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Santa Barbara Burning, Murder Near Campus; Out of Work, But in School; Jobs Report Boosts Stocks; New Study Shows Laid Off Workers At Risk for Health Problems; President Obama Announces New Help for the Unemployed; Murder Suspect Stephen Morgan Arraigned

Aired May 08, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. It's Friday, May 8th, and here are the top stories in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The number of Americans off the jobs jumps again. The unemployment rate nudges closer to nine percent.

He mocked the police investigation and made a circus of media coverage. Former police sergeant Drew Peterson goes to court today. The charge, murder.

Winds flare up and push a California wildfire closer to heavily- populated areas. The number of people forced from their homes in Santa Barbara doubles overnight.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

So several big stories out of California dominating the headlines this morning, including that fast-moving fire threatening more homes in Santa Barbara. We expect an update about 30 minutes from now on the fire. Winds gusting to 60 miles an hour are driving flames towards several neighborhoods.

Along with that wildfire, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is facing perhaps the biggest test of his leadership -- a major money crisis. The state's top budget guy warns California could run out of cash by July.

But this may be the main talk of the town. Manny Ramirez, Dodgers' superstar, to be sure -- you know the story, don't you? -- out of the game until the middle of summer. Ramirez suspended for testing positive for a banned substance.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: The numbers tell the frightening story of that Santa Barbara fire. Thirty thousand people evacuated, 75 homes in smoke and embers, and close to 2,800 acres scorched. The fire only about 10 percent contained.

Richard Morgantini, assistant public information officer for Santa Barbara County, is joining us on the phone right now.

Richard, thanks for your time. If you would, give us a bit of a fresh perspective on this fire this morning. The containment level, we mentioned, at 10 percent. Any real progress to report overnight?

RICHARD MORGANTINI, ASSISTANT PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY: We're still at 10 percent contained, acreage is about the same. We are assessing and we will have information later this morning with updates. We have expanded the mandatory evacuation area to the east, above the Montecito area, and are proceeding accordingly with our efforts.

HARRIS: OK, Richard. And one more quick question for you. What's your outlook for today, best-case scenario? How much work do you think you'll be able to get done on the wildfires?

MORGANTINI: Well, a lot will depend on the weather and we'll do the best we can.

HARRIS: OK. Richard Morgantini with the latest on the Santa Barbara fire.

Let's get right to the fire line right now. Our Kara Finnstrom is at the command staging area for firefighters.

And Kara, if you would, talk to us a in a bit more detail about the fire's advance in the overnight hours.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, those winds continue to be problematic for firefighters overnight. What they did was they kind of whipped this fire up, gave it some new life, and then moved it into some neighborhoods, in some areas where it hadn't been burning before. So that endangered more homes, and it's also caused more issues for firefighters out here. They're kind of dividing themselves up and tackling this fire on a number of fronts.

HARRIS: And Kara, fascinating -- I heard an interview you conducted earlier. Fascinating that it is usually that this time of year is when the firefighters train for future wildfires. And now, they find themselves actually thrown into the middle of a live firefight.

FINNSTROM: Yes, some 2,300 firefighters are here. Take a look around me, Tony.

This is the commander center. These guys are getting ready to pull out right now. These are called the Vandenberg Hot Shots.

They have been specially trained to go into the most hazardous areas, and they all just piled into these vehicles here and are about to pull out. I should actually move out of the way here.

Behind me here, you can also see a bunch of fire trucks. Crews have been brought in from throughout the state and across the country, actually, from a number of different areas to try and help out with this effort.

HARRIS: OK. Kara Finnstrom for us in Santa Barbara.

Kara, appreciate it. Thank you.

The other big story we're following this morning, a suspect in the shooting death of a Connecticut college student appears in court this morning.

Our Susan Candiotti joins us from outside the courthouse in Middletown, Connecticut.

And Susan, how did Stephen Morgan surrender to police?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tony, it's an interesting story. It happened last night.

Stephen Morgan, the suspect in this case, just showed up at a convenience store located in Meriden, Connecticut. It's about a half- hour away from Middletown, where we are now and where the shooting occurred.

