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Rescue Effort in Chile; Next Steps for Health Care; Storm Brings Misery to Europe

Aired March 01, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Kyra. Thank you so much. Can you believe it? It is Monday, the 1st of March 2010. Here are the faces of the stories really driving today's headlines.

First up, Nancy Pelosi and McConnell, both of them drawing battle lines on Capitol Hill today. The fight for health care reform taking on brand-new strategies this week.

And Bert Bifulco, night shift worker. CNN putting people who labor after the sun goes down in focus.

Luquonda Waters, bartender turned lab tech. Stimulus money helping minorities move on up the jobs ladder.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin, in for Tony Harris, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Aftershock after aftershock really just keeping the ground shaking in Chile. We have an iReport. Take a look at the video here.

This is a rockslide in the capital of Santiago. And this was triggered by one of the more than 90 aftershocks from Saturday's 8.8 magnitude quake.

Checking some of the numbers, the latest number we have when it comes to the death toll, it is 708. And according to the Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, that number is rising and the rescues are ongoing.

Want to go straight to a rescue under way right now in the town of Concepcion, where Karl Penhaul is standing in front of this building for us.

And Karl, if you hear me, if you can just pick up the story for me. I know you're in front of this building. There were reports of tapping and people inside.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Brooke. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to stand out of the way, because this building didn't as much collapse. It simply fell on its side. I'm going to stand out of the way and take a look at what's going on.

What you can see is each of those floors have now been numbered. And so where you see three firefighters standing, that is floor six. There are 15 stories in this billing, but it's on floor six, precisely in apartment 602, where firefighters believe that they have heard tapping.

Now, what they must now do is get in through those triangular holes. And they then have to burrow in, through survivable spaces in that building, get to apartment 602, and drill a hole in. And that way they will be able to see through about an inch diameter hole whether, in fact, people are still alive there and how many people are alive there. According to administration records of the building, there could be about three people alive in that spot.

Somebody also was saying to me, why are they triangular holes they've cut inside of the building? That really is for speed.

They make three cuts rather than four cuts per square, but each of those cuts is about a meter long. And what that means is, if there are survivors in there, if there are dead people, at least they can get a stretcher in there and get the stretcher in and out of those triangular holes very effectively.

So, everything working towards, first of all, seeing if there are any more survivors in there, bringing those out. And, if not, then they will try and recover the dead.

BALDWIN: And Karl, forgive me if I missed this, but did you say that there had been some survivors who have already been pulled out of this building that's now toppled on its side?

PENHAUL: In the last two days, yes, people have been pulled out. Twenty-four people, in fact, firefighters tell us, have been rescued from this building. Five dead have been pulled out. But that still leaves, according to administration records, 40 to 50 people unaccounted for.

Now, firefighters say that they could be somewhere there in the stairwell, but they haven't heard from them in at least the last 24 hours. So, so far, no real way of knowing whether they are alive or now dead -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Unbelievable.

Karl Penhaul following that story for us out of Concepcion.

We're also keeping our eye on another headline. Really, looting a big issue in Concepcion and surrounding cities.

Karl, thank you. We'll check back in with you.

Meantime, checking other stories today.

Haitians left homeless by the January earthquake, they're now bracing for even more misery. You see all that? That is rain.

The rainy season is expected to start shortly, but rain, as you can see, already causing a whole bunch of problems. Heavy downpours over the weekend drenched people living in tent cities and flooded streets with just debris. Government says flooding killed at least eight people in southwest Haiti. Two bombings reported today in southern Afghanistan. In one attack, a car bomb exploded near police headquarters in Kandahar, killing a civilian and wounding 16 people. In the other attack, we're hearing a suicide car bomber killed a NATO service member and four civilians.

President Obama is putting the focus on education today. You heard him speak last hour.

He announced $900 million in grants to turn around failing schools. These grants though would require drastic action. He's talking about replacing principals, closing underperforming schools. The president also addressed the problem of school dropouts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The graduation gap in some places between white students and classmates of color is 40 or 50 percent. And in cities like Detroit and Indianapolis and Baltimore, graduation rates hover around 30, 40 percent, roughly half the national average.

