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More California Damage from Wildfires; Severe Weather Strikes Again
Aired May 09, 2009 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Our top story, severe weather. This involves the winds that are fueling these flames in southern California. Now we understand in Santa Barbara County, while the fires are still very much burning, we understand the sheriff's department has actually lifted most of the mandatory evacuation orders. However, it doesn't mean that the fires are over. They are still indeed battling the blazes. Last check, they were about 30 percent contained. Firefighters certainly not letting their guard down. They're battling the blaze from the air and certainly on the ground as well.
The blazes already destroyed 80 homes. 30,000 people are under those -- were under those evacuation orders but, again, from the sheriff's department out of Santa Barbara County, we understand that most of the mandatory evacuations have since been lifted. 13 firefighters, by the way, have been injured. We will keep you posted on the damage there in southern California.
Meantime, five people have lost their lives in a wave of deadly storms that have swept across the Midwest. Thousands of homes are damaged or destroyed in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. The weather service has confirmed at least two tornadoes touched down in Missouri. The governor has declared a state of emergency. In Wilson County, Kansas, winds were clocked at 120 miles an hour, destroying a church and the town's post office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went around to make sure everybody was ok and I came out here, everybody hollering and screaming. She was in here on the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon as I stepped away from the door, all of my windows started going off like bombs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember it thundered and all of a sudden, the shingles come off of the house and the roof almost come off.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: These residents are reacting to a tornado that struck just outside Lexington, Kentucky. It killed a woman and destroyed dozens of homes there. National Guard troops have been deployed to deal with traffic control and security.
(WEATHER REPORT) WHITFIELD: Meantime overseas, Pakistani officials say five people have been killed in a possible U.S. drone attack on the Taliban. It happened in a tribal district near the border with Afghanistan. The area is a strong hold of a Taliban leader. CNN's Stan Grant has the latest on a probe into deadly U.S. air strikes across the border in Afghanistan, where civilians were among those killed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Now that the U.S. is admitting that civilians were indeed killed by its air strikes, there is a new debate about the exact number of casualties. U.S. military putting the number at around 50, others much higher. The Red Cross initially spoke of seeing dozens of bodies. Locals on the ground also speaking of seeing over 100 people killed. And Afghan President Hamid Karzai supporting those numbers. He says in information he has received from his government here in Kabul, he says the number is in fact over 140.
Now, these air strikes were called in during tense fighting between the U.S. forces and the Taliban in the Farrah Province in western Afghanistan. They were called in to take out houses where they believed the insurgents were holed up. Hamid Karzai is now saying he does not want anymore of these attacks. He's calling for these air strikes to end. He said it is no way of defeating the Taliban and put civilians in harm's way. The U.S. also accusing the Taliban of using the civilians as human shields. Hamid Karzai saying that is a tactic the Taliban does use. The Taliban has responded as well, releasing a statement accusing the United States of drenching innocent people in their own blood, and warning that the civilian deaths will spark a new wave of revenge both here in Afghanistan and throughout the world. Stan Grant, CNN, Kabul.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And later on today at 4:00 eastern time, CNN brings you an in depth look at the Taliban threat in Pakistan and in Afghanistan. We will show you what's happening in the region, how it can affect your life here in America. And we're inviting you to send your questions because we'll have plenty of experts on hand to answer some of your questions about your concerns about what's taking place involving the U.S., Pakistan and Afghanistan. 4:00 eastern today.
Pope Benedict XVI is sounding a conciliatory note on the second day of his Middle East trip. He toured the biggest mosque in Amman, Jordan, today with the king's top religious adviser. The pope stressed the shared harmony of Christians and Muslims which he said is so often marked by misunderstandings. Earlier I spoke with our Vatican expert about the pope's mission. Here's John Allen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Start with the fact that there are 2.3 billion Christians and 1.2 billion are Catholic and there are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. That's over 50 percent of the human population. By definition, relation between Christians and Muslims are enormously important. 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 terms of trying to get Christian Muslim relations back on track.