I talked with the store clerk at this convenience store, Cumberland Farms, and she said this scraggly guy showed up at the store and wanted to buy something. He bought a drink and asked her for help, but she didn't recognize him, had no idea what she (sic) was.

Here's part of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He started walking around the star. He bought a drink. He checked the newspapers, and then he asked me to use the phone. He started dialing some numbers and he couldn't -- I guess he couldn't dial the police number, so I dialed it for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: And after she dialed that phone number, she said the police showed up within a minute, threw him down to the ground, put the handcuffs on, and they said, "Do you know what just happened here?" And she said, "I didn't do anything wrong." And the police said, "No, you did something right, you called the police. This is the man who is suspected in that shooting at the college campus."

HARRIS: Boy, that is terrific.

And Susan, this is something that we were talking about yesterday, and I wonder if we have any clearer picture of the answer to this question. What do we know about these anti-Semitic writings that police say they found at Morgan's home?

CANDIOTTI: Well, we're still trying to dig up more information on that. So far, police are keeping a lot of those details to themselves. Only that they found this journal in his car, and that he had made threats against her, against Wesleyan students, against Jews also. HARRIS: OK. And I also understand the suspect had contact with police directly after the shooting?

CANDIOTTI: Amazing, isn't it?

HARRIS: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: It turns out that afterwards, he was among a crowd of people outside the bookstore as the police were going down, talking to bystanders, going down a list talking to people, asking for names and contact phone numbers. And according to a law enforcement source, he was there, obviously they had no idea at the time. And there are reports that he left behind a wig and some clothing, so it may be that he also didn't look like a person who was suspected of doing the shooting.

HARRIS: All right, Susan. We're going to let you go because I know you've got to get into the courtroom.

Susan Candiotti for us.

Susan, thank you.

And how about this? Signs of hope in the job market this morning, even as the nation's unemployment rate reaches a 25-year high. Here are the new numbers for April.

The jobless rate climbed to 8.9 percent. That is the highest since September of 1983. But the pace of job losses slowed in April.

The Labor Department says employers cut 539,000 jobs. That's fewer than the economists were expecting. Here's the breakdown.

Adult men saw an increase in job losses going up from more than 8.8 percent to nearly 9.5 percent. Black unemployment spiked from 13 to 15 percent. Adult women went up just a hair, from 7 percent to 7.1. And good news for teenagers and Hispanics. Both groups seeing unemployment numbers creep down.

More on the numbers at the bottom of the hour with our Stephanie Elam at the New York Stock Exchange.

President Obama wants to make it easier for you to go back to school. Live this hour, the president outlines a new initiative to help the unemployed get more education and more training.

Jill Dougherty joins us from the White House.

And Jill, good to see you.

What are we likely to hear from the president.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the president really wants people who are unemployed to be able to get that education, get that training for possibly better jobs in the future. And really, the way it exists right now, it's a catch-22. If you're unemployed, you're getting unemployment compensation. If you go back to school, you lose your benefits. So what he wants to do is change that, and they're going to encourage the states to change their rules and regulations, and here's what they're proposing.

Number one, the unemployed would be able to go back to school, but they could keep their benefits. Also, they would be eligible for Pell Grants, and those are the federal education grants. And then finally, the amount of those Pell Grants would go up by $500 to a total of $5,350. And the president, what we're likely to hear, he's going to say essentially this is changing the idea, the concept of what people do when they're unemployed, not just a safety net, but as he puts it, a steppingstone to better jobs in the future.

HARRIS: Got you. All right.

Jill Dougherty at the White House for us.

Jill, appreciate it. Thank you.

And of course, we will bring you President Obama's remarks on help for the unemployed. The president's scheduled to speak around 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Live coverage right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Police say he taunted them to come get him. Drew Peterson arrested for murder. He's in court in about 15 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Drew Peterson is scheduled to be arraigned on murder charges today. The one-time Chicago-area police sergeant is charged with killing his third wife. His fourth, as you know, is still missing.

Our Susan Roesgen is working the story in Joliet.

