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Hope and Hard Times in Chicago; The SEC's Madoff Disconnect; The Possibility of Scaled-Back Health Reform Hangs in the Air

Aired September 03, 2009 - 10:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, September 3rd. Here are the faces of the stories behind the headlines this morning.

Bernard Madoff, how the SEC missed his multibillion-dollar fraud despite the bright red warning flags.

President Obama changing his strategy to save health care reform, when less change is more and simpler means smoother.

Yechezkel Shai, a transplant tourist, $100,000 grand for a trip to China and a new kidney. A CNN investigation.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's get started.

Firsts this hour, issue number one, the economy. You've probably heard the chatter. Most economists will tell you the recession is ending or already over, but the American people just aren't buying it.

Look at these numbers from a brand New CNN/Opinion Research poll. Eighty-seven percent, almost nine out of 10 people, say the economy is still stuck in recession, be it serious, moderate or mild. Just 12 percent say there is no recession.

We also asked, how are things going in the country today? Just 30 percent say well. Well over two-thirds of people surveyed say badly.

The economy and jobs are big concerns for people living on the southside of Chicago. Some are hopeful things will turn around despite the hard times.

Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi reports from the CNN Express.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Residents of the South Side of Chicago often find themselves reported on because of the high crime rate in the area. We decided we would go and talk to them to find out what it is they were concerned about when it came to the economy. Everybody there equates the crime situation with poverty, and poverty with joblessness. Here's what they told me.

Has the area, do you think, been hit disproportionately by the recession, or are things tough like they have always been here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they are tougher. They are tough. Whenever you see the statistics go up at least 10 points for blacks in areas of unemployment, it has been that way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My income is stagnant. And I definitely have to make adjustments to increases. So, a small amount is coming in. A large amount is going out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's improving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's going to get better. I believe that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, if I listen to what the reports say, it's making somewhat of an upswing. But in terms of my personal life, it's kind of cramped. You don't feel as comfortable.

VELSHI: This area had a lot of poverty for a long time. Do you think if the economy comes back, like you think it might be coming back, will it help people in this area as well?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would help everyone. First of all, jobs -- we need jobs. You can notice it as you ride the L, there are not as many people are on the L that are not going to work. So, the jobs are needed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just need to help the South Side, period. That's why you've got all these people out here just doing what they're doing. You know, a lot of crime, because the economy is so bad, man, I mean, people are getting hungry. You know, I mean hungry.

Speaking for me, you know, I'm not afraid to tell you that I experienced the lifestyle before, but you can always come out of that lifestyle. But it's hard to come out when you can't find no job.

VELSHI: There was a certain optimism amongst the residents of the South Side of Chicago about the economy. A lot of people are feeling that perhaps the worst is behind them, but they did emphasize it was going to take a long time for this economy to fully recover.

We're headed into Wisconsin now for the next leg of our journey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And that was Ali Velshi reporting.

Wall Street's summer rally grounded in early signs of a recovery. Home sales are finally starting to pick up and job losses are slowly declining. But consumer spending overall is still very much in recession mode, and that is a critical factor in the pace of recovery.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

HARRIS: So, you've heard the poll numbers. Almost nine out of 10 people say the economy is stuck in a recession. But what do you think?

We're conducting -- we like these, we really do. You participate, and that makes it all the better.

We're conducting a "QuickVote" on my blog. Just go to CNN.com/Tony if you would like to vote. Let's see where things stand right now on the vote.

Well, there you go. "Do you think the recession is over?" What is that, 86 percent of you are clicking in no?

We will share more results throughout the next couple of hours.

The SEC is outlining how its top cop let Bernard Madoff walk slide by and bilk billions from investors. An internal report paints Madoff as a master manipulator and powerful personality.

"YOUR $$$$$" co-host Christine Romans in New York.

Christine, is this correct here? Five times investigators looked at Madoff and he still managed to skate by? So, were investigators not experienced enough, not curious enough? Was Madoff smarter than a federal investigator?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Apparently, or they just didn't look. Or they didn't look at all, Tony.

I mean, actually, six complaints. Six significant, substantive complaints that raised red flags. I mean, complaints from everybody from a former investor who said he took all the money out because just didn't like the feel of it, and starting to poke around and just didn't like the feel of it.

