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White House Cabinet Ordered to Cut Budgets; Knoxville High School Student Blocked From Accessing Gay Help Sites; Student Loans, Forgive and Forget?; Imprisoned in Iran: Obama Calls for Journalist to be Released; Getting Through College Without Drowning in Debt; Silent Electric Energy Motorcycles

Aired April 20, 2009 - 14:01   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: How hard could it be to cut 3,000, this one percent of anything? I guess, the trick question, well, in the context of the president's budget plan for fiscal 2010, we're not talking microscopic amounts. Today, he's ordered his cabinet to come up with $100 million in spending cuts in the next 90 days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: None of these savings by themselves are going to solve our long-term fiscal problems. But taken together, they can make a difference and they send a signal that we are serious about changing how government operates. So one of the things, messages that I delivered today to all members of the cabinet was, as well as you've already done, you're going to have to do more.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Elaine Quijano has crunched the numbers.

Elaine, let's get right to it. Let's start with Veterans Affairs. It's among the departments, a number of departments, making cuts. How will this affect medical care for vets or will it not?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the Obama administration is saying - and in fact, President Obama himself saying $17.8 million - is what the Department of Veterans Affairs is looking at right now to try and save that by doing something as simple as delaying or canceling conferences and having video conferences instead.

Another area of savings they pointed out was the Department of Homeland Security. The Obama administration estimates that over the course of five years, they could save an estimated $52 million just by ordering office supplies, essentially, in bulk.

So President Obama, though, did acknowledge at the end of that cabinet meeting, he was asked very quickly, well what about the critics who say this is just a drop in the bucket. Because, as we know, when you talk about government spending and in fact, President Obama's own budget is in the trillions of dollars, he said look, it is a drop in the bucket. But at the same time, $100 million here, $100 million there, even in Washington, he said, it all adds up to real money eventually - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now we'll see how it all pans out. Elaine Quijano, thanks so much.

What's next up for the president? A morale building mission we're told at CIA headquarters just days after all those grim revelations about waterboarding in the wake of 9/11. As you may know, the administration won't be prosecuting anybody who carried out so- called harsh interrogations, nor the higher-ups who authorized what critics call torture.

Pushing forward, the CIA is looking for a few good men and women who are multi-lingual. "USA Today" got a look at records showing just 13 percent of CIA employees speak languages other than English, and believe it or not, that's a 70 percent increase from 2004. The agency's recruiting in a big way and offering hiring bonuses as high as $35,000.

The president speaks to CIA employees we're told about 3:30 Eastern time. You can see that live right here in CNN NEWSROOM. He speaks in private with CIA brass just minutes from now, then later back at the White House, he and Vice President Biden are due to meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Now spring break is over, not just for students, the Senate is back to business this afternoon. On the agenda, a vote on when to end the debate on Christopher Hill's nomination for ambassador to Iraq. The senators will also consider anti-fraud measures for the financial sector, and they have to vote on three nominees for assistant attorneys general.

The House isn't back in session until tomorrow. That leaves Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank free to focus on one of his core issues. He's appearing at a conference on low income housing this afternoon. Frank is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. He has been a major player in the government response to the economic crisis.

Wall Street wasn't expecting this from Bank of America. The company reporting a $4.2 billion profit in the first quarter. Analysts expected that dollar amount to be more like $615 million. The company's stock went down, though, when the bank warned of growing problems with consumer loans. The CEO telling investors credit is bad and will get worse before it gets better.

While the credit crisis has its way with many firms, energy keeps chugging ahead. ExxonMobil back at the top of the Fortune 500 as the revenue champion for 2008. The company knocked Wal-Mart into second place. Two more energy companies after that, Chevron at number three and Conoco Philips at number four. General Electric rounds out at the top five.

It's going to be a tough week for 1600 General Motors workers. The company's cutting them loose in the next few days. These are salaried jobs, mostly in engineering and administration. It's part of GM's bigger plan to cut 3400 salaried jobs by May 1st. The company's undergone a June 1st deadline to cut costs if it wants more government aid.

