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Several Explosions Across Iraq; Does Congress Have an Addiction?; Fatal Plane Crash in Florida; Multibillion Dollar U.S. Air Force Contract Going Overseas
Aired March 13, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN, ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day at the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the run down for you. Two suspects in custody in North Carolina accused in the murder of a UNC senior. He's one of the men also behind the death at Duke.
COLLINS: High school girls and STDs. Alarming numbers. What are the solutions? We'll be asking our guests this hour.
HARRIS: Fighting those credit card fees. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis prep you for battle today, Thursday, March 15th. No, it's the 13th. You're in the NEWSROOM.
And some new information about that second suspect arrested in the murder of University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson. Local affiliate WRAL is reporting that Lawrence Alvin Lovette is being charged in connection with the death of a graduate student at nearby Duke University. The 29-year-old Duke student was found shot to death January 18th at his apartment in Durham. Lovette, 17, was taken into custody early today in Durham. Police say Lovette walked out of a house after holding off heavily armed officers for four hours. Renee Chou of affiliate WRAL is in Durham with more on Lovette's arrest.
RENEE SHOU, WRAL, REPORTER: Durham police say the arrest went down as it should. The suspect surrendered peacefully. No weapons fired. No injuries. No struggle. They say 17-year-old Lawrence Lovette was found hiding out in this home behind me on Cook Road. It's in a residential neighborhood in southwest Durham. They arrived on the scene after following an anonymous tip about midnight. They tried to use bullhorns to get him to come out and when that didn't work, they tossed a phone through a window and they were able to establish contact with Lovette then. At around 4:15 this morning, investigators say Lovette ended up walking out unarmed with his hands up and surrendered peacefully. He's now being questioned at the Durham Police Department in the murder of UNC student Eve Carson. Back to you.
HARRIS: Carson was a premed student with a double major in political science and biology. The university plans a memorial service in her honor on Tuesday.
COLLINS: All right. Let's take you back to the big board. We missed Friday the 13th, you know, by one day because it's Thursday the 13th. But after yesterday, I think it might feel a bit like Friday the 13th because we're already right off the mark here. Down by about 182 points. The Dow Jones industrial average is resting now below that 12,000 mark at 11,928. Certainly going to be watching all of these numbers for you today. It was expected to be fair, we expected futures telling us that it would open lower today but we'll have to follow and see how low it goes and keep our fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, brace yourself if you need to fill up today. Gas prices are averaging almost $3.27 a gallon, according to AAA. That's up more than two cents from just yesterday. It's a whopping 30 cents more than what drivers were paying just one month ago. And a note now, when you adjust the prices for inflation they are still a little bit lower than the peak high 27 years ago. So, very interesting factoid there.
Meanwhile, CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is going to be joining us all next week with a special report on money issues near and dear to your heart. It's called "Issue number one, the economy." Monday, we're going to be telling you how the struggling economy affects your job, your savings and debt and your home as if you don't already know that. But some tips to how to deal with all of it. It's coming your way noon Eastern only on CNN.
HARRIS: Pet projects and pork barrel politics, today the presidential candidates are all back in Washington for a big senate vote. A proposed one-year ban on those home state projects known as earmarks. Republican John McCain has been a longtime critic of earmarks. He calls it wasteful and outrageous spending. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have also recently joined the opposition. In addition to earmarks, the senate is expected to vote on other tax and spending matters as well today.
A new proposal today from Florida Democrats scrambling to make their votes count. A memo from the Florida Democratic party proposes redoing the primary, combination in person and mail in election would be held June 3rd. Florida voted in January. The state violated party rules by moving up its primary. The national party disqualified Florida's 210 delegates. Now Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are locked in a tight battle and Democrats are trying to find a way to include Florida. Michigan faces a similar situation.
COLLINS: Vote again, mail it in. The hurdles may be too high for Florida voters wanting their primary votes to count. Here now is CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: To vote or not to vote to vote or not to vote in Florida. That is the question. Others say, it may be a category 5 disaster.
Are you worried that this thing is sort of an impending catastrophe or are you sure it's going to work out?
JEREMY RING, FLORIDA STATE SENATE: I think it has potential to be a catastrophe.
JOHNS: Here's why. Pick a name. The big fix or beat the clock or presto changed . The fact is the clock is ticking down for Florida to find any solution and by the way, most of the solutions first have to overcome a huge obstacle. The state of Florida's election laws.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: You might say there are no easy answers here. One of the fears expressed by Florida voters we spoke with is that any remedy that the Democrats come up with could only worsen the election year nightmare for the state. So, let's look at the options. Mail in ballots. Right now that's the winningest idea for Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, in other states it's really worked well.
JOHNS: And in Florida it 's apparently illegal. The law says there can be no election by mail ballot in which a candidate is nominated. That would appear to include Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Here's the supervisor of elections in Leon County.
ION SANCHO, LEON. CO, FLA., SUPV OF ELECTION: A mail ballot election is expressly prohibited under Florida law and we cannot do that where candidates are on the ballot.
JOHNS: Florida law says the state cannot run an election by mail but someone else could. And that brings us to another option. The Democrats could hire a company to conduct a mail in election. It's a huge job but doable except for one catch. To validate who is really a voter and who is not you need Florida's voter rolls to verify signatures and you get it, it's illegal to sell Florida voter signatures in Florida.
SANCHO: There's no way that the Democratic party can validate that the ballots are actually nonfraudulent.
JOHNS: Some are saying the governor could issue an emergency order but not everybody is buying that. And finally, back to where it all began. Just let people vote with voting machines. Well, timing, timing, looking toward November and the general election many places in Florida are replacing their voting machines but right now --
SANCHO: Some of the counties now have no voting equipment.
JOHNS: Another option, of course, is the one a lot of Democrats have said they would love to avoid. Letting the whole thing go all of the way to the Democratic national convention, which means a committee would get to decide what to do about the votes of 1.7 million people. Joe Johns, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.
COLLINS: Geraldine Ferraro calls it quits over her remarks on Barack Obama. Ferraro is resigning from a volunteer fund raising position with the Clinton campaign. In a letter to Clinton, Ferraro said "I'm stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign.
The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won't let that happen. Ferraro stirred up controversy when she said Obama is in the position he's in because he's black. She defended her comments but said they were taken out of context.
Cnnpolitics.com is your place for everything political, from the candidate's moves to the latest delegate count. Get all that and more at CNN politics.com.
HARRIS: What do say that we get a check of weather now. Well, maybe check in on my friends in the west. Just about eight minutes after the hour. There he is, Rob Marciano.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Just wanted to get the latest observations that we have for you.
HARRIS: Sure, sure. We'll start out west. And I still can't read it. I have it on my computer there. It's overcast. We'll get to that in a second. Hey, you got a bunch of energy that's moving into the west coast. We had those waves over the weekend. It's already Thursday now. So, it's just been several days of stormy weather and the culprit is that spinning air up there just spinning like a top in the Gulf of Alaska just driving this moisture. Seattle to Portland, you got a lot of heavy rain in the valleys and heavy snow in the mountains. And it's driving up and over the cascades going up over the Sierra but before it does it squeezing in the form of snow across the Sierra Nevada range from (Namoth) up to Kirkwood into (inaudible) Valley. You are probably seeing some good snows there.
Salt Lake City, rain at the valley floor. At the higher elevations you're seeing snow. We have a live tower camera for you from Salt Lake City. Beautiful city that it is down at the low land. Mostly overcast with just a bit of rain there. And there you can see just mountains of the Wasatch mountain range there, just off in the distance. Boy, that's gorgeous stuff. Thank you KSL for that beautiful shot.
There's going to be a little bit of fresh powder on the hill heading up toward Alta, maybe Snowberg, Park City. Yes, all good stuff and even more so as you head into the Colorado Rockies. One to two feet. My goodness, it's going to be good up there. From Aspen to Vail to Beaver Creek, all the way to Steamboat, you are looking good for a big time powder day tomorrow. So, head up there and enjoy.
Meantime, as the snow heads into the plains, the energy does, 35 to 45 miles an hour wind gusts expected. So, we have critical fire danger for extreme western Texas and extreme parts of New Mexico. And then as this comes a little bit further to the east, they will tap a little bit of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. We're not seeing anything right now but later today and tonight the possibility for seeing some large hail, maybe some damaging winds possible. Probably not a lot in the way of tornadoes there. And just you want to get away from the winter weather, maybe do some sailing there in the Gulf of Mexico. It's time for your spring break forecasts with the bouncing beach ball, all inclusive. 70s Daytona. Lower 80s in Miami. You want to go to the beach?
COLLINS: Yes, I would love to go to the beach.
HARRIS: You got travel plans already. Come on.
COLLINS: I do. I'm going to New York.
MARCIANO: New York? There are no beach balls in New York this time of year.
COLLINS: I know. I have to bring my own.
MARCIANO: Tony is heading out to Florida. He's going to have a striped trunks. You know.
COLLINS: He has a Speedo.
MARCIANO: Oh, visuals.
HARRIS: Oh, Heidi.
COLLINS: Come on.
HARRIS: I'm a man with kids and everything else. It's just out.
MARCIANO: Well, you wear that for competitive reasons. Just make you, you know, faster through the water.
HARRIS: Yes, body hair gone.
COLLINS: All right.
HARRIS: Did we go too far here.
COLLINS: All right.
HARRIS: See what you started.
MARCIANO: I got to get rid of this graph behind me. OK.
COLLINS: Bye-bye.
HARRIS: Yes, flip, dock and then straight to work for the "Endeavor" crew. They shuttle arrived at the International Space Station early today. Before docking, boy, we get to see this picture when...
COLLINS: Yes, in Speedos.
HARRIS: When the shuttle does this back flip. How cool would that be? If we can just, so that the space station could actually take photographs of Endeavor's belly. NASA will check those images to see if the shuttle was damaged during Tuesday's launch. The astronauts immediately began unloading parts of their next big project, building a new crew member, so to speak, a giant robot that will help with space walks. Tonight, astronauts will perform the first of five space walks planned for this 16-day mission.
COLLINS: Teen girls and sex. Researchers say one in four has a sexually transmitted disease. How did it happen and more importantly how do we find solutions? We'll talk to an expert coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Heidi Collins. As the mayor's dog done dilemma. He's not welcome in the town's stores.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the dumbest thing that I've ever heard. You're a good boy. Never been anybody.
COLLINS: His honor is a dog. His story in the NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: After the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal, David Paterson inherits the governor's office. It is trial by fire. In fact, looking at some video of him. You see him there walking down the steps of the state capitol in Albany one day after learning that he will assume the office on Monday. We're going to talk to a man who faced that very same test twice.
HARRIS: A health alert this morning. Researchers say one in four teen girls has a sexually transmitted disease and for black girls the number is even higher. This is shocking, it is 48 percent. Dr. Sandra Ford is with the Dekalb County Board of Health. Dr. Ford, good to see you
DR. SANDRA FORD, DEKALB COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH: Good morning.
HARRIS: All right. I got a list here. What is more shocking to you? In your honest opinion, one in four teens in the CDC study had at least one STD. The fact that among African-American teen girls nearly have with at least one STD. Or according to the study, shocking all of it, about half of the girls ages 14 to 19 reported having sex. Where do you want to start here? What's the most shocking to you as a professional?
FORD: You know what, it's all shocking to me. The CDC test is particularly shocking because it's a direct study. This isn't a survey. They actually tested these young ladies. That is what's really shocking to me.
HARRIS: So, have we been so focused on the pregnancy message that we have lost the STD message?
FORD: It's possible. I do think we spend a lot of time trying to instruct our girls to be sure that they're not making babies. Don't bring home any babies.
HARRIS: Yes.
FORD: But we really don't talk a lot about the protection part. And you know, there's a difference between birth control and protecting yourself.
HARRIS: Well, I got to ask you, I mean, half of the girls age 14 to 19, reported having sex. That's shocking. That is shocking. Do we have any ideas as parents and we'll get to maybe some things that parents can do and how we should have this conversation with our kids? Do we have any idea really as parents how these young people are conducting their sexual affairs and how they are conducting their lives sexually. 14 to 19 year old teen girls, we're talking about here. We're talking about text messaging. We're talking about myspace and all of this activity being done -- a lot of it being done online. We really, do you think we have -- you talk to parents.
FORD: We don't have a clue. Actually, in Dekalb county, we started collecting our sexual activity data at age 10.
HARRIS: You do not.
FORD: That's fifth grade. We start 10. Our stats start from 10 to 19.
HARRIS: Ten years old?
FORD: Yes, and we got 2,000 cases of Chlamydia in Dekalb county.
HARRIS: Among ten-year-olds?
FORD: 10 to 19. Those are what, fifth graders. Yes.
HARRIS: Hang on a second here. So, what are we as parents to do? How do we begin to have these kinds of conversations with our kids because we're not talking about it -- they're not talking about it in this sexualize world that they're living in. so, what are we to do as parents here?
FORD: You said it. Begin, you got to start the dialogue. I think, you know, the texting and the computer, we don't have a lot of face to face time with our children anymore.
HARRIS: So, was it -- is it just simply you can't? I mean, the minute you say, look, there was a probation and you've never getting out of the house until you're 35 years old. You know that doesn't work.
FORD: Right.
HARRIS: So in your advice to parents, I want to pin you down on this. Help me here. I have a 10-year-old daughter. What's the conversation? How do I start it?
FORD: We have to decide which message we're going to give. I think, you know, we do talk a lot about abstinence and of course, I cannot be for abstinence but in the real world you have to have that other side of that dialogue which is protecting yourself because of course we would love all of our children to remain celibate until they're married but in the real world that doesn't happen too often.
HARRIS: So, are you concern that we may not even have a full handle of where we are? That the numbers, I mean, we're looking at the results of a government study in 2003 and 2004. Are you at all concerned that we may not have a real idea of where we are right now present time, real-time, in terms of these numbers and the situation might actually be more bleak than we think?
FORD: Oh sure. Because first of all, we didn't test the men. This is just half of the situation. There's obviously a partner on the other end of that that we have no idea what's going on.
HARRIS: OK. So, the big take away for you, do we have to do more in the area of screening?
FORD: We have to do more in the way of education. Screening is great but you don't want to screen and find things. You want to be able to educate folks on this is not something we need to be doing and if you are going to do it, these are things you have to do to prevent these kind of illnesses. I think that the preparation of preventing things makes it look like it's calculated.
HARRIS: I got to tell you with the Spitzer story on the radar, this is the outrage story of the day, of the week, of the -- you name the time frame. Dr. Ford, thanks for your time this morning.
FORD: My pleasure.
HARRIS: Appreciate it.
FORD: Thank you.
COLLINS: The perils of plastic. Congress takes on abusive credit card fees but we got Gerri Willis with action you can take right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Welcome back everyone to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris and you know someone who spends too much time in the bathroom? One woman got so attached to a toilet that she stayed for years.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Another check on the big board New York Stock Exchange right now. I don't know if this is -- we're looking at the number that represents the session low or not but this is rough. We gave you all kinds of indications this morning, Ali Velshi and Gerri Willis, that this would be difficult today because of oil prices, because of foreclosures, because of retail numbers that are in now. Treasury Secretary Paulson is speaking this morning perhaps, I believe, it's about the credit crisis right now. Maybe he will say something that will turn this around a bit. Who knows. The Nasdaq right now down 33 as well. We will be following the markets all morning long right here in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: The perils of plastic and the credit card fees that can crush your budget. Congress is looking at ending abuses by the credit card industry as Tony was just mentioning. And right now, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is giving a speech on rewriting the rules. There's a live shot for you of his speech.
Meanwhile, Gerry Willis is here with how you can fight back now against credit card fees. But first, Gerri, what's your take on what Paulson is saying here?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, we've been listening to his comments and they are really wide ranging to deal with this credit crisis. Among the biggest of the points, calls for stronger state and federal oversight of mortgage originators, that's the lenders out there, in establishing a nationwide licensing standard for mortgage brokers. A little like the horses out of the gate for people out there who have had problems with their mortgages.
And in fact, this plan isn't about consumers at the end of the day. It seems that consumer protections are pretty small, especially given today's foreclosure numbers. We saw foreclosures jump 60 percent. That's a very big gain. It's an indication that the federal regulators here are thinking about the safety and the soundness of the system. They really want to make sure that it is working correctly and working well. Of course, consumers are asking what's in it for us? And I think there will be a lot of questions about this plan. I think coming from consumer advocates. Heidi.
COLLINS: OK. I think you're right, very right on the money on that one. What can people do though about interest rate increases?
WILLIS: And here we're talking about interest rate increasing on your credit card, right?
COLLINS: Exactly.
WILLIS: Your credit card companies reserve the right to change the interest rate at any time and for any reason. If you make a late payment or go over your credit limit, your credit card interest rate can sky rocket to over 32 percent. So, you want to make sure that you pay attention to your mail and notices from your credit card issuer. You may mailed a notice of a rating increase and being the given the chance of closing the account or keeping the card with the higher rate. You have to right an opt out letter if you want to close the account if your rate increases, call and ask for a lower rate. I've done this myself. It's really easy. If you have a good credit score and good payment history, don't accept the rate increase. Look, you can negotiate. If they don't lower the rate, then it's time to find a new card. Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, that's a very good way to look at it. You don't want to waste time and just hang onto it and keep on paying and paying and paying. What about the late fees, too WILLIS: You know, they're usually about 35 bucks. It's not small change here. Right now, credit card companies are allowed to mail billing statements out two weeks before the statement is due. Sometimes company even specify to the hour when a payment must be received in order to avoid late charges.
COLLINS: Really.
WILLIS: And it can be in the middle of the day. So, if your payment gets there at 4:00 in the afternoon, you're late and you get charged the fee.
COLLINS: Wow.
