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CNN Live Today
Discovery's Delay; Peter Jennings Loses Battle With Lung Cancer
Aired August 08, 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: New information to CNN about the information that has caused the closing of the U.S. embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia. We're getting information that the State Department received credible information, unusually specific and credible information, they're describing it, about a possible vehicle bombing by an IED, an improvised explosive device, at one of the American facilities in the kingdom that was set to take place some time on Monday.
The information not specific on the timing. And it didn't specify which of the missions would be attacked. But it was enough information given the very sensitive situation in Saudi Arabia for the U.S. to close down its embassy and consulates for Monday and at least Tuesday. We will continue to monitor that situation out of Saudi Arabia.
Here now, let's look take a look at what else is happening "Now in the News."
Breaking news out of southern California. Making efforts to turn over a tanker truck and clean up the situation.
This is the Long Beach Freeway where it crosses the San Diego Freeway, the 405, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. You have a tanker truck spilling 3,600 gallons of diesel fuel. There also is another car involved.
Unclear at this time what caused the accident, or if there is any injuries at this time. But both of those freeways shut down at a very key commuting time in southern California. More on that as it becomes available.
Other news today, he brought world events into the living rooms of America for decades. ABC News anchor Peter Jennings has died of lung cancer at the age of 67. Colleagues, competitors and viewers are remembering Jennings remarkable career, and so will we. We're going to do that just ahead.
The Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts will circle the Earth for another day. After two attempts this morning, NASA delayed the shuttle landing until tomorrow because of low clouds over Kennedy Space Center. Mission controllers say Discovery will land somewhere tomorrow. We'll go live to Florida in just a minute.
Iranian officials today restarted a nuclear facility for uranium conversion. They say the process is necessary to produce nuclear fuel. The country has not resumed the process of enriching uranium. The U.S. and other countries are concerned that could be part of a covert weapons program. Tehran denies any plans to build nuclear weapons.
Federal officials say scientists have developed an effective human vaccine against the avian flu. The bird flue has killed millions of chickens in Asia and is blamed for 57 deaths in humans. Health officials are worried the virus could mutate and spread easily among people, triggering a global epidemic.
Good morning. Welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. Checking the time around the world, 10:00 a.m. in Houston, Tennessee; 6:00 p.m. in Gaza and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just can't get comfortable with the stability of the situation for this particular opportunity. So we're going to officially wave you off for 24 hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Up first this hour, Discovery's delayed return to Earth. Low clouds over Florida prompting NASA to push back the landing until tomorrow. The cloud cover was within NASA limits, but officials at mission control decided not to take any chances.
Let's go live now to Kennedy Space Center, where Discovery was scheduled to land earlier this morning. Our Sean Callebs is there.
Good morning, Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Daryn. In a perfect world, Discovery would be on the ground, we would be hearing from the astronauts during the past hour about what their 13 days in space was like. But now we know they're going to be orbiting the Earth for another day. They will get some chance to look out the window and actually take in some of the spectacular views they will have.
If you look behind me, it's hard to believe that weather was any kind of factor today. Beautiful, sunny conditions. Bright, puffy clouds. But those cloud covers -- that cloud cover really the culprit this morning.
They had some low cloud cover between 100 and about 500 feet. And so they're going to have try to do it again tomorrow.
Let's quickly run you through the areas where they could land. They could touch down here at the Kennedy Space Center beginning tomorrow morning at 5:07 Eastern Time. There's also a chance to land at Edwards Air Force Base. That's one of the alternatives. That's 6:39 Eastern. Then another shot at KSC at 6:43. Now, they're also looking at the West Coast. They could theoretically land at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 8:13 Eastern Time, White Sands at 8:14 Eastern Time, although that remains a very, very remote possibility for Edwards Air Force Base at 9:48 Eastern Time.
Now, why is it so important? Why are they so concerned about the cloud cover? Why these rigid guidelines for landing at Kennedy Space Center? Well, NASA explains the dangers involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE FINCKE, NASA ASTRONAUT: Now, with the space shuttle, unlike an airplane, we only get one shot at landing. Now, Eileen Colleens is an experienced test pilot, and she would be able to land almost blindfolded, but there's no reason to take that risk.
