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Kentucky Tornado; Severe Weather; Pakistan-Afghanistan Dilemma; High-Tech Tapas; Wedding for Homeless Couple
Aired May 09, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CENTER: For the first time in days, some good news for thousands of homeowners in Santa Barbara, California. After a dramatic change in the weather, authorities say they are lifting most of the mandatory fire evacuation orders. Fog and cooler temperatures have moved in this morning, giving firefighters a bit of a break. Flames from the huge blaze have destroyed 80 homes and scorched 8,700 acres or 13 square miles. Pretty significant area. It's just over a quarter of the size of San Francisco alone.
RICH HACKMAN, RESIDENT: We're on top of the hill and the fire started coming back, just hit us like no tomorrow.
WHITFIELD: More than 4,000 firefighters are on the front lines. Almost a dozen have been injured.
All right. Powerful storms are rumbling across parts of the southeast this afternoon. One day after violent weather killed five people in the Midwest and Kentucky. Tornadoes were spotted yesterday across much of southern Missouri, where three people were killed and hundreds of homes, businesses and schools were damaged or destroyed.
In neighboring Kansas, high winds blew a mobile home off its foundation, killing the woman inside. The storm also destroyed a church, a post office and a home in Kansas. And one storm death is being reported in central Kentucky, the hardest-hit area, Madison County, where winds destroyed several homes there.
Jacqui Jeras is in the Severe Weather Center, keeping track of all of these things. Wildfires, storms, tornadoes, big mix.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLIST: Yeah, we got a lot on our plate. A little bit of good news. A little bit of bad news. Today probably not as severe as we saw yesterday, at least not in terms of twisters. But we do still expect to see a lot of wind damage and maybe some hail damage. I want to show you some pictures that we got from one of our I-reporters of some damage yesterday that happened in Kentucky. This is from I-reporter Glenda Killgore. She said she was driving her son to the university over there in Eastern Kentucky and must have come through immediately following this storm.
She said she was amazed to see so many roofs that were gone and then people were just coming out of their homes looking rather bewildered. She said it was very surreal and she had never seen anything like that. Thank you very much to Glenda for sending us these pictures. If you see severe weather happen, always stay safe. If you have a chance, send us some pictures at ireport.com. All right. Today we are expecting to see some real nasty weather moving across the Arklatech Region and we are honing in on these thunderstorms right along the I-30 corridor here. They have a history of producing some damaging winds around 65 miles per hour and hail about an inch or so in diameter. There's also a lot of lightning associated with that. Take a look at that line right there. It will be moving through Texarkana and throughout that region very, very shortly.
We also have a threat of severe thunderstorms ongoing here across parts of North Carolina, on up into Virginia. It's been quiet so far, Virginia. But watch out. We think in the next couple of hours, that atmosphere still getting more unstable and we will start to see more things begin to pop. We had a lot of action, too, moving across parts of upstate New York. There you can see some thunderstorms just north of the Syracuse Area and we've got a lot of heavy rain across the deep southern states, Fredricka.
That's been a big problem. The latest on the wildfires now, last but not least, the winds have been much calmer in Santa Barbara this morning. We had that nice little marine layer, that nice layer of humidity and low cloud cover push in this morning. That's starting to lift now. We will watch for improved visibility. But those winds will start to increase. So still critical fire conditions there, the firefighters had been able to make some progress now and that fire is 30 percent contained.
WHITFIELD: OK. Thanks so much, Jacqui. We have to consider that encouraging.
The U.S. and Afghanistan are accusing Taliban rebels of using innocent civilians as human shields. Coalition officials are investigating U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan's Farah Province this week. They are confirming reports that civilians died but they're blaming the Taliban. The U.S. said Taliban fighters forced villagers into houses and then used those houses to stage attacks on coalition forces. The coalition said it can't tell how many civilians actually died.
And moving on to Pakistan now. A suspected U.S. drone attack in south Wazristan is said to have killed at least five people. That is according to Pakistan intelligent. Wazristan is a Taliban strong hold along Afghanistan border. This report comes as Pakistani troops continue their offenses against Taliban forces in the Swat Valley. Pakistani forces say they killed 45 to 55 fighters over 24 hours but no way to confirm that.
