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American Morning
New Flight Security Checks; RNC Stripper-Gate; End To Job Losses; God "Like This
Aired April 02, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's 8:00 Eastern on this Good Friday as we head into the Easter weekend. It's April the 2nd. Thanks very much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.
And here are the big stories we're telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
First, the Obama administration is getting set to announce new security procedures for airline passengers. Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is working the story. She will tell us whether or not you'll see it -- you'll see any changes next time you are at the airport.
ROBERTS: A sign that better times may be ahead. A key jobs report is going to be released in about 30 minutes time. Analysts believe the economy likely added jobs in the month of March for only the second time since the recession began.
Our Christine Romans is here to break it down for us and tell us whether or not the trend in adding jobs could actually continue.
CHETRY: The president IS taking a lot of heat for the economy. A new poll says 55 percent are not happy with the way he's handling it. And now, more people say that Republicans may do a better job than Democrats on the issue.
So, will this affect the ultimate poll, the mid-term elections come November? Our Candy Crowley, "STATE OF THE UNION" host, weighs in for us this morning.
And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. We want to hear from you about anything that's on your mind this morning. Go to CNN.com/amFIX and we'll read some of those comments throughout the show.
ROBERTS: We begin this hour with a CNN "Security Watch."
The Obama administration is revamping screening procedures for airline passengers who are arriving from overseas or over the border. In just a few hours, they will spell out the changes in procedures used to spot passengers who might pose a threat to flights coming into America.
Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington this morning with the details as we know them so far.
Good morning, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: John, this new security approach, a direct result of the Christmas Day bombing attempt, which showed how the U.S. failed to use fragments of intelligence it had in its possession to stop the alleged would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
The plan which will be formally announced later today is intended to stop and subject to additional screening passengers entering the U.S. who match certain pieces of known intelligence. Screening will be based not necessarily on nationality, but things like personal trades, where someone has traveled, age, partial name, maybe a partial passport number.
A senior administration official says implementation will start today and be fully implemented within the month.
It replaces a much broader approach put in place after the attempted Christmas Day bombing, which mandated additional screening of all travelers from 14 specific countries with annexes to terrorism.
A senior administration official denies that the new security regime is racial profiling. Though race or religion could be a factor in choosing someone for screening, it will only be used when there is reliable intelligence that suggests someone with that characteristic is a potential terrorist according to the official -- John.
ROBERTS: Jeanne, do these new procedures replace the no-fly and selectee lists or are they in addition to?
MESERVE: They augment those lists. You know, those lists have grown incredibly since Christmas Day. But they require the U.S. government to have certain sorts of information. They have to have a full name. They have to have a date of birth. There has to be derogatory information about an individual.
This new system, they hope, will allow them to use the fragments, those shards of information, more effectively to stop people who may pose a threat. I should point out however that this system will only be as good as the intelligence is -- John.
ROBERTS: Jeanne Meserve for us from Washington with the latest on these new security measures -- Jeanne, thanks so much.
CHETRY: In the meantime, dozens of full body scanners are now in place at airports across the country. They're supposed to detect explosives. And while they haven't yet found any, they are turning up other artfully concealed items that are either illegal or prohibited from the aircraft. The TSA is saying that in the past year, full body imaging machines have discovered more than 60 such items, including hidden knives and razor blades.
ROBERTS: OK. So, checking other stories new this morning.
The lawyer from Michael Jackson's former doctor says his client is hanging by a thread financially and won't be able to pay for his defense if his medical license is revoked. Dr. Conrad Murray has admitted in court that he gave Jackson the powerful drug Propofol to help him sleep.
CHETRY: It's the most water they've seen in parts of Rhode Island ever. President Obama is offering as much federal help as necessary to deal with the record flooding and the soggy, dirty cleanup that will take months. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is scheduled to tour the flood areas damaged today.
ROBERTS: Our Reynolds Wolf spent a couple of days up there in Rhode Island and the flooding. He's back now in Atlanta where it's going to be sunny and very warm today.
What about the rest of the country, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, I mean, it's going to be kind of hot fudge. Parts of the nation, as you mentioned, they're going to be picture perfect. But other places, say, Oklahoma City, not so much.
Take a look at what we have right now in our national map. If you look, there it is -- it's a giant bull's eye in the middle of the screen. Severe storms, you better believe it. In fact, we are getting some strong storms right along parts of the I-35 corridor from still water southwards to Oklahoma City and just north of Dallas.
