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CNN Live Today

Deep Throat Revealed; Hurricane Season Starts; Five Tips for Pre-Nups

Aired June 01, 2005 - 10:00   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to all of you. Happy anniversary. All right, have a great day.
Well here's what's happening right "Now in the News."

A suicide bomber has struck inside a mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan. At least 20 people were killed and another 40 wounded. The attack took place during a funeral for a top cleric in Southern Afghanistan who was assassination on Sunday.

Next hour, President Bush welcomes his South African counterpart, Thabo Mbeki, to the White House. The men will discuss an economic development proposal by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He wants to double international aids to poor countries and wants rich nations to write off their debts. Mr. Bush has not offered full backing to that proposal.

The Israel government says it will release some 400 Palestinian prisoners tomorrow. It's part of a cease-fire agreement with Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas negotiated in February. That same month, Israel freed 500 Palestinian prisoners.

Nearly a half a century after the death of a Chicago boy helped galvanize the civil rights movement. His body is being exhumed today. No one has ever been convicted in the 1955 killing of Emmett Till in Mississippi. He was killed for reportedly whistling at a white woman. Prosecutors from Mississippi are on hand and hope that new evidence could provide leads.

Hello, everyone. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Daryn Kagan is on assignment today.

We begin with the end of a 30 year secret. Deep Throat is revealed. The shadowy source who's information led to President Richard Nixon's downfall is Mark Felt. Joining us live outside the Felt family home in Santa Rosa, California, is CNN's Sean Callebs -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, the world knows that now, living in this modest home here in Northern California, 91-year-old Mark Felt, also now known as the person who was Deep Throat. Well Joan Felt, Mark's daughter, came out just a short while ago, scooped up the morning paper. Now she is reading out how her father's newfound fame is playing out here locally and indeed all around the world. Well now that the secret is out, of course, everybody in this neighborhood says, we had a pretty good idea. We had a pretty good idea. Some amateur sleuths saying that they got the first inkling a few years back in 2002 when "The Washington Post" Bob Woodward came to this neighborhood in a limo and parked just a couple blocks away from the Felt's home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY MCWILLIAMS, FELT NEIGHBOR: In the article it said that he came to Santa Rosa and to have a meeting with Mr. Felt. And he parked -- the limousine parked around the corner and I guess he came by foot to Mr. Felt's house. Not to, you know, raise any suspicions or anything. But when I read the article, I knew that that had -- it had to be him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: So that clipping was the big telltale sign for all the amateur sleuths in this area. And think about it, if you will, Washington D.C., a city that really can't keep a secret, it's amazing that this secret really was kept for more than 30 years. And what about "The Washington Post"? Well, believe it or not, it apparently was caught flatfooted when this big news broke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID VON DREHLE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": We had no idea this story was coming. We learned of it yesterday morning. Our top editors were at a corporate retreat. They had to rush back to "The Post." Bob Woodward had to read the story, figure out what was in it. He had been in contact with the Felt family for the past several years trying to figure out exactly what Mr. Felt's wishes were and whether he was lucid enough, at his advanced age, to undo the agreement that had - that they both had kept for so many years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: He was out for a ride around the neighborhood in the afternoon. His daughter has been out several times over the past 24 hours or so to greet the media here. And how is the media been embraced in this neighborhood? Well you may be able to hear the generators from the satellite trucks here. They've been going virtually all night. Well, we can tell you, this neighborhoods pretty much embracing it. In fact, Daryn, a short while ago the Dillians (ph), neighbors just down the street, brought some coffee out for all the journalists who have been out here watching everything.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. So, Sean, did the Felts explain in any way why they decided to talk, you know, granddad into coming out and why not inform Woodward and Bernstein, since they were part of the equation from 30 years ago?