WHITFIELD: So he stands a lot to gain. Does he also stand a lot to lose by making this foray?
ALLEN: Well, sure. I mean in many ways, this week one trip in the Middle East is the pope's ultimate high wire act. Because let's not forget. It's not just Christian/Muslim relations that are in play here. Particularly when he gets to Israel next week, he will also be dealing with Christian/Jewish relations, which have had their own ups and downs in recent months.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And Monday the pope flies to Israel to meet with Jewish and Palestinian leaders.
Jailed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi is scheduled to have an appeals hearing tomorrow in Iran. Saberi was sentenced to eight years in Iranian prison last month on espionage charges. The trial lasted one day. Iranian authorities say she confessed but her father believes Saberi was coerced into making damaging statements. Now an Iranian court is promising that she will have a quick and fair appeals hearing. Saberi was detained in January accused of working without proper press credentials and spying for the U.S. those are the allegations.
National security on the minds of republicans critical of President Barack Obama's planned closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison next year. Today in the GOP's weekly address, Missouri Senator Kit Bond asked what will happen with the 241 terror suspects housed there.
(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 Sheik 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 OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Senator Bond went on to ask the president to honor his campaign pledge for transparency, and to tell citizens where the Gitmo detainees will ultimately end up. Former republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes was one of 22 people arrested Friday after a protest march on the campus of Notre Dame. The protesters taking issue with President Obama's scheduled commencement speech next weekend there. They complained the president's views on abortion are at odds with the Catholic Church. Keyes and fellow demonstrators were jailed on trespassing charges.
New developments today in the hunt for University of Georgia professor accused of killing three people. Cadaver dogs discovered a concealed body near where George Zinkhan's jeep was found in North Georgia. Athens-Clarke County police say the body has been taken to the state crime lab for identification. Zinkhan is accused of shooting and killing his wife and two others last month outside a community theater right near the University of Georgia campus.
A computer hacker is trying to blackmail the state of Virginia. That hacker wants the commonwealth to pay up several million dollars or else. We'll tell you what he or she is holding for ransom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: There has been a jump in the number of U.S. swine flu cases in the last 24 hours. The Centers for Disease Control reports 615 more confirmed h1n1 flu cases since yesterday. That puts the total number in the U.S. at more than 2,200 in 43 states and Washington, D.C. Vermont reporting its firs confirmed case today. That patient is said to be recovering at home. The worldwide total should break 4,000 based on the new U.S. numbers. The virus is blamed for 48 deaths in all worldwide.
A hacker who invaded a state prescription website wants millions of dollars or else. The question is, are patient records in jeopardy? CNN's Brian Todd has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A shakedown targeting the Virginia state website that tracks potential abuse of drugs, like oxycontin and vicadin. A hacker claims to have stolen more than 8 million patient records, more than 35 million prescriptions. The attacker brazenly wiped out the home page of the Virginia prescription monitoring program's website last week. In its place a note saying, quote, I have your expletive. I have made an encrypted backup. And, quote, for $10 million, I will gladly send along the password. Experts warn of the security threat.
PROF. DOUGLAS SZAJDA, UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: They have no guarantee that this person has not made a hundred copies of this and sent them out and is still going to sell them to the highest bidder.
TODD: The person did threaten that if not paid by late this week, quote, at the very least I can find a buyer for the personal data, name, age, address, social security number, driver's license number. Virginia officials tell us driver's license numbers are not posted on the site but the other information mentioned by the hacker, including some social security numbers, is posted. IRA WINKLER, AUTHOR, "SPIES AMONG US": That's enough in many cases to perform identity theft, depending on how much the company you're giving it to checks out the information.
TODD: The state prescription website is now shutdown but the hackers' extortion note is preserved on WikiLeaks, a website that publishes leaked documents. The FBI and state police are investigating but won't comment on the case. State officials tell us that so far they're not aware of any evidence that any personal information may be at risk in this case. They say they have not lost any of the information hacked. Virginia's Governor Tim Kaine says this hacker shouldn't be paid a dime.
