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Pennsylvania Showdown; America's Environmental Footprint; Postal Worker Saves Baby Girl; Children of Polygamist Sect Moved to Foster Care

Aired April 22, 2008 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're following breaking news here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We have been telling you about 18-year-old Ryan Schallenberger. He is the South Carolina high school student accused of plotting to blow up his school. We have just learned just before a hearing -- he's supposed to have a bond hearing today -- that he's going to be charged with a very serious charge, and he's going to face a federal charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Now, with that charge, it carries a possible life in prison, also, two lesser charges here, two lesser federal charges stemming from this scheme to detonate explosives at his high school. The school is in Chesterfield, a town northeast -- in northeastern South Carolina.

His parents alerted authorities when they received about 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate at their door that their son had apparently ordered online. He was arrested, and now he faces this charge. He's got a bond hearing at this hour. When we get more information, we're going to bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: It is primary day in Pennsylvania. Finally, right? Well, all eyes will be on that state when the vote totals start rolling in.

And our Jessica Yellin joining us now from Philadelphia.

Hi, Jessica.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna. I'm here in Philadelphia in Central City. And I will tell you, you cannot walk down the street without finding somebody wearing a "Obama Vote Today," or a "Hillary Don't Miss It T-shirt," people honking, people going up to others. They are so excited or energized in this city, getting ready for what we have all been leading up to for so many weeks now, today's primary.

In these last days, Senators Clinton and Obama have been reiterating their argument that we have heard from the beginning, but in much more sort of contentious and barbed terms. Senator Clinton's message, that she's ready from day one, has turned into a much more pointed message, that she's the one who can handle a crisis with bin Laden, another Katrina, and the not-so-subtle suggestion that her opponent may not be quite as ready. Barack Obama, his message of change has turned into another message, which is, I am going to -- Obama is going to reform Washington, but Senator Clinton, she practices just the same old politics.

And both of them are setting expectations, in a sense already telling voters how they should interpret the outcome in this state if Senator Clinton should win.

Let's listen to what they have said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Maybe the question ought to be, why can't he close the deal? With his extraordinary financial advantage, why can't he win a state like this one, if that's the way it turns out?

Obviously, we still have a long way to go before people finish voting and the votes are counted. But this will be one more in a long line of big states, states that Democrats have to win.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Going into this, six weeks ago, you know, the Clinton campaign suggested that they were unbeatable. And I think the strategy they were talking about was that they could overcome our delegate lead and our popular vote lead and the number of states that we had won by winning big in Pennsylvania and future contests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: And Senator Clinton's message there is she has won the big states; if she continues to win big states, she should be the Democratic nominee.

Barack Obama basically saying, that's poppycock. Whoever wins the most delegates is the one who should be the winner. Of course, all this back and forth will continue as we head on from here into Indiana and North Carolina, both candidates suggesting this ain't going to be over until the votes are counted on June 3 -- Brianna.

KEILAR: She already has a celebration in place for tonight, though, right, while he goes on to Ohio -- or -- pardon me -- Indiana?

YELLIN: Yes, he's actually -- Indiana. That's right. He's going on to Indiana, but, of course, his campaign cautioning we shouldn't read too much into that. We all know if he doesn't win -- if he doesn't close that margin here with Senator Clinton significantly, he wants to do a very good job of winning well, winning big in Indiana, so heading there already -- Brianna.

KEILAR: That's right. John McCain in Ohio, trying to keep it all straight.

All right, Jessica Yellin for us in Philadelphia, thank you very much. And if you're a political junkie, go to CNNPolitics.com. This is really the place for you. I'm pretty hooked on it myself. You can check out our new interactive delegate counter game, this really cool game we have where you can play real time what-if scenarios with delegates and superdelegates. And, again, you can check that out at CNNPolitics.com.

LEMON: You're such a political junkie. You're like -- your eyes are lighting up.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Check it out, people. It's very cool.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Yes, that's what you have on your computer over there. Geez. Geez, Louise.

KEILAR: Hey, I'm selling it, I'm using it.

