Prosecutors Charge Man They Say Caused Deadly Train Crash
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Eleven counts of murder. Prosecutors charged the man they say caused the deadly train crash in Southern California. CNN's correspondent Ted Rowlands is in Glendale this morning, just outside of Los Angeles. Good morning.</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Juan Alvarez is also facing the possibility of the death penalty as special circumstances has also been added to the charges against him, making him eligible for the death penalty in California, because he was involved in a train derailment. He's automatically eligible for that, and that has been filed along with murder charges. And as Rick mentioned that could go up in terms of 11 counts if more victims are found. There's still another missing person. Alvarez is cooperative, according to investigators. He is hospitalized because of self-inflicted wounds that are being characterized as nonlife threatening. He may make a court appearance today if he's physically able to do so. If not, he will most likely be arraigned tomorrow. He was suicidal when he parked his car on the tracks in Glendale, which of course led to the derailment and death of at least 11 people here. The fact that he may have been suicidal does not exclude him from murder charges. In fact they say just the fact that he didn't try to kill 11 people really in this case doesn't really matter.</s>STEVE COOLEY, L.A. CO. D.A.: All of the facts relate to state of mind will be brought out in a court of law, and sometimes someone's being despondent, or suicidal or upset, or whatever the problem is nothing more than a motive that can suggest an attempt to commit a crime.</s>ROWLANDS: Now, meanwhile here in Glendale the search continues for victims. There is one woman passenger who has been identified by friends and family as missing. They are looking for her remains if indeed she was on one of these commuter trains and was killed. They hope they don't find her, but they continue to look through the wreckage and will continue through the day looking for her and other possible victims -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Ted Rowlands, live from Glendale, California, thank you.</s>SANCHEZ: Here are some of the logistics of the elections, their goals, a 275-member national assembly and 18 provisional councils. That's what they hope to choose. Also a president and two vice presidents that will then be selected by the national assembly in Iraq, a new Iraqi president, also going to select a prime minister. A new constitution will be written by the national assembly, and will have to approved by voters in yet another referendum. Also Iraqis living in the United States can vote starting tomorrow. That's an estimated 25,000 registered voters. Eddie Louis Rayes is one of them. He came to United States from Iraq in the early 1980s and became a U.S. citizen in 1988.</s>KAGAN: And I think I'll pick it up from there. My guest, Eddie Lewis Rayes, is one of the Iraqis joining us now from Madison Heights, Michigan. Good morning.</s>EDDIE LEWIS RAYES, IRAQI-AMERICAN VOTER: Good morning. How're you doing, Daryn?</s>KAGAN: I'm doing great. I imagine this is a huge week for you.</s>RAYES: Yes, it is.</s>KAGAN: How important was it for you to participate in this election?</s>RAYES: It is very important for all of us. As a</s>KAGAN: So just people understand your story here. You're born in Iraq, you came here in the '80s, you're an American citizen and yet you're going to vote. What did have you to go through in order to be able to go through this process?</s>RAYES: We had to go register last week, last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we had to go out there and register our names and show our proof of Iraqi citizen, and register our name and go start on Friday, Saturday, and next Sunday to go and vote for who do we want to vote for out of 300 and some ballots -- group.</s>KAGAN: So a bit of a procedure to go through, but I would imagine nothing compared to what people in Iraq will have to go through, and actually risk their lives to get to a polling place.</s>RAYES: Not at all. Not at all. And we hope by next four or five years in Iraq itself will be easy as it is here to vote and express your votes to who you want to vote for, and that's what we hope for in the future.</s>KAGAN: So you look at this long list of names. You're so far removed from your home country, how do you know how to vote for?</s>RAYES: How do I know who to vote for? We've got a group</s>KAGAN: Eddie, I got to tell you, I can hear the excitement in your voice, just thinking about this and talking about this. You've had, I imagine, some very big moments in your life, coming to this country, becoming a U.S. citizen, voting here. How does this rank in those experiences, and what do you say to the people that are concerned about all of the violence?</s>RAYES: Well, I am very concerned. As a matter of fact, this morning I talked to some of my relatives back in Iraq. They were a little bit concerned. But we kind of encouraged them they have to go out there and vote. They have to express their votes to vote for who they want and what -- for the free and democratic Iraq. That's -- we made several calls this morning to my relatives personally, and we encouraged them to go out there and vote. We have to vote, and we will prevail.