Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Coast Guard Rescue Near Houston; Controversy Over Pet Food Recall; Danger on the High Seas; Apocalpyse Ahead?; Professor John Christy Speaks to CNN About Global Warming; Fifth-Graders Having Sex; A Look at Early Christians

Aired April 07, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I speak, they will kidnap me, Saif (ph) says. They'll shut my mouth and kidnap me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Orphans in a war zone, Iraqi children surviving on the charity of others. Their story, straight ahead.

A skeptic of global warming's impact. Hear why one professor thinks the majority of his colleagues are way off base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why I don't put my long johns away until June.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: God idea. From Cleveland to Boston and even Atlanta, a big chill is under way. Straight ahead, details on when it might end. The news unfolding, live, this Saturday, April 7th. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You are in the NEWSROOM.

Well, the calendar may say it's April, but in some parts of the country, nature is saying not so fast. Not rain or sleet, but honest to goodness snow. The white stuff fell in metro Atlanta overnight, ditto for the nation's capital. It may look pretty, but you probably won't see many folks dancing in the street, not as of yet.

Same for the folks in Knoxville. Unfortunately, it isn't a bad joke. And while this may be the perfect weather for football, baseball? No way. The snow falling in Cleveland last night was so heavy officials called the game between the Indians and the Seattle Mariners.

Reynolds Wolf is in the Weather Center. I'd say this is severe in some parts. You know, when you should be enjoying tulips.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Well, I don't know if you could blame it on weather but a boat ride these folks will never forget. Four people, including two young children, were riding in a boat on the Colorado River near Houston when something went wrong. The boat careened off a 150-foot dam and became wedged at the bottom in white water.

All on board were pulled to safety by a U.S. coast guard helicopter, a man and a boy were taken to a nearby hospital. No word yet on their condition. In the meantime, the coast guard says the boat either possibly lost steering or its engine died.

Joining us on the phone from Houston with more on the rescue, coast guard petty officer Adam Eggers. And so Mr. Eggers, these folks are incredibly lucky, at the same time very unlucky. How in the world did this happen that their boat would happen upon this dam and then actually go off it?

ADAM EGGERS, COAST GUARD PETTY OFFICER: Well like you previously mentioned, there is a possibility that they either lost steering or their engine died. At this point in time, we don't know the exact cause, but judging on the position of the boat and exactly just the fact that a boat did go over a dam, kind of leads us to believe that.

WHITFIELD: Has anything like this ever happened before?

EGGERS: Well, so far in my time here, I haven't seen it, but definitely, you know, a couple weeks ago we had a rescue of a man out of a tree and then this one was a boat going over a dam.

So it's not something that we normally do. Everybody associates us with open ocean rescues. But it's something we can do when we need to move in and save a life.

WHITFIELD: So, very unusual for this to happen. This, you know, freak, strange accident, maybe because of the power failure as we mentioned, or the steering problems, et cetera. So, how is it that you all learned that these folks were in trouble and that you knew how to spring into action right away?

EGGERS: Well, we got a phone call from the local sheriff's office, notifying us that there was two people on board a vessel that had gone over a dam. When we got on the scene, we actually learned there were four people on board, including a five and a 7-year-old boy. It's basically something that we do every day, as far as conducting hoists from the helicopter.

So our folks got on the scene, assessed the situation and, you know, knew it was dangerous but we had to drop the rescue swimmer down there to get the people off.

WHITFIELD: So, doing these helicopter rescues, nothing unusual for you all, but clearly something a bit unusual, given that this doesn't happen every day here near this dam. So, what made this rescue that much more dangerous, precarious, a little bit more tricky than your usual helicopter rescues?

EGGERS: Well as your viewers can probably see from the video, there's a large amount of water coming over that dam when we were conducting these hoists so you basically have four people pinned in a boat at the bottom of a waterfall.

Now the danger comes in if any of those people get pushed out of that boat by the water, now you have a person in a fast-moving waterway, and the helicopter trying to get in there and pick them had up, extremely difficulty if there's any rock, power lines in the area. Just the difficulty was just immense in this rescue.