Now, it's true that not long ago, you could drop out of high school and reasonably expect to find a blue-collar job that would pay the bills and help support your family. That's just not the case anymore. In recent years, a high school dropout has made on average about $10,000 less per year than a high school graduate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that's education. Let's talk health care reform though.

Democrats, they're moving on right ahead this week, apparently ready to bypass Republican opposition.

CNN's Jim Acosta tells us what to look for in these days ahead in this process that's called reconciliation.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, just because the Democrats are talking about reconciliation doesn't mean both parties will be joining hands and singing "Kumbaya" on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): With health care reform cleaning the life in Congress, Democrats are about to try a radical procedure to save the patient. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" they'll do it with or without Republican support.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: They have had plenty of opportunity to make their voices heard.

ACOSTA: The likely path ahead would require some tricky legislative surgery. First, the House would vote to approve the Senate bill that's already passed. Then the Senate would use one of its little known rules called "reconciliation" to fix its original bill, removing portions that were unpopular like the last-minute sweetheart deal to Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson.

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: I think Americans should know that when we hear the words about reconciliation, it is simply a majority vote.

ACOSTA: Under reconciliation, only 51 votes are required to pass a bill, no filibustering allowed. While the procedure was designed for budget matters, it's been used in the past to expand health care and then some. Reconciliation was used to pass welfare reform under President Clinton and a push through tax cuts under George W. Bush. When they were in the majority, Republicans also tried reconciliation to authorize new oil drilling in Alaska.

SEN. JUDD GREGG (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: If you've got 51 votes, for your position, you win.

ACOSTA: Now in the minority, GOP leaders see it differently.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: Just because it's been used before for lesser issues, it doesn't mean it's appropriate for this issue.

ACOSTA: Republicans are waving this letter written by one of the creators of reconciliation, Senate Democrat Robert Byrd, who said last April using the procedure to pass health care reform would do serious injury to the constitutional role of the Senate.

SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: The danger of what's happening right now in terms of using reconciliation is the purpose of the Senate is going to be defeated, and that is to bring consensus to big issues in this country.

ACOSTA: But Democrats argue they tried bipartisanship by dropping the idea of a government insurance plan or public option from what's likely to be in the final bill.

PELOSI: Let me say this -- the bill can be bipartisan even though the votes might not be bipartisan because they have made their imprint on this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: If you look at the reconciliation scoreboard, you'll find that Republicans have used it more when they've been in the majority -- 16 times. Compare that to the number of times used under a Democratic majority, just six times -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Jim. Thank you.

He said no "Kumbaya" on Capitol Hill, but if you're still sitting there and you're scratching your head, what is reconciliation? We're going to be taking a closer look at what this means with our very own senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash. What does it mean for Republicans, Democrats, backlash, stigma? We've got you covered. Also, our Fact Check Desk will examine just how often reconciliation has been used in the past.

Meantime, a potent storm has brought misery to Western Europe. Dozens are dead. Parts of France that are simply under water.

Also, Jacqui Jeras checking weather here at home with folks digging out from another winter blast. The question is, as we roll on into March, is another winter storm on the way for us?

But before we go to break, let's take a quick look at some of the latest numbers on Wall Street. The Dow up 75 points, at 10,400.

Remember, you always get the latest numbers, CNNMoney.com.

CNN NEWSROOM rolls on right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We've been talking a whole lot about severe weather, and I want to take you to Europe for this story.

This is an unusually violent late winter storm. They've named it Xynthia, ripping across Western Europe. At least 58 people have died.

Most of the storm deaths have been in France, and that is where we find CNN Senior International Correspondent Jim Bittermann, joining me live from Paris.

And Jim, I know the French prime minister described this as a national catastrophe.

Describe some of the damage for me.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, it was really a bad storm. It occurred about 3:00 in the morning. I think that's what caused all the deaths.

The death toll here is going to be going well over 50, probably, once the final death count is in. They're still looking for about 30 people that are missing.

The storm struck early in the morning. As I said, people woke up, they heard funny sounds in their houses, and they got up and realized that water was suddenly rising. It was something similar to what happened in New Orleans, in fact, because seawalls and dikes gave away under the pressure of the storm.

A hundred-mile-an-hour winds, plus the fact that this week, this last week, has been some of the highest tides along the coast that they ever get -- the very high tides during the week. Those two factors, coupled with a very strong low-pressure area, brought in this storm, and the water just flooded through areas that -- many places where houses had been built below sea level. So, when the dikes gave away, they just flooded out and seawaters rose up, sometimes at six to eight feet in a matter of minutes -- Brooke. BALDWIN: Jim, I read that there were hurricane-force winds felt from Portugal on to the Netherlands. I mean, seeing these pictures, is it a bit of an anomaly, this kind of severe weather in this part of Europe?

BITTERMANN: It's very rare. In fact, the last time there was anything similar to this was back in 1999, a storm which killed more than 90 people back then. So they're comparing it to that storm, but this was different because of the flooding.

A lot of people were caught by the water suddenly rising and were drowned in their own homes. It was very sad.

And today there's a lot of people out of homes -- out of their homes. There's a number of homes, about a quarter million or so, that still don't have electricity today and probably won't have until next Wednesday or so.

So, the situation is still evolving a bit, but it's a real tragedy for France.

BALDWIN: It's unreal to see all the water.

Give me a quick update if you will, Jim, on just the flight situation, particularly out of Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

BITTERMANN: Well, yesterday -- I can tell you because I was out at Charles de Gaulle yesterday. In fact, a lot of flights were delayed and some canceled because of the high winds. They just couldn't take off because of the high gusting winds, which was pretty much throughout all the afternoon yesterday.

Now things have gotten back to normal. By the way, it wasn't just flights. Some of the trains were affected, too.

Today, however, things have calmed down a bit. Flights are back to normal and the trains are running as normal today.

BALDWIN: Back to normal, I guess, as much as normal can be given some of these amazing pictures we're seeing out of Paris.

Jim Bittermann for us out of France.

Thank you, Jim.

More than a million Americans may see their unemployment simply run out because the Senate stalls. We have some tips on what you can do about that.

Stay here. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, are you out of work? Filed for unemployment benefits? These benefits for more than one million Americans are in limbo today after the Senate failed to pass an extension. And if you are worried about losing your benefits, Poppy Harlow of CNNMoney.com has tips on what you should do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Well, we are, of course, covering the unemployment crisis that is affecting more and more people in this country. Nearly one out of 10 Americans out of work right now. That is roughly 11.5 million people counting on those unemployment checks from the government.

And when you look at how long people are unemployed, on average right now in this country, it's a record, near eight months. But there's help out there. We want you to know about all the resources you can tap if you are looking for work.

Two Web sites I'm going to point out to you. Let's start out with goodwill.org. This is a site, and you can go to your local Goodwill store as well.

A number of resources for you there, including job placement, child care help, counseling and life skills programs. All there, all at your fingertips.

Also, usajobs.gov. This is a great site, a good resource where you can find all the government jobs out there. And there are actually a lot of them.

I checked it out myself. You can search by the type of job you're looking for, the specific city, and they'll tell you exactly the salary that's available as well.

And keep this in mind. If you're unemployed, and when it comes to your health insurance, it's critical if you're going to lose your COBRA subsidy, try to get on your spouse's health care plan as soon as possible, or make sure to compare individual plans out there. There's a lot of competition when it comes to that.

And finally, check out coverageforall.org. This is a great place to find out what low-cost health insurance resources are out there. And there's a help line, also, that can be very helpful if you're uninsured.

Finally, also, one thing to keep in mind. If you are having a hard time paying your utility bills this winter -- a lot of people are -- check out the low income home energy assistance program, liheap.org. It's a federally funded program and you pay for it in your taxes. And they can help you offset your heating bill.

Hope that helps.

