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DOT Announces Brake Problems for Toyota Prius

Aired February 04, 2010 - 10:59   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you very much, Kyra. It is Thursday, February 4th. Here are the faces of the stories today making headlines.

James Ray, self-help guru, he goes to court today charged in the deaths of three people during a sweat lodge retreat. Anabeli Rendon living in poverty along the U.S. border and leery of the census that could help her community.

Scott Brown, senator-elect. Today the Republican is soon to seat left by Democratic stalwart Ted Kennedy. Good morning, everyone, I'm Don Lemon. Tony is off and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The last thing Toyota needs is another problem, but it got one. This time it is the brakes on the Prius, the company's popular hybrid. The Transportation Department today announced an investigation into brake problems on the 2010 Prius. Toyota says it is a software glitch that's to blame but the company says it has fixed the problem on models sold since late last month. It's still deciding what to do about the ones sold earlier and Toyota has put a price tag on the recall involving sticky gas pedals. The auto maker estimates it will cost as much as, get this, $2 billion.

We are hearing from you about Toyota's troubles through your iReports and many of you say the auto maker should have acted quickly, more quickly in handling the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMEKONGO DIBINGA, CNN IREPORTER: We got a letter saying take off the mats. We got a letter saying this is what you should do, even though we don't think it's a problem should your car start to accelerate. And luckily for us, our cars have not been called up for recall but it's very frustrating because I do believe that Toyota knew what was going on. You can't be at the top of the game for so long, for so many years and not know when your equipment is faulty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Make sure you keep sharing your thoughts at ireport.com. Our Susan Candiotti is going to join us in a little bit. She has been spending time in a dealership in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Susan Candiotti coming up.

Plus, Toyota's trouble continues to add up. What does all this mean for the company's bottom line? Our Alison Kosik is crunching the numbers for us. She's going to join us a little bit later on this hour. She's at the New York Stock Exchange.

I want to check some of the big stories right now. Scott Brown getting ready to take his seat in the Senate just hours from now. The Massachusetts Republican's victory was officially certified this morning in Boston. He is scheduled to be sworn in on Capitol Hill a little bit later on today, one week earlier than he had planned. He had been pressured by conservative radio hosts and newspaper columnists to go ahead and take the seat. Brown pulled a shocker last month, winning the special election for Ted Kennedy's seat. With his win, Senate Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority.

Right now on Capitol Hill, a focus on money. A couple of key players in the Obama administration are appearing before Senate committees. They are talking about President Obama's budget. Live pictures right now. You can see that Peter Orszag, in just a little bit, you'll see the pictures of him. He is testifying. He's the director of the Office of Management and Budget. There he is right there. Also testifying right now, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The $3.8 trillion budget was unveiled on Monday.

President Obama carrying on a tradition this morning. He addressed the 58th Annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. Mr. Obama criticized partisan politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We become numb to the day-to-day crises, the slow-moving tragedies of children without food and men without shelter and families without health care. We've become absorbed with our abstract arguments, our ideological disputes, our contests for power. And in this tower of babble, we lose the sound of God's voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: President Obama also slammed efforts to pass anti-gay legislation in Uganda. It would punish same-sex acts with long prison terms or even death. An ethics group accuses the sponsor of the breakfast of supporting that bill.

James Arthur Ray is headed to court today. The self-help expert is being held on a $5 million bond following his arrest yesterday. Ray is charged with manslaughter. Three people died during one of his sweat lodge ceremonies in Arizona last year. A woman who was there talked with our Anderson Cooper just last night and our senior legal analyst excuse me also offered some insight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: A lot of facts that we don't know at this point will be very important in this case. What had happened previously, did he have warnings that this could have happened or had had it gone off without a hitch in the past? What kind of precautions were taken? How were people warned? Were there medical personnel on the premises? It does appear like there was at least one doctor there. All these questions will go to his good faith or lack thereof. And I think that's really the critical legal question.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Beverly, did they take like a medical evaluation of you before you were put in the sweat lodge?

BEVERLY BUNN, SWEAT LODGE PARTICIPANT (via telephone): Nothing. No medical history was taken at all.

