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The Debate Over Federalizing Education Standards; Toyota Facing New Scrutiny Over Safety Documents; Who is Jihad Jane?; Lindsay Lohan Suing E-Trade Babies; The Many Uses For Breast Milk; The Stimulus Desk: Education Spending; The X-Y-Z of It: Bank of America's New Policy
Aired March 10, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Classrooms across the country are one step closer to getting on the same page academically. A panel of educators convened by the nation's governors and school superintendents have released a list, spelling out common academic standards for every grade from kindergarten through graduation.
If this road map is adopted, and that is a big if, it means that kindergarteners from California to Connecticut will be learning about shapes and sixth-graders learn ratios and high schoolers focus on algebra and integral functions.
Forty-eight states and D.C. cooperating in producing the standards; the holdouts are Alaska and Texas. Texas governor Rick Perry says he wants Texans to decide education standards on their own, but supporters say this is a huge step forward after a years-long stalemate -- a year-long stalemate -- over the role of federal education standards.
Let's bring in Michael Cohen. He is the president of the educational policy organization Achieve, joining me from D.C.
Michael, welcome, and thank you for being with us.
MICHAEL COHEN, PRESIDENT, ACHIEVE: Thank you. Nice to be here.
VELSHI: Good. Michael, first of all what is the big deal here? How is this different from other efforts to try and standardize the way kids are taught in public schools?
COHEN: Well, good question. First of all, this is not an effort to standardize how students are taught. It is an effort to make sure they are held to consistent expectations. Expectations that will prepare them to be ready for college and ready for work and careers when they leave high school. So, this is about getting the expectations right, and not about standardizing how they are taught.
VELSHI: How is this different from No Child Left Behind? COHEN: Well, it's different in two ways. First of all, No Child Left Behind is a federal program. This Common Core Standards initiatives is state-led. It was done without federal participation, no federal money, no federal programs. This is all about the states.
And secondly, many people believe that No Child Left Behind actually encouraged states to keep their standards less rigorous than they need to be. These common core standards are all about setting very rigorous standards so that students are well prepared when they complete high school, and so that learn what they need to learn along the way.
VELSHI: How does this -- it -- how does this -- how does somebody lose out by participating in this?
COHEN: I don't think they lose out. I think the students and the teachers win. For students and parents, it makes sure that what students are asked to learn in school will actually prepare them to succeed after they leave high school.
VELSHI: Let me reposition the question, because maybe it was too obvious. Rick Perry does not think it is a good idea. Alaska has not signed on. What's the downside? What would the resistance be to doing something as obvious as what this appears to be?
COHEN: Well, what is amazing is that 48 states are participant in this. So they don't see any downside to it. What I would suggest policy makers in California -- I'm sorry, in Texas and Alaska do, is actually read the standards, and see if it represents the kinds of knowledge and skills that students will need when they complete high school, and whether it provides a good framework for their K-12 system. I think that they will find that it does. And I think many states will come to that same conclusion.
VELSHI: All right. It is -- right now, we are looking at math and English.
COHEN: Yes. Well, right now, this effort among the nearly 50 states is about math and English. Every state continues to have academic standards for and programs for other subjects, for history, for the arts, for science and the like, and that will continue to be the case. Right now, this is a big deal to get states to agree on two subjects. I think they still have a lot on the plates to deal with this right now.
VELSHI: There is a big financial incentive to doing this. It is part of the four billion dollars that the administration has for school improvement, which you can't get until you hit certain qualifications. Just signing on to this gets you a higher score?
COHEN: That is correct. You were about to finish the question?
VELSHI: No, go ahead.
COHEN: OK. So the federal government is creating incentives for states to adopt these standards, though it is not a requirement. The important thing here is that this is an example where the federal government is following the lead of the states.
The states have set the agenda. They have made college and career readiness a national priority. And the federal government is aligning its resources and its policies behind it, to support what the states are doing. That is the way this ought to work in education.
VELSHI: Michael, good to talk to you. Michael Cohen is the president of Achieve, which is an educational policy organization. Thank you for being with us.
COHEN: Thank you for having me.
VELSHI: Here is what I've got on the rundown this hour: if Toyota thought it was out from under the microscope, boy, was it wrong? There are new allegations about the Prius and new allegations of covering up evidence. It all adds up to renewed pressure on the car-maker. We'll talk about that.
Plus, meet Colleen Larose from Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. She looks like your typical all American citizen. Well, that is not the way the Feds see it. They are calling her a terrorist. We've got an exclusive interview with her ex-boyfriend.