We're going in depth on the Taliban threat next hour. We'll show you why this tenuous situation could affect your life here in America, a lot of things at issue. We have experts on hand to talk about the U.S., Pakistan, and Afghanistan relationship as well as what commitments from this day forward.
E-mail us your questions and your comments to WEEKENDS@CNN.com or post a comment on my facebook page, Fredricka Whitfield at CNN or Josh Levs at CNN. He will be along as well. The Taliban threat. Next hour in THE NEWSROOM. Should be a very lively discussion. Almost two weeks after a low-flying Air Force jet caused panic in New York City, the man who took the blame is now out of a job. White House military director Louis Caldera has resigned. CNN's senior white house correspondent Ed Henry has details.
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. This stemming from the Air Force One flyover that cost U.S. Taxpayers more than $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 thinking that this low-flying plane had something to do with the terror attack late last month.
This internal review by the White House suggesting that there was a complete communications breakdown. I don't know if local officials 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's also interesting, the White House chose late on a Friday afternoon to release this internal investigation. Typically White House officials over the years have chosen that time frame when they want to try to 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 one 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.
WHITFIELD: President Obama's plan to close the U.S. Detention Center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is under fire. Delivering this week's Republican media address, Senator Kit Bond called the plan dangerous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KIT BOND, (R) MISSOURI: Guantanamo Bay, known as Gitmo, doesn't house middle of the road white collar criminals. Instead, this detainee facility houses deadly terrorists, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. While President Obama has no plan for what to do with these killers, he has pledged to close the terrorist detention facility in January to fulfill a campaign promise. This is a dangerous case of putting symbolism over security, or as I like to say, this is a classic example of a ready, fire, aim strategy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: President Obama has promised to close the Guantanamo Detention Center by next January. All right, recognize this man in this mug shot? That's former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes. He was one of 22 people arrested for trespassing during an anti-abortion demonstration at Notre Dame. University says they had no permit to do so. The protest targeted President Obama's upcoming commencement address there. The demonstrators opposed Mr. Obama's support for abortion rights.
The hunt for a University of Georgia professor accused of killing three people may be over. Police dogs have discovered a body about a mile from where the professor's wrecked jeep was found. Medical technicians will determine whether it is the body of 56-year-old George Zinkhan. They still are unclear about that. He's accused of shooting his wife and two other people two weeks ago.
On the eve of Mother's Day, tradition turned on top of its head. We will tell you how the recession is changing the look of the family breadwinner.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, in Washington, there is a small-but-growing caucus on Capitol Hill. Moms who are juggling the demands of day care and diapers with committee meetings and votes. CNN's Dana Bash reports on what many are calling a congressional baby boom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Come on. We'll take your brother to school.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At 8:30 a.m., Kirsten Gillibrand looks like any other working mom in a minivan, dropping off her baby at day care and another at school. But one hour later, she's gaveling the Senate into session. Senator Gillibrand is part of a different change in Washington, a baby boom among female lawmakers. John Henry is 11 months old.
SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, (D) NEW YORK: I think it makes me and the other women who have had kid's better legislators because we really understand some of the struggles that other moms and other families face every day.
BASH: Congresswoman Stephanie Hearst said she had baby Zachary just five months ago. She's on the waiting list for congressional day care, so he's usually with a nanny or family. Like Gillibrand, she juggles legislator with breastfeeding.
REP. STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN, (D) SOUTH DAKOTA: We try to carve out that 20 minutes or so that I need but all of a sudden we will have had a series of votes, I have constituents waiting. Sometimes I take my black bag with my breast pump over to the capitol, there's a ladies' reading room.
BASH: Herseth Sandlin was only the seventh lawmaker in history to give birth while severing. Gillibrand, the sixth. But those numbers are now climbing faster because of a new dynamic for women in politics. Most used to take speaker Nancy Pelosi's task -- have kids, and then run for office but not anymore.
GILLIBRAND: There's a lot more interest in younger women beginning to look at public service earlier, and when we look at public service earlier, it means we have children while we're serving. It's good for the Congress.
SANDLIN: Our approach to policies that were important to us before but become even more important, whether it's early childhood development and how you fund it, childcare, quality childcare --
BASH: Both women admit it's easier for them to balance babies and work than most moms because they're the boss.
GILLIBRAND: The one difference I might have, I might have to go back for votes or I might have votes during a pickup time usually.
