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Live From...
Tornado Warnings Issued For Ohio and Tennessee; Allegations Surface of Prisoner Abuse by Iraqi Forces; Interview With New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas
Aired November 15, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Live back in B control.
See all those monitors? We're actually following severe weather all across the country. You can actually see them there on the black- and-white and the color screens. It's a winter blast on one side, Indian summer on the other, PDS in the middle. That's a particularly dangerous situation, the government's term for heavy thunderstorms and a high risk of tornadoes seen today and tonight in the Ohio and Tennessee valleys.
Now, alerts have been popping up for hours.
We get the very latest, once again, from CNN meteorologists Chad Myers and Dave Hennen. They're up there in our Weather Center.
Hey, guys.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kyra.
It's going to be a busy day here, Dave. I'm afraid that the storms are not going to settle down any time soon. We are now getting into a little bit of heating of the day. All the red counties you see here, from west of Indianapolis, down to about Paducah, and then a little bit of a broken line down to and west of Nashville, and now more weather moving into Memphis -- here's a live shot from Memphis.
We had the same shot earlier, and you could actually see something. You could see the bridge. You could see the river. And you could see the city -- right now, an absolute rain-out there, just pouring down rain, possibly even hail coming down with that weather as well.
And I will get to their radar for Memphis here in two or three stops. I want to stop a little bit farther to the north, Mount Carmel, Vincennes, and right on down through and into Princeton, very strong weather there, all the red counties, tornado warnings for you, and to the north and west of Evansville as well -- circulation in the storm around Princeton, as well, tornado warnings on that.
Farther to the south, in there, we will get you a little bit farther into parts of Kentucky, tornado warning right here. This cell did, I believe, probably spawn a tornado. But it probably moved just south of the town of Mayfield. The circulation was right about there 10 minutes ago when I looked at it, moving to the northeast at 55 to 60 miles per hour, and then one last stop. We are showing you why we can't see anything on the Memphis tower cam, one very large cell right over Memphis.
But, if there was a warning on this cell, it would be -- either be painted orange for severe thunderstorm warning or red for tornado warning. And, just as I speak, look at that, popped right up on the air live.
Dave, and you are going to take us a little bit farther to the north, into Indianapolis?
DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That's right.
We're becoming increasingly concerned, Chad, that, in the next couple of hours, we will be looking at some very intense weather moving through the Indianapolis area. Behind me, all the tornado warnings to the west -- look at this -- all the way from Terre Haute, Indiana, southward to Vincennes.
And we did have that report of a tornado on the ground a little bit further west of there. So, these tornadoes do have a history of -- of producing severe weather.
We want to show you our live tower cam out of our Indianapolis affiliate. And you can see, at least for now, it is fairly quiet. But the intense weather is not that far away. It will be going downhill in the next couple of hours.
Let's go back to live radar. And let me show you this line of severe weather that continues to track to the south. Here it is, extends from Crawfordsville, all the way town through Terre Haute, to Vincennes, moving northeast at about 60 to 70 miles an hour. So, if you track that out, in about the next hour or two, we will see the storms moving into the Indianapolis area.
A couple things to point out as well -- we do still have our high risk. We just got an update from the Storm Prediction Center -- very rare to get a high risk, maybe once or twice a season. That's as many times as we see it. And that area extends all the way from Illinois, southward to Mississippi -- so, a large area -- I should say Ohio, all the way from Ohio back down to Mississippi.
So, watch out for that -- a new tornado watch just issued as well. That covers areas back into Ohio. And we have about 15 or 20, Chad...
MYERS: Hey, Dave...
HENNEN: ... tornado warnings.
MYERS: ... let's talk about these November tornadoes in the first place, because more people are killed in November than in other counties -- in other months, like July.
There -- one person, on the average, in 55 years, from 1950 to 2004, one person is a fatality from a tornado in July, a pretty busy -- busy -- busy season -- November, four times that many fatalities. And, this November, we have had 23 fatalities, because people aren't ready for it. They aren't ready for the storms.
HENNEN: Right.
And we have this huge contrast in air mass. I mean, it's snowing in Des Moines.
MYERS: It is.
HENNEN: And it's going to be blizzard conditions in parts of Minnesota and Iowa. By the time you get to Kansas City, it's still snowing. By the time you get to Memphis, we're dealing with severe weather.
MYERS: Yes.
HENNEN: So, about a 50- or 60-degree...
(CROSSTALK)
HENNEN: ... temperature change across a small area. The atmosphere is ripe to produce these tornadoes.
MYERS: And...
(CROSSTALK)
HENNEN: Just as you were -- you were just talking about the in -- central Indiana and Indianapolis now under a tornado watch, Kentucky and also western Ohio. We will have that mapped out for you -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Chad Myers, Dave Hennen, thanks, guys, so much.
And, of course, as we're following all the developing news with regard to the weather, severe weather across the United States, we're also checking in once again and updating the baseball and new steroids proposal.
