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Closing Gitmo; Blueprint for Economic Recovery; Children Hit by Truck in Chinatown, New York; Financial Aid Help; Ethanol from Waste; Rescue on the Tracks; Keeping Track; Golden Opportunity
Aired January 22, 2009 - 11:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello, everyone. I'm Tony Harris in the CNN NEWSROOM. And here are the headlines from CNN for this Thursday, January 22nd.
President Obama's plan to fix the economy gets aired out in two House committees today. Republican complaints about the stimulus grow stronger.
The first formal press briefing from the Obama White House. New Press Secretary Robert Gibbs live next hour.
Fast save on Inauguration Day. An out-of-town police officer rescues a woman who tumbled on to Washington's subway tracks. iReport pictures -- in the NEWSROOM.
President Barack Obama focusing on the economy and shifting focus in the fight against terrorism. Day three for the president started with a meeting of his economic team. And just within the last hour, the president signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo detention facility within a year.
White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux live with details.
Suzanne, a busy morning. Probably leading to a busy afternoon as well for the president.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's all busy, Tony.
Obviously, Barack Obama, now President Obama, making good on a pledge that he made during the campaign that, essentially, that he's going to end the practice of torture, what he believes is torture, waterboarding, by executive order. That he is going to take a look at the policies of detentions and detainees by actually creating an interagency taskforce to take a look at that.
And then, finally, this is something he talked about before, that is closing Guantanamo Bay detention facility, that he believes this is something that has put a moral stain on our country. He believes it's unconstitutional, and today he has made a real effort to reverse that.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This first executive order that we are signing by the authority vested in me as president by the constitution and the laws of the United States of America, in order to affect the appropriate disposition of individuals currently detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo, and promptly to close the detention facility at Guantanamo, consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.
In the interests of justice, I hereby order.
And we then provide the process whereby Guantanamo will be closed no later than one year from now. We will be -- is there a separate executive order, Greg, with respect to how we're going to dispose of the detainees?
GREG CRAIG, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: We set up a process.
OBAMA: We will be setting up a process whereby this is going to be taking place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Tony, what you're actually seeing there is, obviously, he is issuing the executive order, but he is also acknowledging here that this is going to be a rather involved process. He was turning to Greg Craig, who was off camera. You saw him talking to somebody. That's the White House counsel.
They have been involved in what they say is an ongoing process here, that aides tell me it is going to take potentially up to a year to make this happen. The former president, President Bush, had talked about closing Guantanamo Bay, that he wanted to do it, but never followed through.
There are a lot of steps that are involved here. It's working with the Pentagon, it's working with other foreign leaders and countries to make sure that there is a place to put these detainees, and to make sure that they're not tortured in other countries -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Our White House Correspondent Suzanne malveaux for us.
Suzanne, thank you.
You know, there is a daily White House briefing for the news media, and we are going to take this administration's very first one. That's live, a little more than an hour from now, 1:30 Eastern Time. CNN.com will stream the entire briefing live for you as well.
The man President Obama wants to lead the charge against the recession gets a Senate nod a short time ago. The Finance Committee approved Timothy Geithner for treasury secretary. The vote, 18-5. The nomination now goes to the full Senate.
The president's blueprint for recovery is in front of two House committees today, but Republicans want to see less spending and more tax cutting.
CNN's Kate Bolduan at the Capitol for us today.
And Kate, we heard from the House minority leader last hour, John Boehner.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. We heard both from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as House Minority Leader John Boehner.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing that there will be a bipartisan meeting at the White House with President Obama tomorrow to talk stimulus. The package right now still remains at about $825 billion.
Today, here on Capitol Hill, two committees will be taking up their portions of the bill. One of them, the House Ways and Means Committee, will be taking on marking up the tax cut portion of that, and that's about $275 billion that needs to be approved in committee, of course, before it goes before the full House to be voted on.
Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she did speak just a short time ago, and she repeated the call for swift action on this package. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package, 500 million Americans lose their jobs. I don't think we can go fast enough to stop that. The president asked for action, swift and bold. And that is what we are doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: But House Republicans are strongly disagreeing, calling for their very own meeting with President Obama to voice their concerns and push for changes in this stimulus.
Listen here to House Minority Leader John Boehner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: While we appreciate the chance to work with the president, it appears that House Democrats are going to continue to barrel ahead without any bipartisan support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: House Republicans are arguing that they haven't been part of this process, that what they're calling for is more business tax cuts, less spending. They say business tax cuts is what's going to spur growth, save jobs, create jobs, rather than infrastructure spending that Democrats argue will be what will help stimulate the economy by creating and saving jobs.
Now the big question, Tony, is where do things go from here? And it looks like the big question that needs to be answered, is there going to be compromise or is there going to be a showdown? Republicans clearly say that -- want some changes to be made to this package. House Democrats are still pushing to have this bill passed through the House by the end of the month.
