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Security Incident at Philly Airport; Honoring a Fallen Soldier; Reaching Out to the Taliban; ; Security Incident at Philly Airport; USAir Flight #1070 Scheduled to Fly to Bermuda, Passengers Deplaned; Pressure to Halt Foreclosures Mounts; Living Through A Tornado; Hot Off The Political Ticker
Aired October 07, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello, again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Top at the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen.
Here are some of the people behind today's top stories.
A soldier's final salute. Right now, a community gathers to welcome home a fallen hero from the now nine-year war in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) he's just amazing. He thinks his son is really awesome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A survival story. A man mauled by a bear. You have to hear his wife's desperate 911 call for help, and his account of the account.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just vividly remember being bitten on the head and the sound that that makes is that it was -- as her teeth were going into my head and running along the skull.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Ouch! You're online right now and we are, too. Josh Levs is following what's hot -- Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, making phone calls from your TV. A video conferencing that's coming to your living room. We go the details right here, CNN.com.
HARRIS: All right, Josh, appreciate.
Let's get started with our lead story. It's an update to a story we brought you just moments ago. Let's take you go back to Philadelphia International Airport right now. Pictures provided by our affiliate there, WPVI.
Again, you see a plane in the foreground here. There's also a plane in the background. But I think there's more concern -- you see the vehicles around the plane, near the plane in the foreground.
What we're understanding is that there were three people approaching this plane. Two could produce an official I.D., one person could not. What I don't have a clear understanding on at this point is whether that person who could not produce the I.D. is now in custody, is -- and we're hearing now -- thank you, Jeanne -- we're hearing now that that third person, the person who could not produce an I.D. is not in custody. Where that person is, we don't know at this point.
We don't -- we don't know the status of that individual actually is. There is some reporting to suggest that the person -- this could be something, it could be nothing. But at the very least, we're going to continue to follow it, because as you can see, there was a lot of attention being paid to that particular plane right there on the tarmac.
The person simply could simply have lost their I.D., but that wouldn't explain that person not talking to the authorities right now.
So, we will continue to follow this. The FBI and local police are certainly on the scene. As we get additional information, we -- I think we're about to get some additional information. Our correspondent for homeland security, Jeanne Meserve, is in Washington. She's following this story out of Philadelphia.
And, Jeanne, what are you hearing? What did you learn?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Tony, I don't have a whole lot more information than you've just given. We know that local police and FBI are on the scene here, investigating what happened. We have from a couple of sources say there was somebody seen around that plane who is not wearing an identification badge.
Of course, there's been a lot of concern about airport security overall. There's been an effort to really clamp down on the security, not just of the passengers getting on the aircraft but the people who work around the aircraft. They try and do spot searches of people going into work, and obviously, they're supposed to wear IDs at all times.
Apparently, there was one individual not wearing their I.D. And now, they have vanished and they're trying to find them and figure out if this is somebody who might have misplaced an I.D., didn't have it with them and doesn't want to get in trouble, or if, in fact, this was somebody who might have been up to no good around this plane. At this point in time, they're still looking. They haven't sorted it all out yet, Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Jeanne, appreciate it. If you get any additional information, just let us know. And we'll get you back up on the air.
A somber homecoming today on ninth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. We focus on one soldier who is really emblematic of the sacrifice of so many. Sergeant First Class Lance Vogeler, his remains are returned. Vogeler had served an astonishing 12 combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Our Martin Savidge is in Savannah, Georgia, for the return of a fallen hero.
And, Marty, this number, 12 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why so many?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A huge number and very significant, although it has to do with the rotation of the rangers.
HARRIS: Yes.
SAVIDGE: He was an Army Ranger and their rotations are a little different. Instead of going for a year, they tend to go three or four months at a time on a specific mission. It is though, very intense, often combat from beginning to end. And that's the reason they are put in and put out.
But still, four times in Iraq, eight times in Afghanistan, and it was in Afghanistan where he was killed last Friday. Then, as you say, today is when his body was brought home to Savannah at Hunter Army Airfield.
This is the moment for the family, of course, where the reality really sets in. They have been notified, but seeing the flag-draped casket as it's unloaded, to see the honor guard there, to see the casket, and, of course, the many other rangers that are also there to pay their respects. It was a moving scene to be there on the tarmac, especially when this huge airfield comes to an absolute standstill, and everybody, no matter what they were doing anywhere on that base, stopped and took note of what was happening as this young man's casket was unloaded and given the respect that it was due.
