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Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson Resigns; Citizens of Zimbabwe Await Election Results; Hillary Clinton Addresses Harrisburg on the Economy

Aired March 31, 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: As fast as it blew up, Iraq's war against Shiite militias winds down. Is Iran playing peacemaker or keeping the militias in business?
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That's a knock you don't want. Foreclosure may feel terrible, but eviction hits families where they live or used to live. We'll hit the streets with some deputies you hope never come knocking on your door.

Hello everyone I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar in today for Kyra Phillips.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Mortgage meltdown, credit crunch, market turmoil. Financial regulators are struggling with the current crisis, but they're also hoping to head off future ones with an overhaul of the regulatory system, what's being called the most ambitious plan of its kind since the Great Depression.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson took the wraps off today while promising the plan does not over regulate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY PAULSON, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I am not suggesting that more regulation is the answer, or even that more effective regulation can prevent the periods of financial market stress that seem to occur every five to 10 years. I am suggesting that we should and can have a structure that is designed for the world we live in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right, so we have a breakdown for you. Here's what the plan does. The plan broadens the powers of the Federal Reserve. It combines some of the agencies that oversee markets. It creates a national mortgage commission to oversee mortgage brokers, many of whom now operate outside federal reach.

And it tries to iron out a mishmash of lending rules nationwide. We heard from Secretary Paulson, what he says is not a cure-all. So what will it do? That's the question. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Tell us what it means to you and me Susan?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Don.

Well what it does it streamlines and modernizes a financial system built piecemeal since the civil war. The plans Secretary Paulson announced earlier this morning, will impact every big brokerage here on Wall Street as well as the NYSE itself.

Here's what it includes. The consolidation or elimination of some of those alphabet soup of regulators and much more power to the Federal Reserve as the sort of super cop for the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve. While the fed has a greater role, it does not expand its regulatory powers. It will however have greater access to the activities of financial firms, presumably to act before crises begin. Don?

LEMON: Susan I've got to ask you, why do we care? Again, how does it affect us?

LISOVICZ: Well, if it is successful and the more successful it is, the less we'll notice, right? The idea is to find and deal with potential problems before they become mortgage meltdowns and credit crunches. We all know all to well the ripple affects that we saw from the subprime market and how it can affect everyone.

Here at the NYSE, investors are happy, they figure that it could have been a lot worse given the fact that a lot of folks are saying change is needed. Wall Street and most businesses aren't fans of government regulation, but remember, this is just a proposal at this point. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton among a number of democrats who are already criticizing the proposal and because it is a proposal and it is to be approved by congress, you're talking about perhaps years down the road before it would even be phased in.

The troubles in the subprime market continue to claim victims. The next could be Fremont General, a big lender in California. Federal and state regulators are making the rare move of telling the company to shore up its operations or sell off its banking units. "The Wall Street Journal" says a seizure by regulators would be the biggest banking failure in 20 years.

But those Paulson proposals are giving financial stocks a boost. And we should say that a big, big drop in oil prices, down right now $5. Still at $100, about $101 a barrel. The Dow is up 72 points, the NASDAQ is up nearly about one percent. A good rally on the final trading day of a rough first quarter. And in the next hour, a young Dustin Hoffman got advice about the future summed up in one word, plastics.

I'll tell you why one airline is taking that advice to heart, in the next hour of NEWSROOM. Don, back to you.

LISOVICZ: All right Susan. Thank you. KEILAR: Basra, Iraq, is said to be under control and relatively calm. That is a huge change from last week you'll recall when Iraqi security forces were battling Shiite militia. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has more now on this latest cease-fire and who arranged it.

What are the details Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Brianna, the cease-fire being very closely watched here at the Pentagon, because the question is, is it real? By all accounts from the Iraqis, this cease-fire with the Shia militiamen loyal to Muqtada al Sadr in the city of Basra was arranged over the weekend with the great influence of the Iranian government.

