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CNN Sunday Morning
Mudslide Buries Over 1,000 in the Philippines; Ticket Bought in Nebraska Eligible to Claim Record Powerball Jackpot
Aired February 19, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: About 2,000 people live in this rural community in the Philippines. And now, more than half of them are missing, possibly buried beneath tons of mud.
Good morning, everybody, from the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Betty Nguyen. It is Sunday, February 19.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. We will take you live to the Philippines in just a moment.
But first, some other stories making news right now.
In the capital of Pakistan, about 20 members of Parliament joined protesters in a march through the capital. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds. They are outraged by the cartoon depictions of Islam's Prophet Mohammed. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper months ago. Then reprinted across Europe.
Israel's acting prime minister is vowing not to deal with the new Palestinian government. And Israel is freezing its monthly payments to the Palestinian people.
Ehud Olmert says the Palestinian Authority is becoming a terrorist authority now that the militant group Hamas is taking charge.
Earlier today, a prominent Hamas lawmaker was nominated at the next Palestinian prime minister. It's worth noting that the Israeli cabinet decided not to impose other sanctions it had been considering.
NGUYEN: The Arab takeover of six U.S. ports escalates from a national debate to a legal battle.
At the Port of Miami, one company is suing to block the transfer to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. The Miami- based business is challenging the UAE's purchase of a British firm, which now operates at the half dozen ports. The Miami company cites security concerns.
Health fears confirmed, a deadly strain of bird flu has been found in India. Health officials says the H5N1 virus is in western India where thousands of poultry chickens have died in last couple of weeks. India is the world's fifth largest exporter of eggs.
HARRIS: Wicked weather is lashing the U.S. with frigid temps coast to coast and a wintry mess in the middle.
Icy roads are blamed for this crash of a charter bus in central Oklahoma. A 28-year-old woman and an 8-year-old boy were killed.
Stay with us. Meteorologist Brad Huffines will have the latest weather info in just a couple of moments.
Lottery officials are racing to Lincoln, Nebraska, where the winning ticket was sold for the largest jackpot, Betty, in U.S. history. Power Ball officials say the winner of the $365 million jackpot has not publicly come forward.
NGUYEN: Do you blame them?
HARRIS: Try to work it out, right?
NGUYEN: Yes, everybody's going to be calling, "Hey, aren't I kin to you. Aren't you related to me?"
HARRIS: Take a look at these numbers, 15, 17, 43, 44, 48, and the power ball, 29.
NGUYEN: Check your tickets, folks.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: Well, coming up on "CNN SUNDAY MORNING," gambling with house money. That's what we're talking about now.
Harrah's reopens its casino in New Orleans. And we're going to talk to the executive who is willing to take a high-stake gamble.
Also, celebrities may wax and wane, but these stars can be your lasting claim to fame. Yes, a California wax museum puts its star attractions on the auction block.
And speaking of start-struck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN HOST: Wait a minute. Drinks? You're 19 years old.
SHAUN WHITE, OLYMPIC SNOWBOARDER: I'm talking about Mountain Dews, baby.
PHILLIPS: He called me baby. He called me baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: He sure did. Our Kyra Phillips sits down with the Olympian who knows -- who knows about babies, and he is known as the Flying Tomato. He is a blur of red and white on the slopes. And only a little easier to pin down in an interview.
Yes, right. HARRIS: Today's disaster, a wall of mud came crashing down on a village in the Philippines. The misery deepens. More than 1,000 people are still missing and feared dead.
CNN international correspondent, Hugh Riminton, joins us by videophone.
HARRIS: And Hugh, the story has been grim all along, but there seems to be very little hope, if any at all that any survivors will be found.
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly seems to be the case at the moment, Tony.
The U.S. Marines flew in here just a few hours ago and immediately sent a detachment of 30 men right into the heart of the landslide area, the area where a school is buried. There was some report that there had been knocking or tapping sounds coming from that school yesterday.
Now, they are now back here. They will be giving their reports and, if they gel with the other reports that are coming in to the authorities from expert mountain rescue personnel, it'll be the same thing. That is, there is very little prospect of finding anyone alive.
To get an idea of the scale of this landslide, is very hard to describe. But one idea, the mountain side 2,000 feet up, the force that it generated threw out a ton of rock and mud and debris, more than a mile out across these river flats. To start at the beginning of that landslide area and walk up, even to halfway, takes well over a an hour, even if you're fit and if you manage to navigate your way through it all.
It's treacherous underfoot. It's bogey. People disappear up to their waist and half to be pulled out of it. If there is places, every time it rains it gets more and more dangerous.
And the school, so we have now learned, there's no sounds even with sophisticated listening equipment. There's no smell the dogs can pick up of life or death under there. And they've measured it. It's 28 meters from the surface of that debris down to the school, nearly 100 feet from the ground down to where the ground was. Tony --
HARRIS: OK, Hugh Riminton.
That story just gets more and more awful the more we tell it.
OK, Hugh, thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, former President Bill Clinton is on a life-saving mission in India. He is urging governments and foundations to seek out low-cost manufacturers of AIDS drugs.
