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CNN Live Today

Big Oil's Big Help; Uninsured Coasts; Cancer Cluster; "The Dog Whisperer"

Aired April 26, 2006 - 10:59   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 go to the gas pump. As we dig deeper in our wallets to pay for gas, consider this: big oil isn't just making record profits this year. The major companies are also taking home some huge subsidies, compliments of the federal government. They were part of last fall's energy bill.
Our John Roberts went to Capitol Hill to find out if lawmakers still stand by their vote. It's a story you first saw on "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's difficult to pin down exactly how much taxpayers give to big oil, but one nonpartisan watchdog agency puts it this way...

KEITH ASHDOWN, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLICY, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: The oil industry gets about $3 billion a year in tax breaks, subsidies and spending from the federal government.

ROBERTS: For critics, it's like subsidizing fish to swim. Senator John Sununu is one of few Republicans who voted against last year's energy bill, because of its giveaways to the oil industry.

SEN. JOHN SUNUNU (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: And we're not talking tens of millions of dollars. We're talking about hundreds of millions, and -- and, in some cases, over $1 billion, over a two- and three-year period.

ROBERTS: So, why does an industry raking in record profits need a handout? I hit the halls of Congress to find out -- first stop, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, where support for subsidies was suddenly in short supply.

(on camera): People are asking, why should we be giving this industry any money?

SEN. PETE DOMENICI (R), NEW MEXICO: OK. So, I'm -- I'm not going to disagree with you. Maybe we should look -- go back and look and take them out.

ROBERTS: Are you suggesting, Senator Domenici, that with oil at $73 and something a barrel, gasoline at $3 a gallon, that it may be time to end the government handouts to the oil companies?

DOMENICI: I'm suggesting that there is no real reason to have any of them around, and we ought to take a look and get rid of them.

ROBERTS: What a difference nine months and 60 cents a gallon makes. Is everyone who's supported subsidies backtracking? How about Larry Craig, Republican senator from Idaho?

SEN. LARRY CRAIG, (R) IDAHO: It isn't that we were wrong at the time we passed the bill, we were maximizing production in this country. But that doesn't mean that what we did a year ago is right today.

ROBERTS: Should the subsidies stay in place?

CRAIG: I'm going to look at them. I will vote probably to take some of them out.

ROBERTS: Perhaps it was President Bush coming out again today against subsidies that began to change minds.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Taxpayers don't need to be paying for certain of these expenses on behalf of the energy companies.

ROBERTS: And the Energy Department wanted to be sure consumers know that tax breaks were put there by Congress, not the White House.

CLAY SELL, DEPUTY ENERGY SECRETARY: I can understand where consumers are upset. I'm upset.

ROBERTS: The oil industry found very few friends on Capitol Hill today. About the closest they came was in the great state of Texas, where the house energy committee chairman said he wouldn't support a wholesale rollback of tax breaks. But...

REP. JOE BARTON, (R) TEXAS: I would look at it and see if there's something that is patently not needed, sure. But...

ROBERTS: Because forgive me if I'm wrong, but weren't you a supporter of those subsidies?

BARTON: I think the energy bill that we passed is a good piece of legislation.

ROBERTS: Which is a Washington way of saying, yes, he did support those tax breaks. But while Congress now has subsidies in its sights, there's still bucket loads of money going out the door to the oil companies. Even President Bush is proposing a rollback of only $2 billion over ten years, which according to watchdog groups would still leave the oil industry with almost $30 billion in its pocket.

John Roberts, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And you can get a fresh perspective on the day's top stories from Anderson Cooper. Join "AC 360" weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Some people say it's a crime, gas prices too low. Yes, too low. That argument from a South Carolina gas station. It is suing the competition. Guess which side the drivers are on, however?

Reporter Latoya Silmon from our affiliate WYFF has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It helps us.

LATOYA SILMON, REPORTER, WYFF: Drivers in Gaffney say they are all for paying less at the pump. So, none of them can believe a gas station could be sued for setting prices too low.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's like they want to penalize someone or coming down on them because they're trying to be considerate of other people.

SILMON: But the suit is real. Pantry, Inc. is suing Petro Express for low prices. It says two Gaffney stations offered gas below cost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's an open market, you know? They shouldn't sue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they can sue if they're -- if they're willing to make it on not as much profit as they can make.

