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American Morning

Battles Between Mexican Police and Drug Cartels Rock Tourist Cities; Democrats Predicts Successful House Vote on Health Care Reform; Remembering Peter Graves Life and Career; Murder Divides Two Families; Mexico Drug Violence; New Guidelines for "No Child Left Behind; Drawing Girls to Cigarettes?

Aired March 15, 2010 - 07:00   ET

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


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Be wear the ides of March which is where we are right now. It is Monday, the 15th of March. It is 7:00 Eastern Daylight time as we begin a new week. Thanks for joining us in the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. We can see to Mother Nature this weekend, I think.

ROBERTS: Terrible, terrible weekend in the northeast.

ROMANS: I know.

ROBERTS: They continue to it as well.

ROMANS: Here are the big stories we're going to be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.

Murdered in Mexico. The state department warning Americans to stay away from border towns at the height of spring break season after two Americans were shot and killed in a drive-by shooting. We are live in Juarez, what may be the most dangerous city in the world right now.

ROBERTS: Plus, a 12-year-old boy is accused of killing his father's pregnant fiancee. He could be tried as an adult and spend life behind bars without parole. CNN is the only network talking with both families split over this tragic murder. It's part one of our special series, growing up behind bars.

ROMANS: And did a cigarette company target underage girls or were they simply caught up in ineffective advertising campaign. A study shows more than 100,000 girls have been influenced to smoke from seeing a Camel cigarette ads flashed in the pages of fashion magazines. Our Elizabeth Cohen takes a closer look.

ROBERTS: But just as tens of thousands of people head south for spring break, we begin with what has been a weekend of carnage right in our own backyard. This time American government workers in Mexico are being targeted, and the killings, sometimes beheadings. are happening in resort towns popular he especially during spring break.

We begin in Acapulco, where police say a shootout killed at least nine people, eight gunmen, and 23-year-old woman caught in the cross fire. Streets look like a war zone. As you can see from the pictures here, cars riddled with bullet holes.

For north to Juarez, it's been one of the front lines in Mexico's war against the drug cartels. The state department this morning is warning some Americans working in Mexico that they can send their families home after the drive-by killings of a consulate employee and her husband.

Police say they were found murdered with their six-month-old baby in the back seat. The baby, by the way, was unharmed.

Our Rafael Romo was following in. He's in the CNN center this morning. Rafael, just a terrible weekend in Mexico.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: John, very scary, all three people connected to the American consulate were shot and killed in broad daylight. In both cases they were chased by armed gunmen who apparently knew who they were looking for.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: The shooting happened right across the street from city hall in Juarez. According to Mexican authorities, two Americans, Leslie Enriquez, who was an employee at the American consulate in Juarez, and her 34-year-old husband Arthur Reddel, a detention officer with the El Paso Sheriff's Department, were shot and killed after a short car chase through the streets of the Mexican border city across from El Paso, Texas. Police found the couple's three-month-old daughter in the back seat. She was not injured.

JOSE REYES FERRIZ, MUNICIPAL PRESIDENT, JUAREZ: A foot patrol police officer stationed a couple miles east of where the incident took place, he saw the two cars, one chasing the other and shooting at that car.

ROMO: On a separate incident, 37-year-old Jorge Salcedo, the husband of a U.S. consulate's Mexican employee, was also killed Saturday afternoon. Two children ages four and seven were injured and transported to the hospital according to local authorities.

FERRIZ: The second killing was a state police officer, investigative police officer married to a Mexican working at the U.S. consulate. And they were both at a children's party earlier that morning.

ROMO: The U.S. State Department has authorized the departure of Americans working in U.S. consulates in six cities along the U.S.- Mexico border until April 12th while they investigate the incidents and assess the threat of violence.

The White House issued a statement saying President Obama is deeply saddened and outraged by the news of the attacks and murders. The statement also says "We will continue to work with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his government to break the power in drug trafficking organizations that operate in Mexico and far too often target and kill the innocent."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: And reacting to the news, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the shootings underscore the imperative our continued commitment work closely with the government of President Calderon to cripple the influence of trafficking organizations at work in Mexico.

Employees at the six U.S. consulates on the Mexican border are authorized to return to the United States for a period ending April 12th. John?

ROBERTS: Rafael Romo for us from Atlanta this morning. Rafael, thanks so much.

ROMANS: We know you've heard this one before. But this really could be the final week in the health care battle. The White House is saying it will have the votes to make it the law of the land, and both sides are throwing punches up until the final bell.

