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CNN Live Today

Southwest Airlines Deadly Plane Skid; Major Winter Storm; Kidnapped in Iraq

Aired December 09, 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."
Investigators are trying to get to the bottom of a deadly accident involving a Southwest Airlines jet. Last night at Chicago's Midway Airport, the jet skidded off of a runway during a snowstorm, careened into a street, and hit two cars. A young boy in one of the cars was killed, 13 other people were hurt. We'll have a live report just ahead.

More details are emerging about the man who was shot to death by air marshals at Miami's airport Wednesday. A fellow passenger says Rigoberto Alpizar was agitated before boarding the plane to Miami. Police say his wife told them her husband had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Officials say marshals shot him after he claimed to have a bomb.

DNA evidence has cleared a Georgia man who spent 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Robert Clark was all smiles as he was set free in Atlanta, his family at his side. Clark had maintained his innocence in the 1981 kidnapping and rape of an Atlanta woman. DNA shows another man committed that attack.

Warnings about the health risks of the painkiller Vioxx, were they enough? That's one of the questions a jury is debilitating today at a federal trial in Houston, Texas. Jurors are deciding if the drug giant Merck was negligent in designing and marketing Vioxx, if Vioxx was effective, and if it contributed to the death of a Florida man.

And taking a live picture right now. This is what people in the Northeast are dealing with today, a major winter storm. It's the same system that slammed the Midwest.

And I guess this is around Boston. Yes, this is Boston. New Jersey and New York could get several inches of snow, and up to a foot of snow is possible in New England.

Good morning and welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY.

Let's check some of the time around the world.

It is just after 10:00 a.m. in Chicago, Illinois; just after 11:00 here in Atlanta, Georgia; just after 7:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan. First up this hour, we go to snowy Chicago. Midway Airport reopened this morning, but a Southwest Airlines plane still is sitting in the middle of a busy street. It skidded off of a runway during a snowstorm, pinning a family in their car and killing a child.

Federal accident investigators plan to talk to reporters in about 30 minutes. You'll see live coverage right on CNN.

For now, though, let's go to CNN's Jonathan Freed. He is at the scene at Midway.

Well, there we go.

Hello, Jonathan.

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

I can tell you that we are approximately three blocks or so north of where the aircraft came to a stop last night, right at around 7:00 p.m. Central Time. It is right down there, the nose still right in the middle of this street. And it's still a miracle, people here are saying, that more damage was not done and that more people were not seriously hurt because of how busy a street this is and how much traffic there was at that time yesterday.

The plane just pushed through the perimeter fence, right down there, here at the northwest corner of Midway Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREED (voice over): The picture speaks for itself. You're looking at Southwest Airlines Flight 1248, after it ran off a runway on the northwest side of Midway Airport, slammed through a fence, and slid into a busy intersection, coming to rest on a car, killing a young boy inside and injuring about a dozen others.

AMANDA DOHERTY, WITNESS: Also you could see was, like, a car under the plane with, like, headlights. That's all you could see was the headlights of the car.

FREED: The weather was awful at the time, a driving snowstorm, though we don't know for sure what caused the accident.

GARY KELLY, CEO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: The aircraft was released from a routine maintenance check at our Phoenix maintenance facility on December the 7th. There were no indications that the aircraft was experiencing any type of maintenance problems.

FREED: The flight originated in Baltimore and landed at Midway shortly after 7:00 p.m. Passengers described it as a hard landing, but said the plane was slowing down when it ran off the end of the runway. The nose gear collapsing along the way.

As emergency workers descended on the snowy scene, so did NTSB investigators. COMM. CORTEZ TROTTER, CHICAGO FIRE DEPT.: NTSB will have their people here. We've been notified by them that they would like for the plane to stay in place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREED: And Daryn, we are now looking live at proof that the plane has indeed stayed in place. It is exactly where it came to rest yesterday evening, the nose just sticking right out there into the middle of the road. That's down at 55th and Central at the northwest corner of Midway Airport.

And Midway, if you're not that familiar with Chicago, is roughly 10, 12 miles southwest -- southwest or so from downtown Chicago.

Now, the CEO of the airline earlier today at a news conference said, among other things, that he feels that it's just simply too early, Daryn, to start talking about a possible cause, drawing conclusions about why this accident happened -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So that plane is going to sit there until the NTSB says it's OK to move it. That's going to affect travel there. And then this airport was shut down for a number of hours as well.

