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Hurricane Alex Strengthens; VA Patients Exposed to HIV; Kagan's Third Day
Aired June 30, 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: ... Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have criticized Kagans' nomination because she's never been a judge. Despite having no judicial record, Kagan has said that she would rule with the sense of impartiality and equality.
Secretary of the Army, John McHugh is also facing questions on Capitol Hill this morning. A House panel wants to know about the response to the mismanagement at Arlington National Cemetery. At least 211 graves there were incorrectly marked. There's also an outdated cataloging system to locate the resting places of our fallen.
U.S. attorney general Eric Holder in Afghanistan, a surprise visit. He's been meeting with Afghan officials on ways to improve the nation's justice system. Holder says that fighting corruption and supporting the rule of law are top priorities for the Obama administration. It's the first time any U.S. attorney general has had official meetings in Afghanistan.
Boarding up and counting down. Texans getting ready as Hurricane Alex barrels through the gulf, taking aim at the U.S.-Mexico border. Landfall just hours away. And CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is on South Padre Island where a state of disaster has already been declared as that hurricane approaches. Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You're absolutely right. There has been a state of disaster declared for this area. But I got to tell you we are getting a few rays of sunshine both literally and figuratively. Take a look at that. You can see the sun just breaking through the clouds at the time being. But as we pan downward, you notice that we got just waves coming in like crazy. I mean, it's just a very rough sea at this time.
Last night, totally different, waves are coming in nice and calm, sets of two. But now it almost looks like a spin cycle in a wash tub. It's just insane. We've been saying. Now we are getting a little bit of break in the action. The rain was much heavier earlier, the wind was also picking up. So a little bit of reprieve for us but still people in Texas are on guard.
Governor Rick Perry has declared 19 different counties disaster areas and he has already activated the National Guard. Some 2,500 people will be coming down here, soldiers from the Texas National Guard deployed to the region to help with any kind of problems they might have with this hurricane as it comes closer to shore.
Over in Brownsville, the mayor is getting ready for the storm. (INAUDIBLE) There's been a shelter set up to help and aid about 2,000 families. The wind is beginning to pick up once again, Kyra, and with the wind, one of the big issues that we have with that is power outages. Widespread power outages. We still have power at the hotel and many of the places up and down the beach but that's usually one of the first things that goes out.
With that in mind, they have already brought out quite a few utility crews. However, those utility crews are going to have a very hard time getting over to the island once the winds pick up. 39 miles per hour, that - when you hit that mark and you have that same wind, all bridges that are going back and forth from the island back to the mainland will all shut off.
So anyone who happens to be on the island and makes a choice to stay here as the storm comes closer and those winds pick up are here for the duration. That includes us, the CNN crew. And of course, we're going to be here to give you the step by step action as it unfolds, as the storm gets closer. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: Got it. Reynolds, thanks so much.
And it's day 72 of the gulf oil disaster. The crisis commands more attention on Capitol Hill as well. This hour alone, there are three hearings getting under way. For the first time, lawmakers will hear from the BP executive who overseas the claims process. He'll likely get some tough questions about the growing number of people who are feeling cheated.
Also, under the microscope this hour, the explosion that killed 11 rig workers. The widows of two of the victims will discuss their loss and the loopholes that could severely limit the money that they can collect.
And Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will face questions from members of the House Natural Resources Committee. Salazar wants to beef up the number of inspectors who enforce the rules on offshore drilling.
As if our veterans don't have enough to deal with. Now, an outrageous story from CNN affiliate, KSDK. It just broke through the night. Dental assistants at this St. Louis VA hospital may have exposed more than 1,800 of our vets to HIV or hepatitis. How did it happen? Contaminated dental instruments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GINA MICHAEL, ASSOC. CHIEF OF STAFF, JOHN COCHRAN V.A. HOSPITAL: They were actually doing additional work in order to protect their kind of delicate instruments. Sometimes policies don't always get followed because people have very good intentions but the end result is the policy that was supposed to be followed wasn't followed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The hospital has sent certified notification letters to the affected patients, and also Missouri Congressman Russ Carnahan is calling for a full investigation into what went wrong. We're going to talk to him in just a second but first we did just receive a statement from the VA. Didn't get an on-camera interview. But here's what they gave us in print.
