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Too Big to Bail; Renters at Risk; Builder's Campaign to Sell Homes; Karzai Back Pres. Obama's Idea; IED Deaths Rising in Afghanistan; Unemployment: A Global Picture
Aired March 09, 2009 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Removing a roadblock to research. President Obama reversing a Bush-era stem cell policy. How the move changes science and politics.
Pastor gunned down in the pulpit. Parishioners screaming and praying. What we've learned about the shooter.
And sign of the times. Ad for janitor's job gets overwhelming response.
It is Monday, March 9th. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
A first this morning. It's a political mine field. Almost as volatile as abortion and President Obama is about to wade into it. Later this morning he'll lift federal limits on stem cell research.
Is this a matter of finding cures or playing god?
There's a lot to explain. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is looking at the science and White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux lays out the politics. Let's go ahead and begin with some background now from Suzanne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The executive order today, the fulfillment of a controversial campaign promise.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we are going to discard those embryos and we know that there's potential research that could lead to curing debilitating diseases, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease.
You know, if that possibility presents itself, then I think that we should, in a careful way, go ahead and pursue that research.
MALVEAUX: President Obama's order will direct the National Institutes of Health to develop revised guidelines on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research within 120 days. It will allow scientists to apply for government grants to support any stem cell research.
Under President Bush, taxpayer money for embryonic stem cell research was limited to be used for just a small number of stem cell lines that had already been created from destroyed embryos.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: Without crossing a fundamental moral line, by providing taxpayer funding that would sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos that have at least the potential for life.
MALVEAUX: Obama administration officials say this is a broader effort to end the Bush administration's practice of putting ideology over science. Critics who oppose the research argue that federal funding could lead down a slippery, moral slope.
REP. ERIC. CANTOR (R), MINORITY WHIP: Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research can bring on embryo harvesting, perhaps even human cloning that occurs. We don't want that. That shouldn't be that. That's wrong.
MALVEAUX: Supporters say the new policy opens the door for research that may lead to cures for diabetes, Parkinson's Disease and spinal cord injuries.
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: My religion teaches me to heal the sick and God gave us this intelligence to find cures for the sick. I think it's a great moment.
MALVEAUX: Critics argue it is immoral to use stem cells from human embryos because it requires destroying them. They say stem cells taken from adult bone marrow, the skin or placenta can also potentially create cells that will lead to curing disease.
The issue crosses party lines with notable Republicans Nancy Reagan, John McCain, and Arlen Specter in support of Obama's plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joining me now from Washington.
So, Suzanne, why is President Obama signing this executive order and then not really taking this to Congress instead to get a bill passed?
MALVEAUX: Well, Heidi, I spoke with the top White House official who essentially was saying this is something that President Obama has been grappling with over the last couple of weeks. It wasn't about if he would actually reverse this but how it would happen.
As you know, Congress could enact legislation to make this happen. He did it by executive order because, essentially, it doesn't take as much time. Congress has a lot on its plate. But the bottom line is he really wanted to put a stamp on this and say, look, he wants to make a distinction between what this administration sees as a real abuse from President Bush and that is kind of putting policy or politics ahead of science.
They are trying to make this point that when it comes to stem cell research, abortion, all the climate change, these type of issues, that science is going to be respected, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, well, Obama is certainly taking a lot of issues right now. Why are critics calling it a diversionary topic when we get to this topic of stem cell?
MALVEAUX: Well, obviously, we're all looking at the economy and what is going to happen there.
COLLINS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: The housing crisis, the -- you know, the banking crisis, this type of thing. But we did hear from the director of Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, over the weekend who said look, this is not a diversionary tactic by any stretch of the imagination.
This is taking a look at the economic crisis and saying look, this might take months, even years to turn things around in the big picture here so we're also going to take on these other controversial issues, these policies that were promised in the campaign, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, we will be watching closely. Suzanne Malveaux from the White House this morning. Thanks, Suzanne.
In Suzanne's report, we did hear from a couple of lawmakers. Let's go ahead and hear more now from Senator Claire McCaskill and Congressman Eric Cantor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANTOR: Why are we distracting ourselves from the economy? This is job number one. Let's focus on what needs to be done. But as far as the issue of stem cell research, I don't know anybody who is not supportive of that. What we're talking about here, though, is embryonic stem cell research and the question of federal funding of that.
