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Person of Interest No Help in Locating Missing Children; Bank Robber Nabbed During Getaway; Senators Negotiating Over Judicial Nominees

Aired May 19, 2005 - 13:00   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: Amazing video from a deputy's dashboard camera. Ooh, ah, watch that one. But it's hard to, isn't it? The officer is a little sore, believe it or not, but OK. We'll tell you the story. Ow!
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alina Cho in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, where an Amber Alert is still in effect for two missing children. Their mother is among the dead. A man has been questioned. We'll have the latest in a live report coming up.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CO-HOST: Speedy spending. New technology will make plastic purchases faster, but could it compromise your credit card?

O'BRIEN: Man on the moon. Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin comes up with a creative way to inspire the next generation of astronauts. He'll join us live.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, where we promise the moon and deliver, I'm Miles O'Brien.

WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. BEN WOLFINGER, KOOTENAI COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Every day that goes by, every minute that goes by, we're -- we do fear even more and more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Three days after three people turned up brutally murdered in rustic northern Idaho, one victim's two young children haven't turn up at all. Today, police are searching ponds around the home of Dylan and Shasta Groene in Coeur D'Alene, having learned next to nothing, purportedly, from a one time person of interest.

The latest now from CNN's Alina Cho -- Alina.

CHO: Miles, we should tell you first off that a news conference is expected within the hour. The sheriff's department will be here. Also here today, family members, including the uncle and the biological father of the two missing children. We should mention that this will be the first time that we will hear from family members since all of this began.

Now, yesterday afternoon, into the evening hours, authorities, including the FBI, questioned a man, 33-year-old Robert Roy Lutner. He is believed to be the last person or one of the last people to see the victims alive. Authorities are calling him a person of interest but not a suspect.

He was taken into custody on a parole violation, a totally separate matter, and he remains in custody today.

Meanwhile, the two children, Dylan and Shasta Groene, 9 and 8 years old respectively, brother and sister, are still missing, as you mentioned. An Amber Alert is still in effect, and the search has expanded today.

They are bringing in divers, who will be combing through local ponds and lakes, looking for any type of evidence. And as one spokesman called it, God forbid, the bodies of the children.

Time certainly is of the essence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLFINGER: Every minute that goes by, we do fear even more and more. Our hope is this is one of those miraculous cases where those kids are still being well taken care of and someone somewhere is going to see them at a restaurant, at a gas station, somewhere, and they'll call either the sheriff's office here or their local law enforcement agency, who will be able to recover those children and get them back to what family they have left here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Certainly, that is the hope among all people in this area and across the country.

The bodies of their mother, their 13-year-old brother, and another man believed to be the mother's boyfriend were discovered by a neighbor at their home Monday night. An autopsy report is expected later today, but we do know that the victims were bound. And authorities are calling this a triple homicide.

Now, as for a motive, after seeing the crime scene, the Kootenai County sheriff called this -- said the suspect, rather, or the killers, were on a mission but would not elaborate any more on a motive.

They are continuing to process the crime scene today, Miles, but one potential problem is there were heavy rains here on Monday night, so key evidence, possibly footprints or tire tracks, may have washed away -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Alina Cho, thank you very much. We'll go back to Alina and Coeur D'Alene later this hour when the father and an uncle of the Groene children make a public statement, as you heard her refer to. We expect to see them about 1:30 Eastern, about 25 minutes from now. And of course, you'll see it here live on CNN -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Miles.

Well, now, big drama in Little Canada, Minnesota that is, just outside the Twin Cities. And the first thing you need to know is the cop is all right. You wouldn't assume that from this dashboard video you're about to see of a pickup truck right there plowing into Ramsey County Sheriff's Deputy at rush hour yesterday morning.

Well, the deputy was helping a state trooper tend to a car in a ditch when the truck careened off the highway, right there again. Wow.

Not only is the officer not dead, he's not even hospitalized. He was patched up at an E.R. and released. The state patrol released the video to remind drivers to slow down at accident scenes.

A bank robbery suspect is said to be in critical condition today in Kansas after a bizarre and elaborate ordeal involving hostages, walkie-talkies, and a private plane.