WHITFIELD: Well, glad it was a successful rescue and we hope the best for all those on board and rescue. Thanks so much, Coast guard petty officer Adam Eggers.

EGGERS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well, certainly was not a good week for being on a boat or a ship for that matter. The captain of that sunken Greek cruise ship is now being charged with negligence today. He and five other officers are accused of causing the Sea Diamond to founder and sink in the Aegean Sea. The search continues for two passengers still missing since the ship went down on Thursday.

And now a disturbing new development in the pet food scare. An FDA official says someone may have intentionally placed a dangerous additive in wheat gluten used in pet food.

Also, the recall of some pet food is expanding again. It includes dog biscuits sold under the Sunshine brand and private labels marketed by Wal-Mart under the Old Roy brand.

Tests show the wheat gluten is in the biscuits and it was contaminated with melamine, a chemical used to make plastics and other industrial products. And Menu Foods is expanding its original recall on a variety of the cuts and gravy style products made between November 8th and March 6th.

So, why put an industrial chemical in pet food? One theory, to increase profits. CNN's Joe Johns reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How and where the melamine got into the wheat gluten is still a mystery, but the investigation took a new turn when the FDA told CNN it is looking into whether there could have been a profit motive for deliberately introducing melamine into the wheat gluten.

In other words, it might not have been an accident, and may have been about money. That's right. Until now, the assumption has been that this was an accidental contamination because melamine is used in plastics and pesticides and has no business in pet food.

However, the chemical could potentially be used to raise protein levels in the gluten, which could increase the price or make it easier to sell.

STEPHEN SUNDLOF, FDA: That's one of the theories that we have, in fact, that's one of the ones that we are pursuing because, as you indicated, adding something that would increase the protein content of the wheat gluten would make it more valuable. So, that's a distinct possibility, but it's only one theory at this time.

JOHNS: All the companies, including the company in China, have denied adding melamine to the wheat gluten in the pet food. The FDA also reported that the number of pet food complaints it's received since the start of the scare is now at 12,000, the volume it would normally get over a two-year period.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A Chinese government official says an investigation is under way into the claim that China exported wheat gluten containing melamine. The official also says an earlier official Chinese newspaper report implying that China had never exported wheat gluten to the U.S. was wrong.

We posted the entire pet food recall list on our Web site. Check it out, CNN.com/petfoodrecall and check out the ticker running at the bottom of your screen. We are listing all the affected brands just so we can help clarify any of the confusion.

Well, the smallest victims in Iraq trying to pull through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doing homework in a country where the U.N. says over 20 percent of primary school aged children don't even attend classes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, orphans of war and the people trying to help them. That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

And the United Nations says global warming is set to do major damage to us and our planet. We look at the reality and the doubters.

And then later, she pled the fifth to any congressional subpoenas, seeking information on Alberto Gonzales' Justice Department. Now, Monica Goodling calls it quit. Details and the aftermath, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Danger on the high seas, those British sailors and marines who were held captive by Iran have been talking about why they didn't put up a fight. Outgunned, outmanned, they say they had no options when Iranian troops showed up armed and determined. Now the U.S. military is looking for ways to avoid the same trap. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. Navy is urgently reviewing all operations in the Persian Gulf, making sure what happened to the British does not happen to it.

ROBERT GATES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We have asked for -- asked the chairman through the commander of Central Command and others to examine our procedures, and make sure that, first of all, that we're playing well within the baselines, just like the British were, and that our sailors are properly protected against any similar kind of activity.

STARR: U.S. Navy officials tell CNN with 20/20 hindsight, there may have been two critical decisions that left the 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines virtually alone, and unprotected. First, HMS Cornwall, with its guns, was too far away to help. The British say there was a reason for that.

LT. FELIX CARMAN, BRITISH ROYAL NAVY: Not only should she not have been closer to us, but she physically could not have been. The water in the area where we were captured was too shallow.

STARR: And the (INAUDIBLE) helicopter overhead had left the scene at some point to return to Cornwall. It came back, only as trouble broke out. That left the young British troops outmanned, and outgunned by the heavily armed Iranians, who rammed their boats, and then captured them.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: They were left high and dry in the sense that there was not enough force there to react to what they were presented with.

