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Found After 18 Years in Captivity; Paying Respect to Senator Kennedy; '30 Second Pitch'

Aired August 28, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're pushing forward now in search of justice for Jaycee Dugard as we top the hour now. For the children that she bore with the man who held her captive for 18 years. We're about two hours away from a court hearing, likely the first of many for Philip Garrido and his wife, Nancy.

They're accused of snatching Jaycee in front of her own house in South Lake Tahoe in 1991, when she was just 11 years old. Jaycee's stepfather saw it all go down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL PROBYN, JAYCEE DUGARD'S STEPFATHER: 911?

911 OPERATOR: This is 911.

PROBYN; On Pineyard Boulevard, the (INAUDIBLE). My daughter was just kidnapped, top of the hill with a gray Ford. A man and woman in the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That was Jaycee's father then. Now, police say from that day until Wednesday of this week, Jaycee's home was a makeshift compound of tents and sheds in a secluded back yard some 200 miles away in the Bay area of the suburb Antioch. And that's only part of this twisted story.

If the Garrido residence wasn't what it appeared, neither perhaps was Phillip Garrido. He ran a printing press, but last year formed a corporation called God's Desire and may have planned to start his own church. He also set up a Web site where he claimed to control outside forces with his mind.

Now, yesterday, Garrido spoke from jail with reporter Walt Gray of our Sacramento affiliate, KCRA. Walt joins me now live. And I got to tell you, Walt, we could not get enough of that interview.

WALT GRAY, KCRA-TV CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, I'm just going about my business getting ready for the 5:00 newscast here in Sacramento and was told Philip Garrido was on the telephone and wanted to talk to me. So, recorded the conversation. It was wide-ranging at best.

At times, he said, look, I can't answer those questions. I haven't got a lawyer yet. But he kept referring to documents. He was talking about documents he had dropped off with the FBI that would explain everything. I'm going to play some of the conversations that I had with him for you now. This one where he says that soon we'll know the whole story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP GARRIDO, ACCUSED KIDNAPPER: Wait until you read that document. My life has been straightened out. Wait until you hear the story of what took place at this house. And you are going to be absolutely impressed.

It's a disgusting thing that took place with me in the beginning. But I turned my life completely around. And to be able to understand that, you have to start there.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WALT GRAY, KCRA REPORTER: He's got 29 criminal counts, Kyra, he's going to be facing today. He's got an arraignment at 4:00 Eastern, and some of those counts include multiple rape, molestation, and other special allegations that should make it a life sentence if convicted.

Also, part of our conversation, I asked him about specifically what happened. And here is somewhat of admission, talking about a disgusting thing he is admitting to.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GARRIDO: It's a disgusting thing that took place with me in the beginning, but I turned my life completely around. And to be able to understand it, you have to start there.

I'm so sorry. I want to help you further, but I also need to protect the sheriff's office here, and I need to protect the federal government, and I need to protect the rights of Jaycee Lee Dugard.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRAY: He also mentioned that he had two children with Jaycee Lee Dugard. Obviously, she was 14 years old when she bore the first of his two children. He was in his 50s at the time.

Obviously, she was kidnapped in 1991, as you heard the plea from her father, the 911 call when she was abducted from a bus stop, something all of us as parents have as our greatest fear -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Walt, do you have any idea when we may hear from Jaycee and her mom? I know there are so many people that want to see her, hear her story, and also the reaction from her mother.

GRAY: We had a phone conversation with the stepfather. He let us know that Jaycee is doing well physically. Don't know about mentally.

You can only imagine if you are 11 years old and living in the back yard of a house until you are 29, giving birth to two children in that back yard, and never having had medical care. So, you know, physically, I think she is OK. Mentally, I mean, anyone's guess.

PHILLIPS: Yes, wait and see.

And you bring up a good point. A lot of people were wondering, when she did give birth to those two children, did she ever go to a hospital? Are you saying that since we know her children have never seen a doctor, that all of this happened in the back yard?

GRAY: That's the story, which is kind of the extra bonus here. The children and Jaycee Lee were living in the back yard in a shed covered by a tarp. They never left that back yard.

She gave birth to the children either in the back yard or in the house proper. And I asked the suspect, Phillip Garrido, "Did you ever get them medical attention? Where were they born?"