Tony Harris once again live in the newsroom, working that story for us.
What do we know, Tony?
TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, received a statement from Major League Baseball a short time ago on the new steroids plan for Major League Baseball.
And, as we told you just a couple of minutes ago -- and, Mike (ph), let's put up that full screen, so we can work through this all together -- the new plan calls for a 50-game suspension for a first failed test, 100 games for a second positive test, which would wipe out any season, and a lifetime ban for a third failed test.
Now, there are penalties for possession of steroids and penalties for distribution. The deal would also amphetamines to the banned substance list.
And, Kyra, a list of punishment for positive tests for amphetamines, for possession and distribution, an -- an attempt here to sort of get all of this out of the game. And how about this, Kyra, provisions in the agreement for random testing year-round?
And let me read from the specific language from this joint agreement. "No matter how many times a player is tested, he remains subject to an additional random test."
So, what this means is that the moment you sign a Major League Baseball contract, you give baseball the right to test you whenever it wants. Now, this agreement, this joint agreement, has to be ratified by the individual players.
That's still to come. We are expecting, Kyra, to hear from a former player and now Senator Jim Bunning from the great state of Kentucky in just a few minutes. We will monitor that situation to hear what he has to say. If he says anything of particular interest, we will bring that to you.
PHILLIPS: Sounds good. It is -- it's a story that interests all of us. That's for sure. They should have that random testing.
HARRIS: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right. Tony Harris, thanks.
HARRIS: OK, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Allegations of abuse and torture in Iraq, this time, not against U.S. troops, but Iraqi forces.
More than 100 prisoners held by Iraq's Interior Ministry were discovered malnourished and possibly tortured by the country's new government security forces.
CNN senior national correspondent Nic Robertson is following developments in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the U.S. military has now taken control of this Ministry of Interior detention facility.
They say they discovered it over the weekend when they were looking for a 15-year-old boy who had been missing since September. When they went into the building, they say they discovered many detainees. And Iraqi policeman at the scene said that some of them appeared to have suffered from torture.
Now, the deputy minister of interior here has admitted that this was a Ministry of Interior building, has admitted that there were cases of torture. Indeed, he says that what he saw was shocking. HUSSEIN KAMAL, IRAQI DEPUTY INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating. One or two detainees were paralyzed. And some had their skin peeled off various parts of their body.
ROBERTSON: Now, the deputy minister of interior said there were more than 160 detainees there. He said some of them were undergoing interrogation by a specialist investigation unit associated with the Ministry of Interior.
He said that he believed the reason that the abuses had taken place was a lack of proper facilities.
KAMAL (through translator): In my opinion, if we had enough standard detention facilities, nothing of what we saw would have happened. A major problem we face is that there are not enough places to contain these detainees after the preliminary investigation is through with them.
ROBERTSON: Now, the U.S. military is in control of those facilities. They are beginning to investigate the abuses and provide medical assistance for those injured victims who require it.
The Ministry of Interior, for their part, say that they will thoroughly investigate this. And Iraq's prime minister, Ibrahim al- Jaafari, has also called for a committee to be formed that he wants to thoroughly investigate this immediately.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, the U.S. military is reporting more American combat deaths in Iraq. Three American Marines were killed in western Iraq yesterday. They were taking part in the joint U.S.-Iraqi Steel Curtain operation near the Syrian border. Their deaths raise the total number of American troops killed in the Iraq war to 2,073.
Straight ahead, have you seen these works of fine art? Take a look. Does it look familiar? Or how about this next one? Do you recognize it? If so, the FBI wants to hear from you. Can you help solve some of the most celebrated cases of art theft?
LIVE FROM paints the picture when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, you have heard of the FBI 10 most wanted list of criminals. Now it's unveiled another top 10, this one of artworks all stolen.
And it's assigned to a special team to track them down. Art thefts are considered a growing criminal specialty now, with losses estimated at $6 billion a year. One of the most daring robberies occurred in August last year at a museum in Oslo, Norway. Check out this picture, as we sort of zoom in. Armed gunmen snatched two paintings by Edvard Munch.
And then the most recognizable, simply called "The Scream," we know that one. The FBI is also on the lookout for this "Madonna" painting by da Vinci, stolen from a castle in Scotland in August of 2003. And then a landscape by Paul Cezanne, look at this one. It disappeared from a museum in England nearly six years ago -- also on the top-10 list, artifacts stolen from Iraq, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Swedish National Museum, and the Van Gogh -- or I assume you would like to say Van Gogh -- Museum in Amsterdam.
Well, a woman arrested in the cell phone bandit case has apparently confessed. According to court documents, 19-year-old Candice Martinez, seen right now here in the nice hooded sweatshirt, admits that she's the woman who held up four banks in Northern Virginia over the past few weeks. And she did it, she says, while chatting on her cell phone.
Yes. You remember this video. We still can't figure out who she was talking to. Maybe we will get that later in the investigation. Well, Martinez was arrested at her home earlier today. The documents show her boyfriend, who is also in custody, admitting to driving the getaway car.
