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CNN Live Today

Tornadoes in Tennessee, Illinois; Supreme Court Will Not Rule On Padilla Case; Duke University Sex Scandal

Aired April 03, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now Daryn Kagan will take you through the next couple of hours.
Hello, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You guys have a great day in New York City.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Daryn.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right.

KAGAN: We'll get started here at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

Fierce wind, hail, flooding and rain. They're all in the mix right now as a line of severe weather moves east. Take a look at the terrifying scene just hours ago as the tornado slammed into northwest Tennessee. Parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky also were blasted. At least 19 people are dead, homes and businesses reduced to rubble, lives torn apart. Right now, much of the south, the Mid Atlantic and the northeast are under the gun. More on the forecast in just a minute.

But first, more than a dozen of the tornado deaths are in Tennessee in a stretch along the Mississippi River. Hardest hit, Dyer County, which is north of Memphis. More on the damage there from reporter Tom Dees. He's with our affiliate WHBQ.

Tom, exactly how many tornadoes touched down there in that area?

TOM DEES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

We've heard reports of one tornado and, at times, as many as three. It all depends on who you talk to. These tornado or tornadoes cut a wide swathe across the country leaving a lot of damage in their path. Behind me right now is the fifth consolidated school here in Millsfield (ph), which is in Dyer County. Now what you're looking at is a number of different members of the sheriff department search and rescue team. They rolled in here just a few minutes ago with four wheelers and cadaver dogs.

Now last night, when it was dark and they said they couldn't get out and really search and get a feel for the damage. We've seen a number of helicopters flying over the area surveying the damage and just trying to get a real feel for how wide a swathe this tornado or tornadoes cut. They were saying that the death toll, which currently stands at 12 in Dyer County, could start to rise as the day goes on because they can get those cadaver dogs out and do a little bit more searching.

Now they did have a meeting here this morning at the fifth district school, which is their command center, to layout out their plans for the day and to continue that search and rescue effort. That's what the sheriff wanted to emphasize. This is not over here for the folks in Dyer County. This is a continuing search and rescue effort.

Reporting live for CNN, Tom Dees in Dyer County.

KAGAN: All right, Tom, thank you for that.

OK. We'll get back to tornadoes in just a minute. First, though, I want to talk about some breaking news that is coming out of the U.S. Supreme Court. It has to do with the Jose Padilla case. Jose Padilla was trying to challenge President Bush's authority to label him an enemy combatant. Now it looks like the U.S. Supreme Court has sidestepped that challenge right now and saying it will reject the appeal of Jose Padilla. His case, of course, has moved on. He has now been charged as a civilian and we'll have more on that in just a moment. But breaking news out of the U.S. Supreme Court. They are denying to hear the appeal of Jose Padilla.

Let's get back to tornadoes now. In Illinois, a tornado touching down there in at least half a dozen counties. Many homes and businesses in the town of Taylorville are in splinters and that's where we find our Jonathan Freed.

Good morning.

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

We've been here since the predawn darkness. And I can tell you that the wind has been pretty gusty consistently even before the sun came up.

Let's give you a look at what police tell us is some of the worst damage here in Taylorville. Over here in the immediate foreground, you can see a concrete slab. That's all that's left of what was a set of storage buildings that was here. The wind just shredded it, Daryn, and the wreckage was pushed back against some homes that you see immediately behind it. And as the sun came up, we were able to see that a tree was splintered as well. It fell on top of a home back there.

Now the severe weather front moved from the north to the south in this state. It went right down from the north to the south. And the most powerful cell, we're told, was moving eastward along Interstate 72, which is roughly 25 miles or so to the north of where we are.

Now in Fairview Heights, Illinois, which is just east of St. Louis, a 54-year-old man was killed when a clothing store collapsed on him because of high winds. And let's listen to what two of the people who were also in that store had to say about their experience there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard this rumbling and I looked up and I saw the whole ceiling coming down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just came up so fast. We looked -- all we did is I looked out the windows and things were flying across the parking lot and I go, oh my God.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREED: Now, Daryn, Illinois's governor, Rob Blagojevich, yesterday, when this storm front was coming in, activated the state's emergency operation center. What's going on there now, there are representatives from about a dozen state agencies. They are in touch with the various communities around the state that have been affected by these storms trying to determine how much damage there has been and who needs the most help from the state.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Jonathan Freed from Illinois, thank you.

