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CNN Saturday Morning News
Credible and Specific, But Unconfirmed Plan for Bomb Attack on 9/11 Anniversary; Trucks Being Checked Throughout New York; Wildfire Emergency In Texas; Devastating Floods In Northeast; CNN Weather Update; CNN Hero Jeff Parness; Morning Passport: Canadian Border Towns
Aired September 10, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good Saturday morning.
Three people are believed to be part of a possible terror plot against the U.S., a plan to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary, and government sources say they think two of these three people are American citizens. We will give you the latest overnight developments in just seconds on this latest, possible terror threat.
Also, listen to the week that firefighters have had in Texas. They've responded to close to 200 wildfires since Sunday. President Obama declaring an emergency there as homes continue to burn.
Also today, NASA is heading to the moon. Yes, what you're looking at there, the rocket that will launch here in just a few hours, weather permitting. We'll certainly bring that to you live, tell you what the mission to the moon is all about.
But it is Saturday, September 10th. I'm T.J. Holmes. It is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Thanks you for spending part of your weekend here with us.
And it is a weekend where the country is going to stop and remember and mourn, but also the government telling you to be vigilant as well. We have increased security, increased scrutiny, one day before the tenth anniversary of 9/11. All of this because of a credible terror threat. It's causing concern in New York, as well as Washington.
Here is the latest, this is what we know. I mentioned the word credible. That is what they're calling it, credible, even specific, but it's not yet confirmed. American intelligence networks intercepted communications from an area in Pakistan, specifically from an individual who has provided valuable information in the past.
Now, we are getting a lot of information, a lot of details about this intercept. Maybe more than we're used to getting to. It's kind of rare for them to reveal this much, but they say they are confident in the accuracy of the information.
A top U.S. official says the threat likely involves three people. A government source telling us that two of them are believed to be U.S. citizens and that they could be using a truck or car filled with explosives to carry out an attack.
So police in New York City already had ramped up security around the tenth anniversary of 9/11, but now they're taking a closer look at trucks and any other suspicious vehicles headed into the city. And when we say a closer look, how do they do that? Well, they are literally stopping trucks and vehicles going through them right there on the street. A number of new checkpoints put in place has pretty much shut the city down to traffic in a lot of places.
Our senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff, is joining me now from Ground Zero.
Allan, good morning to you.
And I was struck by something you told me live on the air yesterday, that you talked to one driver that said it took about an hour and a half to go three miles.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. In fact, T.J., there were so many complaints about the traffic jams streaming throughout Manhattan that late in the day, during rush hour yesterday, the police actually eased up those blockades. Instead of one lane of traffic, they were permitting two in some cases. Not checking quite as carefully. But this morning, it's back on. The noose is being tightened once again.
Right -- we're on West Street, all the way on the west side of Manhattan. A few blocks north of where I'm standing, I just went through one of those checkpoints. Every single car being checked by a series of police officers. And to the south, also checkpoints as well. Coming out of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which connects Brooklyn to Manhattan, cars are being told you cannot go north on this highway, which passes right by Ground Zero.
So, certainly, very tight security. Of course, we anticipated that before the anniversary. But it's even a bit tighter than the plans that had been laid earlier on.
HOLMES: And, Allan, you're there at Ground Zero. We expect it to be very tight there. You have the president coming tomorrow. A lot of people will be there. But is it the same as far as this -- I guess this lockdown. A lot of these checkpoints and this gridlock, does it spread out throughout Manhattan and throughout the entire city really?
CHERNOFF: Well, it did yesterday. I mean obviously yesterday was a working day. So, at the checkpoints, the gridlock was just awful. And for blocks before those checkpoints as well.
Today, obviously, it's a Saturday. It's not a working day. Traffic normally wouldn't be all that bad anyhow. So we're not looking for the same type of situation.
But in terms of security, obviously, it's going to be exceedingly tight. And I should add, the police intend to keep those checkpoints in place through Monday, the day after the 9/11 anniversary.
HOLMES: All right, Allan Chernoff for us in New York. Again, we will check in with you plenty throughout the morning.
Also, there are a lots of special events scheduled throughout this weekend. They start today to honor those killed on 9/11. At the Pentagon, former President George W. Bush will lay a wreath at the 9/11 stone. That's an engraved stone in the rebuilt portion of the Pentagon that was badly damaged by the attack. That's scheduled to happen at 10:00 Eastern this morning.
