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Bush & Naval Grads; Battle Over Bolton; Summer Travel

Aired May 27, 2005 - 11:00   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: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
A lot of Americans are hitting the road on this Memorial Day holiday. Motorists can expect high prices at the gas pumps. And air travelers are warned to expect delays. AAA predicts some 37 million of you will be on the move during this long weekend, which is the traditional start of the summer vacation season.

Here in Atlanta, Georgia, a fugitive wanted in Georgia. He -- look where he is, on the edge of that crane.

He has been up there for over 40 hours. Carl Roland has been up there since Wednesday afternoon. He is a wanted murder suspect in Florida. The body of his ex-girlfriend was recovered the day before from a pond near her Florida home.

Ronald Grecula's lawyers say he's only guilty of being a big talker. But the government thinks he may be far more dangerous. The FBI says the Pennsylvania man who was arrested in Houston last week was plotting to blow up a dirty bomb at the Super Bowl.

And The Associated Press reports finding a Web site that has instructions on how to attack what appears to be the U.S. embassy in Jakarta. Yesterday, U.S. officials announced the embassy would be shuttered indefinitely, citing unspecified terror threats and unrest in the country.

It's the time of day when we like to check the clock around the world. Just after 11:00 a.m. in Miami, Florida, just after 8:00 a.m. in Santa Maria, California, just two of the places we will be talking about in this hour.

From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning. I hope you're off to a good start to your holiday weekend. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We're going to begin this hour with the graduation at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. President Bush addressed the class of 2005 last hour, an event you saw live if you're watching us here on CNN.

Our National Correspondent Bob Franken is at the White House with more on the president's duties this morning.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And of course the president rotates the service academies. So the last time he spoke at the Naval Academy in Annapolis just down the road from Washington was just a few months before September 11 in the attacks.

And, of course, as he told the people there -- you can see that the president is going through ceremonies. He'll be there for quite some time before he goes to Camp David for the weekend. He told those in the audience and those watching that since September 11 and since the last time he's spoke there's been a big transformation, not only in the mission of the military, but a need for agility and technology. And with that, he said an entire nation has to sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To meet new threats we must transform our domestic force posture as well. And that will require closing and realigning military bases.

The military services have each done a review of their requirements, and they've concluded that we have more bases than we need. Supporting these facilities wastes billions of taxpayers' dollars, money that can be better spent on giving you the tools to fight terrorists and confront 21st century threats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: The last time that President Bush spoke at the academy, the anchor of the class -- that's the one, the person with the lowest grade point among those who are graduating -- that person gave him a big bear hug. President Bush suggested that maybe that shouldn't happen this time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes. He said his ribs are still hurting from that. Secret Service standing by close to watch that one. Bob, thank you.

FRANKEN: Right.

KAGAN: Let's check the latest headlines out of Iraq now.

Trucks carrying the wreckage of a U.S. military helicopter shot down Thursday near Baquba. The -- two U.S. soldiers were killed in that. Another chopper was damaged but safely returned to its base.

And in Mosul, insurgents attacked and killed an Iraqi police chief and two Iraqi police officers. The incident took place at Mosul University.

To Capitol Hill now. John Bolton's nomination to the U.N. is on hold today, blocked for the moment by Democrats.

Congressional Correspondent Joe Johns joins me live.

Good morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. There have been questions all along about whether Ambassador Bolton should be just that. The question, of course, is whether he's the right man for a top diplomatic post. The truth is, this is now held up until the first week of June while Democrats ask for more information.

Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd holding out for some National Security Agency intercepts that Bolton requested. They haven't gotten what they want yet.

Failure to cut off debate and move forward on this nomination set off some finger-pointing. Republicans accusing Democrats of obstructionism. Democrats saying they're being blocked from getting information they need to make a very important decision.

KAGAN: And then, Joe, there is a development with Tom DeLay.

JOHNS: We'll, all right, we'll move on to Tom DeLay then.

KAGAN: OK.

JOHNS: The bottom line on Tom DeLay is that he set up a political action committee called TRMPAC, Texans for a Republican Majority. Now the treasurer of that political action committee has been found in a civil case in violation of law relating to the disclosure to the state of hundreds of thousands of dollars of money they took in and spent during the 2002 election.

It is potentially a problem, both political and legal for Congressman Tom DeLay, even though you have to note that the decision from the judge, issued just yesterday, does not mention his name. DeLay denies any wrongdoing. He said he had nothing to do with Texans for Republican Majority as far as the day-to-day operations.

