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Certain Spending Already Approved And Implemented; Jeffrey Bush Dead In Sinkhole; Hugo Chavez Fighting For Life; Speculation About The Next Pope; Apps That Help Save Money

Aired March 02, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It's 3:00 p.m. on the east coast. Thank you for joining us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here is the look of the top stories.

Ready or not, four spending cuts now a reality. $85 billion will be slashed from federal spending over the next seven months. President Barack Obama signed the order last night after the White House and congressional leaders failed to come up with an alternative. Defense spending will hit the hardest. Congress will take another stab at replacing the cuts with another less severe plan, perhaps later on this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, were you crying when you were shooting him?

JODI ARIAS, ACCUSED KILLING TRAVIS ALEXANDER: I don't remember.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you crying when you were stabbing him?

ARIAS: I don't remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: No holds barred. Cross-examination, Jodi Arias is forced to re-enact how her boyfriend allegedly tackled her when she shot him. Arias admits that she later stabbed and killed Travis Alexander she claims in self-defense, but prosecutors argue she killed him out of jealousy. Arias returns to the stand on Monday. We have more on the work cut out for her defense team in just a moment.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is said to be fighting for his life, this as the opposition takes to twitter, accusing the government. Aside from photos, Chavez has not been seen or heard from since the October elections. Meantime, his supporters held a mass in the chapel of the Venezuelan military hospital where Chavez is said to be receiving cancer treatments.

All right. Back here in the U.S., intense fear in Florida that a growing sinkhole could swallow a second home. The hole opened under a bedroom yesterday, and it sucked a man right into the ground.

CNN's John Zarrella joining us live from the neighborhood where the ground is too unstable to try to recover the body.

So, John, what can be done in the area to try to secure things?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Fredricka, the efforts right now are on going to trying to determine exactly the dimensions of the sinkhole and not just the sinkhole itself but the surrounding materials, the surrounding earth around it. You know, they determined that the sinkhole underneath the house was 25, 30 feet deep and perhaps deepening, as well as widening out beyond the 30 feet that already existed as of last night.

And because of what they were finding in the soil sampling and the ground penetrating radar, they had evacuated houses on either side of that house. And today, the folks that live in the houses on either side were allow god into their homes for about 30 minutes or so today to get out whatever belongings they could.

We saw them carryings out boxes. We saw them carrying out some small pieces of furniture, even television sets, you know, even a dog kennel at one point was brought out for those just so they could get as much of their stuff out as they possibly could because of the concern that those houses on either side are also perhaps compromised by the ground that they sit on.

Now, the other part of the equation is that Jeremy Bush, the brother of Jeff Bush who apparently has died in that sinkhole, Jeremy was the one who went in there first to his room, tried to dig his brother out, tried to get him out to no avail. Today, he was out there again. He laid flowers on this side of the street as close as he could get to the house. And after laying the flowers, he knelt for a while and he was in tears, visibly still very shaken, emotional over the events that transpired.

And, you know, one of the things, Fredericka that the family went through, of course, that agonizing almost instantaneous trauma that they suffered was making the 911 call. Here's a portion of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need an ambulance. Somebody's stuck underneath a house. The house just fell through.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. What happened to the house?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bedroom floor just collapsed and my brother-in-law is underneath there. He's under the house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hold on one second. Let me connect you with EMS, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: So a continuation today of the efforts to try to figure out the dimensions. You can probably hear the noise behind me. It's the ground penetrating device. It's on this side of the street. Now, it doesn't mean there's a problem on this side of the street. They are just trying to get a handle on where there is soft sand, where there is soft clay, and exactly at what point does the ground become stable around it so they can try to figure out a way to get into that house across the street, if they can get into that house.

WHITFIELD: God. Extraordinary! It's so hard to believe and certainly so sad for that family.

All right, John Zarrella, thanks so much, from Seffner, Florida.

And just a short time ago I actually spoke with one woman who has been living in the house where the sinkhole happened. I asked her if anything happened in the hours or even day before this bizarre and tragic incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. There was no nothing. There is no noise, no cracks, no nothing. No signs, no indications or anything.

