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Tornadoes in Seven States; Girls Possibly Gassed in Afghanistan
Aired April 26, 2010 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, dozens of schoolgirls have been sickened in the classroom in Afghanistan. It's a mystery right now but possibly the culprit has been poison gas.
CNN's Atia Abawi, live in Kabul, Afghanistan for us this morning. Atia good to see you as always and please tell us what in the world is going on.
ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well T.J., what we're hearing from hospital officials is that these women and girls have been poisoned. Nearly 90 girls as well as their teachers in various schools in northern Afghanistan in a place called Kunduz Province have been falling sick to illness. And the doctors do believe it's poison gas.
An investigation is ongoing right now, but this is happening in an area in northern Afghanistan which was once considered the safe part of Afghanistan, immune to Taliban activity. That was, until last year. We have seen more and more militant activity in this area, but it's not necessarily from the Taliban. It's from a group called (INAUDIBLE) and their leader is this notorious man named Goulbadin Matir (ph), who himself used to attack girls here in Kabul back in the '60s and '70s when there was relative peace in Afghanistan, going into the universities, throwing acid on their faces.
This is the kind of attack we have seen in the past in different parts of Afghanistan where they do attack girls from going to school, trying to get them afraid, trying to get their families afraid from letting these girls have an education.
If you remember during the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001, girls were banned from getting an education. Although the government and the international community boasts that since the fall of the Taliban, six million children are in school now and 30 percent of those are girls. T.J., I have to tell you, you see that in the cities but when you go off to the villages and the various provinces that I've been to, you don't see those girls getting an education. And it's merely because of these attacks, because people are trying to scare them off again.
HOLMES: Trying to scare them off. Why? Why this method? You talked about some of the acid attacks and things we have seen in the past. Why gas this time?
ABAWI: Well, that's the big question that's going on right now and the speculation is in the south when we have seen these attacks, these attacks have come from men that weren't from the area, that weren't from the same village. And what is being talked about by certain people right now is that maybe in northern Afghanistan, these villages actually are accompanied -- the militants live in the same area. So they don't necessarily want to hurt the girls.
They don't want to cause them damage. They just want to scare them off. So that's the difference between northern Afghanistan and the attacks that we're seeing as opposed to southern Afghanistan where we have seen those disgusting acid attacks and those schools being burned down to the ground. T.J.
HOLMES: That is horrible to see. Thank you to our Atia Abawi.
But like you said, just trying to scare them off, to keep them away from schools. Thank you so much for bringing us that update. We want to check our top stories right now.
I'll tell you what happened on Capitol Hill, key votes on reforming the rules of Wall Street. Both Republicans and Democrats say it's essential to pass the safeguards that will prevent another melt down. But the sticking point, maybe the timing of this all. The two sides close to a compromise. Democrats want to begin debate on it today. But Republicans say they are not yet ready and are vowing to block that debate from getting under way today.
The presidential eulogy in West Virginia. President Obama told the memorial gathering yesterday that the workers killed in the April 5th coal mine explosion died in pursuit of the American dream. He and Vice President Biden also met privately with the workers' families before that memorial. The "Associated Press" says the United Mine Workers Union will represent miners in the investigation of that explosion.
Well, they are being told to ignore the law. That's the call from an Arizona congressman in response to the state's controversial immigration law. Protesters, you see in the video here, were out again on Sunday. They were out over the weekend, on Friday, Saturday as well. They're upset over this new law which requires police officers to check citizenship.
Now the Congressman Raul Grijalba wants the Justice Department to check if the law is even legal. We'll have much more on this story coming your way in about 10 minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON SULLIVAN, STORE OWNER/TORNADO SURVIVOR: I have watched movies before where they do this special effects and somebody's sucked into a vacuum. I was in that vacuum. It's real.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: It's real. All too real for these folks where tornadoes ripped through seven states over the weekend. Hardest hit, probably Mississippi where 10 people were killed. Among them, two children and a three-month-old baby as well. Still numbers of many more injured also over in neighboring Alabama. There was a report of another two deaths. They are still counting up just exactly how many homes and businesses were destroyed, but no doubt that number is going to be in the hundreds.
Our Reynolds Wolf is with me now. He joins us live in what many people believe, Reynolds, is the hardest hit area. That's Yazoo City. Now, you have been covering storms for years and years. Oftentimes some of the damage looks quite frankly the same, after so many of these things, just piles of rubble. But you put in perspective as a guy who's seen so much of this just how bad it is there in Yazoo City.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, there's always a few subtle differences whenever you see storm damage like this. What we're seeing with this one though is very random. That's the odd thing about this particular storm. Very quickly, we got photojournalist Steve (INAUDIBLE) with us.