In New York, I'm Poppy Harlow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Poppy, thanks. He took just a brief detour from prime time, but tonight Jay Leno, right back where he started.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Checking your top stories right now.

In Chile, rescue crews, they're looking for survivors trapped in the wreckage of Saturday's massive earthquake. We're hearing more than 700 deaths reported, and people are scavenging. In some cases, they're looting now for food and water inside some of those supermarkets.

And listen to this story. Researchers say cultural customs help make minorities more obese than white Americans. Doctors examined a dozen factors among the sleeping, eating habit, and even mothers who smoke, and they found almost everyone was more common among African- American and Hispanics.

And the busiest runway at New York's JFK airport closed today for four months of construction. Officials say widening the runway will cut flight delays by 10,000 hours a year. In the meantime, JFK trimming 250 flights a day to ease those construction delays.

(WEATHER REPORT)

BALDWIN: Talking about reconciliation on health care reform. What does it mean? Well, instead of everyone actually getting along, Democrats prepare to go it alone.

We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, tonight is the big night for Jay Leno. He took a little break from the big late-night seat. He is back.

Kareen Wynter has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's "The Jay Leno Show."

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jay Leno recently signed off from his short-lived primetime gig, admitting the show was a bomb.

JAY LENO, LATE NIGHT HOST: It seemed like just yesterday I was telling NBC this is not going to work. But no.

WYNTER: But will his late night return also be a bust? Leno's back on "The Tonight Show" after a highly publicized shakeup --

CONAN O'BRIEN, LATE NIGHT HOST: And we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio. WYNTER: -- that pitted the comic against Conan O'Brien, who bitterly left the network when he was forced out of his timeslot after just seven months.

D.L. HUGHLEY, ACTOR/COMEDIAN: I've had an opportunity to work in television and some of what the television networks do, like I said, it defies logic.

WYNTER: Comedian D.L. Hughley says Leno can get back on top.

HUGHLEY: Like, LL Cool J, they don't call it a comeback. He's been there for years. If anything he was on a brief sabbatical. But I think he will hit the ground running like he always has.

WYNTER: Hughley says viewers want to see Leno back in the chair now that the NBC controversy has cooled thanks to the rating success from the winter Olympics that replaced Leno's struggling prime time show this month. Still, media critic Andrew Wallenstein says it could be a slippery slope.

ANDREW WALLENSTEIN, THEHOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM: The success of the Olympics certainly puts additional pressure on Leno to win the gold in terms of late night ratings.

WYNTER: Wallenstein says the audience that helped Leno stay on top for more than a decade must return for the show to succeed.

WALLENSTEIN: So many of his followers who were conditioned to watch him at 11:30 may have gone on and found new viewing habits and this will be the test.

WYNTER: A test for Leno who Wallenstein says must also repair his battered image. Leno found himself on the receiving end of jokes, with comedians like Letterman taking aim.

DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: Jay is like a whack-a-mole, you know. You think you've canceled him and he pops up on another time period.

WYNTER: Leno has avoided the spotlight since his hiatus, but recently talked to Oprah about the backlash.

LENO: I think it's a little unfair and I am going to work hard to try and rehabilitate that image.

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Do you think now that that has happened, you will be able to revive "The Tonight Show?"

LENO: I hope so.

WYNTER (on-camera): And Jay is getting a little help with a star-studded line up of guests. Listen to this. You've got Jamie Foxx, Brett Favre, oh, and Sarah Palin. And that's just in the first week.

Kareen Wynter, CNN, Burbank, California. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Nurses, cooks, police officers -- oh, yes, even TV anchors. I've put in my time. We're talking about working the nightshift.

An eye-opening look coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Democrats appear ready to do an end run around republicans to pass health care reform. You see, they're moving toward using the parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation, and republicans are crying foul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: If you use reconciliation on this health care bill, as we see today, what you're going to have a thumbing of the nose at the American people. They don't agree with it. We need to change it. We're willing to work to get it changed to where we don't have a massive increase in the government influence on health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Time to get used to this word reconciliation. You're going to be hearing it a lot as health care reform heads toward a showdown. So we're going to do a little Reconciliation 101 for you. Take a look.

