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Massachusetts Stimulus Money, Tracking Stimulus Money, Shelter Box in Haiti, Apple iPad
Aired January 30, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: But Toyota has not been as open as they claim says marketing specialist Richard Laermer.
RICHARD LAERMER, BRANDING EXPERT: One of the real problems with crises communication is that if you don't act fast in clearing up the mess, the mess just gets bigger and bigger. With this, they knew something was going on and they didn't handle it as rapidly as they could have.
FEYERICK: A Toyota spokesman says the company is close to having a new pedal design but did not say how long they will take to manufacture the pedals or how they plan to go about installing them in millions of vehicles.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And in addition to the Toyota recall here are two other stories that we are following this afternoon. The massive winter storm which has been rolling across the country and it is attacking the east coast with snow, ice and wind. And in a very snowy Washington, D.C., President Obama met with former President George H.W. Bush. Take a look at the picture right there, Mr. Bush was exiting the White House today. Apparently it was just for a social meeting.
All right. Let's talk again about the automaker by the name of Toyota, one of the biggest ones in this country in terms of selling vehicles in this country. As more vehicles are recalled with potentially sticky accelerators, we heard from the Japanese automaker president issue an apology saying that our vehicles are indeed safe.
All right. So what do you do if you own a Toyota, and how do you get some assurance now that safety is still first for Toyota? We've got with us from Detroit Wes Raynal, executive director of "Auto Week" Magazine and Autoweek.com. Good to see you Wes.
WES RAYNAL, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "AUTOWEEK" MAGAZINE & AUTOWEEK.COM: Hi, how are you?
WHITFIELD: I'm doing good. I want to reiterate what the Associated Press is reporting, that the U.S. government has approved a part by Toyota to keep the gas pedal from sticking. Or at least they approved a part; don't know if that is from Japan or if that is a part that is actually in the U.S. So apparently it is going to be available at dealers across this country come Thursday. So how does this strike you?
RAYNAL: It strikes me as odd because I don't know if they figured out what the problem is exactly. Is this going to fix -- is this the shim? Is this because of the condensation? Is this because of the carpeting in the car? What is it? They've got to have a problem to fix before they can fix it.
WHITFIELD: And if this report is correct coming from the Associated Press again, that the U.S. has approved this part that would so-call fix it, how in the world could that be the case when it was just earlier in the week that these vehicles were recalled and now all of a sudden within a week there is a part that can rectify the problem and to be made available to millions of people?
RAYNAL: Exactly. Again, what exactly is it fixing? I think they need to pinpoint the problem first before they can -- or problems, before they can send out the fix to all these dealers. I heard what's happening here is that the dealers pressured the factory and said don't fix them at the factory. Send us the parts. We need them now. Get us the stuff so we can fix the cars and get our customers on the road. I don't know.
WHITFIELD: How would you suppose Toyota would find itself in this situation? The number one seller of cars in this country and one that is synonymous with safety?
RAYNAL: Boy, if I could answer that, I would be president of the company. I mean I don't know how they found themselves in this situation.
WHITFIELD: I mean is it as simple as just getting too big, too soon, trying to meet the demand? All the I's weren't dotted and t's crossed?
RAYNAL: That could be part of it. But look how long GM has been number one and I don't remember them having a problem this severe as this. I don't know if they got too big to fast, they got sloppy; it could be a combination of the two. They took their eye off the ball. There are any number of cliches you can use it just seems to be the perfect storm of a problem right now that is coming back to haunt them big time.
WHITFIELD: What does Toyota need to do to comfort a Toyota consumer? People who already have invested in these vehicles. They have them and they are continuing to make car payments on these vehicles. What can Toyota really do besides offering this part; hopefully it will work with what the Associated Press is reporting is true and the apology coming from the president? What more can this company do?
RAYNAL: I think they need to get in front of it a little more. They seem to be in a bunker mentality, at least from where I sit. I thought back when Ford had problems with their Firestone tires, Jack Nasser, the president of Ford at the time was on television, national television the day after the incident happened saying, we are going to fix it. We are going to do this and we are going to do that.
I think Toyota needs to not wait for the customer to call them. They need to contact customers now. I heard they are going to take out some full-page ads in the major daily's tomorrow, and that is probably a good idea, but again, what will that say?
WHITFIELD: Well it might spell out the things you need to do? Some of us have been, it's been brought to our attention now. What do you do if you're driving one of these vehicles and the gas pedal sticks, what do you do?
