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Kids Lowering Their Standards in How They Dress; The Pope's Problems; Moscow Subway Bombing

Aired March 29, 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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T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You've heard it a thousand times. You've seen it, as well. But you've heard it out there. Pull your pants up. In just about every city across the country, unfortunately, you see this. Young men walking around with their pants sagging, below the waist sometimes. But in some extreme cases like you're seeing there, it gets a little worse.

Now, in the latest attempt to get the pants off the ground, New York state senator Eric Adams has launched an ad campaign urging young people to, quote, "stop the sag."

Senator Adams joins me now from Albany, New York. Sir, thank you for being here. We have been talking about this as a problem in society for years. You have taken this step. Why was this necessary, besides a mentoring program or getting a message out walking down the street or just knocking the kid upside the head when you see his pants down? Why billboards?

ERIC ADAMS, STATE SENATOR, NEW YORK: Because it's a combination. And what's interesting -- my target group is not so much the young people. It's the adults.

Young people will always push the envelopes. All throughout history, young people will always challenge and see what's acceptable and unacceptable behavior. So, they're filling out their role of pushing the envelopes. Adults are not providing the guidance that we're supposed to provide.

What I'm asking adults to do, to use these billboards as a mirror, to see what's going on in our community. And the theme is, we're better than this. When we deal with some of those physical displays of showing our standards have dropped, then we can start dealing with some of those other displays such as crime, lack of quality education, and lack of how we interact with each other.

HOLMES: Now, on that point there, how does this start, I guess? Get us to a bigger goal. You talk about addressing some of those bigger issues, but, I mean, those big issues can be addressed and attacked. But you think, really, something just by simply pulling your pants up can get us -- that's a means to greater end?

ADAMS: Without a doubt. Without a doubt. Remember where this comes from. This was borne out of the prison population. So free people are duplicating the behavior of incarcerated people.

When you start to allow a child to degrade him or herself to the point that they're showing their underwear, it was first just the removal of a belt. Now it's actually having pants below the buttocks area.

So when you start to allow the standards to slip, then you open the door for all standards to slip. You open the door for degrading terminologies. I actually started --

HOLMES: OK. I'm sorry. I wanted to ask -- didn't want to run out of time here. A couple of things I wanted to get to.

But how pervasive of a problem -- we all see this, but how pervasive, how big a problem do you think that is? I certainly wouldn't say the majority of kids do it. Would you say a quarter of them, 10 percent of them? How many are you talking about are out there walking around like this?

ADAMS: I think that when you look closely, something that was borne just in Quentin prison in California's has now taken over the entire globe. I was in Guatemala two months ago. Children are doing it there.

So I think it's a major problem. And people may say, well, why focus on this problem? Because we can always recover from the economic downturn, but we can't recover from the demise of our young people and our children. This is a national problem of this lowering the standards of our young people, and it's shown in their dress.

HOLMES: Well, last thing I've got to have you address. A lot of people would say there are many other things you could be spending this money on besides billboards and getting kids to pull their pants up.

How do you address those folks?

ADAMS: And I say you're wrong. I say anyone who believes that, they're incorrect.

I think that when you make a deposit in the standards of your children and how you want your children to say that they're better than this, you all of a sudden start to build equity that you can use in the future. We must tell our children that if you can't navigate a belt loop on your pants, you would never be able to navigate corporate America and the entire corporate globe and be prepared for tomorrow.

HOLMES: All right. Again, state senator Eric Adams. The campaign, the billboards go up today.

Pull your pants up, folks.

Sir, we appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much. Good luck with the campaign.

ADAMS: Thank you.

HOLMES: All right.

Want to tell you what we have "On the Rundown" this hour now.

We've got a pope with a problem, a pretty serious problem that hits very close to home. During one of the most important time of the year for Catholics, Pope Benedict's flock praying for him, and his moral leadership being questioned.

Plus, are you ready for a road trip? The Tea Party is. The Tea Party Express heading for Tax Day and trekking to Washington. CNN Express is right behind it.

And are you late on your taxes? Hey, don't worry about it. Everybody is rushing to get the taxes filed by April 15th, but I'm going tell you why you can ignore the deadline. Yes, you heard me, ignore the deadline.

