Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Obama Ushers in New Era of Relations With Russia; Rescue Teams Searching WV Mine; My Son the Bully

Aired April 08, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A California man accused of threatening U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is due in court today. The FBI says that Greg Giusti was upset over Pelosi's support of health care reform. No word if he's upset about subsidized housing where he lived for several years. Giusti has served time in the past for making threats.

Debris now litters the streets of Kyrgyzstan's capital, a day after a bloody uprising swept the government out of power. New leadership is already in place which may pose a problem for the U.S. military. You see there's a major air base that we use there to get supplies and troops in and out of Afghanistan just to the south. It is unknown if the new government is going to let us keep using it.

This video purportedly showing U.S. Army Private First Class Bowe Robert Bergdahl has the military seeing red. The 23-year-old Bergdahl disappeared from his combat outpost in Afghanistan late June. Well, this video appeared on a radical web site. The Navy Admiral speaking for NATO says that insurgents holding the soldier are using him for propaganda and, "as a means to ultimately cause pain to his family and friends."

President Obama putting pen to paper in Prague, ushering the new era of relations with Russia. The President and his Russian counterpart signing a new nuclear arms treaty putting limits on nuclear arsenals and cuts out about a third of the nukes on both sides but maybe even more importantly, it signals a partnership with Russia, critical with issues like Iran and North Korea on the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to thank my friend and partner, Dmitri Medvedev. Without his personal efforts and strong leadership we would not be here today. We've met and spoken by phone many times throughout the negotiations of this treaty and as a consequence we've developed a very effective working relationship built on candor, cooperation and mutual respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The Russian President Medvedev offered his thanks for the U.S. making, "reasonable compromises." It took a year for negotiators to put this deal together.

Quite a sight for travelers on United Airlines, flight 663, a fighter jet escort to Denver. Lots of law enforcement on arrival. The problem? A foreign diplomat who some thought might have had a shoe bomb. Here he is, Mohammad Al Madadi but now it looks like it maybe just a misunderstanding and no explosives.

This came from his boss in Washington. "We respect the necessity of special security precautions involving air travel, but this Diplomat was traveling to Denver on official embassy on my instructions. And you certainly not engaged in any threatening activity. The facts will reveal that this was a mistake and we urge all concerned parties to avoid reckless judgments or speculation." Al Madadi has been cleared to travel back to Washington.

Hoping and praying in West Virginia, we could be coming near to an end in the search for four missing men at that West Virginia mine. Here's what we know right now. Four rescue teams with a total of 32 miners went into the mine just about five hours ago. They're having to go about five miles to reach two refuge chambers where survivors could have held up after Monday's explosion which killed 25 miners.

West Virginia's governor says the rescuers are expected to reach the chambers by noon Eastern. CNN's John Roberts is in West Virginia and he actually spoke to a woman who lost not just her son, but also a brother and nephew on Monday. John asked her what went wrong, who's to blame?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAM NAPPER, SON, BROTHER & NEPHEW DIED IN MINE ACCIDENT: I just know there were things there that wasn't right, but I know my brother would never endanger my son or his brother or his own son there. I think it was just a freak accident. I think something just happened. I don't really know. I don't know if someone didn't do their job testing. Because, you know, you can't smell it. You can't taste it. And I think when they shift, Josh and them was getting ready to come out and when they changed shifts the spark off of the wheel just blew it.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Is it just one of those things that when you're in a coal mining family you have to deal with?

NAPPER: You just deal with it. I've been in a coal miner family all my life. We've lost - this is not the only one. We've lost younger ones, too, with different uncles and that. It's just something that West Virginia is all about. It's their living. That's how they make a living. It's just West Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And a reminder, we're expecting a news conference from West Virginia any minute now. We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it starts.

Well, this isn't going to look very good for Toyota. It's a warning to Toyota executives from one of their own made just before millions of cars were recalled for accelerator problems. "We are not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet. Time to hide on this one is over. We need to come clean." That e-mail was written by a now former VP for public affairs. He also says that Toyota had to hope government regulators would work with them on a solution that wouldn't put the company out of business. Toyota is not commenting on that e- mail.

