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Iowa Tornado Damage; New Budget Battle; Hidden Dangers Inside Your Home; Recall After Steering Wheel Comes Off; African Union Leaders To Meet With Gadhafi To Broker Cease-Fire; Closing the "Achievement Gap"
Aired April 11, 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: Tornadoes tear through parts of Wisconsin and Iowa. I'm Ali Velshi. A powerful storm flattening half the homes in the small town of Mapleton, Iowa. The severe weather system is bringing heavy rain as it continues moving east.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Talking peace, but still, reports of fighting. Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is saying okay to a cease-fire as reports come in that his forces were behind a massacre in Misrata. We have the latest from Libya.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It's the budget battle, take two, and it could make the first one look like a minor spat. Lawmakers are set to debate raising the debt ceiling just as President Obama unveils his plans to trim spending on this AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Good Monday morning. It is April 11. Hey, we're getting more word in from Japan. Another aftershock this morning.
ROMANS: 6.6, this one. And we know it will be a year, at least, of these aftershocks. But this one very troubling, and there's been some loss of life in this one.
CHETRY: All right. We're going to continue to follow that.
But, first, we want to talk about severe weather here at home, in the heartland actually. A small town, Mapleton, Iowa, taking a big hit from a monster tornado. It hit over the weekend, but they're just getting the chance to survey a lot of the damage. Officials are saying 60 percent of the town was leveled by a twister that packed winds of 165 miles per hour.
Reporter Adrian Whitset with CNN affiliate KETV is live for us in Mapleton this morning.
So, I guess they're getting a chance to get into some of these areas and just see how much damage.
ADRIAN WHITSET, KETV REPORTER: That is exactly right, Kiran. They're starting to come out here this morning and just check those out. They got the dump trucks moving to get rid some of the debris. And this is really what I'm talking about.
We're standing right next to a garage that was completely destroyed when that tornado came through here on Saturday -- as you said, 165-mile-an-hour winds. The National Weather Service says that it could have been up to three quarters of a mile wide. And you can really see this, as we look at more of the damage, there are lots and lots of debris, all over the place.
And what's really interesting about this storm is that it really just picked places at random. There are homes that are completely leveled in the southwest corner of town, and there's other homes that, as you can see, are still standing at the moment. As we take a live -- or take a look more towards the southwest again, you can see some of these places, they look just fine. Others of them have these red X's on them, meaning that the homes are unlivable at the moment.
Many of the residents went and found shelter in other areas of northwest Iowa, just trying to find some of that shelter. There are about five or six people staying in the community center here in Mapleton overnight and more of them will be here again this morning. They had a lot of community help. People coming down from Minnesota, as far away as Illinois in here yesterday.
Governor Terry Branstad from Iowa was also here yesterday, surveying the damage. He declared a state of emergency for Monona County where Mapleton is, as well as Pocahontas County here in northeast Iowa. And that will go on for several weeks as they go to clean up all of the mess from this EF-3 tornado.
Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Amazing. And, you know, you're pointing out the hallmark of a tornado, where some buildings are standing and right next to them, another building leveled. There were reports that nobody was killed -- thank goodness. But any injuries reported?
WHITSET: There were just a few injuries, they said, at the most about 12 actual injuries. They say the worst of them was a broken leg, which is really, really astounding, as we've driven through here and you see all this damage. It's quite amazing that everyone made it out of here alive.
CHETRY: All right. Yes, they're going to certainly need a lot of help as this cleanup continues for weeks and months to come.
Adrian Whitset for us with our affiliate KETV in Mapleton -- thanks so much.
ROMANS: And, you know what? Wow, a tornado of that size and that width rumbling through.
And one thing, Rob, that these things always sound -- I remember growing up hearing, it sounds like a train. You know what? It sounds like a train. I mean, one of the reasons why people can get out of the way -- there, they're used to tornados. They know how to get in the basement. Amazing that there were no injuries, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And considering this happened at night or late in the day. So, you have visibility that was poor. So, if we don't see it coming, it certainly a frightening thing and certainly a lot of people are home. So, lucky one there.
This same system -- parts of it, at least, continue to the move east, and Wisconsin saw similar damage from a couple of tornadoes that rolled through there yesterday. And here's what that looks like. And there were two -- there are 25 homes that were severely damaged across parts of Wisconsin yesterday. The most severe tornado is touching down about 170 miles northwest of Milwaukee. There were two residents with serious injuries that had to be airlifted out of there.
So, a weekend of horrific weather across parts of the Upper Midwest, and now, this entire system is slowly pushing off to the east.
Here is the area of concern for today. Severe weather threat across western New York, across the Allegheny, down through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys and into the Deep South. This is a spot where we could potentially see some severe weather, all with a very slow- moving system that, at least the southern part of it, that's going to affect us here for a good couple of days.
Here's what the radar is showing this morning. We had a tornado watch out for parts of north Texas. That has been allowed to expire. But the damage done across parts of north Texas, we're getting damage video in. We'll probably have it later in this hour.
