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CNN Saturday Morning News

Wilma Hits Yucatan Peninsula Hard; Judith Miller May Have Been Misleading; Syria Linked To Killing Of Hariri; Tips To Save On Heating Costs

Aired October 22, 2005 - 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: Hurricane Wilma stalls over Mexico, pounding Cancun and Cozumel. From the CNN Center in Atlanta I'm Betty Nguyen this, is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We are expecting our next storm update from the National Hurricane Center in two hours and we're going to bring that to you live when it happens.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris. In a moment we'll go live to Cancun, Havana and Sanibel Island, Florida. But first a check of other headlines now in the news this morning.

The son of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, that should be former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is calling for calm and not revenge as a UN report suggests government collaboration in his father's assassination.

Hariri died in a February 14th bombing. A UN probe concludes Lebanese and Syrian involvement. A claim Syria strongly denies.

New information on the bird flu, wild swans in Croatia tested positive for the H5 avian flu virus. It's not yet known if it's the deadly H5N1. The European Union has already banned poultry from Turkey and Romania and the UN reports a parrot imported from Surinam has died in quarantine. The bird tested positive for a strain of avian flu.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has moved on to Mongolia from South Korea to praise Mongolian troops for service in Iraq; 130 members of Mongolia's small army is serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mongolia is the third stop on Rumsfeld's five nation tour of Asia.

NGUYEN: Well, tourists on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula are usually sunbathing or playing on the white sand beaches, but not this morning. They are watching huge waves and the wind. Look at the damage there. They're taking shelter from Hurricane Wilma's lengthy and fierce assault. And CNN's Susan Candiotti is there. We cannot get in touch with her at this moment because the phone lines are very difficult, but she is at the Marriott Hotel there which has limited power and has taken some water.

She was able, though, to file this report so take a look at the damage that Hurricane Wilma has already done to the Yucatan Peninsula.

OK. We'll try to get you that story in just a moment, but you've been looking at some of the pictures coming out of there. The rain continues to pound. And I think the biggest thing for Susan, what we were talking to her about earlier was the wind.

HARRIS: The winds. We have got to explain. The reason she's having difficulty getting out of there. She's on one of these satellite phone. It's the new technology and what it is is it's basically a phone in a case but what happens is you have to flip it open and you need power and it runs on AC so you have to plug it into the available outlets, electricity in the hotel. When the power is knocked out in the hotel, what you then have to use it is you have to run it off your car battery. So she may be having all kinds of problems with the electricity, AC and the hotel, whatever the case.

NGUYEN: And she can't get to a shelter downtown where a lot of the tourists are because right now it is simply too dangerous for them to leave, but we are told that they are safe and sound in this hotel despite the fact it's taken on some water. It does have five floors. So at this point we know she's okay and once we get her we will bring her to you live.

HARRIS: With the threat of Hurricane Wilma looming many people on the southwestern coast of Cuba are heeding evacuation orders. CNN's Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman is live on the phone with the latest. Lucia, good morning to you.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Good morning, Tony, well, here it's not like in Cancun, certainly not yet, but it's a proverbial calm before the storm. A bit windy, but it's not even raining right now here in Havana, but the outer bands of this hurricane have been coming over the western tip of the island.

It's not raining heavily there, but already there are reports of one river that's overflowing in a place called Ciudad Santino (ph) which is on the far western tip of the island in Pinar del Rio province. That's that part of Cuba that's famous for tobacco used for making Cuban cigars.

Now, authorities, as you mentioned, are taking no chances, neither are Cubans, extreme measure, you could say, evacuating 300,000 people even before this storm approaches. Probably more than 300,000 will be evacuated before this is all over and we don't expect Hurricane Wilma to pass near us or over the island until late tomorrow or perhaps even Monday, Tony.

HARRIS: Lucia, where are they going? Is there kind of a -- how elaborate is the shelter system there on the island?

NEWMAN: What's elaborate here is the system for getting people out, but the shelters themselves are very rudimentary. We're talking about schools, government buildings. Generally sturdy buildings of any of kind that are automatically turned into shelters when there's a hurricane.

A lot of people, too, are taken from their homes so that they can go to the houses of friends or relatives who live on higher ground or in safer buildings, Tony.

HARRIS: And when the folks are boarding the aircraft and they're flying what are some of the other islands they're being evacuated too.

NEWMAN: Nobody's getting on a plane here. This is an island. So no matter where you go, you are still inside Cuba. They're bused, basically, but they start the process very early.

HARRIS: OK. Lucia Newman in Havana for us. Lucia, appreciate it. Thank you.

