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No Experience in the Driver's Seat; Iran Votes; Mexico Tourist Fears; Health Benefits for Congress; HIV Epidemic is Real; Check for Drafts

Aired June 12, 2009 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS CNN ANCHOR: Also happening now on Capitol Hill, a House panel hearing from Chrysler and General Motors' executives. They're defending their decision to close hundreds of dealerships across the country.

Chrysler this week closed nearly 800 dealerships. GM going even further. It plans to close almost 1,400 dealerships.

Dealers are fighting the move. They're also testifying today, saying the move is unjustified and will do little to cut costs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK BLANKENBECKLER III, CARLISLE CHEVROLET, WAXAHACHIE, TEXAS: I adamantly think my constitutional rights have been violated. I think I'm a victim of an illegal taking.

This is the most important point of this hearing in my mind, and I think it is the feeling of all the dealers that are in the same position. I feel like it should be the concern of all Americans. When your property rights are destroyed, how long will it be until it happens to you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. The closings are part of Chrysler's and GM's bankruptcies.

You know, the effort to turn around the auto industry is being driven by people who don't know much about cars.

CNN's Bill Tucker reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The future of car making in America is on a strange path. Many of the people now in charge of turning around the domestic auto business don't have any experience in building cars or manufacturing. Much to the dismay of industry experts.

JOHN WOLKONOWICZ, AUTO ANALYST: Things are so weird on all fronts today that it's no weirder than 10,000 other things that are going on right now. TUCKER: But given the mess the U.S. auto industry is in, some argue that reaching outside of the industry is exactly what is needed to turn it around. The new chairman of GM, Ed Whitaker, used to run AT&T and freely admits that he knows nothing about car making.

Our car czar Steve Rattner is a former journalist and investment banker. The government's man in charge of dismantling GM is a 31- year- old who interrupted his law school career to become a special assistant to the president. He's not a trained economist, and he has no manufacturing experience. For critics, though it's not a lack of intelligence but a lack of industrial experience.

LLOYD WOOD, AMER. MANUFACTURING & TRADE COALITION: Clearly you've got a lot of people with tremendous finance backgrounds and academic economic backgrounds, but you need somebody that's not just a turnaround artist but you actually need somebody that really knows how to manufacture things there.

TUCKER: Most of the members of the president's auto task force don't own American cars and, two, don't own cars at all which brings up a more intangible issue, passion. A passion for cars. Something that could be lacking in a government-run commission according to some auto analysts.

WOOD: If I look at the competition of these companies are up against, if I look at companies like Volkswagen, BMW, Honda, they have that passion within the company. Those are very professionally run companies that also have some pretty powerful car guys in them.

TUCKER: Those analysts say it doesn't seem likely that a government- run carmaker would spawn a Corvette.

Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Tough, new sanctions likely for North Korea over its push for nuclear weapons. The United Nations Security Council could vote today on a resolution restricting North Korea's non-nuclear weapons exports. The measure would also limit the country's financial dealings and allow inspections of suspect North Korean ships.

Meanwhile, CNN has learned that Pyongyang may be preparing for another nuclear test, its third since 2006.

In Iran, record voter turnout for today's presidential election. Officials there predicting it could surpass 80 percent.

Wow.

Voters were lining up to cast ballots even before polls opened at 8:00 a.m. local time. Officials had to extend the polling time three hours to accommodate the massive lines. The polls will close at the bottom of the hour, 12:30 Eastern.

Iranians have a choice -- follow the current hard line and populist policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or embrace the reforms promised by challengers, including Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour in Iran all this week and joining us live now.

Christiane, boy, let's break this down a bit here. Despite being blamed for Iran's economic turmoil, Mr. Ahmadinejad has staunch supporters. Who are they?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ahmadinejad's supporters are mostly the more traditional, the more religious, the less affluent. And mostly people in the provinces and villages, where he spent really much of his last four years in office traveling around the country to give them handouts and benefits and favors. And that has -- he's hoped that that would be his base.

