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CNN Live Today

Tropical Storm Ernesto May Grow into Hurricane; Runway Confusion Blamed for Comair Crash; New Twists in Ramsey Murder Case; Blasts In Turkey

Aired August 28, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, ANCHOR: We have a lot of stuff to get to over the next couple hours. The news keeps coming this morning. Here is what we are following this hour of CNN LIVE TODAY.
Ernesto's energy crisis. The tropical storm may grow into a hurricane again. South Florida is standing by for that. We are watching from the CNN hurricane center with Chad Myers.

We remember Katrina as well a year after the storm. President Bush leaves the White House for the Gulf Coast this hour.

And a Comair commuter jet takes the wrong runway. Crash investigators may talk about it. They hold the news conference in the next two hours. We'll have it live for you here on CNN.

But first we get started with Ernesto. Haiti getting slammed. Now its neighbor taking a hit. Here is what we know right now about the tropical storm.

It is now moving ashore in eastern Cuba. Just hours ago it battered Haiti. At least one death reported there. Forecasters say once it's past Cuba, Ernesto should make a beeline toward Florida as a revived hurricane. NASA is taking no chances ahead of the approaching storm. It has scrubbed tomorrow's launch of the space shuttle Atlantis.

Let's go to Chad Myers in our souped up Weather Center for the very purpose. You have every instrument you need to track this storm.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I truly do. And I have something I'm going to show you a little bit here that we couldn't do before. It's actually the raw computer model. The colors are a little bit odd. But this is what we look at when we come to work. And this is what the Hurricane Center is looking at as well.

If they're trying to figure out what the simulation means, here's the realtime satellite image there. The storm very close to the center of the storm, 45 miles per hour, close to Guantanamo Bay. But if I take this color animation, this is what a computer simulation is talking about. When we talk about the computer models, a lot of times we just show you all the different color lines. Well, this is actually one of the lines. And if you follow this path, this is a terrible path for south Florida. All the way up the east coast battering winds here and also even up into Hilton Head as the storm makes landfall. Now this is an 84 hour loop, so the storm could do a whole lot more than that. And the storms are left of this one, because some computer models are right of this one. So don't get concerned. But you need to be on guard. And you need to realize, if you live in any part of Florida on up into Georgia and the Carolinas, you are under the gun for a pretty significant storm. Right now it's not that significant. But when it gets over the land and back on to the water, that's when it's going to grow again. And when it begins to grow, it's going to become a hurricane. It's going to become a category one, maybe a two and after that I don't even know how big it could get.

But here's the official forecast at 2:00 a.m. Wednesday. So we're talking 48 hours from now and a little bit less, let's say 40 hours from now, winds are going to be back up to 85 miles per hour either through The Keys or maybe through the Bahamas. Whether it goes left or right or stays somewhere in the middle of that cone.

Nothing really on the horizon here across the upper Midwest that can affect it right now. There's not a lot of sheer. There's not a big cold front. There's not a bit low pressure center anywhere that could push it one way or the other. So this thing is just kind of lumbering on down there. And we'll see where it goes from here.

Right now moving to the northwest at 12 miles per hour. An interesting storm, nonetheless, especially when it gets into that warm water over the Bahamas and into the Gulf Stream. This thing could really go crazy, Daryn.

KAGAN: Right. Well, and what you were explaining to me when I was being a groupie over by the Weather Center just a few minutes ago, it really doesn't necessarily matter which side of Florida this hits on both coasts will be affected.

MYERS: Absolutely. No matter -- one coast is going to get wind from one direction and the other coast is going to get wind from the other direction. I'll go back to this animation to kind of give you a feel of how this wind could be coming up this side battering the east coast but this side, on the back, battering the west coast. And somewhere, obviously, in the middle, the eye of the storm as it moves onshore. The more it's on the water, the more significant it will be. The more it's on land, the more it will start to fall apart. But that's still a few days away before we know that.

KAGAN: All right, Chad. You'll be here for all of it. Thank you.

MYERS: Of course.

KAGAN: And we are monitoring right now a news conference. You can see Florida Governor Jeb Bush and emergency officials in Florida. They are holding this news conference. Right now we're listening to see what they have to say about getting ready for Ernesto.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, ramped up emergency plans are in place this morning as Ernesto moves ashore there. Our Morgan Neill is in Havana. Morgan.

