Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Family Reunited after Years of Captivity; Rockefellers Call for Changes in Oil Giant; Army Dad Blows Whistle on Terrible Barrack Conditions

Aired April 30, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I think it's fair to say that the economy is anemic. The Fed, well, they're ready to act. We're counting down to another possible interest rate cut. And it could be the last one for a while, Melissa.
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: The "R" word. You've heard it thrown around. But just what is a recession. And are we in one?

LEMON: From Washington to Wall Street to your wallet, the economy, of course, is issue No. 1.

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

LONG: And hello. I'm Melissa Long, in today for Kyra Phillips, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: All right. So let's get right to it. Six-tenths of one percent doesn't sound like much, but it's better than expected. That is the latest and broadest snapshot of economic growth so far. So let's bring in our senior business correspondent, Ali Velshi, to break it all down.

So Ali, we've been watching you on "Issue #1," but break this down for us. Because it's going to happen now during our hours.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Within an hour and 15 minutes, the Federal Reserve is going to make a decision on interest rates. And you've got to think that they have been considering that economic growth number, that GDP that we got this morning, saying that from January to March of this year, the U.S. economy grew by six tenths of one percent.

You're absolutely right. Everybody out there knows six tenths of one percent is paltry. Doesn't sound like anything. But guess what? It wasn't negative. It wasn't less than the last quarter of 2007. For those people saying there's no recession, they're very happy with this. But it's still a small number.

What's the Federal Reserve going to do? For the seventh time in a row, is it going to cut rates? And if so, by how much?

Don, if it cuts rates, here's what happens. Money gets cheaper to borrow for everybody. So businesses might hire more people. They might expand. Individuals can borrow more money. And generally speaking, it encourage people to spend money.

But as you know when we spend money, we create inflation. We create demand, and we create inflation, and that is not something we want any more of right now, Don. We've seen gas prices, food prices, all of that stuff go up, really taking that right out of the pocket of American consumers.

So the Fed has got some decisions to make. I assume they've probably made it by now. Now they're sitting around having a coffee until about 2:15 p.m. Eastern p.m. But that's when they will make a decision on whether they're going to cut interest rates again.

LEMON: OK. But you know, as I said in this, Ali, six tenths of one percent. It really doesn't sound like that much. How is that going to help anything?

VELSHI: Well, it's -- you know, a recession is thought of as a long slowdown in economic growth across a lot of places. So you've got six tenths of one percent of GDP. But you know we've got job losses. You know we've got lower home prices. You know we've got slowing home sales. You know we've got inflation in food and gasoline.

So bottom line, Don, you're absolutely right. We all know, everybody who lives and buys things in America, knows this economy is slowing down. It's just that, for those people who want to stick to some sort of formal definition of a recession, looks like it may not have started at the beginning of this year. But again, could be a broader definition than that. If you feel it, it might be true.

LEMON: I can't believe you said that word, either. And you know which one I'm talking about.

VELSHI: I hear you. The "R" word.

LEMON: We won't say that. OK, thank you very much, Ali.

Ali will be standing by and offer some analysis when we hear from the Fed. Thank you, sir.

And much, much more to come on issue No. 1 right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll dip into the U.S. oil reserves and check your gas gauge there. Plus, rumblings from the Rockefellers. The first family of oil is looking for a new direction. And we're expecting action from the Fed next hour. We're live with reaction.

LONG: You can see the smoke from the south rim of the Grand Canyon. But that's as close as the so-called X-Fire has gotten. Winds are picking up, however, and more firefighters, more equipment are heading that way to keep the flames in check.

So far, about 2,000 acres have burned south of Grand Canyon National Park.

Now, of course, that's far from the only fire danger that we've been watching out west. Let's bring in meteorologist Chad Myers, who's keeping an eye on all of it for you -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Melissa, we have fire danger all the way from Texas through New Mexico into Kansas now. I'm kind of focused in here on the Grand Canyon. The fire -- if you know the road that goes from here, the interstate goes all the way up to basically the west rim or the east rim road, it is actually along that road. That's where the fire is right now.

But only three square miles. And it's all relative. Two thousand acres sounds like a lot. But you realize that it's 640 acres to a square mile, that's probably not the biggest fire that they've ever seen there, for sure.

But it is going to get out of control again today. And they don't even have any containment at this point in time. Flagstaff, your winds are just gusting to 35 miles per hour. So only about 60 miles from Flagstaff. Can't see the smoke yet, though, from there. But it's going to be a windy day all across the desert southwest.

Here are some of the pictures here. I kind of want to give you an idea of what some of this wind did to this storm yesterday, the firestorm. We had some of the winds gusting to 40 miles per hour, and at that time, the relative humidity was 7 percent. So today the relative humidity is up to 24 percent.

Is that better? Yes. Is it optimum? No. We'd like to get it at 100 percent. That would probably means that there's fog or it's raining. Well, we don't have any rain in the forecast there for quite some time. They're going to have to do this by hand.

And now they do realize that this was a man-made, not a natural fire. They have that to look forward to, too, as this thing is going to start jumping fire lines this afternoon as the winds continue to blow.

Guys -- Melissa, back to you.

LONG: All right, Chad. Thanks so much.

We're going to talk about another kind of fire right now. This is a huge six-alarm fire today in Philadelphia. The Prince of Peace Baptist Church was destroyed. Huge plumes of that thick black smoke. You can see them there, blanketing part of that city.

No injuries have been reported, but it did take firefighters about and hour and a half to get the flames under control.

And in Los Angeles, a major fire, what locals like to call the most famous intersection and the most famous neighborhood in that town. The building at Hollywood and Vine is home to the Basque night club. It's popular with celebrities like Kanye West and Lindsay Lohan. The club was closed at the time of the fire, and there are no reports of injuries with this one either. LEMON: All right. Well, take a look at this video, because life apparently was a day at the beach for the Austrian man whose daughter and three of their children apparently were locked in a basement hellhole thousands of miles away.

A German tabloid has posted this video on its Web site. It shows Josef Fritzl, now the defendant in the revolting incest case, enjoying the sun and getting a massage in Thailand. Austrian authorities are trying to figure out how Fritzl's secret family was cared for while he was away.

Meantime, the psychiatrist caring for them now told of a bizarre, but positive family reunion. CNN's Phil Black is live in Amstetten, Austria, with more on this.

Phil, tell us about that reunion, will you?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Don. Yes, it was an extraordinary reunion between a group of people that are biologically so close, who have lived in such close geographic proximity for such a long time and yet never known each other. Some of them were simply not aware of the other's existence.

Let me try and run through with you who was there. So there were two of the three children who were forced to live underground in a network of cellars; their mother; three other children, other siblings who were allowed to live in the home above; and the mother of the daughter who gave birth to all of those children and who seemingly had no idea that all of them were living, that her own daughter was living beneath her own feet for 24 years, as extraordinary as it seems.

Now, police say that that reunion went astonishingly well. It was quite a beautiful moment. This family, this group, they are now living together in a psychiatric facility. They are now undergoing close medical scrutiny. And they're said to be doing relatively well. Although that's a statement, a relative statement, considering some of them have only just seen the sun for the very first time. There are significant health effects there, of course.

Doctors today spoke about the special plans that have been put into place for this group of people. Let's hear them talking about just how they're caring and bringing them back into the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BERTHOLD KEPPLINGER, HEAD OF AMSTETTEN CLINIC: A little -- living quite a reasonable-sized living area available to the entire family, where they can stay together and be together. They are there undisturbed in this area. They have their own personal things around them, and they have ten members of the clinic at their disposal to help them with anything they need.

We've had a little -- we have been able to arrange a little impromptu birthday party, and he was so happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACK: Don, these doctors who are watching this family say there is the sincere feeling that they are genuinely enjoying each other's country and enjoying the process of getting to know each other for the first time. Good news there, Don.