And now they say violence is down, Basra returning to normal after a week of very heavy fighting last week by Iraqi security forces under the direct control of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. So who is right? How could it turn around so fast?

Officials here say that they are very concerned it may simply show that the fighting is not over. It may simply show that Iran and Muqtada al Sadr can pull an awful lot of strings and make things happen or not happen when they want.

General David Petraeus now just about eight days away from testifying on Capitol Hill. By all accounts, he will stick to his plan right now to bring the surge brigades home by the end of July and then have a pause in any further troop withdrawals, especially with this fighting. Let the security situation sort itself out. Defense Secretary Robert Gates today on his way to NATO, to NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania.

He also talked about this latest fighting, telling reporters, "We've all known that at some point the situation in Basra was going to have to be dealt with. It's the economic lifeline of the country and had been under control of a bunch of thugs, gangs, and militias over the long-term, it's unacceptable."

And that, Brianna, is in fact the bottom line. Will Basra erupt again? Is this cease-fire for real? Not a lot of people around here think it is. There could be more trouble ahead.

KEILAR: Yes, and that testimony by General Petraeus next week, much awaited. We know that you will be keeping your eye on that for next week for us.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thank you.

STARR: Sure.

KEILAR: Meanwhile, the dearest hopes of the Maupin family are dashed as the military says there is no doubt remains found in Iraq are those of Staff Sergeant Keith Matthew Maupin who was captured in Iraq four years ago next week.

Reporter Angela Ingraham, of our affiliate WKRC, visited Batavia, Ohio, a community now in mourning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANGELA INGRAHAM, WKRC REPORTER (voice-over): About 80 people gathered at the yellow ribbon support center remembering Matt Maupin and helping his parents cope with one of the most difficult times of their lives.

CAROLYN MAUPIN, MOTHER OF SGT. MATT MAUPIN: It hurts. It hurts. After you go through almost four years of hope.

INGRAHAM: Nearly four years of never giving up the thought they might one day see their son alive again. But instead, Keith and Carolyn Maupin got a visit from a three star general confirming DNA proved remains found somewhere in Iraq are Matt's. The general said Matt died in captivity.

KEITH MAUPIN, FATHER OF SGT. MATT MAUPIN: They said they had America's best working on this. They sent a three-star general out here so we know pretty much that's what it is.

INGRAHAM: Carolyn Maupin says her son tried his best every day, from childhood to adulthood.

C. MAUPIN: Matt was a very easy-spirited person, laid back, just went with the flow, laughed, liked to make people laugh. So maybe it's to enjoy each day that you have.

INGRAHAM: Keith Maupin says there's some relief in knowing their son will finally be coming home.

K. MAUPIN: I want to thank all the guys that would search for Matt and all the hard work that they've done. You know, the warriors, never leave a fallen comrade behind, and that's what they did.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Staff Sergeant Maupin was just 20-years-old and a private first class when he was captured. During the four years of searching for him, the army continued to promote him.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KEILAR: An embattled African leader fights to hold on to his power. There are new concerns about vote rigging as Zimbabwe waits for the results from the weekend's presidential election. We'll hear from an award-winning journalist who's keeping up with what's happening there right now.

LEMON: Pay up or get kicked out. We'll show you a painful side of the mortgage crisis now facing tens of thousands of Americans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It's time to see what's clicking on CNN.com. A Texas man dying of cancer is struggling to break his lease and not go broke in the process. He's trying to move his family out of state to be with relatives, but he's been told he'll owe the apartment people $9,000 in penalties.

A horrific case of animal cruelty in Utah. A dog somehow escapes its yard, a stranger picks it up in his truck, drives it to an overpass and flings it down into traffic. The pup named Seven suffered severe injuries, including a broken jaw. She is expected to recover. And she is just cute as a button. Look at her.