Plus, Bank of America is dropping overdraft fees on debit purchases. Gee, thanks, Bank of America. Why didn't you do it sooner? It comes down to one word, money. I have got some things about that, all in my "X-Y-Z."
Toyota's problems and apparently some of its Priuses just won't stop. We have the second report in two days of unintended acceleration in Toyota's flagship hybrid. This one is in New York. A woman says her boss' 2005 Prius sped up on its own, shot down a driveway, across a road, and crashed into a stone wall.
Thankfully, she is OK. According to the police, the floor mats do not seem to be a factor and the car had been serviced by Toyota. That incident coming on the heels of a San Diego man's runaway ride. We told you about Jim Sikes' story yesterday. Now hear it first person from his call to 911 while his car was speeding.
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911 OPERATOR: Hello, this is 911, do you have an emergency.
JIM SIKES, TOYOTA OWNER: My car can't slow down.
911 OPERATOR: What kind of Toyota?
SIKES: A Prius.
911 OPERATOR: A Prius?
SIKES: Yeah.
911 OPERATOR: What is going on? Is the accelerator stuck?
SIKES: Yes. I tried to -- yeah, yeah. I tried to pull it back.
911 OPERATOR: How fast are you going?
SIKES: Eighty-something.
911 OPERATOR: You are going 80 miles an hour?
SIKES: Eight one now.
911 OPERATOR: And it is still stuck?
SIKES: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: Is there any way to put the car in neutral, sir?
SIKES: No.
911 OPERATOR: No? Have you tried to put it in neutral?
SIKES: You know, I'm trying to control the car. My brakes are smelling.
911 OPERATOR: Your brakes are smelling. Sir, if you can hear me, we have help on the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Pretty scary stuff. Two federal investigator and three Toyota technicians are taking a close look at that car. Coming up after the break, we will bring in Deb Feyerick, who spoke to a former lawyer for the auto giant, who says Toyota actually conspired to conceal evidence of safety problems with its vehicles.
All right, when we come back, we're also going to give you a breakdown of health care costs, health insurance costs. How much do you pay to insure yourself? And how much does your company pay? And how is that likely to change with health care reform? Stay with us.
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VELSHI: I want to continue this conversation about wild ride, this Toyota wild ride we covered yesterday in California, and then another one we heard of today. As if these two reports of runaway Priuses in two days weren't not bad enough, a former lawyer for the auto giant said that Toyota actually conspired to conceal evidence of safety problems with its vehicles. And he said he has the documents to prove it.
Deb Feyerick, who has been following all of this from New York, joins us now -- Deborah.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Ali, this isn't just any lawyer. This is the lawyer who was actually representing Toyota, defending the company against liability and negligence cases. He says he has a lot of documents. We saw a couple of them. Toyota basically says this is a disgruntled employee, and they want their documents back.
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FEYERICK (voice-over): When Dimitrios Biller left his job as the top in-house lawyer for Toyota, he walked out with a nearly four million dollar buyout. He also walked out with something perhaps even more valuable, internal documents, 6,000 of them, some potentially damaging.
DIMITRIOS BILLER, FMR. TOYOTA LAWYER: Not potentially, they are. They are very damaging, because these documents can be used to establish liability against Toyota.
FEYERICK: Biller, who defended the auto giant in liability cases from 2003 to2007, is now accusing Toyota of withholding information it was legally required to turn over during lawsuits.
BILLER: There was a regular practice of not producing memos, minutes, reports, e-mails.
FEYERICK: The documents, now the focus of hearings on Capitol Hill, include e-mails and memos that Biller sent to Toyota officials concerning so-called books of knowledge, highly secretive data and testing records allegedly generated by Toyota engineers on everything, from roll-overs and roof safety to sudden unintended acceleration.
(on camera): Are the documents that you have seen -- are they a smoking gun or are they worse, potentially?
(voice-over): Committee chair Ed Towns says Toyota's documents shows a systemic disregard for the law.
REP. EDOLPHUS TOWNS (D), NEW YORK: The material, I must admit, is very, very disturbing.
FEYERICK: Toyota defends its actions, saying "we are confident that we have acted appropriately with respect to all product liability litigation."
Yet, so far, the company has fought to keep the documents confidential and away from court cases, like Pennie Green's.
PENNIE GREEN, SUING TOYOTA: We were going to the movie, and I didn't make it.
FEYERICK: Pennie Green was 17 when the 1997 Camry she was driving swerved, rolled over and landed upside down.
