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American Morning

Under-Reported: FBI Private Record Search; Latin America Visit: Bush Pushes Ethanol Deal; A Reporter's Notebook: Life in Iraq

Aired March 09, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI is now under fire. A new report says the FBI is under-reporting. Just how often they dig for private information on U.S. citizens without informing us -- we'll hear from the FBI director later this morning.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A tough crowd. President Bush travels to Brazil, gets a welcome. Well, it's kind of a "Yankee go home" thing.

S. O'BRIEN: And tragic tour. A chopper goes down in Hawaii. Four people are killed. The question now is, just what caused that crash?

Those stories and much more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome back. It's Friday, March 9th.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm miles O'Brien.

We're glad you're with us this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin in Washington, D.C.

A report being released this morning accuses the FBI of way under-reporting, and also sloppiness in the way it's going after private records.

Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena live for us in Washington, D.C.

Kelli, good morning.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with the report's specifics. Exactly who do they blame?

ARENA: Well, it's an inspector general report, and it's about national security letters. These are, in effect, subpoenas that are sent out to third parties when the FBI needs confidential information about someone. And these are supposed to be used targeting people that are part of terrorism investigations.

Well, the IG report basically says that the FBI has not been diligent in the way that it has reported the use of these national security letters, and that it's used them in the wrong way. It's a pretty scathing report, according to officials who have seen it -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Mistakes that would, you could say, broke the law?

ARENA: Well, not broke the law, but these are, for example, they under-reported the number of national security letters they sent out. That they used them in a way that they weren't supposed to be used.

The Patriot Act, Soledad, when it was passed actually expanded the way these letters could be used and said, instead of somebody having to be a suspected terrorist, this would be somebody who was part of a terrorism investigation. So it became much broader.

Well, according to this report, there were agents that actually went beyond even that purview and said, well, these are exigent circumstances, we need this information, without providing the back up to prove that these people were part of terrorism investigations. And then they even went a step further in some instances when companies like, let's say, a phone company, for example, said, well, wait a minute, where's your backing for this? We're told by the IG that some of the agents said, we'll be back with a subpoena, we'll show you that we have the proper backing, and then the FBI never followed up and went back to those people with proper subpoenas to show them, look, you know, we were right in asking for this information.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to be hearing by the FBI director later this morning. I assume he's going to have to talk about this report as it comes out. Any insight on what he might be saying?

ARENA: Well, I talked to a lot of people, you know, last night and into the early hours this morning, and they said basically they're going to say, look, we understand what the IG is talking about, there is no excuse for this, we have already implemented some changes. As you know, there is always a lag time between what happened and when the IG comes out with a report. So the FBI is expected to say, we've already dealt with some of these issues, we have a reform plan in place.

They will obviously point out that nobody broke the law, that the IG explicitly says there doesn't seem to be an intent either to do anything wrong. It was just that it was very sloppy accountability throughout the entire process.

We also should hear from the attorney general. We actually have a statement from the Justice Department already, Soledad, where it says that, you know, he told the director -- Attorney General Gonzales told Director Mueller that these past mistakes will not be tolerated, has ordered the FBI to restore accountability and put in place safeguards to ensure greater oversight and control.

So, I'll tell you what, Soledad. The critics are going to have a field day with this. This is exactly what they predicted, an abuse of powers. They're going to run with it.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I would imagine they will. Kelli Arena will be watching all of it for us.

ARENA: I will.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Kelli -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: President Bush is in Brazil right now. It wasn't exactly a warm welcome on the first leg of his Latin America tour, to say the least. Thousands of protesters angry about the war in Iraq, and they're leery of a deal the president is looking for on the issue of ethanol.

Take a look at some of the video from the protest there. That's in Sao Paulo, Brazil, burning the flag.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is traveling with the president. She is in Sao Paulo.

Elaine, good morning to you. This trip, as much as anything else, I know it's about ethanol and it's about a lot of other things. But really looming here is Hugo Chavez, who is the long-time nemesis of the president, and trying to, in some way, counteract his influence in the region.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And that, of course, is the obvious unstated, unspoken goal by U.S. officials here.

