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CNN Student News

Aired February 05, 2002 - 04:30   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN STUDENT NEWS seen in schools around the world because learning never stops and neither does the news.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: CNN STUDENT NEWS has your Tuesday "Headlines." Leading the day, Capitol highlights from the Enron investigation. Following that, we focus on the job of securing the Olympic Games. Then in "Perspectives," we give you a taste of some smart medicine and touch on the topic of Mexico's pollution problem.

And welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Shelley Walcott.

Rhetoric heats up on Capitol Hill as Congress delves deeper into the Enron hearings. Several Enron executives plan to testify. Former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay was scheduled to appear before a House subcommittee Monday but backed out at the last minute. Lay resigned Monday from Enron's Board of Directors, stepping aside completely from the bankrupt energy giant. Lawmakers, upset that Lay didn't testify, say they will subpoena him. The hearings are just the beginning.

CNN's Tim O'Brien reports on the tough talk on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Did high ranking officials of Enron break the law? All over Washington, key lawmakers investigating the company's downfall declared they had no pre- conceived notions as they went on to offer -- well -- just notions.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: It sure appears to me that this company was on the financial equivalent of steroids.

SEN. PETER FITZGERALD (R), ILLINOIS: Enron was running a gigantic Ponzi operation within the confines of a publicly traded corporation.

O'BRIEN: And as for CEO Kenneth Lay's possible defense that he was out of the loop, offered last week by Mrs. Lay...

WYDEN: To believe that, you would have to believe that Mr. Lay was the most out-to-lunch CEO of any corporation in America.

O'BRIEN: Although the Powers Report does not attribute any illegal activity directly to Lay, several former prosecutors have told "MONEYLINE" they would be astonished if at least some Enron officials were not prosecuted, particularly if they tried to hide massive losses from auditors or the public.

PAM STUART, FMR. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: That would violate a section of the foreign corrupt practices act among other things; mail fraud, wire fraud could be implicated, plain securities violations.

O'BRIEN: And, after the fact, destroying evidence or testifying falsely could also lead to criminal prosecution, which is why many witnesses may refuse to testify unless granted immunity.

Many of the lawmakers investigating Enron have received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the company, as has George Bush. Leading Senator Fritz Hollings to call in the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor, even though Hollings himself has received Enron money.

HOLLINGS: I got $3,500 over 10 years, but our friend K. Bailey Hutchison, she got $99,000. Heck, I'm chairman of the committee. That wasn't a contribution. That was an insult.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN (on camera): There is however, no evidence that anyone in government did anything improper in exchange for a campaign contribution. The likelihood of any special prosecutor being named, at this point, seems slim.

Tim O'Brien, CNN Financial News, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)'

WALCOTT: The hearings on Capitol Hill spotlight the political risks surrounding the Enron collapse. Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider has more on Enron and why some Democrats believe Enron could be a political winner metaphorically speaking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Democrats say they don't want to be seen as exploiting the Enron issues for partisan advantage.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: The last thing we should do is politicize this scandal.

SCHNEIDER: So what can Democrats do? They can insinuate that Enron got special favors from the Bush White House in return for campaign contributions.

TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: They got 17 specific proposals in their energy bill.

SCHNEIDER: But so far, there's been no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bush administration.

If you can't get your opponents on literal wrongdoing, maybe you can get them metaphorically -- like this.

DASCHLE: I think that we are slowly Enronizing the economy, Enronizing the budget.

SCHNEIDER: Ah-ha. Enron economics. Meaning? Fiscally irresponsible policies that favor big shots and hurt retirees, a killer metaphor. It even made the funny pages. "Enron will do us damage as metaphor," the president says in a Doonesbury strip. "It makes us look like we're all in bed with business."

Metaphors can kill you. Remember back in 1992 when the first President Bush seemed unfamiliar with a supermarket scanner? That became a metaphor for how out of touch he was with ordinary Americans.

