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CNN Saturday Morning News
Wild Memorial Day Weather; Debris Hits Alaska Island; CNN Hero Jake Wood
Aired May 26, 2012 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. This is EARLY START WEEKEND.
Fires out west, tornadoes in the bread basket, and now tropical storms heading toward the East Coast. The entire country seems to be under siege by mother nature this holiday weekend. We'll check in with a storm chaser.
Plus, after three decades, a cold case may be solved. The former New York stock clerk charged with the murder of Etan Patz 33 years to the day after the six-year-old disappeared.
And al Qaeda declares an electronic jihad on the United States. We put cyber security in focus and ask some insiders how vulnerable we really are and if there's anything we can do about it.
And MIT engineers have finally solved a critical problem, how to get the ketchup out of those clogged bottles. Jeanne Moos explains.
It is Saturday, May 26th. Good morning, everyone, I'm Randi Kaye.
But first, we're going to start here with the next phase in the critical and historic SpaceX mission. You are looking at some live pictures of the Dragon spacecraft connected to the International Space Station. They're starting the process of unloading more than 1,000 pounds of supplies from the Dragon. You can see it happening. Again, these are live pictures. Let's just see if there's any sound here to listen in to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is Mission Control, Houston. If you're just joining us, we're getting our first look inside the Dragon spacecraft. The hatches are open. That was take care of at 4:53 a.m. Central Time, 5:53 a.m. Eastern Time. The two spacecraft were flying together 253 miles above the earth, just to the west of Auckland, New Zealand.
KAYE: That's some pretty cool stuff happening there live as we're watching it. SpaceX is the first commercial flight to the ISS. Really cool stuff there.
Well, it is just about time to hit the road, if you haven't already. AAA estimates that nearly 35 million people will be traveling more than 50 miles this holiday weekend. A slight increase over last year. And, as usual, most of that travel will be in the car with the kids, maybe the dog, maybe the cat, everybody packed in. But for some of you, the Memorial Day getaway may actually involve a brush with some pretty wild weather. Six states now battling wildfires, including Michigan, where a blaze near Lake Superior has burned more than 20,000 acres this week. Meanwhile, officials in Kansas say there are no reports of serious injuries or fatalities after several tornadoes touched down in the north and central part of the state.
Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider joining us this morning.
Good morning, Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Randi.
KAYE: Let's start with those wildfires. High winds, really dry conditions, helping these flames spread in recent weeks. When can these areas expect to see some relief?
SCHNEIDER: I think they'll actually see some relief today, but it's kind of a mixed bag of relief because today we have scattered showers and thunderstorms in the forecast, meaning you will get some rain in the area, which always helps the fire situation. But the problem is, you may get a strong gust of wind.
Over the past few days, this part of Michigan has seen very strong gusts of wind. Sometimes we had winds on the 24th that climbed up to 30 miles per hour in terms of the strong wind gust. Today the forecast calls for slightly calmer winds, still warm temperatures in the 80s. But as you can see, it's definitely going to be something to contend with. It's not going to be as windy today as it has been over the past few days. So, Randi, that is some good news as we start of the forecast.
But another big development, of course, is activity in the tropics. We have a brand new sub-tropical storm, meaning the storm is a hybrid. We talk a lot about hybrids with cars. Well, this is a hybrid storm, meaning it has characteristics of what you'd see from an area of low pressure coming off a cold front, but it also has some tropical characteristics. One of the key characteristics of a sub-tropical storm is very disorganized. A lot of the convection or thunderstorm activity is well off from the center. Right now, maximum winds are at 45 miles per hour. And Beryl will be impacting the U.S. to some degree.
Now, the good news with this is that the rain that's coming in is beneficial. This is a drought-stricken area. So while we have tropical storm warning and watches posted all the way from South Carolina down through Florida, a lot of the rain is coming in, that it will be beneficial and it won't be hurricane force winds. It will be tropical storm force or less in terms of intensity.
