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President Clinton on Road to Recovery; Frances' Fury

Aired September 06, 2004 - 15:00   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: Now in the news, surgery successful, that's the word from New York Presbyterian Hospital on former President Clinton's heart bypass surgery. Mr. Clinton underwent the procedure this morning and is now said to be resting comfortably. We're going to get a live update straight ahead.
And they're off and running. Labor Day signals the beginning of the final push for the White House. Both President Bush and John Kerry are spending the holiday in battleground states. We'll have a wrap of all the political headlines on "INSIDE POLITICS," 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

Flooding and power outages across Florida from Frances' fury. The Sunshine state is under a cloud from the weekend hurricane now and right now Florida's Gulf Coast is getting a second beating from Frances.

Welcome to our third hour of LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips at CNN Center in Atlanta. Miles has the day off.

Former President Clinton is out of surgery and, from all indications, on the road to recovery. Clinton spent the morning undergoing a multiple coronary bypass operation, details of which we expect to hear one hour from now in a news conference at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

In the meantime, here's CNN's Adoara Udoji with the latest -- Adoara Udoji.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Indeed, we are at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. You're looking at the Milstein Building, where President Clinton's surgery took place. We're told it was a five-hour operation undertaken by Dr. Craig Smith, who is head of the cardiothoracic department here at New York Presbyterian. It's not clear, as you mentioned, if it was just one artery that Mr. Clinton had blocked or whether it was more.

The hospital did release a statement about 45 minutes ago saying the surgery was successful and the former president is resting comfortably. Senator Clinton, his wife and their daughter, Chelsea, are both here. A spokeswoman telling us, though, that Senator Clinton will not be making any statement, but we're expecting the medical team to give a debriefing somewhere around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.

And, as you know, Kyra, it's been a whirlwind five days for the Clintons. It was last Thursday when Mr. Clinton was complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath. After some tests that were taken, doctors recommended bypass surgery, which is apparently not uncommon in the United States. There are roughly 300,000 procedures a year at a 99 percent survival rate, according to our in-house doctor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who says it's likely Mr. Clinton will now spend the night in the intensive care unit and if all goes well in the next day or two will be moved into a general care unit -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Adaora Udoji, thanks so much. We'll continue to check in with you and await that news conference come 4:00. We want to remind you again that we hope to have that update from Clinton's doctors, actually, 4:00 p.m. Eastern. We will carry it live as soon as it happens.

Well, because of its speed, which was slow, and its size, which was huge, Frances was and is a colossal rain maker. From one side of the Sunshine State to the other, officials warn -- and we quote -- "Turn around, don't drown." That goes for man and beast alike, unless you have a canoe, which today can be man and dog's best friend, as you can see.

Rainfall has exceeded 13 inches in parts of the states, and parts of Tampa-St. Pete under water. North to the Panhandle, tidal surges of up to 10 feet are still a possibility.

Let's go to Jacqui Jeras for the latest on Frances in Florida where people are also eying Ivan -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. We're going to talk more about this flooding in just a second, Kyra.

But, first, remember that tornado warning I told you about for Jasper and Beaufort Counties until 3:00. Well, that one has just been extended now until 3:30, as the public reported a tornado near Jasper, about 10 miles southeast of Ridgeland, That's moving northwest around 35 miles per hour, so that's right near the interstate there, some cities, Jasper, Old House, Switzerland, Ridgeland and Tillman are all included. So the public has spotted a tornado. You need to be taking cover.

OK, back to the rain. You can see these showers, they're so heavy. Look at some -- just the intensity of some of these. And right here, the center of circulation, it's to the north of Saint Marks. And now you can see that it all well inland now. So we'll watch for this to start to weaken a little bit. So that's all very good news.

The rainfall is going to be pretty intense here. We want to go ahead and show you the forecast rainfall totals that we're going to be expecting. The focus of the flooding has so far been here across parts of Florida. But let's go back to the other source now and I can show you just how this whole thing expands back up onto our Viper system. It will show you how the rain bands totally extend across the area. There you can see it. These our forecast totals of what we're expecting between now and into Wednesday.

