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CNN Live Today

Frenzy Outside Schiavo Hospice; Intelligence Review Released

Aired March 30, 2005 - 10:30   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 are right at the half hour. Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez, and here's what happening right "Now in the News."

The pope is now being fed through a nasal tube, as you have seen with Dr. Sanjay Gupta's explanation just about 20 minutes ago. That's according to the Vatican, which says that the feeding tube was designed to help the pope get the calories that he needs. The pope has been in and out of the hospital recently because of breathing problems. Earlier today he arrived at the window of the residence and waved to the supporters.

Back here in the states, Joan Kennedy, former wife of Senator Edward Kennedy, is in the hospital. This after a passer-by found her lying unconscious in a Boston street Tuesday. It's not clear how Kennedy wound up in the street. Her son, Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy, says that she suffered a concussion and a broken shoulder.

Investigators in the Minnesota school shooting are reportedly looking through e-mails for potential clues about the rampage. Louis Jourdain, the son of a tribal leader, has been arrested in connection with the killings of ten people. His father says that his son is innocent. Meanwhile, "USA Today" reports teen shooter Jeff Weise was shot two times by police before turning the gun on himself.

A former top official with the Boy Scouts of America has arrived at a Dallas courtroom this morning. Douglas Sovereign Smith, Jr., is charged with possession and distribution of child pornography. Scout officials say that he had no direct contact with children when he served in his post, his job directing a national task force on protecting youth from sexual abuse.

And reports say the Department of Homeland Security will send some 700 extra border agents to the Arizona-Mexico border. Officials say that they are trying to stop potential terrorists and illegal immigrants from entering the United States. They're also trying to break up smuggling operations. About 500 of the agents are going to be permanently assigned, 200 others there for temporary duty.

KAGAN: Checking the latest on the Terri Schiavo case. A federal appeals court has not said when or if it will consider an emergency petition from her parents. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the petition to be filed late last night. Schiavo's parents are hoping for a temporary restraining order allowing her feeding tube to be reinserted.

SANCHEZ: A variety of people who want Terri Schiavo kept alive have showed up outside her hospice for days now. Most are united behind Schiavo's parents, but as CNN's Anderson Cooper found out when he visited himself, a lot of these people have very different ways of showing their support.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): "Welcome to the show," that's what someone said to me when I arrived at Terri Schiavo's hospice. At first, I didn't realize what he meant. It didn't take long to figure it out. The scene outside the hospice is somber and surreal. There are protests and prayers, and people with causes, looking for a camera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm with Smash Alley Underground, which is just a Christian rock group.

COOPER: Walking around, it seems like everyone wants to be on TV. On some stories, you have to seek people out, convince them to talk. Here, they talk to you whether you've asked them to or not. Some people laugh, others talk, some just stand silently, waiting for something. They're not even sure what.

COOPER: Why is your arm up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE PROTESTER: I don't know.

COOPER: Just about everyone you talk to says, they're here because they feel connected to Terri.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christy today can go ah--ah, and she laughs all the time.

COOPER: This woman came all the way from Tennessee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hurt for that family. We really do.

COOPER: The emotions are very real. You see tears and tempers and everything in-between. A few hundred feet away, Terri Schiavo lays dying. Outside, the hours slowly slip by.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Anderson is going to be anchoring a show from outside the hospice tonight. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

KAGAN: In today's CNN "Security Watch," the nation's intelligence community is about to face another blistering review. A presidential commission investigating weapons of mass destruction reportedly blasts the 15 agencies for their handling of Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has details on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush was briefed on the recommendations of his bipartisan commission on intelligence. Sources say the report offers harsh criticisms of intelligence failings on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and other issues and suggests more changes are needed.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will carefully consider the recommendations and act quickly on the recommendations as well.

ENSOR: The commission report will charge, sources say, that, at the newly created National Counterterrorism Center, where the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies work alongside each other, there still is not enough intelligence sharing. One analyst doesn't always know what's on the other analyst's computer, the same stovepiping problem that hurt the U.S. prior to the 9/11 attacks.

John McLaughlin is the former deputy director of central intelligence.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: In this business, there's always a tension between the obvious need to share and, on the other hand, the need to be careful about sources and methods, that is, not to expose sources to danger to their lives and so forth.

