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Hearing Under Way in Texas Polygamist Custody Case; U.S. Government Investigates Rising Oil Prices

Aired May 30, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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


BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thunderclap, then an earthquake. A witness describes the sounds and sensations of a construction crane collapse in Manhattan. It is the second one since March, and we are now hearing of a second person who has died.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: After the rulings, reunions. Those Texas polygamists now have two state courts in their corner, but they still want their kids back. That means yet another hearing this hour.

Hello. I'm Rob Marciano at CNN Center worldwide headquarters right here in Atlanta -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Hi there, Rob.

And hi there, everybody, on this Friday. I'm Betty Nguyen, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. Up first, another hearing is about to begin in the custody case involving children from that polygamist sect in Texas. Late yesterday, the state Supreme Court agreed with a lower court that child welfare agents overstepped their authority when they took children away from their home near Eldorado. Well, today's hearing could decide what happens next.

Meanwhile, state authorities say they have collected DNA from polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. And they allege he had so-called spiritual marriages with four girls ages 12 to 15. For now, Jeffs is in an Arizona jail on abuse charges unrelated to what's being -- what is happening in Texas.

We're going to take you to the courthouse in San Angelo in just a few minutes as we continue to follow that story.

MARCIANO: This just into CNN. Federal prosecutors say two Miami police officers have been arrested in a corruption and drug investigation. The veteran officers, Geovani Nunez and Jorge Hernandez, are accused of taking thousands of dollars in payoffs from an FBI informant. They allegedly thought the informant was shipping stolen goods and cocaine, but he was actually part of an FBI sting. If convicted, the officers could face life in prison.

NGUYEN: We want to get you the latest now on what is happening in Honduras, in fact, the Honduran capital. What you're looking at is obviously a plane crash.

But here's what happened. It overshot the runway, landed on a street in a neighborhood there. And you see people are coming out of that plane. But we have heard that at least one person has died in this plane crash. And there are other injuries.

I'm just being told by our producer that the Associated Press is now reporting that two people are dead. Let me tell you about this flight. It's a Grupo TACA airplane. It was Flight 390 arriving from El Salvador. It ended up stopping, as I said, on a nearby street after it overshot the runway.

And we're going to continue to follow this story and bring you the latest as far as injuries and deaths go. But at this point, we understand that two people so far have been confirmed dead in this plane crash.

MARCIANO: And a second person has died from this morning's crane collapse in New York City.

Let goes to CNN's Jim Acosta, live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Jim, what else can you tell us?

Jim, are you there?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am, Rob. Yes, I am.

As you just mentioned -- you're right -- city officials here in New York have identified another victim from this crane collapse. They are identifying that person to CNN as a construction worker who was on the scene and died as a result of this crane collapse. We should mention that "The New York Times" is reporting that the operator of the crane also died.

At this point, it's unclear whether or not that crane operator is the same person as this construction worker that we're hearing from New York City police, but in any case, if that is the extent of the victims resulting from this accident, that is extremely fortunate, at least for the people who live in this neighborhood, because when this happened, this happened during rush hour traffic at 8:00 this morning here on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which is a very busy part of the city.

And for nobody to get caught up in that, outside of the construction workers, is no small thing. And just take it from the eyewitnesses who told us they couldn't believe what they were seeing with their own eyes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just saw all the crane come down in the middle of the street. It was like something out of a movie. I couldn't believe the crane had fell. And I also seen a guy that was operating the crane go down with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: And city officials are now saying that this construction site had been cited a number of times previously before today's accident with a number of safety violations.

It's unclear at this point whether or not any of those violations had anything to do with this accident.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed reporters earlier in the day. He promised once again to get to the bottom of what happened here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: The first examination of the records say that this crane was inspected and was installed and stepped in compliance with regulations with building inspectors there. So, we don't know why the top just snapped off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And this is the second crane collapse in about three months, Rob. Earlier this year in the middle of March, a crane collapsed just about a mile south of here. It plunged into a four- story townhome, killing seven people at that time.

