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Oil Leak: Looking for Answers; BP Oil Spill Video Control; Oklahoma Twisters Kill 5; Stopping the Flow of Oil; Lowest Tax Level Since 1950; Barbara Walters Announces She Will Undergo Heart Surgery
Aired May 11, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Top of the hour for you in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen.
Here are today's big stories.
Take a look at the first underwater pictures of oil gushing from a severed wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oklahoma and Kansas on guard for another round of tornadoes. Storms have already killed several people and flattened homes.
You're online. We are, too.
Ines Ferre following top stories trending for you on the Web -- Ines.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, these are some of the stories that we're following.
A family home is sunk into a giant sinkhole in Quebec, and four people are missing. This is on CNN.com.
Also, from 5,293 to zero, that's a bug that I'm talking about. And this is what happened yesterday on Twitter.
And also, take a look at this. A September 11th statue that's up for auction on eBay? But, get this -- you can't take it home. I'll have more details on that.
HARRIS: All right, Ines. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Pointing fingers and shifting blame, executives from the companies involved in the catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf called to testify on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers want answers about how the disaster happened and what's being done to stop the leak.
Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar is following the hearing.
And Brianna, if you would, share with us the very latest. Just moments ago, these executives were sworn in.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They were sworn in several minutes ago.
You've got the head of BP America, you've got the head of Transocean, which is a subcontractor on the rig. And you have the head of Halliburton that had done some work, some cementing work on this rig, just a few days before this explosion.
What we're seeing is the blame game, finger-pointing between these three corporations. And let's get right to the sound.
This is Lamar McKay, the head of BP America. Then I'll explain really kind of what he's saying, since it a little technical, at the end of the sound bite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAMAR MCKAY, PRESIDENT & CHAIRMAN, BP AMERICA INC.: An idea of the questions we are asking. There are really two key sets of questions here, and we're actively exploring both of them.
First, what caused the explosion and fire on board Transocean's Deepwater Horizon rig? Second, why did Transocean's blowout preventer, the key fail-safe mechanism, fail to shut in the well and release the rig?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The blowout protector, that is the emergency shutoff valve. And what you see BP essentially saying there is it's Transocean's fault, because Transocean was responsible for that BOP.
On the flip side, we also listened to what Transocean said, and they said that BP sets the specifications. And they said, clearly, the root of the problem had to do with the cementing or the casing of this well. And the cementing, what you read in there is something Halliburton did. So they're pointing the finger at Halliburton.
And then you have Halliburton saying they did their job the way they were supposed to, to the specifications of BP. And so, basically saying if there's a problem, it's with BP's specifications.
This is what one senator, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who's very critical of these companies, is referring to as the liability chase -- Tony.
HARRIS: Well, hang on. Help me here with this.
If BP is ultimately responsible for the cleanup costs in all of this, why this "liability chase?"
KEILAR: Well, because while the cleanup costs are going to be very expensive, what you can see being even more expensive is the economic fallout to the industries of the Gulf Coast, to the businesses of the Gulf Coast. And once the cause of this explosion and the oil spill is determined, legal experts say all three of these corporations could find themselves being sued by these industries, by these businesses, class action suits, you name it. And so that's why, presumably, you see them really trying to not be the main culprits of this situation.
HARRIS: That's what happens when corporations get lawyered up.
Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill for us.
Brianna, appreciate it. Thank you.
Got to tell you, BP has extensive underwater video of the leak, but isn't sharing much of it with the public.
CNN's Ed Lavandera looks into the company's control of what you see.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the most revealing image we've seen so far of the actual oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The short video shows robotic arms from an underwater vehicle capping one of the leaks. Look closely and briefly. In the background, you can see a dark cloud shoot into the water.
Three weeks after the explosion, this is the only glimpse of the leak BP has released. BP is in control of the video recorded by the underwater robotic vehicle. We're told by multiple government sources that these cameras have captured extensive video images coming from the site of the leak, 5,000 feet under water.