Hugo Chavez, of course, a man who has called President Bush "The Devil" on many occasions. The White House insisting, though, that President Bush's five-nation Latin America tour over the next seven days is not an anti-Chavez tour.

Clearly, though, President Bush, as you know, Miles, is trying to improve the United States' image. Ever mindful of the fact that Chavez, himself, is really trying to spread his influence.

How? Well, Venezuela, of course, is awash in oil and oil revenue, and through that the United States is well aware that Chavez is intending to try to spread that influence throughout the hemisphere. So this trip here to Latin America certainly an attempt to push back against that.

But it will be interesting for the White House, Miles. Today, when President Bush arrives in Uruguay, Hugo Chavez is going to be right across the river in Argentina holding a rally. Thousands of people are expected. It will be interesting to see how the White House responds -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I guess that would be predictable for Chavez given the way -- we've seen the way he's operated in the past.

Tell us about the general perception of the U.S. right now. With so much focus on Iraq and another hemisphere for so many years, people feeling neglected there. And if so, what do they want from the U.S.? QUIJANO: Well, that's exactly right. When you talk to experts who have bee watching this region now for the past six years, they say, look, after the September 11th attacks, there was the widespread belief here in Latin America that unless you want to talk terrorism or about terrorism, that the United States was not interested in talking to you.

Now, certainly, that is not only the feeling among some here in Brazil, but throughout South America and Central America as well. So President Bush is really going to try to counter that by saying the United States has, in fact, put forth billions of dollars to help the impoverished of this region. A message that President Bush says really hasn't gone out among the public here in Latin America. So that's part of the reason that he wants to come here, to kind of talk about that and demonstrate that, in fact, the United States is doing its part to help people in this region, albeit, perhaps, quietly, in the administration's view.

M. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano in Sao Paulo.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to be live from Mexico for the president's visit on Tuesday. I'll be in Mexico looking at the immigration crisis from that side of the border.

Why are so many people so desperate to leave for the United States? And how is their mass migration changing both of our countries?

That's on Tuesday right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

An update on a story we brought you earlier in the week about those thousands of FEMA trailers that are sitting empty in Hope, Arkansas, while the folks in Dumas, Arkansas, are without homes after that tornado tore through last month. Well, FEMA wouldn't let the state use them because Dumas wasn't declared a federal disaster area. Now FEMA says it's going to send 30 government trailers to Dumas and the state is going to have to pick up the tab to move them.

This morning investigators in Hawaii are trying to figure out why a tour helicopter crashed and killed four people. The chopper went down at an airport on the island of Kauai. The pilot apparently radioed to say that he was having hydraulic problems. The crash comes just one month after the Federal Aviation Administration announced new safety standards for air tour companies.

Australian investigators have those black boxes from the Indonesian 737 that crashed and burned at Yogyakarta airport. The pilots insist it wasn't their fault, that a violent downdraft caused them to land too fast and too far down the runway.

Investigators in Indonesia today say also that a main exit door didn't open after the crash, and that trapped passengers inside the burning wreckage. Twenty-two people were killed, 118, though, were able to survive. Five people who were hurt in the charter bus crash in Atlanta last Friday remain in the hospital today. On Thursday, authorities released tape from a 911 call form one of the bus passengers on the morning of that horrifying crash.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OPERATOR: About how many? Give me an estimate so we'll know how many ambulances. How many?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking 50. Or not 50, but at least 33, 33 people on this bus.

OPERATOR: OK. You're all on the expressway or are you on the street?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we fell off the expressway. We hit a road and fell off the actual bridge.

OPERATOR: The bus fell over the bridge?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

OPERATOR: OK. Now, we've got some help coming out there now. So they'll be there shortly, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got to get out of here.

OPERATOR: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Bye-bye.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Four members of the Bluffton University baseball team were killed in that crash, along with the bus driver and his wife. Funerals were held on Thursday for two of the players, Tyler Williams and Cody Holp, who were both 19 years old -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Other headlines this morning.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

Thousands of demonstrators are protesting President Bush's trip to Latin America. He is in Brazil right now. Also, an ethanol deal is making waves, too.