Steve, if we can just pan over a little bit and show some of the viewers across America, some of the trees? You will notice, T.J., some of them have been stripped completely clean, almost like the trees you see out on a World War I battlefield or something. Say near the (INAUDIBLE) and then some trees have all the leaves. It's really weird just how random these storms can be as they come on through.
This particular one, as Rob has been telling me through a good part of the morning. We got some new information with regards to this particular tornado. We now do believe that the winds exceeded 170 miles per hour as they came through. And for the viewers at home, the tornado actually came through from behind the camera or behind where you would be sitting and roared in this direction, right towards the water tower.
You can see, of course, the damage right here in the foreground. It is a huge mess. And soon, they're going to be cleaning up. And of course, T.J., as you mentioned, the worst damage we have seen is right here in Yahoo County.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF (voice-over): A trail of destruction and a fatal blow to central Mississippi.
ASHLEY SAXTON, SURVIVED TORNADO: It's terrifying. I mean, scared me to death. I've never been in anything like before in my life.
SULLIVAN: The roof started to cave in. All those roars, sounded like a train coming right through the restaurant. Top flying off the restaurant.
WOLF: A twister with winds up to 160 miles per hour tore across Mississippi Saturday killing almost a dozen people, including two children and a three-month-old baby. More than 30 people were injured.
ROB SAXTON, SURVIVED TORNADO: It was unbelievable. When the wind exploded it was like anything I have never experienced.
WOLF: Sunday, many people came to see what's left of their neighborhoods. Toppled trees, damaged cars, hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just lucky to be alive. We're very thankful.
WOLF: The hardest hit counties were Yazoo and Choctaw where rescue operations continued Sunday. A state of emergency official says there are no specific reports of people being trapped inside the rubble.
Mississippi's governor Haley Barbour says there was utter obliteration in Yazoo County where he grew up and owns a home. But he believes it could have been worst.
GOV. HALEY BARBOUR, MISSISSIPPI: By god's grace it did not go into the central part of the city or the most populated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: T.J., I can tell you that the history here has been very tough on this town. Certainly they are dealing with this in Yazoo City. But something else that they've been dealing with of course, in the past, back in the 1850s and then again in the 1870s, they were dealing with yellow fever epidemic almost wiped out the entire population. They've dealt with adversity here before.
Today, they're going to be recovering. They're going to be rebuilding. They are going to try to get some help. 80 members of the Mississippi National Guard are going to be here lending a hand. And later today, Governor Haley Barbour is expected to ask for federal assistance. So they are going to try to get all the help they can possibly get. Let's send it back to you in the studio.
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, we appreciate you. We'll be checking in with you throughout the day here on CNN. Thanks so much, buddy.
I want to turn it over to Rob Marciano in the weather center. Rob, it was interesting to watch over the weekend. If you just looked at the counties declared emergency areas, you could tell exactly where this tornado ripped through. It just cut a path through the north/central part of the state.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it was amazing. 97 mile path and that may be increased. That goes within the Jackson, Mississippi, National Weather Service region. Beyond that they may find that the path went even farther than that. You see it that they're starting at the Tallulah, Louisiana through Yazoo City and then all the way up through West Point, Mississippi.
A path that at times was a mile and three-quarters wide. So just a monster storm rolling through. Here's the radar. As you see, Yazoo City clipped there, mid afternoon as this storm ripped across the state and into Alabama where they had damage as well. There was damage yesterday across North and South Carolina. And today, we're seeing thunderstorms rumble across South Florida. Some of these have been severe across, say Naples through Marco Island across Alligator Alley, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami.
And there you see the white box indicating a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for parts of South Florida. The northeast will also get into the act. Not so much seeing severe thunderstorms. You see heavy rain and some wind, and some coastal flooding. So we are not done with this storm. It's been such a slow mover for really five, six days now. We got another one hot on its heels coming into the West Coast. We'll talk more about that later in the program. T.J..
HOLMES: All right. Rob, we really appreciate you, as always. Talk to you again soon.
MARCIANO: Yes.
HOLMES: We'll turn to Wall Street, Goldman Sachs. Today there are new questions about the federal government's fraud charges against the Wall Street giant. Not only will the investment bankers have to face questions tomorrow on Capitol Hill, but now an investigation is under way into the charges themselves. Did politics play a role here?
