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Tiger Woods Recovering From Car Accident On Thanksgiving Night; White House Party Crashers May Face Criminal Charges; CNN Heroes Honored; President Obama Set to Announce Afghanistan War Policy

Aired November 28, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody, from the CNN center, this is CNN Saturday morning for November 28th. Man, we are getting there, aren't we? Christmas is coming. Good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Brianna Keilar in for Betty Nguyen this morning. Thanks for starting your day with us. We have a lot of news this morning, so let's get right to it.

HOLMES: Let's start with some stuff we've been watching overnight, a big story that has a lot of people asking questions, that late-night crash that sent Tiger Woods to the hospital. Police now want to know what caused him to hit a fire hydrant then hit a tree in his neighbor's yard.

CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us now live from Windermere, Florida. This is near Orlando. Susan, let's start with the facts. What do we know about this accident?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, T.J., the traffic accident was minor, obviously. But the reason a lot of people care about this is because it's Tiger Woods, I mean, obviously.

We're standing outside the beautiful development where he lives here in Windermere, and there are a lot of questions, because for now there are a lot of questions that we don't have answers for.

But here are the facts. At 2:30 in the morning Thanksgiving night, early Friday morning, police say Tiger Woods was coming out of his driveway, driving his Cadillac SUV, and he hits a fire hydrant at the end of his driveway and then bounces off of that and hits a tree in the neighbor's yard.

Now, police say that when they got there, the local police, that he was lying on the ground and his wife was hovering over him. They described her as being frantic.

They describe his injuries as having a lot of cuts on his lips and some blood in his mouth. And they also said they asked him questions but he was mainly incoherent, almost seeming to slip in and out of consciousness -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, you talk about so many questions here. And one of the things that's come up is the fact -- or at least police say that his wife broke the car window with a golf club to get him out. Now, a lot of people are wondering why a golf club, where did it come from? Just how did this go down?

CANDIOTTI: Well, again, we don't know everything there is to know about this. Here's what we do know. Police say that she told them, his wife, that she heard the crash from inside the house, came running outside.

And then we don't know in what order this happened, but she took a golf club and bashed out the rear window of the car. She told them that the doors were locked and that's why she bashed out the rear window of the car.

The front window of the car was not damaged, so it's unclear to us how he got the cuts on his lip and the blood inside his mouth. Clearly the air bag did not deploy, so it wasn't going fast enough, evidently, for that to happen.

HOLMES: All right. And have police been able to talk to Tiger Woods himself so far?

CANDIOTTI: They have not. Now, the investigating agency, the lead agency here, is the Florida highway patrol. And when they got to the scene, he had already left for hospital, so they did not get a chance to interview him.

They did note, however, on a police report that alcohol not involved, not involved in this accident.

When they went back later to talk to Tiger Woods at his house, they were turned away by his wife. She said that he's sleeping. And so the authorities are going to come back later this afternoon to try to talk to him again.

HOLMES: OK. And like you mentioned earlier, he had lacerations on his lips. At least from people we're hearing that he's in fine condition, and he's just fine.

But one other thing here before we let you go, Susan, which has a lot of people scratching their heads. This was Thanksgiving night, early in the morning on Friday morning, 2:25 in the morning, but on Thanksgiving night, what was he doing?

Do we know where he was going at 2:25 in the morning? He's a grown man, he can do what he wants to do, but, still, that struck some people as strange.

CANDIOTTI: We don't know the answer to that. Whether his wife was asked that question, we don't know. Naturally there are a lot of questions swirling around. Was there a problem? Why would he leave the house at that hour in the morning?

We asked the police chief that, whether there were any kinds of domestic problems at the house, any kind of fight that had preceded this, and his response was we have no indication of that. Perhaps we'll get some answers to that. We don't know. The only thing we've heard from Tiger Woods' spokesperson is that he is in good condition and they were thanking well-wishers for all their notes they've been sending to his Web site.

The other thing is he has a big charity tournament coming up early next week, starts on Monday. Will he be flying out there? Will we see more from him or hear from him? Don't know.