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, as you can see here in Havana, it's a clear and a sunny day. But in southwestern Cuba, Ernesto is already making its way ashore. So far we've heard reports of steady rains, but not the intense rain that many people had feared here. Nevertheless, all national flights have been canceled and tourists have been evacuated from many places within the path of the storm. Now preparations really got underway starting Saturday night here when alerts went out in the center, in the east of the country.

Now under Cuba's plan of disaster preparedness, that means very specific things. For example, drain ways (ph) were cleared. People began to be evacuated. At this point we've heard at least 300,000 people have been evacuated. And heavy machinery and livestock were moved to safer areas. Now keep in mind, it's the government that is involved in this every step of the way. So it's the government that is sending buses to evacuate these people. It's the government that's making sure there's enough food and water in those evacuation centers.

Also, we have been hearing on television and radio constantly, really since Saturday night, warnings and specific instructions about what to do in these zones. For example, you were told not only to be aware of the storm's path, you're told things like watch out for falling cables. Don't try to cross flooded zones. Stay in your house or your evacuation center if that applies in your case.

But, as I say, to this point, there is still the risk of intense rains we're told by the forecast center here in Cuba. So far it's been steady rains. Now in Haiti, where this storm lost a lot of its momentum originally. We're hearing at least one person had died and that they're expecting possibly some 20 inches of rain, which in heavily deforested Haiti could bring the risk of flooding.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Morgan, thank you for that.

Let's go now live to Florida and Governor Jeb Bush at this emergency official conference talking about Ernesto.

GOV. JEB BUSH, FLORIDA: Necessary supplies to live comfortably for 72 hours after the storm passes. It sounds like a broken record, but I can assure you that if families do that, if they fortify their homes and if they don't have to evacuate, if they can shelter in place and have the necessary food and water to be able to get through the first 72 hours, then the whole community will recover far faster.

One other point I think that's worth mentioning. Hurricanes are hurricanes. They're not -- we start thinking, well a cat-3 storm, boy, that's really bad. I better take this seriously. Anything below that, ah, not that important. That's the wrong attitude to have. We've been hit by so many hurricanes I think people start thinking that they have the capability of underwriting the risk based on whether a storm is a cat-1 or a cat-2 or cat-3.

My suggestion, and the suggestion of the professionals that work very hard at the local level and here at the state level, is to take this storm very seriously. A hurricane is a hurricane. And it has devastation that we've already seen. All you have to do is to rewind back to last year and know what a cat-1 can do in terms of devastation for the community.

Here at the state level, we are working hard to provide support to the first rate first responders at the local level. That means that we have National Guard ready to come to work, if they're required to do so. It means that our special needs shelters are starting to open up.

There will be a special needs shelter for The Keys, for the folks from The Keys, that will have to evacuate at FIU in West Dade County. We're working and coordinating our efforts with, as I said, the local government. I just suggest that people heed the advice of the mayors of the municipalities, as well as the emergency operations centers.

KAGAN: Governor Jeb Bush now using his bilingual skills to address all the residents of Florida, talking about how they should really be ready for Ernesto. A hurricane is a hurricane and you really don't know what path it's going to take. So the governor, I believe, in Tallahassee today.

Let's head to south Florida, the very southern part of Florida, where it is the calm before the storm. Hurricane watchers are posted across the region. Along the Florida Panhandle, people are take no chances. In the Florida Keys, tourists are packing up and heading north. Our Rusty Dornin is in Key West with more on that.

Rusty, hello.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, it seems that most of the tourists have packed up and left. There was, of course, that mandatory evacuation which is supposes to be 72 hours before the storm. We're seeing a few people in town.

But here in Key West, on Duval Street, where normally there are a lot of people anytime of day, the streets are fairly calm. We've seen that some of the stores are open. You can see the gentlemen here who comes every day, Mr. McKenzie, who plays his violin here every day for the last 30 years, is here. And you see a scattered number of tourists, but not really many.

Now they have opened an emergency operations center. They are evacuating people with special medical needs. But most of the people here really want to see that 11:00 press conference and see exactly what Ernesto is doing before they really decide what to do. Because, as I said, many of these stores are open today.

Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Well, we will leave you there to monitor that for us, with the music in the background there. Rusty, thank you. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Florida, Ernesto is causing serious headaches for NASA. Ahead of the storm, the agency scrubs tomorrow's launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. As we look at a live picture of the spaceship there. NASA wants to launch before September 7th. Liftoff later than that would interfere with a Russian Soyuz flight to the International Space Station in mid September. And we do expect to hear from NASA shortly on exactly what their plans are for Atlantis.