Clinton wants children with HIV around the world to have access. And that means cheaper drugs to stem the stem the spread of the virus. He said several Indian companies are offering them at a cut-rate price.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We now, for about 50 cents, can give people a test, which will tell you in 20 minutes if you're HIV positive. We've brought down the medicine very low and we can test to see whether it's working. We're now working on the second line drugs.
But it's all irrelevant unless we have people, in the rural areas, for example, who are trained to do this. So we're going more and more work to train personnel, that's what we're doing here in India, working with nurses in rural areas.
Because, even in India, which has the largest number of doctors anywhere, and including in rural areas, there's still enormous areas where there aren't enough doctors without nurses and paramedical people to do this work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The Clinton Foundation's 2002 HIV-AIDS Initiative has concentrated on making affordable drugs available. And so far, it's bought generic AIDS drugs for 21 countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean.
HARRIS: Well, Betty, you tried.
NGUYEN: I tried.
HARRIS: You wanted to play.
NGUYEN: I didn't even get a single number; not even one number.
HARRIS: You contributed to South Carolina's schools, yesterday, when you drew them over there.
NGUYEN: You make fun, but had I won, I would have been the one laughing all the way to the bank.
HARRIS: Yes, I'd have been crying because you didn't call me and even tell me you were even there. You could have picked me up a ticket.
NGUYEN: I did call you. Why would I? You just made fun of me.
HARRIS: Because I love it.
NGUYEN: As you've been doing all morning long.
HARRIS: Well, one single ticket in Nebraska wins it all. The record $365 million Powerball jackpot.
NGUYEN: There are the numbers on the screen. Now, we don't know, yet, who the lucky winner is or how many there are. Because there may have been a bunch who just bought the ticket all at once. HARRIS: That's right.
NGUYEN: But Nebraska Lottery spokesman, Brian Rockey, is on the phone right now to tell us how they go about verifying the winner.
HARRIS: Oh, good.
NGUYEN: Because, although, Rocky, we know that it's from Lincoln, Nebraska, you've got to check the ticket, right?
BRIAN ROCKEY, SPOKESMAN, NEBRASKA LOTTERY: That's right. Our security folks visit the retail location and do some pretests. And then ultimately the real test is when that person brings the ticket forward. And we do the validation process in the office.
NGUYEN: Hold on a second, can't you verify that at the store that sold it? I mean, you can verify what numbers were sold, right?
ROCKEY: Correct. You can verify the numbers and, in the case of a smaller price, $3 or $10,000 or whatever the terminal will say if it's a winner. And our retailers can pay prices up to $500. Anything larger than that would have to go a claims center.
And in the case of a jackpot, the winning ticket, say, if the player was to take that into the retailer, they'd get a slip out of the terminal that says "File claim form" and then they would direct it to us.
HARRIS: Oh, that's pretty good.
Hey, Brian. Good morning to you.
ROCKEY: Good morning. How are you?
HARRIS: Great. Outstanding. Wish I had that check in my hand. I wish I had that...
NGUYEN: Don't we all? $124 million after taxes.
HARRIS: OK, here's where I'm sort of technologically challenged. So all of these places where you buy these tickets, in these machines where you buy the tickets, and they're all sort of passed into this one system?
One big -- I'm imaging one big computer system where, once the winning ticket is purchased and the numbers are verified, it what? It triggers what, some kind of signal that lets you know what state and down to the very store, correct?
ROCKEY: Essentially, that's right. Each state's lottery system is separate and so what happens is the terminals are connected to that state. The terminals in each state are connected to their central system. And then each state reports in to the Multi-state Lottery, who operates Powerball, "We sold this many tickets and, according, to the winning numbers that you sent us, this is what we have for winners." HARRIS: OK. All right, Brian. Enough of that, that's boring. I don't even know why I asked the question.
(LAUGHTER)
So here's the thing, you -- and I'm not asking you to tell us right now -- but you know which store sold that ticket, don't you?
ROCKEY: That's right, we do and...
HARRIS: Yes, you know, Brian, you know who sold that ticket.
NGUYEN: And we do want you to tell us, Brian. Come on. Come with it.
ROCKEY: Well, it was at a U-Stop on West O Street here in Lincoln.
NGUYEN: West O Street, OK, in Lincoln.
You know we're writing this down. We're sending our crews right now, Brian.
ROCKEY: You're not alone.
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. We're not alone. So, Brian, and so you know who owns the establishment, correct?
ROCKEY: Yes, we do.
HARRIS: So, Brian, Brian? Your pals here at CNN, we're going to let you go so you can make a call for us and get the owner of that establishment on the line with us. Brian? Your pals at CNN...
ROCKEY: I spoke to the owner last night, or about 1 o'clock this morning, and let him know that one of their stores had sold the jackpot ticket and, of course, they're thrilled. It's Whitehead Oil is the company that owns the U-Stops.
And at that point, we left it that we would be in touch this morning when we had a little more to reveal so that's kind of where we're at right now.
HARRIS: OK. Brian? Brian? Maybe you'll respond better to Betty's voice.
