Strike or not, some say baseball's seemingly unending labor squabbles have ruined the game.
It'll be a disaster for us.
And some businesses.
The air you breathe, is it getting any better?
There's a lot of factors that contribute to the smog levels.
The weather might be making it worse this year.
And kids going back to one school get a real-life history lesson
from pilots who experienced the horrors of World War II.
Hello, everyone. I'm Stan Turner. Thank you very much for joining us.
Well, baseball negotiations are in the bottom of the ninth
as players and owners look to reach a new deal before time runs out.
The players union and team owners are reportedly close on numbers
concerning revenue sharing between teams or among teams
and luxury tax, which takes money away from teams above a certain payroll mark.
President Bush says he won't get involved like President Clinton did
during the 1994 work stoppage, but Mr. Bush did say that both sides need to consider
the impact that a strike would have on the nation.
If the players do walk out, it would happen at 1 p.m. Eastern Time Friday.
The first game affected would be the St. Louis-Chicago game scheduled for 3.20 on Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, many fans in the stands held up signs expressing their displeasure
over the labor dispute. Even the possibility of a baseball strike
means bad business for companies that rely on the game.
In Boston, the Kaskin-Flagon pub sits kitty-corner from Fenway Park.
The pub's a popular hangout before and after baseball games.
The bar's manager says that on game days, up to 95% of customers are there
because of the Red Sox game. He and others who depend on the game
agree that a strike would hit them right in the pocketbook.
Maybe in the summertime, the Red Sox are large revenue stream for us.
We cannot out of step because we don't know when the strike is going to be.
It'll be a disaster for us.
Arthur DiAngelo is the owner of a sports super store near Fenway.
He says if a strike goes forward, items for next year's season would be slim.
Almost two years of planning went into the September 11th attacks.
That's according to German authorities who've charged a Moroccan man
with more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder related to 9-1-1.
Munir El-Mutasadak was arrested in Hamburg last year.
German prosecutors say he was part of a terror cell operating out of Hamburg
that began planning to attack America in October of 1999.
Six months later, they say the alleged hijackers had decided on the Twin Towers as targets.
That cell had three of the 9-11 pilots, including Muhammad Atta and Marwan Al-Shehi,
believed to have crashed into the trade towers.
German authorities say El-Mutasadak was responsible for arranging the pilots' financing,
including flight school tuition in Florida.
The United Nations says that financing and support continues for Al-Qaeda
despite nearly a year's effort to cut off funds and resources.
Experts say the terror organization still receives support from Osama bin Laden's
personal inheritance and his investments.
The UN says charitable organizations are also making donations.
Well, the Bush administration has backed off plans to restrict foreign flights on September the 11th.
The Pentagon wanted to prevent foreign aircraft from flying in and out of New York and Washington
and over Somerset County, Pennsylvania, the sites of last year's hijacked plane crashes.
A government official says regulators spoke to airlines about the ban
before realizing that it was probably illegal.
International treaties prohibit singling out foreign carriers.
One terrorism expert says it was not the right solution anyway.
Frankly, I think the solution is to have military cover, air force cover, on a 24-7 basis,
which we had just a couple of months ago, but the cost was astronomical and it was cut back.
So I think that's where I would rather go rather than stopping foreign carriers.
The government is still considering restrictions on general aviation and on charter flights.
Well, there's a name change coming for a busy northeastern airport,
but it's not coming without a little bit of haggling.
New Jersey's Newark International Airport just outside New York City
will change its name to Newark Liberty International Airport.
The change is a compromise.
New York Governor George Pataki wanted the name to be just Liberty International Airport,
but New Jersey's governor was opposed to dropping the city's name.
The new name is in honor of September 11th attack victims.
Airline passengers at Newark and all other airports in America
will no longer be asked those two familiar questions at check-in time.
For the past 16 years, ticket agents have been required to ask,
has anyone unknown to you asked you to carry an item on this flight,
and have any of your items been out of your control since you packed them?
Officials say the questions are being phased out because they create airport delays
and have never prevented a bombing or hijacking.
Many passengers welcome the change but hope it does not compromise security.
I really would hope that, you know, their security is, screening is secure enough,
that everything is taken care of.
More changes might be on the way as safety regulations are reviewed.
Next to be eliminated could be random screening of passengers at airport gates.
Checking our top weather story this half hour, a Thursday afternoon tornado
in the suburbs of Denver was captured on home video as it left a trail of damage.
