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Europe's Travel Nightmare; Black Community Taking Action; More Trouble for Toyota; Meteorite Lit Up Sky Over Midwest; Fixing America's Schools

Aired April 17, 2010 - 17:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, volcanic ash grounding thousands of flights including Air Force One. Many Americans are stranded. We check in on what it means for the space shuttle's return on Monday.

A CNN exclusive, the secretary of education pays us a visit and answers your questions on fixing America's schools. Will his plan work? I go one on one with Arne Duncan.

Tired of paying big bucks for your movies? Grab your popcorn. We'll tell you what one company is doing to help you make money, big money, off the box office.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.

The volcano in Iceland shows no signs of calming down. It is still blasting ash into the skies and causing devastating and devastating shutdown of virtually all European air travel. The impact is devastating, causing flight cancellations and travel chaos from Ireland and England across northern and central Europe and into parts of Russia. Russia, it is also caused by the -- all of this is caused by the volcano at Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier.

It is potentially a deadly combination for aircraft engines. The flight cancellations have turned some of the world's busiest buildings into quiet cavernous shells, would be travelers have been stranded or forced to stay home and those unlucky enough to be stuck at airports, well, they're living in almost empty terminals right now.

The numbers are staggering. American, Continental and Delta canceled hundreds of flights and British Airways canceled all flights to and from London throughout the weekend. Flight restrictions are in place across 23 countries. There were only about 5,000 flights across Europe today. Normally there would have been 22,000.

And we just learned, just a short time ago, that the volcanic ash will have President Barack Obama staying home. He won't be attending the funeral tomorrow for Poland's president who died in a plane crash last weekend. The ambassador to Poland will represent the United States instead. Man, unbelievable what is going on now.

Let's take some pictures now. We have some pictures that are from satellite images we want to show you. It shows you really how this is spreading all across Europe. And this is, again, pictures, again, say it again, Scottie. Okay, just that one that we have for you.

In the meantime, we want to get to our reporting now. Not many people have been up close to a volcano as it has erupted, right? Our Gary Tuchman is in Iceland today and he was able to report from just outside the volcano even fly above it. Check this out.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sunny days are relatively rare in Iceland. It is very sunny today and because it is, you have a perfect view of a volcano. Initial reports this morning was that it was getting weaker. But it is not anymore and it appears to be intensifying. We're able to get on a helicopter today and fly within a few hundred feet of the eruption of the volcano. It was actually incredible, getting so close to it.

You can see glass shards being tossed, boulders being tossed, lightning bolts. It was awe inspiring. At the same time, it was frightening seeing the immense power of this volcano. It was hard to believe that we were just a few hundred feet away from it, yet thousands of miles away and many countries in Europe people can't fly because this volcano, the eruption, is causing the disruptions in these countries.

The last time this volcano erupted was in the 1820s. Been almost 190 years. When it erupted that time, the eruptions lasted for about two years. It is hard to imagine the economic catastrophe if it continues. But here is something very important to keep in mind. Right next to this volcano is another one called Katla. It has been dormant for about 90 years.

On average, over the last thousand years it erupted every 50 to 75 years. It is considered due and it is also considered much stronger than this one. Can this cause Katla to erupt? Scientists aren't sure, but they're keeping a close eye on the situation. Either way, just seeing this so close up is just incredible.

This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Iceland.

LEMON: It is incredible, Gary. Thank you very much.

Travel chaos across Europe disrupted lives in countless ways. We're hearing painful reports of people headed for vacations, business meetings, and visits with their families. Here is some of what we're hearing tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My flight was meant to go this morning. And -- but now -- I can't get back until a week Saturday. So I've got seven days to wait or try to get home another way, by train or coach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I don't have any chance at the moment. Maybe I will rent a car, private car and I will pay, I don't know how much. This is the story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Train?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Train I think is full. Bus, full. Rent car is impossible. 3,000 euro. LEMON: Stay with CNN throughout the evening and all weekend. We'll have more on the European travel mess. Make sure you stay tuned.

There is another story, black leaders confronting the issue in their communities head on. The National Action Network started wrapping up its convention today in New York with a lively panel discussion. The four-day summit wasn't all talk, it was about setting realistic goals. And CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti is standing by live for us.

Susan, we have seen summits like this before. What makes this one different?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You put your finger on it. Instead of just talk, they're looking for action this time. We have all been to conferences and seminars in the past, and you say isn't that great, you go home and come back next year, and it is more great lively debate.

