Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Frozen Pizza Recall Concerns; The Buzz About Seinfeld; State Department Rebellion
Aired November 02, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Watch events coming in to the NEWSROOM live on this Friday morning.
It is November 2nd.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Worries on Wall Street. Markets open bottom of the hour, and we're watching all morning. What went wrong? And what does it mean for you and me?
HARRIS: And check your freezer. Frozen pizza recall concerns over possible E. coli contamination. Ahead, all you need to know.
COLLINS: And police scandal. Officer accused of torturing more than 100 African-Americans. Why some alleged victims are paying the defense bill.
We're "Keeping Them Honest" in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And at the top this hour, Wall Street rings in a new day. Do you know where your savings are?
The stock market is reeling. Oil is up. The housing industry is down.
What's next? Here with the answers, CNN's Ali Velshi on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Ali, good morning to you. Hey, let's start with some good news. Job growth.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Just got that number in, Tony. We're half an hour before the bell rings.
We've got the unemployment number in. Unemployment in the United States remains at 4.7 percent. It has not gone up. The number of jobs created in the United States, 166,000 in October. We were expecting 80,000, so that was a nice bump to the upside.
Just before that news came in, the futures were indicating that we would have another rough day on the markets. Overnight in Asia, we had rough times. It moved into Europe. We were looking for an open on the downside in U.S. markets, and this turned it around. This made it seem a lot more positive.
So right now, the mood around here is a lot happier. We've got jobs growth, unemployment stayed the same. It's one more thing to put into that mix -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. So, Ali -- OK, so we're -- we've got our fingers crossed for a good day today, but what the heck happened yesterday?
VELSHI: You know what happened yesterday is we had this Fed rate on Wednesday, the cut. Markets seemed to respond positively to that. And then what we got yesterday was a number of factors that confused people.
We showed that consumers weren't spending as much as we thought they would after the last Fed rate cut. We saw that there wasn't as much manufacturing going on as we thought there would be because of the low dollar.
Then we saw a downgrade on Citigroup stock which indicated that this whole subprime credit mess is continuing. It's still not as tight as we thought it was. And then we saw more foreclosures than we had the month before.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
VELSHI: You put that all in the pie and you don't know what it all means. But the bottom line, Tony -- you and I have discussed this before -- never mind energy prices, never mind home prices. You need to have a job before you worry about all of that.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: So job growth is the number one thing on people's minds. That's the thing that keeps people feeling that the economy is OK.
HARRIS: So, Ali, I have a job, I also have a 401(k). What am I to do as an investor as I look at this volatility?
VELSHI: All right. Number one, nothing.
For the moment, don't respond to momentum shifts in the market one way or the other. This market is still -- the Dow above 13,500. It's still strong. Don't do that.
Number two, make sure you're diversified. You shouldn't be in any one particular area. People who have been diversified have done very well. The Dow is up 8 percent, almost 9 percent for the year. The S&P 500 is up 6 percent. The Nasdaq is up 15 percent.
But look at that Nasdaq. Some of your stock holdings have gone up further than others, Tony. Rebalance every three months. When you see my chubby mug talking about earnings, that's your opportunity to look at your 401(k) and say, is everything where it should be?
HARRIS: You know what? I was going to send you a note. It looks like you're actually dropping some lbs. You're looking good there, Mr. Velshi.
VELSHI: Thank you, my friend.
HARRIS: All right. Have a great weekend, man.
VELSHI: You too.
COLLINS: Hurricane Noel now a dangerous Category 1 storm swirling off the southeastern coast. Noel already deadly, even when it was just a tropical storm. Take a look at this devastation it caused in the Dominican Republic.
This storm triggered landslides and flooding there. And in Haiti, at least 64 people were killed.
An I-Reporter in Haiti caught these images of villages washed out and buried under mud. Some homes swept away by a flood-swollen river. People there told I-Reporter Christy Way (ph) it's the worst flooding they have ever seen.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: When weather becomes the news, CNN brings it to you first. We are also counting on you to help us keep an eye on Hurricane Noel.
If you see severe weather happening in your area, send us an I- report. Go to CNN.com and click on "I-Report," or type ireport@CNN.com into your cell phone. But, of course, as always, please stay safe if you choose to do so.
HARRIS: We interrupt this program. Your favorite TV shows could be going into reruns a lot sooner than you think.
