Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
What Happened to That Photo-Op Picture of Air Force One Over NYC?; Watch Dog Group Looking at Lenders; Top 10 Cities for College Grads; U.S. Teacher with Swine Flu Dies; Priest Sorry Over Photos; D.C. City Council Approves Marriage Bill
Aired May 06, 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: The battle against the Taliban in focus at the White House. President Barack Obama meeting with the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan today.
Also take a look at this before and after. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes us through the most extensive facial transplant ever.
And also they are charged with bringing down the economy. The worst of the subprime lenders called out.
It's Wednesday, May 6th. I'm Heidi Collins and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Today at the White House bolstering alliances in one of the most dangerous areas on earth. President Obama set to meet with the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The stakes are huge.
The Taliban gains ground and moves closer to Pakistan's capital. And could militants seize control now of its nuclear weapons? Meanwhile an orphanage is caught in the cross fire and tens of thousands of civilians runs for their lives.
Across the border in Afghanistan, anti-U.S. outrage grows. Didn't an American-led operation killed dozens of civilians?
We certainly have a lot of ground to cover this morning. So let's go ahead and begin in Pakistan now. CNN's Ivan Watson joining us live from Islamabad.
Good morning to you, Ivan.
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Yes, there's an orphanage that's been caught in the crossfire of this battle in the Pakistan's Swat Valley in the northwest of the country. Basically we've been talking to the director of the orphanage who is stuck outside of the town due to the fighting and to roadblocks.
He says there's some 80 boys, aged five to 17 -- they're hunkered down in the basement of this orphanage which is a few blocks, just a few hundred yards from the main army headquarters.
Army soldiers have taken up lookout positions on the roof of that building and fighting has been raging all around there. The Pakistani army says that their army headquarters has come under siege over the course over the last 24 hours. Police stations have come under attack from Taliban militants in the town of Mingora, the district capital of Swat Valley.
At least four soldiers have been killed today and banks and government buildings have been overrun by the Taliban. Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, Ivan, certainly a lot going on. And we will keep a close eye on that with you as well.
We are also keeping a close eye on that bombing that has stirred so much anger in Afghanistan. The government is investigating now because there's so much conflicting information. Local officials are blaming a U.S.-led military operation for about 30 civilian deaths.
International Red Cross officials say they found dozens of bodies on the scene. International Red Cross officials say they found dozens of bodies well. A senior official -- U.S. military official, in fact, tells CNN 11 insurgents were killed, 11 civilians wounded. The U.S. has dispatched its own team of investigators now.
President Obama apparently believing a regional problem needs a regional solution. Today he needs to convince Pakistan and Afghanistan of three things. They need each other, they need the U.S., and the U.S. needs them.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are the leaders on the front lines of the war against extremists and they're asking for President Obama's help.
ASIF ALI ZARDARI, PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN: I need drone to be part of my arsenal. I need that facility. I need that equipment. I need that to be my police arrangement.
MALVEAUX: Pakistan's president with CNN's Wolf Blitzer says the Taliban is gaining ground.
ZARDARI: That cease-fire agreement is not holding but we are going to try and hold them to it.
MALVEAUX: By all accounts President Obama agrees. The conditions in the region are deteriorating, posing a serious security risk to the U.S.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The situation is increasingly perilous. It's been more than seven years since the Taliban was removed from power. Yet war rages on. And insurgents control parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
MALVEAUX: But U.S. officials are careful to say they are still confident in Pakistan's relatively new leader.
RICHARD HOLBROOKE, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN: Our goal must be unambiguously to support and help stabilize a democratic Pakistan head by its elected president, Asif Ali Zardari.
MALVEAUX: But U.S. Congress is less generous.
REP. GARY ACKERMAN (D), NEW YORK: Let me be blunt, Pakistan's pants are on fire.
MALVEAUX: Pakistan's neighbor, Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, says he's grateful for the additional U.S. and NATO troops that will soon arrive in country. But it is not enough.
HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN: The return of the Taliban is because we did not address the question sanctuaries in time. Unfortunately today Pakistan is suffering with us massively in a consequence of that. We'll have an occasion between us, Afghanistan, Pakistan and America to discuss this very question.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joining us now live.
Suzanne, what is the relationship like between these two visiting leaders, Karzai and Zardari? Do they actually get along?
MALVEAUX: Well, it's a very new relationship actually because if you take a look at what happened in the Bush administration, you had Karzai and Pervez Musharraf. There was a lot of mistrust between those two.
There is some blame that is happening here between these two leaders. Karzai, if you listen very carefully that last bit of sound in that piece there, he is turning to and he's saying to Zardari that look, the main problem here is that we've got sanctuaries that have developed for the Taliban, and he is looking to Pakistan saying look, you know, that's where the sanctuaries are here. That is where the problem lies.
So there is a bit of blame that going back and forth, and what the administration wants to do, senior administration officials say look, we just want to get these guys together. This is a process. This is not a precooked situation. We've got to get them in the same room and to talk about how to work together because it is clear that that is a problem, Heidi, that you've got these sanctuaries for the Taliban.
And senior administration officials say the focus, yes, on Afghanistan, but more so now on Pakistan because its own government, the Pakistani government, cannot provide basic services to its people and at the same time the Taliban is gaining strength, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, certainly. All right, we'll be watching really closely. Thank you, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House this morning.
Well, we've all been talking about it, the swine flu outbreak, and right now that is the topic at a hearing on Capitol Hill. Here's the very latest now on the H1N1 virus. A Texas schoolteacher is the first U.S. resident to die of swine flu. Health officials say the 33-year-old woman had underlying health problems, though. They stopped short of saying it was actually swine flu that killed her.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says the number of cases worldwide has climbed to 1,516 in 22 countries. That includes 30 deaths. The U.S. has 403 cases.
A boss with 15,000 employees, how does he keep all of those people from catching swine flu on the job? We're talking to a global CEO about what he's doing. That'll be coming up after the half hour.
It stirred terrifying memories of 9/11 and sent many New Yorkers into a panic. And now the Obama White House faces more questions over last week's bundled photo-op in the skies over Manhattan.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: More severe weather this morning with a couple of tornado warnings out and three severe weather watch boxes. Some flooding expected and now fires burning in Southern California.
Weather is coming up when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Six tornados touched down in North Carolina yesterday. Both of them were in the eastern part of the state. The National Weather Service is sending out teams to check the damage and determine the strength of the twisters.
And about a dozen homes were damaged and some people were forced to take refuge at a local school. Thankfully, though, only minor injuries were reported.
Storms also dumped several inches of rain in the Charlotte areas, flooding streets and homes. The water was so high some people had to be rescued by boat. More rain is in the forecast for today.
A wildfire in Santa Barbara, California is threatening thousands of homes right now. About 1,200 homes had to be evacuated. Fire is burning a half mile from those houses. Officials also closed five- area schools. Fire prevention helicopters flew rare overnight missions in an effort to keep the fire from spreading in two neighborhoods.
Rob Marciano joining us now talk about all of these things. Yes, that is pretty rare to have them going out at night, Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes. And also it's kind of early in the season. We're getting into the dry season now, Southern California as well. So to be ongoing threat right on through the fall and through midwinter.
(WEATHER REPORT) MARCIANO: All right. Back to the fire situation we talked about, that Southern California fire. Now this one out of Arizona. Sierra Vista, Arizona, 2,000 acres burning with a zero containment. There have been a couple of homes that had been destroyed because of it and one person injured.
So it will, once again, Heidi, be very warm out not only across Arizona but Southern California. This is the first time in the season that -- Phoenix at least, we'll see temperatures that will approach if not exceed 100 degrees over the next couple of days.
COLLINS: Wow. It really does seem early for that, doesn't it?
MARCIANO: Yes, it does.
COLLINS: All right. Rob, thank you. We'll check back later on.
MARCIANO: Sounds good.
COLLINS: There's new fallout now the over last week's bungled photo-op in the skies over Manhattan, you remember the low-flying presidential aircraft, panicked New Yorkers and embarrassed the Obama administration. Well, now the White House faces new questions.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looked like Air Force One flying low over Manhattan with F-16s in pursuit and it sent some New Yorkers into the streets and into a panic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my god.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: What is the problem, sir? You've got to tell me. What is going on, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a -- they're trying -- an aircraft, a big aircraft, kind of like 9/11.
MESERVE: It turned out to be a photo op, but where are the photos, the White House press secretary was asked.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't know where those are.
MESERVE: The White House press office says there are no plans to make the photographs public. "There is nothing wrong with the previous photos so we're going to use them."
Remember that declaration of a new era of openness?
OBAMA: The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over. MESERVE: So why exactly doesn't that apply to the photos? An advocate for government disclosures says it should, saying it is silly and absurd to withhold them.
