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Severe Weather Coast to Coast; Italian Pilgrims' Bus Crash after World Youth Day Celebrations; California Sports Competition Turns Deadly; Pre-Nuptial Boat Ride Ends in Tragedy; Warren Back in Pulpit; Spectacular Jewel Heist; Woman Sues Equifax, Wins $18.6 Million; Pope's Grand Finale in Brazil; Train Driver Charged in Crash
Aired July 29, 2013 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Severe weather outbreak coast to coast, millions under the gun. Massive flooding, daring rescues. The storm track straight ahead.
Also, city buys hockey team new arena. Sounds like a good thing, right, except it's Detroit and it's bankrupt and it's going to cost the city $400 million.
Plus, million dollar jewelry heist straight out of a Hitchcock movie. An ultraplush beach resort for the super rich now a crime scene. Has the Pink Panther struck again?
And revenge -- oh, sweet revenge. An Oregon woman fights credit report Equifax and wins to the tune of $18 million. Put that on your credit report.
NEWSROOM starts now.
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COSTELLO (on camera): Good morning, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello reporting this morning from Washington, D.C.
First up, dangerous weather across the country. Roads closed, drowning deaths, and in Arizona 33 tourists who were lucky to escape death. Take a look at these amazing pictures. Flash floods literally picked up a bus, sweeping it off the road and carrying it 300 yards before it tipped over. Thankfully, everyone got out OK.
In the meantime, rescue teams were busy in North Carolina where floods are being blamed for at least two deaths.
Meteorologist Indra Petersons is in New York tracking all this extreme weather. Good morning, Indra.
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INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Slow moving thunderstorms drenched the nation from east to west with North Carolina experiencing the worst of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can only see the top of the car, and I was like, my God.
PETERSONS: Surging floodwaters turned the streets into rivers, making cars and mailboxes barely visible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have personally never been on anything quite this difficult before.
PETERSONS: A rain swollen creek claimed two lives, the current too strong for a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The water is up and it's dangerous.
PETERSONS: Near hickory, firefighters had to rescue this woman by piggy-back, after rising waters left her car stranded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was raining so hard. I did not see like any of that.
PETERSONS: Philadelphia International Airport recorded nearly eight inches of rain in just six hours. That's a new all time record. In terminal "A," the strong storms caused the power to go out. That's not all. The torrential rain flooded the interstates, leaving cars stranded, and traffic backed up for miles.
Out west, a similar story. In Arizona, a tour bus leaving the Grand Canyon was overpowered by a flash flood. The bus flipped on its side and was swept 300 yards downstream. All 33 passengers managed to crawl out a window to safety. And the sun and blue skies in Hawaii will soon be replaced with dangerous winds and heavy rain. Tropical storm warnings and watches up as Tropical Storm Flossie closes in. Some parts of the island could get six to ten inches of rain.
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PETERSONS (on camera): Yes, so, it's really unbelievable, Carol, I mean, to see how much flooding across the country. The good news, that storm has pushed out of the northeast today so they're getting that break. They're able to dry out today. Unbelievable, 8 inches of rain. That is the most rain they have seen in a day any day of the year, and that's what they saw in Philly last night. Truly unbelievable.
COSTELLO: Unbelievable. Indra Petersons, thanks so much.
A weekend of spiritual renewal for dozens of people at one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world, but their bus ride home ended tragically in Italy. At least 38 people were killed when their bus plunged off a bridge last night, falling nearly 30 feet into a wooded area. Left behind a trail of destruction, damaged cars, and broken guardrails.
Barbie Nadeau joins us now live from Rome to tell us more. BARBIE NADEAU, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: People who are simple families from the suburb outside of Naples, their journey home just ended in tragedy as their bus just seemingly just lost control, went over a guard rail, and ended up in this ravine.
The bus itself was just shredded to bits and the people who survived, ten of them, it's just a miracle they were able to get out of there alive. Many of them, though, of course they're very severely injured and in a hospital today in Italy.