So there has been a ruling of a violation of law relating to disclosure in that Texas case. And right now, the next step, of course, in all of this is to watch to see what happens in Texas with three DeLay associates who have been indicted on a criminal matter that is sort of, in some ways, related to the civil case.

Daryn, back to you

KAGAN: All right. Joe, thank you for that.

Another story about Tom DeLay for you. He is angry at NBC over the season finale of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." The episode centered on the fictional murders of two federal judges. Listen close for the offending line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT": An appellate court judge, no less.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT": Chief of Ds is setting up the task force. People are talking about multiple assassination teams

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT": It looks like the same shooters. CSU found the slug in a post, matched it to the one that killed Judge Barton. Maybe we should put out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-shirt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: NBC said that remark was neither a political comment or an accusation. But "Law & Order" executive producer Dick Wolf congratulated DeLay for switching the topic from his ethics troubles.

DeLay is on record with remarks that some say might encourage violence against judges. His comments did come at a sensitive time, just weeks after the murder of a federal judge's mother and husband in Chicago. Once again, Tom DeLay officially saying he has been offended by being associated with that on an NBC drama.

Ahead of Memorial Day a solemn duty at Arlington National Cemetery today. Members of the 3rd Infantry, known as the Old Guard, are placing American flags on each grave at Arlington. Two hundred and eighty thousand flags will be planted in honor of the men and women who gave their lives for this country.

Time to go. Memorial Day Weekend launching the summer travel season. Will high gas prices keep you home? Apparently not. AAA predicts a record travel weekend with more than 37 million of us in the air and on the road. The vast majority of travelers will go by car, and they will take their lumps at the pumps.

Let's talk to Justin McNaull in Washington, spokesman to AAA.

Busy time for you, Justin. Good morning.

JUSTIN MCNAULL, AAA: Hey. Good morning, Daryn

KAGAN: Let's talk about the price of gas. It is up, but does that mean people stay home?

MCNAULL: Well, these are the highest prices we've ever seen coming into a Memorial Day, or actually any holiday, for that matter. Averaging about $2.11 a gallon for a gallon of self-serve regular unleaded, which is about a nickel higher than it was last year when we peaked at the then record of $2.05. And we forget, actually, we were at about $1.50 a gallon just two years ago for Memorial Day.

KAGAN: Oh, you're making me weep.

MCNAULL: I know, the good old days of $1.50 gas. But even at that $1.50 level, if you took a 1,000-mile drive trip, which is a viciously long trip to take on Memorial Day...

KAGAN: OK. There's other problems besides the price of gas if you're going to try that on Memorial Day.

MCNAULL: Oh, absolutely. Kids are going to go nuts in the back. KAGAN: Yes. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

MCNAULL: Even then, it would only be -- it's an extra $20 or $30 to fill up. So it's really not a deal-breaker when you think about the hotel rooms, the amusement park tickets, the food along the way. There are ways you can scrimp and save to cover that.

KAGAN: And speaking of costs, costs are up in general. Let's look at some of those costs. Some are up, some are down.

Gas, of course, the price of gas is up. I think We have a graphic to show that.

MCNAULL: Sure. Then a lot to talk about than increasing gas prices.

Hotel rates are up as well. When we look at some of the three diamond properties, the hotels that we look at, they're up about 10 percent for this memorial day compared to last year.

KAGAN: Now what's that about, just hotel costs?

MCNAULL: Well, you've actually seen a significant rebound in business travel...

KAGAN: There we go.

MCNAULL: ... which has pushed up the hotel rates on the business side. And it started to spill across to us as leisure travelers. We're not quite finding the bargains and those sort of last-minute great deals that we used to find.

KAGAN: And yet airfares and rental cars are down.

MCNAULL: Right. And part of that is just, on the airline side, there's so much more capacity being put out there.

There are just a lot more seats, a lot more direct flights from point to point for a lot of us, a lot more low-service carriers covering these routes. So it's just a cutthroat market for the airlines. But from an airline passenger's standpoint, it's a good time to fly.

KAGAN: So some helpful tips here. First of all, you say leave early. And I think you said try to leave by 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Well, I don't think that's happening if people are watching, unless they're watching us in the airport.

MCNAULL: Pack up the bags, leave now.

KAGAN: Yes. Go.

MCNAULL: If you can avoid that Friday afternoon-Friday evening rush out of town and that Monday evening crush to get back into town, the trip's going to be a lot smoother. So if you can go later -- late tonight or tomorrow morning, it will be pretty easy. Stay an extra day. Come back on Tuesday.

