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Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico; Plane Crash in Southern India; Mothers Visit Tehran, President Obama Team Investigates Oil Leak; Hawaii Special Election; Rolling Stones Reissue Album
Aired May 22, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In the headlines now, 158 people are feared dead after an airliner overshoots a runway in southern India. Investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong.
Social conservatives win a fight over what Texas school books should and shouldn't say. We'll hear both sides of the debate.
And BP gets ready to try something new in the Gulf of Mexico. It is called topkill. We'll tell you how it is supposed to work.
All right. First, investigators are trying to find the flight recorders after a jetliner crashed in southern India. An Air India jet was coming in for a schedule landing in Mangalore when it over shot the runway and then plunged right down the hill. One hundred fifty eight people are feared dead. Eight people were taken to hospitals. And CNN's Liz Neisloss is joining us now from the Mangalore area on the phone as well as we can see you now via the video screen.
LIZ NEISLOSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm on both. Fredericka, I am standing outside -- I am standing outside a hospital where two survivors have been brought. They are both said to be in fair condition. One survivor has an amazing story. A medical student in her early 20s. She was at the front of the plane. And when the plane crash landed and broke up in a ravine below the airport, she jumped out and managed to fall further and landed in a tree.
This is where she says she was rescued. The other survivor here also in fair condition, had burns and cuts. He was near the front of the plane. And when the plane landed and burst into flames, he jumped and ran. He managed to survive. There was one other amazing story we were told. A survivor who was found just below the runway wandering around in a daze. Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: Incredible extraordinary developments. Liz Neisloss, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate that from Mangalore where of course they continue to look for the black box recording to find out what conversations, what may have taken place just prior to that plane losing control and crashing.
All right. Meantime, the mothers of three American hikers jailed in Iran are expected to arrive in the U.S. shortly, but without their children. The women spent the week in Iran appealing for the children's release. They were allowed to meet with their detained children twice, but were denied a face-to-face meeting with government leaders. The young hikers have been held in Iran for now ten months accused of espionage, but their families insist they were simply hiking in Iraq. And if they cross the border into Iran, it was purely accidental. They expressed gratitude for Iranian officials for allowing that visit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY HICKEY, MOTHER OF HIKER DETAINED IN IRAN: We are very grateful to the Islamic Republican of Iran and the authorities for granting us our visa. We know that this is a great humanitarian act that they have given to us. Our reception was wonderful when we came into Iran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And as we mentioned, the hikers' mothers are scheduled to arrive in New York soon. They are expected to make a statement. Of course, we'll tell you what they said in the next hour as soon as we can.
All right. Sobering words from President Obama to members of today's graduating class of the United States Military Academy. Mr. Obama traveled to West Point, New York, this morning to deliver the commencement address. He told the 1,002 candidates that the U.S. faces difficult days ahead in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S: So this war has changed over the last nine years, but it is no less important than it was in those days after 9/11. We toppled the Taliban regime. Now we must break the momentum of a Taliban insurgency and train Afghan security forces. We have supported the election of a sovereign government. Now we must strengthen its capacities. We brought hope to the Afghan people. Now we must see that their country does not fall prey to our common enemies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And now to the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. More than 210,000 gallons of crude are still gushing from the damaged well every day. And as we head into month two of the disaster, Bp is focusing on its top kill strategy, but there's no guarantee that will work. That's the plan that they have to try 5,000 feet under water involving a two-step process.
First by plugging agents into the busted wellhead to slow or stop the flow of oil. We understand it could be mud that would be the second thing. Pumping heavy mud or maybe even cement in, which is supposed to also help plug it.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency has changed its mind about the use of dispersants to break up the oil in the ocean. It is telling Bp to find less toxic chemicals to deal with the leak. And today President Obama announced a bipartisan commission to investigate the disaster as experts struggle to get a handle on just how bad it really might be. Here's what the leaking wellhead actually looks like. This is the live video streaming that you are able to see 5,000 feet below the surface. You can click on it at CNN.com for live streaming video of the rupture to see continuously what is taking place.