All right. Let's talk about delta air lines. What do you think, going the way of Eastern, possibly? We are talking about its pilot union threatening to strike, an act of Delta executives liken it to murder-suicide.
Now, at issue, the pilots collective bargaining agreement, which Delta wants the bankruptcy court to void. Just a few hours ago, pilots rallied just outside Atlanta -- that's Delta's home base here, our beautiful city of Atlanta, Georgia -- to defend their contract. And if they do walk out of the cockpit, will the airline go belly up? And what could it mean for those who fly Delta?
CNN's Ali Velshi with some thoughts from New York.
Now, I got to tell you, Ali, I called one of my good friends, my good friends Herb (ph), call sign Whammo (ph). And he used to fly for Delta. He doesn't seem to think that they are going to strike.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I would say the oddsmaker, Kyra, are putting it at about 10 percent.
Delta, in fact, had come out and said, it's not going to happen. But, you know, 2005, Kyra, is not going down as the year of the labor union, whether it's airlines or autoworkers. What happens is, the unions put forth the position. And they -- they don't get what they want and then they threaten to strike.
And, in Delta's case or Northwest's case, they have declared bankruptcy, which allows them to get out of some of their contractual obligations, not all of them. And Delta has gone to a court, a bankruptcy court, to allow them to get out of the contract that they have with their pilots. And that is what is really annoying the pilots. They feel like they have given up enough. They gave up about $1 billion in concessions in 2004 to help keep Delta out of bankruptcy and to keep their jobs. Delta is going back and saying they want another $325 million worth of concessions. The pilots came back with about $90 million. And Delta says, not going to happen. Now, the bottom line is, if the pilots want to force their hand on this one, they could do that, because you can't fly planes without pilots.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's -- do you think that a pilots -- a pilots strike, if, indeed, they -- if, indeed, they do go on strike, could it kill the company? Is this the last...
VELSHI: Yes.
PHILLIPS: ... you know, hurrah for Delta?
VELSHI: Yes, it's not entirely clear what union strikes do to airlines these days, as we saw with Northwest Airlines, which continued to operate after its mechanics strike -- not the same thing for pilots.
You can't fly a plane without a pilot. You can find other mechanics, people trained to do other things -- Delta not commenting on whether it is training other pilots. But the fact is, they have 6,000 pilots. I think we would know if they were training 6,000 pilots.
At -- at the very least, a strike shuts the airline down for a little while. It -- it's unclear as to whether the government would get involved. They have -- they have been reticent to do that in recent strikes. So, yes, the airline is losing a lot of money. It's lost more than $1 billion dollars in the last quarter. If -- if the pilot do succeed in striking, it will shut the airline down.
And even Delta has conceded that, if -- if the pilots strike, the airline will go out of business.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
All right, now, just for, say, within the next couple weeks, next couple months...
VELSHI: Right.
PHILLIPS: ... the holidays coming up, a lot of us flying Delta, you know, going to see relatives, friends, taking vacation.
VELSHI: Coming out of Atlanta, you certainly are.
PHILLIPS: Right.
VELSHI: You most likely are flying Delta.
PHILLIPS: So, I mean, what happens if they go on strike? Do we -- are our tickets no good? Can we use them on another airline?
VELSHI: Yes.
PHILLIPS: What...
VELSHI: It's a tough for an airline to have to think about this sort of thing, because people don't like the uncertainty.
The fact of the matter is, recently, it hasn't been the case that, when an airline goes -- declares bankruptcy or there's some sort of a strike, that it stops. Northwest was able to run at least 70, 80 percent of its flights.
But -- but, in this particular case, it's the holiday season. People want to book their tickets. They are more likely to book on an airline that's not going to face some kind of slowdown or a -- a travel plan. Now, if they're -- travel change -- now, if it is going to happen, you can bet that a lot of other airlines will try to pick up the slack.
But -- but if you're -- and the other thing is, people don't wait as long -- they wait longer to book for their holiday plans now, because it's easier to book. So, a lot of people's Christmas plans may not be affected. But, sure, if this thing doesn't get itself settled in the next couple weeks, when some people are finalizing their plans, you know, it's probably not going to be -- be affected over Thanksgiving.
But for -- for the holiday season, you know, I think you might have something to be concerned about. As for frequent flier miles, they tend to be safe. Others pick them up. They don't -- they have not tend to have been lost over the next few years.
So, I wouldn't worry as much about the miles right now. And I will keep you posted on that. But, yes, if you're traveling, and you are making plans for the next few months, I would watch the news carefully and see what is happening with Delta.
PHILLIPS: And I always watch you to find out what the heck is happening business-wise.
Now, of course, right here, front page, "USA Today," I called you about this.
VELSHI: Yes.
PHILLIPS: "Fiscal Hurricane," we're going to talk about this in about 10 minutes.
VELSHI: Very important story. We will talk about that in a bit.
PHILLIPS: All right. Do we need to worry?
VELSHI: Yes.
PHILLIPS: I mean, according...
VELSHI: That, you have to worry about. PHILLIPS: According to these analysts, they are telling us we are -- we are in the red. We are in big trouble. It's going to affect us now...
VELSHI: They are some smart people who are worried.
PHILLIPS: ... in the -- oh, boy.
VELSHI: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right.
VELSHI: See you in a minute.
PHILLIPS: And you're worried, too?
VELSHI: I'm worried.
PHILLIPS: OK.
VELSHI: See you in a bit.
PHILLIPS: See you in a little bit. Thanks, Ali Velshi.
Well, still ahead, you have heard of getting busted by the fashion police, right? Who was it that used to do the show? Joan Rivers and her daughter, right, always talking about how horribly you dressed. Well, it is possible to actually get excommunicated for lack of style? From Paris to Milan to the Vatican, look sharp, folks.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, are two centuries of Vatican tradition about to be kicked to the curb over a faux pas...
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: A fashion faux pas, rather?
Well, that's the word from Gammarelli tailors, who have made the pope's threads since 1792. And now we're being told they're at risk of losing their exclusive contract. It seems that Pope Benedict XVI got a little hot under the collar the day that he made his debut blessing. Although you can't tell from this video, really, his cassock was too short. It actually ended above his ankles, in other words, a flood cassock.
Now, lest you scoff, Benedict is known for sporting Gucci shades. And look closely as we zoom in. That's right. Those are red Prada loafers, folks. Kind of blend with the carpet there.
Well, open up and rock 'n roll, says New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. But two-and-a-half months after Hurricane Katrina, the blues still dominate events, like this one, where survivors face officials with the same old problems, and officials promise help.
In this case, Nagin upgraded two more zip codes from look-and- leave status to look-and-stay. And, the Lower Ninth Ward, well, he promised, still entirely closed, except for bus tours, will be look- and-leave as of December 1. But none of that consoled a former East New Orleans resident, whose temporary housing has been a lot more temporary than it should be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEQUILA DOMINICK, HURRICANE KATRINA SURVIVOR: I'm just happy to say I'm alive, me and all my family. That's not why I'm here today.
I have been shift around to maybe five hotels. I have been all around the United States. I'm tired. I paid my rent on time, my light bill, everything I had to do. I'm tired of living in hotels, people kicking me out of hotels. I need your help. I have never asked Louisiana for anything.
I need a house for me and my children to live in. I am tired of living like this and being kicked out of hotel after hotel. My kids can't even play.
RAY NAGIN (D), MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: No, I understand, you know, what you're saying. If you could, this young lady in the second row, if you can give her your information, we will do our best to try to expedite you getting a place to stay. OK?
DOMINICK: All I want, Mayor, is a home for Christmas.
NAGIN: I understand.
DOMINICK: That's it.
NAGIN: You...
(CROSSTALK)
DOMINICK: And I will be so happy.
NAGIN: You hang in there, baby. We're going to help you. all right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the big picture is every bit as daunting. Levees have to be re-engineered and an underachieving school system re-resurrected, probably under state control. And New Orleans itself has to be redesigned.
City Council President Oliver Thomas says that New Orleans culture will be its guidepost.
He joins me from our Gulf Coast bureau with his insights.
Mr. President, good to see you. Can you hear me OK? OLIVER THOMAS, PRESIDENT, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: Yes. I can barely hear you. You are fading in and out.
You know, those are the kind of concerns that people have, you know, not only living the day to day, but you heard what the woman said. She would like to have a place to say, at least for Christmas, for her and her kids.
And, hopefully, we will be able to help not only her, but a lot of residents who want to come back as quickly as possible. Residents who can and want to come back are having difficulty coming back to their own home. We -- we -- we have more people here working on the relief effort and more temporary workers here than we have people who want to come back to this city.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about those efforts.
And, by the way, can you hear me a little better now? Is this...
THOMAS: Yes. Yes.
PHILLIPS: Is this -- is better?
THOMAS: Yes. I can hear you a little better now.
PHILLIPS: OK. Good. We worked on the levels.
THOMAS: Yes.
PHILLIPS: I appreciate it.
THOMAS: Yes. Yes.
PHILLIPS: Well, I know you were -- you were at this -- this rebirth forum last night.
THOMAS: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And...
THOMAS: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And, obviously, a lot of emotions running high.
THOMAS: Yes.
PHILLIPS: But there were a number of ideas that were thrown out...
THOMAS: Right.
PHILLIPS: ... to -- to improve just the rebuilding efforts right now.
I just want to ask you about a couple of these.
THOMAS: OK.
PHILLIPS: Developing a metro rail line or elevated monorail to connect New Orleans with outlying areas. That's interesting. Increasing the number of residents...
THOMAS: Long...
PHILLIPS: Yes?
THOMAS: Right, long overdue.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Long overdue. It's true. It -- it makes sense, especially with all the traffic that -- that you deal with going in and out of there.
Increasing the number of residents in the French Quarter. And then this is one I want to ask you about, providing tax incentives to help individuals and small businesses rebuild.
How do you plan to do that, when you have already had to let go of so many city employees and you're having a hard time paying for police and fire and -- and other folks you need to just keep the peace and keep the city going.
THOMAS: Well -- well, you -- well, you have to stimulate the economy first. And the only way to stimulate the economy is through incentives to attract businesses, and especially small business and people to come back.
Once they get their foot on the ground, then we can start to have at least a normal tax base, so that government can begin to grow again to provide the services that we provided when we were a full city. We're a city that is operating about less than half right now. We -- we don't need the tax base that we used to have.
But we do need to generate the economy and jump-start the economy, so that business can start, so that we can start to rebuild our tax base and our business foundation in the future.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Let's talk about another point that was made on here as well -- or another idea that you talked about last night, reintegrating the public school system. Now, I remember, more than 10 years ago, even interviewing you on the issues of schools and working there as a reporter. And it was just incredible to me that so many of these students had to go to private schools in order to get a good education, because of the dilapidated public schools.
I mean, I remember kids with termite problems eating their books.
THOMAS: Right.
PHILLIPS: Eating their -- eating their walls and having problems with asbestos and a bunch of other things.
What do you think? Do you think that everybody will be open to this reintegrating of the schools and -- and...
THOMAS: Well...
PHILLIPS: Yes.
THOMAS: Well, what -- what is the definition of insanity? To do the same thing time and time again and to expect a different result.
We can't do the same thing we used to do and expect a different result. Look, something different has to happen with the public school system. You know, I -- I often think about Louisiana, "The Mis" -- and Carter G. Woodson's book, "The Mis-Education," the miseducation of American kids, but the miseducation of a lot of American kids through urban centers throughout the country.
New Orleans has a chance, with this storm, to do something different, whether it's charter schools. I just hope they are smarter schools, smarter schools that provide the type of resources and teachers that can help our kids have an advantage, not a disadvantage.
PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about the housing once again, because this really caught my eye -- reopening the Iberville public housing development and creating more housing developments in the city center.
Now, Oliver, let's have a heart-to-heart about this, because you and I both know...
THOMAS: Let's talk about it.
PHILLIPS: Yes, those housing developments, I remember, almost every night responding. There were murders.
THOMAS: Right. Right.
PHILLIPS: There were drug deals gone bad. I mean, these were not developments that were helping its residents get out of just this negative environment.
I mean, are housing developments really a good idea for people that want to come back?
THOMAS: Well -- well, let's say this.
You know, we are -- we're already under way with a couple of HOPE VI plans, so, the city had already started redesigning and redoing housing developments. The same time as HOPE VI, Desire, Fischer, CJP, pretty soon, GUS (ph).
But let's say we use those housing developments temporarily, while we train people to get involved in this restoration effort, $15, $16, $17, $20 an hour, give them some skills, make it transitional. It was supposed to be transitional a long time ago, but, this time, make sure it's transitional.
If -- if these public housing developments can help us get people back, the ones who want to come back, so they can transition into our neighborhoods, into the larger economy, it's not a bad idea.
Do we want them to be permanent again? Do we want the same conditions of drugs and crimes and illiteracy that we had before? No. But if we can use them at least as a temporary -- as temporary housing, come on in, stay here while you're working -- and, look, let me tell people, if you're not interested in working and participating, maybe you shouldn't come back to New Orleans.
Look, if you have some special condition where you can't work or some medical condition or some mental condition, we understand that. But every able-bodied person ought not be looking for welfare or a handout.
You should be looking for a hand up. If we can use these developments to help people get a hand up and improve their condition that's not such a bad idea. But for temporary, permanent housing I think not.
PHILLIPS: So, is the Lower Ninth Ward, rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward where it's the lowest lying level where you had, you know, the majority of that water just taking out that area -- and of course, Lakeview also, but the Lower Ninth Ward always having a problem with this, is it really a good idea to rebuild that area?
Why not take those residents that want to come back that lived in that area and start integrating other parts of the city where it's a safer place to live?
THOMAS: I put that plan on the table a long time ago. Let's take a look at the properties that's adjudicated to the city, and incorporated (ph) to the city, but not payment of taxes and liens. Let's look at those vacant lots that are available. And let's talk about how we can incorporate some of the rest of the population that is interested into those parts of the community.
But let me say this. There are parts of Uptown New Orleans, there are parts of Metairie, there are parts of Santamity (ph) that flood all the time. How many times has the Lower Ninth Ward flooded in the last 40 years? Twice. And the only reason why it flooded during Rita was because the levee was not repaired up to the same level as the 17th Street Canal.
If it had been repaired up to the same level, it would not have flooded. So let's not make myth reality here. But for those people who want to come to the Lower Ninth Ward, if we could design it differently, if we could have a flood system and a levee system that protects them better, why not?
PHILLIPS: Can you make sure?
THOMAS: Fifty-four percent of the people who live in that area own their property. PHILLIPS: What about that levee system?
THOMAS: Well, look ...
PHILLIPS: So many people are thinking, oh, they are rebuilding it like they did before. And it's still just kind of getting the Band-Aid approach. I mean, can you tell me -- I wish I could look you straight in the eye, Oliver Thomas. Tell me that those levees are going to be fixed.
THOMAS: I'm looking you straight in the lens. If Holland can protect the Dutch, surely we can protect the American citizens here on the Gulf coast. It's not really up to us, it's up to the Corps and the Congress to do what we've been begging them to do for the last 30 years.
I talked to Maistre (ph) over there in Jefferson Parish, Chief Toulie (ph) who was over there. Chief Matthews, Mary Landrieu and her legislation about the wetlands and levee protection. If they had listened to those people, we wouldn't have that problem.
We couldn't do anything about Katrina. But what happened with the levees breaking, those interior levees, could have been prevented. And what did we learn during this? That not -- those levees weren't even prepared for a Category 3. They should have stood up; they didn't.
PHILLIPS: Well, I'll tell you what. As president of the city council, and I know you have other plans to keep moving up in the city, politically, Oliver Thomas, the people need you to fight, to put the money in the right place and rebuilt that city, not only the people that want to come back there but, of course, people that want to come visit.
THOMAS: Hey look. Let's help save Delta. We need Delta to survive, and let's help save New Orleans because we need New Orleans to survive. And I want to thank the U.S. Conference of Mayors, ULI, and the mayor's urban design team. We got a lot of great ideas from Mayor Riley and Executive Director Cochran today about how the United States and the world can come together to help save this community.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's see it. Let's watch it. Let's cover it. And you keep us posted, Oliver Thomas. Thanks for your time today.
THOMAS: All right, guys. Thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.
Well, severe weather and dramatic rescues -- it's all happening right now. LIVE FROM has got the news you want all afternoon. We're going to tell you about it. Stay with us.
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PHILLIPS: This video just into us. Four to seven inches of rain dumped on Evansville, Indiana. Take a look at these pictures. This is the same where earlier this month, you'll remember 22 people were killed in a tornado. As we watch the video of the floodwaters in a moment, you're also going to see a number of rescues taking place.
Also in this area, just -- we have been following the severe weather, of course. Chad, you've been talking about so many other parts of the country. Then we just got this video in. And thinking of Indiana, is the tornado going through there? Now, they are, you know, double whammy here. How much rain have they gotten up in Evansville? Chad, you with me?
MYERS: Yes, I am. This rain started about 10:00 last night. I was on "ANDERSON COOPER 360" at 10:00. These storms were just firing. And when I woke up this morning, it was still raining in the same spots. This rain never stopped. It stayed in the same areas.
Now, if you get south of Evansville -- I think those pictures really were from Evansville. If you get south of there into Henderson, into Kentucky, the numbers are like seven to nine inches of rain. So I'm sure, Kyra, that there's more weather than that south of there.
PHILLIPS: OK, I was just -- Chad, stay with me just for a second.
I just want to mention real quickly that Samuel Alito, of course, the Supreme Court nominee, a bit of a photo op with senator Ted Kennedy right now. He's sort of -- he's been making his rounds, of course, before the nomination process. So we're going to -- we're listening to that and we'll bring that to you if we need to. But, Chad, as we monitor, we've had a live shot up of Memphis, also Paducah, Kentucky, you've been talking about.
MYERS: Right.
PHILLIPS: And ...
MYERS: Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
PHILLIPS: OK, Arkansas. OK, we didn't -- OK, I don't remember Arkansas.
MYERS: Talk about that ...
PHILLIPS: OK.
MYERS: ... also talking about most of Indiana now, the western edge there of Indiana getting very hard hit. The storm just moved through Memphis. Didn't get a tornado warning on it. Kyra I'm very surprised. There was only a severe thunderstorm warning on this storm. But if there wasn't a couple of funnel clouds in the sky, I'll be very, very surprised with the storm.
It had a hook on it the entire time. It was rotating. The problem was the storm was very close to the radar site. So, maybe they couldn't tilt up enough to really get a good sense of where that storm was and how much it was rotating, but, obviously, good, good damage even with the sever thunderstorm warning.
That's why they put warnings out in the first place. There's the storm. There's Memphis. I need to get all the way out to Germantown. Memphis is a very large city, not just where that word is. It goes all the way out to the eastern suburbs, well out to the east of there.
And then we get a little bit farther to the west. Tornado warnings here to the south and west of Memphis. Remember, all of this weather is moving to the northeast and then a tornado warning for Pine Bluff but that storm really has moved away just a little bit.
Our Dave Hennen also has more on this. Dave, you're looking I know up into the Indiana area, but now this storm is really spreading its arms and legs out almost all the way from northern Indiana down into -- just had a severe thunderstorm warning out of the Houston, Texas, office.
HENNEN: Yes, that's right. This extends all the way from Texas -- it's going to extend all the way to Ohio this evening, Chad. That's where the high risk area extends, all the way into Ohio. New tornado watch issued for Indiana and back to Ohio.
I want to show you a couple of areas that we're concerned about that we're watching very closely over the next couple of hours. Look at this cluster of tornado warning. These are all west of the greater Nashville area. Here's Nashville right here and there's the storms. All those tornado warnings are west of town.
Let me show you the radar out of this area from Paris extending just to the east of Dyersburg at the present time. These storms are really rocketing off to the northeast, at about 65 to 70 miles per hour. The other area of concern further to the north, look at this cluster of thunderstorms and tornado warnings now, just west of Indianapolis and the storms extend to the South.
We've seen reports of tornadoes on the ground. With some of these cells that are moving just south of Vincennes at the present time. Watch out, Indianapolis, though, in the next hour. There's the storms that are approaching the Western suburbs of Indianapolis.
Extend to the South and some of these storms, particularly these down here, have a history of producing a tornado. But, look at this storm, just west of Indianapolis. Watch out for that in the next hour or so. Indianapolis, we'll keep you updated.
Thank you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Chad and Dave, thanks so much, guys.
Straight ahead, almost a thousand bucks for a nice little cocktail. Would you pay it? Find out what you get for all that dough. Hope it's -- I know you're pretty amazed, too. I know you're going, man, a thousand bucks, I hope that makes me feel good.
All right, LIVE FROM bellies up to the bar right after this.
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PHILLIPS: So if you're in the mood for a stiff drink, check out what a Chicago lounge is shaking up. I know my team is going to be running to this lounge after the end of this shift.
It's called the "Ruby Red Cocktail" and it can be found exclusively at the Reserve cocktail lounge. Well, what's so special about it? Why is it almost a grand?
Well, the drink is made with Grey Goose vodka, cognac, Hypnotiq, pomegranate, orange juice, Dom Perignon and here's the clincher. A one-carat ruby.
The price may be a little hard to swallow. They're, like we said, 950 bucks a pop.
All right, more now on baseball's tough new penalties for steroid use. As we mentioned, a 50-game suspension for a first failed test. A 100-game suspension for a second. And a lifetime ban for a third failed test.
The agreement between Major League Baseball owners and players is in the second on steroids in ten months and comes on the heels of strong urging from Congress.
We're going to talk more now with CNN headline sports anchor Steve Overmyer.
I don't know how we go from a thousand-dollar martini with rubies to steroids, but I guess, you know, they both can be pretty powerful.
STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: That's true.
PHILLIPS: Stronger testing, it's going to be more often. Is it still, well, does this make it now, the one sport with the strictest policy?
OVERMYER: Absolutely. Baseball is moving toward something that I think a lot of people agree, it needs to have.
Don't forget, this isn't quite done yet. I mean, the idea of a first-offense used to be ten days. Now, it's 50 games. By the way, a third-offense now is a lifetime, which of course is subject to reinstatement.
But again, this isn't nearly as strong as what Congress has proposed. Don't forget, Congress floated a bill just last week, authored by Senator John McCain and Senator Jim Bunning, who by the way is a Hall of Fame pitcher.
Asking for a first offense be a half season, a second offense, a full season, and the third offense a lifetime ban. So, they are hoping, which would actually apply to the NFL, the NBA and the NFL, as well. And what they're hoping is that what major league baseball has done, is trying to spawn some of these other leagues to try to make their penalties, I guess, a little stronger. PHILLIPS: If you were to say, OK, who's got the strictest, strictest policy, it would be the Olympic testing, right?
OVERMYER: That is a two-year ban if you test positive for the first time and then a lifetime ban if you test positive secondly.
You know, what's funny is that WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, which handles all the Olympic testing, will be actually testing for the new baseball policy, as well.
So, that's something that you have to keep in mind, too.
PHILLIPS: Now, you were mentioning amphetamines. Is this a big deal now and it's not being addressed?
OVERMYER: Well, it's being addressed in this one. The amphetamines are now officially on the banned-substance list, with this new steroid policy.
With this new drug treatment policy, more or less, amphetamines will come with a suspension of 25 games, 80 games and a lifetime ban after a second positive test.
The first positive test will be mandatory evaluation for that as well. It's kind of been a drug, the amphetamines, which is kind of like speed, has been a dirty little secret around baseball, some say for many years. They are trying to catch that before it becomes something that is a major problem like steroids have become.
PHILLIPS: All right, Steve Overmyer, thanks so much.
Well, a princess marries the man of her dreams and loses her royal status. Find out why, LIVE FROM is back after a quick break.
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PHILLIPS: Severe weather continues across the country.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: We're going to take a quick break. We are talking the economy. Another severe story, I shall say. Ali Velshi going to join us. We'll be right back.
