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Senate in Heated Debate Over Judge; Person of Interest Sought in Idaho Murders; Foster Children Used in AIDS Drug Tests
Aired May 18, 2005 - 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Checking some stories now in the news. Great concern for these two children. Shasta Groene is 8 years old, her brother Dillon 9. They've been missing since their mother, older brother and a third victim were found bound and murdered in their home. Idaho police are also looking for Robert Roy Lutner, described as a person of interest in that case.
Steroids and sports. As usage continues, so does the debate on setting up a uniform drug testing policy for professional athletes. Testifying today before Congress, league executives and player representatives from Major League Baseball.
A fingertip for $50? It's the latest twist in the alleged finger in the chili scam. The mother of the man who lost a fingertip in a work accident says he gave it away to settle a debt. The person she says he gave it to is the woman of the husband now charged in the case. I can't believe we're still talking about it.
And farewell to a favorite bat villain. Frank Gorshin, forever remembered as the Riddler on the Batman TV series of the '60s, has passed away. Gorshin, also known as an impressionist with a malleable face. He was 72.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: First this hour, the political struggle in Washington over the shape of the federal courts and the rules of the U.S. Senate. A historic debate is happening right now over a controversial plan to win Senate confirmation of President Bush's most conservative judicial nominees.
Following the story from Washington now, CNN's Kimberly Osias in Washington -- Kimberly.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you know that old adage, they say that the Senate is really the place of compromise where tempers cool. Not so today.
They have been at it since about 9:45 this morning, if you can believe it. They're slated for an hour break in about 30 minutes or so, then back at it for more debate.
And we'll take a live look right now. On the floor is Senator Byron Dorgan, I believe. He's a Democrat from North Dakota. He's been talking about the place that the Senate is supposed to be, in essence, a place of compromise. Still taking to the floor, hoping to get to that compromise, but it does not look likely, at least not right now. At issue, two women, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. Both are conservative women that President Bush wants elevated to the federal bench.
But lawmakers are really facing off over attempts to kill those nominations and the weapon of choice by Democrats, the filibuster. That's a technique used by the minority party to essentially stall for time and hopefully, get to some kind of consensus, or in extreme cases, to kill a measure or a nomination.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says the filibuster was never intended to apply to judicial nominees, and he's demanding an up-or- down vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Either confirm these nominees or reject the nominees. But don't leave them hanging. Don't leave our courts hanging. Don't leave the country hanging. If the nominees are rejected, fine, that's fair. At least rejection represents a vote. But give nominees the courtesy, the courtesy of a vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OSIAS: Several olive branches have been extended in this process by way of a compromise, but there have been no real breakthroughs yet. Democrats charge the republicans with quelling the minority voice and abuse of power, saying they're getting railroaded.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says you can't change the rules mid stream.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: Following the rules. We believe in following the rules, not breaking the rules, and while it's good to talk about this up-or-down vote, the fact is to move forward as contemplated by the majority is moving toward breaking the rules to change the rules. That's improper. It will change the Senate forever. That's not good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OSIAS: The earliest the filibuster issue is expected to come to a vote is next Tuesday or Wednesday, and until then, the heated discourse continues -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Kimberly Osias, thank you -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Now our "Security Watch," starting with the safety of the nation's judges.
Judge Joan Lefkow pleaded today with Congress to help temper the tone of debates over judicial independence. This is the federal judges, you'll recall, whose husband and mother were shot dead, apparently by a deranged former plaintiff.
In addition to calling for a restraint when it comes to unpopular court decisions, Judge Lefkow said judges need better protection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE JOAN HUMPHREY LEFKOW, U.S. DISTRICT COURT: It is easy enough to blame service for problems, but the truth is that the Congress has never treated the U.S. Marshal Service as it has, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, giving it the respect and resources that it needs to do -- fulfill the tremendous responsibilities that it has.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Well, the man accused of killing Judge Lefkow's loved ones apparently had a personal motive, not political. Judge Lefkow said the fostering of disrespect for judges can only encourage people who are already on the fringe.
PHILLIPS: Well, a new face on U.S. intelligence and a new chapter in the long and varied resume of John Negroponte. If you were with us earlier, you saw the veteran diplomat take the oath of an office he actually moved into some weeks back, director of national intelligence. It's a brand-new position, created by Congress at the urging of the panel investigating intel shortcomings pre-September 11.
