Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Zoloft Defense Fails; Michael Jackson Trial on Hold; The Cost of War
Aired February 15, 2005 - 14:00 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: This boy and not his antidepressants are to blame for the murder of his grandparents. A jury's verdict is in. Just moments ago he heard his sentence. We're live from the courthouse.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ted Rowlands in Santa Maria, California. Michael Jackson is in the hospital at this hour. We'll have the very latest on his condition coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was the first amputee to do it. I love it. I'm proud -- I'm proud to serve the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An Iraqi mine took his foot, but not his courage. One soldier's amazing comeback.
PHILLIPS: What if the Declaration of Independence disappeared? This hour, the story behind the effort to keep American history from literally fading away.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.
PHILLIPS: Zoloft, he claimed; murder, the jury ruled. Thirty years the judge declared in a sentencing you saw here just moments ago. That ruling came barely an hour after Christopher Pittman, now 15, was convicted of murder for shooting his grandparents and burning their house when he was 12.
The defense argued the child's brain had been ambushed, his impulses hijacked by the antidepressant drug Zoloft. But prosecutors blame sheer malice, meanness and wickedness.
We get more now on the outcome from CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She's in Charleston, South Carolina -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, after about six hours of deliberation, this jury of nine women and three men delivered their verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JUDGE DANIEL PIEPER, CHARLESTON CIRCUIT COURT: Well, I have considered everything that has been presented to me. And it is the judgment of this court that, as to each of these counts, the defendant receive a sentence of 30 years. Those will be concurrent to one another, not consecutive.
Good luck to you.
Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: You just heard judge Daniel Pieper tell Chris Pittman what his sentence was. He could have given 30 years to life per count. And, of course, there were two people who were murdered here.
He gave him 30 years per count to be served together at the same time. Not one after the other. So that means 30 years. If he gets credit for the three years that he's already served, Chris Pittman will be in jail until age 42. He is now 15 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Elizabeth Cohen live outside the courthouse there in Charleston. Thank you so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Voir dire can wait while flu calls the shots in Michael Jackson's molestation trial of Michael Jackson. As CNN told you first, a not so funny thing happened to the king of pop on his way to the courthouse today. And now the process of picking a jury on hold for the rest of the week.
We get details and diagnosis from CNN's Ted Rowlands in Santa Maria, California -- Ted.
ROWLANDS: Well, Miles, Michael Jackson is suffering what -- from what is being characterized as a severe case of the flu. And he is still hospitalized at this hour at a local hospital here in Santa Maria.
The hospital is only about a mile from the courthouse. And this morning, on the way to the courthouse, instead of taking a right to the courthouse, the caravan went left to the hospital.
Of course, that caused a delay in the proceedings, as you alluded to. The rest of the week is now dark here in Santa Maria. Jury selection will continue next week.
There was a sense of anxiety in the courtroom when the 100-plus jurors were waiting and waiting for Mr. Jackson to arrive. It was obvious that he was late.
There was a rumor that he had had a flat tire. And then finally the judge came onto the bench and said that he had taken ill. The judge then went and had a conference call with the attending physician who had seen Jackson, and came back and told the jury that this severe case of the flu would require three to four days of healing for Mr. Jackson before the proceedings could continue. The judge did not make light of the situation. In fact, he sort of came to Jackson's defense, saying that the flu bug has been going around. And he even said that better he not be here to get us all sick, which, you know, jurors laughed at that, and it sort of helped ease some of the tensions and possibly some of the anger towards Jackson for this delay.
The bottom line, though, the criminal proceedings against Michael Jackson on hold until Tuesday morning at 8:30 Pacific Time to give him a chance to recover from a severe case of the flu -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Ted Rowlands in Santa Maria. Thank you -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: In Boston, a former priest is headed to prison. Paul Shanley has been ordered to serve at least 12 years, but no more than 15 for raping and molesting a former parishioner in the 1980s. Before the sentencing, his victim called Shanley a predator and told the court, "I want him to die in prison."