He said they couldn't afford it. But you've got to figure somebody like him on the run, the last thing he would want to do is bring Jaycee Lee and children to a hospital. People in the hospital are trained to look out for these kind of things. They would have been pretty suspicious.

PHILLIPS: Walt, if you don't mind, one more question, because this story is so intriguing to so many of us.

This document that he talks about, that Garrido talks about in jail, do we have any idea what that is and what he is talking about?

GRAY: He kept referring that this document would be of interest to hundreds of thousands of people, and it would be a heartwarming story once it came out. Our NBC San Francisco affiliate I talked to last night, they said that the documents dropped off with the FBI were regarding Garrido's sexual prowess, his ability to control people with his mind, and other such -- other sexual things on there. So, perhaps it's just the visions of a crazed man.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Bottom line, he is a nut case.

Walt Gray, great work. Appreciate it.

Jaycee Dugard is said to be staying in a motel now with her children while she and they try to adjust to the outside world. They all met yesterday with Jaycee's mother, and Jaycee's stepfather says that reunion went very well. "I think they are pretty happy."

Still, their lives are upside down. And most of us can't imagine how they are feeling.

Forensic psychiatrist Helen Morrison shared some insights though with us on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. HELEN MORRISON, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: This is going to take some time. I mean, first of all, she was 11 when she left. She is 29. In her parents' mind, she is still the 11-year-old girl. And to have those two children brought in, one the same age that she was when she was kidnapped, it's going to take a very long time, first, for trust. Second, for being able to be introduced to a world that's so foreign to her. And to also, in a way -- I know a lot of people are not going to understand this -- to miss the people with whom she has lived for the past 18 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, of course this story got a lot of us talking about various Web sites that are out there. How do we know if sex offenders live in our neighborhood?

We know there are a number of databases out there where they have to register and parole officers have to come and visit them. But we want to know if people in our neighborhood actually are living close to us with convictions regarding sexual assault involving children.

So, there is one Web site that we wanted to show you. And it's familysafetyreport.com. This is what it looks like. And you can register, believe it or not, for only $1.

And then there's a section that you can go to after you register. It's the Neighborhood Sex Offender part of this site. And you put in your address.

And see all these little red dots that pop up? We put in, actually, the CNN address. And we wanted to see how many registered sex offenders were living around here just by the CNN Center.

And if you push these red dots, their picture comes up, the crime that they committed, where exactly they live. Now, if you scroll farther down -- I'm not going to show it to you -- we can actually show you all the registered sex offenders not only in the exact area here of CNN, but in the whole entire Atlanta area.

Now, if you register, put in your address, you will also get updates on a regular basis when, indeed, another sex offender registers and moves into your neighborhood. Fantastic Web site.

Once again, here it is, familysafetyreport.com. Only $1 to register, and you can put in up to three addresses and get regular alerts when registered sex offenders come into your neighborhood.

A live look now at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, where time runs short for anyone wishing to give their final respects to Senator Ted Kennedy. His public viewing concludes at the top of the hour.

And our Deb Feyerick is there.

Deb, the museum says the public turnout has been extraordinary.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really has, and many people waited a long time to get in to see the casket. The room that you've been seeing on television, very quiet. As a matter of fact, the stillness inside that room is really profound as people walk by that flag-draped coffin.

Now, once people are done with that line, they are coming to another line right here at the end of the parking lot at the Kennedy Library. This is a library -- this is a line where people are signing condolence books.

You can see folks jotting down their thoughts, reflections on what the Kennedys meant to them. And it's not just one line, not just two lines, but really, some people are writing almost half--paragraphs on there -- or half-pages, I should say.

One of those people, Aliciana (ph).

What did Kennedy mean to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Kennedys mean so much to me, from his brother, John, who was the president. I'm originally from Costa Rica. I have been here for 40 years, and Senator Ted Kennedy has been a great movement for the underprivileged and middle class. You know, there is nowhere that we can say thank you.

FEYERICK: And so you came here to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came here to say thank you to him and his family. It was a privilege that his family had us to come out. We thank them instead of them thanking us.

FEYERICK: And what's so interesting -- thank you so much.

What's so interesting is that just a little while ago, one of the Kennedy sons, Max Kennedy, one of Bobby's sons, was out here and he was greeting people on the line, really almost expressing his thanks for them being out here. And they, in turn, expressing their own condolences.