But you have seen and we've been reporting all this week the massive rallies in Tehran and in other major cities around this country, and that seems to have been translating at the polling booths today. Because the overwhelming number of people who have turned out have told us that they are going to be voted and they have voted for his main challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

A high turnout was always going to favor the challenger, and this is what seems to be happening right now. And, of course, people who have come out say they are voting for change. They've taken that slogan that you've heard under the American election of President Obama and they, too, here are calling for change -- Tony.

HARRIS: So, Christiane, the former prime minister, Mr. Mousavi, has energized women and young voters. What are they hoping he will bring them?

AMANPOUR: Well, Mousavi also has very clear revolutionary credentials, which is why...

HARRIS: Oh. We just...

AMANPOUR: . it's been hard for President Ahmadinejad to muster (ph). He was the prime minister under revolutionary leader Khomenei.

HARRIS: My apologies, Christiane. We lost you for just a moment. But we have you back.

Did you want to continue that thought?

AMANPOUR: Well, I'll just answer your question. He has a huge amount of support amongst the young, amongst women, and he's promised to reform, certainly bring women's rights, bring more women -- or women, period -- into the cabinet. And also to bring more freedoms and reforms to the young people.

But what's important is that these people are coming out not necessarily for Mousavi. In fact, many of the young people in Iran and many of the people tell us they don't see any difference between the candidates. But what they do say is they're coming out against in a no-protest vote against President Ahmadinejad. They're fed up of being isolated and held in contempt as a nation because of his policies, his Holocaust denial, his belligerent posturing, and they are fed up with the mismanagement, they say, of the economy, which has seen massive unemployment and high prices despite a tripling of oil revenue over the last several years -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right. CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour for us in Tehran.

Christiane, thank you so much.

You know, you can stay on top of all the latest developments in the Iranian vote. Just -- boy, this count is going on throughout the weekend, to be sure. You can just go to CNN.com to follow the latest developments.

The beaches of Acapulco are nearly empty. Where have all the tourists gone? This time swine flu is not the problem.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The scene at the Holocaust Memorial Museum this morning. People lined up to enter as the sacred center reopened to the public with a new horror to remember. This one at its front door, the shooting Wednesday that left a museum security guard dead.

Visitors to the museum are remembering Officer Stephen Johns. He had opened the museum's door for the man who allegedly killed him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it's very humbling to know someone died for you. You know, if we had been in that lobby, we could have been in the line of fire. If that guy had broken through the front officers, he could have been shooting people. And to know how quickly the officers acted, it's a very humbling experience. And knowing that someone died for you to protect you, it's very humbling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A white supremacist and Holocaust denier is charged with murder in the museum attack. He remains hospitalized in critical condition.

First it was swine flu keeping tourists away. Now drug violence is impacting tourism in a favorite Mexican vacation getaway.

More now from CNN's Ed Lavandera in Acapulco.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first the streets of Acapulco looked normal. But then, they appear, a truck full of army soldiers sent in by Mexico's president to keep peace on the streets of this tourist playground.

For Jillian Lang, it's a reminder that life is far from normal here. JILLIAN LANG, AMERICAN TOURIST: The military driving back and forth. It doesn't make me feel any more at ease. If anything, it worries me more. It reminds me of everything that's going on there.

LAVANDERA: Lang is visiting from California, one of the few non- Mexican tourists we found in Acapulco. She arrived just as the city was in the midst of violent clashes between drug cartels and Mexican authorities. The rampage ended with some 20 people killed, including several Mexican soldiers and police officers. That violent shootout took place less than two miles away from the cafe, where we met Jillian Lang.

(on camera): We just found the street where the shooting took place between cartel members and the Mexican military. And what struck us was at the entrance of the road here, a shrine to the Virgin Mary, they tell us the shootings took place down this way on this road. And we're going to take you there now.

(voice-over): This isn't a street you'll see pictured in Acapulco tourist brochures. It's a sorted looking neighborhood in an area with rundown hotels and shanty buildings.

(on camera): So we've gotten as far as we're going to get on this road. There's a blue crate and part of a tree blocking the way. And what you can't see is over there behind those trees where three members of the Mexican military who say this is as far as we can get. And as soon as we pulled up, they pulled masks over their face. They didn't want to be seen on camera.

