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Oil Rig Explodes and Sinks; Wave of Bombings in Iraq; Secret Space Plane; Searching for Meteorites; Burpless Cows

Aired April 23, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: You guys are up at 2 a.m. This is definitely your happy hour, it's OK.

Well, fiddling Rome Burns, the economy saying, where your money goes down the toilet and the men and women who were supposed to be watching the banks are watching something else.

Hey, who has time to police Ponzi schemes where there are so much good porn out there.

An amazing video, a tornado coming up the street. We have seen it before. If the experts are right, we are going to see it again today.

Three words you just can't ignore, secret, space, plane. It is up there right now. OK, well, it is not quite as secret now. It is still a space plane.

But we begin right now with the coast guard not giving up. They are continuing the search for 11 missing oil rig workers, but the rig itself is done. Another explosion sent it down into the water, but we can breathe a small sigh of relief. It could have been a lot worse. It could have spilled 330,000 gals of oil into the gulf. CNN's Ed Lavandera live with us now from New Orleans.

ED LAVANDERA: All right, Kara, well, officials here still say that this has the potential of being a disastrous environmental situation. They are monitoring closely what is happening 5,000 feet below the surface of where that rig once stood about 24 hours ago. What they are worried about is that that oil well could begin to shoot out oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Right now, they say that there are no signs that that is happening. The worst part they are dealing with right now is a one-mile by five- mile wide stream of what they described as a crude oil mix. British Petroleum, which is the company that had been leasing this oil rig has sent out what they are some 32 vessels to help in the cleanup process.

But what is going down there at the floor of the Gulf of Mexico where this oil comes out of the ground is what is of concern. To get a little bit technical here, there is something called a blowout preventer, which is a device that would essentially shut down that oil and not allow oil to come back up. They are not sure if that has deployed or if it is all of the equipment that has collapsed on it and essentially plugged it up. Either way, they still say there is the potential that all of that oil could spill into the ocean there, which would obviously be a huge environmental disaster, impacting the environment, especially the commercial fishing in that area.

PHILLIPS: Ed, you had mentioned something about the tuna industry, that that might be threatened. Can you give me a little bit more information on that? Because a lot of us are worried about many of the economic/environmental impact. Fishermen and women make a living in this part of the country.

LAVANDERA: Clearly that will be of great concern. We have been speaking with state officials. They say that the state waters along the Louisiana and Mississippi coastline still haven't been affected. There are officials and coast guard officials and all these other teams are still in the process of getting all that equipment that's necessary out on to this site so they can assess the damage.

They have an underwater vessel that they are sending down to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico to get a better sense of what they are dealing with so they can try to figure out if that blowout preventer had been deployed, which would bring the best case scenario at this point or if it was other equipment. If they have to remove that equipment that could allow that oil to shoot back into the Gulf of Mexico, which would clearly be a troubling situation.

PHILLIPS: All, Ed Lavandera, appreciate it. We will continue to follow this story and all the impact that it's making, from fish to the waterways there to also the coast guards efforts.

Just hours ago in Iraq, a wave of bombings and dozens of people dead outside a mosque. Now, how many times have we heard this same story over the years and seen pictures just like these? What makes the story today different?

Consider this. Just a few days ago, the top U.S. general in Iraq told me, bottom line, Iraqi forces are ready to lead their country and that U.S. forces can draw down come August. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL RAYMOND ODIERNO, COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. FORCES, IRAQ: They have over time with our help developed a capability to conduct characters of operations throughout the country. That's what we are looking for as we look to move out of Iraq here over the next year or so. That's exactly the kind of capability we want them to be able to conduct once we leave.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, now, this latest wave of bombings makes you wonder. Was the general being too generous? Let's get the latest from Baghdad in CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom.

So, Mohammed, if Iraqi security forces had the intel that there would be retaliation for the death of those two al Qaeda leaders in Iraq just about a week ago or just a few days ago rather, why weren't they protecting places of worship? Those are obvious places for attack.

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM: Well, Kara, not only did Iraqi officials here predict there could be retaliatory strikes from al Qaeda and Iraq because of the killing of the two most senior al Qaeda and Iraq leaders, you also had U.S. military officials here saying that even though this might be a devastating blow to al Qaeda and Iraq. They could still regroup and carry out attacks.