ENSOR: The commission's recommendations will set the scene for next month's hearings on the nomination of Ambassador John Negroponte to be the first director of national intelligence and of General Michael Hayden to be his deputy.

One major question not resolved by the new intelligence reform law is who in the new system will be in charge of secret intelligence operations against terrorists.

MCLAUGHLIN: Much of that is to be worked out, because the legislation allows you to draw a number of conclusion on that point.

ENSOR (on camera): David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And this reminder to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

SANCHEZ: Now over to Indonesia. They are still pulling people from the rubble caused by Monday's earthquake that left some 1,000 people dead. Crews pulled the 25-year-old man to freedom today. He had been trapped under the wreckage from a collapsed building on the island of Nias for 36 hours. Crews worked for four hours just to try and get him out, using nothing but a car jack, muscle and sheer will. The man is now said to be doing well.

We are following a developing story, in fact, having to do with that. It's coming out of the Pentagon. Military leaders have ordered the hospital ship the USNS Mercy to the Indonesia island hardest hit by Monday's devastating earthquake.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is working on that story and joining us now with some of the details. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Rick. As you say, the USNS Mercy, the Navy Hospital Ship, has been ordered to turn around and head toward Nias province in Indonesia. Now, the Mercy had been in the region since the tsunami in December and had been moving around some of the more remote areas of Indonesia in the last several weeks, offering medical and humanitarian assistance in some very remote areas.

The Mercy currently -- is a couple of thousand miles away in Indonesia, actually off East Timor. But as of this morning, it has been ordered to turn around. It was scheduled to come back to the United States. It is turning around. It is at least headed towards Nias province. While the U.S. works out the final details with the Indonesian government, we are told, about any arrangement for it to arrive in Nias and begin providing relief assistance to the people there.

That trip would take about six days, so they want to get the Mercy underway, get it closer while these final arrangements are being worked out. The ship has both military medical personnel onboard, as well as some private relief agency personnel. If they arrive in Nias, they are going to put out a call, they say, for more humanitarian relief workers to be flown out to the mercy to arrive.

Of course, the major medical concern that they're hoping to address is the potential outbreak of any disease in the days ahead, with the water supply being destroyed and pulled apart if you will, in that earthquake. There is a lot of concern about assuring the safe water supply for the people there.

So the Mercy now turned around, headed towards Nias province. The Navy ready to go in providing that assistance. The final details, we are told, are still being worked out -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Barbara Starr, reporting from the Pentagon. We thank you, Barbara.

KAGAN: Incredible story coming up. The hunt is on in California for a preserved fetus. And a camera shows how the thieves got their hands on the scientific exhibit.

SANCHEZ: Also, a long-running Hollywood dispute is put to rest. Disney and the founders of Miramax make it official. That's ahead on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Time to find out what's going on in the world of business.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: He dominated the competition on the baseball diamond. He could hit a curve ball. Could hit a slider -- he hit everything.

KAGAN: Showed up for work everyday. How about that?

SANCHEZ: Every single day. Broke records doing it, as a matter of fact.

KAGAN: Cal Ripken, Jr. is a rookie again. How does that work? He is trying his hand at something new. I'll talk to him and his brother straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Time to look at our news from coast to coast. First a bizarre burglary.

KAGAN: Very strange. Police are looking for two women who stole a preserved 13-week old fetus from a Los Angeles science center. Police say it was stolen early Saturday. The preserved fetus was part of a popular exhibit shown around the world.

SANCHEZ: And this morning officials in two south Florida cities reopened the beaches after shark sightings. Sharks were spotted yesterday off Deerfield Beach and Del Ray Beach. It's kind of typical to see this sight if you've lived in Florida for many years. Beach patrollers...

KAGAN: Yes, but you still don't go in the water.

SANCHEZ: But you still don't go in the water. They are usually black-tip sharks and they're migrating, and they are also looking for little things to eat like little fish, not people.

KAGAN: And girl sharks.

SANCHEZ: They thought the sharks may have been spinners. Experts say spinner sharks have never caused a human death and their bites aren't usually serious.

KAGAN: Yes. Let someone else find that out.

Rose Palmieri celebrated her 100th birthday with a few of her closest friends: the members of the Schenectady, New York, bowling league. Rose says her age wasn't as important as another number, 124. That was her score at her birthday party at the bowling lanes.

SANCHEZ: Good for her.

