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CNN Saturday Morning News

Poland Holds Public Memorial for Crash Victims; 'Pig Book' Details Lawmakers' Earmark Requests; Sesame Street Video Helps Kids Cope With Loss; Air Travelers Grounded for Third Day Due to Volcanic Ash

Aired April 17, 2010 - 06:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody. Good morning. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Six a.m. where we sit, here in Atlanta, Georgia. It's noon though in Warsaw, Poland. We're going to have a lot of news and a lot of pictures coming out of there for you today.

But good morning to you all, wherever you may be. I'm T.J. Holmes.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I am Kate Bolduan. Thank you for starting your day with us.

And thanks for having me, T.J.

HOLMES: Good to have you. Thank you so much for coming -- coming to play, as we say on this show.

BOLDUAN: And we're definitely going to play today.

HOLMES: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Sounds fabulous.

Well, first off, thousands of people turning out in Warsaw right now for a memorial service honoring Polish President Lech Kaczynski and all the other victims of the plane crash. I think we're taking a look at some live pictures in Warsaw right now.

Ninety-six people died in that disaster last Saturday. Kaczynski's official state funeral is tomorrow.

HOLMES: And we will be showing you those live pictures throughout the day. There is a live picture from on high (ph).

BOLDUAN: There we go.

HOLMES: Let's go ahead and go back to it, Deirdre (ph) and get -- show that picture if we can.

But we're going to be showing these to you throughout the day. Thousands of people are gathered for this. And again, tomorrow we're expecting to see the official state funeral, if you will. And leaders from all over the world are expected to get there, to travel there for it.

But there is a problem -- a travel problem. You know that volcanic ash cloud that's been causing such fits for travel at Europe? Well, it's causing fits for world leaders who are going to be trying to get there.

You're seeing pictures now from four different international airports. Thousands of people stranded right now. From Rome to Bangkok, flights are canceled. Airspace is even closed over some countries as well. We'll be talking about his volcano, see how much longer it may spew and how much longer this ash is going to cause a problem.

But first, let's give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines.

You'll remember this story out of Haiti; you remember those 10 American, those missionaries who were trying to, they say, help children in Haiti after the quake and get them out of country? Well, they were charged with kidnapping. Well, we got reports this week that nine of the 10 Americans -- the charges had been dropped against them.

Well, the top prosecutor in Haiti says, 'Not so fast. That's not necessarily true.' He says the charges have yet to be dropped. Of course, they're accused of trying to take those kids out of the country. A U.S. senator's office was the one who actually said the charges were dropped against them.

Now, the nine we're talking about, allegedly to have the charges dropped, they are back in the U.S. already. But the group leader, Laura Silsby, is still in jail in Haiti.

BOLDUAN: And Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs is accused of selling mortgage-backed securities that essentially were set up to lose money. Allegedly, the deals were put together in part by a hedge-fund tycoon who was betting against them.

The feds say investors who bought -- bought these lost a billion dollars. Goldman says the charge is unfounded.

HOLMES: Well, crews are still trying to get trapped survivors of that earthquake in western China -- still trying to get them out. Just yesterday, we saw a young Tibetan girl -- she was pulled alive from the rubble. So still hope that people are alive and can be saved.

Now, Tibetans are breaking with some burial traditions now and cremating many of the victims. The death toll now stands at over 1,100.

BOLDUAN: And beginning this hour, as we've been telling you, remembering the victims of the deadly plane crash that shook a nation. A memorial service is being held for Poland's president and the 95 other victims of last week's plane crash in Russia.

HOLMES: And once again, we're showing you a live picture. This is just getting under way in Warsaw, Poland, right now. Again, this happened a week ago today now.

We're going to go to our Frederik Pleitgen in a moment. But before we do, I want to take a listen into this.

(TRUMPET PLAYING)

HOLMES: All right. Again, a live picture, taking a -- and -- and what you're seeing on -- on your video -- your -- your picture here, on the left there, that is the twin brother of the president who died in that plane crash, Lech Kaczynski. Yes, he had a twin brother who has been a part of politics there in Poland for quite some time as well. But he is being a part of the ceremony.

Our Frederik Pleitgen is there, covering this for us live.

Frederik, hello to you. And once again, we're seeing these emotional pictures, stirring pictures, out of Warsaw, pretty much just like we saw last week.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN BERLIN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And the -- and the emotion certainly running here today, T.J., as the service gets under way right behind me.

What's going to happen in the next four hours or so, is that there's going to be this very large memorial service. People here are expecting up to 500,000 people to actually travel here to Warsaw to witness all of this. I can tell you that central Warsaw is pretty much in a lockdown. There's no way you could travel here by car.

What's going on though is that they've made all public transportation free. They've put in extra buses so as many people as possible are actually able to come here.

What's going to happen during the service is that you're going to be seeing speeches by Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk (ph) (INAUDIBLE). We're going to be a -- seeing a speech by Poland's interim President Bronislaw Komorowski. Also they are, of course, thinking about those who were killed in the crash.

This memorial service is really not only for the killed president of the Poland, a memorial service for all of those who were killed in that plane crash. Of course, it was some 96 people who were killed in that plane crash. And the really devastating thing about that for this country, even -- of course, but not only the president and the first lady were killed, but also large parts of the political and military leadership. Among them, for instance, the deputy foreign minister; among them, of course, also top generals of this country.

So certainly, this is something that has put Poland into a state of shock and mourning that, as you said, has been going on for -- for a full week. We've just seen tens of thousands of people pile here into Warsaw to pay their last respects to the deceased presidential couple -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Fredrik Pleitgen live for us there in Warsaw. Know we're going to be checking in with you throughout the morning. And again, to our viewers, we're looking at live pictures of this memorial service. As they have the pictures up of all 96 who were killed in that plane crash, like Frederik was just mentioning, many of them top dignitaries, man of them to leaders of the government there. So certainly a rebuilding effort, but a time to mourn in, really, the country that's been in shock for the past week.

But we have our live pictures up. We're continue to check in with our Frederik Pleitgen and on this memorial ceremony.

BOLDUAN: And just a reminder, President -- pardon me -- Kaczynski's funeral is tomorrow in Krakow. He and his wife, Maria, will be buried alongside each other.

President Obama and several other heads of state are scheduled to attend. And that service begins at 8 a.m. Eastern Time.

Just devastating for that nation.

HOLMES: It is. And we got so many ceremonies we're going to be keeping an eye on today.

And tomorrow -- but tomorrow, like we said, is the state funeral, if you will -- tomorrow. But a lot of world leaders expected to be there. But they're having issues with travel right now because -- not because of some flight delay they're having at an airport -- because of that mess right there.

This huge cloud of volcanic ash from a -- a -- a volcano that erupted in Iceland. It started last week. It continues to erupt and emit this ash that is really making its way across Europe. It's moving east now, and so many places, airspace is shut down. Sixteen thousand flights are expected to be canceled today alone over European airspace; you got France, Germany, Austria -- all flights canceled.