And Susan, I understand -- first of all, good to see you. I understand you have some new information about this court appearance today.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Just now, Tony, it turns out that Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson's lawyer, was hoping to get the judge in this case to delay his court appearance until Monday so that Brodsky could get back from New York City to here in Joliet, Illinois, to be present for it. That's not going to happen, the judge says. This arraignment will go on today.

And not only that, Tony. We had first been led to believe that it was going to be by video link, that Drew Peterson would never leave the jail behind me, that he would stay there and be in his court appearance on a video uplink. As it turns out now, we are learning from the public affairs spokesman for the sheriff's office here that Drew Peterson must physically appear in front of the judge, which means that he's going to go about a quarter mile down the street here and physically appear before the judge. And we're told that he is going to be walked very slowly right into the courtroom. So we should have some pictures of that a little bit later in the hour or so.

In the meantime, he is still locked up, Tony. He is locked up on a $20 million bond.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN (voice-over): They arrested him easily at a traffic stop. Illinois State Police took former cop Drew Peterson into custody for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. It is the latest twist in an investigation that started a year and a half ago.

In October 2007, Drew Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LARRY KING LIVE," 2007)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Were you ever physical with her?

DREW PETERSON, HUSBAND OF STACY PETERSON: Never. And I kind of challenge anybody out there to find anybody that has ever even seen me mad. So...

KING: You don't have a temper?

PETERSON: No.

KING: Are you in love with Stacy?

PETERSON: Very much so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: Peterson says he believes Stacy, who is 30 years younger than he is, ran off with another man. But police named Peterson their number one suspect in her disappearance.

Then they decided to exhume the body of wife number three, Kathleen Savio. Kathleen and Drew had been divorcing three years earlier when she drowned in her bathtub, originally ruled an accident. But a second autopsy revealed bruises and a gash on the back of her head, and the coroner called it a homicide.

Peterson is now charged with that murder, indicted by a grand jury Thursday. And although he often laughed and joked with reporters during the investigation, he's locked up now on a $20 million bond.

JAMES GLASGOW, WILL COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: We want to send a strong message that that's a grave and serious matter, it's not a laughing matter, as has been made with this case.

ROESGEN: Peterson's lawyer, Joel Brodsky, says he's going to fight that $20 million bond and the second autopsy. JOEL BRODSKY, PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: It's going to be a very tough case for the prosecution. And, you know, we're going to defend it tooth and nail.

ROESGEN: Peterson's lawyer also says his client won't be tied to Stacy Peterson's disappearance, because although she's been gone for a year and a half, no body has ever been found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: And once again, Tony, in about 10 minutes here -- sorry, about an hour and 10 minutes here, we expect to see Drew Peterson. He's going to be taken by van just across the street from the jail here, the jail complex alongside of me here, into the courthouse. But at the very last minute, they will get him out of this van and let him physically walk into the courthouse, because state law here, Tony, requires a defendant in a case like this to be physically present in front of a judge when it's this serious of a crime, accused of murder -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. So, Susan, a couple of things here. So we're going to get a perp walk, really, from Drew Peterson. And I'm just sort of curious on the latest in the search for Stacy.

ROESGEN: That's what everybody wants to know, Tony. It's been a year and a half since she disappeared and, really, it's become a search for a body now.

Nobody knows what's happened to this woman. As you heard there, Drew Peterson has always said that he believes that she ran off with another man. But if that's the case, no other man has been found either.

So nobody knows what's happened to her. There's no physical evidence of her disappearance at all. She simply seems to have vanished.

HARRIS: Wow. All right. And Susan, appreciate it. We'll look for that tape of Drew Peterson heading into the courtroom today.

Still ahead, new details on those deadly U.S. strikes in Afghanistan. Reports of women and children among dozens killed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Local count, 147 dead. But today, the U.S. military in Afghanistan called that number of civilian deaths in attacks on Taliban fighters extremely exaggerated.

A source with direct knowledge of the investigation tells CNN as many as 50 people were killed in U.S. bombing runs Tuesday. Investigators concede women and children are among the dead, but they believe the civilians were forced to be human shields for Taliban fighters, the targets of the American air strikes.

