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American Morning
Wildfires Burning in Florida; YouTube Millionaires; It's the Shoes
Aired March 01, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Walls of fire in Florida shutting down parts of Interstate 95 this morning. Evacuations are underway right now. Schools are shutting down and winds and dry conditions making this fire harder to fight, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. It's Tuesday, March 1st. I'm Ali Velshi.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. We are following a fire that has been burning throughout the night right now. Firefighters have been trying to gain control of it. It's growing. It's in central Florida and it's burning along Florida's "Space Coast," I guess you could say, forcing one of the nation's busiest highways to shut down.
CNN's John Zarrella is following the developments for us. He's in Mims, Florida, today.
So, is it getting better right now? I know that earlier they were concerned about the winds today.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, you know, you need a couple of things in order help fight a fire. One of them, of course, is you need calm winds. And right now, we kind of have that. And one of the really important things: water. And Mother Nature is providing plenty of that right now.
There's a cold front that's moving through this area and leading edge of this cold front is bringing some pretty steady rain that started just about half an hour ago. They don't expect it to last too long today. Probably by 9:00 or 10:00, these showers should move out. But, certainly, it's helping the firefighters. No question about it.
We're at a command post here in Mims, Florida, which is in Brevard County, right in the Brevard-Volusia County line. When we camp up here in the Interstate 95, as you mentioned, it's closed down. We had to get to the 23-mile mark which leads you into Mims.
Now, some of the good news: only one structure, a mobile home, was destroyed last night. Firefighters and forestry officials, some 15 agencies -- state, local, and federal -- are out building fire breaks. They are building all these fire lines to keep the fire off from jumping once it kicks up again. They think it might start to kick up again later this afternoon as the front goes through and as the winds go down.
But, right now, there is a feeling that they may be able to -- a good feeling they may be able to get their arms around this fire by later this afternoon and certainly this weather is helping -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, that's the good news. When you talk about it being in the space coast, I mean, how big of an impact is this having on travel, on tourism and on other things?
ZARRELLA: Well, you know, it's hard to say. Right now, you're at the height of the tourist season down here, no question about it. Interstate 95, about 20 miles stretch, shutdown. So, a lot of the traffic probably is being routed off.
If they are going to Orlando, they can get off I-4 and cross over. If they're coming down this way, there are several other arteries that are open like route 1 through here which has a lot of police and fire presence on it. But you can get by and get through if you have to.
But you're right. There is no question that there is some impact on travel in this particular area, but a lot of the schools in Brevard are still open. We know of only school closing so far today in this area.
So, right now, fingers are -- you know, I hate to say it, but the truth is, fingers are crossed. That's the cliche, but it does look good this morning that they're going to be able to get their arms around this thing today. Now, a lot can change once this front moves through if those winds kick up.
One of the fire chiefs was telling me, Kiran, that, yesterday, the embers were traveling from the leading edge of the fire half a mile, so they were jumping half a mile. That's what caused them all of the problems. That's why the fire was jumping the fire line.
And you can probably see behind me, this is indicative of the kind of vegetation in this area -- the dry underbrush and that is what is being ignited by the dry conditions.
The other thing that they are concerned about is winds shift, when the front moves through, the wind is going to start coming more out of the north to the south, change the direction of the fire. So, they've got to build those fire lines and fire breaks to keep it from moving because they do have a couple of hundred homes south of the fire that could be in danger -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, thanks for breaking it all down for us -- John Zarrella today in Mims, Florida, where they are trying to get a handle on the fire. Appreciate it.
ZARRELLA: Sure.
VELSHI: Fires in Texas as well, dozens of wildfires have burned more than 130,000 acres -- most of the damage across the Texas panhandle you see here.
Authorities in Amarillo are blaming the fires in their county on a man cutting and grinding metal pipe while there were high winds. The fires are blamed for at least one death. Crews may get help today because calmer winds are expected.
CHETRY: Well, Rob Marciano is following all of this for us. He's in the weather center for us this morning.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
Yes. Much calmer winds expected today because the big storm that spawned all of that rough weather yesterday has moved off to -- out to sea. So, the wind field around that is calming down but the trailing ends of the cold front, which John Zarrella was speaking about, is moving south across central Florida now, through Orlando, through Titusville. There are a few lightning strikes with this.
But beneficial rain is really the main focus here. And that's going to be the good news. It will rain probably for an hour. That's about it. And then the winds will switch as John mentioned from the southwest, more towards the northwest. But they can anticipate that. They can plan for that. They're certainly working towards that. But the water right now is going right over those fires.
The problem with Florida is they're pretty -- nearly the entire state is under an extreme drought. And they don't really truly get into the rainy season for the next couple of months. So, through the spring, this fire threat is going to be an issue for the entire state of Florida for the next couple of months.
All right. Quieter weather across the U.S. today, but another cold shot of air coming down from Canada and the storms are lining out on the West Coast. We'll talk more about that in details in about 30 minutes.
Ali, Kiran, back to you.
