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CNN Live Sunday

Two are Dead in Greyhound Bus Accident; No Major Delays at LaGuardia; Hussein's Trial Set to Resume; Earthquake Hit Iran; Abortion Case going to Supreme Court; G.M. Employees are Facing Unemployment; Growing Number of Homeless People in Los Angeles

Aired November 27, 2005 - 18:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. To our top story in a moment, but first other stories making news right now.
Kidnapping in Iraq. Four humanitarian workers, two Britons, a Canadian, and an American. Their aid organization says all four were taken from a west Baghdad neighborhood this weekend. Not a whole lot of information available. A U.S. embassy spokesman says: an urgent investigation is under way.

Don't think the CIA leak case is over yet. Another "TIME Magazine" staffer is reportedly going to testify about what she learned from people close to White House aide Karl Rove. Federal prosecutors are trying to find out who is ultimately responsible for blowing the cover of a CIA operative.

And, this is one awful scene near Phoenix. A van rolled on Interstate 17, crossed the median, and wound up in the northbound lanes. Several people were ejected, at least two of them died. Holiday traffic was backed up for miles as police worked the scene.

Well, this is one of the places you probably don't want to be right now, Chicago's O'Hare Airport, where snow is slowing things down. Mother Nature is interfering with post-holiday travel elsewhere. And meteorologist Brad Huffines has the nationwide picture, CNN's Kareen Wynter is on the West Coast and Susan Lisovicz is at the bustling LaGuardia Airport in New York. And Susan, let's begin with you.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend is always one of the busiest travel days of the years. So the folks here at LaGuardia Airport were well-prepared, extra personnel on hand.

But having said that, it's Mother Nature, as you mentioned, that really might take the headline here. Skies are literally clear, temperatures are mild, and the end result is no crowds, no problems no delays. Port Authority is telling us that here at LaGuardia, only minor delays on all arrivals and departures, 15 minute delays. At New York City's other two major airports, Newark and Kennedy, no significant delays to speak of.

Having said that, a different story on New York City's roads. I mean, you have to remember, 37 million people traveling from Wednesday to Sunday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Thirty million of them will be traveling by automobile. (INAUDIBLE) So there is congestion, but just not right here at the airport. A number of people said that they got here early and they were surprised at what they didn't see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came here two hours early because I think it was, I thought it was going to be a crowd, but it's not crowded. It's empty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Better than we thought.

LISOVICZ: You sound surprised.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We thought it would be a pretty big hassle, but so far, it's been pretty easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LISOVICZ: And you know what, Fredricka? We talked to a number of people who were there with their families, taking their kids back to college. They said they were giving thanks for the extra time they had to spend with their family. They got here early.

Everything was OK, and so they got to sit down, have a bite to eat, or just chat with each other before they sent them off. A number of people said, in fact every travel day should be like what they've been seeing so far in LaGuardia. Back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Pretty good experience overall there. All right, thanks a lot, Susan.

Well, now to Santa Maria, California, where a deadly bus accident has Highway 101 jammed. CNN's Kareen Wynter is live from Santa Maria with the latest. Kareen?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, we're awaiting a news conference from the California Highway Patrol. We'll bring that to you live when that does happen. But on this Greyhound bus, there were about 44 passengers. And what's really unfortunate in all of this, is that officials say many of these people were heading home from their holiday travel, when things turned tragic.

This happened in the northbound lane of the 101 highway here in Santa Maria. Officials say this Greyhound bus was traveling along this stretch, when somehow it veered off the shoulder, went down an embankment, and hit a tree resting on its side.

We spoke with one eyewitness here, Manuel Bonila, who described what he saw. He also said there was a first responder on the scene, a firefighter who was actually quite heroic here in the fact that he used a ladder to get to some of those victims who were trapped. There were 11 people injured, two fatalities. One of them a woman who was seven months pregnant. Now, this eyewitness also described what he told accident investigators. Some of the information he gave them on what he saw just minutes before the crash. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANUEL BONILA, EYEWITNESS: The bus came up -- I assume came up behind me. I wasn't paying attention behind me. Came around me, passed me, then came into the slow lane like you normally do when you're passing a vehicle. Only, he kept on going over, instead of staying up in the slow lane, he kept on going. He kept coming over. As soon as he hit the white fog line, I knew he was going to go over the edge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: CHP said it also planned on interviewing the bus driver sometime today. The bus driver, we're told, was not seriously injured. But Fredricka, overall just a horrific end to the holidays, for some of these passengers. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Kareen Wynter, thanks so much. And we're awaiting a news conference for further updates on that bus crash, and when that happens, we'll be bringing that to you live.

