer Rhatigan is a professional. He's part of the best police department in the world. They work alongside the fire department and DEP and Office of Emergency Management last night. That's what we do and so if you as a civilian see something, say something and get on with your business.

I have always used as a test, I asked the commissioner of the police department, would you let your son work in that building? Would you let your son go down that street, go to that theater? And if he says yes, that to me, is good enough.

And I can tell you I let my kids live in this city and I hope they do for the rest of their lives and they come to Times Square.

Yes, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

BLOOMBERG: I think the police commissioner first heard about the event some time about seven-ish, maybe a little bit earlier and then he briefed me shortly thereafter, probably half an hour or 45 minute. You always want to wait until you get a little more details because the details are sketchy at the beginning.

And then during the dinner, I wanted to stay to hear the President, I thought it was a respectful thing to do and it's not a lot that I could do or the commissioner could do that -- we train for this all the time. And they have lots of experience.

So, the police commissioner either came over to my table --

(AUDIO GAP)

LEMON: Yes, listen unfortunately having a little bit of technical issues with that.

And this is what's what people really want to hear, how New York City is bouncing back and what's going on here.

Listen, and there was a bit of a confusion there, so I pardon this is not, again, not the T-shirt vendor that the Mayor is meeting with, I just want to tell you this is Officer Wayne Rhatigan and his wife, Tina Marie. And the Mayor is going to have dinner with them at Bluefin in Times Square, which is right next to the W there -- dinner tonight at 7:00 p.m., it was scheduled, this press conference, a little bit before 7:00, so it happened just a little bit late here.

But again, Wayne Rhatigan, a 19-year veteran of the force, and he said that he smelled gunfire coming from the vehicle when he went toward it. And then thinking it could explode at any second, he grabbed two other officers to help move people away from the smoking Pathfinder as he called for backup, 6:34 p.m. last night. And he as well as Dwayne Jackson, that T-shirt vendor, both saved a lot of lives.

We'll get back to Times Square in just a bit. We're going to continue to cover this developing story.

Also, the story that's unfolding down south in the Gulf of Mexico.

What is it like being in the middle of Times Square when all of this occurred? We're going to talk to you and tell you about that as well. One CNN iReporter captured it all on camera.

Also, again, as I said, that oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico rises to the surface, now just miles from the mouth of the Mississippi.

And some new information to report to you, United Airlines joins forces with another major carrier. We'll tell you about the latest major airline marriage. And of course, you can follow us on Twitter and on Facebook or go to our blog, CNN.com/Don. Send us an iReport. You too, can be a CNN iReporter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The mayor of New York City just wrapping up a press conference there, lots of interested folks. There you see him; he is with Officer Wayne Rhatigan and his wife, Tina Marie.

Wayne Rhatigan spoke to us a short time ago. We're going to play that for you here on CNN. Don't worry; we will get it to you.

All smiles there in Times Square today with the mayor, with officer Wayne Rhatigan. And don't forget his horse, Miggs, as well, I'm sure Miggs is smiling somewhere. And his wife was there, Tina Marie. They're going to have dinner at Bluefin in Times Square.

So we'll update you on that.

Let's talk about all of this because throughout the day, people have been, you know, sharing their experiences at Times Square with CNN, through iReports, sending us photos and videos of the crowd and the chaos.

One dedicated iReporter gave us nearly a dozen video clips of his time at Times Square. He was at McDonald's when the officer announced everyone had to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW DERBY, IREPORTER: You've got to go. Everyone, grab your food up. Let's go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was Matthew Derby, he was able to capture these images with his cell phone and he had high praise for the way the New York City police handled the situation.

The mayor had high praise just a short time ago; actually taking the officer to dinner, who was responsible for thwarting this event.

So witnesses think the NYPD did a great job handling yesterday's car bomb in Times Square. What do security experts think? I want to go now to Don Clark. He is a former special agent in charge of the FBI. Thank you, sir, for joining us. Mr. Clark, how do you think the New York City police handled this?

DON CLARK, FORMER SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI: You know, I think they did a remarkable job. This type of situation take a whole village to really take charge of and try to make sure that we are all safe. And I think the training of their personnel -- obviously, they have had good training to be able to execute in the manner that they did.

And when you look at the volumes of people and all the activities that surround it there, I think they did a great job.

LEMON: Don't you think the mayor -- he's meeting with the officer, I think he's supposed to meet with this T-shirt vendor. He owes some gratitude to that T-shirt vendor as well, even though he is not a member of the police department.

CLARK: Well, that's right. And we have to count on citizens to be a part of this team to help keep us safe as well.

And the T-shirt vendor fits that mold. I mean, here is a person that's out there, doesn't carry a gun, not law enforcement, but yet he is there to assess. And when you talk about fighting terrorism, it really does take the whole country for us to fight terrorism.

LEMON: Is there one compelling aspect of all of this -- this situation that you think that the police should concentrate on? I'm sure there are going to be some, as they say, teachable moments or learning moments from this event.

CLARK: Well, there are always learning experiences from each one of these activities. But I think intelligence and gathering intelligence about these activities and have positions, have activities in place that when something like this appears to happen, that they can respond immediately.

That seems to have been what they have done. But I think they really have to do that and they've also got to ensure, as they have done in this case that they bring in all of the components together because each brings something to the table that one of the other agencies may or may not have.

LEMON: Don Clark is a former special agent in charge for the FBI, great information. Thank you, sir. Have a good evening. Ok.

CLARK: Thanks Don.

LEMON: Too much to handle for Mother Nature and it's having deadly consequences in parts of the country. Jacqui Jeras will have details for you.

And what every parent needs to know, old reliable children's medications pulled from the shelves. That story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Jacqui, it seems as though the past couple of weekend, you have given some warnings and kept a lot of people out of danger and you're doing it again.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're real worried about the threat out there tonight, Don, for flooding. It's been really extensive across parts of the mid-south. Check out these pictures that we have for you out of the Memphis area. This is very telling that what we have been seeing state-wide as well as into places like Mississippi, Alabama now, Kentucky, and this is moving into parts of Ohio. Ten inches of rain has fallen in the Memphis area this weekend. Eight people killed in the state because of it. Nashville, also under a state of emergency tonight because of the heavy rainfall there, up to 15 inches there. Schools are closed tomorrow.

Emergency officials are saying stay home, because it's so dangerous. People are getting stuck because they get trapped by the flood waters and can't get out. They have done 600 water rescues in Tennessee in just the last 36 hours. So, this is historic.

We have got a couple of numbers to talk about, too, in Nashville. Today, more than 7 inches of rainfall. That is a record for a 24-hour period and it is now the wettest May on record in Nashville. It's May 2nd, by the way, just so you know.

All right, we have a little bit of severe weather here; we've had a couple of isolated severe thunderstorms pop up in Mississippi and Alabama. We're not expecting a lot of widespread severe weather. The greatest threat will be damaging winds and the flooding.

Look at this moisture that heads up into the Ohio Valley, we could see another five-plus inches on top of what you already have there. Here are a couple of unofficial totals from the HPC, look at that, 17.75 inches in Camden, Tennessee. We have got 12 states under flood watches, all those green areas that you saw there.

And here is the forecast for tomorrow showing you more heavy rain and severe weather threats, especially across the southeast. Don, by no means is this over yet and now that the sun is going down, this flooding situation gets more dangerous tonight.

LEMON: Back to work tomorrow. So, we shall see what it holds for next week.

Thank you, Jacqui, see you at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight.

JERAS: Ok.

LEMON: There is word a deal has been reached between Continental and United Airlines. This is one of our top stories this hour. The "Wall Street Journal" reports Continental and United Airlines will announce tomorrow that they will merge to become the world's largest airline.

The combined airline will be called United. The deal will need the approval of federal anti-trust regulators.

And if you've got children, keep your medicine cabinet -- check your medicine cabinet very closely here. The Food and Drug Administration investigating over 40 different over-the-counter children's liquid medications; you shouldn't use them because they don't meet quality standards.

McNeil Consumer Health Care announced the voluntary recall on Friday. Affected brands include Tylenol, Tylenol Plus, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl among them. Check closely, please. There's encouraging news for folks living around Boston right now. Crews are making progress fixing a major water main break. Two million people haven't had clean water since yesterday. That is after a massive pipe burst ten miles west of Boston. Tens of thousands are still having to boil tap water for drinking or cooking. That's because untreated water entered the system.

The promise of a better life is all it takes to lure young girls in Nepal to India, but what awaits them there is anything but. Many are condemned to a life of sexual slavery, which is why one woman's campaign to rescue these girls makes her this week's CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANURADHA KOIRALA, CNN HERO: In the vast America, Europe, if someone comes and says I want to make a child a prostitute, they would give them one slap or shoot them. But here, families, they are tricked all the time.

Those are brought from the villages by people who can lure them and tell them that they are getting a nice job. The border between India and Nepal is a conduit point of trafficking. Once they're here, there is no way to escape.

I am Anuradha Koirala and this is my stronghold to stop every Nepali girl from being trafficked.

When you go to the border, at this point, we are intercepting four girls to five girls per day. After the rescue, the girl is taken to Maiti Nepal.

We started this to accommodate these survivors, trafficking survivors. We take everybody. The girls who come back from brothels, they are socially, psychologically broken. We give them whatever work they want to do, whatever training they want to do.

One day, we will really stop it. The trafficking will end. This is their country, too. There is always a small (INAUDIBLE) that, yes, one day I will stop trafficking, but today, something new in my life, they are my strength.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: To nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to CNN.com/heroes.

Coastal warnings in the Gulf of Mexico; that oil spill is headed for the Louisiana Coast and President Obama is calling for drastic action.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Going to get to another major story we are covering for you tonight on CNN. President Barack Obama getting a firsthand look at the attempt to contain the oil spill threatening the Gulf of Mexico and its critically important fishing, seafood and tourism industry. Today, he toured Venice, Louisiana, a staging ground for the response effort. The president promises the administration will spare no efforts to head off what he said could be a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster. Mr. Obama also warn it had could take many days to stop the spill that is troubling, isn't it?

Today, an estimated 210,000 gallons, 210,000 of oil has spewed into the gulf from the BP well ruptured last month's oil rig explosion. Now this new satellite image that you are seeing from NASA shows just how huge that oil slick is getting and it is going to grow, believe me.

Here is what we know now the slick is just now nine miles off the coast of southeastern Louisiana. Alabama National Guard troops have been deployed to help build barriers on the beaches because booms are breaking down. The government has shut down commercial and recreational fishing from the Mississippi River to the Florida panhandle for at least 10 days.

Just the beginning here, folks. CNN's Brian Todd in Venice, Louisiana, where the president was earlier today. Brian, tell us more about what's being done right now to try to stop the spill.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, they are laying boom down along the coastline areas of the gulf here, along this stretch of this inlet here and also along some of the marshlands in (inaudible) Parish and around this area. They are also getting ready to possibly deploy some chemical disbursements under water to break up this oil and get to sink to the bottom. They are preparing those disbursements now. They had to test them out over the past couple of days.

BP says the tests were successful and they're getting ready to deploy those. Now environmentalists have said that those in and of themselves can be dangerous for marine life but BP says they have gotten clearance from the U.S. government, including some environmental agencies to use those materials so they are preparing to use it.

A BP official also told me they are still constructing a so- called dome that they are going to lower into the water to catch some oil and try to siphon it out but that won't be here for several days.

So right now, they are relying on efforts to skim this oil, to try to burn it off although they haven't been able to do that today because of the weather. There's been a lot of wind and rain here. They have not been able to do the burning operations but they hope to resume those as well, Don.

LEMON: Listen, Brian, I want to ask you, it's pretty cloudy there now. it looks like it's been raining. I think when the president was there, it was raining as well. So the weather is not helping out in any of this as you were there witnessing it?

TODD: That's right. I mean, heavy wind and rain has been hitting us all day here, there are white caps in this inlet here. And so that means out to sea and the gulf coastal areas it is even worse. I'm going to show you here, some other people who are affected by it. Look, these are fishermen who have these boats in here and they are going to be essentially grounded for at least 10 days.

I know you mentioned this just a moment ago but NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is shutting down fishing operations in a huge section of this region, from the mouth of the Mississippi River, east to Pensacola Bay, shutting them down for 10 days. They've got to take water samples, marine life samples to see if anything has been harmed beyond what they expect.

And so fishing operations shut down for 10 days in a very large section of this region dealing a crippling blow to an industry that brings in just billions of dollars to this region and to the entire country.

LEMON: Brian Todd keeping us updated from Venice, Louisiana. Brian, we appreciate it.

The big question, of course, how to clean this up mess, this disaster. We will talk to someone who has been there before, done all of this before, having helped clean up what the Exxon Valdez left behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: There are growing fears the gulf oil spill could eclipse the Exxon "Valdez" disaster as the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Now, you may remember the super tanker, Exxon "Valdez," crashed into Alaska's Bly Reef. It was on March 24, 1989, and nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound.

Marc Jones helped manage the government cleanup equipment and effort there for the Exxon "Valdez" spell spill. He now joins us from Louisiana. He's helping with the clean up efforts there. He's in New Orleans. Thank you, sir. Listen, 11 million gallons. Do you think that this could reach those proportions down in Louisiana, down in the gulf?

MARC JONES, ASSISTING WITH GULF CLEANUP: It could if they can't get the well capped. It is just a matter of solving that problem and getting it done.

LEMON: What - listen, and I want to - I just want to give our viewers the facts because we have been seeing, you know, all of the efforts that are happening there, you have seen the booms, you have seen them trying to burn off all of that I have been told just that one burn that they tried - it was just a football field and this thing is so huge it's really - it may be a fait accompli to try to burn this off or even try to contain it at this point. The only effort, the real effort will be capping it, is that correct?

JONES: Well, that's the key to keeping it from making bigger. What's up and on the water is up and on the water. And you know there is no magic to oil spill response in that respect. There is nothing that you can do that is just quick and easy. It is kind of like plowing a field, you know, you don't - you just got to drive that plow over every acre that you want to till and it's the same with an oil spill.

And you know what, it is very similar to - it's interesting when you think about Exxon "Valdez," because what is it, the red, the copper river salmon I mean, that is a big fishing industry as well. It affected their environment and their fishing industry and it could have catastrophic effect and probably obviously going to have some effect on the fishing industry there, oysters, crab, all sort of things out there in the gulf?

JONES: It could. It hasn't as of yet. And that's an important message to get out. Is that, for instance, with Louisiana right now, in terms of the closures, first of all, the closures are preventative and second, they only cover about, oh, 23 percent of the area that Louisiana uses to produce its seafood.

So you still got 80 percent of the area that the fishermen fish that is opened to fish, producing fish, fish go on the market and frankly, it's really important for folks to understand that and continue to eat Louisiana seafood.

LEMON: I have to say, yes, continue to eat that. That is great. And being from Louisiana, I have to say amen, brother. But every little bit counts here, especially with the economy is not doing well down there. These people were affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. And you know, the fishing industry hasn't been doing well for a while, even before that because of competition from China and other places. So, even though you stay is 80 percent open, this is only 20 percent, it is still a big portion of the economy there.

JONES: There's no question that it is an economic, a very painful economic hit for the fishermen in Louisiana and fishermen in Alabama and Mississippi and soon to be Florida as well. But what I want to emphasize is that the state authorities from each of those states are working very diligently to ensure that the seafood that comes from those states continues to be safe. This is in every respect, safe in every way.

LEMON: Hey, Marc Jones, let me ask you this - the efforts now, are they doing everything correctly? Are they doing everything they should be doing and can do to contain this? What advice would you give?

JONES: I think that the right things are now being done. This is just hard work that takes a lot of people. It takes patience. There is a learning curve involved with deploying boom, picking up oil, identifying where you're going to go. We now have the fishermen involved in that. You have to understand that the coastal areas, no one knows what's going on in those - those shallow-water environments better than the fishermen do.

LEMON: All right. Marc Jones, we are going to have to go now. Thank you so much. Good information. Marc Jones helped out 1989 with the Exxon "Valdez," now he's down there volunteering to help out on the Gulf coast. Thank you, sir. We appreciate your information. JONES: Thank you.

LEMON: Best of luck to you. OK.

JONES: OK.

LEMON: He makes political waves at home and abroad, now Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is coming to the United States for a United Nations conference on nuclear arms. A preview just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: New York City Police are trying to interview the owner of a car found in Times Square with a bomb inside. An official is telling CNN the person is from the greater metropolitan area, the tri- state area. Police are also examining surveillance video that may have captured the suspect on tape, described by the commissioner as a man in his 40s.

No one was hurt but thousands were evacuated last night as police blockaded the area at 45th and Broadway. And just moments ago, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg honored the officer first on the scene and who sent out the alarm to clear the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER WAYNE RHATIGAN, NEW YORK POLICE: Wayne Robinson, the vendor who alerted me to a car that was smoking, went over there and we smelled gun powder, with my partner, Pam Duffy. And now we knew something was up as soon as he smelled the gun powder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Officer Wayne Rhatigan, New York City.

Delegates gather at the United Nations tomorrow to talk about the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will speak during the opening session. Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear energy. The U.S. accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. The 40-year-old treaty is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons around the world.

The "Wall Street Journal" reports that Continental and United Airlines will announce tomorrow that they will merge to become the world's largest air carrier. It will fly under the United name. The deal will need the approval of federal anti-trust regulators. Right now, Delta is the largest airline. It bought Northwest back in 2008.

America's most famous investor held an annual shareholders meeting this weekend and everyone seemed to have the same question. What does Warren Buffett think about the U.S. economy? Is it really on the way to recovery? Our Poppy Harlow from CNN money.com spoke with Buffett and here is what he has to say.

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WARREN BUFFETT, CHMN & CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: Well, the jobs are coming back slowly now. Business is coming back more than slowly. People regained confidence to some degree. The basic businesses, we are seeing a resurgence in demands.

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LEMON: Buffett also said he remains is a big supporter of Goldman Sachs. And he downplayed the recent civil fraud charges filed against the bank.

We turn now to education. Every school in America is looking for an academic edge. And success can hinge on something as simple as student attire. In today's "Perry's Principles," CNN contributor Steve Perry takes a closer look at the impact of school uniforms.

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STEVE PERRY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (on camera): Normally, I'm the principal enforcing the uniform policy but today I'm here at North Star Academy in Newark, New Jersey, observing others as they use uniforms not only to improve the way the students look but the way the students perform in the classroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Silently begin writing song names for song seven.

ART WORRELL, DEAN OF STUDENTS: Our uniform policy is pretty strict. Any teacher at any point in the day might correct a student if their shirt is untucked. But if they cannot be in uniform for that day for whatever reason, it's an item we can't replace here, they would be on in-house suspension with me or they would be sent home.

PERRY (voice-over): The faculty here at North Star has said that these are the elements that are part of our success.

DAVID SEGARRA, 9TH GRADE STUDENT: Usually kids around my age they kind of like judge me, oh, you like go to that strict school. 100 percent of our students actually graduated and go into college. If only 23 percent of your students go to colleges, how can you judge me?

JADA ANDERSON, 9TH GRADE STUDENT: It's very important that a school does have a uniform to prevent things like bullying and teasing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did I teach you guys to figure it out?

PERRY: When you focus on the details, you're able to do great things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it's hard to stop writing.

JULIANN HARRIS, 9TH GRADE ACADEMY LEADER: When you look at students, you can't tell what their home financial situation is because everyone is wearing the same uniform. It also helps minimize distractions to learning. Students are not focused on the latest fashions, what they're wearing. They're focused on their education.

PERRY: What does the uniform policy do to add to your success as a school?

WORRELL: I don't think uniforms by themselves are the solution to this. It's one of a hundred things we do to have a really successful school.

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LEMON: Thanks to CNN contributor, Steve Perry.

Ferocious storms and has got a path of destruction across the south. It's some of the worst flooding the region has seen in decades. Could it get worse is the question?

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Flooding and storms. Soaking the south this weekend and leaving death and destruction in their wake. Tennessee's governor says at least seven people have been killed in his state. He plans to ask for federal disaster relief. Up to 20 inches of rain have fallen on parts of Tennessee. That's just since yesterday

Major roads are washed out. And dams have failed. Hundreds of people have been rescued from the high waters. It's some of the worst flooding the region has seen in decades. Mississippi is not getting spared either. Storms killed three people there.

Jacqui Jeras, our meteorologist, here at CNN , what's going on?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Just a tremendous storm system, you know, Don. And the biggest problem is that this thing hasn't been moving in the upper levels of the atmosphere. We have what we call a trough, and you know, an upper level are of low pressure.

It hasn't moved. So as long as it sits there, it's going to continue to bring rain showers over the same areas. And the amount of moisture that's in the atmosphere has just been so incredible, that all of these is getting squeezed out across parts of Tennessee, through Kentucky and now pushing up into the Ohio River Valley.

And that's why we have seen such heavy amounts of rainfall in such a short period of time. There is some isolated severe weather to go along with the flooding tonight. And we have seeing some severe thunderstorms popping up across parts of Mississippi. No word on any damage here. And these are more wind makers with some isolated rotation or some isolated tornadoes will be possible.

Now, the worst of the rain has been in central and western parts of Kentucky this weekend. Doppler radar is estimating in this area right down here, about 10 to 20 inches of rain, and that's just from this weekend. This is historic levels. You saw the video out of Memphis. Well, Nashville is just as bad, if not worse. A state of emergency has been declared here. I-24 was shut yesterday. That's back open. A little bit of good news. But parts of I-65 and I-40 are still closed.

Schools are closed tomorrow. Emergency officials say stay home, it's too dangerous to be out. Antioch and Bellevue (ph) areas have been the hardest hit. There you can see the boats getting out. 600 water rescues were performed in Davidson County in just the last 36 hours. 36,000 people without power. Shelters are open. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of people displaced across the state of Tennessee.

Now, up into Kentucky, this is pushing into the eastern parts of the state, Richmond extending down towards Bowling Green has had five to 10 inches of rainfall. We have been seeing closed roads and water rescues, taking place here as well. Flash flood watches, 12 states. Look at this. All the way from Ohio stretching down to the panhandle of Florida. Everywhere that you see green, on this map, the bright green color here. These are flood warnings.

So that means, flooding is going on as we speak in all of these areas. And with so much rain that's come down in such a short period of time, it's going to take several days to get all of these water back and running off into the rivers and creeks and streams and start to get everything to recede.

So Monday is going to be really critical, once again. Now, the storm system will be on the move into tomorrow. Look at this, we're starting to get rain into Pennsylvania. We've got cloudiness up in New York as well as Philadelphia. And this will hit the megalopolis for tomorrow. So if got some travel plans, yes, you know, it doesn't take much more than clouds to start causing some travel problems. So be aware of that.

And we are also going to see some severe thunderstorms along with the heavy rain into the southeast. Atlanta stretching on up toward Charlotte and maybe even at D.C. for tomorrow afternoon. Don.

LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, you are going to stick by because that could change at any moment. We don't know what it's going to bring tomorrow, especially for the morning commute.

JERAS: Yes, likely a big mess for a lot of people.

LEMON: All right. Make sure you tune in at 10:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. That's when we will be back here. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

A special two-hour edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.