Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Public Option Hangs in the Air; Allegations of Out-of-Control Contractors and Security Concerns at U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan; The Disconnect Between SEC and Madoff; Controlling California Wildfires Via Air Attack; Ted Kennedy's Memoir Leaked Early to "The New York Times"
Aired September 03, 2009 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Fire crews make progress in Los Angeles County while an investigation into the massive wildfire also moves forward.
Americans still feeling shadowed by the cloud of recession, but there is one silver lining.
And check cashing policy pushback (ph). The bank wants a thumbprint from a man with no arms.
Good morning, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Heidi Collins. It is Thursday, September 3rd, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Outreach and outrage. We've got a lot to tell you about this morning. First, the future of health care. Our Jill Dougherty has word from the White House, reaching out to a key Republican on a scaled back reform plan.
And people drunk at parties and involved in lewd sexual conduct. The U.S. embassy looking into activity taking place in Kabul.
And our Christine Romans will be looking into the outrage over missed opportunities involving -- excuse me -- the Bernie Madoff investigation.
All right. After an August of discontent over health care reform, President Obama is raising the stakes. He's planning a major address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday. In it, the president is expected to be more specific about what he wants to see in a health care bill.
There's already talk that he is ready to compromise. Sources tell CNN the president has been negotiated with moderate Republican senator, Olympia Snowe, on a scaled back version of health care. One without a government-run public insurance option.
That public option idea has been a lightning rod in the debate. CNN's Jill Dougherty is at the White House.
So what are they saying, Jill, about taking that off the table?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it would be off the table initially, but it would be kind of kicked down the road a bit. It wouldn't necessarily disappear. So what these two sources are telling CNN, and they're familiar with the state of play in these behind-the-scenes negotiations.
What they're saying is the White House, the talking with Olympia Snowe about her idea and her idea is that they would have reform and that might include things like having insurance companies get rid of the pre-existing condition requirement and the insurance companies would have a certain time in which they could introduce those reforms.
If they did not, there'd be a deadline and then there would be a trigger. And that would trigger the introduction of the public option. So it wouldn't be off the table, but it would be put to the side with the idea that it could be introduced.
Now, there's -- that would certainly help with some Republicans or at least that's the hope here at the White House, especially the moderate Republicans, so let's say like Susan Collins of Maine. However, it could anger some of the Democrats and the liberal ones who want that public option and they want it now.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jill Dougherty at the White House, thanks so much.
All right. Drunk orgies in Afghanistan? A watchdog group says that is exactly what U.S. embassy guards are doing. Private contractors paid by the State Department, seemingly, out of control in a country where 60,000 U.S. troops are putting their lives on the line.
There are also accusations of breaking the rules by going on an armed mission into Kabul, leaving the embassy vulnerable to attack.
CNN's Tom Foreman has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a summer of growing attacks near the Kabul embassy and growing fatalities among American troops, these pictures.
Private embassy security guards holding what appear to be wild, half-naked drinking parties while away from the embassy and off-duty. Hugely inflammatory in a Muslim country. The independent watchdog group, Project on Government Oversight, or Pogo, short, says the photos came from guards who say supervisors pressured others to join in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then if they don't engage, they could hold it against them, which is ripping apart the fabric of the whole chain of command.
FOREMAN: The guards surrounding the embassy are employed by ArmorGroup owned by Wakenhut Services under a $190 million State Department contract, which has been under fire.
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: At times, the security of the U.S. embassy in Kabul may have been placed at risk.
FOREMAN: At a hearing in June, Senator Claire McCaskill brought up a laundry list of concerns and that watchdog group Pogo is now adding more. Foreign guards who speak so little English they cannot understand their bosses. Acute understaffing causing massive turnover. And missing guards. One inspection this spring found 18 absent from their post.
The State Department said in June it was working on the problem, and...
WILLIAM H. MOSER, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: At no time was the security of American personnel at the U.S. embassy compromised.
FOREMAN: But Pogo says these pictures were taken just last month, so a State Department delegation will soon head over to investigate.
IAN KELLY, STATE DEPTARTMENT SPOKESMAN: To be clear, there were some things going on in Kabul which we were not aware of, but frankly, we should have been aware of them.
FOREMAN (on camera): At this point, however, that may not be enough. Senator McCaskill clearly wants clearly full disclosure, wants to know why the State Department defended Wakenhut in front of her committee despite all these problems.