BASH: Those are unique challenges but luckily --
SANDLIN: I have a lot of support, great support network.
BASH: A growing network of new moms serving in Congress.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So the Capitol Hill moms and many across the country may be getting an extra thank you from their families on Mother's Day tomorrow. The reason -- the recession. More women are actually holding on to their jobs then men comparatively. According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate for men in April rose from 8.8 to 9.4 percent compared to March. For women, the rate was up a fraction to 7.1. 7 to 7.1 percent, a tenth of a percentage point. Joining us now to talk about this in New York, Suzanne Reese, and the editor in chief of "Working Mother" Magazine. In Los Angeles, Michelle Wilcox, the owner of Vineyard Virtual Services, an online administrative assistance business. Good to see both of you.
MICHELLE WILCOX, OWNER, VINEYARD VIRTUAL SERVICES: Hello.
WHITFIELD: Michelle, let me talk to you first because you are representing kind of that burgeoning population of women out there who are the bread winners of the family because disproportionately men, sadly, are losing their jobs, disproportionate to women who are losing their jobs. What's it been like for you all in terms of this role reversal in your household?
MICHELLE WILCOX, OWNER, VINEYARD VIRTUAL SERVICES: It's been an adjustment. It's been a big adjustment. I'm used to both of us working. And now suddenly my husband lost his job in February and so I had to ramp up my business a little bit to make up the shortfall, and all of the benefits and challenges that go with it.
WHITFIELD: Let's talk about some of those challenges. Not just, you know, you as the person who's working and the challenges in the workplace, but how about those challenges being brought home because now you're both trying to struggle with, you know, maybe even kind of walking on eggshells to make sure that no one gets offended, right?
WILCOX: Yes, a little bit. Plus I work from home. I have a virtual business, so I --
WHITFIELD: You see each other a whole lot.
WILCOX: 24/7 he is there right next to me when I'm working, which can be a challenge in and of itself. And then there's the pickup for the kids and getting them lunch and balancing all of that. And I'm very careful not to hurt his ego because that's not an insignificant thing. He wants to be the protector and be the provider, and that is not happening right now. So I don't want to hurt him unnecessarily. Other times, it's though, I got to work. Back off a little.
WHITFIELD: That's where you can come in. You have an incredible list of great bits of advice for couples such as Suzanne -- what was your husband's name, Suzanne?
WILCOX: Michelle.
WHITFIELD: Michelle, what is your husband's name again?
WILCOX: Jay.
WHITFIELD: You have some great advice for Michelle and Jay because it does bring in a whole new dynamic in the household. And I understand from your research, it is likely to worsen in terms of this disparity of job loss before it gets any better. So essentially people get used to it.
SUZANNE RISS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "WORKING MOTHER:" Well, I think Michelle is right on track. She and her husband are realizing that you don't want to equate your self worth to your salary. Particularly now so many men in the past have defined themselves about their role as breadwinner and that's something they have to shift now and realize there are so many other ways that we can all contribute to the household. There's the salary. There's also the emotional support. So that's a big adjustment for a lot of people. There are new roles and we need to shift along with them.
Something else you want to do is appreciate each other. Michelle might be missing her kids a lot because she's working extra hours to make up for the shortfall in the income and it would go, I'm sure, so far for her husband to let her know that he understands that's difficult for her, she's making a sacrifice and he appreciates it. That goes both ways.
WHITFIELD: Suzanne, you say it really is important to communicate with one another the appreciation that each is bringing to the table and to really defer, try to avoid comparing how much I'm doing, how much I'm contributing to the household, versus how much you're contributing to the household, right?
RISS: You definitely want to talk about it and you want to come up with routines that you both think are fair and you can live with. A lot of working moms have always said that their husband can have a blind eye to some of the household chores. The worse thing for working moms who now actually are taking on more household chores and more childcare responsibilities than their husbands, even if their husbands are in the process of a job search, women need to make sure they're not gritting their teeth and building up resentment. They need to talk about it.
WHITFIELD: Michelle, do you have any questions for Suzanne? Anything that's come up between you and Jay where you thought, oh, my gosh, if only I can get a little advice how to navigate this prickly little area? Here's your opportunity with Suzanne.