GREEN: I remember when I opened my eyes, my nose was -- I felt like it was almost touching my belly button, because I was so curled up.
FEYERICK: Green never walked again.
GREEN: The roof didn't withstood the weight of the car like it was supposed to. FEYERICK: The case in 2006 settled for 1.5 million dollars. The summary email Biller sent to his bosses said, quote, "TMS concluded that it would be better to pay a premium to settle this case and avoid producing the books of knowledge."
Believing he had been giving all relevant Toyota documents, Green's attorney, Jeff Embry, had no idea how close it had come to uncovering Toyota's alleged secrets.
JEFF EMBRY, PENNIE GREEN'S LAWYER: They were careful to keep the design information and very important information in Japan, out of reach of our system.
FEYERICK (on camera): Toyota says these are trade secrets. Do you feel that way?
EMBRY: Saying they are trade secrets doesn't mean you get to keep them secret from the court system.
FEYERICK (voice-over): So why, if Biller knew a judge had ordered all information be produced, didn't he produce it? He says he tried, and was told not to by a superior, who told him --
BILLER: We have to protect the client at all costs. I said, even if that means committing criminal acts of violating the law. And he said yes.
FEYERICK: Asked about Biller's charges, Toyota says "Mr. Biller continues to make inaccurate and misleading allegations about Toyota's conduct that we strongly dispute and will continue to fight against vigorously."
Before leaving Toyota four years ago, Biller had a nervous breakdown, caused, he says, by stress. Still, he's confident his e- mails show a trail showing he tried to change Toyota.
BILLER: The documents speak for themselves. I know what happened. I know exactly what happened. I know the names of the people who are responsible for it. I know where the skeletons are hidden.
FEYERICK: As for Pennie Green, if a judge finds that Toyota did hide documents --
GREEN: All I want is justice for that. They just need to take responsibility for their actions.
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FEYERICK: Ali, you can imagine these documents a pretty hot commodity right now. The Congressional committee wants a lot of material. That's due by Friday. But, again, NHTSA wants to take a look at the books of knowledge. Not to mention there's a criminal investigation now, and the SEC even investigating all of this. So these documents could hold a lot of very pertinent information. And as for Pennie Green, she wants this to go before a judge. She wants to know, in fact, if Toyota was in contempt by not producing documents in her particular case. Ali?
VELSHI: Books of knowledge, sound likes a Dan Brown novel that's going to coming out. It seems as if there's as much intrigue about this that would be in a novel.
FEYERICK: Well, absolutely. That is what is so interesting here. These are books that are compiled by engineers. They put them together as they are developing their products. They put all the information in it, testing data, what the cars show, what was weak, what needed to be fixed, how they resolved a problem. So it shows how an engineer was thinking.
That is what is so fascinating. If there was information that applies to sudden acceleration or anything else, that could be important information.
VELSHI: All right, Deb, thanks so much. Deb Feyerick in New York.
Believe it or not -- if you want more information on Toyota's trouble, check out CNN.com/Toyota. You will find out if your car has been recalled, and what to do about it and much more.
All right. It is possible to talk about health care without talking politics. And I happen to think it is about time to do that. Right now, about 160 million Americans get health insurance coverage through the large companies that they work for. I want to take a minute to break down what they, maybe you, are paying, what they, or maybe you, are getting, and how that is changing over time.
Take a look at this. The human resources consulting firm Towers Watson gave us this information. They study this very closely. They are one of the biggest in the country.
For 2010, they say, for the first time ever, the average cost of insuring a person and their dependents is going to cross 10,000 dollars. It is going to be 10,200 dollars for an employee and their dependent. Typically how that breaks down is the employer pays 80 percent. Your company pays 80 percent, and you pay about 20 percent. The numbers shift a little bit for your dependents.
Here is more, Insurance costs are going up seven percent on average, according to Towers Watson, in 2010. But that is less than the actual inflation in health care costs overall, which are going up 10 percent.
Why the spread? Because what insurance companies do is to keep the price of health care down, they change what they are offering you, and make you pay a little bit more. What your employers do is make you pay a little bit more in out-of-pocket expenses.
Let's take a look at some of those out of pocket expenses and how they are changing over time. You'll notice this, if you've got a policy. Your co-payments for brand name drugs increasing. If you don't use the generic alternatives, you are paying much more to have the brand name.
Premiums to add dependents, your spouse, your partner or your children, are going up. You pay a greater proportion of their insurance than the company does.
Deductibles are being added or are increasing. These are the charges you pay before the insurance kicks in, or to see a different type of provider.
