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Microburst Storm Collapses Cowboys' Training Facility; Swine Flu Spread Continues

Aired May 03, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: And confirmed cases of the swine flu virus now in the majority of the U.S. states. So why is the head of the CDC optimistic about the outbreak?

And the new face of homelessness. Families forced to live on the streets in and shelters.

Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Damaging wind and thunderstorms pounding the Southwest and sweeping towards the Carolinas. This storm system has already left its mark in Texas and parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Yesterday's fierce wind and rain in Texas ripped through the roof of the tent-like structure of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility, as you see right here. We'll show you that video of the collapse from start to finish in a minute.

Well, first, let's check in with Bonnie Schneider in the CNN Weather Center to give us a handle of these storm systems and exactly what is taking place right now.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

WHITFIELD: I-Reporters are hard at work, as well. They have been able to capture images that are pretty extraordinary, that one, in particular. Explain what we're seeing because it looks like an inverted tornado.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It sure does look exactly like an upside down tornado. But that's not what it is. You're looking at an I-Report image shot by Rick Seno, who was on the scene to that roof collapse in Irving, Texas, where the Dallas Cowboys were doing their training practice. What's incredible is that this photograph was taken moments before the damage was done.

So, what are we looking at here, if it's not a tornado, what is it? It's a microburst. That is a fast-moving down burst of wind, unlike a tornado that would have the wind coming normally on the upwind direction. This storm system has the winds coming in the down direction, very rapidly. And what happens is as these winds come down, they accelerate. And what we're hearing now that the possibility of the storms producing winds of about 70 miles per hour as the wind was coming down. But, also, as it comes to the surface, you could see the spreading effect of the winds and the acceleration. So, Fred, it's possible that the winds with this, this microburst could have exceeded 90 miles per hour just as it came to the ground. So, incredible photography and unique situation to see a microburst; not a tornado, but a fast down draft of winds captured on film.

WHITFIELD: Wow, it's an ominous picture, and pretty frightening, too. And even more frightening is exactly what it does on the ground at that practice field for the Dallas Cowboys. In fact, Bonnie, let's take a closer look right now. Here it is, in its entirety, about 2:30 of destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(WIND SOUNDS, PEOPLE SCREAMING, WIND ROARING, CRASHING SOUNDS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is everyone all right over here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He needs help!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get under here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down, get down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out, watch out! Let's get under. You all right?

(WIND ROARING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get some lights, see if we can see. Do you have a light on that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all right? Need help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of there, fellows. Come on, get your helmet on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here you go, I got you.

(WIND ROARING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Pretty remarkable images there, you are seeing, thanks to our affiliate, WFAA there.

They're rolling the entire time when, Bonnie, this microburst that you have right behind you just simply made its way over the Dallas Cowboys' practice field. At the beginning of that tape we saw the lights flickering. It seemed relatively calm, but clearly the instincts of the photographer, something is about to happen. And they kept it rolling. And then you saw the collapse of that tent.

I guess presumably as that system is passing over and then you saw the destruction. About a dozen people were injured after all of this.

SCHNEIDER: Really. And Fredricka, what is important to know with microbursts, they happen very, very quickly. Because you have a fast-moving thunderstorm, but you also have warm air rising into the thunderstorm and when you have such a vigorous storm, like the one through Dallas, the warm air rises into drier, colder air aloft, it suddenly evaporates. The moisture evaporates. And then the air cools even faster.

The one thing to keep in mind when you're studying these weather situations, cold air is heavier than warm air. The cold air plunges quickly downward. And that's why we get that downburst of wind and to capture it on film is what even more incredible that everyone survived with that roof collapse.

WHITFIELD: That is incredible. But unlike, say, a tornado where there would be flying debris, that was not the situation here. It was more of a compressing kind of effect, is that what you're saying, because of the cold air?

SCHNEIDER: Pretty much. But there is something to note. Notice the curvature here in the way the downdraft is kind of working its way here. So, you do actually have the debris kind of moving, especially at the surface. This is where the winds are most intense. Right when the storm is working its way downward. So, maybe you don't have that spiraling effect, but you certainly have some debris falling and moving around when you have winds this intense.

WHITFIELD: Powerful enough to push that tent simply down and injure a dozen people.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And of course, we are going to check on the conditions of all those folks throughout the day. Hopefully everybody is all right.