There are tens of thousands of people without power across north Texas. But they'll be done with this severe weather as it moves off to the east across Arkansas and slowly getting into the Memphis area. This is the area across parts of Minneapolis. No real bad storms there yet, but later on today as we heat up the atmosphere, there's going to be an issue.
And everyone's feeling the heat. Record high temperatures in the eastern third of the country, guys, and that's one of the ingredients, obviously, to fuel these storms.
We'll talk more about this a little bit later in the program.
ROMANS: OK, Rob Marciano -- thanks, Rob.
VELSHI: And Rob is talking about Texas there. Some out-of-control wildfires are raging across Texas right now. In fact, some people are saying these might be the worst in the state's history. They burned 71,000 acres so far. Firefighters were able to get the upper hand on six other fires yesterday, but still, they say, over a dozen more are spreading. More than 80 homes have been destroyed and more may burn down.
Texas is not alone on this, by the way. Red flag warnings are up in six states. Oklahoma declared a state of emergency after fires there also forced evacuations.
(MUSIC)
ROMANS: And just into CNN, another earthquake rattling Japan just a few minutes ago. The second one reported in just the past few hours. A 6.6 magnitude quake earlier forced workers at the severely damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima to evacuate. Fukushima police say there are several landslides in the area. One of them has reportedly buried three homes with four people trapped inside.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: Today, the Japanese people are holding somber ceremonies to mark one month since the earthquake on March 11th and the tsunami that followed. In Tokyo and in Sendai, one of the hardest hit cities, all activity stopped as people held hand and bowed their heads for a moment of silence.
CHETRY: Situations also are growing more tense at the Fukushima nuclear power station. Officials are now planning to widen the evacuation zone around the crippled plant. And this is some of the video that we're getting in. You see packs of dogs running around. This is somebody who went in to actually see what it's like in that evacuation zone.
Workers continue to struggle to get control of the six reactors and to stop the radiation from leaking.
Right now, the evacuation zone is 12 miles. But dangerous radiation levels are being recorded more than 25 miles from the plant.
VELSHI: Meanwhile, in Libya, NATO firepower is helping rebels push Gadhafi's army out of one of Libya's most strategic cities, one you've heard us talk about a lot here. Libyan rebels have recaptured Ajdabiya in a brutal street fight with nearly a dozen of Gadhafi's tanks destroyed by NATO air strikes. Ajdabiya has changed hands several times in recent weeks. It's in the middle of the country and it's considered a gateway to Benghazi. Benghazi is the rebel home base.
ROMANS: Now, Moammar Gadhafi has now reportedly given the OK to a cease-fire deal. It's being called a "Road Map to Peace." The African Union says it calls to the immediate end to fighting and mediation with rebel leaders. But so far, the longtime dictator has not said whether he will step down. African Union talks with rebel leaders are set in Benghazi today.
And Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said to be ready for a peaceful transfer of power to his second in command. A six-nation council of oil-producing countries called for a unified government led there by the opposition. Deadly protests have also raged in Yemen, where Saleh has ruled since 1978.
VELSHI: And there are more violent protests in Syria. Reports that President Assad is using the military against his people for the first time. Human rights workers say four people were killed yesterday when rooftop snipers opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators in the port city of Banias.
CHETRY: Also, Egyptian president -- former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resurfacing again, speaking in a taped audio message where he denied using power to amass great wealth and property during his three decades in office. These were his first public comments since he was ousted. In them, Mubarak said he had, quote, "agreed to authorize" an investigation of his finances and also pledged to sue anyone who smeared his reputation.
ROMANS: And here at home, the price of gas creeping slightly higher. It doesn't feel like it's creeping.
VELSHI: It's insidious, right?
ROMANS: Right. According to AAA, the national average per gallon of gas, $3.77. That's up about a penny from yesterday. But right now, we are just 34 cents shy of the all-time high of $4.11 set back in July of 2008.
A lot of experts, though, said they didn't think that we were going to tap on that record, but slowly but surely --
VELSHI: It's April. We're not in the height of our driving season yet.
ROMANS: I know.
CHETRY: Unrest in the Mideast, we have the problems in Japan -- I mean, it just seems like it just keeps coming.
ROMANS: Economy growth of the big emerging markets, you're right.
VELSHI: Let's talk about the Masters and whether you think Tiger was roaring.
CHETRY: Or was he reduced to simply a purr. We're laughing, of course, all of the little puns they like to use when it comes to Tiger. But we're not talking about Tiger today.
The Masters has a new champ, 26-year-old Charl Schwartzel of South Africa. He won Augusta last night. He is now the champion, birdied the final four holes in Augusta -- people are going to crazy -- to win by two shots over two Australians, Adam Scott and Jason Day.
For a brief moment, though, it looked like Tiger Woods might roar to his fifth green jacket, because he started the final round seven shots back and -- did really well. I guess that's probably not the sound effect for golf. But anyway, on the front line --
VELSHI: Pinball, but, you know, whatever.
ROMANS: But I love it.
CHETRY: And then he faded on the back nine. So, not a great one for him.
