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Gone Without a Trace: The McStay Family Vanishing; Rangel Steps Aside; Armed Soldiers Sent to Control Looting in Chile

Aired March 03, 2010 - 09:57   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a story that simply boggles your mind. How could a family of four with strong roots in a community just simply vanish one day? And now nearly one month later, there's still no word on them.

CNN's Tom Foreman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a home video Joseph and Summer McStay and their boys, Gianni and Joseph Jr. appear just like any other middle-class family, but this family has disappeared. What happened and where they went are now agonizing puzzles for friends and relatives, Summer's mom among them.

BLANCHE ARANDA, MOTHER OF SUMMER MCSTAY: I love her, and I want my family home safe. I want them to come home.

FOREMAN: Their house in the suburb of San Diego showed no signs of a break-in. Joseph's younger brother, Mike, went there when several days had passed with no contact from his sibling.

MIKE MCSTAY, BROTHER OF JOSEPH: There was no damage to any furniture. No blood, no violence, no -- nothing broken. You know, no indication of a struggle.

FOREMAN: So what do authorities know? They know right up until the McStays vanished on February 4, everything was normal: Summer tending to the children, Joseph tending to his business selling decorative fountains.

LT. DENNIS BRUGOS, SAN DIEGO SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Mr. McStay had a lunch engagement with a worker, and they actually had several phone conversations that day, as well.

FOREMAN: They know fresh eggs were left on the counter, Summer's prescription sunglasses, too. The family's beloved dogs were left with no food or water.

And if the family had planned to go somewhere, why didn't Joseph ask someone to look after his business?

M. MCSTAY: You know, they would contact my mom or a family member. They wouldn't leave the business in disarray. FOREMAN: The family's vehicle was found abandoned blocks from the Mexican border, but again, no signs of struggle, no clue who left it there.

MCSTAY: I originally thought that someone was holding them against their will. But there's been no ransom. And, you know, for him to just up and run and not tell anybody, it would have to be something pretty heavy.

FOREMAN (on camera): The mystery for many is twofold. Not only are they wondering where this family is, but they're also asking how can a well-connected couple with two toddlers disappear from a busy neighborhood without anyone seeing anything.

(voice-over): Homicide detectives say the couple's past holds no clues as to why anyone would want to hurt them, and yet it's been almost a month since they were last seen.

Tom Foreman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Time to check some of our other top stories.

Those two U.S. missionaries still held in Haiti could be free today or returned to jail indefinitely. A judge's decision is expected in the next few hours. The other eight missionaries in the group were freed last month. The group was arrested for trying to take 33 children out of the country without proper paperwork.

And Jacksonville Police say a woman posing as a social worker kidnapped this baby right here. The weeks-old baby was found safe today and the suspect taken into custody. The baby was taken from the parents last night. Authorities say the couple doesn't speak English well and the suspect had threatened to call police if they didn't give up the baby.

And we're an hour away from the start of a congressional tribute to the late John Murtha. The long-time Pennsylvania Democrat passed away last month after suffering post-surgical complications. Members of Congress are about to begin filing into the statuary room where the memorial is to be held.

Murtha, a decorated veteran, often considered a war hawk, was one of the most influential critics of the Iraq war. He was 77 years old.

And under fire and feeling the heat, just last hour embattled Representative Charles Rangel announced that he is temporarily stepping aside as chairman of a powerful tax writing committee. Rangel has been plagued with allegations of ethical misconduct. Let's get straight to our congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar for the latest -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fred. Well, Charles Rangel said that he is going to step aside for the time being while these ethics issues - and it's really been a cloud of suspicion regarding some of these ethics issues that are hanging over him. He said he'll step aside until those are resolved.

Now on Friday, he was actually admonished by the House ethics committee for breaking house gift rules, for travel that he accepted in 2007 and 2008 to the Caribbean. Travel that as it turned out was corporate sponsored. He has been facing a tremendous amount of pressure here in recent days from Democrats, and what we've seen prior to this, as he's been under this cloud of suspicion with ethics issues over the past several months, that he had enjoyed some of the support of Democrats, particularly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but in recent days that support has been waning.