Thanks so much, Bonnie. Fantastic explanation on that. Appreciate it.

Meantime, let's talk about something else sweeping across the country. U.S. health officials are seeing encouraging signs about the swine flu outbreak, even though there's an increase in the number of cases. Checking the latest developments right now, 66 more cases of the H1N1 virus have been confirmed in the U.S. That raises the number of people sickened here, in the United States to 226.

And the CDC is reporting that the flu is now present in 30 states. The health officials say they're cautiously optimistic that the virus is not as dangerous as once feared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RICHARD BESSER, ACTING DIR., CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: There are encouraging signs. We're not out of the woods yet. But what we learned about the virus itself, it doesn't contain the factors that we know that are seen in much more severe flu strains. Each strain that comes out may have other factors we're not aware of, but the ones we know about, it's not there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Worldwide the number of confirmed swine flu cases climbed to 853 today. More than half of them are in Mexico. Mexico's health secretary says the outbreak in his country is now, quote, "in its declining phase." Today Colombia became the first South American country to confirm a case of H1N1. Britain, Italy and Germany are also now reporting new cases.

Pigs on a farm in Canada are under quarantine after testing positive for the H1N1 flu. The first confirmed case of pigs infected with this new flu strain. Officials say the animals likely caught the virus from a farmer who became sick after returning from Mexico. Health officials stress there are no food safety concerns since you can't catch the flu from eating pork.

The Sunday talk shows have been buzzing about President Obama's first chance to leave his mark on the Supreme Court. Justice David Souter is retiring next month. CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider is in Washington.

So, Bill, filling this appointment would say a lot about President Obama. He has alluded to just a bit of wanting an independent thinker, someone who is in touch. So, will he be changing the makeup of the court significantly?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Not significantly. Certainly not ideologically, because David Souter, though a Republican nominee by the first President Bush, usually voted with the liberal group on the Supreme Court. So, basically, President Obama is pretty likely to appoint a moderate liberal, or a liberal to replace another liberal or moderate liberal, David Souter.

So there is unlikely to be a real ideological showdown. He is under pressure, however, to increase the diversity of the court perhaps by appointing the second woman justice. There's one there now, Ruth Bader Ginsburg; she is also the second oldest justice on the court and she has said publicly, at a college recently, that she feels lonely being the only woman on the Supreme Court.

WHITFIELD: There is also some pressure from the outside, meaning we haven't heard it from President Obama to express that he's feeling the pressure, but we know that there has been talk about perhaps even a Latino on the bench.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. There is pressure -there is pressure in a lot of directions. Latinos are waiting for the first Latino justice on the Supreme Court. There has never been one and never been an Asian-American justice. And you hear some African-Americans who say they'd like a second African-American justice because a lot of them feel that Clarence Thomas, who is a very staunch conservative, does not really represent the views of many African-Americans. WHITFIELD: I wonder how much, the fact that President Obama actually taught Constitution law for 10 years that University of Chicago, how much that might play a role in exactly the makeup of this nominee that he would be looking for?

SCHNEIDER: I certainly hope it would. If he taught the course on the Supreme Court, I hope that influences his decision. Basically I think he wants to avoid a real ideological showdown because so far in his presidency he has avoided making big issues social topics like abortion, gay rights, and gun control and things like that, because he doesn't want to divide the country. Well, a Supreme Court nomination often does divide the country. But here I think there may be ways for him to at least try to avoid and of course, the best way is to find someone who is eminently well qualified, as well as his own criterion, which is someone who has life experience, who is not out of touch with ordinary Americans.

WHITFIELD: You also talk about the lightning rod issues that oftentimes come up whenever a Supreme Court justice opening comes about, you alluded to it, abortion, gun control. President Obama has made himself clear on where he is on abortion. He says he does believe a woman's right to choose. So, one would think that he is going to make a selection that shares at least that same ideology.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. He made a puzzling statement during a debate last year. In the final presidential debate he said he's a staunch believer in a woman's right to choose, but he wouldn't make it a litmus test for his Supreme Court nomination. Not sure exactly what that means. I think he means he doesn't want it to become a huge issue, but there is no doubt he will appoint someone who supports abortion rights.