(on camera): This President Bush may survive Enron the scandal, but he had better watch out for Enron the metaphor.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: The World Economic Forum wraps up in New York. Hundreds of business and political leaders took part in the five-day meeting held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. And, as in the past, thousands of protesters came to voice concern about global capitalism and other government policies. The demonstrations, however, were relatively quiet this year.

Jason Carroll looks at why the New York experience was different from other cities that have hosted similar events.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Several thousand demonstrators filled the streets of Manhattan Saturday. They brought their political puppets, their costumes, their drums and their ideas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No matter what the odds, they want their voices to be heard, that they care about what's happening in the world.

CARROLL: Those behind the demonstrations want to speak out against the World Economic Forum and to raise awareness for issues like the environment and workers' rights.

Police were hoping for peaceful protests throughout the weekend. Most were, but not all. Police arrested dozens of demonstrators several blocks away from the Waldorf-Astoria, the hotel hosting the forum. Most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly.

This was the exception. Police say most demonstrators were orderly, and their preparations paid off.

RAY KELLY, NYC POLICE COMMISSIONER: I think we've learned lessons from other cities that have had problems in the past with these types of demonstrations. When you have the ability to make arrests, you do that quickly.

CARROLL: Weeks before the forum, police held mock drills to prepare for what could happen. They ended up assigning several thousand officers to the event, and while there were some angry outbursts...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Free speech!

CARROLL: ... they say their heavy presence may have had a psychological effect on the demonstrators.

But the terrorist attacks may have had a greater impact.

(on camera): I'm wondering how September 11 sort of factored into the mood surrounding the demonstrations out here?

ERIC LAURSEN, DEMONSTRATOR: It definitely factored in. I think there was a lot of -- there was -- 99 percent of the organizers for this event are New Yorkers. We live here, and we've gone through the same thing everyone else has. And there was a commitment that we wanted to do something that would not add to the climate of mild depression in the city.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: I think anybody that wanted to protest did get a chance to say what they wanted, and those people who didn't want to protest also didn't have their freedoms abridged.

CARROLL: By Sunday, there were more police on the streets than protesters.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Our "News Focus" today is a security issue of Olympic proportion, protecting those competing in and working for or visiting the 19th Winter Games, which open Friday in Salt Lake City, Utah. Now public safety is the No. 1 concern, and organizers are sparing no expense as our Rusty Dornin reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Problem, keeping 900 square miles, one million spectators and 2,500 athletes safe and secure. Solution, bring in more military troops that are serving in Afghanistan for a start. Bottom line, Olympic goers can expect to see camouflage in a lot more places than the airport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a significant presence, but it's a very significant event.

DORNIN: But that's not all.

DAVE TUBBS, UTAH OLYMPIC PUBLIC SAFETY COMMAND: We're going to have 11,000 to 12,000 people involved in public safety and that's not just law enforcement, that's fire and EMS and everything else.

DORNIN: Plus another 50 Federal agents. Touring the Olympic sites, Attorney General John Ashcroft decided there were some sites outside the games that needed additional security, and the numbers could change again.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe that we will continue to do everything we can to make those, any last adjustments, not only up until the Olympics begin but through the process. I firmly believe that we will, during the process, find ways to improve our performance.

DORNIN: Every piece of baggage coming through Salt Lake City Airport will be electronically screened. Nobody flies in or out during opening and closing ceremonies. During the games, there's 45 miles around the city that's restricted airspace. Black Hawks will patrol the skies, F-16s ready to launch at a moment's notice.

Last fall, this Department of Energy helicopter took radiation readings above Olympic venues. Any spike on those readings and the nuclear response team will be called.

Miles of fences, biological and chemical sensors, surveillance cameras and other top secret, high-tech gizmos will all be monitored here at the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command Center. For nearly three weeks, this will be the front line of homeland defense, the most heavily guarded city on the face of the planet.

Rusty Dornin, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: CNN STUDENT NEWS is going to Salt Lake. Join me, Michael McManus, Monday, February 11, through Friday, February 15, as we experience the sights, sounds and magic of an Olympic Games. In school during the games, STUDENT NEWS will take you there with reports on the science of snow boarding, history behind Salt Lake City and the effect of altitude on the body. We'll also break down all the numbers behind the games and get the overall mood of those attending. STUDENT NEWS will bring the world to you.