And today Republicans were planning to force a very tough vote on a resolution that would have said Rangel needed to step aside. So in light of that, he came out this morning and made this announcement.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: In order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have this morning sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And he submitted a letter that was distributed to members of the media. I think we actually have a graphic of that so that you can see the letter. But now there are a whole number of questions. Who would replace Mr. Rangel in this interim as the head of this powerful committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, which, you know, deals with a number of very important issues.

Is this going to be enough for Republicans that he steps aside only temporarily and not permanently. As I said, Rangel had enjoyed a lot of support from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but last night after she met with Rangel, we asked her, you know, just how much support he still had, was he going to step aside and she said no comment.

It was clear starting last night that he was facing some pressure from leadership to step aside. This is a huge issue for them because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when Democrats swept control of the Congress, she said she was going to run the most ethical Congress in history and this has really been a stain on that with all of these suspicions around Congressman Rangel, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So at what stage is the ethics committee in its investigation, because he made it very clear until they had completed their probe?

KEILAR: You know, we don't know. We do know he was admonished on Friday for breaking House gift rules, but we certainly know only sketchy details because the Ethics Committee is quite secretive in the way it operates. We know that they are looking at him for a number of things, but perhaps the largest one, Fred, has to do with the fact that he did not pay taxes on earnings he got from a rental property that he owns in the Dominican Republic.

This is a huge issue for him because, you know, at least he was the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. This is the committee that deals with taxes and he didn't pay taxes. That's a huge issue. This is also the committee that deals with entitlement programs, Medicare, Medicaid. A huge role that Charlie Rangel had played in health care on the House side up until now that he would have continued to play and also in the jobs bill that Congress is dealing with right now.

This is perhaps the most powerful chairmanship or one of the most powerful chairmanships in all of the House of Representatives, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

The presidential push for health care reform. A few hours from now President Obama will unveil his latest health care bill and it's considered a last-ditch effort to create a bipartisan measure, but it's not expected to win any support from Republicans. That opposition is expected to be unanimous. Instead the revisions appear aimed at calming the nerves of moderate Democrats.

Time is running out. Democratic leaders want to push the overhaul through Congress before the end of this month. So let's get the latest now from the White House and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we're learning some new details about what this statement is going to be about. It's going to be about 15 minutes in length or so. I'm told that the president is still tinkering on the language making some last-minute changes but there are not going to be any major bombshells. It's not a policy roll out. It's going to be very similar to what we've heard from the president before talking about the need for health care reform.

The cost if nothing gets done. He's also going to throw out an olive branch to Republicans saying look, remember that bipartisan health care summit that happened this last Thursday, I was listening to you. There are some proposals that say I like that I'm willing to take a look at and endorse. Some of those things, Fred, he's going to mention. Taking on fraudulent medical charges.

He's also going to talk about new funding for resolving malpractice disputes, increasing doctors' Medicaid reimbursements and finally offering tax incentives to help curb doctors' appointments. These are the kinds of things that he has spoken about in the past in terms of eliminating waste and fraud and being financially fiscally responsible.

Those are the things he's reaching out to Republicans saying, look, I'm willing to sign off on some of these things, but clearly this is not the piecemeal kind of bill. This is not starting over. This is a comprehensive health care reform legislation that he is going to be pushing the Democrats to get something done, Fred. WHITFIELD: And so, Suzanne, so while the president and the White House is not necessarily expecting Republicans will vote for this, he is, the president is saying I've got some Republican measures in here and the hope is to push forward on some kind of reconciliation vote on Capitol Hill, correct?

MALVEAUX: Fred, you're absolutely right. He's not going to necessarily mention the word "reconciliation." As you know, it's a very controversial procedure, you know, it would only require a majority in the Senate, not a super majority, but he is going to say up or down vote which is simply code for reconciliation.

He's going to talk about Democrats, I want you to move through this, get this thing done quickly. This is important so that we can move on and talk about jobs and the economy, that it's all connected, it's all related. Still on the one hand, he's going to try to show that he's appealing to the Republicans, but on the other hand, he really is trying to get political cover for those moderate Democrats. Fred.