"The VA's primary focus as always has been on the safety and care of our veterans. VA leadership recognizes the seriousness of this situation and is taking steps to prevent this from happening again. VA has implemented safeguards to prevent a similar situation from occurring again."
Now let's talk to Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan. He joins us live from Washington. I tell you what, congressman, this story is outrageous.
REP. RUSS CARNAHAN (D), MISSOURI: It absolutely makes your blood boil. The VA has a solemn responsibility to take care of our veterans. This is not the battle they need to be fighting now, and we have to get to the bottom of this. So this cannot happen again and be sure that the people that were put at risk are evaluated quickly.
PHILLIPS: Well, here's what - I mean, obviously, we all have a lot of frustration with the VA, and we have been covering these stories time and time again on how our veterans are getting such poor care and we're revealing stories like this.
But even just listening to the representative, just a moment ago, from the hospital saying sometimes policies just aren't followed, that's unacceptable.
CARNAHAN: That's just so unacceptable, and, again, we got to have higher standards than that at the VA. Our veterans deserve it, and it also had a chilling effect on health care for all veterans. When they hear these kinds of stories, people tend to wonder, should I even go to the VA. We cannot have that. We need toe have confidence in the VA, in their professionalism. We got to get to the bottom of this and be sure they have high standards -
PHILLIPS: All right.
CARNAHAN: - that they deserve.
PHILLIPS: Tell me what you are going to be able to do. What are you demanding? What are you asking for? What kind of pressure are you putting on the VA? How do we know that a vet coming into that hospital today is going to get good care?
CARNAHAN: Well, first and foremost, we've got to evaluate these almost 2,000 veterans that were exposed to hepatitis or HIV. They say the risk is low, but the consequences are dire. So we got to evaluate those almost 2,000 veterans promptly to get to the bottom of this instance but then we got to get to the broader question of how we maintain those professional standards, not just at the VA, Cochran VA in St. Louis but across the country. There's been too many stories like this. We have to focus on standards and accountability.
PHILLIPS: So has Shinseki responded to you? Have you gotten a phone call from the VA?
CARNAHAN: We just found out about this, just corresponded yesterday. We are going to be following up today in terms of action through the VA but also talking with the chairman of our Veterans Committee in the House to see if any action needs to be taken there.
PHILLIPS: I sure hope these vets that have been exposed to hepatitis and possibly HIV aren't going to have to pay to get checked again. Are they going to be taken care of, congressman? Will they get checked properly and not have to pay for it, pay for this mistake?
CARNAHAN: They have set up a free clinic and a 24-hour hot line. So that has been done. I do give the VA marks for setting that up, but, again, this is terrible to be having to do this after the fact.
PHILLIPS: Well, Congressman Russ Carnahan, we are counting on you to make a difference here. We don't want to see our vets suffer anymore. Thanks for your time today.
CARNAHAN: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: The law maybe dry but Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is not. Amid her serious testimony, she let some zingers fly. You'll hear them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Right now on Capitol Hill, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan facing tough questions in the third day of her confirmation hearings. While being serious about the law, Kagan has also shown the panel her sense of humor. Take a listen to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: Do you agree with the characterization by some of my colleagues that the current court is too activist in supporting the position of corporations and big business?
ELENA KAGAN, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE; Senator Kyl, I would not want to characterize the current court in any way. I hope one day to join it.
KYL: And they said you're not political, right? I appreciate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: OK. Chief political correspondent Candy Crowley, she's political, she's funny. She would be an interesting dinner conversation for sure.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Her or me? I think actually, she'd be really interesting if you could actually get to what she's about.
PHILLIPS: Actually, after her comments yesterday, I'd like for her and for you and for me to all go to Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant.
CROWLEY: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: All right. Yes.