And the FBI is under fire today for just how it's using the Patriot Act. The watchdog group is accusing the agency of under- reporting by a lot just how often it seeks access to private information without warrants. Coming up at quarter past the hour, Chad Myers is watching some cold, cold, cold weather for us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: You know who's got one of the hardest jobs in the business, of course, is CNN's Arwa Damon, as she reports for us almost every day from Baghdad. And sometimes she goes out on embeds as well.

Well, look who's in town. Arwa Damon joins us live in person, and we have taken the opportunity to bring her in to talk about the experiences.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, you look great without Kevlar on, just for the record.

(LAUGHTER)

M. O'BRIEN: Arwa, good to have you with us.

What's it like working there? It has got to be a tremendous roller-coaster.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. It is.

It's an unbelievably intense experience. And you don't really realize to a certain degree the intensity of it until you manage to step back. And it pretty much is every single human emotion you could possibly imagine, going through from positive, all the way to negative, as we watch the events that unfold in Iraq on a day-to-day basis and watch what...

S. O'BRIEN: Are you scared every day? I mean, are you scared for your life every day?

DAMON: For my life? No, not so much. And really being able to I think cope there -- and it's what we go through as journalists, what the Iraqi civilian goes through, and what the U.S. soldiers go through as well. And it's managing and controlling that fear. It's in the back of your mind that it is a possibility, but you're not constantly obsessing over fear.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, you work hard. We've been showing some pictures of you in your workspace and so forth.

I imagine there's not a lot of down time there, and that's got to be one of the most difficult things. What do you do? Because there's so much stress.

I mean, as you talk about these emotions, how do you blow off steam there? Is there time to do that, first of all? And what do you do?

DAMON: Well, we have a punching bag downstairs in the basement.

M. O'BRIEN: Really? Good idea. DAMON: One thing that, you know, we go for. But...

S. O'BRIEN: What's his name?

DAMON: We draw a lot from each other. And it is a very intense work pace, because we're up in the morning, and then with the time differences, there is really no down time when we do find...

S. O'BRIEN: Do you work straight through the day?

DAMON: Yes. You start at about 9:00, and then you're going all the way through 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., you name it, with the time difference. And then the afternoon and the evening shows that take place here.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. So you do live shots for our program, and then you'll be on "ANDERSON COOPER." I'm wondering, when does the sleep occur in that picture?

DAMON: Pretty much whenever you can get it.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

DAMON: It's very unbalanced work cycle, sleep cycle...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

DAMON: ... eating cycle, living cycle.

M. O'BRIEN: It doesn't sound very healthy. As a matter of fact, let's show your -- we have a picture. That's you working -- there you are in your workspace.

We have a shot of your room. How close is your room to -- that is the workspace there.

DAMON: Yes, you don't...

M. O'BRIEN: But you noticed we blurted out a lot of the faces there. That's for security reasons, as you might expect, because a lot of those are Iraqi nationals.

There's your room.

S. O'BRIEN: Your bedroom is so tidy. Did you clean it up?

M. O'BRIEN: It's a tiny room. Is that close by?

DAMON: Actually, that's right upstairs. It's right above the workspace. So, you actually wake up, walk downstairs, and that's it.

M. O'BRIEN: Easy commute.

DAMON: Very easy commute, but at the same time, you're living, working, breathing, everything in this entire space, unless you happen to get out on a shoot or you're off on an embed. You're really with everybody all the time.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question about when you go out and you cover these stories. Whether you're talking about soldiers who sometimes I know you interview and then they do not survive, and sometimes the people whose stories you're telling and they do not survive -- day after -- you've been there for four years. I find it hard to report and not be able to help, you know, not be able to take somebody and save them and help them.

DAMON: That is what's so incredibly difficult, because you do realize the only thing that we can do, really, is tell the people's story. And for me, I'm always an Arabic speaker. So what's incredibly difficult sometimes is when the Iraqis look at me and they say, "Why did this happen to us? Can you help us? What is going to happen next?"

And oftentimes, most of the time, you don't have the answers.

M. O'BRIEN: The person you just -- we just saw there briefly was I know one of the stories that kind of stuck with you. This is a university student.

