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Tropical Storm Nears Florida; Walter Reed Medical Center to Close; Sectarian Violence Erupts in Iraq

Aired August 25, 2005 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Live pictures now, because we're your hurricane headquarters. You're watching Katrina churn toward the coast of Florida and about five million people.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Katrina is 40 miles away from the Florida coast, expected to make a landfall later on tonight. We'll have the details coming up.

PHILLIPS: And how about this little bit of outrage? These million dollar homes rebuilt time and time again after big hurricanes, sometimes with your tax dollars. Get the blood pressure medicine, folks.

Signed, sealed and delivered. It's theirs, Iraq's draft constitution. But will it become a recipe for trouble down the road? We're live from Baghdad.

From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: Keep watching CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

PHILLIPS: Contrary Katrina. It's not much on paper, but it's making waves and lighting up radar screens in the northwest Bahamas and southeast Florida.

A strengthening slow poke of a tropical storm, probably a hurricane by the time it hits the Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Broward County coastline sometime tonight or tomorrow. We get the very latest from CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in our weather center and correspondent Susan Candiotti in Hollywood.

Jacqui, let's start with you.

JERAS: Well, Kyra, that timing still a little bit uncertain. I heard you mention tonight or possibly tomorrow morning. The big problem is that this has been a slow-moving storm system. Right now it's only moving to the west at six miles per hour.

And I was just reading the discussion from the National Hurricane Center, and they think it's going to slow down a little bit more than that. And that's actually bad news, because the rain already coming down across the Florida Peninsula and the slower it moves the more rain is going to be moving over Florida. We're talking five to 15 inches, potentially. And so that will be a major threat for freshwater flooding. I want to show you the forecast track. It took a nice turn off to the west, or to the left last night. And you can see it's moving due west right now and it should continue to move on that track, we think. There's still plenty of time for it to strengthen. So it will probably become a Category 1 hurricane.

Right now winds are 60 miles per hour. For this to become a hurricane it has to have 74 mile per hour winds. As it moves over land it's probably going to take a good 24 hours to do so. It should weaken.

But remember, this is kind of the Everglades area, so there's a lot of open water here. Granted, it's not quite as warm as some of the other areas but it probably won't weaken a whole heck of a lot.

Move back over to the open water of the Gulf of Mexico. And it is expected to be churning back on up to the north. There's this area of high pressure of the Gulf that's kind of squeezing it out, and unless that moves, it's going to keep it away from states like Louisiana and Texas and keep it much closer to Alabama and into Florida. So we'll see exactly where it exits, once it makes it across the state of Florida.

Here's the radar picture. And you can see. Take notice of these rain bands, how they've been expanding here. The storm is getting larger in size, not just in intensity. And that eye wall and some of the worse of the weather is getting closer now to the line.

You can see some of these inner core showers and thunderstorms. That's where you're going to be seeing some of those stronger gusts. Maximum sustained winds at 60, but we're probably seeing near hurricane force wind gusts, we think, at this time.

I'm going to put a little track on this right now from the Center of Circulation, and if it continues to move at six miles per hour, that would bring it right near Ft. Lauderdale about six hours from now. So that would be about 6 p.m. for tonight. But if it slows down, that's going to change the timing very significantly.

Some of these outer bands are moving up towards Vero Beach. You can expect to see some gusting winds, maybe on the order of 40 miles per hour at times. But some of the stronger showers right now moving in towards Miami.

Right here in Hollywood, Florida, that is the location of where our own Susan Candiotti is. And she is right here at the intersection at North Surf Road and Michigan Street.

And how are conditions there right now? A little bit of light rain, Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How did you pinpoint that, Jacqui? That's where we're at.

JERAS: Street level mapping.

CANDIOTTI: That's true. The technology today always astounds me.

Anyway, yes, we're experiencing a light squall right now. It's been off and on like this all day long. You can see that the sea over my shoulder is churning up a bit. We've seen some surfers out here, some people in the water. But there are -- there's a lifeguard station right here, and they are keeping close track of swimmers who venture out.

Although they say they have not had a major problem with rip tides here because of the direction in which the wind is flowing at this particular time. These lifeguards seem to think -- their information is that we're going to be a little south of the worse of the action. We'll see how that pans out.

