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Soap Business Gets Creative; Tornado Rips Through Arkansas; President Obama's Economic Agenda; Wildfires Kill Two, Destroy Homes; Power Networking; Woman Leads Police on Crazy Chase; More Money in Your Check; Virginia Tech Shooting Anniversary
Aired April 10, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: So, call it survival of the fittest. You see Brooke here. I just I feel like I need to say that when we come out on a two shot and you're right here, you know? I'm sorry.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks. Hi.
HARRIS: Businesses have to get creative during these lean times. Brooke Baldwin is here with one woman's story.
Love this story.
BALDWIN: This is such a great story and what a wonderful woman. And I know she has a whole viewing party right now, so hello to everyone.
But her name is Dawn Dellaire, she runs a novelty soap company - see, I brought some soap along, stole it from her company - that she started from scratch. And when her biggest customer dropped out, she had to make some very quick adjustments to survive, to keep her business alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAWN DALLAIRE, CEO, CLEARLY FUN SOAP INC.: I began with a goldfish in a bag and this is the original bar. It's still our most popular to this day.
BALDWIN (voice-over): Dawn Dellaire's story starts with a goldfish, a bag and a bright idea to sell novelty soap. An idea this 47-year-old entrepreneur has been pouring over since she started this small business in her garage six years ago.
Early on, Dawn got a phone call that changed everything - a massive order from a major retailer.
DALLAIRE: All of a sudden we have tractor-trailers pulling in our neighborhood. And so that became an issue. So we -- then we took the leap and got our first building.
BALDWIN: By 2008, Dawn was raking in revenue of more than a million dollars a year. Somehow, this single mother managed a staff of two dozen, made guest appearances on network TV and local newspapers headlined her success as Georgia's Small Business Person of the Year. And then, the recession hit. One of her biggest clients, Linens & Things, went bankrupt.
(on camera): In two week's time, you're submitting a manuscript to your book, you're Georgia's Small Business Person of the Year, and then -- wham! - the bottom drops out.
DALLAIRE: Yes, exactly. Exactly. And it was, like, if I could do the book over, it would be twice as thick because of the lessons that I've learned over this last year.
BALDWIN (voice-over): They're lessons this award-winning entrepreneur feels compelled to share.
Lesson number one: Keep your business lean and mean. Dawn cut employees who weren't making the grade and kept the most passionate people. She also chopped her salary in half.
(on camera): There was a chunk of time where you weren't getting paid.
DALLAIRE: I didn't get paid for seven -- I added it up last night. I didn't get paid for seven months.
BALDWIN: Seven months?
DALLAIRE: And at that time I was the sole breadwinner. So it was the hardest thing that I've ever done.
BALDWIN: Two: Keep your inventory in check.
DALLAIRE: We won't order the inventory on speculation. We will wait until we have a purchase order in hand.
BALDWIN: Three: Maximize your selling potential online.
Four: Don't ignore smaller orders.
DALLAIRE: The mom and pops are tried and true, and they're your backbone of your business. They keep you going between the other orders.
BALDWIN: Five: Hire someone, as Dawn likes to say, who is smarter than you. She handled a CFO to handle all the business' financial minutia so Dawn can focus on her passion.
(on camera): What's your favorite part? I mean...
DALLAIRE: Designing.
BALDWIN: Designing.
DALLAIRE: That's my favorite part. To have something that comes out of your head and then actually see it on the shelf at a store is just awesome.
BALDWIN (voice-over): These days, Dawn's novelty soap is selling in 4,000 stores nationwide.
(on camera): You weren't bailed out. You bailed yourself out.
DALLAIRE: Exactly. Exactly. And I've learned.
You know, like I said, it didn't come with an owner's manual. And I've learned the hard way. But I know it, I love it. And we're turning things around here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: So, Clearly Fun Soap is the name. You're looking at some of the soaps. I brought it in to show and tell here.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Awesome.
BALDWIN: And she said -- you know what? I asked here, "How is your business doing financially right now?" You heard her mention she didn't take a paycheck for six months, seven months.
HARRIS: Seven months.
BALDWIN: It's still in the red, but she's hoping to be in the black by third quarter. That's Christmastime.
HARRIS: A, you can't give up. Right?
BALDWIN: No.
HARRIS: I love the tips.
BALDWIN: She's got panache.
HARRIS: Yes. And I'm thinking, boy, how was she able to do this, a single parent raising two kids and doing all of this? A, you can't give up. And you said she's got real gumption.
BALDWIN: She does.
HARRIS: She goes for it. Great tips for everyone.
BALDWIN: She's just passionate. I think that sort of -- I brought you a gift. Does this make your day?
HARRIS: Well, you brought me "Brooke" soap.
BALDWIN: I did bring you "Brooke" soap.
HARRIS: Where's the "Tony" soap?
BALDWIN: I'm sorry, my friend.