Of course, there's a catch. Stay tuned for that.

Also, the Roman Catholic Church beginning holiest time of the year, seeing some of the harshest criticism in a while. All of it because of a widening abuse scandal, a sex abuse scandal, with the man who they call pope also in the middle of it.

CNN's Diana Magnay following the latest developments for us from Rome.

Hello to you.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, T.J.

Well, the latest developments really are that over the weekend, and at the Palm Sunday mass, which, of course, is such a critical moment in the Catholic calendar, a lot of bishops from around the world gained a common voice, if you like, expressing their support for the pope and lashing out at what they call a barrage of criticism against him because of what you've just referred to, this inching of allegations that seemed to come ever closer towards the pope. And I'll just read you out a quote from the address of the archbishop of New York yesterday.

And he spoke of "... the unrelenting insinuations against the Holy Father, now suffering some of the same unjust accusations, shouts of the mob, and scourging at the pillar, as did Jesus." So some very harsh words, really, from the bishops of the world in support of the pope -- T.J.

HOLMES: And Diana, we're talking about the victims of these sex scandals, our young people, children in many of these instances. But what are young people now saying? The Catholic faithful, still, but the youngest of the faithful now saying about this whole scandal? MAGNAY: Well, we went to -- it was World Youth Day yesterday, the 25th World Youth Day. So, actually, at the Palm Sunday mass at the Vatican at St. Peter's Square, there were thousands of young people from all countries all around the world who had come to hear that mass. And, of course, you're not really going to hear from them a particularly critical comment on the pope, but here's a quick look at the kind of responses we got.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not easy to have to see the news reports, but, no, it doesn't shake my faith at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very painful. It's a painful part of unfortunately, humanity, which doesn't just penetrate the Catholic Church, it penetrates every part of society. It's very sad, and I'm very glad the Holy Father is dealing with it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The church is built of people, and people are sinners. And it's about forgiveness, and that's how I view it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MAGNAY: T.J., we spoke to young people from Venezuela, from Australia, from Latvia, from all the corners of the world. We didn't speak to a single person who hadn't heard about the abuse crisis. We did speak to quite a few who didn't want to talk to us about it -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Diana Magnay for us in Rome.

Thank you so much.

Well, the war is supposed to be over. But suspected Chechen rebels, two women, blow themselves up in Moscow's subway system. Dozens are killed. We take you there after the break.

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HOLMES: The morning rush hour in Moscow. Two female suicide bombers enter two separate subway stations and blow themselves up. At least 38 people killed, more than 60 wounded. And Russian officials think Chechen rebels are behind it.

Our Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance is with us from Moscow with the latest.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is incredible how a city like Moscow can pick itself up after such devastating attacks. The metro station behind me, Lubyanka, is open for business again, as is the other metro station that was attacked, Park Kultury.

And commuters are using it as if nothing happened. Nothing, though, can be further from the truth, because this morning it was chaos and there was bloodshed in both of those locations.

Suicide bombers believed by the authorities to be from the North Caucusas exploding their suicide belts almost simultaneously, just about half an hour apart, first here at Lubyanka, then at Park Kultury, killing 38 people in total. The authorities say there are still another 63 or so in hospital, some of them being treated for very grave injuries.

Now, I do want to be clear on this. There has been, at this point, no indication, no claim of responsibility from any group saying it carried out this attack, but the authorities have been very clear. They say they've identified the remains of the suicide bombers as female and from the North Caucusas region. And so that's the basis on which the investigators are now operating. Apparently, they're looking for any accomplices that may have helped these suicide bombers, these female suicide bombers, carry out these attacks.

In the meantime, a day of national mourning has been declared here in Russia for Tuesday. Flags will be flown at half-staff. The government officials will be wearing black ties. And it's been decreed that the television stations in the country won't show any entertainment programs. People being asked to remember the 38 people who were killed in these dual Moscow metro bomb attacks.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

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HOLMES: Now, the attacks in Moscow have triggered stepped-up security here at home. New York police increasing security measures on city subways and stations as a precaution. Similar steps being carried out in Washington, Amtrak, Atlanta's MARTA system and the metro system in L.A.