We get that story from the reporter Sharita Hutton of CNN affiliate KCTV in Kansas City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARITA HUTTON, KCTV REPORTER (voice-over): Only our cameras were there as police towed that bank robbery suspect's car away from a lake in a golf course. It's believed he left his car here and then walked to bank 151st and Mur-Len and launched a day of terror.

That is the suspect, shooting out one of the van windows with six hostages inside. The van then left the parking lot. Only we were there as that van then took off down 151st Street with police cars following.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unbelievable. It is. I was just going to the bank and I wasn't allowed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was getting ready to go into the bank on 151st, and the door was locked. And I thought it was kind of funny. It wasn't a holiday. So I went around on the other side of bank. I saw five or six women standing there, stripped, and I saw the suspect with a hood over his face.

HUTTON: It was some two miles away when the van came to rest as the suspect tried to run towards a plane with two people on board. Police shot him before he went any further.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And a couple of footnotes. Police say the pilots of the small plane were not involved in the crime. The suspect is also a pilot, police say, and he has not, at last report, been charged -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Again, today, the ability U.S. senators to talk and talk and talk and talk without fear of interruption is at stake in a floor debate over judicial nominees who have been sidelined for years now.

CNN's Joe Johns, who can talk a mean streak himself, gives us the latest.

Hello, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And guess what, Miles? They are talking on Senate floor right now, as a matter of fact. It has been going on for awhile and will probably continue to go on for awhile.

Why should you care? Well, this is a high-stakes battle in many ways. It is a prologue to coming battles over Supreme Court nominations. The question of course, whether Senate procedures ought to be used to block judicial nominations. Republicans say no. Democrats say yes. And there's the rub.

Now a group of moderate senators from both parties has been meeting for hours today, yesterday, the day before, to try to come up with some agreement to avert a showdown vote on the floor of the United States, which some say could change the very traditions of the United States Senate.

The question is, how do you come up with an agreement? There are, we're told, conceptual issues. And one Democrat who's been leading this effort says it's tough sledding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BEN NELSON (D), FLORIDA: The general guidelines are the same: don't give up the store. And that's the key, to try to make sure that, at the end of the day that this is a mutual agreement, not unilateral, and that's what I think we're all working to do.

I'm sure they have the same feelings from the other side. They've certainly expressed them that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So, what are they doing in those meetings? Well, they're trying to hammer out some deal where a number of the president's nominees do get an up or down vote on the Senate floor, reserving the right for some others to be blocked by Democrats, and Democrats are expected to do so.

The question of course, what's the formula, what's the lineup, who gets through, who doesn't get through? And then what do you do about future nominees?

Kit Bond, of course, on the Senate floor right now, talking his way through a speech. We've been hearing a number of them throughout the day. Long process, and we're told there's no end to it yet.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right. Joe Johns on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

Got some news coming in to CNN. For those of you who have been following this case, the Venezuelan national who is on his -- in the custody of immigration agents, Luis Posada Carriles, who was picked up on Tuesday after he withdrew his petition for political asylum in the United States.

He's a Venezuelan who is suspected in a bombing in the mid-'70s of an airplane in Caracas that killed 73. It was an airline of Cuban origin, Cubana Airlines.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro just this week had called for Posada to be arrested and extradited to face justice in Venezuela. Is that a coincidence? We don't know. But nevertheless, Posada did, in fact, withdraw his petition for political asylum in the U.S. And he has been charged with illegally entering the United States.

And we're tracking that one for you. Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

WHITFIELD: Standing pat on the Patriot Act. Maybe no. As the post-9/11 counterterrorism measure comes up for renewal, much of the buzz is on limiting provisions that critics believe infringe on civil liberties. Well, today, there's word the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee wants to make the law tougher.

Republican Pat Roberts is said to be working on a bill that would give the FBI new power to issue subpoenas without a judge's permission. The White House likes it, but its prospects are far from certain.

A homeland security bill that cleared the house last night takes a dim view of the country's terror risk color chart. The bill green lights a more specific type of alert, though DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff has said he's against scrapping the color codes outright.

CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: A mom is crying foul after seeing a photo, this one, of her son on a leash. The big question is now how did it get into the high school yearbook? That's just ahead.