Russia has 10 international airports that are having some flight delays. British Airways canceling all flights to and from London for today. And you got several flights from North America scheduled to arrive at British destinations Friday -- going to have to now go through Scottish airports. So that big mess -- and really, an awesome and ominous sight above -- and above the skies, or in the skies above Europe, causing problems. We'll see if the world leaders are able to make it in for that -- that funeral service tomorrow.

Well, it's really what most high-school kids look forward to. You've been in high school for several years; you've been cramming; you've been taking the tests; you've been writing the papers, doing everything you're supposed to do, and your big goal is to walk across the stage with your graduation class on graduation day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM PIERCE, WAUSAUKEE HIGH-SCHOOL SENIOR: It's the thing you've waited your whole life for, to walk across the stage with your graduating class.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: That -- that's it. That's the goal. I mean, it's one thing to graduate -- yes, you want the diploma. But still, it's a big deal to walk across that stage.

That honors student you just heard from, you're going to hear from again, is not going to get a chance to do that because of a controversial school policy, and because of a faulty alarm clock.

Stay with us for that.

We are glad your clock was working this morning, Bonnie Schneider.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: She is here.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It always is.

HOLMES: As always. Good morning to you. In for our Reynolds Wolf.

How are you doing this morning?

SCHNEIDER: I'm doing well. I think allergy sufferers may be complaining though. We have a lot of that in the air.

Plus, we're watching rain in Texas and in New England. I'll have your complete forecast, plus a look at the volcanic ash plume. That's all coming up this hour on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC, ALICE COOPER, "SCHOOL'S OUT")

HOLMES: Yes. School's out. You're ready to move on with your life, go to college. But you don't get that crucial rite of passage, which is the walk across the stage at graduation.

And one Wisconsin high-school honors student is not going to get a chance to do that, it appears.

BOLDUAN: It appears. And it is just because -- she overslept one morning. And I will tell you, I did that many more times than one morning.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: In high school?

BOLDUAN: And in college.

HOLMES: OK.

BOLDUAN: I could even take it back to middle school (ph). HOLMES: OK. But as long as you didn't do it this morning, we're OK.

BOLDUAN: There we go. Exactly.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Sam Pierce's high school has a strict policy: Have one unexcused absence in the second semester of your senior year, and you don't get to participate in graduation ceremonies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERCE: I could have said anything. I went in there not thinking that I wasn't going to be able to walk for graduation, and just said, 'Hey, I made an honest mistake.' And I'm here. I want to go to class.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Sam's mom went to talk with school officials, hoping they would make an exception to the rule. But the school's not budging.

HOLMES: You know, what do you do? Rules are there, and they're trying to teach kids the right way. You hate it -- heart goes out to this kid. But man, that's brutal.

But...

BOLDUAN: That's -- one time, Bonnie.

HOLMES: Bonnie, one time. My dad was actually my high-school principal, and I remember, during our graduation ceremony, a kid was late -- one of my friends -- my dad would not let him graduate that night.

SCHNEIDER: Wow.

HOLMES: I remember that well.

BOLDUAN: Well, I see. You -- you -- you see this from both sides then.

HOLMES: I have seen this. So you got to have those rules in there and ...

SCHNEIDER: You do. Absolutely.

HOLMES: I got to.

SCHNEIDER: When I was graduating from college, there was a rumor circulating that if you had overdue library books when you opened up the cylinder, there would be a blank piece of paper.

Yes, I was a little scared.

(LAUGHTER)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: All right, Bonnie. We do appreciate you. We will check in with you...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We got some good news; we got some bad news. Which one do you want first? Isn't that what people usually say to you?

Well, less of your taxpayer money was spent on pet projects. That sounds pretty good, right?

BOLDUAN: It -- it does. But we're still talking about more than $16 billion, according to this year's "Pig Book," as it affectionately called.

Our Josh Levs is here to tell us all about it.

Josh, who are the big winners this year.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh boy. Is it -- is it called that way affectionately, up on Capitol Hill, where you are?

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: I guess.

LEVS: Do they say it with affection?

BOLDUAN: We -- we look at it (ph). We need some fun up there (INAUDIBLE).

LEVS: Maybe with affectation. I know that -- yes. You know what? Every year, this comes out; no one really wants to be on there.

But I also get the impression sometimes that no one who's getting to bring home a lot of this money gets that upset about it.

This is what we're talking about, folks: Citizens Against Government Waste each year takes a look at these pork projects, pork- barrel projects -- call them what you want. They have an event where they actually bring pigs to Capitol Hill to make their announcement, and then they show us some examples of some that they think are particularly preposterous.

Let's go straight to these graphics. I'm going to talk you through a few examples.

First of all, $2.6 million earmarked this year for potato research. Also, there's beef research that got somewhere up there in millions as well. The next one coming up, beef research? OK. And then we also have a third one for you, which is wood research. So we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases, $4.8 million on wood utilization.

The basic idea here being, these lawmakers manage to go into the budget and add some pet projects and get that through the system, end up getting to bring it home.

Now, when Citizens Against Government Waste made this announcement, they also brought along with them some lawmakers who agree with them that this shouldn't happen at all.

Here's one example of a senator who spoke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: That is unsustainable. We have to do something. But then turn around and say, 'I need a million dollars for a local sewer project (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THAD COCHRAN (R), MISSISSIPPI: ...correct. The spending is appropriated funds. Under the constitution (INAUDIBLE) -- our constitutional responsibilities by doing that.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDNET: Do you understand why people are critical of that? How do you answer for that?

COCHRAN: I haven't heard much criticism from the people of my state about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: All right. Let me tell you what just happened.

First, you were hearing from Senator Jim DeMint, who was one of the people that said, 'This shouldn't happen at all, in general.'

And then you saw our Brianna Keilar track down Senator Thad Cochran, who is the lawmaker that, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, got the most money this year, taking home millions of dollars.

And I will tell you guys, Kate and T.J., our -- our viewers not too happy about this as well. We're definitely hearing a lot of people slamming them. But in that big picture, the good news -- the little bit of good news is, Citizens Against Government Waste says it went from nearly $20 million last year, all the way down to $16.5 billion this year.

So they're saying, 'Look, it's a little bit of a drop. It's still not happy news. But at least there's some improvement in taxpayer waste,' guys.

BOLDUAN: And always with it, they always say, one person's pork is another person's worthy project for their home state. LEVS: And a job for someone else.

BOLDUAN: That debate continues.

LEVS: You got it.

BOLDUAN: As always.

Thank you so much, Josh.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: So he is a very popular "Sesame Street" figure with an unmistakable voice...

HOLMES: Yes.

BOLDUAN: ...that kids and I seem to love.

