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Campground Flood Horror; Beach Advisories Posted; Midterm Elections Brewing; New Face of Conservativism

Aired June 12, 2010 -   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: And good morning. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Drew Griffin.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We are in for T.J. Holmes today. It's 11:00 here at the CNN World Headquarter in Atlanta.

The search has resumed in southwestern Arkansas where they are looking for more survivors, a day after deadly flooding struck a popular campground area. At least 16 people are dead. And there's uncertainty as to how many people are actually missing, as campground records were washed away in the floodwaters.

Here's Catherine Callaway with the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Search and rescue efforts are well under way again today along the little Missouri River and the Caddo River which rose more than 20 feet in just a matter of hours early Friday morning, catching many campers off-guard, many sleeping in fact.

We know that at least 16 people are dead. And search continues today. They have no idea just how many are still missing.

(voice-over): Desperate families best to (INAUDIBLE) as officials search for the missing from Friday's horrific flash flooding at a campground in western Arkansas. Ginger Autry awoke to a phone call informing her that her teenage son was among those unaccounted for. He'd been camping with other relatives.

GINGER AUTRY, SON WAS AT CAMPSITE: I just want my baby. I want to see his little face.

CALLAWAY: Although officials say a flash flood warning was issued for the area at 2:00 a.m., most here were sleeping and were caught unaware.

Listen to one witness described what it was like when the Little Missouri River began to swell, filling the lower lying campground like a bowl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around here is the pavilion, this place over here, the kitchen was destroyed, the bars moved around, the giant refrigerators knocked over. And the office, the refrigerator I had in there was floating.

CALLAWAY: While he got out safely, for others still waiting for news, they will never be able to look at the area in the same way again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the most horrific thing I've been through in my life.

CALLAWAY (on camera): There were at least 30 people rescued yesterday. And today searchers are using canoes, they're on horseback, they're on all-terrain vehicles, they're searching by air, hoping to find more survivors today.

For CNN, I'm Catherine Callaway in Glenwood, Arkansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Those who survived the flooding could only stand by helplessly, as their loved ones were swept away. Among them, this woman here whose son and his friend were caught in the floodwaters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA CHARISS, SURVIVOR: My 16-year-old son was camping about 100 yards from us, and we were there screaming, because we couldn't get to him, the water came up so fast. He came floating down the river with his little buddy that camped with him. He said, please save me, help me, I'm drowning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The secluded campground has been a popular spot for Arkansas families for generations with many of them returning to the cabins every year for decades.

GRIFFIN: One of the big questions that I have is how this could happen so quickly, so fast, and really without much of a warning --

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

GRIFFIN: -- certainly not in the middle of the night.

JERAS: Yes, well and you know, communication is very spotty in this area, so we wonder even if people did have their radios if they would have been able to receive that signal and be able to hear about it.

But what happened, you know this is very specific to this area, Drew. You get six to seven inches of rain in a short period of time, in some parts of the U.S., you know flat ground. You're usually doing pretty ok; it just means a couple inches of the water is going to rise up on the ground.

But here in this part of Arkansas, it's very unusual because of the hilly country here. This is the campground area in this flat valley. And there you can see the river which runs through the area, so all of the rain that falls in this area and collects on the hillside, all runs down into this valley and collects here. So the river rose 20 feet in three hours.

GRIFFIN: Wow, and you were saying that the ground already had been saturated. Like for a long time?

JERAS: Yes, well, there were two rounds of thunderstorms that went through, one earlier in the day, that just brought in an inch or so of rainfall and then there was the big cluster of thunderstorms that came through and did the big deal later in the day. And this is an estimation from Doppler Radar of how much rain fell. And there you can see in that red and purple area if you look over here, that's about six to seven inches of rainfall.

So that is a whole lot in a short period of time. Flood watches were issued. There was a flash flood warning which was issued as well. We knew thunderstorms we're going to be in the forecast, but I don't think anybody expected that much in such a short period of time. And it's almost impossible to forecast the one area that could get the rain that was that high.

And what was going on in the atmosphere basically is we had high pressure which developed into the eastern Gulf here. And what it did is that it brought all of that moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into here. And all you need when you have conditions like that is just something to lift the air.

And so a little area of low pressure developed and rode around that high very slowly. And they had heavy rain for hours on end. It was two to three inches an hour for a couple hours.

GRIFFIN: Wow, ok.

