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At Least 5 People Have Been Killed in Damaging Storms Across Midwest; Director of White House's Military Operations Resigning Over Flyover Photo-Op; War Is Raging in Pakistan's Swat Valley; Pope Benedict XVI's Middle East Trip

Aired May 09, 2009 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Topping our news, pretty violent, dangerous, lethal weather. At least five people have been killed in damaging storms across the Midwest and the angry weather is now heading south. The power is out for thousands of people from Kansas to Kentucky and many homes are either damaged or destroyed. The weather service is still trying to determine how many tornadoes were actually spawned.

In Wilson County, Kansas, a 54-year-old woman was killed when her mobile home was blown off its foundation and a church and post office was totally destroyed, as well.

Missouri's governor has declared a state of emergency. A couple was killed on the highway when a tree fell on their car near Poplar Bluff, another man died of a heart attack when winds tossed him and his wife into an open field.

And in Kentucky's Madison County, officials blame a possible tornado for the death of a woman whose body was found in a pond. Many others were injured and one person is still missing.

All right, one woman says it's a miracle she is still alive when the storm lifted her Tennessee home with her family in it. Kristy Caddell with affiliate WATE brings this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERRI BYRD, STORM VICTIM: I just thank God that we're all right.

KRISTY CADDELL, WATE REPORTER (voice-over): Clutching her dog Snuggles, Sherri Byrd describes terrifying moments.

BYRD: The wind started blowing and it started getting harder, I was in the sunroom, there's where all the windows are.

CADDELL: In a matter of seconds, she says, the roof of her sunroom gone and her home thrown about 15 feet. Other family members were also inside at the opposite end.

BYRD: I just thank God that my husband and his nephews and the people that was helping him in the garage was OK because I knew the garage was gone. CADDELL: Her home is one of a handful in this small community of Fairview hit hard by what EMA officials are saying was a tornado. The daylight reveals the destruction, power lines down, trees on top of homes. This cell phone tower, a mangled mess.

BYRD: It all just felt like it happened in just a few seconds. To do that much damage in just a few seconds, it's just unbelievable.

CADDELL: Sherri's husband helps her back into their home and together they look at the devastation for the first time. They say it's a miracle they're alive and God is their rock and salvation.

BYRD: My Bible in the house was still laying in the same place, it hadn't been moved, and I know that's God.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Frightening moments there and then more rain, but chances for severe weather in east Tennessee. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is in the CNN Weather Center.

And this time of year, this is exactly what folks are being conditioned to get used to, really.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. We are in the hardest severe weather season. This is what we've got this morning. Fredricka, you were asking about eastern Tennessee, well, lo and behold, we're seeing some strong storms, right now, just to the northeast of Chattanooga, right along parts of the I-75 corridor, we've got some very intense thunderstorms, not severe, but into the afternoon hour, we certainly could see more development around the Atlanta area.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WOLF: One other thing to talk about, Fredricka, very quickly, it has to deal with the central coast of California. We've been talking about the wildfires out there. The latest numbers we have now, 40 percent contained, certainly some good news, around the 30 percent contained, they have over 4,000 firefighters out there battling the blaze. They certainly have their work cut out for them.

High pressure forming off parts of the west coast and compressing, in fact, is going to can have a dry effect on the atmosphere, not much in terms of precipitation, very low humidity, wind gusts may exceed 60 miles-an-hour into the late afternoon. So, for much of the central coast of California, we have Santa Barbara right here in this area, you could be dealing with the rough weather especially back into the Sierra Nevada mountains, coastal rain is still dealing with those fires and as we see those winds really accelerate this afternoon.

Think about it, Fredricka the winds going through those mountain passes reaching speeds in excess of 60 miles-an-hour and that wind, when it moves through those passes, compresses, it begins to heat up and with that it further dries out all your grasses, all your foliage, the chaparral, the pine and of course that -- it's the worst thing that firefighters want to deal with, but that's going to be in store for them as they make way...

WHITFIELD: Yeah, extraordinary to hear a lot of firefighters who say, wait a minute, we didn't expect this right now. Usually this comes a little but later on in the season.

WOLF: A little bit.

WHITFIELD: So, they're hitting them a bit hard.

WOLF: Yeah, but that's the climate. You know, it can happen, it's Mediterranean-style climate that you have in this part of the world, very dry and so when these things do often pop up it takes a lot to put them out.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Reynolds. Appreciate it.

