Senator Frist Gets a Subpoena; Another Waterlogged Morning in Northeast
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Thursday, October 13. Senator Frist gets a subpoena. Some say this could be a sign of what's to come for the Republican leader in the Senate. Another waterlogged morning in the Northeast. Now more families could be forced to evacuate their homes. And residents of New Orleans' hardest hit district return home. What did they find?</s>ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.</s>COSTELLO: And good morning to you. We'll have more on those stories in just a minute. Also ahead, a CNN exclusive. At the height of the disaster in New Orleans, one hospital in the depths of despair. What really happened at Memorial? Did doctors consider the unthinkable? But first, now in the news, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist must turn over stock records to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Both the "Washington Post" and the "New York Times" reporting the SEC subpoenaed the records as part of its insider trading investigation. The Justice Department also investigating. The Russian resort city of Nalchik has been sealed off by troops after violence erupted there early this morning. Russian officials say groups of rebel forces attacked government buildings, but were fought off by police. However, local reports from the scene just north of Chechnya say there is still gunfire being heard in the city. Indictments have now been handed down in one of the country's largest music piracy cases. Three men in California face charges in an alleged scheme to distribute and sell nearly half a million illegally copied CDs and DVDs. To the Forecast Center now and Chad -- good morning.</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Carol, I actually saw one of those bootlegged CDs one time. You really, you can't tell.</s>COSTELLO: No, you can't.</s>MYERS: No, it's really bizarre.</s>COSTELLO: And they're cheap.</s>MYERS: Yes, well, of course they are. They're cheap to make and then they're obviously ripping off everybody else who actually made that music. Anyway, rain showers -- I digress.</s>COSTELLO: Up first this hour, the investigation into Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's July stock sale. The "New York Times" and "Washington Post" report the SEC has now issued a subpoena for Frist's records and documents in the case. Frist sold his hospital corporation shares shortly before the release of a financial report that sent the stock tumbling. Both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department are investigating. For more, let's check in with CNN Radio's Dick Uliano -- good morning, Dick.</s>DICK ULIANO, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Does this come as a surprise to Mr. -- actually, he's known about this for some time, it just hasn't been made public.</s>ULIANO: You've got it exactly right. Frist, of course, is the top Republican in the Senate. And, Carol, he's under investigation by the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, over the summer sale of stock in Hospital Corporation of America. He sold the stock days after the company warned investors of weaker than expected financial performance and the stock price plunged. Now, Frist says he did nothing wrong, and he sold the stock in the company -- which, by the way, was founded by his family -- to eliminate conflicts of interest in case he should run for president. But he's under the investigation by the SEC. And, Carol, this investigation is really not all that much unlike what sent Martha Stewart to jail. I mean she had privileged information about public stock that she held which she sold. And this is what Frist is accused of, the top Republican in the Senate. But, again, he denies any wrongdoing.</s>COSTELLO: Interesting. So when might he testify under oath?</s>ULIANO: Well, the investigation continues. He's under investigation not only by the SEC, but also by federal prosecutors at the Justice Department. And, Carol, you know, one of the big -- certainly one of the major significances of all of this is that this investigation goes on as the second highest ranking Republican in the House, Tom DeLay, is under investigation in the Texas case for finance laws and the president's approval ratings are down. So it's a tough patch for the Republican Party, as they look toward midterm elections coming up next year.</s>COSTELLO: Yes. In the latest NBC poll, the president's approval rating is at 39 percent, the first time it's slipped below 40 percent. Dick Uliano, reporting for us live Washington. Thank you. A possible new dimension in the investigation into the leak of a covert CIA operative's identity. "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller testified before the grand jury for more than an hour. Sources close to the case say she gave details about a previously undisclosed conversation that she had back in June of 2003 with "Scooter" Libby, who is the vice president's chief of staff. The conversation is significant because, according to one source involved in the case, the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, didn't even know about it until after Miller was released from jail two weeks ago and turned over her notes. Now to New Orleans and the heartbreak many are facing as they go home, or try to get there. The city's mayor, Ray Nagin, visited evacuees staying at a shelter in Shreveport on Wednesday and he got to hear loud and clear the frustration some are feeling.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to go home.</s>MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: Well, we're going to...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to help the people of New Orleans.</s>NAGIN: We're going to get you home.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I can't do it if you're going to give us all these all pretense. We want everything legit and come to the table. It's people like us that's going to make the city flourish, not promises or false hopes.</s>NAGIN: That's what we're trying to do.</s>COSTELLO: He got an earful. Carrie Lee is in New Orleans this morning and she joins us with more about what's going on there today -- hello, Carrie.