RAYNAL: You put the car in neutral. Before you worry about getting into the brakes, or before you worry about shutting off the ignition, get the car out of gear. Because then it is impossible for the engine to drive the wheels. Put the car in neutral. Get on the brakes, shut the car off. Those are the three things you need to do and relatively quick fashion. Get it off to the side of the road, call a dealer, and tell them to come get it.
WHITFIELD: Well perhaps that ad you were talking about, maybe it will have that kind of detail. Maybe not everyone is getting the word and Toyota knows that it really bears that responsibility for everyone's safety to make sure everyone knows what to do in case of.
RAYNAL: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right. Wes Raynal thanks so much, executive editor of "Auto Week" Magazine and Autoweek.com, as well.
RAYNAL: Thanks for having me.
WHITFIELD: Of course, if you have a Toyota you probably need a refresher on which vehicles are being recalled. So we have a complete list of those vehicles on CNNMONEY.com. Check it out. See if you have one of those vehicles and what do you do next?
All right. Virginia, let's talk weather. Asking drivers to actually stay off the road, not because of the kind of car you drive but simply because of the weather. The governor of North Carolina has declared a state of emergency. The east coast feeling the fury of this winter storm that hit Oklahoma and Texas earlier in the week. Bonnie Schneider in the Severe Weather Center. It's nasty now and it's not over.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, it's not over Fredricka, 17 states affected by one storm. We are still looking at the advisories that continue all the way back out to western Maryland. Then you start working your way toward Virginia and Washington, D.C., is under a winter storm warning that continues all night. It doesn't end until 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning. We'll be looking at some very tough conditions.
Here is a look at the latest radar picture. We have snow falling across Washington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, lower sections of New Jersey and some lighter snow up towards central New Jersey. Look what's happening down south. What we are seeing down in this region, well, this is freezing rain in Virginia Beach and that is treacherous to travel on. That's why people are advised to stay inside. On top of that, the temperatures are so cold that it's fluffing up the snow. Look at this. In Richmond we have 19 degrees at this hour, Washington, D.C., at 18, Raleigh at 22, where there's snow and ice on the ground. This storm is not over yet. We'll be looking at more accumulations in the mid-Atlantic, plus the threat of ice straight through tomorrow. I will have more coming up.
WHITFIELD: Gosh, that means this is a weekend to stay inside, if you can.
SCHNEIDER: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: All right. Bonnie appreciate it.
President Barack Obama, calling for bipartisanship. Is he going to get it? We will ask Eamon Javers, of Political.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. There was a presidential meeting of the minds today. President Obama hosted former President George H.W. Bush at the White House today. Mr. Bush was accompanied by his son Jeb, former governor of Florida. Pictures now of them leaving the White House. Apparently no heavy policy talks at this gathering. The White House says this was purely social.
Social meeting or not, today's get-together at the White House came one day after President Obama tried to establish a dialogue with Republicans. He attended a House Republican retreat in Baltimore and engaged in some rather spirited give-and-take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S: The easiest thing for me to do on the health care debate would have been to tell people what you're going to get is guaranteed health insurance, lower your costs, all the insurance reforms, we're going to lower the cost of Medicare and Medicaid and it won't cost anybody anything. That's great politics.
It's just not true. So there's got to be some test of realism in any of these proposals, mine included. I've got to hold myself accountable. I guarantee you the American people will hold me accountable. If what I'm selling doesn't actually deliver.
REP. MIKE PENCE, (R) INDIANA: Mr. President, point of clarification, what's in the better solutions book are all the legislative proposals --
OBAMA: I understand that. I actually read your bills.
PENCE: Throughout 2009. Rest assured the summary document you received is backed up by precisely the kind detailed legislation Speaker Pelosi and your administration have been busy ignoring for 12 months.
OBAMA: Wait. Hold on a second. No, no, no. Hold on a second. I read your legislation. I take a look at this stuff. The good ideas we take, but here's the thing, here's the thing that all of us have to be mindful of. It can't be all or nothing one way or the other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So was this an ice breaker? Are we headed for better days and bipartisan ways? Eamon Javers is with Politico.com and he joins me now from Washington. I kind of laugh because I almost know what you're going to say. So are we seeing the world coming together of these two parties in particular as a result of what took place yesterday?
EAMON JAVERS, POLITICO.COM: I hate to be a wet blanket here but I've been in Washington just enough to grow extremely cynical about claims of bipartisanship, especially claims of bipartisanship in an election year. Right after this event, which was an astonishing event in American politics.
WHITFIELD: It really was an incredible breakthrough moment. Everyone has to agree on that. This was unprecedented in so many different ways.