O'BRIEN: Last Tuesday in Tbilisi, President Bush wrapping up a European tour in the sometimes turbulent Republic of Georgia, oblivious to what U.S. and Georgian officials now say was a live grenade tossed in the general direction of Mr. Bush and the host, the president of Georgia.
The U.S. embassy says the grenade came to rest within 100 feet of the podium and likely would have exploded, were it not for an insufficient strike on the blasting cap.
Notwithstanding the presence of bullet proof glass, the embassy considers the incident a threat to both leaders' health and welfare. The FBI is investigating.
PHILLIPS: New details about the grisly triple killings in Idaho. The search continues for two small children and the man police call a person of interest. We're finding out more, a little bit more, rather, about how the victims have died.
Reporter Sean Alsek (ph) of CNN affiliate KHQ is live from Coeur D'Alene with all the details. Sean, what can you tell us?
SEAN ALSEK (ph), KHQ REPORTER: Well, Kyra, we received a news conference update about 90 minutes ago, the triple homicide happening in the home here. Not a lot of activity right now, But we have seen investigators going in and out of the house, collecting what they're calling massive evidence.
Now, the victims identified as 37-year-old Mark McKenzie, 40- year-old Brenda Groene and 13-year-old Slade Groene, her son. Investigators releasing this new information about 90 minutes ago, that all three of the victims were bound and then murdered. They're not saying how they were killed.
They are collecting a mass amount of DNA evidence inside the home. They say that takes about a minimum of 72 hours to process that information.
Now, as far as the person of interest Kyra was talking about, identified as Robert Roy Lutner of Hayden, Idaho. Authorities emphasizing that Lutner right now not a suspect at this time, but they really want to speak with him. In fact, they tell us that he may be heading to the Boise, Idaho, area. They say they have been in contact with him through a third party but he has not been cooperative.
He's reportedly driving a 1975 silver Ford pickup, Idaho license plate K161057, or a 1991 white Toyota pickup with Idaho plates K308811.
Now, as far as the children, they have been identified in the Amber Alert as 9-year-old Dillon Groene and his 8-year-old sister Shasta Groene. They continue to have very few leads as far as the whereabouts of those two younger children.
I'm Sean Alsek (ph), reporting live, east of Coeur D'Alene. Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Sean, thanks so much.
O'BRIEN: A shorter leash on sex offenders? Some in Congress want to get federal standards for the cumbersome process of tracking ex-cons who may pose lingering threats to their communities.
A bill introduced by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Florida Representative Mark Foley would force two-time sex crime convicts to wear electronic monitors for life. It also would make the use of the Internet to further the cause of child molestation a federal offense.
A well-known ally says all this is high time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": ... hunt these people down on my show. I am sick of watching them get caught and looking at their rap sheets. Twenty, 30 arrests.
The man that was arrested for Jessica Lunsford's murder, that is accused of murdering that beautiful 9-year-old girl, served only two years of a ten-year sentence for molesting a child. He had 22 arrests.
The system doesn't work for children in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The New Jersey hometown of Megan Kanka has two words for sex offenders who want to settle there: move on. The Hamilton Township council voted to bar convicted molesters from living half a mile of schools, parks or anywhere else children congregate. And since there are roughly 30 schools and 40 parks in Hamilton Township, that doesn't leave a lot of hospitable real estate.
Megan Kanka, you may recall, was raped and killed in 1994 by convicted and released molester who lived across the street. Her case gives rise to Megan's Law, requiring public notification of sex offenders' whereabouts.
PHILLIPS: Well, in Houston, Texas, they're thinking about remaking a Hitchcock movie.
O'BRIEN: While the birds may look mild mannered, when they get in a bad mood, well, those grackles, they can tackle. The attack of the grackles is coming up.
PHILLIPS: And check out this picture. Someone mess up the invitations to the royal tea party? We're going to have details right after a quick break.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Our writer Dave Johnson finding the photos of the day. He is a master at finding just meaningful messages within these pictures. You know the background behind this one? What do you think which this? Where do you think this is? What is going on here?
O'BRIEN: OK. They just smoked a peace pipe, and he is -- he's about to exhale all the smoke. The queen has already done that, and she's very comfortably numb.
PHILLIPS: That's close. Queen Elizabeth, actually, side by side with Cree Chief Alphonse Bird of the Federation of Indian Nations at the First Nations University in Regina, Canada. The queen visiting Canada. She's on an eight-day state visit. And they're welcoming her, as they're observing the city's centennial celebration.
O'BRIEN: And there you have it.
PHILLIPS: There you go.