Also, there was a drill simulating a bus explosion that was conducted in the parking lot of D.C.'s RFK Stadium today. Officials say the timing just coincidental. And this is an important point here, as well. Officials at all these systems say they have not received any specific threats.

Coming up next, we are following a young soldier as he gets one step closer to the battlefield. It's an ongoing "Soldier's Story" you will not forget.

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HOLMES: Yes, he's young, but he is growing up quickly. He's a soldier, and he is one step closer to war.

For the past few months, CNN has been following an Army recruit from his days in high school to his path in the U.S. military. CNN's Jason Carroll shares the latest update in this "Soldier's Story."

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., I know you have been following along. What we want to do next is, we want to show you what happens to a private once the training wraps up. Where do they go?

Will McLain and the others are about to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go! Get down faster!

CARROLL (voice-over): Urban warfare training --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, what your shooting at?

CARROLL: -- one of a series of crucial exercises soldiers like Will McLain undergo at Ft. Lindenwold, Missouri, to become Army combat engineers. Learning how to secure buildings and hostile regions is key.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on son. Get in the fight.

CARROLL: Nearly 13 weeks into his training, Will is beginning to learn how to become a leader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brother is coming out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go!

CARROLL: But on this day, it's hard for all of them to stay on top of their game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get from behind this corner, son. You can't shoot around corners. You're not superman.

CARROLL: Why is this day a distraction?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One. Go, go.

CARROLL: Now that will has completed basic and is wrapping up specialized training, he and the others will get orders for their first station. It's where the Army will send new soldiers for more training before many are deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq.

(on camera): We're actually talking to Will now before he's actually gotten his orders. How are you feeling about that?

WILL MCLAIN, U.S. ARMY RECRUIT: It's kind of like I'm anxious to see what I'm going to get because I know of so many places.

CARROLL (voice-over): Thousands of miles away, back home in Rosamond, California, his mother Lori is anxious, too.

LORI MCLAIN, MOTHER: So that's I'm waiting for his call. I can't be tough. And discuss that because that just pulls my strings right now the.

CARROLL: Lori McLain has seen dramatic changes in Will in the three months he has been gone. He dropped 54 pounds and more.

L. MCLAIN: It was kind of a symbol of him growing up and doing his thing. More like I'm not your baby anymore, tough stuff. He's always my baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First group, Hamburg, Germany.

CARROLL: Now second away from another major change in Will's life. Ft. Stewart, Lewis, McLain.

W. MCLAIN: Ft. Stewart, Georgia. That's all right. I can do it. It's Down south. A good drive to Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm living it up in Hawaii.

CARROLL: New assignments always come with a few jokes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get yourself a Georgia girl. Good, home cooking.

CARROLL: McLain will have a familiar face with him at Ft. Stewart. His battle buddy Demetrius Daniels. The recruit assigned to be his partner during basic training.

W. MCLAIN: Just knowing he's in my same unit will make it easier when I get there. So at least I know somebody, there's somebody I can avoid getting in trouble with. You know all that fun stuff.

DEMETRIUS DANIEL, BATTLE BUDDY: We were prepared to part ways. But I think it's still good we're together.

CARROLL: Welcome news for his mother back home.

W. MCLAIN: I was calling to let you know we got our orders in today. (INAUDIBLE)

L. MCLAIN: And?

W. MCLAIN: Yes, I'm stationed in Ft. Stewart, Georgia.

L. MCLAIN: He's not going to be put into a war immediately. Thank you, Lord.

CARROLL: Not immediately, but for soldiers like Will, war is still a very real possibility.

W. MCLAIN: Fire in the hole!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And T.J., while at Ft. Stewart, Georgia, Will and the others will receive even more intensive combat engineer training which could loss for months. This is similar to the path that many soldiers follow before they end up being deployed -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. And thanks to our Jason Carroll for bringing us that series. And CNN will continue to follow Will's journey.

A turn to some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on this hour.

Seditious conspiracy. That's one of several big-time charges facing nine alleged members of a so-called Christian warrior militia. The feds say the group planned to kill a law enforcement officer in Michigan and then attack other officers at the funeral. Eight of the nine defendants are in custody.

