thanks so much for joining us. we will see you back here bright and early tomorrow. >> thank you very much. thanks for having me once again. always good to be with you. t.j. holms is in the "cnn newsroom." good morning to you, t.j. >> i will try to live up to that guys and get to everything in the next couple of hours. you all enjoy the rest of your monday. hello to everybody out there. a quick look at what we will be covering. we will never forget, the worst home grown terror attack on home grown soil. some 15 years later, oklahoma city hasn't forgotten. the country hasn't forgotten. how can you forget images like that? memorial services getting underway within the hour. blocking out travel and trade from iceland, germany, russia, to all points between and beyond for the past several days. gloom and plume some are calling it. today, maybe a little bit of light at the end of the volcano. spirit airlines is going to

start charging for some carry-on bags. but at least five other airlines promised they won't do the same. we'll be talking about that this morning. like we say, there could be a glimmer of light shine tlug that volcanic ash cloud. here is the latest. a short time ago, the volcanic ash advisory council in london, a pretty big deal. they are keeping an eye on this thing. the official word from them is that the eruption has, quote, virtually ceased. that's a good thing. the volcano had helped spewing more ash. it says, now, it has virtually ceased. the agency overseeing europe air space says 30% of flights are set to go ahead today. norway, sweden, austria have opened portions of their air

space. 80,000 seats are being added to eurostar, the train, lon do to paris route. we are hearing from people desperate to get to europe. cnn's richard quest might be among them. he is in new york. your situation, first of all, are you trying to get home first of all before you tell us about everybody else you are talking to up there? >> reporter: i am supposed to head back tonight. of course, it is highly unlikely that the plane will go. what that means for me and, indeed, many other travelers in similar situations, t.j. is that if yours is the plane that does fly and you had a confirmed seat on that plane, then, of course, you are at the front of the cue. once your plane becomes canceled and then you go to the back of the cue. the back of the line. so as of 8:00 tonight, assuming it doesn't go, if it doesn't, i will be a refugee here stranded along with everybody else. >> a refugee, as you say. how many are we talking about?

i guess the folks you are talking to and dealing with as well. it is one thing for a weather delay. you know the weather is going to pass through at some point. this seems to be a position, situation a lot of people are in where you don't know when things are going to open up? >> there are many variables here. i am not avoiding your question. the first and most important is what you are telling viewers about the volcanic eruption seems to have ceased. once that is done, then the air space can be declared safe and the flights can start again. once that becomes clear, you have to look and see how many empty seats you have got to sort of get rid of the backlog. planes are already flying. if you look at the load factor of major u.s. carriers across the atlantic, they were talking about load factors, 80%, 82%, 85%. even if we assume some people canceled flights, business travelers just didn't make the journey, those -- what it does mean is that ultimately, there won't be many seats left for

backlogged passengers to take. >> richard, good luck to you and several thousands of others of your fellow travelers trying to get out of there as well. always good to have you here in the states with us. richard, we will talk to you again here soon. we want to head over to where richard is trying to get. paula newton is at heathrow airport in london. paula, i don't think you are trying to go anywhere. that's a good thing. the british navy is trying to get involved and help stranded passengers out? how are they going to do that? >> reporter: the british naval rescue they are calling it, three ships, i'm talking big, naval ships that will be headed to different places both in spain and in the english channel for two specific reasons. one is to help the stranded travelers in the main land, in the continental europe go over to britain and cross the english channel. they are trying to create some sort of a hub in spain so that travelers where the air space is

now open, so that travelers can get into spain and go north up to britain and perhaps use one of those royal navy ships to do it. they are extraordinary measures, t.j. now, this has gone far beyond the impact, really, of 9/11. the air carriers asking for compensation. what has been so interesting are these tests flights that have gone up. at least four major airlines have sent up flights into the air, come back down and all come up with analysis that their engines are clear. they are fine. then, you have have the government regulatory bodies fighting back and saying, cannot declare that the skies are safe. you will have to wait for our green light. t.j.? >> you are giving us an outlook when it comes to planes. what about trains and automobiles? a lot of people are looking for other omptions. others are trying to add seats and get people home. >> reporter: good news there. in terms of it being on the roads where your talking about buses or cars, a lot of people doing some very creative things.

trains, big news there, a lot of the trains have added extra capacity. if you want to tomorrow, you can book that train from paris all the way up to london. that's helping a lot of people out. again, just trying to get on the continental europe will help at any point. any easing of that ash plume on main land europe will start to ease this backlog. it might even get richard home, t.j. >> i know you all want him back, don't you, paula? paula newton for us there in london. good to see you as always. thank you so much. i want to show you something. this is the track here. this is a website that usually shows all the air travel, the air traffic happening over europe. this thing usually is filled with a whole lot more of the yellow and blue dots that you see on your screen there. air travel pretty much at a stand still. this is more than we have seen over the past several days. it is starting to improve. not nearly the amount of flights we are used to seeing over the air space in europe. we will continue to update that

story and of course, continuing on cnn, the destruction to air travel affecting business as well. about 200 tons of produce spoiling at a warehouse in kenya right now, because it can't be exported to europe. cnn's zane verjee is in kenya. she is among the thousands of people stranded there. she will tell us about her situation and also that situation with the food coming up in just about half an hour. we're giving you a live picture here. this is the oklahoma city memorial, oklahoma city, this is the site where we are going to see. it is okay. we can go back to that live picture. we are making adjustments there. that's the podium where the ceremony is going to take place. several speakers are going to take to the stage thichlts the 15th anniversary of the oklahoma city bombing. they are getting set for the ceremony to start. it is gog start at 9:55 eastern

time. they are going to commemorate the moment when the bomb went off at the federal building there in oklahoma city, which was at 9:02 central time, some 15 years ago. it took the lives of 168 people, among them 19 children as well. injured another 600 others. it forever changed the way that people in this country think about terrorism, domestic terrorism and what we are all no l longer immune to. that was the worst in this country's history, an act of domestic terrorism at the time. we saw the other bombing of the 9/11 attacks, which came some years after. this was a home grown terror that got to people and shook people and still reverb dearate through this country. >> this was put in the very place, this memorial, where the