HARRIS: Trust me, the "Tony" soap needs to be stronger. OK? Just trust me on that.
Dawn, you're watching? BALDWIN: Ooh, I can tell.
HARRIS: Thanks. Brooke, good to see you.
BALDWIN: Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: Let's get to our top story in the CNN NEWSROOM. It is a story we've been following for you throughout the morning.
Three people dead, more than 100 homes leveled. Two industrial plants absolutely destroyed.
All this from a tornado that ripped through an Arkansas town overnight. The damage in Mena is so extensive, one emergency official says it looks like a war zone. Authorities are going door to door to make sure no one is trapped in all the debris. The twister toppled trees onto homes and, of course, cars. Frightened residents took cover wherever they could.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN BUSCH, TORNADO SURVIVOR: The basketball pole (ph) started flying through the air. And my husband grabbed his grandmother and we all huddled in the living room floor while glass was breaking and hitting us. And luckily, all of us and our animals are fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The tornado in Mena, cut through the downtown area and an industrial park, as we mentioned. The sheriff says it's going to be a long day of assessing the damage and cleaning up debris.
Reporter Charles Crowson of our affiliate KTHV joins us live from Mena.
And Charles, if you would, take your time and describe for us what this town has been through in the last 24 hours.
CHARLES CROWSON, REPORTER, KTHV: It has been absolute hell on this town, I can tell you right now. It has been mayhem. Chaos throughout the morning.
We all knew that first light would shed a new perspective on this, because as the storm hit last night around 8:00 Central, it was dusk. And you really couldn't tell the depth and breadth of the destruction of the tornado as it blew through.
Roughly, a one-mile square area has been completely ripped apart in this small town of about 6,000 in western Arkansas. Throughout the day, we've been talking to everyone as they've been coming into their homes trying to get all they could, and in each one of these homes it's just been a separate story.
The home right here was a story of a mother and her 6-year-old daughter that did everything they could to get home. Drove 70 miles an hour down Highway 71 as a friend was texting them, "The storm is 20 minutes away, 10 minutes away, five minutes away."
They got into their storm shelter within one minute of the storm hitting. They are both so grateful to be alive. They were here just a few moments ago, getting anything they could to get it out.
Now, also throughout the day, several emergency crews, as well as the Arkansas National Guard, have been on site, going house to house through 19 zones. That one square mile area we were telling you about, 19 separate zones they've been going house to house. It's very similar to what you saw with Hurricane Katrina going through.
You can see here the red "X" letting you know no one was home, no one dead inside. But again, just the clear devastation -- uprooted trees, absolute mayhem here throughout the day.
HARRIS: What a picture. And thank you for doing the walk there so we could take a look at all of that damage behind you there.
Charles Crowson is with our affiliate KTHV.
Charles, appreciate it. Thank you.
And then, of course, we need to talk about the wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma leaving two people dead, at least 34 injured, and dozens of homes destroyed there. Tender, dry conditions and hurricane-force winds kept the deadly flames in motion. Right now, firefighters in Midwest City, Oklahoma, are just beginning to size up the damage.
Our Ed Lavandera is there. And we will check in with him later in the hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: And let's get you now to comments from the president after his meeting with his economic team, talking, of course, about the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We got everybody? All set? All right.
Well, first of all, Happy Easter and Happy Passover. I'm sorry that you guys, like us, are working today.
We just had a terrific conversation with Ben Bernanke, Sheila Bair and our entire regulatory group to talk about progress that we're making on the economy. And I wanted to just give you a little bit of the sense of the efforts that we've been making in stabilizing the financial markets.
And I want to thank SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, as well as the Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan, for joining us. They weren't with us the last time we met.
We discussed ongoing stabilization of the financial system and the steps that have already been taken. I spoke yesterday about the progress that's been made in the housing market as a consequence of some excellent work by Ben and some coordinated activities between the various agencies.
What we've seen is mortgage interest rates go down to historic lows, and we've seen a very significant pickup in refinancings. That has the fact of not only putting money in the pockets of people, but also contributing to stabilization of the housing market.
We discussed the public/private investment mechanisms that we have set up so that we can start getting some of these toxic assets off the books. And all the agencies here have been involved in further refining the ideas and making them work effectively, and we feel confident that, even as we're dealing with the problems within the banking system, that we're also addressing some of the problems in the non-bank financial system that was such a huge proportion of our credit when it came to auto loans and credit cards and so forth.
We feel very good about the progress that we're making in unlocking lending in some particular markets. For example, the small business area.
Some of you will recall that a couple of weeks ago, we made a presentation about how we were going to help lending to small businesses. And I'm pleased to discover that because of our actions, we've seen a 20 percent increase in the largest SBA loans program in the last month alone. And what that means is that small businesses are starting to get money that allows them to keep their doors open, make payroll, and that is going to contribute to overall economic growth, as well help make sure that people are able to keep their jobs.
