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American Dad Freed from Japanese Jail; Dow Hits 10,000 Again; Attacks Target Pakistan Police; Get Flu Shots or Get Fired; Dead for 2 Minutes, 40 Seconds

Aired October 15, 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: Just in, surveillance video from an apparent hate crime. Two men accused of taunting a gay man, then brutally beating him.

And ref down. He says he was dead for 2 minutes, 40 seconds. He tells what he saw and what brought him back to life.

And it's time to make decisions about your health care plans through your work. We'll tell you about some big changes coming your way.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. It is Thursday, October 15th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A whole lot of stories to be covering this hour and happening around the world. First off, our Kyung Lah is in Tokyo, Japan. An American dad is now out of jail, but still in a very big custody fight for his children. We'll get to that.

Also, our Reza Sayah is in Pakistan this morning, where a new round of militant attacks is certainly raising security concerns for a U.S. ally.

And our Christine Romans, in New York City this morning, where the Dow opens above that 10,000 mark we've been talking about. A sign of recovery or just another number?

We get started this morning, though, with new developments in an international custody battle that we've been following. A Tennessee father is out of jail this morning in Japan, with abduction charges dropped. The dad who has custody rights in the United States was accused of snatching the kids from his ex-wife.

CNN's Kyung Lah is joining us now live from Tokyo with more on this.

So, Kyung, why did authorities decide to release him after keeping him for so many days behind bars?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, he was released, according to the prosecutor's office, and then those charges put on hold because he made a promise. He promised prosecutors that he would not attempt to try to take those two children, his own two children, back to the United States in this manner. The implication here is that he is not to have any contact with those two children in the near future. All of this dates back to a very bitter international custody dispute between Savoie and his Japanese ex-wife, Noriko.

According to court documents, Noriko took the two children out of the United States, abducting them, bringing them here to her home country of Japan, 8-year-old Isaac and 6-year-old Rebecca.

After she did that, a U.S. court awarded Christopher Savoie sole custody. But Japan doesn't recognize that U.S. court order. Also does not recognize a crime of parental abduction. So when he came here to try to swipe them back to the United States, Japanese police stopped him.

He was arrested and put behind bars on the charge of child kidnapping. But this evening, he has been released, this evening here in Tokyo, at least. The U.S. consulate said, very pleased that Christopher Savoie has been released by the Yanagawa Police Department, releasing this statement, saying, quote, "The U.S. government, together with the Japanese government, will try to find a long-term solution to the joint custody and parenting issues."

But no immediate relief for Savoie as far as this custody dispute.

COLLINS: Right.

LAH: But as far as this criminal case, at least for now, those charges are on hold and he is a free man tonight.

COLLINS: OK. Very good. We'll continue to follow that because, obviously, it all started as a custody battle here, so we will continue to follow the story in that regard.

Thanks so much, Kyung Lah, coming to us live from Tokyo, Japan this morning.

Christopher Savoie's case has a few similarities to a New Jersey father we've profiled here, David Goldman. Goldman's wife took their son to live in her native Brazil more than five years ago. She remarried then died during childbirth last year, but Goldman's custody fight goes on. Brazilian courts have so far sided with the Brazilian stepfather.

Goldman is scheduled to testify later this month at a congressional hearing on parental child abductions. The Supreme Court could hear a case this term on the rights of parents to have custody agreements enforced overseas.

A positive sign on Wall Street. Let's take a listen to this. All right, well, it closed trading with the Dow finally back over that 10,000 mark. It was the first time in more than a year that stocks climbed that high.

CNN's Christine Romans is joining us now live from New York with a little bit more on this.

So, all right, we talked about this yesterday a bit, with the Dow breaking 10,000. We were kind of thinking that it was going to happen yesterday, but what does that really mean? Is it just a number, or does this speak to confidence?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a number. It's a psychological mark. It's a milestone that when we first crossed it, all those years ago, it was a very big deal for the Dow to get above 10,000.

It's interesting that today the Dow is a much different animal. A lot of those components aren't even there anymore. Just think a year ago, GM was in this Dow index and it isn't anymore.

It has been an epic rally, Heidi. What it's told us is that we've avoided another great depression and that when we had 12-year lows back in March, we avoided the worst and all this money came back to move in the market.

The Dow, in seven months, Heidi, is up 53 percent. That is remarkable. That rally is just remarkable. The S&P 500, the broader gauge of stock market health, it might actually more represent your stock holdings, because this is 500 different companies, not 30 like the Dow. It's up 61 percent. The NASDAQ is up 71 percent from those March lows.