merle office building was. it was razed and this memorial put in its place. 19 of the people killed in that bombing were children. they had just been dropped off for the day at the daycare center at the federal building. six of the classmates survived. now, we want to introduce you to one of them. this is the story of chris wynne. he is telling it in his own words. >> there was a daycare center in the building. that daycare center would have been devastated. >> when i see the pictures of me in the hospital in the bed, i see a little boy covered in blood. it's unbelievable. i'm chris wynne, 20 years old and a sophomore at o.u. terrorism, no matter where it

comes from, i do know i was in the balthroom. i got cushioned by some of the wall block. maybe that's what helped save me. i think about the other parents, all the other daycare children and families. i felt guilty almost. i was sgifen a gift. i want to make a difference of some kind. if i don't, i would have wasted my life. that dishonors those who died. who knows what they could have done with their lives. they don't have that chance. >> throughout month morning, we will continue a look back and looking ahead. also, looking at where we are right now. this is just giving you an idea of some of the estlaenvents tha

lined up. 9:55 eastern time the ceremonies begin. 10:02 eastern time, 168 seconds of silence in honor of the people killed. homeland security janet napolitano will be delivering remarks. stay tuned for that. is there a plan, a new plan, new options for bombing iran? the u.s. military checking out nuclear targets and giving the president some options just in case. i'm rob marciano in the cnn weather center. we are dealing with all things flight related, be it ash or the space shuttle which just got scrubbed today due to weather. we will talk about clanses for tomorrow's landing when the "cnn newsroom" comes right back. if it's not there are over 50 international awards we'd better give back. the jaguar xf. the critically acclaimed result

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keeping all options open on iran, the pentagon targeting iran's nuclear sites just in case diplomacy doesn't work. barbara starr joins us live. this was an extraordinary back and forth and tit for tat almost. the defense secretary was having with the "new york times." >> well, indeed, t.j., "the new york times" published this story saying that secretary gates sent a secret memo to the white house saying decisions needed to be made by iran. the pentagon wouldn't even acknowledge that the memo had been written, let alone sent. acknowledging that he had sent a memo to the white house saying "the new york times" got it wrong. in fact, the secretary acknowledging that he wrote that a number of decisions needed to now be made in the coming weeks and months about options for iran if, in fact, the president was to decide to order a

military strike if diplomacy didn't work. everyone hopes diplomacy works. that's the track everyone is on. nonetheless, what we now know is that for the last several weeks, the u.s. military, in fact, has been updating military options to give the president more military options, updated information about potential targets and iran's nuclear program if the president decided at soim poisome point he wanted go ahead with a military strike. what are we talking about, t.j.? target by target? nuclear site by nuclear sites laying out where these are? getting it all ready to go just in case the president wants it. even the u.s. military says, a military strike would not be decisive. it would only set iran back.

they still have to find a way to make iran change its mind about its nuclear path. t.j.? >> you hit on there some of the things they have to keep in mind with these military options. you have to keep in fact civilian casualties, the exact targets. what about the considerations for the strength of iran's military and resistance that we could possibly face? >> well, you know, you hit the nail on the head right there with resistance. late last year, iran's military actually reorganized a bit and shifted their air defense operations around so that they are very focused now on those nuclear sites, protecting the air space around those nuclear sites against an attack by perhaps u.s. war plaines or israeli war planes. all the defense capability now focused on the nuclear sites. that is one of the key factors that the u.s. military is taking into account, looking at how the iranians are trying to protect their air space and how you would get past all of that

defense. t.j.? >> barbara starr at the pentagon. thank you as always. we will turn over to rob marciano. are we talking -- i assume this big ash cloud and a big part of this, we need some wind to blow th this thing out of here. are we getting the push we need to get this going? >> we have had this strong, narrow jetstream last week that has weakened a little bit and spread out. that's good news. the other piece of good news is that the eruption, as of the last advisory has pretty much ceased, at least for now. that's the first bit of good news that we have had as far as getting the amount of ash to be thrown into the air to at least diminish, if not stop entirely. we will see if that is a long-term prognosis over the next few hours. right now, the volcano has at least temporarily ceased erupting. get this, though. surface to about 20,000 feets. at lower and mid-levels of the

atmosphere, this is what it looks like. they have ushered in some of the ash. they have canceled some flights because of that. i gomg get to the east coast of the u.s. not that big of a deal. we are seeing cool and nice weather across the eastern u.s. a little disturbance. that has caused problem in florida. miami seeing 2.63. ft. lauderdale, 2.49. marathon, 1.61. on the west coast, 1.87. that has caused some problems for the shuttle landing which was going to try to land today. we are going to come across north america, which that's pretty rare for them to take that flight path. that means that folks would be able to see it but not today. the rains have pretty much stopped but still a lot of low-level clouds. a lot of fog as well. cape kennedy not going to see that thing land today. next attempt will be 24 hours from now. 74, the high in atlanta. it will be 68 degrees in washington, d.c. 64 degrees in new york city.

59 in boston where they are running the marathon right now. >> yes, that is about to get under way. i believe the main part is about 40 minutes away. the weather is cooperating. >> i think everybody has patriots day off in boston. >> just massachusetts and maine have patriots' day. we have to work on that in georgia. >> we do. >> as he just mentioned, "discovery," will have to scrap it for today because of the weather. a lovely picture of it. they are trying to make their way home. this isn't because of ash. it is because of the weather. give you updates and when they are going to try to bring this thing home tomorrow. stay with us. [ crowd cheering ] [ male announcer ] competition...

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the earthquake in cha na, one of the people found today was a 4-year-old girl. now, here we are five days after the quake, the state media puts the death toll at 1944. another 12,000 injured. food, aid, and portable toilets are getting to some of the victims living in makeshift tent cities.

it is one of those moments. we can all remember where we were when we got word that the merle federal building in oklahoma city had been hit with the bomb. a lot of questions about what had happened that day. it was home grown terror. 168 people were killed that day, including 19 children. you are looking at a live picture of what stands in its place now, in place of that merle building, the oklahoma city memorial. 168 chairs you see there on the lawn to represent each of the people who were killed that day. we are standing by getting ready for a ceremony to take place there. set to start about 30 minutes from now, about 8:55 central time, 9:55 eastern. at that point, they are going to stop and observe 168 seconds of silence, one for each person who was killed that day at the very time of that bombing, which is 10:02 eastern time. 9:02 central there in oklahoma. we will be dipping into that ceremony throughout the next hour and a half here in the "cnn newsroom." stay with us.