In the aftermath of that accident, the city's building commissioner lost his job, and the city promised to get to the bottom as to why these incidents were occurring. They sent new resources and new funds into that department, promising that they were going to improve the monitoring of these cranes.

But after talking to a lot of people on this section of Manhattan, Rob, people are not satisfied with this progress that's being made by the city in this area. They want to see a better performance when it comes to monitoring these cranes, with all of these buildings going up across Manhattan -- Rob.

MARCIANO: Yes, you're a New Yorker. You live there, Jim. You see these cranes. How does this make you feel? It's a little nerve- racking when you look up at these things.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

You know, earlier this year in March, when that crane collapse happened, this seemed to be something that happened rarely. And, so, one would think, OK, maybe this is just an isolated incident, nothing to worry about.

But to have something like this happen just two-and-a-half, less than three months later, that is going to be very nerve-racking, as you put it, to the people in this neighborhood.

And you just have to look behind me. This is a huge mess right now. They're just in the beginning stages of bringing in the construction equipment necessary to take down what is left of this crane, which is going to take a number of hours and probably days. So, this neighborhood is nowhere near from getting back to normal. It's going to take some time before they -- they get this crane out of here and before people start feeling, you know, comfortable walking these streets -- Rob.

MARCIANO: Jim Acosta live for us in the Upper East Side of Manhattan -- thanks, Jim.

NGUYEN: Well, reporter Jenny Hoff of CNN affiliate KXAN is outside the courthouse in San Angelo, Texas, where a hearing is getting under way in the child custody case involving polygamist families.

And she joins us now.

Jenny, what exactly is going to be determined today in this hearing?

JENNY HOFF, KXAN REPORTER: Well FLDS lawyers and ACLU, as well as various other human rights organizations, are hoping that Judge Barbara Walther will immediately vacate her orders, which were to keep the children in state custody.

But it doesn't necessarily mean that all these kids are going to e picked up at the shelters, put in buses, and bussed back to the ranch like they were taken out more than six weeks ago. The judge has many options at her disposal.

See, in the Texas Supreme Court ruling, they did not negate the information that CPS said they had had from the ranch to prove child abuse. They just said that they went way too far in taking the children off the ranch. So, the judge today can either decide to just let all of the children go back with parents as CPS continues their investigation, but she can also decide that the parents have to live with their children off the ranch in other apartments and houses around Texas.

She can mandate that no families take their kids outside of Texas. And she could also demand that all alleged perpetrators leave the home. So, she's got a broad range of options under the Texas family code, and it's to be interesting to see what she decides on here today.

NGUYEN: There are a lot of decisions to be made.

Jenny Hoff joining us live from our affiliate KXAN -- thank you, Jenny.

MARCIANO: Some breaking news coming into us of New Orleans.

There's been a 22-car crash inside the Harvey Tunnel, happened about an hour ago. Police say it was started by a dump truck that may have lost its load inside the tunnel. Still some early reports, conflicting reports whether or not there were people injured. But right now the Harvey Tunnel is closed in New Orleans. Well, drilling for answers -- the U.S. gasoline prices are hitting a record high for the third -- 23rd day in a row. And now federal investigators are trying to find out whether speculators are manipulating oil prices. A probe was launched six months ago by an agency called the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It was announced only yesterday. Reaction is mixed. Some say the commission is merely giving into political pressure.

They predict the probe will come up dry. Others say the announcement was long overdue.

Well, a little while ago, I spoke with CNN's Ali Velshi about the impact of the oil price investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of people didn't know about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and nobody knew about this investigation.

They came out yesterday and said that they are investigating something to do with the price increase in oil. They started investigating in December. Now, there's been a lot of criticism of this committee by Congress to say, well, why aren't you looking into it?

And the acting chair of the committee has said that he doesn't think speculation is a big part of the price of oil right now. There are some economists who think it might be a third of the price of oil right now.

Now, speculation isn't necessarily illegal, and we don't know what this commission is looking into. I spoke to the former director of trading in markets at the commission.

And he said, look, this is a commission that has not done its work. They really have bowed to pressure, because they have got to say they're doing something.

