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Accident & Attack; Superbug in Schools; Pupils & the Pill
Aired October 18, 2007 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: From witness to suspect. Things happened fast for a father walking his kids to school.
Linda Ergas from affiliate WHDH reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
I was only trying to save the kids' lives. I was...
LINDA ERGAS, REPORTER, WHDH (voice over): Twenty-seven-year-old John Dorville (ph) telling a judge he was only trying to save the kids' lives. Well, things have taken quite a turn for him. He's accused of assaulting the driver of this commercial van after police say the driver blew the stop sign, hit a truck, and wound up coming up on the curb, where a 6-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, sister and brother, were standing waiting for their school bus.
SGT. THOMAS MAURETTI, FALL RIVER, MASS., POLICE: It's been reported that Mr. Dorville (ph) believed that he was going to leave the scene. We haven't been able to confirm that as of yet. However, we do know that the two traded some verbal words and then it escalated to unfortunately escalated to a point of an assault.
ERGAS: Investigators say Mr. Dorville (ph) was walking his own children to school when he went on the attack. Police putting him in handcuffs right at the scene.
MAURETTI: It's believed that he picked up a piece of remnants of the fence and struck him over the head.
ERGAS: Tyesha Cobb knows Mr. Dorville's (ph) girlfriend and heard what went down.
TYESHA COBB, WITNESSED ATTACK: He ran over to them and was like, "What are you doing?" You know? And the guy was like, "Oh, I had to go to work." And he just couldn't -- I guess he went loose on him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Well, the two children are recovering. The 11-year-old boy has a broken leg. His 6-year-old sister is being treated for head injuries.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning again, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris. COLLINS: Hi there, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on this Thursday, the 18th day of October.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Tornado warnings popping up last hour. A sizable part of the country in for rough weather today.
HARRIS: An illegal immigrants takes a drastic step. He deports himself, leaving his children in the United States.
COLLINS: And birth control available to young girls on campus. A Maine school stirring a political and social storm.
Your e-mails coming up in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And at the top this hour, dangerous storms plow across the plains. And if you live in the eastern half of the country, take a look. This could be in store for you. Lightning lit the sky over much of the region last night, but this was the pretty part of the storm.
This was the ugly reality early this morning. A tornado killed at least two people in Missouri. Winds tore through their trailer and threw their bodies some 40 feet.
In Oklahoma, more than two dozen buildings were damaged, almost all of them mobile homes. Across the state, dozens of people were hurt, many of the injuries at an Oktoberfest celebration in Tulsa. Fierce winds suddenly tore into the massive tents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SANDERS, TULSA OKTOBERFEST ORGANIZER: It started raining. It was a very light rain. So I ran for cover as other people did into the beer garden.
As soon as I got in there, within seconds, without warning, there was this huge gust of wind, possibly a microburst, not sure, and the tent started collapsing. And it was just one of those chaotic scenes here at Oktoberfest that we've never seen before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: In Kansas, no injuries reported, but lots of damage. High winds, heavy rains, and hail the size of golf balls. Trees were uprooted and streets flooded. In Andover, two businesses and several homes were damaged.
Man.
COLLINS: Yes. A lot to follow this morning. Rob Marciano is in front of the maps now and has been working these stories all morning long.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Meanwhile, want to tell you about this now, staph infections in schools. Reported cases spreading across the country, and concern growing today about a so-called "superbug". Virginia schools where a student died from drug-resistant staph is back open this morning.
Brianna Keilar is in Moneta, Virginia, with the very latest on that.
Brianna, just wondering what attendance at the high school looks like today. Did everybody go back?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not everybody, Heidi. It's at about 88 percent today. That's down about eight percent from a normal day. And the principal here at Staunton River High School thinks a lot of that has to do with kids who just weren't ready to come back to school, kids who were friends with Ashton Bonds, a very well-known, well-liked senior at the high school who died on Monday from an antibiotic-resistant staph infection. But he also says he expects many of the students didn't return simply because they didn't feel it was safe to come back to the classroom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR (voice-over): Health officials hope it won't be a recurring sight. Cleaning crews at schools, disinfecting locker rooms, desks and more -all to prevent a deadly infection from spreading. In Virginia, the cleanup follows the 17-year-old death after he was hospitalized with an antibiotic resistant staph infection.
RYAN EDWARDS, BEDFORD COUNTY SCHOOLS SPOKESMAN: We have been dealing with MRSA for the better part of the past month. And we have had cases up here steadily since then.
