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Tropical Storm Ernesto; Comair Crash; Deadly Iraq; Ramsey Murder Case

Aired August 28, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.
Bracing for Ernesto. When, where and how strong will this storm be. LIVE FROM's Chad Myers is tracking the storm from the Hurricane Center.

One survivor, 49 dead, dozens of questions. What led the pilots to the wrong runway in Lexington, Kentucky.

Label the axis of evil, remember it as an ally of the west. Iran's former crowned prince discussing the nuke threat, the future generation and what life was like under his dad's rule. LIVE FROM starts right now.

Tracking Ernesto. Florida is one again on the edge. We want to get straight to the newsroom. Tony Harris has details on the developing story.

Hey, Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good to see you, Kyra. Let's get you started and your viewers of LIVE FROM started this afternoon with pictures out of Florida of people heeding the advice of the governor, heeding the advice of Chad Myers and gassing up ahead of the arrival of Ernesto. These are pictures from Pembroke Pines, Florida. Can tell you exactly where that is. That is a northwest suburb of Miami, Florida. Long gas lines there today.

And speaking of Chad, he is here still tracking the storm and he will have the latest information for you, Kyra, in just minutes.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sounds good. Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Sure thing.

PHILLIPS: Well, of all the worries air travelers face these days, taking off from the wrong runway hasn't been high on the list. But from all indications, that was the cause of yesterday's deadly Comair crash in Lexington, Kentucky, giving rise to the question, why? CNN's Jason Carroll has the latest from there.

Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still don't have an answer as to why, but we are getting some more details, Kyra. Just a short while ago, representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board were out here and they did give us an indication of exactly what happened yesterday. Apparently the tower did clear the Comair jet to take off just after 6:00 a.m. from runway 22. That is the longer of the runways that is out here. But instead, as we now know, the jet ended up taking off -- trying to take off from runway 26, the shorter runway.

Some of the possible factors that may have been or contributed to the cause of the crash, or at least some of the confusion that took place before, there is a report that just last week Bluegrass Airport changed the taxiing runway for the jets that come through here. So perhaps that added to some of the confusion for some of the pilots. The lights on the shorter runway were not operating. We just learned that from the press briefing that just ended just a short while ago. NTSB has reviewed the tapes from the control tower, as well as the cockpit voice recorder. They gave us a few details about exactly what they learned just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE HERSHMAN, NTSB: The pre-flight preparations in the cockpit were normal. No problems with the air worthiness of the aircraft were noted by the crew. Air traffic control and the flight crew planned for a takeoff from runway 22. As you know, the FDR and the evidence on scene indicate the crew took off from runway 26. And finally, the takeoff roll began and the aircraft continued to accelerate until the recording stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Fifty people on board that aircraft, only one survivor, the first officer Jim Polehinke. We spoke to a representative from the University of Kentucky Medical Center. He is still listed in critical condition. So, Kyra, investigators have not been able to talk to him because of his condition. Obviously there is still a lot more information that they're trying to get at. They're still in the process of transcribing the conversations from the cockpit voice recorder. They're expecting to have another briefing at 7:00 this evening. And hopefully, at that point, a little bit more information.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Do we know anything more about the air traffic controller, if indeed that person had strong communication with the pilot about the runway? Was it confusion on both parts, Jason?

CARROLL: Well, at this point, what we can tell you is that, again, there was a conversation, a plan to use the proper runway, runway 22. That was before takeoff. How long before takeoff, unclear at this point. There was also a question how many people were inside the air traffic control tower at that point early Sunday morning. Only one person, one person on duty, that is standard operation for this airport according to NTSB.

Question of whether or not the air traffic controller in any way had visual sight of the aircraft when it was attempting to take off on the wrong runway? Again, at this point unclear. They are still in the process of interviewing that air traffic controller. And, once again, maybe by this evening maybe a little bit more information as to what he had to say and what he can contribute to the investigate.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Jason.

