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Mega Winners; NATO Captures Taliban Leader; Military Medical Care Probe; Hidden War Wounds

Aired March 07, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: For some of those lucky folks. America now waiting this hour to see who holds those winning tickets in the record Mega Millions lottery. Winning tickets were sold in at least two states, New Jersey and Georgia. The Georgia ticket sold in Dalton. That's northwest of Atlanta. And the Jersey ticket sold in Cape May County, New Jersey. We don't know yet if any winning tickets were sold in California. We're told extraordinary ticket sales delayed the reporting of results there. So ready to check your numbers just in case? The winners are -- 16, 22, 29, 39, 42, and the mega ball, 20. The estimated record jackpot at least $370 million.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: And now more on the winning tickets. Margaret DeFrancisco is with us. I should be embarrassed to mess up an Italian name like that. She's with the Georgia Lottery Corporation. She joins us by phone here in Atlanta.

Margaret, have you narrowed it down to which store it is so that people who know that store maybe bought the ticket in that store can dig out their ticket?

MARGARET DEFRANCISCO, GEORGIA LOTTERY CORPORATION: Certainly. It's a Favorite Market up in Dalton. And, as you know, Dalton is not a big city. So it should be -- it should be fairly easy. You know, this is a huge day of anticipation for all of us because it's wanting to know, is it someone who lives and works in Dalton, is it someone who maybe was coming down Interstate 75 and got off to, you know, to get something to eat or buy some gas and decided to buy a ticket, or is it someone who's come over from Tennessee or Alabama. So, you know, we're waiting patiently, of course, to find out. And it will be very exciting, again, when we do know.

MARCIANO: And is that the actual name of the store, Favorite Market Number 41?

DEFRANCISCO: Yes.

MARCIANO: And we're starting to hear rumors that we may know where this person worked. Do you have any other further information?

DEFRANCISCO: I do not at this point. And, of course, when this kind of event occurs, there's usually rumors flying all over the place. So nothing confirmed at this moment.

MARCIANO: There's a big carpet plant up there in Dalton, you know, and a lot of people, when the jackpot gets this big, may chip in for, you know, 10 or 20 people may chip in for one ticket. Any way of knowing that more than one person may be the winner of this ticket?

DEFRANCISCO: No sense of that at this moment.

MARCIANO: All right. When a ticket gets discovered, be it under a couch or in somebody's safe, and they bring it to the store, describe for me what's going to happen with this end of the Georgia State Lottery.

DEFRANCISCO: When they bring it into the store, it will say that they will need go to an office. And that's what will happen. And fortunately for us, we have an office right there in Dalton, so they can go from a retailer right over to the Dalton office.

MARCIANO: And what happens at the office? They have to start signing -- how soon before they get the money?

DEFRANCISCO: Well, it will be, in this case, it will be within a day or so. As soon as we can verify the ticket and make sure that it's accurate, we absolutely will then give them their money. I mean we're hoping this will happen by the end of the week.

MARCIANO: All right. Well, we look forward to finding out who the lucky person or persons are. Margaret DeFrancisco, president and CEO of the Georgia Lottery, joining us by phone. Thanks very much. And we're excited to have at least one of the winners here in Georgia.

COLLINS: Rob's over here praying he's got family in Dalton, Georgia, that's for sure.

MARCIANO: Money tree.

COLLINS: A lot of people praying about the markets as well. Looking at the numbers now. The Dow Jones Industrial average down just a little bit there, resting at 12,205. We also have the Nasdaq down about six points or so. The S&P down about two. We'll continue to follow this as always. Check in with Susan Lisovicz a little bit later on.

MARCIANO: Shiite Muslims preparing to celebrate a holy day targeted again in Iraq. Insurgents launched a series of attacks in Baghdad. Bombs and gunfire killed more than a dozen religious pilgrims and police. Meantime, some victims of yesterday's bombing in the town of Hilla are being buried. A funeral procession wound through the streets today. The double suicide attacks in Hilla left more than 100 dead.

And Defense Secretary Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Pace will hold a Pentagon briefing later this afternoon. That happens at 4:00 p.m.