You see the area shaded in yellow. That is your severe thunderstorms watch. That's in effect until 10:00 local time.
Storms are driving through Oklahoma. You see it today. We can see more later on today in, say, Kansas City, perhaps Memphis, even into places like St. Louis.
High temperatures for you today in New York, 68 degrees, 76 in Dallas, 75 in Houston, 67 in Los Angeles.
And as we look ahead into the weekend for places like, well, say New York, it should be just beautiful for you. With high temperatures as we get into Easter Sunday of 70 degrees, partly cloudy skies. Even on Monday, a chance of showers, but they should be relatively light with 68 degrees and then mid to low-60s as we go from Monday and into Tuesday.
Overall, pretty nice welcome change for much of the country, especially where they need it. We are talking about Rhode Island. We're talking about all of the Northeast. Folks have a nice turn of events for them, no question.
ROBERTS: So, that storm system then that's in Oklahoma, and that's not eventually destined to head up in the Northeast like so many other storms we've seen in the last couple of months?
WOLF: It should weaken a little bit. It does look like it's going to be moving up. I've given you that chance of rain as we make our way towards the end of the weekend and early next week. But, again, a 30 percent chance, a big day for the storm system is going to be today and for parts of tomorrow.
ROBERTS: All right. Not another nor'easter.
WOLF: It should be OK. Keep those fingers crossed.
ROBERTS: All right.
CHETRY: Thanks, Reynolds.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much, Reynolds.
ROBERTS: The biggest battles facing President Obama -- we'll lay them out for you coming up. Candy Crowley is here for us this morning.
Six minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBERTS: And welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It is the Candy Crowley segment coming right up.
One week after President Obama signed the historic health care reform bill into law, he continues to take his reform message on the road, daring Republicans to try to repeal the new bill.
Listen to what he told a crowd in Maine on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is what everybody has been hollering about as the end of freedom. They are going to run on a platform of repeal in November, and my attitude is, go for it. You try to repeal it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The boosts to the president's health care reform though may come at the expense of his approval numbers on the economy. So, what are the biggest battles facing the president for the midterm elections on the horizon?
"STATE OF THE UNION" host, Candy Crowley, joins us live from Washington.
You know, we played that song for you. Did you get a chuckle on this Friday morning?
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, STATE OF THE UNION: I did get a chuckle. And so, in my head, I'm thinking about, well, what about that "Big Bad John" song and I'm stuck on Kiran.
(LAUGHTER)
CROWLEY: I'm going through my, you know, song memory bank. I don't have a Kiran song yet.
ROBERTS: We're going to make that the theme song for your Friday segment. Every Friday, Candy Crowley joins us.
So, the president is out there. He's talking up his health care reform package.
How important is it for him to get out there and sell this, particularly when you consider the fact that 15 Republican governors have filed legal challenges to try to bring down at least part of it, this mandate?
CROWLEY: I think they are less worried about the legal challenges which they don't think have merit and they think will go away, than they are about public opinion. Because public option still shows that there is significant opposition to the health care bill.
Part of what you're seeing is the president told members of Congress, Democrats, "I will be out there, I will push this, I will explain it." They have long felt that once this law -- once this was signed into law, that, indeed, it would pick up support. Now, that hasn't happened yet.
But the president has sort of a dual problem here and that is, when we ask people, what will most influence your vote in November? They say the economy. So, he really also has to start talking about that.
And they know right off the bat that their own projections show like a 9.4 percent unemployment rate in November as people are going to the polls, sort of the most significant figure to Americans -- certainly, the most understandable figure that's out there when you talk about economic figures. They understand that they really do have an uphill climb here when talking about the economy. So, they don't just have to defend health care and talk about what it's going to bring to the American people. They also have to start talking about the economy and talking up the economy.
CHETRY: Especially because their critics are trying to make that tie. Look, some of these small businesses, not knowing what health care is going to mean for them may be more reluctant to hire when they would have previously perhaps done that. And, I mean, of course, as I said, that's the argument that some critics are making. But meantime, the March jobs report is coming out and the numbers don't lie. Of course, we are hoping it's added jobs, perhaps as many as 185,000 or maybe more.
But there is some new CNN polling out, Candy, that's probably troubling for the president. Fifty-five percent say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy. And you have the "USA Today"/Gallup poll saying that half don't believe that the president deserves re-election.
How critical is this economic recovery and this jobs report that's coming up today?