So here's the track. We're watching it straight from Sunday, Monday into Tuesday, coming on shore likely as a tropical storm or a depression. So, Beryl, we're moving right along, Randi. Hurricane season actually begins June 1st. And here we are in May and we're already up to the letter b. It's moving (ph). KAYE: Yes, nothing like an early start on that.
All right, Bonnie, thank you very much.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
KAYE: Well, if you are among those millions of people driving for the holiday, I've got some good news for you, actually, and your wallet. AAA says that you will pay an average of $3.66 for a gallon of unleaded gas this weekend. That's down a whopping 27 cents from this year's high set in April. But it's still the third highest price on record for a Memorial Day weekend.
Thirty-three years to the day Etan Patz disappeared, someone has finally been charged with his murder. Pedro Hernandez was arraigned yesterday on a second degree murder charge. This is the man "Inside Edition" identified as Hernandez. He confessed this week to strangling the boy and putting his body in the trash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: In the years following Etan's disappearance, Hernandez had told a family member and others that he had, quote, "done a bad thing and killed a child in New York."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He seemed like an all right guy. He had a wife and there was a young daughter. And they were, you know, they said hello and everything. They were always smiling. And, well, if this guy, like they say, confessed to it, 33 years he's been living in his own personal hell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Pedro Hernandez is being held without bail.
In Illinois, a hostage standoff with police has ended with a gunman's death. All of the hostages are safe, though one woman was injured. Officials say the man entered an office building looking for someone who owed him money. He ended up taking hostages after police arrived. Police say he shot himself.
Police in Portland say they found a woman who allegedly abandoned her three kids in a shed. The kids were found Thursday after someone heard their voices in a vacant building believed to be used by homeless people. They range anywhere from eight-month-old to three years. All three are apparently healthy and have been placed in foster care.
The jurors in the John Edwards trial are off for the long holiday weekend. They'll return Tuesday to resume deliberations. Edwards is accused of misusing campaign contributions to cover up an affair. He denies he did anything wrong. The jury has already deliberate for six days.
Fifty years, more than 100 million albums sold, and at the age of 71, singer Neil Diamond is still going strong. I spoke with him about his upcoming tour, his new marriage and how Twitter has helped the singing and song writing legend get closer to his fans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Last night you married your music manager, Katie McNeil. Congratulations, by the way.
NEIL DIAMOND, MUSICIAN: Thank you.
KAYE: I thought it was really interesting that you sent out a photo of the two of you on Twitter, because you're a pretty private person, or at least you have been, and now you're a tweeting machine, posting pictures from your wedding. What has made you decide to be a little more public?
DIAMOND: Well, I'm not sure it's a little more public, but it's an easy way to get the word out to the fans and the public. You know, the thought comes to you, hey, I should let folks know that I'm getting married, or I'm -- here's a picture of my dog. And it's easy and it's fun and it's instant feedback.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And you can see much more of my interview with Neil Diamond coming up in our next hour.
Here's a rundown of some of the stories that we're watching this morning.
A remote island in Alaska is the landing spot for debris. The possibly toxic mess coming from Japan more than 4,000 miles away.
Al Qaeda has put out a new training tape. This time they say to forget about the underwear bombs, instead they want their attackers to use computers.
And it's Fleet Week in New York. Thousands of sailors enjoying the sights of the city. We'll see what's extra special about the 25th anniversary of the event.
Plus, secrets of the Irish Republican Army. Secrets that were taken to the grave are now being revealed as part of the Belfast Project.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Good morning, outer space. That's certainly not something you get to say every morning, but we're happy to say it today. You are looking now at live pictures of the Dragon spacecraft. It's connected to the International Space Station. Astronauts, as you can see, are starting the process of unloading more than 1,000 pounds of supplies.
Now, this docked yesterday. It had a laser-guided approach. Pretty impressive. You may recall this is the first commercial space ship to reach the Space Station. We'll be watching that all morning and continue to bring you these amazing live pictures.
