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Volcanic Ash in Iceland Creates Travel Woes; Duncan: School is a Necessity; Risking Everything for College

Aired April 17, 2010 - 22:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is big. It is historic. And it has even grounded the president of the United States. Tonight, the latest on a volcano interruption for millions of air travelers worldwide. It's a CNN exclusive.

Also, Education Secretary Arne Duncan answers your questions on "Fixing America's Schools." Will his solutions work? You decide.

Been to a movie lately? Expensive is an understatement. But grab your popcorn. We'll tell you why you soon can make money off the box office.

And it's smarty pants heaven in Atlanta this weekend. Call them what you want. We will all be working for these young robotic competition contestants one day, and they're here live to tell us why.

Good evening, everyone.

Modern Europe hasn't seen anything like it. And it has traveled across the pond all the way to the White House, but not by plane, just by word from European officials that the president's planned trip to the Polish president's funeral would not be such a good idea right now.

That's because air travel across that country is at a standstill tonight. A volcano in Iceland is to blame. It is blasting into the sky around the clock and no one knows when conditions will get any better.

The impact on travel is huge. Flight cancellations and travel chaos stretching from Ireland and England across northern and central Europe and into parts of Russia. The epicenter is Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier which is filling European airspace with tiny particles of sand and rock, a potentially deadly combination for aircraft engines.

This exclusive CNN video from earlier today, a view of the volcano you won't see anywhere else. We have a live report from Iceland in just a moment.

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 are passing the time in near empty terminals tonight. The numbers are staggering. There were only about 5,000 flights across Europe today. Normally, there would have been about 22,000. Flight restrictions are in place across 23 countries. And the world's airline industry is facing $200 million in losses every single day.

CNN's Gary Tuchman did something extraordinary today. As you know, he has been reporting from the base of the Iceland volcano. Today, he was able to fly around and next to the volcano in a helicopter. The only network TV reporter to get airborne. Tonight here is his exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This was the first day visibility was good enough to see up close. The Iceland volcano erupted. So, we flew aboard a helicopter to get as close as the pilot dared. He dared to get a lot closer than we imagined, only several hundred feet away from a display that looked like it was from another world. Boulders shooting out of the crater, lightning bolts and a smoke that towered hundreds of feet high.

(on camera): Look at this volcano eruption. This close-up is both awe-inspiring and frightening. It has been quiet since the 1820's. This volcano stopped erupting in 1823. It has been doing so for about two years. It's hard to imagine the economic catastrophe if it lasted that long now.

(voice over): This part of the mountain range is where the eruption began last month. Now it is mostly quiet with just pockets of smoke. But here the eruptions are huge, dramatic and show no signs of weakening. There is another nearby volcano called Katla which has not erupted in almost 90 years. And historically erupts around 50 years. It is feared that could be far more devastating than this one.

PROF. HREGGWIDAR NORDDRAHL, UNIVERSITY OF ICELAND: Magma might find its way from this volcano into Katla, why happens then? I don't know.

TUCHMAN (on camera): So, is it possible the magma from this volcano could cause Katla to erupt?

NORDDRAHL: It might cause some activity, yes.

TUCHMAN: We found it hard to believe we could fly right next to this incredibly powerful display of Mother Nature while whole countries are closing down their airports because of it. And there is absolutely no way of knowing how long it will last.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Unbelievable pictures. Gary Tuchman joins me now from Iceland.

Gary, how did you get so close to that same volcano that is causing planes all over Europe to stay grounded?

TUCHMAN: Well, the key is, Don, that we approached it from the north. And today, the winds shifted. The winds were coming from the north and blowing to the south. That is the irony, that thousands of miles away, people have been affected. They couldn't fly and yet we were a few hundred feet away on the correct side of the volcano rather on the north. But the thing is, we couldn't come anywhere close to the south side because that obviously would have been a disaster for our pilot.

LEMON: Hey, Gary, talk to us about health concerns. People are breathing that. Can you smell it? Can you taste it? Are people there concerned about it?

TUCHMAN: Well, that is the thing if you are on the correct side -- the correct of the volcano, it is fine. And right now, we are several miles away from it, were on the north side and therefore there is no problem whatsoever.