VELSHI: Thanks very much for that. We'll stay on top of it with you.
The U.S. military standing by in the waters off of Libya. Right now, two powerful Navy ships are nearby in the Red Sea. The USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship, is there. It has six operation rooms and enough beds to care for 600 patients. And not too far away is the USS Enterprise. Most recently, it was part of the deadly hijacking involving an American sailboat and a group of pirates.
Meanwhile, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi not only appears to be losing his grip on power but also in reality. In television interviews, he talks about how his nation loves him and would die to protect him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER: They love me. All my people with me. They love me all.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, ABC NEWS: But if they do love you --
GADHAFI: They will die to protect me, my people.
AMANPOUR: If you say they do love you, then why are they capturing Benghazi and they say they're against you? They are widely --
GADHAFI: It's al Qaeda. It's al Qaeda. It's al Qaeda. Not my people. It's al Qaeda.
AMANPOUR: Al Qaeda?
GADHAFI: Al Qaeda, al Qaeda, yes. They came from outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: He, of course, is talking about al Qaeda. A lot of questions about whether Moammar Gadhafi is in touch with reality.
Listen to what the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said about Gadhafi's latest interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN RICE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: It sounds, just frankly, delusional. And when he can laugh in talking to American and international journalists while he is slaughtering his own people, it only underscores how unfit he is to lead and how disconnected he is from reality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: And it may be a bitter pill to swallow for Moammar Gadhafi. His nurse who is famously described in a leaked diplomatic cable as a, quote, "voluptuous blond" has returned to her home in the Ukraine. She arrived there over the weekend. Apparently, she's in no mood to talk to the crowd of journalists who gathered outside of her apartment. Yesterday, she reportedly told reporters, quote, "Don't you understand that I won't be speaking to you?"
CHETRY: Still ahead, pay up. Rising oil and gas prices now spilling over into higher prices in many other places where you spend money, like the grocery store. Stephanie Elam is going to be here to break down why it's costing you more.
VELSHI: And up next: it looks like you can quit your day job. YouTube stars are making over $1 million these days. Jason Carroll shows us how they're turning uploads into profits.
CHETRY: Also, he was a superstar short stop third baseman and he didn't miss a game for 17 years and counting. Well, Cal Ripken, Jr. is starting a new career as a novelist and he joins us live coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Kansas City, Missouri -- no, that is the nation's capital. I was just seeing if you were paying attention.
CHETRY: Good try, though.
VELSHI: Thirty-five degrees in the nation's capital. Later, though, it's going to be sunny. It looks like it's sunny right now, 51 degrees.
Looks like Congress is avoiding government shutdown for now, the deadline to get a funding bill passed or as we like to say it, a continuing resolution, is Friday, at midnight, Saturday midnight I suppose.
Republicans and Democrats appear close to an agreement on extending the government's funding for two weeks, but they still disagree how much should be cut the rest of the year and which program should be targeted, which means in two weeks from now, we're going to be having the same conversation about a government shutdown.
OK. Welcome. I'm Ali Velshi.
CHETRY: You sure are. I'm Kiran Chetry.
The (INAUDIBLE), I didn't know you wanted to throw that in there but that's fine.
VELSHI: I'm just trying to be friendly.
Well, the federal government is approving the first permit for deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. And, of course, when you hear this, you think back to the BP oil spill.
Well, Noble Energy was issued a permit to resume drilling on a well about 70 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana. That is quite close to where the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded last April. The company began drilling the well just days before the accident.
Also, the federal government is cracking down on fake pot. Effective today, the DEA is banning the chemicals used to produce "spice," as it's called, and other terms of -- types of synthetic marijuana for at least a year. It would put them in the same category as heroin or cocaine.
Fake pot is already outlawed at the state level in 18 different states and it's prohibited by the military. But a report in "The Washington Post" says that synthetic marijuana is widely used by midshipmen at the Naval Academy because it does not show up in routine drug tests.
VELSHI: And Hollywood was lost a legendary sex symbol with the death of Jane Russell. She was famous for her dark and full figure. Russell starred in comedies and musicals throughout the 1940s and '50s. Perhaps her most memorable role was alongside another sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, in "Gentlemen Prefer Blonds."
Jane Russell died yesterday at home in California. She was 89 years old.
CHETRY: Well, YouTube is giving rise to a new class of dot-com millionaires. A lot of people who star in their own popular videos are actually raking in more than six figures.
VELSHI: That's a fascinating story. Jason Carroll has been following it, and he joins us now.
Jason, great to see you. You're going to tell us how we can all get rich posting our videos.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, maybe --
VELSHI: But when I post things on YouTube, nobody watches.
CARROLL: Well, we have to change it up. You have to switch it up. With your posting on there, you never know. You might be able to ad to that salary.
VELSHI: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
CARROLL: You know, YouTube says it has a program that is definitely catching on with its users and it's helping hundreds of them actually quit their day jobs just by posting videos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I didn't feel anything.
