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Update on Oil Well Fixes; Islamic Center Near 9/11 Ground Zero; Bin Laden's 'Heir Apparent'

Aired August 03, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: OK. That's it for me. Thanks for watching. Kyra is back soon.

Randi Kaye, good to have you here in Atlanta.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Have a great show.

KAYE: Thank you. Good to see you. We will take it from here.

Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories for Tuesday, August 3rd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have we forgotten what happened at 9/11?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And maybe if a mosque were --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Raw emotion over a mosque just blocks from 9/11's Ground Zero. This morning, New York City says the project can go forward.

The kill is on. BP expected to begin sealing its busted oil well today. But will the company help out-of-work fisherman who are swimming with anger and rage?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He started drinking. He's smoking more when we're trying to quit. He takes it out on us just in general. We do something that kind of would make him upset, and all the other stress is kind of piling on top of that, so he blows up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Experts call this young American heir apparent to Osama bin Laden. Part two of CNN's investigation into "Al Qaeda's Rising Star."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What makes him most scary, he's actually adapting best business practices to terrorist process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye, in for Tony Harris.

Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Right there you see Thad Allen. He is giving the very latest on when the static kill procedure might begin, holding his daily media briefing from Houston.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

ADM. THAD ALLEN (RET.), NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: We have pump rates and we have pressure. That will then provide the basis for a decision to proceed to the static kill later on today.

At that point, they'll begin to pump mud into the choke line and the Horizon blowout preventer. It will start at one barrel per minute and move that up to two barrels per minute. There's going to be a very low rate of injection into the well because we don't need to do it in a higher rate as we did during the top kill because there's pressure back on the well with the capping stack.

We do not know exactly how much mud will be pumped in. It will depend on the condition of the well itself.

There are three different types of areas down that that will need ultimately to be filled with the mud. The drill pipe that they sit (ph) the one is present, the casing itself and the area outside the casing, the annulus, to make sure that neither gas or hydrocarbons are coming up through that.

We don't know the exact condition of the well. Usually there would be no way to enter the annulus from the top. But if the seals around the top that were somehow compromised in the event, it might be possible to put mud into the annulus through the static kill. Those are types of things that we want to learn, and that's reason this is considered a diagnostic test in advance of the ultimate bottom kill which will finally actually kill the well.

Regarding the total volume of mud that we pumped in, it will vary on whether or not we are pumping only into the casing or the annulus as well. But we need enough mud to pump in to give us the pressure readings. There are various lines that would describe how much volume and pressure there would be if you had the casing and the annulus and you were filling it up, or you were just dealing with the casing. They have charts and automatic pressure readings that are on screens that are being watched by the senior leadership up there, and I'll be joining them when I finish the briefing this morning to watch how that moves forward.

With that, I'll be glad to take any questions you have for me.

Yes, ma'am?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) -- excuse me -- from the AP.

How serious was this leak, and how long do you think it's going to be before the actual test begins?

ALLEN: The leak involved two valves that are on the kill side of the capping stack. And they started to lose pressure.

We found that out in time we were able to lock the valve shut. Had the opening of those valves failed for any particular reason, that might have caused hydrocarbons to go into the environment. That would have been not a good thing. But in the course of the checks that were done, and leading up to the injection test that was located, they were able to deal with it overnight. There was a chance we could have had hydrocarbons into the environment had we not located.

QUESTION: So it's been stopped?

ALLEN: It's been stopped, yes, correct. And as soon as we get the injection test completed, which we hope to start sometime very, very soon -- we've been on almost a minute-to-minute basis. I broke away from the ops room to come down to do the brief here. We will do the injection test, and they'll probably need a couple of hours just to look at the data, the pressure curves, because that will tell them whether or not they need to adjust the volume and the pressures they could expect when they start putting mud in rather than the base well that they're using.

KAYE: Thad Allen there talking about the next step for plugging that oil well.

CNN's David Mattingly joining us now live from New Orleans with details on how this is all going to go down -- David.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Randi, listening to Thad Allen, you can see why it always takes a little bit of translation to really understand what he's talking about. This is the single biggest moment in ending the threat of this well since they got that cap on. And once they have been able to do that static kill, that procedure they're talking about, they're going to pump it full of mud and essentially drown this oil well, pushing the oil all the way back down the reservoir where it can't be of any trouble ever again.

