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CNN Live Today
Evacuations Under Way Near Southern California's Prado Dam; Court-Martial; Rivers, Streams Across Ohio Overflow Their Banks
Aired January 14, 2005 - 10:59 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll start by taking a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
The military says six people were killed today when a minibus carrying Iraqi civilians collided head on with a U.S. tank. A military spokesman says the bus was trying to pass another vehicle. He says the tank tried to turn away to avoid the collision.
A congressional delegation reports progress in stalled talks over North Korea's nuclear program. The lawmakers say North Korea is now ready to rejoin six-party talks soon. They say the talks could resume in a matter of weeks. North Korea backed out of the latest round of talks in September.
More evacuees from a deadly chlorine leak in Graniteville, South Carolina, are returning home this morning. Nine people died when a train collision released a toxic cloud of gas more than a week ago. Nearly 5,500 people were evacuated. About half of them returned home yesterday.
AirTran has suspended one of its pilots after he was charged with intoxication. Las Vegas police say an airport screener smelled alcohol when the pilot passed through a checkpoint. Police arrested Oliver Paul Reason Jr. in the cockpit of an Atlanta-bound flight late Wednesday night. AirTran officials say they are cooperating with authorities.
It's just after 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, and just after 8:00 a.m. on the West. From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. And Daryn, let's get the latest. We've been talking about it all morning, that situation in Corona, California.
Peter Viles is in Los Angeles with the latest -- Peter.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. There are conflicting reports at this moment about just how serious this is. Here's what we do know at this hour.
Sometime in the middle of the night, local officials in Corona, which is west of Los Angeles, ordered this evacuation of about 800 homes. They said that they had heard from the Army Corps of Engineers which runs this dig big dam, one of the biggest dams in southern California, that there were concerns about the safety structure of the dam. That said, we don't if there's actually a leak in that dam structure.
The National Weather Service is saying there is a leak. The Army Corps of Engineers, which probably knows better because they run the dam, say that there is no leak. They are releasing some water as they do when the dam gets heavy.
That's the Santa Clara River, again -- excuse me, as you can see there, very heavy floodwaters and a flash flood warning from the National Weather Service at this hour. Eight hundred -- 800 families being evacuated -- Tony, Daryn.
KAGAN: Thank you so much. Peter Viles from Los Angeles.
We are continuing to track this story. Over hundreds and hundreds of homes have been evacuated starting about 1:00 a.m. this morning. And they're due to have that runoff (ph). But as you can see from the pictures, as we watch them, the runoff is so strong...
HARRIS: Right.
KAGAN: ... it's beginning to flood some of the area. Well, not in that particular picture. But you can see...
HARRIS: Right.
KAGAN: ... the strength of the water from that. But there is so much water that some of the flooding is taking place. So you have two situations you're watching. You're watching all the water, and then you're watching the dam. And two very difficult situations to maintain and control.
HARRIS: And you learned last hour that it's up to now -- the evacuation is up to now 840 homes. And those entire families that have been forced to move and -- until that situation rectifies itself, until everyone gets a clear handle on it, which seems to be a dispute right now, exactly what's going on. Is there a leak?
KAGAN: Site of the center at the Corona High School. So we'll continue. We're going to work on getting to the evacuation center. We're getting a lot more information and bringing you the latest pictures as well.
HARRIS: OK. Let's get started now with the first military court-martial stemming from the Abu Ghraib scandal. A military jury will get the case of Army Specialist Charles Graner shortly. He is widely seen as the ringleader of the mayhem at the Iraqi prison.
National correspondent Susan Candiotti has covered the weeklong trial at Fort Hood, Texas, and she's with us now with the latest -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Tony.
Prosecutors have finished their closing arguments and now the defense has begun. Each case -- each side laying out its case for and against Specialist Charles Graner. He appeared confident as he walked into court this day to hear his lawyer tell this jury of combat veterans that the case, as his lawyer put it, is about pressure and orders. The lawyer said, pressure from the intelligence community to come up with information to save American lives and orders to soften up detainees for questioning in support of the U.S. mission. Orders that the lawyer called completely reasonable, perhaps he said not to someone sitting in Fort Hood on a very sunny day, but reasonable to someone in Iraq going through what our soldiers were going through.
Prosecutors, however, led things off. And among other things, they showed videos and photographs to this jury, including the one we have seen many times of the human naked pyramid. And, of course, the jury has also seen time and again the photograph of Graner's girlfriend, Private Lynndie England, holding a detainee by a dog leash.
Now, referring to Graner, prosecutors said in their closing arguments, "Fortunately he does not have the final word on abuse at Abu Ghraib. You do. And it will speak volumes to the Army, volumes to the country, volumes to the world. And the true word is guilty as charged."
Once the defense has finished up its closing argument, this case will go to this jury, a panel of 10. It's hard to say, of course, how long deliberations will take. It's possible we could get a verdict this very day, but the jury is prepared to work through the weekend.
Back to you, Tony.
HARRIS: Susan Candiotti. Susan, thank you -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Want to get back to the situation we are tracking out of southern California. About 1:00 in the morning, people in more than 800 homes hear a knock on the door. They're being evacuated because of the dam, the Prado Dam, nearby.