There you can see Atlanta maybe looking at five inches of rain, into Virginia a good three, four inches can be expected, less there over here in the coastal areas. But as you head into the higher elevations up into the Appalachians you get some of those higher totals, but this as we head into Wednesday and then Thursday it's going to be extending into the north and the east and could be getting caught up a little bit in that cold front that's moving across the Midwest, so that could kind of amplify the situation and bring flooding all across the east, so that's certainly going to be a problem there.

I want to show you some rainfall totals now and our other source and show you some recent reports that we've seen, about 12 inches in Lakeland. These are all in Florida, by the way. Cooperstown, around 11 inches. West Palm, holding around 10. Daytona Beach has had about 8.5 now, and more than seven inches in Lutz. So some of the 10-inch, 12-inch totals that we were expecting have come out there, but we haven't quite seen any of those 20-inch totals, so that's some good news.

Now we're going to be looking for maybe five to 10 on top of what you already have into the Panhandle, into Southwestern Georgia will be our immediate concern for the rest today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, thanks.

Well, don't come back, not just yet. Residents who evacuated the state are being asked to just hold on. Frances has hit Florida for a second time now, coming ashore south of Tallahassee, the state capital.

And that's where spokesperson Cragin Mosteller is live on the phone at the state emergency operations center.

Cragin, why don't you tell us about your operations center and what is going on right now and what you're doing?

CRAGIN MOSTELLER, FLORIDA EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER: Good afternoon.

Well, we're working very hard to coordinate with federal, state and county governments to make sure that we can get resources out to the communities that have been affected as quickly as possible.

And, therefore, we're asking that residents please stay put. Flooding is a major danger. And so we're just asking that residents please stay where they are. Six inches of moving water can move a vehicle. Standing water can have hidden dangers, such as power lines and sharp debris. And so we're really asking that residents be safe. Please stay where they are. And let us get the roads clear and then we'll get you back to your homes as quickly as possible.

PHILLIPS: Cragin, what kind of resources do you need to get out there?

MOSTELLER: We're trying to get power trucks out, to get power lines up as quickly as possible, as well as fueling trucks to refuel gas stations, debris to move debris as quickly as possible, everything that comes along with the storm, we have got to clear the roadways so that people can get home.

PHILLIPS: And talk about why this could be dangerous if residents didn't listen to you and said, look, I just want to get home, I want to get in my house or my apartment? What are the dangers that you are concerned about if indeed they start rushing home?

MOSTELLER: Well, in addition to flooding dangers, which are extreme, the majority of casualties have been following a storm rather than during a storm. People get trapped in flooding waters, as well as if traffic is backed up, then our emergency vehicles can't get to those in need, can't restore power and we can't get fuel trucks to gas stations if the roads are full.

PHILLIPS: So what's yet to be done, Cragin?

MOSTELLER: Well, a lot is yet to be done. But we're working very quickly with all of our partners to make sure that we get to the affected areas as quickly as possible, to get logistical staging areas set up to be able to provide food, water, any necessary supplies that people may need to restore their homes.

PHILLIPS: Cragin Mosteller, spokesperson for the Florida Emergency Operations Center, once again asking residents not to come back into the area yet until they get things up and running and take care of the flooding issues.

Thanks, Cragin.

One of the other top stories that of course we've been working for the past four days is the grief and the sorrow and the desperation in a small Russian town. Now we take you there today, where families in Beslan are burying some of the hundreds of victims after the school siege that happened. Other people are still trying to just find out whether their loved ones are among those that have been killed.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Tettov family and their neighbors gather outside their home. Their two daughters, 12-year-old Elena (ph) and 11-year-old Irena (ph), laid out for all to see. Both girls shot in the back as they tried to flee the school seized by gunmen.

The family marches to the cemetery. Tamerlain Tettov is still searching for his grandson. Even beasts don't attack children, he tells me. They came here, robbed our land and poisoned it.

While hundreds mourn for those lost, there's also questions about the hundreds more still missing.