LEMON: Hey, gas prices killing you? Well, I hate to tell you, but they have hit another record high. AAA says the national average for a gallon of regular is $3.51. That's up 25 cents from just a month ago. Truckers are really feeling the pinch. Diesel prices hit a record $4.20 a gallon. All of this is being fueled by oil prices. They have topped $119 a barrel for the first time ever.

And taking a look at the markets Right now, you can see -- there's the Big Board -- Dow down about 144 points. It's been teetering around 140, 150 points down there. So, that's where it is. Coming up in the NEWSROOM, the very latest financial news from our Susan Lisovicz and also -- also from Poppy Harlow.

KEILAR: Well, some call it the three amigos summit, the leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico meeting in New Orleans over trade and regional security.

As the two-day visit wrapped up, President Bush rejected calls from the Democratic presidential candidates to scrap or renegotiate NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. He also denied that the U.S. is in a recession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not in a recession. We're in a slowdown.

FELIPE CALDERON, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are doing everything we can in order to create job opportunities in Mexico for people, so that Mexicans will not need to seek job opportunities outside their country. And the only way to do it is by creating jobs in Mexico. and the only way is precisely multiplying our possibilities of trade.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: Mexico's president and Canada's prime minister also oppose tinkering with NAFTA.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

KEILAR: How many soda cans do you think the average American uses in a lifetime, 1,000, 10,000? Sit back and pop the top as we measure how much trash you leave behind.

LEMON: Ten thousand.

KEILAR: Nope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: A baby falls from a second-story window, but, luckily, it was mail time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby fell, you know, fell down on me. It felt like it must have hit my right side, and I caught the baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: A very especially delivery in the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And a Florida woman calls for some Gatorade. And we're not talking thirst-quencher. See that one right there? Well, how would you like to stumble into your kitchen and come right in the middle of this thing in the middle of the night?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: On this Earth Day, a personal pop quiz, pun intended there. How many soda cans do you think the average American opens in a lifetime? One hundred seventy eight million cans are opened every day in the United States. That is more than 2,000 a second.

So, how about you? How many tops do you pop? There is one man who knows the answer. Michael Cascio of the National Geographic Channel joining us now from Washington to talk about a documentary that measures how much we all consume.

So, Michael, how many cans?

MICHAEL CASCIO, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL: Well, to be exact, 443,371 soda cans over a single American's lifetime. That's a lot of cans. That's a lot of soda. As you can see, it's a scary amount.

And when we put it all together in this documentary that's airing tonight, you get the magnitude of what one American's consumption is over a single lifetime. That's a lot of cans.

KEILAR: And the way this documentary basically works is to communicate consumption in terms of physically representing exactly how much a human being consumes in a lifetime. This isn't CGI. This is physically taking soda cans or what have you? Where did you come up with this idea?

CASCIO: Well, the producers -- actually, the Wildlife Conservation Society came up with the idea of the human footprint on the globe. In other words, all of humankind's consumption is chasing away of wildlife and wild spaces.

But we wanted to know what one American's individual consumption is, and lay it out without any tricks, just to show you, factually, here's your life. Here's your life laid out right in front of you, and here's all the potatoes you eat, all the clothes you wear, all the appliances you use, all the cars you drive, all the soda cans, and as you can see here, all the bread that you eat. It's a lot.

And, frankly, if everyone in the world consumed as much as Americans consume, you would need four Earths, four planet Earths, to take in all of the material that people in America use. So, we consume a lot.

KEILAR: And that's a really interesting point. We will get back to that in just a second. But I want to show people a certain product that I thought was really interesting, the diaper.

I want to show a clip of this. Elizabeth Vargas, host of this documentary, tells us exactly what it takes to make a lifetime of diapers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH VARGAS, HOST: There's more inside a disposable diaper than meets the eye. It takes half a pint of crude oil per diaper to make the plastic waterproof lining that encases them. This is the amount of crude oil you will need for just one child.

And, over 30 months, that single diapered baby will use 715 pounds of plastic. That's as heavy as three heavyweight wrestlers. And that's not all. The soft, fluffy padding on the inside requires the pulp of 4.5 trees, all to keep one American toddler tidy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: It's really -- it is just amazing. I'm just wondering, looking at that, I see all those diapers, and they appear to be on the ground. What did you do end up doing with the materials after this?

CASCIO: Well, that's a question that a lot of people ask. In each case, we offered the clothes and the diapers and the things that could be reused to shelters. In other cases, we recycled them.

In the case of the food, the potatoes and bananas, we gave to a pig farm, because pigs don't mind eating them. And, in other cases, we recycled. So, we made sure that our footprint wasn't any bigger than it needed to be.

The interesting thing about the program that airs tonight is that it lays out all the facts and lets you make the decision as to whether or not you're consuming too much or, in some cases, not enough. But it's very clear from this, though, that Americans do consume a lot, and their impact on the planet, or your impact on the planet is pretty big.

KEILAR: Were you surprised that Americans consumed so much, even compared to other developed nations?

CASCIO: I guess we always knew that America is a consumer society. I think the surprise is the volume of things that we consume.

Those 43,000 soda cans add up to a lot of trash, as you can see here, and the total volume of your consumption is so much greater than, say, somebody in Japan, because the space here is much bigger. There's so much more space in the United States that, in some ways, it's surprising. The total amount is surprising. And it does have an impact, once you see it, because it's very physical. It's all laid out for you.

KEILAR: So, Michael, just before we go here, what can Americans do if they see this and they say, I don't want to be consuming that much? What can they do?

CASCIO: Well, the first step to any problem is knowing what the facts are.

And this program clearly lays out the facts of your consumption in all different categories. And then we give some tips in the program to just get you started. The message is, you don't have to do a lot to make an impact. Because your impact is already so big, if you do just a little bit, it will still cut it back by a lot. So, if you lower your thermostat two degrees in the winter and raise it two degrees in the summer, you will save 2,000 pounds, a ton of carbon dioxide every year.

You will save -- if you unplug your appliances when they're not in use, you will save a half-a-ton of carbon emissions. And we have some Web sites that we mention in the program on National Geographic Channel that will give you more examples from National Geographic if you want to make sure that your footprint isn't as big as the average American's. There are many different little things you can do to make a big difference.

KEILAR: All right, Michael Cascio with National Geographic Channel.

And, again, that documentary airs this evening.

Thanks for being with us.

CASCIO: Thank you very much.

LEMON: Well, some people jump at the sight of a bug in the kitchen. Can you imagine how a Florida woman felt when she saw this in hers? Check that out, an eight-foot alligator. Police say the unwanted visitor broke through the porch screen, crawled through an open door, walked into the living room, and then the kitchen. At least he knew where the food was in the house. No one noticed until the woman heard a commotion, and then she called 911.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sheriff's office.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Ms. (INAUDIBLE) at 20 Ebelon (ph) Court.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's an alligator in my kitchen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How tall do you -- or how long do you think the alligator is, Ms...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's huge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, how long is huge?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. I only saw the first half of it and that had to be at least three feet. And I -- because it was behind the freezer, and I just disappeared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you sure it couldn't be like an iguana or a really large...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was your first name again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sandra (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. We will get deputies out that way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Bye now.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: She's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, definitely not an iguana. An animal trapper, Brianna, captured the gator and safely removed it from the house.

KEILAR: Not an iguana.

LEMON: Can you imagine?

KEILAR: Sandra was so calm, though, don't you think? Good at the description. I only saw half of it. That was three feet long.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: That was good.

LEMON: She was very nice.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: She was not letting that -- the 911 caller minimize what was happening there, for sure.

LEMON: That was hilarious.

(LAUGHTER)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

KEILAR: Rising prices, hard-to-find jobs -- economic issues are a key concern for all Americans, including younger Americans. We will find out what some college kids are saying about the issue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Kyra Phillips. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And we are working on several developing stories here for you today in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Indianapolis police have taken two teens in for questioning after a brutal bank robbery. The Associated Press and local news report -- reports say a teller pregnant with twins was shot in the stomach. She is out of surgery now, but there's no word now on the condition of the twins. The teens were taken into custody while trying to enter a high school near the bank.