CROWLEY: Well, the jobs report that's coming out today, you know, at best will perhaps show some incremental improvement. There are already people saying, you know what, it's going to be inflated because the Census Bureau has hired all these federal workers to go out and knock on doors for those that haven't answered their mail. So, there's that. There's lot of different things.
But in the end, what the administration knows is that unemployment -- and we heard Treasury Secretary Geithner say this yesterday -- is going to be unacceptably, as he put it, high for some period to come. And that is going into next year, and they still believe it will be over 9 percent. That is critical. That's key.
As for, you know, a lot of people don't think the president deserves re-election -- well, that's two years away. The reason we do polls all the time is polls change. People change their minds.
ROBERTS: And, Candy, on the Republican side of the fence, there's this whole thing with the Republican National Committee, the night out at the bondage strip club and then they put out a fundraising flyer and the printer transposes the 202 for an 800 number that goes to a sex hotline and the RNC is having problems with fundraising because the National -- the Family Research Council is saying, you know, don't give to them, give directly to other people. The Republican Governors Association is saying, donate to us. You know, Michael Steele has got to be going like this.
How much trouble is he in?
CROWLEY: Well, he's in trouble. But, you know, we have done a lot of Michael Steele stories since he took over the chairmanship over at the RNC.
But the fact of the matter is, what Washington -- I mean, we are hearing stories that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, the two Republican leaders on the Hill, sort of don't really talk all that much to Michael Steele. Here's what the problem with the Republicans. First, there's really no head of the Republican Party per se. There's no person, you know, that can go to Michael Steele and say, really, this is hurting.
Second of all, I've talked to a lot of people, including state party chairmen, who really would be the most influential and if there were some movement to oust Michael Steele, and there has not been. So, let's put that out there.
The fact of the matter is, it would be almost so -- such a distraction if Michael Steele were forced out now. They are coming up to an election. And he can point to three really pretty big Republican wins and you can say all you want -- oh, it's because of the economy. It's because of this or that.
But when you win in New Jersey, in Virginia, and in Massachusetts, those are pretty big wins for the Republican Party. I suspect, at this point, that he's going to survive this, simply because of the round of calls that I have been making where people say, you know, he'll survive this. Maybe he doesn't go into next year or maybe he goes into the first of next year, but they think he'll certainly go through this election.
CHETRY: What's up on "STATE OF THE UNION" this weekend?
CROWLEY: Well as a matter of fact Larry Summers, who has the economic council at the White House is going to be our guest. We are going to talk of jobs and mortgages and the things that people worry about out there.
And also John Thompson, the son who runs the men's basketball team in Georgetown because there has been so much talk about the graduation rate of some of these supremely talented athletes, but many of whom don't graduate, a strikingly high number, particularly among African-Americans. The U.S. Department of Education. Duncan is trying to get into this. Trying to change the situation. So we are going to talk to somebody on the ground, John Thompson Jr.
ROBERTS: All right looking forward to it.
CHETRY: Always great to see you, we are going to be watching.
CROWLEY: Thank you.
CHETRY: We are going to be watching, take care, be sure to watch Candy on "State of the Union" this Monday morning 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: We want Candy. All right, Sunday morning.
High hopes for the jobs report. Is it the beginning of the end of all this high unemployment? Christine Romans breaking it all down for you coming up. 16 minutes after the hour. .
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Isn't that kind of the way it has been? You just can't look at 401(k)s.
CHETRY: I know.
ROBERTS: Job reports. But potentially some good news ahead with jobs report comes out about eleven-and-a-half minutes' time. Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" this morning. She joins us with a look. Hi,Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And I am starting to look again, you guys. I am starting to look again because it looks as though there could be some job creation in the month of March. Now a little bit of job creation, let's put it in perspective. A little bit of job creation perhaps the turning point. That's what they are all hoping for.
But it would be the turning point after this. This, boys and girls, is the great recession. This was massive job loss, some 8.4 million jobs lost since that recession began 27 months ago. It could very well be over now. But we still haven't seen the big job creation we are looking for. It is not just great recession. I want to be clear about this. A lot of folks are saying that when the economy turns, there are some jobs that may never come back.
We have long-term unemployed in this country that need to be reabsorbed, retrained and the labor market over the past ten years has been moving much more quickly than people's skills can keep up with.
Here's what the lost decade many people are calling it looks like: ten years of job loss for manufacturing. 5.7 million jobs lost. Many say all of those jobs are not coming back. 1.5 million in trade, transportation utilities. 1.2 million in construction. Information, 824,000 jobs. And the retail trade, almost 800,000.
