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North Dakota Flooding; Green Trucking; T.I. Prison Sentence; Saving Lives

Aired March 28, 2009 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CENTER: And along the Gulf Coast, torrential rain has sent floodwaters into streets and homes there. Two of the hardest-hit areas, Mobile, Alabama, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Up to 17 inches of rain has fallen in parts of those two states over the last three days alone. In Harrison County, Mississippi, around 100 roads were impassable this morning including the main highway into Biloxi.

All right. The latest facts for you now on the massive flooding in the northern Plains. The Red River in Fargo, North Dakota, is expected to stay around the 41-foot mark over the next few days. The levees in the city are 43 feet. Volunteers have worked around the clock to try to keep the flood waters at bay. They have filled about 3 million sand bags.

The Pentagon is also pitching in. It's sent five army helicopters to the region to help with evacuations and emergencies. So in Fargo, they've never seen anything like it. The highest river level in recorded history, that is. CNN's Ted Rowlands is keeping track of what's going on right now in Fargo, joining us live. What's the latest?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredericka, the river is still at the highest recorded level in history, so there's still a lot of tension in that this river is supposed to be at this level for the next three to four days. That said a lot of great news today on the battle here. The river has actually dropped just a hair, less than a foot. But it's better than going up, that's for sure.

And now, although they're not saying it has crested, they're saying it has leveled off at least for now. There is a storm heading into the area Monday. So they're not willing to say that it has crested. But by all accounts, this is good news on this ongoing battle.

WHITFIELD: Well, we like to see that. I know we've been reporting all day. Lots of volunteers, lots of emergency response teams have made their way there to Fargo and even parts of Minnesota as well. How comforting is that for the residents there?

ROWLANDS: Well, it's extraordinarily comforting in that they've had so much help from around the region and themselves, too. It's a real sense of community that we've witnessed here over the last few days. People first in some cases fortifying their own homes, but then everybody showing up to help with this sandbag effort. They had so many sandbags that they stopped that effort last night. And now with this good news, basically what has happened, it's gone into a game of waiting and seeing what happens next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MARK VOXLAND, MOORHEAD, MINNESOTA: This is just the beginning of round two. The fight is done and now it's the time of vigilance, the time of waiting. I really hate once we get to crest and have to watch and hope and work hard to keep those dikes from lead leaking. And to think that we're going to face this for seven days, it's pretty daunting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: So, Fredericka, basically the game plan here is to wait to see how high the Red River gets but then also keep vigilant on this intricate dike system which winds around the city of Fargo. The Red River separates Fargo and Moorhead. It's not as though the battle is over. Boy, what a big difference from today, this morning, to even yesterday morning when they were talking about a possible 43-foot crest.

WHITFIELD: But at the same time so agonizing that even from the mayor of Fargo, you have to wait another eight days or so to really know whether or not those dikes can hold. That is scary. Our Ted Rowlands, appreciate it. Thank you so much for that update.

Despite worries about the Red River probably won't reach the level feared earlier, city officials in Fargo are not letting down their guard, not yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS WALAKER, MAYOR, FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA: We've done more in seven or eight days than we accomplished in 3 1/2 weeks in 1997. And if we wouldn't have made some improvements after that, I don't think we'd be where we are today. We have -- our biggest concern right now is the -- just because the river crests and we're not sure we're at the final figures yet, we're just approaching 41 feet now. But the National Weather Service is talking maybe 411/2. And we agree with that. Somewhere around 41 1/2. If it gets there and then it's going to stay high for some time. Just because it crests doesn't mean that the threat is over.

TIM MAHONEY, FARGO CITY COMMISSIONER: I want everybody to know that we are still on high alert. We have not dropped our guard. So I do not want anybody to think just because the river is starting to flatten out, I'm not convinced it will stay that way. It may go a little higher again. Our community is still on high alert. I would ask businesses respect that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our Jacqui Jeras is in the Weather Center right here in Atlanta keeping track on all of this. They're very cautious as well.

JERAS: Yeah. They should be.

WHITFIELD: For good reason.

JERAS: Yeah. Can you imagine, right, just standing there for seven days trying to hold something away. Yeah. And it's sandbags. So this is a man-made thing. People aren't perfect and neither are man-made dikes. We still have a lot at stake yet because there's so much force. Water is so incredibly powerful. But the good news is that the temperatures are cold enough that it keeps the rate of flow a little bit slower. So the greater the rate of flow that you have, the more pressure you have pushing on those dikes. So if you keep it a little slower, that's a little bit of good news. But you can have ice jams, all kind of complications yet.

So we have a long, long way to go. We've seen nice drops in the river, though. Down in Wahpeton down below flood stage. Fargo and Moorhead, let's talk about some of the evacuations still taking place. If you haven't gotten out, you want to get out, too, by the way, because this isn't warm water. This is ice cold water. And if you get stuck in it, your rate of survival is not all that fantastic because of the risk of hypothermia. Let's talk about the gauge on the river. We've seen that little dip. This is the reading earlier this morning just after midnight when you were at the peak at 82 feet or 40.82. And now we're at 40.65. So not a whole heck of a lot down. Just a little bit.

Take a look at that black line straight across. That's the record level. We're not expected to get down there for a good three to seven days. If we are lucky you know maybe midweek. But we've got other complications to talk about. Yeah, we've got more weather that's going to be getting into the mix and certainly having an impact on things. What are those complications?

We have a storm system coming in from the Pacific Northwest. And by late tomorrow we're going to start to see some of that snow and rain coming into the Dakotas again starting in the western Dakotas but making its way eastward. Depending on the exact track of this low, it's going to have a huge impact just by a couple of miles even on what's going to happen in the Fargo/Moorhead area. Right now our best thinking it will be far enough south that it won't be a major storm but if we stay on a more northerly track we could have some very significant snowfall accumulations and almost whiteout situations with gusty wind.

Couple that with warmer temperatures down the line later in the week. Look at your five-day forecast for Fargo. If we get really heavy snow coming in Sunday night and Monday and then we start warming up into those 40s, we're going to have more runoff, more snow melt and we could see another crest down the line.

WHITFIELD: That underscores exactly why the mayor was saying seven to eight days, let's wait, let's not be victorious just yet. Thanks so much, Jacqui, appreciate it.

President Obama devotes his weekly radio and internet address to the flooding in the Midwest. He pays tribute to the volunteers and says his administration is working closely with the officials in the Dakotas and Minnesota to respond the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARAACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S: I'll continue to monitor the situation carefully. We will do what must be done to help in concert with state and local agencies and nonprofit organizations and volunteers who are doing so much to aid the response effort. For moments like these, we are reminded of the power of nature to disrupt lives and endanger communities. But we're also reminded of the power of individual to make a difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I-reporters are keeping a close eye on the rising river. I-reporter Jennifer Sondag shows us how sandbags are protecting a home in Moorhead, Minnesota. But her friend's family was forced to leave anyway.

Across the state line in Fargo, North Dakota, I-reporter Kevin Johnston talked about the sandbagging effort.

KEVIN JOHNSTON, I-REPORTER: It's pretty amazing the amount of volunteers that came out. Late last night when they said they had needed to go up another foot and the sand trucks kept coming in, volunteers just showed up and they kept showing up until late into the night.

WHITFIELD: There are a number of organizations that are providing volunteers food and supplies for the residents in the flood's path. You'll find the links to them on our impact your world page at CNN.com/impact.

All right. "Discovery" is coming in for a landing. Bringing seven crew members back to earth. Live images right there. If you see in the middle the cloudy image, that's the shuttle. Pretty remarkable, isn't it? It pulled away from the International Space Station on Thursday. The dialogue at mission control. About to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That landing was supposed to take place about two hours ago. Originally slated for but postponed because of high wind and clouds.

At least right now looking at the live pictures, not a cloud in the sky as to why they picked now to approach that landing. The exact landing time is supposed to be around 3:19. We'll bring that for you. 3:14 actually. 3:14, so just four minutes from now. There you go. On that filter right there. We're going to continue to watch the landing there of "Discovery."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Live pictures once again. Less than a minute away, you're seeing nose down there on the space shuttle "Discovery" as it approaches its landing there at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Seven-member crew on board after doing repairs and renovations at the International Space Station. They're considering this a successful mission and now the landing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Landing gear is down. Main gear touched down. And nose gear touched down. Space shuttle "Discovery" is rolling out on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center, completing 202 orbits of the earth while traveling 5,304,000 miles. This landing marks the 70th shuttle mission to end at KSC. It spent eight days docked at the International Space Station, leaving behind the first Japanese long duration crew member and also leaving it more power capability, setting the stage for an increase to six-person crew in late May.

Sandy Magness mission specialist now aboard "Discovery" home after 134 days in space, 129 of those aboard the International Space Station. "Discovery" is completing the 36th voyage of its life and the 125th shuttle base mission in the history of the program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Pretty incredible. You heard him mention Sandra Magness the former space station resident of the International Space Station. She had marked her 134th day in orbit. She was launched back in mid November. Now you saw the successful landing of the space shuttle "Discovery" there at Cape Canaveral. This essentially is a glider, so you saw that chute at the end.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Special welcome home to Sandy after living and working on board ISS as a member of Expedition 18 and for the entire crew of SDS 119. Great job.

WHITFIELD: Better to hear from them than from me. Made a great landing there at Cape Canaveral, space shuttle "Discovery" there. You heard from mission control, this the 70th shuttle launch and landing -- or 70th landing there.

All right. President Obama's new plan for Afghanistan is getting big thumbs up from that country's president. 4,000 additional U.S. troops will train Afghan military and security forces. The president also plans to send hundreds of U.S. civilians, including agricultural specialists, educators and engineers. Afghan President Hamid Karzai reacted at a news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES./ HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: This is what -- this is better than we were expecting, as a matter of fact, and we back it and we hope to go-for-to full implementation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us among those watching at least the announcement coming from the president. We were all listening because it really was a very comprehensive, fairly lengthy announcement from President Obama on the renewed commitment to Afghanistan. Why is this such high priority for the president and why does he feel like it's so important to really sell that point?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, because the country has a lot of war fatigue after six years in Iraq. The country is preoccupied with our own troubles, the recession here. And so the president had to make the case that what happens in Afghanistan is important for the United States security. Now, he did narrow the mission a bit -- a good deal actually from where it had been under the Bush administration. When he announced his new policy on Afghanistan, President Obama did not talk about nation-building.

He did not talk about a democracy in Afghanistan as a beacon to the world, the way the Bush administration often did. He talked about a very specific purpose there, which is to get rid of al Qaeda, to make sure they cannot return and use that as a safe haven, and, also, the Taliban enablers. I'm not sure they can eliminate them from Afghanistan, but they want to make sure those forces, al Qaeda and the Taliban, do not threaten the United States. A much more specific mission than nation-building or democracy.

WHITFIELD: It was interesting on that nation-building kind of premise without really saying so; he also talked about not just military force but civilians in a very big way that are making an investment in Afghanistan. And he talked about you got to offer to the farmers who were growing poppy -- you have to offer them an alternative and, thereby, justified why you've got to have the civilian influence, right?

SCHNEIDER: That's right, agricultural specialists will be there to talk to the farmers, the rural populations about alternatives to growing poppy. Not only is it effecting the United States because of the export of drugs, a lot of them go to Europe and Russia. But also because that money is used to finance some of the Muslim fundamentalists and extremists who are plotting against the United States. The president talked about civilian advisers to try to help the Afghan government reform, to try to change its policies, all in the interest of American security.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bill Schneider from Washington thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Speaking of traveling abroad, if you need to get a passport, this may be the day to do it. In fact, today is Passport Day in the USA as proclaimed by the U.S. State Department? All 16 regional passport offices are open, along with 2,000 passport application stations in post offices. No appointment is required today and they'll even waive the fee for expedited service. Pretty good perk there. Starting June 1st, U.S. citizens will need to show passports when they return from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

All right. Mexico's drugs flowing into the U.S. CNN's Gary Tuchman takes us to the front lines. Border agents make arrests, but many Narco traffickers avoid capture. You may be surprised just how easy that can be.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The massive flow of illegal drugs from Mexico to the U.S. is unrelenting. Efforts by both governments to stem the flow have so far failed. CNN's Gary Tuchman explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Handcuffed to a bench in the U.S. border control station in Arizona, this Mexican man is under arrest. He was driving a huge semi truck through a checkpoint 30 miles north of the border. I asked him what was in the vehicle. He says tomatoes and he's right. His truck, impounded by the border patrol, is full of tomatoes. But this dog smells more than produce. He smells dope and lots of it. Bale after bale of marijuana 40 bales, 908 pounds. At $800 bucks a pound, a street value of over $720 thousand dollars. It's believed this man is doing transport work for a Mexican drug cartel, just another night for border patrol.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): At this point there's not much that surprises us anymore.

TUCHMAN: About 2.8 million pounds of narcotics was seized on the border in 2008. Almost half of that just in this part of Arizona. We follow Sara, the drug-sniffing dog, through hilly brush near the border wall. Two men were seen jumping over the wall with backpacks. The men are gone now but Sara is on to something. She's trained to sit if she finds the target. She sits, and then jumps. You wouldn't know it as a human being, but she smelled it. It looks like a Christmas tree or bushings. You turn it around and inside there is the marijuana. Agent Ray Rivera has been with Sara for two years. How many pounds of marijuana has she found with you?

AGENT RAY RIVERA: Almost 9,000, 6,800.

TUCHMAN: So it didn't surprise you when she found this?

RIVERA: No.

TUCHMAN: Agents also have great technology. This is an x-ray truck. It drives up to vehicles taking images that can reveal hidden drugs. Cameras and sensors watch along the border fence. Agents monitor in a control room. Hundreds are arrested each day mostly for immigration violations but also for drugs and weapons. An unknown large number of people and drugs make it through. John Fitzpatrick is division chief here. This job is more dangerous now than it ever has been?

JOHN FITZPATRICK, DIVISION CHIEF: Absolutely. We had agents assaulted over 280 times last year alone.

TUCHMAN: These narcotics were nabbed just over the last couple of days; 7400 pounds of pot will be removed soon by the DEA. These drug traffickers are incredibly motivated and in most cases pretty strong. This right here is 64 pounds of marijuana. It's worth about $50,000 on the street. The typical scenario is this person is carrying this across the border on their back like this and they're walking. Typically when they see U.S. law enforcement officials, they drop it and run away. There's no way they could run with that.

But how do they get over the border with all the agents, the dogs, the wall? Right now I'm in Mexico behind the border fence. I don't want to say exactly where I am because of the loophole you're about to see. Let's say this gigantic rock is a bundle of marijuana. Well, at this point of the border fence, all I need to do is take it, walk around the fence where it's discontinued and now I'm in the United States.

But just minutes later, four border patrol agents showed up, one pointing his rifle at my crew and me, concerned we were criminals. We were spotted on one of those video cameras. They let us go after we explained who we were, but it was a tense few moments. On the border these days, nothing is left to chance.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Nogales, Arizona.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: In the 4 p.m. hour straight ahead we're focusing on tackling tuition 101. Perhaps you lost your job and you want to go back to school to get additional training. Or perhaps you're the parent of a 17 or 18-year-old graduating from high school and they want to go to college in the fall. How do you pay for it? We're devoting an entire hour to these very questions and taking in your questions as well. Weekends@cnn.com and on face book.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: News that's happening right now, severe weather across the country. Let's start in rain-drenched Fargo, North Dakota. Officials and residents there are more optimistic the swollen Red River will not spill over into hundreds of homes. Forecasters say the waters appear to be leveling off. A live report just a few minutes away.

Take a look at this twister in North Carolina. Several of them touched down across the south yesterday. At least you're seeing the remnants of it. They were part of a dangerous storm system that also brought heavy rain and hail to the region. There's the funnel cloud right there. No serious injuries were reported.

That same system brought this to Kansas, more than two feet of snow. Thousands of people are without power. The governor declared disaster emergencies for dozens of counties. And the snowstorm also buried parts of Oklahoma and Texas as well.

All right, well, now back to the drama unfolding in Fargo, North Dakota, or at least at bay for now. Forecasters say the flooded Red River has leveled off to about 41 feet. That's two feet below the levees and the sandbags that are protecting the city.

Volunteers have worked around the clock to try to keep the floodwaters at bay. They have filled about three million sandbags. The Pentagon is also pitching in. It has sent five army helicopters to the region to help with evacuations and emergencies.

So, as the Red River appears to be leveling off, that's not the case for the anxiety level among many people feeling threatened. All eyes are on those sandbags and the levees. Will they hold?

CNN radio reporter, Steve Kastenbaum is in Fargo and joins us by phone.

I know earlier, Steve, you said people are breathing a sigh of relief, but at the same time they really don't know what's going to happen in the next few days. So, are they nervous?

STEVE KASTENBAUM, CNN RADIO REPORTER: You know, really interesting, Fredricka, because city officials here in Fargo just held a press update a little while ago. They were adamant in telling people, listen, this is no time to become complacent, just because it's no longer rising doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet by far. And they said they started receiving calls from places like the local university, can we start classes again. And yeah, the mayor was like, don't even think about that at this point. It's way too soon to start talking about that. We are still at record flood levels here.

WHITFIELD: And now, we know that the community, the entire community has been at it all week, really focused on prevention. So, now it's an issue of kind of waiting, isn't it? What are residents doing are they just kind of hunkering down in their homes? Constantly looking out the window? What are they doing?

KASTENBAUM: This is a total waiting game here, today. There are those homeowners who are in their houses between the primary and the secondary dikes. They were urged to evacuate, but those who have stayed behind are continuing to man their sump pumps, to pump out that water that routinely seeps through the sandbags. They say that's OK, that's normal, but you got to pump it out, you can't let it build up.

People are trying to go about as normal a routine as they can, but most businesses in Fargo are closed today, so for the most part people are staying off the roads. They want to be out of the way in case emergency vehicles have to come through and shore up any weak points in the dike.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's incredible. Those homes surrounded by the sandbags looking like a bunch of islands just kind of in that water. Thanks so much, Steve Kastenbaum with CNN radio.

All right, Jacqui Jeras keeping an eye on the flooding for us from the Severe Weather Center. It really is a remarkable view, isn't it? Those aerial views of those homes being protected by these little lines -- they're not little, but from the sky it looks little, little lines of sand bags around there.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. It's all that's protecting those homes from water. And this just in, Fredricka, that the river level has dropped again, about another half of a foot, so we've got an update on the stage in the gauge, 40.61 feet is what we're at. So, that is down a bit from 40.82 at the peak, thus far.

Now, some of the reason why there's been a little uncertainty as to did it crest, did it not crest? Well, this goes the highest point so far, the reason why it's still possible to see a little bit of a fluctuation and the stage still going up, we think, is because there could be ice jams or ice floes and that adds additional displacement into the water, which could bring the water up a little bit, yet.

But overall, we're going to be seeing this trend of staying very high above the previous record stage for a good three to seven days. So, we still have a long way to go and other variations in the weather in the next couple of days could change the river levels, too. That has to do with the storm system which is going to be approaching. That should bring in snow showers late tomorrow night into your Monday.

Right now we're hopeful that this storm will stay far enough south that the heaviest accumulations will be down in South Dakota, but Fargo is kind of on the edge.

If we get enough heavy snow in this area along with blizzard-type conditions, potentially, at least some gusting, then temperatures warming throughout the week, look at that, 43 degrees by your Thursday, that's going to create some more runoff and that is going to create some additional complications down the line. So, we could see a secondary crest then late in the week or possibly even next weekend, so a long ways to go.

Severe weather is our other big weather story here, for today. Tornado watches across Georgia, South Carolina, into the panhandle of Florida. No warnings to speak of at this hour, but some torrential downpours and a lot of flooding in this area. This line could also produce some damaging winds and maybe a little bit of hail, as well. We've had a good eight to 10 inches of rainfall in short order from Dothan up towards Albany and so there is quite a bit of road closures in this area.

A new tornado watch issued across parts of Tennessee on up into Kentucky and into Northern parts of Alabama, this developing situation getting worse over the next couple of hours. And if that's not enough for you from this system, we've got some heavy snow coming down across parts of Oklahoma into Kansas. We're getting word out of Kansas City, especially in the North side of town and up toward St. Joe that there's a lot of icing on the roadways and multiple accidents and the heavy snow now complicating things for you travelers. Kansas City International Airport is now closed until 8:00 Central Time for that snow removal. So, that gives you a good idea of just that rate of snow.

We love iReporters, Fredricka. You know I do. So, we want to see the snow. We've been seeing plenty of flooding, as well. And check this out, Fredricka. I don't know if you've seen this yet? Have you seen this yet? I love this.

WHITFIELD: I don't think I have.

JERAS: This is, you know, iReport.com, we always tell you to send us our iReports there. Well, /maps and you'll see where the iReports are coming from, if you click these or you can click on the pictures below and just get a wide variety of what they've been sending us, some great, incredible stuff.

WHITFIELD: That is great, it's really just helping to kind of complete the circle on the whole story and how it's impacting people.

JERAS: Visualize what's happening and exactly where that is.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui, appreciate it. And thanks to you iReporters, as well. All right, a short time ago, I spoke with the Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano about how the Obama administration is monitoring the flooding in Fargo, North Dakota and this is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECY: We're dealing with Mother Nature, here, we're dealing with water levels that can be impacted by other snowstorms coming across, by ice in the river. So, again, we're all working together. We're supporting the people of North Dakota, the people of Minnesota, and we're supporting them through this very serious flood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, many organizations are helping people in the flood's path. Indeed, in fact, if you want to learn any more information, you can always go to "Impact Your World," that Web site and see what sort of organizations are pitching in and volunteering the best they can.

All right, we're going to have much more in the NEWSROOM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: So, how do you pay for college in the middle of a recession? Really at any time for that matter. That's a preb lem facing many students and their parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESSLEY CHAKALES, GRADUATING SENIOR: To be honest, the smartest route would definitely be going in state and utilizing HOPE, but I want to go out of state so bad I try to think about that I would be happier.

WHITFIELD: If you had an opportunity to talk to a financial planner for college, what is it that you would want to ask this person directly about how to make Pressley's dreams and your dreams as parents possible?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we make it make sense?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that we've talked about the fact that we don't really want to take out loans. Someday we do hope that we can retire, so we don't really want to take out a second mortgage on my home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, at the top of the hour you're going to meet the Chakales family, there. We're going to take a special look at how you can pay for college tuition. "Tackling Tuition 101: How to afford higher education." We're accepting your e-mail questions. Perhaps you've lost a job, you want to go back to school. How do you pay for it? Or perhaps like the Chakales family, your high school senior is about to go off to college in the fall, so how do you pay for it? "Tackling Tuition 101," 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour.

All right, the trucking industry is going green. Sleek new designs result in better gas mileage and a new generation of tires means better fuel efficiency. CNN's Brooke Bolduan has the details in today's "TechnoFile."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This new 18- wheeler won't be racing on the NASCAR circuit but it is taking its inspiration from racing technology. A decade of research and innovation in the U.S. trucking industry is hitting the road at just the right time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in an industry that's in transition at this point.

BOLDUAN: America's fleet of big rigs burns up more than a quarter of the fuel consumed every day on America's roads, so a little more fuel efficiency can go a long way.

MARTY FLETCHER, U.S. XPRESS: The hood has a very aerodynamic design. Low, sloping, and as you can see, it's designed to channel the air around the vehicle as efficiently as possible. Bumpers are designed the same way, headlight covers, everything here. So, it's all for aerodynamic purposes.

BOLDUAN: This fleet manager says racing car devices like ground effects, spoilers, even mud flaps are designed to cut down on drag and save fuel.

Michelin has reinvented the wheel for 18-wheelers, replacing the two- tire approach with one big tire that weighs less than the two combined. Less weight means more mileage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about a change that could affect fuel economy by as much as 10 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My commitment to them was I'll be a buyer if you can prove it.

BOLDUAN: And so that's exactly what Michelin did at this South Carolina testing ground. And on the nation's highways, the results are impressive.

WALLACE BEARD, TRUCK DRIVER: And I drove all the way to Dallas and I got as far as Shreveport before I had to fuel again, so tremendous difference.

BOLDUAN: A new fleet of trucks requiring fewer pit stops.