CALLEBS: Very difficult to say. All we know, they had that one news conference yesterday. They said that they believed that Mark Felt deserved his place in history. That at the time, back in 1971, he felt that maybe he wasn't doing the right thing but this was something important, that he really felt that he had to do and the family had apparently been trying to get Mark Felt to come out for a period of years to do this. He apparently waffled somewhat then finally did agree.

Of course, there is some concern, that's one reason, that "The Washington Post," and chiefly Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, didn't immediately identify this as being a true story, saying that they were concerned that maybe the family did push 91-year-old Mark Felt out here and he really didn't want to. So we'll just have to wait and see how that plays out.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sean Callebs, thanks so much, outside the Felt home.

Well, so we know who, but still the burning question, why now? CNN's Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider looks into the timing of Deep Throat's unveiling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Why did Mark Felt keep silent for the last 30 years? Bob Woodward told Larry King last year . . .

BOB WOODWARD, "THE WASHINGTON POST": And I think once people see who it is and exactly what happened, we'll understand why the super secrecy and the confidentiality.

SCHNEIDER: The "Vanity Fair" article quotes Felt's son as saying, "his attitude was: I don't think [being Deep Throat] was anything to be proud of. You should not leak information to anyone." Remember, Deep Throat revealed secrets about a criminal investigation he headed and he could have been prosecuted. He told his daughter he was worried about "what the judge would think."

Another mystery, why did Felt decide to reveal himself now? O'Connor says Felt revealed the truth casually, almost inadvertently, to close friends and family members. He confided his identity to a social companion, who shared it with felt's daughter, Joan. He says, Joan confronted her father saying, I know now that you're Deep Throat. His response, "since that's the case, well, yes, I am."

The "Vanity Fair" article says family members wanted felt, now 91 and ailing, to come forward and establish his legacy. His son says . . .

MARK FELT, JR.: And we believe our father, William Mark Felt Senior, was an American hero. He went well above and beyond the call of duty, at risk to himself, to save this country from a horrible injustice.

SCHNEIDER: His daughter recalls telling Felt, we could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for the kids education. Let's do it for the family. Felt's response, that's a good reason. Though "Vanity Fair's" author says, the Felts were not paid for their cooperation.

Perhaps most important, according to his grandson, Felt feels that after 30 years all is now finally forgiven.

NICK JONES, GRANDSON OF W. MARK FELT: As he recently told my mother, I guess people used to think Deep Throat was a criminal but now they think he's a hero.

SCHNEIDER: It sounds amazing to say this, given today's political environment, but there are no indications Felt ever had any partisan motives. He acted, he says, to protect the FBI and his own role in it from political interference.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And later this hour, some historical perspective on Deep Throat. We'll talk with a reporter who covered the Watergate scandal, our own Bruce Morton. That's coming up.

Turning to the latest from Iraq now. Fifteen civilians were wounded in a suicide car bombing outside the main U.S. military headquarters. The attack happened this morning at the main checkpoint to the base and Baghdad International Airport. Officials say the bomber had managed to get through outer checkpoints.

In another development, Operation Lightning is showing some results. CNN's Senior Baghdad Correspondent Jane Arraf reports that 100 suspected insurgents were detained overnight. Coalition forces rounded up the suspects in door to door searches of Baghdad neighborhoods.

Iraq's foreign minister says U.S. lead troops must stay in his country until Iraqi forces can take responsibility for security. Hoshyar Zebari spoke before the U.N. Security Council Tuesday. Zebari urged members to extends the mandate for the multinational force in Iraq. The council agreed to the extension. Zebari will hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this afternoon and CNN will cover their news conference afterwards.

Well, new information on a house fire that killed nine people in Ohio. What investigators are now saying caused that deadly blaze.

Plus, it's the first day of hurricane season and what can Floridians still reeling from last year's storms expect this year. We're going live to Punta Gorda.

And today's near and dear to us, CNN turns 25. A look back when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well today is the first day of the Atlantic hurricane season. And for folks living along the East Coast, this could be the start of a very trying summer. Experts say it could be as bad or even worse than last year's devastating onslaught.

