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Severe Storms in North Carolina; Atlanta Under Tornado Threat; Digital Voting Test Reveals Hacking Threat; Dirty Water Kills In Haiti; Countdown To Election Day; What's Hot; Sheen Makes Headlines Again
Aired October 27, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's get going. Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen. And here are some of the people behind today's top stories.
An airline pilot can't get to his cockpit because he refuses to undergo security screenings. He thinks they are too intrusive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not reasonable when you walk into the airport just because you want to go fly on an airplane that they should strip search you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: From a candy factory in Ohio to the freeways of Los Angeles, voters are looking for answers. Six days to go in the countdown to the midterms. And you're online now, and we are, too.
Jacqui Jeras following "What's Hot" -- Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey there, Tony.
Emergency workers in Indonesia are struggling to reach the victims of Monday's earthquake and tsunami. The death toll in the hundreds and continues to rise. That's one of the most viewed stories right now on CNN.com.
HARRIS: Wow. OK, Jacqui. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Lets get started with our lead story. And you know what the lead story is. We've been following it for two days now. We're talking about this powerful storm system that has slammed large areas of the country.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Jennifer Rice from Catawba County in North Carolina joins us now to tell us what went through there last night and what it looks like.
Ms. Rice, what do you have? JENNIFER RICE, CATAWBA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: We have three areas within our county that were affected by these storms (INAUDIBLE) area, we suffered some trees down and some property damage in that area. Also, a small area in the Sherrills Ford area on the lake that has some pretty significant damage. And then Claremont being our hardest-hit area, where we've got significant damage to some physical structures, also lots of power outages, roofs torn off buildings.
MYERS: Let's talk about injuries. Anything?
RICE: Thankfully, we have not had to transport any patients with injuries related to the weather event.
MYERS: Many times we hear that people call these a surprise event. Were there warnings?
RICE: We did receive some weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
MYERS: Yes.
RICE: You know, that conditions were favorable. So we did activate our emergency operations center and preparedness of that.
MYERS: And Tony, that always has a big part, if people can get out of the way and take cover.
Ms. Rice, I know you're busy there. Thank you so much for your time today, and keep us up to date. We will get back to you later on during the day.
HARRIS: Oh, absolutely.
MYERS: That's from Catawba County, North Carolina.
And Tony, those are the pictures right there from Vale in North Carolina. And I saw pictures earlier where the tops of the trees were completely twisted off. When you see the trees completely twisted apart, but yet the stump is still there, or 10 feet of the stump still there, you know a tornado twisted the top of that off. You can even see the damage there in one of those cemeteries. So this is going to be a day.
HARRIS: Hey, Chad, a couple of things. Traffic, and air traffic in particular here, any recent latest information on where we're seeing some flight delays at this point?
MYERS: Well, sure. This is -- I just brought this up because Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is right there in the middle of that clump of weather. And clearly, planes aren't supposed to do this.
I'll take you back to this map in a second.
Here's a live pic from WSB. Cloudy skies, thunderstorms, a little about the of lightning. The wind never came. The tornado basically did the warning, went away before it got to Hartsfield- Jackson.
People were not scrambled away from the windows. It was not a major event there for Hartsfield. As it got closer, the storm thankfully fell apart.
But here's what the traffic controllers were watching. As the cell was moving up towards the city, they said, wait a minute, let's not get any planes anywhere near the airport.
Look at this. See, the red line is where the plane has flown. The red line is where the plane has flown. The red line is where -- and I have been in this pattern before, circling, circling, circling.
Here's another pattern where another plane was just released. It came in, circled three times, and there he goes. He's now been released to land at the airport.
You do not want to land when a storm, even if it's falling apart, especially when it's falling apart, when the entire storm collapses on itself. You get downed winds from the atmosphere above. They go out, the plane thinks it's landing into the wind. All of a sudden, it's landing with the wind, and you lose lift, you lose -- and you get your stall speed, and all of a sudden, you get that wind shear event that we had in Dallas, Texas, many, many years ago.
