CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-09-27

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Dan Rather and welcome to the

[0:02] CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:04] Tonight, Mean Jean, a look at the long

[0:08] aftermath of the latest hurricane to hit

[0:10] Florida. Also, tremors around Mount St.

[0:13] Helens. Is the volcano coming back to

[0:16] life? And call it a kind of pacemaker

[0:19] for the brain, an experimental new

[0:21] treatment for epilepsy. It's all

[0:23] starting now on the CBS Evening News

[0:26] online edition.

[0:28] Four hurricanes and counting, counting

[0:31] more heavy losses and not just in

[0:33] Florida. What was Hurricane Jean has

[0:36] left at least six people dead in the

[0:38] Sunshine State along with massive new

[0:40] destruction and power blackouts for

[0:43] millions. Now a tropical depression,

[0:46] Jean is still a big flood maker and

[0:48] tornado factory on a path now taking it

[0:51] from Georgia through the Carolinas to

[0:53] Virginia and then up north off the

[0:55] Atlantic coast. CBS's Lee Cowan has the

[0:58] view from the ground tonight of the Mean

[1:00] Jean machine.

[1:02] >> The last member of Florida's fearsome

[1:04] foursome is threatening states to the

[1:06] north tonight. Georgia and the Carolinas

[1:08] are under the threat of more tornadoes

[1:10] and are all getting a soaking that gives

[1:12] a new meaning to tropical depression.

[1:15] Jean's jaunt to the north comes after a

[1:16] landfall that is one for the record

[1:19] books. Hitting the same stretch of beach

[1:21] Hurricane Frances did three weeks ago to

[1:23] the day.

[1:24] >> It's the way it is in paradise

[1:26] sometimes.

[1:28] >> So I'm packing up and I'm moving out.

[1:31] >> Thousands who had just had power

[1:32] restored have lost it again. And lines

[1:35] for water and ice are back by unpopular

[1:38] demand.

[1:40] Not since 1886 have four hurricanes hit

[1:43] one single state and Florida is

[1:45] suffering on almost every level. The

[1:48] state's citrus belt, which produces 40%

[1:50] of the world's grapefruit, is in

[1:51] shambles.

[1:52] >> I would say 100% of this year's crop is

[1:54] lost and we're looking at 50% tree loss.

[1:57] >> Florida's fishing industry didn't fare

[1:59] much better.

[2:00] >> We just stuck. Can't go fishing, can't

[2:02] make any money, just stuck at the dock.

[2:03] >> The largest beef crop in the Southeast

[2:05] is struggling to keep its head above

[2:07] water.

[2:08] And dairy farmers have it even worse.

[2:11] With the electricity knocked out to the

[2:12] processing plants and very few milk

[2:14] delivery trucks allowed out on the road,

[2:16] most dairy farmers simply had no choice

[2:19] but to dump their milk. In this

[2:20] particular case, that meant some 300,000

[2:23] gallons of milk in one day, poured right

[2:26] down the drain.

[2:27] >> We have insurance on our buildings,

[2:30] but

[2:31] we don't have insurance on

[2:33] lost production.

[2:34] >> We have no rooms available.

[2:36] >> If there is one bright spot, it was

[2:38] tourism. Hotels were booked even though

[2:40] most of the residents were evacuees with

[2:42] a discount. And theme parks lost only a

[2:45] few days.

[2:46] Weary Floridians needed a diversion from

[2:48] a hurricane season that has taken the

[2:50] state for one wild ride.

[2:53] Lee Cowan, CBS News, Fort Pierce,

[2:55] Florida.

[2:56] >> Volcano experts report the most serious

[2:59] new rumblings from Mount St. Helens

[3:01] since its deadly eruption in 1980. As

[3:04] CBS's Sandra Hughes reports tonight, the

[3:06] volcano in southwestern Washington state

[3:09] is showing signs of new activity.

[3:15] >> The ground is shaking under Mount St.

[3:18] Helens, and today scientists landed on

[3:20] the rim of the crater to find out how

[3:22] much. It was 24 years ago Mount St.

[3:25] Helens exploded with such force that

[3:28] searing ash blanketed cities for dozens

[3:30] of miles, killing 57 people. Nervous

[3:33] scientists fear the slumbering giant

[3:36] that hasn't had any kind of eruption in

[3:38] 18 years may have awakened.

[3:41] >> This could change rapidly over the next

[3:43] day or two, or conceivably go on for

[3:45] weeks.

[3:45] >> The series of intensifying earthquakes

[3:47] will likely cause an eruption, though

[3:49] not on the scale of the 1980 disaster.

[3:51] Hikers in the area were surprised by the

[3:53] news.

[3:54] >> Oh my god, we just we just went through

[3:56] this twice.

