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Acting Freddie Mac CFO Found Dead this Morning; Taliban Progression Into Pakistan; U.S. Forces Redeploying; Woman Paralyzed During Flight; Communities Use Local Currencies; Pittsboro Finds Economic Solution in Printing Own Money
Aired April 22, 2009 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: New snapshot of the economy. Top American firms hand out their first report card for 2009. We'll bring you the marks, plus Wall Street's reaction.
And taking valuable tips from detainees. An Obama administration memo suggests controversial Bush era tactics yielded terrorism clues.
And making your home green. While saving you some green. We'll look at easy ways to help the environment. It is Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22nd. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We begin this morning with a developing story that is sending shockwaves through the worlds of both business and politics. Earlier this morning, the acting chief financial officer of mortgage giant, Freddie Mac, was found dead inside his Virginia home. Police tell CNN, no foul play is suspected in the death of David Kellermann. Police are not confirming numerous reports he apparently committed suicide.
Kellermann has been Freddie Mac's chief financial officer since September. The government-controlled company has been hobbled by bad loans and has been kept afloat by billions of dollars in taxpayer money.
Now let's talk about some icons of corporate America this morning. McDonald's, Boeing, AT&T -- one of these companies probably touches your life every single day. And today, they report their earnings and offer a glimpse of the economy as a whole now. So are we seeing the first signs of a recovery? Bears, bulls, and bottom lines -- we certainly have a lot of ground to cover this morning. CNN's Christine Romans is part of the CNN Money Team and she is joining us now from New York this morning.
Hi there, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Let's start with the banks, shall we?
COLLINS: OK.
ROMANS: A couple of bank reports here. You know you care because the banks are really the backbone of the economy. They provide the oxygen, if you will, for the other businesses to get credit and to get moving, and also because your taxpayer dollars reside in these banks used to recapitalize them.
Let's start with Morgan Stanley. Its first quarter of the year, it lost $177 million. Analysts and economists had been expecting a loss, of course. It's a little bit worse than expected.
The company cut its dividend. That's what it pays to its shareholders. Cutting it pretty dramatically. That means if you're a shareholder in Morgan Stanley, the investment that you've made just got a little bit -- a little bit less and it cut its headcount in the quarter by about 5 percent, Heidi.
No surprise there. We know that all of these banks are moving quite quickly to cut headcount and try to -- you know, try to re- jigger for, frankly, a completely new world here.
And then Wells Fargo -- remember last week we told you this company said it was going to earn about $3 billion, we're all kind of -- our socks were knocked off thinking how could that be after such a horrible late last year?
COLLINS: Yes. Yes.
ROMANS: Well, the company did now confirm it posted a $3 billion profit. It's actually adding staff to its loan workout and collections business. That means if you are trying to call Wells Fargo about your accounts or your mortgage, they're going to be more people available there to help you.
It saw, however, a rise in its credit card delinquencies. And Heidi, this is something we've been hearing from a lot of the different financial institutions. Even as they're posting profits or stability in parts of their business, Heidi, they're pointing out that commercial real estate and credit cards are areas where they're seeing more and more people get in more trouble.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes. So some positive news anyways from the banks overall but why isn't the administration eager for them to repay TARP as Geithner indicated yesterday? We, in fact, hear a lot about this.
ROMANS: We've been hearing a lot of people say, look, we want our money back even the treasure secretary yesterday. There are people sitting behind him with big signs that say, "Give me my money back."
COLLINS: Yes.
ROMANS: "Give us our money back." Look, he says that the most important thing here is the stability of the financial system as a whole. He says that the vast majority of these banks are well capitalized.
In fact, they have more money in terms of capital than they need. And the others are going to be able to get money from either private investors or the government or taxpayers once we see the results of these stress tests. But he keeps pointing out that it's about the whole system and there are still concerns about credit card delinquencies, commercial loan delinquencies. The IMF, the International Monetary Fund, Heidi, just said that they think there'll be $4 trillion in losses worldwide because of all of these bad loans.
So maybe we haven't seen the end of it yet. No rush handing any money back in until we figure out what happens next.
COLLINS: Yes. Of course the companies want to give the money back to where it came from, if you will, to the government because they want to do what they want to do with their own company.
ROMANS: That's true. And some companies have said, no, we think maybe the industry as a whole should hold off until we see what happens next so there's not really even a consensus on that quite yet.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes. All right, Christine Romans, we know you're following it. Thank you.
ROMANS: Sure.
COLLINS: Bad news gets worse for Internet company Yahoo!. A three-year slump has now deepened. The company now says it will lay off nearly 700 of its workers. That's about five percent of its workforce. It is the third round of job cuts now in just over a year.
