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Kansas Doctor Shot and Killed; Mulally Keeps Ford Alive; Susan Boyle Takes 2nd Place; College Grads Not Finding Work; Hurricane Season Starts Monday; Jordin Sparks at Prom for Special Needs Kids
Aired May 31, 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: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. This breaking story we're following now. It involves a church shooting in Wichita, Kansas. But one of the few doctors in the nation to perform late-term abortions, was the target. George Tiller -- he has reportedly been shot and killed. According to Kansas media reports, Tiller was shot as he walked into a Lutheran church this Sunday morning.
Tiller's clinic has been a lightning rod for protests for about two decades now. It was the scene of heated demonstrations in the early 1990s. Tiller survived a shooting at his clinic back in 1993.
Police are on the scene investigating today's shooting. We'll bring you more developments as they become available.
Meantime, this next story likely to cause ripple effects across the U.S. auto industry and possibly the U.S. economy as a whole, a seismic shift expected within the next 24 hours for giant U.S. automaker General Motors. Officials tell CNN President Obama will address the nation tomorrow morning to discuss a G.M. bankruptcy.
So, if filed as early as tomorrow in bankruptcy G.M. will be in survival mode. Here's what the company is shedding. Pontiac is disappearing. Saturn, Hummer, Saab, and the European Opel are being sold.
So, what exactly is left? G.M. will continue to make Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and GMC trucks. Flashing brands will have a snowball effect from dealers to suppliers to communities tied to the auto industry and beyond.
To help us understand what this means, we turn to Chris Isidore of CNNmoney.com. He's joining us now on the phone.
So Chris, how far reaching is this bankruptcy? What kind of a ripple effect are we expecting in the U.S. auto industry?
VOICE OF CHRIS ISIDORE, SENIOR WRITER, CNNMONEY.COM: It could cause problems for a number of suppliers. G.M. paid about $2 billion worth of its bills to suppliers early on Thursday. But there are a number of suppliers who are right on the edge who could be forced into bankruptcy themselves because of this.
WHITFIELD: Was this a last resort for G.M.? Were there any other options? ISIDORE: It's become pretty much of a certainty in the last few weeks. It wasn't that long ago, last fall, that a G.M. bankruptcy still seem to be the unthinkable for the industry.
But the way the restructuring has been moving in the last month or two, it was pretty clear that was heading towards a bankruptcy filing as a way of both shedding its contracts they can't afford anywhere, debt they can't afford anymore, and dealerships they can't afford any more.
WHITFIELD: So already in trouble, a government bailout completely necessary, or did it simply prolong the pain, or is this what has been needed in order to resuscitate a G.M?
ISIDORE: If there had never been any government bailout in December, we probably would have seen a real uncontrolled bankruptcy at G.M. You would have seen retirees losing pensions. You would have seen much more widespread client closings and job cuts, and possibly even a liquidation.
We're not looking at any of those things today, so it certainly is less catastrophic than it could have been without the government help?
WHITFIELD: So do you see in the short term or are we talking long term where there may be some positive effects from the filing of bankruptcy?
ISIDORE: Well, the company that emerges and is expected to emerge in the next two to three months from bankruptcy will be a lot leaner, will be a lot less debt, and the hope is that it will be competitive.
But many of the experts are not sure it will be able to be competitive long term. It's facing rivals like Toyota with much deeper pockets, and even Ford has a lot more money in the bank.
So, it's not a slam dunk that things get better -- that things are fine for G.M. from this point on, but it's not impossible that it's back on its feet after this.
WHITFIELD: So it's clear what it will mean if I'm a dealer who is selling Saturn, Hummer, Saabs -- those are no longer at my disposable. But if I am still stilling Chevys, Cadillacs, Buicks, and GMC trucks, those are the items, the make that will still be around. How concerned do I need to be still?
ISIDORE: Well, about 1,100 of those dealers have already been notified that G.M. wants to cut them out by fall of 2010. About another 400 or 500 could still be cut in addition to that.
A lot of the dealers that are being cut are the smaller dealers that have relatively limited sales. But it will be painful for a lot of them.
WHITFIELD: Now, if I'm a retiree, what does this mean for me? ISIDORE: Your health insurance just got more expensive. Some of the things that were covered are not covered as well as they used to be. It's going to be some real pain for retirees. But at least, at this point, your pension is not being affected.
WHITFIELD: OK.
A lot of reaction from people when they hear the government would have about a 70 percent stake in G.M. as a result of this kind of restructuring. It's a little concerning when, I guess, the United States becomes almost the CEO or the CFO of a U.S. automaker, an icon such as this. But was this last resort, the only way in which you can have an icon like this stay afloat?