WHITFIELD: It is believed he, and I think he expressed it, as well on Friday, that he wants to have someone, a name, I guess, by June. Is it your belief that it might come even sooner than that?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it could. But I think he's going to be very careful and deliberative about this choice. Souter is not retiring until the end of the term in June. The court begins its new sessions in October. That gives him some time to consider very carefully what kind of choice he wants to make. Most of the people on the list that the insiders are buzzing about in Washington are either women, or Latinos or African-Americans, because the last three Supreme Court nominees who have been confirmed have been white men. So, a lot of people say -- there are some names right there.

Hispanic Sonia Sotomayor, Deval Patrick is an African-American governor, Jennifer Granholm, the upper right corner; she's a woman who is the governor of Michigan, was attorney general of Michigan. You see some other women. The chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, Leah Ward Sears is an African-American woman. These are the names that are being talked about here in Washington.

WHITFIELD: OK, we know while President Obama wants to make that decision by June, we know we and others will be talking about this all week. SCHNEIDER: Oh, yeah.

WHITFIELD: It is going to be driving conversations everywhere. Thanks so much, Bill Schneider, appreciate it.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, he was a football star who became a political star. We'll take a look at why Congressman jack Kemp was so popular whether you were on his team or not.

And who are the homeless? Maybe not who you think they are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A meeting at the White House this week is expected to focus on the Taliban threat. President Obama is scheduled to meet with Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. The U.S has been pressing Mr. Zardari to take a stronger stance against Taliban militants along the Pakistani/Afghan border. The president maybe asked for more money to train Pakistani troops.

Well, he'd like to call himself a bleeding-heart conservative, former Congressman Jack Kemp, a champion of tax cuts, supply-side economics, and the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee has died of cancer. CNN's Don Lemon looks back at the life of a football star turned political heavyweight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As a star quarterback in the old American football league, jack Kemp led the Buffalo Bills to back-to-back championships in 1964 and '65. When he retired from football 1970, Buffalo-area voters elected him to the House of Representatives. Kemp often said he was more interested in ideas than partisan politics and he regarded his political foes as opponents, not enemies.

JACK KEMP (R), FMR VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You know what helped me? Playing football. When I got my head knocked off by Nick Bonakani (ph) or Ernie Ladd (ph) - they're my best friends today. And I realize they didn't make it personal and I don't take it personal. And I think politics can be the same way.

LEMON: In 1978 Kemp teamed up with Senator William Roth of Delaware to propose the Kemp/Roth tax cuts. After Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, much of that proposal became law.

KEMP: From 1981 to 1988 the top tax rate came down from 70 to 28.

LEMON: Those tax cuts established Kemp as a leading advocate of conservative supply-side economics, but unlike many of the other conservatives of his era, Kemp actively courted African-American support. KEMP: The ability that our party could be a Lincoln party, in terms of attracting black and brown, and men and women of color, and low-income status, and immigrant status, who want a shot at the American dream for their children.

LEMON: Kemp made a bid for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination. He was unsuccessful. But the man who won that nomination, the first President Bush, put Kemp in his Cabinet. As secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Kemp stuck to his supply- side philosophy, advocating tax breaks for inner-city businesses and home ownership for the poor.

KEMP: We're here to tell every single resident in public housing in the United States of America, you, too, can manage and control and ultimately own your own property.

LEMON: In 1996, Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole picked Kemp to be his vice presidential running mate.

BOB DOLE, (R) FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I like people around me of ideas. That's why I picked Jack Kemp for my running mate. Jack has ideas.

LEMON: On the vice presidential campaign trail, the former football star was a team player.

KEMP: I played second-string quarterback a lot of times in my life.

LEMON: Dole and Kemp lost to the incumbent President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

KEMP: I called Vice President Gore and offered my congratulations to him and the president.

LEMON: The defeat ended Kemp's career as a political candidate, but it did not dim his influence inside his Republican Party. He continued to write and speak about his ideas inspiring a new generation of supply-side conservatives.

KEMP: The only way to oppose a bad idea is to replace it with a good idea and I'd like to think that I have spent my life trying to promote good ideas.

LEMON: Jack Kemp was 73 years old. Don Lemon, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And President Obama praised Jack Kemp today. He said, quote, "Jack Kemp was a man who could fiercely advocate his own beliefs and principals while also remembering the lessons he learned years earlier on the football field. That bitter divisiveness between race and class and station only stood in the way of the common aim of a team to win."