In the meantime here on this beach, there's a beach restoration project that's been going on all summer long. And all morning long, they've been moving those pipes that have been stretching out into the ocean, where they've been pumping sand in to rebuild the beach after Hurricane Frances swept through last year. They moved all those pipe ashore now. That sand you can see is piled up here as well.

And all these people, about 15,000 to 20,000 people just in Hollywood, Florida, live along the coastline here. Of course, it's always advisable to move inland, if you can, when these storms sweep through, particularly if you live in the high rises, because the higher you are the stronger the winds are, the more dangerous it is. In the meantime, there are voluntary evacuations ordered for people who live in low-lying areas and in mobile homes.

For now, people are in a watch and wait mode. Hopefully, everyone has bought what they have to so they can hunker down as Katrina sweeps through -- Jacqui.

JERAS: Susan, are many people leaving? Are they voluntarily evacuating?

CANDIOTTI: Well, the shelters were supposed to open in about an hour from now. And so it's unclear how many people are. Frankly, even the governor was saying at this point stay close to home if you haven't left already.

JERAS: All right. Thanks very much, Susan Candiotti in Hollywood, Florida -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jacqui and Susan, thank you so much.

You don't have to live on the beach to suffer losses from a tropical storm or hurricane. Every few years communities in well- known danger zones are damaged or destroyed and then they are rebuilt largely at the taxpayer expense.

Now, later this hour, CNN's Randi Kaye looks at the soaking Americans everywhere take so some of them can live in harm's way.

Now also, we want to hear from you, the citizen journalist. We did this during the last season or actually the last storm, the last hurricane that we went through. You sent us amazing photos. You even sent us video from your cell phones. Do that again, please.

Just log on to CNN.com/stories. Indicate your name, your location, your phone number and what exactly we're seeing. We'll get your pictures and your video on air.

ANNOUNCER: Keep watching CNN, your hurricane headquarters.'

PHILLIPS: Moving on to prognosis grim for Walter Reed. Probably the best-known U.S. Military hospital is very much on borrowed time with the anonymous vote by BRAC to close the doors. The base realignment and closure panel is in day two of its public deliberations and voting.

CNN's Ed Henry is watching every move.

Ed, what's the latest?

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.

That's right, a historic day. Farewell to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It's been treating wounded soldiers since World War I. It has also treated Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, but all that going away now. The base closure commission meeting in the room just behind me earlier today, voted to shut down Walter Reed. A surprise to some that the crowned jewel of the Army medical system is now being shut down at a time of war.

This facility has treated over 4,000 patients from the war in Iraq. But commission chairman Anthony Principi said today that Walter Reed is outdated. It can only accommodate about 185 occupied beds per day. Under a new improved system, moving all of those patients over to facilities in Bethesda, Maryland, and Virginia, they will be able to accommodate about 500 patients a day.

Here's the chairman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY PRINCIPI, COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: I strongly support this proposal. You know, the kids coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, all of them in harm's way, deserve to come back to 21st Century medical care.

The care that's being provided at Walter Reed is extraordinary. It's not just bricks and mortar, it's the people who bring those facilities to life and I think we can be very proud of the care that these young men and women are getting at Walter Reed. But the facility, as Secretary Schooner (ph) said, is old. It needs to be modernized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: The commission is at lunch now, but it will be meeting again shortly. It's going to be meeting late into the night with a lot of high-profile Air Force bases on the chopping block. You probably, though, will have to wait until Friday for the main event. The fate of Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. That is a battle that has brought two political rivals together. Democrat Tim Johnson, Republican John Thune, these two men squared off in 2002. Johnson won that race by just about 500 votes. But then the Republican Thune came back in 2004 and knocked off Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader.

Those two now, Tim Johnson and John Thune, are here today, arm in arm, lobbying to try to save Ellsworth. When meanwhile, John Thune, his fellow Republicans over at the White House, he's virtually at war with them. He's very upset that they, in fact, have -- this administration has put Ellsworth on the hit list.

Because during that last campaign with Daschle, Thune was promised that, in fact, Ellsworth would be saved. That is why there's a lot of frustration. But Thune told me just a few moments ago that he's very hopeful. He thinks this commission may step in at the last moment and save Ellsworth. A lot of high, political drama, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: A lot of drama, high political drama indeed. Ed Henry, thank you so much.