As we move on to our other top story of the morning, searching for clues in the crash of Comair Flight 5191. Here is what we know at this hour.

Investigators today are studying the plane's flight recorders. They want to know why the pilot took off from the shorter runway in Lexington, Kentucky. It's not long enough for commercial jets. All but one of the 50 people on board died. The co-pilot remains in critical condition this morning. Federal investigators update us on the crash live on CNN in about two hours.

For more, though, on the investigation, let's go to our Jason Carroll in Lexington, Kentucky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): As a team of inspectors from the National Transportation Safety Board recovered bodies from the buried wreckage from Comair Flight 5191, distraught family members waited to hear about the fate of their loved ones. Of the 50 people on board -- 47 passengers, three crew members -- only one survived, the first officer pulled from the wreckage now in critical condition. He is an important part of the investigation which suggests the plane crashed after the pilot attempted takeoff from the wrong runway, runway number 26.

DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB MEMBER: There was information that there was pre-planning. There was planning discussions both by the air traffic controllers and the crew, conversations with each other, about using runway 22 for departure. We do know from the information that we have obtained on scene, gathered evidence, documentation and from the flight data recorder that the runway that the crew used was runway 26.

CARROLL: The tower cleared the regional jet bound for Atlanta for takeoff at 6:05 a.m. from Lexington's Bluegrass Airport. The Comair jet should have been taxied on runway 22. Instead, the pilot used run way 26. At 3,500 feet, its half the length of the runway he should have been on. Too short, investigators say, for a jet of that size. And at 6:10 a.m., the plane crashed into farmland and burst into flames.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw over the hillside, I saw the flash of light and then the explosion and then just a big plume of smoke come up.

CARROLL: Not long after the crash, stories of personal tragedy surfaced. On board, John Hooker (ph), a former University of Kentucky baseball player, and his new bride, Scarlet Parsley (ph). The couple had married the day before the crash and were headed for their honeymoon.

KEITH MADISON, FORMER COACH, UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY: And he was a very, very excited, very happy guy last night. And Scarlet was a beautiful young woman and she seemed very happy. And it's just a tragic loss.

CARROLL: Investigators say they have recovered over 30 bodies. They also have the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, which could ultimately reveal why the plane was on the wrong runway.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And our Jason Carroll is in Lexington.

Jason, let's talk about this co-pilot. I would imagine, although right now he's listed in critical condition, investigators are very anxious to talk to him.

CARROLL: They are indeed. And, in fact, this morning, a representative from the University of Kentucky, from the medical center there, that spokeswoman told us that Jim Polehinke (ph), the first officer, is still in critical condition. And because of that, investigators have been unable to talk to him.

But they definitely want to talk to him, but they're still in the process, also, of retrieving information from the cockpit voice recorder. In fact, they are in the process of transcribing the conversations as we speak. So perhaps they'll be able to get more information from the voice recorder while they wait to talk to the first officer.

KAGAN: It's amazing that he survived. Is there any word on who pulled him away from the wreckage?

CARROLL: Emergency crews that showed up there at the scene were the ones that were able to pull him out. It is incredible given the nature of the crash. The fire engulfed, you know, the inside of the aircraft very, very quickly. People were not able to escape, obviously, in enough time. So it is miraculous that this one man was able to survive.

KAGAN: Jason Carroll live from Lexington, Kentucky.

And, by the way, we do expect an NTSB news conference to begin in about an hour and 45 minutes, noon Eastern. You'll see that live right here on CNN. Also, we're keeping an eye on Ernesto. Right now a tropical storm, but pretty much guaranteed to become a hurricane by the time it hits Florida later this week. We'll have the latest on that.

And battle, well one battle's over, but another fight is going strong a year after Hurricane Katrina. Survivors are still dealing with damage and going up against their insurance companies. Their story is just ahead. And in court and under scrutiny, a first appearance for John Karr in Colorado today. What you can expect and a new twist in the case. That's just ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So we're watching this news conference from NASA. They have to decide what to do with the space shuttle Atlantis. They are going to try for a launch tomorrow. That's been scrubbed because of Ernesto. But do you move the shuttle back to the VAB, the vehicle assembly building. Trying to make that call. We're listening in to the news conference. We'll bring you the latest as it is available.