CROWLEY: I mean, it says a little something about a Supreme Court nominee that when you come out of the hearings that what you most remember is that on Christmas eve - and the question came up because that's when we had the plane that went over to Detroit that had the would-be bomber on it. So that's why she was asked where she was on Christmas eve, and when that is the sound bite that gets played most you didn't learn much in those hearings over two and a half days.
PHILLIPS: But, you know, let's be fair, with her sense of humor, there was a lot of tough questioning. You know, are all questions fair game?
CROWLEY: Well, here's what she said at the beginning, that she couldn't take questions about past Supreme Court decisions. She couldn't take questions about Supreme Court decisions that were pending, and she couldn't take questions about what might happen in the future, what might become something that the Supreme Court had to decide on and she didn't want to comment on the Supreme Court itself. So that kind of took out a large chunk of things. She's not the first.
PHILLIPS: And I remember at the beginning of that, you did mention that and you said, OK, so what the heck can she be asked? That basically takes out everything. I do remember that at the top of the day, you said that.
CROWLEY: Well, the fact of the matter is she's not alone in this. This has been sort of the status quo, the template for Supreme Court nominees is to go up there and give up as little as you possibly can. Don't give your critics something to chew on.
Now, look, she's talked a little bit about philosophy. She has explained some of the notes that Republicans thought made her look like someone with a political agenda. The idea here is they're trying to ask her, "are you going to take your political agenda?" And she said, "look, I'm a Democrat. I've been a democrat my whole life." They said, the question is, "can you set that aside and look at the law." And we should add here that Sandra Day O'Connor was a politician in the legislature in Arizona. So clearly it can be done. But that's where they've been focusing.
PHILLIPS: All right. And so far, Kagan has taken on Senator Sessions over military recruiters. She has discussed her ability to listen hard to the people and that the individual's rights to bear arms is settled law. So what do you think? How is she doing? Has anything emerged, do you think, so far, that Republicans can actually use to derail her?
CROWLEY: The only way Republicans - it's more a numbers question than a substance question. The only way that Republicans can derail her is to have a solid front and filibuster it. Now, there is a sense and a sort of semi-agreement that Democrats and Republicans came up with sometime ago that there has to be a pretty high bar for a filibuster of Supreme Court nominee. You also have in this mix a number of republicans who believe, as they like to say over and over again, elections have consequences.
President Obama won the election. He is allowed to pick who he wants to sit on the Supreme Court. And insofar as that candidate is qualified to sit on the court, then they that they should vote yes. So it doesn't seem to me that there are going to be some Republicans that vote yes because they believe in that standard and nothing has come up that is so egregious that you think that enough people would turn against her, Republicans or Democrats.
But that doesn't mean that there aren't some Republicans that aren't upset, and so what you're seeing now is their making some political points. Because you know who is watching these, you know, who cares most about Supreme Court nominees is the base of each party. They understand these are lifetime seats.
Whatever Elena Kagan does will last far longer than the Obama administration does. And so that's why the base of both parties really like to zone in and go in on those Supreme Court nominees and that's who all of these senators are playing to at this point.
PHILLIPS: You know, you and I, of course, always love to see a strong woman in action, and that leads me to this question. We were talking about this report that came out, this study about how women, minority nominees are treated differently than white men. We actually did a segment on it, Candy. I don't know if you saw it, but treated differently in these hearings, that there's "less chatter" with females and minorities.
And usually it's more relaxed and chatty situation in these hearings with white males. Do you sense, and you've covered these hearings for a number of years in the Supreme Court, that there is anything different within this environment? Are you sensing that she is being treated differently in any way?
CROWLEY: Yes, I think it is true that sometimes there seems to be less banter, less camaraderie, if you will, not that there haven't been some pretty hostile male to male, when the nominee is male, but I don't see anything all that venal in it. Look at this panel. And it is filled with men of a certain generation who try very hard to not say something wrong or say an inappropriate thing, and I think sometimes it keeps them from that banter because that's kind of where they tend to get in trouble.
And so I don't look at it as, oh, gee, we have to treat her differently so much as a caution there that there isn't when there is a male nominee.
PHILLIPS: A little political candy for us this morning. Thank you so much.
CROWLEY: Thanks.
