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Update in Peterson, Bryant Cases; Ricin In Three Bottles Of Baby Food In Cali.; Another Cholesterol Limit Adjustment; Bloggers And Politics

Aired July 29, 2004 - 13:31   ET

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

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Taking a look at stories now in the news. The rain is finally tapering off in flood-ravaged Texas. More than a foot of rain drenched the Dallas area overnight. Hardest hit was the City of Lancaster. One person was reported killed, more than 80 were rescued from high waters, as many as 200 homes were flooded.
A small setback on the road to democracy in Iraq. The Iraqi National Conference, slated for this weekend, is being postponed for two weeks, apparently for logistical reasons. The conference will be held to choose an interim body to advise and oversee the newly- appointed interim government.

Federal authorities in Texas are questioning a woman about possible ties to terrorism. The FBI says the woman was detained near the Mexican boarder after her name popped up on a terrorism watch list. We'll have much more in a live report coming up next hour.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Well it happened again for the third time. A court official in Kobe Bryant's rape case has revealed information that's supposed to remain private. Detailed information, including the name of Bryant's accuser, was posted on the Web.

CNN National correspondent Gary Tuchman has more now from Eagle, Colorado -- Gary?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the court says it's embarrassed. It's apologizing to the alleged victim and says it was an accident, but the 20-year-old woman and her parents aren't so sure it wasn't done intentionally, so says the attorney for this 20-year-old woman who talked to us on the telephone on the record -- which is unusual in itself, because there is a strict decorum order in the Kobe Bryant case and lawyers are not supposed to talk to the journalists.

But John Clune, the attorney, is angry. He says that, quote, "She" -- meaning his client -- "does not trust the judge and court, and she has no reason to at this point," adding, "The judge needs to apologize, and he has to explain to her that these are not intentional acts."

What happened yesterday, a document that wasn't supposed to be on the public Web site was and had the woman's name on it. We do not report her name as a matter of CNN policy, but there was also some evidence that was supposed to be kept secret, talking about the rape exam that Kobe Bryant had.

And we learned through this evidence that, interestingly, his attorneys want to use it to show that DNA evidence found with Kobe Bryant helps indicate, they say, that this woman had sex with somebody else the day after she was with Kobe Bryant. John Clune, the attorney, strongly denies that.

But this happens one month after 206 pages of secret testimony were accidentally sent to some reporters. The judge immediately, upon learning about this, said everyone should destroy it under contempt of court possibilities. However, the news media appealed it based on First Amendment grounds. It went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court strongly hinted to the judge he should release this information.

A pre-trial hearing is being held tomorrow in which the judge will discuss with the attorneys how to release most, if not all, of these 206 very personal pages. And this all happened just one week after the judge decided that much of this woman's sex life from the 72-hour period surrounding the time she was with Kobe Bryant will be allowed to be used in the trial.

Despite all this, John Clune, the woman's attorney, says she is still to go forward with this trial, which begins on August 27th -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Gary Tuchman, live from Eagle, Colorado. Thank you -- Fred?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In California, the judge in the Scott Peterson murder case is allowing cameras in the courtroom today. Why the change? Let's go to CNN's Ted Rowlands, live in Redwood City. Ted, explain.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, today is the motion day, if you will, in the Peterson trial. If any issue has come up in the past few months, the judge has tabled it to be heard today -- meaning the jury is not in the courtroom today.

So, the judge has allowed a camera in for 15 minutes just to shoot updated pictures of Peterson and the lawyers involved in this case. Those have not been released yet to the pool. They are expected to be released at some time this morning. The camera was in there for the beginning portions of today's hearings.

A couple of things have already been decided by Judge Alfred Delucchi, one is that the defense will not get the outtakes of a 90- minute interview that Peterson did with ABC's Diane Sawyer. The defense wanted to take a look at the entire raw tape in this interview, saying that Peterson probably was not characterized properly on the ABC broadcast. They said they had evidence from family members that were there during the interview that Peterson was showing a range of emotions that they didn't think were properly shown in the broadcast version.

They also say Peterson made statements about his unborn son and wife that were not conveyed during that interview that was broadcast on ABC. They lost their argument, Geragos and the defense team. ABC doesn't have to turn over that tape.