WALCOTT: We told you a few weeks ago about some high school students whose school is just blocks away from ground zero. Well they weren't the only ones who have had their school year turned upside down, nearly five months after the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and two temporary schools later, some elementary school kids are back in their original classrooms.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa tells us about the long wait and anticipation of returning to school.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six-year-old Emma Huibretgse on her first day of school, caught on Daddy's videotape. Minutes later, this image was captured.

(on camera): An image so real -- real because little Emma Huibretgse and her family lived right here in this building, on the very top floor.

And Emma's school is across the street, right here. And on September 11, all the students and staff had to evacuate. Why? Because they were running from the debris and smoke from the collapsed towers, which are just four blocks south.

Now, after five months, the school is set to reopen.

JIM HUIBRETGSE, FATHER: We'd actually wait until the bell rang for the school, because it is right across the street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a plain ponytail?

HINOJOSA (voice-over): But since its closing, school at a temporary location has been a walk and a bus ride away, away from ground zero.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, hi, Maria!

HINOJOSA: I came hoping to see Marissa and Emily, the 8-year- olds I met one week after September 11. Are they ready to go back to PS 234?

(on camera): But what do you miss about 234?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a place where it happened, but I'm okay with that.

HINOJOSA (voice-over): But for the moms, different feelings about returning to the school next to ground zero.

INDA DOLMATCH, PARENT: We're ready to go back, and the kids are really excited about it.

HINOJOSA: Many of them, but not all.

CINDY LOEWIS, PARENT: They talk about maybe bin Laden is hiding in the basement of their school, the children. Maybe he's going to come back to visit the site, and they'll be very close, and if he does, they'll take him out. You know, these are 8-year-old boys and girls.

HINOJOSA: Inside here, at PS 234, getting the school in order, getting rid of tough memories.

ANNA SWITZER, PRINCIPAL: This building was filled, full of people working the rescue. The Red Cross was in here, firemen were sleeping in the building.

Oh, fantastic! This is going to be great.

HINOJOSA: The classrooms have been cleaned, the walls scrubbed, carpets removed. So many parents have environmental concerns, that air quality contraptions have been placed in the classrooms.

Shannon Greenfield's first grade class used to have the perfect view of the towers.

(on camera): What was it like on 9/11 here?

SHANNON GREENFIELD, TEACHER: The most surreal experience of my life, having to look out the window and see a ball of fire, while having 30 kids -- 6-year-olds -- in the room.

HINOJOSA (voice-over): But Monday morning, her welcome back message...

GREENFIELD: I'm so happy you're back. How exciting, our first day. Let's see what we can do here. Let's have a great rest of the year.

HINOJOSA: Because if anyone deserves that, it's the kids of PS 234.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ONSCREEN: Reducing air pollution: don't overfill your gas tank, eat organically grown foods, reduce, reuse, recycle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."

WALCOTT: The ill effects of air pollution are a problem for most big cities, New York City included, but the September 11 attacks may have resulted in an added environmental concern for the Big Apple. That's because some of the people near the World Trade Center towers at the time of the collapse are now complaining of respiratory and other problems. This has health officials scrambling for answers.

Deborah Feyerick reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Rescue worker, John Graham, watched the Twin Towers collapse and disintegrate. He was right in the middle of the huge cloud, as it rose over the tip of Manhattan, blowing into Brooklyn.

GRAHAM: It wasn't air. It was vaporized building. It was choking. It was blinding. It was sometimes hot. The only one thing about the dust that I'd say I liked, it kind of hid the devastation.

FEYERICK: Graham has what's called the World Trade Center cough, wrenching and dry. There are other symptoms too, nosebleeds, watery eyes, sore throat.

LEVIN: Cases of sinusitis, cases of persistent laryngitis and trachyitis, inflammation of the windpipe, and cases of bronchitis, all of which are really the results of chemical burns to the lining of the respiratory tract.