HOLMES: Elmo's been around for awhile. And he's been helping kids through all kinds of things. But now he's actually helping kids who have lost loved ones, lost some relatives fighting overseas.

That story after the break. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A look at some stories making headlines now.

You remember show-and-tell at school? Well, here's one you probably haven't heard before. An 8-year-old handing out bags of heroin in his Pennsylvania elementary school. Just -- not a bag or two. He apparently had at lest 60 bags of heroin.

Where did he get it from? He told police he got it from his mommy's house. And the mom is now under arrest. They don't expect the boy to be charged. Also, police say, they don't think any of the kids ingested the drugs.

BOLDUAN: And more trouble for Toyota. The automaker is recalling 600,000 Sienna minivans made between 1998 and 2010, this year. Toyota says too much exposure to road salt may cause the cable holding the spare tire to fall, putting it and nearby vehicles in danger.

Toyota says it's working on the problem, and advises owners to bring their Siennas into dealers for an inspection.

HOLMES: Well, they think they have found the piece of a meteor in Wisconsin. Scientists -- you see this? It's some video here.

But there was a fireball in the sky last week, and now University of Wisconsin at Madison scientists say they believe they found now a fragment from a meteor.

Now, it lit up the sky earlier this week -- I believe it was on Wednesday. And now a man has found a peanut-size rock that he said hit the roof of his home near Dodgeville. Here's a look at some of the video once before.

Now, this is a big deal to amateur astronomers and scientists; a rare event to get a hold of possibly a piece of a -- a meteor, that you have people out there who market these things, who collect these things, who sell and trade these things. So everybody's kind of descended on the area, looking for these things. But apparently, at least one fragment has been found.

More of your top stories coming up in about 20 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: A celebrity sighting at the Pentagon, of all places.

HOLMES: Yes, not really the kind of celebrity you might be thinking about. But this celebrity swung by the other day to promote a new video that helps kids deal with the death of a parent.

This is the story you have been waiting for. CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr and Elmo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELMO, SESAME STREET CHARACTER: I would like everyone to meet someone very special to me, Elmo's cousin.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR: And my very good character -- Jesse! (ph) Yes, you can come up.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR: Are you sure?

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR: Yes, you can come up.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR: Hi everybody!

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sesame Street citizens meet the Pentagon's top brass for a serious chat.

ELMO: Well, Elmo and Jesse are cousins. Elmo's daddy and Jesse's daddy were brothers.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR: That's right. But my dad died last year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know that, Jesse. And we also know that you're here to share that experience.

STARR: The Sesame Workshop is releasing this new video, called, "When Families Grieve." It's aimed at helping young children cope with the death of a parent.

UNIIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to talk about someone who died.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR: It just isn't fair. I mean, why did he have to die, Uncle Louie (ph)? Why isn't he here?

STARR: The video tells not just Jesse's story, but also that of children who have lost parent sin the war to suicide and illness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My dad was a helicopter pilot in the Marine corps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you tell an 8-year-old and a 10- year-old that their dad has made it safely back from Iraq, and then taken his own life?

STARR: Gary Knell, the president of Sesame Workshop, and Elmo, agree to talk to us.

(on camera): Elmo, why did you decide to make this videotape with your friends?

ELMO: Well, actually, Mr. Gary decided that it was very important to talk to military families and everybody about -- about death of a loved one. And Elmo's Uncle Jack (ph) passed away.

So we talked about it.

GARY KNELL, PRESIDENT, SESAME WORKSHOP: Exactly. You know, we learned, Barbara, that there's 800,000 preschool kids of active-duty, military or Guard and Reserves in this deployment.

STARR (voice-over): Since 9/11, more than 12,000 military children have lost a parent. This new video tries to help children express their grief and learn it's OK to be happy again.

(on camera): Elmo, what do you do when you're sad?

ELMO: Well, Elmo talks to his mommy and daddy and see if they can help. And all the time, they do help. They do help Elmo.

And sometimes, Elmo talks to friends, too.

KNELL: You're never going to replace that person. But there's a way to -- to celebrate their memory and they're going to be with us forever and -- and to not forget about that.

ELMO: Yes. Like on "Sesame Street," we all -- we all come together to help each other, too.

STARR: Was it fun being here at the Pentagon today? What did you....

ELMO: Oh, it was really cool.

(MUSIC)

STARR (voice-over): Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, this is amaze -- amazing scene that's been playing out for the past several days now, this massive volcanic eruption that's spewing all that stuff into the air. BOLDUAN: The drifting dust is stranding millions across Europe. Canceled flights, countries forced to close their airspace -- airspace. It's literally a mess.

We'll have more of that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello, everybody, welcome back to this -- hey, hey, what's going on there?

BOLDUAN: Hey, hey, hey. Don't move your television set.

HOLMES: Literally, a rocky start this morning.

BOLDUAN: We're having fun.

HOLMES: Glad you could be here. I'm T.J. Holmes.

BOLDUAN: And I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks for starting your day with us.

HOLMES: Let's look at the stories making headlines. First Haiti, you remember the story, those 10 missionaries who had been arrested and charged with trying to kidnap Haitian children after the earthquake. Apparently there are reports that nine -- for nine of them, the charges have been dropped. Well, the top prosecutor in Haiti now saying that is not the case.

You're seeing some of the scenes here that played out after the nine were arrested. But they were trying to take the kids out of Haiti. They say they were trying to do the right thing. A U.S. senator is the one who says now that the charges were dropped against nine of them. The nine are back in the U.S., but the group leader, Laura Silsby, is still in jail in Haiti.

BOLDUAN: Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs is accused of selling mortgage-backed securities that essentially were set up to loose money. Allegedly the deals were put together in part by a hedge fund tycoon who was betting against them. The feds now say investors who bought them lost $1 billion. Goldman says the charge is unfounded.

HOLMES: Crews are still trying to get to trapped survivors of the earthquake that hit western China. A young Tibetan girl was pulled alive from the rubble just yesterday. That still gives some hope that maybe others could be pulled out alive as well. Tibetans are breaking burial traditions and cremating a lot of the victims. The death toll now is up over 1,100.

BOLDUAN: Now, across Europe - -all across Europe, thousands of air travelers are stranded. And airports have closed their runways- they don't have any other option. That's the worst part.

HOLMES: There are no options. You have weather delays, but this is a different beast altogether. What you're seeing, an amazing picture, but a huge ash cloud from that volcano erupting in Iceland is still sweeping across the landscape making its way across Europe. Still, the concern the ash could stall jet engines. You don't want that to happen at 30,000 feet.

BOLDUAN: And take a look at this flight radar tracker. There are no flights, as you can see, across Europe. And that is amazing. Live with us now is our Jim Boulden at Heathrow Airport in Britain.

A very, very, very busy airport, Jim. I'm sure it's very, very, very quiet there today. I can only imagine the frustration.

JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know usually if you were talking to me, I wouldn't be able to hear you because of all the airplanes landing behind me. This has never happened before in the U.K. It's unprecedented. They have shut for the third day now the entire airspace for all of U.K.

A little bit of good news, last night a number of flights from North America, especially from New York, were able to land in Glasgow. I just talked to one of the passengers. They were able to get out, land in Glasgow, take a train back. He's going to make his wedding here in London today. So he's a very, very happy British Airways customer.

But now they've shut that route again. One plane was able to go back to New York. The rest are stuck in Glasgow. So, everybody is back to where we were just a few hours ago as well. And most of northern Europe is shut. All of the U.K. is shut. We just don't know when it's going to end. Of course, passengers are very confused. The airlines, like American Airlines, handing these pamphlets out.

People are still arriving at terminals here even though this airport has been shut since Thursday afternoon. Let's hear from some of these frustrated passengers around Europe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has been tough. I should have been to the office yesterday. I had to postpone some calls and some other plans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think there's going to be a flight today. And they don't think there's going to be a flight tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOULDEN: And, Kate, on a personal note, I should have taken off to JFK an hour ago. And I'm clearly not going to get to New York this weekend.

BOLDUAN: Clearly not, Jim. And on another personal note, you said something about a man trying to make his wedding, with my wedding upcoming, that literally made me cringe when you said that.

Thank you so much, Jim. I hope you get back to the States sometime soon. Poor guy. HOLMES: But that guy made his wedding. That's a good thing. But that is like our executive producer just said, that is a great way to get out of a wedding.

BOLDUAN: Blame it on the ash cloud.

HOLMES: You could blame it on the ash cloud.

BOLDUAN: That is a new one.

HOLMES: We'll try anything. Sorry.

BOLDUAN: Oh, my goodness.

So it's a tax scheme that's bilking the IRS out of millions of dollars.

HOLMES: And doesn't sound necessarily unique, but this one is unique. What if we told you it happening inside prisons across the country? A closer look at how inmates are scamming Uncle Sam, one tax refund at a time. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Bonnie, it's one thing if you've got a weather issue. Can we still call this a weather issue, if you will? This is not necessarily what we're thinking about, you know, storms and things like that. This is a big volcanic ash cloud. It is an awesome, awesome sight, quite frankly.

BOLDUAN: It's beautiful to see.

HOLMES: It really is. But my goodness, .

BOLDUAN: Not if you're waiting at an airport.

SCHNEIDER: Absolutely.

HOLMES: Is it going to blow out of there?

SCHNEIDER: It's not going to blow out of there necessarily, T.J. and Kate, but what it is going to do is shift directions. Some parts of Europe will get a break. For other parts, we'll see that headed their way, that ash cloud. Here's a look at the picture now.

You see the plume of smoke as it continues to work its way from Iceland straight toward areas into Germany, France and to Poland as well. Now, that's the way the weather pattern, the upper-level winds have been steering it, because otherwise it would just in one place.

But when you have the ash plume right at 25,000, 30,000 feet above the Earth's surface, that's right where jets fly, incidentally. Those are the steering winds that are very fast moving and can shift the direction of the ash plume. And that is going to happen.

It's not going to happen today or tomorrow. Later in the week, Wednesday, Thursday, we are looking at a shift in the weather pattern. Right now when we're looking at what's happening, you can see the upper-level winds are steering more towards Central Europe, right in the heart of Europe, actually.

Later this week, we'll see a slight change where the plume will start, instead of going straight westerly, more southwesterly, it will shift a little bit further to the north. While that may give countries like Germany, Poland and France a little bit of a breather, other countries into Scandinavia, like Sweden, Norway and Finland, they'll see the plume affect them a little bit more later this week.

It could take quite a while for this to completely dissipate. In fact, when don't know when it will dissipate. We can only measure where the winds will take the plume to maybe give travelers a breather, in order to get where they're going, depending on where they're going. But is everyone going to be benefiting? No, not at all.

Back to quickly what's happening in the United States, we are looking at kind of a raw day. And yes, there is snow out there, even though it's April, almost May, even. Up towards Northern New England, the mountains of New Hampshire, Maine, you're getting a little bit of the white stuff, believe it or not. Just a dusting. The temperature's going to climb above freezing, so it certainly won't stick.

It's going to be about 44 in New York City today. Another place we're watching, T.J. and Kate, is certainly Texas. More rain for you there and Oklahoma and also wet weather into New Mexico for this morning.

HOLMES: We appreciate the news on that. That is a weather situation, I guess you could call it.

SCHNEIDER: Yeah, the weather is really a steering factor of where the plume goes.

BOLDUAN: Note Bonnie said later this week. Things are going to shift. I mean ...

SCHNEIDER: Yeah, better for some, but worse for others.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

HOLMES: Bonnie, we appreciate the update. We will be checking in with you plenty.

This sounds great. This was everybody's goal, right? You want to spend less time in the classroom. But what if you were doing that and also getting higher grades at the same time? It pretty much sounds like an impossibility.

BOLDUAN: It does. Kids in Hong Kong are doing just that when compared with their U.S. counterparts. We'll delve into the secret behind their school success, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: This is another live picture here out of Poland. Someone stepping to the mic here, but what we're seeing on a larger scale is this memorial ceremony. There's another picture of it.

A memorial ceremony for the 96 victims of that plane crash last week, a week ago today it was that took the life of the Polish president, the first lady and many other high-ranking officials that were trying to land in Smolensk, Russia. We're expecting 500 people to be part of this memorial service today. They have all the pictures of the 96 victims on stage. They also have also read all of the names as well. We're expecting the official state funeral to happen tomorrow, but this is for the people, if you will.

There's another -- give you more perspective of that stage. All those pictures and all these people, again, some 500,000 expected to descend on Warsaw today. Our Fredrik Pleitgen says the essentially the city has been shut down in many ways. You can't get around because people there in shock and there to mourn the people who died in that plane crash.

Let me let you take a listen to what we saw just a moment ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(TRUMPETS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Company attention! Present arms!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And that was -- you hear the sirens and you hear horns. That was for them to commemorate the exact moment that plane went down. We saw this just a short time ago. That memorial and really a country in mourning, we'll continue to dip into those live pictures of the memorial service throughout the morning here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

But also want to tell you about some other stories making headlines. First at a school in Pennsylvania where an eight-year-old child was handing out bags of heroin. According to police, he had at least 60 bags of the stuff and was handing it out to his fellow classmates.

Now, when asked where he got it from, the kid answered, honestly, you should suspect, I got it from my mommy's house. The mom is now under arrest. The boy not expected to face any charges. Also, important to note it doesn't look like any of the kids ingested the drugs.