They also lost an argument to try to get a photographer from "The Modesto Bee" to take the stand. At issue here is a shot of Peterson smiling during a candlelight vigil. And at this point, Scott Peterson showed some emotion today that we have not seen to date in the courtroom.

Rick Distaso, the prosecutor, said, "Judge, I want to put this into context: Peterson was laughing while others were crying." Scott Peterson pointed at him while talking to the attorneys. Some real raw emotion today. A full day of hearings are expected -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And Ted, we're expecting to get a feed of those images of Scott Peterson in court today, significant because we haven't seen any fresh tape of him in court in quite some time, have we?

ROWLANDS: No, not since the trial moved to Redwood City. Earlier this year, we saw him, and he's lost even more weight, considerable weight. His family members say he's lost up to 30 to 40 pounds. So, it'll be the first time we see Peterson in a while.

WHITFIELD: All right. And when we get that videotape, we'll be bringing that to you live right here on CNN. Ted Rowlands in Redwood City, thanks very much -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Denials and concerns in a frightening case of baby food poisoning. A man wanted for questioning in the case reportedly tells a California newspaper that police are looking for the wrong man.

We get details now in the investigation from CNN's Miguel Marquez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came from the same Irvine, California, Ralph's Grocery Store: three bottles of baby food contaminated with mashed castor beans, the main ingredient in the deadly poison ricin.

MATT MCLAUGHLIN, FBI: If you test mashed castor beans, you will get very small amounts of ricin plus ricinine and ricinoleic acid. Those three components together tell you that you have mashed castor beans, not ricin.

MARQUEZ: Investigators say two families on two separate occasions over the past two months purchased Gerber's Banana Yogurt Dessert, fed as much as two spoonfuls to their infants, then found notes with a reference to an Irvine police officer in the baby food.

CHIEF DAVID MAGGAND, IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, POLICE: The note stated that the food had been contaminated and that the person who ingested it would die in a short time. MARQUEZ: Investigators say Charles Dewey Cage was at the Ralph's at the same time the contaminated bottles were purchased.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've identified this person, Charles Dewey Cage, as someone who we want to talk to. I wouldn't categorize him as a suspect or person of interest.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Both infants, an 11 and nine-month old, were taken to a hospital and suffered no ill effects. In a statement, a Gerber Company spokesman said all bottles of its Banana Yogurt Dessert are being pulled from southern California shelves, that the contamination happened in post-production, and that the Gerber Company itself was not targeted.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: News from across America now for this Thursday, July 29th. Police in Utah continue searching for this missing woman, last seen more than one week ago. Lori Hacking was reported missing by her husband who says she never returned from a morning jog. Well, police now say they're not so certain that Hacking ever went running that day.

Snow leopard on the loose. The 50-pound animal is on the run in Kentucky after escaping earlier this week from its owner's home. Wildlife officials are setting traps for the declawed leopard, but so far no luck. The endangered snow leopard is native to Asian countries.

Recovering from a close call with a powerful lightning bolt. This dash-cam video shows the lightning strike that nearly hit two New Mexico State Police Officers who were helping flood victims Tuesday night. Police officials say the men are slowly recovering and will return to duty as soon as they feel able.

PHILLIPS: One of the world's most foremost scientists has died. Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize for helping to discover the spiral double-helix structure of DNA. His work with James Watson laid the foundation for DNA blood tests, genetically-engineered foods, and genetic research. Francis Crick was 88 years old.

Well, brace yourselves for another round of cholesterol limbo. It's expected that the medical community will soon lower the bar on acceptable levels again.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta on what that might mean for sales of statins, drugs that are what are most Americans are taking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lower your cholesterol and lower your risk of a heart attack. Just about everybody agrees with that.

But it's been a little harder to figure out just how low you should go.

DR. JENNIFER MIERES, AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: The current guidelines are not optimal that we need to shoot for lower levels.

GUPTA: This summer, you can expect new government guidelines urging yet another stab at lowering your cholesterol even further.

DR. ROBERT VOGEL, CARDIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Several studies recently have shown that this benefit for lowering cholesterol to levels that we'd not considered before.

GUPTA: Current guidelines suggest the total cholesterol of no more than 200 and an LDL or bad cholesterol level of 100. The new expected changes could bring the total down to 150 and the LDL to the 60 to 80 range.

So what would this change mean for the incredibly popular class of cholesterol lowering drugs called statins?

