Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Toyota U.S. Boss in Congress; Afghan Bombing in Bus Station Kills Eight; Parental Nightmare: Pedophile Pediatrician Working in Delaware

Aired February 23, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at our top stories.

Toyota's U.S. president is going to have to answer some pretty tough questions on Capitol Hill in about an hour. A House committee looking into sudden unintended acceleration problems with Toyota vehicles. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood also to be in the hot seat today. Committee investigators suggesting that government was slow to respond to 2,600 acceleration complaints.

This morning, doctors may do another round of tests on former vice president Dick Cheney. He's in a Washington hospital actually after experiencing chest pains. As you may know he's had a long history of heart problems. He had four heart attacks with the first striking in 1978 when he was just 37.

And the bomb was strapped on a bicycle when it exploded in a bus station; eight people killed, 16 wounded. Today's attack came in the same Afghan province where NATO troops are conducting a campaign against the Taliban.

Every parent's nightmare, it's an overused expression in TV news, but tell me if it's not an accurate description of this story. In Delaware, a pediatrician is under arrest accused of sexually abusing more than 100 children, all of them were girls except for one. Police say all of them were patients of Dr. Earl Bradley. And more charges could actually be coming; Bradley also has medical licenses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida. So investigators are now reaching out to all of those states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEAU BIDEN, DELAWARE ATTORNEY GENERAL: These were crimes committed against the most vulnerable among us. Those without voices. And they were crimes committed by someone with whom an entire community and parents had placed their trust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Dr. Bradley faces 471 felony counts, stretching back more than a decade. Prosecutors say that he videotaped many of those assaults, and that tapes and digital evidence were found at his medical practice, even in his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) On the phone right now reporter Chris Barrish. He's from the "News Journal." That's the newspaper out of Delaware. He's actually been working this story since it broke. Chris joins me on the phone right now.

Chris, I mean we heard about this story. It's just simply disgusting. And the fact that it has been going on allegedly for 10 years. Why did it take so long?

CHRIS BARRISH, REPORTER "THE NEWS JOURNAL" (via telephone): Well, the police thought they had him arrested in 2005 but the prosecutor's office didn't think they had enough evidence for excessive kissing. In 2008 they investigated him again but a judge would not sign a search warrant to get into his office where they eventually found all the evidence.

So they have been trying to get him for several years and there's been evidence presented that members of the medical community suspected abuse by him. One doctor in a court document was quoted as saying that he referred to him as a pedophile. So people around here are just stunned and amazed that he was allowed to, as Biden said, lurk in our midst for so long without being apprehended. It's an abomination.

PHILLIPS: And so what happened? How did they finally get on to this guy? Apparently one of the children, a two-year-old, said he did something funny to me? How did it finally break?

BARRISH: Well, this December a father or a mother took their child to him and afterwards she complained that he had touched her inappropriately. She told her husband and he said well I remember something like that happened in October. Now, why he didn't do anything back then. They went to the police, who had been trying to put a case together, and the child gave some credible testimony to the officers and they decided to go and arrest him.

Once they got into his office, that's when they found all these video files and the accounts on the video files are basically unspeakable. I couldn't even - if I tried to tell you what was on them on television, you would bleep me.

PHILLIPS: I can just - so you actually saw some of the videotapes.

BARRISH: No, I haven't seen the videotapes but we've been able to obtain some of the police affidavits that were either under seal or weren't made public and they document what - the abuse, the intercourse, the oral sex, the fondling that he did. But, no, we have not - the tapes have not been made public yet, but just reading them is enough to make anybody sick.

PHILLIPS: Oh, it's disgusting. So Chris, but here's my next question, and I don't even know if you have the answer to this. But as a parent, you never leave your kids alone with a doctor. It doesn't matter how much you trust them or have been going to them for so many years. You always stay with your child. So why were these parents leaving these kids alone with this doctor?

BARRISH: Well, I've spoken to several parents, and my experience with my own children is the doctor comes in, they do the examination and then they're gone to the next patient. But he set up a Disney- themed office with all these special rooms, with treats. What he would do is seduce the parents by playing with the children and if they say a mother had another child and she had to change a diaper, he said, look, change the diaper. Look, I'll take, you know, Amanda to the play room and get her a toy, a piece of candy, while you're doing that. They'd be gone for five minutes or two minutes and what he would do is seduce them like that.

And if a parent - say a parent said, no, he would just go on to the next one. He had hundreds, you know, dozens or hundreds of kids coming in each day, so he could pick and choose. Biden said yesterday he had - there were like 7,000 patients that he had. So, it's like one of my editors said he was like a black widow sitting in his lair waiting for them to come in. But he really seduced the parents. I know it's easy to say, you know, how could these parents be so irresponsible, but psychologists have told us it was classic - you know, the classic behavior of an abuser.

PHILLIPS: Chris Barrish at "The News Journal" out of Delaware. Chris, really appreciate you calling in because obviously we had a lot of questions regarding this story. Keep us updated, will you please, on your investigation, we'd like to follow it along with you. Thanks, Chris.

So how can you be sure that a pediatrician is actually deserving of your family's trust? CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us now. Boy, you're a mom. You'd want to strangle somebody if you found this out.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's just so horrifying. And I think when you hear the description of what he did that Chris was giving us, it's horrifying.

PHILLIPS: We both gasped.

COHEN: Oh, it's just awful. And what's horrifying as Chris put it and I think he put it well that the patients were seduced. The parents were seduced into trusting this pediatrician. Now, you know, it's difficult as a parent. You're supposed to trust your pediatrician, right? Well, I think the line here, what he heard him saying that sort of makes your ears prick up is treats and Disney themes and this guy was trying to be much more than just a pediatrician.

He was trying to sort of gain this trust and thrill these children. That, to me, is sort of a big red - that's an alarm right there. So I think as a parent you need to think about why is this pediatrician trying to please my child so much. That is very strange. And also, this sounds obvious, but you don't need to leave your child alone with a pediatrician. There's no reason to do that. You can be in the examining room at all times. So don't leave your child alone. It doesn't matter how much you trust that pediatrician. There's no reason to do it. I mean, you're in the room, stay in the room. So that's an important point to remember. And also you can look up a doctor's criminal background. Now, sometimes the doctor doesn't have a criminal background, this would be sort of his first offense, but sometimes there are 200 doctors or so a year that are charged with some kind of a criminal offense and you can see it online, you can get there.

So if you go to our newsroom blog, cnn.com/newsroom you will see links to different places where you can look up a doctor's criminal past and see if they have been charged with anything. You can also see if there have been any civil suits. These are just things that you ought to do. It doesn't matter how much you love your doctor. Take five minutes and look up and see if they have any kind of a past.

PHILLIPS: Your kids come first and you just never know.

COHEN: Right. And you just never know and it doesn't hurt anyone to look it up.

PHILLIPS: Thanks for the advice.

COHEN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Thanks.

Well, Toyota will be parked on Capitol Hill today with a lot of explaining to do. Plus you know the devil wears Prada, right? What about the prime minister? Yes accusations that Gordon Brown is a mean boss. A big old Downing Street bully.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Prada snow boots all the rage in central Texas today. Well, maybe not so much but they're going to get some snow again. And some rain and snow across the northeast and another storm coming into the west. Active weather continues and your forecast is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Toyota, let's hear it, we're all ears. While mechanics fix the faults, the company suits are on Capitol Hill explaining how the whole accelerator fiasco happened in the first place.

Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is in the hearing room right now. So, Brianna, tell us what's going on?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now the press is starting to stream into the room, just a few, though, and we're looking now at that's what's really going to be quite the scene here in the next hour, Kyra. You're going to see some tough questions from the Congressman Bart Stupak, the Democratic chairman of the subcommittee that's having this hearing and also from Henry Waxman, who is the Democratic chair of the full committee. Their main concern and the concern of so many lawmakers is that the problems with Toyota's vehicles go beyond the accelerator, go beyond the floor mats, that it could have something to do with the computer in these cars. So, but listen, because we've obtained some testimony from the head of Toyota U.S. James Lentz, who will testify and he said that "we are confident that no problems exist with the electronic throttle control system in our vehicles."

But as you can hear from what Congressman Stupak told me a short time ago, he's doubtful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. BART STUPAK (D), CHAIRMAN, OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: We still feel there's an electronic problem here that has not been addressed. As someone said there's a Gremlin in this electronic system which are making these cars accelerate unexpectedly and unfortunately has resulted in some serious accidents and deaths.

KEILAR: And you'll be hearing from a couple of witnesses today who are going to tell you that, right?