Then a 12:.30 Eastern, a dedication for phase one of the permanent 9/11 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, honoring the heroes aboard United Flight 93. Our John King is there. We'll join him a little later this morning.
And this afternoon, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will be on hand for a memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York honoring the firefighters who died at the World Trade Center. Three hundred and forty-three firefighters died there.
Then tomorrow morning, the tenth anniversary of 9/11, this show will be in New York. I'll be there starting at 6:00 a.m. We'll be there overlooking Ground Zero as America remembers that day that changed this country really, and the world, 10 years ago.
Then starting at 8:00 a.m., CNN will have complete coverage of all of the remembrance ceremonies in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Well, with the entire country being told now to be extra vigilant about this new, possible threat against the homeland, yesterday, NBC, their Twitter account, put out a message saying that there was, in fact, a terror attack at Ground Zero in New York City. But it wasn't the case, of course. Instead, computer hackers that called themselves "The Script Kiddies" are taking responsibility for hacking the NBC News Twitter account and falsely posted that attack. Now, NBC employees quickly responded. They knocked down the bogus post. But now NBC says they are working with Twitter, also working with the authorities to try to figure this out.
Also, somebody took 14,000 rounds of ammunition from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. You heard me right, 14,000 rounds of ammunition are missing right now. Investigators think it was taken overnight on Tuesday. They are certainly taking this situation seriously, trying to track this down. The missing ammunition belongs to the Army's first brigade combat team of the 82nd Airborne. The brigade was locked down after it was found out that this stuff was missing. It has sense been lifted.
And what you're seeing here, the scene as the Egyptian protesters battle security forces in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Egypt's health minister says at least 520 people were injured yesterday. Earlier, Israel's ambassador, the staff and security guards all left Egypt. Since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, many Egyptians have called for the end of diplomatic relations with Israel.
Also in Libya, rebels say loyalists to longtime strong man Moammar Gadhafi have ignored today's deadline to lay down their weapons and that the fighting has resumed in some of the final bastions of Gadhafi's supporters in the towns of Bani Walid and Sirte. Sirte is the ex-dictator's hometown.
And NASA is watching the weather closely this morning in Florida. That is because they are trying to head to the moon today. New moon mission set to launch here in just a couple of hours. This is called the "GRAIL" project. It's the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory.
Now they idea here, they're going to try to map the gravity of the lunar surface to figure out what's under the surface. Again, the launch is scheduled for 8:29 Eastern Time, weather permitting. NASA says they think they have about a 60 percent chance of the launch today. They did have to scrub it on Thursday because of bad weather. So, they'll try it again this morning. We'll certainly bring that to you live when and hopefully if it does happen.
Well, we turn to Texas now. Wildfires still burning there. The state needs help from the weather and from Washington. We've got Alexandra Steele in the severe weather center for us this morning.
Always good to have you. Good morning.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you and good morning everyone out there. So, will we see relief for those Texas wildfires? The answer is no. We'll talk about why.
And 11 rivers in Washington and Pennsylvania and New York. Record levels. Certainly have seen them in the last 40 years. Will we see relief?
Well, more on the rain and where it is and where it will not be. That's all coming up. A full look at your forecast for the weekend. We'll meet you back here right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 10 minutes past this hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
We turn to Texas. That is where firefighters there have been battling dozens and dozens of wildfires. Nearly 200 separate fires just in the past week. President Obama declared a state of emergency in one county making them eligible for federal help. Our Chris Welch is there with more on the devastation.
CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., I want to just show you what we're standing in front of right now. This is just one of the houses. This is one of the few that we've managed to find so far because they're not letting people into the badly burned areas just yet. But look at some of this devastation, T.J. We've got remnants of a bed over there. You can see parts of what were a kitchen, what was a workout set. The -- pretty much the only thing left standing are the brick. A few pieces of brick, anyway. At this point, you know, folks are -- officials are still worried about flare-ups. This is a very, very dry area that we're dealing with and so we've got some crews who have been driving around. They run a company of flame retardant gel. They're asking folks, look, if you'd like us to spray down your house. We know it didn't decimate your house right now, but we're worried about flare-ups. So would you like us to spray this gel on your home? And folks are saying, yes, please.
It's amazing. I don't know if we can get a shot. Let's walk out over here just really quickly because this house, you see what it's done here. But let's look -- look at this house next door. Completely intact. And really not even a burn mark. Just a few spots in the ground that were scorched. So this is the kind of damage this fire did. It hopped and skipped a few places. It zigzagged through these neighborhoods. One right next door, totally fine. This one, totally gone.