MIERES: We would see a change in the number of people taking statins going from about 37 or 40 million up to about 100 million. A staggering, staggering increase.

GUPTA: New studies show the statin drugs may also offer other benefits, like preventing Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, and glaucoma.

The drugs side effects, like nerve damage, are rare. There is a push now to move the drugs over the counter. That's already happened in the U.K. with the popular statin Zocor.

VOGEL: I don't think that they're going to go over the counter, at least not in the near future in the United States.

GUPTA: Health insurance companies not consumers will continue to pick up most of the tab for now. But after these new guidelines come out, many more people could be clamoring for a prescription and many doctors could be writing them for more patients.

VOGEL: We know how to prevent 90 percent of heart disease, but it can't be at the current levels of recommended cholesterol.

GUPTA: Of course, diet and exercise remain the first prescription for lower cholesterol and healthy living.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Apparently they are the newest trend at political conventions. Their numbers and importance are expected to grow larger in years to come.

CNN's Daniel Sieberg on why, sooner or later, you're going to be reading a blog.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: New images of Scott Peterson right now in a Redwood City courtroom right now.

Ted Rowlands is on the line with us as well to talk us through the images that we're seeing for the first time since the trial began -- Ted.

ROWLANDS: Well, yes, you're seeing a different Scott Peterson than the other video that we've seen. He's lost considerable weight. He's there in between his two lawyers, Pat Harris, and of course, Mark Geragos. Behind Peterson is his families, and extra members of his family showed up to court today, knowing that there was going to be a camera in court.

Right behind him, you can see his mother, Jackie. Beside her is his brother, John.

Peterson today actually showed some emotion. At one point he pointed at the prosecutor, because he was upset about the way he was being described by Rick Distaso, the main prosecutor for the state, but that was not captured on these images. But this is the first time we've seen him in a while. The judge said because the jury was not present today, that the media could get a chance to come in and shoot some fresh pictures of Scott Peterson.

KAGAN: Ted can you explain us to why we're seeing these images today versus any other day during the week?

ROWLANDS: Because the jury is not present, basically. The media has asked for -- and this is Pat Harris, one of Peterson's attorneys, the second chair in the defense. The media has been asking for fresh images of Peterson, and the judge has denied that request until now, because today is a hearing day here. Basically it's a house cleaning day, there is no presence of the jury, so the judge said fine, come in, shoot some pictures, and we'll be done with it and we can move on.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ted Rowlands in Redwood City, thanks very much. These new images of Scott Peterson, in a Redwood City courtroom today, with no jurors present, and that's why we are seeing these images today, as Ted just explained. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: While students of political science know the term "log rolling" means an exchange of political favors or votes, but at DNC the new buzzword might well turn out to be blog rolling, as political junks find a new outlet for their conventional wisdom.

CNN's Daniel Sieberg with more on this wonky marriage of the electorate and the Internet. Now I don't know what the stranger word, blogging or wonky. I can't remember the last time I said either one.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're both a little bit weird. There's actually a blogger named "Wonkette." So a combination of the two, imagine that. Yes, the verb "to blog" hasn't exactly become a part of the vernacular. So what's a blogger, you say? Well, these independent media observers are offering people an unconventional way to get their news from the conventions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice-over): For decades, reporters have both praised and skewered candidates during political conventions. Their tools have evolved from newspapers to radio to television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the candidate will answer questions.

SIEBERG: Then the Internet. By 1996, most candidates had their own Web sites. In 2000, John McCain inaugurated online fund-raising. And 2004 seems to be the year of the blog.

HOWARD FINBERG, POYNTER INST.: They're igniting a great deal of enthusiasm and energy among partisans, at least among some of the very political blogs out there.

SIEBERG: Web logs, for techies, for the media, or just for fun, now number in the millions. The technology needed to set up a blog is as easy as one, two, three. Political blogs often have links galore, ads galore, and hey, you can even get the T-shirt.

MARKOS MOULITSAS, DAILYKOS.COM: The bloggist is a 24-7 endeavor. I actually dream what I want to blog the next day.

SIEBERG: Markos Moulitsas' site, dailykos.com, works closely with the Democratic Party.