And we have also seen this month people starting to get their first checks in terms of the tax cuts that were initiated through the recovery package. And when you combine that with the other efforts that are being made across the country for infrastructure projects, for the kinds of innovative energy programs that were part of the recovery package, what you are starting to see is glimmers of hope across the economy.
Now, we have always been very cautious about prognosticating. And that's not going to change just because it's Easter.
The economy is still under severe stress. And obviously, during these holidays, we have to keep in mind that whatever we do ultimately has to translate into economic growth and jobs, and rising incomes for the American people. And right now we're still seeing a lot of job losses, a lot of hardship, people finding themselves in very difficult situations either because they have lost their home, they have seen their savings deteriorate, and they're still at risk of losing their jobs.
So we've still got a lot of work to do. And over the next several weeks, you will be seeing additional actions by the administration. What I just want to emphasize today, and I think that Ben Bernanke and Sheila Bair and our economic team as a whole would agree, we're starting to see progress. And if we stick with it, if we don't flinch in the face of some difficulties, then I feel absolutely convinced that we are going to get this economy back on track.
All right?
Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right. So no questions taken by the president, but a lot there. Let's talk about where things stand right now with the economy and where they might be headed.
Christine Romans of our CNN money team live from New York.
Christine, you listened to those comments from the president. Let me see what -- what were some of your takeaways as I scribble and look through my notes that I can't read?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's reflecting the consensus, really, from this week, which is there are glimmers of hope but there's still a lot of work to do done. There are still severe stresses in the economy, but the president says he's absolutely confident that we're going to get the economy back on track. So nobody trying to paint this as too rosy, the president included, trying to say there are glimmers of hope, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
He says he feels very good, Tony, about unlocking the lending in the small business area.
HARRIS: That was going to be my point. Perfect.
ROMANS: And he gave a number that I hadn't -- over the past month, he said a 20 percent increase in the largest loan program of the Small Business Administration. You know that there had been some complaints that it was difficult, A, to find creditworthy borrowers, and B, that the lending had dried up for small businesses. So that is something there.
Also, he said people are starting to get their first checks from the tax cut. I think what the president meant to say was people are starting to see the tax cuts in their paychecks...
HARRIS: Show up in their -- yes, exactly.
ROMANS: ... for the first time. I don't want anyone to think they're going to get a special check in the mail from the Department of Treasury about that. That's something that's scheduled to show up in your paycheck, and that's been starting.
You know, he talked about the financial stability, Tony, returning financial stability. And something that's been a challenge for the administration, at least from those of us who have been watching what's happening over the past six or seven months, then into the beginning of this administration, is this idea of the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street. The president talking about stabilizing the financial markets, then also talking about how that translates to you and me, to the rest of us, to the small business owner, to the people who are going to get something in their paycheck.
HARRIS: And here's why that feels important, Christine, because we've talked about it. There were signs that there was this fissure growing here between Wall Street and Main Street that had the potential to turn into something a little -- I don't want to be over- dramatic here. OK, maybe I do. A sort of open warfare between folks on Main Street outraged about all of the help going to Wall Street and feeling as though not enough attention wag being paid to Main Street.
ROMANS: That's right. And the thing here is that yesterday, the president spoke directly to the American people and said now's the time to refinance your home if you can.
He's trying to show that he's trying to fix Wall Street, but Wall Street being healthy is incredibly important for Main Street and the whole oxygen of the economy. So I think on that message, the past couple of days he's been speaking directly to the American people saying this is what we're doing and how it is helping, or we hope will help you.
HARRIS: And he mentioned one other thing that I want you to comment on. The economy is very much under stress, and he pointed to job losses.
ROMANS: Yes. You know, Tony, this is so important for people to remember, that we still have a lot --- and he said this -- we have a lot of work to be done here.
You know, you don't want to paint false hope. There are still a lot of things to be concerned about -- credit card defaults, commercial real estate. You worry about banking sector help.
We worry about how many more -- you know, there's just -- we don't even know what to worry about in terms of some of the things that are lurking out there in terms of the toxic assets and the like. So we hope that there's a recovery sometime later this year. That is the -- or the end of the recession. That is the consensus here, but the consensus, frankly, has been wrong for the last year.
HARRIS: And maybe the takeaway is -- maybe the quote line is "glimmers of hope."
ROMANS: But still work to be done.
HARRIS: Still work to be done.
Christine, awesome. Thank you, Christine. Appreciate it.
ROMANS: Sure.
HARRIS: A U.S. ship captain still being held by pirates. We will get a live report from his hometown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: New developments in the hostage standoff in the waters near the Horn of Africa.
A U.S. defense official confirms to CNN that Navy destroyer the USS Bainbridge is now just a few hundred yards from the lifeboat where American ship captain Richard Phillips is being held by Somali pirates. The official also confirms the pirates have larger mother ships nearby and a second U.S. warship, the USS Halliburton, is in the area.