And before the bus went off that overpass, it hit ten cars and those people -- many of those people are injured, as well. The bus seemingly didn't have any kind of brake system or steering system and investigators right now are focusing on a mechanical failure on the bus more than anything else.
COSTELLO: Barbie Nadeau reporting live from Rome this morning. Thank you.
The conclusion of a surfing and skating competition in Huntington Beach, California, turned ugly. Take a look. A large fight broke out. When police tried to break it up, the crowd moved into the downtown area and continued fighting and damaging property.
CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us now from Los Angeles to tell us more. That looked nasty.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It looks very not pleasant. I'm hoping, Carol, that nobody was actually in those port-a-potties. And while we can say that there were no injuries, you cannot say the same thing for the streets of Huntington Beach. Take a look.
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ELAM (voice-over): Complete chaos and near anarchy as the U.S. Open of surfing, a skate and surf event held in Huntington Beach, California, turned into madness after a large crowd gathered at the conclusion of the competition began rampaging through the streets of the mellow beach town, fighting, tipping port-a-potties.
ALLI HOWARD, WITNESS: It started like with a fight and then it just broke out. Like, they were tipping port-a-potties and then the cops started to move in and they were throwing tear gas at everyone. Everyone was plugging their noses and coughing and dodging into stores and everyone just running down Main Street.
ELAM: Damaging public property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I'm trying to do is enjoy my night that I paid good money for.
ELAM: The Huntington Beach police, joined by responders from all over Orange County, were forced to shoot pepper balls that rioters, roaming the streets, attempting to quell the disturbances all around them.
This morning, after eight arrests and a long evening of battling the chaotic crowds, police finally regain control, restoring some order to the palm tree-lined streets.
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ELAM (on camera): Now, as you might have seen in all that video we showed you, is just about everyone had their cell phone out, their smartphone, and they were filming what was going on. The police in Huntington Beach are hoping to get their hands on some of that video so they can find out who they need to arrest. Carol?
COSTELLO: Interesting. Stephanie Elam reporting live from Los Angeles this morning.
A second body has been pulled from New York's Hudson River after a horrific boating accident. A bride-to-be and her fiance's best man went missing Friday night after their boat crashed into a parked barge. The would-be bride Lindsey Stewart was found dead on Saturday. The body found is believed to be that of the best man, Mark Lennon.
CNN's Alina Cho is following that story for you. Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDNT: Carol, good morning to you. This was meant to be a celebratory cruise on the water, a bride and groom and their friends out just two weeks before their wedding. But something went terribly wrong Friday night and this boat ride quickly turned fatal.
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CHO (voice-over): The investigation into Friday's horrific boat accident that killed the bride-to-be and best man will now focus on a time line. What happened and when.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're going to do is we're going to bring in an accident reconstruction team.
CHO: Authorities say the driver of the boat, also a friend of the couple, was intoxicated charged with vehicular manslaughter and vehicular assault. Investigators are also looking into claims the barge that the boat hit did not have proper lighting.
CHIEF WILLIAM BARBERA, ROCKLAND COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: You put an immovable object that's dark in the path of recreational boaters, you have a recipe for disaster.
CHO: Lindsey Stewart and Brian Bond were planning to marry on August 10th. They decided to take a boat ride Friday night up the Hudson River. The small power boat carrying six people hit a construction barge near a bridge, 30-year-old Stewart and best man Mark Lennon were killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm the big brother but his heart was a lot bigger than mine. He's -- he's -- he was my rock.
CHO: Bond, the groom, and four others including the boat's driver, suffered serious injuries.
BARBERA: They seemed very smitten with one another and very much in love.
CHO: At the home they shared, a make shift memorial. Lindsey Stewart's family told CNN, pray for our loss.