</s>CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, cleanup efforts are continuing here in New Orleans, with some residents returning for the first time since hurricane Katrina struck six weeks ago.</s>LEE (voice-over): Wednesday was the first day residents of New Orleans Ninth Ward were allowed to return to their homes. But the afternoon brought mostly silence. Few people took part in the Look and Leave plan. Some had nothing to salvage. After a seven hour drive from Houston, this woman had to leave empty-handed. The National Guard deemed the house she rented with her two children too unstable to enter. They said I can't go in there. They don't suggest that I go in, because they said I could get killed.</s>LEE: Others surveyed the damage, recounting what they were seeing to friends and neighbors. Some, like this man, determined to rebuild his boyhood home; others vowed never to return. Meanwhile, the 64-year-old man beaten on Bourbon Street by police officers Saturday pleaded not guilty to four charges, including resisting arrest. The three officers have been charged with battery, released on bond and suspended without pay after pleading not guilty. Their attorney says two of the officers saw retired teacher Robert Davis stumble into a police horse and approached him out of concern for his safety. His speech was slurred. He was belligerent. He told the officers to go F themselves.</s>LEE: At his arraignment, the judge set a trial date of January 18 for Davis.</s>LEE: Of the four counts against Robert Davis, one of them is a count of public intoxication, yet no Breathalyzer test was ever given -- Carol, we'll see what happens at the trial on January 18.</s>COSTELLO: We will. I'm interested in the building behind you. Are you across the street from the bureau, from the CNN bureau?</s>LEE: Yes, I am. Yes, I am. This is outside of the French Quarter on the western, more western part of town.</s>COSTELLO: And the reason I bring that up is because that wrecked house clearly has to be torn down. And it's been, what, six weeks since the hurricane? And it hasn't been touched.</s>LEE: It hasn't been touched. And I'll tell you, Carol, this really -- this area really pales in comparison to the Ninth Ward area, where we were yesterday. You've been to this area. You've seen. It's just street after street of homes that really, it seems like, need to be razed. And over half of the Ninth Ward area isn't even available for people to go visit.</s>COSTELLO: Yes.</s>LEE: People just started to go to their homes yesterday, but that includes less than half of the area. The cleanup efforts still have a long way to go.</s>COSTELLO: Yes, I know Mayor Ray Nagin says about 50,000 to 60,000 homes have to be bulldozed. Can your photographer pull out for us and show us that house?</s>LEE: I'm sorry?</s>COSTELLO: Can your photographer...</s>LEE: They'd like to see the back of the house?</s>COSTELLO: Yes. Could he pull out so we can see it?</s>LEE: Sure. Yes. This house has had some -- has sustained some serious damage, as have a few others in the area. You can see it's really just a bit of a shell, a couple of remnants, chairs and a couple of hanging lamps, things like that. But this house clearly a very precarious situation and I'm sure that this will be leveled at some point in time -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: I'm sure it will be. But it looks so strange, like a dollhouse. It's just interesting that it hasn't been torn down...</s>LEE: It looks like...</s>COSTELLO: ... if you walk by it, it's...</s>LEE: ... a giant dollhouse, you're exactly right.</s>COSTELLO: Right. It's dangerous, too. Carrie Lee live in New Orleans this morning.</s>LEE: It is.</s>COSTELLO: Thank you. It has been six days now since the killer earthquake hit Pakistan and relief teams still have not reached some remote villages. In a televised address, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says at least 23,000 people were killed by the quake in Pakistan alone. Another 50,000 were injured. President Musharraf also said his nation is in dire need and he appealed for more international help. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Pakistan. She says the U.S. will likely add to the $50 million it has already committed to quake relief. Relief for quake survivors is, of course, very welcome. But the true toll of the disaster is being measured in human lives. Our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, reports from the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Imagine being the only kid in class to survive -- friends, teachers all buried beneath the rubble. MOHAMMAD WASEEM, SCHOOL SURVIVOR</s>CHANCE: Crushed in a school turned concrete tomb are hundreds of its children. All that remains are painful reminders of what could have been -- the drum kit from the music class, a young scientist's microscope. In a few violent minutes, Waseem told me, this earthquake shattered far more than just buildings. WASEEM</s>CHANCE (on camera): Children like Waseem are among the few who escaped this destruction. All over this area, hundreds of crowded schools like this have been laid to waste. And across this disaster zone, it seems almost an entire generation has been lost. (voice-over): But survivors are now crucial to the recovery effort. Waseem guides rescue workers to where he last saw his classmates. So many days after the quake hit, though, there's little hope. WASEEM</s>CHANCE: It is a missed opportunity that may have cost more young lives, one Waseem says he'll never forget. Matthew Chance, CNN, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.</s>COSTELLO: Still to come this hour, the Delta blues. Will the bankrupt airline have problems paying its employee pensions? Our airline expert explains what it could mean for the industry, and for you, too. Six straight days of rain, and it's only going to get worse, in the Northeast. Plus, a CNN exclusive from New Orleans -- a troubling accusation. Was euthanasia considered an option at the height of one hospital's distress? But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday.