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President Bush and Congress Agree on Economic Stimulus Package; Florida Looms Large For Republican Presidential Candidates
Aired January 24, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's a deal, but not yet a law. Money from the government to spend however you like.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The key word is spend. Congress and the White House are counting on you to spend the U.S. economy back to prosperity.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM; 3:00 Eastern time and we're still learning the details of that deal in Washington to put checks in the mail.
CNN's Brianna Keilar is on Capitol Hill.
But, first, let's go to Kathleen Koch, who joins us now from the White House -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, President Bush came into the briefing room, an unexpected addition to his schedule, not too many minutes ago, and he called this the right set of policies, and he said it's the right size.
Now, basically, what the administration and Congress agreed to today was a $150 billion economic stimulus package; $100 billion of it would go to Americans, taxpayers, working Americans, in the form of tax rebates. Some $50 billion would go to businesses in the form of tax breaks. And the president effusively praised the deal in the briefing room not too long ago, saying that it really did meet the criteria that he laid out last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have always believed that allowing people to keep more of their own money and to use it as they see fit is the best way to help our economy grow.
I'm also pleased that this agreement does not include any tax increases, as well as unnecessary spending projects that would have little immediate impact on our economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KOCH: Now, as to when these tax breaks will go to Americans, obviously, it's going to be a lengthy process. We are hearing from Treasury Secretary Paulson, who is briefing reporters right now, that those checks may not go out to Americans until April, perhaps May -- back to you.
LEMON: All right, Kathleen Koch at the White House. Thank you.
Meantime, we turn now to Brianna Keilar, who joins us at Capitol Hill -- Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don, no doubt about it, this was a major obstacle, coming to an agreement between House leaders and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. But this is certainly early, not a done deal. This still has to go to the Senate. The Senate no doubt will assert what it wants out of this bill and we're already hearing some differing opinions, especially from Senate Democrats.
Senator Chuck Schumer really says that he wants unemployment insurance benefits to be extended. You hear other Democrats talking about wanting Medicaid aid to states to be added in there, even concern that the rebates are not high enough when you're talking about low-income Americans.
And these are also sentiments that have been reiterated by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a powerful man whose committee this needs to get through. So, it will be interesting to see what happens. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he is expecting the House to send this to the Senate here in about a week-and-a-half and hoping to get legislation to the president's desk by mid-February. But even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying today, at a press conference, where this package was announced, far be it from me to predict what the Senate will do -- Don.
LEMON: Brianna Keilar and Kathleen Koch, thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: Let's get to the markets now, Poppy Harlow at the Nasdaq and Susan Lisovicz watching the Big Board on Wall Street.
Susan, let's start with you.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Kyra, I took off my neck brace to do this report, because I developed whiplash about this time yesterday when we saw that 600-point swing.
Well, remarkably enough, not only do we have positive momentum. At the start of this final hour of trading, we're still positive for the Dow industrials. We're not talking about huge point gains here, but we are talking about gains. Everybody is talking about economic stimulus. There you see the blue chips on the Big Board. Let's talk about an economic report that we got early this morning. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits last week declined for the fourth straight week. And the claims fell to the lowest level in four weeks. Since, of course, there are so many concerns about the economy and where it's going, we do have a couple of companies making some changes. And they are on the job front. And one of them we have been talking about is Ford offering a buyout or early retirement packages to 54,000 of its hourly workers. Those workers who would be affected would be in Atlanta, Saint Louis, Edison, New Jersey, and Norfolk, Virginia.
And it's not only to be competitive with its Asian counterparts, who don't have those kind of unionized work force or wages, but it's also because, as its CEO says, the challenging times which we face. We're also getting reports of effects here on Wall Street, multiple reports saying Morgan Stanley will lay off 1,000 workers and that Bank of America is laying off a quarter of its securities analysts.
With that, let's go uptown, because the Nasdaq has had some remarkable turnarounds, too, and it's still positive.
Poppy, what have you got for us?
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What a turnaround from just 24 hours ago. Stocks have been trading higher throughout the session here at the Nasdaq. But do keep in mind, this index is still down 11 percent year to date. So, we have a long way to go just to break even. Technology stocks are sensitive to spending, so this White House stimulus package may help some consumer tech stocks, like Apple. But for the overall tech sector, it may not weigh that much on big companies like Cisco.
