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Unemployed Americans Facing Benefits Cuts; Chuck Hagel Nearby Suicide Attack in Afghanistan; New Technologies Profiled at Event; Jodi Arias Continues to Take Questions from Jurors; New Highly Resistant Bacteria Increasingly Contagious; Man Survives Cancer; Vatican Conclave Prepares to Vote for New Pope; New "Oz" Film Profiled; Girl Breaks up with Boyfriend on Video

Aired March 09, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, every. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.

A look at our top stories right now. A town in Massachusetts is in the middle of a major cleanup after a winter storm slammed into the northeast. Two houses are being demolished after they tipped into the Atlantic Ocean. Several other homes have been condemned. High tide and strong winds are washing the debris from the houses right back onto shore, causing further damage to other homes.

Meanwhile, Colorado, parts of the Rockies and plains will get more snow today. At least 400 flights to the area have already been canceled.

And now to the U.S. economy and new signs of the recovery may be gaining momentum. Hiring picked up substantially in February, bringing unemployment down to 7.7 percent. That's the lowest it's been since December of 2008. The economy added 236,000 jobs last month, almost double the amount it gained in January, and much more than experts had actually predicted.

And stocks are on a roll. The Dow closed at record highs for four consecutive days, ending the week up more than two percent.

President Barack Obama is using the latest jobs numbers in his fight to stop forced spending cuts which went into effect just eight days ago. In his weekly address the president pointed out 236,000 new jobs were added in February and the country needs to maintain its momentum by replacing the cuts. They'll slow the growth of the economy according to analysts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As Democrats and Republicans, we may disagree on the best way to achieve our goals, but I'm confident we can agree on what those goals should be -- a strong and vibrant middle class, an economy that allows businesses to grow and thrive, an education system that gives more Americans the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future, an immigration system that actually works for families and businesses, stronger communities and safer streets for our children. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But Republicans continue to resist what the president calls, quote, "balanced deficit reduction" which means raising taxes while cutting spending. They say new taxes will crush American workers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS, (R) ALABAMA: President Obama speaks of his deep concern for struggling Americans. Yet his plans are focused on growing government, not the economy. He has no effective plan to create better jobs, more hiring, or rising wages. That's what's missing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Senator Sessions is the ranking member of the Senate budget committee. He says Senate Democrats will present their plan for a budget on Wednesday, the first time in four years.

Meanwhile, folks are starting to really feel the impact of those forced spending cuts, and especially hard hit are the nearly 2 million families depending on unemployment insurance. As Emily Schmidt tells us, they are about to really feel the pain of the cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EMILY SCHMIDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tracy Mulvehill's commute through Philadelphia is the smooth part of navigating what's become a bumpy road.

TRACY MULVEHILL, UNEMPLOYED WORKER: Yes, a very interesting journey.

SCHMIDT: She's on her way to volunteer with the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, helping people without jobs look for the opportunity she knows can be hard to find.

MULVEHILL: This is the first time I'm on unemployment. It's scary, confusing. Yes. Hold on one moment. You know, I never thought I'd be in this position.

SCHMIDT: Mulvehill says she worked for nearly three decades before a folding economy cost her office management job and her part- time cleaning job. She's looked for work since last March with only $730 of federal unemployment insurance to barely cover a box full of bills.

MULVEHILL: My mortgage is $700. My car note is $372.

SCHMIDT: Washington's forced spending cuts that went into effect last week means her checks will shrink, too. It can cost 3.8 million jobless Americans around 10 percent of their benefits.

MULVEHILL: That's now $200 less income in this house which I don't know how I'm really going to do it.

SCHMIDT: Economists disagree on how much the cuts will hurt.

GARY BURTLESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE LABOR ECONOMIST: Anything that slows down the economic recovery, that slows down the rate of overall employment growth, is going to hurt the chances that the long- term unemployed are going to find work.

CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTION ECONOMIST: These extended unemployment benefits are a subsidy. We need to cut all subsidies in the federal government, frankly, if we're going to get this deficit down.

SCHMIDT: For now, Mulvehill splits her time between volunteering and keeping things running at home, hoping that next job isn't far away.