All right. A fight over textbooks in Texas that could impact schools across the country. Both right and from the left weighing in on a controversy that some say is more about political ideology than standards.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Conservatives have won the day in Texas hoping to adopt controversial changes to social studies and history textbooks. In a move that will have ramifications far beyond Texas, the State Board of Education last night approved the amended guidelines along with votes from party lines. Among other things, the board diluted the rational for the separation of church and state noting that the words are not in the constitution.
Conservatives argue the changes were needed to balance the curriculum. Critics denounced the move as an attempt to rewrite history. The vote has national implications because Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks in the country. And other states often end up buying very similar books. Earlier today, CNN's T.J. Holmes talked to people on both sides of the issue. Ben Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, and Jonathan Saenz of the Liberty Institute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN JEALOUS, PRES. & CEO, NAACP: Right up until yesterday they had thought to rename the slave trade the transatlantic triangular trade and to take slavery out of it. That's part of why we flew down there. I'm glad to hear they moved on that point.
JONATHAN SAENZ, LIBERTY INSTITUTE: That's incorrect. That's incorrect.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what, let me get in here. I want to make sure, because I read this thing as well and did see Atlantic triangular trade in there, but in the next couple of words, I saw the word slavery. Go ahead, what is the issue with that, you call it a triangular trade and you are still talking about slavery and used that word. What's the issue?
JEALOUS: It is a euphemism. The reality is that slaves were central to the trade. There's a reason why it is called the transatlantic slave trade. All of a sudden people are put on the same level as rum and sugar cane and everything else. There's a reason why you call it the transatlantic slave trade.
HOLMES: Jonathan, isn't that at least a point, why even change the name? I think we all came up calling this the slave trade, so why is that important, even though you got slavery in the curriculum, the word, why make that type of a change? SAENZ: That's the point I'm making. I think there was some confusion on the part of some of the board makers, and that's why on Thursday to talk about that and that is when they talked about this issue. Everyone got on the same page and voted unanimously. The process worked. That was before --
JEALOUS: No it didn't work.
SAENZ: The standards were final. Yes, it did work. All the people were onboard. I want to address this, because --
JEALOUS: The process was flawed and you know it. You threw out the whole process. Hundreds of teachers were supposed to weigh in and agree upon the facts and you threw them all out and --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: We want to hear what you have to say about all this. You can find me on facebook or my blog page at CNN.com/fredericka. We'll try to read some of your comments in the next hour about what is taking place, what is transpiring in some of the Texas schools as it pertains to textbook changes.
We are just minutes away from the weekly look at the latest, greatest viral videos out there. Josh Levs is here to give us a preview.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know a couple things we have today. You know we have the greatest birthday surprise party ever. You know we have Ghostbusters invading the New York public library. We also have this, the way a little girl starts her day that you have to see to believe. It is the greatest motivational speech in history.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Go girl!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look now at our top stories. In southern India today, a passenger jet crashed into a ravine after overshooting the runway at the airport in Mangalore. One hundred fifty eight people on board were killed, eight people actually survived. Rescue workers have already pulled more than 100 bodies from the fiery wreckage.
And in West Virginia, a man was killed outside a bar apparently by one of his own pipe bombs. Police are investigating the explosion and say the unidentified man was not a terrorist. The blast was linked to a domestic dispute. They are searching the home of that man for other explosive devices now.
And the Vatican is weighing in on this week's news about scientists creating the world's first synthetic cell. It is praising the development as an interesting result, which could help cure diseases, but the Vatican is pointing out that the creation of cells does not equal the creation of life.
All right. You know the music. You know the sound and the look. That means Josh Levs, welcome to our video, viral video world now. You've got the best of things that are just so hot. People cannot get enough of it.
LEVS: They are really happy today. We have really good videos to make you smile today. The first is the best birthday surprise party of all time. Here's what I'm going to do, I'll talk over the beginning of it and then I'll stop talking when we get to the good stuff. This is in Copenhagen. This guy gets on the bus and he starts playing the birthday song. Nobody understands what's going on. We'll get to the next section and watch what's going on.
She is singing the birthday song. The driver's name is Rupert (ph) and it is his birthday. All right. Now we'll skip to the last segment. He's driving along with some people singing to him. He thinks he went into a protest rally. Watch what happens.
WHITFIELD: That is so sweet.
LEVS: This was organized by the bus company. His name is Mukhutar (ph).
WHITFIELD: How is he not crying?
