Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Sago Mine Survivor Awakening; New Orleans College Students Return to Classes

Aired January 18, 2006 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
Our top story coming out of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling unanimously today that a lower court was wrong to strike down a New Hampshire abortion law, one that says that a minor needs written consent from a guardian or parent within 48 hours before having an abortion. The opinion, by the way, was written by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Also in the news, early today, a tugboat sank in heavy seas off the coast of Cape Fear, North Carolina. Officials say six crew members were rescued and two were killed. A ninth crew member is still missing. The tugboat was towing an oil barge when it separated.

There is word that two African engineers were kidnapped during an ambush in western Baghdad today. Police say that gunmen attacked a convoy of vehicles belonging to a private security firm and that seven body guards and three drivers were killed. The two kidnapped engineers are said to be from Malawi and Madagascar.

The clock is ticking toward an insurgent deadline on the life of an American reporter. A videotape of Jill Carroll was released yesterday, along with a note threatening to kill her. It said that the U.S. has 72 hours to release Iraqi women in military custody.

And the Iraqi baby who underwent life-saving surgery in Georgia last week will go back to the hospital today. Doctors plan to drain fluid from Baby Noor's back. The 3-month-old suffers from spina bifida; that's a birth defect of the spine. The surgeons removed a fluid-filled sac and repositioned her spinal cord earlier this month.

Doctors at a Jerusalem hospital today replaced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's breathing tube. Mr. Sharon underwent a tracheotomy on Sunday to help wean him off a respirator. The prime minister's condition remains serious and stable. He has been in a coma since suffering a stroke about two weeks ago.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is calling for continuing talks aimed at resolving a nuclear dispute. That's the word today from North Korea's news agency, which also confirmed Kim's visit to china. Kim and the Chinese president spoke of the positive results of the six-party nuclear talks.

And there is some encouraging news today about the Sago Mine blast sole survivor. Randal McCloy, Jr., has been moved out of intensive care. Physicians treating McCloy are holding a news conference this hour to update his condition.

Our Chris Huntington joins us now. He is on the phone in Morgantown, West Virginia, with more on this. Actually, he's on TV. Forget the phone! Hello, good morning.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. The miracle of technology. Yes, in a few minutes, we're going to hear from Randy McCloy's doctors some more detail about his recovery. As you mentioned, yesterday they felt he was stable enough to take him out of the intensive care unit into what they're calling a step-down unit.

He's shown consistent recovery physically. His lungs are doing well. He's been breathing on his own for several days. His heart is strong, his liver is doing better. He still needs occasional dialysis to deal with the fluid build-up in his system.

The big issue, though, is that he is still unconscious, still in what doctors are calling a moderate stage coma. And until he emerges from that coma, they say they cannot get a complete read on the possible impairment he may have suffered both mentally and physically from the carbon monoxide poisoning and other trauma that he suffered in the mine, now more than two weeks ago -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Chris, I don't know how much time you spent in the community, but what about the other miners who died and their family members? Are there talks of lawsuits of that mine? I understand it's still too dangerous for even investigators to go in and see if the mine is safe to reopen.

HUNTINGTON: Daryn, I have to say, that is really not an issue that we have been covering here in Morgantown. We've been effectively on-site at the hospital here for two weeks, focused solely on Randy McCloy.

There's been no talk amongst the McCloy family or any of their representatives about anything like that, with the exception of an outburst by one family member in a supermarket tabloid last week basically voicing outrage at what he felt were unsafe conditions for his brother and other miners. But there's been talk of any legal action around here -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We will hear more from you, and looking forward to hear what the doctors have to say from there in Morgantown, West Virginia. We'll go back to you live to you when that news conference begins later this hour.