Two newspaper articles written in 2001 that pretty much laid it all out and said this is too good to be true. I mean, you couldn't be giving these consistent returns.

And this document, this SEC internal audit, finds that the SEC knew about those newspaper articles and had read them. And the first indication they had that something might be amiss was in 1992 -- 1992, when this thing was allowed to continue.

So, this is what -- I guess this is in a nutshell. Despite numerous credible complaints, the SEC never properly investigated Madoff's trading and never took basic steps to determine if Madoff was operating a Ponzi scheme.

One time they did look into his - they did have an investigation, they looked into his trading, and they looked into it and were looking for completely the wrong things. They weren't looking to see if it was a Ponzi scheme, they were looking for other violations, but they weren't there, those other violations, because it wasn't even a legitimate business.

So, again and again, you saw these missteps. I don't even know if you can call them missteps, Tony. They were just AWOL. It's really a failure of Regulation 101.

Among the other findings, no inappropriate connection between the staff and Madoff. Remember there had been that story about how Madoff's niece had married an attorney for the SEC?

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

ROMANS: Well, this internal audit says no, nothing inappropriate there. The family didn't influence the investigation, although six complaints did raise -- any one of those complaints should have been big enough to warrant a thorough investigation, but they never verified Madoff's trading through a third party. That would have been an easy way for them to find something amiss.

They would have seen that he wasn't trading the volume that he said he was trading. And a thorough investigation was simply never performed.

Tony, in 2006, he sat down -- Madoff himself sat down with SEC investigators. And he came back, and he thought for sure he was going to be shut down the next Monday, and he wasn't. And then he wasn't shut down on Tuesday. He said this, he wasn't shut down on Wednesday.

And for two and a half years, he continued this scheme. In fact, using this as a reason to burnish his own reputation, saying, look, the SEC has taken...

HARRIS: I've been investigated. Look at me. I'm clean.

ROMANS: And I'm clean. And I'm clean. And it's really a big embarrassment.

The SEC chairwoman, Mary Shapiro, she says they are implementing their lessons learned. They have been cracking down on smaller Ponzi schemes since then.

You know, it helps if the market blows up and then, suddenly, a lot of these people can be exposed a little more easily. But they are -- I would say they're chastened, but I think that this is an embarrassment for this agency that will last a very long time.

HARRIS: Oh yes. Oh yes.

Christine, appreciate it. Thank you.

ROMANS: Sure.

HARRIS: More on this story.

Log on to our Web site for a special report on the long-running Bernard Madoff scandal. Just go to CNNMoney.com and click on "The Madoff Mess."

President Obama tries to retool his message and regain the momentum on health care reform. He goes before Congress next week, and the administration is in talks with a key Republican senator about a scaled-back version of health reform.

Let's get more on this. Jill Dougherty live from the White House with details.

And Jill, good to see you.

Do we know specifics on the nature of the White House talks with Senator Olympia Snowe?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do know some details, and they're coming from two sources who have knowledge of these behind-the-scenes negotiations with Olympia Snowe.

She, of course, is a moderate, and she's probably the only Republican who is willing to work with the president directly on whatever his health care plan will be. And what they're discussing is actually her idea.

It's called the Trigger Plan. And here's how it would work.

Initially, they would give insurance companies a chance to do some reform. Things like, let's say, pre-existing conditions. They'd get rid of pre-existing conditions, introduce other reforms. And there would be a period in which those insurance companies had to do that.

If by the deadline they did not do it, then the trigger would start, and that's when you would get to the public option. That's that very controversial thing.

In essence, they are kicking the can down the road a bit, putting it on hold, and saying not now for the public option, but maybe if the insurance companies don't reform, then we can introduce this. And the idea, Tony, is to hopefully bring some other moderate Republicans on board. But it does have the potential of angering some of the more liberal supporters of the president who really do like the public option and want it right now.

HARRIS: Jill, that is so interesting. So, the idea basically is, look, we have got this public option ready to go. If the insurance industry -- if you all in the insurance industry, don't make the reforms, cover more people, make it more affordable, provide better choices, there's a trigger here that would bring the public option not on the table for a discussion, but to the implementation phase.

