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Senate Committee Holding Hearings on Katrina Response; Enron Trial; Olympic Security Preparations

Aired February 01, 2006 - 11:33   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Questions today on Capitol Hill, what went wrong and how do you fix it? Those are still key questions for Congress more than five months after Hurricane Katrina. The Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is holding hearings this morning on the response to the massive storm, including evacuation plans.
Among those testifying, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYR. RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: There were thousands, I should say, of residents that did not leave, including those with means, who chose instead to ride out the storm, like their parents had done during Hurricane Betsy.

When reality set in for many on Sunday, they made their way to the shelter of last resort.

On Monday, August 29, 2005, Katrina, the most powerful category- four hurricane to hit the region, made landfall. We began to receive reports of levees breaking. Water rose as high as 18 feet, with 80 percent of our citizens receiving some levels of flood. This was over 61 square miles of our city was impacted. That would cover the entire D.C. region and would cover the entire Manhattan region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Along with today's hearing, the General Accounting Office has released a preliminary report on the Katrina response. CNN's Andrea Koppel is with us now from Washington.

Andrea, hello.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

What you heard the New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, talking about there is really the heart of what this committee is trying to get to the bottom of at least during today's session, and that s remember those images that really are seer individual of our minds of the thousands of people, not only in the New Orleans Superdome, but also in the New Orleans Convention Center. They were there, some of them, in the blazing heat without food, without water, and what the committee chair who you're looking at right there, Susan Collins, wants to accomplish today is to find out from Mayor Nagin when he issued the emergency order for this mandatory evacuation out of New Orleans, and also when did he contact FEMA, the Federal Emergency Agency to say we need food and water, and we're not really hearing the answer to the second part of that, but we did hear earlier, Daryn, that Mayor Nagin had said that he had made the decision on Saturday before the hurricane hit that there should be a mandatory evacuation but didn't actually issue, order it until this Sunday.

This is something, this is part of a series of hearings that the Senate is holding. I know that Mayor Nagin testified before the house in December. We're not hearing a whole lot of new ground being broken here, but as you pointed out in the beginning, the purpose of these hearings really is to make sure that when the next hurricane hits, and hurricane season is only four months away, that wherever it hits, the same mistakes are not made -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Andrea Koppel, live from Washington D.C., thank you.

And we have new information about the shooting at the postal facility that took place in Goleta, California earlier this week. New information that the woman who did the shooting and then took her own life might have killed before she headed to that facility.

Let's go to Kareen Wynter. She's on the phone with us now from Goleta, California.

Kareen, hello.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Forty-four-year-old Jennifer Sanmarco reportedly shot five former workers, employees at the Goleta processing plant in California before turning the gun on herself, but now she may also be tied to another murder. A former neighbor here in Goleta, who the Santa Barbara sheriff's department said from an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

Now what's ironic in all of this, Daryn, is that we were at the very same apartment complex yesterday just hours before the victim's boyfriend discovered her body. In fact, one of our producers knocked on that same door when we were out there trying to get information from those who may have known Jennifer Sanmarco.

Officials believe that this former neighbor was shot some time Monday evening, perhaps before Sanmarco went on this shooting rampage at the Goleta postal plant.

Officials are saying that the evidence and the circumstances of this crime, Daryn, show a distinct correlation between this shooting and the postal shooting because of some bullet casings, shell casings that were found at the scene. In the meantime, this investigation continues. It's still unclear what the motive here, if Sanmarco knew these people at the plant or had an intended target, or if she shot just randomly.

According to police and former coworkers we spoke with, Daryn, one thing that seems to be quite clear is that Sanmarco did have a history of psychological problems. KAGAN: Well, this would rock any community, but I would think especially there in Goleta, Kareen. This is one of the most laid- back, easygoing communities probably in the country.

WYNTER: It is. And we saw some of that fear still shaking this community at a late-night church service yesterday where people got together to pray for the victims, to pray for the family members. There were some families who were there who lost loved ones, and they're stunned, they're in absolute disbelief. One woman said it's like watching a movie, Daryn. It's something that you would see on the big screen or something that you would read about happening in other parts of the country; it now is now grappling this community.

KAGAN: Kareen Wynter on the phone with us from Goleta, California.

Kareen, thank you.

In other news today, the first witness takes the stand in the fraud-and-conspiracy trial of two former Enron executives.

Our Chris Huntington covers the trial. He has the latest now from Houston.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Today we get into the meat of the trial, the first of what promises to be many former Enron executives who have pleaded guilty to crimes, but will face off against their former colleagues, Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay.

First on the witness stand for the government, a man who used to run Enron's investor relations. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud, and he's expected to testify that Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling conspired to prop up Enron's stock price. That's key, because the government has alleged all along that one of the crucial elements of the scheme at Enron was to keep the stock price high.

So as far as the government is concerned, they want to hammer home the point to the jury that it was all about lying to investors, keeping them happy with the notion that Enron was doing fine. This should go on, this particular bit of testimony should take the bulk of today. It could extend into tomorrow. Again, this case could go on for several months.

Chris Huntington, CNN, Houston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Chris, thank you.

It is February, and you know what that means? The 2006 Winter Olympic Games right around the corner, nine days away in fact.