Tell us about this. And what are the stories that do tend to stick with you? And is that in some ways emotionally difficult?

DAMON: It is very emotionally difficult to be in Iraq. I mean, we're watching people go through this all the time. And that university student you just mentioned, we met him in the hospital after the twin bombing (INAUDIBLE) that killed over 70 students and employees.

He was in the hospital, both his legs were broken, his face was incredibly scarred, and he told this tragic story how at the time of the bombing he was meeting this girl that he had a crush on for quite some time but had never admitted it to her. All of a sudden, he meets her, a massive explosion takes place.

A female's body that he knows is dead falls on top of his, saves his life, and he thinks that it might be this girl that he's had a crush on and that he might never be able to see her again. And you really look at these students and you remember -- I mean, I flash back to my college days when, what was I worrying about? My grades and whether or not the guy I thought was cute was in the cafeteria.

It never even crossed my mind that I could at that time go through something like this. And you look at the students and you think, how do you not give up? And that's what's astounding, is that most of them don't give up.

That young man was going back to school as soon as he was well enough to go back, because in his mind, he was not going to let the terrorists win. And you just meet these types of utterly amazing people there all the time.

M. O'BRIEN: Why do you keep going back? DAMON: I think in a certain degree I'm very attached to what happened there. I have been there for so long, and I've met so many amazing people. And I also feel that as a journalist we have a responsibility to tell the people's story, soldier and civilian. And I also think as a member of the global community today, we have a responsibility to Iraq to keep telling the people's story and what's going on there.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow. All right.

S. O'BRIEN: We worry about you. I've got to tell you, we worry about you.

M. O'BRIEN: We do worry about.

S. O'BRIEN: And, you know, there's -- because I know you keep yourself safe, but we -- we're worried about you all the time.

DAMON: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Be safe out there.

S. O'BRIEN: Nice to see you in person.

M. O'BRIEN: Enjoy your leave. All right?

DAMON: Thank you. It's nice to be here.

S. O'BRIEN: How long do you have off?

DAMON: Until about the end of the month.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, have a lot of sushi. I know sushi...

M. O'BRIEN: Sushi's the thing? Is that what you want? We can set you up.

S. O'BRIEN: I've got some suggestions for you. We can hook you up with that.

DAMON: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: It's nice to have you back, Arwa, for just a little bit.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Arwa Damon.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING this morning, crucial unemployment numbers are coming out today. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" straight ahead.

And we'll tell you what restaurants are doing to try to protect all of us from hepatitis.

Our report on that. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: In Brazil it is a not-so-warm welcome for President Bush on the first leg of his Latin America tour. Thousands of protesters there are angry about the war in Iraq and leery about a deal over ethanol. The president's in Sao Paulo right now, and he's expected to sign a deal today on ethanol.

Huge protests broke out in Colombia, too. The president is going to be there on Sunday.

CNN's Karl Penhaul is in Bogota, Colombia, for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A homemade explosive rocks a police riot truck. Hundreds of masked students run for cover as water cannons douse them. The chant is "Yankees out!"

FERMIN, STUDENT PROTESTER: So we fight not only for the Bush visit. It's also because we believe that a new Colombia is possible, that a new Latin America is possible.

PENHAUL: The interview abruptly ends as tear gas fired by the police rains down on campus.

FERMIN: We're fighting men.

PENHAUL: Radical students of Bogota's biggest public university normally reject contact with the media, but months ago I met some of their leaders, and on this rare occasion, they agreed to show me the protests from their perspective. Despite that acceptance, it's a chaotic scene, making it impossible to do an on-camera standup.

"He's coming to sell us out. We're fighting against Bush's visit," this student says. A team of his masked comrades launch fireworks through PVC pipes. Another group takes aim by the wall, where I'm taking cover, too.

Police and the government accuse communist rebels of infiltrating Colombia's university campuses. The students, though, reject the terrorist tag. They describe themselves as a mixture of communist sympathizers, anarchists, leftists and nationalists. Today, they're united with one aim -- "This is a demonstration of Colombian dignity. We will not become the slaves of U.S. imperialism," he says.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Bogota, Colombia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Top stories of the morning coming up next. A day in the life of Katrina's young survivors through their own eyes, how they're getting by in our special series, "Children of the Storm."