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod and Senator Lindsay Graham went at it Sunday morning over the newest senator's stand against the bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: Senator Brown comes from a state that has a health care plan that is similar to the one that we're trying to enact here. And people in his state are overwhelmingly in support of it. He voted for it and says he wouldn't repeal it.

So we're just trying to give the rest of America the same opportunities that the people of Massachusetts have to get health insurance at a price they can afford.

SEN. LINDSAY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: In the interview I just heard is spin, campaigning. I thought the campaigning was over. Are you trying to tell me and the American people that Scott Brown got elected campaigning against a Washington bill that is just like the Massachusetts bill? The American people are getting tired of this crap.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: There you have it. Kate Bolduan shows us where we stand right now. Good morning, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, Christine. Just from those sound bites, you really get the sense that this is crunch time. And Democrats are finally ready to call a vote on health care this week, really laying it all on the line, and, yes, making this another pivotal week for health care reform.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: White house heavy hitters made the Sunday talk show rounds with one simple message -- this is the week for health care reform.

AXELROD: I think people have come to the realization that this is the moment, and if we don't act now, there will be dire consequences for people all over this country.

BOLDUAN: The House of Representatives is expected to vote later this week on the Senate version of the Democratic bill that passed last December. After a contentious struggle nine month struggle, the White House is predicting victory.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We will have the votes, and this time next week somebody will walk out this door and you'll be talking about not a proposal in the House but something that the president is ready to sign into law.

But House Democrats need 216 votes to succeed and they have yet to reach the magic number.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN, (D-SC) MAJORITY WHIP: We don't have them as of this morning. But we've been working this thing this weekend and working it going into the week. I'm also very confident that we'll get this done.

BOLDUAN: This partisan battle is far from over. With midterm elections coming up in November, the GOP is vowing to fight till the end.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH) MINORITY LEADER: We'll do everything we can to make it difficult for them if not impossible to pass the bill.

BOLDUAN: If House Democrats can squeak out a victory the Senate will then have to approve any changes through a process known as reconciliation, allowing the Senate to send a final bill to the president's desk with a simple majority, not the 60-vote supermajority that would otherwise be required to overcome Republican opposition.

Democrats called it an up or down vote. Republicans call the procedural maneuvering something else.

GRAHAM: There will be a price to be paid to jam a bill down the American public don't like using a sleazy process.

BOLDUAN: While Republican say reconciliation will poison the well for future bipartisan efforts, Democrats seem willing to take that risk.

AXELROD: We'll have 10 million more people without insurance coverage in the next 10 years. This is not the future the American want, it's not the future they deserve, and that's worth the fight.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BOLDUAN: And while that fight may be on Capitol Hill, President Obama isn't sitting back to watch. As we know, the president is heading to Ohio later this afternoon for another campaign-style event to pitch health care reform.

And remember, he has already pushed back, postponed his planned overseas trip by three days in order to be here for negotiations, for arm twisting, and he hopes, a victory lap. Christine?

ROMANS: Thanks, Kate.

ROBERTS: New this morning, investigators are raising doubts about a California man's claim that his Toyota Prius accelerated to over 90 miles an hour last week while he was jumping on the brakes. Experts from Toyota and the government examined the car and neither can recreate the problem.

The car maker has called a news conference this morning to discuss the case.

ROMANS: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife is home from the hospital -- 69-year-old Landra Reid had surgery on Friday, one day after suffering a broken back, neck, and nose in a traffic accident near Washington. Doctors say she is not at risk for paralysis.

ROBERTS: You should receive your 2010 census this week. The federal government has mailed 120 million forms, spending $14.5 billion to count the population of these United States. It's expected that 40 percent of homes that receive the census form will not return it.

ROMANS: And if you don't return it, it will cost 25 bucks for your money to pick it up. So return it.

New York City cabbies have overcharged passengers more than $8.3 million over the past two years. You thought you were being cheated by the cabbie. This report says yes, you were. Investigators discovered about 3,000 drivers setting their meters at higher rates reserved for rides to the suburbs.

And 1.8 million people paid $4.50 more than for a trip they should have.

ROBERTS: When you consider the number of people taking cabs, $8.3 million over two years is not that much, is it?

ROMANS: I don't know, taking the same ride and getting charged different times.

ROBERTS: That's true.

Two people were killed and 30 others injured when an avalanche struck a snowmobile competition in British Columbia up in Canada. About 200 people attended Saturday's bit iron shootout. Police are still checking in at nearby hotels to try to account for everyone. ROMANS: And thousands are without power this morning following a dangerous weekend storm in the northeast. Half a foot of rain fell in parts of New Jersey, causing flooding and hundreds of evacuations.