They haven't claimed responsibility for these attacks, but these attacks today certainly bear the hallmarks and show the fingerprints of al Qaeda and Iraq. They have not claimed responsibility. Nonetheless people suspect it could be them. But there is no simple answer to the question.

Baghdad is still a city very heavily protected. Check points everywhere. Security in the streets and you still see these kind of attacks happening in the past two weeks, even though security has been heightened after the parliamentary elections of March 7.

You saw attacks targeting embassies. You saw attacks targeting residential compounds. It keeps happening and it keeps making the Iraqis here and the government wonder if the Iraqi security forces able to fully protect Iraqis.

This is not a concern that's going to go away any time soon despite the fact that U.S. military officials say the Iraqi security forces can take care of the country. Many people still wonder -- Kara.

PHILLIPS: You bring up a good point. How can Iraqis have faith in their Iraqi forces when this happens? General Ray Odierno says, I support the drawdown, less U.S. forces come August, all good to go. Iraqis are ready and then you see this, and you think, really? Are you sure? I mean, Iraqis time and time again have said they are nervous about U.S. forces leaving.

LAVANDERA: Kara, this is still one of the main concerns here. We go out to bomb sites here and the aftermath of the bombs quite a bit. We talked to the Iraqis. You would be surprised how quickly the mood shifts from chaos and confusion to anger, not so much anger at the perpetrators of the crime, but anger at the politicians and the government of Iraq for failing to protect them.

People here asked, why can't the government protect us? In the past few weeks after so many bombings they said, we went, we voted, we tried to elect leaders. We still don't have a government. We have seen more and more of these coordinated kinds of attacks going on in Baghdad since U.S. forces withdrew from the cities last June.

These spectacular kind of car bombing, coordinated attacks started happening last August usually targeting very heavily fortified compounds and these Iraqis are angry. They say, why can't we get a government that works for us, gets us utilities and protection and can provide security. That's what they want more than anything else -- Kara.

PHILLIPS: Mohammed Jamjoon, appreciate it. A sex abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church claims a third bishop, this one in Belgium. Bishop Roger Vangheluwe has resigned. He admits that he sexually abused a boy earlier in his career. Already this week, the pope accepted resignations from bishops in Miami and Ireland. All of those linked to abuse accusations.

Our Nick Robertson is going to join us from Brussels in just about 20 minutes with more on this developing story.

Pirates facing something they rarely see, justice. Eleven of them accused of firing on U.S. Navy ships near Somalia are expected at a federal court in Virginia. They were flown to the U.S. last night. Five were captured after an attack in March on the USS Nicholas. The others were caught April 10th after a pirate ship fired on the USS Ashland.

Here is an idea to deal with bank failures. Get the banks to pay, not us. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi tells CNN, she is giving a serious consideration on a ten-year tax on big banks. The money would go into a fund to help failing banks. Pelosi says the fund would raise about $90 billion.

You see a funnel cloud coming at you. What do you do? Run like the wind? These storm chasers find their twister. Good thing it didn't find them. Their pictures are amazing. Rob, we could see more of this today, right?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. I think we will see it today and very much so tomorrow as well. A huge storm system that's spun off over 30 reports of tornadoes yesterday, slowly marched into the east. We will have a complete forecast after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A secret space plane. James Bond kind of stuff, but this isn't a movie. The project launched last night. It is kind of like a space shuttle, but it's a mystery. CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr has been digging for answers -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kara, when you look at that video from Cape Canaveral last night, it did look very cool. The question really remains, what is this secret air force program?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): It's a military mystery. What is this? Is it an aircraft? Is it the next generation space shuttle? Why is it such a secret? This is the X-37B, a classified air force project that has never been fully explained by the Pentagon, but it hasn't stopped the speculation. Some worried this is the beginning of military operations in space. That the plane might someday carry weapons to shoot down enemy satellites.

VICTORIA SAMSON, SECURE WORLD FOUNDATION: There also concern that may be used as a quick response sort of vehicle where it could be used to be launched very quickly, be sent over the planet to dangerous spot very quickly and then, release weapons at that point.

STARR: In a recent meeting with reporters, a top Air Force official said, no way.

GARY PAYTON, AIR FORCE DEPUTY, UNDERSECRETARY FOR SPACE PROGRAMS: I don't know how this could be called weaponization of space. Fundamentally, it's an updated version of the space shuttle kind of activities in space.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff.

STARR: Unlike the reusable space shuttle, the X-37B is unmanned, but it's much smaller, and it's controlled from ground stations. It can stay in space for 270 days, but the Air force won't say how long it is staying up this time or what exactly it will be doing other than testing out its high-tech systems. The Air Force won't even say how many billions of dollars it is spending on the program.

SAMSON: We don't know why it is so classified. You can't find how much it is in the budget.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (on camera): The Air Force has been interested for years in developing some kind of space plane it can send up into orbit, bring back down, send up and use over and over again. They just don't want to say what they are going to use it for -- Kara?

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr from the Pentagon. Thanks so much.

It's part two of a political showdown in Great Britain. It hasn't turned out the way Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labor Party had hoped so. Brown went on the Offensive last night in his second televised election debate. He blasted two men who he wanted his job, David Cameron of the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrat Nick Claig. He called his 43-year-old rivals, risky candidates who behave like children squabbling at that time.

All that tough talk apparently didn't help. Brown didn't win any post-debate polls. The election is May 6th by the way.

Blame it on Satan, that's what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is doing today. He is visiting Zimbabwe and Uganda to encourage business ties. He denounced what he calls satanic pressures on Zimbabwe and his country, and everybody welcomes him with open arms. Some political leaders calling him "a warmonger and trampler of human rights and an executioner."

Rob Marciano, a little stormy weather on tap for today. I guess parts of the southern plains and then this storm caught on tape last night. Let's listen to it for a minute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): At least three of those tornadoes ripped through the area hitting the rural communities of Goodnight and Jericho, Texas. There are reports that a mile-wide tornado touched down in Western Kansas. No damage or injuries were reported there either.

Rob, have you ever chased a tornado?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: I have tried. I have never caught one.

PHILLIPS: You have never wrapped your arms around one?

MARCIANO: Never wrapped my arms around one. These guys have been waiting all year. It's been a slow start to the 2010 severe weather season. This area is great for storm chasing for many years. One, pretty much on the western edge of tornado alley, which is very much unpopulated, wide open spaces, big sky area, flat, country roads. You can see for miles.

So you can typically chase these things and get great video and hopefully, nobody gets hurt and there is not a whole lot of damage. That's what we saw yesterday and we have 32 reports of tornadoes just in this area alone, eastern Colorado, western Kansas and north of Texas.

Now, everything is moving up to this level. The back side is pretty chilly. We have winter storm warnings posted for the high terrain above 78,000 feet in Colorado 12-24 inches of snow expected. Kind of a wet spring snow. An avalanche watch has been posted through the weekend. If you are going to the back country, be aware of that.

All right, here's where the energy is. It will refire later on today as the sun comes up and some energy wraps around the low. The bull's eye is Arkansas, northern Louisiana, stretching into Memphis, Tennessee. Good chance of seeing thunderstorms today that could produce tornadoes and moderate risk of that happening today and tomorrow.

That's pretty rare for them to put out a moderate risk for a day two. So, tomorrow, Mississippi, Alabama, through Georgia and Tennessee and Kentucky, this is the area we are really worried about for your Saturday. Then, the lesser intense storms will kind of fan out into the southern great lakes and the eastern Appalachians.

We are not done with this severe weather outbreak yet. We will see tornadoes like we saw yesterday, Kara. The problem is, the further east they go, the further along they get into more populated areas. It gets to be a little more dangerous situation. We will keep you posted throughout the day.

PHILLIPS: It sounds good. Thanks, Rob.

Tick, tick, tick, it's almost decision time in Arizona. A controversial immigration bill sits on the governor's desk. No shortage of people to tell her what to do with it too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) The coast guard has not given up on the search for 11 people missing after an oil rig explosion. That rig has now sunk into the Gulf of Mexico. The coast guard has already tracked through an area twice the size of Rhode Island looking for them. An oil slick five miles wide now sits where that rig was burning.