WILLIS: If you find that you just put your billing statements aside and forget about them, it's time to automate your payments online. You can sign up for these services on your credit card issuer's website. Of course, since your credit card bills move around, they vary month to month, you want to keep a close eye on how much you have in your checking accounts out to cover them. And if you find that you really need a last minute fix, you can pay by phone but you will be charged for the privilege.
COLLINS: Yes. How? I mean, it does kind like sound like it got you. I'm sure they don't highlight these rules very well to all of their customers but what are some of the other ones that are out there that you can tell people about?
WILLIS: Well, you want, as I mentioned, rates, fees, terms of credit cards change. Other things to look out for is your minimum payment due can increase. You want to pay attention to that and while transferring a high credit card balance to a card with lower rates. It could be a great move but it's becoming more expensive. It used to be that balance transfer fees were capped at $75 or so, couldn't go higher but more often credit card companies are getting rid of the caps on balance transfer fees and hiking those right up. Sometimes, you may get service fees for redeeming you credit card rewards.
COLLINS: You're kidding me.
WILLIS: Yes, you know. You're their margin. You know, you're their profit margin.
COLLINS: Listen, real quickly. You know a lot of people are taking large amounts and put them on a lower rate card, which in combination all together. If you call the one that you're already with and tell them, hey, I'm going to take my money and go to a different card unless you lower my rate, will they do it?
WILLIS: I've done it myself. Sure. Yes, the answer is yes. That's a great thing to do actually. Because, you know they have to pay a lot of money in order to get new clients.
COLLINS: They kind of like you when you spend your money with them.
WILLIS: That's right.
COLLINS: Also a reminder, I want to make sure that -- we want to talk about "Open House."
WILLIS: Well, you know, we got "Open House" coming up at 9:30 a.m., Saturday morning. We got a lot of great information. We're going to have some round tables with some direct advise on what to do on this mortgage meltdown. We've also got issue number one and we're talking the number one issue to you, the economy, your debt, your housing, your money. Mortgage reform. Finding the right job.
COLLINS: Yes, that's going to be great. Looking forward to that next week, very much. "Open House," coming up this Saturday, too. Thank you so much, Gerri.
WILLIS: Thank you.
COLLINS: Also a reminder if you missed a tip or website go, to cnnmoney.com/top tips and there you can find all of Gerri's tips and a whole lot more.
Good Thursday morning to you, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And good morning to you. I'm Tony Harris. There's some new information about that second suspect arrested in the murder of University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson. A local affiliate WRAL is reporting that Lawrence Alvin Lovette is being charged in connection with the January death of a graduate student at nearby Duke University.
The 29-year-old Duke student was found shot to death January 18th at his apartment in Durham. Lovette, 17, was arrested early today in Durham. Police say Lovette walked out of a house after holding off heavily armed officers for four hours. Police arrested the other suspect, 21-year-old Demario Atwater yesterday at another Durham home.
Both are charge with first-degree murder in the death of Carson. She was found shot to death lying in a street about a mile from campus on March 5th.
COLLINS: Several explosions across Iraq. Video just in to CNN from the bloodiest attack. 11 people were killed, 50 wounded. When a parked car bomb detonated in a busy commercial area. To the north, attacks near Kirkuk leave three people dead. One was an Iraqi soldier killed when a suicide car bomb struck an army check point. The other two died in a bombing at the office of an anti-insurgent group.
A little Iraqi girl has been killed accidentally by U.S. troops. The military says soldiers were clearing out roadside bombs north of Baghdad. They fired a warning shot near a woman who was acting suspiciously. The troops later found a girl about 10 years old with a bullet wound in the area where the shot was fired. She died on her way to the hospital.
HARRIS: Does Congress have an addiction? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you got a problem, when you got an addiction, you have to agree you have a problem and you have to get into rehab. Congress...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Oh no, no, no, say some. We're talking about the battle over pork here.
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COLLINS: Life after Katrina. FEMA trailers covered in mold, infested with rodents and the money set aside for the problem diverted to a Mississippi port. What's going on here? We're going to have that story for you, coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: You know, it called bringing home the bacon. Pet projects. So called earmarks, otherwise known as pork. A new battle brewing in Washington. Here's CNN's Kate Bolduan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Funding the world toilet summit for $13.5 million.
A study to determine if poultry liter can generate electricity, 225,000.
(INAUDIBLE) 90,000, indoor rain forest $50 million.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A long list of pet projects. Billions of dollars in so-called earmarks. Critics say they're a waste of taxpayer money and are calling for a one-year ban.
