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GA Town Proposes Requiring Guns; Unemployment Rate Falls; NY Sugary Drink Ban is Complicated.

Aired March 08, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you know the saying, the long arm of the law. Well, one New Jersey cop appears to put it into action, punching a woman right in the face and then knocking her to the ground there. It happened during a scuffle -- whoa -- outside a nightclub, and it was caught on this cell phone video. No word on the woman's condition. An investigation is currently under way.

And a judge in Georgia minced no words in sentencing a man convicted of rape, home invasion and robbery. After the man cursed that he didn't want to hear the sentence, the judge declared, whether you want to hear it or not, you're an animal. End quote. He then sentenced him to seven consecutive life terms plus 270 years.

All right. Do you think crime would go down if every household had a gun? A Georgia town is proposing a requirement for each head of household to actually have a gun and ammunition. That town is 50 miles north of Atlantic.

Our Victor Blackwell is here to tell us all about this. And is this sitting well with residents there? They welcome this?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're split right now. There are some who say this is just a sham, others say most people in this town have a gun anyway. And we should say that essentially this a small town thumbing its nose at Washington. And I'll tell you why. This is not the first time this happened. Kennesaw, Georgia, has had a requirement for 25 years, and gun crimes have been pretty low there for 25 years.

But I spoke with Bill McNiff (ph) today. He is the issue's committee chairperson for the local Tea Party chapter. And he says this is a part of a campaign by his chapter, the Tea Party, to spread this across Georgia, across the country. And I asked him why. He said three reasons primarily. First, as a deterrent to criminals. Second, if there's an issue with the gun inside the home, police will know there should be a gun there, because it's required by law. Third, he said, and I wrote it down, to tell the federal government they're not going to take the guns away.

That may be the primary reason because, in this ordinance, there is no consequence for not having a gun.

So we spoke to -- we heard rather from some people who live in the city of Nelson, Georgia, about 1,400 people. Let's listen to them. OK. So we don't have that sound. But there's some who stay this is a sham. If there's no consequence, all it is really is a political statement. There are others who say most people here have a gun.

WHITFIELD: New arsenal in the political fight?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WHITFIELD: OK, so what kind of recourse if the resident says, I don't want to abide by this?

BLACKWELL: Well, that's part of the law. They said, if you have some religious or belief system that opposes owning weapons, if you have mental issues that would make it unsafe for you, then you should not own a gun --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: You don't have to, or if you're a felon, those exemptions.

I think we have that sound from the people who live in Nelson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most everybody that lives here that are original residents here have always had firearms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the point? By their own admission, this is a sham ordnance. It's just for play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I got a statement from the mayor of Nelson just a few moments ago. He said he wanted to make sure that people knew the city would offer gun safety classes if people want it. But, again, in bold print, there will be no consequence if you don't own a gun. It's really a statement.

WHITFIELD: All right. And now a fascinating story, too.

BLACKWELL: It is, indeed. April 1st, they will make the decision if it will go into effect.

WHITFIELD: OK, so keep us posted on that.

BLACKWELL: Will do.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. Victor Blackwell, appreciate that.

Hate groups in the U.S. are on the rise. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports an 7 percent increase in so-called patriot extremes in 2012 over the year before. That's a total of more than 1,300 groups. Most are anti-government militias.

And then, there was this story out of Texas. Two students at a junior high school outside of Houston were recently disciplined for making racist taunts against an African-American student.

Here's what his mother told our affiliate, KTRK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAHIYYAH HOWARD, PARENT: The girl wrote on the board, "Black Justin," in front of the class. My son was really upset. They put it on his desk and said that he was invited to a KKK birthday party with lots of fun and games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Another African-American parent called the racist behavior the norm. She said, quote, "We are the minorities and we're treated as the minorities," end quote.

Bill Gates says the education system is failing our kids. Speaking at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, the Microsoft founder said tablet computers, Smartphones, e-readers and digital textbooks are key to turning things around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, CO-FOUNDER, MICROSOFT: The college level, our dropout rates are the highest in the world. With this wave of software being created that personalizes to the student, it goes at their speed, it understands which concepts they don't understand, helps them maybe go back and look at a lecture about the material. There's a real promise here that the kids can be engaged in a way that hasn't been possible before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Gates says America's education system is at a technology tipping point -- his words. He says some educators are now considering making all textbooks digital.