Climbing gear? Check. Bottled oxygen? Check. Math homework? Check. Yes. Could be the first time someone's brought their homework to Everest. Then again, he could be the youngest person to summit the tallest peak.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I always hated those overachievers in school. God bless him. Good luck.

Hey, good morning again, everybody. I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN severe weather center. We are probably going to see some severe weather today. We got extreme heat to the east and some cold air coming in from the west. We'll talk much more weather when the CNN NEWSROOM comes back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Another mud slide and more deaths in a hillside shantytown of Rio de Janeiro. The pictures are heart wrenching. At least 147 people have been killed and rescue workers are struggling to find survivors beneath mounds of mud and debris. The newest slide wiped out at least 40 homes.

And back here, Rob Marciano is watching some severe weather that's moving into the east.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Sir Edmund Hillary was the first. Jordan Romero is trying to be the youngest. We're talking about making it to the summit of Mount Everest. All 29,000 feet and change and making it back down. Jordan's all of 13 years old and he lives in California, and right now he's in Katmandu preparing for the big climb.

He's also got some homework with him, too, and he's going to join us on the phone in just a second to tell us how it's all going down.

We'll take you quickly live to West Virginia. The governor, Joe Manchin getting ready to step up to the mikes, all of us wanting to hear how those rescue crews are doing as they search for those four remaining miners. Four rescue teams got down in there, 32 rescuers.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GOV. JOE MANCHIN, WEST VIRGINIA: -- more accurate information, let me give you everything that what we know has happened and where we are at this point. I'll give you some scenarios and I'm going to let Kevin bring you in and follow up on what's actually happening.

The best that we can tell you is this that they have moved clear down from our portal where we came in. We're down to the long wall area and all teams are in that area. At that time the teams were splitting and we had one team that was coming down with the long wall, and the rest of the teams will be working as a backup and moving up into the 22 gate.

There's one shelter here that had not been checked and we have one shelter here which we know we're trying to get to. The four people that were unaccounted for are here and one here, three. The scenarios that we've dealt with so they've been working feverishly. The scenarios that we were dealing with is the quality of the air since this morning since the men have gone in. The quality of air has deteriorated.

We were concerned about what conditions that air would cause with an explosive atmosphere. We've had three scenarios. The first scenario would be that we could continue and the air would be to the point, each if they had a rescue they could continue to get back and check the shelter and with that, we can do all of the exploring here.

The second scenario was that we know they were clear here before breathing without apparatus and they could have come up into here and seen that it was too bad to proceed back and have a temporary barricade here and then as Kevin and Joe and all of them would explain to you, they would enter this area, pumping nitrogen down and clearing that area and that would take a process of about 12 hours, and if we could have done any recovery coming back.

The third scenario would have been is that we find that the conditions are too dangerous and they're explosive. A decision would have to be made that everyone would be extracted from the mine because of the explosive atmosphere.

Unfortunately, we have the worst scenario, so I'm going to let Kevin explain to you how that decision and how they came to that conclusion.

KEVIN STRICKLIN, FEDERAL MINE SAFETY OFFICIAL: Good morning, everyone.

As the governor said we've had a setback. As to what we were doing, we had rescue teams and they entered the mine about 5:00 a.m. and prepared as we talked earlier with four advancing teams and two traveling in different directions and one across the long wall face, and one towards long wall 22 with back up teams in place.

Unfortunately, as they're traveling into the mine this morning we had some consecutive samples coming out the bore hole number one at the back of long wall 22 that indicated an explosive mixture. We do not base pulling people on one sample. We looked at a couple of samples and they all were very consistent. We had an explosive concentration of 5.4 percent. The cutoff point is five percent. We know we've had trouble in this area before. It was the same area where rescuers were pulled out the night that this occurred and again, we're not saying that this - this is a setback.

It's not something that they won't get back in. We're going to continue to monitor that bore hole number one. In addition, bore hole number two that is only 70 feet from cutting through into the mine is going to be cut through and what that will do for us, it will double the quantity of air to ventilate this area.