O'BRIEN: All right.
PHILLIPS: Pass the peace pipe now.
Foster kids and AIDS, a House panel begins looking into reports that foster children were used to test AIDS drugs. And the Associated Press reports that hundreds of foster children were enrolled in government sponsored trials over two decades without adequate safeguards. But some people say the drugs helped prolong those lives.
Here's CNN's Kathleen Koch. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shirlie Schristner does what few of us would do. She takes in sick children, a foster mother.
SHIRLIE SCHRISTNER, FOSTER MOTHER: The CPS worker said to me, "I don't know why you're going to take this little boy. He only has about two weeks to live."
KOCH: She might be considered a hero, and maybe she is. Schristner allowed some of those children, children with HIV, to be used in drug trials, and some are alive today because of that decision.
SCHRISTNER: And had it not been for a certain drug study, that little boy would have died. And I'm here to tell you today that that little boy is a football player, and he is a straight A student.
KOCH: and in some cities it was what wasn't done that raises questions. Some foster children never had anyone protecting their interests, never had an advocate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To suggest that my predecessors, or that I, would be willing to engage in any Tuskegee-like experiments is just not right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep it down. Keep it down.
KOCH: An investigation by the Associated Press found many foster children were never given the required advocates to oversee their participation in the potentially risky trials.
A preliminary account in New York City found less than a third of the 465 foster children in AIDS drug tests there got such monitors, though such monitors are required by city law, a law designed to ensure that kids are not used as guinea pigs in the interest of science.
JENNIFER JONES AUSTIN, NYC CHILDREN'S SERVICES: We have not found here in New York City, in the reviews that we have done to date, any evidence, any indication that children were inappropriately involved in clinical trials or that children, once enrolled in clinical trials, did not get the medical care that was being sought for them.
KOCH: At least seven states used foster children in AIDS drug tests, but major institutions like Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York say they never named advocates to represent the interests of the foster children in their tests. They say that's because the research carried minimal risk and the children would benefit from being included.
On that point, there is disagreement. RUTH MACKLIN, BIOETHICIST: Now, clearly, giving an AIDS cocktail, which is experimental, has never been given in children before, administering that, it's just foolish and wrong to call it minimal risk. The sad story is that those who are supposed to be caring for and overseeing research on vulnerable subjects just dropped the ball.
KOCH: The Associated Press investigation found between 700 and 1,400 foster children have taken part in AIDS drug studies since the late 1980s. They were funded by the National Institutes of Health.
NIH would not answer questions about why it never followed up to make certain hospitals were following the rules. It only issued a statement saying that, quote, "If those safeguards need to be strengthened, NIH will do everything in its power to do so."
(on camera) Some foster children were sickened. Some even died while participating in the AIDS drug trials. Critics charge that may have happened because there was no advocate to protect them.
(voice-over) But supporters like Schristner maintain many are living healthier lives today, precisely because they took a chance on then unproven treatments.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Paging Alfred Hitchcock. This time it's not the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay being bombarded by birds. It's Houston, Texas, for crying out loud.
The birds in question are black grackles. Say that 10 times fast. Their feathers have apparently been ruffled a little bit by office workers who have the audacity to walk too near their nest with their young ones inside.
In a bid to restore their pecking order, shall we say, the grackles have injured at least one lawyer, who tripped and fell and cut himself while under aerial assault. The lawyer considering a suit, of course. No, I made that up.
Others have been pluckier, fighting back with whatever weapons they have at hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw one bird come and dive bomb me from this way and another one dive bombing this way. When I was trying to, you know, duck from that, that's when another landed on my back. And I could feel his claws on me. And it hurt, so I ducked. And I grabbed my -- I had a little bag with water and chips in it, and I threw it at them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An aerial attack from behind. Out of the blue you're -- you're swarmed with birds and you just run for cover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: As long as we're talking about fauna gone wild, we submit Jasper, the wayward bull, who got into a high school in Vero Beach, Florida. But it wasn't Jasper's idea.
You see, he's being raised by students in a school's agricultural program and was let into the building as part of a senior prank. He didn't do much damage but did leave behind something that bulls are, well, pretty well known for.
Now four seniors are suspended for four days and have a lot of jobs to do before they're allowed to graduate. No bull.
O'BRIEN: New mascot for the school.
Well, in case you've been living in a galaxy far, far away, the new "Star Wars" film opens tomorrow, folks. Whether or not you see "Star Wars, Episode III," which is really six. It's kind of a new math thing. You'll find it hard to avoid the battles it's launching for your consumer dollar.