In other news, an environmental disaster in the making? It's not an oil spill has people in Alaska worried, it's debris washing up from Japan. And as our Casey Wian reports, the wave of possible toxic junk may just be starting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS PALLISTER, PRESIDENT, GULF OF ALASKA KEEPER: We're going to kind of hopefully cut across the middle of Montague Island to the outside on the Gulf of Alaska coast and then that's where a great deal of tsunami debris is about ready to come up.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly 4,000 miles from Fukushima, Japan, is Montague Island, Alaska, reachable only by helicopter or boat.
PALLISTER: We're out here in a very remote wilderness. As much wilderness as anywhere in the United States. And we're sitting in a landfill.
This shore is facing away from Japan, actually, but the way the currents and the winds work, it swirls around and dumps it in here.
The influx of tsunami debris really concerns us mostly because of the amount of Styrofoam that's coming with it and also the toxic chemicals that are coming. We think they're going to have a really detrimental impact on the environment out here long time.
WIAN: Chris Pallister has been cleaning marine debris here for 15 years. Now that task is becoming next to impossible.
PALLISTER: This is a urethane spray in building foam. And we never -- we used -- we just never got much of that before. And now, if you walk up and down this beach, you can see big chunks. Look at it all down this beach. That came out of crushed building structures.
Because I've seen pictures of storage yards in Japan that -- huge yards, acres of these things stacked up before the tsunami. Those yards are empty now and this is where they all are. And I have never seen a big yellow one like this. Pretty big.
Little bits of Styrofoam all up and down this beach. Billions of pieces of it. The other thing is, albatross and sea birds eat this stuff like crazy and it's killing the hell out of them. A big chunk of Styrofoam just fresh came in.
WIAN: Tests on the first wave of tsunami debris to arrive on U.S. shores have found no abnormal levels of radiation. Still, much of it is toxic.
PALLISTER: I have no idea what was in this. Germicidal bowl cleanser. Now that's not something you'd want to dump in your herring or salmon spawning area.
This is going to take years to clean this mess up.
I think this is the leading edge of the tsunami debris, without a doubt. It's all the light weight, high windy (ph) stuff that blew across the Pacific very quickly. And I think we're looking at years of stuff coming on. The heavier stuff will come progressively later.
WIAN: We're in a slightly less remote area of Alaska, near the fishing village of Yakutat. And near here, across this channel of water, you can see some of the debris that we've collected very similar to what's on Montague Island. At this point, no one knows for certain how this debris is going to get cleaned off these beaches, where it's going to go and who's going to pay for it. And, most importantly, no one knows what else lurks out there in the Pacific that's heading this way.
Casey Wian, CNN, on the southeastern coast of Alaska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Some amazing pictures there.
The Japanese government estimates that as much as five million tons of debris was washed out to sea by the tsunami, but the majority of that sunk to the bottom, about 70 percent. That leaves around three billion pounds floating around.
A new plan of attack from al Qaeda. They say that they've found a venerability in American security that reminds them a lot of 9/11. We'll tell you what they may be targeting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back.
There's new emphasis on cyber security right now. It's because of a video obtained by the FBI. It's from al Qaeda. And it's basically a call to action and a guide for hackers. This morning we're focusing on the message, the possible mayhem and ways to protect against it. So, first, let's go through that al Qaeda tape. It starts by laying out the mission and possible targets. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR (through translator): Internet piracy is an important filed of jihad and we advise Muslims with experience in this domain to target the websites and information systems of big companies and government agencies of the countries that attack Muslims. Special attention must be given to websites and systems run by the news media that fight Islam, jihad, and the mujahidin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Later in the tape, they talk about other specific targets, like the electric grid and launching attacks in the dead of winter so that people lose power and heat. They also talk about the state of cyber security in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR (through translator): The current state of the information networks from an electronic attack of a jihadist operations standpoint, is not different from the state of security of the United States before 2001, which, after the successes granted by God, made carrying out the blessed Tuesday raids possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Likening today's cyber security to pre-9/11 airline security, a sobering image, and a testament to how vulnerable they think American computer systems really are. The tape closes out with a message from a martyr. A leader from al Qaeda in Iraq who was killed two years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABU-HAMZAH AL-MUHAJIK (through translator): And we destroy the sites of the enemy and destroy the fortifications of its military security and political establishments. Furthermore, we turn towards the money of the non-believers and sabotage their economic institutions, instill terror among their stockholders, and shake their confidence. I think that the electronic warfare is one of the important and effective future wars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: The Department of Homeland Security says it has seen 50,000 reports of cyber intrusions or attempts since last October. That's 10,000 more than the previous year. Right now, there's a new cyber security act making its way through Congress that would force security upgrades for critical sites. We'll talk much more about this throughout the morning.