T.J., I'll send it back to you.
HOLMES: All right.
There's a different disaster in the Northeast. Take a look at this. This is what it looks like throughout central in eastern Pennsylvania. Flooding has forced thousands from their homes. Many of them don't have anything to come back to when the evacuation order is lifted. Part of the problem is that this could be even a toxic mess. The flooding washed over several sewage treatment plants, so there's no telling what kind of mixture is in those waters. This is all from what was once Tropical Storm Lee.
Our John Zarrella reports now from Pennsylvania that the water is starting to subside, and leaving behind just a massive mess.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., I'm standing on the banks of the Susquehanna here, and you can see, cameraman Jerry Simonson (ph) can show you, those benches way down there. That should be dry land, but it's under water. Earlier, the Susquehanna had come all the way up out of its banks. You can see the mud here. Mud over here.
And let me tell you where it went, T.J. the water went all the way up, across the street -- this is Front Street here -- and literally up to that side of the street. We've got to walk across the mud again.
Now, if you look down here, you can see all of this water. Beyond that, T.J., is a location called Shipo (ph). And everybody that we know is telling us here that the water is probably chest deep, if not deeper in Shipo. But the only way to get there is by boat.
Now, we have seen some cars moving through and coming out of this area, but very little activity now. It's pretty quiet. The rest of the city of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, seems to be in pretty good shape. Just along Front Street, governor's mansion suffered some water damage. It's along Front Street.
But, one good thing is, Hurricane Agnes in 1972, the water crested at about 32 feet. Here, only 25 feet from this storm. So not as bad as what happened -- fortunately not as bad as what happened during Hurricane Agnes back in 1972 -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, thanks, as always, to our John Zarrella.
We'll say good morning again to Alexandra Steele.
Which one should we start with here?
STEELE: Where should we begin?
HOLMES: OK, that's not a good sign, though, Texas, you've got big dry all (INAUDIBLE) like that.
STEELE: That's right. We're going to see these warm winds, T.J., exacerbate the temperatures. So Houston going from 96 to 97 to 98 to 99. Temperatures only getting warmer. Again, these warm, dry winds. So kind of exacerbating the scenario. Dry staying dry. And, you know, where John just was talking about Harrisburg, he talked about since Hurricane Agnes. We're looking at an incredible amount of rain they have seen with this. Thirteen inches. Again, not record level ever seen, but certainly in the 40 years they haven't seen any of this. And the Susquehanna River, believe it or not, singlehandedly dislocating 100,000 people.
So, will we see more rain? Well, unfortunately, we will in Pennsylvania in the next 48 hours. Maybe a half an inch, if that. But area of low pressure points north of New York. So Vermont, Maine, New England, really seeing a beautiful day. But south of that, this kind of stubborn area of low pressure still will be here and kind of trigger off some rain showers.
The Pacific Northwest, it's hot and dry and that will continue as well. California has been incredibly warm. Look at Portland, Oregon, 96. So the heat is on in the Northwest. Inner mountain west, a little bit cooler than average.
But, again, here are the temperatures in the 70s in northern New England. Look at Boston. Some of those temperatures only in the 60s today.
Again, here is the rain. Here's what we could see in the next 24 to 48 hours. Anywhere between about 0.30 and about a half an inch of rain. So any rain is certainly not good news and certainly not welcome. And, unfortunately, this is the area we will see a little bit more.
We'll have more on the forecast and also La Nina, T.J., we'll talk about its re-emergence and what it will mean for the forecast for the winter.
HOLMES: OK, La Nina. The other thing we're going to be watching this morning, Alexandra, Florida. How are they doing down there? Alexandra, oh, she's stepping away from the --
STEELE: Oh, I'm sorry, T.J. What did you ask? HOLMES: She's taking off on me.
STEELE: I'm sorry.
HOLMES: Where you going, Alexandra?
STEELE: Oh, I'm so sorry. Tell me. Tell me.
HOLMES: No. No, I'm teasing. No, no, how are they looking in Florida? Of course they're trying to launch their rocket today going to the moon.
STEELE: That's right.
HOLMES: You think it might cooperate today in Florida?
STEELE: Having a 60 percent chance. Again, Florida has really seen a lot of showers, a lot of storms. We'll continue to see that. So the potential -- again, it was scrubbed once. Florida, this time of year, is certainly very tough. We know that. It's about a 60 percent chance it will take off. We'll monitor that and get back to you with any minute details that may change it.