MOULITSAS: The whole point of blogging is this notion of participatory democracy, and I think people really appreciate this notion that they're partners in the endeavor, that it's not just them taking marching orders, but it's actually them being asked for their opinions, and their thoughts and their suggestions on how to proceed.

SIEBERG: Glenn Reynolds, another superstar among political bloggers, has no official party ties. The usually described as conservative law professor and author of instapundit.com, says blogs get people thinking and doing.

GLENN REYNOLDS, INSTAPUNDIT.COM: You can sit in your living room or shout at your television, which makes you feel helpless. You can turn off the television, which is no great solution. Or you can try to better yourself, and I think that's a very constructive response.

SIEBERG: This blogosphere is helping reshape campaigns and campaign coverage.

FINBERG: So I think the RNC and the DNC should embrace this form of media, and in the same way they have embraced other forms of media -- find a place for it, invite the ones in that have an impact with their audience and let her go.

SIEBERG: So what's it like being among the top dogs of the political blogs?

REYNOLDS: Being a rock star in the blogging word is kind of like being a champion bowler, you're a star to a small segment of people. It sadly doesn't come with limos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Check out the hats that the bloggers are receiving at the Democratic National Convention, just another colorful hat to add to the number of them that you can see there on the convention floor, and we can show you a couple of the sites that are out there, especially if you're interested in the Democratic site. The official Kerry/Edwards blog is at blog.johnkerry.com. There are pictures here.

Several of the delegations, the state delegations, have actually come up with their own blogs. Texas' is right here, Burnt Orange Report. This is burntorangereport.com.

And if you want another convention blog site, there is some pictures here, blog.conventionbloggers.com. And finally, there's conventionbloggers.com, and you can see some links here, too, about the few dozen or so bloggers who are in attendance there. CNN.com/blog. We've also got our people own the ground there with their own blogs. If you don't like them all, Kyra, you can make your own.

Fred, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks so much, Dan. Do you know how the word "blogging" came about?

SIEBERG: Yes.

PHILLIPS: You do?

SIEBERG: It's a combination of the word "Web" and "log," so you combine the two, you get Web log, or blog.

PHILLIPS: All right, there you go, word of the day.

Daniel Sieberg, thanks so much.

(BUSINESS UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: All right. As we take you to break, Carole King now warming up the crowd at the DNC. We'll just listen in on her soundcheck.

(SINGING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired July 29, 2004 - 13:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Taking a look at stories now in the news. The rain is finally tapering off in flood-ravaged Texas. More than a foot of rain drenched the Dallas area overnight. Hardest hit was the City of Lancaster. One person was reported killed, more than 80 were rescued from high waters, as many as 200 homes were flooded.
A small setback on the road to democracy in Iraq. The Iraqi National Conference, slated for this weekend, is being postponed for two weeks, apparently for logistical reasons. The conference will be held to choose an interim body to advise and oversee the newly- appointed interim government.

Federal authorities in Texas are questioning a woman about possible ties to terrorism. The FBI says the woman was detained near the Mexican boarder after her name popped up on a terrorism watch list. We'll have much more in a live report coming up next hour.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Well it happened again for the third time. A court official in Kobe Bryant's rape case has revealed information that's supposed to remain private. Detailed information, including the name of Bryant's accuser, was posted on the Web.

CNN National correspondent Gary Tuchman has more now from Eagle, Colorado -- Gary?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the court says it's embarrassed. It's apologizing to the alleged victim and says it was an accident, but the 20-year-old woman and her parents aren't so sure it wasn't done intentionally, so says the attorney for this 20-year-old woman who talked to us on the telephone on the record -- which is unusual in itself, because there is a strict decorum order in the Kobe Bryant case and lawyers are not supposed to talk to the journalists.

But John Clune, the attorney, is angry. He says that, quote, "She" -- meaning his client -- "does not trust the judge and court, and she has no reason to at this point," adding, "The judge needs to apologize, and he has to explain to her that these are not intentional acts."

What happened yesterday, a document that wasn't supposed to be on the public Web site was and had the woman's name on it. We do not report her name as a matter of CNN policy, but there was also some evidence that was supposed to be kept secret, talking about the rape exam that Kobe Bryant had.

And we learned through this evidence that, interestingly, his attorneys want to use it to show that DNA evidence found with Kobe Bryant helps indicate, they say, that this woman had sex with somebody else the day after she was with Kobe Bryant. John Clune, the attorney, strongly denies that.