And as you pointed, his family spoke to us, and what is slightly different is, of course, mom and dad are deaf. So, they speak not with words but with hand gestures. And yet they're so full of pride, and at the very same time, their hearts are breaking, of course, with the loss of their son who they say was not only a great soldier, but he was a boy scout, he was young man who loved soccer, and he loved rollerblading, he loved golf, and he loved God. He was very much about his faith, and actually was a minister as well as being a soldier -- Tony.
HARRIS: Hey, Marty, I think I understand this on a couple different levels, but this is a big military town that we're talking about here. Why is this particular case, the loss of this soldier, getting so much attention?
SAVIDGE: Well, it's a very good question. In fact, look, you'll see that his story and his parents were on the front page of the newspaper here in Savannah.
HARRIS: Yes.
SAVIDGE: And you might wonder, well, with this being such a huge military area, why would this particular death be of note? But the thing to keep in mind is even though this is a military town, they actually do not get many casualties that come back here, because traditionally, the fallen soldier is transported back to their home town where they're going to be buried. In this case, his home town was also where he was based.
And so, that's why they do not often see a body hem coming back here. And so, what they did was they not only put it on the front page of the paper, they put the route which the hearse was going to take as it travelled from the airfield to the funeral home. They published that, and as is tradition in this town, people come out all along that way and they pay their respects as the hearse goes by.
So it's quite moving and quite meaningful in this particular town.
HARRIS: What a wonderful goodbye. Marty Savidge for us -- Marty, good to see you as always. Thank you, sir.
As Marty just mentioned, Vogeler was a wounded soldier and he returned to war.
Today, veterans are fighting to stop the military from deploying wounded troops back to battle. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War are marching from Walter Reed Army Medical Center to Capitol Hill.
How many troops have we lost in the war? Josh is following is that one for us -- Josh.
LEVS: Yes, Tony. A day like today is time to take a look at that.
Let's take a look at the big numbers now. You know, there are all sorts of stories like that that we've always have to see.
Let's take a look at where the casualties stand: 2,118 coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and it includes from the United States and other countries that are in that coalition. And let's take a look at the U.S. specifically.
One thousand three hundred and seven U.S. soldiers killed in this war in Iraq. And I have here just a few of the other countries that have lost soldiers. Britain, Canada and France lost large numbers of soldiers as well.
Now, let's take a look at here at this. Coalition soldiers wounded. We were just talking about wounded troops. There are more than 8,500 coalition soldiers that have been wounded in this war.
Now, we hear a lot about these casualties and we need to keep an eye on that.
There's another side to this war. I want to point out, the civilians inside Afghanistan. And what we have from the United Nations is that they looked at the first half of this year, first half of 2010 through the end of June. They found 1,271 civilians were killed in that block of time as a result of fighting, and they said that 76 percent of those casualties were due to the Taliban and other related anti-government forces.
The Taliban rejects that, but that's what they say right here. That's what we know about Afghanistan casualties.
All right. Let's talk a little bit more now about Afghanistan itself in general, where things stand. I know we have some video of everyday life there. I want to talk about a U.N. report that's looking at where things stand all these years later. One thing it says is that decades of war and an escalating conflict, combined with frequent earthquakes as we've been hearing about, and seasonal hazards like drought, landslides, extreme winter and floods, have left, in their words, most people in the country extremely vulnerable.
They also say the majority of the country is unsafe. They say they're shrinking humanitarian space for these groups to get their work done. Attacks have gone up. Two-thirds of people do not have improved access to drinking water. And more than half of young children are facing chronic malnutrition.
Lots of the population is suffering from a basic lack of services. So, you have all these problems there inside Afghanistan: lack of clean water, electricity, medical care, access to jobs, lower attendance at schools.
Now, there are some things along the way that we should stop and say, hey, they've been achieved by U.S. troops, including the building of schools. One thing I saw, they say, as of 2004, no girls in school at all basically in Afghanistan, and in 2007, a couple million. So, there are strides that are taking place by Afghans and also by U.S. troops who are working really hard, and troops around the world, to get that done.
That said, humanitarian challenges are huge, Tony, and the toll that the U.S. and other countries are paying continues to grow.
HARRIS: Yes, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.
LEVS: Sure.
HARRIS: You know what, before we get to the break here, let me do this first and then we'll do this update on the Philadelphia situation coming up in just a couple minutes. We will get you more insight on the Afghan peace council and it a chance for success. I'll be talking with James Dobbins. He was former President George W. Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan.
Now, let's do this. Can we do this? Can we take the pictures, WPVI in Philadelphia? There you go. OK, WPVI in Philadelphia, Philadelphia International Airport.
And let me just the read the update for you. Federal and local police are at the airport searching for a person in uniform who was not wearing identification while on the tarmac. And this official is saying to us that this could be a suspicious person or it could be absolutely nothing.