A lot of concern to much water, possible leak. Conflicting information on that.
Right now we have Bob Brew on phone with us. He is the district spokesman for the Corona-Norco Unified School District. At Corona High School they have set up an evacuation center for these hundreds of people to have a place to go.
Bob, thanks for being with us.
BOB BREW, SPOKESMAN, CORONA-NORCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Oh, my pleasure.
KAGAN: How many people have shown up at the high school?
BREW: We probably have about 60 people here right at the moment.
KAGAN: So I guess I would imagine then when people were evacuated most chose to go to friends or... BREW: They were encouraged to go to friends or to relatives and then come here if they had nowhere else to go.
KAGAN: What kind of facilities and services are you providing there?
BREW: We have -- right now we've opened our gymnasium. The Red Cross is here. They will bring in the necessary things for people to stay. The school's student body has provided coffee and juice for the kids and the parents. Our food service will be bringing over coffee and pizza and stuff like that for the evacuees.
KAGAN: I'm sure that's much appreciated. I would think -- it looks like it's a pretty clear day today -- that people were able to get out. The thing they want more than anything is information. Are they able to get that at the school?
BREW: There is a command post set up with the Corona Police Department just near the -- the Green River area. And there are -- there's information here, there are numbers at the -- in the gym that they can call. And we've got a couple of telephones available for the folks here.
KAGAN: You said that about 60 people have shown up. How...
BREW: About 60 have shown up so far.
KAGAN: How many are you able to handle, do you think?
BREW: They could probably handle easily 1,000 people in the gym.
KAGAN: All right.
BREW: If we end up with more, then we would just open another high school.
KAGAN: OK. Well, I'm sure the folks of your community really appreciate that.
BREW: It's our pleasure.
KAGAN: Bob Brew from Corona -- the Corona-Norco Unified School District. They've set up an evacuation center at Corona High School for the hundreds of people who have been evacuated from that area.
HARRIS: And Daryn, let's get a check of the weather now with Dave Hennen.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: OK. Dave, thank you.
KAGAN: Not the only weather picture out there, weather story. Folks in Ohio keeping a close watch on swollen rivers and streams this morning. In some areas, the waters have already spilled over their banks. Our Chris Huntington is in Marietta, Ohio, with the latest on flooding there.
Chris, good morning.
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.
Well, a welcomed sunny and dry day here in Marietta. Indeed, the weather has calmed down significantly since the last couple of days. Torrential downpour last night. Not as bad as had been initially forecast.
Nonetheless, the Ohio River behind me here is 20 feet above its ordinary levels. The stairway that you can see here, partially submerged, leads down to what ordinarily would be a promenade along the riverbank.
The river crested earlier this week to a level of about here. In other words, seven feet above where it currently stands. And back in September, in a flood that was far less predicted, came upon very, very quickly, the level got to about here.
The situation is relatively stable. One of the chief reasons that the situation here is as manageable as it is, is thanks in part to the Army Corps of Engineers. And the most robust flood control system in the nation is in this region, the district that controls the rivers here in Ohio and part of West Virginia.
I'm joined here by Chuck Minster (ph) of the Army Corps of Engineers.
And Chuck, first let's just get right to it. What do you guys forecast for in terms of river levels in the next couple of days?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe it's forecast to come up maybe a few more feet, but hopefully not any more than that, and then start going back down again.
HUNTINGTON: Now, my discussions with the emergency staff here in Marietta, the sense is that another foot or two would lead to some flooding here, at least in the historic downtown district, which is really only a couple of feet higher than where we stand. So another couple of feet would not be a welcomed development here in Marietta.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, absolutely. And that's why, you know, we have 15 manmade lakes that are catching water and keeping it back and keeping it out of this river so that it doesn't come up into the city.
HUNTINGTON: Now, as you say, many of those lakes are at full capacity. At some point you're going to have to release water from the reservoirs, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. It's carefully managed. We wait until the rivers start falling again, and then we can start releasing some of that water out to maintain for the next storm that comes in. HUNTINGTON: OK. And as long as there's no new rain coming down, that should give you an opportunity to release the pressure?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. That helps a lot.
HUNTINGTON: OK. Chuck Minster (ph) of the Army Corps of Engineers. Thank you very much.
Daryn, that's it here in Marietta, where the situation is stable and the folks are welcoming that and getting a chance to dry out.
KAGAN: All right. You stay dry there in Marietta, Ohio. Thank you for that.
Notice we send the tall reporters to a flooding story. I think that's good planning. That is good planning.
HARRIS: Yes. Like we thought of that ahead of time, yes.
KAGAN: Yes. Somebody did.
HARRIS: Well, a historic day for space exploration. A flying saucer of sorts has landed on a Saturn moon. CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien join us with the latest.
KAGAN: Plus, we'll show you one Indonesian village where 2,000 people lived before the tsunami. Now barely 10 percent of them are left. That's ahead this hour.
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(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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KAGAN: All right. You want to talk cold? We are talking cold. How about minus 209 degrees Fahrenheit?
HARRIS: Oh, come on.
KAGAN: Yes. Also windy, gusts up to 300 miles an hour. Have we got a deal for you.
