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President Obama's Health Care Push; Red River Rising; St. Augustine: 'Most Vigorous Test'

Aired March 19, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: So, we will continue this hour right now. We're coming up to the top of the hour as we're looking at the President shake those hands.

Hello to you all once again. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in from a dear friend, Tony Harris, right now in the CNN Newsroom.

It is high noon and high pressure on Capitol Hill. The battle over health care comes to a showdown over the weekend. We're keeping count of the yeses and the nos and the all-important undeclareds right now.

Well, it's 11:00 a.m. in the Red River region, where residents armed with more than a million sandbags, ready to fight rising floodwaters.

Also, 10:00 a.m. in Acapulco, Mexico, where spring break hotspots now deserted in some ways. U.S. students staying away. Drug-related murders killed tourism.

Let's get this thing started here at noon, folks.

The clock is ticking toward the showdown vote on health care reform. The number you've been hearing, that's it. You're going to hear it a lot more. That the is the magic number.

They need 216 to pass the health care bill. That's the number of votes they will need to pass it or actually kill it. Whoever gets to 216 first, that side's going to win.

Right now there are 206 "no" votes, 178 Republicans, 28 Democrats. The focus is on about 30-plus undeclared lawmakers.

President Obama keeping up the pressure on those fence-sitters while making his closing arguments to the public. You just saw that speech wrap up a moment ago at George Mason University.

There's still a live picture of the president making his way out of that crowd of -- no, excuse me. This is not the live picture. This was him just coming in a little while ago.

But you heard his speech here live a moment ago. Let's go ahead and take a quick listen at the president, what he said at the time. And what he said is that the time for debate is over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a debate that's not only about the cost of health care, not just about what we're doing about folks who aren't getting a fair shake from their insurance companies. It's a debate about the character of our country, about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time, whether we still have the guts and the courage to give every citizen, not just some, the chance to reach their dream.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Let's turn to our Jill Dougherty, who is at the White House right now.

Jill, hello. Always good to see you.

And my goodness, this looked and sounded familiar today. This certainly looked like candidate Obama back in the day, standing in front of a bunch of energetic young people, appealing to them to go out and campaign for him, but this time campaign for his health care push.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, T.J.

And you know, the White House says this is likely the last speech, big speech that you're going to hear from the president on this subject. And certainly the time is ticking.

Sunday will be that showdown, and the vote. And it's very important right now that the president get out and rally people.

And you know T.J., I was watching the script as written. And then, as he spoke, I was making notes on the side of what he added.

One thing that he said right off the top that was very interesting, patients' bill of rights on steroids, is what he is calling this bill. And he also made the point over and over again that this is historic, he would argue, an historic vote. And certainly even for people who don't support it, it's historic.

This is a big deal, and certainly a big challenge. Can the president deliver on what he was -- those promises that he was making back when he was on the campaign trail?

He shot down and, in fact, mocked almost every objection to this bill, and then said that everything has been put on the table, now is the time to vote. He also pointed out that, according to the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, it is paid for and will reduce the deficit. And that's one thing that certainly has put some wind in the sails of the president, that they believe that that could be convincing, at least to some people who are sitting on the fence right now.

And finally, one thing that you have to wonder about, he said, "I don't know how this is going to play politically." Perhaps he doesn't. If it passes, nobody really knows. This is a big deal, a big change, or will be if it passes. And the president saying we still have to go full steam ahead -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes. Nobody really knows, but some of those folks on Capitol Hill certainly have an idea, because they are a little nervous about casting this vote. Many of them feel, literally, their jobs in Congress are on the line and they could actually lose their jobs over this vote.

Jill, we appreciate you. I know we'll be talking to you again plenty.

And just speaking of Capitol Hill, we're going to go there for the latest on this final push of health care reform in just a bit. Our congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar, is going to join us live just ahead.

(NEWSBREAK)

HOLMES: I want to head back to our top story now, of course, health care reform. The push towards Sunday's showdown vote on health care reform, and both sides scrambling to get the votes to either pass or kill that legislation.