Captain Phillips tried to make a nighttime escape. He jumped out of the lifeboat where he is being held, and tried to swim to the Bainbridge, but kidnappers recaptured him.
His friend and fellow ship captain talked to our Jason Carroll about the attempted escape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. JAMES STAPLES, FRIEND OF CAPTAIN PHILLIPS: No, I wasn't surprised by that. That just shows you Richard's -- his character. He's not going to give up.
He's going to be thinking all the time of what he can do to get out of this situation safely. He's not going to lay down. He's going to stay and fight until this is over and resolved and he's back home safely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And let's go live to Captain Phillip's home. Our Stephanie Elam is standing by in Underhill, Vermont.
And Stephanie, first, good to see you.
I would imagine this family is getting all the support it could ever ask for.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is really true at this point, Tony.
You know, it's a small rural community up here in New England. It's a town that's not used to a lot of media attention.
It's definitely brought a lot of people here. But at the same time, you can see the outpouring of support and the yellow ribbons that are along the white picket fence outside of Captain Phillips' home. Also, just in the general stores around, you can see people are handing out yellow ribbons as well, just to show their support for their hometown hero.
Everything we've gathered about Captain Phillips is that he's a big family man and that he really takes care of his crew. And so what he's done so far is not out of character for him.
Yesterday, we were expecting to hear from his wife, Andrea Phillips, but it seems she just got too overwhelmed with the attention of all of this. And the longer this drags on, the more nervous it's become on the family.
And so we didn't hear from her, which is totally understandable. But we did manage to speak with their priest and a local store owner who owns a shop right down the street from their home to figure out how the family is doing, how the town is rallying around the Phillips' family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. RICK DANIELSON, ST. THOMAS CHURCH: People are very concerned. Everybody is very concerned. Everyone has been very hopeful, like I said, it's going to have a happy outcome.
And people have been -- people who really know the Phillips have been, I understand, have been just wonderful in giving them all kinds of support. Not only their prayers, but also more tangible support, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA WELLS, PHILLIPS FAMILY FRIEND: We're still hoping and praying that, you know, maybe he can do it again and the Navy will be more prepared, that he might do something unexpected.
He's a family man, very devoted to his family. His children are wonderful, and he's a wonderful family man.
ELAM: You have seen him come in here with his family and his wife, and you can tell that they're a close-knit family?
WELLS: Yes. He's -- excuse me. You know, you see him work in his yard with his family.
And we are just hoping and praying everything turns out OK. I'm sorry. It's very hard to talk about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: And as you can see, the whole community just rallying around the Phillips family, feeling their pain, wishing them the best, praying for them, especially going into this Easter holiday, and just wanting a quick resolution and to get Captain Phillips back here -- Tony.
HARRIS: Boy, it has to be really difficult to see the guy working in his yard one day and then to know the next he is in such jeopardy. How tough is that?
Stephanie Elam for us. Stephanie, good to see you. Thank you.
President Obama has pledged to be more environmentally aware than his predecessor's administration, but his week and next, one official is on a nationwide circuit talking up offshore drilling.
CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.
And Poppy, we know this could be an energy fix in the making, but there has got to be a lot of opposition.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: There's a lot of opposition, there's a lot of controversy, a little confusion. The goal here, really, Tony, strike a balance between environmental and economic interests.
We talked about this a bit yesterday. We actually got a call from the press relations for the interior secretary, Ken Salazar, saying this is not only about drilling, this is also about renewables. So we'll tell you about that, because the government is certainly working on a plan that could open up more federal waters for offshore oil drilling and renewable energy platforms like wind turbines or deep sea turbines.
Now, this area we're talking about, we're going to show it to you here. It's the Outer Continental Shelf, right along there. It could be a huge energy source.
It covers -- get this -- more than 1.5 billion acres along both coasts you see there. And also, the Department of the Interior says it has more wind potential than the Great Plains, and of course it could be a big oil source as well.
And up until last fall, Tony, a lot of those areas were off limits for any kind of development. That might change because Salazar is going around the nation right now talking to people, public forums, holding them, asking people what they think. The government is required to do that before they make any big policy shift -- Tony/
HARRIS: This is so interesting. So we're clearly talking about more oil drilling and that is, as everybody knows, controversial. It certainly makes headlines.
HARLOW: It does make headlines, definitely. It was the headline out of this, not so much the renewable part, right? And that's why they gave us a call.
The big fear is an oil spill. Obviously, just think back to Exxon Valdez's spill in Alaska. Opponents also say everyday operations in oil drilling cause pollution because they bring chemicals up from the ocean floor.
