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H1N1 Vaccines Still Behind Anticipated Production; Afghan Presidential Candidate May Not Run in Runoff Election; Gubernatorial Races in Virginia and New Jersey Close to Election Day; President Obama Still Considering Options for Troops in Afghanistan

Aired October 31, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. From the CNN center, this is the CNN NEWSROOM. It is Saturday, October 31st. Happy Halloween. Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. It's 10:00 a.m. where we sit here in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. out in San Francisco.

We are going to get some answers for you this morning on H1N1. We're talking to the woman in charge of the fight, the Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

NGUYEN: That good information because a lot of people do have questions out there.

Also, before you go trick-or-treating, you may want to check out your neighborhood to see if dangerous sex offenders live nearby before you send those little kids out there trick-or-treating tonight. We will have details on that.

But first up, the presidential runoff in Afghanistan, it could be in jeopardy. Candidate Abdullah Abdullah is threatening to boycott next weekend's vote.

HOLMES: Dr. Abdullah is expected to make a decision by tomorrow. We want to get to our Nima Elbagir, who is in Kabul for us. Hello to you again. We've been talking to you all morning now, wondering, waiting if we're getting any more word about what Dr. Abdullah wants to do. What are we hearing now?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can imagine we are all in Kabul. It's evening time on the day of Dr. Abdullah's deadlines to have his demands met in order to take part in the second round and still absolutely no movement on that impasse between the two camps.

President Hamid Karzai is refusing to give in to Dr. Abdullah on his demands for the resignation of the chief of the independent electoral commission and for the resignation of cabinet ministers who Dr. Abdullah says were part of the infrastructure fraud because they campaigned on behalf of the incumbent.

Absolutely no word from either side that any sort of a deal has been brokered or any sort of a conciliation, a middle ground, has been reached. At the moment, we're still on standby for a 9:30 a.m. conference that the Abdullah camp has told journalists they they're making their final announcements in.

HOLMES: Help us understand Dr. Abdullah's position of power here and his logic for essentially threatening to not take part in this runoff.

We might have lost Nima there. If you're still with me, let me know. I think we might have lost Nima. We will let her go, but we will thank her nonetheless. Nima Elbagir, keeping an eye on the story. We'll try to get her back up. She's been doing some great reporting for us this morning.

NGUYEN: We'll stick with this story, though, because the way the runoff plays out could have a huge impact on what the White House does next. President Obama still weighing options for Afghanistan and whether to deploy as many as 40,000 more troops.

CNN's Elaine Quijano joins us now live from the White House this morning. Are you hearing any kind of reaction to this possible boycott?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No. You know, in fact, I don't anticipate we actually will, Betty, until there's some sort of an announcement made.

But it's interesting because Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked about this very issue. She's traveling right now in the Middle East, and she said, look, this is not an unprecedented situation by any means. Here's how she put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Other countries have faced this, where one candidate decides not to go forward. We see that happen in our own country, where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of the candidates decides not to go forward.

So, I don't think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election. It's a personal choice that may or may not be made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Meanwhile, President Obama got the chance to hear directly from the military's top brass yesterday. He and some of his top advisers sat down with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This was a big meeting because the joint chiefs are the heads, basically, of all the military services, and they are the ones who are ultimately responsible for providing more troops to the fight.

The U.S. right now has some 68,000 troops in Afghanistan. The top commander there, General Stanley McChrystal, has asked for some 40,000 additional troops.

But there are some concerns about that. It could put added strain on U.S. forces. Also more U.S. troops could certainly fuel more violence in Afghanistan, and something to consider, as well, the price tag for the requested troops could top $500,000 a soldier.

So, Betty, looking ahead, those are just some of the concerns that the president and his team are weighing as they go through this Afghanistan review.

NGUYEN: Some of the other things that they're weighing is the stream of thought that, look, the U.S. is fighting a war in Afghanistan, OK, not there to nation build, if you will. But the other argument is, look, if there is not a legitimate government in place, then how can we work hand in hand to fight terrorism. Correct?

QUIJANO: That's exactly right. That is the dilemma right now.