FREED: That's right. This airport was shut down. And we only observed flights starting up again early today.

And you can actually see the planes landing and taking off. And they slice right through the tail section back there. The contrast is really quite striking when you're just looking at this crippled plane sitting there.

It's quite a sight. I've covered a lot of -- a lot of things like this, and just to see the plane right there in the middle of the road, and to know what happened to that young boy, it's really quite something.

KAGAN: Yes. And we also want to put a name with the young boy, with the young victim because, of course, his family is mourning his loss this morning. He was Joshua Woods, 6 years old. His family from Leroy, Indiana.

And we expect to hear more about that and about this particular accident. We heard in Jonathan's piece the NTSB news conference coming up in about a half-hour. And you will see that live right here on CNN.

Let's tell you a little bit more about Southwest Flight 1248. If left Baltimore an hour behind schedule due to bad weather. The plane involved in the accident is a Boeing 737-700.

The airlines says it acquired the jet new just 17 months ago. It was carrying 98 passengers and five crew members. Southwest says the captain has been with the airline for 10 years, the first officer for more than two years. That snowstorm that hit Chicago and the plains is plowing into big cities of the Northeast today. Parts of new England could see a foot of snow. New York City is likely to escape the brunt of the storm, with just two to four inches in the forecast. Connecticut put about 600 snowplows on the roads this morning to get everyone to work. Most schools, public and private, are closed across the state.

That's the same situation in Pennsylvania: fender-benders, school closings and late arrivals at the office. Snow turned to rain in Philadelphia just in time for the morning rush, causing numerous crashes.

Massachusetts, it turns out, may get the biggest wallop from the storm. WCVB reporter Rhondella Richardson is along the Massachusetts turnpike in Westborough this morning.

I think you're there, Rondella. I see a lot of snow flakes, but it looks like you bundled up well. Good job, young lady.

RHONDELLA RICHARDSON, REPORTER, WCVB: I did. We had what you call maybe a snow drill. We had snow a couple days ago, so everyone put the scraper in the car and found their gloves and those extra layers.

We are live here in We're live in Westborough, which is about 30 miles west of the city of Boston. And if you take a look over here at the Massachusetts turnpike, the plows have gone through a couple of times. A brigade of them to sand and treat the roads. And they've done pretty good keeping it down to blacktop, but right now, it looks like it's pretty snow-packed.

The morning commute had a lot of snow during the late hours. Luckily, it didn't start too early. So folks didn't have to necessarily shovel before they got out of the house.

Let me take a look at the snow and give you a sense of what kind of snow we're dealing with here. It's kind of light and fluffy, not exactly snowball snow.

However, it has caused a lot of problems over at Logan Airport. Arrivals were actually closed for about 25 minutes between 8:00 and 9:00 this morning.

We still have many delays. Inbound flights in a ground halt on average up to three and a half hours. Outbound flights are delayed for about 35 minutes to an hour and a half.

And as always, if you're traveling today, given this weather, call your airline, because there are numerous cancellations. And we're told the East Coast is the most problematic area getting in and out of Philly, LaGuardia and Newark.

You could have some delays, because the snowfall expected to be up to a foot in some areas, less to the south of us. It could cause problems throughout the day. And it should continue snowing here right through the evening commute. So it could be slow-going on the roads.

Back to you, Daryn

KAGAN: So, fashion question for you, Rhondella. What color was your hat when you started doing live shots this morning? Because right now it's all white.

RICHARDSON: Light blue. I didn't realize it piled on that much.

KAGAN: No, it looks good. There you go.

RICHARDSON: There you go. Light blue.

KAGAN: Light blue. Well, I've got to tell you, the light blue, the white, it works. You are looking good. You've still got the cute thing working. So hang in there and try to stay warm.

Rondella Richardson, thank you, from our affiliate WCVB.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: And now to our CNN "Security Watch."

How prepared are you? A new report out today has some surprising findings about how lax Americas are, even in the wake of disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

Their preparedness study finds only 18 percent of Americans are familiar with their city or town's emergency plan. It finds most Americans have no plan for how to communicate with family members in a disaster.

Just 36 percent of adults have a prepared communication plan to contact a family member if they get separated. And only 25 percent have established a meeting place if they're evacuated or can't return home.

Still to come, he leads the state with a huge population of military families, and he's just back from Iraq. We'll get Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue's thoughts on the war and more.