But you know what? The oil industry says that technology has gotten a lot better. Those offshore rigs have these automatic valves that shut off. They prevent spills. That's exactly what happened to prevent spills during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. So those are some pros to it. The other thing you want to look at is the pros -- Tony, obviously, it could create jobs, it could bring more revenue in for the government in terms of those land leases as well -- Tony.
HARRIS: Well, maybe we can drill down on that. I mean, could this give -- this kind of activity give the economy a boost at a time when they could use it?
HARLOW: Absolutely. It could be billions and billions in revenue for the government, also create a lot of jobs.
But as I said, before any final decision is made, people across the country are weighing in. These are public meetings that have already been held. One was in New Orleans on Wednesday.
Next week, there's going to be one in Anchorage, Alaska, one in San Francisco. And as I said, the government is required to get your input, the public input, before it changes policy.
Interestingly enough, Secretary Salazar says he prefers face-to-- face hearings rather than those comment cards. But if you're not in Anchorage or in San Francisco, you can go to this Web site we'll put up for you here, MMS.gov. They'll tell you how you can mail in your comments so your voice can be heard.
HARRIS: Yes, terrific. Poppy, have a great weekend. Thank you.
HARLOW: You too.
HARRIS: You know, before you get the job, you have to impress. I head to a networking event for young people. Oh boy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A statewide job fair in New Hampshire offers 1,500 jobs, and about 10,000 people show up to take them. Organizers expected to draw half that number. They stopped allowing people in after two hours because of the massive turnout. Another job fair will be held, but not for a few months.
So I headed over to a college mixer recently where students got a chance to network with job recruiters. They got to mix it up at the alumni house at Emory University.
Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK. What are we looking at here? This is a beautiful hall, first of all.
BRITTANY FIELDS, EMORY ALUMNI RELATIONS: Thank you very much.
HARRIS: Alumni -- where are we?
FIELDS: Our Miller-Ward Alumni House.
We have anywhere from Peace Corps to Delta to Coke (ph).
HARRIS: OK.
FIELDS: All of the employers will have green tags.
HARRIS: So the yellow-taggers...
FIELDS: Are alumni.
HARRIS: All right.
FIELDS: Some of them are job searching, some of them are here representing the organization they work for.
HARRIS: I see some white tags.
FIELDS: You see the white tags. The white tags are students.
HARRIS: White -- OK, white tags are students.
Did you think you would get this kind of response?
FIELDS: When we opened registration for this event, it filled up in three hours.
HARRIS: Oh, get out of here.
FIELDS: Three hours. We had to shut it down.
HARRIS: This is power networking at its best, right? That's what we hope, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's correct, yes.
HARRIS: White badges here. That means you're students.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are students.
HARRIS: Alex.
ALEC, STUDENT: Alec with a c.
HARRIS: Alec.
ALEC: Yes.
MILLIE, STUDENT: Millie.
HARRIS: Millie.
ANDREW, STUDENT: Andrew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
HARRIS: Nice to meet you all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to meet you too.
How do you (INAUDIBLE). It is, isn't it?
MILLIE: IT's a little intimidating.
ALEC: I literally go up to people and look at their name tag and I'm like, OK, that's a person I want to talk to.
HARRIS: So, all right, have you met anyone yet that you've had an opportunity to do a little networking with?
ALEC: We have.
MILLIE: We have (INAUDIBLE)
HARRIS: Give me that.
MILLIE: All right.
HARRIS: Give me that.
ALEC: Oh, my gosh, I'm no hands.
HARRIS: And off with you. Network. We're following with cameras.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And we followed with cameras and we'll check out how some of the students did on their mini interviews with recruiters. And we'll get some tips from a career councilor on what we can all learn about first impressions. That's coming up in just a couple of minutes.
And be sure to check out cnnmoney.com for more information on your finances, including answers to your inflation concerns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A deadly mix of hurricane force winds and tender dry conditions adding up to wildfires that killed two, injured dozens and destroyed homes across Texas and Oklahoma.
And we just got these pictures in from Velma, Oklahoma. People have been forced to evacuate ahead of the flames. You can see all the smoke and there are the flames. Hardest hit, eastern Oklahoma County, including Midwest City. They're just starting to get a handle on the extent of the damage.
Our Ed Lavandera is there.
And, Ed, your description last hour of what that town has been through was pretty dog done vivid. A lot of homes damaged and businesses lost as well.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we want to show you kind of a different perspective on what happened here in the particular subdivision we're in, Tony. Look at the yard you see behind me. Completely charred. The charred grass right up to the edge of the home. Many of these people really on the brink of disaster.
And as I talked about last time with you, Tony, about how it feels like it's almost like tornado damage. Just across the street, these are the homes that were hit by the fire in this particular neighborhood.
We've heard some firefighters described it, as they were battling the fires in the fields, as fireballs leaping over them. And essentially this is where they landed and this is why you see this kind of damage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Across Texas and Oklahoma, crews raced from fire to fire, kept on their toes by winds that at times reached hurricane-force.