Christine Romans, you help me here. I was trying to explain this earlier, but an investigation of the investigation.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
HOLMES: Please help.
ROMANS: That's right. Well, OK, the SEC about a week ago charged Goldman Sachs with fraud just before this administration was really doing its final push for regulatory reform. So some Republicans, Darrell Issa, a congressman from California, in particular, have said to them it feels like -- hmm, the timing. They would like to know if there is something political in this timing.
So the SEC watchdog, the inspector general of the SEC, each of these government agency has someone as their internal watchdog. The SEC watchdog late last night said yes, he'll probe the timing of the lawsuit against Goldman Sachs, to help Republicans answer the question of the SEC's independence and impartiality.
And I just want to be clear, T.J., that Mary Shapiro, who runs the SEC, the White House, numerous people in the administration have all said there was nothing political about the timing of this. The SEC had been pursuing its own investigation of Goldman Sachs and decided to charge Goldman Sachs simply because of the merits of the case, not because of the timing of financial reform. But the SEC inspector general will investigate it.
HOLMES: All right. And we always talk about, just one more note here on Goldman Sachs. It seems pretty easy -- it's always, there people who will pit Main Street against Wall Street, the two sides banging heads. You don't need to give Main Street more reasons to hate Wall Street but these e-mails that have come out now, these internal e-mails -- they were making money while the country was hurting.
ROMANS: These are four e-mails that Senator Carl Levin's office released to us over the weekend. Four e-mails out of 20 million pages of documents and e-mails and among those e-mails that shows how executives of the company were talking about making money on a decline or a crash that was happening in the housing market.
Let me read to you some of them. Lloyd Blankfein, who is the CEO of Goldman Sachs, he says, in one e-mail, "of course we didn't dodge the mortgage mess. We lost money. Then we made more money than we lost because of shorts." Then he goes on to say, "it's not over so who knows how it will turn out ultimately?"
Critics of the company say this shows that they were benefiting from the collapse in the housing market. On a downgraded of mortgage securities, Goldman Sachs manager in one e-mail says, it sounds like we will make some serious money. There are a couple other e-mails like this. Four e-mails in all.
Goldman Sachs fights back and says, these are four e-mails out of 20 million. The U.S. Senate subcommittee "has cherry-picked these e- mails from almost 20 million pages of documents provided by Goldman Sachs."
"It's concerning that the sub committee seemed to have reached its conclusion even before holding a hearing." I want to give you some context, T.J., what was happening at the time of these e-mails. In late 2006, Goldman Sachs' internal risk bell started going off saying things didn't look good in the sub prime market. And Goldman Sachs started to pull back. Everyone else on Wall Street was still betting that housing prices are going to go up.
Goldman Sachs started (INAUDIBLE) the warning bells were going off. And then they started making different bets, short bets, as they're called. Betting against housing and they started making money on that. So just a little bit of context. At the time when what looked like these gloating e-mails were written, there are a lot of people on the street that thought Goldman was on the wrong side of this trade.
But what it raises questions about T.J., among some people is that Goldman says, "we stand in the middle. We just do what our clients tell us to do." But it does show they had their own money at risk and at play in the market all along. This is all going to be fodder for tomorrow, for this big hearing tomorrow.
We have not heard the last of the Goldman Sachs e-mails, I have to tell you right now.
HOLMES: Yes. You're absolutely right, but it's important to note. I mean, you take a couple lines, a couple of e-mails out of like you said, 20 million pages and you can take that out of context, but they will get their a chance to explain themselves tomorrow. ROMANS: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: I know you'll be watching that. Christine, always good to see you. Thank you so much.
ROMANS: Sure.
HOLMES: Well, angry over immigration. Protesters taking to the streets in Arizona. The effects being felt in Washington, D.C., could this mean a White House push for immigration reform? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, there is anger over the new immigration law in Arizona. The law requires police to check the citizenship of anyone they think is in the country illegally. Opponents say it will lead to racial profiling but the police say hey, a little faith here.
Here's CNN's Casey Wian with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Protesters outside Arizona State Capital are angry over a new law requiring local police to help enforce federal immigration law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are going to be stopped just because of the color of their skin. Are they going to look for Europeans as well or just the brown people?
WIAN (on camera): What do you have to say to those concerns?