Which does bring us to the topic of Ernesto. Just a tropical storm now spinning toward Florida. Here is what we know at this hour.

Ernesto's 45 miles per hour winds made landfall in Cuba's southeast coast this morning, just west of the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay. At least one death is reported in Haiti. Forecasters believe Ernesto will strengthen into a hurricane as it turns toward Florida.

Jittery residents there are getting ready. A hurricane watch is in effect for south Florida, stretching from Deerfield Beach on the east coast, to just north of the Everglades on Florida's west coast.

Which brings us, interestingly enough, to the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush is talk today about rebuilding and recovery. The president leaves this hour for a two-day tour of the region. His first stop will be Mississippi. He'll have lunch with community leaders, then walk through a damaged neighborhood. Then it's on to New Orleans. The president will have dinner with state and local leaders.

Also heading to the Gulf region, some Democrats. They want to point out what they say is the administration's ongoing failure to help that region.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is apologizing again. This time for describing the World Trade Center as "a hole in the ground." Nagin told NBC's "Meet the Press" he wish he called it an undeveloped site instead. In his initial comment, Nagin was responding to a "60 Minutes" question about the slow pace of recovery in New Orleans. He said New Yorkers can't even "get a hole in the ground fixed five years after 9/11." Nagin says he meant no disrespect.

John Karr preparing for court. How solid is the case against him? Our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin takes a look. Only on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The markets are giving it an honest effort on this Monday morning. You can see the Dow is up 36 points. They've been open about an hour. The Nasdaq moving up nicely as well. It is up seven points. Let's turn to the JonBenet Ramsey case. John Karr set to make his first court appearance today in Colorado. He's expected to be advised of his rights and any charges against him. The hearing is expected to be short, but there's no shortage of questions on the case. Our Susan Candiotti has the latest twist to emerge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Did this man see John Mark Karr in Boulder the night of JonBenet Ramsey's murder, December 26, 1996? Daniel Pride, who arguably has unusual theories of the world, says he thinks he might have seen Karr and told the story to a Boulder district attorney investigator last week.

DANIEL PRIDE, CLAIMS ENCOUNTER WITH KARR: In 1996 I was a software developer at U.S. West. A co-worker, James Mac Reed (ph), another forth dimension database designer, invited me to his house to have Christmas dinner with him and his family.

CANDIOTTI: Pride says after dinner he got dropped off at the Boulder bus terminal and at about 12:30 a.m. . . .

PRIDE: I came in -- the 12:30 arrived. I was trying to get a light for a cigarette. I was trying to bum a light from virtually everybody in the station and nobody in Boulder smokes. There's one -- I was afraid of missing this bus, as well. As I walked through the -- towards the bus, there's a crowd of people over here and this single lone figure standing there. And as I walked up to him with a cigarette, as I get closer, his eyes, like sort of expanded. And as I walked over and how -- you know how sometimes you're in motion and, going, you got a light? And he goes, oh no.

CANDIOTTI: He says he wrote about the alleged encounter on his website in 2002. "He was wearing a western fleece vest with a shiny red spot in the area just over his heart." After Karr's arrest in Thailand, Pride says he e-mailed the Boulder D.A.'s office several times and then call a Denver newspaper with his story. He showed CNN this e-mail that appears to be from a Boulder D.A.'s investigator who asks Pride for a phone number. He says the investigator called him and Pride told him he was only 85 percent sure the man he saw was Karr. Pride claims the investigator told him he'd get back to him. Pride admits he has credibility issues. He says he authors websites that suggest a Biblical connection to the Ramsey case. A D.A. spokesman declined to comment on Pride's claims citing a court imposed gag order.

Did this bus encounter really take place? And if it did, could John Mark Karr have been the man allegedly seen? It's one of the possible leads police will have to accept or reject as they try to place Karr in Boulder the night of the murder.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Boulder, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, joining me now from New York.

Jeffrey, good morning.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's talk about the case. How difficult to build and how important is the DNA?

TOOBIN: Well, the DNA is the most important of a group of forensic evidence investigations that the prosecution is going to have to do now. Fingerprints. There were fingerprints at the scene. There were footprints at the scene. There was apparently some DNA on JonBenet's clothing. All of those will have to be analyzed against samples taken from Karr.

