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Doctor Finds Second Career Selling on EBay; Hillary for President in 2016?; When Emus Attack

Aired October 13, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, thanks so much.

Even in Congress, you can only debate, negotiate, posture and spin so long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), CHAIRMAN, SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE: Now pretty much everything's been said and now it's time to get the job done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, the last congressional committee to take up health care reform is finally ready to vote. But first, a few words from the sponsor, and everybody else.

A school lays off three teachers. Do the students, A, go to other class, B, go home, C, teach themselves? A teachable moment for one Detroit principal.

And a Miami zookeeper calls Florida the Ellis Island of exotic species. He isn't bragging. Pythons, raccoons, toads, oh, my!

Hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

What happens today in the Senate Finance Committee won't change how you get your health care, but reform won't happen without it. For months the panel tried and tried and failed to write a health-care bill with Republican support.

Now it's set to vote on a measure that's supposed to cover 94 percent of Americans, and trim the federal budget. Or trim the federal deficit, rather. The price tag is set at $829 billion over 10 years.

With 13 Democrats on the 23-member committee, the Baucus bill seems pretty sure to pass. You'll see it -- the vote. actually. live right here on CNN. And when you do, keep an eye on Republican Senator Olympia Snowe. She just announced she will join the Dems in voting yes.

All right, let's push forward. Assuming the bill passes, then what? More and tougher battles lie ahead. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser can hardly wait. And, you know, we've been talking about this darn Senate Finance Committee forever, and ever and ever, all kinds of hype. So, bring it to me. What does it mean today?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You're right, Kyra, it sounds like we've been doing this for about a year now. But this was big. What just happened was big. Because one of the huge question marks and one of the reasons why we were paying so much attention to the Senate Finance Committee was that it the only -- last chance, really, in Congress for any kind of Republican support.

Well, we just found out, as you said, that the only Republican -- that the Republican from Maine, the moderate senator from Maine, moderate Republican Olympia Snowe, will vote yes. She said that she wasn't crazy about this bill, but she said this is better than doing nothing. So this is one of the huge, huge things we've been keeping an eye on.

And why, Kyra? Because there have been four other committees in Congress that have been dealing with health care. They all passed their bills already. And do you know what? Not one Republican on -- in those committees voted yes.

So, this was the bill everybody was looking at, the one chance that maybe some Republicans would come on board. Well, we just found out, yes, she will. Olympia Snowe will come on board -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. And now you said, you know, that the talks go off the cameras, as you put it. I love it. Now comes the arm twisting, the horse-trading, you know, all the behind conversations. So, basically, when are we going to see something? Christmas?

STEINHAUSER: You know what? It could be Christmas. Ted Barrett (ph) and Deirdre Walsh (ph), they're our producers on Capitol Hill. They were joking with me that yes, they may be working Christmas week. It could come to that.

What happens exactly next? Well, the Senate now has -- is going to have two bills: the finance committee bill and the health committee bill. They're very different. They're going to have to try to merge those two together into one bill and maybe vote by the end of this month on the floor of the Senate.

But as you said, yes, it's all behind closed doors now, because the leadership is going to meet behind closed doors to try to work it out and get one bill.

The same thing is happening in the House, where Nancy Pelosi is doing the exact same thing. She has three committee bills that she has to merge into one. Now Pelosi says that, whatever bill they get in the House, it's probably going to have some kind of public option. It could come back in the Senate, as well, so that's another big flashpoint.

Kyra, then when you eventually get a Senate and House bill, you've got to bring them together into a conference committee. This thing's going to go a while, Kyra. We're going to keep talking for a while.

PHILLIPS: I know. As usual, it's nothing new for us. Thanks, Paul.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about those premiums. The insurance industry claims that they chewed up 111 percent under the Baucus bill, 79 percent under the status quo. Reform supporters are calling those figures bogus, and now the accounting firm that produced them admits it didn't look at the entire legislation.

Gerri Willis, can you help us sort out fact from fiction, please?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Yes. This is a toughie. Isn't it?

PHILLIPS: But either way, it seems like we're getting hosed. We're going to be paying more.

WILLIS: Yes. OK, short answer, yes. But the long answer is we called PricewaterhouseCoopers. They're not commenting publicly on the story, but they did send us an e-mail. And that e-mail said the Senate bill has other provisions that were not included in their analysis. The report did not estimate the impact of the new subsidies on the insurance costs to households, and if the bill brings lower health-care costs in the long term, those improvements would offset the findings in this report.