PHILLIPS: I'll be sure to keep it right here for live coverage of the Kagan confirmation hearings throughout the day.
And also straight ahead, it looks like AT&T won't be the only place you can get Apple's iPhone. We're going to tell you who else maybe selling it real soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories.
Day 72 of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Oil-skimming boats back at shore due to high waves churned up by Hurricane Alex. Two widows of workers killed in the oil rig explosion are testifying at a congressional hearing today. We're following that. And Vice President Biden says agencies will work together to make sure gulf seafood is safe.
It's the third day of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings as well. Senate Judiciary Committee members questioning her right now on the role of the first amendment and the media. Kagan had said I think people should be allowed to write anything they want about me and I don't think I should be allowed to sue them.
And "Businessweek" reports that Verizon Wireless will start selling Apples' iPhones next January. The business move would end AT&T's exclusive hold on that popular phone.
So how does a spy spy? Ahead we're going to check out some of the tools of the trade.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Bond here. I've never heard of a Tatiana Romanova.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Tatiana Romanova. She isn't.
But the headlines about suspected Russian spy Anna Chapman read like something out of a "007." The spy who loved us says the "New York Post" calling her a red head and the bombshell fits right in among the fictional Bond girls. Seductive, sultry and allegedly searching for intel from U.S. power players. Spies among us. She is one of 11 people arrested in an alleged decade old spy ring. How does a spy do it? What are the pitfalls?
CNN's Brian Todd peaks into the life of a spy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prosecutors say they had very clear marching orders from Moscow. Recruit spies with information on American industry and weapons, go so deep under cover that you blend in and stay awhile. The alleged spies also called illegals include at least four married couples.
According to local officials and a report in the "New York Times," at least three of those couples had children, some very young.
(on camera): They're leaving children here. They've had children. Now what happens?
ERIC O'NEILL, FORMER FBI OPERATIVE: It boggles the mind. There are going to be at least two elementary school aged children who quite possibly could be left behind in this if their parents end up in prison and there has to be some sort of amazing mindset to have children, to build such a life and to discard it because you're operational profile is to be a spy and to recruit spies.
TODD (voice-over): Eric O'Neil is a former FBI operative who help take down Robert Hansen, Russia's infamous FBI mole. O'Neill says it's very unusual for one spy operation to include this many suburban families. Their spy craft? Prosecutors say some of it was the stuff of novels, like using invisible ink and traditional methods of exchanging information and money like dead drops of packages and so-called brush passes in public.
(on camera): The brush pass. How does it work? Well, you have to hand off identical objects to each other, like this Blackberry that Eric O'Neill and I are going to do. Eric, here's the handoff. What's the object here, Eric, of this brush pass?
O'NEILL: The object is to exchange the information or the device without making eye contact, with the minimal amount of disruption between bodies as possible and as slick as possible so that any observer isn't going to notice it happened.
TODD: And can't really stop either?
O'NEILL: You can't stop. You got to move directly through. You don't want to have a pause and a bumble -
TODD: Right.
O'NEILL: And a quick exchange is going to be fast.
(voice-over): But they also got high tech, according to prosecutors like using steganography (ph), embedding a coded messages in an image that anyone can see on a web site, then extracting that message with software, and using computers with special capability. I spoke about that with Peter Earnest, former CIA operations officer.
(on camera): They allegedly used specially configured laptops with private wireless networks to communicate just between those laptops. What does that do for you in communications as a spy? PETER EARNEST, DIR., INTL. SPY MUSEUM: Look, all of the trade craft in espionage technology is designed to enable the intelligence officer to communicate with his agent without being seen with him or her.
O'NEILL: One of the defendants though allegedly meets with his handler at this corner and they walk to a park for a discussion. The handler turns out to be an undercover FBI agent. Was that sloppy?
EARNEST: I think they are pushing it because up until now that illegal I think has tried to conceal, in other words, trying to conceal the fact that he has any contact with the Russian embassy or with handlers.
