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CNN Live Today
Update on Holiday Travel; Ukraine Election Crisis
Aired November 24, 2004 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's what's happening right "Now in the News."
Demonstrators were packed into Independent Square in Kiev waiting for final results from Ukraine's disputed presidential election. The opposition candidate calls the election fraudulent, but he promises there will be no violence from the demonstrators. We are going to have a live report from Ukraine in about 20 minutes.
And the military says two U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded today in Afghanistan. A bomb exploded while the soldiers were on patrol. The wounded soldier was taken to a nearby medical facility where he's said to be in stable condition.
And stormy weather spawns deadly tornadoes from Texas to Mississippi. One person was killed and three were injured in Texas. Several homes were also destroyed. As the storms moved east, they spun off tornadoes in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, killing two more people.
And parts of central Alabama were also hit by severe weather early today. A possible tornado injured several people in a rural community about 20 miles west of Montgomery. No word on the extent of the injuries. The storm damaged homes and knocked down power lines across a wide area.
It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, and 8:00 a.m. out West. I'm Carol Lin in Atlanta, barely squeaking out my voice today -- Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: You're doing a fine job, you trooper, you.
LIN: I'm hanging in there.
SANCHEZ: In New York City, I'm Rick Sanchez. And here we go.
Up first this hour, millions on the move, braving bad weather, heightened airport security, not to mention heightened tensions in some places. As the holiday travel season takes off, this could be the busiest Thanksgiving ever for air travel. The Air Transport Association expects more than 16 million people to fly during this holiday period.
Well, more than 37 million Americans are expected to be on the roads as well this Thanksgiving. And the Automobile Association of America is predicting a 3 percent increase over last year. That is despite the fact that gas prices are higher than a year ago and that nasty weather could cause some travel headaches in some areas. So key word, be careful.
We are going to keep you updated on our holiday travel throughout the hour. Our Deborah Feyerick is at New York's LaGuardia Airport.
Travelocity's Rally Caparas is in Atlanta. He's tracking air travel delays for us.
And CNN's Chris Lawrence is reporting on highway travel as well. He is in Schiller Park, Illinois. That's just outside of Chicago.
But before we get to most of these, let's go over to Orelon Sidney and find out what's going on with the weather as well.
Orelon, how are things?
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Rick, thanks a lot.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: All right, Orelon. Thanks again.
You know what we're going to do for you now? We're going to show you a couple different places in the country, as we will throughout our coverage throughout the day.
Let's start in Reagan International Airport -- or Reagan National, I should say. This is Washington, D.C., of course. It's a shot that we have inside one of the areas inside the airport there. And as you can see, no reason to think that things are uncontrollable there. Everyone being calm, getting to their flights.
Let's go to Kansas City now. Traffic on interstate is what we're seeing there. And you're also seeing something else, aren't you? Yes, that's right, that is snow on the ground in the Kansas City area, as you might see in some other parts of the Midwest on this day.
Now, Los Angeles traffic patterns there that we will follow throughout the day, this is one of the first shots we're getting. As you can see, it's a little backed up on one of the exit ramps. But for the most part, on the main ramp, the traffic does seem to be flowing.
That's the latest on that, Carol. Back over to you in Atlanta.
LIN: Yes, Rick. It looks like that's the traffic into LAX as folks are heading out of LA, that gorgeous weather for the holiday.
Back here in the East Coast, well, a lot of the nation's airports are already jammed with travelers taking to the skies for the Thanksgiving holiday. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is at New York's LaGuardia with a look at how things are going there.
Deb, are those travelers hanging in there?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Travelers are definitely handling it pretty well, actually. And the people that we're speaking to are surprised at just how well things are actually going.
People are making it to the check-in counters. The lines really aren't so bad. No long wait as far as we've been watching. People have just been going to where they're getting.
Here, where people are going through the screening, really no long waits there. A huge sense of surprise that it is going so smoothly. Still, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving if you didn't have at least a little holiday stress.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice over): When it comes to holiday travel, the only guarantee is there are no guarantees. Just ask Mr. and Mrs. Black. Each are taking extra days off work.
NAARA BLACK, AIR TRAVELER: The last time we flew back, the whole day was pushed to the next traveling day. So just in case.
FEYERICK: The Waldmoes from northern Virginia learned what waiting around feels like.
ANGELA WALDMOE, AIR TRAVELER: We started at 5:30 this morning at United Airways, and we were supposed to go in to Charlotte, North Carolina. And then we were going to go to the Virgin Islands. But all of that got backed up because the Norfolk International Airport lost fuel.
FEYERICK: Excuse me, what?