And frankly, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research can bring on embryo harvesting, perhaps human cloning that occurs. We don't want that. That shouldn't be done. That's wrong.
MCCASKILL: So the fact that the president is willing to, once again, say to the rest of the world that we will be the beacon for cures and for hopes. My religion teaches me to heal the sick and God gave us this intelligence to find cures for the sick. I think it's a great moment and I'm proud of him for reversing that executive order that was President Bush's.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Representative Cantor and Senator McCaskill there.
Time now for a fact check. Here to explain the science of embryonic stem cell research, senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. So, OK, this is a very big deal, obviously. But when we're talking about the science behind it, why stem cells, why so significant?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, I'm going to give you sort of the simple version of that. Stem cells are basically blank cells and scientists can go into a lab and they can try to turn them into specialty cells.
For example, if someone has a heart attack you could try to turn those blank cells into cardiac muscle cells to replace the muscle that's been damaged so...
COLLINS: They can be very specific?
COHEN: Exactly.
COLLINS: Right?
COHEN: They can become very specific. That's the hope is they can make them specific and make them specific enough to help people.
COLLINS: All right. Well, let's talk about the hope. Because you kind of can't talk about this whole entire issue if you don't talk about the science and the research behind it for what is expected by way of success and helping people.
COHEN: Right. I think we have to be very clear about this. Embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human being at this point that we know of. There's great hope that they will eventually help people, but you know what? They may not turn out to work so well. That is a possibility. And I think that scientists are sort of keeping that in mind as they move ahead.
COLLINS: All right. Well, if they do become, you know, much more successful and, obviously, you got to continue the research if that's even a possibility, what diseases are we talking about here? We hear so much about Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
COHEN: Right. Well, three of the biggies that we're talking about are spinal cord injuries. Christopher Reeve, the actor Christopher Reeve really pushed for this before his death. And actually, there is now a clinical trial that is going to be under way soon that they are planning to have put it under way soon to help people with the kinds of injuries that he has.
So spinal cord injury is definitely right there towards the top of the list. The other two are Parkinson's Disease and diabetes. Michael J. Fox has worked on Parkinson's Disease. Many people have worked on diabetes. So those are the three that we should expect to hear a lot about in the years to come.
I say years to come because this is not that kind of science.
COLLINS: No. Not even close.
COHEN: This is going to take a while. No, not even close.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes, all right. We'll still be watching that closely. The ethical concerns. We've already mentioned a little bit about them and I think they're probably different for everybody.
COHEN: Right. This is a very -- it's very simple what the concerns are. There is no way around it, to make an embryonic stem cell you have to destroy an embryo. So the way it works is moms and dads who have fertility issues go to fertility clinics. They create embryos outside the womb in the lab.
They often have embryos that they're not using to have a baby on their own. And so some of these parents say, you know what, I've got these, quote/unquote, "extra embryos." I want to donate them to science. You have to destroy that embryo in order to make it useful.
Now for many people, they don't have a problem with that. That embryo maybe -- could never could have started a child, that embryo maybe was going to sit in a lab forever and ever. Other people say an embryo is an embryo and you never should destroy it.
It is really depends how you feel what an embryo is and what it's not.
COLLINS: Yes. All right, well, the topic will be, I think, in the front for quite some time.
COHEN: Absolutely.
COLLINS: All right. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. Thanks, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thank you.
COLLINS: President Obama is talking about his decision on stem cell research. Later this morning we're to bring you his remarks live, expected to speak at 11:45 Eastern and 8:45 Pacific.
A new week on Wall Street gets going at the bottom of the hour. All of our fingers are crossed and our toes, too. All signs are pointing, though, to a gloomy start. The reason, nagging reminders of the global recession.
This morning Japan's Nikkei hit a 26-year low. In fact, markets were mostly down across Asia. And trading is also down across much of Europe.
We want to get the very latest from Christine Romans, part of our CNN money team.
So, Christine, what is it going to take for the market for find its footing once again?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's going to take a healthy dose of confidence and patience, Heidi, and those are two things that this market just doesn't have. You know, again and again we keep hearing from people that they don't think that there's a cohesive, coherent plan yet for the banking system.