One of those people, you said hello to Max. You spoke to him. Tell me about that exchange. How important was that to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This whole day, it's really something incredible. I have met 10 more of the Kennedys that I ever had seen before. They are all so incredibly gracious. And we're all just -- I had a little girl next to me, and she is just still here.

And we just met today, but she has learned so much by being here. And I wanted her to realize that I shook his hand when I was 17 years old.

And all of these things are so meaningful through life when it is someone who has done so much for all of us. Humanity is better today.

FEYERICK: Well, thank you so much. We appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Kennedys have just been awesome.

FEYERICK: And many people who are here today really feel that were it not for them, the country would be far different today than it is. That they -- you speak to people who are on this line, and you talk about what was important to them.

Some people will tell you, well, reproductive rights. Others, civil rights. Others, gay rights. Others, immigration issues. All of these things that Senator Ted Kennedy took upon himself.

And people from Uganda, Congo, Liberia, West Indies, everywhere, saying, we had a problem, we called up his office and he took care of it. That's why you see this outpouring is really a personal expression of thanks, of gratitude. Everyone here with a story -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Deb Feyerick, thanks so much.

And we hope that you join us tonight and tomorrow for our special coverage as we remember Senator Ted Kennedy. His memorial service begins this evening at 7:00 Eastern. That's followed by special editions of "LARRY KING LIVE" and "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

Plus, our special live coverage of the funeral service begins at 10:00 Eastern tomorrow morning, Including President Obama's eulogy.

Then, live coverage of the burial at Arlington National Cemetery set for 5:00 Eastern tomorrow evening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, when we talk economy, we have got to talk jobs. The Labor Department says that first-time jobless claims dropped last week by 10,000 applicants, with a total of 570,000 unemployed people filing for benefits. The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits also fell to 6.1 million. Still high, but it's the lowest level since April.

Now, my next guest is looking for work, but she and thousands of others won't be counted in any official tally of the jobless. The reason? Well, she is self-employed and is not eligible for unemployment benefits.

Jolene Pierson Perry made a great living marketing and selling the good life in what was then Atlanta's booming condo business. You are looking at samples of her work coming up here in just a second. But when the bottom fell out of the housing market last fall, well, her work dried up.

Since then, she and her architect husband have downsized, selling their home, and got rid of their office. Their savings is drying up as well. And Jolene says it's pretty much a nightmare.

So, that's why she is here for today's "30 Second Pitch."

Now, we had copies -- or pictures of your ad, so hopefully we'll get those together and...

JOLENE PIERSON PERRY, JOB SEEKER: How wonderful.

PHILLIPS: ... be able to -- yes, we'll be able to brag about your work.

I was looking at them. I mean, you were doing well and living the high life.

PERRY: Oh, yes. For the last 10 years, some of the most prominent condo developers in the city have been passing me around like an hors d'oeuvre tray. So, it was really wonderful, but very difficult to spread out and do other things besides real estate because it was really gravy train time. So, ,when the music stopped, it stopped, and Jolene had to find a new chair.

PHILLIPS: Well, and let me tell you, you have been looking for that new chair.

PERRY: I have been looking.

PHILLIPS: And you have gotten extremely creative, FYI.

Tell us about The Three Casketeers and how that came about.

PERRY: Well, when my mother was looking for her final repose, we were looking at different caskets. And all I could think to myself was, I wouldn't be caught dead in that.

(LAUGHTER)

PERRY: And so, on the plane right home, I thought, OK, my husband is an architect and also a fabulous furniture designer. So, we decided to come up with a number of sleek, very gorgeous caskets. And I named it The Three Casketeers, because it's my husband, myself, and my cat, Francois (ph), who's in charge of quality control.

He's French. You know.

PHILLIPS: I don't think I'm going to even ask how a cat does quality control on a casket, but...

PERRY: Well, you know, the thing (ph) on the inside.

PHILLIPS: It's working.

PERRY: Yes. It's a very good idea.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, obviously, you've got all this experience. You're very creative. You have done very well. You are trying to come up with these other business ideas, but it's still tough.

Why do you think it's been so tough for you?