Another death in the news to report to you. The Reverend Vernon King died in Greensboro, North Carolina, yesterday. He was 48. A nephew of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Vernon King was the senior pastor at a Greensboro church. He served on the boards of the King Center and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, that is the civil rights organization that his uncle co-founded. There is no word on the cause of death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The face of the homeless: The recession is making it tough on everyone. And many once prosperous families are now joining the ranks of the homeless. One Maryland mom shares her story with our Kate Baldwin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA WASH, HOMELESS MOTHER: Yep, right on schedule.

KATE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Every day, just past 4:00, Sheila Walsh meets her daughter, Shalaya (ph), as she arrives home from school.

WASH: Hey, I brought your jacket because I know it's cold.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, it's really, really cold.

BALDWIN: But every day is anything but a homecoming for the Wash family. Sheila and her two children are homeless, have been since 2007 after Sheila lost her job with the government. They Washes are now watching in this Washington, D.C. shelter.

WASH: I thank God we have a roof over our head right now. You know, you have to accept the things that come to you.

BALDWIN: Their situation only made worse as the economic recession set in.

WASH: Trying to find a job it's been hard, and then now that a lot of people being laid off, it's even harder, you know, trying to find a job, when other people are looking for the same job.

BALDWIN: The Washes are part of the changing face of homelessness. Not just individuals, but families. The D.C. region alone is reporting a 15 percent jump in homeless families since last year.

(On camera): What would you say to those people who don't understand this face of homelessness?

WASH: Uh, whew. I mean, you just can't judge a book by its cover. I mean, there's always a story behind a person that is less fortunate than you.

BALDWIN: School officials in Prince George's County, Maryland, where the Wash kids go to school, say a day doesn't go by without enrolling more children as homelessness. Denise Ross handles outreach to homeless families. DENISE ROSS, HOMELESS EDU. SUPR. PRINCE GEORGE'S CO., MD: Some of them are embarrassed. Some of them are scared. Some of them are sad. Students who are displaced, or homeless students, feel that schools is a safe haven. That's - they really want to come to school.

BALDWIN: And school is the one source of stability Sheila Wash says they can count on right now. They are shopping for new uniforms with the help of school vouchers. However, they're facing another setback. Their current shelter is about to close, and the Washes don't know where they will stay next, but one wish keeps them going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I pray that I wake up in the morning, and my mom - we get a house and everything that we wanted.

BALDWIN: Kate Baldwin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A five-year-old boy at the heart of the swine flu outbreak. He's believed to be the first person to have contracted the H1N1 virus. You'll meet patient zero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Let's check in with Bonnie Schneider again because now we're talking about a tornado sighting?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, we have two sightings to tell you about. The first one from law enforcement reporting a tornado near Raymond. This is in Alabama near Besmer (ph), moving northeast at 35 miles per hour. We also have trained weather spotters that have reported a funnel cloud, that means a tornado could touch down at any time. This is near Woodstock Junction, or 15 miles north of Centerville, also in Alabama.

I've illustrated where the tornado warnings are here on the map. They include two cities. We can see Tuscaloosa, off further to the west, and areas just to the east of Tuscaloosa, under the warning. And also, Birmingham, Alabama now under a tornado warning.

This is a serious situation that we're monitoring. The entire region is under severe thunderstorm watch until 4 o'clock today. We have more tornado warnings that are just popping up now, as we speak, just on the border of Mississippi and Alabama and even into Georgia, as we go into the evening hours. That is likely to see more tornadic activity especially as we go through much of the afternoon and the evening.

Just want to show you the reason why. Yesterday we were talking about the microbursts that worked its way across much of the Dallas region. But I want to just show you that what we're looking at here, is we have a front that's somewhat stationary for today. Then you have low pressure riding along the front. We have fast-moving winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere and we strong thunderstorms rolling through and this is the recipe for tornadic activity. And that's where we're seeing it pop up.

You know, it's still only 1:30 in the afternoon in the areas in the Central Time Zone so we're likely to see more of this throughout the day. Once again, keep in mind that we're watching for the tornadic activity across Alabama as we go through the afternoon; some of these warnings are about to expire. Fredricka, I expect we will see more throughout the day today.