Trouble times 30. An awful the twister here, one of some 30 tornadoes from a storm system rolling across the southern plains. No injuries reported. Rob Marciano says the system could bring dangerous weather to the southeast this weekend.

Time running out for Arizona's governor to decide what to do with the controversial immigration bill. Republican Jan Brewer has until midnight Saturday to sign or veto the bill. That measure would push police into mandatory citizenship checks as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants. We'll have much more on this story at the top of the hour.

Another bombshell for the Catholic Church, a Belgium bishop fesses up about his past and resigns. We have a live report from two minutes from Brussels.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

It is just not getting easier for faithful Catholics. They have to wonder what's going on. The third bishop in a week has resigned from the church. Today's resignation over once again accusation of sexual abuse. Live now to our Nic Robertson in Brussels.

Nic, does this come as a shock or was it expected?

NIC ROBERTSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a shock. Certainly, for a lot of Catholics in this country, it will be. The bishop of Bruss has been the bishop there since 1984. Roger Vanghelwiger, he says that he is enormously sorry. He has asked the victim and his family to forgive him.

He said the abuse happened 25 years ago. He says he abused a young boy in entourage. He feels that he must resign. He is 73 years old. He was due to retire next year. He has offered his resignation to the pope. The pope has now accepted it. There was a very brief press conference here in Brussels by the Archbishop of Belgium earlier.

He said that the church here is resolutely wants to turn a page over this very painful issue. It appears the church does want to move on. The church doesn't want to speak any more about this. For the church- goers in Bruss, it will no doubt be a shock. This isn't what they were expecting.

This very bishop during one of the services at Easter just a few weeks ago had talked about the cases of pedophilia in the church and talked about how more was being done for church leaders than the victims. He has spoken of this issue, no hint of his own situation as an abuser -- Kara.

PHILLIPS: His conscience has spoken. Nic Robertson, appreciate the report.

He lived a life of luxury. Wonder if he has those diamond-studded handcuffs he bought as a gift. You will want to hear about this guy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Stocks have a pretty good winning streak. Stephanie Elam is in New York. What do you think, the streak still alive, Steph?

STEPHANIE ELAM: Right now, we are looking for another weekly gain, Kara. If we can work it out by the closing bell, it would be good. We are looking for a higher opening today. Wall Street is turning its eye to Greece. Greek officials are formally asking for a bailout from the EU and from the IMF. A few weeks ago, they pledged a support of up to $50 billion.

And as you probably remember, Greece has been drowning in debt. The idea of a bailout isn't good. It is quite better than the other options, which is for Greece to default on its debt which would be to cause a big ripple effect. Stocks all over the world are getting a boost because investigators are breathing a sigh of relief this Friday.

Upbeat earning, it continues. That's a good sign for the economy. Microsoft's third quarter profit jumped 35 percent, thanks to Windows 7, X-Box live but in some respects, it wasn't enough when you take a look at Microsoft shares are actually on the down side, slipping today.

Get this too, another little nugget of interest for you here today. In terms of market cap, Microsoft has now flipped a third. Apple is now the second most valuable company in the United States behind Exxonmobil. All right, there we go, we have the opening bell now, getting the numbers coming in here for us, but we are looking for a higher number, but look at that, because I said that, Kyra, the markets are making a liar out of me. We open to the downside by two points, 11,130. But we'll keep our eyes on it. It's just down that much. We'll see. Itty bit.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Steph.

ELAM: Sure.

PHILLIPS: So, how did federal regulators miss the warning signs of the financial collapse? How did they not ferret out the billion dollar Ponzi schemes. Now, we may know part of the problem, porn. Yes, our SEC employees were getting busy while our bucks were dwindling away. A new report says that 33 SEC employees and contractors were busy downloading x-rated images at work. So, how bad was it? One SEC attorney was busy downloading porn about eight hours a day, so much, in fact, that he filled up his government issued computer's hard drive and had to save porn to CD. You know what's so outrageous about this. These guys were all there getting their jollies while we lost our shirts, our savings, our homes, our 401(k). Shall I continue? Man, this guy loved to buy lavish gifts, a diamond studded handcuffs for a professional athlete with athletic lounge (ph) for a college. Just one problem, it might not have been his money. Prosecutors in Miami state, Evan Shapiro (ph) ran a Ponzi Scheme worth nearly $900 million.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How he pulled it off is quite frankly the fabrication of invoices and receivables, financial statements, and so, when investors got curious, when someone is promising high returns with very little risk, that should send up red flags to every investor, because if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, prosecutor said dozens of victims lost an average of nearly $1.5 million each. Remember the old TV show, Miami Vice, his lifestyle seemed to steal a page from it, mansion on Miami beach, fleet of luxury cars, even 400 grand for courtside tickets at Miami Heat basketball games.