PERRY: Well, honestly, I think that people are paralyzed. I think that people are afraid and they're afraid to make a move. And I think that marketing and advertising are some of the first things to go.

PHILLIPS: Right. It's the extras.

PERRY: It is, but they really need to reinsert them, because no what's happening is that a lot of people are going to think that you don't exist anymore because you haven't been advertising. So, it's starting to soften up a little bit.

I think that that message is starting to come through to clients. We just need to get it pushed so it goes through a little faster.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, this is your moment to push. I'm going to have you look in right here to camera 3. We're going to put your e-mail up there, jolene3atmac.com.

You've got 30 seconds. Sell yourself, baby.

PERRY: Oh, honey.

It's not just me. Myself and my kind, we're communicators. We communicate whatever product or service that you have to offer to your target market that doesn't know yet how much they need you.

We need to communicate the fact that up until this point, they have been living shallow lives without your product and they really, really need it. And we do that through creativity.

We bring them to bring your product to them in a way that makes them stop. It makes them look. It makes them want to buy.

And we do that through creativity, through any kind of branding, marketing, whatever it is that we do. It's always through the creativity.

PHILLIPS: There you go.

PERRY: So, that's what we do. And for a limited time, the blonde is up for grabs.

PHILLIPS: OK. This is now the 45 second pitch. I think we have just added 15 seconds.

I'm going to give Jolene's e-mail one more time. It's jolene3@mac.com.

We're going to have her e-mail posted on our blog. That's at CNN.com/Kyra.

If you want to be a part of the pitch, get in touch with us there, or Twitter.com/KyraCNN. We're going to bring you the pitches every Thursday.

Jolene, thank you so much. Great job.

PERRY: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Keep us posted, all right?

PERRY: I will, indeed.

PHILLIPS: OK, good.

Well, the danger grows by the hour. We're being told that hundreds of people now in southern California are on the run from several big wildfires.

We're going to get the latest. Reynolds Wolf is here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Top stories now.

A grim record reached in Afghanistan again. The death of an American soldier today in a roadside bombing raises the month's death toll for U.S. troops to 46. It's the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the war started eight years ago.

New fallout from Scotland's release of the Lockerbie bomber to his native Libya. The mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, plans to file a lawsuit today. He is trying to stop work on a mansion where it's believed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will stay when he visits the United Nations next month. The home is being renovated. The mayor claims much of the work violates city ordinances.

In Miami, three men were injured this morning when a car apparently jumped a curb and hit a building. Our affiliate WSVN says two of the men have serious head injuries. The Associated Press says the victims were sanitation workers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Our hero of the week, college student Jordan Thomas. A devastating boating accident took part of his legs four years ago, but he has triumphed over that loss and is helping other young amputees do just same.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JORDAN THOMAS, CNN HERO: They say I'm a bilateral transtibial amputee. In layman's terms, I lost both my legs from the mid-calf down.

I'm just kind of a normal kid that was thrown into an abnormal situation, just a freak accident when I was 16 years old. My parents and I were going to go scuba diving. There were tons of waves that day, and I jumped into the water. I just got pushed behind the boat, and I looked down and I just saw blood.

I had such great support. That's what helps me just kind of get through it. Like, when I saw all the other kids that were in the hospital that didn't have great support, you recognize that something has got to be done.

My name is Jordan Thomas and I started my foundation there in the hospital. And I provide kids with limbs that they deserve.

A lot of insurance companies will put a cap on prosthetics, or they will provide them with one pair of legs for their lifetime.

Oh, check that.

You never would know that you need new legs every year and a half. It's like shoes. You just outgrow them.

Noah (ph) is six. His first leg, it didn't bend. They asked for a new knee, but he was denied, so we provided him with a bendable knee. Now he is so proud to show off how his knee bends, it's great.

We've committed to these kids until they are 18, and so we have a lot of work ahead of us. A lot. But we're excited about it.

We need to really work on this one.

If we provide them with prosthetics, then that creates a whole gamut of opportunity for them to achieve whatever they want. And I think they deserve that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And you can find out more about Jordan or any of our heroes at CNN.com/heroes. Be sure to keep watching. In just a few weeks, we'll be announcing the top CNN Heroes of 2009.