Check out this picture taken in Times Square of dozens of shredded of umbrellas, no match for winds clocked at 75 miles per hour at New York's JFK airport.

ROBERTS: The shredded umbrella is the national flower of New York City.

ROMANS: And trying to battle people with them as you're walking down the street.

ROBERTS: It's a true symbol of New York.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ROBERTS: He starred as the cool spy master of "Mission Impossible" team. At 7:13 this morning, remembering peter graves who passed away yesterday. We'll look at his distinguished acting career, which included a memorable role as Captain Over in the comedy classic "Airplane."

ROMANS: At 7:30, No Child Left Behind is in for a major overhaul. President Obama is sending his version to Congress today. Education secretary Arnie Duncan joins us to discuss the new way the White House wants to evaluate your child's school.

ROBERTS: And at 7:53, did one cigarette company target teenage girls to get them to start smoking? It's your "A.M." House Call. It's 12.5 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: He played many roles in a TV and movie career that spanned some six decades. But Peter Graves is best known as the leader of a gang of special agents in the TV series "Mission Impossible".

ROBERTS: Graves died on Sunday just days before his 84th birthday. While he was known as a, quote, "serious actor," Peter Graves also showed a flair for comedy. This morning, we're taking a look back at his life and career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS (voice-over): Peter Graves was the original Jim Phelps on TV's "Mission Impossible" in the late '60s. While his six-season run never made him a superstar, the spy gave him global appeal, thanks to international syndication.

PETER GRAVES, ACTOR: Most actors in life are remembered most particularly for one or two roles. It doesn't bother me at all to be thought of as Jim Phelps or to be strongly identified with him. ROBERTS: Graves reprised the role for the series revival in 1988. In real life, he was the younger brother of "Gunsmoke" star James Arness. Graves was born March 18, 1926 in Minneapolis. As a young man, he worked in radio and later served in the Army during World War II, but didn't see any combat. Graves was also a gifted musician playing the clarinet and the saxophone. At the University of Minnesota he met his calling, acting and his life-long love, wife Joan Endress. Together they had three daughters.

Eventually, Graves followed his big brother to Hollywood, first landing small roles on television. He adopted his maternal grandfather's name as a way to distinguish himself from Arness. His big break came in the movie classic "Stalag 17." Graves played a Nazi spy living among American POWs. A string of other parts followed.

GRAVES: Somehow my career has always taken different turns to do. I find very interesting things, so I'm lucky that way.

ROBERTS: Best known for playing authority figures, he was hesitant to parody himself in the film spoof "Airplane," at first turning down the role thinking it might end his career. He later changed his mind and audiences loved him as the zany pilot.

GRAVES: Launched into weightlessness, these astronauts may look like they're having fun.

ROBERTS: Graves added new dimensions to his resume, hosting "Discover: The World of Science" and A&E's "Biography." Unlike Mr. Phelps, who got his mission instructions from a tape recording, Graves dictated his own script with the successful career that didn't self- destruct and lasted more than half a century.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Are you a "Mission Impossible" fan?

ROMANS: Oh, yes. The one thing I worry about all of the media that we have now is that we all saw the same things in repeats or, you know, growing up with only three channels or four channels or five channels. And I don't know it's such a common denominator, these kinds of shows, "Mission Impossible."

ROBERTS: "Mission Impossible," "Brady Bunch," that sort of thing.

ROMANS: Right, right.

ROBERTS: Right.

ROMANS: You wonder --

ROBERTS: You're looking for a new home you can go down and say wow, that really had a "Brady Bunch" recreation.

ROMANS: I know. And everyone knows exactly what you mean.

ROBERTS: Exactly.

ROMANS: I think it's all part of our common denominator of culture. And I think there's such a creation of entertainment media that we might not all know, a Peter Graves going down the line.

ROBERTS: It's great to see the way, too, that his comedy appearance in "Airplane" boosted his career as opposed to killing it as he thought it would.

ROMANS: Sure. Brought him into a new generation.

ROBERTS: Peter Graves dead at the age of 83 this morning.

Chris Dodd, the senator from Connecticut, taking new aim at Wall Street this morning. We've got that story coming up for you.

It's coming up now on 19 minutes after the hour Eastern Daylight Time. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up now on 22 minutes after the hour. That means it's time for "Minding Your Business."

Another battle could be brewing for insurance giant AIG. It plans to hold on to $21 million in bonus payments to former employees today. The problem is, though, that it is giving out $46 million in bonuses to its Financial Products Unit. That's the same group responsible for trades that brought on the big government bailout of AIG.