Hollywood writers preparing for a possible strike. The Writers Guild Board is meeting this morning after the negotiating team recommended a walkout. Writers want more royalties, more money from DVD sales and so-called new media. If there is a strike, hope you like reality shows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAUREEN RYAN, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Reality shows are not covered by the Writers Guild for the most part. They'll keep going. And we're going to see a lot more of them if the writers strike continue.
They're hitting the TV networks really where it huts hurts. This is the middle of the season. Most shows maybe will have 12 completed episodes or scripts in the can. That's only half a season.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: This would be the first writers strike in almost 20 years, so how would a writer strike affect your favorite TV shows?
Late-night shows like Leno, Letterman and topical programs like "The Daily Show" would feel the pinch first. Your favorite soap operas could be next. Daytime soaps typically stockpile about 30 days of programming.
Most prime-time shows would probably make it through the end of the year, but the networks would have to resort to reruns in 2008 if a strike were to drag on. The 1988 walkout lasted five and a half months.
COLLINS: A new battle brewing this morning over health insurance for millions of poor children. The Senate approves a bill to expand the program known as SCHIP. It cleared the House last night. President Bush vetoed the legislation the first time around and threatens to veto it again.
Senate Democrats say they won't back down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: Somebody has got to budge here. And do we fold when this program is strong, viable, paid for, and does exactly what America is yearning for, which is more health insurance coverage for those families who can't afford it? I don't think we fold. I think we keep trying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The White House says the new legislation is still unacceptable. In a statement, press secretary Dana Perino said, "The president strongly supports reauthorizing SCHIP. Congress should address the serious flaws in this bill and produce legislation that puts poor children first."
You have heard an awful lot about it, so now we want to go a little deeper for you and give you more details on what SCHIP is.
It stands for State Children's Health Insurance Program. It was created to help children from families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private insurance.
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 kids at a cost of $35 billion over the next five years. It would be paid for by an increase in cigarette taxes. The president has recommended a $5 billion increase. He says the current bill would encourage families to drop private insurance.
HARRIS: Here we go again. Check your freezer. Inside may be a pizza that could make you and your family sick.
The warning ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Check your freezer. There is a new food recall to tell you about this morning.
This time, it's that frozen pizza you may have been planning to feed your family. Ooh, Friday night, too.
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with what you need to know.
Fridays, pizza?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Which is going to be really at your house?
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: That's what you do?
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: OK.
HARRIS: Friday night, pizza night. Yes.
COHEN: OK. All right. Don't cook them in the microwave. And I'll explain why in a minute.
HARRIS: OK.
COHEN: But it has something to do with kidney failure. So listen up. It's worth -- it's worth listening to this.
This is a lot of pizza and this is people getting very, very sick. We're talking about almost five million Totino's and Jeno's frozen pizzas that are being recalled. That is a lot of pizza.
The problem, nine people have suffered kidney failure. All right, so we're not talking about people just getting a little sick. We're talking about kidney failure from E. coli 0157:H7. And in addition, 12 other people getting sick in 10 states.
Now, where the microwave oven comes in, is that when you cook these things in the microwave, it doesn't get cooked thoroughly. So parts of it might feel scalding hot...
HARRIS: Right. COHEN: ... and you think, oh, my pizza's done, but parts of it can be cold...
HARRIS: Absolutely.
COHEN: ... or not fully warm, and you haven't killed the E. coli.
Big problem.
HARRIS: Well, we were talking about it, and the example was, you've got baby formula in the bottle and you've got to shake it once you warm it up because there are cold spots.
COHEN: Right. And you cannot shake a pizza.
HARRIS: And you can't -- so what do we do here? What's the alternative? It seems pretty simple -- if you're not going to cook it in the -- just put it in the oven. Is that what we do here?
COHEN: Right. When you're talking about foods that can be cooked, like pizza or hamburger...
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: ... don't use the microwave. Cook them the traditional way, whether it's on the oven or the grill. And make sure it is cooked all the way through. That's why we don't eat rare hamburgers anymore, because you're not going to kill the E. coli that way.
Now, when it comes to produce, because, of course, we've heard about E. coli in spinach...
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: ... what do you do? That's the big question.
The bottom line is that you can't necessarily wash out that E. coli. So you can wash the produce. You're not necessarily going to get it.