KAGAN: And, of course, buckle up. That's probably the most important tip.

MCNAULL: Absolutely. It's the single thing -- single most important thing can you do safety-wise. There's an enforcement campaign nationwide, a Click It or Ticket Effort. So if common sense doesn't tell you to buckle up, self-preservation doesn't tell you to do it, do it out of fear of a ticket

KAGAN: And take frequent breaks.

MCNAULL: Absolutely. It keeps the driver fresh. That way the driver can be alert, and in case anything unexpected happens on the highway. And it's also good for the kids, for the pets, whoever else you've got riding in the car with you

KAGAN: Justin, I have one question for you.

MCNAULL: You bet.

KAGAN: Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

MCNAULL: I know my mother-in-law arrives in seven hours. That's all I know for my Memorial Day.

KAGAN: Oh, OK. Well, you can come back on Monday or Tuesday and tell us how that went. The in-laws are coming to Justin's -- to the McNaull house

MCNAULL: Absolutely. There you go.

KAGAN: Thank you, Justin. You have a great holiday weekend. Thank you for the tips.

MCNAULL: Thanks. You, too.

KAGAN: I want to show you a live picture from Annapolis, Maryland. Reason for celebration there, 976 graduates at the Naval Academy.

If you were with us in the last hour, President Bush gave the commencement speech, the first time in four years he's done that. A lot of work there, 976 diplomas to hand out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Steven Wayne Kulan (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Congratulations to Steven Wayne Kulan (ph). We'll continue to dip in.

Right now, a break. Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend and summer in general, we're going to tell you about the best of the beaches, from sand to aqua blue waters, where you should go to relax in the sun.

A court verdict in Indonesia is causing uproar in Australia. We will find out why.

And we're going live to here in Atlanta. The crane man still there. The standoff continues. Yes, he is still up there and traffic still a mess.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go back live now. Actually, we do want you to know that this picture is a little bit on delay because of the situation we're dealing with.

This is the Buckhead section of here in Atlanta. This is a live picture of fugitive Carl Roland, who for the past 43 hours has been clinging to a crane 350 feet off the ground.

So far, authorities have not been able to coax him down. Early this morning, they placed a loud siren inside a cement bucket. It follows Roland back and forth along the boom.

He is wanted in Florida in the death of his ex-girlfriend. It looks as we're watching the picture like -- well, perhaps he didn't. It looked at some point like he was putting on some type of harness. We're going to check in with our correspondent on the scene to see what else we can learn there.

To California now. The Michael Jackson molestation trial will play out a bit longer than thought. Prosecutors today will show the jury a 2003 interview of police interviewing Jackson's accuser. Our Ted Rowlands explains how that could affect the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Clearly, this is a very important day for both sides. Yesterday, the judge ruled that prosecutors could play the tape of the accuser's initial police interview where the accuser details what Michael Jackson supposedly did to him, goes into detail about the alleged molestation. This is the first time the jury will have seen the accuser in months.

The defense has asked for and has received permission to then bring the accuser himself back into the courtroom and cross-examine the accuser and the accuser's mother. This, as the trial starts to end, will be a final finish and a chance for the jurors to see both the accuser and the accuser's mother on the stand, if indeed the defense does call both to the stand.

It is expected the prosecution will finish its rebuttal case sometime today. The defense will start. It's unclear when the jury will start debilitating Jackson's fate.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Santa Maria, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And as Ted was wrapping up that report, as you can see, live pictures of what we've come to see as a daily site, the black suburban pulling up to the courthouse in Santa Maria. And if history and recent experience any guide, somebody will pop out, put up an umbrella, and then Michael Jackson will come out, perhaps with his mother and his father.

Moving a little slowly today. Well, there's the umbrella, or the man with the umbrella.

And as Ted was saying, the prosecution wrapping up its rebuttal witnesses. And we expect this one to go to the jury sometime this week.

There is his mother, Mrs. Jackson. And here comes his father, Joe Jackson. The umbrella, and on cue, Michael Jackson.

They'll make their way into the courthouse. We will be monitoring things from Santa Maria and bring it to you as necessary.

Meanwhile, are you planning a summer beach trip? If you are, why not go to the very best or at least one of the top beaches? The man who decides which beaches are best will tell us what he looks for and what he found, and actually how hurricanes might affect where you might want to go on vacation this summer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's check in on the weather picture. Jill Brown has that for us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, grab your sunscreen. Dr. Beach is out this week with his list of America's best beaches. And just in time for summer.