We have about 850 CFM of air coming out of bore hole one. After we get bore hole two through, get a high-pressure fan set on it, we're also going to be pulling 850 through it. In other words, we'll have 1,700 CFM ventilating this area with double the quantity. In addition, we talked last evening about the importance of putting a bore hole in near that refuge chamber on long wall 22 section. That bore hole is down 90 feet. It's going to have to go down 1,100 feet.

The drill that is being used at the refuge chamber is also the drill that was used at bore hole one. The drill that basically seemed to do a very quick job for us and we're hoping to get that into the mine naturally, as soon as we can.

Bore hole - I don't know. I'm very hesitant on how I refer to the bore holes because on the map bore hole three is in a different area that's shown on this map. The bore hole that we're putting is right at the refuge chamber on the long wall 22 section. I don't know what it's been referred to in the past. I'll just call it bore hole number five only because three and four are on the maps at different locations.

So we ask you folks to bear with us. We just briefed the families and explained to them the situation we're in. They've been very patient with us and they understand - they understand what the rescue workers are going through to try to get in there, but they also understand the importance of the safety of the rescue personnel.

QUESTION: You clarify are all the rest of the teams that came out or are they being pulled out?

STRICKLIN: They're en route coming out of the mine right now. They will leave all of their equipment and all of the materials that they took into the mine right where they were at so they do not have to carry anything back in and the only thing they'll be taking back in is themselves and their breathing apparatus.

QUESTION: Are they in danger right now?

STRICKLIN: You know, we think they are in danger and that's the whole intent of evacuating them from the mine.

QUESTION: Kevin, if you're looking at rescue chambers having enough air for 15 guys for four hours, now there will be 12 hours down the road looking that the 3:00 window tomorrow. If it's enough air for 15 people for four days, it's enough for four people for 50 days?

STRICKLIN: Well, I don't know if we can make that analyzation that it matches each other, but we do feel comfortable that there's more than 96 hours based on the fact that there are only three people in there instead of 15.

QUESTION: The chambers that you talked about yesterday, are you saying you've ruled out one now with no one in it (INAUDIBLE)?

STRICKLIN: We have not ruled out anything, but the bore hole that we want to get in is the one where we had the three unaccounted for miners first. We're also putting a roadway in. When I say we, the company is putting a roadway in to that other bore hole location of where the other refuge chamber is located at.

QUESTION: Do you continue to find that kind of level of gas in that area back to the explosion? What are you able to come to - to a final conclusion, and give us a sense of what may have happened?

STRICKLIN: It does not give us a sense of what happened. It just tells us that it was a very violent explosion and the area that we're talking - if we look at a map and I don't want into get too much ventilation, but the fan that is ventilating the active long wall panel back here has the ability to pull air toward the back end.

The problem we're having is we have a dead ended area here. It would be kind of like blowing air into a pop bottle. There's nowhere for it to go. We put a small hole in the back end to help us. Unfortunately, there's so much gas buildup in the area that it's taking us a while to ventilate through a six-inch hole, basically.

Back here we have, I believe, a 12-foot hole pulling air out of the mine at about 300,000 CFM, we're 1 and 300 air trying to pull out of the long wall 22 section.

PHILLIPS: We're going to continue to monitor this news conference for you there out of West Virginia. Basically no new news. The rescue teams are still trying to get in there, and it looks like it's three miners that have been unaccounted for. It's three miners that they're looking for now, not four.

But as you heard if you were listening, they are getting closer, but there's been so much buildup of that poisonous gas that's taking a lot longer to safely bore holes and get down to the places they need to be. So we'll continue to follow this news conference for you and as soon as we know more, we'll bring it to you.

More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: An apology from Virginia's Governor. Bob McDonald now admits that slavery was a big part of the civil war. You see, he left it out of the original proclamation, designating April as Confederate History month. He got a fair bit of criticism for that and now he's added a paragraph to his proclamation calling slavery an evil and inhumane practice.

All is back to normal at LAX now. Two terminals were shut down after a passenger was flagged for an extra bag check. Well, he just walked on by. They finally did find him, checked the bag and all is well. He is allowed to fly, but he caused delays on a bunch of other flights.