COLLINS: Investigators in Indonesia now focusing on a couple of theories in the crash landing of a Boeing jetliner. At least 23 people were killed when the Indonesian airliner overshot a runway and burst into a fireball. Dozens of other people survived. And right now the two theories are this -- equipment failure or human error.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUTH BAMGGADAN, SURVIVOR: We were about to land and the plane was going lower and lower. But unlike the usual process of landing, when got turbulence (ph), even when we're just a little above the roof of houses. And suddenly we got like a bump and then hit the ground for a while. And then the plane goes forward and then suddenly it stops. I think it very near the river. A river there. And when it stop, I already see fire outside of the plane. I sat on the right side of the plane. So the fire was outside the window.

And then, yes, suddenly somebody opened the emergency doors. It was very quick process, thank God for that. And one of my colleagues, she kind of told everybody to stay calm and to leave their belongings. And then I don't think we were really -- well people are panicked, but not (INAUDIBLE) so I think quite a lot of people were able to get out of the plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: This crash is the third involving a commercial jetliner in Indonesia in as many months. We will be talking, in just a few minutes, with another survivor of that plane crash. He's actually a journalist. He has an incredible story. We'll share it with you.

MARCIANO: New developments now out of Afghanistan. A senior Taliban commander nabbed. NATO says it happened on the first day of this new offensive. One dubbed Operation Achilles. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live from Helmand province in Afghanistan.

Nic, you're embedded with British troops there. This senior Taliban commander was caught on the first day of this operation. How big does this get?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a good catch for the NATO and for the Afghan government. This does seem to be a direct result of Operation Achilles. Abdullah (ph) Mahmud was trying to get away from the area of operation, of Operation Achilles. He was wearing, disguising himself as a woman dressed in an all enshrouding blue burqa that women here still wear.

He was picked up by the Afghan national army. He is believed to be, by NATO officials, the most senior Taliban person in the province of Kandahar. He is believed to be behind and responsible for the organization of suicide cells in the Kandahar region. The Taliban have been ramping up their suicide operations in the Kandahar area recently and NATO officials see this as a significant disruption of the Taliban's efforts to destabilize the Kandahar area.

Operation Achilles, 4,500 NATO troops, about 1,000 Afghan national army troops, is going to continue for several more weeks. There have been decisive engagement, according to commanders here, that the fighting has been fierce in place. At times soldiers fixing bayonets because they have been so close to Taliban that they're fighting, just quite literally feet apart. During the fighting, so far, however, one British soldier has been killed. The commanders here says that they're very pleased with the way the operation is going so far.

Rob.

MARCIANO: Nic, what's the overall purpose of Operation Achilles? And was this particular Taliban leader, was he targeted when they first went out?

ROBERTSON: You know what, we've been told here, Rob, is that NATO knows where a lot of these leading Taliban figures are around here. They're able to monitor them by various means. And that they have shaped operations in this area before Operation Achilles, which is a big military operation, they have performed maneuvers in this area and try to destabilize the Taliban. And they had hoped that in the opening phases at least, they would know and be able to flush out some of these Taliban leaders and Taliban cells and that they would be able to, to a degree, predict and see what they were going to do.

Now we don't know the details of what led to this particular leader, Abdullah Mahmud's capture. But the indications we've had from NATO officials is they've been very cognizant, very knowledgeable of what some of the Taliban have been doing. They do expect this to be a tough battle. They do expect some of the Taliban to stay and fight. And they do expect there is a potential for the Taliban here to try and re-enforce the situation.

Rob.

MARCIANO: CNN's Nic Robertson live for us in Afghanistan.

Thanks, Nic.

COLLINS: Wounded vets locked in a battle with their own government. Their commander in chief now joining the fray. President Bush meeting this hour on a new probe of the military's medical care system, the co-chairs of the bipartisan panel at the White House. And so is our Kathleen Koch.