JERAS: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Jacqui Jeras, thanks -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: The American teen hoping to become the youngest person to sail around the world solo is now in safe hands. A French fishing vessel reached Abby Sunderland this morning. The 16-year-old was stranded in the Indian Ocean after losing satellite contact two days ago. Her rescuers on the French fishing boat say that she is in good health.

Sunderland is expected to be taken to Australia or the Reunion Islands.

Well, come on in, the water is fine, or is it? We'll take you to the Gulf Coast where beach goers and beach patrols are on the lookout for any signs of oil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Do you believe its 54 days ago now that Gulf oil disaster erupted. BP still trying to cap that leaking well, right there, that's a live picture.

On Monday the company hopes to put a secondary containment cap over the first one. The first one has slowed but not stopped the flow of oil as you can see.

President Obama is expected to call the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. They may be speaking right now to talk over their differences. Mr. Obama has used some tough language in recent days, and the Britain's Prime Minister says that's helped to throw BP, British Petroleum, into financial turmoil.

Also today, protests against BP planned in more than 50 cities from the Gulf Coast all the way to New Zealand.

MALVEAUX: The disaster is affecting everything from the environment to local economies. And while many beaches, they are still open, vacationers are wary and cancellations are going up.

So are those advisories; our Reynolds Wolf brings us the picture from Gulf Shores, Alabama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): It started as a regular day at the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Sand castles, swimming and sunbathing, but a lifeguard's warning came as a wakeup call.

CHRISTINA WEAVER, VACATIONER: We were in the water and they told us we had to get out because the oil was coming in.

WOLF: Christina Weaver (ph) and her brother Robbie (ph) spent their childhood together on this beach. Having moved away, they had come back to visit together today.

C. WEAVER: We figured we would come to see the beach one last time before it was ruined.

ROBBIE WEAVER: And we figured we'd have the beach today --

C. WEAVER: But we got here and five minutes later, here it was. And it's nasty.

WOLF: Public advisories have now been posted in Alabama and Florida, but beaches remain open.

KIM TAYLOR, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: When you see these advisories, those are just as a precaution for anyone who may be in the water, who may be sensitive to oil products, and that might cause irritation on the skin or sides (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of these gets water, the other one gets sediment.

WOLF: Water testing has been part of the routine in Pensacola Beach, Florida since the spill began.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're actually taking water samples and sand samples analyzing them chemically to look for the oil that people can't see, because a lot of this oil is dispersed in the water. WOLF: At an emergency management meeting almost 150 miles away in Mississippi, officials are tired of waiting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The solid samples that we sent in Monday, we got Sunday, we still don't have results. You know how long it took them last time.

WOLF: Hancock County Emergency Director Hooty Adam (ph) says he's pushing Incident Command for faster results, while urging beach goers to be vigilant.

BRIAN "HOOTY" ADAM, DIRECTOR, HANCOCK COUNTY EMERGENCY: Right now, I tell them just go to beach just, you know be wary of what that they are going to war and just be aware of their surroundings.

WOLF: And that seems to be exactly what lifeguards back in Gulf Shores, Alabama are doing. Less than half an hour after oil washed up on their beach, swimmers were allowed back into the water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now they said we can get back in. So we're ok now.

Well, I don't see any more out there right now. Probably in the beach, so I guess were ok.

WOLF: Christina Weaver isn't taking any chances.

C. WEAVER: Yes, I don't want to be in the water. It's everywhere.

WOLF: The Weavers were here for fond memories, but are leaving with an unexpected keepsake.

C. WEAVER: So why are you trying to collect some?

R. WEAVER: Well, just to show that I was here when it happened, a little memorabilia.

C. WEAVER: Yes, this is not fun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF: Now, one thing to clarify, although there has been a presence of oil on parts of the Florida and Alabama beaches, including some tar balls, there's been absolutely nothing here in Biloxi on the beach. Things are pretty nice out here. The sand is pristine as can be. You can see some of the umbrellas out here, a couple chaise lounges over in the water, a couple of wave runners going out there enjoying themselves.

And yesterday afternoon we had quite a few people out there. They certainly expect more to come out later this afternoon. So for the time being, things are picture perfect here in Mississippi, but again a kind of a watch and see for parts of Alabama and Florida.

But thankfully all beaches are open for the time being. So if you have plans to come down to the shoreline, by all means take advantage of it.

Let's send it back to you in the studio.

