Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Battling Roadside Bombs; Final Militia Suspect Apprehended; Citizen's Arrest Attempt Made on Karl Rove
Aired March 30, 2010 - 09:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Roadside bombs are the Taliban's most lethal weapon in Afghanistan. The number one killer of U.S. and allied troops there. Those attacks are on the rise and commanders are determined to better train their troops in how to defend against them.
CNN's Brian Todd shows us how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You're in the lead Humvee in a convoy moving through Kandahar Province. The danger could come from that goat herder. A chaotic accident scene is too risky to stick around. But, as you're backing away, the devastating jolt of a roadside bomb; it doesn't hurt anyone and the people buzzing around your vehicle are actors.
But for Army Sergeant Maria Caulford who has been injured in a real IED attack that killed 2 fellow soldiers, this simulation brings back haunting memories.
SGT. MARIA CAULFORD, U.S. ARMY: It's kind of sad to relive it again because I really don't want to go through it again, but the impact was pretty close.
TODD: Caulford's one of more than 1,000 troops who have gone through the IED battle drill, a simulator at Fort Eustis, Virginia designed to recreate the warning signs and often lethal concussions of IED attacks.
This is the only device of its kind and it's only been operational for a few months, but U.S. commanders say with IED attacks more than doubling in Afghanistan over the past year, there is an urgent need.
BRIG. GEN. BRIAN LAYER, COMMANDER, FORT EUSTIS, VIRGINIA: It's the number one threat against our soldiers. A very adaptive enemy, a changing threat; IEDs continue to look different.
TODD: This device is designed to prevent soldiers from getting into those kill zones. Everything in these scenes is re-created from real incidents on the battlefield, some filmed by insurgents themselves.
Intelligence is gathered every day at a military ops center not far from Fort Eustis. Terrain, roads, villages reassembled to the smallest detail on gaming software.
MARK COVEY, SIMULATIONS DEVELOPER: We'll sit out here and we'll sit in a video teleconference with the men and women down the ranks in Afghanistan and Iraq. We'll gather the data needed to replicate the event and then we'll take that, all of the data and put it into the game, put it in the simulation and make a training product.
TODD: Some of its tested in 3D in a room called "The Cave". Hollywood film experts then convert that high-tech wizardry into film for the simulation.
On my turn inside the Humvee the adrenaline spikes knowing a blast could come at any moment. I soon realize this isn't designed to teach you how to drive through danger zones.
(on camera): One feature we noticed in the driver position where I am the driver does not have control of the vehicle and I want to ask Major Michael Dolge (ph) who has been through real IED attacks before, why not have a feature in this where the driver is actually driving the vehicle.
MAJ. MICHAEL DOLGE, TRAINER, IED BATTLE DRILL: Because when we use this trainer we're looking at tactics, techniques and procedure, crew drills and we're looking for signatures and observables not so much about how to drive the vehicle.
TODD: Signatures and observables, meaning signs of IEDs like disrupted soil and objects moving in your field of vision like the snipers I don't see until we're being hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're taking fire! We're taking fire, sniper fire on the left!
TODD: Only when you slow mo the video can you see those tiny bright specs moving in the rocks. Insurgents who've ambushed us. Just as we've processing that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sniper fire, 10:00 (INAUDIBLE)
TODD: We are told the snipers were a distraction on our left. The IED was planted on the right. Major Dolge says this can't recreate the true adrenaline rush of bullets whizzing by, the smoke, the smell, what he calls the full-body taste of an ambush, but -
DOLGE: For a training environment this is as good as I can get it.
TODD: Brian Todd, CNN, Fort Eustis, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Children caught in the cross fire of a drug war. Ten people from the ages of eight to 21 have been shot to death in the Mexican state of Durango. Unknown gunman had set up a fake checkpoint on the road and fired at the victims' truck when it didn't stop. It's a day of mourning and increased security in Russia. Subway stations turning into makeshift memorials. 39 people lost their files as female bombers explosives filled with nails. So now there's a heavier police presence in those subways. Russian security forces believe the attacks are linked to a terror group possibly from Chechnya.
A new plan for the Post Office would mean fewer trips to the mailbox for you. They want to get rid of Saturday delivery by next year, but get this, their request to a regulatory committee being sent by e-mail. Ironic, isn't it? Losing a day of catalogs and credit card offers could save them $3 billion a year but it will also cost 40,000 people their jobs.
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Kyra Phillips.
PHILLIPS: We begin the hour between now and the end of the hour growing up in 2010. Probably night and day compared to your day. We've got examples from Hartford, Houston and New York that will show you just how different things are, from bullying to despair and a contract not to commit suicide to sex-ting and consequences.