Take a look at where we have seen the job creation. The job creation has come in health care. We've been talking about that all week, a lot of diverse jobs in health care. Government, up 1.9 million jobs over the past decade. These are all the last decade. Leisure and hospitality and education.
So here is the issue. You've got the month of March, you've got the great recession and the past ten years. We have a lot of work to do to get people back to work. So we are looking for some jobs creation. This month, we are still looking at a 9.7 percent unemployment rate and I am going to concur with Candy Crowley. That you are probably going to see unemployment rate 9 percent through the rest of this year and maybe into next year. That is politically and practically for people is still pretty painful even when the turn comes you guys.
ROBERTS: All right, Christine Romans, we have to have a theme song for Christine. Maybe something from "Phantom of the Opera." Could it be (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Facebook or tweet us. We will take your recommendations.
ROBERTS: Yes, give us a theme song for Christine. Very musical this morning.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine. Mine can just be chicken fries OK, for now until --
ROBERTS: It doesn't have your name in it.
CHETRY: That's all right, I don't need a name. What's your favorite food? It is fine.
Well if you are lucky and your number is seven, this story is for you. Pennsylvania's big four drawing lotto came up with this winning number, 777. Even more strange the payout of that lotto, 7,777. Sorry about that. I wouldn't have won. $7.77 million is pay out 3,107 people picked the straight sevens and each took home a $2500 prize. Not too shabby.
ROBERTS: That's amazing, it's the $7.77 million in the 7777 is really interesting isn't it?
CHETRY: Freaky.
ROBERTS: All right, go to Las Vegas this weekend and roll sevens.
The late night comedy, Letterman, Leno, Fallow, Ferguson and over on the Enetwork, it is Chelsea Handler, the one woman who is trying to bust into the boy's club.
CHETRY: She has a new book out "Chelsea, Chelsea Bang-Bang" it's on the "New York Times" best-seller list. And she sat down with our LARRY KING to talk about everything from her potty mouth to waiting tables before getting her big break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST: "Vanity Fair" once described you as a comic with the Beverly Hills bimbo look and a borchefelt (ph) mouth.
CHELSEA HANDLER, COMEDIAN: OK.
KING: Do you take that as a compliment?
HANDLER: I don't know if I take tha as a compliment. But it is true. I mean I am probably, I do have a Porshe belt mouth. I feel like I have a lot of intelligent thoughts and things to say. But I like combining those intelligent thoughts and you know with toilet humor. I think that the two things can live together in a nice happy space. I mean I didn't get real success I mean in my mind until I was probably 30, 28, 30. And I waited tables for a really long time and I appreciate it.
KING: But if I sat down and looked at the menu and you come over, what would you do?
HANDLER: Well, first of all, I would compliment you on your suspenders. But second, I would say, you are pretty straightforward. So but if somebody is lingering and they are at lunch and they act like it is an affair --
KING: Right.
HANDLER: And they can't figure out what they are going to have --
KING: What would you do?
HANDLER: I would say, you know, make up your mind, you mess. What are you going to eat? I don't have people that make big -- that take that long to make a decision about lunch. KING: Don't you -- wouldn't that hurt tips?
HANDLER: I didn't get great tips, I'll be honest with you.
KING: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: It all worked out.
ROBERTS: Come on you mess, make up your mind. Wow.
Twenty-three minutes after the hour. The holy church of Facebook coming up next. Carol Costello tells us what it is all about. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. 26 1/2 minutes after the hour. So your top stories are only, you are right, three-and-a-half minutes away.
First though an "A.M. Original" something you will only see on AMERICAN MORNING, the church has never really been in a general sense an organization accused of keeping up with trends.
CHETRY: However, times are changing and now places of worship are using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to expand the flock. You can call it church 2.0, where followers are believers. And Carol Costello has the story live in Washington.
Hey I thought we were hip when we put the church directory on line.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You know, but there are hipper churches out there, Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes I am sure there are.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: At first blush, it does sound kind of silly. The church of Facebook, come on. Log on to Facebook and find God, really, in the same place you would find Mafia Wars and a way to feed a baby giant octopus. But Church 2.0 is coming of age, thanks to some very powerful people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): God's house, a place with far less room than say a church on Facebook.
COSTELLO (on camera): How many parishioners do you hope to gather in the church of Facebook? JOEL HUNTER, SENIOR PASTOR NORTHLAND: It is literally unlimited.
COSTELLO (voice-over): It is conceivable as one church official put it, if Facebook were the country, it would be the third largest in the world.