And an update on a story that we talked about at length yesterday. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa backing down from his order to close down city departments to save money. He wanted them closed an extra two days a week. Libraries, parks and things like that, but he admits he just can't do it, and only the city council can and they're not going to allow it.

Three more teens facing music in the case of another teen suicide. Attorneys for three girls entered not guilty pleas a short time ago in Hadley, Massachusetts. They're among several teens accused of bullying 15-year-old Phoebe Prince. Prosecutors say that Prince endured three months of harassment before she hanged herself in January. The girls today are charged with violating her civil rights and stalking.

One mom following that story says it's really affected her because her own son, she says, is a bully. We're talking to Maggie Vink- or Vink of Flint, Michigan, as well as Steve Perry, he is CNN's education contributor, also a school principal in Hartford, Connecticut. We're going to try to push this story forward and look for solutions.

And we should clarify, Maggie, your son apparently was a bully and then he became bullied. We'll get to that in a second, but tell me what sparked you to write this blog, "My son was a playground bully."

MAGGIE VINK, WRITER, MOMLOGIC.COM: Well, first of all, thank you for having me.

I wrote the piece largely because I think there's a misconception that students who do bullying are the bad kids and kids who get bullied are always the good kids and the truth of the matter is that there's - it's more of a gray line than that. It's not so black and white. My son, I adopted him. He spent 10 years bouncing around in foster care and he has very delayed social skills.

So on the playground, when he got the ball nobody else was about to get it and you know, he always tried to be first in line and would jostle his way to get there. It got to a point where other kids were annoyed and done with his kind of unfair behavior on the playground and then it turned around where when he had been kind of being the playground bully, turned around to where he was the one being bullied instead.

And the large part of the reason why I wanted to write it is his school had a really good zero tolerance policy for bullying. They had proactive courses on bullying, and I thought they really did a good job, but where they fell short was my son was given appropriate punishments for his aggression and his bullying behavior on the playground. He was suspended and given consequences that I thought were very fair, but the students that would follow him around and taunt him and tease him, they did so very quietly and they always - they never had any consequences for their behavior.

So I think we're making good strides in schools by having zero tolerance policies, but we need to also make sure that we're looking at all sides of the coin and that all kids involved in the situation are given appropriate consequences for their behavior. PHILLIPS: Interesting. So, Steve, I know you're not, you don't believe in zero tolerance and I want to get to that in a minute, but when you hear, Steve, when you hear Maggie's story and the story about her son, tell me what your thoughts are as someone who, you know, runs a school.

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: Miss Vink is very courageous to put her story out there because when a parent approaches me they don't often come as level-headed as she is. They feel like their child has been maligned and they want some sort of recourse. They want something to happen, but I'm the principal of both children, not just the child being bullied, but the child who is the bully and my expectation is to take care of both of them.

When I hear the story, I hear the story of many families. But what I don't often hear is the truth behind the bullying. The reason why children bully is because of low self-esteem. They don't often have the sense of self that's necessary to be able to cooperate and communicate with other children so they tend to bring the children down. There's no stopping with children which continues on to adulthood.

PHILLIPS: I was just going to say, we do that as adults, Steve. It's really sad to admit that, but -

PERRY: It is true. We work together. So I know that we don't realize that the children are dealing with low self-esteem and they don't have a lot of coping skills and that's where the problem lies. We need to focus on some of the coping skills.

Another part that's very, very important is we often blame parents for too much. We are the professionals here. We're the ones who have the responsibility to and the training to work with children. Parents are people who have had children. They've not been trained to raise children and we need to make sure there's a distinction.

I'm a principal, but I'm also a parent. And so before I had this conversation I had a conversation with my children's principal who are younger than the groups that I usually work with. So we all need help in raising our children.

And Maggie, you were very proactive. I mean, you know, how did you know that you needed to act quickly on this and you needed to talk to your son and you needed to do something. What was it that clicked and that was your first plan of action?

VINK: Well, you know, I think definitely schools have a responsibility to our kids, but it all starts at home. It's up to parents to teach kids how to deal with conflict, and I always try to teach my son that he can't control what other people do, but he can control his reactions.