TODD WALDMOE, AIR TRAVELER: None of the airlines in Norfolk had any fuel. Imagine that. I think a guy was on vacation and somehow they missed a fuel status report or whatever, and they had no fuel.
FEYERICK: The Norfolk Airport confirmed airlines there did run out. A spokesperson saying it's never happened before. Back in New York, college senior Chris Petrosino was busy strategizing how to make a challenging day a little less challenging.
CHRIS PETROSINO, AIR TRAVELER: Well, I'm here three hours early. My flight isn't until 3:00. So I was dreading the rush. But I guess I beat it.
FEYERICK: Though Kansas resident Pat Bolin and his daughter, Daisy, made it to New York OK, Mrs. Bolin wasn't as lucky.
PAT BOLIN, AIR TRAVELER: My wife's flight comes in three hours late, so we're going to be spending a little time here at the airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now, one of the most interesting things that we're noting here is that people are really leaving four and five hours earlier than they normally have in past Thanksgiving holidays. They're willing to wait it out at the airport, rather than have to deal with long lines or rather than have to deal with traffic anywhere along the route getting to the airport.
So passengers are having a big effect because they're taking their time, they're taking it a little easier, and there's definitely been a cut-down on stress. As a matter of fact, we've only seen about a dozen people sprinting to the gates, and that's a pretty low number for this kind of holiday -- Carol.
LIN: Well, Deb, they might be sprinting after their toddlers. You never know, if people are getting there so early. The kids have to do something in those terminals, huh?
FEYERICK: There's no question about it. It's hilarious to see one little kid go shooting by and then the mother a couple of seconds behind. So we're keeping an eye on that, too.
LIN: You bet. All right. The families traveling, hitting the road and the skies. Thanks very much, Deb.
Well, if you want to see something really cool to get an idea of how many flight delays there are and exactly where they are, Rally Caparas of Travelocity Business has this really cool map that he's been bringing up for us.
Hey, Rally.
RALLY CAPARAS, TRAVELOCITY BUSINESS: Hi, Carol. Yes, it is very cool. And I'm able to delineate between airplanes that are traveling on time and airplanes that are already being delayed by the FAA.
This is FlightExplorer.com behind me, and on that we're looking at 5,692 airplanes that are traversing the United States' airspace at this very moment. And the darker or red airplanes that you see, they've already been issued delays by the FAA.
Some of these airplanes are headed to New York, some down into south Florida. Because they're trying to manage the volume, there will be many, many more red airplanes in the skies as we talk throughout the rest of the day, and here's where.
At Boston's Logan Airport this morning, you're seeing blue -- blue airplanes there, meaning delay-free. However, that will change to red later this afternoon, right around 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, to the tune of 60 to 90-minute arrival delays. Low clouds, rain and poor visibility getting there.
LaGuardia, what you heard just a moment ago, that everything's operating smooth and on time, everything's nice and easy, well, they just implemented a ground delay program. So if you're departing out of LaGuardia, yes, it's nice and easy. But if you're headed to LaGuardia, you can expect a one to two-hour arrival delay already, as you an expect that Philadelphia and Newark, JFK, also, once we get into the p.m., with the volume, the rain, and poor visibility finally getting into that region.
Down south, further, D.C. metros and Charlotte, expect 60 to 90- minute arrival delays. Low clouds, fog, poor visibility, and then very heavy rain moves in, along with the heavy p.m. volume. And those delays will linger into the late evening hours.
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh airports, Atlanta is in a departure stop -- not actually a stop, but they are delaying all departures by 60 to 90 minutes now. Arrivals are being delayed 60 to 90 minutes already. They're part of the red airplanes you just saw a few moments ago.
Detroit, Cleveland and the rest of the airports in the eastern Great Lakes regions, you will suffer delays. There's significant weather, as Orelon told you, going to popping up there just in the next few hours.
And then, finally, Chicago O'Hare Airport, downgraded it from two to three. It looks like it's going to be more like one to two-hour arrival delays. Low clouds, fog, some rain. You could see a little bit of snow.
But the big story there will be the strong gusting winds of about 25 to 30 knots. Once the nasty weather moves out the winds move in, and at Chicago O'Hare, because of their parallel runway configuration, they'll have to reduce the airplanes, or at least how many land per hour. Hence, you'll have one to two-hour delays.
The rest of the country, beautiful day everywhere else. I'll talk to you in about an hour.
LIN: All right. And you never know. Things might change. Thanks, Rally.
CAPARAS: Sure.
LIN: Rick.
SANCHEZ: All right. Let's see how things are shaping up on the roads, for those who choose to drive or take a bus. CNN's Chris Lawrence is at the stop along Interstate 294. He's in Schiller Park, and that's just outside Chicago, right, Chris?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rick. We're just a stone's throw from O'Hare Airport, where all those backups are already starting to -- going to be piling up sometime this afternoon.