Stephen Leatherman, no relation to Mr. Moviefone, Russ Leatherman, right?

STEPHEN LEATHERMAN, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: No, not really.

KAGAN: No. You don't want to be related to him.

No, just kidding, Russ.

Stephen is a professor of environmental studies at Florida International University. He joins me from Miami this morning.

Good morning.

LEATHERMAN: My pleasure to be with you.

KAGAN: Good to have you here with us. Let's get right to the top five beaches.

We were talking about this when your list came out a couple days ago, because this is something near and dear to my heart. Love the beach.

All right. Our top five beaches, from five, going up, number five is Fleming Beach, Maui, Hawaii; number four, Caladesi Beach -- did I say that right?

LEATHERMAN: Yes, Caladesi Island.

KAGAN: Caladesi Island in Clearwater, Florida; Hanalei Bay, Kauai, in Hawaii; Ocrocoke in the Outerbanks of North Carolina; and the number one beach this year, according to Dr. Beach, Fort De Soto Park, North Beach, St. Petersburg, Florida.

Let's go to number one. Why do you love it so much?

LEATHERMAN: Well, Fort De Soto Park, you've got a thousand acres there, five islands, beautiful sandy beach, white sand beach, very wide, clean, clear water. Great for swimming, the water's always safe. No rip currents, no big waves.

Warm water, bird watching, canoeing, fishing. Shelling, great shelling there. Oh, my goodness. I saw some very endangered -- I mean rosette spoonbills (ph) the other day when I was there.

KAGAN: Ooh. Well, let's go now. Sounds good. You say North Beach. Is the South Beach not so good?

LEATHERMAN: Well, they have also an East Beach, and that's on the Tampa Bay side itself. North Beach is on the Gulf. And that's really the primo beach. It's about five miles. Believe me, plenty of room for everybody there. Plenty of parking

KAGAN: You know people who have been going to any of these places for years don't really appreciate probably when you star saying, hey, that nice beach over in North Carolina.

LEATHERMAN: Oh, yes. Well, Ocrocoke Island, North Carolina, this is a getaway beach there. It's on the Outerbanks, you get there by car ferry.

By the way, it's still a free car ferry. Can you believe that?

And once you get there, this is an old village. Ocrocoke is like going back in time.

Don't go there for the Hilton or golf. But you go there for the small hotels and motels and B&Bs and then a beach. Ten miles of sandy beach, a wild beach. It's all to yourself. Unbelievable.

KAGAN: Lovely. Now, there are two beaches from Florida in your top five. And, you know, I'm wondering what effect the hurricanes had. Anybody, like, on the panhandle that would have perhaps made the top 10 that didn't this year because of hurricane damage?

LEATHERMAN: Well, certainly there's a lot of repairs that have to be done in Pensacola. And they're coming back.

But I've had a number of national winners in the panhandle in the past, Graten Beach (ph), and St. Joe's and St. Andrews near Panama City. So that area is going to come back.

There were no contenders this year, because I retired the national winners. But they're on my list.

KAGAN: Ah.

LEATHERMAN: If you go to my list, drbeach.org, you see all the past national national winners are still there. And fortunately, those beaches did very well. It was really the Alabama beaches.

Perdido Key, wow, there's some beautiful sand there. And looking forward for that recovery. But they had a hard hit from Hurricane Ivan. Came in at the 15th (INAUDIBLE) storm surge. So serious damage unfortunately.

But the good news is, most of Florida is up and going. You see that in three winners -- well, three beaches in the top 10 in Florida. So the allusion a lot of people had was, my goodness, all of Florida was mauled by these hurricanes. Well, that, fortunately, was not true.

KAGAN: Absolutely not. I will be on the beach this weekend. So you've got me in the mood. I'm about a half-hour before my -- well, my weekend here.

Dr. Beach, thank you.

LEATHERMAN: Excellent.

KAGAN: We will see you on the sand.

LEATHERMAN: My pleasure being with you again, as usual.

KAGAN: Always. Dr. Beach.

Before we head to the beach, let's head north to check out President Bush. Live pictures from Annapolis, Maryland. He continues to pass out the 976...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Matthew Jamie Hahn (ph).

KAGAN: Congratulations to Matthew Jamie Hahn (ph).

Let's get one more name in before we go to break.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dwayne P. Osgood (ph).

KAGAN: You know the Osgoods (ph) are thrilled for their son. Congratulations to them. We'll keep dipping in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael L. Murray (ph).