And did you know you're sharing your bed with two million of these critters? Sorry if you're eating lunch. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the story for you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: News across America for you now. First to Florida, where this photo sends the Boynton Beach High School yearbook to the principal's office for editing. The photo named senior Robert Richards as the "Most Whipped." That's his girlfriend holding the leash there.

Robert's mom raised a little ruckus, calling the picture a little distasteful. We agree. But Robert, who came up with the idea, says he didn't have a problem with it.

The principal promises serious consequences for any faculty advisers who signed off on the proofs.

And beachgoers, geez, would you clean up your act? They finally tallied the trash from a worldwide coastal cleanup last September. Nearly 4,000 tons of litter and debris in just one day. Cigarettes, food wrappers, the most common discards. Pick it up, will you, people?

WHITFIELD: Well, speaking of debris, and this is something you might not be able to eliminate as easily. Your home is a bigger allergy minefield than you ever knew.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the microscopic and revolting proof.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When they bought their new house in late 2004, Allyson and Reed Winnick were filled with promise and pride.

ALLYSON WINNICK, INDOOR ALLERGY SUFFERER: We moved here October 1 into a pristine gorgeous home on the beach. And within a couple weeks, we all started getting sick. Coughs and congestion and runny noses.

GUPTA: The whole family was besieged by a mysterious illness. They were exhausted, moving at a slower pace. It became harder to wake up in the morning and 7-year-old Justin was late for school almost every day.

WINNICK: I was ready to move out.

GUPTA: Increasingly frustrated and confused, the Winnicks had air samples taken in their new home. They feared it was sinister mold growing in the air ducts or even asbestos or fiberglass from new construction. It was neither.

WINNICK: It was dust mites, lots and lots of dust mites. And nothing else. Everything else came up clean. It was in every room that we tested: the bedroom, the play room, the living room. It was everywhere.

GUPTA: The Winnicks were suffering from indoor allergies from dust mites. Dust mites are microscopic spiders so small that 7,000 of them can fit on a dime. They thrive in humidity and feed off skin cells humans shed. The Winnicks aren't alone; 99 percent of all households have them. The average number in any given bed, two million.

DR. GILLIAN SHEPHERD, ALLERGY SPECIALIST: In the case of the dust mites, what the allergy substance is, disgustingly, it is a very potent protein in the fecal droppings of these mites. They tend to be in highest concentrations in bedding, in pillows.

GUPTA: While the Winnicks' indoor allergy trigger is the dust mite, there are several other culprits when it comes to indoor allergies.

SHEPHERD: Indoor allergies are extremely common, probably vastly more common than seasonal allergies. The No. 1 culprit are the pets at home.

GUPTA: With cats and dogs the actual allergen isn't their hair but a protein found in their saliva, dander, skin, and urine. It's so pervasive that it's easily transported on an owner's clothing.

As for cats, even if you remove one from a room it takes six months before it's free of cat allergen. Also, there may be a reason why some people are allergic to some cats and not others.

DR. CLIFFORD BASSETT, ALLERGY SPECIALIST: The darker the color of the pet dander on cats, the more allergy symptoms. And male cats have more dander and seem to have more allergenic properties than female cats in a variety of preliminary studies.

O'BRIEN: Besides dust mites and pet dander, cockroaches are also a major source of indoor allergies in cities.

SHEPHERD: One of the difficulties in many of these perennial allergens is that you can clean vigorously. However, they're going to recur, so it's something that requires ongoing effort.

AVINOAM HELLER, HEALTHY NEST: We're going to use vibration and suction to get the bathroom, to get the allergens out of it.

Just roll it up now.

GUPTA: The Winnicks turned to Healthy Nest, a company that specializes in testing and ridding the home of allergens. The treatments can cost hundreds of dollars.

HELLER: A good idea is actually to uncover the bed and leave it open, leave windows open when you can, and if you have the opportunity to expose your mattress or your bed to direct sunlight, that's an excellent thing to do.

GUPTA: Other ways to fight indoor allergy, keep humidity below 50 percent, possibly with a dehumidifier. Use allergy protectant covers for your mattress, box springs and pillows. Wash your sheets weekly in hot water and use a hot dryer.