We're here at the O'Hare Oasis, one of the rest stops that a lot of people are going to be stopping by over the next few days as they make their way in and around some of the roadways across the country. This is a -- obviously a very new idea in rest stops. Kind of a different change from what we've been seeing.
In all, we're going to have about 30 million people on the road so far this year. Kris Lathan is joining me now from AAA to kind of put that in perspective.
Thirty million people on the roads?
KRIS LATHAN, AAA: Yes. AAA, we're calling this a milestone for Thanksgiving holiday travel simply because not since September 11 have we seen the volume of travelers reach these levels. So it was Thanksgiving 2000 the last time that we saw this many people saying that they were going to travel from home on Thanksgiving.
LAWRENCE: And Kris, how does that break down geographically? Will there be more travelers in certain parts of the country?
LATHAN: Well, yes. And the way that we look at it, we break up the country into five geographic regions.
Look at the Southeast, the West, Midwest, Great Lakes. The vast majority of auto travelers will be originating out of the Great Lakes- Midwest area. It's about 13 million travelers.
LAWRENCE: Lightest area of travel?
LATHAN: Probably around the Southeast is probably where you'll see some of the lighter numbers. But again, the numbers are very high across the board. So that's all relative.
LAWRENCE: All right. Kris Lathan from AAA, thank you very much.
And as we take a look now, as we head outside again for a live look at some of the traffic, this is typically a day when people kind of get a jump on some of that holiday travel. Maybe taking off work a little bit early, starting to get the holiday rush going.
By this afternoon we expect it to be in full force. And ironically, even though we're talking about a high number of travelers, we're going to be paying more in gas than at any other Thanksgiving ever.
Right now, the national average is about $1.97 a gallon. That's down about 6 cents from where it was two weeks ago. But it's up 47 cents from where -- what we were paying this time last year. And, of course, the experts' advice is, this time of year, no matter if you're on the road or on a plane, you've got to have a lot of patience out there -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Chris Lawrence checking things out for us there on the roads. And we thank you, Chris.
Well, before you leave home, make sure you check out cnn.com/travel for the very latest on today's travel and weather picture. In fact, while you're there, you can also pick up some holiday travel tips to get you through this very busy day.
Now, a very serious situation is still developing in the Ukraine. We're going to be monitoring this for you throughout the day. It could possibly reach the boiling point.
Here's what's going on. And I think we have some pictures that goes along with this.
Thousand of protesters. An election is in question. And the threat of civil war is hanging in the balance. We're there live. We've got it -- we're going to have it covered for you. LIN: Also, Rick, here at home, is Donald Rumsfeld the one holding up intelligence reform? Well, he says absolutely not. We've got the very latest from the Pentagon just ahead.
And later, another holiday travel update and a look at how airport security might impact your plans. CNN LIVE TODAY is coming right back.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: We're still keeping an eye on the situation in Iraq, which remains very violent. U.S. and British and Iraqi troops are fanning out now south of Baghdad in a crackdown on insurgents and common criminals. The U.S. says the operation called Plymouth Rock includes precision raids and house-to-house serves in the area dubbed the Triangle of Death. The military believes many of the insurgents in the region fled Falluja well before the crackdown there.
SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of people are jamming the main square in Kiev today to protest the presidential election in the Ukraine. The reform-minded opposition candidate -- that's Viktor Yushchenko -- is charging the vote was rigged and says he should be Ukraine's next president. By the way, he has the support of the U.S.
The prime minister, Viktor Yanukovych, is running with the support of the government apparatus, and he's leading the official vote count up to now. He's supported by the Russians. The opposition and western election observers say the vote was fraudulent. Yushchenko says he's not opposed to redoing the election.
This thing gets so confusing. And CNN's Jill Dougherty is live there in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev as she tries to put this all together for us.
Set the scene for us, if you would, Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Exactly, Rick. Well, setting the scene, you've got very, very large demonstrations in the center of Kiev. That's the capital of Ukraine. And these are the people who support the opposition candidate, Mr. Yushchenko, the western-leaning candidate.
And they've been out there in the cold and the snow now for three days demonstrating almost day and night. There have been demonstrations across this city.
And right now what's unfolding is one of the most dramatic moments. Because bear in mind that when that election happened on Sunday, the Central Election Commission came out and said that the government-backed candidate was winning by three points, but they never actually said who finally won.
So the Central Election Committee right now is meeting, and we are expecting that they're going to come out with some type of decision. However, it's turning into a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
We were just watching it on TV. The session is a screaming match at one point between lawyers and people who don't agree with each other.