CHIEF JOE MARTINEZ, KEARNY, ARIZONA POLICE: They're really unfounded. The Arizona Law Enforcement community is made of many Hispanics. We have never had a policy of racial profiling. In fact, quite the contrary.
WIAN (voice-over): At a town hall meeting, police chiefs criticized opponents of the law and the news media for spreading fear and disinformation.
CHIEF DON DANIELS, CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA POLICE: As a law enforcement officer I would like to say trust us. We will do what we're expected to do. We have no interest in violating the law that has been brought to us.
WIAN: Arizona's U.S. Senator John McCain also attended. He did not take a position on the law but says he understands why it passed. Rising violence and crime associated with illegal immigrant and drug smuggling.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I believe they acted out of frustration because the federal government had not complied with its constitutional responsibilities.
WIAN: For those who believe their constitutional rights may be violated, one police chief urged them to report any problems to authorities.
CHIEF JERALD MONAHAN, APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA POLICE: There is a huge historical context for individuals that perceive they are treated a certain way by local law enforcement. For those individuals, that's real. We, in law enforcement, have to understand that when we interact with them.
WIAN: Arizona police chiefs say crimes related to illegal immigration are stretching their budgets and manpower to the breaking point. They hope controversy over the new law will pressure the federal government to take action.
Casey Wian, CNN, Phoenix, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Opponents of that law are asking President Obama to step in. They want him to tell federal agents in Arizona to ignore this new law.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us now. Suzanne, we saw the president kind of inject himself into the debate by calling the law misguided. But can we expect more? Can the state issue in Arizona become a national issue that the president can't ignore?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is going to become a national issue but it really depends on whether or not Congress is going to be able to act on this. Because President Obama , he has been urged by those Democratic sources tell me to be much more involved in this immigration reform debate. They have been very frustrated with him. They have been meeting behind closed doors with the President for weeks and months now.
And finally you have this thing explode in Arizona. And so there is, fairly, to say a new momentum that is coming from this White House and from this president to do something on a federal level regarding immigration reform. Now, here's how the president initially responded and reacted to the law out of Arizona. I want you to take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans as well as the trust between police and their communities that are so crucial to keeping us safe.
In fact, I have instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: So T.J., obviously the Justice Department is going to be looking very closely as to how all this plays out in Arizona. You notice that the governor of Arizona herself threw it right back at the president saying it was the federal immigration policy that was misguided here.
And last week, I had a chance to talk to the former governor of Arizona. That is, of course, Janet Napolitano, who is now the Homeland Security secretary. And she put out this statement, making it very clear, she says, "the Arizona immigration law will likely hinder federal law enforcement from carrying out its priorities of detaining and removing dangerous criminal aliens. With the strong support of state and local law enforcement, I vetoed several similar pieces of legislation as governor of Arizona, because they would have diverted critical law enforcement resources from the most serious threats to public safety."
And she goes on to say, T.J., that she is working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to try to get immigration -- comprehensive immigration reform put back on the table, move it forward. It's obvious here that the White House has made this a priority and it has pushed it forward some of the other domestic agenda items, because they realize this is very controversial and a lot of people, including voters, midterm elections are paying close attention to what the White House does.
HOLMES: Yes, we've still got a ways to go. The bill was just signed on Friday by the governor of Arizona. It will be implemented sometime late summer. Still So still, a lot more milestones, if you will, to go in this debate. Suzanne, we appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much, good to see you.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, T.J..
HOLMES: And we are asking you out there, what do you think should be next on the president's agenda? Go to my blog, CNN.com/Tj, also you can hit me up on Facebook and on Twitter. I believe it's tjholmes CNN where we are asking that question. Please let us know what do you think should be next on the president's plate. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Checking some of the stories right now that are making headlines. In Afghanistan, security in Kandahar has gotten more and more unstable as today U.N. officials told more than 200 Afghan employees to just stay home. It's also transferring some staff members to Kabul. Just today, there have been three explosions that killed two civilians. The city has gotten more unsafe as NATO gets ready to launch an offensive against the Taliban.
Also, we've been telling you, the cleanup is going on right now in parts of the southeast. Some seven states hit by tornadoes. Hit hardest, probably Mississippi, where at least 10 people were killed. Among them, three children, including a three-month-old baby. This storm, this tornado particularly that hit Mississippi traveled some 150 miles and was reportedly about a mile wide. Well, Rob Marciano has been keeping an eye on things. Where is that weather? It's out of that area in particular, but other people might be under the threat from the same system.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the energy has moved off to the east and that storm cell that produced that tornado was certainly incredible and the width of the path and the length of the path is just amazing stuff. 97 miles long. It maybe be longer than that once they get all the surveying done. In some spots a mile to a mile and three-quarters wide.