But to keep it in perspective, you still have the collapse of a lifetime, too. The Dow still...

COLLINS: Right.

ROMANS: ... from those all-time highs late in October of 2007, down almost a third. The S&P down 30 percent. The Nasdaq down 57 percent. So you might be scratching your head going, what does 10,000 mean for me? I still need to save more money for my kid to go to college. I still can't retire. I still lost a great deal of wealth. And that's true.

COLLINS: Or...

ROMANS: It is true that it is a huge rally and also it was a huge collapse.

COLLINS: Yes. Or, I lost my job, when we're talking about unemployment numbers. They really don't seem to match up, obviously. I wonder a lot about who's actually investing. Whose money is that we're looking at on the Dow?

ROMANS: And that's a good question. There's a lot of money going to work not only in stocks, Heidi, but in commodities. We've been talking about gold, as well. I mean it's been described to me as this wall of money that is maybe available by global stimulus. All this money in the system to try to keep the economies from collapsing last fall. Finding its way into these markets, driving up these markets. Also the idea that there's a recovery ahead and people trying to get ahead of that. We're seeing the profits from the banks, Heidi, helping keep the Dow moving here. We heard from JPMorgan.

We heard just this morning, in the last hour and a half or so, from Goldman Sachs. Its profit in the third quarter, Heidi, $3.2 billion. It, as they say on Wall Street, crushed expectations. It did very well, better than they thought.

Citigroup had a $101 million net income. Citi's got a lot more structural problems. JPMorgan Chase, $3.6 billion were its earnings yesterday. So there are some who say, gosh, they're feeling good on Wall Street, but Main Street is still suffering here.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. Quite a disconnect still, it seems.

ROMANS: Yes.

COLLINS: All right, Christine Romans, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Sure.

COLLINS: Turning now to Pakistan where more than three dozen people are dead this morning in a series of militant attacks. Militants launched three simultaneous assaults on law enforcement agencies today in the eastern city of Lahore. Two other cities were targeted.

CNN's Reza Sayah is joining us now live from Islamabad with more on this.

So, Reza, good morning to you. Have there ever been this many attacks in just one day in Pakistan?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, I've been here in Pakistan for nearly two years, I don't remember seeing this many attacks in one day. All of them seemingly well panned and well coordinated.

It's been an incredible day of violence. The first attack, 9:00 a.m. local time, a suicide car bomb ramming into a police station in the district of Kohat. Eleven people killed, three of them police officers. Kohat has been a district plagued by militancy because it's right next to Pakistan's often ungoverned tribal region, a region Washington calls a safe haven for al Qaeda.

Thirty minutes later we move to the eastern portion of Pakistan, the cultural center of this country, Lahore. That's where we saw at least a dozen armed militants attack and storm into -- actually penetrate at least three separate compounds.

Keep in mind, these weren't militants who blew themselves up and the attack was over. These appeared to be well-trained militants that actually engaged and took on security officers, a trend that we've been seeing recently a lot. By the time it was over, 11 militants were killed. One of them still missing. Twelve police officials killed. One civilian killed as well. Then about an hour and a half ago, 5:30 p.m. local time, an explosion in the city of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, targeting a residential building for government officials.

And this is where we see perhaps the most tragic element of these attacks, civilian casualties. One person dead in this attack within an 8-year-old boy. Eight other people injured. Among them, a little girl who's in critical condition.

And Heidi, you can be sure Washington is watching these events very closely, of course. Washington describes Pakistan's tribal region as the central front of the war on terror. Washington's saying without a stable Pakistan, there's not going to be peace in Afghanistan.

And certainly when you look at the events today, you see that peace appears to be a long ways away here in this country, Heidi.

COLLINS: It certainly does. All right, Reza Sayah reporting for us live from Islamabad this morning. Thanks, Reza.

A man going home from a New York deli. Police say he was first attacked verbally with anti-gay slurs and then attacked physically with punches and kicks.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. California storms are moving east, severe weather across the south, and our first real nor'easter of the season for the northeast.

The CNN NEWSROOM is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: New surveillance video to show you this morning of a brutal beating. Police say a man was targeted because he's gay. A second suspect has a hearing today in the apparent hate crime case.

A man was walking home from a deli in New York when two other men approached him. Police say the two hurled anti-gay slurs at the man then punched and kicked him to the ground.