HOLMES: We don't know. There's a lot of stuff we don't know right now. Susan Candiotti, we appreciate you being there, telling us at least what we do know at this point. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you again.

Of course bluffing your way past bouncers at a nightclub is one thing. You do it all the time, I'm sure.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: But slipping into a White House state dinner -- that's a whole other situation.

KEILAR: The Secret Service is admitting that it messed up after a couple allegedly crashed Tuesday's party and met the president. Kate Bolduan standing by live for us at the White House. Kate, what is the reaction there to all of this?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Brianna.

The White House is taking this breach of security seriously, and now this incident, now dubbed the "state dinner crashers," is getting more and more interesting.

Not only did this Virginia couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, not only were they able to get into the state dinner, but they were also able to get close enough to shake hands with President Obama, and we have pictures to show that, in the receiving line with the Indian Prime Minister Singh.

The Secret Service has insisted that the president was never in danger because the Salahis, as well as all of the guests, had to go through different levels of security. But the agency, the director of the Secret Service now says that the agency is deeply concerned and embarrassed.

In a statement that was released Friday, the director of the Secret Service, Mark Sullivan, he goes on to say "Although these individual went through magnetometers and other levels of security, they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely. That failing is ours," he says.

So, clearly, not a good day for the U.S. Secret Service, and the investigation continues -- Brianna, T.J.

KEILAR: And do we know anything else about the investigation, Kate? BOLDUAN: Well, right now, we know that the Secret Service is not ruling out the possibility of criminal charges. We also -- the last we heard was that Secret Service investigators were trying to sit down and speak with the Salahis.

According to a statement that was released, put out from this couple's attorney, this attorney says the Salahis, they say they didn't crash the event, Brianna. They say also that they look forward to setting the record straight soon. And of course people will be very interested to hear exactly what they have to say about that.

KEILAR: We certainly are. Kate Bolduan for us from the White House, thank you so much for that.

And he's heard from top military commanders, his diplomatic team, fellow Democrats, and politicians from across the aisle. This Tuesday, President Obama reveals his strategy for the war in Afghanistan in a prime time address from the U.S. military academy in West Point, New York.

Ahead of that, Paul Steinhauser, CNN's deputy political director, is here with us. He has more on this critical decision for the Obama White House.

So Paul, starting with politically, the president coming under fire for dithering. That's what we heard from former vice president Dick Cheney, other Republicans alleging as much. Now that a decision has been reached, what are Republicans saying leading up to the speech Tuesday?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Republicans have been critical of this time period here. It's been about three months as the president has been meeting with his war council and trying to decide which way to go on Afghanistan.

Republicans haven't been maybe as blunt as the "dithering" comment from the former vice president, but they've said, Mr. President, you're taking too much time.

And the other thing they've been saying, as well, Briana, is Barack Obama should follow the advice of the generals, specifically Stanley McChrystal, the commander over there in Afghanistan. But those are the two points where they had been pressuring the president.

I think it depends on what the president announces on Tuesday. That'll determine how much support the president will have from the Republicans.

KEILAR: And it's an odd situation because he may be getting more support from those across the aisle than from those in his own party, right, especially with Congressional Democrats talking about this troop buildup going into what's going to be a tough election year for them?

STEINHAUSER: Oh, yes. No doubt about next year being a very difficult year with the midterm elections and Democrats defending large majorities in the House and the Senate.

This is interesting because this is one of the few issues where the Democrats really are almost opposed in a way to the president when it comes to the policy on Afghanistan.

As you well know, you cover Capitol Hill for us. There has been some pushback from Nancy Pelosi, from Carl Levin and some other top Democrats on Afghanistan.

KEILAR: Yes, and one of the really interesting things there is this war tax that we're hearing some Democrats talk about, some Democrats in the House who were very close to Speaker Pelosi, and she isn't sort of sweeping this idea aside, the idea of saying to President Obama, if you want more troops you're going to have to pay for them, unlike we've seen in the past with the Iraq and Afghanistan war.