CARROLL (voice-over): Whether it's David after the dentist or cats in slap, YouTube is not only a place for laughs, some are now laughing all the way to the bank.
ANNIE BAXTER, SPOKESPERSON, YOUTUBE: They are making more than six figures a year making very, very funny videos for YouTube, educational video, how-to videos. And the program is growing and growing.
CARROLL: What's growing is YouTube's partner program. Here's how it works: if creators of popular videos like this one --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To a half double crochet --
CARROLL: -- showing viewers how to crochet allow ads to appear alongside, YouTube splits the ad revenue with the creator.
Michelle Phan is making thousands just showing women how to apply makeup.
Rob Homayoon is doing the same instructing on origami.
So far, YouTube says 15,000 people worldwide are in their partner program. They are shy on specifics but estimate hundreds are making six figures or more a year. Thousands are making about a grand per month. And a few are pulling in more than $1 million per year.
(on camera): When you look at the odds of making the real money, what are the odds here that we're really talking about?
JESSI HEMPEL, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: OK. They are pretty slim. Let's be frank. I wouldn't -- I wouldn't encourage anybody to just go up today, quit their job and start uploading, you know, videos on YouTube.
EMILY KIM, FOOD GURU: Hi, everybody.
CARROLL (voice-over): Actually, Emily Kim did quit her day job at a nonprofit after making enough money in the program with her Korean cooking tips.
KIM: That is my hand. See?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Money doing what you love. That's the way to go.
Criteria for being accepted to the YouTube Partner Program include making original high-quality videos, obviously, regularly uploading those videos, and owning the rights to all of the material used in those videos. All those things are important, but also, we should point out that the representative from YouTube could not tell us how many people actually apply to their program versus how many are actually accepted into the program.
VELSHI: But you do apply? They don't just find you?
CARROLL: Well, yes. I mean, it goes both ways. I mean, they might reach out to you as well as they see that you're getting thousands upon thousands of hits. So, it can go both ways as well.
CHETRY: Do they give you any tips on sort of what makes for, you know, for people striking gold? I mean --
CARROLL: Yes.
CHETRY: OK.
CARROLL: Want to hear what it is?
CHETRY: Yes. Of course.
CARROLL: It actually comes down to they can tell from looking at the videos the people who are really into doing what they love, and that they can see that people are responding to that. Whether it be crochet, cooking Korean food, it doesn't really matter. It's doing what you love and people seeing the passion for what you do.
CHETRY: But is it more how to or is it also the funny stuff -- CARROLL: Could be both. It could be the funniest guy. There's one guy out there who's making his own mini-films. We could be looking at another Steven Spielberg out there.
VELSHI: I love it. All right. Well, we are going to talk to somebody who has made a lot of money on this. Jason, thanks very much.
Coming up next, a guy who's making over hundred thousand dollars a year off of YouTube. How is he doing it? Michael Buckley, there he is. He is coming up next to tell us what is it -- see? This is one of those YouTube videos. He's doing it right now, making money after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Excellent to come into the show after a commercial with a great Canadian bed. I'm Ali Velshi. Just before the break, we were talking to you about YouTube stars. My next guest is one of those success stories. He makes six figures off of clips like this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BUCKLEY, HOST/WRITER/PRODUCER OF WHAT THE BUCK SHOW: I got a tweet from a Bieber fan saying that they all think that Esperanza Spalding cheated. Is this true? Is she a cheater? Do we need to break into her house and re-steal the Grammy and hand-deliver it to our lord Bieber?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Esperanza Spalding may have cheated. For those of you who don't know who Esperanza Spalding is, don't worry about it. We're talking about making money off of YouTube right now. Michael Buckley joins me now. He's the host, writer, and producer of "What the Buck," a YouTube channel with over a million subscribers. Are you prepared to deal with the fact that there might be somebody would doesn't know who Esperanza Spalding is and what she cheated with?
BUCKLEY: It's so controversial, and you're Canadian! I Googled you! Happy birthday, Justin Bieber! He's 17! (SINGING). Shut up to the grasty (ph). I love Canadians. How are you?
VELSHI: I'm very well.
BUCKLEY: What are we talking about?
VELSHI: Esperanza Spalding cheated.
BUCKLEY: She won the Grammy. This is Bs. All of the people who were on Twitter we're, like, we're going to go and get it for Bieber so those kids get fired up. That's a thing about social media. It's the best thing in the world. You can make a living doing it, but then, it makes you crazy like these 13-year-old girls. Really, they were very troubled that Justin Bieber did not win the Grammy.
VELSHI: Right.
BUCKLEY: Why am I here? Or what's going on? YouTube success.
VELSHI: All right. YouTube success. We interviewed you back in 2006.
BUCKLEY: December. Best interview I've ever had! I loved her!
VELSHI: Kiran Chetry.
BUCKLEY: Thank you!
VELSHI: And you were starting to do this, and you were starting to make money off of this. In 2008, you stopped doing everything else. This is your job. You make money and a whole lot of it.