Reconciliation is a measure to pass contentious budget legislation while avoiding a filibuster threat. Got it? It was used in 1989 to pass a Medicare overhaul for physician payments. In 1996, it was used to pass the welfare overhaul. And it was used to enact the $Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.

So, since we got that established, let's get an update on where things stand with health care reform right now and the prospect of the all the democrats here going it alone. Senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash joining me live from Capitol Hill.

All right, Dana. I know you reported last week that democrats look like they are moving on ahead with plans to use this reconciliation to get health care to the president's desk. What now is their next move?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, Brooke. I hope you have your weed wacker, because we're going in. We're going into --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Let's do it.

BASH: But anybody who handled seven hours of a Health Care Summit can definitely handle this.

Here are the tentative plans. The House would pass the Senate health care bill, and then the House and Senate would both pass a package of changes to that bill. That would be the issue in the legislation put through the reconciliation process that you just laid out that would only need 51 votes or a simple majority in the Senate.

Now, what democrats are working on right now is the package of changes, what exactly is in that. And it's actually the president who laid out the road map for it last week when he put his plan out there. Changes like a change in how plans, health care plans, are actually taxed. And also, giving more government subsidies to people to make the health care more affordable that they would be required to get.

But what it looks like, really, Brooke, is going to depend on what is need to get votes in the House of Representatives. The votes are not there right now among democrats, even among democrats. This is how the House speaker laid out how she would sell it on "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: When we have a bill, which we will in a matter of days, then that is the bill that we can sell. Our bill, the House and the Senate bill, had some major differences, which we're hoping now to reconcile. And then when we have a bill, as I say, you can bake the pie, you can sell the pie, but you have to have a pie to sell. And when we do, we will take it out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So there you go, talking about pies. I mean, everybody is trying to figure out a way to explain this in the most understandable terms.

But one of the other issues, never mind, you know, what can sell with regard to votes, it's what's even allowed to be in this package, because the reconciliation process is something that is very limiting. It's only supposed to be used for issues that directly affect the deficit. So they're working right now with the parliamentarians in the House and the Senate to try to figure out what, if any, of these changes, used in this process. Just for example, they can talk about the tax cuts, that has been used before, that can be put in this process. But abortion probably doesn't have anything to do with the deficit, so that might not be allowed if they do need to make changes on that issue.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you, let's not put the cart before the horse here, I want to talk about just about the language. We heard Speaker Pelosi say when we will have this bill in a couple days. But also on some of those same talk shows yesterday we heard from republicans. I think it was Senator Lamar Alexander saying this is like a political kamikaze mission.

So we know there are major, major obstacles for the democrats when it comes to a stigma because these legislation would not be bipartisan.

BASH: That's right. That's right. That is why you were hearing democrats, first of all, not use the term reconciliation, just call it a simple majority. We heard the House speaker use that term very forcefully last week and all through the weekend. You're hearing them, they're armed with information, armed with facts and figures, some of which you put up at the beginning of this segment, Brooke, talking about the fact that republicans have, in fact, used this in the past.

So it is going to be a tough political battle as much, if not more, than the legislative and procedural morass that they're about to wade into here.

BALDWIN: All right, Dana Bash, hang on to that weed wacker, cause we're going to be checking back in with you in the noon hour. Hang on, we'll see you at noon.

Meantime, let's talk more about reconciliation here. Republicans are railing against using reconciliation to pass health care reform. So it sounds like a good time for a fact check. CNN executive producer Suzanne Simons joins us.

And, Suzanne, OK, reconciliation, I had to read it a couple times over just to make sure I'm getting it. I'm no congressional correspondent. But we have heard from the White House saying when you look at the Health Care Summit from last week where we saw those eight republican senators and they're saying no to reconciliation, yet you've checked out the past.