Art Cashin, a veteran floor trader, just saying that again this morning and that's what the market, at least, is telling us. And then, Heidi, Warren Buffett, the oracle of Omaha, warning that the economy over the past six months on another network this morning, saying it's fallen off a cliff and its worst-case scenario is playing out so...
COLLINS: Whoa.
ROMANS: That's why there is no confidence.
COLLINS: All right. Also, I want you to go ahead and listen with me to this sound bite from Senator Richard Shelby on the same topic. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: Close them down. Get them out of business. If they are dead, they ought to be buried. We bury the small banks. We got to bury some big ones and send a strong message to the market.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So what do you think, Christine? Are they right? I mean should we just let Citi and some of these other big banks fail?
ROMANS: Well, on the one hand you have people, you know, in the market saying they haven't done enough to help the banks and then you have Senator Shelby and Senator John McCain and others saying, you know, we let the small banks fail, why don't you just let big banks like Citi go down?
Well, we have seen 17 small banks fail this year. The government comes in in a very methodical way, takes the parts of those banks, make sure that there's limited impact on the community and on the people who put their money in those banks.
Their money is insured but something like Citigroup, I mean there's a feeling that supporting or bailing out, whatever you want to call it, Citigroup, you're not just bailing out bad behavior or a bank. You're bailing out the economy, you're helping the overall economy.
There's a feeling two administrations now in a row that you can't let these big too big to fail companies actually fail. Citi shares down 96 percent.
COLLINS: Whoa.
ROMANS: You know people are so worried about what's going to happen to this company. So a big debate raging. Senator Shelby and Senator McCain this weekend being very clear that they don't -- they want to bury the big banks just like the little ones are being buried but there are a lot of people who say that that's just too risky for the global economy, especially now. It's a big debate, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. Certainly something when we talk about the global impact of all this. I don't even know where you can end that discussion so we'll be talking again about it, I'm sure.
ROMANS: Of course.
COLLINS: Christine Romans, thanks for that.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: And the car industry up close and personal as well. The White House's automotive task force in Detroit today. They'll tour a Chrysler factory and take a test drive of GM's electric car, their Chevrolet Volt. We told you about that here.
Those two companies have gotten more than $17 billion in bailout money and they want $39 billion more. The job of the task force now is to study whether they can survive with or without that taxpayer cash.
Not a good weekend for parts of the Midwest. Some serious cleaning up to do now. After tornadoes and strong storms.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Members of a Maryville, Illinois church trying to come to grips with their pastor's killing. Parishioners attended a memorial service Sunday night for the Revered Fred Winters.
He was gunned down in the pulpit during a Sunday morning service. Parishioners watched as a 27-year-old man walked towards the pastor seen in this picture. The two exchanged words before the man pulled out a pistol. He fired four rounds, first shredding the pastor's bible and then killing him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARLA DRYDEN, CHURCH MEMBER: Well, it's a devastating loss not only for our church but for our community. For all the churches in our community. For everyone that loves the Lord, it's been a very difficult loss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The gunman pulled out a knife after the shooting, before being tackled by some worshipers. He was wounded and taken to a hospital. Police have not released the shooter's name.
The St. Louis dispatch has identified him as a man who spoke of his battle with Lyme disease in an article last year. Doctors have diagnosed him as mentally ill before discovering the disease.
Fire forces people out of a popular strip in Key West. Firefighters evacuated buildings along Duvall Street last night and flames broke out in a building next to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant. Crews got the fire under control and there are no reports of injuries. Investigators, though, are still trying to find out what caused the fire.
Two people dead, one missing in a small plane crash in Georgia. The Cessna 182 went down in a private lake in Carroll County yesterday, that's just west of Atlanta. Authorities recovered the bodies of a man and woman who were on board. Divers are looking this morning now for the pilot.
Some cleaning up going on in parts of the Midwest after a weekend of nasty weather. In Illinois, strong winds from severe thunderstorms leveled seven homes and seriously damaged 30 other ones in the area. Many barns blown over, two horses were lost on one farm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did remember seeing on TV the band was coming so I knew we were going to get something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Yes, lots of damage at this mobile home park in Indiana, too. Trees littered with rubble or split in half. Three homes destroyed and nearly 20 more damaged in the tornado.
Same situation in northwest Ohio. Strong storms and three confirmed tornadoes in one county. Barns blown over, trees knocked over, lots of people lost power, too.