COOPER: Wow. I want to read you something, Beverly, that this guy, James Ray, gave in an interview to "New York" magazine recently. When asked what did you do after making sure 911 was called, because that's what he said he did, Ray replied I did everything I could to help. There was a medical doctor there and I was having her make sure that everything was being run appropriately. I held peoples' hands. I stroked their hair. I talked to them and held an IV for the paramedics. I was there the entire time doing whatever I could to help until I was detained by the detectives. Beverly, you were there. Is he telling the truth?

BUNN: No, that's completely false. The medical doctor was there as a participant and she actually was laying next to me. And when I actually was coherent and I started actually reviving one of the people that was in critical condition, I said we need medical assistance here and I knew she was a medical doctor. So I asked her to come and help. When we saw that they were doing CPR over in another area, that's actually when I told -- they were calling for medical assistance. I told the lady that you needed to go over -- she needed to go over there.

COOPER: So you were the one actually directing this doctor around. What was Ray doing at this time?

BUNN: Correct. James Ray was about five or 10 feet away from Kirby and James Shore while they were actually conducting CPR on them. He just actually stood there. He was nowhere on our side of the tent. There's no way he was helping anybody. Those are very false, very false statements. He was nowhere, anywhere near any of us.

TOOBIN: Well, these are huge issues for the criminal case because was the doctor there because she just happened to be a guest or was she an employee who was someone there?

COOPER: Beverly, do you know the answer? Was she an employee or she was actually taking part in the sweat lodge.

BUNN: No, she was just a participant.

TOOBIN: See, that's a big issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ray's attorney calls it a terrible accident but says it was not a criminal act.

The attorney Brad Brian will be Larry King's guest tonight. It is a primetime exclusive right here on CNN. It begins at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, "LARRY KING LIVE." From victim to survivor, some of Haiti's children are back in class. A bit ironic that history though is being taught in a cemetery.

And there are winter weather watches out in nine states right now. This massive system could dump as much as two feet of snow on parts of the mid-Atlantic. Our meteorologist Rob Marciano joins us in just a few minutes.

Also, we want to check the Dow right now, at this point the Dow down 176 points. We're going to get a check of the Dow a little bit. We'll go to Alison Kosik. She's standing by.

And new jobless numbers are out as well. Many people will take any job they can find but what makes a company a good place to work? "Fortune" magazine out with its list of the 100 best companies to work for. Before we tell you the name of this company, see if you can guess it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This business wants everyone to take it outside. Where can employees ride like the wind in the middle of the day? We'll tell you after the break.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What company lets employees take a bike ride during the work day? The corporate headquarters of REI. The outdoor equipment retailer offers its workers paid sabbaticals after 15 years. It also has health care coverage for part-time employees. Workers can test out new products and apply for grants to get equipment from the company for a personal sports challenge. REI is number 14 on "Fortune" magazine's list of the 100 best companies to work for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We want to tell you what's happening right now in Haiti. Ten Americans jailed after trying to bus 33 children out of Haiti are to appear in court today. A prosecutor will decide whether to file charges or release the Baptist missionaries. International aid workers say adequate relief supplies are arriving in the country but poor transport, corruption and bureaucracy are hampering distribution.

Former President Bill Clinton travels back to Haiti tomorrow for the second time since the quake hit. Clinton is a UN special envoy for Haiti. He is now charged with overseeing aid efforts and later reconstruction.

A few schools are reopening in the earthquake zone. Some classes are even meeting in a cemetery. Our John Vause reports from Port-au- Prince.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a world turned upside down, the morning school bell at St. Marie's was a familiar reassuring sound. It didn't seem to matter much that class was held in a tent. The kids sitting on damaged desks pulled from the rubble under a piece of tarp, even in a cemetery.

That's where Jacques Mathieu teaching history. Twenty eight of his 45 students turned up. It's as if they were thirsting for school he says. They were happy when they arrived, happy to be back in the classroom. Israeli counselors gave teachers a crash course in dealing with post-traumatic stress.

(on camera): They say the first month after a disaster like this is crucial. What do you do during this period?

MOSHE FARCHI, CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST: During this period we try to encourage them to go out of this feeling of being a victim into being a survivor.

VAUSE (voice-over): And to do that, children are encouraged to talk about what happened. The house fell down and I almost died, this little boy told his class. Many struggled even to say the word earthquake. My grandma was screaming where's your mom? Then my mom came and we were all at peace even when the thing was happening. Their old school is a pile of rubble.