(on camera): Today, the gravediggers at this cemetery were told to prepare for 600 burials. But they were warned they may need to dig more tomorrow. (voice-over): One of those graves may be for Fatima (ph). She hasn't been seen since the fighting ended. Her grandmother brings a photo of her and her brother to the town's makeshift missing person's center. Slavic (ph) made it out alive, but no one has been able to find his 7-year-old sister, not among the living or the dead.

We found him, but we can't find her, she tells me. They sent some of the children to hospitals in Moscow, but we still don't know if she's there.

Back at the funeral for the Tettov girls, Rema Tettov is missing her nephew. Last night we were told that a vehicle with corpses was going to the morgue, she says. So we raced there, only to be told that it had been stopped on the way because there was no more room for bodies.

Five children from the Tettov family were inside the school when the massacre began. Two of them are now in the hospital, two of them are dead, one is still missing.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Beslan, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: News across America now.

It may have been more than a coincidence for Tony Soprano, but actor James Gandolfini turned out to be OK after he was hit by a suspected drunk driver over the weekend. It happened in New Jersey, where he had gone to see the Rutgers-Michigan State football game.

A senseless killing, that's how police in Ohio are describing the death of a prominent newspaper reporter. Police say "Dayton Daily News" reporter Derek Ali was shot while pushing a woman away from gunfire outside a party early yesterday. So far, there's no word of an arrest.

It's a white Labor Day in parts of Colorado, as much as eight inches of snow on the ground in the Breckenridge area. (INAUDIBLE) Mountain in western Colorado got enough snow this weekend to allow skiing and snowboarding.

Well, NASCAR goes Hollywood and now speedy Elliott Sadler is getting fitted for a tuxedo? Where is he headed? We're turning that one on a final lap of LIVE FROM just ahead.

And here's something to chew on, Britney Spears bubblegum? Oh, how could we forget this interview? You could get used to a piece of this action just ahead on -- used piece of the action -- you can get a piece of the used -- oh, why do we have to tell about ABC gum?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Once again, we want to remind you, we're waiting for that news conference regarding former President Bill Clinton's bypass surgery. It's supposed to happen 4:00 Eastern. We'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens.

Well, Florida's $50 billion tourism industry is another victim of this year's storm season. A number of parks, beaches and cruise lines had to shut down over a holiday weekend. However, some tourists said last week that there was no way they were giving up on their vacations, especially if they had been working around the clock at CNN during convention coverage.

Maria Boynton of CNN Radio was set to take a cruise. She was telling me all about it last week. Well, she waited out the hurricane, begged for more vacation time. Now she joins us just minutes away from the lido deck. She's on the phone from Fort Lauderdale.

(LAUGHTER)

MARIA BOYNTON, CNN RADIO: Hi Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hi, Maria.

Now, I know you had been talking about this and then you had to sit and wait it out. Tell me what happened. What did the cruise lines tell you? And how did this affect the hundreds of people getting ready to cruise last week?

BOYNTON: Well, Kyra, let me tell you, it affected us big time.

We were ready to go on our cruise. We were supposed to leave on Saturday. And then, of course, we knew that the hurricane, Hurricane Frances, was coming into town, and we had worked so long all year long with the DNC, RNC, worked so hard. We wanted to milk the end of summer for all we could. And then here comes Hurricane Frances. Our cruise was delayed. And what we had to do was just wait out the storm, along with the cruise line.

They were very accommodating. And we were told that we would then set sail at 5:00 today. And then we are being told now it will be 10:00 tonight. But we're going to wait and go with what they tell us.

PHILLIPS: Now, Maria, for those that got stuck in Florida, they were about to get on and had to stay there and wait out the storm, and for you, that couldn't even board an aircraft yet and head that way, what did the cruise lines tell you? Did they ask you to just wait and they would extend the cruise, give you any kind of discount, or what kind of incentives did they give you or convince you to do this?

BOYNTON: Well, of course, Kyra, what we were thinking was, it was a bunch of ladies who had worked so hard, wanted to go on a cruise. What we decided to do was, hey, what if our cruise is canceled? Can we go out of your L.A. Port? Can we go out of your Bayonne, New Jersey, port?