CNN's John Zarrella covered that record hurricane season in Florida and joins us now from Miami -- John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

We're over here in Punta Gorda, which was actually the place where Hurricane Charlie hit, the first and probably the worst of the hurricanes that caused $40 billion damage in the state of Florida. The four storms hitting -- two on the East Coast, one in the Panhandle and then Hurricane Charlie here. People are rebuilding but it's going to take years all across Florida. And now we enter another hurricane season.

Wanted to give our viewers an idea of what it looks like here on Main Street in Punta Gorda today and what it looked like the morning after the hurricane. Over here to my right, this used to be a shopping plaza. A strip mall. It's been completely cleaned here now. Last year, right after the storm, this is what it looked like. And within just a couple of months of that point, they were already bulldozing that strip mall and getting ready for whatever they eventually put in here.

Now, behind me right now, you can see the Charlevoy (ph) condominiums. They're rebuilding the Charlevoy condominiums. Part of it's up. Some of it is still completely destroyed. Now in the morning right after the storm, there were people trapped in some of those condominium buildings. Urban search and rescue teams came through here from up in Sarasota County. I remember seeing people just staggering out bewildered, looking at the damage in total disbelief. An elderly couple came down, tires blown out on their cars, not knowing what to do.

Over to the left of me, there's what's left of the gas station, service station, on the corner. Just the pumps. Now there's a very famous picture that came out of Hurricane Charlie the morning after. You could see the damage, the destruction there and a car still sitting up on a lift. And somehow or other it did not blow over in Charlie's 145 mile per hour winds.

Now, the thinking is that this could very well be a worst hurricane season than last year. Of course, nobody knows how many storms, if any, will hit the United States, just that they're predicting upwards of 15 named storms this year in Florida. The advice that everyone in Florida and across the East Coast should be taking right now is, it's June 1st, go out and get your hurricane supplies now. Don't wait until that first storm forms or one is knocking on your door, this the time to get the batteries, the flashlights, the generators.

Stock up on the supplies. Don't wait because you can see what happened here. It takes weeks before power is restored in areas and it can be months and years before you recover. There are tarps, blue tarps still covering roofs. Twenty-seven-thousand people are still living in FEMA housing in Florida, in mobile homes and travel trailers. That's down from 50,000 around Christmastime. Affordable housing very difficult to find in this state. Serious issues here to be dealt with and now we're entering the 2005 hurricane season.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow! John, so even a year after or almost a year after those hurricanes devastated Punta Gorda, people still in those trailer homes, temporary housing, but nothing like the scene that we all remember after Hurricane Andrew, just south of Miami, where people were living in tent cities for a very long time.

ZARRELLA: Right. Hurricane Andrew, of course, was even worse than this, a category five hurricane. One of the three that's hit the continental United States. And it was literally months and months. And 10 years after Hurricane Andrew in 2002, there were still signs of the damage and destruction that that storm left behind.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Zarrella in Punta Gorda, thanks so much.

Well, it is pretty stormy out in many parts of the south. Don't know if it has anything to do with any storms turning out there but I have a feeling, with that little swirl behind you, Rob, you're going to tell us something we don't want to hear.

ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: Well, I'll just -- I'll just recap what the forecast is.

WHITFIELD: But we need to hear.

MARCIANO: We need to -- well, John's mentioned it and we'll break it down into even more detail.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll look forward to that. Thanks a lot, Rob.

Well, investigators in Cleveland, Ohio, say the house fire that killed nine people was not just a horrible accident after all. Officials reversed their initial findings and now say the May 21st blaze was arson. The finding came as 4,000 people gathered yesterday for a public funeral service. Cleveland authorities have scheduled a new conference at the top of the hour and CNN will have live coverage of that as it happens.

In Spokane, Washington, the city council has voted unanimously for the city's embattled mayor to resign. James E. West denies allegation that he misused his office and molested two children. He says he'll survive the scandal. West can only be ousted by a city- wide recall vote.