"The Daily Camera," which is the paper in Boulder, reported over the weekend that no tests had been done so far. And if that's true, they have a lot of work to do to decide if this is a case that can even be brought into court, much less a conviction.

KAGAN: Which brings me to the question, how long can they hold this guy without pressing charges?

TOBIN: Well, at least a month. That can possibly be extended. But certainly today is -- it's called an advisement in Colorado. Most states it would be called an arraignment. In three days, they have to file formal charges and then a preliminary hearing has to be conducted in 30 days. There are various ways that schedule can be altered. But these tests have to be done fairly quickly and they have to decide whether they're going to go forward.

KAGAN: If they can. Also kind of, not behind the scenes, but people really watch this case saw kind of a shake-out of who wins the award of representing John Karr. How does that public defender thing work?

TOOBIN: Well, the one thing we can say for sure is that it's not over. At the moment, the Boulder County public defender, very competent office is representing him and they've already started filing motions about DNA and whatnot. But in these high profile cases, there are often changes in attorneys. There will be lots of people who want a piece of this case. But he is an impoverished person, so he doesn't -- he gets, like anyone else arrested in Boulder who can't afford a lawyer, he get the Boulder public defender and tat's who's defending him, at least for the time being.

KAGAN: OK. You long ago ran out of fingers to count how many high profile cases you've covered. What are you watching for in this one?

TOOBIN: You know, just the evidence. Everybody gets involved in this speculation and, you know, well the prosecution must have x or they must have done y. You know, that's the thing to stay away from.

These tests are either going to incriminate or exonerate Karr. His statements alone, his famous statement at the airport and that crazy press conference he held in Thailand, that is only going to be part of the case if there is actual, physical evidence tying him to the crime scene. Other than that, he's just some nut with -- who wants, for whatever bizarre reason, a connection to this case.

KAGAN: Which is a whole different story. Jeff, thank you. Jeff Toobin in New York.

TOOBIN: OK, Daryn. See you later.

KAGAN: Our Tony Harris is along for the day with breaking news and I believe this one's coming from Turkey.

TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Daryn.

We're following the story of a series of bombings on Turkey's Mediterranean coast and in the commercial center of Istanbul today. Now the most recent bombing in the city of Antalya, according to the Reuters News Service and the Associated press, killed one person and wounded five others.

At least 27 people have been wounded in explosions earlier today including 10 British tourists. Now police sources have told our sister network CNN Turk that the blasts were the result of bombs and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for these attacks. But of course we're efforting pictures from the scene and we will keep you posted on the latest developments here.

KAGAN: All right Tony, we'll be back to you.

HARRIS: Sure thing.

KAGAN: Looking at Haiti, it is getting slammed today. Now its neighbor ready to take a hit. Here's what we know about tropical storm Ernesto. It has come ashore in eastern Cuba. Just hours ago it battered Haiti. At least one death reported there. Forecasters say that once it's past Cuba, Ernesto should make a beeline toward Florida as a revived hurricane. NASA is taking no chances ahead of the approaching storm. It has scrubbed tomorrow's launch of the space shuttle "Atlantis".

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: One battle is over, another fight is going strong. A year after hurricane Katrina survivors are still dealing with damage and going up against their insurance companies. Their stories are just ahead.

Also a turn leads to tragedy. Updating the Comair plane crash probe. Ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Searching for clues in the crash of Comair flight 5191. Here's what we know. Investigators today are studying the plane's flight recorders. They want to know why the pilot took off from the shorter runway in Lexington, Kentucky. That's not long enough for commercial jets. All but one of the 50 people on board died. The co- pilot remains in critical condition this morning. A live update from investigators on CNN in 90 minutes. NTSB investigators won't talk with the co-pilot today because he is still in such bad shape. But they do plan to get information from other sources.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB MEMBER: Our air traffic control group will be conducting interviews. They'll be conducting interviews with people in the tower, on the ground, we have a number of groups that have been formed and that is what they are doing today. They're on the ground and they're doing the work of collecting information, documenting the scene, gathering evidence and collecting records.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: So here are a few facts about Comair. The carrier's only other crash happened in 1997. A jet went down in icy conditions in Michigan. All 29 people on board lost their lives. Comair began as an independent commuter airline in 1977. It's been owned by Delta Air Lines since 2000. Comair has been under bankruptcy chapter 11 protection for about a year. The airline has threatened to terminate the contracts of its flight attendants if a new agreement cannot be reached.