ROMANS: Google says it is almost 100 percent sure that it will close its Chinese search engine following stalled Internet censorship talks with the government. While it could pull the plug very soon, closing Google's operations is a much more delicate process. The company fears its Chinese employees could face retaliation from local authorities, this according to reports in "The Financial Times".

ROMANS: And Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd will unveil a new version of his financial reform bill today. It is expected to end the perception that some Wall Street firms are too big to fail, and it will scale back the Feds regulatory role. Months of negotiations ended last week without Republican support. They're also going to get rid of that special government agency which would help out, you know, watch over consumers.

ROMANS: Right. All night last night I was getting e-mails from consumer groups who were saying that it was watered down, it wasn't what they wanted. So we'll see. It's still -- apparently, it's still influx what this is all going to look like, this reform. But we'll see Senator Dodd comes up with.

ROBERTS: Did you get any sleep, or where you constantly e- mailing back and forth?

ROMANS: I know. It's sad, isn't it? It's sad. It's a shocking case that's grabbing headlines and dividing two families. A 12-year-old boy accused of killing his dad's pregnant fiancee. But should someone that young face the possibility of life in prison without parole? A 12-year-old convicted of murder. We'll take a look.

It's 23 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Top stories are only five minutes away. But first an "A.M. Original," something you'll only see on AMERICAN MORNING..

Today, we're looking at an unprecedented legal case in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

ROBERTS: It's a 12-year-old boy. He could wind up being the youngest person in the United States sentenced to life in prison without parole. He is accused of killing his father's pregnant fiancee. Only AMERICAN MORNING is talking with both the victim's family and the young boy's family. Our Jason Carroll joins us now with part one of our series "Growing Up Behind Bars." This is a tragic case for everyone.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really is. We were talking about this just before we came on just a little bit ago, and there are really no winners in this no matter how you look at it.

There's actually been a recent development in this particular case. The last court proceeding on this matter was actually just this past Friday. The judge now has 20 days to determine whether or not the young boy will be tried as an adult. Two families now awaiting a decision in a case that has stunned a small town in Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): One year ago, Debbie Houck was looking forward to the arrival of a grandchild. Her daughter Kenzie was expecting a baby boy.

DEBORAH HOUK, KENZIE'S MOTHER: Watch the mud.

CARROLL: Houk never imagined this would end up being the only place to visit them.

HOUK: It shouldn't have been her.

CARROLL: Last February, Kenzie Houk was shot to death. She was eight and a half months pregnant.

HOUK: It felt like winter. You want to go take blankets. They cover her. I know she's froze. She's there. And I got to realize that. CARROLL: As Kenzie's family struggles with her loss, Chris Brown says his world has also been shattered. He was Kenzie's fiance, the father of her expectant child. And one more thing, Brown is also the father of the suspected killer, 12-year-old Jordan Brown.

CHRIS BROWN, JORDAN'S FATHER: I get up and go to work and come home and lose everything. You know, Kenzie, the baby. Now Jordan is facing potential life in prison without the possibility of parole as an adult.

CARROLL: Jordan was an 11-year-old fifth grader at the time of the killings. Now 12, he could be tried as an adult. If convicted, it's believed Jordan would be one of the youngest ever sentenced to life, a punishment Kenzie's family says he deserved. One his father says he does not.

BROWN: Anybody being put in my position would have to ask themselves what would you do? Would you turn your back on your own son because somebody else believes he's guilty? Not me.

HOUK: If it means him going to prison for life, like I said, he's serving one life sentence. He took two lives.

CARROLL: A year ago, Jordan lived in this farmhouse in western Pennsylvania with his father. Kenzie also lived there with her two daughters from a previous relationship. Prosecutors say February 20th last year before leaving for school, Jordan got his youth model 20- gauge shotgun, walked into Houk's bedroom and shot her in the back of the head while she slept.

(on camera): According to police, after Jordan shot Kenzie, he took the spent shell casing and threw it out into the woods. Then they say he just walked out to the road and caught the school bus.

(voice-over): Prosecutors say his possible motive for the killing -- Jordan was close to his father and may have been jealous of Kenzie, an allegation his father strongly denies. Every day he visits Jordan at the juvenile detention center where he's being held.

BROWN: He still asks about Kenzie. He sheds tears. He cries. He misses her. He misses the girls.

CARROLL: Under Pennsylvania law, anyone over age 10 accused of criminal homicide is charged as an adult. The state has about 450 juveniles currently serving life sentences. According to juvenile justice experts we spoke with, nationally there are more than 2,500. Jordan's fate will be decided any day now by a judge.

BROWN: He's never, never lied to me about anything. I have no reason to believe that he's lying right now.