BUCKLEY: Yes.
VELSHI: How did you get into this YouTube Partner Program?
BUCKLEY: Well, in the summer of 2006, I was doing a local public access show just for fun and just to practice being on TV, and you know, I would script it. I would spend 12 to 18 hours working on it. I was crazy. I didn't know if 12 people were watching. I didn't know if 12,000 people were watching, but I loved it! And then, the summer of 2006, my cousin put one of the clips on YouTube, and literally, it's spiraled from there. I mean --
VELSHI: How does that happen? Because -- tell me what it is that --
BUCKLEY: It's so many things. Because it's so funny, because people always want an answer or a simple or a shortcut or how did you do it? There were so many steps that got me and the other people on YouTube who are successful to 2011 making a great living doing it. There are so many things that happen along the way, though.
My show is very topical, so I was lucky back in December of 2006. I was talking about "Dream Girls" or something topical so people would go on YouTube and like, oh, what's this? He's talking about "Dream Girls."
VELSHI: So, they were looking for "Dream Girls? more than they were looking for --
BUCKLEY: Correct. They were looking for some 35-year-old, creepy gay guy talking about celebrities, not me!
(LAUGHTER) BUCKLEY: But yes. People on Google right now, there are people doing cooking shows. People are typing in how to make eggs, and they're going on YouTube. You can do anything on YouTube.
VELSHI: So, do you think most people are going for a how to or they going for fantastic video or they going for your clear energy?
BUCKLEY: Nobody -- my clear energy. If you're looking for -- YouTube is personality-driven. The best videos on YouTube are not necessarily -- I mean, the most popular videos on YouTube were not necessarily the best videos, but these users are the most engaged, and I've been very engaged with my audience from day one.
That's the thing. You can't make this amazing short film and dump it on YouTube and expect millions of people are going to see it. You have got to engage the audience. Hi, audience. Hi, everybody who woke up to watch me. My people don't wake seven in morning.
VELSHI: Many of our viewers who are not awake when the segment started are now completely awake.
BUCKLEY: I was told your high energy. Charlie Sheen was here last night! I got to keep up!
VELSHI: Can we swap glasses for a minute? I just want to see those
BUCKLEY: I heard it was cute glasses and purple tie day.
VELSHI: Cute glasses and purple tie day. There we go.
BUCKLEY: I have Lasik, so you can actually --
VELSHI: Tell me, Michael, what your typical work day looks like. What do you do?
BUCKLEY: I script, basically, on every other day. I can't see!
VELSHI: I like these! I can't see anything either!
BUCKLEY: It's going very well. Charlie Sheen, where is Dr. Phil? That was a scary last night. I still feel it in the building.
VELSHI: Do you a bit of a gossipy thing.
BUCKLEY: Yes, a little bit.
VELSHI: The problem with Charlie Sheen is there's no gossip left.
BUCKLEY: There's nothing to say. Think Lindsay Lohan like kick her while she's down.
VELSHI: So, what do you think about all this new stuff with Charlie Sheen? He comes on last night to Piers Morgan. BUCKLEY: I am so troubled. And there is children. I don't know what to say. I'm not an expert. I'm not, you know, Dr. Drew. They love to smell a problem and jump on that, but I'm not smelling a problem. I'm not smelling -- YouTube success!
VELSHI: I get it. I get why you're popular.
BUCKLEY: Persona. Turn it on!
VELSHI: And you think other can do this or do they have to sort of be --
BUCKLEY: YouTube is for everybody, but it's not -- do you know what I'm saying? You have the opportunity. I work 50 to 70 hours a week doing it.
VELSHI: Nothing else?
BUCKLEY: Nothing else. Just YouTube make videos. Youtube.com/buck. Follow me on Twitter, BuckHollywood.
VELSHI: Wow. I didn't really ever think I'd interview a guy who made me look like a wallflower.
BUCKLEY: But just like the person who was talking before. Talk about something you love. No matter what you love. If you love glass tables, there is an audience out there who is going to be Googling glass tables. So, develop your persona. Work on your engagement with your audience and create a YouTube account --
VELSHI: I love you, Michael Buckley.
BUCKLEY: I love you. We had a good time.
VELSHI: We had an excellent time. Thank you for coming up to talk to us. What a great conversation. I don't know if this was the kind of conversation you had with him all of those years ago, Kiran, but he is quite something.
CHETRY: Yes, I remember. It was like yesterday. He told me to get into sea glass, and it's really paid off.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Thanks, Michael.
All right. Five airports on alert this morning after a woman flew into the U.S. infected with measles. Now, health officials are saying you should try to look back in your own records if you were on one of these potential flights to see if you have had two measles vaccines.
Also, we're still covering the situation in Wisconsin. The governor planning to cut $3.6 billion from the budget. What is at the top of his list? We're live as the budget battle continues in Madison, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Our little theme song we play for Ali.
VELSHI: I love it. So kind that you guys do that when I come back. I love being back here. I mean, for a lot of our new viewers they may not know, we spent a lot of time together on the show.