If your recent college grad is getting ready to hit the job market, we're going to point them to where the jobs are. Susan Lisovicz joins us in just a few minutes with directions.

Also, turns out that billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts can do wonders for your bottom line. You heard about Bank of America, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup also racked up surprisingly healthy profits in the first three months this year. Clearly TARP, as it's known, has paid off for them, but what about us?

CNN's Allen Chernoff takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bankers are back in the black after taking billions in taxpayer bailout. Profits of $1.6 billion at Citigroup, slightly more at Goldman Sachs, and better than $2 billion for JPMorgan Chase. Is TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, working? You bet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TARP is a success relatively speaking because it kept the banking system afloat. Without TARP, I don't think the banking system could have kept afloat.

CHERNOFF: Bank profits are coming not just from TARP. The Federal Reserve is letting banks borrow at very low interest rates, and low rates have fueled a boom in profitable mortgage refinancing. While banks are booking profits, they're paying dividends back to taxpayers as well, more than $2.5 billion so far.

Remember, the government got preferred stock in each bank that received TARP money. On top of the dividends, banks eventually are supposed to repay their bailout loans. Experts say most banks should be able to pay Washington back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've put money in as an investment and we're getting dividends back out. Now in the end, we'll probably lose some money total. But that's worth it for avoiding the absolute disaster we could have had. Bad as things are, they could have been far worse.

CHERNOFF: Some big banks want to give the money back now, squirming under new TARP restrictions like limits on executive pay. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has even labeled TARP money a scarlet letter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, Allen joins us live.

Allen, are banks racing to pay back the TARP money instead of making loans to you and me? CHERNOFF: Well, Kyra, they're not all going to be paying back that money so quickly. A lot of banks have not been making as many loans as they could have because they are scared, I mean really scared, about the potential for future losses down the road.

Let's just take a very quick look at Bank of America's numbers. The top line, or rather, the bottom line, $4.2 billion, the profit that sounds great.

Inside of the financials though, big, big trouble. That's why the stock is getting hammered and Wall Street is falling today. The nonperforming loans within Bank of America, $26 billion. A loan performs for a bank when the borrower is paying the interest, paying the principal. Nonperforming means nada, nothing. The borrower is not paying anything. They've got $26 billion of that.

Kyra, analysts think at least half of that is going to end up being a loss for the bank and in fact, the bank has set aside $13 billion to reserve for the possibility that it will have losses of that much for loans and it may have even more losses from loans - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We're tracking it, thanks Allen.

Their city, their homes, swamped by Hurricane Katrina and they want the Army Corps of Engineers to pay up. High stakes lawsuit kicking off today in New Orleans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: When we think back on Hurricane Katrina it's the failure of the levees that probably stands out but the Army Corps of Engineers is defending an entirely different project in a federal lawsuit getting under way today.

Our Sean Callebs is based in New Orleans and has been following this story since day one.

Where does it stand now, Sean?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting. I think a lot of people are going to be watching this because let's think back to that storm.

Should have some video coming up here shortly.

Everybody remembers this. You know, the horrific flooding. Houses, all you could see the tops. A lot of these people brought lawsuits, but they didn't get very far. The reason being is there's actually a 1928 law, if you look at it, goes back and it says you cannot sue the federal government for flood protection if they are basically trying to protect the area from a flood.

That brings us to this area here. This is called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. There it is, Kyra. Just carves its way up from the Gulf of Mexico. Basically, this is a shipping channel. It was basically cut so ships wouldn't have to wind their way through the Mississippi. It was supposed to be a lot easier.

You know what? It was a disaster. They never used it. It was rarely used. And once the storm came roaring through this area, Katrina, its counterclockwise spin, basically what it did it pushed just a ton of water right down into the heart of this area. This, the Lower Ninth Ward, which is really a metaphor for misery. Then you have Chalmette (ph), St. Bernard Parrish.

And Kyra, we have done a lot of stories in that area. We know how bad that got affected. So, a lot of people really hopeful that the federal government loses this lawsuit because tens of millions are at stake. It's going to take four weeks. It's going on in federal court in New Orleans. A lot of folks watching it.