HOLMES: OK. You can go now, Alexandra.
STEELE: All right, thank you, T.J. A little coffee.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks, Alexandra. She's here with us throughout the morning. We'll check in with her plenty.
We're at 16 minutes past the hour now. And he was one of the many people who lost a close friend when the twin towers fell 10 years ago. And after watching this outpouring of help from around the country, he decided to say thank you in a special way. We're going to introduce you to this CNN Hero after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're at 18 minutes past the hour now.
You're taking a look at Ground Zero in New York. That, of course, the place where we will see the memorial service. The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Can you believe it has been 10 years? The president expected there for the ceremony. Many firefighters, many family members, many dignitaries, but also just a lot of New Yorkers there to remember that day.
And also something we'll be talking about this weekend. They're actually opening the 9/11 Memorial. The official memorial will be opened to the public on September 12th. So that will be dedicated tomorrow as well.
And, of course, in the days, weeks, months after 9/11, a lot of people are looking for a way to express their grief and the support for those who were hurting the most. This is how some people did it. This is a street memorial in New York's Greenwich Village. One of our iReporters sent us these pictures. The day after the attacks, people started making tiles and hanging them from a fence surrounding a parking lot. Ten years later, that memorial is still standing.
And just like many other New Yorkers, Jeff Parness, he was changed by 9/11. He was deeply moved by all the support the city got. And in 2004 he established New York Says Thank You, a non-profit that sends volunteers from New York City to rebuild other communities hit with disaster. Now, more than 10,000 people nationwide are part of the effort. And for that, Jeff is a CNN Hero.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: September 11th was a very tough time for the fire department. I lost some friends. Guys I went to the academy with. The day afterwards, people came from everywhere to help us out. It was incredible. You knew you weren't alone.
JEFF PARNESS, FOUNDER, NEW YORK SAYS THANK YOU: As a New Yorker, to see that outpouring of kindness and generosity was more powerful than the terror that happened. That really changed me.
I'm Jeff Parness and I just want to show the world that New Yorkers will never forget what people did for us following 9/11.
Every year on the 9/11 anniversary, we take volunteers from New York and send them to some part of the country where they had a disaster and help folks rebuild.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You pull in to town and the tallest thing there is the grain silo. It's definitely a little culture shock.
PARNESS: Rebuilding homes or barns or churches, and it's our way of saying thank you. Now, more than half our volunteers are not from New York. People from all the small towns that we've helped, they keep showing up to help the next community. They're from Louisiana and California and Indiana and Illinois. Every year you keep seeing more t-shirts from more locations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to pitch in as much as we can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After Katrina we just jumped on his bandwagon. This whole paying it forward thing is just contagious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like this big, dysfunctional family reunion of all these disaster survivors who get together to do a barn raising.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're banging nails and building something, but it's the relationships that help you heal.
PARNESS: It's about using the 9/11 anniversary to celebrate in that volunteer spirit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll see you all next year.
PARNESS: People say thank you for doing this. I say, if you want to thank me, show up on the next one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Twenty-two minutes past the hour now. We're seeing this heightened security after 9/11. It's kind of raising some animosity between small town folk and aggressive border patrol agents, especially in towns lying on the border between the U.S. and Canada.
Safety versus national security. That is in this morning's passport. Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty-five minutes past the hour now.
Nadia Bilchik joining me with this morning's "Morning Passport," and we're talking about border towns. And when you -- people first hear that, they probably automatically think the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
But we're actually talking about the border to the north which changed somewhat. We're showing what we're talking about up there in Vermont. Between Vermont and Canada. You know what, security was heightened after 9/11 certainly at the borders, but this has upset some people up north.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, certainly. These are two villages. It's Derby Line, Vermont, on the boarder of Stanstead, Quebec. And these are two areas that really got on very well. You could literally cross the road from Vermont into Quebec. Well, one particular individual, Buzz Roy (ph), decides one Sunday night last year, in fact, that he's going to cross from Vermont to Quebec to go to Steve's (ph) to get a thin crust smoked meat pizza.
HOLMES: And he's not supposed to do this. After 9/11 it changed.
BILCHIK: Well, it changed. He can do this, but the fact is, he came across the street and he had to check in with the border patrol. And they were quite irritated. What are you doing? He said, I'm returning with my pizza. I'm a U.S. citizen and he checked in. So he did that.