Let's turn overseas now.

There's a theory in the sinking of a South Korean navy ship. No sign, still, however, of 46 sailors. South Korea's defense minister says it's possible the vessel hit a North Korean mine left over from war. Now, 58 of the 104 sailors on board were rescued. The rest likely went down with that ship.

Also, a Philadelphia man charged with making a death threat against the number two Republican in the House of Representatives. The Justice Department says 33-year-old Norman Leboon threatened Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor and his family in a YouTube video.

HOLMES: We're going to check in with our Chad Myers here in just a moment. We talked to him a short time ago. There was a tornado warning out there. We'll get an update on the severe weather.

Stay here.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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HOLMES: All right. You are trying to get your taxes in the mail by April 15th. Well, the Tea Party Express is trying to get to D.C. by April 15th, Tax Day. There is a reason for that.

Well, today the Express is in St. George, Utah. We have our own Express there, as well.

CNN's Ed Lavandera along for the ride. Going to be going across the country.

Ed, hello to you.

They kicked this thing off, the party, if you will, over the weekend. So what was the kickoff like?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a huge event in the town of Searchlight, Nevada. That is Senator Harry Reid's hometown, and the Tea Party Express figured that was a fitting beginning to this third Tea Party Express, which is carrying the theme of just vote them out.

Of course, a lot of anger over the health care reform bill that has passed in Congress. And so a lot of this trip over the next 22 days, which will end up in Washington, D.C., on April 15th, clearly geared toward that. The CNN Express bus coming along for a portion of this ride. We spent part of the weekend with the Tea Party Express, and we'll be doing that here over the next couple of days, as well, to kind of get a sense of what these folks who are turning out at these events are saying.

But that huge event that kicked off Saturday featured Sarah Palin. "Joe the Plumber" was around, a lot of those people who had been kind of voicing that anger about that health care reform. And also, what we're hearing a lot from folks who are turning out at these events is a pushback on a lot of the accusations that the Tea Party is behind fomenting violence, if you will, and this kind of anger and that sort of thing. So we're hearing a lot of pushback from that, as well, saying that that is clearly not the case, that this group says that they are peaceful, that they think any kind of attempts to portray them as anything but that is completely unfair.

So we wanted to give you a sample of what we have seen over the last 48 hours here as this event has kicked off. It will be 42 rallies, T.J., culminating in Washington, D.C., on April 15th.

HOLMES: Now, back to the event that was in Searchlight over the weekend. Now, of course, that's the hometown of Harry Reid. They haven't been shy about saying, yes, we would like to see him out of office. So you would think they would be excited to see one of their fellow Tea Partiers on the ballot against Senator Reid. But, yes, there is a Tea Party candidate, but not necessarily being backed by the Tea Party.

Please explain.

LAVANDERA: This one is kind of a crazy story going on in Nevada right now, T.J.

There is a candidate by the name of Scott Ashjian who claims that he is a Tea Party candidate, although the main -- the organizers of the Tea Party say essentially that he is a fake, that he is a phony, and they believe that in some way, that perhaps he's trying to actually help Harry Reid get reelected. And the thinking is, is that if this Tea Party candidate, Scott Ashjian, as he claims to be, is perceived as the Tea Party candidate, that essentially, he would split votes with the republican candidate, and in that sort of back handed way ensure that Harry Reid gets reelected.

So the Tea Party organizers are quick to -- not backing down very much from this, clearly calling him out as a fake and phony, and not someone they have seen the at their events.

HOLMES: Oh, well, all right. Well, we know they will be pretty strategic about the stops they make, certainly strategic about where they kicked it off in Searchlight. So why Utah? LAVANDERA: Well, Utah, clearly, a place where they feel that there's a great sense of support here, that they can continue to build up that support. Clearly is a very republican state, a very conservative state, as well.

But there's also kind of an interesting race that's going on here, as well. The senator, long-time senator from Utah, Robert Bennett, a three-term senator, is in the political fight of his life here in this state, as well. And basically, is this a man who has spent 18 years in Congress, has been very popular up until now. But he voted for that TARP bailout bill a couple years ago, and that has been what has really put him on fence and in the crosshairs of many people who would like to see him go now. He is facing a number of challengers here in the republican primary, and it's not even clear he'll be on the ballot come November.