CNN has reached out to Wakenhut officials asking them to explain these photos. So far, they have not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And this just in. New claims for jobless benefits fell slightly last week. The Labor Department reports the number of laid-off workers applying for benefits dipped to 570,000. Economists had expected that number to go lower to around 560,000.
And fresh poll numbers out this morning on how Americans are feeling about the economy and the news is not good. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll reveals that nearly 9 in 10 say the country is still in a recession and nearly 7 in 10 say things are going badly.
But there is hope the number who actually feel that things are going badly has fallen from an all-time high of 83 percent in November to 69 percent now.
Botching the Bernie Madoff investigation. A new report by the SEC inspector general suggests the agency not only missed chances to discover fraud, but also gave Madoff the opportunity to fleece even more investors.
CNN's Christine Romans is here to explain how investors made things worse.
So, Christine, what did the report actually find? CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, news flash, the SEC didn't catch on to the Madoff scam for years and years. It botched many, many opportunities, many red flags that were raised. It was handed all kinds of credible evidence that something was wrong with Bernie Madoff, the Ponzi -- his investment company, which was actually a Ponzi scheme, and they completely missed it.
What this shows, the inspector general's report shows, that the SEC in this case failed regulation 101. This is what the report found. Despite numerous credible and detailed complaints, the SEC never properly investigated Madoff's trading and never took the necessary basic steps to determine if Madoff was operating a Ponzi scheme.
Think of it this way. From 1992 until 2008, there were six substantive complaints against Bernie Madoff that raised red flags that the SEC inspector general says should have revealed the depths of this problem. You had people who had invested with Bernie Madoff, who pulled their money out.
One person, in particular, who called the SEC or wrote to the SEC, and said, look, I've done my own due diligence here. I think there's something wrong with this guy. You had other people who were investigating their own accounts for other hedge funds or other banks and in their own internal e-mail, talking to each other, realized this thing couldn't be true. They told the SEC.
You had someone named Henry Markopolos, who you've heard of before, who laid out in 30 pages or so exactly what was going on, and delivered it to the SEC, and nothing was done. And this report shows that the SEC even read two newspaper reports from 2001 that said this is too good to be true. He can't possibly be operating a legitimate organization. In 2001, and they did nothing.
WHITFIELD: And the SEC actually questioned Madoff directly about the trading?
ROMANS: They did. In 2006, finally after one of these complaints, the SEC sat down with Bernie Madoff and talked to him and the next day, the Monday after that, Madoff has said he knew that he was going to be shut down, in 2006. He wasn't.
On the Tuesday, he was not shut down. In fact, he went on for another 2 1/2 years to fleece investors and to continue this entire scam without any -- without any kind of pressure at all from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In fact, Fredricka, in fact, he used that to his advantage. And he said, look, the SEC has looked at me and I'm clean, and used it as an example -- to even sell himself to more people.
WHITFIELD: All right, Christine Romans, thanks so much for that. Appreciate it.
ROMANS: Sure. WHITFIELD: All right. The Station fire is now the biggest in Los Angeles County history. Firefighters have saved thousands of homes so far, but the fight is far from over.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And they are taking the fight from the ground and from the air as well. I'm Rob Marciano in Sacramento, California. Just a couple of hours away from the big fires in Los Angeles.
Here is where part of their weaponry is based to battle some of those flames. It is a rather large aircraft. And you're going to see it all coming up when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: New numbers this morning on the station fire near Los Angeles. Fire officials saying just moments ago that the fire is now 38 percent contained. Most of the residents evacuated and are now back home. But early this morning, 15 more families were told to get out when a hot spot flared up.
A total of 64 homes have been destroyed. Investigators are now trying to determine if it was deliberately set. One official said there was no evidence of lightning in the area, removing that as a possibility.
And crews have a new weapon to help in the fight of the fires. A massive 747 hollowed out to carry thousands of gallons of fire retardant. It's an impressive sight flying lower -- flying very low, rather, over those fires.
Our Rob Marciano takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (voice-over): Fighting the fire from the air -- choppers, turboprops, even jets. But this is the "Big Kahuna."
CAPT. CLIFF HALE, PILOT OF THE EVERGREEN SUPERTANKER: We have more excess horsepower than any tanker out there.
MARCIANO: Captain Cliff Hale hit the California wildfires hard this week, flying this modified 747 Supertanker right into the fire zone.
HALE: He arms it and that gives me control up here, or the other pilot as well, we've got a drop button right here on the switch.
MARCIANO: Flying low at 300 feet, Captain Hale has to focus on his target.