HARRIS: All right. Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill for us.
Kate, thank you.
BOLDUAN: Of course.
HARRIS: We want to show you these live pictures now from New York City's Chinatown. Take a look at this. A very difficult scene right now.
Our reporting is that five children have been struck by that truck that you see there at the center of the picture there in Chinatown. We are still developing more information on this story, but you can see that police obviously on the scene, the yellow tape as well. A telltale sign of a serious accident here.
Once again, this van, our understanding, at least now, is has struck five children. Those children obviously being taken to a hospital for treatment there.
We don't know at this point the extent of their injuries and we don't know -- oh, boy -- Jenny (ph), is that reportable at this point?
All right, we're just getting an indication that one of the children struck by this van has in fact died of those injuries. So five children struck. One dead on arrival at a local area hospital. One in critical condition. That child has been transported to an area hospital as well. One seriously injured also being transported.
That is what we know at this point. Five children, one -- five children struck, one dying of injuries. And the other children being treated at an area hospital.
We will continue to follow developments with this story and get you the very latest as we get it here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
But back to the economy for a moment.
A swarm of jobs on the chopping block today. Let's run through this list.
Microsoft is slashing 5,000 positions. Apparently, the first major payroll cuts ever at Microsoft. The company blames weak PC sales. And there is more.
Chip maker Intel is cutting as many as 6,000 jobs. Upscale kitchen retailer Williams-Sonoma, 1,400. Bank of America reportedly eyeing another 4,000 cuts.
And a gloomy report on housing. Construction of new homes plunged more than 15 percent in December. That makes 2008 the worst year on record for homebuilders. That record dates back to 1959.
Issue #1 taking center stage today. The economic stimulus plan, more job cuts, obviously sluggish housing starts.
Christine Roman, part of the CNN money team, breaks it all down for us.
And Christine, let's start with Tim Geithner.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Sure.
HARRIS: He seems to be on his way to Senate confirmation. I'm just wondering -- and maybe it would be helpful for folks watching us, how much of his responsibility is going to be in administering the TARP program? And will he have a hand at all in administering the stimulus plan?
ROMANS: Well, you have Larry Summers, also, the former treasury secretary...
HARRIS: That's true.
ROMANS: ... who is in the White House, who is sort of orchestrating all the different kinds of economic policies that this administration's going to have. The treasury secretary will be responsible for the Trouble Asset Relief Program and for the banking sector...
HARRIS: Yes.
ROMANS: ... and with the Fed chief and the like. We're told by a lot of experts and people close to the situation, frankly, that there is going to be more money coming down the pike in new ways they'll probably be devising to try to figure out how to revive the financial sector, and then ultimately the economy.
So, yes, I mean, he's got a very big job, but there is a whole big team of folks there. Christina Romer also in the White House. There's a whole council of economic advisers. So there is a pretty big and a blue ribbon panel of folks up there.
HARRIS: Hey, Christine, what did you make of the discussion yesterday during the confirmation hearing about this idea of a bad bank, this idea of taking the assets, the troubled assets, off the balance sheets of these banks that are in trouble right now and creating this so- called bad bank?
ROMANS: I can't tell you how much debate there's been about this, actually for some months. First, there was taking the toxic assets off the books, and then there was recapitalizing the banks. And now they are talking again about some kind of aggregator.
HARRIS: Yes.
ROMANS: There are a lot of different ideas out there. The question is what will it look like, what are the unintended consequences. We saw the unintended consequences of the TARP, as it's called, all of the lack of oversight, the holes and the things that didn't happen the way they thought they would happen. So they're trying to look at all the angles of a variety of different plans, I'm sure. And as he even said yesterday in the confirmation hearing, maybe some kind of combination of different things.
I don't know what your read was. Mine was that he wasn't committing to it.
HARRIS: Exactly.
ROMANS: He said it wasn't perfect, but there were a lot of senators pressing him on this, is this the next step for us? And we just don't know that right now.
HARRIS: Yes. And the other indication is we would know, get more specifics in the next week or two from the Obama administration as to how they plan to spend the TARP funds.
But let me change gears here and take it to the economic stimulus -- the jobs number and what that means in terms of the need for some real economic stimulus, as the jobs picture continues to be ever-cloudy.
ROMANS: Well, the Obama administration would like to create three million to four million jobs over the next couple of years. You need to have about two million jobs created every year just to keep up with the working age population growth. So...
HARRIS: Well, don't you need to create about 100,000 jobs a month?
ROMANS: 100,000 to 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with new people coming into the workplace. So when you're seeing 5889,000 in just one week filing for unemployment benefits, when you see 4.6 million people continuing to collect benefits, and you're seeing places like -- you named them, Williams-Sonoma, United Airlines, all different -- Microsoft today, 5,000 jobs cuts -- when you see these jobs cuts coming again and again and again, I mean, saving or creating three million to four million jobs is going to be something that isn't going to return the labor market to health, it's going to stop the bleeding.
HARRIS: Yes. Christine, thanks. Appreciate it.
ROMANS: Sure.
HARRIS: A warm welcome for the newly confirmed secretary of state. Hillary Clinton arrived at her post just a few hours ago. President Obama visits the State Department later today. He has given Clinton a mandate to step up U.S. diplomacy and help restore the nation's image abroad.
She told employees they will play a vital role in that mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: There are three legs to the stool of American foreign policy: defense, diplomacy, and development. And we are responsible for two of the three legs. And we will make clear as we go forward that diplomacy and development are essential tools in achieving the long-term objectives of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Clinton was sworn in during a private ceremony. That took place yesterday after the Senate voted overwhelmingly to confirm her.
Crowded conditions for the inauguration nearly led to tragedy at one D.C. subway station. Instead, a hero responded, and our iReporters were there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And once again, we want to give you a quick update on the breaking news from just moments ago. Take a look at this picture.
New York's Chinatown, there is a van -- we're a little far away right now, but there is a van at the center of the picture there. Apparently, that van lost control, obviously, and struck five children. Although we don't know that for sure yet, but clearly the van struck five children on that sidewalk.
One of the children reported dead, four others seriously injured. Our pictures coming to us from our New York affiliate WABC.
As you can see from the wider vantage point, the street has been completely blocked off at this point. You've got emergency personnel on the scene, traffic being diverted around this scene right now, as emergency personnel work to get all of the people impacted by this crash out of the scene and to area hospitals for care. And also, the investigation that is ongoing right now.
So, once again, five children struck by the van at the center of this picture. One dead, four seriously injured.
We will continue to update this story for you throughout the day really in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: An Indiana pilot, an investment advisor, a man who apparently has a lot of baggage, appearing in federal court this morning. Marcus Schrenker is accused of bilking clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, then flying off on his plane and trying to disappear.
Our Brooke Baldwin following all of the strange twists and turns in this one.
Brooke, if you would, give us an update.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I like that, twists and turns...
HARRIS: Yes.
BALDWIN: ... of a high-flying stuntman officially grounded, if you will, Tony.
Thirty-eight-year-old Marcus Schrenker is being arraigned this morning at a federal courthouse down in Pensacola, Florida. I have his indictment here.
He was indicted Tuesday on federal charges, of course all stemming from his plane crash two Sundays ago. The indictment here accuses Schrenker of knowingly and willfully damaging, destroying, disabling and wrecking his plane, and knowingly and willfully causing the U.S. Coast Guard to get out in an attempt to save his life when no help was needed.
Now remember, Schrenker made that fake distress call before putting his plane on auto pilot, parachuting out of it over rural Alabama, and then crashing the plane on purpose. His plane, we remember, went down in Florida, the same state where U.S. marshals captured Schrenker just two days later at a campground, where the 38-year-old pilot had slashed his wrists in an apparent suicide attempt. Schrenker was airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Tony, and then released just this past Sunday and taken to jail.
HARRIS: Well, Brooke, I know you've been in touch with the folks at the Indiana airport where this guy took off before faking his death. Are we getting any surveillance video from that airport?
BALDWIN: We are. It's pretty interesting. It provides us with a little bit of color. We're learning a little bit more about this Indiana businessman.
Take a look -- we can take a look at some of the surveillance video from the Indiana airport hopefully here. That's his a plane down outside of Milton. But surveillance video that we have from January 11th, here it is.
This is where Schrenker took off in his Piper six-seater. You're seeing one of the servicemen pulling Schrenker's $1.5 million plane out of the hangar. I know it's kind of blurry...
HARRIS: Yes.
BALDWIN: ... but what you can see is, before he actually climbs into the cockpit, according to Ron Smith (ph) -- I talked to him today. He's Anderson Airport interim manager. He said Schrenker appeared -- his word was "playful," spinning out in his truck on the snowy tarmac. So he said that was kind of just his character, playful, some may say careless.
Also important to point out, Tony, Schrenker faces charges in his home state of Indiana. He faces one felony count, each of unlawful acts by a compensated advise in an unlawful transaction by an investment adviser. And authorities say they believe Schrenker defrauded investors.
You mentioned bilking hundreds of thousands through three companies he owns that are based in an Indianapolis suburb. And Indiana officials have agreed to allow this federal case against Marcus Schrenker to proceed before seeking to have him extradited back to Indiana. If you're following me.
HARRIS: I see. Yes, it's convoluted, but we got it. Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Sure.
HARRIS: Brooke Baldwin for us.
A single feather, evidence of a near-deadly catastrophe in the ditching of that US Airways passenger jet in New York. Divers found the plane's other engine at the bottom of the Hudson River yesterday.
Meanwhile, investigators say that feather, plus evidence of what they're calling soft body impact damage, have been found. Just before going into the Hudson last week, the pilot reported his plane had been hit by a flock of birds.
The same day President Obama was taking the oath of office, there was a near catastrophe there at one of the metro stations at Washington, D.C. We will get to that story with our Josh Levs in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: More details coming out now about the scare on a US Airways flight just two days before last week's landing in the Hudson River.
Special Investigations Unit Correspondent Abbie Boudreau, as you can see, is with us now with the very latest.
Good to see you, Abbie.
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
So, so far, we've talked to another passenger who tells us what it was like on that same plane just two days earlier. She said it was the scariest flight of her life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOUDREAU (voice-over): Alison Camastra says she flies all the time, but she's never been so afraid on an airplane.
ALISON CAMASTRA, PASSENGER: I just remember thinking I want to be on the ground, I want to be on the ground.
BOUDREAU: She says she remembers hearing four loud bangs on the right side of the plane.
CAMASTRA: I remember thinking to myself, the wing's going to fall off and getting really scared. And then it made the noise again and the engine shook really bad.
BOUDREAU: Steve Jeffrey (ph) was on that same flight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seemed so loud, you know, like luggage was hitting the side, but times a thousand. It startled everyone on the plane.
BOUDREAU: They say crewmembers told passengers they would turn the plane around and head back to LaGuardia to check out the problems.
CAMASTRA: He said multiple -- multiple compressor stalls were very rare. He said it was very rare for multiple stalls.
BOUDREAU: A total of four passengers tell CNN the pilot then announced he had run some checks in the air and that it was safe to continue to Charlotte.
Camastra sent her boyfriend an e-mail.
CAMASTRA: I said, "We're turning around and going back to the airport." And then I said, "I love you so much." I almost didn't want to predict whether or not we were going to make it to the airport or what would happen.
BOUDREAU: Chris Norton is a commercial pilot. He's also the executive vice president of Expert Aviation Consulting.
CHRIS NORTON, EXPERT AVIATION CONSULTING, LLC: There are times that you might have a compressor stall that's a transient that you're not even aware of, and there could be other times when the compressor stall can produce a catastrophic result.
BOUDREAU: Norton says a compressor stall is when the air flow to an engine is momentarily interrupted. In more serious cases it can cause the engine to shut down.
NORTON: The loud bang that people are referring to that they hear is the actual stall of the compressor section of the engine.
BOUDREAU: Camastra took these pictures of the plane that landed in the Hudson River. She says she still can't believe she was on that same plane just two days earlier.
CAMASTRA: It's kind of concerning to me, as bad as the noises were and the shaking was in the plane that we were on, that they were still flying that plane two days later. It definitely concerned me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOUDREAU: We're learning more information now about the engines on this type of aircraft. Now, just three weeks ago, the FAA issued what's called an air worthiness directive after six compressor stalls were reported in these engines.
We talked to the company that manufactures the engines for the Airbus A-320. A company spokesman told us all 3,000 engines have since been inspected, and only a total of 12 were found with temperatures higher than normal that could cause one of these stalls.
The spokesman said it was exceedingly unlikely that the plane that ditched into the Hudson River last week contained one of those engines. The FAA says all U.S. airlines fully complied with that directive.
Meanwhile, the NTSB said investigators have found a single feather and evidence of soft-body impact damage from the right engine. Now, this reinforces the pilot's report that the plane was hit by a flock of birds.
HARRIS: That's right.
BOUDREAU: So, you know, we'll just keep following this and find out more about the Tuesday's flight and see, as evidence comes out, about the Thursday flight.
HARRIS: That's right. And where it takes us in the investigation.
BOUDREAU: Exactly.
HARRIS: Yes.
BOUDREAU: Absolutely.
HARRIS: OK, Abbie. Appreciate it. Thank you.
BOUDREAU: OK. Thank you.
HARRIS: Let's get you back to this horrible scene in New York City, Chinatown right now, live pictures now -- OK, these are pictures from just a short time ago from our affiliate in New York City, WABC.
Some updated information for you.
One child, as we have been telling you, was killed, in fact. Another four or five children have been injured.
After this van -- and you'll get back to the shot of the van in just a moment here as we try to take you into the location in Chinatown. This van right there at the center of the screen was involved in this accident and struck the children, Lower Manhattan. It apparently happened about an hour ago, 11:31 a.m. Eastern Time -- 38 East Broadway, near Market Street, is the location.
And it's not immediately clear at this time whether the children were on foot or perhaps in another vehicle. There doesn't appear to be another vehicle involved, as we can tell, as best we can tell from these pictures.
One of the children, we understand, is in critical condition. Another is in serious but we understand stable condition. And the other children involved appear to have minor injuries and are being treated at the scene.
As you can see, the street has been cordoned office, the traffic is being diverted around that scene right now. We will keep you posted on the latest developments in that terrible story out of New York's Chinatown.
Recession-proofing your life. Our Gerri Willis has some tips. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take you to the New York Stock Exchange now. About three hours -- pretty much on the number, three hours into the trading day. And take a look at stocks. As you can see, down. The Dow Industrial, boy, down 237 points. Three hours again into the trading day. The Nasdaq down significantly as well. Down 56 points. We are going to be following the markets and the numbers, the roller coaster ride of yesterday down day, down significantly the day before. It is quite a ride for Dow component stocks. We'll follow the numbers for you throughout the day in the NEWSROOM.
The president's $825 billion stimulus package is part spending plan, part tax cutting plan. Republicans are pushing harder for deeper tax cuts. Here's the House minority leader a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) MINORITY LEADER: We want to sit down with the president and talk about our ideas, because it's clear that trying to get money back into the economy quickly to preserve jobs and create jobs has to be the goal. And fast-acting tax relief, we believe, is the best way to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, some argue tax cuts won't get the job done. Here's CNN's Fareed Zakaria on his show, "Fareed Zakaria GPS."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": I think the single-most significant bad decision George Bush made came early in his presidency. It was a decision widely applauded at the time and with much bipartisan support.
Remember the Bush tax cuts? Well, think about their effect on America. In 2000, the Clinton administration had almost balanced the federal budget and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office was projecting that over the next 10 years, the United States would have surpluses that would add up to $5.6 trillion. Yes, trillion.
By the spring of 2002, two-thirds of that projected surplus had evaporated and the rest disappeared soon thereafter. There were many reasons for this. Out of control spending being one. But by far the lion's share of the surpluses went into the tax cuts.
It was the most profoundly unconservative act of the Bush presidency. Rather than pay down the debt or save in the good times for the inevitable bad times, Bush squandered it all so that all of us, particularly high-income earners, could indulge in a bit more consumption. And now, when times have gotten bad and when we sorely need those reserves, we're clean out of cash. The federal budget deficit will likely range over the next few years between $1.2 trillion and $1.8 trillion. That's trillion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: CNN's Fareed Zakaria. And you can watch his show, "Fareed Zakaria GPS," every sunday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
College costs increase at about twice the inflation rate. If you've got a kid in college, you know getting financial aid is getting harder as lenders get squeezed by the credit crunch. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis to the rescue in today's financial resolution.
Gerri, what is the key to getting the most out of a financial aid package?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a-number one, don't delay. The faster you get your FAFSA in, the greater chance you have for getting more federal dough. And you know what this is. The FAFSA stand for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It's required by the government if you want to have any federal money for college.
And check out those college's deadlines as well. That's critical. Many schools have moved up their deadlines this year and there's even more competition out there for financial aid. The number of students seeking financial aid jumped 9 percent for the 2008-09 academic year from the prior year. If you don't have all your tax information when you tackle your FAFSA, just ballpark those numbers, update them later, but you've got to get them in fast. Apply online at fafsa.ed.gov.
HARRIS: And how about this, Gerri, any advice for people who are having financial difficulties?
WILLIS: Well, you know, the FAFSA is really a one-size-fits-all application. So if you have some special circumstance or financial trouble, maybe an unusual financial event, write a letter to the -- and accompany that with the form. This will help you improve your chances of getting more financial aid. And make sure you include documentation. Even if you're already receiving your financial aid package, you can have a professional judgment review where you may qualify for more aid.
And don't forget that this year, if you've received untaxed Social Security benefits, you don't have to include this information, so that may help out as well. Also, the FAFSA won't request parents to disclose their earned income tax credit, which is a refundable federal income tax credit. That's for low to moderate income working individuals and families. And we'll be following this and bringing you more advice on how to protect, save and build your money and your bottom line this saturday, 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, right here on CNN.
Tony. HARRIS: Can't wait to watch the new show. All right, Gerri, thank you.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
HARRIS: Gas prices creeping back up. AAA says the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is now $1.85. That is up two- tenths of a cent from yesterday and marks a te ninth straight day of increases at the pump. People in five states are already paying $2 a gallon or more for a gallon of gas.
You know, when corn prices hit record highs this summer, critics pointed a finger of blame at ethanol and argued food shouldn't be used for fuel. Now a new way of making ethanol could silence those critics. Cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.
Good to see you, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey there, Tony.
We'll see. This is a pretty aggressive goal. You know, ethanol producers will tell you they are not to blame for high food prices. They insist there is enough corn for both food and fuel. But a new technology could make that entire debate moot.
Just last week, Poet, that's a major U.S. ethanol producer, opened a new pilot plant, an $8 million plant in Scotland, South Dakota. It is the first in the country to use corn cobs to make ethanol, not just the kernels, like traditional ethanol companies.
Now using the entire corn for fuel, not just the edible part, that could mean taking a lot less away from the food supply. And a food trade group does tell us, in general, it supports the idea. Poet's South Dakota plant is expected to produce 20,000 gallons of this new cellulosic form of ethanol a year. The company says though, hey, that's just the beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF BROIN, CEO, POET: We can do 5 billion gallons from just the source we're looking at, which is corn cobs. We can do 85 billion gallons of ethanol from all the courses of cellulose, waste cellulose that are available today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right. So if all goes well, the company plans to open a larger plant in Iowa in 2011. But, Tony, so much depends on what happens with the economy. This comes amid weak demand, a credit crunch, a deep recession, falling commodity prices, all taking a big toll on the industry.
(INAUDIBLE) is one of the country's largest ethanol producers. I actually visited one of their plants in Iowa when they were doing better. Well, they filed for bankruptcy late last year. Production has shut down at some other plants across the country. Finding new ways to make ethanol from waste could help this industry survive.
It's actually very important for our long-term energy goals by law. Thirty-six billion gallons of what we put in our cars and trucks, that will have to come from biofuel of some sort by the year 2020. So interesting to see if ethanol comes back to the table. But for right now, it's really not viable according to a lot of experts.
HARRIS: OK, Poppy, thank you.
You know, there is a daily White House briefing for the news media and we are going to take the Obama administration's very first one at 1:30 Eastern Time. Cnn.com will stream the entire briefing live as well.
And stepping to the podium for the first time, Robert Gibbs. He is the new face of the administration. White House press secretary. Gibbs was press secretary for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. Gibbs grew up in Auburn, Alabama. He is a political science graduate of North Carolina State University.
Did your favorite movie or movie star get an Oscar nod? We're going to find out next.
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HARRIS: Got to tell you, the same day President Obama was taking the oath of office, an extraordinary rescue story was going on underground in D.C.'s subway systems. And it was all, can you believe it, caught on film. Josh Levs is here with the pictures.
Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just amazing.
HARRIS: This was someone -- one of our i-Reporters going to work on this?
LEVS: Well, one of our i-Reporters, yes. One of our i-Reporters were there. Got some pictures. We're going to show you some other pictures as well. It is a great story, as Tony is saying. It's got heroism. It's got survival.
We can show you some of the photos that we're talking about. A woman was almost hit, but was not, by a train. By a D.C. Metro train. And she was saved by an officer there, Eliot Swainson, who is joining us now.
Eliot, with you with us?
ELIOT SWAINSON, HOUSTON METRO: Yes, sir.
LEVS: All right. Great. Well, listen, first of all, obviously everyone says congratulations to you and thanks for what you did here. Tell me exactly what happened. There was a woman on the train tracks? What happened exactly?
SWAINSON: She had fallen off into the track line. And, of course, people were hollering and screaming. It brought (ph) that to my attention. I rushed over to that location there and another patron was trying to help remove her from the track line as the train was coming into the station. I assisted with him to try and lift her up off the platform. As you see there, quite a bit of a fall there. (INAUDIBLE).
LEVS: Sure. We're talking about -- you're talking about a woman who was on the tracks seconds before a train came along, right? I mean this was really scary for a lot of people.
SWAINSON: Right.
LEVS: Apparently a 68-year-old woman who had fallen.
Here's what I'd like to do. I have some video here on the screen next to me. I want to show people what a D.C. Metro area looks like. Let's start this video, guys. Because once this train gets out of the way, we're going to see just the kind of thing that happened. So you have the train going past you. This kind of thing, these tracks right here, this is the area in which this woman had fallen. It was pretty far down. And, Elliott, what you're telling me is that people had -- one patron had reached over to try to kind of lift her back up, and that that wasn't working. So you came over, right?
SWAINSON: Correct. Two of us together then tried to lift her up and get her back on the platform itself.
LEVS: But you couldn't do it on time.
SWAINSON: No.
LEVS: So what did you do? How did you save her?
SWAINSON: Well, being there for the inaugurals, Washington's transit had put out a little safety class for us the day before and gave us some information about the third rail and told us, as you can see there, there's a little cove underneath the platform that allows for a little safe haven. So instead of trying to lift her up, I just reached down and more or less just pushed her down and kind of tucked her up underneath the platform.
LEVS: Tucked her underneath the platform. Let's zoom back in on the screen one more time. I want to show everyone exactly what happened here. You have a woman who fell down to this area. The patron and this officer were not able to lift her back up here. So there's an area right underneath here, right underneath the platform. You're telling me it's just a couple of feet, right, where you could kind of squeeze her in there just seconds before the train came along?
SWAINSON: Exactly. It was only about 2.5 feet, maybe 3 feet wide. Just a lip underneath the platform itself.
LEVS: Wow. So in the process of doing that, you have your arms down there, right? You're trying to push her under there before the train comes along. How many seconds between when you get her in there, you pull your arm out and the train comes along? SWAINSON: Just from my recollection, it's just moments. Just within seconds here. I just, you know, got her down, pushed her up underneath there. I think she tried to, you know, move back out again. I pushed her back in. I told her to stay there. And the train came through.
LEVS: Wow. And, Officer Swainson, let's emphasize, you're from Houston. You're not from Washington. You had just been deputized to help out with the inauguration. You had just taken that class. You had just learned that there was that little safety cove in there, right?
SWAINSON: Correct.
LEVS: And so just on time to actually save a woman's life.
Now, what do you know about what's happened since? I understand that you shut down the power, right? Because even while she's down there, the electrical currents could potentially endanger her. So a train comes along and you shut down the power? Is that what happened?
SWAINSON: Yes. Safety personnel jumped into action and they called for the power to be shut down and they had to test to make sure that it was all safe for them as well to get in there. She was still just caught between the train itself and the platform.
LEVS: She's caught, right. And as I understand, while she's caught in that little cove, some officers went down there, kind of like worked their way through that cove, in order to take her past where the train was and lift her up to safety.
SWAINSON: Correct.
LEVS: OK. We're seeing gurneys here. I mean we're seeing people, obviously, on the scene, EMTs. But from what we understand, you saved her and she's completely fine, right?
SWAINSON: Yes. From the reports I've gotten, yes, she had a slight dislocated shoulder, irritation there. But other than that, she's fine.
LEVS: Well, officer, listen, we really appreciate your time. I'll tell everyone, this is one of our popular stories today at cnn.com. Also thanks to Stuart Gordan for sending us those i-report photos. We're going to, you know, get any more details there are on this, including, we don't know everything about why shw was down there in the first place. But, obviously, Tony, incredible story that was going on during another incredible moment.
HARRIS: Certainly. Yes, sounds like a slip and a fall and it would be nice to put a little reunion together, huh?
LEVS: Always thinking TV (ph) terms. I like it. Is our executive producer, Jenny (ph), listening?
HARRIS: Yes, absolutely. Thanks, Josh, appreciate it. Great story. LEVS: You got it.
HARRIS: Is President Barack Obama keeping the promises made by Candidate Obama?
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HARRIS: Hey, that's the team there. The best team in television right there.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: No, my team is the best team in television.
HARRIS: You want to fight about it? We can go now. Kyra Phillips is here.
PHILLIPS: You just get to Barack Obama.
HARRIS: Oh, OK. Sorry.
PHILLIPS: Much more important.
HARRIS: So even though we're just into day three of the new administration, we're going to check on how President Obama is doing with all those campaign promises he made. CNN's Jason Carroll is keeping track with the Obameter.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I, Barack Hussein Obama. do solemnly swear.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Now that the history making moment is passed, time to focus on the future, and all the promises President Barack Obama made since declaring his candidacy.
OBAMA: My first act will be calling together the Joint Chiefs of Staff and give them a mission to bring our troops home.
CARROLL: And he has made a lot.
OBAMA: We are going to give a tax cut to 95 percent of Americans.
I will sign a universal health care plan.
I will set a hard cap on all carbon emissions.
CARROLL: It's a long, long list. Obama made 510 campaign promises, according to the Obameter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We could show people every day how Obama is doing with his agenda, by showing the progress on the Obameter, and then ultimately rate whether the promise was kept, broken or a compromise.
CARROLL: The Obameter is featured on PolitiFact.com. The "St. Petersburg Times" website. It shows Obama making good on a few promises, such as appointing at least one Republican to his cabinet, Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
OBAMA: There will be a ban on gifts by lobbyists.
CARROLL: His announcement yesterday, cracking down on lobbyist, was one of three promises that PolitiFact says Obama fulfilled in his first full day in office. The Obameter also shows some 490 promises with no action, yet. Like number 56 -- require children to have health insurance. Or number 286 -- securing the borders.
HANK SHEINKOPF, DEMOCRATIC STRAGEGIST: Give the guy a chance, at least. It's a good way to keep politicians honest, but we need to give this guy a little bit of room to get the job done.
CARROLL: According to the "St. Petersburg's Times," who's researchers crunched the numbers, Obama's 510 campaign promises were another historic mark. Bush made 177. Clinton, 204. Some political observers say since Obama has promised so much, someone has to keep track.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think the American public is really looking for something beyond the rhetoric, but actual achievement. And this is a great example to measure that achievement against what he promised.
CARROLL: And the folks at PolitiFact say their website has received an overwhelming response. They know it's very early in Obama's presidency. They say the point of their website is not to criticize, but simply to follow Obama's progress.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
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HARRIS: Nominations for the 81st Annual Academy Awards announced this morning in Hollywood. They'll be handed out a month from today. CNN entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter -- Kareen, good to see you -- joins us now from Los Angeles.
Kareen, OK, any . . .
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.