But for the people who live in Iceland in the southeast corner of Iceland right now, there is a lot of ash, there is a lot of floodwater, a lot of concern. They have to wear masks. So most of Iceland is fine.

As a matter of fact, in the capital Reykjavik, which is about 75 miles to the northwest of the volcano, if you weren't paying attention to the news, you wouldn't know there is anything wrong at all. Life is completely normal. The airport is open. But in a small portion of Iceland and much of Europe, at airports, it is not very normal at all.

LEMON: Gary Tuchman in Iceland. Gary, stay safe. Thank you very much. I guess it all depends on the winds. And we will talk to our Jacqui Jeras, our meteorologist, here in Atlanta in just a little bit to get an update on that.

Joining me on the phone right now is Monte Klein. He is at home in Connecticut. His son is getting married in England tomorrow and Mr. Kline cannot get there.

Sorry to hear that, sir. Talk to us about the decision. I'm sure you had to talk to your son. He and his fiancee are not happy.

MONTE KLEIN, MISSING SON'S WEDDING (via telephone): Hi. Hello.

LEMON: How are you?

KLEIN: Well, I've had better days.

LEMON: I would imagine.

KLEIN: We've been trying to get to England. We've had several flights. They've all been canceled. The people at the airlines have been wonderful. But the planes just aren't moving. We are stuck in Connecticut. Our son is getting married tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. local time, which is 3:00 Eastern Time.

LEMON: Hey, Mr. Klein, give us the back story. Why is he getting married in Europe? Did he meet a young lady there... KLEIN: Yes. He works in London and he's been there for five years and he met this lovely, lovely young lady there. And they're getting married.

LEMON: I would imagine there are many, many families dealing with similar situations as yours, having, wanting to get to Europe or beyond Europe if you have to, you know, maybe a layover there to try to either see family members or go to an event and you can't do it. It is frustrating but you understand why.

KLEIN: Well, it is truly frustrating. And my son is really the master of the understatement. As we were preparing to leave, we had a flight out Thursday morning at 9:00 from New York. And the last thing I did was check my e-mail. That was about 10 minutes to 5:00 in the morning. He sent me an e-mail and said, "Dad, one minor issue may arise. There has been an eruption of a volcano in Iceland. Probably not a problem. See you soon."

LEMON: What is your son's name?

KLEIN: Eric Klein.

LEMON: And his fiancee?

KLEIN: His fiancee's name is Emma.

LEMON: Hey, listen, thank you very much, Mr. Monte Klein. And Eric and Emma, we wish the very best. Hopefully, you will get to see them soon and you'll get to see at least some pictures and video, OK?

KLEIN: Thanks. Thank you very much.

LEMON: Thank you very much.

So, let's turn now to our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

We saw our Gary Tuchman there in Iceland, Jacqui, and I asked him about the health concerns, about breathing, all of this, and we know about -- it can clog a jet engine. But we want to talk a little bit about health as well.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, there are lots of health issues associated with it. Of course, the closer you are to the volcano, the more likely you are to be impacted by it. But here are a lot of gases, almost a dozen of them, that are released from volcanoes and it can be irritating to your mucus membranes, your respiratory system and even your skin at times. And so, the more respiratory problems you have, normally the more likely you are to be impacted by that.

Now, air travel, we were talking about all those flights being canceled. Well, this is the real-time air travel that's going on. Normally in the air space across Europe on a day like today, on a Saturday, you have 22,000 planes - 22,000 flights. Today, there were only 5,000. So, less than a quarter of what you normally would have. And here you can see across southern parts of Europe, from Spain over towards Italy and then even stretching over here into Turkey. That is where the flights have been able to go for today. And it is all in which way the wind blows, as you mentioned.

And the forecast, Don, for Sunday into Monday is those northwesterly winds are going to continue to blow. So, this is a whole area that could be impacted by that ash today. So, this is covering much of Europe even into western parts of Asia.

As long as that continues to blow, this is going to continue to be a problem. We could see a little bit of a shift in the wind pattern, we think, by the middle to latter part of the week. The only good news I can tell you really tonight, Don, is that I'm getting reports now that the concentration of the ash coming out of the volcano is a little lesser than it was yesterday.

LEMON: Can you imagine? Never in a million years you would have thought, oh, I'm going to miss...