Florida firefighters have put out the flames at a Miami-Dade County industrial plant after a massive rock melting machine caught fire. A thousand workers had to evacuate the plant. One was taken to the hospital with chest pains.

KEILAR: Topping our political ticker today, the Pennsylvania primary, of course. Less than seven hours of voting remain in a state that could reshape the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton needs a big win over Barack Obama -- the bigger the better. And a new CNN poll of polls shows Clinton with a nine percentage point lead in Pennsylvania. It's a slight increase from the last poll but seven percent of voters are still undecided.

CNN brings you live coverage until the results are in and beyond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go. Look at this.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary with a takedown. And she's all over Barack Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Well, maybe this is how to decide the Democratic race, you think?

Clinton and Obama on the mat. And no, this is not really them. This is a mock match on WWE's "Monday Night Raw".

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Those are some crazy moves, right, Don?

LEMON: I like him. I like that wig, too.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Well, the real Clinton and Obama, they did tape messages for this popular show, as did John McCain, because "Raw" is one of the top-rated shows on cable, with more than five million viewers every week.

LEMON: Very funny.

KEILAR: The presumptive GOP nominee is not in Pennsylvania this afternoon. John McCain next door in Youngstown, Ohio. This is part of a week-long tour of impoverished areas that he says tend to get lost in the political mix. McCain says a hard hit industrial town like Youngstown can get back on its feet, just like his campaign did.

LEMON: Well, another day, another record high gas price. AAA reports a gallon of regular unleaded now costs an average of $3.51. Not surprisingly, crude oil is also on the rise. It topped $119 a barrel in some of the latest trading. And sorry, more grim numbers on the housing front. Sales of existing homes dropped another 2 percent last month.

Well, the troubled U.S. economy, how is it affecting young Americans? As part of our ongoing Conversations with Black America, our T.J. Holmes is listening to students at Clark Atlanta University.

Nice weather, nice day nice day for conversation with anyone, even black America, right?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Don.

(LAUGHTER) HOLMES: This is the last stop here, of course, on our historically black college tour here at Clark Atlanta University. You can see kind of what we've got going on behind us. You know, we set up on campuses and try to get the young people involved in this conversation, to draw them in.

We've got music. We've got a D.J. And you know, everybody is in a festive mood. Everybody is having fun. But at the same time, we have serious issues to talk about.

The them, Don, as we know -- we've done several of these already at campus. And what we're learning is that young people sometimes, given what the economy is right now, they choose to stay in school. A lot of graduating seniors just say I'm going to grad school, I'm going to law school, I'm going to do something to further my education, because I would be better maybe later, waiting for the economy to turn around and the job market to get better is a lot of what we have been hearing.

We're hearing a lot of that here, as well. But I'm here with a young man now, Travers Johnson, who got lucky, if you will. This is a graduating senior from Morehouse, actually. He's here at Clark with us, but he's from Morehouse. He got a job.

You have a job lined up. How nerve-wracking was it? You said you only got it a few weeks ago. Graduation is coming up in a few weeks, as well, in May. How lucky do you feel you were, I guess, one of the lucky ones to be able to get a job?

TRAVERS JOHNSON, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE SENIOR: Oh, I feel very blessed. And it is a very nerve-wracking time in all of our lives right now, because we -- everyone wants to know what you're doing after graduation. So up until that point, I was very nervous, very anxious. But I'm very blessed. I know many of my classmates and friends are still looking for jobs.

HOLMES: More nervous given -- even if -- you don't have to watch the news every day and read the paper every day to know that the economy is not doing so well.

How much was that -- I mean a graduating senior has got a lot of things to worry about anyway.

JOHNSON: Right.

HOLMES: But the fact the economy has been doing what it's doing, how much did that make you, I guess, this time in your life that much more difficult?