We were asking those kinds of questions. And the cruise line told us, hold on, we haven't canceled your cruise yet. Just wait. It might be postponed. What they told us, of course, later, was that the cruise was postponed, and then they did give us some great incentives, because our cruise is being shortened, it's not being lengthened, the cruise has been shortened -- we were supposed to leave Saturday. We're leaving tonight, we're being told.

It will still end on Thursday, but what they've given us, they've given us $500 on board credit. They've also given us half off our next cruise. Those kinds of incentives have made us say, we're going to go for it and still have the time of our lives.

PHILLIPS: Understandably. And even those in Florida are taken care of by the cruise lives.

All right, Maria Boynton from CNN Radio, I hope you finally get to have a good time and you come back ready for more work.

BOYNTON: I hope so, too.

Oh, OK. Definitely. Thanks, Kyra.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: All right, take care.

Well, is tennis your racket or have you got a passion for golf? What about NASCAR? Does it get your motor humming? Well, there's plenty of things going on this Labor Day holiday.

Our Michelle Bonner is here with little free samples on all those sports.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All of those minor events, right? It was a busy weekend. It was unbelievable.

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Busy weekend, busy day for tennis obviously at the U.S. Open today.

Andre Agassi in his fourth round match just got under way and then the marquis matchup obviously is going to be Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams hooking up a little later on this afternoon.

(CROSSTALK)

BONNER: Davenport after Wimbledon had talked about the fact that she was possibly going to retire. And she comes into this match with Venus Williams today having won 20 straight. And she has won -- when she came into the U.S. Open, she had won four straight hard court tournaments.

So it's just interesting how things have sort of turned around a little bit for her, considering she had knee and foot injuries.

PHILLIPS: Well, and there's tennis players that are doing well in the U.S. Open, like Roddick and Williams, that didn't do so hot in the Olympics.

BONNER: Yes.

Well, when you look at the Williams -- especially both of them, Serena and Venus, both of them have had -- they've been struggling with injuries. You go back to Serena having taken eight months off when she was recovering from knee surgery. And Venus has had various injuries as well.

Serena is playing her typical way that she's always played, right now, anyway, perhaps giving herself a little bit more time to heal from various injuries and Venus Williams with some hamstring problems and things like that. But this will be an interesting matchup. This is the earliest that Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport have ever played each other in a tournament.

PHILLIPS: Right.

All right, NASCAR, we teased NASCAR. Got to talk about NASCAR. Elliott Sadler, this is the other level of my life, by the way, besides my husband. He doesn't know that, but can we give folks an update?

(LAUGHTER)

BONNER: Yes.

Elliott Sadler won yesterday's Pop Secret 500. And rookie Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin finished second and third to move into eighth and ninth place. Kahne's ninth top five finish this year and fifth and second place results. He's got 34 points. The chase for the Nextel Cup pairs down to 10 drivers. There's only more race before that, the final 10 postseason races begin, which is actually next week.

So, with this race happening last night, obviously jockeying for position. And we do have a board as far as some of the guys that are on the outside sort of looking in on this. Who could -- after next week's race, any one of these guys can make a move into the postseason. This is a different way that they're doing it this year, where the top 10 drivers will vie for that Nextel Cup.

PHILLIPS: All right, Michelle Bonner, thank you so much.

All right, well, we're going to check entertainment lines this September 6. We can call it a wardrobe function I guess down under, when Aussie Ms. Universe Jennifer Hawkins strutted herself at a fashion show last week. She didn't even expect for it to be a peep show. Whoops. Hello. Oh, my goodness. Aren't we rated PG here? Then the bottom of her dress unraveled. Well, Hawkins says that she regrets not wearing better panties.

Out of the mouths of babes. Britney Spears chewing gum is a hot seller on eBay. Did I mention it's used? Well, more than two dozen discarded wads allegedly spat out by Spears are up for auction. Bidders, beware. Before you sink your teeth in or your hard-earned cash, only DNA tests could prove that it's even authentic.

Ivana's turn? The ex-wife of real estate mogul Donald Trump, is she getting her own reality TV show tentatively titled "Ivana Young Man"? Well, she will select eight 20-something bachelors who will vie for the affection of a successful, yet lonely 40-something woman. The show is set to air this fall. I wonder if her hair will still be that big.

