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Driver's Seat View of Iraq Violence; Checking In On the Masters Tournament
Aired April 07, 2006 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, the prom. A ritual in high schools across the country except this year in the New Orleans area. A lot of those schools remain closed, flooded out in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Cabrini High School is one of the few open, and guess what? It is planning a prom, even though most of its students lost everything in the storm. Enter a fellow teenager in Beltsville, Maryland, who rallied her friends and their friends. And over the past six weeks, they have been donating and collecting glitzy gowns just for the girls for Cabrini High. All sizes, all colors. Another teen came up with the idea while shopping for her prom dress.
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MARISA WEST, BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND: Every girl deserves a prom. And I can't imagine not having a prom myself. So I figured out, you know, we're all the same. No matter where we live, we're all 17, 18- year-old girls who are going through similar things. And I wanted to help. I wanted to give them a chance to have the magic that I felt last year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And so the truck, loaded with those dresses, has just arrived in New Orleans. And our Gulf Coast correspondent Susan Roesgen is there for the unveiling -- Susan.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Fredricka, this is a teenage girl's dream. Now, I know that satin and silk and sequins aren't most people's idea of hurricane relief, but if you're a teenage girl and you need a dress to the big dance, this is a dream come true. Now, there's all kinds of styles, all kinds of colors, all sizes.
You've got to dress like this, it looks like something that maybe Princess Diana would have worn. And then a pretty lace dress with matching gloves. There are about 400 students in this school, all- girls school, and about 40 percent of them lost everything in their family homes in the flood. So in about an hour, the girls are going to come up here. Those who lost the most will come first. Eventually all the girls will come up, be able to go through the racks here, and choose a dress for the prom.
We'll be talking to some of those girls in the next hour, Fredricka. But I want to show you this. Some of the dresses are new. Some of them have been worn, and some of them came with notes from the people who sent them. This one says, "With love and wishes for a happy prom from three prom girls. Keep your spirits high, and God bless. Shannon, Jean and Andrea." All kinds of styles, all kinds of colors. Everything a girl would like to choose from. And again, we'll be talking to some of those girls in the next hour, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Oh, that is so great. I look forward to that. All right, thanks so much, Susan.
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WHITFIELD: So you don't need me to tell that you Iraq is an unsafe place to live and work for everyone. But it's rare that we can take you inside an insurgent attack while it's happening.
CNN's Brian Todd has this report, which first aired on "THE SITUATION ROOM."
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the driver's seat, a chilling look at the dangers of being a contract truck driver in Iraq. Watch the upper left of the windshield and what happens on that side of the screen. A bullet is about to go right through the glass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Goddamn!
TODD: September 20th, 2005. Canadian Lauren Bradshaw and about a dozen other drivers are moving near Baghdad. They have a U.S. Army escort, but are accidentally led down a dead-end road. On the way back out, an ambush.
Bradshaw, a driver for the American company Kellogg, Brown and Root, is told over the radio, keep moving. But his truck has stalled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am -- Truck 5 cannot move. Please help me!
TODD: The whole time, Bradshaw is videotaping the attack. His wife Joanne tells CNN, three other drivers were killed, three seriously injured.
JOANNE BRADSHAW, DRIVER'S WIFE: And he saw his friend being dragged out and stoned first. And then the guy is yelling, pleading for his life. And then he shot him in the back of the head.
TODD: But Joanne Bradshaw says U.S. Army troops got there in time to rescue Lauren. He was unhurt physically. His emotions are another story.
BRADSHAW: He's messed up right now. Everything has changed in him. His -- even his sense of humor is more -- I don't know cut and cold. Yes, he's changing.
TODD: Joanne Bradshaw tells us her husband is still seeing psychiatrists back in Iraq. Despite her pleas for him to stay home, he went back there after a short trip home for Christmas. She says money has nothing to do with it. He wants to fulfill his responsibilities. He was there about a year and a half before this incident occurred, and a couple of months earlier, his wife tells us, his truck got blown up by a roadside bomb. In that incident, she says, he was also rescued by the U.S. Army.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And join Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, and for the live primetime edition. That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Well, he is home, he is healing and he is hopeful to returning to the airwaves. ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff, who was seriously hurt on the job in Iraq. Doctors have released him from a private treatment facility in New York. Woodruff and his cameraman were injured when a roadside bomb went off near them in January.
The anchor wrote to his colleagues upon returning home saying, quote, "I have been moved beyond words by the letters, the cards and the genuine good wishes I have received from our viewers. They are a source of strength and a constant reminder of why I am putting all my effort toward getting back to work with you. For now, I'm a loyal viewer, proud to watch all of you do what you do best." Those words from Bob Woodruff. We all wish him a speedy recovery.
Well, talk about survival stories. An entire family has one to share after this avalanche in Utah. Hear their amazing stroke of luck when LIVE FROM returns.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After four consecutive years on the top of the Fortune 500 list, retail giant Wal-Mart is playing second fiddle to another giant. For more you can point your browsers to CNNMONEY.com to view a complete list of the 500 largest corporations in the U.S.
Texas oil giant ExxonMobil topped the list with revenues of nearly $340 billion. And for the first time, Internet giants Google, Yahoo!, and eBay all made the list this year.