LEMON: Yes. That is good news. But also very disturbing. And we saw those pictures just before I came to you, Phil, of Fritzl on the beach, apparently enjoying himself on vacation while all of this may have been going on. Tell us about these pictures. And are police looking into this now?

BLACK: Police themselves say they haven't seen this video. But to put it in some context, it was shot, we believe, in 1998 during a holiday to Thailand. And Josef Fritzl is seen swelling around the beach, sunning himself, having a great time in his swimwear.

Now, we know from the timeline, that in 1998 his daughter has already been imprisoned for 14 years and had already born him a number of children by this point. Local media outlets here say that it's believed he did this quite a few times. He ducked overseas for a holiday, leaving not just the family that lived openly in this community, but also his hidden family, the secret family that lived in the cellar beneath.

The question police now need to work out is how did he care for these people, given that he was their provider during their captivity, when he was sunning himself in a country far away from them -- Don.

LEMON: Phil Black. Thank you so much for that report, Phil.

LONG: One of the teenagers taken from a polygamous compound in Texas has given birth to a healthy baby boy. The mother, a former resident of the Yearning for Zion Ranch, had that baby yesterday at Central Texas Medical Center in San Marcos.

The polygamous group claims the mother is 18, but Texas officials say she is, in fact, younger. They say 31 of the underage girls removed from that compound earlier in the month have either given birth or are pregnant.

LEMON: Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, home and headquarters to some of the U.S. Army's most elite combat units: the 82nd Airborne Division, the 18th Airborne Corps, the Green Berets. And today it is the focus of some extra attention, thanks to a fed-up Army dad, Edward Frawley.

Well, he posted these pictures on YouTube after his sergeant son told him about the conditions in his Fort Bragg barracks: raw sewage ankle deep, peeling paint, mold, rust and broken fixtures. Frawley couldn't believe what he saw and decided to show the world.

The Army has responded, and we'll have a live report in just a few minutes for you.

LONG: And civilians caught in the middle of American and Iraqi forces try to cleanse the Iraqi capital of militants. We have the latest on the violence in Baghdad's Sadr City.

LEMON: Grand Theft Auto. The fever is sweeping America. We'll check in with our Veronica De La Cruz for a closer look at this hyped- up new videogame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. You just saw the big board. We're keeping our eye on that and also keeping our eye on this. The Federal Reserve, they're about to make a decision. Is there going to be a rate cut? It's going to happen less than an hour. And some are hoping a new direction for the Fed could help tame the price at the pump.

Our Susan Lisovicz joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange with the very latest on that.

Susan, OK, could it help tame the price at the pump? Because a lot of people are feeling the pain and the horror and the nightmare, whatever you want to call it.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and you know, the reason the Fed's been cutting rates is to juice the economy. But when you're getting taxed daily every time you go to the gas station, that's not helping a lot of people. And they certainly don't feel like spending freely.

There is a connection between what the Fed does and oil prices. The national average of gas right now is $3.61 per gallon, the 16th straight record according to AAA. The Fed has to consider not only the slowing economy but the painful effect of inflation. The Fed's campaign of rate cuts has put pressure on the dollar, which in turn has boosted oil prices. It's already cut the rate by three full percentage points since September.

Policy makers expect -- we're expecting policy makers to cut rates again by another quarter of a percent. Many expect, however, that with the decision today, there will be a signal from the Fed that this could be the last rate cut for a while, which could help prop up the dollar and bring down oil prices.

LEMON: OK. Tell us about those oil prices. What are they -- what are they doing today?

LISOVICZ: Well, they're coming down for a second day in a row. They are down right now more than $1.50. Remember, they fell $3 yesterday. You know, there's been a lot of talk about this, this growing chorus as to the wisdom of continuing these rate cuts with the pressure it's putting on the dollar and what we're seeing with oil. And so when there were these whispers that started last week, you started to see oil prices coming down.

Also today's inventory report is helping to bring down the price. Supplies increased more than expected.

But still, oil prices are up about 50 percent from July of last year when reports started circulating the Fed would begin cutting rates to stimulate the economy.