HUNTER: There are a whole lot of people who are believers who would be believers if it weren't for having to walk into a church building. The suffering you have to go through.
COSTELLO: Pastor Joel Hunter is senior pastor of Northland he boasts a congregation of 18,000 people that worship the old-fashioned way. He hopes to attract thousands more by creating a new church available only on Facebook.
HUNTER: Call it an outgrowth of church 2.0. The thing in worship.
COSTELLO (on camera): Even President Obama practices a version of church, 2.0. He worships in part by a blackberry.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Hunter is one of a group of pastors who e-mail the President.
HUNTER: What I do is take a portion of scripture and device a commentary, explain that and how that might be relevant for a Christian who is trying to follow Christ. And I hit send. And there it is.
COSTELLO: Hunter has lately sent passages from the gospel of Mark.
HUNTER: The lessons are always relevant to anyone, anywhere. And so what applies to you and I also applies to him because he is a person. He is not just President. He is a person.
COSTELLO: Pastor Hunter's e-mail servants are just one way the President worships outside of a traditional church. Some insists this could be an effective way to God. Others aren't so sure. John Acuff uses a satirical blog called "Stuff Christians Like to Inspire Spirituality" online.
JOHN ACUFF, STUFF CHRSTIANS LIKE.NET: I think it is a great starter I don't know if it is the best finisher.
COSTELLO (on camera): Like other relationships that start online like match.com.
ACUFF: Eventually, the people that meet on match go to dinner. You know eventually when you interact on craigslist to buy something, you go to that person's house. And every other interaction online, there is some level where you make it real if it is meaningful and significant.
COSTELLO: If that happens the world of church, 2.0 will be more online success in a country where fewer and fewer people feel the need to go to church at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (on camera): The basic idea here, John and Kiran, if you feel uncomfortable or you feel like a sinner just walking into a church, you can attend church online on Facebook with all of your friends attending with you as pastor Hunter told me. A building mean absolutely nothing. You can worship anywhere.
ROBERTS: It's a good, it's a good -- you know for people who you know don't want to get out there, at least they have got a source to go to.
CHETRY: Or if you do both and it is sort of an additional way to find inspiration.
COSTELLO: Right and if you are disenfranchised with your particular religion, online you can be any religion you want comfortably, you can explore things. Pastor Hunter says, that's a good thing do.
ROBERTS: Kind of like a church for the un-churched, and unique. It serves a purpose.
COSTELLO: And a church for people who think they are sinners too.
CHETRY: Somebody weighed in, Carol, on your story. John said, "I go to Internet church on Saturday night at livechurch.TV. It is great. I love it so much. But I do agree it can be a bit impersonal." There go. People are doing it.
COSTELLO: Go, go for it.
ROBERTS: Carol, thanks. We want to know if you would feel right praying on your PC or your cell phone? Let us know at CNN.com/amfix.
CHETRY: It is crossing the half hour. Time for a look at our top stories.
Today, the Department of Homeland Security will be announcing new procedures for airline passengers. Those measures will apply to people flying into the U.S. from other countries. A passenger would be subject to secondary screening if they match certain known intelligence information that suggests a risk. New security protocols take effect today.
ROBERTS: Today, a federal judge will decide whether to grant bail for eight Michigan militia members accused of plotting to kill police officers.
Court appointed attorneys for members of the Hutaree militia say their clients do not pose a threat and should be released while they wait for trial. Prosecutors want them all held, arguing their intentions were evil. CHETRY: Also, a Massachusetts school superintendent says he and his staff did all they could to help a young student who was allegedly bullied so relentlessly that she committed suicide. Gus Sayer says he told CNN he only learned of the bullying Phoebe Prince endured a week before she killed herself. She didn't tell many people it was going on. He now wishes she had.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUS SAYER, SUPERINTENDENT, SOUTH HADLEY HIGH SCHOOLS: I have anonymous e-mails that I am getting from all over the country, OK? Mostly, they are disgusting. Mostly they are things like people say "You administrators should burn in hell, and stuff like that. Even worse. That's a mild one.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How do you react?
SAYER: I try to ignore them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, there have been repeated calls for Sayer's resignation. He says he won't step down unless the district school committee asks him to.
ROBERTS: It's 33 minutes after the hour. Just in to CNN, the March unemployment numbers. Employers added 162,000 jobs last month, 162,000. The unemployment rate remains unchanged at 9.7 percent.