A harsh (UNINTELLIGIBLE) greeted the Huygens probe today. It parachuted through Titan's orange smoggy clouds to land on Saturn's mysterious.
Miles O'Brien, who is here, will tell us why people are excited to go there.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Kind of. Trying to cut through the smog here today, Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: This is -- there's a big mystery beneath all that haze. Scientists are intrigued by Titan because they believe this moon, which is the largest moon in the solar system -- it's actually larger than Pluto and Mercury -- this moon might very well be sort of a deep freeze version of what Earth might have been four billion years ago.
These are live pictures from Darmstadt, Germany. And these are some of the key players with the European Space Agency. That's one of the key NASA guys. This is a joint project, NASA and ESA.
And they are waiting -- it could happen any minute now -- to get the first bit of data from the Huygens probe via the Cassini spacecraft, which is the NASA spacecraft, back to Earth. Now, it takes an hour and seven minutes in light speed in order to get all that back and to get that information. And that should happen any moment now.
Also waiting in Darmstadt, Germany, Mike McKay, who is one of the key people there. He's been involved in the Mars express missions in the past and is a flight director there. He joins us now to give us a sense of the atmosphere there -- in Darmstadt -- as this team, after 15 years of work, hopes for the payoff.
Mike, how are people feeling about it so far?
MICHAEL MCKAY, EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY: Miles, the atmosphere here is electric. It's been going from early this morning. As the probe neared the Titan atmosphere, the nerves were really getting very, very sensitive.
People were so excited, having put so much of their careers into this probe. And as it came into the atmosphere, all we could do is sit here and anticipate what might come.
Fortunately, we had the deep space antennas, large radio telescopes pointed towards Saturn, and we managed to pick up very, very faint signals coming from the Huygens probe as it went through the atmosphere and braked in the upper atmosphere from a speed of 18,000 kilometers an hour down to 1,400 kilometers an hour in three minutes. An incredible deceleration. So we followed the signal.
O'BRIEN: So -- and it's amazing, it was able to transmit the whole way down, just emanating out all the way on to the surface. The only thing we don't know for certain is if Cassini actually heard what that transmission was all about.
In other words, we sort of tapped the phone line, if you will, unable to make out the conversation but proof, at least that, Huygens was doing its part. What remains is whether Cassini got the data and is turning around sending it to Earth. We have every reason to believe Cassini is working fine, but it isn't in until it's in, right?
MCKAY: The excitement is still here. We haven't got the data back yet.
What we did see is the signal we expected to last for about two- and-a-half hours as the probe floated through the atmosphere below the parachutes. And measuring the atmosphere, taking lots of pictures. And as it hit the surface, we expected maybe three minutes maximum if it was in the right orientation to transmit to Cassini.
What we've actually seen is over four hours of continuous transmission, much more than we could have expected. And naturally, the scientists and the engineers here at Mission Control are so excited to see what Cassini has actually caught from the probe Huygens as it entered the atmosphere.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's go live now. Live pictures.
MCKAY: At the moment...
O'BRIEN: Live pictures.
MCKAY: I hear in the background from Mission Control.
O'BRIEN: I believe what we're seeing there...
MCKAY: It looks like they have got the first packets of data coming back.
O'BRIEN: All right. So what happens now, Mike?
MCKAY: Yes, I see all the flight control team, the mission operation manager.
O'BRIEN: It's not an instantaneous PowerPoint slide show, is it? Tell us what happens now as this data starts streaming in.
MCKAY: What I've just seen on the screen below me is a picture from Mission Control, which is just behind me. And I see the mission operations manager, Mr. Zalatso (ph), who has just -- obviously the first data from his probe Huygens being relayed from Cassini. This is only the start.
We have large memory banks on Cassini which has stored all of that data that's been transmitted from Huygens. And Cassini has now turned its antenna back from Titan to the Earth over an hour ago. And we're now seeing the first data coming in from Huygens itself.
So they'll be looking at all the subsystems, all the experiments to make sure that there's right temperatures, voltages, everything is switched on and gone according to plan. And then the science data will come in.
O'BRIEN: All right.
MCKAY: Now, we'll take probably well over an hour to get the science data consolidated and ready to do some analysis, maybe to give pictures later this evening.
O'BRIEN: All right.
MCKAY: So excitement is just building. And we look forward to talking to you later. O'BRIEN: All right. So far, everything going as you would hope, 15 years plus of work for many people like yourself there and elsewhere, trying to get to this moment. But we will wait as you process this data, as that trickle of data continues down and ultimately that slide show comes together.
About three-and-a-half hours from now, we hope to get the first glimpses of pictures from the surface of Titan. Mike, let's hope we can see something through the haze there. That's the next thing that we need to worry about, I think.
MCKAY: That's what we'd be looking for, some good pictures through that smog. And I think landing the probe on the furthest outpost in our solar system so far, this is another great achievement, and an achievement for international partnership.
O'BRIEN: All right. Mike McKay, we'll check in with you a little bit later.
Daryn, so far so good. Hoping to see some good pictures very shortly.
KAGAN: All right. We'll leave you at your post. And you can show us as they come in. Miles, thank you.
HARRIS: You've got to love when scientists turn into kids.
KAGAN: Yeah.