Rebuilding and recovery. The message today from President Bush looking at a live picture ahead of the one-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina. This hour the president leaves for the gulf coast on a two-day trip. It's his 13th to the region. The president says he's committed to helping people still suffering from the storm, he also says rebuilding takes a long time. Mr. Bush's first stop will be in Mississippi where he'll meet with community leaders and tour a damaged neighborhood and then it is on to New Orleans.

They made it through the storm, a year later hurricane Katrina survivors are fighting another battle. This time against the insurance agency. Our Ali Velshi has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The New Orleans house that Therese Fitzpatrick shares with her husband and two kids is clearly leaning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every nine inches you go up this way we're off four inches this way.

THERESE FITZPATRICK, KATRINA VICTIM: You can drop a marble and away it goes.

VELSHI: The question is, how long has it been leaning.

MICHAEL HOMAN, KATRINA VICTIM: They just say that it was leaning before we had the policy. They said it's been leaning I guess all five years we've owned the house.

VELSHI: And has it?

HOMAN: Oh, no, of course not.

VELSHI: Allstate says it won't comment on specific cases but it did deny Michael and Therese's claim, relying on an engineering report which said the wind from Katrina couldn't have shifted the house. Now the report lists the correct address but it contains photos of the wrong house and it refers to the house as the Wilson house. Michael's last name is Homan, Therese's is Fitzpatrick. They have no idea who the Wilson's are.

HOMAN: Yeah, that was confusing.

VELSHI (on camera): The insurance industry says that some in the media and CNN in particular haven't given them a fair shake since Katrina. So I invited the CEO of State Farm to sit down for an interview. He declined. As for Allstate, neither their president nor their CEO were able to accommodate our requests for an interview either.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had about probably 10 pines that were broken, 30 or 40 feet in the air.

VELSHI: John Oakes says his first adjuster told him State Farm would pay him out quickly for his damage. But instead of cutting him a check, Oakes says another adjuster came to his place and accused him of lying.

JOHN OAKES, KATRINA VICTIM: I really got mad when he told me, he said, "Well how do I know you didn't cut these trees." And I really -- and I was real calm but I really got mad and he goes, "If you're going to act like this Mr. Oakes we're going to leave. We're not even going to work with you." And I thought you bastard, you know. What you're trying to do is bait me.

VELSHI: John Oakes' attorney Earl Denham represents about 50 Katrina victims who are suing roughly 10 insurance companies. Denham says he's seen the revolving adjuster phenomenon before, especially when the first adjuster seemed sympathetic.

EARL DENHAM, ATTORNEY FOR KATRINA VICTIMS: The next thing you know that adjuster is gone, you don't hear from that adjuster again. Some new adjuster comes out. Or there's a re-inspection by a special team that comes out. People keep inspecting, keep inspecting, keep inspecting.

VELSHI: State farm told CNN it had more than 5,000 adjusters go to the gulf working in extremely stressful conditions. The company says it rotated adjusters through the region to keep them fresh. If customers have complaints about the way they have been dealt with by adjusters or anyone else, State Farm says they should call and be persistent. We offered to put State Farm in touch with John Oakes. They didn't take us up on it. Ali Velshi, CNN, the gulf coast.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE) KAGAN: And weather is very much the story today. Tropical storm Ernesto is spinning toward Florida. Here is what we know. Ernesto's 45 miles per hour winds made landfall on Cuba's southeast coast this morning just west of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. At least one death is reported in Haiti. Forecasters believe Ernesto will strengthen into a hurricane as it turns toward Florida. Jittery residents there are getting ready. A hurricane watch is in effect for south Florida. Stretching from Deerfield Beach on the east coast to just north of the Everglades on Florida's west coast. And NASA cancels tomorrow's launch of space shuttle "Atlantis" due to the threat posed by Ernesto. We will continue to have coverage of Ernesto. Our Chad Myers is in our CNN weather center with the latest on the storm's track.

Also, a conversion on videotape. Off camera gunmen remind them that their lives depend on it. Two freed journalists describe their captivity. That's ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The newest information on Ernesto is in and let's go to Chad Myers for that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Live pictures now of Andrews Air Force base. President Bush is taking off in just a few minutes, in fact there's Marine One which will be landing and then the president gets on board Air Force One. He's heading to the gulf coast. A two-day trip marking the one- year commemoration of hurricane Katrina. Hitting a Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and along the gulf coast. His first stop today will be Gulfport, Mississippi.