Let's find out what's happening right now. Chad Myers is watching the forecast.

Chad, the latest on tornadoes, please.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The tornadoes have all calmed down. All the watches are over. All the warnings are over. And, Daryn, that's typical for the morning hour or the morning hours after the severe weather event. It's colder in the morning, the air wants to sink. In the afternoon, the air is hot, it wants to rise. Rising air makes the thunderstorms. So we still have some showers, but nothing that's actually considered severe.

I want to back you up to last night. Here's where the weather was, where Jonathan was moving through, to the east of St. Louis there. And another very large cell right there that moved through Dyer County in Tennessee. Here's Memphis and Nashville and this is Kentucky here. Here's Indiana.

Now I'm going to get you a little bit closer here. As you look at this cell, that's the cell that actually had a hook on it, was rotating and, from some of the reports where they're saying that there's nothing left of the houses, only the foundation. That gives you an idea that this was a very, very strong cell. Maybe F-3, F-4. And sometimes, to get rid of all of the walls, you literally have to get to be an F-5. Weather services out there looking at it. They'll let us know when they figure out what they had there.

Rain showers, even a couple of thunderstorms as the air heats up again. D.C., Richmond, all the way down to the low country of South Carolina, 79 in Atlanta today. See how this red area is right through there. Anywhere that you see red, or orange, whatever, all the way from Raleigh, right on down to northern Florida. That's where the severe weather will be headed today because of the heat that's there. There won't be any heat tomorrow. Temperatures down by about 20 degrees compared to this afternoon.

KAGAN: Ooh.

MYERS: Yes, a little fall chill in the air.

KAGAN: That will get our attention.

MYERS: That's right.

KAGAN: All right, thank you, Chad. We'll hear more weather later in the hour.

Right now we are following a developing story out of Delaware. A military cargo plane has crashed near Dover Air Force Base. Seventeen crew members were aboard the C-5 jet. No word yet on their conditions. This video shows the National Guard plane broken into three pieces. It crashed in the field next to the base. Pentagon sources tell CNN the aircraft declared an in-flight emergency for what they call a number two engine flameout.

We've got these pictures into CNN this morning. A train-truck collision in New Jersey. You're looking at the freight train loaded with lumber and a burned-out truck overturned on the side of the tracks. Not sure yet whether there were any casualties here. We will keep you posted on that one.

From Baghdad to Boston and back home to her family. Jill Carroll is spending her first full day in the U.S. after being released from captivity in Iraq. She is back with her editors from the Christian Science Monitor and her family. She was freelancing for the paper when she was abducted nearly three months ago. One of the paper's editors says that Carroll plans to talk publicly about her ordeal at some point, but understandably right now she just wants to spend some quiet time with her family.

Maybe some spring cleaning at the White House to help polish the president's poll numbers. White House and GOP sources say Press Secretary Scott McClellan could be swept out. Other sources say McClellan's job is secure. We're also told that Treasury Secretary John Snow may be a goner. Last week President Bush replaced long time Chief of Staff Andy Card with Budget Director Josh Bolten. A GOP insider says more changes could still come. We will keep you posted on that.

Hard lessons at a Texas high school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't think it's right that they're just taking it away because they don't agree with our opinion.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: Ahead on LIVE TODAY, high school dreams in the real world. It's one perspective on the immigration battle that you haven't heard.

A beating that stunned the nation. One man says he saw it go down. So why didn't he call the cops? His story later on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So you're walking along and a couple of guys are beating the daylights out of a man using a baseball bat. Most of us would call 911. But one man who was in that situation did not do that. He tells his story to John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Unforgettable, chilling images caught on tape by chance by a silent witness, a surveillance camera overhead. Two teenaged boys attacking a homeless man with baseball bats. The man in this attack, Jacques Pierre, survived. Two other homeless men were attacked that same night. One died from his wounds. Neither of those other attacks was so profoundly recorded. But in the beating of the man who was killed, Norris Gaynor, who lay sleeping on a park bench, was there a witness. A human witness.

ANTHONY CLARKE, WITNESS: What made me stop is because I seen him standing there with baseball bats.