STARR: The U.S. and its allies vow to continue patrolling the Persian Gulf to protect Iraq's vital offshore oil terminals and watch for illegal activity. But the U.S. Navy's guard is up, way up.

ADM. MICHAEL MULLEN, U.S. CHIEF OF NAVAL OPS: We've got procedures in place which are very much designed to carry out the mission, and protect the sailors who were there. And I would not expect any sailors to be able to be seized by the Iranian navy -- or the Iranian Republican Guard navy.

STARR (on camera): U.S. and Royal Navy officials say they're not at war with Iran, and had no reason to expect a sneak attack. The British troops say, they had to make the difficult decision to surrender, rather than risk a shooting war they felt they couldn't win.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: In Iraq, the U.S. military now reporting two U.S. soldiers killed and seven wounded Friday in bomb explosions around Baghdad. Earlier today, crackdown in Diwaniya, an Iraqi led air strike bombed insurgents with rocket-propelled grenade. The U.S. military says locals use ad tipster hotline to report the locations of armed militia in that area.

And with each death in Iraq, the number of orphans grows. There just aren't enough places for them. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen visited one orphanage to see just how these children are coping.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A tablespoon of yogurt on fried rice, lunch is simple at the Safe House, an orphanage in one of Baghdad's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods.

But for 6-year-old Saif Saley (ph), simply getting a hot meal every day is luxury. Saif's (ph) parents were killed by a roadside bomb two and a half years ago. He was with them in the car, and now the boy is afraid to even talk about the terrorists who killed his mom and dad.

"If I speak, they will kidnap me," Saif (ph) says. "They will shut my mouth and kidnap me."

Almost all the children here have similar stories to tell. "I've never seen my father," this boy weeps. "I'm 17-years-old and I did not know my father or even what he looks like. Every kid outside has a father that takes them to hospital or to school and brings them back home."

But while the children's pasts are ever present, the orphanage tries to offer them a future, doing homework in a country where the U.N. says over 20 percent of primary aged school children don't even attend classes.

(on camera): There are no reliable numbers as to how many children have been made orphans by the ongoing violence in Iraq but the government does admit it's having trouble providing food and shelter for a growing number of orphan children. Iraq's ministry for social affairs says many of them end up on the streets, begging or stealing.

(voice-over): The orphanage is a private institution started by Iraqis from Kurdistan, funded solely by donations, one of only very few places in Iraq. "Thank god we didn't let these children down," the social worker says. "We leave our own families to look after these kids. We find one of them upset, we try to talk to them as if we were the parents."

Six-year-old Saif (ph) agrees. He says the orphanage is like a new home to him and the staff are almost like parents. Saif (ph) is a talented singer. He often sings songs for his new friend at the safe house, songs about god and the prophets and about a hope for a better future. Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well here some words you should never hear at the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I heard was the surgeon yelled very loudly to call 911.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And were you stunned that here you are in a hospital and they're calling 911?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I can remember saying is -- looking at him and saying, you've got to be kidding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: No, there was no kidding. Details on how this could happen, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

And famine, flooding and mass extinction. A new U.N. report says all those are headed our way, thanks to global warming. Both sides of the debate.

And what kind of trouble can fifth graders get into when left alone for 15 minutes? Well, plenty. But sex? A disturbing case from Louisiana. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Yes, this is not a movie set, that's real. Real fire, real flames, real train going right through it. It's racing toward a wall of flames at 70 miles an hour. This happening in New Mexico. The train operator chose to keep on going rather than risk stopping right in the middle of the blaze. So, the passengers say they could feel the intense heat as the train ran through that fire. I bet you are glad you were not on board that locomotive. Amazing stuff.

Well China today says it will wait until 2012 to negotiate a framework for limiting global warming. China is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases. A U.N. report warns the earth is on a catastrophic course due to the burning of fossil fuels.

There is so much information out there about global warming it can make all of our heads spin, and it's very difficult to make sense out of all of it. Is the apocalypse on the horizon? Josh Levs is here with some perspective. I hope not.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, especially today you need some perspective. People look outside and it's freezing and people are you saying, are you sure this global warming is going on? Have you been outside?