PHILLIPS: Here's what's different from this case. Other cases we talked about, the levees failing. And because the levees were breached, that is what flooded so much of the area. So now you're saying the reason why this one I guess has legs to some point is because you're not talking about levees, right? You're talking about these man-made...

CALLEBS: Let's go to here. Here's the 17th Street Canal. We have done a lot of live shots there.

Here is where the industrial canal was breached. All kinds of water poured in from Lake Pontchatrain and flooded New Orleans Proper. A lot of these folks brought lawsuits that didn't go anywhere because of that 1928 law. But the reason the plaintiffs believe they do have a chance in this one, they're looking at this not as flood protection here in this area, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, they call it MRGO, they're looking at this as a navigational channel, something to do with commerce, it has nothing to do with flood protection.

However, the Army Corps of Engineers is saying Katrina was such a devastating storm that this didn't make a huge impact one way or the other. They say this whole area simply flooded because of the punishing winds of the storm and because it is below sea level. We all know that New Orleans is like a bowl. So once these areas gave way, the city filled up to the level of Lake Pontchatrain, almost instantly.

PHILLIPS: There you go. That's why it's called the crescent city you just drew it right there.

CALLEBS: There you go.

PHILLIPS: All right we'll track it, thanks, Sean.

Scary night for many of us in the southeast. A child was hurt when storms pummeled the roof of a Georgia home. The latest on the weather that's creating so much trouble today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Ten years to the day we remember the victims of the Columbine High School attack. A candlelight vigil last night and memorial service tonight bookending a somber anniversary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Residents in Langston, Oklahoma beginning to clean up after a weekend of devastating storms. At least one tornado touched down, several homes were damaged or destroyed. This is the frightening sight that greeted residents across northern Alabama today. At least two people were killed by high winds and falling trees knocked down by a line of powerful storms.

Then in Texas, soggy weather there is blamed for creating a massive sinkhole near Houston. Flooding and debris from storms reportedly weakened the asphalt, allowing that road to cave in. About 100 people had to leave behind their vehicles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: A Tennessee teen says that he just wanted to learn more about scholarship information for gay and lesbian students but a school's filtering software blocked him out. That teen joins us in just a moment to answer some questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is putting the heat on NATO to crack down on Somali pirates. Clinton spoke out on the matter today in a meeting with the foreign affairs minister of the Netherlands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There is a need to coordinate better the reactions of all of the nations and organizations involved in policing the coastline off of Somalia. The minister and I agreed that we will take this matter to NATO. If the Dutch navy had been operating under the EU, they could have turned over the pirates for trial. NATO has not provided that authority, so we need to coordinate this. We need to move very quickly to do so.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: An example of what Clinton is talking about, yesterday a NATO ship stopped a pirate attack on a Norwegian ship in the Gulf of Aden and detained the pirates, but the pirates were freed because NATO says it has no legal authority to hold them.

At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. today, a ceremony honoring those not eligible to have their names inscribed on the wall. One hundred and twenty-three men and women were posthumously recognized and that event was designed to pay tribute to those who died prematurely from non-combat injuries that organizers say were directly caused by the Vietnam War. The federal government says that only those who died of combat wounds may be included on the wall. Troubling health news for veterans that received those colonoscopies using contaminated equipment at three VA facilities. A dozen vets in Murfreesboro, Tennessee have now tested positive for hepatitis and one for HIV. In Augusta, Georgia, six veterans have had positive tests for hepatitis, one there is HIV positive. And in Miami, Florida, seven vets have had positive hepatitis tests, another is positive for HIV. The VA says the test results do not confirm how these vets contracted the life-threatening illnesses.

Also, one of the world's best-known scientists, Stephen Hawking, rushed to a hospital in Cambridge, England suffering from a chest infection. Doctors say he's seriously ill. The 67-year-old Hawking has ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Due to his illness, Hawking canceled a planned appearance at Arizona State University earlier this month.

