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Health Care on the Line; Pink Ribbon Parade for Jaycee Dugard; New York School Ready for H1N1
Aired September 06, 2009 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: Hi. I'm Richard Lui, in for Don Lemon. We've heard a lot of talk, even some shouting, in the months-long debate over health care reform, and it's all come down to this -- a primetime presidential address to Congress with President Obama's signature tour issue on the line here.
The President's aides, allies, and opponents had a lot to say today on the Sunday talk shows. Our Kate Bolduan has the latest from Washington.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Richard, lawmakers and the American public are looking for details from President Obama and this week's speech all about selling health care reform may also be about pitching the message, "Let's take what we can get now."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): President Obama returns from vacation to the crucial week ahead in the health care debate. Top White House aides insist the President will spell out his specifics for reform when he speaks Wednesday to a joint session of Congress.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They'll leave that speech knowing exactly where the President stands, exactly what he thinks we have to do to get health care done.
At the same time CNN has learned the White House is quietly talking about drafting its own health care bill; a kind of contingency legislation and is leaning towards a plan that would trigger a public insurance option only if health care reform fails to meet certain goals. White House officials dodged questions Sunday about whether the President would sign a bill that doesn't include a public option.
DAVID AXELROD, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: He believes the public option is a good tool. Now, it shouldn't define the whole health care debate, however.
BOLDUAN: It's a contentious issue that has the White House squeezed from the right and the left.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: We need credible, comprehensive, universal health care with a good robust public option now.
GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R), MINNESOTA: I think if the Democrats embrace the public option, even in the form of the trigger, they're going to shoot themselves in the foot. BOLDUAN: And political analysts say there's a lot riding on the President's short visit this week to Capitol Hill.
STU ROTHENBERG, POLITICAL ANALYST: He can talk about various alternatives and ideas, but at the end of the speech, it seems to me, folks on Capitol Hill and around the country have to have a much clearer idea what kind of a bill he feels he needs to sign.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Recent numbers show the President may have some hard work ahead there.
According to a CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll a majority of Americans say they feel more secure under the current health care system than with the President's proposal -- Richard.
LUI: Kate Bolduan at the White House. Thank you so much.
And a quick reminder for you, CNN will carry the President's health care reform address to Congress live Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern.
One of President Obama's advisers is stepping down after signing a petition in 2004 that suggested high level government officials let the 9/11 attacks happen. Van Jones was the President's adviser on green jobs.
An administration source says Jones did not read the petition carefully. Jones also drew fire for this controversial comment about Republicans back in February. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How were the Republicans able to push things through when they had less than 60 senators but somehow we can't?
VAN JONES, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Well, the answer to that is they're (BLEEP).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Jones did apologize, but later in his resignation statement it said, quote, "On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide," end quote.
Jones has a long background, by the way, of environmental and legal activism. He founded Green for All, a group that promotes green jobs, and, also, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which focuses on stopping violence in lower income communities.
Time magazine named Jones as one of its environmental heroes back in 2008. He is also a 1993 graduate from Yale Law School.
Now, another big test here for the White House, other than that, quieting the fury over President Obama's planned speech to the nation's school kids. Some parents say Tuesday's address will amount to indoctrination, not education.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER SEITER, TEA PARTY PROTESTER: I'm not happy about it. They are totally disregarding what the parents have the right to do in what their children should be seeing, and it's totally cutting the parent out of the picture.
JULIA FARMER, TEA PARTY PROTESTER: This is crossing a line, and I'm going to use an ugly word right now, but I believe a fascist line that the President has no right whatsoever to go into these Pre-K to Sixth Grade children and try to somehow sell his agenda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Well, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is responding to that calling those complaints, quote, "silly." Today he admitted the original lesson plan was flawed when it called for students to write the President about how to meet his education goals. That section has since been changed and Secretary Duncan says parents can decide if they want their kids to take part.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: The President's whole speech is about asking students to take personal responsibility for their education, really challenge them to work hard every day, to set goals, have a strong work ethic, and I think this is a really important message.
It's absolutely voluntary. No one is mandating this. Folks can watch it in school. They can watch it at night with their families. They can watch it two months from now or they can never watch it. Whatever they want to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: On that note, you don't have to be in a school to catch the President's speech to the kids. Just tune in to CNN. We plan to carry it live at noon, Eastern, right here on Tuesday.
