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California Shark Attack; Morocco Factory Fire; Police Officers Acquitted in New York Shooting

Aired April 26, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On the lookout for a killer shark. A warning this weekend for beachgoers in California, and city in a standstill. A transit strike leaves thousands of passengers with no ride.
And think your grocery bill is high? Well, this mom has 12 mouths to feed, and she does it on a shoestring budget. We'll hear how she does it. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. It is Saturday, April 26th and I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

This breaking story taking place out of north Africa. In Morocco we understand a factory fire has taken place and at least 55 people have been killed there in the capital of Morocco, Casablanca. Of course we're continuing to work our sources there on the ground to find out any more details and we'll pass them along to you right away.

Meantime, in this country. Closed. That's what signs read this weekend along eight miles of southern California beaches. This after a shark killed a swimmer in the waters north of San Diego. CNN's Ted Rowlands is tracking this developing story for us from Solana Beach. Ted?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, according to the beach patrol authorities, most people are heeding the warnings to stay out of the water here, and they're going to keep these beaches closed for at least a few days. Until Monday morning. They continue to search for any evidence of this shark or any other sharks with helicopter flyovers in this area. If they don't see any more evidence, they're expected to open up the beach for folks to go back into the water in this area. Of course, the shock is still very real here in this small town. Losing a member of their community. A former retired veterinarian, who is a staple in this community. He's been here for most of his adult life. He was an active triathlete and he was with triathletes when he was killed. He was attacked just off this coast area, about less of a quarter mile north from where we're standing right now. And according to eyewitnesses, the shark came from below, attacked him, pulled him up into the air and brought him back into the water. He was able to break free, scream for help. His friends took him onshore, but they were unable to keep him alive. He died of blood loss. Dr. Dave Martin was remembered last night at a very touching vigil here along the beach. People came and remembered him. Today we've seen friends and others bring flowers and just sort of staring off into the ocean. They remember him as a father of four and an integral part of this very tight-knit community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOB BABBITT, VICTIM'S FRIEND: The guy was a great swimmer, really, really good cyclist and a good runner, and he just turned 66 and I'm sure he was looking forward to an awesome year. There are a lot of people 66 years old who are sitting in old folks homes trying to figure out what to do with their next bingo play. And here's this guy swimming with 20, 30 and 40-year-olds out in the ocean and living life to its fullest. If you're going to go, to know that you did it with, you know, near your home, with your friends, doing what you love doing, with people who shared that same passion, that's not a bad way.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: An autopsy is going on at this hour at the San Diego County medical examiner's office. Shark experts are there analyzing the wounds and also looking for fragments of teeth. They think this is a white shark, a great white. They're almost sure, but they're hoping to get more information from that autopsy and, again, until further notice, Monday, until Monday, the beaches are closed here. They're continuing to search for this shark but at this point no sign of any sharks since the attack.

WHITFIELD: And, Ted, they feel almost certain it's a great white because of the description that they heard from the other swimmers, correct, on the way in which this shark attacked which is typical, characteristic of a great white?

ROWLANDS: And the wounds. They said the wounds were very clean if you will and very large in both legs. They were bitten, and because of the serrated teeth that the great white has. It was characteristic with that, but then again, you're right. The eyewitness account of the attack from beneath. They're almost 100 percent certain it was a great white.

WHITFIELD: All right, possibly 17 feet long. Pretty extraordinary. Ted Rowlands, thanks so much.

