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Possible Sighting of Madeleine McCann; Teamsters for Obama; Satellite Shootdown Time Unclear
Aired February 20, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: He has won every race since Super Tuesday. Today, Barack Obama wins another big chunk of organized labor.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And the Teamsters, well, they join team Obama, but Hillary Clinton has union backers, too. Can any of them deliver when it counts?
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Brianna Keilar, in today for Kyra Phillips.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: There was breaking news in our last half hour, now it is developing. We've been telling you about a possible new sighting in the disappearance of 4-year-old Madeleine McCann. She went missing from that resort in Portugal back in May of last year, on vacation with her parents and her siblings. Joining us now is Clarence Mitchell. He is the McCanns' spokesperson.
Apparently video in a restaurant her parents are going to look at soon, correct? Clarence, are you with us?
CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCCANN FAMILY SPOKESPERSON: Yes, I can hear you loud and clear. And it's good to be with you.
We are getting some details of this ourselves. We've been aware of this sighting for the last 24 hours. The French police have been investigating this since Friday, when it actually happened.
An 18-year-old girl from Holland was on her way from Spain back home when she stopped at a roadside cafe in the French city of Montpelier, and she and a friend saw a child who they immediately took to be Madeleine. They believe they saw the slight defect in Madeleine's eye, which made them certain it was her, and they actually called out her name.
When they called out her name, a man that was with the child scooped the child up and took her out of the cafe before the girls could take a photograph of her on their mobile phone, but the girls did the right thing. They informed the French police very quickly, and we understand that CCTV security camera footage has been secured, which we understand shows this child. And it's an absolute priority now that Kate and Gerry, Madeleine's parents, get to see that material so that they can tell for sure if it is their daughter or not.
LEMON: All right. And you said, Clarence, this happened on Friday. This was in a restaurant, Montpelier, in France, correct? And you said an 18-year-old girl from Holland. Was she with a group of people? Did more than one person see this young girl?
MITCHELL: We are still getting the exact details ourselves. But I understand from some reports in Holland where the girl lives that she lives in the town of Ninagon (ph). And she has been speaking to some local Dutch media after she told the French police, of course.
And I understand she and a friend were in this restaurant, and that both of them saw the child. And, in fact, I gather that the CCTV footage shows the girls looking at the child themselves. It actually records the event itself.
LEMON: OK.
MITCHELL: Now, clearly, it's important that this material is viewed by Kate and Gerry, and my understanding is that Interpol, tonight, coordinating the French police with the Portuguese police, who are the lead investigating force, and the British police. And clearly, this a priority.
We need to get to the bottom of this. But there have been other sightings in the past. We are not saying for sure it's Madeleine yet. We need to hear from the authorities and we need to see this material before Kate and Gerry get their hopes up too much.
LEMON: And if this happened on Friday, and you have closed- circuit television video -- or footage of this, where are we in the process of getting the -- of the police looking at it and also the parents looking at that video?
MITCHELL: Well, the French obviously will have been analyzing it. We would hope as a priority they will be liaisoning with the Portuguese and the British police. That process is under way. These things do take a little bit of time.
LEMON: Well, it's Friday -- Friday -- I mean, that's almost a week ago.
MITCHELL: Well, four days. Four or five days, yes, exactly. And we want this -- we want this done as a priority, because if it is Madeleine, the authorities need to move into that area of France to get her.
But, you know, the police have their way of doing these things. Interpol are working on it, we're assured it's tonight. And as soon as -- as soon as the material is in a position for Kate and Gerry to see it, I hope that it will be able to allay their minds one way or another.
LEMON: And Clarence, I want to make clear for our viewers here, you are the family spokesperson, not with the police department. Have you gotten any response from the police in all of this? What are they saying?
MITCHELL: I haven't heard from the police directly. You're quite right, I am spokesman for the family, not any of the authorities. The family are in constant touch certainly with the British police, because, of course, Kate and Gerry are back in England and have been since late last year. And we will hear from probably in the first instance through the British police as to what the French, and, in turn, the Portuguese, make of this material. It needs to be resolved very quickly.
LEMON: OK. Clarence Mitchell, spokesperson for Madeleine McCann's family. And several other media organizations or news outlets we've been monitoring are also reporting this, but, again, we are again reporting a possible sighting in the disappearance of 4- year-old Madeleine McCann.
As soon as we get more information on this, we will update you -- Brianna.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KEILAR: And a major development now for the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. Let's go straight to CNN's Candy Crowley. She is in Austin, Texas, for us.
Hi, Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. Yes, another good moment for Barack Obama. He is now 10-0. A 10-win winning streak in the primaries and the caucuses. But today, he gets a major endorsement.
He gets it from the Teamsters. It's about 1.5 million members, it comes at a really good time. Nothing says working class so much as the name Teamsters. They're going into Ohio, where the working class vote really counts. Also in Texas. So this is a major thing for Barack Obama, but it does not guarantee success, as Obama, himself, would tell you.
He got a major endorsement in Nevada from the Culinary Workers Union. He lost the caucuses in Nevada. So what we do know is this -- that just because a union leadership endorses a candidate, doesn't mean that the union members follow. And so, what it does mean, however, is, A, a day's worth of publicity, and, B, it gives an infrastructure to a campaign, those people who do agree with their leadership.
The union can then kind of pull together to knock on doors, to handle the phones, sort of get out the vote effort. So that could prove very valuable to Obama, who already has the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union, which is a huge union. They've already endorsed him. So this is a couple of good hits for Barack Obama -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes. And I just actually want to tell our viewers that we are looking right now at live pictures coming from Dallas, Texas, where Barack Obama is holding a rally.
And Candy, I want to ask you, because good news for Senator Obama is -- I mean, the converse is that it is bad news for Hillary Clinton. So what does she do to counter this?
CROWLEY: Well, it's not great news that she didn't get the endorsement, but here is how they'll counter it. They'll say, listen, Hillary Clinton has been working for working class people her entire adult people. They're going to follow how -- the candidate that they believe can do the most for them.
They will note that the working class voters, the Democratic voters, have, by and large, been behind her. They did lose that working class vote to Barack Obama in Wisconsin, and earlier in Maryland, so there is some work to do there. But the Clinton campaign sort of moves forward, says this is about the voters. They want to make that one-on-one contact with voters, and they believe that's what really settles things at the polls --Brianna.
KEILAR: All right. Always insightful, Candy Crowley for us there from Texas. We appreciate your report.
And as I just said, Candy is in Texas. That is where the Democratic rivals are going to face off in another debate ahead of the Texas and Ohio primaries March 4th. You're going to want to watch their face-off tomorrow night in Austin, Texas.
Our special coverage is going to begin at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, and you can see it only here on CNN. And also, just a reminder where the race stands. Here's how the delegates are stacking up for both parties after yesterday's contests. Barack Obama, 1,315. Hillary Clinton, slightly less, 1,245. The magic number to get the Democratic nomination, up there top right, 2,025 delegates.
Let's move on also on the Republican side now. McCain, 918 delegates. Huckabee, 217. Ron Paul still in the race, but only with 16 delegates. Nine uncommitted. The magic number for the Republican nominee would be 1,191. And the next big contest, 13 days from today, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont. Ohio and Texas, the big prizes here March 4th, especially for Clinton's bid to overtake Obama.
LEMON: Armageddon? Well, not quite. But stunning fireworks appeared over the Pacific Northwest. We'll show you more.
KEILAR: Plus, the U.S. election not just an American thing. When you vote, the world watches.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, it is heading our way with almost 1,000 pounds of poisonous fuel, a spy satellite on a collision course with Earth. A Navy destroyer is ready and it's aiming, but it may be holding the fire, at least for today, because of bad weather. It's definitely a long shot, but is it also a lost cause?
Here is CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Pentagon is feeling pretty good about its chances of hitting the satellite, even though it's not as easy as it looks in this animation. The Navy is using a standard missile, although there's nothing standard about the three that have been specially modified to kill a satellite instead of intercept a warhead.
(on camera): This is a model of the three-stage standard missile. The first stage gets it off the ship. The second stage guides it to the edge of the atmosphere and notice the third stage doesn't have any pins on it. That's because it's exoatmospheric. That is to say it operates in space where there's no air.
(voice over): Inside the third stage is the kill vehicle, a non- explosive warhead that opens its eyes, spots the satellite with infrared sensors, and maneuvers force a collision. The force of two objects slamming into each other at a closing velocity of 22,000 miles per hour, is enough to do that job. Should it miss, the kill vehicle continues harmlessly into space.
Even though the satellite is a fatter target, the size of a school bus, compared to a warhead that might be three to five feet long, it's not easier to hit. It's traveling faster, slightly higher and is much colder than a warhead. Temperature makes a difference, because it's the heat signature that the missile seeker uses to find the target in the cold of space. That's why the attempt is being made during daylight hours. The rays of the sun may warm the cold, dead satellite just enough so the kill vehicle can zero in on it.
If it works, the Navy says it has no plans to add satellite killing to its list of missions. For one thing, there's no money in the budget for it.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: A flash of light and something falling from the skies over the Pacific Northwest. What the heck was going on? Well, we will tell you that it wasn't that wayward spy satellite, at least.
Here is Tim Gordon of CNN affiliate KOIN out of Portland, Oregon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
9-1-1 DISPATCHER: 9-1-1.
CALLER: Hi. I'm sorry to call. I just saw something fall out of the sky. I'm not sure if it was a plane or if it was fireworks.
CALLER: I don't know what it was. It just caught my eye, a big flash of fireball coming down.
TIM GORDON, REPORTER, KOIN (voice-over): 9-1-1 calls poured in, those from Clackamas and Multnomah counties. This was what they saw in Spokane from a security camera at a hospital there. Grainy but you can see the fireball in the sky. And courtesy of the Idaho Air National Guard from a base near Boise, capturing the meteor's descent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a collective example of an iron meteorite.
GORDON: OMSI's Jim Todd says today's meteor could have been traveling in space for millions, even billions of years before it made its grand entrance.
JIM TODD, OREGON MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: If it creates a sonic boom, which is characteristic of a meteor that comes in faster than the speed of sound at 50,000 miles per hour, that's pretty typical.
CAROL COATES, PROVIDENCE PORTLAND MEDICAL CENTER: And sure enough, first thing this morning it was seen.
GORDON: Providence Portland's Carol Coates heard about the meteor driving into work and was thrilled to see it recorded on one of their cameras.
COATES: Almost half an hour looking at the camera. We were just shocked, because we really didn't think we'd see anything on the camera or that it was even in view of the camera.
GORDON: But the best view was live for people up early.
PAM JOHNSON, SAW FLASH: I was driving along Front Avenue about quarter to 6:00 this morning and the whole southern sky just flashed blue twice. A double flicker of blue.
GORDON: A thrill, for some a scare.
CALLER: It's right in front of me. It has to hit some houses.
CALLER: I don't know how much of an emergency it is, but it was definitely something that I've never ever seen before.
CALLER: Well, have you had other people call?
9-1-1 DISPATCHER: Indeed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: A private pilot also reported seeing a burst of light west of Spokane early yesterday. Sheriff's deputies there say they didn't see the meteor -- or a meteor, for that matter.
LEMON: Well, look up in the sky tonight, and weather permitting, you might see something like this. That's -- probably because I'll be asleep. A total lunar eclipse. You won't get another chance for almost three years. Take a good look at it.
You should also be able to see Saturn -- wow -- if you grab a telescope. You might even see Saturn's rings.
So where is the best place to view the eclipse, Chad Myers, in the weather center, besides watching it on TV? Can you see it here on CNN? I don't know. We'll rebroadcast it for you tomorrow if you miss it, right?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, the East coast will be a good place -- I mean outside. It's not going to be all that cold in a lot of areas, Don.
The upper Midwest may not be so good because of how brutally cold it is out there. Wouldn't want to stand out there for any length of time, but I guess you could watch it through a window. It's really going to be a total eclipse at about 1:01 -- or 10:01 Eastern Standard Time here in the East coast. So you subtract your hours as you go to the West.
You're going to have a little bit of a visibility issue here in California, Oregon, and Washington, because your sun's still going to be on the horizon when it's in its totality. You don't get eclipses like this unless it's a full moon. And tonight is the full moon.
It's the snow moon, the snow full moon. And so as the moon rises, the sun will be setting. And as it gets up into the sky a little bit -- degrees up into the sky in the East, that's when it will get to totality. And it will really even look a little bit on the red side as the rays of the sun refract and reflect around the Earth itself. And still, you can't see the dark side of the moon, but it will look a little bit darker than what it usually is, obviously.
We'll talk a little bit about this spy satellite that's going to coming down, we hope sometime. The reason why it's going to be so very hard to hit is because is -- literally its speed. Let's zoom into the area here.
This is the box where the weather service and the FAA -- they don't want anybody in this box later on tonight, because obviously this is the place where it could come down. But this distance, from this here, to that here, that is three minutes at 800 miles. This satellite is traveling at like 270 miles per minute, and so all of this thing -- all this launch kill, all it's going to have to do is kind of sit up there and go, OK, come to me.
And it will come to papa, if it can get it. Obviously the big issue is it's not a hot satellite, so it will be harder to get to. But we'll see.
LEMON: Eclipses are always fun. And we were going through our eclipse songs here -- Bonnie Tyler -- remember that, "Total Eclipse of the Heart?"
MYERS: Oh yes.
LEMON: "Dark Side of the Moon," do you remember that?
MYERS: Sure, of course. Pink Floyd. LEMON: What else? Can you think of another one?
MYERS: Well, I wasn't thinking.
(LAUGHTER)
Give me a minute to noodle on it and maybe.
LEMON: If you come up with one, let me know. When we talk about the eclipse again we'll bring it up.
MYERS: All right. Very good.
LEMON: We've got two here.
Thank you, Chad Myers.
KEILAR: Well, we know their faces, we've heard their speeches. But how recognizable are these White House wannabes outside of this country? We're going to be asking our European political editor for the view from aboard.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Some new information on the prescription drugs that the killer in the Northern Illinois University took, or at least that he was prescribed to be taking -- not sure if he was taking them in the last days before he shot five people and killed himself.
Joining us on the phone with this new information now, Abbie Boudreau from CNN's Special Investigation Unit. Her team actually came up with this information.
What did you find, Abbie?
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: Well, Don, I talked to Jessica Baty last night on the phone, just a follow-up conversation. And I asked her, you know, if it was just Prozac -- if he was just taking Prozac, if there were other medications. And she said, "You know what? He was taking Xanax, Ambien and Prozac."
And, you know, I asked her, "Well, was he taking these all at the same time? What's going on with that?" And she said that, you know, he was taking Xanax on occasion. She was trying to get him off the Ambien.
She was concerned, she said, that he was taking these three prescribed medications and didn't know the effect that all three would have. But you know, these are prescribed by a psychiatrist of his, according to her, and that is what we know as far as the types of medications he was taking.
Of course, she did tell us that he had stopped taking the Prozac at least three weeks before the shooting, and that's all the information that comes straight from Jessica. And if you remember, Jessica Baty, they had -- they had been together as a couple for about two years, and they had lived together for the past year -- Don.
LEMON: Yes. And Abbie, we know being up there on that story that he apparently -- and this is according to investigators -- we're not saying anything out of school here -- that he had not been taking his medication, at least that they thought. And he had sort of become erratic in the last couple of weeks.
But when you're looking at Prozac here -- and I'm not a doctor -- but -- which is to treat depression, and then sometimes in order to get someone to sleep they will prescribe Ambien, because Prozac can make you -- you know, give you a little bit more energy than you might be used to, so they will prescribe - or they'll prescribe Ambien for sleeping. But then Xanax, that's probably the biggest question, which is an anti-anxiety medication, and the combination here.
And his girlfriend, obviously in your interview with her, talked about his behavior over the last couple of weeks. Did she say that he was taking the medication or that he was not on the medication at the time?
BOUDREAU: She did not make it clear whether or not he was on all three of the medications over the last couple of weeks. All I know is that she said that he stopped taking them -- the Prozac -- at least three weeks before the shooting occurred.
The other two drugs, like I said, she wanted to get him off the Ambien for whatever reason. She said she just didn't want him taking all three of those drugs.
LEMON: At the same time, right.
BOUDREAU: It made her "nervous" -- at the same time. But, you know, that's all she was really able to tell me. She said -- again, she said he would take Xanax on occasion, but he was prescribed all three of those drugs. And I thought this was interesting -- they've been together for two years.
Now, they met when they were at NIU. And then when they moved to University of Illinois in Champagne, Illinois, that is when he started feeling really anxious, she said. He was nervous about school, he was overly stressed about school. He didn't have a job and he felt bad about it, she said.
So with all of these kinds of stresses, that is when he went to a psychiatrist. And that psychiatrist, according to her, prescribed these three medications. Of course, we have no idea if these medications or getting off of the medications triggered anything. We just -- we have no idea.
LEMON: Yes. And anyone -- I mean, you would -- you know this if you spoke to her. If anyone knows his behavior as someone who had been dating him for a couple of years, and if she was trying to get him off of the medication, maybe he had started to acting strangely when he was on that medication. And she saw the change in his behavior and the change in his personality, Abbie. And then also, remember the stuff that was found in that drawer in the hotel room as well? If you are taking the stuff on top of, you know, other things, like energy drinks and that sort of things -- so who knows what the combination might cause, right?
BOUDREAU: Yes, absolutely. And you brought up the word "erratic," and this has been kind of getting tossed around a little bit in the media and whether or not she -- whether or not her story has change or remained the same.