JAVERS: The interesting thing to me is the political reporters, you so rarely get to see politicians on either side of the aisle really speaking without a script and just debating with each other. And a president of the United States in front of a hostile audience like that taking questions and answering off the top of his head for about an hour was a huge opportunity for the Republicans to show that they have ideas, they have legislation, they are being responsible.
And it was an even bigger opportunity, I think, for the president to show that he is listening to the opposition. He is engaging them politely, disagreeing where he has to, but engaging them nonetheless. A political win being declared on all sides here. But I don't think it pretends a lot of hand holding and Kumbaya in Washington between now and the election.
WHITFIELD: Yes. We also saw the president taking on some assertions, as he put it. In some cases, where is the question here. You made a lot of assertions, but let me try and clarify those things first and then move on with the question. There was some challenging, but in an amicable way.
JAVERS: The tone was overall friendly and respectful. The great thing about being the president of the United States is you have some home- court advantage no matter where you go. He did here even though he was meeting with the Republicans at their own event. He got to stand at the front of the room at a podium. All the questions came from the audience. They were very respectful. It's very hard to spar with a sitting president of the United States, especially when you're trying to show that you are not crazy bomb throwers, as the Republicans were trying to demonstrate yesterday.
So he really had the advantage there answering their questions. There's some question afterwards whether the Republicans made the right call or not by allowing that thing to be televised because the president did have such an inherent advantage. WHITFIELD: They didn't want to at first. Here is another moment, another exchange with Jeb Hensarling of Texas and this pertained to the federal deficit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JEB HENSARLING, (R) TEXAS: This is what I don't understand, Mr. President. After that discussion, your administration proposed a budget that would triple the national debt over the next ten years. Surely you don't believe ten years from now we will still be mired in this recession and propose new entitlement spending and move the cost of government to almost 24.5 percent of the economy. Very soon, Mr. President, you're due to submit a new budget, and my question --
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S: Jeb, I know there is a question in there somewhere. You are making a whole bunch of assertions, half of which I disagree with and I have to sit here and listen to them. At some point I you are going to let me answer.
HENSARLING: That is the question. You are soon to submit a new budget, Mr. President; will that new budget like your old budget triple the national debt and continue to take us down the path of increasing the cost of government to almost 25 percent of our economy? That's the question, Mr. President.
OBAMA: Jim, with all due respect, I've got to take this last question of an example how it's very hard to have the kind of bipartisan work that we're going to do because the whole question was structured as a talking point for running a campaign.
Now, look, let's talk about the budget once again because I'll go through it with you line by line. The fact of the matter is that when we came into office, the deficit was $1.3 trillion, $1.3 trillion. When you say suddenly I've got a monthly budget that is higher than the -- a higher monthly deficit than the annual deficit left by Republicans, that is factually not true and you know it's not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So Eaman, even after an exchange like that, Republicans might see it one way and Democrats might see it another way. It really boils down to how do independents read this kind of dialogue, this body language? They are the ones that have the power at the polls particularly this year.
JAVERS: The dialogue and the body language really worked for the president there. After he delivered a fairly stiff and sometimes unconvincing State of the Union Address earlier in the week, here he was at his informal and charming best, laughing at the question from Hensarling. He was really engaging and this all plays to his strength. This is why the Obama campaign put the president out on the campaign trail in that town hall format so often.
This is one of the things that he does best and he has a lot of practice at it by now. The Republicans by contrast only had a chance to offer one or two questions each and had a real limited opportunity to get in the points that they wanted to get in. The president complained about the question being too long, but he certainly didn't complain about his answers, which were also very long. He sort of filibustered them on some occasions and really ate up some of the air time on national cable television on Friday. It was a format winner for the president. I'll be curious to see if they do it again. He has been talking about doing this monthly. I'll see if the Republicans are up for it again.
WHITFIELD: Wow. I guess in a resistant way. First they said no way in terms of being televised and then finally the White House kind of pressured them on it, 90 minutes long.
JAVERS: It was a long time. Interestingly, the White House asked for that TV coverage right at the last minute. Republicans have been saying to the Democrats, look you've got to be transparent. You've got to be open. You have to have the hearings on health care on c-span. They couldn't really say no to that request even though they knew by televising it it might play a little bit to the president's favor.
WHITFIELD: It was pretty fascinating stuff. Eamon Javers, Politico.com. Thanks so much. Good to see you.
JAVERS: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Just in case you missed that sparring, the exchanges, the dialogue, however way you want to see it, it will air this evening 6:00 p.m. Eastern, "Situation Room" special. Catch that tonight on CNN.
