[Daniel Sieberg, Cnn Anchor:] Hi everybody, I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, we'll visit New Orleans as the peak of hurricane season approaches to see how this city below sea level would weather a direct hit.
[Dr. Walter S. Maestri, Director, Jefferson Parrish Emergency Manager:] The estimates that I have on my desk tell me that we have 44,000 casualties, 44,000 people die.
[Sieberg:] We'll show you the latest technology for finding the cause of car crashes, technology that some privacy experts oppose, which the government wants in all automobiles. And we'll look at the mystery of the starving pelicans off the coast of California. All that and more on NEXT. The height of hurricane season is about two weeks away, and peaks on September 10th. This is also the time of year when the people of the big easy get very uneasy. They've dodged the bullet for decades. If the big one hits, one emergency manager's view of what would happen is nearly apoplectic. CNN's John Zarrella takes us to New Orleans.
[John Zarrella, Cnn Correspondent:] New Orleans is all about attitude. From its music to its streetcars and riverboats, it oozes charm. It's a city that moves a bit slower, saving its energy to party a little harder. It is also a city that flirts with disaster nearly every hurricane season.
[Maestri:] It's going to happen. We can't continue to beat the odds. We've beaten the odds for a long, long time now.
[Zarrella:] Walter Maestri is the Jefferson Parrish Emergency manager preventive of the 1 million people living in metropolitan New Orleans he is responsible for nearly half a million. Which during hurricane season leaves him with many sleepless nights. Maestri is keenly aware there is little he can do to keep people from falling victim to a natural disaster or to save his city. The possibilities play out in his mind over and over again.
[Maestri:] Very, very rapidly, within a ten-hour period, the metropolitan New Orleans area is totally devastated. Gone.
[Zarrella:] As the peek of hurricane season approaches, several expert studies and computer models show New Orleans even more vulnerable than anyone previously thought. Maestri say levies and floodwalls designed to protect the city from moderately intense hurricanes might be overtopped and fail in just such storms.
[Maestri:] The way it is described, we describe it here is Lake Ponchartrain has now become Lake New Orleans.
[Zarrella:] In 1998 Hurricane George brushed New Orleans, going inland to the east in Mississippi a fairly powerful storm, it was not on the order of Betsy, which in 1965, killed 61 people in New Orleans, flooded the city and led to the construction of the floodwalls. But had it struck, the death toll from George might have been horrific.
[Maestri:] Stop for a second. The greatest disaster that any of us have looked at in the United States was 911, 2001, about 3,000 people died, 44,000 if George makes the direct hit on New Orleans.
[Zarrella:] Maestri estimates most of the dead would be people who for whatever reason did not or could not evacuate, left trapped in the city as the water rises. The problem is population has mushroomed. Evacuation routes are limited. And New Orleans is like a bowl. The city sits below sea level. On three sides, there's water. The Gulf of Mexico, Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. The experts say in a major hurricane, the water here in the French quarter could be up to the nose of Andrew Jackson's horse or as high as the second story windows on the Cathedral behind it. Jackson Square, the Cathedral and just about everything else in New Orleans would be under water, 12 to 15 feet of it. In the storm's aftermath, water would sit in the city for an estimated 6 months. Pumps needed to get the water out would be themselves under water. It would take up to 120 days to rebuild them. In this worst-case scenario, Mastri's vision is chilling.
[Mastri:] While we're rebuilding the pumps, we're getting everybody who is still in the area and who is alive out. And we're gathering the casualties and we're gathering the fatalities and getting them out of here.
[Zarrella:] Every building in the city having been submerged to one degree or another would have to be structurally analyzed. For months, no drinking water, no sewer system, no electricity. There are ideas and plans to save New Orleans from this doomsday vision. The levies and floodwalls surrounding the city can be raised higher. That would cost billions of dollars and take years to complete. The other thought wall off a portion of New Orleans the area behind the barrier would include the Government Center and the French quarter. For now, the only hope is to escape the city. Given the new studies, the evacuation order may come even for moderate hurricanes. It will take 72 hours to get 65 to 70 percent of the people out, if everything goes smoothly.
