CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-12-08

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schieffer, and welcome to

[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:04] Just ahead, did the makers of Vioxx

[0:07] deliberately hide that the drug could

[0:09] lead to heart attacks? Elizabeth Callan

[0:12] will have the story. Further details and

[0:14] an eyewitness account of that fatal

[0:16] shooting of an American Airlines

[0:18] passenger in Miami, Bob Orr has that.

[0:21] Also, Islamic militants claim they have

[0:24] executed a US hostage. Kimberly Dozier

[0:26] reports from Baghdad. And how secure is

[0:30] the American dream? For millions of

[0:32] middle-class workers, it may be in

[0:34] jeopardy. It's all starting now on the

[0:36] CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:40] As the Associated Press put it today,

[0:43] learning to fire a weapon is fairly easy

[0:45] for law enforcement officers. Learning

[0:47] when to fire is harder. And that's what

[0:50] they're trying to sort out today in

[0:52] Miami, where a deranged airline

[0:54] passenger was shot and killed yesterday

[0:57] by federal air marshals who took him to

[0:59] be a terrorist. Our transportation

[1:01] correspondent Bob Orr is in Miami

[1:04] tonight.

[1:06] As Miami-Dade homicide detectives

[1:08] continue their investigation of the

[1:09] shooting, relatives of Rigoberto Alpizar

[1:12] made their first public comments. Rigo

[1:14] Alpizar was a loving,

[1:17] gentle, and caring husband, uncle,

[1:20] brother, son, and friend. But federal

[1:23] officials are confident that air

[1:24] marshals acted properly when they shot

[1:26] and killed the man, a naturalized US

[1:28] citizen. One security official told CBS

[1:31] News, "All indications are this was

[1:33] textbook." And new details seem to

[1:35] support that. Security sources say

[1:37] Alpizar repeatedly threatened to blow up

[1:39] American Airlines flight 924 and ignored

[1:42] multiple orders to surrender. After

[1:45] claiming to have a bomb in his backpack,

[1:47] Alpizar bolted past two air marshals

[1:48] onto the jetway. There, sources say, the

[1:51] marshals showed their guns and shouted,

[1:53] "Police! Drop the bag!" Alpizar answered

[1:56] by repeating, "I have a bomb." The

[1:58] marshals ordered Alpizar to drop to the

[2:00] ground. Instead, sources say the man put

[2:02] his hand into the bag and moved toward

[2:04] the officers. Both responded, firing

[2:07] multiple shots. Passenger Michael Bashir

[2:09] saw and heard it all unfold. And as he

[2:12] departed, he had his bag clutched. He

[2:13] went out the door, and another gentleman

[2:15] in a Hawaiian shirt followed him out.

[2:18] And

[2:19] the next thing I know was crack, crack,

[2:21] crack, crack, crack, crack. It's like

[2:23] six shots. The two air marshals, one a

[2:25] next border patrol agent and the other a

[2:27] former customs inspector, are described

[2:29] as stellar officers. For now, they're on

[2:31] paid administrative leave. It appears

[2:33] that they followed the protocols and did

[2:35] what they were trained to do. But there

[2:37] are questions about another security

[2:38] incident that happened several days ago

[2:40] at New York's JFK Airport. Officials say

[2:42] a passenger was briefly detained when

[2:45] his shoes, shown in these photos,

[2:47] revealed possible traces of explosives.

[2:49] For some reason, the man was released

[2:51] before tests were all completed on the

[2:53] shoes. And terrorism officials say that

[2:55] was a mistake. But the shoes turned out

[2:57] not to contain explosives, and the man

[2:59] was never a threat.

[3:02] There's been some speculation that

[3:03] worries about that shoe incident may

[3:05] have had a role here. Perhaps the air

[3:06] marshals were on a bit of a hair

[3:07] trigger. But officials say there are no

[3:09] connections whatsoever to those two

[3:11] events. And they insist the marshals on

[3:13] flight 924 acted strictly by the book.

[3:16] Bob. All right, thank you very much,

[3:18] Bob. In Iraq today, the US military said

[3:20] that bombings killed two more American

[3:23] service members, a soldier in Baghdad

[3:25] and a Marine in Ramadi, which is west of

[3:28] the capital. There's also an unconfirmed

[3:30] report tonight that a kidnapped American

[3:33] civilian was killed by his abductors.