PATRICE MCDERMOTT, OPENTHEGOVERNMENT.ORG: These are public records. These photograph, videos, or whatever they have are public records because they were done on government time using government resources and government personnel.
MESERVE: And back in New York the news reignited public outrage over the incident./
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't seem right. If we have spent the money to have these photos taken then it should be available for the public to see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're so worried about their image and they don't want to be seen in the bad light.
MESERVE (on camera): White House spokesmen Robert Gibbs says he will take another look at releasing the photos but it hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile, a White House inquiry into the flyover should be done within in a few days but there's no word on whether the report, unlike the photos, will be made public.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Quickly we want to get this breaking news out to you this morning and it's not good news either. CNN has been able to confirm, along with our affiliates and the Marine Corps air station, that there has been a helicopter crash. A Marine helicopter that's gone down.
I'm going to read to you here what I have. It was a Cobra helicopter. Two Marine pilots on board. Unfortunately both were confirmed dead at the scene. We are understanding that that crash happened in San Diego County. They're based at Camp Pendleton and with the 11th Marine Expedition Unit.
They were doing some pre-deployment missions today so we will continue to follow that story for you but unfortunately we do know at this point that two Marines have been confirmed dead after this helicopter crash in San Diego County.
The face of survival. A mother of two and her amazing medical story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
COLLINS: Connie Culp is a survivor. She endured a near fatal gunshot wound that took away her facial identity. Culp was the victim of an attempted murder/suicide by her husband. She had an amazing and unprecedented face transplant at Cleveland Clinic last December.
CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A shotgun blast five years ago blew this woman's face to pieces. A 46-year-old mother of two. In a moment, her identity gone.
This was the end result. Connie Culp no longer had a nose. Could not eat solids or drink from a cup. She had a hard time breathing. She lived in virtual seclusion.
DR. FRANK PAPAY, CLEVELAND CLINIC: Little children would shy away from her and be scared of her.
GUPTA: Then, after years of waiting, Culp was matched with a donor - a face donor. Even as a doctor, I had never seen anything quite like it. The most extensive facial transplant ever.
Before, after.
It took 22 hours, eight surgeons. Eighty percent of Culp's face, her palate, upper lip, nose, eyelids, replaced with that of a donor.
CONNIE CULP, FACE TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: I got me my nose.
GUPTA: And here's how she got it. First, graphed skin from the face of a donor who had just died. Doctors careful to preserve arteries, veins, nerves. The next hours are critical.
Using powerful microscope, doctors married the veins from donor to recipient and then grafted the donor's skin onto Culp's face.
The only indication it worked, the veins and arteries began to course with blood.
PAPAY: You have to wait and see if it clots or make sure that it continues to flush for that initial five minutes is you know you've done your job.
GUPTA: Face transplantation is new territory conferring tremendous risk, especially for a procedure that, unlike liver or heart transplantation, is not life saving. Add to that, face transplantations require high doses of immune-system suppressing drugs for life so that the body does not reject the new face.
I interviewed Dr. Maria who led Culp's operation before the transplant.
(on camera): You're talking about a long operation with a foreign tissue that's going to require a lifetime of anti-rejection medications and may not take and the person could actually -- their life could be threatened. How do you reconcile those two things?
DR. MARIA SIEMIONOW, CLEVELAND CLINIC: These people are not just coming with such a commitment because they want to be beautiful. They want to be normal. And they want to be just come back to the society as anybody else. And I think they have rights to decide about that.
CULP: You never know what might happen to you. You might get in a car wreck and think you're beautiful one day, so don't judge people that don't look the same as you do. You never know. One day it might be all taken away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us now.
Boy, her attitude and even her sense of humor, too, is just so terrific. I watched that whole press conference.
How dangerous, though, I have to ask you, is this procedure? Because you mentioned in your story life altering but not lifesaving.
GUPTA: Yes, you know -- I mean, so it's one of those things that has become sort of an ethically gray area because it is a somewhat dangerous operation. 22 operation, just the risks of anesthesia are going to be very large, and the risk of the rejection of this transplant.
And remember this is still a transplant. So, you know, for something -- she did not have a life-threatening problem. You can define it however you want. It was terrible. She couldn't go outside. Do you do a potentially life threatening operation on someone who doesn't have a life-threatening problem? That's the debate that's been raging.
Obviously, they decided to move forward and she's done well.
