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CNN Live Today

President Bush Keeping Campaign Focus on Battleground States;

Aired August 17, 2004 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check the stories now in the news. Beginning in Britain, where police there have charged eight men with terrorism related offenses. Among those charges, preparing an act of terrorism and having information that could be used to commit a terrorist act. British police nabbed the suspects during raids earlier this month. U.S. officials say that at least one of those arrested is a senior figure in the al Qaeda network.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is pushing for the Pentagon to keep control of most of the nation's intelligence budget. Looking at a live picture right now from Capitol Hill. Rumsfeld is testifying this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee. That's the current head of the CIA right now, John McLaughlin. Lawmakers have been reviewing reforms proposed by the 9/11 Commission, including the creation of a National Intelligence Director.

Illinois residents will soon be able to buy less expensive prescription drugs from Canada and overseas. A program is being announced today where residents will be able to purchase about 100 products from pre-screened pharmacies in England, Ireland, and Canada. The European outlets are being added because the drug industry is increasingly cutting off supplies to Canadian pharmacies that sell to U.S. residents.

A Louisiana serial killer suspect has been sentenced to life in prison. Derrick Todd Lee received the sentence in the first of several scheduled trials. His next trial is scheduled to begin in less than a month. Police say DNA evidence links Lee to the deaths of seven women.

And talk show host Oprah Winfrey may be known for her opinion, but that did not stop her from being selected for jury duty in Chicago. Winfrey is one of 12 jurors deciding a murder case this week. The billionaire is using a special entrance to the courthouse to avoid crowds. But otherwise, officials say, she won't get any special treatment.

President Bush is keeping his campaign focus on the so-called battleground states in November's election. Our Elaine Quijano is at the White House with more on that. Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

President Bush is heading to two important states in which recent polls are showing him actually trailing behind his Democratic opponent Senator John Kerry. But with 77 days left until the election, President Bush is out there campaigning intensively. Yesterday, he made a couple of stops. He attended an event in Traverse City, Michigan. He also earlier in the day attended an event in Cincinnati, Ohio -- specifically, a convention of veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

But today, he is concentrating on Pennsylvania, which Mr. Bush lost in 2000, and West Virginia, which he won. First taking a look at Pennsylvania. Now, four years ago in Pennsylvania, Al Gore captured 51% of the vote. Mr. Bush got 46% of the vote. Now, campaign aides say that this time around, they have built an extensive grassroots organization. The president, they say, also has made numerous visits to that state. This will be his 32nd visit there.

But in Pennsylvania, the economy and the unemployment rate continue to play prominently. Today President Bush expected again to tout his economic policies when he speaks to Boeing workers in eastern Pennsylvania.

He then heads to West Virginia later on today, where he will attend a rally. Back in 2000, Mr. Bush actually won West Virginia, traditionally a Democratic state, by six percentage points over Al Gore. Now, they hope that the inroads President Bush made four years ago will help him again this year.

And tomorrow, Daryn, the campaigning continues. He heads off on another multi-state campaign swing, visiting the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, thank you.

Well, as President Bush is working for votes, his Democratic opponent is getting more R&R. Senator John Kerry is catching some sun at his home in Sun Valley, Idaho, today. That's where he and his family are taking a break from the campaigning.

Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, will be on the campaign trail. He is scheduled to attend a town hall event in Fort Smith, Arkansas, this afternoon.

Our Paula Zahn is hosting a town hall meeting on the undecided vote live from Ohio. You can tune in for that tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern.

Well, on the political front, to some activists, it seems more like Big Brother is watching them. But the FBI says that it's not practicing intimidation, just following standard procedures.

Our Kelli Arena has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 21-year-old Sarah Bardwell has participated in some political protests in the past, but she has no plans to attend either political convention and says none of her friends did either. Still, she says, four FBI agents and two police officers showed up at her Denver home in July to ask her and her roommates if they or anyone they knew planned to engage in criminal activity in either Boston or New York.

SARAH BARDWELL, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: I think that the reason the FBI came to our house was to intimidate us out of using our First Amendment rights. And I think that they chose us because most of the people in my house have been politically involved.