Our congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar, joins us now from Capitol Hill with the latest.

Brianna, I was talking to Dana Bash, your partner up there, a little while ago. And she says that some of the congressmen and women are literally running from her right now. Nobody wants to answer a question, nobody wants to go on record just yet.

So what do we know about the vote count?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Because this is that time, T.J., where Democratic leaders are trying to pin down some of their undeclared Democrats saying, look, you have had a day now almost to read this 153-page change bill. Are you in or are you out?

And that's really what we've been seeing a lot today, is some of these undeclared members saying where they're going. And we've been hearing yeses. And that is why Democratic leaders say they're really happy.

We heard Jim Clyburn, the number three Democrat, the whip. He's in charge of counting these votes. He said they have the big mo, they have the momentum. So they're feeling really good today when you consider that as a temperature check.

And one big example has to do with Congressman John Boccieri. He is from Ohio.

This is someone who was actually -- he voted no in November when the House passed its health care bill. And so he's gone from undeclared on this new vote to yes. Democrats consider that a big victory.

Listen to the tone of what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just said in her press conference. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm very excited about the momentum that is developing around the bill. Some of you were present earlier in the week when we started with little children, babies as young as 6 weeks old, to talk about what it means to them. Moving on to young people a couple days ago, to seniors, to women, to small businesses, this is very important legislation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And that's actually really interesting, T.J., how she summed that up. This is the push. This is the week, the push to the vote. And what we've been seeing every day is a new press conference with Democratic leaders.

One day, literally, they have the crying babies who they say are going to benefit. Then they've got the seniors. And every day they're trying to highlight someone who they say is going to benefit from this package.

At the same time, you have Republicans pushing back on their message. But even though Democrats say, T.J., they have the momentum, this thing is not in the bag.

I mean, let's just break this down in terms of numbers.

CNN is meticulously trying to count the yeas and nays here, and we're paying particular attention to Democrats who are saying no. It only requires 38 Democrats to say no when, presumably, this bill would be dead.

Assuming that no Republicans hop on board, as we're not expecting them to, currently there are 28 Democrats who are on the record saying, no, I am not voting for this. Ten votes. I mean, this is going to be a squeaker, assuming that this passes -- T.J.

HOLMES: OK. And we're talking about a 10-vote difference maybe. And we still have about 30 Democrats running around out there that we're not sure how they're going to vote yet.

KEILAR: Exactly. I believe -- you know, I'm not exactly sure what the count is. Earlier today it was 33. It's between 30 and there at this point.

HOLMES: It keeps changing.

KEILAR: Yes. And so what you have is Speaker Pelosi -- I was just talking with a spokesman for her office. She is talking to members today.

This is where she's having meetings, some in groups, some individual meetings, with members who are a part of that pack of undeclared -- you know, some of them may have a sense of what they're going to do, T.J., but they're just not saying it. And she's trying to pin them down on it. I mean, for some of these vulnerable Democrats who are maybe moderate Democrats or in Republican-leaning districts, this is a really tough vote for them. And that's a mighty uncomfortable conversation for them to have with the Speaker.

HOLMES: Oh my goodness. Would you love to be in the room when she calls you in and says --

KEILAR: Oh, I would love it.

HOLMES: -- what you going to do?

All right. Before we let you go, we did hear -- of course we heard the president there at George Mason. But we also heard from the minority leader, John Boehner.

Let's take a quick listen and I'll ask you a question on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: The American people are going to hear about every payoff, every kickback and every sweetheart deal that comes out. And if Democrats really do use the slaughter (ph) solution to pass this bill without voting on it, that vote, in and of itself, will be just as controversial as the bill.

Now, listen, I know the president's doing a hard sell on this bill, telling Democrat members that his presidency is on the line. But this vote isn't about saving a presidency or saving a politician. This is about doing the right thing for the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: OK.