So one thing, also, this afternoon we were able to sit down with the opposition candidate. By the way, Mr. Yushchenko does have an American wife, interestingly. And we sat down with him at his headquarters, and he said he hopes that the Central Election Committee will have, as he put it, "the courage to say that they don't agree with the results," and that maybe in some cases they would annul them or perhaps even hold new elections.
So it's a very tense situation. Luckily, so far, everything has been very peaceful. We've even had almost flower power, with some young people putting flowers in the shields of the police who have riot dress, and they're out there on the streets.
Very peaceful. But you know things can change with that many people on the street.
SANCHEZ: Yes, and I'm going through my notes here, Jill, and I find this quote. I know you talked to Yushchenko. He said, "Parliament will give the answer, or the street will give the answer."
That almost sounds like a threat.
DOUGHERTY: Well, you know it does. But I asked him about that just a couple of hours ago, and he said, "We're not threatening. We are not going to take any type of violent action." And he also said that, as far as he knows, the military and the police are not trying to do that either.
But there is a threat of civil disobedience. And that's been part of what he's been doing.
He's saying, if you can't do it through the parliament, if you can't do it through the courts, then you ultimately might have to take people power action on the streets. He's using a combination of both. But the first he would prefer would be legal action. Maybe, as I said, maybe even holding new elections.
SANCHEZ: You know what's interesting for us as Americans, as we look at this from over there, I guess to put it in simple terms for our viewers, the guy who's losing right now has the support of President Bush. The guy who's winning right now has the support of President Vladimir Putin.
That's an interesting scenario, isn't it? Do we know if our -- if our leaders have contacted the Russians to see if they can possibly step in to this thing and find some amicable solution?
DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, every side -- each side is now trying to have some type of influence and try to have this end peacefully. But, you know, if you were talking to the Bush administration, they would say, we don't really support the opposition candidate. We support free elections.
And that's the really important thing. You know, we've been on the streets, talking to these people. I talked to a man this morning who had a three-day-growth beard. And he's from another city, way in the west of Ukraine.
And I said, "Why are you here, camping out at relatives?" And he said, "You know, there are two things that are important to me, my family and Ukraine. And I'm here to protect my vote."
And so when you get dedication like that, regardless of which side of the fence they're on, that's an amazing thing. To them, elections are really important.
SANCHEZ: Jill Dougherty, right there in the middle of things in Kiev, monitoring this still developing story for us. And obviously, Jill, as soon as you get the word, we'll get the word to our viewers as to what decision or certification takes place with this controversial election. Thank you once again.
Carol, back over to you in Atlanta.
LIN: Well, Rick, I know you saw the action over the weekend, the basket brawl we were covering. Well, the player at the center of that brawl still has a lot of fans, but up next, find out why they're standing behind Ron Artest.
And meet one guy who definitely is not a fan anymore. How many ways to spell lawsuit?
And say cheese. What more is there to say about the grilled cheese sandwich with the supposed image of the Virgin Mary on it? Well, Jeanne Moos has already covered the story, but she has a follow up next
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Well, in the NBA, Pacers fans in Indianapolis turned out to show their support for suspended player Ron Artest when he appeared yesterday at a local radio station. Artest has been banned from playing for the rest of the season for his role in Friday's brawl with Pistons fans. There he's signing a chest.
Well, one of those fans, John Green, denies hitting Artest with a plastic drinking cup, but says Artest deserves to be suspended for what followed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN GREEN, ACCUSED OF THROWING CUP: A cup hitting somebody I don't think should be -- you know, constitute somebody going on a rampage and beating people and -- you know, the guy -- the guy's a thug. So he's going to pay the price of what happens to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Well, two spectators are suing Artest and two other Pacers' players, claiming they were injured in the melee.
Rick, what can you say after a picture like that? You know?
SANCHEZ: What's that?
LIN: I mean, a lot of people blame that guy for throwing the cup and starting the whole thing. So...
SANCHEZ: And he's saying it's the other guy's fault.
LIN: Yes, isn't it always?
SANCHEZ: Exactly.
LIN: Anyway...
SANCHEZ: As for you, I was going to say, a little hot lemon, little hot water, some lemon, goes a long way.
LIN: Yes. Well, you know, they're terrified I'm going to call in sick tomorrow. And I am the only person here tomorrow night at CNN on live television. So I think we're going to try to preserve the voice and other people's holidays.
SANCHEZ: All right, Carol. You go spend some time with your family. Enjoy them.
LIN: Thanks, Rick.
SANCHEZ: And we'll try to hold down the fort here for the next...
LIN: You bet.
SANCHEZ: Up next, another holiday travel update. Plus, the big question of airport security. How's it going to affect your travel plans? Well, it's our task to help you through it.