MULVEHILL: You know, this was the American dream, I thought. And, I mean, and right now I'll do anything I can to keep all that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHMIDT: Well, this afternoon Tracy Mulvehill says she has a new job lead. A church told her about an opening to work on its newsletter. It would mean a career change, but she is getting her resume ready, hoping this could be the one to get her back to work. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Meantime, it's been a week, eight days since those spending consults went into effect. Is there any hope that the president and members of Congress will agree on something to stop the cuts from continuing as it is impacting some Americans like the young lady you just profiled?

SCHMIDT: It's definitely the key question here. We saw more communication across the aisle. President Obama had dinner with Republicans one night last week. He had lunch with some Republicans the next. He has more meetings planned this week with Democratic and Republican lawmakers. But will that breaking bread lead to breaking the impasse? It's probably a question that's not going to be answered before those unemployment checks start to shrink. Fredericka?

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Emily. Appreciate that.

Meantime, here's another way those spending cuts are really hurting people. No more White House tours, at least for now. It's official as of today. And one mom says her son's birthday wish was to tour the White House, and they're both pretty disappointed now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE COOPER, UPSET ABOUT TOUR CANCELLATION: I was pretty upset about it. Just because of the fact that I know how difficult sometimes it is to get a tour of the White House and to have it lined up and just to kind of coincide with his birthday. For him to just turn eight, he had his own bucket list, and on that bucket list was D.C. and, you know, the White House. So it was a little bit, you know, upsetting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And after the White House announced the suspension of tours, Republicans came up with their own idea to save money, have the president cancel all his golf trips.

Overseas in Vatican City, we're seeing signs that the Roman Catholic cardinals are preparing to select a new Pope. The papal ring and seal belonging to Benedict XVI were destroyed just a short time ago. The next Pope will get a new fisherman's ring and seal with his own name on it after he is elected.

A chimney was also installed today on the roof of the Sistine Chapel where the 115 cardinals will gather Tuesday for the start of the Conclave. People from all over the world will be waiting for white smoke to appear from that chimney. It will signify a new Pope has been chosen.

Taliban militants in Afghanistan say they're sending a message to defense secretary Chuck Hagel. They're claiming responsibility for a bombing near a building in Kabul where Hagel was getting briefed. The suicide bombing in front of the defense ministry killed nine people. U.S. military officials say Hagel was not in danger and his briefing did continue on as planned.

Jodi Arias is facing some very tough questioning in her murder trial. I'll tell you why the questions aren't coming from the prosecution.

And the longest interstate highway in the U.S. comes to a screeching halt in Cleveland because of this major crash. We'll have the story behind this frightening accident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The judge in the Colorado theater shooting case has cleared the way for suspect James Holmes to enter a plea. Defense lawyers had filed a motion with the judge. They wanted him to declare the state's law on the insanity plea unconstitutional. The judge refused the motion, but he did grant a request to explain the consequences of an insanity plea. Holmes is accused of killing a dozen people and injuring at least 58 others in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, last July.

In Arizona, the Jodi Arias trial is keeping millions of people riveted. And the jury in the case just might be revealing how it thinks -- what it thinks of Arias and her testimony. The jurors have submitted at least 220 questions to the judge that they want asked to Arias, and they haven't been pulling any punches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After all the lies you have told, why should we believe you now? JODI ARIAS, ACCUSED OF MURDER: Lying isn't typically something I just do. I'm not going to say that I've never told a lie in my life before this incident, but the lies that I've told in this case are -- can be tied directly back to either protecting Travis's reputation or my involvement in his death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I spoke to HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell and I asked her what she thought of Arizona and the other states that allow jurors to ask questions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN ANCHOR: It's absolutely surreal. These jurors have asked well over 200 questions to Jodi Arias. And many of these questions are sarcastic and hostile, like why should we believe you now when you've lied so much before? Or, you remember so many details of your sexual encounters. How is it that you can't remember stabbing Travis Alexander 29 times?

But here's the thing. They are still scribbling more questions. They still want to ask her more questions. If they're so convinced she's a pathological liar, why do they want to continue interacting with her in this way? It raises the possibility that they may have developed either consciously or unconsciously some kind of relationship with her, perhaps a love/hate relationship which ironically is a very kind of relationship Travis Alexander seemed to have with her.

WHITFIELD: And it would seem a relationship is what the defense wants. But then when you evaluate these kinds of questions, it does perhaps reveal a direction. You mentioned they're very skeptical. So that would have to bode well for the prosecution. Is it worth reading into it like that?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: On paper, this bodes very well for the prosecution. They don't buy her story. It's clear to me that they don't buy that she went into a fog and doesn't remember most of the killing itself. It's clear to me that they have a lot of doubts about her claims that she was a battered woman. And that's the heart of her defense, that she was sexually degraded and a battered woman and she had to kill him in self-defense.