Just like schools, offices can be total germ factories. So, what's your boss doing to keep you from getting and spreading swine flu? What employers should do to keep themselves in business.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A nastier form of H1N1 is out there, according to the World Health Organization, a type that goes right to the lungs and can make otherwise healthy people extremely sick. World health authorities putting out an update earlier today. They also say pandemic H1N1 is the predominant circulating strain of flu influenza in both northern and southern hemispheres.

This week, we have seen how colleges and universities are trying to get ahead of swine flu, encouraging students to get shots and spreading awareness across campus.

And apart from prevention, we are all being urged to take precautions. You know the big one. Stay home from work or school if you are sick. OK, schools can shut down. But what about offices, factories, stores, TV networks?

Joining me to talk about the business end of an H1N1 pandemic, Andrew Cataldo, a lawyer and adviser to big employers. And I understand your interest isn't just personal now. Your daughter, you think, has H1N1?

ANDREW CATALDO, ATTORNEY AND PARTNER, MCGUIRE WOODS LAW FIRM: My daughter is a senior at the University of Tennessee called me to say she had a 103 degree fever and a medical professor told -- a professional had diagnosed her with basically H1N1. So, it is not confirmed. She has been holed up with antivirals and unable to go to class, so is it hit home.

PHILLIPS: How ironic. I mean, here you are advising companies. Well, -- seriously, this has been something. The number one concern, even among all of us, because a few of us have been under the weather lately. Well, we can't call in sick. This is the type of job where we could get fired or someone would be upset if we do it. So, I think that's a big fear among folks. You know, if I'm sick, I can't stay home, because my employer will judge me.

CATALDO: And that's playing out in studies that have been conducted. Johns Hopkins University just released findings. It was 12 percent of health care workers said in the event of a pandemic, I will not go to work. Harvard School of Public Health released their third study results in July in which over half of the respondents said, if there is a pandemic that breaks out in my school system, I will have to stay home to take care of my children, regardless of whether I'm sick, regardless of whether they're sick.

Over 40 percent of the respondents said, if there is a pandemic and I have to stay home, within a short period of time, a couple weeks, I will suffer financial hardship. These are real concerns that people have. And employers need to get ahead of that by anticipating those natural responses.

PHILLIPS: I know your phones have been ringing off the hook. You have advised power companies, financial institutions. OK. Let's say I own a company, let's say, for example, a bank. I'm your new client. What are you going to tell me? What do I need to do right now to prepare for this as an owner of a bank?

CATALDO: You need to do two things. You need to recognize this is probably the worst time for us to be talking about this. I understand that. You understand that. However, you need to develop a plan to address this. That plan needs to have two components: a people aspect and a profit revenue business aspect to it.

On the people side, you need to do two things. You've got to try to protect your employees and your customers when they come into your branch.

PHILLIPS: How do you do that?

CATALDO: You do it through educating them, distancing -- social distancing, talking to them about cough etiquette, providing antivirals. Some companies have gone so far as to buy antivirals and masks for not only their employees but their family so that if they become sick, they have an antiviral that's ready to be dispensed. PHILLIPS: What if people start calling in sick all of a suddent by droves? I mean, how do you get folks to run your business?

CATALDO: You have to anticipate that. You have to try to create contingent work arrangements. That may be allowing people to work from home, facilitating that, by giving them laptops and virtual networks and the like.

You need to be thinking about contingent workforces. Can I call back employees -- retirees? You need to be thinking about, if I'm going to experience a 20 percent to 40 percent absenteeism -- and that absenteeism changes, because people who are sick today are back tomorrow and people that are here today are gone tomorrow -- you need to identify what are the critical processes to run my business, what are the critical skills and how am I going to backstop those skills? How am I going to find them when I have this moving dynamic of absenteeism?

PHILLIPS: I tell you what. I would get a great janitorial company and have them come in every single day and just completely wipe down the whole building. I'll tell you what, keep us updated. As the numbers increase, I want to hear how many more companies are reaching out to you and if it is, indeed, in the long run going to save money for the business?

CATALDO: Yes. The key is, in a situation like this, without a solid plan or without practicing a plan, you are in a bad business scenario. It is such a different type of business interruption.

PHILLIPS: Andrew, appreciate your time.

CATALDO: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Andrew Cataldo, an attorney right here in Atlanta at McGuire Woods.