JOHNSON: Oh, it was just an added -- an added piece of anxiety, because, you know, you were looking at graduation fees and sending out graduation invitations and, you know, just enjoying your last few days of college. And then to be worried about whether or not there's a job market available once you leave the hallowed halls of your school is very nerve-wracking.

HOLMES: And you spoke about graduation fees. Every little bit counts for a college student, as we know.

JOHNSON: Right.

HOLMES: And you have now decided to go and work in one of the most expensive places you could find. The young man is going to be going to New York for his job working for Random House Publishing. Take that into account, as well. Gas prices are high, rent is high, the dollar doesn't go as far. But you're taking it upon yourself to go live in New York City.

JOHNSON: Yes. I mean I love New York. I'm blessed to have this job. So I'll make it somehow. I'll see what I can do.

HOLMES: How much, also, does the economy weigh in your decision of who you are going to vote for in this upcoming election?

JOHNSON: Oh, it's a huge, it's a huge factor in who I'm going to vote for. That is one of the main issues in this election. And with the economy slowing, I think that if you don't have bread and butter issues like the economy being at the forefront, then many people -- that's going to make the big decision on how people vote, especially me.

HOLMES: OK, are you hearing what you need to hear?

Do you feel good about what you're hearing or do you think -- so many times young people don't get involved because they don't think the politicians are speaking to their issues. They tell them what they want to hear, that sounds great, get them to vote for them, but then nothing really happens.

Do you see something different this time in the candidates that you're hearing from?

JOHNSON: Oh, well, absolutely. There's just a newfound excitement about this election anyway. But I think there are some candidates that are talking to the issues that are most relevant to people in my age group. Others, however, aren't. And I think that the people in my age group recognize that and are voting accordingly.

HOLMES: All right.

Travers Johnson, moving to the Big Apple.

JOHNSON: Yes, sir.

HOLMES: Thank you for spending some time with us.

JOHNSON: Thank you for having me.

HOLMES: Good luck to you. We're going to be looking out for you.

And, Don, right here, folks like this young man and several other young people I've met, this is the future of the country that we are seeing right here. Yes, they've got a tough time sometimes getting into that workforce. But as you hear there, yes, it's tough. Yes, it's New York but he's going to find a way to make it. But it's nice to be around some of these young people and wish them well. And we're going to see them, certainly, down the road.

LEMON: And, T.J. , tell Travers -- I know it's his first job. We're very excited for him. But ask for as much money as he can, because New York is an expensive place.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Yes. We're taking up a collection for you back at CNN right now.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: T.J. , thanks.

Thanks so much.

All right, with gas prices soaring, more people are buying hybrids. Some folks are trying mass transit. In Washington, the transportation secretary wants to raise the fuel-efficiency for new cars and trucks. She estimates it will save almost 55 billion gallons of fuel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY PETERS, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This proposal is going to help all of us all breath a little easier by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from tailpipes, cutting fuel consumption and making driving more affordable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Under the requirements unveiled on this Earth Day, new cars and trucks will have to get 31.6 miles to the gallon by 2015. Five years after that, it goes up to 35 miles a gallon. Of course, the price of those cars will also be going up -- on average, $650 for passenger cars, almost $1,000 for trucks.

KEILAR: Last hour, we saw the impact of rising food prices on people in Egypt and Russia. Well, now we're going to head south, to South Africa, South Asia and South Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Robyn Curnow in Johannesburg in South Africa, at a small taxi rank. And it's on ordinary corners like this that you'll find people across the country who are feeling the pinch of the high food prices. Take Maria, for example. She sells breakfast to passing commuters. The increase in prices of your fetcook (ph), give me some sense, between last year and this year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last year it was 50 cents each, because things, there were low prices. Now, things -- now they're up. So that's why we charge 70 cents each. CURNOW: Are you worried that things are going to get more expensive?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am. I am.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Reza Sayah here in Islamabad, Pakistan, here with Abdul Sattar (ph), a common laborer who has been kind enough to let us go shopping with him. In Pakistan, the average per capita income is only $2 a day. So with the rising food prices, it's people like Abdul Sattar who suffer. Last year, 50 cents would get Pakistanis a kilogram of tomato. This year, they're getting half as much.