College seniors on the verge of graduation, will the recession put a damper on their celebration? We'll look at their chances of landing a good job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Public school officials in Nashville say that they're looking into an ACLU complaint that school computers blocked gay- friendly websites. Many of Tennessee's school districts are using the same filtering software.

A 17-year-old student in Knoxville said that he tried to get online to research scholarship info for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, but the filtering software blocked the site, possibly mistaking it for an adult site. That student, Andrew Emitt, is with us from Knoxville. Also, Christine Sun, she's an attorney with the ACLU of Tennessee.

So Andrew, tell me exactly where was this computer and what were the keywords you typed in, how did you do your search?

ANDREW EMITT, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: I was in the library and I went to google.com and I was Googling LGBT scholarships and each result that I clicked was blocked.

PHILLIPS: So what actually popped up then, when you typed that in there? What did it say? It just said -- what did it read?

EMITT: It says the filtering software that your school has, has blocked this because of, you know, the category they had chosen to block.

PHILLIPS: OK, because you know how when things, like for example, we have these filtering systems, too, and there are certain words that they look for. In any way, shape or form, did you have any kind of words in there that might have had a sexual meaning to it or was it straightforward?

EMITT: No. It was very straightforward. It was just LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered scholarships. There was nothing obscene.

PHILLIPS: OK, so once you saw you couldn't get the information you were looking for, what did you do, what was your next plan of action? Did you go to the librarian? Did you go to the head of the school?

EMITT: I actually wrote the company a letter asking who makes these decisions and are they able to reverse some of the sites that I found that were blocked. And they wrote me back and said that they weren't -- they wouldn't be able to do that.

PHILLIPS: When you said you wrote the company a letter, you mean the filtering company?

EMITT: Yes. The filtering company.

PHILLIPS: Which would have been the Education Networks of America filtering software.

EMITT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Is that right?

EMITT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Why didn't you go to the head of your school?

EMITT: Well, that was my next step. I did go to a school faculty member and I asked her if she could write them an e-mail, and she did. And they said the same thing to her, that they were not able to unblock any of these sites, because our school had chosen to block them.

PHILLIPS: OK, so here's my question.

We got a statement from Education Networks of America where you had written that letter. And they said, "While our Internet service includes filtering functionality, it is our customers who make the decisions about which categories are blocked or unblocked."

So, did anybody there at school say to you, we have chosen to block certain websites and that's one of them? Anything to do with gay and lesbian issues?

EMITT: No. No one said that, but I did find a page from the filtering software company and they had a web page that lists the categories that our school systems had chosen. And one of them was LGBT and it specifically stated, this does not include sexually gratuitous content.

PHILLIPS: OK, so Christine, what -- I mean, you're the senior counsel here, representing Andrew. What did the school tell you when you said, hey, what's the deal, why are you blocking these sites?

CHRISTINE SUN, ACLU OF TENNESSEE: Well, there were a couple answers. One was that they didn't make those choices, although there was an acknowledgment that they could allow some sites to be unblocked and they could request that additional site to be blocked.

But essentially, the answer was call the software company. And the software company said, call the school districts.

PHILLIPS: So really, you haven't gotten a straight answer from anybody?

SUN: I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last question.

PHILLIPS: Basically, they're pointing the finger at each other. The software company is pointing the finger at the school, the school's pointing the finger at the software company?

SUN: Right. We have been trying to get to the bottom of this.

But at the end of the day, it's the school district's responsibility to make sure they're not violating the First Amendment rights of high school students.

PHILLIPS: All right, so here's what the statement from the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools told us. That, "we have a vendor that we contract with to provide filtering services. We've never provided a list of sites to block. The ACLU asked us to review this so the school district will review the sites in the coming days."

Well, has the school district reviewed the sites and has the school district gotten back to you?

SUN: The school districts have not responded to our letters. We did give them until April 29th to tell us what they were going to do about this situation.

PHILLIPS: So Andrew, let me ask you this, could you access anti- gay sites on your computer there at school?

EMITT: Yes. Most all anti-gay sites, I was able to access, including sites to advocate ex-gay therapy, reparative therapy.