WHITFIELD: Simply came out of nowhere. So then when it happened, describe for me, a, what happened in your view, and what happened immediately following?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, right when it happen, it sounded like somebody had just rammed our house with a cargo at about 100 miles an hour, and then you hear his scream and that's it. You just hear scream.

WHITFIELD: What part of the house were you in at this time?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in the bedroom right next to him.

WHITFIELD: OK. And so, you heard the big noise, you heard him scream. Did you, you know, come running out of your bedroom? What did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I jumped out of my bed, it had also taken my closet, and it was about 20 feet away from my closet, my bed where I was sleeping.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, pretty extraordinary. Details right there. Janelle says she's asking right now for everyone's prayers.

All right, now, let's get back to those a force spending cuts and someone who isn't buying all the dire predictions. That would be Mitt Romney. And in fact, the former presidential candidate calls those mandated spending cut a real opportunity to help the economy recover and blames politics for getting in the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is an opportunity. See, I look at the sequester and also the expiration of the Bush tax cuts as an almost once in generational opportunity for America to solve its fiscal problems. If we do that, we could become more competitive globally and America can lead the world for the coming century.

I mean I see this as this huge opportunity and it's being squandered by politics, by people who are more interested in a political victory than they are in doing what's right for the country, and it's very frustrating. I have to tell you the hardest thing about losing is watching this critical moment, this golden moment slip away with politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And even though, President Obama signed the order to trigger spending cuts, that hasn't stopped the parties from blaming each other.

Let's bring in chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.

So, what now, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, as we speak, those cuts are starting to kick in. Now, it is important to note, it's going to be kind of a slow roll. It will take several weeks, you know, or even longer.

But you know, Fredricka, we have heard a lot about head start, you know, effectively nursery school for kids, child care for kids, we have heard about lines at the airports, but there are so many different things.

I just want to show our viewers of the random sampling of the cuts that were put out by the administration last night. $28 million from OSHA, what's OSHA, that is the federal agencies that dictate safety in the workplace, not a small thing, $24 million for small business loans. That if going to be cut as well. Even Republicans say small businesses are the engine of the country. They are going to see a cut and help there. $15 million on a FEMA loan program, of course, that's disaster relief and then $2 million for grain inspection. Of course, that is important to everybody because almost everybody unless you're on an Atkins diet eat grain.

So, these are just some, again, just a random sampling of the kinds of cuts that really will affect everyone across the board and the country.

WHITFIELD: So, the other big potential obstacle or hurdle is the government shutdown and that's what's being threatened at the end of the month. So, what can be or should be done to avert it?

BASH: Well, that was probably the only bit of news at all, good or bad, that came out of this meeting that the president had with congressional leaders yesterday. The president said that he does not want to have a government shutdown. He will do what he can to avoid that. And the House speaker, Republican House speaker John Boehner said the same thing? Of course, one when we get down to it, how are they going to do it? The devil is always in the details. The House is going to move forward this coming week on a piece of legislation to do just that, to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year, September 30th. But, there are some policy differences on how they are going to do it, of course, and how Democrats who are in the senate want this to go down. Basically the difference between giving some flexibility or leeway to Pentagon versus what Democrats want to do. They say if you want to do, and you also have to do the same to domestic programs.

So those are some of the differences, but the sources I talked to in the Senate, Democrats who run the senate say that the signal that they got from the president yesterday was figure it out, fix it, we don't want, yet, another bit of Washington drama.

WHITFIELD: All right.

BASH: In 25 days.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash, thank you in Washington.

BASH: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Meantime, out west, an 8-year-old girl becomes an innocent victim of a senseless drive-by shooting. Police think the gunmen were really after someone else.

And a tough week on the stand for Jodi Arias, she says she killed her boyfriend in self-defense. We will tell you how prosecutors tried to prove otherwise.