(on-camera): Eighty cents in Pakistan bought you a dozen eggs. This year, you're only getting seven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Things are very difficult right now and we have to work day and night just to make ends meet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Sohn Jie-Ae in a Seoul supermarket. I'm here with housewife Iayun Zwun (ph) and her one-and- a-half-year old little girl. We're going to go shopping and see just how much prices have risen here in South Korea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We used to keep so much fruit in our refrigerator that it would rot. I make a list now and only buy what's on it, but we still spend a lot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: The food crisis threatens dozens of countries and tens of millions of people. And we will continue to bring you special coverage from around the world all this week.

A Chinese ship full of weapons headed for Zimbabwe might be heading home now. At least two African nations have turned the ship away and the U.S. wants others to do the same. Zimbabwe is landlocked, so shipments have to travel through other countries to get there. The fear, of course, is that Zimbabwe's troops will use the weapons to intimidate voters. Results from last month's hugely controversial elections results are finally due to be announced this weekend.

LEMON: OK. Remember we showed you pictures of that eight foot gator?

New video now of the gator in the kitchen. Oh, my goodness. There's more, too, coming up. There's the new video. This is Pinellas -- do you want to just -- we're going to show most of it coming up.

Let's go to the next story, because we want to tease you with it.

KEILAR: A postal carrier's special delivery turns into a lucky reception. We've got a live interview with the woman who's being called...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. It was no mail drop. But a New York postal carrier handled it just as smoothly as if it was a mail drop. She was in the right place at the right time, of course, to save the life of a little girl who fell from a second story window.

The hero herself, Lisa Harrell, joins us now live from Albany, New York.

Lisa, surprising to you. I saw you earlier in a sound bite. You said you sort of felt something on your right shoulder and then you just caught it?

LISA HARRELL, POSTAL CARRIER: I just caught her, yes.

LEMON: Really, out of nowhere. OK.

Are you like, you know, athletic or were you -- you know, did you see her at all or you had no idea?

HARRELL: Well, I looked up at the window. I was waiting for someone to answer the door. I had an express delivery. I looked up, saw the window half opened, you know, didn't think anything of it. Then all of a sudden I looked up again and saw a baby. The next thing you know, the baby fell out the window, you know brushed up on me -- you know pretty, hard coming from the second floor. And I caught her.

LEMON: Yes. I said are you athletic, I would imagine you walk a lot as a mail carrier.

HARRELL: I walk...

LEMON: But I mean are you, you know, lifting weights or -- I mean, how do you catch a baby like that if it just hits your shoulder?

HARRELL: No, I don't lift weights. I have no idea. It was a miracle.

LEMON: Yes. It was a miracle.

And what was your reaction to the people who were at home at the time?

DARRELL: You know, the lady came out. She was thankful. You know, we were all very upset, shooken. The baby was screaming. You know, she took the baby and that was it.

LEMON: And that was it. HARRELL: Yes, she -- I went to, you know -- I had to sit down. I was very shooken up. I went to my postal truck and called my supervisor.

LEMON: Wow!

And so what happened after that? Did they ever take -- did she ever have to go to the hospital or anything like that? Did they check her out?

HARRELL: Yes, I guess later on the ambulance came, took the baby. But the baby is OK.

LEMON: Why do you think you were in that spot at that time? I mean it is sort of a -- you know, I shouldn't say a miracle, but a one in a million chance.

HARRELL: A one in a million chance I believe in fate and I think that was it.

LEMON: Maybe it is a miracle?

HARRELL: I believe it's a miracle. Like I said, I -- you know, normally I get to that street about 1:30, 2:00. I got there like 11:00.

LEMON: Yes. When something like this happens, something that seems a little bit bizarre, out of the ordinary, does this change you forever?

HARRELL: Well, I have a different outlook on life. I feel real good about myself. Yes, I think it definitely -- it will change me forever.