(voice-over): As we look around, we noticed behind the wall several large hillside villas with swimming pools, a hint that behind the rough facade, people with much more money live here.

Federico Martinez lives just a few houses away from where the gun fire broke out.

"I didn't know Narcos lived in this neighborhood," he tells me. "I don't know the men involve in the shootings. It doesn't bother me."

But the threat of violence is bothering foreign tourists. These men work the beaches, and they tell us American tourists have disappeared. Beaches are mostly empty. This gem on the Pacific Coast has lost its luster.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Acapulco, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: You know, we've seen it here in the United States. Now campaign organizers in Iran are seeing the impact of the Internet as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: A rowdy campaign season and a chance for a new direction brought Iranians out to vote in droves today. Supporters of reformist candidate Hossein Mousavi criticized President Ahmadinejad for the bad economy, but Mr. Ahmadinejad says the economy has fared better since he's been in office.

CNN's Ralitsa Vassileva takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Business is not what it used to be at Tehran's bazaar. With Iran's economy in recession, people have less money to spend and higher prices to pay.

During President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's four-year term, inflation has doubled to nearly 25 percent and jobs have become scarce. Iran's economic troubles have turned many merchants in Tehran's bazaar to reformist candidate Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's main challenger.

ALI RAHMANI, OWNER OF HOME APPLIANCE STORE (through translator): Those who are rich and can support themselves are not in financial hardship, but the majority of people, some 75 percent of people, are in economic hardship.

VASSILEVA: The bad economy is the big issue in Friday's presidential election, pitting the incumbent president at a disadvantage. His main challenger's remembered for his successful economic management as prime minister during the 1980s war with Iraq. But on the impoverished south side of Tehran, many of those worst hit by the current crisis don't blame Ahmadinejad.

This motorcycle mechanic still believes Ahmadinejad's policies will bring a better future.

HASSAN, AHMADINEJAD SUPPORTER (through translator): It is rather a matter of a future of my son and my children and our children. Maybe our present situation is a little unsatisfactory at present, but, God willing, we have a good future.

VASSILEVA: But this former reformist legislature says the president's missed a chance to secure Iran's economic future before record oil revenues tumbled.

MOHSEN SAFAEI FARAHANI, FORMER REFORMIST LEGISLATOR (through translator): Having enough time in human and cash resources, we could have strengthened our economic infrastructure. Now it is all lost because we failed to have good management.

VASSILEVA: The two leading candidates are offering two competing economic visions of managing the economy. Voters face a choice of Ahmadinejad's populist policies spreading the oil wealth to the poor and that of reformist Mousavi, who criticized what he calls Ahmadinejad's charity policy and instead promises to encourage the growth of private enterprise and foreign investment.

The voting public is split.

(on camera): On one side are those who have benefited from the money and favors Ahmadinejad has disbursed to Iran's poor and want the status quo. On the other, the youth and women in the big cities who back Mousavi's more pragmatic economic policy. Friday's election will show which vision will prevail.

Ralitsa Vassileva, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: So we've heard from Ralitsa and Christiane that this election is going to come down to young people in Iran.

Nicole Lapin is monitoring how technology is helping young Iranians mobilize.

Good to see you, Nic. What do you have for us?

NICOLE LAPIN, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Tony.

By some accounts, young people make up a third of the voting bloc right now in Iran, Tony, so this is huge. These young people came up on the Internet at the same time as we did in the West, first with blogs, then with Facebook and Twitter these days, just like us and just like political candidates.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Facebook page right here. The numbers are revealing, Tony. He has about 10,000 followers, but his challenger, Mousavi, has about 40,000 fans on the site. So, while Facebook doesn't actually release the breakdowns by country, there are some reports that estimate there are at least 200,000 users of Facebook.

In Iran, they have actually, Tony, gained so much clout that authorities pushed back hard, briefly shutting down Facebook last month. But it was restored a few days later, and not just Facebook. We are talking about blogs here.