The Obama administration in fact, Robert Gibbs, said a couple of weeks ago it doesn't matter how many additional troops you decide to send if you don't have a credible partner there.

So it is a dilemma as the administration moves forward what good ultimately will adding more U.S. troops do if there isn't a government that's considered legitimate in place in Afghanistan, a pretty weighty decision.

NGUYEN: No doubt. All right, Elaine Quijano joining us live from the White House. Thank you, Elaine.

QUIJANO: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Well, it is the largest stimulus program in U.S. history, a $787 billion package signed by President Obama in February. Now it's eight months later. Is the recovery plan actually working? The White House says yes, it is, and reports that came out yesterday claiming the stimulus created or saved more than 640,000 jobs.

It also says the total will be 3.5 million jobs by the end of the entire year -- by the end of this whole stimulus program. But Republicans say the numbers are a bit exaggerated. They point to the country's 9.8 percent unemployment rate as proof that the stimulus is not working. Each job costs nearly $250,000 to create.

NGUYEN: These jobs and recovery numbers can be a little bit slippery. The White House did say about 640,000 jobs were saved or created. But yesterday's report didn't measure benefits from things like tax cuts or jobs created indirectly by spending. So, President Obama claims the true number is actually higher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The Recovery Act is saving and creating jobs across the country.

Just this week we reached an important milestone. Based on reports in from across America, as shovels break ground, as need public servants are rehired, as factories roar to life, it is clear that the Recovery Act has now created and saved more than 1 million jobs.

That's more than a million people who might otherwise be out of work today, folks who can wake up each day knowing they'll be able provide for themselves and for their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: So you heard it right there.

Well, the administration is taking some heat for that 1 million jobs figure. Critics say it's based on math that is impossible to verify.

HOLMES: We want to turn now to getting to the bottom of the H1N1 vaccine shortage. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius say vaccine manufacturers jumped the gun just a bit when they released estimates on how much vaccine they would have in time for the flu season. She discussed that with me about an hour ago right here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: This piece of the puzzle is relying on manufacturer, and we're dealing with five of them, to give us numbers of what they though their production schedule was, when we thought we would get the vaccine.

Unfortunately, they were overly optimistic, and we gave those numbers to the American public, and we're now in a situation where we have less than we initially predicted.

The good news is that we have as of yesterday 26.6 million doses out and around the country. We are expecting another 10 million doses next week. So the vaccine is beginning to roll in larger volumes and it's being distributed as quickly as it comes off the line.

HOLMES: And ma'am, you mentioned 26.6 million. At this point I believe you were expecting and hoping for about 40 million doses. So, what does that do for us moving forward and for health of this country quite frankly? A lot of people, as we know, this thing continues to spread, become more widespread.

So how much does this essentially hurt the health of this country by being behind on these numbers?

SEBELIUS: Well, we have a vaccine that works, and in the meantime, believe me, I can fully understand the anxiety of parents who are really worried about their kids. I'm a mom. I can't -- I share that. I know how frustrating it is to stand in line for hours and maybe not get what you came for in the first place. That's infuriating.

We really want to remind people, though, that there are some people who likely will get very ill and could potentially die who are in much more priority situations, children with underlying health conditions, pregnant women. We need them to get to the front of the line. A lot of people will get the flu, and it will be if flu, a couple days feeling really lousy, but they'll be fine at the end of the day.

So, as the vaccine rolls out, the priority groups are so important to make sure we don't have hospitalizations and more deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, this week, House Democrats revealed their health care reform plan, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it will cost $894 billion over ten years. But a CNN analysis shows the price tag could be closer to $1 trillion. It is a cost that Republicans say Americans cannot afford.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) MINORITY LEADER: The best way to get a sense of what Speaker Pelosi's takeover of health care looks like is to actually look at it. Just shy of 2,000 pages, it runs more than 620 pages longer than the government-run plan Hillary Clinton proposed in 1993.

This 1,990 pages of bureaucracy will centralize health care decision-making in Washington, D.C. It will create thousands of newly created federal employees. It will put unelected boards, bureaus, and commissions in charge of who gets what access to what drug and what potentially lifesaving treatment.

