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North Carolina to Release Imprisoned Killers, Rapists; Insurance Co-Pays Rising; Program Lets Wounded Soldiers Find Closure

Aired October 19, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Kyra Phillips from New York City!

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, thank you so much.

What does life mean to you? Well, for some of North Carolina's most ruthless killers and rapists, it means freedom from prison cells they thought they'd never leave.

The justice of the peace says he's not going anywhere. He's not apologizing for not marrying mixed-race couples. He's not making any friends, either.

And if you're a man in the U.S. labor force, you're about to become a minority. It's a woman's nation, and that changes everything.

Hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips, live in New York, and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, as dirty little secrets go, domestic violence -- husbands beating wives, wives beating husbands -- it's one of the worst. But right now in Washington, it's out in the open.

The Justice Department is about to mark Domestic Violence Awareness Month with our survivors' stories, support providers, and new facts and figures on offenses. Attorney General Eric Holder presides, and we'll listen in as soon as he steps up to the mike.

In the meantime, consider this: an estimated one in three women worldwide is beaten, forced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime. That's from the Justice Department and the CDC. And almost three out of four murder-suicides involve an intimate partner, like a spouse, ex-spouse, common-law spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.

Now the meaning of life from the highest court in North Carolina. The court sided with an inmate serving life in prison for not one but two murders. The ruling means that the killer and several other lifers will go free October 29, one week from Thursday. And the state supreme court upheld the wording in a 1974 statute, which defined life in prison as 80 years.

With time off for good behavior, some life terms would be up, including Steven Wilson's. He kidnapped and raped a 9-year-old girl 30 years ago. His victim spoke to a reporter from CNN affiliate WITN, who asked her a very tough question. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BALDWIN, WITN REPORTER: If you saw him on the streets today, what would you say to him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, as I reflect back and I get really -- learn more of the story about what happened to me, and how it destroyed my family and my mother and my uncles, how it changed my childhood, how it basically destroyed my family, what would I say to him, is not what I would say to him. It's what would I do to him? Because I feel like he shouldn't be living on this earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the North Carolina Justice Department tells us this. It's tried everything it could and everything it could think of to keep those inmates locked up. But the high court has the final say. Legally, maybe, but my guests can't wait to weigh in.

Joining me in New York, HLN's host Jane Velez-Mitchell; and in Atlanta, criminal defense attorney, B.J. Bernstein.

B.J., let's go ahead and start with you. These are pretty savvy criminals, I guess we should say. They actually investigated this obscure law in '74, and now look. They're going to walk the streets.

B.J. BERNSTEIN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: But they are going with what the law says. I mean, the North Carolina Supreme Court said so, because it's based on something from 1974, where the state legislature passed a law saying life means 80 years. Then in the 1980s, they passed laws in North Carolina which allowed, essentially, to cut that time in half to 40 years. Plus, credit for taking courses, credit for good behavior. And so you now have the situation where these inmates are able to get out.

PHILLIPS: OK. But law or not, Jane, I know you want to weigh in on this. I mean, you know, this is a law from the '70s. And we're talking about rapists and murderess -- murderers walking the streets. I mean, there's a huge outrage factor here.

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN ANCHOR: You have a very high probability of going out there and raping again. So there are women walking the streets of America today who are going to be undoubtedly raped and murdered because of this decision.

This is part of the war on women. We talk about it on "ISSUES." It's an undeclared war. I think it's time for us women to declare it. There is a war on women. This is part of the subrogation of women.

If these judges themselves had been raped, they would find a way to keep these guys in prison.

And we have a crisis in this country. You know, rape is at a 20- year low. Oh, wonderful. Do you know how many women were raped last year, according to the FBI? Eighty-nine thousand. And that's in one year alone. And that's just the reported rape. It doesn't include the non-reported rapes.

So we, as women, are gaining more power, more power in the workplace, more financial power. What we need to do is to gather together as a gender and say, enough. We're not going to put up with this any more. And we've got to have a new wave of feminism. And march on Washington and say, "No, you don't let rapists out."

PHILLIPS: Well, B.J., you know the law. You're a defense attorney.

BERNSTEIN: And I'm a woman, too, and I've got to tell you, the law isn't that way now. That law was passed by legislators, and elected by the people of North Carolina in the 1970s and '80s.

PHILLIPS: So how do you change the law? Can you change the law, B.J.?