I love -- poor Tiger, it doesn't matter who wins. Everyone always goes, it's been 18 months since Tiger has won a major tournament.
ROMANS: I know.
CHETRY: But good for the other one.
ROMANS: Good for Charl.
VELSHI: Charl Schwartzel.
CHETRY: Schwartzel! I love the front page of the paper said "Charl is in Charge."
ROMANS: There you go. And he's got the green jacket to prove it.
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, one budget fight ends, another begins. This time, the battle lines drawn to the tune of trillions of dollars.
CHETRY: Paychecks for top U.S. executives are growing again, significantly -- the widening gap between the boss and what the workers are taking home. We'll tell you how it compares.
VELSHI: And hidden dangers inside your home hurting your family's health. A new book claims that some everyday household items are festering with dangerous toxins.
We'll speak to the author of a book about this, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning, Washington, D.C. It's cloudy right now, about 57 degrees. Some sun later, maybe 82. It might be a nice day to take a walk along the Mall and see the beautiful cherry blossoms today.
There's a new budget battle on tap in Washington. No, not as pretty as the cherry blossom, I assure you. And it should make the deal to avert a federal government shutdown look cheap. That took $38.5 billion in spending cuts to achieve.
Now, Democrats, Republicans, and the White House will be waging a $14.29 trillion fight over the debt limit. That's raising the debt limit. The debt ceiling, the amount the nation can legally borrow.
Republicans won't raise it without getting something back. Democrats say it's needed to avoid government default.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Now, instead of risking government shutdown, we are risking a second recession.
REP. JEN HENSARLING (R), TEXAS: The president is going to have to cut up the credit cards. He's going to have to work with us to cut up the credit cards and put the nation on a fiscally sustainable path.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: All right. Whatever you want to call it, on Wednesday, President Obama's going to unveil details of his long-term plan to reduce the growing deficit.
CNN's Kate Bolduan live at the White House this morning.
Kate, there are a couple fights we're dealing with hear.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
VELSHI: One is this debt limit, which expires -- or we're going to hit it in a month. And then there's the 2012 budget. But whichever one it is, they're both dealing with this country's death.
BOLDUAN: They're both dealing with this country's debt and they're both at play. And I would say, first and foremost, that also means that politics are a play in all of this, Ali.
And as you said, we're done talking about the short-term problem in terms of the budget. We're now looking in the long-term and taking on the nation's debt. And President Obama is set to announce Wednesday in a speech his outlook, his plans, his proposal for how to take on the nation's debt.
And his senior adviser, David Plouffe, he made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows yesterday to really kind of set up -- tee up the president's announcement this week. Listen here a little bit to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID PLOUFFE, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: We're clearly going to have to do more. You're going to have to look at savings. You might be able to get in Medicare and Medicaid in the long term. He said Social Security is not a contributor to the short-term deficit problem.
But in the process of talking about our fiscal situation and our government, we ought to look if there's a way to strengthen Social Security for the long-term that doesn't endanger anybody, you know, who's a current beneficiary. It doesn't slash benefits. So, he'll look at that.
Defense spending, domestic spending. Revenues are going to have to be a part of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So, he ticked here quite a few things. Let's go over that really quick, Ali, and what will be included we think as we're trying to go on (ph) the conflict of what this will be. Talking about taking on entitlement programs. The biggest drivers of our nation's debt, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, also talking about cutting defense spending and raising revenue.
That means raising taxes on wealthy Americans, which is a promise that President Obama has made long ago in ending the Bush-era tax cuts. That's some of what we have learned, but also, it's a bit unclear at the moment how specific, how detailed the president will be or if he'll be talking more broadly about broad goals and principles and working with Congress on this.
This all comes very interesting timing, one week after Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, announced his budget, which David Plouffe very candidly said yesterday that there's no chance really of it becoming law, as is. So, you're already seeing the next big battle coming up all against the backdrop of the next kind of up against the clock that we have, which is raising -- voting to raise the debt ceiling, but it's all happening at once.
We're still talking money. We're still talking the nation's debt. And again, we're talking about politics at play here -- Ali.
VELSHI: We'll get down to specifics when the president unveils it on Wednesday. Good to see you. Thanks very much, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Ali.
CHETRY: Well, have you ever read the warning on the back of maybe your tooth paste or some of your other household products? Most people don't, and therefore, they don't realize just how many everyday items could be hazardous to our health. Up next, we're going to be speaking with the authors of a new book, "The Healthy Home," some simple things you can do to protect your family. Still ahead. Seventeen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Hidden dangers inside your home could be hurting your family. That's the focus of a new book that claims most of us are unaware of the toxins that we bring home every day. And having looked through this book, I was certainly unaware of some of these things.
CHETRY: You know, when you think you're being so careful, especially when you have young kids in the house, but there's a lot of things that you've grown up using so you keep using them. Well, anyway, so, the authors of the best-selling book saying certain common household items could put you at risk.
So, joining us right now is David Wentz. He is one of the authors of "The Healthy Home." He is going to show us some things we should look out for - welcome, by the way.