And it won't come cheap. Speaker Pelosi's health bill will raise the cost of Americans health insurance premiums, it will kill jobs with tax hikes and new mandates, and it will cut seniors' Medicare benefits.

We now have a choice. We can come together to implement smart, fiscally responsible reforms to improve America's health care, or we can recklessly pursue this government takeover that creates far more problems than it solves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, floor debate on the Democrats' bill could begin as soon as next week.

Let's get to the latest on the forecast outside. It is Halloween. A lot of people are excited about trick-or-treating.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: I want you to stick around.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: OK.

NGUYEN: We'll be talking about the top ten Halloween costumes for adults. What's the top?

WOLF: Cap'n Crunch or Colonel Sanders.

NGUYEN: Negative on both. That would be a witch. Number two on the list, a vampire.

HOLMES: That's traditional, good stuff.

NGUYEN: I'm surprised a clown has stuck around so long.

And number five, a wench, tart, vixen, throw in whatever you want there. Number six a cad, number seven a devil, an athlete, interesting, and 10, a police officer.

WOLF: Is it just me or do you guys notice that a lot of times when you go to those parties or you go to the costume shops it seems like -- I know we say it on the list, but it seems like people are getting away from the scary stuff?

NGUYEN: Yes.

WOLF: Now more the novelty kind of...

HOLMES: Exactly what I would say, exactly, Reynolds.

WOLF: I'm sure we'll see a lot of President Obamas out there trick-or-treating.

HOLMES: Probably.

NGUYEN: The "Jon & Kate Plus 8" folk, the haircut, you know?

HOLMES: Really? You think so?

NGUYEN: I saw it on one of the morning shows yesterday.

HOLMES: Kate Gosselin, right?

NGUYEN: Yep. It will be interesting.

Are you guys going dressed up as anything?

HOLMES: I'm going as a sports fan and sitting on the couch.

NGUYEN: You're not going anywhere. He's staying home and watching football.

WOLF: Either a dad or a ladybug. Maybe a dad ladybug. You, Betty?

NGUYEN: I'm still working on it. It has a scholastic theme.

HOLMES: See, you can't just do that. You have to go the whole nine yards.

NGUYEN: Oh, we are out of time. Got to go. All right, Reynolds, we'll talk to you later.

WOLF: Betty, Betty, Betty.

NGUYEN: Let's stick with news right now, shall we?

Another check of the mornings headlines, including this, the latest on a couple held captive by Somali pirates.

HOLMES: Also, a story that was 50 years in the making. High schoolers were separated by race at one point. They didn't forget the hurt and decided to make things right, again, some 50 years later. You'll want to see this story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Checking our top stories overnight -- police in Cleveland, Ohio, looking for a rapist suspected of killing six people. Police had gone to Anthony Sowell's home late Thursday after a woman had accused of rape.

He wasn't at home, but they did found two bodies in the home. And after a more extensive search yesterday, they found four more bodies hidden at the home.

Somalia pirates are demanding a $7 million ransom for a British couple kidnapped from a boat last week. The British foreign office says it will not meet the pirates demand for Rachel and Paul Chandler.

Suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be offered vaccinations for the H1N1 virus. That's not sitting well with Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan. He says as long as Americans must wait on the vaccine, detainees should not be getting what he considers preferential treatment.

HOLMES: President Obama has spent a good amount of time this month in New Jersey and Virginia. He's been trying to help out the Democrats running for governor there. Those were a couple of key races that will come to an end with Election Day just around the corner.

And CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is in Springfield, Virginia, for us, one of those two states. Explain to people, first of all, why no matter where you live so much attention is being paid to these two states.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Exactly, T.J., Virginia and New Jersey, they're the only games in town, I guess you could say, when it comes to governor's races this year. They always are held the year after presidential elections. That's why everybody is focusing on these races.

Sure, they're about the state issues and about the state candidates, but especially here in Virginia, a lot of people think this race is partially maybe an early referendum and early ballot box test for Barack Obama and what he's done in office so far. So that's why some of the national issues are playing big here. And in New Jersey, T.J., where Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, is up for election in a state that is dominated by Democrats. Why? He's an incumbent, and it is not a good time to be an incumbent, and he is fighting for his political life -- T.J.?