KEILAR: It's called Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, or MRSA. And it's not just in Virginia, health officials in Connecticut are on guard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At this point, it is one confirmed case and one other possible case.
KEILAR: Cases are being reported in Ohio, Michigan and other states. Experts estimate about 90,000 people get the infection each year. Most infections occur in hospitals, but often they spread in schools among members of the same gym class or sports team.
DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC DIRECTOR: But there are some serious strains of staph out there. Some of them are very drug-resistant.
KEILAR: Maryland officials confirmed a case in Bethesda yesterday. New Hampshire officials blame the infection for the death of a 4-year-old girl last week. And last March in Texas, a 14-year- old boy with MRSA died from pneumonia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: We're also learning that two Connecticut high schools are also each reporting one case of MRSA, so more and more cases coming to light.
And a couple of ways that students can protect themselves from contracting MRSA. One is to, especially in the locker room, avoid sharing things like towels or soap or deodorant, anything that touches the skin. And above all, washing those hands, Heidi. That is something schools all over the nation are emphasizing for their students -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, we can't say it enough.
All right. CNN's Brianna Keilar from Moneta, Virginia, this morning.
Thanks so much, Brianna.
Also want to give you an explainer now on staph infections and the drug-resistant form known as MRSA. Staph is short for Staphylococcus Aureus, the bacteria commonly found on the skin and in the noses of healthy people. MRSA is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin or related antibiotics. It can be treated though with some other types of drugs.
The infection can spread through skin-to-skin contact or through sharing an item with an infected person. That could include items like towels or sports equipment found in gyms and locker rooms.
HARRIS: A showdown on Capitol Hill. Supporters of a bill to expand a children's health insurance program will try to override a presidential veto today. About two dozen lawmakers would have to change their votes to reach the two-thirds majority.
That prospect pretty dim. Even if the override fails, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will keep fighting for the expansion. President Bush has appointed a team to try and work out a compromise with Congress.
Our congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin is closely watching developments on Capitol Hill this morning, and she will join us later with live updates.
What is SCHIP? SCHIP stands for State Children's Health Insurance Program. It was created 10 years ago to help children from families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private insurance. That's typically folks who earn about $41,000 for a family of four.
Now, right now, the program covers more than six million children for routine checkups, immunizations, and the like. The bill would expand the program to about 10 million children at a cost of $35 billion over the next five years. The president has recommended a $5 billion increase to cover half a million children who are not covered now.
COLLINS: The Republican race for the White House possibly losing a candidate now. The Associated Press reporting this morning Senator Sam Brownback is expected to drop out.
The AP quotes people close to the Kansas senator. They say he'll make it official tomorrow.
Brownback was considered a long shot with just one percent of the support in a recent CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll.
If you want the most up-to-the-minute political news anywhere available, just check out CNNPolitics.com. It's your one-stop shop to get behind-the-scenes details from CNN's best political team on television and see why it's the Internet's premier destination for political news.
CNNPolitics.com.
HARRIS: Sniffle season -- is it safe to give your children medicines you buy at the store? The government trying to come up with some answers today.
FDA advisers are beginning two days of hearings on whether over- the-counter cold and cough medicine should be given to children 5 and younger. Last week, you may recall, drug makers pulled those medicines from the market for kids under 2. The industry says the medicines are safe but can lead to overdoses when they're misused.
The panel will also look at whether these drugs actually work for young children. They've only been tested in adults.
Pupils and the pill. A Maine school district approves a plan to give birth control pills and patches to students beginning in the sixth grade.
Reporter Jeff Peterson of affiliate WGME has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF PETERSON, REPORTER, WGME (voice over): No matter what side of the debate you were on, there was emotion, to say the least.
DIANNE MILLER, PARENT: The ramifications of what you are considering is mind-boggling to me. I just can't believe we would be this irresponsible.
PETERSON: According to the directors of the health center, only a very small amount of girls would need the prescription. The reasons for making them available are to protect, safety, and learning in school.
RICHARD VEILLEUX, PARENT: But for those kids who are not getting that guidance, I think it's important for all of us to make sure that those kids have access to the resources they need.
PETERSON: Directors of the center add that they have made condoms available for the past five years, and birth control pills would fill a piece of health care at the school that has been missing.