PHILLIPS: Now see, I find that interesting. I would like to hear from the school system to why they allow anti-gay websites, but not websites that would offer a gay student scholarship information.

Christine, is there a lawsuit here?

SUN: Well, we hope it doesn't get that far, but certainly, we are willing to take this to state or federal court. We think this is a clear case of censorship. It also discriminates against gay straight alliance clubs who have the right to equal access to school resources.

PHILLIPS: Andrew, have any of the other class mates had a similar problems?

EMITT: Oh, yes. Yes. Definitely. And it's always been a problem, but just everyone has kind of said, well, what can we do.

PHILLIPS: So how are you getting your scholarship information?

EMITT: Well, I was lucky enough that I have Internet connection at my home and I can go home and look that up. But there are low income students who don't have Internet connections and they shouldn't be forced to go through hurdles to get information they have the right to.

PHILLIPS: Well, I'll tell you what, we'll follow up on the story. Christine, let us know what happens, please.

Andrew, you tell us, too. And where are you planning to go off to school, Andrew?

EMITT: U.T.

PHILLIPS: OK. Congratulations.

EMITT: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: (INAUDIBLE) right, all right. We'll follow up. Thank you both.

SUN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Hundreds of young gay rights advocates set to rally today in California's capital. They want state lawmakers to designate every May 22nd as Harvey Milk Day, honoring the slain San Francisco supervisor the state's first openly gay elected official.

Demonstrators are also supporting the Minor Mental Health Consent Bill. It would allow kids age 12 to 17 to seek mental health treatment without parents' permission in certain situations.

Now to Geneva, Switzerland, site of that lofty idea that, so far, has fallen pretty flat. You could've seen it coming. A firestorm ignited by a speech by the president of Iran at a U.N. conference on racism, the gathering that's all about tearing down walls and building tolerance. But Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unleashed a racist tirade against Israel and its allies in the West.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): It is all the more regrettable that a number of western governments and the United States have committed themselves to defend those racist perpetrators of genocide whilst the awakened conscience and free- minded people of the world condemn aggression, brutalities and bombardment of civilians in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, not surprisingly, protesters heckled, European envoys walked out and several countries snubbed the whole conference. That list includes Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland, Italy and the U.S.

As for Ahmadinejad, well, he was allowed to speak because he's the only head of state that showed up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, in just a matter of weeks, a wave of new college grads will head out into the real world to find an incredibly tough job market. A recent survey says that 22 percent of employers plan to hire fewer new grads this year.

Our Susan Lisovicz knows of some entry level jobs.

Susan, where should soon-to-be grads look?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I remember those days. Hustling, pounding the pavement, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. So do I. Driving across country with all our 500 tapes, right?

LISOVICZ: Yes, and that beautiful IKEA furniture in the backseat.

Anyway, let us help our soon-to-be college graduates and their parents, OK? One place to look is the government. I mean, the government has been one bright spot. It's been hiring and this is one of the benefits of the stimulus as well as an aging staff. Smart money says the government will hire up to six percent more college grads this year.

What are some of the jobs that you can find? Well, go to usajobs.gov, for instance. There are tens of thousands of jobs listed there. The CIA is looking for students with research and analytical skills for intelligence analyst positions. That sounds exciting. National Security Agency, for instance, is looking for students with IT skills and other skills to help prevent cyberthreats. And then there's all sorts of other - other kinds of positions that they're looking for, whether it's the Department of Veterans Affairs, in the Navy, as well as border inspectors at the U.S.-Mexico border. You'll be busy checking all those trucks - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, hey, anything that's going to pay well? Tell you what.

Well, a lot of students, they're going to school for business degrees, right? You were telling me about that. Are there jobs out there for them?

LISOVICZ: There certainly are, Kyra. And yet, another sign of the times is the big four accounting firms are they're hiring. Why is that? Well, because of the administration's tax changes, some of the accounting changes that are already in place, the big four - KPMG, Price Waterhouse, Ernst and Young's, DeLoitte - they're looking for recruiting, audit assistants, business analysts. Price Waterhouse, for instance, is trying to fill 3,000 positions. And one of the things that's important here, this is an area where they are actually paying more. So many jobs, you're actually taking pay cuts. And the averages we're seeing is that these entry level positions are actually going up. And that's important.