Chris Huntington with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES EARL JONES, VOICE OF DARTH VADER: The force is with you, young Skywalker.
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And apparently with all of us, the marketing force, that is. Prepare to be bombarded by the ultimate "Star Wars" merchandising blitz.
Who knew Yoda cared about calories?
FRANK OZ, VOICE OF YODA: Your drink desire you not.
HUNTINGTON: The little guy is fronting a million-dollar "Star Wars" sweepstakes for Pepsi.
Seven-11 is pumping out Darth Dew Slurpies. Kellogg's is packing light-up saber spoons in its cereal packages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you want are saber spoons.
HUNTINGTON: You can get M&M's from the dark side, "Star Wars" ring tones from Cingular Wireless.
ALEC GUINNESS, ACTOR: The force will be with you.
HUNTINGTON: "Star Wars" scratch-off games at Burger King. And, of course, action figures, toys and gadgets from the likes of Hasbro and Lego.
CNN's corporate cousins, AOL and Moviefone, are in on the action as official online promoters. There is even a "Star Wars" video game.
GEORGE LUCAS, DIRECTOR, "STAR WARS" FILMS: If you don't like the video game, you can always read the novel.
HUNTINGTON: While there's nothing novel about movie merchandising, George Lukas, the creator, producer and master of the "Star Wars" universe, has by all accounts and any accounting measure, raised the stakes of the game.
Total box office, home video and merchandise sales for the six "Star Wars" films is expected to easily top $20 billion, far more than any other film series that's ever made and greater than the gross domestic product of several European countries.
Marketing from earlier "Star Wars" films was so aggressive it became a joke, literally.
MEL BROOKS, ACTOR/DIRECTOR: Merchandising! Merchandising! Where the real money from the movie is made!
HUNTINGTON: But with "Revenge of the Sith" billed as the last "Star Wars" film, Lucas has pulled out all the stops.
ANDREW GREENBERG, GREENBERG BRAND STRATEGY: For the last hurrah, I think he opened the door to a lot of merchandising opportunities. It is a feeding frenzy.
HUNTINGTON: A frenzy feeding on the "Star Wars" faithful, most of whom grew up with the films and many who still shell out astronomical sums of money to collect memorabilia or dress the part.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything ever related to "Star Wars," probably at least $50,000, easily.
HUNTINGTON: Still, none of the fans we spoke to seem concerned that Yoda was hawking diet soda. Evidently, even a 900-year-old Jedi master is entitled to cash in for his retirement.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTINGTON: Now, it's not all unbridled intergalactic capitalism. Many of the folks who have been lined up here outside the Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan for tonight's midnight show have been conducting what they call a standathon to benefit children's hospitals.
It's a foundation that's been doing this, Miles, with several of the last -- last three or four "Star Wars" films. They reckon just in this standathon alone, raised about $25,000.
O'BRIEN: Chris?
PHILLIPS: My buddy.
O'BRIEN: Off to your left there, is he on your team or not. Just turn around. Quickly. Geez! HUNTINGTON: Our buddy right here?
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HUNTINGTON: yes. Come on over here for a sec.
O'BRIEN: Oh, no.
PHILLIPS: Chris, you're inviting trouble.
HUNTINGTON: We'll talk to him a little bit later on. What character are you? Pardon my ignorance in this. Can you come in here? What is that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boba Fett.
HUNTINGTON: There's Bob Fett, OK. Boba Fett, as you know, is the hard core enforcer in one of the last films.
O'BRIEN: You might say.
PHILLIPS: Chris has his own bodyguard now.
HUNTINGTON: Just a hard core fan.
O'BRIEN: All right. And then let's cut -- let's cut, Rodney (ph), if we could, to the newsroom, where we have a guest appearance today.
PHILLIPS: That's our lead writer, Lisa Clark.
O'BRIEN: The force is always with her.
And now, without much further ado, let's get it over to Judy Woodruff before this thing degenerates further.
Hello, Judy.
PHILLIPS: Sorry, Judy!
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Good idea for a bad hair day! Kyra, Miles, thanks very much.
Well, it is showdown time in the United States Senate. Debate begins over the appeals court nomination of Priscilla Owen. We'll look at the battle with Democratic Senator Ben Nelson and Republican Senator Arlen Specter.
Plus the City of Angels is getting a new mayor. We'll look at the man of the hours, Antonio Villaraigosa, the first Hispanic mayor in Los Angeles in 133 years.
"INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
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 May 18, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Checking some stories now in the news. Great concern for these two children. Shasta Groene is 8 years old, her brother Dillon 9. They've been missing since their mother, older brother and a third victim were found bound and murdered in their home. Idaho police are also looking for Robert Roy Lutner, described as a person of interest in that case.
Steroids and sports. As usage continues, so does the debate on setting up a uniform drug testing policy for professional athletes. Testifying today before Congress, league executives and player representatives from Major League Baseball.
A fingertip for $50? It's the latest twist in the alleged finger in the chili scam. The mother of the man who lost a fingertip in a work accident says he gave it away to settle a debt. The person she says he gave it to is the woman of the husband now charged in the case. I can't believe we're still talking about it.
And farewell to a favorite bat villain. Frank Gorshin, forever remembered as the Riddler on the Batman TV series of the '60s, has passed away. Gorshin, also known as an impressionist with a malleable face. He was 72.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: First this hour, the political struggle in Washington over the shape of the federal courts and the rules of the U.S. Senate. A historic debate is happening right now over a controversial plan to win Senate confirmation of President Bush's most conservative judicial nominees.
Following the story from Washington now, CNN's Kimberly Osias in Washington -- Kimberly.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you know that old adage, they say that the Senate is really the place of compromise where tempers cool. Not so today.
They have been at it since about 9:45 this morning, if you can believe it. They're slated for an hour break in about 30 minutes or so, then back at it for more debate.
And we'll take a live look right now. On the floor is Senator Byron Dorgan, I believe. He's a Democrat from North Dakota. He's been talking about the place that the Senate is supposed to be, in essence, a place of compromise. Still taking to the floor, hoping to get to that compromise, but it does not look likely, at least not right now. At issue, two women, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. Both are conservative women that President Bush wants elevated to the federal bench.
But lawmakers are really facing off over attempts to kill those nominations and the weapon of choice by Democrats, the filibuster. That's a technique used by the minority party to essentially stall for time and hopefully, get to some kind of consensus, or in extreme cases, to kill a measure or a nomination.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says the filibuster was never intended to apply to judicial nominees, and he's demanding an up-or- down vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Either confirm these nominees or reject the nominees. But don't leave them hanging. Don't leave our courts hanging. Don't leave the country hanging. If the nominees are rejected, fine, that's fair. At least rejection represents a vote. But give nominees the courtesy, the courtesy of a vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OSIAS: Several olive branches have been extended in this process by way of a compromise, but there have been no real breakthroughs yet. Democrats charge the republicans with quelling the minority voice and abuse of power, saying they're getting railroaded.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says you can't change the rules mid stream.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: Following the rules. We believe in following the rules, not breaking the rules, and while it's good to talk about this up-or-down vote, the fact is to move forward as contemplated by the majority is moving toward breaking the rules to change the rules. That's improper. It will change the Senate forever. That's not good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OSIAS: The earliest the filibuster issue is expected to come to a vote is next Tuesday or Wednesday, and until then, the heated discourse continues -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Kimberly Osias, thank you -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Now our "Security Watch," starting with the safety of the nation's judges.
Judge Joan Lefkow pleaded today with Congress to help temper the tone of debates over judicial independence. This is the federal judges, you'll recall, whose husband and mother were shot dead, apparently by a deranged former plaintiff.
In addition to calling for a restraint when it comes to unpopular court decisions, Judge Lefkow said judges need better protection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE JOAN HUMPHREY LEFKOW, U.S. DISTRICT COURT: It is easy enough to blame service for problems, but the truth is that the Congress has never treated the U.S. Marshal Service as it has, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, giving it the respect and resources that it needs to do -- fulfill the tremendous responsibilities that it has.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Well, the man accused of killing Judge Lefkow's loved ones apparently had a personal motive, not political. Judge Lefkow said the fostering of disrespect for judges can only encourage people who are already on the fringe.
PHILLIPS: Well, a new face on U.S. intelligence and a new chapter in the long and varied resume of John Negroponte. If you were with us earlier, you saw the veteran diplomat take the oath of an office he actually moved into some weeks back, director of national intelligence. It's a brand-new position, created by Congress at the urging of the panel investigating intel shortcomings pre-September 11.
O'BRIEN: Last Tuesday in Tbilisi, President Bush wrapping up a European tour in the sometimes turbulent Republic of Georgia, oblivious to what U.S. and Georgian officials now say was a live grenade tossed in the general direction of Mr. Bush and the host, the president of Georgia.