And the finale of a Wrestlemania event goes terribly wrong. A cable collapsed sends hot wiring and exploding fireworks down onto the crowd. Dozens of fans were hurt. All these stories and much, much more on CNN.com.

KEILAR: In the thick of a nationwide housing crisis the nation's housing secretary heading out the door. We heard from Alphonso Jackson earlier today.

Let's get more now from the White House and CNN's Ed Henry. He's standing by live with details.

Hi, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Brianna.

As you know, the president already on his way to Eastern Europe for a NATO summit. He put out a written statement saying that he accepts this resignation with regret.

He's very close to Alphonso Jackson. They worked together when Mr. Bush was the Texas governor, but people close to the White House says Mr. Bush really had no choice but to accept this resignation given the ongoing criminal investigation right now. There really are two clouds over Secretary Jackson.

First of all, the FBI investigating a federal contract he allegedly steered to a golfing buddy in the neighborhood of $400,000 to help rebuild housing in New Orleans after Katrina. Also, there's now a federal lawsuit alleging that he retaliated against Philadelphia housing officials for not sealing a land deal with another one of his friends. So today Mr. Jackson was quite emotional as he announced he was leaving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALPHONSO JACKSON, HUD SECRETARY: On April 18, I will step down as the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. There comes a time when one must attend diligently to personal and family matters. Now is such a time for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Secretary Jackson has insisted throughout that he is not guilty of any wrongdoing in either case. Also, the big question now, of course, is how will his departure affect the administration's response to the housing crisis.

They insist they're still on top of the situation, but democratic critics on Capitol Hill have noted that they feel the president's key housing initiative, Hope Now, has not really gotten off the ground because Secretary Jackson was distracted by these stories. Secondly, the White House may have on its hands a confirmation battle.

They're going to have to find a replacement, senate democrats may put up a fight over that, and every minute the White House spends on that confirmation fight is a minute they're not laser beamed, zeroing in on the housing crisis itself -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Ed Henry for us at the White House. Thank you.

LEMON: If these guys come to your home, it means you don't have a home any more, sadly. What starts with balance sheets and default notices ends much more harshly. We'll show you the real face of foreclosure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Listen to this. This will tell you just how bad a mess we're in, many people are in. Imagine this, armed officers knock on your door, they force you out, they take all your belongings, they dump them on the lawn. It is happening more and more as the nation struggles with the mortgage crisis.

Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If deputies Allen Mathias and Derek Steverson come to your door, your house no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the bank. For nearly 20 years, they've worked evictions in Gwinnett County, Georgia. No need for them to read the headlines to know foreclosures are skyrocketing.

CPL. ALLEN MATHIAS, GWINNETT COUNTY, G.A. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: When I first game to Gwinnett County in '85, I was lucky if I did an eviction once a week. Now I get them every day.

DORNIN: Most people move out before it happens.

Somebody's home.

DORNIN (on-camera): But a growing number don't. Deputies found the original eviction notice inside. It's merely a month old, so the family knew it was going to happen, but they never knew the date when that final knock will come.

(voice-over): At this house, deputies suspect someone is home, but no one will answer the door.

Now we've got to try to get them to come to the door. DORNIN: They travel with a professional eviction team who bust the locks. Animal control has been called for the dogs inside and the movers begin hauling out every single thing in the house. All dumped on the front lawn.

CPL. DEREK STEVERSON, GWINNETT COUNTY SHERIFF: We don't know what to encounter inside. A lot of people know that this is coming and a lot of times when you've lived in a house for 18, 20 years of your life, to lose everything in one swift moment, people don't want to leave.

DORNIN: And when some realize they have to leave, it can be devastating. One time a man wouldn't unlock the door and then the deputies saw he had a gun.

MATHIAS: Next thing we knew, about 30 minutes later, we hear one gunshot. And he had committed suicide.

DORNIN: That happened twice last year, so the first thing they do when they enter is look for people.

Nobody's home?

MATHIAS: No. We had to make sure the house was clear.