WHITFIELD: Oh, all right. Thanks for the warning, but that's certainly not good news. I appreciate that, Bonnie.

SCHNIEDER: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Mexican officials believe they have pinpointed the spot where the H1N1 flu virus actually started. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes us there and introduces us to the child known as "patient zero".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As the number of swine flu cases build around the world, everyone has been on the hunt for the source.

(On camera): We've long suspected that the origin of swine flu may have been on a pig farm and now we're headed towards one about two hours north of Mexico City. We think we may find where this virus started. We may also find him, Edgar Hernandez. People believe he is "patient zero", the first patient to contract the virus.

(Voice over): La Gloria, it's a village where everyone knows someone. I showed this motorcycle rider Edgar's picture. His name is Frederick and he offers to take me.

(On camera): Don't drop me. OK.

(Voice over): So, after hours of searching and hours of driving, we'll finally meet the little boy that everyone is calling "patient zero". There he is: Edgar Hernandez, a little five-year-old boy who got so sick.

(On camera): Did you have a headache? (speaking Spanish)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He had headache and throat.

GUPTA (voice over): He was brought to this clinic where he was diagnosed as possibly the first case of swine flu of this outbreak.

Where did it come from? Edgar's mom thinks she knows.

(On camera): A lot of people are saying the swine flu came from some of the pig farms, do you believe that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): That's what she hears.

GUPTA: No question we stumbled on to a controversy here. The citizens of La Gloria really believe that the pig farms in the nearby areas got so many of their citizens sick. So we decided to pay those pig farms a visit.

(Voice over): The industrial pig farm is huge and owned by American company, Smithfield Foods. The people in town say they believe this is the source of the outbreak.

(On camera): We finally made our way to the hog farm, but the Mexican Department of Agriculture and the company itself said they have done testing and the tests have come back negative. They simply won't let us through security. They simply won't show us the pigs.

(Voice over): This medical mystery now only half solved. We know who may have first contracted swine flu, we just don't know where he got it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, La Gloria, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. So scientists continue to look into the origin of this current flu strain and you may have heard comparisons to a far more deadly strain that hit almost a century ago. Back then they called it the Spanish flu. In 1918 flu was considered it be the benchmark for bad in terms of pandemics; 50 million people died worldwide. Heidi McClure (ph) of CNN affiliate KUSA spoke to a survivor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSE WORTH, 1918 FLU SURVIVOR: I can remember the day that my dad said he was going to call the doctor because we were in school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (voice over): Rose Worth was just a child, but she knew exactly what the Spanish flu was. For two years she saw people around her getting sick and then her own family in 1920.

WORTH: And the minute he said he had the flu, I just knew I was going to lose her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worth's mother, Elizabeth, was the first to get it. She can't recall how long her mother was sick, but she remembers exactly what she told her.

WORTH: Rosie, of course, Rosie, you're going to have to help daddy take care of the children. Those were her last words to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worth was the oldest of four children and what her mother didn't know was two days after her death, Worth's father would die, too, and then, her baby sister.

WORTH: That's the one, Lilly, the one that died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worth remembers being sick, but she never thought much of dying.

WORTH: I don't remember worrying about it. I just remember being sick and knowing that I had lost my mother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 11 years old, Worth survived the flu, headlines labeled a killer.

WORTH: That was a killer, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now with the scare of another flu being compare would that in 1918, Worth says, like before, she's not worried about herself.

WORTH: It's your family, you don't think much of self, not at 100 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worth celebrated a century in January. She says she's had a full life and surviving the flu was just part of it.

WORTH: I'm pretty tough, I consider myself, and life has made me tough.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Yes, she is a tough lady.

All right, the fate of a major newspaper now in question. How tough is "The Boston Globe"? Could it fold if a tense labor dispute is not resolved? Union leaders and management face off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Tragedy in the Alps: Officials in Austria say they have recovered the bodies of six hikers killed in an avalanche yesterday. Rescuers say there was one survivor, a 45-year-old man. Officials have not released information on the nationalities of the victims, but the Austria Press Agency says all of them were from the Czech Republic.