KAGAN: And we'll be back after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired May 27, 2005 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
A lot of Americans are hitting the road on this Memorial Day holiday. Motorists can expect high prices at the gas pumps. And air travelers are warned to expect delays. AAA predicts some 37 million of you will be on the move during this long weekend, which is the traditional start of the summer vacation season.

Here in Atlanta, Georgia, a fugitive wanted in Georgia. He -- look where he is, on the edge of that crane.

He has been up there for over 40 hours. Carl Roland has been up there since Wednesday afternoon. He is a wanted murder suspect in Florida. The body of his ex-girlfriend was recovered the day before from a pond near her Florida home.

Ronald Grecula's lawyers say he's only guilty of being a big talker. But the government thinks he may be far more dangerous. The FBI says the Pennsylvania man who was arrested in Houston last week was plotting to blow up a dirty bomb at the Super Bowl.

And The Associated Press reports finding a Web site that has instructions on how to attack what appears to be the U.S. embassy in Jakarta. Yesterday, U.S. officials announced the embassy would be shuttered indefinitely, citing unspecified terror threats and unrest in the country.

It's the time of day when we like to check the clock around the world. Just after 11:00 a.m. in Miami, Florida, just after 8:00 a.m. in Santa Maria, California, just two of the places we will be talking about in this hour.

From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning. I hope you're off to a good start to your holiday weekend. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We're going to begin this hour with the graduation at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. President Bush addressed the class of 2005 last hour, an event you saw live if you're watching us here on CNN.

Our National Correspondent Bob Franken is at the White House with more on the president's duties this morning.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And of course the president rotates the service academies. So the last time he spoke at the Naval Academy in Annapolis just down the road from Washington was just a few months before September 11 in the attacks.

And, of course, as he told the people there -- you can see that the president is going through ceremonies. He'll be there for quite some time before he goes to Camp David for the weekend. He told those in the audience and those watching that since September 11 and since the last time he's spoke there's been a big transformation, not only in the mission of the military, but a need for agility and technology. And with that, he said an entire nation has to sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To meet new threats we must transform our domestic force posture as well. And that will require closing and realigning military bases.

The military services have each done a review of their requirements, and they've concluded that we have more bases than we need. Supporting these facilities wastes billions of taxpayers' dollars, money that can be better spent on giving you the tools to fight terrorists and confront 21st century threats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: The last time that President Bush spoke at the academy, the anchor of the class -- that's the one, the person with the lowest grade point among those who are graduating -- that person gave him a big bear hug. President Bush suggested that maybe that shouldn't happen this time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes. He said his ribs are still hurting from that. Secret Service standing by close to watch that one. Bob, thank you.

FRANKEN: Right.

KAGAN: Let's check the latest headlines out of Iraq now.

Trucks carrying the wreckage of a U.S. military helicopter shot down Thursday near Baquba. The -- two U.S. soldiers were killed in that. Another chopper was damaged but safely returned to its base.

And in Mosul, insurgents attacked and killed an Iraqi police chief and two Iraqi police officers. The incident took place at Mosul University.

To Capitol Hill now. John Bolton's nomination to the U.N. is on hold today, blocked for the moment by Democrats.

Congressional Correspondent Joe Johns joins me live.

Good morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. There have been questions all along about whether Ambassador Bolton should be just that. The question, of course, is whether he's the right man for a top diplomatic post. The truth is, this is now held up until the first week of June while Democrats ask for more information.

Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd holding out for some National Security Agency intercepts that Bolton requested. They haven't gotten what they want yet.

Failure to cut off debate and move forward on this nomination set off some finger-pointing. Republicans accusing Democrats of obstructionism. Democrats saying they're being blocked from getting information they need to make a very important decision.

KAGAN: And then, Joe, there is a development with Tom DeLay.

JOHNS: We'll, all right, we'll move on to Tom DeLay then.

KAGAN: OK.

JOHNS: The bottom line on Tom DeLay is that he set up a political action committee called TRMPAC, Texans for a Republican Majority. Now the treasurer of that political action committee has been found in a civil case in violation of law relating to the disclosure to the state of hundreds of thousands of dollars of money they took in and spent during the 2002 election.

It is potentially a problem, both political and legal for Congressman Tom DeLay, even though you have to note that the decision from the judge, issued just yesterday, does not mention his name. DeLay denies any wrongdoing. He said he had nothing to do with Texans for Republican Majority as far as the day-to-day operations.