HARRIS: Good to see you.
Any surprises or did the nominations pretty much mirror the Golden Globes?
WYNTER: OK. Well, of course there are going to be surprises.
HARRIS: Good. Good.
WYNTER: There were some expectations. But let's get right to it. This morning's Oscar announcements had a few snubs, a few surprises. "The Curious Case" -- let's start out with "the Curious Case of Benjamin Button" starring Brad Pitt as a man who ages backwards. It leads the way this year, Tony, with, guess how many? Thirteen nominations.
HARRIS: How many?
WYNTER: Thirteen. Can you believe it.
HARRIS: Wow. That's a lot.
WYNTER: Including best picture, as well as best actor nod for Brad Pitt.
Now "Benjamin Button" will battle it out in the best picture category with "Frost Nixon," "Milk," "The Reader," and "Slumdog Millionaire." It's the rags to riches stories that we've been talking about all awards season that took home a Golden Globe for best picture drama earlier this month and it remains a darling among the critics.
Now, Pitt will have a little bit of competition in the lead acting category. That's because he'll be up against Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor," Frank Langella as the 37th president in "Frost/Nixon," Sean Penn as the openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk in "Milk." And, Tony, by the way, I hope you've seen many of these films. And Mickey Rourke as a washed up contender in "The Wrestler." Great category.
HARRIS: Look, according to that list, I've got some work to do here.
But, Kareen, I think we did find a bit of a surprise here. Robert Downey Jr.
WYNTER: A little one.
HARRIS: But this was a terrific -- well, terrifically funny performance in "Tropic Thunder."
WYNTER: It was so hilarious.
HARRIS: Yes.
WYNTER: Downy Jr.'s role as the dude, playing a dude disguised as another dude, earned a supporting actor nod. Now this is a comedic role, Tony. Something that The Academy doesn't often recognize at the Oscar nominations. Downey Jr., he'll be up against Josh Brolin for "Milk," Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt," Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road," and the late Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight." Ledger's part as the joker was perhaps one of the most talked about roles in 2008 since his death exactly one year ago.
And, Tony, he's already won a Golden Globe and earned a Screen Actor's Guild nomination. We should mention that "The Dark Knight" was not nominated in the best picture category, despite being a fan favorite and the second highest grossing film in history.
And it's really shaping up to be Kate Winslet's year, isn't it? After earning two Golden Globes this month, well, she's picked up a leading actress nod as a former concentration camp guard in "The Reader." Winslet will compete against Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married," Angelina Jolie in "Changeling," -- listen to this category -- Melissa Leo in "Frozen River," and a name that's almost synonymous with the Academy Awards, Tony, you want to take a stab at this one?
HARRIS: Well, you mentioned Winslet. So, no.
WYNTER: OK. Time's up. Meryl Streep.
HARRIS: OK. Meryl Streep.
WYNTER: And it's her 15th Oscar nomination for her role in "Doubt." So congrats to her. Congrats to all of them.
HARRIS: I can't believe I messed that up. I should know that like the back of my hand.
WYNTER: It's all right.
HARRIS: All right, Jolie's nomination. So that means we could get Brad and Angelina on the red carpet again at the Oscars. Ding, ding, ding, I vote for that.
WYNTER: Yes, the dynamic duo, huh?
HARRIS: Yes.
WYNTER: But they probably won't be bringing their six children along. Here's what the couple had to say on their nominations. Pitt said in a statement that "this is a great honor for the movie and I'm especially happy for David Fincher, for without him there would be no Ben Button." Jolie, who worked with director Clint Eastwood in "Changeling" said, "working with Clint Eastwood was a reward in itself that will last me a lifetime. To receive the nomination from the Academy on top of that is a privilege beyond any expectation."
Congrats to all the nominees. The awards will be handed out February 22nd. So, Tony, you still have some time to see some of those movies.
HARRIS: I can't wait. I'll watch the show tonight for the complete wrap. Good stuff. Good to see you, Kareen. Thank you.
WYNTER: Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: "Slumdog." I have to go see the "Slumdog."
PHILLIPS: I cannot believe . . .
HARRIS: Have you seen "Slumdog"?
PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh.
HARRIS: Oh, you've seen it?
PHILLIPS: Absolutely. Here's a couple thoughts.
HARRIS: Will you send me a note or something? I mean it's not like you live that far away. Come on. PHILLIPS: That's right. I should be telling Tony what he should see and not see.
HARRIS: Yes, well, please, help me here.
PHILLIPS: It was remarkable. It was a rainy day. We were running late. And we just got in and it was worth every second. It was very disturbing at the beginning, but then as it started to unfolded, it was brilliant. Brilliant movie.
HARRIS: Well, maybe I'll get out of here right now and maybe go see it.
PHILLIPS: It's humbling. Very humbling.
HARRIS: All right. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kyra Phillips right after a quick break.
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