DEMINT: When you got a problem, when you got addiction, you have to agree you have a problem and you have to get into rehab. Congress needs to get into rehab.
BOLDUAN: More than $18 billion went to nearly 13,000 congressional earmarks this year according to budget watchdog group taxpayers for common sense. Opponents have tried before to curb earmark spending, but now they say they have presidential politics on their side.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to eliminate this wasteful and outrageous earmark and pork barrel spending.
BOLDUAN: Senator John McCain is a longtime critic of earmarks. Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have recently signed on as well, even though they both have directed tens of millions of dollars in earmarks to their home state. But even without support, it's shaping up to be a showdown in Congress. Opponents of the ban include powerful Democrats and Republicans. SEN. JUDD GREGG (R) NEW HAMPSHIRE: I think an outright abolition of earmarks is an abolition of the authority of the Congress. They also say anti-earmarkers only point out the worst abuses and a ban could throw out good projects along with the bad.
SEN. DICK DURBIN, (R) MAJORITY WHIP: When it comes to projects around my state and the rest of the nation, I don't think it's unreasonable for Congress to have some input in that discussion.
BOLDUAN: Democrats insist they have already slashed the number of earmarks since they took over Congress and require full disclosure of spending requests.
SEN. HARRY REID (D) MAJORITY LEADER: You have to list there's no conflict of interest. How much money? It's really in some detail.
BOLDUAN (on camera): So what could a possible ban mean for taxpayers? Well, some lawmakers say it's a way to regain their confidence in Congress while others say it would mean the loss of thousands of home state projects that lawmakers say are so critical to their communities.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Defending the nation. Is the Air Force getting help from overseas? Finger pointing on Capitol Hill. That's straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Sex, scandal and shame. The Eliot Spitzer era comes to a humiliating end in New York. We have all the latest now from Spitzer legal limbo to the challenges awaiting his successor. And the call girl at the center of this tawdry mess.
"The New York Times" identifies her as a 22-year-old aspiring singer from New Jersey. The paper says she is Kristen, the high- priced prostitute cited in court documents. She has not been charged with any crime nor for that matter has Eliot Spitzer. That could change though. Federal prosecutors say no plea bargain has been struck. At least not yet. Charges could range from paying for sex to illegally arranging cash transactions.
Spitzer formally leaves office on Monday. We announced that here yesterday. And tough challenges await his successor. Lieutenant Governor David Paterson. He faces a budget crunch and bruised relations, of course, from Spitzer's abrasive style.
Lawmakers from both parties say Spitzer was uncompromising and sometimes insulting. Our next guest knows a little something about taking over as governor in midterm, first hand. Richard Codey became New Jersey's governor on two separate occasions. First James McGreevey resigned, and then with Jon Corzine was badly injured in a car accident.
Governor, we certainly appreciate your time this morning. You do have a very unique perspective on all this. In fact, I'm wondering if perhaps Lieutenant Governor Paterson has called you and said, hey, you know, what can I expect?
RICHARD CODEY, NEW JERSEY STATE SENATOR: Well, his office and my office spoke, so we're going to speak sometime shortly. But I think for Mr. Paterson, the first order of business is to restore order. And show the people of New York that he is in fact in charge.
Now, my first situation with Governor McGreevey, I had three months before I started. And he has only a few days and that's tough. It really is. And he's got to present a budget within three weeks. I think that's his biggest hurdle.
But I think he's got to show the people of New York, for example, I would say to him, listen, bring in legislative leaders who are both Democrats and Republicans and say flatly, I am a New Yorker first and a Democrat second. We're all in this together. I'm going to ask all of you to rally around me and show the people of the State of New York we're going to do their business and that this scandal is behind us. We're moving forward as a state as we should.
COLLINS: Yes and it seems like he almost doesn't have much of a choice because solely of this time frame. You know, when we talk about the budget issues -- major budget issues. He's going to have to figure out which staff members to keep, which ones to possibly let go, which ones to bring in of his own. His image, his message. You know, it kind of seems like where does he begin?
CODEY: Well, I think he begins by deciding very quickly obviously which of the Spitzer people he wants to keep, because they're not necessarily tainted because they work for someone who got into scandal. And then, he's got to decide which of his circle of political friends he wants to bring in and advisers. And he's got to do that rather quickly.
But I would also say to him, listen, make no bones about it. I wasn't elected to be governor of the State of New York but I'm going to lead. And I'm not going to take myself too seriously but I'm going to take the job very seriously. And from what I've heard and what I've seen, I think his personality is going to fit the situation and suited very, very well for the State of New York.