These are the images that are coming out of Iran...

HARRIS: Look at this.

LAPIN: ... from young people. These are the rallies that we are seeing in the streets.

HARRIS: Boy.

LAPIN: This is so important in shaping popular opinion these days that we have not only seen these images, but we have seen Flickr being used as well as a way to mobilize young people. And comments here as well saying that there appears to be a genuine fight for votes. These images from Mousavi rallies look more like Obama rallies than assemblies in a totalitarian state.

Notice how these young people look and notice how they are unafraid. This is what this comment says, Tony. So, obviously, the polls have not closed yet. They will in about five minutes.

HARRIS: A couple minutes, yes.

LAPIN: We don't know who has won, but definitely young people have already won. Technology has already won in this election.

HARRIS: Turnout close to 80 percent. Absolutely unprecedented.

LAPIN: Unprecedented.

HARRIS: Boy, this will be interesting to watch over the next few days as the votes are tallied up.

Nicole, appreciate it. Thank you. Have a great weekend.

LAPIN: You're welcome.

HARRIS: This weekend on "GPS," Fareed Zakaria on the fight for the future of Iran. What's at stake? "GPS," Sunday, 1:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

And members of Congress have a pretty good health care plan, but would their plan work for the rest of us?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, you can't do better when it comes to financial news and analysis than CNNMoney.com. The Money team does a terrific job with this site getting you all of the latest information. And as you can see, there's the page right now. "Can Windows 7 Save PCs?"

If you'd like more on that story, you can just go to CNNMoney.com.

Let's swing you over to the Big Board now and the New York Stock Exchange, just about three hours into the trading day. And as you can see, the Dow is down 11, almost 12 points.

Let's see, what's happening with the Nasdaq, the tech-heavy sector. Tech-heavy Nasdaq down 20 points.

Again, three hours into the trading day. We will follow the markets throughout the day with Susan Lisovicz, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Lawmakers debating the future of your health care right now. So what kind of health benefits do they have?

Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar talks to one member of Congress who knows first-hand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a mother of three, spent last year battling breast cancer.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, (D) FLORIDA: The first major surgery, you'll really need a surgery, was my double mastectomy. The submitted charges, just for my double mastectomy, was over $15,000.

KEILAR: But she only paid a few hundred dollars for that surgery. Her first of seven. She estimates the total cost of her care is close to $100,000.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We are a middle-class family and there is no possible way -- that would have just been the beginning of a mountain of debt. I mean, I could easily see just from having gone through my own health experience in the last year, how very quickly a family could be bankrupt.

KEILAR: Wasserman Schultz's Blue Cross Blue Shield basic plan is one of 10 nationwide plans and hundreds of smaller regional plans members of Congress and other federal employees can choose from. The government pays two-thirds the cost of premiums and federal employees pick up the rest, from about $1,300 per year up to $2,400 per year depending on the plan. Sounds great, but could this kind of care be extended to the nation's 47 million uninsured?

BETH MCGLYN, RAND CORPORATION: It does let people pick coverage that is what they think they need and what they're willing to pay for that coverage.

KEILAR: Beth McGlyn, a top researcher for the non-partisan Rand Corporation, says another advantage is the program is already up and running nationwide. But there's a rub, the cost to taxpayers. McGlyn says perhaps the only way to pay for the change or any health care reform is to tax benefits employees now receive through their employer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Brianna Keilar live from Capitol Hill for us.

And, Brianna, the plans that members of Congress can choose from, help me here, are they all private plans?

KEILAR: They are all private plans, Tony. Two hundred sixty-nine of them, in fact. That doesn't mean necessarily you would get to choose from all of those because some are just for certain geographical areas. But if you're in a rural state, say Alabama, maybe Idaho, you have about 10 to 11 choices. And then places like New York, where they're a large metropolitan area, you might have up to 30 choices of the different private plans.

Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. And there are also some health perks that come along with being in Congress. What are they, Brianna?