They are the videos taking the Internet by storm. If you're not talking about them already, you will. Right, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You will by the time we're done with you. When you take these now-famous Filipino dancing inmates and you toss in Michael Jackson's choreographer, what you get is nothing less than viral video magic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. New worries confronting orphans in Haiti. Relief workers UNICEF and the Haitian government are scrambling to make sure orphans not only have food and shelter, but to make sure that they are safe from child trafficking. They're investigating reports that kids are disappearing from make- shift tent cities and hospitals across the country.
And snow and ice from a dangerous storm are inundating sections of the southeast. Power has been knocked out to thousands of people's homes. Slick roadways are treacherous, at best, and snow falling in the Carolinas is expected to turn into freezing rain. Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., are also expected to see more snow today.
It is the fix millions of Toyota owners have been waiting for. According to the Associated Press, federal government regulators in this country approved the part Toyota wants to use to repair potentially faulty gas pedals which could stick and cause accidents. Parts could arrive at dealers as early as this Thursday coming up.
Of course a lot more news straight ahead. It's time to take out a little time. We like to sneak in a zen moment or two, a few belly laughs. That is where Josh Levs comes in. You have great viral videos that take us all over the place.
LEVS: Our zen moment is actually a Fredricka Whitfield special. You'll see that coming up. Here is what we'll start off with. We hear a lot about political strife. A group of eight musicians have created a message of peace through a viral video.
They are calling it jam session 2.0.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Move to the whim, to the groove of the drum beat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: They are all over the world, but thanks to the Internet they have hooked into the same feed and are putting on this little show together.
You hear Spanish going on. It's good stuff. This is where we get to have fun. There was this popular song in Japan that was called "Bad Apple." This is the video that went along with it. It was really huge. It was number one for weeks and weeks. People went crazy over it. In this new viral video, the next one for you --
WHITFIELD: It creped me out that one.
LEVS: A little bit. This has gone viral now. This is how they made it. We are talking about 7,000 little pictures that were stop motion have now created a viral video. There are more than 6,000 individual pieces of art. Millions of people around the world, taking a look at how they made that video. Someone took the time to show you every single still.
WHITFIELD: I'm trying to figure that one out. I have to watch that over and over again to get it, to get the attraction.
LEVS: This is technology people are into online. Next one, talking about bizarre. Conan O'Brien had a bit of a tough time lately, right? Here is a testament --
WHITFIELD: Sort of until he got the $30 million plus. Don't feel so sorry. OK.
LEVS: Here is a testament to him that you've never seen before. Look at this. This is Conan O'Brien made entirely from Cheetos, people, 50 bags, three different flavors. I want you to see what it looks like when it's done. Look at that. That's all Cheetos.
WHITFIELD: That is great.
LEVS: You were recently in Vancouver. Our video zen today is for you.
WHITFIELD: I'll take it. It is a beautiful city. It is stunning.
LEVS: This song is "Vancouver City." Is it really that beautiful?
WHITFIELD: I think I went over that bridge to get to the airport.
LEVS: I'm going to create a file on my facebook page. I'm going to create a better than Ambien file with all the zen videos we have. It's so beautiful.
WHITFIELD: It's gorgeous. And that's not even including the beautiful drive along the water to Whistler or any other places. It's a stunning place.
LEVS: We promised before the break we would get to one more to end on this. This is -- we've seen the Filipino inmates dance before. They are known for this. This is different. What happened here is you know Michael Jackson had his last tour planned. It is now a movie. His choreographer Travis Payne and two of his dancers went to the Philippines worked with these inmates.
WHITFIELD: Who knew they were such good dancers?
LEVS: They compete to get to be in these, basically. It started off as exercise, but now the ones who get to be in videos, they are good, good. These guys are now viral yet again doing this Michael Jackson show, basically. I think we have one more section in there for you.
WHITFIELD: It's fascinating.
LEVS: It is amazing what they do. They have aerial shots. Look at this.
WHITFIELD: Wow.
LEVS: This is an interesting testament to them.
WHITFIELD: So this becomes a competition or what? Sorry to ask the question, but why?
LEVS: It started off as exercise. These inmates now, the ones really good end up in the videos.
WHITFIELD: It's a cool way of passing the time, that's for sure. Considering you're looking for a way to pass the time while incarcerated.
LEVS: It's expressive, artistic and exercise. They've got some skills. That's why the choreographer went to the Philippines to work with them.
WHITFIELD: Josh thanks.
LEVS: Quickly, this is where you can see all the links. Show that full screen. CNN.com/josh. I get so many e-mails from people; I want to find the links. It will be up there at 4:00 Eastern today.