Traders I talked to today Wall Street said they think people are really just trying to digest all of this volatility and sit tight until we hear from the Fed next week. Some bright spots today at the Nasdaq, Nokia stellar earnings this morning. Nokia provides almost half the cell phones in the world; eBay, though, under pressure, disappointed with earnings, also says 2008 will be tough in terms of profit.
People spending less, people bidding and auctioning less on the Web site is going to hurt that company, the CEO there also stepping down. And Microsoft, that tech bellwether, the world's biggest software maker, is next up deck. We will get earnings from them about an hour, right after the closing bell today. Investors hoping Microsoft will be a catalyst to push this index higher as we wrap up tomorrow and into next week -- back to you, Susan.
LISOVICZ: Yes, Poppy. And, you know, we also saw a big move in oil today, oil up about two bucks, even though we got better-than- expected stockpile numbers. But, for now, everything is on the plus side. You know that could change, Kyra and Don.
PHILLIPS: That's right.
LISOVICZ: We will be following the numbers.
PHILLIPS: All right. We will see you again in a little bit.
Susan, thanks.
Poppy, thanks.
And stick with CNN for all the news that affects your financial security. Just go to cnnmoney.com. Take a look at how the economic stimulus deal might affect your wallet.
LEMON: Absolutely. And it looks like millions of households will soon be getting checks from the U.S. Treasury. We will talk about ways to spend them that might help jolt the economy.
PHILLIPS: And a bit of a shocker for some motorists in Orem, Utah.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is just a little girl...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's hitchhiking?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like a 5-year-old girl. She's walking on the side of the road by herself.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A young woman coming to the rescue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Economic stimulus 101. The government cut checks to consumers, consumers spend the money and, bingo, something good happens, a jump-start for the overall economy. Well, it all sounds good. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis here to tell us how or whether we spend this rebate check may be crucial.
Gerri, what's the very first thing that you want to do with the check?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, I don't know.
Kyra, I'm not going to the mall. I think folks should pay off debt. And we all have a lot of credit card debt or so it seems. Look at these numbers, the average household credit card debt, $9,615. You're paying almost 15 percent in interest. This mean you're that paying interest alone on this debt of $1,400.
Let's say you add more to that debt overall. You're paying even more in interest. So, first things first, let's get rid of some debt. Let's make sure we get that credit card debt down. Maybe you're having trouble paying these very high energy bills. You might want to do that. But I say at the end of the day, you want to get rid of some of this very expensive debt that you're paying such high interest rates on -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Also, too, we always talk about how we should have three to six months of an emergency fund, and probably socking away money now is even more important, right?
WILLIS: Well, it is, absolutely.
Look, in a recession, what happens? Well, employers, they let people go. There are layoffs. People lose their jobs. We even heard some of that today going on in the economy. So you want to make sure that if the worst happens, you're prepared, you can continue to pay the mortgage, continue to pay the rent, put food on the table.
And if you have some savings, if you have some money set aside, you're sitting pretty. This will help you weather the storm, because, you know, you can lose your home in just three months in some markets. So, you want to be sure there's money there to pay that mortgage.
PHILLIPS: All right, just for a second, let's say -- no, I'm going to use you as an example, because you're probably perfect at this. You probably have no credit card debt. You probably have got an emergency fund and now you are going to have funds coming in. So, what do you do with the money? I say go have a good time.
WILLIS: No. Well, you know what, it is a recession, right?
PHILLIPS: That's true.
WILLIS: Things aren't looking that optimistic right now. I think you want to make sure that you invest this money. If you already have savings, if you know you're going to be in good shape, why not take that money and invest it? You just sock it into a high- yield savings account, maybe get a 5 percent return if you shop around. Or, hey, did you notice, stocks are on sale here? You know, you might want to invest in the market.
An easy way to do that is an index fund. A big index fund will give you lots of diversification right away, and this will allow you to start building funds, instead of spending.
PHILLIPS: OK. Anything else I can do to protect myself?
WILLIS: Well, if you own a home and you have some equity in it, I would think about a home equity line of credit. Here's why. If you lose your job, this gives you a way to pay that mortgage. And, if you don't want to use it, you don't have to.