That's not what really upset him. What upset him was when he got home, him and his long term partner, Sandra, have a scanner. And they listened to the scanner and the police were saying, we better check out this guy. And they were hearing what they were actually saying about him.
And this infuriated him. It was the officious nature of it that really got him so railed up. He said, here we are in a country. These are our neighbors. I have lived in this village my entire life. So he decided to be very contrary and he went back across the border, came back once again. They said to him, you can't do this. He said, why not? There shouldn't be a blockage on this particular street. I'm allowed to do this. I am American. But then he did it the third time. On the third time they arrested him, a $500 fine, put him in prison. So what's happening now is he's spent about $5,000 appealing this on principle.
HOLMES: Wow.
BILCHIK: Now, bearing in mind, this is a little town that has a library that borders and straddles the two towns. They call it the only library that doesn't have books, because the books are on the Quebec side.
HOLMES: But they -- this is an exception. This is not the case along all the border. But, still, these border patrol agents, are they not just doing their job? What they're supposed to do. BILCHIK: It was the way in which they did it.
HOLMES: OK.
BILCHIK: He understood check my papers. He understood that. What he didn't understand was them then -- and he heard this on the scanner -- going, who is this person? Let's check him out. That's what he really took offense to.
And I think what we're looking at here, T.J., was he right, was he wrong? That's not the point. I mean he got money from all over the country to pay his legal fees. He returned it all.
The point is, we just look at the ramifications of this tragedy. We look at this affecting people all over the country and the world. We see it, right, the impact. You go to the airport, you see it every day.
HOLMES: Right.
BILCHIK: But look at this impact on people that were friends. This was their neighbors. And now they have to check in just to go across the road to get a pizza. And it really has damaged relations and business.
HOLMES: All right, Nadia Bilchik with our "Morning Passport." Fascinating stuff this morning. Thank you. We're going to check in with you again this morning.
And we're getting close to the bottom of the hour here now and Israel's ambassador to Egypt has left Cairo. That after violent protests outside the embassy. An update on that for you.
Also, in New York, they are really locking things down, securing the streets in the wake of a new terror threat. We will take you back there live. Stay with me on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hey, everybody. We are just past the bottom of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Welcome back, I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us. Well, here at CNN we are teaming up with the Tea Party Express to host a Republican presidential debate. This is happening on Monday in Tampa. The top issues, or course, will include economy, size of government, Social Security. The format will be a little different from most debates you see. The audience will be able to ask questions. Tea Party members in Arizona, Ohio and Virginia will be able to do so as well.
Texas has distinguished itself as a state that doesn't shy away from capital punishment. Presidential candidate Rick Perry, and governor of Texas Rick Perry, didn't mince words when he spelled it out at a the GOP debate in California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In the state of Texas, if you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you are involved with another crime and kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas, and that is you will be executed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, Perry's belief in ultimate justice could possibly haunt him on the campaign trail. He is accused of using his influence to stop and investigation into a contentious death penalty case.
Here now, our Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted seven years ago. Convicted of setting his house on fire to kill his three children. His appeals, including to the Supreme Court, repeatedly denied. Texas Governor Rick Perry signed off on the execution.
PERRY: Willingham was a monster.
LAVANDERA: Just before Willingham's death, a nationally known fire expert studying the arson investigation found it horribly flawed. The original investigators relied on outdated arson science. Willingham supporters asked the governor to halt the execution. Perry refused.
PERRY: We have a system in the state, that has followed the procedures and they found this man guilty every step of the way.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Cameron Todd Willingham still haunts Rick Perry. The question is, not only Texas execute an innocent man, but did Perry use his power to try and shutdown a potentially embarrassing investigation into how Willingham was convicted? If there was no arson, Willingham would not have been executed.
STEVE SALOOM, INNOCENCE PROJECT: If this case went to trial today I cannot see any way that Willingham would be convicted. I cannot see any way that this-that a prosecutor would bring the case forward today.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The Innocence Project brought Willingham's case to an obscure state agency called the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which started looking into whether bad arson investigative techniques were used to convict Willingham.
SAM BASSETT, FMR. DIRECTOR, TEXAS FORENSIC SCIENCE COMMISSION: That the science was, indeed, junk science.
LAVANDERA: Sam Bassett was head of the commission. He says he was called into a heated meeting with two governors' aides and told the investigation was a waste of state money.
BASSETT: I could not believe they were injecting themselves into the commission business so directly and so confrontationally.