But before they do that, they have to go through this test, and that's what Admiral Allen was talking about, that they have to go through this series of tests that's going to take a few hours, and then they expect to be able to go ahead with that so-called static kill sometime later today. But the tests are going to be going through. It's very tedious. Like I said, it's going to take a few hours.

They're going to start by pumping maybe a barrel -- one barrel of mud per minute into the well. Then they'll ramp up to maybe three barrels per minute. It's all because they really don't know -- they haven't been able to look at this well this entire time with any sort of x-ray eyes or anything to get 100 percent confirmation that it's in great shape and that the well can take this pumping of the mud.

So that test is very important. It's going to tell them whether or not they can go forward with the static kill and how they can go forward with the static kill, how slowly or how quickly they might be able to go.

So, at this point, everything looking good. They got that leaky valve fixed. They were able to take care of that overnight. And now they're going to get started on what they had hoped to do yesterday, but now everything in place, looking to go forward with the next big step to end this threat -- Randi.

KAYE: And David, during the static kill, they're going to be pumping mud and cement into this well. And this really -- this is just the beginning of the end, because this is expected to take, what, more than two days itself, and then they first have to start the bottom kill?

MATTINGLY: Right. And you have to look at this as a series. And if you want to indulge me for this long metaphor here for a moment, it was sort of like caging a wild animal that's been terrorizing the Gulf when they finally got the cap on and got control of this well.

This static kill is essentially going to put it to sleep, put it back down in the hole that it crawled out of, and just leave it there. Then they're going to finish up with the relief well, and that relief well is going to drill down deep, and then fill it up with a big plug of cement to make sure that oil never comes out again.

So, three steps in this process. Capping is already done, and now they're just going to essentially put it to sleep before they finally kill it for good with that cement cap.

KAYE: All right.

David Mattingly for us live in New Orleans today.

David, thank you.

Biologists are celebrating a success in the effort to save sea life threatened by the oil disaster. They released 1-day-old turtle hatchlings on a beach near Kennedy Space Center overnight. The baby turtles were hatched at a space center facility. Biologists moved the eggs from beaches in Alabama and along the Florida Panhandle. They hope to relate 70,000 to 80,000 eggs.

The oil disaster is taking a heavy emotional toll on people who live along the Gulf Coast. Later this hour we'll talk with Zack Rosenburg of the St. Bernard Project about what's being done to help and the push to provide more mental health services.

He's an American in hiding. Federal agents say he preaches hate. Terror experts call him Osama bin Laden's heir apparent. CNN investigates Anwar al-Awlaki.

And take a look at this new tropical storm. We are tracking Colin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Opening an Islamic center just two blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks -- the proposal has sparked passionate debate. And a New York City commission has just weighed in.

Our Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff was there.

Where does it stand, Allan?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Randi, the Landmarks Commission here in New York City has denied landmark status to that building two blocks north of Ground Zero. That means the developer can go forward with plans to knock the building down and put up what he calls an Islamic center that would house a mosque and other facilities for the community.

Now, the issue that had been before the commission was only the status of the building, not the use of the building. So if the commission had granted landmark status, the developer simply would have had to work with the five-story structure, at least leave the exterior as it is right now.

He still could have created an Islamic center and a mosque. And the fact is, for weeks people have been praying. There's a pray space in the billing right now and people will be praying there today.

So, the issue was about the structure itself. The commission decided this building was not at all worthy of landmark status. Many buildings in New York City do have that designation, and every commissioner said this building just didn't rack.

Nonetheless, the controversy continues. People outside of the convention center here where the vote was held, they continued debating right afterwards. Folks have just left only a few minutes ago.

KAYE: So what exactly will this development include? They wanted to keep it small, just to that building, but what might it include?

CHERNOFF: Right. The group behind us is called the Cordoba Initiative, and they're saying this is modeled after YMCAs. They say they want to have a community center that would include a pool, perhaps a gym, community rooms, and a mosque as well. Of course, it's the mosque itself that has been the focus of so much opposition, particularly from some families of people who lost their lives on 9/11.

KAYE: And is this where it ends, or can the opponents do anything else about this? CHERNOFF: Well, the fact is there is nothing on the books, no law that can prevent anyone from building a mosque right there. The people own it. They can do what they want with it.

The only thing that will prevent a mosque or an Islamic center from being built there is if the developers change their minds and say, OK, we'll listen to some of the opponents and maybe move it uptown, maybe move it somewhere else. That doesn't seem to be happening. They spoke right after the decision and were exceedingly pleased with the commission's decision.