KAGAN: Congratulations, Rose.

Well, Major League Baseball's 2005 season begins Sunday night. There's a classic match-up. You have the world champion Boston Red Sox and their archrival, the New York Yankees. XM Satellite Radio will carry every game of the major league season. And their coverage this year includes a Saturday morning show hosted by baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr. and his brother Billy. I spoke with the Ripken brothers in Aberdeen, Maryland, earlier this morning.

CAL RIPKEN JR., BASEBALL LEGEND: Good morning, Daryn. How are you doing?

BILLY RIPKEN, FORMER MLB PLAYER: Good morning.

KAGAN: I am psyched for baseball season, but I'm wondering how many people in America are with all the steroid controversy going on. Are you concerned about that?

C. RIPKEN: Well, me personally, I know that it's a big issue and if you look at it from a broad standpoint, you say, God this is a lot of negative news and it can't be good for the sport. Maybe this is a process that baseball has to do go to kind of cleanse itself and really deal with the issue.

But Billy and I, we deal with the issue at the kids level, and we're teaching baseball, and we're right down here at the minor league level, and there's nothing wrong with the game. The game is beautiful. The people love to compete and play the game. So I think that once we get past this, and I hope we get past this and clean it up, we can start focusing on the great things that happen between the white lines.

KAGAN: Well, Billy, let me ask you about that, with baseball's policy, it's gotten a lot of controversy that it's not strong enough, the penalties aren't strong enough, and it doesn't send the right message to the kids, that I know you and Cal are still involved with. What do you think about that?

B. RIPKEN: I think it's going to get stronger, I really do. I think the boys going in front of Congress and testifying like that, I think there's a reason now. The good news it's out in the forefront, it really is. The players association, the ownership group, they're going to have to get together and figure out how to fix this problem, because as you said, there's youngsters that are starting to take this, because if there's not a stiff enough penalty up here and a reason to say don't do this, other than the health issues that we don't know about and everything else, the penalties are going to get stricter and harsher, and I think it needs to be.

KAGAN: Let's talk about some of the other positives of the 2005 season, though. The Boston Red Sox, can they repeat?

B. RIPKEN: Well, you look at that division, and they didn't win the east last year; they won the World Series. And it seems nowadays in the last few years the teams built for the long haul, the 162-game season is not necessarily the best team in postseason. The New York Yankees certainly did some things to strengthen their rotation. They went after some big guns, especially the Big Unit, and they might be the team to look at, but Boston is the defending world champs. Until you knock them off, they're the team to beat.

KAGAN: All right, tell us real quickly, what will you be doing on XM Radio?

C. RIPKEN: Well, we're going to be on two times on Saturday, two times on Sunday, and we'll have a chance to talk about issues from all the way up the top. We'll, of course, get into some of the steroid issues. I hope that we don't speculate too much, but I guess that's part of our job now in the media.

But what really attracted me to the show was it gives us a forum to talk about baseball in its entirety, all the way to the top level, or all the way down to the bottom level.

And since we deal with youth sports and trying to grow the game, it's good to get into the issues that all youth sports have and really try to celebrate and give our experience and understanding from that perspective so we can actually celebrate the game from the bottom to the top.

KAGAN: We will be listening. Good luck on your rookie season on XM Radio.

C. RIPKEN: We are rookies.

B. RIPKEN: Your brand new car with XM Radio in it, we'll be on channel 175.

KAGAN: One-seven five. When I figure out how the radio works, I'll tune in.

B. RIPKEN: OK, thank you.

KAGAN: Cal Jr. and Bill Ripken, thank you so much. Hopefully I'll figure it out before the baseball season is over.

SANCHEZ: That's great. That's two great ambassadors for baseball, at a time when baseball needs guys like this, clean.

KAGAN: Yes, good family.

SANCHEZ: Well, it is 52 minutes after the hour here on the East Coast, 10:00 that is, 7:00 on the West Coast. Stay with us, because we're going to be coming right back. We're going to have a quick check of the morning forecast.

KAGAN: Sound like a good idea.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Well parents if your kids play school sports, we've got a health story that turns into a bit of a must.

KAGAN: It's a killer in the locker room, a super bug stronger than the drugs used to treat it.