SUZANNE SIMONS, CNN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Yes. Well, one thing we want to do to kind of help get through those weeds that we all have been talking about this morning, is take the things people are saying on our air and fact check them.

So, last week, Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod told CNN that every single republican senator who was in the room last week has voted in the past on reconciliation issues in favor of. So we wanted to break that down and see if it's actually true, and that's what we did.

BALDWIN: What did you find?

SIMONS: So here's what we found, if you take a look back in 2001, which you talked about briefly already, President Bush pushed through tax cuts that totaled $1.35 trillion with a "t." Now five senators at that summit voted for the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. They were Mitch McConnell, John Kyl, Michael Enzi, Charles Grassley, and John McCain.

In 2003, once again, five republican senators who were present at the summit voted for the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act -- Lamar Alexander, Senator Enzi, Senator Grassley, Senator Kyl again, and Senator McConnell.

Now, jump ahead a little bit to 2005. There was a Reconciled Deficit Reduction Act. Now we heard Senator Tom Coburn before we heard from Dana Bash there saying this is just not a good idea, it's not going to work. Well, wait a second. He also voted in favor of that act in 2005.

Then in 2007, the remaining republican senator who was in that room last week, John Barrasso of Wyoming, voted in favor of the Reconciled College Cost Reduction Act of 2007.

So holding people accountable, David Axelrod was actually right, that every single republican senator who was in that room last Thursday during the 7 1/2-hour summit has voted in the past for reconciliation.

BALDWIN: So anytime -- I think it's important to point out to our viewers, anytime we see something here at CNN pop up, a guest pop up on our air and we think, wait a minute, is that right, you're the gal.

SIMONS: Exactly, the Fact Check Desk. We have a whole team of really bright people. Reach us at factcheck@CNN.com. So yes, definitely. When you hear things come up and people out there hear stuff, let us know. We're going to check it and we're going to hold them accountable for it.

BALDWIN: Excellent. Suzanne, thank you.

SIMONS: Thank you.

SIMONS: All right, checking some of the top stories now. An attorney for Jeffrey Skilling will try to persuade the Supreme Court today to overturn the former Enron CEO'S 24-year sentence. Skilling was convicted of securities fraud, insider trading, other charges on that collapse of the Texas-based company.

In Western Europe, they are really recovering now after this powerful weekend storm that battered at least six countries. Thousands without power right now, transportation had at one point come to a standstill, and at least 58 people lost their lives.

Seeing red over an ad for blue jeans. Can you see this? The billboard in Newark, New Jersey, turning a whole lot of heads. Some in the city are saying they don't like what it's selling. What do you think? Here is your chance to sound off on our blog. Just go to CNN.com/Tony. By the way, we have a better picture of that billboard for you if you missed it and we have some of your comments. I'll read them live coming up in the next hour.

CNN is putting the nightshift in focus, the social and health impacts are well documented but, yes, people do it. Sometimes we don't have a choice. But others do it because they love it. Here's one, Bert Bifulco, one of our "Faces of the Story" today. This report prepared by CNN photojournalist, Debra Brunswick (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERT BIFULCO, HEAD SALESMAN, RUBIN BROS.: Let's open it up, look at it.

We sell Napa, bok choi, peppers, cucumbers, squash.

Make sure it looks green.

We get like a rush. Like when people go to Atlantic City they get a rush? This is a rush, there's always something to do.

My name is Bert Bifulco. I've been down in the market over 30 years. Hunts Point Market basically is a receiving area for most of the produce that's distributed up north.

It's really a different world than maybe a lot of other night businesses. We talk different. We sit and argue over prices. We curse out a buyer, he curses us out, and five minutes later, we start all over again.

Sometimes you hear a lot of words you don't want to hear, but it's part of our business. And it's meaningless, that's what makes it fun. Makes the night pass and makes our business what it is.

Anyone who works night, it affects you physically, mentally, your home life, everything, your health. It's probably all screwed up, you know what I mean? I have sleep apnea, I have high blood pressure, I have it all. So you know, but a lot of it's from the business, but this is what I chose.

Trust you?