WHITFIELD: Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much from the White House. Of course, we'll have live coverage of President Obama's unveiling of his new health care package. That's scheduled to get under way at 1:45 Eastern time today.

Senator Bunning budged. Now jobless Americans have their benefits extension and some government employees can actually get back to work. The retiring Republican from Kentucky had been a one-man no- show. He blocked the $10 billion emergency measure. He said it should be paid for, not passed down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JIM BUNNING (R), KENTUCKY: We must get our debt problems under control and there is no better time than now. That is why I've been down here demanding that this bill be paid for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Now the Senate vote to pass the measure - voted, rather, to pass the measure by a 78-19 vote. So one argument we heard during that whole drama was about health insurance and how much a monthly premium eats out of an unemployment check. 30 percent? 80 percent? Well, just how big a chunk are we talking about here? Coming up later on this hour, our CNN fact checkers do the math and keep the politicians honest.

And would you be willing to give up your job so a co-worker could keep hers or his? That's what one woman has actually done. Talk about taking one for the team. The city of Lathrop, California, has really been hurting financially and city leaders were going to lay off 11 people.

That's when Patricia Overy stepped up and gave up her job in the finance department so that a 60-year-old accountant could actually keep hers. Overy has four kids. Her husband works for the city of Tracy and it was in the news recently they plan to charge residents for certain emergency calls, which brings us to today's blog question. Would you give up your job for a co-worker who needs one, perhaps more than you? Go to CNN.com/Fredricka and let us know. I'll read some of your responses on the air later on this hour.

Chile's president says looting will simply not be tolerated. Armed soldiers are there to enforce the order.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: So you have any idea how much money gets flushed down the drain in health care? One hospital is saving a fortune with smarter spending.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So by instituting all of these changes to get rid of waste, how much money are you saving?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We estimate that we're saving a minimum of about $150 million per year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And that's just one hospital. What if every one of them was doing that? Do you think that would reform health care?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Chile's outgoing president is promising law and order in the disaster zone. There are growing reports of looting in the central and southern regions of the country after the quake. Sara Sidner joins us now from Concepcion with more on that story. Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, things have changed quite a bit in the past 24 hours because the military came here en masse and may have created an 18-hour per day curfew after days of looting and chaos here in the city of Concepcion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): The fast click of hooves on pavement, a sound that signals trouble on the streets of Concepcion. Just around the corner, the trouble comes into focus. Three young men face down on the pavement, their hands filled with packs of pills from a pharmacy that has been closed for days. Soldiers jammed guns in their backs and tell them not to move. Suddenly another call to duty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people is crazy. The people take everything and things that don't need - I don't know my people.

SIDNER: Felipe Ramon works in Concepcion's damaged downtown business district. From what we can see, about 10 percent of the stores appear to have been looted. He is not alone when he says the military is here in force now, but did not arrive fast enough. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday it was kind of rough because there were riots on the street, people getting into supermarkets and taking things off, but today we are - we are more controlled because of the military forces.

SIDNER: The military isn't the only force trying to restore order in this earthquake-shaken town. Citizens are trying to protect their own property and their streets with whatever they have around

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to defend ourselves, and we had places barricaded here and started to control traffic and everything just to protect ourselves.

SIDNER: Besides the homemade blockades on their streets, citizen patrols are carrying hand-made batons and other weapons. With no electricity for days, there's a growing fear of being robbed or worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm afraid for my children. There was a moment when this was no man's land. This place was like the wild, wild west.

SIDNER: But on day four after the quake in their suburb, a promise from the military to take over securing the area. In the city center, soldiers have already calmed things down, especially since they cleared the streets with a curfew that begins at dusk and doesn't end until high noon the next day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: The military is dealing with security, but there is still a sense of desperation in this city because in most homes there is no running water, no electricity and gasoline for their cars is scarce. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, Sara, of course communication is still impaired. I understand a lot of relatives who are stateside trying to reach people in Chile are having a difficult time. What are you hearing?

SIDNER: That is true, the U.S. embassy says that there are about 1,000 people from the United States who actually live here in Concepcion and the surrounding areas and because communication is so difficult, family members just can't get in touch with them. And they're urging family members to contact the embassy. They are trying to get in touch with people and trying to link families together.