Coming up in our 8:00 hour, I'll talk to one self-described white hat hacker, the good kind that is, who is now helping the government get their virtual house in order.
A former high school football star spent five years in prison for a crime that he didn't commit. Now he's trying to get his life and his future back. Brian Banks talks about what he has gone through, next.
Plus dozens of inmates are set free near Las Vegas after too many jail employees call out sick. Did this really happen? And why? Right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. Here's a check of what's making news across country.
If you think caps and gowns will keep new grads all covered up. Well, think again. Take a close look at this graduation photo. It looks like one student in the front row is, well, flashing the camera. But school officials in North Carolina investigated and they say it's just an optical illusion.
Heading to Nevada now, to north Las Vegas, where 70 inmates just picked up a get out of jail free card. The non-violent misdemeanor offenders were released early after dozens of jail workers called out sick. This comes just days after word leaked out about layoffs in the jail. The union says the sick calls are unrelated.
Two Hawaii where a fresh coat of paint on a World War II memorial has made the names of fallen troops difficult to read.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE TAKASHI KITAOKA, WWII VETERAN: To honor the veterans of World War II and then to erase it is disgraceful.
EDWARD IKUMA, WWII VETERAN: I think that's a terrible things to do. I mean the veterans have earned the recognition of having their name on the memorial, and this is a terrible thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Those veterans are urging the state to make the names more visible.
On this Memorial Day weekend, we honor those dedicated men and women who service ended with the ultimate sacrifice. But for those who returned, coming home can be difficult. Today's CNN Hero is a former Marine who's made it his mission to help his brothers in arms find a new purpose by giving them a chance to continue to sever. Meet Jake Wood.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAKE WOOD: In the military, everyone's taught how to lead, they're taught how to follow, how to solve problems. We really pride ourselves on being ready and willing to go anywhere.
I served in the Marine Corps. Deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
When I first saw the earthquake that hit Haiti, a lot of the images, I felt like I had seen them before driving through the streets of Fallujah or Afghanistan. I realized I could actually help out. So I went on FaceBook. I said, I'm going to Haiti. Who's in? Seventy-two hours after that, we were on our way to Port-au-Prince.
So let's get our gauzes (ph), let's get our corhex (ph).
We got to work setting up a triage clinic.
I'm going to go through and I'm going to number the beds.
We realized veterans are really useful in these types of situations.
I'm Jake Wood and I want to help veterans transition to civil life and help others in need.
Team Rubicon really started as a disaster relief organization and then we realized that we can help the veteran community as well. We bring these veterans together to be a part of the team once again. They are almost recharged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you get out, you kind of have that feeling of, what are you really doing that's important in the world. Team Rubicon has just provided a great opportunity to just help people in need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to pull your foot back as far as you can.
WOOD: Most of the work that we do internationally is emergency medical triage clinics. We've gone to Chile, Sudan, Pakistan. Here at home, we've been in Tuscaloosa, Joplin, doing debris clearing operations, search and rescue. We have about 1,400 volunteers and about 80 percent of them are military veterans helping other people as part of the healing process.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't thank you all enough.
WOOD: There's really no limit to what veterans can do. We have the ability to help and want to serve. I think it's a win-win situation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: And to find out how a fellow veteran's death shaped Jake's mission, go to cnnheroes.com. Remember, CNN Heroes are all chosen from people that you tell us about. So if you know someone like Jake Wood who is making a difference, go to cnnheroes.com. Your nomination could help them help others.