There are caution lights on Wall Street and we're keeping a close eye on where the markets are headed today. CNN's Susan Lisovicz is joining us now from the New York Stock Exchange for the opening bell.
Susan, are you there? No Susan. We're going to get back with her in just a little while.
Meanwhile, I want to shift our focus now. President Obama's intelligent director says controversial Bush era interrogation methods revealed important information that help the U.S. deal with the threat of terrorism.
It's all laid out in a newly released memo. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is joining us now live with more details on this.
Good morning to you, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
That memo from the director of national intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, saying that the interrogation techniques which now of course are so controversial did result in important information but he also says no one will ever really know if that information might have been able to have been elicited from the detainees without these enhanced interrogation techniques.
And of course more information coming to light all the time on how some of these techniques were used. The Senate Armed Service Committee now releasing a report, newly declassified information, about some of the techniques that were used by both contractors, intelligence officials, military officials over the years.
One of the passages from this report, chilling in the detail that will tell you why so many people are concern. Let's just read a little bit of it to you. A person that was interviewed by the Armed Services Committee were calling it an interrogation.
He saw, saying, quote, "The detainee was literally carried by two of the guards into a bunker struggling against them," that they ripped off his underwear, took his shoes. They had him shackled by the wrist and ankles. The man was ordered to stand in a position of stress for some 12 hours.
Now the chairman of that committee, the very powerful senator, Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, joining the chorus of voices on Capitol Hill calling for the attorney general to now look into all of this, appoint a distinguished individual, possibly a government official or a retired federal judge, to look into all of this, and decide...
COLLINS: Yes...
STARR: ... once and for all who should be held -- if anybody, who should be held accountable - Heidi.
COLLINS: What's the danger here, Barbara, of releasing some of this with regard to letting the enemy know, perhaps? What some of these techniques were and other ones that could be used. I'm not quite sure of everything else that is in that report.
Is there a danger there in letting them know some of this...
STARR: You know people have been talking about this now for some time. One of the reasons the Bush administration was so adamant about keeping all of this secret was what the point you just raised. That if al Qaeda and Taliban detainees knew the possibility of what was facing them, knew the outer envelope, if you will, of the interrogation techniques that the U.S. would use that they could then train themselves to withstand those interrogation techniques, knowing that the U.S. wouldn't go beyond a certain point.
But what many people are saying is these enhanced interrogation techniques which, many people do call torture, don't result in good information. That the problem is, once you put a person under this kind of situation they'll just basically say anything to stop this interrogation from going on.
And what President Obama is saying, the bottom line, he says, is the U.S. values do not coincide with these interrogation techniques and that they will be stopped. Heidi?
COLLINS: Regardless of the information elicited, I understand.
All right, Barbara Starr, we sure do appreciate that, our Pentagon correspondent this morning. British police were forced to release nine of 11 Pakistani nationals suspected of planning terror attacks. They were arrested a week before Easter. Investigators failed to find enough evidence to charge the men with any crimes but right now the nine are in the custody of Britain's border agency who wants them all deported.
In Dusseldorf, Germany, the man accused of masterminding one of the largest terror plots on German soil went on trial today. The fellow is accused of trying to blow up Germany's Frankfurt airport, a military base, and nightclubs used frequently by Americans.
California Congresswoman Jane Harman is calling reports she was wiretapped, quote, "an abuse of power," and she is pushing back hard.
CNN Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congresswoman Jane Harman is outraged by reports that her conversations were secretly wiretapped in 2005 and 2006.
REP. JANE HARMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: I am offended by it. I think it's an abuse of power and I want to make sure it's not happening to other people.
MESERVE: Sources say, Harman was overheard talking to an investigative target whose conversations were being legally intercepted. "Congressional Quarterly" and "The New York Times" reports that Harman discussed using her influence to reduce espionage- related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. In return, the person with whom she was speaking would lobby then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint Harman chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Harman reportedly ended the conversation by saying, "This conversation doesn't exist."
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Harman did not deny it.
HARMAN: I have no idea what I might have said in conversations with somebody or some bodies. Wolf, this was four years ago. I have many conversations every day with advocacy groups. There's nothing wrong with doing this.
MESERVE: In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Harman asks that, "The Justice Department release all transcripts and investigative material involving me in an unredacted form," and says she'll make it public.
The Justice Department is reviewing her request.
HARMAN: Let's see what I said and said to whom. And I did not make any effort, this I remember clearly, at all ever to influence our government at any level.
MESERVE: She did not, Harman says, contact anyone about the AIPAC case.
LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: This could be career ending. She must be aggressive. She must fight it at every turn. She has to fight it on every front, legal and political, in the public forums and private forums.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: CQ also reports that after the intercept, the FBI tried to open an investigation of Harman. But Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pulled the plug because he wanted Harman's help defending the controversial domestic warrantless wiretapping program.