We did invite the commission to talk to us. They declined to do so. They wouldn't tell us who they're investigating or why or offer any other more comment. We did speak to Senator Maria Cantwell, who is on the committee which oversees this commission.

I asked her what the problem is in the regulation of oil, why there's a problem in terms of oversight of oil trading. Very interesting what she told me. Listen to this.

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D), WASHINGTON: There's more regulation on hamburger in America, trading on the futures cattle market, than there is oil. And yet oil is critical to our U.S. economy. So, we should go back and putt the regulations and oversight in place, so that we don't have speculation and manipulation that we have seen from the likes of Enron and Amaranth.

VELSHI: So, there are two problems here, Rob. One of them is that there isn't strong enough regulation of oil trading. So, if there is something going on, it's not clear that the regulators or the government would actually know that.

The second one is an investigation, we think, into whether something specifically has been done to manipulate the price of oil. We don't have that information as of now, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission has not given us that information. But, at the moment, at least there's an investigation under way -- Rob.

MARCIANO: Ali, I know the financial markets can be pretty complicated, but give us a simple example, maybe, of how traders, or investors, or even oil companies would manipulate the market or the price of oil.

VELSHI: Yes, it's a good question. And this is, by the way, one that complicates this. If you're talking about let's say manipulating the price of the stock of the company that owns CNN, Time Warner, well, you would have to have some control over that stock. Maybe you would leak some news and make the stock go up or do something like that.

In this case, the oil market is so big, it's unclear who would manipulate the price of oil, unless you're a cartel perhaps like OPEC. But that doesn't seem to be where this investigation is going. The gentleman we spoke to earlier, the former official at the agency, says we could be looking at -- they could be investigating trades by hedge funds and large investment pools to see whether they're buying oil and sort of holding it off the market, but, again, entirely speculative at this point as to what they're looking into. We don't actually know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

MARCIANO: Want to remind you of something we just told you about a few minutes ago, a 22-car pileup, a crash, closing the Harvey Tunnel in New Orleans.

Police say it was likely started by a dump truck that lost its load inside the tunnel around 1:00 local time. Early reports suggest that there were no injuries, but we don't have confirmation on that. There you see the tunnel itself on our Google map there, closed until further notice. Certainly going to put a snag in rush hour traffic as they clear up that 22-car crash in the Harvey Tunnel.

NGUYEN: Goodness.

Well, it is decision day for Democrats. A party committee gets set to decide whether and how to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan.

MARCIANO: And fund-raising behind closed doors with President Bush, is it helping John McCain or hurting him? We will look at McCain's hunt for cash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MARCIANO: Ladies, let's get ready to rumble. A female teacher and a student come to blows as the school year ends at a Georgia high school.

Check this out, the fight recorded on a cell phone camera, my goodness. Authorities say the two started having problems early in the day and it just got worse. According to the incident report, the substitute teacher said she heard the student say that she was going to pull off the teacher's wig. Then they apparently came to blows.

The report says, when it was over, both had scratches on their faces, I assume a few bruises as well. I mean, this is like a hockey fight on skates. Pull that jersey over the head and just give him uppercuts. My goodness, ladies. That's awful.

Now, police are going to check the video to determine who started the fight. Right now, both are charged with disorderly conduct.

NGUYEN: But look at that, though. If you look closely, I think one of the girls has her shoe off, or she did in that -- that last shot. I mean, they really went at it.

MARCIANO: They threw down, no...

NGUYEN: Blows and everything. Oh, my goodness.

MARCIANO: Take it easy. OK. Everybody kiss and make up.

NGUYEN: All right. Yes, it's really not that serious, folks, really, although we have had a few of those around here, haven't we?

MARCIANO: Yes. Oh, sure.

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: No, not at all.

(LAUGHTER)

NGUYEN: OK, leading our Political Ticker: A bright spot for Hillary Clinton as the primary season winds down. A new poll gives her a double-digit lead over Barack Obama in Puerto Rico. The U.S. commonwealth holds a Democratic primary on Sunday. There's 55 delegates at stake. And Clinton is back there today for a rally in San Juan. Puerto Rico doesn't get to vote in the general election, though.