NGUYEN: Let me ask you this, Brian. I know we're waiting on the owner to talk to us. But how much does this owner get? Because they get a part of the pot too?
ROCKEY: Right. The retailer receives a high priced selling bonus, in this case of $50,000.
NGUYEN: $50,000? That's it?
HARRIS: Nice. Nice. NGUYEN: Our of $365 million bucks?
HARRIS: They're not whinning, Betty.
NGUYEN: I know they're not whining, but come on.
HARRIS: Come on. It's $50,000 bucks.
OK. Brian, thanks for your time this morning.
ROCKEY: Thank you.
HARRIS: You know, help out your pals at CNN this morning, OK?
ROCKEY: All rightie.
HARRIS: Make that call for us.
NGUYEN: Make that call, Brian.
ROCKEY: OK.
HARRIS: Appreciate it. Thanks, Brian.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Brian Rockey, with the Nebraska Lottery there.
HARRIS: Straight ahead...
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: Well, hey, come on.
NGUYEN: You've got to do what you've got to do.
HARRIS: She is standing tall. We love this story after breaking, not one, but both of her feet in several places. Now, Emily Cook goes for the gold. We'll have her amazing come back when we go live to Torino.
NGUYEN: And do you feel lucky? Do you? Well, Harrah's in New Orleans sure does. Coming up, all bets are on for the casino. But are the odds really in their favor.
BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And, of course, you can sit back and relax if you live in Lincoln, Nebraska, and have the right ticket. Other than that, it's a cold, chilly, frigid day across the Great Lakes. Temperatures are in the single digits.
Now the good news is, if you live in Detroit, you're going to be seeing improving weather today, highs in the 20's. Can't wait for that.
Coming up next, your weather forecast across the country, as we look at rain, freezing rain, cold in places and sunshine in others.
That's all coming up next on "CNN SUNDAY MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Oh, boy. There were long lines across the nation yesterday. Betty left here after 12 hours on the air yesterday and drove to South Carolina to get in on this.
NGUYEN: Like it was so far. I am up in northern Georgia.
HARRIS: Oh, my -- no, no, no.
NGUYEN: It was just a hop, skip and a jump.
HARRIS: You started in Savannah.
NGUYEN: And I decided to take a chance of a lifetime, Tony. Give me a break, would you?
HARRIS: Only one winner yesterday, and the lottery officials are heading off to Lincoln, Nebraska. We just talked to Brian.
NGUYEN: Yes, no where near South Carolina where I went.
HARRIS: Where the single winning ticket for nation's biggest lottery jackpot was sold. The pot hit $365 million. And in case you want to double check the ticket -- because if you won -- let's see, if you have five of the winning numbers, what $200,000?
NGUYEN: Yes, you get $200,000. And there were a number of states that did that. South Carolina, in particular, got two. But I've got to tell you, in Pennsylvania, there were seven people who had claimed that $200,000 prize.
HARRIS: Wow, they had five numbers?
NGUYEN: Yes, they got those five numbers.
HARRIS: So here are the numbers, 15, 17, 43, 44, 48. The Powerball, 29.
E-mail question, "How would spend the Powerball winnings, I mean, if you had won the jackpot?" And you may have. You may have. You may have the winning ticket.
NGUYEN: You very well could have because the person hasn't come forward just yet.
HARRIS: Hasn't come forward.
NGUYEN: So how would you spend it? Well, send us those thoughts, would you? We can all dream. weekends@cnn.com.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: And talk about severe, a wintry blast across the country takes its toll. Look at this. A charter bus overturned on an icy interstate in Oklahoma Saturday. A woman and an 8-year-old boy were killed in that accident. Dozens of others were injured.
In Indiana, police shut down Interstate 65, south of Indianapolis, after a snow squall caused a 20-car pileup. No. Five people were injured in that, but thankfully none seriously.
Thousands of homes, they are without power in eastern New York State. And officials say power may not return until late Wednesday in some hard-hit sections.
And in Texas -- listen to this. This happens every time there is some kind of ice, black ice in particular, on the roadway. Freezing rain, sleet and falling overnight temperatures made for slippery going around the Dallas area. Police report dozens of accidents.
I'm going to up that because we got an interesting fact from our Weather Center saying that, as of last night, there were 190 accidents in the Dallas area. I tell you, Texans have a hard time driving on that black ice.
HUFFINES: And 150 of those were listed as injury accidents as well.
NGUYEN: Injury accidents?
HUFFINES: And that's for about a 12-hour period yesterday.
NGUYEN: Oh, my.
HUFFINES: There is still a chance that we may also see some more freezing drizzle today across north Texas, across Oklahoma. So, drivers, please, please beware there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: All right.
HARRIS: Thank you, Brad.
NGUYEN: Got a lot going on talking about Powerball today.
HARRIS: Well, here's the thing. I've been giving you a hard time this morning.
NGUYEN: You haven't given me a hard time.
HARRIS: I really have. But, you know, you're right, at least you played. You tried to play...
NGUYEN: You have to play to win.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: That's how it works. And, in fact, someone played in Lincoln, Nebraska, and they won big time.
We have on the phone with us, Stacey Carrie. Now, she works at the U-Stop in Lincoln, Nebraska, where this winning ticket was sold.