CAROL SCHILLER, PARENT: We're not talking about a stampede of kids coming in asking for birth control. We're looking at a segment of the population that, for whatever reason, are being abandoned by adults in their lives.
PETER DOYLE, PARENT: You all better consider that down the line, because you all are going to be responsible for that, the devastating effects on young women, when this goes through.
PETERSON: Meantime, some parents felt the discussion and then the OK to receive birth control pills belongs at home, not at school.
ILIA ADHAM, PARENT: If I knew my kid was going to King School, and the first thing I was told is she would get birth control, I wasn't going to register there.
RICHARD GILETTE, PARENT: I would say we're not -- we're not educating our kids. We're actually avoiding our responsibilities, and that's sad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK. We want to know what you think. Should contraceptives be offered to kids as young as 11? Why don't you just e-mail us your thoughts at cnnnewsroom@cnn.com.
More of your responses later this hour.
COLLINS: Juvenile in justice. Kids convicted without ever seeing a lawyer. We're going to be hearing from a mom who says a simple mistake cost her daughter her freedom.
HARRIS: Beating breast cancer. Optimistic news. Finally.
Our medical correspondent will fill us in.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Also, he worried the feds would deport him, so he deported himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could face jail time, which I'm not willing to, you know, do jail time. I would rather be free, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Illegal immigrant leaves legal family behind.
We'll tell you the story after a quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Teen in trouble for her Web posting. Without a lawyer, the girl got more than a slap on the wrist, too.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And cuffed you in front, in back, what did they do?
HILLARY, WAIVED HER RIGHTS TO ATTORNEY: In back.
FEYERICK (voice over): Fifteen-year-old Hillary was sent to a juvenile decision facility, charged with harassment, a low-level misdemeanor.
HILLARY: I was not only just confused and distraught and -- I was angry. I was, like, well, this is unfair. I should not be treated this way. I never hurt anybody physically.
I'm not a threat. I have never been in trouble before. Why is this happening to me?
FEYERICK: It started with a friend's only Web page on myspace making fun of Hillary's vice principal. The spoof came with a disclaimer stating it was a joke. Even so, Hillary's mom got a call from a police officer.
LAURIE, HILLARY'S MOTHER: He told me that we could work this out if I was going to be cooperative and not involve attorneys.
FEYERICK (on camera): The officer says he told Hillary's mom they could handle the matter "formally or informally". Based on that, Hillary's mom says she made a choice she would later regret. She waived Hillary's right to a lawyer over her daughter's objections.
HILLARY: I was concerned that possibly something more serious could happen.
FEYERICK (voice over): Hillary was right.
LAURIE: And I felt like I had really let her down.
FEYERICK: Instead of receiving a warning, the typical punishment, the high school sophomore was convicted and the judge sentenced her to three months in juvenile detention.
And Hillary is not alone. Every year, thousands of children across America are charged with crimes and serve time without ever speaking to an attorney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a crying shame after 40 years we haven't gone any further than we had 40 years ago. FEYERICK: Gerald Gault (ph) should know. In 1964, when he was a teenager, he was sentenced to six years at a reform school for making an obscene phone call. At the time, kids weren't entitled to lawyers. But after reviewing Gault's (ph) case, the U.S. Supreme Court changed that, making it a constitutional right.
HILLARY: "I can't believe the authorities misled your mother and you so much."
FEYERICK: So why then do so many kids give up that right and appear in court alone? Experts say they're being encouraged to do so by certain police and prosecutors.
EMILY CHANG, ACLU: The courts are under real pressure to take care of those cases as quickly as possible, and so when you have children who waive the right to a lawyer, they can be moved much more quickly through that system.
FEYERICK: That's the real crime, says one of Philadelphia's top juvenile prosecutors, George Mosee.
GEORGE MOSEE, PHILADELPHIA JUVENILE D.A.: The point isn't to win the case. The point is to make sure that justice is served.
FEYERICK: And it may come as no surprise the kids hit hardest are poor or minority and often more likely to serve time.
(on camera): It seems fundamentally wrong for anyone to say to a child, waive your rights, put your faith in us.
MARSHA LEICK, HILLARY'S ATTORNEY: It's fundamentally wrong for children. It's fundamentally wrong for anyone.
FEYERICK (voice over): After the judge sentenced Hillary to three months, her mom found lawyers at Philadelphia's Juvenile Law Center. They argue the system failed to properly inform Hillary of her rights to a lawyer. The judge agreed. Hillary got out after serving just three weeks.