Brad Huffines is in the Weather Center with an overall look at how the elements are impacting the journey back home.

BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A lot going on, Fredricka, nationwide, especially in the nation's heartland.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HUFFINES: And the current airport delays, we are starting now to see the airports back up because of weather and traffic. Current airport delays in Newark, let me just get out of the way. In Newark right now, going to the southeast, current airport delays in both O'Hare and Chicago Midway, then in the southeast airport delays in Dallas/Ft. Worth, and in Atlanta, all an hour plus. And Fredricka, you know as well as I do, these are going to start domino-ing as the night-time progresses.

WHITFIELD: It sure is indeed. All right, it's going to be a long night.

HUFFINES: For some.

WHITFIELD: Maybe even into tomorrow, too. Brad Huffines, thanks so much.

Well onto Iraq now, where tensions are high. The trial of Saddam Hussein is set to resume within hours. Defense attorneys for Hussein and seven others on trial, want the case moved out of Iraq because they say they won't get a fair trial, and it's not safe. Iraqi police arrested eight Sunni Arabs yesterday for allegedly plotting to kill a judge in the case. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Yes for Islam, execute Saddam, they chant. Angry and outspoken, these supporters of fire-brand Shia cleric Moqdata al-Sadr are the only demonstrators who've taken to the streets, ahead of Saddam's trial Monday.

We ask to speed up the trial, he says, to see Saddam executed. Across town, Hussein's lawyer Khamees al-Ubaidi is working to avoid exactly that. When the trial restarts after a five-week break, he plans to call for another three-month delay, because of attacks on defense lawyers and problems with the court.

KHAMEES AL-UBAIDI, SADDAM HUSSEIN DEFENSE LAWYER (through translator): Documents we've asked for in the October 19th session have not been supplied to us so far, and the incidents that happened during the postponement period have directly hindered our work.

ROBERTSON: Al-Ubaidi is also counting on help from former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who arrives in Baghdad less than 24 hours ahead of the trial.

RAMSEY CLARK, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: My plan is to go to the court in Baghdad Monday morning, representing the defense counsel in this particular situation, who are threatened with death.

ROBERTSON: Since Hussein first appeared in the dock almost five weeks ago, two defense lawyers have been shot dead, and one wounded in targeted assassinations.

Defense lawyers have since been offered official protection. Hussein's lawyer has been told to expect three or four days of court proceedings. And to hear from the first witnesses in the case that accuses the former president and seven regime allies of brutally retaliating to a 1982 assassination attempt. Despite the dangers, al- Ubaidi says he has no choice but to attend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Now, on to Santa Maria, California, for an update on that deadly bus crash.

DAN MINOR, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: ... to stop actually here in Santa Maria, ran off the right shoulder of the northbound 101 freeway, just south of Betteravia Road. Our investigation is ongoing, but at this time we've been able to find out that that bus originated this morning at approximately 3:30 out of Los Angeles.

It was en route to a stop here in Santa Maria, and then was going to continue to San Luis Obispo, where it was going to change drivers. Prior to that stop in Santa Maria, approximately three miles before its intended off ramp, witness reports indicate that the bus, which was in the No. 1 lane northbound, suddenly drifted to the right without signalling or braking, and continued to the right until it ran off the right shoulder of the freeway, down an embankment and overturned onto its right side.

At this point, there is no indication of any alcohol impairment or drug impairment. And like I said, the investigation is ongoing, but we do have reason to believe that driver fatigue may have been a significant factor in the cause of this accident.

We know so far that the driver had driven the previous night from Fresno to Los Angeles, and like I said, (INAUDIBLE), then to San Luis Obispo. As a result of the collision, two of the 43 passengers were killed. The first was a male, a 50-year-old male from San Francisco by the name of Faro Jahani. Last name is spelled J-a-h-a-n-i. First name is F-a-r-o.

The second victim was a 23-year-old female from Santa Maria by the name of Martha Contreras. C-o-n-t-r-e-r-a-s; first of Martha, M- a-r-t-h-a. Furthermore, according to the victim's husband, the female victim was seven months pregnant at the time of the accident. That's something that will be confirmed later by the Santa Barbara county coroner's office.

At this point our investigation has not given any indication of mechanical problems with the bus although our multidisciplinary accident investigation team will conduct a more thorough investigation at a later time.

But a preliminary investigation at the scene indicates no problems mechanically. At this time, the investigation is being handled by the Santa Maria CHP, with the assistance of our team out of coastal division, which is headquartered in San Luis Obispo. With that, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to entertain that.

WHITFIELD: All right, you've been listening to an update out of Santa Maria, California, where that officer is talking about driver fatigue possibly being a factor in that fatal bus crash that took place earlier today. Two people, a 50-year-old and a pregnant 23- year-old woman dying in that accident. The other 41 passengers were uninjured.

Now, villages lay in ruins tonight after another deadly quake rocks the Middle East. The latest from Iran straight ahead.

Plus, still on the run, two Washington state fugitives. And let the games begin, 75 days until the start of the 2006 winter games. We'll take to you to a countdown celebration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Let's go back to Brad Huffines in the Weather Center for some potential tornadic activity, Brad?

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, Brad, thanks so much.

A strong earthquake hit southern Iran. Officials say the quake lasted 10-to-15 seconds, sending panicked people into the streets. Local medical officials say the number of injuries is high, with some victims being treated in hospital hallways.

Iranian journalist Shirzad Bozorghmehr reports from nearby Bandar Abbas. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIRZAD BOZORGHMEHR, IRANIAN JOURNALIST: The strong earthquake measured 5.9 on the Richter scale shook the island of Qeshm in southern Iran Sunday, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens more.

Iranian officials said because the quake hit the island just before 2:00 p.m. local time, most people were not home and escaped death or injury. Officials said army and navy personnel helped in rescue operations and got almost all the victims out from the rubble of stricken homes in the center of the island.

Rescue workers have transported the most severely injured victims to hospitals in the provincial capital of Bandar Abbas. The 5.9 quake was followed by three strong aftershocks. The strongest aftershock measured 4.8 on the Richter scale.

Government officials in Qeshm, the largest island in the Persian Gulf, said all seven or eight severely damaged villages have been searched by rescue workers and army and navy personnel, and said: they were confident that all the victims had been rescued from under the rubble. Also said: that considering the large magnitude of the quake property damage was less than expected.

Shirzad Bozorghmehr for CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, news in our "World Wrap" tonight. Pope Benedict marked the beginning of advent today, the traditional four- week period before Christmas. The pope said: Christmas is a time of joy, and time when Christians can find the hope to change the world.

Officials in Harbin, China, say it is safe to drink the water. Residents of the city spent four days without running water because of a toxic spill into a river, which is the main source of water there. China has apologized to Russia, where the spill is heading next.

An Indian balloonist has reportedly broken the world record for the highest flight in a hot-air balloon. A son of the retired textile millionaire says his father ascended to 69,000 feet today. Instruments on board the balloon will provide independent verification, once it returns to earth.

And the Olympic torch was lit today for the upcoming winter games in Turin, Italy. Officials in Greece tried to use the sun's rays to light the flame, but because of heavy clouds, they had to settle for a flame lit yesterday during rehearsal.

Well, for the first time in five years, abortion takes center stage at the Supreme Court. We'll take a closer look at the controversial cases before the bench.

Also next...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPC. CARL COVINGTON, U.S. ARMY (RET): It was like a dream come true. I didn't know what to say. It was like somebody just gave me a million dollars and said, be really interested in pursuing your dream, I'll make it happen for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: He may have thought he lost everything on the front lines of Iraq, only to come home and have his dreams come true.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Every week we bring you the more personal stories from the frontlines. Today, the story of an army specialist who traded the mean streets of Iraq for a college campus, all thanks to a professor who saw his story on CNN. Here is Bill Tucker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Carl Covington walks the campus at Carnegie Mellon University almost effortlessly on his way to a first year architecture class. Now medically retired, the army specialist just stopped using a cane in April. Not many of his fellow classmates are even aware that his right knee was shattered and left calf is missing, after a roadside bomb exploded while he was doing a tour in Iraq.