And as we've reported, the February jobs report shows the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since 2008. But are the jobs being added good jobs? We'll explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Several women from around the world will be honored at the State Department later today for putting their lives at risk in the name of women's rights. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and First Lady Michelle Obama will preside over the Women of Courage ceremony. The women come from everywhere, from Afghanistan to Somalia to Russia and Honduras. Here is why they are working so hard. 60 percent of the world's hungry are female. More than 500 million do not know how to read or write. Seven out of 10 women have experienced physical or sexual violence.

Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was given an honor today. She was named this year's recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. The JFK Library says, despite Giffords' injuries, she has demonstrated political, personal and physical courage in her fearless public advocacy for policy reforms aimed at reducing gun violence. Giffords was shot and wounded at a Congress on the Corner event in Tucson, Arizona, at a grocery store in 2011.

As we've reported, the February jobs report shows the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since 2008. But are the jobs good? Are they good quality jobs that have been added?

Ali Velshi and Christine Romans explain -- Ali, Christine?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Let's talk about jobs. I have no idea what this is.

(LAUGHTER)

Christine is going to tell you about it.

What I do know is, in February, the United States created 236,000 net new jobs. I say net because it means jobs minus jobs lost. 236,000, way more than we expected.

But a long time ago, both presidential candidates said they're going to create three million over four years. That's $3 million a year. That's 250,000 a month.

You know what I said?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: What?

VELSHI: You remember. I said, if that happens, I'll wear a dress for a week. So I'm worried about the whole dress-wearing thing.

ROMANS: Let's look at the trend, since you bring this up. This is the trend. Here are all the jobs lost during the Great Recession and financial crisis.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: A really tough year and a half there. We tried to figure out if we could get some sustained job growth. Here's what it looks like more recently. On average, 195,000 jobs created every month.

If you go like this, Ali, you don't have to wear a dress. 196,000.

VELSHI: We like that.

ROMANS: You're not going to have to wear a dress. Is that right?

VELSHI: Well, the point is we want to wear this dress, right? As much as I don't to do it and you don't want me to, we want to be able to create this many jobs. That would be great if we are. But what is the question we're getting? Are these good quality jobs?

ROMANS: Let's look at some of the jobs are, OK? I want to show you a couple of places I think are important. Construction jobs, 48,000. That's the housing market recovery. Do you feel better if your house is worth more? Also, do you feel better if you're working on a house? Because that's a good paying job.

VELSHI: Could this have been related to Sandy?

ROMANS: A little bit of it started that way. But economists are saying it was first started with Sandy but now that's real job creation. 14,000 in manufacturing. That's a job that's been tentative but it has been holding in there. But we lost two and a half million manufacturing jobs, so 14,000. We'll take it.

Also, when you look at retail jobs, that's important. And health care jobs. Careful of those health care jobs. Some of them pay $19,000 a year. They're home health aides. Some of them are physical therapists, which pays six figures.

VELSHI: Right. But remember, there are a lot of different types of health care jobs, but these have never been negative. These are not been negative for years. All through the recession, we never gave up health care jobs. We've also got professional business services. That's a lot of what's going on. Mining jobs. May not like mining, but they're good paying jobs.

ROMANS: Let me give you one more thing to look at, Ali. You can discuss this. Here is private-sector job creation. That 246,000. That's 36 months in a row in that. And then, public-sector jobs. You're feeling these.

VELSHI: That's right. These are government jobs. We're going to see more of these in the sequester, those forced budget cuts. The bottom line is we are building the jobs in the private sector, companies are hiring, but the governments are laying off.

ROMANS: This is likely schools. See if it's not your job, you could be feeling it for the services you're getting in school.

VELSHI: All right, so it's an interesting jobs report. Generally positive. But important for you to look at, particularly if you're considering getting a new job or changing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, guys.

Well, despite the job gains, a new study shows workers are doing a lot more work but not making more money. Check out this graphic from the Economic Policy Institute. You can see the line for productivity going way up since 1948. Productivity measures the goods and services we generate per hour worked. That rose 248 percent. But then, look at the wages. Hourly compensation has only gone up 113 percent, less than half of productivity. And it got way worse after 1978. You can see the two lines diverging there. Wages stayed stagnant or went down while productivity skyrocketed.