But this happens one month after 206 pages of secret testimony were accidentally sent to some reporters. The judge immediately, upon learning about this, said everyone should destroy it under contempt of court possibilities. However, the news media appealed it based on First Amendment grounds. It went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court strongly hinted to the judge he should release this information.

A pre-trial hearing is being held tomorrow in which the judge will discuss with the attorneys how to release most, if not all, of these 206 very personal pages. And this all happened just one week after the judge decided that much of this woman's sex life from the 72-hour period surrounding the time she was with Kobe Bryant will be allowed to be used in the trial.

Despite all this, John Clune, the woman's attorney, says she is still to go forward with this trial, which begins on August 27th -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Gary Tuchman, live from Eagle, Colorado. Thank you -- Fred?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In California, the judge in the Scott Peterson murder case is allowing cameras in the courtroom today. Why the change? Let's go to CNN's Ted Rowlands, live in Redwood City. Ted, explain.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, today is the motion day, if you will, in the Peterson trial. If any issue has come up in the past few months, the judge has tabled it to be heard today -- meaning the jury is not in the courtroom today.

So, the judge has allowed a camera in for 15 minutes just to shoot updated pictures of Peterson and the lawyers involved in this case. Those have not been released yet to the pool. They are expected to be released at some time this morning. The camera was in there for the beginning portions of today's hearings.

A couple of things have already been decided by Judge Alfred Delucchi, one is that the defense will not get the outtakes of a 90- minute interview that Peterson did with ABC's Diane Sawyer. The defense wanted to take a look at the entire raw tape in this interview, saying that Peterson probably was not characterized properly on the ABC broadcast. They said they had evidence from family members that were there during the interview that Peterson was showing a range of emotions that they didn't think were properly shown in the broadcast version.

They also say Peterson made statements about his unborn son and wife that were not conveyed during that interview that was broadcast on ABC. They lost their argument, Geragos and the defense team. ABC doesn't have to turn over that tape.

They also lost an argument to try to get a photographer from "The Modesto Bee" to take the stand. At issue here is a shot of Peterson smiling during a candlelight vigil. And at this point, Scott Peterson showed some emotion today that we have not seen to date in the courtroom.

Rick Distaso, the prosecutor, said, "Judge, I want to put this into context: Peterson was laughing while others were crying." Scott Peterson pointed at him while talking to the attorneys. Some real raw emotion today. A full day of hearings are expected -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And Ted, we're expecting to get a feed of those images of Scott Peterson in court today, significant because we haven't seen any fresh tape of him in court in quite some time, have we?

ROWLANDS: No, not since the trial moved to Redwood City. Earlier this year, we saw him, and he's lost even more weight, considerable weight. His family members say he's lost up to 30 to 40 pounds. So, it'll be the first time we see Peterson in a while.

WHITFIELD: All right. And when we get that videotape, we'll be bringing that to you live right here on CNN. Ted Rowlands in Redwood City, thanks very much -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Denials and concerns in a frightening case of baby food poisoning. A man wanted for questioning in the case reportedly tells a California newspaper that police are looking for the wrong man.

We get details now in the investigation from CNN's Miguel Marquez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came from the same Irvine, California, Ralph's Grocery Store: three bottles of baby food contaminated with mashed castor beans, the main ingredient in the deadly poison ricin.

MATT MCLAUGHLIN, FBI: If you test mashed castor beans, you will get very small amounts of ricin plus ricinine and ricinoleic acid. Those three components together tell you that you have mashed castor beans, not ricin.

MARQUEZ: Investigators say two families on two separate occasions over the past two months purchased Gerber's Banana Yogurt Dessert, fed as much as two spoonfuls to their infants, then found notes with a reference to an Irvine police officer in the baby food.

CHIEF DAVID MAGGAND, IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, POLICE: The note stated that the food had been contaminated and that the person who ingested it would die in a short time. MARQUEZ: Investigators say Charles Dewey Cage was at the Ralph's at the same time the contaminated bottles were purchased.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've identified this person, Charles Dewey Cage, as someone who we want to talk to. I wouldn't categorize him as a suspect or person of interest.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Both infants, an 11 and nine-month old, were taken to a hospital and suffered no ill effects. In a statement, a Gerber Company spokesman said all bottles of its Banana Yogurt Dessert are being pulled from southern California shelves, that the contamination happened in post-production, and that the Gerber Company itself was not targeted.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: News from across America now for this Thursday, July 29th. Police in Utah continue searching for this missing woman, last seen more than one week ago. Lori Hacking was reported missing by her husband who says she never returned from a morning jog. Well, police now say they're not so certain that Hacking ever went running that day.

