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AIG Gives Out Millions in Bonuses; Taliban Targets Aid Workers; Space Shuttle Discovery Set to Launch Tonight

Aired March 15, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: AIG outrage; millions paid out in bonuses today. Fat checks for the very executives who left the company in need of your taxpayer money.

The Taliban has a new target, aid workers trying to help in Afghanistan.

The fuel is going in. The weather looks good. Will today with be the day for Discovery's list off. It is Sunday, March 15th. Hello, I'm Fredericka Whitfield. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Critics call it an outrage; AIG, the insurance giant that received more than 170 billion dollars of taxpayer money, is giving out 165 million in bonuses today. The money is going to executives in the same unit that caused AIG's collapse last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY SUMMERS, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER: There are a lot of terrible things that have happened in the last 18 months. But what's happened at AIG is the most outrageous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: AIG says the bonuses are required by contract. But the Obama administration is not happy. CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House. Elaine, the government owns most of AIG right now. Can the government do anything about stopping these bonuses?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredericka, the Obama administration says it is trying. But that was really the theme we heard, first of all, today on the Sunday talk shows, from Obama administration officials, and something that Tim Geithner brought up with AIG's CEO in a conversation last week, is that, look, they are not all happy about this move by AIG, to move ahead with these bonuses.

But what the company says and what Obama administration officials say is that their hands are tied, because of the pre-existing contracts. Those contracts were in place before AIG started getting this money. So there's not much that they can do about that.

But the administration also is arguing that AIG is essentially a mess that they inherited, one that they are working now to try to clean up as best as they can. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA ROMER, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: We're the first people to be angry. Absolutely, Secretary Geithner has been furious and has been pushing back, urging them to renegotiate this. We're pursuing every legal means to deal with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Administration officials do say, Fredericka, that they were successful in getting AIG to scale back some of these bonus payments. As you can imagine, just the fact that they are moving ahead at all really is sparking a lot of outrage.

WHITFIELD: When we hear they are exploring every legal means, meaning -- what legal means would potentially take place? Or what would be the repercussions if the bonuses simply were not paid out, even though there are these pre-existing conditions.

QUIJANO: Right, well AIG says that would be disastrous, if the company did not make good on these bonuses set out, laid out in these contracts. It would be disastrous for the company, they say, but also for American taxpayers.

Why is that? Well, AIG says that in order to keep some of these top performers in place at AIG, people who could potentially help get the company back on better financial grounds, they need to make good on these contract bonuses. If they didn't do that, if the top performing talent was lured away and the company went down, then that 170 billion dollars in bail out money would be for nothing. That would leave the taxpayers high and dry. That is the argument, essentially, that AIG is making. It's one that the administration is citing as well.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right, we know this is just the tip of the iceberg. We know all week people are going to be fuming about it and investigating every means possible to stop some of this money from being delivered. Elaine Quijano, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Well, AIG's collapse last year happened as the economy spiraled. All week, we are taking an in-depth look at the money meltdown that's changing your life. Who can lead us out of this crisis? And what do all the numbers really mean? And where are the jobs exactly? "Road to Rescue," the CNN survival guide, all this week on CNN.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney still defending the Iraq war. He gave his first television interview since leaving office on this morning's CNN "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With respect to Iraq, and at the end of now nearly six years, is that we have accomplished nearly everything we set out to do. I don't hear much talk about that. But the fact is with the violence levels down 90 percent. The number of casualties, Iraqis and Americans, has significantly been diminished. There have been elections, a constitution. They are about to have another presidential election there in the near future.

We have succeeded in creating, in the heart of the Middle East, a democratically governed Iraq. That's a big deal. It is, in fact, what we set out to do.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: It's a dangerous term, because of the political debates in the past. But mission accomplished?

CHENEY: I couldn't use that just because it triggers reactions that we don't need. But I would ask people and the press, too, to take an honest look at the circumstances in Iraq today, and how far we have come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A top Taliban commander issues a new threat to foreign aid workers in Afghanistan, and renew the Taliban pledge to keep girls out of school. He spoke to CNN's Paula Newton in an exclusive interview. She joins us now from the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Paula, who is this guy and how is it you gained access to him, that he was this forthright?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: His name is Mohamed Ibrahim Hanaffi (ph). He claims to be a top commander in the southern provinces. Of course, we tried to have people confirm that for us. What we wanted to know is exactly what the Taliban was thinking right here, right now. You know, the overwhelming sense of confidence comes through even on the phone. To be clear, they say that foreign aid workers, even though they say they are trying to help, they are suspicious that all of them are spies. And they put them on notice that they will capture them if they have an opportunity.

Beyond that, we did talk to them as well about some of the attacks of girls attending schools here. And the commander made it clear, look, we do not believe girls should be attending schools; women belong in the home. If they are not in the home, it's a dishonor to them and it disrespects them.

That is not to say that he defended any of the acid attacks on the girls that have been occurring here throughout the country.

Again, Fredericka, we decided to him. Other journalists have tried to meet with the Taliban face to face. That's proven much too dangerous in the last six months or so. We continually try him on the phone. What was really interesting, Fredericka, was the few times we tried him, in fact, we were getting phone messages clearly coming through from a service provider in Pakistan. That was interesting when we did finally get to speak to him.

WHITFIELD: Paula, this is pretty brazen, almost as if -- this flies in the face of the Afghan government, which the message being sent here is that the government has no upper hand, even as it pertains to young girls going to school. NEWTON: You know, Fredericka, more than 600 schools didn't open in this country because of security questions. The Taliban now has reach in almost three quarters of the country. It's clear, if we listen to President Obama, he's been crystal clear: we are not winning here in Afghanistan. The Taliban senses weakness. And that's exactly the message I got on the phone.

You know, we were just talking about how the weather has warmed up here significantly. Military commanders that I have spoken to on the ground couldn't be more blunt. They expect more attacks and they expect it to be a very violent year.

WHITFIELD: All on the heals of announcements by the Obama administration, through the Pentagon, that more U.S. troops will be heading to Afghanistan.

NEWTON: Absolutely. The surge, as it's so-called. No one wants to call it a surge. But we have three reviews on Afghanistan upcoming. We will know more. But everyone is saying that there's not one military solution to this. So just troops, Fredericka, isn't going to do this.

That's the hard part. And that's what President Obama and his administration are grappling with right now.

WHITFIELD: Paula Newton, thanks so much, from the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul. Appreciate it.

Nasa, in this country, hoping for a glitch-free day for the shuttle Discovery. It's fueling up and set to make another launch attack in about five hours. Our John Zarrella is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. So John, what's going on? Nice sunny skies, there should be no hitches.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Keeping our fingers crossed, Fredericka. No hitches right now. The weather looks great, only a 20 percent chance of bad weather interfering with tonight's launch at 7:43 pm Eastern tonight. You know, they were supposed to launch last Wednesday, but they ran into a problem with a hydrogen leak on a vent valve. Well, they changed out the parts. The only way they could really have tested it was to fuel the giant external tank with the liquid hydrogen and oxygen.

They did that. They are finished with that. There have been no new leaks detected. So everything is proceeding now towards lift off.

There's one little bit of a snag. I'll bring up the model and show you. Not something that's supposed to interfere with the launch. But down here on the back side, on the external tank, there's a little black bat who has decided to attach himself to the external tank. Nasa's run debris analysis on the bat. They don't think there's any problem. They are hoping he will fly away before lift off.

Even, If he doesn't, they think it certainly won't -- it won't affect the shuttle's launch. On this mission, a 13 day mission now -- they have shortened it by a day because of the fact that they have delayed until today. They plan on three space walks. They're bringing up a couple of solar panels. That's a big deal, because that will finish out all of the solar panels that provide electricity and will then allow for a six- member crew on the International Space Station.

Speaking of the International Space Station, one of the astronauts going up is a Japanese astronaut, Koichi Wakata. He's flown twice on space shuttles before. He won't be coming back on Discovery. He's going to go up there and he's going to spend the next two to three months on board the International Space Station.

He will replace Sandra Magnus, who will be coming down on the Shuttle Discovery when it returns to Earth on March 28.

Two other astronauts of note on this mission, not that they all aren't of not. But two of them are former school teachers. Both taught in middle school and high school. One is Joseph Acaba. This is his first space flight. He will be performing two of the space walks. Acaba also is in the Marine Corps Reserve and worked in the Peace Corps for a while.

And Richard Arnold also making his first trip into space, former middle school/high school teacher. He also will be performing one of the space walks on this mission.

So, important day today for NASA. They want to get off the ground today. Weather may start to deteriorate over the next couple days. So they are hoping, 7:43 p.m. Eastern time. Fredericka?

WHITFIELD: Wow. John, all these nuggets pertain to this mission and beyond. One has to think then that NASA feels pretty confident about its future. Or does it not?

ZARRELLA: Yes, certainly, they have nine missions left, including this one. The next mission coming up is to service the Hubble Space Telescope. That will be the last servicing mission of Hubble, keep it going, bringing back those spectacular pictures of the universe. Then the rest of the missions are dedicated to finishing out the final phases of construction at the International Space Station.

Then sometime 2010, the end of 2010, they should be wrapped up with the space shuttle flights, retiring the space shuttle. Then they move on to the Constellation Project and the Orion Spacecraft. So still a lot to do though in the next year and a half.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's going to be a fascinating year and a half. Thank you so much, John Zarrella, there at the Kennedy Space Center. A beautiful view there. Thanks so much.

NASA managers are also keeping an eye out for any possible weather problems, as John was mentioning.

(WEATHER REPORT) WHITFIELD: Meantime, over seas, outrage in Pakistan. Supporters of an opposition leader, a clash with police; it could be a taste of what's to come, as anti-government protesters head for the capital of Islamabad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Violence erupted in Pakistan today, as anti- government demonstrators took to the streets. The unrest is something the Obama administration believes must be avoided in a country that's a key ally in the fight against terrorism. Here now is Stan Grant.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The streets of Lahor turned into a battleground. Protesters staring down at heavy police contingent. Rocks hurled, riot police responding with tear gas and rounds. The violence raging for hours.

Crowds also gathering outside the home of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif claiming the government had tried to place him under house arrest.

NAWAZ SHARIF, PAKISTAN OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): This house arrest they have put me under, this detention, we don't accept this detention. All of this is illegal.

GRANT: Sharif emerges from his home to speak to supporters, vowing to continue with the long march.

SHARIF: I am warning everybody, remove all these barricades from here because these are illegal barricades. Nawaz Sharif cannot be held down by illegal barricades.

GRANT: Sharif's car moving through the crowd. The leader of Pakistan's main opposition party, determined to continue to the capitol, Islamabad. He brought the lawyers long march to political flash point. The push for judicial reform and the reinstatement of judges fired by former President Pervez Musharaff.

Now about the very future of the country; Sharif declaring Pakistan a, quote, police state.

SHARIF: The day has come to fulfill your promise. Come and fulfill your promise. I am leaving. Come with me and let's change Pakistan's direction.

OMAR ZAMAN KAIRA, INFORMATION MINISTER: At this moment, he was never under house arrest. At the moment, he is on the roads of Lahor, living large. If was on house arrest, how he can be on the road at the same time?

GRANT: The government says it will continue to block the demonstration, claiming it poses a threat to security.

KAIRA: How a government can allow any party or any party protest or (INAUDIBLE) even the word that protesters are allowed for unlimited time to block the roads?

GRANT: This is what is waiting for the long march in Islamabad, a wall of steel. The Capitol is in lockdown. Extra police were brought in and barricades like this erected. The government is determined to keep the protesters out of the national parliament.

Stan Grant, CNN, Islamabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: It seems nothing is escaping the economic crisis, not even churches.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Many Catholics in Cleveland, Ohio will soon have to find new parishes. The Catholic diocese has announced plans to shut down 52 parishes by July of next year. The area's bishop blames financial hardship, a shift in the Catholic population to the suburbs, and a shortage of priests.

We all know it's a tough job market out there. CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is finding ways to help you gain a competitive edge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm graduating this term. I have a degree in business administration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My concentration is in Comm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm studying sales and marketing.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE CORRESPONDENT: Three students in pursuit of a college degree with one common goal: getting a job. All feel confident they're set, but it's how they are doing it that sets them apart.

JENNIFER MERRIT, CAREER'S EDGE, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": A lot of times, if you actually go to your local community college and find out what kind of courses they are offering, what kind of employers are coming to them, asking them to train people.

WILLIS: It's a solution Devry University, which specializes in career training, with campuses in 26 states and Canada, is banking on to attract students in a tough economy, beginning with the end in mind.

DAVID PAULDINE, PRESIDENT, DEVRY UNIVERSITY: We start by going to the back end, the industry, employers that perspectively hire the right grads. We ask them, what are the key requisite knowledge and skill requirements that would make for the ideal graduate? Then we allow that feedback to shape or influence our curriculum.

WILLIS: Devry faculty consist mostly of practicing professionals, like Professor Bonnie Rucks. This is policy and strategy.

PROF. BONNIE RUCKS, DEVRY UNIVERSITY: It is a culmination of all of the students' learning experience here at Devry, and the real world experience. They bring in their marketing, their operations management, purchasing, accounting, how you merchandise, Internet marketing, and bring it in and figure out how to run a business.

PAULDINE: At Devry, believe heavily in applications based learning or learn by doing. Our philosophy is that students learn best when they take theory and add to it application. Theory plus application equal knowledge.

WILLIS: Knowledge in fields of study likely to result in jobs upon graduation. One subject area Pauldine says is in R&D is so- called green collar jobs, smart, considering incentives offered by recent stimulus packages.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With today's economy, it's very hard for us to determine what job offers we're going to be able to get. So just getting a foot in there is the first step.

WILLIS (on camera): These days, no matter who you are, you may have trouble getting your foot in the door. You need to do research. The web is a great place to go. Check out CareerVoyages.gov. This is a website maintained by the federal government. You can do research on individual jobs here, like medical equipment repair.

You just click on this and what do you see? Well, a video of what a medical equipment repairer actually does, day-to-day, minute- to-minute, in case you don't know. It's a great website.

Also check out StudentJobs.gov. This is also a government website. We've already ran the search for you here. You can get a sense of exactly what people do, what jobs are open.

Let's take a look at air traffic assistant here. This will give you a sense of exactly how much you will be paid. You'll find jobs. You'll find locations. What you need is background. Here you see right here, this job pays as much as 57,000 dollars. That's nothing to sneeze at, obviously.

SnagAJob.com is a great website for teens who are looking for part time work. You really want to check this out. Just enter a zip code and it will help you find jobs in your area. Now check this out, this is really cool. They actually map this out for you. So let's say you live in Roswell, here in Atlanta, you can see how just close those other jobs are, where they are.

Finally, if you want more details on this, just go to our show website and get a sense of what we have been talking about all week. Follow up with the topics and stories that we're looking at.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, be sure to check out "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" with Gerri Willis, Saturday mornings at 9:30 Eastern time. Pretty startling numbers of people without jobs. But that doesn't mean they don't have to have hope. Next weekend, we feature stories of optimism in these tough economic times. One person we talk to in this series, Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurman. He was at the largest job fair in the state's history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: It is major. When you look at the numbers, 598,000 jobs lost in January nationwide. February, 697,000 jobs lost. People are feeling really, I guess, depressed and they're at a loss. They're not sure how to grapple with these numbers. And when you're one of those 697,000, you're wondering how to get back on your feet.

MICHAEL THURMOND, GEORGIA LABOR COMMISSIONER: First of all, I'm not just the commissioner of labor. I'm the commissioner of encouragement, the commissioner of hope and the commissioner of inspiration. My primary job is to help people see even in the most difficult times, do not give up hope, don't give in, don't give out, don't give up.

WHITFIELD: Why are you such an optimist?

THURMOND: Because I look at my own life. I grew up poor. We raised share crop cotton in northeast Georgia. My dad worked in the field all his life. But one thing he kept was true a faith and a belief that tomorrow will be better than today.

This is America. This is the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. We have faced greater challenges than this recession.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Next Saturday afternoon, join us for "Jobless, Not Hopeless," 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. We will follow people from the day they step inside a job center to the day they actually get a job. "Jobless, Not Hopeless, beginning at Noon eastern, all the way through the 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour, next Saturday.

Dick Cheney, one on one with our John King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Is the president of the United States trying to brazenly deceive the American people?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: His answer to that question and how he feels the new administration is handling the recession in his first television interview since leaving office, a CNN exclusive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Former Vice President Dick Cheney attacked Obama administrations economic policies today. Here is more of his exclusive interview with CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Is the president of the United States trying to brazenly deceive the American people?

CHENEY: Well, I think they have taken liberties, if you will, with the arguments. Given the importance to the country and all of us of having a healthy economy and getting the economy back on track, it seems to me the administration does have an obligation to set priorities, go after that first.

It also occurs to me that one of the tools that's most important to doing that is tax policy, and cutting taxes, especially for those who invest and create wealth and create jobs. That's not what we are seeing. We're seeing an argument made that we've got economic difficulties, therefore we're going to have a cap and trade program with respect to carbon admissions. That's a huge energy tax that's going to be applied across the society.

Or that we're going to fundamentally change the health care system. We haven't had a debate on the health care system since '93. It's perfectly fine to have a debate, but we're not having a debate. I was concerned when the first stimulus program wasn't put together in the administration, but rather was something they just sort chucked up on Capital Hill and let the Congress write that legislation, which says to me, there really is no coherent approach at this point to trying to improve the economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: As we mentioned, this was Cheney's first television interview since leaving the White House.

All right, world financial leaders are bound to do whatever is necessary to fix the global economic crisis. They met this weekend near London to lay the ground work for next month's G-20 summit of world leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: You are seeing the world move together at a speed and on a scale without precedent in modern times. All the major economies are putting in place substantial fiscal packages. The stronger the response, the quicker the recovery will come. And that's why the United States has passed the largest, most comprehensive recovery program in decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Take a look now at the class photo, if you will, of the G-20 financial officials. Now a little G-20 101 here. The group was created in 1999. It is made of 19 countries, with the world's leading and emerging economies, plus the European Union. The group's focus has been to promote international financial stability. The G-20 meeting in England this weekend was to lay the groundwork for April's summit of G-20 leaders.

No cuts in oil production. That's the word from OPEC ministers meeting today in Vienna, Austria. The decision was reached just an hour ago. Ministers say that they will try to stop some OPEC members from over-producing. The U.S. and other western nations had asked OPEC to keep the price of oil cheap to help the struggling world economy.

In tough times, you can find ways to stretch your dollars. It makes it tough for high-end restaurants. But grocery stores, well, they are getting a boost. Candy Crowley looks at other recession winners and losers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are new faces at this Shoppers' Food Warehouse in Virginia. The regulars buy differently.

ELIZABETH RILEY, SHOPPER: Before, I browse shopped and bought way too much of stuff that I didn't really need. Now, I'm more specific. I make a list and I follow the list.

CROWLEY: It's the return of penny saved, penny earned. Shoppers armed with lists and coupons and budgets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of our lock downs for the month of March is Iceberg Lettuce.

CROWLEY: People are buying a lot more chicken, flocking to store brand merchandise, and picking up loads of frozen dinners.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I suppose that's because of the restaurants losing that business. Customers can come here at a cheaper price and buy those things.

CROWLEY: It's not just five-star restaurants hurting. Domino's Pizza took a hit in the fourth quarter, domestic sales off three percent. As Americans cocoon against a harsh economy, Netflix, delivering DVDs to your door, TV set or computer, blowing off the roof; 10 million subscribers, including a net pick up of 600,000 since January.

TED SARANDOS, NETFLIX CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER: Kind of defying gravity. In this down economy, I think people are cherishing the value more than they had in the past. That net result is very fast growth.

CROWLEY: The sale of DVDs, by the way, was down 32 percent in the fourth quarter of '08.

DIANE KRESH, DIR, ARLINGTON CO., VIRGINIA LIBRARY: It's free. Everything is free. CROWLEY: For DVDs, books, children and adult programs, Internet, computer training and job search resources, it's hard to beat free. These are boom times for public libraries.

KRESH: We're really about helping people manage their lives.

CROWLEY: In the past couple of months, Diane Kresh of the Arlington County, Virginia library has seen a seven percent increase in foot traffic, and traffic jams at the computers.

KRESH: When we open in the morning, people make a B-line. These terminals are generally full.

CROWLEY: Border's Books posted an 11.7 percent sales decline over the holiday period.

Postings on Craig's List also tell the tale of changing lifestyles. Nationwide, garage sale ads are up 100 percent. Ads for roommates up 65 percent. For sale postings up 75 percent. And a doubling of barter offers, like this musician wanting to swap a four hour gig for dental care. In this economy, you do what you've got to do.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Turning to the drug war violence in Mexico. Police acting on a tip have found nine bodies partially buried in the desert on the outskirts of the border city of Juarez. The victims included seven men and two women. A state security official says all the victims had been tortured. Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, has been hit by a wave of drug related violence. In response, thousands of troops have been sent to the city to stop this bloodshed.

The hitmen behind attacks like that are hard to catch, but Mexican police have just arrested a suspected leader of a drug cartel hit squad. Police say the suspect was captured in a Mexican border city, driving a stolen truck from Texas. Inside the truck, an assault rifle and marijuana. CNN's Don Lemon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Drugs, guns, money; it is a volatile cocktail that's killed about 7,000 people during the past two years in a ruthless war waging just south of the U.S. border. At the heart of the bloodshed are three major drug cartels battling for control of tons of marijuana, cocaine, heroine and other drugs funneling north into the U.S.

The Tijuana Cartel, in green, controls the Baja Peninsula. The East Coast, in yellow, is the Gulf Cartel. In between, the vast orange territory controlled by the Sinaloa (ph) Cartel. Areas in red are where they are battling each other for control. CHIEF DAVID AGUILAR, US BORDER PATROL: That results in some of the in-fighting, some of the border violence that we are seeing. They are fighting for territory that they no longer operate with impunity.

LEMON: Mexican President Felipe Calderon blames the U.S. for the violence in his country. He says Americans appetite for illegal drugs is one-half the problem. The other half --

FELIPE CALDERON, MEXICAN PRESIDENT: We need to stop the flow of guns and weapons towards Mexico. Let me express to you that we seize in these two years more than 25,000 weapons, guns. And more than 90 percent of them came from the United States.

LEMON: Don Lemon, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

If you were with us yesterday at the 4:00 pm Eastern hour, we had a heated discussion about the threat of Mexico spilling right over into U.S. borders.

Residents in Philly, in suburbs there, are on edge again today. Arson plagued Coatesville, Pennsylvania has been hit with another fire. Officials say it's the 20th this year. Two homes were badly damaged in yesterday's blazes. No injuries were reported. The town has been hit with nearly 50 fires since February of last year. These most recent fires were set the day after one arson suspect appeared in court in connection with the earlier blazes.

An Alabama sheriff's deputy will bury his wife and infant daughter today. Deputy Josh Myers' (ph) loved ones were among ten people killed Tuesday in a deadly shooting spree. Myers was in pursuit of the suspect, Michael McLendon (ph), before McLendon shot and killed himself. Myers didn't know until later that his family members were among the victims.

A CNN iReporter is hoping his dramatic photos of flooding in the small town of Chilacoti (ph), Illinois will help people there get the attention and the help they actually need. Jeff Timmerman says days of rain have pushed the Illinois River about 100 feet from its banks. He shot these images just yesterday. Timmerman says people living along the river are struggling to salvage whatever they can.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: New cars might not be the hot item these days, but one sector of the auto industry is booming.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, car dealers may not be seeing as much business these days. But it's a different story for repair shops. More people are actually deciding it's cheaper to fix the cars they already have. Our Kate Bolduan reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In today's struggling economy, this and this is music to mechanic Nui Srisook's ears.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything all right?

BOLDUAN: While so many small businesses continue to close their doors, Newey Auto Services in Hyattesville, Maryland is thriving.

(on camera): Is there a way, if you could even guess or estimate, what kind of increase you have seen?

NUI SRISOOK, AUTO SHOP OWNER: Just 20 percent, at least 20 percent.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Instead of kicking the tires on new cars, more and more people are nursing their old ones back to health.

SRISOOK: The people who don't have money, they are still coming in. They just fix whatever it needs, whatever is necessary.

BOLDUAN (on camera): To keep it on the road?

SRISOOK: To keep it on the road, correct.

BOLDUAN: It's all in the numbers. U.S. auto sales plunged more than 40 percent last month, compared to a year ago. The Automotive Service Association is reporting 60 percent of its members are seeing an increase in business.

RON PYLE, AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE ASSOCIATION: Another thing that we noticed was that the average repair order, the size of each repair order, grew.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): More repairs mean more parts and big business for auto parts stores, like Darryl Wright's family owned shop in Washington.

DARRYL WRIGHT, AUTO PARTS STORE OWNER: It increases the volume. We are doing way more business. The phones are ringing. We have customers walking in.

BOLDUAN: Customers looking for a bargain and hoping for longevity.

CHARLES BRYANT, CAR OWNER: Hopefully, by the time this wears out, the economy will be better.

ESTHER WHITE, CAR OWNER: It's a lot cheaper to pay for upkeep and maintenance than purchasing a new car.

BOLDUAN: Some advice?

SRISOOK: Get a oil change every 3,000 miles, 4,00 miles, that's the best maintainer of the car.

BOLDUAN: Mechanics, like Nui Srisook, hoping to fuel the economy, one tune up at a time.

Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Take a look at this, nice road, but where does it go? Your money paves the way to nowhere, a CNN investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The road to economic recovery won't be smooth, that we know. It won't be short. Sometimes, it won't necessarily lead to, well, anywhere. What am I talking about? Special investigations correspondent Drew Griffin explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This is it, Corridor H, a massive four-lane highway, literally in the middle of nowhere; 21 million of stimulus and job creation money is coming to this project. But you should know this about it: when I tell you it goes nowhere, believe me, I am not making it up.

HUGH ROGERS, CORRIDOR H CRITIC: We are standing here.

GRIFFIN (on camera): We are here.

ROGERS: Yes, now it's proposed to go on up like that.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): And even when completed, Hugh Rogers, a conservationist who has been fighting Corridor H, says it will still be a road to nowhere, with nobody on it.

(on camera): Like you, I'm looking out at this four-lane road. It's 6:00, the height of whatever there is rush hour. There's nobody on it.