LEMON: Yes. Is this going to be -- are you going to -- are you going to be her godmother or her god-aunt or are you going to continue to check on the little girl and be close to her family, do you think?

HARRELL: Well, I'll try. You know, I'll try. I haven't really spoken to Brenda yet. But I will in the next few days.

LEMON: Lisa, you're a hero. And through rain, snow, sleet or shine -- or even babies falling from balconies, you're always there to catch them, right?

HARRELL: Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you.

It's good having you. And congratulations for doing that. You are a true hero.

HARRELL: Thank you for that.

KEILAR: We've go an amazing story coming up. I don't know if you've ever seen a lizard in your kitchen. I saw one. But this is ridiculous people, right? This got in the kitchen through a porch screen. And wait until you see how animal control got it out.

LEMON: New video coming up of that.

And this riot in Montreal makes you wonder what would have happened if the hockey team had lost?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK, what do you say we go to Pinellas, Florida, because, you know -- if you ever see a bug in the kitchen, do you jump?

KEILAR: I'm -- I don't jump. I don't.

LEMON: A mouse?

KEILAR: I'm like the person that squashes the bug.

LEMON: All right.

KEILAR: But I know a lot of people don't like them.

LEMON: What about a gator? We've been telling you about this gator. We had some pictures earlier and then this is a new video into the CNN NEWSROOM. And then we have video of this gator actually being wrangled.

And guess who's wrangling him? Charles Carpenter. He's from the Florida Fish & Wildlife --

Is it Florida Fish & Wildlife?

Yes?

Is that correct?

CHARLES CARPENTER, FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE: Yes. Alligator rescue.

LEMON: Charles Carpenter joins us now on the phone. We just got him on the phone. And he's going to tell us, when you walked into this woman's house and you saw this gator, what did you think?

Is this unusual?

CARPENTER: Well, it's pretty big for a kitchen, but it was interesting enough to get some photos.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Yes, I would imagine. So they call you and you've got to come out.

Is this in the middle of the night, Charles?

CARPENTER: Around close to midnight.

LEMON: So take us through it.

What happens?

CARPENTER: Well, we showed up. Usually when people call and say it's an eight foot alligator, it ends up being like a four or five. So this one was actually that size. And we ended up having to move most of the furniture out of this place just to get it out without destroying the home.

LEMON: So how did you get close to this thing? I understand that you used a little device to make noise. Were you trying to get its attention or distract it so that someone else could catch it?

CARPENTER: Well, we tried to do that first just to see if we could get it to walk out and follow us, but it wasn't really interested. And we had to go to Plan B, which means put a rope around its neck and forcibly remove it, which, for some reason, he wasn't real happy with that thought, either.

LEMON: Now, is this -- in the dark? Did you have to turn the lights off in the kitchen or was that once you got it outside in the backyard?

CARPENTER: Well, the lights were on inside and, you know, we need the lights to work. Outside, we just had to work off of the law enforcement officers' flashlights.

LEMON: So that was outside.

So how did you get it to go outside? Did you have to drag it out? Did you coax it? What happened?

CARPENTER: No, we had to drag it.

LEMON: You had to drag it. OK.

CARPENTER: You know, he did a little bit of damage and put a big dent in the one of the walls.

LEMON: Ouch. So what -- I would imagine that this would have done a lot of damage to this woman had she gotten closer or if she had been walking with the lights off and just came in the kitchen in the middle of the night and she hadn't seen it.

CARPENTER: Well, I'm not really sure what happened from the -- other than she heard noises. And then when she -- her cat was doing his best to stay it away from it by this time.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Yes.

CARPENTER: It followed the cat all the way through the entire house, from one side to the other.

LEMON: Oh, really. So it was trying to get the cat?

CARPENTER: Yes. It came right through the screen room.

LEMON: Yes. All right. So listen, an eight foot gator in someone's house. Pretty unusual there. You said they are usually three or four feet and being in someone's kitchen not the perfect place for it.

Charles Carpenter, thank you very much for that. Thanks for coming on and to explain this, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Department.