And here is an interesting one, bonuses and incentives for staying healthy, for doing things that are going to keep you healthy -- maybe that's testing, maybe that's practices and behaviors that will make you healthier.
Employers are shifting more of the cost of dependents' premiums on to policyholders. But they are stepping up those incentives for staying healthy. Basically, the incentive is for not consuming more health care.
Where do the premiums go? Take a look at this. Where do your premiums, that 10,200 dollars and the 20 percent of it you pay go? Ninety two percent of it goes to the cost health care. That makes sense. You're paying for insurance for health care. That's where 92 percent of it goes there. Eight percent goes to administration. That is the cost of processing the claims, the staff you need for that, customer service, profit for the insurance company, and clinical programs that they offer through your employer.
So that is how insurance premiums for people who work for large companies works. Now, everything I have talked about applies to health insurance from employers that are big enough to self-insure. A small portion of Americans get coverage from smaller employers or buy it on their own. And they face a whole different set of numbers, not like the ones I just showed you. They are, in fact, a much scarier set of numbers. We are going to break that down in the next few days.
Turning young people into future leaders. There is a man in Connecticut who is doing it and he is building up America. You are going to meet him.
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VELSHI: A very private choice with very public consequences; CNN's broadcast premier of "Her Name Was Steven" Saturday and Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern. It is worth watching.
In this afternoon's "Building Up America" report, one man in Connecticut has dedicated his life to helping young men make the right decisions. CNN education contributor Steve Perry sits down with Kyle Anderson. Listen to this.
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STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Listen to the lyrics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Waiting on the next paycheck --
PERRY: For these young men, it is more than a song. These are words to live by. The idea is to help them, get them in a place where they can work it out. But this story is really about this man, Kyle Anderson, and the successful professionals he has convinced to give up their time and commit to helping these young men.
(on camera): What are you expecting to come from your interaction with them?
KYLE ANDERSON, GREATER HARTFORD MALE YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM: I pray that something I do or the women or the men who volunteer in this program will turn on a light bulb for one individual. We have the over-achiever, the under-achiever and what I call, on-the-fence achiever. And we are not doing anything different from the classroom or what your parent is saying, but it is coming from the community group of folks.
PERRY (voice-over): Anderson calls it the Greater Hartford Male Youth Leadership Program. He started it about three years ago. Today, about 100 young men from local middle and high schools are mentored by dedicated adults who want to put them on a solid path.
(on camera): Because this is a tough community. Why is it doing so poorly?
ANDERSON: That question bothers me, Steve. When I grew up in this community, my next door neighbor was the first African-American judge in the state of Connecticut.
PERRY: But this community has changed, brother.
ANDERSON: But there are working good folks that live here.
PERRY: OK.
ANDERSON: And I still feel that we can make a difference.
PERRY (voice-over): In the monthly workshops the young men pick up valuable skills to succeed. They dress professionally.
ANDERSON: What is our rule? Are we tucked in?
PERRY: They are financially responsible. And today, they learn about careers in music and TV. Another day, they might have a workshop in public service. They meet business, government and community leaders, positive role models who Anderson hopes will inspire the boys to become leaders themselves.
(on camera): What percentage of your time would you say you spend working with other people's children?
ANDERSON: A week, sometimes I may be dealing with 20 hours, maybe more, maybe 40. PERRY (voice-over): This is also a story about real sacrifice, the pull between home and so many other kids who need guidance.
(on camera): I often look to men such as you to help me figure this out. Because, you know, I looked up and I see Kyle, Jr., and that is an old picture.
ANDERSON: Yeah.
PERRY: That is a long time ago. How does it work where you're the leader in the community and the father at home?
ANDERSON: That is a challenge, Steve. It is a challenge. So I think that's why maybe I'll end up in divorce court.
PERRY: Now you have a teenager. How does he feel about the level of responsibility you have outside of the house?
ANDERSON: He's confused by it. Because it holds the voices, and he's confused by it. It hurts me dearly.
PERRY (voice-over): Across the country, people like Kyle Anderson serve their communities, building up America, one child at a time. But not without sacrifice.
Steve Perry, CNN, Hartford, Connecticut.
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VELSHI: We want to bring you up to speed with some of the news we are following right here at CNN.
President Obama just wrapped up a chat with Haitian President Rene Preval. The focus -- how is Haiti doing nearly two months after the devastating earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people? President Preval thanked the United States and the rest of the world for what he termed material and psychological support.