The President's go-to man on the economy is back on the world's stage in London reviving the global economy and curbing banker bonuses top the agenda at this weekend's meeting of G-20 finance ministers. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was among the group which represents the world's 20 largest and fastest growing economies.
In an exclusive interview with our Richard Quest, Geithner says the world economy is stabilizing, but we still have some work to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: We have brought the world economy back from the edge of the abyss and you are starting to see the necessary conditions for a recovery. But, we don't have a recovery yet. We have growth on the way, but we don't yet have the conditions for a self-sustaining recovery led by private demand, which is what we're all committed to achieve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: The G-20 ministers also took on the issue of those huge bonuses for bankers. They agreed on a framework for curbing the bonues, but the details will have to be worked out at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh later this month.
South Lake Tahoe, it's a small town in California if you've been there. When 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard disappeared 18 years ago, it hit everybody hard there. Many people took it personally and mourned her loss and presumed death.
Today the community, though, is awash in pink, a joyful celebration that Jaycee is alive and has been reunited with her family.
CNN's Kara Finnstrom is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A sea of pink, girls walking arm in arm. A hometown telling Jaycee Dugard they love her. It's all so familiar.
AMELIA EDWARDS, JAYCEE DUGARD'S CHILDHOOD FRIEND: It's very overwhelming. It's a good overwhelming.
FINNSTROM: Jaycee's childhood friend, Amelia Edwards, walked this route on the tenth anniversary of Jaycee's disappearance. Now eight years later this community is walking it backwards. Symbolizing they've come full circle and Jaycee has come home.
EDWARDS: To be able to walk backwards in a parade because your friend is found alive.
FINNSTROM: In the years since Jaycee vanished this community has held its children tighter.
EDWARDS: We were constantly trying to find out where she is and reach out for her hand.
FINNSTROM: That fear, even more real for Edwards. The week before Dugard disappeared, Edwards says she told her parents a car with a man and woman inside followed her home from the bus stop.
EDWARDS: I remember hearing the tire tracks pull on to the dirt road behind me, and freaked me out, and I remember walking faster, hearing the tires go faster. That made me even more scared, and so then I ran home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just thought it was a 10-year-old that's being overly dramatic and didn't really believe her, actually. FINNSTROM: Edwards says at the time she immediately recognized sketches of the car and the woman suspected of involvement in Jaycee Dugard's disappearance.
EDWARDS: At 11 years old it was my worst nightmare coming true. My nom mom stated, you know, it's the boogie man coming to life.
FINNSTROM: Edwards needed to do something.
EDWARDS: This is one of the original pink ribbons.
FINNSTROM: She started what became a massive pink ribbon campaign. Pink was Jaycee's favorite color. 18 years later...
EDWARDS: We're getting lost in a sea of pink. It's the most beautiful thing I think I have ever seen.
FINNSTROM: Jaycee Dugard is not here with them, but Edwards now knows somewhere that missing girl, now a free woman, just may see and feel their joy.
Kara Finnstrom for CNN, South Lake Tahoe, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: A shocking crime in South Georgia; eight people brutally killed. Now the man who made the 911 call has been charged with murder.
Schools across the nation preparing to handle the spread of the H1N1 virus. We'll hear from a young student who was one of the first to get swine flu in this country.
And on this Labor Day weekend we'll introduce you to the Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis as we kick off our new series, "Pioneros: Latino Firsts."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Police say a Louisiana man shot his wife, son, and 2-year-old grandson to death and then killed himself. This happened Saturday night in Holden, Louisiana, near Baton Rouge. Police say it was the tragic culmination of an ongoing dispute between the shooter and his wife. The suspect's pregnant daughter-in-law was also shot. She survived and gave birth to her baby three months early.
A coroner in Pennsylvania is saying more tests are needed to determine what killed a 4-year-old boy found dead in a septic tank. The body of Wyatt Smitsky was discovered yesterday on a neighbor's property in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Volunteers have been searching for him after he wandered away from his home Friday night.
Today's autopsy was inconclusive. Nevertheless, police are eating the case as a homicide saying the septic tank cover was too heavy for the boy to lift by himself.
Seven of the eight victims brutally killed last weekend in Brunswick, Georgia have now been buried; 22-year-old Guy Heinze Jr., a family member, now faces eight counts of first degree murder. A ninth victim, a 3-year-old boy, is hospitalized with critical injuries.
CNN's Sean Callebs was at the mass funeral.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Loved ones are saying good-bye to eight people brutally killed in a mobile home in the small Georgia coastal town of Brunswick. Family members told me they were floored when authorities told them 22-year-old Guy Heinze Jr. had been charged with all eight murders.