Ahead of this, stocks are rallying big-time. Not because of the Fed decision necessarily. It's because of GM. GM is in the driver's seat. Its shares right now, up 13.5 percent. This after a more than $3 billion quarterly loss. But most of that was due to losses at its financial unit, GMAC. Its sales were not as bad as feared, particularly overseas.

GM plans to reduce light truck production as demand dwindles for that particular type of vehicle.

Checking the numbers, the Dow right now up 120 points, or 1 percent. The NASDAQ is up about 17 points or two-thirds of a percent. And we've got a big decision from the Fed just about an hour from now. And I'll be part of the team bringing it to you live.

LEMON: Yes, all right. We're watching it. Thank you, Susan. See you then.

LISOVICZ: You've got it.

LONG: Today rumblings from the Rockefellers. The first family of oil wants an industry giant to head in a new direction. We're going to tell you where they want to go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The first family of oil doesn't like where the industry is heading. And the family members spoke out today.

Here is CNN's Miles O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: The issue is the alternative to fossil fuels. The Rockefeller family believes ExxonMobil is not doing nearly enough to look at what is next, to look at new ways to power our economies. They're concerned about climate change, sure, but also concerned about an adverse change to the bottom line of this corporation as time goes on, in the long run.

They point out their great- or great-great-grandfather, depending on who you're talking to, made his stunning fortune by offering an alternative fuel. In that case, the 1870s, it was kerosene over whale oil. This led to the founding of Standard Oil, the creation of an epic fortune that morphed into ExxonMobil.

These days ExxonMobil has been very slow to acknowledge climate change and reluctant to invest in alternatives to fossil fuels. And the Rockefellers, as the longest of long-term shareholders, are pushing a handful of shareholder resolutions to nudge the company in a new direction.

They want a task force to study global warming and its impact on foreign economies. They want the company to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And they would like it to adopt a renewable energy policy.

NEVA ROCKEFELLER GOODWIN, EXXONMOBILE SHAREHOLDER: And I want to stress that all of the resolutions from Rockefeller family members reinforce different aspects of the same concern. The need for Exxon to identify energy-related opportunities and strengths and to complement its strengths and skills in an industry that will soon look very different than it did when many of Exxon's managers started their careers.

O'BRIEN: The Rockefellers spoke a lot about the man at the top of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson. He is currently the CEO and chairman of the board. They would like him to step down as chairman and keep those roles separate.

Sixty-six of 78 direct descendants of John D. Rockefeller have signed on to these shareholder resolutions.

Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. Leading our political ticker today, more super delegates make up their minds. Pennsylvania AFL-CIO president Bill George is now backing Hillary Clinton. He joins North Carolina Governor Mike Easley and Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton in endorsing Clinton this week.

The Barack Obama campaign says Indiana Congressman Baron Hill is endorsing the Illinois senator, and Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley is getting ready, too. Also choosing Obama this week a Democratic National Committee member from Iowa and Congressman Ben Chandler of Kentucky.

Along with the fight for super delegates, a battle of the airwaves. Obama's campaign has filed a complaint over a pro-Clinton group running ads in Indiana, attacking Obama on jobs and the economy.

Well, Republicans are riled over a TV ad attacking John McCain. The Democratic ad uses McCain's comments about a U.S. military presence in Iraq possibly lasting 100 years.

The National Republican Committee -- or the Republican national committee, I should say -- wants TV stations across the country to stop airing it, saying McCain's words are taken out of context.

With the Democratic race still far from settled, here is where the battle for super delegates stand right now. The latest CNN estimate shows Barack Obama with 1,730 total delegates. Hillary Clinton has 1,593. It takes 2,025 delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

And tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern, Michelle Obama speaks out for the first time since the Reverend Jeremiah Wright controversy surfaced. Hear what she has to say about the issue, tonight on "AC 360," 10:00 p.m. Eastern. LONG: One month and nearly 1,000 people dead. And that's just in this Baghdad neighborhood. We're going to take a look at what's being done about Iraq's Sadr City.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

LONG: And hello, I'm Melissa Long, in today for Kyra Phillips, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, would you like your child to be living in conditions like this? Busted pipes, overflowing sewage, a ceiling falling apart? The father of a combat soldier at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, well, didn't like the idea of it too much either. So he tried to do something about it. He got out his video camera.