A frantic search for possible survivors is under way in the Philippines after a tropical storm triggered massive landslides and flooding. At least 11 people were killed. Most of the victims were buried by piles of mud and debris as they slept in their homes. Nine people are still missing.

And a violent clash today between Egyptian police and outraged pig farmers in Cairo. Police, some in armored vehicles, charged into a crowd of stone-throwing farmers protesting a government order to kill their pigs. At least 12 people were injured, including police officers. The Egyptian government has ordered all the country's 300,000 pigs be killed as a response to the swine flu outbreak. World Health officials say the move is unnecessary, however, because they say the flu is being spread through humans, not by pigs.

Actor and activist George Clooney has made "Time" magazine's list of the World's 100 Most Influential People. U2 front man Bono interviewed Clooney for the "Time 100 Anderson Copper 360" special about the list. Here's part of the interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BONO: I have a theory. I don't know what you make of it. That actors, in a certain sense, are like journalists, like you collect the details of other people's lives, the minutia.

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR, ACTIVIST: Well, there's some truth to it. The difference is there isn't the responsibility there as a journalist. You know, you have a responsibility to the truth, or you hope you have a responsibility to the truth, if you're a journalist. If you're an actor, you can, you know, you can make up your facts along the way. You can decide character has these qualities and you could decide certain facts, unless you're doing a movie or project based specifically on somebody.

I think most actors are jealous of journalists in a lot of ways, because there's -- I have nothing but respect for them.

BONO: Oh, yeah, I mean, they are the, they are protecting our democracy, that's for sure. Especially the level of Nick Christoph (ph) and people like that. I must say, I think if I wasn't singing, that's what I would be doing.

CLOONEY: I studied journalism in school, I only lacked smarts. Other than that, I had the proper hat for it.

BONO: Yeah, I could see the problem.

CLOONEY: It goes good with the hat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, he'd look good in any old hat. The special "Time 100 AC 360" hour, "The World's Most Influential People" airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific only on CNN.

Vegetables and herbs grown in your own backyard. A look at the rise in popularity of the so-called Recession Garden. Plus, some tips on how to start your own.

But, first, the brilliant and creative minds of the future are off to a pretty impressive start. Check out what they're doing right now in the present. CNN's Brooke Baldwin takes us to a competition where young engineers can really flex their minds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's big, it's blue, it's the Cookie Monster and it is one of hundreds of robots designed and built by high school students.

ISABELLE NGUYEN, "SPACE COOKIES": I'm like, wow, this is amazing. We want to do this. And we came up with the design and the mentors they help us out.

BALDWIN: It is part of a series of competitions held every year by the tech industry sponsored F.I.R.S.T. Organization. These teenagers design a robot from scratch, everything from the computer controls to how to keep it from sliding off the playing surface.

CHRISTINA WETTERSTON, "SPACE COOKIES": We also have encoders on our wheels which records how fast the wheels are spinning. And then we take the difference between the two speeds and ramp them so you never spin your wheels too much.

BALDWIN: This year the object is to put more orbit balls into opposing team's trailers than they put in yours. How they do it and what they do with their limited resources is up to them.

CHRISTINE MATHENEY, "SPACE COOKIES": We pick balls up the field here and they suck up through the vents and they are held up here. And then we spin this forward and spit them out in their trailers.

BALDWIN: Organizers say the knowledge and experience that comes from this kind of project is paving the way for the future.

GREG HARPER, F.I.R.S.T. MENTOR: The creativity that generates. Now it's a combination of hardware and software. This is what is generating our future engineers. This is the bedrock of our country going forward.

BALDWIN: And if the Space Cookies have their way, more female engineers will be part of that future. This team made up of Girl Scouts. Their goal? To inspire women to pursue science and engineering.

WETTERSTON: I have always been sort of interested in math and science. Never felt there was never anything - I feel like a woman doing this.

BALDWIN: This team didn't win the nationals this year, but they did go with a winning record and lessons from a Cookie Monster that might lead to a career.

NGUYEN: Before this I didn't know I wanted to become a mechanical engineer, but now I do know I want to become a mechanical engineer.

BALDWIN: Brooke Baldwin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's talk again with Bonnie Schneider who has a close eye on a few tornado warnings.