CARROLL (on camera): Maybe he loves you so much he doesn't want to disappoint you?

BROWN: No, I've had private talks with Jordan. Had he had any knowledge of what happened that horrible day, he would have told me. CARROLL (voice-over): If Jordan is tried and convicted as a juvenile, he will be able to walk free at age 21. A sobering thought for Kenzie's family.

JENNIFER KRANIER, KENZIE'S SISTER: To put him away as a child and him be out at 21 is absurd. But we're not the judge so --

DEBORAH HOUK, KENZIE'S MOTHER: I've lost my daughter and my grandson. Death is final. Isn't nothing going to bring her back or him. And justice needs to be served.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... love you mommy and baby Christopher.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Well, Chris Brown is so committed to defending his son Jordan that he's lost his job and gone through all of his finances. Supporters have started a web site to help raise money. The Houk's obviously not pleased when they heard about it saying the focus should be less on Jordan's age and more on the crimes that were committed.

ROBERTS: So what's the level of evidence that the prosecution has it here to prove that he did it because the father as you say clearly is saying my son had nothing to do with it.

CARROLL: That is correct. Jordan's father says he did not do it as well as Jordan's attorneys. The prosecutors basically have some physical evidence that is being challenged, including gun powder, the shell casing, gun powder on Jordan's clothes, again all of this being challenged by Jordan's attorneys.

ROMANS: But he has not been convicted. The question is whether to try him --

CARROLL: That is correct. The question at this point is whether or not to try him as a juvenile or an adult. You know what's interesting about this case is, it's not just this case, tomorrow we're going to be looking at the Supreme Court that is actually right now reviewing whether or not it is cruel and unusual punishment to sentence juveniles to life in prison without parole.

ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to that. Just to remind you tomorrow, part two of "Growing Up Behind Bars." Should any young criminal be jailed for life without parole? That question heading for the Supreme Court. What could the court's decision mean for America's legal system in general, not just this particular case. Find out tomorrow right here on the most news in the morning.

ROMANS: I want to be clear that that young man, the 12-year-old has not been convicted. If I misspoke earlier, he has not been convicted. This is all still trying to figure out how to try him.

All right. It's 32 minutes past the hour. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.

Two Americans are the latest victims in Mexico's brutal drug war. In all, three people with ties to the U.S. consulate were gunned down this weekend in Juarez. The State Department is giving workers of consulates in northern Mexico permission to send their families home because of the growing danger and they are warning Americans to stay away from border towns during spring break.

The White House says it's a make or break week for health care reform. President Obama is still pitching his plan to rank and file Americans. He travels to Strongsville, Ohio outside Cleveland for a speech on insurance reform. The president wants the House to cast a final vote on the Senate passed version. But Democratic leaders are still trying to round up enough votes to pass it.

And the Obama administration continues to press Israel to scrap a new building project in East Jerusalem. U.S. officials have condemned Israel's plan to build these new homes in part of the holy city that Palestinians claim for their future capital. Making matters worse, they announced it during Vice President Biden's visit last week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed his regret at the timing in an effort to smooth things over.

ROBERTS: Coming up at 34 minutes after the hour, President Obama plans to change the way we evaluate the performance of our public schools, and that means that the "No Child Left Behind" Act is going to be left behind. It's in for an overhaul. Today, the White House will send a new set of guidelines to Congress.

We're joined now by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. He's at the White House and from Hartford, Connecticut, CNN education contributor, Steve Perry. Mr. Secretary, let's go over the changes that are going to be made here. What are you keeping from no child left behind and what new elements are you planning to introduce?

ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Well, what we always appreciate from the previous administration was a focus on the achievement gap and just (INAUDIBLE) the data and looking at the difference in achievement among students across different races here in the country. So we need to maintain that focus. But there's lots we need to change.

The previous law was too punitive. It was too prescriptive and led to a lowering, dummying down of standards and led to a narrowing of the curriculum. We have to reverse all that. We have to have a high bar, college and career ready standards for every single child. We have to reward success, reward growth. We have to make sure that local educators have the flexibility they need to do a great job educating.

We have to raise the bar for every single child. We have to make sure we have a well-rounded curriculum and most importantly, we have an unprecedented investment in education as part of the president's plan.

ROBERTS: The goal is -- the original goal in no child left behind was to have everyone reading at grade level, all students reading by grade level by the year 2014. Now you want to have them prepared for either college or career when they graduate high school by the year 2020.

Steve, you're a principal of a magnet school there in Hartford. What do you want to ask the education secretary this morning? What do you want to know about this new plan?