Kathleen, there's been so much going on over the past couple of day with all of these hearings. What does the president hope the commission will accomplish?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this commission, Heidi, is a bipartisan presidential commission. The president yesterday announced the two co-chairs, former Senator Bob Dole and also former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

And the president, Tony Snow, the spokesman, today said, this panel will focus on everything from soup to nuts when a wounded veteran returns to the United States. Not just making sure they get the proper health care, but do they get the education they need, the job training, benefits. Everything they need to either reintegrate into society or back into the military. Snow said that the president's focus this morning is really to see what he can do to help them get this panel up and running as soon as possible. He said this is a priority item.

Now this meeting is expected to last about 25 minutes. Afterwards, the president is going to be meeting with an interagency task force that's being headed by the secretary of Veterans Administration, Jim Nicholson. He and seven other cabinet secretaries are on this interagency force, task force. And they're going to be looking at ways to right away fix any problems and get the help need to these wounded veterans.

Heidi.

COLLINS: Kathleen, I wonder, I guess it's not that much of a surprise, as we saw some of these proceedings began on Monday and Tuesday, that there would be a look or a closer look at all of the military care system as a whole. How is the White House, though, responding to some of the criticism from Democrats?

KOCH: Well, Heidi, Democrats have taken the situation at Walter Reed and extrapolated it to say, see, this proves this is one more reason that proves that the United States was not, the administration was not prepared to go to war in Iraq. Tony Snow addressed that question this morning. He said that is preposterous. What happened at Walter Reed was not a failure of planning, it was a failure of leadership. And he said he certainly understood that many on The Hill were trying to draw that parallel, but he said "that dog won't hunt."

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Kathleen Koch outside the White House this morning.

Kathleen, thanks.

KOCH: You bet.

MARCIANO: Behind the bullets and bombs. It's the battle you don't see in Iraq. A high stakes spy game with the U.S. looking to win. We'll explain in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: The hidden wounds of war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soldiers injured especially in blasts from roadside bombs suffered debilitating brain injuries as blast waves rock delicate brain tissue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: CNN's Barbara Starr reports straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

MARCIANO: And accused in a gruesome child murder case. It's headed to jury today likely. Details ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: How much are you paying for your credit card? Is your rate fair? We've got tough questions and we'll tell you who's doing the asking, ahead right here in the NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: A child murder case that rocked the nation could soon be in the hands of the jury. Closing arguments expected today in the trial of John Couey. Prosecutors say he raped nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford, stuffed her in a garbage bag and buried her alive. Jailers and investigators have testified that repeatedly Couey volunteered details of murdering Jessica while in prison. Or at least being held. Psychologists said that Couey suffers from a mental illness that could have led to ill-advised comments to guards. Couey has pled not guilty.

COLLINS: No bond for a man accused of killing his wife and dismembering her body. Police in suburban Detroit say Stephen Grant gave a graphic confession. He appeared at his arraignment in a wheelchair after being treated at a hospital for frostbite and hypothermia. Grant was captured Sunday in icy Michigan woods.

He had no attorney at the arraignment. A lawyer who had acted as his spokesman withdrew from the case. A judge entered a not guilty plea on Grant's behalf and said he would appoint him a lawyer. Autopsy results indicate Tara Grant was strangled last month. Investigators found her torso in the garage of the couple's home and found other body parts in a nearby park.

MARCIANO: Hidden war wounds. Devastating brain injuries that may not show up until months after troops come home from the battle. What is the VA doing to support them? CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Lawmakers at the first congressional hearing on conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital met Staff Sergeant John Daniel Shannon.

STAFF SGT. JOHN SHANNON, WOUNDED IRAQ WAR VETERAN: On November 13, 2004, I suffered a gunshot wound to the head from an AK-47 during a fire fight with insurgent forces near Saddam's mosque. The result of that wound was primarily a traumatic brain injury and the lost of my left eye.

STARR: Shannon's loss of vision is apparent. His traumatic brain injury, TBI, is not. TBI is often the invisible wound of this war. Soldiers injured, especially in blasts from roadside bombs, suffered debilitating brain injuries as blast waves rocked delicate brain tissues. Four years into the war, for the first time the Department of Veterans Affairs will start screening all returning vets for TBI, asking them if they were ever in an IED attack, if they were ever unconscious. Lawmakers say in order for already stretched military hospitals to treat brain-injured troop, there first needs to be a better idea of how many are suffering.