BERNSTEIN: You can't change it retroactively, and that's part of the big issue here, is that once a law is on the books, that is the law that applies for a sentence that happens at that time. And that protects the entire system and the rule of law for a lot of people.

PHILLIPS: OK, well...

BERNSTEIN: Jane's right that it has to change, and it has changed. It's just that these people have fallen through what should not possibly have happened in the 1970s.

PHILLIPS: Then let me throw this out, then. If you want -- if we want to stick to the law here. OK. They're being released. One of the factors, good behavior. Some of these criminals in fractions, up to 27 in fractions. And a fraction could be a sexual act, a verbal threat, weapon possession, fighting, disobeying orders.

So how is it that any of these individuals could be released on good behavior when there's up to 27 in fractions on a number of these guys?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It's an upside down world. It's an arcane language. Nobody can ever figure out how much time a person is going to serve once they're sentenced, because they can chip away at their sentence with all sorts of merit programs, getting a degree, doing a certain job.

And you're right. It's crazy. One of the person who's going to be released actually attempted to commit the same crime he was jailed for initially. He assaulted somebody with sexual intent. He was locked away for raping a women when she was 9 years old. So how -- how possibly could this person be freed for good behavior? And yet it is happening.

We have to stop just accepting male violence against woman as business as usual. And it's time for women in America to stand up and say, "You know what? We are being accused of psychological burkas." In America, we look down our nose at other countries where women are stoned when they walk down the street. How is that different from a woman walking down a country road and getting abducted and raped in America? How is that different from me be afraid to walk my dogs at night in Central Park, because I could be killed? And so we are being forced to wear psychological burkas in America.

BERNSTEIN: In the 1970s we were doing that. And now, 2009, the laws are very different. There are mandatory minimums. We have ended parole in a number of offenses in each state. That's not necessarily the case. This -- we can't go overboard with this. I mean, constantly it's a concern, the protection of women, children, anybody from any violent offense.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look, I've got to say that we have to imagine a world without rape, and if we can't imagine a world without rape, then it's a sad commentary on all of us. And to say that things are under control when there's 89,000 reported every year, to me is an obscenity.

We have to first imagine what we want. And say what we want is a world when women can walk around in America without fearing for their lives, and that's not true today.

PHILLIPS: And let me button with one more thought, because B.J., you're a very well-known defense attorney. We know how many times these types of criminals repeat the crime. And so I think that that is a tremendous concern as these inmates are paroled, that they're going to go and do the same thing again: rape a 9-year-old girl, murder a state trooper. I mean, these are the crimes that these people have been in for.

BERNSTEIN: Absolutely. And that's legitimate. And you've got to remember, these are the type of guys who are going to be on the sex offender registry. They are still going to be monitored. They will still have to be registered.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That worked really well with Philip Garrido, who was sentenced to 50 years for raping a young woman and then was released after 10 years and proceeding to allegedly abduct Jaycee Dugard, keep her hostage for 18 years and rape her repeatedly, fathering two children. He was on parole. He was on the sex offender list. None of it made a dime's worth of difference.

PHILLIPS: I guess, B.J., legally, is there anything, you know, we can do? Is there anything that the victims can do, anything that the families can do, anything that lawmakers can do to try and prevent another horrible crime from happening if, indeed, these 20 walk the streets?

BERNSTEIN: In terms of, you know, the lawmakers can pass statutes now that -- that potentially could apply. But in terms of the -- the North Carolina Supreme Court has spoken in terms of what the law is and what the law was at the time. This is going to happen. This is just an issue to be looked at in terms of in the future, how do you protect everybody, and what kind of laws we want on our books in terms of sentencing. Our society has changed, and this is a loophole that some folks have walked through.

PHILLIPS: And a loophole that frustrates many of us. B.J. Bernstein, thank you so much.

Jane Velez-Mitchell, always a pleasure to have you.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you, Kyra, for having me here.

PHILLIPS: Thank you so much.

And of course, we've received a lot of tweets at KyraCNN on this story. Here's just a few of them.

VioletDove44 says, "If 20 lifers are to be freed next week, then why did the state of North Carolina jail them in the first place? What's wrong with murder, rape, assault? Right? Sheesh!"

Then TheNextPrez2012 says, "Great idea! Release them for good behavior, because we all know they got into prison because of good behavior. Oy vey!"

And from GerberAnimalLaw, who lives in North Carolina, "NC's release of inmates is alarming. I haven't read the court opinion, but the story you link to is frightening. Glad I have a very large dog!"

