CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-12-09

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Russ Mitchell and welcome to

[0:01] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:04] Just ahead, bad weather, pilot error, or

[0:06] something else. Bob our has the latest

[0:08] on what may have caused the crash of a

[0:10] Southwest Airlines jet in Chicago. Also,

[0:13] could a chemical coating that's on fast

[0:15] food rappers make you sick? We'll

[0:17] investigate in a consumer alert. And

[0:19] you'll meet a computer geek whose

[0:21] Christmas light display is big. Really

[0:24] big. It's all starting now on the CBS

[0:27] Evening News online edition.

[0:32] Federal air crash investigators are on

[0:34] the scene in Chicago this evening where

[0:36] Southwest Airlines 737 is still sitting

[0:39] in the middle of a city street. That's

[0:41] where the plane ended up after landing

[0:42] at snowy Midway Airport where short

[0:45] runways are hemmed in by city streets

[0:47] and neighborhoods. The crash killed a

[0:49] child in a crushed car. CBS News

[0:51] transportation correspondent Bob our has

[0:53] the latest.

[0:55] The crash of flight 1248 is the first

[0:58] fatal accident in the 35-year history of

[1:00] Southwest Airlines. Now, National

[1:02] Transportation Safety Board

[1:03] investigators are zeroing in on bad

[1:05] weather and the pilot's actions as

[1:07] possible causes. The plane with 103

[1:10] people coming from Baltimore landed in

[1:12] very bad conditions in extremely low

[1:14] visibility and on a short snow-covered

[1:16] runway. The jetliner touched down but

[1:18] didn't stop until it plowed through a

[1:20] fence and into two cars on a nearby

[1:22] street. When we went over the fence, um,

[1:25] everybody did scream. There was a loud,

[1:27] you know, minute of screaming, but it

[1:28] wasn't, nobody was hysterical, and

[1:30] everybody calmed down pretty quickly.

[1:32] >> 10 people were hurt and a six-year-old

[1:33] boy riding in one of the cars was

[1:35] killed. Sources say a preliminary

[1:37] readout of the plane's black boxes has

[1:39] revealed no mechanical failure with the

[1:41] jet. In addition, investigators say at

[1:44] touchdown, the plane was going 152 mph.

[1:47] That's a little fast for a short runway.

[1:49] And the cockpit voice tape shows despite

[1:51] the dicey weather, the pilots did not

[1:53] discuss aborting the landing or

[1:55] diverting to a different airport.

[1:56] >> Obviously, weather was a significant

[1:59] condition that we were all facing. This

[2:01] ability was 3/4 of a mile and there was

[2:03] blowing snow.

[2:04] >> Investigators are also focusing on the

[2:06] runway conditions. Midway's main landing

[2:08] strip is just over 6,500 ft long and was

[2:12] originally designed to handle smaller

[2:13] propeller planes. For bigger jets,

[2:16] there's not much room for error,

[2:17] especially with snow or ice.

[2:19] >> We were plowing and brooming the runways

[2:22] and breaking action was fair to good.

[2:24] >> The crash is similar to another

[2:25] Southwest Airlines accident which

[2:27] occurred 5 and 1/2 years ago in Burbank,

[2:29] California. In that one, the same kind

[2:31] of jet ran off a short rain slickened

[2:33] runway and into a gas station.

[2:35] Investigators blamed that crash on the

[2:37] pilots, saying the jetliner came in too

[2:39] steep and too fast to stop. And it's

[2:42] possible that's what happened in

[2:44] Chicago. But investigators caution they

[2:45] still don't have all of the facts and

[2:47] they won't even interview the two pilots

[2:49] involved until sometime tomorrow.

[2:51] Russell Bob, as you pointed out, Midway,

[2:52] like a lot of these urban airports, is a

[2:54] pretty tight fit. I wonder when federal

[2:55] officials look at what happened there.

[2:57] Do they think that that could point to

[2:58] potentially greater dangers at airports

[3:00] across the country?

[3:02] >> Well, it could. I mean, there are scores

[3:03] of airports very similar to Midway that

[3:05] are hemmed in urban areas that they

[3:07] don't have adequate overrun areas at the

[3:08] end of runways. This will undoubtedly

[3:10] renew the debate to close some of these

[3:12] airports or spend billions to fix them.

[3:14] Russ Bob or in Washington. Thanks a lot.

[3:16] It's an old saying, you are what you

[3:18] eat. But whatever you eat, your health

[3:20] may also depend on the wrapping it comes

[3:22] in. That at least is what one critic

[3:23] says about a specially treated paper

[3:26] used for a variety of popular snacks and

[3:28] fast foods. Here is Cheryl Atkinson with

[3:30] our Friday consumer alert.

[3:33] It's not so much the greasy burgers and

[3:36] buttery microwave popcorn that worries

[3:38] Glenn Ivers, a chemical engineer who

[3:40] spent most of his career working for

[3:42] DuPont, but what they often come wrapped

[3:44] in. Paper with a greaser resistant

[3:46] coating made by Dupant. The coating

[3:49] repels ugly grease. Watch how regular

[3:51] paper just soaks up a drop of oil, but

[3:54] the specially coated paper beads it up.

[3:56] No messy wrappers. The one that doesn't

[3:58] soak in has the chemical, right?