And they're currently on a world-wide tour, but what is the band U2 excited about these days? We'll hear from the Irish Rocker Bono straight ahead.

Plus, Gerri Willis with today's "Top Five Tips."

Hello, Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Fred.

Well, it may not be romantic but it could be your smartest move if you're headed to the altar this spring. More when CNN LIVE TODAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Wedding bells traditionally ring in June, but so do alarm bells. So how do you protect yourself and your assets if that eternal love withers in then months or perhaps even years ahead. CNN Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis joins us with her top five tips on when to say I do to pre-nup agreements.

Gerri, how romantic. Weddings, pre-nups. Well you say, take it all seriously.

WILLIS: Well, you know how it is, Fred.

Fred, you know how this is. Money and marriage, they don't always go together and you might as well get the money problems figured out before you tie the knot.

Tip number one, lose the stereotype. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking young hotty, older fellow with a lot of money, aren't you? That's the first thing you think of. But, in fact, pre-nups may be better for different kinds of couples. Like that couple that each of them are coming to the marriage with a marriage already under their belts. Maybe they're in their 50s, their 60s, they have lots of assets and they want to protect them for their own children to give them, you know, an inheritance when they die. It's for them.

It's also for people with have family business and want to protect that investment. Or, think about this, if you're getting maybe a law degree, maybe you're going to become a doctor, you're investing in that advanced degree and some day it could be worth a lot of money because you'll build your own business. You may want to think of a pre-nup then.

WHITFIELD: And you say, look to your own individual future in the terms of your retirement plans. You know, all that planning you've done for yourself and now you're joining with somebody else, protect your individual retirement plans.

WILLIS: That's right. You know people think about protecting current assets, but what about the assets you're going to have in the future. If you have a pre-nup, you can think about the 401(k) and any kind of savings you have for retirement.

WHITFIELD: All right. And then get organized and get your -- that really means get your papers in order.

WILLIS: That's right. You need to know what all the assets you have are and then calling your financial adviser or your accountant and get them to help you put an estimate on the value of those things. Now, if you're looking for help, and this is the most unromantic part of what we're going to talk about today, you each need your own lawyer. So you want to go to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, AAML.org, or Divorce Net to find an attorney who specializes in this. And I know what you're thinking, wow, I just hate doing this before the wedding but it makes sense for most people.

WHITFIELD: Yes, just one more layer of stuff to get through. And you really need to impose a timetable, don't you?

WILLIS: Well, here's the timetable the courts will impose on you if you don't. If you don't sign that pre-nup 30 days before you get married, a court can come back and decide that your intended was pressured into signing the pre-nup. So you really want to think about it ahead of time. And look, the earlier you can get that conversation over with, the better off you're going to be.

WHITFIELD: OK.

And in some states, apparently, it's not even really necessary to get all your ducks in order because they already have things in place for you? Some particular protections for individuals?

WILLIS: Well, Fred, most states will say that if you have some kind of bank account, that you have during before the marriage, then during the marriage and you don't tap that bank account at all, then, in fact, that is yours, you walk away with that money if the marriage is dissolved. So there are some things that the pre-nup world doesn't even have to worry about it. If you don't have a pre-nup, you still get to keep. But it's not everything.

So if you're in the situation where it's a second, third marriage, maybe you've got a lot of assets you're coming to the marriage with, you might want to think about it. Not romantic, could be smart.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well everybody needs to be smart, even though it may not seem romantic.

All right. Thanks a lot, Gerri Willis.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: And this just in. We want to show you some live pictures now coming from KTTV. Well, sorry about that, we just lost the pictures but we'll at least give you a little bit of information. A possible pipe bomb found at 1800 Vine Street in Los Angeles. There are apparently some evacuations already taking place in the area, in the Hollywood area. There are the live pictures right now. You can see, a pretty deserted looking street but investigators are on the scene, have cordoned off that particular area on Vine Street to investigate this possible pipe bomb. More on that as we get it.