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: We're also watching a story out of Hollywood for you this morning. It really could affect restaurants everywhere. Should food workers all across the nation be required to get vaccinated for hepatitis A? Is that notion practical? Would it do any good?

Chris Lawrence has been looking into that for us this morning.

Chris, what do we know?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a single food worker can infect hundreds of people, and some of the restaurant workers that we spoke with say that Wolfgang Puck event, they had to issue a warning for up to 3,000 people who were there.

But we wanted to find out, is Los Angeles just overreacting, or playing it safe, and how feasible would this plan be to work in other big cities?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "The Sports Illustrated" swimsuit party showed off plenty of skin, but it also exposed L.A.'s ongoing problem, outbreaks of hepatitis A at catered events and restaurants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the public health department needs to be aggressive in ensuring that food handlers are all healthy and not endangering our public.

LAWRENCE: Los Angeles County has seen about 400 cases of hep A in each of the last two years. Supervisors have ordered health officials to examine what it would take to make vaccinations mandatory for all 100,000 food service workers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It protects the public.

LAWRENCE: You might expect agreement from food safety experts.

CAROLINE SMITH DEWAAL, FOOD SAFETY EXPERT: I'm just not sure that it's worth the costs.

LAWRENCE: Restaurant owners would have to fork over $200 per vaccination, and some say that's too much for an industry with high turnover.

DEWAAL: Workers really need to be vaccinated twice, about six month apart. And for many workers, they would never reach that six- month vaccination. So vaccination is not a cure all.

LAWRENCE: Some consider Manhattan the food capital of the free world. But the New York State Restaurant Association told me a mandatory order would be overkill, and the Chicago Health Department says, mandatory vaccination is not under consideration, and we're satisfied that our ordinance is sufficient.

The thing is, other cities have bet on the requirement and won big. In 1998, the last year before it made vaccinations mandatory, Las Vegas had more than 200 cases of hepatitis A. Last year? Only seven.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: But what about a city like New York City, probably the restaurant capital of the world? I talked to the Restaurant Association of New York, and they say this city has one of the most diverse restaurant communities anywhere. You've got people who speak all kind of languages, and he said the cost of simply trying to do the outreach, to let all these restaurants know, would be pretty overwhelming.

M. O'BRIEN: So the devil is in the details there, and it might be too high a hurdle in a city like this.

LAWRENCE: Exactly. I think especially they made the point for a disease that is very rarely fatal. Makes people very sick, not a lot of people are going to die from it.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Chris Lawrence. Hey, it's been great having you here this week.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we enjoyed having you in person.

LAWRENCE: Now I have to go back to the 82-degree weather out in L.A.

M. O'BRIEN: Time to go now, Chris.

S. O'BRIEN: I think he's saying he didn't enjoy being here. That's what he's saying to us.

M. O'BRIEN: He brought that Mt. Hood weather with him.

S. O'BRIEN: Exactly. Exactly.

You know, one of the most important measures of our country's economic health is the unemployment rate, and it was released just a moment ago.

Ali Velshi's going to join us in a second with the job's report.

Ali, hey.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, the numbers just come in. The unemployment rate has dropped in the United States to a historic low of 4.5 percent. It was 4.6 percent going into this report. There were even some people who thought it might tick up to 4.7 percent. The expectation was that 100,000 new jobs will be created in the United States in February. They came in at 97,000 jobs. That's pretty much dead on. 4.5 percent as a national unemployment rate is good news for workers because it means more demand for workers, and they can demand higher wages.

It's generally good news right now, because it also means that while more people are employed, more people can spend money, and while we've been having these discussions about the possibility of a recession, more people earning money means lowers chances of unemployment. It makes people feel better about the economy.

Now going into this report, the futures were indicating a lower open on the markets. This could change things. We could see a better day on the markets. We're working to recover some of the heavy losses we've seen in the last 10 days on the stock market.

