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Chile After the Quake; Controversial Health Care Tactic; Powerless After the Storm; Benefits Running Out; Stocks Set to Rise

Aired March 01, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, guys.

Well, welcome to Monday. Nothing like starting the week off with a steaming hot cup of "Broken Government." If you don't have a job and you needed that helping hand from Uncle Sam, guess what? Time and money have run out. And the message from the senator blocking it, tough (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

Some parents wish they could bleep this church sign. Mom and dad, have fun explaining that to your grade-schooler who passes it every day.

And they should be celebrating Black History Month, instead these college students are protesting. The noose on campus was the last straw.

Hello, everyone.

But that's not all that we have for you this hour. Karl Penhaul live in Chile on the catastrophic earthquake and its aftermath. Ed Henry, live at the White House where a new chapter could open in the health care drama? Think it'll be the last chapter? Not sure. And meteorologist Jacqui Jeras tracking the latest winter storm nailing New England and another one that is brewing further west.

All right, let's get right to the latest on the quake. Chile's defense minister says that more people would have survived if the Navy had issued a tsunami warning. 605 of the known 708 deaths were on the coast.

The Chilean Red Cross reports at least 500,000 homes have considerable damage. Heavily populated parts of the country have no water or power. People are scavenging for food, others are just plain looting. And while all this is happening, aftershocks. More than 90 since Saturday.

The quake really hammered the city of Concepcion. Rescuers still hearing sounds maybe from survivors. There's a rescue effort that's going on right now, and our Karl Penhaul is there to witness. He joins us now from Concepcion -- Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you're right. A rescue operation is now under way. Only 10 minutes ago, firefighters here said that they heard tapping from inside a 15-story building. A 15- story building that simply fell on its side. As I say, firefighters have heard that tapping. I'm going to step out of the way and so you can see them -- you can see where they're working now, and they're working in those holes. And they have got firefighters inside the building.

The next phase is -- according to the head of the firefighter's team is that they will drill some small holes, possibly no larger than an inch so that they can get a small camera or can get some eye contact into what they say is Apartment 602.

Now they say that Apartment 602, according to the records that they have, there could be up to three people inside that apartment, and so that they say is good news, because they say potentially there are another 40 or 50 people inside that building, and right now they have no clue as to whether they are alive or dead -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Karl Penhaul, please keep us updated. We want to follow those rescue efforts live, of course, and get as much information as we can by the minute.

Karl, thanks so much.

Well, this is what it looks like and sounds like when an 8.8 quake hits, when every second feels like an eternity.

Someone was recording this as it happened. We've got several seconds where all you can see is the shaking. Then all of a sudden the video goes black when the power fails. Take a listen.

As you can see the lights are out. No matter what the language, fear needs no translation here. One man urging others just to stay calm.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be delivering condolences to the Chilean government tomorrow. She's scheduled a Latin American trip just before the quake had struck. She arrives in Santiago Tuesday and will meet with the outgoing president and the president- elect.

You can visit our "Impact Your World" page to find out more about the quake and how you can help with the relief effort. That's at CNN.com/impact.

Webster's defines reconciling as restoring to harmony. Well, leave it to the politics to turn a positive word into a negative. So bottom line here, Democrats want to use the reconciliation procedure to pass health care reform without a GOP filibuster. Republicans, outraged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: We know that one of the reasons we didn't have a bill in the fall was because the president wanted to give the Senate more time to arrive at bipartisanship in the Senate bill which he thought might be possible then. The House had said right from the start they were never going to vote for any bill, but he thought there was some prospects in the Senate. And so what we've had is a year of trying to strive for bipartisanship.

As I said, over 100 Republican amendments in the bill, and the Republicans placed their own bill on the floor here in the House, which insured three million, and our bill insured over 30 million. So we have a different value system here.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Is there any way the president can reconfigure this bill that would get your support?

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: I don't think so, Candy. I mean this is a massive overhaul of one-sixth of the economy. Republicans just don't believe that a half a trillion dollar in Medicare cuts and a half-trillion dollars in new taxes and possibly higher insurance premiums for all of those on the individual market is the definition of reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So how exactly would this reconciliation tactic work?

Ed Henry, what's the president's next step?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you know how on Wall Street they say markets love certainty? It's the same for presidents and congressional leaders.