All right, health care in America. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is out with a new film that takes a look at the holes in our system.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Did you know, in America, you are two or three times as likely to get a heart stint than other Western countries? You're also twice as likely to get a knee replaced.

A new CNN documentary airing this Sunday night looks at how our health care system pushes doctors to do more surgery instead of paying more attention to prevention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: First up, a new documentary that takes a hard look at my profession, medicine. It's called "Escape Fire." It makes a controversial case. It says doctors focus too much on money. They do unnecessary procedures. They don't spend enough time on basic prevention.

Case in point, a patient named Yvonne, diagnosed in her 30s with heart disease, who had bypass surgery, 27 cardiac catherizations, and more than seven stints to keep her heart open. Only then did she end up at the Cleveland Clinic where doctors got her cholesterol and blood pressure under control. And they said counseling on diet and exercise helped Yvonne lose 20 pounds, all in an effort to try to avert more surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: I can't tell you how shocked we were. Here is a young woman whose diabetes is not well controlled. Her high pressure blood pressure was never well controlled.

Breathe in for me.

If someone had talked to her, I think some one had really teased out her chest pain and shortness of breath, I think many of her cardiac catherizations and stints would not have been necessary.

GUPTA: I want to point out something. This is important. When people watch the film, they're left with the impression that Yvonne finally came to the Cleveland Clinic. She got her cholesterol and weight under control. And things were great for her after that. But that's not the whole story. She ended up having another open-hart operation, another bypass operation. That's an important point. It doesn't always work. I mean, the impression, I think, was a little misleading there.

Don't you think, Dr. Nissen?

DR. STEVEN NISSEN, CHAIRMAN, CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE, CLEVELAND CLINIC: I do. We can't prevention disease in everybody. But we have to try. The problem with Yvonne's case is she had all the stints before she had the risk factors controlled. That's not good medicine. We have to teach young physicians that prevention comes first.

GUPTA: In the spirit of educating people out there -- I have cardiac disease in my family -- who should absolutely get a stint? DR. JEFFREY MARSHALL, INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGIST, NORTHWEST GEORGIA HEART CENTER: So anybody that is having a heart attack should get a stint. It's the best treatment and it saves lives. Period. Everybody agrees on that. The next group of people are people that have tried medical therapy, that are on medical therapy and are failing. There are lots of people like that.

GUPTA: And you can see "Escape Fire" in its entirety, followed immediately by the rest of my discussion on rescuing the American health care system. That's Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And the battle over sugary drinks in New York is messing now with the coffee. How a large coffee with sugar may become hard to find.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, the battle over sugar in New York is going a step farther. It is now messing with your coffee. It is all part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on big sugary drinks. And complying with the new rules isn't as easy as you might think. Lattes won't change because they have milk. But large coffees with sugar, well, that's another story.

Here's Mary Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Along with that cup of coffee, a side order of new rules. Dunkin' Donuts is handing out these flyers to its New York City customers on how new regulations spills over into its coffee business.

It's part of the ban on super-sized sugary drinks that goes into effect Tuesday as part of the city effort to fight obesity.

To comply, Dunkin' Donuts will no longer put sugar in coffee over 16 ounces. You'll have to do it yourself.

KAILA GANTT, COFFEE DRINKER: I'm surprised. I thought it was, like, soda and iced teas. I didn't know it was coffee until now.

STEPHANIE FORD, COFFEE DRINKER: It is annoying. I believe it is unnecessary. There are so many other things to worry about in this city.

SNOW: The city isn't banning restaurants from putting sugar in coffee. The Department of Health says the limit for a barista is four packets of sugar per 20 ounces. And customers themselves can add as much sugar as they want.

But Dunkin' Donuts says it wants to cut down on any confusion. McDonald's also says it will tell customers to add their own sugar in coffee over 16 ounces. Both places say they have been prepping workers to be ready.

(on camera): At restaurants, sodas this size is what the city doesn't want served. This is 20 ounces. This one is still OK, it is 12 ounces. And customers can order as many as they want.