Across the border, in Pakistan, the Swat Valley is an all-out war zone right now. Pakistani fighter jets and helicopter gunships pounding suspected Taliban sites. Civilians fleeing in terror by the tens of thousands.

Live now to our Reza Sayah in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

And Reza, good to see you.

The military's operation in Swat Valley over the last 24 hours, what can you tell us?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this military offensive was launched 24 hours ago. And today, the military's top spokesman said about 140 militants have been killed and the operation is going well.

But Tony, what we have yet to see is a clear counterinsurgency strategy from the military. What we've been seeing, instead, are aerial strikes, helicopter gunships, jet fighters who have been pounding the Swat region. And any military strategist will tell you that is effective if you want to put on a show of force, but it's really not effective if you want to fight insurgents, unconventional fighters who don't wear uniforms. Because from the air, it is virtually impossible to pick out a militant who doesn't wear a uniform from a civilian.

And that's why we're seeing a very difficult situation for locals there, Tony. Tens of thousands of people fleeing the area. Humanitarian groups say a humanitarian disaster is emerging -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Reza, are we going to see a ground offensive from Pakistani military forces?

SAYAH: Well, over the past year, they've had about 12,000 to 15,000 troops there, and military officials have told us that thousands of more troops will be moving to the area. But the story that's really emerging are the civilians, because they are paying a steep price.

Hundreds of thousands of people have moved out of the area. We have seen underequipped hospitals being overwhelmed and flooded by injured, refugee camps over capacity.

The numbers are staggering. Two hundred thousand people, according to the U.N., are fleeing the area. Another 300,000 have already fled, and 500,000 have fled in previous fighting. And many of these people have been injured.

The hospitals in the Swat region, the doctors and nurses too scared to go to work. So hospitals in surrounding regions have been taking care of the injured.

One hospital telling CNN that since Tuesday alone, more than 200,000 injured have been treated. The prime minister has pledged $12 million to help these people. The key is getting that money to these people as soon as possible because things are getting desperate -- Tony.

HARRIS: Our Reza Sayah for us.

Reza, appreciate it. Thank you.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will be in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with CNN's Wolf Blitzer today. You can count on Wolf to get the president's reaction to events inside Pakistan. See the interview at 6:00 Eastern, 3:00 on the West Coast, right here on CNN. You know, many college students see college as four years of classes and parties, but this week's CNN Hero transformed his college days into a life-changing experience, and he rallied thousands of young people in the process with a crash course in philanthropy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is "CNN Heroes."

SHIN FUJIYAMA, YOUNG WONDER: That period in life when you're, like, 18 to 22 is very transitional. Whatever it is that happens during that time has an amazing ability to really mold your future.

I went and volunteered for Honduras. After my first trip, I wanted to keep helping. I saw such a great need, I knew I had to do something.

My name is Shin Fujiyama, and I mobilize college students to help kids and families in Honduras.

I started to talk to all my friends. It's a lot of poverty, a lot of kids that sleep in the streets. My little sister Cosmo (ph) joined the cause.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please check it out. Nice to meet you. Thanks again.

FUJIYAMA: Our motto is "Students can make a difference."

We're all here for one thing. We came to Honduras.

We have had hundreds of bake sales, car washes, little things, but they've added up. We have about 20 trips that we organize every year. We've had about 500 students go to ho Honduras with us.

A lot of our focus is with children and with education. We've raised money to be able to send girls in Honduras to college. We've built two schools. We're also building an entire village for the people. We have big goals, but I know with can do it together.

When I wake up in the morning where things are tough in Honduras, I think of all the members that have come to Honduras and the ones that are thinking of going. And that's what keeps me going.

For people to say that young people like us can't do anything, we have proven to them over and over that we can do anything that we dream of, and so can these kids in Honduras.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: So let's do it together. If you'd like to help this week's hero, or if you know someone who is doing something so extraordinary that they deserve to be a CNN Hero, just go to CNN.com/heroes.

Remember, all of our CNN Heroes are chosen from people you nominate. So tell us about yours.

If you're down in the dumps after losing your job, a new study shows it's not just your mood, but your health that may be at risk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Another reminder for you, we are awaiting remarks by President Obama on helping the unemployed pursue education and training. We will have those live remarks in just a couple of minutes, scheduled for 11:30. And we'll have those remarks right here in the NEWSROOM for you.