So I took a lot of steps by, you know, having kids over for one-on-one play time where I could observe it. I enrolled him in friendship skills and bullying class at his therapy clinic. I spoke to his teachers and his principal and did all of the steps I could to try to help him learn better skills and also sports have been great for him, for learning to interact with kids and to be fair and to, you know, behave appropriately with other kids.

PHILLIPS: Well, you're pretty - VINK: So, it's definitely something we've worked on. He's improved by leaps and bounds, and we're still working on it.

PHILLIPS: Right, and I think it's always a work in progress. Maggie, you're such an awesome mom. So, Steve, let me ask you, you're not for a zero tolerance policy. Tell me why and explain this feeling you have about kid justice.

PERRY: Zero tolerance is just what it sounds like, and very often, people don't know what bullying really is. Bullying is not doing something mean to another child. It's continued, consistent, deliberate behavior. That's bullying. Other things may be bad behavior and zero tolerance often looks at something as if it's all the same. An instance yesterday at school where a child did something to another child. They're probably home watching this, because they've been suspended, but a child did something to another child and one of them was just a better fighter than the other. That one, however, happened to be the one who had something done to them.

Now, one would look because of the scars that become openly (ph) at the end of the bout, the one who had the most would seemed to be the one who had been put upon, but that wasn't the case. Zero tolerance would mean that the one who's most harmed, if anything happened that I'm supposed to take the most severe actions, and it's not often the case. Sometimes, kid justice is just that. I can tell a kid over and over again, you better shut your mouth before someone punches you in it and then one day somebody punches them in it. Unfortunately though, children go too far.

PHILLIPS: Yes, they do. And unfortunately, we saw that with Phoebe prince. It's just heart wrenching.

So, Maggie, I thought this was really terrific. You have this wonderful relationship with your son as you've been dealing with all of this, and you actually went to him, he's 10, and you asked for his permission to come on the air and talk to me and talk about how he was a bully and how he was bullied, and I know that you didn't want him to come on the air which I totally understand. Tell me what he said to you. Why did you seek his permission and why did he say yes?

VINK: He's 12-1/2 now, actually.

PHILLIPS: How old is he now?

VINK: I think it was important for me to ask his permission, because the story is about him. This is his story, and it's only respectful for me to talk to my son and see if he's willing to share this so publicly. He read my article that I posted on momlogic.com. He read that article before I ran it, and he gave me his thumbs up, and he thinks it's important to tell people the story, too, because he knows he's don things wrong and he's working on that.

He's trying so hard, but he also knows that people have done things wrong to him and it hurts and it really wrecked his self-esteem which was pretty bad to begin with after his early background. So, I think he thinks it's important to get this out there, because he doesn't want other kids to be hurt the way he has been.

PHILLIPS: That's amazing. I think a lot of us sometimes forget, you know, about those things that happen to us when we were kids and how it does carry over and it's so important to get involved early on. I don't know, but Maggie and Steve, I think you, guys, should link up. Steve, Maggie would be a fabulous counselor at your school.

PERRY: Forget counselor. I want her to send her kids our way. This is a woman who's done a phenomenal job of raising children. And it is important, though, it is important as we part to say that we have to realize that the impact that children have on children throughout the rest of their life can never be overestimated. Many of us as adults are still dealing with an insult that we heard sometimes in the fourth or fifth grade, and we're still trying to outlive that. I won't tell you mine.

PHILLIPS: Yes. I was going say, we'll talk about our issues, later. I got one, too. Maggie probably has one, too. We'll all vent. All right. Maggie Vink, check out Maggie's blog. It's fantastic, momlogic.com, great insight. Communicate with her. Steve Perry, as always. It's great to have you as one of our own, and of course, you run a fantastic charter school. Thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it.

PERRY: Thank you.

VINK: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Wind up, the pitch and the clock is running. It's 30 seconds that could connect a job seeker with an employer. Just ahead, another CNN viewer gambles on a half minute that could change their life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: On Tuesday, we had a segment on a pretty unbelievable law in California, long forgotten, yet still on the books. It listed homosexuals as sexual deviants and called on health care experts to search for a cure. We talked to one lawmaker who was working to repeal it and one man, Richard Cohen, who argued for keeping the law, saying that he, himself, was, quote, "a former homosexual" and that he, himself, was cured. He also cited some research that has been challenged by many of you who wrote to us and disputed what that said. It was disputed by the Mainstream Medical Community. It's also being disputed by our next guest.