HOLMES: Is he going to come out in New Jersey? I know that race went back and forth quite some time, got certainly nasty. But does it appear he might be able to hold on?

STEINHAUSER: The latest polls in New Jersey show that it is basically dead even between Corzine and the Republican challenger, but there's a third-party candidate many the race and that's what's really making it interesting.

Jon Corzine has gotten some help from Barack Obama. He's going back there tomorrow. The president will be campaigning with Jon Corzine twice tomorrow in New Jersey, just two days before the election.

It's a little bit of a story down here where the Republican candidate, if you believe the poll, has a larger lead -- T.J.?

HOLMES: Would you say the president is conceding Virginia just yet?

STEINHAUSER: The president was here in Virginia last week with the Democratic candidate. I don't know -- I don't think he's coming back to Virginia.

You know, the White House is trying to downplay any idea that the races in New Jersey and especially here in Virginia are some kind of early referendum on the presidency. They're saying, no, these are local races and there's not much at play for the White House.

I will say Republicans have not won many big races here in Virginia the last couple years, so they would love to grab this day back and say maybe this is a little taste of things to come next year when you've got those huge, big midterm elections -- T.J.?

HOLMES: All right, Paul Steinhauser, always good to see you again in Virginia where rallies are taking place there. We appreciate it. Always good to see you, Paul.

STEINHAUSER: Thanks, T.J.

NGUYEN: OK, so a car, some sketches, a fedora, and, of course, the glittered glove. We'll take you behind the scenes as organizers get ready for a major Michael Jackson auction.

HOLMES: And have you seen the new Michael Jackson movie, "This is it"? If so, we'd like to know what you thought about it. You can reach us on Twitter, Facebook, of course. We'll have some reactions later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: Well, good morning and welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM on this Halloween. You know, as part of keeping kids safe on Halloween, knowing areas where sex offenders live could be key.

HOLMES: Some websites are helping out and making that kind of information easy. Josh Levs taking a look for us. Good morning, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.

It is important to a lot of parents out there, a lot of people. I'll show you a series of web sites that can help you a lot. You don't need to write these down because at the end I'll show you one place we have everything linked up for you.

This is one of the most popular ones. It's called Family Safety Report. What they do is they get you any information. You can sign up to be alerted if a sex offender moves into your area or you can choose other areas, as well. And this is a sample report they set up that shows you the kind of information, gives you addresses and faces.

And this one has a cost if you sign up. It's $30 a month. This one here is different is all different. Family watchdog, this is free, no cost to this one. And what they do is you can type in an area and they'll give you a map right here.

So I type in CNN's zip code and everywhere you see a red box, that is the home of a registered sex offender against children. And you can click on those, get information, often get photos and see who they are.

Two from the government I want to show you as well. This is from the FBI, the national sex offender public Web site. What they do is they provide information for every single state. They link you to state resources.

So as an example, I put down on New York and gave them a zip code where I grew up, gave me a series of names. You can click on any of those, and I get photos as well.

There's also this, a database that the Obama administration is continuing to update right now. We've been hearing about this, gathering information from states, all of it going into the sex offender public Web site.

Everything I just showed you, all these resources are available in one place. There's an article here that's going to link you to a lot of these. This is from CNN.com. Police try to monitor sex offenders at Halloween.

You'll see this on the main page right now, and it talks to you about some of the things that police in various districts around the country are doing.

And here's an example. Here's a graphic. Here are a few of the things police are doing in different counties across the country. It's not uniform. One thing people are calling for is more uniform national laws for handling this at Halloween.

We do know all the resources here, to look for your area, who might be sex offenders in your area, are all national organizations on these websites. This is where they linked, CNN.com/Josh, also Facebook and Twitter.

And you can let us know, do they work for you or not? Are there other sites that might work for you better? Keep that conversation going online.

And Betty and T.J., we're keeping an eye on this throughout today as people weigh in with their resources watching out for their area.

NGUYEN: Good information. Josh, thank you.