DORNIN: Then the search begins for weapons or drugs. Behind the couch, Steverson pulls out what first appears to be a rifle. But it turns out to be a toy. A job where the deputies can see for themselves just how far the mortgage crisis stretches.

STEVERSON: We evict from trailers to million-dollar homes. We were out at the country club in the south putting people out. They've got elevators in their houses and they get evicted also.

DORNIN: Sometimes people trash the house before they leave. But others can tug at the heartstrings.

MATHIAS: It gets to you, but you don't think about it really until you get home and you're sitting there have a cold glass of tea or whatever and dinner and you said, now I wonder how those people are doing today since we put them out of their house and they don't have no place to go.

DORNIN: That fact hit neighbor Don Pilling.

DON PILLING, NEIGHBOR: I feel the pain a little bit too, you know that this is devastating, to our community and to my neighbors. I've never seen this before and it's sad.

DORNIN: Sad for sure when financial disaster comes knocking.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, the slumping economy is affecting you in more ways than you know. Check out CNNMoney.com's special report. It's called "ISSUE #1." From protecting your money to finding a job that's right for you, there's a ton of information that could save you money and also misery. Plus, interactive tools and a lot, lot more. All that at CNNMoney.com.

KEILAR: President Bush is on his way to Ukraine. Before taking off on Air Force One, he took time to press congress to pass legislation on trade, housing and his warrantless wiretap program. Mr. Bush's trip is built around this week's NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania with other stops scheduled in Croatia as well as Russia. Now Moscow opposes a plan for NATO to admit Ukraine and another former Soviet Republic, Georgia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also heading to the NATO summit after her latest peace-keeping mission to the Middle East. The NATO meeting is getting underway on Wednesday.

He has seen Zimbabwe's collapse firsthand. Journalist Peter Godwin joining us with some insight here in a bit into his country's political and economic disaster.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello everyone, I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar in today for Kyra Phillips, who is on assignment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: We're working on a bunch of stories for you here in the CNN NEWSROOM. One of them, safety checks at United Airlines and more safety questions about the airline industry. United says it's found faulty wiring in the landing gear on three planes. Officials believe the wiring caused two runway accidents.

Drivers are nervous in southern California and this is why. Check out that video. Police are investigating a string of freeway shootings over the past month. Three people have been killed, two others wounded.

It's being called the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression. Today, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson unveiled a plan to give the government more oversight of brokerages, banks and mortgage lenders. But Democratic critics say it doesn't go far enough.

KEILAR: Leading our political ticker, a widening lead for Barack Obama in the Democratic race for the White House. The new Gallup Poll shows Obama now leads Hillary Clinton 52 to 42 percent among Democrats nationally. This is his biggest lead of the year in that poll.

In a matchup against John McCain, the poll shows Obama trailing by three points, Clinton trailing by four points.

Bill Clinton has some advice for Democrats who think the battle between his wife and Obama is hurting the party. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are strengthening the Democratic party. Chill out, we're going to win this election if we just chill out and let everybody have their say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The former president reminded supporters at campaign stops yesterday that in his winning bid in 1992 he didn't clinch the nomination until June.

LEMON: Remember the back and forth between Bill Richardson and James Carville? Well Bill Richardson says he won't get into the gutter with Hillary Clinton supporter, James Carville. The New Mexico governor who served in Bill Clinton's administration is defending his decision to back Obama, saying it's best for the country.

On Good Friday, Carville compared Richardson's endorsement to Judas' betrayal of Jesus.

All the latest campaign news is available right at your fingertips, just go to CNNPolitics.com. We also have analysis from the best political team on television. That and more at CNNPolitics.com.

KEILAR: After more than 28 years in power, has Robert Mugabe been ousted as Zimbabwe's president? Well two days after Zimbabwean's voted, we still do not know. According to the government, it takes time to "harmonize ballot counts." But according to opposition leaders, harmonize means rig.

They claim a wide lead in presidential and parliamentary voting, but only a few official results have been released. This is not the first time Mugabe's been accused of election fraud. He has stayed in power despite his country's devastating economic collapse.

And that collapse has been documented in heartbreaking detail by journalist and author Peter Godwin, a Zimbabwe native. He's joining us now from New York for more on what he's basically called an election in name only.

Peter, thanks for joining us.

PETER GODWIN, JOURNALIST: You're welcome.

KEILAR: So, you have here in Zimbabwe an economic meltdown and now you have this election two days ago, results still up in the air. Can you just break down the headlines for us?

GODWIN: Well, the headlines are -- Mugabe's 84-years-old, he's been in power for 28 years, as you say. The country has been completely -- economic meltdown, utter free fall. It's more or less a failed state. You've got hyper-inflation of over 100,000 percent. And that means if you go shopping in a grocery store, for example, by the time you get your grocery cart to the checkout desk, the prices have gone up. More than half the population has fled the country. There's something like 80 percent unemployment.

In that situation, the opposition has overwhelming support. There are various polls and things that show that, unofficial polls.

Now, the problem with this election, apart from the fact that as you say, there have been four different elections in one, the one that really matters is the presidential one. And the vote has been -- happened some time ago and we still don't have a result. And the longer that delay goes on, the more suspicious the opposition gets that actually the elections have been rigged, that they're being stolen.

KEILAR: And tell us just about Robert Mugabe and then tell us about the opposition. Just give us some background.

GODWIN: Robert Mugabe sees himself as the liberator of the country, quite justifiably. He was a guerrilla leader who led black nationalist guerrillas against white rule in a seven year war and came to power in an election in 1980 and has stayed in power ever since.

He's tightened his grip progressively over those year and eventually declared more or less a one-party state. In about 2000 he lost the referendum to increase his term in office, because he came up against presidential term limits. And after that he took over commercial agriculture from predominantly white commercial farmers. And the agriculture, which is one of the mainstays of the economy, collapsed.

And from 2000, that's when it went into free fall. The opposition then rose sort of in 1999/2000, Morgan Changari, the opposition leader, came from the ranks of trade unionist. But it's a coalition, if you like, between the middle classes, urbanites, the union movement and now even rural people. Mugabe has become terribly unpopular right across the board.

KEILAR: And Mugabe, of course, a very ruthless leader, historically, and Morgan Changari, his party claiming he has won the vast majority of votes here.

What happens if Mugabe does not step aside?

GODWIN: Well we're in a very, very dramatic situation right now. Because the opposition has in a sense -- has explicitly declared victory. They've been doing their own counts and the weird thing is that in many of these polling stations, there are 9,000 polling stations across the country, the results have actually been pinned up on the wall.

So they've been collating those results but -- and by their count in the results so far, they're way ahead. I think they put their lead of Morgan Changari at about 57 to 60 percent. KEILAR: And just because we're running out of time, Peter, I just want to ask you, what happens if you have the opposition saying, 67 percent, but you don't have the current president, Robert Mugabe, conceding.

Obviously the concern is violence. What do you think is going to happen?

GODWIN: Right. Basically, the opposition plans to have big protests and rallies to claim victory. And at that point, Mugabe will deploy the security forces who have been -- the leaders of whom have publicly declared their loyalty to him.

In fact, they've said that they won't accept any other victor in this contest. And at that point, what we'll see is whether the rank and file, if it comes down to it, the rank and file of the soldiers and feetmen are prepared to fire on the crowds.

KEILAR: All right. And this has been building up for some time. All eyes on Zimbabwe to see if perhaps it reaches a boiling point. We know you will be watching.

Peter Godwin, thanks for joining us.

GODWIN: Your welcome.

LEMON: All right. Well, most of us consider the prospect of surgery, any surgery, scary enough, but how would you feel if your surgeon were an alcoholic? All right. How about a drug addict? Would you feel better if he or she were in rehab?