So there has been a ruling of a violation of law relating to disclosure in that Texas case. And right now, the next step, of course, in all of this is to watch to see what happens in Texas with three DeLay associates who have been indicted on a criminal matter that is sort of, in some ways, related to the civil case.

Daryn, back to you

KAGAN: All right. Joe, thank you for that.

Another story about Tom DeLay for you. He is angry at NBC over the season finale of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." The episode centered on the fictional murders of two federal judges. Listen close for the offending line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT": An appellate court judge, no less.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT": Chief of Ds is setting up the task force. People are talking about multiple assassination teams

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT": It looks like the same shooters. CSU found the slug in a post, matched it to the one that killed Judge Barton. Maybe we should put out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-shirt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: NBC said that remark was neither a political comment or an accusation. But "Law & Order" executive producer Dick Wolf congratulated DeLay for switching the topic from his ethics troubles.

DeLay is on record with remarks that some say might encourage violence against judges. His comments did come at a sensitive time, just weeks after the murder of a federal judge's mother and husband in Chicago. Once again, Tom DeLay officially saying he has been offended by being associated with that on an NBC drama.

Ahead of Memorial Day a solemn duty at Arlington National Cemetery today. Members of the 3rd Infantry, known as the Old Guard, are placing American flags on each grave at Arlington. Two hundred and eighty thousand flags will be planted in honor of the men and women who gave their lives for this country.

Time to go. Memorial Day Weekend launching the summer travel season. Will high gas prices keep you home? Apparently not. AAA predicts a record travel weekend with more than 37 million of us in the air and on the road. The vast majority of travelers will go by car, and they will take their lumps at the pumps.

Let's talk to Justin McNaull in Washington, spokesman to AAA.

Busy time for you, Justin. Good morning.

JUSTIN MCNAULL, AAA: Hey. Good morning, Daryn

KAGAN: Let's talk about the price of gas. It is up, but does that mean people stay home?

MCNAULL: Well, these are the highest prices we've ever seen coming into a Memorial Day, or actually any holiday, for that matter. Averaging about $2.11 a gallon for a gallon of self-serve regular unleaded, which is about a nickel higher than it was last year when we peaked at the then record of $2.05. And we forget, actually, we were at about $1.50 a gallon just two years ago for Memorial Day.

KAGAN: Oh, you're making me weep.

MCNAULL: I know, the good old days of $1.50 gas. But even at that $1.50 level, if you took a 1,000-mile drive trip, which is a viciously long trip to take on Memorial Day...

KAGAN: OK. There's other problems besides the price of gas if you're going to try that on Memorial Day.

MCNAULL: Oh, absolutely. Kids are going to go nuts in the back. KAGAN: Yes. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

MCNAULL: Even then, it would only be -- it's an extra $20 or $30 to fill up. So it's really not a deal-breaker when you think about the hotel rooms, the amusement park tickets, the food along the way. There are ways you can scrimp and save to cover that.

KAGAN: And speaking of costs, costs are up in general. Let's look at some of those costs. Some are up, some are down.

Gas, of course, the price of gas is up. I think We have a graphic to show that.

MCNAULL: Sure. Then a lot to talk about than increasing gas prices.

Hotel rates are up as well. When we look at some of the three diamond properties, the hotels that we look at, they're up about 10 percent for this memorial day compared to last year.

KAGAN: Now what's that about, just hotel costs?

MCNAULL: Well, you've actually seen a significant rebound in business travel...

KAGAN: There we go.

MCNAULL: ... which has pushed up the hotel rates on the business side. And it started to spill across to us as leisure travelers. We're not quite finding the bargains and those sort of last-minute great deals that we used to find.

KAGAN: And yet airfares and rental cars are down.

MCNAULL: Right. And part of that is just, on the airline side, there's so much more capacity being put out there.

There are just a lot more seats, a lot more direct flights from point to point for a lot of us, a lot more low-service carriers covering these routes. So it's just a cutthroat market for the airlines. But from an airline passenger's standpoint, it's a good time to fly.

KAGAN: So some helpful tips here. First of all, you say leave early. And I think you said try to leave by 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Well, I don't think that's happening if people are watching, unless they're watching us in the airport.

MCNAULL: Pack up the bags, leave now.

KAGAN: Yes. Go.

MCNAULL: If you can avoid that Friday afternoon-Friday evening rush out of town and that Monday evening crush to get back into town, the trip's going to be a lot smoother. So if you can go later -- late tonight or tomorrow morning, it will be pretty easy. Stay an extra day. Come back on Tuesday.