WHITFIELD: Others, too, want to pass the time. That is a good way to do it. Watch all these viral videos. Josh, thank you.
A company that got into hot water over Boston's big dig has won millions in stimulus money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): If I hired a plumber and the plumber put in garbage pipes that leaked, I wouldn't put the plumber on probation. I'd never hire that plumber again.
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): We punished them as far as we could. They are back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Woo, Drew asking some tough questions there. We'll tell you why a company that paid millions in fines for shoddy workmanship is bellying up to the government money trough.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: When the billions in stimulus dollars were being rolled out in Washington, we were promised every dollar would be watched, but some of that money is going to companies with a questionable past. CNN's investigative correspondent Drew Griffin went to Boston to find out why Massachusetts is giving millions of dollars to an asphalt firm that has been convicted of ripping off the government.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a money pit the never-ending Big Dig project in Boston is notorious: $22 billion and still counting, to bury the interstate under downtown. It's been plagued by problems, leaks, cracks, mostly as a result of shoddy construction.
One company was even indicted for supplying the Big Dig with below- grade concrete that had been doctored to make it look OK.
(on camera): The name of that company is Drew Griffin went to Boston to find out why Massachusetts is giving millions of dollars to an asphalt firm that has been convicted of ripping off the government. Aggregate Industries, and two years ago the state of Massachusetts announced this big fraud settlement against the company, basically saying that for years Aggregate was supplying defective concrete to the Big Dig project, concrete that was so bad it wouldn't set properly. It led to cracking, leaking, and other big defects.
So, which company do you think is now getting your stimulus money here in Massachusetts? Aggregate Industries. We're going to go ask the Highway Department why.
(voice-over): Luisa Paiewonsky is the highway administrator. (on camera): If I hired a plumber, and the plumber put in garbage pipes that leaked, I wouldn't put the plumber on probation. I'd never hire that plumber again.
LUISA PAIEWONSKY, MASSACHUSETTS DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION: Well, if you're asking me did we have a visceral reaction? Yes, if I were the sheriff I would have -- I would have required they not do any more public construction...
GRIFFIN: You're the commissioner of transportation.
PAIEWONSKY: I have to follow the law. I am a public official, and I have to go as far as the law will allow me to go. We punished them as far as we could. They're back.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Back with the low bid on two jobs in Massachusetts' cut of the federal stimulus bill. And after paying a $50 million fine and agreeing to be overseen by a federal monitor, its plea bargain with the government allowed Aggregate to come back for more government work.
Aggregate hired Nancy Sterling to help with its public relations.
NANCY STERLING, AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES SPOKESPERSON: The company took it extremely seriously. It's a very different company than it was prior to the Big Dig. There are new managers, new owners and a whole new corporate ethics and compliance policy in place. We paid the fine, and part of the reason that we agreed to settle was so that we would be able to continue to do work for the government.
GRIFFIN: It is right there in the agreement worked up by the U.S. attorney, the Massachusetts attorney general, and the federal Department of Transportation. No cutoff from government contracts for Aggregate.
There was nothing the Massachusetts Department of Transportation could do legally, a spokesperson says, to prevent the contractor from coming back to bid on new contracts. Conviction or not, Aggregate is back, the lowest bidder and, therefore, the winner of some $10 million to repave some roads.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Aggregate says the two paving jobs will mean work for about 100 people, and that works out at about $100,000 a job. The New England center for investigative reporting found that more than half the companies that got federal transportation money have a history of misconduct, some worse than others.
All right, 57,000 projects across the country got stimulus funding. The CNN "Stimulus Desk" has been tracking where that money has been sent. Josh Levs joins us with the highlight of a few examples. JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, Fred, we've been doing that all week long, as you said, 57,000. We have them in binders. We're looking through so incredibly many. The two I'm going to highlight right now, just because their interesting infrastructure projects, one is in Elyria, Ohio the other is in Olive, Colorado. And there's a reason that we're choosing to look Elyria, first of all. The reason is that President Obama recently paid a visit there and met a worker and had this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a working election. I'm working on one of your transportation projects.
BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Which one?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right down at Elyria County Transportation Center, downtown Elyria.
OBAMA: Recovery act.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
OBAMA: Helping to put folks to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are.
OBAMA: What's your name, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: The president pointed out a as an example the recovery act putting people to work. We wanted to know what they were doing and what they're doing is working on this train station. Thanks to Google earth we found a little video of it for you. It's a train station that is apparently kind of worn down and needed a bunch of work, there. And that's one of a bunch of projects that have been going on in that county, Lorraine County.