Well CNN's Randi Kaye spoke with more than half a dozen patients who say an alcoholic surgeon left them disfigured.

Randi, I've got to tell you, this -- when I read this, I can't believe the story, I can't wait to see it.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty scary.

LEMON: How do you make sense of how this can happen? Why didn't these patients know, Randi?

KAYE: Well that was one of our first questions to them, actually, Don.

The information about these doctors is absolutely confidential. The doctor that they were all treated by is Dr. Brian West from California. And they had no idea that he had had two convictions for driving under the influence, including one while he was on his way to the hospital to treat a patient.

He wrote that off -- he wrote off the missed appointment as a car accident. Like thousands of doctors around the country, he is part of a special program known as the Physician's Diversion Program. This program lets doctors secretly get treatment for their addiction while continuing to operate on patients. Now, I saw these patients' scars firsthand, you're looking at them. Quite honestly, they were hard to look at in person. Some of the surgeries were optional, most were for breast reconstruction following mastectomy from cancer. One woman's incisions still aren't fully closed and it's been years. She doesn't even have a belly button anymore.

Others have lopsided breasts. One is dead. She had to put off cancer treatment to heal from these complications and the cancer ended up killing her.

I interviewed her husband for our story and here's a bit of that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN MIKULECKY, WIFE DIED: She told me several times that she could smell alcohol on his breath. Until the day I die, I've got to live with that. And that hurts pretty good, because I didn't believe my wife.

KAYE: Do you think that your wife would be alive today if she hadn't been treated by a doctor who was an addict?

MIKULECKY: I think she would have had a better shot at surviving.

KAYE: Have you forgiven him?

MIKULECKY: Yes, I have. That's between him and God. I've got my own soul to look after. I just want him to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Well that may not happen anytime soon. Dr. West refused to speak with us, for our story, but his attorney told us he is back in the Physician Diversion Program, and we've been able to confirm he's still practicing medicine.

He's now performing plastic surgery in Beverly Hills, California. His lawyer says he has been in recovery for years, but that hasn't stopped the group of patients we spoke with and the California attorney general from petitioning, Don, to try and get his medical license --

LEMON: Wait, wait, Randi, Randi he is still practicing?

KAYE: Still practicing medicine.

LEMON: And it's just -- he's just one of them. So then if this program is allowed to continue, if at least it appears it's going to be, some doctors are falling throughout cracks, and patients, they're getting hurt.

Why is it still being allowed? Why is this happening? KAYE: Well first of all, there are hundreds of programs like this one around the country, it's not just California. About 8,000 doctors, we've learned, are part of confidential treatments. That's 8,000 doctors, Don, whose patients have no idea they're addicts.

LEMON: My gosh.

KAYE: Now last year, California's medical board decided to shut its program down, calling it a failure. So that state's program may actually go away in a couple more months.

But there is a group that represents physicians, they're called the California Physician Association. And they're fighting to keep it running and to keep the names of doctors enrolled in this California program confidential.

LEMON: Randi, that is outrageous.

KAYE: Sure is.

LEMON: I mean, outrageous. I cannot wait to see your report. Thank you so much for previewing that here.

KAYE: Thank you.

LEMON: And I'm sure you're going to help a lot of people when it comes to this. Thank you very much, Randi Kaye.

Be sure you catch Randi Kaye's full report on "Doctors in Rehab." It's tonight on CNN's "AC 360" program. It airs at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

KEILAR: A star student athlete murdered and now there's new information about one of his alleged killers who shouldn't have even been in the country in the first place.

LEMON: And a string of highway shootings in southern California, are they related? We'll tell you what police are saying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. Well, gang violence certainly isn't limited to big cities, and it isn't limited to gangs. In Los Angeles, a 17-year-old star athlete and student named Jamel Shaw was gunned down just a few doors from his home. Now we're learning one of his alleged killers is an illegal immigrant who was released from custody a day before that shooting.