british prime minister accusing the firm of moral bankruptcy. what does this mean about a company that was bailed out with billions of your tax dollars. christine romans, "are you kidding me? >> the s.e.c. came out and charged this big -- it almost seemed this firm was impeshus to

some of the arrows. it made money when the rest of the company was reeling. now, the s.e.c. says this company committed fraud when it made a derivatives contract and stu stuffed it with mortgages that were likely to decline and let somebody who was going to bet against that vehicle help hand pick what was going to go in there. they sold it to investors. they did not say who helped pick moe e. the s.e.c. said fraud and illegal. goldman sachs says the s.e.c. charges were completely unfounded in law and fact and vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation. a quick note here. the company got hammered on friday on the stock market. it fell so sharply that it wiped out $12 billion of the value of

this company. that is more than it received in bailout money in the heat of the crisis. i think it got $10 billion in bailout money and paid it back. the market punished on friday by a tune of the tune of $12 billion. this is just beginning. this story is just beginning. the fraud charges were friday. the drama has built all weekend. there are concerns the s.e.c. is going after other companies. could this have been a one-time kind of event? is this how wall street works? somebody stands in the middle and makes money on all sides. people don't even know how the deck is stacked. is that fair? that's one of the reasons the stock market fell on friday and is expected to fall again today. >> no matter what, they might be 100% right and they didn't do anything wrong. even if that's the case, nobody believes that. people have a perception that these guys on wall street are out to get you. in that sense, could this be helpful up in washington now since we are talking about this huge push for regulatory reform?

could this be one thing that democrats can point to and that sure enough, the public will get behind that? >> yes. for months the complaint has been that the obama administration didn't have leverage. it had squandored the leverage of the immediacy of the financial crisis. now, this, many people, especially democrats, are saying, is the fire that reminds you, hey, we got to fix the rules of the road so this doesn't happen again. you are absolutely right. many supporters of financial reform are saying this is something that helps their case. >> christine romans, thank you, as always, for breaking this stuff down. we have to be the bearer of bad news sometimes and the you go will iness on wall street but you do it with such a lovely face. >> thank you. >> let's turn to stephanie elam now. stephanie is keeping an eye on things as well. she is in new york. stephanie, you just heard christine talk about the s.e.c. could be going after other

companies. could this now -- what is this going to do on wall street with some others that might be shaking in their boots? >> that's the thing, t.j. exactly what christine was saying is what's going to happen on wall street. you hear these sort of fierce. the big fear is, is this going to spread to other companies? people don't see this as an isolated event. wall street does not like uncertainty. we are expecting to see more caution today. we will probably start off with a drop. we north anticipating the kind of drop we saw on friday. christine talking about how the dow fell over 100 points on friday. we are not expecting that today. now, wall street is worried about this goldman sachs story. no doubt about it. it is a big company to go after. fraud is a really big word. the fear being what will happen if the s.e.c. starts charging other firms and whether that will seriously dent stocks. what if that will happen? what will happen to the bank's earnings and what would happen to their reputation? that's something we will be looking at. you take a look at goldman sachs and city group tichlts a different picture.

there are signs of strength there. the bank shattered wall street's expectations earning $4.4 billion over the past three months. like jpmorgan chase and bank of america, city is benefiting from strong revenue. they are still cautious about the economy. investors are sending bank stock up more than 2%. that's helping out. smaller banks still having a tough time. the fdic closed eight banks, washington and california and massachusetts and florida and michigan so far this year, 50 banks have been closed. so we did hear the early numbers there. we did hear the bell. we should be able to take a look at the numbers. i am looking at red but not much of a number. i am still seeing a downward movement here. the s&p is down slightly. the dow is down six points for the dow. we are looking at a slightly lower open as we go. nasdaq, off five points. 2476. she mentioned airline stocks

with our good friend richard quest from cnn international. they are under pressure because they stand to lose so much money, millions of dollars from disruption of flights to europe, which may keep richard quest in the building for a little longer. >> forgive me. i went right to the business at top. didn't say hello. how you doing? good to see you stephanie. >> good to see you. >> you are doing a great job on bottom line on the weekend. we look forward to seeing you on that show. thank you. we will check in with you again. good to see you. ats record fine that toyota says it will not fight. they will assign the appropriate paperwork accepting the government's $16.4 million fine for failing to promptly notify the government of its sticky pedal problem. a senior department official adds the agreement does not release the automaker from any potential criminal or civil liability related to the defect. toyota will have 30 days to pay that fine. well, it's caused all kinds

of trouble across the globe. now, our gary tuchman is taking us for a flight over that icelandic volcano. he is looking right into the eye of this thing, ex froetraordina pictures you haven't seen before. stay with us. pacific life can help provide a dependable income you can enjoy for the rest of your life. because retirement could be a very long ride. ask your financial professional about pacific life. pacific life...the power to help you succeed.

i want to give you breaking news in from iraq. according to nuri al maliki, two major militant figures have been killed there. one is the leader of al qaeda in iraq. the other is the leader of an umbrella group to that one called the islamic state of iraq. you see where we are getting the word that they were killed in a security operation in al anbar province in iraq. they have been killed according

to the prime minister. of course, so much fighting and so much attention has been focused on what is happening in afghanistan. the fighting still, of course, does continue, the struggle still continues in iraq in a lot of ways. we have seen an uptick in violence after the march 7th elections there, which, by the way, still haven't been worked out. there was concern whether or not iraqi security forces were going to be able to secure and continue to secure that country as u.s. military officials were about to pull troops out and get down to levels of about 50,000 by the end of the summer. this would be a positive and good thing for the fight if you will against the insurgency, if you will. al qaeda and iraq and the islamic state of iraq, that insurgency leader, both killed. we will keep an eye on that. we want to turn back to what we have been keeping an eye on the past coming up on a week now. we have been keeping an eye on this volcanic ash cloud.

there may be a silver lining. maybe this thing is starting to clear a bit. we are hoping. today, safety experts considering the possibility of reopening some more air space over europe. a few dozen test flights have shown that much of the continent may be safe for air travel. austria, sweden and finland have opened some of their air space. experts say the eruption has, quote, virtually ceased. no way of knowing whether that will last or if it is just temporary. the cost, huge. the world's airlines are losing a total of at least $200 million every single day. the volcano has managed to keep athletes, soldiers, vacationers, business people, students, even diplomates from getting from where they are trying to go and keeping goods from getting to the markets, goods that are sitting up and rotting. cnn's zane verjee has one story from nairobi, kenya.