[Mastri:] This is one agency in government that not only is allowed to pray, it's demanded. We have calluses on our knees in this business.
[Zarrella:] Divine intervention, good fortune, the whims of nature, whatever it is, it is all that separates this city on the Mississippi from Walter Maistri's nightmare.
[Sieberg:] Well Hurricane Charley has been a nightmare for a lot of folks in Florida, not least of all people who lost their pets. More on that from Cynthia Smoot of CNN affiliate WGBT.
[Cynthia Smoot, Cnn Affiliate Wgbt:] You might whimper too, if your entire world had just turned upside down.
[Debbie Drake, Suncoast Humane Society:] These are all animals that have now been literally displaced by the storm. Some are lost, we don't know where their owners are, how to find their owners. Some of them are animals that have been surrendered by their owners. The Suncoast Humane Society in Englewood is full of barking survivors, some have collars, some have tags, and few have any form of
[Id. Smoot:] Look at that beautiful collar. That collar was custom- made and somebody put that on the dog but there is no ID on him. They're using a letter system X means lost, lots of those, F means foster and they'll try to find a temporary home while the owner gets back on his or her feet. But the saddest letter of all has to be O, that stands for owner surrender, and that means someone who was wiped out by the storm they don't have any place to live, so they don't have any place for their pets to live either and they give them up permanently. That's where Rick Chaboudy and the Humane Society of North Pinellas come in. Today, 50 cats are headed to New York to the North Shore Animal League America on Long Island.
[Paul Greene, North Shore Animal League:] When ever there's an animal need or disaster we try to respond, we've been to earthquakes in California and we've been down to Hurricane Andrew in the past as well as the Exxon Valdez up in Alaska.
[Smoot:] While the cats head north, Chaboudy will head south again soon to pick up even more lost pets.
[Rick Chaboudy:] We're here for the long run. We do what we have to do. This is the way it's supposed to work when something this serious happens and it is working.
[Drake:] This is Debbie.
[Smoot:] Debbie Drake is counting on it. She expects they will be doing this for a while.
[Drake:] We could be looking two to three weeks of bringing in animals of this magnitude. I hope not but we could be looking at that and I think we will still be seeing residual long after that.
[Sieberg:] All right, let's hope those dogs and cats get a second chance and find some good homes. Later in our program I'll show you what dog that did get a second chance and it has become something of a wonder dog. Won't want to miss this. Also ahead a gadget segment you won't want to miss if you're going to college or know someone who is. All right, last week you might remember that technology correspondent Erica Hill talked with CNET editor at large Janice Chen about some back to school gadgets for elementary and high school kids. Well this week Erica and Janice have graduated in a sense and they return with some items for the college crowd.
[Erica Hill, Cnn Technology Correspondent:] It is back to school time and you need to get plenty of stuff to hit school in style especially if you're in college. And joining us with some tips on just how you can do that Janice Chen she is editor at large for CNET.com. Thanks for coming back.
[Janice Chen, Editor, Cnet.com:] Thanks for having me.
[Hill:] Well we're gong to take a look at some really cool products for mainly college age students but they can probably work for any age group.
[Chen:] Absolutely, and they're definitely products that are high- tech products and people outside of college would like them. But I picked this specifically because like this one, the iPod for example every college student wants to have their music on the go, this one Apple is positioning now as possibly an educational tool too. And they did a deal with Duke University where Duke is actually giving away iPods to every incoming freshman. And using it as an educational tool. And I brought also with it the JBL on stage speakers, their it's a little base station that you can plug it into and you can share your music and play them over the speakers and you can also charge the iPod in it.
[Hill:] The speakers are about $200 bucks and what would you say the iPods range from $250 to $300 correct?
[Chen:] That's right. This one is $299.
[Hill:] Next to it the team oval sidekick
[Chen:] That is right.
[Hill:] This is the ultimate all in one gadget for somebody who has to stay connected.
[Chen:] Absolutely great for college students because it is a cell phone, it is a PDA, so you can manage your contacts, you can also do e-mail messaging, and it is camera as well, so it is really an all in one product, and you can browse the Web on it. Great for college students who need to be connected all the time.