CHETRY: Yes. We woke up every morning to tell us about rising gas prices --
VELSHI: Right. Yes, except that it was only ever bad news back then. Now, we at least have some good news mixed in with a little bad news which I'm going to give you right now, and that is, of course -- in fact, I don't think anybody needs to hear it from me, right? They know gas prices are rising if you buy gas. They're up for the seventh consecutive day.
CHETRY: And now up to $3.38 a gallon nationwide.
VELSHI: All right. Stephanie Elam is minding our business. She is going to, I guess, "Minding Your Business" and ours. This is the thing that always irks me because everybody wants to talk about gas prices rising when, in fact, the effects of higher oil prices get you in way more places than filling up at the gas tank. You just happen to see those.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's so true. That's first place people think of, though, is the gas station, but think about it. You know, companies have to make clothes. They're going to do that. They need to manufacture. They probably need oil to do that. Planes have to fly. But also to thing (ph), even to get your fruit from the farm to your table. Gas, oil. These things are all connected.
VELSHI: I don't get my fruit from the farm, but OK.
ELAM: Yes, well.
VELSHI: So, in other words, it cost money to do that.
ELAM: Oh, you don't pick it up?
VELSHI: Right.
ELAM: OK. I was not going to ask you what you're eating or whether or not you're radio active, but it's good that we know that, but let's take a look at this. We have one analyst who's saying that for every 25 cent increase in gas, Americans are paying $3 billion to fill up.
That is a huge jump and that shows you when you have a fragile economy like we still have here in this recovery, that that's going to make a lot of companies hold back, because A, if you're selling some little mom and pop store and you're selling, you know, fruits or you're selling, you know, cakes or whatever it may be, you're not going to want to raise your prices right away because you want your customers to keep coming back.
They just started coming back to your stores. So, you're going to eat that cost, but that means that maybe you're not going to hire, and if you're not hiring, that means that there's not much consumer spending, right, because not as many people working, and if that happens, that could really affect our recovery. So, this is the reason why we care about this so much, and we are talking about some of the things at this effect.
Take a look. Food, as we're saying, it's going to price into what you're eating. Restaurants are paying more to get their food into the restaurant. It's going to charge you. Clothing places, same thing. Airfare, as Ali knows, it costs more.
VELSHI: We are watching the fuel surcharges going up again.
ELAM: And they are going up.
VELSHI: Thanks, Stephanie, great to see you.
CHETRY: Thanks, Steph.
VELSHI: All right, top stories now. Pirates have struck again. They've hijacked a yacht carrying seven Danish citizens in the Arabian Sea. The Danish government confirms three of the people on board are children.
CHETRY: A massive wildfire in central Florida shutting down a stretch of I-95. You can see how massive this is from the pictures. Threatening homes now and high winds and dry conditions helped fuel the fire. They since have had systems move through and brought moisture to it and hope the winds cooperate today as firefighters continue to fight this. It has now burned at least 10,000 acres.
VELSHI: If you've been on a plane the last nine days and you haven't been vaccinated, federal health officials warn you may have been exposed to measles. The Centers from Disease Control says a 27- year-old New Mexico woman has now been confirmed of having measles. She flew from legion row airport in London and to Baltimore, Maryland to Dulles airport and Albuquerque and a connection in Denver along the way.
Officials are trying to track down who sat within five rows of her to find out if they have been vaccinated and to warn them they may end up with measles. The incubation period is several days before you come in contact with it.
CHETRY: Tension could come to a head in Ohio today with the state capital bracing for what organizers are calling the biggest rally yet. Protesters are angry a plan to make it illegal for public workers to go on strike. Ohio's full senate could vote on the bill as early as tomorrow.
VELSHI: And Wisconsin, the crisis there continues. Governor Scott Walker is going to unveil his slashed down spending plan for next year. Are there going to be pink slips? Ted Rowlands is live in Madison this morning. Ted, what is the latest from Wisconsin?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali, in terms of pink slips, the governor says there absolutely will be pink slips if those Democrats who are in Illinois don't come back so that he can pass his budget repair bill. Basically the governor's plan was to get this budget repair bill in place before today when he announces his budget.
In this next budget he is going to be announcing some significant slashing in terms of state aid to local communities. He is hoping that his budget repair bill which, of course, has that controversial collective bargaining part of it, would be in place to give the local communities a way to recoup some of that money. The Democrats, however, are still in Illinois, and the governor continues to implore them to come back to Wisconsin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SCOTT WALKER, (R) WISCONSIN: It is now time for them to come home. If they choose not to, let me be clear, this is not a threat, this is not a strategy, this is not a negotiation. The bottom line is if they do not come home, there are dire consequences. Dire consequences I don't think any of us, Republican or democrat alike, would like to see happen here in the state of Wisconsin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And Democrats argue this is a two-way street. You too can bend a bit, Mr. Governor, say the Democrats, you can prevent these job losses if you will negotiate. Both sides seem entrenched and we'll see what happens the next few days.