zane, tell us about this food sitting up and we don't want food and money to go to waste. update me on your situation as well. when were you supposed to be heading back home to london and when do you anticipate you will be able to head back now. >> reporter: i have no idea when i will get back to london i was supposed to leave thursday. i am here on holiday. int complaining i many happy to be home with my family and here in kenya. what is an unlaep situation is what's happening to the export market here. t.j., imagine if you went to the grocery and you didn't find fresh vegetables? this is what's happening in parts of the u.k. and europe, because it is all sitting right here. kenya is a major exporter. what's been happening today, people have been dumping fresh vegetables and good salads all

over the place because it is rotting out in the sun. it doesn't have a longer shelf life anymore. i have been talking to so many workers here, t.j. and they say they are really worried about their jobs now. lucy may be out of a job if grounded planes in kenya don't take off soon. >> i am very worried about this. >> reporter: canceled flights to the u.k. and europe mean lucy may not be needed to pack fresh vegetables for export every day. >> what we like. in my house, i rely on this. >> reporter: lucy just has to look across the room at veg pro limited, normally buzzing with workers. thousands are not working. exporting horticulture is kenya's highest foreign exchange earner. more than $1 billion a year according to analysts. just look at the amount of fresh

vegetables stuck here at the airport. this one company alone is something like 200 tons lying around, things like red chillies, green chillies, proklys, asparagus, onions, peas, stir fries. these are things you see in europe. have you ever seen it this bad? >> not at all. i have been here for eight years. i have seen severe floods and droughts. i haven't seen anything like this in my life here. this is a catastrophe because it doesn't have an end time. >> reporter: no one here knows when the trucks will hit the road again and shuttle fresh goods. johnnie mcmilan tells me he is ready for the worse case scenario. >> reporter: what is going to happen to all the fresh produce? >> we only have two choices. we can give it away to farmers for cattle feed and the second thing we will do, we will take it back to the farms and compost it so they can use it in the

future. >> reporter: also a victim, top quality kenyan roses, flesh cut floi flowers from farms like these are flown to europe every day. >> we are looking at a backlog of around 2 million stems across our four farms and here in nairobi. >> industry insiders say they are losing more than 3 million export dollars a day because of this crisis. while lucy waits, she prays for iceland's vol canish ash clouds to creep away and skies to open to save her and the more than 1.5 million kenyons that depend on this industry. there is a tiny bit of good news for the company here. they just found out a short while ago that two planes are going to take off, only carrying cargo. one is going to france and another to spain. what you are seeing there is a little bit of activity. they are hustling to get those boxes of fresh fish on those

planes where they are supposed to leave in a few hours, t.j. >> a tinsy bit of good news is good news. good luck to you getting back to london. can't complain if you are stuck and get more time with family. so you enjoy. appreciate it. god to see you, zain. thanks so much. coming up next hour, another story about the volcano stranding people. parents are stuck in europe. parents whose four kids are waiting for them to come home. they have been talking to their kids via skype. that's getting old as well. i have talked to this couple yesterday on the air. the lady broke down crying because she misses her kids so much. the community is helping out with the kids until mom and dad get home. stay with us. we get double miles on every purchase. so we earned a ski trip twice as fast. we get double miles every time we use our card. ( thuds ) i'll take this. ( crashing ) double miles add up quick. and all of those. so we brought the whole gang. one adult, one goat please. it's hard to beat double miles. everyone knows two is better than one.

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we've been talking a lot about this volcano in iceland. our gary tuchman is in iceland. he took a helicopter trip over the erupting volcano that has caused all these problems. he got some video and a vantage point you have just got to see. >> reporter: when you are on the wrong side of the iceland volcano, the ash turns a sunny day into a dark, foreboding one. this is what we saw during a drive to the east of the volcano. it all depends on which way the wind blues. to the west, a few hundred feet away from it. the skies were clear. the wind was blowing the other way. looking at this volcano eruption this close up is awe-inspiring and frightening. it has been quiet. it has been doing so for about two years.

hard to imagine the economic catastrophe. we then paid a visit to the south side of iceland where we went to a farm and saw the plume heading men asly toward us. farmer egerson wasn't sure what to expect. i don't know. you don't know. there is no way to know. >> reporter: he and his family had to evacuate. now, they do know. his 2500 achor fare farm is now covered in ash. it covers what used to be the red roofings of his house and barnes. >> translator: why would this happen to such a beautiful place? what are we being punished for? . >> reporter: the only way to describe how much ash is to describe it in tons.

he has owned this farm for 104 years. the volcano have been quiet for about 190 years. they have never experienced anything like this before. he doesn't know what it will take to make this farm work again. he is grateful his cattle seem to be healthy. there is not much he can do now to clean up the mess, because the ash could come back at any time. >> translator: this has been in my family for three generations, me, my father, my grandfather. that's why it hurts so much. >> reporter: government assistance will be available but probably only after the cry crisis is available. they always new the nearby volcano could hurt them. they hoped it would be quiet for another century or two. gary tuchman cnn, iceland. we are going to turn to the port of los angeles. the water there, the life line. the air has been the focus. we will tell you about a big effort now to help clean up its act.

also. the shot heard around the world on this day, 1775, that's when the militia met head on. so heading to the doctor