OK, so now you're saying what were the findings of the report? Let's take a close look at those.

For a family of four under the Senate finance bill -- that's according to this study -- the average premium would be $25,000 in 10 years. Under current law, that premium would be just $21,9219.

For singles coverage, the average premium would be $9,700, with the changes, in a decade. And under current law, the premium would be $8,200.

Now, let's keep in mind here, the report was commissioned by the insurance industry. So, at the end of the day, they're paying for this analysis. And you can draw your own conclusions.

PHILLIPS: So, Gerri, why such a discrepancy in cost?

WILLIS: Well, the report says that higher costs will be a result of new taxes on insurers, like the excise tax on expensive Cadillac plans, and what they call -- what they call a weak requirement that Americans obtain health-insurance coverage.

As you can tell, though, here, Kyra, a lot of things are being debated here. A lot of these numbers are not hard and fast. It's all predicting what's going to happen in the future, and experts can disagree.

PHILLIPS: Gerri Willis, good to see you.

WILLIS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, how many more meetings is it going to take? Tomorrow, the president hurdles with his -- or huddles, rather, probably jumping over hurdles, too, with his national security team again to talk about strategy in Afghanistan.

They're going to be back at that table, debating whether to send more troops and how many. The top commander wants up to 40,000 more.

But, wait. Does that mean 40,000 fresh and new troops? Probably not. Next hour, we're going to talk about the Pentagon math where one plus one might not equal two.

And this hasn't happened since 2004. A Spanish premier invited to the White House. President Obama's meeting with the prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, for a find of fence-mending exercise you could say. Spain and the U.S. haven't really gotten along since Zapatero declared the Iraq war illegal and pulled Spanish troops out earlier.

It's not Hillary's first time in Moscow, but it is Secretary of State Clinton's first time. So much to talk about with Russia's foreign minister, from sanctions on Iran and North Korea's nukes, all the way to a strategic arms treaty and NATO expansion. Now, Clinton hopes to plant some diplomatic seeds, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We are different countries. We have different historical experiences, different perspectives. But we are planting those disagreements in a much, you know, broader field of cooperation. And hopefully, we are enriching the earth in which this cooperation can take root.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Russia isn't on board when it comes to sanctions against Iran. The foreign minister saying they'd actually be counterproductive.

If Pablo Escobar is looking up from hell, you got to think he's all smiles today. His city once again a cauldron of cocaine, blood, and tears.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Medellin, Colombia, a city now infamous -- or actually is infamous with dead drug lords and especially Pablo Escobar. That's the name that really put on it the map. Years after his body was taken off a rooftop, the city's drug war rages on.

CNN's Karl Penhaul got so close to these drug dealers, it's pretty scary. A quick warning, though: some of this stuff is pretty hard to watch. Here's Karl's report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A father shakes his fist at heaven and asks why. That's his son in the coffin, blown away by a gang on the payroll of Colombian cocaine capos.

Seventeen-year-old Joaquin Lamo Lauero (ph) was at the school gate, a bullet in the head, another in the neck. His aunt says he wasn't part of any gang.

MARIA DEBORAH OSPINA, AUNT OF MURDER VICTIM (through translator): He wanted to be somebody in life and help his family progress. He wanted to study at university, become a great lawyer, and win justice.

PENHAUL: A couple of cops who escorted us into this hillside slum tell a different tale. They say Lauero (ph) was from a bad family, and his brother is doing a prison stretch for murder. Fallen gang fighter. Or innocent victim?

His aunt blames his murder on turf wars that are once again gripping Medellin.

OSPINA (through translator): I guess he was killed because of the gang wars. You cannot go into certain places and cannot cross certain lines. They hit you where it hurts the most. They kill your family.

PENHAUL: Many at the wake do appear to be gang members. Some are packing guns.

Mourners hoist the casket, then carry off their dead down narrow alleys.

I head out across Medellin to try and figure out why drug violence is spiraling. High up here in the northeastern commune, there's a statue of the Virgin Mary of Calm (ph). Catholics believe she protects souls in purgatory. Maybe they should have put an effigy of Cerberus, the hound that guards the gates of Hell.

Life here resolves around two things: guns and drugs.

"CHIEF", MEDELLIN GANG LEADER (through translator): Here it's the rules of the street. The rules don't change. They will always be the rules. Here or anywhere else.