Rob Marciano standing by now in the weather center to talk a little bit more about this.
Boy, it was a nasty weekend, to say the least.
Looks like no one else is hearing him. Are we hearing you, Rob? Unfortunately, we are not hearing you, Rob. So we're going to double check on that and certainly get back to you. Lots to talk about as all those storms came across the country. So we will bring Rob back in just a couple of minutes.
Meanwhile, though, want to get to this as well. Thousands of U.S. troops getting ready to leave Iraq but is Iraq ready? We're talking about it this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN, the most trusted name in news. Now back to the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Thirty people dead, 61 hurt in a suicide bombing outside of police academy in Baghdad. Iraqi officials say the bomber had explosives on his vest and his motorcycle. Most of the victims were police officers and recruits who had gathered outside the academy.
That latest violence comes as the U.S. military announces plans to reduce the number of troops in Iraq. Right now, there are 142,000 troops in the region. The U.S. military says that number will go down by 12,000 over the next six months.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joining us now live from Baghdad.
So, Nic, what do the Iraqis think about this draw-down, specifically when something like this happens so close to these announcements? What are their real everyday concerns?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, their concerns are that if all U.S. troops pull out of Iraq, international troops, British as well, if they all pull out, then that's going to leave sort of a power vacuum. A lot of people worry about Iran's growing influence here, a lot worry about sectarian tensions, a potential for civil war, the fact that the militias and the insurgent groups haven't gone away.
That attack in Baghdad on Sunday, one of the biggest for quite a while. Things have been getting more stable but they know that the groups haven't gone away and these tensions still exist. So this is what they worry about. And they worry about it more and more as they see the troops drawing down.
They've heard the announcements. And then yesterday, Sunday, they heard that 12,000 troops are going so they know this is real, that the troops really are going to be leaving Iraq. Heidi?
COLLINS: The question, I think, Nic, then, are Iraq's police and army really ready? I mean do they know who is still out there attacking?
ROBERTSON: They are certainly much stronger than they were before and they are one of the principle reasons that Iraq is much more secure. The police, for example, have 500,000 policemen across the country. That's what the Ministry of Interior told us.
The recruitment, the recruiting center that was targeted yesterday, the police say they're trying to recruit another 60,000 police this year. So they know they still need to build their forces up. They know that the army needs to be built up more and they need better training.
And this is the assessment U.S. commanders here have made that the training will go on and on for quite an extended period even after the bulk of U.S. troops pull out. But you have to have or would have to have an incredibly strong force such as the country doesn't have right now even with the presence of U.S. troops to stop these attacks and it's when you reduce the number of international forces here, the capability, the helicopters...
COLLINS: Right.
ROBERTSON: ... et cetera, et cetera, that they have, that's what people worry about, that these militias who've been sort of sitting quietly, waiting and watching, that they ramp up their activities again.
COLLINS: Well, obviously, the training is an ongoing thing by way of, you know, how much you can really ward off these militias and insurgents.
But I wonder, and I don't know if you know the answer to this or not, Nic, but when they have these recruitment days or weeks or whatever it is, we're talking about 60,000 more that they want to recruit, are those locations where they are doing that? Are they secret? Are they private to try to keep that information from getting out so that some of these attacks don't happen?
ROBERTSON: Well, that's part of the problem, because they are a part of the recruitment. Obviously, they have to tell people, you know, turn up on a certain day.
COLLINS: Right.
ROBERTSON: And in Baghdad, there is just one recruitment center so everyone knows where it is and they know that police are recruiting. So the bombers knew that this was a good place to target.
I mean, the criticism here given by people who were lining up that morning was that they'd been waiting there for several hours.
COLLINS: Sure.
ROBERTSON: That the police have told them to come forward, then sent them back, so they left them essentially in the line of fire. And that recruiting academy had been attacked just a few months before in December and a lot of people killed then as well. So it's how they manage the recruiting and the security of the people waiting outside. There's a real concern right now.
COLLINS: Yes, obviously, how you get the word out and keep it secret at the same time.
All right, well, Nic, we will be watching very closely, obviously. Thanks so much. Live from Baghdad this morning.
Well, some soldiers coming home soon will have to fight for a job. Helping veterans on the home front. It's today's "Snapshot across America" coming up in our next hour at 10:30. Make sure you stick around for that.