I can just mention a couple other quick areas where you're seeing some job growth. Engineers, always important, right? Green energy, one of the new areas, as well as all those IT, as well as things like nonprofit areas, too. Believe it or not, Kyra, we're seeing some growth there as well.

PHILLIPS: All right, that's good news. Thanks so much, Susan.

LISOVICZ: It is good news.

PHILLIPS: Well, if your kid is still in college or getting ready to start, you're probably doing the financial aid tango right now, enjoying all that paperwork and wondering how on Earth things got so expensive. Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis is here with some ways you can ease that student loan burden.

You know, it's like right out of -- Susan, remember the days we were looking for our first job, driving cross country with all the tapes. And then, it took us forever to pay off those student loans. It took me about a decade.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: It is crazy. And it is the tango. I love that. That's a great comparison.

You know, now a private four-year college costs more than $25,000 a year. I am so glad I'm not graduating now. Fortunately, there are some programs from Uncle Sam that will help you manage that burden through loan forgiveness. Now, to qualify, you have to volunteer to perform military service, teach, or practice medicine in certain types of communities.

Now, if you're looking to volunteer, AmeriCorps has a program where you can serve for a year and get up to $7,400 in stipends plus over $4,000 towards your loan. And the Peace Corps, 15 percent of your Federal Perkins loans can be forgiven each year you serve. Volunteers in Service to America can receive over $4,000 towards their loan. And students who are in the Army National Guard may be eligible for their student loan repayment program, which offers up to $10,000.

Now, if you become a teacher in elementary or high school with students from low income families, you can have a portion of your Perkins loan forgiven. Math and science teachers who work in high need schools can also get up to $17,500 forgiven from their Stafford loan. So there is help out there if you're doing the right thing.

PHILLIPS: Well, what if you're a doctor or lawyer? Those tuition bills can certainly add up, big time.

WILLIS: Oh, my goodness. Now those are the big bills. Many law schools forgive the loans of students who serve in public interest or nonprofit positions. Go to the American Bar Association for a summary of loan repayment assistance programs.

Here's a sampling of some student loan forgiveness programs in health care: the National Health Service Corps, Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program. These programs offer loan forgiveness to physicians, registered nurses who agree to practice for a set number of years in areas that lack adequate medical care and there are a lot of those in this country.

The American Association of Medical Colleges has a database of state and other loan repayment programs for medical students. Go to aamc.org for more information. That's aamc.org - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Gerri.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: Electric cars have been getting a lot of attention lately, but there are already electric vehicles on the market today, motorcycles.

Our road warrior, CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there.

Well, of course, there are already electric motorcycles on the road. Some companies named Vetrix (ph), Brammo (ph), they have some. But today, we're here with the folks from Zero Motorcycles talking to us about these U.S.-made new electric bikes. This off-roading one, this has been on the market for about a year. This one, released today, is a city version. We're going to bring in the chief technology officer of Zero Motorcycles, Neil Saiki.

Neil, like you to talk to us about it. A lot of questions. What's the range? How fast can it go? How much does it cost? All of that.

NEIL SAIKI, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, ZERO MOTORCYCLES: This is our new super-motor motorcycle, and we're really excited about this one. It goes about 60 miles, goes 60 miles an hour and it's about $10,000.

HARLOW: And you can charge it, it takes how long to charge? That's a vague question.

SAIKI: About four hours to charge. You can plug it into any wall outlet. You can charge it when you ride to work and be ready by lunchtime.

HARLOW: It's also silent. Let me turn it on for you here, because it is absolutely silent. You don't have that typical sound you have with a bike.

Also, I want to show you, these are the lithium ion batteries. They're made in Canada, and they're assembled in California. So it is a U.S.-based company. Some foreign parts, but it is a U.S. company.