And this horrifying moment on a bus, the bus driver passing out at the wheel. What happened? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Jodi Arias' defense team has its work cut out for it. Prosecutors relentlessly questioned this week about that day when she killed her ex-boyfriend. Arias says she killed Travis Alexander in self-defense. But prosecutor says the details that she gave about what happened that day don't add up. We want to warn you. Some of the details of this story are very graphic.

Jean Casarez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, IN SESSION: With Jodi Arias still on the stand, this was the week of cross-examination. Jodie testified that after she was body slammed by Travis on floor of the bathroom, she ran not out of the bathroom but into the closet and climbed to the top shelf to retrieve a gun that she knew Travis have. She came out of the closet with Travis right there not leaving the bathroom but confronting him with that gun in both hands she aimed it at him.

She demonstrated in court how Travis been lunched at her like a linebacker. The gun went off. She said Travis then issued a profanity to her culminating with killing you. She said that after that they both fell to the floor. She remembered nothing else.

The prosecutor countered her on every bit of her story by saying you say that Travis had a gun in the closet, but yet in that moment of terror, there's not one thing out of place in the closet and the crime scene photos show that.

He also said her story didn't matched the forensics because of all the blood at the scene, because of the bullet casing that was on top of blood, meaning it came last, not first. Although, she testified that she blacked out, she did admit many things, that she stabbed Travis multiple times, that she slid his throat from ear to ear, that she found a cup under the bathroom sink and was responsible for all the cleanups. She admitted taking the gun with her and throwing it into the dessert. And she also admitted that she also tried not to implicate her in anything to show that she was not in Mesa, Arizona, and she was not the killer of Travis Alexander.

Reporting in Phoenix, I'm Jean Casarez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Arias is back on the stand on Monday to face more questions from her attorney. The defense can ask about anything, the prosecutor actually brought up. Then, after the defense is through, the jury can said may questions and if the judge thinks it's appropriate, Arias has to answer them.

On to Fresno, California now, an 8-year-old girl is in stable condition after being injured during a drive-by shooting. Aleah Cha (ph) was sleeping in the living room of her house when it happened Thursday morning. Police say people a few people pulled up and fired more than two dozen bullets in to the house. They believe one of Aleah's older brothers was the target.

All right, back to those force spending cuts now a reality. In a minute, we will try to explain why the markets aren't showing a whole lot of concern. And what's the risk to your own investments. What you need to know about hanging onto your own money next.

And this week's CNN hero spent 13 years delivering babies before a back injury forced her to stop. And now, she's found a new way to bring babies and mothers safely through childbirth. She calls it solar suitcase. Meet Dr. Laura Stachel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOCTOR LAURA STACHEL, CNN HERO (voice-over): There's a traditional African saying that when you become pregnant that you have one foot in the grave. There are so many women dying in child birth in many communities. Pregnancy is feared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the last month recorded, four women actually died against to complications.

STACHEL: When I went to Africa, I saw these women one after another coming in with complications and we didn't even have adequate light to treat them.

Welcome to the world, everyone.

A lot of the clinics don't have any electricity. Midwifes use care seen lanterns, they may use candles. They use their cell phones to deliver babies. Once I witnessed the things that I saw, I had to do something about it.

My name is Dr. Laura Stachel. I'm helping to provide a simple and reliable solar lightning and power source so that mothers and babies can be saved during child birth.

Hospitals and clinics receive the solar suitcase for free.

So, the charge controller is very important. Solar suitcase provides medical quality lighting. It charges cell phones. It has a small battery charger for head lamps and the fetal Doppler that we include.

Perfect, that's it.

Mothers are now eager to come to the clinics. It's shifted it around to the health care worker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This light is going to bring around good changes.

STACHEL: Turn this on. There you to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.

STACHEL: You're so welcome.

I really want a world where women and their families get to celebrate birth and I would love to be part of making that happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's incredible. Solar suitcases are helping health care workers save lives in 20 countries now. To find out more about Stachel's effort or if you know someone who's making a big difference in someone's lives to go to CNNheroes.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: If Wall Street is concerned over the rollout of force spending cuts, it is surely not showing it, the Dow finished higher yesterday and is still flirting with an all-time high.