That coming from, you know, Senate and House Democrats saying it would be an increase in income taxes. A tricky situation, obviously, to put President Obama in there by his own Democrats.

But Paul, what about public support, just average Americans, how do they feel about more troops in Afghanistan?

STEINHAUSER: Our poll indicates a partisan divide over this. Take a look. This is a CNN opinion research corporation. This was a national survey. The poll indicates that 37 percent of Democrats favor sending more troops, a majority are opposed. Independents basically split down the middle. And look at that, Republicans across the country our poll indicates support sending more troops by -- seven in 10 support it.

The other interesting thing from our poll when you break it down is the so-called gender gap. Take a look at this. Our poll indicates that men, 58 percent of men support sending 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan if that's what the president decides. Women just about the same amount oppose that move, Brianna.

KEILAR: That is fascinating. Some interesting fault lines there. Paul Steinhauser, our deputy political director, thank you so much for that.

STEINHAUSER: You're welcome.

KEILAR: A reminder that Tuesday night president Obama announces his decision on U.S. troops heading to Afghanistan. CNN's special coverage starts at 7:00 eastern.

Well, the weekend after Thanksgiving always a hectic one, whether you were headed to the airports or whether you plan to hit the malls.

HOLMES: Yes.

KEILAR: Which we know you to do, T.J.

HOLMES: Yes. KEILAR: And Reynolds Wolf has a preview of your forecast.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KEILAR: The CNN hero of the year Efren Penoflorida. He started a school on wheels to educate children living in the slums in the Philippines. You can get involved in that organization or any of the groups run by our top ten heroes this year.

Josh Levs here with us now. We have a lot of pretty cool resources on CNN.com, but I think this may be one of my favorites.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, and their stories are great, so inspirational.

KEILAR: Amazing.

LEVS: In fact, we have a video of all the top ten. Each one has a story behind them. They all run these fascinating organizations, and some are doing what they do in very difficult circumstances. And it really is interesting when you get to see the program, hear the stories behind what they do.

Well now we can bring them inside because at CNN.com/heroes we bring you to their organizations. You can even see what a day is like. Here's one example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After my mother died from domestic violence, I told myself that no girl or woman would suffer the same again. I started villages to provide a safe place for girls to go from abuse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: She's a leader in the fight to protect girls from sexual abuse. That organization you're seeing there, Girl Child Network, has in and of itself helped rescue tens of thousands of girls. And all you need to do to help is go to our Web site right here, CNN.com/heroes.

As you can tell, there's little pictures of each person, and right next to it there's something that says "how to help." We hook you up with the organization.

Let's take a look at another example. We have Jorge Munoz, a bus driver that cooks meals for the hungry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORGE MUNOZ, CNN HERO: First it was eight guys, two weeks later it was 24 -- 110, 120, sometimes 140. But thank god I have enough food for everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: He does this every night. In fact, this is what he said at the awards ceremony. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUNOZ: Right now I want everyone to know that my sister in Queens, she stay home and thanks to her no one hungry tonight.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So on the night that he was offered the award ceremony, his sister was running it. Literally every night, 365 days a year, they feed people there.

We are giving you all sorts of information, and we want to hear from you about who your heroes are. This is how you can get in tough -- CNN.com. Let us know who your heroes are.

And it's also a good weekend for you to catch the special, because millions voted this year, and you can see all the heroes tonight. Join Anderson Cooper for "CNN Heroes, the all-star tribute" to those changing our world CNN tonight and tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern.

So, Brianna, T.J., I definitely encourage people to check it out, learn more about these groups. And if you want to, how to help, and you can join in.

KEILAR: Great way to connect to those people making just amazing changes in their communities.

HOLMES: All right, Josh. Thank you.

We have another check of the morning's top stories coming your way in just a minute.

KEILAR: And the secret life of a Rockette. We're going to reveal some surprising tricks they use to make their Christmas shows so impressive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: One of the top stories we're following this morning is the crash of a cargo plane in China.