But those are the conscious thoughts. I wonder if unconsciously, because they've come to know her because she's been on the stand 17 days, going into her 18th day next week, that they've developed some kind of unconscious bond with her that they might not even know about it.

WHITFIELD: I almost don't understand how it would go into an 18th day. This seems very unusual that a defendant would be on the stand for so long.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, a lot of people feel this trial is officially out of control. I've used that phrase myself. But it is a death penalty case. So the judge wants to make absolutely sure that this woman, whose life is on the line, has every opportunity to explain herself. And, boy, has she explained herself over and over again. I mean. We have questions that are, I would say, bizarre. What's the definition of "skank," they're asking her? That's because there's a lot of retired people. They probably don't know what "skank" is. A lot of retired people on the jury.

WHITFIELD: You spelled it out. She's claiming self-defense. Prosecutors say it was jealousy. Are you hearing either motive convincingly established here?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I think the prosecutor has done a brilliant job of showing that in his opinion, we'll see if the jury buys it, this was a premeditated crime where she plotted to go to Arizona, bought gas in gas cans so she wouldn't be caught, leave no trail of buying gas in Arizona itself and tried to get in there, do the job and then leave and canoodle another guy up in Utah the next day. Now, it's such a complex plot. Perhaps the defense has poked enough holes in it to create reasonable doubt. We shall see.

WHITFIELD: And what's next in this case?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, believe it or not, there are the possible more questions from the jurors. They are scribbling away. Every time she answers, they have another question. And the prosecutor, Juan Martinez, will continue his cross-examination. After that you have the expert witnesses for the defense. And it seems like the whole case could hinge on this battered woman expert, this woman who has dealt with battered women and will try to connect the dots for Arias and say this is what battered women do. They lie about the abuse. They don't write it down. They don't take pictures of their injuries. They don't tell anyone because the prosecutors say there's no corroboration for your claims. So this life may hinge on this one expert.

WHITFIELD: Wow, fascinating stuff. Jane, thanks so much.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, the government is warning you of a new deadly superbug. The growing threat of a nightmare bacteria and who's most at risk to infection.

And the ultimate cliff-hanger, really. A woman too terrified to jump gets a shove, that one, from her boyfriend. Did their relationship take the plunge, too? Jeanne Moos has that story. He's laughing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Former South African president Nelson Mandela is in the hospital again, but officials say there's no serious problem. The Nobel Peace Prize winner is in for a routine checkup and getting some tests done. Mandela is 94 years old. In December he got a lung infection and also underwent gallstone surgery.

Soon it may be too late to stop so-called superbugs. This new breed of bacteria known as CRE is resistant to nearly all types of antibiotics and can be deadly. I asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease expert at the National Institutes of Health, why these superbugs are such a big threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, the threat of the superbugs that we're talking about is that they are resistant to virtually all antibiotics. They are under normal conditions, would be normal inhabitants of the gut, but when they develop resistance, they are really untreatable by virtually any antibiotic we have. That's the first thing.

The second thing is that what it does is that it invades the blood and tissue. And the mortality of people who do get infected is very high, approximately 50 percent. And the other real problem that you face is that it has the capability of transferring that resistance that's part of its own genetic structure to other microbes to make them resistant.

So although this is something that, you know, historically had not been a big threat, it's becoming a growing threat particularly in hospitals and especially in hospitals that are long-term care facilities. So it's something that we have the opportunity to do something about because it hasn't yet exploded as much as, for example, MRSA has. But it's still right now growing in a problem. And if you look at it over the last ten years, the problem has amplified considerably.

WHITFIELD: Well, why is it that nursing homes and hospitals are the places in which there are the greatest vulnerabilities? It seems those are controlled environments, and this kind of infection or bacteria would be contained.

FAUCI: Well, that's true, but that really doesn't turn out to be the case because in long-term care facilities and even in acute hospitals, when you have people that are very sick, they generally are put on antibiotics for one reason or another, sometimes appropriately, sometimes not. But they have invasive procedures, for example, in- dwelling catheters in the bladder to let urine out or ventilators where you have a tube going down into the trachea. And it's that kind of debilitation, long-term care, suppression of the body's defense mechanisms that allows the people in the long-term care facilities and even in acute hospitals to be vulnerable to a microbe that would not bother you or I or someone who was otherwise healthy. But when put in the environment where there's a lot of invasive procedure and a lot of long-term care and maybe long-term antibiotics, that's a perfect setup for the invasion of this type of an organism to make someone very sick.