PENHAUL: He's the gang leader. They call him Chief. My sources say he's made so many enemies, he can't step outside his patch.

"CHIEF" (through translator): We're all human, and we all get afraid. I'm afraid my life will end suddenly, before I can do anything to get out of this war.

PENHAUL: "Everything comes to an end," chirped the lyrics of a salsa classic on the radio. But, for now, there's work to be done. Gang members roll marijuana or pose with their firepower. By nightfall, they'll have 1,000 joints to deal on street corners they control.

Colombian authorities say drug peddling in Medellin is worth $6 million a month. Cartel capos believe that's worth fighting for.

The day before we met, Chief buried one of his own.

"CHIEF" (through translator): I couldn't bear to look in the coffin. They killed him downtown. We don't know who did it. But a girlfriend of his took him down there, so the day they brought his body back up here, we killed that crackhead bitch.

PENHAUL: That conversation is cut short by news that the drug boss who sponsors this gang has sent a delivery. Lookouts are posted in case police or rivals try to muscle in.

(on camera): So, the gang members are telling us that the kilo of cocaine they've been waiting for all afternoon has now arrived. So we're going to follow them to a different location and see how they cut it.

(voice-over): They've raided mom's kitchen for the tools they need. The job now: to break down a brick of pure cocaine and cut it with caffeine and dentist's anesthetic. They sell a gram for as little as a dollar, depending on how heavily they cut it.

Business mixes with pleasure. Their biggest pleasure: inhaling the cloud of pulverized cocaine from the liquidizer.

(on camera): So, they've been cutting cocaine with a fruit juicer for about the last hour, and there's dust going everywhere. Everybody's as high as a kite. They've been smoking marijuana. They've been doing lines of cocaine. They've been drinking beer. So now might be a good time to leave.

(voice-over): Before I go, I'm curious if Chief ever thought of getting out of the drugs, the guns, and the violence.

"CHIEF" (through translator): I dream of sailing away in a sailboat, alone and far away.

PENHAUL: But before he can live that dream, he first has to survive the nightmare of a cocaine war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Wow. Karl joins us now live from Bogota.

You know, Karl, when you see what's going on in Colombia, I still am amazed at the access that you got there. Let's talk about how this continues to affect the U.S.

PENHAUL: I think that really should be the question that every drug user should be asking themselves: whether you use marijuana, whether you do lines of coke. It's a question you should be asking yourselves, what has this got to do with me? What we see there in the streets of Medellin and what's going on across Colombia is that rival gangs, rival cartels, are fighting for a bigger share of what's a multibillion-dollar-a-year business. But most of that cocaine is being used by Americans, by Americans followed by Europeans.

And so, a lot of drug users that I know, at least, think that they're just having a good time; they're not doing anybody any harm. But the money that they're paying for their line of cocaine or for their bag of marijuana is financing the killing that's going on, on the streets in Colombia. It's financing this cocaine war going on here.

Each time you do a line of coke, you're putting some bullets in somebody's gun on the streets of Medellin. And I don't think it's any more complicated than that, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, well said, Karl. And just seeing your access and seeing these pictures, I have to ask you, with regard to authorities, police, military, those that, you know, get paid to fight the drugs, has it just become too overwhelming? Is it just too dangerous to fight these guys off?

PENHAUL: Well, really, the Colombian drug war, certainly the U.S.-backed component of Colombia's drug war, was launched by George Bush Sr., I believe, back in 1988 or 1989, when essentially the Cold War ended. The drug war, then gave way to the war on terror.

The drug war's never been won. It's not been won by the Americans. It's not been won by their partners, the law enforcers here in Colombia.

You do see the CSI teams in Medellin there. It's all they can do to keep on top of picking up the bodies. It's not anything like the glamorous "CSI Miami," where they've got, you know, a whole show to go and investigate one murder. There, when I spent the night out with the CSI team in Medellin, they were picking up a body or two bodies every single hour.

Then as far as the police and the army, well, for years, the power of the drug cartels, the money of the drug cartels, has been able to -- to corrupt law enforcers. Now, obviously there's a big fight against that kind of corruption. But the drug cartels still do, in many senses, have the upper hand.

And, of course, it sends ripples around the world. You've got the violence of the drug cartels, as well, in Mexico. That's because the cocaine is coming from Colombia. We've also got violence in Africa now. That's because some of the Colombian cocaine is going to Africa and then on to Europe.