More than half a million jobs were lost last month. The unemployment rate is rising. But how about this, Wall Street is taking that as good news.

OK, all right, Stephanie Elam is at the New York Stock Exchange with the details on the government's jobs report.

Good morning. Stephanie, explain this to me, please.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, I know it does sound counterintuitive a bit. But stocks are in the green, that's because the jobs report was not as bad as expected.

Now, 539,000 jobs were lost in April. That is, no doubt, a very large number. But compare it to the 700,000 jobs that were lost in March. So it shows a pullback. That's encouraging.

And the losses hit almost every single industry still. So, there the still need to fix this number, obviously. There's a lot of room for improvement.

But we did see the government, education and health care sectors hiring last month. The government boosted its hiring as its preparing for the 2010 census.

This upbeat report, well, it's not to just a one-hit-wonders. There's other things too that we've gotten this week. We've gotten reports about unemployment claims, that they've been falling. And also, that the private sector showed fewer job losses.

So the bottom line of all of this is, the pace of job cuts is slowing, and that's why we're seeing Wall Street responding in the green.

In fact, let's take a look at the numbers. The Dow on the up side by 84 points. We' were in triple-digit gains, but we're back off of that a little bit, 8493 there. Nasdaq better by, oh, just one point now. But we'll take it at 1717, Tony.

HARRIS: Well, stay with me for a minute here, Stephanie, because we're close to the president's comments and he's going to be making some remarks this morning on making it easier for the unemployed to pursue additional training and education.

How can this be good news, this jobs report, when the unemployment rate is still rising? We are almost at nine percent now, young lady.

ELAM: I know, right, 8.9 percent now, as expected. We found that out today. And it's almost a given, Tony, that this unemployment rate will continue to rise for the next few months. Forecasters say it could go as high above 10 percent.

And the reason why is that the job market is the last area to turn around. Like we talked about yesterday, Tony, the job market is a lagging indicator. The stock market is one of the first indicators that we can look at to see that things are getting better. But jobs take a longer time for people to get out there, get their jobs again and get back into the market. So it's going to take a while before this number starts to turn around.

So investors are looking for fewer job cuts. As job cuts slow down, then the employment rate should actually stabilize. It's that idea that stabilization is in our future, Tony, that's lifting the markets today.

HARRIS: All right, OK, Stephanie, appreciate it. Thank you. You made perfect sense of that.

ELAM: Sure.

HARRIS: You know, losing your job hits you hard in the wallet for sure, but that may not be the worst of it. A new study finds losing your job can actually make you sick. It's CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain.

And Elizabeth, I'm going to warn you just ahead of time, we're sort of in this two-minute window, maybe a little bit more because there are a couple of speakers ahead of the president.

But, I am fascinated by the study.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a fascinating study, cause I think people get it that if you lose your job that it's sort of depressing. That it affects you in the head. Yes, you've been through it?

HARRIS: Absolutely. And I think what is interesting is it has the ability to sort of immobilize you. To actually shut you down. And what is troubling about it is so many people are losing their jobs now through no fault of their own. They're good workers who are just caught up in a bad economic cycle and losing their jobs as a result of it. COHEN: Right, so you do everything right and still you get laid off. So as if that weren't depressing enough, here's a new study that shows when people get laid off, they actually tend to get physically ill.

What they found in the study is that folks who were laid off were 83 percent more likely to develop new health conditions. In other words, they didn't have these health problems while they were still employed. What kind of health conditions? We're talking about, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease.

This is a study founded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

You know, I think intuitively people know that when you get laid off, that it affects all of you.

HARRIS: Well, let's talk about the impact of the stress of that, you know, particularly heads of households trying to maintain those households. How does the stress impact the body?

COHEN: Well, what happens is that, when you're under stress, you are sort of bathed in stress hormones.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

COHEN: Now when you - let's just say you're driving around and you're about to get hit by a bus, and so you get this big sort of surge of stress hormones, but that will end as soon as you get out of the traffic accident and you find out that you're OK.