This time, as you said, they have set goals and they plan to reach them. There were a number of topics covered today, don. They included speakers talking about education, religion, jobs, health care, politics. And one of the things they also talked about is the large number of African Americans in the U.S. prison population, some really disturbing figures. Listen to this, we looked it up, 1 in every 21 black males was in prison by midyear 2008 compared to 1 in 138 white men. What can be done about that? Here is what a couple of speakers had to say.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You can complain about a prison industrial complex, but the key is not getting into that complex, and so if you drop out of school, you got a greater chance. If you don't love your kids, a greater chance. So at some point don't look at the prison system, look at your household.

DANNY BAKEWELL, SR., CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSN.: We're not just stigmatized as they present us in the white media. We have a lot of good things. We have a lot of black men who are standing up, and who are taking care of their families. Those are the stories we have to tell and you got to read them.

CANDIOTTI: So the theme of this year's event, as our CNN contributor Roland Martin put it, is to go home, but the idea is to get involved, to meet, to mobilize, and then to act. Don?

LEMON: Susan Candiotti, thank you very much.

Toyota hoped massive recalls of its cars were a thing of the past. Now it is saying, but wait, there is more. And this time even if you didn't buy a Toyota, you could still be at risk. We're going to explain that.

In the sky, it was stunning, but what this fireball left behind when it hit the earth will definitely surprise you. Also, time for you to weigh in. Want to see what you're talking about. Go to the social networking sites. Reading your comments now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's talk Toyota now. It wants to put the recalls in the rear view mirror definitely, but now the Japanese automaker is admitting to a problem with 600,000 Sienna minivans. Toyota says prolonged exposure to road salt used during snowstorms can corrode spare tire cables on Siennas. This could cause the spare to drop into the road, endangering other drivers. Neal Boudette is Detroit bureau chief for "The Wall Street Journal" and reported extensively on Toyota's woes. Just another one, Neal, a drip, drip, drip in this Toyota story. Are they handling this correctly?

NEAL BOUDETTE, WALL ST. JOURNAL DETROIT BUREAU CHIEF: No. I don't think anybody, I don't think anybody at Toyota would say they did a good job at handling this and they certainly have made a lot of mistakes. Just their CEO about a month ago was before Congress and he admitted they have not communicated well throughout this ordeal. No, they haven't handled it well and obviously haven't gotten control because these things keep cropping up and the sienna problem is the latest one.

LEMON: That's with their PR, they're not handling it right, not doing their whatever they're supposed to do when something like this happens right. What is going on with quality control at Toyota? This is a huge quality control issue.

BOUDETTE: Well, you have to remember that all automakers have recalls and service bulletins that go out all the time. This one with the Sienna, I think this is more of a routine thing, but it comes at a very sensitive time for Toyota. It looks really bad. We haven't heard of instances where the spare tires are dropping out on the road and causing accidents. So in terms of the actual safety danger, it is probably not that big, but it is a real black eye for Toyota at just the worst time.

LEMON: You know, this is -- I have to ask you this, American automakers may be looking at this going this is an opportunity. Is it?

BOUDETTE: Sure. They're taking advantage of it. If you look at Ford, Ford's market share is way up, just the last month in March. GM was number one, Toyota was right behind GM and Ford was right behind Toyota. And we have never had three automakers, those three, GM, Ford and Toyota, neck and neck for the lead in the market. So Ford is taking advantage of it.

LEMON: I'm sure I asked you before but asked people who covered this story, auto experts, when it first started and then it became part of their other brand, Lexus, or what have you, can Toyota survive this? It looks like every other week or once a month, what have you, Toyota is having an issue with a recall. BOUDETTE: Can they survive, sure. The company is not going to collapse or go away. And eventually they'll get control of this, and I think the worries about sudden acceleration have died down. And they'll get through it. If you look at six or seven years ago, Ford had a big problem with the explorer and firestone tires and the vehicles rolling over and even some fatalities on highways. And they have gotten through that. And hardly anybody talks about that now. And five years from now, Toyota will be in the clear. It is very painful now, but they'll survive.

LEMON: Neal Boudette, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Will it flop or fly? Investors may soon be able to take a stake in how Hollywood does at the box office. If making money is important to you, you'll want to hear what this one is about. You making money at the box office. How is that possible?