STUPAK: Right. And what do the witnesses tell us? (INAUDIBLE) and Toyota came with these preconceived ideas that it must be the floor mat. Just totally discounted what the witnesses said or their driving experience, just totally discounted it and said, oh, no, it's the floor mat, and it's not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And on the first panel we'll be hearing from one of those witnesses, David Gilbert right here. He is going to really challenge some of the assertions that Toyota has made about the safety of their vehicles. We're also going to be hearing from Shawn Cane, who is a consumer safety person who was one of the first people to identify this trend of all of these unexpected accelerations as they were called.

And then we're going to hear from Rhonda Smith, who is someone who has experienced this firsthand, just a regular woman from Tennessee and she'll be telling this committee, this subcommittee, Kyra, exactly what she experienced, a very scary experience for her.

PHILLIPS: Well, this is a story that's extremely important to all of us here because it affects so many people. Brianna Keilar there. We will follow obviously all of the action today and tomorrow as the testimony gets pretty heated, as you can imagine. You can watch parts of the hearing live on CNN today and we're looking forward to hearing more from the drivers like Brianna pointed out. If you're still wondering is my Toyota part of this recall and what should I do? All you have to do is go to cnn.com/Toyota and it's all right there for you.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown demanding or demeaning? Either way he's denying reports that he's a bully to work for. Brown's behavior is the latest row that's rankling Downing Street after a British newspaper's preview of a soon-to-be released book. It paints Brown as a foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, ogre. The book's author is getting ripped for his lack of sourcing as many are rallying to Brown's defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE PRATT, NATIONAL BULLYING HELPLINE: Whether he's a bully or not, whether it's real or imagined, this is all about processes that are in place to be followed to ensure that the employer can put his hand on his heart and say to a judge in a tribunal we've taken this seriously. We want to ensure that our employees feel they can come to work in a safe and stress-free environment, which is what (INAUDIBLE) no less and that any employee would feel comfortable about speaking up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And this morning we want to know, have you been bullied by your boss? It's the big question on our blog this morning. CNN.com/Kyra, e-mail me a short version, if you will, about your bully boss and I'll try to read some of your responses later this hour.

He's not a bully, but, boy, he tells us about the weather that beats up on us all the time. Rob Marciano.

MARCIANO: And I try not to have a foul mouth, at least for Lent.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Good for you. I know that's a struggle.

MARCIANO: It is, all bets are off. Austin to Dallas, that's where the rains, the big bright snow band is setting up. I think we have some video coming out of Dallas. This is from earlier this morning when it's kind of dark. This is actually Weatherford, just west of Fort Worth and that's where it was starting to pile up. The school buses were moving, so that's certainly encouraging news. Not so much for the kids, but certainly for the adults.

We expect to see a couple of inches of snow in spots just south of Dallas, maybe three to six in this swath of red which is highlighted for winter storm warnings that are posted. So again unusual to see this kind of action but it is an El Nino year and we've got that southern storm track. And you get that mix with a little bit of cold air and snow in Texas certainly not out of the question just to have it so often. It's certainly unusual.

MARCIANO: All right. We're starting to see some rainfall develop all across parts of the West Coast from San Francisco up to Seattle. This is our next storm system that's coming in that will progress to the east. I'll touch on what's going on in Vancouver. We do expect a couple of rain showers today. A little bit cooler than it has been. This will make for at least some snow up in the mountains.

I think the giant slalom is happening today and that may very well - they might have some issues with snow but not so much the rainfall. If you are traveling via plane today, Philadelphia seeing an hour and 30 minute delays at this hour. Baltimore seeing 30-minute delays and Houston is seeing 30-minute delays. It should be mostly rain in the Houston area and snow just north of the golden triangle.

Kyra, back over to you.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: OK.

PHILLIPS: Former vice president Dick Cheney is said to be feeling pretty good after being rushed to the hospital with chest pains. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at what the latest heart scare could mean for the former vice president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: You know, we try to get all the popular stories into our newscast and sometimes we just don't know what you're logging onto that you really want to hear about an that's why we go to cnn.com and we go to the News Pulse part of this web page. And believe it or not, the most popular story right now has to do with your security. I guess that's not a surprise.

But here's the surprise, in the name of improved security, a hacker actually showed how a passport issued in the name of, yes, Elvis Presley actually got cleared through an automated passport scanning system being tested right now at an international airport. The first most popular story.