The CDC has advised for employers as well. First, let ill workers stay home without fear of losing their job. Well, that's exactly what Andy and I were talking about here. And the feds say that workers also need to stay home to care for sick children or even healthy children if schools shut down. Employers are urged to stay in close touch with state and local health departments, a great place to get the most immediate information. And then, of course, wash those hands and keep the area clean.

Four years ago this weekend, Hurricane Katrina plowed into the Gulf Coast killing more than 1,800 people and causing billions of dollars in damage. New Orleans bore the brunt of that misery. Early promises to build quickly lost steam. Many people blame one man: the mayor. Sean Callebs takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mayor Ray Nagin has been a lightening rod for criticism in post-Katrina New Orleans. As the recovery moves forward, his popularity moves in the opposite direction. Just after groundbreaking for a new public housing project, Nagin told me he isn't surprised.

RAY NAGIN, MAYOR, NEW ORLEANS: I don't think any leader after disaster pretty much survives. If you go look at Japan, you look at other major disasters, most of the leaders are kind of kicked out. I was fortunate or unfortunate to be standing here as we continue to progress. And what I find is that citizens wanted immediate fixes when there was no immediate fix. So, I took the brunt for that.

I am so humble today.

CALLEBS: In May 2006, nine month after Katrina hit, he was re- elected mayor. But since then, critics charge, he's had a bunker mentality with the perception he's rarely seen in public at a time when New Orleans need a strong, visible mayor.

(on camera): Some people have come to me and said, why did your mayor run for re-election? Have you have that question, and what's your answer?

NAGIN: I just didn't want to leave the city in a state of total disrepair. We were on the verge of bankruptcy. So, I wanted to put some things in motion. I felt I was best qualified to do that, and we'll see if it all works out.

CALLEBS (voice-over): While many areas tourists see are flourishing, entire communities in New Orleans east, Gentilly (ph), Lakeview and the Lower Ninth Ward remain devastated. Many New Orleanians blame Nagin. A cable TV executive before being elected, for the slow pace of recovery. For his part, he says he was ready to lead, but was the city ready to follow?

NAGIN: There have been days when I questioned whether the city was really ready to move forward and ready to deal with the issues that I was bringing forward. But you know, I'm a little too old to change now. I came to office as kind of a newbie, I've never been in politics, and I have always lived my life telling people the truth. Now sometimes that works out in politics, and sometimes it doesn't.

CALLEBS: Among his most controversial comments...

NAGIN: This city will be chocolate at the end of the day.

CALLEBS: What was behind that?

NAGIN: The only thing I regret about "chocolate city" is that people misunderstood the quote and the comment so much. At that time, there was this notion that some of our business people were saying to national media groups they didn't think certain people should come back. So, I wanted to send a strong signal that everyone was welcome. It was misinterpreted.

CALLEBS (on camera): Nagin will be out of office in nine months. And he says in all probability, he's done with politics, saying he'll begin to look at private sector jobs in a matter of months.

Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Just like the Big Three, he was made in Detroit. Now, Kid Rock is trying to be a one-man economic engine for his hurting hometown.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Quick check of the top stories now. Jaycee Dugard was an 11-year-old girl when she was kidnapped 18 years ago. But Wednesday, she was found, along with her two children, allegedly fathered by her captor. Police say DNA testing will prove their suspicions of prison parolee and registered sex offender Phillip Garrido and his alleged victim. Garrido and his wife are being held on child sex and kidnapping charges.

We are awaiting word any minute now on the official coroner's report regarding the death of Michael Jackson. It has been withheld for weeks at the request of the L.A. Police Department. It is expected to reaffirm that the 50-year-old singer died from a lethal drug cocktail including the powerful anesthetic Propofol.

Could the fourth time be the charm? NASA hopes so. They will try again tonight to launch the space shuttle Discovery. Weather and technical issues have postponed liftoff three times before. The new launch time is said for a minute before midnight tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: Thank you, Otis, for playing that my favorite song from the Kid. Perhaps no American city has been hit harder by the recession and the decline of the auto industry than Detroit, but a rock star from the Motor City is doing what he can to try and turn things around. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow got the lucky interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): This is no ordinary concert. It's Kid Rock performing at his biggest headline show ever, bringing 80,000 people to his hometown of Detroit. Talk about a city that needs an economic stimulus like that.

KID ROCK, PERFORMER (singing): Bittersweet and brings us to our knees. It makes us who we are in times like these...

HARLOW: Detroit's never seen times like these, but the people of this city have an unexpected patron in Kid Rock. The bad boy from Detroit has become the voice of a city in peril.

(off camera): How long have you had this?

KID ROCK: This? Oh, geez, probably ten years.

HARLOW: You won't leave, will you? KID ROCK: No, I'll never leave.

(on stage): We've got one more song for you.

HARLOW (voice-over): The downfall of the auto industry hits home for Kid Rock whose father made a living selling American cars.

KID ROCK: It's mind blowing. It's mind blowing to everybody in this town.

(on stage): God bless you all.

HARLOW: In this perilous time, this self-proclaimed son of Detroit is working on more than just his music.

KID ROCK: As I've gotten older, I have just become more in tuned with that and realized how much of the stuff that I'm doing can help people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look at the impact that he's having here in Detroit in terms of the foundation at Wayne State University, trying to fund music scholarships for kids there. I think he's had a major, positive impact on Detroit, which is something this economy needs right now.

HARLOW: Kid Rock's music scholarship is funded by T-shirt sales from the apparel company he bought out of bankruptcy, Made in Detroit. And believe it or not, his recently launched American Bad Ass Beer? Well, that could be thanked for creating jobs in the state. More than 400 jobs, he says.

KID ROCK: There's no way to get love back or respect if you don't give it first. So, I've always tried to do that, give everything I have to this city and everything...

HARLOW: But battling rampant unemployment, Detriot has problems much bigger than even this larger-than-life rocker can solve.

KID ROCK: It's got to get cleaned up, you know? It has to bring -- you almost need an angel.

(singing): I won't leave 'cause this is my hometown...

Reporter: In Detroit, Poppy Harlow, CNNmoney.com.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So, how does it feel to be on your own with no direction home? Not good. Might be time for a GPS in your car. Hey, you could let the voice of a generation direct you to your destination. Just be sure to turn it up loud. And you might need a few subtitles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: August of 2009, now the deadliest month for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since the invasion nearly eight years ago. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll suggests that more than half of Americans think the war isn't worth it.

In the meantime, the president is increasing troop presence there. Consider this context as we dig into the story. The fact that the military uses a PR firm to help analyze the media and the accusation that journalists who want to be embedded with the troops and cover the war in Afghanistan might be graded based on how much good news they report.

This is a story that the military's own paper has been covering - just undoggingly (ph). Kevin Baron of "Stars and Stripes" joins me now live.

So, bottom line, Kevin -- because we are getting a lot of back and forth, back and forth. I have a number of statements that I'm going to read that have been coming in to me at the last minute. Are we being judged -- you, me, other people that have been overseas, Afghanistan, Iraq -- based on our coverage? Is the Army actually saying, you cannot embed, you cannot come here and interview my commander because your coverage is deemed negative?

KEVIN BARON, REPORTER, "STARS AND STRIPES": Apparently, the Pentagon says, no, they are not doing that anymore. They are still using these reports from this PR firm that will rate your work as positive, negative or neutral. They say this is the way they background on reporters and prepare to get them where they need to be and do their work.

But we're coming out with a follow up this afternoon that says as late as 2008, just last year, that the public affairs officers down there were doing this last year. They were using these reports to steer embeds, to determine where your reporters should be to end up giving better coverage to the military.

PHILLIPS: Kevin, hold that thought. Real quickly, we will come right back to you.

We've got some breaking news in L.A. where the coroners have finally formally released Michael Jackson's cause of death. Kara Finnstrom, what do you have?

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, this is the press release just handed to us a short while ago by the coroner's office. The headline here is that they have determined that Michael Jackson's death back on June 25th was a homicide.

Also interesting here, Kyra, is that they established the cause of death as both acute Propofol intoxication. Propofol, of course, is the powerful sedative we have been talking about that Michael Jackson was using to try and battle his insomnia.

And then also other conditions contributing to death. Benzodiazepine effect. This is another drug he had in his system. The press release goes on to say that the drugs Propofol and Lorazepam were found to be the primary drugs responsible for his death with a number of other drugs found in his system.