ARENA: FBI officials acknowledge that after receiving information about possible disruptions at both political conventions, agents did interview a number of citizens in an effort to learn more. Officials say the threat information was specific. For example, during the Democratic convention, the FBI said it had information about the possible bombing of media vans.

BARBARA COMSTOCK, FMR. JUSTICE DEPT. SPOKESWOMAN: The FBI is following up on leads that they get to investigate criminal activity. But that is not chilling activity, that is normal, everyday police practice.

ARENA: The FBI has issued bulletins ahead of other planned protests, warning agents about potential violence. The Justice Department has said the bulletins were Constitutional, because, quote, "threats of violence or destructive civil disturbance do not fall within the protection of the First Amendment."

But the American Civil Liberties Union charges the government with stepping over the line.

ANN BEESON, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: It's when the FBI engages in tactics like that that we think of what happened back in the 1960s and 1970s when the FBI and the CIA intentionally targeted anti-war protesters.

ARENA: The ACLU says not only is the FBI interviewing protesters, but infiltrating some of their meetings, all of which, it says, is seriously intimidating. But not to Sarah Bardwell. She says the experience has made her even more committed.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And now to New Jersey. The man who alleges that outgoing New Jersey Governor James McGreevey sexually harassed him says it has been a difficult time. Golan Cipel's comments came today from Israel. That's where he's visiting his family. McGreevey announced last week he was stepping down November 15th after admitting to an extramarital affair with a man.

Cipel's attorney appeared on AMERICAN MORNING earlier today and spoke about his client's potential lawsuit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN LOWY, GOLAN CIPEL'S ATTORNEY: This isn't about money. This is about justice. This is about maybe confrontation in terms of having the governor be contrite and take responsibility for his actions.

And on Thursday when the governor resigned, I think my client in some way felt vindicated, that the governor did own up to what he had done. Because politicians don't resign because they're gay or if they, in fact, had a consensual affair. And there was no affair here, because my client is heterosexual.

There was a -- there was no relationship. There was assault and harassment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Once again, the governor has resigned effective November 15th, and no lawsuit is yet to be filed.

Coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, imagine going on vacation and then coming home and finding out you're a multi-millionaire. Not such a bad way to come home. We'll have one couple's story straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's check in on the Olympic Games in Athens right now. U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps will not be matching Mark Spitz' record of seven gold medals. Phelps finished third in the 200-meter freestyle. Australian Ian Thorpe won the race in Olympic record time.

So far, China leads the medal count with 15, including 10 gold. Australia and the U.S. have 13 medals each. Russia has eight, Japan seven, including five gold.

Guts, glory and gold. Stay up on all the historic moments and the dramatic wins by logging onto CNNsi.com. You can keep track of the medal count and get the very latest on all the action from Athens.

The address, once again, CNNsi.com.

Grading schools at a time when the buzz phrase is "no child left behind." A new report suggests that charter schools may not be teaching as well as regular public schools. Here to talk more about that issue, Bella Rosenberg of the American Federation of Teachers. She is live in Washington this morning.

Good morning. Thank you for being with us.

BELLA ROSENBERG, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHER: Good morning. Thank you.

KAGAN: First, so we understand, what is a charter school?

ROSENBERG: A charter school is a public school, publicly funded with tax dollars, that is allowed to run relatively free of regulations. And the idea behind it is that they would have an opportunity to be innovate, experiment with new teaching methods and things of that nature, but the promise has not been borne out by the reality.

KAGAN: And the reality looking at these new test scores, looking at, I think, fourth-graders?

ROSENBERG: It's fourth-graders, but we also have eighth-grade results. And in every comparison -- and we were really careful to do apples to apples and pears to pears, in other words, you know, poor children in charter schools with poor children in regular public schools.

KAGAN: Bella, let me stop you here a second, because when I looked at these numbers, I thought the numbers themselves were shocking. If we could put them back up on the screen. So this is proficiency for fourth-graders. Just even looking at the standard, 30 percent -- this is at a standard school, only 30 percent of the fourth-graders in America are proficient at the level they should be?

ROSENBERG: Well, you have to understand that the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the standard for proficient is extremely, extremely high. It's what some people would call advanced.