Two students died here and five teachers are still unaccounted for. Thousands of schools in the capital collapsed just like this one. By one estimate as many as 80 percent have either been destroyed or badly damaged. Experts say it will take years to rebuild this country's education system, just to get it back to how it was before the quake when it was considered to be one of the worst in the world.

It's hard to know for sure, but St. Marie is one of the handful of schools to have reopened in Port-au-Prince so far. The government still hasn't announced plans for the rest of the school year. But for a few hundred students, school is in and for a few hours, life seems just a little bit like it was before the thing.

John Vause, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Haiti's government is being strongly criticized for its ineffectiveness following the quake. Our Anderson Cooper leads this discussion in about 30 minutes from now.

A community with no running water, no heat and hundreds of people living there. We're not talking about Haiti this time. The Colonias are in Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: They live in a ramshackle neighborhood near the Mexican border. Some are illegal immigrants and most are mistrustful of the government so persuading these residents to take part in the census means overcoming fear and also anxiety. CNN's Ed Lavandera has the story now from Laredo, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm going to take you on a journey into one of the poorest neighborhoods in America. This is the San Carlos colonia along the Texas-Mexico border. You walk through here and it's like stepping into another world. A colonia is a cluster of homes carved out of the most undesirable property along the southern U.S. border. In Texas, it's estimated some 400,000 people live like 14-year-old Anabeli Rendon.

(on camera): Who do you live here with?

ANABELI RENDON, COLONIA RESIDENT: My mom and my little sister.

LAVANDERA: The three of you live here?

RENDON: Yes. We had one bed. I sleep on the floor.

LAVANDERA: You slept on the floor?

RENDON: Yes.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Anabeli She and her family are moving into a new house for $200 a month. It's not much better. This is the house they're moving into. It's 264 square feet. There's going to be five people living here, three brothers and sisters, two small children and they're still working on the house as we speak. They have been painting and this is the area that's of most concern. It's a big hole in the ceiling and it's been leaking water since we've been here.

Follow me inside here and you can see this is what passes as a bathroom in colonias and the owners here aren't even sure that the septic tank or the sewage system here even works. The roads aren't paved. There's no air conditioning or heat and finding water is a daily quest. So this is life in the colonia. We're jumping in the back of this pickup truck. And the man driving the truck is going to take us to the water pump so he can fill up this tank and then he's going to start driving the neighborhood streets here in the colonia and fill up barrels of water for people.

Most of the people who live here make under $10,000 a year, finding work wherever they can. So you'd think the farthest thing from their minds would be the 2010 census count. But Anabeli says the census sparks fear.

RENDON: I think they're just scared like going out.

LAVANDERA (on camera): You think they're scared?

RENDON: I think so, yes.

LAVANDERA: Why do you think they're scared?

RENDON: I don't know because most of the people are immigrants here.

LAVANDERA: So they don't trust them.

RENDON: I don't think they do.

REP. HENRY CUELLAR, (D) TEXAS: What can we do to do a better job to make sure we count everybody?

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Congressman Henry Cueller and the census director are trying to build trust. Many in this group have relatives living here illegally but they assure the neighbors it's not about deporting immigrants.

CUELLAR: The benefits of participating in the census are quite large. We return as a country over $400 billion a year to local areas, neighborhoods like this, cities and states dependent on census counts. If you get counted, you get your fair share of that money.

LAVANDERA: This is Anabeli's mom and she just listened to the meeting with the census folks. She's moving into her new place here. She's telling us that after listening to that, she feels confident to answer those questions and something that she'd want to do.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Laredo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: You might not be aware of it, but if you don't fill out your census form, you're breaking the law. Will the government really come after you? Would they come after you?

We turn now to CNN's Suzanne Simons and she's done some back checking on this. Can you go to jail? Can you face a fine? What happens?

SUZANNE SIMONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, our fact check desk actually wanted to know that very question because a lot of us simply get too much mail we don't want to fill it out. Are you going to fill yours out?

LEMON: Always.