Thanks to you three. And we want to hear more from you, as well. Please, continue to tweet us on this: KyraCNN. We'll try to read some more next hour.

Well, it's open enrollment season. You've probably gotten the e- mails from your benefits peeps, and when you see what your costs are going to be next year, oh, you're going to go straight to the first aid cabinet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The justice of the peace who can't get any peace. Not now, anyway. So why did he refuse to pronounce a white woman and black man, man and wife?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's happening, but you can't see it. Me, neither. Health-care reform today behind closed doors. Negotiators are taking two different reform bills and trying to hammer them into one that can win Senate approval. The idea is to get something on the Senate floor by the end of the month, something that can get 60 votes.

The public option still dividing Democrats. More conservative Dems, not feeling it; more liberal Dems, demanding it.

It's open enrollment season for many of you, and that means higher costs on a smaller paycheck. No matter with health plan you chose, chances are you're going to be paying more. Susan Lisovicz joins me now with much more on that.

So let's talk about some of the ways that costs are rising that maybe our viewers don't necessarily know. You're on it every single day, and you see it and shake your head.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, I mean, this was the trend that was happening before the recession, and it has only accelerated since. So it's a good thing to read something like this. Because it may be difficult to understand, but it is even more difficult to swallow.

PHILLIPS: And we should point out, I mean, this is our open enrollment book.

LISOVICZ: Correct.

PHILLIPS: OK. And I've seen all over the -- and I haven't seen this in ten years that I've been here, notice this. If you don't understand, here are the meetings. Here's the person that's going to be around to explain. Here's where you can go and ask questions. I haven't seen that in a decade. I mean, it's very confusing on many levels.

LISOVICZ: It's very confusing, and one of the reasons why is because it's changing. And it's changing fast.

So how is it changing? Let's get to it.

PHILLIPS: OK.

LISOVICZ: Higher out-of-pocket costs. So higher deductibles, higher co-pays, higher out-of-pocket limits. That's something that a lot of folks will see. A lot of companies are putting that into effect.

Here's something that's newer that's really interesting. Is moving from a co-pay to co-insurance. We all understand a co-pay, right? You go to a doctor and you pay a flat fee. It's in your network, right, $10 to $35 on average.

Co-insurance is an actual percentage of your medical spending for that doctor's visit for that procedure. That -- the idea there is to perhaps make you think about why you're doing that, because it will be more of a burden on you.

Some companies, Kyra, are actually tying your medical care spending to your salary. The more you make...

PHILLIPS: Oh, boy.

LISOVICZ: Yes. The more you have to pay.

A couple of other things. Incentives to stay healthy. So if you join a weight loss program, you might get a lower premium. And another thing is really interesting. Spousal surcharges. How big of a deal is this, if your spouse or your partner switches jobs and you say, OK, who's going to carry the insurance? If your spouse or partner actually has the option, working, to you know, have insurance, you might get a premium if your partner doesn't choose the -- their employer.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my. OK. So...

LISOVICZ: Very interesting and new, I might add.

PHILLIPS: That's the key word. New. And that's why I think a lot of these seminars are taking place, because there are things we've never heard of before, changes that we've never heard of before.

So let me ask you this. And I even had a chit chat with a cab driver in Georgia about this. He was shocked to see that even CNN was changing its insurance plan. I said, "Are you kidding me? It's companies all over the place."

"Well, I thought CNN was a very rich company."

I said, "It doesn't matter how -- you know, what kind of company you think it is. Everybody is having to tighten their belts because of the recession."

But my question to you is, is this just a short-term thing, while we try to save money, why we try to look forward to what might happen in the next year or so? And then will we get back to the way it was, or is this forever?

LISOVICZ: Well, we can't say it's forever. It is for -- for the immediate being, for sure.

I mean, one thing that we've seen, Kyra, is that some companies are reversing cutbacks. For instance, they're restoring the 401(k) match. For instance, they might be boosting hours, right? Pulling back on mandatory furloughs.

They're not doing it with health care. Why is that? Not only because of the economy. Health-care costs are spiraling so fast. Just very quickly, "Wall Street Journal" had an interesting number: $6,700 per employee, per year, according to one survey, double what it was in 2001. Double.

For more info, go to CNNmoney.com. We have an interesting -- interesting article. Worth your time to read.

PHILLIPS: It is worth our time, because this affects all of us.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

PHILLIPS: Thank you, Susan.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.