They want to know when they're proposing a legislation they can get this done. But this health care debate has been full of just the opposite -- uncertainty for the last year. I think the only thing really we're certain about right now is that this president does not have the super majority of 60 votes to pass his health care plan in the Senate.

So that is why he's very likely to resort to reconciliation. This legislative tactic that you mentioned where you just need a simple majority of 51 in the Senate. For example, we're told by top White House aides that the president later this week is likely to lay out what they're calling a way forward here.

They won't say yet that he's going to use reconciliation. But that's pretty much his last resort here in this long debate. And I thought the most telling part of the Sunday shows yesterday was the fact that David Gregory on NBC's "Meet the Press" was asking Nancy Andrew Carl the health care is already here at the White House three different times, do you have the votes for reconciliation right now? And she kept saying we will have the votes.

She was basically ducking it. That tells me they know inside this White House they do not even have a simple majority, let alone a super majority right now. And that tell us they still have a lot of work to do just to get it through with a simple majority, which may wind up to be controversial -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: Well, Ed, so how much backlash can Democrats expect if they move forward with reconciliation?

HENRY: Well, look, there's no doubt the Republicans -- and you played some of the sound there from Mitch McConnell and others who were telling Candy Crowley that they're going to kick up a big storm about this. That they believe this is sort of outside the mainstream, outside the normal order of things.

But when you really look at what's happened in, say, the last 30 years, it turns out Republican presidents have used this tactic of reconciliation a lot more than Democrats. They say they haven't done it on a major issue like health care, but they have done it on a major issue like tax cuts in the last Bush administration. Something that was also dividing the parties in a big way.

And so I think the bottom line is that the Republicans are going to be screaming a lot about this. They already have been. But I think the Democrats are going to point out correctly that this has been used by Republicans more in the past than it has been by Democrats.

And it's clear this is the president's top domestic priority. They're going to use every tactic they can to get it done. But again they don't have the votes yet even if they use that tactic. They have a lot of work to do to get this finished -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, and Americans want it finished, that's for sure. Ed, thanks.

And President Obama is shifting his focus from health care next hour. He is talking about plans to improve the nation's schools. We'll have his remarks right here live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It's March and spring is just a few weeks out. Probably it feels like it'll never come for some people like the people who've gone about a week now without electricity. It's too much for even winter tough Maine.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And I'm CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Unfortunately that storm still not over. It's clipping New England today. Find out the latest on that system and what it can do to your afternoon hours today. Plus a new storm in Texas which may bring some chances of snow to areas in the south.

That's all coming up in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Our severe weather. There is plenty of it in New Hampshire right now. Some people there still don't even have power after last week's snowstorm.

Governor John Lynch touring parts of his state yesterday promising that restoring utilities is his first priority. And as of this morning, some 80,000 granite staters still shivering without power.

Jim Van Dongen actually knows what's going on there firsthand. He's with New Hampshire's Homeland Security Emergency Management. He's joining me now by phone from beautiful Concord in the southeast part of the state that's been hit really hard.

So, tell me, Jim, what you guys are doing right now minute by minute to get that power restored.

JIM VAN DONGEN, HOMELAND SECURITY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via phone): Well, restoration has been under way, as you can imagine, right from the beginning of this. These high winds, almost hurricane force winds moved in late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

And we looked at a peak of just over 300,000 utility customers being out of power. As of Monday morning, we're down to fewer than 50,000 now. So, I mean, that's a lot of people, but we're still making pretty significant progress.

Utility companies have to work with Sawyer crews because obviously the power lines have come down because of falling trees and all that -- all the trees and branches have to be cut out of the way before they can get in there so it's a lot of work and it's a big job.

PHILLIPS: So what are people -- what are you telling people to do right now that don't have power, that are cold, that need to keep, you know, families running? What are you telling them?

VAN DONGEN: Well, we've got shelters open around the state. This is -- this affects the southern part of the state, not northern New Hampshire. We had -- overnight we had 55 shelters open -- rather than we had 55 people in shelters open around the area, about a dozen shelters were open.

And you can see that's a pretty small number mostly because people tend to make their own arrangements rather than go to a shelter. As more and more power is restored, people have options to move in with friends or relatives. Sometimes people use the shelters to take a shower or get a hot meal or warm up for a while, use them essentially as warming stations, and then go back home.