Alison Kosik takes a closer look from the New York stock exchange.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. It was quite a roller coaster week on Wall Street. But no new record high yet for the Dow, still the threat of forced spending cuts didn't really affect market movement this week. Investors have factored the cuts into their thinking for months. And stocks, they remain attractive because the Federal Reserve continues to pour in the stimulus.

Bernanke told Congress the fed had no plans to rein in spending on bonds. Bernanke said recent gains in the stock market are justified but he did warned that government spending cuts would put a significant burden on the economy.

JC Penny said Ron Johnson, never mind about that revolutionary new strategy the retailer launched last year. JC Penny reported an almost 30 percent drop in sales from 2012. Their profit margins, yes, they shrunk as well. Reaction to the new strategy has been so bad, Pennies had to sell so much more stuff on clearance that they are losing even more money than in the old days off sales and coupons. So, guess what? The weekly sales are coming back.

Barnes & Noble chairman and founder wants to separate the brick and mortar stores from the struggling nook e-vat unit. Leonard Riggio wants to protect the stores against sliding scales while the unit is still profitable. Barnes & Noble reported a net loss of $6.1 million since 2012 dragged down by a $190 million lost for the nook.

A new report sheds more light on the head winds breaking more the stores are facing. Analytics firm placed says bed bath and beyond as the retails chain most vulnerable to show rooming. That's when shoppers try out products in the store but buy them on amazon.com for a lower price.

PetSmart was a close second. JC Penny and Barnes & Noble, both made at the top 10. There is one way many retailers are trying to fight show rooming and Best buy price matching. Of the ten most at risk of show rooming, eight have some kind of price match policy. Another way offers exclusive products. For example, target is featuring a line of swimwear featured in this year's "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit edition. And it can't back on Amazon - Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much Alison.

All right, so, we know what the market thinks of the force spending cuts. But should you be adjusting your own investment strategies?

I want to bring in Kenneth Polcari. He is the director of floor operations for O'Neil securities joining me now from New York.

Good to see you, Kenneth.

KENNETH POLCARI, DIRECTOR OF FLOOR OPERATIONS, O'NEIL SOLUTIONS: Fredricka, thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. So, let's start right there. You know, these cuts, are they big enough that they will trickle down to our 401(k)s in some way, shape, or form?

POLCARI: No. I think there's a lot of anxiety being created out that for really not a lot of reason and the market actually telling you that, right? It is not - doesn't seem to be concerned at all. It didn't come out of left field. It didn't hit us upside ahead without us knowing it, right? We've been talking about it for 18 months. They put this in place 18 months ago to try to force the politicians to come together and in fact in the end they can't come together and so the market's well prepared for it.

WHITFIELD: And so, you say the market does look six, seven, eight months ahead and it's the long term that it's more, I guess, concerned about or would react to not necessarily these immediate cuts.

POLCARI: That's right. The market is a discounting mechanism, right? So, it is not pricing in what is going to happen tomorrow. The market only reacts like that when something so unexpected happens that the market wasn't prepared. And a perfect example is what happened on Monday in Italy, right? The market had itself prepared for a reaction and a new political landscape that it very well expected. And when that didn't happen, it became clear not only to the Europeans but it became clear to the U.S. markets and the Asian markets. That this was vastly different from what they had been prepared for and that's when you kind of saw this global reaction around the world where markets kind of sold off. Then they regroup and they started going right back after kind of assessed, OK, this is the new landscape, now we re-price and then we to go from there. And bang, our markets went right back to where they were. Testing and teasing really the highs, so not concerned at all about the sequestration cuts because it is well prepares for it.

WHITFIELD: So then, your advice to long-term investors, you say, you know, stay the course, don't panic.

POLCARI: Right. Well, you shouldn't panic in cases like this because listen, again, we have been talking about it, right? And any pullback, quite honestly, as a long-term investor, any pullback is going to be welcome because it's going give you an opportunity as you invest over a period of time. It averages out, right?