And later, the killer flu that's a breath away. How is this virus making its way from continent to continent?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Focusing on Iraq now, the State Department says an American has been killed in a northern part of the country. The incident happened near the city of Kirkuk. A spokesman says the individual worked as a contractor for the U.S. government. The military says a quick reaction team recovered the body. It's giving no other details.

A deadline for several hostages in Iraq. Kidnappers are threatening to kill four members of the group Christian Peacemaker Teams tomorrow. The men are from the U.S., Canada and Great Britain. Let's check in now with correspondent Aneesh Raman, who is live in Baghdad.

Aneesh, hello.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

The deadline of Saturday now looms. As you say, the group is called Swords of Justice, a previously unknown insurgent group in Iraq. They have in custody four Western aid workers. One of them, American Tom Fox, another a British national, two others Canadian.

A previous deadline had been set for Wednesday. Instead, a new video of the hostages was released that day. This video only showing the American and British national. The previous video had shown all four.

The group calling not only for the release of prisoners that it deems part of its own insurgency, but also calling for the beginning of troop withdrawal. Now, the U.S. president has said he will not negotiate with terrorists, that they are trying as they can with intelligence to locate where these four hostages might be.

In the past two weeks, Daryn, we have seen some seven Westerners taken hostage. It is an insurgent tactic that we saw go down in the early part of this year. It is now clearly back on the rise. But it is worth mentioning that on a near daily basis throughout this year, throughout last, Iraqis continue to be kidnapped as well -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman, live from Baghdad.

Aneesh, thank you.

And this note for our viewers at home. CNN's Anderson Cooper will be reporting live from Iraq all next week. Be sure to stay with CNN for his reports as the U.S. military marks 1,000 days in Iraq.

We'll be back in a moment. I'll have a chance to speak with the governor of Georgia, Sonny Perdue. He is just back from visiting the troops in Iraq, and he is my guest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: An assessment on the situation in Iraq from Iraqi women. Representatives of a coalition of Iraqi nongovernment agencies and civil rights groups just wrapped up a news conference in Washington. They say all Iraqis, especially women and children, are vulnerable to the violence gripping the country. But they say this is the time to pull together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASMA FAKRI, WOMEN'S ALLIANCE FOR A DEMOCRATIC IRAQ: This is a new Iraq. This is democracy -- we are building democracy from ground up. And we -- this is historic. So we all want to be part of it.

From now on, all civil society, all people, women and men, work together, because Iraq now needs everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And there is growing concern here at home for U.S. troops in Iraq. Georgia's governor has now a firsthand assessment of the situation. Governor Sonny Perdue recently returned from visiting the troops in Iraq. Plus, he met with U.S. service members in Qatar, Kuwait and Afghanistan. And he also visited Pakistan.

Governor Sonny Perdue right here with me this morning.

Good morning, Governor. Thank you for being here with us.

GOV. SONNY PERDUE (R), GEORGIA: Good morning. Glad to be with you, Daryn.

KAGAN: You had quite a trip there to Iraq and in that area. Perceptions that had you before and what you saw differently on the ground?

PERDUE: I came back inspired, inspired by the men and women who are serving there. And first of all, their courage, but their commitment and their resolve.

I literally compared them to the heroes that we know from World War II. They know why they're there, what their mission is, and they simply want to be able to finish that mission.

KAGAN: And some having huge sacrifice.

PERDUE: Absolutely.

KAGAN: The "Atlanta-Journal Constitution" reporting that the Georgia National Guard, compared to any other state National Guard unit, has suffered the most amount of losses.

PERDUE: These are our citizen soldiers, our men and women, our accountants, our farmers, our plumbers, our pharmacists. And they're doing a great job. It's one united force over there.

What inspired me was their morale. These are people who have been plucked from their daily lives as moms and dads and workers and are there in a war theater, but their morale was great.

I got them off in ones and twos and just said, "Tell me what it's really like." And that's where I became inspired about their desire to finish the job.

KAGAN: Governor, 27 of them have lost their lives fighting in Iraq. How do you respond to those families here at home?

PERDUE: Well, obviously one of condolence and one of empathy. And I never lost a child, a father, a mother, in a war theater, but it's devastating. And the tragedy individually is insurmountable.

But again, the morale that the parents and the families have has been tremendous about knowing of what they're doing. And what they told us was, don't let those who have fallen fall in vain.

KAGAN: And to stay there.

