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President Obama to Make Prime-Time Pitch for Health Care Reform; New Twist in the Killing of Florida Couple; American Bomb- Maker Working for the 'Good Guys'; Obama Meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki; Solution to Racial Barrier; U.S. Marines in Helmand Province

Aired July 22, 2009 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The president makes a prime-time pitch for this health care reform. Tune in tonight for what could be must-sell TV.

And a new twist in that killing of a Florida couple known for adopting special needs children. Details this morning, on a $100,000 discovery.

And American bomb-maker who works for the good guys. We'll show you how his diabolical inventions could save your life.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. It is July 22, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

In fact, it's a big day for the president today. I want to go ahead and walk you through what's going to be happening. Our Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House. Can the president overcome this growing tide of skepticism? We'll talk with her about that.

And we also put that question to Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He actually worked inside the last White House that tried to overhaul the health care system.

And finally, Arwa Damon is looking at another big issue for the president today on his calendar. She is previewing his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,

We begin now with the battle over health care reform. It could affect you and every other American. Here's a quick look at where the debate stands right now.

The Obama White House has wanted complete passage of the overhaul by early August but that's looking pretty unlikely. The Republicans are objecting to parts of the plan. And there's even reluctance among some Democrats in both Houses now. They say the plan is too complex and too costly to rush.

President Obama has said that Republicans who oppose the plan are putting politics ahead of progress. But a recent poll shows that more Americans are having doubts about the reform and whether the country can afford it in such a tough economy.

Health care reform has been President Obama's top domestic priority, so he is really focused on trying to sell his plan. But the clock is ticking. An opportunity may be slipping away.

Here now, White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Barack Obama is raising the stakes, using a primetime news conference to throw all his weight behind health care reform.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But make no mistake, we are closer than ever before to the reform that the American people need and we're going to get the job done.

MALVEAUX: Facing skeptical lawmakers, including members of his own party, the president's strategy consists of private arm twisting and public scolding.

OBAMA: Time and again we've heard excuses to delay and defeat reform.

MALVEAUX: Using his popularity and political capital early in the game.

OBAMA: I don't want you to feel all like you might be alone on this.

MALVEAUX: With town halls, TV interviews and primetime aimed at building momentum and creating a sense of urgency to get health care legislation on his desk by mid-August.

OBAMA: We have traveled long and hard to reach this point. I know that we have further to go.

MALVEAUX: Some say a risky strategy.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think from his point of view, there are many in the public who would like to hear from him but they'd also like to see him just sitting down negotiating out the plan.

You know what they look for is a leadership that says, here's where we're going to go, not a leadership that says, I'm encouraging Congress to make more progress.

MALVEAUX: The effort comes amid recent polls showing approval for Mr. Obama's health care plan dropping below 50 percent and Americans now split over his handling of the economy. Republicans are seizing the moment.

MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We want to fundamentally reorient one-sixth of our economy in two weeks. And that makes no logical sense to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Suzanne Malveaux is joining us now with a little bit more on this. So, Suzanne, why now is the White House doing this news conference today?

MALVEAUX: Heidi, really the timing of this in the high-profile nature of this press conference is really critical to their strategy here. Obviously they're trying to push lawmakers as much as they can and they were really hoping that the president tonight could make some sort of good news announcement about where they are in this process.

We still expect that the president is going to emphasize the positive, be more optimistic, but clearly, Heidi, negotiations are still continuing. The state of play now, health care's still very much in flux. Even the Press Secretary Robert Gibbs saying yesterday that this is the beginning, part of the process, that after the August recess, there's still going to be much work to do when it comes to health care reform. Heidi?

COLLINS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, a busy day ahead for you as well. We sure do appreciate it.

Also want to remind everybody to join us tonight for live coverage of President Obama's news conference. It is scheduled for 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

In about 10 minutes, we'll hear some unique perspectives from our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He worked inside the Clinton White House, the last administration, to attempt health care reform.

To Iraq now this morning. Gunmen attacked buses carrying religious pilgrims. Five people are dead. That's just the latest in a string of attacks this week. 22 people died Tuesday in a series of deadly bombings in Baghdad and Ramadi. 150 more were wounded.

Baghdad alone was rocked by at least seven explosions. Several marketplaces were targeted, including one filled with day laborers.