KEILAR: Oh, yes, there are some good ones, Tony. I think you're going to be really jealous. If you're a member of Congress, you pay a flat fee, it's about $500, and there's an attending physician here on the Capitol grounds. So if you have a cold, if you just need to go to the doctor for a checkup, you never have to leave the Capitol. You just go to this physician. And there's also specialists that come by from time to time, Tony. For instance, gynecologists make calls here often enough that female members of Congress could get their annual exam here. And then the other thing is prescriptions. They're delivered so you never have to run out to the pharmacy.

HARRIS: Wow. Yes, I am jealous.

KEILAR: Me too.

HARRIS: All right, Brianna, appreciate it. Have a great weekend. Thank you.

KEILAR: You too.

HARRIS: You know, we are zeroing in on the health care debate all next week, issue by issue. Along with Elizabeth Cohen, we will focus on different topics every day, from prevention to pre-existing conditions, to who pays the most and who gets the best and worst treatment, the pros and cons of the Democrats', Republicans' and the president's plans and opportunities, of course, for you to weigh in. Join us all next week, 11:00 to 1:00 Eastern Time.

And turning now to our "What Matters" segment, in partnership with "Essence" magazine. We start with alleged discrimination in the workplace. Several current and former employees of Eli Lilly have joined a 2006 federal lawsuit against the drug company. The suit accuses Eli Lilly of playing black employees less money than their white counterparts and denied promotions to better-qualified black candidates. The drug company says it has investigating the allegations and the case has no merit.

A former Wells Fargo lender told "The New York Times" the bank, "rode the stagecoach from hell" when it targeted blacks for subprime loans in Baltimore and suburban Maryland. Baltimore officials filed a federal lawsuit claiming the company's lending practices in black neighborhoods drove hundreds of homes into foreclosure and cost the city millions in services and lost taxes. A Wells Fargo spokesman says the case has no merit and the company's loans aren't to blame for the housing crisis.

"Essence" magazine is sounding the HIV alarm in its July issue. According to the CDC, every 9.5 minutes someone in the United States is infected with the AIDS virus. In light of this staggering statistics, the Obama administration and the CDC recently launched a $45 million campaign to get HIV back into the national conversation. For one AIDS activist who's lived with the disease since birth, the conversation has never ended. Betty Nguyen has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HYDEIA BROADBENT, AIDS ACTIVIST: You can't crush my dreams. I am the future and I have AIDS. BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a child, Hydeia Broadbent gave pediatric AIDS a face and a powerful voice.

BROADBENT: Losing your friends to AIDS, it's hard. But, like, you keep on going because you have to.

NGUYEN: Infected by her birth mother and abandoned, Broadbent was adopted as an infant. Diagnosed with HIV at three, she was not expected to live past her fifth birthday. But with medication, she defied the odds. She began telling her story publicly when she was six, and she hasn't stopped.

BROADBENT: I've gone all over the country trying to spread the message, just trying to get people to accept people who are infected with HIV/AIDS. I just wanted somebody to hear, somebody to open their heart and their eyes and try to make a difference for the future.

NGUYEN: Now 24, Broadbent is taking a break from college to recover from an infection. While enjoying time with her mom and her boyfriend, she knows her work is not done.

BROADBENT: The most important thing for people to know about HIV/AIDS is that it's a choice disease. We choose our behavior. We choose our sexual partners. Therefore, we choose the outcome. It's not acceptable for anybody to say, I didn't know about AIDS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Broadbent, who turns 25 this weekend, praises the Obama administration for its AIDS awareness campaign. She's hoping it will lead to putting more programs back into public schools.

What if someone demolished your family's home by mistake?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Temperatures are rising, but you don't have to choose between saving money and staying cool. Cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.

Good to see you, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey, Tony. We're going to have a little fun with some props this Friday.

HARRIS: OK.

HARLOW: Try to lighten up the mood of all this sour news lately. Because, of course, it's summertime. It's going to get hot and muggy and you can turn your air conditioner down a little bit, but if you use these gadgets we show you, you can actually save about 30 percent on your energy bill this year alone. It depends where you live.