So, you don't have to pay anything for some of these. Some of these are without fees. It works like a credit card. You can write checks on it. You tap your home equity. You got to pay it back at the end of the day, but this would give you a cushion, because, once you lose a job, it's really hard to get a loan. So, this would give you an option if the worst does happen -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Gerri Willis, thanks for the advice.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: And, on the weekends, Gerri does host "OPEN HOUSE." That's Saturday morning 9:30 on CNN, Saturday and Sunday afternoon 3:30 Eastern, right here -- or not here, but on Headline News, our sister network.
LEMON: Well, John McCain leads in new Florida polls. Mitt Romney is close behind. But Rudy Giuliani says Tuesday's primary is sure to vault him to the front of the Republican field. Time is running short for the GOP hopefuls to make an impression with Florida voters. And our chief national correspondent, Mr. John King, joins me now from Boca Raton.
So, is it going to vault him to the front of the Republican field, Rudy Giuliani?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, you might -- this might be a better question put to Gerri Willis, if you can get her back, from an investment advice standpoint.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Rudy Giuliani has spent more than $30 million, more than $30 million. He's zero for six in the Republican contests held so far. He had bet most of his money on winning here in Florida, and guess what? Those polls you just mentioned show him running either third. Some of them even show him running fourth.
Rudy Giuliani had said he would sit out the first few innings of the game, if you will, win here in Florida, and then take command on Super Tuesday. Well, he's now down around 15 percent in the polls here and most of the pollsters say there's no way he can come back in the five days left because there's such a small pool of undecided voters.
But he's continuing to try. He says he's just hitting into high gear. But, boy, the stakes on Rudy Giuliani are just enormous, Don. Again, he invested everything here, all of this spending, more than $4 million in TV ad spending just here in Florida alone.
And he's struggling right now. And he just conceded, speaking to reporters a short time ago, that he didn't think there would be this many viable candidates when the race came to Florida. He was clearly banking on Senator John McCain for one and others to either be gone from the race or much weaker when the race came to Florida. So, the vote is here on Tuesday. The stakes are enormous for Giuliani. And, at the moment, it looks pretty bleak, Don.
LEMON: All right, John King, in Boca Raton, Florida.
PHILLIPS: And we're just getting some live pictures out of New York City. This is actually Newark Bay. We're getting word that two ships have collided. Happened just before 2:00 p.m. Now I'm getting word three ships have apparently collided there in Newark Bay, according to the Coast Guard, a 669-foot tanker, a 117-foot dredge ship, and now a third ship we are being told. No injuries have been reported at this time. But we're tracking it, trying to get more information out of Newark Bay there, live pictures.
LEMON: Yes, getting some more pictures here, Kyra. Let me just read through it. It is saying happened around 1:51 p.m., three ships, Newark Bay, the Coast Guard. The collision was between a 669-foot Liberian flag tanker. Is that right? Yes. A vessel carrying -- but it's also some new information here. The Coast Guard has launched two ships and a helicopter to the scene. And there are at least seven crew members aboard the commercial O.J. tanker. No word yet on the smaller vessel. No injuries have been reported in all this.
Just so you know what Newark Bay is. It's in the New York City area. It's a body of water. It's a tidal back bay of New York Harbor formed at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers. So, if you're in the New York area, you know about this. It is enclosed on the west by New Jersey cities of Newark and Elizabeth. And just so you know, it contains Shooters Island, most of which located in Staten Island and the northern sliver, which is located in Bayonne, New Jersey.
So, again, that is the information we have. The point that's highlighted there, it is really to the right of your screen. There it is right there, where it's believed those three ships collided. And, again, pardon us for reading this, but this is just coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM. Again, they are saying that one of the dredging ships is about 117-foot food dredging vessel. The other, called the New York, is around the same size and is taking on water.
There's currently a light oil sheen in the water, which means that there is oil in and -- in the water, but probably not a great deal. Does not seem to be any orange juice or anything in the water. So, again, that is the new information that is just coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM. So, pardon us for just reading this information, both Kyra and I.
So, we're going to move on now and talk about going against the grain of a state-run media. Find out what an Internet journalist has to do to evade the censors in communist Cuba.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS REPORT)
LEMON: The band Space Junkie has the usual concerns about getting its music in front of potential fans, but it's got a tougher problem, too. How does a three-person band do anything when its members live on three different continents? Well, enter the social gathering Web site, Second Life.
CNN's Miles O'Brien has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I was 8, I started playing keyboards.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some 20 years later, musician and performer Tanya Smith (ph) is leading a double life. In the virtual world of Second Life, an online community, Tanya goes by the name Shakti (ph), and the band is Space Junkie. Dispatched from CNN's bureau in Second Life, I flew in to watch. The music is prerecorded, but the light show and dancing are live. Shakti sits at her computer, manipulating her avatar, as do the other members of the band.
We met for an interview before the show.
(on camera): Who had the idea to do this, the Second Life?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miles, this idea came to be because we live on three continents.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Shakti lives in the U.S.. Guitarist Dan Harris (ph), AKA Zafod (ph), is from Australia, and drummer Luke Mason (ph) manipulates his avatar Zabiyar (ph) from Malaysia.
(on camera): Do you have Second Life groupies?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do.
O'BRIEN: The ultimate goal is to be a hit in the real world?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. In fact, we actually really want to be the first band in space.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Hard to say if this gig will get them there. But this is one band that has found a whole new orbit of fans in cyberspace.
Miles O'Brien, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, back and forth across the border, no stopping, no checking, another day of free passage from Gaza into Egypt and vice versa. And not everyone is happy about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, live pictures once again out of Newark, New Jersey. Three ships collided here in Newark Bay. Apparently, there are two dredging ships and a tanker carrying orange juice. They collided about an hour-and-a-half ago. The Coast Guard is investigating right now. One of the dredging vessels, the New York, is -- it's called the New York, rather. It's taking on water, we're told.
And there's apparently been some sort of spill of oil into the water, though the Coast Guard is saying that that spill is not believed to be a large one. The Coast Guard has two ships and a helicopter there on the scene. It occurred just before 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, a 669-foot tanker flying a Liberian flag and then two dredging ships both about 117 feet long. At least seven crew members on that commercial tanker. No word of any injuries right now, but we're tracking it for you.
LEMON: And we're still watching that wide-open border between Gaza and Egypt. Thousands of Palestinians are coming and going at will almost two days after somebody blew up a concrete and barbed-wire barrier. Egyptians are allowing the influx for now, calling it a humanitarian gesture.
CNN's Aneesh Raman is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): They just keep coming. Thousands more Gazans making their way into Egypt, tasting freedom for as long as it will last. And they are buying everything. Just past a border crossing in a normally sleepy towns, it's boom time on Main Street.
Need cigarettes? No problem. Need motorbikes? The only problem there is squeezing them all in. And at the gas station, chaos.
"It took me all day yesterday," Husam says, "to make one trip. And I went back to Gaza exhausted, but quickly made my way back here. In Gaza, we have nothing. We need this to live."
RAMAN: And while Egyptian shopkeepers are cashing in, the police are on edge -- at times forcing us to stop filming.
(on camera): But these makeshift markets are only part of the story of what's happened here since the wall came down. It's not just about supplies. It's also about families, for the first time in years, being reunited.
(voice-over): Repi (ph) arrived in Egypt yesterday, surprising his cousin Sulomon (ph). The two hadn't been in touch in three years.
"I was expecting to see perhaps no relatives," Sulomon says. "We never know if they are alive there. But when I saw my cousin, I can't describe how happy I was."
For Repi, with four kids and no income in Gaza, he feels subhuman. "In Israel, they have hospitals for dogs. In Gaza, we don't even have working hospitals for humans. All we want is to be treated as good as the animals are treated in Israel. That is how bad it is in Gaza. We have nothing there."
For right now, though, it is joy all around -- Gazans feeling free, Egyptians enjoying the frenzied shopping with scrupulous detail. Both sides know this will all likely soon end. Palestinians will have to go back, families will be split once again. But for now, Gazans are loving the moment.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, El-Arish, Egypt.
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: All right, let's check in with CNN's Ali Velshi.