When she talked to us, she said he was not acting erratic in the few weeks before the shooting. Apparently, some police sources that have been quoted in other newspapers say, OK, well, she told us that he was acting erratic, and that is where they got the information.
I talked to her about that last night and I said, "OK, was he or was he not acting erratic ? Where did the police get that information?" And she said, listen, I was -- first of all, I was in shock when I was talking to the police. Maybe they brought up the word "erratic." I don't know. He was acting more irrational than erratic. He was not acting erratic.
LEMON: OK.
BOUDREAU: So there is a distinction there, but, you know...
LEMON: Yes. Well, Abbie Boudreau, great work on this, you and your team up there. And continue to work this case.
We didn't just go up for a few days and then leave it alone. Abbie and the Special Investigations Unit, along with her producers and everyone on that team, have been doing a really good job.
And of course that interview you had with the girlfriend, just an amazing piece of work. If you get any more information, let us know, and we will get you back on. OK, Abbie?
BOUDREAU: All right. Well, thank you very much.
LEMON: All right. Thank you, Abbie.
And we want to turn now to our Elizabeth Cohen, our medical correspondent, to talk about the combination of these drugs.
And just knowing from this medication, if you take a medication for depression, it can cause you to become a bit jittery. So a doctor will prescribe a sleeping agent to help you sleep. The thing is, is about Xanax. I'm not exactly sure, and who knows if the combination would cause someone to act...
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's an anti-anxiety drug.
LEMON: Yes.
COHEN: And we just got off the phone with the head of the American Psychiatric Association, and she said these three drugs are -- it's not unusual to see them prescribed in combination. So, there's nothing strange about someone taking a drug for sleeping and for anxiety and for depression. It happens.
Now, unfortunately, what also happens is the psychiatric patients sometimes take themselves off these drugs. And we asked her, is that what did it? Is that what made him sort of lose it and go on this shooting spree? And she was adamant, no, that simply coming off these drugs, even if it was done quickly and against the advice of his doctor, without the knowledge of his doctor, that, in and of itself, would not make him violent unless he already had violent tendencies.
So I think the bottom line here is that we are not going the find sort of that one answer, ah, this is what made him do it. It is going to be most likely a combination of things. But certainly, going off of these three drugs without the advice of your doctor can make you irritable and jittery, and may make some of your demons come out, as she said it.
LEMON: Right.
COHEN: But the demons had to be there to begin with.
LEMON: To begin with.
COHEN: Right.
LEMON: And you can't blame the drug. And who knows, right?
COHEN: Or blame the withdrawal of the drug, right.
LEMON: The withdrawal of the drug, absolutely.
OK. But again, absolutely, I thought it was sort of -- it was interesting, this whole thing, because these drugs, normally they're prescribed together. Not out of the ordinary.
COHEN: No, not such a strange thing. Another note that she made is that he went off of these drugs, we're told, three weeks ago, three weeks before the shooting. And usually when you have a discontinuation syndrome, as it is called, that doesn't last for three weeks. I mean, three weeks after going off of them you would be sort of free of any discontinuation effect, so that's something to keep in mind, too.
LEMON: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
LEMON: Abbie Boudreau, thanks as well.
Do we have pictures of the victims in all of this? We want to remember five people were killed in this. Six, including the gunman, who killed himself. Catalina Garcia, Gayle Dubowski, Ryanne Mace, Julianna Gehant, and Daniel Parmenter, victims in this really sick shooting. CNN NEWSROOM continues in a bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: It is 2:31 here in the east and three of the stories that we are working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.
First up, firefighters in Charlotte, North Carolina, have finally contained a big brushfire there. The flames damaged a half dozen homes, no reports, though, of injuries.
And French police say a student believes she saw missing British girl, Madeleine McCann, at a roadside restaurant in southern France. As you recall, Madeleine vanished last year in Portugal while on vacation with her mom and dad.
And no reports of injuries or damage, yet, from a 6.2 magnitude earthquake off of the coast of Greece. Earlier, a more powerful quake in western Indonesia killed three people, at least three people, and injured more than two dozen.
LEMON: Well, prices are going up for just about everything, except, except some -- and we want to say some, college tuition. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with that.
But first, Susan, how are the markets doing today?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are doing all right. It's -- it started lower and it's turning around. So that is good, right, Don?
LEMON: Good. Is it -- it's always good if it is turning around for positive, right?