Look at this map because power's most expensive in the Northeast. So these could save you about $700. Out West, where power's cheaper, it could save you a little under $500. So take a look at this one. This is made by Black & Decker. It sells for about $50. And what you do, you see that light there, Tony?

HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes.

HARLOW: What you do is you take it around your house and you point it and you click it on the windows, the doors. You see where that air is leaking out. And then you just -- you caulk it up or you weather strip it. So that can save you money. It can pay for itself in about under a year. That's what EnergyStar says, Tony.

HARRIS: Wow, that's nice. What about keeping your heating and cooling bills down, any other ideas?

HARLOW: Yes, you want to get a new thermostat. We have two here to show you. This is Honeywell. This is about $84. So pretty relatively inexpensive. This one, this Echo-B (ph), has more bells and whistles. It's about $385. But you can program it from work over the web, set the temperature in your home. This is important because if you set the temperature eight degrees higher in the summer and eight degrees lower in the winter, that is going to save you money. The Honeywell one, this will pay for itself in six months. This will take about 26 months to pay for itself, Tony. But again, saving you money.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. But, oh, saving money, that's a good point. How do I know how much actual energy I'm really saving?

HARLOW: Yes, that's my favorite prop of all. This is the kilowatt. And I wish I could show it to you working. But you plug this -- it's $35. You plug it into your wall and then you plug any device right into it. Your coffee maker, your TV, your computer, and what it's going to calculate on here is the total cost of that and how much you could be saving if you turn it off. And you could easily pay for itself in two months.

So there's a whole gallery you can go to on cnnmoney.com. I know you're a fan of this site, Tony. You're always showing it off.

HARRIS: Yes, I am. I really am.

HARLOW: Go to this gallery, slash your energy costs by 30 percent, and calculate how much you could save with the devices.

HARRIS: You and the rest of that "Money" team, you guys do a terrific job. I'm going to show it off and talk about it as often as I can.

Poppy, have a great weekend.

HARLOW: We appreciate it. Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, yes. Yes, take care.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin says President Obama is, "growing the government way too quickly" and he should do more to reduce the national debt. She sat down for a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN: How do you think President Obama is doing now in these early months as president?

GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) ALASKA: I think he's growing government way too quickly and he's digging that hole of debt for our country that we're going to pass on to our children and our grandchildren, expecting them to pay off debt for us. It's a selfish thing that we're doing right now if we think that that is OK. So I do like some of the talk that he's given Americans right now, though, about eventually here getting to the point of reigning in spending and finding efficiencies within government. I encourage him to follow through on that. We have to follow through on that because it is unfair to our kids and grandkids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: For more of the interview, just tune in to "The Situation Room" tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Governor Sarah Palin talks about her state's lucrative natural gas pipeline deal that could benefit other states.

Imagine your family's home suddenly gone, bulldozed to the ground without your permission, without warning. That is exactly what happened to a Georgia man. Jovita Moore of our Atlanta affiliate, WSB, reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL BYRD, HOMEOWNER: I had heirlooms in there. My mom's dining room set. A hutch with her dishes in here.

JOVITA MOORE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Byrd cannot believe his eyes. The house his father built, brick by brick with his own hands, mysteriously demolished.

BYRD: You can't imagine, this is incredulous that something like this can happen and no one contact the owner.

MOORE: Byrd grew up here with nine bothers and sisters, a three bedroom house on the little road bearing his family's name.

BYRD: We were taught that you could do anything that you wanted to do, as long as you're willing to work hard and pay the price.

MOORE: Byrd's cousin shot this video Monday, a bulldozer in the yard, dumpsters loaded with rubble. The demolition company says it had paperwork.

BYRD: And I said, paperwork for what? He said well that house -- to demolish the house. I said, I'm the owner of the house. I haven't given you any -- anybody any authority to demolish this house.

MOORE (on camera): But did he have an address? BYRD: No. I said, what address did you have? I said this is 11 Byrd Trail. He said, they sent me some GPS coordinates. And I said, don't you even have an address? He said, yes, my GPS coordinates led me right to that street there and this house was described.