SPEC. CARL COVINGTON, U.S. ARMY (RET): Sometimes you get the urges that you feel like you are a regular person. But once you get out there, your body gives you a check. Nope, you're not doing this today.

TUCKER: He's here, thanks to Carnegie Mellon professor and long- time architect Arthur Lubetz.

ARTHUR LUBETZ, PROFESSOR, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: When I saw him, I was taken by the fact that he had been through a lot, you know, a lot of operations and had both of his legs destroyed somewhat, and he wasn't going to let that bother him. He wasn't going to let it change the course of his life.

TUCKER: The architect was so taken by Covington that he tracked him down in California where he was recuperating at home and asked him if he would like to study at Carnegie Mellon.

COVINGTON: It was like a dream come true. I didn't know what to say. It's like somebody just gave me a million dollars and said, "be really interested in pursuing your dream. I'll make it happen for you."

TUCKER: The school agreed to take him on as a special student. He gets mentored and is advised and is on a six, rather than a five- year program.

COVINGTON: Every day is a challenge, not only because I'm older than anybody else, but I have my learning scale is at a totally different level than theirs. I'm not used to doing mathematics and reading and writing papers. I'm used to going to work every day, getting a job done.

TUCKER: Iraq is never far from his mind.

COVINGTON: I think about Iraq a lot. Mostly every day when I wake up and look at myself in the mirror and I look at all the scars I have on my body. Then when I get e-mails from my friends who are about to go back over there in a couple of months. So, I feel I hold a duty to them to succeed here, because I represent all of them in a way.

TUCKER: And Lubetz feels a duty, as well.

LUBETZ: I'm surprised that some other people didn't think to make the same offer to him and I'm surprised that more people aren't offering to help a lot of these young kids that are -- I mean, no matter what your view of the war, these kids had nothing to do with it. It seems to me that they deserve some -- at least a hand to get through life.

TUCKER: Bill Tucker, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Professor Lubetz actually saw Covington's profile and heard about his dream to become an architect on CNN's "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." And you can see Lou Dobbs every night at 6 p.m. Eastern.

The U.S. Supreme Court takes on a controversial topic this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY ARENT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lindsey Arent live in Washington. We'll look a closer look at the nuts and bolts of those cases, coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Plus, a fresh face in politics? How the richest woman in America is throwing her weight behind some big name politicos.

And, did a holiday weekend mean big box office gold for Hollywood? You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, welcome back. Here's what's happening now in the news. Two people were killed today when a Greyhound bus ran off a highway near Santa Maria, California. Authorities say 43 passengers were all on the bus, most suffered bumps and bruises. Officials don't know what caused the accident but blame driver fatigue, possibly.

Four Western aid workers have been kidnapped in Iraq. A Canadian government official says two of the victims are Canadian. But he wouldn't identify the agency they worked for. Unconfirmed reports say one of the workers is American and the other British.

Millions of Americans are heading home after their long Thanksgiving weekend and they're also finding that the airports, the highways, and the train stations are rather crowded. CNN meteorologist Brad Huffines says a blizzard is in store for the plains with thunderstorms in the Midwest and rain in the Northeast.

At the movies, the boy wizard led the box office this weekend. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" took in nearly $55 million. The Johnny Cash biography "Walk the Line" was No. 2 earning nearly $20 million. And in third place, the comedy "Yours, Mine and Ours," Disney's "Chicken Little" slipped to No. 4 and the musical "Rent" rounded out the top five.

Back to Brad Huffines in the weather center -- Brad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Boy, it has been a severe weather year overall.

All right, Brad Huffines, thanks so much.

The Supreme Court's current term resumes this week, on the docket, a closely watched abortion case. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has been the court's swing vote on abortion and she's still a member of the court, at least for now. CNN's Lindsey Arent is live in Washington with a preview of what's to come -- Lindsey.

ARENT: Fredricka, the case revolves around a 2003 parental notification law out of New Hampshire and the court is charged with looking at how to decide if that law is constitutional or not.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENT (voice-over): When Amanda found herself faced with an unplanned pregnancy at age 14, she decided an abortion was the best course of action. A minor at the time, she was surprised to find there were legal obstacles in the way.