We've reached out to the former attorney general. He had no comment. And as for the alleged deal, Harman did not get the intelligence committee chairmanship and the trial of the AIPAC officials is slated for June - Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow. What about these transcripts, Jeanne? Is she likely to get the transcripts that she wants to show apparently the whole conversation?
MESERVE: She probably will not. People with whom we've spoken say these are classified documents, for one thing. For another thing, they could be relevant to this trial of the AIPAC officials that are slated for June or some other investigation.
COLLINS: Sure.
MESERVE: So chances are slim that they'll be made public.
COLLINS: All right. Well, Jeanne Meserve is following that story for us. We sure do appreciate it.
Thank you, Jeanne.
MESERVE: You bet.
COLLINS: Back to where it all began this morning. President traveling to Iowa, the state that gave him his first victory in the race for the White House. The president will mark Earth Day there by promoting alternative energy.
CNN's Elaine Quijano is joining us now from the White House.
Good morning to you, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.
Well, President Obama is going to be heading to a community called Newton, Iowa. This is a town that was hit hard a couple of years ago when the local Maytag plant shut its doors.
The town lost hundreds of jobs but now just a couple of years later, it is back. And that's because the town was able to attract a company that makes towers for wind turbines called Trinity Structural Towers.
That's where President Obama is going to be meeting with employees later today. He's going to be touting, of course, alternative energy, including wind power. But Heidi, this is also part of the president's broader effort to try to get energy legislation done by this year.
That is going to be a very tall order, though, given the financial crisis. Critics have really said, look, if you force businesses to try and do things greener, that's going to hike up energy cost which will be passed on to consumers. So President Obama, Heidi, is going to Iowa to try to make the case that green can be profitable, that it can bring jobs, and to push for that energy legislation - Heidi.
COLLINS: OK. So as the president then takes this energy pitch to Iowa, he's also dispatched top officials to testify on climate change on Capitol Hill today.
What can you tell us about that?
QUIJANO: Yes, that's right. In just about a half an hour, in fact, a House panel is going to be hearing testimony from basically the three key administration players when it comes to the issue of climate change. They are energy secretary Steven Chu, EPA administration Lisa Jackson and as well as transportation secretary, Ray LaHood.
Now all of them are going to be basically reinforcing President Obama's message that there is a need, they feel, to get energy legislation done soon. Heidi?
COLLINS: All right. We will be watching closely right here on CNN.
Elaine Quijano, thanks so much, live from the White House this morning.
And here is a look at president's schedule as he commemorates Earth Day. He leaves for Newton Iowa, as you just heard. And next hour, and while he's there, he will tour that former Maytag plant. That plant now housing manufacturing facility which does produce towers of wind energy production. Just learned all of this from Elaine Quijano.
And President Obama will then give remarks on his energy policy before heading back to Washington.
Meanwhile, a militant group advances deep inside a nuclear nation. The Taliban now just 60 miles from Pakistan's capital. We've got a live report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The Taliban threat growing beyond Afghanistan's borders. The militants have moved more deeply inside Pakistan now, controlling an area just 60 miles from the capital.
CNN's Ivan Watson is in Islamabad now with the story.
Ivan, good morning to you.
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, the Taliban have tried to enter this district of Buner in the past. They've been fought off by the locals but now we see that the Taliban has moved in in force. Hundreds of fighters -- they've entered Buner. That's about 60 miles as the crow flies from where I'm standing right now.
We've seen footage on Pakistani TV of Taliban fighters carrying weapons in a famous Islamic shrine in that district. We've spoken with the Taliban commander who's moved in there. He says, yes, he's claiming control of that district. He says he's there to enforce Islamic sharia law.
Now the Pakistani government has responded to this saying this is a violation of an agreement signed between the Pakistani government and the Taliban in the nearby Swat Valley last week, Heidi.
COLLINS: So, Ivan, what's likely to happen next here? I mean what sort of pushback does the country have?
WATSON: Well, I think this is an ominous sign. We've already been hearing from residents of the Swat valley where the Taliban has really reasserted itself. That they're really scared right now. They're scared of criticizing the Taliban. And they say there's a campaign of intimidation there.
Basically since this agreement was signed last week by the Pakistani government, the Taliban has taken advantage of these concessions that the Pakistani government made. And they're showing more force.
We had a huge rally in the Swat Valley on Sunday where a pro- Taliban cleric demanded that Islamic Sharia law be expanded across all of Pakistan and he basically attacked the legitimacy of the entire Pakistani government, calling it un-Islamic, and we've had Taliban spokesman calling Pakistani government officials non-Muslims because they don't accept the Taliban's version of Islam.