SANCHEZ: Also some promises of refusing to fill birth-control prescriptions. And now a battle over the pill of rights is brewing. We've got the debate on our second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY, and that begins right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired March 30, 2005 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are right at the half hour. Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez, and here's what happening right "Now in the News."

The pope is now being fed through a nasal tube, as you have seen with Dr. Sanjay Gupta's explanation just about 20 minutes ago. That's according to the Vatican, which says that the feeding tube was designed to help the pope get the calories that he needs. The pope has been in and out of the hospital recently because of breathing problems. Earlier today he arrived at the window of the residence and waved to the supporters.

Back here in the states, Joan Kennedy, former wife of Senator Edward Kennedy, is in the hospital. This after a passer-by found her lying unconscious in a Boston street Tuesday. It's not clear how Kennedy wound up in the street. Her son, Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy, says that she suffered a concussion and a broken shoulder.

Investigators in the Minnesota school shooting are reportedly looking through e-mails for potential clues about the rampage. Louis Jourdain, the son of a tribal leader, has been arrested in connection with the killings of ten people. His father says that his son is innocent. Meanwhile, "USA Today" reports teen shooter Jeff Weise was shot two times by police before turning the gun on himself.

A former top official with the Boy Scouts of America has arrived at a Dallas courtroom this morning. Douglas Sovereign Smith, Jr., is charged with possession and distribution of child pornography. Scout officials say that he had no direct contact with children when he served in his post, his job directing a national task force on protecting youth from sexual abuse.

And reports say the Department of Homeland Security will send some 700 extra border agents to the Arizona-Mexico border. Officials say that they are trying to stop potential terrorists and illegal immigrants from entering the United States. They're also trying to break up smuggling operations. About 500 of the agents are going to be permanently assigned, 200 others there for temporary duty.

KAGAN: Checking the latest on the Terri Schiavo case. A federal appeals court has not said when or if it will consider an emergency petition from her parents. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the petition to be filed late last night. Schiavo's parents are hoping for a temporary restraining order allowing her feeding tube to be reinserted.

SANCHEZ: A variety of people who want Terri Schiavo kept alive have showed up outside her hospice for days now. Most are united behind Schiavo's parents, but as CNN's Anderson Cooper found out when he visited himself, a lot of these people have very different ways of showing their support.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): "Welcome to the show," that's what someone said to me when I arrived at Terri Schiavo's hospice. At first, I didn't realize what he meant. It didn't take long to figure it out. The scene outside the hospice is somber and surreal. There are protests and prayers, and people with causes, looking for a camera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm with Smash Alley Underground, which is just a Christian rock group.

COOPER: Walking around, it seems like everyone wants to be on TV. On some stories, you have to seek people out, convince them to talk. Here, they talk to you whether you've asked them to or not. Some people laugh, others talk, some just stand silently, waiting for something. They're not even sure what.

COOPER: Why is your arm up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE PROTESTER: I don't know.

COOPER: Just about everyone you talk to says, they're here because they feel connected to Terri.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christy today can go ah--ah, and she laughs all the time.

COOPER: This woman came all the way from Tennessee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hurt for that family. We really do.

COOPER: The emotions are very real. You see tears and tempers and everything in-between. A few hundred feet away, Terri Schiavo lays dying. Outside, the hours slowly slip by.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Anderson is going to be anchoring a show from outside the hospice tonight. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

KAGAN: In today's CNN "Security Watch," the nation's intelligence community is about to face another blistering review. A presidential commission investigating weapons of mass destruction reportedly blasts the 15 agencies for their handling of Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has details on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush was briefed on the recommendations of his bipartisan commission on intelligence. Sources say the report offers harsh criticisms of intelligence failings on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and other issues and suggests more changes are needed.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will carefully consider the recommendations and act quickly on the recommendations as well.

ENSOR: The commission report will charge, sources say, that, at the newly created National Counterterrorism Center, where the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies work alongside each other, there still is not enough intelligence sharing. One analyst doesn't always know what's on the other analyst's computer, the same stovepiping problem that hurt the U.S. prior to the 9/11 attacks.

John McLaughlin is the former deputy director of central intelligence.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: In this business, there's always a tension between the obvious need to share and, on the other hand, the need to be careful about sources and methods, that is, not to expose sources to danger to their lives and so forth.

ENSOR: The commission's recommendations will set the scene for next month's hearings on the nomination of Ambassador John Negroponte to be the first director of national intelligence and of General Michael Hayden to be his deputy.