HARRIS: The U-Stop.
NGUYEN: Ms. Carrie, are you on the phone with us?
STACEY CARRIE, EMPLOYEE, U-STOP CONVENIENCE STORE: Yes, I am.
NGUYEN: Hi, there.
HARRIS: Hey, Stacey. Good to talk to you.
CARRIE: Hi.
NGUYEN: What a morning this has been for you. Did you actually sell the winning ticket?
CARRIE: We do not know who sold the ticket, yet, or who the winner is. We just know the lottery machine says it was sold from our store.
HARRIS: So when did you find out that your store -- what's the U-Stop, anyway. What is that, a convenience store, or kind of...
CARRIE: It's a convenience store.
HARRIS: Is it gas and convenience items as well? That kind of mix?
CARRIE: Yes.
HARRIS: A mini-convenience -- OK, all right.
CARRIE: Yes.
HARRIS: So when did you find out you'd sold the ticket?
CARRIE: Well, I was in the store by 6 o'clock this morning and our third shift gentleman told me that he heard it was sold here. And then can see in our lottery machine where the actual ticket was sold. And sure enough, it was at our store.
NGUYEN: What time was it sold? Can you tell us that?
CARRIE: No, we don't know that, yet, either.
NGUYEN: OK. Well, let me ask you this Stacey. You're there in Lincoln, Nebraska, and you're downtown, not far from the University of Nebraska. What kind of clientele do you have and were there a lot of students that came in yesterday trying to buy these tickets. Who came in?
CARRIE: No, it was mostly, you know, probably anyone old enough to buy them, which the age is 19, to even older people. And we have all kind of a different clientele in the area that we're in.
NGUYEN: Were there long lines out the door, down the block?
CARRIE: No. I worked from 7 to 3 on Saturdays and we really didn't have -- it was pretty steady. There was a couple of times that our lottery machine was delayed, you know, because of all of the business going on.
HARRIS: Right.
NGUYEN: I understand.
CARRIE: But as far as I know, it wasn't overbearing.
HARRIS: Stacey, let me ask you this. We are familiar with this phenomenon of folks crossing the state line to buy tickets in a Powerball state. So were you seeing a lot folks who were unfamiliar to you?
CARRIE: Well, we're actually located -- it's on the main thoroughfare through Lincoln.
HARRIS: Oh, OK.
CARRIE: So a lot of times we get people from out of county and out of state coming in through here. So it wasn't really out of the norm as far as business goes.
HARRIS: So it wouldn't have been out of the norm for you to have seen folks, say, from Nebraska?
CARRIE: Well, no, being as we're in Nebraska.
HARRIS: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm thinking Omaha.
NGUYEN: This map is throwing him off.
HARRIS: I'm looking at the map and talking at the same time. I'm thinking of Omaha. How about Omaha?
CARRIE: Well, no, because Omaha, they sell them too. Because they're in Nebraska as well.
HARRIS: How about Des Moines, Iowa? Is that a little far away?
CARRIE: Well, yes. Des Moines is about three hours, but I believe they also participate in the Powerball.
HARRIS: How about Wyoming?
CARRIE: No, I don't recall seeing anybody from Wyoming yesterday.
HARRIS: OK. OK. NGUYEN: Stacey, let me ask you this. The store, we understand from the Nebraska lottery spokesman, gets $50,000 because they sold the winning ticket. Are you going to get any of that cash?
CARRIE: Oh, wow. That would be nice.
HARRIS: That would be nice.
CARRIE: But I don't know. It'd be nice if I'd sold the winning ticket and the person who won would give me a share. But, you know, it's really hard to say. And we were really sure how much the store would actually get.
NGUYEN: Well, that's what we've learned today. So maybe if you did sell that winning ticket, you should lobby for a chunk of that change.
HARRIS: Yes, lots of it.
CARRIE: I should. Maybe now is the time to ask for my raise.
NGUYEN: That is the time. Seize the moment, Stacey.
HARRIS: Well, Stacey, this is a lot of fun, isn't it?
CARRIE: It is. It's pretty exciting for me.
HARRIS: That's great.
NGUYEN: What's it like there right now. I mean, are people coming by just to look at the store?
CARRIE: No, not really. We just have our normal business for a Sunday morning. You know, we have people who usually come in on Sundays. And that's pretty much been the norm for business.
HARRIS: After folks get wind of this though...
NGUYEN: I was going to say, because of all the buzz, it's...
HARRIS: Yes, yes. Good stuff. Good stuff.
NGUYEN: ... things are going to pick up.
CARRIE: Oh, yes. I even had to call the manager and wake her up. She thought I was kidding.
HARRIS: Very nice.
NGUYEN: Yes, this is not something you want to joke about. This is serious business. A lot of money at hand.
CARRIE: Yes.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Carrie, we appreciate your time today. Good luck to you. Hopefully, you did sell that winning ticket. CARRIE: It would be nice.
NGUYEN: It would, wouldn't it.
CARRIE: Yes, it would.
NGUYEN: Thanks for your time.
CARRIE: Thank you.