HARRIS: Still ahead, having regrets. Statements President Bush wishes he hadn't said. We'll get a live report from the White House.
KAGAN: Also, speaking is of what was said, have you heard what Randy Moss said about that $10,000 fine about seeming to moon a Green Bay Packer fan?
HARRIS: It's not nice.
KAGAN: No, it's not good.
HARRIS: But first, Dave Hennen joins us with today's cold and flu report -- Dave.
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KAGAN: Minnesota wide receiver Randy Moss. He's laughing, apparently, all the way to the bank. The NFL is fining him $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct. This is what he did.
HARRIS: What did he do?
KAGAN: Well this is -- OK. He had this against the Green Bay Packers. He pretends -- he pretends to moon the crowd.
HARRIS: A fake moon. KAGAN: People got all excited about that. They didn't like that. So $10,000. He, though -- this is what had he to say about the $10,000 fine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you upset about the fine?
RANDY MOSS, VIKINGS WIDE RECIEVER: No, because it ain't (EXPLETIVE DELETED). It ain't nothing but ten grand. What's ten grand to me? It ain't (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Next time I might shake my (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Yes. Yes.
HARRIS: No, he didn't. No.
KAGAN: Yes, he did. He did. He's been fined before.
HARRIS: Right.
KAGAN: Squirted an official with a water bottle back in 1999. That one cost him $25,000.
HARRIS: I'll say what I want to say. I'm Randy Moss.
Hollywood kicks off the 2005 awards season Sunday night. The Golden Globes honor the best in television and film. But you've got to get dressed up to get one. Entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas joins us from Beverly Hills this morning.
And good morning, Sibila.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
That's right, you do have to get dressed. I mean, sure, we want to know what the winners are. But let's face it, what's the water cooler talk going to be the next day?
It's going to be about who was wearing what. What was Nicole wearing? What was Renee wearing?
Well, who knows more about fashion than "InStyle" magazine? "InStyle" magazine is here with us today, Hal Rubenstein, the fashion director.
You're going to break it all down. What are the stars going to be wearing?
HAL RUBENSTEIN, "INSTYLE" MAGAZINE: They'll be wearing really romantic clothes. Really romantic clothes and very sort of beautiful, soft pale colors. You'll see a couple of like -- you know, you always see black, a couple of pallets of red, but basically there's this wonderful sort of almost like 19th century air of romance that's going to come through this.
VARGAS: So you think it's romantic. Because, I mean, it certainly seems that there's always a theme, you know.
RUBENSTEIN: I think, again, you have to wear what's on -- from what's on that runway, especially at this time of the year, because since they moved everything forward, you know, couture happens next week. New collections happen in a month. So they really have -- so it really is about what we've already seen.
VARGAS: How much time and several spent on this? I mean, how long is the preparation?
RUBENSTEIN: There are designers, representatives who have been out here for the last week and a half pushing these clothes. You know, running to stars' homes, up and down the hills. The jewelers are here doing the exact same thing with their little black cases, running up and down those hills trying to pass this stuff off and scoring a big one.
VARGAS: Now, how important is it to a star? I mean, you want to make an impact when you're out there. I mean, sometimes it's the first time you're out on a red carpet.
RUBENSTEIN: You know, these photographs go around the world. I mean, that's -- regardless of what you think of the Golden Globes, their impact, or their -- you know, whether they work in terms of the industry, in terms for the star, for the star, it means a lot because the whole world sees these pictures. We start compiling our pages like 6:00 the next morning and have those things out.
VARGAS: Wow.
RUBENSTEIN: All the weeklies will have it out. So everybody is going to see what you did.
VARGAS: Yes, we're so interested. You know, and you certainly don't want to be on the worst dressed list.
RUBENSTEIN: No. But it's funny. They don't really -- nobody really makes that big a gaffe anymore. But the thing is, is how do you stand out? Now that everybody's nice and tasteful, how do you stand out and really get that pow?
VARGAS: All right. Well, talking about pow, let's talk about the bling. How important?
RUBENSTEIN: Hey, the jewelers love this stuff because it really -- it literally sells jewelry. Not the stars, because everybody knows they're getting it. But there will be phone calls the next morning saying, "I saw those earrings on Nicole Kidman." And we'll get calls, "Where are they from?" And then the jeweler gets the call right away.
VARGAS: How much money are we talking about? RUBENSTEIN: People can wear simple things, anything from like $20,000 -- you know, $20,000 pieces. We did a fashion show yesterday with the jewelry. We had an 81 karat Harry Winston diamond worth $6.2 million.
VARGAS: Oh, my gosh.
RUBENSTEIN: That's what we all said.
VARGAS: Is anybody going to wear that?
RUBENSTEIN: What? Well, if they do, you'll know that because you'll see the little armed guard walking right behind -- right beside them all night long.
VARGAS: And they get to borrow that. That's the great thing about it.
RUBENSTEIN: It is. I mean, it's weird. I mean, it's -- people buy smaller stuff, but the big things for this night is there's this incredible borrowing festival that goes along. As big as you think or you're told it is, it's even bigger than that.
VARGAS: Yes. Well, thank you so much for breaking it down to us -- for us.
RUBENSTEIN: My pleasure.
VARGAS: Thanks a lot.