MARCIANO: Obama holds a rally today in Great Falls, Montana. That state and South Dakota hold the season's final two contests on Tuesday -- 16 delegates will be decided in Montana and 15 in South Dakota.

While the Democrats tussle over delegates, John McCain is raising money for the general election.

Here's CNN's Mary Snow. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator John McCain has been busy passing the hat. Wednesday, it was Beverly Hills. Tuesday, it was Phoenix with President Bush. His fund-raisers are closed to reporters.

And McCain was asked why he keeps that policy, since he's prided himself on being so open.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's because the people who are the fund-raising money request that. And I will continue to be accessible and the most accessible campaign in history to the media.

SNOW: Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton allow a pool of reporters into fund-raisers held in public venues, but do close the door in private settings. One election law attorney says there's nothing wrong with McCain's keeping fund-raisers private.

KENNETH GROSS, ELECTION LAW EXPERT: There's certainly no legal requirement that he open up these events.

SNOW: But McCain is taking heat from Democrats for fund-raising behind closed doors with President Bush.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator McCain doesn't want to be seen, hat in hand, with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years.

SNOW: While Democrats criticize McCain for his ties with the president, Republican political consultant Matt Klink says, from the GOP standpoint, fund-raising with the president might open up wallets among conservatives who've been holding out on John McCain.

MATT KLINK, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: He definitely does not have the -- the rapport or the conservative credentials that the Bush family has built up over generations. That being said, John McCain is getting there. And it's just taking a little while for that to -- for all the pieces to fall into place.

SNOW: But the real test is about to come. Democrats have been smashing fund-raising records in the primaries, and that isn't expected to change in the general election.

(on camera): Since McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, he's getting a boost from the party's national committee. Still, the math tells the challenges he faces. In April, he raised nearly $18 million, compared to Obama's $31 million and Clinton's $21 million.

Mary snow, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: Decision day for the Democrats. A party committee gets to set and decide whether how to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan. We will talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

MARCIANO: You're about to meet a college professor who has something to teach us. He has nothing to do with classroom courses either. His message is that you don't need an expensive trainer to lose weight.

Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with today's "Fit Nation" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Muata Kamdibe is many things, college professor, minimalist, generally happy guy. Unfortunately, he says, fat guy was the first thing that came to people's mind when they saw him.

MUATA KAMDIBE, LOST 120 POUNDS: I felt like I was a small guy trapped in a large body.

GUPTA: Always a fit kid, it was the stress of college that packed on the pounds.

KAMDIBE: I can remember one year gaining at least 50 pounds in one year.

GUPTA: But the scale in a Vegas hotel would change Muata's life.

KAMDIBE: Stepped on the scale, and I was over 300 pounds. It was a weight and a size I told myself I would never get to, because, when you're 280, 270, I'm just a big guy, you know? Like, I'm a big dog, and that's OK. But I said to myself I would never be over 300 pounds. And once I reached that point, I knew I had to do something.

GUPTA: So, he started a low-carb diet, a home exercise regimen and an online support network he called the Mr. Low Body Fat blog.

KAMDIBE: Well, I wanted to create a blog for -- the average layperson could understand and realize that they can lose weight and they don't have to pay a lot of money to a trainer, if they figure it out for themselves and understand the process for themselves.

GUPTA: Muata says he became a much more well-rounded person.

KAMDIBE: I realized that losing weight was one of the last obstacles I had in really realizing who I am as a person. Now I'm getting to know me. This is the lowest weight I have been in my adult life. The face you're looking at now, the face I look at every morning is new to me, because I never saw an adult Muata face, like I do now.

My name is Muata Kamdibe, and I have lost 120 pounds.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Los Angeles. (END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, a custody hearing in Texas is under way to determine what to do involving the polygamist families there.

And we understand that David Mattingly is there and has some new information, joins us now by phone.

What do you know?

VOICE OF DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was just passed out in the courtroom just a few minutes ago. The possible details of how these children are going to be going home. The state's attorney presented this to the court, and here are some of the details. The children looks like, if everyone agrees to this, will start going home on Monday morning. This is a process that will continue through the week Monday through Friday.