Meantime, on the east coast of this country, Sean Bell's family and friends held a rally in Harlem today in response to the acquittals of three New York police detectives. Those detectives opened fire killing him 17 months ago, before his wedding. Bell was unarmed. Civil rights leaders, community leaders and politicians were at today's rally and they called for unity. Afterward, hundreds of people took to the streets. Some of them carried signs numbered 1 through 50. The numbers referring to the number of gunshots fired at Bell and his two friends the morning that Sean Bell died. During today's events Bell's fiance vowed to continue the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE PAULTRE BELL, SEAN BELL'S FIANCEE: Yesterday the system let us down. I'm still praying for justice because it's not over. It's far from over, it's just starting. Every march, every rally, I'm going to be right up front.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: The acquittal brought tears of joy to the accused officers. They spoke publicly yesterday for the first time since the shooting happened in November of 2006.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DET. GESCARD ISNORA, ACQUITTED IN SEAN BELL SHOOTING: First and foremost I'd like to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for bringing this all to fruition, for my family who is here and secondly to the honorable Judge Cooperman for his fair and accurate decision today, and I'll keep it brief. Lastly for my family and friends, for their support.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: The head of the detectives endowment association lashed out at those who were quick to condemn the men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL PALLADINO, PRES., DETECTIVES ENDOWMENT ASSN.: Our thoughts and our sympathy go out to the Bell family, to Mr. and Mrs. Bell, and to Nicole and the children. We have been portrayed as insensitive murderers, and I can tell you that we are not.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The detectives are not in the clear. They face possible civil suits and the justice department is considering federal charges.

Battling street gangs. Chicago's police superintendent says officers will soon be armed with powerful M-4 carbines in a bid to match the firepower of the city's street gangs. Right now rank and file officers are only allowed to carry handguns. Police are beefing up patrols after dozens of shootings left at least nine people dead last weekend.

And home at last, Staff Sergeant Matt Maupin will finally be laid to rest tomorrow near Cincinnati, Ohio. His remains arrived at Dover Air Force base this morning. The motorcade to a local civic center was greeted by thousands of yellow ribbons. Maupin was listed as missing for nearly four years after his convoy was ambushed near Baghdad. His remains were found last month.

Rocking in Reno. Another earthquake hit Nevada. No reports of injuries or major property damage. The 4.7 magnitude quake knocked cans off the shelves as you see here, pictures off walls and rocks off hillsides. It hit late last night, one day after an earthquake caused high-rise casinos to sway. The area has been rocked with hundreds of small quakes over the last two months.

Wild weather in Wisconsin. Take a look at this damage. Authorities are trying to determine if one or more tornadoes hit. This powerful storm swept through the state. Lightning, hail, strong winds, heavy rains all of that, led to extensive power outages.

(WEATHER REPORT) WHITFIELD: All right, to Texas now, a polygamist sect there is preparing for another round of court battles to try to get their children back. An appeals court has rejected the mother's latest efforts to keep their children. CNN's Susan Roesgen has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even hundreds of miles away at an NBA game in Utah. Some say shame on Texas for taking the children from a polygamist ranch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The idea is to send a message to Texas that we want those kids to be treated properly and they need to be reunited with their parents.

ROESGEN: That reunion is unlikely to happen anytime soon. The state of Texas has emptied the Yearning for Zion ranch of all the children. 462 children from babies to teenagers.

KATHLEEN, POLYGAMIST SECT LEADER: And they said, you get on the bus. You will never see your father and mother again, if you don't do what we say.

ROESGEN: The last 260 children at an arena in San Angelo have been bused out, scattered across the state in 16 different group homes. Most separated from their mothers, to the fury of a ranch spokesman.

ROD PARKER, POLYGAMIST SECT SPOKESMAN: Literally prying children off of their mothers, pulling their arms away from their mothers and taking them away. That's the kind of scene that has been taking place in this building in the last few days. It's cruel.

ROESGEN: State officials say the separation was not that traumatic. And that the state has custody of the children for their own protection.

DARRELL AZAR, TEXAS CHILD PROTECTION: There was a systematic process going on in which young girls were being groomed to become the wives of middle aged men and had their children at a very young age. As young as 13 years old, and in that environment there was no way to make those children safe.

ROESGEN: DNA samples have been collected from all the children now, and from 180 adults. Depending on the results of those tests, and possible criminal charges, the state can retain custody of the children for at least six months, and possibly longer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somehow we're going to get those children back. We need to get them back.

ROESGEN: A mother's hope, a legal fight, and the biggest child custody case in U.S. history.