CHETRY: Also Governor Walker, he is controversial, of course, right now because of this fight with the unions with the public workers, but he is also getting some support from other GOP governors.
ROWLANDS: Yes, and Republicans and people from around the country, too. He has a lot of enemies right now but he has a lot of friends, and we are seeing that play out the on the airwaves locally here. People in Wisconsin have been bombarded with ads on both sides.
And now nationally there is a new television ad campaign unveiled today. Obviously, what is happening here in Wisconsin has attracted the entire country. and evidence of that is that new ad campaign being released today.
VELSHI: Ted, good to see you. Thanks very much. We will stay on top of this story with you.
CHETRY: Still ahead, baseball hall of famer Cal Ripken Jr. is here live. He'll be talking about his first novel for kids out, "Hot Head." It's 34 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 37 minutes past the hour. Cal Ripken Jr. A hero to millions, a hall of famer, an ironman, and now he's a children's author. He is here to talk to us about his children's book about a young baseball player learns to deal with his temper and one in a series Cal Ripken is writing. Welcome.
CAL RIPKEN, BASEBALL HALL OF FAMER: My pleasure.
CHETRY: It's not just a kids' book, it's a novel. So, the kids are at that age they love to read "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," things like that where they can relate to other children. Why did you decide to write a novel for kids?
RIPKEN: It's a great way to deliver a message, principles and values. At the end of my career, I really felt strongly about doing things to actually influence kids in a positive way. Dad always taught us about life through baseball. When I was younger, I read a couple of books, and it was hard to find books that actually were in your interest of sports.
So, you know, this is an opportunity to take a 12-year-old travel team which everybody is real comfortable with and examine the characters and "Hot Head" was something I had trouble with my own temper. You wouldn't know by seeing me on the big league field but certainly a lot of kids struggle with that and coaches struggle with that and a lot of times the problem is at home and not necessarily on the field.
CHETRY: That is interesting. You said you realized you were a hero to so many children and that you wanted to be able to bring a positive message because of that.
RIPKEN: Yes. "Hero" is a lofty word.
CHETRY: Idol? Someone who can influence behavior?
RIPKEN: You're in a position to influence kids in a positive way. And I think once you realize that as an athlete there's a lot of things can you do with that platform.
I witnessed my own kids who remember being part of a team. Sports is a great way to learn lessons, period. And this book talking about sports, less about the baseball bat and more about what happens in life.
CHETRY: The personalities, the boy in your book, the hero or the main character Connor O'Sullivan on an all-star team with the orioles. He has a temper problem. How much of this was taken from you and your experiences?
RIPKEN: Well, again, a lot of the baseball pieces, it is a novel. But it is drawn from personal experiences. And when things didn't go right for me I would throw a tantrum, a fit, those sorts of things. And what do you do with all of that energy?
And my parents were really, really cool about it. They just said, do positive things with that energy. So it was an outlet do push-ups until you can't any more so you can be stronger and go for a long run. Channel that power that you have inside. It's not necessarily a negative thing. Look at it a little bit differently and put it to positive things.
And in the book, you know, Connor's dad loses his job. And a lot of times those sort of behaviors come out just naturally and you don't know why they exist. It's just pressures that come around. And we're able to talk about that and really the coach is able to talk to the dad. And it's a really good opportunity to say this is how things get handled, and it's not as bad as it seems.
CHETRY: It's interesting you say it's not as bad as it seems because you are working how kids deal with other kids. The next book tackles the bullying issue. This year, we are seeing a lot of more tragedies. Kids bully to the point of wanting to commit suicide or not wanting to go to school. Has it always been around? Is bullying getting worse?
RIPKEN: It's a tough thing. I think we've all been through it in some ways. And, again, this is a way to actually address some of those issues in a real positive way.
The story of our next book, we call it "Supersized Slugger" because the kid is a little bit overweight and he comes in on the team and gets bullied around. And how do you deal with that bully? How does the rest of the team deal with that bully? How did peer pressure cause you not to want to do things, not to play baseball or do the things you enjoy?
And I was in a situation like that where I had a bully when I was a freshman in high school that was -- he failed a couple of grades and made life miserable and made me not want to play sports. So again, it's a chance to address a significant problem in the best way.
CHETRY: Do you still follow baseball closely?
RIPKEN: I watch it. I can't help but watch it fairly closely, but not nearly like I used to.
CHETRY: Do you think that -- I mean, there has been so much that has happened negative for the sport, especially with doping allegations and steroid use and on and on and questions about whether or not it's still America's pastime. Do you think we're over that hump or do you think that, you know, baseball is sort of taken a hit?
RIPKEN: Well, it has taken a hit. I mean, a black cloud has kind of hovered over baseball a while. I think everybody's intentions are always good to rid the sport of performance-enhancing drugs, and I certainly think it's actually moved in the right direction.
Testing has gotten stronger. The numbers seem to come down again. You're start to looking at bunting and hit and run and playing small ball a little bit more, all of which are good signs. Baseball was a sport it wasn't just about the power. It was about the little guy. It was about speed. It was about a number of other things and it seemed like a while it became about the power. So I think the game is over the hump.
CHETRY: It was great to talk to you this morning. Cal Ripken Jr., author of "Hot Head."
RIPKEN: You can sign up for a book of three, and hopefully a whole lot more than three. First two, we're still looking for the third subject right now.
CHETRY: It was great meeting you.
RIPKEN: Thank you.
CHETRY: I grew up an oriole fan so seeing you in person is extremely exciting, so thanks so much.
RIPKEN: My pleasure.
VELSHI: I need a picture with him, Kiran. We use the same barber. Can you arrange for that?
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: All right, fine.
VELSHI: The month of March begins quietly. but storms are on the way. Rob Marciano has your weather report up next.
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VELSHI: All right, what are we looking at? Orlando, Florida. They're going to work over there in rain, 69 degrees. By the way that rain in Florida is going to be very helpful to those brush fires, those wildfires around I-95, portions of which has been closed. Orlando is going to get up to 74 degrees later on today.
CHETRY: Well, we check in with Rob Marciano right now who is keeping an eye on it for us. We just seem awfully upbeat about that whole scene. I mean, we -- they -- they are dealing with a really rough fire -- fire fight on their hands today and hopefully the weather cooperates.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I think the weather is going to help. I was just down there over the weekend and I saw the shuttle launch out there at Cape Canaveral. So I can tell you firsthand that the roads, you know, you've got the ocean on one side and the road is everywhere else so traffic can pile up in a hurry.
And when you shut down I-95 because of a wildfire like they are doing, that creates some problems. But we do have the tail end of the front associated with the storm that brought all of that severe weather yesterday and now passing through Florida. The winds are less because the core of that wind field and that storm, have moved out to sea. But nonetheless still some breezy conditions happening right now.
This is what it looked like over from -- from the air as that fire was exploding yesterday. You can see just how ferocious those winds were as that fire jumped the I-95 corridor.
Extreme drought across Florida right now and that's going to last through spring. So once we get through today, the fire threat in Florida really is not going to be over. They certainly can use more rain.
Look at too much rain across parts of Indiana yesterday where you didn't get the severe weather and there were over a hundred reports of severe weather yesterday and mostly in the form mostly in straight line winds. You've got rain and a lot of it across parts of Indiana. Over four inches radar estimates in some case up to Ohio as well and western PA got it, too.
So a lot of those rivers and small streams especially are still in flood stage right now from Indiana, Illinois, back through the mid- south and in through Ohio and again in western parts of Pennsylvania and upstate New York as well.
If you are traveling today, you will probably see some delays. Not quite as bad as yesterday but just some breezy conditions across the New York area. It will be cooler across the New York area as well and then you'll warm up and then you'll cool down. There's the next front that's coming in from Canada and storms all lining up just a little bit out there on the West Coast as we start to reset the atmosphere.
Seventy-one degrees in Dallas, it'll be 46 in New York City and 47 in Chicago and 65 in Atlanta and 42 for a high temperature in Seattle.
All right, check out some of this outer space video. We've got the space shuttle that's happening closer to home but outer in Saturn, that space probe "Casini" continues to send back spectacular shots of the moons around Saturn. I think they are 62 of them. This is Hyperion as Kiran so delicately pointed out.
CHETRY: Right, as opposed to Ali who said it wasn't a pumice stone.
VELSHI: I -- I just want to make that would somebody has photo shop this, that somebody didn't just darkened their bathroom and take a tight shot of a pumice stone. I'm just saying.
MARCIANO: Only a man that frequent to spa as much as you would make that analogy.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Would know that.
CHETRY: Exactly. It makes you wonder.
MARCIANO: It's good stuff anyway.
VELSHI: Rob it's great to see you as always.
MARCIANO: All right.
VELSHI: Thanks so much.
MARCIANO: See you guys.
CHETRY: It's 49 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.
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VELSHI: Folks hard at work in our control room bringing the show to you. Get ready to be inspired because we are about to introduce you to Toby Tanser. He's a long distance runner, a world class athlete who nearly lost his life over a pair of shoes. A good friend our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his story in today's "Human Factor" -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning Ali. You're right. You should -- you should be getting ready to be inspired. And it's always amazing to hear the back story on people that we -- we come to know. We know he is a charitable guy and we know the -- the causes that he supports and the things that he's doing around the world.
But exactly why Toby Tanser decided to do this started with a run while he was in Africa that left him unconscious and nearly dead. Now, take a look at this.
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GUPTA (voice-over): Toby Tanser was an elite runner, talented enough to keep up with the best in the world -- the Kenyans.
TOBY TANSER, FOUNDER, "SHOEFORAFRICA": I ran 15 minutes high for the 5k. Which is I think it was like 4:28 or 4:30 and I did a half- marathon at 449 paces or something.
GUPTA: But while running one day in Africa, this happened.