Well, what he captured on video camera has then, of course, making its way to the Internet.

Let me bring in CNN's Rusty Dornin to pick up the story from there.

And the Army has been looking into this, and now it's admitting the conditions are appalling and acceptable.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And they really said, "We don't have an excuse for what happened. And of course, it caused a flurry of tours and meetings at the Pentagon and that sort of thing, and promises that they're going to do -- worldwide, they're going to be looking at bases to make sure this doesn't happen again.

The secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, just finished a tour at Ft. Bragg, taking a look at the same things.

Now we can look at those old pictures again of what Ed Frawley took. And you can see the broken pipes. You see that drain that's all clogged. It was backing sewage up into the barracks. And you see these broken -- another broken drain and pipes and uncapped pipes. There a broken toilet seat. That sort of thing.

Now we're going to give you the new pictures. These are the repaired pictures of what they have taken care of. Now, apparently, repairs were underway before the 82nd Airborne did come back, but they had not been finished. Apparently, there are some pictures we had of some repairs that had been done.

These are the new barracks, of course, that are underway, in construction right now.

But the Army installation officials are saying, look, there were no excuses, but they're trying to take care of the problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEN. RICHARD CODY, U.S. ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: For the last six years, we've been repairing these barracks, in keeping what I call triage on them so they are safe, clean and livable. They are not the barracks we want these great soldiers to live in. That's why we are spending almost $66 billion since 2005 all the way up to 2013 to repair and put up brand-new barracks worthy of these great soldiers serving and defending this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: What is interesting on those barracks you saw, they had all those horrible conditions, they actually had $1 million worth of renovations done in just two years ago. They call it putting lipstick on a pig because these barracks are so old. It's very difficult to keep up with it. Apparently 80 percent of the troops right now are living in the new barracks, but it's the 20 percent are not and they are going to be stuck in the old barracks for a couple of years.

LONG: How about Sergeant Frawley? How is this effecting him?

DORNIN: He didn't know. His father did this unknown to him. Some of the men in the company came forward and did thank him. They were all making jokes about it. They didn't think they had a choice. They didn't feel they could go and say, hey, this is unbearable. We don't want to live like this.

But certainly the army was repairing this stuff as they were going along. They did not make the repairs before the 82nd Airborne came home. So 15 months of them being gone, things were in very bad condition.

LONG: They are making the changes.

Rusty Dornin, thank you.

LEMON: It started about a month ago in Iraq. Military offenses against extremists all over the country but focused on Basra and the Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad called Sadr City.

One month later, CNN's Arwa Damon looks at what is achieved and lost. You should know, her report contains graphic and heart-breaking images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Residents of Sadr City say the damage to these houses was caused by rocket fire from U.S. forces. The U.S. military would only say guided rockets were fired in areas where militants were attacking them. The civilians are caught in the middle. They all died, they all died, this woman wails. Fighting in this densely populated Shiia slum of three million has claimed several hundred lives over the past month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I dug out 40 people. There was a girl. I only found her head. I kept digging looking for her body, me and my friends. Then another rocket hit us. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are dragging out dead people. Oh, my god, my son, my son, I want you back.

DAMON: The battle for Sadr City has drawn U.S. forces into a fight they've been trying to avoid. Tuesday's combat broke out when an American patrol came under fire. While they were trying to evacuate the wounded, they were hit by two roadside bombs and rocket- propelled grenades. That's when the Americans say they fired the rocket.

The grief and pain at the hospital are hard to bear. A mother grieves for her young son. Does this look like a militia man, asks a man off camera? Hold her down, someone orders as a doctor tries to remove shrapnel from this girl's face.