TODD (voice-over): That meeting, according to the documents, was only one day before this spy network was taken down.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And this is day 72 of the oil disaster in the gulf and for some, the desperation has turned to despondency. We are going to tell you about the rising risk of suicide and how BP is being asked to help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And this is day 72 of the oil disaster in the gulf, and there's no relief in sight for the people whose livelihoods have been ripped away from them. For many the desperation has turned to hopelessness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE GOODRUM, FISHERMAN: Buying things in the bayou isn't what they used to be. All of my friends have been put out of business and stuff, and just their livelihoods, fish and shrimp, we do what we can to supplement our incomes or whatever, you know. A lot of us, that's our only livelihood.
TANYA GOODRUM, GULF RESIDENT: Yes, if you have a hurricane, you can clean it up, you know, but this is just like a - you can clean it up, but it still keeps coming and coming. A hurricane, you can go every day and do something, but the oil it just keeps coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And for some, the cruelty of this disaster just five years after Hurricane Katrina was too much to bear. One week ago today, the smiling, strapping man in this photo, charter boat captain, Allen Kruse, died by suicide aboard his idle vessel. His family says that he become despondent that his beloved fishing grounds were ruined.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He thought it was dead?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said that do you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there was no hope the fishing was ever going to come back?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not in his lifetime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Residents say as the outlook of the crisis grows more bleak, the risk of suicides will only go up. In fact, the head of Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals wants BP to pay for mental health services for people impacted by the oil spill.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now to talk exactly about what they're asking for. So far, BP hasn't given them the money they've asked for.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No. And they say, look, we need to take care of these people. We need to do outreach to these people and take care of them because if we don't start addressing these problems, you will see more suicide, more abuse.
We talked earlier to Alan Levine, who's the head of the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services (sic).
Oh, and this is -- I'm sorry. I thought -- "There exists anger, anxiety and uncertainty among the families and communities affected by the spill, which will easily manifest itself into addiction and various forms of mental health crisis if not confronted." So, in other words, he's saying without $10 million or at least some money to take care of these people, things are going to get worse. He said already 2,000 people have come for treatment, and that money has to coming from somewhere, right, to take care of these people.
PHILLIPS: Now, when you were in the Gulf, what were you hearing from people? I know you had a chance to talk to various mental health doctors and also people on the ground.
COHEN: Right. Levine mentioned anger, anxiety, uncertainty. All those things are true. What I saw more of was depression. I mean, it's depressing --
PHILLIPS: What are we going to do?
COHEN: Exactly. As you saw, it's a way of life down there. I mean, the fishermen I talked to, they have been fishing all of their lives. That's was how they made their livign. It's how they supported their family. Their fathers were fishermen. Their grandfathers were fisherman.
It was not just a way of life. It was part of their identity. It's as if someone said suddenly, "All right, Kyra, Elizabeth, you can't be journalists anymore." Can't do it anymore. You love it, and it's gone. That's depressing.
PHILLIPS: No, you're right. And you are constantly thinking about this business and you always have to have another plan, you know, because it's not something that you'll have the rest of your life. And some of the fisherman with whom I met mentioned they are just trying to reinvent themselves. They're trying to think of other ways to make money within their environment.
One couple that owns a marina and made their money off bait. Well, they obviously don't have any fisherman coming in for bait, so what they're doing is selling supplies for cleanup now. They've turned their whole marina into another type of business.
COHEN: And you know, I think some people will reinvent themselves like that. There's no question. But some people, its tough to do. Not just the logistics of it, but emotionally to say, "The thing I have been all my life, I'm just getting rid of that. And I'm going to go on." And that's what I heard people say it's depressing.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk more about this. We want to take a look at the human toll of this oil disaster from the emotional cost, also to the financial.
Irwin Redlener is the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University. He's also the president of the Children's Health Fund and is joining us from our New York bureau. And Doctor, I also know Elizabeth has spent time with you as well, asking you the same questions. But right now, what is your biggest concern as we've now witnessed the first documented suicide?
IRWIN REDLENER, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL CENTER FOR DISASTER PREPARDNESS: Well, first of all, I agree with everything that Elizabeth said. This is a very dire situation down there, and this has not really gotten enough attention. When we were down there, we saw enormous problems affecting children.
And I did a couple of focus groups, one with children ages 9 through 18, and every single kid was expressing serious anxiety. And as Elizabeth said, many, depression because they feel that their way of life is actually now being threatened by the continued assault on their environment.
Interestingly, I asked the kids, what's worse, this or Katrina, and every single young person and every single parent that we got to said actually this was worse for them than Katrina was. I said, how could that be? And their answer was Katrina lasted a day and a half. It wrecked things, but you can come back in and rebuild and restart your life. With this particular situation, they are thinking about a permanent dislocation from a way of life and lifestyle that they absolutely love. And it's round two of a major trauma. First comes Katrina. The recovery from Katrina still incomplete, and lots of people still reeling from that. And now, we have the oil spill and in the back of their minds, they're worrying, will there be another hurricane? We are just at the beginning of hurricane season down there.
So, these families are facing overwhelming threats to their mental health and wellbeing, and I'm expecting we'll see lots and lots of families and their kids needing all kinds of support, which they are currently, simply not getting.
PHILLIPS: So, Doctor, what are you going to be able to do? I know during Katrina you established permanent health care programs for kids and their families. You dealt with well over 100,000 medical and mental health cases. What are we expect here with regard to numbers, what can you do to try and offer these same people some help, some comfort, some support?
REDLENER: Well, we've already been in touch with officials and colleagues in the government of Louisiana in the health department there, as well as colleagues at Tulane and LSU. But our intention, as my two organizations, the Children's Health Fund and the (INAUDIBLE) School the Public Health intend to do something quickly.
I think we don't have any time to waste at all. We need to get in there with services and put in a couple of mobile pediatric crisis response units down there.
One of the problems is that families repeatedly express the fact they can't get reliable information. They have to make decisions everyday on their own. Is it safe for my kids to go outside? Can they go in the ocean? Can they walk around on a beach with tar balls on it? And so forth. And they feel there's no place to turn to get reliable information. There's so much confusion and disorganization among government and private agencies and what BP's role is, and so forth.
So, we would like to do is get in under the radar there and get some programs established that can really start being responsive to the needs that are quite acute at the moment.
COHEN: Dr. Redlener, psychologists tell me very much along the lines of what you just said, that it's easier for the human brain to handle a disaster that happens like this. It happens, and it's over and you deal with it, rather than something long term that just keeps going on and on.
So, what do you tell people, especially children, what do you tell them? Because this isn't ending any time soon.
REDLENER: That's exactly right, and I think one of the things that's so important is that we're looking at the concept of resiliency. How do you help children, families and communities be resilient when they're facing a disaster with such uncertainty as this is? It really is quite unprecedented. One of the things is to help parents get information they can use, even if the information is we don't know yet but we're going to get more information and have a family plan. In other words, if things get bad we can't recover our jobs in tourism or fishing or the oil industry and so forth, our plan is we're going to move to another state. We're going to re-establish ourselves.
There has to be this constant reassurance that comes from the ability to get quality information that you can use, and, secondly, to be able to support your children in particular. There needs to be a kind of a stability, a rock, in every family that feels like they have things under control. Even if it's not perfect, we need reliable information. And even if that information has to change tomorrow, we need to have a flow of information tomorrow that people can count on.
Right now, they are dealing in a vacuum of both uncertainty and lack of access to relevant information, so it's rough. But I think we can build resiliency and families can develop a plan, but we really do need to see some money coming into the state health department and other agencies so we can be there to support families who need a lot of support during this crisis. I think the companies involved should really be providing some of that support, and we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.
PHILLIPS: And I encourage the viewers to check out the Children's Health Fund. You're the president of that, and you've done remarkable work.
Dr. Irwin Redlener, thank you so much. Elizabeth, appreciate it.
We also want to tell you how you can help the victims of the oil Gulf disaster. Just go to our Web site, CNN.com/impact, and there you will actually find some other links to approved charities that are providing mental health care in the region. Please go there. Check out those charities, and also the Children's Health Fund. Dr. Irwin Redlener is the president of that organziation.
This year, tens of thousands of student volunteers clean up decaying neighborhoods across America. This morning, we focus on one student who's digging in Detroit today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories. It's day three of Senate confirmation hearing for Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan. Today, she told senators judges should be neutral and fair but also recognize they have a limited role.
Also on the Hill, Congress looking into mismanagement at Arlington National Cemetery. The graves of hundreds of vets are incorrectly marked and improperly located. Secretary of the Army is expected to tell a House panel a new management team is trying to fix those problems.
Lawmakers have come up with an alternate plan to pay for the Wall Street reform bill. Democrats scrapped an effort to pay for reforms by taxing big banks and hedge funds to the tune of $19 billion. Instead, they agreed to end the $700 billion federal bailout program known as T.A.R.P immediately after the final passage of the bill. Lawmakers would redirect the stream of bailout repayments to offset shortfalls created by Wall Street reform.
This year alone, 30,000 kids volunteer with the organization Build On and spread out all over the U.S., cleaning up decaying neighborhoods. They're "Building Up America," one street or neighborhood at a time. In an economically depressed Detroit, where one student with challenges of her own is lending a hand. Here's CNN's Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Motor City. Motown. In its heyday, Detroit thrived, a place of economic opportunity and growth. A place 15-year-old Ivory Price only hears about.
IVORY PRICE, STUDENT: My grandma would show me pictures of what it used to be.
CARROLL: Ivory's Detroit is a city with one of the country's highest unemployment rates. So many businesses shut down, so many homes abandoned. But Ivory believes there's a way to get Detroit growing again.
PRICE: Just planting one seed can definitely help towards that goal.
CARROLL: We found Ivory with a group of volunteers, planting a garden in an abandoned lot in one of Detroit's worst neighborhoods.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CARROLL: She volunteers for an organization called Buildon; it's a non-profit that created after-school programs where students help rebuild impoverished areas. Here, they reclaim land with a garden. Eventually they'll donate the food they grow.
PRICE: We've definitely encountered people even with this project, and other times in Buildon saying that that's impossible. You can't do that. You should just leave it alone. Why waste your time.
CARROLL (on camera): What do you say to people like that?
PRICE: I tell them you never know until you try.
CARROLL (voice-over): Trying -- in this neighborhood, it's challenging.
(on camera): In addition to being economically devastated, the volunteers that are out here trying to rebuild this neighborhood also have to deal with crime. There's a gang that operates right here on this block and prostitution as well, which takes place right here in what used to be a playground.
(voice-over): While shooting in broad daylight, a woman who did not want to be identified still stopped to make sure we were ok.
(on camera): A group volunteers have put together a garden --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I saw that. That's nice.
CARROLL: -- as a way to -- you like that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's great. But the area itself, you know, you just don't feel safe anymore.
JIM ZIOLKOWSKI, FOUNDER, BUILDON: Before our kids begin any projects, they can --
CARROLL (voice-over): Buildon's founder says the garden is just the beginning.
ZIOLKOWSKI: The rest of the neighborhood sees what's going on and sees how the youth are stepping up and leading this change. They take a stake in the garden. And then the gangs move out. Then the prostitution moves out. It's changed. It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens.
CARROLL: Ivory Price believes change is possible. She's seen it in her life. When not singing or volunteering, she's writing about her own economic struggles.
PRICE: The place had rats and bugs. At night my mother and sister and I would sleep in the same bed to keep warm.
I have been there before. And the fact that I can come out here and help other people that are going through the same thing or things that are even worse, it makes me feel happy.
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Hundreds and hundreds of veterans in danger of contracting HIV just because of a visit to the dentist. It's unsettling. It's heartbreaking. But it's not the first time we've seen something like this happen. We're taking a closer look.
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PHILLIPS: Fifteen million Americans out of work. That's a brutal number, but it doesn't tell the full story. A new study says even people who have a job are affected by unemployment because employers are cutting back in other ways.
Alison Kostik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with the details has the story. So, Alison, how big of a problem is it? ALISON KOSTIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, more than half of the labor force is definitely feeling the sting of unemployment, and these people still have jobs.