Wonder if Shapiro has a toilet seat made of gold? Scott Rothstein did, only the best for his South Florida tush. There are signs that convicted Ponzi schemer from Ft. Lauderdale. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to a $1 billion plus swindle. Mr. Minimadoff will find next month how long he'll spend in the slammer. This week, the feds were trying to take over his mansions, Rolls Royces, Ferraris, and of course, bank accounts.

A nun on the run, not for her health but for orphans. We're talking to her in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We run to compete. We run to stay in shape. Heck, as parents, we run after our children all the time. But here is a run that has nothing to do with cardio and everything to do with heart. Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd and ultra marathon runner, Lisa Smith- Batchen have joined forces to run hope through America. Fifty miles in 50 states to raise money for orphans in the U.S. and around the globe. And they join us live from Boston this morning. That makes sense because there's a famous marathon that takes place there every year. Great to see you, two.

SISTER MARY BETH LLOYD, INSTITUTE OF RELIGIOUS TEACHERS FILIPPINI: Good morning.

LISA SMITH-BATCHEN, ULTRA MARATHON RUNNER: Good morning. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Oh, it's my pressure. Lisa, you are president of this organization. We'll talk more about that in a minute, but how did you come up with this idea and how did you convince Sister Mary Beth to join in?

SMITH-BATCHEN: Well, it's easy to convince her of something when she prays and gets a good answer. It just started about six months ago when I was thinking what I wanted to do for my 50th birthday. And to celebrate the 100 years that religious teachers of Filippini have been in America and a friend of mine raise off told me that there are 50 states in America, so 50 and 50 makes 100. The numbers all make sense.

PHILLIPS: I love it. It does all make sense. Oh my gosh! I didn't know that part of the story. How fantastic. So, Sister Mary Beth, when Lisa came to you, now be honest with me and she said, OK, I want you to do 50 miles in 50 states, did you go, oh, boy, I better start praying for some serious speed right now?

LLOYD: It took about two minutes.

(LAUGHTER)

LLOYD: I did pray for it. And I said to her, when we came to America, we went to Trenton, New Jersey, and then we made the mother house in Morristown, New Jersey. So, I said, if we Google the distance between Trenton and Morristown, if it is 50 miles, God wants it. We did it. It was 50.2 miles.

PHILLIPS: Oh my God.

LLOYD: 50.2, and she said, oh, I guess we have to start .2 up the road. I about fell out of my chair.

PHILLIPS: That's great. And the website, we're going to keep this up the whole time because we're going to check in with you on a regular basis. It's runhope.com. And the money you're raising goes to the Orphan Foundation of America, aid or fans rising and the caring house project. I want to ask you both this question, Lisa, is there an orphan story, is there a certain child, is there a moment that you think of that inspires you every step you take as you're taking this on?

SMITH-BATCHEN: Well, I guess I really couldn't pick one moment. I have in my RV camper that we're driving around pictures of many orphans and pictures of my own children, who are adopted. You know, the faces of hope that these children have of finding parents or, you know, that they're starving to death or that they're obese or that they've grown up without parents and they're 18 years old and they've never had parents, my heart feels for all of them. I can't single one out or single one experience or single one child out at all.

PHILLIPS: Lisa, I didn't know that you had adopted children. Wow! How old are they? How many do you have? And that's got to be a huge part of your inspiration here.

SMITH-BATCHEN: Well, they are. They are a huge part of this. I have Gabby, who is four and Ana Bella, who is 7. And I hope they're watching this morning because I miss them terribly. And they are such a big part of knowing why we're helping children. And Gabby said, mommy, how many children have we helped and when are you coming home and can you keep up the good work. And they just really understand that helping others is such a big part of what we're all supposed to do. And it breaks my heart to see a child in, you know, in need especially starving. It just breaks my heart because we throw so much food away. Anyway --

PHILLIPS: No -- believe me, we could do hours on this issue. And Sister Mary Beth, I mean.