All right, now, let's focus on the fallout over the photo-op flyover last month in New York City. The director of the White House's military office, Louis Caldera, has resigned.

Our Ed Henry has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What's significant is this is the first forced resignation under fire involving a White House aide in these early days of the Obama administration stemming from the Air Force One flyover that cost U.S. taxpayers $328,000. The president accepting the resignation of Louis Caldera, he had been running the White House military office, he's now taking the fall for this incident that caused so much panic in New York and New Jersey.

People there are thinking that this low-flying plane had something to do with a terror attack late last month. This internal review by the White House suggesting there was a complete communications breakdown. I don't know if local officials are being warned about the fact that this was just essentially a photo-op, not a terror attack and that the whole incident was not properly vetted.

White house aides say the president has now ordered the defense secretary, Robert Gates, to make sure things are restructured, the military office and other areas to make sure this never happens again.

What is also interesting is the White House chose late on a Friday afternoon to release this internal investigation. Typically White House officials over the years have chosen that timeframe when they want to try and bury bad news and they think people are not paying attention.

This whole mess, of course, was sparked by a desire to snap a new publicity photo for Air Force One, so as part of this investigation, the White House released a beautiful photo, really a beautiful photo of Air Force One flying near the Statue of Liberty, but of course, White House officials now say they have no plans to use this publicity photo because it's become so tainted.

Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: U.S. and Afghan investigators have found that civilians were killed in U.S. bombing runs, but the number of civilian deaths still isn't quite clear. U.S. airstrikes were called in earlier this week after Afghan forces battled Taliban fighters for several hours. The investigators blame the Taliban for using civilians as human shields. A U.S. official says up to 50 people were killed, most of them Taliban fighters. But Afghan president Hamid Karzai says the death toll is more like 100 or more than that.

In Pakistan, five people are dead and several more wounded after suspected drone attacked a Taliban stronghold. Pakistani officials say the attack was in South Waziristan, in a tribal district near the Afghan board. It's still not clear or who the target was, but the area has seen a spike in aerial attacks from unmanned U.S. drones.

All-out war is raging in Pakistan's Swat Valley, that's where a peace deal between the government and the Taliban has collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trying to get out of harm's way. For some, it's too late.

Our Ivan Watson met a little girl at a hospital who has lost all that she knows.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the back of the women's ward in a provincial hospital lies a little girl. Her name is Shiesta (ph). Most of her family is dead. A mortar shell killed her mother, sister and brother in the Swat Valley, this week. She lost part of her heel. Doctors say strangers brought Shiesta to the hospital.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the battle between the Pakistani army and the Taliban are fleeing the Swat Valley, a militant strong hold just a hundred miles from Pakistan's capital. A beautiful Himalayan valley that once attracted foreign tourists is now at the heart of a battle for the future of Pakistan.

YOUSUF RAZA GILANI, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: In order to restore honor and dignity of our homeland and to protect our people, the armed forces have been called -- to eliminate the militants and terrorists.

WATSON: Political analyst Imtiaz Gul says the Pakistani government has no other choice.

IMTIAZ GUL, CTR. FOR RESEARCH & SECURITY STUDIES: But I think this is a cost that the country and the state institutions shall have to pay for getting rid of the militants. And I think, a lot of people, meanwhile, understand that even if there's collateral damage, it shill have to be taken in just because the country itself is at stake.

WATSON: The Pakistani army says it has killed hundreds of Taliban over the last two weeks, but the generals have offered little evidence to back their claims. Only these photos of two men the army says are captured Taliban fighters.

In the markets of the Pakistani capital, many people told us they support the offensive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Sumatra military operation is very good, but these people, the Taliban are very extreme people. I don't like these people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My opinion, the decision is good against those people who are harmful for Pakistan (INAUDIBLE).

WATSON (on camera): Not everybody agrees with the Pakistani military operation against the Taliban. This small group of protestors has gathered in front of the Pakistani parliament. They're accusing the Pakistani government of carrying out America's orders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking foreign language)

WATSON (voice-over): They seem to be a minority. Many Pakistanis say the militants went too far with their violent enforcement of Islamic Sharia law in Swat, but they also want the government's offensive to be over soon.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Islamabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And we hope you'll tune in at 4:00 Eastern Time for an in-depth look at the Taliban threat in Pakistan and how it also spills over into Afghanistan, and what's taking place and what are the U.S. promises being made to both Pakistan and Afghanistan. We'll show you why that tenuous situation in the region could affect life right here in America. Nuclear weapons, not the only reason that you need to be caring or the refugee crisis. Join us at 4:00 Eastern Time, also send us your e-mails at weekends@cnn.com or on FaceBook Fredricka Whitfield, CNN.