Dr. Clinton Anderson is with the American Psychological Association and has focused on the issue of sexual conversion, and doctor, first off, this idea of curing gays is well outside the accepted medical view on this, right?

DR. CLINTON ANDERSON, DIRECTOR OF THE LGBT CONCERNS OFFICE: Yes. That's true. I do want to say that, first of all, homosexuality is not a mental disorder or disease, and when you ask about medical causes, it's a little misleading since medicine is about treating diseases, but there has been research around homosexuality and about changing homosexuality and our conclusion is the American Psychological Association is that research does not indicate that it's at all likely that such treatments will work.

PHILLIPS: So why is it still a misconception for some people that it can be reversed or, quote-unquote, "cured?"

ANDERSON: I think, first of all, there are very significant segments of our society, probably particularly some religious communities that have strong negative attitudes toward homosexuality and therefore from their perspective, they, I think, would hope that it could be changed. There also are organizations and individuals that are promoting that change, and so that's, I think, why it's still a prevalent idea in the society, but from the scientific and the health professions' perspective, there is no reason why people should change their sexuality, and there's no reason why someone's religion versus someone's sexuality should be the more important issue in their development as individuals.

PHILLIPS: So, these groups who try to, quote-unquote, "cure gays and lesbians," are they doing more harm than good?

ANDERSON: I don't think from a scientific perspective we know clearly about the harm. Some people do report when they have been in these kinds of therapies, that those therapies were harmful to them. So, there is some evidence of harm, but there are other people who say that when they've been in such therapies, that social support that's been provided by people who are similar to them and had similar concerns has also been beneficial.

So, I don't think from a scientific perspective, we can say for sure that it's harmful to the individuals. I do think at a social or cultural level that having people out there promoting the idea that sexual orientation can change, does contribute to the negative climate in society around homosexuality. That I do believe is true.

PHILLIPS: And I've had a number of friends, too, even one is going through it right now, parents using religion to say that she's living an evil life and it's so wrong and it hurts the child tremendously and it's sad that it even happens. Dr. Clinton Anderson, I sure appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.

ANDERSON: You're welcome. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And before we go to break, I would like to take a moment to address many of you who e-mailed me about our Tuesday segment on this topic. Personally, I thought the absurd nature of the California law we discussed would speak for itself, but unfortunately, not everyone saw it that way. Richard Cohen was not the most appropriate guest to have on, but it is a decision that we made and the result of that is our continued discussion today.

That is what journalism is all about, and we will continue to do our best to discuss gay and lesbian issues in a fair way on this program. I wish that all of you knew my heart, and as a journalist with a long track record of covering gay and lesbian issues, I wish that those of you who sent me vicious e-mails watched my newscast more often, because if they did, my guess is, they would not have been so quick to send such hateful messages. They don't know my record and my unswerving support for all communities in the battle for human rights, including gays, lesbians, and transgendered individuals.

And to make it perfectly clear, I love debating issues. It evokes passion, but if we cannot treat each other in a civil manner even when we disagree, then we will never move forward and have a world where all people are treated with the respect that they deserve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: There has been setback in the search for four miners missing since Monday's deadly mine explosion in West Virginia. West Virginia's governor says the air quality where four rescue teams are searching has deteriorated. The rescue teams are now headed out of that mine. Workers will try to ventilate the toxic air. Those rescue teams, by the way, totaling 32 miners had been trying to reach two chambers where the miners may have taken refuge.

A limit on nuclear arsenals. President Obama reaching his goal with today's signing ceremony in Prague. He and Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, putting their signatures on a new nuclear arms treaty. President Obama praised his Russian counterpart and talked about how this deal cements a new era in relations with Russia.

A scare in the air turned out to be a bit of a misunderstanding. It started with a diplomat from Qatar in the airplane's bathroom. It ended with air marshals and a fighter jet escort to Denver. The diplomat talked at length to investigators and has now been cleared to return to Washington. No charges are expected. No harm, no foul.