NGUYEN: That's fun, isn't it?
HARRIS: Wow. It's exciting isn't it?
NGUYEN: See, it is exciting. And you made fun of me for trying to get in on the action.
HARRIS: Well, you know, we needed a story this morning and I knew I could get two hours out of that.
NGUYEN: So I was the end of the joke right here. So I took the punishment.
HARRIS: Yes, you did.
NGUYEN: Thanks a lot, partner.
HARRIS: That's what I do.
Still ahead this morning, it's history-making time for Americans at the Winter Olympics. Speed skater Charlie Davis takes home a gold nugget, the bagel. We'll find out how he did it.
NGUYEN: AKA the gold medal.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: And look, was it a bird, was it a plane? It is NBA slam-dunk artists.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: Only five-foot, nine, that guy right there.
The winner of last night's contest when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And we have an update on the story that we followed for much of yesterday and again this morning. The fate of 10 crewmembers who went down in two helicopters. The helicopters crashed in East Africa off of Djibouti.
And CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Staff is with us now. And she has the latest on the fate of those 10 crewmembers.
Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.
Very sad news to report. The Pentagon, within the last few minutes, confirming the deaths of the 10 CH53E two helicopter crewmembers, 10 military personnel now confirmed to have died in that mid-air apparent helicopter collision on Friday, off the Horn of Africa, off northern Djibouti.
The Pentagon telling us that, now, families, next of kin, have been notified for all 10 deceased crewmembers. However, at this time, the names of those who died are being withheld in deference to family members' privacy.
The Pentagon also confirming, Tony, for the first time that, of the 10 crewmembers who perished, eight were United States Marines and two were members of the U.S. Air Force. So it is now confirmed.
Yesterday, they had announced that everyone was accounted for, in the Pentagon's words. But now confirming 10 have died and, of course, two were recovered and are said to be in stable condition in a military hospital. That happened on Friday, Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Barbara. And, I guess, one of the bits of information that is becoming clearer to us is that it was a mid-air collision? Did I hear you right with that?
STARR: By all accounts at this point, that is what the military believes did happen.
Two helicopters flying together, they both crashed at the same time. There was no indication of hostile fire. When these things happen typically, tragically, it usually some sort of mid-air collision. Sources saying that's what it points to at this time.
But certainly a full military investigation of this accident is under way.
HARRIS: That's a horrible story. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr for us this morning. Barbara, thank you.
We'll take a break and come back with more CNN SUNDAY MORNING right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Snow and ice are the story of the winter Olympics and freestyle skier Emily Cook is back in her Olympic quest for gold. CNN's Mark McKay is in Torino.
This is an interesting story with Emily Cook.
MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A real nice comeback story, indeed, Betty, but we've seen many of these good stories as the first full week of the games is now in the books. We're heading for the stretch run, week No. 2 here in Torino and we had history made last night on the speed-skating track made by a U.S. speed skater who lived up to the advance billings. Shani Davis, the world record holder in the Men's 1,000 meter, came through, won gold. He is the first African-American athlete to win an individual gold medal at a winter Olympics. His speed-skating teammate Joey Cheek, who you may remember won gold in the 500 meters, took silver, so one, two, for the United States and the south side of Chicago cheering on the accomplishment of Shani Davis.
But imagine competing for an Olympics that you can't go to. You dream all your life about getting to the winter games, and then it's taken away from you. Four years ago it happened to freestyle aerial skier Emily Cook. Well, she is back here in Torino competing for the United States, fresh with the memories of the training accident that dashed her Salt Lake City dreams.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY COOK, FREESTYLE AERIALS OLYMPIAN: I broke bones in both feet, tore all the ligaments in both feet, and dislocated my left foot.
JARET "SPEEDY" PETERSON, FREESTYLE AERIALS OLYMPIAN: She had her foot in a ski boot that was a size six, and broke the bones, and it went down to a size two. This is in her ski boot.
COOK: It was a pretty devastating time. I cried. I was in so much pain, the pain was ridiculous.
PETERSON: I just can't even fathom the amount of pain that she went through. Not just physically, but emotionally.
LARRY SMITH, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the pain in her foot subsided, cook still had to deal with the anguish of missing the Olympic games. She got help with that from the man who replaced her on the team, "Speedy" Peterson.
COOK: He came over all the time during the Olympics. I learned so much about, you know, what it really means to be an Olympian and what it really means tore a teammate.
PETERSON: I saw firsthand all the work that she had put in, the hard work and dedication, and she had been given her life-long dream, and to have that pulled away, I couldn't imagine that.
SMITH: Cook vowed to return to the Olympics, albeit, on a leap of faith. Doctors said not only would she never compete again, she might not even be able to walk properly.
PETERSON: She went to doctor after doctor, and they're, like, you know, I'm sorry, you're going to walk funny. You're not going to be able to ski ever again, and she's, like, oh yeah? Watch me.
COOK: I knew however long it took and how every hard it was going to be that I would be back four years later and qualify for the team and actually go to the Olympics this time. And when I qualified for the Olympics team, "Speedy" gave me a huge hug and said I can't wait to walk into the opening ceremonies with you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCKAY: Oh, she did just that. She walked into the opening ceremonies a week ago, Betty, and she is ready to comeback. Larry Smith reporting another one of those great inspirational stories from these Torino games.