SILMON: But Pantry says the lower prices violated South Carolina's Unfair Trade Practices Act. Under the law, motor fuel retailers cannot offer prices below cost with the intent or effect of impairing competition. Pantry says it lost $160,000 and hopes a judge will help recoup its losses. And it wants Petro to stop lowering its prices permanently.

But with prices inching closer to $3 at many stations in the upstate...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too high. Way too high.

SILMON: ... many drivers say the higher prices aren't fair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm wondering when it's going to stop. You know, it's just going up and up and up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The case will go before a judge in July.

American drivers are looking north. Canada sits on a lot of oil. But how much of it could make it to your gas tank?

Here now, a fact check.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KAGAN (voice over): Alberta's oil sands are believed by some to be the largest single oil reserve in the world. More than 1.5 trillion barrels of oil are estimated to be there, mixed in with the sand, water and clay in the area, roughly the size of Florida.

Extracting the oil from the sand, though, is not easy. And with current technology, officials realistically expect only about 335 billion barrels of oil is actually recoverable.

At current production rates, reserves of the oil sands should last at least another 400 years. To keep things in perspective, though, if the oil sands were the U.S.'s only source of oil, American cars and trucks could burn through the entire reserve in just about 40 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And then there's this, as we look at the calendar, only about a month to go until hurricane season. Do you know where your home owners insurance is? Some of you along the coast are actually having problems finding or keeping insurance for your homes.

"USA Today" reports problems in Florida, Texas, and, yes, even New York. Some insurers are canceling policies or refusing to underwrite new ones for coastal homes. Even in New York City, which hasn't been hit by a hurricane since 1938, it is feeling the insurance pitch -- the pinch, actually. Both Allstate and MetLife are backing away from coastal homeowners insurance.

In Texas, Allstate says it won't underwrite any new policies in 14 coastal counties. Florida, like many states, runs its own Insurer of Last Resort program, and that is swamped with a record 815,000 policies now. It's running a deficit of $1.7 billion.

All told, $60 billion was paid out last year by insurance companies for hurricane claims.

For more on the lack of insurance this hurricane season, Carolyn Gorman, from the Insurance Information Institute, joins me from Washington.

Carolyn, good morning.

CAROLYN GORMAN, INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE: Good morning.

KAGAN: Is this just a case of insurance companies adding up the math and saying it doesn't add up in our interest?

GORMAN: Well, certainly 2005 was the busiest and the most costly hurricane season since records began. As you said, the insurers paid out roughly $58 billion in insured losses. And 2006 looks to be another very busy hurricane season. And it certainly is causing a problem with availability and the cost of insurance from all the way from Texas to Maine.

KAGAN: OK. So, if you live in South Beach, Florida, maybe, I see. OK. But Westchester County, New York? This is hardly what you consider a hurricane threat when people live there.

GORMAN: Well, you didn't live there when I did back in 19 -- the early 1950s.

KAGAN: Not possible, Carolyn.

GORMAN: No, you were not living there in the 1950s. I was there. I was little, but I still remember watching the hurricanes come through, just one after another, knocking down houses that I could see from my home, which was way up on a hill.

Now, people in the Northeast think that they are safe from hurricanes, and they are wrong about that. And the insurance industry knows it, emergency management officials know it, and FEMA knows it. They know it because not enough people have flood insurance and people believe they are safe.

They don't know how to evacuate. They don't have anything on hand. So, that's why insurers are beginning to take that part of the country very, very seriously.

KAGAN: Saying, thanks, but no thanks, we don't want your business.

OK. Let's talk from a homeowner's perspective? What do you do? You get the phone call saying, "Sorry" -- or the letter saying, "Sorry, you are canceled."

GORMAN: Well, there are certainly insurance companies who are continuing to do business all up and down the East Coast of the United States, and for most people they're not going to have any problem finding insurance unless, of course, they live right on the coast with their house practically in the water.

KAGAN: Yes. Now, some people can find it, but their premium is as much as their mortgage.

GORMAN: Well, that -- you know, homeowners insurance is still relatively a bargain product. Most people pay a good deal more for their automobile insurance than they do for their homeowners insurance. And their home is by far their biggest asset. So, yes, prices are going up, but still, homeowners insurance is generally affordable.