ISIDORE: This is certainly the only way that you could hope to get any of the money back from -- that the taxpayers have sunk into G.M., by giving the government equity rather than debt.
If G.M. was going to try to pay back all the money that the government has given it, it would have been just as much under debt as it was before the bankruptcy filing and it would have been in bad shape. So, the government's not going to be making day-to-day operational calls at G.M., and it hopes to sell the stock that it's taking as soon as possible. But that's going to be at least a couple years before it's a possibility.
WHITFIELD: Chris Isidore of CNNmoney.com. Thanks so much or this discussion and helping us have a better understanding of what possibly to expect as early as tomorrow. That's when, once again, President Obama is expected to discuss what's ahead for G.M., tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m.
Of course, you can watch it right here, live, on CNN.
And next hour, a CNN Money team special, how the wheels came off the rise and fall of the American auto industry. That's coming up at 3:00 eastern, as well.
Let's talk about Cuba now, accepting a U.S. offer to hold talks on migration. Two senior State Department officials say the Cuban government told the U.S. this weekend it's willing to restart negotiations.
The talks were suspended by the Bush administration five years ago.
Cuba is also agreeing to discuss mail service between the two countries. No date or time table for the talks has yet been set.
All right, the Senate's top Republican says there should be no deadline for confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Senator Mitch McConnell said there should be a thorough review of Sotomayor's many legal opinions. On CNN's "State of the Union" today, McConnell said he finds Sotomayor's life story to be "absolutely impressive," his words, and he stayed away from comments by conservatives branding Sotomayor as a racist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY) HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I've got a big job to do dealing with 40 Senate Republicans and trying to advance the nation's agenda. I have better things to do than be the speech police over people who will have their views about a very important appointment, which is an appointment to the United States Supreme Court.
So, I'm not going to get into policing everybody's speech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: President Obama has said that he'd like a confirmation vote to take place before the congressional summer recess in August.
The president made good on a campaign promise to his number one supporter last night.
He took wife, Michelle, to a Broadway play, just as he said he would after the election was over. The first couple flew to New York for dinner in Greenwich Village, and then off to the show, Joe Turner's "Come and Gone."
The Obama's left the usual Air Force One 747 behind to save on fuel. They used a smaller plane, but it officially gained the Air Force One title when the president boarded it, customarily what will take place.
Not everyone happy with that. More discussions on that later on in the day.
Meantime, the aircraft was an issue in a statement issued by the Republican National Committee on the Obamas Manhattan date night, quote, "As President Obama prepares to wing into Manhattan's theater district on Air Force One to take in a Broadway show, G.M. is preparing to file bankruptcy and families across America continue to struggle to pay their bills," that statement coming from an RNC spokeswoman in response to the Obama's date night in Manhattan.
President Obama, meantime, heads overseas this week. He will mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day in France. But the Muslim world will be the focus of his first stop. CNN's Dan Lothian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Obama heads to Egypt with a Middle East peace plan on his mind. But the real focus is to first reach out to the Muslim world. Call it relationship building.
LOTHIAN (on camera): How does the White House currently view the relationship. How bad is it?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, I think the president would say it's in need of improvement.
LOTHIAN: You're looking on a scale of one to 10 --
GIBBS: I think it's in need of substantial improvement. I think it's safe to say that the president wouldn't be traveling this distance and giving as much thought into this.
LOTHIAN (voice-over): After meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, the president stressed the importance of finding common ground with Muslims around the world.
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: That would require, I think, a recognition on both the part of the United States as well as many majority Muslim countries about each other, a better sense of understanding.
LOTHIAN: Before making his speech in Cairo, the president will first stop in Saudi Arabia, where he'll meet with King Abdullah. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the President's speech isn't just, quote, "one-stop shopping," that it builds on Mr. Obama's visit to Turkey, where he held a town hall meeting with local students and met with top leaders.
OBAMA: So let me say this as clearly as I can. The United States is not and will never be at war with Islam.
LOTHIAN: A senior administration official says that this effort is more than something you feel good about, the White House believing that if there's a better relationship with the Muslim world, then it will improve America's security.
Dan Lothian, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Before heading off to the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, the administration reaching out to China for the first time. President Obama sends Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to Beijing for crucial talks with Chinese leaders.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has arrived in China for two days of economic talks with Chinese leaders. It's the Obama's administration first overture to Beijing.
Geithner says he would like to develop closer economic ties with China similar to the kind the U.S. enjoys with the G-7 European countries.