One boneheaded impulsive act of teenager-hood can have consequences for life and we'll talk about an effort to get young people to pull up their dang pants. Back in my day we had something called belts. All of this is part of what's going on in your kids' world.
But we start with President Obama's victory lap on his top domestic priority. Next hour he signs into law the final changes of health care reform. But it's education that he wants in the spotlight today. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us with a closer look. So, Suzanne, why will the President use a community college as his backdrop for the signing and why this one?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, a community college, Kyra, is one of the things that he's going to be highlighting because it really will focus on some of the benefits of the health care reform legislation that requires a huge education component to it. I should let you know that it's Dr. Jill Biden, the second lady, who's going to be introducing President Obama talking about community colleges, why?
Because she not only has a bachelor's degree. She's got two masters and a doctorate and she happens to teach at Northern Virginia Community College. So she's going to be talking about it as well. Here are some of the highlights, Kyra, that we'll talk about.
Essentially he's going to overhaul the student loan program, so it's going to leave the private banks out of the mix here. Normally they would be involved in lending out to students who is just now going to be the federal government. What the federal government is going to do is end those subsidies that they've been allowing those private banks to have because they're lending out that money.
About $68 billion or so they say is going to be freed up. What are they going to use this for? Well, those subsidies are going to go for Pell grants and the neediest students to go to college, also community colleges as well as historically black colleges are all going to benefit from that money. What's also going to happen, too, very interesting is that they're going to set a cap for student loan repayment.
So if you're one of those students who pays your bills on time after you graduate, it will be capped at 10 percent of your income and then after 20 years, if you're still paying in a timely fashion, basically they'll forgive the rest of that loan. If you're someone who goes into public service like you're in the military or you're teaching or you're a nurse or something like that, then they'll forgive the rest of your loans in 10 years or so, but I should let you know, Kyra, these are the kinds of things that are not necessarily going to take place right away.
That cap on the student loan program, the repayment program is not going to start until 2014, but all of these things are going to kick in and, yes, this is related to the second part of that health care reform law that the President passed last Tuesday. PHILLIPS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Thanks so much.
We're going to have live coverage of President Obama's signing of the health care reform bill. Suzanne will be there. It's scheduled for just over an hour from now at 11:05 Eastern time.
And our inbox is still full of your questions about health care. Later this hour we're going t get you some answers hopefully at our health care desk. Joining us today someone uniquely qualified, the first female physician in the history of the U.S. Congress.
Now to a story of a militia that wants to keep the teachings of Christ alive while aiming to kill cops. Here's the latest on those self-proclaimed Christian warriors. A ninth member of the Hutaree group was captured peacefully last night and is scheduled to be arraigned today. All nine face conspiracy and weapons charges. They're accused of plotting to kill a Michigan law enforcement officer and then attack other police at the funeral.
A final militia suspect had been on the run for days. Mara MacDonald of affiliate WDIV reports on how officers finally got their man.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARA MACDONALD, REPORTER, WDIV: As the sun went down federal agents and the state police geared up and went out hunting the remaining member of Hutaree. 21-year-old Joshua Stone, the son of the group's founder under cover of darkness they moved in on a home, inside was Stone and five others including a baby. The feds say they were not hostages. One of the women inside the home seen here being brought into the FBI Command post.
ANDREW ARENA, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Taken into custody right down the street in Hilldale County. He was in the location with five other adults and a child.
MACDONALD: The FBI says agents played recorded messages from family members trying to coax Stone out of the house peacefully. We did see Donna Stone out here in the scene. She is the former wife of leader David Stone.
ARENA: Actually, we just went down and started to play messages and they all came out with their hands up.
MACDONALD: The Feds say Stone hid in this area because the group Hutaree has trained here. The self-described Christian militia says it's training for a battle for the anti-Christ. The Fed say the group had gotten out of hand and was planning the execution of a local law enforcement official and then planning on murdering those that showed for the funeral.
ARENA: Bottom line is everybody's safe. It's a good conclusion to a long three days. So we're very happy that everyone is safe here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Mark Potok studies violent groups in his work at the Southern Poverty Law Center and he's been doing it for years. And he shared his insight on Hutaree on CNN's Anderson Cooper "360" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: I learned about them probably a little more than a year ago. But I can't claim that we know a whole lot about them. They looked to be a very small group with a very odd ideologies, sort of a twist on the new world order, you know, with sort of a Christian millennial angle to it.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST "360": What does it mean, you know, it's hard to find where and why they would call themselves a Christian militia. I mean, it didn't really make much sense.