And we want to take this story and go behind the headlines. We're going to humanize it more for you. Among the legions of military men and women to pass through Walter Reed are the head of the National Gulf War Research Center, Steve Robinson and retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd.

I'm going to talk to both of them ability their experiences at Walter Reed, how the doctors there saved their lives. We're going the get their reactions at quarter past this hour on LIVE FROM.

Well, the list of recommended military base closures has several communities concerned for their economic future. Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars are at stake but closing the local base doesn't always mean hard times.

Case in point, San Antonio. Here's the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: San Antonio's Kelly Air Force Base was selected for closure in 1995. That meant the loss of about 20,000 jobs and a dent of as much as $2.5 billion in the local economy.

As soon as the decision was final, though, local officials started drawing up plans to repurpose the facilities. Kelly Air Force Base became Kelly USA, a military industrial complex that has about 60 tenants and employs about 13,000 people in the community. Boeing is the largest tenant, ironically servicing planes for the U.S. Air Force.

In fact, San Antonio has become a hub for private defense contractors. And with the war going on, business is good. Last year, local contractors won about $2.5 billion in contracts from defense- related agencies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Another day of eye-popping violence and head- scratching politics in Iraq. One more deadline approaches in the constitution deliberation process while investigators sort out a grisly mass execution.

CNN's Aneesh Raman now checks in with us from the latest from there -- Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good afternoon.

Iraqi politics, already complex, got more so today. The government says by tonight the country will have a draft constitution, a document that will go to the Iraqi people and the referendum to come this fall.

That despite the fact that the national assembly did not convene or vote on this document. The government says a vote is not necessary, but effectively a rubber-stamp vote could come as early as Sunday when the national assembly is to convene again.

Now, all day, in fact, for the past few months, Kyra, the three main groups, the Shia, the Kurds, and the Sunnis, have been trying to find compromise on a draft document. Specifically today the Shia/Kurd alliance actively trying to bring the Sunnis on board with a constitution that will likely include reference to federalism, to regional, autonomous governments in Iraq.

The Sunnis had previously said they wanted no mention of federalism in the document. So what we are set to see now is a very fierce public debate beginning as early as tomorrow as both of these sides, the Sunnis and the Shia/Kurd coalition, try to convince the Iraqi public of their view.

If the Sunnis are able, Kyra, to muster the votes and defeat this draft constitution and the referendum, that would effectively dissolve this government, and this entire process could start again. So in terms of political benchmarks, the next one to look for is that draft constitution referendum to come by October 15. The key question is whether it will pass -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, while following that and dealing with that, the insurgency, the violence continues. No doubt maybe in effect or making an impact on what's happening here politically. We're seeing more violence.

RAMAN: Exactly, Kyra. Sectarian violence of a different kind happening south of the capital in the town of Najaf. Yesterday supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr getting in clashes with protestors there. Some five people were killed, 10 others wounded. Buildings destroyed.

But this is not the usual violence we see between Sunnis and Shia. Instead, this is an infernal Shia affair between those that support Sadr and a rival Shia faction. The clashes in Najaf sparked similar violence in other Shia provinces in Iraq, Amara (ph) and Diwaniya (ph) to be specific.

Also today, Kyra, the Iraqi police saying 36 bodies were found south of the capital in a river near the Iranian border, all of them men, all of them shot execution style, bullet wounds to the head. They were all bound from behind. They were all aged 20 to 30 years old.

Iraqi police unsure at the moment whether this is insurgent violence or simply a regional sort of violence taking place throughout Iraq -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Aneesh Raman, live from Baghdad. Thanks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): You've paid $55 million to rebuild it, so where is your beach house? Taxpayer dollars keep some people living large in the path of hurricanes.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ryan Chilcote. And later today on LIVE FROM, I'll have an exclusive report on the plight of an estimated two million refugees in the Darfur region.

PHILLIPS: We just don't get to hear enough from heroes like our guest tomorrow. Honored with the Silver Star just this week, it will be the LIVE FROM interview you won't want to miss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Finally, welcome news from the pumps. Prices are falling. Granted it's just a penny and it's just been one day. But as they say, it's in the right direction. Right?

On an average nationwide, a gallon of unleaded self-serve regular now costs $2.60. Yesterday, it was $2.61. Drivers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, are celebrating the country's lowest gas prices. San Diego once again suffers with the highest.