EF-4 with winds of 170 miles per hour or better. And the problem is it did happened during the day but it was wrapped in rain. So it was hard to see. But no mistaking the aftermath of that. All right. This is all heading off to the east. The tail end of it, the back half, the trailing front is now moving through South Florida. This has been producing some severe thunderstorms, heavier rain.
Certainly some lightning and some gusty winds. 50, 60 miles an hour. There's within been a severe thunderstorm warning that's been posted for parts of South Florida. That maybe allowed to expire but right now, pretty rough down there and certainly heavy rain.
Rain, light to moderate right now, from Cleveland, Ohio back to D.C. and up through New York City. This will become heavy as the day goes along and this storm begins to tap moisture from the Atlantic Ocean and throws it in. So windy as well and some scattered thunderstorms. We'll see some coastal flooding because of that. We're also going to see some travel delays. We are already seeing that. New York clocking in at an hour and five minutes.
Newark seeing with 50-minute delays and a ground stop because that rough weather, same in Ft. Lauderdale until 11:00 Eastern time. If you're traveling to or from any of those airports, it's going to be a slow go for sure.
Speaking of rainfall, yesterday, winter haven with two and three- quarters of an inch. Tampa got hit heavy with some rain and New York City, this was yesterday, 1.61, you got more on the way today. 55. 78 degrees in Dallas. 66 in Seattle where the next storm is coming in with a pretty good punch.
Now we're getting into the plains around later in the week with potentially more severe weather. T.J..
HOLMES: All right. Rob, appreciate you as always, buddy. Thanks so much.
Turning to what's happening in Queens now. I believe we do have a live picture to show you, of a long line -- a long, long line. You see the umbrellas out. A lot of these guys have been camping out over the weekend. Why? It's not some new "Harry Potter" movie coming out. They're not lying up for Mets tickets. They're lining up for a job. Well, not just a job. Actually a job application. We'll explain how the supply is so much greater than the demand.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, people bargain shop for all kinds of things. They often do that at flea markets, use coupons, also even ebay auctions, stuff like that. But you won't believe how much money one man is saving on surgery by shopping around. A bit of a catch here however.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So Godfrey Davies, you're quite a bargain shopper there. Look at the coupons.
GODFREY DAVIES, BARGAIN SHOPPER FOR SURGERY: Absolutely.
COHEN: And you have had to do this not just with food.
DAVIES: You're quite right.
COHEN: So what other things do you bargain shop for, you know, besides applesauce and pasta?
DAVIES: Well, the big ticket item right now that I'm confronted with is having nasal surgery.
COHEN: You actually went surgeon shopping. You went place to place to find the cheapest price because you don't have insurance.
DAVIES: That is correct.
COHEN: So how exactly does one go surgeon shopping? Can you show me?
DAVIES: I can. It's quite an adventure.
COHEN: OK. Let's go have an adventure.
So Godfrey, this is the first place that you went to for a price quote.
DAVIES: That's correct.
COHEN: If you would have it done by these surgeons, what would have been the total bill for the entire procedure?
DAVIES: Almost $34,000.
COHEN: $34,000. You're semi-retired. You have no insurance.
DAVIES: That's correct.
COHEN: Could you even pay that?
DAVIES: I wish I had $34,000 sitting around? No, we don't.
COHEN: So what did you? I mean $34,000, what was your next step?
DAVIES: I thought, I'm going further, I'm going surgeon shopping again. Because this is ridiculous.
COHEN: All right. So let's go to the different surgeon. Let's go and see what that price was.
DAVIES: Absolutely.
COHEN: OK. So Godfrey, this is was your next stop -- this surgeon's office.
DAVIES: That's correct.
COHEN: What would it have cost the entire procedure to have it done by these folks?
DAVIES: It would have been approximately $33,000.
COHEN: So only $1,000 less than the first place.
DAVIES: That's correct. My shopping didn't do much for me.
COHEN: So you found that you basically could not afford to have your polyps removed in Indianapolis?
DAVIES: Absolutely not.
COHEN: And so you needed to think outside the box?
DAVIES: I went way outside the box for this.
COHEN: So you're going to the United Kingdom, right?
DAVIES: That's correct.