And then that's compounded by the problem that if it's resistant to most antibiotics, in fact, all antibiotics, then you have a real problem. And that's the concern that we have. WHITFIELD: So the widespread use of antibiotics actually might help a person play host to this kind of infection?

FAUCI: Absolutely. Whenever you give antibiotics, you get rid of what's called the sensitive microbes. And what happens is that, particularly in the inappropriate use of antibiotics, the microbes that are resistant to that flourish more than the sensitive ones. So you have a predominance of resistant microbes until it's resistant to virtually all antibiotics. So inappropriate use of antibiotics is a very important inducer of this problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Dr. Fauci says health facilities have to be very strict about infection control. That requires employees wash their hands before and after every patient interaction. It also means maintaining isolation and having a dedicated staff deal with just these high-risk patients so the bacteria doesn't spread to the rest of the hospital population.

In this week's "Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to Bruce Feiler, a devoted husband, father, and writer who overcame a rare form of bone cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I first met Bruce Feiler three years ago when he was trying to rebound from a cancer diagnosis, grappling with the possibility of dying before his twin daughters, Eden and Tybee, grew up, facing his own mortality.

BRUCE FEILER, AUTHOR, "THE SECRETS OF HAPPY FAMILIES: I could just feel my body sort of slipping away.

GUPTA: He makes an extraordinary request.

FEILER: Will you help be their dad?

GUPTA: Thankfully, Bruce and his family got through that. And today Bruce has no evidence of cancer in his body. With all that behind him, he has resumed doing what he does best, writing. His new book is called "The Secrets of Happy Families."

What inspired you to write this book?

FEILER: We were always on the defense. And that's what it's like to be a parent these days. We made a list of all of the things that the kids have to do in the mornings. And then, here's the key. They have to check off their own lists. A lot of what we are doing here is trying to kind of bring them into the process, be less top down, be less kind of parental controlling them all the time, kind of enlist them wherever possible in their own upbringing.

GUPTA: Are there ground rules? Are there things that cannot be said, for example?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, you are allowed to criticize the parents.

FEILER: Just the other week, they were saying, you know, dad, you were yelling too much. In fact, we have this iPad, and we recorded you yelling. She loved this. She was giving us a high five. They said yes, mom, but we got you cursing, too.

(LAUGHTER)

FEILER: It turns out there's only ten minutes of productive time in any meal. Ten minutes. The rest is taken up with, take your elbows of the table and pass the ketchup. Research shows you can take that 10 minutes and put it at any time of the day and still have the benefits. So can't have family dinner, have family breakfast. Meet for a bedtime snack. Should we play the game? Suddenly I'm a ballerina!

Here's my favorite thing from "The Secrets to Happy Families." Researchers at Emory University gave people a do you know test? Do you know where your grandparents were born? Do you know where your parents went to high school? If children understand they're part of a larger narrative, then they're more capable of coping. So you should spend time telling and retelling the story of your family's positive moments and the negative moments and how you overcame them.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: It's a sure sign that a new Pope will soon be elected. I'm talking about that chimney that they're installing on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. We'll look at what will happen behind the chapel's closed doors.

And the stunning before-and-after photo of a man who was arrested and forgotten behind bars for nearly two years. The case he won against a county in New Mexico.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. A look at our top stories right now. Two houses in a Massachusetts town are being demolished today. The homes had tipped into the Atlantic Ocean after a storm ripped through the area. Several other homes have also been condemned.

And a major interstate will be shut down in Cleveland all weekend long after this frightening accident. A dump truck smashed into a pedestrian bridge over i-90, then flipped over. Police say the truck was riding with its trailer up and couldn't clear the bridge. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured.

And sky-watchers can enjoy a rare treat today. A comet of stars is now visible on the western horizon in the northern hemisphere. Folks in the U.S. may even be able to see it with the naked eye, which is rare. Naked-eye comets happen only once every five to ten years. And here is a look at what's trending online. He is one of the best relievers in the game, but Mariano Rivera says he is retiring after the 2013 season. He has been with the Yankees 19 seasons. The 43-year-old suffered a knee injury last May. Lots of folks very disappointed to hear that news.