KAGAN: Little comfort, I think, for the people who have these surprisingly new high bills to deal with. What if you are buying or refinancing? You have to have proof of insurance, don't you, as well?

GORMAN: Absolutely. If you have a mortgage, you know that your bank is going to want to know that you're insured.

So, people are going to find that they're going to have to do a little more hunting for insurance. They are going to have to have higher deductibles, so that they will -- they will bear the cost of some of the initial expenses from severe weather. And they are going to find generally that the homeowners insurance market is getting a little bit complicated.

KAGAN: Of course, this is a big weather story, so we want to bring in our severe weather expert, Chad Myers.

Chad, do you have a question for Carolyn?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I do. What if you get canceled? Will they send a letter to your mortgage people? Will the mortgage know that you've been canceled?

GORMAN: Well, you know, probably, they -- you will know it first.

MYERS: Yes.

GORMAN: And most people take that very seriously. They do not want to be without coverage. And so -- so, whether or not their mortgage company knows about it or not...

MYERS: Obvious concern that there's going to be letters out there that get lost in the mail, I'm going to pick it up, I'm going to look at it and say, oh, it's another piece of junk mail, and then not realize that, you know, my home or someone's home not insured.

GORMAN: Well, generally, if you get -- if you get something from your insurance company, that's not junk mail.

MYERS: Well, no.

GORMAN: Generally, people do open that.

MYERS: OK.

KAGAN: So, there you go.

Chad, we're going to talk to you about the weather picture in just a moment.

But Carolyn, I want to say, you know, we're talking about these state programs have these programs of last resort.

GORMAN: Right.

KAGAN: Those are in the red, as well. Where is this all headed?

GORMAN: Well, it's certainly headed -- well, for one thing, the magnitude of the losses from Hurricane Katrina last year, and the potential damage for hurricanes Rita and Wilma, had they not weakened, has triggered a re-examination of homeowners insurance not only by insurers and re-insurers, but also by public policy and political leaders. People are looking at all different kinds of ways to make -- to bring some sense to the way the United States deals with the financial costs of these massive storms with all the property loss.

Certainly, for state-run insurance companies like Citizens, they are considering measures in the state legislature to, for example, make it impossible for people who don't -- who are not residents of the state of Florida to buy their homeowners insurance from Citizens, or to at least make -- make it more important for those out-of-towners to look for property insurance from the private insurance market.

They are also looking at ways to cap their losses. They are thinking about not -- capping the homeowners -- the homes that they will insure at $1 million, so that if you have a $4 million home down in Florida, you're going to have to find additional insurance because you won't be able to get it all from Citizens.

KAGAN: Got it. Carolyn Gorman, interesting information from the Insurance Information Institute.

Thank you, Carolyn.

GORMAN: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, let's talk about that forecast, because as I was saying, we're about five weeks away -- can you believe that -- from the start of hurricane season. Chad is looking at what we can -- I don't think look forward to would be exactly the right choice of words, would it?

MYERS: No.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Chad, thank you. See you in a bit.

First, though, girls going at it like gangstas. A street fight airs on the Internet. Disturbing surprises just ahead on LIVE TODAY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ LAHENZ, FMR. ASHLAND RESIDENT: It started very scary. It really hits home. My house was on the yellow map. My house was in the exposed area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: A deadly disease stalks a textile town. Ahead, Ashland, Massachusetts, and a cancer cluster.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Egypt gets hit again. Two suicide bombers set off explosions today in the northern Sinai. The targets, a multinational force vehicle and a police command post.

Authorities say the bombers were the only ones killed. The explosions followed Monday's attack in the Sinai resort town of Dahab. Eighteen people were killed. A spokesman for the Egyptian prime minister says he thinks the attacks are connected, but an investigation would provide more details.

New charges may be about to drop in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Jordan (ph) is expected to face criminal charges on Friday. Among them, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer, and lying to investigators. That word comes from Jordan's attorney. If that is the case, Jordan would be the highest-ranking officer charged in the scandal so far. Shocking photos of prisoner abuse came to light two years ago.

The White House has a new voice. Tony Snow has called President Bush an embarrassment, but that was Snow in a past life as a commentator. Today, President Bush named him the White House press secretary and joked about Snow's previous criticism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For those of you who have read his columns and listened to his radio show, he sometimes has disagreed with me. I asked him about those comments. And he said, "You should have heard what I say about the other guy."