HOLMES: All right. Well, what is the mood this time around? Like we said, this isn't the first time they headed off on a cross- country trip. So the ones you are interacting with and getting a chance to talk to, what's the mood out there?

LAVANDERA: Well, yes, I think there's clearly a sense that they're fired up. What they saw last week in D.C. with the health care reform bill being voted on, that they think that that will be kind of a rallying cry to get people to turn out and pay attention to what they're saying. And so, it's kind of a fitting start from -- I think from their standpoint that this event is kicking off on the heels of that vote taking place last week in Washington.

We'll give you a little bit of a sense of what it's been like here, and probably what we'll continue to see here as this rally continues to wind its way across the country and end up in Washington mid April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not listening to anything. Health care, the economy, the job situation. They're not listening to anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just moderate Americans here to voice our protest about what's going on with this government right now. They're not listening to the people. They talk down to us. They don't hear what we're saying.

We didn't want this health care bill. We can't afford this. It's bankrupting our generations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, T.J., that was some sound and images from the event that took place in Searchlight, Nevada back on Saturday -- T.J.?

HOLMES: All right. Well, you make your way across the country, we'll be following and checking in with you.

Ed Lavandera for us, thank you so much.

Well, U.S. troops in Afghanistan shaking hands with their commander in chief after President Obama makes an unannounced trip to the warzone. So what did he do in those six hours on the ground? The timeline straight ahead.

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HOLMES: President Obama is back in D.C. after a whirlwind visit to Afghanistan, one shrouded in secrecy and made under the cover of darkness. Sunday's trip was his first to the country since taking office 15 months ago, finally stepping foot in a warzone that could define his presidency in the foreign policy arena.

President Obama was on the ground there for less than six hours, heading from Camp David to Bagram Air Base, swinging by the capital city of Kabul, then taking off from the White House before dawn.

Item number one on his itinerary, a 40-minute meeting with President Hamid Karzai. Two leaders, you wouldn't necessarily call them old buds. President Obama hammered Karzai to fight government corruption and crack down on the heroin trade that helps fund the insurgency. They'll meet again at the White House in May.

The commander in chief then headed back to the Bagram Air Base to address thousands of cheering troops. When he took office last January, there were 34,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, now there are 80,000. There will be nearly 100,000 pairs of American boots on the ground when the surge peaks later this year.

The president made them a promise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've made a promise to all of you who serve. I will never send you into harm's way unless it's absolutely necessary. I anguish in thinking about the sacrifices that so many of you make. That's why I promise I will never send you out unless it is necessary.

But that's only part of the promise, because the other part of the promise is that when it is absolutely necessary, you will be backed up by a clear mission and the right strategy, and you will have the support to finish the job, to get the job done. And I am confident all of you are going to get the job done, right here in Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Getting that job done, apparently looking more doable in the eyes of Americans. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows that 55 percent now think things are going well in Afghanistan. That's a 23- point jump from November. The overall opinion is split pretty much down the middle, 48 percent in favor of the war, 49 percent against it. This is the first time opposition has dropped below 50 percent in more than a year. Want to turn now to some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on.

A twin act of terrorism during rush hour in Moscow. Two female suicide bombers attack subway stations in the Russian capital, killing at least 38 people, wounding dozens more. No one has claimed responsibility just yet, but Russian investigators believe Chechen rebels are to blame.

To Juarez, Mexico now where an arrest to the killing of three people with ties to the U.S. consulate has been made. A Mexican government spokesman says the suspect is a 42-year-old member of a street gang affiliated with the Juarez drug cartel. The victims, two Americans and a Mexican, were shot to death March 13th in two separate attacks.

Now back to the U.S., North Carolina reeling after a string of twisters ripped across the state. People reported as many as eight tornadoes touching down last night, flipping mobile homes, ripping trees and downing power lines. So far, only minor injuries reported.