Home life? Listen, I've been divorced once. You're not home. You're not around. You don't see the kids grow up. You miss out on a lot of things. You don't give them your time, but, listen, you're making -- you make a good living that you can afford to give them what you want. Just they don't have you.

I've been doing it so long, I don't think I could work days. Just in the habit of working backwards. I'm like a vampire. I don't know how else to explain it. But I enjoy it. I mean, I like the produce business.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Still to come here, two earthquakes, two very different countries. We will show you why one was much worse than the other.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We have been getting just some incredible images from CNN iReporters in Chile.

I want to share this one with you. This is from Gonzalo Andrais (ph) Sir Coddou (ph), this is from Santiago, it's the capital city. He described the horror of hearing the parking garage collapse from his condo. Keep in mind, he's way up on the tenth floor. He was thinking his building was crumbling. Fortunately, the condo tower was just fine. Just a whole lot of cars crunched. Look at that. CNN has set up a special Chile Desk to monitor developments in that earthquake zone, and I want to check in now with Senior Latin American Affairs Editor Raphael Romo.

And Rafael, in know you're keeping your eye on a lot of moving parts over there, including a pretty interesting comparison between, what, Haiti and Chile?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: That's right, Brooke. We've been getting a lot of questions here at the Chile Desk about what happened in Haiti in comparison to Chile, and we started asking some questions and trying to find out some facts about comparing the two.

What I can tell you at this time is that based on what we've seen, Chile is a very different country from Haiti. It's a wealthier country, much better prepared with strict building codes and emergency crews trained for exactly this kind of catastrophe. The buildings there are built to ride out earthquakes with steel skeletons designed to sway with seismic waves rather than resist them. Also, analysts say Chile has more world-renowned seismologists and earthquake engineers per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Now, let me bring your attention to the following graphic, which is going to show you the difference in terms of intensity. This is what the U.S. Geological Survey calls a shake map of Chile. Saturday's quake was centered offshore, underground, in a relatively unpopulated area. As a result, cities there suffered only what is called by seismologists, severe shaking. That's the orange area that you see there.

And I want you to pay attention to the different colors in this map, because once I show you the next map, that one from Haiti, you're going to see the big difference. Take a look at the shake map for may t Haiti. The quake there struck much closer to the surface, right on the edge of Port-au-Prince. The red area is where eight cities and towns along with 3 million people in Haiti's capital suffered violent to extreme shaking. Again, violent to extreme compared to severe, what it's being called in Chile.

Now the quake in Chile measured 8.8. In Haiti, the measurement was about 7.0. The difference also when it comes to death toll is just enormous. In Haiti, there were 220,000 people or more who died as a result of the earthquake. In Chile, so far, Brooke, we have heard of a little more than 700 fatalities.

BALDWIN: OK, and real quickly, airports still closed in Santiago, but public transportation up and running today?

ROMO: They tell us for the next 48 hours the airport will be closed, but the subway system is mostly back up and running.

BALDWIN: Got it. Rafael, thank you.

Jobless benefits, they are running out. It is hitting minorities particularly hard. While so many are trying to find any work, one woman found a path to a better career. We will show you.

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BALDWIN: Fourteen million Americans are out of work. You know if you're one of them, it doesn't stop the bills from piling up, does it? No. Well, now a new forecast says a record number of Americans will be asking for help this year. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange with those details.

And, Alison, I know this affects everyone, it has to really, from coast to coast. But specifically, when we talk about home heating bills here, what's the latest there?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, try this number on, Brooke, 9 million. I'm talking about 9 million Americans expected to ask for federal help this year to pay their winter energy bills. That number coming from a group that represents state energy officials. And if the number of people reaching out for this help this year reaches that 9 million mark, it would break last year's record and actually be the third record high in a row.

Now, the issue here isn't energy prices, but it's unemployment. I mean, energy prices have been relatively stable this year, but it's unemployment. Unemployment has doubled over the past two years. People are just struggling to pay their bills, so they're turning to this heating assistance that's funded by Congress. This year it got $5 billion, the same amount as last year, but even with more people expected to need the help this year, the hope is that there's enough money to go around because what can happen is if these people can't pay their utility bills the utilities many times cut them off.