(On camera): Cybersecurity expert Ira Winkler agrees, saying it's like giving into the demands of terrorists and, he says, given the apparent immaturity of this hacker, there's no guarantee the person wouldn't just take the money and then sell that information anyway. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: An investigation shows sexual assault victims in Texas are being victimized again. Houston affiliate KPRC says rape victims are getting bills for rape kits used to collect evidence against their perpetrators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF RAPE VICTIM: That was unreal. And I never thought I would be out anything for what I went through. I'm the victim. And yet here I am, I'm asked to pay this bill and my credit's going to get hurt.
KELLY YOUNG, HOUSTON AREA WOMEN'S CENTER: There may be lots of survivors who have this happen and we don't know because they don't know that they shouldn't be getting the bills. A lot of people aren't going to ask. They're going to go ahead and pay it and move forward with their lives. They don't want to keep reliving that experience.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Meantime according to the reporting, the state crime victims' fund is full of cash.
Curbing teen pregnancy. What Bristol Palin and others are doing to actually help slow the trend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Curbing teenage pregnancy. This week Bristol Palin, the daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, set out on a media blitz to promote abstinence. The 18-year-old is perhaps the country's best- known unwed teen mother. So how effective can she be? Will it really help to prevent other teenagers from becoming mothers too soon? Joining us to help answer those questions is Brenda Rhodes Miller, with the DC Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy. Good to see you. BRENDA RHODES MILLER, DC CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT TEENAGE PREGNANCY: Hi there, thanks for inviting me.
WHITFIELD: Well you know it's really interesting because her pregnancy certainly reminded people that this is commonplace for a lot of teenagers to get pregnant. But we have watched a real evolution of her journey from, ok, she's going to stick with the young man. They're going to be married and now she's a single parent. It's a whole different story. How powerful is she an image for young people today?
MILLER: Well you know celebrities do influence popular culture but I think Bristol Palin presents parents with a great opportunity to ask themselves, do we want to trust the well being of our children to any celebrity or to anybody just because they're famous.
WHITFIELD: Well, what do you mean?
MILLER: I mean, you know, it gives parents a great opportunity to open a conversation with their children and to say, celebrities aren't experts. They don't know you. They don't care about you, because they can't. They don't know you. But as your parent, I care about you a great deal. And let's talk about love and sex, relationships, birth control, abstinence. What it means to be a parent.
WHITFIELD: So but in this case you want this young celebrity, we'll call her that at this point, you want her to get the attention of young people because now her mantra is, wait a minute, abstinence. Had I known what I know now, you know what this parenting thing is really hard. What do you -- the parent, want your daughter or your son to hear from her?
MILLER: Well I think that as a parent, or I think what parents want their children to hear is the information they need to keep themselves safe, to protect themselves in situations that they're not mature enough to handle. There are only two ways to prevent pregnancy, either you don't have sex, which is what Bristol Palin is talking about. Or if you do have sex, you use contraception carefully and every single time. But that's a conversation a parent is really best suited to talk to about their children with.
WHITFIELD: But then there's the argument of what is realistic? We heard from Bristol's former fiance, Levi, who said this is not realistic to even talk about. He came out on a campaign just as her campaign was unveiled that she's promoting abstinence among teenagers. He said, quite frankly, it's not realistic to talk to young kids and encourage them, you know, to not have sex because everyone is doing it.
MILLER: Well, you know, dueling campaigns aside, what is realistic is for parents to say to their children that I'm here to talk to you, I care about you. I know what's going on in your life and I want --
WHITFIELD: So when kids are getting the message from their peers, which is, you know what, it's fashionable now, especially as we see younger celebrity types, whether they be married or not who have that little belly bump. They're making it look really fashionable and fun and a lot of young kids are admiring them and saying, I want a piece of that life?
MILLER: I don't know. Yesterday DC Campaign did a round table with teen fathers. These young men talked about how difficult it was for them to have a job, to go to school, to be a good father. I don't know if it's as fashionable as some people might lead us to believe.