There is a reason I moved to Atlanta from upstate New York, people. Hey, everybody. Yeah, she's right. This is the deal. You are going to be hearing a lot about global warming in the coming days and you are going to hear about the human contributions and that's a big part of the story.

But researchers are saying even if you do everything right, global warming will still continue to happen. So, the question we are looking into now, is this, is it really within our power to prevent some of these doomsday scenarios we are hearing about? And the answer we are getting from a lot of scientists who follow this is yes, it is possible for some of the worst events to be avoided.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS (voice-over): You've heard the pronouncements.

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is the most dangerous crisis we've ever faced.

LEVS: And the claims that some scientists have proven it's a hoax.

SEN. JAMES INHOFE (R), OKLAHOMA: Are they all wrong and you're right?

LEVS: The world is getting warmer. There's really no dispute about that. The vast majority of the world's leading scientists, including 2,500 involved in the U.N. report, say humans are contributing.

But how much of it is really our fault?

That's unclear. There are forces of nature beyond our control. Still, these scientists say we can help, primarily by curtailing greenhouse emissions like carbon dioxide from sources like factories and tailpipes.

The U.S. is the biggest emitter.

DANA PERINO, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is the United States that has had better performance in terms of reducing greenhouse gases, with a stronger, growing economy, than many of the other countries, I think most of the other countries who signed onto the Kyoto agreement.

LEVS: But U.S. greenhouse emissions have gone up. The most recent figures from the Environmental Protection Agency show that in 2004, they jumped 1.7 percent.

The U.N. says some other countries, such as Australia, have increased emissions even more. But Britain and France are among those cutting emissions.

Experts say global warming will keep happening. The goal is to limit it and prepare.

SALVANO BRICENO, STRATEGY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION: It's reducing vulnerability while adapting to extreme hazards.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEVS: And so the U.N. is calling on government policymakers across the world to do both things. And coming up, the same group of scientists is actually going to issue another report, Fred, and they'll be telling us a bunch about what you and I can do and other individuals, countries around the world, things we don't already know, things we can do to help reduce the type of pollution that these scientists say ultimately does contribute to our global warming.

WHITFIELD: We look forward to that but we know the debate rages on.

LEVS: Oh, yes.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Josh.

LEVS: Thanks a lot.

WHITFIELD: In fact, the debate over whether the climate is heating up does rage on, even within this hour. Some scientists say the cause is not as clear-cut as it is made out to be. Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, we are joined by one of these doubters.

And later, a shocking discovery in a fifth grade classroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The girls came in and said, we don't have a teacher. We can do whatever we want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy, and what they are accused of doing has caused an uproar in a rural Louisiana parish.

And when you are in the hospital, you might ring the on-call button for a nurse or doctor, right? But who would they call if they were to get into trouble? You'll be shocked when we tell you. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Neighborhood renewal, it's a phrase we often hear in big cities, right? Well even small towns are now embracing redevelopment. CNN's Gerri Willis has one example in this week's "Modern Living."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN ANCHOR: Take the train an hour and 20 minutes north of New York and you'll find yourself in the modest city of Newburg. Dorothy Hill (ph) lives in a historic house overlooking the Hudson.

For 40 years, the lots in front of her house have been empty. The city invited developers to bid for the business of making those empty lots. Unlike many major protects the, Newburg citizens will get a say in what goes there.

STEVE MAUN, LEYLAND ALLIANCE: Instead of designing a project in private and unveiling it later, it really involves the community by having all of the professionals gather here in a public event. WILLIS: After a week of meetings with locals, the designers have plans for what they hope will be a vibrant area that can draw folks from New York City.

ANDRES DUANY, ARCHITECT: If this place takes off, it could be -- it could be grand.

WILLIS: People who live here think it could be grand, too. And they're looking forward to seeing their ideas come to life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's wonderful, wonderful. So we are looking forward to our future.

WILLIS: I'm Gerri Willis, and that's this week's "Modern Living."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center. Welcome back to the NEWSROOM.