PHILLIPS: So, Jim, when do you think you'll have everything fixed?

VAN DONGEN: It's difficult for the utilities to peg this down. We hope to have everything back by the middle of the week, and as we go on there, the numbers get smaller and smaller, but of course those are the more difficult restorations.

So it may be until as long as the end of the week to get everybody back, but the bulk of people should be back by the middle of the week.

PHILLIPS: OK. Jim Van Dongen, appreciate it.

It's a similar story next door in Maine, too. Some people are getting downright testy, too. Going days without utilities, freezing temperatures. Well, that'll do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER IORDANOU, BADGER ISLAND, MAINE RESIDENT: Maine, (INAUDIBLE) where the hell is he? Are they there? I heard they worked in Elliott, they worked all these guys, the towns around the area. Nobody came on this island. And we're going to go to New Hampshire. We don't want Maine anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, repair crews have been working to restore those down electrical lines but they say a record number of broken or snapped utility poles is what's making things so tough.

And there's another storm on the horizon, too. That's not going to help much.

Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras following that for us.

Hey, Jacqui.

JERAS: Hey, Kyra. Same story, actually, believe it or not.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JERAS: We'll try and end it there on a bright note, Kyra.

(LAUGHTER)

JERAS: That things are good across the west and the Midwest, and today is March 1st. And so when we calculate things climatologically, we consider March, April and May to be the spring months, so it's spring today, March 1.

PHILLIPS: Well, it doesn't always feel like it.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All right. I'm trying to believe.

JERAS: A little silver lining. I'm trying to help everybody out because I see those tempers were flaring.

PHILLIPS: OK. Thank you, Jacqui, that's right.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: We'll stay on the ski trail. You know the post -- they post those warnings for a reason. One guy actually learned the hard way. Good thing he had a backup plan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: CIA operatives were unexpected but welcomed targets. That's what we're hearing in a longer video from suspected double agent turned suicide bomber. Seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian army officer died in the attack in late December in Afghanistan. On that tape the suspects says the Jordanian was the target but the others were, quote, "a gift from god."

The funeral today for the orca trainer killed last week in Orlando, Florida. SeaWorld is still trying to figure out why the 12,000-pound animal attacked Dawn Brancheau. They re-opened the killer whale shows over the weekend. SeaWorld held a memorial for Brancheau while that show or before the show, rather, in Orlando.

Buried up to his neck in snow. A man skiing at Crystal Mountain in Washington state triggered an avalanche when he wandered off the beaten path. But he was able to reach his cell phone to call for help. Ski patrols said that if he didn't have his cell phone with him he probably would have died.

No checks in the mail. Jobless benefits running out. Another extension for more than a million people blocked by just one senator.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So how's this for an example of "Broken Government"? No more time, no more money. And if you're depending on unemployment benefits to get by, forget about it.

Christine Romans joining me now live from New York.

Not good news, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not good news for, frankly, millions of people here.

Kyra, normally -- in normal times if you're out of work you can apply for an unemployment insurance and you get 26 weeks of unemployment benefits on average. But now because of so many extensions in this great recession, not normal times, you can get up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits.

And this federal extension, most recent federal e extension, is slated to run out today. As of today. And on Friday, a lone senator, Jim Bunning from Kentucky, did not vote -- to help another extension go through. Actually a roadblock to that extension.

So you have 1.2 million people in March will lose their federal unemployment benefit extension. Five million by June. This is according to the National Employment Law Project.

There are 11.5 million people right now, Kyra, receiving unemployment benefits. Some of them for many, many months. On average there's some $400 and some a week that people are getting, and for many people who've been out of work for six months or more, this is how they are feeding their families.

So this is a pretty critical time for many people who are looking for those unemployment benefits to be extended. And they haven't yet. COBRA health insurance, as well. There's -- you might not know this, but taxpayers, you and I are helping pay the premiums for people out of work. People who are out of work, 65 percent of their premiums for their COBRA health insurance are paid by taxpayers. That also died on Friday in the Senate as well.

Now here's a little bit of glimmer of hope here. Some of the Republicans are signaling and suggesting that they may be open to a patch, some kind of a near-term fix, but the longer term, since we've had so many extensions already, they want to have a big discussion, Kyra, about how we're going to pay for this. It doesn't come for free.

How are we going to pay for it? If it's so important to keep people getting these checks, then they want to know where we're going to get the money and are we going to take the money from someplace else.

So that's where we stand here right now. Looks like there could be some movement on this this week. Of course, no one's going to get backup checks for that. This is sort of lost time for those people who will not be able to get a federal check. So this is literally millions of people -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, and the Senator Jim Bunning is the one right there that's voting against it, has a lot of people angry, and everyone is trying to talk to him and we haven't heard a peep yet. So we're still working that.

Christine Romans, thanks.

ROMANS: And he's taking a fiscal stance, you know. He's saying if it's so important, tell me how are we going to pay for it. What are we going to take from someplace else to pay for it? But other Republicans are signaling that they might be ready to move forward -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Christine.

Keeping an eye on Iran as well. Are they really trying to build a nuclear bomb? Inspectors are going over their notes right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Kyra Phillips.

PHILLIPS: Wall Street investors hope to build on the stock market gains of last month, so let's see how March is going to come in. Like a financial lion or lamb?

Alison Kosik, she's at the New York Stock Exchange.

What do you think, Alison?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, on this first trading day of March, Kyra, we are expecting to see at least modest gains at the open. There is some news out there that could move the markets.

Investors are pleased to see that AIG is making a big effort to shore up its balance sheet and pay back taxpayers some of the $182 billion the government gave it in the bailout.

What's happened is AIG has agreed to sell AIA Group, that's its Asian life insurance business to Britain's Prudential. The price tag on this deal? $35 billion most of it in cash. It's AIG's biggest asset sale since being rescued by the government.

Wall Street is also hoping that Greece may finally get a bailout of its own. European and Greek officials are meeting today and there is talk that a deal could be hammered out soon. If there is, investor would definitely like that.

The U.S. transportation department will lay off 2,000 workers today. They're going to be furloughed without pay because the Senate failed to pass a bill to extend highway and transit programs. This is all part of the unemployment benefits extension that you heard Christine talking about a few minutes ago.

All right. Taking a check on the early numbers. We're seconds away from the opening bell.

Before we do take a look at the numbers, Kyra, we are watching copper prices. We don't usually copper prices. But we've noticed that they've gained about 6 percent. And that's because of the devastating earthquake in Chile.

I don't know if you knew this but Chile is the world's leading producer of metal, and there are concerns about supply disruptions because production could be affected because the infrastructure there could be affected.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: OK. Alison, thanks so much.

All right. the bell is going to ring there in just a second, you see, as we tip-off at the half hour. There we go. Just got to get it on record there. Just about to hit 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

All right. Search for survivors going on right now in Chile. The defense minister said more people would have survived if the Navy issued a tsunami warning. 605 people of the known 708 deaths in that earthquake were on the coast. The Chilean Red Cross reports at least 500,000 homes have considerable damage. Heavily populated parts of the country have no water or power, and people are scavenging for food right now. Others are just plain looting. And while all this is happening, aftershocks. More than 90 since Saturday.

Right now, live pictures from Concepcion as we follow the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile. Our Karl Penhaul is actually on the scene along with this reporter -- I have no idea who that is, but I will try and find out. Here's what the deal is: rescue workers -- that's not it, but the other shot you saw -- trying to get in a apartment building where rescue workers were trying to get into. They heard some tapping, possibly three, maybe 50 people still trapped. Is this the same apartment building, just another side? Okay, another side of the apartment building where we were.

And they heard tapping and they are trying to get inside to see if anybody is still alive and pull them out. It's a rescue effort in progress. We are tracking it live with Karl Penhaul. We'll bring updated -- if we get any good news.

So is Iran working on a bomb? That's what the United Nations Nuclear watchdog agency is looking at this week. And our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, is joining us live from Moscow this morning. Give us a reality check, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we don't know the answer to whether they are working on a bomb or not, but certainly that's the suspicion among many companies, not least the United States. And that's what the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, which is meeting today in the Austian capital of Vienna.

And they say they are deeply concerned that Iran may be developing at the moment, currently, some kind of nuclear war head. That's fueling the debate about whether there should be tougher sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic of the United Nations Security Council. Obviously, Russia and China in the past have been against that, but the outcome of the meeting in Vienna today, which is expected to censure Iran, may be fuel for the ongoing debate, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: What is the next step then? What will happen now?

CHANCE: Well, we are expecting four days of meetings in Vienna. They'll discuss in detail all the issues, including that of Iran's very controversial nuclear program. Then the matter over the course of next month or so will go to the U.N. Security Council in New York where the five permanent members of the council as well as others will decide whether kind of sanctions and whether sanctions are appropriate against the Islamic Republic.

In the past, Russia and China provided diplomatic cover for Iran. They've got deep commercial and diplomatic ties to the Islamic Republic. But there is a sense that at least from the Russian point of view, and I am speaking to you from Moscow, they have spoken much more tougher words in recent months toward the Iranians. And they are much more frustrated with what the Iranians are doing, not cooperating with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Matthew Chance, we'll follow it.

A giant billboard is turning heads and in some cases, turning stomachs. Makes that whole Brooke Shields thing with her Calvins seem pretty tame, doesn't it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: We have video that could make you flinch in our top stories.

A police officer in Ohio recovering after this. Too close of a call this weekend. Officer John Lambert was helping a stranded driver when another driver lost control. That vehicle then hit Lambert and he went flying over the guardrail. He has a bunch of fractures, but believe it or not, he survived.

Jay Leno back in his old stomping grounds tonight. He turns as the host of the NBC's "Tonight Show." Leno's seven-month primetime experiment failed in the ratings and with local affiliates, so we'll see how he does now. Back in his own time slot.

And a new billboard is downtown Newark is grabbing a lot of things, including attention. A giant ad for Akoo jeans shows a woman pulling down a man's denims. The Akoo brand is rapper T.I.'s line, but the billboard is getting a bad rap from the locals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter asked me what that girl was doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do that make you feel as a mom?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bad, because I don't know what to explain to her. She is just 5 years old.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Newark mayor Cory Booker says he will address the steamy ad controversy.

He fought for his country and found himself late in life asking for a handout. Now his community is answering the call for help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A helping hand for a veteran in need. In Bakersfield, California, a World War II vet had been asking for money while sitting in a chair on the side of the road. Sure enough, he got it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ORVEL BAGGETT, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I didn't expect volunteers to come together to help us like they have. I think we will be okay from now on. I hope to God I don't have to get on the side of the road no more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Aww. Well, those volunteers, many of the young people cleaned up the Baggetts' new digs, even the mayor joined in. He arranged for a wheelchair accessible van, and it didn't cost Mr. Baggett a dime. Jacqui Jeras, we always like the stories about taking care of the vets, but I know you are talking about taking care of the weather right now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: OK. I always have to work on meteorologist. Jacqui Jeras--

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's the ologists part of it, isn't it?

PHILLIPS: That's a tongue twister. Thank you, Jacqui.

We've talked a lot about Chile. Now, let's talk about Haiti. Many people there asking where are we supposed to go as the rainy season begins? They could be washed out of their temporary tent cities. CNN's David McKenzie has more now from Port-au-Prince.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MACKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reeling from tragedy, another layer of misery in Haiti. Southwestern Haiti, rains hammering the people, leaving at least eight dead and a warning of the coming rainy season.

More than six weeks after the Haiti's devastating quake, hundreds of thousands are still stranded. Anger and frustration spill over. One of the biggest tent cities they have been waiting all day to get registered to move. But moving half a million people seems unrealistic.

MARK TURNER, IML. ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION: The scale of the problem is absolutely enormous. It's really hard to actually explain how big it is until you are in a place like this, and you really get the sense of we have an entire city that needs to be basically reconstructed, rebuilt.

MACKENZIE: Rudy Aine waited all day to register. He has no idea how it will help him, but he is clinging to hope.

RUDI AINE, DISPLACED HAITIAN (via translator): I don't know what is going to happen, only God knows, he says. They told me to come and register. What happens afterwards I don't know.

MCKENZIE: Rudy is not alone in his confusion. At first, the government said it would move people to large camps outside the city. Now they say they want to send them home to smaller camps, and displaced Haitians don't know their fate.

So, I put the question to the man charged by the government to rebuild Haiti.

(on camera): They are not hearing anything from the government. Why no communication to the people? LESLIE VOLTAIRE, HAITI RECONSTRUCTION: I think the government is not very good at communication, but they are working very hard to get material.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): He told me the government is holding on to tens of thousands of tents until structural engineers can assess which buildings are safe and which need to be destroyed. Most Haitians are too afraid to move back inside.

(on camera): If the government wants to fix peoples' homes before they move there, they will face an uphill battle.

Just here in this neighborhood alone, there are hundreds of destroyed homes.

(voice-over): One of those homes belongs to Rudy, who lost his business and six relatives in the quake, including his two-month-old daughter. He says he relives the quake every time he comes back.

When you look at it, you shiver, he says, because you see it's a disaster. It's like a desert, because there is nobody around.

Rudy says he wants to stay in his tent. Like thousands of Haitians, the only thing he can salvage from his home is painful memories.

David McKenzie, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: A special what the update, a lady who might have blown her chance at mother of the year. When you allegedly coach your child to snatch a purse, bad things kind of happen.

We head to the park for "This Day in History." In 1872, Yellowstone became the country's first national park. Back then, Congress called it a, quote, "pleasuring ground." Now about three million people visit that park every year. Most go see "Old Faithful" of course. Yellowstone was the first but now there are 392 national parks for all of us to enjoy here in the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We have a couple very special "what the's" for you, updates shall we say? Remember the mom in Indianapolis, allegedly coached her five-year-old daughter to steal a purse at Chuck E. Cheese. It was caught right there on security cameras, the highlight of the low light in parenting. Well here's the update, mom and her boyfriend busted, arrested, charged and get this, the prosecutor says that poor little girl didn't even want to do it. He says that the mother told her to do it for your mommy as if she were trying to eat her green beans.

Remember the chef in Italy, who shall we say, let the cat out of the bag on TV? Watch the translation on the bottom, unless you can speak Italian. Good to know. Well, you're fired. Italian state-owned TV canned the famous chef for those catty comments. The look on his co-host's face pretty much mirrored the whole country's reaction. He's not apologizing, either. He says he's just stating what folks in Tuscany have been doing for years.

The show "Desperate Housewives" may light up television screens, but it's this church sign advertising desperate sex lives, it's igniting controversy in Hampton, Virginia. The problem is, location, location, location. It's across the street from an elementary school. So would you want to explain that to your grade-schooler? Many parents are upset as you can imagine. The pastor says he isn't after publicity or shock value. He's just trying to help out couples.

Let's see what's shaking on CNN.com. We like going to the news polls part of our web page. Up at the top left corner if you haven't checked it out, basically gauges what stories you are looking at, the most popular stories online. Right now the most popular story you're looking at, America's hidden debt bombs. Our total debt load on pace to top $1.3 trillion this year, $22 trillion rather by 2020. People are interested in knowing how much we continue to go into the hole.

Second most popular story right now, will Toyota's problems hurt Honda? This is interesting because Toyota's image has been tarnished so greatly. Now there's concern that other Japanese car brands will also be in trouble.

The third most popular story right now, Marie Osmond. Her 18- year-old adopted son dying by suicide. More details from police there and the third most popular story.

Number four, Jessica Simpson. Looks like she's starting her own show. "Showbiz Tonight's" Brooke Anderson and also -- actually sat down to interview her to talk about that new program.

To get to the website just go to newspulse.CNN.com. The page is updated every 15 minutes.

Health care front and center next hour in the NEWSROOM beginning with Ed Henry in Washington -- Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Kyra, all signs pointing to the White House likely to use that method known as reconciliation to push through health care reform. But do they even have the votes to do that? A surprising answer from a White House aide. We'll have that next hour.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Obama today is talking about what Federal money is doing to improve schools. Well, already billions of dollars have poured into schools from that stimulus. What is all that money paying for? I'm Josh Levs. I'll have that at the top of the hour.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen in Atlanta. A toothbrush that costs $1,000, $140 for one Tylenol? What's going on here? These are charges from hospitals that are coming out of your pocket and mine. I'll have that at the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks guys, all that plus President Obama speaking live from Washington on his latest education initiative. That's straight ahead.

Also, the Olympic gold medal report from Vancouver, Mark MCKAY is here.

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PHILLIPS: Rescuers in Chile still hearing sounds maybe from survivors right now. There's a rescue effort taking place and our Karl Penhaul is right there to witness it.

Is he joining us live from Concepcion? OK, great, Karl, I don't know if you're on phone or you're there within that live shot that we're looking at right now, but tell me what rescuers are trying to do as they're up there against the wall.

PENHAUL: Yes. I'm going to step out of the way and let you see actually what's going on. And you can see there's a lot of people coming past, a lot of those associated with the rescue itself. This is a 15-story building. That building just literally fell on its side during the earthquake. That is the focus of the rescue operation right now. There have been holes that have been cut into every single story there.

But the focus of attention right now is on the sixth floor on apartment 602. That's where the head of the firefighters says he has heard a tapping sound from. And he says according to administration records, it's a building that could be three people inside there. They say they do have at least one person confirmed alive. They say it's a tough job from here in. They've got to drill a hole about an inch in diameter to see if they can get eyes on contact. After that they'll see how they can proceed to cut those people out and bring them back to freedom after two days trapped, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And you were saying possibly up to 50 people, is that right?

PENHAUL: Well, that's the other thing that administration records for the building do show. They say that they have had a number of people out of this building already dead. They've taken at least 24 out of this building alive in the immediate minutes after the earthquake. But they say according to records there could be 40 to 50 other people still in the building. They say that many of them could be inside the stairwell, but they say right now they have no way of knowing whether those are alive or dead.

PHILLIPS: All right. We will follow along with you as that rescue effort continues. Keep us posted. Karl Penhaul, appreciate it.

I can't believe it's over. Talking about the winter Olympics, of course. Now all that's left is cleaning up the streets of Vancouver and, well, carting home all those medals. Of course we're talking about the ones here to the U.S. You're going to need a big cart, too. CNN's Mark MCKAY has more on America's record haul.

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MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The colors at any Olympics are vibrant and everywhere. The streets of Vancouver were bathed in a celebratory red and white at all times these past 17 days. But it was on the heels of Whistler and Cypress where an additional color dominated the landscape. There was red, white and blue. The United States ski and snow board team won 17 overall medals at these games. A performance all the more impressive when you consider that the alpine team won eight of those after capturing just two four years ago in Torino. Bode Miller was the brightest star with three medals, four years delayed. And Lindsey Vonn found her way on to the Olympic podium twice.

LINDSEY VONN, WON 2 MEDALS IN VANCOUVER: It's been so cool to watch the American flag go up on the podium so many times. And it seems like every single competition, there's someone from the U.S. up on the podium.

BODE MILLER, WON 3 MEDALS IN VANCOUVER: I think this has been an inspiring Olympics. I think this is the kind of stuff that kids get fired up about. They recognize it right away.

MCKAY: Inspiring as always for the Americans was the dominance of the snow borders and free style skiers. Shaun White was tops again in men's half pipe amidst nine U.S. medals to come from the hills of Cypress.

SHAUN WHITE, HALFPIPE GOLD MEDALIST: I'm so happy it's over with but it's unbelievable. I'm just happy I was here, happy I was able to win for the U.S. and make it a historical day.

MCKAY: Statements were not just made on snow, but also on the ice where the men's and women's hockey teams each earned silver. And Evan Lysacek won America's first gold medal in men's figure skating in 22 years.

EVAN LYSACEK, FIGURE SKATING GOLD MEDALIST: This is my moment. It's kind of the moment I've been waiting for for my whole life. And I can't help but to think that it's destiny.

MCKAY: And milestones were reached as well. The first Nordic combined medals ever, four of them in all, while short track speed skater Apolo Ohno became the most decorated U.S. winter Olympian in history.

APOLO OHNO, 8-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALIST: I could cross the line with a smile on my face and know and feel content in that satisfaction that I brought every single thing that I have. And I poured my heart and soul into these Olympic games and into this sport.

MCKAY: In total, it was a blazing show put on by the United States. Featuring all the heat and intensity of the fire that burned throughout these games. Awash in all the colors found in those flames. Red, white - and blue. (END VIDEOTAPE)