Want to get to some world news now, and that is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meeting today with Javier Solana, one of the chief foreign negotiators for the European Union. Both groups, both the United States and the E.U. very concerned about what's happening with Iran and Iran going to use nuclear energy. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: ... Iran. The E.U. has made quite clear that the Iranians have crossed an important threshold, that it is now important for the IAEA Board of Governors to act so that Iran knows that the international community will not tolerate its continued acting with impunity against the interest of the international community.

Iran must not be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. It must not be allowed to pursue activities that might lead to a nuclear weapon. And on that, we are fully united.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And that was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talking about what must happen with Iran to keep it from using nuclear energy.

More on that story ahead.

Also from here in the U.S., he knew about the Oklahoma City bombing, but he didn't do anything to stop it. Ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY, new developments surrounding the prosecution's star witness, Michael Fortier.

And British royalty or a royal phony? The guy told some U.S. high school kids that he was the fifth duke of Cleveland. But when student journalists did some digging, they were shocked to find out who he really was. We'll tell you that story just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: News for parents now. Auto accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers in this country, more than drugs, alcohol and violence combined. So, with that all said, AAA releasing a new report analyzing fatal crashes involving teenage drivers.

The data shows that about one-third of fatal wrecks between 1995 and 2004 involved teenage drivers. And moreover, AAA says that two- thirds of the traffic deaths that involve teens were other drivers or their passengers or even pedestrians.

Later we're going to hear from two-time Indy 500 champion Arie Luyendyk about his new program to train young drivers. It's called Road Skills, and that's coming up in our next hour.

Meanwhile, let's go ahead and take a look at other stories making news coast to coast today.

The voyage for hundreds of passengers on board the world's largest cruise ship -- that one is on hold this morning. The Queen Mary II experienced a problem with one of its motors while leaving Port Everglades in South Florida. No injuries were reported among its more than 2,500 passengers. Cruise officials say they hope to return to sea later today.

A 7-year-old girl whose death has outraged New Yorkers is being buried this morning. Yesterday her mother and stepfather were charged with second degree murder in the death of Nixmary Brown. The stepfather is accused of beating the girl to death after she took a yogurt that he brought home. Her mother allegedly stood by as it happened.

The prosecution's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing trials will be a free man on Friday. His relatives say that they learned about Michael Fortier's release in a form letter from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Fortier has been in prison since the 1995 bombings. He was sentenced for knowing about the bomb plot but not telling authorities.

And the couple -- remember them? They claim they found a human fingertip in a bowl of Wendy's chili? They'll be sentenced in California. They could face years in prison. The Nevada couple is charged with conspiracy to file a false insurance claim and attempted grand theft. Wendy's claims it lost $2.5 million in sales because of the scam.

Well, he told tall tales of having a royal lineage and talking with the Queen of England. Now a young Minnesota man is talking about his royal scam from a jail cell. He fooled a lot of high school students, but the fake royal duke couldn't trick everyone.

Ed Lavandera has the story from Stillwater, Minnesota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It didn't take long for word of a royal arrival to spread through the quaint streets of Stillwater, Minnesota. After all, this eastern Minnesota town isn't known as a getaway for members of the British aristocracy.

So when a duke came to town, a young man who looked and sounded royal, a lot of people got excited.

JOSHUA GARDNER, ROYAL PHONY: They think that because you're British royalty that you have a lot of privileges. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

LAVANDERA: Those are the words of Caspian James Crichton Stuart IV, also known as the Fifth Duke Of Cleveland. He said he'd come to Stillwater to escape the limelight in England and for medical treatment at the nearby Mayo Clinic.

He had a fascinating tale to tell the students of Stillwater High School.

KARLEE WEINMANN, HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALIST: He said he was with Harry when Charles told him that his mother had died. And he said that the queen came into his bedroom once and told him to clean it.

LAVANDERA: Caspian's arrival couldn't help but draw the attention of four student journalists at the school newspaper. It wasn't often that a young British noble enrolled in a suburban high school. But after their first interview, they began to suspect something wasn't quite right.