WHITFIELD: So is that what you want to hear from Bristol on this campaign? She needs to talk about the real consequences, the real hardships of what it is to be a parent?
MILLER: She should talk about the fact that if you're sexually active you need to use birth control. If you're not sexually active, you still need to know about preventing pregnancy. If you become a parent, you need to really be an adult so you can handle responsibilities.
WHITFIELD: All right, Brenda Rhodes Miller, let's hope a lot of young people are listening because we all know parenting is not easy, even when you're a bona fide adult and when you're a young person it's doubly hard, maybe quadruple. With the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Thanks so much. You guys have an uphill battle so all of the best.
MILLER: Thank you. May is teen pregnancy prevention month.
WHITFIELD: All right, that's good. Happy Mother's day if you're a mother, too, this weekend. Take care.
Talking about sex with your teen can be a pretty awkward discussion. For tech-savvy adolescents, sex ed is an easy and it's as close as a keystroke they say. Nicole Lapin of CNN.com explains.
NICOLE LAPIN, CNN.COM: Fred, I you think your child is not having conversations about sex without you, you might be kidding yourself. There are chat room conversations going on online right now. There are text messaging sites, though, that you can get legitimate, vetted information to your child about sex, even if you're not invited into the conversation. A couple I found that were run by professionals, one out of Columbia University, goaskalice.columbia.edu. And there's another site run out of Rutgers University, it's called sex, etc.org. It is run by teens, for teens.
And this is the only one in the entire United States out of North Carolina run by the adolescent pregnancy prevention campaign of North Carolina that actually text messages teens. Based on the questions, they get a professional response. Before I came on, I actually phoned them up. They looked through their log. I want to read you a couple of examples of the types of questions they've gotten in. One saying, I'm 14 and going to lose my virginity but not on birth control. Am I at a higher rate of getting pregnant? The answer is, yes, you are. A sexually active teen who does not use birth control has a 90 percent chance of becoming pregnant within a year. Use protection, even if you don't become pregnant, you are at a risk of a sexually transmitted disease. Another one asking, if you have sex underwater, do you need a condom? The answer that comes straight to that teen on his or her cell phone is, yes, use a condom to protect against pregnancy and STDs every time you have sex. And, Fred, if you missed any of those sites, we posted them on our blog, cnn.com/newsroom. Back to you.
WHITFIELD: Good, good information. Thanks so much. Important resource there, Nicole Lapin.
So he turned a collection of bad boys into one of the NBA's greatest teams and a group of stars into a golden dream team. We're remembering the late Chuck Daly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. Just moments ago we got word of a new development in the Santa Barbara wildfire situation. Here's what we know. Officials now say most people can actually go home. They're downgrading mandatory evacuation orders to evacuation warnings for the most -- for most of the affected area. The orders will be lifted in stages to avoid traffic jams. The weather, by the way, turned cool and foggy, and that has helped put out parts of that fire. The blaze has destroyed 80 homes. 13 firefighters have been injured.
Well, not everyone was heeding the call to evacuate. Some homes in the fire's path were just rebuilt seven months after another wildfire ripped through Santa Barbara. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez introduces us to one family who was not running from round two.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worried that we could still see flames. And it's burned over that area once already and it's still burning.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For three days and nights since the Santa Barbara fire began, Lisa and Kay Camarillo have watched the flames on the ridge. All their neighbors have evacuated. Camarillo told us they're staying behind.
KAYE CAMARILLO, HOMEOWNER: My family lived here for many generations. This is our -- this is our land and we have to defend it.
GUTIERREZ: Their nerves are raw.
Just seven months ago, flames roared through this canyon, destroying hundreds of homes.
CAMARILLO: It happened so suddenly that the sparks flew and we're right here.
GUTIERREZ: Kay Camarillo fled for her life. The home she grew up in, where she raised her children, burned to the ground.
(on camera): It's hard to imagine what the homeowner feels when they come back and look at that. CAMARILLO: The memories. The little things. The photographs. Yes. You know, little things like the bench that my father built that we all sat on when we were little kids. Those are irreplaceable things. That's hard.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Camarillo didn't have enough insurance to rebuild, so the Community Environment Council in Santa Barbara came to her rescue. Volunteers built a new fire resistant green home. Two weeks ago, that home was relocated to her property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd be absolutely astounded at how many people put their time and effort into this.