So, as stocks actually get a little bit weaker, you're going to end up buying more stock with the same amount of money than you would if stocks were higher. And so, in fact, in fact, you should stay the course. Unless something so dramatic changes across the broad landscape should you really consider - should you really consider a major move. But don't forget, investing is very dynamic. It is not static. It is not something you do and just put in the closet and forget about it if you constantly kind of twicking it, but you never actually thinks like this should not cause you to make a rash decision at all.

WHITFIELD: And Ken, you know, people love your economic advice because they love the fact that, and you know, you blog about great financial advice and then you also talk about food, you know, favorite recipes and you've done the same. And the recipe that you are featuring at, you know, Kennypolcari.com, this time you think really does kind of fit the flavor of the political climate. It's inexpensive and it's kind of a mix of everything, this jiambatta (ph).

POLCARI: Right. And when I pick my recipe, I try to tie it to the mood of the market. Jiambatta (ph), which is really a combination of everything, right? You take it -- it's like you take everything out of the fridge that's in there and you put it in the pot and cook it up. And it feels like the way the current market feels at the moment. But you know, the global economy is still in kind of a mess. It's a stew. It's thick. And so, that's exactly what this dish is.

WHITFIELD: And your recipe is there. Food always makes everyone feel better.

POLCARI: And you can get it on the Web site.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

All right, Kennethpolcari.com is where you can get the recipe and, of course, other great financial advice.

Thank you so much, Kenny. Good to see you from New York.

POLCARI: Thanks so much.

WHITFIELD: Can't wait to get that recipe going, too. Yes.

OK. Wait a minute, you New Yorkers. Do you do the "harlem shake," Kenny? Well, you know it's the newest and latest craze. This time it's shaking up the FAA too because of what happened on a flight 30,000 feet up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. It's 3:30 on the East Coast, 12:30 out West. For those of you just joining us, welcome to the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield with a look at the top stories right now.

We've all heard how much is going to be chopped in the four (ph) spending cuts of $85 billion, but many of you want to know how this is going to hit home. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says he has some real concerns about how this will hit his department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Under sequestration, we'll do the best we can to minimize the harm that actually occurs as a result of the sequestration, but the reality is there is going to be harm. There is going to be pain, and the American people are going to be less safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFILED: Tom Foreman is in Washington. He's here to help us with this real reality check. All right, so, the Justice Department's budget is being cut by roughly $1.5 billion. Somewhere between nine and 13 percent for most agencies. But there is some room for concern. Even Holder there, he actually said that might mean that some Americans are less safe. Those are strong words.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Less safe. Yes. Fred, those are really explosive words when you think about it. I mean, we've heard about all these other cuts that might cause delays in getting somewhere and some people getting less in their unemployment benefits. But the idea that all of us might be less safe is a big concern.

Let's look at the math to understand why he's saying that. You hit the number (INAUDIBLE) right there. They were supposed to get $27 billion. Under sequestration, they get $1.6 billion less. So, $25.4 billion to run their agency. This is why he says this would make us less safe, because you'd have furloughs at the FBI, ATF inspections, people doing gun backgrounds, all of that stuff would be involved. You'd have lockdowns in prisons because you'd have less people to guard folks.

And all sorts of things that fall under the purview of the Justice Department would have to be done at a lesser level or with fewer people. That's what he's saying and that's why he says we will be less safe because it comes down to that number, $25.4 billion.

But here, Fred, is the problem and one of the reasons the administration has been taking heat as it keeps putting out these very ominous warnings like this. Look at this. This is the budget for the Justice Department over a period of years from 2002 to where we are today. If you look at the level we were talking about a minute ago, that's right about here. That's where it is. That's what he's talking about.

And look at this. What that means is there are really only three years since 2002 where we were not at or below the level that Eric Holder now says will make us less safe. So, the question makes us were we less safe all of these years? You know, I don't think we were necessarily less safe, in part because the indication during that time and for quite some time has been that national crime levels have been steadily dropping. That's one of the reasons that it's been so complicated when the administration has tried to put out these dire warnings, and others push back and say the facts just don't support that it will be necessarily less safe.