We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired November 24, 2004 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's what's happening right "Now in the News."
Demonstrators were packed into Independent Square in Kiev waiting for final results from Ukraine's disputed presidential election. The opposition candidate calls the election fraudulent, but he promises there will be no violence from the demonstrators. We are going to have a live report from Ukraine in about 20 minutes.
And the military says two U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded today in Afghanistan. A bomb exploded while the soldiers were on patrol. The wounded soldier was taken to a nearby medical facility where he's said to be in stable condition.
And stormy weather spawns deadly tornadoes from Texas to Mississippi. One person was killed and three were injured in Texas. Several homes were also destroyed. As the storms moved east, they spun off tornadoes in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, killing two more people.
And parts of central Alabama were also hit by severe weather early today. A possible tornado injured several people in a rural community about 20 miles west of Montgomery. No word on the extent of the injuries. The storm damaged homes and knocked down power lines across a wide area.
It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, and 8:00 a.m. out West. I'm Carol Lin in Atlanta, barely squeaking out my voice today -- Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: You're doing a fine job, you trooper, you.
LIN: I'm hanging in there.
SANCHEZ: In New York City, I'm Rick Sanchez. And here we go.
Up first this hour, millions on the move, braving bad weather, heightened airport security, not to mention heightened tensions in some places. As the holiday travel season takes off, this could be the busiest Thanksgiving ever for air travel. The Air Transport Association expects more than 16 million people to fly during this holiday period.
Well, more than 37 million Americans are expected to be on the roads as well this Thanksgiving. And the Automobile Association of America is predicting a 3 percent increase over last year. That is despite the fact that gas prices are higher than a year ago and that nasty weather could cause some travel headaches in some areas. So key word, be careful.
We are going to keep you updated on our holiday travel throughout the hour. Our Deborah Feyerick is at New York's LaGuardia Airport.
Travelocity's Rally Caparas is in Atlanta. He's tracking air travel delays for us.
And CNN's Chris Lawrence is reporting on highway travel as well. He is in Schiller Park, Illinois. That's just outside of Chicago.
But before we get to most of these, let's go over to Orelon Sidney and find out what's going on with the weather as well.
Orelon, how are things?
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Rick, thanks a lot.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: All right, Orelon. Thanks again.
You know what we're going to do for you now? We're going to show you a couple different places in the country, as we will throughout our coverage throughout the day.
Let's start in Reagan International Airport -- or Reagan National, I should say. This is Washington, D.C., of course. It's a shot that we have inside one of the areas inside the airport there. And as you can see, no reason to think that things are uncontrollable there. Everyone being calm, getting to their flights.
Let's go to Kansas City now. Traffic on interstate is what we're seeing there. And you're also seeing something else, aren't you? Yes, that's right, that is snow on the ground in the Kansas City area, as you might see in some other parts of the Midwest on this day.
Now, Los Angeles traffic patterns there that we will follow throughout the day, this is one of the first shots we're getting. As you can see, it's a little backed up on one of the exit ramps. But for the most part, on the main ramp, the traffic does seem to be flowing.
That's the latest on that, Carol. Back over to you in Atlanta.
LIN: Yes, Rick. It looks like that's the traffic into LAX as folks are heading out of LA, that gorgeous weather for the holiday.
Back here in the East Coast, well, a lot of the nation's airports are already jammed with travelers taking to the skies for the Thanksgiving holiday. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is at New York's LaGuardia with a look at how things are going there.
Deb, are those travelers hanging in there?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Travelers are definitely handling it pretty well, actually. And the people that we're speaking to are surprised at just how well things are actually going.
People are making it to the check-in counters. The lines really aren't so bad. No long wait as far as we've been watching. People have just been going to where they're getting.
Here, where people are going through the screening, really no long waits there. A huge sense of surprise that it is going so smoothly. Still, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving if you didn't have at least a little holiday stress.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice over): When it comes to holiday travel, the only guarantee is there are no guarantees. Just ask Mr. and Mrs. Black. Each are taking extra days off work.
NAARA BLACK, AIR TRAVELER: The last time we flew back, the whole day was pushed to the next traveling day. So just in case.
FEYERICK: The Waldmoes from northern Virginia learned what waiting around feels like.
ANGELA WALDMOE, AIR TRAVELER: We started at 5:30 this morning at United Airways, and we were supposed to go in to Charlotte, North Carolina. And then we were going to go to the Virgin Islands. But all of that got backed up because the Norfolk International Airport lost fuel.
FEYERICK: Excuse me, what?
TODD WALDMOE, AIR TRAVELER: None of the airlines in Norfolk had any fuel. Imagine that. I think a guy was on vacation and somehow they missed a fuel status report or whatever, and they had no fuel.