He stands accused of killing his own father, five other relatives, and two family friends. The killings have shocked this region.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the most heinous crime we've ever had in the community.
CALLEBS: A week ago Guy Heinze Jr., the man now charged in the killings, made this frantic 911 call after he claimed he discovered the bodies.
GUY HEINZE JR., CHARGED WITH 8 MURDERS: My whole family's dead.
CALLEBS: Something wasn't right. After police arrived they charged Heinze with possession of drugs, obstruction of justice, and tampering with evidence for allegedly taking a shotgun from the mobile home and hiding it in a car.
At the time police said he was not a suspect. Two days later his Attorney Ron Harrison said his client is not a killer.
RON HARRISON, ATTORNEY FOR GUY HEINZE JR.: Mr. Heinze denies his involvement in the murders.
CALLEBS: Has he been cooperating?
HARRISON: He has been cooperating and will continue to cooperate.
CALLEBS: Wednesday a judge set Heinze's bond at $25,000. Then Friday, Heinze he walked out of the county jail only to be arrested two hours later and charged with murder.
CHIEF MATT DOERING, GLYNN COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Right away this afternoon, two pieces of information came forward to us. We took those two pieces of information, compared it to the whole of all the evidence we collected all weeklong. We were satisfied.
CALLEBS: Police won't say what this new evidence is or reveal a possible motive.
It doesn't make sense to a shocked and grieving family who can only say good-bye to the close knit relatives who shared a violent death.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Brunswick, Georgia. (END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: And now to big trouble for pro football star Sean Merriman of the San Diego Chargers. His girlfriend reality TV star Tila Tequila claims that Merriman choked and physically restrained her from leaving his San Diego home before dawn this morning.
Police arrested the 25-year-old linebacker, and he was booked into jail on one count of battery and one count of false imprisonment. Tequila stars in an MTV reality dating show.
One Marine is killed in Afghanistan and the Associated Press's decision to release a photo showing his injuries is fueling protests from the Pentagon.
Also, Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer and the start of school in many places across the country. We'll show you what's being done to protect your kids from the spread of swine flu in the classroom.
Plus, some Cape Cod beaches are closed, but the tourists are still flocking hoping to catch a glimpse of a great white shark.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: The massive blaze burning above Los Angeles is now more than 50 percent contained. Over the past 11 days that huge fire has blackened more than 250 square miles and cost about $40 million. Two firefighters have died battling the inferno. Nearly 80 homes have been lost.
Drivers in the bay area might have a tough commute on Tuesday morning. A major crack was discovered on the heavily traveled San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. It was found as crews were swapping out a span of the bridge, which is shown in this time-lapsed video. Engineers say they don't yet know how long it will take to fix this crack, but it's possible the bridge will not reopen on Tuesday as planned. A lot of drivers are not going to like that.
Great white sharks off the coast of Massachusetts have kept beaches closed to swimmers in the city of Chatham. But rather than being terrified, tourists, residents and biologists are eager to see and study the giant fish. It's actually been a boon to local business too. And two of the great whites have been tagged with electronic devices so that researchers can track their movements as they move about. It's the first time that great whites have been tagged in the Atlantic.
Let's get over to Jacqui Jeras right now to talk about weather. Before, when you and I were talking we were concerned about tornado warnings.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the tornado warning which was in effect just north of the Nashville area, Richard, has now expired, but there's still some heavy thunderstorms west of town especially right along I-40 here. This is all pushing eastward, and there's also some lightning with this, so you are going to want to stay inside until these storms pass. And it could be well over an hour before these move on through. So, unfortunately, not going to mix well if you are trying to do the barbecue at this time.
We also have some widespread showers and thundershowers across Louisiana to the lower Mississippi Valley here. Even into the panhandle of Florida; heavy downpours and some pounding (ph) on the roadway so travel is not all that great at this time.
We're also looking at some heavy rain at times even north of Nashville up towards Louisville. And then we're looking at some rain across parts of the Appalachians. Much of the rest of the country is doing ok.
Of course, you know, the airports, for the most part, have been very quiet; only one delay at JFK right now. 15 minutes departure delays; that's it -- Atlanta, of course, a big airport hub. We're having more problems on the roadways due to all of the events that have been going on.
Dragon Khan (ph) is in town for the big convention here, and at this hour they are trying to break the greatest world record of so many people doing the "Thriller" dance.