SEN. PATTY MURRAY, (D) WASHINGTON: The DOD, Department of Defense, is not recording those injuries. These soldiers may go out, go home and several months later not be able to remember what's happening tomorrow or where they're supposed to be and don't realize it was an impact of one of these IED explosions.

STARR: The Pentagon says it too will start looking more closely at returning troops for possible brain injury. That 1,800 troops already have been treated. But Senator Murray and others say the problem is much deeper. That as many as 10 percent of all the troops who have served, about 140,000 troop, may now be suffering from brain injury.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Want to go ahead and show you this. Senator Bob Dole and Donna Shalala there, head of the new commission to investigate conditions at Walter Reed. Let's go ahead and listen in.

BOB DOLE, FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The president sort of set out the mandate and the mission. And we both had experience in different ways with health care. Secretary Shalala served eight year. I think the longest serving HHS secretary in history. And worked very close with the Department of Veterans Affairs. And so we're going to do the best we can to make certain that those young men and women who serve are properly cared for when they come home and then properly transitioned after their care is complete.

DONNA SHALALA, FORMER HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: The president actually asked us to look at the whole system, from the time a soldier is moved from Iraq or Afghanistan, into other kinds of care. And he made it very clear that if one soldier doesn't get high-quality treatment and isn't transitioned back into civilian life or back into the military, that's unacceptable. And you could sense his anger and his anxiousness that we move as quickly as possible, while the Defense Department is moving to make corrections at Walter Reed. It's a broad mandate and Senator Dole and I are pleased to serve.

DOLE: That covers the VA hospitals, as well as the DOD hospitals all across the country. And the president made it clear this was -- you know, he was going to be personally involved on this commission. It was very important and he thought, you know, if we came up with good recommendations it could change the system for the next 30 years.

SHALALA: Questions.

QUESTION: Senator Dole, this has been an emotional issue for the American people. I'm wondering, for you personally, as you watched this story unfold, what has been your sense? How have you been watching this and maintaining your emotions as you see these young women and men who have put themselves in harm's way to come back and be in these sort of deplorable conditions?

DOLE: Well, obviously, it's a tragedy. I mean, you know, I go to Walter Reed very often. Sometimes a patient. I was there for Thanksgiving dinner, for Christmas dinner with the young men and women who were patients there. I'd had opportunity to meet with many of them over the past several years. And I must say, I think in most cases, the care they receive, the medical care, you know, they think is excellent. It's what happens when they finished their care or moved off to some outpatient area where we have the problem. And it's not fair. It's not fair to the family. Obviously not fair to the veteran. And our charge is to see if we can come up with some ideas that might correct that.

QUESTION: How deep do you think the problems run?

SHALALA: We don't know the answer to that yet. But we need to talk to the patients and their families. We need to look at the system that's now in place. Every generation of my family has served in the military, in the American military. I have a cousin now in Iraq. My university trains these integrated teams that save lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. I mean, this is -- we represent lots of Americans for whom it's very personal for every American and we're going to do the best job we possibly can.

QUESTION: Senator, in your ongoing relationship with Walter Reed, were you aware of some of these problems before this?

DOLE: No. Building 18 is sort of, you know, not on the campus. It's across the street. It used to be a hotel. I remember when I had a nephew who had a brain hemorrhage and was a patient at Walter Reed, some of the family members stayed there. And I don't see that as an excuse for not being looked at. But, obviously, somebody dropped the ball. And I think Secretary Gates took appropriate action to underscore the importance of correcting the neglect that has been going on.

But I wasn't aware of it. I've been out there. I've been all over the hospital. I think in the main hospital you're not going to find that problem.

QUESTION: And does it bother you that noone brought it to your attention (INAUDIBLE)?

DOLE: Yes, I wonder where all of the service organizations were and others who, you know, look after veterans.