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PHILLIPS: From the halls of Congress to Wall Street, we've been hearing and reading about all these predictions of doom and gloom for America's economy. And all fingers point to one thing: America's ever growing debt.
Now, the nation's top auditor put this way in today's "USA Today": "Anybody who says you're going to grow your way out of this problem would probably not pass math." David Walker warns: "We face a demographic tsunami."
CNN's Ali Velshi joins us with his crystal ball. Those are pretty harsh words, Ali.
VELSHI: And they're serious words. I don't know if you remember, Kyra. There's two things you and I have discussed in the last few months. One is that the savings rate of the average American is negative. In other words, we spend as much as we earn.
And a few weeks ago, I unrolled this big thing that said that America's economy, the size of America's economy, is $11.7 trillion. Well, the size of our debt is over $8 trillion now. I mean, that's kind of interesting that we -- everything we generate in this country is $11.75 trillion a year, and our debt $8 trillion. And that's becoming a serious problem, but nobody ever wants to talk about it.
In fact, I'm grateful to you, Kyra, because you're the only one who asks me these tough questions. That's alarming some people. That the debt, $8 trillion, who owns America's debt? How does it work? Well, bonds -- we always talk about treasury bonds trading. Foreign governments, investors, buy American bonds. They're lending the American government money in exchange for interest. And the Social Security fund. We always talk about going into that Social Security fund to fund other things.
Well, between Social Security and these bonds we owe -- the American government owes other people $8 trillion. And that's becoming a problem. People are starting to underscore. And you showed me that newspaper front page earlier from "USA Today." It's becoming a big issue. People are starting to say we -- someone's got to pay for this, and it may be us.
PHILLIPS: Well, and then you got spending cuts, you say, which make bad politics, of course. Much smaller. A day of reckoning seems far away, as you said. We've got healthcare inflation we have to worry about, an aging population.
VELSHI: Right.
PHILLIPS: Too few workers to pay for the higher taxes. That's what it means for us right now, right?
VELSHI: But it's not -- it's not interesting stuff to talk about, so people don't sort of think about that. What you see is, you don't want your taxes to go up, you don't want services you get...
PHILLIPS: But they could, right? Taxes could go up?
VELSHI: Absolutely. Look, there's only two ways to solve this problem. You either get more money in taxes, or you spend less money. There's no science to this. Anybody can figure out the math on a federal budget and a debt. It's the same way you'd manage your bank account. So the problem is this: nobody wants more taxes. And it's hard to cut costs. The government hasn't shown the discipline to do that, and part of that is because these things do seem far away. They seem like they're in the future and we don't worry about them.
PHILLIPS: But you also have all these unplanned costs, right? Like the wars, the hurricanes... VELSHI: Hurricanes -- exactly.
PHILLIPS: You hear people talking about it all the time. It's costing our country a fortune.
VELSHI: Our debt right now is going up at the rate of $600 billion a year. We're just not bringing in the same money now. A lot of governments have depended on doing things that will stimulate the economy, make business better, make people richer. They pay more taxes.
Now, as the population ages, those people retire, they're not around to pay more taxes. And as a result, more people will be drawing benefits from the government, less people will be paying taxes to go into the government. And as healthcare increases, as we get older, these things are going to start to affect us.
But a lot of it is going to start happening over the next few years unless people like you and me are prepared to swallow that bitter pill and say, this is tough. We may have to....
PHILLIPS: And let's talk about our kids. Our kids are going to have to deal with higher taxes, lower wages, less savings, longer working life. They might not be able to afford school, college.
VELSHI: Well, I mean, there are economic problems when your debt starts to get close to the amount of money you generate, your entire society generates on a yearly basis. Eventually someone will make the tough decisions and will come in and that will mean all of those things. The economy will slow down.
It's not a given. A lot of smart people say that this is what could happen. The smart people who are not running for office and don't need to sound appealing to the voters are sitting there saying, guys, we have to look at this. This is very serious. If you don't, you will pay the price a little later. Retirees will pay the price.
And one thing to remember, Kyra, we already know this. Some people depend on pensions. We know that they have been burned. We already know we have to plan for our retirement. But that may become a much bigger part of your life's planning. You may know you can't depend on Medicare and Social Security. It may be that the day you go to school, you have to figure out how you're going to pay for your retirement.
PHILLIPS: All right, I know...
VELSHI: It's just weighing on people.
PHILLIPS: I know, it's weighing on all of us. It's all over the papers. Everyone's talking about it.
The market close is near. I know you're going to take us to that. So I'm just going to sort of wrap things up for us here on LIVE FROM. It's been a busy day, crazy three years.
VELSHI: Always good to see you.
PHILLIPS: It's always good to see you, too. You going to join us tomorrow?
VELSHI: I absolutely will. And there you got your picture of the New York Stock Exchange after looking good for the earlier part of the day. It looks to be closing down about 12 points. That's about a tenth of a percent to 10,685. The Nasdaq is down almost the same number of points, but it's a two-thirds of a percent loss, to 2,186.
Now let's go to John King in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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