Now, for most of us, really you can take your chances, because the chance of getting E. coli is so teeny tiny, sort of in the big picture of things.
HARRIS: Right.
COHEN: But you know what? There are people who have immune problems who don't eat raw produce. They don't eat raw spinach. They cook everything.
HARRIS: Right.
We want our products to be safe. What we want to know from you, Elizabeth, what is going on here? Spinach, pot pies, hamburger. What is going on? Is it in the processing? What's going on.
COHEN: There are a couple of things that are going on.
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: First of all, it may be that just you're hearing about this more, that companies are reporting it more...
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: ... and that it really did happen in big numbers in the past, we just didn't hear that much about it. So that's number one.
Number two is that there really are some concerns that food processors and people for picking in the fields and for processing in the plant, that they are hiring people who don't necessarily have the kind of training and experience that you need to do it the right way. So that is a concern that's out there.
HARRIS: Protect yourself.
COHEN: There you go.
HARRIS: Look, cook it in the oven, particularly Friday night, pizza night. Cook it in the oven. All right?
COHEN: And if you have an immune problem...
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: ... and you're serving someone like, you know, your grandmother, who is maybe undergoing chemotherapy or whatever, raw produce may not be the way to go.
HARRIS: Right. Good to see you.
Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning.
COHEN: Thanks.
HARRIS: Thank you.
COLLINS: Seinfeld is back, and we've got the buzz. Will he be king bee at the box office with his new animated flick?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN: It's hard to make animated movies, because they're basically puppet shows. It's a gigantic, insane puppet show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I am dying to see this movie. Jerry Seinfeld, our Larry King -- you don't want to miss the interview. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A lot of buzz this morning about comedian Jerry Seinfeld. He's out with his first film, "Bee Movie." Seinfeld is in the starring role as a bee, of course.
He sat down with CNN's Larry King, who also has a role in the movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEINFELD: It's hard to make animated movies because they're basically puppet shows. It's a gigantic, insane puppet show, and every character has hundreds of controls. And you have to control them. And you know, in comedy, you've got to get the facial expressions just right. You'll see -- see that look on his face?
Get a shot of that. We worked to get that exact look, that kind of, I'm listening, but really I am thinking about a bagel look that you have.
KING: And they didn't get the shot. That's what I was doing.
SEINFELD: Yes.
KING: And I was very proud to be in this film.
Did you go into this project to be as hands on as you were? I mean, how did you -- you never made a movie before.
SEINFELD: I never made a movie.
KING: So how did you approach...
SEINFELD: I never did anything in animation.
KING: Give me a little history.
SEINFELD: There is none.
KING: There is none?
Why?
SEINFELD: I do nothing, I wanted to do nothing, but I got sucked into it because I got intrigued by the form -- the form of animation. We've all seen these movies. And they have incredible look to them. They're like -- they glow, these movies. But I just wanted to do a more comedic take on the same -- the feel -- the visual feel with a different comedic effect.
KING: Were you a fan of things like "Shrek?"
SEINFELD: Yes. I like all those movies.
KING: OK. So you wanted to ape (ph) it, but you're not an animator.
SEINFELD: No.
KING: All right. You're not a -- you don't draw.
SEINFELD: No.
So how did you -- how did you come to produce something you have no knowledge of?
SEINFELD: I don't know. Because Jeffery Katzenberg explained to me that if you want to make this movie, I have to show you how it's done. And the more he showed me, the more interested I got. And then I learned how to do it and it became like an education.
KING: OK. Mr. Katzenberg one of the head honchos of DreamWorks.
SEINFELD: DreamWorks Animation.
KING: Why did you -- why bees?
SEINFELD: Why not?
KING: Why didn't you pick (INAUDIBLE)?
SEINFELD: Well, I knew you had the tie.
KING: Yes. Look at this.
SEINFELD: So I figured I'd make a movie to fit the tie.
KING: I've got the tie, the suspenders.
SEINFELD: Bees -- I love bees because, first of all, they live in a perfect society socially and a perfect corporation. So when I -- to me, I look at a beehive, I see like a corporation that is hanging from a tree. It's a company in there. It's a very "how to succeed in business without really trying" kind of world that they live in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My goodness. So profound.
Catch more of "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific. He's going to be talking with actor Ben Affleck, who pulls back the curtain on life as a tabloid target.