And the evacuation of an aircraft was sparked when one of three people dressed in employee uniforms while loading a plane could not produce I.D. badges.
Let's get back to Jeanne Meserve in Washington.
Jeanne, I hope I didn't steal your thunder there, but that's the latest word that I have on information on this incident there at Philadelphia International Airport.
MESERVE: Well, Tony, a law enforcement official is telling us that this was U.S. Air Flight 1070. It was bound for Bermuda. According to these officials, three baggage handlers were loading this plane. Two of them noticed that the third guy didn't have a badge, he didn't look familiar to them, and so, they confronted him, they asked him who he was.
According to this official, the person without the badge left the area and law enforcement are still looking for him. The plane has been evacuated of all its passengers. They are checking out the bags, according to this law enforcement officer, to determine if there's any kind of threat. Bomb dogs are going over it.
No other part of the Philadelphia airport has been evacuated and the plane has been removed, as we can see from the pictures, to a remote area of this airport.
Now, as I was mentioning before, the tarmac, the area around those planes are supposed to be secure. People there are supposed to have these so-called SITA badges. They go through background checks to get those. The point is to try and keep that entire envelope around the airplane free of anybody or anything that could be a threat. That's why there was so much concern when they saw somebody who was not wearing a badge.
But that's the latest we're hearing from a law enforcement official -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Jeanne. Appreciate it. Thank you.
More in just a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: OK, let's do this. Let's get you the very latest in the situation in Philadelphia, at Philadelphia International Airport.
Let's go back to the live pictures from WPVI, our affiliate there.
As you just heard from Jeanne Meserve, this is a situation where we had a plane presumably at a gate -- we don't know that for sure, but presumably at a gate. This is how the narrative seems to be taking shape right now.
And you had three baggage handlers who were, we understand, loading the plane. Two of the baggage handlers did not recognize the third. And apparently that third person did not have a badge visible. So, at some point, obviously the other two sort of alert officials, law enforcement.
That third person has disappeared and we don't know where that person is. Right now law enforcement is trying to locate that person.
The plane was -- everyone, all the passengers taken off the plane, and clearly, the plane was moved. If this took place at the gate, the plane clearly has been moved. It's been relocated to another area of the airport, away from gate traffic, obviously, and so the search continues there for this third person who was not wearing a badge but was involved in the baggage loading process of that particular jet. You can see why this would be very concerning to everyone involved in this.
So we will continue to follow developments here. And Jeanne Meserve is working on this, the plane being checked now by bomb- sniffing dogs, we understand. So, it's a story that continues to develop. We will get some more information and share it with you in just a moment.
Afghanistan's president launched a peace council today. Tribal leaders and elders will look for ways to engage the Taliban at the negotiating table. That was one of the topics on CNN's newest primetime addition, "PARKER SPITZER."
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KATHLEEN PARKER, CO-HOST, "PARKER SPITZER": This whole idea of bringing the Taliban into the government, is this just a way for us to get out? Is this the best exit strategy for us?
FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": I don't think we should think of it that way. I mean -- you know, there's a couple of very good studies of civil wars. Most civil wars end through negotiations. It's very rare to have the north triumphing over the south as it did in the American Civil War.
Most of the time, you have some messy political outcome with a negotiation. And particularly with the Taliban, you know, this is a little different from people's imagination. These are not Arabs who sort of enter the country. The Taliban represent the conservative part of the Pashtun community in Afghanistan. The Pashtuns are 50 percent of Afghanistan. In other words, these guys are here to stay.
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HARRIS: "PARKER SPITZER" on CNN. Tune in for smart political talk. It is 8:00 Eastern, every night, right here on CNN.
Right now, let's refocus on the Taliban and efforts to get them to the peace table nine years after the start of the way. You may remember, one year into Operation Enduring Freedom, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, quote, "The Taliban are gone. The al Qaeda are gone."
James Dobbins joins me now from Washington. He was President George W. Bush's U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and is currently with the Rand Corporation.
James, I've been looking forward to this conversation. I haven't seen you in a while. It's good to have you back on the program.
JAMES DOBBINS, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO AFGHANISTAN: Thank you.
HARRIS: So, who would the Afghan peace council be talking to in these negotiations? Are we talking about senior Taliban representatives with the blessing of Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban? Who's at the table?
DOBBINS: I think we're talking about two things. One is, talking to lower-level leaders, in an effort to detach them from the insurgency, but there is a parallel effort to talk to the top leadership, Mullah Omar, and people who responsive directly with him, to see whether the fighting can be halted through some process of accommodation.
HARRIS: The United States government is not going to participate, is our understanding, in the talks. Is that a good idea?