And what we're doing is as we highlight a project, we build a screen like this. We can show it from this graphic. We've been basically showing you the name of it, how much it costs and how many jobs we know it's created. Because, we're trying to get our own hold here where this more than $150 billion has gone in funded projects.
So, that specific transit center, $4 million in the cost, 17 jobs created. And I'll highlight one more, too which I think is really interesting. Colorado, as you saw, is based in Ft. Collins, but it's really for the whole state and it's for the wildfires. And as we know wildfires are a huge problem in major parts of the West, including three in Colorado. I mean, many times it is an issue of life and death.
And what we're seeing here is that a bunch of money has been put into this one, as well. We can show you the same kind screen, we've got there for the Colorado Wildfire Protection, 10.7 -- I'll just tell you, $10.7 million have gone into that.
So, and you know what else they did, they started sending us some photos, the Wildfire Protection folks send us some photos of people who are getting jobs from this. So, they are saying, you know what, there are people who are good hard workers who are getting funds, who are doing good things. And they all wanted to put that out there.
What we're just trying to do is put facts out there. Because, ultimately, what should get stimulus funding and what should not get stimulus funding is so incredibly subjective. It's up to everyone to decide. At the stimulus desk we're putting facts out there, so you can make your own decisions -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Sure, it's been very helpful, too, all week long. Josh Levs, appreciate that.
LEVS: You got it, thanks.
WHITFIELD: Thank you.
All right, well, many folks in the newspaper business say the digital age has them on the ropes. Readers are going online instead of picking up the newspapers. But, one group says don't count us out so fast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, the recession coupled with the massive migration of classified ads from print to the Web has hit newspapers pretty hard. Big city dailies have slimmed down, gone under or switched to online-only editions. But, many local papers are faring better, especially the alternative news weeklies. Here's our Christine Romans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite all the doom and gloom in the newspaper business, Jed Morey feels pretty good about where his paper stands.
JED MOREY, PUBLISHER, "LONG ISLAND PRESS:" Where are we?
ROMANS: Morey runs the "Long Island Press" a free alternative news weekly launched in 2002. With a circulation of about 85,000, it was born as an offshoot of the family business, a handful of alternative rock radio stations based on Long Island.
MOREY: With 2.7 million people without an alternative weekly like "Dailey Weekly" or the "Village Voice" or the "Boston Phoenix," so we wanted to create something in that tradition with suburban sensibilities because we came from an alternative media background and it seemed like a no- brainer to get in there.
ROMANS: As the radio business changed the stations were sold and the paper became the company's focus. Local news laced with opinion. While the economic downturn slowed the paper, which relies heavily on small business advertising to stay free, he says there were no mass layoffs and after several quarters of losses the company was back in the black by the end of last year. Morey credits the rise of the blogisphere was helping business on and offline.
MOREY: It is not about a newspaper, it is not about the physical product or even the experience. It's about the quality of the journalism. And if you stay true to that, we think that there is several different places you can go with that, the Web being one of them.
ROMANS: When the regions only daily newspaper "Cable Vision" owned "Newsday" began charging non-subscribers for online content last year Morey saw opportunity.
Long Island Press.com began running more general news, entertainment, sports stories all appealing to a larger local crowd, all free. Since then he says traffic has jumped 600 percent. The print edition meanwhile, remained true to its alternative roots.
MOREY: The best that we can offer out to people is a different viewpoint. So, the more things get vanilla, the more, you know, mint chocolate chip you have to put out there, because the people will want it. They will crave it.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories, right now. A suicide bomb attack in northern Iraq has killed at least three people. The attack occurred in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad and police say the bomber walked into a popular downtown restaurant and detonated an explosives vest, killing at least six and wounding 25 more.
An escape attempt failed last night at a prison in Livingston, Texas. Authorities say it happened as inmates were leaving a church service in the prison gymnasium and five inmates jumped an interior fence and guards opened fire wounding three of them. All five were captured.
A presidential meeting of the minds, today. You're looking at pictures, right now, of former President George H.W. Bush leaving the White House after a meeting with president Obama. Mr. Bush was accompanied by his son Jeb, former governor of Florida. Insiders say it was purely a social call.
A man honored as a CNN hero in 2008 is back doing good deeds. We catch up with him in Haiti.
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WHITFIELD: All right, this week's CNN hero has been here before. We honored Tom Henderson and his organization, Shelter Box, back in 2008 for helping thousands in disaster and war zones. Well, we salute him again this time for helping Haiti. Here is CNN's Mary Snow. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than one million people have been left homeless. That's one in nine Haitians. Hundreds of thousands now live in makeshift camps, in tents built with whatever they can find. Many don't even have that.