Well, that wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM.

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Aired September 6, 2004 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, surgery successful, that's the word from New York Presbyterian Hospital on former President Clinton's heart bypass surgery. Mr. Clinton underwent the procedure this morning and is now said to be resting comfortably. We're going to get a live update straight ahead.
And they're off and running. Labor Day signals the beginning of the final push for the White House. Both President Bush and John Kerry are spending the holiday in battleground states. We'll have a wrap of all the political headlines on "INSIDE POLITICS," 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

Flooding and power outages across Florida from Frances' fury. The Sunshine state is under a cloud from the weekend hurricane now and right now Florida's Gulf Coast is getting a second beating from Frances.

Welcome to our third hour of LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips at CNN Center in Atlanta. Miles has the day off.

Former President Clinton is out of surgery and, from all indications, on the road to recovery. Clinton spent the morning undergoing a multiple coronary bypass operation, details of which we expect to hear one hour from now in a news conference at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

In the meantime, here's CNN's Adoara Udoji with the latest -- Adoara Udoji.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Indeed, we are at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. You're looking at the Milstein Building, where President Clinton's surgery took place. We're told it was a five-hour operation undertaken by Dr. Craig Smith, who is head of the cardiothoracic department here at New York Presbyterian. It's not clear, as you mentioned, if it was just one artery that Mr. Clinton had blocked or whether it was more.

The hospital did release a statement about 45 minutes ago saying the surgery was successful and the former president is resting comfortably. Senator Clinton, his wife and their daughter, Chelsea, are both here. A spokeswoman telling us, though, that Senator Clinton will not be making any statement, but we're expecting the medical team to give a debriefing somewhere around 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.

And, as you know, Kyra, it's been a whirlwind five days for the Clintons. It was last Thursday when Mr. Clinton was complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath. After some tests that were taken, doctors recommended bypass surgery, which is apparently not uncommon in the United States. There are roughly 300,000 procedures a year at a 99 percent survival rate, according to our in-house doctor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who says it's likely Mr. Clinton will now spend the night in the intensive care unit and if all goes well in the next day or two will be moved into a general care unit -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Adaora Udoji, thanks so much. We'll continue to check in with you and await that news conference come 4:00. We want to remind you again that we hope to have that update from Clinton's doctors, actually, 4:00 p.m. Eastern. We will carry it live as soon as it happens.

Well, because of its speed, which was slow, and its size, which was huge, Frances was and is a colossal rain maker. From one side of the Sunshine State to the other, officials warn -- and we quote -- "Turn around, don't drown." That goes for man and beast alike, unless you have a canoe, which today can be man and dog's best friend, as you can see.

Rainfall has exceeded 13 inches in parts of the states, and parts of Tampa-St. Pete under water. North to the Panhandle, tidal surges of up to 10 feet are still a possibility.

Let's go to Jacqui Jeras for the latest on Frances in Florida where people are also eying Ivan -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. We're going to talk more about this flooding in just a second, Kyra.

But, first, remember that tornado warning I told you about for Jasper and Beaufort Counties until 3:00. Well, that one has just been extended now until 3:30, as the public reported a tornado near Jasper, about 10 miles southeast of Ridgeland, That's moving northwest around 35 miles per hour, so that's right near the interstate there, some cities, Jasper, Old House, Switzerland, Ridgeland and Tillman are all included. So the public has spotted a tornado. You need to be taking cover.

OK, back to the rain. You can see these showers, they're so heavy. Look at some -- just the intensity of some of these. And right here, the center of circulation, it's to the north of Saint Marks. And now you can see that it all well inland now. So we'll watch for this to start to weaken a little bit. So that's all very good news.

The rainfall is going to be pretty intense here. We want to go ahead and show you the forecast rainfall totals that we're going to be expecting. The focus of the flooding has so far been here across parts of Florida. But let's go back to the other source now and I can show you just how this whole thing expands back up onto our Viper system. It will show you how the rain bands totally extend across the area. There you can see it. These our forecast totals of what we're expecting between now and into Wednesday.