DAVID WENTZ, CO-AUTHOR, "THE HEALTHY HOME": Thank you. Great to be here.
CHETRY: We tease Ali all the time. Ali was born in a three- piece suit. He wears a three-piece suit, and that's a lot of dry- cleaning.
VELSHI: And I dry-clean all the time, and I'm reading your chapter on dry-cleaning, and basically, you point out, I can't get nine out of ten people to explain what dry-cleaning is, but you're telling me that basically you're replacing the sweat and dirt with toxins that stay in the clothes that's why that smell --
WENTZ: Dry-cleaning isn't even dry. They wash it in perc. It's a chemical they embed in your clothing. They leave it in. They don't rinse it out, and it off gases for days. And you can even detect it on your breath 48 hours after being exposed to it.
CHETRY: So, what's the alternative for that?
WENTZ: There are green dry-cleaners or we say if you're using dry-cleaning, at least off gas your products with your clothes outside, put them in a garage, put them out on patio for a couple of days, take out the plastic rag (ph), of course, and let them air out outside rather than in your bedroom where you spend a third of your life breathing that air.
VELSHI: Off-gas comes up many times in your book. You talk about mattresses, for instance, which come with lots of chemicals.
WENTZ: Yes, the fire retardant.
VELSHI: Yes. We think -- that feels new to me.
WENTZ: Yes. The new car smell, exactly, is also toxic. When you have your vinyl and your plastics in your car off-gas you, those are toxic, as well, you want to roll down your windows and let that air out and not enjoy the new car smell.
CHETRY: So, it eventually does fade away, but you're saying --
WENTZ: It goes down over time. Absolutely.
CHETRY: OK.
WENTZ: So, initially, get it off-gassed outside, not in your home.
CHETRY: Sometimes, it's what we're cleaning with that ends up being more toxic to us and what we're trying to clean away, and so, we're just looking and we didn't want to bring any brand names in, but just things you use all the time, I mean, where it's tile cleaners, whether it's you know, fantastic, or one of those types of all-purpose cleaners, what's the danger?
WENTZ: We become so germaphobe we want to kill everything in our household. Those are our germs. We're used to them. Our bodies can handle them. And what we bring is toxic ingredients. We want to scour the shower until our nose burns.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: That's clean.
WENTZ: As it burns, it's killing our cells. It's not specific to germ cells. It'll kill healthy cells, as well. And so, you want to get the toxic things -- don't kill the germs, just wash the extra ones down the sink. Try and keep it a level where your body can handle it.
CHETRY: So, you don't like bleach or ammonia mixed together?
WENTZ: Very dangerous, and if you mix the two together, you create a chlorine gas as a mustard gas that used in World War I to kill soldiers.
VELSHI: My mom loves vinegar. She uses vinegar for everything.
WENTZ: Excellent. Excellent.
CHETRY: So, vinegar, lemon juice, natural things like that?
WENTZ: Yes. Actually, go back to our grandparents' cleaners. That's the way to go.
VELSHI: I was obsessing about this dry-cleaning. Meanwhile, Kiran was in an entirely different chapter looking at plastics and things you use in the kitchen.
CHETRY: Yes, you don't -- right. you don't realize as -- I took as little queasy you asked about -- and when it comes to preparing food, fine, but then, when it comes to cooking, reheating, or storing, this is my life. I have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old. I do a lot of microwaving --
VELSHI: You don't want glass. You don't want things that are going to break.
CHETRY: Right. Tea cups for them to bang and shatter glass around the house. I mean, what do you do if you rely on plastic a lot.
WENTZ: Plastics are taking over our world, and unfortunately, these plasticizers can be endocrine disrupters. They can cause our young girls to grow up quick, to reach puberty at a younger and younger age. I have a three-month-old daughter. I don't want her growing up too fast. These plasticizers are leaching into our food, and especially, when you heat them or when they get scratched.
Your old favorite Tupperware container that you've been using for 50 years that your grandma passed down, you got to get rid of those. Move to glass containers.
CHETRY: You must have a web cam in my kitchen.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Hey, I assumed when I heard that you think that people should turn off their Wi-Fi, not to shut up their e-mail, but actually turn off their Wi-Fi every night, I assumed this meant because you thought people could hack into the system if you leave it on. You're talking about something entirely different.
WENTZ: I'm talking about the man-made electromagnetic fields that we're putting out, and our cells are used to certain energies. Our cells are energetic, and the energies that we're creating are man- made. They're unnatural. They're doing cell damages. They're causing our cells not to communicate correctly.
On our nightstand, we have all these gadgets, iPod chargers, the baby monitor, the lamps, all these creating an EMF field a couple of feet away from our head where we spend the third of our life. Hit off to night stand, get them away from your bed, Wi-Fi, if you're not using it, flip the switch and turn it off.
CHETRY: Some good advice. And quickly, you were very interested in making sure we know about. These are the compact fluorescent bulbs. We're being encouraged more and more to use these. What's wrong with them?