SIMONS: You would say that too. OK, look. They can come after you. Here's what's going to happen. You're going to get the form in the mail. If you don't send the form back, they're going to say, OK, maybe he misplaced it. We're going to send another form. They'll send you the other form and then if you still don't send that one back, you can expect someone to come visit your house. They might leave a little door hanger saying call us, you've been a bad person. You need to fill out your census or they can come back up to three times. After that if you still don't comply, they can fine you up to $5,000. The detail here and the fact that we dug in on is they haven't actually fined anyone since 2000.

LEMON: That's what I was going to ask you. I was going to ask one of our viewers if you have been fined by the Census Bureau, shoot us an e-mail here at CNN.

SIMONS: Exactly, but as we just saw, you are required by law to do this. It's something that was spelled out in the constitution. The reason why it's important and worth the time to do it is because it helps determine the number of seats in the House of Representatives. You remember the electoral votes, how important those have been in the last few elections? It also affects the number of electoral votes. So actually taking the time to fill it out, whether or not you have to pay the $5,000 fine, it's definitely worth it.

LEMON: We're actually in a state that's probably because of the census, because of past census, we're going to gain representation.

SIMONS: That's right.

LEMON: Here in Georgia because of the number of people and then other states are going to lose it.

SIMONS: Exactly.

LEMON: Yes. It's all about representation.

SIMONS: Yes, it is.

LEMON: Some people say it goes all the way back to the bible. Did you know that?

SIMONS: I did not know that. We'll have to do some fact checking on that too. Thanks. Thanks for that.

LEMON: All right, thank you. Always good to see you. So fill out those census forms.

In our next hour, the stimulus desk and the census. Our Josh Levs takes a look at how much of your money is paying for the census and exactly where that money is going.

Time now to give you some of our top stories. A tea party movement opens a convention in Nashville today. The conservative activists largely oppose President Obama's agenda. The convention headliner, Sarah Palin. Our newsroom blog question, what do you think about the tea party movement? Make sure you weigh in at cnn.com/newsroom or go to Twitter at Don Lemon at CNN on Twitter. We'll read some of your responses on the air.

President Barack Obama's aunt in front of an immigration judge in Boston today. The court is reconsidering her request for asylum. The president's aunt was ordered deported to Kenya six years ago but never left the U.S.

Ben Bernanke has been sworn in for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke vowed to preserve the Fed's independence, despite a move in Congress to tighten control over the central bank.

And preparing for a snowy weekend from one inch in New York to almost two feet in Baltimore. Meteorologist Rob Marciano tracking this massive winter storm. What's going on?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Some developing news on the ah front, the cute front. Not so cute this carriage right here but what they're carrying certainly really cute. We're talking about those pandas, remember Mei Lan and her four-year old -- Mei Lan's three or four-year old cousin is Tai Shan (ph).

We're following news now that they are headed back. They were born in the U.S. but they're going back to China. They belong to China and they will soon be flown to their new homes. Again, three- year-old Mei Lan from the Atlanta zoo and her four-year-old cousin, Tai Shan excuse me Tai Shan are from Washington's National Zoo. You're looking at pictures live from Washington Dulles airport and they're waiting to be flown to China.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Speaking of fuzzy, some fuzzy math when it comes to jobs. Turns out the counters may have been off by about a million. We're adding it up right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So as promised Democrats are rolling out plans they say will create jobs. It is not a single jobs bill but rather several targeted measures. For example, renewing highway construction funds, incentives for cities and states to begin building projects and tax breaks to encourage small businesses to hire and invest -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: Our agenda is not about politics or partisanship. We have a jobs agenda -- it's about putting people back to work. Our motivation is to help Americans sleep a little better. Our mission is not to stop until every American who wants a job can get a job, and our message is this one -- for Senate democrats, creating jobs is job number one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Claims for first-time jobless benefits took an unexpected jump last week. This is the fourth increase in the last five weeks and shows a fragile state really of this recovery. Government numbers due tomorrow may show job losses in this recession were grossly undercounted.

Stephanie Elam joins us from New York. Stephanie, a million jobs undercounted? Says who? Should be, say what, right? STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know, that's true. It's crazy to hear, Don, but when you look at this, you can see sort of the reason why this happens. And we all know that a lot of jobs were lost during this recession, but now it looks like it was even worse than we originally thought.