NGUYEN: Those are some of the best stories. Go, Emily. All right, and great job Shani Davis, some really good news for us today. Thank you. We'll talk to you soon, Mark.
HARRIS: All this, an unlikely star of these Olympics, the "Flying Tomato," Betty.
NGUYEN: Yeah, he is really brilliant.
HARRIS: Wild red hair, and the Olympic gold discus, doughnut.
NGUYEN: He won it, yeah.
HARRIS: U.S. snowboarder, Shaun White talks with CNN's Kyra Phillips.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHAUN WHITE, OLYMPIAN: I'm trying to figure out where to put it. I mean, I asked my teammate Danny Cass who got silver, he said I should put it in the rearview mirror.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, that would be kind of cool. Forget the dice.
WHITE: Yeah, he way claiming ultimate parking pass, so I don't know.
PHILLIPS: You'd probably get whatever you wanted if you were showing to that anybody.
WHITE: For sure. It's pretty crazy, though. I mean, it's heavy and I don't know. I think it really hit me that I got the gold when I went to bed and woke up the next day, and this thing was just sitting on the dresser next to me. It was cool.
PHILLIPS: You weren't sleeping with it?
WHITE: No, I -- you know what the worst was, I kind of -- I blew it, and I was flying home, and I almost checked it under the plane. I was, like, maybe I should hang on to that.
PHILLIPS: I wouldn't let it go. Were you showing people on the airplane? Were people asking to see it or...
WHITE: Yeah, like, what happened was the funniest thing, is the stewardess' had all seen the games and they were just so excited to see me, like you have the gold? And I mean, I had, like -- I had unlimited, like, service after that. I was getting drinks and I was getting snacks, and I mean, I was taking photos in the back with all the stewardesses.
PHILLIPS: Wait a minute, drinks? You're 19 years old.
WHITE: I'm talking about Mountain Dews, baby. All right?
PHILLIPS: He called me "baby." He called me "baby." OK. That's right. Ginger ail for Shaun White. Outstanding. OK, getting a little warm here. So, do you have a girlfriend? I mean, you're rich, you're 19, you got your own clothesline, you have a gold medal that looks like a doughnut.
WHITE: Yeah, I mean, things are going good. I haven't really had time for the girlfriend so far. I mean, so much training going in the Olympics, but I'm looking forward to some time off, and check it out. I don't know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: I'm talking about Mountain Dews, baby.
HARRIS: Dew! Dew! Shaun White.
NGUYEN: That's a snowboarder, Shaun White, a gold medalist snowboarder. Wow!
HARRIS: Well, we're going to take a break, when we come back...
NGUYEN: Baby.
HARRIS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to talk to the man who runs Harrah's Casino in New Orleans. Reopening just in time for Mardi Gras. We'll take a break. More of CNN's SUNDAY MORNING right after this..
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANITA JONES, HARRAH'S EMPLOYEE: To get back to New Orleans, it's great and Harrah's was the perfect reason to do that. Get back to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We love Nanita Jones. Harrah's Casino in New Orleans has reopened its doors after being wiped out by Hurricane Katrina. The roulette wheel is spinning, Betty, and the dice are ready to roll. The reopening comes just in time for Mardi Gras. We're joined now by Harrah's CEO, Gary Loveman.
Gary, good to talk to you, thanks for the time this morning.
GARY LOVEMAN, CEO, HARRAH'S ENTERTAINMENT: Good morning, Tony. HARRIS: I got to ask you, was Mardi Gras always the kind of bull's eye on the calendar? You wanted to reopen for this season of Mardi Gras?
LOVEMAN: Well, we wanted to make sure the building was ready to go, but it certainly was the target we were trying to get. It's a time when the city is really trying to demonstrate that it's back on its feet and get visitors back into town.
HARRIS: How much of a comeback story is this? How much damage did you suffer?
LOVEMAN: Well, we had tens of millions of dollars in damage, but you know, Tony, it's nothing compared to what our employees have gone through down there.
HARRIS: Wow. What do you realistically expect? You're open now. Let's see, three-quarters of the city's population gone, one- half of your customers were locals. What kind of business do you expect, certainly, in these days leading up to Mardi Gras? And...
LOVEMAN: Well Tony, I'm delighted to tell you that we opened at midnight Thursday, and Friday was the first day we could account for, and it was the third busiest day in the history of the property since we opened six years ago.
HARRIS: Get out of here.
LOVEMAN: I'm telling you the truth, it's unbelievable.
HARRIS: Are you kidding me?
LOVEMAN: We had nearly 35,000 people visit us which compares to a year ago when we had 20,000 people on the same day. So, the business is off to a great start. I think the folks in New Orleans are anxious to show their support of a business that's open. It helps us get more and more employees back to work. We have is 1,500 of our people back to work now, which is a great story. It's very exciting. I was waiting with baited breath to see how we did, and we're off to a great start.
HARRIS: How about your employees? Are you where you need to be staffing-wise?