ROESGEN (on camera): Next week attorneys for the parents are going to be in an appeals court trying to get the parents reunited with their children. At the same time, a separate suit claims that the search and arrest warrants which opened the ranch to the raid were not legal, because some say they were based on a hoax phone call. So the fight continues. Susan Roesgen, CNN, San Angelo, Texas.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And commuter chaos in Canada's largest city. A sudden public transit strike forced thousands of people in Toronto to find other ways to get around. The 9,000 member transit union walked off the job after rejecting a proposed new contract. Many of the stranded commuters were definitely not happy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because there was no notice. I just came from office. My office is -- and (INAUDIBLE) 10:00 and now they are -- now I have to go home? Do I need to stay in office and sleep here? Or -- family is waiting at home.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: He's got a good sense of humor about it. More than a million people normally do use Toronto's transit systems. A lot of folk were very frustrated.

It's one-on-one in Indiana, and we're not talking basketball. More on the hunt for Hoosier votes. As both candidates campaign live this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Turning to the race for the White House, and one primary contest shaping up to be a real tight one. A new poll of polls of Indiana democrats shows Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a statistical dead heat. The Indiana primary is May 6th. Now surprisingly both democratic candidates will be spending a lot of time in that state. CNN's Jim Acosta joins us now from Anderson, Indiana. Jim, what are Clinton and Obama doing to appeal to the voters there?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, this is a very critical campaign swing for Barack Obama. As you know, he is coming off of that difficult loss in Pennsylvania, but the Hoosier state is one of those states that plays to one of Barack Obama's strengths, and that is his basketball strengths and last night in Kokomo, Indiana he was out on the hard courts with a couple of high school basketball players, with some three-on-three basketball going on there in that high school gymnasium. And what this is all a part of is the Obama campaign is trying to present an image that is counter to the one that was basically given to him by the Clinton campaign in Pennsylvania, and that is being an elitist, being out of touch with blue collar working class voters. Barack Obama trying to repair that image with some basketball. Also talked about his wardrobe in Indianapolis yesterday outside of a gas station. He talked about not just the high price of gas but also talked about the fact that he only owns four pairs of shoes and a handful of suits. Barack Obama working on that. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is also in the Hoosier state, she is campaigning today in South Bend, Indiana right now. And as I'm telling you this, the Obama event here in Anderson, Indiana is just getting started. Earlier today as she was campaigning with Senator Evan Bayh here in Indiana, Hillary Clinton said that more is needed in Washington than just change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to change this country, but that's not just a slogan. It's going to require an enormous amount of hard work, and as Evan said, if it were so easy that all you did was show up in Washington and say, let's change -- I think Evan and I would have figured that out a while ago.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Right now Barack Obama is just taking the stage at Anderson High School. You can hear the crowd behind me shouting "Obama, Obama." He is expected to talk about a lot of economic issues that are hitting this state. This state like many others here in the industrial heartland has suffered a lot of manufacturing losses, Fredricka. So Barack Obama coming to Indiana, being a native son of a neighboring state of Illinois, he is hoping that some of that will help him here in the Hoosier state. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Ok, Jim. Thanks so much. Of course we're going to continue to monitor the developments behind you, because it looks like Senator Obama will be taking to the microphone momentarily. When he does, we'll be bringing that to you live as well. We want you to hear his comments just as you heard some of the comments of Hillary Clinton as well. We'll see more of the candidates on the campaign trail today, raw and unfiltered. It's a special edition of "BALLOT BOWL" today at 3:00 p.m. eastern time.

What's drawing the most interest on cnn.com today, we'll check the web for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got his start in women's clothing and he's still into lotion and lingerie. He's also the longest serving CEO on this year's list. Who's the billionaire with an interest in all things beautiful? Find that out after the break.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which Fortune 500 CEO has the most years under his belt? Lesley Wexner opened the first Limited Store in 1963 with a loan from his aunt. Almost 45 years later, Wexner is still the man at the top. Limited Brands now include other stores such as Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. (END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: You watch us on the tube, you're reading our material online and you're watching our material online as well.

JOSH LEVS: Right, I love it.

WHITFIELD: Josh Levs monitors all of it and he knows what you guys like the most.

LEVS: We get to do this little light-hearted change of pace. You know it's the weekend. We're going to chill out for a second, take a look at what the hot videos are. One thing I love about the hot videos on dotcom, is that there's always major news going on, but there's also always a hot video that's about like a bear or a snake or a woolly mammoth.

WHITFIELD: Love those animal stories.

