Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Six Americans Killed in Afghanistan; Escapees Linked to Killings; BP Resuming Work on Well; A Flood Disaster Like no Other; Massive Ice Break; Saving Students Time and $$; Allegations of Immigrant Abuse; Get Up, Stand Up and Dance
Aired August 08, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: A hero remembered. The wife of an American optometrist executed in Afghanistan speaks out. Hear what she has to say about his mission of mercy.
Changing the U.S. Constitution. Top Republicans may try to do just that to crack down on illegal immigration and their children. That's coming up at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.
And then at 5:00, a shooting spree at a Connecticut company is highlighting the horror of workplace violence. We'll take an in-depth look at this deadly problem and find out ways to save lives.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Jim Acosta, sitting in for Fredricka Whitfield.
We now know the identities of two of the six Americans killed in Afghanistan. All six were part of a medical group bringing aid to poor Afghans in a very remote section of the country. Friends of dentist Danny Thomas Graham (ph) say he left his practice in Durango, Colorado, to work full time in Nepal and Afghanistan. New York optometrist Tom Little, seen here with his wife, is the second American identified among the dead.
Let's go straight to Jill Dougherty in Kabul for the latest developments on this story.
Jill, this is just such a tragic story.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It is, really, and there was a sad task today, because they had to transfer the bodies from that remote part of northeast Afghanistan back here to Kabul. They did it by helicopter, and now teams from the U.S. consular staff, the FBI, the U.K. -- there was one British person who died -- Germans, and also Afghans are now identifying, going through the process of formally identifying the people who were killed.
Ten total, six Americans. And, in fact, this afternoon, the U.S. Embassy officially confirmed that there were six American citizens among the people who were killed, and, as I said, one British citizen, one German and two Afghans.
The U.S. ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, also issued a video statement. It was quite an angry and determined statement, and he made note of the fact that the Taliban has claimed responsibility for these deaths. And he said it's not clear whether, actually, the Taliban did take -- carry out or are responsible actually for these murders. However, he did say that sometimes they take credit for acts and, as he called, cowardly acts of others.
Let's listen to some of what the ambassador said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL EIKENBERRY, U.S. AMBASSADOR IN AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban has called this group of medical aid workers spies and proselytizers. They were no such thing.
These were selfless volunteers who devoted themselves to providing free and much needed health care to Afghans in the most remote and difficult parts of your country. Their murder demonstrates the absolute disregard that terrorist-inspired Taliban and other insurgents have for your health, have for your security, and have for your opportunities. They don't care about your future. They only care about themselves and their own ideology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGHERTY: And that's the message that the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. ambassador are trying to get out to the Afghan people.
And then, finally, there will be an investigation that's being carried out by the Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan. It's begun, and one important moment is that, actually, at least one Afghan was spared. And that person is being questioned by the Afghan authorities.
It could be that he could shed some light on this. And the way, Jim, which he was spared was, as the medical workers were trying to flee and were being killed, this man begged for his life. He said, "I'm Afghan. I'm a Muslim." And he actually recited a prayer from the Koran, and apparently they let him live.
ACOSTA: And Jill, it's obviously too early to prejudge what happened here, but this case, I would imagine, is going to bring some light to the issue of the safety of these types of groups and whether or not they can really be operating as hostilities are intensifying in Afghanistan.
DOUGHERTY: Yes, but, you know, I did speak with one major international NGO, and they said that they do not send people into the area that this group went into. That province tends to be pretty much OK, but there is an area specifically where they were which is very, very deep forest, and it's not a good area. They don't send people there.
However, this organization said that they are continuing with their mission because it's still unclear exactly what happened. You've heard the ambassador. It could be that -- one of the theories is it began as a robbery and turned into something else, or it could be that they were directly targeted by the Taliban. But hopefully this investigation will clear some of that up. It's an important thing to find out.
ACOSTA: Absolutely. And the fact that this happened, as you just pointed out, in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods, in one of the most dangerous countries of the world, I'm sure is something that's going over in the minds of a lot of Americans and westerners who are working in that part of the country right now.
Jill Dougherty, thanks very much for that. Appreciate it.
Family and friends of New York doctor Tom Little say he knew the risks, but continued his mission to deliver humanitarian aid to a remote region of Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIBBY LITTLE, WIDOW OF DOCTOR KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN: He gave his life, the best years of his life to bring medical care to Afghan people, and he'll be buried in a Christian cemetery right there in Kabul. And we'll be there. And we'll be surrounded by people that have been our family and our friends for years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PASTOR HARRY HINES, FRIEND OF TOM LITTLE: For me it's a loss of a brother, a dear man. Most of the world will never know all that he poured into that land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: In Loudenville, New York, today, more than 400 people gathered to honor Little. The church had helped his trip with contributions to his effort.