MATT MURPHY, HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM STUDENT: He gave this 15- second long arrogant title. It didn't sit very well with me. LAVANDERA: In a letter to the reporters, Caspian demanded to be addressed as Your Grace, anything less would be insulting. The stories continued. He talked of fencing with Prince Harry, of partying with American celebrities Josh Hartnett and Hillary Duff.

CHANTEL LEONHART, HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM STUDENT: When he started to do the name dropping with all the tales of Princess Diana and Prince Harry and William and when he started talking about the queen and how she just drops in at his palace. Just things like that were kind of like, OK.

WEINMANN: Why would somebody who hangs out with the queen come to our school? That didn't add up in our heads.

LAVANDERA: So these students started digging deeper. Too many details seemed strange. The business cards Caspian was handing out had a local area code on it. When they googled Caspian James Crichton-Stuart IV, this site popped up with the name Joshua Adam Gardner next to it. With that lead they called the British consulate in Chicago.

LEONHART: She verified that there are no Dukes of Cleveland. There is no Caspian James Crichton-Stuart anywhere.

LAVANDERA: The reporters knew then they had a phony royal on their hands.

MARISA RILEY, HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALIST: There were people that told us to stop the investigation, there's nothing more out there, that we shouldn't continue with it. We always maintained a level of skepticism.

LAVANDERA: But they still didn't know who Caspian really was. So they continued scouring the Internet for Joshua Gardner.

WEINMANN: Then the picture just popped up really big, took up the entire center part of the screen. And it was -- I don't even know what we thought.

That's what initially popped up on our screen.

LAVANDERA: Caspian is actually 22-year-old Joshua Adam Gardner, a registered sex offender from Minnesota.

WEINMANN: It was the most dramatic situation that could have been.

MURPHY: When it finally came up and all of our entire investigation and all our doubts came to fruition, it was absolutely astonishing and shocking at the same time.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Within days of the young reporters' discovery, Gardner was arrested for violating his parole. He was convicted at the age of 18 for an incident involving his 15-year-old girlfriend. We don't know much more than that because the case involves a juvenile. But this is where the story takes another bizarre turn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: All right. We're going to have to get back to Ed's story in a moment. Want to go live now to Morgantown, West Virginia, the latest on Randy McCloy, Jr.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DR. LARRY ROBERTS, MCCLOY'S PRINCIPAL PHYSICIAN: ... condition would not require the continuous monitoring that we were providing in the intensive care unit. He's still getting, of course, excellent nursing and physical therapy care and rehabilitative care that we're providing. Generally, his condition has shown signs of improvement. His kidney function, although still requiring hemodialysis, is showing some slight improvement. Again, we're cautiously optimistic that at some point his kidneys may continue to improve still further.

His heart function appears to be relatively normal at this stage of the game, and the liver function that had been of concern to us early on seems to have made a full recovery. He's tolerating all the nutritional supplements that we're giving him. The pneumonia that we were concerned about about a week ago appears to be completely under control and resolved.

He is breathing completely on his own, and in every way, from a global perspective, has shown signs of improvement. The neurologic exam, which is the part I think of greatest interest to all of us at this point is something Dr. Bailes will address here in one second. But we have seen some improvement.

And I'll turn it over now to Dr. Bailes to perhaps give some of the details of the neurologic findings -- Dr. Bailes.

DR. JULIANE BAILES, NEUROSURGEON: Good morning. With great hope, we announce that Randy McCloy is awakening from his coma. He is opening his eyes. He has purposeful movements. He responds to his family in slight ways. He moves all extremities. His brain stem function, which has been normal remains normal. Pupillary response, swallowing, facial movement.

We consider him probably best described in a light coma. These are all very positive signs for us, although we must emphasize that he still has quite a ways to go, and he is, as we've said before, likely the longest survivor, given all the circumstances for this sort of carbon monoxide poisoning.