A bomb also went off near the entrance to the green zone, the home to key Iraqi government offices and, of course, the U.S. embassy.

Security concerns in Iraq will be front and center at the White House today. President Obama meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki this afternoon. It's the first in a series of high-level meetings for the Iraqi leader.

Our Arwa Damon is live now in Baghdad today.

Arwa, good morning to you. What do we expect to come out of this meeting today?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, as you just mentioned, security most certainly will be amongst the main topics of discussion but also bearing in mind that everything here in Iraq is interconnected. So the security situation is also directly connected to politics.

And what the Obama administration is going to want to hear is some sort of assurance from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that his government is going to begin to very seriously address the underlying ethnic and sectarian tensions that could potentially jeopardize these relative -- and I say relative stability that we are seeing in Iraq.

The Iraqi prime minister, for his part, is going to try to muster up some sort of financial investment, some sort of guarantees that the U.S. will also be focusing on trying to build up the Iraqi economy.

The Obama administration -- and there is nothing secret about this -- wants out of this war. But it can ill-afford to leave behind an Iraq that cannot stand on its own two feet. At the same time, the administration's commitment, unlike the Bush administration, their commitment is no longer open-ended. So the prime minister really has to begin taking some very serious steps. Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes. In fact, some of the restrictions on the U.S. military now seem to be changing the nature of the mission a bit.

DAMON: Absolutely. The nature of the mission here especially for U.S. forces has changed completely. Quite simply, under the security agreement, what we saw happening on June 30th was the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from all Iraqi cities and towns.

At that point effectively control over this war was handed over to the Iraqis. The Americans don't have control anymore. They are, by and large, confined to their bases only moving out at whim and fancy of their Iraqi counterparts. This was all laid out in the security agreement but it is a very convoluted document that many commanders are struggling to try to interpret.

This is causing frustration and fiction but it is also just one of the many stepping stones that the U.S. military and the Iraqis have to go through so that when that date does come, that American forces do leave, they leave behind an Iraq that at least can maintain some sort of level of security.

COLLINS: Yes. That is certainly the idea. All right, our Arwa Damon, live for us out of Baghdad. Thanks so much, Arwa.

New protests to tell you about now in Iran. This amateur video shows clashes with police who are trying to break up the crowd. We don't know right now exactly how many people were arrested in the latest opposition demonstrations.

But Iran's president is being ordered to fire his vice president now. Iranian media reports the supreme leader made the decision because of pro-Israel comments made by President Ahmadinejad's top deputy.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a message for Iran's leaders -- get back to the negotiating table because the U.S. won't keep the window open forever. Speaking in Thailand, she also said this, "If the United States extends its defense umbrella over the region, Iran won't be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can, once they have a nuclear weapon."

Drawing attention to the plight of political opponents in Iran, a group of prominent Iranians in the United States are starting a hunger strike today. Our Reza Sayah is joining us now live from New York with more on this.

Reza, what's the deal?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, this group of celebrities want to do a few things here with this hunger strike. And they've put up signs to describe exactly what they want to do. They want to support Iranian's quest for freedom and support the opposition movement.

Most of all, they want to free all the political prisoners, hundreds of people who have been detained after the elections on June 12th. The hunger strike started about 8:00 a.m., it's going to go for three days.

Among those striking is this man, preeminent historian, Professor Hamid Dabashi, whose been part of the many people who live in exile here in Iran, a half a world away.

Do you think the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei is concerned about what's going on here, this hunger strike?

HAMID DABASHI, PROF. OF IRANIAN STUDIES, COLUMBIA UNIV.: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I have no concern that he's very much concerned. The faction within the body of the Islamic republic has already happened. It is a very divisive split that has happened within the Islamic republic.

The last speech of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday -- he is the center of gravity in the Iranian political culture has shifted very much to the side of the green movement, the civil rights movement. And as a result the message is loud and clear to Mr. Ayatollah Khamenei and Mr. Ahmadinejad that this is not going to die away with incarceration and arresting people and putting them in jail.

If our brothers and sisters are arrested in Iran, there are millions of Iranians around the globe who will rise up and speak.

SAYAH: Professor Dabashi, thank you. Also the message is to the U.N. and the Obama administration to do something, to apply pressure on the Iranian leadership, to rescue and free some of these prisoners.

There is the scene here. You're going to see song writers...