WILCOX: I would -- I need help with figuring out how to tell my husband nicely, I need to focus right now. Because our offices are in the same place. We don't have doors. So I need to figure out a way how to nicely and politely tell my husband, I'm focusing right now without being snippy about it.
RISS: Well, I think that -- it's great that you realize you need to say it nicely because delivery does count and matter a lot. I think this is a time when we need to remind each other, men and women, that we're really in it together. We're going to get through it together. There are better times ahead and let's come up with a plan that we both can live with during this difficult time.
And that might mean that you're working for three hours straight every morning. Let him know that's what you need now to make things work for the family. And if you say it before you start feeling the resentment, it will be a lot easier on both of you. Don't wait to see it until, you know, you're really feeling fed up. Say it right away.
WHITFIELD: And I also love, Suzanne, that you had mentioned, you know, both members of the couple need to find out ways to eliminate stress. Find out, you know, those areas that you can kind of relax a little bit so you don't take it out on one another because certainly the stress will be building, especially in these tough economic times.
Suzanne Riss with "Working Mother" Magazine. Michelle Wilcox, also joining us from Los Angeles. All the best to you and Jay, Michelle. And Happy Mothers Day to both of you ladies.
RISS: Thanks very much.
WILCOX: I appreciate your time.
WHITFIELD: Hopefully we hoped out a lot of folks, too. It's a tough time. Thanks to all of the moms out there.
Adding it all up for moms and Mr. Mom's, too. Whether you're a stay at home mom or a woman that earns an income in addition to being a home, a new Website puts a monetary figure on all that you do. Do you really want to see this? Here's CNNs Nicole Lapin.
NICOLE LAPIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, we hear about so many bailouts these days, millions and billions of dollars, but what about good, old mom? Shouldn't she get a bailout these days? How much is mom worth? On salary.com, we can actually calculate that. I put in your information. I know you're a new mom. One preschool child, zero to 5 years old. Go to the next step on salary.com, the national range is about $40,000 to $116,000 for being a mom.
I know you know this, being a mom encompasses a lot of different jobs, housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook sometimes. So I put in the average amount that a typical mom spends on each of those tasks and, Fred, here is your check. $91,543. Not too bad. There you go. Happy Mother's Day, Fred. You definitely earned it.
WHITFIELD: Too bad -- also, where's my check? Thanks, Nicole.
The leader of the Catholic faith visits the Middle East. The pope delivers a message at a mosque in Amman, Jordan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Pope Benedict XVI is marking the second day of his Middle East trip with a visit to the largest mosque in Jordan. He met with Muslim leaders and called for harmony among Christians, Jews and Muslims. On Monday the pope flies to tell verve to begin his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The family of a jailed U.S. journalist in Iran says a court will hear her appeal tomorrow. Rack Sanya Saberi was convicted of espionage in a closed one-day trial last month and sentenced to eight years in prison. Iranian authorities have said they will make sure her appeals process is quick and fair.
Now, Iran's neighbors to the east, Afghanistan and Pakistan, next hour, that will be our focus and we hope you will be part of the dialogue. The Taliban threat: nuclear weapons and fight for democracy, all in a region where the U.S. has lost troops and spent billions of dollars and continues to spend more. We bring your questions to the experts. Our Josh Levs is going through your questions right now. Give us a preview of what people are inquiring about.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're coming in, Fred. We post them, all of a sudden everyone is like, let's jump in on this. Obviously, this is a critical region. So many major issues come to a head there. Let me explain some things for the next hour. We will show you some maps and we will show you some key basic things to understand. What Fred was saying, how to get in your questions. I will show you our facebook page.
Jeff Clark asked "How similar are the Taliban's ultimate goals to the pot and the camaro rouge. This is Fed's facebook page in case you haven't seen it. I want to push it.
What do we have here? From Judy, "It appears the closest thing to stability in Pakistan is the military, which benefits from the fear of India. What can it do to uplift the nation as a whole and eliminate the real enemy, poverty and ignorance and Al Qaeda and Taliban? You can send your facebook, also on my brand-new twitter page. And it won't be long before we get Fred on the twitter bandwagon, too.
(DSS3 WHITFIELD: Yes, you, T.J. and Betty were all giving me a hard time about it earlier today.