The Senate is expected to pass legislation today extending unemployment benefits through the end of the year. The nearly 140 billion dollar bill also extends Cobra health insurance benefits over the same period, and staves off scheduled cuts in Medicare payments to doctors. It also extends 26 billion dollars in tax breaks for businesses and individuals. Conservatives say the price tag is too high.
Former 1980s teen actor Corey Haim died today. LA police said the death appears accidental and may be due to an overdose. They said he died after having flu-like symptoms. Haim had struggled with drug abuse in recent years. His famous role was in 1987 in "The Lost Boys."
When we come back, we're going to take a look at some serious weather developing across the country. Parts of Mississippi and Alabama are under a tornado watch. Jacqui is getting all the information and will join us in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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VELSHI: We have been talking about here, Jihad Jane. Wow, what a moniker. Who is she? How did she get involved in terrorism? This woman, Colleen Larose, she lives in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. When we come back, Susan Candiotti talks to her ex-boyfriend about how this woman allegedly got involved in terrorism.
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VELSHI: All right, take a look at this woman. Her name is Colleen LaRose, she's from Pennsylvania. Federal prosecutors say she called herself "Jihad Jane" and "Fatima LaRose" in Internet postings. She has been indicted for conspiring to provide material to support to terrorists and conspiring to kill a person in a foreign country.
LaRose was arrested in Philadelphia in October, no arraignment date has been set. She is being held at a federal detention center there. Now, if she is convicted, she could face life in prison and a million dollar fine.
So what did she allegedly do? The Justice Department says, LaRose and five unindicted coconspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage jihad -- holy war -- in South Asia and Europe. Women were also allegedly recruited who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe.
Susan Candiotti has been following the story of Jihad Jane/Colleen LaRose. Susan is in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, outside of a house that she lived in.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right, and she lived here for about five years. She lived here with her boyfriend and moved here from her home in Texas in 2004.
And you know the old expression, Ali, well, you think you know someone, and that's pretty much what her now former boyfriend has to say. He told us in an exclusive television interview, he was completely blown away, flabbergasted by these charges when he heard about them. He said, she really didn't have any friends outside of the home. He knew that on the computer she played video games. That is all he knew.
And when the FBI came calling after she suddenly moved out without any warning, last August, he said, uh-oh, I thought something was up, but I didn't exactly know what. They were asking me all of the questions about what kinds of things she did on the computer, but he said they really did not let on exactly why they were asking.
Now that he knows what the charges are, I said, well, you know, in the end, did you really trust her at the time? And this is how he answered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CANDIOTTI: Is this an American jihadist?
KURT GORMAN, FORMER BOYFRIEND OF COLLEEN LAROSE: I don't know.
CANDIOTTI: She called herself Jihad Jane.
GORMAN: Yes, I don't know. It doesn't make any sense. But, I don't -- you know. I don't know if there is ways that people are manipulated or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: And you know, when I said, did you trust her, he said, if I didn't trust her, she wouldn't be living with me.
This is a town, Ali, of about 230 people, the mayor tells us, and it's only about two miles square. It is a town where everybody knows everybody, except it would appear that no one really knew her very well.
Back to you.
VELSHI: Wow, what a fascinating story how this one got so deeply involved allegedly and the man she was living with didn't know about it. Fascinating. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.
Susan, is in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, following the story of Jihad Jane.
All right, this is a crazy story. Talk about egos and perhaps a little paranoia. I am talking about a $100 million lawsuit and Lindsay Lohan. Wait until you hear who she is suing and why. It will have you saying, milk a what?
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VELSHI: Aye, this one just goes into the category of strange. Lindsay Lohan is in the, shall I say, unwanted spotlight. You have seen this commercial, right? The actress --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, E-TRADE TV ADVERTISEMENT)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS, E-TRADE BABY: And that milkaholic Lindsay was not over?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR, E-TRADE BABY: Lindsay?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS, E-TRADE BABY: Milk a what?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: OK, the commercial cracks me up.
The actress has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the E-Trade babies. You remember them, the television ad for the Wall Street firm that aired during the Super Bowl and the Olympics. Lohan says the ad and Lindsay, who says "milk a what" is modeled after her.
I could just keep on saying that.
Now as you just heard, there is a reference milkaholic Lindsay. As you'll recall, Lohan has spent time in rehab, so have a lot of people and probably other people named Lindsay. Her full name is never mentioned. That said, her lawyer says Lindsay is an equally recognizable moniker for her client like Madonna or Oprah, you don't actually need a last name.
That one takes the cake. Go figure. As for E-Trade, no comment. Still, one of the funniest group of ads I have ever seen.