LOVEMAN: We are, but it's hard work. These folks have relocated to places all across the southeast to try to put their life back together and get their kids back in school, and getting them back is really a one at a time process.
HARRIS: Harrah's is throwing a huge concert. It's a benefit concert and that's tomorrow, correct?
LOVEMAN: Tomorrow night in Las Vegas at the Caesar's Coliseum.
HARRIS: Tell us about it and where the proceeds are going, and who's performing for you? LOVEMAN: Well, I'm very pleased to say that the three performers who joined us in that facility during the year are helping us. Jerry Seinfeld, Celine Dion, and Elton John, which I think is a line-up that's really quite extraordinary and I'm deeply indebted to each of them for being willing to do this for us. The proceeds go to our Harrah's employee recovery fund which now has in the neighborhood of $5 million in it, some of it from the company, some from our fellow employees, venders, and others. That money goes to our employees about 9,000 of them, who were affected by the Gulf Coast storms who have sent us a note and asked us for help.
HARRIS: Gary, that's sort of the nuts and bolts of it, but this is a deeply personal story, not only for you, but folks like Nanita Jones. What has it been like for you and your employees to go through this? Many of them still are dislocated and are, in many cases, like Nanita. Her daughters are still, I believe, in Texas.
LOVEMAN: That's right. It's very hard to describe to people what it's been like for the people that work with us down there, Tony. They've lost their homes and every possession they had. They've lost the capacity to get their lives back to any level of normalcy. They've lost their positions, they've lost their schools for their children. It's the most completely disorienting experience that you could really imagine. What we've tried to do is to provide a certain level of security by continuing their compensation and their health care. We have on site clinics at the casino, such that our employees can go and visit with their families whenever they neat to free of charge, and they're gradually putting their lives back together, but it's come from living in trailers and living in shelters and living relatives and just putting it back together one day at a time.
HARRIS: Wow Gary, the best to you.
LOVEMAN: Thank you.
HARRIS: The best to the casino business and because that's part of it. That's part of it. There's no doubt about it. It's one of the reasons folks travel down to New Orleans. The best of you and your staff as you pull it all back together again. We appreciate your time.
LOVEMAN: Thank you Tony, come see us in New Orleans.
HARRIS: Ah, now that's an offer I can't refuse.
NGUYEN: You don't have to ask him twice.
HARRIS: Hey now. Thanks Gary.
LOVEMAN: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, we have heard from ex-FEMA director Michael Brown on what he thinks went wrong with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Now Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, is saying he is peace and doing a little damage control at the same time. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We've certainly learned a lot of lessons from Katrina, from Rita. Rita was better than Katrina. We're doing a better job planning. We're closer -- more closely aligned with the Department of Defense, these things would be positive things if we were to have another attack, but we've got a lot of work to do, and one of the things I want to say, Wolf, is we're 100 days from hurricane season, and we've got to start focusing on what we're going to do to make ourselves ready for the next hurricane.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And you can hear more of what Chertoff has to say today on "Late Edition" with Wolf Blitzer. It is an interview you will only see right here on CNN. You can watch it 11:00 a.m. Eastern.
HARRIS: India has started slaughtering thousands of chickens. The move comes a day after the country reported its first outbreak of bird flu.
NGUYEN: And the deadly virus is spreading to Europe. With more now, we're joined by Danielle Elias at the international desk.
Hi there, Danielle.
DANIELLE ELIAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Betty. Thank you.
Well, the battle against bird flu ramps up Asia and Europe. New European Union rules are in place to protect against the deadly H5N1 virus. Meanwhile, Germany tries to head off the spread of the disease by carrying out a limited call (ph). And France has confirmed its first case of the bird flu in a wild duck. The British government says France's discovery means it's now more likely the disease will spread to Britain.
Tension over the controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoons rages on. Tens of thousands of Muslim protesters have gathered in Istanbul, Turkey. Their chanted slogans against Denmark, Israel, and the U.S.
Meanwhile, protesters in Jakarta, Indonesia, have burned U.S. flags and stormed the U.S. embassy's front gate. They're angry about a little-known sculpture of the prophet.
And in Pakistan police used teargas to break up a crowd of several hundred Muslim demonstrators. The government arrested several protest leaders trying to stop any uprisings.
Well, I'm guessing, Betty, you might like the next story a bit more than Tony.
NGUYEN: OK, what is that?
HARRIS: I'll be the judge of that. ELIAS: You'll be the judge right? Well, you've heard of the singer Boy George, right?
NGUYEN: Oh, my goodness. I go way back....
ELIAS: Check this out.
NGUYEN: Because Boy George used to be the man that I watched. Culture Club, all that. Oh yeah.
ELIAS: Culture Club. He actually started his own fashion line.
NGUYEN: Oh wow, look at that. Bugs on a shirt. Nice.
ELIAS: In its first appearance Boy George's label, Be Rude, has closed the London fashion week. Over 100 designers showed off their creations during the five-day event. And Boy George's line of clothes was the grand finale. The brand is both for men and women, Tony and Betty, of course. It's already being sold in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and its London store is planned for this spring. As boy George says, "It's all about creativity."