According to New York one television, the victim suffered two collapsed lungs, a lacerated spleen, broken ribs, and a broken jaw, and is now in a medically induced coma.

New York Police commissioner, Ray Kelly, had this statement. Quote, "It's a despicable crime. The individual was attacked specifically for his orientation. We will not tolerate that in this city."

Flu shots are not mandatory for the public, but should they be required for health care workers? A New York nurse doesn't think so and now she's suing the state. CNN's Susan Candiotti reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a hospital in upstate New York, Nurse Sue Field was told get flu shots or else.

SUE FIELD, REGISTERED NURSE: If we did not comply with this mandate of receiving the H1N1 vaccine and the seasonal flu vaccine, that we would be terminated from our employment.

CANDIOTTI: New York is the only state forcing hospital health care workers to get vaccinated. Even private doctors who make hospital rounds.

DR. RICHARD DAINES, NEW YORK STATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER: When patients go to a hospital, they ought to have that expectation that the hospital and the workers have done everything they can to make it safe for them.

CANDIOTTI: Nurse Field is suing, arguing New York is overreaching. She's not against vaccines in general, but says hospital nurses already take extraordinary precautions to guard against viruses and still others say they aren't convinced the vaccine has been fully tested. And then there's this argument.

FIELD: I have an issue with the government mandating me to get these vaccines and telling me that if I don't comply, then I don't have a job.

CANDIOTTI: New York State Nurse's Association is backing her up, saying, quote, "The state emergency regulation is unwarranted in the absence of a declared emergency." Her attorney points to the Center for Disease Control and President Obama. Neither is calling for mandatory hospital vaccinations.

PATRICIA FINN, ATTORNEY: If President Obama recommends a voluntary swine flu injection I really don't see where the commissioner of health has the authority to mandate this particular group. It's arbitrary and capricious, we believe.

CANDIOTTI: But New York's health boss says his state may be leading the way to a national policy.

DAINES: We do things at a state or local level prove that they're safe and effective and practical. And then they're adopted nationally.

CANDIOTTI: Nurse Field says not so fast.

FIELD: Seasonal flu and H1N1 this year, what will the government then have the right to say they want to inject us with next year?

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Others, including New York's civil liberties union, are also suing over the mandatory shots, arguing they violate a constitutional right of health care workers to control their own bodies.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: All right. So, of course, we want to know what you think. Should the H1N1 flu vaccine be required, be mandatory for health care workers? Go ahead and log on, CNN.com/heidi, and you will find a little bit more about the story first and then go ahead and tell us what you think about it. We'll read some of these responses coming up a little bit later on in the show.

Over the edge and back again. A referee who collapsed on the field died and was revived. You'll hear his story and it's an incredible one, only here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Time now to check some of the top stories that we're following this morning.

Rush Limbaugh's flirtation with NFL ownership is over for now. The leader of a group trying to buy the St. Louis Rams says the inclusion of the conservative radio show host as a limited partner became a distraction.

Concern over Iran's nuclear program is behind a new bill from the House. It makes it easier for state and local governments to drop investments in companies that do business in Iran's energy sector. Twenty states already passed laws to cut ties with companies doing business in Iran.

The worst three months of all time. This is what an online marketer that tracks home foreclosure numbers says about the third quarter. RealtyTrac says more than 937,000 homeowners received foreclosure notices. That means one of every 136 homes in the United States are in foreclosure. Nevada is the hardest hit state with one out of over two dozen homes in foreclosure.

Let's head over to Rob Marciano now, standing by in the Severe Weather Center to talk about the weather for today and probably moving into the weekend a bit. Yes?

MARCIANO: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: We're keeping an eye on this storm as it develops today.

COLLINS: Yes. Very good. All right, Rob, thank you.

MARCIANO: You bet.

COLLINS: Well, I'm sure you've heard of near-death experiences. Today, we meet a man who was dead for nearly three minutes. He suffered what's known as sudden cardiac arrest and he tells our Dr. Sanjay Gupta what he remembers before he cheated death.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, it is worth talking about sudden cardiac arrest, because it remains the biggest killer of men and women in this country.

You know, you think about it, it kills more people than stroke, all types of cancers, and HIV/AIDS combined. If you have a sudden cardiac arrest in the field, your chances of survival are pretty poor, around 2 percent or 3 percent. But there are some things, some simple things that are making a huge difference.

Bob Schriever knows. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (on camera): It was right here, September 14th, 2002, about a minute into the third quarter, and Bob Schriever, the referee, was suddenly down. The fans, the players, the television audience were about to be in for a shocking sight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness. A referee has just collapsed on the field.