So we're not really sure what the Pakistani government is going to do to try to stop this creeping advance that the Taliban has been making into the heartlands of this nuclear armed nation.
COLLINS: All right. Well, we know that you will stay on top of that for us.
Ivan Watson, sure do appreciate it, live from Islamabad this morning. Thank you.
Take a moment now to check on the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: She dazzled the world with her debut in the sleeper hit "Slumdog Millionaire" but now forget the Hollywood ending. Police are investigating allegations her dad tried to sell her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Nine-year-old Rubina Ali dazzled the world with her debut in the hit "Slumdog Millionaire." But there are new allegations her father tried to cash in on her popularity by selling her to what he thought was a wealthy Dubai couple.
Sara Sidner has this new "Slumdog" story from the slums of Mumbai.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it "Slumdog: The Sequel." No dancing, no singing.; just shouting and shoving. A mom and a stepmom and their little girl. This little girl. Latika in the film, nine-year-old Rubina Ali in the real life. A girl we fell in love with on the silver screen and Oscar's red carpet. She and her friends won our hearts and made the makers of "Slumdog" a small fortune. Slumdog actors were paid a fee and a trust fund was set up, but did Rubina's dad try to make a buck himself? A British tabloid says he did.
This is video purportedly showing Rubina's father, Rafiq Qureshi, on the right with a couple posing as wealthy Arabs. The father allegedly agreeing to offer Rubina for adoption in exchange for nearly $300,000. But there's no sound on the tape and Qureshi says he did no such thing.
RAFIQ QURESHI, RUBINA'S FATHER (through translator): They said the sheik's wife wanted to take Rubina. But I said, no, I could never give my child away.
SIDNER: Rubina agrees.
RUBINA ALI, ACTRESS, "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE": I talked to them in the room. My dad said I could meet people if I want to, but I will never give my daughter away for any amount of money.
SIDNER: Back to the fight. It was mom who complained to police after seeing the news reports. The stepmom took exception to the accusation. The tabloid stands by the story. Authorities are on the case. Figuratively and literally, the blow by blow. And somewhere in the fight, in this slum, in this story, a little girl waits for the kind of Hollywood ending that lingers even after the lights come back up.
Sara Sidner, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: More than a little turbulence in flight. A plane takes a drop and one passenger is partially paralyzed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: On Wall Street, a wave of corporate earnings sparked an early sell-off yesterday. But then treasury secretary Timothy Geithner came to the rescue and reassured investors about bank's balance sheets.
So can the same combination work again today? We have more earnings and Secretary Geithner is speaking again.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange now with a look at how it is all likely to play out this time.
Hi there, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.
Well, treasury secretary, Geithner, speaking at the Economic Club of Washington this morning. He's pulling some global action to help pave the way for an economic recovery. But a mixed bag of earnings is leading to what we expect to be a lower open.
On the positive side, McDonald's and AT&T beat estimates in the first quarter. Mickey D's has seen sales rise as more Americans shop for a deal. And AT&T continues to benefit from its exclusive deals to sell Apple's iPhone. AT&T activated more than 1.5 million iPhones in the first three months of the year. IPhone users paid more than other customers.
In the banking sector, Wells Fargo posted a record $3 billion profit. The company had forecast solid earnings earlier this month.
But on the flip side, Morgan Stanley reporting its second straight quarterly loss due to the deteriorating commercial real estate market. The $177 million loss worst than expected. To cut costs, Morgan Stanley slashing its dividend.
Over at Boeing, its quarterly profit sliced in half. The aerospace giant cutting production because many airlines are postponing deliveries of new planes. And finally, more layoffs, this time at Yahoo! The Internet giant cutting nearly 700 positions as its earnings plunged nearly 80 percent.
Today is Earth Day, Heidi. But we're not seeing green arrows. We're seeing red arrows. Nice late-session rally, though, yesterday. The Dow is down half a percent. The NASDAQ'S down one percent.
Waste Management ringing the opening bell today. It says by 2020, it will more than triple the amount of material it recycles to more than 20 million tons each year and provide over 25,000 acres of wildlife habitat.
COLLINS: Wow, all right. Susan Lisovicz, we'll check back with you a little bit later on. Thank you.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
COLLINS: The nation's foreclosure crisis, we are getting a better idea of where the greatest problems are clustered now. The real estate tracking firm, RealtyTrac, looked at the 26 U.S. cities with the worst foreclosure rates. It says the problems are concentrated in four states -- that's California, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. The local areas with the highest rate, Las Vegas, Merced, California, and the Cape Coral-Ft. Myers area out of Florida.
And we're also following a developing story out of Northern Virginia now. Earlier this morning, the acting chief financial officer of mortgage giant Freddie Mac was found dead inside his Virginia home. Police tell CNN no foul play is suspected in the death of David Kellermann. Police say his death may have been a suicide.