LAVANDERA (on camera): You got the sense clear, they wanted to influence the outcome, I guess?
BASSETT: Yes. That was my sense. They wanted us to stop the investigation.
LAVANDERA: The commission kept working. More fire experts agreed the investigation relied on junk science. Seven months later, Bassett says he was suddenly told he would not be reappointed, because the governor wanted to take the commission in a different direction?
BASSETT: I have seen just kind of an endless drumbeat of strategies and actions to stop this investigation. It has been terribly disappointing.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Why do you think you were taken off this commission?
BASSETT: It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this was a situation that the governor's office clearly did not want us to conclude.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Perry has denied Sam Bassett's removal was politically motivated. And the governor remains as unwavering today as he was two years ago in his opinion that Willingham deserved to be executed.
PERRY: Go look at the facts and you will find this was an incredibly bad man who murdered his kids, and the record will stand the scrutiny.
LAVANDERA: More than two years later, the Cameron Todd Willingham investigation is still stalled. And nobody can say for sure if Texas executed an innocent man. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Austin, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thirty-six minutes past the hour. I'll give you a look at the stories making headlines. We start in Egypt. It is an improving situation compared to yesterday when the protesters attacked the Israeli embassy with rocks and Molotov cocktails. What you are seeing is the scene right in front of the embassy. The Israeli government says six embassy workers, who were trapped in the building Friday, are now safe in Israel. Egypt's health ministry says more than 500 people were hurt in yesterday's violence.
Also Libyan rebel fighters say the battle against Moammar Gadhafi loyalists is back on. After their deadline to disarm has been ignored by Gadhafi supporters. Rebel commanders say fighting has begun at Ben Walid, and is in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte; his two remaining strongholds. CNN is not able to independently confirm the rebel accounts.
Also, in Texas the firefight resuming against several major wildfires that have been burning up the countryside. Almost 1,400 homes destroyed by just one fire. The president has declared an emergency there, clearing the way for federal funds for fire victims.
American citizens, possibly at the heart of a suspected terror plot. Intelligence officials believe two U.S. citizens could be involved in a plan to attack New York City or Washington, D.C. with a truck full of explosives. They are calling this a credible, but still unconfirmed threat.
The news was greeted with increased security in Washington and New York. Our Senior Congressional Correspondent Allan Chernoff, once again, in Ground Zero.
Allan, New Yorkers are used to a lot of stuff just in general. But they are used to a lot of security. In the past 10 years, but is this time around, is this anything different, anything new? Anything they haven't seen before?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, what makes a difference is that it is right before the tenth anniversary before 9/11. But for many New Yorkers, it is, yes, here we go again; more of the same tight security. Essentially, in New York people get used to it. I mean, that is the simple fact.
The security exceedingly tight on the streets of New York; yesterday, those check points were put into place, police checking vehicles one by one. Pulling many vans and trucks over, having the drivers open up. The officers also have been wearing radiation detectors making sure there is no radiation coming out of any of the vehicles. They have been using license plate scanners also to make sure that plates are not stolen, or that for some other reason, they are not on a police alert list. So, certainly tight security through the city just before the anniversary.
HOLMES: You say it is throughout the city. We know the anniversary is tomorrow. It is not necessarily going to just stop tomorrow at the end of the day?
CHERNOFF: Correct. The security is planned to be in place through Monday. At that point, the police say they will reassess the situation.
HOLMES: All right. Our Allan Chernoff, thank you, at Ground Zero for us this morning. We'll check in with him again.
At 39 minutes past the hour now, she's back. The return of a weather anomaly, La Nina. Back to the West Coast, our Alexandra Steele is in with us this weekend will have more on what this means for the national weather picture.
Also Jack Nicholson; his home up in flames last night. That, and more on the other side of the break. You are watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Stay with us.
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HOLMES: We are at 41 minutes past the hour now. Good morning to you folks on the West Coast. A live picture of LAX, 3:41 in the morning for you folks out there. I know some of you are just getting in or just getting up. Glad you are right here with us.
Speaking of L.A., a fire destroyed the Hollywood Hills home of actor Jack Nicholson last night. You are seeing some of the flames coming out of the home there. It took firefighters 90 minutes to get the fire out. It was too late by then, a lot of the home had been gutted. This is his long time home. We understand he hasn't lived there for some time. We understand it is being rented out. Two firefighters had to be treated for heat exhaustion after battling this fire.