The U.S. embassy says the grenade came to rest within 100 feet of the podium and likely would have exploded, were it not for an insufficient strike on the blasting cap.
Notwithstanding the presence of bullet proof glass, the embassy considers the incident a threat to both leaders' health and welfare. The FBI is investigating.
PHILLIPS: New details about the grisly triple killings in Idaho. The search continues for two small children and the man police call a person of interest. We're finding out more, a little bit more, rather, about how the victims have died.
Reporter Sean Alsek (ph) of CNN affiliate KHQ is live from Coeur D'Alene with all the details. Sean, what can you tell us?
SEAN ALSEK (ph), KHQ REPORTER: Well, Kyra, we received a news conference update about 90 minutes ago, the triple homicide happening in the home here. Not a lot of activity right now, But we have seen investigators going in and out of the house, collecting what they're calling massive evidence.
Now, the victims identified as 37-year-old Mark McKenzie, 40- year-old Brenda Groene and 13-year-old Slade Groene, her son. Investigators releasing this new information about 90 minutes ago, that all three of the victims were bound and then murdered. They're not saying how they were killed.
They are collecting a mass amount of DNA evidence inside the home. They say that takes about a minimum of 72 hours to process that information.
Now, as far as the person of interest Kyra was talking about, identified as Robert Roy Lutner of Hayden, Idaho. Authorities emphasizing that Lutner right now not a suspect at this time, but they really want to speak with him. In fact, they tell us that he may be heading to the Boise, Idaho, area. They say they have been in contact with him through a third party but he has not been cooperative.
He's reportedly driving a 1975 silver Ford pickup, Idaho license plate K161057, or a 1991 white Toyota pickup with Idaho plates K308811.
Now, as far as the children, they have been identified in the Amber Alert as 9-year-old Dillon Groene and his 8-year-old sister Shasta Groene. They continue to have very few leads as far as the whereabouts of those two younger children.
I'm Sean Alsek (ph), reporting live, east of Coeur D'Alene. Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Sean, thanks so much.
O'BRIEN: A shorter leash on sex offenders? Some in Congress want to get federal standards for the cumbersome process of tracking ex-cons who may pose lingering threats to their communities.
A bill introduced by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Florida Representative Mark Foley would force two-time sex crime convicts to wear electronic monitors for life. It also would make the use of the Internet to further the cause of child molestation a federal offense.
A well-known ally says all this is high time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": ... hunt these people down on my show. I am sick of watching them get caught and looking at their rap sheets. Twenty, 30 arrests.
The man that was arrested for Jessica Lunsford's murder, that is accused of murdering that beautiful 9-year-old girl, served only two years of a ten-year sentence for molesting a child. He had 22 arrests.
The system doesn't work for children in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The New Jersey hometown of Megan Kanka has two words for sex offenders who want to settle there: move on. The Hamilton Township council voted to bar convicted molesters from living half a mile of schools, parks or anywhere else children congregate. And since there are roughly 30 schools and 40 parks in Hamilton Township, that doesn't leave a lot of hospitable real estate.
Megan Kanka, you may recall, was raped and killed in 1994 by convicted and released molester who lived across the street. Her case gives rise to Megan's Law, requiring public notification of sex offenders' whereabouts.
PHILLIPS: Well, in Houston, Texas, they're thinking about remaking a Hitchcock movie.
O'BRIEN: While the birds may look mild mannered, when they get in a bad mood, well, those grackles, they can tackle. The attack of the grackles is coming up.
PHILLIPS: And check out this picture. Someone mess up the invitations to the royal tea party? We're going to have details right after a quick break.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Our writer Dave Johnson finding the photos of the day. He is a master at finding just meaningful messages within these pictures. You know the background behind this one? What do you think which this? Where do you think this is? What is going on here?
O'BRIEN: OK. They just smoked a peace pipe, and he is -- he's about to exhale all the smoke. The queen has already done that, and she's very comfortably numb.
PHILLIPS: That's close. Queen Elizabeth, actually, side by side with Cree Chief Alphonse Bird of the Federation of Indian Nations at the First Nations University in Regina, Canada. The queen visiting Canada. She's on an eight-day state visit. And they're welcoming her, as they're observing the city's centennial celebration.
O'BRIEN: And there you have it.
PHILLIPS: There you go.
O'BRIEN: All right.
PHILLIPS: Pass the peace pipe now.