MOORE (voice-over): Byrd suspects the intended target was actually across the road.

BYRD: Right there.

MOORE (on camera): Over there?

BYRD: Yes. See that's across . . .

MOORE: Over there?

BYRD: Yes, yes, yes.

MOORE (voice-over): Byrd says this house held decades of memories. While we talked, the enormity of what's gone sets in and Al Byrd can barely speak.

BYRD: I don't know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Wow. OK. So reporter Jovita Moore is trying to get to the bottom of this, but she says calls to the company that ordered the demolition have not been returned.

Our Help Desk team is answering your financial questions right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A liberal arts graduate wonders about a career in technology, and how will the bankruptcy of General Motors affect lease negotiations with GMAC? CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis asks The Help Desk team.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We want to get you answers to your financial questions. Let's go straight to The Help Desk.

The first question is from an anonymous viewer. "Now that GM is going into bankruptcy and closing multiple plants, how much leverage would a person have to renegotiate a lease through GMAC financing?

Stacey, what do you make of it?

STACEY BRADFORD, FINANCIAL JOURNALIST: Well, first of all, I think people should realize that the only ones who are going to benefit from the bankruptcy are people who are buying or leasing a new car. And second of all, GMAC got out of the leasing business about a year ago.

WILLIS: So there's nobody to call.

BRADFORD: There is no one to pick up the phone for you.

Now, this driver could possibly renegotiate a lease or basically do a new one with -- in the used car market, but chances are his original lease was subsidized and that means that he's not going to get a better rate and will pay more money today.

WILLIS: Great advice.

All right. Let's get to the next question. Archer asks, "I'm 42 years old and recently completed my associates degree in liberal arts. I'm interested in pursuing a career in global information systems. What kind of growth might I see in this field?"

Donna, is this like a computer job?

DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, MONEY: It's a technology career really. And the good news is, despite the recession, there are a lots of -- there's lots of growth in the technology field. This position actually is traditionally called management information systems, managing computer networks.

WILLIS: That's a big field.

ROSATO: It is. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this is a field that's going to have faster-than-average job growth. About 16 percent more positions by 2016. The only trouble with our viewer here, unfortunately, is that he has a two-year degree and most of the jobs in this field require a four-year bachelor's degree.

So my suggestion is, why doesn't he talk to some people in the field, see what kind of training that they have. And I think he's going to need to get a little bit more education to land a job in this field and make a career in it. But he's halfway there. So I think he could do it.

WILLIS: I think getting more education is a great idea. We're seeing a lot of people do that to grade up that -- you could even do it online now.

ROSATO: That's very true. That's very true. And there's many positions that you can get, particularly in health care, with two year degree. But for this particular one, he's probably going to need a little more training.

WILLIS: All right, guys, thanks for that.

The Help Desk is all about getting you answers. Send me an e-mail to gerri@cnn.com or log on to cnn.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions.

And The help Desk is everywhere. Make sure to check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.

HARRIS: Cops accused of being criminals. Two former West Palm Beach police officers have been arrested in the beating of a robbery suspect. Today they're free pending an arraignment next month. The beating in question was caught on dash cam videotape. The two officers are accused of kicking and punching a handcuffed robbery suspect last year. Their lawyer says they will plead not guilty.

It is a case filled with intrigue and troubling questions. Detectives reopen a 23-year-old murder investigation and make an arrest. The suspect, a fellow officer, who had been working with them the whole time. Were clues missed or ignored? CNN's Dan Simon has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was about 8:00 in the morning last Friday at Los Angeles police headquarters. Detective Stephanie Lazarus was stunned by news that a 23-year-old cold case murder had finally netted a suspect. On the evening of February 24, 1986, someone brutally murdered Sherri Rasmussen, a hospital nursing director, in a condominium she shared with her husband.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss Rasmussen died as a result of multiple gunshots.

SIMON: Detectives had always believed Rasmussen was killed by a pair of male burglars. But attorney John Taylor, who represents the family, said Rasmussen's father tried for years to get the police to listen to another theory.