Well, she's out of here. Monica Goodling quits her job as counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. You may remember, Goodling raised controversy by invoking her fifth amendment right against self-incrimination rather than testify before Congress about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Her three-sentence resignation letter does not give any details about why she abruptly quit.

Well, many of you want to know more about Monica Goodling. Our Brian Todd has some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She's at the center of the U.S. attorney firing scandal, but Monica Goodling, seen here in pictures from a law school reunion, has apparently gone underground.

ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm not going to comment on the decision by a -- an employee at the department to exercise her constitutional rights.

TODD: Goodling's decision to take the fifth has angered the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, (D-VT), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: If she feels, or she has to tell us would subject her to criminal -- criminal prosecution, well, that raises some really serious questions.

TODD: Goodling's attorney cautions taking the fifth could also be intended to protect her innocence. That's all we hear from Goodling or her attorney. Neither returned our calls.

Who is this woman? No traces of Goodling at her suburban Virginia home. Neighbors say they don't know her. But a former colleague at the Justice Department tells CNN no one outworked Monica Goodling. That person was part of what's described as a core group of Goodling's close friends.

Other current and former Justice Department colleagues describe a woman who was abrupt, who ruffled feathers among U.S. attorneys and others. But a close friend at Justice says that's because Goodling was unfailingly honest and might have sometimes been too direct.

As for her earlier career, classmates at Messiah College in Pennsylvania describe her as relentlessly hard working, driven, a loner. Goodling, seen here in the college yearbook, became editor of that publication by her junior year. At one point writing in a thank you passage to colleagues, "You guys more than anyone felt my anal retentiveness for perfection and quality."

(on camera): From there, it was on to Regent University Law School in Virginia, the first Bush campaigns, and then the Press Office here at the Justice Department. Monica Goodling's upward arc from there, according to colleagues, was meteoric.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: In Manila, a raging fire leaves 400 homes in ashes and 1200 families looking for shelter. It took nearly five hours to bring the blaze under control, people using buckets, individuals trying to put out the blaze.

Annual fire warnings went out last month, when the area entered its hot and dry season.

In Nashville, dozens of people are searching for a new place to live this Easter weekend after a huge fire there. The blaze near Nashville's Airport destroyed 64 apartment units and damaged nearly a dozen others. Strong winds made it tough for firefighters to get a handle on the blaze.

One person suffered smoke inhalation and two firefighters, well, they suffered minor injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but authorities say it might be cooking related.

And the day before Easter, a fire sweeps through this St. Anne Catholic Church in New Castle, Indiana. Fire officials say it broke out just before 8:00 this morning local time. Firefighters had it under control three and a half hours later but officials say the damage is extensive.

Call 911. It's the first thing most of us do when face with a critical medical emergency. But once you are actually in the hospital, the need for 911 responders, well, it doesn't seem right.

Well, Gary Tuchman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Steve Spivey's father, his mother, and wife. What they went through when Steve was in the hospital was harrowing.

TRACY SPIVEY, PATIENT'S WIFE: He was panicking, very scared. I had never seen that kind of fear in his eyes. Ever.

TUCHMAN: Steve Spivey, a father of three, was in this Abilene, Texas, hospital for neck surgery after a truck accident. The operation seemed to go well. But the 44-year-old started to choke that night. His wife was at his side.

SPIVEY: The nurses felt like he was just having a panic attack, and the last words he said were, no, I'm in trouble.

TUCHMAN: The hospital Spivey was in is one of about 140 in the country owned by the physicians who work there, but all the doctors had gone home for the day when Steve lost the ability to breathe.

SPIVEY: His eyes were bright green, and they turned very dark, his face turned dark, and he grasped my hands and shook them like this, looked me in my eyes. And then closed his eyes and went out. That was his last breath.

TUCHMAN: Tracy Spivey kept yelling to call a doctor, but in the meantime, incredibly, she says she performed CPR by herself for 15 minutes.

SPIVEY: There was no pulse. I checked, you know, three different places for pulse and could find none. I told them, we have no pulse. One of the nurses said, what's wrong? What's happening? And I said, he's dying.