CAROL STEWART, LINDSEY STEWART'S MOTHER: She is supposed to be married two weeks from today. It just can't end like this.
CHO: A tragic ending to what was supposed to be a great night on the eve of a wedding.
BARBERA: Rather than have a joyful wedding, there will be wakes.
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CHO (on camera): And this morning, we're hearing the groom is still in the hospital recovering from severe head injuries. But imagine, Carol, having this physical recovery while also dealing with the severe emotional pain of having lost your bride-to-be and the best man at your wedding. This is exactly what Brian Bond is facing right now, losing much of what is dear to him in just a split second.
COSTELLO: Alina Cho reporting live for us this morning.
Pastor Rick Warren returned to the pulpit Sunday for his first sermon since his son's suicide in April. Worshippers at Southern California Saddleback Church greeted Pastor Warren and his wife with a warm welcome. You hear them there. During Pastor Warren's sermon, he talked about the shock he felt when he found out about his son's suicide.
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RICK WARREN, PASTOR, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: When Matthew died, the shock was not a day, not a week -- it lasted at least a month. And sometimes I still feel shocked by this thing that happened in my life.
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COSTELLO: CNN's Paul Vercammen has more on Warren's return.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, an emotional Rick Warren was greeted by overflow crowds and the pastor told his congregation, "Buckle up, we're shifting into hyperdrive. I'm back."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARREN: In the past 16 weeks, since mental illness took my son Matthew's life --
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): An impassioned Rick Warren took his first sermon since his son Matthew killed himself at age 27 in April. With his wife, Kate, at his side, Warren told his Saddleback Church congregation Matthew suffered from mental illness since childhood.
WARREN: We had gone to the best doctors money could buy. We had gotten the best medications. We had the best therapy. We had the best people praying. Thousands of people praying. We have an incredibly strong family with deep, deep faith. It just did not make sense.
VERCAMMEN: The grieving couple's influence reaches far beyond the walls of this church. Warren is the author of the mega bestseller, "The Purpose-Driven Life." With Kate at the forefront, Saddleback Church launched a global initiative to help people who are HIV positive and remove any associated stigmas.
After their son's suicide, the Warrens' new pledge is to erase any shame associated with mental illness.
WARREN: It's amazing to me that any other organ in your body can break down and there's no shame and stigma to it. But if your brain breaks down, you're supposed to keep it a secret. Huh? There's no stigma. You get diabetes, no problem. You get heart disease, no problem. Your lungs don't work, no problem. You break a bone, break your back, your liver stops working, no stigma. But if your brain doesn't work right, why should you be ashamed of that?
VERCAMMEN: Warren credits relatives, especially Matthew's surviving older siblings, Josh and Amy, with leading the family through its darkest moments.
WARREN: I am in a family of spiritual redwoods. I mean, they are giants of faith. It is a rock solid family. And, actually, when Matthew died, Amy said, "You know, Daddy." She said, "Satan picked the wrong family to pick on. He's going to lose big time on this one."
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VERCAMMEN (on camera): Saddleback Church officials say that Rick Warren will not grant any interviews soon but they say we will hear a lot from him, especially as he begins his mission to remove the stigma of mental illness. Back to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Paul Vercammen reporting for us this morning.
Glitz, glamour, and one spectacular jewel heist. An armed robber made off with about $53 million worth of gems from a posh hotel on the French Riviera. It was the third such heist around the city of Cannes since May.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin is live at the scene. So any idea who pulled this off?
ERIC MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not yet, Carol. The Carlton Hotel is known for its glitz and its glamour. It's here that during the Cannes Film Festival you'll see the stars. So people pretty shocked that a man with a gun was able to walk into the hotel and steal millions of dollars worth of jewelry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): It's a story straight out of a Hitchcock film.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Filmed on the beautiful French Riviera.
MCLAUGHLIN: One man walks into a hotel in Cannes, France, and walks out with $53 million in diamond jewelry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Diamonds, the only thing in the world you can't resist.