FEYERICK: The Norfolk Airport confirmed airlines there did run out. A spokesperson saying it's never happened before. Back in New York, college senior Chris Petrosino was busy strategizing how to make a challenging day a little less challenging.
CHRIS PETROSINO, AIR TRAVELER: Well, I'm here three hours early. My flight isn't until 3:00. So I was dreading the rush. But I guess I beat it.
FEYERICK: Though Kansas resident Pat Bolin and his daughter, Daisy, made it to New York OK, Mrs. Bolin wasn't as lucky.
PAT BOLIN, AIR TRAVELER: My wife's flight comes in three hours late, so we're going to be spending a little time here at the airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now, one of the most interesting things that we're noting here is that people are really leaving four and five hours earlier than they normally have in past Thanksgiving holidays. They're willing to wait it out at the airport, rather than have to deal with long lines or rather than have to deal with traffic anywhere along the route getting to the airport.
So passengers are having a big effect because they're taking their time, they're taking it a little easier, and there's definitely been a cut-down on stress. As a matter of fact, we've only seen about a dozen people sprinting to the gates, and that's a pretty low number for this kind of holiday -- Carol.
LIN: Well, Deb, they might be sprinting after their toddlers. You never know, if people are getting there so early. The kids have to do something in those terminals, huh?
FEYERICK: There's no question about it. It's hilarious to see one little kid go shooting by and then the mother a couple of seconds behind. So we're keeping an eye on that, too.
LIN: You bet. All right. The families traveling, hitting the road and the skies. Thanks very much, Deb.
Well, if you want to see something really cool to get an idea of how many flight delays there are and exactly where they are, Rally Caparas of Travelocity Business has this really cool map that he's been bringing up for us.
Hey, Rally.
RALLY CAPARAS, TRAVELOCITY BUSINESS: Hi, Carol. Yes, it is very cool. And I'm able to delineate between airplanes that are traveling on time and airplanes that are already being delayed by the FAA.
This is FlightExplorer.com behind me, and on that we're looking at 5,692 airplanes that are traversing the United States' airspace at this very moment. And the darker or red airplanes that you see, they've already been issued delays by the FAA.
Some of these airplanes are headed to New York, some down into south Florida. Because they're trying to manage the volume, there will be many, many more red airplanes in the skies as we talk throughout the rest of the day, and here's where.
At Boston's Logan Airport this morning, you're seeing blue -- blue airplanes there, meaning delay-free. However, that will change to red later this afternoon, right around 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, to the tune of 60 to 90-minute arrival delays. Low clouds, rain and poor visibility getting there.
LaGuardia, what you heard just a moment ago, that everything's operating smooth and on time, everything's nice and easy, well, they just implemented a ground delay program. So if you're departing out of LaGuardia, yes, it's nice and easy. But if you're headed to LaGuardia, you can expect a one to two-hour arrival delay already, as you an expect that Philadelphia and Newark, JFK, also, once we get into the p.m., with the volume, the rain, and poor visibility finally getting into that region.
Down south, further, D.C. metros and Charlotte, expect 60 to 90- minute arrival delays. Low clouds, fog, poor visibility, and then very heavy rain moves in, along with the heavy p.m. volume. And those delays will linger into the late evening hours.
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh airports, Atlanta is in a departure stop -- not actually a stop, but they are delaying all departures by 60 to 90 minutes now. Arrivals are being delayed 60 to 90 minutes already. They're part of the red airplanes you just saw a few moments ago.
Detroit, Cleveland and the rest of the airports in the eastern Great Lakes regions, you will suffer delays. There's significant weather, as Orelon told you, going to popping up there just in the next few hours.
And then, finally, Chicago O'Hare Airport, downgraded it from two to three. It looks like it's going to be more like one to two-hour arrival delays. Low clouds, fog, some rain. You could see a little bit of snow.
But the big story there will be the strong gusting winds of about 25 to 30 knots. Once the nasty weather moves out the winds move in, and at Chicago O'Hare, because of their parallel runway configuration, they'll have to reduce the airplanes, or at least how many land per hour. Hence, you'll have one to two-hour delays.
The rest of the country, beautiful day everywhere else. I'll talk to you in about an hour.
LIN: All right. And you never know. Things might change. Thanks, Rally.
CAPARAS: Sure.
LIN: Rick.
SANCHEZ: All right. Let's see how things are shaping up on the roads, for those who choose to drive or take a bus. CNN's Chris Lawrence is at the stop along Interstate 294. He's in Schiller Park, and that's just outside Chicago, right, Chris?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rick. We're just a stone's throw from O'Hare Airport, where all those backups are already starting to -- going to be piling up sometime this afternoon.