COLLINS: Yes. I think they're right on that. I do wonder, though, tell us a little bit more about, you know, the inside workings of the lieutenant governor's office or position. Is there a lot of contact with the governor? I mean, would he have been consulted on things like the budget or other state matters?
CODEY: From what I've learned, Spitzer and he did speak quite often although many people would say the job of lieutenant governor is to stay alive in case the governor dies or has to resign. And most people don't know who the lieutenant governor is. And a lot of people in the state of New Jersey didn't know who I was when I took over the job. But very quickly they get to know you and get to know you very well. You know, you guys send signals to the people of your state what you're like as a human being. What do you do when you're not governing? And people want to know those things.
COLLINS: Yes. What is that like, though, Governor Codey? When you get that phone call, particularly in the McGreevy case, it seems like it would have been a little bit different scenario when we learned about Jon Corzine and that horrible accident.
CODEY: Right.
COLLINS: But specifically with the McGreevy case, you know, all of a sudden, the phone call comes, you're the governor. We're swearing you in. And there you go. I mean, I would imagine your heart may have skipped a few beats.
CODEY: I would say yes, close to needing a defibrillator to be honest with you. I mean, I was shock because I knew at that moment in time that my life had changed and changed forever, without question. I would become the governor of the State of New Jersey for at least 14 months. So whatever else I did or whatever, I'll always be remembered for those 14 months in what I do or do not do.
So I wasn't prepared to step in. Thank God I had a couple of months. And I scripted my first three weeks in office. What we want to do each day. The signals we wanted to send to the people of the State of New Jersey. But, you know, I was nervous at first. There's no question about it. I'm like Oh, my Lord, here I am, the governor. I've got 50 cameras on my front lawn and reporters, day and night. So, I mean, your life changes.
COLLINS: You got to watch out for the media. Boy, I mean, they can be real tigers, you know.
CODEY: You have to tell me that?
COLLINS: Yes. Hey, very, very quickly before we let you go.
CODEY: Sure.
COLLINS: One thing about Paterson, he's not a new comer. I mean, he's been a state senator. We hear a lot of friends in Albany.
CODEY: Yes, and I think it's very similar to my situation when I took over. I had been in the legislature 30 years. We had friends on both sides of the aisle. So I had a cadre of good will built up which certainly helped me and I know is going to help him as well.
COLLINS: All right. We so appreciate your time. Just a real pleasure talking with you.
CODEY: My pleasure.
COLLINS: Governor Codey of New Jersey, thanks so much.
HARRIS: Stock sinks, sales sag but one thing is pumped up. Oil hits another record high. Get ready to pay.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All right, we want to get over to Fredricka Whitfield now. She is in the NEWSROOM with a little bit more information on a fatal plane crash that happened in Florida.
Fred?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Heidi. Let's take a look at the pictures right here. The results of a terrible plane crash there. In Martin County, Florida, four people were actually on board and sad to say, we have to report the authorities say all four died in this crash.
It's unclear exactly why this plane went down. There was no fire that is being reported. It took place at the Martin County Ranches Development. And this is a club community where this has taken place. And thankfully where this plane came down clearly no structures involved. No people on the ground. But the investigation is still in its infancy. Of course, when we get any more information about why this small plane went down, we'll be able to bring that to you.
Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes, awful pictures there. All right, Fred, thank you.
HARRIS: A multibillion dollar U.S. Air Force contract going overseas. Some members of Congress say that's outsourcing defense. Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A standing ovation for the men and women of the Air Force. But tough questions for Air Force brass who hired European company EADS to build 179 aerial refueling tankers. Why would the Air Force spend $35 billion in taxpayer dollar to a company is being sued by the U.S. government for unfair trade subsidize.
SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D), WASHINGTON: We have a contract going to a company that we do as a country have a case against because of those illegal subsidize.
MICHAEL WYNNE, U.S. AIR FORCE SECRETARY: We believe we accurately followed the laws and arrived at decision selecting the better of two very qualified competitors.
ROMANS: The Air Force chose a tanker based on the Air Bus 8330. Much of it to be built overseas and assembled in Alabama. The mid- size Boeing offering based on a 767 was rejected. Boeing says 85 percent of its plane would be American made. Boeing in some lawmakers contends the larger air bus tanker will require larger hangars and longer runways.
MARK MCGRAW, BOEING AERIAL TANKER PROGRAM: The fuel used, the repair costs, the impact on the Air Force infrastructure, thick hangars now was much less on our product. And that was going to save the Air Force and the U.S. taxpayer billions of dollars.