LEVS: Today it's a snake. Take a look at this video. This video is one of the hottest videos of the day. This snake washed up onto a beach in New Zealand it's deadly, could have killed anyone. And actually that is extremely unusual. This has been the number one video today for a while. This is very unusual, a yellow snake that appeared on a beach in New Zealand and now they're showing it to people. The truth is only like 15 percent of snakes in the world are venomous and it's very rare to see a deadly one. So (INAUDIBLE). But everyone wants to see that thing and that's the whole video.

WHITFIELD: Is it really that rare for New Zealand to have a venomous snake? Maybe it was that area?

LEVS: You can find them in Australia and New Zealand, but on the beach right there. Second video I'm going to show you right now, really hot today, involves a prank letter sent to parents at a high school. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It had a Lincoln letterhead, so it looked official.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): But the Portland public school district says it's anything but.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Although it looks official, again it's become very apparent it did not come from the school when you start reading through the content.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's because the letter urges parents to open their homes for sex and drug use on prom night.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So all the parents from the school, Lincoln High School in Portland, got this letter. Some had condoms in it and those letters were saying you should definitely open up your home, and it had official school letterhead saying, make alcohol and sometimes even drugs available on prom night. A lot of parents offended. Obviously a lot of young people offended too. Big deal there. Finally, I guess this is not a weekend unless we have a star in trouble. Star musician.

WHITFIELD: Oh no, who now?

LEVS: This week, of course, Amy Winehouse.

WHITFIELD: Poor girl.

LEVS: We've got, yeah, one of the hottest videos today on cnn.com.

WHITFIELD: Her middle name is trouble.

LEVS: You know, here's the thing about Amy Winehouse. And in case people don't know she's gotten in trouble for getting into a fight at a bar. And now her publicist says she's been released. It's not -- been released with a warning as of today. People were clicking on this like crazy.

WHITFIELD: What was the trouble?

LEVS: She got into a fight at a bar.

WHITFIELD: Oh.

LEVS: We weren't there but that's what the reports are. And the police took her in, and now she's been let go with a warning according to her publicist. The thing is, she has been in trouble with the law some times and had her trouble with controlled substances or things that should be controlled. But I was looking at what CNN has said about her. We had Andrew (INAUDIBLE) Webber on air saying that she might be the best female singer London has produced since Dusty. She's a really big deal.

WHITFIELD: Hands down she's a tremendous talent. The girl is a great vocalist.

LEVS: She's brilliant. So it is interesting to see that kind of interplay, when she continues to produce really impressive music that wows the critics, while she's dealing with some of these scandals in her life. Not all other stars are doing both at the same time. So she is an interesting character to watch obviously everybody hoping that she gets her life all together.

WHITFIELD: Of course. All right, thanks so much Josh.

LEVS: Dotcom desk.

WHITFIELD: Ok. And dotcom desk is watching all kinds of things. Including presidential politics, that you know, we're watching it, too. Barack Obama there in Anderson, Indiana, he's speaking now. And we're going to listen in right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHTIFIELD: All right. Because we're continuing to watch all the candidates. You saw Hillary Clinton a moment ago campaigning, stumping there in Indiana. Now it's Senator Barack Obama's turn there in Anderson, Indiana. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ...country.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Over the last 15 months, I have been -- I've traveled to 46 states. I've spoken to hundreds of thousands of people. I have shaken hundreds of thousands of hands. I have kissed hundreds of babies. And I am here to report that the American people are tired of business as usual. They want change. They want to write a new chapter in American history. That's why I'm running for president of the United States of America.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Now, we know what the problems are. The question is how are we going to change things? How are we going to bring things about? And we've been talking about that a lot over the last 15 months of this primary campaign. A lot of people are worried about how long this campaign is lasting because children have been born and are now walking and talking since we started running. That one right there, that's a case in point.

So, people are concerned. But I have to remind people, you know, look. Senator Clinton has differences with me and I have differences with her, but I have to just remind everybody that those differences pale in comparison to the differences that we've got with George W. Bush and John McCain and so we will be unified in November. We will be unified in November to bring about the change this country needs.

WHITFIELD: All right, Senator Barack Obama there in Anderson, Indiana, campaigning as he and his opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton, lead up to the May 6th scheduled primary there for Indiana and North Carolina. Still very much a heated race.

And on the Republican side, John McCain taking what he says is a fair shot at Senator Obama. The Obama camp firing back, saying it's just more dirty politics.

Here's our Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John McCain seems to think Barack Obama has admirers in all the wrong places. In a phone call with bloggers, McCain said it's clear who the Palestinian militant group Hamas wants to be president. McCain went on say, "I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas's worst nightmare. If Senator Obama is favored by Hamas I think people can make judgments accordingly."

McCain was later asked by reporters to explain his remark.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's just a fact that Hamas apparently the North American spokesperson is endorsing Senator Obama.

TODD: Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Just two weeks ago in an interview with ABC Radio, a Hamas official said, "We like Mr. Obama" and he compared him favorably to John Kennedy. But in speaking about former President Jimmy Carter's meetings with Hamas, Obama made his views clear.

OBAMA: Until Hamas clearly recognizes Israel, renounces terrorism and abides by or believes that the Palestinians should abide by previous agreements that have been entered into, I don't think conversations with them would be fruitful.

TODD: Obama's campaign responded to McCain's comments in an e- mail to CNN. "We want to take Senator McCain at his word that he wants to run a respectful campaign, but that is becoming increasingly difficult when he continually tries to use the politics of association and makes claims he knows not to be true to advance his campaign."

But McCain's advisers tell CNN this is a fair issue for the American people to think about if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee. They say the reason that Hamas leader made those comments about Obama in the first place is because of Obama's policies, specifically, his willingness to talk to Iran.

(on camera): But Obama's made a distinction on Iran, saying that even though its leaders have been accused of sponsoring terror and have talked about Israel's destruction, they do represent a nation state and it's worth engaging them.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining us to talk more about presidential politics, the race to the White House, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Good to see you, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, this is interesting, isn't it because now you have to wonder what's behind the psychology of even the McCain campaign. Are they targeting Obama because they do believe -- do indeed believe that he's going to be the nominee, or is it an issue of knocking out Obama so that Hillary Clinton is more likely the nominee and possibly the more vulnerable candidate against him?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I don't think they see that as a choice. They think they can do both. They can insult Obama, if he's the nominee, by making his associations look suspect to many Americans. And at the same time, if they weaken him enough, maybe they'll get Hillary Clinton as an opponent and they may even be happier.

So for them, I think the idea is it's a win-win situation, but Obama has made it perfectly clear as Brian Todd reported that he will not talk to Hamas. He'll talk to Iran he said but not to Hamas, because they are a terrorist organization that refuses to recognize Israel.

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about the politics or the style of the politics in the race to the White House. Is it really negative? Is it dirty? A number of Americans were polled in a few campaigns, half of which see the campaign, particularly the Democratic campaign, getting too negative.

The Democratic Party, or at least many party members are saying, wait a minute. We want you two to kind of simmer it down because you're turning off a lot of viewers. Is that a valid -- a lot of voters. Is that a valid concern?

SCHNEIDER: Well, certainly those numbers have gone up and just about doubled since February. The number of people who say the campaign has become too negative and they've really jumped among Democrats more than doubling. And that does seem to have consequences.

People who say that -- want -- that say Hillary Clinton has been unfair in her campaign attacks are also less likely to support her in November. They say if she's the nominee against John McCain, and the same with the number of people who say that Barack Obama has been too negative, has been unfair with his attacks. They are less likely to support him as the nominee.

This is becoming a serious concern to Democrats, because they say this campaign has gone on so long, the issues have been aired. Now it's become personal attacks because the race is still in a stalemate. And what's happening, they fear is that Hillary Clinton is hurting Obama but she's not really helping herself enough to get the nomination.

WHITFIELD: Well, that's interesting as we see those live shots of both of the candidates there campaigning in Indiana. There's a "Washington Post" article today which says and is quoting some of the Clinton supporters and backers, that Pennsylvania is actually proof that voters do like this contest, because of the type of voter turnout that was demonstrated on that day. Do you think that's a valid argument?