He's in Dallas Texas. He's traveling cross-country on the CNN Election Express. He's talking to voters about pocketbook concerns as we've been had -- or as we've had all this developing news about the economy. And now the stimulus package one step closer to getting signed from the president if, indeed, the Senate passes it at all.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, we're in Dallas we're having, you know, we're having (INAUDIBLE). We've got some technical snafus we're working our way through. But I'll tell you this, we embarked on this countryside (INAUDIBLE) of the country from one (INAUDIBLE) border to the other. We started in South Carolina and are heading to California. We should be here (INAUDIBLE) Sunday through (INAUDIBLE).
While the election is about the economy this time -- we already knew that was the number one concern on people's minds. But I will tell you this, that the issues that are going on in this last week -- the Fed rate cut, the stimulus package, these markets' wild moves -- this is what people are talking about. And they're talking about how it affects them.
You know the stories we've heard? That people want tax cuts. They want jobs, particularly in some of the rural areas that we're going through. They want -- they want to know how the government is going to deal with gasoline prices. They also want to talk about inflation. People are telling me about not just gas prices, but food prices. We spoke to a woman this morning who runs a little cafeteria in Little Rock, talking about the price of her eggs and her -- her bread having gone up and she can't pass that on to customers. And yet she's seen her business drop 25 percent.
We spoke to a trucker who said he's talked to independent truckers who've seen their income drop by 20 percent because there are less goods to ship across the country. These are the kind of problems people are having. They're not as interested in discussions about whether we're in a recession or heading for one. They feel it every day. They want the candidates to talk specifically about economic issues and to tell them what they would do to get us out of this mess.
They're also a little concerned about this stimulus package. What is it going to do for the economy? What are people going to do with the money they get and how long will it take to get these checks to people? We've been discussing this, trying to figure it out. And it looks like it could between sometime between April and June that people get their checks in their hands. If we're headed to a recession, that might be too late.
So, Kyra, these are the conversations that we're having with people across this country. We're just pulling into Dallas now. We're on the road for the next few days and we'll keep you posted.
PHILLIPS: It sounds good. We'll be talking. Ali Velshi on the Election Express. Appreciate it. LEMON: Two stowaways go undetected for more than a day on this airplane -- look at that -- renewing the debate over aviation security.
PHILLIPS: And a bit of a shocker for some motorists in Orem, Utah.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's just a little girl...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's hitchhiking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's hitchhiking...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She looks like a 5-year-old girl just walking on the side of the road by herself.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A young woman coming to the rescue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Lots happening today when it comes to the economy. And our I-Reporters are weighing in, right -- Fred?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Don. We're kind of taking the pulse of Americans out there, trying to get a feel for what folks seem to seem this think about this stimulus -- economic stimulus idea. And, frankly, folks are rather cool.
Just look at some of the e-mails that we've gotten from our I- Reporters out there.
B. Gabbert of Chicago, Illinois says, "The current economic situation makes me very nervous. I make a decent salary, but am struggling to make ends meet. My debt continues to grow substantially every month. I was transferred from my job. I was not able to sell my condo in my hometown, resulting in two payments -- rent and mortgage -- a month.
And then Victor Garcia (ph) of Bloomfield, New Mexico says, "We don't need a tax rebate check. We could can spend the money in a week's time. What needs to happen is lower the cost of living -- the price of homes, gasoline and utility costs. This, in turn, should lower the price of food, which we need every day."
And Shaun D. (ph) of Rochester, New York, "The biggest killer for us is the rise in energy costs. It's meant no extras -- no nights out, no extra thrills, no extra groceries. Between gas and heating costs, our monthly energy costs are two-and-a-half times what they used to be."
And then Kelli Williams of St. Louis, Missouri, "Sending me rebate on money that's mine to begin with isn't going to do much. How about we lower gas prices so grocery prices will go down, too? That would help more people for a longer term than a one time shot in the arm."
All these ideas coming from our I-Reporters out there. We continue to welcome your thoughts out there on this economic stimulus idea -- Don?
LEMON: All right, Fred. Thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: More on a story that we told you about yesterday. You remember that student who called his school administrator to complain about a snow day -- and he put the angry return call from the administrator's wife on the Internet? Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And don't you ever call here again. My husband has been at the office since 6:30 this morning. And don't you even suggest that he purposely didn't answer his phone. He is out almost every single night of the week at meetings for snotty-nosed little brats. And he may not have called you, but it is not because he's home. It's because it snowed. Get over it kid and go to school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, a reporter found that kid and here's what he had to say about the whole ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEVRAJ "DAVE" S. KORI, LAKE BRADDOCK HIGH SCHOOL VA. (PH) SENIOR: I think that -- I mean I think the story's gone on far enough. I think -- it's national news coverage. I think there are issues like Darfur. I mean there are presidential primaries going on. There's so many other things that could have the media attention -- other things that could be on the news right now. And I mean I don't think prolonging this any longer is going to help anybody involved.
I've already taken down all the messages that I have power over on the Internet. So, yes, this is the end of it. Hopefully it will -- all this can just die down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So obviously you're surprised about all the media attention you've gotten?
KORI: Yes, definitely. Clearly, I didn't expect this to happen. I didn't intend for it to happen. I -- some people are thinking I was just looking for my 15 minutes. That's not true. I never expected this to happen. So now that's all I have to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So why did he put it on the Internet. The school official whose wife went off credits that student for standing up, but he says the whole thing, including a wave of crank phone calls, has been horrible on his spouse. LEMON: Well, the Internet -- that story a little bit later on. Are we going to do this one now? OK. A failing school in Cincinnati and a plan to turn it around. Here's how it starts -- teachers fired -- every single one. The principal is fired, too. Step two, turn William H. Taft Elementary into a math and sciences specialty school using private support plus expertise and funds from the University of Cincinnati. Well, the school superintendent says progress at the school is a given.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSA BLACKWELL, CINCINNATI PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Unfortunately, too often, teachers don't attract -- aren't attracted to the low performing schools. And perhaps we need to look at some incentives to get the best of the best minds to come into these schools to work with our children.
MAXINE MILNER, PARENT: I was upset because I found out about it just like an hour ago at it at lunch watching the news. I had no idea that they were going to do it. So I was upset about that, because I do like her teacher, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the fired teachers can reapply for the jobs they lost. They can apply for other jobs, as well, within the school system.
PHILLIPS: Well, the Internet and a few determined bloggers are changing the way the world sees Cuba.
CNN's Havana bureau chief Morgan Neill reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MORGAN NEILL, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Yoani Sanchez says she knows there are limits to expression in Cuba, she doesn't know exactly, where they are. But she wants to find out.
YOANI SANCHEZ, CUBAN BLOGGER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In Cuba, everybody knows about the levels of censorship. But I think Cubans have also imposed a level of self-censorship that often exceeds real censorship. I'm testing to see where the limits are. I want to know with my own experience where the cutoff point is.
Yoani runs a blog -- one of very few based in Cuba. It deals with subjects generally taboo here -- the country's flourishing black market, state control of the media and the high number of Cubans who leave the island in search of opportunity. In one post, called an empty chair,, Yoani writes about missing a friend who was jailed in 2003 during a crackdown on dissidents who the government described as mercenaries in the pay of the United States. The post set off an avalanche of comments -- some sympathetic, others openly hostile and suspicious.
SANCHEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The suspicions are result of years and years of living in paranoia and mistrust, thinking your friend is a security agent or your neighbor is infiltrated by the CIA.
NEILL: Yoani says she doesn't receive or need backing from anyone to run the blog.
(on camera): What she does need, however, is patience and persistence. Cuba has the lowest per capita access of Internet of any country in the hemisphere. Almost no one is allowed Internet access in her home.
(voice-over): So Yoani, like any Cuban that wants to use the Internet, has few options. First, she writes her entries at home and saves them on a flash drive. Then she either heads to a cyber cafe, where per hour charges can equal half a month's salary, or she tries to slip into the business center at one of Havana's tourist hotels. She says the government hasn't put any pressure on her and nobody's told her to stop -- and she doesn't plan to.
SANCHEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I've got a lot of friends with talent and opinions and ideas who would do a lot of good for the country if they could say what they think. But they just say it's not possible.
NEILL: That's not something you'll hear from Yoani.
Morgan Neill, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: A bit of a shocker for some motorists in Orem, Utah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's just a little girl...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's hitchhiking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's hitchhiking...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She looks like a 5-year-old girl just walking on the side of the road by herself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A young woman coming to the rescue.