DOUGHERTY: Right. And, of course, the White House believes that if you have that public option, it does pressure the insurance companies and ultimately brings about the type of reform that they want.

HARRIS: All right.

Jill Dougherty at the White House for us.

Jill, appreciate it. Thank you.

A top Democratic facing some tough questions in the make-or-break health care debate. The town hall meeting hosted by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer attracted a huge crowd with a wide range of concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you were on our local radio station, you said that you had not had a bill at that time. It was about three weeks ago. Have you taken time to reach a bill?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there anyone here who does not have health care and is against this bill?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this bill is so good, then would you commit right now at this town hall and in front of this whole audience to (INAUDIBLE)?

(APPLAUSE)

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Every member of Congress will have exactly the same choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. There you go, the back and forth. Just wanted to give you a flavor of that difficult, tricky, tough questions for Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer two nights ago in Maryland.

If you would like to learn more about the health care debate in the country right now, just check out CNN.com/healthcare. You can even find out about the closest town hall meeting to you, the key players in this debate, the different plans, and of course the controversial sticking points to the plans.

A new evacuation order for families north of Los Angeles. Just when will firefighters contain those wildfires?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Let's get to our top stories now.

We could learn more today about Jaycee Dugard, the California woman abducted at age 11 and held for 18 years. The Dugard family will speak to the media today at 1:00 Eastern.

CNN will, of course, bring you live coverage.

A laid-back cruise goes bad for one passenger. A man was rescued early today after falling from a Carnival Sensation cruise ship nearly 30 miles from Port St. Lucie. The man treaded water for more than an hour before a Disney cruise ship rescued him just after midnight.

Long lines outside the Jefferson County, Alabama, tax office. Apparently, not enough people to handle the work after more than 1,000 employees were laid off last month. The county is talking with Regions Financial Corporation about a loan so it can afford to recall the workers. Man. One county commissioner isn't sure that's the right course.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY HUMPHRYES, JEFFERSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER: I think we need to live within our budget until we really see clearly where we're going in the future. And borrowing more money to me is not a good step in that direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, the layoffs came after an Alabama court struck down a tax that provided the county with about a fourth of its revenues.

New information on the Los Angeles wildfire. Investigators are treating the site where it began as a crime scene. They say someone started the fire, but they don't know yet if it was an accident or arson.

Suddenly, fast progress against the wildfire burning in the Angeles National Forest. Crews say they're close but not quite as 50 percent containment.

Wow.

How did this happen?

CNN's Rob Marciano joining me from Los Angeles.

Rob, and talk about this. That is amazing progress. Obviously, weather conditions favorable for the firefight.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Weather conditions a little bit more favorable. It's still rather hot, still rather dry, but those two variables are becoming slightly more favorable as we go through time.

But you know, they have a lot of manpower on this thing. They've got over 4,000 people. They've got a lot of air support as well.

Can you see what's behind me?

HARRIS: Yes.

MARCIANO: Can you see this? You want to talk about air support? I mean, check this bad boy out.

HARRIS: That's a beast. MARCIANO: A 747 jumbo jet. We've dubbed this "The Big Kahuna" because it is completely trumps any aircraft that's fighting fires to date.

The biggest other one is a DC-10 which has about 12,000-gallon capacity. This puppy has a 20,000-gallon capacity, foam and retardant for the most part, and they like to lay it down ahead of the fire. That's 90 tons of firefighting artillery.

HARRIS: Wow.

MARCIANO: Well, they've got the auxiliary engines on right now. You can hear that, because they've got it on stand by.

But back here behind the wheels is where they actually drop the fire retardant. You've got four portals that shoot this thing out.

And what makes this different from your typical tanker that just unloads it by gravity, this is pressurized with some air, and they're allowed to actually work that stream a little bit more precisely. And that's what makes this thing so valuable on top of the side.

I want to show you something else.

Greg (ph), why don't you go back up around there?

Look at the size of these wheels. Can you imagine that? Oh my goodness. This thing is just unbelievable.

It costs you about $30,000 an hour to rent this thing. That does not include fuel, which will cost you about another $25,000. It doesn't include the retardant either. And that runs about $50,000.

This is the way they fill up the retardant. There's your 20,000 gallons. It comes through these pipes, takes about a half hour to turn this thing around from start to finish.

They attacked it a couple days ago with great success. This is the first time they've actually used it in a U.S. wildfire, but they've been waiting for the past few days to let the smoke clear. They may fly it later on today, Tony, but it certainly has helped the fight and one of the reasons that they've been able to contain this a little bit more in the last couple of days.

HARRIS: Yes. Thirty thousand dollars an hour to fly this, another $50,000 for everything you need for a state that is cash strapped. My goodness.

Rob Marciano for us.

Rob, appreciate it. Thank you.

Video now from a Los Angeles resident and CNN iReporter. His name is Tommy Yune.

He says he drove out to the Angeles National Forest before dawn and it looked like the fires had been put out from La Canada to Tujunga. I think I handled that OK. The fires tend to flare up later in the day with heat.

Yune says he was able to get about a half-mile from the fires before he hit a police roadblock. The choking smoke from the wildfires has spread as far east as Las Vegas, Denver.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Michael Jackson being interred in what may or may not be his final resting place. Only family and close friends are being allowed at tonight's ceremony inside the ornate great mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery near Los Angeles. The mausoleum reopens to the public tomorrow. This comes one month after a lavish televised memorial was held for Jackson, who died June 25th.

About half of all Americans consider themselves Michael Jackson fans. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows differences in race and age.

Forty-four percent of whites say yes, they're fans. Fifty-four percent say no, compared to 81 percent of blacks who say they're fans and 15 percent who say no.

Looking at the generational divide, 61 percent of people under 50 are fans of Michael Jackson. Only 37 percent of folks 50 and older say they're fans.

If you like him, you are going to love this. CNN presents "Michael Jackson: Man in the Mirror." Our Don Lemon takes an in-depth look at his life and legacy, his childhood, his music, his finances, and his influence, considerable influence, this Saturday night, 8:00 Eastern Time.

The popularity of social networks is influencing the doctor/patient relationship. So, should you be Facebook friends with your doctor?

Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen examines that question in today's "Empowered Patient" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: On Facebook, you friend your high school friends, your college chums. Well, what about friending your doctor?

In this week's "Empowered Patient," we talk about whether or not you should friend your doctor on Facebook and whether or not your doctor will friend you back.

We introduce you to Dr. William Cooper, who has more than 700 fans on Facebook, and many of them his patients and other people's patients, and he says he answers their questions right there on Facebook, including questions from his patient Walter Jordan.

Jordan says he likes having the accessibility to his doctor. He doesn't have to go through secretaries and play phone tag. He gets to communicate with his doctor directly.

So, in this week's column, we talk about how you can try to Facebook with your doctor, if that's something you want to do. Not all doctors are open to it, so you may have to use a few strategies.

Plus, we talk about how to communicate in general electronically with your doctor. Not all doctors are enthusiastic about the idea.

But, for more ideas on communicating electronically with your doctor, go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient.

For "Empowered Patient," I'm Elizabeth Cohen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Taking matters into your own hands. Find out what happens when some people choose the black market to get a new kidney.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Every country in the world but one, and that's Iran, prohibits organ trafficking, but kidneys remain big business for brokers and transplant tourists. CNN's Drew Griffin has part two of his special investigations unit report, "Secret Harvest."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this Tel Aviv hospital room, you can see just how desperate some Israelis are for kidneys. Ricki Shai's mother is nearly unresponsive, blind, her diabetes slowly killing her. She's been on a national kidney waiting list for years.

Sitting beside her, Shai's (ph) father, Yechezekel (ph), also a diabetic, who decided not to wait for a kidney of his own and took matters into his own hands.

RICKI SHAI, TRANSPLANT PATIENT'S DAUGHTER: My father didn't want to be like my mother.

GRIFFIN: So in April, Yechezekel (ph) cut a deal with a man who buys and sells kidneys, a kidney broker who, for $100,000, promised new life.

(on camera): A broker?

SHAI: Yes a broker. He's a killer (ph). He went to him and suggested that two -- for two days he become a new man. "Come with me, two days, pay $100,000."

GRIFFIN: Come with me?

SHAI: Yes.

GRIFFIN: To China?