HARRIS: Well, facing the threat of a new battlefront in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Turkey, trying to diffuse the situation. She hopes to convince Turkish leaders not to send troops across their border into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels.
Turkey is looking to crack down on Kurdish separatists who have been launching strikes from bases in Iraq. Washington worries cross- border strikes could destabilize the calmest part of Iraq and give some other countries like Iran ideas. Tehran also has conflicts with Kurdish rebels.
COLLINS: An uproar at the State Department. Foreign service officers hit with an ultimatum: serve in Iraq or face the consequences.
CNN's Brian Todd reports on the diplomatic rebellion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Diplomacy goes out the window at the State Department.
HARRY THOMAS, FOREIGN SERVICE DIR. GENERAL: Don't dis me and say it's not good enough.
TODD: Normally measured foreign service officers lose their cool over the department's plan to force diplomats to serve in Iraq if they can't get enough volunteers.
JACK CRODDY, FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER: That's a potential death sentence, and you know it. And then another thought. Who will take care of our children? Who will raise our children if we're dead or seriously wounded?
TODD: At a State Department town hall meeting, one career officer about to retire, seemingly with nothing to lose, lays into the head of the foreign service because many diplomats didn't know about the decision until they read about it in "The Washington Post."
CRODDY: I just have absolutely no respect for the whole process because you've demonstrated a lack of respect for your own colleagues.
THOMAS: Thank you for that comment. It's full of inaccuracies, but that's OK.
TODD: The foreign service chief steps off the podium, is challenged again. It gets ugly again.
THOMAS: Don't you or anybody else tell me the people in H.R. do not care about foreign service officers. I find that insulting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may care, but you don't articulate it. You roll your eyes, but we have polled the foreign service.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve percent of your foreign service believes that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is fighting for them. Twelve percent.
THOMAS: That's their right. They're wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, sometimes if it's 88-12, maybe the 88 percent are correct.
THOMAS: Eighty-eight percent of this country believed in slavery at one time. Were they collect? So don't (INAUDIBLE). OK?
TODD: The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is the definition of a hardship post. The Foreign Service Association says three U.S. diplomats have been killed in Iraq.
The embassy is short 50-some diplomats and is having a tough time getting volunteers. The last time foreign service officers were forced into hardship posts was in Vietnam, where more than 30 U.S. diplomats were killed.
ED DJEREJIAN, FMR. U.S. AMB. TO SYRIA: It was incumbent upon a foreign service officer to accept hardship assignments sometimes in war zones. And that certainly has been a tradition of the service.
TODD: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was not at that meeting, but a State Department official says she clearly understands the tone and tenor of what happened. Rice is expected to take the extraordinary step of sending out a cable to State Department employees around the world encouraging them to serve in Iraq.
(on camera): For those diplomats called up who refuse to go to Iraq, State Department officials will consider the reasons why, but they also could fire them.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Illinois mystery. A young wife goes missing. The search centered at the home she shared with her police veteran husband.
What happened to her? The update ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning once again, everybody. It's Friday morning. Nice to see you again.
I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM.
An Illinois police officer's wife is missing. Focus of the search? The couple's suburban Chicago home.
Twenty-three-year-old Stacy Peterson disappeared Sunday. Police took computers, cell phones and a sport utility vehicle from the couple's home yesterday. They also searched a pond near the home.
The woman's husband is a 29-year veteran of the Bolingbrook Police Department. Drew Peterson has said he thinks his wife has left him for another man. COLLINS: Opening bell on Wall Street. Investors are taking a deep breath. Will you be taking a deep loss, though? Your dreams of retirement may be riding on the answer.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Well, it's a big issue in the presidential campaign. Abortion. It's got many Christian conservatives concerned about Rudy Giuliani and his views. CNN's John King explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Steve Scheffler of the Iowa Christian Alliance would never vote for Rudy Giuliani but.
STEVE SCHEFFLER, IOWA CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE: Going the third-party round, my view is just not the smart thing to do. You never say never, but I just don't think that that is something that would be conducive.
KING: Many veteran activists like Scheffler worry backing an anti-abortion third party candidacy in 2008 would hurt their movement in the long-term. But there is fresh evidence, many rank and file, even evangelicals are open to looking elsewhere if both major party nominees support abortion rights. A new few research center study found that Giuliani is the Republican nominee, 44 percent of all Republican and Republican leaning voters say they would be open to backing a more conservative third party candidacy, among White Evangelical Republicans willingness to back a third-party candidate jumps to 55 percent.