One state consistently on the higher end has had enough. Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission system is putting a cap on gas prices. Starting September 1, wholesalers can't charge more than $2.50 per gallon before taxes. Critics worry that the caps could lead to gas shortages if supplies go elsewhere for profits.

Oil prices hit another all-time high yesterday. But are they cooling off? Maybe. Allan Chernoff, live from the New York Stock Exchange, will look at the latest numbers.

Hi, Allan.

(STOCK REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right, Allan. Thanks so much.

And as we promised, we're going to talk with two very unique and special individuals close here to CNN who have gone through Walter Reed Hospital. They're going to give us their personal stories and what they think about the closing of Walter Reed, coming up.

And also as we watch Katrina dump on south Florida, we're going to bring you another watery tale of woe. Millions of your tax dollars spent to repair beach homes destroyed by a series of hurricanes. It's a talker.

And we try to bring you the world. Today the animal world is in the LIVE FROM spotlight. What can I say? Tiny orphan baby monkeys. Oh, don't go away.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY SCHUSTER, CNN.COM: I was in the courtroom this week when Eric Rudolph was sentenced for the Olympic park bombing. And it made me wonder as I listened to the victims speak. Does Eric Rudolph represent the future of domestic terrorism or does he represent the past?

The FBI believes he represents the past. Others are not so sure. And that's the topic of this week's "Tracking Terror" column.

It may surprise you who the FBI thinks is the No. 1 threat. They say it comes from animal rights and eco-terrorist groups. They point to incidents like the burning of SUVs or when they break into laboratories and free animals and harass scientists. And say there have been 1,200 such attacks since 1990.

Groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitor domestic terrorism say that's nonsense, and they say that since Oklahoma City at least 15 police officers -- that's not the rest of us but just 15 police officers alone have been killed by right wing extremists. So they still believe that people like Eric Rudolph represent not only the past of domestic terrorism but also the future.

Which do you think should be the No. 1 priority for the FBI? The animal rights and eco-terrorist groups or the extreme right wing, the same sort of people that spawned Eric Rudolph and Timothy McVeigh?

We'd like you to log on to CNN.com/TrackingTerror. And there you can send us an e-mail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been a weigh station for generations of U.S. soldiers and veterans. Even presidents have been tended behind its esteemed doors.

Today's news that Walter Reed has been targeted for closure is a bitter pill for a lot of people to swallow. That includes two members of LIVE FROM's extended family. They say they owe a great personal debt to Walter Reed and the people who work at that hospital. It's been called the crown jewel of the military health system.

Steve Robinson, the head of the National Gulf War Resource Center, is in our Washington bureau, and retired Air Force Major General, now CNN military analyst, Don Shepperd joins us from Tucson.

Great to see you both, gentlemen.

STEVE ROBINSON, NATIONAL GULF WAR RESOURCE CENTER: Glad to be here.

PHILLIPS: Just to set the stage for a little background for our viewers. General, let's start with you. Going back to Vietnam and I love this picture of the bullet hole in your strike fighter. Tell our viewers what you've done for our country.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Well, I was -- I'm just an old guy, Kyra. And...

PHILLIPS: And old humble guy that is.

SHEPPERD: I'm lucky to be this old. A lot of guys didn't get to this point. A lot of guys got torn up in combat. That particular picture they show is just a hole in my airplane in Vietnam. That's not how I ended up in Walter Reed, but it was an exciting part of my life.

PHILLIPS: And you flew a number of combat missions.

SHEPPERD: Yes, 247 combat missions over in Vietnam. A lot of them over North Vietnam. And it was a very, very exciting time of my life. And later on in the years, I had a lot of my people and my people's families that worked with me that went through Walter Reed, as well as myself.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll talk more about that in a minute.

From airborne to down on the ground, Steve, you were an airborne ranger. I guess you're always an airborne ranger once you become one. We have this great picture of you when you were working with the Kurds. Tell us about probably one of the most memorable mention you mission you took on as a ranger.

ROBINSON: We got tasked to go into northern Iraq shortly after the Gulf War ended and repatriate the Kurds, who had been pushed up into the mountains.

This is a picture of me with a Peshmerga, a Kurdish special forces guy that was basically our security in a place where there was 30,000 to 60,000 people. We had this group of people surrounding us, providing security for us. And it was an exciting time. PHILLIPS: Well, both of you from the air to the ground have experienced the danger zone in many ways. General, but where Walter Reed really made an impact on your life, it was there that they diagnosed was you M.S., right?