And Justin Bieber's meltdown in London is getting worldwide attention. The singing sensation just turned 19. Then you see him here leaving the stadium and then shoving a photographer and attempted to provoke an altercation with the cameraman before his bodyguards forced him back into the vehicle. He's had some other troubles as well. He was late to his own show in London on Monday. And then on Thursday, he had to make a trip to the hospital after having shortness of breath.

And a man known as the forgotten inmate is now $15 million richer. And he's free. Steven Slevin was locked up in August of 2005 for drinking and driving but never prosecuted. The New Mexico County that jailed him and isolated him from other inmates was accused of essentially forgetting about him for nearly two years. The county agreed this week to settle the lawsuit.

Preparations now are underway for the selection of a new Pope in Vatican City. Just a short time ago, the papal ring and seal belonging to Benedict XVI right there, they were destroyed. The next Pope will get his own fisherman's ring and seal. A chimney that will signify when the Pope has been selected was actually installed today as well. White smoke will come out of that chimney when the big moment arrives, meaning when they have the name selected for a Pope. But already there's been some tension between the cardinals who will begin voting on Tuesday. Ben Wedeman has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When the cardinals gather inside the Sistine Chapel next week to select the Pope, they'll be sworn to secrecy. The chapel swept for listening devices, electronic countermeasures deployed to prevent the use of any electronic communication.

But as the cardinals gathered in Rome this week before being cut off from the outside world, word is already leaking about a possible rift between the cardinals from North and South America and cardinals from other countries over timing of the conclave. Those from the Americas wanted to air some issues before the conclave. The others wanted to just get on with it.

There's this kind of guerrilla insurrection going on among cardinals from other parts of the world including some Americans who are very theologically conservative but very progressive in terms of business management that really want to shake things up around this place. And I think part of the drama of this conclave is going to be which one of those currents prevails, all that according to the future officials who are talking but asking not to be named.

Come Tuesday, the conclave will begin with a special mass in the morning and a first vote in the afternoon inside the Sistine Chapel where work crews have been busy preparing the building for its historic role. The cardinals' movement will be closely restricted between the chapel and their nearby living quarters inside this Vatican residence, the rooms, all without televisions, radios, phones or internet, assigned by lottery.

Once voting gets under way, the cardinals will cast ballots in order of seniority, and they're not allowed to vote for themselves. They'll keep voting up to four ballots a day until the two-thirds majority needed to declare a winner is reached. Each ballot is threaded on a length of string to prevent fraud. After each vote, the ballots are burned, sending up the now famous smoke signals, black for no winner, white for a new Pope. The big question now, how long before the white smoke?

They know that if this conclave goes more than three or four days, the drumbeat in the media will be paralysis and crisis in the Vatican. So they want to get this wrapped up. On the other hand, right now they don't have a clear front-runner, so they've got about four days to get their act together so this does not become a gridlocked conclave.

Whenever it comes, a crowd will be eagerly awaiting just like they did eight years ago to celebrate a new pontiff to sit on the throne of St. Peter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Ben Wedeman joining me now from Rome. So Ben, do we know any more about a possible front-runner?

WEDEMAN: No, we don't. I mean, really, Fredericka, there are a lot of names being bandied about. In fact, on the wall in one of our offices, we have all the pictures of the so-called potential candidates. And the pictures are getting quite a few. We've got about 15 at this point. I mean, if you talk to veteran Vatican watchers, they'll mention two names as possible front-runners. One is Angela Scola, the archbishop of Milan, a man who really represents sort of the Italian establishment within the Vatican. Another name you often hear mentioned is Mark Ouillet of Canada. He is a favorite of the North and South American cardinals who would like to see a non- European face in the Vatican.

WHITFIELD: All right, names we'll be watching and listening out for. Thanks so much, Ben Wedeman, in Rome.

Back here in the U.S., Austin, Texas, is the place to be this weekend. The latest music, film, and technology that you can find at the South by Southwest festival. We'll take you there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: South by Southwest officially kicks of is this weekend in Austin, Texas. It's the conference that showcases what's hot in music, film and the digital world. CNN Money's Laurie Segall is right in the thick of it. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to South by Southwest, where the hot new technology isn't just an app on your smartphone. It's moving beyond the smartphone to something physical, something real, something you can put your hands on. It's all part of something they're calling the maker's movement.