WENTZ: They are full of mercury, and when you break one of these, there are specific warnings on what to do when one of these breaks. There are instructions from the manufacturers and energy source saying evacuate the room if one of these breaks.
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: And so, if they're in tact, they're still OK?
WENTZ: They're okay, but you're just passing the buck onto the garbage man. They're going to break it in that garbage truck or they're going to break them down at the landfill. They're going to break. They're glass.
CHETRY: OK.
WENTZ: And so, that mercury is going to be released either into our homes or into our ground water.
VELSHI: How do we get rid of them?
WENTZ: Stay with your old light bulbs. Stay with the incandescent. That's the way to go.
CHETRY: That's not popular --
VELSHI: There's a whole lot of stuff in this book that would turn my life upside down.
CHETRY: Yes, but it's interesting.
VELSHI: When you live in normal life.
WENTZ: Absolutely. We're not saying live in a bubble.
CHETRY: Right. WENTZ: We're just saying, reduce your toxic burden 10, 20 percent over a lifetime, year after year. That will make a huge difference, especially for our kids.
CHETRY: Right. I'm going to doing a lot of off-gassing this weekend. All new this weekend. Nice meeting you, Dave. Thank you so much.
WENTZ: Nice to see you. Thank you.
CHETRY: And the book is called "The Healthy Home." Thanks.
VELSHI: It's worth a read to, at least, learn what this stuff is. Thank you -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, guys. Libyan dictator, Moammar Gadhafi agrees to a cease-fire, but rebel fighters, they're not buying it. Is it a major step toward peace or is this a Gadhafi trick? We're live in Libya, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Beautiful shot this morning in New York City. Supposedly, it's going to be in the 70s. Do you believe that?
ROMANS: I believe it.
VELSHI: That's not wet.
CHETRY: Seventy-two degrees.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: Christine was listening to our conversation about what to do with stuff. Those
ROMANS: All the healthy home interview, very interesting.
VELSHI: Yes. And you were saying --
ROMANS: Oh, at my home depot, there's a big bin and they recycle them, you know? And they say, their point is, that you use them so much more less frequently that you take them back to the place where you bought it, and it's recycled safely.
CHETRY: Hopefully, hopefully, they know what to do with the mercury. And we didn't get a chance to get quickly to the tooth paste. He's saying that swallowing large amounts of fluoride over time is actually really bad for you, as well. So, if you have little kids --
ROMANS: Actually for kids.
VELSHI: I never live in a place long enough to change light bulbs. Like when the bulb goes, I usually just move.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: That's an official way to do deal with it.
ROMANS: All right. GM recalling about 2,000 Chevrolet Cruze Sedans to make sure the steering wheel is on tight enough.
VELSHI: That's crazy.
ROMANS: You know, that's kind of important to tight steering weal. So far, there's only been one case where this happened, but the steering wheel came off the steering column. GM said it was most likely an isolated incident. We certainly hope so, but they're going to have to check out a lot of other cars for the same plans. They found there were no similar problems, but be on the lookout, as they say.
CHETRY: And it certainly pays to have the corner office. CEO pay is on the rise. Carmen Wong Ulrich is "Minding Your Business" this morning. So, it's good to be boss.
CARMEN WONG ULRICH, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: It's good to be the boss. Absolutely. And you know, corporate profits were up almost 30 percent last year. That's the biggest jump in 60 years. Average top pay for CEOs last year, well, up 12 percent to an average of almost $10 million, but wages for average U.S. workers, up about 2 percent.
Now, in 1988, to give you some perspective, CEO pay was 191 times as big as the wage of the average private worker. Well, now, CEO pays are over 1,000 times that of the average worker. However, a new survey found that the majority of Americans are actually happy with their paycheck. They're probably happy they're getting a paycheck. And 60 percent of Americans say that their pay is fair. Almost 40 percent say that they are underpaid. And when it comes to men versus women, well, you know, 30 percent of men say they're underpaid. But, of course, women, who still earn 75 cents to the $1 of men, 43 percent of women say, you know what, I need a bigger paycheck.
VELSHI: And that 2 percent who say they're overpaid?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CEO, must be the bosses.
ROMANS: Overpaid and don't mind.
VELSHI: Thanks, Carmen.
ROMANS: Here are your top stories. People in parts of the Upper Midwest bracing for another day of violent weather today. And Mapleton, Iowa, will have to be rebuilt after a tornado a quarter of a mile wide leveled more than half of the town this weekend. Iowa's governor has declared Mapleton a disaster area. Thankfully, though, no deaths have been reported, although there were a few injuries.
Reports of landslides and people trapped in their homes after two more earthquakes in Japan this morning. This is new video, just in, of Fukushima shaking again. Workers at the severely damaged nuclear power plant there were forced to evacuate for a time. At least three homes have reportedly been buried, four people trapped inside.
Reports of a deadly attack by Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Misrata today even though the Libyan leader has reportedly agreed to a cease- fire with the African Union. That deal calls for the immediate end to fighting and mediation with rebel leaders. The NATO Secretary General (UNINTELLIGIBLE) saying a cease-fire would have to be credible. Opposition forces want Gadhafi to step down, but it's unclear whether that's part of any peace plan.