Kellermann has been Freddie Mac's chief financial officer since September. The government-controlled company has been hobbled by bad loans and has been kept afloat by billions of dollars in taxpayer money.
Here's the latest now on those memos we told you about a little earlier. The director of National Intelligence says aggressive interrogation tactics used during the Bush administration revealed high-value information that paid off in the war against terror. Details of those tactics were contained in the memos the Obama administration released earlier this month.
So was releasing them to the public the right thing to do? Here's some of the discussion on the subject from "ANDERSON COOPER 360" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": You said it's basically opening up a Pandora's box for the president, leaving -- leaving the door open to a possible prosecution.
How is that opening a Pandora's box?
ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER GEORGE W. BUSH WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, number one, you know, we didn't release any Clinton memos. Clinton didn't release any previous President Bush top-secret memos.
The problem that I have with all of this is, now that the White House is doing this to its predecessor, what will future White Houses do, depending on how the world turns under Barack Obama? Something will go wrong during Barack Obama's presidency. Do you really want to be in a position where whoever follows him says, it was your fault; you must have done something; there's this top-secret memo we will find somewhere that makes you look or sound culpable?
COOPER: Paul, is this a slippery slope, a Pandora's box?
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, no. First off, the president was compelled to release them by a lawsuit, a lawsuit that his lawyers, the Justice Department and the White House counsel, decided they could not successfully defend.
We have a Freedom of Information Act. I know it's -- it's an adjustment, but we now have a White House that lives under the rule of law and obeys the laws. So, he released them because he was compelled to release them.
This is very different from the Bush administration, which selectively leaked national security information, top-secret information, in order to build what I think the record shows was a dishonest case for war, or, in the case of Valerie Wilson, to destroy the career of a covert CIA agent.
That's the politicization of intelligence information and -- and top-secret information. This was the president obeying the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Off one battleground but onto another. The plan to shift U.S. forces from Iraq to Afghanistan is already in play. Our Frederik Pleitgen is traveling with one of the first units to make that shift. He is joining us live from Kandahar.
So, Frederick, tell us a little bit about the trip so far.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN BEIJING CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.
It's quite a remarkable trip that we've been making with these troops. Basically, what's happening is that the fourth engineer battalion, which is out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, they got into Iraq in mid-February, and only two weeks after arriving there they were redeployed to Afghanistan.
Now, what we have to say is that this deployment is very, very urgent because what this unit does is route clearance. It rids roads of roadside bombs and also land mines. That, of course, is a capability that's very important here in Afghanistan. So what the military is doing is its airlifting that entire unit out of Iraq here to Afghanistan.
You're talking about 500 men. You're talking about very, very heavy vehicles, armored vehicles, a lot of containers. You're talking about 50 to 70 flights with gigantic cargo planes. We were on one of those flights yesterday and it sure was an amazing experience - Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, I bet it was. I'm guessing it was probably a C-5. It's absolutely huge aircraft.
Frederik, I want to ask you quickly, these are the experts. These guys really know what they're doing by way of trying to find these roadside bombs, but the terrain so very different in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Are they going to be making modifications as to how they go about searching for them?
PLEITGEN: That's really a great question, Heidi. That's one that I've asked the troops here as well. They say that they've been making special preparations for coming here to Afghanistan. Of course, the terrain is very different here than it is in Iraq.
When you're talking about Iraq, there are a lot of very good paved roads. A lot of the assignments, a lot of the missions that they've been doing in Iraq are in fairly urban areas. So we have a lot of close quarter combat, which they've been trying to adjust to.
What they've been doing is special target practice session, special days at the firing range, adjusting the weapons to combat further wave. Because they believe that a lot of the combat that's going to be taking place here is going to be more in the open land. Of course, Afghanistan very sparsely populated compared to Iraq.
And, of course, you said it, you're absolutely right, the roads here often in terrible conditions, often not even paved at all. And that's going to be a very, very big challenge for the troops as they try to conduct their work here. A lot of the vehicles that they have won't be able to get up a lot of those roads so they'll be doing a lot of dismounted patrols, and that of course is a special talent in itself.
And one last thing, Heidi, it was a C-17 that we traveled on.
COLLINS: Oh, OK.
PLEITGEN: So, you're talking about 50 to 70 -- C-17 cargo planes. It was amazing - Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, that's a huge one, too, isn't it?
All right, Frederik Pleitgen, sure do appreciate your reporting. We will stay in close contact with you. Live from Kandahar this morning.
He's on the run today. And now he's on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list. Daniel Andreas San Diego is the first domestic terror suspect to make that list. The other names belong to members of al Qaeda and other groups. San Diego is an animal rights activist who has been on the run for six years. Authorities say he bombed two companies that he thought were linked to animal testing.