O'BRIEN: Now to the growing cost of war. The president is asking for tens of billions of dollars more for Afghanistan and Iraq. It's not part of his regular budget request and will raise the nation's deficit to a record high. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, breaks it down for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be on Capitol Hill later this week, seeking congressional support for the budget supplemental which totals over $80 billion. About $75 billion of that is for the Pentagon. The main cost, running the war in Iraq, which now costs more than $1 billion a week.
But there are several very interesting items for the Pentagon that are being funded in that supplemental request. They include $12 billion for refurbishing and repairing worn-out equipment. Part of that request, another $3 billion for armored vehicles, which was such a matter of controversy over the last several months.
Also included, $5.7 billion for training Iraqi security forces. That is considered vital. The sooner the Iraqis are trained, the sooner U.S. forces can return home.
And there is an additional $5 billion for something the Pentagon calls Army transformation. That, basically, is making the Army lighter, more mobile, more easily deployable to places like Iraq. It is one of the lessons learned from the war.
There is other money in the supplemental as well. $950 million for aid for tsunami victims. Another $200 million for Palestinian security initiatives.
Congress is expected to approve the supplemental request, but there's certain to be a lot of very tough questions to the Pentagon on how exactly the money is going to be spent and how soon U.S. troops can come home.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Homeland security is much in the news today. The Senate appears likely to confirm federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff as Homeland Security secretary. Michigan Democrat Carl Levin delayed the nomination vote, demanding the Justice Department turn over a prisoner investigation document that may have involved Chertoff. The department refused.
You can still carry a butane lighter aboard a commercial flight even though a law banning them was supposed to take effect today. The Transportation Security Administration says the ban is "currently under review." It gives no further explanation.
And another setback for President Bush's ballistic missile shields program. The Pentagon tried yesterday to repeat a failed December test of whether an interceptor missile could shoot down a target missile launched from Kodiak, Alaska. The interceptor failed to launch.
Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
O'BRIEN: All right. Believe it or not, a buffalo bug helped save a significant part of America's history.
PHILLIPS: You know what a buffalo bug is?
O'BRIEN: No, I don't have a clue.
PHILLIPS: You're going to learn. Find out how the history bug, now there's a team of scientists preserving historic documents once attacked by these bugs. We're going to talk to the scientist about what's really on the back of the Declaration of Independence.
O'BRIEN: All right. And he was declared fit for military duty. A military commander loses his foot, but not his will to fight. We have an amazing story for you. It's just ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: New measures today to strengthen drug safety in America. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt creating a new independent drug safety oversight board. The board will monitor all Food and Drug Administration approved drugs that are on the market.
The announcement comes the day before the FDA begins hearings on the safety of painkillers. Now, recently, questions been raised about drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex and links to increased risks for heart disease. More now from CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anita Glover suffered with arthritis, and, like 20 million other Americans, her doctors prescribed Vioxx. Vioxx, along with Celebrex and Bextra, make up a class of pain drugs called COX-2 inhibitors.
They came on the scene in the late '90s, and many people considered them to be miracle drugs. They stopped the pain, didn't bother your stomach, and in the meantime, made millions of dollars for drug companies.
But Robert Glover, Anita's son, believes Vioxx is behind a tragic day in 2001 that he says he'll never forget.
ROBERT GLOVER, MOTHER TOOK VIOXX: She collapsed in the hallway on the floor, was having trouble breathing, was in real distress. And at that point we called 911, and we had the ambulance show up. And they took her to emergency. And she passed away of a heart attack.
GUPTA: And it's just this kind of story that an FDA committee will be investigating this week as evidence mounts that the COX-2 drugs may do more harm than good.
GLOVER: She read all the drug warnings. She felt that, you know, everything -- all the research had been done on it, and it was a safe drug for her.
GUPTA: But medical community insiders have been worried about this problem since the drugs came out.
DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, EMORY UNIVERSITY CARDIOLOGIST: Initially, about four years ago or so, there were questions related to the possible heart side effects of these medications.
GUPTA: And now fast-forward to the fall of 2004.