BOLDUAN: And more trouble for Toyota. The automaker is recalling 600,000 Sienna minivans made between 1998 and 2010. Toyota says too much exposure to road salt may cause the cable holding the spare tire to fall, putting nearby vehicles in danger. You can only imagine. Toyota says it's working on the problem and advises owners to bring their Siennas into dealers for an inspection.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: As you know, as a taxpayer, you are covering the room and board of prisoners. Well, it also turns out the IRS is also paying the prisoners as well.

CNN's John Zarrella looks at a tax scheme that rakes in millions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARELLA, CNN MIAMI CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Just a routine search of a jail cell. Officer Mark Linback didn't expect to find much.

SGT. MARK LINBACK, MONROE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER: After the inmates have exited the cell, went over, basic, pulled up the mattress. He had some of the items under his mattress. Additional items underneath the bunk.

ZARELLA: The items, tax forms, an address book with Social Security numbers, birth dates and cheat sheets for filling out returns. That was December of 2006. What Linback had stumbled upon was a lucrative income tax scheme fraud run by inmates at the Monroe County jail near Key West. Before they were busted the inmates filed for more than $1 million of tax refunds, involving half the jail population.

CAPT. PENNY PHELPS, MONROE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER: What they would do is go to other inmates and suggest to an inmate, I can get you $4,500 in a tax return. It will cost you $500.

ZARELLA: In some cases with the help of friends and family, the prisoners would fill out the 1040EZ short form, then attach a 4852 form with the names of businesses that didn't exist and income they never earned. The 4852 is a substitute used when an employer doesn't provide a W-2. The initial investigation was handled by county prosecutor Jon Ellsworth.

Phone calls were recorded.

JONATHAN ELLSWORTH, FMR. ASST. STATE ATTORNEY: One of the main guys at one point is telling one of his cohorts that he's not going to do white-collar street crime anymore because Uncle Sam's taking good care of him.

ZARELLA: Before they were caught and the jail started intercepting incoming checks, the inmates collected, Ellsworth says, at least $100,000 from the IRS. One inmate had checks sent to his brother's house.

(On camera): Dozens of checks were going to one address? And that didn't raise any red flags with the IRS?

ELLSWORTH: Apparently not.

ZARELLA: By 2007, Ellsworth turned over boxes of evidence to the IRS. Case closed, right? Not so fast.

RICK ROTH, FMR. MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA SHERIFF: They said, well, we're working on it. We're investigating. We can't take your investigation and prosecute it from your investigation. We have to do our own investigation.

ZARELLA: Earlier this year nearly three and a half years after the scheme was busted, federal indictments were finally brought against a couple of the ringleaders and family members. Why so long? The IRS wouldn't say.

(On camera): Now, don't think this inmate get-rich-quick scheme started here at the Monroe County Detention Center. Oh, no. Authorities tell us it's been going on for decades at state and federal prisons all across the country.

PENNY: One of the inmates that I interviewed said that he learned of it when he was in a federal prison.

ZARELLA (voice over): In a statement the IRS told CNN that it has programs to combat this. But the IRS said, quote, "It is not a simple process, particularly considering the fact that some inmates are entitled to tax refunds, and that the prison population is not static."

According to congressional testimony, in 2004, more than 4,000 bogus refunds were issued to prisoners for almost $15 million. But the IRS blocked more than $53 million in false claims.

ROTH: The system has a flaw that needs to be fixed. And it should be easy enough to fix by changing a form or changing the submission.

ZARELLA: And while the IRS is now prosecuting the Monroe jail case, guess what some inmates are still doing. Filing fraudulent returns and still getting checks.

CHIEF TOMMY TAYLOR, MONROE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER: I think we have one here that came in that was for about $5,000.

ZARELLA (on camera): Here it is. So this is an IRS check.

TAYLOR: Right.

ZARELLA: That was sent to that inmate.

TAYLOR: Right.

ZARELLA: For $5,920 that was intercepted.

(Voice over): At least here the checks end up in the hands of the FBI.

John Zarrella, CNN, Key West, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Wow.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

HOLMES: All right. Well, 6'5" and weighs 265 pounds.

BOLDUAN: Stop describing me.

HOLMES: No, no. They might sound like a guy who's going to be drafted in the NFL draft coming up next week, or maybe a basketball player. Not quite.

BOLDUAN: No, no, no, no. This big man, he bakes. And he started a whole company based on his love for making cupcakes. We'll give you a taste of his unique story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Students in Hong Kong don't spend as much time in class as American students, yet they outscore them on exams.

HOLMES: Yeah. So exactly how do they do that? It's tied to a tradition that values testing.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hong Kong junior Yi-Wei Liu is at ease at the keyboard and with the college boards. On the SATs he scored a whopping 790 in reading and 770 in math, 99 and 98 percentile scores. The secret, his after- school tutors.

YI-WEI LIU, HONG KONG STUDENT: I'm doing pretty well at school in no small part thanks to these tutors.

STOUT: Yi-Wei spends four hours a week with tutors on various subjects including English and critical reading at Hong Kong's Kelly Yang Project.

KELLY YANG, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KELLY YANG PROJECT: There's the myth that every Chinese kid is good at math, but aside from that, I think it's just that they have the access to the school, to the extracurricular activities, which are going to be helping them with these different subjects. And there's also a lot of priority at home for them to do well. Their parents won't take B for an answer.

STOUT: Students in Hong Kong spend less time in school than students in the U.S. And yet they often outperform their American peers in reading, math and science exams. Why?

(On camera): It may all come down to tradition. I'm at Hong Kong's Wong Ti Sing (ph) Temple, and this is the Confucius Hall, which honors the philosopher and his philosophy of self improvement. Researchers say it's the Chinese tradition of emphasizing education that is the top factor behind Hong Kong 's top scores.

(voice over): Gerard Postiglione has been studying the education system here for more than 20 years.

GERARD POSTIGLIONE, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: Hong Kong and this region, the Confucian society is very a test oriented. There's a heritage of that. But there are also some other pragmatic reasons why. If you pass examinations, you get into better schools, you get into better universities.

STOUT: With such an intense emphasis on getting into that better university, tutoring is huge in Hong Kong. According to a recent survey, more than half of Hong Kong students get private tutoring.

LIU: The entire Hong Kong school community is very, very competitive. When I go to the U.S., for example, or even the U.K., find that people are a lot more relaxed.

STOUT: Yi-Wei is not happy with his SAT writing score, a mere 680. Mind you, that's a 94 percentile performance.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. So that's happening there. What's going on here? What's happening to our schools? Budget cuts, exploding class size, tumbling test scores. This weekend Secretary of Education Arne Duncan tackles these questions and more in a special CNN town hall, "Fixing America's Schools." That's tonight at 7 o'clock Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So he started out on a medical track but soon found himself on the path to becoming a master baker.

HOLMES: Yes. Chip Brown is his name. When you see him, you're going to say that doesn't really look like a baker, if you will. But this was his passion and now he's making cupcakes and it's grown into a recession-proof business.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHIP BROWN, MASTER BAKER, ENTREPRENEUR: So this is what a red velvet should look like.