KAGAN: All right.

ROSENBERG: So while we'd like to do a lot better, it's not quite as alarming as it appears. They're very high standards.

KAGAN: So isn't that the same if you're looking at charter schools then?

ROSENBERG: No, the charter schools perform worse on average. They preformed worse when you compare the ones that are located in central cities, and they compare worse when you look at children who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. As a matter of fact, in a lot of the comparisons, it amounts to about a half a year of schooling, which is very significant.

KAGAN: So it's one thing to understand the what, and that would be the lower numbers. But what about the why? Do you know why the children there are scoring lower?

ROSENBERG: Well, we have some information from independent research that's been conducted before. No. 1, charter schoolteachers tend to be less qualified than regular public schoolteachers. Charter school operators tend to like to do things on the cheap, so they have a lot of new teachers, and schools that are just chockful of new teachers have a harder time; you need a mix. There's a tremendous teacher turnover. And I think that the charter schools have tried to get out of the standards and accountability movement to a great extent.

KAGAN: Let me just ask you something, because you are with the American Federation of Teachers. Is that a teacher's union? Are we saying that charter schools don't hire union teachers? So is there perhaps a bias there? ROSENBERG: No, we represent teachers in quite a number of charter schools. That's not the issue.

KAGAN: That's not the issue here?

ROSENBERG: The issue is student achievement. These are regular public schools. This is public information that the public needs to have, Particularly in light of the fact that being restructured as a charter school is one of the sanctions for schools that chronically fail to make adequately yearly progress under No Child Left Behind.

Now, the assumption there was that there was something kind of magical about being a charter school so that kids in failing schools would do better. This evidence, and this is the gold standard of evidence, says that is absolutely not the case on average.

KAGAN: So then, what's the future of these schools?

ROSENBERG: Well, I think that the most important thing is to bring them firmly under the standards and accountability movement. The deal with charter schools was that they would have less regulation in return for more accountability. Well, they have less regulation, but they also have less accountability. These are public dollars. These are school children. These are often vulnerable school children. They need to be accountable and start to shape up. We're all in this together. All public schools are striving to do that. Charter schools can't be the exception.

KAGAN: Got it. Interesting numbers. Bella Rosenberg, thank you for your time...

ROSENBERG: Thank you.

KAGAN: this morning, helping us look at charter and these numbers that are just coming out.

Different type of numbers. We're talking funerals. They are huge money. Big money in funerals. But now you might have an alternative place to buy a coffin. We'll tell you where, when we go "Coast to Coast." That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Time now for some stories making news "Coast to Coast." If you think Costco has everything that you need, wait until you hear what they are test-marketing now. The store that stock so many of your things for your life is selling something for the afterlife, caskets. Yes, two Chicago-area stores at the retail giant are taking orders for caskets. Just in case you're doing price checking, just under $800. Is that a deal? I don't know. Haven't been looking for caskets lately.

OK, to New York, round and round it goes, where it stops, at least one crew knows. This unoccupied boat spun out of control in the city's Rockaway inlet before crews from the Coast Guard and the NYPD finally hooked it in. Officials say the boat's operator went overboard and was later rescued. There were no reported injuries.

And check out this check. It is for $53 million. The Powerball payout for this Minnesota couple, David and Mary Beth Wenel (ph). They claimed their prize for buying the single winning ticket. They learned of their good fortune after a weekend getaway. The couple chose a lump-sum payment of $53.1 million. They are going to get just under $36 million after taxes. Yes, you can make that work.

Well, weather wreaking havoc on both sides of the Atlantic. Straight ahead, a dramatic rescue from floodwaters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Check out these pictures of a disturbing scene along England's North Cornwall coast. Rescue crews are still looking for people who are missing, about 15 people, after flash floods hit a fishing village about 200 miles from London. The high waters left people clinging to trees and rooftops for safety. Cars were swept out to sea and bridges washed out, and at its worst, some roads were submerged under nine feet of water.