GUTIERREZ: And just when she was ready to settle in, the fire threatens once again.
(on camera): Why would you rebuild here? Why not move elsewhere, live somewhere else than Santa Barbara?
CAMARILLO: No. This is our home. This is our land.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Land high above Santa Barbara that has belonged to the Camarillo family for more than a hundred years.
CAMARILLO: And now we have ashes again on our mountain tops.
GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Santa Barbara, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: So it's very dry and it's very windy in the west as you can see right there and then in the southeast, where we see Jacqui is about to focus on, pretty soggy there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right, news across America right now. The head of Boston's area transit says he will ban cell phones and other personal communication devices for bus drivers and train operators after two trolley cars collided last night. The conductor of one trolley reportedly admits that he was texting at the time of the accident. Nearly 50 people were hurt, though none with life- threatening injuries.
And in neighboring New Hampshire, gay marriage proponents are keeping a close eye to see whether Governor John Lynch will sign a bill into law allowing gay marriage. Last week, the three-term Democrat said he thought the law was unnecessary, noting civil union laws for same-sex couples are already on the books.
And here she is, former Miss New Jersey, pageant winner Heady DiCarlo paying the price. DiCarlo was sentenced Friday to almost a year in jail for bouncing a bunch of bad checks to the tune of $70,000.
All right, he's considered one of the NBA's greatest coaches, Chuck Daly. He's lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, and CNN's sports reporter Larry Smith looks back at his Hall of Fame career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS REPORTER (voice-over): Chuck Daly was known for that well-coifed air 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)
WHITFIELD: It's a story of true grit and determination, and it could very well be the most inspiring story that you will see all day. Why London applauded when a soldier finished a marathon two weeks late.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The death toll is climbing from devastating flooding in Brazil. At least 38 people have died after weeks of torrential rains there. Nearly 800,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, where rain is expected over the next 10 days. One relief agency says the flooding is so extensive, that it could take a month before the waters recede.
South Africa has a new president. Jacob Zuma was inaugurated today, three days after being elected by the parliament. Zuma's African National Party won majority control in elections last month. The 67-year-old Zuma overcame corruption allegations to become the country's fourth post-apartheid president. His progress was painfully slow. But his will and determination should inspire you to no end. A disabled British soldier walked across the finish line of a London marathon this morning, two weeks after the race ended. Per doctor's orders, British Army Major Phil Packer was only allowed to walk on his crutches for two miles a day. Packer suffered a spinal injury in the Iraq war and was told he probably would never walk again. But he defied the odds, as you see here, and today he thanked those who supported him along the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL PACKER, WOUNDED VETERAN: It's been a very different journey, one where I didn't expect to have any kind of support like this. And I'm just very grateful to -- to the sincerity and kindness that have donated and have encouraged me along the way. It's made this much easier for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Packer is hoping his marathon success will actually help raise money and awareness of the plight of British war veterans. Congratulations to him on that walk.
All right, the main goal for most aid organizations in developing countries is sustainability. They hope the work and the funding they provide now will help people help themselves in the future. Well one American used that theory after a visit to Uganda. Our Hala Gorani has her story in today's "Impact Your World" segment.
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HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American Brittany Merrill dances with Ugandan widows, celebrating the opening of a clean water well. Merrill helped fund this well, but it's in the hands of these women to keep it flowing now.
BRITTANY MERRILL, FOUNDER, UAPO: We work side by side with local Ugandans as their friends and as their partners, and really as a family to help them facilitate their own development.
GORANI: Merrill founded the Uganda American Partnership Organization in 2006 to build a simple home for a woman and children who changed her life.
MERRILL: She took 24 children into her home off the streets. And I saw a woman whose faith and determination caused her to sacrifice everything she had to care for these children. She went without food so she could feed them, and I felt called to help.