SHAI: To China.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Once in China, Shai says her father was taken to a rural hospital. A teenage girl was waiting there, the broker paying $5,000 for the kidney that would go to Yechezekel (ph).

The surgery went poorly. Shai captured these images on her phone of her father and what she described as a filthy hospital. The donor, Shai says, died shortly after surgery. No one knows why.

SHAI: She was 18 years. She was just a child. And I didn't understood that they give him (ph) $5,000 for her kidney. She died.

GRIFFIN: The broker has yet to face any sanctions.

Until just last year, the entire transaction was not only legal in Israel, but some state-sponsored health insurance actually paid.

Nancy Sheper-Hughes studies the organ trade and says Israel has become a sort of ground zero for both legal and illegal transactions. Sheper-Hughes says that as medicine mastered the science of kidney transplant, the numbers of procedures grew. But in Israel, so, too, did the belief the best way to treat kidney disease was to find a new one.

NANCY SHEPER-HUGHES, STUDIES ORGAN TRADER: There's a belief, of course, that not only is transplant better than dialysis, but that you want a living donor, because it's better than a kidney that was on ice or a kidney that was under a truck.

GRIFFIN: This Israeli kidney broker insists he operates legally because he no longer finds kidneys for clients but lets clients find their own. But he still wants his face hidden.

He says Israelis have a phrase that they don't like to, quote, "weaken their own." So when his own mother needed a kidney, she would not even consider the one her son wanted to give her.

(on camera): Your mother, you said, she wouldn't dare take a kidney from her son?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

GRIFFIN: But she would take a kidney from a person she will never know in China?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. What's so strange about that?

GRIFFIN: It says that the rich person has more of a right to their health and their life than the poor person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is reality. This is how it happens. GRIFFIN (voice-over): His experience finding a kidney for his mom in China was so easy, he went into the business himself, making $5,000 a deal. He says he has arranged for nearly 220 transplants, profiting more than $1 million.

A new Israeli law banning brokering of kidneys has made it trickier, but says if a patient arrives at his door with a donor claiming to be a relative, he can easily send them overseas, no questions asked.

(on camera): Are they really relatives?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I don't care. I don't deal with that.

GRIFFIN: And in Israel, relatives are relatively easy to find, especially when you have poor emigres, recently arrived, in quick need of cash, and patients willing to pay.

Brokers can have these newly acquainted family members on an operating table anywhere in the world within weeks.

(voice-over): Ricki Shai says in the search for a new kidney, her father lost $100,000 of borrowed money, his pride, and like his donor, is now losing his life. His new kidney is failing.

SHAI: My family is breaking.

GRIFFIN: The family is breaking. But Shai says she has no doubt the organ broker is still in business.

(on camera): We did contact the hospital in China where the Shais say this surgery took place, and our bureau chief there told us that what the hospital reported back was that hospital did not do any surgeries on foreigners. That was their reaction to this report.

HARRIS: Drew, in wider view of this, looks, laws, prohibitions not the issue here. There are plenty of laws to prohibit this kind of activity. It seems to me the real issue then is how do you manage a situation where you've got desperate people who are sick with lots of money and desperate people who have the organ, the kidney in this case, who are willing to trade a kidney for the money?

GRIFFIN: And the answer is, it's almost impossible. It's almost impossible, which is why now there's a lot of discussion, and it has been going on for a couple years now, about some kind of international or national marketplace where if somebody really does want to sell their kidney, that somehow there could be some entity, some health organization or governmental organization that could establish a price, establish the rigors of treatment and follow-up treatment so that if these two desperate sides do come together, that one side does not have the benefit of the other without just compensation.

HARRIS: There's clearly a market on both sides for this. So, how do you manage it? That then becomes the real question.

GRIFFIN: Right.

HARRIS: Yes.

Good stuff, Drew. Appreciate it. Thank you.

More on this CNN investigation on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Drew Griffin again back. He returns with part three of his series, "Secret Harvest," 10:00 Eastern only on CNN.

Got to tell you, it has been an exhausting week, but firefighters in southern California are reporting progress against a huge wildfire north of Los Angeles. The so-called station fire is now about 50 percent contained -- that's a big number -- 50 percent contained after burning more than 140,000 acres. Investigators are trying to determine if it was intentionally set.