ANDREW KOHUT, PRESIDENT PEW RESEARCH CENTER: At this point, it may just be expressing their frustrations. But they're expressing their frustrations at such great numbers that should it become a real choice, you could have a significant number of these people going that way. Now, you don't need 55 percent to really hurt the Republican Party. You need 5 to 7 percent could significantly hurt the Republican Party.
KING: It is still a big if, but if Giuliani wins the Republican nomination, Iowa will be a proving ground for the impact on Christian Conservatives. President Bush carried the state by just 10,000 votes in 2004.
SCHEFFLER: 90 percent of the people who did the spade work for the president in 2004 were people out of the Conservative faith-based community. They're not going to be there by and large to root for Giuliani. There will be a mixture of people voting for that third- party ticket and/or they just won't pull that lever.
KING: Giuliani aids disputes the notion that a significant number of Evangelicals would vote the GOP or stay home if he is the nominee and yet they also argue that even if you accept that premise, they believe he would more than make up for any evangelical losses in places like Iowa by being more competitive in big states like New Jersey and California. John King, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Trying to identify a tiny body. A little shoe and pink outfit. Some of the clues in the death of a young child found stuffed in a storage box. The sheriff's office updating this case later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: They call her baby Grace. Her tiny body stuffed in a box. Washed ashore in Galveston, Texas. Authorities are hoping you can help identify her. Details now from Sean Wynn of CNN affiliate KHOU.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN WYNN (ph), CNN AFFILIATE KHOU: Harper walks is just on the north side of Galveston's west bay. It is also a few miles from Monday evening's awful discovery of a little girl's remains inside a large plastic container. Few people live here but it was a very different scene over the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there were a lot of contestants out here in this fishing tournament, around 300 or maybe a little over.
WYNN: It was Harbor Walk's first fishing tournament with at least 75 boats lining the marina. Now detectives hope to hear from as many people who were part of that tournament as they can.
RAY TUTTOILMONDO, GALVESTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: If we can get to every single person that's exactly what we're going to do if that's what it takes.
WYNN: They want to know if anyone saw anything around the uninhabited island where that container with the girl's body was found. It is believed that some fish within proximity. Detectives also released this replica photo of the container. It's a Sterilite brown model 1842 and it's not brown but royal blue with a black handle. It has been around the clock investigation as authorities' hopes for any clues that can help them identify this girl and what happened to her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The Galveston County sheriff's office is really taking this case personally and Major Ray Tuttoilmondo is with us live from Houston. Major Tuttoilmondo, thanks for being with us this morning. First, I want to share with our viewers, a really touching e-mail that you sent to the local media. I want to put that on the screen quickly for them.
"I don't often make an appeal of emotion, choosing to stick with the facts of cases as we should. However, a case such as this draws out emotions in all that touch it, even us cynical old cops. I ask that you "buck the system" and include the emotions you, like me, are experiencing in looking at this case as a parent, a child, one who has children as part of your life, or just as a human being."
Tell me what this case has meant to you so far.
RAY TUTTOILMONDO, GALVESTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The cynical old cop story is deadly accurate. The emotions that we feel in this case being very closely connected to trying to find out what happened to baby Grace. As I said in my e-mail, it brings out a lot of emotions that we don't typically feel a lot. We tend to hide our emotion and its cases like this that can't help but bring out those emotions for us and that is certainly makes us work even stronger on a case like this.
COLLINS: Yes, because there is always that fine line, now even for journalists too, where you try not to get too close and too emotionally affected, but nobody knows who this little girl is.
TUTTOILMONDO: And that's very true. We have adopted the name of baby Grace because there again, that is part of the emotional part of this case for us.
COLLINS: How so?
TUTTOILMONDO: We -- she is more to us than just a case number. More to us than just an unidentified body. She is very much a human being. She is someone's child, someone's grandchild, someone's cousin, someone's best friend and to us that is the most important part about this case. But in looking at this box that she was found in, this is not a way for her to end her life.
COLLINS: Yes, yes. It's just unbelievable. There is also the little tennis shoes that she had on. They are -- you know, they look pretty common but maybe, just maybe someone who sees them may know something and there here they are on the screen now. A little bit of lavender and white with the Velcro laces there.
