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Boston Medical Student Arrested in Craigslist Murder; Senate, House Back From Vacation and Busy; Geithner in the Hot Seat on Bailout Fund Usage, Documentation; Pirate Suspect in Court Today; Obama Meeting With King Abdullah of Jordan at White House

Aired April 21, 2009 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Planning a medical career and a summer wedding. Today, though, facing charges of murdering a masseuse he met online. Police say a predator is now off the streets.

Also this morning, your money, is it going to waste? Or maybe something even worse? Twenty criminal investigations now under way as to how those bailout funds were handed out.

Also, did it cost her the crown? No, not the swimsuit competition, not the gown competition. Actually, her answer to a question on same-sex marriage.

It is Tuesday, April 21st. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for Heidi Collins and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Up first here, a 22-year-old med school student had an August wedding date. Now an engagement with prosecutors. Philip Markoff is his name, there he is. He is to be formally charged this morning with the murder of a woman who offered massages on Craigslist, there you see her.

CNN's Alina Cho now following this story for us from New York.

And Alina, this story was shocking in the first place, but then -- now we have a suspect, it has people shaking their heads even more.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of questions. A lot of unanswered questions, T.J.

We should mention right off the top that he was a Boston University student and CNN has just confirmed that Boston University's School of Medicine indeed suspended Philip Markoff, the suspect, just after he was arrested yesterday.

But the big question remains, why would a 22-year-old medical student with no apparent criminal record commit such heinous crimes? Now, there is no word on a motive yet, but Philip Markoff will be in court in Boston today. He's charged with murder, armed robbery and kidnapping.

Now, he was under surveillance and picked up just south of Boston. He is accused of attacking at least two women and killing one of them. Police say Markoff fatally shot 26-year-old Julissa Brisman who had advertised massages on Craigslist. She was found dead at a Boston Marriott.

Now four days before Brisman's death, a 29-year-old woman described by police as being in a similar profession was robbed at gunpoint at a Westin in Boston. Now police believe Markoff is responsible for that crime, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN CONLEY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SUFFOLK COUNTY: Our top priority is holding Philip Markoff accountable. He's a predator.

ED DAVIS, COMMISSIONER, BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: Someone that clearly is preying on people who are in a vulnerable position and someone that is committing a very, very serious crime that clearly has led to violent acts in our estimation. So we are very, very happy to have this man off the street in such a timely way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: And then there's this: On April 16th, just five days ago, police say a man tied up and demanded money from a 26-year-old dancer. It happened in Warwick, Rhode Island at a Holiday Inn Express. The suspect fled before anything happened, but police clearly are looking into whether that crime is connected to the others in Boston.

Authorities saying, credibly, there have been more than 150 leads in this case. In part, because of the popularity of Craigslist. Police are also looking for other potential victims, asking the public for their help in that and any potential victims to come forward.

We should also mention the CEO of Craigslist says he is looking into whether they can do anything to better protect users of that site.

And T.J., our own John Roberts, as we speak, is interviewing the CEO of Craigslist. That interview will be on exclusively tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING" -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. And another part of this -- this case here that can't be ignored, this was a young man who's in medical school. He's also engaged to be married. Looked like he had his life together and his whole life ahead of him.

What else are we finding out about this young man?

CHO: Well, T.J., imagine being the fiancee of this young man. And she actually spoke out or sent an e-mail, rather, to ABC's "Good Morning America," saying, in part, Philip Markoff could not hurt a fly, that he was a beautiful person inside and out.

They were expected or are expected, she, according to her, to be married in August and, quote, "share a wonderful, meaningful life together."

You know, it's interesting because there's actually a page showcasing their upcoming nuptials on theknot.com. As you imagine, given the news, it's been viewed more than 8,000 times, but it's sort of eerie to look at it. It says where the wedding will take place, where they're registered and so forth. All those kinds of details including how they were met.

But again, he is a suspect in this case, presumed innocent until found guilty. But it is an interesting development in the case and certainly one that we will be following very closely, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Alina Cho for us from New York. Alina, appreciate you as always.

We turn to another court case now that's got pretty big buzz. A Somali teenager accused in the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama expected to appear in federal court. A live picture now from outside that courthouse.

