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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Court Questions; State of Emergency; Marching Saints?; Spirit of Giving; Road to Recovery

Aired September 12, 2005 - 05:30   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Thank you for waking up with us. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.
Coming up in the next 30 minutes, the Saints come to save the day and give much-needed smiles to the hometown.

And an unexpected housing boom for one community not far from New Orleans.

But first, "Now in the News."

Let the hearings begin. The Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for John Roberts begins at noon Eastern today in Washington. Roberts is the president's choice to succeed the late William Rehnquist as chief justice. Much of the day is expected to be taken up by opening statements from committee members.

Where Israelis leave, Palestinians rush in. This is Netzarim, one of the Israeli settlements closed by Israel in its withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it has now completed its pullout two weeks ahead of schedule.

Still spinning, Hurricane Ophelia has lost some power, but Chad says -- well, Chad is still keeping an eye on where it will go.

Let's head to the Forecast Center now to talk more about Ophelia.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

Officially now three loops. This thing has done three separate loops, one in the Bahamas, one off the coast of Florida and now it just did another one overnight. And in fact, it's right back where it was 48 hours ago.

So this is a very difficult forecast because of the loops, because of the lack of any wind anywhere around the storm. You'd like to see just a bunch of wind to blow the storm in one direction or the other so at least you have a forecast.

The official forecast is for it to head back toward South Carolina, but then turn a right turn, make a right turn on up toward the north and toward the northeast.

Now the official hurricane watch and tropical storm warning all the way from Cape Lookout all the way down to Edisto Beach. So just because it looks like the storm is turning to the right, don't let your guard down all the way down even into Charleston. Because it does have to make that right turn, otherwise, it's still right now moving to the west at four miles per hour, due west from where it was.

Now why is the hurricane watch and the tropical storm warning area so large? That's a long distance. Well, because the hurricane models still not doing a very good job. The center of the storm right there, that's the beginning of all those models.

So, as I'll zoom you in, you can see some of them actually take it into South Carolina. A few into South Carolina with a big right turn. But many of them now take this big, I would say there's at least eight lines in here, eight different colors that are actually taking it up somewhere, anywhere between Cape Fear and about Cape Hatteras, and then finally off into the ocean in the next 48 to 72 hours. A very slow-moving storm.

In fact, some of the models now even slower. Some say it may not even make landfall until Thursday. So it's going to be out there making waves for a long, long time. And if it just keeps gulping in this dry air, like it did overnight, Carol, you said it lost some strength, maybe it will just be a T.S. by the time it makes landfall.

COSTELLO: I hope so.

MYERS: That would be good.

COSTELLO: Yes.

Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Civil rights and Roe v. Wade are expected to be the hot topics when the John Roberts hearing gets under way today. Roberts, who was President Bush's choice for chief justice, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee at noon Eastern.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken sets the stage for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In less than two months, John Roberts has been nominated to be on the Supreme Court not once, but twice.

BUSH: I am pleased to announce that I will nominate him to serve as the 17th chief justice of the Supreme Court.

FRANKEN: Roberts had clerked for William Rehnquist, the man he would now replace. He was originally nominated to fill the seat of Sandra Day O'Connor.

The president believes that because Roberts' record is well known now, he'll be quickly confirmed, particularly with his pleasant demeanor that could smooth over any rough spots.

But skeptics charge that Roberts' personality masks a hard-core conservative, out to undo civil rights and abortion rights.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The burden is on Judge Roberts to show that he is within the mainstream of America.

FRANKEN: As a prospective chief justice, Roberts will have to finesse even more probing questions than when he was named to succeed Associate Justice O'Connor.

EDWARD LAZARUS, SUPREME COURT LEGAL ANALYST: Democrats are going to argue that there's a higher threshold for someone who is going to come in and be chief justice. But at the end of the day, they're still going to have the same information available that they have now. Roberts is going to be still just as impressive as he was before.

FRANKEN (on camera): Barring any surprises, a full Senate confirmation vote on Roberts could come in plenty of time for Chief Justice Roberts to be at the Supreme Court when its new term begins October 3, while Associate Justice O'Connor still waits for her replacement.

Bob Franken, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Now for the latest from the disaster zone and our "Mission Critical" update.

Forced evacuations will not happen. Police officials in New Orleans say no one will be physically taken from their homes against their will. Instead, police will notify remaining residents that they are in violation of the mayor's order to leave town.