A Continental Airlines flight hit turbulence over south Texas leaving one woman partially paralyzed. Federal Aviation authorities are now investigating how it happened.
CNN's Ed Lavandera reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Severe storms barreled through Houston last Friday night, forcing flight delays. On the tarmac that night was Continental Flight 511. A hundred and four passengers and five crew members waiting out the storms on their way to south Texas. After a three-hour delay, the flight finally took off. But when it landed in the town of McAllen, ambulances were waiting to transport two injured passengers and one injured crew member. The most seriously injured passenger is an unidentified 47- year-old woman who is currently paralyzed and in intensive care. Her attorney says the woman struck her head on the bathroom ceiling when the plane suddenly dropped in the turbulent skies.
RAMON GARCIA, PASSENGER'S ATTORNEY: We have a lady who got off her seat, went to the bathroom. While either in the bathroom or coming out of the bathroom is when this situation occurred.
LAVANDERA: Continental Airlines says its focus is on helping the passenger's family. A spokeswoman says the seat belt light was illuminated during the turbulence, but it's not clear if the passenger was already out of her seat when the light came on or if she ignored the light and got up to go to the bathroom.
The passenger's attorney says the woman was stretched out on the plane's floor for the remainder of the flight until paramedics could start treating her.
(on camera): The passenger is a mother of three children, but beyond that very little is known about her. Her attorney says she doesn't want her name released publicly. The FAA says its turning over crucial flight information over to the NTSB for further investigation.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: We have information just in on the woman now. A doctor quoted by McAllen, Texas, "Monitor" newspaper says, "She suffered a fractured neck and a back injury that left her paralyzed from the chest down." The doctor says it's not known yet whether the woman will walk again.
Well, it was anchors away for me this weekend. I'm telling you about my fantastic trip aboard the USS Harry S. Truman. Coming up in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All right. I'm over here on the weather center, because Rob is fascinated by all of the military and...
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I am.
COLLINS: ...moving out on the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum. So I thought we come over here and talk a little bit about what I had the opportunity to do.
MARCIANO: And this is what some little bird gave to me to kind of tease Heidi about. Honorary Truman Aviator, Heidi married to an aviator. My dad a naval aviator.
COLLINS: Exactly.
MARCIANO: He's move down here (INAUDIBLE). Said it's the hardest thing he's ever done. And you, Ms. Collins, have done it for a second time.
COLLINS: Listen, I know (INAUDIBLE) he's talking about -- about it being so incredibly difficult. We have the opportunity to fly out from Norfolk out to the "USS Truman." About 100 miles off the coast. We landed. The aircraft is called a COD, a Carry-On Delivery. And it's a propeller aircraft that's used to take cargo out and visitors, and sometimes admirals and so on and so forth.
You go, you're flying about I don't know, 150 miles an hour. You come down, you get trapped by the wire. And you're stopped zero. So it's about 150 miles an hour to zero in three seconds.
(CROSSTALK)
MARCIANO: And then when they land, don't they hit the gas just in case?
COLLINS: Oh, yes. Yes, you've always got to put the full throttle on because in case you don't get trapped properly. Now, there's four wires out there. You always want to get the third wire.
MARCIANO: Right.
COLLINS: Then you've got to take off again.
MARCIANO: Right.
COLLINS: You've got to get off of there safely. So it was incredible. That's the aircraft that we landed on. You can see right there. That's one of the wires.
MARCIANO: Oh, that definitely looks like a VIP shuttle right there.
COLLINS: Yes, right. So we had an incredible time. Let me tell you, this aircraft is huge. There are no -- I mean, not huge, but there are no windows. And it's just like sort of a big square thing. You can't see anything. And all of a sudden to feel that on your body going so fast and then stopping to nothing, it's really like nothing I've really felt before.
MARCIANO: So a little bit of whiplash now. You got to hit the spa, maybe for a massage.
COLLINS: Yes, right, right.
MARCIANO: No. But the amount of action on that deck, I can just imagine. You described that for us.
COLLINS: Yes. It is unreal. I mean, they do about 150 CAT shots a day. Meaning, they are launching aircraft continually. We have the opportunity to be out there for night-ops this time, because we stayed overnight on the carrier. And let me tell you, those are the rainbow warriors. That's just part of the flight crew.
They're all wearing, as you can see, different colors. And some people may know this, some not. But they all have a different job. I mean, the guys in the red are the fire guys. I mean, I could go on and on about who does what. They all have a very, very specific job, and the choreography that they do out there, absolutely incredible.
That is the captain of the ship. We were actually sitting up there, and had the opportunity to go to the bridge, if you will. You sit up there and you look down at all of these flight ops that are going on. And it is truly mind-boggling. Captain Joe Clarkson, we were his guests as well. And it was tremendous.