All right, the pope is visiting a mosque and mending a fence in the Middle East.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Pope Benedict XVI is marking the second day of his Middle East trip with a visit to the biggest mosque in Amman, Jordan. He toured the site with the king's top religious adviser and apologized for offending Muslims three years ago. In 2006 the pope quoted a medieval emperor in a speech who called the Prophet Muhammad's teachings "evil and inhuman."

The pope didn't have to follow the Muslim custom of removing his shoes when he entered the mosque. All right, his week-long papal tour of the Middle East is aimed at improving strained relations between both Muslims and Jews. Upon his arrival in Jordan, the pope paid tribute to his Muslim hosts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XVI: My visit to Jordan gives me a welcome opportunity to speak of my deep respect for the Muslim community. And to be treated to the leadership (INAUDIBLE) by his majesty the king proclaim in promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our senior Vatican analyst, John Allen is in Amman, Jordan.

So John, this pope has not had a very good relationship thus far with Muslims. So, we understand that there were a number of protests that took place upon his arrival. So far, gauge the sentiment, there.

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: Well, Fredricka, by and large, I think Benedict has been warmly received here, certainly at the official level. The Hashemite monarchy, here in Jordan, King Abdullah and his cousin prince Ghazi, are widely acknowledged leads of what you might consider the moderate center in Islam and they are certainly pulling out all of the stops to -- to make the trip go well.

And actually, at the grassroots, Jordan has a reputation for having a basically harmonious relationship between Muslims and Christians. Most Jordanian Muslims, I've talked to, are basically happy that the pope has come here. They feel honored that Benedict XVI is now the third pope to visit after Paul VI in 1964 and John Paul II in 2000.

But certainly, there are elements, most prominently, the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the Islamic Action Front, here, have indicated that they at least are not willing to forgive and forget from the controversy that erupted back in 2006 when Benedict XVI gave a famous speech in Regensburg, Germany in which he linked the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, to violence. That (INAUDIBLE) has asked for a clear public apology.

WHITFIELD: How important is this for the pope to try to win some sympathy, try to kind of re-establish his reputation, try to get forgiveness?

ALLEN: Well, I mean, start with the fact this there are 2.3 billion Christians, of whom 1.2 billion are Catholic and there are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. That's over 50 percent of the human population. By definition, relations between Christians and Muslims are enormously important.

But beyond that, I think Benedict XVI has a grand vision of a Muslim-Christian alliance to promote a positive role for religion in the world, which he sees opposing kind of strains of secularism in the West that are overtly hostile to religion. I think he badly wants that to work. So, I think for him there's a great deal at stake in this trip in trying to get Christian-Muslim relations on track.

WHITFIELD: So, he stands a lot to gain, does he have a lot to lose by making this foray?

ALLEN: Well, sure. I mean, in many ways, this week-long trip in the Middle East is the pope's ultimate high-wire act. Because, you know, let's not forget, it's not just Christian-Muslim relations that are at play, here, particularly when he gets to Israel next week, when he'll be dealing with Christian-Jewish relation which is have had their own ups and downs in recent months.

There's also the perennial morass of the Middle East peace process and the Israel Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In all of that, Benedict hopes to be a voice for peace and reconciliation, but this is also a part of the word where the wrong word or the wrong gesture can easily cause things to go off the rails.

And as you hinted in your set-up, we had 15 minutes of frenzy about that today, with this business of whether the pope took his shoes off in the mosque or not and whether that was offense to anyone. Of course, it turned out that actually he had been invited not to take his shoes off by his hosts, but it's a clear reminder of how volatile and how explosive gestures and words can be in this region -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Allen, thanks so much for joining us there in Amman, Jordan. Appreciate it. And we'll, of course, be following the pope's travels throughout the next week, as well.

All right, meantime, next month, President Obama is heading to the Middle East with a visit to Egypt, he's chosen the country as the venue for his long-promised speech on U.S. relations with the Muslim world. It was supposed to happen during the first 100 days in office, but, the White House says security and logistical problems simply got in the way. So, after his address in Egypt, the president is expected to head to Germany to pay his respects to the Buchenwald concentration camp.