COHEN: Getting on a plane and getting this surgery in Wales. The airfare, the surgery, the whole thing, what's it going to cost you?
DAVIES: Just $3,600.
COHEN: And the cheapest you can get here was $33,000.
DAVIES: Yes. Terrible, isn't it?
COHEN: Oh, my gosh. It's almost 10 times less expensive. Give me a call. Let me know how it goes and the best of luck.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: OK, that's a -- did I see that right? A $33,000 difference.
COHEN: That's right. Something like that. Yes. HOLMES: When you talk about a guy or an individual shopping around, but you can get help from your insurance company? They will do it for you?
COHEN: There are some insurance companies that are saying to people, look, you can have it done in this country, but you have to foot, say, 20 percent of the bill. Which, for example, in his case would have been thousands of dollars. Or we, meaning the insurance company or the employer, will fly you to Thailand or wherever, and it will be completely free for you.
HOLMES: So, it saves us money but also the insurance company has an incentive to shop for you. It saves them a ton.
COHEN: Right. More people are being offered that choice. Have it in this country, but you the patient are going to have to pay out- of-pocket thousands of dollars, or go overseas and pay nothing or next to nothing. You have to make the choice. It's not an easy choice to make.
HOLMES: But when you look at a $30,000 difference, it's kind of an easy call -- what some would say is easy. But what would the quality of care? The doctors somewhere else? Do you have to worry about that?
COHEN: Right. That's the question you ask yourself. Do I really want to go to another country?
It's interesting. The same folks who inspect and accredit hospitals in this country are starting to do it in other countries. So you at least have that little bit of a safety net. You know, that helps a bit.
If you ever have to make the choice about whether or not to go overseas, if you go to CNNhealth.com, we have an article about how to do it. It's by my colleague, Sabira Rice (ph). It's a wonderful article about all the things you'd want to consider if you're considering doing this.
HOLMES: OK. We talked about here in the States, you can rate a doctor, find out about them, ask around. Also here, you have some legal rights. You know, you can make sure you're protected, but are you protected in the same way when it comes to, God forbid, malpractice or something like that? Do you have those rights?
HOLMES: In this country, if somebody goofs up on the surgery, you can sue them. This is a really important point. In another country you don't have the rights. So, if the surgeon goofs you're out of luck. That's an important thing to keep in mind. You will save money, but it's important to know you can't sue.
Now Godfrey, the gentleman in our piece, his surgery went beautifully. He went there, took a day, he came back and he was fine. The whole thing went really well. It worked for him. He saved about $25,000. HOLMES: That's a huge number. Sounds like an easy call, but that's a very important point. You don't have those rights. If somebody screws up, you're on your own.
COHEN: Right. Pretty much.
HOLMES: All right. Great stuff there. Elizabeth Cohen, we appreciate you as always. Good information.
COHEN: Thanks. Thanks.
HOLMES: Stick with us, folks. We'll have a look at the top stories a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Just getting this word in that the Supreme Court has decided to look into a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors. An appeals court struck down the law before it really ever took effect, citing First Amendment rights. Retailers would have face a $1,000 fine for selling games to minors. Opponents of the law argue the current rating system should be good enough. Something to keep an eye on there.
We'll turn to New York, where we are keeping an eye on the streets. Stark reminder of how desperate some people are for work. Over the weekend, hundreds of people camped out on city sidewalks for a shot at a job application -- not the job, just the application that would put them in the running for the job.
CNN's Ines Ferre is in Queens. She's been hanging out outside with the folks who lined up. Tell us what jobs are they after?
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are getting applications for elevator mechanic jobs. There are about a hundred openings. They are giving out 750 applications for these jobs. (AUDIO GAP) They get an interview and about a hundred people would be selected.
We have spoken to a lot of folks this morning. Some of them have been here since Friday. Some of them since last night.
Chris, I spoke to you earlier. You served in Iraq. Now you're looking for a job. How long have you been here?
CHRIS, JOB SEEKER: Too long! Exactly. Too long. Since 7:00 last night.
FERRE: 7:00 How has it been? And how has your search been for a job?
CHRIS: The search for a job has not been good. It's very depressing, and this is tiring doing this. But that's what we've got to do in order to get a job. You do what you've got to do.
FERRE: Right. Well, good luck with getting the application here today. So, these are union jobs. This union in particular takes care of about 60 percent of the elevators in New York City. So you can imagine, they've got a lot of job openings right now. About a hundred. But a lot of people who want these jobs, T.J.