DOBBINS: I think there's -- again, there's two levels of talks. There are talks among the Afghans. And then there are talks among the surrounding nations who have the capacity to undermine any agreement that the Afghans reached. So, the U.S. will be talking to Pakistan, Russia, India, maybe even Iran, countries that have traditionally interfered in Afghanistan and supported different factions to ensure that the Afghans are getting converging signals urging them to coalesce rather than encouraging them to continue to fight.
HARRIS: How do you view this? Is this a good development, word of these talks, of this peace council being formed? What are the prospects, in your view, for these talks?
DOBBINS: Well, as General Petraeus has said many times, this is the only way this war is going to end. And so, we might as well get started. I don't think the process will be quick or easy. History of civil war suggests that it could take several years, and during that time, violence could well increase as the sides maneuver for advantage. And the side that's going to emerge best is the side that shows the most tenacity through this process.
HARRIS: Let me channel -- attempt to channel a question that many viewers might be asking themselves here after all these years of war in Afghanistan. It took us less than two months to oust the Taliban. What have we been doing since that time, honestly, in Afghanistan?
DOBBINS: Well, you know, there's a popular line that the war is now entering its 10th year, and that's not really true. For the first several years after the Taliban was toppled, there was no war, there was virtually no fighting and the U.S. was doing very little to help rebuild an Afghan government and pacify the country.
The real war started three or four years ago and intensified only in the last 18 months or so.
But I think another thing people lose track of is how much better Afghanistan is today than it was in 2001. By any objective measure, whether you're talking about longevity, child mortality, access to education, access to electricity, access to telephones, access to free media or per capita income, Afghanistan was significantly better off than it was eight years ago. The GDP of the country has doubled in that time, 100 percent increase in income.
HARRIS: Yes. But, Ambassador Dobbins, you know this to be true. I mean, people are most concerned about their security anywhere in the world and a government's ability to take care of its people. How many years before Afghanistan, in your view, is really ready to fight its own internal political battles, to settle what many are calling a civil war? How long?
DOBBINS: I'll tell you -- first of all, obviously, the security situation which has been deteriorating has dominated the news and tended to obscure these other areas of progress. But even in terms of security, Afghanistan is safer today than, for instance, Iraq, which we consider a war that's over. And it's safer than it's been for most of its last 30 years.
There is a civil war there. Afghanistan is a small, weak country that can easily be influenced by its neighbors. So, a lot is going to depend on whether its neighbors stop fomenting conflict.
I don't see a quick or easy solution here, but we do have to remember as we watch caskets coming home from our own troops and look at the cause, that a good deal is being achieved.
HARRIS: Ambassador Dobbins, great to talk to you. It's good to see you. Thank you. Thanks for your time.
DOBBINS: A pleasure.
HARRIS: We will update you on the breaking story in Philadelphia. A security breach at the airport there, that's just up ahead. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Let's update the situation in Philadelphia. We don't have a live picture up but we can show the scene, that's for sure. We've rolled some tape on it.
And this is the scene that is still ongoing at Philadelphia International Airport, the video from WPVI, our affiliate in Philadelphia. And all of the activity around U.S. Air Flight 1070 bound for Bermuda.
Our understanding right now is there were three baggage handlers actually loading the plane, OK? Two of them noticed the third guy doesn't have a badge. Everyone has to have a badge, right? And they didn't recognize this third guy, this third gentleman.
The officials said that the two baggage handlers then confronted the third and asked, you know, who are you? At that point, the person without the badge apparently left the area. Law enforcement is still looking for that individual.
The plane evacuated and all of the bags have been checked by a bomb-sniffing dog. Actually, a couple of dogs, at least two. No other part of the airport has been evacuated. That's the information that we have right now. And the plane has actually been moved to a remote area so all of this activity, more searches, whatever else is needed to secure that plane, can actually take place.
So the plane has been moved from the gate area to this more secure location where that activity can take place and more searches of the plane and the area around it. The search continues for that third individual who was helping the two other baggage handlers load the baggage bound for Bermuda. That person has not been found at this point.
And that's the information that we have on it. The plane evacuated and the search continue for that individual.
We will continue to get information as we go here. I'm going to check the printer and see if there's some additional information and I'll share that with you in a moment.
As we get to Chad Myers in the severe weather center.
And, Chad, it really was, last hour yesterday, and this hour yesterday, when we had all that action in -- west of Flagstaff with tornadoes. One, two, three -- four of them, correct?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: People ask me, why do you like your job, and I tell them because when I walk into this building, I have no idea what might jump at me that day. It can be an oil spill, it can be tsunamis, it can be earthquakes, it can be tornadoes on the ground in northern Arizona. They all seem unlikely at some point in time.