And we've been talking about this story the past week, a difficult one too, the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old California high school student. It's raising questions about the responsibility of school administrators. Five young men are being held in connection with the rape.

HOLMES: And police say several people watched as the girl was violated over two-and-a-half hours outside the Richmond high school homecoming dance. Listen now to one Richmond high school teacher. This is her Wednesday night talking to administrators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA PRICE, RICHMOND HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER: We were laughed at last summer for asking for 13 security guards. We were laughed at when we said we need $80,000 worth of cameras. I went to Dijon (ph) middle school myself to look at their camera systems to make sure that those would be the best quality for Richmond High. Our school approved them. We never got them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Never got them, more security people, more surveillance cameras. Would it have made a difference? How responsible are school officials for the events on school property?

Let's bring in CNN education contributor and dear friend here Steve Perry, joining us now from Hartford, Connecticut. Steve, this is a very difficult story here. You know, the young men accused, those are the ones responsible, certainly, but what is the responsibility here of the school district?

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: First, T.J., it's really important that our hearts go out to this young lady. We can never forget that there is not an alleged victim, but there is, in fact, a victim of this heinous crime.

The responsibility is significant on behalf of the administrators. That's what we're there to do. We're there to make sure that our children are safe. And while that may be true, they may have asked for additional security, there were four police officers, five administrators and faculty, as well as other faculty who were there.

We don't often, in all the training programs, teacher training, administrator programs throughout the country, one thing that we are never trained is how to monitor a dance. And this is a place where a lot of negativity happens, where kids fight and there are disagreements.

But in this particular case, some students came forward and said their administrators and teachers actually looked out the window and saw that there was something going on.

When you're covering a dance or an event like this, you notice there are certain children leaving. You know there are groups leaving at odd times, and why would they leave?

And so it should inspire them to take a step outside, take a look around the perimeter and find out what's going on. 20 kids were gone.

HOLMES: You made a good point I'm going to hit for a second. I guess for the teachers and administrators, is it possible or logical to think that they can cover all places of a huge high school at all times?

PERRY: No, it is absolutely not possible that anyone could cover everything all the time. Not police, not military, not anybody.

However, I don't think that's what we're talking about here. I think we're talking about a dance in which children left and then they didn't come back and they left before it ended. And there was enough children that were leaving that I would think that the administrators on hand may think somebody should do a perimeter check.

And I don't know that one was done. I don't know that one was done. If one was done and still they didn't find anything, then, you know, I don't know what else to say.

But it just seems too big of an event to have occurred for too long a period. If it was just one thing one time quickly somebody slapped somebody and came back in, that's one thing. But this is a two-and-a-half-hour involved alleged gang rape. That's a long time for no one to go outside to check at all.

HOLMES: Let me go back to another point you just brought up about training of teachers and administrators. And this is something you and I have talked about plenty in the past.

We talk about this training for teachers and what they need to know out of the textbooks and what they need to teach the students in class, and they forget sometimes you have to be much more outside of that classroom to that child. You have to be a protector, a police officer, a mentor, and all these other things.

Where does training come in like this, something as simple as knowing how to monitor a dance, knowing how do, like you said, wait, the dance is only 30 minutes in, where are these kids going? Where does that training even possibly come in?

PERRY: I think every school district has professional development, opportunities in which you're supposed to discuss what you need to do in order to improve the delivery of services.

So during professional development, some time could be taken and show faculty who are interested, because the sad part about this is many of the faculty who do take the time to cover dances are good people. They're the people who want to spend more time with the kids.

So we don't want to penalize people who have actually taken it upon themselves to do the extra work. Sure they get paid for it, but to be there at that hour with the kids, those are typically good people. But it we're going to do it, we have to hold them accountable.

We have a football game today. Anytime we have a football game, I or another administrator has to be at the game for just this event. And the expectation is we're there to monitor the safety of the children. It's just what you do.

HOLMES: All right, and one last thing here. You know, we're talking up to 20 people here. Police think maybe ten actually participated, another ten standing around watching.

What goes on these days at schools? I can't imagine -- it would be one thing if one person walked by and saw something and kept walking. But ten other people standing around as spectators, ten other students? And we're showing suspects here up on the screen.