PHILLIPS: Karl Penhaul, pretty amazing reporting. Thank you.

American guy splits with Japanese wife, and she splits with their kid. Now, dad's in legal limbo in Japan. Think you've heard this one already? You're wrong. It's another family, another custody battle, and another heartbreaker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Top stories now. We should know soon if a sweeping health-care reform bill clears the Senate Finance Committee. The panel poised to vote. The bill would cost $829 billion over 10 years, and it would require most Americans to buy insurance.

A Texas woman has waited nearly 20 years for an arrest in her rape and attempted murder. Now, a suspect is finally in custody. He's identified as Dennis Earl Bradford, arrested this morning in Little Rock, Arkansas. Police say DNA helped lead them to Bradford. The victim was 8 at the time of that attack.

No building permit for the makeshift Arizona sweat lodge. Two people were overcome inside and later died. Dozens more were attending a Spiritual Warrior program, hosted by self-help expert James Arthur Ray late last week. Nineteen other people got sick.

Twenty-four/seven, totally devoted to his son, and desperately missing his daughter. For the second time in two weeks, we're looking at an American dad fighting a custody battle in Japan. On the other side: his Japanese ex, who's also got Brazilian citizenship.

Here's CNN's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG MORREY, FATHER: OK, Spence.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than every day, more than every hour, every few minutes Greg Morrey clears 3-year-old Spencer's airway. There is no one else to help his son.

MORREY: It's unbelievable. It's almost surreal to find yourself in this situation.

LAH: Overwhelmed by the strain of their son's severe cerebral palsy, Morrey says his Brazilian wife left him and Spencer while she was pregnant with their daughter, Amelia. She moved several hours away and divorced him. Morrey says he has only seen his now 1-year- old daughter four times, even though under U.S. and Brazilian law, he'd be recognized as having joint custody.

MORREY: I think she deserves my love, basically.

Hey, little boy. And I think that she deserves to be with Spencer, and Spencer deserves to be with her.

LAH: But Japan's family courts have left the case in legal limbo for a year, not enforcing any international laws. To make matters worse, Japan lacks sufficient services for disabled children, so Morrey had to quit working. He's living off of his credit cards and wants to return to the U.S. to get Spencer better medical care, but if he leaves Japan, he fears he'll never see his daughter again.

MORREY: I'd actually like the Japanese family courts to place the welfare of the children above everything else.

LAH: Others are also fighting to get Japanese courts to recognize joint custody in the crime of parental abduction. They're rallying on the heels of American Christopher Savoie's case, whose children were abducted from the U.S. by his Japanese ex-wife. When Savoie tried to whisk them back to the U.S., he was arrested and charged with kidnapping.

SHANNON HIGGINS, FRIEND OF CHRISTOPHER SAVOIE: Japan needs to update its law, recognize the rights of children, and also recognize the rights of parents to see their own children.

LAH: In a study session of Japan's lawmakers Tuesday, parents urged an update of Japan's laws that right now only gives one parent custody of a child in a divorce.

(on camera): He likes to be carried?

MORREY: He likes to be carried.

LAH (voice-over): That change would begin to help parents like Morrey, who says he's stuck between going back to the U.S. to get help for Spencer or fighting to be a parent to his daughter.

MORREY: How do you make that choice? Right. It's not -- you know, once you're a dad, you're always -- you're always a dad.

OK.

LAH (on camera): We reached out to Morrey's ex-wife, who declined to speak to us. His case, while extreme, is not that unusual. An estimated 100 American families, and dozens more from the U.K., Canada and France, are fighting over the custodial rights of children in Japan.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, Kyung mentioned the Savoie case in her piece. Some follow up on that out of Japan. Christopher Savoie remains in jail, where his lawyer said he's being mistreated. Among the allegations, Savoie's been denied medical treatment and deprived of sleep. Japanese authorities deny all that. Meantime, they still haven't pressed any charges more than two weeks after Savoie's arrest.

Flooding, mud slides, plenty of fear. People in California bracing for a Pacific storm that could dump up to 6 inches of rain. They're already sandbagging in low-lying parts of San Francisco. And in southern California, a lot of the mud slide threat follows recent wildfires. They scorched hundreds of square miles and left a lot of hillsides pretty barren.

Chad Myers tracking the big storm for us in the CNN weather center.