And today, I think the threat might be a little farther to the west, although it's not as big of a threat. It would be west of Denver, along I-70, east of Salt Lake City. This is the area that could see some type of severe weather today.
Let's roll some of the tape though because we have been getting dramatic pictures just in the past couple hours of here and this is all brand new. WTVK, this is out of Phoenix, but they -- KTVK -- they flew up into the Flagstaff area to find this. We were all looking at it in the weather office and we think this is probably an F-2, an EF- 2, wind speed somewhere around 110, 120, maybe 130, because as they keep flying around, you will see homes without roofs.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: And not without shingles and not without the plywood, but without the structure of the roof as it should be there. You will be -- there's the house right there. I think you're going to zoom into it there. OK?
You shouldn't be able to see down into a home if it's EF-0 at 89, 90 miles per hour or at an EF-1. But an EF-2, you begin to lose the structure just like that.
And EF scale is not so much a wind scale, it's how much damage this tornado did. I only saw this one house that has this. So, they may only have been that EF damage for 100 feet. But as you pan along the left and to right, you see a lot of homes without shingles, you see the blue tarps on top already, but most of the other homes still have the structure of their homes kind of all intact.
We also did see some of the video of the train that fell over. You know, I called them boxcars yesterday, and they're cars with boxes on them. They're not a true boxcar.
But it's more like these containers that they stack on top of a flatbed, and so, it falls over a little bit -- maybe a little bit easier because of the tall structure. But this is the video we believe to be -- and I haven't been able to take a look at this, but you see the swirl there? You can kind of see something coming up from the ground. Not necessarily do you always see this grey-black Kansas- looking tornado that sucks things up. Sometimes, it looks just like this where you just can't even tell that it's to the ground until you see. And, you look on the ground, you go, "Oh, my gosh! It looks like a funnel."
HARRIS: Right.
MYERS: But, on the ground, stuff is flying around. They don't have to be. The bottom layer and top layer not always connected in a tornado when it makes it all the way to the ground. Look for the damage on the ground, not so much that tube that might come down from the clouds.
HARRIS: Yes, well said. Boy! Good stuff. Amazing pictures. You're not supposed to be able to look into the top of a dog gone.
MYERS: Yes.
HARRIS: All right. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: OK. HARRIS: Do we want to do a quick update on the Philadelphia situation or do we do that on the other side of the break? Let's do it. We've got pictures from WPVI. And, this are the situation -- Great, live pictures now. Chad, here's the situation. We got that USAir flight, 1070 bound for Bermuda, at some point in the loading process of the bags.
MYERS: Yes.
HARRIS: People are already on the plane.
MYERS: Right.
HARRIS: So, now you're loading the last of the bags, and you've got three baggage handlers there. Two of the baggage handlers are supposed to be there.
MYERS: Right.
HARRIS: And, they've got the badges. They got everything. They're in uniform. They got the badges, everything that you supposed to have. There was a third person on this crew --
MYERS: Without a badge.
HARRIS: Without a badge.
MYERS: OK. That's OK. Somebody forgot their badge, yes! You know, we give the badge of shame here at CNN. You have to have the badge to get into the building.
HARRIS: Yes. Right.
MYERS: Right. We have 3,500 people that work for CNN, and I don't know them all.
HARRIS: Exactly.
MYERS: There is a close-knit community in the baggage handling and in the airline business. You know everyone that you work with, so you see them on a daily basis.
HARRIS: Yes, and you don't leave, OK? If you're not a part of that community or if your fellow co-worker is asking you, "Hey, where is your badge? Who are you?
MYERS: Right. You know what, dude? I messed up. I got a badge. You know, I'm to train here"
HARRIS: OK. So, we got a situation here.
MYERS: There's something more to it than this. Maybe, the guy forgot his badge.
HARRIS: Right.
MYERS: He was embarrassed. He didn't want to get fired for leaving his badge.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: Or heaven forbid sneaking in without the badge.
HARRIS: Right.
MYERS: That's going to happen, too.
HARRIS: Right.
MYERS: I know it doesn't seem like it, but there's a lot of going in and going out of these places. You can follow somebody in, follow somebody out. You know, they open those doors -- beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, open the door. There you go, you're walking right out. The uniform is the most concern. Where did he get the uniform?
HARRIS: Where did he get it?
MYERS: Is it a real uniform? And, obviously, the two guys who saw him should be able to finger him, point him out and say, "Who was this guy?"
HARRIS: So, this is a telling picture right here. So, obviously they moved the plane from the gate to another area and taken all the bags off the place.
MYERS: And, what's the threat? Not that somebody is working for free.
HARRIS: Right.
MYERS: This is not an intern situation.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: What was that person without a badge trying to put on the airplane?