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, Mr. Secretary. One of things that I'd like to know is that most of America's most successful educators have had the right to choose their staff and evaluate their staff. How is what you're proposing going to make my job easier?

DUNCAN: First of all, Steve, thank you so much for your leadership. I know what a great school you're running there. We want to make sure that principals and teachers are truly empowered. And we want to make sure that local educators have a chance to make a difference in students' lives. We're going to put in an unprecedented investment, $3.9 billion to make sure that teachers are getting the support they need and have time to collaborate.

We want to change, we want to invest in the next generation of great principals. A five pole (ph) investment there. As you know, Steve, there are no good schools in our country without good principals, so we're going to make an unprecedented investment in people, in great teachers, in great principals. That's what makes the difference in education. Talent matters tremendously.

ROBERTS: Mr. Secretary, this new program is going to reward high performing schools where no child left behind focused on punishing low performing schools. But there still will be punishment meted out. The president just recently applauded the decision of that school board in Rhode Island for firing all of the teachers at that one school.

But Diane Ravitch, who used to be a fan of no child left behind, she was the deputy education secretary under the first President Bush said recently about all of this "The strategy of closing schools and firing teachers is mean and punitive and it is ultimately pointless. It satisfies the urge to purge but it does nothing at all for the students." What do you have to say about the punitive measures which will be continued in your new plan?

DUNCAN: Well, we're going to put schools in a couple of different categories. Those high performing schools in districts and states, we want to give them more flexibility. We want to give them room to move. We have so much that we can learn from them and it wasn't nearly enough done on a no child left behind to recognize success.

We want to recognize and reward excellence in growth. There is another set of schools in the middle of the country that may not be world class yet but are improving every single year, we want to help them. If the bottom, those bottom five percent of schools, those schools where 50, 60, 70 percent of students were dropping out, what we're saying is we have to challenge the status quo. And we want those decisions to be always made at the local level. What we're saying is we can't continue to stand on the sidelines when we have so many high schools that are basically dropout factories. And we're going to challenge local leaders to work together, to work collaboratively. (INAUDIBLE) they have to stay at the table and work hard. We can no longer sweep these situations under the rug.

In past administrations, over the past couple of years, nothing really changed there for those students. We cannot perpetuate poverty and social failure. We have to do a better job with those children and communities and we have to do with it with a real sense of urgency. We all have to come together to create a much better opportunity for those children.

ROBERTS: Well, Steve, what do you think about that, that whole idea here? And poverty does factor in it. But when we talk to Diane Ravitch, a little more than a week ago, she was suggesting that it doesn't matter how good your school is if you have students that are born into poverty who are not coming to school, who are not getting guidance at home, you really can't raise the level of the school. It's not the fault of the school.

PERRY: That's absolutely wrong. In fact, throughout the country we've seen successful schools that exist within the most poverty- stricken communities. That is a cop out. If you can't teach poor kids, then you need to get out of the profession.

ROBERTS: All right. So Steve --

DUNCAN: We have never had more high performing, high poverty schools around the country. That's why I'm so hopeful. That's why I'm so optimistic but it also means we cannot tolerate failure when we know what success looks like.

ROBERTS: All right. Steve, I know that one of the issues that you have particular interest in is the relationship between the administration and the teachers' union. I'm wondering exactly what the relationship is and also how it affects other programs that are out there as well.

PERRY: Well, race to the top is really jumped out there and made some fundamental changes and we're very, very excited on the ground level about what those changes could mean. But I am concerned, Mr. Secretary, as the teachers' union, who had been opposed much to race to the top as well as no child left behind continues, will you relent?

DUNCAN: We all have to work together and we have one focus in mind, a huge sense of urgency, we have to educate our way to a better economy. America has to lead the world in the percent of the college graduates. And we're going to work with everybody, parents, students, teachers, teachers' unions, administrators, school boards, politicians, all of us have to move outside our comfort zones, all of us have to collaborate and we cannot relent. We didn't have to lead the world. We have a unique opportunity to now do that.

ROBERTS: And Mr. Secretary, one of the big criticisms of "No child left behind" is that it was never fully funded by the federal government. This new plan of yours, will you put the funds behind it necessary to administer it?

DUNCAN: The president has just been so absolutely committed. There's an additional $3.5 billion he's asking for, the largest proposed increase ever in the K to 12 education budget. So the president is providing an extraordinary leadership here and he feels the same sense of urgency all of us feel and he's leading from the top.

ROBERTS: Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Steve Perry, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

DUNCAN: Thanks a lot for having me.

ROBERTS: Forty minutes after the hour. Stay with us.