All right, President Obama wants congress to get tough with credit card companies, now. He said sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees have become all too common. The president is calling on Congress to send him a bill that he can sign into law by Memorial Day. He took his message straight to the public in his weekly address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is past time for rules that are fair and transparent and that's why I've called for a set of new principles to reform our credit card industry. Instead of an anything goes approach, we need strong and reliable protections for consumers.

Instead of fine print that hides the truth, we need credit card forms and statements that have plain language in plain sight. And we need to give people the tools they need to find a credit card that meets their needs. And instead of abuse that goes unpunished, we need to strengthen monitoring, enforcement and penalties for credit card companies that take advantage of ordinary Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, President Obama pretty busy. Remember how last weekend he and the first lady kind of painted the town by going out to a posh restaurant in Georgetown in Washington, D.C.? Well, he and the first lady have yet another Saturday night planned. They'll be at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, tonight.

Entertainment will include comedian and actress Wanda Sikes and most people expect a punch line or two even from the president, but we remember how sometimes he's kind of put his foot in his mouth. So, let's check in with CNN deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser to get a preview if you can or is he keeping his, I don't know, punch lines kind of close, cards close to the chest, right now?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah, we don't know what he's going to say tonight, but you were talking about last week. Remember they had that romantic dinner, just the two of them in Georgetown. Well, tonight it will be the two of them plus about 2,700 other guests, so it will be a bigger affair.

This White House Correspondent Dinner goes back to the 1920s and its tradition for the president to come, to speak and to often make fun of himself. We got a little taste of Barack Obama, the comedian, last fall when then candidate Barack Obama teamed up with candidate John McCain at a charity dinner just a few weeks before the election. Take a listen to what he said then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Who is Barack Obama? Contrary to the rumors that you heard, I was not born in a manger. I was -- I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the planet Earth.

(LAUGHTER)

Many of you -- many of you know that I got my name "Barack" from my father. What you may not know is Barack is actually Swahili for "that one."

(LAUGHTER)

And I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn't think I'd ever run for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: That one dig was a dig at John -- that one dig there was a dig at John there, Fred.

But, you know, Fred, you mentioned it doesn't always work out for President Obama because you know, back in March he went on the Jay Leno show and he was making fun of himself and in an unscripted moment he was talking about his bowling and, well, take a listen to what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I bowled a 129.

(APPLAUSE)

Yes. I have...

JAY LENO, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO: Oh no, that's very good. Yeah. No that's very good, Mr. President.

OBAMA: It Special Olympics or something.

LENO: No, that's very good.

OBAMA: No, listen, I -- I'm making progress on the bowling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: I don't know if you could hear it there over the applause, but that Special Olympics comment we remember...

WHITFIELD: Yeah, he's regretting that moment, too.

STEINHAUSER: Yeah, he actually had to call the head of the Special Olympics to apologize, but that was unscripted, so, it'll be scripted and well, I guess we'll have reviews later tonight.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, so in his comedic moments he had, you know, former fellow contender, John McCain and so I hear there may be talk of a Sarah Palin appearance or maybe not an appearance at the White House Correspondents Dinner, tonight. What's that about?

STEINHAUSER: Yeah, you got to. You know, the dinner has not even happened yet and we've already got a headline and that headline is Sarah Palin will not be coming. She canceled. She was going to be a guest tonight at the dinner and she was also supposed to co-host the Republican dinner last night, but because of flooding in Alaska, her communications people said she's canceled the trip, she's going to stay up there and deal with the situation in Alaska.

This isn't the first time this year she's canceled trips down here to D.C. to attend political events because of the duties back home in Alaska.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, and so let's be clear, too, it's not that all of the governors are traditionally invited to the White House Correspondents Dinner, it's just that among the White House correspondents they are allowed to bring a guest and encourage to bring a guest and sometimes people bring politicos, people who are elected officials and she was one of those, and sometimes celebrities, too. STEINHAUSER: Lots of celebrity. This is kind of like our version of the Academy Awards here in Washington.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, it's a who's-who, it's fun. All right, thanks so much, Paul. Appreciate it.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you.

All right, some pretty serious legal matters that were going to delve into a little later. Drew Peterson under arrest for the murder of his third wife, but his arraignment is on hold. Our legal guys are taking a closer look at the case and the challenges facing prosecutors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, quite a few things on tap involving our legal guys, our legal minds who are with us this Saturday. Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor.