(on camera): CNN has asked BP repeatedly since the explosion for video of the leak. But company officials will only tell us that they'll look into it. But environmentalists and scientists say BP's unwillingness to share this video highlights a bigger problem with the company's response to the oil spill and critics say that's a lack of transparency about the extent of the disaster.
(voice-over): Aaron Viles is with an environmental advocacy group called the Gulf Restoration Network, a group that's been critical of BP's response to the oil spill. (on camera): And why do you think we haven't seen much of that video yet?
AARON VILES, GULF RESTORATION NETWORK: You know, if I had to guess, BP doesn't exactly want the public to see what's happening. They want to control the message. They want to control the information. But I think the public needs to see what's happening, both at the surface and at the sea floor.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): On Monday, we asked BP officials again about releasing the video. Once again, they said they'd look into it. But BP insists this isn't about controlling the message.
DOUG SUTTLES, BP, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: We're being extraordinarily open and transparent whether it's ourselves or the government agencies involved. We're sharing tremendous amounts of information.
LAVANDERA: A BP spokesman also told us it's a question of priorities. But when it comes to putting out videos, the BP public relations team is finding time to post videos on the company's Web site touting its disaster response.
TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP: This is another report from the front lines.
LAVANDERA: That's BP's CEO, Tony Hayward. He shows us in at least four videos.
HAYWARD: I'm filming this in the Mobile Incident Command Center. I'm incredibly proud of the way in which I can see BP and the people of BP are responding to this terrible incident.
LAVANDERA: The BP videos do show the company's widespread response to the disaster, but these videos don't show you what it looks like when 5,000 barrels of oil a day spill into the Gulf of Mexico.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: How about this? One tornado after another. Take a look at it here.
Boy. All forming out of one storm system that plowed across Oklahoma and Kansas yesterday. And storm chasers were right there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here comes one right there. Look at them. They're all over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Man, that's pretty amazing stuff, isn't it?
All of this video coming from storm chaser Andy Gabrielson. And last hour he told us what he was up against.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY GABRIELSON, STORM CHASER: You know, when you get that much instability out there, and you get as much shear as there was on a day like that, you knew there were going to be tornadoes.
And it was just crazy. Like I said, I've never honestly seen this many right in that area just dancing around each other. It was just -- it was incredible.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: How long did it last?
GABRIELSON: That multiple-vortex tornado probably lasted -- you know, time flies, but I would say probably three or four minutes. And then it kind of got wrapped in the rain, so it wasn't as easy to depict what was actually going on. But the RFD and the inflow winds, not actually the tornado itself, but the winds that were feeding into that tornado, were probably 80 or 90 miles an hour at times.
JERAS: Wow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Boy, that's amazing stuff.
The tragedy behind the environmental and economic disaster in the Gulf. A survivor of the oil rig explosion says he didn't think he would make it out alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kept thinking there's no way we're getting off here, you know. We're all dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: He also describes an attempt to rescue a fellow crew member.
We're back in a moment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Oh, man. Hey, watch where you point that taser. Yes, a "Random Moment" kind of a day for Ohio police.
Officers chase a suspected drunken driver. Right? Then pounce when the man gets boxed in at a motel parking lot.
More cops arrive. One's got a taser and a bad aim.
You have to watch closely here. The suspect is on the ground in light clothing, squirming from a jolt. Then an officer slumps to the left, hitting the ground in taser agony.
The driver says don't tase him for the cop's bad aim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you feel anything for that officer?
STANLEY FOWLER, SUSPECTED DRUNKEN DRIVER: I would say something about the officer who shot the taser. I mean, whoever shot the taser at me shot the other officer. I mean, they might need to say something to him about where he's aiming his taser.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Yes. You may have noticed the suspect's dog got a bite out of the officers.
It's a "Random Moment" kind of day for the men in blue.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Miles of destruction, at least five people dead, dozens more hurt. We are talking about all of those tornadoes in the southern plains.