Also, this iPad -- doesn't this always happen with Apple? When it comes to this new iPad now, too much demand, not enough supply. The new tablet computer so popular that the preorders have apparently overwhelmed Apple's ability to crank these things out. Preordered iPads were supposed to be delivered by April 3rd. That date has been pushed back to the 12th for anyone who ordered Saturday morning or later.

Well, private information on more than 3 million Americans has been stolen. Are you one of them? I'll tell you what you need to know. Stay here.

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HOLMES: We apologize for that false advertising with "The Ed Henry Segment," because Ed Henry ain't here. He would normally be here right about now. He's taking some time off. The prompter says much-deserved, that's debatable. He'll be back on the program next week.

Don't take it personally, Ed Henry, do your thing.

I do want to bring in someone who was gracious enough to join me today. Thank you, Stephanie. I'm having a hard time getting people to show up to the show when I do it. But thank you at least for being here.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I am happy to show whenever you need me to come in and talk about things financial.

HOLMES: I hope Ed Henry was listening.

All right, this is pretty serious stuff here. Three million people had their identities stolen. Now, I assume you have the list. Have you checked? Am I on it? ELAM: Well, it shouldn't affect you, because I'm pretty sure by now -- just throwing it out here, but you probably already have paid off your student loans, right?

HOLMES: OK, whoo. OK, we're good.

ELAM: OK. I was just hoping that you should be well done with that. Because that's really who is going to be affected by this, people who have student loans.

And this information was stolen from Educational Credit Management, that's a company in Minnesota. And they're saying that these people all will be affected because it could actually turn out to be the biggest breach of student loan information ever. That's what it's being called at this point, anyway.

But T.J., listen to how it happened. It was not some huge, in- depth technological scheme to get this data. No, someone just went out, found a little portable device and took that device and walked away with it. So that device had names, it addresses, it had birthdays. And it also had Social Security numbers with that and as you know, that can make for a lot of things to go wrong. So that's why there's so much need to pay attention to this one.

HOLMES: OK, am I hearing this right? That somebody -- maybe somebody just set it down somewhere, and somebody came along and picked it up? Did the person who picked it up even know possibly what they were getting?

ELAM: That's my big question, is they may have just thought, hey, that's a cool device. But right now, they're just investigating this whole situation. But -- and P.S., sidebar addendum, I don't know what the device was. I don't know if it was, you know, a flash drive, I don't know what it was. But whatever it is, this person just took it. We don't even know if they know what was actually on it.

But what they are going to do here, is people need to watch their credit. That is the main thing, to see if there is any sort of trickery going on with your -- with your information. And Educational Credit Management is sending letters to these people who were affected, and the company is offering those people free credit monitoring services through Experian. But like many things in life, you've got to sign up for it. And the letter that you're going to get has a code in it, so that you can do that and get this free service.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness.

ELAM: At this point, T.J., I'm happy to report that there has been no report of misuse just yet. Hopefully, it will stay that way. But obviously, it may not happen next week, it could happen four months from now, and that's why you have to track your information. The company's website is ecmc.org, and you can get more information on it.

But really for people with student loans, they need to be diligent and check on this one and make sure they're not affected. HOLMES: But am I hearing you right, Stephanie, you won't know until the letter comes in the mail. There's no way you can actually -- I mean, you can check your credit score, your credit report and see if anything funny shows up, but you won't know until you get the later whether or not you're on the list.

ELAM: Right. Exactly, and they just have to blast everyone else out. So, you know, some people are going to go ahead, get more information now, go to the company, get this information now and request more information instead of waiting for it to make its way through the mail.

But, yes, it's one of those being diligent. So if you have any business with this company, though, 3.3 million people, you might just want to get prepared for that now.

HOLMES: And we say, we don't know what this device is. Are they trying to be as secretive as they can about what the device is, who was carrying it, where it was lost? I mean, holding that information tight to the vest?

ELAM: Yes, you know, we found out about this theft over the weekend, but it happened a of couple weeks ago. So this is something they have been now figuring out and going back and trying to investigate exactly how it was taken, who took it. If there is any sort of video they can find. All of that stuff that they're trying to do. And so therefore, they haven't let out a lot of information. And just the mere fact they're calling it that, which sounds real technical, leads me to believe they have a reason not to just say "flash drive" or "laptop" or whatever that is. But we don't yes yet.