HOLMES: And Ines, it might be tough to do from your vantage point, but have we been able to estimate at all how many people actually did line up outside? Like you said, a hundred jobs, but do we have an idea how many people are going after the jobs?
FERRE: Yes. I asked a union rep earlier. He estimated over 1,000 people were lined up along the sidewalks. A ton of folks. I don't know if you can see in the background, but they have set up Port-a-Potties here, they had tents earlier this morning. They had chairs, all sorts of things.
HOLMES: I know you told us earlier some of the local businesses, communities have been helping out the guys as best they can. We've seen reports of that.
Ines Ferre, we appreciate you bringing that story to us. Like the guy said, you've got to do what you've got to do in these tough times.
Quick break. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Keeping an eye on stories making headlines today.
Cleanup underway in the Southeast. Seven states hit by tornadoes. Hardest hit, Mississippi, where ten people were killed. Three children among them. Two others killed in Alabama.
Also, to West Virginia now, where the president delivered the eulogy for 29 workers killed in the April 5 coal mine explosion. The president and vice president also met with the workers' families.
Stay with us here. We have coming up, a young man we told you about earlier -- actually last week. He may be the youngest person to ever get to the top of Mount Everest. He might be certainly the only one who has to stop along the way and do some homework.
We're checking in with him. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Time for us now to check in with Jordan Romero. He's the boy who's taking on Mount Everest. The 13-year-old trying to be the youngest person to summit the world's tallest peak and get back down. We talked to him and his dad a couple of weeks ago. Said we'd keep up with their progress.
And there they are. We're going to -- it's hard to make out who's who because everybody's bundled up, but I will start, Jordan, by asking you. You tell me exactly where are you guys now, and how far from the summit are you? JORDAN ROMERO, 13-YEAR-OLD TRYING TO SUMMIT MT. EVEREST: We are at advanced base camp at 21,000 feet.
HOLMES: At 21,000 feet -- so, much longer do you have to go and exactly what's that distance? For our viewers, there is a little bit of delay here. We'll deal with it, but again, how far are you from the summit and how long will it take you to get there?
J. ROMERO: About 8,000 more feet. It could take to summit a couple weeks or a couple of years, but determined to do it. It could take us four weeks, but this could be the first of many attempts.
HOLMES: First of many attempts. Well, tell me, and I will ask Dad, too, how tough has it been so far, and do you think you will make it? I hear Jordan kind of saying there, you never know what can happen. How tough of a climb has it been so far?
J. ROMERO: That was for Dad?
HOLMES: Yes.
J. ROMERO: That was for Dad, yes?
HOLMES: Yes, sir. Paul, you go ahead. You go right ahead. Tell me how tough the climb has been.
PAUL ROMERO, JORDAN'S FATHER: Pretty smooth. I mean, it's tremendous work, man. We had (AUDIO GAP) We had. 45 yaks, 200 kilograms worth of gear just to get to the bottom of the mountain. That's tremendous work.
Today, we had our first real climbing day, asubstantial climbing day. We got up to Jordan's new altitude record today, 7,100 meters. Very technical climbing. Ice and snow, and we had every kind of imagined weather today. It was awesome. Jordan's performing just as expected. He's got tremendous respect for what's going on here in the mountain,and things are going smooth. Knock on wood.
But health is one of the biggest battle in these kind of trips, is to stay healthy. Sanitation, food, water is such a battle. But we have an amazing team of sherpas, and Karen here is the team mom that takes care of everything for us. So, it's difficult man. There's just so many details, so many things that can go wrong that can just be a total disaster for a trip like this. But we have prepared very hard for this. Jordan had a stellar day. We were out on the ice and snow for ten hours.
HOLMES: I know one of the questions I had last time I talked to you was what does Mom think about it? Mom is on the phone right now from California. Leigh Anne Drake is on the phone. Leigh Anne, I assume you have a TV on, and you can see your son bundled up, and you know he's getting close to the top of the world. What are you thoughts at seeing your son there and hearing what he's having to go through so far?
P. ROMERO: Wave to your mom. LEIGH ANNE DRAKE, JORDAN'S MOTHER: I miss you. Love you.
He's going to do great. I have all the faith in the world in my boy. I really do. He's with a great team and he's been preparing for a long time. I just don't have any doubts in my mind that he's going to be successful.