So the news here, the big news here, is that the unemployment rate is down by 0.1 percent to 4.5 percent. We're less than an hour away from the opening of markets. This is going to have quite an impact on trading today.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. I know you're watching it for us. Ali, thank you.

Ahead this morning, the heartbreak and the hope is seen through the eyes of children, 11 kids, 11 cameras. Our series "Children of the Storm" give you a surprising look at the recovery of their city and their lives after Katrina.

And it's not easy being green, but it's not that hard either. Gerri Willis shows us how you can make your home more energy efficient.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: It is time to check in with our Children of the Storm. You'll remember we kicked off this special series when we handed out video cameras to 11 young people in and around New Orleans, and we asked them to be our eyes and ears on the ground, showing us what's changing and in a lot of cases what's not changing after Hurricane Katrina. So the assignment this time around was show us a day in your life, and here's what we got.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another day I'm out here waiting at the bus stop.

S. O'BRIEN: It's so typical in so many ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, bye, mom. S. O'BRIEN: But not far under the surface it's a struggle each and every day. Shantia Reneau's home in the Lower Ninth Ward was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. She now sleeps on the couch in a 300-square foot FEMA trailer.

SHANTIA RENEAU, SENIOR, MCDONOUGH NO. 35 H.S.: We don't have a heater or hot water so we have to use little portable heaters now.

S. O'BRIEN: Until it's fixed Shantia has to go next door to her grandmother's trailer to wash up. As for her grandmother's home in the Lower Nine, it's gone, and so are her hopes of returning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be 100 look like from now before they build the houses back in the Ninth Ward.

S. O'BRIEN: Deshawn Dabney is one of four people crammed into a two-room apartment.

DESHAWN DABNEY, SOPHOMORE, O. PERRY WALKER H.S.: This is the bed me and my grandmother share.

S. O'BRIEN: Each trip to school is a walk past damaged homes and a 30-minute bus ride.

DABNEY: These are all the houses that my neighbors (INAUDIBLE). A lot of the people haven't come back yet.

S. O'BRIEN: For Amanda Hill, a senior from St. Bernard Parish, money is the problem, day in and day out. Her grandmother, Dolores, is 66 years old and working at McDonald's.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wake up 3:00 in the morning to hear my grandma crying because she doesn't know if she's going to be able to have money to put milk in the refrigerator or have bread on the table. Now she is so far in debt and so stressed out, I can physically see what it's doing to her.

S. O'BRIEN: Amanda is a good student. She dreams of going to a four-year college, but can't afford it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of things that I feel like I've worked so hard for, and I've gotten nowhere.

S. O'BRIEN: Amanda's mother died when Amanda was just 11. She says her father is out of the picture and she's terrified about her grandmother's health.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm scared that I'm going to lose her and she's all I have.

S. O'BRIEN: Almost every month she visits her mother's grave. There's been no money for a headstone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my mother's grave. She died seven years ago and we don't even have a name plate for her. All it is, is a square of cement that I write on with a Sharpie. S. O'BRIEN: Vicki Marie Hill, born July 26, 1971, died January 30, 2000.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Love you, mom.

This is just a couple of things that I have to deal with. This is a day in my life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Amanda and Deshawn join us from St. Bernard Parish. Nice to see the both of you again. Thanks for talking with us.

Let's begin with you Amanda, although for both of you, boy, that is in a lot of ways a very, very tough day in the life, and yet when we talk you say you're hopeful about your future and hopeful about your city, and you look at your grandmother as a role model, as much as you're worried about her. How is that?

AMANDA HILL, SENIOR CHALMETTE HIGH SCHOOL: It's tough. It's tough every day, but, like I said, I just look up to my grandma. She's been through so much, ever since I can remember. Her and my mom have both, before my mom died. I just -- I look to both of them. Even though she's not here, I see her in my dreams and she talks to me, and I just, I look up to them. My grandma has been through everything, and she still pulls forth, and I just hope that I can be half the woman she is now.

S. O'BRIEN: That's a nice thing to say. I'm sure she appreciates that.

S. O'BRIEN: Deshawn, we talked about the debris and you shot some pictures of that debris. Do you think it's getting better from, let's say, the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina where it was a really, really big problem?

