President Bush Visits Disaster Area
ANNOUNCER: You're watching "Hurricane Katrina: State of Emergency" with Aaron Brown and Anderson Cooper.</s>AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening again, Anderson. Tonight is not far from a bridge that might have been for a time of passage between hope and terror, might have been, but was not. He'll tell you that story coming right up. But we begin, however, not with a bridge, but a levee, water spilling over a levee along the London Avenue canal that runs through New Orleans. According to state officials, it was not a leak. This has been the subject of some contention for the last hour-and-a-half or so. Rather, it is water being pumped out of the canal that's simply backed up a bit. Also today, the president's head of FEMA stepped down. Mike Brown had already been pulled from the hurricane duty, sent back to Washington and a desk job. He said what you say in these situations. He was grateful to the president he served and quit because he didn't want to be a distraction. The president, meantime, paid another visit to the disaster area. It was his third, this time viewing the devastation from the ground, the first time the president has done that in the New Orleans. And the death toll, as you knew it would, continues to rise. The real question is where it will end, 426 known fatalities now, about half in the state of Louisiana, virtually all the others in Mississippi, the general in charge saying a clearer picture of the final number may emerge within the next 72 hours. And, once again, videotaping of the recovery operations has become an issue. We will report on that in a moment as well. As we go along tonight, the enormity of looking forward, the necessity of looking back, that and the searing pictures of right now that aren't going away. We begin with Anderson Cooper in Algiers, across the river from New Orleans. Good evening.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, Aaron. Good evening, everyone. Thanks very much for joining us on this special edition of NEWSNIGHT. We're in Algiers, because, behind us, there is a bridge. And that bridge was a sign of hope for so many here during the worst part of this disaster. Hundreds of people tried to cross that bridge, tried to get to here in Gretna and Algiers, places that had already been evacuated. Stopping them was a small local police force from Gretna. And what exactly happened on the bridge is the point of what we're trying to find out. First, some firsthand accounts from people who were on the bridge. Listen.</s>LORRIE BETH SLONSKY, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: What we were told by the deputies was that -- excuse me -- is that they were not going to allow another New Orleans and they weren't going to allow a Superdome to go into their side of the bridge, Gretna.</s>LARRY BRADSHAW, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: Yesterday, the chief was quoted as saying, if we let these people -- quote unquote -- in, our city would look like New Orleans, burned, looted and pillaged.</s>SLONSKY: So, to us, that reeks of absolute racism, since our group that was trying to cross over was women, children, predominantly African-American. I would say, out of 100 people, you could count three white folks.</s>COOPER: Well, that is the perspective of some of the people who tried to use that bridge to get across here to the area around Gretna. Earlier, I also spoke to the chief of the police of Gretna, who has a very different perspective. Let's listen.</s>CHIEF ARTHUR LAWSON, GRETA, LA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We had people being told to come over here, that we were going to have buses, we were going to have food, we were going to have water, and we were going to have shelter. And we had none. Our people had left. Our city was locked down and secured. All of a sudden, on the Tuesday evening, we had thousands of people at our doorstep that had ventured over to our city. We did not have the wherewithal to maintain them.</s>COOPER: We are really going to try to find, in the next couple days, exactly what happened on that bridge. The chief has said that he has no information about shots that were fired. He also denies that any officer from his police force took water and took food from some of these people who decided to camp out on the bridge and wait it out. They say that's exactly what happened. And they say it was a Gretna officer who did it. We are going to try to get to the bottom of this, Aaron.</s>BROWN: Where did they expect them to go?</s>COOPER: Well, the -- what's -- I mean, it's just -- again, it's this thing of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. First of all, the New Orleans police had told these people, hundreds of people, to cross the bridge. They promised them. They said they looked them in the eye and promised them there would be buses on this side. The Gretna police officers, frankly, didn't really care where they went. They just didn't want them in Gretna, because they say their job was to protect the people and the property of Gretna. So, they didn't really care much where they went.</s>BROWN: That is an amazing story. Anderson, we will be right back to you in a couple of minutes here.</s>BROWN: The floodwaters have gone down now around St. Rita's Nursing Home, which, as you know, is just outside New Orleans. But the questions, how did it happen that more than 30 people died there? Was it neglect? If so, by whom? Were they simply trapped or were they left behind? Here's CNN's Drew Griffin.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With all the victims now removed, what happened inside this still waterlogged nursing home is the center of a possible criminal investigation.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very close to the completion. And we will make an announcement in the next 24 to 48 hours what is happening on that case.