KEILAR: Three people, all Americans, were killed in the crash. Our senior international correspondent John Vause has more on this incident at the Shanghai Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN VAUSE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The cargo plane was preparing for takeoff at Shanghai's Pudong International airport when it veered off the runway, broke into several pieces, and burst into flame.

It took emergency crews more than an hour to put out the fire. On board, seven crew members, three of them were killed, all of them Americans according to the U.S. embassy. Another American was among the four survivors, all of them take on the hospital and are reported to be in a stable condition in intensive care.

The McDonnell Douglas plane was registered in Zimbabwe and was en route from Shanghai to the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Soon after the accident, one runway was closed down. That caused havoc for air travelers. More than 4,000 people were delayed for hours.

Pudong airport is shanghai's main hub for international flights. Operations, though, have now returned to normal. There's no word yet on the cause of the crash.

John Vause, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Still ahead, we'll talk live with a friend of Tiger Woods about the superstar's mysterious car accident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, a lot of folks going to be getting their Christmas trees this weekend. Some of you may already have them up. The White House just got their Christmas tree. It's a Douglas fir, and it's a big sucker, 18 1/2 feet tall, 12 feet wide.

KEILAR: That's gigantic. You can see it right there. That's coming to the White House from a farm in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It will find it's home on display in the blue room.

And the tradition of bringing this tree in dating back to the Harrison Administration in 1889 having that tree in the blue room.

Another Christmas tradition is, of course, dancing by the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall. And they've been thrilling audiences there for decades.

HOLMES: But now they're actually on the road. They're taking their show to other cities. Melissa Long of CNN beat me to this assignment and she caught up with the high kickers here in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA LONG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three-quarters of a century and still kicking. The Rockettes' Christmas spectacular signals the holidays are here.

JOANNA RICHARDSON, ROCKETTE: We started in 1933, and, you know, we always try to reinvent and re-imagine and re-create the show.

LONG: Still, crowds are nostalgic. They expect the ladies with lovely legs to perform with precision dance and eye-high kicks. At a tour at Atlanta's FOX theater, 24-year-old Joanna Richardson invited us backstage to share some of the secrets, like how they trick your eye.

RICHARDSON: We create the illusion that we all are the same height so. We put the tallest girls in the center and the shortest girls cascade out to the sides.

LONG: The Rockettes actually range from 5'6" to 5'10", and with eight costumes, they're just as choreographed backstage as on stage. One quick change, just 90 seconds. And in the dance of the wooden soldiers, the ladies must wiggle into the white pants.

RICHARDSON: They're so incredibly starched that we actually can't sit down in them.

LONG: Another secret -- a grid you can't see but the dancers can.

RICHARDSON: We have numbers across the front of the stage, letters across the sides, and then at certain points going upstage we have colored lines. And we have an exact position for every step we do.

LONG: And with all those steps and up to four grueling performances a day, how do the ladies pamper their tender feet? Ice baths.

RICHARDSON: Actually, we put out feet in ice water for about ten minutes after the show to help, you know, keep the swelling down.

LONG: Something they appreciate every time the curtain goes up.

Melissa Long, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: We will turn back to Tiger Woods here now. He had some explaining to do after a car crash left him with cuts on his face. We'll have details about an upcoming police visit, and we'll talk with a friend of Tiger's in just about five minutes.

KEILAR: And we'll also take you to a university that's for parents only and tell you why a top educator thinks it's a great idea.

HOLMES: Also, the party is over. Have the problems just begun though for the D.C. socialites who reportedly crashed the White House dinner. Tell us what you think should happen to the couple. Should they be punished? Send those comments to us on Facebook or Twitter. We'll have your responses in our next half-hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Thank you for joining us this Saturday morning. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. We have a lot of questions this morning surrounding Tiger Woods' late-night accident right outside his Florida home.

This is what we do know right now. Police want to talk to Woods today about that crash. The police report says charges are pending. Woods hit a fire hydrant and a tree at about 2:25 a.m. Friday morning. He was pulled from that car by his wife, who broke out a window of the SUV with a golf club. Woods suffered cuts on his face, but his publicist says the golfer is in good condition.