And Brianna, we heard for so long -- we have been hearing, at least from Republicans, from Mr. Boehner there, that they're trying to kill the bill. But you're starting to hear, since the CBO numbers, may be a drumbeat of, OK, maybe they're going to get this thing. Now they're going to have to deal with us in November.

Is that the new strategy going into the vote now? Have they kind of conceded they're not going to be able to stop it?

KEILAR: I wouldn't say they've conceded, but, look, they are monolithically opposed to this. And even in that way, they just don't have the votes to stop this if Democrats can "get their act together."

So, I mean, I think there's an awareness of that, certainly. And it becomes then a fight for the message. And it does become a fight for November. It becomes an election issue.

HOLMES: All right. Again, John Boehner there. We're going to hear a lot from all these big players probably in the next couple of days and through the weekend. Brianna Keilar, thank you, as always. Good to see you.

We're talking about here how much this thing is expected to cost as well. Where exactly is the money going to come from to pay for health care reform?

Well, the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, puts the estimate at $940 billion over 10 years. Now, that sounds like a whole lot of money, but Democrats were happy to hear it, just that it came below that magical number of $1 trillion.

Now, a lot of that $940 billion, it's going to come from an increase of Medicare tax on high-income households. Also for the first time, the tax could be applied to investment income as well as wages. Also, money would come from a tax on high-cost medical plans, but that would be delayed until 2018. Another source, penalties for those who don't get insurance coverage.

We'll step away from the health care coverage for just a moment. Going to be talking about the hundreds of thousands of sandbags -- yes, are they going to hold back the floodwaters along the Red River? The latest on the flooding threat straight ahead.

And first, though, our "Random Moment" coming your way in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. You've heard the saying. They say that politics at least makes for strange bedfellows.

Well, break-ins apparently make for strange bedfellows as well. And that is our "Random Moment of the Day."

Check this out. A man in Mount Washington, Pennsylvania, said he was sleeping when he felt someone get in bed with him. He made the natural assumption, maybe it's his girlfriend.

He felt the hands on him. He thought the night was going to go well. But then when he said, honey, is that you? The response was, no, that ain't me.

It was an intruder who is accused of breaking down a couple of doors to the house.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK FONTANA, BURGLARY VICTIM: I wish I had a gun because, you know, this is Mount Washington, and I don't pay for people to wake up in my bed. I was sleeping. I was sleeping right there. And as I felt his hand on my leg --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yes, "His hand on my leg." You heard that right. He held the intruder at bay with -- as you see there, he's holding a baseball bat, until the authorities arrived and arrested that man.

And that is our "Random Moment of the Day." Sleep tight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. I'm over here in the Severe Weather Center for now, hanging out with Chad Myers. He's right over there. He is going to be keeping an eye -- he is keeping an eye on the flood conditions, actually. We're going to get to him with the latest on the forecast in just a second.

But almost 750,000 sandbags in place along the Red River right now. Is that going to be enough to hold the floodwaters back? For folks in Fargo, North Dakota, Moorhead, Minnesota, a previous nervous wait right now.

Let's go to our all-platform journalist, Chris Welch, who is live now in Moorhead.

And it seems like it would be such a nervous wait, but sometimes we forget they are so used to doing this.

CHRIS WELCH, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: You're right. For most people around the country, a flood where, you know, 20 feet above flood stage hits your town, that's a pretty big deal.

Well, here, they had three feet more than that last year. And 41 feet was the crest. That was a big deal for them, and they fought it and they won it.

This year, they're expecting a crest of 38 feet. And so, for them, you know, they think they can handle that.

So, from here on out, they're just kind of waiting. Sunday is the big day. That's the day when we'll wait and see if it will hit that point.

As you can see behind me, the water's already rising. I mean, this water is high. We are at a low point in the city, but, still, I think the last time I checked the water was at 35 feet. That's, what, 17 feet above flood stage?