And a preview of tonight's CNN special "Fixing America's Schools." We host an exclusive town hall meeting with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. What he has to say could profoundly affect your child's future and yours as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We have been telling you about the volcanic ash that crippled air travel over Europe and affecting flights here. Jacqui Jeras, look at that smoke and ash.

JACQUI JERAS, METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yeah.

LEMON: There are tons of pronouncers here. There is a Eyjafjallajokull.

JERAS: I believe it is Eyjafjallajokull.

LEMON: That was the pronunciation I got. Who knows?

JERAS: On the internet, you learn how to speak Spanish or how to speak Scandinavian, it goes, agua, water, and gives you time to say how it pronounces.

Time to move on. And look at that. I just lost my flight data. Gosh darn it. Basically what I wanted to show you on that was that there are really no planes across northern Europe, which have been traveling at all. We have had some air traffic from Spain down through the Mediterranean and Italy, and then on over to Turkey.

So the flights have been able to go in here, but not up here, and that has to do with the upper level winds and which way they have been directing that ash plume. And you can see Iceland, there is the volcano, we have put it on there for you. The winds have been going this way and dispersing and all the way over to Russia now. We expect this weather pattern to continue as we head throughout the rest of the weekend.

However, we are hopeful that we're going to see a little bit of a change in the weather pattern by the middle to latter part of the week. We'll see this kind of ridge out as we call it, and send that plume a little further to the north. Scandinavia, but maybe get flights out of Great Britain and down into France and all those people who have been stranded.

LEMON: And before we move on to the weather here, what happens, the space shuttle comes back on Monday?

JERAS: Yes, space shuttle comes back on Monday and we're not worried about it. So the expected path is that it is going to be trying to come in east of the ash plume area. It is going to go over the Pacific Ocean. You can see a lovely picture as it undocked from the international space station, it did that today. Expect it to land at Kennedy Space Center on Monday morning, I think 7:45 almost eastern time.

And if we look at the maps here, it will show you the path that is it is expected to take. . You can see it moving over the Pacific Northwest, going through the central U.S. and landing at Kennedy Space Center. A lot of people will see this. It will be dark out. If you want to get up extra early and see the bright light in the sky, you may be able to do so. There is a chance of showers by the way in the forecast. We'll have to watch for that impacting the landing.

LEMON: Chance of showers. What is going on now? Anything interesting?

JERAS: Across the U.S. most of us are having a good weekend, right? I won't deny that. We have some really, really extreme weather here across parts of the southern plains states. In particular, we have been watching Texas. We had very heavy showers and thundershowers down there, Corpus Christi, they already moved through the San Antonio area, but put down a good 4 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.

So a lot of folks dealing with flooded streets and we also had some stranded cars as well. The northeast, this is just really light stuff, but check it out, don, that's pink. That's white on our winter radar. It is mid-April. So unusually cool. We had a little mixing, not enough to really cause you any travel problems, maybe slick on the roadways. Look at those temperatures. You see that cold front which dropped on through, been real, real quiet all week long. Things are starting to pick up a little bit now.

LEMON: Quite a beautiful day where we are in Atlanta.

JERAS: It is gorgeous.

LEMON: Thank you, Jacqui Jeras. See you soon.

JERAS: Okay.

LEMON: One day after the deadline to return census forms, the government says three in ten Americans hasn't done so yet. That's fairly close to the rate during the last census, ten years ago. If you haven't returned your form yet, you can expect a knock on the door from census workers in the near future. Be expecting it.

It dazzled stargazers across the Midwest last week, but the shard of meteorite that made it to earth was tiny, about the size of a peanut shell. The man who found the fragment said he heard it bounce off the roof of a shed in his backyard in southeastern Wisconsin. Scientists hope other fragments might be found since the meteorite may have exploded into thousands of little pieces.

We have this just in to CNN. A daughter of former president Lyndon Johnson has been rushed to the Mayo Clinic. A family spokesman says 62-year-old Luci Johnson, seen here on the left, along with her sister, she was taken from her home in Austin, Texas, to a local hospital after complaining of extreme weakness in her arms and in her legs. She was transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota where doctors suspect a disorder affecting the nervous system. We'll update you on that one.