I myself spoke with an American girl yesterday and she used my Blackberry actually to send her mom an e-mail and her mom is obviously grateful that she heard from her daughter. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All the best to them. All right. Thanks so much, Sara Sidner, appreciate that from Concepcion.

All right. Here in this country a child directing traffic at one of the country's busiest airports. As bizarre as it sounds, the FAA is now looking into it. We have the audio tapes and a lot of questions. CNN's Susan Candiotti is following this story for us as well. Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

Talk about a head scratcher. This is stunning news about an investigation into an incident that apparently happened on February 17th. According to a source that is familiar with the investigation, has knowledge of it, says that a parent brought his child to work and allowed him to talk on the radio.

Now, you're about to hear a tape and you're about to hear two different pilots talking with this child. One pilot is from JetBlue, one is from Aero Mexico and this child is talking to these pilots as they're about to take off.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JetBlue 171, cleared for takeoff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cleared for takeoff, JetBlue 171.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see. 403 Kennedy, position on hold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what you get guys when the kids are out of school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could bring my kid to work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JetBlue 171 contact departure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over to departure, JetBlue 171, awesome job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zero three, cleared for takeoff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 403 cleared for takeoff. Thank you very much. You have a great day. (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Position hold. JetBlue 195.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) 403 contact departure, adios.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Contact (INAUDIBLE) departure, adios.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jet Blue 195 (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cleared for takeoff, 31 left (ph), Jet Blue 195.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry - Delta 216. (INAUDIBLE) position hold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) hold. 316.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (INAUDIBLE) departure. Adios, amigos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Adios, amigos, over to departure. Jet Blue 195.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, this same source says professionally this is not the kind of thing that is supposed to happen. That there was a second controller in the tower at the time who was in charge and should not have let this happen.

We have reaction from the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, and here's what they are saying about this. Quote, "Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic. This behavior is not acceptable and does not demonstrate the kind of professionalism expected from all FAA employees."

And we've also heard from the Air Traffic Controllers Association, also saying that they do not condone this type of behavior, as they put it, and "it is not indicative," according to a statement, "of the highest professional standards that controllers set for themselves and exceed each and every day in the advancement of aviation safety."

So we also, however, Fredricka, heard from the owner of a Web site called liveatc.com, and he says that all of this is being, quote, "blown out of proportion" and called the fuss "just ridiculous." The FAA, however, clearly is not amused and the two people -- at least the two people who were involved in this alleged incident have been given desk jobs until the investigation is complete. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Susan Candiotti in New York, thanks so much.

Well, it's the last thing new parents need, but it's one of the first things they get. The hospital maternity bill chock full of waste for Mom and Dad and that special delivery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All this week, we've been taking a hard look at some of the wasteful spending that inflates all of our health care costs. Some new parents getting their pricey bills on that special delivery. Among them, CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here. No one likes to see that bill.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's scary. After giving birth, you get this -- it's incredible, it's incredible. Well, cutting down on how much it costs to deliver babies is just one thing a hospital in Utah is doing to do its share to cut down on health care costs.

BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COHEN (on camera): We're here at Intermountain Medical Center in Murry, Utah where Haley Nelson is about to have a baby. How's the labor going?

HALEY NELSON, PATIENT: It's going well.

COHEN: That is good. Any pains yet.

NELSON: No. We're good to go.

COHEN: Did the epidural kick in?

NELSON: Yes.

COHEN: Okay. We're going to catch up with you in a bit. I want to say something that will sound a little bit crass. But how Haley has this baby affects my pocketbook and yours, too. Let me explain. I'm here at Intermountain with Dr. Brent James who's the chief quality officer. It looks like Haley's doing well in there.

DR. BRENT JAMES, CHIEF QUALITY OFFICER: Very well. I think in about an hour we'll have another citizen of the state of Utah.

COHEN: All right. Now, here at Intermountain you are very focused on not wasting money. So, can you take me on a little tour of the hospital, show me how you do it?

JAMES: I'd be delighted.

COHEN: You found that you had a lot of CT scans that were unnecessary, wasting money. How much money did you save when you stopped doing repetitive scans?