KAGAN: And, of course, buckle up. That's probably the most important tip.

MCNAULL: Absolutely. It's the single thing -- single most important thing can you do safety-wise. There's an enforcement campaign nationwide, a Click It or Ticket Effort. So if common sense doesn't tell you to buckle up, self-preservation doesn't tell you to do it, do it out of fear of a ticket

KAGAN: And take frequent breaks.

MCNAULL: Absolutely. It keeps the driver fresh. That way the driver can be alert, and in case anything unexpected happens on the highway. And it's also good for the kids, for the pets, whoever else you've got riding in the car with you

KAGAN: Justin, I have one question for you.

MCNAULL: You bet.

KAGAN: Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

MCNAULL: I know my mother-in-law arrives in seven hours. That's all I know for my Memorial Day.

KAGAN: Oh, OK. Well, you can come back on Monday or Tuesday and tell us how that went. The in-laws are coming to Justin's -- to the McNaull house

MCNAULL: Absolutely. There you go.

KAGAN: Thank you, Justin. You have a great holiday weekend. Thank you for the tips.

MCNAULL: Thanks. You, too.

KAGAN: I want to show you a live picture from Annapolis, Maryland. Reason for celebration there, 976 graduates at the Naval Academy.

If you were with us in the last hour, President Bush gave the commencement speech, the first time in four years he's done that. A lot of work there, 976 diplomas to hand out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Steven Wayne Kulan (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Congratulations to Steven Wayne Kulan (ph). We'll continue to dip in.

Right now, a break. Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend and summer in general, we're going to tell you about the best of the beaches, from sand to aqua blue waters, where you should go to relax in the sun.

A court verdict in Indonesia is causing uproar in Australia. We will find out why.

And we're going live to here in Atlanta. The crane man still there. The standoff continues. Yes, he is still up there and traffic still a mess.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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KAGAN: Let's go back live now. Actually, we do want you to know that this picture is a little bit on delay because of the situation we're dealing with.

This is the Buckhead section of here in Atlanta. This is a live picture of fugitive Carl Roland, who for the past 43 hours has been clinging to a crane 350 feet off the ground.

So far, authorities have not been able to coax him down. Early this morning, they placed a loud siren inside a cement bucket. It follows Roland back and forth along the boom.

He is wanted in Florida in the death of his ex-girlfriend. It looks as we're watching the picture like -- well, perhaps he didn't. It looked at some point like he was putting on some type of harness. We're going to check in with our correspondent on the scene to see what else we can learn there.

To California now. The Michael Jackson molestation trial will play out a bit longer than thought. Prosecutors today will show the jury a 2003 interview of police interviewing Jackson's accuser. Our Ted Rowlands explains how that could affect the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Clearly, this is a very important day for both sides. Yesterday, the judge ruled that prosecutors could play the tape of the accuser's initial police interview where the accuser details what Michael Jackson supposedly did to him, goes into detail about the alleged molestation. This is the first time the jury will have seen the accuser in months.

The defense has asked for and has received permission to then bring the accuser himself back into the courtroom and cross-examine the accuser and the accuser's mother. This, as the trial starts to end, will be a final finish and a chance for the jurors to see both the accuser and the accuser's mother on the stand, if indeed the defense does call both to the stand.

It is expected the prosecution will finish its rebuttal case sometime today. The defense will start. It's unclear when the jury will start debilitating Jackson's fate.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Santa Maria, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And as Ted was wrapping up that report, as you can see, live pictures of what we've come to see as a daily site, the black suburban pulling up to the courthouse in Santa Maria. And if history and recent experience any guide, somebody will pop out, put up an umbrella, and then Michael Jackson will come out, perhaps with his mother and his father.

Moving a little slowly today. Well, there's the umbrella, or the man with the umbrella.

And as Ted was saying, the prosecution wrapping up its rebuttal witnesses. And we expect this one to go to the jury sometime this week.

There is his mother, Mrs. Jackson. And here comes his father, Joe Jackson. The umbrella, and on cue, Michael Jackson.

They'll make their way into the courthouse. We will be monitoring things from Santa Maria and bring it to you as necessary.

Meanwhile, are you planning a summer beach trip? If you are, why not go to the very best or at least one of the top beaches? The man who decides which beaches are best will tell us what he looks for and what he found, and actually how hurricanes might affect where you might want to go on vacation this summer.

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KAGAN: Let's check in on the weather picture. Jill Brown has that for us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, grab your sunscreen. Dr. Beach is out this week with his list of America's best beaches. And just in time for summer.