COLLINS: Yes. Absolutely. So when we look at the future, you mentioned the anti-rejection drugs, of course, that she'll be on, I guess, for her whole life but how long before her face is fully healed?
GUPTA: It's a great question. So she will need those medications but the way you see her now, Heidi, is a reflection of a lot of different -- still swelling and the muscles not being innovated. The image you're looking at there, Heidi, if you can that.
COLLINS: Yes. Oh yes.
GUPTA: That's what they project she will look like a couple of years from now.
COLLINS: It's incredible.
GUPTA: Maybe less than that. So that's a huge transformation even from where she is now. She hardly has any scarring in her face which is remarkable after this sort of operation. This is -- the muscles start to work again, so her face starts to move and she loses the swelling. She doesn't look like the donor. She doesn't look like she looked before all of this. She looks like something entirely different. I think that's what they're seeing with these transplants.
COLLINS: Yes. But bless her, you know, she just wants to go out and about, which is -- can definitely be life altering in a different way for her. Certainly wish her the best.
Thanks so much.
GUPTA: That's right.
COLLINS: Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: R&B fans can hear a brand-new track with troubled star Chris Brown. The question is will they want to? The song "Turntables," (INAUDIBLE) this new album out yesterday, from Ciara. She defends the track with Brown, telling MTV it's one of her favorites and she just wants to focus on the music.
Ciara's set to perform on "Saturday Night Live" this weekend. Brown is accused of threatening and assaulting fellow star Rihanna in February. He has pleaded not guilty.
It's built as the world's best job and a British man had beaten 34,000 other contestants for the six-month tropical island gig. You're looking at some of the 16 finalists. Ben Southall will get paid $100,000 to feed fish, clean a pool and send weekly blog and video reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN SOUTHALL, CONTEST WINNER: The guy right now as the island caretaker for tourism Queens Island and Great Barrier Reef is an extreme honor. I hope I can fill the boot as much as everybody is expecting. My swimming, hopefully, is up to standard and I look forward to all of the new roles and responsibilities that the task involves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Australian officials say they hope excitement over the Hamilton Island contest will translate into big tourist bucks.
Ten days or else, Craigslist has given a hard deadline to clean up the Web site or face prosecution for promoting prostitution.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Thousands asked him for help with their significant others, but does the Miami priest known as Father Oprah have a significant other of his own? The reason why he's got a lot of explaining to do.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Mixed news on the state of the economy today. On one hand a new report shows the pace of job cuts is slowing but on the other, one of the nation's biggest banks may need to raise tens of billions of dollars in extra capital.
How will that push and pull play out on Wall Street? Well, Stephanie Elam is here with all of the answers at the New York Stock Exchange this morning.
Hi there, Stephanie. Talking about those stress tests, right?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi, but you know what, I think right now the markets are really paying attention to the latest jobs news that we got.
Stock futures turned higher after the latest AVP employment report was released. 491,000 jobs were lost last month. No doubt that is still a ton of jobs to lose. But it shows that employers continue to cut jobs but the number of cuts much less than what's expected.
So this could give us what to expect when the government releases its all-important jobs report for April on Friday. We're all going to be looking out for that. But as you mentioned, Heidi, there are new concerns that the banks will need to raise a lot more money than anticipated.
Several reports indicate the treasury stress test will show that Bank of America needs to raise as much as $35 billion.
COLLINS: Yes.
ELAM: Here's the deal, though. If they're not able to do that B of A may need to convert the government's preferred shares to common stocks and that would make the U.S. government B of A's biggest shareholder.
Also in the auto sector, Chrysler will not repay more than $7 billion in bailout money it got from taxpayers. That was earlier this year. There may be some hope, however. The treasury said the portion of the loan could be recovered from the assets of Chrysler Financial which is the automaker's credit arm. And that is going out of business.
One final thing to tell you about here. Disney says its second quarter profit plunged 46 horse.
COLLINS: Whoa.
ELAM: Because its movies did not perform well and people aren't spending as much at its theme park. That's not too much of a surprise based on the recession.
COLLINS: Right.
ELAM: Still the results, they did beat estimates and Disney shares -- they are up over eight percent right now. So obviously that park working out. I guess expectations are low.
Taking a look at the markets like we thought. We are in the green. The Dow up 60 points, 8471. NASDAQ better by 15 at 1769. We'll see if they can stay this way all day - Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. Love that. Hope it does.