[Hill:] And that one goes for how much?
[Chen:] It is $299.
[Hill:] $299 OK. Right here this I think is just smart that XM radio did this, XM satellite radio. It is XM satellite radio and more.
[Chen:] That is right. This is the XM radio receiver and this one you buy separately and you can take it and put it in your car and different stations. This is one is the CD audio system, and what it does is, is you can put your XM radio your satellite radio in there but then you can also have a CD player, an AMFM radio, so it is really great because you can get all your music in one, you can take it and listen to it in the dorm or take it with you and listen to the radio anywhere on the road.
[Hill:] It is the best of both worlds. And this goes for about $200; the actual XM receiver is about $100.
[Chen:] That is right. Yes and you have to have a $10 subscription a month to XM radio.
[Hill:] OK. Next to us, this is really on the wish list, but this is so cool.
[Chen:] Right.
[Hill:] A TV but it is much more than just a television.
[Chen:] That's right. It is the Sharp Aquos wireless TV. And you know everybody's really into the LCD thin TV's. But this one is actually wireless, so you plug in your cable or your DVD player or VCR into the base station, and you can take the actually TV where ever you want, you can get up to over 50 feet away from where your base station is, and take it outside and be able to watch your TV where ever you go.
[Hill:] That's wild. This is about $1,200.
[Chen:] That's right.
[Hill:] A little pricey, maybe on your holiday wish list.
[Chen:] Right, right.
[Hill:] All the way down here at the end, everybody is going to need a printer, obviously plenty of term papers, plenty of research. You're recommending this Brother printer?
[Chen:] That is right. It is the Brother HL5140, and the reason I recommend it is because it is a low cost laser printer, it is $199. And you can get cheaper ink jets then that, I think for a college student, a laser printer is a workhorse and you can get all your papers printed out.
[Hill:] So that one is the way to go. Janice it is always good to have you with us. Thanks.
[Chen:] Thanks for having me.
[Hill:] Janice Chen is editor at large for CNET.com.
[Unidentified Female:] Up next it has been a year since investigators released their report on the space shuttle "Columbia" accident. What's changed since then? Also ahead the world's smallest flying robot. And what it might do to help mankind.
[Sieberg:] It's been one year since investigators released their official findings in the wake of the shuttle Columbia accident. Now NASA plans to return to space in March. Will it be safe? Miles O'Brien reports.
[Miles O'brien, Cnn Correspondent:] The trip back to space begins but does not end with the space shuttles external fuel tank. As we all know now a piece of brittle insulating foam the size of a briefcase fell off Columbia's tank blowing a fatally big whole in a heat shield on the orbiter's left ring, dooming the crew of seven during their fiery reentry on February 1, 2003. NASA engineers have spent countless hours the past year trying to stem the shedding foam.
[Sandy Coleman, External Tank Manager:] We have done significant amount of testing and analysis and that testing and analysis have shown us that we're good, that we're not going to lose foam larger than allowable.
[O'brien:] The foam is there to create a giant thermos for the super cool rocket fuel. NASA used the same material during the Moon race except in those days it was inside the rocket skin. But to save money, shuttle designers put the insulation on the outside, literally out of its element.
[Neil Otte, External Tank Chief Engineer:] That foam not only has to perform thermally but it has to perform structurally. Another words it has got to hold together. And that is not the design solution that this foam or design problem this foam was meant to solve.
[O'brien:] NASA does not have the luxury of starting over with a completely new design. So engineers at its Mashoe tank production line near New Orleans have designed three major fixes for places on the tank most prone to shed big pieces of foam including the crucial strut that links the orbiter's nose to the tank. The origin of the piece that inflicted the mortal wound on Columbia. Foam there will be replaced with heaters. Elsewhere, techniques for applying the foam are now improved and there is new shielding to stop ice from forming.
[Ahl Simoneaux, Director Manufacturing Lockheed Martin:] Any time you are going to fly with foam, you do run the risk of losing foam. I don't think it's possible to totally eliminate debris.
[O'brien:] And if a piece of foam made a hole like this once again the crew will still have no way of fixing it. So far engineers cannot figure out how a space walker might patch the carbon panels at the leading edge of a shuttle's wing.