TUCHMAN: About two hours after Steve started gagging, the surgeon arrived.

SPIVEY: All I heard was the surgeon yell very loudly to call 911.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Were you stunned that here you are in a hospital and they are calling 911?

SPIVEY: All I can remember saying is, looking at him and saying, you've got to be kidding.

TUCHMAN: Steve Spivey was pronounced dead at a different hospital. This week, Tracy went back to the hospital with her attorney as they met with a hospital lawyer in preparation for a likely lawsuit.

DARRELL KEITH, SPIVEY FAMILY ATTORNEY: I look forward to being their champion.

TUCHMAN: Darrell Keith is her lawyer.

KEITH: Well, I think that physician-owned hospitals as a general rule, tend to be more profit driven than patient safety driven.

TUCHMAN: After the death of Steve Spivey, the federal government decided to no longer allow the use of Medicare at this hospital, and now the facility is shut down. The hospital's CEO did not want to go on camera but did tell us, "911 is a last resort in Mr. Spivey's case. We were trying to get the patient to a higher level of care." He also said the facility may reopen some day in a different form.

At another physician-owned hospital in Arlington, Texas --

GREG WEISS, CHMN, USMD HOSPITAL AT ARLINGTON: If we treat every patient like a family member, the patients will want to come here, the referring doctors will want to refer here.

TUCHMAN: Doctors are in the facility around the clock. The physicians here at USMD reject the broad-brush criticism they hear about doctors owning hospitals and have immense pride in their facility.

DR. JOHN HOUSE, PHYSICIAN/OWNER, USMD HOSPITAL: If we want a place where we can take care of our patients the way that we want to take care of our family members, and we have the ability to do that by owning and controlling our own facility.

TUCHMAN: But some members of Congress want to take a closer look at how these types of hospitals are regulated.

REP. PETE STARK, (D-CA): The hospitals are often second rate, sometimes illegal. And it takes profitable business away from community hospitals.

TUCHMAN: Tracy Spivey still has nightmares about when she told her 10-year-old daughter the horrifying news.

SPIVEY: I just pulled her in my lap and held her. And told her I needed her to be real strong. And I said, baby girl, our daddy got very sick. Our daddy is not coming home.

TUCHMAN: Tracy still can't believe a hospital had to dial 911.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Abilene, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Heartbreaking.

The Christian Church, well, it's one of the world's biggest and most entrenched organizations but it wasn't always the case. We take a look at the earliest Christians.

And feeling the heat. The United Nations takes aim at global warming but a handful of skeptical scientists say not so fast.

And later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of this is being picked up by children from the Internet and from lyrics of songs and what they see in the movies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A Louisiana community outraged by grade school sex. That's still ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This weekend is one of those busy travel times with many people on spring break, and, of course, Easter vacation. Well, that can add up to crowded planes and a better chance of losing your seat. In today's On the Go series, advice on how to avoid getting bumped and what you need to know if you do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS McGINNIS, EXPEDIA.COM: Airlines typically oversell their flights by about 20 percent because a lot of people don't show up for flights. However, as we all know, sometimes everybody shows up, and that's when the bumping game starts.

So if you are involuntarily bumped and the airline has to accommodate you on another flight, if they can get you to your destination within one hour of your originally scheduled arrival time you don't get anything. If you are between one and two hours late, you're entitled to a cash payment of $200. And if you're over two hours late, you are entitled to a cash payment of $400.

It's important to ask for the cash payment. The airline is required by federal law to provide this to you, but a lot of times they'll try to buy you off with a free round trip ticket or something like that. You are not entitled to anything but -- under federal law if you are simply delayed or your flight is canceled.

The easiest way to avoid getting bumped is to simply show up on time. The airlines have a cutoff at 20 to 30 minutes ahead of the departure time of the flight. If you can't make that it's much more likely you will get bumped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Floods, famine and possible doom. U.N. scientists warn global warming is already taking planet Earth down a dark path of no return. It paints a gloomy picture of rising temperatures, dying species and a dramatic shift in continents as well as life as we know it. All due to greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.