NGUYEN: But, of course. That's how he lives his life. Be Rude, though. That's an interesting name.
ELIAS: Be rude. It's on sale, so you can go up to New York and get some.
NGUYEN: All right, just don't be rude, Danielle. All right?
ELIAS: I won't.
NGUYEN: Don't be rude.
ELIAS: Thank you.
NGUYEN: So, you just won a record 365 million smackaroos? What are you going to do now?
HARRIS: Hey, what about putting in a, oh, I don't know, a bid on one of these.
NGUYEN: Look at that.
NGUYEN: Wax museum figures on sale, and there are some familiar faces. That and your lottery wishes coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: OK, Brad. Thank you.
Time now to check in with Howard Kurtz in Washington to see what's ahead on CNN"s "Reliable Sources." HOWARD KURTZ, CNN "RELIABLE SOURCES": Coming up, the week-along media frenzy over the Dick Cheney shooting in Texas. Why didn't the vice president alert the national media after the incident and speak out sooner to the press? Did reporters go overboard in exploiting the story? We'll have an exclusive interview with former White House Ari Fleischer. Plus, top political reporters, including CNS' Bill Plan.
And "Dateline NBC's" Chris Hanson defends the ethics of an undercover investigation into sexual predators. Plus our blogger buzz all ahead on "Reliable Sources."
NGUYEN: Here's a question for you this morning. As we prepare to watch "Reliable Sources," next, looking forward to that. If you could have any celebrity come into your house to live, not just to stay for a little while, but to live, who would you it?
HARRIS: Good list, here. Julia Roberts, Tiger Woods, how about John Travolta? Well, you could soon get your chance. Next month the Movieland Wax Museum in California is having a liquidation sale.
NGUYEN: Oh, you did say that.
HARRIS: It's been bad for me all morning. They're auctioning off a few of Hollywood's favs. The company says no one seems to be interested in, you know, paying to see celebrity wax figures, and so they've got to go somewhere. Shut the doors.
NGUYEN: How about a candle or two. That's just an idea. You know, all morning long we've been talking about this lottery, this Powerball, this $365 million. One person won in Nebraska, but had you won this, how would you spend those winnings?
HARRIS: This is from Cyndi? OK. "I would buy," ha ha, finally, some love for Tony.
NGUYEN: Tony.
HARRIS: "I would buy Tony a house, my five kids a house, get" Lipo? OK. "Get lipo for myself, and move Budapest, Hungry." Thank you, Cyndi.
NGUYEN: All right. This one from Ken. Tony, I want to you look really closely at this one, it says, "I will beg Tony to shave his sideburns for $365 million" smakaroos.
HARRIS: Why is that so funny in the room?
NGUYEN: Can we get a close-up of the sideburns?
HARRIS: Why is that so funny in the room?
NGUYEN: Those chops. Although they are looking a little darker this week.
HARRIS: Yeah, that's...
NGUYEN: We'll be talking about that next week.
HARRIS: Yeah, that's next week's segment.
NGUYEN: What is that about?
Well...
NGUYEN: Could you tell the kind folks at home?
HARRIS: No, you got to be with us next week.
All right, here's the thing, all right, so we've had a lot of...
NGUYEN: He doesn't want to talk about it.
HARRIS: We've had a lot of fun with Betty this morning.
NGUYEN: Yeah, you put me through the ringer today.
HARRIS: And here's the thing. You took off from Atlanta yesterday, and you made your way...
NGUYEN: I lived in north Georgia. Not that far from south -- oh, no you didn't.
HARRIS: So here we go...
NGUYEN: You did not.
HARRIS: This is Betty's quest for millions. All right, this is what we figured, Betty. About, oh...
NGUYEN: In my Bentley, I like that.
HARRIS: Let me see, 190 miles roundtrip, and in your favorite car, the Bentley, which gets about...
NGUYEN: Which I don't have.
HARRIS: Which gets about 16 miles-per-gallon, OK? On the highway. All right (INAUDIBLE), gas we figured at about, oh, $2 .10 per gallon, so the total price of your trip, if you're driving, OK, $25 for gas alone.
NGUYEN: But this is a chance of a lifetime, Tony. It's $365 million bucks.
HARRIS: Twenty-five dollars in gas and you bought $9 worth of lottery tickets.
NGUYEN: That's all.
HARRIS: Nine dollars.
NGUYEN: Nine was -- emphasis on "was," my lucky number. Apparently it didn't work out because I'm still here sitting next to you, right? Because had I won, I would have called in today. No, no, maybe I would have sent an email. I may not have even called.
HARRIS: One more time. Let me see the graphic please. Let me see.
NGUYEN: Do you have to put that up again?
HARRIS: I need to see her in a Bentley one last time before we go.
NGUYEN: That's the only time you'll see me in a Bentley because I didn't win the money.
HARRIS: All right, here it is. Betty in the Bentley as we say goodbye. "Reliable Sources" is next followed by "Late Edition" and "On the Story."
NGUYEN: Also want to watch Susan Roesgen, when will be with you all morning with live news updates. Have a good day, everybody.
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