LEVS: I'm new to it, too. We will update this along the hour. Fred, as you mentioned before, we have a great panel coming up. Ambassadors and military experts and you have a good conversation coming about Democratic rights and freedoms and Sharia (ph) law. A lot to piece through there.
That's right. What is at stake for all three countries, U.S., Pakistan and Afghanistan?
That's right.
WHITFIELD: Thank you very much, Josh. Appreciate it.
Exhausted after days on the front lines. Fighters in this country, California, finally getting a break. And the thousands of people who have fled the flames have a reason to be optimistic as well. We'll fill you in on what's happening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: After days of relentless work, firefighters in southern California are getting a bit of a break. Fog and cooler weather are helping slow the spread of the big blaze in Santa Barbara, and now authorities say they're actually lifting most of the mandatory evacuation orders.
More than 4,000 firefighters are on the front lines right now and they're using helicopters, tankers, even a jumbo jet to douse the flames. The fire has destroyed or damaged 80 homes so far and scorched at least 8,700 acres. That's 13 square miles or about one- fourth of the size of the city of San Francisco.
Powerful storms are also rumbling across parts of the southeast one day after violent weather killed five people in the Midwest and Kentucky. Some of heaviest damage was in central Kentucky. More now from reporter Jessica Moore with our affiliate WLEX.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA MOORE, WLEX REPORTER: On Highway 52 near 1295 in Madison County...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just happened all of a sudden.
MOORE: ...destruction and confusion.
MARSHA RICHARDSON, RELATIVE OF STORM VICTIM: My brother is one baby and his mother-in-law is at (ph) and his wife and other baby is at U.K. That's all I know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's houses that are completely gone.
MOORE: The tornado came through around 5:15, creating utter chaos in a matter of seconds.
STEVEN WOODARD, STROM VICTIM: I went around, make sure everybody was OK and I came out here, everybody hollering and screaming. She was in here on the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I stepped away from the door and all of my windows started going off like bombs.
MOORE: Eight-three-year-old John Jackson spent nearly three hours trapped in a wheelchair inside his home, with no electricity and no one else there.
JOHN JOHNSON, STORM VICTIM: I remember it thundered and all of a sudden, the shingles come off of the house and the roof almost came off.
MOORE: But for others, the ending is still uncertain.
CARLOS COYLE, MADISON CO EMERGENCY MGMT: We have one confirmed fatality, and the scene is still ongoing.
MOORE: Rescue workers pulled a woman out of this pond who didn't take it.
COYLE: Rescues and first responders are only human, too. So, guys are out here under adverse conditions with weather and lightning and doing the best they can.
MOORE: And it's moments like this that keep the dozens of rescue workers going strong.
JOHNSON: I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Close call there for many people. Jacqui Jeras is keeping track of what's happening right now with both of those storms and the wildfires out West.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, a lot going on today, Fredricka. The severe weather in terms of the storminess really confined to about the eastern seaboard here and this area all the way down into the south central plain states. So, this whole area at risk for at least a slight risk of seeing that severe weather ongoing. You can see a number of watch boxes, the most severe weather in the country at this hour happening across the Arklatex region. It's this complex of thunderstorms that's baring down right along the I-30 corridor, right now.
It has a history of producing damaging winds in excess of 60 miles- per-hour and hail about an inch in diameter. And here you can see, right there, that purple box, that means there is a tornado warning in effect and all of these counties all kind of come together in one spot so there's like 10 of them. It's Bowie County in Texas, and in Arkansas, it's Hempston, Howard, LaFayette, Little River and Mill counties and this possible tornado moving eastward at this time. It is just north of Texarkana.
But, look at the lightning with this. Even if you're not in the warned area, you do have this real threat of lightning and nasty weather blowing on through for the next half hour to an hour, so you do want to seek shelter and wait until these storms pass. This is going to be an ongoing thing. The storm system, we think, will hold together and blow across the Deep South.
And in the northeastern corridor, we also have some wicked thunderstorms moving across the Great Lakes on up towards upstate New York, heading towards Vermont, looking for large hail and damaging winds there. And then you can see not much happening across parts of the megalopolis, but there's a lot of cloud cover here.
So, check out the airport delays, over an hour and a half of LaGuardia, JFK, 30 minutes, 45 in Newark, San Francisco, 35, Atlanta 30 minutes now, and DFW looking at 15 to 30 minutes.
