Radio Workshop

Newscast: Top of the Hour (Transcript)

by Michael Morton

I'm Michael Morton with the news.

Club Fire

NARRATION:

At least 65 people were killed when pyrotechnics set off a fire at a rock concert in Rhode Island. Heavy metal band Great White was midway through their set at a club in West Warwick. Governor Donald L. Carcieri said the club was so small that the fire quickly turned deadly.

ACT CARCIERI

This is a real disaster. This building went up fast, nobody had a chance from what I could see and they tell me people were trying to get out windows, they were trying to get out different places.

NARRATION:

Another 165 people were injured, some with severe burns. Officials said the club, called The Station, passed a fire inspection recently but did not have a permit authorizing the pyrotechnics.

Staten Island Fire

NARRATION:

One man is dead after an explosion rocked a Staten Island oil storage facility this morning. One worker is in critical condition, and another is still missing. The accident occurred as a barge full of gasoline was being unloaded and sent smoke and flames hundreds of feet in the air. A spokesman for ExxonMobil, the owner of the facility, would not speculate on the cause, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg assured the city it was not a terrorist attack.

ACT BLOOMBERG:

Let me repeat, there is absolutely no evidence and no reason to think whatsoever that this is anything other than a very tragic industrial accident.

NARRATION:

Bloomberg said the fire has been burning itself out. A small number of residents were evacuated from nearby homes, but the fire remained mostly on the water and on two barges. On Wall Street, the fire sent petroleum futures skyrocketing.

Colin Powell

NARRATION:

Secretary of State Colin Powell said that war can still be avoided if President Saddam Hussein steps down. Powell made the comments on a Russian television program before departing on a five-day trip to Asia that will include stops in Toyko, Beijing and South Korea.

Turkey

NARRATION:

Washington and its allies continued to take key steps in preparation for a possible war against Iraq. Turkish foreign minister Yasar Yakis said today that there was broad agreement with the United States on conditions for deploying U-S troops inside his country. Following through on its promise to protect Turkey in the event of war, NATO ordered surveillance planes to the country to guard against a border attack.

Aid Workers

Aid Workers Leave Iraq

NARRATION:

Humanitarian aid workers have begun pulling out of Iraq. The U-N has reduced its staff of 900 aid workers in the country by about half.

Iran's Nuclear Sites Visited

NARRATION:

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency was in Iran today. He visited facilities in the south of the country in what is being termed a technical visit, not an inspection. Earlier this month, Iran announced that it had started mining uranium and was building facilities to process fuel for nuclear power plants. Washington claims the sites are part of the country's secret weapons program. Iran said the plants are strictly for energy production.

Homeless Surveyed

NARRATION:

This Tuesday city officials and 1,000 volunteers will count the number of homeless people living on the streets in Manhattan. Counters will compile basic information about the homeless location, ethnicity and age, but will not take people's names. The city's Department of Homeless Services estimates that 38,000 homeless people slept in city shelters last month, significantly more than the previous year's numbers for the same period. This is the first attempt to provide an accurate account of the number of people living on city streets.

For Columbia Radio News, I'm Michael Morton.