LISOVICZ: Yes. And we just got, at the top of the hour, the Federal Reserve releasing the minutes from its most recent meeting. Fed policy makers predicting slower economic growth, in fact, lowering its GDP forecast for the year. Also, policy makers predicting higher unemployment and higher inflation. That's not so good, right?
But, the minutes showed that the Fed still feels the economy will continue to grow. It may be anemic growth, but it's growth nonetheless. The central bank may, in fact, need to do a rapid reversal of its recent interest rate cuts once the economy stabilizes. That's because of inflation, we were talking about that in the last hour. The minutes also showed the Fed had a conference call on January 9th, two weeks before that emergency, three quarter point cut. No action was taken.
Wall Street shrugging off of the news. The Dow Industrials, as I mentioned, on the plus side, up 31 points. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, up eight points. And oil, unfortunately, is up too, hitting a new intraday record of $101.32 a barrel.
The cost of a college education, it is actually getting more affordable for some students, as Don emphasized. In some cases, college, in fact, will be free. Stanford has become the latest elite school to give students and their families a break. The university will no longer charge tuition to students who come from families earning less than $100,000 a year.
If the families earn less than $60,000, students will get a totally free ride, meaning no room and board fees, and those can add up quickly, too. Harvard recently announced families earning as much as $100,000 -- $180,000 a year would pay no more than 10 percent of that income on tuition and fees. Harvard already gives free tuition to students from families earning less than $60,000.
What about that, Don Lemon? Don't you wish you could do it all over again?
LEMON: Yes, but you know what? When I went to college, sadly, which was about two years ago --
LISOVICZ: Right.
LEMON: All right. It didn't --
LISOVICZ: So you're still paying off your loans?
LEMON: It didn't cost that much. Thinking about it, I mean now, $100, 000 - $180,000 and they are offering incentives to families who make -- that is a good living when you think about it comparatively to what the median income is in the U.S. It says a lot about how much it costs to go to college now.
LISOVICZ: It's unbelievable and --
LEMON: So how is it possible, though, for these schools to do this?
LISOVICZ: Yes. Well, when you talk about inflation, not only energy and food, you have to talk about school, education and health care. But -- well, in this case, we are talking about Harvard and Stanford, some of the wealthiest schools in the country. And the rich, well, they keep getting richer.
That -- the gap between rich and poor is widening, not shrinking. Donations last year rose to a record of nearly $30 billion according the a survey by the Council for Aid to Education. And the top schools, well, they are piling the most cash. Check out the endowments. Harvard, $35 billion, Stanford, $17 billion after raising more than $800 million last year, the most of any school.
But some in academia are worried that the economic slow down could hurt donation this year. Please, lets say it ain't so. We've got to educated everbody.
Coming up, it's the piggybank of last resort, yet a growing number of people are tapping their 401(k) accounts. I'll tell you about it in the next hour of NEWSROOM. I know that you don't touch yours, Don.
LEMON: That's not good. I know it's a sign of the times when you think -- you said billion, right, these endowments with a b?
LISOVICZ: Yes.
LEMON: Goodness. And some colleges and schools are struggling. Give it to some of those guys, maybe.
LISOVICZ: Spread it around.
LEMON: Yes. All right, thank you, Susan.
LISOVICZ: See you in the next hour.
KEILAR: What, me, worry? I don't worry, right Don? No, of course not. Why would I worry, it's just a little falling satellite.
LEMON: Just a little falling satellite. It's raining, the sky is falling.
KEILAR: I'm not having nightmares. I think it will be all OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm more concerned about the tainted meat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Yes, this is, though, a bus-sized satellite. And the Pentagon's plans to shoot it down, we're going to bring them to you in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a disassembly line at the Wongpanit Recycling Center in northern Thailand. The steady stream of garbage is handled by 200 staff, sifting and sorting, meticulously removing labels from a host of household products. There are more than 80 operations like it in Thailand, and all headed by Somthai Wongcharoen, who sees the world's waste problem as a business opportunity.
SOMTHAI WONGCHAROEN, WONGPANIT RECYCLING (through translator): It is a challenging business. That is because people take garbage out and throw it away. They are throwing away money. I think of garbage as value, as gold.
LU STOUT: From used car engines to dilapidated television sets, virtually every piece of garbage is given value. The company is paid for each of these bottles. They are among the 250 tons of garbage processed at this plant everyday.