So here's what the Bureau of Labor Statistics is saying here, they're saying for the 12-month period that beginning in April of 2008 and went through March of 2009, the government is saying that there's a revision which we'll get tomorrow that it should look like we lost another 824,000 workers during that time, and that's on top of current estimates.

Now, the government's current reading shows we lost 4.8 million jobs during that period. The revision would put a total loss of 5.6 million jobs, so it just shows you how much more we're talking about. That's the largest downward revision in the 30 years that comparisons could actually be made during that period.

Now, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they do this annually. This is not something that's unusual, the thing is, normally, it's just like a 0.1 percent or 0.2 percent change that they'll see. Basically, if a company goes out of business or a company started during a year, they may not catch up with all that data, they don't have all the data so they're able to go back and just do the numbers again and see what comes up.

The thing is, that 12-month period was not normal to say the least. You think about the brink of depression that the economy came to in the United States and you can see why it's just not a normal situation. So that's why they're saying for the entire recession, which began December 2007, that instead of losing about 7 million jobs as we had previously thought, it looks like we lost more like 8 million jobs. So a huge number there and it's just an extraordinary period, Don.

LEMON: Yes, the difference of about a million, I'd say.

So listen, in the not-so-distant past there were times when these numbers would come and you'd see them and they weren't necessarily big news, but now people are hanging on these numbers because they want to know what's going on with the job market. So what do we expect from this big jobs report tomorrow, Steph?

ELAM: Right, right. And Christine Romans and I joke around that it's like our Super Bowl, the Jobs Report. This is a big deal for business correspondents.

But this is the number that will tell us how many jobs the government says we lost from the private sector and the public sector over the month of January. Right now analysts estimate that we're going to add 13,000 jobs. Compare that to January of 2009 when we lost 741,000 jobs, just to put that in a little bit of perspective.

But there's a lot of discrepancy, we've got conflicting reports on whether we added or whether we lost some jobs. So analysts kind of all over the board here, we'll wait to see what the government says tomorrow morning. But the consensus is that we will have added 13,000.

LEMON: OK, we shall see. Hey, Steph, thank you so much.

ELAM: Sure.

LEMON: You know you may just want to retire but you can't afford it, right? A new report estimates people lose out on $455,000 by not signing up for 401(k) plans. Get the facts on CNNMoney.com.

Let's talk now about Toyota. Dealerships around the country are racing to repair those sticking gas pedals and reassure anxious car owners. Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti, as promised, joins us now from a dealership in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Susan, what are you hearing from there?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don.

Well, this is the service area of Parkway Toyota where a couple of mechanics called master technicians have just returned from a Toyota training session here, and we're going to talk with one of them about what that fix is all about. Coming over here, we're going to be talking with Mike Gauge (ph).

Mike, you just came back from that session. Can you show us what you'll be doing with the pedal -- give us an example. You've loosened it up a little bit to move this along a bit.

MIKE GAUGE, TOYOTA MASTER TECHNICIAN: Sure. Well, we've removed the accelerator pedal for the installation of the reinforcement bar.

CANDIOTTI: And you're all set to -- we're going to come around the other side of the car now, so we can get a closer look while watching the cables here, I want to make sure we don't trip and I don't trip. All right, well, come on over here.

Mike, you've got this over here to show us now? Bring it right over here. Normally, you'd be at the workstation, but you're just going to hold this for us right now.

GAUGE: Yes, we're going to measure the clearance here and install the reinforcement bar right in behind this stopper.

CANDIOTTI: And what's important about what that's going to do?

GAUGE: It's going to reduce the friction inside the pedal.

CANDIOTTI: So this is where the pedal is, everyone would recognize this. As the foot goes down, will the customer notice any difference?

GAUGE: The customer won't feel any difference.

CANDIOTTI: And what will the driver -- this is going to prevent it from -- you don't want friction because why?

GAUGE: The friction, excessive friction caused the sticking problem.

CANDIOTTI: And that's what caused some of the problems.

GAUGE: So that's what we're going to eliminate with the bar we'll put in there.

CANDIOTTI: All right, you're going to be a busy man I think in the coming weeks and months.

Let's talk now to the general manager of this dealership, his name is Dennis Louzan.