Now, Kyra, just a short while ago, some court documents that were released did kind of lay out what police detectives had found out about the hours leading up to his death, that he had taken a total of five other types of drugs before getting the Propofol. So, it is interesting in this press release that it does paint the picture that, you know, while the primary drug of concern is Propofol, that it does point to a number of other drugs that may have also played a role in his death.

PHILLIPS: Bottom line, is Conrad Murray going to be charged with homicide?

FINNSTROM: That's the big question now. This is from the coroner. This is his finding. He could determine whether this is a homicide, whether this was a natural death, whether it was a suicide, whether it was accidental causes. What he has found is that this was not accidental, that this was a homicide.

So, now it's in the hands of the police department. Also, in his press release, it does tell us that the complete toxicology report, which would lay out everything that was in his system as well, as the final coroner's report, are not being released. They are giving us these few details but as the request of the police department, they are holding on to that further information.

PHILLIPS: All right. We will keep tracking it.

Sanjay Gupta, I understand you are with us now. You are hearing this news that they are talking about acute Propofol intoxication and then other conditions contributing to the death and it's the ben -- how do I say the Benzo...

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Benzodiazepine. Yes.

PHILLIPS: Thank you. Easier for you to say. Effects of that. Can you put that into perspective of how lethal -- you bring those together, the amount, etc.?

GUPTA: Sure. We got some real specific details a few days ago about all the various medications that Michael Jackson was given and the times. You may remember this, Kyra. It was over a period of just a few hours that he was given medications like valium, a medication a lot of people have heard of, Versed, and Ativan. Those are the medications you were just mentioning. They are sedatives. Known as Benzodiazepines.

He was given those doses periodically over just a few hours. That was something that was in an affidavit that came out last week. What was concerning, I think, even back then, it raised a lot of eyebrows, was Propofol being given on the morning of June 25th, about 25 milligrams is what we heard was given to him at that point. This is a medication as we have seen that can very quickly cause someone to go into respiratory depression, meaning they can't breath on their own. The medication often used for general anesthesia. I had never heard of it used outside a hospital setting until we started reporting this story over the last couple of months. That medication alone outside a hospital setting could cause death. What's interesting now, as Kara Finnstrom just reported, is they are saying a homicide -- intentional, I guess, from a legal standpoint. It will be interesting to see how they piece that all together.

PHILLIPS: That's what we are waiting to here if, indeed, Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor, will be charged with homicide now that the coroner has released this report.

Sanjay Gupta, thanks. We are going to take a quick break. More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Breaking news in Los Angeles where coroners have released Michael Jackson's cause of death. Kara Finnstrom first brought it to us just a few minutes ago. Kara, let's go ahead and bring our viewers up to date.

FINNESTROM: Sure. Well, really the big news out of this press release is the coroner's office came out and handed to us that they have ruled Michael Jackson's death back on June 25th was a homicide. It is up to the coroner's office to determine whether this was accidental, whether there were natural causes or whether in this case, it was a homicide.

Other pieces of interesting information, Kyra. We have heard all the thoughts that this was possibly linked to a powerful sedative that Michael Jackson was taking for his severe insomnia. A sedative called Diprivan. They did come out and establish the cause of death as due to acute Propofol intoxication. And Diprivan is the name for Propofol.

They also said other conditions contributing to his death. Benzodiazepine effect. Another drug they found in his system. About five weeks ago in some court documents, the preliminary results that were brought together by the coroner were released. They said that, you know, they felt that this was due to the effects of the Propofol.

Now, we know that since that time, the coroner has concluded that it's not just Propofol that was in his system but possibly some other drugs that were administered to him that also contributed to his death. And Kyra, from those court documents, we learned that there were some five different administrations of drugs before the Propofol was administered to him on that morning.

PHILLIPS: All right. Kara Finnstrom, following the news for us there out of Los Angeles.

If you are just tuning in, the coroner -- department of coroners there in the County of Los Angeles, releasing a press release to all of us announcing the manner of death has been ruled and that is homicide. So, obviously, a lot to push forward on this story now. We have heard about the drugs, what was in Michael Jackson's system. Now, the fact that it is being called a homicide. What will happen to dr. Conrad Murray. Will he be charged? We're yet to find out. Rick Sanchez picks it up from here.