HOLMES: So know everybody out there who stole something a few weeks ago, they're going to go back and investigate to see if they have this information.

ELAM: In Minnesota, yes, exactly.

HOLMES: Stephanie, again, thank you for being here and thank you for showing up. I appreciate it, we'll talk to you soon.

ELAM: Any time you need me, T.J., I'm right here.

HOLMES: That's what I'm talking about. Stephanie Elam, folks. Thank you so much.

Well, coming up here, how will your health care affect you, your wallet, your waiting room? Most importantly, how much more will you have to pay for health care? Those are the questions you really want answered. Poppy Harlow has the answers for you. She's coming up right after the break.

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HOLMES: All right, everybody waiting to celebrate, but you're going wait until you get your taxes in the mail. Everybody is worried about this, it's April 15th deadline. Well, I'm here to tell you, don't worry about it. Seriously, don't even worry about it. Mail them the 16th, the 17th, mail them in May, if you want to.

Now, I hope you stuck around to hear the explanation. I hope you didn't turn your TV off after you heard that part, because there is the catch. If you are due a refund, you are likely not going to be penalized if you get this thing in the mail late, after April 15th. It's even possible that the IRS may actually owe you some money.

Listen to this. If you owe money, the penalty is pretty substantial. However, the penalty for filing a late tax return is 5 percent interest on the amount owed for each month that you fail to file and the maximum is up to 25 percent.

Now, 90 percent of returns processed so far have resulted in a refund -- refund is averaging about three grand, up some $266 from last year, and many say that's because of the stimulus. That act has some tax breaks in there.

Now, let's talk to you about the IRS now. What if they owe you money? They pay interest as well on refunds that are delayed more than 45 days because of slow processing. So if your refund doesn't make it to you on time, you could actually wind up getting extra money back regardless of whether or not you missed the April 15th deadline.

However, do not wait too long. A statute of limitations on your refund if you wait more than three years and the IRS owed you money, they're not required to pay if you wait more than three years.

Now take a look at this. The top ten procrastinators -- do you live in one of these cities? -- state-by-state breakdown here, this is according to Turbo Tax. Houston at the top of the list, Chicago the second tardiest, New York came in third. Austin, Texas, San Francisco, Seattle, fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. And then San Diego, L.A. and Las Vegas round out the top ten.

Well, a lot of people still have a lot of questions about this health care bill. Mainly, what does it mean for me? But Poppy Harlow from CNNMoney.com is going to join me now.

And, Poppy, a lot of people have the big question as well as what is it going to cost me right now. So, please, help us with these questions.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Right, it's a good one. It's probably going to cost employees more.

Here's the deal, folks. When you look at the cost of health care reform, someone has to pay for it, some people's taxes are going up, but employers are also going to have to bear more of the burden here. So what are we talking about? Why does it matter for you?

First of all, this is a big one, dependents. Now people up to age 26 -- this kicks in in just a few months -- can be on their parents' health insurance. The reason that this matters is that if parents' employers pay for their health insurance, they are going to have to pay more and therefore, the costs is likely going to come down to you, the employee. So that's going to kick in. Another thing that's going to kick in is there will no longer, T.J., be a limit, a lifetime maximum limit on the amount of health care you can get. Right now, companies generally cap off the amount of health insurance that they will cover at about a million or $2 million. Most of us don't need that, but if you have a serious accident, if you have a prolonged disease, et cetera, then it's going to cost possibly more than that. Well, this new health care reform says that companies have to pay out no matter what the amount is if you are insured through your company.

And, T.J., those are two of the ways that our employers are going to have to pay more, and that likely means, come open enrollment next year, you're going to have to pay more, as well. So two ways you're going to have to pay for health care, be prepared for those. It's probably going to be more than you're paying right now, T.J.

HOLMES: You know, and it's a tough thing to balance for a love people, because some of those things are great. Keeping a kid on, getting them out of college to have health insurance until 26, or getting rid of those caps, those are things people are in favor, but it's going to trickle down to us all.