JAMES: We dropped the total number by about 20 percent. It would have been measured in the tens of millions of dollars. It's not just CT scans. It's other imaging exams.

COHEN: And here's another way Intermountain saves money. I'll tell you, it is so much cuter than an MRI. Here at this hospital, 2 out of every 10 babies are born via Cesarean section. However, the national average at hospitals around the country is that 3 out of every 10 babies are born by C-section.

Now you might think, okay, one extra baby by C-section, what's the difference? Well, a C-section costs about $2,000 more than a vaginal birth. So if you do the math, if every hospital in the country had statistics like this hospital, the nation would save about $1 billion. So by instituting all of these changes to get rid of waste, how much money are you saving?

JAMES: We estimate that we're saving a minimum of about $150 million dollars per year.

COHEN: That's a lot of money. So why can't all hospitals do this?

JAMES: Frankly, they can.

COHEN: I got to tell you, makes me a little bit nervous when I hear that hospitals are trying to save money. Because I want you to spend money on me when I'm sick. So you're saving all this money, but are you delivering good care?

JAMES: It turns out that in almost all circumstances, better care is cheaper care.

COHEN: How could better care be cheaper care?

JAMES: You avoid the complications so you don't have to pay for the complication. We have a great way of saying it -- the best patient outcome at the lowest necessary cost.

COHEN: Okay, so Dr. James, I'm going to go check on Haley now.

JAMES: Wonderful.

COHEN: So congratulations, Haley.

NELSON: Thank you.

COHEN: She's beautiful.

NELSON: Thank you. We think so, too.

COHEN: So she was not born by c-section.

NELSON: No.

COHEN: So she saved everyone a little bit of money. Huh?

NELSON: Yes. It's a good way to look at it. Huh?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, congrats. That's beautiful. OK. So if it's so simple in terms of cost-cutting measures at a hospital, how come a bunch of hospitals aren't doing that?

COHEN: Because you have to make a whole culture change. You have to tell obstetricians stop doing so many C-sections, and obstetricians do so many C-sections for various reasons. Different people have different accounts for those reasons but you have to get doctors to change the way they practice. You have to get hospitals to change the way they do things. That is very, very difficult to do.

Also, when a hospital cuts costs, it costs them money. In other words, hospitals that do a lot of CT scans, they get paid for those CT scans, so to tell a hospital stop doing so many CT scans, they are repetitive, you don't need to do them - well, they lose money. So, why would a hospital do something to maybe themselves lose money? That's a tough thing to convince them of.

WHITFIELD: I can really identify with your question you were asking, wait a minute, if I'm sick and I'm a patient, I want to know that you're spending as much as possible on me.

COHEN: Well, what the doctor responded is that spending a lot doesn't necessarily mean good care.

I'll give you an example. Let's say your grandmother is on a ventilator, and the whole point is you want your grandma off that ventilator as soon as possible. Keeping her on is going to cost a lot of money. And the more time you spend on a ventilator, the more likely you are to get a terrible infection. So, there's a good example where you could spend lots of money and keep grandma on the ventilator for four or five days, but if you get her off in two days, if you take steps to get her off, you save money and it's healthier because she is less likely to get an infection.

WHITFIELD: And if I have insurance, I want to know that they're exhausting all measures, you know, all tests, you're using every bit of apparatus on me.

COHEN: But sometimes using every bit of apparatus is not necessarily a good thing. Apparatus can kill. We also say do the most, do the most. Well, doing the most sometimes isn't the best thing. For example, being on a ventilator for a long time. (INAUDIBLE). That's helping Grandma breathe. Well, it could also give grandma an infection, so more is not necessarily always better.

WHITFIELD: Less is more.

COHEN: Right. Sometimes, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

All right. A controversy brewing over the Ft. Hood case. The Army is accused of favoring military prosecutors over the civilian defense attorney.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This story just in that we continue to watch. You're looking at live pictures right now thanks to our affiliate WDIV out of Detroit. Why? Because there was an explosion at a school, a school that's K through 8. Phoenix Multicultural School in Detroit's southwest (AUDIO GAP). -- some sort of explosive device detonated inside of the bidding. We understand that this device, according to the reporting from our affiliate, WDIV, that this device was made of household cleaning chemicals.