All right, Stephanie. We'll check in a little later on. Thank you.
ELAM: Thanks.
COLLINS: A new investigation taking a closer look at subprime lenders and their role in the economic meltdown. The investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, the Washington watch dog group is also looking at how much of your tax dollars, those lenders, are actually getting in federal bailout money.
Now, Special Investigations Unit correspondent Abbie Boudreau is here now with more on this.
Wow.
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
COLLINS: Starting to learn a lot more about the particular people that could be responsible here.
BOUDREAU: Absolutely.
Well, this morning, the center release results of a six-month long investigation into the top 25 subprime lenders and the banks that backed them on Wall Street. They analyzed more than 7 million subprime loans made from 2005 to 2007, totaling nearly $1 trillion. The group found that at least 21 of the top 25 subprime lenders were either owned or backed by banks that received bailout money, and that most of the subprime lenders have closed, stopped lending or were sold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN DUNBAR, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: The most surprising part of the study was that the subprime lenders were overwhelmingly financed by these Wall Street banks, and that 21 out of the 25 lenders were actually funded by Wall Street banks that have gotten federal bailout money. That to me was a stunning -- stunning number.
The other stunning number which is well-known to people in California, but maybe not to the rest of the country is that the epicenter of this subprime meltdown was California, in particular, it was Orange County and Los Angeles County. Seven out of the top 10 were in one of those two counties. Nine out of top ten were in California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOUDREAU: Seven of the banks in the center's top 25 subprime list have gotten government assistance through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, also known as TARP. As far as the amount actually loan, Countrywide, which was sold top the list with $97 billion in loans. AIG was also on the list with nearly $22 billion.
The Center for Public Integrity's John Dunbar says AIG was actually surprised because it wasn't widely known that it has a subprime lending unit. And we'll start learning more about the banks that back these lenders, because of course, tomorrow, stress test is about to be released.
COLLINS: Yes, officially. All right, Abbie. Some good work there. Thanks so much.
Abbie Boudreau from our special investigations unit.
Several states now are taking aim at the CEO of Craigslist. In an effort to stop what they say are illegal ads promoting prostitution. Craigslist CEO says the site is trying to flag offensive and illegal ads so they can be remove. Attorneys general from Connecticut, Illinois, and Missouri met with lawyers from the popular Web site to discuss the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, ATTORNEY GENERAL, CONNECTICUT: More than 90 percent of the ads on Craigslist in the erotic services section are for illegal activity. Craigslist is enabling, law breaking and it must stop. We've given them a very short timetable measured in days, not weeks, for responding positively. We're hoping for their cooperation, but we're preparing to take action if they fail to respond affirmatively to the proposals that we have made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: South Carolina's attorneys general who wasn't at yesterday's meeting is also threatening to prosecute the Craigslist CEO.
From the hardwood to city hall. NBA hall of famer Dave Bing has been elected mayor of Detroit. Bing defeated incumbent and fellow democrat Ken Cockrell Jr. in a special runoff election yesterday. Bing will serve out the remainder of the term of Kwame Kilpatrick who resigned last year due to a sex scandal. Bing became a successful business after a stellar career with a hometown Pistons.
An arsenal at the day care center. Prosecutors say police found handguns, shotguns and ammunition in the basement of a Long Island day care center. The center's operator and husband have pleaded not guilty to illegal weapons possession and other charges. Prosecutors believe the weapons belonged to the couple's son, an alleged member of the Bloods Gang. New college graduates have it tough in this economy. Finding a job and coming up with money for rent can look like insurmountable challenges to some. A report out today says there are some cities that give young people a particularly good shot.
Our Josh Levs is here now with the list.
Hey, there, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, a little bit of potential good news, right?
COLLINS: Yes.
LEVS: If we're going to take a look at this list.
COLLINS: Sure.
LEVS: And actually, it's really interesting. You know, we're always seeing relatively depressing headlines, unfortunately. That's part of what we have to cover here, and this report about to give us some interesting things.
Let's go straight to number ten. I want to give you the countdown here. I want to show you what they're saying. They're saying San Antonio at number ten. And you can see, they've put average rent there. So what they've done. This comes from career builder and apartments.com.
Basically, they're saying when you take a look at how many jobs are available, how many young people live in a town and the average rent, and you weigh all those factors, San Antonio is the tenth best city to move to.
COLLINS: OK.
LEVS: Let's keep going up the list. We'll bank through some more cities here.