[Randy Avera, Aerospace Engineer:] There's really not a lot that can be done in orbit to repair it, to make it safe for reentry. And then we find ourselves back at the same spot that Columbia was during its 16-day mission in 2003.
[O'brien:] So NASA has focused on detecting a debris strike sooner, better cameras and radars on the ground at the Cape and on board the shuttle. And for now all missions will be destined for the International Space Station, which could provide a safe haven in orbit for a crew in need of rescue mission. In all the space agency has now completed 5 of the 15 prerequisites for flight that the Columbia accident investigation board mandated last year. The space agency says it will complete the remaining 10 by the end of this year. Paving the way for the launch of the space shuttle Discovery perhaps by mid-March. In between now and then the shuttle team must find a way to deal with its lingering anguish and sense of loss.
[Unidentified Male:] It's a confidence issue. You don't want to put your hand back in that fire if it's been there before. It's a sense of defeat, and it's up to the individuals and the team to overcome defeat.
[Sieberg:] Sticking with space news, the official report into what went wrong with Europe's Mars mission last year is now complete but the European Space Agency is keeping the findings under wraps. The ESA's beagle lander was supposed to crash onto Mars on Christmas Day and search for signs of life. But the space agency lost contact with it in mid-December. While authorities won't release the full report they do say that no single technical failure was responsible for the loss. And they suggest that more money should have been spent on the project. Well the beagle may have failed but in Tokyo the world's smallest air borne robot is flying high. The story from Dan Sloan.
[Dan Sloan, Cnn Correspondent:] Faster, stronger, higher, not an Olympic entry. Japan's micro robots already have a place in the record books. The latest Seiko Epsons Flying Robot looks like a large nat or mini helicopter and weighs less than an aluminum can. The wireless remote control high flyer comes on the tiny heels of the firm's monsure, a mini mouse listed by the Guinness book as the world's smallest. Using two counter-rotating propellers powered by an ultra thin ultra sonic motor an onboard camera transmits back to a waiting computer. Seiko's design manager says his robots have evolved from watch making.
[Osamu Miyazawa, Seiko Epson Corp:] We started with watch technology but focused on having small motors and batteries and from that we have gone on to develop the micro robots.
[Sloan:] Potential uses include search and rescue, surveillance for security, although Seiko has no plans for commercial marketing yet. Drawbacks include range, as the maximum flight duration now is only three minutes. Japan, the world's biggest robot maker is already home to electronic dogs, dancers, and even trumpet players. An industry group expects global sales for non-manufacturing use to top $20 billion before decade ends. A target that shows robot manufacturers still sees the sky as the limit.
[Unidentified Female:] When we return, what caused the crash that wrecked this car and killed two children? We will show you the technology investigators will use, technology that could also be in your car. Also ahead, a war of words, so to speak, as text messaging goes political.
[Sieberg:] Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. Well, back to school means back to school buses for a lot of kids, and while some parents and children may feel a little nervous about riding in the yellow behemoths, experts say they're the safest way to get to class. Julie Vallese has more.
[Vallese:] An ill bus driver, some scared children, and a frantic few minutes, it's video like this that makes parents wonder how safe a child is on the school bus.
[Chuck Hurley, National Safety Council:] Parents should be comforted that school bus travel is probably the safest time of a child's day.
[Vallese:] That's because of its safety record. Fewer than 10 children a year die in school bus crashes. Even so, some are pushing to add seat belts to buses, something the industry would support if money was no object.
[Charles Gauthier, Pupil Transportation Svcs. Assn:] Unless we have the necessary funding to not only pay for the lap-shoulder belts, but also the additional school buses that we need, you may end up actually having fewer kids in yellow school buses and more kids out in the less safe forms of transportation.
[Vallese:] The government agrees. In tests crashing buses, both in the side and head-on, it concluded the current structure that's been around for almost 30 years is safety-effective.
[Gauthier:] It's got some weaknesses in terms of side impacts and rollover impacts, but overall it's done an excellent job.