In order for parents to get their children back, they have to show ID, they have to agree to have their picture taken, and as well as have their child's picture taken before they leave, and they have to sign sworn documents saying that yes, this is in fact my child. This looks like this is going to be getting around the problem of DNA matching the state was discussing. There could be some conditions for some individual cases, conditions where they will be required to stay possibly in the state of Texas or in particular geographical area to prevent any sort of flight.

Also, it's possible if there are individual cases involving alleged abuse that the alleged abuser may be asked to leave the home before the child returns. So right now, it's pretty basic stuff. One surprise in there the state is still asking these parents from the FLDS to take standard parenting classes. We will see shortly if everyone agrees to these terms.

NGUYEN: So is that voluntary, David?

MATTINGLY: This won't be voluntary. If the parents want their children back, these are the conditions that the state is asking for.

NGUYEN: So the parenting classes, are those mandatory then under this?

MATTINGLY: These would be mandatory under this agreement, yes. That's what the state is asking for, and all along they've been saying these parenting classes would include some sort of legal instruction to make sure everybody understands what Texas law is, about how old you can be before you can marry legally and things like that. So this was something very important to investigators all along and they're still in their proposed agreement.

NGUYEN: When you say they're going home starting Monday, does that mean back to the ranch?

MATTINGLY: Back to the ranch, yes. That's where they consider their home. Some of these families, though, were just visiting the ranch, we're told. It's possible they may want to return to wherever they lived, Utah, Arizona, possibly even Canada. They'll have to discuss with the court how far they're going to be allowed to take their child while these cases are still pending.

NGUYEN: And one more thing very quickly. We're still waiting on those DNA results. When those are entered in, could that change all of this completely?

MATTINGLY: Well, what they're asking for is for the parents to sign affidavits. So if DNA results come back and shows that someone took a child that wasn't theirs, they're opening themselves up to all sorts of criminal charges. So this seems to be a compromise the state is looking for, not asking for that DNA specifically in this agreement, but instead asking them to sign sworn documents.

NGUYEN: All right. CNN's David Mattingly joining us now live by phone from Texas where a court hearing is underway that's going to determine what is going to happen with those children. And it looks like many of them, most of them will be going home starting on Monday. We'll continue to follow this story.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Continuing to follow this breaking story out of New Orleans. Twenty-two car crash closing the Harvey Tunnel there. It happened around 1:00 local time. Police think a dump truck lost its load and that initiated the crash that involved 22 cars. It connects -- goes through old Highway 90. There's a bridge on the new Highway 90 that can get you over that canal, but for right now, that tunnel, the Harvey Tunnel, is closed because of a 22 car crash until further notice.

NGUYEN: All right. Want you to take a look at this fire. There in Houston in Harris County, to be exact. Look at those flames shooting from the top there. Two alarm apartment fire. Firefighters, as you can see, had to use ladders to battle the blaze as flames pretty much engulfed the roof and a top floor of this three story building. Residents had to be evacuated as they pretty much watched their homes go up in smoke. So far though no injuries had been reported.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Well, a high drama for the Democrats. The party's Florida and Michigan problem well that is going before the DNC rules committee, and the panel is meeting in Washington to decide what to do about seating both states' delegates at the August convention. For Hillary Clinton, who won both primaries but who trails in the delegate derby, it could be a make-or-break proposition. Now she wants all of the delegates seated. Barack Obama says he's going to agree to seat some of the disputed delegates.

And then there's the issue of how to divide any delegates who are seated. Are you confused? Well, we're trying to sort it out for you. None of the candidates campaigned in Florida and Clinton's name was the only one on the Michigan ballot. So you see how there is a bit of a rub. Both states were stripped of their delegates for moving up their primaries.

Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider is right there in Washington where the action is and he joins us from the CNN Election Express.

Boy, there's a lot to be decided here. It doesn't seem like everyone's going to be happy.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. The Democratic rules panel has a tough challenge. They've either got to make both sides equally happy or equally unhappy. As long as they're equal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): On Saturday the Democratic Party has to make two big choices. One is how many delegates from Florida and Michigan to seat? Right now the number is zero because those states were penalized for holding their primaries too early. The Florida and Michigan parties are appealing that decision with encouragement from Hillary Clinton.