NGUYEN: OK. So let's find out exactly where Wilma is and how strong this storm is at this hour. Let's check in now with CNN's Jacqui Jeras, who has been watching the past couple of days, now.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes. Forever.

NGUYEN: Feels like it.

JERAS: That's right. I'll be here through the duration, guys, so sit tight and we'll get you through it because it's really been a waiting game for people in Florida to say when is it coming? First we thought it was going Sunday, then we thought it was going to be Monday, maybe Tuesday, oh wait, now it's going to be Monday and we're still thinking Monday at this time, but it is so much dependent as to what's happening in the Yucatan Peninsula and our confidence in the forecast will be greatly increased, I think, once this gets back into open water.

The longer that it sits here the more the storm is going to weaken because it's over land. It loses its energy source a little bit here and also the longer that it sits here, the longer it's going take for it to start that northeasterly turn. If it stays down here to long we would be a little bit worried about Cuba getting a hit from the storm and it will start moving north and east like this and then we'd be more worried about the Florida Keys.

But if it moves a little faster, it's starting to drift up to the north right now. That would bring it farther north and the coastline in Florida. So there's still a fair amount of uncertainty.

This is the most recent radar picture out of Cancun. There you can see the center of circulation right in here. These folks have just been pounded for more than 24 hours with hurricane-force sustained winds. The wind damage, I would imagine now that the sun is starting to come up is just going to be unimaginable not to mentioned rainfall. It has not stopped raining there either. Ten to 20 inches, locally heavy amounts up to three feet. Three feet of rain, guys. That is just unbelievable the flooding problems they are going to be having.

A little bit of rain across South Florida. This is the tropical moisture which is trying to make its way into there. We think hurricane watches could be posted later on today.

This is the spaghetti model of our computer model forecast and it takes into account 16 different computer models and you can see it's pretty uniform near this area near Naples and the Ft. Myers area and there's still a couple of them to keep it of Florida altogether. Cross your fingers. I suppose it's still a possibility, though it's not the most likely scenario at this time.

We'll be watching this part, I think, later on Monday. We'll keep you up to date. Once it gets up into the Gulf of Mexico we'll have more confidence on where the thing is going.

NGUYEN: We always have confidence in you, Jacqui. You know that.

So, weaker or not, Wilma still poses a danger to Florida. The latest forecast has the storm arriving as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane by Monday afternoon and residents on Florida's western coasts are getting ready. That is where the storm is expected to roll ashore.

CNN's senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff is live on Sanibel Island with an update there. I don't see any rain just yet, but you know it's coming.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly not coming for some while, I can tell you, Betty, even this morning the sun is trying to peek through the light clouds over here. It's actually a beautiful morning. Behind me you see the causeway that leads off of the island.

It's one lane in either direction and as you can see not all that many cars leaving just yet. Many people have left over the prior few days, but beginning at 12:00 today noon time there will be a mandatory evacuation. People received phone calls from an automated phone system yesterday afternoon. This morning they're busy packing.

We just got back from the home of Barry and Nancy Gordon. They're busy at work pack up, take perishables out of their refrigerator. Their lawn furniture already has been dumped into the swimming pool and they say they believe they're doing the right thing by evacuating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GORDON, SANIBEL ISLAND RESIDENT: I would definitely not want to be in a one-story home in a storm surge, because not only does water come in, but a few other things too, like snakes and critters. I'm out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Hurricane Charlie, of course, hit here in August of 2004 and the Gordons suffer some damage. In fact, just a few days ago they had their roof redone. So they feel they're all set for this one, but a lot of people, of course are making their final preparations and we should see the highway behind me a little more crowded later in the day. Betty?

NGUYEN: So they, too, can get out of there as she says.

CHERNOFF: Yes.

NGUYEN: Allan, thank you. HARRIS: Critters and whatever else. The government doesn't want to drop the ball again. It is gearing up for Hurricane Wilma to avoid a repeat of Katrina, that's for sure. We'll go live to FEMA headquarters in the next hour.

NGUYEN: Also next hour, talk about a road trip. This guy's on a really long one and it's all for a good cause.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And welcome back everyone to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Tony Harris. A check of your top stories right now.

Hurricane Wilma has weakened to a Category 3 storm but it is still pounding the Mexican coast with 120 miles an hour wind and heavy rain. Wilma is expected to weaken before heading to Florida.