GUPTA (voice-over): For 65-year-old Bob Schriever, that video is sometimes still difficult to watch.

(On camera): You're suddenly down.

BOB SCHRIEVER, SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST SURVIVOR: I'm down, I'm dead.

GUPTA: What did you experience? What did you -- I mean, did you have pain?

SCHRIEVER: Nothing. Nothing.

GUPTA (voice-over): Schriever was in cardiac arrest on this very field during a high school football game. A team trainer, armed with the school's brand-new AED, or automated external defibrillator, shocked him back to life.

SCHRIEVER: That's scary.

GUPTA: Schriever was choking up as he showed me the video that day. And then he started to talk about what he remembered.

(On camera): What were you experiencing when everyone was seeing this?

SCHRIEVER: It's very peaceful. It's very serene. And it's extremely, extremely bright. I mean, it is bright. And I was -- I saw a place that I was supposed to go. I saw that halo and something was saying, go towards the halo.

GUPTA (voice-over): He says he was dead for two minutes and 40 seconds. (On camera): So this is the first time Bob's been back here. He just visited the place where he had a sudden cardiac arrest for the first time since it happened. He's going to toss the coin, something he hasn't done in a while.

SCHRIEVER: What do you call it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tails.

SCHRIEVER: He has called tails. It's the heads, you won the toss, your choice.

GUPTA (voice-over): But what happened on this field still haunts him.

(On camera): How often do you think about it?

SCHRIEVER: I think about that every morning when I wake up, first thing, during the day, I don't know how many times, and every night before I fall asleep.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: So, Heidi, sometimes it's the simplest of things that can really cheat death, to change that line between life and death. This is a defibrillator and you have these all over your building. And they are very simple to use. A lot of people should educate themselves on this.

You simply open the box and it literally has voice instructions on what exactly to do. It tells you to call 911 and then where to put the pads. The pads actually measure the heart rhythm and if it's an abnormal heart rhythm, it goes ahead and delivers a shock.

In the case of Bob Schriever, he was down, he was in sudden cardiac arrest, his heart simply wasn't working anymore and a defibrillator like this literally saved his life. You saw. Worth educating yourself on this.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: Boy, thank goodness that defibrillator was on the field for him.

Don't miss the primetime debut of Sanjay's special series, "ANOTHER DAY, CHEATING DEATH," this Saturday and Sunday 8:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

Well, it's open enrollment time and some of you are probably wondering, what's up with all these changes after getting your new benefits package? We'll take a look at what you need to know before you sign up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: On Wall Street, the Dow topped 10,000 yesterday for the first time in more than a year, as we get the opening bell for us today. But (INAUDIBLE) that level will today and in the distant future.

Let's go to Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange.

Hey there, Susan. I have to tell you thank you, because, yes, I got my hat, via Fedex.

Look at that. There it is.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So then I have to see what an on-air challenge. I am willing to wreck my TV news air if you are.

COLLINS: Oh, yes. The anchor helmet. Oh, yes. It's probably going to be better after we take them off.

LISOVICZ: I'm going to get a lot of memos. I know it, I hear it, I see it.

COLLINS: I love memos. You go for it.

LISOVICZ: Yes. OK.

COLLINS: What's going to happen? Why is this a big deal? I know it's the second time it's happened, 2.0 on our hats. But what does that mean for the people at home? Is it going to make a bit of difference to them?

LISOVICZ: Well, you know what, there are two things. One is that people invest when they see hope, when they're optimistic, when they believe that things are getting better. And not only that, it's for people just around. It's one of the things that makes people feel better, in general. The sky is no longer falling, and so they might order a bottle of wine tonight, as opposed to maybe just have one drink. They might, instead of doing a vacation...

COLLINS: Not that you're condoning that.

LISOVICZ: Not that I'm condoning it. It has to be a really good bottle of wine.

You know, they might take a weekend away instead of doing a stay- cation. It's that kind of thing that makes people feel better. And frankly, it's -- more people might pile on. There is that herd mentality after all, Heidi, comes with the market. Now, you're wearing a green jacket. I'm wearing a red jacket. We're seeing red arrows at the open.

COLLINS: Yes.

LISOVICZ: Why is that? Well, earnings from JPMorgan sparked the rally yesterday. Today, investors disappointed by Goldman Sachs and Citi results. So we're seeing a lower open.