OK. Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: All right. Sibila, thank you. That's a lot of bling. A lot of expensive bling.
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Aired January 14, 2005 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll start by taking a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
The military says six people were killed today when a minibus carrying Iraqi civilians collided head on with a U.S. tank. A military spokesman says the bus was trying to pass another vehicle. He says the tank tried to turn away to avoid the collision.
A congressional delegation reports progress in stalled talks over North Korea's nuclear program. The lawmakers say North Korea is now ready to rejoin six-party talks soon. They say the talks could resume in a matter of weeks. North Korea backed out of the latest round of talks in September.
More evacuees from a deadly chlorine leak in Graniteville, South Carolina, are returning home this morning. Nine people died when a train collision released a toxic cloud of gas more than a week ago. Nearly 5,500 people were evacuated. About half of them returned home yesterday.
AirTran has suspended one of its pilots after he was charged with intoxication. Las Vegas police say an airport screener smelled alcohol when the pilot passed through a checkpoint. Police arrested Oliver Paul Reason Jr. in the cockpit of an Atlanta-bound flight late Wednesday night. AirTran officials say they are cooperating with authorities.
It's just after 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, and just after 8:00 a.m. on the West. From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. And Daryn, let's get the latest. We've been talking about it all morning, that situation in Corona, California.
Peter Viles is in Los Angeles with the latest -- Peter.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. There are conflicting reports at this moment about just how serious this is. Here's what we do know at this hour.
Sometime in the middle of the night, local officials in Corona, which is west of Los Angeles, ordered this evacuation of about 800 homes. They said that they had heard from the Army Corps of Engineers which runs this dig big dam, one of the biggest dams in southern California, that there were concerns about the safety structure of the dam. That said, we don't if there's actually a leak in that dam structure.
The National Weather Service is saying there is a leak. The Army Corps of Engineers, which probably knows better because they run the dam, say that there is no leak. They are releasing some water as they do when the dam gets heavy.
That's the Santa Clara River, again -- excuse me, as you can see there, very heavy floodwaters and a flash flood warning from the National Weather Service at this hour. Eight hundred -- 800 families being evacuated -- Tony, Daryn.
KAGAN: Thank you so much. Peter Viles from Los Angeles.
We are continuing to track this story. Over hundreds and hundreds of homes have been evacuated starting about 1:00 a.m. this morning. And they're due to have that runoff (ph). But as you can see from the pictures, as we watch them, the runoff is so strong...
HARRIS: Right.
KAGAN: ... it's beginning to flood some of the area. Well, not in that particular picture. But you can see...
HARRIS: Right.
KAGAN: ... the strength of the water from that. But there is so much water that some of the flooding is taking place. So you have two situations you're watching. You're watching all the water, and then you're watching the dam. And two very difficult situations to maintain and control.
HARRIS: And you learned last hour that it's up to now -- the evacuation is up to now 840 homes. And those entire families that have been forced to move and -- until that situation rectifies itself, until everyone gets a clear handle on it, which seems to be a dispute right now, exactly what's going on. Is there a leak?
KAGAN: Site of the center at the Corona High School. So we'll continue. We're going to work on getting to the evacuation center. We're getting a lot more information and bringing you the latest pictures as well.
HARRIS: OK. Let's get started now with the first military court-martial stemming from the Abu Ghraib scandal. A military jury will get the case of Army Specialist Charles Graner shortly. He is widely seen as the ringleader of the mayhem at the Iraqi prison.
National correspondent Susan Candiotti has covered the weeklong trial at Fort Hood, Texas, and she's with us now with the latest -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Tony.
Prosecutors have finished their closing arguments and now the defense has begun. Each case -- each side laying out its case for and against Specialist Charles Graner. He appeared confident as he walked into court this day to hear his lawyer tell this jury of combat veterans that the case, as his lawyer put it, is about pressure and orders. The lawyer said, pressure from the intelligence community to come up with information to save American lives and orders to soften up detainees for questioning in support of the U.S. mission. Orders that the lawyer called completely reasonable, perhaps he said not to someone sitting in Fort Hood on a very sunny day, but reasonable to someone in Iraq going through what our soldiers were going through.
Prosecutors, however, led things off. And among other things, they showed videos and photographs to this jury, including the one we have seen many times of the human naked pyramid. And, of course, the jury has also seen time and again the photograph of Graner's girlfriend, Private Lynndie England, holding a detainee by a dog leash.
Now, referring to Graner, prosecutors said in their closing arguments, "Fortunately he does not have the final word on abuse at Abu Ghraib. You do. And it will speak volumes to the Army, volumes to the country, volumes to the world. And the true word is guilty as charged."
Once the defense has finished up its closing argument, this case will go to this jury, a panel of 10. It's hard to say, of course, how long deliberations will take. It's possible we could get a verdict this very day, but the jury is prepared to work through the weekend.
Back to you, Tony.
HARRIS: Susan Candiotti. Susan, thank you -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Want to get back to the situation we are tracking out of southern California. About 1:00 in the morning, people in more than 800 homes hear a knock on the door. They're being evacuated because of the dam, the Prado Dam, nearby.
A lot of concern to much water, possible leak. Conflicting information on that.