One hit this truck stop just outside of Oklahoma City. Incredibly, no one was seriously hurt there, but the search goes on for others.
On the line with me now, Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City.
Mr. Mayor, we appreciate your time.
If you would, take a couple of moments here while we have some of this amazing video up for everyone to see, the aftermath of the tornadoes in your city and the damage they brought.
MAYOR MICK CORNETT, OKLAHOMA CITY: An amazing story at that particular site you're watching there.
HARRIS: Yes.
CORNETT: An employee huddled 75 to 80 people into a walk-in cooler and didn't even -- didn't have room for himself, but the storm had a direct hit on that facility. And when it passed, all 75 to 80 people emerged unscathed, miraculously, and some quick thinking by employees at that Love's travel stop.
We've actually, in the last few minutes, we think the death toll may be moving down. We are unable to confirm a child's death that we had been informed of last night. And so we're actually wondering if it ever even occurred.
So, the death toll in Oklahoma City may be dropping from two to one, which is good news. But you see there damage there. Lots of damage. Eighty businesses and houses combined totally destroyed. And obviously we've got some rebuilding to do.
HARRIS: Yes. Talk about that, the cleanup and the rebuilding.
CORNETT: Well, this is in a far eastern part of the city. Oklahoma City is very large, 620 square miles. This is a very wooded part of the city. It's not very densely populated.
And as a result, it takes our firefighters and our police officers quite a while to go through this area just to make sure that there's not somebody stuck in a storm shelter or somebody buried in the debris. We have completed a search over 30 square miles, and we haven't found anybody that we thought may have been trapped overnight. So that's the good news. This is my seventh year as mayor. This is probably the most significant storm we've had during that time.
HARRIS: How frustrating does it get for residents of your city? Look, you go through this every year in the springtime, in the fall, where we get this collision of these fronts, weather fronts, and you get these tornadoes.
CORNETT: Well, you know, we have been unscathed for much of the last decade. We were hit hard in '99 and we were hit hard in '03. And since then, we haven't really had much of an issue. And this spring, we haven't really had anything until last night.
So, it really varies from year to year. And like I say, because our city is so large, 620 square miles, it's not unusual for a small tornado to hit one of the parts of our city, just because it's so large in general.
So we are impacted, there's no question about it. And I will tell you that the news media here are on top of it, and we get excellent warning.
HARRIS: Mr. Mayor, appreciate your time.
CORNETT: You bet.
HARRIS: And the best of rebuilding the affected areas of your city.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: The oil spill creating jobs in coastal cities along the Gulf. We look at that side of the story with our Ines Ferre.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Let's get you caught up on our top stories right now.
Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan making the rounds on Capitol Hill tomorrow. The U.S. solicitor general is getting some face time with some of the senators who will be overseeing her confirmation process.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in Washington today, attending a series of high-profile meetings. Mr. Karzai had a breakfast meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, where she reaffirmed a commitment to fighting terrorism together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Mr. President, less than two weeks ago we received another stark reminder of the challenges we face together. The attempted terrorist attack in Times Square offered fresh evidence that violent extremism not only ignores geographic boundaries, but all boundaries of human decency. Addressing this deadly threat is a shared responsibility for us all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: "Terrifying." That's how Pope Benedict XVI described the scandal sweeping the Catholic Church. Earlier today, the pontiff discussed it as he flew into Portugal for a four-day visit. He said the most important attacks on the Church don't come from the outside, but from the sins of members of the Church.
Now back to the leak pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day. So what is the economic impact? We're seeing it on several fronts, dollars lost because some tourists are scared to travel to the Gulf, while at the same time, job creation for the cleanup effort.
Ines Ferre is following that angle of the story for us.
Good to see you again, lady.
FERRE: Good to see you, Tony.
Yes, and residents from the area actually have priority as far as these job openings are concerned.