LEVS: I think he does a little bit. It is so beautiful. The bus company does a special thing to make a happy work environment.
WHITFIELD: That's so nice.
LEVS: I love it.
WHITFIELD: I think a lot of companies ought to take a page from that and show a little love and appreciation on those special days like birthdays. I like that.
LEVS: Maybe we should let the bosses know when our birthdays are. If you are watching -- I don't want to tell them when my birthday is.
WHITFIELD: Me neither.
LEVS: So recurring theme here on viral video rewind. Once in a while we see good impressions. Do you remember the song from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"? He is doing an impression of the guy doing the theme song from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire." watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTER DAVIS: Outside of the school there are a couple of guys who are up to no good, started making trouble in my neighborhood. I got in one little fight and my mom got scared and said you are moving with your auntie and uncle to bell err.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: This is Hunter Davis. It is perfect. Everything about it is perfect. It has gone wild, more than a million views since it went up. People are sharing it on all the crazy video sites.
WHITFIELD: I love the facial expressions. LEVS: It is perfect.
WHITFIELD: You have to contort your take face a little bit.
LEVS: I heard the voice and I was thinking, is it really him?
WHITFIELD: He looks like he is in his 20s.
LEVS: I think he's in his 20s.
WHITFIELD: His voice says a lot more than that.
LEVS: OK. Best motivational speech ever. This is a video from 2001. They blew it up to youtube now. It is one of the treasures they had sitting in their house. She was a teenager, but look at her morning motivational speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Now my whole house is great. I can do anything good. I like my school. I like anything. I like my dad. I like my cousins. I like my aunts. I like my mom. I like my sister. I like my dad. I like my hair. I like my haircuts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Watch the big jump coming at the end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): I like my house. My whole house is great. I can do anything good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That's the end. Her name is Jessica. She was 3 when she was talking this.
That is so precious.
WHITFIELD: That is too cute.
LEVS: I seriously think that's the best motivational speech I ever heard.
WHITFIELD: I can do anything. I like my curls. I like my haircuts.
Now I'm dying to know where she is. That was nine years ago, you said?
LEVS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Now I want to know where Jessica is.
LEVS: Contact me. Jessica, where are you?
Meanwhile, what are Ghostbusters doing in the New York public library? First, people are actually in the New York public library, and the ghosts come in like they want to study just like everyone else, right? They are just hanging out.
WHITFIELD: Only in New York.
LEVS: And then let's get to the next section of the video. Then what happens is Ghostbusters walked in, and they start chasing the ghosts. And it turns out, from the crowd source; these are a bunch of entertainers that are very well known called Improv Everywhere.
WHITFIELD: That is so New York isn't it? Nothing affects me.
LEVS: Some of them are like, whatever. A few of them are like, whoa!
WHITFIELD: That is zany.
LEVS: I love it.
WHITFIELD: That's cute.
LEVS: This brings us, I believe, to your relaxation video of the week. So every week we have a relaxation video for Fred. I'm curious how you are going to like this one. My producer Glenn, we have a different producer, Carol, thank you. She picked this one that's popular. Hundreds of thousands of views. It has the space music theme. Let's pump up that music to see if it works for Fred.
WHITFIELD: Let's get to that part.
LEVS: The space stuff throws you off.
WHITFIELD: A little asteroid is coming past you.
LEVS: It makes you think someone should be floating by you, but a lot of people say it is relaxing. This is from my better than Ambien file that I have every week.
WHITFIELD: I like that one.
LEVS: You do?
WHITFIELD: Yes, I do. Go Carol.
LEVS: So as we know viral videos give way to market, but sometimes people take surprising ways to market the videos. Two mayor movie stars, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz put out a video aimed to be viral. And the idea is to get people talking about a movie that's coming up, but what's clever about it is it features something that everybody wants to see. Take a look at this. Who doesn't want to see Tom Cruise getting kicked over a table? Watch this. He is encouraging her, kick me hard. Give me a good kick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): How can I hurt you?
TOM CRUISE: Come on, really. Just snap it. Extend. Really just extend.
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Like that?
CRUISE: Yes.
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Oh, no!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: This is Hollywood, I forgot.
LEVS: Look how fake that was.
WHITFIELD: Of course, it is Hollywood.
LEVS: They have a movie coming up called "Night and Day" with a k "Knight and Day."
WHITFIELD: I'm going to have a heart attack. That was cute.
LEVS: I didn't get the wrap, so I get to give you another adorable video. Let's go to the next one. This is a 1-year-old snowboarder, Ava Marie. She is snowboarding at -- I'm not sure what the location is called, mammoth, I believe? The song is called "Lying Around" by the cassette kids. Look at this.
WHITFIELD: Go little tot. Nothing cuter than kids on snowboards and skis. That's all there is to it. That is -- look at that little hot dog. She's good.
LEVS: She knows how to bend. That's an Olympic feature right there. And you know who her coach should be? The 3-year-old girl with the motivational speech.
WHITFIELD: Put them together -- bam!
LEVS: As always, every video we have is linked for you. Let's go to the graphic. Every video every week is linked, I put it on the facebook page because those are the ways to reach me, the blog, the twitter, the video in the middle, facebook.com/joshlevscnn. Facebook has the easiest simple to give you the links. Go there, sign up, and get the list. Send us your favorite videos. We'll be back next week with your favorites.
WHITFIELD: So cute. You are right. The two kids, they topped it.
LEVS: They topped it.
WHITFIELD: The snowboarder and the motivational speaker. We want to know Jessica, where are you though? Where are you and what are you doing now? Thank you, Josh.
All right. The oil crisis in the Gulf, that's something we continue to keep a close watch on. And what the president is doing today to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Live pictures right now. You are looking at the hugs of mothers who have just returned, American mother who just returned from Tehran, Iran. They were trying to win the release of their three children, the three American hikers held in Iran now for about ten months. The allegation is they are being charged with espionage. They were hiking in Iraq, and their family says that unbeknownst to them they crossed into the Iranian border and they have been detained ever since.
That was 10 months ago. Well, just this past week, these three women, you can see in this spotty video here, these three women, the mothers of Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, all of them managed to get visas from Iran and they were in Iran last week to meet with their children for the first time, hugging them, and now they are arriving at JFK airport in New York. Let's listen to what these mothers have to say about their long journey to try to win the release of their children, but at least they got a chance to see them up close. Let's listen in.
CINDY HICKEY, MOTHER OF HIKER DETAINED IN IRAN: We would like to express our thanks to the Iranian government for allowing us to visit Shane, Sarah and Josh in Tehran. We greatly appreciate the kindness of the Iranian officials who did so much to help us during our all-too brief stay. We will forever saver the precious time we were able to spend with our children after such a long and anxious many months of separation.
We are also very disappointed that when we went to the airport to return from Iran, Shane, Sarah and Josh (AUDIO GAP) to be in prison. The pain of having to leave Tehran without our children is almost more than we can bear. Our greatest hope was to bring our children home with us where they belong.
We will hope and pray that the Iranian authorities will now find it in their hearts to resolve our children's case. And release them without delay.
We spent about 10 hours over the course of two days with Sarah, Shane and Josh, including many hours in private. We regret that because our visit was cut short, we didn't see more of them. We're satisfied that our children are being well treated, and we're extremely relieved to see for ourselves that they are in reasonable health after their long period of confinement.
NORA SHOURD, MOTHER OF HIKER DETAINED IN IRAN: Nonetheless, the emotional strain on them and the loneliness is very difficult. And they told us they just cannot understand why they're still in jail. Shane, Sarah and Josh have done nothing to continue detention (AUDIO GAP), and this troubles us greatly. (AUDIO GAP) The consequences of tension and political considerations is beyond any of our control. We hope that this will soon change now that the Iranian authorities know us for who we are, loving mothers who know the pain and heartache of any mother separated from her child in a foreign country.
LAURA FATTAL, MOTHER OF HIKER DETAINED IN IRAN: Hi. My name is Laura Fattal, I'm the mother of Josh Fattal. Nora Shourd is the mother of Sarah. Cindy Hickey is the mother of Shane. We would like to thank the different people who made our visit to Tehran so special starting with the Iranian people. Their sympathy and understanding and the warmth of their welcome are blessings we will always cherish.
We owe particular thanks to ambassador Libya Loy Agossi (ph) and the staff of the Swill Embassy for their great care and kind attention they showed to us throughout our stay.
We are grateful to our children's lawyer, Masoud Shafii, for his efforts on their behalf and hope he will have access to them soon at long last. And we thank the many friends and supporters of Josh, Shane and Sarah for their untiring efforts to make sure that our children be free. That day will come.
We also would like to thank the media in Iran and the United States and around the world for their interest in our children's plight. We hope you understand that we do not feel we are not able to take any questions at this time. We are literally exhausted and just too overwhelmed by the emotions of this trip. Thank you. And we hope to hear more from our children in the coming days.
WHITFIELD: All right. You were listening to the American mothers of three American hikers still being detained and held and charged with espionage. These mothers arriving at JFK airport in New York after spending two days, they said, in Tehran visiting their three children, Shane Bauer, Josh fattal and Sarah Shourd.
Those three children have been held for now 10 months in Iran after allegedly crossing into the border. These mother saying while they are disappointed, they are returning to back to the U.S. soil without their children, they are at least satisfied that while they visited just 10 hours over a two-day period with their three children, they feel that they are satisfied on how the kids are being treated. But they did at least underscore it has been an emotional strain for all of them. And they are hoping for the release of their children. But still, when they left, they had no official meetings with any Iranian officials. That, too, was a disappoint for these mothers now back in New York after being in Tehran.
All right, the other big story that we continue to follow here in the U.S., while BP fine tunes their plans for the next attempt to plug the oil leak in the gulf, President Obama is taking action on a very different front. Today he named a former congressman and the former head of the EPA to investigate the accident. Our Kate Bolduan is in Washington with more on the task of this bipartisan commission, now -- Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Fredricka. Well, the commission's official name, well we're refer to it as the commission, but the official name is quite a mouthful -- The National Commission on the BP Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. The group's mission, just as big -- to nail down, what were the root causes of this massive oil spill and also try to figure out how to prevent this from happening ever again in the future. And the men leading this investigation, they come with credentials. And you said, Fredricka, it is a bipartisan commission. The former Democratic senator from Florida, Bob Graham, and a EPA administrator during the first Bush administration, William Riley. President Obama talked about this bipartisan commission in his weekly radio and Internet address. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: I can't think of two people who will bring greater experience or better judgment to the task at hand. In the days to come, I'll appoint five other distinguished Americans, including scientists, engineering and environmental advocates to join them on the commission. And I'm directing them to report back in six months with recommendations on how we can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills that result from offshore drilling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: All of this comes as the Obama administration has faced increasing criticism about whether it is doing enough to stop the spill as many elected officials and environmental groups and many people in general have grown frustrated over BP's handling of of the cleanup. And as you heard from President Obama, right there, the commission has six months to report back with recommendations on how to prevent future oil spills from offshore drilling -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Kate Bolduan thanks so much from Washington.
BOLDUAN: Of course.
WHITFIELD: All right meantime, there's a special congressional election in President Obama's home state of Hawaii today, and it could cause the president some heartburn with the Democratic vote split between two candidates. Republicans hope to pick up a vacant seat. Let's go to CNN deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIR: Fred, will a family feud between Democrats and Republicans a rare congressional victory in Hawaii? All political eyes are on Hawaii's first congressional district where late tonight we should get the results of the special election for an open house seat. The district in the Honolulu area is where Barack Obama grew up.
The seat should be safe for Democrats. Heck, Mr. Obama won 70 percent of the vote in the district in the presidential election two years ago. But here's the thing. There are two Democrats running in this contest. Former congressman Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa. And neither dropped out for the sake of party unity.
Polls suggest they are splitting the vote which should allow the sole Republican candidate in the race, Honolulu's city councilman, Charles Djou to come out on top. National Democrats are washing their hands in frustration and they're going to concentrate now on taking the seat back in November, when in theory there will be one Democratic candidate on the ballot.
If Djou wins, expect national Republicans to celebrate their symbolic victory -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Paul.
Rescue workers say they could hear cries for help as the plane was consumed by flames. We'll have the latest on that deadly plane crash in India.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories, now. Rescue teams working into the night at the scene of a plane crash in southern India -- 158 people died when the Air India flight overshot the runway at the Mangalore Airport and then burst into flames. The Boeing 737 had taken off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirate. Eight people survived the crash and were taken to hospitals.
And a vote to change what is taught inside Texas classrooms is in the national spotlight. Last night, the Texas state board approved amended guidelines for social studies and history textbooks. Conservative supporters say the changes are designed to, "balance school curricula." Critics say the move is an attempt by conservatives to rewrite history.
And sobering words from President Obama to members of the graduating class of the United States Military Academy. Mr. Obama traveled to West Point, New York, this morning to deliver the commencement address. He told graduating cadets the U.S. faces difficult days ahead in the tough fight against insurgents in Afghanistan.
And every year millions of Americans rely on food pantries to help feed their families. But rarely would they get fresh produce at the food banks until now. This week's CNN hero saw a way to share the bounty of his own backyard with those in need. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pancake mix and syrup.
GARY OPPENHEIMER, AMPLE HARVEST: The system we have in America, you donate canned goods or dry goods to a food bank. Fresh produce is almost never available.
In 2007 I had a very prolific season and ended up with 40 pounds more vegetables than I could use.
Wow. That's good.
So I take it to a pantry. As I left this woman said, now we can have fresh produce. I remember thinking, what, do they have canned stuff only all the time? Horse radish.
I had an idea about how to not waste food. We're having an ample harvest, and the very least we can do is give it to people who need it.
They will be enjoying this tomorrow at the pantry.
AmpleHarvest.org enables people who grow food in home gardens to easily find a local food pantry to donate their excess produce to.
This is a nice big one.
We didn't know what doors to knock on, but now that Gary has got this wonderful program.
Here's some rhubarb.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taking it to one of the pantries really is a way to share with AmpleHarvest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So much of this is boxed and canned, it is not fresh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perfect. Thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're very welcome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really I do appreciate it.
OPPENHEIMER: Now we are getting the fresh items. The country is loaded with gardeners who have more food than they can possibly use. AmpleHarvest.org gives them the ability to easily give that food to somebody who genuinely really needs it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does it smell good?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
OPPENHEIMER: You're not only doing good, you're feeling great about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Oh, that is nice. Nearly 2,000 food pantries are signed up with AmpleHarvest.org. So to learn more about how you can help a family in need or to nominate someone you feel is changing the world, go to CNN.com/heros.
OK, it is spring, so whatever the weather, you might be in for something else. In about an hour from now, Jacqui Jeras is here to give you an idea on what to expect.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Imagine being on top of the world and barely being a teenager. California's Jordan Romero knows exactly how it feels because he is just that, on top of the world, and he's a kid. He's 13 years old. A spokesman says he's also a climber and he has actually called from the summit of Mount Everest this morning to say, yes, I made it .
He's the youngest climber ever to do that. You're seeing him right there. But he's not done with the rope and grappling hooks. He plans to scale the highest peaks of all seven continents. So look out, Antarctica, it is next on Jordan's list of mountains to climb.
He is amazing.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Quite a lofty goal, so to speak.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, exactly. but hey, go Jordan. That's fabulous. That's growing up fast and in a very big way, Jacqui.
JERAS: I know. We were just talking, at what age do you let your kids start doing stuff like that independently? Good for him, though.
WHITFIELD: Oh, I know. It's fantastic. I'm sure he wasn't totally alone. Oh, no, no, no. There are people with him and all that, but that's pretty extraordinary.
JERAS: Yeah, it is. Doesn't matter how old you are, but, yeah, at 13, just amazing.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, what's going on? Well, we're watching the tropics, believe it or not. You know, hurricane season begins June 1. However this time of the year, you know, things don't always work, you know, according to the calendar, so to speak. We've got a little area of disturbed weather, an area of low pressure, it's not doing much right now. It's very unorganized. It's not a tropical depression or a tropical storm, but potentially could become our first named system of the season.
Right now, a lot of dry air, that's this brown stuff in here and training into it. And there is a lot of wind shear, so strong winds kind of break systems apart. You got to have light winds to allow the thing to develop. So, once it moves towards the northwest, which we think it probably will, it could turn into something in the next couple of days. And we want you to be aware of it because it could be impacting the U.S. coast.
These are the computer model forecasts, or the spaghetti models, as we call it, because they look like a bunch of lines spaghetti, and you can see they're all over the place. So, no big consensus with the storm right now, but our thinking that it is going to head up just to the north of the Bahamas, possibly approach the U.S. coast. So, it is something to watch the next couple of days. You got beach plans, say Tuesday, Wednesday, in the Carolinas, you're definitely going to want to watch this one. We don't think it will be a big storm, but we do think it could have heavy rain and some strong wind impacts, as well.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Those are the kinds of extremes that make you sick. Get a little cold or something. Yeah. All right, thanks so much, Jacqui.
JERAS: Sure.
WHITFIELD: OK, well, it is time for a new look for an old album. The Rolling Stones reissued "Exile on Main Street." do you have that in your file? I'll tell you what's been added and how it is different.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, Mick Jagger has been at the pinnacle of the music world for nearly half a century now. So you would think that reviews just simply wouldn't matter to him anymore. Well, you would be wrong. Hear what Jagger had to say to Larry King this past week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: How do you react to reviews?
MICK JAGGER, THE ROLLING STONES: Well...
KING: I mean, when you're this famous, does it matter?
JAGGER: I think it does matter. I mean, I think, see, there are some reviewers that you kind of respect to some extent. You know, there are some reviewers that just write rubbish, and, you know, you can discount them.
But then you want the -- you kind of want -- when you put out a piece of work, you want to have the approval of -- you want your own self- approval, first. You want to feel that...
KING: You like it.
JAGGER: Yeah. I'd like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OK, so music critics are taking a new look now at an old Rolling Stone album. You recognize that one right there? "Exile on Main Street?" it was rereleased this week taken got mixed reviews when it was first released nearly 40 years ago, but the release includes new material now. So, I talked with "Rolling Stone" magazine contributing editor Anthony Decurtis about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTHONY DECURTIS, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: Well, the initial responses seemed you know, slightly disappointing. I mean they weren't trashing the record, but there was a sense in which, oh, you know, this isn't the Rolling Stones album that we were really hoping for. And I think that's primarily because it wasn't -- there wasn't like the great song that leaped off it, you know, not like "Brown Sugar," say on "Sticky Fingers" where everybody got really excited.
There was a lot of it. It was a double album there are 18 songs and I think people were a little overwhelmed by it at first. WHITFIELD: Yeah, some of the songs "Rock Soft," "Hip this Joint," Casino Boogie," "Tumbling Dice." So, tell me about the recording session. Apparently it was not very typical.
DECURTIS: It was quite untypical. They recorded, essentially, the Stones became tax exiles, I think the first band, you know, who left England because of their tax laws, essentially. And they moved to the south of France and recorded this record or most of it at this enormous mansion that Keith Richards rented. They recorded it in the basement. So even as posh as it sounds to be in the south of France, this basement had, you know, was dank, it was damp, it was like anybody's basement and they were essentially, you know there was essentially a kind of ongoing stream of guests and parties upstairs and these ongoing sessions for this album downstairs.
WHITFIELD: Of course, it's the Rolling Stones.
DECURTIS: Well, exactly. And it's become a kind of a legendary story.
WHITFIELD: Right. So now this reissued album really in CD form, it includes new cuts. What can you tell me about those new cuts and why they are distinctive and different and, you know, must have?
DECURTIS: Well, it is interesting, you know, there's 10 of them. You know, I wouldn't say that there is anything, you know that is going to change anybody's life, but you know, if you like "Exile on Main Street," hearing these other tracks, in many ways, their impact is as much as their album was. I mean, the first heard them I thought, well, you know, these are pretty good. I'm interested. But I've come to like them more and more, the more I play them.
They've been -- you know, Mick Jagger has recorded some new vocals. I mean, people should keep in mind that some of these were unfinished and the Stones went in and finished them. You know, Keith Richards would record a guitar track, they got Mick Taylor who was in the band at the time, who is no longer in the band, to come and do some parts and Jagger has written new lyrics and new vocals. So, in a sense it's a combination of the Rolling Stones in 1972 and the Rolling Stones in 2010.
WHITFIELD: Wow, all right, Anthony Decurtis, thanks so much, contributing editor of "Rolling Stone" magazine. Talking about the Rolling Stones and the release of "Exile on Main Street."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