We're here at the O'Hare Oasis, one of the rest stops that a lot of people are going to be stopping by over the next few days as they make their way in and around some of the roadways across the country. This is a -- obviously a very new idea in rest stops. Kind of a different change from what we've been seeing.
In all, we're going to have about 30 million people on the road so far this year. Kris Lathan is joining me now from AAA to kind of put that in perspective.
Thirty million people on the roads?
KRIS LATHAN, AAA: Yes. AAA, we're calling this a milestone for Thanksgiving holiday travel simply because not since September 11 have we seen the volume of travelers reach these levels. So it was Thanksgiving 2000 the last time that we saw this many people saying that they were going to travel from home on Thanksgiving.
LAWRENCE: And Kris, how does that break down geographically? Will there be more travelers in certain parts of the country?
LATHAN: Well, yes. And the way that we look at it, we break up the country into five geographic regions.
Look at the Southeast, the West, Midwest, Great Lakes. The vast majority of auto travelers will be originating out of the Great Lakes- Midwest area. It's about 13 million travelers.
LAWRENCE: Lightest area of travel?
LATHAN: Probably around the Southeast is probably where you'll see some of the lighter numbers. But again, the numbers are very high across the board. So that's all relative.
LAWRENCE: All right. Kris Lathan from AAA, thank you very much.
And as we take a look now, as we head outside again for a live look at some of the traffic, this is typically a day when people kind of get a jump on some of that holiday travel. Maybe taking off work a little bit early, starting to get the holiday rush going.
By this afternoon we expect it to be in full force. And ironically, even though we're talking about a high number of travelers, we're going to be paying more in gas than at any other Thanksgiving ever.
Right now, the national average is about $1.97 a gallon. That's down about 6 cents from where it was two weeks ago. But it's up 47 cents from where -- what we were paying this time last year. And, of course, the experts' advice is, this time of year, no matter if you're on the road or on a plane, you've got to have a lot of patience out there -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Chris Lawrence checking things out for us there on the roads. And we thank you, Chris.
Well, before you leave home, make sure you check out cnn.com/travel for the very latest on today's travel and weather picture. In fact, while you're there, you can also pick up some holiday travel tips to get you through this very busy day.
Now, a very serious situation is still developing in the Ukraine. We're going to be monitoring this for you throughout the day. It could possibly reach the boiling point.
Here's what's going on. And I think we have some pictures that goes along with this.
Thousand of protesters. An election is in question. And the threat of civil war is hanging in the balance. We're there live. We've got it -- we're going to have it covered for you. LIN: Also, Rick, here at home, is Donald Rumsfeld the one holding up intelligence reform? Well, he says absolutely not. We've got the very latest from the Pentagon just ahead.
And later, another holiday travel update and a look at how airport security might impact your plans. CNN LIVE TODAY is coming right back.
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LIN: We're still keeping an eye on the situation in Iraq, which remains very violent. U.S. and British and Iraqi troops are fanning out now south of Baghdad in a crackdown on insurgents and common criminals. The U.S. says the operation called Plymouth Rock includes precision raids and house-to-house serves in the area dubbed the Triangle of Death. The military believes many of the insurgents in the region fled Falluja well before the crackdown there.
SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of people are jamming the main square in Kiev today to protest the presidential election in the Ukraine. The reform-minded opposition candidate -- that's Viktor Yushchenko -- is charging the vote was rigged and says he should be Ukraine's next president. By the way, he has the support of the U.S.
The prime minister, Viktor Yanukovych, is running with the support of the government apparatus, and he's leading the official vote count up to now. He's supported by the Russians. The opposition and western election observers say the vote was fraudulent. Yushchenko says he's not opposed to redoing the election.
This thing gets so confusing. And CNN's Jill Dougherty is live there in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev as she tries to put this all together for us.
Set the scene for us, if you would, Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Exactly, Rick. Well, setting the scene, you've got very, very large demonstrations in the center of Kiev. That's the capital of Ukraine. And these are the people who support the opposition candidate, Mr. Yushchenko, the western-leaning candidate.
And they've been out there in the cold and the snow now for three days demonstrating almost day and night. There have been demonstrations across this city.
And right now what's unfolding is one of the most dramatic moments. Because bear in mind that when that election happened on Sunday, the Central Election Commission came out and said that the government-backed candidate was winning by three points, but they never actually said who finally won.
So the Central Election Committee right now is meeting, and we are expecting that they're going to come out with some type of decision. However, it's turning into a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
We were just watching it on TV. The session is a screaming match at one point between lawyers and people who don't agree with each other.