About 25 buildings were damaged, including this apartment complex under construction.
One injury was reported when a construction trailer was torn apart by the fierce winds.
The storm also dumped heavy rain, causing some vehicles to stall
in the midst of rush hour traffic.
Some parts of North Carolina are struggling through storms and high water,
but that's not the case in Durham County.
As reporter Dan Wilkinson shows us here,
local residents would not mind getting in on some of the rain.
People in Durham might be feeling cheated these days.
They haven't seen much of the rain that's pounded the eastern part of the state.
We haven't been that lucky. It's almost as if there's a stealth shield around our watershed.
The most we've gotten is a little over an inch right up by Lake Mickey.
And without showers, tougher water restrictions are imminent.
A vivid reminder that they haven't felt the rain here in Durham County is Lake Mickey behind me.
I'm standing at the bottom of the boat ramp, and as you can tell, they've had to mow the grass here.
The southern part of Lake Mickey still has water left.
Durham also taps the Little River Lake, but when you add it all up,
the city water supply is now under 80 days.
We still are 20-plus feet below full at both of our lakes.
Down the road from Lake Mickey, the folks at Northern Bait and Tackle love to talk about fishing,
but these days the conversation has changed.
It has turned, and it's serious.
They joke about it and they make a light of it, but they're as concerned as everyone else is.
Orange County is in the same boat.
This week's rain practically bypassed the county, leaving the utilities there considering more restrictions.
Dan Wilkinson, WRAL-TV 5 News, Durham County.
Officials say that although it's hard to conserve when there isn't much water to start with,
conservation is the only real option they have left.
It's much harder to breathe easy in some parts of the country this summer.
It could be one of the worst years for air quality, but don't blame man-made pollution for everything.
We'll tell you what it means to you.
...
Across America in 30 minutes, you're watching All News Channel.
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Kennedy relative Michael Skakel has been sentenced to for at least 20 years in prison.
Skakel was sentenced Thursday for the 1975 murder of neighbor Martha Moxley.
The 41-year-old nephew of former Senator Robert F. Kennedy wept as he told the court he did not commit the murder.
Moxley's brother thanked everyone who pursued the case for 27 years.
Without a lot of help, we would never have been able to get here.
We've been very fortunate.
The worst of times, you see the best in people.
Skakel's attorneys say they will appeal the sentencing.
The nation's drug czar is offering schools across the country guidance on how to develop drug testing programs.
On Thursday, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy talked about federal grants which help schools pay for drug testing programs.
A recent Supreme Court ruling permits middle and high schools to conduct random drug tests on students participating in extracurricular activities.
Each test can run between $10 and $30, but White House officials say that money is not an issue.
It can save money and it certainly is not a matter of money, it's a matter of children's lives.
I don't think it's excessively burdensome.
Critics say the programs are indeed too expensive and some parents oppose random drug testing of students.
The Bush administration guidelines say students who test positive should not be automatically suspended or expelled.
Instead, the guidelines suggest treatment and counseling.
The Centers for Disease Control calls alarming the results of a study on youth smoking rates around the world.
The ongoing study measures smoking rates for young people ages 13 to 15.
Now in major U.S. cities, nearly 19% of those in that age group smoke, but in foreign cities and countries the rates are much higher.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, 25% of children that age smoke.
In Moscow, it's 33% and in the Northern Mariana Islands of the Pacific, it's 40%.
Data for East Asia and Western Europe is due later this year.
The CDC acknowledges it has a long way to go before presenting a thorough comparison,
but it says initial findings already indicate a worldwide problem.
This is shaping up as one of the worst summers in years for bad air and it's not just man-made causes behind the smog.
Nature's playing a big part this year too. Terry Turner has more on what it means to you.
It's getting harder to breathe out there.
The bottom line is that it's been a bad summer and it's not going to get good when they fully check the data.
In fact, it could get worse.
Air quality data is only in on 20 states. Some had three and four times the number of bad air days as last year.
There was a 60% increase in the number of smog violations in those 20 states compared to the previous year.
Smog monitors planted around the country have found 3,800 violations in those 20 states so far,
nearly four-fifths what they found in all 50 states in all of last year.
In the long run, federal regulations on cars and power plants have clearly made a difference.
We have significantly cleaner and healthier air.
What may not be so clear is how natural conditions can make the smog problem even worse.