PHILLIPS: And it's hard not to love a puppy, right? Well, we're going to tell you why this one puppy in particular is so special to a California mother.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Stowaways were found aboard this plane that landed in Washington from Ethiopia. The two men are believed to be part of the crew that cleaned the plane before it took off from the Ethiopian capital. Ethiopian Airlines is defending its security procedures. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOBENA MIKAEL, ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES: At Addis Ababa Airport, where our plane comes from, is one of the most secure airports in the world.
LARRY JOHNSON, SECURITY EXPERT: If you can store two human bodies, you can certainly store a bomb -- or you can plant weapons on board.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Those stowaways went undetected for 36 hours before the plane arrived yesterday at Dulles Airport. They were taken into custody by Customs agents.
LEMON: A little girl wants to walk to the school bus stop by herself. Mom says no way. So the girl takes matters into her own hands -- or at least her own thumb. We get the story from Brent Hunsaker of CNN affiliate KTVX in Salt Lake City, Utah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT HUNSAKER, KTVX REPORTER: A lot of people passed by our little hitchhiker yesterday morning. A few called police.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Orem City Police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there's just a little girl...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's hitchhiking...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like a 5-year-old girl just walking on the side of the road by herself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe younger...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it just looks weird.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just worried, there's so much traffic.
HUNSAKER: But Adrienne Hart didn't call, she stopped.
ADRIENNE HART, PICKED UP YOUNG HITCHHIKER: Yes, she was almost getting hit by cars.
HUNSAKER: Then she saw the thumb out.
HART: And I have to take a second glance because I'm like, she's like four feet tall, hitchhiking. So I was like, did I see that right? So I looked back and I see the little girl. And so I go -- I'm like she's going get hit. So I turn around and I ask her if she needs a ride.
HUNSAKER (on-camera): Did she seem at all scared?
HART: No. No, no, no. Hopped right in my car. HUNSAKER (voice-over): And once in her car, she asked plenty of questions.
HART: She's making small talk. Asking really mature questions. Like asking me about where I work, what I do, if I'm married. And I'm just thinking, wow.
HUNSAKER: But she wasn't very good answering questions.
HART: She's not giving me any directions whatsoever. She's just saying go down the street.
HUNSAKER: Adrienne searched for a school and finally found Grandview Elementary. She left the little girl with a member of the school staff, who found out she was reported missing, and called police.
(on-camera): So you're in the habit of picking up hitchhikers?
HART: Yes, I am. That's my job. No, the first time I've ever done it.
HUNSAKER: And you did it because?
HART: She was six and I could tell she was in danger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, before Adrienne Hart gave the young girl a lift, police say a man picked her up and drove five miles trying to find her school. When he couldn't find it, the girl got out and looked for another ride.
PHILLIPS: Well, the movie "Cloverfield" left you wishing they sold the Pepto-Bismol at the snack bar, you're not alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any idea what's out there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't care what's out there. Listen to me. She's got it. (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A surprising number of theatergoers have reported feeling a little queasy over "Cloverfield's" erratic camera work and choppy editing.
Here's CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, a lot of people talking about this movie this weekend. It was shot, as you can see there, to give you sort a first-person look at things, to put you sort of in the driver's seat, if you will. It's a great concept -- actually using a lot of handheld cameras, sort of shaky cameras, people will think. But it can cause something known as vertigo.
Vertigo is when your body is getting strong visual cues that you're moving, but in fact you're not moving at all. It has an impact sort of on the balance centers of your inner ear and to your brain, to some extent, as well. And it can be very disturbing to some people.
It can cause nausea. It can actually cause people to vomit. It can make people very lightheaded and dizzy. In fact, people have had to walk out of these theaters and not be able to actually finish watching the movie. And we've actually seen that -- in fact, seen warnings posted at a lot of AMC Theaters across the country saying -- you know, just like an amusement park ride -- that you might actually have some problems while watching this movie.
But the good news is the vast majority of people are not going to experience vertigo. And if you're really worried about it, there are a few things that you can do. You can actually, first of all, you could rent it and -- because if you watch it at home instead of in the theater, you'll actually get perspective around your screen.