LUI: Oh, man.
JERAS: Which we were hoping we could see that in the park, but apparently they're doing that inside, Richard.
LUI: They're warming up right now. It's always fun. You got your moves down, I can see.
JERAS: I know, I was hoping to see some of this, weren't you?
LUI: Yes. So much fun.
JERAS: Great weather tomorrow with the exception of the Ohio Valley. This will be the big focus for travel delays and a lot of wet weather. Everybody else, pretty good.
LUI: Yes. The "Beat It" move is also going to be -- like this.
JERAS: You can do that one. Yes.
Good stuff.
LUI: I'm not going to do that to you. Jacqui Jeras, thank you.
The chief of the Centers for Disease Control says the kids will get the swine flu vaccine when it's ready. Dr. Thomas Reiden today told our John King today that health officials are very confident in the safety of the shot, which is supposed to be ready next month.
More than 590 people have died from the virus since the spring, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Another 9,000 have been hospitalized. A private catholic school in New York is well prepared for a swine flu outbreak, because it's already been through one.
Here's CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): sisters Amrita and Priti Sandhu (ph) are excited about going back to school, except for one thing, the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.
AMRITA SANDHU, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: I was nauseous, threw up, body chills, fever.
CANDIOTTI: Amrita has the dubious distinction of being among the first people in the country to get the swine flu last spring at New York's epicenter, St. Francis Prep School.
A. SANDHU: As soon as I say prep, people say, oh, the swine school.
CANDIOTTI: The school says it's as ready as possible for opening day. The building was scrubbed down last spring. Now hand sanitizers are in the cafeteria and every bathroom.
The high school's principal is teaching other schools how to handle an outbreak.
(on camera): Are you worried?
BRO. LEONARD CONWAY, PRINCIPAL, ST. FRANCIS PREP: Well, I am worried. Some of the experts are saying that since so many kids had the flu here that they've probably have built up an immunity to it.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): But this school isn't taking any chances. School assemblies will remind kids how to protect themselves. In the event an outbreak, sick kids will be temporarily isolated in the auditorium.
MARY PAMPAS (PH), SCHOOL NURSE: There were kids around the bend waiting to get in.
CANDIOTTI: School Nurse Mary Pampas knows firsthand about a quick response. When the swine flu hit, the school's phone lines were jammed. Security guards had to help take temperatures.
(on camera): At the same time a lot of students showed up at once here in the nurse's office. This year they're going to be using these strip thermometers. Pretty easy to use; you just peel off the back and put it on your forehead.
This is Brian. And it will register the temperature just like that. The temperature glows, but is every school this prepared?
PAMPAS: My biggest fear is that it would maybe be in the school where there was no nurse and, you know, it would be chaos for those kids. CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Some schools can't afford nurses. Nationwide Vermont has the best nurse to student ratio; one nurse for every 275 students. In Utah it jumps to one nurse for every 4,900 students.
But how to prevent an outbreak? In New York City, elementary students will be offered free swine flu vaccines when they're ready next month.
(on camera): Plan on getting the vaccine?
PRITI SANDHU, STUDENT: I will definitely get it.
A. SANDHU: I'm just hoping that it doesn't -- like, nothing like this happens again this year or any year.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: Snapshots from a war zone: a bloody photo of a dying marine is drawing battle lines between the parents and the media and the Pentagon.
Families ripped apart by terrorism. Do the victims deserve compensation? The British Prime Minister never fought for it until now.
And she's a pioneer in a White House that's already breaking down barriers. How Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is helping other Latinas to follow in her footsteps.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Election officials in Afghanistan say ballots from nearly 450 polling stations will not be counted from last month's presidential election. The election commission did not say why it was tossing out those ballots, but it has been fielding thousands of allegations of voter-tampering and fraud since the polls had closed. So far about three-quarters of the country's votes have been counted. President Hamid Karzai is closing in on the 50 percent minimum that is needed to win re-election in that country. Now, his closest challenger here Abdullah Abdullah has tallied slightly more than 30 percent of the vote so far, too.
A U.S. service member was killed today in Afghanistan. The American was the victim of an insurgent attack in the eastern part of the country. Meanwhile, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says he is convinced civilians were among those killed in a NATO air strike.
Now, the strike in northern Afghanistan killed at least 90 people. It came after two tanker trucks were hijacked late Thursday by the Taliban. Afghans were attempting to siphon fuel from the trucks when they were hit. This all comes on the heels of the deadliest month yet for U.S. troops; 52 died in August.