You'll certainly remember, this is one of the four pirates who had taken Captain Richard Phillips hostage out there after they had hijacked the Maersk Alabama. Three of those pirates that were his partners in all of that were killed by Navy SEAL snipers. You will remember, he was the only survivor.

Now, this young man, who his mother claims is 16 years old, has been brought to the United States. There, you see him there. He was brought in. These are some of the pictures, the new pictures we got.

In this angle you'll see right here, has a lot of people scratching their heads. What in the world is he smiling about? Maybe we will learn that later.

But the picture of that one surviving pirate making it back here to the U.S. to be tried in New York. An interesting case it's expected to be because it's been over 100 years since there was any case like this, a pirate being tried here in the United States, which brings up all kinds of legal questions.

Our Deborah Feyerick is keeping an eye on this case for us. She is there. We will check in with her in just a little bit.

So we'll turn now to the bank bailout. Seven hundred billion dollars of your money, and there are some new concerns that some of it is being wasted or it's being stolen. Twenty criminal investigations now underway and today, lawmakers are demanding answers on how taxpayer money is being protected.

CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis joins us now.

Gerri, this new report coming out, it's a little disturbing to think of all this money that is being tossed around. Nobody is really being a good steward of this money and some of it being stolen, possibly, even suggested.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, let's start with the freshest news this morning. You know, you're talking about this panel that will meet later this morning, about an hour from now, to chat about how well this money is or is not being stewarded. But the treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, today, this morning, sent a letter to the head of that oversight panel, Elizabeth Warren, saying that the remains of all the TARP money, $109.6 billion to be precise, of the $700 billion in TARP money. The government is expecting financial institutions to repay $25 billion of it this year for a total of $134 billion.

He was just updating Elizabeth Warren on where this money is, but you've got it square, right, T.J., this morning. Big-time concerns over how this money has been spent and they are emanating from the inspector general on this, Neil Barofsky, if you will, the top cop on the TARP money.

He released a report, a 250-page report, saying that he has opened 20 criminal investigations from his review of all this that's gone on with the TARP money and six audits. He's asking questions about whether the tax dollars are being stolen, wasted. He says that some of this could lead to criminal charges. He wants stronger safeguards of this money. He has serious questions about some of these programs and how they've been run and operated with really no requirements for reporting back on how the money is used.

And that, of course, has ignited a firestorm of controversy and criticism from the American public. I should say, he's got some real areas specifically of concern. First of all, he wants to make sure that government-owned shares in the banks, in financial institutions are fairly valued. He's concerned about that.

He's concerned about fraud and mortgage programs that go to consumers. He thinks that's a big fraud risk.

He's also worried about conflicts of interest in the toxic assets program. And by that, I mean what they call PPIP, the Public Private Investment Program, that is supposed to take some of these toxic assets off the books of the lenders.

So lots of questions. There should be a fiery meeting. Tim Geithner will be on the hot seat. He's the only witness here. And as you know, the head of this panel has been really intensely critical of what the government has done here. And she's got some more firepower today with Barofsky's report -- T.J.

HOLMES: As if they needed any more fire power.

WILLIS: Right.

HOLMES: Lots of information (ph) we're (ph) getting with this report.

Gerri Willis, I know we'll be checking in with you again in the next few minutes and next couple of hours as well. We're expecting that at the top of the hour, 10:00, to see Geithner. So we'll see you back here shortly.

Well, a lot of stuff happening on Capitol Hill today. A lot of other stuff. Both the House and Senate back in business after a two- week spring break, if you will. We'll take you there live to find out what's on the agenda with our deputy political director.

Also today, at the White House, we're going to be seeing President Obama hosting one of the Washington's most important allies in the Middle East this morning. Talking with King Abdullah of Jordan. They're expected to focus on the stalled Middle East peace process.

Our Elaine Quijano joins us now live from the White House. A lot of folks will be watching this closely. Anything -- any movement expected, Elaine?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, you know, it's difficult because when people hear Middle East peace process, T.J., I know they say, well, what's new this time? It's a very slow-moving process. And -- but it's going to be watched very closely by a lot of countries in that region, particularly Israel.

King Abdullah, we should mention, first of all, T.J., is the first Arab leader to meet with President Obama in the Oval Office. Now, the two men did actually meet back in July. That was, of course, before Barack Obama was elected. They've spoken by phone since the inauguration, but now this is really going to be a chance for President Obama to send some very clear messages, if you will, about what he wants to see from all sides.