Now, I had some time to hang out a little further south of this city. There are some people down there who live in a neighborhood where water has been rising so much, that the houses on the hills have basically turned into islands.

So these people who live on hills now have to park their cars blocks away in fields and then get in a boat and paddle home, sometimes a mile away. And they're kind of worried that if this river does get to 38 feet or higher, they could be in for some real danger.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WELCH (voice-over): For 20-year-old Blaine Johnson, this is the way home.

BLAINE JOHNSON, RESIDENT: The road is actually directly under us.

WELCH: Even though the crest forecast for this year isn't what it was for '09, the water is still getting higher and higher and it's happening fast.

JOHNSON: There's our windmill.

WELCH (on camera): I'm about 15 miles south of Fargo in the rural town of Hickson, which is also along the rising Red River as you can see. But here what a lot of residents have had to do is actually park their cars blocks away from their homes and they then walk to the edge of the river where they have their boats parked. They have to hop in boats and paddle home because it's the only way they can get there.

JOHNSON: It's probably five feet deep here maybe.

WELCH (voice-over): Johnson let me tag along for one of their trips home. It's a journey they're starting to get used to.

(on camera): So you're really are on an island.

JOHNSON: Yes. We've been on an island four times, I think already. I've lived here 10 years, so that's every other year average that we have to go through this.

WELCH: But you still find it worthwhile to live here.

JOHNSON: You know, I like it here. It's nice and quiet. You know, we're away from the city. You know, once you get set in a home, and you've lived there for so long it's really hard to leave.

WELCH (voice-over): Last year, Johnson said they only had a couple of inches of water in their basement. But not everyone in the neighborhood was that lucky.

JOHNSON: Oh, oh.

WELCH: He's the first to admit every flood brings with it a healthy dose of stress and fear, but he has no problem keeping a positive outlook.

JOHNSON: Not everybody can fish out of their window in the morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WELCH: And Johnson thinks they're going to have to boat back and forth to their home for at least a week, maybe two -- T.J.

HOLMES: Oh my goodness.

All right. Chris Welch, we appreciate you. Thank you so much.

(WEATHER REPORT) HOLMES: We're going to have some of our top stories now. That showdown with health care, that is going to be a top story for quite some time.

Thirty-four House members still have not declared how they're going to vote. The president's expected to reach out to some of them today, and he's going to keep on campaigning. Two hundred and sixteen votes needed to pass it. The action is expected on Sunday.

The police chief of Hemet, California, says somebody is trying to kill members of his anti-gang taskforce. A $200,000 reward is being offered for the arrest of whoever is responsible. The chief says there has been three attempts since New Year's Eve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: I'm going to share with you some video that is now difficult to watch. Let's go ahead and look at this.

This is surveillance video out of north Chicago. You see people running across here trying to make -- this is video from an actual train. But the last grouping there, that's a mother carrying her 1- year-old child. And they don't make it in time.

You can see people are darting trying to beat this train. And it doesn't happen. Again, the woman and 1-year-old she was carrying were hit and killed. Now, the engineers there at this Metro train say people do this all the time, they dart in front of the trains, trying to beat it across.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MCGUIRE, METRO ENGINEER: You learn to read people's body language. You know when they're going to make a run for it. They put their head down. They maybe take a look up and they get ready to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Officials say they hope releasing the video actually will discourage people from trying to do that, trying to run out in front of that moving train.

Well, St. Augustine, Florida, 1964, a spring and summer of marching, threats and arrests. Well, former civil rights leader Andrew Young was there. And today, in our "What Matters" segment, he tells our Fredricka Whitfield why St. Augustine was the most vigorous test non- violent resistance had.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: When people think about the civil rights movement and all the poignant moments, marches, fights, they think Montgomery, Birmingham, Selma. They don't think of St. Augustine.

Why do you want people to know more about St. Augustine? ANDREW YOUNG, FMR. CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: Because I think St. Augustine -- well, people see Birmingham and they don't see Birmingham. They see the dogs and the fire hoses. That was just the tip of the iceberg.