I like his perspective. I like the perspective he brings to this job. And I think you're going to like it, too.

TONY SNOW, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, Mr. President, I want to thank you for the honor of serving as press secretary. And just a couple of quick notes.

I'm delighted to be here. One of the things I want to do is just make it clear that one of the reasons I took the job is not only because I believe in the president, because, believe it or not, I want to work with you.

These are times that are going to be very challenging. We've got a lot of big issues ahead, and we've got a lot of important things that all of us are going to be covering together. And I'm very excited and I can't wait.

And I want to thank you, Mr. President, for the honor.

And thank all you guys for your forbearance. And I look forward to working with you.

Thanks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: So that was pretty much it. No questions. That will change, of course.

This is a return, by the way, to the White House for Snow. He was a speechwriter under President Bush's father.

Fifty-year-old Snow now replaces Scott McClellan, who is stepping down after three years on the job. The changes are part of a West Wing makeover designed to boost President Bush's record low approval ratings.

Now a closer look at the president's new spokesman. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS (voice over): A long-time conservative pundit, Tony Snow has never been one to mince words, even when his target has been President Bush. Last November, after Republicans lost the governor's race in Virginia, Snow wrote that Mr. Bush had become "passive" and "something of an embarrassment." However, his occasional jabs at the president haven't quieted the administration's critics, some of whom accuse Snow of making numerous false or misleading claims on variation issues, including the war in Iraq and President Bush's domestic spying program.

Snow jumped into journalism right after earning a Bachelor's degree in philosophy from Davidson College in North Carolina. He was hired as an editorial writer for "The Greensboro Record." That was the springboard to other print jobs before moving to FOX in 1996.

Snow was born in Kentucky and grew up in Cincinnati. He now lives in Virginia with his wife and their three children.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: If you are like a lot of consumers, you already have four major credit cards in your wallet. But it might be time to make room for card number five.

Stephanie Elam has the scoop live from the New York Stock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Thank you, Stephanie.

So, we were just talking about homeowners insurance. How about health insurance? Do you have it? Well, feel fortunate if you do.

A new study -- a new study today is an eye-opener. It shows more than 40 percent of American workers -- and these are folks with decent incomes -- didn't have insurance for part of last year. That is up 28 percent in 2001. You add to that more than half of uninsured adults saying they're having trouble paying their medical bills, that makes them more likely to miss or never schedule recommended health screenings.

In all, 45.8 million Americans had no health insurance in 2004. That is according to the Census Bureau.

Trim the fat. A quarter of Americans are now on a diet. But is it a hopeless cause?

In a "USA Today" report, a poll shows dieters want to drop 29 pounds on average. But an official with The Obesity Society tells the paper that dieters need to keep it real. He says people are lucky if they can lose 10 percent of their starting weight.

Something's been wrong for years, and people knew it. Residents in Ashland, Massachusetts, dying young from cancer. Now they are getting answers.

Here's reporter Kelley Tuthill with our affiliate WCVB.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAHENZ: You know, I'm just afraid to hear all of this. It makes me very, very frightened.

KELLEY TUTHILL, REPORTER, WCVB (voice over): Thirty-two-year-old Liz Lahenz is pregnant and worried. As a child, she spent a lot of time near the Nyanza dye-making plant.

LAHENZ: It's very, very scary. It really hits home. My house was on the yellow map. My house was in the exposed area.

TUTHILL: At the high school, the state briefed Ashland residents on the results of a seven-year study of the former plant, deemed a superfund site in 1983. Researchers found people who came into contact with waste ponds near the plant had cancer rates three times greater than those who did not. The rate rose to four times as high for those who had a family history of cancer.

NEIL MACLENNAN, CANCER VICTIM: I'm here with three friends.

TUTHILL: It's been an emotional day for Neil Maclennan, one of five young men diagnosed with a rare cancer.

MACLENNAN: I've come to find out we played around areas we shouldn't have been playing in. And, you know, it elevated our risk for cancer. And unfortunately, three very good people are no longer with us. And I've been lucky enough to still be here.

TUTHILL: His childhood friend Kevin Cane (ph) died in 1998 at the age of 26. As he battled cancer, he fought for answers. His family, including eight brothers and sisters, filled two rows in the auditorium.