MALVEAUX: Reynolds, thank you so much.

They've been everywhere, is there any suspicion at all that the oil is going to come to where you are now in Biloxi? Or are people are pretty confident that this is going to remain the way it is now?

WOLF: Well, to tell you the truth, I mean, there is definitely a cautious optimism here in Biloxi, people in Mississippi still waiting for those water samples to come back. And, you know, they're just enjoying the time here, the way things are for the time being.

There really hasn't been anything in terms of any sheen on the coastline here; they haven't had a single tar ball. And you know we have seen people getting out there and taking advantage of the great conditions.

So again it's just kind of a wait-and-see attitude, they're staying optimistic, but they're also being as realistic as they can about the situation; much of this is beyond their control. So very frustrating to an extent but they're keeping a smile on their faces.

MALVEAUX: Ok, all right. Thank you, Reynolds.

GRIFFIN: A lot of people are asking just what BP is doing.

Well, Brian Todd got inside BP's headquarters, the crisis center in Houston, manned 24/7 for the last 54 days. Here's his report on what exactly these people are doing to stop this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the moment we meet BP senior vice president Kent Wells, the clock is ticking.

(on camera): Good to meet you. Thanks for having us.

KENT WELLS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, BRITISH PETROLEUM: You want to see what we're doing?

TODD: Let's do it. Let's do it.

WELLS: All right. Let's go this way.

TODD: Heading this way. Ok. So I hear five rooms, is it? Five rooms?

WELLS: Yes. So what we're going to go into is our incident command center. This is a permanent facility. We hardly ever use it. We only use it when we have incidents.

So in a typical year it's primarily used during hurricane season. This is all about who's working on it right now. And this gets updated every 12 hours because we've got different people working morning and night, right? So that's about the people.

Then we've got about resources, what about ships, what about planes, do we have everything we need to make it happen?

Then there's the situation. So here -- and this kind of shows where is the oil offshore? Here's the well we're talking about.

TODD: How recent is this map?

WELLS: Updated every day; this morning, 0800.

TODD: Technical and environmental specialists each wear different color vests.

WELLS: These folks haven't stopped. They're here every day, 12 hours, 14 hours a day. And they just keep chugging. They have creativity. They have commitment. It's pretty impressive to see what people are doing.

TODD: Let me ask you a key question regarding this operation that people are asking -- why haven't you brought in more -- spent more money, brought in more equipment from overseas? A lot of countries have offered help. You haven't taken it from everybody. Why not use all these resources to bring more equipment?

WELLS: I think we've brought in all the equipment we need. We've looked at all sorts of sources. You know, we've had probably 20,000 ideas from outside now. We've brought in all the top scientists from the government that we can think. We've got people from our competitors. We have people from 100 different service organizations. We're tapping into what the world's got to offer.

TODD: Do you get a sense of frustration, though Kent, that with all the millions you're spending, a lot of it coordinated from this room, that it hasn't worked better than it has?

WELLS: You know, this has been a real challenge for us, there's no doubt about it. But I couldn't be prouder of the way people have taken this on.

You know, some things haven't worked out the way we wanted. We thought the top kill was going to work. We had the best experts from all over the world, they did it exactly as planned, and we weren't able to. But I don't think they have any regrets.

We'll learn from this as we go. In fact, we're learning as we go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Remember, CNN is demonstrating ways to help clean the oil from the Gulf. Listen, ideas are coming in from scientists, inventors and you. If you have an idea you'd like to submit, go to our ireport.com site and just tell us about it.

MALVEAUX: Former Governor Palin, move over, please. You're not the only woman brandishing those conservative credentials. Drew Griffin introduces -- this guy introduces us to a new face claiming to be on the right side of the issues, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Checking our top stories, they're still searching for bodies at the Albert Pike Campground in western Arkansas. We've updated the death toll, now 17 people dead in this flash flood. Hundreds of campers may have been there when that water surged.

Officials say they have received calls from more than 70 worried relatives who haven't heard yet from their loved ones.

Day 54 of the Gulf oil spill. Protests planned around the world, supporters worldwide BP protest, they promised demonstrations in more than 50 cities on 5 continents.

Spirit Airlines, they've canceled all their flights today. The pilots are on strike over a wage dispute. The Florida-based carrier normally offers about 150 daily flights to 40 destinations in the U.S., the Caribbean and Central and South America.