Pakistan says it needs more help. President Pervez Musharraf is pleading for more relief supplies for hurricane (sic) victims. He says half a million tents and blankets are still needed as winter sets in.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is hosting a special guest in Alabama. She has taken British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to her home state. Rice and Foreign Secretary Straw will go to a University of Alabama football game today to see the Tide play. Their visit is aimed to promote human rights. Alabama was the center of the civil rights movement.

NGUYEN: Another twist in the CIA leak investigation. Did "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller mislead her own newspaper? A top editor now says Miller did not reveal enough about her contacts with Bush administration officials including Vice President Cheney's top aide Lewis Libby. Miller went to jail, as you recall, for nearly three months for refusing to reveal her sources.

She eventually testified before a grand jury and in a memo to his staff, "New York Times" executive editor Bill Keller says, quote, "If I had known the details of Judy's entanglement with Libby, I'd have been more careful on how to paper articulated its defense, and perhaps more willing than I had been to support efforts aimed at exploring compromises with prosecutors."

HARRIS: The CIA leak investigation is just one more bump on what's turning into an increasingly rocky road for President Bush. Where will that road lead? Our Elaine Quijano joins us now from the White House with some answers. Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you Tony. The Bush administration, as you point out, is facing an onslaught of challenges, among them the CIA leak investigation, also conservative opposition to the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination as well as waning public support for the president's Iraq policy.

Now, yesterday while in California, President Bush addressed that last point. Mr. Bush was at the Ronald Reagan Library to attend the dedication of a new Air Force One pavilion there, at a time when he's been under attack from people with his own party over the Miers nomination. The president stood side by side with Nancy Reagan and drew upon the legacy of her husband, a GOP icon. Mr. Bush compared Reagan's successful fight against communism with the current battle against terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: We have confidence in our cause because we have seen America face down brutal enemies before. We have confidence our cause because we have seen the power of freedom to overcome the dark ideologies of tyranny and terror and we have confidence our cause because we believe as President Ronald Reagan did that freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, President Bush returned to the Washington, DC area last night. He is spending the weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David. We believe that his chief of staff Andy Card will be with him. Publicly the president says he remains focused on carrying out the nation's business but, of course, privately with the challenges mounting, one former senior Bush official says that the president's top aides are weary. Tony?

HARRIS: Yes. Staying focused. Elaine, when was the last time you heard anyone talk about, oh, Social Security reformat White House?

QUIJANO: Well that's a good question, Tony. Certainly that's something that President Bush said at the outset was going to be a centerpiece of his domestic agenda. We certainly have not heard a lot about that. Nevertheless, they are trying to put the best face possible on this and the president as we've heard him say is continuing to press on.

HARRIS: As you would expect. CNN's Elaine Quijano at the White House for us. Elaine, thank you.

The rough road for the White House has also peaked interest from Web users at cnn.com.

Veronica De La Cruz joins us now from the dot com desk to tell us what people are clicking on.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that isn't the only story receiving clicks this morning, Tony, Web users interested in what the reaction has been to the UN report linking Syria to the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria is denying the claim. Hariri died in a February 14th bombing.

CNN's Brent Sadler has that story for us. Also receiving clicks this morning, Tony, a California teen is being held on $1 million bail. Scott Dyleski is being charged in a beating death of Pamela Vitale, the wife of high profile defense lawyer Daniel Horowitz. The 16-year-old will be tried as an adult. Dyleski has been described by classmates as a Goth loner who wore black nail polish and a black trench coat. We saw his yearbook picture, right?

HARRIS: That's right.

DE LA CRUZ: Finally, we got this story from CNN's Susan Candiotti, all eyes are on Hurricane Wilma, literally. Web users are watching this video of Wilma slamming into the Mexican resort town of Cancun. You see the power of the hurricane here as palm trees blow back and forth in the wind and those winds, by the way, Tony, clocking speeds of more than 130 miles per hour. We saw Susan getting blown around out there.

HARRIS: That's right.

DE LA CRUZ: Now, to find these most popular pieces of video, log on to cnn.com, look for the green watch box, click on browse and search and then select the tab that says "most popular."

HARRIS: Sustained winds 125, 130 miles an hour. That is just scary stuff.

NGUYEN: Can you imagine Susan out there blowing around.

HARRIS: She's a tiny thing.

DE LA CRUZ: There's no height or weight requirement.

NGUYEN: Very true. Just about anyone would be blown down in that wind. OK. Thank you, Veronica.

Coming up, how would your home score in an energy audit with energy prices rising by the day and winter fast approaching, we will count the money-saving ways you can insulate your home sweet home.