RAYMOND GILMARTIN, CEO, MERCK & CO.: The risk of a cardiovascular event did increase among those on Vioxx. Accordingly, we are voluntarily withdrawing Vioxx, effective today.
GUPTA: Then, just three months after Vioxx was pulled from the market over heart attack concerns, the National Cancer Institute halted a study using a similar drug, saying it found the same increased heart risk in those taking Celebrex.
Pfizer, the makers of Celebrex, said that these results were inconsistent with data in other clinical trials, and decided to keep the drug on the market. But both Pfizer and the FDA warned doctors to consider all of the risks before prescribing it to their patients.
We spoke with one doctor who heeded their warning.
SPERLING: Right now, with our available information, I would say that I'd be a little wary of prescribing Celebrex to you right now.
GUPTA: Four days after problems with Celebrex were announced, another trial was halted over similar heart concerns. This time, the drug in question was Naprosen, the active ingredient in the over-the- counter pain reliever Aleve. But the drug's manufacturer, Bayer, says Aleve is safe when used as directed.
While these concerns are just being brought to the public's attention, Robert Glover has been aware of the problems with Vioxx since his mother's death in 2001.
GLOVER: Unfortunately, she took the drug thinking that, you know, it was going to help her, but she didn't think it would hurt her.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Other news "Across America" now.
A four-day-old baby boy whose mother claimed he was tossed out of a moving car is out of the hospital. Florida police say his mother made up that story because she didn't want to keep Baby Johnny. Well, he's now been placed in foster care.
A health update on David Dinghman Grover. The boy had a brain tumor he nicknamed "Frank" after Frankenstein. Well, his condition drew worldwide attention after his mother raised money for his treatment, auctioning off a bumper sticker on eBay saying, "Frank Must Die."
Well, apparently he did. The family announced today that David is now cancer free and that tumor is gone.
More pieces of Camelot on the auction block. Some 700 pieces of property from the homes of the late president JFK, well, they're up for bid at Sotheby's in New York. The sale of items from the estate of Jackie O. is expected to raise $1 million. That sale runs through Thursday.
O'BRIEN: An amputee proves he has the heart of a champion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They found me fit for duty. I had proven to a board of doctors and the Army, the Department of Defense, that I was -- I was fit for duty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Ahead on LIVE FROM, an Army officer goes above and beyond the call of duty.
DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David Haffenreffer at the New York Stock Exchange. If you're feeling the pain at the pump and want a fuel-efficient car, we'll have a list of the greenest cars for you next on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Those Web surfers are shadowing a trail of stories today. Which are the most popular? Christina Park from our dot-com desk here with a quick check of what they're clicking onto.
Miles has been clicking all day. So tell us what it is.
CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. How many vitamins do you take per day, Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Compared to the guy you're going to talk about, not enough. Only six.
PARK: Only six. Well, this guy I'm going to tell you about takes about 40 times that.
We are tracking the most popular stories for you online at CNN.com. And one of our most clicked on reports has to do with the fountain of youth.
Ray Kurzweil is taking the term "self-preservation" to a whole new level. He wants to live forever and says he might just do it. This guy pops 250 supplements a day and washes them down with 10 cups of green tea. Kurzweil is the author of the book "Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever."
He's also an inventor and computer scientist who predicts that the key to human immortality will be discovered in about 20 years thanks to better technology like nanobots, robots the size of red blood cells, to tool around the body repairing muscles and arteries. Some call him a quack, but don't be too quick to discount this MIT grad. Many others call this award-winning inventor and writer a genius.
Speaking of trying to live forever, our next most popular story on CNN.com has to do with certain death: the death and destruction of lobsters, that is. A new study out of Norway says it's unlikely that lobsters feel pain.
Now, this stirs up an ages-old debate over whether the crustaceans suffer when being boiled alive. Animal activists, though, claim that lobsters are in agony when being cooked and say dropping one in a pot of boiling water is tantamount to torture. But the 39- page study says lobsters' little brains and primitive nervous systems don't have the ability to process pain.