Number nine is Chicago, which I found interesting. Number eight, Denver. And you can see there the price of rent $877. Number seven is Phoenix. And then check out number six, Heidi, this one surprised me. They're saying New York at number six.
COLLINS: Sure.
LEVS: Even though it's known for the higher rent.
COLLINS: Look at the average rents. Whoa!
LEVS: I know. Yes, it's killer. But on the flipside they said there's more job opportunities there, lots of young people there, so that can help weigh in their favor.
COLLINS: Sure. LEVS: Let's move up to number five, Cleveland. That's doing pretty well down the list, $676 average rent. Cincinnati, all right, number four. And now we've got to the top three, folks.
Here you go, Baltimore, $1,130. Pretty higher rent, but lots of job opportunities, relatively speaking. Lots of young people moving there, apparently.
And Philadelphia at number two.
COLLINS: Really?
LEVS: And according to this list, Heidi, the number one best city -- check that out.
COLLINS: Indianapolis, huh.
LEVS: Yes. You know, I would not have guessed this.
COLLINS: I wouldn't have either.
LEVS: Yes.
COLLINS: That's pretty interesting.
One more time, tell me what they base it on. They base it on...
LEVS: You've got three factors. You got how many job opportunities are there. The average cost of rent. And how many other young college graduates are there for a good social scene.
COLLINS: OK. Very good.
LEVS: And you know what, we are inviting our viewers to weigh in today.
COLLINS: No, we are?
LEVS: We are. And they're doing it, of course, at the most important place on the Internet, the Heidi Collins blog at the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Yes.
LEVS: Best cities for recent college grads. Our Sarah Rudolph just posted this. And you should go on. Post what you think. We always hear from a lot of college graduates about the situations you're in.
Do you agree with the list? Do you disagree? What do you think is a good city? What experiences you have?
We'd love to hear from you. And if you're on Facebook or Twitter, I got pages there -- Josh Levs CNN. But, of course, they're nothing compared to the Heidi Collins' page with CNN NEWSROOM blog.
COLLINS: Yes. You're darn right.
All right. Josh Levs, thank you. Appreciate it.
LEVS: Thanks, Heidi. Got it.
COLLINS: More on the class of 2009. Coming up next hour, in fact, many of you reached out to us in our e-mail and on our blog with questions on financial aid. So we've invited some experts to join us at 10:30 this morning to answer those questions. Make sure you stick around for that.
Pictures of a man holding and kissing a woman. No big deal, right? Except if the man has taken a vow of celibacy and he's someone many people turn to for relationship advice. In fact, they call him Father Oprah.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Let's hand it over to CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano now. More severe weather to be talking about, Rob.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Absolutely. All right, Rob, keep us posted. We'll come back to you should that needs to be the case.
Thanks so much. Rob Marciano today.
Now, we want to give you the latest on the swine flu outbreak. Right now, it is the topic at a hearing on Capitol Hill. Here's what's new, though. On the H1N1 virus.
A Texas schoolteacher is the first U.S. resident to die with swine flu. Health officials say the 33-year-old woman had underlying health problems. They stopped short of saying swine flu actually killed her.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says the number of cases worldwide has climbed to 1,516 across 22 countries. That includes 30 deaths. The United States has 403 cases.
Well, as you knew, swine flu has already hit schools and a lot of people are worried about catching it at work as well. So what can employers do to keep people safe?
Joining me now to talk about this a little bit further, Bruce Mosler. He's the president and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield. He has 15,000 employees around the world, and manages about, oh, 500 million square feet of commercial property.
Bruce, good morning to you. Thanks for being with us.
Obviously, that's a lot of people, a lot of property. What are you doing to keep people safe? Anything in particular here?
BRUCE MOSLER, PRESIDENT & CEO, CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD: Yes, Heidi. I think in a situation like this what we want to do is inform people, communicate proactively. Basically, on behalf of our employees and our clients and property managers worldwide. We want to let them know what's happening. We want to keep them abreast of what the WHO and the CDC are advising. And it's basic things, and bluntly, it is being as proactive as possible and communicating the current situation.
COLLINS: Yes. Because it seems like to me that, you know, it's kind of on everybody's mind, whether you want to admit it or not because some people are certainly taking it more seriously than others. It's about appearances. It's about perception. So having that many people, you know, that you're responsible for, how do you keep everything calm and yet stay vigilant as far as what the threat could be?