Stephen Leatherman, no relation to Mr. Moviefone, Russ Leatherman, right?

STEPHEN LEATHERMAN, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: No, not really.

KAGAN: No. You don't want to be related to him.

No, just kidding, Russ.

Stephen is a professor of environmental studies at Florida International University. He joins me from Miami this morning.

Good morning.

LEATHERMAN: My pleasure to be with you.

KAGAN: Good to have you here with us. Let's get right to the top five beaches.

We were talking about this when your list came out a couple days ago, because this is something near and dear to my heart. Love the beach.

All right. Our top five beaches, from five, going up, number five is Fleming Beach, Maui, Hawaii; number four, Caladesi Beach -- did I say that right?

LEATHERMAN: Yes, Caladesi Island.

KAGAN: Caladesi Island in Clearwater, Florida; Hanalei Bay, Kauai, in Hawaii; Ocrocoke in the Outerbanks of North Carolina; and the number one beach this year, according to Dr. Beach, Fort De Soto Park, North Beach, St. Petersburg, Florida.

Let's go to number one. Why do you love it so much?

LEATHERMAN: Well, Fort De Soto Park, you've got a thousand acres there, five islands, beautiful sandy beach, white sand beach, very wide, clean, clear water. Great for swimming, the water's always safe. No rip currents, no big waves.

Warm water, bird watching, canoeing, fishing. Shelling, great shelling there. Oh, my goodness. I saw some very endangered -- I mean rosette spoonbills (ph) the other day when I was there.

KAGAN: Ooh. Well, let's go now. Sounds good. You say North Beach. Is the South Beach not so good?

LEATHERMAN: Well, they have also an East Beach, and that's on the Tampa Bay side itself. North Beach is on the Gulf. And that's really the primo beach. It's about five miles. Believe me, plenty of room for everybody there. Plenty of parking

KAGAN: You know people who have been going to any of these places for years don't really appreciate probably when you star saying, hey, that nice beach over in North Carolina.

LEATHERMAN: Oh, yes. Well, Ocrocoke Island, North Carolina, this is a getaway beach there. It's on the Outerbanks, you get there by car ferry.

By the way, it's still a free car ferry. Can you believe that?

And once you get there, this is an old village. Ocrocoke is like going back in time.

Don't go there for the Hilton or golf. But you go there for the small hotels and motels and B&Bs and then a beach. Ten miles of sandy beach, a wild beach. It's all to yourself. Unbelievable.

KAGAN: Lovely. Now, there are two beaches from Florida in your top five. And, you know, I'm wondering what effect the hurricanes had. Anybody, like, on the panhandle that would have perhaps made the top 10 that didn't this year because of hurricane damage?

LEATHERMAN: Well, certainly there's a lot of repairs that have to be done in Pensacola. And they're coming back.

But I've had a number of national winners in the panhandle in the past, Graten Beach (ph), and St. Joe's and St. Andrews near Panama City. So that area is going to come back.

There were no contenders this year, because I retired the national winners. But they're on my list.

KAGAN: Ah.

LEATHERMAN: If you go to my list, drbeach.org, you see all the past national national winners are still there. And fortunately, those beaches did very well. It was really the Alabama beaches.

Perdido Key, wow, there's some beautiful sand there. And looking forward for that recovery. But they had a hard hit from Hurricane Ivan. Came in at the 15th (INAUDIBLE) storm surge. So serious damage unfortunately.

But the good news is, most of Florida is up and going. You see that in three winners -- well, three beaches in the top 10 in Florida. So the allusion a lot of people had was, my goodness, all of Florida was mauled by these hurricanes. Well, that, fortunately, was not true.

KAGAN: Absolutely not. I will be on the beach this weekend. So you've got me in the mood. I'm about a half-hour before my -- well, my weekend here.

Dr. Beach, thank you.

LEATHERMAN: Excellent.

KAGAN: We will see you on the sand.

LEATHERMAN: My pleasure being with you again, as usual.

KAGAN: Always. Dr. Beach.

Before we head to the beach, let's head north to check out President Bush. Live pictures from Annapolis, Maryland. He continues to pass out the 976...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Matthew Jamie Hahn (ph).

KAGAN: Congratulations to Matthew Jamie Hahn (ph).

Let's get one more name in before we go to break.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dwayne P. Osgood (ph).

KAGAN: You know the Osgoods (ph) are thrilled for their son. Congratulations to them. We'll keep dipping in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael L. Murray (ph).

KAGAN: And we'll be back after this break.

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