Jason also brings us this story. A fairytale wedding ends in tragedy. Just hours after the ceremony, former University of Kentucky baseball player Jon Hooker was on Comair Flight 5191, along with his bride, Scarlett Parsely. The two had married the night before. They left the ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage, cheered on by 300 guests.

A small plane in a large pond. Four people had just departed Indianapolis for Hilton Head, South Carolina, when their singing engine aircraft ditched in a neighborhood pond. A bystander pulled the pilot and three passengers out of the water. All four are in the hospital.

Bracing for Ernesto. Florida is under a state of emergency as forecasters fear the season's fifth named storm could once again be a hurricane after it clears Cuba. And it's not just The Keys at risk. Ernesto's projected path would carry it across nearly the entire state of Florida. Governor Jeb Bush is warning everybody not to underestimate Ernesto.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH, FLORIDA: The message for today is for the people that are in the areas where there has been a hurricane watch is to get prepared, to implement your family preparedness plan, to know if you're asked to evacuate exactly where you'll go to make sure that you have the necessary supplies to live comfortably for 72 hours after the storm passes. It sounds like a broken record, but I can assure you that if families do that, if they fortify their homes and if they don't have to evacuate, if they can shelter in place and have the necessary food and water to be able to get through the first 72 hours, then the whole community will recover far faster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: When it slammed into Haiti yesterday, Ernesto was the season's first Atlantic hurricane. It's blamed there for at least one death. And today Ernesto came ashore on the southeast edge of Cuba bringing more heavy rains and flooding. Mudslides are also a worry in Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

Chad Myers tracking Ernesto from the CNN Weather Center.

Chad, what do you think?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kyra, the storm now is on land. It's on shore in Cuba. Very close to Guantanamo Bay. About 20 miles west of Guantanamo Bay. Now most of the convection is actually on the water. And you'd expect that because a hurricane, or any storm, tropical storm or depression, cannot develop when it's over land. It needs that warm water to get going and to sustain itself for that matter. That's why a hurricane will almost always begin to die off as soon as it hits land.

Well, the longer this is on Cuba, the better for Cuba and the better for the United States. This has its sights set right on south Florida. Right on Miami Dade if you draw the line. But we try not to focus on the line. We try to focus on the cone.

If this is going to stay over Cuba for a longer amount of time, I know they're going to get a lot of rain there, but it isn't going to intensify. If this thing was 30 miles off shore and it begins to intensify, then Cuba even gets it worse, but so does the storm get worse and so does it move up toward the Florida Keys.

And we talked about these spaghetti models all the time. Computer models. There's a bunch of them. They try to forecast or they try to understand where this thing is going by knowing the upper level winds, the lower level winds.

Well, here's what the spaghetti models from our guys at rightweather.com (ph) have for us today. Here's where the storm is. Up over Cuba and then, well, on shore there in Florida.

We always talk about garbage in garbage out with the computer model too. Look at this blue one. Way over here in the Gulf of Mexico headed to New Orleans. Well, guess what. They started the model in the wrong place. So that's not where the hurricane is right now or the tropical storm is. It's way over here. So if you put it in the wrong place to start with, it's going to end up in the wrong place to end with. So that's one of the problems we're seeing here. And you always have to be careful to see the end point to see where they started. To see if it was right.

The category one storm, though, making landfall sometime overnight Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. And category one means somewhere between 77 and 80 miles per hour. Right now that storm is only 40 miles per hour. There are hurricane watches from new Smyrna Beach, all the way down to Key West, and back up to Everglade City. So watch out if you're in south Florida.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Chad, thanks so much.

Well, now Katrina, one year later, and President Bush's 13th trip to the Gulf Coast since a storm that proved so damaging to him politically. Just a short time ago, the president touched down in Gulfport, Mississippi. Starting a two-day visit that will take him tonight to New Orleans. A recent poll found that two-thirds of Americans still disapprove of the way Mr. Bush handled the storm's aftermath.