Chad, what's the latest?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. If you are someone or know someone that lives downhill of where an old fire, where there's not much vegetation, you need to get out of the way or tell them to get out of the way. Because we could get 4 to 6 inches of rainfall on that mud, and then that mud starts to slide, anywhere here right along the spine of the Sierra or, for that matter, the coastal range, too, picking up quite a bit of rainfall.

All of that coming in from the low-pressure system out to the west. That low is making an awful lot of wind, as well, 40 to 50 miles per hour, even in the Bay Area.

Now, I know it says Sacramento, an inch and a half, Eureka, about the same. San Francisco, less than an inch. But if you notice these areas along the spine of the Sierra, some of this purple runs up here into 8 inches, 8 inches in the next 48 hours, will certainly run off and eventually make all of that dirt mud, and then that mud can start to move.

And, then, from Memphis all the way back down through Dallas, in an area that has been so extremely wet in the past couple of days, not getting any better. More flooding coming in, and this weather moves to the east into areas from Mississippi, Alabama, and even Georgia that have already seen flooding this fall already -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Chad, thanks.

MYERS: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Sorry, kids, no teachers. Go on home. That's what happened in Detroit. And it's got people pretty ticked off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I hear that a principal or anyone are sending children home, but for an extreme emergency in any of our schools, then I can tell you, heads will roll in the school district.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Heads will roll? It looks like there's not enough heads to spare.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A day off from school, but it's not what their parents wanted. Dozens of kids at a Detroit grade school were sent home yesterday because of teacher layoffs. Now, parents and school district higher-ups are furious. (INAUDIBLE) from our affiliate WDIV has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT BOBB, EMERGENCY FINANCIAL MANAGER: If I hear that a principal or anyone are sending children home, but for an extreme emergency in any of our schools, then I can tell you, heads will roll in the school district.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Strong words from DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb after learning of the rough start to the school week at McFarlane Elementary. Three teachers lose their jobs, and dozens of third- and fourth-grade students arrive to class Monday morning only to be sent home.

BOBB: A decision was made to send children home. That is never, ever an acceptable operations to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here's what happened. A guidance counselor is put in charge when Principal Carolyn Freeman is out of town. We're told that counselor was told to get in contact with district officials after learning of the teacher layoffs. When all efforts to make contacts failed, through the counselor, Freeman cancels classes.

KEITH JOHNSON, DETROIT FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: I'm sure that there's going to be some explaining to do, and, no, I would not be surprised to find her in a degree of hot water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Instead of being spread out to different classes, nearly 60 students are ordered to the auditorium to wait for their parents, who arrive upset, and some in disbelief.

JOHNSON: Unfortunately there's no circumstance in which anyone should be directed to send children home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: By the way, the kids at McFarlane Elementary School are back at school today with substitute teachers.

Thankfully, the story's different for a bunch of other schools across the U.S. today. Thousands of teachers are in the classroom right now. And it's because our stimulus dollars are being put to work, literally.

Stephanie Elam in New York with the details. So, Stephanie, where are all the teaching jobs?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you know, you take a look at a story like this, and it does give people hope. We're getting the first hard figures of jobs created by the stimulus. Now, not all the states have reported yet, and the full report won't be made public until the end of the month.

However, the early numbers show that education is a big winner. According to CNNmoney.com and the Associated Press, California saved or created 100,000 jobs by the end of September. Sixty-two thousand of those were in education.

And Michigan, of 19,000 jobs saved or created, more than 14,000 were education jobs. Go to Missouri, 8,500 jobs, education jobs were saved or created there, 5,900 in Minnesota and about 2,600 in Utah. As far as other areas showing jobs that were created or saved, think construction, public safety and transportation as well, Kyra. So, this showing that people are out there maybe not just holding on to jobs but also getting new jobs.

PHILLIPS: All right, so why is education the big winner?

ELAM: Well, take a look at what the Council of State Governments says. And they're saying education jobs are going to be the biggest driver of state jobs. That's because most of the stimulus money spent so far went to help states with their budgets. And most state funding traditionally goes to education.

But the key word when it comes to teacher jobs is saved, not created. remember, many states like California warned of big teacher cuts earlier this year because of budget issues, but then stimulus dollars helped alleviate that pressure by saving jobs, not necessarily creating jobs.

Of course, there's still a lot of problems. You've got some schools that have "pay to play" for sports. Some schools are cutting programs completely. Class sizes are growing, and less students are getting bused to school now.