Depending upon the time zone and your routine, you may be sitting down to lunch about now and this next story may whet your appetite or maybe not. That is kind of all I have to say about it.
Here is Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You would cry, too, if someone was taking your mom's breast milk and turning it into cheese?
(voice-over): Is it weird for you to see someone eating your breast milk?
LORI MASON, CHEF'S FIANCEE: That makes me feel proud.
MOOS: Lori Mason's fiance, Daniel, is a chef at their New York City restaurant, Klee Brasserie, so when their freezer at home started to overflow with Lori's extra breast milk.
DANIEL ANGERER, CHEF, KLEE BRASSERIE: What are we going to do with it, you know? And I look at her, why don't we make some cheese.
MOOS: Now maybe you think that's better left to cows, but human breast milk is super healthy for babies.
MASON: This is the most precious thing in the world to you, and so if your baby is eating it, why in the world would you not.
MOOS (on camera): And I have to say, you look much cleaner than a cow.
MASON: Why, thank you.
MOOS (voice-over): At least Lori is not out dragging herself through the mud and manure.
MASON: I am free range, organic.
MOOS: Daniel's recipe for breast milk cheese --
ANGERER: It's tricky. MOOS: -- ended up on his blog, and next thing you know --
KELLY RIPA, TV PERSONALITY: Guess what we have right here, Andy.
MOOS: Oh, go ahead and groan. Sure there's a yuck-factor.
MASON: Oh, it is a body fluid. Or, oh, it's a form of cannibalism.
MOOS: Someone actually e-mailed that, saying, "this is beyond disgusting."
But Kelly Ripa managed to get it down.
RIPA: Tastes like chicken.
MOOS: And with the cheese resting on brioche with a pickle and paprika --
(on camera): There is no yuck factor.
(voice-over): -- it tasted like cheese.
ANGERER: You're going for seconds.
MOOS (on camera): I'm going for seconds of that.
(voice-over): Though the cheese eaten alone had a gross consistency.
But there are worse things you could do with breast milk. Take the Kentucky woman arrested the other day for being intoxicated who allegedly squirted female deputy in the face.
But we digress from cheese --
(on camera): You know, you're not the first to do this. Borat.
(VIDEO CLIP, "BORAT")
SASHA COHEN, PORTRAYING BORAT: My wife, she make this cheese. She make it from milk from her (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS (voice-over): By the way, the New York City Health Department says, "The restaurant knows the cheese made from breast milk is not for public consumption...and any experiments with it as a food ingredient are best left for the home."
PETA once suggested that Ben & Jerry's should make ice cream out of human breast milk, that led to jokes
BONNIE HUNT, "THE BONNIE HUNT SHOW": Rackberry. Mrs. Kraft Singles.
MASON: What do you have to say about all this?
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Milk a what?
All right, let me give you a quick check of the top stories following here at CNN.
New revelations about the company at the center of the huge food recall. The FDA says Basic Food Flavors knew it's plant was contaminated with salmonella but it continued production and shipments for a month. The company makes HVP, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, which is used in everything from tofu to potato chips. There's information on what is being recalled at www.fda.gov.
Another report of a runaway Toyota Prius, this time in New York. A woman says her car sped up on its own, then lurched down a driveway, across a road and into a stone wall. The driver was not seriously hurt, but she smacked the wall hard enough for the airbags to deploy.
Honored at last, about 175 former civilian women pilots received the Congressional Gold Medal for their service during World War II. They were members of the Women Air Force Service Pilots created in 1942 to fill all types of flying jobs at home which freed male pilots to go to the warfront. Fewer than 300 of them are still alive.
And when we come back -- where is he? There he is with that flag blowing behind him. It is time for "The Ed Henry Segment" with our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. We're going to talk to him after right after this break, but as you can see at the bottom of the screen, @alivelshi, that's where you need to follow on Twitter to get all the important news. We'll come and talk to end in a minute.
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VELSHI: There he is, Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent, at the White House for the daily segment we call "The Ed Henry Segment" making him probably about the only guy on the network who has his name on A segment.
And we are not sore about that, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, who is sore, I think, is Christine Romans. Apparently, you know, she was mad at me, because I did not respond quick enough on Twitter quick enough, but a little while ago, she as saying, what is the deal with Ed Henry having a segment named after him, all I get are dollar signs.
VELSHI: But she gets five dollar signs.
HENRY: She gets five dollars signs, it's because she is money, obviously.