Citigroup reported a $100 million profit, but when you account for some special things, the bank posted a loss of more than $3 billion. Goldman Sachs was a disappointment in terms of investment banking, a lack of takeover activity. So we're seeing both of those stocks getting pounded, and they're both Dow 30 stocks, I might add.

We're seeing some problems with loan losses. No coincidence there. New government report says more than 500,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week. That's the lowest level since January, continuing claims dropped below 6 million for the first time since March. Numbers still high.

Finally, let's just check the numbers real quick for you, Heidi. The Dow below 10,000.

COLLINS: Yes, that was fast.

LISOVICZ: After rising to that level for the first time in a year. But we're seeing modest losses. And, you know, things change, especially when you're getting a lot of information sent to you, like we are in these days where we're hearing a lot from corporate America.

COLLINS: Yes. And it's hard to figure out, really, you know, as we keep on saying, what it means for the people at home. Because, yes, you know, we're hovering around 10,000 or so, and that is a good number. But where we were before, when you were working...

LISOVICZ: Fourteen thousand.

COLLINS: Right. When you work in unemployment, when you work in these home foreclosures, a story that we just did, wow, at a record level.

LISOVICZ: It is a remarkable rally, though, Heidi. I'll tell you, we've seen extremes on the down side and on the up side in this economy, and that includes the stock market. And you can't deny it. The big gains we've made since March are just breathtaking, more than 3,500 points.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. Whose money is that, anyway?

I don't know.

All right. Well, we're watching all of it very closely.

Susan Lisovicz, thanks very much. We'll check back later.

LISOVICZ: See you in a bit.

COLLINS: President Obama is heading to New Orleans today. He's scheduled to leave the White House right now. It will be his first trip to New Orleans as president.

And CNN's Dan Lothian has more now on the city's rebuilding effort and their source of inspiration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most people across the country and around the world remember the New Orleans superdome as an ugly and dangerous shelter after Hurricane Katrina hit the city. But more than four years later...

JAMES ANDREWS, HURRICANE KATRINA SURVIVOR: This is my city here. Born and raised here.

LOTHIAN: Transportation business owner James Andrews sees something different.

ANDREWS: Now? Oh man, it's an awesome structure.

LOTHIAN: The building is sparkling and so is the record of the team that temporarily relocated but came back. The New Orleans Saints are 4-0. Some say this perfect season is a good metaphor for a city and region still struggling to recover, like Andrews, whose New Orleans' home was destroyed.

ANDREWS: The Saints represent the rebirth. The way they're playing now, even in that it's a rebirth. They're coming back, you know, just as the residents throughout the city.

LOTHIAN: Former Saints quarterback Bobby Herbert hears the optimism on his popular sports radio show. He calls it team therapy.

BOBBY HERBERT, WWL RADIO SPORTS HOST: I think it's like the underdog syndrome, you know, and truly embracing the team as a part also of an escape. You know, you could be having problems. You try to bounce back. Without a doubt, I think the Saints can do it, so myself, my family, and individuals that I can achieve, you know, different things in my life.

LOTHIAN: A Sunday escape from reality. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency as of August, 60,000 properties in New Orleans are still abandoned. There are still 1,500 people in Louisiana living in temporary housing. And the Army Corps of Engineers has not finished a $15 billion system to provide hundred year flood protection for New Orleans. The project is only a third of the way through.

A football team can't erase those problems with wins but Saints quarterback Drew Brees realizes it helps.

Is there any added pressure because winning really is in a way more than just a game, it's a psychological boost.

DREW BREES, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS QUARTERBACK: I wouldn't say it's anymore pressure but it's definitely something that we acknowledge, we realize and we think about. And I think it just drives us to, you know, be that much better when you understand what winning on Sundays does for this community and for the rebuilding efforts and giving these people hope and uplifting the spirit of the city.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian joining us now live from New Orleans. So, Dan, it's a quick trip.

Are people upset the president isn't spending some more time looking around the city?

LOTHIAN: That's right. Yes, that's right. You know, the president is only going to be on the ground for about three hours and 40 minutes or so. And a lot of people here, that's been one of the stories here. People are criticizing this president for not spending not only enough time here in New Orleans, but some of the outer communities and even on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They feel that he should come here, spend a day or two, walk around, really get a lay of the land.

What White House aides tell me, though, is that the president got a chance to really walk around, take a good look at this region, during the five other visits that he made here before he became president. And that he wanted to do something this time that he didn't do last time. That is to sit down and really listen to what people have to say. And so he will be hearing from them here at a town hall meeting here at the University of New Orleans.