Now, Dennis, you know, the big question is we all heard the transportation secretary yesterday, Ray LaHood, make a comment that people should stop driving their cars and then he backed off and said well that's not exactly what I meant. What kind of reaction did you get from your customers once those statements were made?

DENNIS LOUZAN, PRESIDENT, PARKWAY TOYOTA: Well, the phones lit up like a Christmas tree at the time. People concerned, which obviously you would be concerned. They came, we talked to them, calmed them down after 10, 15 minutes on the phone.

But it also put a problem with other people that really did have problems, you know, with the car broken down and stuff like that, we couldn't get to those people because the phones were lit up for people that were hysterical about the fact that somebody from the federal government was saying not to drive Toyotas.

CANDIOTTI: Are people settled down now?

LOUZAN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

CANDIOTTI: You have been having difficult years, the entire auto industry has. But what kind of hit are you taking now that this has happened? What are you worried about in terms of sales?

LOUZAN: Well, for the time being it's going to be difficult for us. But, you know, we will come out of this. Toyota still builds a quality product. They're taking care of a problem, which is what they're doing right now. Something that no one has ever done. They stopped the production line to take care of customers first. Tell me another manufacturer who's ever done that. They haven't. They're taking care of the customer first and the customer is the one they want to take care of.

CANDIOTTI: For now, sales are down. You say you'll bring it back.

LOUZAN: Sales were affected by it. You know, we're still selling used cars, we're still selling the cars that are not involved in this. Don't forget 40 percent of our inventory still has nothing to do with this. CANDIOTTI: And you have enough parts and the technicians to...

LOUZAN: Plenty of parts.

CANDIOTTI: ... take care of this recall.

LOUZAN: All our technicians are being trained. We started this morning with training at 8:00 this morning at a school. They're doing -- you know, we have a couple of guys each hour that they're having it done. We're going to be full-blown taking care of this starting tomorrow morning, but we're going to be doing it today as well.

CANDIOTTI: Thank you very much.

Now, the cars you're seeing here were here for other reasons or are rental cars that they're taking care of first. Other customers will be able to make appointments and bring their cars in just as soon as they can.

Don, back to you.

LEMON: Yes, very interesting. I wonder what those customers are saying too, because I've been reading and you've been reporting on some really irate people. So, Susan Candiotti, it's good to see the inside of what they're doing, want to talk to those folks as well. Thank you, Susan.

You know, as Toyota's troubles continue to add up, what does all this mean for the company's bottom line? Our Alison Kosik is crunching the numbers and joins us a little later on from the New York Stock Exchange.

And you see that -- we showed you Michael Jackson there, there was video of the late Michael Jackson. Seven months after his death, the doctor who was the last person to see the pop star alive prepares to face charges. We're going to break down the case with our truTV legal contributor, his name is Midwin Charles. And there's other information to report on this case right now involving Conrad Murray.

We're back in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hey, listen, before we get to the Michael Jackson story, we want to check some of your top stories right now.

Hours after Toyota acknowledged brake problems with its 2010 hybrid Prius, the Transportation Department launches an investigation. National Highway Traffic Safety officials say they have already received 124 complaints. Toyota says it's fixing the brakes as well as sticky gas pedals on other models.

Listen to what happened when the owner of a Toyota Tacoma says she was pulling into her garage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LAURA PAULSON, TOYOTA TACOMA OWNER: I felt it take off, like a rocket. And I immediately hit the brakes hard, and I was laid out, stretched out on the brakes, which had no effect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON Paulson said her car crashed through a wall, demolishing a bathroom.

Self-help expert James Arthur Ray has just arrived in court on manslaughter charges. He was arrested yesterday in Arizona. Last year, three people died during one of his sweat lodge ceremonies. Ray's lawyer, Brad Brian, calls the charges unjust. Well, Brian is Larry King's special guest tonight That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN, make sure you tune in.

You know, they were born right here in the USA, but they belong to China and that's where two giant pandas are going now that they're old enough. Three-year-old Mei Len from Zoo Atlanta and her 4-year- old cousin Tai Shan from Washington's National Zoo are at Dulles Airport right now. These are live pictures? Live pictures earlier. They're waiting to be flown there -- those aren't live pictures, we saw them live there on the tarmac just moments ago getting to that plane with their little pictures right on the side. Best of luck to them.