And that's what's causing waves at CNN.com.
Kyra, our voters -- 30,000 people have voted, and more than half of them say that lobsters do feel pain when being boiled alive. What do you think about that?
PHILLIPS: I'm feeling a little guilty right now.
O'BRIEN: You ever heard them scream? I know they scream if you listen. PHILLIPS: They wiggle a lot.
PARK: Yes, no one's ever told me, you know.
O'BRIEN: It's kind of a little scream, yes.
PARK: That's what the cover is for. Just close the pot.
PHILLIPS: Oh, just don't look. I know. They're in that water. They're moving around. How about when they come out of the sink? That's what scares me.
O'BRIEN: They come out of your sink?
PHILLIPS: Yes, I forgot to -- you know...
O'BRIEN: I'd call a plumber. You've got a problem if they're coming out of your sink, girl. OK. Some clogged pipes there at the Phillips household.
PHILLIPS: After I buy them and put them in the sink.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I get it now. OK.
PHILLIPS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: If you're looking to a buy a fuel-efficient car, Kyra -- and I'm been kind of thinking about one of those Scions. You seen those things? They look like rolling toasters.
PHILLIPS: You wouldn't be able to fit in that car.
O'BRIEN: Oh, no, it's a good sized car.
PHILLIPS: Yes?
O'BRIEN: Rolling toaster, and it gets about 150 miles to the gallon, I think. No, not quite.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, tonight's the big night. Manhattan top dog honors handed out the Westminster Kennel Club Show. Last night a Pekinese named Jeffrey took the toy group honors.
There's a dog under there somewhere. Looks like a toupee. Cocoa won the terrier group the second year in a row.
It's that teeny little thing in the middle. That teeny little picture there.
The working dog winner was a great Pyrenees called -- handsome looking animal there. And a first-time breed in the show, the Neopolitan Mastiff, got a big reaction but missed winning its group. The massive mastiff is a showstopper on the streets of New York as well, as CNN's Jeanne Moos found out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All the Botox in the world couldn't cure Bellagio.
(on camera): You're a sucker for wrinkles...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes, I can't imagine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not on me.
MOOS (voice-over): The new breed at Westminster will leave you drooling.
(on camera): Yes, oh that is some man-sized drool.
(voice-over): Let it fly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to have a drool rag. It's like American Express, you can never leave home without it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is he?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hippopotamus, right?
MOOS: Hippo, no. Neo, yes. Short for...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Neapolitan mastiff. His name is Bellagio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wow, Bellagio.
MOOS: The girls are swooning over half brothers Bellagio and Sirius...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lets get serious.
MOOS: ... two of only three Neapolitan mastiffs competing for the first time ever at Westminster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to make him flap his cheeks.
MOOS (on camera): Whoa!
(voice-over): In the time of the Roman emperors, a dog like this was used as...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A canine gladiator.
MOOS: Bellagio's handler, Harry Booker, says they fought lions and tigers at the Coliseum. Their loose, wrinkly skin, makes it hard for an opponent to grab.
JIM DEPPEN, SIRIUS OWNER: He can literally turn in the skin. I can't literally restrain this dog.
MOOS (on camera): You like those wrinkles?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I just said I'll look like this in 30 years.
MOOS: Twenty. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you're a sweetheart, aren't you?
MOOS (voice-over): And though they were bred to be guard dogs, they're gentle when trained from puppy hood. This is Sirius' son, seriously irresistible. Bellagio's so well trained, we had to use a treat to entice him to jump up on me.
(on camera): I can't find his mouth.
(voice-over): Maybe you've seen the breed before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: In "Harry Potter."
(on camera): Is this what happens all the time when you bring him out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Constantly, the barrage of people.
MOOS (voice-over): Amid all the acclaim, what's a little slobber on your suit? The best in breed went to Bellagio despite comments like hey, mister, someone let the air out of your dog. Maybe slimmer dogs can slip by.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can't get through, he's so big. We've got to go around. He's the biggest dog in the show.