And also the administration points out that since the president took office, it's January, more than 20 senior administration officials have made 35 trips here to the region. So they say the president is very committed to providing the resources to help this community recover.

COLLINS: All right.

CNN's Dan Lothian, watching the story for us today in New Orleans.

Thank you so much, Dan.

After New Orleans, the president heads to a fund-raiser in San Francisco. Protesters plan to be there outside the hotel. Anti-war activists and supporters of health care reform say they plan to be there to demonstrate. The president has no other events planned in San Francisco.

Five meetings down, one to go. President Obama still exploring various options as he reviews his war strategy in Afghanistan. His top general in Afghanistan wants as many as 40,000 more troops, but Pentagon figures show that may leave the army stretched too thin to deal with other threats. The president spent three hours yesterday with his national security team. No decision is expected until next month.

The battle over health care reform rages on. The newly passed Senate Finance Committee bill is getting criticism from both sides now. Here's what we know.

Congressional Republicans claim the plan will raise taxes while doing little to bring down rising insurance costs. Well, from the Democratic base, more than two dozen labor unions ran full-page ads in "The Washington Post" yesterday, ripping the bill for excluding a government-run public option. Senate, Democratic, and White House negotiators sat down for the first time yesterday. They are set to meet again on Monday.

Let's talk about your health care benefits. The ones for next year. As you know, it's open enrollment time and we are seeing quite a few changes.

Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis here now to help guide us through it all.

All right, so Gerri, good morning to you.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good morning.

COLLINS: What do we need to watch for the most here?

WILLIS: Well, there are big, big changes under way in your health plan. It's going to cost you more. We've been talking about it all week. Number one, the first thing you need to do is make sure your doctor is still in your plan. Be sure that the drugs you take regularly are still in what they call the formulary. That means you can bet the best possible price. Ask for help from your HR professional for this.

Also, read the fine print when it comes to dependent coverage. Companies are raising contributions for dependents. For example, an employee might be asked to pay $150 a month for himself, but $300 to add a spouse. And, by the way, this is a year you must compare plans between you and your spouse. If you and your spouse are both working, because there are so many changes to the plans, if typically one plan is always better than the other, hey, that could change this year.

COLLINS: Yes, no kidding. There's an awful lot to know this time around. Got to read it really, really carefully.

We're also hearing a lot about co-insurance. What's that all about?

WILLIS: Right. Yes.

OK, before co-pays and HMOs, many, many years ago, patients were responsible for meeting a deductible until their health care insurance kick in. And some companies are going back to those days. The thinking behind co-insurance is that you share a bigger chunk of your health care costs and risks. So when you go to the doctor or have a procedure done, instead of paying just a flat co-pay, which a lot of us do now, you pay the entire bill or a percentage of the bill.

COLLINS: Right.

WILLIS: Depending on your plan, you may have to pay both co- insurance and co-pay for every doctor's visit. Once you meet a predetermined out of pocket expense cap, then your health insurance plans -- it kicks back in and starts paying all of the costs. Likely, this will mean your coverage is going to cost you just a little bit more.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. When you're talking about deductions, that seems to be the thing that people really understand because it's so immediate.

How do you know what health plan is right for you at this point? People's heads are spinning.

WILLIS: Well, I can tell you how to analyze the costs. To get the best possible idea of what make sense for you. Compare the numbers. You need to know premiums and deductibles for each plan and then dig deeper. Find out if there are any plans that you're reviewing that have out-of-pocket spending limits. A limit is a good thing. It means that if you have a catastrophe, you'll limit your spending.

For example, breast cancer typically costs $100,000 to treat. If there's no maximum exposure for plan participants, you could be on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in bills. Add up the potential cost and determine which plan makes the most economic sense for you. You've got to add up all the numbers, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, no kidding. And then trying to think about health care reform in these bills that we've been talking about for many, many days. Everybody really trying to weed through it all, obviously.

Gerri Willis, thanks so much for the help on this one. Appreciate it.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

COLLINS: Checking out top stories now. Senior citizens got the news officially this morning from the social security administration. There will be no cost of living raise next year for the first time since 1975. But President Obama has asked Congress to approve a second round of $250 payments to senior citizens and other recipients to make up for not getting that raise.