POTOK: Well, it is a bit hard to understand even when you go through all their materials, but you know, basically like other militia groups what they really see happening to the world is a kind of takeover of the world by some sort of one-world government, a so- called new world order. Normally most of the secular militia groups, of course, identify that with multinational bodies that would be the U.N.. It would be the blue helmets. It will be entities like the European Union that represent at least the beginnings of this wicked government, this one-world government.
In the case of this group it was all cast in terms of the coming of the anti-Christ, which the group seemed to associate very closely in fact with the United Nations. So it's really quite similar to other militias' ideology, but with a very particular biblical kind of twist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: As for the nine suspects they're expected in court tomorrow afternoon.
Boy, I'd sure like to have those two minutes back. He should have taken a deep breath and counted to 10 and let it go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a stupid thing I did because I was upset and tired. It was the middle of the night and I was an immature kid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Yes. A teen acting like a teen. Sexting a pic of his naked girlfriend. Does he deserve the same title as older perverts and pedophiles?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no. I didn't say go ahead. I would say you get away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Stark roving mad. Well, angry, anyway. I'm guessing the lady in the hat doesn't want an autographed copy of Karl's new book.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN severe weather center. The rain continues to come down across the northeast, and we could see some record flooding in parts of eastern New England. Weather is coming up in just few minutes. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Remember back when you were in second grade, reading, writing, signing that contract promising that you wouldn't commit suicide? Yes. I don't remember that last one, either. It's 2010, folks. Being a kid is a whole lot different now. A bullied second grader tries to end it all. The school makes him sign a no-suicide agreement.
We're talking about the story on our blog today. We want to know, would you ask your child to sign a no-suicide pact? What do you think about that? Go to CNN.com/Kyra and weigh in. I would really like to read some of your comments a little later in this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Sandbags. When you need them no such thing as too many. For the third time this month parts of New England in flood prevention mode. This is Cranston, Rhode Island, where people expect Patuxent (ph) River's record flood stage set last week to be crested today. A different story in south Florida, though, where the National Weather Service confirms it was a tornado that hit the Miami suburb of Oakland Park. Significant damages and luckily no injuries and they're watching the rain adding to the water level at the Antique (ph) River in Norwich, Connecticut.
Flood watch is posted for the next three and a half hours and that watch also extending now into parts of New York and New Jersey. Wow! Rob Marciano, am I going to get home?
MARCIANO: At some point you will. It's going to be another tough go today with the rain and also the wind. The storm, quite frankly, has hung around a little bit longer than we thought and the rain is still coming down heavily across much of the northeast.
Check out some of these numbers as far as what we saw so far for rainfall and this is 24-hour total. You can probably add another inch, inch and a half to this. Let's talk about storm totals and what we've added on to this since this recording was taken earlier this morning.
But Pantucket, Rhode Island, 3.9 inches, Providence seeing almost three and a half. Pantucket, Connecticut, Norfolk, Virginia and eastern parts of Long Island seeing three inches as well and we could see another - well, probably another one to three inches today on top of that. So storm totals could be anywhere from five to in the extreme cases eight inches across eastern parts of New England.
So that is not good for the swollen rivers especially through Connecticut and parts of Rhode Island. New Jersey, you thought you were out of it and you were kind of dry for about six to 12 hours and now the rains are coming across parts of northern New Jersey so this will continue to be the case, I think through tonight now and it will not taper off until tomorrow morning.
On the west coast, we've got a pretty strong storm system, very strong for this time of year from San Francisco all of the way up to Seattle, (INAUDIBLE) rains, and strong, strong winds. We've got high- wind warnings that have been posted for the coastline and some of the higher elevations in the mountains also. And that's going to drive up a major shift in the weather pattern. That will be good news for the northeast where they'll start to dry out and warm up, but it's not going to be, Kyra, until the end of the week. So I guess that's when we'll see you.
No -
PHILLIPS: Yes, really. See you on Saturday, pal.
MARCIANO: We do have two-hour delays right now in La Guardia if you're trying to fly out of LGA later today?
PHILLIPS: Two hour delays, throughout the rest of the day?
MARCIANO: That's the way it is. Just be patient. Come on back.
PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: See you.
PHILLIPS: Karl Rove in handcuffs? Almost. Anti-war protesters showed up for his Beverly Hills book signing, but I don't think they really wanted to buy a copy of "Courage." Pull those pants up or else. One lawmaker has had enough with this fashion faux pas and he's taking aim at those saggy trousers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Karl Rove just trying to sell books, but that task has got a little tougher in Beverly Hills. Former presidential adviser facing verbal slings and arrows, even an arrest attempt. We get more now from Dave Bryan of affiliate KCAL in Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL ROVE, FMR. PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: No, no, no. I didn't say go ahead. I would say you get away.
DAVE BRYAN, REPORTER, KCAL: Former White House senior adviser and deputy chief of staff Karl Rove was shouted down and forced to leave by a small group of anti-war protesters at a book signing event in Beverly Hills. The co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink tried to make a citizen's arrest of Rove and advanced toward him with a pair of handcuffs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look what you did. You outed a CIA officer, you lied to take us to war. You ruined the country. Totally ruined the country.
BRYAN: As Code Pink co-founder Jody Evans was pushed away, another protester confronted Rove charging he's a war criminal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's the deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) because you're going to rot in hell.
BRYAN: With no visible security around Rove was left to fend for himself and engaged the protestors in some heated exchanges.
ROVE: With all due respect this goes to show the totalitarianism of the left. They don't believe in dialogue. They don't believe in courtesy. They don't believe in first amendment rights for anybody, but themselves. The signs of conflict came early in the program when another anti-war member of the audience accused Rove of participating in a campaign to purposely lie to and mislead the American people about Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction.
You know what, if you want to keep interrupting me you can get the heck out of here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Rove left the stage shortly after that exchange. He didn't get to finish his presentation and there were no reports of any actual arrests at the event. He also didn't sign any books.
An RNC staffer has been given the boot for making a bad choice on the evening's entertainment. (INAUDIBLE) went up with some up and coming Republican donors to a trendy L.A. club called Voyeur. It's big with celebrities and features topless women doing stuff well we can't really describe. Anyway, the staffer decided to send the tab to the RNC. Bad move, they reimbursed his two grand and now he has a pink slip to go right with it.
The inbox is full and the doctor's in. We're answering your questions about health care reform and manning our desk, the first female physician to serve in Congress. She joins us in just a couple of minutes.
And your kids' text messages are G-rated, right? Or at least PG- 13? We're talking to one teen who is regretting the one text that he sent, the one that could have him paying the rest of his long - paying for the rest of his long life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: A violent confrontation last night in Portland, Oregon with protesters facing off against police after two recent fatal officer- involved shootings.
(VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Officers tried keeping those demonstrators on the sidewalk. At one point using bicycles as barricades. That only infuriated those protesters though as they hurled obscenities at police. The Oregonian newspaper reports four people were arrested and one officer slightly injured when he was hit by a rock.
A guilty plea for a white supremacist who said he wanted to kill then presidential candidate Barack Obama. Daniel Cowart was accused of planning to go on a killing spree against African-Americans in 2008. Mr. Obama was among the selected targets. His partner in crime pled guilty in January. Cowart faces up to 75 years in prison.
Have you mailed back the census? Those forms are technically due Thursday. If you don't send them back you should probably expect a personal visit from the census worker some time. The Census Bureau sent out around 134 million forms.
Barack Obama campaigned on the promise of change and next hour he delivers, specifically the change is to health care reform. Just a week a after signing the measure into law he'll put his signature on the fixes bill. It includes several big changes including more subsidies for lower and middle class families and it will water down a tax on expensive health insurance policies, but as they say, the devil is in the details and Americans want to know how the reforms will affect them and their health care.
That's where we have the CNN Health Care Desk and answering your questions today someone uniquely qualified. Donna Christensen is a congressional delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands and is the first female physician in the history of Congress. Good to see you, doctor.
DR. DONNA CHRISTENSEN (D), U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS DELEGATE: Thank you. Good to see you and thank you for having me. PHILLIPS: I mean, they're both an honor, congresswoman and doctor, I feel like I should have equal time to both and I'm curious, what kind of medicine did you practice?
CHRISTENSEN: Family medicine.
PHILLIPS: OK. So -
CHRISTENSEN: I'm a family practitioner.
PHILLIPS: Family practitioner. So when you saw this bill, I'm curious, for the first time and had the first read through were you thinking as a doctor, this seems pretty good?
CHRISTENSEN: Yes, and I had an opportunity, the energy and commerce committee and the health subcommittee. So I had an opportunity to work on shaping it as it was going through the process as well. So I was very excited about it. I've taken care of too many patients without insurance who could not meet their - purchase their medication and get diagnostic tests done.
So this bill is really wonderful. It's really a life-changing piece of legislation for many, many people who would be able to improve their health and their quality of life.
PHILLIPS: Well, I definitely know your heart was in it especially because you're a doctor. Let's get right to the questions.
CHRISTENSEN: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: This one's coming from John, congresswoman. "Some of the benefits would take effect in six months, so it would be possible that some people would be covered by some of the provisions this September. If the Republicans take over both Houses of Congress in November 2010 what would happen to the people that would be covered under the new health care program. Will the Republicans be able to repeal it?"
CHRISTENSEN: Well, if they were to try to have those children kicked off of the insurance who may have had pre-existing disease or start allowing insurance companies to drop people who - when they get sick or let premiums rise to the point that which companies decide to move and take their jobs off to another country, I don't think the people of the United States would tolerate that, but for one thing for certain, the President would veto it and they would never get an override.
But there are so many provisions that help so many people in this bill that it would be foolhardy for them, and I cannot imagine them campaigning on taking away health benefits and allowing people to go without insurance and injure their health in the process.
PHILLIPS: Got it. This one coming from Damian. "Is anyone anticipating the insurance companies raising premiums for families with children that will now be on their parent's plan for an additional five years? A young graduate that wants to travel the world she would need to obtain her own policy on an average of $7,000 per year. That's $45,000 of premiums that the insurance companies will be missing under this reform.
CHRISTENSEN: Well, insurance companies, I think, are going to do rather well with 32 million or more newly insured that they will be providing insurance to. That young lady would likely go without or young person would likely go without insurance if they're traveling the world they would not even be able to even afford the $7,000 a year. So we would have an uninsured person. No, I don't expect the premiums would rise because of it because insurance companies would be doing pretty well with all of those new people to insure.
PHILLIPS: Got it. One more if you don't mind. This one coming from Vince, congresswoman. Is there any provision in the bill for long-term care?
CHRISTENSEN: Oh, yes, there is. The class provision which is Community Living Assistance Support Services Act that's in there that is a voluntary insurance program. You pay a small premium and it provides you with long-term care when you need it. There's also a provision where Medicaid will pay for community and home-based services in the bill.
So there are many improvements for the disabled and for those of us who are going to need long-term care later on.
PHILLIPS: Doctor and congresswoman, Donna Christensen, what a pleasure to have you. I hope you'll join us again.
CHRISTENSEN: I would love to. Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
We'll have live coverage of President Obama's signing of the health care reform measure. It's scheduled for just after the top of the hour. 11:05 Eastern.
It's Tuesday. Do you know what your kid is texting? One wrong text today, pay the consequences tomorrow. We're talking to one teen whose text or sext changed his life and not for the better. He wishes he could have those angry couple of minutes back. We're also talking to a lawmaker and a lawyer. We want to know if one teen's sext really merits the title sex offender.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Pull up those droopy drawers. A New York lawmaker wants to make saggy pants a thing of the past but critics say he's going below the belt.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So, your kid would never send a sexually charged or naked text message. Good, but wait a minute. Are you sure? Check out this 2009 survey from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It suggests nearly one in five teens has sent, gotten or forwarded nude or nearly nude pictures. Sex today, pay tomorrow.
Ask Philip Alpert of Florida. When he was barely 18, he got upset with his girlfriend. She was 16. He sent a naked picture of her to friends and family after an argument. Bottom line, Philip was charged with sending child pornography. He is now a registered sex offender.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILIP ALPERT, REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER: It was a stupid thing I did because I was upset and tired. It was the middle of the night, and I was an immature kid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Okay. So it was a boneheaded, very teenagery move on Philip's part, but a registered sex offender? Does he really belong in the same category as the older perverts and pedophiles?
Let's talk about it with Phil. He's joining us from Orlando. Also with us, Larry Walters. He's an Internet attorney. And we've also got Rosa Rebimbas with us. She's a state representive of Connecticut, and there might be a movement afoot there that she's involved with to handle teen sexting a little differently.
All right, Philip, let's start with you. I think back to when I was your age. We're all starting to feel, you know, I guess, a little more comfortable with our sexuality, but I would never imagine sending pictures or taking pictures of anyone or even myself. So, I want to know, do you think that technology and also teenagers having these phones with cameras and the ability to do blackberry messaging and all these various things -- has that technology given teens the courage to be more sexually bold?
ALPERT: Absolutely. It's --the technology allows us to do things that you said that you never would have thought of that, but that's because the technology itself hadn't been thought of. Had it been around when you were my age, I'm sure maybe you would have done the same thing. Maybe not you, but you know -
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: OK, Philip. Watch out.
ALPERT: It would have made you, maybe not you, but like people my age.
PHILLIPS: I was very conservative.
OK, so you think technology has added to that. But tell me, I mean -- there were just certain things you didn't do, and if you did you were considered, you know, slutty or you were considered a bad boy and that was just the way it was. Why is it so much more relaxed now? Why would a 16-year-old girl take a picture of herself and why would you even think of sending that around Try putting me in the mindset, if you could.
ALPERT: You know, I have absolutely no idea why I did the things I did. I don't know why all the other kids at the time do the things they did. I just knew that's what we did.
We dressed a certain way because that's the way we dressed. I don't know why. I can't explain it.
PHILLIPS: All right. So, you did it, and now you're on the sex offender registry with really some of the most disgusting pedophiles on the face of this earth. How has that changed your life?
ALPERT: Well, emotionally, I've been very depressed over the last couple of years. As far as the events of my life. I've had everything happen from getting kicked out of school to not being able to find a place to live. I haven't worked in a year because no one will give me a job or a chance, you know?
It just -- people always say has it turned your life around? And I would say no, it hasn't because that would be the complete opposite. It's not opposite. It's so far out from anything I ever expected my life to be that I don't know how to deal with it, and I don't know how handle it.
PHILLIPS: Let's get more of your story in a second. But I would like to ask Representative Rebimbas. Why get involved in this bill to change the law? What exactly are you proposing, and how could it make a difference in the lives of teens like Philip, who made a -- you know, may have made one bad mistake.
Representative Rabinbas, can you hear me?
All right. Let's see if we can get connected with Rosa Rebimbas. Meanwhile, Larry, let me take it to you. Can you hear me, Larry?
LARRY WALTERS, INTERNET ATTORNEY: I can hear you fine.
PHILLIPS: OK, great.
Talking about Philip's case, is there anything that you can do to get him pardoned, to get him off this list? Is there any hope at all, especially since it's becoming talked about now? We're going to talk to the representative hopefully in a minute, will talk about the bill to change the law. Do you have any hope that you can help Philip out?
WALTERS: That's my job right now is to find a way to try to help Philip and others like him who were caught up in the judicial system at the time when we really didn't understand the sexting phenomena. The judicial system was treating it as child pornography and still is in many states. And these laws designed to protect children are being used as weapons against children to punish fairly commonplace behavior in school that might be a mistake and might be stupid, but shouldn't cost them the rest of their lives and the rest of their future. It is difficult once somebody is put on a sex offender list to get them off. Fortunately, some of these laws that we're seeing now to change the sexting offenses to something minor like in Florida, it would be a $25 fine instead of years in prison. Fortunately these laws are starting to pass, and we're hoping to try to make some changes to the sex offender list laws as well to try to help those kids that got caught up in this problem earlier.
PHILLIPS: All right. I believe we have connected now with the representative. Can you hear us okay?
ROSA REBIMBAS, CONNECTICUT STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Yes. Good morning.
PHILLIPS: Terrific. Good morning.
I don't know if you could hear Philip and he was starting to tell us about his story, and also, his attorney there Larry Walter (sic), hoping that he'll be able to somehow get him off this list. Meanwhile, here you are with a proposed bill on the table. How could this change the lives of students like Philip, teens like Philip that made a pretty bad mistake?
REBIMBAS: I think similar bills like the one that I'm proposing in the state of Connecticut could make a significant difference because what we have currently in the state of Connecticut and other states is child pornography laws on the books that unfortunately, if a minor child is convicted of this type of crime, they would be facing a felony and having to register as a sex offender.
The bill I'm proposing would actually make the sexting be a class a misdemeanor, which could possibly carry a prison sentence or fine or not at all. Obviously, it would provide for an option. So, it's an additional option for prosecutors to either decide to prosecute, prosecute as a misdemeanor under the new sexting bill, or obviously, if it does raise to the criteria of being under the child pornography statute, then they would proceed this as well.
PHILLIPS: Philip, what would be your advice to teens? Practically every single teen has the ability to sext and to take these pictures and send these pictures around. What would you say to them?
ALPERT: I would tell them not to do it. Straight out, don't do it. There's no good that can come from it, and you can totally ruin your life, the way I did.
PHILLIPS: But you are going back to college, right? I was reading that you were able to get back into the school that you were kicked out of, is that right? is that giving you hope here that you can move forward?
ALPERT: It took a year and a half, but I finally got to get back in, and that's starting to give me a lot of hope. I feel a lot more confident that maybe things will get better for me. But as far as other kids go, you know, they may not have the same fortune. They might, you know, continue to be on the list and they might continue to not go to school and might not make anything out of their life which is what I'm trying to do.
PHILLIPS: Well, we will follow the bill. Larry Walters, we will follow what you are also doing for Philip. And Philip, you've recognized your mistake. You're speaking out boldly now and your testimony is a good lesson to all teens. I have a feeling that you'll be just fine. Philip, Rosa ReBimbas, and also Larry Walters, thanks to all three of you.
REBIMBAS: Thank you.
WALTERS: Nice to be here.
PHILLIPS: Can you imagine your second grade teacher making you write on the chalkboard 100 times, "I will not commit suicide." "I will not commit suicide." Seems absurd, but that's kind of what happened in one school. Growing up isn't what it used to be. Back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Bullied to the point where he wanted to kill himself. A Houston second grader felt that he couldn't take it anymore. So, he jumped out of a second-floor window.
He's okay physically, but get this. The school made this child sign a contract promising that he wouldn't try to kill himself again. Is that more important than stopping the bullies? Lots of questions here.
The story now from Tom Abrahams of KTRK TV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM ABRAHAMS, KTRK-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The second grader says one final incident in which another child pulled down his pants and embarrassed him and pushed him to jump from the second floor of Blackshear (ph) Elementary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CHILD: He was bullying me for no reason, and he wanted to fight me in the restroom.
ABRAHAMS: The boy's mother said immediately following the attempted suicide, the school asked the child, who was dyslexic to sign this no-suicide agreement.
YAMSHANNTA ROBERTSON, MOTHER: The teacher is supposed to help. They're supposed to be there for them, if you know he's going through this you shouldn't let another child belittle him.
ABRAHAMS: The district contends the agreement is standard among children who may try to harm themselves, but is now revisiting the policy.
NORM UHL, SCHOOL DISTRICT SPOKESMAN: We find it to be a very useful tool. Now, whether this particular contract or agreement was written in an age-appropriate level, that's probably a good question and that's something we're taking a look at.
ABRAHAMS: But of even greater concern to the mother is that she and her son reported the bullying multiple times, as far back as September, and nothing was ever done about it.
ROBERTSON: This needs to be resolved because when we send our kids from home to school, we expect them to be safe. And I don't want this to happen to anybody else's child ever.
UHL: I know the parent has some concerns about how reporting of bullying was handled, and the principal is doing an investigation on that. I can't really comment on that, but in this type of situation, if bullying is reported, it isn't dealt with, there can be some consequences for the employee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Tom Abrahams from KTRK in Houston reporting for us there. We'll be following the story to see what the school district does next.
Would you ask your child to sign a no-suicide pact? That's the question on our blog today. Go to CNN.com/kyra and weigh in. I'll read some of your comments on the air next hour.
The fashion police may have graduated from the streets of Brooklyn all of the way to New York State. The capital of Albany, with this simple message. Uplift yourself by losing your droopy pants. New York state senator Eric Adams wants thousands of young adults who are down with the sag to buckle up and put on a belt for the betterment of everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK STATE SENATOR: Let us not be the ones to make our community seem foolish. If we raise our pants, we raise our image.
Don't surrender control over your own image. We have power over so very much about messaging to others. I ask our community, our parents, our neighbors, our friends to explain and be a role model over correct dress. And I say to our youth all over the city and state, you can raise your level of respect if you raise your pants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: I'm with you, Senator. So are a lot of parents. Adams has commissioned a number of billboards throughout his borough to get his message across.
Putting the wow back in Wall Street. Stocks started the day at the highest point in a year and a half. Will investors keep that rally going? We're talking to Stephanie Elam in just a sec.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The faces of the suicide bombers. New pictures just in to CNN now. These are the two women suspected of carrying out the attacks in the Russian subway. Thirty-nine people were killed. Russian police say that they're looking for at least three people who might have helped them. One man, two other women. All five are supposedly from the north Caucuses region just around Chechnya.
Investors have been in a buying mood, and Wall Street is eyeing a new magic number again. Less than two months ago, the Dow was trading below the 10,000 mark. Now, 11,000 is back on the horizon. Stephanie Elam in New York with more on the recent rally on Wall Street. Steph?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, I don't know if Dow 11,000 has the same ring as the big Dow 10,000 mark that we surpassed once again last October, but we're still paying close attention to it. The first time the blue chips ever passed this landmark was way back in April of 1999. So, party like it's 1999 all over again.
Since then, we've had two recessions, including the worst one since the Great Depression. Together they resulted in huge swings for the market.
So, why is this figure so significant? For one thing, market watchers thought it would take ages to get back to this point. Remember, just a little over a year ago, the Dow stood at just 6,000. So it's a big move there. Psychologically, moving beyond this level could inspire more of those bearish investors who were jittery to get back into the market to put their chips in once again.
At this moment, though, we're seeing some respectable gains. Nothing really major and nothing too small on the markets. The Dow up 17 points and 10,912. And the NASDAQ better by four points at 20.408, but still, Kyra, we're in the green, so we'll take it.
PHILLIPS: What's behind the -- what do you think is behind the green? Even though it's not as much as we want.
ELAM: Right. Well, there's a bit of a mystery as to what's really behind this, but a lot of people who watch the markets think it may have to do with the fact that we're see something slow and steady economic data showing that the economy's getting better and that's enough for people to jump into the market and say, you what? things are coming into this recession, and that's what we're seeing here.
So, we'll be keeping our eyes on it. But really today, not a huge catalyst.
PHILLIPS: Got it. So, it's not the green sweater that you're wearing that has made any effect here.
ELAM: No, I'm telling you. It's all about Kyra Phillips, being in New York City.
PHILLIPS: Aww, Steph. I'll see you tomorrow. (LAUGHTER)
ELAM: Have a good one.
PHILLIPS: Oh, yes.
Scientists geeked up over a little bang in Europe. Hopefully it will help unlock the secret of the Big Bang. Albert Einstein would be so proud.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Get ready to geek up. We have particle accelerator news. You know, that 17-mile long tunnel in Europe. Scientist have reason to celebrate today when they finally smashed two proton beams together at high energy.
What does that really mean? Good question. It's, you know, sub- atomic type stuff. Things like the theory of relativity and the Big Bang. They hope to keep doing this type of thing for the next two years in an attempt to unlock the secrets of nature and energy.
They're often plain sight, yet have been largely invisible in the official counts of the U.S. population. We'll show you how today's new effort is making sure the homeless are included in this year's census report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Nobody knows just how many homeless people live in the U.S., and that's the problem for census takes. Their job is to count Americans so billions of federal dollars can be given to community services, including those for the homeless. More from Josh Levs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE DOMMER, LIVES IN LAS VEGAS TUNNEL: And we come into our little living room area here. Table here. I have my knickknacks and stuff.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When we met Steve Dahmer last year, he proudly showed us the living space that he shared with his girlfriend Katherine.
DOMMER: Everything is up, if you hadn't noticed. Everything is up on milk crates because we have a lot of water running through here.
LEVS: But it was not intended to house either of them. They were homeless, living in tunnels that divert floodwaters beneath Las Vegas.
As Dommer gave us a tour of the tunnels, he turned his camera light off to show us the pitch black where he lives.
When it comes to the number of homeless in America, the U.S. census also in the dark. It tries to count everyone living in the U.S., including people who don't live in conventional housing or are experiencing homelessness.
He calls himself iron.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The blanket on the ground to stay off the ground, cushions, and pillows.
LEVS: The homeless have no address and get no mail. If they choose to be counted, they will have to find homeless shelters, soup kitchens or census bureau assistance centers to fill out forms or be at a shelter on a day census workers come to take a tally.
Matthew O'Brien, author of "Beneath the Neon," has a charity that helps get housing for the homeless and takes social workers under ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've been offering these people everything from housing to mental health counseling to drug counseling or whatever they would need. I've always thought that more should be done.
LEVS: More will be done if more people are counted. The higher the number of homeless in the census, the more government services are provided.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: Now, Steve Dommer and Katherine, whom you saw there, they now live in an apartment. They got one through O'Brien's local charity. The man who goes by Iron still lives in the tunnel.
Homeless people are being counted this week by census workers. Beginning yesterday, continuing today and tomorrow. In the last census in 2000, the bureau said because of all the limitations to counting homeless people, they really believe their own count was inaccurate. So, Kyra, major questions hang over that in the census thus time around.
PHILLIPS: Got it. Thanks, Josh.
On the blog this morning we're talking about a little boy in Texas. He was bullied at school and attempted suicide. The school's response, have him to sign a no-suicide pact even though he's 8 years old and dyslexic. We asked whether you would have your child sign a suicide pact.
Here's what you said. June, "No, I wouldn't ask my child to sign a no-suicide pact. I would require my child to identify to me any student who bullies him or her and report them to the principal and demand, over and over if necessary, that those bullies be severely punished.
This comes from Eric. "The child needs help from his school, his family, and maybe therapy. Not some meaningless contract."
Charlie says, "I think a no bullying contract would be in order, not a no suicide contract." Good point.
Remember, we want to hear from you. Just log on to CNN.com/Kyra to share your comments, and I enjoy reading them on the air, for sure.
Tony Harris picking up at the top of the hour.