There you can see Atlanta maybe looking at five inches of rain, into Virginia a good three, four inches can be expected, less there over here in the coastal areas. But as you head into the higher elevations up into the Appalachians you get some of those higher totals, but this as we head into Wednesday and then Thursday it's going to be extending into the north and the east and could be getting caught up a little bit in that cold front that's moving across the Midwest, so that could kind of amplify the situation and bring flooding all across the east, so that's certainly going to be a problem there.

I want to show you some rainfall totals now and our other source and show you some recent reports that we've seen, about 12 inches in Lakeland. These are all in Florida, by the way. Cooperstown, around 11 inches. West Palm, holding around 10. Daytona Beach has had about 8.5 now, and more than seven inches in Lutz. So some of the 10-inch, 12-inch totals that we were expecting have come out there, but we haven't quite seen any of those 20-inch totals, so that's some good news.

Now we're going to be looking for maybe five to 10 on top of what you already have into the Panhandle, into Southwestern Georgia will be our immediate concern for the rest today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, thanks.

Well, don't come back, not just yet. Residents who evacuated the state are being asked to just hold on. Frances has hit Florida for a second time now, coming ashore south of Tallahassee, the state capital.

And that's where spokesperson Cragin Mosteller is live on the phone at the state emergency operations center.

Cragin, why don't you tell us about your operations center and what is going on right now and what you're doing?

CRAGIN MOSTELLER, FLORIDA EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER: Good afternoon.

Well, we're working very hard to coordinate with federal, state and county governments to make sure that we can get resources out to the communities that have been affected as quickly as possible.

And, therefore, we're asking that residents please stay put. Flooding is a major danger. And so we're just asking that residents please stay where they are. Six inches of moving water can move a vehicle. Standing water can have hidden dangers, such as power lines and sharp debris. And so we're really asking that residents be safe. Please stay where they are. And let us get the roads clear and then we'll get you back to your homes as quickly as possible.

PHILLIPS: Cragin, what kind of resources do you need to get out there?

MOSTELLER: We're trying to get power trucks out, to get power lines up as quickly as possible, as well as fueling trucks to refuel gas stations, debris to move debris as quickly as possible, everything that comes along with the storm, we have got to clear the roadways so that people can get home.

PHILLIPS: And talk about why this could be dangerous if residents didn't listen to you and said, look, I just want to get home, I want to get in my house or my apartment? What are the dangers that you are concerned about if indeed they start rushing home?

MOSTELLER: Well, in addition to flooding dangers, which are extreme, the majority of casualties have been following a storm rather than during a storm. People get trapped in flooding waters, as well as if traffic is backed up, then our emergency vehicles can't get to those in need, can't restore power and we can't get fuel trucks to gas stations if the roads are full.

PHILLIPS: So what's yet to be done, Cragin?

MOSTELLER: Well, a lot is yet to be done. But we're working very quickly with all of our partners to make sure that we get to the affected areas as quickly as possible, to get logistical staging areas set up to be able to provide food, water, any necessary supplies that people may need to restore their homes.

PHILLIPS: Cragin Mosteller, spokesperson for the Florida Emergency Operations Center, once again asking residents not to come back into the area yet until they get things up and running and take care of the flooding issues.

Thanks, Cragin.

One of the other top stories that of course we've been working for the past four days is the grief and the sorrow and the desperation in a small Russian town. Now we take you there today, where families in Beslan are burying some of the hundreds of victims after the school siege that happened. Other people are still trying to just find out whether their loved ones are among those that have been killed.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Tettov family and their neighbors gather outside their home. Their two daughters, 12-year-old Elena (ph) and 11-year-old Irena (ph), laid out for all to see. Both girls shot in the back as they tried to flee the school seized by gunmen.

The family marches to the cemetery. Tamerlain Tettov is still searching for his grandson. Even beasts don't attack children, he tells me. They came here, robbed our land and poisoned it.

While hundreds mourn for those lost, there's also questions about the hundreds more still missing.

(on camera): Today, the gravediggers at this cemetery were told to prepare for 600 burials. But they were warned they may need to dig more tomorrow. (voice-over): One of those graves may be for Fatima (ph). She hasn't been seen since the fighting ended. Her grandmother brings a photo of her and her brother to the town's makeshift missing person's center. Slavic (ph) made it out alive, but no one has been able to find his 7-year-old sister, not among the living or the dead.