So this morning we thought there might be a cloud deck of above 500 feet, and that would have obscured the runway. And Eileen wouldn't have had a chance to really see the runway, even with all her other navigation aids, to make that landing.
This is a human in the loop landing, and we only get one chance. So we wanted to make sure that we got everything just right. And so we got the -- we're waiting for tomorrow for some better weather.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: And so right now the runway, runway 15, not terribly far from where we are, remains quite lonely at this hour. There you can see.
Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps tomorrow we will get a chance to see Discovery touch down and hear about this 13-day mission, exactly everything that went on during that time.
Daryn, back to you. It should be exciting. So we'll keep our fingers crossed.
KAGAN: All right. And keep your seat. Keep our front-row seat. Don't give it up yet.
Thank you, Sean.
Five minutes, almost six minutes past the hour. There is a real sadness in newsrooms and living rooms across the country this morning. Longtime network anchorman Peter Jennings lost his battle with lung cancer last night.
ABC News president David Westin praised Jenning's long and distinguished career.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID WESTIN, ABC NEWS PRESIDENT: People are very tender today, are very sad. I'm sure you'll understand that. Peter, in addition to being an outstanding journalist and outstanding leader, was also a very warm and decent man, and a great friend and colleague to so many of us. We all got to see how professional he was on the air, and sometimes his urbanity could be mistaken for a certain distance. But in fact, he was a very sensitive, warm, decent man who cared passionately for what he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: We have the benefit and pleasure of having a number of former ABC employees and correspondents with us here at CNN. One of those, our Tom Foreman, now remembers Peter Jennings, a master of the trade through the decades.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Peter Jennings was born in Toronto, died in New York, and lived for the world's news.
ANNOUNCER: This is "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings."
JENNINGS: Good evening, everyone. We're going to begin tonight with Saddam Hussein.
FOREMAN: For 32 years he was ABC's chief anchor.
JENNINGS: I've had -- I've been to a lot of countries, and I've covered a lot of great stories. And I've been there for some of the great moments of the last 30 years. And I'm really lucky.
FOREMAN: Jennings was born to broadcasting. His father Charles was an anchorman in Canada. At 9, Peter hosted a kid's show. In his teens, he took a radio job. And at 26, without ever completing high school, he joined ABC News.
JENNINGS: This was my first story outside Saigon, and I found out in a hurry.
This is Peter Jennings, ABC News.
FOREMAN: An early stint as anchor pitted him against the legendary Walter Cronkite on CBS and the Huntley-Brinkley team on NBC. Jennings was too young, too inexperienced, too Canadian. He lost the position.
JENNINGS: And most Egyptians thoughts are not on war, they're on inflation.
FOREMAN: So, he began building his reporter's resume: the Middle East, on the Civil Rights trail in the South....
JENNINGS: It started with a single man, and it ended with a crowd...
FOREMAN: ...in the farm fields of Cuba.
JENNINGS: Never in the history of the revolution has sugar cane been as important as this year.
FOREMAN: ...at the Olympic village in Munich.
JENNINGS: Two negotiators who went in just a few minutes ago have now come back out and are standing in a group.
FOREMAN: And when he rose to become ABC's chief anchor again, after Tom Brokaw turned the job down, he was ready.
JENNINGS: Ginsberg is charged with anti-Soviet behavior. Suransky (ph) is charged, much more seriously, with treason.
FOREMAN: A demanding, often unpredictable boss, he was equally capable of relentlessly driving his staff or showing great compassion.
JENNINGS: How are you feeling these days?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE; Well, I feel much better than I did.
FOREMAN: He always delighted in reporting, whether describing a makeshift lamp in Sarajevo...
JENNINGS: They fill it up almost to the very top with water and then put a thin film of oil on the top.
FOREMAN: ...or matching wits with world leaders.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I will go to my grave being at peace about it. And I don't really care what they think.
JENNINGS: Oh, yes you do, Bill.
CLINTON: They have no idea.
JENNINGS: Oh, excuse me, Mr. President. You -- I can feel it across the room.