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ROMANS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. A golden retriever who swallowed a three-carat diamond worth 20 grand has returned the rock back to his owner, the hard way. Sully (ph) wolfed down the gem at a Maryland jewelry store after a diamond dealer accidentally dropped it. The vet recommended letting nature take its course. Sully's (ph) owners followed him around very religiously for three days and we are pleased to report, this too shall pass.

ROBERTS: A brand new way of prospecting for diamonds, huh?

ROMANS: What a cute dog.

ROBERTS: Well, if you never experienced the thrills and chills of England's annual cheese roll, your window of opportunity may have just passed you by. The event features competitors chasing a large wheel of cheese down a steep heel in (INAUDIBLE). Organizers pull the plug this year, not because they are concerned with the well being of the contestants but because of crowd control. It seems that the cheese roll has become so popular, there is just no room for everyone to watch the event.

ROMANS: But we'll play it again any way from last year because we love it so much.

ROBERTS: It's amazing to watch gravity grab a hold of those people.

ROMANS: And John Edwards' mistress is posing for photos and breaking her silence after more than two years. Rielle Hunter tells "GQ" Magazine she's still in love with Johnny and believes he still loves her too. Hunter tells the magazine she and Edwards slept together on the first day they met. And she calls the former presidential candidate's relationship with his wife, Elizabeth, "toxic." Hunter says Edwards hoped she would have an abortion when she became pregnant with their love child and claimed he now supports her decision to speak publicly about their affair. John?

ROBERTS: Interesting photos.

ROMANS Yes.

ROBERTS: And it's a tale of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Plenty of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Former "Guns N' Roses" ax man, Slash, has got a new solo album coming out in April. He was the key note interview at last week's Canadian music week up in Toronto.

CNN's Kyra Phillips and I got a chance to sit down for an hour and speak to the legendary guitarist about his, shall we say, a colorful past.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Chapter after chapter, talking about life on the road. I was getting exhausted with all the sex and drugs.

SLASH, FMR. GUNS & ROSES GUITARIST: I didn't put that much in there.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my God --

SLASH: I didn't -- I thought -- because I --

PHILLIPS: Only 22 of the 25 chapters.

ROBERTS: You -- you left something out?

SLASH: I was -- I just -- I didn't want it to be like, you know, like a -- sort of bragging rights, you know? So you put like a taste of it in there so you get the picture and --

PHILLIPS: There's more than a taste, brother.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: His recent autobiography. He's -- he's got a tour coming up, by the way, in which he's -- he's going to be going out in the road.

His -- his new album is interesting because he gets together much the same way that Carlos Santana did --

ROMANS: Right.

ROBERTS: -- with famous singers. He gets together with people like Ozzy Osbourne, Kid Rock, Fergie, Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead.

ROMANS: Right.

ROBERTS: But he's really -- he's -- he has really cleaned up his act.

ROMANS: And when you talked to Ozzy recently, and he's cleaned up his act a little bit. I was going to say, can these guys still perform and be on the road like --

ROBERTS: Oh, yes. Yes.

ROMANS: -- like the way they used to? But not -- not with the sex and drugs?

ROBERTS: What -- what's really amazing is that either -- you're talking about either Slash or Ozzy, that both of them are -- are still here.

But when -- when he had his -- his children, his two beautiful children, he decided, now, OK. It's time to clean up the act. He also said he kind of got bored with living that lifestyle. So --

ROMANS: It's nice to be able to get out alive.

ROBERTS: So he'll be going -- going out on tour I think May. He's got some early dates, so --

ROMANS: It sounds like a fun weekend, John.

ROBERTS: -- if you're a fan of Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver and the other bands that he's been involved with, they'll be coming to a town near you very soon.

ROMANS: All right.

It's 46 minutes past the hour. Welcome to the jungle. Rob will have this morning's travel forecast right after the break.

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ROBERTS: Good morning, Boston, where it's 41 degrees right now and raining, and later on today it's going to be 44 degrees and raining.

It's going to (ph) -- horrible weather from the weekend lingers on this morning.

ROMANS: Not only did you lose an hour, but you had terrible weekend of rain all up and down the East Coast.

It's 49 minutes past the hour.

ROBERTS: Might as well get all of your pain at the same time, huh?

ROMANS: I know, right? Dark and rainy.

Let's get a quick check on the morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in Atlanta. Good morning, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.

Unfortunately, the weather headline remains to be the storm that clobbered you guys over the weekend. Check out some of the damage done in places like Connecticut. A tremendous amount of wind, power knocked out, a number of towns declaring a state of emergency.