(on camera): If there was one thing you would do differently, what would that be?
LAURIE: I would have hired a lawyer. I would have put a lien on my house. I would have done whatever I had to do.
FEYERICK (voice over): Hillary is out on six months' probation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And Deborah Feyerick is joining us now to answer some questions here.
Deb, I have several of them.
I just wonder, when we see situations like this -- and we heard the mother in this case talking about her concerns about the finances of hiring a lawyer -- we're talking about juveniles. Are public defenders available?
FEYERICK: Public defenders are available, but states have to provide the money. Now, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, actually, and Utah, there's no money. So the counties have to absorb the cost themselves. That becomes very expensive. So it's a lot cheaper and a lot faster for some police departments simply to cut a deal and -- so children effectively roll the dice and see what they get.
COLLINS: Have kids without representation, have there been more cases like this where they have actually ended up going to juvie (ph), if you will?
FEYERICK: There's a surprisingly high number of cases. As a matter of fact, this Gault (ph) case 40 years ago, a recent study found that in some jurisdictions, as many as 80 to 90 percent of children still continue to waive their rights. And many people say that just shouldn't be the case, that children are entitled to representation so that they know exactly what it is they've done and what their rights are.
And they may be talking to a police officer who is telling them, you can either do this formally or informally, thinking, well, if we cooperate we'll get a better deal. But that's not always the case, and that's why it's so important that these children have the right to counsel.
COLLINS: Any chance that this could become mandatory, representation for kids?
FEYERICK: Well, in nine states it's mandatory. In 41 states it is not mandatory.
And we do want to tell you, just by way of update for Hillary, she has one more month of probation left. She has now become an advocate, talking to families and also talking to people in the juvenile court system to let them know that this isn't right, that she never would have taken any sort of a cooperation agreement with the police officer because ultimately the judge has the ultimate say. And if the judge wants to set an example of you, you're in trouble.
COLLINS: Education and awareness on all fronts, absolutely.
All right. CNN's Deb Feyerick.
Thank you, Deb.
HARRIS: ... for a comeback. What does Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan mean for this key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism?
Next, in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The Bush White house paying close attention to a big development in Pakistan politics this morning. Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto returns to Karachi after eight years of self-imposed exile. Thousands of supporters line the streets to welcome her. She says it's a pretty emotional day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENAZIR BHUTTO, FMR. PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: Just to see the land, to see the grass, to see the sky, I feel so emotionally overwhelmed. I came down the stairs and the airline trade union was there to welcome me, and they waved their hands. And I was just overwhelmed, and I hope that I can live up to the great expectations which people here have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Bhutto widely expected to try to launch a political comeback. Her homecoming a few weeks after president General Pervez Musharraf agreed to drop corruption charges. Both politicians say they support the U.S.-led war on terror.
Seventeen years ago, a near-fatal bus accident left pop star Gloria Estefan temporarily paralyzed. Following her recovery, she became involved with a Miami organization working to find a cure for paralysis.
Our "CNN Heroes" sharing the spotlight series continues now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLORIA ESTEFAN, SINGER: Any human being, that's all we ever want, to somehow be effective, be positive in other people's lives. But for the community that is paralyzed, you're dependent on everyone else around you.
I'm Gloria Estefan, and my hero is Marc Buoniconti, because despite being quadriplegic, he's on his way to find a cure for paralysis.
MARC BUONICONTI, MIAMI PROJECT TO CURE PARALYSIS: In 1985, I was playing football for the Citadel, my father was NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti.
ESTEFAN: He was trying to follow in his father's footsteps and in one fell swoop everything came crashing down.
BUONICONTI: I made a tackle and next thing I know I fell to the turf like a ton of bricks. And I knew right away that I was paralyzed. In a split second. Dr. Barth Green and my father and myself vowed that we would do everything in our power to raise money and awareness to find a cure. That's how the Miami Project began.
We bring together all different experts from all different fields under one roof all studying spinal cord injury.
ESTEFAN: He is spearheading that cause. He goes out there and talks about it and educates people as to what's going on.
BUONICONTI: Don't the astrocytes (ph) multiply, too? I interact with patients and doctors and donors, putting together events and making those important phone calls. And there's not a week that goes by that I don't hear from families of someone who's been paralyzed and they have nowhere to turn except for the Miami Project.