[Vallese:] It would take hundreds of millions of dollars to fit all school buses with lap-shoulder belts. Some states have decided to spend money to add the belts. All new buses in California will have them. As for the current system, it worked in this crash. No children were seriously hurt. [on camera]: Where children do get hurt is outside the bus. So, parents need too remind their children to take about ten steps from the side of the bus and never cross until the driver says it's OK.
[Sieberg:] Well, on the topic of vehicle safety, your car may testify against you if you have an accident. And if your current car can't, those you by buy in the future may. Federal officials want to install telltale technology in all automobiles, technology that's already helping determine who's at fault in car crashes. A mother was driving this SUV on an open highway in brought daylight when the crash occurred. There were no other cars involved in the accident and road conditions were perfect. Two children died in the crash. The Georgia state patrol special collision unit was called in to figure out what happened. A silent unbiased passenger in the car will provide them with accurate information about the vehicle's performance just seconds before the crash. It's not a human witness, it's an event data recorder or lack of a better term, a black box. [on camera]: Now, what information are you hoping to get from the device?
[Sgt. Wade Chaffin, Georgia Staff Patrol:] Well, actually my current cable reading in the software tells me that this will give us precrash graphs, which will give us dickle [PH] seed five seconds prior to impact, it will give us the brake switch circuit status.
[Sieberg:] Speed, braking, whether seatbelts are buckled, they're among dozens of readings measured by the more sophisticated black boxes. Unlike flight recorders on an airplane which are recording constantly, the device in your car wakes up when a crash may be imminent sensing a sudden change in speed. Of course, it's not the only information investigators will use, they'll also consider human factors like fatigue or alcohol levels and road conditions.
[Chaffin:] Sir, this is just a piece of the puzzle, just a piece. But it's a good piece, it's a key piece.
[Sieberg:] The troopers say they don't know exactly why this accident happened, but say they suspect driver error. Still the box may provide clues. It's on of the reasons the National Transportation Safety Board is now recommending that all cars have the device. The technology was originally designed to control and monitor airbags. Variations have been in some cars since the 1970s. But, they raise a serious personal privacy issue according to constitutional law attorney Mark Rasch.
[Mark Rasch, Attorney:] The black boxs in our car is to protect the manufacturer from product liability for prior defective product liability. It's not there to gather evidence for law enforcement and most people don't even know that the box is there or and what it's doing. So, we have a box that's collecting personal data about us without our knowledge, without our consent, without our ability to control it.
[Sieberg:] In court, either side can use the data and one tragic state illustrates the influence in swaying a jury. [on camera]: It was the middle of the night in this south Florida suburb, August of 200s, when 16-year-old Jamie Mayor was backing out of this driveway. Another car driven by Edwin Matos coming from this direction was on a collision course. Both Mayor and another passenger died in the accident.
[Roberto Stanziale, Attorney For Edwin Matos:] He was not going at an excessive speed.
[Sieberg:] Matos said he was driving 50 miles per hour, but the event data recorder in his car told a different story.
[Stanziale:] He was very surprised. He had no idea that there was a you know, a device that was allegedly recording information you know, from his vehicle that could subsequently be used against him in a court law.
[Sieberg:] The black box indicated Matos was traveling more than 100 miles per hour when he slammed into the teenager's vehicle, he was convicted of two counts of vehicular homicide and sentenced to 30 years in prison. In California a new law makes the data property of the car's owner unless there's a court order. But in other states, black box data is a legal gray area. In the case of the Georgia SUV accidents troopers got a signed warrant just in case before downloading the data.
[Cpl. Jim Wicker, Georgia Staff Patrol:] To cover ourselves we'll go a head and obtain a search warrant for this information that way we can get this introduced into court without any problems and we've not violated somebody's rights.
[Stanziale:] People don't realize that you have something in your vehicle everyday, as you drive down the road that ultimately could testify against you.
[Sieberg:] If you don't know if you have an event data recorder in your car, well you can always refer to the owner's manual. But, if you thinking about ripping it out, think again, it's also the brains of your airbag system and without it, the airbags won't deploy in the event of an accident.
[Announcer:] Just ahead, the law comes down on internet scam artists. And later, efforts to ways to save endangered pelicans that are mysteriously starving.