All right. It's Thursday and that means it's time for our "30-second pitch," a chance for job seekers to make their case to employers who are watching, and today, Zina Everett of Warner Robins, Georgia is here. For the past three and a half years, she served in the air national guard. She's a single mom with two kids, a 15-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter, and they're adorable, by the way. She has a bachelors degree in criminal justice from Fort Valley State University. Zena, great to have you with us.

ZINA EVERETT: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And it's hard to see, especially people serving our country and moms, single moms, and there you are graduating with your degree. What has been the toughest part of this for you?

EVERETT: Just getting a call back. Sending out applications through e-mail or through all the processes of going through USA jobs. I mean, when you put your application on, your resume and then you click the link and you have to put it on again, and it's a very long and tedious process. So, just getting a call back and just going through the entire long process of applying for a job.

PHILLIPS: And you know, you're a military woman. I mean, eye-to-eye contact is very important. You know, getting in front of somebody, has that been hard just getting in the door? I hear that a lot from people like you can't even get interviews anymore.

EVERETT: No. The application process is tedious. It could take two days to apply for one job.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, what would be your dream job right now?

EVERETT: I really like social services, probation, parole, helping people get the services that they need. So something in public administration, entry level-type job, just to get started. I just graduated a year ago, so I'm not trying to start at the top. I would just like --

PHILLIPS: You want to work your way up.

EVERETT: Get in, yes.

PHILLIPS: Yes, you know what that's like.

EVERETT: A small chance, just to get in.

PHILLIPS: All right. Are you ready for your 30-second pitch?

EVERETT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Okay, great. Look straight ahead right here. We're going to get your e-mail up on the screen, and Zina Everett, take it away.

EVERETT: Hi. My name is Zina Everett, and I have a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice. I am proficient in retail sales and general office duties and I also have some management experience. I am looking for an entry-level position that will increase and enhance my current skills, and I'm just asking for the opportunity to just show my work and just get out there and make someone proud, my country, my family and my employer.

PHILLIPS: And you've already done that.

EVERETT: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You nailed that in 30 seconds. Zina Everett, let me just make sure, everettz@bellsouth.net, right?

EVERETT: Actually, it's hotmail.

PHILLIPS: Oh, it's hotmail.

EVERETT: It's zinaeverett@hotmail.com.

PHILLIPS: Okay. We got a new one zinaeverett -- all right. So, we'll make sure we'll fix that . Is the font right? We got it right. There we go, zinaeverett@hotmail.com.

EVERETT: @hotmail.com

PHILLIPS: Okay. Very good. We'll get that right.

EVERETT: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We appreciate it. Great job.

EVERETT: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let us know what happens.

EVERETT: I will.

PHILLIPS: Okay. And if you're out of work and you want to sell yourself to prospective employers, just let us know. Send your resume and a letter to 30-second pitch@cnn.com. Also, if you want to hire our 30-second pitchers, you can go to our blog at cnn.com/kyra. You can see Zina's pitch there and get the right e-mail and all of the information, it'll be there.

He's your typical 10-year-old. He likes playing baseball, videogames, and has dreams of joining the coast guard. He's probably going to make that dream come true, too, because he's already got one rescue under his belt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A 10-year-old Cape Coral, Florida, boy is being hailed as a hero. Anthony Clone was playing with some other kids Tuesday when a 4-year-old girl fell into a nearby swimming pool. Anthony didn't even hesitate. While other children were startled, guess what Anthony did? He proved to be the right man at the right time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLYN STINTZI, NEIGHBOR: The other children didn't know what to do. They were scared. They froze, and he just acted, and he got her out.

ANTHONY CLONE, SAVED GIRL IN POOL: I just threw off my shoes and I jumped in after her. I took her and put her back on the stairs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Anthony, one interesting twist to this rescue, the girl is from Haiti and lost seven of her family members to the January 12th earthquake.

Rob Marciano, before we wrap things -- I know. Isn't that a great story?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Way to go, Anthony.