Other big issues facing the state here, Hurricane Katrina. Georgia opened its doors, put out the welcome back, 44,000 families, evacuees here in Atlanta. Over 5,000 school children have moved into public schools here.

Is Georgia getting the kind of support it needs from the federal government to handle the influx of people who have moved here?

PERDUE: Well, we've opened our homes, our hearts, our schools and our communities. We didn't ask how much we were going to get paid to do that. We just did it because it was the right thing to do.

KAGAN: But then there's the reality of running the state.

PERDUE: There's a reality, and we will -- we will deal with that. We believe that we will be reimbursed appropriately. And we are expecting that.

We're working with our members of Congress to make sure that happens. But I'm expecting that will happen. But we've done the right thing regardless.

KAGAN: On a much lighter note, your office kind of got caught up in the "Merry Christmas" controversy that is sweeping the nation. You lit the tree on Sunday.

PERDUE: Yes.

KAGAN: And when it was first announced, you invited people to come to the governor's mansion to light the "holiday tree." And then your office put out another press release saying, oh, OK, we take it back, we meant it's a Christmas tree.

PERDUE: We've always celebrated Christmas, and our family. And as the stewards of that residence right now, lighting that tree, we're celebrating Christmas this year.

So Merry Christmas.

KAGAN: Well, thank you for that.

There are those, including my family, that celebrate other holidays.

PERDUE: Absolutely.

KAGAN: So how do you keep "Merry Christmas" and a Christmas tree and Christmas traditions from excluding others of other faiths?

PERDUE: There's no exclusion whatsoever. Actually, we have a whole room dedicated to the Jewish faith with the Hanukkah and the Menorah and all of those types of things. And I'm not offended in the least when someone wishes me Happy Hanukkah. KAGAN: Well, all of it to you. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah. We'll throw Kwanzaa in there.

PERDUE: That's right.

KAGAN: And Ramadan, even though that's past.

PERDUE: There you go.

KAGAN: All right.

Governor Sonny Perdue, it's a busy period and a busy time.

PERDUE: Right.

KAGAN: Thank you for coming by and talking about your travels and the challenges that the state faces right now.

PERDUE: Right. Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Governor Perdue, thank you.

When we come back, we're going to talk about a new type of weapon that is being used by insurgents. What makes this one so deadly for U.S. troops?

We're also standing by for a news conference at the bottom of the hour by the NTSB at Midway Airport in Chicago. We'll go live to that as soon as it begins.

First, though, a look at what's hot online. We're going to check in with Veronica de la Cruz at the .comdesk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM: From the bright lights of Hollywood to the corner bookstore, cnn.com entertainment editor Todd Leopold is keeping track of all of it.

Hi, Todd.

TODD LEOPOLD, CNN.COM ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Hi, Veronica.

DE LA CRUZ: Listen, 2005 is wrapping up. What are some of your favorites? Let's talk about books and maybe albums.

LEOPOLD: My favorite book of the year was "The March," by E.L. Doctorow, which was a wonderful novel about Sherman's march through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina. I kaleidoscopic book, very well told.

My favorite album of the year is one called "Illinoise," by Sufjan Stevens. It's intricate, well arranged, beautifully done. It's like nothing else you've heard.

DE LA CRUZ: From music we move on to the box office. It's going to be a big weekend for movies?

LEOPOLD: "Memoirs of a Geisha" has gotten a lot of attention but mixed reviews so far. "Brokeback Mountain" has gotten wonderful reviews. It's supposed to be an Oscar front-runner.

And then you have "Narnia." And that's probably going to be the box office king at the end of the weekend.

DE LA CRUZ: Thank you so much, Todd.

LEOPOLD: Sure.

DE LA CRUZ: To read Todd's weekly column, "Eye on Entertainment," you can go to cnn.com/showbiz.

From the .comdesk, I'm Veronica De La Cruz.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We are coming up at the half-hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News.".

Chicago's Midway Airport has reopened after last night's deadly accident. Investigators are on the scene trying to determine what caused a Southwest airliner to skid off of a runway. It slammed through a fence and crushed two vehicles on the street. A 6-year-old boy in one of those cars was killed, 13 other people were injured.

Leaders of Delta Airlines Pilots Union are continuing talks trying to decide whether to ask their members to vote on a strike. The struggling carrier and its pilots are battling in bankruptcy court over proposed pay cuts. A strike would come just as the peak holiday travel season is about to begin.

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