MOSLER: Well, you're exactly right. It is about making sure that first and foremost that what you communicate is accurate. We've formed a crisis management committee several years ago in response to the avian flu.
COLLINS: Really?
MOSLER: Yes. Primarily to make sure that our employees felt that we were on top of these issues. And quite frankly to make sure that we were practicing best practices in the properties that we manage around the world.
So there are things you can do, and it is things like communicating, washing your hands, covering your cough if you're public. If you feel ill, go home and stay home for the incubation period of four days that it's being recommended by the WHO.
COLLINS: Right.
MOSLER: It's things like that that we think keep calm. And let's face it, you're going to vary what you do, city by city, country by country, as this takes on a different, if you will, life in various different places around the world.
COLLINS: So I'm curious is that crisis team that was working with the avian flu, are they still assembled? Are they working on this as well?
MOSLER: Oh, they absolutely are. Our crisis management committee doesn't work on just issues like pandemic, but is covering broader issues, such as terrorism. It's a team that we have that we put at the disposal of our clients as well to make sure they have access to the latest information that we do.
COLLINS: OK. Yes, understood.
Now, let me ask you this. Obviously, as a CEO of such a large company, you are around other business leaders quite a bit. Is this still a topic of discussion? Or have you noticed that things are kind of waning a bit?
MOSLER: Well, I think for a brief moment we felt like they were waning, and then there was another case this morning...
COLLINS: Exactly.
MOSLER: ...that I think once again brings you back to the reality that you have to remain ever vigilant. So, yes, amongst my peers, I think it's a topic. We all hope that it begins to dissipate. But let's face it, we're all very much concerned that in the next flu season this may come back. Hopefully, we will have time, more importantly the immunologist will have time to develop an appropriate vaccine.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes. That's what everybody is hoping. But you hit the nail on the head, because even the experts are saying it's pretty much anybody's guess as to whether or not this could get strength once again after the summertime, when it could lay dormant for a while. So we are all watching it very closely.
Bruce Mosler, we sure do appreciate your time today. CEO of Cushman & Wakefield.
MOSLER: Thank you for having me.
COLLINS: You bet.
Pictures now of a priest kissing a woman show up, and now he's out of a job. He was a relationship expert on a radio program, and he had taken a vow of celibacy, of course. So a lot of people are saying making out on a beach is a bit of a problem.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A popular Miami priest and talk show host asking for forgiveness after he was caught on a camera in a compromising position. Celebrity magazine, "TV Notas" is running photos now that appear to show Reverend Alberto Cutie getting romantic with a woman.
You see some of those pictures there.
Cutie whom some call Father Oprah gives out relationship advice on his radio show. But now, he's off the air and removed as pastor for a Miami Beach Catholic Church. Cutie did release a statement saying this, "I ask for forgiveness of those who may be hurt or saddened by my actions." That's some of the statement anyway.
Well, CNN Espanol's Carlos Montero has been following this and is joining us live.
So, Carlos, this is a huge story for you guys, right?
CARLOS MONTERO, CNN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: It's a really big story, because like what he said, a lot of people are saddened by his actions, and they are. A lot of people. He's a really popular figure.
I had a chance to -- I had a chance to interview him in CNN Espanol many times. He's a very smart guy. A good-looking guy. He knows how to talk. And he was giving advised to people, especially on marital status, you know.
COLLINS: Yes.
MONTERO: And people are really disappointed after seeing those pictures. Now we are waiting what's going to be the next step. He's not anymore on the radio. He's out of...
COLLINS: He was actually fired, is that right?
MONTERO: He was -- what they actually said, you know, he needs time to meditate, to see what happened. He's not going to give anymore -- he's not going to be the priest in his church, because the church (INAUDIBLE). He's not going to give mass on Sundays. He's not any more on the radio. So what's going to happen next? We don't know.
The truth is these magazines, all those pictures, and those pictures, they have 20 -- this is the cover of this Mexican magazine.
COLLINS: Yes, you said, it's kind of hard to make out. I don't know how you feel about it. But this is the one that we have, and you can see he's lying on the beach with her.
(CROSSTALK)
MONTERO: Yes.
COLLINS: And then there's this one.
MONTERO: But then there are -- totally, there are 25 pictures, 25 pictures where you see them on the beach.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Yes. And there are other ones that show him actually kissing, right?
MONTERO: Yes. That's the one. They said that kissing, you know, she's kissing him, and then you see them sitting on the back, in a situation that you don't expect to see a priest with a lady behaving this way.