SHALALA: You know, health care has changed. It's no longer, you do an operation and you send the person home. You told me that they sent you home.

DOLE: Yes, in World War II, when we're finished, you go home. Without a doubt.

SHALALA: Now there's a tremendous outpatient piece, a transition back into the military or into civilian life. Often it takes teams of people and a coordination of care. We'll take a look at the whole system. But I think we don't want to either overstate or understate other than this is going to be comprehensive, it's going to be vigorous and neither one of us are afraid of talking to the brass, whether it's the president of the United States or a general.

QUESTION: Is it an embarrassment to this administration that it took a newspaper to bring it to the attention of the administration?

SHALALA: You know, I think it's an embarrassment to the country. You know, we're bipartisan. And it's important that we all do what we can to make this right and to do it quickly.

QUESTION: Is it fair, madame secretary, to say that there's sort of been this dull roar for years that you've heard or maybe others in your position have heard about small, minor problems? Is this systematic? Is that your sense?

SHALALA: The answer is, no, that there have, in fact, been reforms of the system, that we have a war now with a significant number of lives being saved that weren't saved in previous wars, that require a very different kind of system. And we need to get this right for everyone. But I think it's also fair to say that this country has made a huge investment and the fragmentation of health care is nothing new. We're now seeing it for soldiers. We see it in the regular health care system. So we need to get this right. And from my point of view, we ought to do it as Democrats and Republicans, but more importantly as Americans.

DOLE: I think one final thought. We're going to coordinate with the Congress. We're not trying to preempt anything that the House committee or Senate committees may be doing or the interagency task force that was named today, too. But, you know, we want to do it right. We want to work together with everyone who has an interest. Primarily, as Secretary Shalala said, let's talk to the families and to the soldiers, talk to the young men and women who made the sacrifice.

SHALALA: Thank you.

COLLINS: All right. So former Senator Bob Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala at those microphones in Washington today. They are in charge of the commission to look into all of the conditions, not only at Walter Reed Medical Facility, but also, as Senator Dole said, all VA hospitals and DOD hospitals across the country.

The issue at hand for them certainly is this transitional period that Donna Shalala spoke of, where a person may be injured, and then they get the immediate emergency care that they may need. And then there's a transition to VA care. And after that, that ultimate transition hopefully, for most of them, into civilian life. Those seem to be where some of the problems occur.

So later on this week, we expect to see the names of nine more members that will serve on this commission under Bob Dole and Donna Shalala, a bipartisan commission, to work out some of these problems and investigate all across the country the different facilities.

MARCIANO: Well, daylight savings time is coming up a lot earlier this year and there's going to be some issues. Gerri Willis, well, she's going to talk about that in her tips. He's in New York.

Hi, Gerri. GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rob, good to see you.

Daylight savings time is around the corner. We'll tell you what you need know next on "Top Tips."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: A nightmare for those on board an Indonesian jetliner. The plane caught fire after overshooting a runway, killing at least 23 people. But others did make it out alive. With us now on the phone from Jakarta, one of the survivors Alessandro Bertelliotti. Alessandro, first of all, thanks so very much for being with us. How are you feeling right now? Have you been able to understand what you've gone through?

VOICE OF ALESSANDRO BERTELLIOTTI, PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: I was watching some television and yes, I'm realizing slowly what happened today, to me. But I thought I was the luckiest person I think in the world because the 15 seconds before the crash was the longest and at the same time the fastest 15 seconds of my life. We realized that most people on the plane (INAUDIBLE) , it was going too fast. It was approaching the runway too fast. And people shouting and screaming and crying. We understood straight away and it was only a matter of waiting for the crash. We went through the old runway up to the end, went toward the huge sound, everything flashed, everything was dark and smoky and people shouting and screaming. Then 10 seconds after everything was over because we managed to get out from the back doors.

COLLINS: Wow. So, you knew and it sounds like everybody on the plane had a sense almost immediately that the plane was absolutely landing too fast. Where were you sitting Alessandro on the plane?

