[Harris:] How about that, bottom of the hour. Welcome back everyone to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
[Nguyen:] And, happy Monday everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen in for Heidi. Well, a pair of primaries on tap tomorrow in Oregon and Kentucky. Why don't you take a look at the crowd look at that. Barack Obama drew this kind of crowd in Portland, tens of thousands on hand for the outdoor event. Now he is expected to win Oregon you think, with that kind of crowd? He's campaigning in Montana today but, Hillary Clinton is in Kentucky again today. That's where she spent the weekend. And she is expected to carry the state tomorrow. Now on the Republican side, Mike Huckabee is putting himself back into the picture, talking about his desire to be John McCain's running mate.
[Mike Huckabee , Fmr. Presidential Candidate:] There's no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain. Whether or not I do the best for him, that's something that only he can decide. I'm going to support him, because I think he's the right person for America.
[Nguyen:] All right, but John McCain may not have heard those comments, because he was up late poking fun at himself on Saturday Night Live.
[Sen. John Mccain , Presidential Candidate:] I ask you, what should we be looking for in our next president? Certainly someone who is very, very, very old.
[Nguyen:] Well, McCain gets back on the campaign trail today with a scheduled speech this morning in Chicago.
[Harris:] He is inspiring others while being inspired himself. A soldier who suffered severe burns in Iraq, won't take pity, but hopes to take reservations. CNN's Barbara Starr has the story.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Army specialist Rick loved to cook even before he joined the army and went to Iraq.
[Spec. Rick Yarosh, U.s. Army:] Let me grab some parmesan cheese.
[Starr:] Now this 25-year-old is cooking again with his rehabilitation therapist Kim, at Brook Army Medical Center in Texas. Today's menu? Fettucine alfredo and a big helping of dignity and courage.
[Yarosh:] Right now I could care less about what I look like. Somehow I can see pretty much perfectly. And I can hear pretty much perfectly.
[Starr:] Rick suffered third-degree burns in 2006 when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle hit an IED in Baghdad. One leg is amputated. His hands, fused by scarring. Rick and the other wounded say they know some find it hard to look at them.
[Yarosh:] People have to understand they're going to see people like us. For people that do see us, don't be afraid to ask us questions.
[Starr:] Rick says his friend, Sergeant Luis Montez, who didn't survive the attack, is the real hero.
[Yarosh:] That's the hardest thing to deal with. After all I've been through, I can deal with everything I have wrong with me. You know, like you can see I'm cooking. You learn to overcome everything.
[Starr:] Rick's dream now, to open his own restaurant, cooking recipes from the wounded troops he will call it "The Purple Heart."
[Yarosh:] I had a guy downstairs one day, missing both of his legs above the knee, missing one arm. You know? And he came he told me that I was an inspiration to him. This whole time I thought he was the inspiration for me. You know, he told me that and that was amazing. You know? So we're inspiring each other and we don't even know it sometimes.
[Harris:] Man, oh man. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, joins us live this morning. And love Rick's story, love Rick. Barbara, you went to Brook Army Medical Center. What are you hearing from these burn patients?
[Starr:] Well you know Tony, they don't appear in public very often, and they all told me down there they know that many people in the world find it hard to look at them. They know that they don't get a lot of attention. That's something we might change around here in the next couple of weeks. We're going to be presenting several of the profiles of some of the most badly wounded troops on the "LOU DOBBS SHOW" and on "HOUSE CALL" over the next couple of weeks. Showing people what these young kids are really going through. You know, they go to therapy every day for two and three years to try and get some motion back in their bodies, to try and recover from the multiple surgeries that they're having. It's very tough going for these young kids. And their stories are truly amazing. So keep an eye out. We'll be having more of them on our air, Tony.
[Harris:] Well, let's give those stories a run right here in the CNN NEWSROOM as well, Barbara. Another quick question for you. We're hearing more troops will get moved around. What are you hearing?
[Starr:] Well, you know, that is it. The war does go on even as the wounded still struggle to recover. Today the Pentagon announcing another 50,000 troops for Iraq and Afghanistan. But let's be very clear, this is rotation, not new troops, not additional troops, this is just going to be enough troops rotating in fresh troops, to try and keep the mission going enough troops to keep 15 brigades in Iraq until the end of the year. But everybody keeping an eye on the election, of course, because if there is there will be a new president. But depending on who it might be, there might be some adjustment in that policy. Some of these troops could wind up not having to go. But at least 50,000 lined up for their next tour of duty, Tony?
[Harris:] Man, all right. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us this morning. Barbara, good to see you. Thanks.
[Nguyen:] Listen to this, China's nuclear facilities in the earthquake zone. And U.S. satellites, they are keeping a close watch. We want to get the story now from CNN's State Department correspondent, Zain Verjee.
[Zain Verjee, Cnn State Dept. Correspondent:] It's where the quake hit China that set off alarm bells among Washington spies and scientists. [on-camera]: This is the area of the quake in China. But it's also an area that's very important to China for another reason. What is it?
[Hans Kristensen, Fdn. Of American Scientists:] The quake has happened right in the heartland of China's nuclear weapons production area. There are three major facilities, one here where they design the weapons, one where they assemble them and one up here where there's a nuclear plutonium production reactor.
[Verjee:] How high are the chances for radiation leaks?
[Kristensen:] It's hard to say, it really depends on the damage. It's a very severe accident. And some of these buildings are old, going back to the 1970s. And we just don't know how strong they are.
[Verjee:] China says it's checking.
[Wang Baodong, Press Counselor, Chinese Embassy:] I believe that the Chinese government is preparing for every consequences.
[Verjee:] And after an extraordinary request from China, the U.S. is sharing satellite images of damaged roads, bridges and dams. A U.S. intelligence official tells CNN it's also keeping an eye on China's nuclear facilities to look for damage. [on-camera]; What concerns you the most right now?
[Kristensen:] Well, right now it's either the release from the reactor here itself, if it was damaged, or the nuclear reprocessing facility that they also have here where high-level radioactive waste could leak into the river. We can see it running rights through the area.
[Verjee:] No sign of leaks so far, experts say. But given the danger, the close watch continues. Zain Verjee, CNN, Washington.
[Harris:] All right, more tests on Senator Ted Kennedy, today. Doctors trying to find out what caused his seizure. Kennedy was taken by helicopter Saturday from Cape Cod to a Boston hospital. Look at this picture, a little disturbing here. Doctors initially thought he may have had a stroke. But revised that later saying he was not in any immediate danger. Kennedy appeared fine on Friday when he attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The senator has been watching ball games and movies with family members in his hospital. In Texas today, individual custody hearings get started for hundreds of children taken from that polygamist ranch last month. Parents expected to start learning what they must do to get their children back. State authorities took 463 children because of abuse allegations, and placed them in foster care. The individual cases will be heard in five separate courtrooms over the next few weeks. So another ruling from the Supreme Court just in to CNN. The Supreme Court has ruled against an Algerian man convicted of conspiring to detonate explosives at Los Angeles International airport during the millennium holiday, a travel rush. This decision, an 8-1 decision. The court today upheld Ahmed Rassam's conviction on an explosives charge, one of nine convictions that resulted in a 22-year prison sentence. At issue in this case was whether Rassam should be convicted of carrying explosives during the commission of another serious crime, and Rassam's case, lying on a U.S. customs form when he crossed the border from Canada. That in December of 1999. Our Justice correspondent Kelli Arena, will be joining us shortly as we get up to speed on all of the rulings two so far, from the Supreme Court. Concert for a cause. Latin American music star Sean Bearlight, on child poverty.