Good to see you both.

All right, let's talk about Drew Peterson, boy, been suspected for so long in the deaths of his fourth wife, as well as the third wife and now an arrest involving and charges pending involving the death of his third wife. So, Richard, you want to tackle this one first?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yeah Fred, we don't know if the fourth wife is dead yet, but this guy is tantalized, he has taunted the press for the last year-and-a-half, the families for years. His third wife is found dead in a pool of blood in his bathtub on the eve of signing the divorce judgment decree, and stipulation of settlement, there.

His fourth wife goes missing. He's walking around, you know, skipping, happy, jumping. This guy just got indicted. He taunted the police department too much, they're going after him, it's going to be a very difficult case to prove. They are very serious issues of hearsay, whether statements made by Miss Savio are going to be admitted into evidence. If they are admitted, I believe, that's going to be circumstantial evidence to convict him.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, if that law is not constitutional.

HERMAN: Well, they enacted a law for him a year ago to allow these statements to come in. So, there are expost facto issues, here. There's a lot of issues, Fred. If these statements come in, she had 18 complaints to the police that she feared he would kill her. If they come into evidence during this trial, he's going to get convicted. WHITFIELD: So, now Avery, as they continue to investigate the murder of -- or the death of the third wife, I wonder how that information will be used in pursuant of what happened to the fourth wife, as Richard outlined, she's still missing, but he's been the centerpiece of that investigation as a primary suspect into what happened to her. How will these two cases be used against one another or help or hurt one another?

FRIEDMAN: Well, they all intersect, Fredricka. But, right now, the focus on the part of the prosecution is strictly in Kathleen Savio, the third wife. And the focus here, and Richard touched on this, and I think it's the most controversial part of the case, and that is that Rod Blagojevich, his last main act as a governor, one of the last, is to pass a law that permits evidence from beyond the grave.

It's very odd where they're going to take information from Kathy Savio and permit that to be introduced. Well, that's very interesting on a constitutional basis because how do you cross examine a letter of someone who's no longer alive and yet the court may very well permit the introduction of that evidence, and that's bad news for Drew.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating and very sordid. All right, let's talk about another case, very perplexing. We're talking about a former army private who was accused of the death and rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and her family a few years back. However, he was tried in civilian court in Kentucky and found guilty and we still have yet to get to the penalty phase of this murder/rape case in Iraq.

So explain, Avery, why in the world -- how in the world is it that he escaped a military court or even escaped an Iraqi court?

FRIEDMAN: Very simply the charges came after he was discharged from the military. So, it was properly tried in the United States district court in Kentucky. By the way, the sentencing phase is coming up this Monday, but the primary evidence, Fredricka, was two individuals who participated with him, previously convicted. One got 90 years, one got 100 years. The evidence was frankly, overwhelming. This guy could face the death penalty on Monday.

WHITFIELD: So Richard, did this evidence come from Iraqi authorities who said OK, we are cooperatively handing this over to you or from military? I mean, it would seem very challenging to try someone in an entirely different country from where the crime was allegedly committed.

HERMAN: Yes, the military had no more jurisdiction over him, Fred, that's why they had to try it in federal court in the United States and they had -- other people got convicted along with him. You know, these guys were out. They were drunk that night and they went on like a ninja attack on this family. That's how it was described and we talked about it, we saw the devastation in that Shenandoah case we talked about last week in Pennsylvania. I mean, when people get drunk, they get out of control and look, this is what happens.

FRIEDMAN: Well, but there was some intense evidence. These guys changed their clothes to try to hide the crime ...

HERMAN: Right.

FRIEDMAN: ...so beyond being alcoholically induced ...

WHITFIELD: There was burning of the body.

FRIEDMAN: ...there was some intent there, yes.

WHITFIELD: Yes. It's pretty nasty stuff.

FRIEDMAN: Yes, horrible.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Richard, Avery. We got other cases we're going to delve into and you know, you mentioned the sentencing phase on Monday. Iraqis have made it very clear that they're watching closely. They want the death penalty ...

FRIEDMAN: You bet.

WHITFIELD: ...for this and they think a very clear signal will be sent by the U.S. depending on what kind of sentence is handed down.

All right, thanks so much, gentlemen. Appreciate it. See you in a few more minutes on some other cases.