The best panel you could possibly ask for here now to break this all down for us this morning, Lakshman Achuthan, director of the economic cycle research institute, Chrystia Freeland, editor at large for Reuters, and our very own Christine Romans, who just got off the phone with the Treasury Department.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Labor, yes.
ROBERTS: Lakshman, let's start with you -- 162,000 a little less than was expected?
LAKSHMAN ACHUTHAN, DIRECTOR, ECONOMIC CYCLE INSTITUTE: Well, look, let's not miss the forest from the trees. The issue here is that this trend of improvement in the jobs market is undeniable. We thought that we would see positive growth by the spring. We are getting it. That's much, much faster than in the last two recoveries.
And this very much keeps intact the idea that the unemployment rate already peaked and is trending down. There are a lot of buts underneath that, but that is the big picture.
ROBERTS: What are some of the buts?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND, GLOBAL EDITOR-AT-LARGE, REUTERS: I think Christine led this really well in her report beforehand, which is that it is going to take a lot of job creation to erase the pain of the recession. I thought that chart you had really said it all. This has been an incredibly steep dip. And to get back to a place where people have jobs and are feeling good is going to take more than 162,000 jobs. I thought that 9.7 percent figure said it all.
Of course it is good that these jobs are being created. The unemployment rate is still 9.7 percent.
ROBERTS: And we talked about this earlier. Maybe some of the numbers were attributable to not bringing on as many people in February because the weather was so terrible, and the Census Bureau has added a whole bunch of temporary workers. So how many real jobs are there?
ROMANS: We have 48,000 census workers added. Excluding the census, you had 114,000 new jobs created. What I found was really interesting, temporary workers was 40,000, but you had manufacturing growth for the first time in ages.
Since June, 2007, you added in residential and commercial construction, health care jobs added. Mining jobs added, which is a trend that we have seen. Financial services, loss of jobs. Half of those were in insurance, interestingly enough.
But a couple of things I want to flag here -- a new record, John, 44 percent of people who are jobless are what we call the long-term unemployed. Never in this country have we had such a huge share of people who have been out of work for so long. It's a real problem.
ACHUTHAN: And that's an off-it-charts number. When you look at how these different durations of unemployment -- long-term means over six months. There are a lot of people longer than that.
When you look at how that line looks compared to recessions, it is really off the charts. The issue is, the real problem is, we are having a recovery. It is very real. However, these people are being left behind.
FREELAND: That's right. You could have a two-speed America. There are people who might never get a job again.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: It's the lost-decade story. The great recession came after ten years of big changes in the economy. So, now, where do these people fit?
ACHUTHAN: There are these structural things. We have these bubbles. We know in retrospect there was a bubble in credit going into this recession. But if you had a job, there were lots of jobs in that area before the recession. Now, we don't need those kinds of workers. So even though the economy is lifting, those workers don't have the right skills for what's going on in the economy.
FREELAND: And maybe they are living in the wrong places.
ACHUTHAN: Or they are more mature workers.
FREELAND: You are the wrong age, you are living in the wrong place. You have the wrong skill. How are you going to find a place in this economy?
ACHUTHAN: They say retraining.
ROBERTS: So what happens?
ACHUTHAN: Retraining. You have to think about it. You are kind of retraining a roofer to be a physical therapist. It is not impossible, but it doesn't happen overnight.
FREELAND: Physical therapy is very good to train in.
ROBERTS: The roofer has strong hands.
ACHUTHAN: There you go.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Do we have the policies in place to do it? We know the economy is changing faster than people and talents.
FREELAND: It is one thing to talk about it at this table. It is really hard to do it here in person.
ROMANS: You can't sell your house that you are under water on.
FREELAND: How aim going to support my family? I am going to spend a year studying to do this whole new thing?
ROBERTS: Let's talk about eight million jobs lost. If we are adding them at this rate and continue to add them at this rate, it is going to take somewhere in the neighborhood of 56 months.
ROMANS: If we add twice as much as this, it would take five years.
ROBERTS: So total with the recession, five years, it's seven to eight years to bring unemployment back to where it was, which is kind of -- if you look in terms of the business cycle, just in time for the next recession.
(CROSSTALK)
FREELAND: The other thing is, actually, we could now be in a relatively blissful period. When we look further out to the end of this year, beginning of next year, we could be having, I know it sounds hard to believe, greater sluggishness in the economy. I am not a believer in a total double dip.
(CROSSTALK)
ACHUTHAN: But agreeing with Chrystia here, 2010 is the time to make hay. You have to go right now and make your hay. You can't trust that this expansion is going to last long enough.
