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Day of Action to Defend Education; Health Reform: What Next?; Israeli Soldier Leaks Raid Information
Aired March 04, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, March 4th.
Crisis on campus, the top story for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: No budget cuts! No budget cuts!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Protests, walkouts set for more than 100 college campuses today. Students angry about budget cuts and tuition hikes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is so jacked up. We're paying so much already, why would they even consider making us pay more?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. College administrators hear the complaints, but they say schools have no choice but to charge more and offer less.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This proposal for undergraduate resident tuition keeps us basically and virtually flat in our budget over the next year. It does not meet our needs. It is strongly influenced by the need for affordability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Ooh, it is a hot one, and we've got it for you.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is so jacked up. We shouldn't -- we're paying so much already. Why would they even consider making us pay more?
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: OK. College students and professors abandoning classrooms in defense of education. Scenes like this one in Denver are playing out coast-to-coast today, protests over funding cuts at state colleges and universities that are bloating classrooms and putting a financial strain on students.
Rallies, marches and walkouts in 33 states. Take a look at the map here. Organizers call it a day of action to defend education.
California alone has seen almost a billion dollars slashed from its university system in just the past two years. That's where this movement started. It has blossomed since then nationwide. Across the country, students rallying right now.
Ines Ferre is in New York covering this for us.
Good to see you. Good morning, Ines.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
Yes, and I've spoken to some students that were planning to go out and march today. Students are upset at the threat of cuts to state-funded colleges and universities, and also higher tuition costs. They say they have had to take on extra jobs, more student loans, and some need to extend the number of years they're in school.
And this is what some students in different states have been saying about this. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW BATEMAN, METRO STATE STUDENT PRESIDENT: If we wait until next year, we are going to be shutting down schools, we are going to be hiking tuition, we're going to be cutting financial aid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep it as low as possible for my sake and the students' sake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FERRE: And many of the protests today are centered around state colleges and universities, but you also will have some that will be protesting against private tuition hikes and cuts in K to 12 education -- Tony.
HARRIS: Wow. OK. So, Ines, here's at least one of the questions.
Everything costs more these days. I mean, come on, we're talking about a debilitating, in many cases, recession that the nation is recovering from. States are in the red.
Hasn't the cost of living gone up everywhere?
FERRE: Yes. And, I mean, that's one of the things, is everything is costing more. HARRIS: Yes.
FERRE: The question is, how much will states give towards education? And schools have had to increase fees, cancel classes, cut student programs. Some even furloughed professors and reduced salaries. And you've even got some colleges, Tony -- some college administrators that are saying that even with the tuition hikes that they put in place, they're still not meeting their budget needs.
HARRIS: OK. So you're going to follow this throughout the day for us. Ines, we appreciate it. Thank you. See you next hour.
As always, I want to hear from you. What do you think of the budget cuts and tuition hikes? What's your solution? Any ideas, any thoughts on this?
Send your comments to my blog, to Facebook. You can send us an iReport if you are at the rally today. That would be terrific, or you can just pick up the phone and call me with your solution.
What is your solution to the skyrocketing cost of education in America? Here's the number: 1-877-742-5760.
Coming up at the bottom of the hour, our Josh Levs takes a look at the effect of stimulus spending on education nationwide.
Other big stories we are following for you this morning.
Southern Taiwan rattled by more than 15 aftershocks today just hours after a 6.4 magnitude quake ruptured gas lines, sparked fires, and some buildings cracked under 30 seconds of shaking. But no widespread damage. About a dozen people were hurt, but the injuries are said to be slight.
Home video shows three giant waves, 26-foot high monsters, hitting a cruise ship in the Mediterranean. Two passengers -- just trying to make this out with you -- two passengers were killed by falling shards of glass on the fifth floor deck. The freak rogue waves injured 14 people; 1,300 passengers are being flown home today from Barcelona.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back immediately!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move! Move! Move!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: You know, the college basketball people call it "March Madness" for a reason. I don't think they had this in mind.