(on camera): You've got to be a pilot and a bit of a marksman. How good a shot are you?
HALE: Pretty good, at this point.
MARCIANO (voice-over): A touch of pilot bravado, but at his core, he's a firefighter.
HALE: To me, it's -- you know, all the pilots that are doing this are just like the regular firefighters that you see anywhere. And it's just we do it in the air.
MARCIANO: But nothing compares to this jumbo jet.
(on camera): If you were a passenger on a 747, this is where you'd be sitting. Instead, on this plane, they've got 10 tanks carrying 20,000 gallons of fire retardant and/or foam, 90 tons of fire-fighting artillery.
(voice-over): And these cannons also have control.
MIKE HARKNESS, EVERGREEN INTERNATIONAL AVIATION: They can meter it to any distance and any thickness that the firefighters on the ground want.
MARCIANO: Adjustable power and precision, which reduces wasted ammunition.
(on camera): This stuff's not cheap.
HARKNESS: It's not. It will run anywhere from $2 to $3 a gallon.
MARCIANO (voice-over): All of this is unleashed in the back of the plane.
(on camera): Some fancy-looking Bombay doors.
HARKNESS: Well, these are the exhaust ports for the retardant and the flight engineer is going to choose the proper air pressure and the number of exhaust ports to vary the concentration, depending on what the firefighters on the ground need.
MARCIANO (voice-over): On the ground or in the air, it's one big team.
HALE: All the guys that do this, to me, are -- I think are the best and it's an honor to be a part of that group.
MARCIANO: No doubt this massive supertanker is a welcome weapon in the war against wildfires.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: This monstrous plane has changed the whole level of the game of firefighting for sure. It's the first time they've used it in the states was during these fires in southern California. Huge success. They've been working on this for years.
Because, you know, the fires are getting bigger, which they have been, you just -- you need a bigger gun. Look at the size of these engines. Look at the landing gear. And then on the back half of this is where they let out that stream of fire retardant. And it's different from a regular gravity drop like most tankers, Fredricka. They have air pressure so they can manage that stream, they can really target the area. What they've had a problem with the past couple of days is visibility, because when you're flying that low and you have that sort of precision, you need good visibility.
It's been too smoky. So hopefully today, they'll get back up there. But they put a huge dent in the fire the first couple of days with this 747. It's unbelievable. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: It is pretty impressive and hopefully it will make a huge dent in the wildfires. Thanks so much, Rob Marciano.
A sneak peak at Senator Ted Kennedy's memoirs. It's due out in 11 days, but portions already are in print. We'll take a look at what he thought about some of his life-shaping events.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A look at our "Top Stories."
It looks like the CDC is not immune to the swine flu virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been at least six suspected cases of H1N1 among the roughly 7,000 employees at its Atlanta headquarters. A vaccine probably won't be available before mid-October.
A posthumous memoir from Senator Ted Kennedy, it isn't out yet, but some key sections are getting a lot of buzz already. And there's a flap over "The New York Times" publishing parts of it already.
Our Josh Levs is here to show and tell a little bit. Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here it is, Fred. This is it. Take a look at this image from Amazon.com, where it's already number one among biographies, even though it isn't out yet.
It's called "True Compass." And you can see right there, "by Edward M. Kennedy," and in it, he talks about, well, a lot of his career, a lot of his history.
Let me show you the bestsellers list right here. You can see. It's number one, right there, best sellers and books. Now the reason that we know already what's in it is that "The New York Times" has already published some of these, as you said.
Let's just go straight to these quotes I have for you. Some things that people are already talking about. The first one, he does talk about Chappaquiddick. He calls his own actions inexcusable and, you can see there, he says, "Atonement is a process that never ends."
Also of interest, "The Times" points out this, that he talks about accepting the official findings of his brother's, the president's, assassination. And as you know, there are plenty of people who don't accept those. He says that he does accept the findings of the commission there. So when we take a look at this article, you can see, I guess there's no surprise, a lot of fascination already. But here's the deal. The book's not supposed to come out until September 14th. So the publisher, not too happy. And this is the quote they've come out with today. Let's show you this.
This is the publisher, they're called Twelve. And they say, they regret, "We regret that 'The New York Times' did not respect the September 14th release date." I have reached out to "New York Times." I haven't heard back from them, but they do say in this article that they obtained a copy of it in advance.
They certainly didn't publish a massive section of it, but they did reach in, Fred, put some quotes there so as you can imagine, it's clearly not what you want.