SHEPPERD: Yes, it did. Walter Reed is not just about war injuries, although that's got the headlines right now and appropriately so. These people care for our military personnel. They care for their families on a space-available basis, and they have the USUHS -- Uniform Services University for Health Services -- where they train doctors, as well.

In my particular case, after retirement, I developed severe neurological problems. I felt like I had a band around my chest. I couldn't walk properly. I was pretty much numb from the chest down. I was having trouble breathing. I got there, and they basically diagnosed me with M.S., treated me to get me out of immediate danger and put me on a protocol that seems to be working.

PHILLIPS: And it sure is. We love seeing you every day, especially doing these segments with us.

And Steve, for you, you received surgeries there, of course, but you also went through a very unique recovery program. Tell us what Walter Reed offers for those coming back from a war and having to continue on living this life after experiencing what they've had to experience, mentally and physically.

ROBINSON: Yes, there was a program that developed after the first Gulf War called the Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program. It was designed for returning veterans who had difficult to diagnose illnesses or needed strategies to deal with the illnesses that they had.

It's now evolved into what's called the Deployment Health Clinical Center, and it's run by some very caring people that give returning veterans specialized care. No matter what they need, they get -- they move to the head of the line for appointments. If they need an x-ray, they get it immediately. And there's long-term strategy that's provided to them to help them return from the war and reintegrate back into society.

PHILLIPS: And Steve, you deal with these vets every single day. It's your job. If Walter Reed indeed closes its doors, what happens?

ROBINSON: Well, I'm hoping that when this decision is made and it's final and we're going to start making moves that we don't do anything until we have the other facility built and the capacity is there to transfer not only the wounded that come back.

But as the general said, this facility if you walk into it, serves thousands of retirees, people who have served in the military and from previous wars. And those people are going to need a place to go. So before we do anything, let's have the new facility stood up and ready to go. But I think it's going to be a shame. It also has implications for homeland security. It's a place where it would be a center for receiving wounded from chemical and biological weapons attacks. It's something that apparently Secretary Principi, you know, he looked at this hard. They made a decision. They're going to do it, but I think it really does affect a lot of people that they haven't talked about.

PHILLIPS: General, what's your biggest concern?

SHEPPERD: My concerns are pretty much along the same line. Secretary Principi is a good and smart man and I have a lot of faith in the base closure commission. I think it is the right thing to do as long as the new facility can be constructed ahead of time and there's a good transition plan.

Walter Reed, I've got a soft spot in my heart for it, but it's shop-worn facility. At Bethesda, or someplace like that, that has the land, you can construct a new modern facility that can do the same things and perhaps do them better, but it has to be done carefully and with care. I'm convinced we'll do it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, because of what the two of you experienced at Walter Reed and the fact that you're both with us and still alive, general, I'm going to start with you quickly. You got to go back to North Vietnam, very close to where several of your guys were shot down. Tell us about this picture and throwing the nickel in the grass.

SHEPPERD: Yes, well, one of our -- we lost one of your guys up there. This particular picture is enemies in North Vietnam and one of the guns that shot at us. I'm second from the left-hand side for the viewer there. The famous Dick Rutan is on the right-hand other side. Another guy's seated in the thing. We went back a couple, three years ago, to visit the areas that we attacked, meet the people that we were there, and it was a very interesting and nostalgic trip.

PHILLIPS: You're not going into throwing a nickel in the grass. Come on, general.

SHEPPERD: Well, the throwing the nickel on the grass. One of the guys' wives gave us a nickel. He passed away. We lost him in an aircraft. And we threw a nickel's in the grass to save a fighter pilot's ass, goes the old song, buried it in North Vietnam. We know where it is. Nobody else does, and the wife does. It's a good nostalgic moment.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's because of your lives we can odd hold on to traditions like that.

As an airborne ranger, Steve, I know you've got plenty of those stories, too. What has meant the most to you after being treated at Walter Reed, being able to deal with mental and physical challenges, has there been a memorable moment whether it is going back overseas or coming face to face with someone again?

ROBINSON: I think the thing that struck me the most when this war started, was I started going to Walter Reed and meeting the returning veterans, and I would put them in my truck and take them up into the mountains of Northern Virginia, and we would just sit in quiet places and talk, and getting back around the soldiers and being with soldier whose have come back from war really -- and seeing what they need and understanding that, really reconnected me. It's something that I enjoy doing. And taking care of those that need help is -- it's a neverending job, especially when there's a war going on. But those are probably some of my fondest memories after I've been out of the military.

PHILLIPS: Well, Steve Robinson, I watched you do that on a regular basis. Steve and General Don Shepperd, two of my heroes. Thanks, guys, for sharing your stories with us today.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

SHEPPERD: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, day six and counting. We're coming right back with the latest on the mechanics strike affecting Northwest Airlines. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Now in the news, keeping an eye on Katrina. The still-tropical storm is trudging toward Florida's southeastern coast. It could turn to hurricane status before making landfall. Stay with CNN for the latest updates. We'll have the updates.

Online spying? The FBI is on the case. If recent years, a number of U.S. government Web sites have been hacked into. Federal investigators reportedly have traced the culprits to Chinese Web sites. They don't know who's behind it, the Chinese government or hackers in other countries simply hiding behind Web sites in China.

And baby makes five. Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld welcome their third child, a boy named Sheppard Kellen Seinfeld. Born three days ago, he joins sister, Sasha, and brother, Julian.

Day six and counting. Northwest Airlines still flying, despite a strike by mechanics and a few mechanical mishaps, which may or may not be related.

For more, let's check in with CNN's Ali Velshi.

Ali, we were wondering if something fishy might be going on.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, what's happened?

Good to see you, by the way. What's happened is there have been a couple incidents since this strike began. Yesterday at Baltimore- Washington Airport, the two tires on the nose gear of a 757 were found deflated, and there was a problem with the plane flying out west from Minneapolis over to Bozeman, Montana, that that had to land in Billings because of a mechanical problem. Unclear as ti whether any of this has to do with the strike. But I'll tell you, what's turned out to be key here is the lavatories. We'll save for another discussion, Kyra, why they even call it them lavatories, because no one else does, but there's a little story I've got to you, back in 1990 there was a pilot's union, a flight attendant's union and the international union of machinists which had everybody else in it, mechanics, custodians, ground staff, baggage handlers, customer service agents.

In 1990 a new union was formed at Northwest, and it was the Aircraft Mechanics Federated Association. This is -- fraternal association. This AMFA. This is the union that's now on strike. That created a lot of bad blood with the baggage handlers, ground crew and customer service agents, and there's a lot of rivalry at Northwest, and that has become key to Northwest's survival after six days of this strike. Why is that happening? Well, what's happened is when the AMFA union went on strike Saturday night, Northwest immediately gave some responsibilities back to those other unions. They allowed them to pull and push the planes from the gates and a few other things, and they hired replacement workers to fill in water and clean the lavatories on the planes.

Well, yesterday, around this time, rumors started swirling that the International Association of Machinists had gone to Northwest and said, we want more of the work that you're giving to outsourced workers, otherwise we're not going to cross the picket lines and your airline is going to shutdown. Well, it turns out that Northwest told the International Association of Machinists they can have the filling of the planes with drinking water and the cleaning of the lavatories. And as a result, that union is not crossing the picket lines, and this strike continues into its sixth day.

All right, so if the other unions won't back them up, that's got to weaken the mechanic's position.

VELSHI: It's not only that they won't back them up; it's that there's outright rivalry in this case. Northwest, the striking union in response to what's just happened here with the lavatories and the drinking water, have said, well, look, it's got to be done while we're on strike, so let the other union do it. The other union says forget it, this is our work now. It's not yours anymore, and all of this strengthens the view that Northwest can do what they've actually said, go on with this indefinitely. Northwest is now operating under a completely different way of doing business. There may be no reason for them to end the strike at any point in the near future.

PHILLIPS: And you're still not going to tell me why they call them lavatories.

VELSHI: If I knew, I would tell you. I'm actually going to set myself to finding out. Nobody says lavatories.

PHILLIPS: Follow-up with Ali Velshi. Thank you so much.

VELSHI: All right.

PHILLIPS: Well, as Tropical Storm Katrina makes a move on Florida, coastal homeowners cross their fingers and hope she doesn't blow into their town. But the annual threat of hurricane damage doesn't seem to dissuade many thousands of Americans who are continuing to build and rebuild on the nation's seashores, especially since we're all picking up the tab.