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start talking about much bigger business and much bigger problems? out on the west coast the port of los angeles is one of the busiest in the world, yet they are finding ways to reduce their impact on the environment. in today's green solutions in focus, gabe ramirez takes us there. >> the port of los angeles is the largest container port in the united states. so no matter where you live in the united states, you have things that you wear, in your home that came through our port complex. >> i would say about a decade ago, the ports weren't even acknowledging that they created an air pollution problem for local residents. we have seen higher rates of childhood asthma, cancer clusters, premature deaths linked to diesel pollution created by all the ships, trucks and trains that visit our ports daily. they actually produce more

smog-forming pollution than all six million cars in the region. >> when all of the sudden it was shown that we could be affecting human health, that's when the whole thing changed. that's when expansion at this port came to a grinding halt. we realized, we're going to have to eliminate health risk of port operations on the community. >> ever since that time, i think the port and nrdc have been able to move together collaboratively to try to address the air pollution problem there. >> a ship that sits at the berth spews out a ton of emissions a day. if we hook them to shoreside electrical power, there is a huge savings in emissions for the local community. we have reduced the emissions from trucks coming in and out of this port by 80%. so what is the truck of the future? it's an all electric truck with enough battery life that it can

operate in port and not be disruptive to our customers' business. we are in the process of installing solar panels on everything that's flat in the port. working with our neighboring port in long beach, we built the first hybrid tugboat in the world. it is in this port in operation. at the end of 2008 we had reduced the emissions of sulfur oxides by 32% and diesel particulates by 19%. that we could allow a port customer to grow, to double their volume but essentially produce less pollution in the future than they are today with a much lower volume. we have shown that it can be done. >> in observation of earth day, cnn photojournalists are looking at solutions to environmental issues and people trying to make a difference. the award-winning in focus team

tells stories of people. watch "green solutions in focus" saturday, april 24th at 3:00 eastern. well, they are armed and ready, but are they on target. cnn takes you inside an american militia group. should the rest of us be worried? yes, america's armed discontent in focus next hour. ♪ is that your new car ? uh... yeah ? cool. thanks. i knew i wanted a subaru legacy. i went back and forth on the hood scoop... but i'm glad i went for it. the subaru legacy. feel the love. i have asthma.

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♪ [ bagpipes ] ladies and gentlemen, you're seeing a live picture now of the memorial ceremony about to take place, just getting under way in oklahoma city commemorating the 15th anniversary of the oklahoma city bombing that killed 168 people. they are going to observe a moment of silence at the exact moment the bomb went off, 10:02 eastern time. in a moment we'll dip back into this ceremony.

but first we want to go ahead and give you a look at some other stories we are keeping an eye on. we'll get right back to this moment. first, an issue and story we have been keeping an eye on for several days. that big eruption of the icelandic volcano. the office in london now reporting the eruption has virtually ceased and thousands of travelers are stranded by cancelled flights. also, the shuttle not coming home today. blame the bad weather over florida. the shuttle discovery will stay in orbit an extra day and try again after sun rise tomorrow. nasa may go with plan b. you know they have c, d and e as well at nasa. they will bring the crew to edwards in california as well. also, survivors being pulled from the rubble in china, now five days after a major earthquake hit. one of the people found today was a 4-year-old girl. state media puts the death toll at 1944.

12,000 injured. food aid and portable toilets are finally getting to the victims living in makeshift tent cities. as we showed you a moment ago, we'll get you back to oklahoma city, back to the live pictures of the memorial ceremony getting under way. let's go ahead and listen in. ♪ [ silence ] >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome.

i'm john rachels, chairman of the oklahoma city national foundation. this morning we have several special guests with us. we have secretary janet napalitano, united states department of homeland security, governor brad henry and first lady kim henry. lieutenant general jerry askins, mayor mick cornett, congresswoman mary fallon ford bell, executive director of the american association of museums, governor frank and kathy keating, anthony russell, regional administrator fema region six. thank you all for joining us on this important day. 15 years ago, april 19th began as a beautiful day.

however, the beauty we enjoyed on that day was erased in an instant at 9:02 a.m. in those moments and hours that followed, hundreds, even thousands of people rushed in to help us. just doing their job, they would say. however, in doing so, they became heroes to us all. one such hero who was just doing his job was patrolling interstate 35 near perry, oklahoma, when he noticed a car missing a license plate. he pulled the driver of the car over. his actions on that day were the first step in bringing justice to the perpetrators of the events that occurred on this site. that trooper is here with us today. please welcome retired oklahoma highway patrol trooper and current noble county sheriff, charlie hanger. charlie? [ applause ]

>> we come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived, and those changed forever. may all who leave here know the impact of violence. may this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity. please join me in 168 seconds of silence.

all right. keeping an eye on the memorial taking place now. again, 168 seconds of silence observed for the 168 victims of

that terror attack. homegrown terror attack, but a terror attack nonetheless. it happened 15 years ago today. 168 people killed. 19 of them children. you saw there one of the troopers who stepped up. we're looking at images now. but a trooper who stepped up is a guy who actually placed mcveigh under arrest. he led us in the 168 seconds of silence. can you believe it was 15 years ago today, one of the moments when a lot of people if you are of a certain age can remember where you were when you got word. this changed the way people viewed domestic terrorism and viewed the way and just how susceptible we were to such attacks and tapped into the anger that many people had, a growing anger and militias and hate groups. it opened people's eyes. certainly we will never be the same again. that was a time when it was the deadliest at the time domestic terror attack we had seen.

many years later, of course, came 9/11. among those 168 were 19 children. they were at a day care center inside the federal building that day when the place sheared a side of the building off. somehow six of the children survived. here's the story of one of them, p.j. allen, in his own words. >> holy cow. >> at the time of the bombing, p.j. was 18 months. he had inhaled much of the gas from the bombing. his lungs were severely damaged. irreparable. >> this is albuterol. it opens up my lungs. if god could save me from second and third-degree burns and a broken arm he must have something special planned. >> i'm p.j. allen. i'm 16 years old.

i would like to be a mechanical engineer. i like math. it fascinates me. >> okay. looks like you're doing good. >> i got my trach out in '06. i felt relieved to have it gone. over time my injuries have healed and i'm breathing a little bit better. it's like a sign of growth. >> i'm so happy to go home. >> i don't remember what happened since i was so little. so in a way it's like it never happened, but it did. i try to remember those who didn't make it and how their families were affected. when the explosion happened there was chaos and everybody was scared, but now it's a beautiful place to remember those who died.

i thank god every day that i made it and the others as well and that we're doing okay. >> 8:00 tonight, oklahoma survivors in their own words, some 15 years later. also, a breaking story we got in a short time ago, two al qaeda leaders, two of the most wanted in iraq were killed in a security operation in al anbar. the leader of al qaeda was killed in iraq and also killed the leader of the islamic state of iraq, another insurgent group with ties to al qaeda. well, you got your climbing gear, your bottled oxygen and your math homework? yeah. this could be the first time someone brought their homework to mount everest. he could be the youngest person to get to the top of the world. we'll talk to him coming up. another overachiever. god bless him.