China is America's biggest creditor, holding $768 billion in U.S. Treasury Securities. U.S. ally Pakistan said it had taken a key city back from the Taliban. Mingora was a tourist haven before extremists took control. Pictures just coming in show the terrible toll fighting has taken on the civilian population.
Reza Sayah reports from Islamabad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The big story out of the battle zone in Pakistan is the taking back of Mingora city from the Taliban. But what's troubling is the different accounts we're hearing, one from the Pakistani military, one from the civilian population.
Mingora city is the largest city in the Swat region. This is where the military says troops engaged in house-to-house fighting with the militants. They say the Taliban had taken over buildings and hotels, using them as bunkers. But they said troops were successful in defeating them.
But the first pictures coming out of Mingora show this victory came at a steep cost. The pictures show buildings laying in ruins, corpses in the streets. The pictures show children covering their noses because they simply couldn't bear the stench.
One civilian said there were more civilian deaths in Mingora than Taliban fighters. But the Pakistan military has repeatedly denied mass civilian casualties, saying their attacks are precision strikes against Taliban fighters.
SAYAH (on camera): Despite the victory in Mingora, government officials have yet to call back the displaced citizens to their homes because of ongoing operations in surrounding areas. Remember, nearly 3 million people have fled the battle zone. Those who will come back to Mingora City eventually will not see the city that they remember.
Reza Sayah, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: U.S. military officials say Taliban militants ambushed a joint patrol of Afghan and NATO troops. The attack happened today in western Afghanistan. The patrol launched a counterattack, killing ten militants. None of the NATO and Afghan troops were killed or injured.
All right, he is 29-years-old with 21 children. You won't want to miss this one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: An abandoned baby just a few days old has been found by the side of a road in Ocala, Florida. Police say the baby had been placed in a cardboard box, that one right there, and was spotted by someone who actually drove by and saw her tiny hand sticking out. Police say ants have bitten the newborn's arms and face, the baby right there in that box. They said they believe she had been in that box for several hours in 90 degree weather. But they say, despite that, she is in good condition. An investigation is under way.
And it is a police officer's worst nightmare, shooting someone who appears to be an armed suspect, and then to discover that person was a fellow officer not in uniform.
It happened in New York last week. The shooter was a uniformed white police officer, the victim an African-American officer in plain clothes. Was race a factor in the shooting? Ruschell Boon of CNN affiliate New York 1 reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSCHELL BOONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Emotions are still running high in Harlem after Officer Omar Edwards was shot and killed by another cop while off duty. Before marching through the streets of Harlem, the reverend Al Sharpton held a rally, where he called for a federal investigation.
REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: We need the federal government to investigate the pattern.
(APPLAUSE)
There's something in the pattern that deals with the training, that deals with the race, and roles that on doing the training cannot correct and look at themselves.
BOONE: Edwards was shot in the back, arm, and hip Thursday night on 125th street in East Harlem as he chased a suspect who had broken into his car. The 25-year-old housing cop had just gotten off work.
Police say a plain-clothes anti-crime team in an unmarked caw saw Edwards running with his gun drawn. One of the plain-clothes officers, who sources identify as 30-year-old Andrew Dunton, got out of the car and fired six times.
BOONE (on camera): Even though Sharpton and other local leaders are calling for an independent investigation, the mayor says he is confident that the Manhattan district attorney will conduct a fair and thorough investigation.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (I) NEW YORK: If the federal government wants to do something, that's up to them. But I think Bob Morganthal has shown over many decades that he is independent and he will do a thorough, competent investigation. And if there is something that can criminally wrong, he'll take appropriate steps.
BOONE (voice-over): Edwards, who joined the force in 2007, was recently married with two young children. Police say the officer who fired at him is white and has been on the force for four years.
It's still unclear if any of the officers identified themselves, but the governor says people should not rush to judgment.
GOV. DAVID PATERSON, (D) NEW YORK: I know that these types of incidents have happened a lot. They are reflection decisions, and probably an accident.
But I think it's most fair to everyone involved who is grieving at this time to go through a full investigation and not be commenting on information that isn't firmly established.
BOONE: But Congressman Charles Rangel says these types of shootings happen too often in the black community, and he's calling for an independent investigation.
He also alluded to the shooting when asked about the president's visit to the city Saturday.
REP. CHARLES RANGEL, (D) NEW YORK: They say he doesn't run around in East Harlem unidentified.
BOONE: Investigators are still piecing together the events which led up to the fatal shooting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And police departments have procedures in place to try to avoid friendly fire accidents. Federal statistics indicate the type of incident is extremely rare.