GORANI: Merrill shared Sarah Camara's (ph) story with friends and family. She quickly realized there were many more children who needed a home. After five years of dancing, praying, and fund-raising, UAPO finished a family-style home for 180 street children. These children now have mosquito nets, clean water, a loving home, and hope, all thanks to Merrill and Camara (ph) bringing two worlds together.
Hala Gorani, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, the new "Star Trek" movie raking in big bucks at the box office. Who didn't expect that? We'll have a preview for all of your trekkies out there and take a look at why the film has so many people hooked on it.
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WHITFIELD: All right, no surprise here. "Star Trek" has gone warped speed at the box office. It has raked in $31 million in U.S. ticket sales just over a day in theaters now. Jason Carroll, a bona fide trekkie, he says, tells us what the hoopla is really all about.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Space, a final frontier.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Final? Not when it comes to the USS Enterprise. An action-packed "Star Trek" prequel warping into theaters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire everything!
CHRIS PINE, ACTOR: I really wasn't prepared for how physical, how intense it was going to be.
CARROLL: A new Captain Kirk, Spock too, almost a dead ringer for the original.
ZACHARY QUINTO, ACTOR: I'm infusing it with my own perspective and my own point of view.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Scotty, check off Uhura and McCoy all on board. A sword-wielding Sulu, feeling nervous about stepping into the space shoes of the original.
JOHN CHO, ACTOR: In order to function, you have to put that aside and go forward. For me that involved some nice words from George Takei.
GEORGE TAKEI, ACTOR: And I told him, don't worry, you're a fine actor. You're going to do a good job. I think Sulu is in good hands with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good luck.
CARROLL: But what is the fascination with "Star Trek"? Director J.J. Abrams.
J.J. ABRAMS, DIRECTOR: A sense of discovery is intrinsic to "Star Trek" and I think a unique and kind of refreshing idea. CARROLL: In 40 years, six series, 11 movies, books, conventions, the cover of "Newsweek," the power to turn over a renowned astrophysicist into a philosopher.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Practically every episode reached back into some aspect of modern life, modern morays and had us think another way about ourselves.
CARROLL: Why has it endured? Look back to the 1966 original, a multicultural crew working together.
TAKEI: That was a very hopeful thing but it wasn't very real at that time. So that hope was one of the components that made "Star Trek" so relevant.
CARROLL: And a new movie with more to come.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would love to do another one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would love to do another one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The movie has to find an audience first. Buckle up, "Star Trek" is ballistic, it's sexy, and it's back.
CARROLL: The new cast tells me that many of them have already signed on for two more pictures after this one, so they say they will be around as long as a new generation wants them to be. Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, well the original series of "Star Trek" broke barriers. The new movie is hoping to break box office records. Already off to a pretty good start. Why has this franchise been loved by so many for so long? David Caplan, a senior editor with "People" magazine joining us now to help answer that. David, are you a trekkie?
DAVID CAPLAN, SENIOR EDITOR, PEOPLE: I'm not a trekkie. But I did see the film and liked it.
WHITFIELD: You did, you did. So you think this will catch on much like the television series? People are devotees all the way.
CAPLAN: Yes, I know, absolutely. What's great about this film is that definitely the old-school devotees are loving it and because this film has people like Zoe Saldana, it has Zachary Quinto from "Heroes," the movie now is relevant to a new generation of people. So people are following these actors. And just it's a storyline that again, it transcends everything. So it's still relevant today.
WHITFIELD: Can you give me a little taste of what the storyline is? CAPLAN: I don't want to give too much details of the exact story line, but there are many surprising relationships that you see in the film. You see Spock and James T. Kirk in the beginning. The relationship is not as smooth as we see later in the movie. And it's very interesting. There's a lot of character development of James T. Kirk, things we never knew about him before you discover in this film.
WHITFIELD: Wow. This was so futuristic on really so many levels. Besides of the obvious of the sci-fi but really "Star Trek" kind of broke barriers in terms of showing diversity. People could live in this universe, you know, together, love one another at a time in real life here on Earth and in TV land, where that was not encouraged. Diversity was a foreign idea.