To clean up the oil spill, in Mississippi, subcontractors are taking applications. And one subcontractor is looking for up to 1,500 employees paying $12 an hour. Some long hours. Some of them will be working about 84 hours a week, from working on the beach to the islands, to the boats.
And these are some of the people that are applying for these jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope to get me a job on the beach and help clean up the oil spill.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some type of job with the environmental cleanup. Hopefully it will lead to something permanent with an environmental company, because I've lived here for 40 years and I do care about our Gulf Coast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FERRE: And they have to have the right training for this cleanup effort. They have to pass physicals and go through hazmat training.
And, Tony, an area that's really getting hit is ecotourism, tourism in the area. Today, tourism leaders and BP officials were meeting in Biloxi to talk about the oil spill's affect on the industry. And some business owners are saying that their businesses are suffering, that people are canceling trips or canceling -- they're calling up with inquiries about tours, et cetera. And you also have a whole line of homes that are also rented out throughout the season.
HARRIS: There's a lot of money at stake here. We have to get it right. And that's why it's sort of frustrating to hear the finger- pointing and the name game and the blaming of one another on Capitol Hill that's going on today.
Ines, appreciate it. You're back with what's hot on the Web in just a couple of minutes?
FERRE: Yes.
HARRIS: Appreciate it. Thank you.
A survivor of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster gives a haunting account of the fiery explosion and reveals how the company acted to protect itself. It is an interview you won't want to miss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So, while lawmakers look for answers about what caused the oil leak in the Gulf, we want to get an update on the effort to plug the leak.
CNN's David Mattingly live now from Venice, Louisiana.
And David, what is being done right now to try to stop the flow of oil?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now they're trying to get that new, smaller containment dome in place. They had to bring it into port to have it refurbished and prepare for this new type of seal process that they're going to be going after.
They hope by some time by the end of this week, they're going to use that smaller dome, lower it down just like they did the larger one before. They're going to be lowering it down and putting it into place where they hope, Tony, hope to collect a large percentage of the oil that's now leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.
HARRIS: So, David, how are communities on the west part of the Gulf, that region, preparing for possible oil contamination?
MATTINGLY: There is a lot of activity going on to the west of the mouth of the Mississippi River right now. Everyone trying to do everything they can to protect those barrier islands and keep that oil from getting into those sensitive estuaries in that part of the state.
So, they're lowering down from helicopters large amounts of soil, containers, barricades to keep this oil from getting past those barrier islands. There's booms going out. So much stuff that we've seen in other parts of the Gulf. Very heated in that part of Louisiana right now, as everyone is scrambling to make sure, as this oil is moving west, to make sure it doesn't do any more damage than it has to right now.
HARRIS: All right. CNN's David Mattingly for us from Venice, Louisiana.
David, appreciate it. Thank you.
The explosion that unleashed the massive oil leak in the Gulf left 11 people dead. One survivor of the tragedy is speaking out about what happened. He told his story to John Roberts, filling in on CNN's "CAMPBELL BROWN." .
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER CHOY, OIL RIG WORKER: When I saw the derrick on fire, I knew that there was no way we were putting that fire out. I knew we were going -- more than likely going to abandon the rig. I was still kind of in shock. I just didn't expect to see that.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Did you fear for your life at that point?
CHOY: Absolutely. That was the main thing going through my head. It just hit -- hit me in my stomach. I just -- that's all I kept thinking, was, there is no way we're getting off here. You know, we're all dead.
ROBERTS: And one of the first things that you saw was you saw the crane operator who had been knocked off of his staircase and fallen probably 40, 50 feet to the deck. You and a partner who was on the firefighting team thought about trying to get to him.
Why were you unable to get to him?
CHOY: Well, we started -- we dressed out in our fire gear and started over there. He had already tried to drag him by himself. And he couldn't move him on his own. So, he came looking for help.
We started trying to make our way over there. And there was some more explosions. And that just put flames in between us and him. There was just no way we could get over there to him.
ROBERTS: So, you had to leave him?