It exploded in the hallway of the building at about 8:30 a.m. Most of the students -- this is a school with a student body of 540 students. Most of them, however, were in various classrooms. No one was reported injured, but we do understand that a 14-year-old student has been taken into police custody.

And while all the students were evacuated from the school as a result of the explosion, many of them have been bussed to Roberto Clemente school, so for any parents watching this from that area, that is the location where you'll be picking up your kids at the end of the school day. The Roberto Clemente school.

But the explosion taking place at the Phoenix Multicultural school early this morning. Again, no reported injuries, but one 14- year-old student is now actually in police custody. More on that story as we get any more information.

Meantime, the U.S. Army is being accused of operating under a double standard in the Ft. Hood shooting massacre. You may recall the case. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan is accused of killing thirteen people at Fort Hood last November.

Last week, the Army finally began making some of the evidence gathered in preparation for the trial available to Hasan's civilian attorney. That attorney, John Gallagan, says the military judge issued a gag order forbidding him from divulging information from the evidence, but he claims there is no gag order for the Army prosecutors.

Now, Gallagan has started a blog to state his case, so let's talk about all of this with Eugene Bidel (sic), a Yale law professor. He is also president of the National Institute of Military Justice. Good to see you.

EUGENE FIDELL, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MILITARY JUSTICE: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder does this attorney have a point that it's unusual that a gag order would be imposed on just the defense and it's not being imposed on the prosecutors? do we know that for sure?

FIDELL: Well, we only have Colonel Gallagan's word for it. I'm assuming that is an accurate account. It is surprising that there would be a unilateral gag order. Ordinarily, the only way I would expect that to happen would be if someone in a position of authority felt that he had been speaking out of school in ways that got in the way of the administration of justice.

I think we need to know a lot more about why the gag order was issued and until that happens, I think people should sort of hold the phone. He has, however, been very vocal, both I believe in interviews, but more significantly, as you mentioned, by using a Web site to get across the point he's concerned about.

WHITFIELD: And apparently he's using this Web site as a result of the gag order and not being privy to all the evidence. So, if there's a gag order in place, partial or a full throttle one, wouldn't his blog be in violation of that? He's talking about the case.

FIDELL: Well, it could be if there were anything on the blog that actually went over the line set by the gag order. I looked at the blog, and it didn't strike me that there was anything in there that violated the confidentiality of documents that had been proud to him. I think he's aware that that would be playing with fire to violate --

WHITFIELD: As you're talking we're looking at images of John Gallagan as you speak in some file tape. Yes, he would know the rules but is this just his way, perhaps, of just kind of bringing attention to the fact that there is this disparity of evidence that is being shared?

FIDELL: Well, certainly on the face of it, the imbalance is disturbing. I think somebody probably ought to take a look at that. But the fact that he is attracting attention here and elsewhere shows that he does have a sense of how communications are conducted in the 21st century. He's obviously somewhat of a digital techie, and I think that's to his credit. On the other hand, I think it's the rare case that actually benefits from being tried in the press, and personally I would caution against that.

WHITFIELD: What did you read on the blog? What caught your attention?

FIIDELL: Oh, they were really quite innocuous things. He's giving his account of how this case looks from his perspective. It didn't seem to me that there was anything particularly interesting on the blog. I don't think there will be a lot of hits on it.

WHITFIELD: Okay. Eugene Fidel, professor at Yale Law School, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate that.

FIDELL: It's my privilege.

WHITFIELD: All right. "Just the facts, ma'am." You've heard the claims. We find the truth. CNN's Fact Check desk weighs in on the real health care costs for unemployed Americans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now.

At any moment, we are expecting to hear the status of those American missionaries still being held in Haiti. A judge is expected to decide today whether Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter will be freed or if the two will remain in custody and face possible trial in Haiti. The women were part of a ten-person group from Idaho accused of kidnapping. The group says they were trying to relocate young earthquake victims to an orphanage on the other side of the island in the Dominican Republic when they were arrested.