</s>GRIFFIN: The Louisiana attorney general's office is trying to determine if St. Rita's owners violated state licensing laws, which would have required this nursing home to be evacuated or have a plan well ahead of Katrina's arrival. That is not what happened, according to Tammy Daigle (ph). She was a nurse at St. Rita's and on duty Saturday before the storm.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Several family member were calling and asking if we were -- if they were planning on evacuating. And one of the other nurses just picked up the phone and told them, no, we're not going anywhere.</s>GRIFFIN: A senior nursing assistant said Donya Augustus (ph) told a Pittsburgh television station she was at St. Rita's Sunday afternoon and said the owners finally realized, they did need to evacuate, but she says there were too few boats to get everybody out. She tells a harrowing tale of how the owners waited until it was too late.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What really happened was, when the water started coming up, we was told to take the patients, put them on their bed. The water came up within five minutes. The mattresses started floating up. And that was the only thing that we could hold on to with the patients.</s>GRIFFIN: Augustus says she and her patients ended up sheltering in a courthouse until they were rescued. What is hampering the investigation is that the state can't find the nursing home's owners. The attorney general's office Friday asked Sal Mangano Sr. and his wife to make contact. And, on Sunday, this man says he saw Sal Mangano Jr., the owner's son, at a Wal-Mart in Natchez, Mississippi.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said, you all got out all right and everything? And then, again, I got angry, because I wanted to tell her, yes, we got out all right, better than the ones you left behind.</s>GRIFFIN: Vincent says Sal Mangano Jr. was one of the nursing home's operators in 1988, when his father was a resident. He said, back then, another hurricane was threatening to strike New Orleans. And he says St. Rita's decided then not to evacuate. (on camera): And they didn't evacuate?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't evacuate, said they weren't going to and didn't do it. Of course, it turned out OK because the storm turned. But, this time, it didn't.</s>GRIFFIN: You were mad that time.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but, ironically, not as mad as I am now.</s>GRIFFIN: Really?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the people that did stay behind.</s>GRIFFIN (voice-over): Autopsies will soon determine how the 34 people died here and whether they were patients, staff or both. What nurse Tammy Daigle wants to know is why.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were sick. They were infirm. They were -- but they deserved to live. They did not deserve to drown and not know what happened to them.</s>GRIFFIN: Aaron, this afternoon -- I should say this evening, an attorney who says he represents the owners of St. Rita's contacted CNN and told us on the record that he has, indeed, contacted the attorney general's office of the state of Louisiana. He wouldn't comment further to us, but did say the story that his clients are telling is dramatically different than the one being portrayed in this report. He would not go on the record further.</s>BROWN: Well, it usually is dramatically different. I'm curious. Did the -- did the parish police or whatever the law enforcement jurisdiction, they knew they had this nursing home there. Did they make any specific effort to get the people out of there?</s>GRIFFIN: According to parish officials, they did call the nursing home. They asked if there was any help needed. They had some buses if there was needed to be an evacuation. And according to these nurses, St. Rita's management decided that, indeed, they had enough to weather out the storm and didn't want to evacuate.</s>BROWN: Do we know when that call was made, what day that call was made?</s>GRIFFIN: I don't have specifics on that. I was in the parish today, but I don't have specifics on that. Captain Mike Nelson (ph) is the PIO down there. I will try to track that down for you, Aaron.</s>BROWN: Thank you. And we will keep track of that one, too. That's two tonight. There's an ongoing dispute, as you're probably aware, over what reporters can and cannot videotape. FEMA originally said we'd be prohibited from shooting the recovery of bodies. Now, in truth, recovery of bodies is not exactly something any of us likes, but it's part of this story. And, in a free country, government can't make that sort of rule, at least according to a court who heard CNN's lawsuit the other day. Not everyone apparently got the word, which has a way of making everyone's nasty work down there a whole lot harder. Here's CNN's Dan Lothian.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There is so much destruction in St. Bernard Parish, every street, every corner, almost too difficult to comprehend. (on camera): Last week, you couldn't walk down this street in St. Bernard Parish. It was flooded. Now the water has receded and recovery teams are finding more bodies. (voice-over): We came across three bodies, bodies officials did not want us to see.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vacate the area, please. Sir, sir, you can't be here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I won't. I'm not going to. Please don't.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  (OFF-MIKE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, yes. I was told no one could be here.</s>LOTHIAN (on camera): Well, would you like to talk to our lawyer? You can talk to our lawyer here in Atlanta.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's OK.</s>LOTHIAN: Would you like to talk to our lawyer?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, I was told you guys are not allowed to be here.