HARRIS: And what if, if any, impact will Hurricane Wilma have on those higher heating costs? We'll take a closer look in "Open House" at the bottom of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: And welcome back. With every hurricane that hits the Gulf of Mexico or Florida coast we hear the increasingly bad news, fuel prices are going up and that means heating your home this winter could really put a hole in your budget, but there are things that you can do inside your home to keep those heating bills lower.

Some utility companies around the country will actually come out and inspect your home and tell you what to do to make it more energy efficient and Haley Ballew an energy consultant for Georgia Power joins us in studio today to talk about the specifics here. OK. So when we want to save money when it comes to energy, give us some of the top five tips that are simple and it doesn't take a professional to come out and do it.

HALEY BALLEW, ENERGY CONSULTANT, GEORGIA POWER: The first thing you want to start out with is making sure you have accurate thermostat settings. The recommended setting for the wintertime is 68 degrees. NGUYEN: That's kind of cold.

BALLEW: You have to understand that for every degree that your thermostat is set lower than 68 degrees on higher than 68 degrees, that's about a three to five percent increase for your power bill per degree. So if you have got it set at 78 degrees, that's just say a 10 percent increase there.

NGUYEN: So put on an extra sweater.

BALLEW: Absolutely. Put a blanket on when you're watching TV, sweat pant, sweatshirt, absolutely.

NGUYEN: What else can you do?

BALLEW: You can weather strip around your doors, you can caulk around your windows, add door sweeps in the bottom, use expanding foam or spray foam in some of the areas where you have larger gaps.

If you were to add up all of the cracks inside your house it would basically be like having an open window while your air conditioner ...

NGUYEN: That's something you do, go around and look for those cracks because I don't know that people truly do that.

BALLEW: Absolutely. Close your door. If you can see light coming around it, you know that you have air moving around it. You can buy weather stripping at any home improvement store and attach that on to the doors.

NGUYEN: All right. And so how much will this save you, per se. Have you added up, have you crunched the numbers?

BALLEW: Haven't crunched the numbers but your biggest savings will be with your thermostat settings. Fifty two percent of your power bill is what it's costing you to heat your home or cool your home, depending on the season. So that's why maintenance on a heating and cooling system is very, very important.

NGUYEN: What about insulation, filters and insulation and things like that?

BALLEW: Yes. Even if you have a newer home and a new heating cooling system and you're setting your thermostat to where it needs to be. If the envelope of your home isn't up to code, then a lot of that air is going outside. So you want to make sure you have insulation in your attic. Insulator is rated in R values, which is the resistance value. Basically how good is it at keeping hot air outside in the summer and warm air inside in the winter.

NGUYEN: Does thickness matter when you get insulation?

BALLEW: Yes it does. You want to have anywhere from 12 to 15 inches of blown in insulation in your attic. That's equivalent to an R value of 30 or you can have R 30 bats of insulation. NGUYEN: Sounds like you're speak a different language. But I think we get it. You want to have a lot of insulation because that keeps all the warmth inside.

Now when we talk about windows, of course, I guess double panel windows would be the best, but if you don't have those and you have single pane windows, is caulking the only thing you can do.

BALLEW: If you have single pane windows, your first option is storm windows. What a storm window will do is create an airtight seal around your existing window giving you a double pane window effect or you can just get all newer double pane windows.

NGUYEN: That's costly, though, right?

BALLEW: It is. It is. But regardless of what you decide to do, make sure you have good caulking on the inside of the home as well as the outside so you can eliminate any draftiness.

NGUYEN: And quickly, is there a better heating unit than, say, others that's more energy efficient.

BALLEW: A heat pump is a good way to heat your home. It's similar to your standard gas furnace, it just operates a little differently. In the wintertime instead of it using gas or using energy to create heat, a heat pump transfers heat. So it brings the warm air from outside and heats your home that way. Then when it gets too cold outside for the unit to do that efficiently, usually below about 30 degrees, your backup heat will come on, so at that point your gas would come on or the electric heat strips would come on.

So you're not creating heat, you're simply transferring it.

NGUYEN: I got it, I got it. And it all saves you money. Even the little tips can save you money, especially when fuel prices go up. Thank you so much for being with us today.

BALLEW: No problem, thank you.

NGUYEN: Tony?

HARRIS: Can't write fast enough. Haley, thank you. "Open House" straight ahead. In the next hour we'll keep tracking Hurricane Wilma. It is a bit weaker, but keeping forecasters on their toes and just another reminder. At about 11:00 today we'll get an update, an advisory from the National Hurricane Center. We'll bring that to you.

Also at 10:00 Eastern meet a young man whose birthday present to himself was a road trip of sorts. He's pounding the pavement to help others. Stay with CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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