OK, so he turned collection of bad boys into one of the NBA's greatest teams and a group of stars into a winning dream team. We're remembering the late Chuck Daly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Happening right now, at least five people have been killed in storms that stretched from Kansas to Kentucky yesterday. Thousands of people are still without power and cleanup is under way this afternoon.

And homeowners in Santa Barbara, California, are watching the winds today. About 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate already. Others were told that they could be next. At least 80 homes have burned. Officials say the fire now is about 30 percent contained.

And it may be the most inspiring last place finish you'll ever see. A disabled British soldier right here finished the London Marathon this morning two weeks after the race ended. British Army Major Phil Packer walked on crutches for two miles a day. That's the most that his doctor would actually allow him to do.

Packer suffered a spinal injury in the Iraq War and was told he probably would never walk again. He's hoping his marathon success will help raise money and awareness on the plight of British war veterans. Congratulations to him and so nice to see that huge crowd was there waiting for him to cross that finish line.

All right, he's considered one of the NBA's greatest coaches. Former Detroit Pistons head coach Chuck Daly has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. CNN's Sports Larry Smith looks back at his hall of fame career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chuck Daly was known for that well-coifed hair and for his impeccable attire. Former player John Salley called him "Daddy Rich" for those tailored suits, but Daly was also a coach and one of the very best. After stops at Boston College and Penn and with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, Daly made his mark with the Detroit Pistons, the bad boys, as they were called, leading them to back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and '90.

Daly had a knack of coaching diverse personalities on all levels of the game and he put that on the world stage in 1992 when he coached the dream team, the first collection of NBA superstars to compete at the Olympics. To get their attention, Daly coached a team of college players against them in a pre-Olympic scrimmage and won. The national team dominated in Barcelona, making Daly the first coach to win an NBA title and an Olympic gold medal.

Daly was enshrined in the basketball Hall of Fame in 1994 and two years later was named as one of the NBA's top 10 coaches in its first half century, though amazingly, he never won coach of the year honors with four different teams. He once said of the NBA, "It's a player's league. They allow you to coach them or they don't. Once they stop allowing you to coach, you're on your way out."

When the Pistons honored Daly for their two championships in 1997, player Rick Mahorn told him without you, there's no us. He was a legend as a coach and a man. Chuck Daly was 78.

Larry Smith, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, interesting mix of legal cases. We want to bring our legal guys back. From a medical fight to a head butt fight. Who could I be talking about?

All right, first let's talk about the medical fight with our Avery Friedman and civil rights attorney and law professor, and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor. All right, 13-year-old Minnesotan little boy and his family say because of religious reasons they don't want their child, the 13-year-old who has curable cancer to actually get chemotherapy. So, how is it this is now a legal battle, Richard?

HERMAN: Well, you know, Fred, in these instances, the state takes in and they assert a superior position over the family because obviously, this family is completely out of control and they're not looking out for the best interest of this 13-year-old boy. So, the court's going to step in. I believe they're going to court order the medical treatment to give this kid a chance to live. It's really an outrageous case.

WHITFIELD: So Avery, you don't have to be a willing participant, U.S. patient even if you are a minor, don't you need to be willing to undergo some sort of medical treatment, even if it does mean the argument is it's saving your life?

FRIEDMAN: Yes, you know, the amazing thing this is a great constitutional case, but an ugly reality. Danny Houser is 13. We have three oncologists already, Fredricka, who testified yesterday that without this treatment, he's going to die. Not even a question. Mom says I went on the Internet, I'm going to feed him natural food, that's the end of it. Both mommy and daddy say they're not going to go along with it. Expect an order from the judge Monday or Tuesday. I think it's actually going to be forced. Yes.

WHITFIELD: Wow, all right, well, let's talk about something else forced, but in another play on words. And we're talking about Kiefer Sutherland, actor, he's at a great celebrity event in New York City and apparently he's trying to protect his friend against a designer.

His friend Brooke Shields and the designer apparently gets in the way or something happens and he allegedly head butts the designer, and so now where is this case going? Is it going to be a case in New York, but apparently may also affect another case for him in California. How goes, Richard?

HERMAN: Well, he's on probation for drunk driving. He already did 48 days in prison. He's on five-year probation, he cannot get convicted of a federal or state crime during those five years.

WHITFIELD: Oh boy.