BERTELLIOTTI: I was sitting on the row 21, the seat was 21C almost at the end of the plane on the left side and the fire started on the other side, three or four seats ahead of me (INAUDIBLE) as well. I was able to -- the back door was just five, six seats behind me so just jumping out (INAUDIBLE) four or five seconds and I was outside.

COLLINS: Wow. Did you have to jump then from the aircraft or did the slides actually deploy?

BERTELLIOTTI: Sorry? Can you repeat?

COLLINS: Did you actually have to jump from the aircraft once it was on the ground?

BERTELLIOTTI: No. No. The door was just one meter out above the ground because we crashed heavy on the ground. We sank on the ground so from the door going out was basically just one small step going out. This is why most of the people managed to get out without, jumping on the mud, on the grass. A few people were helped by other passengers just to get out of the way, people injured, jumping outside the back door because it was more or less on the ground level.

COLLINS: We should say this for clarification, this was a 737 400 model, 133 passengers that we know of and as Alessandro is saying, quite a few people were able to get out, 117 that we know of. Alessandro, I can't imagine what must have been going through your mind. Did you start to think of a plan on how you might be able to escape that burning aircraft?

BERTELLIOTTI: I'm still -- I'm still thinking (INAUDIBLE) things (INAUDIBLE) was just telling friends that knew I was on board or my parents that I was safe. The whole day I was kept busy not thinking about the accident, but sooner or later I realize that I escaped something really incredible and probably -- I was able to take another flight tonight from Yogyakarta back to Jakarta. The takeoff was -- I was starting crying because I was on a plane again and then --

COLLINS: Incredible.

BERTELLIOTTI: Then a bit more quiet and calm and then I landed.

COLLINS: I can only imagine how tough it must have been to have to get back on an aircraft. I know you're a journalist. So we certainly appreciate an excellent description of what must have been one of the most frightening days I'm sure of your life. Alessandro Bertelliotti, we appreciate your time here today and so happy to hear that you're all right.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: As you may know, President Bush put together a commission or at least a panel on the Walter Reed fiasco, Bob Dole and Donna Shalala. They met with the president this morning. We have that tape for you now. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am concerned that our soldiers and their families are not getting the treatment that they deserve, having volunteered to defend our country. Any report of medical neglect will be taken seriously by this administration and I'm confident by the Congress and we'll address problems quickly.

I've asked two of America's fine public servants, Senator Dole and Secretary Shalala, to chair a commission that will analyze our health care, both at the Defense Department and at the Veterans department, to insure that not only are soldiers but their families have got complete confidence and the government's upholding its responsibility to treat those who have been wounded. I am concerned that there may be flaws in the system between when a soldier's on the battlefield, to the Defense Department, to the Veterans Administration and finally to community.

I can't think of two better people to analyze the situation and to make recommendations, two people to lead a commission of you know, probably nine people. That would be Senator Dole who is himself a veteran and a wounded veteran at that, a former distinguished senator, a man who knows Washington well, but more importantly knows the kind of questions they ask and Secretary Shalala, who's an expert on health. She lived that for eight years in President Clinton's administration. She knows what to look for. She knows the questions to ask. And I'm confident that this commission will bring forth the truth and as I assured the chairman, I'm confident that there will be a quick and response to any problems that you may find. So I can't thank you enough for taking time and to serve your nation once again. God bless. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: President Bush just moments ago meeting with Donna Shalala and Senator Bob Dole, talking about the commission that he has set up, that they will head to investigate all of the different military hospitals, VA and DOD otherwise across the country. So, there you have that. Meanwhile, behind the bullets and bombs, it is the battle you don't see in Iraq, a high stakes spy game with the U.S. looking to win. We'll explain coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: You remember the Y2K bug and the predictions of computer failures across the country, across world? Similar concerns loom this weekend. It's the daylight savings time bug. We'll tell you how to avoid it. CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is in New York. You wouldn't think something as simple as turning ahead the clock can cause big problems.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not going to cause a big problem. That's what I'm here to tell you. This is not Y2K. The change in daylight savings time that's coming Sunday is not going to be a huge disaster. Realistically it will throw a few computers and some smart gadgets off because they are automatically programmed to change the time on the old date of April 1. But computer programmers and IT departments across the country have known about the change for at least two years, so don't worry, cyberspace is not falling.