Well, they didn't leave Iraq on their own terms. Now these wounded warriors have a chance to go back and actually say a proper good-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Top stories now.

A party turns into a massacre in Puerto Rico. Gunmen opened fire on a crowd celebrating the reopening of a neighborhood bar and grocery store, killing seven people. Among the 25 wounded, a young girl and a pregnant woman who lost her baby. Police suspect feuding drug traffickers.

A bad Monday for Afghan president Hamid Karzai. U.N.-backed fraud investigators have thrown out hundreds of thousands of his votes from the disputed presidential election in August. Unclear what happens next, but it could set the stage for a run-off between Karzai and his top challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Locking horns with the Taliban, Pakistani troops pushing forward their offensive in the tribal region of South Waziristan. The Afghan border region is a stronghold of both Taliban militants and their al Qaeda allies. The fighting's now in its third day. Both sides claim early victories.

Why do some soldiers survive combat and others don't? Well, it's a question as old as war itself. Those who do return home often suffer mental as well as physical scars. Now a unique program is helping some American soldiers become whole once again.

Here's CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Edwin Salau always knew coming back would be hard, but he had to do it. The retired first lieutenant needed to believe the sacrifice was worth it.

EDWIN SALAU, WOUNDED U.S. ARMY VETERAN: I wanted to make sure I didn't bleed in vain for the Iraqi people. And what I found is I did not. I see the progress over five years. I see free Iraqis doing what Iraqis want to do in their country.

JAMJOOM: Salau left the battlefield in 2004 after being hit by an RPG and small arms fire during an ambush. The injuries cost him most of his left leg. This week, he and seven other wounded American veterans returned to Iraq so they could heal, all part of a nonprofit program called Operation Proper Exit, the brainchild of the soldiers themselves.

RICK KELL, TROOPS FIRST FOUNDATION: They want to come back and let the troops here on the ground know that they are still part of them, they support them, and they would very much like to be with them, although they can't.

JAMJOOM: It's an emotional journey for the returning veterans, a chance to visit the bases and beyond. (on camera) Operation Proper Exit is significant, because this is the first program that's allowed soldiers to go back to where they were wounded for the purposes of closure, while a war is still going on.

(voice-over) Salau now works with other wounded soldiers at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He believes he's become an ambassador for them. When Salau departed Iraq the first time, he couldn't do it on his own. That's why this trip was so important.

SALAU: My purpose for this trip was for my soldiers to have that last memory, memory (AUDIO GAP).

And I dressed in a uniform and I'm going to unpack, undress, at home and not Walter Reed.

JAMJOOM: Now he can go home on his own terms.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Mohammed Jamjoom joining us now, live from Baghdad.

So Mohammed, is the military brass supporting this 100 percent?

JAMJOOM: Absolutely, Kyra. We spoke with Lieutenant Salau and Mr. Kell, and to said to me on several occasions that they believe that they were supported from the highest levels.

In particular, they pointed out that General Raymond Odierno, the top commander in Iraq, is very supportive of this program. And the reason for that is because his son was injured in Iraq, lost an arm during combat here. So they say that he's more empathetic and sympathetic to the program than most would be. And because of that, they feel that they've really gotten the care that they need. They've really been shown first-class treatment here and really gotten the kind of closure that they deserve -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, what about expanding the program?

JAMJOOM: Well, there's two problems with supporting the program. The first is that this is a pilot program. There's really no data yet to support whether or not these soldiers are actually getting some kind of closure from this, some kind of psychological healing. That's still to come.

The second problem is that our time in Iraq, the American troops' time in Iraq, is winding down. Mr. Kell said to me that, "You know, we're here maybe for another two years at most. There's only a handful of soldiers that come each time." They have to select them through a selection process that can take some time. So, they'd like to get as many people here as they could. They'd like to expand the program. But they just don't know at this point if they can -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll follow up. That's for sure. Great reporting, Mohammed. Thanks so much. We know it's being made. We know it's being trucked out. So where the heck is the H1N1 vaccine? Finding a swine flu shot is like finding a needle in a haystack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking some headlines now.

Iran pointing fingers at the U.S. and Pakistan, saying both supported a Sunni rebel group that launched a suicide attack. At least 42 people were killed in yesterday's blast In Sarbaz, including leaders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. The U.S. denies any role.