KAYE: All right. Allan Chernoff, thanks for the update.

This clearly a very emotional issue. We want to hear from you on it. Tell us what you think about this proposed mosque near Ground Zero in New York City. Send your comments to CNN.com/Tony, and we'll read some of them next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Wanted by the feds and hiding out overseas, Anwar al- Awlaki is an American inciting holy war against the U.S. and other countries.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick continues her in-depth investigation into the man terror experts call the next bin Laden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANWAR AL-AWLAKI, RADICAL CLERIC: Be careful. Do not trust enemies of Allah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Anwar al- Awlaki speaks, he speaks largely to a western audience, inspiring and recruiting young men to join his lone wolf insurgency using the Internet and his American credentials to do so.

(on camera): How dangerous is he considered on a scale of 1 to 10?

SAJJAN GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: I would say 10.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Counter terror expert Sajjan Gohel calls radical cleric al-Awlaki Osama bin Laden's heir apparent.

GOHEL: Often, United States is seen as a strategic hub for getting the message out. It's a country that has enormous resources and potential for recruitment is large and significant.

FEYERICK: If anyone knows, it is al-Awlaki. Born in America, he spent his teen years in Yemen before returning to the U.S. at the age of 19 to study engineering at Colorado State University. Though studying engineering, al-Awlaki soon realized a talent for preaching at a mosque near campus where Mumtaz Hussain remembers him as a pious young man.

MUMTAZ HUSSAIN, ISLAMIC CENTER OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO: He gave few sermons. It was long time ago. But they were really good.

AL-AWLAKI: This is what America refuses --

FEYERICK: Good enough, that without any formal training, al- Awlaki found himself preaching at the Denver Islamic Society. He began recording CDs on Islam and the prophets. Book seller Mohammad Noorzai (ph) says they were best sellers appealing to young Muslims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are thirsty for knowledge. And he comes across in a very simple way, you know, to explain to you what Islam is all about.

FEYERICK: From Denver, al-Awlaki moved to San Diego in 1996 when his new wife.

(on camera): Al-Awlaki was finding his voice and building a reputation as an imam when he became a spiritual adviser to this mosque on the edge of San Diego. His sermons were usually in English.

LINCOLN HIGGIE III, FORMER AL-AWLAKI NEIGHBOR: Very friendly, outgoing.

FEYERICK (voice-over): His neighbor, Lincoln Higgie, says they enjoyed talking about things like the orient and Taj Mahal.

HIGGIE III: He loved to go albacore fishing and I love albacore. And he found that out. And his wife was a good cook and so every so often he would bring me some albacore fillets that his wife had cooked up.

FEYERICK: Al-Awlaki was also pursuing a masters in educational leadership at San Diego State University.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He spent a lot of time going through it and learning not only the American society but how people think in the society.

FEYERICK: It was in San Diego that al-Awlaki met an associate of this blind cleric imprisoned for plotting to destroy New York City landmarks. It was also there that these potential two 9/11 hijackers attended his mosque.

SAJJAN GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: It is too much of a coincidence that the successor to al Qaeda ideologically was also connected to two of the individuals that planned the worst terrorist attacks we've ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's not going to happen to us.

FEYERICK: There's no evidence he knew of the 9/11 plot but al- Awlaki's neighbor remembers his ominous good-bye.

(on camera): August 2001 he comes and he says, we're leaving. What was the conversation?

HIGGIE: He said "I'm going back to Virginia." He said, "Shortly after that I'll be going back to Yemen." I said -- well, I said, "I do hope you'll be coming back to San Diego soon." He says, "No, I won't be coming back." He said in a little while he said you'll understand why.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Traveling cross country, al-Awlaki became a prominent imam in a mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. One of the hijackers followed him there, another would soon join. He said about pursuing a Ph.D. in human resources at George Washington University.

LT. COL. ANTHONY SHAFFER, CENTER FOR ADVANCED DEFENSE STUDIES: What makes him most scary, he's actually adapting best business practices to terrorist process.

FEYERICK: Imam Johari Abdul Malik who arrived at the Falls Church mosque after al-Awlaki left says the radical cleric subverts the faith and preys on its followers.

IMAM JOHARI ABDUL MALIK, DAR AL-HIJRAH ISLAMIC CENTER: If you look at the statistics, most of the people who have been so-called radicalized, they know very little about their religion. They have been mobilized by their passions, by their feelings, by their urges, by their insecurities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Deborah Feyerick joining us now from New York.