I've seen the science. I've seen ignorance crumble. It just motivates me more. We are so close. And we're not going to stop until we help everyone get out of these chairs.
ESTEFAN: His spirit is what really draws me to him because he has purpose. And he doesn't allow anything negative to bring him down. I think we are going to see a cure thanks to the efforts of Marc and his family. He took the bull by the horns, and he really has made a difference.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Just another reminder. You can go to cnn.com/heroes and vote for the CNN Hero who has most inspired you. The viewers' choice will be honored during a special live global broadcast on December 6th hosted by Anderson Cooper.
And good morning, everyone. Coming up on the half hour, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi there, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Want to get straight to the weather this morning. Severe weather, in fact.
Even though the calendar says October, the weather is packing the power of spring. Severe thunderstorms ripping through the plains, heading east.
This is a photo of one of the 14 tornadoes reported through the night. One twister, a killer. Police say it tore apart a trailer in northeastern Missouri. A man and a woman were inside. Their bodies were found some 400 feet away.
In Oklahoma, dozens of people were hurt there. Many of the injuries at an Oktoberfest celebration in Tulsa. Fierce winds suddenly tore into the massive tents and made them collapse. One of those injured is in critical condition this morning.
We are watching all of this, alongside Rob Marciano, who is at the weather center for us now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And just another reminder here, when weather becomes the news, it certainly is the top story today really, count on CNN to bring it to you fast. If you see severe weather happening, I'm thinking Florida, the Midwest, the plains, if you would send us on I-report. Go to CNN.com and slick on I-report or type ireport@cnn.com right into your cell phone and if you would share your photos and video but by all means be safe about it.
And still to come, lobbying over. Now the vote. The house trying to override a presidential veto. At stake, expanding health care for children.
COLLINS: He worried the feds would deport him, so he deported himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could face jail time, which I'm not willing to, you know, do jail time. I'd rather be free, you know.
COLLINS: Illegal immigrant leaves legal family behind.
HARRIS: And open wide. This is one neighbor you don't want. OK. A gator with gumption coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The Virginia schools closed because of a deadly staph infection are back open today. The schools in Bedford County were closed yesterday for cleaning and disinfecting. It all came about after a 17-year-old high school student died from a drug-resistant staph infection. Schools across the country are reporting outbreaks of staph infection including the dangerous drug-resistant form. MRSA is a strain of staph that does not respond to penicillin or related antibiotics, but it can be treated with other types of drugs.
HARRIS: Bucking the president, backers of a bill to expand a children's health insurance program trying today to override a veto. The house floor right now where the debate, as you can see, is under way. The vote expected in about half an hour or so. That program, SCHIP.
What exactly is SCHIP? CNN's Jennifer Eccleston explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In 1997, SCHIP was created to help children from families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private insurance. They're often called the working poor, typically families who earn about $41,000 for a family of four. Over the years, some states expanded eligibility to include adults in families with much higher incomes. New Jersey, for example, says their state is so expensive that a family of four making over $70,000 is considered working poor.
PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES: I don't like plans that move people from private medicine to the public.
ECCLESTON: Presently 6 million children qualify for SCHIP covering routine checkups, immunizations, hospital stays, and emergency room care to name a few. The current program costs about $5 billion per year. President Bush says an additional $5 billion will keep the program afloat for the next five years ensuring the coverage of existing and new participants. But democrats and some republicans balked. They say it's not enough to cover kids in the current program yet alone the additional 4 million children that say qualify but are not enrolled in SCHIP.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you want to know about passion and politics, at the end of the day 10 million children will have health insurance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: The Republican race for the white house possibly losing a candidate. The Associated Press reporting this morning Senator Sam Brownback is expected to drop out. The Associated Press quotes people close to the Kansas senator. They say he will make it official tomorrow. Brownback was considered a long shot with just 1 percent of the support in a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. So if you want the most up to the minute political news anywhere, CNNpolitics.com is your one-stop shop. Get behind the scenes detail from the best political team on television and see why it is the internet's premiere destination for political news. Once again, CNNpolitics.com.
COLLINS: He says the pressure got to be too much. So an illegal immigrant here for years left rather than face deportation. But he also left his family behind.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Noe Bermuedez does not want to be hanging out here in his grandmother's kitchen in the small Mexican town where he was born. Noe loves her, but he has a wife and four children back in the U.S. They are legal. He is not, and he was scared.