Vacuum weekly with a HEPA filter. Consider hardwood or tile floors. Carpets can accumulate 1,000 times more allergens than non- carpeted floors.

As for stuffed toy, put them in a plastic bag and freeze for 24 hours to kill those mites.

Now six months after finding the dust mites, the Winnicks have learned to deal with them.

WINNICK: Everything's good. No one sneezes in the morning when they wake up anymore.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM -- wiping out the swipe. Changes designed to be convenient for you, but could they also make it easier for thieves?

DARIA DOLAN, CO-HOST, "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": The heavy travel season starts Memorial Day. But will sky-rocketing tolls put a road block in the way of your travel plans? We're talking planes, trains, and automobiles on LIVE FROM tomorrow in the 1 p.m. hour and Saturday at 10, on "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Time for a semiregular LIVE FROM feature. In other words, whenever we feel like it. An update on big, honking chunks of ice.

This one known as, not so affectionately, B-15G. That's B-15G. Somebody in Idaho just got bingo, I think.

Anyway, it broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica some time back in the '90s and it's been aimlessly drifting ever since. But now B-15G has acquired a balladromic fix on Australia's Casey Station in Antarctica.

Now, caught you by surprise on balladromic, didn't I?

WHITFIELD: Yes, you did.

O'BRIEN: It's another LIVE FROM word of the day for you. Balladromic, adjective, meaning, maintaining course toward a target. Thank you, Lisa Clark, for finding that one.

Anyway, if and when it gets there on its balladromic course, Casey Station can throw one big honking cocktail party because B-15G, 15 kilometers, 30 miles in length, is estimated to have the equivalent of 15 quadrillion ice cubes.

WHITFIELD: Big old honking ice cubes. O'BRIEN: Think of the martinis.

WHITFIELD: That's amazing stuff.

O'BRIEN: I want to be there when it arrives.

WHITFIELD: I just like the word balladromic.

O'BRIEN: Balladromic.

WHITFIELD: We'll be using that throughout the day.

O'BRIEN: Without further adieu. And on a balladromic course we go...

WHITFIELD: To Washington.

O'BRIEN: No, New York.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK, hey, Susan.

O'BRIEN: That would be circuitous, instead we're doing balladromic to New York -- Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 19, 2005 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Amazing video from a deputy's dashboard camera. Ooh, ah, watch that one. But it's hard to, isn't it? The officer is a little sore, believe it or not, but OK. We'll tell you the story. Ow!
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alina Cho in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, where an Amber Alert is still in effect for two missing children. Their mother is among the dead. A man has been questioned. We'll have the latest in a live report coming up.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CO-HOST: Speedy spending. New technology will make plastic purchases faster, but could it compromise your credit card?

O'BRIEN: Man on the moon. Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin comes up with a creative way to inspire the next generation of astronauts. He'll join us live.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, where we promise the moon and deliver, I'm Miles O'Brien.

WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. BEN WOLFINGER, KOOTENAI COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Every day that goes by, every minute that goes by, we're -- we do fear even more and more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Three days after three people turned up brutally murdered in rustic northern Idaho, one victim's two young children haven't turn up at all. Today, police are searching ponds around the home of Dylan and Shasta Groene in Coeur D'Alene, having learned next to nothing, purportedly, from a one time person of interest.

The latest now from CNN's Alina Cho -- Alina.

CHO: Miles, we should tell you first off that a news conference is expected within the hour. The sheriff's department will be here. Also here today, family members, including the uncle and the biological father of the two missing children. We should mention that this will be the first time that we will hear from family members since all of this began.

Now, yesterday afternoon, into the evening hours, authorities, including the FBI, questioned a man, 33-year-old Robert Roy Lutner. He is believed to be the last person or one of the last people to see the victims alive. Authorities are calling him a person of interest but not a suspect.

He was taken into custody on a parole violation, a totally separate matter, and he remains in custody today.

Meanwhile, the two children, Dylan and Shasta Groene, 9 and 8 years old respectively, brother and sister, are still missing, as you mentioned. An Amber Alert is still in effect, and the search has expanded today.

They are bringing in divers, who will be combing through local ponds and lakes, looking for any type of evidence. And as one spokesman called it, God forbid, the bodies of the children.