And it's the Taliban's weapon of choice in Afghanistan. The improvised explosive device. In the next half hour we'll show you how losing concentration for even a second could be the difference between life and death.
An ominous warning from North Korea to the rest of the world. The communist nation says they will treat any outside interference on a planned satellite launch as an act of war. U.S. and South Korean officials suspect North Korea is planning to test-fire its latest long-range missile by pretending to launch a satellite into space. Officials say the missiles have enough range to strike either Alaska or Hawaii.
The nation's mortgage crisis. Millions of Americans losing their homes even though they never missed a single payment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Stocks around the world are selling off. Overnight, Japan's Nikkei average plunged to a 26-year low. That has dampened the mood in Europe.
What about here at home? Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange now with a preview of what to expect.
I think the word that we used a little earlier, Susan, was a gloomy outlook. Gloomy.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And we've grown accustomed to that outlook, unfortunately, Heidi. We're king of picking up where we took off on Friday. The global sell-off set to hit stocks here on Wall Street as well. This comes after a week in which the Dow fell more than 6 percent. The fourth straight weekly loss for the blue chips.
COLLINS: Wow.
LISOVICZ: Even a huge merger in the drug industry not enough to boost investor sentiment at least at the open. Merck buying rival Schering-Plough for $41 billion in cash and stocks.
The A.P. says that essentially the combined company anticipates cutting 15 percent of its workforce and that's what mergers are often all about, creating efficiencies and that sometimes removed a number of people who are deemed redundant. The deal comes only a few weeks after Pfizer announced it was buying rival Wyeth.
In the newspaper industry McClatchy cutting 1600 jobs, about 15 percent of its work force because of falling ad revenue. The owner of "Miami Herald" and "The Sacramento Bee" also plans to lower salaries.
Capital One financial looking to cut costs and preserve cash. It's slashing its dividend by nearly 90 percent. Capital One following the lead of rival JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
And here we are, the first 30 seconds of trading. Three major averages down at least half a percent in the early going, Heidi. Elan University rang the opening bell today. That's one area that we've seen growth, education, health care, government, and lots of folks going back to school are getting an advanced degree, sitting it out during this recession. Not a bad idea.
COLLINS: Yes, probably not. All right, Susan Lisovicz, thank you.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome. COLLINS: Under the nation's banking crisis now. Some leading Republicans say the White House should no longer bail out the failing giants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I don't think they made the hard decision, and that is to let these banks fail, to let General Motors go into bankruptcy and reemerge and reorganize with new contracts with labor and others. I don't think they've made the tough decisions. Some of these banks have to fail.
SHELBY: Close them down. Get them out of business. If they are dead, they ought to be buried. We buried the small banks, we got to bury some big ones, and send a strong message to the market.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Six hundred and fifty-one thousand people out of work just this last month; 8.1 percent unemployment. So I want to ask you the question Americans are asking, including this one right here on the front page of the "Times Daily" in northwest Alabama, when do we bottom out?
PETER ORSZAG, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: Look, it's very clear the economy is facing some tough times. We are inheriting the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression. Job loss began in January 2008. It's going to take some time for us to work our way out of this. But we acted quickly within the first month of -- after the president took office, enacted a recovery act to start back on the path to economic growth.
KING: Let me jump in on that point. Enact a recovery act. You've learned since then that the economy is even worse than maybe you thought just a few weeks ago. Will there have to be another stimulus plan?
ORSZAG: Well, look. We just got the recovery act into law. The money is starting to flow. Let's give it some time to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Republicans have been especially angered by the government's handling of Citibank. Billions of dollars have been pumped into it, and now taxpayers own more than 30 percent of it.
You don't have to be in default to get kicked out of your house. Did you know many people who are being evicted never even missed one single payment? Well, they are renters thrown out through no fault of their own. It's a growing problem as our Kate Bolduan explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA STEPHENS, FORECLOSURE VICTIM: OK, run the bases!
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Simply playing in a yard, Maria Stephens can call her own is a blessing.
STEPHENS: I was in a situation of no fault of my own. I'm a single mom with three boys. I'm just trying to raise my three kids.
BOLDUAN: Stephens was comfortably middle class, making $80,000 a year, when the housing crisis hit. She lost her job and ended up homeless living in a shelter with her sons for seven months.
STEPHENS: I promised my son -- I promised that I would do everything I could to get out of the shelter.