Aired June 1, 2005 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to all of you. Happy anniversary. All right, have a great day.
Well here's what's happening right "Now in the News."

A suicide bomber has struck inside a mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan. At least 20 people were killed and another 40 wounded. The attack took place during a funeral for a top cleric in Southern Afghanistan who was assassination on Sunday.

Next hour, President Bush welcomes his South African counterpart, Thabo Mbeki, to the White House. The men will discuss an economic development proposal by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He wants to double international aids to poor countries and wants rich nations to write off their debts. Mr. Bush has not offered full backing to that proposal.

The Israel government says it will release some 400 Palestinian prisoners tomorrow. It's part of a cease-fire agreement with Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas negotiated in February. That same month, Israel freed 500 Palestinian prisoners.

Nearly a half a century after the death of a Chicago boy helped galvanize the civil rights movement. His body is being exhumed today. No one has ever been convicted in the 1955 killing of Emmett Till in Mississippi. He was killed for reportedly whistling at a white woman. Prosecutors from Mississippi are on hand and hope that new evidence could provide leads.

Hello, everyone. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Daryn Kagan is on assignment today.

We begin with the end of a 30 year secret. Deep Throat is revealed. The shadowy source who's information led to President Richard Nixon's downfall is Mark Felt. Joining us live outside the Felt family home in Santa Rosa, California, is CNN's Sean Callebs -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, the world knows that now, living in this modest home here in Northern California, 91-year-old Mark Felt, also now known as the person who was Deep Throat. Well Joan Felt, Mark's daughter, came out just a short while ago, scooped up the morning paper. Now she is reading out how her father's newfound fame is playing out here locally and indeed all around the world. Well now that the secret is out, of course, everybody in this neighborhood says, we had a pretty good idea. We had a pretty good idea. Some amateur sleuths saying that they got the first inkling a few years back in 2002 when "The Washington Post" Bob Woodward came to this neighborhood in a limo and parked just a couple blocks away from the Felt's home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY MCWILLIAMS, FELT NEIGHBOR: In the article it said that he came to Santa Rosa and to have a meeting with Mr. Felt. And he parked -- the limousine parked around the corner and I guess he came by foot to Mr. Felt's house. Not to, you know, raise any suspicions or anything. But when I read the article, I knew that that had -- it had to be him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: So that clipping was the big telltale sign for all the amateur sleuths in this area. And think about it, if you will, Washington D.C., a city that really can't keep a secret, it's amazing that this secret really was kept for more than 30 years. And what about "The Washington Post"? Well, believe it or not, it apparently was caught flatfooted when this big news broke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID VON DREHLE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": We had no idea this story was coming. We learned of it yesterday morning. Our top editors were at a corporate retreat. They had to rush back to "The Post." Bob Woodward had to read the story, figure out what was in it. He had been in contact with the Felt family for the past several years trying to figure out exactly what Mr. Felt's wishes were and whether he was lucid enough, at his advanced age, to undo the agreement that had - that they both had kept for so many years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: He was out for a ride around the neighborhood in the afternoon. His daughter has been out several times over the past 24 hours or so to greet the media here. And how is the media been embraced in this neighborhood? Well you may be able to hear the generators from the satellite trucks here. They've been going virtually all night. Well, we can tell you, this neighborhoods pretty much embracing it. In fact, Daryn, a short while ago the Dillians (ph), neighbors just down the street, brought some coffee out for all the journalists who have been out here watching everything.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. So, Sean, did the Felts explain in any way why they decided to talk, you know, granddad into coming out and why not inform Woodward and Bernstein, since they were part of the equation from 30 years ago?

CALLEBS: Very difficult to say. All we know, they had that one news conference yesterday. They said that they believed that Mark Felt deserved his place in history. That at the time, back in 1971, he felt that maybe he wasn't doing the right thing but this was something important, that he really felt that he had to do and the family had apparently been trying to get Mark Felt to come out for a period of years to do this. He apparently waffled somewhat then finally did agree.