HARRIS: Yes. Let's see the pictures again because this is important. As you see, the work is going on here now. You've got the bomb-sniffing dog, one day. I think there were a couple others helping out this effort. The FBI local police on board.
So, you get all the bags off the plane, and you let the dogs sniffing -- the bomb-sniffing dog do its thing, and that's what we got going on here. I don't know if this is happening real time or a short time ago. We were able to roll on it. OK, live pictures right now. So, this is still going on.
MYERS: Right.
HARRIS: And, this third individual, the person in the uniform without the badge has not been located.
MYERS: Yes.
HARRIS: So, that's the work that is going on right now and the TSA has sent us a note saying, they're absolutely aware of the situation. How could they not be? So, we will continue to follow developments in this story. Thank you, Chad. Now, let's get to a quick break. We'll be back in a moment here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And, you're just joining us. Take a look at the breaking news we've been following this hour and all the activity around USAir flight 1070 that was bound for Bermuda from Philadelphia International Airport.
There is the jet. In a moment, you're going to see what's going on around the plane. There is at least one bomb-sniffing dog now that is going through all the luggages that was taken off that aircraft. Here's the situation that at some point in the last hour or so, we received a word that this plane has been moved.
And, there was a situation at the airport. Three baggage handlers, apparently, were loading bags onto that flight bound for Bermuda. Two of the baggage handlers didn't recognize the third guy. Confronted the third guy and said, "Who are you and where is your badge? You're not official to be here right now. You're in uniform but you don't have a badge. Apparently, that third person left the scene.
Now, the FBI and local police are all over this scene right now, and you see the work that's going on with this aircraft and the luggage, the bags that were on that aircraft. The plane moved away from the gate. All the passengers obviously taken off that plane. The plane then moved to this area of the airport. Everything taken off.
You would think that the bomb-sniffing dog has gone through the aircraft and now is working outside on the bags. And, we're just going to keep an eye on the situation. That person -- that third person who was posing, you would think -- we don't know that for sure.
But, certainly, didn't have the proper credentials to be doing the job that he was doing at that moment. That third person has not been located at this point. The TSA obviously aware of the situation. And, we're going to keep an eye on it as well, and we'll give you updates as we get additional information with the situation going on right now with Philadelphia International Airport.
Big banks moving forward now. Big banks admitting the problems with foreclosure documents and freezing the process. Now, once data is going to court to punish the banks for what official say is fraud. CNN Money team all over this one.
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HARRIS: Hey, I didn't see this coming today. Let's take you to cnnmoney.com. I love the lead story here. The consumers, that's you and me -- All right, consumers are opening their wallets. Retailers report gains in same-store sales for a 13th month in a row. Analysts cautioning -- we're not going to talk about the analysts cautioning.
But, a little euphoria right now is, consumers are opening their wallets just ahead of the holiday shopping season. Could this be a good sign leading into that season? We understand the retailers are starting or at least thinking of hiring more, anticipating nice sales in nice sales.
And, let's get you to the New York Stock Exchange. Just pass three hours in the trading day, and you can see the number here. We get close to 11,000 yesterday. Yesterday was essentially a flat day. We're expecting to see that 11,000 number. Look, what happens today. We're starting to sell, down 61 points, and the NASDAQ is down as well, down eight points. And, the developing story that we've been actually following for several weeks, now. Widespread allegations that loan services failed to verify legal documents and what could be -- hundred of thousands of closure cases around the country. Poppy Harlow joining us from New York. She is all over this story for us. What's the latest on this, Poppy?
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting, I mean, as you said, Tony, it has been developing for a few weeks. It's become a political fight. Look, the state of Ohio, their attorney general yesterday, alleging allied financial and its unit, GMAC mortgage committed fraud. That's the serious allegation.
They say that allied submitted some phoney documents that employees sign off on for closure documents without verifying them, what the AG wants to do there in Ohio. They want to block Allied from doing any more foreclosures in the entire state until they get this rectified. What we have seen, I should tell you, over the past few weeks, allied has suspended. They are evictions because of foreclosure in Ohio and in 22 other states, but not all of them. Just the ones they think may have been impacted by this robo signing. What does that mean?
It means that someone asked the bank, signed off on foreclosure documents that eventually needs people get kicked out of their home, without reading through them all. Without making sure everything is accurate. What the Ohio attorney if for all of that to stop and he's also, Tony, calling for a civil penalty for $25,000 for each violation. Release severe charges here.
The company says, "Look, there is nothing fraudulent or deceitful about our practices, when it comes to foreclosures. They say they fixed the document problem, Tony, and they also say they're going to be vindicated in court. But, this hasn't been going on a few weeks. And, this is the first attorney general of the state to step in here and try to take major action.
HARRIS: Hey, is this the story that's sort of growing in scale and scope? Did I hear something that chase may be another one of that we will be looking at this problem as well?
HARLOW: Yes. It's not just Allied Bank that is looking into this. The attorney general of Ohio was saying he's worried this is the tip of the iceberg. HARRIS: Yes.
HARLOW: He wants to talk with J.P. Morgan Chase, bank of America... Bog mortgage services also well. As far goes, Citi Group holds foreclosure practices. What we do know, is that J.P. Morgan and Bank of America has said, they'll also hold some of those foreclosures in the 23 states that needed judge to approve them because of this robo signing issue.
But I have to say, there are 27 other states that don't require a judge to review foreclosure documents. But, you also now have some leaders in those states coming out. States like California and Texas and they're calling for action. What we also learned with this, Tony, is that the house speaker, Nancy Pelosi, some other democrats in California are calling for a federal investigation. Really taking this to the highest level, and we have in Texas the attorney general there saying he wants 30 loan services to stop foreclosures until they go through their procedure and all these documents.
I think the bottom line on this is it underscores how serious the foreclosure crisis is. We have about 300,000 foreclosure filings every month. And, the question is, did people get kicked out of their home, Tony?
HARRIS: Yes.
HARLOW: They shouldn't have? They're going to review all these paperworks really close, Tony. We'll keep on top of it.
HARRY: I couldn't imagine, if you bought a foreclose on home and you might not have --
HARLOW: And, you're living -- Right.
HARRIS: Yes. Can you imagine?
HARLOW: Yes.
HARRIS: All right, Poppy. Well, stay on that for us. That could be huge. All right, Poppy Harlow for CNN New York. And, still to come, I got to say, we are getting some new pictures and some new sound from the tornado damage in Arizona. You will actually hear from a homeowner whose home was really hit and destroyed. That's just ahead. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Boy, we watched this story really develop yesterday in these hours right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We're talking about one, two, four tornadoes touching down west of Flagstaff, Arizona. And take a look at some of these pictures. Let's take them full here so you can see new pictures coming into CNN of some of the damage done by one or more of those tornadoes. I'm not quite sure the area near Flagstaff that this is, but you can see that you've got at least one home here that you'll see in a second. This shot widens out a little bit and then it gets -- then it zooms back in on a particular house with no roof. It was really hit hard by the tornadoes.
And let's get you to the Flagstaff area, Belmont, Arizona, specifically. KTVK reporter Mike Watkiss is joining us now.
And, Mike, if you would, tell us, if you would, show us around. Where are you, specifically? Are you in someone's home?
MIKE WATKISS, KTVK REPORTER: We're in someone -- what's left of somebody's home, Tony, and it's a heartbreaking scene. You look out the window here and you get the perspective that many people are waking up to here in a little subdivision in the town of Belmont, Arizona. It's just west of the larger community, Flagstaff. And this is really the epicenter where these tornadoes went ripping through yesterday morning.
And I'm joined now by a very nice gentleman, Carlos Rojas. You were renting this house for about the last two weeks --
CARLOS ROJAS, HOME HIT BY TORNADO: A couple more weeks. Yes, just the last about six weeks, actually.
WATKISS: Six weeks and you're from Camp Hamilton (ph). You're a Marine.
ROJAS: Yes.
WATKISS: You're here with your family. Tell us what happened. This is your master bedroom.
ROJAS: Yes. Basically at around 5:00 a.m., I was getting ready to go work out with my military unit out here at Northern Arizona University. And my daughter -- there was a little bit of a wind storm going on, and when the hail started falling, my daughter got a little bit scared. I have an 11-year-old daughter. She ran inside here and asked if she could stay in bed with mom and then my two-year-old. As she did, she laid down, and we basically heard something sounding almost like a freight train coming in. And then there was an explosion. The closest thing I could relate it to is maybe an IED going off in Iraq or in Afghanistan.
WATKISS: And you heard that. You know what you're talking about.
ROJAS: I'm a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan and I've been around a couple of IEDs a time or two. So the sound was similar. The moment we heard the explosion, basically we watched the roof being blown completely off of us. It shot straight up and out to the side. And then a few seconds later, we had a wall from the neighbor's house actually come up from the top and then land on my wife and myself and my kids on the bed.
WATKISS: My goodness.
ROJAS: And basically, you know, busting my head open a little bit, but --
WATKISS: And you got an injury? You're kind of --
ROJAS: Yes, yes, just -- I stitched that up already yesterday, so I'm -- we're all right with it. But that was actually kind of a mixed blessing because when that wall from the neighbor's house came down and landed on us, it actually gave us some protection. And at that point we looked up and the wind kind of ceased for like maybe a fraction of a second and then we saw lightning kind of shooting from the bottom and across and we realized we were in the eye.