About 2,000 Muslim volunteers helped distribute food and water at a Houston shelter. Muslim leaders say the fact it was September 11 was a coincidence.

New Orleans will be dusted with pesticides today. Health officials have warned that the standing water is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes that can carry many diseases, including the West Nile virus. The risk to humans from the pesticide is said to be minimal.

People displaced by Katrina are still waiting for the federal government to provide temporary housing. A FEMA spokesman says more than a thousand trailers and manufactured homes are on the way. Another 5,900 rooms will be available on cruise ships, but those are reserved for first responders and essential public employees.

The timetable for draining New Orleans may be just days instead of months. An Oklahoma company says it's sending high-powered pumps to help out. The military will airlift the first of the pumps into the area within the next day or so. President Bush begins the week back in New Orleans. He'll spend today touring New Orleans and later the hurricane-ravaged Mississippi Gulf Coast.

CNN's Sumi Das has more now. She's live in New Orleans.

Good morning -- Sumi.

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast area remains very much in the spotlight for the federal government. President Bush arrived here at the New Orleans International Airport late yesterday. He was greeted by Mayor Ray Nagin, Vice Admiral Thad Allen and Lt. Gen. Russell Honore.

Now President Bush will take his first ground tour of New Orleans today before heading to Gulfport, Mississippi, and then returning to Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After overnighting on the USS Iwo Jima, docked in New Orleans, President Bush begins the day with a progress report on hurricane relief efforts. The trip marks the president's third visit to the Gulf Coast region.

While he is focusing on recovery efforts now, some lawmakers feel Mr. Bush didn't live up to his duties as commander in chief when it was most crucial.

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: How are these mayors with limited budgets, a lot of poor people, going to lift on their own backs and their own budget mass transit to get poor people out of cities? That's what a president is for. That's what a federal government is for.

DAS: Others are tiring of the squabbling.

SEN. DAVID VITTER (R), LOUISIANA: I just wish folks in Washington would get with it and get real and focus on the challenge at hand and stop this from becoming a political football.

DAS: At least one challenge is being met sooner than expected. The Army Corps of Engineers, which initially estimated that draining New Orleans could take up to 80 days, now says the task should be complete by October.

Despite a mandatory evacuation order due to health hazards that are likely to be present even after the city is drained, the lower water levels may provide further encouragement for residents wanting to stay in New Orleans. Local officials announced Sunday they will not physically force holdouts to leave their homes.

(END VIDEOTAPE) One sign of recovery here in Louisiana, this airport, the New Orleans International Airport, will reopen for commercial flights starting tomorrow -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sumi Das live in New Orleans this morning.

With that cleanup expected to take some time, the prices of homes in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 80 miles north of New Orleans, they're going through the roof. The head of the area's realtors association says prices have risen between 20 and 30 percent in the last week. New Orleans families expecting to be out of their homes for months are grabbing the properties as fast as possible.

Going "Beyond the Soundbite" now, the Dalai Lama is in Idaho for several days. The leader of the world's 20 million Tibetan Buddhists delivered a message of compassion to a crowd of 10,000 people on Sunday spoke on the fourth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Here's some of what he had to say about 9/11.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TENSIN GYATSO, DALAI LAMA: Of course the painful experience, some of your close friends now already passed away, already no more. That is very unfortunate, but it is reality. It is fact. It's happened.

Now it is that tragedy, if you think it already happened, so even your much more sort of sadness, much more sort of frustrations, will not solve the problem. Already happened. And particularly, is there too much sorrow, too much anger, too much frustration, this will not bring your close friends who passed away, will never return. So the more sadness, more frustration brings more suffering to yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Later today, the Dalai Lama will speak to thousands of school children at a gathering organized by the governor of Idaho, Dirk Kempthorne.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, the Saints go marching in, giving the hometown something it desperately needs, a reason to cheer.

And later, some pint-sized helping hands do what they can to make a difference for the victims of Katrina.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's straight. It's drifting. And it's good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It was unbelievably dramatic. The New Orleans Saints pulled it out. My goodness, they used a last-second field goal to win their opening game. They beat the Carolina Panthers 23-20, but there was much more than just football on their minds.

The Saints kicker, John Carney, who kicked the game winner, says there was a sense they were playing for more than themselves. It was about what they represented, their city and fans who were battered by Hurricane Katrina, you know that, and now the team has no home, for now.