</s>LOTHIAN: We have a lawsuit that says that we can be here. You're defying a federal -- a federal judge's order by trying to kick us out of here. It's right here. (voice-over): Despite a legal document allowing CNN to shoot at will, officials kept blocking our view. (on camera): They've moved two Humvees into our view, so that we cannot see them moving the body into the truck. And they've also put sort of a wall of military and what appears to be coroner types to block our view of the body. Right now, we cannot see what's going on. We are blocked. We're prevented from seeing it.</s>LOTHIAN: After the federal judge voiced his concerns and after CNN contacted officials in Washington, the Pentagon sent word reiterating again down to the troops here in the field that they should not block the path of reporters. Again, Aaron, I want to point out that CNN is not simply just trying to go out there and get gruesome shots of bodies, but simply trying to document all aspects of this tragic story.</s>BROWN: Dan, we lost just about the first paragraph of what you were trying to say there, because we had a little audio problem. You want to repeat it for us?</s>LOTHIAN: What I was saying is that we did contact the judge, the federal judge. And he did voice his concerns. And we also contacted officials in Washington. We then heard from the Pentagon, the Pentagon then reiterating down to the troops here in the field to let them know that they should not block the path of reporters.</s>BROWN: Dan, thank you. That sort of work is not -- Anderson, is not fun for anyone to do. And there's a whole lot of tension when it -- when it happens.</s>COOPER: Yes, there is. It happened to me a couple days ago, earlier in the week. We were out in a boat. And there was a person -- I try not to refer to them as bodies. There was a person who was dead on the top of a car that was floating in water. And some search-and-rescue people from a local nearby parish said, don't photograph that person. And we basically waited. And they left. And we did from a distance and a respectful distance, not showing any details, nothing that any family member who was at home, you know, because, God forbid, we don't want some family member seeing their loved one on television like this. But, I will say, this -- as Dan said, this is not some ghoulish pursuit that is, you know, we just want to get pictures of dead people. This is reality. These people have not had dignity for two weeks now. And so, it's a little bit artificial for people to be saying that they are trying to restore the dignity to these people by not allowing their pictures to be taken, because, frankly, if restoring their dignity was the primary, paramount concern, you might make the argument that they would have been picked up and not had their bodies tied to stop signs and lampposts for the last two weeks, while rescuers repeatedly went by them, instead of picking up their bodies, Aaron.</s>BROWN: A point well made. It is a tension that's likely to go on. Everybody is tired down there. Everybody is a bit on edge. And this is just one of those uncomfortable moments for everyone involved on both sides -- Anderson, back to you in a moment. In a moment, FEMA Director Michael Brown falls on his sword, as they say. Will others follow? But, first, almost a quarter past the hour, some of the other news of what turned into a very busy day, Christi Paul with us tonight from Atlanta. Good evening, Ms. Paul.</s>CHRISTI PAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Aaron. Large parts of Los Angeles were without power for more than an hour today, after workers cut the wrong line. About 700 people were affected by the outage, with some trapped in elevators. And Chief justice nominee John Roberts has said he'll approach every case with an open mind. He's told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he has no platform and no agenda. Also, two former executives of Westar Energy have been found guilty of stealing millions of dollars from the company, the largest electric utility in Kansas, by the way. Prosecutors said David Wittig and Douglas Lake paid themselves extravagant salaries and benefits and hid the details from the company's board. Both deny those charges. And a sad story you now. A baby born to a mother who was brain- dead has died at age five weeks. Susan Torres -- you remember her -- who was born 13 weeks premature, died of heart failure at Children's National Medical Center in Washington following emergency surgery. Susan's mother -- you see her there -- had been kept on life support for three months to allow her to be born. And a spokeswoman, Aaron, tells us that the family, of course, is just devastated by this.</s>BROWN: That is a heartbreaking story. We told that story several times on the program. And I think we were all rooting for that little kid to make it.</s>PAUL: Absolutely.</s>BROWN: And we knew it was going to be tough. And it's a sad ending. Thank you. We will check with you in a half-an-hour.</s>BROWN: That one caught us all by surprise today. Much more to come on the program tonight, starting with the hurricane and the simplest hard question there is. What went wrong?</s>BROWN (voice-over): If they knew it was coming, if they knew it would be bad, how did we get from this to this?</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.</s>BROWN: And to this. From federal to local, from top to bottom, the emerging picture of how governments failed people. Also tonight, the school was flooded. Now some parents say they're being soaked. We will ask the president of Tulane University why he's canceling classes, but keeping the tuition. Later, it is a question of race.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like I'm a slave, man.</s>BROWN: In a very painful place, the other pain.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, this is just like the booking station?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, same thing as in a police station.</s>BROWN: And when disaster strikes, people improvise.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hell of a jail. I mean, it really worked good, beautiful. It couldn't be better.</s>BROWN: It used to be a bus station. From New York and New Orleans, this is</s>NEWSNIGHT: "State of Emergency."