HARRIS: Oh, yes. I remember.
MYERS: There are wind shear indicators all over Hartsfield, all over all of the airports the United States. They don't land when you get weather like that.
HARRIS: Oh, boy, what a good update. Great information, as always, Chad. Thank you. Appreciate it.
MYERS: Sure.
HARRIS: Look, if you're in the middle of a storm right now, whether you're stuck in, let's see, a traffic jam, you're sitting at the airport right now watching us, if you have a moment, send us an iReport. We always advise, we don't want you to take any risks, right? But if you get a chance, pictures, video, whatever you have, just send it to iReport.com.
How about this? If you think you get frustrated with some airport security procedures, you should hear what the chairman of British Airways has to say. He slams the U.S. for demanding tighter security on inbound international flights than they do for U.S. domestic travel. Oh, and he goes on to say British Airlines should stop kowtowing to American security demands like making passengers take off their shoes and remove laptops from carry-on bags.
A Tennessee pilot is refusing to be screened either by full body scans or the alternative pat-downs. Michael Roberts flies for Express Jet Airlines. He is suing the Transportation Security Administration. He says he hasn't been allowed to fly ever since the new full-body scanning machines were installed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL ROBERTS, PILOT, EXPRESS JET AIRLINES: Evidently, my refusal to show them, you know, my whole naked body and my uncomfortableness with having them put their hands on me was a big deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The TSA said -- quoting now -- "Advanced imaging technology is optional for all passengers. Passengers who decline to be screened using advanced imaging technology will receive alternative screening to ensure the safety of the traveling public. Anyone who refuses screening will be denied access to the secure area."
He is not a news anchor, but he plays one on TV. And now Jon Stewart lands the big interview, the big "get." President Obama goes on "The Daily Show." Really? When's he coming on CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris?
First, though, our " Random Moment" in 90 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We want to get you the very latest that we can from on the ground here in the Atlanta area. Again, a big airport, major airport, one of the biggest in the country, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Jerry Carnes is a reporter for WXIA, one of our local affiliates here in Atlanta.
Jerry, good to talk to you.
Jerry's on the phone with us.
Give us what it has looked like from your vantage point to see this line of storms really for a second day now. We've been following this storm system. Roll through Fulton County and through the Atlanta area.
JERRY CARNES, WXIA REPORTER: Yes, we've had storms moving through the metro Atlanta area since yesterday afternoon. They looked pretty ugly on the radar, but fortunately, for us, we haven't had any severe damage as a result of it yet.
We went through a round of it yesterday afternoon. We were supposed to get more overnight. That kind of fizzled out.
It sort of moved north of us, into Tennessee, rather than into northern Georgia. It kind of clipped the northern end of Georgia. And then this morning we've been getting another round of it.
I'm in Union City, south of the airport. We were under a tornado warning at about 11:00. A possible tornado was spotted moving toward the south Fulton/Coweta County/Douglas County area. So the alert was sounded, but fortunately we get down here to find a pattering of rain, not real bad.
Some pretty gusty winds, but ominous clouds all around us. And that tornado warning expired at about 11:15.
But we're still under a tornado watch for about the next hour. And the rain has let up for now. But even when that passes through, we understand that we're in for possibly another round of it this afternoon.
So it's been a pretty constant thing. No reports of any damage as of yet.
Monday, we went through some storms where we had a lightning strike that burned a house down and a tree down on a home that pinned a man down. And so that was Monday, and now we're facing it again in the middle of the week.
And we're used to this kind of thing in spring and summer, not typically on October event. But we are certainly getting some severe weather down here at this point.
HARRIS: So, Jerry, what's happening with schools? Are kids being told to get on home? Are we ending the school day early here in the Atlanta area?
CARNES: You know, as far as I have heard, no schools have, you know, canceled for the day. So I think everybody's just kind of playing it by ear and watching these storms move through. So school is going on as normal.