VELSHI: And talks are set to begin today in Benghazi, which is the rebel stronghold in Libya, between those rebels, rebel leaders, and the African Union. Fred Pleitgen is in Tripoli this morning.
Fred, what legitimacy does this discussion have? What's the feeling on the ground about this African Union conversation with Gadhafi?
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, here on the ground in Tripoli, it's obviously being trumped up as a huge initiative and something that is very important. And it does seem to have a certain importance, at least, with NATO. Because it is interesting that NATO actually lifted the no-fly zone for these five African leaders to come in here and then talk to Gadhafi.
And they, of course, said that Gadhafi had agreed, in principle, for terms to start negotiations for a possible cease-fire. It calls for the immediate end of hostilities for peacekeepers on the ground here. The big problem with that, as we just said, it doesn't address what would happen to Gadhafi under such a deal. And also in the past, there have, of course, been offers for cease-fires and calls for cease-fires by the Gadhafi forces, which then have gone absolutely nowhere. They've continued shelling cities like Misrata, also continued advancing in the east.
So therefore, this group doesn't have much credibility with the rebels, also because of the fact that they are quite close to Gadhafi as well. Gadhafi has given the African Union a lot of money in the past. Certainly, the more difficult part of these negotiations are going to happen in Benghazi today, to get the rebels to agree to anything with this grown up of African leaders, Ali.
VELSHI: Let's just talk about this. Who does have the credibility to make a deal? Because if we assume that a third party is necessary to broker a deal between Gadhafi and the rebels, who might that be?
PLEITGEN: Well, that's a very difficult question. It's very hard to say at this point. Certainly, organizations like the EU or NATO would not necessarily be welcome here in Tripoli. On the other hand, as we said, groups like the African Union don't have very much credibility with the rebels. In the end, it might come down to several countries that perhaps abstained in the United Nations, but still have some credibility. Perhaps Germany could be one, perhaps Russia, perhaps China could hold sway there.
At this point in time, within of the interesting things to see will be whether or not or how ready both of these sides are willing to enter into these negotiations. How badly do they want to end the bloodshed that's going on and that's clearly causing a lot of carnage on both sides of the equation, and is not helping anybody on the ground. One of the interesting things, as I said, is the fact that NATO is allowing the African leaders to fly in there and to try this, just to get some sort of chance at mediation going between these two sides, however slim the possibilities of a cease-fire might be at this point in time, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Fred, thanks very much for keeping us up to speed on this. We'll check in with you later. Fred Pleitgen in Tripoli.
ROMANS: OK, so whether they're making up a class they failed or getting extra credit, online classes are increasingly popular for middle and high school students. But is this the best way to teach kids? Take them out of the hands of a teacher and put them in front of a computer? Is the quality same? Is it the same as having a real live teacher? Up next, CNN Education Contributor Steve Perry takes up this debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Technology is not only changing what our kids learn, it's changing how they learn. By some estimates, more than a million students from kindergarten through 12th grade are taking online classes in this country. Some say the upside is that your kids are given more subjects to choose from, but are they missing out on not having the face-to-face interaction?
Here to talk about, our education contributor Steve Perry.
We know that technology in the classroom can really make things better and more dynamic. But online classes, taking a kid who failed math in the third grade and putting them in front of a computer to try to learn math, there might be some concerns about this, Steve.
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: One of the concerns is that there are people who believe that this is taking jobs away from adults. My interest is in what children need. What we need to consider is that it's not just a child sitting in front of a blank screen. In many cases they're actually interacting with a person. The person's on the other side, much in the same way I'm interacting with you through a computer. In addition to that, it provides children with the access to a one-to-one, student-to-teacher ratio, which so many people say that they want.
And what we know for sure is that millions, and I do mean millions, of children, every single month, are on sites like ConAcademy, where they haven't gotten what they wanted to get from their traditional school. So for some reason or another, they're now on Con. Most of us, when we want to learn how to do something? What do we do? Look it up online. This is not just the wave of the future, it is the way in which we, as people, learn today.
ROMANS: But as a parent, you have to be so careful about this. Because if your kid is not grasping the math in front of you, is it a sign they're not getting something in the classroom and they've been shuttled off to the online class. How do you make sure you're getting the most out of this, as a parent?
PERRY: Well, the way that you -- this is what's great, for parents -- because many parents love this. We as a school, we're a magnet school, so we attract children from both the urban and suburban areas. Many of our suburban parents love the online, because what it does is it actually allows them to monitor what their children are learning. Unlike what happens with many parents who call the school and beg the teachers to tell them what their children's homework is, and never seem to find out what exactly it is. With an online course, you can actually sit there with your child and watch what they do.
Most of the people who are talking bad about online courses have never actually seen an online course. Many of them are pretty powerful.
