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Man Vanishes in Sinkhole; Spanish an Official Language; FAA Looks at Harlem Shake on a Plane; Autopsy Sheds Light on Lottery Death; Forced Spending Cuts Begin Today; Face of Gun Violence in Chicago; First Lady on Healthy Food Choices; Interview with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu

Aired March 01, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It's unbelievable. A man vanishing after a sinkhole opens up directly under his bed in Florida. His brother tried to rescue him but couldn't. How does something like this happen? We'll explain.

And Spanish is the second most used language in this country. Well now, a Florida mayor wants to make it an additional language.

Then the Harlem shake sweeping the nation on the ground and in the air. How the dance craze has taken off even in flight. Now the FAA, however, is investigating. Hello, everyone, welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Suzanne Malveaux.

A bizarre and horrifying thing happened this morning while a Florida man was sleeping in his bed. The earth opened up, swallowed him beneath his house. Jeff Bush is presumed dead but his body has not been recovered. It was a sinkhole believed to be about 20 to 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep. You can't see the sinkhole here because the House is covering it. Our Tampa affiliate, WFTF, spoke to the man's brother. He tried to save him.

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JEREMY BUSH: I heard a loud crash like a car coming through the house. And I heard my brother screaming so I ran back there and tried going inside his room. But my old lady turned the light on and all I seen was this big hole, real big hole. And all I seen was his mattress and basically that was it. That's all I seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You tried jumping in after him?

BUSH: Yes, I jumped in the hole and was trying to dig him out. I couldn't find him. I heard -- I thought I could hear him hollering for me to help him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's the last you saw of him. Did you see any last part of him before he fell in?

BUSH: I didn't see any part of him when I went in there. All I seen was his bed. And I told my father-in-law to grab a shovel so I could start digging. And I just started digging and started digging and started digging and then the cops showed up and pulled me out of the hole and told me the floor was still falling in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you were still at risk as well.

BUSH: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now your entire family is out here in support. Why -- you guys are out -- why are you guys out here in support?

BUSH: Just to keep closure, I guess, make sure he's not dead -- see if he's alive. I know in my heart he's dead, but I just want to be here for him because I love him. It was my brother, man.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Let's get more from Seffner, Florida. John Zarrella is there. So, John, I understand that they tried to use a lot of machinery in order to locate the man, to no avail?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Fredricka, exactly. To this point, no avail. But what I can tell you going on right now, they're about to put up fencing around the house. They have some electronic probes that they had placed in the ground to measure the depth. And what you're looking at over there in the distance, that vehicle just arrived and that is it a camera on wheels. We're not sure how they're going to use it, apparently trying to get it inside the house to the sinkhole so that they can at least look down in there, try to get more measurements to the depth of all that. But you can see the whole area is cordoned off and it appears they are going to build a fence around this house.

We've been told some heavy equipment's going to be brought in a little later in the day, probably an indication they're going to start trying to -- at least if they can and the ground is safe enough, secure enough, that they can start taking the house apart piece by piece to get in there. And as you can see now, look, they are moving this camera. And I believe what you're going to see them do, here comes the camera now rolling down towards our camera. And we thought that they were going to drop that down into this manhole cover, down where the sewer line is, you can see it coming over here. This is where the drain is for, you know, your street water, your sewer. And it appears they're going to follow that sewer line to see how far out away from the house or under the house is the collapse.

You can see it there now, Fredricka, as they are dropping -- apparently about to drop this camera. And it's cable operated, not remote control, but on a long cable and they're about to lower it down into the drain system there. And again, it appears as if they're going to try and get a bird's eye view, an actual look from underground following the sewer line to exactly how far or where they can find a collapse. And you can see a man going in there now down into the hole to probably position that camera on wheels so that they can go ahead and start taking a look at what they've got under there -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: Wow, that's extraordinary. All right, John, keep us posted on that, this camera being descended there in that sewer line to see what it can see underground as they continue to look for this man who was simply swallowed up by the earth while he was sleeping in his own bed in that blue house there right beyond the men there working. All right, John Zarrella, we'll check back with you.

So, by the way, sinkholes, even though it's incredibly unusual, they're actually fairly common in Florida. Check out this one that amazed the world back in 1981. Huge. It swallowed a three bedroom house, five porches and half an Olympic-size swimming pool in Winter Park, Florida. It was one of the biggest at 350 feet wide. Karen Maginnis joining me now. So, Karen, you know, give me an idea -- I mean, this is fairly common in Florida and it -- just look at your map. It looks like it's very concentrated in terms of when this happens. In central Florida, what's going on there?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have a lot of sinkholes across Florida. And they usually make news when they become deadly or exceptionally large. And, yes, you can see where these to the dotted areas are. That's where we have a number of sinkholes right around Tampa, St. Pete, over towards the St. John's River, as well as into Tallahassee, as well as Gainesville. And as I mentioned, this is not an uncommon occurrence in Florida, nor is it for Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Missouri. But sinkholes can occur all around the world, and I do mean all around the world. Russia, Guatemala, Venezuela, Canada. We had a deadly sinkhole in Canada just several years ago.

This is a little difficult. There's a lot of information on this. But it can be a naturally occurring event such as heavy rainwater, it kind of erodes the fragile base of limestone in Florida, becomes porous and disintegrates and that's when things collapse.

But we also can see it becoming a manmade event when they start drilling out water. There was an event that took place in Oklahoma -- Pitcher, Oklahoma, where they had been storing some byproducts of a mining process and that made the ground very saturated and it collapsed as well. Here's a view out of Hudson, Florida. This was back in 2012. A very spectacular image there. But not just on land, we also see this in the oceans. This particular one off the coast Belize is about 400 feet deep and it occurred during the ice age. Very spectacular.

So, Fredricka, we can look all around the globe and see this weathering that takes place or environmental manmade events.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness, that is unbelievable. All right, thanks so much. Karen McGinnis, appreciate that.

OK, meantime, we're also learning more details about the mysterious suspicious death of a Chicago man immediately after he won a large lottery jackpot. Our Ted Rowlands has been following developments there. So, Ted, this, too, a big mystery and it began about a month ago or a few months ago.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Urooj Khan won the lottery. The day after he cashed his lottery check, he ends up dead. Initially, it death was ruled a heart attack. But his family was suspicious. They contacted the medical examiners and lo and behold, they went back, tested his blood, sure enough, he died of cyanide poisoning.

So, at that point, they ordered that his body be exhumed and they performed another autopsy. About an hour ago, we got the results from that autopsy and because of decomposition, there was no cyanide traces found in his body tissue or in the contents of his stomach. What they were hoping to find out is how did he get the cyanide in his body? Now they don't know. He could have had it injected, theoretically inhaled or ingested.

Of course, a lot of speculation has been focused on his wife who served him his final meal. She says, yes, I cooked him his final meal, however I had nothing to do with his death. The bottom line is they had his body exhumed. They were hoping to find out some pertinent information for this ongoing case. They didn't.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. It continues to be very perplexing. All right, thanks so much. Ted Rowlands there out of Chicago.

All right, meantime, the blame game intensifies and those forced spending cuts are about to kick in. President Obama and Congressional leaders met for about 45 minutes today but there was no deal to avoid the $85 billion in cuts over the next seven months. Our own Jessica Yellin asked the president why he didn't just lock lawmakers in a room until they were to reach an agreement and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am not a dictator, I'm the president. So, ultimately, if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say, we need to go to catch a plane, I can't have secret service block the doorway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Jessica Yellin joining us now from the White House along with Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. So, Jessica, you first. The president keeps saying the majority of Americans support his position that there has to be more revenue along with spending cuts. But does he risk, you know, being over confident about this strategy of letting the cuts take effect?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, first of all, I did not say the president should lock lawmakers in a room. I asked him why he doesn't invite them over and ask them to stay or force them to stay until they have a deal. I think that would be an interesting story if he locked them in a room. The -- and an answer to your question, the politics, for the president, are really about time. How long will these spending cuts have to be in place before he either is willing to back off of his position or he forces Republicans to back off of their position? And time is not on the White House's side in this one because the longer these cuts continue, responsible economists say, the more of an impact they'll have on the overall economy. But it could be a somewhat invisible impact in that you and I might not see the cuts every day. It'll just be felt broadly.

And so, the president could be held responsible for a weakening economy less than Congress is held responsible for a bad choice on these cuts. And so, the question is how much pain is the White House willing to take on that --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

YELLIN: -- before they alter their position versus the Republicans.

WHITFIELD: And Dana Bash with us from Capitol Hill. You know, House Speaker Boehner standing his ground on the tax issue, but he did say the House will try to prevent another crisis, a government shutdown, which would potentially be later on in the month. Explain how that is separate from this spending cut crisis. Clearly, this is not a government shutdown but, you know, help people understand the differences here.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. The differences are very big and what we are going to see happen likely tonight is the beginning of cuts, about $85 billion over the year. This is about the basic function of the government. You know, Congress funds the government. They pass bills to do that. And those bills are going to run out. The funding of the government will run out on March 27th. So, we have known that that is the next thing to focus on here on Capitol Hill. And that House Republicans are already crafting a measure that we actually will probably see voted on next week.

Here is the catch, though. We heard some optimism from the speaker about that and even from the president. The catch is that it may not be that easy. House Republicans, the way that they're crafting it is to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year, the end of September, but to include in there a way to make these forced cuts more flexible or alleviate the pain by giving flexibility to the Department of Defense, focusing on the military.

The reason why that is potentially a nonstarter when it comes to the Senate -- there is a couple reasons. Number one, that's the kind of thing that Senate Democrats voted down just yesterday because Republicans in the Senate had a similar kind of legislation. But also because Senate Democrats, many of them, think that you don't just want to save the military. You want to do it across the board. So, if you're going to give the president flexibility, which is still a big if, a lot of members of Congress don't want to give up their power of the purse, but if they do that, they want to give it -- do it across the board and that is not, at this point, something that Republicans have been that interested in doing. They want to focus on defense. It seems small but it is potentially a very big thing that could be a problem --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BASH: -- as they're trying to figure out how to keep the government running at the end of the month.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Jessica Yellin at the White House. Thanks to both of you. More from you later on throughout the day.

All right, here is what else is coming up this hour. She was shot in a playground a few days after being in the celebration surrounding President Obama's inauguration. Hadiya Pendleton has become the face of gun violence in Chicago. But did you know more kids are killed in New Orleans? We'll talk with the New Orleans mayor next.

Then, actress Ashley Judd considering a run for Senate perhaps? Well, her appearances in D.C. are drumming up more speculation these days.

And the U.S. spends $190 billion a year treating obesity-related health conditions like diabetes. Hear why first lady Michelle Obama says we can start spending less by investing more in our health.

This is the CNN NEWSROOM and it's happening now.

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WHITFIELD: Detroit, the center of the U.S. auto industry, well last hour (ph) Michigan's Republican governor declared a financial emergency in the city. Governor Rick Snyder agrees with an independent financial review board that Detroit's finances are in terrible shape, but there is no viable solution to turn things around. So the state will take over city government operations. Detroit has ten days to appeal the decision. A state review board says the city has a $100 million cash shortfall and $14 billion in long term liabilities.

Gun violence epidemic is gripping the nation and New Orleans has long struggled with that problem. Last year alone, the city had 193 homicides. That's a slight reduction from the previous two years. But that still is eight imes worse than the rest of the nation. Average it out, the streets of New Orleans are seeing about 16 killings a month. But Mayor Mitch Landrieu is trying to change that with an initiative called "NOLA for life." (ph) It includes more than a dozen programs, among them is a public awareness campaign called "flip the script." He partnered with Spike Lee.

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New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu joining us now from Washington. Good to see you.

MITCH LANDRIEU, MAYOR, NEW ORLEANS: Hey Fredericka, how are you?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing good. So you launched this campaign in October. It has about a dozen programs within it. How does it work exactly? And are you seeing results? LANDRIEU: We're starting to see some measurable results but I think the big point is that we in New Orleans have faced what the nation needs to face. We have a huge problem with violence. It's actually an epidemic. So Hadiya Pendleton in Chicago is very similar to Briana Allen in New Orleans, or to the police officer in Alexandria that got shot ,or the police officer John Pizarro (ph) that got shot this weekend and is now paralyzed from the waist down. It is an epidemic and we have to deal with it.

And while Congress continues to argue about gun regulation, which is an important part of this, it's much, much deeper and it will require an all-hands on deck effort. And that's what "NOLA for life" tries to do to: get on the front of it, the middle of it, the end of it, and try everything to reduce the level of violence that's really threatening the viabilities of all of the cities in America.

WHITFIELD: And you say "try everything." So it's more than an awareness campaign. We're talking about especially in the city of New Orleans, when you look at the bulk of the violent crime, unfortunately, it is committed mostly by groups made up of mostly young black men and boys.

LANDRIEU: Correct.

WHITFIELD: And you have a program specifically geared at trying to target these young men, young boys, trying to I guess catch them before they get into trouble?

LANDRIEU: Well, the first we want to do is identify who was shooting and who was getting shot. And we found that African-American kids between 16 and 25, 88 percent of whom know each other, shooting each other with a handgun over what seems to be to rational people in inconsequential beef.

So one of the things that we did was we increased our recreation funding to make sure that we had the opportunity for kids to do something else. We increased job training programs. We actually now are taking the kids that are incarcerated and awaiting trial and those on probation and doing what's called a call-in and offering them an alternative.

If they continue to shoot, we're going to go after them with everything we have to secure the streets. And if they choose to be at peace, we'll give them to the social service agencies and worker training and put them in the front of the line.

But it requires a federal, state and local input and requires more resources, not less. And at the end of the day when you think about this historically in this nation since 1980, 611,000 people have been killed on the streets of America. So this isn't an inconsequential problem. It is something that affects almost every area in the United States of America.

WHITFIELD: And you mentioned the investments have to come from the federal level, state level, local level, but then tonight as we talk about the forced government spending cuts going into effect, you've met with other mayors, many of you meeting there in D.C. How might these budget cuts impact programs there in New Orleans?

LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, they will impact them fairly dramatically. Opponents say it's a 2 percent cut. But when you add that on top of cuts over the last couple of years and the financial difficulties of the city, we're not (ph) all in the same peril of Detroit, but every city in America is facing the difficulties of actually delivering the services to the people.

So the folks up in Washington can talk a lot about theory. But on the ground when they say do more with less, the reality is you do less with less. And there is no question about that. And when we have to fight something as a nation, it requires both the federal, state, local, not for profits, faith based organizations, all to come in. And we will around the national purpose. And I can't think of one more important than securing the streets of America for our kids.

WHITFIELD: And so when we talk about federal lunch programs for kids, is it a significant population of kids that were relying on those programs that will now perhaps not be able to count on them?

LANDRIEU: Absolutely. All of that stuff matters. Somebody yesterday said don't worry about it, it's not going to be the end of the world. And what I wonder, as a mayor is since when did "it's not going to be the end of the world" become the standard of excellence for America? That's not the standard we need to focus on. We have to have communities where people are safe, where people have a job, where people can do the things necessary to raise their families. And in too many cities in America, we don't have that and it requires an all- hands on deck approach to get this thing done.

WHITFIELD: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, thanks so much joining us from Washington, D.C. Today.

LANDRIEU: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Actress Ashley Judd going to run for state Senate, U.S. Senate? How her appearances in D.C. seem to be drumming up a lot more speculation these days.

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WHITFIELD: After a launch from Florida this morning, SpaceX says there is a problem with the Dragon capsule. The company has a contract with NASA to re-supply the international space station, but right now two of the four thruster pods are working. Engineers are working to try to solve the problem.

Actress Ashley Judd is not saying for sure yet if she plans to run for political office, but she is back in Washington today to speak at two events. Judd will reportedly announce by early May if she will challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. Erin McPike joining me now from Washington, one of our new correspondents. Good to see you, Erin.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You, too. WHITFIELD: So for those who don't know, Judd has been very involved recently in politics. And she campaigned for President Obama during the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Is she getting a lot of pressure from people to say she needs to put that Harvard Kennedy school government masters degree to good use in terms of running for office?

MCPIKE: Well, Ashley Judd is making repeated trips to Washington while she considers taking on Mitch McConnell. She's here again this weekend to give back to back speeches on some of her pet issues, reproductive rights for women and health and assistance for women and girls in India.

When she announces her decision, it will be around the time of the Kentucky Derby shines a national spotlight on the Bluegrass State. But Republicans think the attention she will get this weekend for aligning herself with these more liberal causes make for an odd way to roll out a Senate campaign in the south.

Now already Republicans are slamming her for supporting President Obama who of course remains unpopular and a much more conservative Kentucky. Top Senate Republican adviser Kevin McLaughlin (ph) told CNN Republicans are champing at the bit to see Judd jump to the race. He also said Mitch McConnell will make sure if Judd runs, her experience will be perfectly miserable and that a Senate race against him won't make for a Hollywood ending for her.

But Democrats insist McConnell is vulnerable to any challenger including Judd. Here in Washington, national Democrats won't even admit to strategizing with her just yet and in Kentucky, Democratic officials are openly wondering whether or not she'll bring down the whole ticket.

WHITFIELD: Of course the video we're seeing is when she was at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina. That's when people started talking seriously about will she, won't she seek public office. Thanks so much Erin McPike, appreciate that.

Ashley Judd will be talking about women's health issues and reproductive rights at an event held at George Washington University at 3:00. And you can watch part of it right here on CNN.

Michelle Obama rallying to get school kids more physically active. Her let's move message next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Just because it's hard, doesn't mean we should stop trying.

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