There are mounds of mud in New Mexico. The mud is filling up cars and roof-high on buildings in the southern part of the state. This after a heavy round of rain. Many are trying to protect their property by piling up sandbags to keep the waters away. Forecasters expecting even more rain today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired August 17, 2004 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check the stories now in the news. Beginning in Britain, where police there have charged eight men with terrorism related offenses. Among those charges, preparing an act of terrorism and having information that could be used to commit a terrorist act. British police nabbed the suspects during raids earlier this month. U.S. officials say that at least one of those arrested is a senior figure in the al Qaeda network.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is pushing for the Pentagon to keep control of most of the nation's intelligence budget. Looking at a live picture right now from Capitol Hill. Rumsfeld is testifying this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee. That's the current head of the CIA right now, John McLaughlin. Lawmakers have been reviewing reforms proposed by the 9/11 Commission, including the creation of a National Intelligence Director.

Illinois residents will soon be able to buy less expensive prescription drugs from Canada and overseas. A program is being announced today where residents will be able to purchase about 100 products from pre-screened pharmacies in England, Ireland, and Canada. The European outlets are being added because the drug industry is increasingly cutting off supplies to Canadian pharmacies that sell to U.S. residents.

A Louisiana serial killer suspect has been sentenced to life in prison. Derrick Todd Lee received the sentence in the first of several scheduled trials. His next trial is scheduled to begin in less than a month. Police say DNA evidence links Lee to the deaths of seven women.

And talk show host Oprah Winfrey may be known for her opinion, but that did not stop her from being selected for jury duty in Chicago. Winfrey is one of 12 jurors deciding a murder case this week. The billionaire is using a special entrance to the courthouse to avoid crowds. But otherwise, officials say, she won't get any special treatment.

President Bush is keeping his campaign focus on the so-called battleground states in November's election. Our Elaine Quijano is at the White House with more on that. Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

President Bush is heading to two important states in which recent polls are showing him actually trailing behind his Democratic opponent Senator John Kerry. But with 77 days left until the election, President Bush is out there campaigning intensively. Yesterday, he made a couple of stops. He attended an event in Traverse City, Michigan. He also earlier in the day attended an event in Cincinnati, Ohio -- specifically, a convention of veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

But today, he is concentrating on Pennsylvania, which Mr. Bush lost in 2000, and West Virginia, which he won. First taking a look at Pennsylvania. Now, four years ago in Pennsylvania, Al Gore captured 51% of the vote. Mr. Bush got 46% of the vote. Now, campaign aides say that this time around, they have built an extensive grassroots organization. The president, they say, also has made numerous visits to that state. This will be his 32nd visit there.

But in Pennsylvania, the economy and the unemployment rate continue to play prominently. Today President Bush expected again to tout his economic policies when he speaks to Boeing workers in eastern Pennsylvania.

He then heads to West Virginia later on today, where he will attend a rally. Back in 2000, Mr. Bush actually won West Virginia, traditionally a Democratic state, by six percentage points over Al Gore. Now, they hope that the inroads President Bush made four years ago will help him again this year.

And tomorrow, Daryn, the campaigning continues. He heads off on another multi-state campaign swing, visiting the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, thank you.

Well, as President Bush is working for votes, his Democratic opponent is getting more R&R. Senator John Kerry is catching some sun at his home in Sun Valley, Idaho, today. That's where he and his family are taking a break from the campaigning.

Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, will be on the campaign trail. He is scheduled to attend a town hall event in Fort Smith, Arkansas, this afternoon.

Our Paula Zahn is hosting a town hall meeting on the undecided vote live from Ohio. You can tune in for that tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern.

Well, on the political front, to some activists, it seems more like Big Brother is watching them. But the FBI says that it's not practicing intimidation, just following standard procedures.

Our Kelli Arena has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 21-year-old Sarah Bardwell has participated in some political protests in the past, but she has no plans to attend either political convention and says none of her friends did either. Still, she says, four FBI agents and two police officers showed up at her Denver home in July to ask her and her roommates if they or anyone they knew planned to engage in criminal activity in either Boston or New York.

SARAH BARDWELL, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: I think that the reason the FBI came to our house was to intimidate us out of using our First Amendment rights. And I think that they chose us because most of the people in my house have been politically involved.