And let me tell you why they are being impacted. The Pew Research Center found that 28 percent of workers have had their hours cut. Another 23 percent took a pay cut; still 12 percent more took unpaid leave. I'm talking about furloughs that we saw in the airline industry on a regular basis. City workers, especially in California, we've seen them, their offices close down day after day. And another 11 percent were forced to switch to part-time work.
For employers, these are ways to go ahead and save money without cutting jobs. But for workers, it means taking home less pay and living at a lower standard of living. It really tells us the situation is much worse than it appears, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Just a few months ago, economists were saying that the recession is over. How is this going to affect the recovery?
KOSTIK: Well, think about it. If people are making less money, they are going to spend less money, and our growth in the economy is going to be much slower. So, pretty much what we're doing learning to make do with less.
Here's how people are cutting back. 70 percent of people are buying cheaper brands. Many others just go ahead and cancel vacations. Others are cutting out extras, spending less on alcohol and cigarettes. Many people have trouble paying for medical bills, and a small percentage have postponed getting married or having a baby.
The worrisome part of this, Kyra, is that for many people, this frugality that's sort of taken hold for many of consumers, may continue after the recession has ended. And that prospect of having a sluggish recovery definitely happening in the markets today. The Dow Industrials are down 14, the NASDAQ off 5. We're finding that fewer people are really buying into the stock market because of fear of how growth is going to be going.
Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Alison. Thanks.
More from the CNN NEWSROOM, straight ahead.
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PHILLIPS: Well, now, for that part of our newscast that really means a lot to our team. It's called "Home and Away" and is a tribute to our fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We're going to tell you how you can take part in a moment. But first, we want to tell you about Sergeant Courtney Finch. He died in Iraq July 2007. His sister, Sue Ann says he was quote, "both my little brother and best friend." She also tells us, "The world lost something by him not being a father. He was amazing around children. He loved his whole self -- not just a part. His friends were everything to him ,and he'd do everything he could to help someone in need."
Well, we couldn't do this project without you. So here's how you can join us. Go to our Web site CNN.com/homeandaway and you'll see a map of the U.S. Just click on the town and pull up a service member's profile. You can upload your thoughts and pictures and home videos, and we'll help keep the memories of your hero alive.
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PHILLIPS: Well, I can't even imagine what it would be like to come back from battle without a limb, with brain damage, with post- traumatic stress. Our vets need the best care possible. And now, once again, the system has failed.
A Missouri VA hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 vets to hepatitis and HIV after sloppy and unclean dental work. The VA says it has implemented safeguards to prevent a similar situation from occurring again.
But we've seen problems like this before. Remember this? Dirty colonoscopy equipment apparently used at a Miami Veterans Administration hospital. Doctors operated on as many as 3,200 patients over a five-year period with the tainted tools potentially putting them at risk for HIV and hepatitis as well.
How about this? Six hundred letters mistakengly sent out to vets telling them they had Lou Gehrig's Disease. One soldier who got the letter on accident said he was floored and went into complete and total meltdown. Who wouldn't?
And then the mistreatment. Even in death, hundreds of mismarked graves at Arlington National Cemetery. Right now, a hearing is under way on Capitol Hill looking into the situation.
That brings us to today's blog question. We wanted to hear from veterans and their families about their experiences with the VA and get their feedback.
Listen to this from Cassie. "I'm one of those veterans who received a certified letter from the VA yesterday. I called this morning to make my appointment and will be seen today. In defense of the John Cochran VA medical center, I'd like too say that the quality of care and response time has improved exponentially in the 14 years I have been receiving care there."
This comes from Harold. "I'm a disabled combat Vietnam vet. The VA health care system is very good. After I returned from the Vietname, it took me about 25 years to get the VA's attention regarding my health condition. Since then, the VA has treated me with respect. I have no complaints, just thankful." Remember, we want to hear from you. Just log on to CNN.com/kyra and share your comments.
That does it for us. Thanks for joining us. Tony Harris takes it from here.