Things got a little crazy after Maryland beat arch rival Duke last night. Terps fans spilled out of the Comcast Center and some proceeded to start fires in trashcans. There was plenty of pushing and shoving, as you can see here from this video. Police made several arrests. Students say police -- well, they overreacted. Some celebration, huh?
President Obama says it is time for Congress to finish its work on health care reform. He supports a maneuver that would allow a simple majority vote, but even that is complicated.
Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash with a really solid explainer for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, what happens now? Well, President Obama says he wants a simple up-or-down vote for health care plan, Bush, for Democrats here in Congress, getting that done is anything but simple.
Let me lay out what the Democrats' plans are by starting right here in the House.
(voice-over): The idea is for House Democrats to pass the same bill already approved by the Senate in late December. But House Democrats don't like some of what's in that Senate bill, so they won't do that without making some changes, a separate package.
Those changes are what Democrats are planning to push through without Republican votes, using that process known as reconciliation. Reconciliation means Democrats only need a simple majority, 51 votes, in the Senate.
(on camera): Democrats say the first and most important step in making all of that work is getting that package of changes just right, especially to muster enough votes here in the House.
(voice-over): Some examples from the House speaker.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That would be affordability for the middle class, closing the doughnut hole for seniors, ending the Nebraska fix, and make -- having state -- equity for all states, and, fourth, just to name the major ones, changing the pay-for from the excise tax.
BASH (on camera): Another obstacle Democrats are grappling with is trust. Democrats in the House don't want to be left twisting in the wind. Some of them simply don't trust that their brethren over here in the Senate will actually follow through and pass the package of changes.
REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MAJORITY LEADER: We are working on having that faith verified.
BASH (voice-over): Another hurdle -- and it is a big one -- is whether Democrats themselves have enough agreement, especially in the House, to find the votes for all this.
And it's an election year. Democrats are already nervous about getting reelected, and Republicans are stoking that by warning, the health care bill will bring them down.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: So, I want to assure our Democratic friends that, if they are somehow able to pass this bill in the House, it will be the issue in every race in America.
BASH (on camera): So, you see, both politically and procedurally, this so-called simple up-or-down vote is really very complicated. As one Democratic source put it to me, the president's new pressure helps, but it doesn't guarantee health care will happen.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK. You know, a Facebook post -- listen to this -- by an Israeli soldier stops the military in its tracks. A live report from Jerusalem is straight ahead.
Snow in the West. There's the man, Rob Marciano, working over charts and graphs and things. Rob is next with the forecast, including a bit of a warm-up for the South.
Love the sound of that.
But first, the latest numbers, New York Stock Exchange. We are in positive territory, as you can see here, up 17 points.
We will be checking these numbers throughout the day for you.
A quick break and we're back.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Israel's military calls off a raid because a soldier posted details about the operation on Facebook.
CNN's Kevin Flower is in Jerusalem.
Hard to believe, Kevin. First tell us exactly what the soldier posted on his Facebook page.
KEVIN FLOWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, this is an Israeli combat soldier who was preparing to go on an operation in the occupied West Bank and decided that he was going to update his Facebook status page. And this is what he had to say.
He said, "On Wednesday, we are cleaning up." And then he named the village that they were going to. "Today, a rest. On Thursday, God willing, we will be home."
Now, this is something he wishes he hadn't posted right now, because he was promptly reported by one of the soldiers in his outfit to his commanding officers. The commanding officer canceled the mission for fear that operational security had been threatened. So this was quite a crazy situation.
HARRIS: Yes.
FLOWER: But, in fact, it's not the first time that this issue has come up here. There have been cases in the past where Israeli soldiers have been cautioned by the military not to post photos that reveal classified or sensitive information. So it's something we've seen before, but not quite to this effect like this -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, sure. So, Kevin, how will this soldier be punished?
FLOWER: Well, he's been sentenced to 10 days in prison, and he has been removed from all -- he will not be able to serve in any future combat duty, which is a fairly strict punishment within the Israeli military forces. But they will have their work cut out for them going forward.
Facebook company officials tell us that, in Israel, Israelis spend a billion minutes each month on the social networking site. So that is a lot of posts, a lot of information that's going up on these pages, lots of sensitive information could be going up at all times. So they're trying to get the word out to all Israelis that you need to be careful when you post information on these sites -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, to be sure.
All right. Kevin Flower for us in Jerusalem.
Kevin, good to see you. Thank you.
Preparing for a quake. Do you even know if you're in a potential earthquake zone? We will tell you if you are and how you can protect yourself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's get you caught up with some "Top Tips" here.
The earthquakes in Haiti and Chile remind us of how vulnerable our own homes may be. While you may have the option and money for earthquake insurance, there are some things you need to know about it.
Poppy Harlow is in New York with "Top Tips."
And Poppy, good to see you. Good morning. Where do you want to start here?
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Good to see you, Tony.
Well, first of all, let's be clear here. The infrastructure we have in this country is nothing like what it was in Haiti, thus the devastation here. But people here have to be aware.
Some interesting numbers when we found out when we looked at this -- 5,000 quakes in the U.S. every year. I didn't know that one. And since 1900, there have been quakes in 39 different states.
So you've got a lot of potential damage. You've got a cost that's increasing because more and more buildings are being built in the riskier areas near those fault lines in this country. And the older the building, the more vulnerable it is.
So I want you to take a look at this map of the U.S. And what you're going to see is the most risky areas.
Take a look at the areas in red, obviously concentrated there on the West Coast, also in the middle of the country, where you have the most active risk of earthquakes. California, the most at risk. The yellow areas are where there's moderate risk.
Overall, though, you've got only about two percent of the earthquakes in the world are in this country, but 90 percent of the people in this country actually live in those earthquake-prone areas. So let's take a look at the cities we're talking about.
You can guess the top few -- Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ventura, California. Then head up north to Seattle.
And this is a surprising city to me, New York City, where we are right now. That is a prone city. And then you've got Portland, Salt Lake City, and also St. Louis, right there in the middle of the country, Tony.
So, all places that are near those fault lines, people have to at least be aware are vulnerable.
HARRIS: Got you.
All right. Let's get to an explainer here. How does earthquake insurance work?
HARLOW: Sure. Well, it's not covered under your standard homeowners policy. You have to know that if you live in one of these areas, listen up, because you've got to buy a separate policy to protect you and your home against earthquake.
Earthquakes are expensive and there's a lot of factors here. Let's take a look at what we're talking about.
The age of your home, the older the home, obviously, the more cost is going to be for the insurance. If you've got a wood home, versus a brick home, wood homes actually withstand quakes better. And the soil consistency, if it's soft, that's going to mean some more potential damage. And then, of course, where you live, the proximity to those fault lines.
And I've got to say, Tony, these insurance policies are not cheap. You've got deductibles anywhere from two to 20 percent. So, let's say your house has $100,000 in damage, it's going to cost you -- you have a 10 percent deductible -- it's going to cost you $10,000, Tony, and that's why a lot of people don't have this kind of insurance. HARRIS: Right. And what about the damage, Poppy, that's done after an earthquake? Is that damage covered?
HARLOW: Sure. There's a lot of damage that happens after. You've got those aftershocks, and also flooding, fires.
Some of that is going to be covered by your typical homeowners insurance policy. If you have a flood, that's going to be covered by flood insurance, if you have that. If your house catches fire after an earthquake -- that's a dramatic example -- that's going to be covered under your standard policy. And you should know, your cars and your vehicles, they're covered under earthquake insurance as well as part of all of that.
But, Tony, just something to keep in mind, obviously, a different situation in Haiti and Chile. But you've got to think about it in this country, that it's out there. You can go to iii.org, the Insurance Institute, for more details on that one.
HARRIS: Boy, those premiums are out of sight.