But what does that say to you and tell you when you heard there were another ten not actively participating but standing by and watching this happen?

PERRY: It proves that we have lost our way as a community. And what I mean when I say that is Richmond is a school that struggles academically. And if children don't see hope for themselves, they don't see a future in education or typical means, then they begin to check out.

Our children have been desensitized. I wanted to be the last one on the boat to say I think the images our children are fed somehow impact them, but the truth is they do. Somewhere between the images and the lack of a filter of a family or future, our children become so desensitized that even the most heinous crimes seem somehow laughable.

No one even thought for a second that a 15-year-old naked in the public square is something they ought to say something to someone about? It's horrible and it's inexcusable. I don't care how old these children are, whoever did this needs to make sure they are prosecuted to the letter of the law.

HOLMES: That was probably the best word of it there, "desensitized." It's amazing that somebody could be desensitized to see something like this happen.

Steve, my friend, always good to have you, always good to see you. Good luck with the game tonight.

PERRY: Thank you.

HOLMES: All right, Steve Perry.

NGUYEN: The president of a high school in New Orleans apologizing after a skit.

HOLMES: This is another disturbing one here. Show these pictures here. Let me tell you what we're looking at, a pep rally before a football game.

You see the students here at Brother Martin high school, a mostly white school, but you're seeing these kids doing the skit here portraying players from the rival school, St. Augustine, which is predominantly black, and they're wearing these outfits with black shrouds over their faces.

The administrators of both schools say they can understand why some folks found it insensitive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DEVLIN, PRESIDENT, BROTHER MARTIN: It was not properly monitored or supervised by us before the pep rally took place.

FATHER JOHN RAPHAEL, PRINCIPAL, ST. AUGUSTINE: The connection between that and traditional black face is a reasonable connection to make since they were white students portraying students at an African- American school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, one of the students who performed this skit is an African-American student. The school hoped to turn the entire episode into a learning opportunity for diversity.

What is going on at schools around this country? All right, we'll be back in just one minute with the morning's top stories, including the latest on the threats in, the threat to its runoff elections.

NGUYEN: Also later, who knew haunted houses were recession proof, really? We'll look at the big business of fright night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Checking two of our top stories now.

The presidential runoff in Afghanistan could be in jeopardy. The challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, says he may boycott next week's runoff election. The runoff was forced after widespread voter fraud in August. And associate of the challenger Abdullah says the same people in charge of the initial election are in charge of the runoff and that's no good.

Representatives of Abdullah and President Hamid Karzai are meeting again today.

A looming transit strike could make things a bit dices for fans heading to get to the World Series tonight. Talks with the transit union in Philadelphia are already in overtime. The union moved the deadline to 6:00 p.m. tonight for a deal. Government officials say they have a plan in place to help commuters if the bus and train drivers walk off the job.

NGUYEN: Eight people are under arrest in connection with the deadly attack on U.N. workers in Kabul, Afghanistan, this week. Five U.N. workers died when militants stormed a guest house.

Afghanistan's intelligence chief says they knew an attack was coming a week before, and he said they arrested some people before hand preventing an even deadlier attack.

Also this just in to CNN, a tour bus has overturned on Interstate 75 southbound in Atlanta causing several injuries in Henry county, according to police.

Dozens of ambulances are on the scene. This is a story that is just breaking. We'll give you the latest on any injuries as we get that into CNN. Stay with us with for that.

We'll be right back. You're watching CNN Saturday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Michael Jackson's memory is living on right now on the big screen in the movie "This is it."

NGUYEN: But if you need more to remember him by, you can bid on some of the king of pop's most famous memorabilia. It's being auctioned off next month at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York.

HOLMES: And our Ted Rowlands shows us exactly what's up for grabs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The most recognizable item for sale and possibly the most valuable is this white glove Jackson wore on stage the night he introduced the world to the moon walk while performing "Billie Jean."

Other items include these sketches Jackson drew of Charlie Chaplain, Frankenstein, and Mickey Mouse, this painting signed by both Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor. You can even buy Jackson's handwritten lyrics to "Beat It."