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jordan romero trying to be the youngest to do it. do what? summit mount everest. 25,000 feet and change and making it back down. jordan and his dad paul are with us from everest base camp on the mountain. they are getting used to the altitude. i see you and i think you can hear me. there he is, 13-year-old jordan. jordan, whose idea was this? was this all your idea or did dad say, hey, how would you like to do this and you got on board? >> oh, yep. it was totally all my idea. i was -- this is part of my seven summit quest also known as the highest mountain on every continent quest. i set out to do this when i was 9 years old. this will be the seventh of the eight summits. >> this is not something easy to do physically. but a lot of -- it takes a lot of mental fortitude to do this. what do you find most

challenging -- the physical aspect or getting your mind right to soldier through the things you will face on the mountain? >> it's all tough. the physical aspect has been tough. it's a beautiful day, quite hilly. but it was nice. it was good exercise. mentally, you know, the mountain requires, a, a lot of patience. it can look like a beautiful day and you're not going up to the summit. it's both physically and mentally challenging. >> to your dad there now -- and, dad paul, i think you can hear me. i know you are an experienced climber, experienced outdoorsman. did you have concerns when you think about putting your 13-year-old child out there on a mountain that you certainly know with the experiences you have

just how dangerous this can be? >> of course, i had tons of apprehensions, questions in my own mind, but, you know, it's been my job as a dad to show the world to jordan, help him be a big strong young man and to do good for the world and to do good for himself. to everest specifically we have taken a super, super methodical, surgical approach to this. we have trained and prepared. we traveled the world climbing. we have an amazing team. the sherpas we have with us are phenomenal human beings. it just seems to be going well. jordan is as strong as any adult athlete or climber i would want to go with. he's no longer a kid going on a trip with us. he's a climbing partner. he's got so much respect for

what we're doing and for the mountain and for the ethics of what goes on here. it's not a little kid headed to the himalayas to climb. >> you have heard some of the criticism out there. like you say, at 13 with at much experience as he has, it's better than a grown person who's 50 or 60 trying to do it. he's in better shape than some of them. but the criticism is that parents these days are pushing kids younger and younger to do bigger and greater things, pushing them physically and mentally. i will let you go ahead and address the questions that you know people who are watching this right now would have about isn't this a little too young and a little too dangerous? you heard it from jordan himself. this was his idea. now a dad doesn't just let a kid do anything he wants to do. that would be completely nuts. but what's in a number? what does 13 really represent?

if he was a massai warrior he'd be out slaying a lion on his 13th birthday. do we tell them they're too young? there's just not much about the number. he's been all over the world. he's 5'10", 160 pounds, stronger than most adult athletes now. we have an amazing team. it's easy for folks at home who don't know us, don't know jordan to look at the 13 number and say, what the heck are these guys doing? it's not like that at all. we're not hanging off a cliff edge. we're out there climbing. it's a slow, methodical and well thought out adventure we're on here. if it's the first of many times to do this, then so be it. >> well, last thing then. got to go quickly to jordan to

let him answer this one. understand he has a lot of homework. he may be the first climber to take homework to everest with him. also, i had to ask -- jordan, good luck -- but what does your mom think about you out there on the mountain? >> how much homework did you bring and what does your mom think? >> i brought a ton of homework. pretty much it was just simple. a bunch of math homework. but, hey, i've just been told to read some books, fill out book reports. also fill out a journal entry. so hopefully by the end of the trip i can look back. my mom is really, really supportive of it. she loves what i'm doing. of course, you know, with mom. she's not stopping me.

>> well, guys, good luck to you. really. we're going to keep up with you and really, good luck. we'll be watching. we know he's in good physical shape and in good hands. but, really, be safe, be careful. we look forward to talking to you after a successful summit. we'll talk to you soon. thanks so much. >> thanks for the opportunity. >> all right. we'll keep an eye on him. 13 years old trying to reach the summit of mount everest. what were you doing at 13? a lot of you know spirit airlines has been in the news for the new carry-on bag policy. $45 for the privilege. it could be the new trend but it's not necessarily flying with other carriers. five saying they won't do what spirit is doing. 190 times. each brita filter can take up to 300 of those bottles out of the equation.

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a live picture of the 15th anniversary of the bombing at oklahoma city. 168 lives were taken in the bombing of the federal building in oklahoma city.

well, if it can tear up a million dollar jet engine, imagine what it will do to your lungs. we're talking about the plume of ash from iceland. it's backed up european air traffic big time and has

warnings of going outside especially for people with respiratory problems like asthma, but some say the warning is a wee bit exaggerated. rob? i don't know, you see that thing over you, you don't want to breathe that in with asthma or not. >> no. i don't want to take a big deep breath of air. but for the first time since this ordeal, the latest advisory is that the volcano at the very least temporarily has ceased erupting. we'll see if that's a long-term trend. we certainly hope so. it certainly has spewed a lot of stuff into the air. it's not just unhealthy for people but for air travel. that's been as -- has rippled through the world. rippling through europe is the jet stream which is still strong. not quite as concentrated as last week. it's more west to east. that's a typical weather pattern. so it's spreading things out a little bit. but at the mid and lower parts

of the atmosphere, things are headed backwards a little bit. this is one of the advisories. you can see the red circle. that's mid and lower levels of the atmosphere which bring it is ash back to northern america. that's a set-up at the mid levels and surface. low pressure here. high pressure here filtering things back to north america. some flights have been cancelled across newfoundland, st. john's there because of ash as far west as the eastern provinces of canada. we'll get into the northeast and see how this progresses now that the thing isn't erupting as vigorously. definitely affecting millions of people now, even on this side of the pond. t.j.? >> that's good news to hear that for the time being it's ceased. we don't know what it will do later. >> plus, the volcano next to it, which scientists are worried about that thing going now. they typically erupt in a tandem fashion. >> quick break. we'll be right back. ♪