Of course, there is some concern, that's one reason, that "The Washington Post," and chiefly Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, didn't immediately identify this as being a true story, saying that they were concerned that maybe the family did push 91-year-old Mark Felt out here and he really didn't want to. So we'll just have to wait and see how that plays out.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sean Callebs, thanks so much, outside the Felt home.

Well, so we know who, but still the burning question, why now? CNN's Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider looks into the timing of Deep Throat's unveiling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Why did Mark Felt keep silent for the last 30 years? Bob Woodward told Larry King last year . . .

BOB WOODWARD, "THE WASHINGTON POST": And I think once people see who it is and exactly what happened, we'll understand why the super secrecy and the confidentiality.

SCHNEIDER: The "Vanity Fair" article quotes Felt's son as saying, "his attitude was: I don't think [being Deep Throat] was anything to be proud of. You should not leak information to anyone." Remember, Deep Throat revealed secrets about a criminal investigation he headed and he could have been prosecuted. He told his daughter he was worried about "what the judge would think."

Another mystery, why did Felt decide to reveal himself now? O'Connor says Felt revealed the truth casually, almost inadvertently, to close friends and family members. He confided his identity to a social companion, who shared it with felt's daughter, Joan. He says, Joan confronted her father saying, I know now that you're Deep Throat. His response, "since that's the case, well, yes, I am."

The "Vanity Fair" article says family members wanted felt, now 91 and ailing, to come forward and establish his legacy. His son says . . .

MARK FELT, JR.: And we believe our father, William Mark Felt Senior, was an American hero. He went well above and beyond the call of duty, at risk to himself, to save this country from a horrible injustice.

SCHNEIDER: His daughter recalls telling Felt, we could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for the kids education. Let's do it for the family. Felt's response, that's a good reason. Though "Vanity Fair's" author says, the Felts were not paid for their cooperation.

Perhaps most important, according to his grandson, Felt feels that after 30 years all is now finally forgiven.

NICK JONES, GRANDSON OF W. MARK FELT: As he recently told my mother, I guess people used to think Deep Throat was a criminal but now they think he's a hero.

SCHNEIDER: It sounds amazing to say this, given today's political environment, but there are no indications Felt ever had any partisan motives. He acted, he says, to protect the FBI and his own role in it from political interference.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And later this hour, some historical perspective on Deep Throat. We'll talk with a reporter who covered the Watergate scandal, our own Bruce Morton. That's coming up.

Turning to the latest from Iraq now. Fifteen civilians were wounded in a suicide car bombing outside the main U.S. military headquarters. The attack happened this morning at the main checkpoint to the base and Baghdad International Airport. Officials say the bomber had managed to get through outer checkpoints.

In another development, Operation Lightning is showing some results. CNN's Senior Baghdad Correspondent Jane Arraf reports that 100 suspected insurgents were detained overnight. Coalition forces rounded up the suspects in door to door searches of Baghdad neighborhoods.

Iraq's foreign minister says U.S. lead troops must stay in his country until Iraqi forces can take responsibility for security. Hoshyar Zebari spoke before the U.N. Security Council Tuesday. Zebari urged members to extends the mandate for the multinational force in Iraq. The council agreed to the extension. Zebari will hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this afternoon and CNN will cover their news conference afterwards.

Well, new information on a house fire that killed nine people in Ohio. What investigators are now saying caused that deadly blaze.

Plus, it's the first day of hurricane season and what can Floridians still reeling from last year's storms expect this year. We're going live to Punta Gorda.

And today's near and dear to us, CNN turns 25. A look back when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well today is the first day of the Atlantic hurricane season. And for folks living along the East Coast, this could be the start of a very trying summer. Experts say it could be as bad or even worse than last year's devastating onslaught.