[Sieberg:] The U.S. Attorney General announced a big bust of internet spammers this week Julie Vallese returns with that story.
[Vallese:] Armed with new law and the ammunition to prosecute, the federal government took aim at scamming spammers and hit its target.
[John Ashcroft, Attorney General:] Operation "Web Snare" is the largest and most successful law collaborative enforcement operation ever conducted to prosecutor online fraud.
[Vallese:] Since June 1 the government crackdown has made produced 103 arrests and 53 convictions in cases where victims have lost $215 million.
[Jana Monroe, Fbi Cyber Division:] Although significant in numbers, these investigations represent only a fraction of the cybercrime problem.
[Vallese:] Included in the arrests perpetrators of deceptive spam, identity theft, computer hacking, and the stealing of intellectual property. [on camera]: Since the Canned Spam Act passed last December, market watchers have reported an increase in spam, representing 65 percent of all e-mail sent, not all illegal.
[Eileen Harrington, Federal Trade Commission:] So, I don't think we're going to rid the world or rid this country of all fraud and theft and identity theft, But we certainly aim to keep these wonderful media, the internet and e-mail specifically, from being taken over.
[Vallese:] While the government works on its next crackdown, customers can crack down as well by using filters, reporting spam to internet service providers and the government and opting out of any legitimate e-mails they no longer wish to receive.
[Sieberg:] Well, no doubts thumbs will be twitching on cell phones and pagers everywhere as the election season heats up. "Get out the vote" groups are using text messages to target young voters. The tactic already been tested by reality TV, as J.J. Ramberg reports.
[J.j. Ramberg, Cnn Reporter:] Millions of young people used text-messaging to choose an American Idol.
[Unidentified Male:] Yo, you're right here and there's a lot you could do.
[Ramberg:] Now "get out the vote" groups hope they'll do the same when it comes to choosing an American president.
[Jamie, Kantrowitz, Rock The Vote Mobile:] The idea behind Rock the Vote mobile is that we would take a natural extension of what people are already doing, which is communicating with each other via mobile technology and their cell phones, and use it to engage them in the process, to educate them, and then ultimately to get them out to vote on election day.
[Ramberg:] There are an estimated six million 18 to 24 year old voters who use text-messaging. If they sign up for Rock the Vote's service, they receive political news, information on the candidates, and interactive features like opinion polls and candidate match programs. Another group, the New Voters Project, will use text messages to remind young voters in six battleground states to get to the polls. And the Ad Council, famous for their public service ads, are sending political factoids like this one on women voters. And what do young voters think about all this?
[Megan Brown, Mobile Phone User:] It combines something that kids do with political activism, so I think its really cool.
[Ramberg:] But critics say opt-in political text-messaging is like preaching to the converted it can't reach the apathetic.
[Bob Thompson, Syracuse University:] If they don't even bother to go vote, what's the chances that they're going to sign up for the text messages to get information about their vote?
[Ramberg:] Sending unsolicited or automatic text-messages won't solve the problem either. A recent study by the University of Maryland found that young voters were turned off to that idea. Many say it would just be more spam clogging up their inbox. Still, political organizations are willing to continue to try and capitalize on a technology as it is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways for young people to communicate.
[Announcer:] Coming up, the impact of the western drought continues to grow and things could get a lot worse before they get better. Also ahead, a wayward pigeon gets some help from the web.
[Sieberg:] California dreams have turned into a nightmare for a flock of big billed birds out west and they're relying on man and Mother Nature to help them survive. Donna Tetreault has the story.
[Donna Tetreault, Cnn Correspondent:] It's not exactly the great outdoors, but this overcrowded pool in San Pedro is literally a last chance at life for these endangered California brown pelicans. [on camera]: The pelicans are starving and they're turning up in record numbers, in the hundreds along southern California's coast.
[Susan Kaveggia, Wildlife Rehabilitation Technician:] One of the theories is they had a great reproduction year and it's survival of the fittest.
[Tetreault:] Bird rehabilitation specialists say that when these young pelicans leave the nest, they're not able to sustain themselves because of a shift in ocean currents known as el Nino.