You know, it seems the H1N1 flu virus is taking its toll on the very federal agency tracking the illness. A Centers for Disease Control spokesman says some employees there have come down with the swine flu. The agency is holding a news conference in about 20 minutes to update the number of H1N1 cases.

Domestic violence happens every day, every hour, nearly every second. But some victims refuse to call for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to protect ourselves, and we're trying to protect the African-American community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We are taking an in-depth look right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The singer Chris Brown, his interview with our Larry King has many people pretty fired up. Have you listened to the radio on your way to work or school today? Talk about fired up. Brown tried to explain what happened the night he beat up his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": When you look at this, do you feel like you're looking at someone else?

CHRIS BROWN, SINGER: Yes. From the outside looking in. When you see it on TV, when they're saying this, when they're saying that.

KING: Well, you punched her a number of times. You threatened to beat the blank out of her. When you got home, also said you warned you were going to kill her. You bit her on the ear and -- you hear all that. Obviously, this is always the disparagement here, (INAUDIBLE), you don't feel like a violent person at all. In fact, you appear rather calm, rather nice. So, what happened to you, do you think?

BROWN: Well, may I just say, I guess that night is just one of the nights I wish I could just take back. And I really regret and feel totally ashamed of what I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So we want to hear from you. How did Chris Brown come across in that interview with Larry? Why don't you do this. You can watch it in its entirety on our blog at CNN.com/tony.

Maybe, let's see, watch us on television, of course, but then over the computer, crack open a laptop, and you can watch the interview in its entirety. Then, if you would, send us your comments. We will air some of them next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Would you believe nearly one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime? So, why do so many keep silent? Why do they stay in abusive situations?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to protect ourselves, and we're trying to protect the African-American community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: This woman's story will open your eyes. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Singer Chris Brown has been ordered to clean up graffiti and trash for community service for beating up Rihanna. His case forcing many to focus on the bigger problem of black women in abusive relationships. Why is it so prevalent?

Our Randi Kaye went looking for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This woman lived a nightmare for six long years. Day in and day out, she was abused by her husband, emotionally, physically and sexually.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would want to have sex, and I'd say no. And then I would have to, I would say, fight for my life to try and keep him from raping me.

KAYE: Like so many women, she stayed in the relationship. She had four children and wanted to keep her family together.

(on camera): How bad did it get?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After I left him, he took a crowbar, and he broke into the house. And I was asleep, and when I woke up, he was standing at the door with a crowbar, and he said, I should hit you with this.

KAYE (voice-over): She never reported her husband's abuse, and he was never arrested or charged, which is why we're not identifying her.

(on camera): Help me understand why you didn't go to the police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For an African-American woman to call the police on an African-American man, it would be like sending another brother to jail, to prison, and not believing that they would get the right treatment from the police.

KAYE (voice-over): That statement might sound bizarre to some, but it's not uncommon in the African-American community. And experts say it makes a bad problem worse.

(on camera): Just how prevalent is domestic violence among African-American women? A study by the Department of Justice from 2001 to 2005 found domestic abuse among black women 25 percent higher than white women. In fact, it was higher than women of all other races except Native Americans.

(voice-over): Ruth Slaughter has worked with survivors of domestic violence for more than 30 years, mainly in the African- American community. Women stay in abusive relationships, she says, because they're in denial.

RUTH SLAUGHTER, HELPS SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: He's going to get better. It's only this one time. And when he apologizes and says that he's sorry, you hope that this will be the last time, and you believe him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're supposed to be the strong, you know, women able to bear anything. That's one of the reasons that we endure the abuse more -- well, reported abuse, more than others, because we're trying to protect ourselves, and we're trying to protect the African-American community.

KAYE: In the celebrity case of Chris Brown and his girlfriend, Rihanna, police say Brown shoved her head against the passenger window and continued to punch her in the face, even threatened to kill her. Brown pleaded guilty and publicly apologized in this video posted on YouTube.

BROWN: I have told Rihanna countless times, and I'm telling you today, that I'm truly, truly sorry.