CHOY: Yes. Yes, sir.
ROBERTS: What's that like for a person who is trained in rescue operations to have to leave somebody?
CHOY: Definitely one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. You know, that -- it haunts me today just to -- thinking about, you know, is there any way I could have got over there?
ROBERTS: You eventually made it in the lifeboat to a supply ship and then back to shore to a hotel, which is where you were asked by Transocean to sign this waiver that I have in my hand here, which says -- you were asked, "I wasn't a witness to the incident requiring the evacuation and had no firsthand or personal knowledge regarding the incident." You put your signature to that. You were also asked if you were injured. And you said, "I was not injured as a result of the incident or the evacuation."
Why did they say you to that they wanted you to sign these?
CHOY: They told me -- me and my wife were actually about to leave the hotel to come home. They caught me right before I went out the door. They told me it was just a statement saying that I was off tower, that I wasn't working and I didn't see what happened leading up to the incident.
You know, me and my wife were just trying to get home to see the rest of our family. And they said just sign here, initial here, initial here, sign this.
ROBERTS: All right.
Well, let's bring in your attorney, Steve Gordon.
Steve, what are you contending in your lawsuit regarding this particular waiver?
STEVEN J. GORDON, ATTORNEY FOR GULF OIL RIG SURVIVORS: Good evening, John.
Well, regarding the waiver, it just -- I understand that they have a right to investigate the claim. However, the way they kept these crew members offshore for over 20 hours is wholly unnecessary. These people give their lives to their job, and some died in this incident.
ROBERTS: Right.
GORDON: And by keeping them offshore, they actually added additional emotional distress.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: We should tell you that representatives of Transocean wrote a letter to Choy's attorney saying they were surprised he filed a claim against the company since he had signed the release.
Are you paying more or less in taxes than your parents did? We are crunching the numbers on your tax rates, and the answer might surprise you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So, CNN, of course, is your source for money news. The best Web site for financial news on the Web is CNNMoney.com.
Again, the Money team does an awesome job for you. Take a look at the lead story here, the hearings that we're following on Capitol Hill right now.
"The oil spill blame game." We've got officials from BP, from Transocean, and also from Halliburton pointing fingers at one another.
Let's get you to the New York Stock Exchange.
Three hours into the trading day, we're in positive territory. Felicia Taylor told us we were in negative territory at the start, about 90 points. That's turned around pretty dramatically. We're up 38 points. And Nasdaq, the tech-heavy Nasdaq, is up 19 points.
Let's get to Felicia.
You know Americans love to gripe about high taxes. But wait a second. A government analysis finds taxes as a percentage of income are at their lowest levels since -- wait for it -- 1950?
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
HARRIS: Let's get to Felicia Taylor at the New York Stock Exchange.
But, OK, you're smiling. They may be at their lowest level since 1950, but low is not zero. But that's unrealistic, too.
TAYLOR: Yes. OK. Now, how much -- Tony, come one. This was good news.
HARRIS: It is.
(LAUGHTER)
TAYLOR: The truth is, we are paying a smaller amount of our taxes to the government. The news comes from the Commerce Department, but USA did the number-crunching for us.
Taxes consumed about nine percent of all personal income in 2009. Now, that accounts for federal, state and local taxes. The numbers haven't been that low since, as you said, the 1950s. That's when Harry Truman was in office.
HARRIS: Yes.
TAYLOR: So, it was then about eight percent overall.
Nationally, the actual tax rate varies by person, where you live, which tax break you fall into, et cetera. The lower overall tax rate is one thing that we can thank the recession for.
Why? Those stimulus measures from the government, high unemployment. That, of course, means less earnings power. And fewer people are shopping, so fewer people are paying sales tax.
HARRIS: You talk about paying taxes. You know, if you don't get revenues into the government, it makes it difficult for the government to pay its bills, doesn't it?
TAYLOR: You bet. That's exactly right. So that's the flip side. HARRIS: Yes.