[4:00] >> That's correct. It has it on the

[4:02] surface.

[4:03] >> The problem I ever says is the chemical

[4:05] coating called zonal seeps off into the

[4:07] food and your body turning into a

[4:10] possible cancer-causing substance called

[4:12] PifOa. As the government debates how

[4:14] dangerous POA may be, Ivers has stepped

[4:17] forward to accuse Dupant of concealing

[4:20] how much of it could make its way into

[4:21] your bloodstream. And a top DuPont

[4:24] scientist for 22 years, he says he was

[4:26] in a position to know. Fever says back

[4:29] in 1987, DuPont scientists discovered

[4:32] zonal leeched off the paper at triple

[4:34] the rate advised by FDA, but that was

[4:36] kept a company secret. He says

[4:39] >> when I went to my peers and explained to

[4:42] them that we were outside of those

[4:43] guidelines, they said, "We're working on

[4:46] it. Don't worry about it." I had full

[4:48] faith that the Dupont company would do

[4:51] something and over time they didn't.

[4:53] DuPont already faces millions in EPA

[4:56] fines for allegedly hiding health issues

[4:58] with PIOA for decades. The company is

[5:00] settling the charges, but hasn't

[5:02] released the terms. Dupant wouldn't

[5:04] agree to an interview, but says Ivers

[5:06] had little direct involvement in the

[5:08] issues at hand. They also say they've

[5:10] always complied with federal

[5:11] requirements and so had no obligation to

[5:14] notify the FDA of their tests. DuPont

[5:16] says its tests show the coating is safe.

[5:19] The FDA says at this time it considers

[5:21] zonal paper coating safe when used

[5:23] properly that zonal seeping should not

[5:26] be equated to POA exposure, but both the

[5:29] EPA and FDA are investigating PIOA

[5:32] safety. As for Ivers, DuPont fired him

[5:35] in a downsizing in 2002. He's since been

[5:38] an expert witness in cases against

[5:39] DuPont and he's suing DuPont himself,

[5:42] saying he was pushed out for raising

[5:44] ethical issues. Cheryl Atinson, CBS

[5:47] News, Washington. We close this evening

[5:49] with a holiday light show. A

[5:51] neighborhood event in a town north of

[5:52] Cincinnati that turned into a national

[5:55] sensation after it was posted on the

[5:57] internet. Jim Axarat reports from Mason,

[5:59] Ohio.

[6:02] There's always one in every

[6:04] neighborhood.

[6:06] One guy who doesn't know when to say

[6:08] when with the Christmas lights. You got

[6:11] about 26,000 lights out there.

[6:13] >> About 26,000. Yeah.

[6:14] >> In this neighborhood, Carson Williams IS

[6:17] THE GUY.

[6:24] EVERY LIGHT IS SYNCHRONIZED by computer

[6:26] and time to the musical beat right down

[6:29] to a tenth of a second.

[6:30] >> You're a real computer geek, aren't you?

[6:32] >> Yes, I am.

[6:33] >> He even pipes the music out to the car

[6:35] radios. I have a small uh PCI FM

[6:38] transmitter which is in the computer.

[6:40] >> Of course you do. But when Carson

[6:41] Williams says this whole thing would

[6:43] have never been possible before the

[6:45] computer, he's not just talking about

[6:46] the coordination of the sound in the

[6:48] light. He's talking about his newfound

[6:51] status. You see, this small town

[6:53] Christmas light display has hit them big

[6:56] time. Video of Carson's light display

[6:59] hit the internet and suddenly there was

[7:01] an endless line of cars snaking through

[7:03] the neighborhood. The next thing you

[7:05] know, Miller Beer was negotiating for a

[7:07] commercial. And so to be in a beer

[7:09] commercial is, you know,

[7:09] >> it's as good as it gets.

[7:10] >> It's as good as it gets.

[7:13] >> And the group who provides the

[7:14] soundtrack, the Trans Siberian

[7:16] Orchestra, flew Carson to a concert,

[7:18] giving him the rockstar treatment.

[7:20] >> Oh, it's it's amazing. I think yesterday

[7:22] I was 11 11 pages deep on Google.

[7:25] >> But this week, Carson Williams became a

[7:27] victim of his own success.

[7:29] >> For local news now, the lights are out

[7:31] at an incredible holiday display. After

[7:33] a fender bender in front of the lights,

[7:35] the cops told Carson the display was

[7:37] becoming a public safety threat. So, he

[7:39] pulled the plug till next year. Just

[7:42] seeing everyone's door in their faces

[7:44] and, you know, having people talk to me

[7:45] about it, it's all fun. I'm going to

[7:47] miss all that part.

[7:48] >> His 15 minutes of fame may be up in the

[7:50] neighborhood, but thanks to the

[7:52] internet, he'll be up in lights a little

[7:55] longer. Jim Axro, CBS News, Mason, Ohio.

[8:00] More stories are just a click away, but

[8:02] don't forget to join us on television

[8:04] for the on air edition of the CBS

[8:06] Evening News. On Monday's broadcast, the

[8:08] high cost of heating your home. We

[8:10] warned you it wouldn't be pretty this

[8:11] winter. We'll take a hard look at how

[8:13] homeowners are coping. for cbsnews.com.