One major question not resolved by the new intelligence reform law is who in the new system will be in charge of secret intelligence operations against terrorists.

MCLAUGHLIN: Much of that is to be worked out, because the legislation allows you to draw a number of conclusion on that point.

ENSOR (on camera): David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And this reminder to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

SANCHEZ: Now over to Indonesia. They are still pulling people from the rubble caused by Monday's earthquake that left some 1,000 people dead. Crews pulled the 25-year-old man to freedom today. He had been trapped under the wreckage from a collapsed building on the island of Nias for 36 hours. Crews worked for four hours just to try and get him out, using nothing but a car jack, muscle and sheer will. The man is now said to be doing well.

We are following a developing story, in fact, having to do with that. It's coming out of the Pentagon. Military leaders have ordered the hospital ship the USNS Mercy to the Indonesia island hardest hit by Monday's devastating earthquake.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is working on that story and joining us now with some of the details. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Rick. As you say, the USNS Mercy, the Navy Hospital Ship, has been ordered to turn around and head toward Nias province in Indonesia. Now, the Mercy had been in the region since the tsunami in December and had been moving around some of the more remote areas of Indonesia in the last several weeks, offering medical and humanitarian assistance in some very remote areas.

The Mercy currently -- is a couple of thousand miles away in Indonesia, actually off East Timor. But as of this morning, it has been ordered to turn around. It was scheduled to come back to the United States. It is turning around. It is at least headed towards Nias province. While the U.S. works out the final details with the Indonesian government, we are told, about any arrangement for it to arrive in Nias and begin providing relief assistance to the people there.

That trip would take about six days, so they want to get the Mercy underway, get it closer while these final arrangements are being worked out. The ship has both military medical personnel onboard, as well as some private relief agency personnel. If they arrive in Nias, they are going to put out a call, they say, for more humanitarian relief workers to be flown out to the mercy to arrive.

Of course, the major medical concern that they're hoping to address is the potential outbreak of any disease in the days ahead, with the water supply being destroyed and pulled apart if you will, in that earthquake. There is a lot of concern about assuring the safe water supply for the people there.

So the Mercy now turned around, headed towards Nias province. The Navy ready to go in providing that assistance. The final details, we are told, are still being worked out -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Barbara Starr, reporting from the Pentagon. We thank you, Barbara.

KAGAN: Incredible story coming up. The hunt is on in California for a preserved fetus. And a camera shows how the thieves got their hands on the scientific exhibit.

SANCHEZ: Also, a long-running Hollywood dispute is put to rest. Disney and the founders of Miramax make it official. That's ahead on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Time to find out what's going on in the world of business.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: He dominated the competition on the baseball diamond. He could hit a curve ball. Could hit a slider -- he hit everything.

KAGAN: Showed up for work everyday. How about that?

SANCHEZ: Every single day. Broke records doing it, as a matter of fact.

KAGAN: Cal Ripken, Jr. is a rookie again. How does that work? He is trying his hand at something new. I'll talk to him and his brother straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Time to look at our news from coast to coast. First a bizarre burglary.

KAGAN: Very strange. Police are looking for two women who stole a preserved 13-week old fetus from a Los Angeles science center. Police say it was stolen early Saturday. The preserved fetus was part of a popular exhibit shown around the world.

SANCHEZ: And this morning officials in two south Florida cities reopened the beaches after shark sightings. Sharks were spotted yesterday off Deerfield Beach and Del Ray Beach. It's kind of typical to see this sight if you've lived in Florida for many years. Beach patrollers...

KAGAN: Yes, but you still don't go in the water.

SANCHEZ: But you still don't go in the water. They are usually black-tip sharks and they're migrating, and they are also looking for little things to eat like little fish, not people.

KAGAN: And girl sharks.

SANCHEZ: They thought the sharks may have been spinners. Experts say spinner sharks have never caused a human death and their bites aren't usually serious.

KAGAN: Yes. Let someone else find that out.

Rose Palmieri celebrated her 100th birthday with a few of her closest friends: the members of the Schenectady, New York, bowling league. Rose says her age wasn't as important as another number, 124. That was her score at her birthday party at the bowling lanes.

SANCHEZ: Good for her.

KAGAN: Congratulations, Rose.