HERMAN: And now, if he's charged in New York with a misdemeanor which is a crime under New York law for, I don't know, he thought he was on "24" or in a wrestling ring, he head butts this guy and smashes his nose and today, the papers are reporting triple fracture of the nose.

WHITFIELD: Oh, no! So, is it going to be up to, Avery, the designer who will say yes, I want to press charges and therefore, New York will pursue a case?

HERMAN: They already did.

FRIEDMAN: Actually, it's up to the district attorney. Look, I don't know. I mean, I'm glad that Kiefer Sutherland protected Brooke Shields from a designer. Oh, my goodness.

HERMAN: Half his size.

FRIEDMAN: Look, there's going to be a plea. There may be some money involved here. This guy, Kiefer Sutherland has to make this case go away.

WHITFIELD: Oh, no.

FRIEDMAN: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: Yes, because Jack Bauer, "24" needs you.

FRIEDMAN: Yes, I guess he still thinks he's Jack Bauer, that's what must have happened.

WHITFIELD: Oh man. All right, well ...

HERMAN: I think Brooke Shields could defend herself, though.

FRIEDMAN: I think so.

WHITFIELD: Yes, something tells me -- what, she's 6'1, she's probably got that.

FRIEDMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Richard and Avery, appreciate it. Good to see you guys.

FRIEDMAN: All the best. Take care.

HERMAN: Take care, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, amid the recession, men are losing their jobs at a higher rate than women. So, a lot of families will have an extra special reason to show their appreciation for mom tomorrow.

Well, she is not the breadwinner in the family, but the First Lady actually spoke about the challenges of working moms. She talked to a great audience this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: Many of the issues that you'll be discussing are issues that, as you know, are near and dear to my heart. I personally, as Donna described, know the challenges of leading a busy life at work and at home, trying to do a good job at both and always feeling like you're not quite living up to either, and trying not to pit one against the other.

Really trying to balance it so that if people here or like me, I call myself a 120 percenter. If I'm not doing any job at 120 percent, I think I'm failing. So, if you're trying to do that at home and at work, you find it very difficult and stressful and frustrating. And even though my current life, trust me, is very different than it was, and for most people, and I do know that.

I know that right now, I am living as challenging as it may seem in a very blessed situation because I have what most families don't have is tons of support all around, not just my mother, but staff and administration. I have a chief of staff and a personal assistant and everyone needs that. That's what we need. Everyone should have a chief of staff and a set of personal assistants. But one thing I know from meeting women and men across the country is that the work/life challenges that I faced aren't different from the challenges facing other families and undoubtedly many of you. 22 million working women don't have a single paid sick day. That means they lose money any time they have to stay home to take care of their kids. You know, imagine making that choice and we do it all the time and even when I had sick leave, I found myself, you know, hoping that the kids would stay well just because I couldn't afford to take the day off because there was a meeting or something was going on.

So, your whole life is just contingent upon everything working perfectly. So, imagine families who don't have any sick time. So, if somebody gets sick, they have to take time off and they lose the money that they can't afford. So, there are a lot of people counting on us to figure this out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And she said she speaks from experience. She understands the disparities of income and et cetera, between husband and wife, she's lived through all of that. So, at 3:00, we'll explore the issue of mothers as breadwinners with two working moms and some advice for both moms and dads to try and cope through these -- what could be kind of tenuous, tough times of role reversals.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, this is Mother's Day weekend, so it's all about the women, even in Kenya where hundreds of women are commanding attention. That's because they boycotted sex for a week to bring about peace in their country. One man has actually sued them over it.

CNN's David McKenzie hit the streets of Nairobi to get more reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, we know all about the power.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember the film "40 Days and 40 Nights" where Josh Hartnett's character gives up sex for over a month and finds it a little more challenging than he expected.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) calls upon the women of Kenya to go on a sex boycott.

MCKENZIE: Well, in Kenya, life is imitating art, sort of. A number of women's organizations are calling all Kenyan women to boycott sex for at least a week. Ann Unjogu (ph) leads one of the groups that called for the boycott.

(on camera): Have women actually done this?

ANN NJOGU, CEO, RIGHTS, EDUCATION AND AWARENESS: First and foremost, I'm a woman and I have done it. Absolutely. I have abstained.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Why? To get the attention of Kenya's male-dominated coalition government, which has been plagued by infighting. The women hope that leaders will be persuaded to make peace in parliament, the country faces a strike in the bedroom.