Real quick -- hey, are you still there?

CARPENTER: Yes.

LEMON: What happened to the gator?

CARPENTER: Well, nothing happened to him so far. He's still riding around in our trailer with us.

LEMON: Are you serious?

CARPENTER: Yes.

LEMON: What are you going to do with him?

CARPENTER: Yes. I haven't had a chance to do anything with him yet.

LEMON: What are you going to do with him?

CARPENTER: He'll end up having to go to a processing plant. He's a little too big to be moved anywhere. So the state regulations require us to take him to a plant and they end up processing him into food.

LEMON: OK. Charles Carpenter, thank you so much for that.

Good luck.

KEILAR: We've got an update to tell you about coming out of that polygamous ranch in Texas. Susan Roesgen is standing by in San Angelo with new information.

Susan, what can you tell us?

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, it was a smooth operation that they tried to conduct out of view of our cameras. I'm at the front of the coliseum right now. About four hours ago, state troopers totally cut off the front entrance, blocked it off. So we knew that something was about to happen.

And on a side entrance -- a side entrance to the parking lot, about an hour ago, they moved, what we understand to be from one of our producers at the courthouse here in San Angelo, Texas, started moving 100 of the 437 children who are in that coliseum. Apparently, the Child Protective Services agency, Brianna, has gone ahead and decided to start moving some of the children out to foster homes all across the state.

Now, lawyers were very concerned that this was going to happen. They had filed an emergency motion with the judge to stop that, because the mothers -- primarily the mothers of the very young children from this polygamous ranch in Eldorado -- were concerned that they didn't want to leave the very young children -- they didn't want to have the children farmed off to other places.

But from what we know now -- and I have seen some of the children waving on the buses, smiling -- at least 100 have been moved. We don't know yet to where, but, again, we have a CNN crew at the courthouse, which is about 30 minutes from the coliseum, going to check and try to find out where exactly these children might be sent.

KEILAR: All right, Susan.

We know that you'll be checking those details. We'll check back with you when you get them.

Susan Roesgen on the phone with us from San Angelo, Texas.

LEMON: The closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The Montreal Canadians won their playoff game last night. And, well, some fans were so happy, they had to destroy stuff.

It makes sense, right?

LEMON: Um-hmm.

KEILAR: Well, more than a dozen people were arrested for thrashing police cars, assaulting officers and breaking into businesses.

And do you ever wonder what you would do if you were trapped in an elevator for 41 hours?

LEMON: No.

KEILAR: You don't have to wonder, just watch this poor guy here.

LEMON: Oh, no.

KEILAR: He was riding back up to his Manhattan office on a Friday night in 1999 when the elevator got stuck. Kind of like being stuck on a deserted island -- without any of the perks, of course. And this is security video. It has just surfaced on the Web. It's really become quite a sensation on YouTube.

Thankfully, it's been sped up. You can see the guy pace, hit some buttons, hit the walls, lie down, pace. He climbs the wall, pries open the doors at one -- and there he is. We see him pace some more. There's a lot of pacing going on.

LEMON: Yes. Forty-one hours, man.

KEILAR: That's almost two days.

LEMON: I'm glad he's OK.

KEILAR: Yes.

LEMON: I think he sued and like won something, if I -- if I remember that story correctly.

KEILAR: Well, I wouldn't be too happy if I were him.

LEMON: Yes.

The closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.

KEILAR: That's right.

Let's go to Susan Lisovicz.

LEMON: Susan Lisovicz is standing by with a final look at the trading day.

Susan, 41 hours on an elevator, can you imagine?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. And I don't want to imagine.

But, listen, I want to just tell you, on this Earth Day, clean up the Earth. Clean up your lungs. Whirlpool, the big company, suspending 39 workers for lying on their health insurance forms that they were nonsmokers and then other smokers caught them. They are suspended. They consider that a serious offense -- lying.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LEMON: Thanks, Susan. Happy Earth Day.

LISOVICZ: You too.

KEILAR: Let's head to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.