NOE BERMUEDEZ, RETURNED TO MEXICO: They told me I could face jail time, which I'm not willing to, you know, do jail time. I would rather be free, and plus knowing that I was in that situation at night I couldn't sleep, 2:00 3 o'clock in the morning, I couldn't sleep because I would hear little noises. I would think there they are, they're here for me, the ICE police, and I'm like I'm not willing to put my family through this.
WHITBECK: Noe says he left his family back here Irving, Texas where there has been a major crackdown on illegal immigrants. During the past year alone, Irving Police have referred 1,600 people to federal officials for possible deportation. A week ago, Noe broke the news to his family. He could not take the uncertainty any longer.
BERMUEDEZ: I said, you know what? I can't do this anymore. Even though we are going to have to struggle, 20 years I haven't been to Mexico, I'd rather do that, you know, when they told me I could face jail time. He decided -- I told my wife and she -- when I left she was crying, and my kids, but I'm like I'd rather for me to be over there for you guys to see me behind bars.
WHITBECK: Noe says he was 9 years old when he was taken as an illegal immigrant to the United States by his mother. He grew up in California, went to high school, and started a family. But he was never able to obtain U.S. citizenship. He says confusion led him to make mistakes in the application process. He was briefly held in an immigration detention center and released when he told a judge his wife and four children were U.S. citizens. But he gave up on the process of becoming legal. Now he says this Mexican town where he spent his early childhood no longer feels like home.
BERMUEDEZ: Right here I feel like, you know, kind of dumb when I have to pay with money. I have to take somebody with me to tell me how to pay. That way they won't rip me off with money because they know I don't understand how to manage my money here. So I have to take my cousin, you know somebody so when I go buy even a soda. I feel like so stupid, you know.
WHITBECK: But this, he says, is better than the threat of jail back in the states. Even if it means being separated from his family.
Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And still to come this morning, beating breast cancer. Optimistic news finally. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will fill us in.
COLLINS: Passion over the pill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all better consider that down the line because you all are going to be responsible for that, the devastating effects on young women when this goes through.
COLLINS: How young is too young for a school to give out birth control? You, the viewers, have weighed in. We'll share some e-mails coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A couple of stories on the Hollywood side of things we want to tell you about. Just hearing hear now attributing this to TMZ the web site has actually learned that Britney Spears has had her visitation rights with her kids suspended until he complies with all court orders. The father of the kids, K-Fed, his lawyer went to court yesterday for an emergency hearing and then this order came down. That is all we know at this point. A lot of questions for some people about what those court orders entail.
Also want to tell you about this. British actress Deborah Kerr, you remember, that kiss, one of the most famous ever, with Burt Lancaster and "From Here to Eternity," she has died. She died on Tuesday. She had been suffering from Parkinson's disease. She died in Suffolk, England. She was 86 years old. HARRIS: It is breast cancer awareness month, and there is encouraging news to report. This is great. More women are living with breast cancer instead of dying from it.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is back with us. She joins us from New York with the highlights.
Elizabeth, good to see you again.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you again, Tony. Tony, this is indeed great news, that breast cancer is no longer a death sentence. There are more than 2 million women living in the United States who are breast cancer survivors, and with all that extra life comes terrific wisdom about what to do when you're diagnosed with breast cancer because for most women it's a complete surprise and they don't know what to do.
So we talked to many survivors including Olivia Newton John and Jacqueline Smith, both of whom have survived breast cancer, and they gave some terrific advice about what to do.
The piece of advice that I got from both of them separately really surprised me, and that was don't always trust your first instinct. They said that sometimes they wanted to do things that really weren't the best decisions. Jacqueline Smith said, for example, when she was first diagnosed, she said take off my breast. Just give me a mastectomy, and she said cooler heads prevailed and she had a lumpectomy instead which was more appropriate for her. Olivia Newton John said when she was first diagnosed, she thought about not having chemo. It scared her. And she said once again cooler heads prevailed and they convinced her that chemo really was the right thing to do. Her friends convinced her.
HARRIS: It sounds like both of these women had a lot of support, friends in their corner.
COHEN: That's right, and you need friends in your corner. That's what I heard over and over again from survivors. You cannot go this alone. You need to bring a spouse, a friend, someone to the doctor's office with you because you're not always going to hear everything that the doctor is telling you, and you need to gather your girlfriends together. They said girlfriends are particularly indispensable at this time.
HARRIS: Elizabeth, what about preventing breast cancer.