Foster kids and AIDS, a House panel begins looking into reports that foster children were used to test AIDS drugs. And the Associated Press reports that hundreds of foster children were enrolled in government sponsored trials over two decades without adequate safeguards. But some people say the drugs helped prolong those lives.
Here's CNN's Kathleen Koch. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shirlie Schristner does what few of us would do. She takes in sick children, a foster mother.
SHIRLIE SCHRISTNER, FOSTER MOTHER: The CPS worker said to me, "I don't know why you're going to take this little boy. He only has about two weeks to live."
KOCH: She might be considered a hero, and maybe she is. Schristner allowed some of those children, children with HIV, to be used in drug trials, and some are alive today because of that decision.
SCHRISTNER: And had it not been for a certain drug study, that little boy would have died. And I'm here to tell you today that that little boy is a football player, and he is a straight A student.
KOCH: and in some cities it was what wasn't done that raises questions. Some foster children never had anyone protecting their interests, never had an advocate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To suggest that my predecessors, or that I, would be willing to engage in any Tuskegee-like experiments is just not right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep it down. Keep it down.
KOCH: An investigation by the Associated Press found many foster children were never given the required advocates to oversee their participation in the potentially risky trials.
A preliminary account in New York City found less than a third of the 465 foster children in AIDS drug tests there got such monitors, though such monitors are required by city law, a law designed to ensure that kids are not used as guinea pigs in the interest of science.
JENNIFER JONES AUSTIN, NYC CHILDREN'S SERVICES: We have not found here in New York City, in the reviews that we have done to date, any evidence, any indication that children were inappropriately involved in clinical trials or that children, once enrolled in clinical trials, did not get the medical care that was being sought for them.
KOCH: At least seven states used foster children in AIDS drug tests, but major institutions like Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York say they never named advocates to represent the interests of the foster children in their tests. They say that's because the research carried minimal risk and the children would benefit from being included.
On that point, there is disagreement. RUTH MACKLIN, BIOETHICIST: Now, clearly, giving an AIDS cocktail, which is experimental, has never been given in children before, administering that, it's just foolish and wrong to call it minimal risk. The sad story is that those who are supposed to be caring for and overseeing research on vulnerable subjects just dropped the ball.
KOCH: The Associated Press investigation found between 700 and 1,400 foster children have taken part in AIDS drug studies since the late 1980s. They were funded by the National Institutes of Health.
NIH would not answer questions about why it never followed up to make certain hospitals were following the rules. It only issued a statement saying that, quote, "If those safeguards need to be strengthened, NIH will do everything in its power to do so."
(on camera) Some foster children were sickened. Some even died while participating in the AIDS drug trials. Critics charge that may have happened because there was no advocate to protect them.
(voice-over) But supporters like Schristner maintain many are living healthier lives today, precisely because they took a chance on then unproven treatments.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
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O'BRIEN: Paging Alfred Hitchcock. This time it's not the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay being bombarded by birds. It's Houston, Texas, for crying out loud.
The birds in question are black grackles. Say that 10 times fast. Their feathers have apparently been ruffled a little bit by office workers who have the audacity to walk too near their nest with their young ones inside.
In a bid to restore their pecking order, shall we say, the grackles have injured at least one lawyer, who tripped and fell and cut himself while under aerial assault. The lawyer considering a suit, of course. No, I made that up.
Others have been pluckier, fighting back with whatever weapons they have at hand.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw one bird come and dive bomb me from this way and another one dive bombing this way. When I was trying to, you know, duck from that, that's when another landed on my back. And I could feel his claws on me. And it hurt, so I ducked. And I grabbed my -- I had a little bag with water and chips in it, and I threw it at them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An aerial attack from behind. Out of the blue you're -- you're swarmed with birds and you just run for cover.
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PHILLIPS: As long as we're talking about fauna gone wild, we submit Jasper, the wayward bull, who got into a high school in Vero Beach, Florida. But it wasn't Jasper's idea.
You see, he's being raised by students in a school's agricultural program and was let into the building as part of a senior prank. He didn't do much damage but did leave behind something that bulls are, well, pretty well known for.
Now four seniors are suspended for four days and have a lot of jobs to do before they're allowed to graduate. No bull.
O'BRIEN: New mascot for the school.
Well, in case you've been living in a galaxy far, far away, the new "Star Wars" film opens tomorrow, folks. Whether or not you see "Star Wars, Episode III," which is really six. It's kind of a new math thing. You'll find it hard to avoid the battles it's launching for your consumer dollar.