[3:35] More on that now from Kimberly Dozier.

[3:38] If the report is confirmed, he would be

[3:41] the first American hostage killed in

[3:43] more than a year.

[3:44] Video of American electrician Ronald

[3:46] Schulz was released by the group earlier

[3:48] this week. US officials had rejected the

[3:51] kidnappers' demands, including paying

[3:53] compensation for US military action

[3:55] here. We uh

[3:58] of course don't pay ransom

[4:00] uh for any hostages. Coalition officials

[4:03] say there's been a marked decrease in

[4:05] suicide attacks and other insurgent

[4:07] violence, but the militants are finding

[4:09] ways to prove they're still dangerous.

[4:11] There was another bloody suicide bombing

[4:13] today, more than 30 dead on a bus. And

[4:16] there's been a rise in abductions of

[4:18] Westerners.

[4:20] Another American, Christian peace

[4:22] activist Tom Fox, was seized by a

[4:24] different group 2 weeks ago in Baghdad,

[4:26] along with two Canadians and a British

[4:28] man.

[4:29] After pleas by various Islamic clerics,

[4:32] the hostage-takers extended the deadline

[4:34] for their execution. We have been

[4:36] treated well. We are We are both well.

[4:39] But video of them has grown more

[4:41] disturbing. Now, they're dressed in

[4:43] orange jumpsuits, like many hostages who

[4:45] have ended up dead. And they're being

[4:47] shown pleading for their governments to

[4:49] leave Iraq. And the only way that we can

[4:51] all be free is for the American and

[4:53] British soldiers to leave Iraq as soon

[4:55] as possible. The human rights group that

[4:57] sent the activists here is organizing

[4:59] protests against the war, as are the

[5:02] hostages' friends and family. They won't

[5:04] know until Saturday if that's enough to

[5:06] free them. Kimberly Dozier, CBS News,

[5:09] Baghdad.

[5:10] >> The prestigious New England Journal of

[5:12] Medicine today accused the makers of the

[5:14] arthritis drug Vioxx of concealing the

[5:17] fact that three people suffered heart

[5:19] attacks during a clinical study

[5:21] conducted before the drug was pulled off

[5:24] the market last year. Merck, the company

[5:26] that makes Vioxx, is already embroiled

[5:29] in thousands of lawsuits and could face

[5:31] as much as $50 billion in legal

[5:34] liabilities. And today's allegation

[5:36] could have a significant impact on those

[5:39] cases. Our medical correspondent

[5:41] Elizabeth Callan has the story.

[5:44] Critical data regarding the painkiller

[5:46] Vioxx and its risks to cardiovascular

[5:49] health was allegedly left out of a major

[5:51] study on the drug, the key study being

[5:54] used by Merck to defend itself in the

[5:56] first of thousands of lawsuits involving

[5:58] Vioxx. Three heart attacks occurred that

[6:01] were not included in the data. And

[6:03] according to the New England Journal of

[6:05] Medicine, Merck knew all about it. In an

[6:08] unprecedented move, the journal has

[6:10] published what it calls an expression of

[6:12] concern, chastising the study authors

[6:15] and saying at least two of the authors

[6:17] knew about the three heart attacks at

[6:19] least 2 weeks before submitting drafts

[6:22] of the study. Dr. Alister Wood was the

[6:25] chairman of the FDA advisory panel on

[6:27] Vioxx. Do you believe that lives could

[6:29] have been saved potentially had this

[6:31] information been made public?

[6:32] >> think that the earlier we got Vioxx off

[6:34] the market, the fewer people would have

[6:35] died of heart attacks. And could it have

[6:37] been decided earlier? Probably. It's

[6:39] always easy to be wise after the event,

[6:41] but clearly,

[6:42] um knowing what we know now, it would

[6:44] have been nice to know the full story

[6:46] then, not have it dribble out later.

[6:48] >> The new data does alter the outcome of

[6:50] the Vioxx study, showing an increase in

[6:52] the risk of heart problems. The journal

[6:54] says this means the integrity of the

[6:56] entire study should be called into

[6:58] question. Merck would only issue a

[7:01] statement tonight saying the additional

[7:03] events were reported after the cutoff

[7:05] date for the study and therefore were

[7:07] not included in the New England Journal

[7:09] article.