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, (D-NY) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's make sure your delegates are seated.

SCHNEIDER: Barack Obama supports seating some disputed delegates.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D-IL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Florida Democrats will be seated. They will be participating.

SCHNEIDER: So what's the choice?

KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Obviously there are some who would like to see it reinstated to 100 percent. There are some who say that a 50 percent sanction was automatic and therefore, perhaps they could reinstate to 50 percent.

SCHNEIDER: Once the committee decides how many delegates to seat, it has to decide how to divide them. Florida Democrats voted 50 percent for Clinton and 33 percent for Obama. Obama's name was not on the ballot in Michigan where 40 percent voted uncommitted.

FINNEY: Some would take the position that perhaps they were, their intention was to vote for Senator Obama. Some would take the position that you can't know what the intention of those voters were.

SCHNEIDER: Here is a scenario Clinton would probably prefer. All the Florida and Michigan delegates are seated and Obama is given no uncommitted Michigan delegates. Then Obama would be 81 delegates ahead and he would need 155 more to win. Here is a scenario that might be acceptable to Obama. Half the Michigan and Florida delegates are seated and all the uncommitted Michigan delegates are given to him. Then Obama would be 167.5 delegates ahead and he would need 72.5 more to win. Either way, Obama would be ahead in delegates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: If the party seats those Michigan and Florida delegates, then those states' popular votes can be included in the total. Would that put Senator Clinton ahead in popular votes? Only if you give Obama zero votes in Michigan where nobody could vote for him because his name wasn't on the ballot.

NGUYEN: All right, so is it even legitimate to count the popular vote in Michigan and Florida?

SCHNEIDER: Well, there is a big problem. There were 29 states that had competitive primaries in both parties. In 24 of those states, Republican turnout lagged behind Democratic turnout. More Democrats voted. There are only five states where more Republicans voted. Utah, where Mormons came out in large numbers to vote for Mitt Romney, Arizona, John McCain's home state, Alabama where there was a high evangelical turnout for Mike Huckabee, plus Michigan and Florida, which suggests that a lot of Democrats in Michigan and Florida stayed home and didn't vote in their primaries because they were told the votes didn't count -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. Bill Schneider joining us live, always happy to have you on to try to sort this out. But this is a tough one to sort out,

Bill, thank you.

MARCIANO: As (INAUDIBLE) would say, greed is good, but when greed went out over common sense, a woman sends text messages to a couple of car thieves offering them money to bring the car back to her. Did they take the bait?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Well, it was a tough scene to watch for a woman in Cambodia, children picking through trash all day long just to earn money to eat. In today's Heroes series, meet a woman who decided she'd seen enough.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We're standing on the big dump site. The scavengers are collecting cans, plastic bags and other things that can be sold to buy rice. There are a lot of children here. I have seen many kids get killed by trucks. They work here for about 10 to 12 hours a day, and they make about $1.30. Sometimes they don't make any money at all.

One day at lunch I was eating chicken. And when I threw it away, 10 children ran straight to the trash to collect the bones. I wanted to do something to help them.

"My name is Phymean. I recruit children from this dump to attend school at my organization. I want them to have an opportunity to learn."

PHYMEAN NOUN, CHAMPIONING CHILDREN: Good morning how are you?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Fine, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some kids in my school collect trash until late at night. And they fall asleep in the classroom. If they don't have an education, some kids will collect trash until the day they die. It continues from one generation to the next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): When I was at the dump, sometimes I was speared by broken glass, needles and razor. The school provided me education, materials and a place to eat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These children are our next generation, and our country depends on them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. This just into CNN, we are getting some more details of the hearing today in Texas dealing with that polygamous sect. Here is what we know. 330 children will be returned to their parents starting on Monday. Those parents will have to appear at each shelter and have a photo made with their children. They're also going to have to sign a release saying that they understand the obligations outlined. Here are some of those obligations.