[Jay Holcomb, Dir. Intl. Bird Rescue Research Center:] They often move with currents, so if warm water currents come, the fish go deeper to hit the cold water and if they go too deep, these animals can't get them.
[Unidentified Female:] Isn't se pretty?
[Tetreault:] Here at the International Bird Rescue and Research Center, the goal is to rehabilitate the birds and send them back out into the wild. The pelicans, like this one wearing a pink band, migrated off course in search of food and ended up in Yuma, Arizona.
[Holcomb:] We think that they see the streets and they see like an oasis in these towns like in Yuma, Arizona, they start crash landing.
[Tetreault:] Not all the pelicans who come here are starving, some are also victims of run-ins with man.
[Unidentified Female:] Here's another fishhook injury.
[Tetreault:] And the likelihood of more problems could increase when pelicans set their sites on an easy meal. Today though, this pelican's easy meal is over. It's health enough to return to the wild. But, as it spreads its wings, it soars into a future that is far from certain, in a battle to survive the effects of man and Mother Nature.
[Sieberg:] Well, almost a quarter of U.S. rivers and a third of the lakes are so polluted that people should avoid eating fish from their waters, that's according to the EPA's 12th Annual Listing of Fish of Advisories, the national assessment of water pollution data from 48 states. The report covers test results from fish caught during recreational or sport fishing. Data from fish farms or deep sea commercial fishing are not included. Many of the top toxins, like mercury, PCBs, pesticides, and lead, are believed pose a serious health risk to people and wildlife. And environmental groups have publicly blasted EPA and bush administration officials for being lax on regulating water polluting industries. In case you're wondering, you can find a link to more information on our website. That's a CNN.comNEXT. Well, a hot topics out west has sparked a war of sorts between some of the states. And the growing dilemma has residents all fired up. Casey Wian has the story.
[Casey Wian, Cnn Correspondent:] Three wildfires blackened 26,000 acres of northern California. Near Las Vegas, Lake Meade has lost almost half its water. Farther north, Lake Powell is drying up even faster, threatening water and power supplies. Throughout the west, farmers are abandoning crops and selling water rights to increasingly thirsty cities. It's all results of a persistent six- year drought.
[Michael Hayes, National Drought Indication Center:] We still have a lot of severe and extreme drought conditions across most of the west. Only in a few areas of the west have we had some easing of conditions this summer, I would say the front range of Colorado and northwest New Mexico. The rest of the west has either stayed about the same or gotten a little bit worse.
[Wian:] For some places, the worst is yet to come. Southern California's wildfire season peaks in October. The National Weather Service predicts drought will either persist or intensify in southern California and most of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah through November. The growing number of western cities are restricting water use and raising rates. Costs are also rising for utilities that depend on water for power. The Western Area Power Administration delivers hydroelectric power to 15 states, the drought has cut its supply 25 percent.
[Bob Fullerton, Western Area Power Admin:] We expect that we're going to be expending about $315 million in purchase power in order to make up for the lack of hydrogenration in this fiscal year, so it's a significant impact.
[Wian:] Scientists aren't sure if the drought is part of a normal weather pattern reoccurring every few decades or an event that hasn't happened in centuries, but they know it won't end until there's an unusual heavy winter snow.
[Sieberg:] OK, what would you say if we told you a famous rock band faces up to a $70,000 fine for downloading? Well, the state of Illinois is suing Dave Matthews Band and their tour bus driver for allegedly emptying the buses septic tank from a bridge on the Chicago River. I know it sounds pretty nasty. While the driver denies the charge, but a boat load of sight seers was under the bridge and screaming during the August 8 incident. The tourists got a refund and one would one hope, a trip to the cleaners.
[Announcer:] Still ahead, a dog that really knows how to stand on his own two feet.
[Sieberg:] Well, here's a wildlife snapshot you don't see everyday. Seems deer was on the menu for this 13 foot American alligator caught lunching in Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in South Georgia. The deer hunter is listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The American alligator's natural range runs along the U.S. coast from Texas to Florida and as far north as the Carolinas. Well, an off course English bird is getting some American help using the World Wide Web to find its way back home. Charles Gray from CNN affiliate WTOC has the story.