MALVEAUX: Well, they may have been right on target for the recent primaries, but are some of the so-called Tea Party candidates too conservative to win the midterm elections come November.

Our CNN's deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, taking a look and Paul, I guess that is the question here, whether or not some of these candidates can actually win in the fall.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Exactly and they've had some success in the primaries; just this past week you had Sharron Angle who's backed by the Tea Party Express, the national Tea Party organization. She won the Republican Senate nomination in Nevada.

They have some other mixed results elsewhere. They won in some primaries for house seats, they lost in some others, but the fear now among some Republicans, and I guess the happiness on the side of the Democrats is that some candidates, like Sharron Angle, like Rand Paul, which was a big win for the Tea Party in Kentucky last month, are they going to be too conservative, too out of the mainstream maybe for those moderate voters, those independent voters in the middle who sway elections.

You know Suzanne, we just saw last night in Nevada, Harry Reid, who's going to take on Sharron Angle now she's challenging him for that senate. He's out with a new commercial saying that she wants to get rid of social security, and that's going to try to scare voters in the middle away from Sharron Angle -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And then Paul, obviously, there were some big winners. But they weren't necessarily on the ballot. Who do we think came out on top here.

STEINHAUSER: Yes, very interesting. I think there were two big winners in my mind. All these people are saying the same thing.

Let's start with Sarah Palin. She endorsed three state-wide candidates in this past Tuesday's primaries and all three won. For Palin, that actually may be a good thing, if she wants to run for the White House in the next presidential election because two of the people she backed are the Republican gubernatorial candidates in Iowa and South Carolina. We know those are both early important primary states.

The other big winner, Suzanne, Bill Clinton; he went to Arkansas, his home state where he grew up, where he was governor for many years before he went to the White House, and he campaigned for Blanche Lincoln in that Democratic Senate run-off. And you know what, Blanche Lincoln and I think a lot of people are crediting him for helping here, take her over the top.

He also had some success last month in an important house election for Jack Murtha. He went there to southwest Pennsylvania to campaign. So where will Bill Clinton go next? We'll see.

MALVEAUX: I've a feeling both Clinton and Sarah Palin, we will see a lot of them coming up; a lot more of them.

STEINHAUSER: Oh, yes.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks Paul.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: Thanks, guys. You know, you don't have to look too far to find someone at odds with the government. But just who are these Tea Partiers and what are they thinking?

I'd like to introduce you to one. She's 26 years old -- she thinks we should all belong to community gardens, and was even arrested supporting somebody else's right to smoke pot. But what may surprise you most about Catherine Bleish is she is considered an emerging leader of Americans' Conservative Patriot Movement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): We found the new face of right-wing conservatism in Austin, Texas, down a dim staircase that leads to a subterranean book store called Brave New Books where Catherine Bleish tries to sell her new natural soap products while trying to explain us how she is anti-war, pro-organic food and vehemently anti-Obama.

GRIFFIN: Are you scared of this guy?

CATHERINE BLEISH, TEA PARTIER: Am I scared of him? No. I mean -- I'm not scared of him at all. I'm unhappy with him very much so.

GRIFFIN: She believes we the people are being unfairly taxed, illegally spied upon, and more and more oppressively (ph) over- controlled by a federal government that's starting to look like one of those Latin-American governments.

Is this the direction?

BLEISH: I don't know.

GRIFFIN: Sounds like what you're describing.

BLEISH: Possibly. It's sad, isn't it?

GRIFFIN: Bleish is not militant, is not violent, but is head of her own Liberty Restoration Project. She is a tea partier, a patriot and sees nothing wrong with the growing number of gun-toting militias in this country.

BLEISH: It makes me feel safer. If you look around our society, who's actually committing acts of violence right now? Is it the people who are advocating individual gun ownership? Or is it our government?

GRIFFIN: Yes, she does at least give credence to the conspiracies that some on the left would say is proof, she is crazy.

GRIFFIN: 9/11, government conspiracy?

BLEISH: I don't know. But everyone should question it.

GRIFFIN: Obama, born or not born in the U.S.?

BLEISH: I don't know. But everyone should question that at this point, too.

HEIDI BEIRICH, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: It's amazing really to see a young woman like this can fall in these circles. There aren't a lot of women in the movement, in the anti-government movement. So she's the face of that.

GRIFFIN: Southern Poverty Law Center issued a report this year warning that patriot groups and even Catherine Bleish's Liberty Restoration Project are creating a dangerous climate that at any moment could turn violent.

BEIRICH: Yes. Any time that you're talking about extreme anti- government organizations, you're talking about the possibility of domestic terrorism.

GRIFFIN: That includes the often cited studies by the Southern Poverty Law Center, including the most recent intelligence report by the group called "Rage on the Right", which these patriot group members say unfairly tries to link them with racists.

"Tea parties and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months," the report says, "can not fairly be considered extremist groups but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism." Do you find that true?

BLEISH: No, I don't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So Drew, we were talking in the break a little bit about what she believes, and you asked her a very interesting question about what does she think can solve so many of our country's problems?

GRIFFIN: Right. And the answer was community gardens. And I was like, what?

MALVEAUX: Why.

GRIFFIN: What she believes is the politics, the Republicans and the Democrats and the tea parties are so far apart, nobody talks, you know, we just yell at each other. She thinks community gardens get us together. She likes the idea of organic food. She thinks the more food grown locally, the less trucks delivering food out on the highways, reducing oil. So she kind of feels that community gardens are a good step forward.

MALVEAUX: To help people come together.

GRIFFIN: Come together, talk.

MALVEAUX: What do you think about this idea too? We heard a lot about Sarah Palin who's now saying she's a feminist. She's taking on that label and there are some other feminists who are saying we don't agree, this does not go along with our philosophy.

This woman, does she believe that she is a feminist? Is she speaking for a women's group?

GRIFFIN: You know, I didn't ask her that directly. That didn't come up in our conversation. I believe I can say she's beyond feminism, whether she's a feminist or not. She truly believes she's a player, and she doesn't have to be a player because she's a woman or a player because she's a man, she's a player in this organization she's building and sees no difference between the two genders of who can play.

MALVEAUX: Why is she so successful? How has she managed to get so many people to follow her? She's fairly young.

GRIFFIN: She is young, but she's full of energy, she's very positive no matter what she's talking about. She could be talking about I think the whole nation is trying to get me into a concentration camp -- I mean crazy stuff, right? But she talks about it with such optimism for the future that I think it's magnetic.

MALVEAUX: And the Tea Party, do they welcome her or do they shun her?

GRIFFIN: Some tea parties welcome her, some tea parties don't. The difference is true -- and I don't know if you'd been out on the street -- but true tea partiers really don't like the Republican Party too much. So when there's a true tea party, she's welcomed. When there's a tea party with Republicans or run by Republicans, they kind of steer away from her, because they consider some of her ideas as toxic.

MALVEAUX: Ok. Drew, very interesting. Thank you.

GRIFFIN: All right. MALVEAUX: Well, the death toll rises in Arkansas, where floodwaters swept through a crowded campground. We're going to hear from the state's emergency management office, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring you up-to-date on the search for survivors in Western Arkansas. It resumed this morning at the Albert Pike campground. The confirmed death toll in yesterday's flash flood is now 17, but the Red Cross says as many as 300 campers may have been in the area. Now, a registry that contained campers' names, that was washed away. Survivors say there was chaos when the floodwater hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You couldn't hear anything. All you could hear was the water. The water sounded really close. It sounds like high winds, and you can hear things cracking and snapping, and stuff would rush by you and you didn't know what it was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were so many people passing, I thought Lord, help me, help me. We just couldn't reach them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe says this flash flooding came at the worst possible time, in the dead of night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR MIKE BEEBE, ARKANSAS (via telephone): It happened at the worst possible time, because it was between 2:00 and 5:00 in the morning, and obviously all those campers were asleep, all those vacationers that were camping along that river were asleep. And so they had no way to know.

The weather service had issued a warning at 2:00 a.m., but unless you were awake with a radio, the odds are you would have never known that and even then we're not sure whether or not people would have reacted to it. So it was just a horrible convergence of a number of events. As a result of it, you see this huge loss of life.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: On the phone with us now is the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management's Renee Preslar. Renee, we got word just a little while ago that this death toll went up by one. Can you tell us was that a person found this morning in the search?

RENEE PRESLAR, DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via telephone): Yes, the death toll has been updated to 17.

GRIFFIN: Yes, can you tell us anything about that person? Where that person was found? Was it this morning in the search as daybreak came up?

PRESLAR: I don't have any details on how they found the missing body or, you know, statistics male or female, age or anything like that. State police just called and did let us know that the death toll has risen to 17.

GRIFFIN: Yes, do you have a better number now as to how many people you may be looking, missing or unaccounted for?

PRESLAR: Unfortunately, we still don't have a close estimate to the number that we are looking for. It does all boil down to the exact same things that Governor Beebe did say yesterday. First of all, anybody that did register with the campsite, those records were washed away in this water, in addition to if you didn't camp at the campsite, you could still camp either above the campgrounds or below the campgrounds, and you didn't have to register with anyone.

So as far as the exact - you know, the total number of people that were there, we're still continuing to look for people. Unfortunately, we did establish a call center, so we are able to get people to call in to us saying, we're looking for a potential person that could have been in this area and that allows for them to be able to start looking for people, as well as us to be to able start knowing who we are looking for.

GRIFFIN: All right, difficult day and probably a couple days ahead. Renee Preslar, thank you so much from Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

Well, hundreds of homeowners seeking help to save their American dream. The free advice is being served up 24/7 for 100 straight hours. We'll take you to one of those mortgage marathons.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Top stories now, the family of a 16 years old California girl rescued on the high seas is giving a news conference at the top of the hour. A French fishing boat rescued Abby Sunderland today from her crippled boat in a remote area of the Indian Ocean. She was trying to become the world's youngest person to sail around the world, but she became stranded Thursday after her mast collapsed.

Millions will be watching today when the U.S. takes on England at the World Cup. The international soccer tournament kicked off yesterday in South Africa. Last night's opening game between South Africa and Mexico ended in a 1-1 tie. In today's game, eighth ranked England is favored to beat the U.S., which is ranked 14th in the world. The last time the Americans upset the English was at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

The British are already in a festive mood though as they mark the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth. Now, the 84-year-old monarch actual birthday is in April, but hey, the country celebrates in June, when the weather is better for public events. There was no rain today when soldiers paraded through London with drums and marching bands. Later, the queen and other members of the royal family watched a military fly-over from a balcony at Buckingham Palace.

GRIFFIN: Well, talking about your palace now, help and hope coming to struggling homeowners in select cities. Right now, they're here in Atlanta. The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America offering pointers 24 hours a day to anyone with questions. Here's how one man handled it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got here at 11:00 last night. I was just having problems. I've been trying to go through the lender to modify the loan, just going back and forth for over a year now, and I was also given a foreclosure date for next month and I just felt like these guys may be my last hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a three-step process. Step one, orientation to learn about the overall process. Step two, you sit down with the counselor and you determine an affordable mortgage payment based on your income and your expenses. Step three, you go to the lender to get your solution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of this started last year when the economy was at its worst. I fell behind for a month, I set up a repayment agreement, then my employer went out of business.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are here until 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., 24 hours and our service is free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lowered my adjustable rate mortgage from - which had been as high as 11.5 percent, currently 9.75. I lowered it to 5.75 today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: That mortgage marathon is continuing here in Atlanta until Wednesday. After that, the NACA summer tour heads to South Florida and Washington, in early fall, Los Angeles and Sacramento.

O'BRIEN: A team USA plays in the World Cup today. Josh Levs is standing by. And Josh, they're already doing some trash talking, right? They're calling us ragamuffins, this is footy, what the rest of the world knows is football.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, you've been following all the twists and turns today, haven't you. Here's the thing, we're again down to the wire now, less than three hours, before the big game, U.S. versus England. So who are the key U.S. players that you should know about today? Will they become stars overnight? I am about to show you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: School maybe out for the summer for some kids, but the learning never stops for teachers who want to be better than ever at their jobs. CNN's Randi Kaye tells us what it takes to teach like a champ in today's "Building Up America."

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a good look inside this classroom. Notice what isn't happening. Not a single student daydreaming or doodling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the greatest of the three angles?

KAYE: This 5th Grade Math teacher at Rochester Prep Charter School uses dozens of techniques she says make her students want to learn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pushing the bottom number, 7, it's peeky time, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, how many do I got? Five and keep it lined up.

KAYE: That's just one of 49 techniques Kelly Reagan learned from this former teacher and principal. What do you think makes a successful teacher?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the first thing it has to happen is the teacher has to have control of the classroom environment.

KAYE (on camera): Doug has been at this five years. He seeks out schools with high poverty and high performance then asks himself what's in the water? Why does this work? He sits in the classroom, takes notes and records the teachers to perfect his techniques.

(voice-over): And in this 7th Grade Math class, students snap if the classmate's answer is right and stomps if it's wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two snaps or two stomps on two, one, two, nicely done.

KAYE: Eighty percent of the students here come from poverty. This may be their only shot at a future.

DOUG LEMOV, AUTHOR, "TEACH LIKE A CHAMPION": One hundred percent of the kids were proficient in 7th Grade in Math and in English, which out performs --

KAYE (on camera): One hundred percent?

LEMOV: Every single kid.

KAYE (voice-over): Good odds for improving public education. Randi Kaye, CNN, Rochester, New York.

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O'BRIEN: All right. Fred is in the house.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: How you guys doing? Good to see you this morning.

O'BRIEN: World Cup on your watch, girl.

WHITFIELD: Yes, World Cup on our watch. We'll be all over the map. South Africa, London, Washington, you name it, all eyes are on the big match today between the U.S. and Britain. We'll talk thoroughly about all that.

Also, we've got a lot of interesting legal cases on tap. Our Avery Friedman and Richard Herman will be along with it. We're going to talk about the fact that Gary Coleman can't quite be laid to rest, because in dispute, was he married? In dispute, his will?

GRIFFIN: Really?

WHITFIELD: Yes. Was he married? Apparently, there was a divorce in 2008, but it was a secret divorce, yet his ex-wife is saying, wait a minute, we are still married because of common-law marriage. So the will has put everything on hold. They can't cremate him, can't carry with memorial services for Gary Coleman.

It's crazy, our legal guys will be delving into that and Lindsay Lohan, her case, it's crazy too. She had a bond hearing of $100,000 posted bond because now the issue is this bracelet or it's called scram that's on her ankle. She was at the MTV Awards and apparently her mom says alcohol was spilled on it, and the judge is saying, no you ingested some alcohol that's why it went off.

O'BRIEN: It picks up the alcohol.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So all that, all that crazy stuff. Our legal guys will be with us. Of course, I mentioned World Cup soccer, yes, we have a busy day.

O'BRIEN: But without David Beckham, I don't know, we're going to have to come up with something more interesting.

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GRIFFIN: I guess you do. I think we're going to move on here. Let's move on.

The U.S. plays its first 2010 World Cup game today, a match against England. With America growing more competitive in soccer, many Americans are paying more attention to the World Cup for the first time. Would that be you?

GRIFFIN: If I pay attention it will be for the first time. If it all goes well, some players you may never heard of might become stars at home and that guy right there is keeping track of them. Josh Levs on the lookout.

LEVS: You think this will take off enough so these guys will be stars like household names in America?

GRIFFIN: I heard the same thing four years ago.

LEVS: Yes, I know.

GRIFFIN: That's eight years ago.

LEVS: I don't remember who they were 12 years ago. But - here's the thing, we are becoming more competitive and it is true that when you look at just raw ticket purchases more people have bought tickets from America than any other country outside of South Africa, so it is a sign that there is some American interest.

So what I'm going to do now is tell you about some of the key players. We have a breakdown of the team for you on the screen here. We're going to start off with Landon Donovan, instead of me telling you the little bit I've been schooled on, I'm going to bring in Pedro Pinto, whom I spoke with earlier today. He's got a lot to say.

PEDRO PINTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS: He's got 42 goals. He's been playing for a long time. A 122 appearances for the U.S. soccer team and he's really your best player if you ask me. Jose Altidore is another guy who is going to be up there. You know, he was top scorer in qualifying. So he's another one to look out for. And I guess, you like to talk about your goalkeeper Tim Howard as well, he's been in England now in one of the top leagues in the world for seven years.

LEVS: And he's saying those are some of the top players. Also, I'm going to mention a couple others. Clint Dempsey is one to know about, midfielder who is getting a lot of attention, pretty amazing. Carlos Bocanegra, team captain, a handful of people, you can find out about all of them because we have so many interactive set out for you on cnn.com for this.

I've never seen this many at once. Let me trace you through these. We have cnn.com/worldcup, which talks to you about the sport itself and everything going on there. We also have cnn.com/superfan, which if you a super fan, you can interact with other super fans all over the world.

And we have cnn.com/sports, which is literally following some step by step play by play action all day long. You can watch what's happening just by following that. That's our "Sports Illustrated" partners over there, and to be fair, we're looking at some stars of the U.S. team.

I do want to mention time.com, which is our partner as well. They have a breakdown of some of the hottest players in the world to look at and they're saying Wayne Rooney, striker for England is one of the best players in world. So we're all watching out for that.

Well, we're talking about interactive. There's one thing I want to let you know about this, really cool. Let's go to this video. We through I-report have invited people all over the world to take pictures of yourself playing soccer and they strung them together into the world kicking soccer balls to each other.

People in all these different countries, one of the coolest things I've seen our I-Report team do in quite a while. You can find the links to all the many things I just mentioned. It's all in my blog and Facebook, joshlevscnn and Twitter, find the links right there. Everything you could need.

So guys, we're down to two and a half hours now, right, before the big game. Fingers crossed for all those who are going be actually watching.

O'BRIEN: Do you have any spills? Are we going to see you with you a soccer ball there kicking around a little bit?

LEVS: If you want to see some slapstick. How many times can Josh fall in two minutes.

O'BRIEN: All right, Josh, thank you.

GRIFFIN: The gulf oil spill is delivering a major financial blow to fishermen. Now some shrimpers turning to the internet trying to keep the business alive. That story will have for you next.

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O'BRIEN: Shrimpers in the small Louisiana town of Delcambre have turned to the internet to make up lost income. Earlier today, I talked with Jimmie Dupre. He's been shrimping for 53 years. He's one of several shrimpers now selling online. I asked Mr. Dupree if he's experiencing anything like this spill in all of the time he's been working on the water.

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JIMMIE DUPRE, SHRIMPER: No, not with oil. First time, we see anything this bad with oil. We've seen hurricanes and fresh water. Right now, it's not just the oil because they're flushing out the rivers and right now in my area we didn't have no oil yet, but what we're having is a lot of freshwater.

O'BRIEN: How has the spill affected your own business?

DUPRE: It's shutting us down. Right now, we just came in yesterday. We're not planning on going right back out. There was too much freshwater and it's not feasible right now in order to catch any shrimp.

O'BRIEN: Now, I know that you are trying to hold on to your livelihood and you're doing something that's new that you haven't done before. You're selling your shrimp directly online to customers through the internet. Tell us how that's working?

DUPRE: It's working out pretty good. We meet a lot of nice people and what we do -- we got a line, you get online, they call us, they place orders. When come in, we call them up and they come pick up their orders. It's working out fine so far. If we don't have no shrimp, the lines are not going to help us.

O'BRIEN: How do customers know that this is good shrimp, that this is not shrimp affected by the oil since you're dealing with directly with them online through the internet?

DUPRE: Well, they come to the boat. They see the boat and the shrimp and a lot of my customers right now, some old customers, I'm picking up a few customers, they know me and they know my product. The oil has not affected the shrimp whatsoever on this section.

It has -- further west, we offer what we call Vermillion Bay area and freshwater bayou. We haven't had oil, but into other parishes, it's affected real bad. They got oil slick and they got oil up against the marsh and it's hard to glean. It's not like a beach. You got to get with airboats, shrimp boats and it's very difficult to clean.

O'BRIEN: And tell us about your website. I know people can go directly to your web site to get information about the shrimp that you're catching and selling.

DUPRE: You can get on delcomb.com, portofdelcom.com and pull up the web site and we got about 20 boats on the web site, which you can contact. We have something telling about our boat and livelihood. You can also get on the same web site, pick up some -- if you want to buy some frozen shrimp or processors, they're on there, too.

O'BRIEN: All, Mr. Dupre, we wish you the very best, you and your family.

DUPRE: Can I say one more thing about BP?

O'BRIEN: Certainly, OK.

DUPRE: BP is trying to help the shrimpers. I'm not on their payroll. They haven't hired my boat - yet, but they've hired a lot of my friends so subsidizing them. They have a livelihood as long as they're work. They're boycotting BP. I don't see why they want to boycott BP.

BP has to make money to spend money. They're spending a lot of money and they are trying to help the industry. And pray to God the federal government don't take over the clean up because BP's more equipped - to me, they know a lot better than our federal government to clean it up.

MALVEAUX: All right, Mr. Dupre, thank you so much for your point of view. It's a unique one coming from a shrimper. We really appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Dupre.

DUPRE: OK. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: All right, coming up, Fredricka Whitfield.

(LAUGHTER)

GRIFFIN: Thanks for joining us. Fred, have a good afternoon.