Whether you have children or not, the state of America's education system affects you in countless ways. All of us, really. Many Americans are not happy with what we see. Coming up tonight, at 7:00 p.m. eastern, a CNN one-hour special called "Fixing America's Schools." Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently came to Atlanta to offer his solutions in an exclusive town hall meeting with students, teachers and parents. It was just yesterday and CNN was there. Take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we encourage teachers? How can leaders and school administrators encourage teachers to move outside of the box and be creative in their teaching approaches so that they can reach all needs of students and so that kids can have a quality, world class education and that standard will be met at the same time?

ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: I think teachers are unsung heroes in our society. I think the vast majority of teachers do an extraordinary job, working unbelievably hard, never had less resources than they do today. Children come to school with more challenges than ever before.

We need to do a much better job of supporting those teachers, mentoring them, providing them with meaningful professional development, meaningful career ladders. We don't invest in teachers at our own peril. And I've challenged school education. They need to do a better job of preparing teachers to come into education, more practice, less theory, more hands on experience, but we have to do a much, much better job of helping teachers being successful and rewarding success. We have been scared to talk about excellence.

Great teachers make a huge difference in students' lives. Every kind of -- every kind of study shows three great teachers in a row and that average child will be a year and a half to two grade levels ahead, three bad teachers in a row and that average child will be so far behind, they may never catch up. We need to recognize excellence, reward it, shine a spotlight on it, clone the teachers, put them in real leadership positions to help them share their knowledge. We have to stop being scared of talking about excellence. Great teachers, great principals, talent matters tremendously in education.

LEMON: It is a fascinating and important discussion that you don't want to miss. "Fixing America's Schools" coming up in about 90 minutes right here on CNN at 7:00 p.m. eastern.

Addressing problems of the past to change the future.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Until we raise up our history and our wellness and our greatness, our men and women and children will continue to act inferior.

LEMON: A call of action by the African American community and the clock is ticking.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Building a plan to confront the problems in the black community. That is a goal of this week's national action network convention in New York. The four-day event began wrapping up today with a spirited panel discussion hosted by our very own Roland Martin.

MARTIN: What do you think organization leaders should be doing, community leaders should be doing when it comes to strengthening the black family, whether it is dealing with black women or black men?

TAMIKA MALLORY, EXEC. DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: You talk about action plans, the National Action Network has a decency initiative we have used to challenge media conglomerates and our people and artists to stop allowing ourselves to be denigrated and disrespected. That's one major area that we have to challenge.

We cannot just allow anything to happen within our communities, allow our men to wear their pants hanging down, our women to be pulled out of our names. Once we deal with that and stop allowing it to happen as though it is part of culture, because it is not, we need to be respected. Once we respect ourselves, I think other folks will respect us.

MARTIN: Tom, you got a comment from the web that goes with that. Go ahead.

TOM JOYNER, NATIONALLY SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: When my 10 and 11- year-old children watch TV in primetime, they see black people portrayed as buffoons on comedy shows and reality shows. We need to do something about that.

MARTIN: I'll tell her, tell her kids and her family to watch TV One. I'm just saying. All I'm saying, all I'm saying is -- we're talking families, also I say this to the mother. You pay the cable bill. So you tell your kid what to watch. That's how it rolls in my family. Warren.

WARREN BALLENTINE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: I think it is something we should do. I started doing this on my show two weeks ago. I literally say, black men, tell each other you love each other, and you are proud of each other and you support each other. Because sometimes just talking to these young kids, true story, I was in Chicago, went to a barbershop where I grew up at. Young boy had a gun on the side of his hip. A gun just sitting there. He said, aren't you Warren Ballentine? I said, yes. He said, I love you. I listen to you all the time. I said, you got to put the gun down, Bro, if you want to talk to me. He put the gun down.

The first thing out of his mouth, what's up with President Obama's health care plan? Teachable moment. I looked at him and categorized him one way when I saw the gun. Then he opened his mouth. I said, young man, why do you want to know this? I'm 19 years old, and I just had a baby. I had an event to do. I was supposed to be there in an hour. I sat in that barbershop for four hours with that boy. He cried, gave me his gun and made a commitment to be there for his child.

(APPLAUSE).

MARTIN: So you took the time. So you took the time at that very moment to mentor versus waiting for someone else.

Danny?

DANNY BAKEWELL, SR. CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIANS: National Newspaper Publishers Association communicates with 19.8 black people every week.