MARCIANO: Well, run down a few things for us. What exactly is going to be affected by this? What will happen?

WILLIS: Basically, any computer or operating system that was programmed before 2005 will not automatically be ready to handle the change. Your microwave, digital clocks, digital cameras, camcorders and PDAs will also need some attention. Controllers that automatically lock and unlock doors or set alarm systems could be off kilter too. So you'll want to pay attention to that. And don't forget about programmable thermostats and even coffee makers because they'll be a little confused as well.

MARCIANO: I got an email on my Blackberry talking about some sort of patch. What is exactly is a patch?

WILLIS: You need that. You definitely need that, Rob. It's going to fix the problem for you. It's a tiny little piece of software that will make the changes. If you don't have Microsoft Vista or you have an older computer that doesn't have an automatic update feature you're going to have to change the time manually on your desktop or download the software patches you just mentioned. Go to microsoft.com and apple.com to find the patches. It's a good idea to keep something on your desk that does have the right time so you don't get confused and you don't like, look at that computer and pick up the wrong time. If you have a PDA like a Palm or a Blackberry, you should also go to their website and see what you need do. Remember, we'll see this issue again in November when daylight savings ends later than usual.

MARCIANO: And that's happening in the U.S. Any other countries doing this and what should we be aware of?

WILLIS: The time changes here in the U.S., the decision to extend daylight savings time affects only the U.S. and Canada. If you're used to calling internationally, just keep in mind that somebody overseas may not have any idea about the time change. So you'll want to think about that.

MARCIANO: And you know, with this sort of deal, there always seems to be somebody who is really smart with computers that can crack into a system, any warnings for scams out there?

WILLIS: You bet. During the next two weeks, there are likely to be a ton of scam artists that will send emails that promise to fix the problem. They may pretend to be your bank or credit card issuer. Remember, never give away any information about you or your financial affairs. If you have questions about your software or other gadgets, go directly to the source. And of course, a reminder to your viewers, send us your questions to toptips@cnn.com. We answer them right here every Friday and we love to hear from you.

MARCIANO: Good advice Gerri. Gerri Willis advising us on what you should know when we turn the clocks ahead I guess three weeks ahead of time, this weekend.

WILLIS: It's happening right away.

MARCIANO: Thanks, Gerri.

WILLIS: Thank you.

COLLINS: Late fees, interest rates, when you charge. How much are you being charged? Well, right now a Senate panel is taking a closer look at the sometimes complex practices for credit card billing. Senator Carl Levin says an investigation uncovered quote, abusive practices that can thrust people deeper into debt. Representatives of major credit card companies are in the hot seat. We'll be following this and have a little bit more coming up in just a few minutes.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. When NEWSROOM returns, I'll tell you about huge price gains. But I'm not talking about stocks. Details in just a few minutes. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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MARCIANO: One of the many toys there you see in the CNN instruments.

COLLINS: Would you like to go through what they all do for us?

MARCIANO: I would rather have Chad do it. He's closer. All I know is there will be some really low numbers on those temperature gauges, Chad. The winter seems to want to hold on.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Sure is. I mean, some of these sublime low temperatures. Saranac Lake this morning was 35 degrees below zero. That's without the wind chill factor. Yesterday at this time, about 1:00 in the afternoon, Mount Washington was 35 below but the wind was 102. It's a wind chill factor of 92 degrees below zero. And that's the new formula, Rob, which you know doesn't make the numbers as low as the old formula. The old formula probably would have been 150 degrees below zero. Can you imagine just having to go outside and even look up in the sky or try to open your eyes in weather like that? It's just unbelievable. There are people up there on top of that mountain that are in the observatory.

We do see Philadelphia getting some snow this morning, Baltimore, DC, a little bit of light snow as well. Temperatures are very cold, though. New York and Philadelphia and Albany, almost too cold to make any good snow. This is a light fluffy can't make a snowball kind of snow out of it. Atlanta, 30-minute delays, La Guardia now two hours, Philadelphia about 45 to 50 minutes and San Francisco with moisture coming in and obviously the marine layer there, 45 to 50 minutes delayed out there.