Let's turn now to the Michael Jackson story. A lawyer for a doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, says his client will surrender tomorrow to face charges in the death of singer Michael Jackson. Murray admits he gave Jackson an anesthetic sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs to help him sleep. An autopsy concluded the combination was lethal, as we know, and all indications point to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. An attorney says Jackson's family is upset about that and feels the charge should be second-degree murder.

So let's talk about that and the entire case now with Midwin Charles. She is a criminal defense attorney and a contributor to our "In Session."

So, Midwin, listen, just coming across the wires right now, I'm going to read it to you and then we'll get your reaction. It says Michael Jackson's personal physician, Conrad Murray, presently negotiating, negotiating with prosecutors on plans to surrender to authorities to face charges related to his death.

Negotiating with the district attorney's office. What's there to negotiate right now?

MIDWIN CHARLES, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION": Well, I think one of the things that Dr. Murray wants to avoid is doing what we all call the perp walk. He does not want to be seen walking in with the handcuffs and all that drama. So I think by negotiating that he come in on his own behalf, I think he averts that image.

LEMON: Does this -- by negotiating this, starting this way, is this foreshadowing something? Maybe there's some sort of plea or negotiation to go on before we even get to a trial?

CHARLES: You know, that's a good question, Don. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw a plea out of this. If he is in fact going to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, it's not as serious, obviously, as murder because you don't have intent, you don't have premeditation. The most I think he could be facing with involuntary manslaughter in California is four years. So for him to plead to that, you know, it wouldn't necessarily be a high amount of time spent in jail.

LEMON: OK. So you've got four years involuntary manslaughter, and I told you, you know, when I introduced you that the Jackson family thought it should be second-degree murder charges. Why is it manslaughter? This propofol that he allegedly prescribed for Michael Jackson a very powerful drug and other sedatives as we said, the coroner says it contributed to his death. So why is it involuntary manslaughter and not something else, as the Jackson family says?

CHARLES: Because I think one of the reasons why you just can't get into murder with respect to this case is that the facts are just not there to support that. In order to get anywhere near a murder charge, whether it be first degree or second degree, you have to have premeditation, you have to have intent. And you just don't have that.

Remember, Michael Jackson was Dr. Murray's meal ticket. AEG, the event promoter that hired Dr. Murray to follow Michael Jackson throughout his upcoming tour, which as we know never is going to happen, was going to pay Dr. Murray a tune of $150,000 a month. So the prosecution would have a really hard time proving that Dr. Murray intended to kill Michael Jackson. So I think you have to go into involuntary manslaughter.

LEMON: But you know what, Midwin, there are other things and maybe this is not part of this case, it'll be subsequent charges or what have you. You know, the amount of time that it took before he -- they allegedly called 911, doing it on a bed instead of a floor, all these other things and other evidence that they found at the house -- his car being towed away and him leaving and not speaking. There are other factors, though.

CHARLES: You know, but those factors, Don, would go more towards a civil case either of wrongful death or of negligence.

You know, I mean I'm sure at some point there may even be inquiries to have Dr. Murray's license pulled. Who's to say that he did not commit malpractice here. He did commit malpractice by administering something that should be administered under the care of an anesthesia specialist at a hospital. This isn't something you give someone because they want to go to sleep, it is a very serious drug and it ought to be administered in a hospital.

LEMON: So listen, I have to run here, if you can just give me two seconds. Bottom line, you said manslaughter, probably four and a half years but won't spend that much time in prison. Maybe a couple years, a year.

CHARLES: I doubt it. I doubt it. I doubt it. LEMON: Midwin Charles, "In Session," she is a criminal defense attorney and also a contributor to "In Session" our program on our sister station. Thank you so much. You know what, it airs weekdays -- I just want to tell you -- at 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. right on our sister network, it is truTV. I want to make sure we get that in. Thanks, again.

Three weeks after a devastating earthquake hit the poorest country in the western hemisphere, many people are asking where the Haitian government is. Where's the government?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You know, we have been talking about this here on CNN and you've been hearing about it a lot in the news, Haiti's government widely criticized for ineffectiveness after the catastrophic earthquake. But the issues are very complex, as we hear in this discussion from CNN's "AC360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROF. LUDOVIC COMEAU, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, DEPAUL UNIVERSITY: Well, the Haitian government has also been hit by the earthquake, and many have lost their parents and families -- one minister lost their son.