JERAS: Miss your son's wedding. I know.

LEMON: You're going to miss the wedding because of a volcano -- who would have thought?

JERAS: Who would have thought? You know, I heard another story very similar, and they Skyped the people in, so they were able to watch that way. Maybe Mr. Klein could see it, possibly through that.

LEMON: Well, hopefully it is good luck like when it rains on your wedding day, it's supposed to be good luck. Hopefully, that's good luck. They will be together a long time. Long and happy life to them.

Thank you very much, Jacqui Jeras.

Tonight a CNN special event, fixing America's schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: This year, taxpayers will spend about $11,000 for each public school student in this country. Many children will excel, too many will not. Ahead, we take you inside our exclusive town hall meeting with Education Secretary Arne Duncan on what needs to be done.

And see those guys right there? Live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Whoo, you are excited, right guys?

UNIDENTIFIED BOYS AND A GIRL: Yes. LEMON: High school students who clearly excel in academics, they have vanquished their foes in epic battle with cunning creativity and coolness to the nth degree. There they are. We will tell you why they are the champions.

Also, make sure you log on to the social networking sites. We want to know what is on your mind. Be a part of the conversation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're about to take you inside a CNN exclusive. No holds barred town hall meeting where parents, students and teachers take their questions straight to Education Secretary Arne Duncan. We sat down yesterday at Carver Early College High School here in Atlanta and I began by asking the secretary, "considering the billions we spent each year, is education a right or a privilege?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DUNCAN: Every child in this country, every single child must have a world-class education. And I've sort of pity -- there was a day, you know, 30 years ago in which if you dropped out of high school, that was actually OK. You could drop out of high school and go get a job some place and support your family and own a home.

There are no good jobs out there for high school dropouts. There are virtually no good jobs for high school graduates. Some form of higher education has to be the goal for every single one by young people here. Four-year universities, two-year community colleges, trade, technical, vocational training. That has to be the case for every single child.

So, it has to be a right and it can't just be a watered-down, low-expectations education. And we really -- we really have to raise, and we talked a lot about today, we really have to raise the bar for all students. I'm convinced we have to educate our way to a better economy. That's the only way we're going to get there from here.

LEMON: You mentioned raising the bar for all the students. Let's start with a student question first. I want to get to students. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Hello. My name is Jose Evlo (ph). I'm a senior in high school. And from experience, I know we have a shortage in books and without books basically the teachers can't do their jobs. So, what is your plan on that?

DUNCAN: We want to continue to invest significantly more resources in education. I think we under-invest in education. And if there are not books, if there are not computers, if halls aren't clean, you know, you don't have quarters and libraries like this, it makes it harder to learn.

I want to be clear. We want to invest more resources, but we don't invest in status quo. We want to get dramatically better. And we have a dropout rate that is too high. The dropout rate in this country is about 27 percent. 1.2 million students leaving our schools for the streets. That is morally unacceptable, economically unsustainable.

And so we need to invest. And this is a very, very tough time. Local districts, state level, huge cuts in funding. We are very worried about that. One of the things I'm now pushing before Congress is another emergency education funding bill to save teachers' jobs around the country.

We worry not just here in Georgia, but around the country. Anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 teachers losing their jobs going into the next school year. We can't afford to get worse. We have to get much better.

I worry about cutting extracurriculars. I worry about schools going to four-day weeks. I worry about folks losing art and dance and drama and music. And so there are a series of things that every child should have access to, books being at the heart of that. And so is a five-day school week. I argue six to seven day school week. You might not like that idea. I think you need a lot more time in school, longer days, longer weeks, longer years. We need to educate our way to better economy. We need to invest.

LEMON: And Secretary, I've got -- you know, I'm going to be the teacher today. So again, do you feel your question was answered? He wants to know specifically about books. What is your plan for books, Secretary?

DUNCAN: What we are trying to do is put unprecedented resources out to states and how states use that money. We have $100 -- almost $100 billion in the stimulus package and Recovery Act. How states use that money is up to them. But there has never been such a commitment at the federal level to invest in local school districts.

LEMON: We have another student -- one more student who wants to ask a question. Real quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I'm a junior here at Carver Early College and I want to know if you feel that fine arts and music classes need to be eliminated.