We found him, but we can't find her, she tells me. They sent some of the children to hospitals in Moscow, but we still don't know if she's there.

Back at the funeral for the Tettov girls, Rema Tettov is missing her nephew. Last night we were told that a vehicle with corpses was going to the morgue, she says. So we raced there, only to be told that it had been stopped on the way because there was no more room for bodies.

Five children from the Tettov family were inside the school when the massacre began. Two of them are now in the hospital, two of them are dead, one is still missing.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Beslan, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: News across America now.

It may have been more than a coincidence for Tony Soprano, but actor James Gandolfini turned out to be OK after he was hit by a suspected drunk driver over the weekend. It happened in New Jersey, where he had gone to see the Rutgers-Michigan State football game.

A senseless killing, that's how police in Ohio are describing the death of a prominent newspaper reporter. Police say "Dayton Daily News" reporter Derek Ali was shot while pushing a woman away from gunfire outside a party early yesterday. So far, there's no word of an arrest.

It's a white Labor Day in parts of Colorado, as much as eight inches of snow on the ground in the Breckenridge area. (INAUDIBLE) Mountain in western Colorado got enough snow this weekend to allow skiing and snowboarding.

Well, NASCAR goes Hollywood and now speedy Elliott Sadler is getting fitted for a tuxedo? Where is he headed? We're turning that one on a final lap of LIVE FROM just ahead.

And here's something to chew on, Britney Spears bubblegum? Oh, how could we forget this interview? You could get used to a piece of this action just ahead on -- used piece of the action -- you can get a piece of the used -- oh, why do we have to tell about ABC gum?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Once again, we want to remind you, we're waiting for that news conference regarding former President Bill Clinton's bypass surgery. It's supposed to happen 4:00 Eastern. We'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens.

Well, Florida's $50 billion tourism industry is another victim of this year's storm season. A number of parks, beaches and cruise lines had to shut down over a holiday weekend. However, some tourists said last week that there was no way they were giving up on their vacations, especially if they had been working around the clock at CNN during convention coverage.

Maria Boynton of CNN Radio was set to take a cruise. She was telling me all about it last week. Well, she waited out the hurricane, begged for more vacation time. Now she joins us just minutes away from the lido deck. She's on the phone from Fort Lauderdale.

(LAUGHTER)

MARIA BOYNTON, CNN RADIO: Hi Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hi, Maria.

Now, I know you had been talking about this and then you had to sit and wait it out. Tell me what happened. What did the cruise lines tell you? And how did this affect the hundreds of people getting ready to cruise last week?

BOYNTON: Well, Kyra, let me tell you, it affected us big time.

We were ready to go on our cruise. We were supposed to leave on Saturday. And then, of course, we knew that the hurricane, Hurricane Frances, was coming into town, and we had worked so long all year long with the DNC, RNC, worked so hard. We wanted to milk the end of summer for all we could. And then here comes Hurricane Frances. Our cruise was delayed. And what we had to do was just wait out the storm, along with the cruise line.

They were very accommodating. And we were told that we would then set sail at 5:00 today. And then we are being told now it will be 10:00 tonight. But we're going to wait and go with what they tell us.

PHILLIPS: Now, Maria, for those that got stuck in Florida, they were about to get on and had to stay there and wait out the storm, and for you, that couldn't even board an aircraft yet and head that way, what did the cruise lines tell you? Did they ask you to just wait and they would extend the cruise, give you any kind of discount, or what kind of incentives did they give you or convince you to do this?

BOYNTON: Well, of course, Kyra, what we were thinking was, it was a bunch of ladies who had worked so hard, wanted to go on a cruise. What we decided to do was, hey, what if our cruise is canceled? Can we go out of your L.A. Port? Can we go out of your Bayonne, New Jersey, port?