ARENA: FBI officials acknowledge that after receiving information about possible disruptions at both political conventions, agents did interview a number of citizens in an effort to learn more. Officials say the threat information was specific. For example, during the Democratic convention, the FBI said it had information about the possible bombing of media vans.

BARBARA COMSTOCK, FMR. JUSTICE DEPT. SPOKESWOMAN: The FBI is following up on leads that they get to investigate criminal activity. But that is not chilling activity, that is normal, everyday police practice.

ARENA: The FBI has issued bulletins ahead of other planned protests, warning agents about potential violence. The Justice Department has said the bulletins were Constitutional, because, quote, "threats of violence or destructive civil disturbance do not fall within the protection of the First Amendment."

But the American Civil Liberties Union charges the government with stepping over the line.

ANN BEESON, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: It's when the FBI engages in tactics like that that we think of what happened back in the 1960s and 1970s when the FBI and the CIA intentionally targeted anti-war protesters.

ARENA: The ACLU says not only is the FBI interviewing protesters, but infiltrating some of their meetings, all of which, it says, is seriously intimidating. But not to Sarah Bardwell. She says the experience has made her even more committed.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And now to New Jersey. The man who alleges that outgoing New Jersey Governor James McGreevey sexually harassed him says it has been a difficult time. Golan Cipel's comments came today from Israel. That's where he's visiting his family. McGreevey announced last week he was stepping down November 15th after admitting to an extramarital affair with a man.

Cipel's attorney appeared on AMERICAN MORNING earlier today and spoke about his client's potential lawsuit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN LOWY, GOLAN CIPEL'S ATTORNEY: This isn't about money. This is about justice. This is about maybe confrontation in terms of having the governor be contrite and take responsibility for his actions.

And on Thursday when the governor resigned, I think my client in some way felt vindicated, that the governor did own up to what he had done. Because politicians don't resign because they're gay or if they, in fact, had a consensual affair. And there was no affair here, because my client is heterosexual.

There was a -- there was no relationship. There was assault and harassment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Once again, the governor has resigned effective November 15th, and no lawsuit is yet to be filed.

Coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, imagine going on vacation and then coming home and finding out you're a multi-millionaire. Not such a bad way to come home. We'll have one couple's story straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's check in on the Olympic Games in Athens right now. U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps will not be matching Mark Spitz' record of seven gold medals. Phelps finished third in the 200-meter freestyle. Australian Ian Thorpe won the race in Olympic record time.

So far, China leads the medal count with 15, including 10 gold. Australia and the U.S. have 13 medals each. Russia has eight, Japan seven, including five gold.

Guts, glory and gold. Stay up on all the historic moments and the dramatic wins by logging onto CNNsi.com. You can keep track of the medal count and get the very latest on all the action from Athens.

The address, once again, CNNsi.com.

Grading schools at a time when the buzz phrase is "no child left behind." A new report suggests that charter schools may not be teaching as well as regular public schools. Here to talk more about that issue, Bella Rosenberg of the American Federation of Teachers. She is live in Washington this morning.

Good morning. Thank you for being with us.

BELLA ROSENBERG, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHER: Good morning. Thank you.

KAGAN: First, so we understand, what is a charter school?

ROSENBERG: A charter school is a public school, publicly funded with tax dollars, that is allowed to run relatively free of regulations. And the idea behind it is that they would have an opportunity to be innovate, experiment with new teaching methods and things of that nature, but the promise has not been borne out by the reality.

KAGAN: And the reality looking at these new test scores, looking at, I think, fourth-graders?

ROSENBERG: It's fourth-graders, but we also have eighth-grade results. And in every comparison -- and we were really careful to do apples to apples and pears to pears, in other words, you know, poor children in charter schools with poor children in regular public schools.

KAGAN: Bella, let me stop you here a second, because when I looked at these numbers, I thought the numbers themselves were shocking. If we could put them back up on the screen. So this is proficiency for fourth-graders. Just even looking at the standard, 30 percent -- this is at a standard school, only 30 percent of the fourth-graders in America are proficient at the level they should be?

ROSENBERG: Well, you have to understand that the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the standard for proficient is extremely, extremely high. It's what some people would call advanced.

KAGAN: All right.