Car bombings, sectarian killings, insurgent attacks, all part of the daily fabric of Iraq. One of the deadliest today involved Iraqi troops and forces loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. CNN's Michael Holmes is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Diwaniya is a Shia area about 160 kilometers south of Baghdad. It has been fairly quite recently, but certainly not in the last 24 hours. This is an area that is heavy with militia influence, especially the feared Mahdi militia. Now that's a group controlled by the radical Baghdad cleric Muqtada al- Sadr. Diwaniya something of a stronghold for him. His militia has been exerting its influence there.

Now how this all started is a bit confusing at the moment. It appears that one of the Mehdi militiamen was arrested over an alleged bombing and that prompted the militia to demand his release. When he wasn't released, attacks began on police. The Iraqi army then got involved.

It then turned into a pitch battle, which has raged and raged for hours. Last word from the defense ministry is that more troops are being sent in to help quell the violence, but they say that they are getting the city back under control. At least 61 people killed, 23 of them Iraqi soldiers, 38 of them allegedly militiamen.

Now also civilians, of course, have been caught up as well. Many of them killed and wounded. Dozens, in fact.

Now also more violence here in the capital, Baghdad. A large suicide car bomb detonated outside the interior ministry. Policemen were the target and many of them were, in fact, the victims. Eleven people dead. More than 60 wounded. Many of them civilians. This comes after a weekend where eight U.S. servicemen were killed in a variety of ways, roadside bombings, small arms fire and the activity of at least one sniper in one part of Baghdad.

So while the Iraqi government says that deaths are down this month because of the major security operation underway, Operation Together Forward, the last two days have seen well over 100 deaths in Iraq.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, foreign tourists are among those wounded in a series of deadly bomb attacks in Turkey. At least three people were killed, 18 wounded in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya today. In another attack, at least 10 British tourists were among 21 people wounded by three explosions in the coastal city of Marmaris. Police sources say the bombs were used in all of those attacks. No one has claimed responsibility for any of those.

Well, Kofi Annan in Lebanon. The U.S. secretary-general is in country for separate talks with government and Hezbollah leaders. The topic that Security Council resolution aimed at maintaining peace after the 34 day war between Israel and Hezbollah. While in Lebanon, Annan pushed for Hezbollah to turn over two kidnapped Israeli soldiers to the Red Cross. He's also calling on Israel to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon.

Christmas night 1996, and a midnight bus trip through Boulder, Colorado. This man says a fellow rider might have been John Karr, the suspect in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Interesting about that is that we have learned from a law enforcement source and have been reporting that a DNA sample was taken from John Karr while he was still in Thailand, but we've had no other confirmation about this, no comment on it from the D.A.'s office here or from his own lawyers or anybody else. So if, in fact, that sample has been taken, the public defender's office wants to get its hands on the result. As far as we know, no DNA sample has been taken from him so far in Boulder. The public defender has asked that a court order be entered before that take place.

Now as far as what's happening at 6:30 p.m. tonight Eastern Time, John Karr will make his first appearance. It should only last a few minutes. He will simply be advised of his rights because he has not yet been formally charged. So it should only take a few minutes.

But in the meantime, authorities here are still trying to gather evidence to try to prove that John Karr was in Boulder the night that JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in 1996. And over the weekend we spoke with one man who thinks he might be able to help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI, (voice over): Did this man see John Mark Karr in Boulder the night of JonBenet Ramsey's murder, December 26, 1996? Daniel Pride, who arguably has unusual theories of the world, says he thinks he might have seen Karr and told the story to a Boulder district attorney investigator last week.

DANIEL PRIDE, CLAIMS ENCOUNTER WITH KARR: In 1996, I was a software developer at U.S. West. A co-worker, James Mac Reed (ph), another forth dimension database designer, invited me to his house to have Christmas dinner with him and his family.

CANDIOTTI: Pride says after dinner he got dropped off at the Boulder bus terminal and at about 12:30 a.m. . . .