The Iraqi government says the militants are using the residents of Sadr City as human shields and insist the fight to cleanse Baghdad streets of militias will continue. Civilians here say that's no justification for the suffering being inflicted on them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

But there really seems to be no hope that fighting is going to come to an end any time soon. Today we heard Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki reinforce his militias to arm and disband. We heard Al Sadr whose militia controls that area has flat-out rejected these conditions. We also heard from the civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan in the last month over 920 people had been killed, that number does include civilians and militia men, but really is very disturbing, especially to the residents of Sadr City, Don.

LEMON: I can only imagine thought is, Arwa. Making a quick turn here, we noticed in some of the pictures and your lodge, there is a sandstorm going on where you are now.

DAMON: There is, Don. In fact, the sandstorm has been going on for the last few days. It has grounded the majority of flights coming in and out of Baghdad's airport, as well as a significant number of U.S. air assets.

Other than that inconvenience, what these sandstorms really do provide for the insurgency militants that are out there is a certain level of cover. So we have seen over the last few days the insurgency here, the Shiia militiamen taking advantage of that and taking their attacks up a notch against U.S. forces and against the Iraqi government, and of course as we have just seen the Iraqi population remains caught in the middle of it all.

LEMON: Arwa Damon, appreciate your reporting, thanks.

LONG: It is about 1:35 in the afternoon Eastern Time. Here's a look at some of the stories we are working on for you today in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A 2,000-acre fire raging near the Grand Canyon. The smoke column is visible from the canyon's south rim. It is one of several wildfires burning across the southwest.

Investors today, perhaps you, also waiting to find out whether the fed will cut interest rates. Announcement expected are 45 minutes from now.

And you can expect delays if you are flying in or out of Memphis today. Power outage has slowed things. Ticketing and baggage handling are done manually. Boarding ramps aren't working.

LEMON: We are just getting information in and this is just coming in now into CNN. It's about the polygamous compound in Texas we've been reporting about. I'm just going through the notes here. Of course they are looking at the possible sexual abuse of young girls there. CNN is learning that Texas authorities are looking into possible sexual abuse now of the young boys, as well.

I'll read it just as I'm getting it. It says medical exams and reports from some children taken from that polygamous sect in Texas indicate at least 41 young children have broken bones in the past. Investigators are looking into the possible sexual abuse of some of the young boys. It says the investigation is still in its early phases, but we have gathered additional information that is a cause for concern.

The Texas Department Of Family And Protective Services are saying on their Web site and also here DCFS is looking into the possibility some of the young boys taken from the ranch near Eldorado, Texas, had been sexually abused based on interviews with children and journal entries found at the ranch. We will continue to update you on that as we get new information here on CNN.

Also a teenage girl from that polygamous compound in Texas has given birth. We understand mother and son are well and will stay in state custody. The gates at the ranch are closed again to outsiders.

CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman has the latest from Eldorado, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The welcome mat has been pulled from the polygamous ranch in Texas. The gates are locked to outsiders. The interviews with FLDS members whose children were taken away by the state are no longer being arranged. We have to do interviews the way we used to, by going up to them outside their gate.

What is it like without the children being here right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's sad. It's quiet. We need, you know, we just love children. They are beautiful things, beautiful people.

TUCHMAN: Jake is a devoted FLDS member. He wouldn't tell me if he has children who were taken.

How do you feel about how things are going here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a little disappointed in America, pretty much. I just can't believe this could happen in a free country.

TUCHMAN: Authorities say it happened because of widespread abuse. Out of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who have been taken by the state, more than half, 31 are pregnant or have been pregnant according to authorities who learned this from pregnancy tests or talking to the teens. They also say one teen gave birth to a baby Tuesday afternoon.

One FDLS member angrily denies much of this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know many of those children would not take that test and they put them down and they would not take the test. With that, all the men here are pregnant.

TUCHMAN: That is exactly why we want to talk to you guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They know that it's wrong. If they can prove five cases, they will be lucky.

TUCHMAN: Other numbers are also wide opening. Of the 463 children placed in foster care, there is almost even split between the younger ones, 197 girls, 196 boys. The remaining older teens are the 53 girls and 17 boys.