So, Deb, is al-Awlaki now calling the shots?

FEYERICK: Well, it's really interesting. There is a lot of debate within the counterterrorism community as to whether al-Awlaki is operational. It appears he knows nothing of making bombs, of flying planes, but counterterrorism experts say that his message, which is distinctly made in America, is in fact his most powerful weapon.

KAYE: All right, Deb. Thank you very much for that report.

And next hour, we'll look at simulators between al Qaeda and Mexican drug cartels. Our senior Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo, will join me to discuss the terrorism just south of the border.

Top stories now.

BP plans to begin sealing its damaged oil well today. Tons of drilling mud and cement will be forced into the well. The procedure could be finished this week barring any complications.

A shooting at a beer distribution facility in Connecticut today. "The Hartford Courant" newspaper reports at least three people are dead. Police say an employee opened fire during a shift change. He is apparently among the dead.

Thieves like their chrome and horsepower, it seems. You're looking at the most stolen vehicle in the USA. It is the Cadillac Escalade from GM. The SUV has topped the list for eight years in a row. The rankings are compiled by an insurance research group.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The death toll rising in Pakistan. The flood crisis worsens by the day.

Our Dan Rivers is just back from one of the hardest hit areas. He joins me from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

Dan, let's begin with the latest death toll, and tell us what you've seen.

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been up to Noshera (ph), which is towards Peshawar, on the northwest Frontier Province, one of the most affected towns there. A lot of modern debris has been washed in from the river. A lot of houses have been destroyed along the edge of the river. The river itself has gone down a lot in the last 24 hours.

You could see, though, it had overtopped several of the bridges there. That now has passed, so the roads are open, the situation is beginning to improve. But, certainly, many tens of thousands of people in that one town alone who are in temporary camps, living in miserable conditions, in tents that are flooded, surviving on handouts from aid agencies and the government.

So, it is a massive humanitarian crisis unfolding in the northwest of Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS (voice-over): They have suffered enough. But still, the rain comes. Relentless and cruel, pelting those whose lives have already been reduced to a few soaked possessions on a cart.

In a region so mountainous, the water is funneling down ever more treacherous slopes, quickly engulfing the roads below. This is the last thing the relief effort here needs, with an estimated 2.5 million men and women and children now affected by this disaster. In many places, the fettered wreak of death, life claimed in seconds by the water that seemed unstoppable, baffling those who thought they'd seen everything.

Dr. Shahid Iqbal is struggling to keep up with demand.

DR. SHAHID IQBAL, AID DOCTOR: Most of the cases are diarrhea, acute gastroenteritis. We are facing much of the problem with the drinking water because there is no electricity.

RIVERS: At Mohammed Saeed's (ph) house, that means no power to cook, no power for running water. They are totally reliant on handouts. His nephew Wakav (ph) says the moment the flood hit was terrifying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was here, but when the water comes here, over the roof, over the roof, and go (ph) escape. RIVERS: This neighborhood of Noshera (ph) is still submerged in places. The stagnant water has forced tens of thousands into temporary government camps which have started to spring up around the town. But the conditions here are terrible.

Shah Ali (ph) is 60, now sharing this flooded tent with eight other members of his family. He tells me they lost everything -- their house, all their possessions are gone. They only have the clothes they stand in.

(on camera): The food is being distributed here, but it's incredibly chaotic. There's a lot of panic among the 18,000 people in this camp who are worried that they won't get their hands on the last few bags of rice.

(voice-over): UNICEF says a million children are in need of emergency assistance. The big challenge going forward, food security.

So much has been lost. Now survivors are struggling to feed their families with any meager supplies they can get their hands on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS: Well, the U.N. says that some 980,000 people are now homeless. The big challenge is getting the aid to those people. A lot of the bridges have been swept away, a lot of the roads are unusable. One U.N. official described this as a monsoon beyond imagination.

KAYE: Dan Rivers for us in Pakistan today.

Dan, thank you.

And while we're bringing you news from around the world, we are also watching what's hot online.

Josh Levs is surfing the Web -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Randi.

You know, look, I'll admit, everyone, including me, who drives is sometimes once in a while guilty of a traffic violation maybe, and you just hope the police won't catch you. Well, what if we had a new reality?