We were asking those kinds of questions. And the cruise line told us, hold on, we haven't canceled your cruise yet. Just wait. It might be postponed. What they told us, of course, later, was that the cruise was postponed, and then they did give us some great incentives, because our cruise is being shortened, it's not being lengthened, the cruise has been shortened -- we were supposed to leave Saturday. We're leaving tonight, we're being told.

It will still end on Thursday, but what they've given us, they've given us $500 on board credit. They've also given us half off our next cruise. Those kinds of incentives have made us say, we're going to go for it and still have the time of our lives.

PHILLIPS: Understandably. And even those in Florida are taken care of by the cruise lives.

All right, Maria Boynton from CNN Radio, I hope you finally get to have a good time and you come back ready for more work.

BOYNTON: I hope so, too.

Oh, OK. Definitely. Thanks, Kyra.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: All right, take care.

Well, is tennis your racket or have you got a passion for golf? What about NASCAR? Does it get your motor humming? Well, there's plenty of things going on this Labor Day holiday.

Our Michelle Bonner is here with little free samples on all those sports.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All of those minor events, right? It was a busy weekend. It was unbelievable.

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Busy weekend, busy day for tennis obviously at the U.S. Open today.

Andre Agassi in his fourth round match just got under way and then the marquis matchup obviously is going to be Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams hooking up a little later on this afternoon.

(CROSSTALK)

BONNER: Davenport after Wimbledon had talked about the fact that she was possibly going to retire. And she comes into this match with Venus Williams today having won 20 straight. And she has won -- when she came into the U.S. Open, she had won four straight hard court tournaments.

So it's just interesting how things have sort of turned around a little bit for her, considering she had knee and foot injuries.

PHILLIPS: Well, and there's tennis players that are doing well in the U.S. Open, like Roddick and Williams, that didn't do so hot in the Olympics.

BONNER: Yes.

Well, when you look at the Williams -- especially both of them, Serena and Venus, both of them have had -- they've been struggling with injuries. You go back to Serena having taken eight months off when she was recovering from knee surgery. And Venus has had various injuries as well.

Serena is playing her typical way that she's always played, right now, anyway, perhaps giving herself a little bit more time to heal from various injuries and Venus Williams with some hamstring problems and things like that. But this will be an interesting matchup. This is the earliest that Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport have ever played each other in a tournament.

PHILLIPS: Right.

All right, NASCAR, we teased NASCAR. Got to talk about NASCAR. Elliott Sadler, this is the other level of my life, by the way, besides my husband. He doesn't know that, but can we give folks an update?

(LAUGHTER)

BONNER: Yes.

Elliott Sadler won yesterday's Pop Secret 500. And rookie Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin finished second and third to move into eighth and ninth place. Kahne's ninth top five finish this year and fifth and second place results. He's got 34 points. The chase for the Nextel Cup pairs down to 10 drivers. There's only more race before that, the final 10 postseason races begin, which is actually next week.

So, with this race happening last night, obviously jockeying for position. And we do have a board as far as some of the guys that are on the outside sort of looking in on this. Who could -- after next week's race, any one of these guys can make a move into the postseason. This is a different way that they're doing it this year, where the top 10 drivers will vie for that Nextel Cup.

PHILLIPS: All right, Michelle Bonner, thank you so much.

All right, well, we're going to check entertainment lines this September 6. We can call it a wardrobe function I guess down under, when Aussie Ms. Universe Jennifer Hawkins strutted herself at a fashion show last week. She didn't even expect for it to be a peep show. Whoops. Hello. Oh, my goodness. Aren't we rated PG here? Then the bottom of her dress unraveled. Well, Hawkins says that she regrets not wearing better panties.

Out of the mouths of babes. Britney Spears chewing gum is a hot seller on eBay. Did I mention it's used? Well, more than two dozen discarded wads allegedly spat out by Spears are up for auction. Bidders, beware. Before you sink your teeth in or your hard-earned cash, only DNA tests could prove that it's even authentic.

Ivana's turn? The ex-wife of real estate mogul Donald Trump, is she getting her own reality TV show tentatively titled "Ivana Young Man"? Well, she will select eight 20-something bachelors who will vie for the affection of a successful, yet lonely 40-something woman. The show is set to air this fall. I wonder if her hair will still be that big.

Well, that wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM.

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