Hurricane Rick getting demoted in the Pacific. It's gone from Category 5 to barely a Category 3 in about 12 hours, but it's still dangerous. That storm is forecast to make landfall late tomorrow or early Wednesday near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, right there on the Baja Peninsula.

Well, here's something a Republican governor and a Democratic senator actually agree on. Both Bobby Jindal and Mary Landrieu want this guy gone ASAP. Keith Bardwell is the justice of the peace in Louisiana had a white woman and a black man in his office and refused to marry them. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERENCE MCKAY, DENIED WEDDING CEREMONY: We do have some slight undertones, especially dealing with the southern states, but it's nothing that's been so blatantly obvious as this JP. But it was nothing recent. You know, this has totally caught us completely off guard, and we're just trying to live our lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the McKays are married now and plan to sue Bardwell. He's refusing to resign.

More now from David Spunt with our affiliate WAFB.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID SPUNT, WAFB-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beth and Terence McKay say they've wanted to get married for a long time. They called Tangipahoa Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell to perform the ceremony. When he found out the couple was intraracial, he said no way.

KEITH BARDWELL, JUSTICE OF THE PEACE: Everybody hates me. I mean, really. And I don't know why. I mean, I treat people, you know, I figure, equal, good.

SPUNT: Bardwell has been performing marriages for almost 35 years and stands by his decision not to marry interracial couples.

BARDWELL: I have one problem with marrying mixed-race marriages, and that is the offspring.

SPUNT: Bardwell says it's the children of mixed-race marriages who ultimately suffer. It's those comments that have sparked an international outrage.

(on camera): What if someone would ask you, if they said, are you racist, what would you say to that?

BARDWELL: Absolutely not. My definition of a racist is to hate black people or treat black people different than anybody else.

SPUNT (voice-over): Bardwell says he actually helped the couple to get married by suggesting they go somewhere else. They did, and now proudly call each other husband and wife. As of now, Bardwell is still considered a justice of the peace, although the entire world is and will be watching very closely. But Bardwell says he has no regrets.

BARDWELL: I'm just going to have to wait to see how this plays out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again, that was David Spunt reporting. Bardwell says that he's not a racist, by the way, and that he just feared for the couple's children, saying that he's seen too many mixed-race kids who were shunned by blacks and whites. Bardwell's term ends in 2014, and he said he's not planning to run again.

All right, we all know running a marathon is grueling, but deadly three times over? We're waiting for answers from Detroit, where three men died in the city's marathon yesterday. That's right, three, and all were running a half-marathon, around 13 miles. All collapsed near the end of their runs within 20 minutes of each other. Early signs pointed to heart attacks, but autopsies haven't confirmed that yet. The runners were ages were 26, 36, and 65.

Elizabeth Cohen, senior medical correspondent, have you ever heard of anything like this, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, certainly not. I mean, one death from a half-marathon is odd enough, but three right at the same time? And, Kyra, it wasn't even hot outside. You know, that might have been one explanation, but it was very cool, so, my goodness, who knows?

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, we'll continue to follow up on that for sure and see what those autopsies tell us.

All right, let's talk swine flu. You need a shot in the arm, but you can't seem to be able to find it. What do you do?

COHEN: That's right. The swine flu vaccine is out. It's been out for a couple of weeks now. And federal health officials thought there would be much more out than there actually is. They say there have been some manufacturing delays. Here's what that means to you and me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): For months now, a clear message.

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: The vaccine is by far our best tool to prevent influenza.

DR. ANNE SCHUCHAT, CDC: We think vaccines are the best way to protect yourself and your kids from this virus.

COHEN: And yet for most of us, there's no vaccine to be found, and where you can find it, it's scarce. That has Dr. Bruce Ribner very worried.

DR. BRUCE RIBNER, EMORY HOSPITAL: We've had a number of young, healthy patients on ventilators and even dying in the intensive care units.

COHEN: At Emory Hospital in Atlanta, a quiet desperation is in the air.

(on camera): So, here's your H1N1 vaccine.

RIBNER: Here's our H1N1. As you can see, it's a very small amount. We got one-fifth of the amount of vaccine that we anticipate we will need.

COHEN: And you're hoping for more.

RIBNER: We're hoping desperately for more.

COHEN (voice-over): I'm hoping desperately to find H1N1 vaccine for my children.

(on camera): I'm going to call my local drugstore and see if they have H1N1 shots yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): How many I help you today?

COHEN: Hi there. I'm trying to find out if you have H1N1 shots at my local clinic?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): Not yet, ma'am. We're not set to have those until mid-November. That's around November 15.