Cold weather across the northeast, that's the big story and beautiful weather in Phoenix and Salt Lake City and Vegas, the place is to be, back out west, Boston, New York, DC very cold today and not much of a change tomorrow. The front sags a little bit farther to the south and we also have a little bit of light snow in the mountains. Do we have a live shot today? Don't have it, OK. I was trying to get one from Vegas to try to make everybody feel warmer in the northeast. But I guess stay inside. That's the only way to feel warmer up there today.

MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE) It's going to be 70 in Atlanta. I don't know where Tony is but if I had to bet money if he was here locally, he might very well be on the golf course right now I would hope.

COLLINS: Spring break. He's somewhere warm.

MARCIANO: Good family man. Good stuff. Thanks Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, up, down and all around, that has been the story for the U.S. financial markets over the past week. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with a look at how stocks are doing now. Hey there Susan.

LISOVICZ: Hey Heidi, you want to talk about extreme weather.

COLLINS: No kidding.

LISOVICZ: It's nothing like what we've been experiencing on Wall Street. It's like a tornado that came through in the last week. We've had these lofty highs and these nauseating lows. Yesterday of course the bulls got a glimmer of hope, a broad-based rally including the biggest gain by the Dow since last July. Of course it came a week after the biggest point loss since 9/11. After a jump that big, investors are playing it safe today. We're not seeing any wild swings. That may be the best possible scenario, a few days of relative calm after all of the recent turmoil.

Let's look at the big board. The Dow industrials on the plus side, but barely so. The Nasdaq Composite on the down side, down about a quarter of a percent. Some analysts say investors are still trading on emotion and momentum, not fundamentals. There is not much for them to go on today because investors will have only the Federal Reserve's beige book report to consider. That's a snapshot of the economy in different regions and it comes out two hours before the close. The week's biggest report, that's important, is the monthly jobs report. That comes out an hour before the opening bell Friday. That will be much discussed on Friday. Heidi.

COLLINS: No question about that, the beige report. Boy, I hope they think it's going to be beige and not very colorful. The reason why they call it beige, I know. The markets as we know have calmed down a little bit, but drug prices on fire. What is the late number there?

LISOVICZ: Well, it well exceeds inflation. That's not news, but AARP documents just how big of a problem it is for its demographics. The seniors advocacy group says prices for about 200 of the most commonly used prescription drugs rose more than 6 percent last year. T That's twice the rate of inflation. Topping the list with a 30 percent price jump, the insomnia pill Ambien. Now interestingly generic drugs, the same report said that generic drug prices have actually declined about 2 percent. AARP using the report to support its push to give Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. It's been a top priority for Democrats.

On the other side, a drug industry trade group is calling the report flawed and says giving Medicare bargaining power would limit the number of drugs the agency pays for, a story that is not going away. That is for sure. That is the latest from Wall Street, Rob and Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: All right, Susan, thank you.

MARCIANO: Mr. Wrong on the prowl. One guy accused of snaring women in a web of lies. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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MARCIANO: More harrowing details from last week's deadly bus accident in Atlanta. That crash killed four Bluffton University baseball players plus the bus driver and his wife. More than two dozen other passengers were hurt. From his hospital bed, Kyle King, one of the survivors tells CNN what it's like to experience that tragedy.

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KYLE KING, BUS CRASH SURVIVOR: I was actually sleeping on the bus. And I woke up to the bus -- the driver's wife screaming. It was all slow motion from there. I was being tossed around in the seats and I felt my head hit off everything. And my black eye, and I actually did get up and walk off the bus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: This weekend, an all new CNN special investigations unit, fatal journey, an inside look at the Atlanta bus tragedy and it's coming up at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Saturday and Sunday only on CNN.

A jetliner misses a runway and turns into a hellish inferno. Airport disaster in the NEWSROOM. And gasoline prices jumping again. Will we get a break any time soon? A closer look in the NEWSROOM.

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