Now the new controversy involving a photograph of a U.S. Marine killed in Afghanistan last month. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the Taliban ambushing a Marine patrol last month, a rocket-propelled grenade ripped into Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard. The Associated Press snapped a picture of him, mortally wounded and has now released it against the family's wishes.
JOHN BERNARD, SON KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN (via telephone): I can promise you, if it was their son or daughter, they wouldn't do it.
LAWRENCE: On the phone I spoke with Corporal Bernard's father.
BERNARD: I think they were given a privilege by being assigned to that specific unit, and that they were privileged to be there when my son was called home, and I think they abused that trust.
LAWRENCE: Defense Secretary Robert Gates, himself, quote, begged the AP not to release it, and in a letter to the company's president called the decision appalling. The controversy comes just as President Obama considers the possibility of deploying more American troops to Afghanistan.
The photo was actually one of many captured by a photographer embedded in Corporal Bernard's unit, including later scenes of the fellow Marines honoring him. The AP says Bernard's death shows his sacrifice for his country. And releasing the photo was not an easy decision. Quote, "We feel it is our journalistic duty to show the reality of the war there. However, unpleasant and brutal that sometimes is."
CNN has chosen not to show the photo in AP video showing similar images out of respect to the wishes of the family. Some newspapers ran it. Others refused to.
One media critic says he would not have run the photo, but...
DAVID ZURAWIK, BALTIMORE SUN: That's exactly why some younger people say they don't consume the mainstream media and they go online is they don't want gate keepers and filters and people telling them what they should see.
LAWRENCE (on camera): The picture is just one part of a nearly 2,000 word story that the AP told. It includes an interview with the corporal's father, an ex-Marine who claimed about the military's rules of engagement. He felt that protecting Afghans was putting American troops at unnecessary risk.
John Bernard told me he wrote those letters of complaints just three weeks before his son was ambushed.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown never pressed Libya to compensate the victims of IRA terrorism, according to new documents released today. But he says all that all changes now. Facing outrage from survivors, Brown is pledging to set up diplomatic meetings with the Libyan government to negotiate deals. Libya is suspected of arming the attackers with explosives. Brown says he has been reluctant to demand compensation before because of Libya's about- face on terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: In the last few years our priority has been to ensure that Libya comes in and supports the fight against terrorism instead of sponsoring terrorism and gives up its nuclear weapons. And as Libya has renounced nuclear weapons and terrorism, our relationship has changed, and I said last week it is these concerns, security and terrorism, not oil or commercial interests, that have been the dominant feature of our relationship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Moving now to the dying Lockerbie bomber and why he was recently released from prison in the U.K., the charge that a back door oil deal may have been greased the wheels here are gaining some traction. Abdulbasset al-Megrahi received a hero's welcome in his home country last month. He was convicted of bombing an airplane back in 1988, killing 270 people.
Britain's justice secretary was quoted saying that oil and trade agreements with Libya did play a part in the release talks, but his office is now strongly denying that statement. The son of Libya's leader, Moammar Ghadafi, sat down exclusively with senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. He says it's all politics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAIF GADHAFI, SON OF MOAMMAR GADHAFI: It was a package. (INAUDIBLE) time. And we signed many agreements and many deals. We put them together in one package. And one of them was the PTA. But it's normal to negotiate and to, you know, to negotiate and to argue with each other. It's politics.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Libya put pressure on the British government to release Mr. Megrahi, otherwise there would be problems with trade?
GADHAFI: We haven't mentioned this. We've talked all the time about the PTA, prisoner transfer agreement. All the time. There was no mention of Mr. Megrahi, until they said but it should be mentioned that Mr. Megrahi is excluded. And then we said no. And we were very angry.
ROBERTSON: And that anger translated into -
GADHAFI: We were very, very angry. That's unacceptable.
ROBERTSON: What did you say to them?
GADHAFI: We said we are not going to sign the PTA if you're going to mention Mr. Megrahi. It's from an agreement. It's a general agreement. And there should be no names in the agreement. Because it's not the common practice in politics to mention names in agreements between governments. And they said, yes, OK. You are right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: Now, on Wednesday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted "there was no conspiracy, no coverup, and no double dealing. No deal on oil" over the bomber's release.