I'm Chip Brown, also known as Big Man Bakes. We're frosting the red velvet and the pumpkin spice.

In college I worked in a hospital emergency room, in social services as a patient representative, it was a liaison between families and the hospital. And was looking at first veterinary medicine, then after working at the hospital during the summers was on a medical school track.

This is probably my millionth taste. I've done medical research and then went to UCLA Medical School. I remember going to UCLA meeting with the dean and talking about taking your boards and passing your boards. At that time I had just found out that I had a learning difference. And I said, well, do I apply for testing accommodation and what have you? He said what have you been doing in terms of studying? I said I was studying but also selling cakes on the side.

I was not on a trajectory to be a master baker. I was on a trajectory to even do politics, medicine or something like that. The baking was kind of something that I got sent to college and I happened to have a Betty Crocker book. There was a girl I was trying to impress. Her birthday came up. I said, let me read this book, bring over a cake and see what happens. It was a successful venture. That's where it all began.

Come on, guys. You had one? You stopped at one?

I never expected to own my business, that is not what I thought my path was. This has been a wonderful destination.

Is it the real deal?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the real deal.

BROWN: In a tough economy, it's got to show that desserts tend to go up in terms of sales, or at bare minimum stay steady. We're part of the dessert industry and particularly, specifically this cupcake craze. So, it seems as the economy tanks or is in a downward trend, this becomes one of those affordable luxuries.

Well, welcome. I'm Big Man Bakes.

We were at a party and someone was trying my carrot cake and people wanted to know who was the baker. And somebody pointed across the room, kind of a puzzled look on his face, and he said, "Big man bakes?" And that was where it all began.

The advice that I give is: when you get in, be ready to delegate authority quickly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

HOLMES: Hello there, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

It's 7:00 a.m. where we sit. It's 1:00 p.m. in Warsaw, Poland, where a lot of news and pictures are coming out this morning. We'll take you to there to those pictures in just a moment.

But, for now, I'm T.J. Holmes.

BOLDUAN: And for now, I'm Kate Bolduan. I hope that doesn't change. Thank you very much for starting your day with us. But very seriously, on a very serious note, thousands of people are turning out in Warsaw right now. You're taking a look at live pictures from a memorial service honoring Polish President Lech Kaczynski and all the other victims of that plane crash that happened last week. Ninety-six people died in that disaster last Saturday. Kaczynski's official state funeral is tomorrow.

HOLMES: Yes. And that state funeral tomorrow -- leaders from around the world are expected to be there but don't know if they'll be able to get there. They have some travel issues because of that huge volcanic ash cloud.

Take a look now at a few airports from around the world. Four different airports, people are stuck. They can't go anywhere from Rome to Bangkok. Flights are being canceled because of that volcano in Iceland that spewed all of that ash into the air. We're getting update and reports that more and more countries are cancelling flights and, also, closing airspace. We'll give you all of those updates throughout the morning.

But, for now, we want to give some of the stories that are making headlines.

First, to Haiti where a top prosecutor is saying that the kidnapping charges against 10 American missionaries have not been dropped. Those were the reports from a couple days ago that charges against nine of them had been dropped. You remember these missionaries. They were accused of trying to take Haitian kids out of that country after the quake without the proper paperwork.

A U.S. senator had said the charges were dropped. The prosecutor is now saying that's not the case. The nine in question are back in the U.S., but their group leader, Laura Silsby, she is still in jail in Haiti.

BOLDUAN: And Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs is accused of selling mortgage-backed securities that essentially were set up to lose money. Allegedly, the deals were put together in part by hedge funds tycoon who was betting against that. The feds say investors who bought these mortgage-backed securities lost $1 billion. Goldman says the charge is unfounded opinion.

HOLMES: Well, they're still holding out hope for finding more survivors at the earthquake that hit western China. There was a young girl that was pulled alive from the rubble just yesterday. That certainly helped hope. Tibetans are breaking with some burial traditions and cremating many of the victims. The death toll from Wednesday's quake is now more than 1,100.

And like we said, we'll be focusing all morning long in a major way of the victims of that national tragedy in Poland. Ceremonies happening right now in two cities to honor Poland's leader and 95 others in last week's plane crash. You're looking at a live picture of the memorial happening in Warsaw.

Ninety-six victims, all of their pictures are up, and their names were read a little earlier. You hear some singing going on now. Many people there are speaking as well.

But really, it has been -- went from shock initially from that plane crash we saw a week ago today to now really time for mourning. And then the rebuilding will have to start because so many members of high-up members of their -- government there in Poland, were killed in that plane crash.

Our Phil Black is joining us now from Krakow.

Phil, hello to you. Tell us what will be happening. We're keeping an eye on pictures in Warsaw. But tell us what also is going to be happening where you are today.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., as this big crowds gather in Warsaw to commemorate all 96 victims of that air crash, last-minute frantic preparations are under way here for the big state funeral tomorrow for President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria. It's supposed to be a big international event.

As you mentioned, dozens of world leaders and dignitaries from Europe and beyond, huge crowds expected here as well. They're talking hundreds of thousands of people -- a big security operation. The officials in the city have told us that they would usually have months to prepare something like this. Instead, they've had just a few days.

But they're getting there. They're making progress. But at the moment, the big question is: just who will be able to make it. It's a very strong VIP guest list, but it's still unclear who's going to get here because of that big volcano ash cloud that is dominating this region, T.J.

HOLMES: And, Phil, on one other note, this president, President Kaczynski, and certainly everyone there in the country is mourning the loss of their leader -- but at the same time, not an overwhelmingly popular leader when he was governing there. Now, this kind of brought everybody together, this tragedy, but the first split seemed to be the controversy over where he should be buried. Explain that.

BLACK: Yes, this is interesting. It's a debate that's been gaining momentum through the week. And it's very much divided the nation. It's felt especially strong here in Krakow because President Lech Kaczynski is entombed within Wawel Castle which sits above Krakow. Now, this side is considered to be the most significant landmark in the nation. And it is the place where the heroes of this country historically have been buried, the greatest Poles in this nation's history.

And whether or not Lech Kaczynski fits that description is just what people are arguing about. There are people who believe that he was a national hero. He championed traditional Polish values, and he died doing his duty.

On the other hand, there is a strong opinion here as well that he was a divisive politician. He was not always popular. And essentially, he was a president who died but not in the particular heroic way, and he was not really beloved of this nation. So, the idea of entombing him there is really felt -- the argument, it's really difficult to describe just how passionately Polish people do feel about this. But it is hope that despite the differences, tomorrow when the service is held, Poles who are very patriotic will come together and mark the day with dignity, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Phil Black reporting for us in Krakow -- Phil, thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: Friday was the deadline to mail in your 2010 census form. And if you didn't, the government says you can expect a knock at your door from a census worker starting next month.