DESHAWN DABNEY, SOPHOMORE. O. PERRY WALKER H.S.: I think that the most that we saw has -- I wouldn't say it has yet to come yet, but there's a lot of people coming back to the city to rebuild, and the thing is, they don't all come back at the same time; they come back at different parts.

So for the next couple of years, I think we're going to be seeing things like that, but now, for the most part, I think that most people that are coming back to the city are here already, but I think it's going to be some years before everybody comes back, and even for that, I don't think everyone is going to come back to the city at all.

S. O'BRIEN: So those piles, in some ways, are progress.

Amanda, this question goes to you. You know, you talked about your concerns about college, that you probably can go and get in because you got good grades, but you can't afford the car to get there. What are you going to do? What's your plan?

HILL: Well, right now I guess I'm just going to go to the community college. It's actually in Chalmette, not very far from my house, and go there for at least a semester, or possibly years, so I can save up enough and work to get a car and to pay the rest of the tuition that the scholarship is not going to pay for.

S. O'BRIEN: Amanda Hill and Deshawn Dabney, thank you to both of you being with us this morning, and also being just incredibly honest in your tape. We appreciate it. I know spike told you you had to, what did he say? -- Rudy toodle (ph), Rudy poo, something something about you had to be really brutally honest so we could see what it's really like. And you did, and we appreciate it.

We're going to have much more of our special "Children of the Storm" project. We'll be highlighting all our young people who we've handed out cameras to. You can go right to CNN.com to find out more about our young correspondents as well. Thanks to both of them -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Some sad news just in to us from Atlanta. At Grady Hospital, another player from the Bluffton University Baseball team has died from that bus accident a week ago today. You recall that bus went up a high-occupancy vehicle exit ramp, went right through a T- intersection and off the bridge there. We're told by the Grady Memorial Hospital that Bluffton University player Zach Aren (ph) died early this morning. The death toll to that accident now stand at seven. He had been in critical condition since the crash. Four other players, a bus driver and the bus driver's wife, were killed in that accident. There are still others who are in the hospital right now, and we're tracking their condition, as well.

M. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" just a few moments away. They'll have more details on this and some other stories as more.

Heidi Collins is here with a look ahead at what they have in store.

Heidi, good morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR; Good morning, Miles.

That's right, I drive by that area every day, and you can still see all the flower memorials up on the bridge. It really is sad. So we will be continuing to talk about that story as well.

Also, Miles, we'll be talking about new concerns today on the Patriot Act. Did the FBI abuse its authority to obtain phone, e-mail and bank records? FBI director Robert Mueller responds to a new report coming up live in the "NEWSROOM."

And in Texas, the tragic story of Billy Ray Johnson, beaten, bloodied, left for dead in a fire ant bed. Was it a hate crime?

And shot in the heart with a three-inch nail. A Missouri carpenter lives to tell this story.

Rick Sanchez is with me today in the "NEWSROOM." We'll be up top of the hour on CNN -- Miles/ COLLINS: Thank you, Heidi.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, want to save some green on your power bill by going green? We've got a little quiz for you. Find out if your house is as energy efficient as it could be, and you'll see how smart Soledad and I are as we get grilled, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: It's not easy being green, but it isn't all that hard either. In fact, you can save a lot of green by going green.

M. O'BRIEN: Look who's in the kitchen again. Our open house hostess Gerri Willis in Hartsdale right in the center of the kitchen. What are you cooking up there, Gerri?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: I'm cooking up some savings.

M. O'BRIEN: Tell us exactly what you've got in mind here. How hard is it to go green when you're in the kitchen?

WILLIS: It's really not. I've got to tell you, look, the average family spends $1,900 every year on energy for their home. Most of that for heating and cooling, but you can really save some big dough by buying the right appliances in your kitchen, and then using them intelligently.

OK, let's start with everybody's favorite job, and that is washing your dishes.

Soledad and Miles, what is more energy efficient? Using your dishwasher or doing them by hand?