CAROLYN JESSOP, FORMER SECT MEMBER: There's going to be far more women or girls that age because a lot of these girls are married to men that are there on the compound if one man has several wives there will be a lot more girls.

TUCHMAN: Lawyers for the FLDS says the state's number and claims are inaccurate. So do the followers.

Do you think ultimately you'll win the legal battle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope so. Think don't have any standings. It's all false allegations.

TUCHMAN: All day long vehicles drive into the fenced ranch and THEY drive out. Most of the license plates are from Utah and Arizona where the church is head quartered. Most of the men are back to the familiar pattern of ignoring us. Where they are going in their vehicles is not known, but there are no children to be seen.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Eldorado, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knock it off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: What in the world has gotten into that young man? Perhaps grand auto fever? The hyped-up video game hitting the streets, not for kids. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey, knock it off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell him to stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knock it off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Nice guy, huh? You can see he's a little upset. Police in San Diego busted him after he allegedly sprayed two people with mace, grabbed a pile of brand new video games from a software store and took off. He didn't run for long. All that happened in one of the games he allegedly ripped off, the very adult-geared "Grand Theft Auto 4."

LONG: OK. What has gamers so fired up about the new title? The Grand Theft Auto franchise turned into an industry of its own.

Veronica De La Cruz who has been plugged into the game -- Veronica.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most video game publishers are happy selling 100,000 copies? This game is expected to sell 6 million to 12 million copies. To give you more perspective on just how huge this is, take a look at the top grossing films of all time.

"Titanic" brought in about $600 million in domestic sales since it came out 11 years ago. "Star Wars," "Shrek 2" is predicted to bring in $400 million the first week along. This is a video game. Not even a film. Part of the reason for the game's success, it is available for Xbox 360, Playstation. They are expected to get a boost because of this video game "Grand Theft Auto IV."

LONG: I'm not contributing to it. What makes it so special?

DE LA CRUZ: You can play with other gamers around the world, up to 16 at a time. Experts are saying the graphics, very cool. Definitely the best out of the graphic series. The game is highly interactive. You can interact with tons of different characters. There are a lot returning from "Grand Theft Auto" past.

You can pick a car. You choice a girlfriend. You can hang out with these monsters in the seedy underworld. Think "Sopranos," maybe "Godfather." Definitely some fantasy. It's supposedly a really cool game and like I said, really interactive, great graphics. Something you might want to try out if you are into that whole Sopranos/Godfatherthing.

LONG: You mentioned the graphics. Amazing art. This franchise is also known for its violence. What about this latest installment? DE LA CRUZ: This is not for children. There's a lot of violence, even a fair deal of sexual content. Players can pick up prostitutes, they can go to strip clubs and they can get lap dances. But unlike the one in 2004, we are seeing some, but a lot less controversy. That's probably because people realize these video games are no longer just for kids. This is clearly rated M for mature and is being marketed towards adults.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT STEINBERG, PUBLISHER, DIGITAL TRENDS.COM: "Grand Theft Auto IV" isn't more violent or spectacular or sensational than what we've seen today. It's got incredible story-telling, depth and characterization. But just like "Scarface" or "Carlito's Way" should not be consumed by children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DE LA CRUZ: The market expanded to attract a broader audience, which is why it's pulling in these jig antic numbers. We want to hear the I-reports from people who have been playing this game. Take a look at this. This one loves it but says, my only problem is that it tends to freeze sometimes. Most of the time the game will snap out of it but one time it required a restart of the console."

One more I-report for you. This is from someone, check this out. This person was allowed to leave work to buy the game as long as he let everyone else in the office participate. He says I gave the game 10 out of 10 and I really have to thank my boss for letting me go out and play it. Log on to ireport.com. You're right, understanding boss. Don? Playing video games during work?

LEMON: No. I am a multi-tasker. I do a lot of e-mails, but no video games for me. Not since pong.

DE LA CRUZ: I know all about it.

LONG: I never advanced Mario Brothers or Frogger.

LEMON: I did Ms. Pacman.