CNN's Kara Finnstrom has more in our series, "Uncovering America."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMEL SHAW SR., FATHER: He was point to say that -- here I come, 2008, to the scouts. KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jamel Shaw was L.A. High School's star running back. When this picture was snapped before his senior season, colleges like Stanford were already showing interest.

J. SHAW SR.: I remember he told me that, dad you're going to love this picture I took today.

FINNSTROM: But Jamel would never see his father's proud tears. Before the picture arrived, Jamel was shot to death. Police say he was an innocent victim of gang violence.

Two bullets shattered 17 years of sacrifice and love while Jamel father had tirelessly watched over him.

ANITA SHAW, MOTHER: I would like to give a shout out to my son --

FINNSTROM: His mother had served her country in Iraq.

Police believe the shooter was 19-year-old, Pedro Espinosa (ph). They say Espinosa asked Jamel what gang he was with, and when Jamel who didn't belong to one, didn't answer, shot him.

In court, the Shaws saw Espinosa for the first time.

A. SHAW: I wanted to get up in his face and ask him, how dare you. How dare you kill my baby. How dare you kill anyone.

FINNSTROM (on-camera): Espinosa was released from prison one day before Jamel's shooting. He had been serving time for resisting a police officer and exhibiting a firearm. And adding to the Shaw family's heartbreak, new evidence suggests he should have never been here on the Shaw's block.

(voice-over): Immigration authorities say Pedro Espinosa is not a U.S. citizen and he's in the country illegally. So why wasn't he kicked out of the country after his earlier arrest? Immigration officials say information gathered by local law enforcement, including this booking form, where Espinosa states he's from California, that it was never brought to their attention.

J. SHAW SR.: We were sitting there beating ourselves up, trying to figure out what could we have done, especially now that we know this all could have been avoided. It was so avoidable.

FINNSTROM: Jamel Sr. is frustrated and he's angry. But he wants to channel his emotions to help, not to hurt. It started at his son's funeral where he found the strength not to hate, but to try and heal.

J. SHAW SR.: When I see the rhetoric in hearing all this racial tension, my job is to stop all that. I'm upset in my heart and I'm mad and I miss him, you know. But we have to be above that.

FINNSTROM: Jamel Sr., who coached his sons' childhood team season after season, says he and Jamel befriended many of the neighborhood's young men, regardless of their race or background. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the other side of despair there's hope.

FINNSTROM: Now the Shaws will work to keep Jamel's spirit alive on these streets. They see it thriving in their younger son, Thomas, who also shares his brother's big dreams of football and college.

J. SHAW SR. : I say, Thomas, you're going to be the one that carry the torch. People think it's me. But I said, it's going to be you because you're going to make it to college. And then you can say, see I made it.

FINNSTROM: Now that picture of Jamel, meant to announce here I come, seems instead to hold a challenge from Jamel himself.

J. SHAW SR.: He looks so sad in that picture. It seems to me more that he's saying, it's up to you guys now.

FINNSTROM: Kara Finnstrom, for CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: An economic trickledown effect at the nation's food banks. Fewer donations are coming in while more families are looking for help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Want to get you right now to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where Hillary Clinton is holding a town hall meeting, talking about the economy.

Let's listen in.

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SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... for a family making $50,000 with a kid in college, you can expect at least $4,500 in new tax benefits under my plan. For a family -- for a family that is taking care of an elderly parent, which more and more of us are doing, my mother lives with us. Luckily she's in good health and I'm grateful for that, but we all know that we're in the sandwich generation and a lot of us have all kinds of obligations -- so if you're taking care of an elderly family member, you will get at least $4,000 in tax cuts.