AMANDA: My gut instinct told me it wasn't right that I had to seek out permission in order to have an abortion and that there was all these people around me persuading me not to or to have the abortion. That no one was asking me, what do you want?

ARENT: This week the Supreme Court will hear its first major abortion cases in five years. One closely watched case deals with the 2003 New Hampshire law requiring written notification to parents 48 hours before a minor has an abortion. The only exception is for life- threatening circumstances. A federal appeals court ruled the law was unconstitutional.

KAREN PEARL, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Who facing a medical emergency wants their doctor to have to decide between taking care of the medical emergency or leaving the emergency room, going to find a judge to get permission to give the care to their patient.

JAY SEKULOW, AM. CTR. FOR LAW & JUSTICE: You're not even talking about parental consent here, it's just notice. In a high school, a student can't have an aspirin without getting a parental slip. So, the idea that they could get an abortion procedure without telling the parents it's about to happen just seems to be outrageous.

ARENT: A recent CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows that 69 percent of Americans support parental control for abortion. But 61 percent support a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. This case comes at an unusual time for the Supreme Court with a new chief justice in place, the pending vacancy on the court's swing vote on abortion, and the possibility of Judge Sam Alito rise to the bench.

SEKULOW: Well, I think this is a major shift potential for the Supreme Court of the United States and I think will have significant implications for the court's development on these very closely divided cases.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENT: Now, the unstated variable here is if Sandra Day O'Connor leaves the court before this decision comes down, in which case her likely replacement, Sam Alito wouldn't be able to vote on the case either since he wasn't there to hear the argument, then if there's a tie four to four, well then he might have to this case all over again from the beginning -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. A real roller coaster ride, there. Thanks so much, Lindsey.

In other news "Across America" now official word on what happened on the Gulf Stream Jet carrying White House chief of staff Andrew Card. The plane made an emergency landing in Nashville yesterday after smoke was reported in the cockpit. No one was hurt. The White House says that card took another flight back to Washington.

It's darker than it should been the streets of Baltimore. That's because someone has been stealing the light poles; 130 poles each 30 feet tall and 250 pounds have vanished over the last few weeks. Police say they're in the dark over who's taking the poles.

Deejays may lose their jobs spinning tunes at bars and wedding receptions because of technology. People are using iPods or other portable music players to be Deejays on their own. One Boston pub has an MP-3-Jay night to let people play their own song lists over the bar's sound system.

And this is definitely not a festive time of the year for the more than 30,000 workers facing unemployment at General Motors. It won't be relatively soon, but that that's small comfort in the ranks of the nation's No. 1 automaker. Carlos Watson is here with more on GM's long-term plans and his fresh take on the issues of the week.

Carlos, good to see you. And let's talk about why GM's troubles a really a microcosm of the national picture, potentially. CARLOS WATSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: In fact, Fredricka, you could even say they may significantly stir politics in 2006. When you think of GM, at one time our largest corporation, struggling, certainly earlier in the year we talk about the fact that they high light the fact that health care has become a major financial cost for companies and sometimes it's driven companies to the brink.

But now what we'll start to talk about pensions, meaning, my mom's pensions, your dad's pensions, other people's pensions if these large established companies are sometimes, frankly, going to be at much risk as they are given that bankruptcy's around the corner.

And one of the frightening things, frankly, and one of the scandals that we'll start to hear more about in 2006 and consequently leaning to be a political issue is that a lot of the pensions are under funded meaning that you expect this amount of a payout to come a year or several years from now, but they've only put so much money in the till.

One company suggested that it may be under funded public pensions by as much as half a trillion dollars. That's a big scandal that's awaiting when my mom and your dad and others look for their checks.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, let's talk about the faces that the democrats say you need to keep -- take note of and keep a watchful eye on. Who are they?

WATSON: Well, you know, surprisingly enough in the last week, Oprah Winfrey, none other than the talented talk show queen, seemed to endorse a run for president by Hillary Clinton in 2008. And if Oprah decides to really actively get involved in politics, could be very significant.

And in fact, if she decides to throw her weight behind people like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who she's put her arm around, some people say she's doing it because she both have an Illinois connection and she's an Illinois person herself.

But others say she's trying to help create breakthroughs much in the way that Frank Sinatra helped our country elect our first Catholic president when he endorsed John F. Kennedy back in 1960.