DUNCAN: Absolutely not. They do not need to be eliminated. And again, dance, drama, art, music, chess, debate, academic, decathlon. Our students need a well-rounded education and we have to get back to that as a country.

LEMON: All right. Real quickly, I want to ask you about this. This is something that's in the news. It involves paddling. Twenty states are still legal to paddle. There's a -- Congress is trying to ban it. Do you think that paddling should be banned or should it be legalized in schools?

DUNCAN: Well, I think that is a local decision. But am I a fan of hitting kids? Absolutely not.

LEMON: What's the answer? You see, you let it to the schools locally, but are you a fan of hitting children? No.

DUNCAN: I'm not a fan of hitting children. Absolutely not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Our conversation with the secretary of education continues in a moment. We'll ask him about the rising cost of college.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife and I are college educated and have three elementary school children. And by the time they go to college, I'm not sure if we are going to be able to afford it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That is an issue that weighs heavily on the minds of parents all across America. We'll talk about solutions for the crushing cost of a higher education.

And, will it flop or will it 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 definitely want to hear about this one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Fixing America's schools. It is "What Matters Tonight." I don't know anybody not stressed by the skyrocketing cost of a college education. And tonight's "What Matters", CNN's Thelma Gutierrez introduces us to one family willing to risk everything for their daughter's degree.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIAN GOMEZ, STUDENT: Hi I'm Christian Gomez. I'm 18. I attend Marymount College.

TONY GOMEZ, FATHER of CHRISTIAN GOMEZ: My name is Antonio Gomez and my biggest fear is getting my 18-year-old daughter through college.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is a story about a family who's willing to sacrifice everything to educate their children, and break with the past.

ANNE MARIE GOMEZ, MOTHER OF CHRISTIAN GOMEZ: My father was a janitor. My husband and I were born and raised in east L.A. I was seven months pregnant when I graduated from Garfield High School.

GUTIERREZ: By all accounts, Anne Marie Gomez wasn't supposed to make it. She was 17 with a baby. But she was determined not to become a statistic. So she married Antonio, went on to the University of Southern California where she eventually earned a masters degree in health care administration.

A. GOMEZ: Hi.

GUTIERREZ: We met the Gomezes in East L.A. at a fast food restaurant they own. Her husband runs it while she works full-time as a business developer. Their income is about $90,000 a year. It sounds good, but with the mortgage, two younger children and a struggling business, they're barely able to afford Christian's tuition at Marymount College.

(on camera): So when your daughter needed $25,000 for her first year of tuition, what did you guys do?

T. GOMEZ: I pulled my money out, my 401(k).

GUTIERREZ (voice over): Because of her parents' income, Christian doesn't qualify for many government student aid programs, so the family has come up with creative ways to fundraise. They collect plastic bottles to recycle. They sell chocolate and even run 5ks for pledges to help pay for books and other expenses.

(on camera): You must reflect on the opportunity that your parents have given you to be here, to be able to go to school here and the sacrifices that they've made.

C. GOMEZ: Yes, I do, a lot. It's stressful at times and I feel bad, but at the same time, I just really appreciate it.

GUTIERREZ (voice over): The Gomezes are also taking out loans to pay for college tuition, which is rising three times the rate of inflation. At the same time, they're paying back $59,000 that Anne Marie borrowed 12 years ago to attend USC.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): Your family struggles each and every semester to be able to come up with money to send her to school. What if you're not able to come up with that money?

T. GOMEZ: It's not that, well, yes, I want to buy, you know, a big house. I just want to provide for them, provide for my kids, for better education.

GUTIERREZ (voice over): To pay them back, Christian's determined to graduate with honors.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: How can the average family, working class family, how are they supposed to be able to afford college?

DUNCAN: This is a huge challenge. Working class, middle class. It is something we think about all the time. It's a real worry.

I'm so proud of the president's leadership and Congress's support. We recently passed the Higher Education Bill that is going to bring an additional $36 billion into Pell Grants for students over the next decade. We did that simply by stopping subsidizing banks, not going back to taxpayers per diem, and putting all that money into education and invest in our future which is where it should be. Families can get a $10,000 tuition tax credit.