All right, hodgepodge of some whacky weather creating problems for some parts of the nation today. Let's go to our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center. Hello, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello Fredricka.
A couple hot spots. There's always one part of the country that doesn't have great weather. Last night it was Indiana. Look at the pictures coming in, this happened between 9:00 and 10:00 last night from our affiliate WTHR. This is in the Tipton area.
There was hail the size of goofballs, much bigger than what you're seeing there in the video. Funnel clouds were reported, but no official tornadoes have been confirmed. But rough night there in Indianapolis.
This is really, really fast-moving system and that storm front now already across parts of the east and showers and thundershowers mostly confined across New England.
We don't have a lot of moisture left to work with this and came through and dried up the atmosphere, but we will see isolated showers and thundershowers and maybe slight risk of a hail-maker in here, but not expecting widespread severe weather.
A better chance moving across the upper Midwest and rain showers across northern Minnesota and also into Wisconsin. Severe weather outlook area in Minneapolis and Sioux Falls and in northern parts of Nebraska, not widespread, but this is going to happen a couple hours from now as we continue to get that unstable atmosphere with the day- time heating.
Some isolated thunderstorms across parts of the west, nothing strong there.
Temperatures overall still feeling pretty good. We're starting to see things heat up here across parts of the south. 89 in Dallas and 89 in Kansas City and Minneapolis at 76 and high temperatures tomorrow a little warmer than what you were seeing today. We'll start to see some of those 90s and triple digits back on the map.
Hey, Fredricka, tomorrow, June 1.
WHITFIELD: I know. The first day of hurricane season. It's always emblazoned in my head as many hurricanes as I've covered
JERAS: I am so glad you knew. We didn't even like plan that. I didn't give it to you ahead of time.
We'll talk more about that and what we expecting this season coming up when I see you again.
WHITFIELD: All right, perfect. We look forward to that. And we always wish you could say it would be below average, or something, or maybe average, but something tells me you're not going to understate it like that.
JERAS: Probably not. We'll see.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Jacqui. We'll check back with you, appreciate it.
This next story about what may be a record in the making when it comes to child support. Desmond Hatchett in Tennessee is just 29, and he has 21 children by 11 different women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you intend to keep having children?
DESMOND HATCHETT, FARTHER OF 21 CHILDREN: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're done.
HATCHETT: I'm done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What made you decide that?
HATCHETT: I didn't intend to have this many. It just happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, it's a story now because the state of Tennessee is trying to get Hatchett to pay child support in a very big way. He makes minimum wage, and the state can only take half of his monthly pay check. So the financial burden will fall on the taxpayers of Tennessee. So lots of folks in Tennessee have opinions about this case.
Well, it used to be the big three. But with General Motors on the verge of bankruptcy and Chrysler already in bankruptcy, Ford is the only one left standing.
We'll take a look at how Ford has managed to survive so far.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: We're following this breaking story this afternoon. Kansas physician George Tiller was shot and killed at a church in Wichita today.
Tiller is one of the few doctors in the nation to perform late- term abortions. He's very well known, and he has long been a target of anti-abortion protests.
Tiller was wounded in both arms during a shooting in his clinic. That was back in 1993. His clinic was vandalized even after that earlier this month.
And Wichita police are searching now for suspects who fled today's shooting in a blue Ford Taurus. We'll bring you more developments as they become available.
And this developing story that we're following this afternoon. CNN has learned that President Obama will address the nation tomorrow morning concerning General Motors' future. He is expected to explain the rationale behind a G.M. bankruptcy and why it may be the best route for a turnaround.
Also expected, details from G.M. on some 20,000 job cuts and the closure of about a dozen plants by the end of next year.
So, what's the impact on workers and retirees? General Motors alone has more than 370,000 retirees.
The top two automotive analysts, Lauren Fix, about what bankruptcy means for people whose paychecks and pensions are on the line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAUREN FIX, AUTOMOTIVE ANALYST: Right now if you're working for Chrysler, you're without a job, that doesn't mean you're fired, that means that there's no production going on. Now, a lot of plants are shutting down for the transition to the 2010 models, so plants will most likely shut down. I'm sure the UAW has a way to communicate with these people. So if you are working for General Motors, whoever your boss is or whoever you communicate with, I'd double check before heading off to work.