Time certainly is of the essence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLFINGER: Every minute that goes by, we do fear even more and more. Our hope is this is one of those miraculous cases where those kids are still being well taken care of and someone somewhere is going to see them at a restaurant, at a gas station, somewhere, and they'll call either the sheriff's office here or their local law enforcement agency, who will be able to recover those children and get them back to what family they have left here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Certainly, that is the hope among all people in this area and across the country.

The bodies of their mother, their 13-year-old brother, and another man believed to be the mother's boyfriend were discovered by a neighbor at their home Monday night. An autopsy report is expected later today, but we do know that the victims were bound. And authorities are calling this a triple homicide.

Now, as for a motive, after seeing the crime scene, the Kootenai County sheriff called this -- said the suspect, rather, or the killers, were on a mission but would not elaborate any more on a motive.

They are continuing to process the crime scene today, Miles, but one potential problem is there were heavy rains here on Monday night, so key evidence, possibly footprints or tire tracks, may have washed away -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Alina Cho, thank you very much. We'll go back to Alina and Coeur D'Alene later this hour when the father and an uncle of the Groene children make a public statement, as you heard her refer to. We expect to see them about 1:30 Eastern, about 25 minutes from now. And of course, you'll see it here live on CNN -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Miles.

Well, now, big drama in Little Canada, Minnesota that is, just outside the Twin Cities. And the first thing you need to know is the cop is all right. You wouldn't assume that from this dashboard video you're about to see of a pickup truck right there plowing into Ramsey County Sheriff's Deputy at rush hour yesterday morning.

Well, the deputy was helping a state trooper tend to a car in a ditch when the truck careened off the highway, right there again. Wow.

Not only is the officer not dead, he's not even hospitalized. He was patched up at an E.R. and released. The state patrol released the video to remind drivers to slow down at accident scenes.

A bank robbery suspect is said to be in critical condition today in Kansas after a bizarre and elaborate ordeal involving hostages, walkie-talkies, and a private plane.

We get that story from the reporter Sharita Hutton of CNN affiliate KCTV in Kansas City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARITA HUTTON, KCTV REPORTER (voice-over): Only our cameras were there as police towed that bank robbery suspect's car away from a lake in a golf course. It's believed he left his car here and then walked to bank 151st and Mur-Len and launched a day of terror.

That is the suspect, shooting out one of the van windows with six hostages inside. The van then left the parking lot. Only we were there as that van then took off down 151st Street with police cars following.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unbelievable. It is. I was just going to the bank and I wasn't allowed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was getting ready to go into the bank on 151st, and the door was locked. And I thought it was kind of funny. It wasn't a holiday. So I went around on the other side of bank. I saw five or six women standing there, stripped, and I saw the suspect with a hood over his face.

HUTTON: It was some two miles away when the van came to rest as the suspect tried to run towards a plane with two people on board. Police shot him before he went any further.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And a couple of footnotes. Police say the pilots of the small plane were not involved in the crime. The suspect is also a pilot, police say, and he has not, at last report, been charged -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Again, today, the ability U.S. senators to talk and talk and talk and talk without fear of interruption is at stake in a floor debate over judicial nominees who have been sidelined for years now.

CNN's Joe Johns, who can talk a mean streak himself, gives us the latest.

Hello, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And guess what, Miles? They are talking on Senate floor right now, as a matter of fact. It has been going on for awhile and will probably continue to go on for awhile.

Why should you care? Well, this is a high-stakes battle in many ways. It is a prologue to coming battles over Supreme Court nominations. The question of course, whether Senate procedures ought to be used to block judicial nominations. Republicans say no. Democrats say yes. And there's the rub.

Now a group of moderate senators from both parties has been meeting for hours today, yesterday, the day before, to try to come up with some agreement to avert a showdown vote on the floor of the United States, which some say could change the very traditions of the United States Senate.

The question is, how do you come up with an agreement? There are, we're told, conceptual issues. And one Democrat who's been leading this effort says it's tough sledding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BEN NELSON (D), FLORIDA: The general guidelines are the same: don't give up the store. And that's the key, to try to make sure that, at the end of the day that this is a mutual agreement, not unilateral, and that's what I think we're all working to do.