However, when you're laid off, it sometimes doesn't end for a really, really long time. So you have this prolonged amount of time where you have these stress hormones going through your body.

And as you and I were talking about before, sometimes it can feel like it's hard to get out of it. And so you sort of get caught in this sort of cycle of feeling like you can't do anything, those stress hormones are running through your body.

HARRIS: Well, I'm curious, did those impacts, those outcomes, sort of reverse once the person found work again?

COHEN: You know, what's interesting is that to some extent they didn't.

HARRIS: They didn't?

COHEN: What they found was it didn't. Is that people were still having physical health problems even after they found a new job.

The thinking on this is that, one, they were still sort of, there was kind of residual stress from losing the first job; and secondly, the second job may not have been as good as the first job. Or perhaps the person didn't perceive it as being as good as the first job.

Now, they didn't study these people down the road for a year or five years or whatever. So I would hope that eventually that stress would go away as they sort of got into their new life. But the immediate sense, there was still an adjustment even after they found another job.

HARRIS: I think this is a valuable study because it is - I'm here to tell you, there is a period of time when you just can't believe this is happening to you. You see the numbers, you know this is a difficult economy. You can't believe it's happening to you and you really sort of - it becomes difficult, you know, to motivate yourself to do the things you need to do to go out and find that next job.

COHEN: Right, and I think one of the things you need to do when you're laid off is watch out for your physical health. People don't realize that. Be careful, watch yourself.

HARRIS: OK. Elizabeth, great information as always.

COHEN: Thank you.

HARRIS: Once again, we are standing by waiting for remarks from President Obama. He is being introduced - I believe this is the speaker who will ultimately introduce him. And when the president begins his remarks, we'll take you there live.

Want to get in a little weather here.

Trapped in a car and surrounding by rising flood waters. It is a scenario that actually happened to a couple in Montgomery, Alabama. Luckily, two strangers came to their rescue. They waded out into the fast-moving waters to pull the couple out on to dry land. Another driver that ran into trouble is still missing and officials fear he may have drowned.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Very nice, very nice. All right. Rob, appreciate it.

President Obama.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... learned that our economy lost another 539,000 jobs in the month of April. And while it's somewhat encouraging that this number is lower than it's been in each of the past six months, it's still a sobering toll. The unemployment rate is at its highest point in 25 years.

It underscores the point that we're still in the midst of a recession that was years in the making and will be months or even years in the unmaking; and we should expect further job losses in the months to come.

Although we have a long way to go before we can put this recession behind us, the gears of our economic engine do appear to slowly -- to be slowly turning once again. Consumer spending and home sales are stabilizing, construction spending is up for the first time in six months.

So, step by step, we're beginning to make progress.

Of course, that's no solace for those who have lost their jobs, or to the small-business owners whose hearts break at letting longtime employees go. It's no relief for those who continue to send out resume after resume, and then wait for a call. It's of little comfort to the families who wake up wondering how they're going to pay the bills, stay in their homes or put food on the table -- the Americans I've met in towns across this country or whose letters I read every night.

They're letters of struggle, but they're also of service to others. They're stories of heartbreak, but they're also stories of hope. It's the story of the small-business owner in California who wrote that as long as her employees depend on her, "I will not give up." That's what she said.

The veteran in Oklahoma who wrote, "We've all got a long way to go. But we'll stick together and get through this." The mother in Michigan who wrote that she and her husband can't make ends meet, but as long as they have their jobs, they'll work 24 hours a day to send their children to college. This woman ended her letter by saying, "I'm not writing to tell you about my troubles, I'm writing to please ask you to act quickly to help all the people like me."

You know, such hardworking Americans are why I ran for president. They're the reason we've been working swiftly and aggressively across all fronts to turn this economy around; to jump-start spending and hiring and create jobs where we can with steps like the Recovery Act.

Because of this plan, cops are still on the beat and teachers are still in the classroom; shovels are breaking ground and cranes dot the sky; and new life has been breathed into private companies like Sharon Arnold's. And already, 95 percent of working Americans are seeing a tax cut that we promised would show up in their paychecks.