VELSHI: She's money. That's exactly right. So there you go, Christine, you got money, and Ed has news on health care. HENRY: Well, it is interesting, you know, there is this conference going on across town at the Ritz-Carlton hotel where the health insurance industry has been meeting for a couple of days. There have been a lot of pro-reform protesters outside kind of making some noise and saying they are frustrated with the insurance industry.
And a kind of behind the scenes story here at the White House is that a lot of White House aides have been saying that they're kind of scratching their heads as to why the insurance industry not only having this big conference at the over at the Ritz-Carlton right now in the middle of this debate, that maybe they should keep a lower profile. But more importantly, that we have seen the high-profile premium increases -- Anthem Blue Cross out in California wanting to raise premium rates 39 percent -- something that gave the president a lot of ammunition. Then, this Goldman Sachs report where this insurance broker was telling investors a few days back that, look, you know, the insurance industry is healthy. Even if some people lose their coverage and we don't get the coverage from them, we are raising rates so high, premiums so high that the profits are coming in underneath the door.
And so people here at the White House are confused as to why the insurance agency seems to be sort of walking into it. It would seem to me that right now they wouldn't want to be raising premiums and sort of bringing more attention upon themselves. And that's why we saw today, Kathleen Sebelius, the Health Secretary, go to that conference, sort of go into that lion's den and kind of take them on and say work with us on reform. And the president, as you know, is going to be in St. Louis in a short time also, I think, hitting the insurance industry up as well.
VELSHI: And he's going to be talking about waste and fraud, he's sort of hitting on a few fronts.
By the way, it has occurred to me now, and I did not think about this ahead of the time, but I kind of remember five or six years ago you were doing a story at a Ritz-Carlton and you were in a bathrobe eating strawberries, was that the same hotel?
HENRY: Yes, it was the same Ritz-Carlton, it's on 21st Street here in downtown D.C., and it was for, we should say, the context was for some sort of inaugural package. I think it was 2004, 2005 for the Bush second inaugural. They had a big $100,000 suite, you could get --
VELSHI: Well, one doesn't really need context, all I needed was the video of you in a bathrobe on a fancy hotel bed with strawberries.
HENRY: You know what is funny about though --
VELSHI: I don't think you have to go any further. I mean, when you say, what's funny about that -- you on a bed in the Ritz-Carlton in a bathrobe eating strawberries.
HENRY: Anyway, what's funny is -- let me segue here in the awkward transition because I don't want to talk about me in a bathrobe at the Ritz -- was that democrats in fact, Dan Fifer, the communications director here at the White House blog last night had a posting about how the insurance industry is there at this glitzy hotel and some of the protestors outside have been making industry being at the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
And I should point out, as I did yesterday on Twitter, two very prominent democrats, Frank Lautenberg and also Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, live at the Ritz-Carlton in condos at the Ritz- Carlton here in D.C. So, for democrats to kind of be throwing bricks at the insurance industry for hanging out at the Ritz-Carlton, I think it's kind of a bipartisan thing.
And as you mentioned, even I have been at the Ritz-Carlton, so I should disclose that as well I guess.
VELSHI: I am still --
HENRY: You know you are stuck with the bathrobe. Yesterday it was the gym showers.
(CROSSTALK)
HENRY: Maybe Christine Romans is right about me getting my own segment here.
VELSHI: Let's talk about the president meeting with the president of Haiti today.
HENRY: Yes, this a funny little anecdote is that I was going out to get some lunch, I was coming in and I got held back from the Secret Service, because President Preval from Haiti had been in the Rose Garden with President Obama and his motorcade was going to be coming out here by the North Lawn and going across Pennsylvania Avenue to Blair House where he was staying. I got held back and all of a sudden I saw Robert Gibbs coming out of the gate, he was going to get some lunch. And he was sort of walking with his Blackberry, trying to cross Pennsylvania Avenue, and the Secret Service was saying, no, no, hold back. They even tell Robert Gibbs that he's got to hold.
He was very polite about it, but I overheard a tourist saying, wait a second, is that Robert Gibbs having to wait. That's just wrong. It is funny that even the powerful guys have to listen to Secret Service, have to wait for the motorcades. And President Preval wanted to cross the street, Robert Gibbs had to wait a couple seconds. He and I sort of laughed about it and life went on.
VELSHI: Very good, Ed. Good to see you. "The Ed Henry Segment" here every day on CNN. Always a pleasure, my friend.
Ed Henry at the White House.