Two Arizona convicts on the run for eight days are suspected of killing two people in another state. Police say evidence links the escapees to two burned bodies found in New Mexico.
Reporter Christie Ileto with affiliate KOAT has our update.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIE ILETO, REPORTER, KOAT (voice-over): State police say they're starting to connect the dots.
MAJOR ROBERT SHILLING, NEW MEXICO STATE POLICE: We have linked one of the subjects through forensics to the crime scene in Santa Rosa.
ILETO: That subject, John McCluskey, who escaped from an Arizona state prison last week with inmate Tracy Province. State police say a third person, Casslyn Welch, is a suspect as well, believed to be on the run with the pair of inmates. Thursday, investigators found bodies in a burned camper in Santa Rosa. They believe they may be Oklahoma couple Linda and Gary Hobbs (ph), but autopsy results have not confirmed this. The couple's white four- door Chevy pickup was found here in an abandoned parking lot in Albuquerque. State police couldn't tell us if it was a fingerprint or a hair follicle that linked McCluskey to the crime, on that his forensics were found. But police say that doesn't mean the three aren't together.
SHILLING: We have reason to believe that they are still together, because currently there is no information to indicate that they're apart and separated.
ILETO: A trio that state police and the U.S. Marshals Office consider to be armed and dangerous. But still, no clarity on where they may be headed next.
SHILLING: A week after, plus a few days after the escape in Arizona, indications of going east. Then we have this incident at Santa Rosa. So the trail is not linear, which concerns us as well.
ILETO: And that unknown has state police urging the public to aware of their surroundings.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And police across the country on the lookout for these inmates. Anyone who might be able to help them out are also being looked at. U.S. Marshals have arrested the mother of John McCluskey. He's the one on the right. Sixty-eight-year-old Claudia Washburn is charged with giving him money and other aid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK HEPPLER, FAMILY FRIEND: Blood's thicker than water, and you're going to stick by behind your son if it's your son, even if it means going to jail.
JACK WASHBURN, STEPFATHER OF ESCAPEE: John McCluskey, if you're watching this, give yourself up. It's a matter of time. You'll never realize what you've done to your mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: A third escapee, Daniel Renwick, was captured a week ago in Colorado.
BP is expected to fire up the drill again. They're moving ahead with the relief well in the Gulf of Mexico even though the static kill procedure seems to have killed that well.
CNN's Reynolds Wolf is live on Pensacola Beach, Florida, this afternoon for us.
And Reynolds, obviously we hear that BP is saying and just about everybody else is saying that this ruptured well is essentially killed, but that's not going to stop them from continuing with these relief wells, right?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's the saying, Jim, better safe than sorry? I think that's the mindset of BP. They want to have this thing just dead, and they're going to accomplish that, hopefully by the bottom kill procedure.
Only 100 feet separates the relief well -- it's some 17,000 feet down, but 100 feet separates the relief well to the broken well itself. And they plan on drilling a lot of that away to get to that broken well within the next week or so. They're actually going to start on it today.
That process is going to last all the way through Friday the 13th, and it should end on the 13th, 14th and 15th. With good luck, if things work as planned, it should be Friday.
And then they go to the next procedure. The next procedure is where they're going to insert that combination of both mud and cement into the well, and that should kill it all together.
However, I have to tell you that Admiral Thad Allen says the story is a long way of being over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. THAD ALLEN (RET.), NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: If you're sitting in Barataria Bay, it's still an environmental disaster. And if the folks haven't come back to the panhandle of Florida, it's still a disaster.
I think what we need to understand is there's a lot of oil that's been taken care of, there's a lot of oil that's still out there, there's a lot of shoreline that needs to be cleaned. We need to keep a steady hand at the tiller here, keep this cleanup going. It is a catastrophe. It's a catastrophe for the people of the Gulf, and it requires our attention until we get the job done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF: No telling that things are still very, very bad in parts of southern Louisiana with the -- definitely in Plaquemines Parish, where you have a lot of those pristine marshlands that are still inundated with heavy oil. So the cleanup is going to continue there.
But I have to tell you, Jim, that in other parts of the Gulf, things are really starting to at least look like they're getting back to normal. Conditions here, on Pensacola Beach, pristine -- beautiful sand, the waters are that beautiful azure blue.