ROMANS: Steve, I have to be - I have to -- you know, the American education system is so big and different, no matter where you live. I'm sure some places it augments the child's experience. I'm sure in other places, it's basically used because they have had huge budget cuts and they have to have smaller classrooms because of union contracts and the like, and they just don't have a body to teach that kid.
PERRY: You're right, but here's the upside to that. Imagine, if you will, Stephen Hawking or one of these great minds, a child can learn from really brilliant people and not be bound by the limits of proximity. Right now, I can only hire teachers who are in about a 20- mile radius of our school. But I can give my children access to courses from people teaching all over the world. We can have our children learn with people in China, right now. So we can provide our children with a more robust academic experience --
ROMANS: I don't know. But you don't want to send your kid to school to put them in front of a computer to talk to somebody who is somewhere else. You send them to school to have a vibrant teacher in front of them who is teaching them the material, right?
PERRY: But the teacher in front of them doesn't always have to be physically in front of them, or a physical person. A person in front of them could also be online. This is a way in which people do more than just learn, they fall in love. So clearly online is more personal than we'd like to think it is.
ROMANS: We know the technology clearly changing the education. So we'll continue to follow that see how it plays out.
One last question I want to ask you, quickly about. In New York, a report that there may be a way for some teachers to get out of the so-called rubber rooms. Explain to us what rubber rooms are, and explain to us what this story means and how you weigh in on it.
PERRY: Very briefly. What a rubber room is, it's a holding position in which teachers have put in who have been removed from the classroom for what is believed to be cause. So during that time, they receive full benefits and they actually pay into their retirement. And when they return to the classroom, as they often do, they actually continue where they were. So, if they were in the rubber room for two years and they were teaching for three years before that, they have five years still and they keep going.
What's happening right now in New York, they're allowing some teachers to buy their way back into the classroom, spending as much as $7,500 after having done something found to be egregious. So egregious that they were removed from the classroom. In my mind--
ROMANS: Paying a penalty, and the hope is that they've learned their lesson and they are going to go back after paying their penalty and they are going to be a good teacher again.
PERRY: It's disgusting. It's disgusting. When a person has done something to children in a school, and they're removed from the classroom for that reason, they need to be removed from the whole process of education.
ROMANS: All right, Steve Perry.
PERRY: This is not a game, these are children's lives.
ROMANS: CNN contributor. I knew you'd have a big opinion about rubber rooms. I knew you'd weigh in on that one.
All right.
PERRY: You're pretty smart.
ROMANS: Steve Perry, thanks.
Kiran and Ali.
CHETRY: It's not really the popular position to say, I love rubber rooms. Such a great idea. Just keep them around and pay them millions.
OK, thanks, guys, for that provocative conversation.
Meantime, we're following extreme storms moving east and record heat on the way. Obviously, not New York. That's one thing we don't have to worry about, right? Rob Marciano joining us soon. It is 43 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Beautiful shot this morning of Boston -- how about that -- over the harbor, where right now it's 55 degrees. A little bit later though they're looking at some showers going up to 67.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Rob, we had some rough weather last night, and the system that spawned it in the -- in the upper Midwest is moving east.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. And as a matter of fact, North Texas just got hit this morning with that same batch of severe weather.
Here's a look at some of the video coming to us from Johnson County, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, just -- just basically, just south of Dallas and Ft. Worth and south of Arlington.
Numerous structures damaged there. No reports of injuries but check that out. I mean, I tell you what, no reports of tornadoes yet, but they'll probably send a survey team out there to check it out and certainly some strong straight-line wind damage there.
All right. This whole system is pressing off to the east and the storms that move through Dallas are moving to the east as well and through Arkansas, that's where we've got some rough weather right now. But for the most part, Dallas is done with and Texas is done with the severe threat. The tornado watch that was out earlier has been allowed to expire.
Also, severe weather expected in the next couple of hours in places like Memphis, getting towards Paducah, which had its fair share last week.
And the northern part of this is just a little bit weaker thankfully but nonetheless still a threat for seeing severe weather across the Alleghenies, the Ohio River and up towards western parts of New York.
Flooding. Let's talk Fargo. River -- river crested over the weekend. Here is what it looked like. But the problem is, it's going to be slow to recede at Fargo. The Red River there which has flooded down for the third year in a row near a record stage again, crested around 40 feet over the weekend.
But it's going to be slow to recede, and with these storms that moved through the past couple of days, it created a lot of wave action on the river. So that likely weakened some of the levees and sandbag structures that have been built up. So they are still holding their breath here as we go through the next couple of days until that river is well, well below flood stage.
Here is your tornado threat or a severe weather threat for the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to the Canadian border, and part of the fuel that's adding to this fire, as the temperatures that are going to be record-breaking in some areas again.
It could be in the lower 80s across D.C., it could be in the mid- 70s in New York City. But right now, we've got a lot of fog and low clouds and there are delays at LaGuardia. So it's warmer, but it isn't going to be a gorgeous day by any stretch of means.
ROMANS: I don't mind.
MARCIANO: Yes. ROMANS: Thanks, Rob.