ZARRELLA: In an exclusive interview, Anthony Clarke told me about his witness to the murder in the early morning hours of January 12th and a decision that haunts him. He was walking through this park after a night out on the town. He heard talking, stopped to listen.

CLARKE: I don't know how much time passed. Probably like five or six seconds. Then I saw the individual with the -- I call it the afro. That's how I can remember him. The (INAUDIBLE) afro, striked the individual on the bench.

ZARRELLA: Clark is describing Thomas Daugherty, the only one of three teenagers involved in the attacks who has long hair. Clarke picked him out of a lineup.

So you only saw the one teenager with the bushy hair strike the -- Norris Gaynor?

CLARKE: Yes. Yes.

ZARRELLA: Clarke says the other two teens were on either side of Daugherty. The one on the left had short hair and a bat. Based on the video and other witness statements, that would be Brian Hooks. He, according to Clarke, was goating Daugherty.

CLARKE: Was telling -- like egging him on to, you know, go, go. You know, I don't know exactly what words he was saying, but he was egging him on.

ZARRELLA: William Ammons, the one on the right, had something else in his hand, Clarke says.

CLARKE: I couldn't make it out. And why the guy with the bushy hair was hitting the individual, he pointed it at him, but like in a pointing motion, his arm, and I didn't hear anything.

ZARRELLA: Police say Ammons told them he shot Gaynor with a paintball gun. His attorney says that doesn't make him a murderer.

MICHAEL ROTHCHILD, AMMONS' ATTORNEY: The medical evidence does not suggest that, you know, injuries that caused the death were in any way inflicted by a paintball gun.

ZARRELLA: At some point, Clarke says, the three teens looked over and saw him. To make sure they didn't come after him, Clarke pretended to have a weapon.

CLARKE: This is when I went like this. I went over this way and put my hands like this in my pocket, like up under my shirt, like I hid something and then they walked by and then I walked this way and walked to my truck.

ZARRELLA: So they were literally just a few feet from you.

CLARKE: When they passed me.

ZARRELLA: When they passed you. So you got a good look at them.

CLARKE: Yes.

ZARRELLA: To get to his truck, Clarke had to walk by the park bench where Norris Gaynor lay dying.

CLARKE: I don't remember if he was motionless. I just remember I seen the blood and I was just focused on that. You know, I was focused on the blood and then that's when I pulled myself on out and started walking this way towards my vehicle.

ZARRELLA: It was here, Clarke says, he made a decision not to call 911.

You didn't make the call.

CLARKE: No. I know -- I think about it all the time, you know, but I didn't make the call. I didn't call the police. I didn't call emergency. Anything. So . . .

ZARRELLA: Why?

CLARKE: I don't know, man. It was -- I don't know. It was -- I don't know.

ZARRELLA: It was about 30 hours after witnessing Gaynor's beating that Clarke called police. Clarke himself had an arrest warrant hanging over his head for driving with a suspended license and a parole violation. He was facing jail time. But a month after coming to police about Gaynor's beating death, prosecutors testified on Clarke's behalf in that case and it was dismissed. Michael Gottlieb, who represents Thomas Daugherty, says, "in essence, the state bought his testimony."

If he had only made the call, Clarke says, would Norris Gaynor still be alive?

CLARKE: The guilt made me come back to the scene, you know, and wish I did it all over differently if I could do it again.

ZARRELLA: John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: We were finally able to reach the family of Norris Gaynor, the homeless man who was killed. His mother, Georgia Gaynor, had this to say about Anthony Clarke. "Thank God he came forward because these boys shouldn't be out on the street."

As we move ahead, silly question for you here, how much of your tax return do you want the IRS to make public? Well, if you said none, you're going to need to make that perfectly clear. We'll explain how you do that on LIVE TODAY.

Also, some stuff you don't want public is your identity. But some people getting their hands on it for not good purposes. Gerri Willis telling us how to protect ourselves.

Hi, Ger.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn, good to see you.

You know, 25 percent of the people who are victims of identity theft are victims again. The stakes are high when it comes to identity theft. We're going to have five tips up next on how to prevent it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The markets have been open about 50 minutes. The Dow getting a nice start for the week. It is up 81 points. The Nasdaq is moving not quite as strongly. It is up about 8 points.