MARIBETH RABIDOU, CANCER VICTIM'S SISTER: I'm proud of my brother for what he started. And he didn't die in vain. He died for a cause, and it's going to help a lot of people. And you can't bring him back, and you can't fight the past. And at least now we know and we can do something about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And you can 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.

Punching, slapping, yanking hair. A girl fight caught on tape as one of the parents stands by and does nothing coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Yes, it is outrageous. Wait until you see this stuff. Girls gone wild.

A fight caught on tape and posted on myspace.com for all to see. Reporter Gene Haagenson of our affiliate KFSN in Fresno, California, has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GENE HAAGENSON, REPORTER, KFSN (voice over): The video on myspace.com begins as a fight and quickly turns into a lopsided scuffle with one teenager pummeling the other in the middle of the street. The whole thing lasts about seven minutes. We've blurred out the video to protect the girl's identity.

What's surprising is that an adult is on hand, and seemingly does nothing. What's even more surprising is this adult may be the mother of the girl seen throwing most of the punches. And that has outraged the mother of the other girl in this video.

DIANE THROWER, MOTHER: I was in shock. I was in total shock. And I just -- I could not believe that the mother was actually there helping her daughter fight my daughter.

HAAGENSON: Diane Thrower's daughter suffered cuts and bruises. We contacted the other girl. She appeared to have a black eye. Both girls have been suspended from school. Fresno Unified is still investigating this incident.

PETE SUMMERS, FRESNO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: What's disturbing is a -- that, number one, it's being videotaped and broadcast in that manner. Number two, that adults are using or could be potentially using children as pawns in something of this nature.

HAAGENSON: Fresno Police have been keeping an eye on the neighborhood, fearing this fight was gang-related and that there may be retribution.

Diane Thrower just doesn't understand how or why this happened.

THROWER: Why couldn't we get together and talk to these girls? That's the most upsetting -- kids are going to get into fights every once in a while. But for an adult, a parent to be involved, what kind of parenting are you doing?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So that video had the link to myspace.com, and then the site had a positive affect here. The way authorities around the country are telling it, they have disrupting school shooting plots that bring to mind the Columbine tragedy. There are alleged plots in New Jersey, Kansas, Alaska and Washington State. And to unravel some of these cases, police got help from the Internet.

Our Drew Griffin investigates. This story first aired on CNN's "PAULA ZAHN NOW.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The student arrested at a Washington state high school had in his home weapons, including a homemade bomb. He also had a downloaded Internet copy of "The Anarchist's Cookbook," with instructions on how to make a bomb.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kind of scary that, actually, somebody would actually think about doing that to us.

GRIFFIN: The 16-year-old suspect's blog on the popular personal information site called MySpace.com had a warning. The last entry: "Let me give you reason to shun me and call me evil. I am feared. I am hated. I have lost it, and I am nothing.

In Kansas, this 18-year-old and four younger high school students are accused of plotting an attack to mark the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth and the deadly shooting at Colorado's Columbine High. They communicated via the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those are serious allegations. And they scare me. And, you know, I was frightened as I read those. So, I have to be mindful of the public safety.

GRIFFIN: One of the things linking these and other potential tragedies together is that the same high-tech communication that may have helped launch their planning also revealed warnings that helped police stop them.

In Washington state, a text message alerted a friend, who then alerted police. In Kansas, the would-be attackers put out a much more public warning, a posting on MySpace.com.

LARRY MAGID, BLOGSAFETY.COM: It's a good thing that these kids in Kansas put this information on the Internet, so that a -- an alert woman in North Carolina could find it and turn them in. The Internet, in this case, was a hero. It prevented the tragedy.

GRIFFIN: Larry Magid is a technology consultant and co-founder of BlogSafety.com. He advocates the safe and monitored use of the Internet for our children, and, like most of us, is shocked by what those children can find here.

Take a look at what we found in just five minutes of searching: how to build a bomb, how to build a suicide belt, how to buy an AK-47, how to find friends who like Adolf Hitler. Magid says, it is all here and then some, but if you can think you can ban information from the Internet or stop people from posting ways to blow up a school, you are simply fooling yourself.