WHITFIELD: And what if I'm a retiree? What happens to my benefits and my pension? FIX: That's not a good thing. The UAW has already worked on that. If you are a part of the UAW, the agreement that 74 percent ratified on Friday -- which I'm surprised, actually. It was a very large number because, usually, the UAW doesn't -- that's a big percentage. I guess it's choice B is, you -- the choice is you don't have a retirement account or anything in that health care account. There is an agreement going down right now that 20 percent of the new General Motors will be owned by the UAW VEBA account, which is also a 2.5 percent grant, which means the years of 2013, 2017 and 2017, there'll be more funding coming in to cover for health care and retirement. There's only about $9 billion left in that fund. There's a lot of people that need to work off of that.
WHITFIELD: A lot of people. And what does this mean for other American auto makers? If GM is to be in this kind of bankruptcy protection, the ripple effect must be tremendous.
FIX: Sure. It's going to affect those small manufacturers, as well as the large. For example, Visteon, which is a large supplier to Ford and General Motors, has declared bankruptcy earlier this week, as well as Metaldyne. There are some other small companies that have, as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Lauren joins us live today at 4:00 o'clock Eastern. We've also been hearing from you, so you'll be part of this conversation again, later on at 4:00 o'clock today, about the future of GM and the future of the U.S. auto industry as a whole.
So only one of Detroit's big three refused to take the bail-out loans. Ali Velshi sat down with Ford's CEO to see what makes that company different.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alan Mulally is a bit of a rock star on the shop floor, not typically the kind of place a car company CEO would find fans.
ALAN Mulally, CEO FORD: Looking good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no, no. You're looking good.
MULALLY: Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot.
VELSHI: Mulally is widely credited with keeping the company out of bankruptcy and just maybe on the road to success. Since coming to Ford in 2006, he has tried to keep spirits high in the midst of a crisis that threatens the survival of the U.S. auto industry.
CHRIS WILEY, FORD AUTO WORKER: Oh, Alan Mulally's a great guy to run your business, period. It's almost as if he foresaw a lot of this coming. And you see what happened to come of our competitors, which is unfortunate for anybody. But it almost feels like he might actually be one step ahead. VELSHI: Mulally downplays being one step ahead, but he does cop to leading Ford through tough decisions, which included laying off workers and closing plants, consolidating worldwide efforts and improving vehicle quality. He also negotiated huge loans for Ford while times were still good, before the current economic crisis made it too late for Chrysler and General Motors to do the same.
But perhaps the biggest decision -- and Mulally makes a lot of them at his weekly management meetings -- was one of his earliest, the decision to focus attention on the blue oval, the Ford brand.
MULALLY: We had many brands. We were a house of brands. We had Aston-Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Volvo, and of course, Ford and Lincoln and Mercury. So clearly, what was Ford going to be?
VELSHI: Ford ultimately sold off Aston-Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mazda, and it's looking for buyers for Volvo. Mulally thought Ford should go back to what worked, and that meant turning to the Taurus. For five years through the late '90s, it was the best- selling car in America.
MULALLY: The day I arrived, I wanted to see the product line. I'm going through the entire product line, small, medium and large, and there's no Taurus. I said to the team, Where's the Taurus? And they said, Well, we made a couple of them look like a football and they didn't sell very well, so we decided to, you know, come up with a new name and a new vehicle. I said, You're kidding me. This is a Taurus. Think of the value that we have in this vehicle.
VELSHI: Taurus is back. But is Ford back? The company lost almost $15 billion last year and it's still losing money, although it didn't take a penny of taxpayer-backed loans from the government. Ford isn't without its issues. Like General Motors and Chrysler, it focused for too long on the profitable trucks and SUVs.
MULALLY: Here's the number one vehicle in the United States...
VELSHI: Ford's iconic F series pick-up has been for 27 years the best-selling vehicle in America. Ford's not quite prospering just yet, but there's hope that the worst might be behind it, and it appears to be in better shape that Chrysler and GM. But Ford does share one major problem with its competitors, potential customers losing jobs or being unable to get credit for car purchases.
MULALLY: This is the Fiesta. Look at this.
VELSHI: Mulally needs the economy to recover soon to finish the job he started with Ford.
MULALLY: Clearly, it's not over yet. And you know, we have a long way to go.
VELSHI (on camera): One of the things that Mulally and Ford have concentrated on is trying to take advantage of all development and work that's being done at plants around the world to develop cars that can be sold all over the world, not just U.S.-specific cars for this market or China-specific cars for that market. This is something that General Motors is looking at doing, as well. In fact, some say that the actions that Ford has taken over the last few years could be a bit of a prototype for what General Motors is going to have to do, now that it's being forced to do that. In Dearborn, Michigan, I'm Ali Velshi, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And next hour, check out our special with Christine Romans and Ali Velshi, "How the Wheels Came Off: The Rise and Fall of the American Auto Industry." That begins at the top of the hour.