That's what motivates 2008 CNN Hero Tom Henderson and his Shelter Box team. Since 2001, they've helped thousands of disaster victims around the globe by thinking inside the box.
TOM HENDERSON, SHELTER BOX, CNN HERO 2008: It really describes itself. It's shelter in a box; prepackaged aid delivered in a box. Blankets, cooking pots and pans, a 10-person tent.
Twelve minutes after the Haiti earthquake, the Shelter Box crew sprang into action.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plan is to move as many boxes into Haiti as we can.
The logistical challenge is getting the boxes from here into Haiti, have been an absolutely nightmare. Infrastructure is virtually non- existent.
SNOW: When boxes finally arrived last week, the impact was immediate. For Henderson, that's the whole idea.
HENDERSON: The people lost everything, they have in Haiti. It's all about shelter, warmth, comfort and dignity. That's what Shelter Box is.
SNOW: By the end of January, more than 7,000 boxes will be in Haiti, housing up to 70,000 people, but those at Shelter Box know there is much more to be done.
HENDERSON: There are thousands of people dying every day, and that's what drives us forward, you know. This is not a job for us, it's a passion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Millions of earthquake survivors in Haiti are still in dire need of food, water and medical supplies. For more information how you can help, visit CNN.com/heroes.
A major winter storm dumps snow across parts of the southeast. It's something people there don't see that often, so it really is creating a major mess. We'll get a first hand report right after this.
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WILLIAM BERNSTEIN, JR. IREPORTER: Just huge flakes just continuing to come down here near the Fairfoot (ph) area here near Virginia. We're at a PB gas station here and we're starting to kind of drive and you can kind of get an idea, how deep the snow is, even here along where the gas station is, but look at the snow, just continuing to fall -- huge flakes.
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WHITFIELD: Wow, that's Virginia Beach? IReporter William. Bernstein giving us a firsthand look at the snow, this morning, everything that he witnessed. He says that the area typically gets four to five inches of snow every five or so years. But he says that it already snowed more than that by 8:00 this morning. Wow, that's pretty remarkable for Virginia Beach, there. So, for more on the winter storm in the South and in other parts, mid-Atlantic, all of that stuff, Bonnie Schneider.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, Virginia Beach is almost a microcosm of this multifaceted storm, because it started off as snow this morning, then as the temperatures warmed up just a little bit we're starting to see a little bit of change-over. So, notice Virginia Beach right now getting a mix of freezing rain, and now snow again, because temperatures are starting to cool down as we get into the latter part the afternoon.
Now to the north what we're looking at is all snow across Washington, D.C., you're not out of woods yet. In fact, check this out. This storm has been going on for days, as you know and the advisories take us all the way to tomorrow morning. A winter storm warning in effect for Washington, D.C., and that goes until 4:00 a.m. on Sunday. These weather advisories you see further off to the west, they'll actually expire later on tonight, but it goes to show you this storm has been lasting for days and days.
And if you're wondering, well, how come the storm isn't working its way up the coastline and going up into the northeast? Well, high pressure has been blocking it, so that's why we've seen the storm stay right here in the mid-Atlantic, and this storm has affected not only people, but pandas. That's right. One panda had an early farewell, a little good-bye, awe, how cute. This is at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. They had to say farewell to Tei Shen. Tei Shen is heading back to China a little early. He had his frozen cake around noon today, it was supposed to be at one. At the party wrapped up an hour or two early.
WHITFIELD: Frozen cake? Frozen fish? Frozen bamboo, somethingish?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, I guess south frozen ice cream and fish, that would be a strange combination.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, oh but you know that these pandas love this kind of snow. That's what they're used to.
SCHNEIDER: It is, that's true in China definitely they get a lot of snow and cold weather. Pretty picture, but let's wrap up the party. Party's over.
WHITFIELD: All right, I guess I should say they're used to that when in their homeland of China. Maybe not used to it all of the time at the zoo, but I think instinctively they're prepared for it.
SCHNEIDER: Probably, yes.
WHITFIELD: Yeah. All right, Bonnie, you know, Bonnie, are you into gadgets? I will guess yes.
SCHNEIDER: I am getting more into gadgets.
WHITFIELD: Oh, you're getting more, OK.
SCHNEIDER: Like the magic wall, right?
WHITFIELD: So are you joining this iPad palooza kind of refrain? Carry it all over the world?
(CROSSTALK)
SCHNEIDER: (INAUDIBLE)
WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to talk more about it whether it's living up to the hype of changing digital computing as we know it, is this something that you must, must have, the iPad? We're going to break it down.