TUTTOILMONDO: I think, you can see just how small the shoe is.
COLLINS: By you holding it in your hand, absolutely.
What was the reaction, when the fisherman found the body?
TUTTOILMONDO: He was certainly very upset. To be sure that anyone who would make a discovery like this, I haven't had the personal opportunity to speak with him. But he, like us, I'm sure, is going through a lot of emotions himself. And we certainly, would like to do everything he can to make this case happen.
COLLINS: Certainly. What is the update on the case? If you have any tips. Do you have any leads that you feel good about at this point?
TUTTOILMONDO: Fortunately, we have had numerous calls over the past couple of days ranging into the hundreds, I understand. That have people giving us information and we certainly appreciate those calls. Have any of them really turned up anything? Not really. A number of them, we followed up on have led us to go check on other children. Fortunately, we found all of them safe and sound. But nothing that's absolutely made a home run hit yet.
COLLINS: What about cause of death? I imagine there was a coroner involved. Is there anything to know about that? Abuse? Or I can't imagine everything that they can find out, obviously, from the coroner's report.
TUTTOILMONDO: Sure. The medical examiner has indicated that there were skull fractures. He indicated that there were no other broken bones to be found. As for anything relating to chronic abuse, old injuries, things like that, those are parts of the investigation that we still need to look at.
COLLINS: I know you have said in some of these other e-mails here, that this is a case that you just really haven't seen in your 20 plus years in this type of work. What about the community? Have you ever seen response like this or people coming together, trying to help you out?
TUTTOILMONDO: That, they are. We've received a couple of messages yesterday of folks wanting to donate funeral plots if they're need for baby Grace.
COLLINS: Wow.
TUTTOILMONDO: People calling to volunteer to help sift through cases, if need be. The community where we are is a very close-knit, solid community and they're all more than willing to help.
COLLINS: Well, we certainly appreciate your time here today in the midst of this investigation and wish you luck in finding out who she is and who may have done this to her quite more importantly.
TUTTOILMONDO: Thank you.
COLLINS: All right, Major Ray Tuttoilmondo, appreciate your time once again. In fact, if you do have any information that could help solve this case, you can contact the Galveston County's sheriff's office at 409-766-2222 or 866-248-8477. You see the numbers their on your screen.
HARRIS: He says he was forced to confess to a crime he didn't commit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said, now you going to tell us what we want to hear? I said, I ain't telling you nothing. And at that point, sheriff shotgun in my mouth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: One of more than a hundred claims of torture against former Chicago police commander.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: A former Chicago police commander at the center of a scandal. More than a hundred African-American men alleged he tortured them to get confession to crime they say they did not commit. Chicago taxpayers caught in the middle. CNN's Randi Kaye is keeping them honest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than two decades ago, this Chicago police commander was found liable for torture. A Federal judge said John Burge beat and burned Andrew Wilson to get a murder confession. Wilson was awarded $1.1 million in a civil suit that was back in the early 1990s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALES AND FEMALES: Police torture, we say no! John Burge has got to go.
KAYE: Pressure mounted on Burge. Demonstrators demanded he be fired. And in 1993, he was. Now the former commander has been hauled back into Federal court. More than 100 African-American men alleged Burge tortured them to get a confession. Five have filed civil suits against him. And the city of Chicago is playing millions of dollars, tax dollars to defend him. Even those accusing him of torture are helping fund his defense.
QUESTION: You pay taxes?
DARRELL CANNON, SAYS HE WAS TORTURED: Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. And I truly do not like the fact that I have to contribute to what he has done.
KAYE: One morning, back in 1983, Daryl Cannon says Burge under links took him to this Chicago steel mill.
CANNON: He said, are you going to tell us what we want to hear? I said, I ain't telling you nothing. And, at that point, he put - sheriff shotgun in my mouth and split my upper lip and the other two was saying, go ahead, blow that nigger's head, blow that nigger's head off and they pulled the trigger.
KAYE: As Cannon tells it, the torture continued with a cattle product.
CANNON: And they turn to (INAUDIBLE). And the first time they stuck it to my testicles, I kicked at them and they started telling me, giving me a scenario of what happened in the murder case and they wanted me to confirm that.