All right, let's take another look at news across America right now. The woman accused in a silly (ph) carjacking hoax is back in Pennsylvania and free after posting $100,000 bail. Bennie Sweeten -- Bonnie Sweeten, that is, returned to Philadelphia from Florida on Friday. Sweeten allegedly called 911 last week, saying she and her daughter had been kidnapped and were being held in the trunk of a car. Later, she was found, along with her daughter, at a Disney World hotel.
All right, police in northwestern Georgia say they've busted a dope ring with an unusual way of selling pot and prescription drugs. The accused dealers, a man and a woman, apparently taped a wireless doorbell to a nearby tree. It chimed inside their second-floor apartment. They allegedly made sales with a bucket and string from a bedroom window.
And in Miami today, the Reverend Alberto Cutie preached about forgiveness in an Episcopalian church. The priest left the Roman Catholic church in a scandal after photos surfaced of him kissing his bikini-clad girlfriend on the beach. His certification as an Episcopal church -- priest, rather, is expected to take (ph) next year.
All right, overseas now, to Blackburn, Scotland, a town in shock today after the fairy tale ride of Susan Boyle came to an unexpected end. The Scottish singer, who gained fame as an Internet phenomenon, lost to a dance group on "Britain's Got Talent." But as our Monita Rajpal explains, the closing of one door may signal the opening of another.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winner of "Britain's Got Talent" 2009 is Diversity!
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not Susan Boyle. The "Britain's Got Talent" hosts delivered a shocking announcement that few were expecting, especially no one in Susan Boyle's hometown, Blackburn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm disappointed for Susan. I really am. But I know Susan. She has to (INAUDIBLE) now.
RAJPAL (on camera): The streamers are still up, but there is a sense that this street could soon turn back into that quiet street it always was before all this excitement over Susan Boyle began some six weeks ago. And while she didn't win, the papers, though, are predicting she could still stand to earn millions.
(voice-over): Reports of a recording contract, a book deal and possibly even a movie about her life were all projects that could happen for Boyle, generating a potential $14 million in earnings.
MARGARET MILLER, SUSAN BOYLE'S NEIGHBOR: (INAUDIBLE) hard- working family. And she (INAUDIBLE) nine children, and lovely (INAUDIBLE) lovely (INAUDIBLE)
RAJPAL (on camera): She made her mother's dream come true, didn't she.
MILLER: Oh, yes. A pity that woman died before this. That was sad.
RAJPAL (voice-over): Despite coming in second, the Boyle factor has even eclipsed the attention on the winners of the show "Britain's Got Talent," The dance group Diversity. But the day after their surprise win, the young troop from East London and Essex is taking it all in stride.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We entered the competition without any expectations, just to go and do our best. I know it sounds cliched (INAUDIBLE) truth. To come as far as we had just to get to the final was a massive achievement for us, and we were all so proud. So about Susan Boyle, about (INAUDIBLE) we're just so proud to be where we are.
RAJPAL: So while this particular chapter is over for Susan Boyle, if spin doctors and PR gurus of the entertainment industry have anything to say about it, there is much more still to come. Monita Rajpal, CNN, Blackburn, Scotland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And she even made Simon smile the whole time.
All right, changes for travelers. We'll tell you where you're going to need your passport starting Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Starting tomorrow, U.S. and Canadian citizens will have to present a passport or other travel document to cross the border. The new rules apply to both land and sea crossings. Air travelers have had to carry travel documents for more than two years now. Besides the standard passport, officials will accept a passport card, a trusted traveler card, or an enhanced driver's license issued in four states.
American journalist Roxana Saberi is spending her first full day at home two weeks after being released from an Iranian prison. Saberi was jailed for four months on charges of spying for the United States. The U.S. denied the charges. Yesterday's homecoming in Fargo, North Dakota, was emotional. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROXANA SABERI, FREED JOURNALIST: My parents first came to see me in prison in early April. They started telling me about the kinds of support that I had. The support that I got from you, my home community, was especially dear to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So besides spending time with her family and friends, Saberi says she plans to write a book.
All right, here's a statistic to consider. Eighty percent of this year's college grads who are looking for work haven't yet found a job. It's the tightest job market in decades. Well, Saturday at 4:00 PM, we focused on this topic to help new grads find work. Here's some of what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EDWIN KOC, NAT'L ASSN. OF COLLEGES & EMPLOYERS: It's very difficult to stand out in this kind of an economy. There's a lot of competition out there. If you're going to stand out, it's going to be something that's unique about you. And that's something that you've got to work on in terms of developing, one, your resume, and two, in terms of developing your presentation. And that's why preparing for the interview is so crucial.