ROMANS: If you have a job, protect it.
FREELAND: Be nice to your boss day.
ACHUTHAN: Now, the wind is at your back. Be aggressive. Go for it right now.
ROBERTS: Great to see you this morning, folks. Thanks so much. Kiran.
CHETRY: Good question.
It's 38 minutes past the hour. There are new rules on anti- depression use in pilots. The FAA is actually lifting a ban on pilots using Prozac as well as three other drugs. We will explain how this would make a difference for many treating depression but not disclosing it to their employer. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
The FAA is now dropping its ban on pilots using Prozac and three other antidepressant medications. The department's administrator says he wants to remove the stigma surrounding mental illness while ensuring passenger safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACHUTHAN: Changing this policy is the belief that the American public has the right to know that everybody is flying their airplanes is healthy, both physically and mentally. And so we are going to try to bring an improvement in that area.
We have people that are self-medicating or not seeking a diagnosis. Either of those are unacceptable. This change in the policy will allow those people to get the treatment, allow us to monitor and return them to the cockpit as safe or better pilots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The new policy will allow pilots to seek permission to fly again after they have controlling their depression for 12 months.
ROBERTS: When you look at the choices, this is probably a wise course of action.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
There has been some record shattering weather spreading across.
ROBERTS: Look, a nice pocket of warm over the east coast. But some severe storms as you seek over Oklahoma, the center of the country. Reynolds Wolf is tracking it all for you. He has the forecast coming up. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Good morning, Chicago where right now it's cloudy and 63 degrees. Later on today, it will continue to be mostly cloudy even though we do see a little bit of sunshine there. But the high is going to be 81. So it will be a beautiful day in Chicago.
And we just want to tell you too, this being Good Friday, that was not gin that he was pouring. It was Holy Water.
CHETRY: That's right, it was water with a bunch of holes in it this morning and that's it.
Our Reynolds Wolf, though, you know a lot of people would like to toast with wine and other appropriate things in this Good Friday for the fact that the weather is finally looking better for people in the Northeast.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, it looks picture perfect. And it doesn't matter whether you use one Martini or maybe three with olives. It's good stuff.
All right, guys the weather is doing much better in parts of the Northeast -- you know in Rhode Island, parts of the Northeast has just been hammered by the heavy rainfall. That is going to be in the past. So you have a much dryer day today.
And that's a trend that should last for a good part of the weekend. They need every single bit of dry weather they can get. Today they are going to get it.
That's not going to be the situation in parts of the central and southern plains where this morning, Oklahoma City has seen plenty of rough weather. They've seen some strong thunderstorms. That's going to be extending as far south as parts of Dallas even into east Texas. And before the day is over, we can see some of the drive (ph) into places like Arkansas and perhaps even into Tennessee.
Right now, again, Oklahoma City currently under that severe thunderstorm watch; that will be in effect until 10:00 local time. We've already seen one boundary move right through. We could see a few other impulses going into Oklahoma City along parts of 40 and even into 35.
And there's the potential that later this afternoon we could see some isolated tornadoes and some damaging winds, heavy rain and maybe even some flash flooding in parts of the southeast.
And the southern half of the mid-Mississippi Valley -- southeast I'm sorry -- should be ok for the most part with high temperatures around 83 degrees in Atlanta, 76 in Washington, D.C., New York and Boston, mainly into the 60s. It's 45 on the other side of that boundary back into Denver, 47 in Billings, 48 in Salt Lake City and 60s for much of the L.A. basin.
Looks pretty good there. Guys, that is the latest in your forecast. More updates throughout the day. Certainly, we're going to keep a very sharp eye on the potential for a severe weather again in the southern part of the Mississippi Valley. Let's send it back to you guys.
ROBERTS: It's good to have you on the job, Reynolds.
CHETRY: Thanks.
ROBERTS: All right, see you later. So what type of cheese do you like? Neuralsberg (ph), Grier --
CHETRY: Grier, cheddar, like a really sharp cheddar.
ROBERTS: Goat's milk.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: -- sheep's milk.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Wait until you see the cheese that this guy is serving up. It's coming up on 48 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to "The Most News in the Morning".
Once a successful five-star chef, one man scrapped it all and headed for the streets of his hometown in India. Now, he spends his days giving free food and care to hundreds of India's most destitute making Naryanan Krishnan (ph) our "Hero of the Week".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARYANAN KRISHNAN, PROTECTING THE POWERLESS: Because of the poverty India faces, so many people are being abandoned by their own family and left uncared on the roadside of the city.