MARCIANO: Wow, that seems like...
COLLINS: Let me tell you where I slept. Right underneath the arresting line. Meaning, one of those wires. And boy, that loud.
MARCIANO: Yes? Didn't quite get your eight hours?
COLLINS: No, no. Maybe about eight seconds.
MARCIANO: Right.
COLLINS: Because just when you start to relax and maybe lay down and think, OK, I can do this, I can sleep in this -- kabaam. You know, somebody lands and they do. They fly continuously it seems like. This one as I said went until 1:30 in the morning. So it's 12- hour days that they work, every single day, seven days a week. And these men and women are truly incredible. So it's so impressive.
MARCIANO: I'm so jealous, man. I mean, that's just an amazing experience.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: And, of course, you've done a lot of work with the Intrepid and promoting that renovation, so that was, I guess, one of your rewards to get -- to get in there.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes, really getting out there to see what these men and women are doing firsthand.
MARCIANO: Oh, man.
COLLINS: It's really a treat.
MARCIANO: I just beam with pride when I see that kind of stuff. All right, great job, Heidi.
Listen, can we do it? It's Earth Day as we've been talking about.
COLLINS: Oh, yes. Exactly.
MARCIANO: Happy Earth Day. That's a particular aircraft carrier, along with a lot of them, by the way, powered by our nuclear power, which doesn't put out the CO2, but, you know, it's got its own issues, nonetheless. They can be out to sea for a long time because of it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Yes. I think people forget that. You know, given the time of year. Absolutely.
All right, Rob. Thank you. We'll check back later on. Appreciate it.
MARCIANO: OK.
COLLINS: A busy day for the president as we celebrate Earth Day. In fact, President Obama will head to Newton, Iowa, in about a half an hour to commemorate the day. And while he's there, he'll take a tour of a former Maytag Plant. That plant now houses manufacturing facility, which produces towers for wind energy production. President Obama will then give remarks on his energy policy before heading back to Washington.
Well, it may look like play money, but it is legal tender in local communities. Putting money in the pockets of your neighbors and saving a little for yourself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Earth Day. A chance to learn more about protecting what we have. And part of that is knowing your carbon footprint. So how do you figure that out? Two words. Josh Levs. Here he is now.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's all it takes, Heidi, right?
COLLINS: Yes.
LEVS: This is really cool, Earthday.net. It's actually the best feature, I think. The coolest looking feature anyway on Earthday.net. It lets you calculate your carbon footprint. Let's zoom in. I want everyone to see it.
This is the central place in the world that people are planning all their Earth Day activities today. And they're saying in some form a billion people are going to participate. Now this right here is the carbon footprint calculator. And you can click on one of the countries -- U.S. or Australia. It works for either. And then you create an avatar. You decide who you want to be. So check this out.
You pick a hair, color and style and skin color, and shirt color and pants color, and then you just start going through this whole thing. And what happens is it takes you through this town and asks you questions. What do you eat during the day? How busy do you stay? Let's just do the first one here. Your food -- what kind of food are you usually eating? Occasionally, no meat, occasional meat. This kinds of things. It traces you through all sorts of stuff about your day, gives you stores, how much trash do you use? Have you get around town. Then, ultimately, it gives you this. Your ecological footprint. And it tells you for example right here, if everyone lived like you, we need four to five planet earths to provide enough resources. It breaks it down into pie chart over here for you. Obviously, I'll emphasize, it's not an exact science, but it is a chance to think about your impact on the environment. Right there, Heidi, Earthday.net.
Yes. The first step is you have to be honest about, I guess, you know, about what you're doing every day.
LEVS: Well, you don't have to give your name, though. Yes. It's good point.
COLLINS: All right, interesting. So we are hearing from viewers about this, too, right?
LEVS: Yes. Keep them coming. We've got a few different ways to get in touch with us this morning. IReports getting a lot of this. Celebrating earth today. Part of Earth Day celebration here. CNN -- send us an iReport or I'm getting a lot of messages here at my Facebook page, Josh Levs CNN. And there you go.
And brand new to Twitter, because our interactive producer won that battle. Andres got me on Twitter. Josh Levs CNN. I kind of forget how to use it. It's very intimidating. So send me your thoughts on Earth Day and also your tips on Twitter-ifying or whatever it is. We'll be back with those, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Very good. Josh, thank you.
LEVS: Thank you.
COLLINS: CNN NEWSROOM in fact now has its own blog. You can check out cnn.com/newsroom. You'll find some of our great material and details about the show every day. And you can also connect with us by leaving your comments, too. Bookmark the page. It's cnn.com/newsroom, and you can join the conversation.