We're moving forward because now is not the time for small plans. It's not a time to pause or to be passive or to wait around for our problems to somehow fix themselves.

Now is the time to put a new foundation for growth in place, to rebuild our economy, to retrain our workforce, and re-equip the American people. And now is the time to change unemployment from a period of wait-and-see to a chance for our workers to train and seek the next opportunity. So when that new and better day does come around, our people, our industry and our entire country are ready to make the most of it.

Now, if we want to come out of this recession stronger than before, we need to make sure that our workforce is better prepared than ever before. Right now, someone who doesn't have a college degree is more than twice as likely to be unemployed as someone who does. And so many of the Americans who have lost their jobs can't find new ones because they simply don't have the skills and the training they need for the jobs they want. In a 21st century economy, where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, education is the single best bet we can make, not just for our individual success, but for the success of the nation as a whole. The average college graduate earns 80 percent than those who stopped after high school.

So if we want to help people not only get back on their feet today, but prosper tomorrow, we need to take a rigorous new approach to higher education and technical training. And that starts by changing senseless rules that discourage displaced workers from getting the education and training they need to find and fill the jobs of the future.

So today I'm announcing new steps we are taking to do exactly that, to give people across America who have lost their job the chance to go back to school today to get retrained for the jobs and industries of tomorrow. The idea here is to fundamentally change our approach to unemployment in this country so that it's no longer just a time to look for a new job, but is also a time to prepare yourself for a better job.

That's what our unemployment system should be -- not just a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future.

It should offer folks educational opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have, giving them the measurable and differentiated skills they need to just -- not just get through hard times, but to get ahead when the economy comes back.

That's what Maureen Pike did. Maureen lost her job as a physician's receptionist, but she didn't lose hope. She took it as an opportunity to upgrade her skills and earned an associate's degree in nursing from a community college. As a consequence, today she works as a -- as a registered nurse.

The only reason she could afford to do that while supporting her twins was because the state of Maine allowed her to keep her unemployment benefits and study with the help from a Pell Grant. Pell Grants cover tuition at almost every community college in the country, and unemployment benefits can help those studying to gain new skills to support their families at the same time.

But today, far too many Americans are denied that opportunity. Let me just give you an example: Say an unemployed factory worker wants to upgrade his skills to become a mechanic or a technician, for -- in many states, that worker might lose temporary financial support if he enrolls in a training program.

And, to make matters worse, unemployment might mean he can't afford a higher education, and he likely won't qualify for federal help, simply because he may have made a decent salary a year ago before he was laid off.

Well, that doesn't make much sense for our economy or our country. So we're going to change it. First, we'll open new doors to higher education and job training programs to recently laid-off workers who are receiving unemployment benefits. And if those displaced workers need help paying for their education, they should get it. And that's why the next step is to make it easier for them to receive Pell Grants of the sort that Maureen used.

I've asked my secretary of education, Arne Duncan, and my secretary of labor, Hilda Solis, to work closely with states and our institutions of higher learning, and encourage them not only to allow these changes, but to inform all workers receiving unemployment benefits of the training programs and financial support open to them. And together, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor have created a new website - Opportunity.gov - to help workers discover and take advantage of these opportunities.

And together, these changes will increase access to education and opportunity for hundreds of thousands of workers who've been stung by this recession, people just like Maureen. And like her, many may take advantage of one of America's underappreciated assets, and that's our community colleges.

These schools offer practical education and technical training, and they're increasingly important centers of learning where Americans can prepare for the jobs of the future.

And that's also why I am asking Dr. Jill Biden -- a community college professor who's devoted her entire life to education - and who happens to be married to the vice president -- to lead a national effort to raise awareness about what we're doing to open the doors to our community colleges.

So I think this is one more piece of the puzzle. It's a good start.

It is only a start, though. These steps are just a short-term down payment on our larger goal of ensuring that all Americans get the skills and education they need to succeed in today's economy.

And to that end, I have asked once again every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. It can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship.

But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And we will be backing up that effort with the support necessary.

And we will ensure that by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

In the weeks to come, I will also lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education and community college programs. It's time to move beyond the idea that we need several different programs to address several different problems - we need one comprehensive policy that addresses our comprehensive challenges.