So, they may be in the minority, but not every scientist thinks the earth's climate change is in a crisis. One of them is an award- winning atmospheric scientist from the University of Alabama Huntsville. John Christy has been studying global climate issues since 1987. He's on the phone with us right now.

So Professor Christy, greenhouse gases, atmospheric buildup, all altering the climate and ecosystems. Do you agree with that part of the report?

VOICE OF JOHN CHRISTY, PROFESSOR, UNIV. OF ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE: Well, I agree that there are more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to humans, but the ability to attribute any change you see out there is pretty tenuous. And it is kind of taking a stretch for some of the gloomy things you read in the report there.

WHITFIELD: Such as?

CHRISTY: Well, talking about the shifting of climate zones in Africa, that's been going on for thousands of years. And I hope all your viewers understand one very simple fact, is that the carbon dioxide we have put in the atmosphere has been put there to our great benefit. In all likelihood, you and I are alive today because of the energy technology that's based on that carbon dioxide.

WHITFIELD: To our great benefit in what way?

CHRISTY: Well, because there are more people that live longer and are able to survive because of the energy technologies we have out there. There's been about an eight fold increase in that in the past 100 years. That is an astounding and spectacular achievement.

WHITFIELD: So people living longer, but at the same time, the flip side to that is there are scientists who say that there are islands, the land masses getting smaller because of the heat and that means the ice bergs, et cetera, are melting. We've also seen in various reports that polar bears and other animals are not able to live as a result of this kind of global warming. So, how do you measure the benefits versus these major downfalls and the prospect of certain animals possibly facing extinction as a result?

CHRISTY: OK. The benefits are astounding. Just look at the numbers, life has been extended by 30 years in the past 100 years. Just for polar bears, science is about numbers. Count the polar bears. The number of polar bears has increased about four times in the past 40 years, and so it is not a disaster coming for them in the warming that we've seen.

But, you know, in countries like Africa that are being picked on, continents like Africa, it really is the governments that are the problem there. That's what people fear most and are not protected by. So, if those kinds of big problems are taken care of, the climate change thing is minor in retro -- when you are looking at that kind of --

WHITFIELD: So, professor, am I hearing from you, too, then human behavior has nothing to do or has little to do with climate change?

CHRISTY: Well, I believe that the extra CO2 we have put in the atmosphere will affect the climate somewhat. I think what we do and we build the data census study this. We don't see these catastrophic changes that are promoted on in the media these days. We find very small rates of change.

WHITFIELD: So, how is -- how do you explain that you are in a minority in terms of challenging these 2,500 scientists who come about with this report?

CHRISTY: All your people need to know, 2,500 scientists didn't agree on anything. I am one of those scientists that's in that report. And so you need to understand that this is a small -- much smaller group of folks that come up with this disastrous scenario.

But fundamentally, we are the kind -- we are the few people in the world that actually build these data sets, so that we can look carefully at the kinds of changes that are going on, and we don't see the catastrophe coming.

WHITFIELD: Professor John Christy at the University of Alabama- Huntsville, we appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

CHRISTY: You are welcome.

WHITFIELD: So as your children grow up, your list of worries certainly changes. Well, coming up next, a story that will shock parents of young children who thought they could put off that talk about the birds and the bees. Alleged sex in grammar school? That's straight ahead.

And later, the early Christians. How they survived and thrived. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

REYNOLDS WOLF, METEOROLOGIST: Hi, folks, I'm Reynolds Wolf with a look at today's allergy report. And it looks like we're going to have widespread cases of pollen, especially in the southeastern United States, along portions of the eastern seaboard as well as the four corners.

However, for parts of the Great Lakes, and into the northern plains, conditions are looking pretty good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A small Louisiana community is in shock. Four fifth graders accused of having sex inside a classroom.

CNN's Susan Candiotti has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She loves computers, science and astronomy, so when 11-year-old Blair (ph) saw four of her fellow fifth graders allegedly having sex right in front of her and her classmates, it was, well, creepy.

BLAIR: I was just freaking out.

CANDIOTTI, (on camera): Did you try -- did you look? Did you try not to look? BLAIR: I turned around and I saw them, but then I turned back around and I'm like, I don't have anything to do with that.