Your name, your credit, your financial well-being, identity thieves can ruin all of that. About 3 percent of all U.S. households know the sting of stolen identities. That new government figure shows the extent of the problem. Our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis has some ways to play it safe.

Gerri, good morning.

WILLIS: Hey, good morning, Daryn. Good to see you. I've got to tell you, this study really interesting. The I.D. theft warning signals that actual victims of I.D. theft found a quarter of the people noticed their I.D. was stolen because their credit bureau called them and about a third noticed because, hey, money was missing from their accounts and maybe their account statement had unfamiliar charges that they weren't expecting. So it's up to you to survey all these pieces of evidence to make sure that you're not being a victim of identity theft. Of course, you can order copes of your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.

KAGAN: What about taking some other preventive measures, like shredding your documents and bills and things?

WILLIS: It's a great idea. You know, you want to shred everything that you don't need. Now, obviously, some documents you're going to need for tax purposes to prove some of your deductions. But a lot of things, even ATM receipts, Daryn, should be shredded. You want to get rid of them. Make sure that no one can pick up even any, you know, tangential information, partial information, information that would have account numbers on it, Social Security numbers on it. You wan to make sure those are gone. And remember, that includes medical documents as well because there are plenty of doctor's offices around the country that are including your Social Security number on your statements. So take care there as well.

KAGAN: Good tip there. You want to nip this one in the bud.

WILLIS: That's right. You know, junk mail is one way we get a ton of really problematic mail in your actual real mailbox, not your e-mail inbox, and you want to prevent that. So the best thing to do is opt out of the credit card offers. I don't know how many you get a week, Daryn, but there's always two or three in my mailbox. Dial 1- 888-optout. That's a great place to call. Saying I don't want any more of these offers in my mail box and, you know, it will really help you shore up your privacy.

KAGAN: This next top has to do with having a mysterious e-mail address. Why?

WILLIS: Mystery is good. You know too many people -- you're creating that user name, the password and, you know, you use your name, you use your husband's name, the kids' names. Don't go there. You really want to be mysterious. Mix up those letter, numbers. Come up with something that is not identifiable as you, even to use on an e-mail account.

KAGAN: Are you talking about the password or like I shouldn't have daryn.kagan@gerri.com?

WILLIS: I mean the user I.D. and the password.

KAGAN: Oh, OK. And then, finally, you've got to be on top of things. I mean, not just once, but really keep on top of things.

WILLIS: Well, as I was saying before, 25 percent, a quarter of the victims in this study said the misuse happened again. So there's really a lot at stake here with your identity. If it's stolen, it's going to happen over and possibly over and over again. So you want to try to make sure it doesn't happen in the first place. Keep yourself as safe as possible out there. And keep your private information private.

KAGAN: Gerri Willis, thank you. A great way to start the week. Good tips.

WILLIS: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you.

Talking taxes now and leave it to the IRS. The agency may make your private tax information public. A hearing comes up tomorrow on a new and controversial rule. CNN's Gary Nurenberg has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Two weeks till the April 15th filing deadline, Steve and Rhonda McNerney walk into a meeting with their tax preparer, numbers in hand.

STEVE MCNERNEY, TAXPAYER: That's information that is our information that is not for sale.

NURENBERG: They just learned about a proposed IRS rule change that would allow their tax preparer to sell that information to mass marketers.

STEVE MCNERNEY: I thought that information was confident information between the tax preparer and the client.

NURENBERG: Since the 1970s, the IRS has permitted tax preparers to provide clients information, with their consent, to affiliated business that provide financial services. The rules change would allow tax preparers, with consent, to provide client information to anyone. The McNerney's tax preparer, Joseph Jacques, says he won't do it.

JOSEPH JACQUES, ACCOUNTANT: My policy of my office is, is total secrecy of my clients information. I don't disclose anything.

NURENBERG: But other tax preparers do and the IRS says it suggested the rule change to make it very clear that clines know it and approve it in advance, even as the IRS removes limits on who can get the information.

MARK EVERSON, IRS COMMISSIONER: The problem we saw was, we don't think that the taxpayer is fully aware the fact that this is going on.

NURENBERG: The IRS proposal requires specific, written consent on a separate piece of paper that warns taxpayers in large print the privacy of their information can't be insured once the prepare releases it.