Good information, Poppy. Appreciate it.
HARLOW: I know. You bet.
HARRIS: Thank you. Good to see you.
You know, we are following protests against education cuts and tuition increases across the country. Many states received stimulus money to keep teachers.
We are tracking your taxpayer dollars right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Let's do -- this let's get you caught up on our top stories this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: No budget cuts! No budget cuts!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We're talking about protests and walkouts planned for more than 100 college campuses today. Students are angry over state budget cuts in education and soaring tuition and fees. And organizers put today's protests together on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
The House is on track to pass a jobs bill today. It gives tax breaks to businesses to encourage hiring.
And refunds for road construction projects. The Senate approved a $15 billion measure last month. Some Democrats say it is too puny and may try to add to the measure.
And D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo admits shooting a man in Louisiana and writes him a letter of apology. That attack happened just months before Malvo and John Muhammad went on a sniper spree in the Washington area, as you'll recall. Police suspected Malvo in the Louisiana shooting. His confession closes that case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: I've got to tell you, we have been following demonstrations across the country today protesting rising costs at universities and colleges.
And joining me on the phone from New York, NYU senior Claire Lewis.
Claire, are you there?
CLAIRE LEWIS, NYU STUDENT: Yes, I am. Hi. How are you?
HARRIS: Claire, good to talk to you. Good to talk to you.
Wait a minute -- why -- make your case here. Why are you at today's protests? NYU, as I understand, is a private university, correct?
LEWIS: It is a private university, but like a lot of the public universities, our tuition is also getting increased, which isn't anything new with the economic crisis for us. Our tuition gets increased an average of six percent every year, which is, of course, above the rate of inflation. But lots of our students attend on federally-funded grants and loans, so the broader national education cuts definitely affect us.
HARRIS: All right. Claire, tell us what some of your friends in private school, at NYU, other schools and some of the public universities, what are they saying about the tuitions, the fee increases, what's happening to classroom sizes?
LEWIS: At NYU or at public schools?
HARRIS: Yes. Yes, across the board, your friends.
LEWIS: Well, my friends here at NYU, I mean, kids literally work two or three jobs to pay for their tuition here. People obviously go into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. We're at about $50,000 a year, so kids graduate with literally $200,000 in debt.
Kids I know work all the time. Some kids have had to take time off. Some kids have had to drop out altogether or transfer to public schools. And meanwhile, while all this is going on, we're still buying $4 million apartments for law professors and they're getting a million dollars for park renovation in the city. So, NYU's school budget isn't disclosed, so we can't say, like, hey, that money that you're giving for Professor Smith's apartment, maybe you should give some of that to financial aid.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: OK, Claire. Let me jump in here. Claire, let me jump in here.
So who are you frustrated with here? Are you talking about the chancellors, the boards of regents, the legislatures?
LEWIS: We don't have any sort of democratic process here at NYU. There's no way for us to vote on anything. There's no way for our voices to be heard, except to stand outside of the library where our president's office is, where we are right now, and yell and hope he hears us.
HARRIS: All right. So what's the goal? What do you hope to accomplish today?
LEWIS: Hoping to let the university know that we can't stand for any more increases, any more tuition hikes, and that we need better financial aid for students (INAUDIBLE). And the less people can afford to be here, the less great minds will be here, and the university itself will suffer.
HARRIS: And it's going to be peaceful today, correct, Claire?
LEWIS: Yes. And we're meeting up --
HARRIS: All right. You lose the point if it's anything other than peaceful.
LEWIS: I'm sorry?
HARRIS: You lose the messaging if it's anything other than peaceful. You know that, right?
LEWIS: I do.
HARRIS: All right. Keep it peaceful, Claire.
LEWIS: And we're meeting up with students in from the New School in a little while, and then going up to Hunter, at the City University of New York, where there's going to be a larger demonstration and a walkout.
HARRIS: We'll be following it, Claire.
LEWIS: OK, great.
HARRIS: All right. Have a great day. LEWIS: Take care.