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in oklahoma city today they are remembering the victims of an extremist, timothy mcveigh. he killed 168 people 15 years ago today. his anti-government views pushed him over the edge. president clinton was in office at the time and spoke with wolf blitzer about extremists. >> the circumstances have a lot of parallels. for example, there's the same kind of economic and social upheaval now as there was then. in 1993, the economy for most average people who were likely to be drawn into this was not as bad as today, but the social upheaval was greater. there was more crime, more gang violence. there was more sense of disintegration after the cold war. so there were big psychological

pressures. then you had the rise of the extremist voices on talk radio. here you've got a zillion internet sites. people pumping up a lot of -- >> you're saying it could be potentially worse because of the echo chamber today? >> yes. the echo chamber is bigger today. and there are more voices in it. >> joining me now, the director of the intelligence project at the southern poverty law center. sir, always good to have you on. you heard the president there -- president clinton -- talking about the echo chamber and some parallels. do you agree it's just as bad, if you will, that anti-government anger, sentiment, the same we have now that was the same as the lead-up to the oklahoma city bombing? >> yes. i very much agree with what president clinton said. i think we are in a very similar time. it feels, just as he said, that in some ways the anger out there is broader and deeper.

i very much agree with what he said about the role of the internet, commentators and politicians as well who have been feeding the fire. in the '90s there was certainly talk radio and angry hosts out there kind of pushing the militia movement along. today we see similar kinds of voices, sometimes coming from the congress itself and sometimes from very large cable television shows. >> you talk about some of the talk radio and things on the internet and everybody can spew, if you will, out there on a different website. does it always coincide, however, these times when we see hanger, hate groups, militia groups popping up there there are big down economic times or a big issue in washington and that coupled with commentators sends it over the edge? >> well, yeah. i think a number of things are going on. i think what you're suggesting is right.

back in the day. back in the 1990s when the first wave of the militia movement happened, it was really set up in particular by the events in waco. a lot of people who analyze this situation say -- and i think they're right -- is that all that's really lacking in terms of comparing this moment to 1995 is a real spark, something that will simply ignite the fury out there. you know, what the reality is we have already begun to see very serious criminal manifestations of this kind of resurgence of the radical right. one need only think back to last week and the members of the hutaree militia in the upper midwest. an amazing plot to kill hundreds of police officers. >> do you have numbers of how many more of these groups have been popping up? is it a disturbing number that continue to show up -- hate groups, militia groups? >> we counted almost a thousand

hate groups out there very recently. in addition there is an expansion of about 80% of the number of hard line anti-immigration groups. most astoundingly of all, a huge growth, 244% by our count of the militias. 363 new groups in a year. it's really quite something. >> mark potok, we need to have you back to get more in depth to some of the numbers you're seeing and something you have been studying for quite some time. some sobering news to hear on this anniversary. good to see you, mark. we'll talk to you soon, all right? >> thankses for having me. >> nuclear fears in a small town when prime real estate for a couple of new reactors, but at what cost? stay with us. ♪

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won't fight the fine but toyota motors is denying the government's accusation that it tried to hide a safety problem with its sticking gas pedals. today, toyota accepting a record 16.4 million dollar fine for toyota's failure to promptly report the issue. toyota will have 30 days to pay up. pope benedict celebrating his five-year anniversary at the helm of the catholic church. his tenure has been blemished with the ongoing sex scandal. a quick break. we'll be right back. sthma. and that's what it sounded like when my symptoms came back. i'd get this tightness in my chest. like i was breathing through a straw. so i went back to my doctor again. we talked about choices in controller medicines. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma. [ man ] while it's not a rescue inhaler, symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. it helps give me the control to... [ inhales, exhales ] symbicort is a combination of two medicines. it will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms and should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol.

medicines like formoterol may increase the chance of asthma-related death, so it is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on other asthma medicines. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. with symbicort, my lung function starts to improve within 15 minutes, helping me... all day. symbicort is a good choice to help control my asthma. [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask your doctor if it's a good choice for you. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

trying to get back to breaking news from iraq. two of the most wanted terrorists in iraq have been

killed. now live from baghdad mohammed jamjun. explain to the viewers how big of a deal these two are who have now been killed. >> reporter: in a statement, the u.s. military is calling this a potentially devastating blow to al qaeda and iraq n. the past hour we have heard from iraqi's prime minister. these are the top two al qaeda leaders in iraq. the head of al qaeda in iraq and the head of the islamic state of iraq, the umbrella group that includes al qaeda and iraq. they have been killed in a joint operation that included -- it was fronted by iraqi security forces supported by the americans. it happened, according to the prime minister, in the past few days. this is a big blow to al qaeda although we have seen in the past other leaders killed and captured and the group has been resilient and has been able to reform and get new leadership. everybody saying a big blow to al qaeda in iraq and a big blow to the structure of the organization. >> you call it a big blow.

is there any suspicious that these two were involved or had a hand in some of the recent attacks that you covered there? the recent attacks that came in, around and after the parliamentary elections in early march? >> well, since last august we have seen repeated attacks, the coordinated car bomb attacks or bombings that happened in and around baghdad usually hitting four to five government locations, sometimes embassies, sometimes residences. iraqi officials have been quick to point the finger at al qaeda in iraq or the islamic state of iraq. in the past two weeks they have said they are continuing to try to plan the attacks. the hope among iraqi and u.s. officials is this will deal a big blow to them and they won't be able to pull off massive attacks any time soon. >> talk about the hopes of iraqi and american officials. was this a joint effort? there have been questions about will iraqi security forces be able to step up, secure the country when americans pull back more this summer. what was involved in the

operation? >> reporter: that continues to be -- that's a good question. right now we know it was iraqi military and u.s. military supporting the iraqi military. iraqi military was fronting the operation. to your other question, everybody is wondering are the iraqi security forces able to secure this country, especially as the u.s. withdrew from the cities you have seen more attacks in and around baghdad targeting heavily protected areas. very heavily protected buildings, government installations and the like. the more that happens, the more people, the more residents question if iraqi security forpss and if the government here will be able to protect the government and will be able to combat these terrorist elements. t.j.? >> mohammed jamjoon. we appreciate you as always. up next, is nuclear power the problem? a small town dealing with an advanced cancer rate now worried about a new reactor. i have astigmatism.