A lot of people have a question of, well, these might have been popular when gas is over $4.00 a gallon. But today , in the midst of a deep recession, how hard is it to sell these and gas prices are half of where they were this summer?

SAIKI: Well, you can save a lot of money because it's a penny per mile to operate. So it's a fraction of the cost. And even if you don't want to save money, it's all about energy independence, you know, not relying on foreign oil and cleaning up the environment.

HARLOW: All right, Neil, we appreciate it. I know you're going to show us how it works. Drive it away for us. I don't have my motorcycle license. I can't do that.

But one interesting fact that I'll you with here: If you were to have driven this with many stops along the way from New York to California or Los Angeles out to New York, it would cost about $30 in electricity. So a lot less than it would cost to drive a car, but you're going to have to stop and charge it many times along the way.

Thank you, Neil. Appreciate it.

SAIKI: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, our iReporters have been sending Earth Day stories. iReporter Chris Morrow of San Diego, California talked with a well-known marine artist about an Earth mural that he's going to paint on top of the Long Beach Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WYLAND, MARINE ARTIST: What I'm going to do is I'm going to start painting the Earth. And this thing is monumental. It's an acre and a half. The largest earth ever painted on the roof. It's a great canvas. You know, I get excited when I see blank canvass.

Right now, if you Google, it's a white, kind of rough, but later it will be the blue planet, our planet earth. And in celebration of Earth Day, but every day is earth day for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you see news happening, you can send us an iReport also at iReport.com.

And if you want to find out more about issues affecting the planet and how you can help, visit our "Impact Your World" page. That's at CNN.com/impact.

There's the second mate of the Maersk Alabama, Ken Quinn, with his mate, Zoia (ph), and his two kids. We had a chance to talk to him during his ordeal at sea, and minutes ago, we caught up with him again. And boy, did he have a story to tell. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Runners from Ethiopia and Kenya taking top honors in the Boston Marathon today. Deriba Merga of Ethiopia took the men's title, and then Salina Kosgei of Kenya won the women's race. American runner Ryan Hall finished third in the men's division. The annual marathon is one of the oldest races in the U.S. and today marks its 113th edition. Twenty-five thousand racers started out this morning.

As always, "Team Sanchez" back there working on the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

And I'd love to see you running a marathon, Rick Sanchez.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'd do it, if you'd do it. I would.

PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what, I'll stand on the side and root you on, pal. Or bike alongside with you. I can do that.

SANCHEZ: Hey, listen, the president of the United States is going to be speaking during our hour and we are going to take it live. He's going to be at the CIA meeting with CIA agents, CIA officials and obviously, many of the bureaucrats who work there.

This is interesting, and here's why. The president, just as you recall last week, was talking about releasing some of the so-called, Bush-approved torture secrets -- so-called, of course. That's all in parentheses. And he's taken a lot of heat from some on that, saying that perhaps he shouldn't have done that.

There are some actually that I've been reading just right now on Twitter here on my page who are saying look, I like this guy, I don't think he's a bad president, but I don't think he should have done that. I think he's selling the country out.

There are those who say, no, he should do it, he should be extremely transparent about this.

But regardless, this fits neatly into the whole package of I-am- not-George-Bush tour, which he finally finished last week at the Summit of the Americas. And we're going to be talking about all of that as this event takes place.

And then, there's this unbelievable story at the Miss USA pageant. Miss California came in second, but most people are saying she likely would have won had it not been for the answer she gave to a question that was -- that she fielded, that she didn't maybe handle that well. By the way, there's a lot of folks - man, my hand looks big when I do that. Wow.

PHILLIPS: Give us the Miss America wave with that big hand.

SANCHEZ: So, by the way, a lot of people are saying she answered it honestly. She did the right thing. So, we're going to take you through that controversy. PHILLIPS: All right, so that's the tease. Cause I'm going to ask you, what did she say, and you're going to you have to wait until 3:00.

SANCHEZ: I like the way you and I have known each other so long, that we can have conversations without any of us having to say anything.

PHILLIPS: See you in a little bit.

SANCHEZ: Bye.