HOLMES: You know, Leigh Anne, a lot of moms are nervous just putting their child on a bus to go to school in the morning. But you're sending yours up a mountain. A little concern? I know he's beend doing this for a while now, climbed other peaks, but is this one a littledifferent? Have you a little on edge?
DRAKE: Well, of course. I mean, the parent factor kicks in, but it's your child. He's got a dream and he set a goal. That's just how Jordan's been his entire life. So, he's extraordinary for a 13 year old boy. f you met him and spent time with him, anyone who knows him knows that he's definitely able to take on challenges that other 13- year-olds may not be able to.
HOLMES: I will certainly give him that.
Jordan, I'm going to wrap up by asking you the last question. You have done a lot of other climbing and have come to expect the unexpected. Is there something about this climb that's really cool to you or really scary? Something that's thrown you off a little bit on this climb, a particular moment?
P. ROMERO: Jordan, you have done climbing. Is there anything has it been odd, scary or extra special about this climb so far? About this trip?
J. ROMERO: Well, it's Mount Everest. Tough mountain. The altitude is tough. It's physically and technically hard. There are a lot of new things I have been learning from this whole trip. I have been able to see Mount Everest from wherever I go. I'm already happy with that.
I've got -- been learning a lot about culture, politics, religion, people, everything about Nepal and China. It's been such a great trip, and I have learned so much from it. This mountain really stands out from the others.
HOLMES: We'll leave it there. You made a very good point that this is like a field trip like none other that any other 13-year-old is probably ever going to get.
So, to Dad, Paul, Jordan, as well, thank you for being here. And mom Leigh Anne Drake on the phone from California. Thank you all. And good luck. We'll continue to check in with you guys. Thanks so much.
Isn't that something? Thirteen years old, almost to the top of the world. At least he doesn't have to shave on his way up. Dad's looking a little scruffy there. That's to be expected, though. Well, coming up here next. Blue jeans! You're probably wearing some right now, maybe. Or at least you got them in the closet. But what makes your blue jeans blue? Well, it's also turning one river black. Stay here.
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HOLMES: We want to turn now to our Emily Chang, who's looking at a toxic pollution problem that could be caused by what's making your jeans blue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the Pearl River Delta, otherwise known as the world's factory floor. Thousands of factories here are based here, and they make almost anything you could ever want. This part of the river is lined with textile factories, denim and dyeing factories. All of those factories produce industrial waste, and that waste has to go somewhere.
The reason we came to this particular part of the river is because when you look at satellite images of this area, one part of the river is a lot darker and blacker than the other part of the river. And if you look at the river bank here, it is simply covered in trash, a lot of it, scraps of blue denim.
(voice-over): That's because this is the blue jean capital of the world.
(on camera): So this is what blue jeans look like at the very beginning. It's just plain white cotton thread. That white cotton is now being lowered into this boiling vat of dye. When it comes out, it will be that dark indigo blue color we know very well.
The big question is where does all of this wastewater go? This is a toxic mixture of dye, bleach, and starch. The factory owner says most of it gets treated and then reused, but some of it does get discharged. He says he doesn't know where it goes.
So, this is the edge of the factory property. You can see there are several pipes leading directly from the factory property and into the Pearl River.
EDWARD CHAN, COUNTRY MANAGER, GREENPEACE: The problem with those pipes is they don't have labeling. You don't know what is coming out from them.
CHANG: There have been several studies done on the water quality in the Pearl River. What they have found is that the water contains things like heavy metals, carcinogens, organic chemicals. These are things very hazardous to human health and can be linked to cancer, brain injury damage, kidney problems.
I can tell you that the smell here is incredibly overpowering. It smells stagnant and really just plain foul. (voice-over): The government says it plans to invest $5 billion to improve wastewater treatment, with regulations requiring companies to pass wastewater test and random inspections. Fining those that exceed pollution limits, even vowing to shut them down.
If they are violating standards we'll treat them as criminals, this local official says.
But officials admit keeping tabs on many different factories is an enormous challenge. The bottom line is water is a vital resource. Experts say China's breakneck economic growth cannot continue without adequate environmental protection, and if these current trends persist here and across the country, China could be facing a massive water crisis in years to come.
Emily Chang, CNN, Guangzhou, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And coming up in the next hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, an illegal immigrant, now an American solider, talks about the new immigration law in his home state.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, that's it for me. Time for me to leave this in some more capable hands than mine -
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, yeah, yeah -
HOLMES: My good friend Tony Harris -
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: -- will be taking you through the next two hours in the NEWSROOM. Hello, there.