There's a hat Jackson wore on stage at the 1995 MTV Music Awards, a pair of tube socks covered in crystals, and from "Thriller," the mold used to make Jackson's fangs as well as a few zombie costumes. Some of the items are a bit bizarre, like this piece of chocolate from 1994 celebrating Jackson's marriage to Lisa Marie Presley. And this guitar is for sale. Its only significance is that Jackson played it back in 1978.

The auction CEO Darren Julien says demand is extremely high for anything Michael Jackson.

DARREN JULIEN, CEO, JULIEN'S AUCTIONS: His death definitely made his items and anything associated with his life or career worth more money.

ROWLANDS: None of this stuff is from the Jackson estate. It's all from collectors and people who saved gifts from the singer. The auction house says there's documentation for the items.

There's this 1985 Mercedes Jackson owned but then gave to his aunt for her birthday. The car is in working order and comes with Jackson's DMV registration and even this rare photo of the singer actually driving.

Betty Alonzo is selling this letter and scarf Jackson sent her after they met in 1977 because, she says, she could use the money.

BETTY ALONSO, SELLING LETTER AND SCARF: There's tuition and roof replacement. Maybe we'll take a family vacation and thank Michael Jackson.

ROWLANDS: And as for that white glove, Jackson gave it to Walter Orange of the Commodores the night of the moon walk performance. It's expected to fetch six figures. Orange says he'll give some of the money to charity.

WALTER ORANGE, THE COMMODORES: The world is going to see this glove. It makes me feel good.

ROWLANDS: The auction is scheduled for November 21st at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All right, we are getting some more information on a story just in to CNN. As I told you a little bit earlier, a tour bus has overturned on Interstate 75 just south of Atlanta causing several injuries, according to police.

We know about a dozen ambulances are on the scene at this hour. Four lanes of traffic closed right now.

Here's what is really interesting and striking about this. The bus is on its side in a grassy area 50 feet off the roadway. So we don't know exactly what happened, but again, there are several injuries and we're getting the latest on this accident. HOLMES: Yes. Don't know what could have caused this. A little rainy, a little damp in this morning in Atlanta. The weather actually was warm when we came in this morning, so expecting a little rain, a little damp, and certainly not a downpour at this point, but don't know what might have happened today.

Again, a tour bus like that on its side.

NGUYEN: On its side 50 feet off the roadway.

HOLMES: Off the highway there. But a little south of Atlanta. Highway 75 is one of the main arteries going through downtown. Two years ago we saw that big bus accident with the Bluffton team out of Ohio where several people were killed. It actually went off --

NGUYEN: A ramp.

HOLMES: ... an overpass. That was different. This one from all indications was just driving down the road and ended up on its side.

NGUYEN: Several injuries. We don't know the details but as soon as we get that we'll bring that straight to you.

In the meantime, though, it is Halloween. A lot of people are excited about that. We'll talk about the business of boo.

HOLMES: That's coming up. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: They weren't even allowed to go to schooling to 50 years ago, but that's not stopping them from having a reunion.

NGUYEN: No. Students from the class of '59 in Macon, Georgia, finally sharing a room and a unique chance to dine together.

Our Brooke Baldwin has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN: There the nametags, the nerves. The hugs of recognition. But a typical 50th high school reunion this is not.

Instead, this luncheon marks the first time Macon, Georgia's classes of '59 have sat side by side, ever.

BETTY WEBB-HAYES, 1959 GRADUATE BALLARD-HUDSON HIGH SCHOOL: I grew up in a town for 50 years with all those people around and never knew who they were.

BALDWIN: Betty Webb Hayes knows. In 1959, the southern city's three public high schools -- Ballard Hudson, Lamere, Miller were segregated. In the 1950s, Jim Crow laws ruled, and separate was supposedly equal. But as a Ballard Hudson alumna, as a young child, she said segregation was simply a way of life. WEBB-HAYES: We didn't find out that we were being discriminated against until we were in high school, until that high school teacher told us that we were living in a segregated society. We didn't know it.

BALDWIN: Now, 50 years later, Lamere alumnus Tom Johnson, former CNN president and publisher of the "L.A. Times," had an idea to close the five-decade gap.