CAPLAN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, you think of when the series first landed on our radar in the '60s, you had African-American, Asian-American, a Russian person, and in that era, that so much more almost taboo. So it really was groundbreaking in that respect. We still see that today. Clearly it's a much different environment. But that's another reason why the show caught on so early on with so many people because it was representative of the viewers that were watching the show.
WHITFIELD: And I suppose it was really smart for the producers of this new film to make sure that -- that the new cast didn't have a problem reaching out to, you know, the original cast. We saw that in Jason's piece. There was some real kind of consulting relationship developed here. And maybe that really made sure that the characters held true to their original characteristics.
CAPLAN: I mean, absolutely. It goes beyond really off-screen consultations because Leonard Nimoy himself, he's the only person from the original series who's in this film as well. So you really see that collaboration on screen as well as off-screen.
WHITFIELD: And so commitment already. We heard from the actors or we heard from Jason Carroll from the actors. Already a commitment for two more. Are they biting off too much?
CAPLAN: Absolutely not. Already this film estimated -- Paramount this morning in fact said it's expecting $72 million for opening weekend. To put it in a little bit of context, last weekend "Wolverine" was $85 million. People are loving this film. And again, we had 10 previous movies. So I think just to get two more out of it is not asking too much.
WHITFIELD: Wow. OK David Caplan, senior editor of "People" magazine. Live long and prosper.
CAPLAN: Thank you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, cool, take care.
All right, so how would you like to have Ed Montgomery's job? He's President Obama's point man for saving the auto industry. No pressure. The so-called car czar heads to the epicenter of the crisis.
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WHITFIELD: Another bank to tell you about that has shut down. Westsound Bank, based in Bremerton, Washington, has become the 33rd bank this year to fail. The bank was hit hard by losses in construction loans. Westsound has been sold to Kitsap Bank of Port Orchard, Washington.
President Obama wants Congress to get tough with credit card companies. He says 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.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The abuses in our credit card industry have only multiplied in the midst of this recession, when Americans can least afford to bear an extra burden. 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 of truth, we need credit card forms and statements that have plain language in plain sight. And we need to give people the tools to find a credit card that meets their needs.
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WHITFIELD: No state has been hit harder by the auto industry crisis than Michigan. So when President Obama's point man for recovery spent two days there this week, he was the center of attention. Rod Meloni from CNN affiliate WDIV reports now.
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ROD MELONI, WDIV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He emerged from GM's virtual reality room in its electric vehicle studios impressed with the technology many in Washington don't believe the auto industry possesses. He sat in the hottest car of this year's auto show, the Cadillac Evoke (ph) at the GM tech center and admitted he's learned how resilient the workers on the line and their communities are right now.
EDWARD MONTGOMERY, AUTO RECOVERY DIRECTOR: They put together effective plans to think about how to diversify and the federal government can play an effective role in both supporting autos, supporting the supplier base and helping the community diversify on a variety of fronts. And I look forward to working with the community in that effort.
MELONI: He said he brought workers from seven different federal agencies to start talking to Michigan's communities to see where federal help from unemployment and job retraining can make a difference. MONTGOMERY: Clearly the problems and challenges we face today didn't occur overnight and they're not going to be solved overnight. We need to get the economy growing. We need to get people buying automobiles again. We need to get some growth in the economy.
MELONI: But in the end, these kinds of town hall meetings and these kinds of federal programs offer more hope than actual help, Says Patrick Anderson of the Anderson Economic Group.
PATRICK ANDERSON, CEO, ANDERSON ECONOMIC GROUP (on phone): We can't expect Washington to save us and the expectation that anyone in the federal government is going to rescue the Midwest or rescue Detroit is simply not true.
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WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, a layoff dilemma. More men are being cut from their jobs than women in this country. It's a Mother's Day discussion on how that affects family dynamics and it can get pretty tricky.
And what is it like to be a storm chaser risking your life for the pictures? We take you on the inside of the vortex.