One other person to watch is Senator Jon Corzine just got elected governor of New Jersey. He's got the opportunity to replace himself in the Senate. There are a number of very strong choices: Congressman Rob Andrews, Congressman Bob Menendez, the acting governor, but he may turn to a 57-year-old grandmother, Nia Gill who's a state senator.

You'll love this one, Fredricka. Her own party tried to run her out of politics. Why? Because they said she was too independent.

WHITFIELD: What?

WATSON: Which in New Jersey means that she's honest.

WHITFIELD: Oh, is that code language?

WATSON: That's the code. And she's a very interesting woman in that she's got an accomplished record in terms of legislation on everything from human trafficking to property rights. She's chairman of the State Senate Committee.

And if she's chosen by Corzine, she'll be the only woman of color in the United States Senate. She could become an Oprah star, if you will, another person that Oprah endorses as a breakthrough candidate.

WHITFIELD: Wow, and again, speaking of okra -- Oprah, you talked about the Illinois connection. You know, Hillary Rodham Clinton, that being her birth place, the place she grew up, folks really associating her with New York, because she's a New York senator,, but that's the Illinois connection. All right.

WATSON: Very much so.

WHITFIELD: All right. Carlos Watson, so good to see you. And happy Thanksgiving weekend, what's left of it.

WATSON: Have a great holiday, you too.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot. Homeless in the City of Angels. Why Skid Row's population keeps growing and may be adding to the problem.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We want to update you now on a story we brought to you yesterday. In Washington State the manhunt for two fugitives has spread beyond the city of Yakima. Police believe the escapees may have had help leaving the area altogether. They also suspect that one of the men had access to weapons and should be considered very dangerous. Seven other inmates, who escaped from the city jail, Friday night, are back in custody.

The Los Angeles area has more homeless people than any other city in the country. And most share the same address, Skid Row. CNN's Randi Kaye just spent a week on Skid Row. Tonight she investigates why the homeless population of Skid Row is growing and who may be adding to the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Skid Row, a 50 square block human dumping ground in downtown Los Angeles.

CAPT. ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPT.: Here, let me see your wrist band. Were you in the hospital recently?

KAYE: Still wearing a bracelet from the county jail, this woman Lilly was too strung out to tell how she got here.

SMITH: How long were you in the county jail? KAYE: Because of the abundant social services Skid Row is a magnet for the drug addicted, the mentally ill, the criminals, and the helpless. It's also a magnet for other cities who don't know what to do with their own problems, so they bring them here and dump them.

SMITH: I saw an outside agency dropping off an individual who didn't live in this area who had never been here before and hadn't been arrested in this area down -- actually right down on that corner down there.

KAYE: Two months ago, out on patrol, LAPD Captain Andrew Smith says he saw two L.A. County sheriff's deputies dump this man, Byron Harris, who Smith described as confused.

SMITH: Watched them pull to the curb, open the door and take a handcuffed prison other out, unhandcuff him, hand him a bag of his property and begin to leave, so I of course stopped them and tried to figure out what was going on.

KAYE: Smith says that Harris told him that he had not requested to be dropped downtown. He had been arrested in Long Beach, 25 miles away. But a spokesman for the sheriff told CNN Harris, just released from jail, had requested food and shelter, both available on Skid Row. The deputies did not dump that man or anyone else.

(on camera): Why do you think, if it's indeed happening, other communities are doing this?

SMITH: Well, we have a lot of services, social services, down here. But really, I think it's a way for other cities to get rid of the problems that they have.

KAYE (voice-over): Skid Row services include food, shelter, medicine, even prenatal care. It's a unique setup born from good intentions, but critics like Central City East's executive director, Estella Lopez, now worry the free handouts are leading to dumping.

(on camera): A long time ago they thought that this idea of centralized services was a good thing. Has it turned out to be a good thing?

ESTELLA LOPEZ, CENTRAL CITY EAST: It's turned out to be a nightmare. What it has done -- it's been a good thing for the 88 other cities and the counties of Los Angeles that don't have to deal with problems that come from their own communities. They send them here.

KAYE (voice-over): Which of these people have been dumped or decided to come on their own is unclear. But Estella Lopez and Captain Smith aren't the only ones who have witnessed dumping.

ORLANDO WARD, MIDNIGHT MISSION: How long have you been on the street?