And so we have to continue to work to make college more affordable. This is the biggest increase in funding since the GI Bill. Massive resources going in. And we want to make sure that every single child like that around the country has the chance to pursue that dream of higher education.

We also need to really challenge universities to think about reducing costs. And I think families have to -- have to vote with their feet. You see some universities with runaway expenses. You see others going to three-year programs, going to no-frill campuses.

And we have a world-class system, you know, thousands and thousands of universities around the country. Parents and students can go to those places where they are getting value for their hard- earned dollars. And you're probably aware that costs are skyrocketing. I think those costs are going to start to lose their students.

LEMON: I want to hear from a parent. But just getting that money sometimes, as we say, it's not just like talking about it, you've got to -- you've got to sometimes jump through hoops to get that money, and sometimes that -- even that isn't enough.

DUNCAN: Well, let me tell you what we've done. The FAFSA form -- the financial aid form itself used to be a huge impediment to going to college. It was so difficult. You basically needed a PhD. to fill it out. 17-year-olds don't have a PhD yet.

LEMON: A lot of people are agreeing with that.

DUNCAN: We dramatically simplified the FAFSA form, made it much, much easier. It literally stopped students around the country -- since I worked in Chicago -- from going to college. Students who worked hard, they got good grades. They couldn't get through the form. It was crazy. It is dramatically simpler, trying to remove those hoops, remove those barriers, get in more money than ever before.

One other thing I'd like to mention, Don, this is really important, is that the back end, once you graduate, there is something called income-based repayment now. And the mom there in the story talked about the loan she had to pay.

Going forward what we are doing is we're reducing those loan repayments to 10 percent of your income. So trying to make it much more manageable.

And then very important, if you become a teacher, if you graduate from law school and work in a legal aid clinic or medical school and work in a disadvantaged community, after 10 years of that service, all of your loan will be erased. All of your loans will be forgiven. There is so much great talent and students they would have loved to become a teacher, but they had $68,000 loans. They couldn't afford it. Well, we're removing all those impediments. This is a law. This law passed. So, this is a big, big deal for the country.

LEMON: I want to get a parent question. Use the microphone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. I'm Stanley Bermudez (ph). My wife and I are college educated and have three elementary school children. And by the time they go to college, I'm not sure if we are going to be able to afford it. So, I was wondering and you mentioned a few things already, I could relate to the video.

What specifically is the administration going to do to approach rising college costs to make it affordable for everybody, since it's like becoming something that only the rich and wealthy will be able to do that? And we are not rich and wealthy.

DUNCAN: That's a good question. It is a very real challenge. So again, $10,000 tuition tax credits for the middle class. $36 billion in increased Pell Grants over the next decade and then income- based repayment at the back end to reduce those loan repayments and erasing them after 10 years of public service.

So, these are real challenges, but this has been just -- I think amazing leadership by the president, support in Congress to make these things happen. And I think we are changing the opportunity structure going forward in very, very significant ways.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: A great discussion with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Your chance to see the entire hour happen again tomorrow night, 6:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. It is called "FIXING AMERICA'S SCHOOLS." You'll see it tomorrow 6:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

By now you probably heard about that American family who sent their adopted son back to Russia all by himself. But families at an event in Washington today are hoping to show that that case is an exception, not the rule here in America.

And how do you make engineering interesting to young people? You let them build robots. At least that is what these guys say. They named these robots. We'll tell you what they are. Our robotics champions here live tonight in the studio. Not only meet them, you'll meet the robots. Maybe there is a love connection between their robots and our robotic cam. I'll see if I can hook it up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Americans wanting to adopt children have long looked to Russia for help. That door appeared to shut this week after a Tennessee woman sent a child she had adopted back to Russia. Today's annual get-together for adopted families at a Russian embassy in Washington show the controversy weighs heavily on both sides. Photo journalist Eddie Gross captured this snapshot of that event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We enjoy it. (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously horrified by what's happened to children in the past. So, this poor child put on a plane, sent back. I do sincerely hope it does not impact the adoption, you know, for me.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You have this letter here. Who did you write the letter to?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: The Russian ambassador. Dear Russian ambassador. Please don't let us down. We know you are a great country. Do not let one woman shut us down because we are Americans in Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am very hopeful that Russia and the United States can work out an agreement. I have faith that it is going to work out somehow. And I'm excited. I mean, I'm really looking forward to being a mom and adopt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A Moscow-bound delegation from Washington has been delayed by the volcano trouble. But those diplomats hope to draft a treaty with Russia to allow more adoptions to go forward.