The FAA wants to levy millions of dollars in fines against two of the nation's largest airlines for safety violations. The agency has proposed a $5.4 million fine against U.S. Airways for allegedly operating eight planes in violations of safety standards. And a $3.8 million fine against United involving one aircraft. Both airlines have issued statements. U.S. Airways blames its merging with America West for the maintenance operations. United said it self-reported the incident and has taken steps to meet safety standards.

Overseas, a series of militant attacks kills more than three dozen people in Pakistan today, including police and civilians. Police say militants launched nearly simultaneous assaults in the eastern city of Lahore, targeting law enforcement sites. About a dozen militants were also killed in the fighting. Others are still missing. The violence is aimed at stopping a planned Pakistani offensive into the militant heartland on the Afghan border.

A 10-year-old boy jumped into action, now his teacher says he saved her life. Here from them both in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A dream is still a possibility for an Eagle Scout who feared a high school suspension would ruin his chance of getting into West Point. 17-year-old Matthew Whalen was suspended for 20 days for having a 2-inch pocket knife in his car at school.

That violates the school's zero tolerance policy for weapons. Whalen, who is a member of the Army National Guard, says the military academy assured him the suspension is a non-issue in his application process.

A 10-year-old boy is being called a hero at his Houston school for saving his teacher's life. Kyle Forbes and his teacher were alone in class this week when she began to choke on an apple. He jumped into action using what he learned as a cub scout and performed the Heimlich maneuver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE FORBES, SAVED TEACHER: That was the first time I've ever saved someone's life in an accident. That's the first time I've ever done it.

Before, I was just like a normal kid with like a -- always like getting -- being picked on, but then I was like a super hero.

SHERI LOWE, TEACHER: He's in my prayers. And -- tell me not to cry.

FORBES: No, don't cry.

LOWE: Ok, he is my hero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: What you don't know is that Kyle is autistic. His dad says it is proof that children with autism can do anything others can do.

Remember when e-mail was the new way of communicating? Well, now some people say -- some say that's so yesterday.

What about Josh Levs? Josh, what's the deal? I think I know a little something about the e-mail responses we got to this discussion yesterday.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, basically everyone on the blog agrees with you.

COLLINS: Hello.

LEVS: And I don't -- just a shocking piece of news there. I don't disagree, it's just there was this big article we'll be telling you about. And I'll tell you Heidi, not only are people writing to us agreeing with you, so is an expert who is saying right here that e- mail will remain king -- I will show you all how you can weigh in.

Now, this debate is sweeping across the country.

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COLLINS: All right, so there are a lot of people out there who text and blog as you know. Still a lot of people out there though, who e-mail as well. We talked about this yesterday; big, huge debate. And boy, did we hear from you.

Our Josh Levs is here to tell us all about how right I am. Hi, Josh.

LEVS: Pretty much, it does play out that way. And you know what? This thing really is taking off across the Internet. Let me catch everyone up.

COLLINS: Sure.

LEVS: In case you didn't get the see the basics yesterday. It begins with this from "The Wall Street Journal" It's an article in which one of the writers Jessica Vascellaro (ph) says why e-mail no longer rules. And she argues that people are moving towards Facebook, Twitter, instant forms of communications.

Inset (ph) this as a response, Heidi. take a look at this from Ewe.com Clint Boulton who writes there, "Why Facebook, Twitter, Googles Wave still bow to the king, e-mail."

So it has become this discussion. Is e-mail on its way out or is it not? I'm going to read you some of your response. What I did first was I looked for some hard figures and statistics. Let's go to these graphics.

I want to show you all a couple things that we did find. First of all, the most frequently used Web sites in the world, Google as a search engine is the most used Web site and then you've got Facebook, according to this from hitwise (ph). So Facebook is the second most used Web site according to these latest stats.

Then you get down to Yahoo! Mail at three. The other mail that makes the top ten is Windows Live Mail at number six. But in order to create a real comparison you would have to combine all the different mail systems out there with Facebook.

So let's go to this next one. I'll show which "The Wall Street Journal" points to this and then we'll get to your responses. "The Wall Street Journal" has on this screen is they point to this study from Nielsen that looked at a bunch of countries and they found that in those country, 277 million were using e-mail. More than 300 million were using other things; certain social networking sites and community sites. So in those countries they did find that few more people in total using those.

But does that really mean that e-mail is on its way out? You all say absolutely not. Let's get straight to the blog. I'm going to show you some of what you had to say yesterday.

This is our question to you. End of the e-mail era? Let's give you all a few examples of what you said.