But the report does offer hope that we're moving in the right direction and that this trend could actually continue since state governments still have a couple hundred billion in stimulus dollars yet to spend, Kyra. So, if there's any good news, especially during a recession, it is knowing that people out there have been able to hold on to their jobs.

PHILLIPS: Amen. Thanks, Steph.

ELAM: Sure.

PHILLIPS: This doctor's got the cure-all, all right, the cure for your money woes. She's making a wad of dough on eBay. Talk about having a plan B.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: You can just see the lawyers lining up. More than 200 patients who had CT scans at Cedar Sinai Medical Center got more than they bargained for, a lot more. An apparent computer glitch led to a radiation overdose.

Patients got eight times the radiation they should have, and the L.A. Hospital didn't find the mistake for 18 months. Forty percent of the patients lost patches of hair. Now, the FDA is urging hospitals nationwide to double-check their equipment.

He's 4 months old, actually and weighs 17 pounds. And he's part of the health care reform battle. A Colorado insurance company had denied the baby coverage, deeming him too fat. That's right, too fat. And did I mention he's 4 months old?

Now, Rocky Mountain Health Plans is changing its policy. It will no longer consider obesity a pre-existing condition for hefty infants.

She put her medical practice on hold to have twins, but a funny thing happened amid the diaper changes and breastfeedings. The doctor became an eBay whiz. If you've ever dreamed of making a mound of money online, listen up.

Here's our Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Jennifer Lickteig was a busy mom of two. Then twins arrived, forcing a career pause for the family practitioner. Between feeding and changing her genetically identical daughters, Dr. Lickteig was on eBay selling apparel and discovering she had the genes of a businesswoman, a trait that had been hiding behind her medical degree.

DR. JENNIFER LICKTEIG, EBAY ENTREPRENEUR: It's just kind of this thrill. You know, for me I thought that was the most amazing thing.

CHERNOFF: Natalie and Melanie are now 3 years old, allowing Dr. Lickteig to practice medicine again part time, but she hasn't given up on eBay. In fact, she says she made $120,000 selling on eBay last year, more than she makes practicing medicine. For her, it hardly seems like work.

LICKTEIG: I think it's the thrill of, like, having built up this business and just done it myself. You know, I don't have to get an MBA. I don't have to have a storefront. You know, this is like mine.

CHERNOFF: The doctor orders merchandise from wholesalers and uses much of her home and garage as a warehouse.

(on camera): Isn't this crazy? A doctor, like, buying all this warehouse stuff?

LICKTEIG: It sort of is. But I mean, it's just -- it's a business. You know, it's a successful business.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): So successful, she's the postman's best customer. Jennifer's husband, Larry, has a good job as an actuary. So, it's not as if Dr. Lickteig needs a second career, but you just never know when it could come in handy.

(on camera): How important do you think it is for people to have a plan B or an alternative?

LICKTEIG: Oh, I think it's pretty important. I mean, when you look at all the -- you know, the recession and people losing their jobs. I mean, if you have something to fall back on, there's a little bit of insurance.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Medicine still has its rewards for Jennifer. But like many doctors, she's frustrated that insurance companies and malpractice lawyers have so much influence on medical practices. LICKTEIG: If you had looked into a crystal ball and someone told you that you were going to have four children some day and given all the hassles of medicine, would you have ever done it? You know, then I would have said, heck no.

CHERNOFF: But this supermom is trying to do it all, juggling two sons, twin girls and twin careers. The ultimate balancing act for a doctor who believes in having a little moneymaking fun on the side.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Hiawatha, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Today could be a pivotal day for health care reform. A key Senate committee is poised to vote on a sweeping health care bill, and Maine Senator Olympia Snowe is on board. Snowe's the only Republican to back the compromise plan. It aims to insure 94 percent of Americans.

The man who's allegedly behind a 1968 plane hijacking is due in court today. Luis Soltren and his accomplices allegedly hijacked a Pan Am flight from New York and diverted it to Cuba. He finally surrendered to U.S. authorities over the weekend.

Don't threaten Iran with sanctions. It won't work. That's the word from Russia's foreign minister after meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Moscow. The two were talking ways to get Iran to prove its nuclear ambitions are peaceful. Russia believes pressuring Iran would be counterproductive.

Hillary for president in 2016? Not going to happen. Been there, ran for that. Enough. Clinton says she's not interested in going down that campaign trail again.