In Birmingham, black people did not buy anything but food or medicine for 90 days. And it was that cohesiveness of that community that changed.

St. Augustine, you get a chance to see the people and you get a chance to see the suffering. Six teenagers decided that they were going to picket Woolworth. They got arrested, and the judge gave them a year in prison unless they signed away their First Amendment right to protest.

WHITFIELD: And they wouldn't do it, at least --

YOUNG: Four of the six would not do it.

WHITFIELD: Some of the parents did it.

YOUNG: That was an exorbitant price to pay.

They were not treated as juveniles either. They were treated as adults. And the girls went to -- girls and boys alike both ended up in adult prisons, though they were still 16 years old. And the community was enraged.

WHITFIELD: And that's what this core of young people decided to take on.

YOUNG: We went to help them get out of trouble. With the civil rights bill pending, and with Klansmen being mobilized from all across north Florida and the Florida Panhandle, it was really too much for this small black community, very vulnerable, to take by themselves. If there had been violence from the black community, or if the Klan could have provoked us to violence, then we might never have had a civil rights bill.

Now, my first instruction was to go down and stop it, tell them just to wait a minute. Dr. King was afraid that if it exploded into violence, it would kill the civil rights bill.

WHITFIELD: In St. Augustine there was violence and you were a target.

YOUNG: It happened to be a first for me. But, you know, it was my turn. I think we gave Lyndon Johnson a whole lot of help.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

LYNDON JOHNSON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our whole foreign policy and everything else will go to hell over this. Yesterday, in a swimming pool, in St. Augustine, they jumped in, and the police jumped in with their clothes on, and they started pouring acid in the pool.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

YOUNG: In thinking over it, I realized that there's nothing else we could have done. If we had fought back, we would have been beaten down and we would have lost the movement.

It was probably the most rigorous test that non-violence had. And we passed it. If we had not passed it, we could have lost the Civil Rights Act.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And to read more stories that matter to all of us, you can pick up the latest of "Essence" magazine on newsstands now, or you can go online to CNN.com/whatmatters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And to read more stories that matter to all of us, you can pick up the latest issue of "Essence" magazine on newsstands now or you can go online to cnn.com/whatmatters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, in about, what, an hour and a half, 9/11 first responders get a chance to weigh in with a settlement reached with New York City. They filed suit after falling ill. The deal is worth up to $657 million. We'll get more now from CNN's Mary Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): On September 11th, former New York City Police Officer Frank Maisano was among the first responders rushing to the scene. He stayed at Ground Zero for a week and then worked at the Freshkils (ph) Landfill where debris was taken.

FRANK MAISANO, 9/11 LAWSUIT PLAINTIFF: I felt that the dust -- I had an intermittent cough, you know, but that all came to a head when I chased a suspect later on.

SNOW: In January of 2004, he collapsed. Maisano had to leave the police department and now may face a lung transplant. He blames the toxic air he inhaled at Ground Zero and fault the city for a lack of protective gear.

MAISANO: We didn't have no protective gear. We just went down there to work, to retrieve body parts. That's what we did.

SNOW: Maisano was among 10,000 plaintiffs who sued and is happy lawyers reached a settlement with the city. We asked New York City's chief attorney, Michael Cardozo, about the workers who say the city didn't do enough to provide protective gear.

MICHAEL CARDOZO, CORPORATION COUNSEL, CITY OF NEW YORK: The city's response and the contractor's response is, we did a heroic effort in responding and supplying respirators and that kind of issue. And each plaintiff, depending where that plaintiff worked, would have to prove the contrary.

SNOW: The settlement ranges between $575 million and $657 million, depending on how many of the plaintiffs accept it. Ninety-five percent must agree to it or there's no deal and they have 90 days to decide. Plaintiffs would receive between a few thousand dollars and more than a million depending on the severity of their illness. And Maisano, a father of three, is expected to be at the high end of the range.