BOLDUAN: Stephens was a renter and was forced out of her home. Why? The lease dissolved because her landlord went into foreclosure. Leaving Stephens little notice or recourse.
STEPHENS: They are everything.
BOLDUAN (on camera): According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, about 40 percent of people facing eviction due to foreclosure don't even hold the mortgage. They are renters. And often unwitting victims.
LINDA COUCH, NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION: People who have been paying their rent on time, have been keeping up with their lease requirements, all of a sudden, are served with foreclosure notices.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Linda Couch says low-income renters are especially vulnerable because they don't have the money it takes to secure new housing in a pinch. Advocates like her want more protection for renters and more affordable housing options nationwide.
President Obama's 2010 budget proposal increases funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by $6 billion. Puts $1 billion towards housing for the poorest families and boosts funding for rental vouchers. Measures Couch applauds but argues don't go far enough.
COUCH: If banks and new owners tomorrow were required to allow people to stay in those homes for 90 days through the term of their lease, we would see an immediate and dramatic impact on potentially millions of people's lives.
BOLDUAN: Maria Stephens is finally moving on with hers. Renting another home but now saving a little more, just in case.
STEPHENS: I can look back in this picture say. I might have been there, but this is where I am now.
BOLDUAN: Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Home builders hard times. Fighting not just a recession but increased competition now from a market filled with foreclosures.
CNN's Brooke Baldwin joining us now from Atlanta with a story of one builder going to extremes to sell his home. So Brooke, we're talking about a veteran builder who is forced to get really creative to survive in this economy.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is exactly right, Heidi. Good morning. We're not talking all economic gloom and doom this morning. We're trying to tell a positive story of a veteran home builder, John Whalen. You've heard of him. He's been doing this for 39 years. He is trying to sell these homes.
Take a look around. He has sold about 30,000 homes in his lifetime from the upper 100s to 1 million. And we're here this morning because we are talking creativity as he is trying to get back on track, sort of as far as the road to recovery. And he won the America's Best Builder in 2005. And he is now, Heidi, take a look. He is sleeping on a mattress. He is sleeping on the floor. No, not necessarily what you think! He's doing this because he is trying to sell 101 Homes.
I have him next to me. John Wieland, the man, who has been doing this for so long.
Did you ever think that you would be sleeping on the floor essentially as a PR ploy to sell your homes?
JOHN WIELAND, JOHN WIELAND HOMES AND NEIGHBORHOODS: Never. I might have been a lawyer if I thought I'd end up on the floor.
BALDWIN: We should explain. So you're sleeping on a mattress in all of your empty homes as you try to sell 101 homes, no matter how long it might take you. Talk about the economy, talk about the fact that you are now competing with foreclosure prices and you had to get creative.
WIELAND: Well, housing is so important to Americans. It's important to the economy. And it's important just to the fabric of life. You know, we all live in homes and neighborhoods and so we're out here to sell homes. We're home builders. And we're going to build homes and sell homes, and this is a great time to buy.
I mean, prices have never been lower. We are competing with foreclosures, you mentioned that. And the other thing, interest rates at a historic lows. And the availability of homes is declining. So I'm living on the floor until I sell my 101 Homes.
BALDWIN: What -- did your wife think you're nuts? I mean, you really are sleeping. He has a mattress here in this room. You have a mattress in your Winnebago out front. You are sleeping on the floor, John Wieland.
WIELAND: I'm sleeping on the mattress! Not on the floor!
BALDWIN: Be honest, though. I mean, you have come from -- you have done very well in your 39 years. And now the links you're having to go, desperate times call for desperate measures.
WIELAND: Well, housing is then 80 percent national. And we're doing a little better than that, but not a lot better. And I'm out to change that. I'm out to get housing moving.
BALDWIN: Yes, there you go. John Wieland, thank you. He is leaving these everywhere he goes. He's driving around in Winnebago, get housing moving, Heidi. He is going to five different cities hoping to sell these 101 Homes, sort of a housing 101.
COLLINS: Yes.
BALDWIN: We wish him the best of luck.
COLLINS: All right, Brooke, we're going to check in and see how long it takes him, 101 Homes.
All right, Brooke Baldwin --
BALDWIN: He is hoping mid-April.
COLLINS: Mid-April. OK, very good. Appreciate it. Thank you, Brooke.