We move now to the daughter of immigrants. The first to graduate college in her family and now she's serving in President Obama's cabinet. We'll introduce you to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in our new series, "Pioneros, Latino Firsts."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LUI: Well, starting tonight here in the NEWSROOM we're profiling Latinos who overcame obstacles and shattered stereotypes to make some history. It's part of our new series "Pioneros, Latino Firsts." Our focus tonight is Hilda Solis, the nation's first Latina labor secretary. She spoke with CNN's Brianna Keilar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILDA SOLIS, LABOR SECRETARY: So help me god.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: God love you.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Secretary, what o you think have where you are today?
SOLIS: It's amazing. Just really amazing to be here, to be seated as a cabinet member and the first Latina in the Obama administration, and it's a dream.
KEILAR: When you received the call from, well, then president-elect Obama, what was your first thought? Knowing that this opportunity was open to you?
SOLIS: I was very proud. I mean, I think it was very unexpected, but our president is a very, very giving man. Very open, very much about bringing in diversity and coalescing with different people, so I think he took a lot of people by surprise.
KEILAR: How important is it to have someone be the first so that - is it breaking a ceiling in a way? Is it breaking a barrier to make this more likely in the future? SOLIS: I think it is, and all you have to do is look at the election that took please last year. Having the first African-American president in our lifetime. That's amazing. The fact that this is one of the most diverse cabinets that we've seen in the history of our presidency is amazing to me, and I feel very honored to have colleagues like Hillary Clinton who is a friend, to see Ken Salazar, former U.S. senator, who is also a high ranking Latino serving in the Department of Interior, to have people like Eric Holder, African- America, serving as our attorney general. I mean, these are capable, talented, intelligent individuals, so I feel like, gee, what a wonderful opportunity to be able to serve as colleagues with them.
KEILAR: There must have been a point in time if you would share with us, when it was clear to you that it was harder because you are a Latina. Was there ever a time?
SOLIS: Certainly I know people have doubted my capability or my intelligence or you know, what I bring to the table, and you often get tested in that way, and I think the first example that I often refer to is in high school and the fact that my original high school counselor, not the one that encouraged me to go to college. The one that you get assigned by alphabet in high school, actually had asked me, well, you know, Hilda, what are you going to do? You're in 11th grade. You have a year to go here. What are your career choices? And I said, well, I don't know. Well, why don't you follow - he tells me why don't you follow along with what your older sister did and become a secretary. That's what his sights were for me.
KEILAR: You did become a secretary.
SOLIS: Surprisingly a cabinet.
KEILAR: Not what he was suggesting.
SOLIS: Exactly.
And the counselor who was saying that I should be a secretary actually told my mother that, well, you know, Miss Solis, your daughter isn't college material. I mean, that to me and my mother, I think, really just kind of made us want to work even harder and for her to support me more. So it meant more. It just created more internal energy on our part to really do something that goes against the grain.
And when I think about it now, I think about all those students that were told, oh, no, here. Just do that. Just settle for that. You'll be fine. You'll make do. And I think, no, this has got to change. So one of the things I did after I did get admitted to the four-year college was to go back to my high school and I recruited other students who had similar backgrounds, same grades and things like that, and told them that they could go to college too. That year we ended up recruiting about 25 students from that high school.
KEILAR: When you look at your bio, there is this list of firsts for you, and I think the one that really sticks out is the first - first is being the first person in your family, a large family - you have several siblings. The first person in your family to graduate college. How important was that being the first? In your family to graduate college?
SOLIS: It is very important, and I think it's important for other families to think about that too, that typically in our culture young women aren't always encouraged because many - there aren't many people in the family that have gone on to college to share that experience and to encourage the parents to understand the importance and significance of what that means, so it is important for that to kind of be a lesson for other people to know that it's possible to have changes like that coming maybe even influence from outside sources like a high school counselor who happened to take an interest in what I was doing and thought I was capable of going to college.
KEILAR: How hard is it right now to have this job that you have?
SOLIS: You know, it's hard because we've inherited this very bad economic crisis which started officially December 2007, but I know in the community where I grew up and that I represented as a member of Congress, we were seeing high numbers of unemployment way before 2000. I could see figures going up high. Always in the Hispanic community, the African-American community. Disadvantaged areas where you saw people struggling.
KEILAR: Is the Latino American experience in this recession different than the American experience of it?
SOLIS: It's harder. Yes. They definitely have higher rates of unemployment. And we see that women, Latina women are the ones that are really bearing the brunt of this, because they are typically the ones that keep the household together. So if they're tending to their children or having to work another - maybe two part-time jobs or minimum wage jobs, they are really feeling a lot of pressure. And I know that. I see it. I see it in the faces when I go out to different communities, whether it's San Antonio, Texas, east Los Angeles, or Miami, Florida, or in New York or in Chicago.