WHITFIELD: OK, Josh Levs has been fielding a lot of e-mails, comments, questions, from all over the country from recent college grads and those who are anticipating perhaps graduating over the summer. And they want to know -- you know, you need to help them out. What kind of questions do you have, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN: Yes. It's interesting, you know? We're going to get to a lot of those and all that everyone (ph) knows (ph) throughout the hour. Keep them coming. And let me toss something at you that a lot of people have been writing us, including some people who are not in that generation. But we're getting so much of it, I have to (INAUDIBLE).
Let's just zoom in. I want to show you one example from Fred's Facebook page. Khios writes, "It sounds like more crying from a generation that receives trophies for getting tenth place." Ed, the significance of the kinds of things you follow, is this a problem broadly for the entire economy when young people are having trouble getting jobs, or is it You know, what, young people, you'll get a job eventually?
KOC: They'll get a job eventually. But one thing to keep in mind is that it's another indication of how poor the economy is right now. If young college graduates aren't being able to find employment, then that's a clear sign that the labor market in general is very, very difficult. This should be a really strong time for college students getting jobs because the demographics are so strong for them.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVS: It's not playing out that way. In fact, I got another one right here from Thomas (ph), who wrote to us on the blog. It's CNN.com/newsroom. I'll just tell you quickly, he just graduated with a double major. He's likely going to take a position as a doorman in New York. Does that make sense to you? Is that -- should you just take any job you can get right now at all, given how stark these statistics are?
KOC: Well, it's better to be employed than not employed. If you're facing debt with your college loans, it's better to have some money in place. If you can't find your absolute perfect job, look for something less and accept something less. It's something that this generation of college students is going to have to learn. This is the first year they've come into this kind of a difficult market.
WHITFIELD: Our next guest has her diploma but no job. However, she maintains her optimism, so she's taking an unpaid internship. At least, that's what she's considering right now to help rebuild her resume.
KIARA PESANTE, 2009 AUBURN UNIV. GRADUATE: It's strange to be a position like this because I actually, I think, did work very hard to put myself in a good position right now.
WHITFIELD: Well, I understand you did seven internships, right?
PESANTE: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: Which is far more -- well above and beyond what most college, you know, grads...
PESANTE: Right.
WHITFIELD: ... would be able to say they have on their resume.
PESANTE: We aren't in a position to really be that very picky. We have to do what we have to do, you know, in order to be able to do what we want to do in the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, we heard from you, as well, on our blog. CNNnewsroom.com/fredrickawhitfield. And so this posting from Charles (ph) -- "I think one of the biggest failures in our education is our lack of making first two years college free and a requirement. I think a student should be given a choice, two years of required trade schooling at a college level or first two years of school toward a profession of choice. With that kind of choice and help, our dropout rate might go down in our K-12 level. It could be a big payoff to our system in this country, as well."
And this from Tiffany D. (ph). "As a recent law graduate, I, too, am having an unfruitful job search. I graduated from one of the top law schools in Texas and have gained a lot of legal experience by working a number of legal jobs during the school year and interning during the summers. I have leadership and honors on my resume, but the result is still the same, no job prospects."
And from A. Noble (ph), "I am also a recent college graduate, have also returned to the parental fold. Am also looking at student loans, credit card debt. But while I could complain about my difficulty finding even a job, I'm optimistic."
Well, we like to hear that optimism. Good luck to all the grads of 2009. Hopefully, things will look up and you will find that job.
All right, well, this will make you say, Whoa! At least, that's what an Iowa police officer said when a deer -- whoa! -- just like that, jumped over the front of his car. We'll tell you what else he had to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, some pretty wild times on a busy road in Indianola, Iowa. A deer simply jumped over a police car to the absolute shock of the officer. It was caught on the officer's dash cam, in fact, so take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OFC. DAN DEFFENBAUGH, INDIANOLA POLICE: This is, I think, is when I saw it. And for some reason, instead of going straight across -- maybe it doesn't like cops, but it decided to go for the patrol vehicle.
Whoa!
And that's when it jumps over the vehicle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: That was a close call! The jump was three feet high and six feet across, and after clearing the car, the animal simply ran off. The officer says he doesn't know who looked more scared, him or the deer, both of them like deer caught in the headlights.
All right, June 1st, tomorrow, and it marks the start of hurricane season. And there she is smiling. You're actually happy about this!