Decades old and in some cases centuries old trees like this one tumbling down, crushing cars, taking down power lines, and tens of thousands remain in the dark this morning. The schools closed in many spots and problems with Metro-North train over the weekend as well.

Similar scenes up in Rhode Island where they had wind damage also, and similar stories with big old trees coming down and taking down the power lines with it. Also, problems with flooding, a tremendous amount of rain. The Pawtuzet River and the Blackstone River are going to be in flood states (ph), so these are areas that we're definitely concerned about going forward.

As far as how much wind we saw, 78-mile-an-hour winds in Jersey. How about that? Seventy-five at JFK. Those, my friends, are hurricane-force wind gusts. So -- this didn't have the structure of a hurricane, but it certainly had some of the net -- net results with rainfall 3, 4, and 5 inches, also.

It looks to be a little bit more tranquil today, but still, winds could gust 40, 50 miles an hour in eastern New England (ph). Tomorrow will be a little bit more calm.

John and Christine, back up to you.

ROBERTS: Oh, let's hope. Rob, thanks so much.

MARCIANO: All right, guys.

ROMANS: Tomorrow is another day, Scarlett.

All right. Thanks to a very special 10-year-old, we were honored over the weekend at the GLAAD Media Awards. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation recognized why -- "Why Will Won't Pledge Allegiance" -- sorry -- as an outstanding TV journalism segment. "Why Will Won't Pledge Allegiance".

ROBERTS: "Why Will Won't Pledge Allegiance". So you may remember our interview with young Will Phillips last fall. He's the -- a fifth grader from Arkansas, wants to be an attorney. He refused to stand up while his class recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

He said until gay and lesbian Americans have equal rights, it is not liberty and justice for all. So his protest, he refused to say the pledge.

My -- one of my favorite things in -- in that interview -- and he was a terrific interview.

ROMANS: Sure.

ROBERTS: Such an articulate young man. He was wearing a T-shirt that said "Nerds 2 (squared) ever" -- nerds forever.

ROMANS: I'd like one of those shirts.

ROBERTS: Fifty-one-and-a-half minutes after the hour.

Yes, you're a nerd. You'd love --

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ROBERTS: We're back with the Most News in the Morning and it's time for your "A.M. House Call." It's six minutes to the top of the hour.

Stories about your health is what we're focusing on this morning.

Was a sexy name and a pink camel and pack of cigarettes meant to target young girls?

ROMANS: That the focus of a new study in the "Journal of Pediatrics" that looked at an ad campaign by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The findings present some pretty troubling news for both kids and parents.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from Atlanta with the story. Hi, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning.

You know, you can probably remember back to 1998 when cigarette companies said that they would stop targeting their advertisement to underaged smokers. Well, now some are wondering, did they actually keep their promise?

Let's take a look at an ad that appeared a couple of years ago in magazines like "Vogue" and "Glamour", and some say that these ads were successful at targeting young, female smokers. You can see the name of the ad -- the name of the -- the cigarette, rather, was No. 9, and you can see that it's sort of linked with things like nice dresses and nice jewelry.

And what happened was is that after this ad campaign ran, pediatricians who were doing a survey noticed something. So take a look at this.

In 2004 pediatricians asked this question in a study. They asked the question, what is the name of the cigarette brand of your favorite cigarette advertisement? A pretty straight forward question. Again, What is the name of the cigarette brand of your favorite cigarette advertisement?

When they asked girls in 2004, 10 percent chose Camel. 2007 is when they launched the new ad campaign, and in 2008, 22 percent of girls chose Camel. And this is important because studies have shown that when people can name a favorite advertisement they tend to be more likely to actually start smoking. Now, we ran this by the company that sells Camel, and here's what they had to say. "R.J. Reynolds adheres to numerous restrictions on how it markets its tobacco products and does not take any action to target youth. Camel No. 9 was developed in response to female adult smokers who were asking for a product that better reflected their taste preferences and style." Christine.

ROBERTS: The fact young girls have a favorite cigarette ad at all is a --

ROMANS: I know.

ROBERTS: -- is a troubling matter for a -- for a parent, but how many girls may have started smoking because of these ads, Elizabeth?

COHEN: You know, I think it's impossible to say an exact number, but they estimate that 174,000 underaged girls may have started smoking because of this ad. Because, again, they can tell through studies that if you can say, oh, my favorite ad is for "X", then the chances that that kids is going to start smoking "X" in the next couple of years are way higher than if they couldn't name a favorite ad.

ROMANS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen. Thanks, Elizabeth.

Top stories coming your way in just two minutes. Don't go away.

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