In a letter to Macon's three classes of 1959, Johnson wrote "It was a different world then. We were divided by politics, politics, and tradition. It is a different world today. We no longer are separated except by personal choice."

That letter and several months of planning later, 210 members of the class of 1959 sat together at last.

RUBY DEAN DUPREE, 1959 GRADUATE BALLARD-HUDSON HIGH SCHOOL: Well, the old saying is better late than never.

I could not sleep last night. So, it just means the world to me. It was just like waiting for Santa Claus to come.

LINDA CARSTOFFEN GUGEN, 1959 GRADUATE A.L. MILLER HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS: I realized how much we actually missed, people that we could have known.

BALDWIN: For this former class president, the gathering of old and new friends brings tears to her eyes, not just because of the symbolism, but for the empty seats, classmates whose attitudes on race 50 years later haven't changed.

GUGEN: There are some people that still feel resistant to the idea and think that what we're pushing for is not a good thing. And I think we have to focus on the ones that were here today.

I think those people went away with a changed heart.

BALDWIN: It may have taken those people 50 years to come together. Unlike these old-fashioned photos, their story is no longer told in black and white.

Brook Baldwin, CNN, Macon, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: An update on this breaking news we've been telling you about -- a Morehouse college charter tour because bust has overturned on Interstate 75 south of Atlanta in Stockbridge, Georgia, this according to our affiliate WXIA, and we understand causing several injuries. There have been about 20 people on board.

There are about a dozen ambulances on the scene at this hour.

HOLMES: We're also getting word that there is possibly one person that is trapped on that bus. That bus, not on the road, we're told, even though the entire highway is shut down, but the bus, we're told, is laying some 50 feet off the road in a grassy part -- I guess in a median, quite essentially.

But several people are injured, but we're told one, according to our affiliate, is trapped on the bus.

Again, Morehouse, we know that name, we know that school, the all-male school here in Atlanta, historic school, has a game today at Albany State, the football team. It appears, if you put two and two together --

NGUYEN: That's where they were headed.

BALDWIN: It looks like the school, the bus, the band members possibly is what they are reporting possibly might have been going on their way. We don't know who else might have been on this bus but it would make sense possibly they were headed in that direction.

NGUYEN: Right. But what we don't know is exactly what caused this bus to not only have run off the roadway but be on its side some 50 feet off of the highway.

Again, we understand that there are injuries, and according to our local affiliate WXIA one person may be trapped underneath that bus. We're continuing to follow this and will bring you the latest just as soon as we get it.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, more of that breaking news we've been following this morning. Just getting word actually less than 30 minutes about this -- a Morehouse College charter bus overturned on Interstate 75 south of Atlanta. In fact, it's closer to Stockbridge, Georgia.

Again, a charter bus by Morehouse college. We understand some 20 people were on board and one, in fact, may be trapped underneath that bus. This according to our affiliate WXIA.

This bus, though, not only did it run off of the freeway, which we don't know exactly what caused that to happen, but it is sitting on its side right now about 50 feet off the roadway.

HOLMES: And we are told by some of our people on the scene that several ambulances have reported to that scene at highway 75, a major artery through Atlanta and through Georgia.

It's shut down. The highway is shut down right now heading south. It all makes sense -- the Morehouse school's football team is actually playing at Albany State several hours much more south, but it would appear that maybe they were on their way.

The weather conditions around here right now, a little damp this morning, certainly not a lot of heavy rain today, but still a little damp -- a little damp out, expecting some more rain later. But right now, just have no idea how this bus ended up on its side. No idea, and certianly no word, Betty, of if any other vehicles were involved in this accident.

So, but we certainly hope its -- to get more information and ...

NGUYEN: Yes.

HOLMES: ...and hope that everybody is OK. No idea of the severity of those injuries, but one person trapped ...

NGUYEN: Right.

HOLMES: ...right now. We will continue to follow this.

NGUYEN: I was going to say some 20 people onboard that bus. So, of course, we're going to be getting some additional information as to, as you say, the severity of those injuries. But we do know at this time that there are injuries. So, stay tuned for that.