You know, I was just visiting some places there, some work experience, job experience places there, and saw that there's a lot of - there's a lot of concern and anxiety, but at the same time when I get to talk to people and explain what our programs are, there's a change in their attitude. Their eyes light up, and they're looking to see how they can get engaged and take advantage of these programs. And so that's what I want to do. I want to inform people about opportunities that the Department of Labor can offer to them, and I want to do that in a way that will impact the Hispanic community and other communities that are also in great need right now.
KEILAR: As a member of President Obama's cabinet, what do you bring from your background that enlightens what you do as the secretary of Labor that enlightens what you say when you were at that table near the Oval Office?
SOLIS: Well, I think about why I was - why I was selected, and a lot of it has to do with, you know, your record. What have you done before in the past? What issues have you cared about? And those issues continue to be about working families, about continuing to help improve the quality of life for young children and for young adults, and for seniors, to help our economy, you know, repair itself right now.
All these things I have worked on throughout my 25 years of public service, and I feel like I've come full circle, so I have that - the confidence about knowing what I stand for and what voice I would like to project, and it's not Hilda Solis' voice. It's the voice of women. It the voice of people wanting to see justice in the workplace, wanting to have equality of education opportunities, equal pay, and to see that we have more access for diverse communities, so when I speak, it isn't just Hilda, the Latina cabinet member. It's Hilda, the person bringing these other experiences with her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: All right. Getting to know the Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. That again was Brianna Keilar, sitting down and giving us a nice good, in depth understanding of what she thinks of.
Join us every week, by the way, at this time as we profile more Latino firsts for you. Next week, we talk live with Oscar Hijuelos, the author of "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." And the first Hispanic to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. So be there for that.
And coming up this October, an in-depth look at what it's like to be Latino in America. It's coverage you'll see only on CNN.
One Williams sister is in and now one is out, as of today. We're talking U.S. Open tennis, and that guy there, the start of college football, with Rick Horrow, straight ahead.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: There you go.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Sunday night Labor Day weekend and there's a lot to talk about. We talk about sports, and who better to talk about than sports business analyst Rick Horrow. He always got the good props too, as you can see here. He joins me now from West Palm Beach, Florida.
Rick, let's talk tennis first. Some surprises at the U.S. Open for Americans and a strong boost in New York's economy as well. And you and I talked about (INAUDIBLE) and Venus and that finish in the last couple of hours.
HORROW: Yes, well, you and I were also talking about playing so hit that back. OK. I'll see what happens there. But it's a good point because the better the economy, the better for the future of men's and women's tennis in America. Last year at the U.S. Open, we were talking about giving out T.A.R.P. funds to everybody. So the economy had scared people. This year the revenue is up to $250 million or so. Profits up to $100 million. They've done a wonderful job which is really important, Richard, because every dollar goes to administration but also to train and improve the state of tennis in our country. We got two women in the draw for the final week and two men and there obviously needs to be more.
LUI: You know, you were saying in our discussion earlier today, recession-proof, at least that's the way it looks with the U.S. Open, why is that? Why is it so resilient?
HORROW: Well, everybody wants to go to see tennis. It is 20 minutes from the epicenter of American business over in Flushing Meadow in New York.
LUI: Right.
HORROW: And also this is one of those deals where it is one of the super events. Super Bowl, Bowl Championship Series, Master's Golf, U.S. Open. Corporate America sees it as almost above the recessionary fray, so to speak. We're expecting 700,000 people to come to this event over a two-week period. The organizers say it is the most attended sporting event on a yearly basis around the world.
LUI: And they made it more family friendly, I guess is what you're saying too, right? So folks can get on up there.
HORROW: Yes, yes. They got a slam area called smash zone where you can actually go ahead and test your serve. You know, as bad as it could be. At least when you serve against the net, it's all right because you can ace the person on your side, right?
LUI: Speak for yourself, my friends. Speak for yourself.
HORROW: Yes.
LUI: I've heard about your serves.
HORROW: Yes, I understand. Mine is good though. Not as good in real life.
LUI: Break out that football for us.
HORROW: Right. Good segue.
LUI: College ball started on Thursday. There it is. OK. What do you got?
HORROW: Well, we've got college football. And frankly, we got a very interesting Thursday night issue, as you know.