Let's say good morning once again to Alexandra Steele. Always good to have you here with us. I always get these mixed up. I can't ever define them. There is an El Nino, right? And then there is a La Nina. Tell me what this one is.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is La Nina. I was just going to say, what is so fascinating T.J., is the vernacular of all of us. Weather geeks in the old days only knew these terms. Now everyone is really familiar with the vernacular of La Nina and El Nino.
This is La Nina. La Nina is the colder than average waters of the Equatorial Pacific. El Nino was the warmer. We are in the colder. We will see a return to this. What does it mean? It means drier than normal conditions in the South. Wetter conditions in the Pacific Northwest and the Ohio Valley. That is what La Nina means. What will it mean in terms of the weather?
Unfortunately the drought continues and we are going to see it continue for Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico. They are also going to see warmer temperatures in the South. Exacerbating the conditions we already have. What it means is really some bad news.
You remember last year's La Nina and what we saw. Remember, this record winter snow we saw in so much of the country? The Northeast and incredible northern tier, even the Northern West. Also the Mississippi flooding? Remember that? That brought on by this. The spring flooding bringing just incredibly rough conditions to the Mississippi as we watched that water. Remember that drive down from north to south.
Also an exacerbated drought and the drought will continue in Texas and in New Mexico and in all of these places. Unfortunately, T.J., the wet get wetter, and the dry stay dry. So really no help in sight. What we are seeing is too much water for some and not enough water for others.
HOLMES: We call this a weather phenomenon. How often do these things cycle around, these La Ninas?
STEELE: Well, it depends. Maybe every five years. This La Nina is just last year again. So it is kind of a reemergence of La Nino. And again, La Nina is the cold water. El Nino, of course, I think a lot of people remember El Nino and what that did so many years ago. That kind of put it on the map.
But this, and last year's as well, this is a La Nina. This is cold water, unusually cold water in the Equatorial Pacific. Unfortunately, the conditions we have now, the drought and wet will continue through the next coming winter.
HOLMES: All right. Don't take off on me this time, Alexandra.
STEELE: OK.
HOLMES: We are standing by in a couple of hours, we are waiting for NASA to launch. You will see it here live. Weather permitting, we keep saying. But they are trying to get this GRAIL thing off the ground, that mission to the moon.
How are they doing in Florida?
STEELE: Let's show you what they are seeing in Florida. You see a few scattered showers and storms. It looks as though, later, after the noon hour, it will be a lot rougher. This morning, the 8:00 and 9:00 hour is when the expectation is for liftoff. And about a 60 percent chance of liftoff. So it looks better than it doesn't look.
So we will keep an eye on it, but you can see a few clouds and showers. Not really where we will see the liftoff. So things looking pretty good. The earlier they go, and it is early, the better off they'll be, and they know that it is 8:00 and 9:00.
HOLMES: That's good to hear. We are less than two hours away from the possible launch. We heard it from Alexandra, there is a pretty good chance today.
STEELE: Right.
HOLMES: Thank you so much. Always good to have you with us.
We will turn now to CNN and our new debate coming up on Monday, another Republican debate. This time this one will be different. We are teaming up with the Tea Party Express to host a first of its kind Republican presidential debate. It is Monday in Tampa. Our Paul Steinhauser with a preview, after the break, stay with me.
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HOLMES: Forty-seven minutes past the hour now.
CNN teaming up with the Tea Party Express to host a Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Florida. That is the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention. The debate will focus on the economy and the size of government, you can imagine. But CNN's Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser with the preview for us all.
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PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, T.J.
Call it round two. What started Wednesday night in California, could resume Monday night right here in Florida.
GOV. RICK PERRY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt.
GOV. MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, as a matter of fact, George Bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, Governor.
STEINHAUSER: Texas Governor Rick Perry, the new guy in the race for the Republican nomination, and the front runner in the polls, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who used to hold the top spot, they sparred over jobs and Social Security. PERRY: It is a monstrous lie. It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you are paying into a program that will be there.
ROMNEY: Under no circumstances would I ever say, by any measure, it is a failure. It is working for millions of Americans. And I'll keep it working for millions of Americans.
STEINHAUSER: The debate ended, but their skirmish has raged on the past couple of days. Monday night, here at the Florida state fairgrounds near Tampa, Perry and Romney will once again be standing side by side at our CNN/Tea Party Republican debate.
Six other candidates, Representatives Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and businessman Herman Cain, former Senator Rick Santorum, and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, will also be sharing the stage.