What if instead of worrying about the police catching you speeding or doing something you shouldn't do on the road, it's about everyone else on the road who could snap a picture of you, stick it on Facebook, and then the police then get you from there? There's a major city that's doing that, and this is the Facebook page everyone's talking about today.

This is from Delhi, Delhi traffic police. And when you are talking about a city that has 12 million people in it and 5,000 traffic cops, you know there's going to be some kind of actions taken. What has happened here is that police set up this Facebook page, and now all these people are putting photos on it. And they're using that to check out license plates and arrest some people for traffic violations. There are some privacy concerns as well, but ultimately, so far, police say they have managed to get 700 people guilty of traffic violations.

And we've got more news in the NEWSROOM coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Well, as promised, this is certainly shaping up to be quite a storm season.

Jacqui Jeras is here tracking yet another new storm.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: All right, Jacqui, thank you.

Anger, anxiety, depression. We'll examine the mental health toll of the Gulf oil disaster and the push for BP to help cover that cost.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Even if the static kill works, it will take a long time for life in the Gulf to return to normal. In the meantime, the oil disaster is taking a heavy emotional toll on people who live along the Gulf coast, and so far they're getting little help from BP.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the Louisiana's health secretary send this letter to BP last week requesting $10 million in funding for mental health, he expected a speedy answer, days at most. This is what he told us last week.

ALAN LEVINE, LOUISIANA HEALTH & HOSPITALS SECRETARY: You know, that's one of the reasons why we put a deadline on the letter. If you notice the last sentence, we said we need an answer by next week.

KAYE (on camera): But that deadline has come and gone, no answer from BP. And this was the state's second request for $10 million. BP responded to the first request, saying it, quote, "looked forward to continuing the dialogue,' but the oil giant provided nothing.

(voice-over): The money, if it ever comes, would be used to treat those experiencing emotional trauma since the spill, fisherman like Lewis Lund Newton Jr. (ph), who can no longer fish to support his family because of the oil. His wife says he's full of rage.

RACHEL MORRIS, FISHERMAN'S WIFE: He wants to go on a rampage, screaming, punching, hitting, whatever he can do and he can't. And he just can't get it out, it's just stuck in there bubbling.

KAYE (on camera): How is that anger coming out? MORRIS: It comes out -- he started drinking. He's smoking more when we're trying to quit. He takes it out on us just in general, we do something that would make him upset and all the other stress is piled on top of that.

KAYE (voice-over): Rachel Morris wants to help. She's learning how to navigate the emotional pressures at group wellness classes like this one at the St. Bernard Project. Other Gulf wives are here, too, same problem.

YVONNE LANDRY, FISHERMAN'S WIFE: I've got one at home right now that needs to vent, you know, but won't. He'll fuss at me or he'll fuss at him or the kids.

KAYE: Among other things, the group is taught breathing exercises to control stress.

The project's CEO, Zack Rosenberg, says if BP doesn't pay, this lifeline will end for many. They won't have enough money to treat everyone. Even now, it's far from ideal. Those anxious, angry or depressed already have to wait eight weeks just to get in for a first appointment.

(on camera): Is this wellness group an example of why you need more money?

ZACK ROSENBERG, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, ST. BERNARD PROJECT: If we are ability to get more dollars in a door, start peer-to-peer counseling program, if we're going to add evenings and weekends, and we'll open a satellite office down the road. The need is clearly there.

KAYE (voice-over): We tried to contact BP numerous times to ask why it hasn't even responded to the state's latest request. No one at BP responded to us, either.

(on camera): Does it surprise you that BP hasn't come forward with the $10 million to help people like your family?

MORRIS: No, I don't think -- it's not surprising to me. I don't think they're doing nearly what they could do. I don't expect the $10 million. They count care about us. We're an inconvenience to them.

KAYE: An inconvenience and perhaps just another expect in the $3 billion tab in the Gulf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: A third request for help from BP has gone unanswered, and some people are waiting weeks, as you just heard, to see a psychiatrist. We'll talk to the CEO of the St. Bernard Project about the struggle to provide mental health services when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Louisiana sends another letter to BP asking for money to help people cope with the emotional toll of the Gulf oil disaster. Still no answer.

Joining us from New Orleans is Zach Rosenberg, CEO and co-founder of the St. Bernard Project. This is a nonprofit there that is helping folks there deal with their emotional illnesses and mental illnesses as a result of this oil disaster.

Zack, good to see you again. Let's talk first about the fact that now there have been three requests to BP by the state of Louisiana, by the health secretary there, for money and still no response. Still no money. What do you make of that?