But at restaurants like this one, that prides itself on Texas-sized servings, it makes a difference.

ERIC LEVINE, DIRECTOR, DALLAS BARBECUE: Oh, everything is big.

SNOW (voice-over): Eric Levine is the director of Dallas Barbecue, which has 10 restaurants.

(on camera): Are you going to stop using those 20-ounce glasses?

LEVINE: We will when the law says we have to. Right now, we're in a limbo and we're allowed by the city law to hold off until, I think, about June.

SNOW (voice-over): The city says it will not enforce violations for three months as restaurants adjust. Levine is waiting to see the result of a lawsuit filed by restaurants, beverage companies and others to try and stop the city from its ban on super-sized drinks.

He estimates all the changes will cost his business tens of thousands of dollars and plenty of headaches.

LEVINE: A lot of aggravation, menu changes, sign changes, digital boards, Facebook, web sites, information training, computers, everything.

SNOW: Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Coming up, police are investigating a new death threat against Justin Bieber, just another moment in a very tough week for the pop star.

And Disney is taking a gamble by coming out with a twist to a classic, "Oz: The Great and Powerful." A look at the movie, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, it is one thing to have a bad week. It is another thing to have it plastered all over the press. And, today, Justin Bieber had just had enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

JUSTIN BIEBER, SINGER: What did you say?

(CROSSTALK)

BIEBER: What did you say? (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. Bieber in London, blowing a gasket there. An altercation happened. Now, just last night, he got sick at the concert and he was taken to the hospital, just as a precaution. And don't worry, fans, it appears he's OK. But it all comes on the heels of his blunder on Monday when he arrived two hours late to his performance. And now to make matters worse, Bieber has been the target of a death threat. Police are investigating a prisoner in New Mexico who was recorded on the telephone trying to hire a hit man to kill the singer. The prisoner is now in solitary confinement with no phone privileges.

"Oz: The Great and Powerful," Disney's prequel to "The Wizard of Oz" is hitting theaters today. The reviews have been kind of lukewarm. But it is expected to be a box office hit.

Here is Nischelle Turner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDY GARLAND, ACTRESS: There is no place like home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Classic lines, classic footwear. "The Wizard of Oz" is beloved. According to the Library of Congress, more people have seen the 1939 musical than any other film.

Now, 74 years after Dorothy left Oz, Disney's revisiting the Yellow Brick Road with "Oz: The Great and Powerful," billing it as a prequel.

SAM RAIMI, DIRECTOR: It sets up things, what happened in the famous story we're all so familiar with.

TURNER: This new Oz is not a musical. What it lacks in show tunes it makes up for in modern 3-D and computer generated effects. Disney's betting heavily on this gamble, spending an estimated $200 million just to produce the movie.

(on camera): What's at stake for the studio?

PAUL DERGARABEDIAN, PRESIDENT, HOLLYWOOD.COM BOX OFFICE: For them, this is a big deal. Not only is it iconic property that they're being entrusted with, they got a lot of money on the line.

TURNER (voice-over): Major money and creative hurdles. While the Oz books by L. Frank Bomb (ph) are in the public domain, Warner Bros owns the rights to "The Wizard of Oz" film, and so several story elements in that movie, like Dorothy's iconic ruby slippers, are off limits to Disney.

DERGARABEDIAN: I think the Disney lawyers had to be on set to say, hey, you're going a little close to what the ownership of Warner Bros is part of, so we have to be careful of that.

TURNER: So will Disney's interpretation of the Land of Oz alienate fans of the Hollywood classic?

(MUSIC)

TURNER: Not according to James Franco, who plays Oz.

JAMES FRANCO, ACTOR: We pay respect to a lot of the aspects that people expect and love about the world of Oz. And that's, you know, mainly taken from the books.

And then there is, you know, a fresh take on some of the characters. So you're getting enough of the old and enough of the new.

TURNER: So while you won't see a Tin Man or Scarecrow in this Oz, the Yellow Brick Road is still in place, along with the witches. And Disney is hoping the Land of Oz can once again turn movie magic into box office gold.

Nischelle Turner, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll soon find out.

That's going to do it for me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you back here tomorrow starting at noon eastern time.

Right now, time for Brooke Baldwin.