CNN's Randi Kaye does the math for just one North Carolina barrier island.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDY KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a beachgoer's dream, Topsail Island on the North Carolina coast. But this tiny barrier island is also a magnet for mother nature, a bulls eye for storms. This was Topsail Island as Hurricane Fran came ashore.

ORRIN PILKEY, COASTAL SCIENTIST: Topsail Island is a big target. It's in a high hurricane-prone zone. And the chances are very high that it's going to occur again and again and again.

KAYE: Back-to-back hurricanes Bertha and Fran packed a one-two punch back in 1996. In all, six major hurricanes hit Topsail Island in the last decade. After Fran, one out of every three hours on the northern tip of the island was uninhabitable.

Still, residents of Topsail vowed to rebuild.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The roof's gone, no deck. Goodness. Well, we'll just have to rebuild.

KAYE: This was Topsail Island after Fran. This is the island today. The Federal Emergency Management Agency spent $55 million to help rebuild topsail. $55 million, your tax dollars.

PILKEY: It's madness. I mean, it's just crazy to build on such a dangerous site.

KAYE: Orrin Pilkey is a coastal geologist with Duke University. Pikley has visited every barrier island in the United States and says Topsail Island is the most vulnerable to hurricanes.

Topsail is just 26 miles long. In some areas, just 50 yards wide. A virtual shifting sandbar that sits too low to defend itself against hurricanes.

PILKEY: This continual cycle of property damage is going to eventually cost the taxpayers a lot of money, and the individuals who live there as well.

KAYE: Money that was never even supposed to be spent here.

(on camera): Back in 1982 Congress passed the Coastal Area Resources Act. The law was designed to discourage people from building along the coast. It makes hurricane-prone areas off limits to federal aid, aid like federally subsidized flood insurance and money to help rebuild beaches and infrastructure. (voice-over): Most of the northern part of the island falls under this act. But not even the threat of losing federal dollars could keep developers away. And in the wake of Hurricane Fran, there was so much damage, FEMA waved the usually rules and used your tax dollars to clean up anyway, saying safety was at stake.

$4.6 million for sand dune repair, $10 million for debris removal, millions more to fix the sewer system. Once forbidden funds made this sleepy town even more attractive to developers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just within the last year we have million dollar homes built right in the sight of the former inlet.

KAYE: At Duke university, Andy Coburn has made the study of North Carolina's beaches. During our tour of Topsail Beach, he pointed out the danger zones.

(on camera): So what will happen here, is it's a low lying area, you'll get a lot of water, and that water will then flood these homes?

ANDY COBURN, DUKE UNIVERSITY: That's correct. Chances are it will flood in the sounds. And when the storm passes through and the wind changes direction, the water will be funneled back through here. And I would not want to own one of these properties at that time.

KAYE: But plenty of people do, even North Topsail Beach mayor Rodney Knowles built a home on the water's edge.

MAYOR RODNEY KNOWLES, TOPSAIL ISLAND, NORTH CAROLINA: Well, I guess I'm just a river rat. I like water.

KAYE: After Fran flooded Mayor Knowles home, he moved it back another 120 feet from the ocean and raised it seven feet. He paid for that, but because the mayor's home is in a zone that qualifies for federal flood insurance subsidy, guess who paid for a big chunk of his repairs? That's right, you.

KNOWLES: With any type of insurance, you have a pool of money goes in anywhere. And with the federal flood insurance, the money we pay here may go to the mountains of North Carolina.

KAYE (on camera): So this must be a popular area because of the beautiful beach, but...

PAM DABNEY, TREASURE ISLAND REAL ESTATE: Oh, absolutely.

KAYE: But there are a lot of for sale signs in the area.

DABNEY: You know what, a lot of people have just made investments and they're looking to cash in on their investment.

KAYE (voice-over): Real estate broker Pam Dabney has seen property values here increase 500 percent in just the last five years. She sold this home a few months ago for nearly $1.5 million. Seems Dabney's selling real life sand castles faster than kids can build them on a beach. And geologists say both could be washed away in an instance.

But paradise is rapidly eroding, the shoreline retreating. These massive sandbags serve as temporary protection for homeowners. But at what cost to the beaches and the environment?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not the houses themselves and the building themselves that are causing that many problems, it's what we're doing to try to protect them.

KAYE: Then why are million dollar homes being repaired and rebuilt again and again?

PILKEY: People are not concerned with coastal hazards, in part because they feel that the federal government will take care of them.

KAYE: And, like it or not, we will all pay the bill. Randi Kaye, CNN, Topsail Island, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: A study that's raising a few eyebrows. Up next, the latest on the controversial study on fetal pain.

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PHILLIPS: Back here live at B control in medical news. A controversial study surrounding the issue of when fetus are capable of feeling pain. The report concluded that fetus don't likely feel pain until approximately the seventh month of gestation.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta says the study and the resume of the authors further complicate an already complicated issue.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even in adults, pain is a difficult thing to measure. Sure, someone might say ouch or they might have an increase in blood pressure or heart rate. But in a fetus, it's pretty near impossible.

DR. DAVID GRIMES, OB/GYN: One cannot directly measure pain in the fetus. Hence it's really an unknowable question.

GUPTA: But Dr. David Grimes, professor of obstetrics, who used to work with the study's authors, says it has proven one essential point to him, not so much whether you can measure pain in a fetus, but whether they could ever feel it in the first place.

GRIMES: The fetus cannot feel pain or unpleasant stimuli because the neural networks, that is the telephone lines that would carry the message aren't connected until week 26.

GUPTA: Simply put, if the nerves aren't there to transmit the feeling of pain back to the brain, then for a fetus, pain doesn't exist.

GRIMES: Fetal perception of pain, we can say that this potential does not exist. So the question becomes moot.

GUPTA: Backwards thinking says pain doctor and my namesake, Sanjay Gupta. In a written statement, Gupta, the founder of the American Pain Association reminds us of this. Until about 1987, the medical community thought newborns do not feel pain. We were doing circumcisions and even heart surgeries without anesthesia.

Dr. K.S. Annand (ph), a pediatrician at the University of Arkansas, told "The New York Times" that there is circumstantial evidence to suggest that pain occurs in a fetus. He says that premature babies only 20 to 24 weeks old cry when their heels are pricked for blood tests.

Diametrically opposing views with the very issue of abortion sitting smack dab in the middle of it all.

GRIMES: We can say categorically that a fetus undergoing abortion in the United States cannot feel pain.

GUPTA: The researchers decided to look into this because of pressure from lawmakers to create a bill to require doctors to tell women seeking abortions that at 20 weeks of gestation a fetus can feel pain. Similar laws have been recently passed in three states and are under consideration in 19 others.

GRIMES: Legislation being considered and enacted in both state legislatures and Congress is politically motivated, and is not medically motivated.

GUPTA: But to be clear, it is worth noting that Dr. Grimes currently delivers babies and performs abortions. Also, one of the study authors, who claims pain cannot be felt by a fetus, is an administrator of a woman's clinic, which provided abortions. And another worked for the pro-choice group NARAL.

Consider this, when a sharp instrument is used to prod a fetus, they move away. Reflexively or because of pain? Truth is, because none of us will ever remember being in the womb, the question may never be answered. But that's not going to keep doctors, politicians, or activists from trying.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And the doctor is in, even on the weekends. Get a house call from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Saturday and Sunday mornings at 8:30 Eastern, only here on CNN.

Rolling with the Stones, have you done it? I have, and I'll never forget it. My date showed up in red leather pants, and I'm not kidding. Never saw him again. Up next, bigger gets better for one of the hottest bands touring the country. Leave the leather at home.

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PHILLIPS: That's Otis, by the way, in audio. He loves the Rolling Stones. Don't you, Otis. Well, you can't say he didn't warn us. In his own words, Mick Jagger promised if you start me up, I'll never stop. And so in some surprising news, the Stones will keep rolling this summer, adding another 14 shows to their current bigger bang tour. The Mt. Rushmore of rock music is adding visits to Vegas, Boston, even Omaha. And we're not saying they're getting too old for this, but we hear their press agent is now having to use carbon dating in their bios.

All right, coming up in the second hour of LIVE FROM, Lance versus France. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong goes on the offensive over the latest drug allegation from a French newspaper.

Also, Katrina getting a little closer. Just ahead, the latest on the tropical storm bearing down on the Florida coast.

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