My plan is fiscally responsible. We pay for it by restoring fairness to the tax code. Close the loophole that allows Wall Street money managers earning $50 million a year to make a lower tax rate than people who are working hard right here in Harrisburg and central P.A. End the $55 billion in tax breaks for corporate special interests. End the tax benefits that gives money to companies that export jobs out of America.

That has to end once and for all. And we're going to allow the tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans, those making more than $250,000 a year, to expire. So we've got the money, we just have to spend it in a little more reasonable way to take care of people who need the help. In addition to the mayor who's here, Kevin Sidella (ph), Doug Goff (ph), Syndey Zielga (ph) and Anthony Spagnola are here. I don't know where they are. There they are, oh good.

Thank you all very, very much for coming. We want to thank Jimmie and Gus Aronas (ph), owners of Capital Diner and their entire family.

And now we're going to turn and hear from the people around the table. Because what I try to do in this campaign is just not give speeches where I'm talking at people. We had a great, great event at the forum, that was fabulous. I know some of you might have been there. And it was a lot of fun and it was a huge, huge crowd. Every seat was taken and it was jammed to the rafters, as well as people on stage behind me.

But you can't have a conversation when you do that. And what I want to do in addition to those big events, which are fun and exciting, is actually talk with people. Because I think you learn more when you listen than when you talk. It's a novel idea, but I believe it.

So I want to start with some people here from central Pennsylvania who are living day-to-day trying to figure out how they're going to manage all these changes in the economy. I want to start with Joe and Jodie (ph) Rebaracheck (ph).

Joe and Jodie, you have a daughter, I think it's Mallory -- is that right -- Mallory, who is at Villanova in the fall. Right? She'll start. Congratulations. That's a great milestone for any family. And will you mind just sharing with us some of the challenges that you are facing right now, economically?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we recognize that having a family, with that comes a lot of responsibility. We certainly knew the costs associated with raising a family. We also have two younger children, both eight and ten, Sophia (ph) and Joseph. So we've always saved for their education, and at the same time tried to put some money away for our retirement.

But we're learning that because we've saved money, because we earn a middle class income, we make just a little too much to qualify for standard aid and it's going to be a challenge if we're going to have our daughter go after her dream of attending Villanova.

And then that just further -- what are we going to do for our younger children? We're going to have one in school and how are we going to save? So, we were interested in hearing a little bit more about helping with educational costs for middle class Americans like ourselves.

H. CLINTON: Well, I will certainly talk about that, because I hear about this everywhere.

Jodie, did you want to add something, too?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another point is that Mallory's interested in pursuing a career in mechanical engineering and in a time when we want to get women involved in that has dropped -- most of the schools she's visited, the engineering programs, women in them, it was about 20 percent, I think the number of women as opposed to the males.

H. CLINTON: So I know what it's like to be in one of those fields. We need more women who are breaking those barriers down.

Well, first of all, you have expressed what so many families are facing. Because you want to do the best you can for your kids. I mean, that's part of your responsibility as a parent. Not every kid wants to go to college or feels like it's what is awaiting them. But for kids who do, it's become increasingly challenging for families.

It's much more expensive to send a child to college today than it was 30 years ago, because the price of college has gone. But incomes, after inflation, are pretty stagnant for most people. So here's what I would do.

I would double the whole college tax credit. Because that will give you more control -- that's one of the tax cut that go into the $100 billion of cuts that I would provide. I would be looking for ways to expand the aid that could be available that didn't have to be paid back. That used to be much more prevalent than it is now --

KEILAR: Hillary Clinton talking there in Pennsylvania, touting her economic plans, saying that it would include tax breaks for families who have kids in college, for families who are taking care of elderly relatives.

Barack Obama also in Pennsylvania touting his economic plan, but, of course, Hillary Clinton, according to the most recent CNN poll of polls, has a double digit lead, a 14 percent lead, there in Pennsylvania, the biggest primary state left in this whole season.

LEMON: Smack dab in the middle of the housing crisis, a housing secretary quits the Bush Cabinet. Why now?

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