Brooke Bolduan, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Oh, he's not going to like this, though. Rapper T.I. will spend a year and a day in prison on a federal weapons violation. The hip-hop star was sentenced yesterday after he pleaded guilty to buying machine guns and silencers in a sting operation. He apologized for disappointing people who regard him as a role model.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLIFFORD HARRIS, RAPPER T.I.: Apologies to my family, to the young men, young women that I mentor and I just hope everyone can learn from my situation and I hope that I can keep one -- at least one, if not a million or more from going down a similar path as mine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: T.I. also has to pay $100,000 fine as part of his plea agreement, he must also spend time under home confinement. And he has already served more than 1,000 hours of community service.

CNN's T.J. Holmes spoke with the rapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Clifford Harris as a free man. Better known as rapper T.I., he's been at the top of the music world for years, now. His sixth album "Paper Trail" was one of the top selling albums of 2008 and his fourth straight to go platinum.

He picked up his most recent Grammy award in February and he's also on "Forbes'" list of highest paid hip-hop stars. So, what's next for T.I.? Prison.

(on camera): How many times have you been arrested? Do you have a good count?

HARRIS: You know what, I don't have an actual, factual number. So, I won't - you know, I won't get -- I won't just throw speculative -- you know, speculative numbers out.

HOLMES: I will throw one out there that I read that somebody decided to do a count and they said 32. Would you argue with that too much one way or the other?

HARRIS: I cannot confirm nor deny.

HOLMES: All right. But it's been more than once or twice.

(voice-over): But his latest arrest in 2007 threatened to end his career and put him in jail for up to 30 years. He was busted in his hometown of Atlanta trying to buy machine guns and silencers hours before he was set to perform at the BET Award.

(on camera): Are you ever going to feel a sense of safety that you don't feel like you need to protect yourself or carry a gun?

HARRIS: I made it through very extreme circumstances and I did not always have firearms to protect me and I'm still here. So, if I was supposed to be gone, I'd have been gone then.

HOLMES: So, you're telling me you've come to a place of peace and that paranoia has subsided and you don't feel the need for it anymore?

HARRIS: Absolutely.

HOLMES: To carry guns?

HARRIS: Absolutely.

HOLMES (voice-over): He pleaded guilty to weapons charges in March. His plea deal allowed him to delay his jail sentence for 12 months, but he's been far from a free man. Is that you?

(on camera): Is that you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) change the batteries at this time?

HARRIS: Yeah. I'm actually doing an interview with CNN. As soon as I'm finished, I'll change the battery.

HOLMES (voice-over): Our conversation was interrupted by his ankle monitor telling him he had five minutes to change the battery. Also, part of his plea deal, a thousand hours of community service, much of that community service talking to kids around the country about his success and failures.

(on camera): A lot of young people you know, of course, idolize you, look up to you in a lot of ways. Should they? Should they look up to you?

HARRIS: You shouldn't take the things that I've gone through and the negative parts of my life and, you know, and admire me for that, you know. If anything, admire me for how I've accepted responsibility for the part I played in placing myself in these situations and what I've done to recover from it.

HOLMES: What assurance can you give that over time, once you get out of jail, you can prove to people that you have changed and you'll be totally different? But right now what can you say to people to let them know that OK, he's learned his lesson?

HARRIS: I can't say any words to make you, convince you, you know, that I have changed, that I have learned a lesson. That comes with time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, well earlier, I asked our legal experts, who usually join us in the noon hour every Saturday, to weigh in on T.I.'s prison sentence and here's what Avery Friedman had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTY: This was really excellent criminal defense work here. The fact is that T.I. really should have spent substantial time behind bars because of the offense. If he weren't T.I., Fredricka, there's no question about it. This was a tremendous effort on the part of his defense team, tremendous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. You heard about him on CNN. Now, we're not talking about T.I., but somebody else, Jorge Munoz. He's being honored again. Just ahead, we'll tell you who is honoring him and why this time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, last week we told you about a CNN Hero named Jorge Munoz. Now he is being honored again, this time he's being honored by a basketball team. In a ceremony last night at the game, the New York Knicks gave them their Sweetwater Clifton City Spirited Award. It's named for the Knick's first African-American player.