I want to show you the latest on the wildfire situation, as we have a little bit of progress going on, here. Check out our winds, though. In the last half hour we changed from northwesterly to westerly and wind speeds are increasing just a little bit and getting a little more gusty. So, watch for those conditions to get worse.
And Fredricka, I want to just mention real quick, a great, real extensive project in terms of research for finding out how tornadoes form and get some more information. It's called Vortex 2. And our CNN's Rob Marciano will be inside of the storm chase study and watch for him on AMERICAN MORNING starting Monday.
WHITFIELD: All right, we will be looking for him all week and looking to you throughout the weekend. Jacqui, thanks so much.
All right, the number of swine flu cases in the United States is still increasing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says at last count, there were 2,254 cases in the U.S. that's up 615 cases just from yesterday, 43 states and Washington, D.C. are reporting cases and so far, there are two deaths, both in Texas.
A former Illinois police officer will have to wait a while for his arraignment on a murder charge. Drew Peterson is accused of killing his third wife and suspected in the disappearance of his fourth. He was brought to court to answer the murder charge, but his attorneys couldn't make it. The judge postponed the arraignment until May 18. That's a little over a week from now. Peterson is charged with -- charged in 2004, rather, the death of his wife Kathleen Savio. It was initially ruled an accident. Later, it was reclassified as a homicide. His fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in October of 2007. Again, no one has seen or heard from her in quite a while.
All right, in the CNN NEWSROOM, earlier today, our legal experts took a closer look at that case. They see a lot of challenges for the prosecutors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HERMAN: His fourth wife goes missing. He's walking around, you know, skipping, happy, jumping. This guy just got unindicted. He taunted the police department too much. They're going after him. It's going to be a very difficult case to prove. There are very serious issues of hearsay, whether statements made by Ms. Savio are going to be admitted into evidence. If they are admitted, I believe that's going to be suspicion circumstantial evidence to convict him.
FREIDMAN: If that law constitutional.
HERMAN: Well, they enacted a law for him a year ago to allow these statements to come in. So, there's expost factio 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.
FRIEDMAN: Right now the focus on the part of the prosecution is strictly on Kathleen Savio, the third wife. And the focus here, Richard touched on this, 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: From our legal guys, Avery Friedman and Richard Herman from earlier today. They join us every Saturday on the Noon Eastern hour. So, Peterson is being held on a $20 million bond. And again, it's May 18 before that case moves forward.
All right, "News Across America," right now. The coach of the 1992 U.S. Basketball Olympic Dream Team is dead. Chuck Daly died of pancreatic cancer in Florida this morning. He was 78. Besides coaching the Dream Team to a gold medal, Daly led the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back NBA championships.
And two trolleys collided in a tunnel under downtown Boston. Now officials are blaming the driver of the rear trolley. They say he was text messaging his girlfriend at the time of the crash. None of the injuries is said to be life threatening.
A former beauty queen has been sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to bad check charges. Heather DiCarlo won the Mrs. New Jersey U.S. Pageant four years ago. Prosecutors say she wrote more than $70,000 in bad checks in order to buy antiques.
An American hero was welcomed to the White House, today. The ship captain held hostage by Somali pirates last month, met President Obama in the oval office. Look at the still pictures right there, the official White House photos. Richard Phillips and his wife are scheduled to attend the White House Correspondence Dinner and that is for this evening.
So, if you think you know what college life is all about, well, think again. A CNN Hero used his college years to save his life and the lives of thousands of other young people.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: President Obama ran for office as an opponent of the Iraq war. And now that he is in charge, the conflicts in Pakistan and Afghanistan are growing. CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider joins us now from Los Angeles, today.
Bill, good to see you. What dilemma is the president facing?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the problem is how closely he wants to be tied to the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both of those governments are shaky, partly because they're seen as too close to the United States or warm embrace could create problems for them. They are both being pressured to fight insurgencies that have some domestic roots, and that's very much tougher because it means their armies are having to fight what they sometimes regard as their own people, even though they are very radical elements that are seeking to overthrow those governments.
The Obama administration is trying to make ties to the opposition opposition, not just the government, and also to separate moderate Islamic forces from radicals, to try to put the United States on the same side as some moderate Islamics. Those are very, very difficult and delicate problems.