TAYLOR: And the numbers on this are truly mind-boggling. I never thought I would say numbers like this.
The federal deficit is expected to hit $1.5 trillion this year. The stimulus measures, the fewer tax dollars coming in, that all translates into the higher deficit. Now, the reason we need to care about this is because it directly affects our states, the ones that we live in.
HARRIS: Oh, yes.
TAYLOR: States are also required to balance their budgets. In order to do that, they have to cut spending in order to cope.
For example, here in New York State, furloughs were just approved for 100,000 state workers. And trust me, they are not happy about it.
HARRIS: Right.
TAYLOR: The education system may face 275,000 cuts nationwide this year. Even Pennsylvania is warning of potential cuts to child welfare services.
So it cuts deep. It's not funny when the deficit reaches numbers like that.
HARRIS: Absolutely, no. You're so right about that.
All right. Felicia Taylor for us from the New York Stock Exchange.
Good to see you, Felicia.
Got to tell you, we have some amazing video of a giant sinkhole -- this is amazing -- that swallowed up some homes.
Details on that and top stories. We're back in a moment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Let's do this -- let's get you caught up on top stories now. And let's begin in Canada.
Take a look at this. We're talking about a giant sinkhole -- do we have video of this? -- which actually swallowed up several homes.
It is the size, we're told, of five football fields. Rescuers are trying to find a family of four right now.
Let's take you to Oklahoma. OK. And you can see the headline there, "Tornadoes Kill Five People and Injure Dozens More." The governor of Oklahoma is touring areas right now damaged by all of those tornadoes that touched down yesterday.
Let me close this up here and get you right here, to Hawaii. And the remains of a USS Arizona crew member laid to rest inside the sunken ship.
That is a story that we will continue to follow for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And still to come this hour, "The View" creator Barbara Walters is taking time off her program to have heart surgery. We will learn more about the procedure and how serious it really is.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You know, they do a lot of dishing about celebrities on "The View," but one of their own took time on yesterday's program to talk about a personal health matter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Later this week I'm going to have surgery to replace one faulty heart valve. Now, lots of people have done this, and I have known of this condition for a while now. And my doctors and I have decided that this is the best time to do the surgery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Boy.
CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now.
Elizabeth, let's start here. Tell us about this procedure.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right.
Well, first of all, it's open heart surgery. They open up the chest and they go into the heart.
And so what they do is they take that faulty valve -- she didn't say specifically which valve she's having replaced, but from doctors we've talked to, said it sounds like it's the aortic valve. And usually, that valve works just fine. You can see blood's flowing. But sometimes those valves get creaky and calcified.
What you see right there is a plastic valve. So, sometimes they replace the faulty valve with plastic, and sometimes they replace it with a pig valve. She hasn't said which she's having.
Now, it's interesting, because sometimes, Tony, when you hear people talk about heart disease, you think, oh, well, that person didn't eat right or that person didn't exercise enough. Not the case at all with valves. Valves, it's just wear and tear.
HARRIS: Got you.
COHEN: You know, they don't open and close the right way, the blood comes flowing back, it doesn't pump sufficiently. So this is completely just a matter of mechanics, really.
HARRIS: So, how long will it take the great Barbara Walters to recover from this?
COHEN: Well, maybe she can do it like that, because she is a pretty amazing woman --
HARRIS: Yes. She is.
COHEN: -- who I've always admired. So maybe she'll do it in a day. But chances are she'll be in the hospital for about five to 10 days.
And then after that, it will probably take, you know, 10 weeks, three months or so, until she is, you know, back on her game. She will likely do cardiac rehab, which is what people do after heart valve surgery. Again, it takes a while because they have opened up the chest.
HARRIS: Cardiac rehab?
COHEN: Cardiac rehab.
HARRIS: What is that?
COHEN: They go in there and they get you on a treadmill and start you off slowly, and they rehab you so that you can get back to whatever level of exercise you were doing, or hopefully even more.