Well, Major League Baseball's 2005 season begins Sunday night. There's a classic match-up. You have the world champion Boston Red Sox and their archrival, the New York Yankees. XM Satellite Radio will carry every game of the major league season. And their coverage this year includes a Saturday morning show hosted by baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr. and his brother Billy. I spoke with the Ripken brothers in Aberdeen, Maryland, earlier this morning.

CAL RIPKEN JR., BASEBALL LEGEND: Good morning, Daryn. How are you doing?

BILLY RIPKEN, FORMER MLB PLAYER: Good morning.

KAGAN: I am psyched for baseball season, but I'm wondering how many people in America are with all the steroid controversy going on. Are you concerned about that?

C. RIPKEN: Well, me personally, I know that it's a big issue and if you look at it from a broad standpoint, you say, God this is a lot of negative news and it can't be good for the sport. Maybe this is a process that baseball has to do go to kind of cleanse itself and really deal with the issue.

But Billy and I, we deal with the issue at the kids level, and we're teaching baseball, and we're right down here at the minor league level, and there's nothing wrong with the game. The game is beautiful. The people love to compete and play the game. So I think that once we get past this, and I hope we get past this and clean it up, we can start focusing on the great things that happen between the white lines.

KAGAN: Well, Billy, let me ask you about that, with baseball's policy, it's gotten a lot of controversy that it's not strong enough, the penalties aren't strong enough, and it doesn't send the right message to the kids, that I know you and Cal are still involved with. What do you think about that?

B. RIPKEN: I think it's going to get stronger, I really do. I think the boys going in front of Congress and testifying like that, I think there's a reason now. The good news it's out in the forefront, it really is. The players association, the ownership group, they're going to have to get together and figure out how to fix this problem, because as you said, there's youngsters that are starting to take this, because if there's not a stiff enough penalty up here and a reason to say don't do this, other than the health issues that we don't know about and everything else, the penalties are going to get stricter and harsher, and I think it needs to be.

KAGAN: Let's talk about some of the other positives of the 2005 season, though. The Boston Red Sox, can they repeat?

B. RIPKEN: Well, you look at that division, and they didn't win the east last year; they won the World Series. And it seems nowadays in the last few years the teams built for the long haul, the 162-game season is not necessarily the best team in postseason. The New York Yankees certainly did some things to strengthen their rotation. They went after some big guns, especially the Big Unit, and they might be the team to look at, but Boston is the defending world champs. Until you knock them off, they're the team to beat.

KAGAN: All right, tell us real quickly, what will you be doing on XM Radio?

C. RIPKEN: Well, we're going to be on two times on Saturday, two times on Sunday, and we'll have a chance to talk about issues from all the way up the top. We'll, of course, get into some of the steroid issues. I hope that we don't speculate too much, but I guess that's part of our job now in the media.

But what really attracted me to the show was it gives us a forum to talk about baseball in its entirety, all the way to the top level, or all the way down to the bottom level.

And since we deal with youth sports and trying to grow the game, it's good to get into the issues that all youth sports have and really try to celebrate and give our experience and understanding from that perspective so we can actually celebrate the game from the bottom to the top.

KAGAN: We will be listening. Good luck on your rookie season on XM Radio.

C. RIPKEN: We are rookies.

B. RIPKEN: Your brand new car with XM Radio in it, we'll be on channel 175.

KAGAN: One-seven five. When I figure out how the radio works, I'll tune in.

B. RIPKEN: OK, thank you.

KAGAN: Cal Jr. and Bill Ripken, thank you so much. Hopefully I'll figure it out before the baseball season is over.

SANCHEZ: That's great. That's two great ambassadors for baseball, at a time when baseball needs guys like this, clean.

KAGAN: Yes, good family.

SANCHEZ: Well, it is 52 minutes after the hour here on the East Coast, 10:00 that is, 7:00 on the West Coast. Stay with us, because we're going to be coming right back. We're going to have a quick check of the morning forecast.

KAGAN: Sound like a good idea.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Well parents if your kids play school sports, we've got a health story that turns into a bit of a must.

KAGAN: It's a killer in the locker room, a super bug stronger than the drugs used to treat it.

SANCHEZ: Also some promises of refusing to fill birth-control prescriptions. And now a battle over the pill of rights is brewing. We've got the debate on our second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY, and that begins right now.

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