MOOS: At least he got the biggest laugh. Maybe those are just laugh lines.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 15, 2005 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This boy and not his antidepressants are to blame for the murder of his grandparents. A jury's verdict is in. Just moments ago he heard his sentence. We're live from the courthouse.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ted Rowlands in Santa Maria, California. Michael Jackson is in the hospital at this hour. We'll have the very latest on his condition coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was the first amputee to do it. I love it. I'm proud -- I'm proud to serve the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An Iraqi mine took his foot, but not his courage. One soldier's amazing comeback.
PHILLIPS: What if the Declaration of Independence disappeared? This hour, the story behind the effort to keep American history from literally fading away.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.
PHILLIPS: Zoloft, he claimed; murder, the jury ruled. Thirty years the judge declared in a sentencing you saw here just moments ago. That ruling came barely an hour after Christopher Pittman, now 15, was convicted of murder for shooting his grandparents and burning their house when he was 12.
The defense argued the child's brain had been ambushed, his impulses hijacked by the antidepressant drug Zoloft. But prosecutors blame sheer malice, meanness and wickedness.
We get more now on the outcome from CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She's in Charleston, South Carolina -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, after about six hours of deliberation, this jury of nine women and three men delivered their verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JUDGE DANIEL PIEPER, CHARLESTON CIRCUIT COURT: Well, I have considered everything that has been presented to me. And it is the judgment of this court that, as to each of these counts, the defendant receive a sentence of 30 years. Those will be concurrent to one another, not consecutive.
Good luck to you.
Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: You just heard judge Daniel Pieper tell Chris Pittman what his sentence was. He could have given 30 years to life per count. And, of course, there were two people who were murdered here.
He gave him 30 years per count to be served together at the same time. Not one after the other. So that means 30 years. If he gets credit for the three years that he's already served, Chris Pittman will be in jail until age 42. He is now 15 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Elizabeth Cohen live outside the courthouse there in Charleston. Thank you so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Voir dire can wait while flu calls the shots in Michael Jackson's molestation trial of Michael Jackson. As CNN told you first, a not so funny thing happened to the king of pop on his way to the courthouse today. And now the process of picking a jury on hold for the rest of the week.
We get details and diagnosis from CNN's Ted Rowlands in Santa Maria, California -- Ted.
ROWLANDS: Well, Miles, Michael Jackson is suffering what -- from what is being characterized as a severe case of the flu. And he is still hospitalized at this hour at a local hospital here in Santa Maria.
The hospital is only about a mile from the courthouse. And this morning, on the way to the courthouse, instead of taking a right to the courthouse, the caravan went left to the hospital.
Of course, that caused a delay in the proceedings, as you alluded to. The rest of the week is now dark here in Santa Maria. Jury selection will continue next week.
There was a sense of anxiety in the courtroom when the 100-plus jurors were waiting and waiting for Mr. Jackson to arrive. It was obvious that he was late.
There was a rumor that he had had a flat tire. And then finally the judge came onto the bench and said that he had taken ill. The judge then went and had a conference call with the attending physician who had seen Jackson, and came back and told the jury that this severe case of the flu would require three to four days of healing for Mr. Jackson before the proceedings could continue. The judge did not make light of the situation. In fact, he sort of came to Jackson's defense, saying that the flu bug has been going around. And he even said that better he not be here to get us all sick, which, you know, jurors laughed at that, and it sort of helped ease some of the tensions and possibly some of the anger towards Jackson for this delay.
The bottom line, though, the criminal proceedings against Michael Jackson on hold until Tuesday morning at 8:30 Pacific Time to give him a chance to recover from a severe case of the flu -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Ted Rowlands in Santa Maria. Thank you -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: In Boston, a former priest is headed to prison. Paul Shanley has been ordered to serve at least 12 years, but no more than 15 for raping and molesting a former parishioner in the 1980s. Before the sentencing, his victim called Shanley a predator and told the court, "I want him to die in prison."