HARRIS: Yes.
How do you detect this? Do you learn of this problem through a routine screening?
COHEN: No, probably not. Like, if you just showed up at your doctor for an annual physical and he listened, he probably would not hear anything.
However, if you show up at the doctor and say, look, my ankles are swollen and I'm short of breath, and I'm feeling fatigued, then what they would do is they would do an ultrasound of your heart. And that's where they can see it. That's where they can see that the blood is not flowing in the right way.
HARRIS: A successful procedure and speedy recovery for Barbara Walters.
COHEN: That's right.
HARRIS: Man. OK.
COHEN: She's in good company. HARRIS: Yes, she really is.
COHEN: Yes, a lot of people.
HARRIS: And you would think the best medical team.
COHEN: I would hope so. I would think so.
HARRIS: OK. Elizabeth, appreciate it. Thank you.
The first lady's Task Force on Childhood Obesity is out with its first recommendations. There are 70 of them.
Among them, restaurants should rethink portion sizes and be up front about calories. School lunches need to be nutritious, not junk food. That makes sense. And more classroom time should be spent teaching kids what's healthy and what's not.
I spoke last hour to Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: We want to put more money on the table to support those school districts doing the right thing. And it makes a lot of sense economically to be buying from those local farmers, to be buying from those local producers. It's the right thing for them and it's the right thing for the community.
So, just being a little bit more creative, a little bit more thoughtful in how we do this, I think will dramatically improve our students' education.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. And later this week, I will be speaking with the secretary about his plan to put more African-American men in classrooms as teachers.
You know, the best way to pay back credit card debt or save your parents from insurance sharks. You have questions about your cash and Stephanie Elam is at our Help Desk hooking you up with all the right answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the Help Desk, where we get you answers to your financial questions.
Joining me this hour, Greg McBride is a senior financial analyst for bankrate.com, and Jack Otter, executive editor of moneywatch.com.
Gentlemen, thanks for being here.
I'll get right to our first question, which is, "What's the best way to pay back credit card debt? I have $14,000 on a card with 8.24 percent APR for six months, until it goes up to 12.28 percent, and 17,000 on a home mortgage rebate card at zero percent, which expires May 1st."
That's a lot of numbers.
"Should I get a loan, should I consolidate?"
What should this person do, Greg?
GREG MCBRIDE, SR. FINANCIAL ANALYST, BANKRATE.COM: Well, look, loans, consolidations, that's just moving the money around. The question was, how do I pay it back?
And you've got $31,000 in debt, plus interest that's going to have to be repaid. So you're either going to have to prioritize those payments on the basis of interest rates -- and ignore those introductory rates. One of them has already expired anyway. On the basis of highest interest rate to lowest, pay them back in that order.
And then take some aggressive action. Cut expense, get a second job, sell stuff on Craigslist. Do what you've got to do. It's doable, but it's going to take hard work and discipline.
ELAM: Yes. It may hurt a little bit.
All right. Our next question comes from Lynn.
And she writes in, "My elderly parents have about $50,000 sitting in a few accounts watched over by some life insurance guy the bank told them to use. The money has not grown much in the past few years. My parents will likely not live much longer. How do we protect the remaining assets from being taken by the government?"
It's a tough situation, Jack.
JACK OTTER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MONEYWATCH.COM: Sure. I wouldn't worry about the government in this case. I would worry more about the life insurance guy.
I think it's weird that a life insurance salesman would be overseeing somebody's savings. So they should check into that.
It sounds like this money is not something they want to invest. They need to have it there, liquid, when they need it. Unfortunately, it's not going to earn a great rate of return. I mean, if you don't take risks, you don't get much return.
So, leave that in a money market account. I would put it all in one account, because the bank will give you a slightly higher rate for a $50,000 account than, say, $5,000, $10,000 accounts.
But keep in mind, right now we have no estate tax. I suspect my best guess is in 2011, when it comes back, it will be similar to the 2009 rules.
So, for a couple, anything under $7 million is not taxed. And the tax doesn't even kick in until that first dollar over $7 million. So it sounds like these people do not need to worry about taxes. They do need to worry about maintaining that money. And like I said, I'd put it in a high-yielding money market account, because they may need it for their parents, or it may be left to them.
ELAM: Yes. It shows out the need for financial planning, to make sure everything is in order before things get to that place.
All right. Greg and Jack, thanks so much.
All right. The Help Desk is all about getting you answers, so send us an e-mail to CNNhelpdesk@CNN.com, or log on to CNN.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions.
You can also pick up the latest issue of "Money" magazine. It's on newsstands now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Stephanie, thank you.
A noble gesture, but financed by ill-gotten gains, the 9/11 landmark that is now up for grabs.
Plus, the mother of all sinkholes. Wait until you see the size of this thing -- five football fields wide.
And all alone in the Twitterverse? We'll tell you why nobody seems to like you on Twitter yesterday.
That's what's hot and that is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Time for what's hot.
Let's see, here, Ines. We've got abandonment issues on Twitter. There's a giant sinkhole in Canada. And there's one other item that I can't remember.
FERRE: Yes, the September 11th statue.
HARRIS: OK. All right.
FERRE: But let's get to the giant sinkhole, right, in Quebec. This family home that was sucked into this sinkhole.
HARRIS: Five football fields wide or so, correct?
FERRE: Exactly. And our meteorologist, Chad, was telling us about this sinkhole and how it's created erosion under the ground that is -- to the soil. And it just is incredible what you're seeing here.
HARRIS: Look at that. Look at that.
FERRE: And actually, rescue workers tried to go in the house, but they couldn't because it was so unsafe, unstable to go in. HARRIS: Yes. And you can see here -- well, I'll just read it to you. "A Canadian couple and two young children are still missing." And apparently, they tried to call the cell phone. They can hear it ringing, but they haven't made a connection with this family yet.
FERRE: Yes.
And the next one that we've got is -- this one's trending on Yahoo! And actually, this is a statue, a 40-foot statue.
It was commissioned by a firm that got in trouble with the SEC for a Ponzi scheme. Now this statue is auctioned on eBay starting at $500,000.
But get this -- you can't take this statue home because it's at the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation in Maryland. And also, the money doesn't go to 9/11 victims or the firefighters. It goes to the people that were swindled by the company.
HARRIS: I got you. I got you.
FERRE: And the next one is Twitter. And --
HARRIS: Abandonment issues. What happened yesterday?
FERRE: Yes. There was a bug on Twitter. And so a lot of people had their followers go to zero --
HARRIS: Right.
FERRE: -- as they were fixing this bug that was forcing other users to follow them. So they fixed the bug, and then everybody got their friends back on Twitter, their followers.
HARRIS: OK. All right. And everyone is happy today?
FERRE: Yes.
HARRIS: All right. So you're online. We're online with you. That's what's hot.
Ines, appreciate it. Thank you.
Let's get over to the Severe Weather Center. Another check of weather with my man, Chad Myers.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Fighting back from the floods. Authorities say 18,000 people in Tennessee have registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency a week after storms sent rivers and creeks sloshing into homes, hotels, bars, and other businesses. The group Widespread Panic is helping to raise awareness. They were here in our studios with Kyra Phillips this morning. (MUSIC)
HARRIS: Got to tell you, the guys in the band have Tennessee roots, and they played to thousands of fans across the state for many years.
If you would like to find out how you can help the Tennessee flood victims, you can do that by going to our Web page. It is CNN.com/heroes -- oh, I'm sorry, CNN.com/impact.
Time now to turn things over to the man, Ali Velshi, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, good to see you. You have a fantastic afternoon. And you can, by the way, take the rest of the afternoon off if you'd like.
HARRIS: Thank you, sir.
VELSHI: I seem to be getting a hang of things around here in the studio.