So we're in many ways uncharted territory in terms of predicting his recovery. But again, we remain cautiously optimistic. I think every few days we have seen more and more responsiveness and meaningful neurological signs from him. Again, the long-term outlook is probably going to be measured in weeks and months and not days. But for us who take care of brain injuries of all sorts, just to make steady progress, we're very thankful for.

There are some -- perhaps some predictors that we have gleaned from the world's medical literature that I can discuss later, if you'd like. But that is, in a nutshell, our situation, as of this morning. Dr. Roberts?

ROBERTS: Thanks.

What we see for randy in the next couple of weeks is slowly transitioning him to rehabilitation. And it is a very likely that within the next ten days to two weeks, we may be able to move him to a rehabilitation facility for the services that they obviously can provide.

At the moment, he still needs hemodialysis. But otherwise, the support that he needs can be provided on a decreasing basis and can be provided at a rehab facility. So that's probably in the cards for him in the next ten days to two weeks.

With that, maybe I'll stop and Aly, do you -- answer questions? Let me introduce Aly for a few comments.

ALY GOODWIN GREGG, MCCLOY FAMILY SPOKESWOMAN: Good morning. The family of Randal McCloy, Jr. wishes to announce the establishment of the Randal McCloy Jr. Fund. People from around the world have made inquires to the family, hoping to make contributions to assist and support Randy's recovery. The family is overwhelmed and truly touched by the kindness of so many strangers.

The Randal McCloy Jr. Fund will be facilitated by Clear Mountain Bank in Morgantown, West Virginia, and contributions may be sent to the Saberton branch office. Contributions to the fund may not be tax deductible. They may be mailed to the Randal McCloy Jr. Fund, in care of Clear Mountain Bank, 1889 Earl Core (ph) Road, Morgantown, West Virginia, 26505.

Randy's wife Anna and the McCloy family would also like to strongly encourage contributions to the Sago Mine Assistance Fund, which is supported by the West Virginia Council of Churches. Contributions to the Sago Mine Assistance Fund are tax deductible and benefit all affected families of the Sago Mine Disaster.

The family wishes to express its gratitude to everyone who has reached out to them with letters, cards, and prayers. The family remains hopeful that Randy will continue to show improvement and they are grateful and encouraged by your support.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And with that, I'll turn it back to the two physicians, Dr. Roberts and Dr. Bailes, to answer questions that you may have about his condition. So Dr. Roberts?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Hi, Doctor. Chris Huntington again with CNN. Can you tell us when Randy first opened his eyes and in a way that is consistent with what you're seeing as an emergence or awakening?

BAILES: It has been within the last several days that he began to progressively open his eyes. At first, only when he was stimulated. We talked last week about different sorts of stimuli that we perform. But now it's spontaneous. Now it's if you call his name, he will do it. He will do it on his own.

He will track family members. And again, they believe that he's -- has some level of connectivity with them. That -- we always need more than that. We need him to continue to improve. But just this morning, he seems to be -- for instance, if you put a piece of ice in his mouth, he will take it and move it around with his tongue and swallow it and chew it and swallow it.

So these are all -- again, in the care of severely brain-injured people, whether its trauma or whether it's carbon monoxide toxicity, these are, we think, very important signs, perhaps of an emergence. But we don't want to give false hope and we know that there's still a long way to go to making that recovery. And many people with severe carbon monoxide poisoning end up with severe cognitive, personality, memory, visual, motor responses. So, we just don't know.

I alluded a while ago to the fact that, according to what the world's medical literature says, someone who comes in -- well, let me say it like this. There are several things which I think are in his favor that we can glean from what we know. One is that Dr. Roberts and his team did a great rapid resuscitation for Randy from his shock, from his acidosis, from his low blood pressure, from his collapsed lung. That was corrected almost instantaneously.

And they did a good job at St. Joseph's Hospital in Buck-Canton (ph) to begin that process, as well as the paramedics who first cared for him when he exited the portal. But number one is the rapid and successful resuscitation from shock. He never went back in shock. And his organs continued to improve, as Dr. Roberts said.