KEILAR: Now, Tiger Woods is, of course, more than just a sports superstar. He is a global icon. Joining us now on the phone from Orlando, Florida, is former CNN sports anchor and current golf channel reporter Inga Hammond.

Inga, thank you for being with us. You also -- you're pretty good friends with Tiger Woods. Do you know anything about what happened? Have you spoke within him?

INGA HAMMOND, GOLF CHANNEL REPORTER: It's interesting, because we cover him, and he is so unbelievably dominant in our sport.

I have not spoken with him. Basically, Tiger has kind of circled the wagons with his family and friends and advisers right now, and he isn't speaking and from what I understand home recovering a little bit, because it sounds like he got some sort of bonk on the head, as well.

But I think the big thing with all the gossip and TMZ and, you know, the Internet kind of has given gossip this forum that it never used to have in the past.

And the biggest thing I think is that everyone needs to give Tiger Woods the benefit of the doubt in this situation. He is not one of those athletes who has been in trouble before with either the law or his sport. He's really been a model citizen.

And so I think until all the facts are out on this one, people need to kind of, you know, set aside what they're hearing. And I know they want the questions answered, but I think those kinds of things will come in time.

KEILAR: So then he is somewhat notoriously press shy considering, you know, how renowned he is. But, you know, I think it's sort of the interesting to people that what we got from his communications representative was a very simple statement about his condition and a very brief statement about the accident.

But there really not any details about the circumstances of the accident. Even if Tiger Woods isn't feeling so well, you know, I guess conventional wisdom would be that his wife could lend some truth to whatever the facts are. Why do you think there has been no statement about the circumstances of this accident? HAMMOND: Well, I also think you have to remember this is -- you know, Tiger Woods at the age of two was on the Michael Douglas show right in front of Bob Hope, hitting golf balls. So this is a young man whose entire life has basically been played out on television and in front of the media.

So when it comes to his private life, that's the one place where he is able to have privacy. And Elin, you may have notices you've never seen an interview with her publicly. You'll see her at events with Tiger, but she really doesn't talk to the press.

And I think that's the way the Woods' family likes it, is that Tiger is the one who does the speaking on behalf of the family and they try to keep private things private amongst them.

So it's really not that unusual. I know in some people's minds it raises red flags. But in the Tiger Woods' world and his camp, things are always discussed. Remember, this is the guy who won the U.S. Open basically on a broken leg and didn't announce to the world until two or three days afterwards ...

KEILAR: Inga, let me ask you ...

HAMMOND: Yes.

KEILAR: Can you speak to this? Is there any sign that there may be trouble between Tiger Woods and his wife?

HAMMOND: You know, the way I look at it is, you know, any young cup that will has two children under the age of three that doesn't occasionally have arguments or disagreements -- but there have been no public signs whatsoever that anyone has seen.

We saw them just a week ago Tiger was inducted into the Stanford hall of fame and Elin was there along with Sam, his little girl, right there on the sidelines with him. So I don't think there's been any outward sign of this.

KEILAR: But you wouldn't rule out that there is a possibility this could stem from an accident, a sort of domestic dispute between the two?

HAMMOND: Well, I just think any young married couple with kids that are that young, you know, will have disagreements. And when they have them it's usually at night when the family is in bed.

But also Tiger Woods is well-known for not sleeping a lot. He sleeps four to five hours a night. He's talked about that. So the thought of him being awake at 2:30 in the morning is actually not as unusual as I think people would think it is. Sometimes he works out at 3:00, 4 a.m. That's not that unusual.

KEILAR: When, Inga, do you think we'll start to get some more answers here?

HAMMOND: Well, the big date to kind of look forward to is Tuesday. That's when he has a press conference scheduled for his Chevron World Challenge tournament, which is out in Thousand Oakes, California. And that tournament is really one of his babies. It has raised tens of millions of dollars for charity, for the Tiger Woods Foundation.

And I would imagine, you know, barring what these facial lacerations look like, I would imagine Tiger would be there, because it is a cause near and dear to his heart. So we'll see if he answers those questions then or if this is deemed purely private matter. And who knows, maybe they won't answer the questions.

KEILAR: Inga, thank you so much for joining us. Inga Hammond with the Gold Channel, and we certainly will be looking toward Tuesday if there is going to be that press conference at the golf tournament.

HOLMES: We'll see if he shows, yes.

Meanwhile here, a university for parents only. We're going to show you how it could help mom and dad help their struggling children.

KEILAR: And grab a pen and some paper. When we come back, we'll also give out some websites that are good resources for parents of schoolchildren.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Trigonometry, algebra, computer science. If you've been out of school a few years, those lessons can be a bit foggy. So what do you do when your child needs you to check their homework and you can't help out, really?

We'll talk to Steve Perry, CNN's education contributor and friend of our show here on CNN Saturday and Sunday morning. And also author of the book "Man Up." He's ready and waiting to talk to us this morning from Stanford, Connecticut.

Steve, always good to see you, young fella. We were talking about this thing out of Philadelphia, this parent's university out there where they set this up to actually help the parents to educate them to empower their students. Now, is this a good idea? Can this work?

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: It's a phenomenal idea. And there are parent universities all over the country. In fact, they're called by many names. Another one is called Baby College, which they have in Harlem at the Harlem's Children Zone.

Many of our parents are intimidated by the educational system and/or themselves not as educated as we would need them to be. So as a result, school districts are taking a proactive steps and saying, here's Microsoft Word, here's what the Internet is and is not.

Many of our parents want to be a participant in their child's education but they just don't know how.

HOLMES: We think for the most part, though, parents genuinely want to get involved. They just don't know how, they don't have the resources, and this is one.

PERRY: Yes.

And what's also important is parents don't have the confidence. So, for instance, if you haven't taken chemistry in 20, 30 years or ever in your life, when your child comes home with chemistry you're not so inclined to jump in and roll up your sleeves.

But parents should understand you can help your children with homework even if you don't know how to do the homework by making a child explain it back to you. If the child can explain it back to you in such a way that you understand it, then they understand it.

HOLMES: That's an interesting way to put that. How disengaged would you say a lot of parents are simply because they are intimidated by what a lot of what the kids are coming home?

PERRY: I would be honest to say anywhere from 50 percent to 70 percent, because what happens is a parent sits down and they see these words in a math class, and they say that doesn't look like the math that I used to do. And they want to know what's going on.

Also, the technology is moving so fast that if you're not engaged in the technology in your daily life, as the children in many cases are, it's very easy to get behind.

Parents should also understand that there are ways in which they could help their children by creating a quiet place in the home to study.

Also sort of a rule of thumb that I have -- your children's number of books, size of books, should be as tall as they are, because children grow by the inch or two a year. So you should have as many books in your house at the height of your child. If you have a tall child, you better get to the store. 'Tis the season.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: And also Steve, how much is this really -- I guess staggering the development and the education of the child if the parent is behind? Sometimes, you know, some parents like we've been talk about here, are intimidated by it. So the parent doesn't necessarily need to be a whizz-kid, you're saying, in all of these subjects. They still need to be engaged in them.

PERRY: They do need to be engaged and they need to make sure a child could be engaged.

One of the bigger places where the parent's lack of knowledge of what's going on in education becomes bigger is when their child is struggling. They don't even know who to ask for help, they don't know to whom to turn.

Many parents think "I'm going to hire a tutor." That's not always the best idea. Start with a teacher first. Every teacher, regardless of what their contract says, has the responsibility to stay after school at least one day a week. And so because of that, start with the teacher first.

Again, many parents will spend a lot money in the next couple of weeks if they haven't already on video games. Video games will make your children dumb, dumb as a rock. You want to save your children, get them books.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: All right. Well, last thing, some other resources you were talking about out there. And of course websites quick and easy, but there are some resources out there to help parents in this regard.

PERRY: Yes, they can just work up the words "parent university" as a start. And then there's a site we use for our sons, which is starfall.com. It teaches children to read.

And there's another one called cool math. There are many, many others that you can take a look at. Just look up "parent university" and you'll see a list of different school systems that have parent universities. It's a great time for us to think about our children, give a life, gave book.

HOLMES: All right, Steve, I'm sure Nintendo and PlayStation might be upset with you right now.

PERRY: They don't help anybody.

HOLMES: "Video games make people dumb," I love that. Always good to see you, Steve. We'll see you again soon, buddy.

PERRY: Take care.

HOLMES: All right, quick break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Time now for a look at some of the top stories we're watching this morning.

Investigators at a deadly train derailment in Russia suspect last night's incident is related to terrorism. They report finding elements of an explosive device at the site. The derailment killed at least 26 people and injured about 100.

This was an express train heading from St. Petersburg -- heading to St. Petersburg, rather, from Moscow.

President Obama is getting ready to reveal his new strategy for Afghanistan. Tuesday's announcement also expected to include for a call for sizable troop increase, as many as 34,000 more troops, in fact. CNN will have special coverage of Tuesday's announcement starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern on Tuesday.

You know, it turns out the couple accused of crashing the White House state dinner did actually meet the president, shook his hand, in fact. We are getting a look at more pictures of them from Tuesday night. And now the Secret Service admits it messed up by letting them in. The pair could face criminal charges.

HOLMES: A lot of people wondering should they, you know. Is it really their fault? I mean, secret service supposed to keep something like this from happening.

KEILAR: But should they have even tried to get into the event.

HOLMES: A lot of people wouldn't pass an opportunity up. If they knew they could get in and shake the hand of the president, they would go for it, wouldn't you think?

KEILAR: You would certainly know you'd get caught if you do it.

HOLMES: Are we arguing?

KEILAR: This is the debate going on.

HOLMES: Sorry. We appreciate all your comments coming in to Facebook and Twitter. We'll share them throughout the morning.

Also a lot of people may be away this weekend, but next weekend maybe looking for another getaway, maybe get away from family next weekend.

KEILAR: Maybe, yes. And here are some tips to save you some bucks in this week's edition of "On the Go."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For a quick and easy weekend trip, try visiting a big convention city.

CHRIS MCGINNIS, EXPEDIA.COM: A lot of companies have reduced or eliminated travel to meetings and conventions this year, so those big convention hotels are sitting empty and prices are really falling. The best deals in big cities are mostly on weekends.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the price is right in normally expensive destinations.

MCGINNIS: A big convention destination like Chicago, we're looking rates down about 17 percent. New York is down about 25 percent, and here in San Francisco, rates are down 22 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Car rentals can be cheaper, too.

MCGINNIS: You're going to get the best rates in big cities if you rent cars over weekends when business travelers are not renting. So if you pick up on a Thursday or Friday and drop off on Sunday, you're going to get the best car rental rate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Well, remember that Northwest Airlines flight that flew way -- I mean way ...

HOLMES: Way.

KEILAR: ... pretty far past its destination, landing those pilots in a whole lot of trouble? Up next, the pilots in their own words.

HOLMES: Also coming up, Alicia Keys has a new album coming out, but that is not the most important message she wants to get out to you right now. We're talking to her coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We've been having to fight off a few mothers here and there trying to get their hands on this.

KEILAR: How important is city center to the future of Las Vegas?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody's here to celebrate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Working six to noon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Alicia keys, you know her music. We're going to show you a different side to Alicia Keys though, this morning, one that's about saving the lives of HIV/AIDS victims in Africa. World AIDS day is Tuesday. I caught up with this 12-time Grammy award winning singer in New York to talk to her about her charity, Keep a Child Alive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALICIA KEYS, SINGER SONGWRITER: It's crazy when you think about it how you can change the lives of people forever for the price of a pair of shoes.

HOLMES: Alicia keys didn't set out to do humanitarian work in Africa. In a way, Africa came to her.

It was 2002. Her first album was climbing the charts. She won Grammys for best new artist and song of the year. But she never expected an invitation to perform in Africa.

KEYS: I was wowed that people that far away would know my music.

HOLMES: Maybe she knew that 40 percent of the population there was infected with HIV/AIDS, but those numbers didn't really hit home until she came face to face with the people there.

KEYS: I started to meet kids my age and younger who were personally dealing with it, lost their parents, watched their parents die, then had to raise their younger brothers and sisters if they're 14 and raising their seven-year-old, six-year-old brother and sister.

HOLMES: The people she met changed her life. And ever since, this 12-time Grammy Award-winning singer has been working to change theirs.

KEYS: All they kept saying when I was leaving was "Don't forget us. Please don't forget us."

HOLMES: Within a year, Keys cofounded the Keep a Child Alive organization with filmmaker and activist Lee Blake. Their mission is to build clinics and provide kids and their families with medicine that will save lives.

KEYS: Picture your mother, your brother, your daughter, your son, and picture them suffering greatly. You would not tolerate it. You wouldn't. You would say whatever I have to change that, I'm going to do it.

HOLMES: On December 15th, Alicia Keys will release her fourth CD, "The Element of Freedom." She says it will show a different side of her music.

KEYS: I'm renewed and I'm reborn, so you will feel a different side of me, definitely, a freer side of me, more confident side of me, stronger side.

HOLMES: The first single, "Doesn't Mean Anything," is already out and getting plenty of play. You see her here performing on "Regis and Kelly."

HOLMES: Everybody knows about what you do behind the piano. But what do you want to be known for maybe years down the road?

KEYS: I want to be known as an incredible global citizen and a person who has made their mark in an inspiring, positive way.

I tell you one thing, though. They're going to make it good. And they're going to have something serious to say. They're going to change the world. We're going to change the world. I felt proud that that was my generation. I said, this is my generation. We're going to do something really big.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right, and she has not too long ago when we covered it, she had a fundraiser for her charity, a big star-studded even in New York, raised some $2.4 million for her charity. And also started there in Africa, but now she wants to expand it to India. She says it's just a natural progression of her charity, so the work continues for Miss Alicia Keys.

KEILAR: She's so passionate about it.

HOLMES: Oh, yes.

KEILAR: So she also I think can appeal to a younger audience, too, to get them engaged in what's going on.

HOLMES: And young people will listen to her before they listen to a lot of folks. And she wants to make sure you know, she has been a part of this from day one. A lot of celebrities, not naming a name, but some people out there will attach their names to something and be a part of it. She started this, she was a part of this from day one. She is engaged in it. She's not just lending her name to some organization. This is hers, this is her baby.

KEILAR: And all the way back in 2002 when she was really just kind of just coming on the scene, very interesting.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, how U.S. troops in Iraq are trying to get ready for their long-awaited move out of the country.

HOLMES: A quick break, we're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Federal officials have released the radio traffic recordings from that Northwest flight that overshot itself destination by some 150 miles.

KEILAR: But as CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve tells us, they don't really explain much.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Over and over and over again, air-traffic controllers in Denver and Minneapolis try to make contact with Northwest flight 1888, even asking other Northwest pilots in the area if they can radio the plane. Finally, after overflying Minneapolis by 150 miles, after 77 minutes incommunicado, the crew makes contact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

MESERVE: Controllers ask if the crew is in control of the aircraft.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see right here on this frequency (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

MESERVE: Several minutes later another controller follows up. Again, the controller tries to get information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: It was pretty clear that they knew they were in hot water. They were not going to discuss it over the open channels. They knew it was going to be recorded. They knew they just didn't want to say anything.

MESERVE: The pilot and co-pilot later said they were reviewing crew scheduling procedures on their laptop computers. In a stinging rebuke, the Federal Aviation Administration accused them of a total dereliction and disregard of their duties and revoked their licenses.

MESERVE (on camera): The pilots have filed an appeal. Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating in hopes of coming up with a conclusive explanation for this frightening lapse on the part of the crew.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)