ROSENBERG: It's disheartening, Randi, I'll tell you. It's really disheartening. It's causing trauma to our clients as well. I mean, it's one thing that the clients have to work for BP now, the folks who they believes that really caused irreparable impact to their way of life. But now waiting and not getting answers is really tough, as well.

I think people are still hopeful. The oil industry over the years has been really good to the people of Louisiana, and I think we're hopeful that at the end of the day, BP will do the right thing, but the time is now. There's a toll from every day when people aren't getting the resources and mental health care they deserve and they need.

KAYE: In your group therapy sessions at the St. Bernard Project, what are you hearing from people?

ROSENBERG: Well, the problems are still there. You know, people are having a hard time communicating because of the economic impact. People just aren't earning enough money, aren't receiving funds to support their families. The unknown is still really devastating, so it's causing tremendous anxiety, unfortunately, suicidal ideations are rising. And people are just struggling.

There have been some studies recently. I'm not sure if you've seen --a third of the people inside the oil impact area now have mental health issues, about 40 percent of young people are finding it hard to concentrate and study. So, there is a real impact from this oil spill on people's lives.

But it's fixable. That's what we have to remember.

KAYE: And if the money ever does come, what would you use it for?

ROSENBERG: Well, the St. Bernard Project has a three-prong plan. We currently have our Center for Wellness and Mental Health. It's going well, partnering with LSU. The problem is the waiting list has increased to about five weeks for someone to get seen unless it's an absolute emergency.

What we're doing with the support of the United Way and surprisingly enough -- been wonderful -- Petron Tequila. We are starting a peer-to-peer counseling program and partnership with Tulane where we're training the resilient fishermen and their wives to go out and do some wellness and communication skills problem solving. And then they're going to identify the people who are really sick. We are adding on weekend and evening hours so people don't have to choose between -- I'm sorry --

KAYE: But it is really good to get the fishermen and their wives out there because so many people are afraid to come forward when they are feeling suicidal and depressed. So, that's really key.

ROSENBERG: Well, it's the right thing to do. What we're seeing, Randi, is, in Louisiana, people care about their kids and their family first, so there's battling concerns. There's the stigma to receiving mental health care, but there's the incredible love of children. And what we're seeing is, people - however hard it is to get help - they understand they're not in a good place and they are the kind of people that want to do what's right for the kids. So, they are getting help to meet their kids' needs and communicate better. The problem is, we don't have enough capacity, and that's where the BP dollars are needed to get people well.

KAYE: All right. Zach Rosenberg from the St. Bernard Project. We'll have to leave it there. But I have been there to the facility, and you guys are doing such great work. So, I hope you get the money to keep it up.

ROSENBERG: Randi, we do, too. We appreciate you caring. Thank you.

KAYE: Thank you for joining us today.

And checking top stories now. A deadly picnic on the banks of the Red River in Shreveport, Louisiana. Six teenagers drowned when they waded into the river's deeper parts on Monday. The victims' range in age from 13 to 18. None could swim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF BRIAN CRAWFORD, SHREVEPORT FIRE DEPT.: Six bodies were recovered approximately 20 feet off of the south side jetty, a prominence that comes off of the south side of that west shore. All of the bodies were recovered in the pretty much same area, at about a depth of anywhere from 20 to 28 feet, all resting at the bottom of the river, all within 20 to 30 feet of one another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Later today, BP plans to finally start the process that will eventually seal the damaged Gulf oil well. The government scientists say more than 200 million gallons of oil gushed from the well since it exploded on April 20.

The full Senate began debate this morning on Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination. A vote is expected Thursday this week. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 54 percent of Americans want Kagan confirmed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAYE: Arizona wants to require police to check a person's immigration status. Virginia's attorney general says police in his state may do so. He indicates the distinction is legally important. Now, a conservative member of the Virginia legislature is asking the governor to put the attorney general's opinion into an executive order. It would have the force of the law.

The lawmaker talked with CNN's Rick Sanchez.

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RICK SANCHEZ, HOST, "RICK'S LIST": Isn't this not like picking the low-lying fruit? I mean, it's dealing with a problem from the bottom instead of from the top down? I mean, these immigrants that come to this country -- I know it's easy to hate on them, but they're recruited by companies in the United States, they're given paper work by our federal government so they can work legally. And then we hear people going after them.