[Charles Gray, Wtoc Reporter:] Dick and Charlotte Webb have been using computers and the internet for years, now.
[Charlotte Webb, Internet User:] Just to look up information on subjects that we would like to be familiar with or get more information on what we have.
[Gray:] They found another use for the web after an unusual find in their yard.
[C. Webb:] I'm sure right, probably about right here is where he was located. Right under the tree here.
[Gray:] He is the sort of bird you don't see in these parts much.
[C. Webb:] Isn't he pretty?
[Gray:] Going on line, they were able to identify their bird as, of all things, an English racing pigeon, English as in from England.
[Dick Webb, Internet User:] Unbelievable. I don't believe he flew here. I think perhaps he got on a big container ship, among all the superstructure on the vessel or something like that.
[Gray:] So they named him Tony in honor of a certain British statesman.
[C. Webb:] You're a good boy, aren't you?
[Gray:] Tony seems comfortable in America even though he mostly has to stay in a cage.
[D. Webb:] I'm afraid the cat will get him
[Gray:] Tony may be far from home, but using the internet, the Webbs' were able to out who his owner is. They've been in e-mail contact with the Royal Pigeon Racing Association and one of their notes reads in part, "The bird is owned by a Mr. Copping who hails from Norwich in Norfolk and we will advise him of where his pigeon has got to. I'm sure he'll be quite surprised." [voice-over]: Thanks to a unique number on the bird's leg band and some helpful folks on line, the Webb's say Tony could soon be headed home.
[D. Webb:] Oh, yeah do everything we can...
[C. Webb:] We would do whatever we could if he would want him back to have him shipped back to him. Yes we would.
[Gray:] It seems Tony has friends on both sides of the pond.
[Sieberg:] All right, at the Detroit Zoo, an overly pudgy pachyderm has a date with the dietitian and a routine that would make even Jenny Craig's clients a little jealous. In her 40s and over 9,000 pounds, Wanda, an Asian elephant, developed arthritis. The pain and lack of exercise made Wanda pack on the pounds, so Zoo officials are taking the lucky lady to the spa, where stretching and whirlpool therapy are part of the treatment plan. Sounds pretty good. They hope the daily spa treatments and a healthy diet will help Wanda regain her girlish figure. Well, now an incredible tale of a courageous canine that proves that dog days are good days when you have faith. Phyllis Williams of CNN affiliate KOKH has the story.
[Ricky Hanks, Oklahoma City Resident:] I think she thinks she's a human. I mean, look at her walking around, she just gets around just as good as we do.
[Phyllis Williams, Reporter:] But Faith's owners say the one and a half year old is just like every other dog.
[Jude Stringfellow, Faith's Owner:] She'll take your food off the table, she acts like any other dog, any other place. I mean, she'll chase a rabbit, she'll chase a duck, she'll chase a cat.
[Williams:] Well, there is one noticeable difference. Faith walks upright. She was born without her front legs and with little chance of survival. But the Stringfellow family adopted her, nursed her to health, and trained her to hop around. But it was another family pet that got Faith to walk like a human being.
[Stringfellow:] Well, we had a Corgi puppy that bit her heel or took her toy away or maybe some food and she just bolted after him you know, one foot in front of the other.
[Williams:] Faith the Wonder Dog has made the talk show circuit, and the BBC is interested in doing a story on her, too. [on camera]: Faith also has a chance to make magic on the big screen. The producers of Harry Potter have expressed interest in the lovable pooch.
[Sieberg:] And Faith's owners say that would be most appropriate since Faith is a magical dog. Hard to argue with that. Well, that's all the time for these Moguls, but here's what's coming up next week: As Hurricane Charley ravaged Florida it reduced some homes to sawdust, but spared seemingly identical houses. The answer lies with hurricane Andrew 12 years ago, we'll explain. That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let's hear from you. You can send us an e-mail at NEXT@CNN.com and don't forgot to check out our website, that's at CNN.comNEXT. Thanks so much for joining us, for all of us, I'm Daniel Sieberg. We'll see you next time. USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com