O'BRIEN: Now to the growing cost of war. The president is asking for tens of billions of dollars more for Afghanistan and Iraq. It's not part of his regular budget request and will raise the nation's deficit to a record high. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, breaks it down for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be on Capitol Hill later this week, seeking congressional support for the budget supplemental which totals over $80 billion. About $75 billion of that is for the Pentagon. The main cost, running the war in Iraq, which now costs more than $1 billion a week.
But there are several very interesting items for the Pentagon that are being funded in that supplemental request. They include $12 billion for refurbishing and repairing worn-out equipment. Part of that request, another $3 billion for armored vehicles, which was such a matter of controversy over the last several months.
Also included, $5.7 billion for training Iraqi security forces. That is considered vital. The sooner the Iraqis are trained, the sooner U.S. forces can return home.
And there is an additional $5 billion for something the Pentagon calls Army transformation. That, basically, is making the Army lighter, more mobile, more easily deployable to places like Iraq. It is one of the lessons learned from the war.
There is other money in the supplemental as well. $950 million for aid for tsunami victims. Another $200 million for Palestinian security initiatives.
Congress is expected to approve the supplemental request, but there's certain to be a lot of very tough questions to the Pentagon on how exactly the money is going to be spent and how soon U.S. troops can come home.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Homeland security is much in the news today. The Senate appears likely to confirm federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff as Homeland Security secretary. Michigan Democrat Carl Levin delayed the nomination vote, demanding the Justice Department turn over a prisoner investigation document that may have involved Chertoff. The department refused.
You can still carry a butane lighter aboard a commercial flight even though a law banning them was supposed to take effect today. The Transportation Security Administration says the ban is "currently under review." It gives no further explanation.
And another setback for President Bush's ballistic missile shields program. The Pentagon tried yesterday to repeat a failed December test of whether an interceptor missile could shoot down a target missile launched from Kodiak, Alaska. The interceptor failed to launch.
Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
O'BRIEN: All right. Believe it or not, a buffalo bug helped save a significant part of America's history.
PHILLIPS: You know what a buffalo bug is?
O'BRIEN: No, I don't have a clue.
PHILLIPS: You're going to learn. Find out how the history bug, now there's a team of scientists preserving historic documents once attacked by these bugs. We're going to talk to the scientist about what's really on the back of the Declaration of Independence.
O'BRIEN: All right. And he was declared fit for military duty. A military commander loses his foot, but not his will to fight. We have an amazing story for you. It's just ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: New measures today to strengthen drug safety in America. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt creating a new independent drug safety oversight board. The board will monitor all Food and Drug Administration approved drugs that are on the market.
The announcement comes the day before the FDA begins hearings on the safety of painkillers. Now, recently, questions been raised about drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex and links to increased risks for heart disease. More now from CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anita Glover suffered with arthritis, and, like 20 million other Americans, her doctors prescribed Vioxx. Vioxx, along with Celebrex and Bextra, make up a class of pain drugs called COX-2 inhibitors.
They came on the scene in the late '90s, and many people considered them to be miracle drugs. They stopped the pain, didn't bother your stomach, and in the meantime, made millions of dollars for drug companies.
But Robert Glover, Anita's son, believes Vioxx is behind a tragic day in 2001 that he says he'll never forget.
ROBERT GLOVER, MOTHER TOOK VIOXX: She collapsed in the hallway on the floor, was having trouble breathing, was in real distress. And at that point we called 911, and we had the ambulance show up. And they took her to emergency. And she passed away of a heart attack.
GUPTA: And it's just this kind of story that an FDA committee will be investigating this week as evidence mounts that the COX-2 drugs may do more harm than good.
GLOVER: She read all the drug warnings. She felt that, you know, everything -- all the research had been done on it, and it was a safe drug for her.
GUPTA: But medical community insiders have been worried about this problem since the drugs came out.
DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, EMORY UNIVERSITY CARDIOLOGIST: Initially, about four years ago or so, there were questions related to the possible heart side effects of these medications.
GUPTA: And now fast-forward to the fall of 2004.