The second thing is that his CAT scan, when he was admitted, was normal. And that has been shown in other studies to be a very good prognostic or predictive sign. The fact that his MRI shows that he has only involvement of his white matter and not the gray matter, the neurons of the brain, but just the white matter. And we believe again that it's the demyelinization of those fibers -- we talked about that last week -- and not the nerve cells we're seeing involved.

In fact, we see no gray matter involvement. That could change. It has been reported with carbon monoxide poisoning that patients can later show that or deteriorate. But at least of right now, the MRI, I think, is also predictive that the injury is hopefully limited.

The fact that he is -- he came out relatively soon with an emergence in opening his eyes and awakening fairly soon in the course, within a week or so this began. Again, that's been shown to be a good prognostic sign.

KAGAN: We've been listening in to doctors in Morgantown, West Virginia, telling us about lone survivor of the Sago Mine explosion, Randy McCloy, Jr. Some encouraging news. He is still on dialysis, but he is breathing on his own. And getting to his brain function, they say there is some improvement. They think right now is he in what call a light coma, but he is responding to family members and making purposeful movements. If he continues to improve, doctors predict he could be moved from the hospital to a rehab facility in ten days to two weeks. More on that story straight ahead.

Also, I'll have a chance to visit with Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. She is in New Orleans today, meeting with college students going back after missing a semester there. Also, the new public school education program for there. We'll discuss that just ahead. .

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN; Some encouraging news in New Orleans. It is college days again there. Yesterday marked the first day of classes since Hurricane Katrina for thousands of college students.

To talk about that, let's bring in Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who is in New Orleans today.

Madam Secretary, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

MARGARET SPELLINGS, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Good morning, Daryn. Great to be here.

KAGAN: Yes, this is something that New Orleans really needs, but the college students need to get back as well.

SPELLINGS: Absolutely. It's a really exciting week here in New Orleans, with Tulane, Xavier, higher ed institutions all over town getting restarted. And we at the Federal Department of Education are proud and happy to be partners with them and providing resources so they can get back underway and back in business.

KAGAN: Our time is so short, so I want to jump ahead to this plan that came out yesterday, the new plan for public schools in New Orleans. If you've had a chance to look at it, it has some kind of revolutionary concepts, almost like a free market in allowing schools to operate individually. And a competition among schools to give the best ones to students.

SPELLINGS: It has some really interesting ideas. And you're right, there's a lot of parent choice involved in that plan. I really think that it's so encouraging and I really commend the community for creating a world-class plan in very short order. And I'm anxious to see them get underway and at work on that.

We've been in close touch with Scott Cowlan (ph), who's been the chairman of that commission. I've had staff that's helped them develop that and it's -- they've come a long way in a short period of time. And we're very excited to see the new and improved New Orleans school district.

KAGAN: Just real quickly, back on the college students. I know you can relate to the big jump that this must be because when we visited earlier this year, you mentioned that you're the mother of a college freshman. So you can only imagine how jarring that would be.

SPELLINGS: Well, it is. In fact, one of my daughters' friends attends Tulane. So I'm looking forward to visiting with her and visiting with these kids who have come back from all over the country to reconnect with their institutions.

I think it's so thrilling that both here at Xavier, where I am now, and at Tulane, where I'll be later today, that more than three- quarters of the students are back in class, back hitting the books. And it's really a great tribute to these institutions and to this city, as well as to the kids, of course.

KAGAN: Margaret Spellings, education secretary. Busy day for you and us as well. We'll let you go. Thank you for your time.

SPELLINGS: Thanks, Daryn.

KAGAN: And real quickly, as we go into the next hour, the Dow down 40 points, and the Nasdaq in negative territory, as well, as the techs are under pressure. It is down 22 points.

We'll take a quick break. More news in just a minute.

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