We continue to follow the riveting case of a young athlete wrongly accused. Brian Banks was 16 years old, a hard-hitting linebacker from California being recruited by some of the nation's top football programs. Then, the dream was shattered when he was accused of a rape that never happened. Remarkably, 10 years later, his accuser came forward, as did the truth. Now an emotional Brian Banks is free. He had been released from his original sentence five years ago, but the stigma of his conviction still weighed heavily. Not anymore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN BANKS, FOUND INNOCENT: My mom sold her house, her car and borrowed money from family for the lawyer who represented me in this case. And all that got us was a plea bargain and that plea bargain destroyed my life.
I was overcome with relief, but still reminded of just the pain and suffering that I went through the whole time with prison and parole and just all the false accusations made against me. It's just -- it's a tough reminder.
JUSTIN BROOKS, BRIAN BANKS' ATTORNEY: There are a lot of guys out there in that situation. You know, the plea bargains have become the 95 percent solution. Ninety-five percent of cases are adjudicate by plea. And there's lots of guys who get in a situation like Brian where they're told, look, somebody said you did it, you're saying you didn't do it. You can go into court and roll the dice and you may die in prison or you can take this deal. And on top of it, Brian's a 17-year- old kid sitting there making that decision on his own. So what's tragic about this case is, if we hadn't got the recantation, Brian would have gone through this the rest of his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Banks is hoping to recapture a life lost. Now 26, he's back to chasing the dream that once seemed so close, playing in the NFL. Brian Banks will be joining us today in the 10:00 hour. You can tweet me @RandiKayeCNN to let me know questions that you would like us to ask him.
A suspect charged in the murder of Etan Patz. We'll have a live interview with the family pastor who will explain what alleged murderer Pedro Hernandez is really like.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: It is about half past the hour. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. Thanks for starting your day with us.
For 33 years the killer of 6-year-old Etan Patz has gone free. Now he may finally be in custody. 51-year-old Pedro Hernandez is charged with second degree murder. He is being held on suicide watch at New York City's Bellevue Hospital. He told police that back on May 25th, 1979, he lured Etan to a store, strangled him, and then put the child's body in the trash.
People who knew Hernandez and his family are stunned. George Bowen (ph) joins me now by phone. He's the senior pastor of Maranatha Christian Fellowship in Morristown, New Jersey.
Good morning, Pastor, you knew Hernandez and his family. How well do you know them?
GEORGE BOWEN, SENIOR PASTOR, MARANATHA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: I know Gloria and Becky, his daughter -- or Rosemary and Becky, his wife and his daughter, much better than I do Pedro. Pedro, I have had a conversation with, but I don't know him well.
KAYE: How would you describe him? I think a lot of people are curious what this man is like.
BOWEN: Pedro is very quiet, unassuming, almost shy man. Attended church on Sunday morning regularly, so nearly every Sunday morning I had a conversation with him, but the extent of the conversation was more or less a greeting, he occupied the same seat every Sunday. But again very quiet, almost shy man.
KAYE: There have been reports -- other media reports that he admitted to friends and family that he had done something bad to a little boy in New York, and this was in the 1980s, he admitted this, apparently, according to these reports, in a prayer circle. Did he ever try to come to you to talk about anything?
BOWEN: You know what, no. All my conversations or nearly all my conversations with Pedro were right there, right in the church service, never talked to him personally by himself in a counseling- type setting or anything. So yes, there was no confession or no even talking to me about his -- none of that really took place, he's a very private person.
KAYE: Did he appear troubled to you at all?
BOWEN: Did he what?
KAYE: Did he appear troubled?
BOWEN: You know, no more so than perhaps average person that might come into the church. Sometimes he was a little bit more -- he was very quiet but a little bit more animated, sometimes a little bit less, some days he was down, some days not so. So, you know, I would say overly troubled on a continuum of trouble, no, I wouldn't say that.
KAYE: His lawyer has said that he's mentally unstable, suffers from hallucinations, did you ever see anything that might support that?
BOWEN: That's interesting. Again, Pedro, very, very much kept to himself. There are some things I read that as well this morning coming out in the media, that I really was personally unaware of. But he did keep to himself.