Coming up, Alessio Vinci shows us how Torino is prepared to keep thousands of athletes and spectators safe during the Games. First, a look at the organization that just won the Palestinian elections, Hamas. Here is Veronica De La Cruz at the dot-com desk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: With victory declared over the nearly 40-year Fatah rule, the Palestinian legislative council, CNN.com takes a closer look at Hamas.

The group won 76 of the 132 seats in the legislative council, and the fundamentalist group does not recognize Israel as a nation state and opposes a U.S.-backed solution. The word Hamas means zeal, but it's also an Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement.

Click through in gallery to learn more about the militant group and its relationship with other Palestinian areas, Israel and the West.

The U.S. and the European Union provide nearly half the Palestinian Authority's annual budget, but the White House has suggested it might cut aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian authority.

This gallery has reaction to the victory from President Bush to Alvaro DeSoto, U.N. envoy to the Middle East.

And you can read more online at CNN.com/world.

I'm Veronica De La Cruz for the dot-com desk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The Winter Olympics hits the snow and ice on February 10th. Today athletes begin moving into the three Olympic villages. Italy is guarding the competitors with extraordinary security.

CNN's Alessio Vinci takes a look from Torino, Italy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There will be one security agent for every six athletes, a total of 15,000 men to secure the sprawling Olympic area, including several stadiums in the city of Torino and three different mountain resorts hosting alpine competitions.

COL. ROBERTO ANGIUS, ITALIAN ARMY: The main difficulty is to check everyone, every place, everywhere.

VINCI: The interior ministry has more than doubled the number of police officers normally in Torino, and for the first time in Italy, police will use the U.S.-made scooters known as Segways.

The army is already patrolling each site, even as work is still underway to prepare the venues. About 1,200 of the soldiers are alpine troops, equipped and trained to intervene on skis and move fast on snow.

COL. GIOVANNI MANIONE, 3RD APLINE REGIMENT: The paratroopers are in charge with the security, (INAUDIBLE). We are in charge with the safety of the slopes so should anything happen, the first aid is in charge on my regiment.

VINCI: Officials will rely on a wide network of 21 command centers like this one, each able to communicate instantly with the central security headquarters set up especially for the games.

(on camera): Security officials stress there is no cause for alarm and that so far there have been no specific or serious threats. That said, they admit Italy remains a possible target because an attack against the Olympics would give terrorists worldwide attention.

(voice-over): Officials say American and Israeli athletes are always the biggest concern.

GIUSEPPE PETRONZI, ITALIAN STATE POLICE: We are paying specific and particular attention to these kind of athletes. It doesn't mean that we don't pay attention to the other.

VINCI: But the Olympics are not the only target in mind of security officials. National elections are scheduled just two months after the opening ceremony, and Italy could be a target of terror groups because of its deployment of troops in Iraq after the war.

To date, the government has spent more than $100 million in Olympic security, and the games haven't even started. Officials say money is always better spent on prevention, but they do expect the final bill to be even higher.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Torino.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: To give you an idea of where Torino is, it sits on the foothills of the Alps. Most English speakers call the city Turin, but for the games -- we're explaining how we got to this decision -- we're going to for the Italiano.

These are the 20th Winter Games. The last were in Salt Lake City. Twenty-five-hundred athletes will take part in the competition this time around. The landscape might be white, but the energy is green. The Olympic village will use solar panels that may reduce electricity and pollution by around 60 percent.

The games will be seen in the U.S. on NBC. The network paid $614 million for the broadcasting rights. Worldwide, half the people on the planet will have the opportunity to watch. So you say Turin, we say Torino.

A little over an hour ago, President Bush, with Mrs. Bush at his side, signed a proclamation honoring February as American heart month. The American Heart Association is targeting women this year. Here now are statistics about women and heart disease. In 2003, six million women had coronary heart disease. That's more lives than were claimed by the next five leading causes of death combined -- cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes and accidents. Younger women, you are not immune. Heart disease is the number one killer of women over 25.

This next story is also for women. If you become pregnant while you're on antidepressants, a new study says that you shouldn't stop treatment, despite concerns about risk to your fetus. Researchers say that patients who stopped taking antidepressants during pregnancy were five times more likely to have a return of depressive symptoms than those who continued treatment. Researchers also say they did not find that antidepressants lead to major birth defects. The study is published in this week's "Journal of the American Medical Association." It looked at 200 pregnant women who had suffered from depression before they conceived.

To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.

We'll a check of weather and business up next. And everything from the track to the hats may look a little different at the Kentucky Derby this year. We'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So when you watch the Kentucky Derby this year, you're going to see something never before seen in the race's 131-year history: corporate advertising. The Run for the Roses will showcase Yum! brands. That's the world's largest restaurant company, believe it or not. This is the first time the chain that owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut will be promoting its parent company.

See that? There's the Yum!.

Yum! says it selected the Kentucky Derby because the race's audience tends to be 25 to 54 years old with higher incomes than most sporting events.

You'll see the Yum! logo on the track, on signs, also on rider's jackets. Might even be as big as some of the hats that the women wear every year. Yum! OK, we get it.

(MARKET REPORT)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan. International news is up next. Stay tuned for "YOUR WORLD TODAY." And I'll be back with the latest headlines from the U.S. in about 20 minutes. Also, CNN will be carrying the president live from the Grand Ole Opry House. That begins at 12:50 p.m. Eastern. --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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