ROMANS: Northrop Grumman is EADS American partner and says 48,000 American jobs will be created by the tanker deal and called concerns about outsourcing hype and misinformation.
PAUL MEYER, NORTHROP GRUMMAN TANKER PROGRAM: This will provide a significant boom in the southeast. We have 230 suppliers. All U.S. based. So we're not sure of the hype of losing 40 plus thousand jobs that don't even exist today in the Boeing camp much less on ours.
ROMANS: As for the Air Force, officials again and again said the contract was awarded legally. But Senator Patty Murray of Washington questioned whether complicated procurement and trade laws were undermining American economic and national security. When pressed, the Air Force secretary admitted concern about the fragile manufacturing base in this country.
MURRAY: I'm asking you if you think the current procurement process reflects the needs of the defense -- of our defense?
WYNNE: I think right now I worry about the industrial base of the future. I think we started to decay our industrial base in 1990 and I think our market doesn't support large industrial base right now.
Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Hundreds of dogs and an elderly couple all under the same roof.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's obvious that these are good people that tried to care for the animals and have just become overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Home gone to the dogs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: An overseas sell off, a slew of foreclosures and weak retail sales are just some of the factors battering stocks this morning. Stephanie Elam is at the New York Stock Exchange with more details for us.
Good morning to you, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Now, if you were thinking perhaps maybe today was the day you're going to try to see what it was like to be a financial stock, that's a bad idea. They are getting slapped around today. It's a bad, bad day for them down here.
And part of the reason is you remember on Monday, we got that massive cash injection from the Fed. It was working out with other feds across the world. Sending that $200 billion into the markets so that they can have more loans for the banks, right? Well, it seems the markets are kind of over it at this point.
They don't know if this can be enough to help out. So with that in mind, a lot of the financial stocks are taking it on the chin like Citigroup, Bank of America, AIG. All of them are selling off.
And if you remember on Monday, the stock market -- the DOW in particular, up 400 points and right now we're up about 200 points. So we're seeing that kind of slid away at this point. There are other things going on today, too. Retail sales are weighing on the markets today as well. They came in weak for February.
We've got those high food prices. Gasoline prices as we know in record levels as well. So, that's weighing on the markets overall. Consumers are just happy to tighten back on how much they're spending out there and it's the latest sign that the economy is actually headed into or actually in a recession.
Another thing, retail stocks getting slammed as well just like those financial stocks. As you see, if we take a look at the numbers, the DOW industrials on the downside by 212 points, 11898. NASDAQ on the downside by 40, 2203 there. So just really a lot of weakness around here. I'm taking a look at oil, too. And its back $110.76 is where I see it right now.
So we move from there to what's going on. The safe haven places like oil and gold, people are moving their money there and that is part of the reason why we're seeing the markets go down. Gold actually tops $1,000 an ounce today.
COLLINS: $1000 an ounce? That's crazy.
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: It sounds crazy. Like every time I say it, it sounds weird. $1000 for an ounce. Think about how much we get for a little gold of necklace.
COLLINS: So you ran and go check your jewelry box, don't you.
ELAM: Right, exactly. Lock it up, people. Put your gold away. And then, oil prices continuing to soar, breaking new level last night. And so we're around that level right now.
Heidi?
COLLINS: All right. So, you know, it's also crazy because when you think about all of this and the situation that we're in, it all started in the housing market.
ELAM: And the housing market is not looking better at all. Listen to this new data that we have. Foreclosures in February, up 60 percent. 60 percent during February. That's up against last year. Now, there's a little bit of good news here compared to January. The number is slightly weaker, but before you start throwing a party, throwing the confetti, a lot of analysts say this is typically what happens from January down to February.
It's a typical move at this time. So no reason to get excited about that right now. Obviously, we'll keep our eyes on the market to see if things get better.
Heidi and Tony?
COLLINS: Yes. So, you know what, it's so much smarter for me to not build a house out of brick but build it out of gold bars and then imagine how it would be doing today.
ELAM: You wouldn't be here right now, would you?
COLLINS: I would not. Stephanie, thanks so much.
ELAM: Sure.
HARRIS: Boy, there's this story. Overcrowded and out of control. An elderly couple's house gone to the dogs. About 800 of them and more than 80 parrots all found in a triple wide trailer near Tucson, Arizona. The dogs were not caged. The house was littered with waste and the stench. Yes, you can imagine. The Humane Society says the couple is breeding animals for sale. Police believe they also took in unwanted pets and things just got a bit out of hand.
COLLINS: Harmless prank or dangerous project? A student writes up a high school hit list. We'll tell you all about it. Coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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