And it's also going to be an opportunity for him to demonstrate to the Arab world that he is, in fact, committed to a two-state solution. That is, Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace. That is something that President Obama has voiced support for.

Here's White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the biggest topic, obviously, is going to be the Middle East peace process, and where we are in that. The president has promised to be engaged repeatedly in ensuring a lasting peace there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, of course, it's not going to be easy. There are some serious questions about whether Israeli's new government is really committed to the idea of a two-state solution. And on the other side, on the Palestinian side, there's some questions there. Of course, a divided Palestinian leadership.

So T.J., it's a complicated landscape for President Obama as he sits down to meet with King Abdullah, but certainly this will be a very closely watched meeting. Again, not just Israel watching but, of course, the Arab world as well, to see what the U.S.' approach under this new president will be. T.J.?

HOLMES: All right. Elaine Quijano for us from the White House and a meeting a lot of people are going to be watching closely. Thank you so much. Well, researchers one step closer to understanding why some smokers get lung cancer and others do not, and it's thanks to a simple test. We've got the details coming up.

Also, we've got Rob this morning. Good morning to you, sir.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: T.J., I know you want to talk about this. Coming up, we've got flooding issues across the northeast. It's calming down a little bit but we also have homerun issues at the new Yankees Stadium, which is -- well, you don't see it there but we'll talk about it.

That plus snow maybe in Chicago when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Cleaning up a little bit while I'm over here. You've got guests coming over, Rob.

MARCIANO: I realized that, you know.

HOLMES: Could you straighten this up a little bit?

MARCIANO: The problem is you're uninvited.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: They told me to come all over.

MARCIANO: No, you're always welcome here.

HOLMES: All right, man, I love this. All right. Yankees Stadium.

MARCIANO: Yes.

HOLMES: They paid $1.5 billion for this thing and it's not really working for them. A lot of people know 20 homeruns in the first four games of this place. They have been getting lit up, the Yankees have. Questions are, why the stadium is such a hitter's paradise?

Well, the trend could just be a fluke, it's early in the season. But an error while constructing this billion-dollar ballpark could account for all the homers. The Yankees planning a study about the wind there, Rob.

Now help us understand this. Apparently this is constructed a little differently from the old one? The old Yankees Stadium so there could be a wind effect?

MARCIANO: That's possible. It could be that they spent way too much money on pitching in the off-season. That's activity -- the curse.

HOLMES: It's early. It's early.

MARCIANO: All right. We'll talk a little bit about it. I'll zoom in to the area, T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

MARCIANO: And we'll break it down a little bit. This is satellite Google Earth kind of stuff. High res.

Sean, if you could give me a little zoom action that would be great. It'll shows you the old Yankees Stadium in the Bronx there. Just stop before the train. Here is the Harlem River and Major Degan. And there's the old Yankees -- the new Yankees Stadium just across the -- 61st street here but it's situated the same.

So where the winds are coming from really shouldn't make a difference. But the issue is, you know, are there little gaps in the outfield that will make things a little bit more susceptible to carrying?

I don't know that much about building stadiums but I can tell you this for sure. Yesterday, there were no homeruns hit out of Yankees Stadium. That's because the game was rained out.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: T.J., coincidentally, when it gets warmer and when it gets more humid as it does in New York in the summertime, baseballs fly even further. So we'll see what happens when that happens.

HOLMES: They are going to study this thing. They have to get permission, I understand, and get a petition to study the construction but still, they're going to study it and some say that there's some kind of wind effect in there that carries those balls out.

MARCIANO: What's weird is that the opposing teams hit more homeruns than the Yankees so...

HOLMES: There is that as well.

MARCIANO: I wonder if that's going to be incorporated into the study.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: We'll get back to you, Rob.

MARCIANO: All right.

HOLMES: All right. Thanks, buddy.

Well, the U.S. and many other western countries are condemning the anti-Israeli rant by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. We showed you this thing live in a breaking story yesterday right here on our 9:00 hour. Dozens of diplomats walked out when Ahmadinejad spoke at a U.N. conference on, what else, racism in Geneva, Switzerland. He's accused or is accusing Israel of having a racist government and committing genocide but that was the scene just yesterday.