Now, the Census Bureau says mailing back your form really does save them and you money. For example, each one -- every 1 percent increase in the national mail participation rate saves taxpayers $85 million. About 67 percent of households have mailed back their forms. In 2000, mail participation, the rate of mail participation was 72 percent.

So -- all righty.

HOLMES: Yes. Go ahead. Please, on this one.

BOLDUAN: Please. Take it and run.

We're going to tell you about a story you have to feel to believe.

HOLMES: Yes, she's not kidding, folks. We're talking about Braille here and a whole new use for it. Some people are actually calling it "porn" for the blind.

Bonnie, I apologize for having to segue to you and weather.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Yes. But good luck with that one, Bonnie. Go ahead.

SCHNEIDER: All right. I'll go right to weather.

Here's what we're looking at. We've got rain in Texas -- and believe it or not -- snow in northern New England. Yes, it's April. I'll have a look at your weekend forecast.

Plus, we'll show you where the ash plume from the volcano is headed across Europe for this weekend, and then, of course, changes this week.

That's all straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

HOLMES: All right. There's a market out there for racy pictures, if we call them that. A lot of people like to look at these things. Hey, do your thing, whatever you want to do.

What about people out there who are visually impaired? Somebody's actually looking out for them now.

BOLDUAN: They are. That's right.

A Canadian woman has written a racy book for the blind. It's basically a series of raised images of naked bodies with erotic descriptions in Braille. Some are calling it "porn" for the blind. But creator Lisa Murphy prefers to call it nudie pics.

HOLMES: Yes, that's much better.

Her book is called "Tactile Mind." She said it took two years, $14,000 to put this thing together. It's selling for about $225. So, not a cheap book at all.

So far, about 100 copies have been sold. And I guess that's one of the pictures there? It looked like a bunny rabbit, quite frankly.

BOLDUAN: It's usually the people have a mask kind of on.

HOLMES: Maybe that's what it's supposed -- hey.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: All right. Let's turn to Bonnie. And, again, our apologies to Bonnie, who's filling in for Reynolds this weekend.

We could have given you easier segues.

SCHNEIDER: That's OK.

HOLMES: Where do you want to focus on part of the country this time?

SCHNEIDER: Well, we're going to talk a little bit about Texas, T.J. and Kate. We are looking at some very wet weather for that state.

And if you're just waking up this morning in Houston, I would say, grab the umbrella because you head out, because it's overcast in Houston right now. Yes, it's dark out there, but thunderstorms are in the forecast once again. And I can give you the heads up that they're actually in the forecast for a good portion of the next few days.

So, no relief in sight. We're still looking at wet weather for Houston. Not raining now, but just be prepared. That's what I'm here for, to let you know.

And it is not just Houston. I actually think the rain will be worse further north. We're tracking an area of low pressure that somewhat stationary. So, it is churning in the rain for Dallas into Oklahoma City. And then it's kind of stalling out a little bit.

And I think we're going to see that chance of rain persist in this region for the next few days. Elsewhere across the country, we are looking at some mild temperatures across Florida into the 80s there.

But kind of a raw day in New England. A temperature in Boston for a high today, you'll be 44 degrees. And -- believe it or not -- it's cold enough in northern New England into Maine for even some snow showers to be breaking out. And we're seeing that occurring across parts of northern New England.

You can see it right here on I-95, South Paris, for example, in Maine, one of the locations where we have snow right now. A winter weather advisory is in effect for this region for interior sections of New Hampshire, coastal Maine straight through 5:00 today.

Now, this isn't the type of snow that you'll have to shovel out because it is just going to coat the grassy areas -- but still unusual in April really to see snow.

It won't be snowing this far south as Connecticut into New York. But temperatures will stay cool there with some rain intermittently into the 40s.

And across the country, I mentioned the rain in Texas. There's also a lot of rain in New Mexico, Kate and T.J., we're monitoring that.

And all this heavy rain is actually headed for Oklahoma City right now. So, if you're heading out early this morning, take it slow on the roads there because that rain is coming down heavy and hard.

BOLDUAN: I just came from Oklahoma City. So thank goodness we ...

SCHNEIDER: Got out in time.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Thank you, Bonnie. We'll talk to you again shortly.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

BOLDUAN: One hundred and six million people are on Twitter, and they send an estimated 55 million tweets a day.

HOLMES: As you know, people post just about everything out there, from relationships to what's for dinner, whatever they're doing at the time. Josh is here to explain why now all these messages are going to be at the Library of Congress.

Good morning to you, Josh.

LEVS: Good morning, again, to you guys. Yes, in fact, anyone out there, if you tweet, the chances are you will be in the Library of Congress in not too long. And that's just the start of what Twitter has announced in recent days, including Twitter's plan to change every Web page in the world. I'll show you -- coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: It was a very, very big week for Twitter, the social networking site with more than 100 million users had a major announcement it was like every day.

HOLMES: Yes, perhaps the biggest we saw. Every public tweet ever is being archived at the Library of Congress.

Josh Levs is here to tell us how this is going to work. Please do -- Josh.

LEVS: That would include our tweets, you know? Pretty much all the tweets we have here at CNN. They're all going to be in the Library of Congress, along with tons of others. This was a really big announcement from that esteemed institution.

They hooked up with Twitter and they have decided to archive every single tweet in history from the last few years digitally, which is terabytes and terabytes of data, massive amounts of data that they're holding on to. They have decided it's a real cultural staple now and that you can trace history in some ways via tweets.

And I'm going to show you now some of the most important tweets that they pointed to in their announcement. Let's come to my screen right here. This is the first tweet ever. This is a man named Jack Dorsey who created it, "Just setting up my twttr." He began that revolution back in 2006.

Right here, President Obama, after announcing his victory, I hope you can see it there. "We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion. All of this happened because of you. Thanks."

And also, check this out. This is a journalist in Egypt who tweeted one day just the word "arrested." And that set off a whole chain of events in which he was ultimately freed the next day. And people thank Twitter for that.

So, guys, there's that announcement.

And I'm going to tell you quickly about another thing that Twitter announced this week. They hooked up with Google to make every single tweet ever searchable in a time line fashion.

Basically, you just -- anytime you do a search, you just click on the date. And you want to know any tweets that were sent out that date, Google will hook it up for you right there.

And if that isn't enough, Twitter has also announced, I'll just tell you, some ads now. There's going to be these promoted tweets.

So any time you get to Twitter, if you search for a topic, you are going to be able to see any tweet about that. So, basically -- here's an example. Starbucks -- basically, they found a new way to make money.

And this is something people are watching out for on Twitter all the time. Will Twitter find a way to make money? They're now going to do it. If you search for topic on Twitter, they're going to give you some ads.

So, it's possible that as this thing keeps growing, it will start to make a big profit as well. So imagine, guys, if it already has more than 100 million people, how far does Twitter go from here when that money starts flying in? We'll see when it comes on.