But clearly, there has been a communication problem, a public relations problem for the Haitian government. Because when you're dealing with such a tragedy, one would hope that the president, the prime minister, would have come out in the first few hours and ask the foreigners that had come first to provide some relief, to provide them with communications, you know, to speak to the people.

But unfortunately, that didn't seem to have happened. And in the Diaspora and also in Haiti, people are wondering, Haitians are wondering what happened? Why didn't we see the president, the providers, some leadership and live up to the moment?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Joe, it's interesting, President Preval has said in print, "Well, look, I'm not there for photo ops." But -- but you know, in a country where, if you know, they make the argument, well, the government is broken and we don't have money so there's not much we can do, the least you can do is lead by example. And if your countrymen are suffering and -- then you should be out there, helping people pick through the rubble in those first few days or doing something visible.

I know you talked to some Haitian government people today. What's their excuse? What are they saying?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, what we know is that this is a country that is the poorest country in the hemisphere, made poor, kept poor by the West. Its leadership has been undermined, essentially, for centuries and that comes right to this day. The leadership in this country is not respected by a lot of the people. A lot of the people say they're not doing anything. So we did go to the information minister here in Haiti today, asked a couple of questions about that. And she said, look, we're working quietly behind the scenes.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIE LAURENCE LASSEGUE, HAITIAN INFORMATION MINISTER: I say that all the countries who came to help us, they are there because we need them. And Canada, United States, Venezuela, Africa, they help us because we have a lot of priorities. So even when the population can see people from any kind of country, but we ask them to help us.

So, the government is working in coordination, in articulation with all that country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, Joe, she's essentially saying, well, what we did was we asked for help, and we should get praised because we asked for help. I mean -- I mean, in terms of specifics, you know, a state-run company did collect the bodies that were on the streets of Port-au- Prince. So that's -- in fairness that's something they did, though as we know a number of those bodies were just dumped on the side of the road and not actually buried.

There are now people picking up rubble, but that's funded by the U.N., right?

JOHNS: Yes, a lot of that is funded by the U.N. But there are also people from the government here picking up rubble, as well.

There are things the government is doing. I mean, I don't want to overstate it, but they're working on inoculations, that could be very important. They are working a lot on the new orphans, trying to figure out who they are and helping all the NGOs in Port-au-Prince place them, and that's massive effort. In fact, NGOs is one of the biggest problem for this government, because for decades, so many people who were giving money to this country gave all the money to the private, charitable organizations and not to the government. So the government didn't have money to stand up its public safety sector, for example, or to put in new infrastructure.

And that's where we are today. This government is broke, and that's why it can't do anything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Make sure you tune in tonight for "ANDERSON COOPER 360." For every orphan leaving the chaos of Haiti, thousands are left behind. How do we help the children of Haiti? We search for answers on an "AC360" special series, tonight 10:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

Restarting a bills after a huge hurricane. We'll take you inside a 3D-imaging company that became a worldwide leader despite the recession.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We want to tell you what we're working on for the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

His stunning election victory was a major blow to democrats. Republican Senator-Elect Scott Brown takes office today. We take a closer look at who he is and where he stands.

And golfers can play a round with Tiger Woods' alleged mistress? Well -- or mistresses. It's a collection of novelty golf balls featuring their faces, but some are teed off over the idea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK, listen, we have something just in to CNN.

We've been telling you about Dr. Conrad Murray, the guy charged in the death investigation -- the doctor in the death investigation of Michael Jackson facing manslaughter charges. We're just getting from our sources at our L.A. bureau that Dr. Conrad Murray has made a tentative arrangement -- agreement. His arraignment will be tomorrow. I should say, he will turn himself in tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. local time, that's Pacific time, 4:30 p.m. Eastern, at the L.A. County -- at the Los Angeles courthouse. That's according to our sources there.

Again, a tentative arrangement for Dr. Conrad Murray set for Friday 1:30 local at the Los Angeles courthouse, 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. We will be following that, and make sure you stay tuned to CNN throughout the day for developments as well as tonight all the way through primetime, "AC360" till midnight tonight. We'll bring that to you.