TANSER: Two guys came walking towards me and he pulled out a machete and down on my head. The other had like a homemade baseball bat and he swung like this and it smashed against my skull and they robbed my shoes and my watch and sunglasses and they were just stealing my other shoe when I woke up.
GUPTA: He almost died but it was a chance for Toby to find his calling.
TANSER: Who is going to be number one?
PEOPLE: Me.
TANSER: Yes, I believe very much in faith and I think it happened to me for a purpose.
GUPTA (on camera): They wanted to kill you for your shoes and now you've taken that whole experience and said you know what if they want shoes, we will give them shoes?
TANSER: Two years ago, we took 7,000 pairs to that island where I was robbed.
GUPTA (voice-over): His organization is called "Shoe for Africa". And as you might guess, he donates running shoes to those living in Africa. What he found was even one pair makes a difference.
TANSER: And so this boy, he took the shoes and he started training boom, boom, boom. Five years later he won the world championships. So now --
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA (on camera): Wow. It gives you goose bumps.
(voice-over): And in case you're curious, yes, Toby is back to running.
TANSER: I felt like, what is something, someone has never done before? And that comes from absolute sea level to the top of the world's highest freestanding mountain and you know as fast as possible.
GUPTA: But his main focus is giving everyone a chance to run.
TANSER: If you're coming in and buying a pair of sneakers, why don't you put the other pair into a box and send them over?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: You know, Ali so it's amazing. So they -- they give away this one pair of shoes to a boy who has never run and has never received a gift in his life. And within five years, he is the world champion.
And I -- I thought that was so interesting because sometimes we don't know what happens to the things that we donate or the impact that it makes but that's a good example. On that one day I was with him Ali, in New York City, four boxes of shoes from that one running store. So people are donating and it's getting to the places of people who need it.
VELSHI: I mean, that's incredible, you hear stories about people who get mugged and not with a -- a knife and a -- a machete and a baseball bat and not even injured very much and all they'll tell you is how you should never go back there, it's a dangerous place --
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: Right.
VELSHI: -- and they'll never go back. Not only does the guy go back, he takes the thing that they were robbing him for and decides to give them to the community. I mean, his brain, Sanjay, you're a neurosurgeon. His brain is wired differently than most people. GUPTA: You know the funny thing Ali, I think most of us are wired that way. We just don't always get the society tells us to behave differently --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes.
GUPTA: -- or we get fearful sometimes. I think he -- he's in his native state and he's very charitable obvious, a very humane person but now getting all of those shoes, they needed shoes, they wanted shoes --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes.
GUPTA: -- they were going to kill him for his shoes, he is giving them shoes.
VELSHI: All right, if -- if people want to help out what do they do?
GUPTA: There's -- there's a Web site, you can go to CNNHealth.com, we've got a lot more information over including links to his Web site. You know, give shoes. I mean, that's the biggest thing you can do.
VELSHI: Yes.
GUPTA: If you're on a running (INAUDIBLE). A lot of people who have old running shoes around, donate them and they'll put them to good use.
VELSHI: What a great idea.
GUPTA: Shoes for Africa.
VELSHI: What a great story. You're right it is inspirational.
Sanjay, great to see you as always, thanks so much.
GUPTA: You, too.
VELSHI: All right, it's 55 minutes after the hour. We will be right back.
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CHETRY: That was a little ode to our car segment today.
VELSHI: You were humming it all morning before the show even started.
CHETRY: Muscle cars. Did you like the mustang? How was it? VELSHI: I love it.
CHETRY: You'd like the hybrid?
VELSHI: I try to get my hands on one of those mustangs whenever I can.
CHETRY: Good. You should -- never mind.
All right. Well, if you feel the need to speed, no need to look overseas for the muscle car. We're talking about this Ford Mustang, consumer reports' number one sporty car and Ali had a chance to see for himself.
VELSHI: This is just the second time, by the way, that an American car has won in that category. I wouldn't say one but, you know, Consumer Reports has put them up there. I did find out first hand why the mustang is rated as highly as it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: One of the beautiful parts about it is what this baby sounds like. You brought me a nice stick shift so can you hear it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes. Just flip the throttle. This, when you're driving it, it is just -- oh. From a car guy point of view, it sends adrenaline through you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: That was fun.
CHETRY: So you -- they brought the stick shift. Can you drive a stick?
VELSHI: Oh, yes. What do you mean can I drive a stick?
CHETRY: Well, I didn't know.
VELSHI: And in that show they brought four of the top ten cars. We posted that on Facebook, on Twitter, on our site. And it was just fan to sort of see those If you are in the market for a car, the consumer reports and the auto edition will be out in a few days and that's worth.
CHETRY: Yes. And every decent people looking for a hybrid because of the gas prices.
VELSHI: The hybrids, they have -- 10 different categories and you can check them all out.
CHETRY: All right. Well, thanks so much for being with us this morning. We'll be back here bright and early tomorrow.
VELSHI: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello starts right now -- Carol.