ROSENBERG: So while we'd like to do a lot better, it's not quite as alarming as it appears. They're very high standards.

KAGAN: So isn't that the same if you're looking at charter schools then?

ROSENBERG: No, the charter schools perform worse on average. They preformed worse when you compare the ones that are located in central cities, and they compare worse when you look at children who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. As a matter of fact, in a lot of the comparisons, it amounts to about a half a year of schooling, which is very significant.

KAGAN: So it's one thing to understand the what, and that would be the lower numbers. But what about the why? Do you know why the children there are scoring lower?

ROSENBERG: Well, we have some information from independent research that's been conducted before. No. 1, charter schoolteachers tend to be less qualified than regular public schoolteachers. Charter school operators tend to like to do things on the cheap, so they have a lot of new teachers, and schools that are just chockful of new teachers have a harder time; you need a mix. There's a tremendous teacher turnover. And I think that the charter schools have tried to get out of the standards and accountability movement to a great extent.

KAGAN: Let me just ask you something, because you are with the American Federation of Teachers. Is that a teacher's union? Are we saying that charter schools don't hire union teachers? So is there perhaps a bias there? ROSENBERG: No, we represent teachers in quite a number of charter schools. That's not the issue.

KAGAN: That's not the issue here?

ROSENBERG: The issue is student achievement. These are regular public schools. This is public information that the public needs to have, Particularly in light of the fact that being restructured as a charter school is one of the sanctions for schools that chronically fail to make adequately yearly progress under No Child Left Behind.

Now, the assumption there was that there was something kind of magical about being a charter school so that kids in failing schools would do better. This evidence, and this is the gold standard of evidence, says that is absolutely not the case on average.

KAGAN: So then, what's the future of these schools?

ROSENBERG: Well, I think that the most important thing is to bring them firmly under the standards and accountability movement. The deal with charter schools was that they would have less regulation in return for more accountability. Well, they have less regulation, but they also have less accountability. These are public dollars. These are school children. These are often vulnerable school children. They need to be accountable and start to shape up. We're all in this together. All public schools are striving to do that. Charter schools can't be the exception.

KAGAN: Got it. Interesting numbers. Bella Rosenberg, thank you for your time...

ROSENBERG: Thank you.

KAGAN: this morning, helping us look at charter and these numbers that are just coming out.

Different type of numbers. We're talking funerals. They are huge money. Big money in funerals. But now you might have an alternative place to buy a coffin. We'll tell you where, when we go "Coast to Coast." That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Time now for some stories making news "Coast to Coast." If you think Costco has everything that you need, wait until you hear what they are test-marketing now. The store that stock so many of your things for your life is selling something for the afterlife, caskets. Yes, two Chicago-area stores at the retail giant are taking orders for caskets. Just in case you're doing price checking, just under $800. Is that a deal? I don't know. Haven't been looking for caskets lately.

OK, to New York, round and round it goes, where it stops, at least one crew knows. This unoccupied boat spun out of control in the city's Rockaway inlet before crews from the Coast Guard and the NYPD finally hooked it in. Officials say the boat's operator went overboard and was later rescued. There were no reported injuries.

And check out this check. It is for $53 million. The Powerball payout for this Minnesota couple, David and Mary Beth Wenel (ph). They claimed their prize for buying the single winning ticket. They learned of their good fortune after a weekend getaway. The couple chose a lump-sum payment of $53.1 million. They are going to get just under $36 million after taxes. Yes, you can make that work.

Well, weather wreaking havoc on both sides of the Atlantic. Straight ahead, a dramatic rescue from floodwaters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Check out these pictures of a disturbing scene along England's North Cornwall coast. Rescue crews are still looking for people who are missing, about 15 people, after flash floods hit a fishing village about 200 miles from London. The high waters left people clinging to trees and rooftops for safety. Cars were swept out to sea and bridges washed out, and at its worst, some roads were submerged under nine feet of water.

There are mounds of mud in New Mexico. The mud is filling up cars and roof-high on buildings in the southern part of the state. This after a heavy round of rain. Many are trying to protect their property by piling up sandbags to keep the waters away. Forecasters expecting even more rain today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com