EVERSON: This, we believe, will result in less information actually being disclosed unknowingly.

NURENBERG: And because some nationwide firms outsource tax preparation to overseas sites, the rule change would require consent for that as well. One senator has introduced a bill that would restrict the disclosure of tax information.

SEN. BARACK OABAMA, (D) ILLINOIS: If you can find me somebody out there who thinks, you know, it's a great idea to get a bunch of junk mail or to expose ourselves to, you know, encroachment on our privacy, then maybe the IRS position makes sense.

NURENBERG: Privacy groups plan to tell an IRS hearing this week the new rule could lead to costly identity theft.

MARC ROTENBERG, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFO. CENTER: Something that is really, I think, placing America's privacy at risk somewhat needlessly.

NURENBERG: The McNerney's won't allow the sale of information on their tax forms. But if the proposed rule change becomes law, millions of other taxpayers could.

Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: An elite university finds itself in an embarrassing spotlight. Ahead, live reaction on the scorching accusations against Duke's lacrosse team.

And no place to hide. Powerful storms blow apart homes and lives in the Midwest and south. Coming up on LIVE TODAY, the storm moving east.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A story out of the U.S. Supreme Court. They have denied the appeal of Jose Padilla. He is the U.S. citizen who had been tagged as an enemy combatant, later then charged as a U.S. civilian. But he had appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court asking, does the Bush administration have the power to even use the label of enemy combatant. Let's bring in our Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin who's on the phone with us.

Jeff, two parts to this. First of all, let's talk about this six to three decision from the high court and what that means to the power of the Bush Administration to be able to use enemy combatants.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, I think it's really a no decision. It doesn't say anything one way or the other. What the court did was say that, look, legal proceedings, now a criminal case involving Padilla are proceeding. We want to wait until everything is over and then deal with his enemy combatant status. We'll deal with it then, if at all, but we're not going deal with it now. So this was not a thumbs up or thumbs down about the Bush administration. KAGAN: Meanwhile, this has been a case with a lot of twists and turns, and once they remove the enemy combatant label, the crimes that he is charged with now are very different from the first allegations when we first learned of Jose Padilla, when he was accused of making a -- or trying to make a dirty bomb.

TOOBIN: Right. I mean, the charges against him, while serious, are much less dramatic than the original charges. And we'll have to see what the government can produce in the way of evidence to prove his guilt or lack of guilt in that case. And then the challenge to his three years as held as an enemy combatant when they come back the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is clearly letting the criminal case run its course, and it's got a long way to go before they deal with this case at all.

KAGAN: So what's the message, then, to the Bush administration? With future people, you could use -- you deem them enemy combatants?

TOOBIN: Well, there -- it's frankly a mysterious message. I don't think the answer is clear. I think the Supreme Court, given the complexity, given the passion around this issue, they don't want to deal with it until they have to. So I think the answer is simply unclear about whether the Bush administration can hold enemy combatants the way they helped Padilla.

I think the Bush administration was worried enough about losing in the Supreme Court that they went the conventional route of simply charging him as a criminal case. And --- so the Bush administration at least dodged the bullet of having the whole thing struck down. Now it remains somewhat ambiguous.

KAGAN: Right. And in a way -- because if they had stuck with that original tactic, it is possible, then, that the Supreme Court would have ruled on it.

TOOBIN: Quite possible. I mean, the Supreme Court three years ago, in the initial round of decisions, coming out of Guantanamo Bay, said, look, Bush administration, we know there's a war on terror going on, but you have to follow certain basic rules. Some people thought the Padilla case was very vulnerable under that theory. The Bush administration successfully dodged a loss, but they didn't get a win either.

KAGAN: Jeffrey Toobin on the phone. Jeff, thank you.

TOOBIN: Sure thing, Daryn.

KAGAN: On to Texas, where some kids are shut out of the prom for taking a stand on immigration. Ennis High School administrators said they made it perfectly clear: students who walked out of school to protest immigration proposals in Congress would be suspended and that meant they couldn't get into the prom on Saturday night. The principal says he feels for the kids, but they have to understand actions do have consequences. The suspensions end today.