HARRIS: Keep it peaceful.
Would the situation be even worse without money from the stimulus? Josh Levs joins us from the Stimulus Desk with some answers.
I think we were both hyped up on caffeine or something. We were bouncing, weren't we?
Good to see you, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But, yes, I mean, Tony, the answer to your question is it would be a lot worse. In fact, we're hearing about this crisis at schools across the country. I think what I'm about to show you is really going to drill in how incredibly stark it is, because the problems with all these budget cuts and teachers that can't be paid and kids who can't afford tuition is coming after a year with a whopping, ginormous sum of money tossed into the nation's education system from that stimulus.
Let's go to this first figure. Way more into education than transportation. You heard about shovel-ready projects, there's no comparison. Education by far way, way, way more money it's gotten from the stimulus. They have available to the Department of Education $71 billion. They have already paid out about half of it, Tony. So $34 billion has been paid out already to programs all over the country.
And take a look here at this next screen with how many teachers we're talking about and jobs in general. In the education system, 300,000 jobs are being funded with billions of dollars from the stimulus. Keep in mind, stimulus is money we don't actually have. I mean, it's all borrowed money that we're paying interest on. But this is from that huge pile last year, 300,000 jobs are being funded. And still even with that, Tony, there's still this crisis in so many places.
There's also something interesting I want to point out. There is a dispute we've reported on CNN.com. Some states have been criticized for not using the money right, basically. The rule is they have to use it to increase teacher effectiveness, implement statewide data systems, and support struggling schools. That's the requirement for all those billions of dollars that they're getting, Tony. One thing we're going to keep an eye on is ultimately how they're using it.
HARRIS: Well, is there a way to do that?
LEVS: Yes, what we can do and what we've been doing at the desk is calling all over the country and trying to find out from all these individual schools how they're using it and not using it and we're going to keep going.
HARRIS: OK, appreciate it. Josh, thank you, sir.
LEVS: You got it, sir.
HARRIS: And as always, we want to hear from you. What do you think of the budget cuts, the tuition hikes, the protests today across the country? What's your solution? If you would, send us your comment or more. Your thoughts to my blog page, to Facebook, maybe send us an iReport. If you're at the rally today, that would be great, or you can just pick up the phone and give me a call at 1-877- 742-5760.
You know, it is almost that time, time to find out who is going home with Oscar. One of this year's nominated filmmakers is in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You know the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration isn't stopping a growing subculture from trying to enter the country. Young people we're talking about here, told all their lives that a better life awaits them here in the United States and the rewards are worth risking their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WHICH WAY HOME" FROM HBO)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What part of the United States would you like to see the most?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY (through translator): All of the United States. God, I would love to see not only one city but to stay there forever, if possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Any special place you want to go to in the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY (through translator): Manhattan. Manhattan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Is this amazing?
Thousands of children from Central America try to make it to the United States every year. Many don't and few have known their story until now. The film "Which Way Home" has captured Oscar attention, nominated for Best Documentary. It is a seven-year labor of love for Rebecca Camissa who joins me from Los Angeles.
Rebecca, great to see you.
REBECCA CAMISSA, DIRECTOR, "WHICH WAY HOME": Hi, how are you?
HARRIS: I'm going to do a little -- are you over the moon? Are you over the moon about the nomination and what could happen and how it could change your life on Sunday?
CAMISSA: Well, we're really excited about the nomination. What we're really excited about is this Oscar nomination brings attention to the story, and the story of child migrants and what they suffer on the road. So we're very happy about it.
HARRIS: Let me set it up a bit here. Your film follows several children, right? Some as young as nine years old traveling thousands of miles from Central America into Mexico, if they're lucky. And then on to the United States if they're really lucky, in many cases by themselves. Do I have that part correct here?
CAMISSA: Yes.
HARRIS: Now here's the thing, along the way some of them are really taken care of, but in a lot of cases, they are taken advantage of and sometimes in some horrible ways. I want to play another clip here so that folks see more of your film and then a series of questions for you. Let's do that.