FEYERICK: Four months after the attacks, and still there are no real answers, why people living and working near Ground Zero feel so lousy, or how long that feeling will last. One out of every three firefighters digging in the aftermath, now have breathing problems.

Never before have so many people been exposed to such high levels of so many dangerous materials, asbestos, lead, fiberglass particles, PCBs, dust and chemicals that seeped into air ducts, settling in apartments like Clara Breeze's.

So you think all of this was collected after September 11th?

CLARA BREEZE: Absolutely, it was totally clean because we had cleaned it. No question.

FEYERICK: Breeze says, even now her eyes begin to tear the moment she gets near home. Still, the Environmental Protection Agency says daily testing shows toxin levels within normal range.

RONNIE BELLOW, EPA: To date, we have taken 4,000 plus samples for asbestos alone in the outdoor air, and fortunately, the vast majority of those samples have indicated that there's no significant long-term risk to people from exposure.

FEYERICK: The critics, like Joel Kupferman, who lead the neighborhood advocacy group, says independent tests he commissioned showed far higher toxin levels.

JOEL KUPFERMAN, ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATE: We went out about four or five blocks from the site, picked up a sample, put it in a bag and had it tested, and it came up with five percent asbestos, and 90 percent fiberglass, which is dangerous levels.

FEYERICK: Kupferman and others accuse the EPA of faulty testing, using outdated equipment that can't pick up finely pulverized substances, and testing outdoors but not indoors.

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: The EPA has abdicated its responsibility, and the Federal Government and the city government are playing dice with the lives of several hundred thousand people.

FEYERICK (on camera): The EPA Ombudsman is investigation the agency's testing methods and hospital studies are underway to find out just how dangerous that cloud really was.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: The health fallout from the terrorist attacks is not limited to the physical, emotional trauma is on the increase as well. One of the biggest New York City hospitals recently held a seminar on post-traumatic stress syndrome. Problems associated with the disorder can take months to emerge.

Our Susan Lisovicz takes a look at the disorder and some options in treating it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The horror of September 11th is something that haunts Greg Manto daily.

GREG MANTO, FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSULTANT: I see that man looking straight ahead and jumping. I see the couple grabbing each other's hands, jumping, and then I see the building falling down like dominoes.

LISOVICZ: Manto, a broker, was one of thousands of people who worked so close to the World Trade Center that his building shook when the first plane crashed. He was close enough to see terrible things, and then he joined those thousands of people in returning to work within just a few days.

Alden Cass completed a study on stress in the brokerage industry two years ago, when the stock market and the economy were booming. He found the rate of clinically diagnosable depression more than three times higher than that of the general population. He's talked to a lot of brokers in the aftermath of 9/11, and he is troubled.

ALDEN CASS, ST. LUKE'S-ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL CENTER: They're really having a lot of trouble coping and the unwritten rule within these firms is, don't talk about it.

LISOVICZ: Maria Porcelli was forced to relocate to New Jersey after her firm's headquarters in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center was destroyed. All of her colleagues survived, but one-fifth of them have since left the company.

MARIA PORCELLI, WEATHERLY SECURITIES: From all the stress that everybody was under, as far as emotional and all the work that had to be done to get our business back up and running, it was very hard for a lot of the employees to get back into the workplace and do the good job that they've always done.

LISOVICZ: Mental health professionals say employees who work under extraordinary stress make more mistakes and are less productive.

DR. RICHARD ROSENTHAL, M.D., ST LUKE'S-ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL CENTER: The people who are out there working in the financial industry and working in the securities industry have an impact in the market itself, that our economic recovery is not only a passive thing, you know, when it gets better, we'll feel better. But it's only going to get better if we feel better.

MANTO: There is a section for a CEP (ph) IRA, and you did check it.

LISOVICZ: Greg Manto has never sought professional help for his flashbacks, but he did switch jobs this month. He no longer works on Wall Street as a broker, where his earnings were based on commissions. He does financial consulting instead.

MANTO: I've been the happiest I've been in the last two years, and there's probably a number of reasons. But I finally wake up with a smile. I walk through the streets smiling.