Well, if your only experience -- your only experience with robots is the "rock em, sock em" variety or maybe a vacuum cleaner or whatever, prepare to be amazed by the creations of these young engineers. We've got the winners of this year's FIRST Robotics Championship. Look at our robot checking them out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Wow. Thousands of wiz kids from across the country are in Atlanta this weekend. It's for a battle, right? Check this out. It's a battle that really separates the terminators from the C3POs. I'm so corny.

The annual FIRST Robotics Competition came to a close tonight and joining me, this year's winners, Alliance -- Winning Alliance, I should say, and some of the robot creators and creations right here.

All right. So, HOT team, the team from, what is it? HOT team from Milford, Michigan. Who is that?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Right here.

LEMON: That's for Hot Pot. Where is Hot Pot?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Right here.

LEMON: Right here. OK. And the other team is from Bobcat, which is on the end, South Windsor, Connecticut. Raise your hand. In the house.

And then Beach Cities Robotics from Redondo Beach, California. Right here.

You guys really should be on Redondo Beach getting a tan. So, listen, tell me, what do these robots do? What are their names and all of that? We told them -- this is what, again? High Five. That's High Five.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: McTwist.

LEMON: This is McTwist.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Bobcat.

LEMON: This is Bobcat.

What is this all about? Like why -- what is this competition all about?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Engineering. Creating ways for people to get into engineering is what it is all about.

LEMON: You don't have to be nervous.

I mess up all the time and I'm still employed.

OK. Is that what it's all about? Is it fun? Because people -- some people might say, oh, you know what, it's kind of nerdy, these kids, and their robots.

RYAN LEGATO, THE HOT TEAM, MILFORD, MICHIGAN: Yes, I mean, it is absolutely fun. I mean, like I'd say that, you know, I would much rather be doing this than school and I, you know, take a lot of time off of school for six weeks building this robot, during the build season, January to the middle of March, and we put so much effort and I had a great time doing it.

LEMON: All right. Let me tell you their names real quickly before I move on. This is Ryan right here. Raise your hand. Right here. Anton, David, Ryan, Katherine and Ben.

So how do you -- how do you get started? Let me walk in here. I'm standing in front of you. How do you get started with something like this? How do you go, hey, mom, I want to build a robot?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: At the beginning of the season, we start out with a big board and we decide what we want to end up doing with the robot this year. We thought out what elements of the game we think are going to be the most important because this year, the field has these two big bumps on it.

And we were trying to figure out if we want to be able to survive with the bumps. There's a tunnel. We want to figure out if we want to be small enough to go through the tunnel. We want to kick the balls. Do we want to hang up a tower? So, we have to prioritize all these different elements and figure out what we want to do.

LEMON: And build a robot accordingly.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Yes. So, basically, after we had all our ideas out, we basically prioritized them. You know, what ones we wanted to do the most. You know, we had to get across the field and we know we had to score if we wanted to play. So, we put a lot of time and everything into building a good drive train so we could get a good (INAUDIBLE). We put a lot of time and everything to a good kicker so that we could kick balls really consistently and accurately.

LEMON: All right. So you do everything, even like putting the screws together, you do all the mechanics?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Yes. We actually machined the robot. And we worked out of the GM Milford proving grounds and we used their machine shop and we design and cad all the parts, and then we cut them on the water jet. We mill them on the mills. We lay them on the lays. We make it all.

LEMON: You do everything. And here I am -- here I am thinking I'm cool because -- I'm not in your light, but at least I know TV, but you do all this stuff. So, listen, is that, you know, is it cool? Do people think you are cool at school when you do this?

KATHERINE DESY, BOBCAT ROBOTICS, SOUTH WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT: When we came back -- we actually from the Hartford Regional in Hartford, Connecticut, and when we came back, it was -- it was pretty fun to see what people thought of us.

LEMON: Yes?

DESY: Oh, yes.

LEMON: Do you get a lot of dates from this?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I don't know how to answer that. But we are trying to expand community support and awareness of this organization. We have had like pasta dinners to get fundraising and get community support.