BOLDUAN: We will see. Thank you so much, Josh.

LEVS: Thanks, guys.

BOLDUAN: Tax Day has come and gone, and last-minute filers are still waiting for their returns.

HOLMES: Yes. But some of you filed a little earlier. You already have your refund. What are you going to do with that money? We're going to tell you.

Well, our Clyde Anderson is going to tell you how you need to spend your cash. You need to hear him.

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Take a look at some stories making headlines.

Show and tell not supposed to go down like this -- an 8-year-old boy handing out bags of heroin. That is elementary school in Pennsylvania. Not just one or two bags, police say he had apparently 60 bags of the stuff.

They asked him where he got it, and he gave what some would say is an honest answer, "mommy's house." Mommy is now under arrest. The boy not expected to be charged with anything. Also, it doesn't look like any of the kids at the school ingested the drugs.

BOLDUAN: And more trouble for Toyota. The automaker is recalling 600,000 Sienna minivans made between 1998 and 2010. Toyota says too much exposure to road salt may cause the problem, causing the cable holding the spare tire to fall putting nearby vehicles in danger. Toyota says it's working on the problem and advises owners to bring their Siennas in to dealers for an inspection.

HOLMES: Well, there's a hunt for meteors going on right now in Wisconsin. And scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison say, at least, they believe they have found a fragment from that meteor. You're taking a look at it there now.

The meteor apparently lit up the skies across the Midwest earlier this week. And then the hunt was on for these fragments. And one man says he found the peanut-sized rock after it hit the roof of his house.

The picture you're seeing, it was caught on tape. But it lit up the sky. So it made it.

A lot of people are into buying and selling and trading these things. Some people just collect them. So, it's a big deal to find one.

And they have been able to find one. And they think -- they are examining it now.

We're going to have more headlines coming your way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

HOLMES: "New Jack City," that's what that song is from.

All right. We're talking about money. If you have not filed taxes, you are in trouble. The deadline was Thursday, folks. Everybody has to do it, of course.

The White House -- they have to do it there as well. And they released the first family's federal tax return for 2009. It pays to be president apparently.

According to the White House Web site, the president and first lady made $5.5 million last year. That was not in salary from being president, however. They're paid slightly less than $1.8 million in federal taxes. They donated more than $329,000 to some 40 charities. That money though doesn't include the $1.4 million, a Nobel Peace Prize money that the president to another 10 charities.

The White House says most of the first family's income can be contributed to the sales of two books written by President Obama.

(MUSIC)

HOLMES: The Obamas might have owed a little money there, Clyde. They might have owed a little bit.

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCE EXPERT: A little bit. It's all right.

HOLMES: A lot of other folks, they get money back.

Clyde Anderson is here, of course. He's our guy on all things financial.

People get their refund checks in the mail.

ANDERSON: Yes.

HOLMES: There's always the question, people want to run out and get the flat-screen.

ANDERSON: Right.

HOLMES: Instead of put this in savings, pay down some debt. What should they do?

So, you get it in the mail. What's the best way to -- what should you do? Should you spend? Should you save?

ANDERSON: I think the first thing to remember, that you did not win the lottery.

HOLMES: All right.

ANDERSON: This is your money that the government was holding on to and you didn't make any interest from.

HOLMES: It's not free money.

ANDERSON: It's not free money.

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: So, now, you really need to be careful and have a plan. I think some of the things you really need to look at is putting away money for savings. You've got to have an emergency fund. You know, put that money away. Make sure you've got at least three to six months worth of savings somewhere, put aside.

If you don't have that, you know, that could be a problem. But you also want to pay off your high-debt interest. So, if you've got this debt that has high interest rates on it, pay that off before you start saving because it doesn't make sense to save if you're paying high interest rates on some of your old debt.

HOLMES: That's what you should -- that's number one. You should tackle that first. Your high-interest debt ...

ANDERSON: Yes.

HOLMES: ... is the first thing. And also, if you don't have an emergency fund, you need to build it up.

ANDERSON: Need to build it up.

HOLMES: Suppose people are in a fairly comfortable spot, if you will ...

ANDERSON: Yes.

HOLMES: ... with their savings and also, they don't have any high-interest debt.

ANDERSON: Right.

HOLMES: And you get that check and it feels good, and you're in a decent place, according to your financial analyst.

ANDERSON: Right.

HOLMES: Can they go spend it? Can they go put it back in the economy? What would you tell them to do with it then?

ANDERSON: As I say, you want to really be careful, invest. I mean, because you paid down that high-interest debt, now invest it and let that compounding interest work for you instead of it working against you.

HOLMES: Invest it where?

ANDERSON: Invest it and really make sure it may be 401(k) is fully invested, maybe an IRA. Do all the things that you need to do, really to make sure your portfolio now is in place. And so, those are some of the place you're going to want to look at.

HOLMES: Is there any point you would recommend to somebody, you know what? You got that money. Go out, make yourself feel good and spend it. Put it back into the economy. Is there any way any financial analyst would ever recommend that?

ANDERSON: You know what I would recommend is starting a business.

HOLMES: OK.

ANDERSON: That's what I would recommend -- starting a business, let the money work for you. Turn the money over into something else. You know, if you've got that solid plan together, you've got that idea that you really wanted to do for a long time. Now, take that refund and invest it, instead of just blowing it on a flat-screen.

HOLMES: But they say the average is about $3,000.

ANDERSON: Right.

HOLMES: It's up some $200 plus, $300 from last year.

ANDERSON: Right.

HOLMES: But, you know, a few thousand, you still say -- what if you only get $500 or $1,000 back? I'm trying to get you to tell them to spend their money.

ANDERSON: Spend their money.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON: You know, you definitely want to make yourself feel good. If everything else is in order, everything else is taken care of, go ahead. Treat yourself just a little bit. But really, stay focused and use it to the benefit and good. Make some money from that.

HOLMES: You know, the folks listening right now. They know to listen to you and not to me right now. Clyde, good to see you, as always.

ANDERSON: Always a pleasure.

HOLMES: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, few ever thought he would walk or even talk again, but he took it one step further. After recovering from surgery, some sweet sounds you'll want to hear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: A Texas teen amazes everyone who hears him with his singing.

HOLMES: Yes. After a tracheotomy, few thought he could even talk, let alone produce sounds like this.

(MUSIC)

HOLMES: LaShawn Ramsey is the name. He survived so much in 17 years, once weighed 370 pounds. And during routine surgery, doctors said his respiratory system failed completely and he nearly died.

The tracheotomy not only helped save his life but changed it dramatically. He now sings in the school choir. So, a great story. We expect to be seeing a whole lot more from him in the years to come.

But that does it for us as of right now. We'll be back at the top of the hour with more live news. But, for now, we're going to hand this thing over to Dr. Sanjay Gupta.