COHEN: I'm going to flu.gov. That's the federal government's Web site. They have something called a flu shot locator.

(voice-over): The federal government sends me to the state government, which sends me to the county government, where they tell me I can get the nasal-spray vaccine for my 3-year-old, but my other three children will have to wait. How long? They're not sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via telephone): They're out of that vaccine right now. COHEN: In the meantime, at Emory, they are vaccinating as many workers as they can.

(on camera): I came to Emory Hospital here in Atlanta to see one of the first health care workers get an H1N1 vaccine. Her name is Dr. Nadine Rouphael. She's 33 years old, and she's pregnant.

This is a scary time to be pregnant.

DR. NADINE ROUPHAEL, EMORY HOSPITAL: It is.

COHEN: H1N1 flu seems to be especially tough for pregnant women.

ROUPHAEL: Right. More than what we heard from seasonal flu.

COHEN: So this is it? this is your room, huh? After you.

There you go. The shot you just got, is that for your or for your baby?

ROUPHAEL: Both.

COHEN: Both.

(voice-over): Dr. Rouphael is relieved to get the vaccine to protect herself and her baby she's expecting. Now the question is, when will the rest of us get it?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, here's an example of the kind of shortages that are being faced. In the state of Georgia, they were told by the federal government back in August that by the end of October they would have 2 million doses of flu vaccine. But now they are saying, sorry, you'll have less than half that amount -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, you mentioned that only one of your children could get the H1N1 vaccine. Why is that?

COHEN: Well, when I called on Friday to my local county local health department, they said, we have the nasal-spray vaccine, but we're only giving it to kids between the ages 2 and 5 -- 2 and 4, and only one of my children falls into that age range. So they said, you can bring her in, you can't bring the other ones in.

PHILLIPS: Got it. All right, Elizabeth, thanks.

COHEN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: A safe ride to school or a gang fight ready to happen? Just one jarring question now facing the nation's school bus system. Are our kids safe anywhere?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: When will it end? More brutal teen violence in Chicago. The victim this time a 16-year-old girl. Police say she was critically injured yesterday in a street fight involving at least two dozen teens on the South Side. The take from witnesses, trash talk sparked the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At least 35, 40.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Golf clubs, baseball bats, 2-by-4s, they jumped out the car.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't say what all is going on. But I see so much (INAUDIBLE), so much, you know, just meanness and hatred. And these are our kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Exactly. Our kids. Some of those kids were arrested. It's unclear if the injured girl took part or was just a bystander.

It's not a cat 5 anymore, but cat 3 ain't nothing to sneeze at. Baja's bracing for Hurricane Rick. Chad Myers, when's the storm going to hit?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It looks like anywhere from (INAUDIBLE) to Cabo San Lucas in about 48 hours. Now, the great news is, this thing is went -- this was a huge category 5, 150 miles per hour or better at times. And now we're down to about 115.

Now, the deal is, here's where it is. And we're talking about the U.S. We're talking about Mexico. It is essentially right there, and it is going to turn and really hit the southern portion of Baja Mexico. That is the area that we're talking about, and that's what we're going to be seeing.

Now, the great news is, this thing was a big storm. I mean, just look at the eye of this thing. This was Hugo-Andrewesque just 12 hours ago, and now it has really lost a bunch of its steam. And it has continued to lose steam here all the way across parts of Cabo San Lucas here.

Eighty miles per hour, now that's still going to be a significant surge and a wind event for Cabo. So, don't get -- don't just -- just because it's not a cat 5 anymore, you can't let your guard down. If you can get a plane out of Cabo, you're not going to leave on Wednesday instead find a plane out today or tomorrow, because there's really no reason to be there, no reason to be in the middle of an 80- mile-per-hour storm if you don't have to be. Because obviously, at 80 miles per hour, there will be services that will be knocked out, power, water, whatever it might be, even at that wind speed.

Good news is, it's getting killed off by the wind. Kyra, it looks like it can still get killed off by more wind, more sheer as we call it, as we take a look at the rest of the 48 hours before it actually makes landfall.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right, your top stories now. U.S. bigwigs talking strategy. Pakistani troops letting their guns do all the talking now. They've launched a massive new assault on the Taliban near the Afghan border. Meantime, U.S. Centcom chief David Petraeus and Senator John Kerry are making separate visits there.