And Mom caught a man in her daughter's bedroom and held a gun on him until police showed up. Well, police say the suspect came from Ohio to Alabama for sex with the 14-year-old girl. Investigators believe the two actually met over the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF TED SEXTON, TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA: We're hoping that parents take the time to have these discussions with their kids and protect them from what's out there. They're three clicks away from chances are you don't want them to be.

(END VIDEO CLIPS) WHITFIELD: Well, the man now faces several sexual-related charges against a minor.

A congressional tribute to the late John Murtha begin at the top of the hour. The long-time Pennsylvania Democrat passed away last month after suffering complications from gallbladder surgery. Members of Congress are about to begin filing into the room where the memorial will be held. Murtha, a decorated veteran, often considered a war hawk, was one of the most influential critics of the Iraq war. He was 77 years old.

New numbers are out on the state of the labor market. Twenty thousand jobs were lost last month. Only 20,000, that is. Stephanie Elam is in New York with details on that. Stephanie, usually when we talk about job cuts, the numbers are much bigger.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, that's why that only is key on this one, because 20,000 is a far cry from the 700,000 we saw last year in a month that were lost.

In fact we haven't seen job cuts this low in two years. If you take a look at this chart that's up there right now, it shows how far we've come, and there is some hiring that is going on. The service sector added jobs last month, and that's work like hotel and restaurant jobs. They make up the biggest part of the job market. Manufacturers also added workers. Only 3,000, but still, we haven't seen a rise in two years.

But many economists expect the unemployment rate will rise to 9.8 percent on Friday. Analysts say it could be a few more months before hiring really picks up, and that's affecting life decisions for a lot of folks out there. CareerBuilder says nearly 75 percent of workers over 60 are delaying retirement. That's because they don't think they can afford it. That's obviously a really painful situation to be in.

As for Wall Street, stocks modestly higher right now. The Dow is up 46 points. 10,452. The NASDAQ better by about a quarter of a percent at 2,287. We'll keep our eyes on it, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Stephanie Elam, appreciate that, thank you.

One argument we heard during the drama with Senator Bunning was about health insurance and how much a monthly premium gobbles up an unemployment check. So, just how big a chunk are we talking about here? Our fact checkers do the math and keep the politicians honest.

CNN executive producer Suzanne Simons is here to break it all down. If anyone has ever had COBRA, they know, it's painful, it hurts. How much of the unemployment check is it gobbling up?

SUZANNE SIMONS, CNN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Well, it's a great question. And Senator Patty Murray broke down some of the numbers when it comes to people who receive those benefits and pay for health care. Let's listen to what she had to say and see if she's right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D), WASHINGTON: Health care is often the single biggest cost that unemployed workers face. In fact you should know that on average a monthly health care premium payment to cover a family costs over $1,000. Which represents about 80 percent of the average unemployment check.

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SIMONS: All right. So, we wanted to know if she's right, right? Because it seems how can people possibly survive on that? Well, in fact here's what we found. The average monthly up employment check is about $1,333. That's what you're bringing home. The monthly COBRA payment -- remember COBRA is for people who are on unemployment is between $1,111 and $1,137 for a family.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's terrible.

SIMONS: So if you're unemployed and on COBRA, in fact your health care check is eating up about 80 percent of your money.

Now under the economic stimulus, you probably remember that there is a government subsidy that was passed to help offset that, so about half of the people who are considered newly unemployed are able to get that subsidy. And they pay just under $400 a month for their health insurance, so that drops it down to just about 30 percent of that check. But still, by the time you add on your mortgage, your groceries, everything else, it eats it up pretty quickly.

WHITFIELD: It helps a little, but it's still quite significant. Is there any feeling we might be moving in a direction where the number may shrink even more?

SIMONS: Well, I don't know about that. That may be a little hopeful.

However, they did do an extension of that subsidy for the people getting it, and that's going to help them out a little bit more. It was extended through last December to -- from nine to 15 months, so they were only able to get that help for nine months. Now they can get it to 15. That's going to help a little bit.

But remember, COBRA was always created to be sort of the gap- filler -

WHITFIELD: -- a temporary thing.

SIMONS: A temporary thing. So, if you're looking long-term and the economy doesn't turn around and more people don't go back to work, it's not going to help a lot.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. All right, Suzanne Simons, thanks so much.