There's a lot going on this morning that's for sure. And we have crews working to bring you everything you need to know. So let's check in with some of our correspondents now. Starting with you, Elaine.
Good morning.
QUIJANO: Live at the White House, just days after his chief-of- staff seemed to indicate otherwise, President Obama is now leaving the door open to possibly prosecuting those who wrote the rules on harsh interrogations. I'll have that story at the top of the hour.
STARR: Good morning, Heidi. Here at the Pentagon. They're watching the Taliban once again on the move. We'll have details coming up at the top of the hour. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen. Is your child addicted to video games? It can happen and it can happen more easily than you might think. I'll tell parents all the signs they need to look for at the top of the hour.
COLLINS: Ouch. I'll be watching that very closely, Elizabeth. Thank you. And thanks to everybody else, as well.
We are also going to be taking you to the city of Newton, Iowa. Getting ready to welcome the president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Some communities have a unique way to get residents to spend money locally -- by printing and using their own money. CNN's Brooke Baldwin is joining us now with the story on this.
So what's the deal here, Brooke?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The deal is we went out to Pittsboro, North Carolina, small community outside of Chapel Hill. Take a good look. It kind of looks like funny money, yes?
But in Pittsboro, North Carolina and then on several other cities nationwide, people are not laughing. This is a real idea. And in some cases it is backed by real dollars to reclaim their local economy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN (voice-over): In the wake of the economic downturn, local communities have taken note. Not this kind of note. Rather, their own notes by printing local currency. In Pittsboro, North Carolina, they call it the Plenty.
MELISSA FREY, PLENTY CURRENCY COOPERATIVE: We're all struggling, right? And so the idea is to build ourselves back up and the Plenty allows us to do that.
BALDWIN: Melissa Frey is behind this new push in Pittsboro to re-launch The Plenty, a once defunct local currency that come May 12 will be backed by this bank.
FREY: You can take nine federal dollars, go into capital bank and exchange it for 10 Plenties. You're actually essentially getting a 10 percent discount on your local purchases by doing that.
BALDWIN: The point, spend locally. The perk, get a discount. Already a handful of businesses accept the Plenty including Chatham Marketplace.
(on camera): Bread, wine, meats.
MARY DEMARE, GENERAL MANAGER, CHATHAM MARKETPLACE: Yes.
BALDWIN: You can buy it all with the Plenty. DEMARE: Absolutely. Everything we sell in the store you can buy with the Plenty.
BALDWIN: Mary Demare says much of the motivation is psychological.
DEMARE: If you can spend locally all you want with U.S. currency, but once turning them into Plenties, you're saying, you know, I'm keeping this money right here.
BALDWIN: That's a message reminiscent of the Great Depression, banks were closing, cash was short so local governments issued script to keep commerce flowing. Currently, about a dozen communities use local currency, one of the oldest since Ithaca hours which went into circulation in 1991. The largest system is in Massachusetts, where about 350 businesses accept Berkshires and in Detroit, three business owners are now accepting the cheer.
(on camera): This concept of community currency is perfectly legal according to the federal government just as long as this doesn't resemble this. You still pay taxes to Uncle Sam just the same, but one economist said this idea doesn't add up.
EDWARD VAN WESSEP, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF FINANCE, UNC: If people want to stimulate the local economy by spending locally they can do it with dollars just as well as anything else.
BALDWIN: Edward Van Wessep is an assistant finance professor at the University of North Carolina.
VAN WESSEP: The idea of keeping money in the community doesn't actually make a lot of sense. You don't want to keep money in the community. You want to trade with other communities. That's what makes everybody wealthy.
BALDWIN: Perhaps in Pittsboro and elsewhere, it's less about getting rich and more about a commitment to the community.
DEMARE: Yes, look a little silly to people from outside of our area, but it's money.
BALDWIN: And it works.
DEMARE: And it works.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: So the idea at least in Pittsboro is not to completely replace the dollar. It's important to emphasize that but people tell me by using the (inaudible) they are hoping that will inspire more local businesses perhaps to start up, and it will create more face to face transactions and foster a greater sense of security which I think really, Heidi, is the biggest issue in such an uncertain time. They just want people to get out. They want people to spend and if it has to be in plenty --
COLLINS: Yes.
BALDWIN: They're going to do it.
COLLINS: Ever the economist kind of screaming to different levels of protectionism.
BALDWIN: He says it's limiting, it doesn't really make sense -
COLLINS: Yes.
BALDWIN: But later in the interview, he said, you know, if it fosters like a psychological push -
COLLINS: Yes.
BALDWIN: Then, it's OK.
COLLINS: All right. Brooke Baldwin, interesting. Thanks so much. Appreciate that.
BALDWIN: You're welcome.