COHEN: Of course, that's what you want to do first is prevent it. Not get breast cancer in the first place. There are things women have heard over and over again. Here is a little bit of bad news. Women should be examining their own breasts. They should get their doctor to examine their breasts, and here is where the bad news comes in. Women should be getting mammograms starting at age 40, but the American Cancer Society says somehow that message is getting a business lost and fewer women are getting mammograms even after all these public service announce pts and campaigns saying get your mammogram. What they're afraid of is that that death rate that's been coming down for so many years, that we're going to see it start going back up.
HARRIS: Don't want that trend line to change. That's for sure. Elizabeth good to see you. Thank you.
CHOSEN: Thanks.
HARRIS: And again, for Elizabeth's full story and to get your daily dose of health news online, logon to our website. There you will find the latest medical news, a health library at CNN.com/health.
COLLINS: Open wide. This is one neighbor you really don't want next door. A gator with gumption. The story in just a moment.
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HARRIS: OK. We are podcasting in just minutes here in the CNN NEWSROOM. You know to catch us weekday mornings 9:00 until noon, but we really want to you download this podcast. It is good stuff. I'm just not whistling Dixie here. Well maybe I am. It's good stuff. What you do is go to CNN.com and you download the CNN daily NEWSROOM podcast. Available to you 24/7 right there on your Ipod.
COLLINS: Want to get back to this story now. A school board in Portland, Maine, has approved giving birth control pills and patches to students in middle school. Students have access to condoms there. We wanted to know what you think about this story. Should contraceptives be offered to kids as young as 11? Here are some of your responses now.
First, we want to go to Kevin from Seattle, Washington. He says this, "Without question, schools should make contraceptives available to any child needing them. Those who so vehemently oppose this seem to believe if we simply ignore the problem, it will go away or won't happen. If an 11 year old is going to engage in this behavior, he or she will do it regardless of whether or not the school is offering contraception. Why is that so hard to understand?"
HARRIS: And this from Susan who writes, "Why not focus on the children who are at risk and spend that money on educating them? The pill, not offering any protection against STDs, is an invitation for an 11 year old to contract one. How is an 11 year old with and STD or AIDS any better than a pregnant one?"
COLLINS: And this now according to April, "I felt that birth control should have been implemente4d into the school systems a long time ago. I'm 22 years old; 3 of my childhood friends had children in 5th grade. We're not saying give them permission to go out and have sex, we're just trying to protect our youth. It's 2007, we have to face reality and the facts. Either instill the appropriate values into our youth or help prevent early parenthood."
HARRIS: And this from William who writes, "It is illegal to have under-aged sex; therefore, you should not use tax payer dollars to provide birth control to 6th graders. Parents should discuss sex with their kids early on and inform them it is in their best interest not to have sex until they are of legal age." That's William from Arlington, Texas.
And thanks to all of you who e-mailed us this morning. Really filling the inbox.
COLLINS: Yes. Absolutely. Want to get to this story now, too. It's the weather. Pretty rough weather we're hearing could hit again today. Want to go to the CNN Severe Weather Center as we look at all of these pictures of the lightning and so forth. You probably know this part is pretty, but the ugliness comes to follow. We will get to Rob Marciano in just a moment, after the break.
HARRIS: And coming home poised for a comeback. What does Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan mean for this key ally of the U.S.-led war on terror?
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MARICANO: Good morning again. I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. We have gotten confirmation of a tornado touchdown in Pensacola, Florida. Want to get you straight to the radar scope. That tornado warning has been allowed to expire, thank goodness, but still quite a lot of action. Just to the east of Pensacola still under a severe thunderstorm warning. That is this cell, but a lot of bright red on this map indicating heavy thunderstorms, gusty winds, and we did have some rotation and a confirmed touchdown right in downtown Pensacola. That storm has since moved on, but there's still quite a bit of action filtering in from the Gulf of Mexico all part of a larger system.
There you see a live shot I'm told of our affiliate WEAR. That's what I figured. OK. This tornado touched down right by a TV tower camera and they obviously got it on tape. It happened about a half an hour ago. Very dark obviously. We were talking about rain wrapped these tornadoes may very well have been. That's an ugly picture. Definitely a scary thought.
Well much more in the CNN NEWSROOM at one o'clock guys.
COLLINS: OK. We know you'll be watching. Thank you Rob.
CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now and "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next.
I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
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