KAYE: Orlando Ward works at Midnight Mission, just a block from where Captain Smith encountered Byron Harris. WARD: I had a guy in our courtyard three days ago, he had a hospital gown on, he had -- the IV was still attached. So, I went and asked him, I said, "How did you get down here?" and he said that the ambulance dropped him off a couple blocks down in front of a mission. I said, "Well, did you go in?" He goes, "Well, they just dropped me off."

KAYE: Ward was once a basketball star at Stanford University. Drugs lured him to the streets of Skid Row. He bottomed out and after two years he got clean. Ward says Skid Row was designed to help people, not dump people.

WARD: It makes me angry when you dump people without attaching them to the services that they really need. If your motive is getting them out of your backyard and dumping them on to somebody else, I have a problem with that.

KAYE: Captain Smith's 145 officers can hardly make headway here. San Julian Street, otherwise known as Heroin Alley, is like a giant block party where everyone brings an illegal drug. This woman propositioned me. Police say it's well known she's a prostitute.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much can I get paid for this?

KAYE: She explains she's been on the street since age nine. Why do you live like this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because this is a million dollar corporation, it never going to stop.

KAYE: This is Skid Row.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Skid Row looks out for Skid Row.

SMITH: How are you doing? How you hanging?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm doing OK.

SMITH: Are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. I'm hanging on.

KAYE: Captain Smith says police won't stop the problem, so who will? And when, the captain wonders, will other communities start providing services for their needy?

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, L.A. MAYOR: A great city can't be a place where we're leaving so many people behind.

KAYE: Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is investigating. He says the city of Los Angeles has pledged millions to help the chronically homeless, but it's time the federal government step up, too.

VILLARAIGOSA: The only governmental entity with the resources to deal with the structural problems of poverty in the cities is the federal government. The federal government has failed and refused over the last few years to invest in housing, to invest in the urban core in our cities.

KAYE: The same society that's allowing people to live on Skid Row is in some cases transporting them to be forgotten and perhaps to die.

WARD: It's a cultural genocide, we're losing a whole generation or people to this despair and ultimately death.

KAYE: Unlike Byron Harris, countless others may have been dumped here without a witness.

Randi Kaye, CNN, on Skid Row in Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: There are all sorts of high and low tech gifts available for animals these days. What do you plan to get for your pet this year? When you look at what's available online and in the stores, the choices seem unlimited. To help, here's CNN's Kyra Phillips.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is your pet just impossible to shop for? Well, the holidays are a trying time for animal lovers who wouldn't think of leaving their critters out of the gift giving action.

And why not? A study they year by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association found three-quarters of dog owners consider their animals part of the family. So here comes the pampering, and to a degree we've never seen before.

What cat wouldn't love to do his private business in high tech style? Self-cleaning litter box: $100. This doggy day bed, wrought iron with a cedar mattress: $290. Too extravagant? Probably. But doggynews.com reports that nearly 30 percent of you confessed to spending more on gifts for your pets than for your spouse. They say 83 percent will go so far as to wrap their pet's presents.

This handmade wooden chest, just for cat toys: $110. An off the floor dining set with a lovely corian top and handcrafted legs: $165. The selection in stores or online is virtually limitless, as pet ownership rises and pet indulgence right along with it. And it is not just in home. That APPMA study show that 19 percent of dog owners take their hounds on holiday. But maybe not in this cozy canine camper: $5,400.

Kyra Phillips, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: Let's go check in with Brad huffiness again. We're talking about a growing number of tornado warnings now, for both Arkansas and Missouri. What's going on?

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Wow, Scary stuff. Brad, thanks so much.

Well, thanks for joining me this hour of CNN SUNDAY. Coming up at 7:00 Eastern, a in-depth look at the morale of our troops serving in Iraq. That along with all the rest of today's headlines.

And at 8:00, you won't believe your ears, it's "CNN 25: THEY SAID WHAT?" And at 9:00 Eastern "LARRY KING LIVE," Larry's guest tonight, Bob Woodward on the CIA leak case, what he knew, when he knew it, and why he stayed silent for almost two years.

And I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern tonight with "Bullets in the Hood," the story of two teens who made a documentary about their neighborhood that ends with a both unique and tragic twist. More of CNN LIVE SUNDAY, right after this.

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