(CROSSTALK)

BAKEWELL: Every week, get your black newspapers, subscribe to the newspapers. And we are committed to changing the images that you see. When you look in and you read black newspapers, you see positive things about black people. We're not just stigmatized as they present us in the white media. We have a lot of good things. We have a lot of black men who are standing up and who are taking care of their families. Those are the stories we have to tell, and you got to read them.

(APPLAUSE).

FAYA ROSE TOURE, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL VOTING MUSEUM: Excuse me. I really think we got to stop criminalizing black men over this black father issue. We're criminalizing them. I'm sorry.

MARTIN: Lean forward.

TOURE: OK. We have to stop criminalizing our brothers. In many states, when you don't pay child support, you go to jail. I'm saying there has to be safe daddy houses where we give them places where they can be trained, where they can get education, and spaces where they can be with their children.

We have to understand the root cause of the separation of the black family. And until we get to the root of it, all of these things we're saying up here we should be doing, it is not going to happen, people, until we deal with what Dr. Woodson said, we have to end the miseducation, church by church, school by school. It is a systemic problem. There is a basic belief that black people are inferior from President Obama on down. And until we raise up our history and our wellness and our greatness, our men and women and children will continue to act inferior.

MARTIN: All right. I've got to go. I've got to go to --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: A very spirited discussion. Right now, a separate youth panel discussion is getting under way. And the final event, there is a fashion show to benefit Haiti later on this evening.

This has got to hurt if you're the mayor of Tracy City, Tennessee. Losing a re-election battle to a candidate that doesn't even have a pulse.

Plus, battered women and children desperate for help in a very rural part of America. And a trucker-turned-lawyer using her own experience to answer their call.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Nobody wants to see the economy on the brink of disaster ever again. And the Senate is about to start negotiating financial reforms to address that.

But our "State of the Union" host, Candy Crowley, says there is already some strong opposition.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, STATE OF THE UNION: In some ways, you have a parallel track or an echo at least of the health care reform debate. You have Republicans saying, listen, we want financial industry reform as well, but we don't like this reform. Mitch McConnell has taken the lead on this, and has said, listen, this is all about perpetual bailing out of banks. The Democrats, has gotten tough already and it's not even on the floor. A lot of Democrats have pushed back and say that's just a lie. There is no bailout in this bill.

So they're going to work this out on the Senate floor as they usually do. I think this differs, this battle differs from health care reform in this way, I think they can pick off some Republicans here.

LEMON: Let's talk about the tea party. They got a lot of folks out there on tax day. It seems to be -- some people say it is a movement, it is not a movement. It is just really Republicans who are expressing their right to protest what they consider big government. Talk to me about this heroes and then, what is the other thing, and targets for the tea party movement. What are we -- what are they talking about here?

CROWLEY: They're talking about people they want to see get elected in this election year to either a district or, in the case, of Senators to a state. And what is interesting is, yes, there are -- certainly you can argue and should argue that tea party members are closer to the Republican fold than the Democratic fold, but they are also a bigger headache for Republicans because what you have now are Republicans, more moderate Republicans, being challenged on the right from people who are backed by tea party members. And the tea party organization, such as it is.

The real test for Republicans will be this fall. Let's say in some of these districts the tea party-backed candidate loses in the primaries. Are the tea party members going to vote for the Republican? That's the real test here. Are they going to divide the Republican Party or do they enhance the Republican Party?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We passed 25 different tax cuts last year. And one thing we haven't done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year. Another promise that we kept. (APPLAUSE).

I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think they would be saying thank you. (LAUGHTER).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I know you're going to be talking about that.

CROWLEY: Yes, we are. And the economy in general. Actually, the president's point was, well, I've lowered taxes for most Americans. We are going to be talking about the economy. We have a couple of economic experts to kind of sort through these numbers with us. You know what it is like, like every day a number comes out and they go, oh, the economy is recovering and then next thing you know unemployment has gone up or there have been more bankruptcies or more houses foreclosed. So we're going to try to sort out what's really happening with the economy, what it means for us going forward.

But we're also talking to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell who has been in the forefront of that battle against the Democratic-written bill on financial reform, talking to him about what his bottom line is, and whether he can hold his party together on that. And also about the economy and how the tea party fits in to the Republican plan for November.

LEMON: Candy, I look forward to our discussion and we'll be watching this weekend. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Make sure you catch CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley tomorrow morning 9:00 a.m. and noon eastern here on CNN.