CAMISSA: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WHICH WAY HOME" FROM HBO)
GABRIELA COUTINO, MEXICAN IMMIGRATION (through translator): Don't cry, little man. Don't cry. What happened to you? Tell me. Nothing will happen to you here. Who brought you here?
JOSE (through translator): A lady.
COUTINO (through translator): A female smuggler?
JOSE (through translator): No.
COUTINO (through translator): An immigration officer?
JOSE (through translator): I don't know who she was.
COUTINO (through translator): How long has it been since you've seen your mother?
JOSE (through translator): Like three years.
COUTINO (through translator): And your father?
JOSE (through translator): The same.
COUTINO (through translator): Where does your mother live?
JOSE (through translator): In New York.
COUTINO (through translator): Don't you know her phone number?
JOSE (through translator): No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Oh, boy. I think you get the sense of it.
Rebecca, that's Jose, correct?
CAMISSA: Yes, that's Jose.
HARRIS: Tell us a bit of his story as he is talking there to a Mexico Immigration officer.
CAMISSA: Well, we were actually given access to film in detention centers by Mexican Immigration. And we just came out of an interview with a young boy, we walk into the hallway and here is Jose. And we really didn't know what was happening with him, and we were granted permission to film.
He had just been abandoned by smugglers. He was on a bus, apparently Immigration came on the bus and they just left him there. So this little 9-year-old boy from El Salvador was just stuck in a country that he doesn't know by himself and then was taken in to the detention center in Tapichula (ph).
HARRIS: Oh my goodness. Rebecca, why do these kids -- and when you watch the film you realize there are a number of reasons that these kids take these risks, but go through a couple of them for us. Why do these kids in essence risk everything to get to the United States?
CAMISSA: Well, they have a lot riding on -- you know, the reasons why they go. Some children are separated from their families for years, so some children are just trying to get to the United States just to find their families or be reunited with their parents or siblings. Other children, they're in poverty, they want to help their families and they're going to go to the United States to find work so they can send money back to their families.
Another child in our film, he lived on the streets. He wanted to find a new life, find a family to love him. So he was going to go to the United States to get adopted by a family. So these are some of the reasons why children are coming.
HARRIS: Yes. The movie doesn't have a happy ending, does it?
CAMISSA: Well, it's a documentary, so it should really just follow the real lives of the subjects and this is not a happy tale. Children are suffering -- migrants are suffering on the road through Mexico. Children are as well. And we really want the public to know about this issue to really understand what is going on in Mexico on the migration routes and how dangerous and really terrible the situation is. So it's not a happy story.
HARRIS: Right, right.
Boy, again, what's your life been like and how do you expect it will change after Sunday when you're on the big stage and your film is nominated and we get to have that moment with you?
CAMISSA: Well, hopefully, we'll be able to win, but if not -- I mean I don't know how my life is going to change, but really the focus is, what I would really like to change is I would like the public to know what's going on. I'd love them to write their senators and congressmen to try to push for humane immigration reform. I want lawmakers to really make child migrants, protect them, because they're a very vulnerable population and something has to be done to really correct the situation. Two boys in our film come back in caskets, so children die on the journey.
So in terms of the Oscar nomination, I don't know how my life will change, but I really hope that this puts the film out there and gets change where it really needs to happen, which is helping migrants.
HARRIS: Terrific. Rebecca, is your film still in rotation at HBO? Is there an opportunity to see it soon.
CAMISSA: Oh, yes, I'm sure they're going to broadcast it again, absolutely.
HARRIS: All right, we'll figure it out and make sure it's added to our blog page so folks know where to find it. It's great to talk to you. Terrific film, terrific work. The best for you as a filmmaker and the best on Sunday. Terrific work.
CAMISSA: Thank you, Tony.
HARRIS: My pleasure. My pleasure.
"SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" will be live with two very special Oscar shows this Sunday, March 7th. Coverage begins with A.J. Hammer and Brooke Anderson live from the red carpet at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN and coverage continues live on HLN at 11:00 Eastern. Get all the late-breaking news on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: ROAD TO GOLD."
Time to get you caught up on our top stories.
Right now, a nationwide day of action for angry college professor and students. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTORS: Fight back, fight back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Protesters are on the march today in 33 states. They're angry about cuts in higher education. The recession has forced states to trim college programs and raise tuition.
In Chile, more powerful aftershocks five days after the massive earthquake. Another one, a magnitude 4.9 struck after midnight raising fears that already-damaged buildings will crumble. Last Saturday's quake and the tsunami that followed killed more than 800 people.
Thank goodness 60 is the new 30. Veteran workers are finding they're too poor to retire. Then there are those who can't find a job. New numbers on both fronts in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: You know, a lot of people in the 60-plus crowd are knocking on retirement's door, but they're finding the recession has locked them out. CNN's Christine Romans, part of our Money Team, joining me with the new findings.
And, Christine, if you would, walk us through this survey by CareerBuilder.com. Good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
Well, it shows that people are even a little more pessimistic today than they were even a year or two years ago about whether they're able to retire. These are, you're right, workers ages 60 or higher. Today, 72 percent of them say that they don't think they can afford to retire. That compares with 60 percent in 2008. So as you're hearing about an economy recovering, you're not hearing about financial security recovering for this trench of the workforce.
OK, women face it even worse. Women are even more financially insecure. Tony. Seventy-six percent of them say they can't afford to retire. Why is this? You know, fear of financial insecurity is always higher among women. Couple of reasons, cause they live longer, they'll have to safe four, five, six, seven years more to live on, and also over the course of their career they have made less money than their male counterparts, right -- 75, 76, 77 cents on the dollar depending on what year it was -- so they have less money, they have to make up more.
Here's something you might find surprising, Tony. Why are seniors saying they delay retirement? Well, 72 percent say they can't afford it, but look at this, almost the same percentage enjoy their jobs. They like working with young people, they like mentoring. They're at the top of their game, they feel good, they're healthy, they have no reason to move on. About half of them is because they need health care and want to stay in the certainty of their employer- sponsored health care plan. But that surprised me and I thought that was interesting that many people simply want to keep working.
HARRIS: I love it. That's positive. I like that a lot.
ROMANS: And employers like it too. Employers like to have these seasoned professionals, people who know what they're doing. Also, because, look, if you're going to downsize a lot of people and then you're going to have to retrain new hires, you might as well keep people who have been in the job for a long time. They can do some of the retraining for you, right?
HARRIS: I like the sound of that more and more, Christine. Hey, look, and if we drill down a little deeper here, that group that can't afford it, that's the same group that took probably quite a hit on 401(k) and other, you know, retirement instruments in this downturn, correct?
ROMANS: And their house, and their house.
HARRIS: And their house, and their house.
ROMANS: A lot of people stay in their house until they retire and then downsize. So they're working, they're in their 60s, they're still working. They have got the big house. Now they have lost 30 percent from the peak level of the house and they're thinking, hmm, maybe I have to rejigger my financial expectations because I'm going to live another 20 years in retirement you hope, right?
HARRIS: Yes, I don't want to live in an apartment.
Christine, appreciate it, thank you.
A dozen people killed in Baghdad bombings on the heels of yesterday's horrible attacks. Iraq elections off to a deadly start.
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HARRIS: I need you to reach out to the program. I need you to talk to me directly. A couple of ways to do that, first of all CNN.com/Tony takes you directly to this, bam, our blog page. If you'd like to send us your thoughts on Facebook, here's what you do, TonyHarrisCNN. And post your comments here. Here's my Twitter address, TonyHarrisCNN.
One other way to talk to us directly, talk to the show. Call us. Pick up the phone. 1-877-742-5760. Let's have more of your views, more of your thoughts, on the program. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris.