Munoz delivers home-cooked meals to about 140 needy New Yorkers every night. He'll give his award money to charity. Last week Munoz was honored as an official CNN Hero. Congrats to him.

All right, let's take a moment to honor yet another hero among us. Dr. Carnell Cooper is a trauma surgeon in one of this country's most violent cities. He got tired of patching up gunshot wounds on young men, so he did something about it. And that's why CNN honors him as a hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Heroes."

DR CARNELL COOPER, BALTIMORE TRAUMA SURGEON: As a trauma surgeon, I see a significant amount of these violent injuries every year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was shot with a 45 caliber gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got shot twice since I was...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It actually blew my leg off.

COOPER: We take care of them and then they will come back again. My colleague said there really is nothing that we can do in these situations. I knew that wasn't true. And I knew I could make a difference.

I'm Dr. Carnell Cooper. I'm saving our lives by breaking the cycle of violence in Baltimore.

When they're here in the hospital, it represents an opportunity. I want to talk to you about the violence prevention program.

Maybe for the first time this individual says, I almost died.

Are you interested?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

COOPER: OK. Good.

We say look, we're going to help you get out of the game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before I was into shooting people, robbing. This group had changed my life, tremendously.

We all got roles now, we know where we going at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A GED, job train, moral support.

COOPER: You guys have done great. And I'm very proud of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Cooper, he saved me.

(BEGIN GRAPHIC)

Members of Dr. Cooper's program are three times less likely to be arrested for a violent crime.

And six time less likely to receive another violent injury.

(END GRAPHIC)

COOPER: Every physician's goal is to save lives. This is another step in that process. In my mind, it's just what I should be doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, Dr. Carnell Cooper is here with us now, lie from Baltimore.

Good to see you.

COOPER: Thanks. Nice to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: Boy, that must really touch your heart when you hear a patient say "he saved my life." And he's not talking just in little terms, he's talking about his life, he's also talking about his soul. What got to you about what you were seeing in these patients? These victims?

COOPER: Well, these are our future. These are our youngest, our most valuable part of our society and they're coming in and they're dying. And if you look at African-American and Latino males, the leading cause of death for those who are age 10 to 24 is homicide. That is just appalling. And I felt that we at the trauma center could do something to make a difference. WHITFIELD: But, how often were you hearing, perhaps from your colleagues, or you heard it before that often times when you were a doctor or you're a first-line kind of response person, you try to keep a distance between you and the victim or patient so you don't let it get to you. But, clearly in these set of circumstances you did let it get to you. It was hard for you to leave this at the hospital.

COOPER: Well, these individuals look like my family, like my friends in the neighborhood that I grew up with. They were the same folks that I know very well. And it just seemed like the right thing to do. It was a -- I could communicate with them very well because they came from the same kind of neighborhoods, the same kind of environment that I came from.

My mom was 15 when she had me. A lot of our patients come from single-parent families, from young families. So, it was, for me, it was simply an opportunity to save a life. And there's nothing that any physician can get more satisfaction out of than saving a life.

WHITFIELD: And, so when you approach these young men and women and they are on the table of healing, and now it's time for dialogue, what really is the reception you get for the majority of the victims? Do they usually embrace this notion, you know, that you're offering to, hey, you know, let's try and change my life here, so I don't end up back here? Or do you get folks who say, you don't know what you're talking about?

COOPER: Well, first of all, a lot of the clients are a little bit surprised, because they're used to us coming and just asking, OK, how is your wound looking? How are you healing? They're not familiar for us coming and asking the question about what is your home life like? Where do you live? Do you have a job? What kind of -- you know, what are you going to do when you get out of here? Are you going to seek revenge?

So, they're a little bit surprised by it. And yes, there are some clients that say, no, I got this. I can handle this. But, there are a lot of patients who say, you know, this is really -- I'm really happy you're here. I'm so glad you're asking me those questions and I really want to turn my life around and I'm glad you're going to give me a chance.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Carnell Cooper, a trauma surgeon, there, in Baltimore. What's the hospital again?

COOPER: University of Maryland. Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. All right, thanks so much for your time and many honors for you being a CNN Hero.

COOPER: Thank you very much for having me.

WHITFIELD: Much more of the NEWSROOM, right ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)