By reversing the supply and demand equation, this business helps deal with the growing ecological impact of modern consumerism. It is an arduous job, but an important one for the company, as component parts, such as copper and gold, are valuable raw materials for many manufacturers. These materials will be reborn into new products. With it, unearthing more profit for the company. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Some information just in. This is coming from our international desk. Thousands of passengers at London's Heathrow Airport having some problems there. They're suffering from a computer problem. Here is what we're being told here, that the delays or the canceled flights at the airport, are because of a computer glitch in the baggage system. The problem began yesterday afternoon at terminal four when the software of the automatic baggage sorting system crashed while it was being upgraded.
BAA, which is British Airways, owns the Heathrow and -- the faulty system, and says it has prevented passengers from checking any luggage into its hold. The biggest victims are British Airways passengers on long haul flights. Many have been left waiting in tents outside of the terminal to find out if their flights would be canceled.
Of course, they are apologizing to the passengers. This information, some of it coming from our international desk, some of it coming from the "Associated Press." But just so you know, if you look at Heathrow, it's a lot like O'Hare and Midway. Heathrow, the big airport there in London. And then you have Gatwick, which is a smaller airport, or Kennedy and La Guardia, sort of the same sort of situation.
So, it's going to affect both airports, eventually, and then it will have a domino, or a ripple effect, because a lot of people have connections and they're traveling. But again, thousands of passengers there suffering delays because of a faulty switch in the baggage hold system, causing people not to be able to check their bags, and many of their flights may be canceled. We will continue to update this developing story.
KEILAR: Caucuses, primaries in Wisconsin, Washington state and Hawaii. The votes are all in now and Democratic senator, Barack Obama, made it ten in a row with victories in Wisconsin and Hawaii. And on the Republican side, Senator John McCain easily picked up Wisconsin and Washington state.
And don't you think for a moment that U.S. citizens are the only ones paying close attention to race for the White House. The next American president, whoever he or she is, will have an impact on the world. And so to talk more about that, we have Robin Oakley. He is our European political editor.
We're used to, of course, seeing you everywhere around the world, certainly not here in Atlanta. But thankfully you are here with us today, thank you.
ROBIN OAKLEY, EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Nice to be here. KEILAR: And Robin, Europeans there, just acutely interested in this election, more so than usual. So what is that's really captivating their attention?
OAKLEY: Well, I have never seen so much interest in a U.S. election process as we've got Europe at the moment, and particularly in the U.K. I think that there are three factors. One is that people are looking at the possibility of the first African-American president or the first woman president of the United States. Secondly, the sheer closeness of the race so far.
And thirdly, I have to say, that the other factor is Europe can't wait to be rid of President George W. Bush. He is probably one of the most unpopular American presidents there has ever been, as far as Europeans are concerned. A recent poll put the satisfaction factor with President Bush in a whole range of European countries in single- digit figures.
KEILAR: Wow.
OAKLEY: And they can't wait to see the end of him, so they are excited to see who it is who is going to succeed him.
KEILAR: So they are interested in what is going on here. But they're also baffled about certain parts of this process. Can you just shed light on that?
OAKLEY: Well, particularly in the country that I come from in the U.K., there is a difference in the systems. People in Britain stand for Parliament, and Americans run for office. It is the sheer energy of the process, and the incredible stamina it takes. It goes on forever.
In British Parliamentary election, it is over in four or five weeks. Here, you do seem to be going on forever. The turnoff factor, though, for Europeans is -- I looked at the reports this morning. Here we were, the votes that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had got in Wisconsin or in Hawaii, and then the next item on the news, how much money Senator John McCain, the Republican leading candidate, had picked up during January.
Now Europeans, with the politicians very tightly restricted on how much they can spend in an election, find it amazing how much money it takes to get somebody to the White House in the U.S. system.
KEILAR: And of course, on a Democratic side, they are bringing in the big bucks like they never before, so that may be interesting to Europeans as well. But let's talk about what Europeans are expecting out of the next president. No doubt Iraq is an issue.
OAKLEY: Yes, Iraq is a big issue and that is one of the reasons why President Bush has been so unpopular in Europe. But I thin there's a huge danger that because Obamamania, particularly, is sweeping Europe, comparisons are being made between him and President John F. Kennedy, and so on. And of course, nobody has made any decisions here, yet. Huge expectations are being built up, and Europeans are starting to think, well, maybe this is going to mean an immediate recall of the U.S. troops from Iraq, that it is going to mean America -- pitching in much more strongly to the Middle East peace process, pressuring Israel to do a deal with the Palestinians. It's going to mean the U.S. -- they think, being more cooperative of the United Nations, instead of using its own military force.