You could also just simply try closing your eyes for a couple of minutes. That will allow your brain and your inner ear to sort of re- equilibrate. And if it's really bad, you could consider taking some medications to actually get rid of the dizziness. The problem with those medications is that oftentimes they make you feel sleepy. And if you're like me -- I can hardly ever make it through the opening credits -- that may not be a good option at all. But, hopefully, if you watch the movie, you'll enjoy it and not get sick.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, thank you, Sanjay. The closing bell and a wrap of all the action on Wall Street -- it's been a day like this -- straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Now a bittersweet story about a very special delivery for the mother of a fallen soldier. A small puppy is a living, breathing link to the son she lost in Iraq.
Reporter Deborah Hoffman of CNN affiliate KXTV has the story from Orangevale, California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RINDA POPE, SOLDIER'S MOTHER: The waves of grief aren't quite as severe.
DEBORAH HOFFMAN, KXTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last May, Rinda Pope's son, 19-year-old Alex Varela, was killed in Iraq. POPE: These are protection dogs that the Army actually adopted.
HOFFMAN: Some of her favorite pictures of Alex are of him holding a puppy.
POPE: And they're all really special to me. All the pictures are special to me because he loved dogs. He enjoyed the time with the dogs.
HOFFMAN: He was particularly close with the black pup shown here.
POPE: Then she ended up pregnant and she had a litter of five and D.J. was the only survivor.
HOFFMAN: After Alex was killed, it became very important for Rinda to meet D.J.
POPE: It was like a little piece of my heart. You know, it was a little bit of something of Alex, you know, that I could love. I knew it would -- Alex would be pleased. I knew Alex would be pleased if I got the dog so.
HOFFMAN: So Brenda and Alex's Army buddy, Matt Alford, hatched a plan to get D.J. out of Iraq and into Brenda's arms. But in the middle of a war, transporting a puppy is not a top priority.
POPE: Matt and I had been talking back and forth, and he was stumped. And really were -- we were getting nowhere.
HOFFMAN: The rest of Alex's squad all got involved and called the mission Operation Puppy Love.
POPE: Well I had given up hope. And all of a sudden, Lieutenant Tom got in the mix and he gave me hope.
HOFFMAN: A long story short D.J. was loaded onto a plane belonging to the one private contractor that flies out of Baghdad. She landed in Dulles Airport in D.C. on January 5th and was then put into a truck for a cross-country drive.
POPE: I'm excited. The dog is going to be here any minute.
HOFFMAN: With a full escort, D.J.'s driver arrived.
POPE: Thank you so much for taking care of the puppy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No problem. No problem.
HOFFMAN: Her son didn't come home from Iraq, but D.J. did.
POPE: Hi, there. These eyes -- she's very lively.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's all she wants to do is (INAUDIBLE).
POPE: It is so fantastic. It's brought a lot of joy to me. It's helped. It's helped a lot.
HOFFMAN: Deborah Hoffman, News 10.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Very cute.
PHILLIPS: A great way to wrap things up. The closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.
LEMON: That means Susan Lisovicz is standing by with a final look at another fun day at the New York Stock Exchange -- Susan.
LISOVICZ: Well, since it was a fun day, let's have a fun story. You know, I'm going to tell you about something we have not talked about in years, and that is a bull market in real estate. The catch is that the bull market is online. Real estate -- there's something called Domain Fest in L.A. . Every year they sell domain names. And according to "The L.A. Times," prices were going through the virtual roof. "The L.A. Times" says Porn.net went for $400,000. Bookmarks.com went for $300,000. Alimony.com went for $75,000. Butcher.com went for $50,000. And Satinpanties went for $10,000.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Which one did you buy, Susan?
LISOVICZ: You know what -- Susanlisovicz.com. I'm always going to go with that one. If you can spell it, you can own it. Nobody wants that.
LEMON: Did you own it?
PHILLIPS: I just how she can say satin panties and move right past that one.
LEMON: The satin panties -- I know. We couldn't even get through the panty story yesterday.
LISOVICZ: It's a big mystery.
(LAUGHTER)
LISOVICZ: Hey, those numbers -- those numbers don't compare to Sex.com -- no, Porn.com for last year...
LEMON: Four hundred thousand?
LISOVICZ: Yes. Yes. That was -- yes. Porn.net went for $400,000. But Sex.com went for more $12 million in 2006.
LEMON: Wow!
LISOVICZ: Sex sells.
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