Science, politics and passion. Later this morning, President Obama lifting federal limits on embryonic stem cell research. That reverses a limit on federal funding that President Bush put in place more than seven years ago. Many conservatives believe embryonic stem cell research crosses an ethical and moral line and could open the door to cloning. Supporters say stem cell research could help cure diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson, and maybe even spinal injuries.
President Obama talking about his decision on stem cell research a little bit later this morning. We're going to bring you his remarks live. He is expected to speak at 11:45 Eastern and 8:45 Pacific.
Militants in Afghanistan now share the same brutal calling cards as their counterparts in Iraq. We'll show you why troops are being train to keep their eyes on the ground so they can stay safe.
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COLLINS: Well, the Midwest dealing with nasty weather. Heavy rain all weekend in Illinois, leaving roads flooded and more rain expected today. Seven counts under a flood watch now. And some counties experienced tornado damage, too. A mess left behind at this farm. The roof of the barn torn to shreds. Some farm equipment destroyed. Indiana also cleaning up from tornado damage.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I looked outside. Saw a bunch of milk cartons going flying by, and then a great big sheet 4x8 feet aluminum foil came by, sliding in trailer next to my window.
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COLLINS: Lots of damage at this mobile home park in Indiana. Trees littered with rubble or knocked down and three homes destroyed. Nearly 20 damaged in the tornado.
Rob Marciano joining us now from the severe weather center to talk a little bit more about this.
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COLLINS: Meanwhile, it was just one job, but 700 people showed up. It's not exactly what they went to school for, but in an economy like this, a job is a job. Show you what happened in Ohio.
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ANNOUNCER: Breaking news, revealing developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A reminder of Northern Ireland bloody path. Today, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited a military base there, where a pair of gunmen killed two soldiers on Saturday. Catholic Republicans in the region do have a peace corps with Protestants who are still loyal to the British government. But authorities believe the attackers are part of a militant Catholic off-shoot. Brown promises this attack won't derail the peace process.
Count one leader in favor of President Obama's ideas for dealing with the Taliban. Afghan President Hamid Karzai likes the idea of talks with moderate members. President Obama says it's working in Iraq with Muslims who were sick of al Qaeda. The new administration is giving a lot of attention to Afghanistan where the Taliban have been taking back power.
Militants in Afghanistan are now using IEDs with the same deadly precision as their counterparts in Iraq. Crude, but efficient. These devices are responsible for most of the casualties in the war, and they are getting even more sophisticated now. Paula Newton has the story.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That round could be rigged. When that magazine could be rigged which it is, it is attached to this grenade. Now he told you how much time you have for this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALES: Two seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One to two seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One to two seconds.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It's an improvised explosive device or IED. And the grim monotony of finding them and trying to dodge them has gone from Iraq to the battlefields of Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You check it out. Right? Then you do what?
NEWTON: They know the drill here, but the 425 brigade combat team from Alaska with many veterans of Iraq is getting a refresher course.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here is your TC-6 right here.
NEWTON: The fact is these soldiers are now less likely to fight the enemy face to face. The Taliban's terminator or weapon of choice now says the U.S. military is the IED. Responsible for 3/4 of all casualties, IED attacks have tripled so far this year over last.
COL. JEFFREY JARKOWSKY, C-IED TASK FORCE COMMANDER: It is a fact of modern warfare. This is the type of asymmetric attack that our opponents will use against us. And we have to be prepared to deal with that. And this is a fight that is worth fighting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, come on up.
NEWTON: Last week, as soldiers like these were training here at Bagram Air Base, just outside the perimeter, a massive explosion and a timely reminder. The IED isn't new, but by the military's own admission, it's working for the Taliban. Several contractors were injured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chances are, his escape route is going to be on that same line. You have this line. You have to look for more than just the obvious.
NEWTON: Back on base, the military line is blunt. They expect IEDs will kill even more soldiers and civilians this year.
(on camera): This counter IED training is crucial. The reason the Taliban continues to adopt its techniques and the explosions are ever more powerful and more lethal.
(voice-over): Three Canadian soldiers killed and two wounded last week, the latest dose of grief exacted by the IED.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I met my dream come true. Nobody can take that away from me. No roadside bomb can take that away from me.