What people forget is that while the European countries and the United States have many shared values, they don't always have shared interests. And whoever becomes the next American president is going to be acting in the interests of America, and not in the interests of Europeans.
KEILAR: That is true, but so interesting that all eyes are watching. Robin Oakley, our European political editor. Thanks for the insight on that, very interesting. And thanks for being with us, you are not in this travel tangle at Heathrow.
OAKLEY: It's nice to be here.
KEILAR: I am sure you are excited and that.
And we've got all of the latest campaign news available right at your fingertips. All you've got to do is go to CNNpolitics.com. Plus analysis from the best political team on television, that and more at CNNpolitics.com.
LEMON: An estranged godson contacts his godfather after seven years of separation. But it is not a happy occasion. That, and new details about what prescriptions the Northern Illinois University gunman was taking. Developing news, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, it is heading our way with almost 1,000 pounds of poisonous fuel. We're talking about a spy satellite on a collision course with Earth. The Pentagon is ready and it's aiming, but it may be holding its fire at least for today, because of weather.
If the falling satellite scenario sounds like a movie, well, it has been one, but CNN's Richard Roth found the very real prospect of a real missile blowing up a real pile of toxic space junk isn't phasing New Yorkers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Today's reason not to wake up in the morning is the falling U.S. satellite.
GEN. JAMES CARTWRIGHT, VICE CHMN., JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We're saying in the modeling somewhere around 2,800 pounds would survive re- entry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty crazy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chicken Little, what is it? What's going on?
CHICKEN LITTLE: The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: Make that the spy is falling, an intelligence-gathering satellite that malfunctioned and is tumbling out of control. The Pentagon is aiming to shoot it down with a missile because it's loaded with hazardous toxic gases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the Pentagon knows all about toxic gases. I don't know. I mean, I guess if it's going to hit the earth, get rid of it. I mean, does it have reruns of "The Lucy Show" on it? I mean, what does it have?
ROTH: This is no time to be "loosy goosy."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never know what the future holds until it hits.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The meteor shower.
ROTH: New York City was hit in the movie "Armageddon" and a measuring stick in "Deep Impact."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR, "DEEP IMPACT": The larger comet is the size of New York City, 500 billion tons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: Naturally, New Yorkers and Americans are terrified of the falling satellite.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not afraid of it at all. Doesn't faze me in the least.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chances of the satellite hitting one of us is probably in the neighborhood of one in six trillion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I trust my government. I trust my people. I trust my military.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not having nightmares. I think it'll be all OK. I'm more concerned about the change in meat that just came out this morning, but ...
ROTH: But this phobia pro warns inner demons can be ignited by the satellite story. Naturally, we took our expert up to the roof to explain.
SEYMOUR SEGNIT, CTRN: PHOBIA CLINIC: A lot of the time we think, oh, stuff falling out of the sky, it just doesn't happen. But this thing's coming, right, the president is going to try and shoot it down, so we know it's real and that gives a phobic, someone who's phobic in this area a real opportunity to get focused.
ROTH: By the way, how many times have you heard this satellite is as big as a school bus?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's scary. Is it really as big as a school bus?
ROTH: Not when amateur astronomer Richard Rosenberg tracks the satellite rays by.
RICHARD ROSENBERG, AMATEUR ASTRONOMER: We could actually see it, it actually -- magnitude 1.6, which is quite bright. It's like a pretty bright star.
ROTH: And should the worst happen ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably have a good bottle of champagne and call my friends and we'll just say, well, this is the way we're going, whoever thought it.
ROTH: Richard Roth, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: The Navy is ready and aiming, but Jamie McIntyre is live at the Pentagon next to tell us why today might not be the day for that satellite to come down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You see that, it says CNN.com and we want to see what's clicking at CNN.com. Some of your most viewed video today, a meteor streaking down in the Pacific Northwest caught on tape by some surveillance cameras, and caught people's attention, too -- 9-1-1 operators logged a bunch of confused calls.
Lindsay Lohan dares to go bare -- oops, are we showing that on TV? Dares to go bare in some Marilyn Monroe-style photos. This was like No. 1 yesterday, still is. A career boost or do I have to say bust? OK, Hollywood watchers at CNN.com are still debating that.
And an Ohio man drinks and drives his way to an eight-year jail sentence. His significant stay thanks to his significant record of 19 D.U.I. arrests.
You can link to all of our top ten lists from the front page of CNN.com.
KEILAR: Tight restrictions imposed on U.S. military personnel in Okinawa, Japan after the alleged rape of a teenager. We've got more on the outcry and also the fall-out ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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