JERRY LOJKA, FIRE MARSHAL, MIDWEST CITY, OKLAHOMA: We can't get ahead of it. When you have gusts to 40 miles an hour and there is brush involved, it picks those embers up. It creates a fireball that lifts it over the top of us and carries at a quarter of a mile past us.
LAVANDERA: At least five towns in Oklahoma were ordered evacuated as the flames swept across the dry flatlands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. It happened so fast.
LAVANDERA: The massive fires, some stretching for six miles, also forced parts of Interstate 35 to be shut down. Firefighters from dozens of agencies tapped into pools and creeks to keep the water flowing and worked alongside bulldozers to create fire lines.
And despite warnings to clear out, some residents stayed behind to join the fight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just started running buckets to the place behind us trying to help the firefighters.
LAVANDERA: The struggle and the size and speed of devastation taking a toll.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a long day.
LAVANDERA: By nightfall, more than a hundred homes have been lost, many more damaged. But the fires were so widespread and moving so fast that firefighters were struggling to get a grip on the extent of the damage. In some areas where the fire had moved on, residents got a firsthand look at what the flames left behind and the work that lies ahead for them and their neighbors, some of whom don't yet know what awaits.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's deployed. He's out serving our country right now, and he's got to come home to this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Tony, of course, authorities and emergency officials throughout the state will be keeping a close eye on the wind. The wind was the enemy yesterday. And the good news, at least so far today, is that wind is considerably lighter today than it was yesterday. So hopefully going into this afternoon, that will help firefighters as they try to wrap all of this up -- Tony.
HARRIS: Those pictures are absolutely amazing. It happened so quickly. Ed Lavandera for us from Midwest City, Oklahoma.
Ed, appreciate it. Thank you.
So back to our job hunting college kids. We showed you their mixer earlier. How did they do with recruiters? I asked a career search expert to analyze their approach.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Maybe there's some advice that come out of this that would be useful for everybody who's going . . .
GAIL GEARY, CAREER COUNSELOR: Right.
HARRIS: Does that make some sense.
GEARY: Yes, all ages can use good networking advice in today's economy.
HARRIS: So you want to take a look at some of our choices.
GEARY: Absolutely.
HARRIS: All right. Take a look at this first young lady.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm (INAUDIBLE) Delta Airlines. Nice to meet you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you. I'm just kind of interested in opportunities that are available at Delta right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What's your background?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a masters (ph) in history (ph). I'm graduating this year. I have a lot of research, data analysis, writing skills. I mean some interpersonal (ph) (INAUDIBLE) I hope to.
GEARY: She's giving him good eye contact. She's smiling.
HARRIS: You like that?
GEARY: I like that. You bet.
HARRIS: And how important is that?
GEARY: Well, body language represents actually 93 percent of a first impression, which can be made in 60 seconds.
HARRIS: Ninety-three. Before you even . . .
GEARY: Nonverbal.
HARRIS: Really?
GEARY: The other is your body language, which is your handshake, your smile, your posture, your eye contact is critical.
HARRIS: OK.
GEARY: So she's got that going on. And at this particular point, the only thing I would say was, she has some kind of unusual hair clips in her hair.
HARRIS: OK.
GEARY: And I think that she would look a bit more sophisticated if she could get rid of the hair clips.
HARRIS: Should we roll through and . . .
GEARY: Yes, let's roll through and let's see how she ends.
HARRIS: OK, let's roll through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, with your background, you know, depending on your experience if you had any internships, you could apply for most any of those entry level positions. And I'd encourage you to go to the delta.com website.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a card? I could just ask you any more questions?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'll tell you what. Actually my information is in your pact. You could e-mail me. And, like I said before, you can go to delta.com website and see what you like there and follow-up with an e-mail (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Great. Thank you very much.
GEARY: She really did the right thing there in that she -- you can see that she brought a resume with her, but also she asked the interview for the business card.
HARRIS: And there was a part of me that would feel at that moment slightly defeated because if he were really interested in me, he would have taken my resume. Should I feel defeated?
GEARY: You shouldn't feel defeated because most big companies, such as Delta, require that you go through their website with a resume. I think she did very well. Very strong under the circumstances.
HARRIS: Want to take a look at other candidate?
GEARY: Yes, I'd love to.
HARRIS: All right. Let's see this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just right here to meet some people. Shake a few hands. Get my name out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what are you planning on doing for the rest of your life?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a long story. I'm an environmental studies major, which is really not related to what I wanted to do but you know how you just take those major classes and have those wonderful professors. So it kind of changed my whole perspective about the environment.
GEARY: (INAUDIBLE), let's pause right now.
HARRIS: Should we pause? OK.
GEARY: Yes. I think he's well groomed for this particular position and he seems casual. He doesn't seem ill at ease. And one of the most important things is not to be nervous.