MAISANO: Hopefully with this money, I'm able to put it aside for my kid's future, secure my family's future. That's most important to me right now.

SNOW: Former New York City Police Officer Glen Klein has reservations.

SNOW (on camera): What do you think of this settlement?

GLEN KLEIN, 9/11 LAWSUIT PLAINTIFF: It's not for me. I'm not happy with it.

SNOW: Why?

KLEIN: It may be for other people. Well, I'll put it to you like this. Once you take the settlement, you're done. That's all you have. If you get sick down the road with a more serious illness, and you settle for, let's say, $40,000, $50,000, what's that going to do for you four or five years from now. It's going to be gone.

SNOW (voice-over): Klein takes medications for a series of ailments, from gastrointestinal problems, to post traumatic stress disorder after working for months at Ground Zero. He wants to see long-term health care benefits included and says a policy to provide up to $100,000 if you develops certain kinds of cancer isn't enough.

KLEIN: $100,000 when you have cancer is nothing.

SNOW (on camera): The city says workers won't lose any health benefits they currently have. Now one other factor being considered, the fees for the attorneys, since they are part of the settlement. It could be as high as 30 percent based on convention. The judge in the case stressed last week that he wants to make sure those fees are fair and reasonable.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: So what is everybody talking about out there on the World Wide Web? Well, Lady Gaga for one. But it's not what you think. Not about that video that's so controversial right now. It's actually because she's getting sued for a lot of money by her ex-boyfriend. We're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on. A House vote on health care reform expected on Sunday. President Obama delayed his trip to Asia to help Democrats muster the votes they need to pass it. It would extend insurance coverage to an additional 32 million Americans.

Also, Pope Benedict's former diocese in Munich says it's been hit with a, quote, "tsunami" of abuse claims. The head of its new sex abuse task force says there are about 120 cases of physical and sexual abuse, most from a nearby boarding school run by Benedictine monks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, I need to issue an apology right now to Ines Ferre, who is in New York.

I've tried twice to get to you, Ines, but the president and health care --

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's OK.

HOLMES: That pesky thing kept coming up.

FERRE: It's OK, T.J. You never have to apologize to me. But, thank you.

HOLMES: Well, you're talking to us about what's hot out there. And I like this story. I like what you have today.

FERRE: OK. Well, let's start with this. A lot of people are talking about a computer virus being used to steal personal information from FaceBook users. It comes in an e-mail titled "FaceBook password reset confirmation." A security firm says opening an attachment unleashes software that could steal passwords to things like your bank account, T.J. Now, the suggestion is, of course, if you see this e-mail, delete it immediately.

HOLMES: Wait, where are they coming from? From the FaceBook system? The internal system?

FERRE: No, well, they're actually coming from people's e-mail -- real e-mail addresses. So you have to be really careful with that.

HOLMES: All right. Well, that's a good warning.

Also, Lady Gaga. I mean, you can fill in the controversy usually after saying her name.

FERRE: Yes.

HOLMES: But what's this one about? This is a little different from the video we've been talking about.

FERRE: Exactly. It's a little bit different now. Lady Gaga is being sued by a producer and ex-boyfriend, Rob Fusari. He co-wrote her hit "Paparazzi." He's suing her for $35 million. His lawsuit claims that the Grammy winner stopped paying him royalties when she became famous after their romance ended. And her publicist had no comment on this last night.

HOLMES: Well, isn't that how it's supposed to go with the jilted lover? We break up, I'm not going to pay you anymore. Is he claiming anything else necessarily?

FERRE: Yes, well he says that he came up with the name Lady Gaga, actually.

HOLMES: Oh course he is.

FERRE: Her real name is Stefani Germanotta. Right. So he said, I came up with that name. He also says that he got her to switch from rock rifts to dance beats and made her music more commercial, T.J.

HOLMES: OK. So essentially he says he created this woman. Let me -- let's see how far that one goes.

FERRE: Exactly.

HOLMES: All right, what else is hot today?

FERRE: OK. Public schools trying to find money wherever they can. Some school districts in Washington state are selling advertising on the sides of school buses. School districts call it practically free money and advertisers like the captive audience. And about half a dozen states already allow bus advertising and three more are thinking about it, T.J. So it's becoming, you know, really popular, this school advertising on buses.

HOLMES: You know, it's unfortunate it's come to that, but sometimes they've got to do what they've got to do.

Ines Ferre, again, sorry about earlier, but, thank you. Good to finally see you.

FERRE: Great to see you.

HOLMES: All right. Now on to some of your money questions. CNN's "Help Desk" committed to answering your e-mails. And here now are Stephanie Elam in New York answering your questions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Doug Flynn, a certified financial planner and founder of Flynn Zito Capital Management, and Donna Risotto, she's a senior writer at "Money."

All right, thanks so much for being here.

Our first question is from Phyllis. She writes, "I've heard that credit card companies can charge a fee if you don't use your credit card. Also, that if you cancel a credit card, it will affect your credit score. I have several cards that I don't use. What do you suggest I do?" What do you think, Doug?

DOUG FLYNN, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: Well, it's true. If the card you're talking about are some of the oldest cards you own with some very high credit limits, it will affect your score. If they're newer cards and lower credit limits, not so much.

But what I would do is I would first look to replace some of those credit lines with another credit line and a card that's good, and then you can retire, if they're newer, and not have that much of an adverse impact.

The other thing you can do is, if you can't get around it, simply use that card at least the minimum amount to avoid those recurring fees. And that will actually boost your credit score instead of lowering it the other way.

ELAM: And just pay it off right away.

All right, our next question comes from Jack. "Can I claim my 28- year-old as a dependent. He did not work all year, and he lived in my house."

I'm sure he's not alone, Donna.

DONNA ROSATO, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Right. This is a pretty common problem. Either your kid never left home or they moved back home because they didn't have a job. You know, for most parents, you can claim a child as a dependent if they're under 19 or under 24 and in college. But you can claim a relative who lives with you if -- no matter what age they are if they earn less than $3,200 a year in gross income and if you are covering more than half of their support. And that sounds like the case here. So that child -- that 28-year-old will count as a tax deduction.

ELAM: So I guess that's good news for them.

ROSATO: Yes.

ELAM: All right. Thanks so much for being here.

"The Help Desk" is all about getting you answers. Send us a e-mail to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com. We might just have the answer to your question right here next week.

You can also pick up the latest issue of "Money" magazine. It's on newsstands now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, today in "Building up America," a major success story in the south. A man who made some big bets with a state pension fund builds a mini empire and CNN's Tom Foreman tells us about it from Alabama.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., I am here in Birmingham. The biggest city in Alabama. But to golfers, it is most known as another stop on the Alabama golf trail. A unique vision put together by a man here who thought, if he built it, they would come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): Back in the late '80s, when the pension fund for Alabama's state employees was small and struggling, the head of the retirement systems teed up an idea about golf. And this is where he works today, in one of the most stunning state office buildings you'll ever see where David Bronner sitting on an empire of pension money.

DAVID BRONNER, RETIREMENT SYSTEMS OF ALABAMA: Well, you've got to keep in mind that if you're near the bottom, you're not going to get out of the bottom unless you do something different. Or as I tell the people of Alabama, you have to take risks.

FOREMAN: Here's how it happened. Frustrated by tourists just passing through on the way to Florida, Bronner commissioned famed golf course architect Robert Trent Jones to design more than 20 courses all over Alabama to attract tourists and businesspeople.

BRONNER: And my theory there was, can I divert you, can I stop you, can I hold you over.

FOREMAN (on camera): And you knew if you could hold those people over, they would leave money in Alabama.

BRONNER: Absolutely. Big money.

FOREMAN (voice-over): It worked. Before the golf trail, annual tourism was under $2 billion. Now it is pushing 10 and Bronner has remade Montgomery's skyline. That new construction and all those buildings with green tops, all built with retirement systems cash.

BRONNER: And people think it was the color of money. It has nothing to do with that.

FOREMAN: He has invested Alabama's retirement funds in rural class hotels, spas, media, even a landmark office building in New York City.

BRONNER: And I guess what I was trying to do was to pick things that they could be proud of because they're wonderful people in Alabama. They're hardworking people.

FOREMAN (on camera): This doesn't look like any government building that I've seen pretty much anywhere in a while.

BRONNER: Uh-huh.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And the pension fund success has helped draw more businesses and investors willing to consider Alabama as a home.

BRONNER: What we have tried to do is have something that would take the potential of a state, instead of talking about potential, turn it into a reality.

FOREMAN: And that has really put Alabama on the map.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, it's spring break time for a lot of college students. You know what that means, often you're try to find a beach somewhere. But they're not going south of the border in large numbers this year. Of course you've heard about those drug murders in Mexico. That's not so good for spring break tourism. Our Ted Rowlands reports for us from Tijuana.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take a look at what you see. You see shops are open. There's plenty of merchandise, but there's nobody here buying it. There are literally no tourists on this avenue. And normally it would be full of people, especially this week because it's the beginning of spring break. But because of all of the drug violence in Mexico, and specifically here in Tijuana, people are petrified and they're staying away.

JUAN RAMON ROCHA, TIJUANA STREET VENDOR: Business, as you can see by yourself, it went down about 95 percent.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Images like this school murder scene of three students killed earlier this year have been shown around the world as part of the ongoing story of Mexico's drug cartel violence, which, in Tijuana, over the past two years includes decapitations, police officer slayings and 1,300 murders.

ROWLANDS (on camera): There are problems in Tijuana.

RAY SILVA, TIJUANA STREET MERCHANT: There are problems. We cannot deny that. This is a big city. We're over perhaps 2 million people. But the problems with certain people in certain areas.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Driving south along scenic Highway 1, which connects the beach cities along Mexico's Pacific Coast, we don't see any U.S. license plates. About an hour and a half later, we arrive in Ensenada. More than 200 students from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, are spending their spring break here building homes for the poor. Westmont students have been coming to Ensenada for 33 years. Some schools have canceled spring break trips to Ensenada. Westmont decided it was safe enough to send their students.

HANNA WALKER, WESTMONT COLLEGE STUDENT: I think I was a tiny bit nervous crossing the border. I have been here before but not for service projects. I was a little bit nervous but now that I've been here for a few days, I'm perfectly comfortable.

FOREMAN: The school is taking precautions. No stops in Tijuana this year. And students stick together.

WALKER: Staying in a group. Making sure I'm with someone all the time. You know, a buddy system. When we were downtown last night for dinner, we just paired up and walked around in twos and locked the car. I mean, you know, just being smart about it.

FOREMAN: While Ensenada and other vacation cities in Mexico are still considered safe, the fear of border drug violence is enough to keep people away. Even some cruise passengers are hesitant to go ashore in Ensenada.

ROBERT BARR, TOURIST: Well, I didn't see why not. My children, though, ironically, watching the news, were a little bit concerned. And

FOREMAN (on camera): What do you guys think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.

FOREMAN: Not to scary, is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little. But mostly not, no.

FOREMAN (voice-over): At Papas and Beer (ph), which in years past would be filled with college students during spring break, business is down 40 percent.

CESAR MARQUEZ, MANAGER, PAPAS AND BEER: I guess they're afraid of driving by Tijuana. I guess what -- that's what's hurting Ensenada the most.

FOREMAN (on camera): Of course, things are much worse in place where there is a lot of silence, like here in Tijuana, where governments around the world are warning their citizens to be very careful if they come. But, of course, the net affect of that warning is that people are literally just staying away.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Tijuana, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, the CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali, somewhere over there.