The fortunate thing about the storms that we're seeing today, there's no lightning associated with it, which is, of course, the scary part. When you get these real bad thunderstorms with the lightning, you can have fires. And we were getting that pretty consistently during the spring and summer. And so, so far, I mean, we had the one house fire.
HARRIS: Right.
CARNES: Today's storm, has not seen -- we haven't seen any lightning associated with that. So that's good news, but again, it's not over here. We're supposed to get another round of it this afternoon.
HARRIS: Hey, Jerry, hang on the line for just a second here. I'm looking at Chad and he's moving stuff around here on the wall here. And I know that one of the displays he's going to pull up is he's going to show everybody exactly where you are.
MYERS: Well, yes. It's the movement of the cells as well. We call this training.
So we had one cell that was very impressive. It tried to go through Atlanta Jackson -- Hartsfield-Jackson Airport there with spin, but it fell apart.
But what the problem is, where the reporter is right there, more storms are lining up behind it, what we call the train effect. Another boxcar coming over the same area here.
And also, more storms developing even to the northwest of the box itself, the tornado watch box. So, we are not out. Even though we just had one storm that didn't get too impressive over the city, there are more cells to the southwest for the reporter, and also for the city and the airport to deal with.
HARRIS: OK.
So let's do this -- let's continue to keep an eye on this.
Jerry, appreciate it. And we're going to check back in with you, as someone who's on the ground here, if you get any word of any damage. If you start to see something take shape, we'll reach out to you and maybe you can reach out to us.
Jerry Carnes is a reporter for one of our local affiliates here in Atlanta, WXIA.
A quick break. We're back in a moment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Let's get to some politics now.
Just six days left on the election countdown calendar. At stake, the balance of power in Congress. What's also at stake may be the security of your vote.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports on a test of Internet voting that exposed a threat from hackers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is the voter's choice.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In order to test its new Internet voting system for military and overseas ballots, the Washington, D.C., Board of Elections publicly challenged outsiders to hack in.
J. ALEX HALDERMAN, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Thirty-six hours after the server went public, we were in. We had complete control.
FEYERICK: For Professor J. Alex Halderman's team at the University of Michigan, it was like picking a cheap lock.
HALDERMAN: We could reprogram the system to do essentially whatever we want -- steal all the ballots, find out how everyone voted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The security guard was unable to tell by looking at the box that we had hacked into it.
FEYERICK: They also discovered apparently they were not the only hackers.
HALDERMAN: We found evidence that real hackers from China and from Iran were also trying to penetrate the system.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
FEYERICK: D.C. election officials quickly suspended Internet- based voting days before the election, but only for the time being.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found some vulnerabilities, so we scaled back.
FEYERICK: Those who support Internet voting and voting by electronic machines say it's more efficient, more reliable and easier to use.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of voters are flocking to the touch screen voting equipment.
FEYERICK: But computer scientists like Halderman and colleague Ariel Feldman say electronic machines are just as easy to tamper with as the Internet.
(on camera): Nine million voters vote on a machine like this.
ARIEL FELDMAN, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Yes.
FEYERICK: And yet you programmed it to play Pacman?
FELDMAN: That's right.
FEYERICK (voice-over): That's right, Pacman.
Coming after you.
FELDMAN: When you have a general purpose computer, if you replace its software, you can completely change what it does.
FEYERICK: The brain of the touch-screen machine --
FELDMAN: Take it out, and this is just an ordinary memory card.
FEYERICK: And if that gets infected, watch out.
HALDERMAN: We have found that we can make a voting machine virus that will spread from machine to machine and change the election outcome across the whole county and whole state. This is very, very scary. And it's a realistic threat today.
FEYERICK: And unlike the University of Michigan hackers who deliberately left their fight song as a fingerprint, real hackers would strike, disappear, and likely leave no fingerprint at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK. So, Deb Feyerick joining me from New York.
Deb, look, this raises a lot of questions about security. Is there any movement to take sort of a step back from Internet voting?
FEYERICK: Well, there is. As a matter of fact, in Washington, D.C., you heard they suspended theirs for now.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is also asking that, in fact, Internet voting at least be taken off the table for about a year. There are laws on the books right now requiring all 50 states to make it easier for people in the military and overseas to vote.
The way they vote, the quickest, most efficient way is either via the Internet or some electronic means. So right now it's being looked at, and looked at pretty closely.
HARRIS: OK, Deb. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Deb Feyerick from New York for us.
Police get a call about Charlie Sheen at New York's Plaza Hotel. Some reports say he did $7,000 worth of damage. What's going on?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Up first, his "Rally to Restore Sanity." Now "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart lands the big interview. Man.
President Obama goes on the Comedy Central program tonight, less than a week before the midterm elections. He will be the first sitting president to appear on the program.
Candidate Obama appeared on Stewart's program during the presidential campaign. Media observers say the show gives the president an opportunity to connect with younger voters.
The CNN Election Express is on the road listening to your concerns. The latest stop, Toledo, Ohio.
CNN's Don Lemon is traveling with the Election Express and joins us live.
Don, what are you hearing -- wow. Don, take it away.
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm not hearing very much right now because they're so loud. We're hearing a lot, Tony.
Hey, listen, we've got some college students here. They're very excited about the election, and their concern, they say, jobs. Jobs once they graduate college.
You might recognize this right here, the Dum Dm Pops, all of these candies, a bunch of candies. This is from the Spangler Candy Company, about 50 miles west of here.
We wanted to check out some important industries here like manufacturing, this candy industry, and the jobs that people have here or they're losing. So we dropped by the Spangler Candy Company. I want to introduce you to those folks, and we're going to come back and talk about UT.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN SPANGLER, SPANGLER CANDY: Bryan, Ohio is the industrial and original agricultural heartland of our America. It's small-town America.
We make candy. We make Dum Dum Pops, Safety Pops, candy canes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are now the largest manufacturing employer in Bryan. And I'm not real happy about that.
I think it's almost like grieving. People feel this decline of manufacturing in the Midwest, and it's totally changed their life and changed the way they think about things.
And so when you're grieving, you know, fear, obviously, can be part of that, and anger. People are clearly angry. And in politics, when you're angry, you take it out on the incumbents. Whether that's really fair or not doesn't matter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a lot of people are so disappointed, that I don't know how many will want to go out and vote.
SPANGLER: I'm looking for people that are going to help institute change and do the right thing. I think so many times they get focused on one party versus the other party, and I think that what we need to do is get unified and solve some of the issues.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So the thing you should do to help you be clear when you vote is eat a Dum Dum. It'll sharpen your mental skills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, Dum Dums will make you smarter. That's what he said. I need a bunch of them, Tony.
So listen -- all these guys are out here. We've got a young college Republican, Matt, here. Look, the president has become a cheerleader.
We're talking about jobs. This is president Lloyd Jacobs.
The students here are concerned about jobs once they get out of school.
DR. LLOYD JACOBS, UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO: They're concerned about jobs, but they're also concerned about what's going to happen next Tuesday. This is the center of building a new economy, building jobs. This is where it's at.
LEMON: This is where it's at.
Listen, Tony -- thank you, President.
I know we're talking about Dum Dums, but earlier I got a physical ed instructor out here to sort of give you some tips about you can stay fit, and he gave the students here -- she gave the students some tips about being healthy to go to the polls not only Tuesday, but for the rest of their lives.
And these guys have a special cheer just for you.
OK. So you guys said that you had -- you have a Tony cheer. Let's hear the Tony cheer.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Let's go, Tony! Let's go Tony! Let's go Tony!
HARRIS: All right. Boy, I'll tell you what --
LEMON: And right here, Tony --
HARRIS: I love it.
LEMON: Rocky the Rocket came out for you, just for you.
HARRIS: I love it, Don.
LEMON: So, anyway, we're here, we're having a good time. We're hearing a lot from the voters, and young voters.
And some of them are going actually to Washington this weekend. I was surprised about that. They're getting on a plane and they said they're actually going to go to Colbert and Jon Stewart's rally.
So back to you -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. I love it, Don. I appreciate it so much. The only thing missing is --
LEMON: Let's go, Tony.
HARRIS: -- traffic and weather together.
We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Boy, oh, boy, what a good day we're having in the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get you to CNNmoney.com. Take a look at the lead story here, stocks sink as Fed hopes wane. I guess the markets are waiting to find out what the Fed is going to prop up this economy right now. So, that's driving stocks down.
Let's do this. Let's get to the New York Stock Exchange and look at the Big Board here. We're are - just past three hours to the trading day, and we are definitely in negative territory. Triple- digit negative territory. It looks like we're off session lows, we are down 127 points. The NASDAQ I would imagine is down as well. Yep, down 12 points. Following these numbers for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Something to think about as we go to break, what country was named number one on a new list of the most prosperous nations? A, Norway. B, the United States. How about Japan? Or D, China? We will have the answer for you in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's see here. We asked before the break, what country was named number one on a new list of the most prosperous nations? Norway, the United States, Japan or China? How'd you do on this one? The answer is, have we highlighted it? My eyes are -- there we go! Norway.
The list was put out by London's Leggitam (ph) Institute. It includes the health of the people, freedom, safety, entrepreneurial opportunities and happiness. In fact, here are the top three most prosperous nations. Norway, followed by Denmark and then Finland. If you're wondering about the United States, the United States is number ten on that list.
Time now for our "Random Moment" of the day. The Shakira concert in Las Vegas this month. A fan feeling a little too much attraction for the singer. He jumped on stage to try to give her a hug, but security, look at this, oooh! Johnny on the spot took him out immediately.
Take a look at that outfit Shakira was wearing. If that made the guy go crazy, just imagine if she'd appeared on stage in this outfit. There you go! Can't get enough Shakira in the show.
Another "Random Moment" of the day!
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's see. I think we've worked this out pretty well here. Take a look at the images on the big Vista wall here. To the left, you see radar satellite image of the storm system. Right? As it moves from west to east, and the system now south -- in the southeast Atlanta, obviously at the center there. We're going to watch the situation in Atlanta.
We've got a reporter from one of our local affiliates on the ground here. If anything really pops there, which you can see there are several hot spots in and around Atlanta that we're keeping an eye on.
Come on in here, Chad, when you get a second here. Yes, yes, yes. So, that's Atlanta. We're keeping an eye on Atlanta. I think we've got another picture here -- that's downtown Atlanta, the next one in the Vista wall.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Correct.
HARRIS: Then we've got the White House.
MYERS: Yes. That's the Capitol.
HARRIS: And that's the Capitol.
MYERS: You can kind of see the Capitol. And, remember I was showing you how planes weren't going in a straight line to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. They were circling?
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: Well, all of a sudden now, that storm is right over Reagan National, so planes are going in circles here. All the planes that were destined to go to Reagan are now -- look at these two planes. They've turned and gone back to the west.
HARRIS: See you.
MYERS: They're not going to go back to where they came from, but they're going to waste a little time, they're going to wait for the cell to move away. That's right there, right over Reagan National to move away. You don't want to land in that. You've got too much downturn (ph). You've got wind going all different directions. Here's a plane coming in, made a big old U-turn. Now it's going to go that way, probably make a couple loops out here and just kind of waste some time. Here's a couple of loops there, that's - I guess that's northern Virginia. That's southern Maryland, and then two planes from the Northeast, just going to do this for a little while.
HARRIS: Man, how quickly is this system moving?
MYERS: Oh, yesterday it was 70 miles per hour, today, about 40. But that's still fast.
HARRIS: Just scooting through there. All right. Until it gets through, it's a mess.
Chad, appreciate this. Let's do this. Let's take a quick break. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Look, no one can forget the devastation in Haiti after the January 12 earthquake. Almost a quarter of a million people died under the rubble, more than 1.6 million left homeless.
Now, more than nine months later, a quiet killer is still ravaging the people of Haiti. The earthquake wiped out much of Haiti's infrastructure, as you know, including the clean water supply. At least 259 people have died in a cholera outbreak. The U.N. fears tens of thousands could become infected.
Actor and activist Sean Penn told our Anderson Cooper the key to gaining control of the outbreak is as simple as pure water.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN PENN, ACTOR & ACTIVIST: One of the things that people have to understand -- they say, well, don't use the water, the water is contaminated. The only way that people will pay attention to that is if clean water is provided. So, whether that's through filtration systems or trucked-in water, this is going to be the essential element -- water, water, water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. CNN's Paula Newton reports part of the challenge is convincing Haitians the water that they have used for generations is now making them sick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I want to you take a look now at this little boy who's in the water. He's been swimming in the water for some time since we've been here.
He has his hands in his mouth. He's clearly taking water in. And yet, this is a river that is most likely contaminated with cholera.
(voice-over): Here, this little boy washes out his food bowl in river water and is served his meal with water still clinging to his food. Every bite could now potentially make him very sick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Okay, there is some clean water available to Haitians. CNN iReporter Roseanne Denery and aid worker with Samaritan's Purse shot these photos of Haitians getting water from a newly installed filtration system. She says many people stopped to gulp water right at the site.
According to Denery, there is no other source of water in this area besides this filtration system and the contaminated river. Humanitarian agencies are working right now to stop the contaminated water from killing Haitians.
Joining me from Washington, Annie Foster. She is associate vice president for humanitarian response for Save the Children.
Annie, good to see you.
Look, I've been talking to our medical folks and they are suggesting to me that we shouldn't be here right now, better than nine months into this disaster. That if we were going to see a cholera outbreak, it should have happened earlier. And that nine months in, we should have the filtration systems in place, we should be trucking in the water in the areas where the filtration systems aren't in place. But that we shouldn't be seeing a cholera outbreak at this point. What are your thoughts on that? ANNIE FOSTER, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Well, it is unusual nine months later. But, you know, cholera hasn't been in Haiti for over 50 years, so it is quite an unusual occurrence. But, you know, whenever Save The Children hits the ground after one of these emergencies, one of our major priorities is water and sanitation. When you have overcrowding like that, limited access to clean water, very limited health care and no latrines or sanitation, then the risk of diarrheal diseases is going to grow. And the children are the ones that are going to be the most vulnerable, obviously.
HARRIS: Well, Annie, what's the problem here? I mean, again, we're talking about better than nine months into this. Again, it's the same question, why are we talking about a cholera outbreak?
FOSTER: Right. Well, Haiti was a very, very poor country to begin with, with very little infrastructure. And this earthquake hit the capital city. And the infrastructure was basically gutted. So that puts things at risk and puts diarrheal disease at a greater possibility.
But, you know, the other thing that we're taking care -- that we're looking at is the specific vulnerabilities to small kids. So breastfeeding is very important. Exclusive breastfeeding for those infants six months and under. When I was in Haiti, I met a mother who had twins, a month or two old right when the earthquake happened. When the earthquake happened, she grabbed them both. She dropped one and one of her babies perished.
She had another one. The other one survived. But she was so traumatized, she said her milk dried up. But she came to a Save The Children program tent. We had tents all over the place. And through counseling and education, she was able to start breastfeeding again and her kid was safe. She was taught about the dangers of contaminated water for her very small children.
HARRIS: OK. So, Annie, I know it sounds like a one note, one question interview. But, look, after this earthquake, the world flooded Haiti with aid, with assistance, with water. So again, we are better than nine months into this. We're talking about a cholera outbreak. What's the problem here? Is it an NGO problem? Is it an NGO coordination problem? Is it a government problem?
FOSTER: Well, I think the key here is for hygiene education. We've got a million people still living in camps in Port-au-Prince. They need to understand, as Sean Penn was saying earlier, what kind of water they need to provide for their kids. What's the difference between clean water and river water. We need to provide sanitation services for them so that we have water, latrines, and hygiene education. Those are the three pillars that are going to help control this issue.
HARRIS: So the NGOs have to be responsible for doing that and the government has to be responsible for doing that, correct?
FOSTER: Absolutely. It's a partnership. And right now we're working with the government to make clinics open and available 24 hours a day. We're bringing in 15,000 bars of soap to distribute to schools throughout Port-au-Prince. We're doing hygiene education. We're setting up cholera centers. So together with the government and NGO's like Save The Children, I think it will get better.
HARRIS: OK, Annie, appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
FOSTER: Thank you.
HARRIS: The bottom line on all of this is that Haiti still needs your help. Just go to cnn.com/impact to find out how you can do your part.
So he was linked to the D.C. madam and confessed to a serious sin, but that doesn't appear to be hurting his re-election campaign. The story in our political update.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Six days until the election, the midterm elections. President Obama making history again, this time on a late-night comedy show. CNN's senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash, part of the "Best Political Team On Television," joining us live from New York.
The president is going to be on "The Daily Show." I can't get him on CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris. Dana, will you pull some strings for me, please?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll do my best. I'll give it my best.
HARRIS: OK.
BASH: We'll get to that -- we'll get to that in a minute.
But first I want to tell you about something that is creating a lot of buzz and controversy. It's an incident that happened right here on CNN earlier this week during a Florida governor's debate. CNN's John King was moderating it. And a Republican candidate called out the Democrat, Alex Sink, for breaking the rules by reading a text on her cell phone during the commercial break. Well, the rules established by both campaigns were no e-mails and no texts.
So if you click on cnn.com/ticker right now, you're actually going to get an inside look at what really happened of the air. During the break, Sink was reading a text, delivered by a make-up artist, but sent from a campaign aide. And later, Tony, Sink said that she didn't know what it was about and couldn't really read it. But if you watch the behind the scenes video, it sounds like she knew who it was from. And this is a really bitter fight, a close race, and it has a lot to do with credibility and accountability of both candidates there in Florida.
Next on the ticker, Tony, Louisiana. It is a state like no place else in this country, especially when it comes to Louisiana politics. Our producer, Evan Glass, has a story on the ticker from Louisiana about the fact that Republican Senator David Vitter is poised to easily win re-election on Tuesday despite a very public scandal after being linked to a prostitution ring.
Now, Vitter's Democratic opponent, Charles Melancon, has been trying very hard to highlight Vitter's relationship to the so-called D.C. madam. But according to the polls, it hasn't worked. Tony, Vitter is up by 17 points.
HARRIS: Wow.
BASH: And you remember back in 2007, when all of this happened, he said it was an issue that he had committed. It was a, quote, "very serious sin." That's all he said.
Now, back to the interview that I think is making you sad, Tony, and I'm sorry about that. And that is something that's going to happen not too far from where I'm sitting in Manhattan. It is going to be Jon Stewart's interview with President Obama tonight on "The Daily Show."
Now, Obama is going to be the first sitting president to ever appear with a host who calls his show fake news. We know that the Democratic -- Democrats have been targeting the youth vote in a big way. Young voters are a big part of his audience and the Democrats are worried about the youth vote that came out big in 2008 being disenchanted now. They're hope that perhaps this could help.
I'll do what I can.
HARRIS: Yes.
BASH: Maybe I'll, you know, go into the audience and scream out Tony Harris' name.