RAYMOND GILMARTIN, CEO, MERCK & CO.: The risk of a cardiovascular event did increase among those on Vioxx. Accordingly, we are voluntarily withdrawing Vioxx, effective today.
GUPTA: Then, just three months after Vioxx was pulled from the market over heart attack concerns, the National Cancer Institute halted a study using a similar drug, saying it found the same increased heart risk in those taking Celebrex.
Pfizer, the makers of Celebrex, said that these results were inconsistent with data in other clinical trials, and decided to keep the drug on the market. But both Pfizer and the FDA warned doctors to consider all of the risks before prescribing it to their patients.
We spoke with one doctor who heeded their warning.
SPERLING: Right now, with our available information, I would say that I'd be a little wary of prescribing Celebrex to you right now.
GUPTA: Four days after problems with Celebrex were announced, another trial was halted over similar heart concerns. This time, the drug in question was Naprosen, the active ingredient in the over-the- counter pain reliever Aleve. But the drug's manufacturer, Bayer, says Aleve is safe when used as directed.
While these concerns are just being brought to the public's attention, Robert Glover has been aware of the problems with Vioxx since his mother's death in 2001.
GLOVER: Unfortunately, she took the drug thinking that, you know, it was going to help her, but she didn't think it would hurt her.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Other news "Across America" now.
A four-day-old baby boy whose mother claimed he was tossed out of a moving car is out of the hospital. Florida police say his mother made up that story because she didn't want to keep Baby Johnny. Well, he's now been placed in foster care.
A health update on David Dinghman Grover. The boy had a brain tumor he nicknamed "Frank" after Frankenstein. Well, his condition drew worldwide attention after his mother raised money for his treatment, auctioning off a bumper sticker on eBay saying, "Frank Must Die."
Well, apparently he did. The family announced today that David is now cancer free and that tumor is gone.
More pieces of Camelot on the auction block. Some 700 pieces of property from the homes of the late president JFK, well, they're up for bid at Sotheby's in New York. The sale of items from the estate of Jackie O. is expected to raise $1 million. That sale runs through Thursday.
O'BRIEN: An amputee proves he has the heart of a champion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They found me fit for duty. I had proven to a board of doctors and the Army, the Department of Defense, that I was -- I was fit for duty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Ahead on LIVE FROM, an Army officer goes above and beyond the call of duty.
DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David Haffenreffer at the New York Stock Exchange. If you're feeling the pain at the pump and want a fuel-efficient car, we'll have a list of the greenest cars for you next on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Those Web surfers are shadowing a trail of stories today. Which are the most popular? Christina Park from our dot-com desk here with a quick check of what they're clicking onto.
Miles has been clicking all day. So tell us what it is.
CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. How many vitamins do you take per day, Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Compared to the guy you're going to talk about, not enough. Only six.
PARK: Only six. Well, this guy I'm going to tell you about takes about 40 times that.
We are tracking the most popular stories for you online at CNN.com. And one of our most clicked on reports has to do with the fountain of youth.
Ray Kurzweil is taking the term "self-preservation" to a whole new level. He wants to live forever and says he might just do it. This guy pops 250 supplements a day and washes them down with 10 cups of green tea. Kurzweil is the author of the book "Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever."
He's also an inventor and computer scientist who predicts that the key to human immortality will be discovered in about 20 years thanks to better technology like nanobots, robots the size of red blood cells, to tool around the body repairing muscles and arteries. Some call him a quack, but don't be too quick to discount this MIT grad. Many others call this award-winning inventor and writer a genius.
Speaking of trying to live forever, our next most popular story on CNN.com has to do with certain death: the death and destruction of lobsters, that is. A new study out of Norway says it's unlikely that lobsters feel pain.
Now, this stirs up an ages-old debate over whether the crustaceans suffer when being boiled alive. Animal activists, though, claim that lobsters are in agony when being cooked and say dropping one in a pot of boiling water is tantamount to torture. But the 39- page study says lobsters' little brains and primitive nervous systems don't have the ability to process pain.
And that's what's causing waves at CNN.com.