Is it a problem? Maybe. Does it pose a challenge? Yes. Will these agencies be strapped and could there be problems? Yes. But when they throw out words like that, that gives the opposition something to push back on and say don't overreach.

WHITFIELD: OK. So there are a lot of critics there, out there because of the language being used, including many Republicans. Did they make a good argument?

FOREMAN: Well, I think they do in the sense that if you look at some of these things, whether the Transportation Department or the Education Department or in this case, the attorney general, there were statements made this past week that gave it a sense it was going to blow up right now. And there's just no real sign that that's going to happen.

However, this is important to bear in mind. In the end, one of the real dangers could be you say something like it's going to be less safe right now and people look at this. They look around this week, next week, the next week, and they say nothing has really changed. It's not less safe.

The problem is -- this is a little bit like the frog in the boiling pot problem, Fred. Initially, when the water is not hot, the frog does not move. But that water slowly and slowly heats up, and by the team the frog realizes it, it's cooked. These problems will slowly heat up over weeks and months. And if nothing changes about the sequester, then you might reach a point where statements like this really are true, but that may be so far down the line that by the time you get there, people feel like they can't trust someone because the warning came far too early. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Tom Foreman, thanks so much. We appreciate that.

All right. Let's talk about the next pope and what that pope may face. Some pretty major issues within the U.S. Catholic Church. There's a growing number of Latino church members, and only a few Latino priests.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The reign of Pope Benedict XVI is over, and now the cardinals are making their way to the Vatican to choose a new leader of the Catholic Church. The first of a series of meetings actually begins Monday, but there's no word yet on when the papal conclave will take place.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Peter Churkin of Turkson is not running for pope, but he clearly has a lot of supporters who want him to lead the Catholic Church. Posters with his picture have been plastered around Rome, urging cardinals to vote for Turkson. But political-style campaigning for the papacy, well that's forbidden. Insiders say the posters are unlikely to have been produced with the cardinal's knowledge. If elected, Turkson would be the first non-European to lead the Catholic Church in more than a thousand years.

The face of the American Catholic population is changing. The growing number of the faithful are young and Hispanic, but that's not at the case for their priests. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Frederika, just imagine sitting inside the Vatican right now, listening to the conversations and deliberations about the legacy of Benedict XVI and the future of the Catholic Church that would be defined by a new pope. Well, a number of Catholics, especially in the United States, are hoping that some changes would be made to reflect the reality of the times.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FEYERICK (voice-over): When the new pope tries to reach out to American Catholics, he may find himself face-to-face with many who have Latin American roots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Latin.)

FEYERICK (voice-over): Across the nation, the face of the U.S. Catholic Church is changing fast.

GREG SMITH, PEW RESEARCH CENTER: We've reached the point where about one-third of all Catholics in the United States are Latinos, and among Catholics who are under the age of 40, about half are Latinos.

FEYERICK (voice-over): But the face of the church hierarchy hasn't changed much at all. Just over 10 percent of U.S. Catholic bishops and seven percent of priests are Latino.

BILL MURRAY, CATHOLIC: I think we have challenges in the church that are pretty wide known. You know, increasing the congregation. Less and less people are going to the Catholic Church. I think we've -- maybe even a South American pope would help. You know, it doesn't have to be a European or an Italian.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Demographic shifts are not the only issue the Vatican faces in the U.S. Church. It's bad news for Catholics when their numbers are growing, yet participation is falling.

SMITH: When we ask Catholics what do you think the next pope should do, what are your hopes for the next pope, we see definite indicators that many Catholics want to see some changes. Most Catholics tell us, for instance, that it would be a good thing if the next pope allows priests to get married. Most Catholics tell us that it would be a good thing if the next pope is from the developing world.

FEYERICK (voice-over): And as the number of priests decline, some question whether women should fill the void. A quarter of all Americans are Catholic, making them the fourth-largest Catholic population in the world. But that doesn't mean the church will change to address their concerns.

CURTIS SEIDEL, CATHOLIC PRIEST: When it comes to faith and morals, that the church's teachings are, while they need to be in dialogue with contemporary culture, they need to stand independent of that culture.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Meanwhile, some U.S. Catholics are voting with their feet. Catholic elementary schools lost a quarter of their student population in 10 years. There are fewer baptisms, burials, even fewer Catholic weddings.

SEIDEL: There's a lot of discord in the American Catholic Church, I think. There's a lot of tension between different factions and what not. And to help reconcile all of these different elements and help the church move forward, I think is something that nights to be of concern to all Catholics. FEYERICK (voice-over): So as we await the white smoke signaling a new pope and hope for the American faithful, it remains to be seen whether the latest smoke signals will be influenced by the winds of change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: All eyes on the Vatican, the faithful, the hopeful, and the optimistic. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Deb.

All right, those mandated spending cuts are making people nervous what are already pretty uncertain times. We'll show you a few apps that can save you money at the gas pump and elsewhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Taking a new trend to new heights. Take a look at this.

(VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. Here we to go again. How many times have you seen the Harlem Shake? How many versions? Well, this one has caught the FAA by surprise. They're looking into whether this video of a group of college students doing the Harlem Shake on a flight from Denver to San Diego, they want to know if this dance was done while in the air, on approach, should they have been buckled up. An investigation by the FAA is underway.

All right. And this is something we can all agree on, saving money, right? We all want to know how do it. And now that the spending cuts are in effect, uncertain times are even more worrisome. Our Laurie Segall joins us now with a few mobile apps to help keep some cash in your pocket. There's an app for that. There's apps for everything.

All right, so tell me how we're using these apps to budget.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Sure. There is a great one for budgeting. It's called Learn Vest (ph). And it's a lot like Mint.com, but I like the way it looks online. Essentially, you can go in, put in your card information, and it will analyze where you're spending what. Are you spending this much on travel, on shopping? And it's really an easy way to get an idea where all your money is going.

Essentially, it's not just that. You can actually upgrade. You can pay $69 and essentially talk with a financial planner who will call, look over what you're doing and say, Laura, you can do this a little bit better. They'll put you through a boot camp. You've got 10 days essentially. They'll analyze what you're doing, they'll analyze where you're spending your money and that kind of thing. And they'll say, this is what you can do at the end of it. They'll give you a quiz on it. So, it's really -- they're kind of, Fredricka, they're selling a lifestyle. You'll receive a daily newsletter talking about how you can get out of debt. You can track all of you spending. It's the kind of thing that's selling a lifestyle. It's saying if you really want to commit to changing how you live, go online. Go to Learn Vest. It's free, unless you pay to have that financial adviser.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And then perhaps you have favorite stores you'd like to go to and you want to know what sales are being offered. There's an app for that too.

SEGALL: Yes. As you said, definitely an app for everything, but it's the kind of thing where there's so many deals out there, so many coupons out there. One I think - one Web site called Retail Me Not. Essentially have a mobile app, too. You're looking at it right there. And essentially, you can go in, and they have deals with thousands of retailers. Everyone from Neiman Marcus to Pizza Hut. They all have coupons on there.

And we're entering this age where it's not just that we're cutting out coupons and bringing them in store. Now you can just download it on your app there, download it on your smartphone. You can bring your phone in, and you can show them the coupon and you can redeem it in-store. You can also receive alerts for deals nearby, which is pretty interesting. They use geofencing. So, you're walking down the street, Fredricka, and you get a deal that says hey, you can get 20 percent off here. And on average, people are saving about $20 per purchase. Which, that's pretty significant if you look at it.

WHITFIELD: It really is. And of course, we all want to save money as it pertains to gas, and there's an app for that, too.

SEGALL: Definitely. Gas prices are definitely going up. And it's the kind of thing where you might be spending a little bit too much at the gas station. And Gas Buddy, essentially you can download it. It's very, very basic. It will show you the gas stations nearby, how much it will cost per gallon. And it also shows you -- in case you can't find your way there, it has GPS naval directions. So, this is a very, very basic one.