So one thing, also, this afternoon we were able to sit down with the opposition candidate. By the way, Mr. Yushchenko does have an American wife, interestingly. And we sat down with him at his headquarters, and he said he hopes that the Central Election Committee will have, as he put it, "the courage to say that they don't agree with the results," and that maybe in some cases they would annul them or perhaps even hold new elections.
So it's a very tense situation. Luckily, so far, everything has been very peaceful. We've even had almost flower power, with some young people putting flowers in the shields of the police who have riot dress, and they're out there on the streets.
Very peaceful. But you know things can change with that many people on the street.
SANCHEZ: Yes, and I'm going through my notes here, Jill, and I find this quote. I know you talked to Yushchenko. He said, "Parliament will give the answer, or the street will give the answer."
That almost sounds like a threat.
DOUGHERTY: Well, you know it does. But I asked him about that just a couple of hours ago, and he said, "We're not threatening. We are not going to take any type of violent action." And he also said that, as far as he knows, the military and the police are not trying to do that either.
But there is a threat of civil disobedience. And that's been part of what he's been doing.
He's saying, if you can't do it through the parliament, if you can't do it through the courts, then you ultimately might have to take people power action on the streets. He's using a combination of both. But the first he would prefer would be legal action. Maybe, as I said, maybe even holding new elections.
SANCHEZ: You know what's interesting for us as Americans, as we look at this from over there, I guess to put it in simple terms for our viewers, the guy who's losing right now has the support of President Bush. The guy who's winning right now has the support of President Vladimir Putin.
That's an interesting scenario, isn't it? Do we know if our -- if our leaders have contacted the Russians to see if they can possibly step in to this thing and find some amicable solution?
DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, every side -- each side is now trying to have some type of influence and try to have this end peacefully. But, you know, if you were talking to the Bush administration, they would say, we don't really support the opposition candidate. We support free elections.
And that's the really important thing. You know, we've been on the streets, talking to these people. I talked to a man this morning who had a three-day-growth beard. And he's from another city, way in the west of Ukraine.
And I said, "Why are you here, camping out at relatives?" And he said, "You know, there are two things that are important to me, my family and Ukraine. And I'm here to protect my vote."
And so when you get dedication like that, regardless of which side of the fence they're on, that's an amazing thing. To them, elections are really important.
SANCHEZ: Jill Dougherty, right there in the middle of things in Kiev, monitoring this still developing story for us. And obviously, Jill, as soon as you get the word, we'll get the word to our viewers as to what decision or certification takes place with this controversial election. Thank you once again.
Carol, back over to you in Atlanta.
LIN: Well, Rick, I know you saw the action over the weekend, the basket brawl we were covering. Well, the player at the center of that brawl still has a lot of fans, but up next, find out why they're standing behind Ron Artest.
And meet one guy who definitely is not a fan anymore. How many ways to spell lawsuit?
And say cheese. What more is there to say about the grilled cheese sandwich with the supposed image of the Virgin Mary on it? Well, Jeanne Moos has already covered the story, but she has a follow up next
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LIN: Well, in the NBA, Pacers fans in Indianapolis turned out to show their support for suspended player Ron Artest when he appeared yesterday at a local radio station. Artest has been banned from playing for the rest of the season for his role in Friday's brawl with Pistons fans. There he's signing a chest.
Well, one of those fans, John Green, denies hitting Artest with a plastic drinking cup, but says Artest deserves to be suspended for what followed.
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JOHN GREEN, ACCUSED OF THROWING CUP: A cup hitting somebody I don't think should be -- you know, constitute somebody going on a rampage and beating people and -- you know, the guy -- the guy's a thug. So he's going to pay the price of what happens to him.
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LIN: Well, two spectators are suing Artest and two other Pacers' players, claiming they were injured in the melee.
Rick, what can you say after a picture like that? You know?
SANCHEZ: What's that?
LIN: I mean, a lot of people blame that guy for throwing the cup and starting the whole thing. So...
SANCHEZ: And he's saying it's the other guy's fault.
LIN: Yes, isn't it always?
SANCHEZ: Exactly.
LIN: Anyway...
SANCHEZ: As for you, I was going to say, a little hot lemon, little hot water, some lemon, goes a long way.
LIN: Yes. Well, you know, they're terrified I'm going to call in sick tomorrow. And I am the only person here tomorrow night at CNN on live television. So I think we're going to try to preserve the voice and other people's holidays.
SANCHEZ: All right, Carol. You go spend some time with your family. Enjoy them.
LIN: Thanks, Rick.
SANCHEZ: And we'll try to hold down the fort here for the next...
LIN: You bet.
SANCHEZ: Up next, another holiday travel update. Plus, the big question of airport security. How's it going to affect your travel plans? Well, it's our task to help you through it.
We'll be back.
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