WHITFIELD: And what makes it difficult, too, is we're not just talking about diplomacy, we're talking about the U.S. commitment militarily to both Afghanistan and Pakistan and that, too, can be a little prickly.
SCHNEIDER: It can be, particularly we saw what happened this week with the -- terrible civilian casualties in Afghanistan, which appeared to having been related to American air strikes there. That is creating a lot of anti-American resentment in Afghanistan, a country that's fighting the insurgency. And also there's a lot of anti-American resentment in Pakistan among the military and to some extent among the government. So, it's a very, very difficult problem.
WHITFIELD: And that's very serious tough that the Obama administration is keeping tabs on all weekend long. Meantime, maybe the president kind of letting his hair down a little bit this evening for the White House Correspondents Dinner. It usually is a lot of fun, but at the same time you got to watch your words as you try to be the comedian up there. So, what's at stake for the president tonight?
SCHNEIDER: This is also a different kind of dilemma. There are two audiences for this event, there's the audience in the room, which is a really dinner of Washington insiders. But there's an audience in the country that's watching it, and they see watching as them. We're us, they're them. And this is them having a party in fancy gowns and monkey suits. Well, sometimes humor that may work a little bit in the room when President Bush, for instance, made fun of himself looking for weapons of mass destruction, that horrified the country. It shocked Americans all over the country. And sometimes the speech, Stephen Colbert, I remember, that speech did not work in the room because people thought it wasn't funny, but it was a big success outside the room. What the president has to do when he speaks tonight is make it clear he's one of us, the country. He's not one of them, the Washington insiders.
WHITFIELD: And in addition to that, the whole "one of us kind" of a -- I guess persona as he wants to portray too, it also boils down to money. I understand apparently they're not spending quite as much money on this dinner as they have in the past. Did hear a rumor maybe even dessert might be out, by saving a lot of money? That chocolate mousse?
SCHNEIDER: I didn't hear that. But the more elaborate that dinner looks, the more it will alienate Americans around the country who are saying, look at that, all of these fancy Washington people having a big-deal dinner and the rest of us are really suffering. I think they really do want to tone it down.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, all right, pressure's on. Thanks so much, Bill Schneider, appreciate it, you in Los Angeles. Appreciate it. Good to see you.
All right, well, many 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. He rallied thousands of young people with a crash course in philanthropy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN HEROES.
SHIN FUJIYAMA, STUDENTS HELPING HONDURAS FOUNDER: 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 volunteers in Honduras. At 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 of my friends with poverty and kids who sleep in the street. My little sister Cosmo (ph) joined the cause.
COSMO FUJIYAMA, SISTER: Check it out, nice to meet you. Thanks again.
S FUJIYAMA: Our motto is students can make a difference.
We're all here for one thing, to change Honduras.
We have had hundreds of bake sales and 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 Honduras with us.
A lot of our focus is with children and with education. We've raised money be able to send girls in Honduras to college. We built two schools, we're also building an entire village for the people. We have big goals, but I know we can do it together.
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
Since 2006, Shin's organization has grown to 25 chapters at college campuses across America and has raised more than $750,000 for projects in Honduras.
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When I wake up in the morning, where things are tough in Honduras, I think of all of the members that have come to Honduras and the ones that are thinking of going, and that's what keeps me going.
So, when people 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)
WHITFIELD: Wow, is he an incredible inspiration, his whole family. If you would like to help this week's hero or if you know someone like him who's doing something pretty extraordinary that they simply deserve to be a CNN Hero at the minimum, go to CNN.com/heroes. All of our CNN Heroes are chosen from people you actually nominate. So, tell us about the one that you know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A restaurant in North Carolina is cooking up a blend of good food and technological innovation. CNN's Reynolds Wolf has the story from the" Techno-File."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tapas may be one of the hottest trends in restaurant dining but the owners of T1 Tapas hope that where and how they serve theirs will start a trend that's even hotter. Their motto: "Eat, Drink," is what you expect, but the connect part, that is what attracts many diners to this Huntersville, North Carolina, restaurant.
STEPHANIE WILSON, DINER: It's cool, the technology. That's why we've come before and loved it, so about invited our friends.
WOLF: Diners can hook up their personal electronic devices and share their photos and music or chose preprogrammed images on the high definition TV.
MIKE FELDMAN, T1 TAPAS: We wanted to use technology as a way to bring people together, rather than these individual electronic devices which tend to be isolating. WOLF: The heart of the system is this tabletop touch screen. Owners Mike Feldman and Jim Morris, both electrical engineers, created the system to allow diners to access all the high-tech goodies as well as place their orders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pick out this one, the marinaded chicken. It pops up. I can order it like I did back there and the quantity went up.
WOLF: The order is sent directly to the kitchen.
JIM MORRIS, T1 TAPAS: We try to get local, in-season and organic. You can find information about all of that in the menu.
WOLF: You can watch the latest movie trailers. And get show times.
MARK BAUNACH, DINER: And we actually picked out a movie we wanted to see just by looking through the different options. So, it's neat.
WOLF: And if you forget your iPod, you can still enjoy the booth.
MORRIS: We put in a whole series of different media that's already in the system that you can look at, you know, pictures, music videos, concerts.
WILSON: We were joking it's a first good date place in case it didn't go well, you'd have something else to talk about.
WOLF: Feldman and Morris think this high-tech customized dining experience is the wave of the future and plan to market their T1 connection booths to other restaurants within the year.
Reynolds Wolf, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The bride wore white, the groom a snazzy tuxedo. For a homeless couple in Washington, dreams really do come true. Here's Kate Bolduan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the happiest moment of a couple's life together.
NHIAHNI CHESTNUT, BRIDE: I Nhiahni.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take you Dante White.
CHESTNUT: Take you Dante White.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be my husband .
CHESTNUT: To be my husband.
DANTE WHITE, GROOM: To have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And to hold.
WHITE: And to hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From this day forward.
WHITE: From this day forward.
BOLDUAN: A moment no different for Dante White and Nhiahni Chestnut.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feeling like a million bucks.
BOLDUAN: From the tuxedo to the dress, the invitations and even the cake.
CHESTNUT: Special. That's what it make me feel, so special. Now I know what a princess feels like.
BOLDUAN: All special, all memorable, all donated.
REV JOHN GRAHAM, GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH: They're really wonderful people. Each of them and the two of them together had lots of issues and lots of battles in their lives. But they're working so hard to form a relationship.
BOLDUAN (on camera): And after the honeymoon, a paid for two-night stay at a local hotel, the newlyweds returned here, their home for almost a decade, the streets of D.C.
CHESTNUT: This is basically where we lay down and put our little blankets and our little belongings and stuff like that.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Dante White and Nhiahni Chestnut are homeless. They acknowledge they've led complicated lives. Battles with mental illness, drugs, jail. They survive off his disability check and food stamps, but can't make ends meet. They say they're still on a waiting list for subsidized housing.
CHESTNUT: I don't like being homeless. I don't like being out here on the street. You know, nobody -- nobody dreams up when they're growing up that they want to be homeless.
BOLDUAN: For nine years, they've struggled together. Always wanting to get married but knew they couldn't afford it. Then they found Grace Episcopal Church which offers free meals and Bible study. Over time the congregation got to know the couple and decided to throw a wedding.
MARGARET DAVIS, GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH: They want what every -- what all of us want. Is to be able to celebrate their love and be able to make a home together.
BOLDUAN: The church is also raising money to help rent an apartment for the newlyweds. That goal for now is still out of reach. But after finally saying "I do"... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may kiss the bride.
BOLDUAN: They both hope they're at least heading in the right direction.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, taking a look at what's happening right now in the news, the search may be over for university of Georgia professor accused of killing three people. Cadaver dogs discover a body near where George Zinkhan's jeep was found in north Georgia. The body has been taken to the state crime lab for identification.
And for the first time in days, some good news for thousands of homeowners in Santa Barbara, California. Fog and cooler temperatures moved in this morning, giving firefighters a break. Authorities have lifted most of the mandatory fire evacuation orders.
And in the Midwest, five people have lost their lives in deadly storms. Thousands of homes are damaged or destroyed, in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. The weather service has confirmed at least two tornados touched down in Missouri.
All right, we're focusing this hour on U.S., Pakistan, and Afghanistan relations. The prime minister of Pakistan says his country is fighting for its very survival. Taliban insurgents threaten a large swath of the country, an important U.S. ally and a nuclear power.