When we come back, the Stimulus Desk is hard at work. There is Josh Levs standing by. He's going to tell us about states that are scrambling for stimulus education money. They are making drastic decisions to get it. We've been talking about that all week. Well, for some states, it is appears to be paying off. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. I am here at the Stimulus Desk with Josh Levs. You guys are focusing on education, we have been focusing on education, because all around the country we have seen what appear to be very drastic cuts to school systems, to teachers, to ways of doing business. Some of this is connected to stimulus money.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. In fact, the stimulus today and the desire for these dollars is a big part of the reason that you are seeing schools take some pretty amazing steps, some drastic steps like we saw in Rhode Island. There's another school district today that's talking about canceling schools, basically getting rid of half of the schools in the district.
And it has to do with this, let's show everyone this quote. This is from the Education Department, this is how big it is. They have a thing called Race to the Top, and they are saying that the $4.35 billion effort will "dramatically re-shape America's educational system." That is how big this is. They are talking about using this money to actually reshape the schools in the country.
All of the states want this money, they are all going for it. Forty states started going for it, we have a map here of the ones that are still in the running. It is down to 15 states and Washington, D.C., and in order to get some of the billions, Ali, what they need to do is to come forward and show they've already taken big steps to bring about reform.
So guess who is still in the running? Rhode Island, they are one example right there. So, these schools have financial incentive now to take major steps and then say to the government, look at what we have done, give us some of that cash.
VELSHI: Is there some way to get graded on what their steps are that they're taking? I mean, in this one school district in Rhode Island they shut an entire school and fired all of the staff. Does that count?
LEVS: Well, what we're going to be seeing is they then go and use this to argue for the money. We're going to see if that gets rewarded. It's quite possible, because so few states are available. Only 15 states are in the running, Rhode Island is one of them.
So what does that tell you? It tells you that some of these major steps just might be a key to getting some of those billions of dollars, but ultimately what it will take we will have to wait and see. That's probably why we are seeing more and more schools take big steps.
VELSHI: Obviously, one of the things you're doing here is connecting the stimulus money to jobs. And how many jobs does the $4.3 billion deal with?
LEVS: Unfortunately, we have no idea because they haven't spent it yet. We assume, once the money gets doled out, it will be used to save some jobs out there.
The Education Department, by the way, has gotten $100 billion total and doing a ton of stuff out of the stimulus and they say 300,000 jobs already. But out of this pile that everybody wants, we just don't know yet.
VELSHI: Do you have any money on you?
LEVS: What do you mean?
VELSHI: Where do you keep your money? In the wallet? In your pocket?
LEVS: I'm scared.
VELSHI: I am not a big carrying money guy, I never really have more than I need. I keep a few loose bucks here and there, so I go to the ATM a lot.
LEVS: How many 20s is that?
VELSHI: It's three 20s and 33 singles or something like that.
So, you know, if you go to the ATM and you go to get more money -- and I do have more money than you -- and you don't have enough money in the bank account, you can get actually still the money and then you get slammed with overdraft charges. I will have a lot to say about this when we come back.
Stay with me.
LEVS: Wow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for "The X-Y-Z of It," and it centers on the ATM or really anywhere you might whip out a debit card and spend money from your bank account.
It won't shock you to learn that that whole lot of people accidentally or otherwise spend money that they don't have in their bank accounts. And typically, banks let them do it, then they slap them with an overdraft fee of about 30 bucks. Well, now comes word from country's largest bank, Bank of America, that it's going to ditch those overdraft fees on debit card purchases.
Well, things were going to change anyway, new Federal Reserve rules take effect this summer that will stop banks from automatically enrolling customers in overdraft protection. Those protections cost debit card users dearly and they generate massive profits for the bank. A report from research firm Moab Services says banks earn a record $38.5 billion in overdraft fees last year.
Bank of America said this, debit card purchases that push checking accounts into the red simply won't be processed. They will be declined unless you've set up a overdraft protection plan yourself. It won't be automatic. If you try to take out more money out of an ATM than you have, an alert will pop up warning you that you'll pay $35 for the privilege and you can chose to continue or stop. Customers who like overdraft privileges can still get them; those who don't, won't.
These fees, by the way, have been one of the most common gripes here at CNN. Why didn't the banks scrap them sooner? Late last year, they moved a little bit, but let's face it, it's easy for them and no one was forcing them to stop raking it in. Banks and profits, that's easy to understand. The other side of the equation is trickier, it's personal responsibility. Spending more money than you have has become the American way, but if you max out the checking account, not only will nobody stop you, somebody is going to make money off of it. If the real cost of free spending becomes clearer to more people, I suspect that everybody will profit.
I'm Ali Velshi, and Rick is next with "RICK'S LIST."