[3:58] >> Mount St. Helens isn't the only restless

[4:00] volcano. In Alaska, Mount Spurr is

[4:03] getting so hot an ice cauldron has

[4:05] formed in the summit. And in Hawaii,

[4:07] both Mauna Loa and Kilauea have become

[4:09] more active. In California, Mammoth

[4:11] Mountain, a popular ski town built

[4:13] directly on top of an underground

[4:15] cauldron, has shown signs of life with

[4:18] killer gases that scorched these trees.

[4:20] All of these volcanoes are located on

[4:22] the so-called Ring of Fire that circles

[4:25] from North America to Asia.

[4:27] >> They're all related in a very general

[4:29] plate tectonics type of sense, but on a

[4:32] day-to-day basis, they don't really talk

[4:35] to each other.

[4:36] >> At any given time, at least 20 volcanoes

[4:38] are erupting somewhere in the world.

[4:41] When and if Mount St. Helens becomes one

[4:43] of them is what's keeping scientists on

[4:46] edge. Sandra Hughes, CBS News, Los

[4:48] Angeles.

[4:49] >> We end tonight with a medical brainstorm

[4:52] to treat a brainstorm, seizures from

[4:55] epilepsy. More than 2 million Americans

[4:57] have this condition, but some don't

[4:59] respond to drugs. CBS News medical

[5:01] correspondent Elizabeth Calvaton reports

[5:04] on an experimental new treatment, a

[5:06] brain implant, on the Healthwatch.

[5:10] >> In the evenings,

[5:11] >> as he strolls the grounds of this

[5:12] Pennsylvania farm,

[5:13] >> That field is covered with deer.

[5:15] >> Stephen Neely looks every bit the

[5:17] pioneer. And in fact, he is a medical

[5:20] pioneer on a quest to free himself from

[5:22] the epilepsy that has ravaged his life.

[5:25] >> I'm tired of it.

[5:26] You would be tired of it, too.

[5:28] >> For 10 years, Neely has suffered

[5:30] seizures so frequent and violent he lost

[5:32] a successful business, his marriage, his

[5:35] independence. He needs constant

[5:37] supervision, so he left his sons and

[5:39] life in California and moved to his

[5:41] parents' farm.

[5:43] >> It's a heartbreak.

[5:44] >> So, just like that,

[5:45] >> but not one to feel sorry for himself,

[5:47] Neely is fighting back. He's one of a

[5:49] small group of epileptics willing to try

[5:52] an extreme treatment to keep seizures at

[5:54] bay.

[5:55] >> I'm not a person to sit back and say,

[5:56] "Well, okay, you know,

[5:58] let somebody else be a guinea pig." If

[6:00] they have a cure for epilepsy, I'll try

[6:02] it.

[6:02] >> It's a pretty good merge prevention for

[6:04] right there.

[6:05] >> Buried deep inside Neely's brain are

[6:07] electrodes hooked up to a device called

[6:09] a deep brain stimulator implanted as

[6:11] part of a clinical trial back in April.

[6:14] The electrodes are wired through the

[6:16] scalp and neck and attached to a

[6:17] pacemaker-like device in the chest. When

[6:20] turned on, the equipment sends

[6:21] rapid-fire electrical signals directly

[6:24] into the area where seizures tend to

[6:26] originate.

[6:27] >> It's a constant pulsation that's being

[6:29] sent to the brain.

[6:30] >> Almost like a timed-release

[6:31] >> That's exactly right.

[6:32] >> Dr. Michael Caplan is Steven Neely's

[6:34] surgeon.

[6:35] >> This particular approach does not

[6:37] attempt to predict seizures, but rather

[6:40] continuously send these pulses in the

[6:41] hopes of simply stopping the seizures in

[6:43] the first place.

[6:44] >> The theory is the regular barrage of

[6:46] electrical current disrupts the

[6:48] irregular activity of the seizure.

[6:51] Experts believe stimulating the brain

[6:53] with electricity could prove a powerful

[6:55] weapon against a number of other

[6:57] disorders, including Parkinson's disease

[6:59] and depression.

[7:01] >> Several months later, Steven Neely

[7:03] notices a difference.

[7:04] >> I used to have four a week and I'm down

[7:06] to two.

[7:08] So, to me, that's great.

[7:11] >> Results of the experiment won't be ready

[7:12] for a few years, but doctors have high

[7:15] hopes and so does Steven Neely that

[7:17] going directly into the brain is the key

[7:20] to making epilepsy something he can live

[7:22] with.

[7:23] Elizabeth Calvadan, CBS News, New York.

[7:26] >> More stories are just a click away.

[7:28] Don't forget to join me on television

[7:30] for the on-air edition of the CBS

[7:32] Evening News. On Tuesday, the

[7:35] presidential candidates and the

[7:37] possibility of a draft, where they stand

[7:40] in our election series, what does it

[7:42] mean to you?

[7:43] For CBSNews.com,

[7:45] I'm Dan Rather.