LUI: Yes.
HORROW: You see the film and it is one of those things where really unfortunate. Oregon, Boise state, the player got into an incident. Suspension, University of Oregon decided, for that, by the way, that player will be out of football for a year. That's a first round potential running back draft pick. He is going to regret that he threw that punch. But it is a good example, if you break the rules, you're going to pay the fine.
LUI: And it certainly looked like they are both at it verbally, these from the pictures. Of course, we don't know actually what was said. But that physical blow that came to that right side of the player, you know, you compare this to NFL penalties. Is this pretty much consistent with that? HORROW: Well, a year is pretty stout. But remember, the University of Oregon, they did it and they said this is going to teach the kid a lesson. The coach was very upset but he understood that was the right penalty. The NFL has its own set of guidelines. Commissioner Goodell has some issues. We heard about Shawne Merriman earlier in your show. We're going to see what he does about that. He has his hands full as well, unfortunately.
LUI: All right. You know, also recession proof, the NFL. That's taking off in about four days. Talk about that.
HORROW: Yes, well, the NFL, it is one of those situations, it's a juggernaut of all professional sports.
LUI: Yes.
HORROW: $7.5 billion of revenue. The average franchise, Richard, right now is worth over $1 billion and 15 years ago, it was about $150 million. Now, there is a little bit of a dark cloud. You got the labor issues. You got those image issues we talked about before. You got to make sure the fans can afford it. But the bottom line is eight of the teams decrease in value this last year overall. Seven percent increase in revenues. So we head into the Titans-Steelers game on Thursday night with the NFL looking better than ever.
LUI: And the Wolverines looking better than ever.
HORROW: Hey, Wolverines western Michigan, that's fine. They sold out their stadium. They got new renovations. You know how good that is. And by the way, for somebody else in the room, Florida beats Charleston Southern 67-3? Is that right? 67-3. It doesn't matter. Pick on somebody your own size, gators.
LUI: Did somebody say it was like a high school team? I didn't say that.
HORROW: No, no. Hey, there's room for that everywhere. Let just see what happens at the end of the season.
LUI: I'm just glad the season is here, my friend as well as.
HORROW: Me, too.
LUI: Rick Horrow, our business analyst when it comes to sports. Always a good time. Thank you, sir.
HORROW: All right. See you guys next week. Bye.
LUI: You bet you.
It is not Halloween yet but it sure does look like it in Atlanta. We told you a little bit about this earlier and we'll show you more when we take you to you Dragon Con and all these costumes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LUI: It's been stranger than fiction around here lately. Science fiction is what we're talking about. Dragon Con hit Atlanta just down the street from CNN's World Headquarters right here in Atlanta. So we want to bring you some of the sights, the sounds and the strange creatures from the big sci-fi and fantasy convention. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrific. It is actually seeing other people that are kind of like you in the same way. And before the internet, you know, you kind had to know somebody that knew somebody that knew somebody that was into what you were into. Now we can all kind of get together in the virtual reality, you know, the world wide web. And then meet up here. People that I only see here once a year. That I talk to in message boards the rest of the year. So it's really cool. I have a great time. Just so many sub cultures and things. It is really interesting to see everybody getting together and actually getting along for a change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been coming since I was about seven years old. I come every year to see the people, the costumes and the panels. People look for something fun to do and I think people enjoy escaping reality. I think it is the people they meet here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't see quite as many (INAUDIBLE) costumes as I have in the past. But nonetheless everything has been splendid, splendid. There's (INAUDIBLE) costumes, novices that you wouldn't expect it to be as good as they are but yet they are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The film "Aliens" is what got us into this. I've always been into science fiction. As you grow older, bigger toys. That's all it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of our friends we know, who always come to the convention, they can't make it this year but maybe next year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) have been a little bit less - you know, a little bit smaller since the recession. The last year, year and a half, I've noticed it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: really great to see people ACTUALLY working on their costume. They are not as much store bought as we have normally seen. So you're seeing a lot more (INAUDIBLE) these days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pure unbridled insanity. Just completely out of their little heads. That's what makes it great.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, it is just being fan. Something you like. Put your heart and soul into it. It all works out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: And really tough to name them all, isn't? I just know Green Lanterns and Super Mario Brothers. That's all I can get from that.
All right. I'm Richard Lui, in for Don Lemon on this Sunday at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'll see you back here at 10:00 Eastern. "STATE OF THE UNION" with John King begins right now for you.