People would say, what about this idea of some of these tax breaks we're getting through employers? Are those going to go away?

HARLOW: Yes, some of them are. You know this little card -- this health benefits card, flexible spending card, this is mine. A lot of us have these, we can use it at the drugstore, we can buy aspirin, cough medicine, all those over-the-counter prescriptions, we can buy those tax-free, pre-taxed with this card. That's going to go away. You're going to be able to buy them, but if you want them to be tax-free, you have to get a letter from your doctor. You don't need that now.

And also, when you look at this card, you put the amount of money you want on it up to usually about $5,000, T.J. That is now going to be capped at $2,500. So cutting it in half the amount that can be pre-taxed.

So those are more ways you're going pay for health care. Those are just a few of them. You can see all of them, long list of them here on CNNMoney. But someone has to pay for it, right? And we're some of those people. We've got to chip in here. So your company is going to have to pay more and you likely are going to have to pay more in the end.

HOLMES: And that's a great resource, CNNMoney.com. I use that all the time. You guys break that down better than anybody out there. So absolutely, everybody, go check that out.

Before I let you go, though, you fill out a bracket this year for the NCAA Tournament?

HARLOW: Did I what?

HOLMES: Fill out a bracket for the NCAA Tournament? HARLOW: I had the Golden Gophers, Minnesota going all the way. They didn't make it past the first round.

HOLMES: How did that work out, Poppy? All right, but you're not the only one who had a tough time with their bracket this year. We've got Duke, we've got Michigan State in there, we've got West Virginia and Butler. Butler, yes, folks. Many of you may not know where Butler is. I'm going give some love to the Butler Bulldogs coming up in my "X-Y-Z".

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HOLMES: All right. Did you have Butler in your Final Four? Stop lying, if you said you did. A lot of people are wondering, who in the world are the Butler bulldogs? Some are wondering even where in the world is Butler University?

Well, in case you didn't know, it's in Indianapolis. It was actually founded in 1855, just some five miles it is outside of downtown Indianapolis. It's a sprawling 290-acre campus. The enrollment? Barely about 4,000 freshmen. Now, about these freshmen. Pretty sharp group, got about a 3.5 GPA as their average.

Now the basketball team is what everybody is talking about now. Who is this team? What do they play in? The SEC? The Big East? No, they're what's called a mid-major team, they are in the Horizon League. Who else plays in the Horizon League? Other powerhouses like Cleveland State, Youngstown State, Valparaiso, Green Bay. Maybe you heard of them?

Now, even though a lot of people are curious right now about Butler, some people are saying, how in the world did this underdog get into the Final Four? Well, a lot of people that follow basketball are not shocked in the least bit. This is a team that went undefeated in their league. This is the team that actually was ranked number ten in the country in the preseason poll. Not a surprise.

Also during the year, they beat Ohio State, the favorite team of this show's executive producer, Kelly Frank (ph), who is standing right there. They also beat Xavier, another tough tournament-tested team. And they're on a 24-game win streak as we speak. So no surprise that these kids can play ball.

Now, can they possibly go on and win the National Championship? Who knows, but that would be the stuff of movies, right? Maybe "Hoosiers"? These are some Indiana kids, this is an Indiana school. You remember the movie -- the small school, the underdog, a bunch of smart kids from Indiana go out and win the championship. Well, did you know that Butler's Hinkel Fieldhouse is actually where the 1954 State High School Basketball Tournament that was featured in that movie was played out?

The Butler head coach, Bradley Stevens, he looks like he is young enough to play on the team, actually, says his team respects every opponent they play and hopefully earns the respect back. This is the guy who also not too long ago was selling pharmaceuticals. That was his job. That was his career until he gave that up and decided to go work for free as a volunteer on a coach. He says his team is tough, players not going to beat themselves, and we have seen this play out so far in the tournament.

So Butler, five seed, don't be surprised they're there. Don't let anybody fool you and tell you these are underdogs, they have been on the radar all year. So congratulations to say Butler. And now you know where they are.

It's time for me to hand this thing over to Rick Sanchez and "RICK'S LIST." That's my "X-Y-Z," Rick's starts right now.