SCHNEIDER: That's right, Fredricka. They are popping up fast and furious across Alabama. This is just the beginning of a very volatile day, unfortunately, for the Southeast. We have tornado warnings still in effect for Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair Counties. That is just one of the areas we're tracking, including the City of Birmingham still under a tornado warning. We're also tracking them further to the south and closer to the Mississippi border. Just to let you know, local law enforcement reported a tornado near Raymond about 25 minutes ago, moving to the northeast at 35 miles per hour. We also had reported trained weather spotters saying they saw frontal clouds northwest of Emmett, in Alabama, and near Woodstock Junction.

So, you know, now we're not only reporting but Doppler radar indicates rotation. We're getting trained spotters, law enforcement, saying hey, this stuff is out there and you can see it out there, as well.

We're also getting reports of frequent lightning strikes with this storm system stretching well back to the southern parishes of Louisiana. Most of the region still under a severe thunderstorm watch, as we go into the afternoon, not only the tornado warnings but just the threat of strong, straight-line winds and as well as large hail with this system.

Now to let you know, as we go into the evening hours, things may get a little worse before they get better. What you are looking at is the convective outlook from the Storm Prediction Center out of Norman, Oklahoma. Take a look at this. Moderate risk right here, in the southeast, moderate risk is serious. It means we could see more long- lasting tornadoes, if we get them; a more widespread area of severe weather breaking out, Fred.

So, that is important to know. Moderate risk, you see it this time of year, but usually it means trouble, it means we're going to see more tornadic activity. And it does cover Alabama even into parts of Georgia later on.

WHITFIELD: This is the time of year, sadly.

SCHNEIDER: Oh, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Bonnie. Appreciate it.

All right. The fate of "The Boston Globe" newspaper could depend on intense labor negotiations happening right now. The paper's owners, The New York Times Company, is demanding $20 million in concessions from employees. Half of those concessions from the paper's largest union. The Times has set a midnight deadline to reach a deal.

Union leaders say they're proposing deep cuts in worker's pay and benefits that should satisfy management. The Times Company has threaten to close "The Globe" unless the union makes concessions.

And more car dealerships are on the list of endangered businesses. Geoffrey Pohanka, and his family, have been selling cars in the Washington area for three generations. I asked him if he's worried about the industry troubles threatening his business.

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GEOFFREY POHANKA, POHANKA AUTOMOTIVE GROUP: A lot of dealers, because of reduced cash flow are going to be closing the doors. There were over 900 dealers that closed their doors last year, and there are more every day.

Quite frankly, when business is down, new car sales are down some 40 percent, you need 40 percent fewer dealers or 40 percent less car manufacturers. They it won't stay like this. The business will improve. It's not sustainable at levels this low. The question is, who will remain staying when business does improve? And that's the real question. We have not gotten any phone calls. We have two Saturn stores and they're trying to sell Saturns. We just don't know what is going to happen. Will we close our doors? Hopefully not. Will they sell Saturn and become a new entity? Hopefully, but we don't know for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Geoffrey Pohanka, not receiving the call from GM yet, about closing the dealership; 2,600 dealerships, apparently, might get the call from GM by next year. All the best to the Pohankas.

Whether it is to stretch the budget, eat healthier, or as a project to bring the family together, more people are planting Recession Gardens. Our Jacqui Jeras decided to get her hands dirty, too.

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JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST (On camera): Hey, Fredricka. Who knew so many people were gardening? I had no idea. When I first started researching this I found out that about 50 percent of Americans - yeah, just like you, Fred, because I know you garden -say they are all planning on gardening throughout the year.

And there are so many great reasons to do it. You can grow your own fresh fruit and vegetables. It is really therapeutic. A lot of people really enjoy this, plus it is a great family activity. But the number one reason that people are growing their own fresh produce this year, is to save money. Yeah, that's right. The National Gardner's Association says that 7 million additional people plan to start a new food garden in 2009. And for minimal costs and effort, I should be able to get about a half a pound of produce per square foot.

So, if I go to the garden store, or to the nursery, an average investment would be about $70. And I should be able to get about $500 or $530 worth of savings by doing that. Wow, $500. Who wouldn't want to save $500 throughout the summer, if you could? So, of course, the big question is, can you really do it? If so, how?

All right. This is the area that I chose.

WALTER REEVES, GARDENING EXPERT: This is a good one. We need a lot of sunshine and that is the biggest thing to guarantee success on a vegetable garden. Lots of sunshine. South is this way and so I think we'll have plenty of sun.