CNN sports analyst Rick Harrow joins me to talk about the next step for the Saints. Let's talk about that first game for a second, though, Rick, what a dramatic end.

RICK HARROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Hey, Carol, it was absolutely, positively incredible. And when the NFL focuses long term on what to deal with the Saints, hopefully they'll realize that a game won Sunday, September 11, was really the beginning of a recovery effort for that team. And, frankly, the city using sports to help lift the spirits up, which was a major, major issue.

COSTELLO: I mean I was actually in a sports bar when this happened, and the entire bar went crazy, and this was in Connecticut.

HARROW: Yes, well, the Saints had become America's football team, maybe surpassing the Dallas Cowboys, short term, maybe even long term.

COSTELLO: Well let's talk about them maybe one day, hopefully soon, going back to New Orleans. I know there was talk of the team moving out of the city.

HARROW: Well, you know everybody is focusing pretty quickly on where it goes long term. And I think the NFL legitimately wants to deal with the issue of what to do short term.

There is a game two Monday nights from now where they're playing their -- quote -- "home game" at the Meadowlands in New York, and it will be the cornerstone of a major telethon fund raising effort by the NFL. And then they may play four games of their home schedule in San Antonio. They're looking to try to figure out where to go in Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, maybe for the end of '05. And then '06 and beyond, they'll look long term.

But there are lease issues and corporate money issues and long- term deals. It's a very complicated legal issue, but they will not deal with that in the short term, they'll wait until the right time.

COSTELLO: The Superdome, badly damaged and really bad memories associated with that. Could they possibly go back there?

HARROW: Well bad memories short term. Long term, it was built 30 years ago at $135 million. Four Final Fours, the basketball championship, six Super Bowls, nine in the city, the Sugar Bowl every year, it generates about a billion dollars of sports-related economic impact every time it opens its doors, so.

COSTELLO: Yes, yes, but, Rick, what happened inside of that Superdome.

HARROW: You're absolutely right.

COSTELLO: I mean that kind of cancels everything out, in my book.

HARROW: Well, what it cancels out is moving into it right away and trying to figure out what to do with it in the short term. Engineers have to look at it. Then you have to figure out what the social cost is and the psychological cost. So you're absolutely right. So do you replace it? Do you replace it on the site? Do you repair it? Those are major issues that they have to be dealt with over time.

COSTELLO: And the other major issue is the incredible loss of money for the New Orleans Saints owners. And if you know they lost the Superdome, they have to come up with the money somehow to build another one, right, and where do you get that?

HARROW: Well you're not going to get it in the normal course of things. The NFL, you know, may help. The federal dollars are important.

But you know the issue of using these facilities as staging areas has become a major issue. Now there's $13 billion of public money that's been spent in the last 25 years to build a number of facilities. And it is important to know, in a broader perspective, that 40 of these arenas, stadiums, performing arts centers, convention centers have been used all over the country to house evacuees. And the new designs around the country, not just New Orleans, they're taking that into account.

So clearly the Superdome has had some negative images, but you have to realize that people will learn from that, in the industry as well, when you look at rebuilding any facility.

COSTELLO: Rick Harrow, CNN sports analyst, thank you so much. I guess for now we'll just concentrate on that wonderful game-winning kick by John Carney.

HARROW: That's a great thing to get us through at least the next couple of weeks.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Rick.

HARROW: Bye-bye.

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:47 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

President Bush will be in New Orleans today to view the damage and recovery efforts there. He'll travel to Gulfport, Mississippi then. The president spent the night aboard the USS Iwo Jima, which is the command center for relief operations.

John Roberts will face the first round of questions today from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Roberts was originally tabbed as the nominee for associate justice, but now he's President Bush's choice to be the new chief justice of the United States.

In money news, mechanics at Northwest Airlines are no closer to ending their strike. The mechanics called the airlines' latest offer horrendous. Northwest has threatened to hire replacement workers beginning tomorrow. The mechanics are seeking bigger severance packages for the 3,000 jobs the airline wants to cut.

In culture, horror film fans flocked to the movies this weekend. They pushed the "Exorcism of Emily Rose" to the top spot at the box office with $30 million. And that's a pretty good take considering the movie just took $20 million to make.

In sports, Roger Federer captured his second straight U.S. Open title with an impressive victory over Andre Agassi. After the four set match, Agassi called Federer the best I've ever played against.

To the Forecast Center and -- Chad.