Parents must tell the state where they'll be staying within 72 hours of leaving the shelter that is after they pick up the kids. Must tell CPS if the residence changes at any time. CPS is Child Protective Services. Child Protective Services will be allowed to visit the family unannounced anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. daily and all parents will be required to participate in parenting classes. Of course, this is the latest that we are learning to come out of the hearing today, but the big headline here is that 330 children will be returned to their parents, starting on Monday.

MARCIANO: Well, some criminals just aren't blessed with the sharpest minds, are they? Take two car thieves in California. They allegedly stole a woman's wheels, then got rear-ended by their own greed.

Rich Ibarra of KCRA explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHERINE ALLEN, TEXTED THIEVES: Please do what you want to the car and leave it so we can find it.

RICH IBARRA, KCRA (voice-over): That's how Katherine Allen started texting thieves who had stolen her mother in law's car in Manteca, sending messages to her mother in law's cell phone which was inside the stolen car. Several messages later, she finally got their attention. ALLEN: We were just wondering if we could pay for our car back. I don't know where you are at, so you can respond back, please. So that's what broke the ice.

IBARRA: The thieves nibbled at the bait asking for $1,000. So Allen called the police who reeled in the thieves.

CAPT. JOHN ORCUTT, MANTECA POLICE DEPT.: She brokered the deal but then immediately contacted us so that the risk taking essentially was on the part of the auto theft task force.

IBARRA (on camera): The ransom payoff took place in this supermarket parking lot in Modesto. An undercover officer had talked the thief down to $400 for the stolen car. He passed him the cash in a paper bag, but then he had another surprise for him when he flashed his badge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like trying to catch a wet dog. He took off in between parked cars and at that point there was just no way I was letting this guy get away. I grabbed him in a full bear body hug, took him to the ground.

ALLEN: I wouldn't have thought anyone would go for that. Nothing surprises me in this day in age.

IBARRA: However, the thieves were no doubt surprised. As greed won out over common sense and the good guys over the bad guys.

ALLEN: I'm just thankful to the lord that she got her car back. And that's the most important thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, the closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street, all of that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Now we know this may indeed shock some of you. There really are people who don't have access to television, the Internet or anything dealing with the outside world. And this is an extreme example. Check it out. These photographs of a tribe of mountain people on the border between Brazil and Peru. Now, it looks like that they live off the land under thatched roofs. If you look very carefully, it's hard to see in this particular shot, but you'll see them aiming bows at the aircraft flying overhead.

The Brazilian government believes they may have never seen outsiders in their entire lives. A totally isolated tribe, one of only a few left on earth. Brazilian officials want to call attention to the tribe's lifestyle, but they stress the importance of conservation and coexistence. Just fascinating.

MARCIANO: That's amazing to think that they possibly have never seen anybody else. NGUYEN: And you know you've got an aircraft flying over, they're probably thinking, what the heck is that? Never seeing anyone else but people within your community and now you've got this flying object. So it will be interesting to see if there's any new news coming out of there, although many people just want to leave them alone.

MARCIANO: Let them be.

NGUYEN: The closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.

MARCIANO: Susan Lisovicz down there, what is it, the curb well they started trading years and years ago before they had an exchange?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The buttonwood agreement, under the buttonwood tree. I guess the hot things at the time were things like cloth and whale oil, things like that and oil is still obviously a very important commodity on Wall Street and in the world. Happy birthday to Pizza Hut. Fifty years ago two brothers borrowed 600 bucks from their mother and started a pizza joint in Wichita, Kansas. It's the world's biggest pizza chain with $10 billion in annual sales. Delivered pizza to the international space station in 2001. Pizza Hut delivers.

The bulls delivered. We're seeing a four-day rally for the NASDAQ and the S&P. Not for the Dow. The end of the trading month in May. Tony Blair the former British prime minister ringing the closing bell in honor of the Tony Blair faith initiative to promote peace and understanding in the world. That's a good thing. See you guys next week.

MARCIANO: Thanks Susan.

Time for Wolf Blitzer.

NGUYEN: Let's take you to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.

Hey there, Wolf.