It's going to be a beautiful time, no question, as we ease into parts of the fall and then into the winter, at least on the beaches. However, business-wise, they've lost a lot of money. A lot of tourists far away during the peak business times of the summer, especially during the 4th of July and leading up to that period.
Certainly a busy week this weekend. Certainly, it was busy. They've been sold out over the last couple of weeks. But for some people, certainly, it's a little bit too late.
Let's send it back to you.
ACOSTA: All right, Reynolds. Well, hopefully there will be a big crush come Labor Day, or something like that, just to maybe help things out just a little bit down there. It would be nice to see things turn around a little more quickly than they are.
WOLF: You bet.
ACOSTA: Yes.
Reynolds Wolf down on the Gulf Coast in Pensacola Beach.
Thanks, Reynolds. Appreciate it.
Down to the wire. Critical primary races in Colorado are just two days away, and the battles, they're getting downright nasty.
The CNN Election Express is watching all the action. We'll have a live report from the bus -- there it is -- straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: The struggling economy, will it have a major impact on the midterm elections? That's probably going to be the case. And the big question, will Democrats pay the price if voters blame the Obama administration for a slow recovery. It's a question two governors tackled today on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM (D), MICHIGAN: This is going to be a tough slog because the situation on the ground of the country is so hard. So there's a lot of anger, there's a lot of anxiety. But the question is, do people want to go back to the Bush kind of policies which of course started this whole recession to begin with, or do they feel a sense of progress and momentum, and that things have turned the corner?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BOB MCDONNELL (R), VIRGINIA: We ran out a platform of fiscal responsibility and getting results. Families and businesses hurting in this down economy, they're having to make tough decisions in their personal and business budgets. They want to see government do the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And that was Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. They also sparred over health care and same- sex marriage, two issues that are likely to get a lot of play in the fall elections. Nail-biting and divisive primary races in Colorado are getting even more intense as the election is just a couple of days away. The CNN Election Express is in that state right now, and on board at the helm, behind the wheel, are deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser.
He joins us now live from Grand Junction, Colorado.
Beautiful scenery out there in Colorado, where you're standing right now, but the races out there, these primary battles that are shaping up, not always something you want to turn your eyes to during all the moments of this campaign. It's gotten nasty every once in a while.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It sure has. But Jim, I'll tell you one thing, they'll never let me behind the wheel of that bus. Dale Fountain (ph) is the commander that bus. He knows better than to let anybody else touch that wheel.
ACOSTA: There you go.
STEINHAUSER: But yes, two days away. Two days away from some very divisive primaries out here.
Let's start on the Senate side with the Democrats. And the incumbent is a guy here called Michael Bennet. He's only been the Senator for a year and a half. He was appointed by the governor, after the previous senator, Salazar, stepped down to become Interior secretary.
He's being challenged by a guy called Andrew Romanoff, who is the former house speaker out here.
Take a listen to some of the ads. They're getting pretty divisive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: "The Denver Post" speaks out, calling Andrew Romanoff's TV attacks "sleazy," "misleading" and "below the belt."
We don't need another politician willing to grossly distort reality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: Newspapers uncover the truth about Michael Bennet. Bennet worked for right-wing billionaire Phil Anschutz. In a corporate takeover, they pushed companies into bankruptcy and looted a billion dollars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And that's just a little taste of what Colorado residents are getting on their TV.
Jim, you know, Bennet is a sitting Senator. He's endorsed by the White House, by President Obama. But what's interesting is Romanoff has the backing of the former president, Bill Clinton. And on the Republican side, it's just as interesting and almost just as ugly as well between Jane Norton, the former lieutenant governor here, and a guy called Ken Buck, who's a district attorney in one of the local counties.
Take a listen to a comment that he made about her high heels that sparked an ad by her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN BUCK, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Why should you vote for me? Because I do not wear high heels.
NARRATOR: Play that again.
BUCK: Why should you vote for me? Because I do not wear high heels. I have cowboy boots. They have real (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on them. They have weld county.
NARRATOR: Now Ken Buck wants to go to Washington? He'd fit right in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And just a taste, Jim, of what's going on out here, two days until the primary.
ACOSTA: I don't have my high heels on right now, Paul, but I do want to pick up on something that you just mentioned, Bill Clinton supporting Andrew Romanoff out there. That's not the only race that we've seen the former president get involved in, right? He's dipping his toes in Pennsylvania as well?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. On Tuesday, you're going to see the former president in Pennsylvania, as you mentioned. He's going to be campaigning with the Democratic Senate nominee there, a guy called Joe Sestak.