(on camera): The activists say that this was meant to spark discussion to try and affect change in the country, but Kenya is a conservative place and as you can expect, some men aren't too happy with the sex boycott.

What do you think about this strategy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is completely ridiculous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, there is no way a lady can say that I want to skip this, I want to do this for a week, all this. That is the man to say I need this this time and this time, so the lady must be ready for all what the husband says.

MCKENZIE: If your wife had to come to you and say I want to do this, what would you say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no. I would say no (INAUDIBLE) because why do they do that? Remember, most of the ladies who are doing this are unmarried ladies.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Angry Kenyans have clogged Ann Njogu's e- mail inbox, calling her some unflattering names, but she says her husband is taking it in his stride.

NJOGU: He has had to bear a lot of -- just from his friends who even are suggesting they can offer him a second wife.

MCKENZIE: Kenya's women activists know they have a long way to go to change attitudes, but they hope that they can shock politicians into action by making things a bit more difficult at home.

David McKenzie, CNN, Nairobi, Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, it's issue No. 1 there. This is issue No. 1 here, small business survival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELISA GAMBINO, OWNER, VIA ELISA: People honk and they wave at it and point and I just think that's so much fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh meet the pasta lady and she's driving her profits higher in this economic downturn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: As we continue to deal with the struggling economy, some small business owners are trying to survive the recession by being inventive. In our "Survival of the Fittest" series, Brooke Baldwin introduces us to a pasta lady who is riding out the recession on wheels.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elisa Gambino is passionate about pasta. The mother of two has been rolling it out fresh with the help of a small staff almost every day for seven years.

GAMBINO: We make several kinds of cut pasta, fetuccine, parpadelle, tagliatelle, tonnarelli, angel hair.

BALDWIN (on camera): Dinner.

(voice-over): Elisa's inspiration: years of living and in Italy. She spent the first half of her career as a TV producer for CNN's Rome bureau.

GAMBINO: The cheeses that we put inside of our filled pasta are so good that you could enjoy them on a cheese platter.

BALDWIN: But then a year ago, she noticed her raviolis weren't rolling out the door like they used to.

GAMBINO: I could see in my numbers a year before anyone actually made an official announcement that things were not right.

BALDWIN: Elisa went from providing pasta to 20 Atlanta areas restaurants to just 13 in a matter of months and on top of that, fewer customers were passing through her shop, so she got inventive and hit the road, literally. Transforming her reputation to the pasta lady on wheels, taking the pasta to the people. Kind of an ice cream truck for pasta lovers, but instead of mint chocolate chip, it's spinach gnocchi.

GAMBINO: A little over a year ago, I hit one other neighborhood and then in the last six months, I added two more neighborhoods and then two weeks from now, I'm adding two more neighborhoods.

BALDWIN (on camera): So, what's so important with this is that you've totally cut out the middleman.

GAMBINO: Really no middleman because I personally go out there and I sell the pasta.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Necessity became the mother of invention.

(on camera): And your house is all of ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right there.

BALDWIN: Wow. And dinner is right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here. I've got a whole family's worth of dinner, probably about three dinners for $15.

BALDWIN (voice-over): And these fetuccine fans know where to find her. Elisa parks her pasta truck in specific neighborhoods on certain nights of the week. Customers e-mail their orders and then she doles out dinner. She says her truck single-handedly stocked her financial downward spiral.

GAMBINO: The pasta truck has made up for that and so now, my retail sales are flat which, in this economy, I'm very thankful for that.

BALDWIN: And Elisa is now sharing the lessons she learned with aspiring entrepreneurs. Lesson No. 1: identify the city's needs. In this case, her truck filled a niche: convenience, fresh food, low cost.

GAMBINO: You look in your community and see what are people talking about? What are people's needs?

BALDWIN: No. 2, think cash flow.

GAMBINO: The people that buy from the pasta truck, they pay me immediately. They order and it gets paid.

BALDWIN: Three, give your customers an extra incentive to buy from you. Elisa teamed up with a local organic farm, giving them space on her truck for their produce. And four, enjoy the ride.

GAMBINO: One day I may not sell my business for millions of dollars, but I need to have had a good time while I was doing this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scrumptious.

BALDWIN: Brooke Baldwin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Yum, just in time for lunch.

All right, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, the latest on the firefight in Southern California and texting may be at the center of another mass transit accident. Those stories plus the latest breaking news 2:00 p.m. Eastern right here in the NEWSROOM.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield from the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.