For each of them, our CNN debate is an opportunity to change the dynamics of what so many are not portraying as a two-person debate, T.J.
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HOLMES: Thanks to our Paul Steinhauser.
And coming up, a lot of people lost friends on 9/11. A lot of us cannot imagine what it is like to lose someone on that day. Can you imagine losing almost 100 friends on 9/11? We will talk to a man who has been interviewing rescuers who were at Ground Zero. He will share those stories with us.
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HOLMES: As we get close to the top of the hour, a live picture of Ground Zero in New York City. You will see the memorial open there tomorrow. It will be dedicated.
The official September 11 Memorial will be dedicated tomorrow. Open to the public starting on Monday. Of course, you will see firefighters, police officers, dignitaries, even the president taking part in the 10th anniversary of 9/11. That memorial taking place tomorrow. We will have that for you live.
On September 11th, 2001, firefighter Harvey Eisner was making his way toward the Twin Towers when he watched them collapse. He lost 93 friends that day. He spent the next nine years talking to some of the thousands of firefighters who were at Ground Zero and others who spent months searching for bodies. He put their stories into a book. It is called, "World Trade Center: In Their Own Words." Harvey joins me now from New York.
Sir, thank you for being here with us on this weekend. And help people understand a little better. We all know people who lost someone that day, a friend or two, even. What's it like to lose that many people that you new personally?
HARVEY EISNER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "FIREHOUSE" MAGAZINE: It was just traumatic. I knew so many people. I had been involved with the Fire Department for almost 40 years. I was the chief in New Jersey. Many of these people were very, very good friends to me. I had met them. But just overall devastation to the department at that time.
HOLMES: What was the book-the process of putting the book like? You could call it therapeutic, or maybe it was, frankly, more painful than you imagined. How was it?
EISNER: Well, it was a labor of love. I reported on so many major incidents for the fire service in the last 25 years. When I heard the stories, I had to write them down. I wanted them to be shared with the fire service, so they knew what happened that day; the things they had to face, the trauma and the devastation. Something they never thought they would ever respond to ever before.
HOLMES: What struck you about some of the stories? Was it many of them had similar experiences or was it that so many of them were so different although they were going through the same event?
EISNER: The area 16 square acres was so large that firefighters on the north didn't know what was going on, on the south or east or the west. The stories that were selected wound up being almost totally different. I interviewed 13 firefighters that were just in the Marriott Hotel, a 22-story building, and each one had a different story because they each had to go through different circumstances when the towers collapsed. Some of them survived one or two collapses of the building.
HOLMES: Who is this book for? You mentioned there, you wanted to have these stories shared with other firefighters across the country to hear what your brothers and sisters went through down there. Is this for the country to get a better sense? Citizens from coast to coast really?
EISNER: It has been very well received by firefighters and regular civilians. They can understand it and read it. That's who it is for. I wanted to make sure that 20 or 30 or 100 years from now, if somebody wanted to know some of the things that what happened that day, that they could read this book and it would bring them right there to the scene.
HOLMES: Finally, here, Sir, tomorrow, what will you do? Is that a day over the past several years on the anniversary that you like to sit down and reflect privately, or is that a day you like to be around fellow firefighters?
EISNER: Well, I have been invited to go to many firehouses, to the services they are conducting. Many of the firefighters finally want to move on, and myself, also. I think it is time to move on. That will help the healing process.
HOLMES: All right. Harvey, I appreciate you spending some time with us.
Again, to our viewers, the book is called "World Trade Center: In Their Own Words." Harvey Eisner, we appreciate you taking the time. Tomorrow, you make the best out of it. We will all be there. And all eyes on New York, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as well as D.C., thanks so much.
EISNER: Thank you for having me.
HOLMES: We are getting close to the top of the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. A story coming up that will have people talking for some time. Voters will be allowed to make a decision that could virtually outlaw abortion in one Southern state. That story after the break. Stay with me.
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HOLMES: As we get closer to the top of the hour, let's take a look at some of the top stories from across the country.
Anti-abortion activists in Mississippi are applauding the decision from the state supreme court to let voters decide if life begins at conception. The controversial initiative would amend the state's constitution to extend personhood to the unborn. And that would likely render abortions illegal in the state. Mississippi voters will go to the polls November 8th. Also in Tempe, Arizona, for the eighth consecutive year -- volunteers have set up 3,000 flags, each of remembrance of those who died in the 9/11 attacks. Volunteers call it the healing field and say it's their personal way of honoring the victims of 9/11.
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