NEWTON: But IEDs of all types kill more Afghan civilians than soldiers. Watch this 4x4 truck navigate the barriers. Now notice the school children on the right coming home from their last day of school. 14 never made it home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody looked in this direction. You're not going to pay attention to this. This is a pink cord.
NEWTON: So here as in Iraq, they're on the hunt for that crude, but effective weapon of war they know all too well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Let's go.
NEWTON: Paula Newton, Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan.
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COLLINS: They fought for our country, now some soldiers will have to fight for a job when they come home. Help veterans on the home front. It's today's snapshot across America coming up at 10:30.
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COLLINS: A job fair in Ohio turned into a real zoo literally. Hundreds of people showed up with resumes to fill positions at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium this weekend. Many of the applicants were overqualified for the minimum wage jobs. But they really didn't care.
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STEPH MIZER, HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR, COLUMBIA ZOO: It's heart- breaking to see people who maybe were making $60,000, now they will take a job that pays $7.75 an hour with no benefits. You know, they're literally up against the 16-year-old high school students, the 22-year-old college students.
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COLLINS: The Columbus Zoo plans to hold two more job fairs to fill seasonal positions.
Also in Ohio, just one job, but oh so many choices. Seven hundred applicants showed up for a job opening at a local school, and it wasn't for a teaching position.
John Kozak (ph) has the story now from Ohio.
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JOHN KOZAK (ph), OHIO REPORTER (voice-over): When the Perry Local School District placed this ad in the paper the other day for an afternoon janitor here at their Edison Junior High School, they figured they'd get a few applicants. In fact, it's so intense the interest in this job that the district is keeping the applications in a safe. Not surprisingly, many of the applicants are highly qualified workers with extensive skill trade experience.
BARRY MASON, PERRY LOCAL SCHOOLS BUSINESS MANAGER: Plumbing, tile work, electrical, carpentry, people certainly in the, I guess, residential building industry who are looking for a good stable jobs and a good pay.
KOZAK (ph): That pay starts at around $15 an hour. It's more the stable part that Mason sees as a draw.
MASON: The stability in the school system. Good benefits package. Just knowing where you're going to work each day, and what that shift's going to be.
KOZAK (ph): All of this has been eye-opening for Mason who now has the difficult task of figuring out who to bring in for an interview.
MASON: It's sobering for those of us that are employed now and happy in a job that we really enjoy that really makes you appreciate it even much more. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: A school superintendent said most of the applicants were laid off workers with hard luck stories about the economy.
Circuit City pulls the plug at one time. It was the second biggest electronics retailer in the nation. Now, all of its 567 stores around the country are closed for good. That leaves more than 34,000 employees without jobs. The chain filed for bankruptcy protection in November, but it couldn't swing a deal to stay in business.
As bad as unemployment is here in the U.S., some other countries had it much worse. People are without jobs and some are desperate in the global recession. And it's expected to get much worse. Some stories now from our international correspondent.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Matthew Chance in Moscow. The global economic storm has battered few countries harder than Russia. Just six months ago, this was one of the world's fastest growing economies. Now official estimates put the number of unemployed and looking for work at over 6 million people, and that figure is rising fast as more companies across this vast country close down. It's Russia's mining industry, its steel works, it's also manufacturing its chemical plants that are being hardest hit.
DAN RIVERS, CNN BANGKOK CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Dan Rivers in Bangkok. And it is the auto industry and the manufacturing industries, particularly those that are relied on exports, which are bearing the brunt of this recession. For example, the General Motors plant here had suspended production for three months. It's now started again, but almost immediately they're talking again about ceasing producing cars temporarily. They've already laid off some 1,200 workers, another 1,600 jobs are hanging in the balance. And that's just one company. This story is being repeated across the country. Unemployment at the moment stands at half a million, but they're already talking about that tripling over the next year.
EMILY CHANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Emily Chang on a roadside in Beijing. All of these trucks are parked here waiting for work. They normally haul construction supplies from one place to another. But since the beginning of winter, these truck drivers tell us demand has slowed down dramatically. Most of these truck drivers are migrant workers. The groups hardest hit by the economic crisis.
The Chinese government officially claims about 20 million migrant workers are unemployed. But some experts believe that number is more like 30 million. China has said it wants to maintain unemployment at about 4.6 percent. But again, some experts believe it's actually more like 10 percent.
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