SIMONS: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: Keeping the politicians honest and checking those facts for us as well. All right. There are prospects for a good job and good life are bleak. They were destined to be sad statistics, but a man and his plan changed everything.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This right here is the sole reason why I'm employed.

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WHITFIELD: Building up America. This is just another way that it's working.

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WHITFIELD: Sheer genius taking the perceived dregs of society and making them productive and contributing members of the community. How in the heck does that happen? CNN's Tom Foreman goes deep into the heart of Texas to show us one man's plan for rebuilding - or building up America.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Out on the east edge of Austin, rebuilding America starts with rebuilding lives.

Meet the latest class of the Skill Point Alliance Construction Gateway. Funded by city and county tax dollars, this is an innovative five-week training program to turn the unemployable into the employed.

(On camera): It's a big deal to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. A very big deal. This is the beginning of the rest of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm excited, even though it's really intense.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The target is individuals over the age of 18 who ought to be entering the workforce but who have little hope of doing so because they dropped out of school or wound up in jail or had some other problem.

Sean Gomez, for example, had been in and out of prison for robbery by the time he was 25.

SEAN GOMEZ, GATEWAY CONSTRUCTION: There was no work. It was nonexistent, I mean, to me. For people like myself.

SYLVESTRE VILLARREAL, SKILLPOINT ALLIANCE: Yet if you follow the basics and always do the basic right, everything else falls in place.

FOREMAN: But then he ran into Sylvestre Villarreal, who recruits students for the Construction Gateway Program, scouring homeless shelters, unemployment lines. VILLARREAL: I look for two things in a student that I feel that will benefit from this, and the second one, which is just as important, is an individual that is going to be a good employee.

FOREMAN: Once in, they are taught the boot camp basics of construction work -- showing up on time, doing what you're told, the language of tools, and rules of building. All with the goal of helping not just them but the broader community, too.

TOM SERAFIN, SKILLPOINT ALLIANCE: We need new people coming in the pipeline, and one of the things that Construction Gateway does is that. Fills the pipeline with entry-level construction workers.

FOREMAN (on camera): People who we -- who absolutely need you to economically and physically rebuild America.

SERAFIN: Absolutely, absolutely.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The result? Close to 90 percent of Construction Gateway graduates who had little hope of a job before entering the program are employed within days of graduation. And they stay that way.

(On camera): How confident are you that you'll get employment once you leave here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hundred percent.

FOREMAN: It certainly worked for Sean. He has been on the job for seven years and is now a foreman on an electrical crew.

GOMEZ: This right here is the sole reason why I'm employed today.

FOREMAN: The program takes only a 100 students a year but that's a 100 doing good work. Good for them and good for their communities, too.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Austin.

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WHITFIELD: So, what if your company were laying off people? Would you quit your so-called -- so that your so-called co-worker could stay? One woman in California did exactly that. Would you take one for the team like she did? I've got a few of your answers.

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WHITFIELD: So, in just a few hours we'll have live coverage of President Obama's unveiling of his new health care package. That's scheduled to get under way at 1:45 p.m. Eastern time.

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WHITFIELD: Earlier in the show, we told you about a California woman who volunteered to give up her job so that one of her more needy co-workers could keep hers. Well, we interview this woman tomorrow on the show, but first on today's blog, we're asking whether you would ever do that. Sacrifice your job so that someone else could stay in theirs. Here's what some of you said.

Brenda says, "I was the only person employed in management who was not the sole earner in a family. The company was facing financial difficulty."

(COUGHS) Excuse me.

I resigned my job so that every other person in my office would not have to take pay cuts."

(COUGHS) Excuse me. Oh, boy.

And from J.G.: "Last year, when the recession really took hold here and business sunk, I went from 50 hours a week to 20 so that my co-workers could keep theirs."

(COUGHS) I'm sorry, I've got a terrible cough.

And from Christey. "After being unemployed for over a year, I can't say that I would, but I also believe it depends on the situation."

Remember, we want to hear from you. Just log on to cnn.com/fredricka and share your comments.

And Tony Harris, he doesn't have a cough, so he's going to talk now.