But look, every little -- cutting costs, every little thing counts. And it really does add up.

WHITFIELD: Right! No excuse for saving money. There's a way to do it. Lots of guidance here.

All right. Thanks so much, Laurie Segall. Appreciate it.

So, for more high-tech ideas and reviews, just go to CNN.com/tech, and look for the Gaming and Gadgets tab.

All right. Millions watched a viral video of a pig saving a baby goat. Yes? Well, the pig may not be the hero that many people thought he was. I'll explain later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Michigan's largest city is about to be taken over by the state. Detroit, which has long-term debt of $14 billion, is about to get an emergency financial manager appointed by Governor Rick Snyder. He says it's the only way to reverse Detroit's dire fiscal problems. The emergency manager will have the power to cut spending, sell city assets, and throw out contracts.

The city of Los Angeles is using a new tactic to get registered sex offenders out of neighborhoods, building three new parks. California state law bars registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a park or school. City officials say offenders who live near the new parks will have no choice but to move. More than 80 offenders live near the site of just one of the parks.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One. And liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon.

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WHITFIELD: Oh, but trouble for an unmanned space vessel carrying a ton of supplies for the International Space Station. Three of its four thrusters hit a glitch shortly after takeoff. Engineers scrambled to fix the problem, but they now have control of the Dragon. The spacecraft belongs to the private company SpaceX.

You have probably seen the video online of what seemed like an amazing rescue, but it turns out one little pig may have been anything but a hero. Here is Jeanne Moos.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a tale of two rescues. This one's fake, and this one's real. A deer, unable to get up on a slippery ice-covered Canadian bay, was rescued by a helicopter's spinning blades.

IAN WAUGH, PILOT: The wash was so powerful that it actually started to push the deer.

MOOS: Pushed her all the way to shore.

But, oh, dear! The pig pushing a baby goat is a hoax. It was put on YouTube five months ago, picked up by tons of Web sites, tweeted out by everyone from "TIME" magazine to Ellen, and played by networks like FOX, NBC, and ABC.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little goat is literally drowning in the pond.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Send in the rescue pig!

MOOS: But now, just in time for the premiere of a new Comedy Central show, the prank's been exposed in a "New York Times" article. Mission... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To create a hero pig by staging a viral video in which he rescues a baby goat.

MOOS: Some were already suspicious. "You can see an arm," noted one Internet sleuth! And sure enough, the host of the Comedy Central show that pulled the hoax reveals divers were involved, as well as a trained, professional pig.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we decided to build an underwater trap out of PVC to guide the big, like a bowling ball going down a bumper lane.

MOOS: At least Brian Williams acknowledged "Nightly News" had run the video.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: We'll just call it Pig-gate.

MOOS: Though at the time, they said they had no way of knowing if it was real.

(on camera): Now with the kind of pieces that I do, barely a day goes by that I don't worry about being hoaxed.

(voice-over): Though it didn't take lots of smarts to avoid the "eagle snatching a baby" hoax created by four film students...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED)!

MOOS: And then there was the overexcited train guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! Woo! Listen to that!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now there's excited train guy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Made a bit of a caboose out of himself.

MOOS: Who's the caboose now? Turns out this was a promotion for a tourist railway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That horn gives me the chills.

MOOS: So does this. It's supposedly security cam video of a naked guy locked out of his hotel room, causing a mom to hide her son's eyes and being asked for I.D. in the lobby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can I have a driver's license? I'm naked, ma'am.

MOOS (on camera): We call fake! Come on. Who's going to fall for that?

(voice-over): You know what they say about pigs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This little piggy went to market.

MOOS: Make that viral marketing.

Jeanne Moos, CNN...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh! She's beautiful!

MOOS: ... New York.

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WHITFIELD: Oh, my, my.

All right. On to very serious matters. Jodi Arias breaking down on the stand. She says she killed her ex boyfriend in self defense, but fired-up prosecutors spent the week countering every detail about that claim.

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