Listen to the list of states where air quality is really bad this year.
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, the District of Columbia.
Hear a pattern? All on the East Coast.
New York, New Hampshire, Virginia, West Virginia.
What else do they have in common this year?
What we think you're going to see on the East Coast is more frequent rain, not enough to break the drought.
That was in March. Those states were deep in a drought even then. It never broke.
There's a lot of factors that contribute to the smog levels, including the weather and the topography.
And the thing that we can control in that equation is how much of the smog-forming pollution we put into that mix.
Even tougher regulations could cut down on pollution.
A tougher drought down the road could send any gains they make up in smoke.
Watching Washington, I'm Terry Turner.
Last summer, California led the nation in bad air days with 130.
Texas was second with 72 smog days.
California was not among those measured in this year's preliminary study.
But many states are considering making paid leave for child care the law.
And it might happen sooner than later in one big state.
And what a great way to start the school year.
History came to life as children learn about a key element of World War II.
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John doesn't appreciate how much his wife suffers because of racism.
I think she's exaggerating a little bit.
Let's see if he changes his mind after he walks around like this.
Raymond teases his wife about her weight.
You fit, you're not fat, I'm a blubberbud.
Will some time in a fat suit change his attitude?
Plus, this mother and daughter have strong feelings about Arab Americans.
Why are they here if they still want to hide behind their dark?
Will this change their feelings?
Changing minds and attitudes by switching roles on the next Sonata.
10 a.m. on News Channel 2 Monday.
On the next News Channel 2 Midday Edition.
Some great news for all of us chocoholics.
The new study shows the dark candy may actually be good for the body.
We'll tell you why chocolate may need to be a part of your daily diet.
And how about a sweet forecast?
Meteorologist Dan Reynolds will tell us how our holiday weekend is shaping up.
For this and more, please join us on the next Midday Edition.
Let's play the weakest link.
In literature, which of the two title characters of Romeo and Juliet is a Capulet?
In the Gregorian calendar, how many total months are there in three years?
In geometry, 2 pi r is the formula for determining what measurement of a circle.
So, you think you know it all? Find out.
Time's up. Did you guys go out and drink in the parking lot between the phones?
On the next Weakest Link.
The Bush Administration has backed off a plan to restrict foreign airline access
over the three 9-11 crash sites this coming September 11th.
Many international airlines had complained that it was discriminatory.
Other top stories this hour. The government has issued guidelines on drug testing in schools.
They emphasize counseling and treatment rather than expulsion for offenders.
Michael Skakel has been sentenced to 20 years to life
for the murder of teenage neighbor Martha Moxley 27 years ago.
Skakel, a Kennedy relative, plans to appeal.
A preview of fall to the northeast and another wet evening ahead from Florida to Virginia.
Cool, rainy weather has settled in from the New England states to the nation's capital.
A mix of 50s and 60s overnight.
The rain won't go away for the mid-Atlantic Coast states, loads mainly in the 60s.
The Panhandle area may see some rain, but the rest of the mid-south stays dry.
50s and 60s for overnight loads.
Pleasants for late August for most of the upper Midwest, 40s to 60s for loads.
Back to normal evening warmth in the northwest, 50s overnight.
Cooler on the California coast, cloudy and warm in Arizona, with a low of 72 in Las Vegas.
Friday's forecast, sunshine for most of the nation, though rain will be stuck along the Atlantic coast.
70s and 80s for most of the nation, 90s for the south.
Julie Ronning, All News Channel.
...
California could become the first state in the nation to grant workers paid leave to care for new children and sick relatives.
The state senate is close to approving a compromise version of the bill.
Governor Gray Davis has not said whether he would sign it.
Currently, federal law allows 12 weeks of unpaid leave in larger companies,
but workers who can't get by without paychecks are often forced to return to work after their vacation time runs out.
Employees would pay $46 a year into the paid leave program.
They would get 55% of their wages while on leave.
Twenty-seven other states have similar programs in the works.
Underwater explorers have identified the wreckage of the ship known as the Titanic of New England.
This is what remains of the Portland, a 291-foot steamship that sank more than 100 years ago.
The ship went down off the Massachusetts coast in 1898, taking an estimated 192 passengers and crew with it.
The Portland left Boston bound for Portland, Maine on the eve of one of the worst storms of the century.
Winds reached 100 miles per hour and waves topped 60 feet in the storm that sank 150 ships.