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, the deer video!
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: ... very cute.
JERAS: ... the deer video.
WHITFIELD: Very cut.
JERAS: Oh, my gosh!
WHITFIELD: Because nobody wants to see the deer get hurt...
JERAS: Oh, yes.
WHITFIELD: ... and certainly, the car get crunched. So we're glad that everybody's happy.
JERAS: I think I would be in an accident anyway, just, like, Oh! You know, I mean...
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: Thanks for that reminder. Now I know not to get in the car with you if you scare that easy!
(LAUGHTER)
JERAS: All right. Serious note, though, right? June 1, we had our tropical depression already, you know, outside of the season last week, turned into nothing. It kind of got absorbed in this front out here in the middle of the Atlantic. So nothing really going on out there. So now is the time that you need to start thinking about preparing, having your disaster supply kit, you know, making sure that everything's in operating order and that you've got your hurricane shutters and you've got your plan in place of where you are going to go, who you're going to contact and what's going to happen when and if the evacuation order takes place.
Now, we've got a couple of forecasts here that we can show you. Just this last week, NOAA put out their forecast for what they're expecting in the upcoming season, and the numbers that we see are 9 to 14 named storms, 4 to 7 of those becoming hurricanes, 1 to 3 becoming major hurricanes. And these numbers fall right within the range of what we would typically see for an average season.
Of course, we also follow Dr. William Gray (ph) and also Phil Clarksbeck (ph) out of Colorado State University. They've have been forecasting hurricanes for years and years. Their numbers are 12, 6 and 2. So again, right within that same kind of range.
And the reason why we're kind of expecting a typical type of hurricane season is because La Nina has backed off just a little bit. We've got some cooler than normal water temperatures also into the Atlantic. So hopefully, that will keep things down just a little bit.
How about those names? You'll love these. There you can see what we're expecting for this season. And look down the list. Oh, yes, there's a Fred!
WHITFIELD: I know. I particularly like that one.
JERAS: I know! Can you believe it? There's never a Jacqui, but what do you do.
(CROSSTALK) JERAS: I do want to make one little note about those numbers that we were talking about for the forecast. Of course, Fredricka, just because we're expecting, you know, maybe 10, 11, 12 named storms...
WHITFIELD: Yes.
JERAS: ... you know, all it takes is one. It doesn't really...
WHITFIELD: I know.
JERAS: ... matter if it's a busy season or a quiet season. You have to be prepared either way because all it takes is one big storm. You know, I was in Galveston this last week and still a lot of damage from Hurricane Ike from last year. And we're going to have a series of special reports next weekend, so make sure you watch (INAUDIBLE)
WHITFIELD: We look forward to that because it certainly takes a long time to recover. And that was a big hit. That was quite devastating.
JERAS: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Jacqui. Appreciate it.
All right, a very special night for some very special kids. We'll tell you about a special prom called Cinderella Ball and what it has to do with "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, most of you may know the name Jordin Sparks as the season six winner of "American Idol." But for hundreds of teens in D.C., she may seem like a fairy godmother. Last night, Sparks headlined at the Cinderella Prom for students with special needs. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. Here you go.
HELEN MCCORMICK, PRES., THE HOUSE, INC.: The House, Inc.'s, fourth annual Cinderella Ball, and this is about students with disabilities that don't get invited at springtime to go to their own proms.
ALEX GONZALES, 13 YEARS OLD: It's exciting and I'm excited to be here. This is my first year, so I didn't know what to expect.
MCCORMICK: The children that will be coming tonight are various disabled with kidney -- children that are literally terminally ill, children that are having disabilities of cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism.
JORDIN SPARKS, SINGER: I do think it's sad that there are some kids who can't go to a regular prom just because there might not be the facilities to help them be able to do this. So with this event, I just think that it's amazing that somebody is taking the time out to give them that opportunity, to give them that experience.
Hello! How are you guys? You good? Good!
VICTOR PADGET, FATHER: It's special, for one thing, because being a special needs father -- she can't participate in all the other activities that normal kids her age participate in, so when you have something like this, you want to take full advantage of it. And she's really having a nice time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You going to dance with me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What are you going to do, shake your butt?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
GONZALEZ: For all the kids like me who -- coming to an event like this I think is a great experience.
SPARKS: Even if they are faced with challenges like that, I definitely think that for this one night, it's going to be one of those times when they can just forget about it and they can just be kids and they can be young and just have fun.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Oh, and everyone looked like they had a great time.
All right, well, "How the Wheels Came Off: The Rise and Fall of the American Auto Industry" starts right now.