Rosemary and Becky, again, I knew them much better. Rosemary is relatively shy. But...
KAYE: Right. How are they doing? How is his family reacting?
BOWEN: Actually, they were up in New York, of course, you're aware of that, yesterday, so I didn't have the opportunity to talk to them. But when I met together with them on Thursday, and they were just -- they were devastated, they were emotionally shattered. They were a whole lot of tears and prayed for them. And I told them that their church family loved them and would care for them and help them, and try and see them through this whole thing.
KAYE: Pastor George Bowen, thank you very much for your time and your insight this morning.
BOWEN: OK, thank you.
KAYE: And now for some other stories that we're watching, a new era in commercial space flight under way with a bit of unpacking to do. The crew of the International Space Station is set to unload food, clothing, and scientific supplies from the unmanned SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, the capsule is the first private spacecraft to the space station.
Sending fewer letters lately? The Postal Service is noticing, it's offering $15,000 buy-outs to 45,000 mail handlers in an effort to cut costs and reduce some staff as well. The struggling agency lost more than $3 billion in just the first three months of this year.
The Coast Guard makes a dramatic rescue, a boat carrying five people got stranded in rough seas 15 miles off Miami. The boat ran out of gas and lost power as Nine-foot waves smashed into it, you can see the video there, it's amazing. But a Coast Guard cutter managed to tow the vessel and its passengers to safety, everyone is OK.
For some of you the Memorial Day getaway may involve a brush with some wild weather, six states now battling wild fires, including Michigan, where a blaze near Lake Superior has burned more than 20,000 acres this week.
A hectic scene in parts of Kansas last night where severe storms spawned a series of tornadoes in the north and central parts of the state. My next guest saw seven, that's right, seven tornadoes alone, and he says more are on the way. Joining me by phone is meteorologist and storm-chaser Tony Laubach.
Tony, nice to speak with you again. I guess every time these storms happen we get a chance to talk with you. You do this for a living. But most of us have never come this close to a tornado. Tell us what it was like and what you saw.
TONY LAUBACH, METEOROLOGIST & STORM-CHASER: Well, it was a very busy day in Kansas, a conditional day, got up this morning, actually I hadn't planned on chasing, and I was on the road within 15 minutes of waking up from Denver to go out to Kansas today, and it was tornado central. There were tornadoes that touched down all over the place. There were more than seven, and was certainly a busy day for chasers.
KAYE: How close were you able to get?
LAUBACH: I was within a quarter of a mile of several of the tornadoes this evening. Most notably one that tore up a bunch of trees on a farmstead, fortunately missed the buildings on the property but did some damage to some fences and a lot of the vegetation.
KAYE: And you say that you're expecting more storms in Kansas and Wyoming?
LAUBACH: Wyoming is where I'm heading for today. There actually is a severe risk for Minnesota all the way down through Kansas into Oklahoma again today. Primarily if you're in Minnesota and that's going to be your hot spot today, but eastern Wyoming also has the potential as well.
KAYE: And so what do you advise people who might be living in these areas, should they take cover?
LAUBACH: Just be alert to the weather. The big thing with the holiday weekend, everybody is going to be out doing things, especially if the weather is nice early on. Just make sure that you are paying attention and if dark skies approach, take cover and just be, you know, out of the weather.
KAYE: Tony, don't you think maybe it would have been safer for you to maybe just go to a family barbecue or neighborhood barbecue this weekend instead of chasing storms?
LAUBACH: Yes, it seems like every Memorial Day weekend every year I'm out doing this. I don't think I've actually had a real Memorial Day barbecue in probably 10 years.
KAYE: Well, I think you should try one, as much as we love having you on, you should try one maybe next year. Tony, thank you very much.
Coming up, Vice President Joe Biden speaks to military families who have lost loved ones, sharing poignant thoughts on his own unspeakable grief. Hear what he has to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: With news this week of the 3,000th casualty in the Afghanistan War, we are reminded this Memorial Day weekend of the price of freedom and of those who paid the ultimate price.