COLLINS: Oh, unfortunately, it looks like our signal broke up just a bit with Reza Sayah but we will stay on top of the developments there. Once again, that hunger strike begins today in the United States in support of Iran for the next three days.

This story to tell you about now, too. Paying taxes to smoke pot. A first for the nation. We go to Oakland, California where voters have opted to tax medical marijuana.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. We had some record heat in spots, some record rainfall, and an eclipse. We'll show you video of that when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A resounding yes from voters in Oakland, California to tax medical marijuana. The landslide vote yesterday makes Oakland the nation's first city to tax proceeds on the sale of medical marijuana.

The man who runs Oakland's largest medical cannabis dispensary was behind the measure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE DEANGELO, HARBORSIDE HEALTH CLINIC: We think it's appropriate to take some of our excess funds and circulate them back to the community in its time of need.

REBECCA KAPLAN, OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Given that this -- the medical cannabis dispensaries are something that was legalized in California, why not have the revenue from it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Oakland's pot tax could generate up to $1 million in annual revenue. Some advocates hope it will even lead to legalizing pot for recreational use.

Back now to our focus on the battle over health care reform. Tonight the president holds a primetime news conference to present his case.

And Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us now to talk a little bit more about this.

Listen, there is something that caught our eye. There's a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out there. We want to show it to everybody because it shows that only 20 percent of Americans think they will be better off under Obama's plan. 35 percent think they will be worse off.

So you were working in the White House during the Clinton era. The other White House that tried to overhaul the entire system. Was there some point where you sort of started to see the tide change a bit?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think there was a lot of similarities to what we're seeing now to some degree.

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: You know a lot of people think of the Clinton plan as sort of having been dead-on-arrival? It wasn't. It was quite popular in the beginning but by April, there was about 51 percent support for the plan, and by August of '93, we're talking about 44 percent, which is about the same as we're seeing now.

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: The big difference, I think, and the president points this out all the time, is the consensus now. Back then, remember the "Harry and Louise" ads?

COLLINS: Mm-hmm. Yes.

GUPTA: Those are the insurance ads where people -- a lot of people say derailed the health care plan ultimately? Or at least was part of the derailment. There is a lot of consensus now even from the health care industry.

One thing, I think, is very interesting is back then, in '93, the White House crafted the plan. And then after they crafted the plan, Congress picked apart every single detail.

COLLINS: Right.

GUPTA: You remember that whole thing.

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: The president has been very clear saying, I'm going to draw out the broad messages here but this is something that legislators are going to draft. And that's also a little bit different between now and 15, 16 years ago.

COLLINS: Well, were they hearing the same type of concerns that they're hearing right now? I mean, obviously, one of them is money. It's always going to be money.

GUPTA: Yes. It's going to be money. It's also going to be, is it meeting its goals?

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: Are you actually insuring people, are you providing the health care insurance that a lot of people agree should be provided to many people who don't have it right now? Also, is this going to lead to some sort of either rationing of health care or is it going to lead to some sort of government takeover of health care? Those are a lot of the same arguments that you heard then and you're hearing now.

COLLINS: Right. Yes, and we always love talking to you because not only were you in on this all those years ago with the Clinton administration but you're also a physician. What do you think the president needs to say tonight, you know, to make people feel better about it, to make them understand it better?

GUPTA: Well, you know, far be it from me to give him advice. But I'll tell you a couple of things that sort of stuck out to me. One is that he has been consistent on message. He will say Heidi Collins -- not your name necessarily -- but say somebody...

COLLINS: He probably not. GUPTA: You know, if you have health care insurance and you're happy with it, nothing is going to change. He has said that almost since the beginning. That's been a consistent message.

Either you'll hear that same message more emphatically or you'll hear a little bit more of a nuanced message, saying, hey, we've taken some blows over the last few months but this is so important, let's work through it, get it done.

Or you're going to hear something totally different which speaks to your first graphic that you showed, about the people who were concerned about whether this is going to help them.

You may hear a message that says something like, you know what? This isn't about you, it's not about you now, not about you, it's about who we are as a country, it's about what we stand for, it's about the fact that people shouldn't die from preventable diseases in this country, and here's how you think -- I think we can get us there.

So he takes it away from the individual to the nation as a whole. And, you know, who knows? And like I said, far be it from me. But it will be very interesting no matter what he says.

COLLINS: Yes. No question. All right, well, everybody is going to be watching hopefully. We'll see what we get out of the deal.

Thanks so much, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Appreciate that.

GUPTA: Thanks, Heidi.

COLLINS: Make sure you do tune in tonight because we will have live coverage of President Obama's news conference. It's scheduled for 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. You can see it right here on CNN.

And then, immediately after President Obama speaks, don't miss "BLACK IN AMERICA 2," the first part of this two-evening event gets under way at 9:00 Eastern and 6:00 Pacific.

A second safe found in Florida. The discovery could shed new light now on what thieves were looking for at the home of a Florida couple. But what was inside that safe?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A showdown over packing heat. The Senate is actually voting today on a measure that would allow people with concealed weapons permits the right to carry their guns across state lines.

Supporters say those permits should be able to protect themselves when they travel to other states. Well, opponents say the measure would force states with strict gun laws to accept permits from states with more lax laws.

OK, so what does that mean for you? Gun control obviously providing a lot of ammunition on our blog this morning. And we want to ask you this. The question for you today, should people be allowed to carry concealed weapons across those state lines?

So make sure you go ahead and get on to our blog. Once again reminding you about the Web site -- or excuse me, the actual address, which is CNN.com/heidi. Go ahead on there and just post your comments. We'll share some of them with you a little bit later on in the broadcast.

You can also give us a call. Check us out now, it's kind of new. "Hotline to Heidi." The phone number, 1-877-742-5760. We love to hear from you. We will either read or listen to some of your responses coming up a little bit later on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We've got new information for you this morning on the murder of a prominent Florida couple. A single shooter is identified and CNN has learned about a second safe that was found in the family's home.

Our Susan Candiotti has more now on the investigation from Pensacola, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: CNN has learned there was a second safe in the Billings' home and that according to a source familiar with the investigation, apparently the suspect thought this was the mother load. A source says that it contained at least $100,000 but for whatever reason, the suspects were unable to get to it.

Now this is significant because up until now we have only known about another safe that contained less valuable items including some family papers, some jewelry and some medication for the Billings children.

On Tuesday night, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan was asked about this development.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A source familiar with the investigation telling us there was a second safe in the house containing cash, $100,000. Can you confirm that for us, sir, and tell us about it?

SHERIFF DAVID MORGAN, ESCAMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA: I cannot. I can only confirm the items that we have recovered or that -- excuse me that we know were removed from the Billings' home and that was a small mid-sized safe and a black briefcase.

COOPER: Are you -- you're saying there was not a second safe or that you just can't confirm that, sir?

MORGAN: I'm saying, sir, that I'm not at liberty to address that issue. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: An attorney for the Billings' family also declined comment on this new information. However on Tuesday, there were other new developments. In court documents, one of the suspects charged in the case said that the suspected ringleader, Leonard Gonzalez, Jr., was the only gunman who shot and killed Byrd and Melanie Billings in their bedroom.

The sheriff has said that he is looking for additional persons of interest and that he could be making more arrests.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Pensacola, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Millions of people got a chance to witness the longest solar eclipse of the century today. It cast a wide shadow over Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful. Turning day to darkness for up to six minutes and 39 seconds in some parts of Asia.

Visitors from lots of different countries, including Britain, Germany, and Australia came to China to witness the celestial event.

Rob Marciano joining us now. What a perfect segue over there to you, right? We were concerned though, Rob, yesterday, weren't we, that some of those folks in China weren't going to be able to see anything?

MARCIANO: We were. And a lot of them didn't -- or they at least saw the -- you know, the eclipse shrouded in cloud cover. So a little peek here, a little peek there. Can you imagine spending thousands of dollars to go over there to see that?

COLLINS: No.

MARCIANO: There's a lot of these, you know, eclipse hunkers...

COLLINS: Right.

MARCIANO: ... who do that.

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: And you know, forking out that kind of cash and I certainly want to see it.

COLLINS: Yes. I mean, can't you get some sort of guarantee?

MARCIANO: Oh there you go. This is the money shot. We got -- this is the clear shot somewhere in China. I can't remember the city. But that's the total lunar eclipse there. And -- because the moon is a little bit closer to us for this cycle and because the sun during the month of July is at its furthest point away from the earth.

COLLINS: Yes? MARCIANO: You get a relatively long and intense eclipse there.

COLLINS: Cool.

MARCIANO: That would certainly be a spiritual event, no doubt. And here's a view in contrast of what you see every day here...

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: All right. We'll go on to weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Rob Marciano, we'll check back later. Thank you.

MARCIANO: You got it.

COLLINS: Remember all those billions that President Obama said would stimulate the economy? Where's all that money going, and is it helping? Join us for a trip on the money trail coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: On Wall Street, the count continues as I'm sure you're aware. The Dow has now climbed in the past seven sessions.

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with a preview of today's trading day. And we might have set off the opening bell.

Hi, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. We are not going to see Dow 9000. At least from the first seconds of trading.

COLLINS: That's right.

LISOVICZ: That's what the futures were telling us. We can wait, though. In those seven sessions, Heidi, the Dow has jumped 770 points or more than 9 percent, putting the blue chip index back in the black for the year.

The NASDAQ, meanwhile, is riding a ten-straight win streak. A lot of that is because corporate America is finally showing signs of life. After all, we're in the thick of earnings season. Pfizer, PepsiCo, Boeing, Yahoo! all beating estimates. But Apple, far and away, the standout winner.

Apple sold more than five million iPhones in the quarter. It couldn't keep up with demand, which is telling during this recession when consumers are giving up vacations and a lot of stuff but not their iPhones. The company posted double-digit percentage gains in both profits and sales beating Wall Street's estimates by a long shot. Apple shares right now are up 4 percent. Overall, though, we are seeing some give back in the first minute of trading. Amid a dropping bank shares, Wells Fargo shares right now are down 6.5 percent. The company's quarterly profits jumped more than 80 percent, but investors are worried about the bank's exposure to the weakening commercial real estate market. Something that Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman was talking about yesterday. He may talk about it again today on Capitol Hill.

Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, says it lost more than $1 billion in just three months. Morgan shares are down 4.25 percent. And looking at the overall numbers, yes, little bit of give-back. Finally, the Dow, the NASDAQ, the S&P rolled down about .5 percent.

And the streak also over for gas prices. AAA says the national average is now $2.61 a gallon, up just slightly from yesterday. That increase follows 30 straight days of declines. But to put it in perspective, a year ago this month, the national average was $4.11. A whole lot better.

COLLINS: Yes, that was nasty.

All right, Susan, thank you.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

COLLINS: $787 billion of your tax dollars is working its way into the economy.

CNN's Christine Romans on the money trail in New York.

How much stimulus money has been divvied up so far?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's moving out the door. $787 billion has been allocated by Congress, as you know, and signed by the president in February. And now recovery.gov is a Web site that's tracking all this. And you can see that top line is how much money is available, about $183. More than $183 billion is available to be spent. So far paid out just shy of $65 billion. That's the second line there. So the money is actually going out and getting to work in the economy, slowly but surely.

One of the reasons why more money has actually been paid than is available is because some of these people who are recipients are trying to figure out how to tailor their contracts to make sure they're meeting all of the strings that Congress put on some of this money, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. All right. So where's the money going?

ROMANS: OK. Some of the contracts that we've been following. There's so many so we decided to try to pick a few for you. Some new ones to talk about. A rather small contract, $9,345. This is contracted to a company called Humanscale in New Jersey for Liberty Mesh Chairs on his Web site. Unlike any other mesh chair you've ever seen or experience.

COLLINS: Wow.

ROMANS: Office chairs contracted by the Department of Labor. Some 20 chairs for $9,400.

COLLINS: I need one of those.

ROMANS: Another contract here is in Wisconsin. It's called a door replacement and bathroom remodel. On the surface it looks a little silly to replace a door for $198,000. But we did some digging, and this is actually for -- it looks like for an office for the forest service. And this is actually a renovation of four different bathrooms and some elaborate doors there. So $198,000.

And the guy who is the vice president of the company that got this contract says he's been able to avoid layoffs because of that money, $198,000 there. And then this third one, interesting, actually, this is helping us tell you this story because this is the recovery.gov Web site. It has a stimulus contract for $18 million. Almost $18 million so that you can see what the government is doing with your money. They gave out a stimulus contract for that for $18 million. And you can go to recovery.gov and you can see all of this stuff up to the minute.

Some of it on the surface, Heidi. Looks kind of silly, when you look at it. You can't really see a lot about it, but you do a little bit of extra digging. We've done some calling. You'd found out what that money is. But this is what your stimulus looks like. It looks like a $64 million project to retro fit a big courthouse in lower Manhattan. Right down to a $9,000 contract for some office chairs for the Department of Labor office chairs.

And it's interesting about those office chairs, on Facebook, there's a spirited fiery discussion about why we're spending stimulus money for office chairs. Isn't that sort of like the operating budget, general appropriations?

COLLINS: Yes.

ROMANS: Is that what stimulus's meant to be? So each one of these contracts generates a lot of controversy and a lot of talk about what are we doing with our money.

COLLINS: So tell me that the "Romans Numeral" is going to explain how many jobs have been created.

ROMANS: This is money that you're going to feel in your pocket. This is what this Romans' Numeral is -- $250. And this is the stimulus contract that you're getting -- well, probably not you and I, because we don't get this. But this is payments, one-time stimulus payments for veterans, railroad retirees, social security and SSI recipients. If you have not received your $250 yet, you need to talk to the Social Security Administration or anyone of these places where you think you're getting the money because you should have probably been paid by now. So now is the time to check on your debit card or the check. If you get the live check in the mail, make sure you get that money. If you didn't, now you call. That's your stimulus money. People out there watching. Some $54 million of those checks should have gone out by about last week. So if you didn't get it, check.

COLLINS: Wow, OK. Christine Romans, thank you.

ROMANS: All right. Bye.

COLLINS: Thanks.

In addition to the economy, President Obama trying to overhaul health care as you know by now. He wants a plan in place before members of Congress leave for their August recess. But he's meeting growing resistance from within his own party.

Tonight, in a prime time news conference, he takes his case directly to the American people. You can catch it right here on CNN, 8:00 Eastern.

Another big presidential push -- education. We're going to introduce you to a principal who's innovative school has sent 100 percent of its graduates to college. That's part of tonight's new documentary "BLACK IN AMERICA 2."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We want to get to Rob Marciano now, talking a little bit more about severe weather in Colorado.

Isn't that a fact? They are really doing some picking up there, huh.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: I think we will.

Absolutely. Rob, thank you.

MARCIANO: All right. See you later.

COLLINS: Charges are dropped against Henry Louis Gates Jr. But the prominent African-American scholar says the incident is far from forgotten. The Harvard professor was arrested last Thursday for disorderly conduct at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Police say they were responding to a call about a break-in. The Police Department calls his arrest regrettable and unfortunate. Gates says what happened to him shouldn't happen to anyone. And he's considering a documentary -- yes, a documentary about racial profiling.

Tonight's the night. The long-awaited premier of "Black in America 2." CNN's Soledad O'Brien is here now with a preview, a look ahead.

Good morning to you, Soledad. What's on top for tonight?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you. You know in part two, we really want to explore success, kind of analyze what people were doing that was really working in the black community on some of the biggest issues. And so, tonight, we'll focus on one young man who is an educator. And he told me the story of a parent who said to him, why do only the rich people get good schools? And it was that question that sent him on a quest to create a terrific school.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE PERRY, PRINCIPAL, CAPITAL PREP: Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Where's your coat, man?

Tough guy. Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Every morning at 7:30 a.m., you'll find Steve Perry here. How's everything? He's principal of Capital Preparatory Magnate School in Hartford, Connecticut.

PERRY: What's up, chief?

O'BRIEN: Each and every day, he and Vice Principal Rich *, greet each and every student as they walk through capital's doors.

PERRY: How are you today?

O'BRIEN: For Perry, being a principal is all about the details.

PERRY: Who's grade is this? That's not ours. OK.

Mr. Carter, you got to be kidding me? That's the best you can move, son?

O'BRIEN: From uniform inspections...

PERRY: Where's your blazer, son? OK.

Having it is not enough, right? Put it on.

O'BRIEN: ...to morning meetings.

PERRY: I know there are quite a few who have not done curricular mapping. O'BRIEN: He does it all.

PERRY: Then keep your mouth shut.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: I didn't do anything.

PERRY: Just keep it shut.

I wake up at 4:45 in the morning, and I drive kids to school.

O'BRIEN: You take kids to school?

PERRY: I do.

O'BRIEN: In your car?

PERRY: I have to.

O'BRIEN: Do you pick them up?

PERRY: Every day.

O'BRIEN: Why? You're the principal.

PERRY: I know. I'm bus driver in the morning, though. You do what you got to do to get it done.

Come on, Georgia. Get to where you need to be.

O'BRIEN: And getting it done is priority number one for Perry and his staff.

PERRY: We have a school that is designed to send children to college. If we don't send children to college, we are not doing our job.

O'BRIEN: How many of your kids go to college?

PERRY: Well, 100 percent of our graduates go into college.

O'BRIEN: 100 percent?

PERRY: 100 percent.

O'BRIEN: Every child who graduates?

PERRY: Every child who graduates from Capital Prep School goes on to a four-year college, period.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, sweetie, can you finish? This all set for you.

O'BRIEN: Children like 18-year-old Gloria Menifee (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My blazer is on my locker.

I honestly believe that if I hadn't gone to Capital Prep, I think I wouldn't have finished high school.

O'BRIEN: In spite of a tough childhood...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, mom.

O'BRIEN: She's smart, hard working, a natural leader. And she strive, she says, because she's surrounded by other motivated students.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, OK. I know how to do this.

Everyone has a certain, and that goal is to go to college. So when you kind of hear it's like -- it spreads like wildfire. Like, I'm going to college.

No, I'm going to college.

No, I'm going to college.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: And if you disagree raise your hand, that's fine.

O'BRIEN: How does Capital send all of its graduates on to college?

PERRY: What we do right is we design a school that's year round. There is no reason why children should be home during the summer. What we do right is we have a longer school day. What we do right is we go to school on Saturdays. What we do right is work hard to get children to a place where they need to be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Steve Perry is a remarkable man. But I got to tell you, we had an opportunity to meet a lot of remarkable people. We got to feature them in the second part of our documentary, "BLACK IN AMERICA 2." It airs Wednesday night and Thursday night, two parts.

And I'll tell you, Heidi, just a sliver of these stories like this, success stories, in the community. People have tackled the problem and are really making it work.

COLLINS: Yes. Very good.

In fact, we're going to talk with Steve Perry here on the show in just a little while.

Also wondering, Soledad, about what's going to happen tonight? There's a panel discussion that you're going to moderate.

O'BRIEN: We're calling it "MOMENT OF TRUTH." And we have Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Bev Smith is going to join us as well to talk about what was their moment of truth. Who inspired them to push them in the right direction for success? What was the moment where they realized that they could be successful, really inspirational stories. And, of course, at 8:00 Eastern Time, President Obama is going to be holding a press conference. We will break for that. 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, we show "Black in America 2."

COLLINS: All right, very good. We look forward to it. Soledad O'Brien, thank you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

COLLINS: And real quickly as we mentioned, Steve Perry who you just heard from in Soledad's piece is a straight-talking principal. Love what this guy has to say about lot of different issues. He's going to be joining us live next hour. We'll discuss the three things he says we need to close the education gap between African-Americans and whites.

Also, breaking down racial barriers. Minutes away, we will talk with the first African-American mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi. The town known for its brutal killings of three civil rights workers decades ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Changing times. Forty-five years ago, Philadelphia, Mississippi was known for the brutal killings of three civil rights workers. It was even featured in the movie "Mississippi Burning."

Now the predominantly white city has its first black mayor, and he's with us today.

Mayor James Young joining us as we get ready to debut our "Black in America 2" documentary tonight, highlighting some solutions.

So I guess that would be my question for you right off the top here, Mr. Mayor.

Do you see yourself as one of the solutions in this country?

MAYOR JAMES YOUNG, PHILADELPHIA, MISSISSIPPI: A part of it. Being elected I think shows the change of mindset, especially in our community. And I think all over the nation. Which is a positive thing for the country, surely a positive thing for Philadelphia, Mississippi.

COLLINS: In fact, you were sworn in to office on July 3rd. Congratulations to you. How's the job going so far?

YOUNG: I've -- I'm excited about the changes that I am proposing. I'm excited about the cooperation. I would say I'm 90 percent pleased at this point. Knowing the territory, knowing the political areas in which we operate, I'm pleased so far with the things that we are able to do.

COLLINS: In fact, you know, as we mentioned in the introduction, so much has been made of you as the first African-American mayor in this city, because it's not just any other city, I mean, this is a city with some real history.