MAGID: Well, blaming the Internet is like blaming the messenger. Kids are on the Internet. And there's really nothing we can do about it. Even if we shut them off at home, they will find a way to get on somewhere, from a cell phone or a friend's house or a library. So, blocking the Internet is not really the solution, at least not for your average kid. GRIFFIN: What will work, he says, is knowing what your kids are thinking, as well as what they're looking at and who they're talking to over the Internet.

STACA URIE, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: It's probably a better idea to take a proactive approach with children and teens. Educate them about what the risks are. Educate them about what they may encounter online, how to avoid them, and empower them to have a safer online experience that way.

GRIFFIN: And yes, says Magid, parents should conduct their own Internet searches on their own children.

MAGID: You can search. You can search for them on Google or other search engines. And you can go into MySpace and search for the name. And, believe it or not, you may find their name, because kids are encouraged to use their own names. Or look at their school Web page on MySpace to see if you can locate them to kind of check in with them and see what they're saying to the rest of the world.

GRIFFIN: It was just that kind of warning to the rest of the world that stopped at least two potential tragedies in just the last week.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And you can watch PAULA ZAHN NOW weeknights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

The town of Missouri has an ultimatum for some families: Either get married or move out. For families in Black Jack, you better have a wedding ring and a license, or you may be asked to pack up and leave. That story when LIVE TODAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: To some, it is hallowed ground. But almost five years after 9/11, a memorial for those killed on United flight 93 is still in limbo. Today, family members are urging a North Carolina Congressmen to free up federal funds. Republican Charles Taylor has blocked attempts to buy 1,700 acres of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. That's where the plane went down. Taylor says he's working out a deal for the state to pick up more of the expense.

Five months of messy negotiations almost five years after 9/11. Finally, an agreement on rebuilding at Ground Zero appears to have been reached. The deal means construction of the Freedom Tower could begin this week. The World Trade Center developer and government officials have agreed to most of the terms. The agreement could be finalized today. The 1776-foot freedom tower will be built on the site where the World Trade Center once stood.

You're about to meet a couple that says they have found their dream house. It's affordable, there are good schools nearby, and it's everything they have ever wanted. But there is a problem. The town is telling them they can't stay. More to the point, they'll have to move unless they get married.

With that story, here's CNN's Jonathan Freed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do these people look like a family to you? That's Olivia Shelltrack, Fondrey Loving and their three children.

FONDREY LOVING, FIGHTING CITY ORDINANCE: That's my oldest daughter Alexia's room.

OLIVIA SHELLTRACK, FIGHTING CITY ORDINANCE: My big old stereo. I love music.

LOVING: That's my son's room, Cortez.

CORTEZ: I get one of those teddy bears, and I could just shoot in the basket.

FREED: And daughter, Katerina.

KATERINA: This is my room.

FREED: The Shelltrack-Lovings moved to Black Jack, Missouri, a St. Louis Suburb, a couple of months ago.

LOVING: We came to St. Louis to have a good life and to start over.

FREED: Olivia and Fondrey aren't married, and the children out of wedlock. When the family applied to the city of Black Jack for an occupancy permit, something every home here needs, they were told because there are more than three people in their house and not all related by blood or marriage, they don't fit Black Jack's definition of a family. Permit denied.

MAYOR NORMAN MCCOURT, BLACK JACK, MISSOURI: It's overcrowding because it's not a single family. It's a single-family residence. And you're not single family.

FREED: The city says the Shelltrack Lovings are caught up in an ordinance designed to keep out things like rooming houses. But when Olivia and Fondrey appealed to a city board for an exemption, what they heard sent chills down their spines.

NORMA MITCHELL, BLACK JACK BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT: I do not see her advantage of living with a man without a marriage license.

FREED: Olivia and Fondrey say they were given a clear message, get married or move.

SHELLTRACK: Just because we don't meet your definition of a family doesn't make us any less of a family. I mean, we've been together for 13 years, we're raising three kids together.

FREED: Has this situation forced you to feel like having to say you're planning to get married?

LOVING: No. Because the way I look at it is, when we're ready, we'll be ready.

FREED: There's no doubt in your mind this is about morality that it's not about overcrowding?

ANTHONY ROTHERT, ACLU: I have no doubt.

FREED: The ACLU showed CNN a letter it says it received from the same mayor in 1999 explaining why another family was being denied an occupancy permit at the time.

ROTHERT: While it would be naive to say we don't recognize that children are born out of wedlock frequently these days, we certainly don't believe that it's the type of environment in which children should be brought into this world.

FREED: The ACLU says that family chose to move.

SHELLTRACK: We love this house and we think it's worth fighting for, definitely.

FREED: The city's attorney told CNN its ordinance is within the law. Still, Black Jack is now admitting its 20-year-old ordinance may not be in step with the times. It may soften the wording in the coming weeks. If the ordinance isn't changed, the ACLU says it will sue, arguing the city is violating federal fair housing rules and the constitutional right to privacy.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Black Jack, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And can you get more stories like this one and a fresh perspective on the day's news from Anderson Cooper. Join "AC 360" weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

He is the Doctor Phil of the canine world. Ahead, trainer Cesar Millan puts me and my dog through some therapy sessions. One of us got some help anyway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: New information into CNN about White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl rove and the CIA leak investigation.

For the first bit of news, let's go to our Bob Franken -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, Karl Rove, who only this week lost one of his portfolios at the White House, but is now -- the man in charge of the political operation is now returning to one of the other reasons we talk about him so much. He's going back before the grand jury investigating the CIA leaks investigation. This will be his fifth time. Sources who are close to Rove say that he will be talking about matters that have come up before the grand jury since the fourth time. And specifically they're talking about "Time" magazine reporter Vivica Novak.

You'll remember that we were told that there were plans to indict Karl Rove in this investigation, but the prosecutor stopped, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, because of information from Rove's lawyer concerning conversations he had had with Vivica Novak. It gets quite complicated. But now Rove is going to be asked under oath about this. We are told that at the moment, he is at his attorney's office. He is expected this afternoon.

KAGAN: Bob, thank you.

Let's bring in John King for some perspective about this latest development -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I have to remember the three things that Bob forgets. That's my job in this equation. Bob remembers most of it.

Look, it's a very complicated, as bob said. It's also a very complicated element of the president's political troubles right now, to have a legal cloud over this White House.

The biggest cloud right now is the upcoming trial, now scheduled for January, of the vice president's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, who is the only one who has been indicted in this. But the potential for a Karl Rove indictment -- obviously the long process of a grand jury investigation has been a political cloud over the White House as well. And you'll see, Lewis Scooter Libby right there.

Again, his trial to be held in January. In the pretrial proceedings back and forth, there have been quite a number of revelations, interesting revelations, about the handling of classified information, about the political campaign at the White House to discredit the attacks on Mr. Bush's case for war in Iraq by Ambassador Joe Wilson.

So there's a political element to this, but today, the focus is on the legal element, as Bob noted. Karl Rove trying to cleanup, in the words of a source close to him, some of lingering questions of the special prosecutor. It is their hope, the Karl Rove camp's hope, that with this meeting at his attorney's office now, by going before the grand jury again and answering whatever questions might be necessary, that, soon, there will be a resolution of this. They have hoped this in the past, Daryn, that there would soon be a resolution to this. There seems to be an agreement, at least among the attorneys and the sources involved that that could be coming soon. But of course it depends on what happens in those important meetings today.

FRANKEN: And by the way, we're told, Daryn, that soon will not include today. We are not anticipating any announcement about whether Karl Rove will be indicted or not. Not today anyway.

KAGAN; All right, Bob Franken, John King, part of the best political team in television, thank you.

And when we come back, lighten things up a little bit. Some serious dog training, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Dog lovers, this story is for you. You love little Fido, but face it. You have some behavior problems, right? Well, not to worry. "The Dog Whisperer" is on the way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): Sixty-eight million dogs in America, and many of them behave badly.

CESAR MILLAN, "THE DOG WHISPERER": No dog is too much for me to handle.

KAGAN: Cesar Millan man calls himself the Dog Whisperer. His mission? To rehabilitate dogs and more importantly, train the owners.

MILLAN: This here is the power of the intention. It's what intention is in you.

KAGAN: He works his magic on his show on the National Geographic Channel.

(on camera): OK, let's go, Darla. Come on!

(voice-over): Now turns out I'm a dog owner myself. This is Darla Louise, my six-year-old, uh, mixed breed baby. I was feeling pretty good about how I've trained her.