PHILLIPS: A U.S. journalist is convicted of spying in Iran. President Obama is insisting that she be released, but both countries seem to be trying to avoid a full-scale diplomatic blowup.

We'll get the details now from CNN's Kate Bolduan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wrapping up a trip centered on the U.S. and its regional neighbors, President Obama turned his focus a world away, saying he's gravely concerned for Roxana Saberi's safety and well-being in Iran.

OBAMA: I have complete confidence that she was not engaging in any sort of espionage. She's an Iranian-American who was interested in the country which her family came from.

BOLDUAN: The 31-year-old journalist's father says he's visited her in prison, says she's very frail and is begging for his daughter's freedom.

REZA SABERI, ROXANA SABERI'S FATHER: She is completely innocent and she should be freed. If there has been any suspicion, if there has been an misunderstanding, we will forgive them.

BOLDUAN: Iranian officials initially said Saberi was detained in January for buying a bottle of wine and later held for reporting without proper press credentials.

Then Saturday, Saberi was convicted of espionage, the charge announced on state-run TV.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): She collected classified information through some connections she had with the personnel of some of these centers and submitted to the American intelligence agencies.

BOLDUAN: This case is unfolding as at a critical time for U.S./Iranian relations. The Obama administration is working to repair ties with the country leaders, even signaling the possibility of direct diplomatic engagement. It's unclear what political fallout might result from Saberi's case. At least right now, the president and his administration are staying focused first on securing her release. OBAMA: We are going to be in contact with -- through our Swiss intermediaries -- with the Iranian government, and I want to ensure that we end up seeing a proper disposition of this case.

BOLDUAN (on camera): Saberi's family is appealing the conviction. Iran's state-run news agency reports President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter Sunday to the prosecutor saying Saberi should be allowed to offer a full defense in her appeal.

Kate Bolduan, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: College students getting a bad grade for debt. Many are charging school expenses, including dorm fees, food and books, and racking up record high balances.

One college student who is trying to turn his debt around shared his hard learned lessons with our Elaine Quijano.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: Twenty-one -year-old Nick Philliou used to work full- time as a sales representative at a gym.

NICK PHILLIOU, COLLEGE STUDENT IN DEBT: I was in sales for like two years.

QUIJANO: But last summer, the college sophomore lost his job and says now, he's not in the best financial shape.

PHILLIOU: I got about $10,500 worth of debt.

QUIJANO: Philliou says that debt crept up slowly at first, then snowballed on things like rent, food and gas.

PHILLIOU: If I ever had to go shopping, I would put it on there.

QUIJANO: Nationwide, college students are using credit cards more and more as a financial crutch, according to student lending giant, Sallie Mae. It's new report says students are carrying record- high balances. An average of $3,173 for undergrads, and for graduating seniors, an average of more than $4,100.

College financial aid consultant Kalman Chany.

KALMAN CHANY, AUTHOR, "PAYING FOR COLLEGE WITHOUT GOING BROKE":Part of that can be due to the rising cost of college. There was some uncertainty about private loans so many cases, students resorted to the lender of last resort, that is their credit cards to finance their college expenses of out-of-pocket costs.

QUIJANO: The report says, 60 percent of students were surprised at how high their balances were. and 40 percent had charged items even though they knew they didn't have the money to pay the bill.

As for Nick Philliou, he blames part of his predicament on the recession. But his debt also included paying for two luxury cars and he acknowledges he hasn't always made the best financial decisions.

PHILLIOU: Yes, partly a victim of recession, partly a victim of lavish lifestyle, you could say.

QUIJANO (on camera): Now he is working to turn things around. He stopped using his two credit cards. He's attending community college to save money. And he is working part-time as a personal trainer. All steps he hopes will help get him financially fit eventually.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And some news just into CNN from our senior Pentagon producer. The only pirate to survive the failed hijacking of the Maersk Alabama is headed to the U.S. as we speak. He is a Somali reportedly between the ages of 17 and 19. And according to a U.S. government sources, he will be taken to New York to stand trial.

That does it for us. We'll be back here tomorrow. Rick Sanchez picks it up from here.