CANDIOTTI: It happened right in this classroom at about 9:00 in the morning. There was a school assembly going on at the time. These students were not invited. And officials say because of a mix-up between two teachers, the students were left alone.

BLAIR: One of the girls came in and said, there's no teacher. We can do whatever we want.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Police say that girl suggested having sex. Then she and another girl had sex with two boys in the back of the room. A third boy acted as lookout.

(on camera): What is it your investigators told you about where these kids came up with the idea?

SHERIFF BOB BUCKLEY, UNION PARISH, LOUISIANA: In my humble opinion, I think a lot of this is being picked up by children from Internet and from lyrics of songs and what they're seeing in the movies.

CANDIOTTI: Do the kids involved in this get it, do they get why so many people are upset about this?

BUCKLEY: I -- I don't really think they, they have. I think that the notoriety has been kind of an ego-booster.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): In fact, this scandal is a very big deal here at Union Parish, Louisiana. In this rural area, many parents work two jobs to make ends meet. The church is influential here. Folks hold conservative, family values. There is no sex education in public schools, but the sheriff says that needs to change.

BUCKLEY: We as a community and we as parents need to do is, is demand that there are some sex education in the classroom or in the home or wherever that teaches these kids that there's more to sex than just the act itself.

CANDIOTTI: Blair's mother blames the school for being neglectful.

REBECCA TRUMAN, MOTHER: They should be under investigation for leaving the children unattended in the classroom.

CANDIOTTI: Four children are charged with obscene behavior, but the district attorney has not decided whether to prosecute them. The school board has yet to decide whether it will punish the kids. As for Blair, with the help of family, she is trying to cope.

BLAIR: I want the kids to know that it's all right to talk to their parents about what happened.

CANDIOTTI: Why do you think that's important?

BLAIR: Because, well stuff like they need to know in life.

CANDIOTTI: An unexpected lesson in life in a fifth grade classroom.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Union Parish, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Christianity, it's one of the world's biggest religions, but that wasn't always the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): In the years just after Jesus' death, his followers struggled to keep his message alive. A message in peril of disappearing completely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We look at the early Christian Church and the two men who were widely credited with saving it from extinction. You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This Easter weekend we focus on early Christians. Our Faith and Values Correspondent Delia Gallagher reports on a major struggle that threatened to doom the religion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, FAITH & VALUES CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the tumultuous years just after Jesus' death, his followers struggled to keep his message alive. A message in peril of disappearing completely. But then two leaders emerged, Peter, the simple fisherman from Galilee, Jesus' chief apostle. And Paul, the sophisticated intellectual.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people called Paul the second founder of Christianity because Christianity is more than following the teachings of Jesus. Christianity is not just the religion that Jesus had. It's the religion about Jesus. It's the religion founded on Jesus' death and resurrection.

GALLAGHER: But spreading Jesus' story and defining this new faith put Paul and Peter, its most influential leaders, at odds. Both were Jews. But Peter argued that Jesus was for the Jews only. If you wanted to follow Jesus, you had to become a Jew and obey Jewish law.

Paul, on the other hand, preached that the new faith was open to everyone, Gentile and Jew. This open door policy was a huge problem for Peter who wielded considerable power in Jerusalem, power given to him by Jesus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says to Peter, "You are Peter," the Greek term for rock, petros. "And on this rock," petra, "I will build my church."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peter was the key player in early Christianity, and according to our traditions, was the one who converted Jews early on to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

GALLAGHER: Within two decades of the Crucifixion, scholars say Christianity faced a life or death moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was the major dispute of early Christianity, whether followers of Jesus had to become Jewish in order to worship the Jewish God.

GALLAGHER: This conflict between Peter and Paul threatened to destroy the new faith.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Jerusalem, around the year 48 to 49, the first Apostolic Council is called in order to resolve the issue of Gentile Christians, do they convert or don't they convert.

Paul argues that the Holy Spirit had descended upon the Gentiles apart from the law of Moses, therefore there was no reason to insist that those Gentiles be converted first to Judaism in order to be a member of the church.

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