CLINTON: No, no. I care -- I care.
JENNINGS: You feel it very deeply.
CLINTON: You don't want to go here, Peter. You don't want to go here.
FOREMAN: But Peter Jennings was at his best when news was breaking.
JENNINGS: Because this was an attack on these -- on the United States. No question about it. Everybody said it all day, a declaration of war, an act of war against the United States.
FOREMAN: He loved hockey, history, culture, politics.
JENNINGS: I think when you come home and participate in the democratic process, even vicariously, as journalists do, I think it's extraordinarily moving.
FOREMAN: And he loved trying to understand what drives Americans to work, to play, to dream, to pray.
JENNINGS: I've been in search for America ever since I came to America 30-some-odd years ago. All journalists are.
FOREMAN: He wrote books, married four times, had children, and became an American citizen himself, finally, two years ago. Peter Jennings promised to keep working throughout his illness. And he did, right up to the end of his own story.
JENNINGS: Have a good evening. I'm Peter Jennings. Thanks. And good night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Friends over at ABC say that Peter kept following the news every day, wanted to know what was going on even as he dealt this terrible, terrible thing. And personally, I think he was holding on to see if the NHL would come back and play hockey again, because then all would be right with the world -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, he goes knowing they will play again, even if he didn't make it to the next game on the ice.
Tom, tell us what it was like. We keep hearing stories of Peter Jennings the task master, not just of himself, but of those who ventured to appear on his program.
FOREMAN: Yes, you were clearing a pretty high hurdle just to get on to his show. He made it clear that just because you were part of ABC didn't mean you were part of "World News Tonight" yet. You had to pass his test.
And here is one of the best explanations I can have for the two sides of Peter.
Once quite early -- I think it may have even been my first year with ABC -- I had been sent somewhere on my anniversary.
KAGAN: Your wedding anniversary.
FOREMAN: And my wife Linda was -- yes, my wedding anniversary.
KAGAN: OK.
FOREMAN: And my wife was very unhappy about me having to be gone at that time. But that's the news business. We all know that.
Peter was one of the reasons I was sent, because he wanted to have people he could trust, people he liked, people he thought could do a good job on big stories. And he sent you no matter what was going on.
And he said, "Go out there and do a good job. That's what matters."
But at the same time, the very same day, he called my wife at home. She had no idea. The phone rang. She picked it up, and he said, "Well, I hope you are having an OK time now that that horrible has been removed from your life."
And she said, "Who is this?" And he said, "It's Peter Jennings." And he talked to her for several minutes about, "What are you going to do for dinner?" And "Here's a good restaurant," and "Maybe you should go here" and all this.
That's the kind of guy he was. Could be just drive you, drive you, drive you, and then turn around and do something very, very nice.
KAGAN: Takes good care of his people, as well. Thanks for sharing that memory.
FOREMAN: No problem, Daryn.
KAGAN: Tom Foreman, now our Tom Foreman of CNN. Thank you.
Well, let's talk about lung cancer for a bit. Did you know that it kills more people than any other cancer?
The federal government says 172,000 Americans will be diagnosed this year. One of every 10 lung cancer patients, just one, will be alive after five years.
The American Lung Association says lung cancer is the most common form of the disease in the U.S. It accounts for 14 percent of all cancers and 28 percent of cancer deaths. Almost nine of 10 deaths from lung cancer can be linked to cigarette smoking.
With those grim survival rates, many lung cancer patients turn to experimental treatments. Also, they turn to their faith. Here now is Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know where Bobby is going to be sitting. Bobby will be sitting to my left, to the congregation's right, and he will be approximately eight to nine rows back. He is always there.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): By all odds, Bobby Yoakum should not be alive. A Baptist church deacon, he prays each day his stage four lung cancer won't take him.
BOBBY YOAKUM, CANCER PATIENT: If you have cancer, don't worry. That's not going to solve it. Don't worry. You pray about it. You trust God. You have faith. Have faith in God.
GUPTA: Bobby spends his days receiving chemotherapy, sometimes radiation, and one experimental drug after another. Dr. Roy Herbst is Bobby's doctor, a pioneer in new therapies to beat back lung cancer.