CNN's John Zarrella covered that record hurricane season in Florida and joins us now from Miami -- John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

We're over here in Punta Gorda, which was actually the place where Hurricane Charlie hit, the first and probably the worst of the hurricanes that caused $40 billion damage in the state of Florida. The four storms hitting -- two on the East Coast, one in the Panhandle and then Hurricane Charlie here. People are rebuilding but it's going to take years all across Florida. And now we enter another hurricane season.

Wanted to give our viewers an idea of what it looks like here on Main Street in Punta Gorda today and what it looked like the morning after the hurricane. Over here to my right, this used to be a shopping plaza. A strip mall. It's been completely cleaned here now. Last year, right after the storm, this is what it looked like. And within just a couple of months of that point, they were already bulldozing that strip mall and getting ready for whatever they eventually put in here.

Now, behind me right now, you can see the Charlevoy (ph) condominiums. They're rebuilding the Charlevoy condominiums. Part of it's up. Some of it is still completely destroyed. Now in the morning right after the storm, there were people trapped in some of those condominium buildings. Urban search and rescue teams came through here from up in Sarasota County. I remember seeing people just staggering out bewildered, looking at the damage in total disbelief. An elderly couple came down, tires blown out on their cars, not knowing what to do.

Over to the left of me, there's what's left of the gas station, service station, on the corner. Just the pumps. Now there's a very famous picture that came out of Hurricane Charlie the morning after. You could see the damage, the destruction there and a car still sitting up on a lift. And somehow or other it did not blow over in Charlie's 145 mile per hour winds.

Now, the thinking is that this could very well be a worst hurricane season than last year. Of course, nobody knows how many storms, if any, will hit the United States, just that they're predicting upwards of 15 named storms this year in Florida. The advice that everyone in Florida and across the East Coast should be taking right now is, it's June 1st, go out and get your hurricane supplies now. Don't wait until that first storm forms or one is knocking on your door, this the time to get the batteries, the flashlights, the generators.

Stock up on the supplies. Don't wait because you can see what happened here. It takes weeks before power is restored in areas and it can be months and years before you recover. There are tarps, blue tarps still covering roofs. Twenty-seven-thousand people are still living in FEMA housing in Florida, in mobile homes and travel trailers. That's down from 50,000 around Christmastime. Affordable housing very difficult to find in this state. Serious issues here to be dealt with and now we're entering the 2005 hurricane season.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow! John, so even a year after or almost a year after those hurricanes devastated Punta Gorda, people still in those trailer homes, temporary housing, but nothing like the scene that we all remember after Hurricane Andrew, just south of Miami, where people were living in tent cities for a very long time.

ZARRELLA: Right. Hurricane Andrew, of course, was even worse than this, a category five hurricane. One of the three that's hit the continental United States. And it was literally months and months. And 10 years after Hurricane Andrew in 2002, there were still signs of the damage and destruction that that storm left behind.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Zarrella in Punta Gorda, thanks so much.

Well, it is pretty stormy out in many parts of the south. Don't know if it has anything to do with any storms turning out there but I have a feeling, with that little swirl behind you, Rob, you're going to tell us something we don't want to hear.

ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: Well, I'll just -- I'll just recap what the forecast is.

WHITFIELD: But we need to hear.

MARCIANO: We need to -- well, John's mentioned it and we'll break it down into even more detail.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll look forward to that. Thanks a lot, Rob.

Well, investigators in Cleveland, Ohio, say the house fire that killed nine people was not just a horrible accident after all. Officials reversed their initial findings and now say the May 21st blaze was arson. The finding came as 4,000 people gathered yesterday for a public funeral service. Cleveland authorities have scheduled a new conference at the top of the hour and CNN will have live coverage of that as it happens.

In Spokane, Washington, the city council has voted unanimously for the city's embattled mayor to resign. James E. West denies allegation that he misused his office and molested two children. He says he'll survive the scandal. West can only be ousted by a city- wide recall vote.