We'll have more on his trip just ahead. Also more on the plane crash in Kentucky. Yesterday that was a major shock to that part of the country and certainly to all the families involved. It also was a blow for a struggling airline. Our Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange with more on that. Susan good morning.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Daryn. A terrible morning, a terrible week for the folks at Comair. It's a small company less than 6,500 employees. The president of Comair yesterday saying he was emotionally devastated and this comes after financial devastation because Comair has been in bankruptcy protection for nearly a year. Comair was founded in 1977 as a three plane commuter airline, it became a partner of Delta Air Lines in '84. It was bought by Delta in 2000. Both Delta and Comair hoped to emerge from bankruptcy protection by next year. Comair has been trying to cut pay and benefits for its flight attendants, pilots and mechanics. Comair has also had to rebound from a disastrous Christmas holiday weekend in 2004. I think a lot of us remember it quite well when a computer system failure forced it to cancel more than 1,000 flights. And as bad as that was, didn't compare to what happened yesterday in Lexington, obviously. Daryn?

KAGAN: So Susan Comair is a regional carrier and the crash is spotlighting what a big part of the industry these days have become. These regional carriers that tie into the bigger airline.

LISOVICZ: That's right, I mean they've become very efficient partners for the big airlines because the bigger jets are simply unprofitable. They're not going to pack as many people in and we know what jet fuel costs, labor costs, that kind of thing. The regional airlines have lower costs, able to fly into more airports. In the past decade or so the regional airlines have replaced the older propeller aircraft with jets which are smaller than jetliners but larger than any business and commuter jets that generally carry from 50 to 70 passengers. But they're also more complicated than the prop planes. And accident investigators have expressed some concerns that the pilots were not adequately prepared for the switch. In fact, National Transportation Safety Board hearings after an '04 crash that killed two pilots highlighted the problem with training. Daryn?

KAGAN: So how do airline stocks in general look today?

LISOVICZ: They look great today. Of course I should mention, Comair and Delta Air Lines are still under bankruptcy protection. So they don't trade publicly. But the other big carriers including Continental, UAL, which is the parent of United, American's parent AMR are solidly higher. But that's because of oil prices dropping nearly $2 today. Crude right now trading at $70.55 a barrel. Because of what Chad was just talking about hurricane Ernesto is tropical storm Ernesto hopefully will steer clear of the oil producing areas in the gulf. So take a look at the big board. We have nice gains on the first day of the trading week. The Dow up 53 points or half a percent. The NASDAQ meanwhile up nearly three-quarters of a percent. Good start to the week. Back to you Daryn.

KAGAN: Thank you Susan.

To the Middle East and on the move, the U.N. chief works to shore up a fragile cease-fire. Live pictures from Beirut where Kofi Annan is expected to speak shortly. You'll see it here on CNN.

And is the U.S. ready to fend itself against a possible missile attack? The defense secretary says he's not sure. We'll give you details on that on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're getting these pictures into CNN just a few minutes ago. President Bush getting off of Marine One getting ready to get on board Air Force One. The Bushes are headed to the gulf coast for a two-day trip. It marks the one-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina hitting along the gulf coast. The president will give a pair of speeches, one in Mississippi one in Louisiana. He's been to the gulf coast quite a number of times. This time he's not bringing any new aid announcements or fresh policy proposals. He's hoping that the speeches will bring attention and give more incentive for local government to give out the money that the federal government has set aside for victims of hurricane Katrina. We'll have full coverage of the president and Mrs. Bush's visit along the gulf coast. Right now I want to go over to Tony Harris. New pictures from a developing story in Turkey. Tony? HARRIS: I'm watching them actually on a smaller monitor. We can bring them to you now Daryn. We're following the story on a series of bomb explosions on Turkey's Mediterranean coast and in the commercial center of Istanbul today. But it actually started yesterday. The pictures that you're looking at right now, the most recent bombing in the city in Antalya, that's a resort town. We have report here that one person was killed, this is according to the "Reuters" news service. One person was killed in this bomb attack and at least five others were injured. We have been seeing pictures here of the injured on the ground. You'll see those in just a moment. Of the injured being placed on stretchers and being placed into ambulance and then being rushed off to local hospitals. Now 24 hours ago there were four bomb blasts that went off in a coastal town, another coastal town and also in Istanbul. 27 people were injured in those blasts and one of the blasts went off in a small mini bus. 10 British tourists were injured in that series of explosions and police sources have told our CNN Turk, our sister network, that the blast were the results of explosions throughout the coastal area and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for these attacks. But take a look at these pictures now of the injured. Some of them quite seriously, being loaded on to stretchers and into ambulances and being taken to the local hospital to have their injuries taken care of. But just a pretty dramatic scene unfolding right now in several coastal cities in Turkey. These pictures from the coastal city, the resort city of Antalya. We'll continue to follow this story for you Daryn.