DE LA CRUZ: That is a good one.

LEMON: This new fancy thing is for the kids.

All right. Let's take you now to Indianapolis. All the hoopla that's been going on about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The Obama campaign saying it's time to get back to business.

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in Indianapolis holding one of these more intimate meetings in settings that they've been doing in parks and town halls.

We're going to listen in for a bit.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) MICHELLE OBAMA, WIFE OF SEN. BARACK OBAMA: ... Money for private school because the neighborhood schools around the corner for decent. Now every family is struggling with trying to figure out whether their kids are going to be in a good system and how do you get in that system and do you live in the right place? Is no child left behind really doing what it needs to do? Will they be able to compete and get into college? We could go on and on and on.

This is the life we're living right now. It's not getting better. It is not getting better and this has been the case through Republican and Democrat administration. The party hasn't changed the problem. I'm behind this man because I'm curious to see what happens when you get somebody decent, smart and honest and connected, and what happens when you engage a democracy around that kind of leadership.

How do you effect change? We've been pleasantly surprised, but there is a lot of work to do because this whole process works against everything that Barack is trying to do. It's been interesting to watch, but we're hopeful. We've seen a lot of good stuff traveling around the country. Decent people.

The thing that Barack says and I'm the cynic in the family. I am the one, right? This is the hope guy. I've seen it. I'm like, you really do believe this stuff, don't you?

LEMON: That is Michelle Obama in Indianapolis. You can see her husband sitting next to her, Barack Obama of course running for president, a senator in Illinois.

Michelle Obama never at a loss of words. Has been very outspoken throughout this campaign. She will join Anderson Cooper tonight AC 360 at 10 o'clock. First time she is speaking out after the whole Reverend Wright controversy, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, "AC 360," only here on CNN.

LONG: Michelle Obama was talking about education.

Coming up, we'll talk about health care, the health care system in crisis and a look at what you can expect if you get sick or injured in New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Packed waiting rooms. Patients with fewer options. Three years after Katrina, the city's hospitals are in critical condition.

We are here in an ambulance, this particular call for a woman who complains of headaches. We're going to check it out and see what happens. These particular paramedics get 15 calls a day. Which is a lot. Each call comes with a challenge. Find a hospital with available space.

Tell me what a typical day is like in this particular hospital over here. DR. JAMES MOISES, TULANE MEDICAL CENTER ER: When I walk into the emergency department at any time, there's probably 10 to 15 patients waiting to be seen. Emergency department is full because the hospital remains full.

GUPTA: More patients and fewer hospitals. Survey last year found nine out of ten New Orleans residents feel there are not enough hospitals to take care of them. Half the hospitals opened up here in New Orleans since Katrina.

Think about it. Labor costs are up. Utility costs are up, insurance costs are up. Not enough help. As we investigated the we something is happening here that never happened before. Five hospitals that together treat 90 percent of the patients here are joining forces to stay afloat.

DR. MARK PETERS, EAST JEFFERSON GENERAL HOSPITAL: We are all in this together. In the old pre-Katrina days, maybe it's a good thing when your competitor was not doing very well. But if somebody has to cut services now, it negatively impacts the rest of us.

GUPTA: Even with the support, all five of the hospitals are on the brink of cutting mental health and pediatric programs. Before the storm, together the hospitals made a $12 million profit. Last year, they suffered a combined loss of $135 million.

PETERS: That loss is not sustainable.

GUPTA: It is an effect that trickles from the bottom line to the front line. I asked paramedic Davis Renois how bad things are.

DAVIS RENOIS, NEW ORLEANS PARAMEDIC: The worst thing that ever happened was I waited five hours with a stroke.

GUPTA: That's something you get to the hospital within 90 minutes, they say, right?

RENOIS: Yes, sir.

GUPTA: Back to our emergency call. Remember the woman whose face was numb? She is heading to a hospital now.

As things stand today, it will be at least a two-hour wait before she is seen by a dock even though she has been taken in by an ambulance. Just one more patient living in a city that's in critical condition.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)