Well, did you watch the Miss USA pageant over the weekend? Well, the competition turned into a battle over same-sex marriage. We'll hear from one judge about a contestant's controversial answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. You're taking a chance, of course, if you are a smoker. You'll never know if you could be the one to end up with lung cancer or maybe the next guy or do you? Now, never before seen research says the answer could be found with a simple urine test.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta here with us now.

And Sanjay, we're saying two guys standing side-by-side who smoked relatively same amount, we have a way of saying which one is more prone to getting lung cancer, is that right?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Theoretically yes. And this is an incredibly exciting area, T.J., as you might imagine. Because it's been very hard to predict who is most likely to develop lung cancer.

You hear about smokers who smoked their entire lives, never had a problem with cancer, and people who developed cancer. So how do you distinguish?

Well, first of all, you know, sort of keep in mind, first of all, you know, smoking obviously has a lot of different substances in it, including carcinogens, which are these cancer forming substances, T.J.

That's the stuff that's really bad. It gets into your bloodstream and eventually, as we now know, can find its way into urine as well. What researchers sort of wanted to focus on was this idea that it can sort of take the amount someone smokes, so you have here the nicotine in their bloodstream and also measure this carcinogen level in their urine.

Can you quantify their likelihood or their risk, rather, of developing lung cancer? And it turns out you can, at least according to this small early study. 8.5 times increased risk of developing lung cancer.

So this is interesting, T.J. It does not mean that anyone who has this level of carcinogen is going to develop lung cancer but it starts to assign a number to something that was really hard to quantify before, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Well, and also here, are we saying as well, is the benefit of this going to be that if you do show up and you have more of a chance or more prone to get it, you can maybe stop smoking? That's one option as well. But you should get screened more? You can catch lung cancer earlier on?

GUPTA: Yes. I think you're exactly right. There's sort of two points here, you know. One is the idea that, OK, so you're a smoker. Should you be getting scans of your chest, should you be looking for something? Well, the answer is maybe.

You know it's been hard to know who to screen for but this is an area of what an abnormality in a chest scan might look like. This is something that doctors sort of want to focus on early and if they can do that they might be able to catch these cancers early as well.

But also, keep in mind, I think to your second point, T.J., that obviously lung cancer is one ramification of smoking. There are lots. There are lots of cancers that are potentially caused by smoking. There are other lung diseases that are caused by smoking as well. So this is not going to fix everything.

But as far as lung cancer goes, they may give people a better idea of when to get screened and maybe catch that cancer early.

HOLMES: And always a good option to just quit smoking in the first place.

GUPTA: There you go, T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

GUPTA: Best option of all.

HOLMES: Sanjay, appreciate as always. Good to see you.

GUPTA: All right. Thanks.

HOLMES: Well, she is a mother of three, laid off several times, living in a part of Indiana where a huge number of people are out of work. But a trip to the convenience store may have turned her luck and her life around forever.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, T.J. Holmes.

HOLMES: Turn to Wall Street now. Stocks coming off a sell-off that took the major averages down more than 3 percent each.

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange to see if we're going to lose any percentages at all today.

Susan, good morning.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, we will, T.J. We will in the first few minutes of trading. We're putting our hardhat on today.

This is just a very busy day in terms of earnings and investors digesting just a slew of corporate earnings that have a common theme, all hard hit by the recession in one way or another. Let's start with Caterpillar, posting its first quarterly loss in 17 years due to weak sales. The loss wasn't as bad as expected but the heavy equipment maker also lowered its forecast for the rest of the year because of this slow economy.

Merck, another Dow 30 company, says its profits were sliced in half. Drug sales fell and it didn't bring in as much income from its partner on cholesterol medicines.

United Technologies, yet another Dow 30 blue chip, in line with estimates but still down nearly 30 percent from a year earlier. There's this theme that I'm talking about. The company said orders for its Otis elevators and Carrier heating systems fell because of the drop in office and residential construction.

Delta Airlines, based in Atlanta, narrowed its first quarter loss. But the world's biggest airline was hurt by its fuel hedges and a drop in passenger revenue. To cope, Delta is initiating a $50.00 fee for your second checked bag on international flights.

In Washington, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner expected to get some tough questioning today when he testifies before a congressional oversight panel. The topic? The government's $700 billion financial rescue program.

We don't see any rescue going on in the first few seconds of trading. We are seeing more selling. The Dow below 8000; dropping below 8000 yesterday. We are seeing, I guess, the three major averages, each down about 50 percent in the early going -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

LISOVICZ: I'll be seeing you later.

HOLMES: You will be seeing me later. And we will be seeing Geithner later. You say tough questioning, that might be putting it lightly what he's going to be getting on Capitol Hill.

But yes, we will see you again. Thank you so much, Susan.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Well, the vacation is over for lawmakers. Your members of Congress were back on Capitol Hill today talking about health care, bank regulation, energy consumption. And my goodness, how is our deputy political director keeping up with it all? He joins us from Washington.

Yes, they had a bit of a two-week break. I hope they are recharged because they got a lot on the plate. So what is it they're going to be tackling this week at least?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: They got a lot -- as you said, they got a lot on their plate. They're back for five weeks until they take another vacation for Memorial Day so let's take a look what they got. First of all, the budget. Remember, before they went on break, the House passed one bill; the Senate passed another. They've got to come together on that and have one final budget proposal bill. So that's first up for them this week.

Also this week -- and there's a lot more - they got to deal with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The White House is asking for an additional $84 billion to pay for those wars so they have to deal with that.

But wait, there's more. Then, they got the big boys. You got health care reform. This is going to be a real big fight. It starts this week. They'd like to try to get it done by before the summer break in August.

And then energy reform as well, T.J. This is another big one. Clean energy, tackling global warning. So that's also going to be on their agenda.

But wait, there's more. We've got the home mortgage for -- the home mortgage crisis. The foreclosure crisis. There is a House bill that's now going to go to the Senate that would allow judges to give more leeway with people trying to refinance.

But we're not done yet. We also, you know -- banking regulations. We've got that as well.

And then the Senate -- remember confirmation hearings? Well, they're still going on. In fact, Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas governor, who is up for Health and Human Services secretary, that vote is today. And there's a lot more undersecretaries they have to vote on as well, T.J.

Is that enough?

HOLMES: OK, is there any more? There actually is more. You just hit the big boys as you say.

STEINHAUSER: Yes. That's just the big stuff.

HOLMES: They have a lot to do. But so far, have they been doing what they've been doing well at least according to the people?

STEINHAUSER: Let's take a look. We asked that CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll earlier this month, a national poll, and 35 percent approve of the way Congress is handling its job. Look, that's up six points from when we asked in February. It sounds like good news, but remember, if 35 percent approve nearly two out of three say eennkk (ph! So you take it there.

HOLMES: And you say they were gone for two weeks, they're going to come back to work for five weeks and then they're going to be on another vacation for how long for the Memorial Day break?

STEINHAUSER: They got a week or two from Memorial Day and then they come back and they work straight through July into early August when they take that big summer recess.

HOLMES: OK. May, and then they work straight through July. That's just...

STEINHAUSER: Well, they get July 4th off.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. All right. Well, hopefully, they will get something accomplished in these five weeks.

Paul, we appreciate you. We'll be talking to you again soon, buddy.

STEINHAUSER: Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: And we are, of course, tracking the government $700 billion bailout program. Next hour, one of the president's main money man or you could probably call this guy the main money, he'll be updating lawmakers on how the banks are doing, especially with all the toxic assets on their books.

Josh Levs standing by here to talk about the toxic assets. I bet they wish we couldn't call them toxic assets, but that's what they have come to be known as.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They started it. You know? We didn't make that up. Back in the day, that was the official term. He's what I want to do. You know, we talk about toxic assets a lot, right? And it ends up kind of seeming abstract.

I think what a lot of people don't realize is we really talking about your mortgage. This all keeps coming back to the mortgage crisis and how all this fell apart. So we get to do that fun thing where we kind of go in "Schoolhouse Rock." Yes, we're going to show you some pictures here and I'm going to talk you through how you get from your mortgage to a toxic asset.

This is the first one. You get your mortgage, right? You go to a bank or some kind of lender, and there you are getting your mortgage. That's you on the right, very good news. OK. Or on the left, I guess.

Anyway, go to the next one. I'll show you what happens from here now that you have your mortgage. This is what a lot of people don't realize. Of this bank, one big bank likes to reach out to all of these other banks that have given out mortgages and collect mortgages. So a big bank will take mortgages from all these other lenders.

Next picture. And then what it does is it clumps them together, right? It takes this whole clump of mortgages and they call it a security. And then they let all of these people invest in that thing. So you're seeing investors there, who have lined up. They want to get a chunk of it.

And it makes sense if you think about it. I pay interest on my mortgage, you pay interest on your mortgage. There are investors out there who are like, hey, we want a piece of that. So, all these people line up to try to get a piece of that clump of mortgages and that's good for the banks when times are good.

Last picture now, times are bad. No one wants those clumps of mortgages. Those securities -- no one is investing in them, because the housing market has fallen apart. Some people are foreclosing. They're not paying their interest. There's not as much to invest in. So these folks -- these are the things that are sitting there on these banks' books.

This -- and when we say toxic asset, it's not an abstract term. It could be your mortgage. It's something that no one wants to invest in right now, because no one wants to touch it.

There you go. There you go. That's what I was going to show you last, T.J.

The very simplest definition I can give you of toxic: an asset that's difficult to sell, because the market has dried up.

So there you go, folks. Instead of thinking the abstract term, just realize a lot of the time, we're talking about these mortgage- backed securities which could be your mortgage. Nobody wants to invest in that anymore, so it's just sitting there on the bank's books -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Well, we appreciate the show and tell.

LEVS: I love it.

HOLMES: With courtesy of someone, the characters from the Nintendo Wii game. It reflects some of those Wii characters.

LEVS: Does it?

HOLMES: Yes.

LEVS: Oh, I don't have a Wii. I got to go talk to the folks about this. (INAUDIBLE) from Nintendo.

HOLMES: Josh, we appreciate you, man.

We will continue to talk about the tax dollars at work. We'll tell you how green means go when it comes to new jobs created by the stimulus package.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, he has been identified as the sole surviving pirate of that group that attacked the Maersk Alabama off the Coast of Somalia. But his family says the Somali teenager was an unwilling participant. The suspect is expected to appear in federal court in New York today.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick is there live. What are we expecting to have in court on a very interesting case here?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You know, T.J., it's going to be very simple as a matter of fact. Not much happens at his first appearances. It's likely that the alleged pirate will be assigned some sort of public defender to represent him. Somebody who has been approved by the federal court system to appear in court on his behalf.

But last night, that alleged pirate was pretty relaxed as he made his way into FBI headquarters here in New York after a very long flight from Africa. His left hand as you see there was bandaged after the attempted hijacking of the Maersk Alabama two weeks ago. Now three other pirates during that hijacking were killed by Navy SEALs during the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips.

Remember, he came home to Vermont on Friday to a very happy family and a home-cooked meal.

Now the alleged pirate is expected to be charged both with piracy and also hostage-taking. Not something that you see very often, charges of piracy. But again, this is very unique and certainly the U.S. trying to take the lead on ending piracy, certainly around Africa.

Now his mom says that this man is only 16, though, it's possible he might be a little older. Either 17 or 18. She says, quote, "There's no sensible reason that makes him join pirates. I find sometimes myself weeping. The absence of my eldest son brings tears to my eyes."

She says if he doesn't -- if he's not returned back to Somalia, then at least she wants to be able to come to New York and be by his side during these proceedings.

Now we do know that FBI agents were on board the plane with Captain Richard Phillips, when he returned to the U.S. late last week. And so they probably have a pretty good idea of what this young man or how this young man may have been involved and everything that played out -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Deborah Feyerick reporting for us in New York. Thank you so much today, Deb.

Another court case we're keeping an eye on, this one for the ousted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. He will be back in court. He needs to get the judge's permission to leave the country. Why does he want to leave? He wants a job. He wants to film a reality TV show.

Also, the matter of whether he can dip into his campaign funds and pay his attorneys. Blagojevich is charged with scheming to sell or possibly trade favors for President Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.

Well, everybody has a bad streak every now and then, you just get down on your luck. Well, that streak has come to an end possibly for a mother of three in Indiana.

HOLMES: That's Shantay Britman. She bought the winning ticket in last week's Hoosier lottery. It is worth $6.5 million before taxes. That is more than enough to turn her life around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANTAY BRITMAN, LOTTERY WINNER: I can pay my bills. Oh, my God. I got laid off in July. We live in my mom's house, like she moved into an apartment because we have three kids and she let us stay in her house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, a lot of people actually in that State of Indiana have lost their jobs. And where she lives specifically, Elkhart, has the highest unemployment rate in that state. You may remember the president took a visit to that spot, about 15 percent unemployment rate there. Well, Shantay saying she is now going to college. She's going to get her degree -- expected to get that degree actually in December.

Well, green, color of money, at least when it comes to the stimulus package and the push for environmentally-friendly projects. About $113 billion has been set aside for the green energy and for the creation of green jobs. So what could that mean to you?

Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis helps us break down the green jobs and where they are. What exactly are we talking about? We hear that term thrown around so many -- green jobs.

WILLIS: Like you know what it means, I know

LEMON: Yes, what does that mean specifically, please?

WILLIS: Hey, there, T.J.

Well, a green job is a job that directly contributes to making a product more efficient or generates energy more cleanly. Green-collar jobs are often in the same areas of employment people are already working in, but these professions may just begin focusing more on the environmental.

We're talking about a lot of blue-collar jobs like a building inspector, roofer, insulator, sheet metal worker, electricians, but there are also be a number of white-collar green jobs as well - T.J.

HOLMES: Where exactly? I assume there are certain areas of the country more prone to have these jobs than others. So where are these opportunities specifically?

WILLIS: Well, with stimulus bill, there will be a lot more investment in areas like construction, manufacturing, solar energy, wind energy. If you want a green-collar job, make sure you look at what opportunities are in your area.

For example, if your state or region has a lot of manufacturing activity like, say, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio where there are a lot of auto plants or maybe the northeast, then chances are there will be more investment in that area in the future. Plants or factories, they can be refurbished, retrofitted or new green projects maybe made in those facilities. Meaning, you may not have to move to find your job if you're worried about that.

Construction retrofitting jobs will be most common in the northeast, where it's cold. Guess what? The buildings are older and they -- it makes sense to upgrade them.

Now if you live in Arizona or Nevada, there's a lot of sun, so solar energy resources are abundant. You can take advantage of the opportunities there. And in places where wind energy is more easily harnessed when technology is going to be a better investment, well, took places like Oklahoma and Wyoming - T.J.

HOLMES: All right. That is a great breakdown. Good to see the map. And also get a good definition of exactly what we mean when we say green jobs.

Gerri, appreciate you, as always.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

HOLMES: All right. Will the bank bailouts? It is, of course, your money, it's my money. So why is the federal government reluctant to let some banks repay the loans?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. It's day 92 in office for President Obama. And in about 15 minutes, he'll welcome King Abdullah of Jordan to the White House.

Then at 2:00 p.m., he'll give the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the Navy football team. That goes to the military academy with the best record each season.

Then at 4:00, he'll assign Edward Kennedy's Served America Act that provides funding to promote volunteering.

Several large banks are now saying they want to return their bailout money to the government. That would give U.S. taxpayers some extra money since those loans would be repaid with interest. That sounds great, but CNN's Jessica Yellin reports, slow down. Not so fast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is nice.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama is laying the groundwork.

OBAMA: Not surprisingly, different banks are in different situations. They're going to need different levels of assistance from taxpayers.

YELLIN: Already, seven smaller banks have gotten approval to return just over $800 million. Now, six of the nation's largest banks are asking the Treasury Department for permission to return almost $95 billion in bailout money. Some can't get rid of the money fast enough.

JPMorgan's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, has called TARP money a scarlet letter. And recently told investors...

JAMIE DIMON, CEO & CHAIRMAN, JPMORGAN CHASE: We're not going to -- we're certainly not going to borrow from the federal government, because we've learned a lesson about that.

YELLIN: Why so eager to return money while still suffering the effects of a recession?

First, some banks claim they're healthy and only accepted bailout money to begin with because they wanted to show they were team players.

Second, now many bank executives believe keeping bailout funds will hurt business -- marking their banks as weak.

Third, of course, giving bailout money back means the government can't dictate executive pay and other rules.

Bert Ely is a banking consultant and he says Wall Street is worried about what's yet to come from Washington.