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HARRIS: I got to tell you, the unemployment picture remains troubling, but there are some signs of improvement. Stephanie Elam is in New York with details.
And, Stephanie, good to see you. What do the latest numbers tell us about the labor market?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, at this point we can say that the recovery is slow, we all know that. It's an uphill climb that is going to take some time and these numbers pretty much just prove that out. The bad news is about 475,000 people applied for unemployment benefits last week. The good news is that's 30,000 less than the week before. It's a sign that layoffs are slowing down. But analysts say we really need to see jobless claims below 400,000 before that level to really support hiring, Tony.
HARRIS: OK. And we do have some positive retail signs, numbers, today, correct? And shouldn't that help out the economy, at least a bit?
ELAM: Yes. We do have that. Spending is huge, you know, we always say that consumer spending is two-thirds of the economy here. We need people to spend. And these retail sales numbers are a surprise, because the East Coast, as you know, has been hit with two blizzards last month and stores ranging from Nordstrom to Macy's to Target all reporting better-than-expected February sales. But keep in mind they are coming from a real low point. Sales from last month are compared to February of 2009 and that was an awful month. But there are other encouraging signs like the service sector activity, picking up there and so is manufacturing, and overall the economy is growing. But Wall Street really waiting for tomorrow, because that's when we get the big monthly jobs report for February.
HARRIS: Right.
ELAM: Right now the Dow up 17 points, 10414, as you can see there, Nasdaq better by one whole point, but hey, it's in the green column, so we'll take it, Tony.
HARRIS: It's in the green. All right, we love the green.
Stephanie, see you next hour. Thank you.
ELAM: Thanks.
HARRIS: Here's what we're working on next hour for the CNN NEWSROOM.
Demonstrations in dozens of states over the rising cost of higher education. We'll take a look at just how much tuition has increased over the past few years.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Too many students that are -- that will be without an efficient teacher because you're stressed, you're thinking of your bills that you have to pay, you're thinking of your mortgage, you're thinking of your own family. It's very hard for all the children to learn when you have a stressed teacher.
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HARRIS: OK. While students and teachers step out of their classrooms today, our Casey Wian goes inside one in California. He catches up with a California teacher trying to cope with growing class sizes and shrinking budgets.
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HARRIS: A deadly start to elections in Iraq, three bomb attacks today in Baghdad killed at least a dozen people. Two of the attacks were suicide bombings targeting Iraqi soldiers as they prepared for early voting. Sunday is the big election day.
CNN's Arwa Damon reports on today's voting.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is early special voting in Iraq. Eligible for that are people at hospitals, in prisons and of course the Iraqi Security Forces. So the first step of the process for a voter is to come here, check and make sure that this is in fact the correct polling center, that they are eligible to cast their vote here. They then go inside and their identification is verified here.
These police officers are telling us now that their names were not on the list here, which means that they're not eligible to vote at this center. And they're saying that a number of their colleagues have been having this problem as well. But they're unable to find their names on the list at any voting center and that they're being told to go home and basically haven't been able to cast their votes.
They're just saying right now that this whole issue is making them feel as if there is no transparency in the process, and it's also causing them, they're saying, to lose faith in the democratic process as well.
So this is the voting station. Here you have observers from the political entities. A person has their identity checked once again and they sign a piece of paper and finally receive their ballot.
Here we have the names of all of the blocs. A person has to check one of these political blocs, or the ballot will be considered invalid. And then of course they also have the option of voting for a specific candidate
This is the open list system. And it's the first time that Iraqis are able to do this on the national level.
The ballot then ends up in one of these envelopes. The fingers dipped into the purple ink. It is special ink that is not supposed to wash off for a few days, and then the ballots are placed inside a sealed box.
Now those boxes will not be open until after the rest of the Iraqi population has casts their vote on March 7th.
As soon as the Iraqi Security Forces cast their vote they have to head right back out and report for duty. Remember, this is a country on high alert, anticipating more violence in the days ahead.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
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