Also, find out which companies made the list from each state. California heads the pack with 110 companies. But it's not all about the bottom line. According to "Fortune," 40 companies on the Fortune 500 list also ranked as the best companies to work for. Well-known companies like Microsoft, Nike and Starbucks rated high with employees.
That is all online at CNNMONEY.com/fortune500. I'm Veronica de la Cruz for the .com desk.
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WHITFIELD: A look now at the weather picture. Reynolds Wolf, hello.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: More of LIVE FROM right after this.
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WHITFIELD: So one of the things that makes the Masters Golf Tournament unique is the special attention it gives to amateur golfers. CNN's Larry Smith is standing by in Augusta with more on that. Larry?
LARRY SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Fredricka, here's how it comes full circle. In 1994, it was Jose Maria Olazabal. In 1995, Ben Crenshaw, who as Masters champion, kept his tradition and played the first two rounds of the Masters with U.S. amateur champion.
That young man's name, Tiger Woods. I think we know who he is now, don't we? Woods has gone on to win four green jackets and now is on the other side of that fence as he is playing the first two rounds in this year's tournament with this year's top amateur, Edoardo Molinari. He is the first Italian to win the U.S. amateur championship. The 25-year-old engineering student from the University of Turin is just a bit in awe of the man that he is playing next to, the man who is just five years his senior.
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EDOARDO MOLINARI, WON U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP: It was a great experience, really, the experience of a lifetime, I think. It was a lot of fun even if I didn't score too well. You have to expect him because of what he does for the game, what he has done for the game. It's been great. I mean, he's a -- I think he's the greatest player that has ever played golf. He's wonderful, I think.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Hard to believe Tiger, a legend at only 30-years-old. But Molinari now is holding his own against Tiger. They're out on the course right now. They each have -- both of them parred the first three holes in the tournament. So Molinari still eight over par for the tournament. Tiger is still even par for the tournament. Chad Campbell is your leader right now on the course at six under par. Let's go back to you.
WHITFIELD: And so what's the crowd been looking like out there? I know most folks come out for -- you know, once the weekend play begins, but how about today?
SMITH: You know, it's been a steady stream all day long. Anytime we run out to first tee box. And as you might imagine, Tiger was the big attraction. A lot of people, thousands following Tiger around. Chance of thunderstorms, as you heard there a few moments ago from Reynolds, this evening and even onto the morning here in Augusta. We saw some cloud cover now. The sun is kind of playing into the cloud at the moment. We'll see if the weather can hold off the rest of the day. Gorgeous day right now, hopefully it will continue over the weekend.
WHITFIELD: All right, Larry Smith, thanks so much. And speaking of weather, it is very severe and potentially very dangerous out there. Reynolds Wolf is in the Weather Center keeping track on things today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Whoopi Goldberg is going on a T.V. cop show. But Paula Abdul says she was a crime victim in real life. A.J. Hammer from "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" is standing by in New York with a look at entertainment news. Hi, A.J.
A.J. HAMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Fredricka. That's right, "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul is making headlines once again. Abdul filed a police report claiming she was assaulted at a private party over the weekend. Now she says she got into an argument with the man at the party. He grabbed her by the arm, according to her, and threw her against the wall. Well the Los Angeles police department is now investigating the assault. Since the alleged incident, Abdul has appeared on this week's "American Idol," resuming her role as a judge for the show.
If you're watching closely, you might have noticed that "American Idol" had a few big stars in its studio audience earlier in the week. Well among them, Whoopi Goldberg, who is in the midst of staging her return to the small screen. And we're happy to have her back. She's joining up with NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." Goldberg's going to play a foster mother gone bad, an evil character, as she puts it.
She'll appear in a number of episodes on the show. Goldberg's character is slated to appear for the very first time in May. I'll be going one-on-one with Whoopi tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT."
And just in case you think Steven Spielberg would be the last person to enter into the reality T.V. landscape, he is now on board with his own new show. The Academy Award-winning director is teaming up with reality T.V. guru Mark Burnett, you know him from "Survivor," among other shows. They're creating a show that's going to let people compete with each other for a studio deal. The contestants will have to produce one short film every week, and films will be shown before a studio audience and of course a panel of judges, that will include a movie executive, a film critic and guests.
Now coming up on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," Jesus sells. From "The Da Vinci Code" to "Narnia," why religion-based entertainment is so popular these days. We'll get into it tonight and investigate on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN "Headline Prime." A lot to talk about, Fredricka, with that subject.
WHITFIELD: Yes, we will be watching, A.J.
HAMMER: Have a good weekend.
WHITFIELD: You, too. Here we go, a LIVE FROM quiz for you. You have to watch closely now. Can you spot the now famous celebrity in the old T.V. clip we're about to show you? This is kind of tricky. But one of these high- kicking kids -- that one right there highlighted -- later went on to star in the hit sitcom "Laverne & Shirley." Yes, Penny Marshall. She made her debut on T.V. on the show "The Original Amateur Hour" back in 1956. And ahead on LIVE FROM, we'll talk about that show's influence on "American Idol." And we'll have that discussion with singer Pat Boone.
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