PRIDE: I came in -- the 12:30 arrived. I was trying to get a light for a cigarette. I was trying to bum a light from virtually everybody in the station and nobody in Boulder smokes. There's one -- I was afraid of missing this bus, as well. As I walked through the -- towards the bus, there's a crowd of people over here and this single lone figure standing there. And as I walked up to him with a cigarette, as I get closer, his eyes like sort of expanded. And as I walked over and how -- you know how sometimes you're in motion and, going, you got a light? And he goes, oh no.

CANDIOTTI: On the bus, Pride claims he kept an eye on the man. PRIDE: And I sit about halfway back on the right-hand side and he starts to do this over his shoulder with those eyes, you know, this. And has he catches my glaze he averts his. But he kept doing it every few - every 15 seconds or so for the first two stops of the bus with this sort of very panicked look.

CANDIOTTI: Pride says the man got off the bus after a few stops. Pride claims he made a half-hearted attempt to tell police his story a few years ago. He says he wrote about the alleged encounter on his website in 2002. "He was wearing a western fleece vest with a shiny red spot in the area just over his heart." After Karr's arrest in Thailand, Pride says he e-mailed the Boulder D.A.'s office several times and then call a Denver newspaper with his story.

He showed CNN this e-mail that appears to be from a Boulder D.A.'s investigator who asks Pride for a phone number. He says the investigator called him and Pride told him he was only 85 percent sure the man he saw was Karr. Pride claims the investigator told him he'd get back to him.

Pride admits he has credibility issues. He says he authors websites that suggest a Biblical connection to the Ramsey case. CNN measured the distance from the Ramsey's house to Boulder's downtown bus terminal, about a mile and a half. Police say the Ramsey's put their daughter to bed at about 10:00 p.m. Pride says he saw the man about an hour and a half later. A D.A. spokesman declined to comment on Pride's claims citing a court imposed gag order.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Now, did this encounter really take place? Well, as you know, the D.A.'s office is not commenting because of that gag order. But it does indicate this, that the authorities here have to talk to everybody who thinks they might have some information, whether they later go on to accept or reject it.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Be interesting to follow. Susan Candiotti, thank you.

Well, it's carving a path across the Caribbean and Florida may be next. Will Tropical Storm Ernesto be a hurricane again? Stay with CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Productivity and corporate profits have steadily increased in recent years, but average workers are being left out of the party. Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange with the details on a pretty disturbing trend.

Hey, Susan.

(MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, there are two runways at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, and it's more clear than ever that Comair flight 5191 tried to take off from the wrong one. Forty-nine people were killed when the plane crashed yesterday morning. The sole survivor, the copilot, remains in critical condition. The NTSB says that flight-data recorders reveal nothing unusual in the moments before takeoff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE HERSHMAN, NTSB: The preflight preparations in the cockpit were normal. No problems with the air worthiness of the aircraft were noted by the crew. Air-traffic control and the flight crew planned for a takeoff from runway two-two. As you know, the FDR and the evidence on scene indicates the crew took off from runway two-six.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That runway is used by private planes. It's way too short for commercial passenger jets.

And these Floridians are filling up, and not just their cars. They're taking gas home to run generators in case of blackouts. And what about the gas station? Well, about one in can run on generators, too.

No launch for Atlantis, not tomorrow anyway. With Ernesto approaching, NASA may even have to move the shuttle back inside the vehicle-assembly building. It'll make that call by tomorrow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, Katrina one year later, and President Bush's 13th trip to the Gulf Coast since the storm that proved so damaging to him politically. A short time ago, the president touched down in Gulfport, Mississippi, starting a two-day visit that will take him to New Orleans tonight. And a recent poll found that two-thirds of Americans still disapprove of the way Mr. Bush handled the storm's aftermath.

Well, remember those predictions about Katrina and the insurance industry? Well, the ones that said that Katrina-related claims would put the industry under, it didn't happen.