Let's check some of your headline right now. You can add President Obama to the list of people forced to cancel travel plans by that volcano in Iceland. The volcanic ash shut down air travel across Europe and has caused Mr. Obama to call off his planned trip to the funeral for Poland's president. The U.S. ambassador will represent the United States at tomorrow's service.

Toyota's troubles appear to be far from over right now. The Japanese automaker recalling 600,000 Sienna minivans because of a problem with the spare tire cable. Corrosion from road salt can cause the cable to snap, dropping the spare into the road and posing a danger to other drivers. Toyota says it is still working on a solution for this problem.

"Discovery" is headed home. The space shuttle undocked from the international space station just this morning. It will attempt to land Monday morning at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Only three missions remain for the space shuttle program.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. And this week's "CNN Hero" is drawing on her own horrible childhood experiences to save others. Winona Ward reaches out to battered women and children in rural Vermont with this motto, "Have justice, will travel."

(CNN HEROES)

LEMON: Winona Ward estimates she has helped about 10,000 victims of domestic violence, driving nearly 10,000 miles a year doing it. So to nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to CNN.com/heroes.

Have you ever looked at a movie preview and said, well, that's going to bomb? Now you can put your money on the line here. Failure or success, you may soon be able to cash in on Hollywood's work. We'll tell you how.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You know you said you heard everything before? This one, you know what, this may be something you haven't heard of before. Tinsel Town may merge with Wall Street in a new way. Look.

Right now, online, you can bet with fake money on how big an opening movie like "Iron Man 2" might have, right? But if the company, Trend Exchange, has its way, listen up, investors will be able it use real money on a movie futures exchange. Yesterday, a regulatory agency gave Trend Exchange the first approval of a series of signoffs it needs.

And many in Hollywood are not happy about it, including some studio leaders, Peter Gruber, the chairman of Mandalay Entertainment. And also, here's the head of Trend Exchange, Robert Swagger.

A lot of people don't know how buying and selling futures works. So help me understand this one concept, and an investor will be able to make money if a movie does badly. Again, how does this work?

ROBERT SWAGGER, CEO, TREND EXCHANGE: Great question, Don. How it works basically, the film industry has about $100 million on average that they have wagered on a film. When that film comes up to the open box office weekend, we're looking at, how well does that movie perform at the opening box office? There is a lot of risk there. A lot of participants from the studios to hedge funds, pension funds, large banking institutions, who participated in the financing of that movie.

All the futures market does is bring in more participants in, professional institutional traders, to help spread that risk. And if they take a position and the movie does well, they can benefit from the upside of the movie. If they take a position that the movie is not going to do well, and the movie doesn't do well, they can profit from the downside as well.

LEMON: OK. When you're going to a movie, the whole concept for most Americans is to sort of suspend belief and just relax and watch the movie and have it take you somewhere. This, you know, gives you some sort of personal investment. I would be going, I hope this movie makes or I hope it fails or whatever, just adds another dimension.

Listen, there is motivation for investors to, you know, hope a movie tanks, as I just said. This is one concern I heard you have, Mr. Gruber, that I hear. Why are you opposed to the exchange? and who else is against it?

PETER GRUBER, CHAIRMAN, MANDALAY ENTERTAINMENT: There is an alliance against it, which is unusual. I've been in the business almost 40 years. Every aspect of the business, ran studios and corporations, everybody, the unions, the studios, the National Association of Theater Owners, the Directors Guild, they're all against it. Why? It is not a moneymaker or improvement for artists, directors, it is a casino. It is a gambling operation. And the idea is, the only people on both sides of those bets, the only ones that can make any money. It brings nothing to the artist, nothing to anybody.

And really the second part is no studio -- I sat and ran every kind of corporation -- is going to sit in the room when they have $100 million, $150 million investment, four or five weeks and raise your hand and say, let's hedge our bet and sell the movie off. That would be the last day you would be in the company. Anybody leaving the room when they're talking about marketing the film, and had some questions, has to be chaperoned on the way to the men's room, there's so much conflict of interest (ph).

LEMON: Do you agree with that, Mr. Swagger?