(on camera): OK, let's go.

(voice-over): After all, she walks off leash...

(on camera): Ready? OK, go.

(voice-over): ... and fetches golf balls. But how does all this mesh with Cesar Millan's training techniques?

He developed them while growing up in Mexico. Dog psychology, he calls it. Your dog is a dog, not a person, a pack animal who wants leadership more than affection. In Cesar's world, a dog never walks in front of him, always to the side or the back, even if there are 37 of them.

So, when The Dog Whisperer showed up at my house...

(on camera): Hi, come in. Hi, I'm Daryn.

MILLAN: Thank you. Nice to meet you, Daryn.

KAGAN (voice-over): He told me I have some things to learn and improve. For instance, I was very proud of the way that Darla and I start our walk.

(on camera): Darla, sit. Stay. Let's go.

(voice-over): Millan said I get an E for effort, but F for follow through.

MILLAN: You practice leadership for, like, a second.

KAGAN (on camera): OK.

MILLAN: And the rest of the time was more friendship. You ask her to come, but then she went in front of you.

KAGAN (voice-over): So we practiced.

(on camera): Darla, sit. Good girl. So as long as she's here or behind me...

MILLAN: That's the line. That's the invisible line.

KAGAN (voice-over): Walking down the street: humans in front, dog in back. We did OK, not perfectly.

MILLAN: Her attention span is very short. Not because you want it to, it's because you have not been strict enough with the concept. She can wonder as long as she is in that line. But not in front. She can't pass this line. This is -- this is a line. This is the boundary.

KAGAN: Oh, and that technique of saying your dog's name over and over again?

(on camera): Darla. Darla. Darla.

(voice-over): Millan says forget it.

MILLAN: I'm coming from an animal, dog point of view, and you're coming from a name, emotional point of view.

KAGAN (on camera): OK, so don't even use her name?

MILLAN: The name, because you're -- yes, the name -- the name -- in the animal world, they don't have a name, they have a position. So, what you are trying to accomplish here is a position. Just the energy coming towards created a behavior. So you don't even physically have to touch, just...

KAGAN: In?

MILLAN: Yes.

KAGAN: OK.

(voice-over): Darla quickly caught on. Now the challenge for mom, to keep up the consistent leadership.

MILLAN: I will say this dog is from zero to 10, eight. So two more and she's the perfect dog.

KAGAN (on camera): With potential to be a ten?

MILLAN: Yes.

KAGAN (voice-over): One dog down, slightly fewer than 68 million left to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So Chad, you can imagine the pride that I had when Cesar Millan says my dog's an eight.

CHAD MYERS, METEOROLOGIST: Yes!

KAGAN: But not so good on the owner.

MYERS: If that's all he had to work on with your dog, you've got an 8.9, I'm telling you.

KAGAN: Well, he did say that. He said he wishes all the dogs he worked with are this easy. I told him he wouldn't have a show if it was that easy.

MYERS: That's true.

KAGAN: He did have some more tips for a lot -- you know, 68 million dogs out there. So some of the other tips that Cesar passes along. He said most dogs' problems, not surprisingly, come from their owners. And, some of the other tips he passes on, remember, dogs are dogs. Do not use human psychology to understand them. They think like a dog, not like a person.

Make sure you're the pack leader. Your dog needs to understand the rules and boundaries. Fido jumping on the sofa, yes, that one's your fault. And finally, stick to this formula. All dogs need leadership, plenty of exercise and the chance to earn love and affection. And we know that it's hard, but make sure you don't overdose on the affection part.

And you can watch Cesar work his magic each week on "The Dog Whisperer." That's on the National Geographic Channel. And then he has a new book out. It's called "Cesar's Way." And you can pick up your tips in there.

MEYERS: I don't know. You know, my dog doesn't have to be perfect. I just want him to love me and I want to love him back.

KAGAN: There you go, lots of kisses. You know, it's funny, because a lot of people say, well, what did he teach you, and then I would go down these lists of things, and then most people go, oh, yes, I don't want to do that. I would rather have my dog misbehave.

MYERS: Exactly.

(WEATHER REPORT) KAGAN: That's going to wrap it up for us. He's Chad, I'm Daryn Kagan. International news is up next. Stay tuned for YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm back in 20 minutes with headlines from here in the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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