Kyra, our voters -- 30,000 people have voted, and more than half of them say that lobsters do feel pain when being boiled alive. What do you think about that?
PHILLIPS: I'm feeling a little guilty right now.
O'BRIEN: You ever heard them scream? I know they scream if you listen. PHILLIPS: They wiggle a lot.
PARK: Yes, no one's ever told me, you know.
O'BRIEN: It's kind of a little scream, yes.
PARK: That's what the cover is for. Just close the pot.
PHILLIPS: Oh, just don't look. I know. They're in that water. They're moving around. How about when they come out of the sink? That's what scares me.
O'BRIEN: They come out of your sink?
PHILLIPS: Yes, I forgot to -- you know...
O'BRIEN: I'd call a plumber. You've got a problem if they're coming out of your sink, girl. OK. Some clogged pipes there at the Phillips household.
PHILLIPS: After I buy them and put them in the sink.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I get it now. OK.
PHILLIPS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: If you're looking to a buy a fuel-efficient car, Kyra -- and I'm been kind of thinking about one of those Scions. You seen those things? They look like rolling toasters.
PHILLIPS: You wouldn't be able to fit in that car.
O'BRIEN: Oh, no, it's a good sized car.
PHILLIPS: Yes?
O'BRIEN: Rolling toaster, and it gets about 150 miles to the gallon, I think. No, not quite.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, tonight's the big night. Manhattan top dog honors handed out the Westminster Kennel Club Show. Last night a Pekinese named Jeffrey took the toy group honors.
There's a dog under there somewhere. Looks like a toupee. Cocoa won the terrier group the second year in a row.
It's that teeny little thing in the middle. That teeny little picture there.
The working dog winner was a great Pyrenees called -- handsome looking animal there. And a first-time breed in the show, the Neopolitan Mastiff, got a big reaction but missed winning its group. The massive mastiff is a showstopper on the streets of New York as well, as CNN's Jeanne Moos found out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All the Botox in the world couldn't cure Bellagio.
(on camera): You're a sucker for wrinkles...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes, I can't imagine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not on me.
MOOS (voice-over): The new breed at Westminster will leave you drooling.
(on camera): Yes, oh that is some man-sized drool.
(voice-over): Let it fly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to have a drool rag. It's like American Express, you can never leave home without it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is he?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hippopotamus, right?
MOOS: Hippo, no. Neo, yes. Short for...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Neapolitan mastiff. His name is Bellagio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wow, Bellagio.
MOOS: The girls are swooning over half brothers Bellagio and Sirius...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lets get serious.
MOOS: ... two of only three Neapolitan mastiffs competing for the first time ever at Westminster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to make him flap his cheeks.
MOOS (on camera): Whoa!
(voice-over): In the time of the Roman emperors, a dog like this was used as...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A canine gladiator.
MOOS: Bellagio's handler, Harry Booker, says they fought lions and tigers at the Coliseum. Their loose, wrinkly skin, makes it hard for an opponent to grab.
JIM DEPPEN, SIRIUS OWNER: He can literally turn in the skin. I can't literally restrain this dog.
MOOS (on camera): You like those wrinkles?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I just said I'll look like this in 30 years.
MOOS: Twenty. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you're a sweetheart, aren't you?
MOOS (voice-over): And though they were bred to be guard dogs, they're gentle when trained from puppy hood. This is Sirius' son, seriously irresistible. Bellagio's so well trained, we had to use a treat to entice him to jump up on me.
(on camera): I can't find his mouth.
(voice-over): Maybe you've seen the breed before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: In "Harry Potter."
(on camera): Is this what happens all the time when you bring him out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Constantly, the barrage of people.
MOOS (voice-over): Amid all the acclaim, what's a little slobber on your suit? The best in breed went to Bellagio despite comments like hey, mister, someone let the air out of your dog. Maybe slimmer dogs can slip by.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can't get through, he's so big. We've got to go around. He's the biggest dog in the show.
MOOS: At least he got the biggest laugh. Maybe those are just laugh lines.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