[7:11] Vioxx was pulled off the market in 2004

[7:13] after research showed it doubled the

[7:15] risks of heart attack and stroke. And

[7:17] Bob, it is unclear whether or not this

[7:19] revelation is going to significantly

[7:21] affect Merck's legal troubles.

[7:23] >> Now, there is another bombshell on the

[7:25] medical beat tonight. And tell us about

[7:26] that, Elizabeth.

[7:27] >> That's right. This involves another big

[7:28] drug called Paxil. Paxil is an

[7:30] antidepressant, totally different class

[7:32] of drugs. The FDA today is saying that

[7:35] it is strengthening the warning against

[7:37] Paxil, particularly for pregnant women

[7:39] in the first trimester of pregnancy.

[7:41] That is after new research found that

[7:44] Paxil is associated with birth defects,

[7:47] specifically heart defects, in that

[7:49] first trimester of pregnancy. Now, the

[7:51] FDA is saying doctors should not

[7:53] prescribe the drug, but women who take

[7:55] Paxil right now and are already on it

[7:57] should not go off it right away. They

[7:59] need to talk to their doctor, Bob.

[8:00] >> Okay, thank you very much, Elizabeth.

[8:02] Economic reports have been generally

[8:04] positive lately, but US manufacturers

[8:06] continue to cut middle-class jobs, and

[8:09] some analysts are worried now about the

[8:12] emergence of an hourglass economy with

[8:14] high and low-income jobs, but little in

[8:17] between. Here's Trish Regan.

[8:21] Donald Betlin never imagined he'd be

[8:23] doing this in his 50s.

[8:26] The former General Motors engineer works

[8:28] two jobs. One of them, driving a cab on

[8:31] the 6:00 to midnight shift in Detroit.

[8:34] How much money did you used to make at

[8:36] General Motors? Uh

[8:37] close to $50,000 a year. Are you making

[8:40] anything like that now? Not even half of

[8:42] that. Donald is one of the hundreds of

[8:45] thousands of displaced manufacturing

[8:47] workers struggling to make ends meet in

[8:50] this changing economy. Jobs in

[8:52] traditional industries, the ones that

[8:54] helped build this country, are slowly

[8:56] disappearing.

[8:58] Economist Dana Johnson says companies

[9:00] are under pressure to raise profits, and

[9:02] that comes at a cost to the workers.

[9:05] They can't pay these wages. They can't

[9:06] pay these benefits and and be profitable

[9:08] and stay in business. How much more

[9:10] homework your girls got? 46-year-old

[9:12] Randy Richardson, an electrician in a

[9:14] manufacturing plant, lost his wife 4

[9:17] years ago to cancer and is raising their

[9:19] four children on his own. She lived for

[9:22] a year and a half after she was

[9:23] diagnosed. So, I've been doing

[9:25] everything I can do

[9:27] to keep a hold of this house. It would

[9:28] be hard to give up. But he may have no

[9:31] choice. Delphi, the company he's worked

[9:33] at for 28 years, wants to slash his pay

[9:37] from just over $30 an hour to $19.

[9:40] Can you make ends meet if you have your

[9:43] salary cut by 40%?

[9:45] >> I would have to sell my house. I I would

[9:47] have to downsize, you know. I might not

[9:49] be able to get all the things that it is

[9:50] that I want to get for my girls, but

[9:53] there's

[9:54] >> [snorts]

[9:55] >> you'd be surprised what you can do when

[9:57] you have to.

[9:58] Donald Betlin is proof of just that. He

[10:01] had hoped to retire soon.

[10:02] >> Is there any chance you're going to be

[10:03] able to do that?

[10:05] Uh, not likely. I think I'll probably

[10:08] working as long as I'm physically able

[10:10] to.

[10:11] Just trying to survive.

[10:14] Surviving on this night meant waiting in

[10:16] the freezing cold to get his flat tire

[10:18] fixed just so he could go back to work.

[10:21] Trish Regan, CBS News, Detroit. More

[10:24] stories are just a click away, but don't

[10:26] forget to join us on television for the

[10:27] on-air edition of the CBS Evening News.

[10:30] On Friday's broadcast, fast food

[10:33] wrappers. Could the chemical they're

[10:35] coated with make you sick? That is our

[10:37] Friday Consumer Alert. For CBSNews.com,

[10:41] I'm Bob Schieffer.