So tell me what we're doing over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what we're doing is we're looking at our 1-2-3 creature iPad app. It lets you scratch out a creature, text him, sculpt him. We're providing the tools to create that 3D model that you fabricate and make real.

SEGALL: So these are things that you created on the app and you print out here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

SEGALL: This all came from an app.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You saw how easy it is to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a 3D printed record. Basically what I've done is I wrote a program that lets you take any piece of digital music, and you convert it state into a 3D model of a record and print it and play it on a turntable.

SEGALL: This plays actual music?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Do you want to hear it?

SEGALL: I definitely want to hear it. It's good.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The turntable making a comeback? Very impressive, Laurie, joining us now with the Martha Stewart of technology. What do you have for us?

SEGALL: Yes, I'm with Brit Morin, and yes, they call her the Martha Stewart of technology. Brooke, how did you get that nickname?

BRIT MORIN, FOUNDER AND CEO, BRIT AND CO: I don't know. What we do is we actually teach people how to make and do today in the digital age. That could be anything from analog as using your Instagram photos to create home port to printing out a 3D spatula for your kitchen. It's about doing things in a short amount of time because we're all multi-taskers and connected all the time.

SEGALL: You essentially show people how to do different crafts with different technology, and you're very much a proponent of this make it do-it-yourself stuff. You have something called the Brit Kit. Tell us about that.

MORIN: The Brit Kit, we package up all these different ideas into one kit that we send you every month. So that you don't have to go shopping. You don't even have to go searching for the inspiration of what you want to make and do. We send it to you on your doo doorstep. It costs you 20 bucks and teaches you how to make and do in simple ways.

SEGALL: How do you get the idea to start this?

MORIN: I came out of places like apple and Google and my background is largely in tech. I saw a huge movement in the analog world as well. The two really do play together as one. I became fascinated with things like digital sewing machines, cooking apps, laser cutters and every one of them was being controlled by technology in some way.

SEGALL: Very cool. Fredericka, go to her site, Brit.co. Check it out. There are all sorts of cool crafts. I looked on there today and I thought I've got to start using some of this stuff.

WHITFIELD: There is the website right there. Very neato stuff. I like it. Bringing two worlds together, Brit says. Thanks so much, Laurie Segall, appreciate that.

SEGALL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll check back with you later in the afternoon at the South by Southwest conference in Texas, Austin, Texas.

Coming up, a review of the multibillion-dollar story about life before the tornado hit Kansas. Disney's "Oz, the Great and Powerful" is in theaters right now. Does it live up to the old classic? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Perhaps you want to go to the movies this weekend. You're trying to decide what to see. One option is a modern-day twist on the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz." "Oz, the Great and Powerful" stars James Franco, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz. Our movie critic Grae Drake from RottenTomatoes.com joining us today. Oh, Oz, Grae Oz, or Oz Grae, right? You are all into it. Before we talk about it, let's get a quick clip of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you finally joined our side, sister?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am on no one's side. You know that. I simply want peace. That's all I ever wanted, and the wizard can do that. He's a good man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you know about goodness? Deep down you are wicked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not wicked!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. OK, so this is the good witch and the not- so-good witch. These characters are very different from what we remember from "The Wizard of Oz." So where are the real parallels here?

GRAE DRAKE, MOVIE CRITIC, ROTTENTOMATOES.COM: Well, the parallels, I think, are very obvious. There is a yellow brick road, and there is Oz. So ultimately, let's put the wizard of Oz aside as much as possible because it's too tall an order to compare the two. It's almost, you know, obviously you want to think back to what you know and love and ruby slippers and who isn't a huge fan of that, but you're going to end up setting yourself up for disappointment because they're not the same movie. This is a prequel.

The movie ultimately is just like the character of Oz himself. It's very charming, but it's flawed. And so in the end, you're still rooting for it to be really good. And critics are not loving it across the board, but I think they're being too hard on it because this is a cynical world where not everyone is wandering around wearing top hats, like yours truly. And this movie is magic.

WHITFIELD: Wow. You had a chance to talk to some of the cast members. Who do they think this movie is for? What is the audience? This does not look like a kid's movie.

DRAKE: Well, it's rated PG. And aside from some really, really scary flying monkeys, which terrified me as an adult, and I use that term loosely, adult.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: You are a big kid.