SMITH-BATCHEN: We could when everyone cleans out their refrigerator, they see how much we throw away.

PHILLIPS: That's going to be -- how about this? That will be the next charity that I'll help you guys with. We'll promote that. We will figure out the next mission here. And Sister Mary Beth, you've committed your entire life and you continue to do this every day to minister to these kids, to raise money for these kids. You know, tell me the thought process. I know you're doing lots of praying, but I know you're thinking about these kids every step you take. Tell me what's going through your heart and your mind and what keeps you motivated to do this because this is no easy task.

LLOYD: Yes, it isn't, but, as you said, I dedicated my life to it. And I hope there are some other young women out there who might join us also. The story I think of is we had a little girl, eight years old, and we found her. She was cooking road kill for her little brothers and sisters. They were orphans. Just awful. And so, she is now in our program. She is learning not only reading and writing, but she is learning a skill, and she wants to open her own restaurant.

I have this book, "Aids Orphans Rising", and it describes a lot of these stories about the children. And I ask everyone to pray for them because this year, there'll 25 million orphans from aids. In America, almost 67,000. All over the world, just many orphans that need love and need help.

PHILLIPS: I tell you what we're going to do, as we continue to follow both of you in your journey, 50 miles in 50 states, let's make a commitment to bringing some of these children on with you or at least having their pictures in telling their stories so folks can see exactly where that money is going. How does that sound? That will be our next project here.

LLOYD: Perfect.

SMITH-BATCHEN: You know, 100 percent of the money goes to the children. We committed to that. So any money that's raised, 100 percent of it goes. And you know, we don't make any money doing this. That's not why we're doing it. We are definitely very committed to helping as many children as we can. They all deserve a life.

PHILLIPS: Amen.

SMITH-BATCHEN: Amen.

PHILLIPS: And it is obvious where your hearts are. All right. Here we go, it is runhope.com. I encourage everybody to follow Sister Mary Beth and Lisa as they do this together and donate, take part. Ladies, I'll see you next week. OK? SMITH-BATCHEN: Thank you. God bless.

LLOYD: Thank you very much. Bless you.

PHILLIPS: You bet. Let's go ahead and check some other top stories that are happening right now. Ships have surrounded the oil spill left after an oil rig exploded in sunk in the Gulf of Mexico. It's about five miles wide right now, but the coastguard says the danger is minimal. No damage to an underwater pipeline, but they're ready just in case it does rupture.

And an awesome twister here. It's just one of some 30 tornadoes spawned by a storm system rolling across the southern plains. At least three touched down in the rural Texas town of Good Night and Jericho. No injuries reported. And we could see more of these, actually, this weekend.

Protesters in Arizona are trying to keep the pressure on the governor. They want her to veto a controversial immigration bill. It basically makes it illegal to be an illegal immigrant. And it calls on police to check papers. Governor Jan Brewer has until Saturday to sign it, veto it, and ignore it. We'll have much more on this story at the top of the hour.

Hey, that's not just a meteorite, it's money. Yes, one town is actually cashing in, thanks to this little gift from space.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It didn't crash in anything that we know of, but those meteorites that streaked across the sky last week sure have a lot of people talking. If you didn't see the video, take a look, this is actually video from the dash cam of a deputy sheriff in Iowa. The fallout, cash. Those space rocks have actually created a cottage industry in one Wisconsin community now. As a matter of fact, it brought Livingston, Wisconsin to its knees. It seems everyone is searching for meteorites now. CNN all platform journalist, Chris Welch has the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS WELCH, CNN ALL PLATFORM JOURNALIST: What are you looking for?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: Meteorites.

WELCH: An Iowa Grant School in southwest Wisconsin swings and flied (ph) are so last week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing this so we can cover the most ground.

WELCH (voice-over): Ever since this fiery space rock ripped through the atmosphere --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds like thunder but it just kept going.