WHITFIELD: But said -- "The New York Times" saying they received a copy...
LEVS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: ... in advance from the actual publisher or...
LEVS: From what I have seen, they're saying that they obtained a copy, but I'm not sure that we know exactly how it came about that they got it. And the publisher does say that they have respected the date and that publisher said that they did not go give it to "The New York Times".
WHITFIELD: Interesting.
LEVS: Yes, it's interesting.
WHITFIELD: All right. Josh Levs, appreciate that. Thank you.
LEVS: Thanks, Fred.
WHITFIELD: OK, moms out there, might want to cover your ears for this next story. The 61-year-old Georgia man is facing felony charges for allegedly slapping a crying toddler that he didn't even know.
The 2-year-old girl and her mother were shopping at a Wal-Mart just outside of Atlanta when the toddler began to cry. Well, police say Roger Stevens slapped the little girl several times after warning her mother to keep her quiet.
Another shopper reportedly stopped Stevens until security arrived. The baby's aunt says the girl is doing just fine.
Well, we want to hear from you. Just what are you thinking about this story? Has something like this ever happened to you? Perhaps you were with your child who was crying, had a little meltdown moment. Other people were around, onlookers, frowning.
Did anyone intervene? Well, check out our blog. We're asking the questions about this story and how it's kind of precipitated conversation everywhere. Has it happened to you, do you think the right thing has been done in terms of him now facing charges? And what about the community getting involved there and trying to intervene as best they can?
Just go to CNN, our blog, and slash Fredricka and we'll weigh in your comments and we'll read some of those comments in the next hour of the NEWSROOM.
OK. Jacqui Jeras in the hurricane headquarters. How are you doing, Jacqui? Still pretty active season we're seeing.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, if you compare the averages of the numbers, it's kind of low. And you know, things have really -- well, we've had a number of storms now, Fredricka. Everything's been getting -- kind of getting sheered apart.
So the winds playing a huge role in development of tropical systems, at least in terms of the Atlantic.
Let's go ahead and we'll take a look at what's going on with tropical storm Erika. Barely a tropical storm anymore. Winds maximum, 40 miles per hour and we're having a hard time with this storm kind of getting its act together, having a strong, tight rotation in the center of circulation.
It's getting some wind shear coming in from the southwestern side of the storm here, which is making it hard for the storm to kind of hold together. Now there are some showers and thundershowers that have already been moving into Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, both under tropical storm watches, meaning tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 36 hours.
Basically, this is going to be a big rainmaker for you with the potential of some flooding, maybe 3 to 5 inches of rainfall expected overall with some locally heavier amounts. Talk about the forecast track here. You can see that it's still expected to weaken with time, especially the more it interacts with some of this landmass here.
If it takes the more southerly route and heads over Hispaniola, this thing could really tear apart quite a bit. But that doesn't mean it couldn't reorganize itself as it heads through the Bahamas and over towards Florida.
That's something that we'll be watching. The good news is right now, it doesn't look like it's going to interfere with your holiday weekend for a lot of people, Fredricka. We'll talk a little bit more about that. You know, Labor Day is coming up.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: And I forgot.
JERAS: You forgot -- well...
WHITFIELD: That happens.
JERAS: All right.
WHITFIELD: That Labor Day and all the other holidays, because you kind of just work right through them. But oh, yes, this is a holiday weekend.
JERAS: You do. Yes. We can have a little potluck at work this weekend, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right.
JERAS: You and me.
WHITFIELD: OK. We'll do that. Because we'll both be here.
JERAS: You bet.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui, appreciate that.
All right, saved at sea. A man was rescued early this morning after falling from a cruise ship off the coast of Port St. Lucie, Florida. There's a video of the Carnival Cruise ship after it returned to port.
The Coast Guard says the man treaded water for more than an hour before a second cruise ship picked him up. Besides feeling rather exhausted, the man appeared to be OK. No word on how he fell overboard.
Latina girls dropping out of high school at alarming rates. Why is it happening and what's being done about that? We'll get some answers in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. On Wall Street, the Dow has dropped every day this week. But stocks are set to buck that trend today, despite a double dose of reality about jobs and spending.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details on that as the opening bell sounds off.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredricka. We are expecting a higher open. The bulls, well, they have their work cut out for them because of continuing worries about the American consumer.
The problem, of course, is that unemployment is still a major issue when people are working less, working fewer hours, worried about their jobs, or out of work, they just -- they simply don't spend as much.