KAYE: Cannon confessed and was convicted of murder. In April, this year, a judge tossed out his case and conviction. He had served 23 years in prison for a murder he says he didn't commit.
CANNON: I could have no peace until -- until -- until they received just a little of what they did to me and what they did to others. KAYE: U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating the Chicago PD's actions in the 1980s. He has not named Burge and declined an interview but says it involves pending Federal civil suits. These days, Burge keeps a low profile here in Apollo Beach, Florida about 30 miles outside Tampa, and a long way from the streets of Chicago. Burge retired here after losing his job with the Chicago PD. We came here to his home to ask him what he thinks about the Federal investigation and the mounting accusations of abuse. Our knocks went unanswered.
Keeping them honest, we asked the city why it would keep defending a cop who had been found liable for torture and accused of heinous acts by more than 100 African-American men with strikingly similar stories. The mayor did not agree to an interview and neither did police. But a city spokesman told us, we believe we don't have a choice in defending Burge. Decades ago, the city of Chicago had argued, it should not have to defend Burge for his alleged abuse but a federal court ruled, it does because he was a city employee. Today, Cannon's lawyer estimates the city will likely pay at least $195 million to settle wrongful imprisonment claims in all five civil suits.
CANNON: You think about the misery that took place here that morning, the anguish, the anger, the hurt, and the only thing that keeps me sane is the fact that I've always hoped and prayed that someday I could bring them in court, you know? And see them squirming on the seat.
KAYE: John Burge, to this day, has never been charged with a crime. Randi Kaye, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: This news just in to us at CNN on Capitol Hill, another suspicious fire. Capital police are looking into this morning's fire inside a women's restroom in the Senate Dirksen Office Building. It was discovered around 8:00 this morning and was immediately put out. There were no injuries or evacuations but, as you may know, there have been other suspicious fires around the Capitol; all were in women's restrooms. Police are looking for any possible connections. We're going to live to Capitol Hill coming up at the top of the hour for an update.
HARRIS: Not mistaken identity. Police say one young woman assumed another's identity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This girl was actually living as our victim and went to great links to live as her and to become Brook.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Called a con artist and accused of taking her game to the Ivy League. The story in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: He went from working as a cosmetics exec to life behind bars. But not as a prisoner. In this week's "Life After Work" series, meet a man who is helping convicts build new lives after prison. CNN's Mary Snow has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Prison for those who enter, the odds are there will be a return visit upon release.
MARK GOLDSMITH, CEO, GETTING OUT AND STAYING OUT: The recidivism rate record is 66 percent. 2 out of 3 guys end up going back who have been there before. In our classes, we talk to them about that.
SNOW: Mark Goldsmith is the cofounder and CEO of Getting Out and Staying Out.
GOLDSMITH: And then we tell them our statistics. Of the 250 guys who have taken this program seriously, no more than 25 have gone back so that is 10 percent.
SNOW: Is New York City nonprofit assists 18 to 24-year-old inmates with education and job training.
GOLDSMITH: They've entered a jail and eventually some will be going to prison upstate. And within those confines, I'm talking to them about what it's going to be like when they get out. It's very future-oriented rather than past.
SNOW: Goldsmith's past was as an executive in the cosmetics industry where he worked 35 years prior to retirement. Volunteering as a principal for the day at a prison school opened his eyes to the revolving door problem. So, Goldsmith designed a solution towards prisoners while they are locked up and when they get out.
GOLDSMITH: We are there for them as they go through the process of applying for school. How do you apply for a job? What does that application look like? How do you handle the fact that you've been incarcerated? We don't just tell them what is out there. We help guide them through the process and when I get back from those guys, once that process starts to happen, are rewards that I never ever got in the corporate world.
SNOW: Mary Snow, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Yes, cnn.com, let's talk about it. You know, the possible writers guild strike is one of the most popular stories on cnn.com this morning. Many of you seem to be concerned about how a strike could impact your favorite television programs. The union's board is meeting this morning. Many of you also are hot on the story about the South Carolina snub of comedian Stephen Colbert or is it Colbert?
COLLINS: Colbert.
HARRIS: It is, OK, thanks, Heidi.
The Democratic Party denied his request to get on the presidential primary ballot, but will he get the last laugh? Colbert also is trying to run as a Republican in his home state. I don't think that's going to happen either. He needed to put up $35,000 or so and didn't do it by the deadline.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