CNN's Ali Velshi reports, one year later, it's policyholders who are treading water.

When the Gulf of Mexico comes into your living room it's all done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the Gulf of Mexico comes into your living room, it's all gone.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cecil Tillman says his insurance agent told him he'd be covered if a hurricane hit. So when Katrina came ashore, bringing the Gulf of Mexico with it, he figured he was protected. Apparently not.

CECIL TILLMAN, KATRINA VICTIM: This is the window that blew out when Nationwide is saying that the surge of water got here before the hurricane winds.

VELSHI: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company says water, not wind caused most of the $43,000 in damage to Tillman's home.

TILLMAN: Nationwide I think gave me $4,600.

VELSHI: $4,600 for wind damage. Nationwide told Tillman the water damage wasn't covered under his policy. Like Tillman, 1.7 million homeowners filed property insurance claims after Katrina, more than $40 billion in property damage payouts made the hurricane the most costly disaster in U.S. history. But the cost to homeowners is greater.

(on camera): So was this damage caused by wind or water or both, well to the homeowners they say they thought they had hurricane coverage and that the question is just a technicality. But the insurance companies say the question is all that matters.

(voice-over): We wanted to ask Nationwide about Tillman's case, but the firm wouldn't comment. So we went to the Insurance Information Institute, the industry's public relations arm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homeowners insurance policies have never covered for flood and since 1968, 38 years ago, the federal government established the national flood insurance program so people throughout areas affected by hurricanes, or river or lake flooding can in fact buy flood coverage.

VELSHI: But if this fact was widely known, Katrina proved it wasn't well understood. And Mississippi lawyer Richard "Dicky" Scruggs says the insurance companies are profiting by claiming that water damage from a hurricane isn't part of the hurricane.

RICHARD "DICKY" SCRUGGS, MISSISSIPPI LAWYER: The policies themselves are very difficult to interpret. They don't use words like "storm surge", they don't even have the word "hurricane" in most of them. They call it wind storm. You know, what the heck is that, that can be anything.

VELSHI: Scruggs says he represents more than 3,000 Mississippi hurricane victims against five insurance companies. Jointly they reported profits of more than $12 billion last year. Despite the record policy payouts, 2005 was the insurance industry's most profitable year ever. But it wasn't a profitable year for Cecil Tillman.

TILLMAN: I was reading in the paper where if each individual case is heard separately that it could take 60 years. Of course, I won't be here to see it, but I'm going to let it run its course.

VELSHI: A course, he hopes, that doesn't have any hurricanes in it.

Ali Velshi, CNN on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, Katrina then and now. Send us your personal photos of your in the days after Katrina and your home now, one year later. Just go to CNN.com and click in iReport, or type in iReport@cnn.com on your cell phone and share your pictures or video with us.

Well, a Hurricane Katrina survivor one year later. We're going touch base again with the man who told us his tragic story as the disaster unfolded. You probably remember the Hardy family. That's straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a year ago tomorrow, we first heard the story of Hardy Jackson of Biloxi, Mississippi. And if you watched it unfold as we did, you haven't forgotten. A desperate Jackson spoke with a news reporter after his wife was swept away by the waters of Hurricane Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARDY JACKSON, HURRICANE KATRINA SURVIVOR: I hold her hand as tight as I could, and she told me, you can't hold me. She said take care of the kids and the grandkids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your wife's name, in case we can put this out there?

JACKSON: Tony Jackson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Mrs. Jackson was never seen again, and weeks later, her family moved to Georgia, where they still are today. Hardy Jackson again joins us.

Well, I tell you what, you and I have talked a number of times, and it doesn't seem to get much easier, does it?

JACKSON: No.

PHILLIPS: But there have been some little miracles within all of this. Your home..

JACKSON: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

PHILLIPS: Your home was definitely -- remind our viewers how that happened, how you were given a home here.