SWAGGER: I think it is a very animated point, but it is wrong. There is a fine definition between gambling and speculation. The gamble has been taken on by the person who has created the risk and those are the studios, that Mr. Gruber acknowledged himself. Speculators -- it is one of the oldest arguments in the book. Everybody has always criticized new products being brought to the futures market and have quantify those as gambling. But what it is it, is taking the risk that is already been created, and spreading it among other people --

LEMON: But the question is, why do it? Do you feel like you're like you're offering a service that's need or -- why -- why do it? SWAGGER: Absolutely. When you look at the amount of risk that goes into making a movie, you realize that the movies have very low margins. As an American who loves watching entertainment, I want to make sure there's great movies coming out. So to offer the opportunity to spread that risk, what it does is, it provides liquidity coming into the market so more movies can continue to come to market.

LEMON: When is this going to make its debut? When do you think you're going to do it?

SWAGGER: Third quarter, 2010.

LEMON: OK.

So Mr. Guber, what is your next step to stop the movie futures exchange, because you don't want it?

GUBER: Anything I can do. This is the dumbest idea since "Gili." This is really -- this brings no more money to making the film. This guy has never ran a company, never run a movie, never made a movie. This is completely wrong. Nobody is going to -- that's in the food chain, is going to benefit from this. It doesn't spread the risk. No studio ever is going to finance the derivative or go bet against their own film before it comes out. They're just not going to do that. That's the worst thing that could happen. Who the heck is going to make any money in this? Only the betters and casino owners like him.

LEMON: All right. Peter Guber, thank you.

And also Robert Swagger.

We really appreciate both of you joining us. A very spirited discussion. We'll see what happens.

Come back and update us, OK?

SWAGGER: Sounds good. Thank you.

LEMON: Nothing quite says spring like kids running around on a baseball diamond. It's good exercise, of course, but there are a few things parents need to watch out for, especially if their son or daughter is a pitcher.

Future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine talks about it with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It's this week's "Fit Nation" report.

(FIT NATION)

LEMON: All right, thank you, Dr. Gupta.

"The Situation Room" is straight ahead.

Wolf Blitzer, what do you have for us?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: Thanks very much, Don.

We have a special interview with the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton. He speaks at length as we approach the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, on the lessons learned especially, especially during this current very heated political environment here in the United States. He also briefs us on what's happening in Haiti. I ask him about his own health after that scare he had a few months back.

Also a good debate between two leading members of Congress, the number-two Democrat, the number-two Republican in the House of Representatives.

All that and a lot more, Don, coming up right at the top of the hour.

LEMON: Wolf, we'll be watching. Thank you very much, sir.

"Look, but don't touch" is a familiar rule at art museums, but a new exhibit is testing the self control of some patrons. It's a sensitive subject for performance artists and the folks who love them. We're going do show you.

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LEMON: All right, time now for the news items you might have missed. You'll find this interesting. Tonight, the first family's tax. Yes, they pay them just like we do. The Obamas made $5.5 million last year, %5.5 million, mostly from the sale of his books, the president's books. They paid $1.8 million in federal income tax. The president and the first lady gave $329,000 to 40 charities, including $50,000 each to the humanitarian organization Care and the United Negro College Fund. He also donated his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize award to ten charities.

You know, it might seem like a typical small-town election. Voters in Tracy, Tennessee, population 1600, turned out this week to choose a new mayor. Incumbent Barbara Brock was seeking re-election, but she lost by a better than 3 to 1 margin to a town councilman named Robin Geary. So what makes this news? Geary died a month ago after suffering a heart attack while campaigning. His widow, that you see right here, says she wasn't surprised he won. People had been calling her with condolences and saying they still planned to vote for him. The town council will now choose who the new mayor is going to be.

You might file this under what do you expect? Some visitors to New York's Museum of Modern Art are getting thrown out by touching its newest exhibits, which consists of live nude performers. The exhibit includes nude performers, standing in a narrow doorway facing each other as visitors squeeze between them. Those performers have complained of being pushed, prodded and poked by some patrons who have been escorted out of the museum using a different door. Again, what did you expect?

Coming up, in just one hour, a CNN special. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is talking about your children and their future. We should say our children and their future. He sat down with me at a school right here in Atlanta to take questions from students, parents and educators about how to fix America's schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Are we're going to keep talking about the problem for the next two decades or are we going to fix it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: It's an informational hour, touching on everything from standardized testing, year-round school, merit pay for teachers and making college more affordable. Be sure to join us for "Fixing America's Schools," one hour from now, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

I'm Don Lemon. I'll see you then. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.