SCHNEIDER: Well, they do find it exciting. It is in a stalemate. No one knows who's going win. Most Democrats do believe Obama will be nominated, but it's still an exciting contest because nothing is certain in this. I mean, so many twists and turns in this race and they really want to feel as if they're part of it. And I think that is generating a lot of turnout. But that doesn't mean there's not dismay at the same time that the race has become so negative. You know, it's interesting. Every month Hillary Clinton has made a comeback. She's given up for finished, dead, over, and then she comes back in New Hampshire in January, she comes back on Super Tuesday in February, in Ohio and Texas in March and now in Pennsylvania in April. Every month she comes back from the dead.

WHITFIELD: All right, back to McCain. Just want to ask you real quick about him before I let you go, too. He all week has been crisscrossing the country, really trying to touch and reach out to communities and cities that he feels have either been ignored by the Republican Party or ignored, period. How impactful might that be?

SCHNEIDER: Well, McCain is trying to create the impression he is a different kind of Republican, that he is a candidate who will bring change. If he can do that, he just might win the election. The race looks very close right now. It shouldn't be close, because George Bush is tremendously unpopular, the economy is terrible, the war in Iraq is very unpopular.

People want it over, and he's the Republican candidate and should be bearing a tremendous burden, but he's going out of his way to show that he is not connected to the Bush administration even though he supports several of their key policies. The Democrats are going to say it's a third term for Bush if he's elected.

WHITFIELD: Bill Schneider, thanks so much. Always good to see you.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

WHITFIELD: And see more of the candidates on the campaign trail today. Raw and unfiltered, it's a special edition of "BALLOT BOWL" today 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.

What are we looking at when it comes to saving money on life's essentials? Well, you know it takes a village. At least this community seems to think that it can teach us a thing or two about being self-sufficient and saving money.

And then there's this mom, her brood. Well, it's a size of a small village. How does she feed all those mouths, on a budget no less. You got to hear her tips for being practical.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, this story we continue to follow out of North Africa in Morocco, in the capital city of Casablanca. We understand a matress factory has had a huge fire there. Fifty-five people are reported to have died in that fire. About 100 workers were actually at the facility at the time of this fire igniting, but, of course, it's still unclear exactly what caused or sparked this fire, but bottom line, it's a very deadly one.

Fifty-five people have been killed in this massive fire there at a factory there in Casablanca. We'll continue to watch it.

Meantime here in this country, we've had a lot of severe weather, particularly storms in the south and the midsection of the country.

Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center. What have you got?

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Well, this week, we saw a world food crisis unfolding. Food riots broke out in several developing countries and the price of rice and wheat reached record highs. Worried about global food crisis, and think local.

CNN's Sasha Herriman shows us a town in Britain where they're growing their own.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASHA HERRIMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a quiet revolution in the village of Martin and nearly everyone is involved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just can't get anything that's fresh, you know, from the supermarket.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And to know exactly where it's all coming from and see it growing.

HERRIMAN: In fact, gardens and rented fields, they're growing more than 40 types of fruit and veggies, rearing 30 pigs a year and 110 chickens a month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), you know, and I've always been growing things all my life.

HERRIMAN: They're proud of their achievement.

CHARLOTTE BURLEIGH, ART THERAPIST: When you get a sense of the whole village working together at these sort of great moments when we do all sorts of picking and planting and that kind of thing. It's great because we all doing them together and it's a wonderful sense of community.

HERRIMAN: Putcher (ph) Farms was the idea of this man.

NICK SNELGAR, HORTICULTURALIST: We have 102 members, that's family members. So, that's probably 400 people who are members. That means that they co-own the cooperative. They pay out a small fee each year of two pounds.

HERRIMAN (on camera): What you see here, it's all part of the cooperative in the village. It covers two main sites. Now that, in total is around about eight acres and its farmed importantly by the villagers themselves, so they do all of that work on a rotor basis, they just get in some seasonal hired help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have rotors for, you know, doing the weighing of the chickens, for Saturday morning market. Shutting up the chickens, and that way, we're able to use people when they have time available.

HERRIMAN: That includes artists, medics and retired farmers. The nearest supermarket is six miles away, but they don't use that much. They set up the village market once a week adding 20 percent to the production price. Anyone can buy or profits go back into the company. They've got a turnover of $54,000 a year, and the aim ...