In fact in 1964, the murders of the three civil rights workers. Do you see this as a big deal? A big step in progress?

YOUNG: It is. It is a great step. I think it's one of the most kind of remarkable stories of change in our area. I think people just didn't believe it could happen because of our history. But hearts change, minds change and people change. They all may not, but enough change to make a difference in our city and in our country. So I'm very pleased to be part of this history.

I'm just very pleased that at this season, this happened in Philadelphia. I think that scar or that shameful thing of the past is being eroded and that the healing is taking place. And the mind sets are changing.

COLLINS: Yes. What's the racial climate like now? How do people react to you?

YOUNG: I think the -- as a majority, I get waves of people congratulating me. Both black, white, Chata, Asian. People are congratulating me at this point. I believe some, most are sincere. There may be a few fake smiles, but this is the territory of politics, and Philadelphia is no different than any other. I won by 46 votes, so it was not necessarily a mandate, a majority issue, but I won by including the whole community, the whole community elected me, both black, white, again, Chata, Asian. The whole community had a part of this.

And this is what's so special and may be even unbelievable to those outside the confines of Mesh Elba County.

COLLINS: Well, we certainly do appreciate your time here today. And, again, congratulations to you on being mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Mayor James Young, thanks, again.

YOUNG: Thank you, Heidi. Have a good day.

COLLINS: Thank you. You, too.

"Black In America 2" premieres tonight. It begins at 7:00 Eastern with a live show called "Moment of Truth." That includes an exclusive interview with Harvard Professor Henry Gates. His first TV interview since being arrested. We just told you the story a little while ago, after forcing his way into his own home.

That will be followed by President Obama's news conference at 8:00, and then you can join us at 9:00 for the first night of the two evening all new "Black in America" event.

There's a lot going on in the next hour of the "NEWSROOM," and CNN crews are in place to break it all down for you. Let's go ahead and begin with health care, in our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux now. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Obama is really making the stakes, pushing the stakes, high stakes, that is. Pushing health care reform using his popularity, his political capital. A primetime news conference tonight. We will give you the blow by blow. All that coming up at the top of the hour.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen here in Atlanta. If you have health insurance, ask yourself this question. Are you willing to sacrifice anything to help pay for insurance for those who don't have it? We'll be talking about that question at the top of the hour.

LISOVICZ: And I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, where the Dow could make it eight for eight rallies. This despite some alarm bells in the banking sector.

Heidi, more on that in the next hour.

COLLINS: Good tease. All right, thanks so much, guys.

Also ahead this morning, many of you are commenting on my blog. Should people be allowed to carry concealed weapons across state lines? The Senate is going to be voting on that issue today. So we'll share some of your comments in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Thousand of U.S. Marines on patrol in southern Afghanistan right now, taking on the Taliban in the insurgent stronghold. Our Ivan Watson is embedded with those troops in the treacherous Helmand Province.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): After spending four days living out in the desert, the second light armored Reconnaissance battalion is heading back to its combat outpost. It's been a bumpy, long ride. Our vehicles have gotten stuck in deep sand while driving through the desert, traveling off roads to avoid those roadside bombs, those deadly improvised explosive devices that killed two men from this unit last week. And the trip is far from over.

After days in the desert, seeing the waters of the Helmand River, it's an incredibly refreshing sight. You may not know this, but these vehicles are amphibious and we just boarded the river, everybody is impatient to get back to their outposts now. The combat outposts. And everybody is tired, sweaty and filthy, and probably hoping to maybe take a dip in that river.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Home, sweet, home.

WATSON: We're in the Helmand River, and the kind marines who have been taking us around town, I guess what is this going to be, the first bath in a while.

Yes? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, couple days.

WATSON: All right. Not only are these marines enjoying the swim, but they're also washing their clothes, and I think I'm going to partake, as well.

Ivan Watson, CNN, in the Helmand River of southern Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Got to do what you can do to find the water, right?

Right now we want to show you a really intriguing story about a bomb maker and the scientist he works with. They work for the U.S. government and try to find every crack, every weakness in airport security. In other words, their job is to keep you safe. They transform items like radios into bombs and then use those devices to test screening machines. Sometimes they even detonate those items inside old airliners in order to see if they can bring down a flight.