BALDWIN: Yup, get turned off. I know a lot of people have been struggling, hearing their stories and it has to be a nationwide problem. My question, Alison, is, is it particularly problematic for people maybe in one region of the country?

KOSIK: You know what, Brooke? It runs the gamut. People from New York to California, they're all asking for help.

I want you to look at this map here. It shows states where the number of applications for energy assistance surged more than 20 percent. There are 17 of them. The biggest increase is Mississippi; take a look, up 70 percent. And what many of these states are finding is that these are new applications. People who have never applied for this kind of help before. Washington, Michigan, Nevada are also near the top. And it's no big surprise that the unemployment rates in these states are also high.

Let's turn to something a little more cheery, stocks are rallying. AIG selling its Asian Life Insurance business, definitely going to help shore up its balance sheet and pay out its bailout. The Dow right now up 73, the Nasdaq higher by 29. Looks like we're keeping up this positive momentum today -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Keep the momentum rolling along. Alison Kosik, thanks. Using his sales skills and asking for help, an advertising exec just left his job to start teaching scuba diving for people with disabilities. Guess what, he's making 80 percent less and loving it. Jack Elliott's career change is at CNNMoney.com.

And here is what we're working on for you.

You know the guy that normally sits here? Tony Harris? He'll be dropping in on a church in Savannah that's trying to make sure everyone is counted in this year's census.

And Elizabeth Cohen will be talking medical waste and no, we're not talking about used needless. We're talking about needless charges in your medical bills.

Those stories and a whole lot more coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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BALDWIN: Creating jobs is actually job number one for a lot of lawmakers this week on Capitol Hill. The most recent unemployment figures reaffirm really just this urgency, especially for minorities. Luquonda Waters is one of our "Faces of the Story," she is an example of how government stimulus can work for you. Sarah Lee has her story.

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SARAH LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lab technician Luquonda Waters says she wears her white lab coat with pride. Not too long ago, her outlook wasn't quite as bright.

LUQUONDA WATERS, BIO LAB TECHNICIAN: I served customers that sat at the bar and drank all day. At 6:00 in the morning we were opening the doors for people to get their wine.

LEE: Her paycheck, $6 an hour. It wasn't the future Waters wanted. But with just a high school education to compete in a tough economy, her options were limited. Until a program supported by federal stimulus dollars convinced her to leave her job at the bar and go back to the books.

WATERS: I saw the ad in the paper and it said, did you like science? Do you want to learn?

LEE: As Congress considers legislation to create more jobs, nationwide unemployment rates for African-Americans and Latinos are considerably higher than that of whites. In the shadow of Capitol Hill, a report issued by D.C.-area governments shows minority joblessness here is even higher.

KWAME PATERSON (D), WASHINGTON D.C. COUNCIL MEMBER: As you look at the question around minorities here, unemployment numbers are extremely high. I think the key becomes education.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're also going to transfer the material. LEE: Career training programs like this one at Baltimore's Biotechnical Institute of Maryland are working to offer that education. Here, tuition-free classes train lower income and predominantly minority workers to become lab technicians in Maryland's growing biotech industry.

KATHLEEN WEISS, BIOTECHNICAL INSTITUTE: There is a shortage of trained workers, and the jobs of today and the jobs of tomorrow have -- are proving themselves to require more than a high school diploma.

LEE: The institute operates on private and philanthropic funding, but donations are drying up. This year, the program is depending on stimulus money to help more students like Luquonda Waters who says it's made the difference between standing behind the bar and setting it higher.

WATERS: I went from being indecisive and not knowing what I wanted to do to having a stable job that I love.

LEE (on camera): The Biotechnical Institute of Maryland boasts an 80 percent placement rate for graduates. Some of whom, like Luquonda Waters, the woman in our story, continue to study for more advanced degrees.

Sarah Lee for CNN, Washington.

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