JACKSON: Well, Mr. Frankie Beverly..

PHILLIPS: The singer...

JACKSON: He got in contact with my sister. You know, they had everything already started (INAUDIBLE) between us. You know, he talked to me and stuff, asked me, you know, how can I -- how can he help me and the kids? You know, he said just name it, you know, financial or -- you know, he said I can leave it up to you. Just name what I can do to help you. And I said I would like to get somewhere to stay, a home or something, for me and the kids and grandkids. And he came through.

PHILLIPS: He sure did. He sure did.

JACKSON: He came through.

PHILLIPS: And you have a beautiful home. And tell me about the kids and the grandkids. They're in school, right?

JACKSON: They're in school, right.

PHILLIPS: The ones -- and how are they adjusting to school?

JACKSON: Oh, they're adjusting to school real good.

PHILLIPS: They like it?

JACKSON: Oh, yes, real good.

PHILLIPS: Are they making a lot of good friends?

JACKSON: Plenty of friends, plenty of friends.

PHILLIPS: And how are you doing caring for the little ones while the older ones are in school? What's been the most challenging part of it? Let me ask you that. Because you've always had a pretty big family, but you're the man in charge now. You promised your wife you would look after them.

JACKSON: Yes, that's right.

PHILLIPS: What do you think has been the toughest part?

JACKSON: Trying to survive for them. You know...

PHILLIPS: Staying strong for them?

JACKSON: Yes. And it's not easy. It might seem easy to some people, you know, but it's not. You know, I still -- it still pains (INAUDIBLE), and I think about my wife all the time. I think, you know, that -- sometimes I feel less than a man because I couldn't save my wife. Everything that I tried to do to save her, I failed.

PHILLIPS: But you didn't fail. You were right there, you were holding on to her -- don't worry about that. I know that's an IFB (ph) and that's so you can hear video, but don't worry about that. I don't want you to worry about that. Why do you feel that way? I mean, you were there, you held on to her. Those waters were rushing. I mean, you did everything you could to not let her go.

JACKSON: Well, 28 years ago, I told my wife before we even -- before we got married, you know, I said, if I married her, we married, I said I'm going to be there for you to protect you. I'm going to be everything for you. You know, I'm a man, you know.

PHILLIPS: Don't you think that you have showed that you are more of a man now than ever before, the way you're caring for that family? You've got to know that.

JACKSON: Just don't feel -- you know, I just don't that way. You know, really I don't. I feel like I'm a low -- you know. It feels -- it just...

PHILLIPS: Those kids need you. Every time you look at your kids, you look at your grandkids, you realize how important you are to them. I mean, the way that they embrace you and they come to you, they look forward to seeing you every day.

JACKSON: Oh, right.

PHILLIPS: Does that inspire you? Does that keep you strong?

JACKSON: Yes, it keeps me strong. You know, I look on the other side of me -- you know, my wife is supposed to be there, too. Everything we did together. You know. If we leave to go to the store, we go together. See what I'm talking about? Everything we did together.

PHILLIPS: Do you talk to her? Do you find yourself talking to her? Do you feel her?

JACKSON: I cry more than I talk, you know. Especially this morning, You know, I know this morning I couldn't sleep. I said at this time, we were home by ourself because I've got the kids inside and stuff, you know. We was just going to ride out the hurricane, you know. And especially this morning, you know, about 6:00, that's when everything really started happening. You know, and I remember, you know, getting up and stuff and telling her that, you know, we've got to do (INAUDIBLE) because it's getting out there. And she was sitting at the table drinking her coffee. And so I looked out at the kitchen, you know, towards the Bay, towards the casino and stuff, and I looked back at my wife, and I said, oh, Lord have mercy.

PHILLIPS: You knew it was going to be bad?

JACKSON: Yes, but I saw it coming. (INAUDIBLE) I said I know perhaps it's supposed to be (INAUDIBLE), broke daylight a little bit, and I looked again, you know, half had gone to the bay. And I told her then, I said, we got to get out of here. So we ran to the front door and opened the front door -- I'm glad I did open the front door. You know, I lift the blind and peep out...