KAGAN: All right Tony, thank you.

HARRIS: Sure thing.

KAGAN: Crisis in the Middle East and the world's top diplomat is on the scene. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Beirut today. He's there to fortify the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. CNN's Jim Clancy is also in the capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.N. secretary- general launched his high profile visit aiming to shore up the cease- fire while Lebanon awaits the deployment of more than 10,000 additional U.N. peacekeepers. Foreign Minister (INAUDIBLE) was on hand at the airport to welcome the U.N. chief. Kofi Annan then quickly went into talks with Prime minister Fouad Sinoira. Talks that will focus on details of the deployment and details of increased security controls at the Syrian border to prevent the re-supply of rockets to Hezbollah. From the Lebanese side there are demands for Israel to lift its air and sea blockade of the country that continues to thwart a return to normal. Also, likely to come up in these talks at least some discussion of the issue that ignited the 34-day war, the capture by Hezbollah of two Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah isn't expected to meet with Annan but in an interview that aired Sunday night he pledged his side would welcome the peacekeepers so long as they didn't attempt to disarm Hezbollah fighters. Former U.N. spokesman and long-time senior advisor in south Lebanon Timor Goksel told CNN disarming the group was beyond the capability of the Lebanese army or the U.N. TIMOR GOKSEL, FORMER U.N. SPOKESMAN: These are people who live in the villages. Most of the youngsters that you see in those villages are active Hezbollah fighters, part time. When the fighting is over you will never see them in uniform. You will never see them carrying a gun. I haven't seen one in 20 years walking around with a gun or in uniform. They will use those only when they are called to do, otherwise the weapons and uniforms goes under the bed and they go back to their normal lives.

CLANCY: The U.N. secretary-general is also going to be talking with Lebanon's parliamentary speaker Nabi Berry. Berry, also a Shia leader with a following in the south, has been seen as a go between or conduit for it the government and Hezbollah, whose leadership largely remains in hiding.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Jim Clancy joins us right now live from Beirut. Jim, just how important for all of this to work is the security along the Syrian/Lebanese border?

CLANCY: Well that is certainly critical. Let me just though tell you about a little breaking news that's coming in here. The "Reuters" news agency says that Kofi Annan has informed some cabinet ministers, the Lebanese government that he wants those two Israeli soldiers handed over to the Red Cross. This may go hand in glove with what we're hearing. There were talks held between Kofi Annan and one of the members of Hezbollah that is also in the cabinet, Mohamed Finesh (ph), who is the energy minister here. Now, these talks obviously going on against the backdrop we understand of some negotiations that the Israeli side, as well, is perhaps preparing some prisoners for release. This would be part of a bigger prisoner swap.

But you're absolutely right, on the other hand, for Lebanon the country, the security issue along the border is absolutely critical. They are being squeezed here. The U.S. and Israel saying you have to put UNIFIL troops there. Syria, Damascus telling the Lebanese if you do that we'll shut the border. So with the air and the sea channels blocked down, a potential that the land routes through Syria to their markets in the Arab world could be blocked. All of this is critical to bringing some life back into this country. Daryn?

KAGAN: Jim Clancy as the story develops there from Beirut. Thank you. All right let's go ahead and get started. I'm Daryn Kagan it's Monday morning. Thank you for joining us for our second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY.

Something is sapping Ernesto's energy. Will the storm regain hurricane status as it targets south Florida? I'll talk live this hour with an expert at the National Hurricane Center.

A year since Katrina whipped the gulf coast, this hour President Bush is in the air flying to the hurricane zone for a solemn remembrance.

And at the end of the hour, federal investigators get us up to speed on the Comair crash. They want to know why the plane was on the wrong runway. The briefing is coming up live on CNN.

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