I'm just wondering -- I'm not making excuses for them -- I'm just wondering, why don't we attack the businesses that recruit them and bring them here or the government that lets them stay here and work with a tax I.D. number in the same manner in which we attack them?

BOB MARSHALL (R), VA. HOUSE OF DELEGATES: Rick, the "we" who has to attack the businesses is not the state of Virginia. The attorney general in February put out an opinion when he was asked by one of my colleagues, can Virginia pass and enforce a law that says it's illegal for a Virginia company to hire an illegal? The attorney general says no, we have been preempted by the federal government.

So, it's up to them to do that. We need to secure borders. If we don't do that, we're not going to exist as a country --

SANCHEZ: You are 150 percent right. And it seems like we can't seem to be able to do that. Why is that? What would be your plan for somehow getting this president or the one before him or the one after him to get this done?

MARSHALL: Both Democrats and Republicans are responsible, both in the chief executive and in Congress. If I saw what was going on and I lived in a border state, I would say, you know what, federal government? You haven't built a secure fence. The state of Arizona, the state of New Mexico, or Texas will start doing this. It's because they're not doing their job there that we have to have these fall-back positions here to try to play makeup.

There's general consensus that states and local authorities can enforce the criminal law. We can't really, unless Congress says so, enforce the civil provisions. Although there was an unpublished opinion in 2002 from Attorney General Ashcroft that says states have some implied powers to enforce civil provision, but he didn't specify what they were, so we're up in the air.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: Price wars and big discounts. Now is the time for back- to-school shopping. And boy, are the stores ready for you to bring in your bucks.

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KAYE: Lots of folks keeping an eye on their finances these days. You can do all of that and so much more at CNNmoney.com.

Checking the headlines here at this hour. The money headline is "RIM Unveils New BlackBerry Torch," the much-hyped BlackBerry 9800 hitting stores August 12th. Price tag, 200 bucks.

Also checking the NASDAQ while we're here; you can do the same. It's down about one or so. And we'll check the Dow. Down seven, or so, as well.

It may only be the first week of August, but the bell is already ringing in some schools here in Georgia and other parts of the country. Felicia Taylor is standing by at the New York Stock Exchange, and Felicia, the bad economy may be bad for parents but good for the stores?

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDETN: Yes, it seems incredible to me, first of all, that school is already starting it again. It barely seems like summer is up and going.

But that's the case, and what looked like a strong recovery earlier this year, Randi, may have been more deceiving, leaving retailers in a little bit of a pickle. Big orders were placed a few months ago, not anticipating the slowdown we have had in consumer spending.

That's led to major price wars as the back to school season begins. So, it's good news for shoppers. They can expect countless promotions and discounts with bigger retailers making these aggressive markdown. The National Retail Federation says back to school shopping is going to hit $55 billion a year -- this year, rather. That is a 16 percent jump from last year.

However, and this is a big however, that jump does not reflect the cautious consumer and the changes that we have seen in the way that the consumer buys. Money that was previously spent on new clothes has now been diverted to more durable items like electronics. You were talking about the new BlackBerry. Well, even those are going for a steal -- not the BlackBerry itself, per se -- but electronics in general.

This is a crucial time for retailers. Back-to-school sales are a good barometer of what they can expect during the holiday season.

KAYE: And this is the year, really of necessity. Out with the frivolous stuff, in with the necessities.

TAYLOR: Absolutely. For most people in the United States, the recession has been a hard one for almost everyone across the board. The NRF says parents who had really been stretching their dollars pretty thin over the last few years are now grasping to get back to basics, like backpacks for their children to carry school supplies in.

On top of that, with so many school districts also struggling to stay afloat, school kids are being asked to bring in their own supplies. Like even tissues and printer paper.

But they don't have a say in what their parents are buying, either. A separate survey by America's Research Group and UBS said only 24 percent of parents, that's an all-time low, plan to let their kids weigh in on the back-to-school spending. Randi?

KAYE: Yes, I don't remember ever being able to weigh in on that.

TAYLOR: Me neither.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: Felicia, good to see you. Thank you.

TAYLOR: Likewise.

KAYE: Mexican drug cartels being compared to al Qaeda. Beheadings, kidnappings, and even a suspected car bomb posing disturbing similarities. A live report next hour.

Plus, the fight to save the lives of troops wounded in Afghanistan. We'll take you aboard an air medical evacuation flight for the journey home. A CNN exclusive with Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She'll join me live next hour, right here in the NEWSROOM.

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