Chris Huntington with that.
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JAMES EARL JONES, VOICE OF DARTH VADER: The force is with you, young Skywalker.
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And apparently with all of us, the marketing force, that is. Prepare to be bombarded by the ultimate "Star Wars" merchandising blitz.
Who knew Yoda cared about calories?
FRANK OZ, VOICE OF YODA: Your drink desire you not.
HUNTINGTON: The little guy is fronting a million-dollar "Star Wars" sweepstakes for Pepsi.
Seven-11 is pumping out Darth Dew Slurpies. Kellogg's is packing light-up saber spoons in its cereal packages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you want are saber spoons.
HUNTINGTON: You can get M&M's from the dark side, "Star Wars" ring tones from Cingular Wireless.
ALEC GUINNESS, ACTOR: The force will be with you.
HUNTINGTON: "Star Wars" scratch-off games at Burger King. And, of course, action figures, toys and gadgets from the likes of Hasbro and Lego.
CNN's corporate cousins, AOL and Moviefone, are in on the action as official online promoters. There is even a "Star Wars" video game.
GEORGE LUCAS, DIRECTOR, "STAR WARS" FILMS: If you don't like the video game, you can always read the novel.
HUNTINGTON: While there's nothing novel about movie merchandising, George Lukas, the creator, producer and master of the "Star Wars" universe, has by all accounts and any accounting measure, raised the stakes of the game.
Total box office, home video and merchandise sales for the six "Star Wars" films is expected to easily top $20 billion, far more than any other film series that's ever made and greater than the gross domestic product of several European countries.
Marketing from earlier "Star Wars" films was so aggressive it became a joke, literally.
MEL BROOKS, ACTOR/DIRECTOR: Merchandising! Merchandising! Where the real money from the movie is made!
HUNTINGTON: But with "Revenge of the Sith" billed as the last "Star Wars" film, Lucas has pulled out all the stops.
ANDREW GREENBERG, GREENBERG BRAND STRATEGY: For the last hurrah, I think he opened the door to a lot of merchandising opportunities. It is a feeding frenzy.
HUNTINGTON: A frenzy feeding on the "Star Wars" faithful, most of whom grew up with the films and many who still shell out astronomical sums of money to collect memorabilia or dress the part.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything ever related to "Star Wars," probably at least $50,000, easily.
HUNTINGTON: Still, none of the fans we spoke to seem concerned that Yoda was hawking diet soda. Evidently, even a 900-year-old Jedi master is entitled to cash in for his retirement.
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HUNTINGTON: Now, it's not all unbridled intergalactic capitalism. Many of the folks who have been lined up here outside the Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan for tonight's midnight show have been conducting what they call a standathon to benefit children's hospitals.
It's a foundation that's been doing this, Miles, with several of the last -- last three or four "Star Wars" films. They reckon just in this standathon alone, raised about $25,000.
O'BRIEN: Chris?
PHILLIPS: My buddy.
O'BRIEN: Off to your left there, is he on your team or not. Just turn around. Quickly. Geez! HUNTINGTON: Our buddy right here?
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HUNTINGTON: yes. Come on over here for a sec.
O'BRIEN: Oh, no.
PHILLIPS: Chris, you're inviting trouble.
HUNTINGTON: We'll talk to him a little bit later on. What character are you? Pardon my ignorance in this. Can you come in here? What is that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boba Fett.
HUNTINGTON: There's Bob Fett, OK. Boba Fett, as you know, is the hard core enforcer in one of the last films.
O'BRIEN: You might say.
PHILLIPS: Chris has his own bodyguard now.
HUNTINGTON: Just a hard core fan.
O'BRIEN: All right. And then let's cut -- let's cut, Rodney (ph), if we could, to the newsroom, where we have a guest appearance today.
PHILLIPS: That's our lead writer, Lisa Clark.
O'BRIEN: The force is always with her.
And now, without much further ado, let's get it over to Judy Woodruff before this thing degenerates further.
Hello, Judy.
PHILLIPS: Sorry, Judy!
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Good idea for a bad hair day! Kyra, Miles, thanks very much.
Well, it is showdown time in the United States Senate. Debate begins over the appeals court nomination of Priscilla Owen. We'll look at the battle with Democratic Senator Ben Nelson and Republican Senator Arlen Specter.
Plus the City of Angels is getting a new mayor. We'll look at the man of the hours, Antonio Villaraigosa, the first Hispanic mayor in Los Angeles in 133 years.
"INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.
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