PHILLIPS: ... and saw the water.

JACKSON: We saw it coming. We were trapped. PHILLIPS: And I know you're never going to forget that, and you just learn how to deal with it. It never gets any easier.

JACKSON: No, it doesn't.

PHILLIPS: I know it's -- but looking forward just now in your home and your kids, you know, my final question is what do you hope for the family? I mean, the kids are in school.

JACKSON: Yes, at school.

PHILLIPS: And you're together as a family. You're never going to forget your wife.

JACKSON: Oh, no.

PHILLIPS: And the kids are going to remember their mom as a very strong partner to you. What do you hope from this day forward? Just finish school? And what do you want for those kids and those grandkids?

JACKSON: I want them kids, you know -- I want the same thing that their mama wanted, them to finish school, you know, help their daddy.

PHILLIPS: That's right, time for them to take care of you.

JACKSON: Right. You know, I ain't getting no younger. I've got a birthday coming this month.

PHILLIPS: How old are you going to be on your birthday?

JACKSON: Fifty-four.

PHILLIPS: Fifty-four. You are so young.

JACKSON: It don't feel it.

PHILLIPS: I know it probably doesn't feel that way.

JACKSON: Oh, no.

PHILLIPS: I know.

JACKSON: And I'm going to -- you know, put a close to everything. You know, that's a big help. It will ease the pain a little, you know? You know, putting closure to something or have a ceremony or something. You know, have a night then. We just left it there, came up here and just like, we left here down there. That's the way I feel, you know? I feel much better, and the kids feel better too.

PHILLIPS: And that may soon come. Even now we're seeing in New Orleans that people are finally getting notice of their loved ones, even a year later. It's a shame, but that closure will come. I think it's just a matter of time for you. But tonight when everybody's home and the kids get home from school, do something special. All four hands around that table and realize it's going to be all right, OK?

JACKSON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And you're going to keep visiting with us and updating us on the progress, OK?

JACKSON: Yes, I said it last time. I'm going to keep in touch with you all. I've had so much on my mind and feeling sorry for myself.

PHILLIPS: Don't feel sorry for yourself, you're doing everything you can Hardy Jackson, all right? Thanks for being with me, I appreciate it.

JACKSON: OK.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well Katrina one year later, the recovery then and now. LIVE FROM has all the news makers and the commander of the first U.S. Army, Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He's going to join me live. Also the commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen and musician Branford Marsalis. Those interviews are coming up tomorrow right here on LIVE FROM, 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Well two weeks of drama with a mercifully happy ending. We're going to take you to the emotional reunion as two kidnapped journalists surface in Gaza. That story, coming up on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it could have ended horribly, but FOX journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig turned up safe and sound yesterday at a hotel in Gaza. That was two weeks after they were snatched by a group calling itself the holy Jihad brigade. The pair say that they're grateful to be free and still committed to the Gaza story.

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STEVE CENTANNI, FOX NEWS JOURNALIST: I just hope this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover this story because the Palestinian people are very beautiful, kind-hearted, loving people who the world need to know more about. And so do not be discouraged, come and tell the story, it's a wonderful story. And I'm just happy to be here and thanks again for all your support.

OLAF WIIG, FOX NEWS CAMERAMAN: I just want to add something briefly. I was -- my biggest concern really is that as a result of what happened to us, foreign journalists will be discouraged from coming here to tell the story, and that would be a great tragedy for the people of Palestine and especially for the people of Gaza.

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PHILLIPS: Well the Palestinian interior minister says that a promise has been made, though it's not clear by whom, that similar abductions won't happen again. A failed takeoff, 49 people dead, a heroic effort to save the sole survivor. Why did the doomed Comair jet use the wrong runway? The latest on that crash probe coming up on LIVE FROM.

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