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WHITFIELD: Apple unveiled its new iPad this week. It's supposed to be the holy grail of personal digital computing. Will it give the other touch screen tablets a run for the money, or what about netbooks or e-readers what about them? Jose Antonio Vargas is a technology and innovations editor for the "Huffington Post" in New York.
Good to see you.
JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS, "HUFFINGTON POST": Thank you for having me.
WHITFIELD: So, do you love this iPad?
VARGAS: Well, the name, I'm still kind of tripping.
WHITFIELD: You don't like the name or what do you mean?
VARGAS: I'm still tripping on the name. You know, clearly there wasn't a woman in the room when they decided to name this thing.
WHITFIELD: Oh, god, you know...
VARGAS: That's what I think.
WHITFIELD: You know, I read an interesting article about that, but you know, it never crossed my mind. Never crossed my mind. So, I'm like, OK, but all right.
VARGAS: We actually got our readers at the "Huffington Post" naming it, and somebody said, yPad, why do I need this pad, basically. I thought that was really funny. WHITFIELD: OK, well, you answered the question, why do we need this?
VARGAS: Why do we need this? Well, because, you know, our lives are getting much more kind of complicated in terms of how many things we can do. You know, for example, in this thing I can basically read a magazine, read a newspaper, read a book. I can play games. You know, games are huge in these things. I can send e-mail, I can receive e- mail. It's you know 10 inches.
WHITFIELD: You can do everything any computer or laptop would do but the difference here is, I guess...
VARGAS: But, it is heavier, it's clunkier. I mean, this...
WHITFIELD: Wait a minute, this is heavier and clunkier.
VARGAS: Oh no, what I am saying is like, carrying your laptop around is heavier and clunkier...
WHITFIELD: So, this is very accessible and easy.
VARGAS: Exactly. Exactly. And it looks sexy. It's apple. It looks sexy, and fit and cool and hip and all of that.
WHITFIELD: Wow, and lightweight. And so what are the things that you can't do on this that might be a deterrent.
VARGAS: Yes, well, you know, that's what a lot of tech bloggers have been kind of hating on in the past, you know the few day. You can't really multitask on this thing. It doesn't have a camera. So, for example, if I want to tweet instead of e-mail at the same time, I can't do that. So, that's really interesting. I think the price, too, is a little steep, right? I mean, how many people can really afford to pay $500 for something like this?
WHITFIELD: It's still cheaper than a laptop, right? Most, I guess.
VARGAS: It's still cheaper than a laptop, but a laptop is a laptop, right?
WHITFIELD: Yeah, yeah. OK, well, real quick though, you know, when you look at these images and you see a full-bodied, you know, kind of newspaper, I would think for the newspaper industry, they might get a little jolt out of this and be very happy to see that this might increase readership or alter it in some way, same with books.
VARGAS: Yes, I mean, kind of the readability of this, the fact that, you know, you can see the full images and the design of the magazine or the newspaper, the layout. You know, I think, you know, that's very attractive to a lot of publishers who are still struggling with this world.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, in fact, we're going to talk a little bit more aobut the publishing industry and what they see in all this gadgetry. Can I turn the page a little bit, real quick?
Of course.
We have bit more time on aps and the kinds of applications that people are going for. They downloade it, they get real excieted about that, but are they reading them? And are they indulging in these aps once they, you know, download them?
You know, I mean, we are living in kind of an ap world, right? That's kind of the news ecology right now. There's 140,000 aps in the Apple aps store, right? And people are spending, you know, for example, I'm playing a game called "Farmville" it's kind of this free game in which I get to farm for free.
You got a lot of time on your hands.
No, it's fun. It's like you know, 10 cents for like a cow or something like that. I mean this is a big, growing industry.
All right, because I heard a lot of people were downloading all these aps, but then they never actually go back to actually engage themselves on it, so it's really just kind of a one moment, you know, thrill.
Well, it depends on what you download. I think a lot of the casual games, I mean, I find it really interesting, for example for the iPhone, a lot of women I know, you know, they're stuck playing these casual, like, games, that they're downloading, so that's really interesting.
OK, I got to you some other recreational activities or do something because I don't know how people have so much time on to play with these aps, no matter what they are. All right, Jose Antonio Vargas, thanks so much, appreciate that at the "Huffington Post."
Thank you for having me.
Good to see you.
You too.
Of course, we are going to be talking a little bit more, like a lot more about the publishing industry and whether it be newspapers or books and how they might really like or dislike this whole iPad phenomenon. We're going to bet talking with the "New York Times" columnist David Car, coming up, 4:00 Eastern hour.