Right now we have Bob Brew on phone with us. He is the district spokesman for the Corona-Norco Unified School District. At Corona High School they have set up an evacuation center for these hundreds of people to have a place to go.
Bob, thanks for being with us.
BOB BREW, SPOKESMAN, CORONA-NORCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Oh, my pleasure.
KAGAN: How many people have shown up at the high school?
BREW: We probably have about 60 people here right at the moment.
KAGAN: So I guess I would imagine then when people were evacuated most chose to go to friends or... BREW: They were encouraged to go to friends or to relatives and then come here if they had nowhere else to go.
KAGAN: What kind of facilities and services are you providing there?
BREW: We have -- right now we've opened our gymnasium. The Red Cross is here. They will bring in the necessary things for people to stay. The school's student body has provided coffee and juice for the kids and the parents. Our food service will be bringing over coffee and pizza and stuff like that for the evacuees.
KAGAN: I'm sure that's much appreciated. I would think -- it looks like it's a pretty clear day today -- that people were able to get out. The thing they want more than anything is information. Are they able to get that at the school?
BREW: There is a command post set up with the Corona Police Department just near the -- the Green River area. And there are -- there's information here, there are numbers at the -- in the gym that they can call. And we've got a couple of telephones available for the folks here.
KAGAN: You said that about 60 people have shown up. How...
BREW: About 60 have shown up so far.
KAGAN: How many are you able to handle, do you think?
BREW: They could probably handle easily 1,000 people in the gym.
KAGAN: All right.
BREW: If we end up with more, then we would just open another high school.
KAGAN: OK. Well, I'm sure the folks of your community really appreciate that.
BREW: It's our pleasure.
KAGAN: Bob Brew from Corona -- the Corona-Norco Unified School District. They've set up an evacuation center at Corona High School for the hundreds of people who have been evacuated from that area.
HARRIS: And Daryn, let's get a check of the weather now with Dave Hennen.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: OK. Dave, thank you.
KAGAN: Not the only weather picture out there, weather story. Folks in Ohio keeping a close watch on swollen rivers and streams this morning. In some areas, the waters have already spilled over their banks. Our Chris Huntington is in Marietta, Ohio, with the latest on flooding there.
Chris, good morning.
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.
Well, a welcomed sunny and dry day here in Marietta. Indeed, the weather has calmed down significantly since the last couple of days. Torrential downpour last night. Not as bad as had been initially forecast.
Nonetheless, the Ohio River behind me here is 20 feet above its ordinary levels. The stairway that you can see here, partially submerged, leads down to what ordinarily would be a promenade along the riverbank.
The river crested earlier this week to a level of about here. In other words, seven feet above where it currently stands. And back in September, in a flood that was far less predicted, came upon very, very quickly, the level got to about here.
The situation is relatively stable. One of the chief reasons that the situation here is as manageable as it is, is thanks in part to the Army Corps of Engineers. And the most robust flood control system in the nation is in this region, the district that controls the rivers here in Ohio and part of West Virginia.
I'm joined here by Chuck Minster (ph) of the Army Corps of Engineers.
And Chuck, first let's just get right to it. What do you guys forecast for in terms of river levels in the next couple of days?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe it's forecast to come up maybe a few more feet, but hopefully not any more than that, and then start going back down again.
HUNTINGTON: Now, my discussions with the emergency staff here in Marietta, the sense is that another foot or two would lead to some flooding here, at least in the historic downtown district, which is really only a couple of feet higher than where we stand. So another couple of feet would not be a welcomed development here in Marietta.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, absolutely. And that's why, you know, we have 15 manmade lakes that are catching water and keeping it back and keeping it out of this river so that it doesn't come up into the city.
HUNTINGTON: Now, as you say, many of those lakes are at full capacity. At some point you're going to have to release water from the reservoirs, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. It's carefully managed. We wait until the rivers start falling again, and then we can start releasing some of that water out to maintain for the next storm that comes in. HUNTINGTON: OK. And as long as there's no new rain coming down, that should give you an opportunity to release the pressure?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. That helps a lot.
HUNTINGTON: OK. Chuck Minster (ph) of the Army Corps of Engineers. Thank you very much.
Daryn, that's it here in Marietta, where the situation is stable and the folks are welcoming that and getting a chance to dry out.
KAGAN: All right. You stay dry there in Marietta, Ohio. Thank you for that.
Notice we send the tall reporters to a flooding story. I think that's good planning. That is good planning.
HARRIS: Yes. Like we thought of that ahead of time, yes.
KAGAN: Yes. Somebody did.
HARRIS: Well, a historic day for space exploration. A flying saucer of sorts has landed on a Saturn moon. CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien join us with the latest.
KAGAN: Plus, we'll show you one Indonesian village where 2,000 people lived before the tsunami. Now barely 10 percent of them are left. That's ahead this hour.
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(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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KAGAN: All right. You want to talk cold? We are talking cold. How about minus 209 degrees Fahrenheit?
HARRIS: Oh, come on.
KAGAN: Yes. Also windy, gusts up to 300 miles an hour. Have we got a deal for you.
A harsh (UNINTELLIGIBLE) greeted the Huygens probe today. It parachuted through Titan's orange smoggy clouds to land on Saturn's mysterious.