BERT ELY, BANKING CONSULTANT: In other words, it's going to get even more restrictive and, therefore, start planning to get out now, before things get worse.

YELLIN: The Treasury Department will weigh the big banks' health before giving any OK for a payback. That analysis is already underway as part of the banks' so-called stress tests, which should be completed by early May.

(on camera): The government is poised to make money on some of the bailout funds once they're returned. That means in some cases, TARP might actually turn a profit.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Tell me if you've heard this one before. Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticizing the Obama administration. However, this time, he's over the so-called torture memos.

Yesterday, the president visited, as you see there, the Central Intelligence Agency, and met with his director Leon Panetta, you see there on the left. In a public meeting, the president told CIA workers that harsh interrogation tactics will no longer be allowed. Those techniques had been approved in memos issued by the George W. Bush administration.

Yesterday, the former vice president blasted the release of those memos and called for more disclosure, actually.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of the Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort. And there are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified. I formally asked that they be declassified now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Also weighing in on this controversy, the former President Bush's last CIA director, that's Michael Hayden. He said the release jeopardizes national security and emboldens terrorist groups like al Qaeda.

And as always, we have a whole lot going on in the CNN NEWSROOM today. And we've got as always our crews, our correspondents working to bring you everything you need to know. Want to check in with some of them now, and we will start with our Elaine Quijano - Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elaine Quijano live at the White House, T.J., where moments ago King Abdullah of Jordan walked right behind me, down the driveway here on his way to sit down for a meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office. On the agenda, of course, Middle East peace. I'll have that story at the top of the hour.

LISOVICZ: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, where investors are eager to hear what Treasury Secretary Geithner has to say about TARP. This is the financing arm of the major U.S. automaker says no to more funding for Uncle Sam.

T.J., more on that at the top of the hour.

MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Snow may sneak into Chicago today. Meanwhile, snow cal is sweating. Another day of record breaking temperatures yesterday, probably another day today. We'll run it down, T.J., at the top of the hour.

HOLMES: All right. Thanks to you all. We'll see you all here shortly.

Also, the new haven 20 and their case of reverse discrimination. We'll look at how it could affect hiring practices nationwide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All she wanted was to be Miss America. Now Miss California is in the middle of a controversy over gay marriage. After an answer she gave to a judge, a judge who happened to be a gossip blogger Perez Hilton, at that pageant last night.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ HILTON, GOSSIP BLOGGER: Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?

CARRIE PREJEAN, MISS CALIFORNIA: Well, I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage, and you know what, in my country and in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and woman. No offense to anybody out there. But that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be, between a man and woman. Thank you.

HILTON: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, you can see there that the judge, Perez Hilton, who is openly gay wasn't really feeling her answer. Again this is the Miss USA pageant. This happened on Sunday night. Now she's definitely not alone in her opinion, but Hilton told our Larry King that he thinks it cost her the crown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Was she like a finalist? Were they down to like three or...

HILTON: It was down to the top five and she was definitely either the frontrunner or one of the top two contenders.

KING: She wound up, what, runner-up?

HILTON: Runner-up.

KING: Did you think that it hurt her?

HILTON: Absolutely. And I think a lot offer the judges did.

KING: How would you know?

HILTON: And she knew, after she was done, during the commercial break, I could tell by the look in her face that she knew she had lost because of that answer because it was a bad answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, Hilton does blog about gay rights sometimes on his popular Web site, but he has also taken heat for doing things like outing gay celebrities.

Well, as Miss California controversy is going to probably stay on his radar for quite some time, he's been posting plenty on his Twitter page as you see here. He has said he will keep it up. And a lot of comments he's been getting coming in to that Web site. So we don't think this one is going away any time soon.

We also want to check now stories that are happening right now. Bailout funds under the microscope. Special inspector general overseeing the program has opened 20 criminal investigations and six audits. The probes are focusing on whether tax dollars are being wasted.

Also, a Boston University medical student expected to be formally charge this morning with the murder of a woman who offered massaging on Craigslist. Police believe Philip Markoff, that's his name, may have targeted other women through the online classified site.

Also, a Somali teenager accused in the attack on the Maersk, Alabama could appear in federal court in New York today. The teen has surrendered and was aboard the USS Bainbridge when Navy SEALs killed three pirates holding the cargo ship captive.