So, do you believe it? Or do you think she's protesting too much? Here's our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As declarations go, this one on NBC was pretty darned declarative.

ANN CURRY, NBC NEWS: Will you ever run for president again, yes or no?

(LAUGHTER)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: No.

CURRY: No?

CLINTON: No.

CROWLEY: A couple of weeks shy of her 62nd birthday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on the job, diplomating her way through the British Isles. BRIAN COWEN, PRIME MINISTER OF IRELAND: I'm delighted that she's taken time to visit us here today. I would of course like to take this opportunity to recognize and congratulate President Obama on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

CROWLEY: The Irish prime minister did say Clinton has been fundamental to Obama foreign policy, but it seems like kind of an "Ouch!" moment, given what might have been or almost was. But the former Democratic presidential candidate claims she has never wished she were the decider.

CLINTON: No, not at all. I am part of the team that makes the decisions.

CROWLEY: A debate over whether she's a key team player is one of Washington's 2009 parlor games. There are other foreign policy advisers the president knows better, and many who are closer in proximity to the presidential ear. One paper called Clinton largely invisible on big-ticket items, columnists suggest she's been marginalized. She calls that absurd and a misunderstanding of her nature as a delegator.

CLINTON: I would be irresponsible and negligent were I to say, "Oh, no. Everything must come to me." Now, maybe that is a woman's thing. Maybe I'm totally secure and feel absolutely no need to go running around in order for people to see what I'm doing.

CROWLEY: Clinton did make team play a hallmark of her Senate career and routinely won praise as a workhorse, not a show horse. And as one friend insisted recently, Hillary's always been a policy wonk first, a politician second.

Is it possible that the former first lady with the famous last name and a lot of ambition, the senator who came this close and still that far from becoming president looks no further now than where she is? In the unlikely, unpredictable life of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, all things are possible.

CLINTON: This is a great job. It is a 24/7 job, and I'm looking forward to retirement at some point.

CROWLEY: Now, she just has to convince everyone else of that.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: "Desperate Housewife" on TV, proud Latina in real life. Eva Longoria's got something to say about being Latina in America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The last few days of Hispanic Heritage Month and the last week before CNN's two-day special report, "LATINO IN AMERICA." You're looking at live pictures right now out of Capitol Hill, where a group led by the interior secretary, Ken Salazar, is announcing a push forward on a possible national museum of the American Latino.

Secretary Salazar bringing some star power with him to the Hill as well. Among the famous faces taking part today, producer Emilio Estefan and actress-activist Eva Longoria Parker. You can see her right there on the edge in the beautiful red dress.

CNN's Soledad O'Brien actually got the chance to talk to Eva for "LATINO IN AMERICA." Soledad joins us live from New York. She's become quite the activist.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. She's an activist, she's a director, she's a humanitarian, she is the executive producer of a documentary called "Harvest," which takes a look at child labor. And one of the things that I thought was particularly interesting about the interview that we did, she's Mexican American and I asked her about her family and her roots in this country.

And she said, you know, my family's been here for nine generations. So, if you do the math on that, her family predates the folks who came over on the Mayflower. She said, you know, I'm not sure when you ask, what does it mean to be Latino in America, she's like, I'm -- you know, my family's been here a long, long time. Talked about a lot about how the border literally moved across her family's property several different times.

And I think that's incredibly interesting when it comes to the idea of this museum. Latinos have had a long and rich history in this country. So, how they reflect that in this museum and how they also look at immigration and immigration reform I think is going to be very interesting to see.

Here's what she said about immigration reform, Kyra.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVA LONGORIA PARKER, ACTRESS: It's so funny that people -- this is -- immigration is such a hot topic or an emotional button for people when we are a country founded on immigrants. I don't understand that. It's hard for me to understand as an American how we don't accept the idea that immigration reform is not only needed, but it's going to be inevitable, you know, specifically with Mexicans.

Not only do we share thousands of miles of a border with this country, and thousands -- I mean, hundreds of years of history, there's a cultural cross-pollination that's happening. And the United States houses the largest Latino population outside of Mexico. So, the fact as an American you don't accept the idea that there should be a path to citizenship, it baffles me because I think it's needed not only for Mexicans, for Chinese Americans, for Irish Americans. Whoever wants to become an American citizen, I believe there should be a path for them to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: So, Kyra, as they examine whether or not this museum will be viable, one thing to keep in mind is that in 2007, there was a report that said the majority of Latinos in this country, they are not immigrants. They are U.S. citizens, 70 percent. Thirty percent of those, the majority are on a path to citizenship already. So, how that's reflected in this museum, and how, you know, how do you do a Latino museum when really the story is an American story, I think we'll be very curious to see. We have similar issues as we do our documentary as well -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, we sure look forward to it. Thanks, Soledad.