SNELGAR: The limit of our mark is the 164 families that live within the parish of Martin.

HERRIMAN: Forget big profits and going global. This is about feeding themselves and getting other villages doing the same.

Sasha Herriman, CNN, Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And now back to this country, on to a woman in Idaho. A mother of 10 who can teach us all a thing or two about stretching how far a dollar can go.

Joining us by phone now from Nampa, Idaho, Mary Ostyn, she's one of CNN's i-Reporters as well and she's not only raising 10 children, she feeds her family of 12 on $900 a month.

Boy, Mary, $900 a month sounds enormous, huge. But then again, your family is enormous and huge. So that's actually a bargain.

VOICE OF MARY OSTYN, MOTHER OF TEN: Yes, yes, it's quite a job. But it's a fun challenge. I enjoy the challenge of trying to see how far I can stretch my money.

WHITFIELD: Wow, well, you have to enjoy it, I guess, right? You've got to figure out a way to enjoy it. And it seems like you really have gotten rather creative. So, do you go into your food shopping every week knowing, I cannot spend but X, Y, Z amount of money so that I meet my $900 budget by the end of the month?

OSTYN: Well, maybe I don't keep track of it quite that much at the beginning of the month. And then, closer to the end, I'm adding up and thinking OK, how close am I to making that goal, you know? And so, my budget -- it's not the end of the world if I end up going a little bit over, but almost every month, I end up between $800 and $900 in the month. And that does includes eating out, too.

WHITFIELD: Wow, and we're looking at pictures of you and your family, because in addition to going shopping, you do go to general grocery stores. It also means that you grow some of your own produce as well.

OSTYN: That's right.

WHITFIELD: How much of that, growing your own food, represents the majority of food that's on your table? OSTYN: Well, I estimated a while back that maybe I saved $50 or $100 a month with the food that we can at end of the summer. My husband grows like 100 tomato plants, believe it or not, every single year.

WHITFIELD: Wow, oh my gosh.

OSTYN: So, by the end of the summertime, we're literally picking tomatoes by the wheelbarrow full.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, and I see you jar them as well?

OSTYN: Yes, put them in jars. And we also do pickles and applesauce, and jam and a bunch of different things and we ...

WHITFIELD: So, it sounds to me too in order to help save money, it means you've got to create a space in your home for storage. If you're going buy bulk, you've got have a place in which to keep all this stuff?

OSTYN: Yes, you know, and we have a freezer on our garage. So, that helps with the frozen things, besides the regular fridge/freezer in the house, and we have a pretty good sized pantry. So that helps ...

WHITFIELD: Wow.

OSTYN: ...and I've got some shelving in my garage, where that means I can hull, I can store onions and potatoes and stuff.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. Life revolves around food in your household I guess?

OSTYN: Oh, I don't know about that.

WHITFIELD: It seems like it.

OSTYN: Apparently, I'm in the car at a soccer game, so.

WHITFIELD: I mean, I'm almost envisioning -- you make breakfast, and hopefully you have the help from your family as well. You make breakfast ...

OSTYN: You bet.

WHITFIELD: ...you guys finish breakfast, and then you got to start lunch already to feed all these mouths?

OSTYN: Well, it's -- you know, I've developed a lot of pretty fast meals. A lot of time -- a lot of the food we eat I can cook in half an hour or less.

WHITFIELD: Really?

OSTYN: And -- yes. A couple time a week, we do leftovers, you know, pull everything out of the fridge and set it on the counter and everybody can pick what they want and zap it in the microwave, you know, so.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh.

OSTYN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And here, I'm thinking the shopping is the hard part. But for me, really, the shop -- the cooking is the hard part. And on your Web site, you have suggestions about how to cook in a creative way so nobody gets bored, and ...

OSTYN: Right, right.

WHITFIELD: ...so they can stay economical as well, and your Web site is owlhaven.woodpress.com?

OSTYN: Wordpress.com.

WHITFIELD: OK.

OSTYN: Wordpress.com, yes.

WHITFIELD: Got it, all right. Well, folks can go to that Web site to get some more tips because you are incredible.