Speaking Friday at a military family's who have endured the anguish of losing a loved one, Vice President Joe Biden recalled the car accident that took the lives of his wife and 1-year-old daughter back in 1972, and told families that it will get better.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT: I got a phone call like you guys got. Or someone walking up to me saying that my family had been in an accident. And just like you guys know by the tone of the phone call, you just knew, didn't you? You knew when they walked up the path, you knew when the call came, you knew. You just felt it in your bones. Something bad happened.
And I knew. I don't know how I knew, but the call said my wife was dead, my daughter was dead, and I wasn't sure how my sons were going to make it. Christmas shopping, and a tractor-trailer broad-sided them, and in one instant killed two of them and -- well.
For the first time in my life I understood how someone could consciously decide to commit suicide. Not because they were deranged, not because they were nuts, because they had been to the top of the mountain, and they just knew in their heart they would never get there again.
It can and will get better. There will come a day, I promise you, and you parents as well, when the thought of your son or daughter or your husband or wife, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Emotional moment there.
Coming up, sailors, marines, and coast guardsman take over New York City. It is Fleet Week, and we'll go straight to the center of it all.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back, and a big good morning to New York City. A lovely shot there of a little bit of the Hudson River. You can tell it's Fleet Week there in New York City, 3,000 tall ships will dock there this week, and sailors, marines, and coast guardsmen are out on the town. It's Fleet Week, as I said. And CNN's Richard Roth is at the center of all the activity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of machines and men and women here for Fleet Week, 25th anniversary. This is MARS (ph), it's an armed robot, but I'm always better talking to people. And when you're talking about the armed forces, we have got three branches represented here: Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines.
Thomas Berkel (ph), when you came into town on board the Eagle, the sailboat, you went to the 9-11 Memorial, why did do you that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has been 10 years, I was a volunteer as a firefighter during 9/11, and I hadn't been back to the city since then. And it's a perfect opportunity to go down, remember everything, and also take some shipmates down to help teach them.
ROTH: Samuel Johnson (ph), you're on the Wasp. What does Fleet Week mean to you? A lot of partying? You're getting to New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fleet Week to me is actually a big chance to show everybody out here who has been supporting the armed forces what we do, and to show them our appreciation, so it's very amazing to be out here for Fleet Week.
ROTH: What do New Yorkers ask you on the street when they see you in your whites?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They really don't ask anything, hey, let's take care of you. So it's less questions, more doing for us.
ROTH: When people in New York tell me let's take care of you, they mean another thing after the ships leave here.
Mr. Durfee (ph), you're also on the Wasp, what about Fleet Week? How have you been received and what does it mean to you here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people have been very hospitable to us, and we would like to thank all of the people of New York for allowing us to be here for this Fleet Week and giving us the hospitality that they have been.
ROTH: Well, thank you all, gentlemen.
Of course, it is Memorial Day weekend, so there is a lot of solemnity, of course, to the weekend, and some celebration as the fleet comes in on this 25th anniversary of such an occasion here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Our thanks to Richard Roth.
A first-grader in Fort Pierce, Florida, got the surprise of a lifetime and so did his classmates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dad!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, buddy!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: I love these moments. Yes, you heard him saying "dad." That is 6-year-old Hunter Sheppard (ph) giving a big and pretty stunned hello to his uncle, who is a Navy sailor aboard on the USS Carl Vinson. The entire class were pen pals with his uncle. Hunter thought his uncle Josh wasn't coming home until July. But he didn't have to wait that long.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I missed you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I missed you too, buddy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: The two have a lot of catching up to do. They have not seen each other in a year. First thing, guess what they are going to do? They are going to go fishing.
Secrets taken to the grave but not secret anymore. Shocking tapes from a bloody struggle overseas now on display in the U.S.
And a dangerous curve, it's like something out of James Bond, a trailer and a car head straight for each other, find out if the drivers make it out OK.
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KAYE: Welcome back. Take a look at this video, it's going viral on YouTube.
(VIDEO OF CAR HITTING TRUCK)
KAYE: Whoa! Imagine if you were caught in the middle of that, both drivers lucky to be alive after a car collided with that overturned tractor-trailer. The truck apparently took a turn too fast. Let's watch it again here. It happened on the highway in Russia. That is incredible video. Also incredible that everyone is OK.