The second one is, take a look at this, the tallest dog now has a queen bed. This story coming to us out of Arizona. The owner of the world's tallest dog, it's a Great Dane, 3'7", a Guinness World Book record. OK. The third top story before we go, got to love it, Shaun White, our flying tomato/snowboard guru. Yes, he was on Larry King last night but he's going to be with us in just about 40 minutes. You'll want to tune in for that. Shaun's a lot of fun.

All right. You can just go to cnn.com and go to the news pulse, a little icon on the top left of your page. It's updated every 15 minutes. You can see what the most popular stories that you're clicking onto are right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Lufthansa pilots back at work this morning. They agreed to end a strike after just one day but if a new contract isn't ironed out by March 8th, they'll go out again. It will take a while to get their flights back on track but that's not the only thing causing backups at European airports. Air traffic controllers in France went on strike this morning.

More allegations that Americans are trying to steal kids from Haiti. Three women stopped as they prepared to board a plane with six kids in tow. The Americans had adoption paperwork but police think it's forged. U.S. officials say it's legit. The distrust stems from 10 Americans, some of them missionaries, accused of trying to kidnap 33 children.

Jason Williams going away. We just don't know how long. The prosecution and defense making their final arguments to the judge this morning. The former NBA player pleaded guilty last night to aggravated assault in the 2002 shooting death of a limo driver. Williams was previously acquitted of aggravated manslaughter. We'll follow the live coverage as you see right there.

Right now doctors are monitoring Dick Cheney in a Washington hospital. The former vice president experienced chest pains and they're trying to figure out why. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta adds his expertise.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question the first thing they're going to be thinking about with respect to the former vice president is going to be issues relating to his heart. His heart history, so to speak, is pretty well-known.

He had his first heart attack back at age 37 and has had four heart attacks in total. So this is something that obviously he has dealt with for some time. He had quadruple bypass surgery in the past. He's had an implantable defibrillator. This is a defibrillator that measures his heart rhythm and should his heart rhythm go into a disastrous rhythm of some sort, it would actually shock his heart back into a normal rhythm or attempt to do so. He's actually had a shock placed to his chest wall for a trial fibrillation just a couple of years ago, back in 2007. So this is obviously something he's dealt with.

You know, doctors are going to be doing all kinds of things for him certainly when he's in the hospital looking as to what the cause of the chest pain is but also trying to treat him. A medication known as nitroglycerin can open up the blood vessels in his heart and allow more blood to get to his heart muscle and that would help with the pain, also giving medications like aspirin or blood thinners which he may already be on to try to prevent clots from forming and causing problems as well.

But after that it's a whole host of tests, a very standard, logical sequence of tests to try and figure out, a, is there a problem with the heart and, b, has he suffered a heart attack specifically. Interestingly, the way they do that is, if someone has had a heart attack, it releases a bunch of muscle enzymes into the bloodstream and we do a blood test and you can measure that. If muscle enzymes are there it's pretty sure that he had a heart attack. So they'll probably going to figure that out this morning as well.

There's all kinds of things that go on in the hospital in a situation like this. My guess is that he probably has been getting checked out pretty regularly for his own heart health. He's on medications to control his cholesterol, his blood pressure, blood thinning medications as I mentioned but also just getting regular cardiac checkups. So over the next several hours we should have more information on the former vice president, what specifically is going to happen. We heard that he was resting comfortably overnight. Obviously, a good sign and the word is that he may be discharged today.

So as soon as we get more information, we will certainly bring it to you. Back to you for now.

PHILLIPS: Cities on the brink, doing what they can to save money, sometimes with pretty scary consequences. We're checking out two cities that are trying to fix what's broken.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Broken government and broken cities beset by budget problems, and we've told you about some of them. Tracy, California, now charging for 911 calls. Salt Lake City, Utah, talking about letting students ditch the 12th grade. Heck, just yesterday, New York ordered cuts to the length of parades in the city and, yes, that even means the Macys's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In Tempe, Arizona, a third of the police force may go bye-bye and they are turning off the streetlights in Colorado Spring.

So many stories, so many cities. We want to talk about two in particular. John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, and sheriff John McGinnis runs his department in Sacramento, California.

Sheriff, let's start with you. You've seen firsthand how broken government is affecting you. You've had to release prisoners out of your system because the money is just not there to keep things running. Would that be -- do you think that has been the biggest challenge for Sacramento right now and worried that it's going to cost more money rearresting these criminals if they reoffend?

SHERIFF JOHN MCGINNESS, SACREMENTO, CA.: Unfortunately this is not the biggest challenge. Just to clarify, the legislature changed the statute to cause this early release to occur.

However, a real savings to local jurisdictions is probably not going to be realized. The biggest challenge we've had here is laying off law enforcement officers, and that creates a huge challenge. In terms of confidence, I think, on the part of the public in investing in the community. I think that's what you're talking about, is providing a healthy environment in which business can thrive, and that's exactly what we're lacking now.

PHILLIPS: You bring up an interesting point. You've had to lay off your deputies and yet you're having to release criminals back on the streets through this early release. Tell me why that gets you a little nervous.

MCGINNESS: It makes me very nervous, Kyra. Quite frankly, I think the economy will thrive at the rate at which people feel comfortable about spending money and investing in a community. I think what you're going to see, you hear stories from all over the nation in economic downturn and government is so slow to adapt. As things change, we're smaller entities.

Certainly, individuals can make changes in their financial plan. When you're talking about government with contracts, large numbers of people and an expectation for certain services, I think it can be a very, very slow process to understand that things have to change. And among the things that you need to invest in, in order to ensure the greatest likelihood of economic success, I believe are things that make people feel safe about supporting commerce.

PHILLIPS: That's a good point. And Mayor John Fetterman, preaching to the choir. You talked about loss in population, loss in buildings, loss in jobs. When you think about broken government, what's given you the hardest punch?

MAYOR JOHN FETTERMAN, BRADDOCK, PENNSYLVANIA: Well, I think the broken government arc, if you will, kind of reaches back to about 35 years ago when we had the mass deindustialization of western Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh area, including Braddock. And that has led to a present-day situation where we've lost 90 percent of our population, buildings, homes and businesses.

And I really want to echo the sheriff's sentiments there. Public safety, you can never scrimp on that, you always have to find money for that. That's one of the ways that we've been able to come back from that. We've established a safe community now and that's when investment and reinvestment can truly occur.

PHILLIPS: But you just lost a major hospital in your city, right?

FETTERMAN: We did lose a major hospital, and that was a pretty compelling blow. But again, great intervention, an example of government working. We partnered with Allegheny County chief executive Dan Onorato and developed a compelling plan to put in a large health clinic, a community college culinary training center, housing that will also contain a restaurant.

So, we've been able to bounce back from that major setback and do it in a really proactive way that is going to benefit the community. This is that kind of intervention and partnering that I think if it would have occurred 35 years ago, communities like Braddock wouldn't have achieved the condition that they find themselves in now.

PHILLIPS: Interesting, partnering up, getting creative. Sheriff, you've had to do the same thing. What are you doing to make up for the break?

MCGINNESS: Well, we're working towards different ideas. You know, you hear these stories about what seemed to be pretty transparent grabs for revenue. I don't think that works.

I think you have to look at probably a new normal, a new way of approaching business. Understanding we're going to have to police our communities with fewer resources. We want to get those resources back in place as soon as possible, because I really do believe it's more than a matter of addressing crime problems. It's a matter of looking at public safety as a means by which to invest in the future economy and community. But understand, we've got to deliver services differently. We can't -- it's a very, very costly enterprise to police a community and to incarcerate those who violate the law, so we have to look at different ways to bring that cost down and still providing a high level of service. Making people feel safe and good about the community in which they live.

PHILLIPS: Both of you are doing a pretty incredible job of dealing with the lack of resources that you have. Sheriff John McGinness in Sacramento, Mayor John Fetterman there in Braddock, Pennsylvania. Guys, thanks so much.

MCGINNESS: Thank you, Kyra.

FETTERMAN: Thank you so much for having me.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

"Broken Government." The right, the left, everyone in between agree on one thing: the government is broken, and you're hearing about it from cities from Braddock to Sacramento. All this week, we're going to keep digging deep into the mess to try and find out what can be done to help clean it up. No more politics, it's time for answers. "Broken Government," all this week, right here on CNN.

New information about that school spying case. A judge is weighing in while the school system defending their peeps.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Lawmakers taking Toyota to task after more than eight million recalls. Toyota executives will be on Capitol Hill today, and they're sure to face some pretty hostile questions.

Stephanie Elam in New York with a preview of the hearing, which begins actually at the top of the hour. It will be interesting to see who we hear from and how steamy this could get, Steph.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Steamy, that's a good word for it, because it could just go that way. It makes you think of the hood up of a car, just broken down on the side of the road.

But Toyota's U.S. president Jim Lentz is expected to testify today. Tomorrow we'll hear from the CEO, Akio Toyoda. A few Toyota drivers who got into accidents, they're also expected to speak, and some say they'll really going set the tone, offering a play-by-play of how the gas pedal suddenly accelerated without warning. That's going to open the door for lawmakers, so expect them to come down hard on both Toyota and the Department of Transportation.

Representatives Henry Waxman and Bart Stupac say the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration, quote, "lacks the expertise needed to evaluate defects in vehicle electric controls," end quote. That will put the Transportation secretary, Ray LaHood -- more than likely, that's going to put him in the hot seat as well, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, what about Toyota? We're supposed to hear some type of apology, possibly?

ELAM: Yes, we should hear something along the lines of an apology, that's for sure. Prepared testimony shows president Jim Lentz will apologize and say that, quote, "we have not lived up to the high standards our customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota. Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues," end quote.

But Toyota is also going to stand by its product. Don't expect them to throw in the towel completely here. Expect the company to maintain that the problem is the sticky gas pedal and the floor mat, even though lawmakers say it may go further than that. Remember, Toyota's reputation is really based on reliability, and that's what's at stake here as well, so the automaker is going to try and reassure the public that safety is still its number one concern. So, obviously we'll be listening to see how heated these remarks can become at the top of the hour, au hour, as you said.

On Wall Street, however, stocks are struggling. A drop in consumer confidence. We got the numbers out, and we were up in the green a little bit just move to the other direction, so the Dow off 77 points, 10,306 there. NASDAQ off 1.25 percent at 2,213. So, we'll see what happens as we keep our eyes on really what's going on in D.C. and maybe not so much what's going on on Wall Street today, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks, Steph.

Well, turn off the spying software. That's the order from a Pennsylvania judge. It's aimed at the Lower Marion school district. They're being sued by a student who says he was captured on his web cam while in his room. The school says that the peeping is a security measure for stolen laptops, and that the student wasn't allowed to take his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERS, CNN ANCHOR: Is there something within that agreement that they sign that suggests that we may use some sort of tracking software to locate the laptop if it goes missing?

PAUL CALLAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don't think the agreement they signed was specific enough. Yes, if they signed something that there's a camera, we have the right to activate the camera, they would be giving up their rights.

But you know something? I think even the administrators at the school district didn't realize they had this sophisticated capability with respect to all of these computers, and they certainly didn't put enough in to warn the parents about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The FBI and Justice Department are also looking into the case.

In Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan troops have linked up in the embattled city of Marjah. The Allied forces traveled from the north and south and faced a full week of insurgent fire and booby-trapped poppy fields. Now, the forces have met up while they can establish a supply route for ammunition and reinforcements right through the town.

A man accused of plotting attacks on New York's subway system has entered a guilty plea. Prosecutors say Najibullah Zazi is now revealing details on the planned attack and the al Qaeda handlers who trained them in Pakistan. Zazi is due for sentencing in June and could face life in prison.

Guess what, even the Pope rocks out. The Vatican out with the list of the top ten albums of all time, and here's a hint.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: Well, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" not just playing for us but apparently in the halls of the Vatican as well. Pope Benedoc -- Benedict, rather -- you rocker you. Just check out his top ten albums of all time.

Topping Pope Benedict's beats, well, the Beatles' "Revolver." Number two, "If I Could Only Remember My Name," David Crosby. Pink Floyd is third, followed by Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours," and "The Nightfly" by Donald Faegan. Rounding out the top ten, "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, Paul Simon's "Graceland," and also "Morning Glory" by Oasis and Carlos Santana' "Supernatural."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Today's blog question, we're talking about the allegations that British prime minister Gordon Brown bullied his employees and was a plain nightmare to work with. We asked you to share with us your boss abuse stories.

Here's some of them. This is coming from Cara. "My boss at my old job was verbally abusive. She threatened me with foul language, telling me that I'm a nobody. She also threatened that if I would not work on my day off, that she would harm me." Boy, Cara, I hope you quit.

Melissa, this comes from her: "A bully? My former employer threatened to get a gun and blow my brains out. When I reported him to corporate, I got fired. How's that for bullying?"

This comes from Tracy. "It's a serious problem. I believe it's not something that people should just expect to happen when they work. We put a lot of time and effort into our jobs. We spend more time at our jobs than with our families. We should have some standard of respect given to us."

We love hearing from you. Log on to CNN.com/kyra, and share your comments. I'll try to read as many as I can on the air. Rob, your boss ever bully you?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes. But I respond to that, actually.

PHILLIPS: Is he over there? I'm going to come after him.

MARCIANO: Come on! I need to be yelled at, told what to do.

PHILLIPS: That's right, you're so irresponsible.

MARCIANO: It is. Dad took care of that at a young age.

(LAUGHTER)

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: I want to show you some video coming out of a Toronto raptors game where the mascot... seemingly was dancing and then ate the cheerleader, Kyra! completely swallowed her whole, and nobody did anything about it! We talk about dog rescues. How about the cheerleader rescue from the Raptor!

PHILLIPS: You know, my guess is you'd be the first one on the court to try and rescue her...

MARCIANO: Absolutely! Chivalry is not dead!

PHILLIPS: Darn it, you're such a gentleman.

MARCIANO: Nobody did anything there.

PHILLIPS: The mascot that ate the cheerleader.

MARCIANO: In his defense, she seemed rather willing.

PHILLIPS: We could go a million ways with that but we won't, Rob, because we will definitely be bullied by our boss then. That is pretty fun. I'd like to know what was going on in there too after he took off.

MARCIANO: Quite a bit of Cirque du Soleil-type gymnastics, I'm sure.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you.

PHILLIPS: Next year's Olympic event. All right.

All right. Video just in. As you know, we've been talking about the hearing that is going to be taking place. We're about ten minutes away actually until it starts. This is video we just got in. That's the president of Toyota USA, James Lentz. Let's go ahead and listen for a second as he gets ready to speak.

JAMES LENTZ, PRESIDENT, TOYOTA USA: We appreciate this opportunity to meet with Congress. The safety of our consumers is our top priority, and we are committed to a great relationship with both Congress and our regulators. Thank you very much.

He's going to be testifying before the Energy and Commerce committee and we'll be taking it live at 11:00. A lot of people want some answers with regard to those Toyota recalls and the dangers that they pose.

Flying high with Olympic gold. Shaun White is here live. The undisputed king of the halfpipe. Well, dominating his second Winter Games. But to some of us, he's still just Shaun, the intern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about the Olympics, shall we, as we wrap up our hour here. One of the our favorite Olympians here at CNN. We're talking about snowboard magician Shaun White in particular. He's got another gold medal around his neck, but it was after number one that we really got to know this, let's say, very charming young man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAUN WHITE, U.S. OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Yes, like what happened was the funniest thing, is the stewardess had all seen the Games and they were just so excited to see me. They're like you have the gold? I had, like, unlimited, like, service after that. I was getting drinks and I was getting snacks and I mean I was taking photos in the back with all the stewardesses.

PHILLIPS: Wait a minute, drinks? You're 19 years old.

WHITE: I'm talking about Mountain Dews, baby. All right?

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: He called me baby. He called me baby! That's right, ginger ale for Shaun White, outstanding. Okay. Getting a little warm here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, our baby moment was back in 2006, and it wasn't the last time that our favorite Flying Tomato made us laugh. Shaun actually stopped by for a surprise visit. He said he wanted to be an intern, but unfortunately we just couldn't afford him.

But Shaun White, our big store, he's back. Our big star, rather. He's joining us from New York. How you doing, Shaun?

WHITE: I'm good. I saw you before in the other news report, and I was laughing because I instantly remembered that clip. Oh, my God, are they going to play it? I didn't know if you were going to show it or not.

PHILLIPS: Well, you know, before we get started, you know I have to get something off my chest.

WHITE: Uh-huh.

PHILLIPS: What the heck is this? look at this. Your new cougar love? You and Oprah?

WHITE: Ahh..

PHILLIPS: What does she have? Tell me what she has that I don't have, Shaun?

(LAUGHTER)

WHITE: We go way back, we go way back...

PHILLIPS: Uh-huh.

WHITE: It's hard to explain.

PHILLIPS: Okay. Well, I just -- I had to get right back on the board, as you've taught me, and I had to find a new tomato-top love, so I hope you don't mind. This is my new love affair right now. I hope you don't get too jealous.

WHITE: Uh-oh. Uh-oh! You know, he's got some qualities.

PHILLIPS: You think so?

WHITE: He's a nice guy, he's a nice guy. I give you the -- I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it.

PHILLIPS: You're okay with that. Outstanding.

WHITE: It hurts, but it's still okay.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you, back in 2006, you know, after you won, you were talking about having Mountain Dew with all the flight attendants on the airplane. You're legal now, so what did you drink this time around?

WHITE: It was a funny time, so I was able to have a glass of champagne with Mom and Dad, it was pretty cool. It's that rare occasion where it's always awkward. You have a drink with your parents. You're like "Hey, okay, Mom."

PHILLIPS: Exactly. "This is a little strange."

WHITE: It was cool, you know. They were able to have fun with me and ran around to see a bit of the city and do dinners. I mean, it was a blast.

WHITE: You know, that's one pretty remarkable thing. You have remained very close with your parents, and you've talked about them ever since you were a teenager. How has that developed, and have they been right there by your side saying, "okay, Shaun" -- I guess maybe I should ask you this. Are they the ones that are keeping you level- headed, because you've been doing a really good job for staying out of trouble for all this fame and fortune.

PHILLIPS: Yes. I figured at some point, if I was going to let this all get to my head, it would have happened already after the first medal, so I think this is the way I'm going to be for a while.

Yes, they're really the ones that -- yes, I come home and they keep me grounded. They're all about just having family dinner and doing the regular thing. That's why it's so important to have them at that event. It's so amazing to land and ride up to them right at the bottom and get the hugs and the high fives.

Everybody from my family that didn't get to go to Torino, you know, they all basically stormed Vancouver, so it was the crowd that was at Torino, but triple. I mean, it was so many people.

PHILLIPS: And I'm curious, the last time we talked, you know, it's been a number of years. There's been a lot of developments, shall we say, not only professionally but personally. How do you think you've changed not only as an athlete but a man?

WHITE: Well, I mean 23 years to grow this, so I've got to flaunt it now.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITE: No, it's one of those things where, I don't know...

PHILLIPS: He's got chest hair, boys! He's got chest hair now.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITE: It's one of those things where I definitely -- I'm taller, I'm stronger. I mean this was an amazing year for me, just because of that. I approach every situation differently.

I don't know, I definitely feel like I grew into my own skin in a way. I am able to meet fans and really enjoy myself nowadays instead of before, where everything was such a blur because it was new to me. I'm now feeling like I can really be myself in situations.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's one of the best things is you've always been yourself, and I love all these moves you've created. The Tomahawk, the Double McTwist 1260...

WHITE: Yes, thank you.

PHILLIPS: What does that mean, by the way, the Double McTwist 1260?

WHITE: No one knows.

(LAUGHTER) PHILLIPS: It just sounds really cool.

WHITE: It just sounded awesome. It basically is -- 1260 is just referring to degrees of rotation. So, if 360 is a full circle, you just basically add that up to 1260, so it's about three-and-a-half rotations, I'm pretty sure.

But, you know, and while doing that spinning, I'm adding two flips into my spin there, so it's two flips while spinning, and McTwist is referring to I take off front flip and go back flip for the second flip. It's pretty involved, that's why we just -- called it the Tomahawk. It's a bit of a throw.

PHILLIPS: Well, no, it works well if you think about the Tomahawk missile and that's what created the whole Iraqi war. But Shaun, it's always so good to talk to you.

Maybe I can bring Tony Harris on on this. You know, Tony, I told Shaun last time, Tony, when we talked no booze in large amounts, no drugs and no wild women.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Right, right, right.

PHILLIPS: I don't want him pulling a Tiger Woods...

HARRIS: Oh, dog...

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Shaun, are you going to stick to that?

WHITE: Well, I'm not married. I'm not married.

HARRIS: There you go.

PHILLIPS: But you're going to behave yourself for us, right, Shaun? We have high expectations.

WHITE: Oh, of course, of course. My mom is watching this.

PHILLIPS AND HARRIS: There you go.

WHITE: Got to keep it smooth....

PHILLIPS: Best of luck and stay close with us, okay? I'm going to get over the Oprah thing, but we still love you.

WHITE: Thanks for having me.

PHILLIPS: All right, Shaun. Tony Harris. How do you top the Flying Tomato, I tell you what.