HARRIS: Thank you.
BASH: Anything for you, Tony.
HARRIS: Signs, signs, bullhorns, anything would be acceptable at this point.
Dana, appreciate it.
BASH: You've got it.
HARRIS: Anything you can do.
BASH: Good to see you.
HARRIS: Your next political update coming up in one hour. For the latest political news, you know to go to cnnpolitics.com.
Police get a call about Charlie Sheen at New York's Plaza Hotel. Some reports say he did $7,000 worth of damage. What is going on with Charlie sheen?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Charlie Sheen. OK, let's get to "What's Hot" now. Charlie Sheen. What is -- we're trying to figure out what's going on with him.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. We've heard all kinds of rumors, trashes a hotel room, naked, intoxicated, hospitalized.
HARRIS: Right. Strange folks in the room with him.
JERAS: All kinds of (INAUDIBLE). Yes.
HARRIS: Yes.
JERAS: Locking themselves in the bathroom.
HARRIS: What is --
JERAS: These are all the things that we're hearing.
HARRIS: Yes.
JERAS: And, of course, this isn't the first time we've heard some of these things, unfortunately.
HARRIS: Exactly.
JERAS: So we're going to bring in our expert, HLN's "Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer.
HARRIS: It's hammer time?
JERAS: And, A.J. -- it's hammer time.
HARRIS: Sorry.
JERAS: What can you tell us, A.J.?
A.J. HAMMER, HOST, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": I haven't heard that before, Jacqui.
JERAS: Yes, that's a new one, right?
HARRIS: Yes.
HAMMER: You know, I'm certain I've said this before, not a real good time for Charlie Sheen right now. Here are the facts. Police were called to the Plaza Hotel in New York City at about 1:30 in the morning yesterday. They were responding to a call about an emotionally disturbed person. That person was Charlie Sheen. Charlie was transported to a New York City hospital.
And there had been rampant reports that drugs may have been involved and that Charlie trashed his hotel room. "People" magazine reporting today that he's going to be paying a $7,000 bill for damages to the hotel room in the Plaza. But no charges have been pursued and Sheen's rep tells us that an adverse allergic reaction to a medication was to blame for his hospitalization.
Now, Charlie had been in town spending some time with his ex- wife, Denise Richards, and their two kids. They were also staying in the hotel. Thankfully in a different room. Charlie was released from the hospital Tuesday. He's back in L.A. now. And according to reports, he's going right back to work on his show "Two and A Half Men."
Charlie remains on probation in Aspen, Colorado. Now this is important to note. Those -- that probation stems from a domestic incident with his wife late last year. And we're told that this latest incident in New York City is not going to have any bearing on that probation, which ends on Tuesday. The timing there, pretty tricky. Of course, all of this, as you guys were referring to a moment ago, the latest in the long line of problems for Charlie Sheen, but his career rolls on unscathed, guys.
HARRIS: Looks that way. Yes.
JERAS: All right. Thanks, A.J.
HARRIS: OK, A.J., appreciate it. Know you'll be covering it on "Showbiz Tonight."
JERAS: Yes.
HARRIS: All right. So that's what's hot. Jacqui, appreciate it.
JERAS: It's sad.
HARRIS: Yes, it is. I mean the guy is super talented, as we all know.
As we go to break, we've got another little quiz for you. How do most Americans like to relax? A, having a drink, b, reading, listening to music is c.
Jacqui, it's --
JERAS: All of the above.
HARRIS: A very different answer for men versus women.
JERAS: OK.
HARRIS: Yes. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So our question before the break was this, how do most Americans like to relax? Having a drink, reading or listening to music? Well, it depends on what sex, your sex is. Look at this. The top answer for men is having a drink. I'm not surprised by that, right? Twenty-five percent of 2,000 men surveyed for Princess Cruises said they drink beer to relax. And for women, the top answer was listening to music. In fact, 32 percent of women asked said they chill out best.