Researchers who confirmed the boat's name on Thursday say that they were awed with what they saw.
When we saw the wreckage for the first time, it took me back to the night of the storm,
and I can't imagine what these people must have gone through in that terrifying storm.
The wreck was first located in 1989 but was never proven to be the famed Portland until now.
Some aviation students at a Tampa, Florida high school had some guest speakers Thursday,
but they were not just any speakers, they were some of the best pilots of all time, the Tuskegee Airmen.
As Cecily Wilson shows us, the kids got more than stories about flying, they got a lesson in life.
Study and study hard.
History is looking these Robinson High School aviation students square in the face.
I thought it was amazing. I couldn't believe that I was right next to them.
We'll make a fighter squadron first, and that was in 99.
A few of the remaining original Tuskegee Airmen sharing their war stories.
I couldn't handle any fighter plane.
I was in the 417th Bomb Group, 619 Bomb Squad.
And giving advice to aspiring pilots.
If you pick the point and stay with it, and make all the obstacles small and make your desire the big thing,
I say nine times out of ten you can do what the Tuskegee Airmen did.
Beat the odds. In spite of the high expectations of failure, nearly 1,000 black men and women made it through flight training.
And they had a quota system back in them days. No matter how qualified any of us were, only certain numbers got our wings as pilots,
compared to whites who were getting their wings as pilots.
During World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen made a major contribution, gaining their reputation of being great fighter pilots
and not losing bombers they escorted to enemy fighters.
They were good. They did things that none of the rest of them did.
They flew about 200 missions there with protecting bombers. You must have heard this.
They never lost a bomber to another fighter. They lost a lot of guys.
They sank a destroyer with.50 caliber bullets like this.
A history lesson that is not only inspiring for these kids.
They inspired me because they weren't supposed to fly, but they ended up doing it anyways.
To know that they went there and back without getting shot down was like really amazing.
But a lesson that's greater than any pages of a book.
And when the youngsters show interest in flying, we like to come and show them that if we could do it with all kinds of odds against it, they can certainly get into it.
Cecily Wilson, Fox 13 News.
A famous pop star says he's ready to venture to the stars. Plus, there's an idea for a reality show based on the Beverly Hillbillies.
But will it take off with real mountain folk? Some say the idea is all turned around.
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If you're serious about learning to run the computer once and for all, try my product.
Singer Lance Bass says he is ready to blast off.
The NSYNC star has been training at Kennedy Space Center in Houston for a trip to the International Space Station.
NASA has given Bass the okay to go into space, but the financial details still need to be hammered out.
Bass has worked out a deal to pay the Russians $20 million to fly with them and become the world's third space tourist.
At age 23, he will also be the youngest person ever to go into space.
CBS is looking for a real-life mountain family to move into a Beverly Hills mansion for a new reality TV series.
Now, folks in the Appalachian Mountains think it's a funny idea,
but they're also a little concerned that the reality TV family won't be portrayed in the way life really is.
Steve Onasorge has more on the story.
The Beverly Hillbillies was a big hit in the 60s and quite popular among the real mountain folks.
You're going to guess I missed over two or three of the old Beverly Hillbillies.
And thoughts of redoing the show with real hillbillies...
We got hillbillies here, yeah.
...has caught the interest of the local crowd.
When do we leave for the money?
But there's one point Wayne Trivet wants to make.
We're smarting people things, you know.
They worry the network is searching these hills for a dumb country hick.
What are they smoking in Hollywood to come up with this idea?
Jerry Williamson knows all about hillbilly portrayal in Hollywood.
He wrote a book about it.
They're presented as totally ignorant of modern life,
and one wonders if the producers of this new show that they're thinking about are looking for people like that.
If they're looking for people like that, they're not going to find them.
There is electricity here these days, satellite dishes everywhere, and they know all about cement ponds.
We call them poos.
And going to California doesn't scare them.
They're a long way from dumb.
It'd be tough to leave these hills for a while, but they do it.
They can handle Los Angeles better than somebody from Los Angeles could handle up here.
And maybe that'd be a better reality TV show, they say.
Forget moving a hillbilly-type family out west.
Instead, they say, why not bring somebody from there to here?
And their vote goes for the Osborne family in Watauga County.
Steve Onesorj, WBTV News 3.
That's the news for this half hour. I'm Stan Turner.
Thank you for joining us.
Across America in 30 minutes, this is All News Channel.
We'll be right back.