I would recommend for people going to a networking event not to carry around a dink in their hand because this is not a social event, literally, and sometimes it gets in the way of your body language.
HARRIS: I see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm really interested in working for the LBI (ph) in the long run. Maybe politics. But, like I say, a law school. But I'm not necessarily sure I want to practice law. But I think it prepares you to give you -- it gives you analytical and (INAUDIBLE) skills that you can come and cater to whatever industry that you're in.
GEARY: I think that, again, he didn't seem to be clear on his objective because he was talking about environment issues and causes. And it would be hard for them to say, well, we might have an opportunity here because his objective is very broad.
HARRIS: Is that literally a moment where you could prepare, I don't know, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, as almost a prepare short speech of who you are and what you'd like to do?
GEARY: Yes. I think you get about 60 seconds, 30 seconds and what this note (ph) is known as is an elevator speech. HARRIS: Ah, OK. OK.
GEARY: And so -- or a commercial. They call this a -- your own short commercial. You could actually write it out and just say, what are you interested in doing in the future? well, I'm interested in being an environmental specialist.
HARRIS: Sure.
GEARY: And I've trained in these particular areas. And I would like to work for this particular company and these are my strengths.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Do (ph) this, a quick review for job seekers, be very satisfied with your appearance. Have others check you out first. Have your elevator speech memorized and ready to go. And stay relaxed. Don't rush to the event. Calm yourself in advance. Hope that helps.
This morning, a California woman driving a minivan attracted a lot of attention from police. We will show you what happened. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: High speed freeway chases. Reality TV for southern California to be sure. Today's driver seemed to have a good time playing to the cameras and taunting police. Richard Lui is here from "MORNING EXPRESS" at HLN.
Richard, you were on the air. We were watching you. And the newsroom is going crazy as this thing was unfolding. What we're going to do is we're going to roll through some tape here and talk to us about what was on your air live and what's going on here.
RICHARD LUI, "MORNING EXPRESS" HLN: And this was crazy here, Tony. This is a car chase to remember.
Here we see the target car faking to get off the freeway.
HARRIS: This is a minivan.
LUI: That's a minivan. It happened several times. This is a very small car. It's a Scion XB. She kind of does these figure eights.
HARRIS: Right.
LUI: And at this point, we don't know who's chasing who. Because, look, here comes the police car. She's chasing him.
HARRIS: Right. I've got you. You've got me.
LUI: Or is the police car chasing her?
HARRIS: And now she's chasing the -- oh my, God. All right.
LUI: Right. So she turns around. She keeps on going. Now there's several key points as you watch this chase. She stops the car in the middle of the freeway. Taunts them. The car is rolling away there, Tony. See that. She gets back in. Then her hand goes out (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: Right.
LUI: Now the question is -- I was looking at some of the closeups of this, Tony. What was she doing there. OK, this is a key move.
HARRIS: Oh, PIT move?
LUI: The PIT maneuver. That's right. That's the precision immobilization technique. It kind of just pushes the car. Hopefully, it doesn't spin out. Doesn't work here.
HARRIS: And here she goes again.
LUI: She's still ranting. That's what makes it so weird. Also, she runs out of, in this case, out of freeway. So she's on a street. You can see the stop signs on the left side.
HARRIS: So she's on service roads now. She's out of freeway.
LUI: That's right.
HARRIS: And they box her in. And then, here we go. Ready?
LUI: They take her out in a very nice, gradual way. They take her to the ground. She's moved off after that.
And I was looking at some of the video later on. The question is, you know, was she under the influence? Why was she acting so erratically? And what makes this different, this was a woman. You know, we do a lot of these. It's mostly guys.
HARRIS: Yes. Pretty dramatic stuff.
LUI: Oh, yes, at 6:00 a.m. in the morning there in California.
HARRIS: Richard, appreciate it. Thank you.
LUI: You bet, man.
HARRIS: Good stuff, man. Thank you.
If you're on Social Security, can you expect to see anything extra in your paycheck from President Obama's stimulus plan? Gerri Willis gets answers to your questions.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: More money in your check. The Help Desk is open for business. Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis puts your questions to the experts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: We want to get you answers to your financial questions. Let's get straight to "The Help Desk."
Donna Rosato is a senior writer with "Money" magazine. Ryan Mack is the president of Optimum Capital Management. That first e-mail comes from Howard. He asks, "Some folks are going to get a $15 to $25 raise in their weekly paychecks. What about those of us who are on Social Security or are disabled?" Donna.
DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Well, he's talking about the "make work pay" credit, which people are already start seeing in their paycheck. And that was part of the stimulus program. Now, there is something for retirees, too.
That was meant to give money to people who are working, but for retirees or people on disability, they're going to get a one-time $250 payment this year. And if you're married and your spouse is also collecting Social Security, you'll get a $500 payment as well.