LEMON: Because it is expensive, right?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Yes. It's actually very expensive.

LEMON: How much does one -- how much something like Bobcat cost?

DESY: We only have an allowance of $4,000 -- no, $3,500 a year, and we actually were right under that at $3,400. So, it's very sacred.

LEMON: So you guys are the people who like we have robotic vacuum cleaners, robotic cameras, and all of that, you're the guys responsible for that? UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Yes.

LEMON: All right. Listen, I'm very impressed by it. Give yourselves a round of applause. Thank you.

DESY: Thank you.

LEMON: You've been on national television. Your friends think you're even cool.

What is the 67 for? What is that?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: We -- one of the big things is like team spirit. So, we each have our own team. We have our own like...

LEMON: Keep talking.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: So basically team spirit is a big thing. So, we put 67. That's our team number. And we have HOT, that's our team name. It stands for Heroes of Tomorrow. You know, we have our own colors. We have our own, you know, chants and stuff. So when we win something or trying to get really into it, we'll, you know, yell our chants.

LEMON: I'm going to do what they tell me. Wrap.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Sorry.

LEMON: That's all right. No. We are very happy for you. We appreciate your team spirit. Listen, thanks for coming by. Proud of you guys, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: All right.

DESY: Thank you.

LEMON: You know what? Perhaps it was a sympathy vote. A man who died while campaigning for mayor won by a huge margin against a living candidate. Now what?

Show their robots a little bit. Very cool. Cool stuff, man. Can we make these go?

DESY: Need a battery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: 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 the motto, "Have Justice, Will Travel."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WINONA WARD, PROTECTING THE POWERLESS: When I was growing up on the rural back road, family violence was an accepted way of life. This is my mother, and I'm the baby here, and my father and my brother, Richard, and my sister Colleen.

My father would commonly abuse all of us. He raped me and beat my mother and my other siblings. When the neighbors heard screaming coming from our home, they just turned their heads.

For domestic violence victims in rural areas, it can be very devastating. They're out there on these back roads with no access to in-town services. Many of them do not have telephones. Some of them do not have driver's license for an automobile, so we go to them.

My name is Winona Ward.

The turning point for me was when a child in my family revealed that she had been abused by my father and my brother. I just said, this has to stop.

When I graduated from law school, I was 48 years old.

Good morning, my dear.

I go to people's homes, give them in-home consultation, provide them with free legal services and transportation to and from courtrooms. I don't want children to have to go through what I did as a child. I want to see my clients become empowered. I can understand them, and they know that I will be there to protect them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

Ever looked at a movie preview and said to yourself, well, that is going to be a bomb? Well, now you can put your money on the line. Failure or success? You may soon be able to cash in on Hollywood's work.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Movies may soon be making you money. Yesterday, the government gave the first of several approvals needed to allow for a movie futures exchange where you could cash in on whether a movie bombs or bombs at the box office. Many in Hollywood say it's a good idea.

And earlier tonight, we heard why it's a good idea from studio head Peter Guber. He's the chairman of Mandalay Entertainment. We also talked with Robert Swagger, the head of the company that is trying to start that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SWAGGER, CEO, TREND EXCHANGE: All a futures market does is bring 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. It is kind of -- when you are 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. So I would be going, oh, my God, I hope this movie makes it or I hope it fails or whatever, just to add some other dimension.

So, listen, there is motivation for investors to, you know, hope a movie tanks, as I just said. So, this is -- you know, this is just one of the concerns that you have Mr. Guber that I hear. Why are you opposed to the exchange and who else is against it?

PETER GUBER, CHMN., MANDALAY ENTERTAINMENT: Well, there is an alliance that's against it, which is unusual. I've been in the business for almost 40 years on every aspect of the business. Run studios and corporations. Everybody. The unions, the studios, National Association of Theater Owners, the Directors Guild are all against it.

Why? It is not a money maker for improvement for artists, directors, producers, financiers of studios. It is a casino. It's a gambling operation. And the idea here is the only people on both sides of those bets, they're the only one who 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 a room where they have $100 million or $150 million investment, four or five weeks, and raise your hand and say, oh, let's hedge our bet and sell the movie off. That would be the last day you'd be in the company.