Mary Ostyn, thank you so much. Thanks for your time.

OSTYN: You bet.

WHITFIELD: A lot of fun there.

And, of course, you want to keep watching CNN. Our money team has you covered, whether it's stretching your food dollar, jobs, getting rid of your debt or beefing up your savings, join us for a special report. It's called "ISSUE #1," the economy all week, noon Eastern, only on CNN.

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WHITFIELD: Known for her love of reading, now First Lady Laura Bush turns a new page in her effort to battle illiteracy. She's written a children's book with daughter Jenna. It's called "Read All About It," the story of a boy who discovers reading can be fun.

Earlier in the week, the First Lady told me writing was fun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: We had a great time writing it together. We based this story on -- we realized actually in retrospect, we've been writing this book for years because we based it on stories that we had told each other about our students that I used to tell Barbara and Jenna when they were little about the students I taught. And now, Jenna tells me about her students. So, we really had a wonderful time working on it together.

JENNA BUSH, CO-AUTHOR, "READ ALL ABOUT IT": You can't generalize but there's a lot of reasons why there are reluctant readers, learning disabilities or you know, boys. You see this in research and statistics, and we've seen it in the classroom. Boys and girls learn very differently.

And so, of course, boys need action and that's been proven. Movement is important for some boys to learn and the traditional way of teaching reading is a lot of sitting. So, sometimes boys don't particularly like reading. They prefer the classes, math, where you use manipulatives and you move in science, where you participate in experiments and they prefer for the action.

And so, it's a challenge for teachers to make sure they're teaching to the student, to the individual, and teaching to -- to the gender.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And I couldn't resist. I had to ask Jenna Bush about her other exciting news, her upcoming wedding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J. BUSH: Henry and I are very excited about doing it somewhere where we feel at home. And of course, the White House is a magnificent building, a historical building and I've experienced so many amazing things there, but it doesn't really feel like home and natural to me.

And I think most women would, you know, maybe you're more glamorous than I am. I like to be outside and with nature and really what felt comfortable was Texas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, the wedding will be at Crawford, at the family ranch, May 10th.

All right, well, got a camera but never have it on hand? Well, how about a cell phone where the pictures lack quality. Well, watch closely as Jacqui Jeras gets the lowdown on the next generation of picture taking. It is today's "Technophile."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Don't you hate it when you forget your digital camera and you're stuck with your cell phone to take pictures of that special moment with poor quality?

Brian Cooley with Cnet.com is here to tell us it's time to consolidate.

BRIAN COOLEY, CNET.COM: Yes, Jacqui, you can do it now because these are all camera phones that have multi-mega pixel cameras. These are real cameras, starting as low as two megapixels on the LG Shine, nice finish, lens, flash and IT feels like a camera when you hold it. Same can be said for this three magapixels Samsung flip here when you close it and hold it this way, feels like a camera and again, you've got a large display to show those quality photos as well.

Now, we move up to the five megapixel camera phones.

JERAS: Right, that's more quality.

COOLEY: These are serious. Oh yes, like here's on from Sony. This is a cybershot and it's got a really good lens. You see the flash is common on these better ones as well. And of course, you've got the ability to view your photos on a high res screen.

Here's a five megapixel from Samsung, the G-800. You start to see how they all feel like cameras, like this Nokia M-95 as you actually hold them. That's one of the giveaways as well as the very high resolution large display.

JERAS: Now, what about features? I can't zoom with myself on camera. Can I do that with these?

COOLEY: You'll find zoom on camera phones. But beware: if it's digital zoom, it's not very good. You're looking for optical zoom. And that's typically a camera feature more than a camera phone feature. But these all typically do video capture as well and do it pretty well.

JERAS: Wide range of pricing as well?

COOLEY: Yes, you can go as little as $200 for a two or three megapixel. You're going to pay more like $300, $350, maybe as high as $500 for a five megapixel but sometimes, that's because there's no carrier subsidy not just because the device is expensive.

JERAS: All right, Brian Cooley with Cnet.com. Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, more presidential politics straight ahead. The battle for the Democratic Party's nomination carries on in Indiana today. All the latest on the campaign straight ahead in the "BALLOT BOWL."

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