MYERS: It was that third set that put Agassi away. Tiebreaker 6-6 and then all of a sudden it just -- Agassi just didn't feel it, I think. Federer just played so well. The aces, the power coming out of that racket was amazing.

Let me show you what's going on in the tropics. Tropical storm turning into hurricane, tropical storm again, back to hurricane. Ophelia right now at 75 miles per hour. So, therefore, right there at the very bottom end of a Category 1.

Forecast to go to the west. That's what it's doing now at four miles per hour. And then turn to the north and possibly hit coastal Carolina, anywhere from Edisto Beach right on up to Cape Lookout. You have to keep watching there. I know that's a long area, but this storm has been wobbling now for seven days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning.

From the very young to the old, Hurricane Katrina has tapped the compassion of so many of us, including some elementary school students in the Los Angeles area. They're raising money to help people in New Orleans who were displaced by the storm.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to come and talk to you guys today about what we, as a school, can do to help all the victims of Hurricane Katrina. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people lost their homes, lost their possessions, lost their toys, lost their everything that they know and love has been taken away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Know what even what a levee is? What a levee does -- Caden (ph)?

CADEN, STUDENT: Well it like blocks off like the water from the Mississippi River.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what are some other problems you think that they're having?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Having to walk through the water and it's all the way up to their legs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many of their dogs died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How would you feel if you couldn't get to your school? Everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sad. Are we going to try hard to help those people out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Give me a thumbs up if we're going to help them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Generosity. And the definition of generosity is giving to those in need. And right now there are some people in our country in the state of Louisiana, in the state of Mississippi that have a great need.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was watching a football game and there was this commercial and it said call 1-800-HELP-NOW. And then it showed the people in New Orleans and it showed how bad they were, and so I decided to help them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was great. We raised $955.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really proud of the compassion that all of the children are showing for people that have lost so much, and they're very lucky children, and I think right now they know it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see so much people dying that are just really young. I see it as horror, horror. It's not good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father, we come before you as a kindergarten class and as a school and ask you to bless those people that are without homes and jobs and cars and just don't have any money at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you praying when you pray?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm praying for God to help them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To help them. It's a good thing to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: If you'd like to help Katrina victims, check out CNN's Help and Locate Web site at CNN.com. You'll find a long list of valid organizations and relief agencies.

You are watching DAYBREAK for a Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: From lawlessness to cops stumbling over cops, New Orleans has undergone a huge transformation over the past two weeks.

As CNN's Drew Griffin reports, there could be a danger in too much law and order.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The New Orleans PD needed help, and in small towns and major cities the cry was answered. But take a look at New Orleans today. On every street corner, every sidewalk, police, soldiers, private security guards and guns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of gun is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shotgun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a shotgun?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Police from every corner of the country are here to patrol mostly empty streets, the thugs that threatened New Orleans. These New Orleans S.W.A.T. officers came back from a day's patrol empty handed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quiet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty quiet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty quiet.

GRIFFIN (on camera): In fact, with so few thugs left in New Orleans, the biggest threat right now may be friendly fire. JAMES BERNAZZANI, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: The unintended consequences of all these nobly intended law enforcement agencies bringing resources to New Orleans has created an atmosphere where we really don't know who is in town and who is doing what.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The FBI's Jim Bernazzani says he doesn't know how many law enforcement officers are now on the city streets. He and the New Orleans Police are scrambling to put together a joint operational command center, one that will make sure the flood of police into this town doesn't turn into a disaster of its own.

BERNAZZANI: Because, God forbid, what we don't need is to have a police department patrolling one area of town that runs into another police department and they don't recognize each other as good guys.

GRIFFIN: What's not known just yet is when all of these out-of- town cops can go home. The beleaguered New Orleans Police must recover from a triple blow to its force. A third of its officers fled the city when the crisis hit, 85 percent of them live in areas of New Orleans hit by floods. And those tough officers that remain here are working to the point of exhaustion. So the out-of-town cops are a necessity, even if right now they seem to outnumber the civilians left in the city.

Drew Griffin, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The FBI wants to knock down any rumors that the federal government is taking over the New Orleans Police Department. It's a joint operation center which should be up and running. It's intended only to help the New Orleans Police Department to own the city once again.

Coming up new in the next hour, back to school after the storm. We'll take you live to Gulfport, Mississippi as some semblance of a normal life returns for students there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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