I'm sure they have the same feelings from the other side. They've certainly expressed them that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So, what are they doing in those meetings? Well, they're trying to hammer out some deal where a number of the president's nominees do get an up or down vote on the Senate floor, reserving the right for some others to be blocked by Democrats, and Democrats are expected to do so.

The question of course, what's the formula, what's the lineup, who gets through, who doesn't get through? And then what do you do about future nominees?

Kit Bond, of course, on the Senate floor right now, talking his way through a speech. We've been hearing a number of them throughout the day. Long process, and we're told there's no end to it yet.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right. Joe Johns on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

Got some news coming in to CNN. For those of you who have been following this case, the Venezuelan national who is on his -- in the custody of immigration agents, Luis Posada Carriles, who was picked up on Tuesday after he withdrew his petition for political asylum in the United States.

He's a Venezuelan who is suspected in a bombing in the mid-'70s of an airplane in Caracas that killed 73. It was an airline of Cuban origin, Cubana Airlines.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro just this week had called for Posada to be arrested and extradited to face justice in Venezuela. Is that a coincidence? We don't know. But nevertheless, Posada did, in fact, withdraw his petition for political asylum in the U.S. And he has been charged with illegally entering the United States.

And we're tracking that one for you. Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

WHITFIELD: Standing pat on the Patriot Act. Maybe no. As the post-9/11 counterterrorism measure comes up for renewal, much of the buzz is on limiting provisions that critics believe infringe on civil liberties. Well, today, there's word the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee wants to make the law tougher.

Republican Pat Roberts is said to be working on a bill that would give the FBI new power to issue subpoenas without a judge's permission. The White House likes it, but its prospects are far from certain.

A homeland security bill that cleared the house last night takes a dim view of the country's terror risk color chart. The bill green lights a more specific type of alert, though DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff has said he's against scrapping the color codes outright.

CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: A mom is crying foul after seeing a photo, this one, of her son on a leash. The big question is now how did it get into the high school yearbook? That's just ahead.

And did you know you're sharing your bed with two million of these critters? Sorry if you're eating lunch. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the story for you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: News across America for you now. First to Florida, where this photo sends the Boynton Beach High School yearbook to the principal's office for editing. The photo named senior Robert Richards as the "Most Whipped." That's his girlfriend holding the leash there.

Robert's mom raised a little ruckus, calling the picture a little distasteful. We agree. But Robert, who came up with the idea, says he didn't have a problem with it.

The principal promises serious consequences for any faculty advisers who signed off on the proofs.

And beachgoers, geez, would you clean up your act? They finally tallied the trash from a worldwide coastal cleanup last September. Nearly 4,000 tons of litter and debris in just one day. Cigarettes, food wrappers, the most common discards. Pick it up, will you, people?

WHITFIELD: Well, speaking of debris, and this is something you might not be able to eliminate as easily. Your home is a bigger allergy minefield than you ever knew.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the microscopic and revolting proof.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When they bought their new house in late 2004, Allyson and Reed Winnick were filled with promise and pride.

ALLYSON WINNICK, INDOOR ALLERGY SUFFERER: We moved here October 1 into a pristine gorgeous home on the beach. And within a couple weeks, we all started getting sick. Coughs and congestion and runny noses.

GUPTA: The whole family was besieged by a mysterious illness. They were exhausted, moving at a slower pace. It became harder to wake up in the morning and 7-year-old Justin was late for school almost every day.

WINNICK: I was ready to move out.

GUPTA: Increasingly frustrated and confused, the Winnicks had air samples taken in their new home. They feared it was sinister mold growing in the air ducts or even asbestos or fiberglass from new construction. It was neither.

WINNICK: It was dust mites, lots and lots of dust mites. And nothing else. Everything else came up clean. It was in every room that we tested: the bedroom, the play room, the living room. It was everywhere.

GUPTA: The Winnicks were suffering from indoor allergies from dust mites. Dust mites are microscopic spiders so small that 7,000 of them can fit on a dime. They thrive in humidity and feed off skin cells humans shed. The Winnicks aren't alone; 99 percent of all households have them. The average number in any given bed, two million.