KAYE: But with singer Chris Brown sentenced to probation and community service for doing this to a woman, this victim says it sends the wrong message.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole problem with domestic abuse perpetrators is a lack of accountability. That's not enough accountability and responsibility for him. I think the message needs to be a little stronger. KAYE: This woman eventually got the message. She divorced her abuser. Today, she counsels other women who are in abusive relationships, trying to stop the violence, trying to end the denial.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And here's what we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

More than $7.5 billion has gone into Afghanistan to rebuild the country. Is the Taliban getting a cut? An investigation is under way. We have a guest to talk about that.

Plus, more and more children are coming down with the swine flu. So, what should you do when your child starts showing symptoms? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some prudent advice in the noon Eastern hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Impacting your world, the severe drought in East Africa putting a death grip on Kenya. The World Food Programme says it needs to help feed almost 4 million people across the country. Our David McKenzie takes us to Kenya's heartland for a close look at the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For years, Kenya's pasturists (ph) escaped to Mount Kenya to find water and pasture. But this year, they found only death. Rotting cattle dot the forest floor. They succumbed to cold, altitude and disease, a feast only for the flies.

(on camera): The slopes of Mount Kenya are literally littered with hundreds of dead cattle. Because of years of successive drought in Kenya, people are losing their livelihoods.

(voice-over): Paragon Lessinger (ph) brought his cattle here five months ago. There was nothing for them to eat in his Rift Valley home, so he left his family depending on food aid and trekked more than 100 miles with his 200 animals. Now, only 40 are left.

"Either I stay at home or I come here. It's all the same," he says. "All that you'll get is death."

The pasturists still try to coax their animals to life, their primary source of wealth decimated to a few head of cattle. And aid agencies are struggling to cope with the nearly 4 million they'll need to feed.

GABRIELLE MENEZES, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: We realize the world economic crisis has affected the amount that countries can give to us, but at the same time we're seeing an awful situation in Kenya where if we don't start feeding people now, things are only going to get worse.

MCKENZIE: For Kenya's farmers, it is far worse. Eunice Wairimu's crop should be head height now and ready for harvest. But she can only use the stems for animal feed. And the potatoes are too small to eat. This is her fourth successive crop failure.

"We are proud about our land, and we love our land," she says. "But we have become tired of trying to farm, because we are never producing anything."

So, this once-proud farmer depends on hand-outs, but aid agencies can't always keep up. Now, she only has one meal left for the family.

Hope is now crushed for many Kenyan farmers. Some have given up on producing food entirely, breaking rocks in a nearby quarry. The back-breaking work will earn them less than a dollar a day.

But they say that doing something is always better than nothing. Even if decent rains fall in the coming weeks, the damage has already been done. A change in climate and rising food prices could lead to many generations of suffering.

David McKenzie, CNN, Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You can do your part to help the millions of Kenyans facing this food crisis. Find out how by logging on to CNN.com/impact.

President Obama tries to resuscitate a health care reform effort in critical condition. He plans a State of the Union-style speech before Congress next week. And the administration has stepped up talks with a key Republican about a scaled-back version of health care reform.

Jill Dougherty live from the White House. And, Jill, what can you tell us about this plan the president is considering?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, we're getting this from sources who are familiar with these negotiations, and they're taking place with Senator Olympia Snowe. Now, she's a moderate Republican, and she's probably the only Republican who's willing at this point to work with the president on his health care reform bill.

How would it work? Well, it's called the trigger plan, for lack of a better term. And what would happen is, you would still have a reform bill. It would be smaller than President Obama actually wanted.

But it would include insurance reforms, things like getting rid of pre-existing conditions requirements, things like that. There would be a timeline. And if the insurance companies did not bring in to effect those reforms, then it would trigger the public option. And the public option, as we all know, is one of the most controversial things.

So, it would be pushed down the road. It would be put off. But it would be there in case the insurance companies didn't do what the president is hoping they would do.

And, Tony, the whole rationale here is to try to get some type of bill. The president really wants it. He knows that he's very vulnerable right now -- poll numbers, et cetera, and the Democrats are very vulnerable. So he's hoping that he could get some moderate Republicans to go along with this.

HARRIS: Yes.

DOUGHERTY: The possibility, though, is that he could damage himself with the liberal Democrats who do want the public option.

HARRIS: Well, we will see how -- what the reaction is to this new approach throughout the days to come. All right, Jill Dougherty at the White House for us. Jill appreciate it, thank you.