Being such a popular figure, in Miami, people are really disappointed. But there are many people who cannot believe it. They said, no, it must be something tricky.
COLLINS: Really?
MONTERO: Maybe it's not him.
COLLINS: Oh, really? Wow.
MONTERO: Maybe it's something -- people is tricking all those pictures, you know. They don't want to believe it. But the church is not forgiving right now. They said, my God, we've got to do something. COLLINS: We have to do something.
All right. Well, Carlos, we certainly do appreciate that. We'll watch this story, and see what happens here.
MONTERO: We are going to follow this story.
COLLINS: Yes. Very good.
MONTERO: Appreciate it, Heidi. Thank you.
COLLINS: All right. Thank you.
Well, we do have a lot going on this morning. Of course CNN crews are at work bringing it all to you.
Let's check in now with Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.
Good morning, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Good morning.
Well, President Obama is going to be meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, obviously, to talk about a strategy going after the Taliban and al Qaeda. Both have gained strength in the region, and also is now threatening U.S. security. I'll have more of that at the top of the hour.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Christine Romans in New York. And I'm tracking the money, your money, that has gone into the banks, and how come some banks might need more money, and where they're going to get it. We're going to have that at the top of the hour.
MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano on the CNN severe weather center. More severe weather in fact in the south today. Actually, stretching all the way from Texas and eventually to the northeast tonight.
And fires burning in southern California and Arizona. Very busy. That's all coming up at the top of the hour - Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, very busy. All right, guys. Thanks so much for that.
Also coming up next hour, more of our advice for the class of 2009. Today, we're looking at financial aid options and taking your questions.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A hot button issue and tempers are flaring in Washington. The D.C. City Council's near unanimous vote yesterday approved legislation that could open the door to same-sex marriages in the nation's capital.
Sam Ford from affiliate WJLA has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM FORD, WJLA REPORTER (voice-over): A group of D.C.-area preachers went ballistic outside the council chambers after the 12 to 1 vote to recognize gay marriages performed in other states.
REV. C.T. RILEY, MT. ZION BAPTIST CHURCH: It's not over. We're going to stand on the principles of God.
FORD: Even before the meeting, religious groups rallied across the street in Freedom Plaza, and those on both sides lined up to get in the standing room only chamber, including two men who had married in California and wore copies of their license on T-shirts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not asking any church to recognize us. We're just asking the government to.
FORD: D.C. church women were opposed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Man and man can't be husband and wife.
FORD: In the council debate, after Marion Barry made clear he opposed the measure, openly gay council member David Catania complained of bigotry and said the vote was personal for him.
DAVID CATANIA, WASHINGTON CITY COUNCIL: I think it is immoral for you to be my friend on the one hand and out on the other say you are not entitled to the same rights.
MARION BARRY, WASHINGTON CITY COUNCIL: I resent that implication that because you're not over here on this particular issue you're not treating us equally. That is not fair at all.
FORD: After the overwhelming vote in favor, the preachers erupted, and the council had to stop business for a time until security was able to restore calm.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Even though the city council approved the measure, it still may not become law. The issue now goes before Congress, which must approve D.C. law changes.
Miss California, you remember, gained attention for her stand against same-sex marriage may lose her title as Miss U.S.A. runner-up. Pageant officials say Carrie Prejean violated her contract by doing an unapproved commercial for a national group opposed to same-sex marriage. They are also taking a closer look at a topless photo of her posted on the Internet. She said the picture wasn't supposed to be made public.
Two military pilots on a pre-deployment mission were killed late last night after their helicopter crashed in San Diego. The chopper went down at about 11:30 in San Diego County. That's not far from Interstate 8, if you know the area. A Marine Corps official told our affiliate, XETV, those two that were killed were pilots. Firefighters responding to a call about a brush fire discovered the smoldering ruins of the military helicopter.
North of Los Angeles, firefighters are holding a wildfire at bay, just a half mile from thousands of homes there. About 1,200 of those homes in Santa Barbara were evacuated. Strong winds forecast for this morning could push the fire closer to neighborhoods.
And firefighters are battling to contain this 2,000-acre wildfire at Arizona's Coronado National Forest before it spreads. One injured person has been airlifted to a hospital now. And five homes in some outlying buildings are destroyed. Other buildings in the area have been evacuated, too. The Red Cross has a team in place to assist people who lost their homes.