MCLAUGHLIN: The Carlton Hotel, the setting for the iconic movie "To Catch a Thief," was the site of one of Europe's biggest jewelry heists Sunday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a gun, and nobody stopped him, nobody -- I don't know, there was nobody around. They just gave him $40 million worth of jewelry. It's just incredible.
MCLAUGHLIN: Police say a robber whose face was covered by a hat and scarf threatened to shoot visitors and guests during the hold-up.
Cannes, home of the international film festival, is known for its glitz and glamour. But, lately, it's become a magnet for jewelry theft. In May, a $2.6 million necklace belonging to jeweler de Grisogono was taken from a hotel party. Later that same month, over $1 million worth of Chapur jewels were stolen from a safe in the Novotel Hotel.
This latest heist comes two days after a member of the notorious Pink Panther jewel thief gang escaped from a Swiss prison. However, it's too soon to say if there's any link to this incident.
Authorities this morning are looking for surveillance footage of the crime.
DONALD PALMIERI, GEMPRINT CORPORATION CHAIRMAN: Diamonds are like cash. They're the most concentrated form of wealth on the face of the earth. So they can be very influential in acquiring weapons, in acquiring drugs, or anything else that we want to keep out of society.
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MCLAUGHLIN: Thankfully, no one was hurt in yesterday's heist and it seems to be business as usual at the Carlton hotel. Walk through the lobby and it doesn't look like anything has happened. People here, though, pretty shocked and scared, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I would imagine so. Erin McLaughlin, reporting live for us this morning.
Score one for the little guy. An Oregon woman has been trying to get Equifax to fix her credit report for two years now. And now, she has finally won big time because it gets better. A jury awarded Julie Miller $18.6 million. Miller's lawsuit says she contacted the credit bureau eight times about major mistakes, but Equifax never bothered to correct them.
Alison Kosik is following the story from New York Stock Exchange.
And I love this story.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, persistence, it pays off when you hear this story. Julie Miller went through quite the ordeal trying to get false information taken off her credit report -- wrong information like her wrong Social Security number, date of birth. You know what she said? She had accounts in collection when she had never been delinquent on an account in her life.
All right. So, how the heck did this happen? Julie Miller is a common name so some information from another Julie Miller wound up on her reports. Now, Miller had successfully corrected errors on reports from other credit bureaus. But for some reason, Equifax gave her the run around.
And there were big consequences for this. She got rejected for at least two loans. You know what, she finally got fed up and she sued Equifax for failure to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It requires credit agencies to investigate any reported disputes and to correct or delete inaccurate information. Now, we did reach out to Equifax for comment and haven't heard back, but you can definitely expect that an appeal will happen with this case -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, everything is off her credit report now, though, right? She doesn't have it worry about that any more even though she went through all this drama, because you never know.
KOSIK: Exactly. You don't ever know. You know what the lesson is in this, this is what I said before, you got to be persistent.
And the good news is the law is on your side. It's your information, you're entitled to it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Each credit agency is required to give you one free report every year. Now, it's good to take advantage of that and especially when you're taking advantage of it, check for any issues.
And, again, they are required to investigate disputes and correct wrong information. So, the power is on your side, you just have to be involved in your own credit rating -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, thanks so much.
Still ahead THE NEWSROOM: yes, we now know Pope Francis is the people's pope but wait until you hear what he said about gays and the church. Trust me, it will surprise you.
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COSTELLO: Pope Francis continues to surprise or perhaps shock Catholics around the world. On a flight back to Rome from a wildly successful trip to Brazil, Pope Francis talked about how happy he was about that trip and said the lower security presence allowed him to get closer to the people.
But get this -- he also made comments about gays in the church saying, quote, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?" The pope went on said women should play a larger role in the church but should not be ordained as priests.
We'll talk about those comments in the next hour of NEWSROOM.