No arrests, no suspects in the stabbing death of a University of Connecticut football player. Jasper Howard was stabbed outside a school dance this weekend after he helped lead his team to victory. Police say it all started with a fight involving students and non- students.

Go after traffickers and not patients. New advice now from the feds, the states that have medical marijuana laws, they're urging prosecutors not to go after patients and caregivers who abide by the laws. But they do want to target drug dealers who masquerade as medical marijuana suppliers.

Kids getting beaten up, drivers drunk or driving without a license. Don't forget kids who walk a mile or more through dangerous territory as well, just to get to their bus stop. We're paying attention to them today for a number of reasons, mainly the kickoff of School Bus Safety Week.

And joining me once again, Robin Leeds of the National School Transportation Association. You know, we've talked to you, Robin, about so many issues. It started with our economy and the fact that we were getting less buses to service our kids. And now we're talking about just walking to a bus stop, like in Chicago, and fear for getting shot or killed. It's got to be one of many things that you're focusing on this week.

ROBIN LEEDS, NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION: It certainly is. We focus on all the ways to keep the kids safe as they're going to and from school. And one of the problems that we're seeing, and this is one of the results of it is, we're seeing a lot of school districts cutting back on their transportation because their budgets are tight and they're looking for ways to save money.

Unfortunately, what that does is it puts kids at greater risk. They've got to walk farther to get to their buses. They sometimes have no buses at all where they used to have them. And when there are fewer buses to take kids to school, more kids aren't going to make it to school.

PHILLIPS: And that's what I wanted to point out. I mean, growing up with a single mom and not a lot of money, if I didn't have the school bus, I wouldn't have made it to school. I wouldn't have gotten the education that I did. So, is that one of the major concerns, is the fact that...

LEEDS: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: ... kids, you know, once they start not getting those degrees, it just makes the situation worse with regard to what our kids are doing?

LEEDS: It does. It certainly affects attendance. Not having school buses affects attendance. It affects parents who have to try to get their kids to school. I just saw a story out of Massachusetts, where had they cut back -- 700 kids weren't getting transportation the way they used to get it. A single mom said she had to cut back to part-time work in order to have -- to be able to get her child to and from school.

Her child's 5 years old. She was going to have to walk a mile and a half on these dangerous streets, both traffic and crime. And the mother couldn't let that happen. So, she had to give up half her job in order to be able to take her child to school. This shouldn't happen.

PHILLIPS: This shouldn't happen.

LEEDS: We should be able to make sure that our kids have the opportunity to get to school, to get their education, and to get there safely in school buses.

PHILLIPS: So, how do we do that? How do we as concerned parents do that? How can we become proactive now?

LEEDS; It starts at the local level. It's the local school board that makes the decision on what they are going to spend their money on. And if they are trying to preserve money, for example, for classrooms, one of the things that they look at is cutting school buses. If parents get up in arms and say, we can't afford to let our children face the kind of risk they have to face when they don't have school buses, then the school board will make a decision that they'll keep the buses.

The other thing that parents will do is go to their state legislatures because reimbursement for transportation at the local district comes out of the statehouses, and states have to know that voters consider school bus transportation a priority. Once they know that, they'll continue to reimburse local districts for busin.

PHILLIPS: For parents that just need simple advice like this for a very complex issue, is there a Web site, is there something that you could recommend that they turn to? What if they can't show up at a meeting? Can they write a letter?

LEEDS: Absolutely. They can always go to their state legislators, find out who their legislators are, write them a letter about how important school bus transportation is, write to their local school board about the priority for transportation for their kids.

PHILLIPS: And a school board, you can just show up there.

LEEDS: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: After a day of work.

LEEDS: Show up. PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly.

LEEDS; Sometimes you have to wait a little while, but you can make your point. And if you make it often enough -- you know, they did it here in New York City. The mayor wanted to cut back transportation two years ago, and parents got up in arms and said, our kids are in too much danger. If they have to go to a public bus stop and take a public bus to get to school, it's too risky for them.

PHILLIPS: Good advice.

LEEDS: So, they were able to reverse that.

PHILLIPS: There you go.

LEEDS: And so can every other parent out there.

PHILLIPS: Case in point. Message to the parents. Robin Leeds, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

LEEDS: Nice to see you. Thanks for having me on.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.