DR. GILLIAN SHEPHERD, ALLERGY SPECIALIST: In the case of the dust mites, what the allergy substance is, disgustingly, it is a very potent protein in the fecal droppings of these mites. They tend to be in highest concentrations in bedding, in pillows.

GUPTA: While the Winnicks' indoor allergy trigger is the dust mite, there are several other culprits when it comes to indoor allergies.

SHEPHERD: Indoor allergies are extremely common, probably vastly more common than seasonal allergies. The No. 1 culprit are the pets at home.

GUPTA: With cats and dogs the actual allergen isn't their hair but a protein found in their saliva, dander, skin, and urine. It's so pervasive that it's easily transported on an owner's clothing.

As for cats, even if you remove one from a room it takes six months before it's free of cat allergen. Also, there may be a reason why some people are allergic to some cats and not others.

DR. CLIFFORD BASSETT, ALLERGY SPECIALIST: The darker the color of the pet dander on cats, the more allergy symptoms. And male cats have more dander and seem to have more allergenic properties than female cats in a variety of preliminary studies.

O'BRIEN: Besides dust mites and pet dander, cockroaches are also a major source of indoor allergies in cities.

SHEPHERD: One of the difficulties in many of these perennial allergens is that you can clean vigorously. However, they're going to recur, so it's something that requires ongoing effort.

AVINOAM HELLER, HEALTHY NEST: We're going to use vibration and suction to get the bathroom, to get the allergens out of it.

Just roll it up now.

GUPTA: The Winnicks turned to Healthy Nest, a company that specializes in testing and ridding the home of allergens. The treatments can cost hundreds of dollars.

HELLER: A good idea is actually to uncover the bed and leave it open, leave windows open when you can, and if you have the opportunity to expose your mattress or your bed to direct sunlight, that's an excellent thing to do.

GUPTA: Other ways to fight indoor allergy, keep humidity below 50 percent, possibly with a dehumidifier. Use allergy protectant covers for your mattress, box springs and pillows. Wash your sheets weekly in hot water and use a hot dryer.

Vacuum weekly with a HEPA filter. Consider hardwood or tile floors. Carpets can accumulate 1,000 times more allergens than non- carpeted floors.

As for stuffed toy, put them in a plastic bag and freeze for 24 hours to kill those mites.

Now six months after finding the dust mites, the Winnicks have learned to deal with them.

WINNICK: Everything's good. No one sneezes in the morning when they wake up anymore.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM -- wiping out the swipe. Changes designed to be convenient for you, but could they also make it easier for thieves?

DARIA DOLAN, CO-HOST, "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": The heavy travel season starts Memorial Day. But will sky-rocketing tolls put a road block in the way of your travel plans? We're talking planes, trains, and automobiles on LIVE FROM tomorrow in the 1 p.m. hour and Saturday at 10, on "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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O'BRIEN: Time for a semiregular LIVE FROM feature. In other words, whenever we feel like it. An update on big, honking chunks of ice.

This one known as, not so affectionately, B-15G. That's B-15G. Somebody in Idaho just got bingo, I think.

Anyway, it broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica some time back in the '90s and it's been aimlessly drifting ever since. But now B-15G has acquired a balladromic fix on Australia's Casey Station in Antarctica.

Now, caught you by surprise on balladromic, didn't I?

WHITFIELD: Yes, you did.

O'BRIEN: It's another LIVE FROM word of the day for you. Balladromic, adjective, meaning, maintaining course toward a target. Thank you, Lisa Clark, for finding that one.

Anyway, if and when it gets there on its balladromic course, Casey Station can throw one big honking cocktail party because B-15G, 15 kilometers, 30 miles in length, is estimated to have the equivalent of 15 quadrillion ice cubes.

WHITFIELD: Big old honking ice cubes. O'BRIEN: Think of the martinis.

WHITFIELD: That's amazing stuff.

O'BRIEN: I want to be there when it arrives.

WHITFIELD: I just like the word balladromic.

O'BRIEN: Balladromic.

WHITFIELD: We'll be using that throughout the day.

O'BRIEN: Without further adieu. And on a balladromic course we go...

WHITFIELD: To Washington.

O'BRIEN: No, New York.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK, hey, Susan.

O'BRIEN: That would be circuitous, instead we're doing balladromic to New York -- Susan.

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