And they're currently on a world-wide tour, but what is the band U2 excited about these days? We'll hear from the Irish Rocker Bono straight ahead.

Plus, Gerri Willis with today's "Top Five Tips."

Hello, Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Fred.

Well, it may not be romantic but it could be your smartest move if you're headed to the altar this spring. More when CNN LIVE TODAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Wedding bells traditionally ring in June, but so do alarm bells. So how do you protect yourself and your assets if that eternal love withers in then months or perhaps even years ahead. CNN Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis joins us with her top five tips on when to say I do to pre-nup agreements.

Gerri, how romantic. Weddings, pre-nups. Well you say, take it all seriously.

WILLIS: Well, you know how it is, Fred.

Fred, you know how this is. Money and marriage, they don't always go together and you might as well get the money problems figured out before you tie the knot.

Tip number one, lose the stereotype. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking young hotty, older fellow with a lot of money, aren't you? That's the first thing you think of. But, in fact, pre-nups may be better for different kinds of couples. Like that couple that each of them are coming to the marriage with a marriage already under their belts. Maybe they're in their 50s, their 60s, they have lots of assets and they want to protect them for their own children to give them, you know, an inheritance when they die. It's for them.

It's also for people with have family business and want to protect that investment. Or, think about this, if you're getting maybe a law degree, maybe you're going to become a doctor, you're investing in that advanced degree and some day it could be worth a lot of money because you'll build your own business. You may want to think of a pre-nup then.

WHITFIELD: And you say, look to your own individual future in the terms of your retirement plans. You know, all that planning you've done for yourself and now you're joining with somebody else, protect your individual retirement plans.

WILLIS: That's right. You know people think about protecting current assets, but what about the assets you're going to have in the future. If you have a pre-nup, you can think about the 401(k) and any kind of savings you have for retirement.

WHITFIELD: All right. And then get organized and get your -- that really means get your papers in order.

WILLIS: That's right. You need to know what all the assets you have are and then calling your financial adviser or your accountant and get them to help you put an estimate on the value of those things. Now, if you're looking for help, and this is the most unromantic part of what we're going to talk about today, you each need your own lawyer. So you want to go to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, AAML.org, or Divorce Net to find an attorney who specializes in this. And I know what you're thinking, wow, I just hate doing this before the wedding but it makes sense for most people.

WHITFIELD: Yes, just one more layer of stuff to get through. And you really need to impose a timetable, don't you?

WILLIS: Well, here's the timetable the courts will impose on you if you don't. If you don't sign that pre-nup 30 days before you get married, a court can come back and decide that your intended was pressured into signing the pre-nup. So you really want to think about it ahead of time. And look, the earlier you can get that conversation over with, the better off you're going to be.

WHITFIELD: OK.

And in some states, apparently, it's not even really necessary to get all your ducks in order because they already have things in place for you? Some particular protections for individuals?

WILLIS: Well, Fred, most states will say that if you have some kind of bank account, that you have during before the marriage, then during the marriage and you don't tap that bank account at all, then, in fact, that is yours, you walk away with that money if the marriage is dissolved. So there are some things that the pre-nup world doesn't even have to worry about it. If you don't have a pre-nup, you still get to keep. But it's not everything.

So if you're in the situation where it's a second, third marriage, maybe you've got a lot of assets you're coming to the marriage with, you might want to think about it. Not romantic, could be smart.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well everybody needs to be smart, even though it may not seem romantic.

All right. Thanks a lot, Gerri Willis.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: And this just in. We want to show you some live pictures now coming from KTTV. Well, sorry about that, we just lost the pictures but we'll at least give you a little bit of information. A possible pipe bomb found at 1800 Vine Street in Los Angeles. There are apparently some evacuations already taking place in the area, in the Hollywood area. There are the live pictures right now. You can see, a pretty deserted looking street but investigators are on the scene, have cordoned off that particular area on Vine Street to investigate this possible pipe bomb. More on that as we get it.