PHILLIPS: I know you think, okay, great kid. He made a rescue. His mom taught him so well and then you hear the little twist that the gal was from Haiti and already lost, you know, family members and it's, like, whoa!

MARCIANO: Nice work. All right. Anthony's got a bright future ahead of him as a life guard. No doubt about that. Listen, we got not so bright future ahead of the folks across the northeast and the east coast for some severe weather today. At the very least, we're going to see some rain and some thunderstorm, but across the southeast, that's not going to be such a bad deal because of the amount of pollen that's in the air.

Look at the snow coming down across parts of the U.P. of Michigan. Speaking of snow, you know, yesterday, we showed you pictures from solitude, Utah, and you can just barely see ski poles popping. This is out of snow bird. So, this guy got a fresh (ph). It's a nice face shots there, and this guy's got the fat and he's going. They had eight feet of snow in seven days. I mean at this point, they may very well be sick. Nonetheless, it's snowing across --

PHILLIPS: Get sick of it? How do you get sick of powder like, that come on, Rob!

MARCIANO: I talked to few people out there. They're ready for some spring skiing, but you know --

PHILLIPS: Okay. It does work you intensely.

MARCIANO: It does. You know, get the powder while you can get it, for sure. Heavy rain across parts of the northeast possible tonight to replace the record breaking temperatures that they saw yesterday, probably a 30-degree difference between yesterday's low 90s and tomorrow's low 60s for daytime highs. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: Okay, you bet.

PHILLIPS: You can just hear cardiologists and cholesterol medicine makers celebrating right now, and you can hear the guy from super size me rolling in his grave and he's not even dead. All this for KFC's new sandwich, and I use the term loosely because it's bunless. You don't need to have a bun to have fun apparently. It's called the double down. Two boneless chicken fillet as lovingly stuffed with two pieces of bacon, two slices of cheese, and some sauce in between. Not sure if it's special sauce. Five bucks, 540 calories, and about 60 percent of the salt that you should eat in a day right there. It will take your breath away. KFC says it's donating the buns to food banks.

And attention passengers, soon you might have financial incentive to hold on. That's right. One airline is looking at the loo and salivating over its promise as a moneymaker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Coming up next hour with Tony Harris, we're going to introduce you to a woman who's been unemployed for more than a year. How she's hoping her sewing hobby will help her earn a living.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: One of these days, we'll tell you the airlines are doing something really great and not charging a dime for it. Today's not the day. Ryanair based in Ireland, going to stick it to you in the loo. Working with bowing on a coin-operated door release for the lavatory. Nature calls at 35,000 feet, please deposit a euro. Number one, number two, just blowing your nose, all of the same low, low price. What a deal. Ryanair should think about passing out depends along with the peanuts, maybe, and soft drinks and earphones.

Ryanair sees a cash cow in the bathroom. Spirit Airlines sees it in the overhead bin. Remember, they're going to start charging you for carry-on bags up to 45 bucks. We've been talking about that on my blog, and here's what a number of you have said.

Brian and note, this was before the Ryanair announcement. So $45 for carry-on. Next is paying to use the lavatory on the plane, maybe even charging to process through the terminal? I understand times are tough, but come on. You must be psychic, Brian. Nowadays, people aren't bringing just carry-on luggage onboard flights, they're bringing everything they own just to avoid waiting at the luggage carousel. It's been ridiculous for way too long.

And this from Mahari, soon it will be cheaper to fly without luggage and Fedex your luggage to your destination. The Spirits competitors are having fun with this story.

Jetblue, put up a picture of what we're thinking. One of these days, you might just want to wear your suitcase and just avoid getting nickel and dimed. Remember, we love hearing from you. Just logon to cnn.com/kyra and share your comment.

I don't know, Tony. It's kind of, you know, the new fashionable, fashionista-type look.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I tell you what, I love that story.

PHILLIPS: But the more you stuff in there, you're going to have to start buying more than one seat, you what I'm saying?

HARRIS: Look at that thing.

PHILLIPS: Yes, and that's like a small one, okay? What if you want like one of those larger larger duffel bags or the super size suitcase?

HARRIS: Oh, man. Just really a couple of kids in there, and it's all good.