</s>KAGAN: What long term do you hope for your country? Your other country, because this is also your country.</s>RAYES: Yes, it is. Well, my dream is coming true. My dream is coming true to vote, so I can go visit back home. I haven't been in Iraq since 1980. My dream is by next year or year after I can go visit and see my old childhood friends and my family and relatives, to see them without worrying about all of those violence and government coming in and asking you all of those questions, and dictatorships running the country. I don't have to worry about that. I'll be so happy and so proud. And I go see the place where I was born at. I was willing to go see the house that I lived in for 14 years before I left Iraq, and that's going to be my dream.</s>KAGAN: Well that sounds like a wonderful dream, indeed. We hope it comes true for you. Eddie Lewis Rayes, thanks for talking about the elections, and congratulations on getting to vote.</s>RAYES: Thank you very much.</s>KAGAN: Tonight at 7:00 Eastern, you can join Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour in Baghdad, Paula Zahn's back in New York for "IRAQ VOTES." CNN's team of journalists brings you personal stories of struggle and sacrifice at the heart of Iraq's quest for democracy. It Is a two-hour prime time special.</s>SANCHEZ: Here's another story we're following on this day. Margaret Spellings became education secretary on Monday. Immediately she took aim at PBS children's program called "Postcards From Buster" because of an episode featuring a lesbian couple. Lindsey Arent is joining us now from Washington with the federal fuss over the kiddie show. Fill us in, Lindsey.</s>LINDSEY ARENT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Rick. Good morning to you. Now this is a controversy that has some very unlikely characters involved. No. 1, it's an animated rabbit named buster. No. 2, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, as you said, and then finally the top brass at PBS, and it involved a PBC children's show called "Postcards From Buster," which is a spinoff of the wildly popular kid show "Arthur" that you just saw right there, and it's funded, in part, by the education department, and what it does basically is it's a show that goes around the country exposing kids to what regular Americans are doing in their daily lives. The episode that caused so much trouble, though, is called "Sugartime," and it in, Buster the rabbit goes to Vermont, and he meets a couple of families with some kids who show him how to make maple sugar and cheese on their Vermont farm. Now it just so happens, though, that these two families are headed by lesbian couples, and therein the trouble begins. I spoke with some PBS officials today. They said on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m., they became concerned about the show and the possibility for controversy, so they voluntarily decided to not distribute the show to 349 of their affiliates across the country. Five hours later PBS received a letter from education secretary Margaret Spellings, essentially talking about her opposition to the program's content. And the letter says, quote: "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode." The letter goes on to say, quote, "We believe you should strongly consider refunding to the department, the federal education funds that were used for the episode." Now gay activists were upset about this. Members of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation put a statement of their own on their Web site, saying, "For the Department of Education to try to prevent television programs from depicting gays and lesbians should raise serious concerns for all Americans. Secretary Spellings attempt to create and enforce a policy of invisibility for gay and lesbian families is a profoundly offensive display of intolerance." Now even though PBS decided on its own to pull out of the show and to not distribute it to all of its affiliates, the show's producers, WGBH in Boston, decided to go ahead. They're going to air the show on their own, and they offer it to any of the affiliates across the country. Now you might notice this is not the first time a children's cartoon character has caused some controversy. Spongebob Squarepants, everybody's favorite undersea sponge, was the focus of some attacks by some Christian groups most recently when they attacked the character for being what they say pro-homosexual. Of course you might also Tinky Winky, a teletubby, was attacked for some similar reasons, as well. So clearly, it's an interesting controversy that's going to get very animated. No pun intended -- Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: How can we forget? Lindsay Arent, we thank you for bringing us that story, or shall we say controversy. Keep an eye on it for us.</s>KAGAN: We're also keeping an eye on Cleveland. President Bush is at there at the Cleveland Clinic talking today about health care and computerizing medical records. We're keeping an eye on that, listening in and we'll be back after this break.