That's how we'll open the doors of opportunity and lay a new foundation for our economic growth, by investing in our citizens. That's how we've always emerged from tough times stronger than ever before, because of the hard work and determination and ingenuity of the American people.

And I am confident that if we summon that spirit once again, we will get through this; we will see our nation recover; and together, along with folks like Maureen and Sharon, we're going to put America on the path to shared and lasting prosperity once again.

Thank you very much, everybody. Have a great weekend.

HARRIS: All right, there you have it. President Obama announcing a new initiative now to help the unemployed pursue additional training and education. We will break down the president's proposals with our Jill Dougherty at the White House next hour.

But still to come this hour, the suspect in the shooting of a Wesleyan University student in court just moments ago. We will show you what happened straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: And we're following developments. There you see Stephen Morgan, he is in court this morning and the arraignment may actually be over. He is the suspect in the shooting death of a Connecticut college student.

Susan Candiotti has been in the courtroom. And before she went into the courtroom, she was able to send us some notes. She was able to get a look at the arrest affidavit before she went into the courtroom.

And let me just sort of read some of the findings in that affidavit to you.

Police found a composite book dating back to May 6th. In it, at 11:00 a.m., it mentioned seeing all of the beautiful and smart people at Wes - that's for Wesleyan University. It goes on to say, "I think it's OK to kill Jews."

We were wondering what it was in the writings that led police to issue a warning to the Jewish community in Middletown.

Just getting word now that the bond has been set at $10 million.

Andreas (ph), is that correct?

Ten million dollars - thank you - for Stephen Morgan. That just happening just moments ago.

This journal goes on to say, as I mentioned, it's OK - quoting now, "I think it's OK to kill Jews and to go on killing spree at this school." Boy, and another entry in this journal reads, "Kill Johannah. She must die."

How disturbing is that? Notes from a composition book taken from the residence of Stephen Morgan.

And again, the judge setting the bail at $10 million. Our Susan Candiotti is covering this story for us, we will check in with Susan in just a couple of minutes.

Let's take a break. We're back in a moment in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: All right. You know, it's time for us to check in with Nicole Lapin. Because, Nicole, one of the things we're trying to do is to show folks what is most popular, videos and some of the text stories, at CNN.com.

What are you finding, Nicole?

NICOLE LAPIN, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: You got to see this thing. You have to see one of the most popular videos right now.

It was a camera mounted to a fire truck. It captured the scene of this gas leak at a strip mall in Maryland. Tony, wait for it. There you go. Eight people, though, were seriously injured in this gas explosion, seven firefighters and a gas company representative there trying to turn it off.

Then you have to see this mystery out of Washington state where a woman went to an island in Thailand with her fiance. She suddenly dies. The woman is young, she is healthy. What is rather fishy here, Tony, is that two other young, female tourists were staying at that exact same guest host also suddenly died. The woman's fiance believes something toxic must be in there, but autopsy results won't be out for another month or so.

There's also a sign of the times. A man in Albuquerque needs cash to save his restaurant. So, he is raffling off his baby. A 1969 -- not his real baby. His Chevy Camaro. Raffle tickets are still selling at his shop for about 100 bucks a pop. Maybe you and I can get in on some of that.

As always you can see the most popular videos on CNN.com.

Can I take a second to gloat?

HARRIS: Gloat away.

LAPIN: CNN.com just took home some Eppy awards. This is a big deal in our business. Yes, we were named "Best News Web Site" with more than one million unique visitors and "Best News Politics Blog."

This is the one actually from last year. My boss is still in New Orleans picking up our one from this year. So kudos, of course, to the staff who delivers great stuff 24/7, Tony.

HARRIS: That is awesome. Thank you, Nicole.

LAPIN: You're welcome.

HARRIS: You know, this is another popular video at CNN.com. Check this out -- a sinkhole swallowing a home in north of Tampa Bay in Hernando County. You know, it is never good to see your house going down like this. But fortunately, the homeowner just renewed the insurance policy on the home. And again, it is one of the most popular videos at CNN.com.