New jobless claims fell last week to 570,000. They fell, but 570,000 is an enormous number in one week. Meanwhile, the number of people relying on government benefits for one week or more, unexpectedly, jumped to more than 6.2 million, also a high number. With so many folks out of work, no surprise that many people are staying out of the mall. Most major retailers like Costco, Limited Brands and Macy's are reporting sales declines for an important -- the important month of August. That's when back to school starts in earnest. However, analysts do expect the season to fall more than 3 percent. It would be the twelfth straight decline.
And in corporate news, Google's YouTube may soon offer online movie rentals for a fee. The company is reportedly in talks with several studios including Lions Gate, Sony Pictures, and Warner Brothers, CNN's corporate cousin.
Check the numbers right now. Yes, we're seeing a little bit of gains. The blue chips are green right now, up a quarter of a percent. Nasdaq up half a percent. So a good start to the trading day.
Back to you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: A nice way to start the day. All right, thanks so much, Susan. Appreciate that.
All right. In the works this morning, a major speech and a possible compromise on health care reform. President Obama will try to sell his vision next Wednesday when he addresses a joint session of Congress.
There's word that he may be rethinking the government-run public insurance option. Sources tell CNN talks are under way with moderate Republicans, Senator Olympia Snowe, to take it out.
And as the president works to hammer out a bill, how do Americans, overall, feel about overhauling health care? Our national political correspondent Jessica Yellin takes a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): You've heard the noise around health care reform.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not good...
YELLIN: How much of a difference has it made? The latest CNN Opinion Research poll shows it has not killed Americans' appetite for some kind of reform. According to our polling, 53 percent of Americans want Congress to continue working on the bills they started before recess.
Compare that to 25 percent who want Congress to start from scratch and 20 percent who want no reform at all.
As for the president's reform plans, 48 percent like them. That's down only two points since early August before the town halls began, but it's no longer a majority. Most of those polled say the town halls added no effect on their views about health care reform at all. Now it's not all good news for the White House. Most say they would feel more secure with the current system than with the president's plan and the numbers are worse among seniors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop bureaucrats from getting between seniors and their doctors.
YELLIN: According to CNN's polling, a majority of senior citizens, 60 percent, oppose the president's reform proposal. There is real concern that Medicare recipients will be worse off the current reforms pass. Perhaps the best sign for the Democrats is this message seems to be penetrating.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Without real reform, the burdens on America's families and businesses will continue to multiply.
YELLIN: Sixty-five percent say problems with the current health care system will eventually affect most Americans and almost all Americans believe some reform is necessary.
(On camera): While a recent CBS News poll showed that a majority of Americans are confused about the details of the health care bill, when we asked if people understand the major points in the president's proposals, a majority says they do.
Bottom line, it would seem folks may be confused about the specifics of the health care bills, but they understand the major thrust of the debate.
Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: As schools around the country are reopening, a new report reveals a serious dropout crisis in the Latina community in this country. It shows 41 percent of Latina female students do not graduate on time with a standard high school diploma.
Joining me now is Lara Kaufmann of the National Women's Law Center. She's co-author of the report, "Listening to Latinas: Barriers to High School Graduation."
Good to see you.
LARA KAUFMANN, NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER: Thank you for having me.
WHITFIELD: All right. Alarming number. 41 percent. What's the reason?
KAUFMANN: Well, across the board the girls we spoke with, and we did interview girls across the country as part of this report. Across the board, they have very high aspirations and they want to succeed, many of them want to be doctors, lawyers, and scientists. And the problem seems to be that many of them doubt their ability to reach those goals. 98 percent of the girls we spoke with want to at least graduate from high school and 80 percent of them want to at least graduate from college. And yet, one-third of the girls we spoke with don't believe they're going to get there.
WHITFIELD: So what's the -- what's the, you know, real juncture? I mean if they are visionaries, a lot of these young girls that you talked to, who are -- who have the self-esteem, the courage to think big, about this is what I want to do, something happens along the way that changes their mind or that makes some of these young ladies want to drop out. And what's at the root of that?
KAUFMANN: Well, there are a combination of factors, of course. There's a set of factors that affect many Latina students, and that's boys and girls, such as poverty and schools with limited resources. Barriers to parental involvement, immigration status issues.
But there are also a set of factors that appear to affect Latinas uniquely or differently. And those include gender and ethnicity discrimination. We heard a lot of stories from girls that teachers and fellow students discriminate against them in both subtle and blatant ways.
We heard about the prevalence of stereotypes of Latinas as submissive or caretakers, and that affects both others' expectations of them, as well as their own expectations.
WHITFIELD: So it sounds like a lot of these young girls are saying, these are outside forces that are influencing them or cutting down their aspirations. So what's a solution? What's the answer?
If parental involvement, you mentioned, is one of the things that's missing, you know, what are some of the ways in which to help a lot of these young girls take hold of their lives and finish school?
KAUFMANN: Well, there are a number of things that schools and policymakers can do. We need to give more attention to helping Latinas with goal setting and giving them the guidance they need to reach those goals.
We need to connect them with mentors and role models. A lot of them do not have parents who went through the U.S. school system and just don't know how to get there. So they need greater guidance. We also need to...
WHITFIELD: So who should be doing this? I mean, am I hearing from you that family members need to be reaching out, finding some of these mentors, and bringing them these young people, or is it up to schools?
I mean, someone has to take some responsibility for helping to deliver on these because you can't count on the young girls to reach out and find these sources of inspiration.
KAUFMANN: Absolutely. Schools need more programs, need more guidance staff, and there are a lot that schools can do in terms of connecting students with role models in the community and introducing them to the requirements they need to get into college and opportunities for financial aid.
The policymakers also can do a lot to identify programs that are working and make sure that those are expanded and replicated, so they can reach more students because many students aren't being reached now.
We also need to do more to reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy, especially in the Latina community. 53 percent of Latinas get pregnant before the age of 20. So they have the highest teen pregnancy rates of any racial or ethnic group of girls.
WHITFIELD: OK.
KAUFMANN: And that is a huge barrier, because a lot of our schools don't provide enough support for pregnant and parenting students.
WHITFIELD: Sure.
KAUFMANN: And...
WHITFIELD: All right.
KAUFMANN: In fact, there's a lot of discrimination out there.
WHITFIELD: Well, Lara Kaufmann, we're going to be continuing this conversation about this very topic in the next hour. We'll be taking folks to the front lines. Thanks so much for your input.
KAUFMANN: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: As representative of the National Women's Law Center.
We'll be speaking in the next hour to a Latina high school dropout, a former high school teacher, and a college counselor about this dropout problem. What are some of the solutions to help bring the numbers back up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Another look at the top stories this morning.
Seventeen people are dead in a brutal mass killing just across the U.S. border in Mexico. Gunmen broke in and opened fire inside a drug rehabilitation center in Juarez. More than 1400 people have been killed in that city so far this year.
And Michael Jackson is finally being laid to rest tonight. Only family and close friends will be there for the ceremony at the Forest Lawn Cemetery near Los Angeles. Jackson died June 25th. The great mausoleum where he is being intered will reopen to the public tomorrow. Susan Adkins denied parole, probably, for the last time. The 61- year-old former Manson family member is serving a life sentence for her part in the infamous Tate LaBianca murders. Adkins is suffering from brain cancer. She was given just a few months to live when first diagnosed over a years ago.
And not enough I.D. One man couldn't cash a check. The bank wanted a thumbprint, but he has no thumbs. We'll ask him what he thinks of their late apology.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. A bank following the rules to the letter, but maybe there should be a little wiggle room sometimes. Like in Steve Valdez's case. The Florida man went to his local Bank of America to cash a check. Well, he doesn't have an account there, but he had his two forms of I.D.
The bank wanted a thumbprint, that's their fraud prevention policy, but Steve Valdez has no arms. What came next is a little shocking.
Steve Valdez joins us now from Tampa this morning. Good to see you.
STEVE VALDEZ, BANK OF AMERICA CUSTOMER: Hi, Fredricka, how are you?
WHITFIELD: I'm pretty good. Well, thanks so much for recalling the memory of what took place that day, which had to be very humiliating.
VALDEZ: Well, it was a shock, to say the least.
WHITFIELD: OK. So you go into this Bank of America. Had you been to this Bank of America before, by the way?
VALDEZ: Actually, no.
WHITFIELD: OK. But you're aware of the policy of having a couple forms of I.D., so you brought that, but what happened when they said we want your thumbprint?
VALDEZ: Well, actually...
WHITFIELD: How did that conversation then carry on?
VALDEZ: Actually, they never -- yes, they never got to that point. They looked at my prosthetic hands, and the teller said, well, obviously, you can't give us the thumbprint, I'll be back in a second. And in about 10 minutes she came back and gave me what their idea of accommodation was.
WHITFIELD: And what was that?