But right now, we want to talk about that wildly successful trip to Brazil where more than 3 million people -- 3 million -- showed up for the final mass on Copacabana Beach on Sunday.
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COSTELLO: This just astounding, isn't it?
CNN Shasta has more for you from Rio de Janeiro.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The biggest crowds to date for the grand finale for Pope Francis' trip to Brazil for World Youth Day. Pope Francis led mass right behind me on a stage on Copacabana Beach. More than 3 million people turned out. In fact, many of them spent the night here lined up in sleeping bags along the beach, along the road, along the route that they expected him to take here.
And when he passed by in his pope mobile, the crowds went absolutely crazy, trying to hand him babies. One pilgrim even managed to hand him the cup of tea in a typically dried board that they use in South America. He, of course, sip from the silver straw.
When he reached the stage, he also sent a message to young people, repeating a theme that we've heard throughout, and that is: get out and take the message to the people. Don't wait until you have time. You are the messengers of the church. Go out and be missionaries.
Now, after the big event here, Pope Francis didn't stop. He went on to meet with Latin American bishops, more of a stern message for them, telling them to really reflect on what they're doing, whether it benefits the institution of the church or whether it benefits the people of God.
Finally, a meeting with volunteers and then back to Rome.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.
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COSTELLO: Back to Rome where he made the comments about gays and the women in the church. Again, we'll talk about those comments in the next hour of NEWSROOM.
Just ahead at this hour of NEWSROOM: The man in command of a Spanish train that derailed now hears the charges he'll face in court, as a judge sets his conditions for release.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Family and friends will gather tonight at a Spanish cathedral for memorial dedicated to the passengers killed in last Wednesday's train crash. The driver of that train has now been charged with 79 counts of homicide.
Francisco Jose Garzon has been given his conditional release from jail, but his train operating license has been suspended and his passport has been taken away.
Karl Penhaul joins us live from Spain with more. Good morning, Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
We're outside the cathedral and this is journey's end for thousands of pilgrims who come to worship here every year, but, today, it is also a symbolic journey's end for train 151. This is where that memorial mass is going to be held for the 79 people killed in that accident. The death toll, of course, includes two Americans, Latin Americans and also people from North Africa.
So, a great international aspect to this tragedy, as well. We're expecting the prime minister to come. We're expecting members of Spain's royal family to attend, as well.
But, as you say, in parallel with this developments overnight with the judge charging Francisco Jose Garzon the train driver with 79 counts of reckless homicide and indeterminate amount or number of counts of causing injury by recklessness, as well. The conditions of his release, he has to report once a week to the judge and his passport has been withdrawn and unsurprisingly, as you say, his train driver license having been withdrawn.
There's a suspicion that one of the main factors behind this crash could have been speed, Carol.
COSTELLO: Karl Penhaul reporting live for us this morning, thank you.
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COSTELLO: And good morning. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello.
Before we get to our top stories, the opening bell is just about to ring on Wall Street, we're just about to hit 30 minutes past the hour. So, let's head to the New York Stock Exchange and Alison Kosik.
Good morning.
KOSIK: Good morning, Carol.
Get ready for one of those slow-starts to a very busy week on Wall Street. If you look at last week, it was pretty much a flat week. The Dow and S&P 500 barely moved. But, the good thing is it keeps the major averages on track for a 4 percent to 6 percent gain for the month of July with just three days to go. But a lot of potentially market-moving news, that's coming later this week. We're getting a GDP report on Wednesday. That's economic growth and big job's report coming on Friday.
Today, we're going to be getting figures on home sales. Those are homes under contract, but not yet closed. They are a good indicator of future home sales. The numbers are expected to have declined in June.
So, it's also going it be a busy week for earnings, as well. About 100 of the S&P 500 companies will report over the next five days. We're going to hear from BP, Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, among many, many others.
So, Carol, giving us no shortage of things to track here on Wall Street, Carol.