WELCH (on-camera): The village of Livingston, Wisconsin has had meteorite fever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is not a meteorite. We are looking for a darker crust.

WELCH: It burst into countless fragments spread over miles of farmland. So Livingston without so much of a stoplight to call its own has become a magnet for enthusiasts.

From internationally known professionals --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a 150 gram was found right there --

WELCH: -- to the family down the street that just loves rock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something really small.

WELCH: Some two dozen pieces have turned up already. And the quest continues. It's a lot like a modern-day gold rush. Not everyone well tell you if or where they found one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did you find that out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South of the creek.

WELCH: Meteorites can go for a nice chunk of change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm told it's worth maybe a $1,000.

WELCH: A local convenience store has become a trading post of sort. But I bet you've never seen a want ad like this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does anybody know somebody that thinks they found a meteorite?

WELCH: Folks from Chicago's Field Museum and world famous experts held a school assembly and even offered tips on how to hunt. You might call it meteorite 101.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look down and walk slowly. Not quite there yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did I find it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy cow, you did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a meteorite.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I'm going to keep this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, hold on to it.

WELCH: If the experts are right, folks here will be in store for years of discovery.

Chris Welch, CNN in Livingston, Wisconsin. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: What do you think, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Kind of cool.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it is kind of cool. That makes great show and tell.

MARCIANO: Yes, fantastic. When that came down, we talked about how it was so bright in the sky. It lasted so long it even showed up on the radar that there had to be meteor, meteorites hitting somewhere. And sure enough that we'll look down and firing them all off.

PHILLIPS: Then you can sell them on eBay and make big bucks.

MARCIANO: Oh, ever the capitalist, Kyra. That's why I love you.

Hey, listen, we're going to have some other sort of meteors falling from the sky -- you know I asked for that hail video out of Denver, I don't know if you had it. If you do just throw it up there because that is something that falls from the sky and pretty much that's what a meteor is. And they had plenty across eastern Colorado yesterday along with 32 reports of tornadoes, eastern Colorado, western Kansas and we've been showing you that video out of western Kansas and northern Texas all morning long. It's pretty amazing stuff.

All right, back side of this, some cold air. We've got winter storm warnings that are posted for the high elevations at Colorado Rockies. You could see a couple of feet. But more importantly ahead of this system, is where most of the atmospheric energy is.

And now it's starting to tap moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and you get ingredients for a severe weather threat again today are setting up. Even more so I think than yesterday.

We saw things calm down this morning. And now, just in the past couple of frames, just east of Dallas, we're starting to see these individual cells already developed. And it's not even the lunch hour yet, not even late morning. And we're seeing individual cells fire ahead of the cool front. And these have the potential for developing into a well, a super cell thunderstorm that could produce tornadoes right in the bull's eye where the storm prediction center thinks we have the greatest risk of seeing that today.

Northeastern, Texas, northern Louisiana and through Arkansas, and then this whole thing moves off towards the east. And tomorrow, this is where this -- highlighted spots are. Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee getting into Georgia as well and tomorrow there is a moderate risk of seeing severe weather also.

So rain, thunder, lightning, hail or meteors in the form of some hail are likely over the next couple of days. And we may be popping in over the next couple of hours Kyra, with storm warnings as they come into the CNN Severe Weather Center.

PHILLIPS: I think we've got the video now, Rob. Let's take a look. MARCIANO: All right.

PHILLIPS: Can you do it Scotty, there we go.

MARCIANO: Oh yes, ok that's from two days ago.

PHILLIPS: Yes, that's actually -- that's from Denver, right?

MARCIANO: Yes.

PHILLIPS: That's the hail from Denver?

MARCIANO: Yes, there's other stuff -- although, not quite as dramatic, I'll be honest with you, as this. So that's why I wasn't crying for it.

PHILLIPS: That you didn't have the video?

MARCIANO: Yes and it wasn't award-winning stuff but if we had it, we had it.

PHILLIPS: So and you take a double turn, you think, oh, it's snow in Denver, now wait a minute --

MARCIANO: Yes.

PHILLIPS: -- that's hail.