I saw a very old man eating his own human waste for food. It really hurt me so much. I was working for a five-star hotel as a chef. I had all the ambitions. I wanted to excel in what I was doing but the old man changed everything.
My name is Naryanan Krishnan. I feed and care for the abandoned and mentally ill in my hometown, Madurai, India (ph).
I get up at 4:00 in the morning. Every meal, which has been prepared fresh, they go to see both (ph). People are waiting for us. They totally rely on the food which we give.
It is a continuous process. Cooking, distributing then again coming. We are feeding almost about 400 people, three meals a day around the clock, rain or shine, no holiday. Others feel difficult to do this. I don't feel it difficult. My vision and my ideas are very clear. The happiness I see in their face keeps me going. I take energy from them. I want to save my people. And I feel that is the purpose of my life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Congratulations. You can nominate someone you think is changing the world. Go to CNN.com/AmFix.
Fifty three minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Four minutes now to the top of the hour. Can't get out of here soon enough, I guess, for some people. But it is time now for most of us for "The Moost News in the Morning."
A New York chef may have a hit on his hands with a unique type of cheese.
CHETRY: That's right. You take a bite of it and it may bring you back to a time when you were younger, way, way, way younger.
Here is Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESONDENT: You would cry too if someone was taking your mom's breast milk and turning it into cheese. Is it weird for you to see someone eating your breast milk?
LORI MASON: It makes me feel proud.
MOOS: Lori Mason's fiance Daniel is a chef at their New York City restaurant, Klee Brasserie. So when their freezer at home started to overflow with Lori's extra breast milk.
DANIEL ANGERER, CHIEF KLEE BRASSERIE: What are we going to do with it, you know? I look at her -- why don't we make some cheese?
MOOS: Maybe you think that is better left to cows. But human breast milk is super healthy for babies.
MASON: This is the most precious thing in the world to you. And so if your baby is eating it, why in the world would you not?
MOOS: And I have to say, you look much cleaner than a cow.
At least Lori is not out dragging herself through the mud and manure.
MASON: I'm free range. I'm organic.
MOOS: Daniel's recipe for breast milk cheese ended up on his blog. And the next thing you know. KELLY RIPA, HOST, "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": Guess what we have right now Andy? Go ahead and groan. Sure, there is a yuck factor.
MASON: Oh, it's a bodily fluid or it's a form of cannibalism.
MOOS: Someone actually e-mailed that saying, this is beyond disgusting but Kelly Ripa managed to get it down.
RIPA: Tastes like chicken.
MOOS: And with the cheese resting on brie oesh (ph) with a pickle and paprika --
There is no yuck factor. It tasted like cheese.
ANGERER: And you're going for seconds.
MOOS: I'm going for seconds, yes.
The cheese eaten alone had a gross consistency. But there are worst things you could do with breast milk. Take the Kentucky woman arrested the other day for being intoxicated who allegedly squirted a female deputy in the face.
But we digress from cheese.
You are not the first to do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife, she make this cheese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She make it from milk from her breasts.
MOOS: By the way, the New York City health department says, "The restaurant knows know the cheese made from breast milk is not for public consumption and any experiments with it as a food ingredient are best left for the home.
PETA once suggested that Ben and Jerry they should make ice-cream out of human breast milk. That led to jokes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rackberry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mrs. Kraft Singles.
MOOS: What do you have to say about all this?
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: So what do you think? Would you try it?
CHETRY: Yes, of course. Would you? You have before. We were all babies once, people.
ROBERTS: It wasn't cheese. Nobody had made it into cheese. Bob Barr's reaction for that movie is just priceless.
CHETRY: I loved it. Laughed out loud.
ROBERTS: I could just imagine John Clees and Michael Palin adding that into their cheese shot skit for Monty Python. What that would be.
CHETRY: There you go. Hey, continue the conversation on any story you have seen today on our show.
ROBERTS: Including that one.
CHETRY: Yes. We would love to have you weigh in. Go to our blog, cnn.com/amFix.
ROBERTS: That's going to wrap it up for us. Have yourself a great weekend. A good Good Friday, Easter Sunday. We'll see you back here again bright and early on Monday morning.
CHETRY: And here is "CNN NEWSROOM" now with Kyra Phillips. Hey, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Awkward moment. Very awkward moment.
CHETRY: You've tried it too, you know it.