Snow leopard on the loose. The 50-pound animal is on the run in Kentucky after escaping earlier this week from its owner's home. Wildlife officials are setting traps for the declawed leopard, but so far no luck. The endangered snow leopard is native to Asian countries.

Recovering from a close call with a powerful lightning bolt. This dash-cam video shows the lightning strike that nearly hit two New Mexico State Police Officers who were helping flood victims Tuesday night. Police officials say the men are slowly recovering and will return to duty as soon as they feel able.

PHILLIPS: One of the world's most foremost scientists has died. Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize for helping to discover the spiral double-helix structure of DNA. His work with James Watson laid the foundation for DNA blood tests, genetically-engineered foods, and genetic research. Francis Crick was 88 years old.

Well, brace yourselves for another round of cholesterol limbo. It's expected that the medical community will soon lower the bar on acceptable levels again.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta on what that might mean for sales of statins, drugs that are what are most Americans are taking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lower your cholesterol and lower your risk of a heart attack. Just about everybody agrees with that.

But it's been a little harder to figure out just how low you should go.

DR. JENNIFER MIERES, AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: The current guidelines are not optimal that we need to shoot for lower levels.

GUPTA: This summer, you can expect new government guidelines urging yet another stab at lowering your cholesterol even further.

DR. ROBERT VOGEL, CARDIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Several studies recently have shown that this benefit for lowering cholesterol to levels that we'd not considered before.

GUPTA: Current guidelines suggest the total cholesterol of no more than 200 and an LDL or bad cholesterol level of 100. The new expected changes could bring the total down to 150 and the LDL to the 60 to 80 range.

So what would this change mean for the incredibly popular class of cholesterol lowering drugs called statins?

MIERES: We would see a change in the number of people taking statins going from about 37 or 40 million up to about 100 million. A staggering, staggering increase.

GUPTA: New studies show the statin drugs may also offer other benefits, like preventing Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, and glaucoma.

The drugs side effects, like nerve damage, are rare. There is a push now to move the drugs over the counter. That's already happened in the U.K. with the popular statin Zocor.

VOGEL: I don't think that they're going to go over the counter, at least not in the near future in the United States.

GUPTA: Health insurance companies not consumers will continue to pick up most of the tab for now. But after these new guidelines come out, many more people could be clamoring for a prescription and many doctors could be writing them for more patients.

VOGEL: We know how to prevent 90 percent of heart disease, but it can't be at the current levels of recommended cholesterol.

GUPTA: Of course, diet and exercise remain the first prescription for lower cholesterol and healthy living.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Apparently they are the newest trend at political conventions. Their numbers and importance are expected to grow larger in years to come.

CNN's Daniel Sieberg on why, sooner or later, you're going to be reading a blog.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: New images of Scott Peterson right now in a Redwood City courtroom right now.

Ted Rowlands is on the line with us as well to talk us through the images that we're seeing for the first time since the trial began -- Ted.

ROWLANDS: Well, yes, you're seeing a different Scott Peterson than the other video that we've seen. He's lost considerable weight. He's there in between his two lawyers, Pat Harris, and of course, Mark Geragos. Behind Peterson is his families, and extra members of his family showed up to court today, knowing that there was going to be a camera in court.

Right behind him, you can see his mother, Jackie. Beside her is his brother, John.

Peterson today actually showed some emotion. At one point he pointed at the prosecutor, because he was upset about the way he was being described by Rick Distaso, the main prosecutor for the state, but that was not captured on these images. But this is the first time we've seen him in a while. The judge said because the jury was not present today, that the media could get a chance to come in and shoot some fresh pictures of Scott Peterson.

KAGAN: Ted can you explain us to why we're seeing these images today versus any other day during the week?