MARCIANO: That was hail two days ago. Good stuff, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks Rob. We will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: "And for our next witness, the defense would like to call to the stand President Obama." Really? The President? Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich loves publicity almost as much as he loves a blow dryer. His lawyers want to subpoena the president to testify in the corruption case against him. The reason? Charges against Blagojevich involves the senate seat that Barack Obama vacated when he became president. The White House hasn't commented.

David Letterman couldn't resist using Blago as the butt of a priceless joke and he got in a dig at Tim Geithner, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": You know the -- I don't know if you know this or not but Tim Geithner, who is the treasury secretary Tim Geithner.

He and his wife were talking one day about the $100 bills and he said we have to get a new $100 bill because this one can be counterfeited easily and she said, "No, you can't counterfeit the $100 bill." And he said, "Yes you can. Look, we have a counterfeit $100 bill right there. See the problem? That's Rod Blagojevich. So they redesigned the $100 bill and Tim Geithner introduced the $100 bill and today in downtown, Mayor Bloomberg in Times Square introduced the new $50 hooker. So it's been a big, big day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: We have a lot of serious news going on, too, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's start with our Mohammed Jamjoom; he's monitoring the latest rash of attacks in Baghdad -- Mohammed.

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A wave of bombings throughout Iraq today kills dozens and wounds hundreds. I'll have a live report in Baghdad coming up in minutes.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam in New York where for the second day in a row we're set for another upbeat housing report. After all, the government still has free money on the table at least for another week, but finding a dream home is not always easy. Kyra, I'll tell you about one couple's quest to use the first- time homebuyers tax credit next hour.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. After a slow start to the 2010 severe weather season, 32 reports of tornadoes yesterday, great video, but those storms are now moving east into more populated areas so it gets more dangerous today and tomorrow. Full forecast at the top of the hour -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Also the power of a nap. We know it can be good for your heart, but you won't believe how much it can help your memory. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some advice that's worth remembering.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We've all heard the environmental talk about man's carbon foot print, but did you know that cows leave a pretty big hoof print of their own? It comes in the form of gas, methane gas.

Photojournalist Bob Foley (ph) found a farm in Vermont where all they want out of their cows is the milk and the moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NANCY HIRSCHBERG, STONEYFIELD FARM: Vermont has a long history of being a huge milk state. My name's Nancy Hirschberg (ph). I'm the vice president of natural resources for Stoneyfield Farm. We make organic yogurt and dairy products.

The Fourniers are one of about 180 organic dairy farms in the state of Vermont.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can milk up to eight a time.

HIRSCHBERG: He's one of the 1,400 members of Organic Valley Crop Cooperative. The Stoneyfield Farm greener cow project was an effort on our behalf to find a way to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from milk production.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on girl. Go. Come on.

HIRSCHBERG: We thought our factory was going to be the biggest part of our contribution to climate change and lo and behold it was actually the milk production. The cows themselves and their burps.

Cows release methane which is a very potent greenhouse gas. A lot of people think when they hear gas from cows that is coming from the rear end and it's actually coming from the mouths in silent burps.

This is a cooked flax. We're adding just a few pounds a day to their diet and what it does is it rebalances their stomach, so they actually produce less methane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The numbers that we've got so far on this farm somewhere in the range of 12 percent to 15 percent improvement reducing methane emissions from the cows.

HIRSCHBERG: There's been a huge health benefit as well. We were able to increase the omega-3 in the milk by almost a third.

EARL FOURNIER, DAIRY FARMER: I want to do my share. This is part of the reason why we farm in a sustainable manner and this just makes it better.

HIRSCHBERG: The benefits are not only for the greenhouse gas emission, but it's for the animals' health, for our human health as well as the planet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: You can tune in tomorrow afternoon for Green Solutions in Focus. CNN's award-winning photojournalists look at the people behind this global environmental movement and the positive impact they've made in their neighborhood and beyond. That's "Green Solutions in Focus", tomorrow, 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

The sex abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church claims a third bishop. Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Belgium has resigned. He admitted that he sexually abused the boy earlier in his career. He's the third bishop to resign this week over abuse allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's got insulation in it people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Wow is right. How would you like to see that through your windshield? Storm chasers caught this one. At least three tornadoes hit remote areas of the Texas panhandle last night. Pretty scary looking, but there were no reports of damage or injuries. More stormy weather on tap today in the South.