LISOVICZ (on camera): The Securities Industry Association says many firms are trying to care for their employees, and at the same time avoid dwelling in the past. One of the characteristics of post- traumatic stress is that problems associated with the disorder often take months to emerge.

Susan Lisovicz, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Antibiotics are not necessary for most upper respiratory problems like bronchitis and sinus infections and may actually be harmful, according to guidelines released by a national group of internists. These infections are usually viruses and antibiotics don't work on viruses. With repeated exposure, bacteria can build up a strong resistance to the drugs. Experts suggest treating symptoms with over-the-counter medicine. If symptoms continue, see your doctor.

WALCOTT: Environmental concerns will be a hot topic among world leaders planning to convene this spring for the United Nations Special Session on Children. As we reported last week, the meeting will focus on problems that impact children worldwide, pollution being one of them. That's an especially important issue for some countries like Mexico.

Our CNN Student Bureau has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YURI DEL RIVERO, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Many children live out their lives unaware of the air they breathe, but in Mexico City, air pollution is a huge problem. The city is located in a valley at 2,400 meters above sea level, and in cold days, the surrounding mountains trap the polluted air causing thermal inversion. This happens when the layers of hot and cold air do not circulate and polluted air stays in the same place.

Sometimes people don't realize how they contribute to the pollution process, according to Alejandro Encinas, former Minister of Mexico City's Environmental Department.

ALEJANDRO ENCINAS, FORMER MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, MEXICO CITY (through translator): The main cause of pollution in our city is the small particles suspended in the air we breathe and the thousands of pounds of trash people discard daily.

Obviously people don't realize that day by day they contribute to the pollution process by using their cars or public transportation. And the worst part of this problem is that people are not putting trash in the places they should. The city's output of garbage exceeds our capability to deal with it. Our rivers are getting dirty each time.

DEL RIVERO: Mexico City's government has already started taking care of this problem. They have put a program called "hoy no circula" in which car's license plates are color-coded and each color must rest one weekday to diminish pollution.

(on camera): Several environmental measures have been taken to reduce pollution. Mexican gasoline now complies with international standards and does not contain lead anymore. Since 1997 the quality of air has been monitored daily and special programs have been developed to cope with the problem. However, there are still almost three million cars in circulation, more than three million tons of garbage per year and a large amount of the population suffers of respiratory diseases.

DANIEL SANCHEZ (through translator): Because of my problem, I am not able to run or play with my friends at the school. I can't practice sports, and also I cannot exert myself.

RAFAEL SOTO (through translator): I have been sick since I was 4 years old. I wonder (ph) a lot of pollution I can hardly breathe.

DEL RIVERO (voice-over): Mexico may need more aggressive measures to address air pollution before a noted change can be seen. Until then, its children will continue to be at risk from the air they breath.

Yuri Del Rivero, CNN Student Bureau, Mexico City, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ONSCREEN: "Where in the World?"

Terrain: high rugged mountains, low coastal plains; mostly Roman Catholic population; free market economy.

Can you name this country?

Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: As we told you earlier, the Winter Olympic Games kick off in Salt Lake City this Friday. The Olympic torch arrived in the state of Utah yesterday. A Native American runner blessed the torch with an eagle's wing. About 200 people watched the ceremony.

Meantime, they're still holding a torch in the small town of Oakville, Alabama for their own hometown Olympic hero, Jesse Owens. Owens won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Oakville residents recently unveiled the new Jesse Owens Museum and Park honoring the track and field star who died in 1980. Family members were on hand for the park's opening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's about family. It's about honoring a hero. He was really a very special person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALCOTT: In 1976, President Gerald Ford awarded Owens the United States Medal of Freedom. That's the highest civilian honor.

And looking forward to the upcoming Olympics, don't forget our own Michael McManus who will be in Salt Lake City next week. He'll be covering the games in a way only CNN STUDENT NEWS can do. You won't want to miss it.

And you won't want to miss everything we have for you on the Web. Surf on over and check us out at CNNstudentnews.com.

And that wraps up this edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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