ROY HERBST, PHYSICIAN: More and more I'm developing a group of patients who are long-term survivors of this disease.
GUPTA: Dr. Herbst first ordered Bobby a foul tasting mystery drink. He wanted to know if pure shark cartilage worked on lung cancer.
YOAKUM: I knew it would taste terrible, but anything that he suggested, if Dr. Herbst said it, I was willing to try it. I have nothing to lose.
GUPTA: And in the beginning, plan A was a hit.
HERBST: So you can see the main mass has pretty much disappeared.
GUPTA: But after 15 months of remission, the cancer began spreading. Bobby moved on to plan B, more chemo and a new experimental drug. But like almost all clinical trials, plan B soon flopped.
HERBST: His tumor grew by more than 20 percent. So he had to come off the study.
GUPTA: Bobby was disappointed but hopes that his participation may have a larger purpose.
YOAKUM: Thank you, sir. Thank you for coming.
It's not just going to ben fit me. What they find out is going to benefit the public. And that's why I was willing to do this.
GUPTA: Clearly, a single drug will not magically cure Bobby Yoakum and the more than 175,000 Americans living with lung cancer. Bobby is now on plan C.
HERBST: We're not going to make it all go away. So what we're really trying to do is knock it down as much as we can.
GUPTA: The Yoakums are left with the promise of new drugs, new weapons in the FDA pipeline. Just days later . . .
Well I guess congratulations are in order.
HERBST: Yes.
GUPTA: A new weapon does arrive.
HERBST: A drug we've worked on here for probably three, four years now got its FDA approval.
GUPTA: Tarceva, a once-a-day pill, was fast tracked when trials showed it prolonged lives.
HERBST: In someone like Mr. Yoakum who, of course, is here on a regular basis, who follows what's going on in our research, you know we've already talked to him about, you know, what next.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: On Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific, "CNN PRESENTS: Taming the Beast: Inside the War on Cancer." And all this week we're bringing you Dr. Sanjay Gupta's series on cancer. Tomorrow he looks at a smart bomb (ph) that targets one form of the disease.
The case alleging a terrorists attack on London and the men who authorities say were behind that. A British judge orders them to stay in jail on charges of conspiracy and attempted murder.
And tensions are rising over the Israeli government's mandated withdraw from Gaza.
Well, clearly that's about Peter Jennings. We'll have more on his life and times ahead.
Plus, could the deadly avian flu be the next pandemic? You'll hear more on this story from one of the country's top disease experts in our "Daily Dose" segment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: President Bush signs a sweeping energy bill into law today. The president will travel from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to an energy department lab in New Mexico for the signing ceremony.
The bill provides billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives for energy companies. The goal? To expand nuclear power generation, boost oil and gas supplies and renewable energy sources. But even the bill's supporters say it will have little impact on today's soaring gas prices.
We're also expecting a statement from the president on death of Peter Jennings. As soon as we get that videotape in we'll bring it to you.
Also, U.S. officials go on alert in Saudi Arabia. How serious is the latest security threat?
And a dramatic rescue in the Pacific Ocean. A closer look at how the crew of a Russian mini-sub narrowly escaped tragedy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Shifting winds and dry conditions are helping fuel some big wildfires in the western U.S. The biggest blaze in southeastern Washington State has burned at least 32,000 acres. The flames have charred nearly three dozen buildings and forced the evacuation of dozens of homes. Firefighters are hoping for cooler and wetter weather to help contain the fires. And will they get that help? Let's ask Jacqui Jeras -- Jacqui.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: World news now. Israel is preparing to remove almost 9,000 settlers from Gaza. Many of them have privately agreed to leave peacefully. But what about the rest? Tensions are high. Israeli politics are heated. We'll take you live to Gaza for the latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We are coming up on the half-hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Here is a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
The Space Shuttle Discovery's crew gets to spend another day in orbit. NASA called off this morning's planned landing in Florida because of low cloud cover. The next landing opportunity for Discovery is set for 5:07 Eastern tomorrow morning. And just in case there are more weather problems, alternate landing sites in California and New Mexico are being prepared.
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