Telling the untold stories of the struggle from deep inside the IRA, the Irish Republican Army, secrets like where the bodies are revealed, all revealed in audio tapes. CNN's Nic Robertson takes a look at Boston College's Belfast Project.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anthony McIntyre is the researcher who gathered the IRA interviews for the Boston College archive. He began three years after the peace deal.
ANTHONY MCINTYRE, BELFAST PROJECT RESEARCHER: I wanted to get as many historical voices out as possible to give an insight into why people who would behave peacefully in a normal society turned to violent methods.
(INAUDIBLE) in 1988 in a very relaxed pose in the present classroom.
ROBERTSON: McIntyre isn't just any researcher, he was in the IRA, spent more than a decade in the infamous "Maze" prison.
MCINTYRE: I got out at the very end of '92, December, the last week of December, maybe through Christmas week.
ROBERTSON: After getting out, he earned a Ph.D., and persuaded his former comrades the benefit of telling their stories.
MCINTYRE: I thought I was doing something good for the community, for society, for academia, and the production (ph) of knowledge in general. I think it's also important from the point of view of (INAUDIBLE) recovery.
ROBERTSON: The agreement McIntyre made with his former IRA pals and Boston College, their interviews would be held until they were dead, because the IRA demands a vow of secrecy on pain of death.
MCINTYRE: Do you have a problem with committing all this to a secret tape to be used only after you have died?
BRENDAN HUGHES, FORMER IRA MEMBER: I don't have a problem with that. If I did have a problem with that I wouldn't be sitting here talk into your microphone.
ROBERRTSON: This is the audio recording of McIntyre's interview with his former IRA cellmate Brendan Hughes. Hughes died in 2008, which is why his secret interview can be heard.
HUGHES: A lot of the stuff that I'm saying here, I'm saying it in trust because I have a trust in you. And I have never, ever, ever admitted to being a member of the IRA, never. I've just done it here.
ROBERTSON: Hughes was the IRA commander in Jean McConville's neighborhood the night she was abducted. He says he knows who was responsible for her killing.
HUGHES: I knew she was being executed. I knew that. I didn't know she was going to be buried or disappeared as they call them now.
ROBERTSON: The Hughes voice from the grave is creating a firestorm. Northern Irish police detectives are now demanding Boston College hand over some of its secret tapes, where Jean McConville's killing is mentioned.
For McIntyre, release of the tapes is extremely personal. It could mean death in the IRA's eyes. He could be considered an informer, a crime seldom forgiven.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Nic Robertson reporting there. You can see more of Nic's special report on the secrets of the IRA later today, "World's Untold Stories: Secrets of the Belfast Project" airs on CNN INTERNATIONAL at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
Coming up in 20 minutes, my interview with the legendary Neil Diamond on his upcoming tour, his new bride, and why he's suddenly so fascinated with Twitter. He's a tweeting machine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Let's take a look at some other stories making news this morning. Student protesters in Montreal are ignoring an emergency law meant to stop them from demonstrating, they are upset over planned over tuition hikes, 2,500 people have been arrested since the protests began three months ago. Some have been arrested for violating the ban on masks. Police don't want anyone to be able to cover their faces during those demonstrations.
An emergency dispatcher in Montgomery County, Maryland, now on paid leave after falling asleep on the job. He was heard snoring, snoring for six minutes as a woman frantically called 911 to get help for her husband, who turned out to be OK, luckily. Supervisors say the veteran firefighter was 17 hours into a 24-hour shift, when he fell asleep.
And finally, a historic jump for British stuntman. Did you see that? That's right, no parachute. Gary Connery made the 2,400-foot dive wearing just a winged suit like a flying squirrel. He safely dropped onto a runway of cardboard boxes. He was going about 80 miles an hour during that free fall, pretty brave guy. Connery says that he had been practicing for years. I guess he mastered it.
Thanks for starting your morning with us. We've got much more ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, which starts right now.