JERAS (voice over): Walter reeves should know, he's an author and expert on gardening in Georgia.

(On camera): How many hours a day?

REEVES: Gosh, at least eight. I would love eight. Six is marginal for a lot of vegetables.

JERAS (voice over): But the sunshine isn't the only thing needed.

(On camera): In terms of having a successful garden, how important is having good soil or the additional soil that we're going to be buying?

REEVES: All right, we said sunshine, we said was the most important thing, but second and real close in importance is good soil. And in any part of the country, you want to make sure your soil is an fast-draining sort loamy, organic soil, not a lot of clay, not a lot of sand.

JERAS (voice over): So after laying out the garden boundaries we get to work on the dirt. We remove the grass and break up the soil. Georgia is notorious for its heavy clay. My husband Mike sets up the bed borders as we go off to the nursery.

REEVES: Oh, we just have all sorts of bell peppers right here.

JERAS: And tomatoes, fresh herbs, strawberries. Oh, and don't forget the top soil.

REEVES: Four.

JERAS (On camera): So then we should go to the seeds?

REEVES: Now we need seeds, because it is a little too early at the nursery to have squash, cucumber, some of the warm season plants out. We could plant seeds at the garden.

JERAS: OK.

I'd like some squash. I love zucchini.

REEVES: This is Black Beauty Zucchini.

JERAS: They look so different.

(Voice over): I can't resist adding a few blueberry bushes. But that's where my budget gets into trouble.

(On camera): Most people probably wouldn't get that. I personally would like to keep them. We'll try our 125 and hope we come out ahead.

REEVES: You'll be a great gardener by the end of the summer.

JERAS (voice over): Back at the house we mix in the new soil and build a trellis for the tomatoes and cumbers. And finally it's time to actually dig and put them in the soil.

REEVES: You want to take them out of the pots and you see the roots right there. We sort of mash them just a little bit. We dig a hole big enough to hold the whole plant in the ground, so it's sort of level. And that's all we do. We put some dirt around it.

JERAS (On camera): OK, so I went a little bit over the budget and certainly it was the blueberries fault. But, you know what, Fred, I'm hosting a backyard barbecue and I bought this tiny pint of blueberries and this cost me $5 at the grocery store. So, if I could get a couple of these off the blueberry plants, I'll break even. So, there's lots of different ways you could save money, or have your garden cost less than the $125 I put in.

One of the ways is using recyclable materials, or just different types of materials that might be a little bit cheaper. I had the chicken wire already. And my husband took some pieces of left over wood that we had, and that helped keep our cost down there a little bit as well.

You can also make some decisions in terms of plant variety. I went a little overboard with like seven different types of vegetables and fruits here. If you keep it down to a few, that will keep your cost down, as well. Another idea is plants versus seeds. The seeds are a lot cheaper than the plants. So, if you want to start that way, that will save you a little bit of money, however, it might be a little harder to have success when you decide to go with seeds, instead.

And last, but not least, of course, you don't have to plant everything at one time. Wait until things go on sale. Shop at different places. You don't have to get everything at one place. So, there's certainly a lot of different ways that you can make your garden a little bit cheaper and hopefully stay within budget. Fred?

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WHITFIELD: Well, I am very impressed, Jackie. I can't wait till she comes back with the fruits of her labor. Bring on the blueberries.

All right. Well, it's not your typical date night, not when you are the first couple. We have details on their brief get away from the White House.

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WHITFIELD: What is it like to out on the town, in Georgetown, in Washington, D.C. and, look, look, there's the president and the first lady. They suddenly just pop up, their motorcade does, and they actually hit one of the more popular restaurants there in Georgetown. It's call Citronelle. And then once they had a two-hour dinner just out and about the town of Georgetown in Washington. They decided to take an eight-minute stroll of the South Lawn on the White House. Even they need a little time alone. All right, coming up in the 4:00 Eastern hour, jobs and extra cash are in short supply, so plastic surgeons are finding ways to cut the costs of a facelift. You'll be surprised by what they're doing to make a little nip and tuck more affordable. And, of course, we're also answering your questions about H1N1 in the 4:00 Eastern hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

"Your $$$" starts right now.