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president obama's big push for nuclear energy brings us to a small town that used to be in the spotlight. the town in georgia already has two nuclear reactors. the president wants two new ones to be built but there is a problem. people in shell bluff say they are afraid of more reactors because they say people in the community are dying from cancer. they want to know why. in fact, the county's death rate from cancer is 51% higher than the national average. abby boudreau went to this town. how would they know one way or another? that's the question. they don't know what's causing it, what the issue is now. scary stuff. >> that's the question. how do they know if they are safe or not. the people want someone to figure out why the cancer rates are so high there. in this town they have two reactors and it's across the river from an old nuclear

weapons plant. we went to shell bluff where the ground has already been broken for new reactors to let them voice their own opinions. >> reporter: the >> these are the first reactors being built in the united states in nearly 30 years. we're about to meet this one woman this is annie stevens. she's here with her brother who recently passed away. she lives in shell bluffs and has concerns about the two new as well as the two existing reactors in her town. shell bluff is located in burke county, georgia. its cancer death rate is 51% higher than the national average. according to the centers for disease control. >> come on! >> hi. >> hi. >> i'm abbie. >> hello, how you doing? >> nice to meet you. >> thank you. nice to meet you, too. >> right away, she introduces us to a local reverend.

we were here doing a story on the reactors. he's concerned about his congregation. >> you hear that there is a lot of related cancer. maybe respiratory and circulatory things going on with them. you know, why is there so much in such a small population? >> reporter: the community fears contamination from the nearby nuclear power plant and an old weapons facility. a super fund toxic site across the river. in 1991 the national cancer institute studied counties near facilities and found no increased risk for cancer. but another study in 2007 focused only on burke county. it found that since the reactors have been built, cancer rates have risen by 25%. the study doesn't say why. earlier, i showed you the picture of annie's brother hiram who died of cancer in 2008. after we left the church we met his wife janie.

>> why, you know? for him to be the type of man he was, how could this happen so quick? >> reporter: i talked to a few people at the bible study who said they didn't want to new reactors in. how did you feel? >> i don't think anybody really wants them here. i mean, because they're right on top of us. >> reporter: do you think the president has done enough to make sure that people like you are safe before new reactors the built? >> he probably don't even know we exist. >> he doesn't know we're down here. >> uh-uh. >> reporter: we're back at annie laura's house. she showed us this emergency information pamphlet about what they need to do in case there is some sort of leak at plant vogel which is the nuclear plant in town. we were looking at it and

noticed that she circled her evacuation route. next to it she says, have mercy upon us all. the nuclear regulatory commission allows power plants to monitor themselves to see if they are contaminating the environment. both the nrc and the plant's operator say the facility is safe. it's morning, day two, shell bluff. we are headed to the church now. i think that more people are realizing that cnn is in town. they're reaching out, wanting to talk and tell stories. >> we had protests. we voiced our opinion that we didn't want them, but it's just, you know, we're just little peons, so -- >> this one got cancer. >> reporter: the people are concerned that people in their family are getting sick and dying from cancer. they're not saying that it's caused -- they're not saying the

cancer is caused from the reactors. they're just concerned and they have questions about why so many of their family members are dying from cancer. >> not only the older folks. you're talking about the young folks dying with cancer. throat cancer, stomach cancer. they're saying it's from what? the food? water? is it in the air? >> reporter: we are about to meet with a couple of guys who do environmental testing at nuclear sites throughout the state of georgia. i'm abbie. >> hi, nice to meet you. all of this stuff is for environmental testing. >> all for environmental testing. >> reporter: now it's just in a warehouse? >> most of the equipment was taken out of service at the end of 2004. >> reporter: okay. >> when our federal funding ran out. >> reporter: how much federal funding do you get? >> right now, none. >> reporter: nothing? >> nothing. >> reporter: he says they are still doing limited

environmental monitoring around the reactors. he does feel they're safe. how is anybody supposed to do a long-term health study on people in shell bluff? >> that's a good question. i don't have a good answer to it. >> reporter: okay. >> i really don't. i mean, you can't do that kind of study unless you've got the data to base it on. otherwise you're just speculating as to what may be there and what may not. >> reporter: we are leaving here with questions. who's watching for these people? where is the government accountability? they want there to be a long-term health study. they don't understand why no one is knocking on their door asking for blood samples, hair samples or whatever the case may be, why no one is testing their well water. those are the things they hope will happen before two new reactors are built in their community. just days after leaving shell bluff we talked to the department of energy about what we learned. since then, the department now

plans to reinstate the federal funding to the state of georgia for independent environmental monitoring. the money will be designated to the super fund toxic site across the river. but depending how much funding they will thai get determine it is amount of additional testing to be done in other parts of the community. this is good news. that's what they want. they want to know answers. they want testing to be done. >> there are studies as well. one study says this. another says that. is there a plan for another that could be a definitive health study about what's going on there? >> yes. we talked to the chairman of the nuclear regulatory commission. the agency will now commission a new national health study to re-examine the cancer risks for people living near nuclear power plants. like i said, t.j., that should get started this summer. so hopefully these people with questions will, over the next several months and several years get some answers. >> like you said, you were there. they knew you were in town. people were itching to talk

about it and maybe get the word out. good work. our special investigations unit. thank you very much. >> thanks. >> we'll be looking ahead to the next hour in the newsroom. the internet has opened many social networking sites and opened a new can of worms. it's a tool for hate amongmonge. if you're taking 8 extra strength tylenol a day... on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number of pills... compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength to relieve arthritis pain all day.

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the other carriers rush to do the same thing. but maybe not the case this time. other carriers promising they will not make you pay for your carry-on luggage after spirit airlines says they will start the new policy. christine romans in new york to talk about this. i guess we better make them sign contracts in blood on this thing. i'm not going to believe it until i see it. >> i guess usually when you have a new fee in the industry you don't have a bunch of senators saying, hey, wait a minute, we just found a way to tax you more on those fees. so you're right. after spirit airlines said it would be charging up to $45 to stow your carry-on in the overhead bin, chuck schumer, senator from new york, got five airlines to promise that they would not follow suit. among them, american airlines, delta, united, u.s. airways and jetblue. jetblue, which of course has been very, very slow to follow

in the trend of adding fees to everything. they don't want to, shall we say, tick off their core customers, but spirit is sticking to its guns and says it will continue to try this new way of charging people a fee for the services they use because they say it's a free market. if you don't like it, you don't bring a bag. i guess. >> absolutely. i had an interview with the ceo of spirit this weekend. he defended it saying this is what works for his customers and his airline. he's not asking anybody else to do it. he says his customers will respond and if you check your bag you have a lower ticket price is how he justifies this thing, christine. once again -- >> and the unbundling. consumers call it nickel and diming. the industry calls it unbundling where they take it apart and charge you for what you use. this trend persists. i think the carry-on bags inth