Anybody leaving the room when they are talking about marketing the film and asked some questions has to be chaperoned on the way to the men's room. There is so much conflict of interest.

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

SWAGGER: I think it is a very animated point, but it is very wrong. There is a fine definition between gambling and speculation. The gamble has been taking on by the person who has created the risk, and those are the studios that Mr. Guber 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 has

quantified this as gambling. But what it is, it's taking a risk that has already been created and spreading it amongst other people.

LEMON: The question is, why do it? Do you feel like you are offering a service that is needed or -- I mean, 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. And as an American who loves watching entertainment, I want to make sure there are great movies coming out. So, to offer the opportunity to spread that risk, what is 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 that to happen?

GUBER: Anything I can do. This is the dumbest idea since "Gigli". And this is really -- this brings no more money to making a film. This guy has never run 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 a derivative or go bet against their own film before it comes out. They're just not going to do that. That is the worst thing that could happen. Who the heck is going to make any money in this? Only the betters and the casino owners like him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Dumbest idea since "Gigli." Ouch. Very animated discussion. So, thanks to Robert Swagger and Peter Guber for being here.

That volcano eruption in Iceland creating a travel nightmare and virtually shutting down air travel across Europe. We are getting new information tonight on when flights may resume.

And check the calendar. It is supposed to be April showers, right? And this isn't any April Fool's joke. But what about April snow showers?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, we want to talk about that volcano. But first -- I guess it is good news. Tomorrow night -- remember we spoke to Mr. Klein and he was going to his son's wedding?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

LEMON: Yes. Monte Klein. He and his wife are going join us tomorrow night and we are also going to go to the wedding of his son and daughter-in-law.

JERAS: How? LEMON: And hopefully, they'll join us as well. We'll get some video. Tomorrow night 10:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. So make sure you tune in. 7:00 p.m., I have been told by a voice in my head that it's 7:00 p.m. So, I'm hearing voices, but that is nothing new.

Anyway. Some serious stuff going on really with that volcanic ash. It can clog jet engines and it's also causing some health problems as well.

JERAS: Yes, it absolutely is. And it's quite an area that is being dispersed all across northern Europe. That's our ash forecast again for your Sunday and likely lingering into maybe the middle of the week before we start to see our weather pattern change and possibly help to sweep some of this out of here. But it is still a little iffy at this point and we think you are going to have problems over the next couple of days.

There you can see...

LEMON: Look at that.

JERAS: It continues to erupt. I mean, that goes five miles high into the air.

LEMON: One of the scariest documentaries I have seen, Jacqui, was on a flight, it was back in 1982, when a British Airways flight flew over a volcano and the engines stopped and they weren't able to put the engines come back on until they got close to the ground where the air was fresher. Oh, it was frightening, frightening. So, now we know why they do that.

JERAS: Yes. These are not precautionary measures whatsoever. This is the real deal. You don't want to fly into this kind of thing. It chokes off those engines. And you know, it's like pieces of rock, really, real tiny pieces of like crystallized rock and it can melt in those engines and kind of coalesce on everything. So, certainly a risky one you don't want to take. Better safe than sorry. Take the train or something and you might have some better life.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Snow in April. What next?

JERAS: It happens.

LEMON: All right. We'll be here to report it. Thank you, Jacqui Jeras.

New sculptures or paintings are pretty common in art museums, right? But this provocative exhibit -- well, it features live models and they are in the buff, I should mention, and visitors are having a hard time keeping their hands off the art. Pervs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Before we get out of here, I want to tell you these stories. Voters in Tracy City, Tennessee, turned out this week to choose a new mayor. The incumbent lost by better 3-1 margin to a town councilman, his name is Robin Geary, despite the fact that Geary died a month ago. His widow, you see there, says she wasn't surprised because people have been writing her saying that they were going to vote for him anyway.

All right. And you might file this one under -- well, what did you expect. Some visitors at New York's Museum of Modern Art getting thrown out for touching its new exhibits. Look at the exhibit. Nude live performers. Includes performer standing around a narrow doorway facing each other. Visitors try to squeeze them. They are taken out through another door.

I'm Don Lemon. I'll see you back here tomorrow night. Thanks for joining us. Good night.