WILLIS: A little something for everybody...
ROSATO: Yes.
WILLIS: ... in that, right?
And as a matter of fact, there are a lot of bennies (ph) in the tax bill you're really going to have to pay attention to this week. C.R. asks, "I know that employers can't ask an applicant's date of birth, but during my job search, I noticed that employers ask what year the applicant graduated high school. Obviously, they can determine a person's age by that, so why is that question allowed?"
Ryan, here's somebody who really wants to mask their age.
RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, you know what, I like this question because it really shows the impact of knowing your rights and how that can affect your personal financial situation. And actually, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -- that's the primary agency in charge of implementing the Age Discrimination in Employment Act -- essentially said that -- they came out with a regulation saying that asking an applicant's age in itself does not constitute an establishment of age discrimination, so that's not the case.
As a matter of fact, I found a case, Wanda Smirofsky (ph) versus Phillip Morris, that she tried to file a claim against Phillip Morris because Phillip Morris asked her, does this state -- you know, what year did you start working professionally. And essentially then filed because of that that it didn't, you know, it did not file for age discrimination
WILLIS: But Ryan, don't you think the dirty little secret of this recession is that a lot of employers are taking out older workers?
MACK: Yes, well, we have to look at all the facts. And the law's the law. So, by itself, just asking an employer (sic), how old are you, that is not illegal.
WILLIS: Yes, I think there's an undue burden, though. on older workers in this economy.
MACK: There is.
WILLIS: They've really got to work hard to keep those jobs, obviously. All right, guys, thanks for your answers. Great answers, tough questions.
"The Help Desk" is all about getting you answers. Send me an e- mail to gerri@CNN.com or log on to CNN.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions. And "The Help Desk" is everywhere. Make sure to check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: On April 16, 2007, 23-year-old college student Seung Hui Cho went on a shooting spree at Virginia Tech. Campus memorials honor the 32 people killed. Police say Cho took his own life. About an hour from right now, the second floor of Norris Hall is scheduled to reopen. That's where police say Cho killed 31 of his victims.
Joining us to talk about that is professor Ishwar Puri. He heads Virginia Tech's Department of Engineering, Science and Mechanics. He was in Norris Hall on the day of the shootings. Professor, thank you for your time. I'm just -- as we begin here, I'm curious as to how often you think about that day.
PROF. ISHWAR PURI, VIRGINIA TECH: Well, first, thank you very much for visiting with me. And thank you for that question. It's a prescient question. I think of that day often. It's something that stays with you for life.
But I think that the important thing is that whatever demons you have in your life, you must face them, and you must vanquish them. It's important for me what I learned from that day, what I learned about how destructful (ph) human beings can be. But what I also learned was about the power of community, the power of resolve and really the purity of the mission of a university to educate the best minds in our country.
HARRIS: Interesting. Very interesting. You know, you could have razed the building. Was that ever considered? And if it had come to a vote, how would have you voted?
PURI: It was considered, and I did vote. There were calls to raze the building. There were calls to build a memorial. This was unprecedented in terms of the tragedy that we face. And so, at that time, we didn't really have a chart or a guide map for the future. And what I stated at that time was that I was defeated on April 16th, 2007, but I did not want the suicide assassin to defeat me one more time.
I lost two very good friends on that day, and I did not want their legacy to be defeated because they and others rose up to fight the assassin and protect students.
HARRIS: That's pretty (INAUDIBLE).
PURI: So, it was very important for me to honor their legacy by returning to the building and by continuing our mission that in many ways was on the verge of destruction that day.
HARRIS: Professor, what was the guiding principle, maybe the guiding thought for the redesign, particularly of the second floor?
PURI: I think that the first part was that this was a building where there had been tragedy and where there had been trauma. And what we wanted to do was to erase reminders of that tragedy and yet at the same time create a space, design a space that was conducive to building community.
The space is very student-centered. It's very mission-centered. And in terms of its physical construction, it's a warm, inviting space. It has warm colors. It has blonde woods. It has open spaces where you can actually see people mingling, working, doing research, learning and pursuing scholarship in so many ways, which is the mission of the university.
HARRIS: Professor Puri, thank you so much for your time. And all the best to you and the university moving forward. Thank you.
PURI: Thank you. You're very kind. Thank you.
HARRIS: A special Good Friday mass. The people of Italy remember all of those who died in this week's earthquake.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Grieving friends and family gather today to remember the almost 300 victims of this week's devastating earthquake in central Italy. A special Good Friday funeral mass was held near the quake's epicenter of L'Aquila.
Officials decided to hold the mass outside to avoid the risk of injury from falling debris. The Vatican granted special permission for mourners to take communion.
The 6.3 magnitude quake struck early Monday morning, leveling buildings and reducing entire blocks to piles of rubble. Some 30,000 people were left homeless and many of them living now in tents.
We are pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips.