Miles O'Brien, who is here, will tell us why people are excited to go there.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Kind of. Trying to cut through the smog here today, Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: This is -- there's a big mystery beneath all that haze. Scientists are intrigued by Titan because they believe this moon, which is the largest moon in the solar system -- it's actually larger than Pluto and Mercury -- this moon might very well be sort of a deep freeze version of what Earth might have been four billion years ago.
These are live pictures from Darmstadt, Germany. And these are some of the key players with the European Space Agency. That's one of the key NASA guys. This is a joint project, NASA and ESA.
And they are waiting -- it could happen any minute now -- to get the first bit of data from the Huygens probe via the Cassini spacecraft, which is the NASA spacecraft, back to Earth. Now, it takes an hour and seven minutes in light speed in order to get all that back and to get that information. And that should happen any moment now.
Also waiting in Darmstadt, Germany, Mike McKay, who is one of the key people there. He's been involved in the Mars express missions in the past and is a flight director there. He joins us now to give us a sense of the atmosphere there -- in Darmstadt -- as this team, after 15 years of work, hopes for the payoff.
Mike, how are people feeling about it so far?
MICHAEL MCKAY, EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY: Miles, the atmosphere here is electric. It's been going from early this morning. As the probe neared the Titan atmosphere, the nerves were really getting very, very sensitive.
People were so excited, having put so much of their careers into this probe. And as it came into the atmosphere, all we could do is sit here and anticipate what might come.
Fortunately, we had the deep space antennas, large radio telescopes pointed towards Saturn, and we managed to pick up very, very faint signals coming from the Huygens probe as it went through the atmosphere and braked in the upper atmosphere from a speed of 18,000 kilometers an hour down to 1,400 kilometers an hour in three minutes. An incredible deceleration. So we followed the signal.
O'BRIEN: So -- and it's amazing, it was able to transmit the whole way down, just emanating out all the way on to the surface. The only thing we don't know for certain is if Cassini actually heard what that transmission was all about.
In other words, we sort of tapped the phone line, if you will, unable to make out the conversation but proof, at least that, Huygens was doing its part. What remains is whether Cassini got the data and is turning around sending it to Earth. We have every reason to believe Cassini is working fine, but it isn't in until it's in, right?
MCKAY: The excitement is still here. We haven't got the data back yet.
What we did see is the signal we expected to last for about two- and-a-half hours as the probe floated through the atmosphere below the parachutes. And measuring the atmosphere, taking lots of pictures. And as it hit the surface, we expected maybe three minutes maximum if it was in the right orientation to transmit to Cassini.
What we've actually seen is over four hours of continuous transmission, much more than we could have expected. And naturally, the scientists and the engineers here at Mission Control are so excited to see what Cassini has actually caught from the probe Huygens as it entered the atmosphere.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's go live now. Live pictures.
MCKAY: At the moment...
O'BRIEN: Live pictures.
MCKAY: I hear in the background from Mission Control.
O'BRIEN: I believe what we're seeing there...
MCKAY: It looks like they have got the first packets of data coming back.
O'BRIEN: All right. So what happens now, Mike?
MCKAY: Yes, I see all the flight control team, the mission operation manager.
O'BRIEN: It's not an instantaneous PowerPoint slide show, is it? Tell us what happens now as this data starts streaming in.
MCKAY: What I've just seen on the screen below me is a picture from Mission Control, which is just behind me. And I see the mission operations manager, Mr. Zalatso (ph), who has just -- obviously the first data from his probe Huygens being relayed from Cassini. This is only the start.
We have large memory banks on Cassini which has stored all of that data that's been transmitted from Huygens. And Cassini has now turned its antenna back from Titan to the Earth over an hour ago. And we're now seeing the first data coming in from Huygens itself.
So they'll be looking at all the subsystems, all the experiments to make sure that there's right temperatures, voltages, everything is switched on and gone according to plan. And then the science data will come in.
O'BRIEN: All right.
MCKAY: Now, we'll take probably well over an hour to get the science data consolidated and ready to do some analysis, maybe to give pictures later this evening.
O'BRIEN: All right.
MCKAY: So excitement is just building. And we look forward to talking to you later. O'BRIEN: All right. So far, everything going as you would hope, 15 years plus of work for many people like yourself there and elsewhere, trying to get to this moment. But we will wait as you process this data, as that trickle of data continues down and ultimately that slide show comes together.
About three-and-a-half hours from now, we hope to get the first glimpses of pictures from the surface of Titan. Mike, let's hope we can see something through the haze there. That's the next thing that we need to worry about, I think.
MCKAY: That's what we'd be looking for, some good pictures through that smog. And I think landing the probe on the furthest outpost in our solar system so far, this is another great achievement, and an achievement for international partnership.
O'BRIEN: All right. Mike McKay, we'll check in with you a little bit later.
Daryn, so far so good. Hoping to see some good pictures very shortly.
KAGAN: All right. We'll leave you at your post. And you can show us as they come in. Miles, thank you.
HARRIS: You've got to love when scientists turn into kids.
KAGAN: Yeah.
HARRIS: Still ahead, having regrets. Statements President Bush wishes he hadn't said. We'll get a live report from the White House.