M. O'BRIEN: You go first.

S. O'BRIEN: By hand has got to be more energy efficient. I mean, it wears you out, but you've got to be able to save...

M. O'BRIEN: My question would be, do you keep the water running the whole time?

WILLIS: Very smart. That is the key to the answer. Actually, using the dishwasher is more green, I should say, because it uses 20 percent less water, and if you use the econo setting -- we have one right here -- it air dries the dishes. You save 15 percent on energy costs. So big saving there, both in terms of water and in terms of energy. And of course you always to use this fully loaded -- don't pre-rinse, because you save water.

OK, next question...

M. O'BRIEN: I often just let my dogs lick the plates. That saves a lot. WILLIS: That's really energy efficient, actually.

M. O'BRIEN: That works really well. I guess you don't want to come by any time soon.

Go ahead.

WILLIS: No, no. OK, so, the stove, we have a combination here of gas and electric, you can see in hear.

But, OK, guys, what's more energy efficient, an electric stove or a gas stove with an electric ignition?

S. O'BRIEN: Electric is more energy efficient.

M. O'BRIEN: Just the opposite I would say electric ignition and gas is more efficient.

WILLIS: You're absolutely right, Miles.

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

WILLIS: You get the star today. It is the gas stove.

And I've got to tell you, a lot of these professional model stoves, huge energy hogs. Here's why -- this one is a combo, gas and electric, as I said. But check out this exhaust. These things eat energy. Here's why, they're moving 2,400 cubic feet of air a minute, venting everything here. It's professional style, professional grade, and you get professional-style energy bills, as well.

All right, let's go over to the fridge, one of my favorite parts of the kitchen. And here you can see we've got top and bottom.

M. O'BRIEN: What a nice kitchen, by the way. I like this. Is this your kitchen?

WILLIS: I wish it was; it's not.

So what is more energy efficient, a side-by-side refrigerator or one that's top and bottom like this model?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, I'm going to guess the opposite of what I would guess, I'm going to say the side-by-side is more efficient.

M. O'BRIEN: No, freezer on bottom.

WILLIS: Soledad, I'm shocked. Miles is right.

M. O'BRIEN: Freezer on bottom because the cold sinks. You want it down at the bottom. You pull it open. The cold doesn't just waft out of the top by the side by side, right? Am I right on that one?

WILLIS: Well, the side by side you lose so much energy every time you open those two doors, because there's so much cold air that gets out, so that's the problem. Look, the refrigerator is a real energy hog in your house; 20 percent of your energy bill is this refrigerator, and you guys probably know one of the big problems with a refrigerator is most people may have more than one. That's a problem. You're spending a ton of dough. But make sure, too, that you don't pick the refrigerator -- you remember these models -- that have the water and the ice in the door.

S. O'BRIEN: I have that.

WILLIS: Boosts your bill by 20 percent. It's a real energy hog.

M. O'BRIEN: Why? Does it leak or something? Is that what the deal is?

WILLIS: I'm sorry, Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Does the water thing make it leak or something? Is it less insulated? Is that what it is?

WILLIS: No, it just takes a lot more energy to -- more juice, more juice, more expensive.

OK, here is our final question here -- what's more expensive, the laptop or the PC?

M. O'BRIEN: Is it a CRT or an LCD, or plasma?

WILLIS: Well, plasma is terrible.

Conventional PC or laptop?

M. O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess the laptop.

WILLIS: We've got a PC here.

M. O'BRIEN: It's got a smaller fan, has a battery that helps it go.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm going to say smaller has got to be better.

WILLIS: Absolutely right. Miles gets 100 percent here. He's impressive.

M. O'BRIEN: You did OK on that last one, Sole.

S. O'BRIEN: I failed. I failed. I'm not green at all, and I know nothing about being green.

WILLIS: Well, now you do. But the laptop, 50 percent more energy efficient than the PC, and exactly for the reasons that Miles was just saying. You know, you can save bigtime as I just showed you right in your kitchen. If you want more information on energy- efficient appliances, go to energystar.com, and of course join us Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on CNN to watch "OPEN HOUSE." We've have more information on green living, which is so important today.

Plus, mortgages for people with bad credit and how to cut your tax bill.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Gerri, thank you.

WILLIS: Got to take a short break. Be back in just a moment right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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