Well, driving mom's taxi drunk? That's right. Mothers and women in general, the new face of DUI. It's grabbing the headlines lately, and we're going to break it down for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's what we've been expecting in Afghanistan. And boy did we ever get it. A U.N.-backed fraud panel has thrown out hundreds of thousands of votes for President Hamid Karzai from the August election. What happens next is anybody's guess. Could be a runoff between Karzai and his top challenger. President Obama's take? No more U.S. troops in the country until a credible government is in place.

Here's his chief of staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAHM EMANUEL, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: What President Karzai must do and what I, you know -- the process there is a credible and legitimate election or result, more importantly, for the Afghan people and for that government going forward. Whether that's through a runoff, whether that's through negotiations, the process will be determined by the Afghan people.

The result for us and for the president is whether, in fact, there's a credible government and a legitimate process the Afghan people then think this has worked its process through. It would be reckless to make a decision on U.S. troop level if in fact we haven't done a thorough analysis of whether in fact there's an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that the U.S. troops would create and become a true partner in governing the Afghan country. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Another worry for President Obama, a majority of Americans oppose sending more U.S. troops. That's the finding of the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.

Pushing forward to the next hour of NEWSROOM, our attorney general raises the issue of domestic abuse in the U.S. Now a jaw- dropping story out of Kabul. Inequality in Afghanistan making it so dangerous for women there. Check out this stat: Nearly 90 percent of women victims of domestic abuse.

Plus, career women in the United States working 9:00 to 5:00 and well beyond, folks. We're going to talk to one of the founders of Take Our Daughters to Work Day.

Well, call it over-the-top chef, maybe the real Hell's Kitchen. A Florida chef is in hot water now after getting pretty steamed at a server. She apparently put up an order for a dish he'd already made and sent out. So, our chef allegedly threatens her, says he'll shoot her in the head if she puts in one more bleeping ticket for mozzarella caprese.

Well, then the cops say he pulls out a holstered gun, slams it on the counter. Well, salty language in the kitchen's one thing. Sidearms, quite another. He's been charged with aggravated assault.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: When you think about somebody boozing it up, your mental picture is probably a male -- frat guy, businessman, whatever. But believe it or not, a couple of horrific accidents are really driving home the point. Intoxication is equal opportunity, and even moms are not immune.

CNN's Susan Candiotti has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Leandra (ph) Rosado was her father's princess, the single dad's only child, who loved to sing and dance.

LENNY ROSADO, DAUGHTER KILLED BY ALLEGED DRUNK DRIVER: She was all smiles. She was a big comedian.

CANDIOTTI: Leandra (ph) has also become a tragic statistic. Only a week ago in New York, the 11-year-old was killed in a car full of seven kids driven by a woman police say was drunk. Earlier that night, Leandra's father, Lenny, dropped her off for a pizza party with friends.

ROSADO: She gave me a big hug and said, Dad, I love you. And those were the last words I ever heard from her. Last words.

CANDIOTTI: Rosado plans to push for tougher DUI sentences in his daughter's name.

ROSADO: I believe that's what she's telling me -- hold up, be strong, Dad. Let's do this.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Leandra (ph) Rosado's death at the hands of an accused drunk driver is an example of a disturbing trend nationwide.

(voice-over): Women being arrested for driving under the influence is on the rise. Last year, female DUI arrests were up about 5 percent, and almost 18 percent in the last five years.

This summer, eight people were killed by a mother that police say was high and drunk. In North Carolina, a female school bus driver was busted for DUI. In Nebraska, a child welfare worker was arrested after testing five times over the legal limit.

LAURA DEAN-MOONEY, PRESIDENT, MOTHERS AGAINST DRUNK DRIVING: They're doing a form of child abuse if they drive drunk with children in their car.

CANDIOTTI: New Mexico has been running a public service announcement aimed at woman after noticing a 25 percent rise in female DUI arrests.

RACHEL O'CONNER, NEW MEXICO DUI CZAR: We are trying to get women to consider what the consequences of the behavior before they get behind the wheel of a car.

CANDIOTTI: Leandra (ph) Rosado's friends who survived the accident miss her terribly and want other kids to learn from it.

BRITTANY GONZALEZ, ACCIDENT SURVIVOR: Take the keys, call the cops, do anything you need to do to keep that person safe. Don't let them get in the car.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or even run away.

CANDIOTTI: His pain still fresh, Leandra's (ph) father is haunted by his daughter's final moments.

ROSADO: Did she cry out for dad, you know, scream? Yes, I think about it. I think about it.

CANDIOTTI: And how this tragedy might prevent others.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)