KAGAN: Also, speaking is of what was said, have you heard what Randy Moss said about that $10,000 fine about seeming to moon a Green Bay Packer fan?
HARRIS: It's not nice.
KAGAN: No, it's not good.
HARRIS: But first, Dave Hennen joins us with today's cold and flu report -- Dave.
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KAGAN: Minnesota wide receiver Randy Moss. He's laughing, apparently, all the way to the bank. The NFL is fining him $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct. This is what he did.
HARRIS: What did he do?
KAGAN: Well this is -- OK. He had this against the Green Bay Packers. He pretends -- he pretends to moon the crowd.
HARRIS: A fake moon. KAGAN: People got all excited about that. They didn't like that. So $10,000. He, though -- this is what had he to say about the $10,000 fine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you upset about the fine?
RANDY MOSS, VIKINGS WIDE RECIEVER: No, because it ain't (EXPLETIVE DELETED). It ain't nothing but ten grand. What's ten grand to me? It ain't (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Next time I might shake my (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Yes. Yes.
HARRIS: No, he didn't. No.
KAGAN: Yes, he did. He did. He's been fined before.
HARRIS: Right.
KAGAN: Squirted an official with a water bottle back in 1999. That one cost him $25,000.
HARRIS: I'll say what I want to say. I'm Randy Moss.
Hollywood kicks off the 2005 awards season Sunday night. The Golden Globes honor the best in television and film. But you've got to get dressed up to get one. Entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas joins us from Beverly Hills this morning.
And good morning, Sibila.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
That's right, you do have to get dressed. I mean, sure, we want to know what the winners are. But let's face it, what's the water cooler talk going to be the next day?
It's going to be about who was wearing what. What was Nicole wearing? What was Renee wearing?
Well, who knows more about fashion than "InStyle" magazine? "InStyle" magazine is here with us today, Hal Rubenstein, the fashion director.
You're going to break it all down. What are the stars going to be wearing?
HAL RUBENSTEIN, "INSTYLE" MAGAZINE: They'll be wearing really romantic clothes. Really romantic clothes and very sort of beautiful, soft pale colors. You'll see a couple of like -- you know, you always see black, a couple of pallets of red, but basically there's this wonderful sort of almost like 19th century air of romance that's going to come through this.
VARGAS: So you think it's romantic. Because, I mean, it certainly seems that there's always a theme, you know.
RUBENSTEIN: I think, again, you have to wear what's on -- from what's on that runway, especially at this time of the year, because since they moved everything forward, you know, couture happens next week. New collections happen in a month. So they really have -- so it really is about what we've already seen.
VARGAS: How much time and several spent on this? I mean, how long is the preparation?
RUBENSTEIN: There are designers, representatives who have been out here for the last week and a half pushing these clothes. You know, running to stars' homes, up and down the hills. The jewelers are here doing the exact same thing with their little black cases, running up and down those hills trying to pass this stuff off and scoring a big one.
VARGAS: Now, how important is it to a star? I mean, you want to make an impact when you're out there. I mean, sometimes it's the first time you're out on a red carpet.
RUBENSTEIN: You know, these photographs go around the world. I mean, that's -- regardless of what you think of the Golden Globes, their impact, or their -- you know, whether they work in terms of the industry, in terms for the star, for the star, it means a lot because the whole world sees these pictures. We start compiling our pages like 6:00 the next morning and have those things out.
VARGAS: Wow.
RUBENSTEIN: All the weeklies will have it out. So everybody is going to see what you did.
VARGAS: Yes, we're so interested. You know, and you certainly don't want to be on the worst dressed list.
RUBENSTEIN: No. But it's funny. They don't really -- nobody really makes that big a gaffe anymore. But the thing is, is how do you stand out? Now that everybody's nice and tasteful, how do you stand out and really get that pow?
VARGAS: All right. Well, talking about pow, let's talk about the bling. How important?
RUBENSTEIN: Hey, the jewelers love this stuff because it really -- it literally sells jewelry. Not the stars, because everybody knows they're getting it. But there will be phone calls the next morning saying, "I saw those earrings on Nicole Kidman." And we'll get calls, "Where are they from?" And then the jeweler gets the call right away.
VARGAS: How much money are we talking about? RUBENSTEIN: People can wear simple things, anything from like $20,000 -- you know, $20,000 pieces. We did a fashion show yesterday with the jewelry. We had an 81 karat Harry Winston diamond worth $6.2 million.
VARGAS: Oh, my gosh.
RUBENSTEIN: That's what we all said.
VARGAS: Is anybody going to wear that?
RUBENSTEIN: What? Well, if they do, you'll know that because you'll see the little armed guard walking right behind -- right beside them all night long.
VARGAS: And they get to borrow that. That's the great thing about it.
RUBENSTEIN: It is. I mean, it's weird. I mean, it's -- people buy smaller stuff, but the big things for this night is there's this incredible borrowing festival that goes along. As big as you think or you're told it is, it's even bigger than that.
VARGAS: Yes. Well, thank you so much for breaking it down to us -- for us.
RUBENSTEIN: My pleasure.
VARGAS: Thanks a lot.
OK. Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: All right. Sibila, thank you. That's a lot of bling. A lot of expensive bling.
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