DRAKE: I think the movie's for everybody. It's great on a date. It's great with your friends. And it is good for your kids, like I said, as long as they can handle a couple really intense scenes with those monkeys.

WHITFIELD: Oh, forget it.

DRAKE: Director Sam Raimi is known for horror movies, and that really comes out with those flying baboons. Other than that, everyone could love this movie, and it's going to be gangbusters at the box office.

WHITFIELD: You spoke with Sam Raimi. Let's take a quick peek of your conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DRAKE: God, you guys, this is pretty Oz-some. Is that a thing? Can I say that? No?

MILA KUNIS, ACTRESS: I loved working with Sam Raimi. He's one of the greatest directors.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS, ACTRESS: He sets the tone for everything. His spirit is generous. It's transcendent. It's transformative. He is the movie. He's the heart of the movie.

JAMES FRANCO, ACTOR: He's equally interested in the characters as he is in all the spectacles. So as an actor, that's the kind of person you want to work with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: OK. So correction, you spoke with everybody who has great things to say about Raimi.

DRAKE: They love him. And I spoke with him, too, and I yelled at him for scaring me with those baboons, no joke.

He was so -- he's a wonderful director. I've been a fan of his ever since "The Evil Dead." I'm so happy to see that he's making big- studio pictures, and he's making films that everybody can love. Take your whole family. See it twice, because like I said, this one's totally magical.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's colorful and enchanting. Grae Drake, thanks so much. And you're colorful and enchanting for us today, too. We appreciate that.

DRAKE: Why, thank you, my lady.

WHITFIELD: Always good to see you. Thanks so much, gray. Remember, you can get more from Grae Drake at Rottentomatoes.com.

We'll be hearing from a woman who was literally pushed over the edge by, of all people, her boyfriend. And she's talking to her Jeanne Moos.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: And now a video millions of people have watched online. A woman afraid to go through with an extreme cliff jump gets shoved off the edge by her boyfriend. So did their relationship survive the plunge? Here's Jeanne Moos with the cliff-hanger ending.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When push came to shove, was it just a love nudge?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know I love you, right?

JESSICA POWELL, PUSHED OF CLIFF: Please don't push me off. Please don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not.

MOOS: Or did her then-boyfriend not take no for an answer? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to push you. I'm not going to push you.

POWELL: Honey, honey, ah!

It felt like all of my insides moved up to my chest.

MOOS: By now millions have seen the infamous push, but this is the first time you'll hear her side of it. Jessica Powell and Creighton Baird were part of an extreme rope swing video being put together by Devin Graham. But when it was Jessica's turn to jump --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two, one, zero!

POWELL: I can't do it.

MOOS: Even a countdown couldn't jump start her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two, one, zero!

POWELL: I don't want to do it.

MOOS: For 45 minutes, she tried and then kiss turned to shove.

POWELL: I'm breaking up with you!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got dumped.

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS: But before you say "you jerk," consider what Jessica told Creighton 45 minutes earlier.

POWELL: You know I'm really nervous about this. I don't know if I'll be able to jump. If I can't jump, you need to push me.

MOOS: When he did, his reputation took a dive as he told "Inside Edition" --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel I've taken Chris Brown's spot as the worst boyfriend in America.

MOOS: Make that worst ex-boyfriend. Her at the end of her rope line --

POWELL: I'm breaking up with you!

MOOS: -- had them in stitches on "Kimmel." But it turns out --

POWELL: We've since broken up. Not anything to do with the video. I have zero hard feelings toward Creighton.

MOOS: The break-up happened about a month after the shove for reasons Jessica prefers to keep private. But when she climbed a rope back up the cliff to Creighton right after he pushed her --

POWELL: I think I punched him first, but then I gave him a big hug and told him thanks for making it easy for me.

MOOS: He says the reason she gave this interview, her first, was to clear his name. And though her one-liner is already being parodied by Boy Scouts --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm breaking up with you!

MOOS: -- Creighton is no Cretan.

POWELL: He's not a monster. He's nothing like Chris Brown, no offense to Chris Brown.

MOOS: At least it was the relationship that ended up on the rocks and not Jessica.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

POWELL: I'm breaking up with you!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: I don't know, that love is on the rocks, that's for sure. I don't know about that.

All right, well, it is out of this world, but it's headed our way. Another huge asteroid -- speaking of rocks -- coming up, an expert tells us if we should run for cover or take out our telescopes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)