ROGERS: Need was not -- they went to a lot of contortions trying to explain what the need was.

GRIFFIN: Here's another part of the road to nowhere, this built outside the town of Baker. As you can see, nobody is on it.

(voice-over): This is hardly a new project. It began in 1965 and added on here and there ever since. Corridor H was to be a 100 mile long economic engine, a stimulus for West Virginia. In reality, it remains a chunk of four-lane highway here, a bit there, some pieces connecting towns to towns. But no economic stimulus, so far.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't seem like it, no.

ROGERS: Over the project's long history, West Virginia's senator, Robert Byrd, has earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars to Corridor H. A 9.5 million dollar earmark for the road is tucked into the big spending bill the Senate just passed. With that and the 21 million dollars of stimulus cash, the stop and start highway is about to get just a little bit longer.

PAUL TURMAN, WEST VIRGINIA TRANSPORTATION DEPT.: The stimulus money is necessary. It's a 21 million dollar project. It's basically two bridges between two existing contracts that we have going on. That fills the gap and makes a usable section.

GRIFFIN: As for job creation, West Virginia can't say how many jobs the new construction will create or save, or really how many jobs will be generated if the road ever really becomes the promised economic pipeline.

That's OK, because even if no one uses the road, West Virginia says Corridor H is absolutely vital for national security. Remember, the U.S. Capital is two hours from here.

TURMAN: If something happens in the DC area, for instance --

GRIFFIN (on camera): Evacuation route.

(voice-over): Right, except for this: evacuees would have to travel a narrow winding 20 mile road in Virginia to get here. Virginia says it has no plans to connect to Corridor H.

Drew Griffin, Wardensville, West Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All week, we're taking an in-depth look at the money meltdown that is changing your life. Who can lead us out of this crisis? What do all the numbers really mean? And where are the jobs, anyway? "Road to Rescue," the CNN survival guide, all this week on CNN.

"America's Next Top Model," what in the world triggered this? You don't want to miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I knew you were wondering, what is a Donny Brook? A brawl. A fight? Jackie is here with me to give me the lowdown on the throw down taking place in Manhattan.

JACKIE SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did you hear about this?

WHITFIELD: There were models.

SCHECHNER: "America's Top Models." They were all lined up. There were apparently literally thousands of people. Look at that crowd.

WHITFIELD: That I believe, to line up for the "Tyra Banks Show," to be on their right.

SCHECHNER: They want to audition for it. You had to be under 5'7, by the way. So these were short, scrappy girls, apparently.

WHITFIELD: Who said scrappy?

SCHECHNER: They got in a fight.

WHITFIELD: OK, because they were scrapping.

(CROSS TALK)

SCHECHNER: It was a little tense throughout most of the day, as it was. It was close quarters. And things apparently weren't terribly organized, in terms of being cordoned off.

WHITFIELD: One way to look at it. They wanted to stand out, so they did.

SCHECHNER: So they did. I guess a black BMW or something came up that was overheated. It had all this smoke. A couple people kind of incited a riot and said, look out, there's a bomb. It basically turned into a stampede. Six people were hurt. Three people arrested. What a mess.

WHITFIELD: The show did not go on, I understand. They had to at least temporarily postpone the auditions. It will happen again another time. Hopefully without the Donny Brook.

SCHECHNER: What's that saying, beauty is only skin deep.

WHITFIELD: Maybe those who incited the melee were not among the contestants.

SCHECHNER: One or two of them were actually men, from what I understand, that were there.

WHITFIELD: That was fun. OK, Jackie appreciate it. We'll have much more in that chat room coming up at the 4:00 Eastern hour. It's going to be fun too. It's about prom dresses, for one, and duct tape. What do those two have in common?

Coming up, nickel and diming the jobless, coming up in this hour. Instead of a check, unemployed getting debit cards and the fees that go along with them. No fair.