WSB wrote us the "Social networking is the equivalent of skywriting with an airplane or putting a 'Sally Will You Marry Me' sign at the back of the biplane and flying over municipal stadium during the Browns versus Steelers game. No way does social networking replace e-mail."

The idea here - this argument is that social networking is there to screen messages and not to send personal ones, Heidi.

Daniel is saying basically have same thing. Daniel says this: "E-mail is not supposed to be sexy or supposed to be live. It's supposed to be a method to send and receive data and not post data. I use e-mail daily for business and personal use."

COLLINS: Yes.

LEVS: Here's how you all can weigh in. And we'll show you how to keep this going CNN.com/josh is our blog. Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN, literally, everything we've got on the blog, Heidi. Every single thing was what you said that e-mail is alive. It's not going anywhere.

COLLINS: Where are the ones that say Heidi Collins was absolutely right? Unequivocally...

LEVS: Well, maybe that'll come in now.

COLLINS: You're right.

LEVS: We'll keep an eye.

COLLINS: All right Josh. We'll see you again shortly, thank you.

LEVS: You got it, thanks Heidi.

COLLINS: There's an awful a lot going on this morning. We do have our crews in place to bring it all to you. We want to get a preview now from our correspondents beginning with Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange.

All right, 10,000 that number. Where are we at now?

LISOVICZ: We're just above it, Heidi. It must have been that hot, the DOW holding onto that milestone which it reached yesterday for the first time in a year. We'll be breaking down that milestone and look at what it really means. That's at the top of the hour.

LAH: I'm Kyung Lah. In Tokyo an American father out of a Japanese jail after he was arrested to trying to kidnap his own two children, just the latest twist in a bitter international custody dispute. Heidi, I'll have that story for you coming up in the next hour.

MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Storm is rolling out of California but into the south some of them severe. Just getting a tornado warning now out of Moorehouse parish, in northeast Louisiana; if you live in that parish take cover, if you live east of there. Stay tuned, Heidi, because we have a big storm rolling up the east coast beginning tonight.

COLLINS: Ok, we know you're tracking it. And we'll check back with all of you. Thanks, guys.

In our next hour, helping seniors become tech-savvy, actress and activist, Florence Henderson -- Carol Brady -- working to make that happen. We'll talk with here live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A smiling image of Jaycee Dugard is on the cover of this week's "People" magazine; we showed this to you yesterday. The now 29-year-old woman was kidnapped at age 11 and allegedly held captive for 18 years by a convicted sex offender. Dugard's age progression was the focus of forensic work at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As a forensic imaging specialist, Joe Mullins is his own worst critic. His job with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is to try show the public what missing children look like as they age. He came up with this composite of Jaycee Lee Dugard.

So you had been working on Jaycee Lee Dugard's case and her facial progression for more than three years. You just saw this come out in "People" magazine. What was your reaction? You'd come up with this composite and there it is.

What was your reaction to that?

JOE MULLINS, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: I wish I had gotten her hair darker.

TODD: Mullins's work combines science and art to try to bring thousands of missing kids back safely. Working with forensic anthropologists and his own graphic technology, Mullins starts with photos of children close to the time they go missing. He focuses on unique facial characteristics like the gap in Jaycee Dugard's teeth.

MULLINS: We know enough about how the face will change over a span of years and the lower two-thirds where all the significant change is going to take place. The baby fat will -- slims off because of more angled shadows here in the jaw. And it's just a matter of building up the image.

TODD: Composites of younger children are updated every two years. For those over 18, it's every 4 years. This unit also takes real skulls and digitally reconstructs them to help identify remains.

One of the key components of age progression technology is that this center asks the biological parents to provide pictures of themselves when they were the same age as the child who went missing when they meant missing. Jaycee Lee Dugard's parents were not able to do that.

But here's how well it can work when parents are able to do it. This is a real case. Randy Rubenstein went missing at age 3. His biological father provides this picture of himself. Then they merge the two pictures together. Come up with this and then progressed to this composite. Look how close it is to the actual picture of randy when he was recovered at age 9.

For the director of this center, this is all about making sure the world doesn't forget.

ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: The reality is in these long-term cases, law enforcement runs out of leads, the media spotlight dims, everybody forgets except these searching parents. So our goal is to keep the case alive.

In the end it was not this composite picture of Jaycee Lee Dugard that helped in her recovery. But this unit has had plenty of success in the 20 years it's been operational. Officials here say there have been more than 900 cases where kids have been recovered safely with the help of age progression technology.

Brian Todd, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)