ROWLANDS: Because the jury is not present, basically. The media has asked for -- and this is Pat Harris, one of Peterson's attorneys, the second chair in the defense. The media has been asking for fresh images of Peterson, and the judge has denied that request until now, because today is a hearing day here. Basically it's a house cleaning day, there is no presence of the jury, so the judge said fine, come in, shoot some pictures, and we'll be done with it and we can move on.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ted Rowlands in Redwood City, thanks very much. These new images of Scott Peterson, in a Redwood City courtroom today, with no jurors present, and that's why we are seeing these images today, as Ted just explained. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: While students of political science know the term "log rolling" means an exchange of political favors or votes, but at DNC the new buzzword might well turn out to be blog rolling, as political junks find a new outlet for their conventional wisdom.

CNN's Daniel Sieberg with more on this wonky marriage of the electorate and the Internet. Now I don't know what the stranger word, blogging or wonky. I can't remember the last time I said either one.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're both a little bit weird. There's actually a blogger named "Wonkette." So a combination of the two, imagine that. Yes, the verb "to blog" hasn't exactly become a part of the vernacular. So what's a blogger, you say? Well, these independent media observers are offering people an unconventional way to get their news from the conventions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice-over): For decades, reporters have both praised and skewered candidates during political conventions. Their tools have evolved from newspapers to radio to television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the candidate will answer questions.

SIEBERG: Then the Internet. By 1996, most candidates had their own Web sites. In 2000, John McCain inaugurated online fund-raising. And 2004 seems to be the year of the blog.

HOWARD FINBERG, POYNTER INST.: They're igniting a great deal of enthusiasm and energy among partisans, at least among some of the very political blogs out there.

SIEBERG: Web logs, for techies, for the media, or just for fun, now number in the millions. The technology needed to set up a blog is as easy as one, two, three. Political blogs often have links galore, ads galore, and hey, you can even get the T-shirt.

MARKOS MOULITSAS, DAILYKOS.COM: The bloggist is a 24-7 endeavor. I actually dream what I want to blog the next day.

SIEBERG: Markos Moulitsas' site, dailykos.com, works closely with the Democratic Party.

MOULITSAS: The whole point of blogging is this notion of participatory democracy, and I think people really appreciate this notion that they're partners in the endeavor, that it's not just them taking marching orders, but it's actually them being asked for their opinions, and their thoughts and their suggestions on how to proceed.

SIEBERG: Glenn Reynolds, another superstar among political bloggers, has no official party ties. The usually described as conservative law professor and author of instapundit.com, says blogs get people thinking and doing.

GLENN REYNOLDS, INSTAPUNDIT.COM: You can sit in your living room or shout at your television, which makes you feel helpless. You can turn off the television, which is no great solution. Or you can try to better yourself, and I think that's a very constructive response.

SIEBERG: This blogosphere is helping reshape campaigns and campaign coverage.

FINBERG: So I think the RNC and the DNC should embrace this form of media, and in the same way they have embraced other forms of media -- find a place for it, invite the ones in that have an impact with their audience and let her go.

SIEBERG: So what's it like being among the top dogs of the political blogs?

REYNOLDS: Being a rock star in the blogging word is kind of like being a champion bowler, you're a star to a small segment of people. It sadly doesn't come with limos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Check out the hats that the bloggers are receiving at the Democratic National Convention, just another colorful hat to add to the number of them that you can see there on the convention floor, and we can show you a couple of the sites that are out there, especially if you're interested in the Democratic site. The official Kerry/Edwards blog is at blog.johnkerry.com. There are pictures here.

Several of the delegations, the state delegations, have actually come up with their own blogs. Texas' is right here, Burnt Orange Report. This is burntorangereport.com.

And if you want another convention blog site, there is some pictures here, blog.conventionbloggers.com. And finally, there's conventionbloggers.com, and you can see some links here, too, about the few dozen or so bloggers who are in attendance there. CNN.com/blog. We've also got our people own the ground there with their own blogs. If you don't like them all, Kyra, you can make your own.

Fred, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks so much, Dan. Do you know how the word "blogging" came about?

SIEBERG: Yes.

PHILLIPS: You do?

SIEBERG: It's a combination of the word "Web" and "log," so you combine the two, you get Web log, or blog.

PHILLIPS: All right, there you go, word of the day.

Daniel Sieberg, thanks so much.

(BUSINESS UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: All right. As we take you to break, Carole King now warming up the crowd at the DNC. We'll just listen in on her soundcheck.

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