TOOBIN: Privilege, controversy, black versus white. Sexual assault allegations lodged at Duke University's lacrosse team. DNA results may be complete this week.

For the latest on what's happening at Duke, we get an update from the editor of "The Duke Chronicle." Seyward Darby joins us from Durham. Darby from Durham. It's not easy to say that.

Seyward, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

SEYWARD DARBY, EDITOR, "THE DUKE CHRONICLE": Thank you for having me.

KAGAN: What would you say is the mood there on campus?

DARBY: Well, right now, there's terrible weather outside. Big thunderstorms. So not much of a mood except kind of dismal....

KAGAN: Wet.

DARBY: Wet, exactly.

KAGAN: But over the weekend, are you finding there's more support for the guys on the team or more students against the players on the team?

DARBY: Well, opinion is still very divided. There was not a lot of new information over the weekend. Nothing about this other side of the story that the lacrosse team hasn't shared yet. They're still very tight-lipped. So student opinion is still very divided. Some people are supporting lacrosse team, other are not. And some people are just down the middle and saying that this entire alleged incident has to do with bigger issues, broader issues, and they're complaining that the administration isn't doing enough to address those issues.

KAGAN: Well, does this touch a bigger nerve of something that was just waiting to get attention -- elitism, racism, sexual violence? Were these already issues bubbling on campus?

DARBY: I think those are issues that a lot of college campuses grapple with. And I think that there are things that -- over the past few years, several Duke students have pointed out are issues that need to be addressed. And I think this is just a convergence of several of those issues in a very, very sad way, regardless of the outcome of this entire situation. So I think that it's stemming from several issues that have existed for some time.

KAGAN: Meanwhile, the defense attorney for these young men say there was no sexual assault. What's the next set of facts we're looking to come out? The DNA test? Is that the next thing?

DARBY: Correct. The DNA test should be coming back at some point this week. However, the district attorney has said that he might not make those public and, in fact, he might not make any evidence public until this goes to trial, if it goes to trial.

KAGAN: So the Duke's men's team -- lacrosse team -- is out. They've been suspended from competition. Meanwhile there is a Duke lacrosse team that is vying for the national championship. DARBY: The women.

KAGAN: The women!

DARBY: That's correct.

KAGAN: And they're running around with Duke lacrosse uniforms, and I understand some places not getting a great reception.

DARBY: Well, several Duke students, whether they're wearing lacrosse jerseys or lacrosse shirts on not, are not getting great reception around Durham. Several students have reported that they felt harassed in some way. One student was actually punched in a local restaurant and called a rapist. So several students have reported that they feel unwelcome at the moment, and that the community is very tense.

KAGAN: And what's the tactic your paper is taking in following this case?

DARBY: Doing the absolute best job we can and sleeping as little as possible to make sure we get the truth out there.

KAGAN: Sounds like that's your job as a college journalist.

DARBY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Seyward Darby, editor of "The Duke Chronicle." Thank you.

DARBY: Thank you.

KAGAN: To world news now. Venezuela's president, he loves to stick it to the White House. His latest revolutionary idea? We'll tell you what Hugo Chavez is up to in a moment.

And tubby toddlers. Baby fat is risky business on the road. Finding a car seat that fits, not so easy. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: We're talking kid. We're talking really, really big kids, and kids that have too much baby fat. More than a quarter million kids are too tubby to fit into standard child car seats. Researchers at John Hopkins say that most of them top 40 pounds by age three, making them obese. While these kids that we're looking at are fine, stuffing an overweight child into a too small car seat isn't safe. Proposed government rules would require seat to protect children weighing as much as 80 pounds. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will take a look at that problem and possible solutions in the next hour of LIVE TODAY.

Great ideas coming up. In fact, one of the best ideas we've heard in a long time. How about "National Nap Day?" If the guy in the next cubicle is snoring, today it's OK, really. We're celebrating the nap, which is a lovely thing, in a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: An eccentric head of state is at it again. You recognize this guy? Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. This time he's taking aim at the world's oil market. Chavez was reportedly about to lock in his country's oil exports at $50 a barrel. That undercuts his OPEC competitors by about 15 bucks a barrel. "The Guardian" newspaper in great Britain says consumer countries would sign long-term deals. Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter. President Chavez has been openly hostile to the Bush administration and is closely linked to Cuba's Fidel Castro.

(MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: People are feeling very sleepy, but it's OK, because it is National Sleep Day. You lost an hour over the weekend, so you know, you might want to snooze a little at work. Some companies, CNN not included, are holding "nap-apaloozas."

Susan, go to sleep. Sleep, little baby.

Some companies have music and candles. Studies show, by the way, almost three quarters of us do not get eight hours of sleep, and Daylight Savings Time doesn't help matters. As one researcher puts it, sleep is the new sex. You want it, but you can't get enough of it. We'll let you think about that.

Well, speaking of sex, it is everywhere. Kids get an eyeful with TV shows and music videos. Next hour, a warning from researchers: Kids often imitate what they see. Warnings for parents, still ahead.

They need a nap.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Abortion. The mere mention of the word can stir anger and ignite debate. Battle lines stretch from the clinics to the courtrooms. Now the view in the heartland.

Tonight on CNN's "PAULA ZAHN NOW," Drew Griffin takes us to South Dakota and the state's last clinic where abortions are performed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a 15-minute drive from the airport to the Sioux Falls Planned Parenthood Clinic. Because abortions are only offered one day a week by the out-of-state doctors, the parking lot full. There are no protesters. Still, the doctor enters through a back door.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For security reasons.

GRIFFIN: A medical staff has already done most of the medical screening. The patients have been counseled and have waited at least the mandatory 24-hour period to think it through. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We always worry about people who are ambivalent and they're not sure they want to do this. And sometimes we'll say don't do this, you don't want to do this today, you're not ready. Please go home, think about it some more and come back if you want.

GRIFFIN (on camera): That happens?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes. Yes. So, adoption is a wonderful thing, and they're always given the option to have a pregnancy and have the child placed for adoption. So they're all given that during their counseling session, that choice. And I admire those that do. But not very many do, I have to say.

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KAGAN: Drew Griffin's full report airs tonight, but first he joins us with a preview.

Drew, you know, we've heard a number of doctors across the country be in personal danger. Why did this doctor agree to go on camera?

GRIFFIN: Very interesting woman, Daryn. She's a 70-year-old grandmother of 10, Dr. Marion McCreary (ph). And she comes out of retirement once, maybe twice, a week to perform these abortions. She is nervous. She does tell us that she is scared. And some people in her life are learning what she is doing for the first time here on CNN. But she really feels compelled to fly in from out of state and to perform abortions on women in South Dakota who, without her or three other doctors who do this, they would not be able to have an abortion.

KAGAN: What about the women who are having abortions? Did you have a chance to talk with them as well?

GRIFFIN: This was a bit of an eye-opener. So often we talk about abortion in the extremes. Rape victims, teenage mothers, incest victims or people whose lives are in danger. Sixteen women had an abortion while we were at this clinic and there was none of that. For all 16 of them, and one who actually came on camera and told us about her story, they were having abortions because this was really an inconvenient time in their lives to have a child. Several of the women were having abortions for the second time, one woman for the fourth time.

KAGAN: And, of course, the focus on South Dakota because of this law that could take effect this July, when performing an abortion would be a felony. Does this doctor think that she'll be continuing or do they see this as a court case, a law that was crafted to go to the Supreme Court?

GRIFFIN: Well, there's a lot of things going on. South Dakota did make this a felony to be effective July. If an abortion is performed by a doctor, and this law goes into effect, the doctor would actually -- potentially go to prison for five years. There is -- there are lawsuits in the works. There's also a petition drive to try to take this law directly to the people of South Dakota, let them vote up or down on whether this law will pass.

But if neither one of those takes place, if the lawsuits aren't filed and this petition drive is unsuccessful, then South Dakota will have a law on the book saying that performing an abortion is a felony. And many believe that will prompt it up to the Supreme Court level.

KAGAN: Drew Griffin. Drew, thank you.

You can see Drew's full report tonight on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." That's weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, on CNN.

It's not something most of us ever want to experience, a tornado up close and personal. Just ahead, the latest on the storms that are now threatening the Eastern U.S. and the big mess they're leaving behind.

And Russell's got a reputation now. The Hollywood bad boy could be in trouble again, this time back at home in New Zealand. We'll tell you what's going on just ahead.

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