VALDEZ: Well, I could either bring my wife in with me or I could open up an account with them.
WHITFIELD: And then what happened in that conversation? What did you say?
VALDEZ: Well, I told them that I neither wanted an account with them and couldn't bring my wife in, because she was nowhere close by. And it really wasn't part of accommodation, and I asked for a supervisor.
WHITFIELD: And they asked you to bring your wife in because this was kind of a thirty-party check. It wasn't a solely check made directly out to you and...
VALDEZ: No, it was made directly out to me.
WHITFIELD: Then why bring your wife in? What was the explanation?
VALDEZ: Because it was her account with their bank.
WHITFIELD: OK. All right. So did you ask for management? And what happened from there?
VALDEZ: A few minutes later, the manager came out and read me the same policy, that I could either bring her in or open up an account with them.
WHITFIELD: All right. So this is very humiliating, to say the very least. Bank of America has since released this written statement. I want to read it to you. "While the thumbprint is a requirement for those who don't have accounts, the bank should have made accommodations."
So in a sense, they are saying that maybe this wasn't handled the best way possible, but they do stand behind their policy. How does that apology or at least that statement sit with you?
VALDEZ: Well, apologies are all fine and good, but their policy itself is still in violation of federal law, in the Americans with Disability Act, which says that they're to provide reasonable accommodation.
WHITFIELD: What would have been a more reasonable accommodation in your view, especially as it pertains to the American Disabilities Act?
VALDEZ: Well, certainly, since I had two forms of photo I.D., one of which had the same address on it that was on the check itself, I would have thought that a manager could have initialed off on it, after checking the I.D.s and cashed the check.
WHITFIELD: I guess you won't be doing business at that Bank of America anymore?
VALDEZ: I think that's safe to say.
WHITFIELD: All right. Steve Valdez, thanks for sharing your story and all the best.
VALDEZ: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Appreciate your time.
VALDEZ: Bye-bye now.
WHITFIELD: All right. Let's check in with our hurricane headquarters and our Jacqui Jeras. So it hasn't necessarily been an incredibly active season since June, but in the past couple of weeks, we're finally seeing some activity, and yet, there's more.
JERAS: Yes, well, you know, we're getting into the heart of hurricane season now. We tend to have more systems in September than any other time of the year and September 10th, by the way, is the actual climatological peak of -- for hurricanes. So it's no big surprise that we've got a little action going out there and we're talking about tropical storm Erika, in particular.
And this storm has -- you know, it's very weak. It's having a really hard time getting its act together. It's not very organized. It seems it's not a symmetrical storm. The center actually of circulation is over here, so all the showers and thunderstorms are on the east side of the storm.
So you might feel some of the winds coming through the Virgin Islands well before you're going to start any of these rain bands. Now the forecast column will show you that the storm is moving west- northwestlerly and will likely move through the islands, including Puerto Rico, up towards Hispaniola.
So more than anything, this is going to be a rainstorm for you folks in the northern Caribbean.
Now as we head towards the holiday into Labor Day, it could be approaching the Bahamas, but again, right now, best estimates is that it is a weaker system. As for the U.S. mainland, maybe late on to your Labor Day holiday, and then into early middle part of next week.
(WEATHER REPORT)
JERAS: And hopefully, you have some good plans over the weekend, because, overall, outside of those thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast, we're looking for some good weather. Overall, airport delays, if you're heading out early, pretty light. Not much to report right now. Most delays should stay well under an hour. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right. Jacqui Jeras, thanks so much. Speaking of airports, airlines, this just in, airlines are being ordered to replace air speed sensors. We've got details on that story straight ahead .
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Lots going on this morning. In the NEWSROOM, our CNN correspondents are ready to break it all down for you. So let's begin with Jill Dougherty at the White House.
DOUGHERTY: Well, should President Obama put the public option on hold? It's an idea the White House is considering. And I'll have the full story at the top of the hour.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans in New York. Nearly nine out of ten Americans polled think the economy is still in recession. Well, economists are starting to say there is light at the end of the tunnel. Why the disconnect between what you feel and what you think and what the experts say is happening in the economy? I'll tell you at the top of the hour.
LEVS: I'm Josh Levs. We have brand-new video today from NASA that shows the earth's frozen regions, how they're changing and what these images say about U.S. cities including Denver. All that coming up, next hour.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, everyone.
And more about the incident at Wal-Mart where a crying toddler was allegedly slapped by a stranger. We'll talk to a well known mommy blogger who have a whole lot of experience on this hot topic.
And think of the miles that you've walked in your life. So it's no wonder the older you get the more your feet ache.
CNN's Melissa long looks at how to keep your feet in shape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA LONG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vincent Wahle spends a lot of time on the treadmill, but sweating on the machine has less to do with his waistline and more to do with his feet. Last winter, Wahle was bounding up the stairs when his Achilles tendon snapped.
I heard like a rip. And when I went to put weight on it, I couldn't stand on it.
LONG: After surgery, Wahle's physical therapist recommend that he get into rehab quickly and stretch out those tendons and muscles to keep them strong.
STEVEN PETTINEO, DIR., PHYSICAL THERAPY, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: We know that in our 30s, you know, we start to lose strength in our body at a very young age and that progresses, they say, about 8 percent a year.
LONG: As you get older muscles and tendons begin to shrink making them tight which is tough on your feet.
PETTINEO: When you have tightness in one area of the body no matter where it is you're normally going to make up for that loss of motion somewhere else, and that's especially true in the foot.
LONG: That means starting in your 30s you need to stretch especially in your calves and feet. It can help you avoid a lot of overuse injuries.
PETTINEO: Certain things like tendonitis of the Achilles or tendonisis, just more of a degenerative process of a tendon. You can get, you know, mid-foot pain or pain in your toes all because there's certain flexibility issues.
LONG: By the time you reach your 40s your feet have taken a real pounding. Deterioration of bones and muscles may cause the arches in our feet to become lax and lose support, making it tough to walk, and with age especially in women become osteoarthritis.
PETTINEO: You just start to see degenerative changes in the joint space themselves the way we're trying to combat those from a therapy standpoint, is weight bearing exercise.
LONG: Doctors recommend at any age make sure you get a good fitting shoe.
PETTINEO: Shoe wear is definitely important. And probably even more specific to whatever task it is that you're doing.
LONG: If you run, don't wear tennis shoes. Standing on your feet, watch the sides of the heels. The wrong footwear can cause shin spleens and joint problems that could give you a lifetime of pain.
As for Vincent Wahle's Achilles tendon it seems to be back to normal although rehab isn't the most exciting place to be, he knows it's the healthiest place for his foot.
Melissa Long, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: "30s, 40s, 50s" brought to you by...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. This just in to CNN. Airlines are being ordered to replace air speed sensors in some of their planes. They are the same type used on an Air France plane that crashed back in June killing 228 people.
CNN's Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve joins us live from Washington right now with more on this. Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, the Federal Aviation Administration is giving airlines 120 days to replace the Pitot tubes on airbus A330 and A340 aircrafts. They have scrapped the usual public comment period, apparently feeling that it was prudent to expedite the change in this piece of equipment.
It is not going to have a huge impact here in the U.S. There are only 43 A3-30's in operation. They are run by U.S. Airways and Northwest. There are no U.S. operators flying A3-40s.
Now the Pitot tube is a small sensor on the exterior of the aircraft. It's part of the system that helps a pilot determine the air speed of the aircraft. Suspicion fell on these Pitot tubes after the crash of the Air France flight 447 that went down between May 31st and June 1st over the Atlantic killing 228 people and there has been a series of electronic messages that were sent back by the aircraft indicating that it was having problems with this air speed sensor.
Now, the cause of that crash still has not been determined but those messages caused investigators to go back and look at other instances. They came up with more than a dozen other cases in which Pitot tubes had malfunctioned and so the decision today to have the operators change those Pitot tubes out.
I should say that the Europeans earlier this week made a decision they, too, wanted them changed. They wanted them changed on an quicker time frame. They're asking them to be switched out by September 7th. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right. That's a rather comforting news for a lot of regular flyers. Jeanne Meserve Thanks so much. Appreciate that.
MESERVE: You bet.
HANNITY: All right, here's some of the other stories we're watching right now. Vice President Joe Biden says the $787 billion economic stimulus program has been more successful than they hoped.
He's speaking at the Brookings Institute this hour. Biden says the package has paid for 135,000 education jobs among other things.
And a 17 year old runaway, afraid of religious retribution is sighting to stay in foster care today. A judge will decide if the teenage girl stays in Florida or goes back home to Ohio. The girl said that afraid she'll be killed because she converted to Islam to Christianity. Her parents say that is not true.
The grand mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery is off -limits today in preparation for Michael Jackson's funeral tonight. The private ceremony will only include family and friends. His June 25th death has been ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County coroner.