WATKISS: You're laying in bed --
ROJAS: Yes.
WATKISS: And looking up through what was your roof and you're seeing the eye of this storm.
ROJAS: Correct. Correct. And at that point, me and my wife realized that we were in the eye, so we scrambled down here to the foot of the bed and then pulled the wall over us and just held on as the rest of that -- the tornado passed over us and basically just tried to not get sucked out -- keep ourselves from getting sucked out of the house. As you can see --
WATKISS: It almost took your back wall off right there.
ROJAS: As you can see, yes --
WATKISS: It not only took the roof, but almost pealed that back wall off, which would have sucked you out.
ROJAS: Yes, that would have sucked us out. And it sucked out a lot of our possessions in here and a lot of our stuff. And by the grace of God we managed to hold on until the storm finished passing.
WATKISS: We certainly appreciate you taking time for us and glad that your family, your wife and your children are OK.
ROJAS: Thank you.
WATKISS: It's been a real blow for this family. Not only have they lost their home, but Carlos had just paid off his truck and it's destroyed in the driveway.
ROJAS: Yes.
WATKISS: So they've got a lot of pieces to pick up here, Tony.
HARRIS: Wow.
WATKISS: It's going to be a long couple of days for the folks here in Arizona's high country. HARRIS: Hey, Mike, just ask Carlos a quick question for me. From the time it started and to the time this episode ended, how long are we talking about here? Are we talking 30 seconds, a minute, a little longer than that?
WATKISS: Tony from CNN is asking, how long did this all take? You heard some winds. How long --
ROJAS: You know what, I think from the initial moment my daughter ran in, it was probably about a minute, minute and a half until we heard the freight train noise coming in. And the moment the tornado actually hit, that whole span of watching the roof explode off of us maybe was about 30 seconds. But in those moments, basically time slows down a significant amount. So you get to kind of witness everything in microseconds.
WATKISS: We're just really glad you and your family are OK.
Tony, we'll throw it back to you.
HARRIS: OK, Mike, appreciate it. And give our best to Carlos and his family. My goodness. Thank you.
WATKISS: We'll do.
HARRIS: President Obama hits the campaign trail today with 26 days until the election. Find out where he is going and who he is stumping for in our CNNPolitics.com desk update.
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HARRIS: All right. Time now for your CNNPolitics.com desk update. Twenty-six days to go until the mid-term elections. John King with "The Best Political Team On Television" joining us from Washington.
John, good to see you. What's crossing right now?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Twenty-six days, Tony, who's counting?
Here's one of the things that's crossing. If you're keeping track of those 2012 potential candidates for president on the Republican side, add Rick Santorum to the list. He's the former conservative senator from Pennsylvania. He's already had a pack (ph) and he's been contributing to candidates across the country. But today he's announcing the opening of a new pack out in Iowa, which just happens, coincidence I'm sure, to hold the first presidential caucuses. Rick Santorum's keystone pack. The short-term goal, support candidates there this year. The long-term goal, of course, to make friends in case he runs for president in 2012.
Imagine being in 10 states, Tony, already that have early voting underway. Let's say you've already voted. Well, you can't escape the negative ads even though there's 26 days left and perhaps you've already voted, but that's an important dynamic. Ten states -- Vermont, South Dakota, it begins in Arizona today, Iowa, Wyoming, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin, California and India. You can already vote in those states. Seventeen more states and the District of Columbia will start early voting over the next two weeks. So if you don't want to wait 26 days, maybe you don't have to.
HARRIS: Right.
KING: And, as you mentioned before the break, President Obama out on the campaign trail again today. A short trip today. He's only going about 19, 20 miles from the White House. I'm going to ask Jay McMichael (ph) to pan over here. He's be going up to help Martin O'Malley. He's the Democratic governor of the state of Maryland in a re-election campaign. O'Malley leading in the polls right now, but one of the challenges in Maryland and across the country where the president's trying to help out, getting young, college age voters and African-Americans, the traditional Democratic base, to turn out, Tony, if not for early voting, then in 26 days.
HARRIS: Yes, Martin O'Malley up against the former governor, right, Bob Ehrlich, in that race.
KING: That's right. Bob Ehrlich, the former governor. That's exactly right.
HARRIS: That's right.
KING: A rematch there. And the most recent polls show O'Malley up --
HARRIS: I think we just lost John King, the host of "John King USA." So let me say it again, "John King USA," 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Your next political update coming in one hour. For the latest political news, go to CNNPolitics.com.
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