JOHN TAYLOR, RASMUSSEN FAMILY ATTORNEY: He said, my son-in-law has an ex-girlfriend who is an L.A. police department officer. Have you looked into that? Have you checked her out?

SIMON (on camera): What did the officer say?

TAYLOR: Over time they always diverted the -- his inquiry and told them he'd been watching too much TV.

SIMON (voice-over): But the case remained unsolved and for years it sat in the cold case file, until it was recently reopened. A DNA test on evidence proved the original theory wrong. It proved the killer was a woman. The investigation would soon lead them down the hall at police headquarters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lazarus has been booked for homicide and is currently in the custody of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

SIMON: Lazarus had been a highly regarded detective, 26 years on the job. But in 1986, she was a rookie cop. And now authorities say she was apparently in a jealous rage when she killed Sherri Rasmussen. And according to the victim's family, she'd had previous problems with Lazarus. When the new DNA evidence focused detectives on female suspects, they went back to the old files and found the family suspicions about Lazarus. So without her knowledge, they got a DNA sample from an item she discarded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A discard is something that an individual is using and then throws away. And so it could be a -- it could be gum. It could be a coffee cup. It could be a straw. It could be a fork. SIMON: What it was, police aren't saying yet. What they will say is that today's department is different from years past and they aren't afraid to investigate their own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be much easier to arrest a young employee with a couple of years on the job that nobody knew as compared to a 26-year veteran detective that everybody knows. So do I wish it got handled earlier? Well, of course. Is it harder for us to do now? Yes, it is.

SIMON (on camera): Lazarus' attorney told CNN he has no comment. As for the detectives who worked the case, they're now retired but face plenty of questions as to why Lazarus remained free for so long.

Dan Simon, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Boy.

So what happens when the local car dealer can't afford to sponsor your little league teams? We'll show you how some parents are responding. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Little league teams caught in a squeeze play because of the economy. Sponsorships are down. Some parents can't afford the fees. But one California community is pitching in. The story from CNN's Ted Rowlands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This field of dreams has been hit by an economic nightmare.

DANNY RUIZ, COACH, RIALTO MINOR PIRATES: We've had some sponsorships that we used to get every year, give us a nice substantial check and help out the league. This year, they just couldn't. There's no extra funds for them to help us out.

ROWLANDS: What used to be $45,000 in sponsorship every year has shrunk to just $3,000.

RUIZ: It's been difficult this year. We had a couple kids that have signed up and, you know, the parents don't have the funds to support them.

JIM UNDERWOOD, COACH, RIALTO JR. PADRES: I grew up here in this league, played in this league, and these are all people I've known for 30-some-odd years. And we're all in the same boat.

ROWLANDS: The same boat means more than just trouble on the field. This part of San Bernardino County consistently ranks in the top five for highest foreclosure rates in the country. The county's unemployment rate is 12.5 percent. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, life was good, work was good, the economy was good and then all of a sudden, you know, bills come due. All of a sudden there's not enough money. And it just -- it happens really fast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my outlet, you know, this is where I come, you know, to be with the kids. Because it's not about me. It's about them. But I could tell you that even little league we're seeing a punch in the little league with the way the economy is and the slowdown and everything else just by the lack of kids that are signing up, you know. So it's hard all the way around. And I'm trying to find work. It's not like I'm sitting at home doing nothing. But there's just nothing out there.

ROWLANDS: The families and the league had no choice but to rally around each other.

RUIZ: We had to ask some of the parents to gather up some of their, you know, cleats that maybe their kids have outgrown or some used gloves and we had to supply some of the kids with the used equipment so they could play.

JANIS STRONG, PRES., N. RIALTO LITTLE LEAGUE: We did a candle sale with Go Candy Candle (ph). We've had parents bring water and Gatorade and then we sold the water and the Gatorade. And then we also had a pancake breakfast. And we washed cars for the first time. We have 17 teams and the kids are in uniform and everyone's having a great time. And that's what it's all about.

ROWLANDS: With everybody pitching in, not a single game has been missed because of hard times. A life lesson these players can take to the bank.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Safe.

We are pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips.