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Deadly Tornadoes Strike Minnesota; Oil Spill's Impact Beyond Gulf; Fielding Recovery in New Orleans
Aired June 19, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Robert, how should we celebrate? A lot of people, as you just mentioned there, we would hope to but are not going to stop and necessarily educate themselves. They're going to go out and people have family holidays and you picnic and you do all those things.
But how would you say and how should the government even go about recognizing this day?
ROBERT A. GEORGE, CONSERVATIVE/LIBERTARIAN BLOGGER: Well, I mean, I think it's a -- it's a personal decision for everybody. I mean, they can -- they can -- have picnics, they can have -- they can have parades in some towns if they wish.
I think in terms of -- in terms of the government, I mean, I think it would be fine if, you know, if there is a regular proclamation. And I think President Bush, actually who have been the former Governor of Texas actually started sending out a national proclamation for Juneteenth. That's certainly -- that's certainly great.
And, again, I think one of the things that is taught the least in schools, which they should learn the most, is American history, all aspects of it. You can look at it from the fourth of July. Look at -- look at Juneteenth. You can also learn more about the emancipation proclamation and the Civil War and so forth because if you don't -- if you don't learn about the past, of the country often doesn't know where it's going to be going in the future.
HOLMES: Very well said. Robert George, I'm going to have to look down to get this right, Conservative/Libertarian blogger. Robert, we appreciate you taking the time with us on this Juneteenth. You enjoy the rest of your weekend.
GEORGE: You, too, T.J. Thank you very much.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again to everybody. The top of the hour here now, it's 11:00 here in Atlanta, Georgia where I sit on this Saturday of June the 19th. I'm T.J. Holmes. Where ever you maybe we are glad you are right here with us.
But first here yes, it keeps on coming. Day 61 now, the Coast Guard says though, it's picking up the pace, pulling a million gallons of leaking oil out of the Gulf every single day, as one of BP's business partners accuses the company of reckless behavior. Also storms battering the Midwest, heavy storms and high winds ripped down trees and knocking out power to thousands in Chicago.
Also, Betty White still solid gold at the age of 88. The elder stateswoman of the screen sits down with our John Roberts.
Still, it is day 61 into this Gulf disaster and oil is hitting yet another popular beach. This time, Panama City Beach, tar balls now coming ashore. The eastern most point the oil has reached so far. Of course, also it's expected to take up the fight, a court fight is expected Monday over deep water drilling in the Gulf.
The Obama administration wants a six-month moratorium. Louisiana officials argued that will hurt the state economy.
Also, one of BP's partners in this calls the oil giant reckless in the way they have handled this and saying the rig explosion that killed 11 workers was, and I'm quoting here, "preventable".
Let me get back now to the tar balls I told you about at Panama City Beach. A spokeswoman for Bay County Florida says they started coming ashore late last night. And she says, a hazmat team determined they were from the ruptured well.
So far, only a small amount of oil has come ashore. And right now beaches are still open, however, there's no health advisory for the area just yet.
Also, a clarification from BP concerning the CEO, Tony Hayward and his role in the Gulf oil response disaster. Now, yesterday, the BP chairman said Hayward would give up control of the company's daily operations in the Gulf. But a BP spokesman tells CNN that was a reference to an announcement earlier this month that Bob Dudley would take over the long-term response after the leak is stopped. And until that happens, Hayward is still the man in charge.
Dudley, BP's managing director, is overseeing political and community relationships. He is from Mississippi, one of the states impacted by the disaster.
Well, the Coast Guard, hard at work along the Gulf Coast, the National Guard troops are there, as well. They, of course, cannot be everywhere.
Our David Mattingly is at Okaloosa Island, Florida between Destin and Fort Walton Beach. David, good morning to you once again, you're at a spot where people are tired of waiting on BP or the government to help. They're doing this themselves.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, T.J. It's a great day to be at the beach. And officials here want to make sure every day is like that. Because they feel like they could respond to the problems caused by this oil spill faster than the federal government.
They actually butted heads with them pretty severely, actually, being threatened that they might be breaking the law if they moved ahead without federal permits. But they got those permits, they're moving forward with their plan and just in the nick of time. Because just in the last couple of days, this is what's come ashore here on this island about 300 yards patch of beach was littered with these tar balls at a time when you see people going through there making sand castles and maybe looking for shells.
I was going through there picking up these tar balls. You see how big they are and they come in, and they melt with the sun, they mix with the sand and turn into a real nasty mess.
And what has already happened, they've had cleanup crews out there and they've cleaned up that beach. In fact, during the entire time, even while the tar balls were on the beach, there were some tourists who were refusing to let go of their vacation.
And public officials are marveling at how resilient they seemed to be. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRACY VAUSE, CHIEF, OKALOOSA COUNTY BEACH SAFETY DIV.: I think they're committed to their vacations. They want to be here. There are areas -- and they saw the progress that the cleanup crews are making.
So they knew that the product that was left on the beach could be avoided and they could still have a good time. The water had cleaned up, within a few hours, the water had cleaned itself. They pretty much dropped everything that was in the water up on the beach.
So there's still plenty of clean water to swim in. And I think they were committed to their vacations, they're going to stay and have fun. Regardless, that's not going to stop them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Communities all up and down the Panhandle are reporting tourism down this season about 30 percent. There were some people leaving when these tar balls first came ashore. But officials up and down here are now looking at the possibility of having to deal with this all summer, that some of this comes in, they clean it up quickly and get back to enjoying the beach the way everybody wants to during the summer -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, exactly David Mattingly for us though, in Florida this morning. David, we appreciate you.
And a programming note, a lot of people out there are looking for ways to help out in this oil disaster. Now we have a chance for you to help out.
Join us Monday night for an all-star relief effort to help rebuild the Gulf Coast. A special two-hour "LARRY KING LIVE" will begin at 8:00 Eastern Time. Monday night right here on CNN. Also, take a look. We're going to show you all of this videotape. This is from storm chasers in the Midwest. We'll tell you where this is, what was happening and the result of some of these storms. It's six minutes past the hour.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: That's some nasty stuff out of Chicago. They got hit yesterday with a line of storms. This video from our affiliate there WLS, wind gusts as high as 70 miles an hour.
Knocked down a whole bunch of trees, damaged some cars, some homes, blew-out windows to the Willis tower. That's -- still gets used to that as the Sears Tower that we all know it as. Some 200,000 people are still without power this morning.
Let's turn to Minnesota now, three people killed there and 17 others hurt in a series of tornadoes. Now this is Wadena that we're seeing here. Let's take a look at some of those damaged here.
It's always amazing Reynolds to see this stuff from on high. They often say it looks like a war zone, but when tornados rip through and you see the aftermath that next morning, when that first light, there's nothing like some of this video. And then this other video we've got here out of South Dakota.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, as I've been telling you.
HOLMES: I thought there was -- well, we don't have the other. I believe the South Dakota, that was the actual tornados we were showing the technical, is that right?
WOLF: Exactly. The same we're showing earlier.
HOLMES: All right, the storm chasers, I know you've talked to one a little earlier as well. Amazing some of the work those guys do. But it's all quite frankly and he said he did it as a hobby, but there it is. It's in the name of science, quite frankly. They still use this to study these storms on how they behave.
WOLF: Absolutely, you know, these storms can form anytime, anyplace in the world more often in North America than any other spot on the planet. And certainly he saw his share ...
HOLMES: Wow.
WOLF: And they had averaged 60 reports, not 60 tornadoes but 60 reports of tornados. And you see just a handful of them there. They had not tornadoes but some significant wind damage on other spots namely in Michigan, believe it or not, where they had a fatality about 40 miles west of Detroit, in (INAUDIBLE) County. Not due from the video you see here, but in Michigan, there were some straight line winds and tree damage, the tree actually konked out the car. What we're going to show to the people today is where they can expect the severe weather to develop today. We're not out of the woods yet.
HOLMES: Ok.
WOLF: We'll still have more of it. It's been a very busy severe weather season.
HOLMES: All right.
WOLF: And let's go over to the magic wall. And as we do so, I'm going to hop up and show you the big weather maker for the day. And there are going to be two spots that we're going to see, two bull's eyes on the map. Bull eye, bull's eyes, I guess that worked.
Two areas of concern for us, one of them will be right here in the Central Plains. You've got the moisture coming in from the Gulf, you've got this area of low pressure that creates lift. You've got the frontal boundary, two distinct air masses. Cool air to the north, humid, a very warm air to the south.
And then a dividing line combined with your day time heating is going to make this atmosphere very unstable. But not just in this one spot. Over here is the northeast, we could see it developed also in parts of the eastern half of the Great Lakes, parts of the entire state of New York, back in the Keystone State of Pennsylvania, perhaps even into Ohio.
Now, in the southern half of this area, and the southern half of the U.S. southeast, it's not going to be necessarily stormy, but man, is it going to be hot. Take a look at the temperatures going up today; 93 degrees in Atlanta, St. Louis, 94.
In places like Nashville, you've already had some scattered showers and storms this morning. Things are going to cool off a little bit in the short term, long term into the afternoon things are going to warm right back up, 86 is your high in New York, 92 in Kansas City and 82 in Salt Lake City.
Let me show you something else that we've got the tropics are heating up, especially in the Pacific. We're looking at two storms. One is Blas , that would this development right here. The other is Celia, this is name by the National Hurricane Center.
The good news about both of these storms, the great news, in fact, both of them moving off deeper into the Pacific out of harm's way away from central America.
So that is the way we really like to see those storms when they move up and out. I wish all them act in that same way. Let's send it back to you -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, good news there.
WOLF: You bet. WOLF: Reynolds, we appreciate you, buddy.
WOLF: Absolutely.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
We're going to turn back to the Gulf now and the oil spill there. Even if you don't live anywhere close to it, it's going to affect you like we in some ways, form or fashion and probably in some ways you never really imagined. I talked about this earlier to our tax expert Roni Deutch. You need to pay attention to how this is going to affect your wallet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RONI DEUTCH, TAX EXPERT: What many people are unaware of is that all oil companies must pay an eight cents tax per barrel into the oil disaster relief fund. Well, guess what's going to happen, T.J.? The House and the Senate are going to increase that tax from eight cents all the way up to 34 cents, even 41 cents per barrel.
That means, T.J., you and I and everyone else will pay more money at the gas pump and of course, will ultimately pay more money at the grocery store. Anything and everything that affects gas affects our pocketbooks.
HOLMES: Now, do we have an idea, and it might be tough to gauge right now because that stuff will get passed on to us. Just how much, what kind of a range are we looking at and just how much our gas prices could go up?
DEUTCH: Yes, T.J., I hate to remind everyone of 2008. Here in California, gas prices went up $1 to $1.50. And when that happened, we saw throughout the United States we had higher unemployment, our housing prices started and then, of course, the financial crisis took effect. So when you say how much money, I think, T.J., with mathematical certainty, we are all going to pay at least $1 more at the pump and another what -- 10 percent to 20 percent on everything we buy at the grocery store and everywhere else.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. That's not good news. That stuff is probably coming down the pike.
Another thing here that is probably going to have people scratching their heads here, and I want to make sure I've got this one right. BP can actually deduct the costs of the cleanup on their taxes?
DEUTCH: Isn't it pathetic to know that if you are criminally negligent, you can still deduct business losses on your tax returns? Do you realize T.J. that they're going to spend $20 billion to $100 billion to clean up this mess and they get to deduct every dollar of that on their tax returns?
How does that affect you and I, the taxpayer? For every $20 billion that they get to deduct, that's $4 billion less that they pay the IRS in taxes. $4 billion less to the IRS who is already broke. You and I, the taxpayer, will be bailing this disaster out just like we bailed AIG out.
HOLMES: We are essentially here talking about writing off a disaster. Is there any talk out there of trying to -- and maybe this will start to gain some steam -- but will Congress try to amend the tax code to try to prevent this from happening?
DEUTCH: We know, T.J., they would love to amend the tax code. The good news is, if we can push hard on this issue, I believe Congress will do the right thing. They will not allow BP to take advantage of these incredible tax loopholes which ultimately save them money when they deal with the IRS.
I think it's unfair because anytime they're criminally negligent and you're devastating our environment, especially our ocean life, why should you benefit and not have to pay your fair share in taxes?
HOLMES: This whole thing, it's amazing to think if this whole oil response disaster, cleanup money they're putting toward it is a huge write-off for this company.
One more, we want to get to here. And a lot of people -- and we know BP stock has taken a hit. People might think, all right, I don't have anything -- I don't have BP stock so I'm not getting hit. That's not necessarily true.
DEUTCH: Many people are unaware of the fact that their retirement accounts, their 401(k), their 403(b), their mutual funds are vested and heavily invested in the stock region. If BP stock is down 45 percent and the stock sector is down in the oil region 10 percent, we know that our stock portfolios and our retirement accounts are plummeting.
Here is the next point about that T.J. What about the 300,000 to 500,000 unemployed people because of this disaster? They're going to cash out their retirement accounts, T.J. They're going to be broke. They're going to be desperate. They're not going to be able to pay their bills, their rent, their mortgage, so they're going to cash out their retirement accounts and ultimately have to pay penalties and tax on that take out of money and be without a retirement account.
Now, is BP going to pay for that, too? I hope so.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Our Ronnie Deutch from a little earlier with a reminder of some of the financial implications of this Gulf Coast oil disaster.
We're going to bring in our Josh Levs now, to tell us about what a lot of folks are talking about right now, of course, the World Cup. There is, of course, a big buzz online so they can bring all the countries together. JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it's nice to see the world come together for something so good and peaceful like that. I'll tell you, this right here has never been done before. This is a live visualization of what the world is buzzing about and who -- whom you all are buzzing about it any given moment.
I'm about to tell you how this works and how you can change it on our Web site right now. That's coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's 22 minutes past the hour now. Taking a look at some of the stories making headlines.
Kyrgyzstan's acting president says the death toll from ethnic clashes in her country is probably ten times the official count of 191. A Russian news Web site quotes the president as saying there are many victims in the countryside who have yet to be counted. The U.S. State Department is calling for a substantial investigate into the attacks on ethnic Uzbeks.
Police investigating the disappearance of a 7-year-old Oregon boy are seeking information about the child's stepmother. Terry Horman told investigators she last saw her stepson at a Portland elementary school, two weeks ago. Yesterday, police passed out questionnaires asking people who were at the school if they saw the stepmother there that day.
A sheriff's spokesman insists, the investigation is not focused on the stepmother and police are not in a position to name a person of interest.
And over in South Africa, Johannesburg, specifically, some security worries at the World Cup after a fan of the English soccer team made it into the team's dressing room. The UK's royal Prince William and Prince Harry reportedly had just left that locker room when that breach occurred.
Speaking of the World Cup, we're going to show you something you haven't seen before. What the world is buzzing about online.
Bring in Josh Levs who is going to show us how exactly this thing works. Lots of flags there; very colorful Web site you've got going on there.
LEVS: Well, you know, we've been on the lookout and there are so many different parts of our Web site to ease through that are tracing the World Cup. We've got something brand new for you now. It's been here a couple of days, but it's just been updated big time. You need to see this. I've never seen anything like it.
Behind me, is called cnn.com/twitterbug. And what it's doing is it's following every tweet in the world -- all those millions and millions of tweets. And every given second, through pictures it's showing you what people are tweeting about the most. So you see a flag and you know that that's the teams. People are talking about (INAUDIBLE) it brings up the latest tweet about that team. But you can also change this. You're just looking at players, right? So which players are being talked about the most?
Take a look, all of a sudden, it brings you to the latest tweets about that person and you can tweet on this screen, as well, and your tweet will pop up for everyone to see. And the more you do, the more it is going to change because this is live and changing.
And if that's not cool enough, you can also follow underneath it, the live coverage from our CNN people down there. That's our Michael Holmes there saying, "Go suckeroos".
And it has a look at the last 24 hours, how things have changed during that time. One of the women who put it together, our design director joined me and she explained how this works. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER LEWIS (PH), CNN DESIGN DIRECTOR: So here we're looking hour by hour what people are talking about. You can see as goals are scored, people's pictures get really, really big. You've got the Mexican team trending here and throughout the day, you can see how the conversation changes if someone does something fantastic. It's going to show us here in real time, essentially, on the screen through this twitter visualization.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That's our Jennifer Lewis, design director. Now I'm going to show a few other things on our Web site as well, because it's so -- I've never seen so much coverage of one thing that is so visual.
We have cnn.com/sports. It's just one of them. And this has a lot of the greatest pictures because that brings you to our Sports Illustrated partner. You're getting a lot of the shots from the games. And if I take you through here, you can actually trace through how each game goes. They have some really amazing pictures from each and every game that you can see. This is updated all it is time.
Also, they break down the players for you. You want to know who is playing on the U.S. side and where? You just take -- you just click on it, boom. Tells you all the players, you can learn about the opposing side.
This was Alexander (INAUDIBLE), this was from yesterday in the game against Slovenia. Also, we have cnn.com/World Cup and this takes you to all of our coverage surrounding the World Cup, not just play by play.
Let's go now to South Africa, what's going on, surrounding it all.
And we have this thing, cnn.com/fan zone. If you're a big fan, you can join there. I know I just showed you a lot of stuff, so I've linked it all for you in one place. Let's go to my screen. It's all up for you linked at the blog -- no I'll just tell you. It's all up at cnn.com/josh right there. Just take a look at it.
But I think we do have a cool iReport thing that we can end on right here. I'm loving this. We have a video in which people all over the world have taken shots of themselves kicking a soccer ball around and we've kind of put it together through iReport to make it look like once in while they're kicking it to each other. Kind of like what T.J. was just saying.
The world is coming together watching the World Cup. On our iReport, we've got the world coming together to play a little bit. All that from our Web site, cnn.com.
So T.J., pretty cool stuff, huh. Never seen anything like this before.
HOLMES: You know, I'm so fascinating. I mean, just looking at that video, I'm so fascinated at some of the things those guys can do with the soccer ball especially the guys in the World Cup, but even -- you know, just regular everyday soccer players. Because I was never a soccer guy; just, I think that's amazing that people can do that.
LEVS: Yes. And in our country, we don't grow up doing it past a certain age. We don't have that many Americans who can do as well as they do in some other countries.
HOLMES: Thank God, we can get iReports from other places. All right Josh, thank you.
LEVS: Good point, yes.
HOLMES: Well, the proverbial field of dreams isn't limited to a baseball diamond in an Iowa Cornfield. Try New Orleans, Lower 9th Ward. Our Tom Foreman has more in our latest installment of "Building up America".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Carver High Rams are training for their third year of football since the big storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Set, hut.
FOREMAN: The team looks good. The coaches are hopeful.
But the Rams are getting a big boost thanks to a wild idea from the school's 24-year-old athletic director, Brian Bordainick, brought in from New York by the "Teach for America" program.
(on camera): What is your vision for what you're going to put here? BRIAN BORDAINICK, GW CARVER HIGH SCHOOL: We want to put a state- of-the-art community space, a synthetic turf football field, eight- lane Olympic track, with stadium seating and lighting.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Always a troubled institution in the toughest part of the Ninth Ward, Carver was destroyed by Katrina. Students scattered.
And yet since he launched his field of dreams project to serve not just Carver but every public school in the area, Bordainick has raised -- no kidding -- $1.3 million.
Selling individuals, government leaders and companies like the architectural firm that has now designed the new field for free has not been easy.
But gradually, Bordainick's relentless enthusiasm and conviction that a sport center can rally a whole town have won supporters.
MARK RIPPLE, ESKEW, DUMEZ & RIPPLE ARCHITECTS: It's something that gives kids self-esteem and in areas of the city where they desperately need it.
FOREMAN: Bordainick and the Rams still need more than half a million dollars to break ground. But they have faith it will come because just like football, they are working on it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go and work on my field. Let's go and work on my field. Let's go.
FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, lawyers say he's fair, say he's tough. So why are some objecting to BP's preference of this judge to handle all the oil- related lawsuits? We've got a CNN Special Investigation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, BP wants a federal judge of its choosing to oversee lawsuits in the gulf oil disaster. And the judge the oil giant has in mind? Well, Our Abbie Boudreau with CNN's special investigations unit found he has ties to the oil industry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This man, Lynn Hughes, is the federal judge in Houston, Texas that BP would like to supervise all the lawsuits filed against it.
(on camera): Essentially, Judge Hughes could make decisions worth billions of dollars to BP, and that casts a spotlight on his own financial ties to the oil and gas industry.
(voice-over): Judge Hughes owns land that produces oil, land that he leases to oil companies. He gets annual royalties from whatever they pump out.
In 2008, the most recent records available, he received royalty payments from ConocoPhillips between $50,000 and $100,000, royalty payments from Sun Oil of $15,000 or less, and royalties from an oil company called Devin Energy of less than $15,000. Records dating back to 2003 showed Judge Hughes received hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from more than a dozen energy companies.
Judge Hughes has said he's transparent, that all of his personal investment and finance information is online for anyone to see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when you take it together, is there a concern that a reasonable person, fully informed of all that, might say, look, he's not just a judge who happens to be dabbling. He's, in effect, a participant in the industry he is trying to judge.
BOUDREAU: A judge who also travels to speak at meetings held by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He doesn't get a fee for speaking at those meetings, but it does pay his accommodations, his travel and expenses.
(on camera): CNN examined Judge Hughes' rulings on oil and gas cases going back three years. In fact, he ruled in favor of oil companies just a little more often than he ruled against them.
Lawyers who know Judge Hughes tell CNN he's fair and tough. But environmental attorneys say even the request by BP to have this judge sit on the bench is, quote, "outrageous and unseemly".
Abbie Boudreau, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Of course, we are now 61 days into this whole oil mess, and how do you think BP is doing? How do you think the president is doing?
Paul Steinhauser, how are you doing? He's got the numbers for us this morning. So, you're always getting new and different updates about what the American people think. Let's start with the president. How do they think he's doing right now?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: All right. Yes. Good. Let's start right there. Take a look at this, brand new numbers out this week, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation.
Six out of 10 people we questioned, nearly six out of 10 said they disapproved of how Barack Obama, how the president is handling the oil spill. That's up eight points, you can see, from 51 percent last month. Those who disapprove, it's -- it's actually (INAUDIBLE) -- or those who approve, I'm sorry, 41 percent now. That's down five points from May.
This is also interesting, our polling indicates that President Obama's numbers on being a strong and decisive leader and on being tough enough to handle a crisis have also dropped, T.J. Our poll was the first to be conducted entirely after the president gave that Tuesday night primetime address on the oil spill.
HOLMES: You know, those numbers are looking specifically at how he would handle crisis, how he's handling this crisis. What about just the overall, that all-important overall approval rating?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, this is interesting. Check this out. We asked that as well. We always do. Do you approve or disapprove of the job the pres -- Barack Obama is doing in the White House? And you can see, the numbers there are really little changed.
Even though specifically on the oil crisis his numbers are dropping, he's been right around 50, 51 percent now since March, and this crisis, this environmental disaster, has not impacted that.
Keating Holland, our Polling Director, says that that may be because most Americans right now are concentrating, even though this is a big crisis and dominated the news, most Americans are dominated -- are thinking about the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, as of now, his overall approval rating not really changing, T.J.
HOLMES: And the question as well about how BP is doing, is there going to be a surprise there or is this going to come out exactly what people might expect a poll of how BP is doing (INAUDIBLE)?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. Let's show the numbers. I don't think anybody's going to be surprised here. Thirteen percent now approve of how BP is handling the oil spill. That's down from 24 percent. Look at that, 87 percent -- that's nearly 9 out of 10 Americans -- give BP a thumbs down.
Check out this next number as well. This is interesting. We asked what do you think BP's top priority is in this oil spill? Is it either cleaning up and paying for the damages or is it staying in business and making a profit?
And, well, you know what? Two-thirds say making a profit is more important to them. Only three out of 10 say that cleaning up and paying the damage is -- is a top priority for the oil giant, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Paul Steinhauser. Some -- some interesting, and that last number, not to be unexpected.
Paul Steinhauser, from D.C. for us. Good to sees you as always, buddy.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, we've been showing you this morning, there has been some nasty weather to hit Chicago. Lots of damage there and hundreds of thousands of people still without power.
We're going to be checking in with our Reynolds Wolf here in a moment to tell us exactly what we can expect today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Taking a look at some of the stories making headlines, Arizona's immigration controversy. That's heating up once again. The Obama administration plans to sue the state's recent legislation. It was the way, though, that Arizona residents found out about it that has Governor Jan Brewer, there on your left, she's upset.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton revealed the plan during a television interview in Ecuador. Brewer called that outrageous.
The Afghan international troops has killed a Taliban commander in Northern Afghanistan. NATO officials believe Mullah Abdul Razaq was involved in a bombing attack that killed two Americans earlier this week. Officials also say he was responsible for moving suicide operatives through the region.
Also, part of Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming closed yesterday. Authorities are searching for a grizzly bear that mauled a 70-year-old man. Shoshone National Forest located just east of Yellowstone National Park.
Reynolds, some nasty stuff there.
WOLF: Yes.
HOLMES: I guess you can't open up until you get a good idea of where this bear is and maybe track this thing down.
WOLF: That is unbelievable. Those things are huge. I mean, just mammoth animals. I mean, some of the largest animals that we have in North America.
Rough bears. We had some rough weather that we're dealing with in part of the Midwest, too.
HOLMES: OK. Is it going to be that rough today? It was pretty nasty ...
WOLF: It might be. It might be -- it might be in a few places.
Two places we're concerned with, in parts of the northeast and also in the Central Plains. We had certainly a rough weather spell and, get this, the last couple of days in Minneapolis, then back into Chicago, and then, of course, near the Detroit area, some rough weather.
We've got some video that I think we might be able to share with you in just a few moments. And while we're showing you that, I'm going to step on over. This is in Chicago (INAUDIBLE). You see -- well, good news and bad news in this picture. Someone knows where their car is. Problem is, it's underneath a tree that is about 60 feet high and about two feet wide and it was toppled over by some of the strong winds they had through the area.
That person's not alone. You see people here cleaning up the roadways. A big, tall order of a massive cleanup. They're going to be doing that, not only in parts of Illinois but back into Michigan where there was one fatality there at a town just the west, about 40 miles west of downtown Detroit. Just a huge issue, hundreds of thousands of people without power this morning, and the storm system that you see here on the Magic Wall behind me is the reason why.
Now the storm is leaving parts of, say, Chicago and -- and Detroit, and that's some really great news. However, it's going to continue to march its way to the south. Nashville, you've already had some heavy rainfall this morning.
But for people in Chattanooga some out to make the drive up towards Knoxville, in both locations you can expect clouds to build up and weaken (ph) into the afternoon, a rumble of thunder, possibly see some lightning -- the lightning, some large hail, maybe, and perhaps even some tornadoes before all is said and done.
One of the reasons why you will see that is because the air mass is going to be very unstable, very hot. A lot of moisture coming in from the Gulf, highs rising into the 90s across the south lane, Dallas with 98 degrees, 94 in St. Louis, Washington with 85.
But what you need is a lifting mechanism. We've got the heat. That's one thing. What you need is a front. And, lo and behold, we're going to see that develop, that frontal boundary, that area of low pressure pulling its way to the southeast, but also another low that's right off the Carolinas and off the coast of Georgia.
All this is going to come together to bring in a good chance of storm, so the best place will be right here in the Central Plains. Another spot could be in the northeast, namely into parts of Pennsylvania, even New York State, eastern half of the Great Lakes, but very warm, as we mentioned, in parts of Texas, highs going back into the 90s.
High humidity, it's a different story altogether. It feels like 100. Mama mia, that's some warm (INAUDIBLE).
Let's send it back to you, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds. We appreciate you, buddy. Thanks so much.
Well, a lot of women dream of the fairytale. You meet a prince. He sweeps you off your feet and you become a princess.
Well, we saw the fairytale, but it didn't quite go like that. You see, she's the princess. He is what they call the commoner, and they're married now. This story, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hi, Fredricka.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, T.J.
HOLMES: You know, I've been -- had this whole, nice place to myself all morning. WHITFIELD: Now I'm going to have it all to myself.
HOLMES: Yes. But good to have a little company. This is our moment here.
WHITFIELD: I know. How are you today?
HOLMES: Doing well this morning.
WHITFIELD: Yes? Good.
HOLMES: How are you?
WHITFIELD: Well, I wouldn't be totally by lonesome. I will have Josh Levs who'll be ...
HOLMES: OK.
WHITFIELD: ... coming along later on and our legal guys, Richard and Avery. Always love being joined by them.
HOLMES: Say, what are going at about today?
WHITFIELD: Oh, boy, we got a lot. You know, there's this $20 billion escrow account that the White House and BP agreed to put into place for these claims that are likely to come right from the oil spill.
So here are the questions. If you were eligible to receive a claim, how much would you get from this $20 billion? And if you do receive, will there be a contract involved, meaning you couldn't pursue any more from BP somewhere down the line?
Our legal guys will be delving into that one.
And then, a friendly reminder from the U.S. Supreme Court that if you text and if you text on an employee-given device, this is not private information, right, if your Turner (ph) BlackBerry or your cell phone is used for your personal use for any kind of messages, know that any employer who -- who does allocate these kinds of electronic devices, it's not privacy.
Yes. OK. Well, there's ...
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE)
WHITFIELD: Yes, there's a legal challenge and our legal guys will talk about that. But I'm just trying to tell you what the U.S. Supreme Court said about that.
And then there's the case of a teacher at a Christian school. Her job is hanging in the balance. Why? Because she got pregnant before she married. And so this private school, Christian school, says we are taking her to task on this.
So, you know, has -- has the school gone too far? HOLMES: Well, how did they take her to task? Was she fired?
WHITFIELD: You're about to be fired.
HOLMES: OK.
WHITFIELD: Yu're about to be terminated because you're ...
HOLMES: Wow.
WHITFIELD: Yes, you are breaking the moral code of the school.
HOLMES: Wow.
WHITFIELD: But our legal guys will tell you if there was not like some sort of written agreement, if there was nothing in writing to say this is the school's moral code and you as a teacher have to adhere to it, then perhaps she's got the case against them as opposed to the other way around.
HOLMES: Your legal guys agree on that?
WHITFIELD: Of course not, but that's what makes it so fun.
HOLMES: OK.
WHITFIELD: And I'm just in the middle saying, teach me this, teach me that. OK, that's good. Good point there. I like that. I'm the referee, you know?
HOLMES: Well, Fredricka, you can put on your stripes ...
WHITFIELD: They're going to be with us throughout the day.
HOLMES: ... and referee because you're coming up in 10 minutes.
WHITFIELD: That's right.
HOLMES: Fredricka Whitfield in the CNN NEWSROOM. It's all yours in a second.
WHITFIELD: All right. Have a great day.
HOLMES: But before I go.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HOLMES: Let me ...
WHITFIELD: There's more.
HOLMES: ... remind people -- Betty White. The "Golden Girl" is at the age of -- what? Is it 88? She is more golden than ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIE BERTINELLI, ACTRESS: Hi, I'm Melanie. I -- I'll be leasing the place.
BETTY WHITE, ACTRESS: I've been the caretaker of this house for 50 years, but you can kick me out.
BERTINELLI: I wouldn't ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: CNN going one-on-one with the comedienne who's introducing herself to a whole new generation of fans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And a fairy tale wedding today. A royal wedding. This was in Sweden, the Crown Princess Victoria -- you see her there -- she married a commoner.
Now, they use this term to describe him. It's not really degrading. It just means he's not of royal blood. His name is Daniel Westling. This was just hours ago at the Stockholm Cathedral. That was next to the castle.
Westling was her personal trainer. Today he is a prince.
Of course, a star-studded affair, 1,200 guests, royalty from all around the world. The new prince underwent extensive training and he had to have a makeover to prepare for his new duties.
Well, another royal -- well, one of our bits of royalty here. She's 88 years old now, and that's young. She's been in TV for some 60 years.
This is Betty White we're talking about, and she still rock, and she's rocking a new audience now. After that Super Bowl Snickers add, and then she hosted "Saturday Night Live", and now she's got a new sitcom called "Hot in Cleveland".
The actress and comedienne sat down with our John Roberts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: America has always been a country that treasures the young and -- and, to some degree, has disregarded the elderly. Did you think as -- as Baby Boomers mature toward retirement that -- that that attitude will change and could you be the leading edge of a whole new change in attitude here in the United States?
WHITE: Oh, I hardly -- I hardly think I'd be the leading edge, but I don't know where the -- where the break comes in.
At first, when you're starting out in a career, you just assume people don't know how old you are. And, then, somewhere in -- in the transition, you begin to brag about it. Yes, well, I'm 88 and a half.
Now, I don't -- I don't have -- hello. I'm Betty White. I'm 88. How are you? It's -- it's silly, but it's -- it's very comfortable, I must admit.
ROBERTS: You know, earlier this year, in the Super Bowl, Betty White -- I mean, you've never left people's psyche. You've always been there. I know you've always been there in -- in my mind, when I think among the great comediennes of our time.
But the Snicker's commercial gave you a new lease on life. How did that whole thing come about?
WHITE: I have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, come on!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're playing like Betty White out there.
WHITE: That's not what your girlfriend said.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baby ...
WHITE: The last -- gave me the offer to do the Snicker's commercial, and they said it would be somewhere near the Super Bowl, and -- which was wonderful. We thought that was great.
It turned out to be not only on the Super Bowl, it was the first commercial on the Super Bowl, before people go wandering away.
ROBERTS: Did you look at the script for that and just say, wow, I really like this, or ...
WHITE: No. I just said -- they said Snicker's, and I've been eating Snicker's all my life. Snicker's and a bunch of young guys on a football field -- it didn't sound too shabby.
ROBERTS: That would be something that could be enjoyable for you.
So this, of course, led to the "Saturday Night Live" gig.
WHITE: I'm 90 years old. I like to stand, I like to bend, and I like to sit.
ROBERTS: This is something that you had said no to in the past.
WHITE: Yes, I had said no because it's so New York and I am so California that I thought I'd be like a fish out of water. So I turned it down about three times, years ago. And I was saying a polite "thank you very much, but no thank you" this time, and my agent said you've got to do it. I almost killed my agent, but I didn't quite.
But I was panicky -- just panicky. But everybody was so supportive and so nice, and it's such a science. They have that show nailed.
ROBERTS: How does a person of your experience get panicky about doing "Saturday Night Live"? WHITE: I get panicky walking on the Jay Leno set and I've known Jay forever. I -- I got a little nervous walking in here, John.
ROBERTS: Well, there's nothing to be nervous about, believe me.
WHITE: On the other hand, I enjoy it. And I enjoy meeting people that -- that -- are we meeting later. You said ...
ROBERTS: We are.
WHITE: Yes. We had ...
ROBERTS: I get off at 9:00 tonight.
WHITE: Yes. That's fine.
ROBERTS: All right.
ROBERTS: And this show, "Hot in Cleveland" ...
JANE LEEVES, ACTRESS: Does anyone else smell pot?
WHITE: What are you, a cop?
LEEVES: No.
WHITE: Then what's it to you?
ROBERTS: This is something else that came along. They said, Betty, we'd like you to do a pilot. You said, oh, OK, as long as it's a pilot. And then they said, well, how about three shows? And then it's turned into 10, and who knows where it goes from here?
WHITE: It got picked up in three weeks, John. I mean, sometimes you'll do a pilot in February and it's May before you know whether it's going to go.
Well, they got picked up in three weeks, and they came back and asked if I'd do more. I said, well, that's wasn't the original arrangement. And I'm so firm in my opinion ...
ROBERTS: You are.
WHITE: ... the next I'm doing all 10.
ROBERTS: I've got to ask you about "The Golden Girls".
(THEME FOR "THE GOLDEN GIRLS" PLAYS)
ROBERTS: Estelle Getty, 2008, passed away, Bea Arthur last year, Rue McClanahan this year. You're -- you're a loner now.
WHITE: This one really -- well, they all, each and every one of them, hurt so much. And I never knew how old the other girls were because they would never discuss age. And it was so ironic, I was older than anybody, and to be the only one left when you're the oldest doesn't seem fair, does it?
ROBERTS: Well, we're certainly glad that you are still here.
WHITE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Because you've given us so much pleasure.
Betty, it's been an absolute ...
WHITE: It's a joy meeting you, John.
ROBERTS: It's an honor to meet you. Thank you so much.
WHITE: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well she has a new sitcom. It's called "Hot in Cleveland". It premieres this week on TVLand, and it was the highest- rated show ever on that network, Fredricka. So she is ...
WHITFIELD: Betty's hot.
HOLMES: ... definitely hot. It's amazing ...
WHITFIELD: Betty's always hot. She's always been remarkable. Everybody's always loved her and still do.
HOLMES: It's amazing, she has a whole new career and a whole new audience is being introduced to Betty White.
WHITFIELD: At 88.
HOLMES: At 88.
WHITFIELD: Killer.
HOLMES: Do your thing.
WHITFIELD: I love that. I want that. I want 88 and you know, still on top of your game.
HOLMES: Well, you've got some time. You might be on top of your game at 88, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: I have to work on it. Let me work on trying to get on top of my game right now, all right?
HOLMES: All right.
WHITFIELD: All right, T.J. You have a great day. Thanks so much.
HOLMES: You too.