If you have a lead foot and I guess an endless bank account and don't mind paying terrible gas mileage this one's for you, folks. Texas lawmakers pretty close to signing off on a new 85-mile-per-hour speed limit; that would be the highest in the country.
VELSHI: The DOT there wants to increase the speed limit on designated roads, ones have already been cleared by traffic and engineering studies. I don't think the ones we're showing are necessarily though --
ROMANS: With the little houses next to it, I don't think so.
VELSHI: Right, there is a pushback of course, including from insurance companies, they say higher speed increase the likelihood the drivers will be killed in a crash.
ROMANS: And that's a good to point, Ali. You made the point earlier that it's cost more and the faster you drive --
VELSHI: And it's a lot more --
ROMANS: -- a lead foot is going to cost you money.
CHETRY: All right --
VELSHI: You guys all sound like you're just dumping on the idea of driving fast.
CHETRY: No it's very tempting, it's very tempting --
(CROSS TALK)
ROMANS: I love to drive fast.
CHETRY: -- but they're right that it -- if you do get in a crash --
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: -- certainly the results are probably not so good.
All right. We're going to take a quick break, 48 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We've got about nine minutes until the top of the hour. Time to get you caught up on what's going on this morning.
First, parts of the upper Midwest are expecting another day of very rough weather. Mapleton, Iowa, population, 1,200 will have to be rebuilt after a tornado a quarter-mile wide leveled 60 percent of the town over the weekend. And Japan hit with another earthquake again this morning. Landslides, people trapped in their homes after two more earthquakes, one of them a magnitude, 6.6 hit. Also forced the evacuation of workers at the severely damaged Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Members of the African Union say Moammar Gadhafi is ready to talk peace. They claim that the Libyan leader has agreed to a deal that would end his country's civil war and they're heading to Benghazi today to discuss it with rebel leaders. But meanwhile, our reporters on the ground say it does not appear that there is a cease-fire in the works.
Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi appeared in a Milan courtroom today. This has nothing to do with his sex scandal. He's actually facing financial corruption charges related to the sale of a movie and TV rights by his broadcasting company.
And dozens of people have been arrested in Paris for an unauthorized protest. This is against a new French law banning burqas; anyone caught wearing a burqa or forcing someone else to wear the Islamic covering now faces fines and even jail time.
The jury in the Barry Bonds trial continues deliberations this morning. They're asked to hear Kathy Hoskins' testimony re-read. She is the slugger's former personal shopper and is the only witness to claim that she saw Bonds get an injection from his personal trainer.
And President Obama has a plan to try to tackle the nation's deficit; he'll be unveiling it Wednesday. The White House says the President's plan will address the future of programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
And gas prices up for the 20th straight day. This morning, the national average for a gallon of regular is $3.77, according to AAA. That's just 34 cents from the all-time high that was set back in 2008.
Well, now you're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after a quick break.
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ROMANS: An amazing new CNN documentary examines the nationwide effort to fix America's schools.
ALI: All over the place. In Tennessee, they're raising the bar for students, they're hoping to close the achievement gap.
CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien has a look at how it's playing outside the classroom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These ninth and tenth graders are learning about forensics at the Academy of Science and Engineering which is inside Nashville's Stratford High School. (on camera): So the goal is to mimic what a medical examiner might do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Last year, 75 percent of students here at this mostly African-American school tested below grade level.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's unacceptable and we need to fix that. The academic rigor has to be raised.
O'BRIEN: Across Tennessee, only 6 percent of African-American students are considered proficient in science. For white students, that number is still low, 36 percent.
The achievement gap across Tennessee reflects a nationwide trend. In state after state, students of color are lagging behind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think one of the failings of public education has been how wide these achievement gaps have been allowed to become.
O'BRIEN: Former governor, Phil Bredesen, raised standards for all students before leaving office earlier this year. All subjects are more demanding and high school students must now take four years of science to graduate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In doing that and getting kids to think more, you actually closed the achievement gap.
O'BRIEN: For Stratford, part of the answer to closing the gap is this sort of hands-on learning. It's designed to excite and engage kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have, basically, gone out and done all of the EPA studies to determine whether or not a watershed -- a local watershed's actually polluted, and with what.
O'BRIEN: They're doing this with their share of the $500 million awarded to the state from President Obama's Race to the Top initiative. The goal: better prepare students for the high-tech jobs of tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just listen to these kids, they're engaged with it, they're interested in it, and that's the way you close the gap.
O'BRIEN: The program is still in its first year, but if the students are any indication, this seems to be a step in the right direction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never really liked science. That is my least concern. Now it's like my second best.
O'BRIEN: Reporting for "In America," I'm Soledad O'Brien, CNN, Nashville. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: And the CNN documentary, "Don't Fail Me" premieres Sunday, May 15th at 8 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
ROMANS: That's going to wrap it up for us today on this Monday --
CHETRY: That's right.
VELSHI: We'll be back bright and early tomorrow.
CHETRY: Bright and early.
Meanwhile "CNN NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello starts right now. Good morning Carol.
ROMANS: Hi, Carol.