You can have much more of Soledad's interview with Eva later on in "THE SITUATION ROOM." They're on the air from 4:00 Eastern, and we're in the final countdown to "LATINO IN AMERICA."

Pushing forward now to the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, if and when more U.S. troops roll into Afghanistan, where will they roll in from? Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt helps us with the moves and the math.

Plus, imagine selling yourself for a cell phone. Some young girls don't have to imagine. They're actually doing it -- sex for pocket money. They call it compensated dating. I call it prostitution.

Do as I say, and not as I do. I'm kind of conflicted actually about this next story. It's actually coming from Arkansas. On the one hand, you have parents paying for their kids to go to Harding University. Christian school, strict Christian rules, no smoking, no drinking, can't even dye your hair.

And yes, you can't gamble unless you're playing the lottery. That's OK? Why? Because the money goes towards scholarships. Hypocritical or totally Biblical? Even the 11 disciples cast lots when it came time to replace Judas. Let he is without needed scholarship money cast the first stone.

People in Florida fearing an attack, not by robbers, not by carjackers, but by pythons, lizards, even raccoons. Listen to the dude with the snake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON MAGILL, MIAMI METROZOO: This place has become the Ellis Island of exotic species, because so many animals come through here. First of all, exotic species, this is a big port where they enter, but then so many people keep them as pets, and they either escape or they're released, and then they start to thrive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, what if your neighborhood turned into a zoo with no cages?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Picture this, you're face to face with a python or a pack of hungry raccoons. You're not watching "Wild Kingdom." You're not on safari. You're in your own neighborhood.

So, what's going on here? People in Florida want to know because their state is turning into an open-air zoo.

Here's our John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Florida, the usual suspects are increasingly unusual, not even human.

LT. LISA WOOD, VENOM RESPONSE TEAM: We managed to pull it out of the weeds and take it into custody.

ZARRELLA: This python found at a Miami nursery, 13 feet long. In Tampa, a family of attackers, all wore masks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at my neighbor's house who was just attacked by some raccoons. She's cut very badly.

ZARRELLA: The raccoons made their getaway after injuring an elderly woman.

KRISTI TURNER, NEIGHBOR: We used to be able to let the children just play in the backyard. And I just don't feel safe doing that anymore.

ZARRELLA: Seven-year-old Madison Wells would agree. She has 23 stitches in her foot, courtesy of an iguana.

MADISON WELLS, BITTEN BY AN IGUANA: I thought I was going to be dead. It wasn't fun.

ZARRELLA: Near Pensacola, an emu like this one clawed a woman who got too close.

So, what's going on? Why are animals on the attack?

MAGILL: First of all, if you run into anything in the wild, leave it alone.

ZARRELLA: The problem, says Miami Metro Zoo's Ron Magill, is animals and humans are colliding more because of the continuing loss of wildlife habitat. On top of that, the climate is perfect for exotic species that shouldn't be here at all, like this python.

(on camera): Oh, yes, that is a load.

MAGILL: Oh, yes, it's a load.

It's a load. It's a big snake.

ZARRELLA: Wow.

MAGILL: This place has become the Ellis Island of exotic species because so many animals come through here. First of all, exotic species, this is a big port where they enter. But then so many people keep them as pets. And they either escape or they're released, and then they start to thrive.

ZARRELLA: Like the bufo toad that excretes a poison that can kill a dog, and this fearless night nole (ph).

MAGILL: He'll bite you. He'll bite you.

ZARRELLA (on camera): Oh, yes. Look at that.

MAGILL: They're just aggressive.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): And iguanas, they're everywhere: sunning in a tree, hanging out in the grass near a canal. And they don't scare easy.

(on camera): But I can probably pop over here, because I don't want him to come after me. But, look, we can come right up to him right here and come close before he actually takes off.

(voice-over): With no way to eradicate flourishing nuisance species, wildlife experts say confrontations are only going to increase. And in a decade or two, Florida might be a zoo on the loose.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)