You know, in a way, Bill Clinton is almost becoming the go-to guy for the Democrats in these midterm elections. We've see him out there, and we're going to see him out a lot more between now and November 2nd. They feel Bill Clinton can help the Democrats out in some tough races -- Jim.
ACOSTA: And very quickly, Sarah Palin is coming to these parts. She's going to be down in Georgia. She picked a candidate in the race for governor down here who is doing quite well because of that endorsement.
STEINHAUSER: Yes. Coming your way tomorrow, Sarah Palin is going to be campaigning with a woman called Karen Handel, former secretary of state of Georgia. She's in a very tough gubernatorial runoff on Tuesday with former congressman Nathan Deal. But also a lot of other possible 2012-ers jumping into that race -- Jim.
ACOSTA: Well, Paul, it always warms my heart to see the CNN Election Express out on the road. And good to see you as well. Thanks for wrapping that up for us, and hope to talk to you again real soon. Appreciate it, Paul.
STEINHAUSER: Thanks, Jim.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Welcome back.
Bells are ringing in high schools across the country -- say it ain't so -- as students start to return from their summer break.
And CNN student news anchor Carl Azuz has a little advice for them from their upperclassmen. He's reporting on TMI, Tomorrow's Most Influential.
Carl, why should those incoming high school students listen to these kids that you talked to?
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: It's a very good question.
ACOSTA: Experience counts, I guess.
AZUZ: It does. They are all rising junior and seniors, so they do have a couple years under their belt. But more than that, these are students who are in Atlanta for a conference called 21st Leaders. So they had to be nominated by their teachers, they had to go through an interview process.
So, these are some of the brightest kids in the state, and what they have to say I think will have some mileage for the incoming students this fall.
ACOSTA: OK. And are we going to listen to some of that?
AZUZ: Yes we will in just a moment -- or right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the key to success is managing your time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely time management.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time management.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, time management.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Staying organized.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do not procrastinate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not procrastinate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need to manage everything well in a schedule. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to keep a schedule of when projects are due, when assignments are due, and when you have practices and rehearsals and stuff, and time it out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: So time management being the one thing that many of them think is absolutely key to high school success.
And, you know, students now are dealing with so much more than a lot of students did in decades past. I mean, colleges, especially at a time in a recession, when scholarships are golden, they're looking for students who have a little bit more under their belt, not just good grades. They're looking for students who have activities, who are involved in sports, band, drama, things like that.
And so what we wanted to do for our second section here was to go a little bit deeper and talk to these students about what additional advice they would have. OK, you've got time management established. How can you go a little bit deeper to help this next generation of high school students cope?
Take a listen to this last one. It's especially good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely staying motivated and staying true to yourself, not trying to get caught up in other people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being well rounded and being on top of everything, and really looking for the future and studying from day one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all about dedication and hard work. You could have all the skills in the world, but if you don't put them into action, they do you no good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get into as many clubs as possible. I mean, you get to be introduced to so many things, you get to meet new people, you get to know how to interact, and you just learn a lot of new skills that you might need in the future.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the key to success in high school is remembering that high school shouldn't necessarily be the best time of your life and working hard enough that it isn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: That, I thought, was brilliant, especially from the mouth of a high school student.
ACOSTA: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: I'd hate to think that the best years of your life are behind you by age 18. I don't think it's only pessimistic, I think it's wrong. And it's so insightful for somebody who is near that age to get that. ACOSTA: Yes, that young lady is wise beyond her years, I would say.
And was there one thing that they all kept coming back to, one piece of advice that seemed to rise above the rest?
STEINHAUSER: I would say if you're a parent right now, and you've seen this segment, and you're looking for something for your students, I would say with everything they're juggling, "time management" is the phrase we heard over and over again through that first segment.
And kids are coming back into school now. "CNN STUDENT NEWS" is resuming on Monday, August 16th.
ACOSTA: Oh, that's great.
AZUZ: I've got to get the show plug-in there. You know how that goes.
ACOSTA: Absolutely.
AZUZ: So, Monday, August 16th, you can check out "CNN STUDENT NEWS." We're on HLN at 4:00 a.m., Monday through Friday.
But CNNStudentNews.com is really the place to go to hear about everything we offer. We're cost free, commercial free. And we'll have more of these student views coming up throughout the school year.
ACOSTA: All right. And I think it's great advice, because I was worried that the kids today in high school and those younger years, that there is so much pressure for grades and performance and excellence and everything else, that it could be very difficult. So it's good to hear that the older kids are looking out for the younger kids.
And thanks to you, Carl, for bringing that to us. Appreciate it.
AZUZ: My pleasure. Thank you, Jim.
ACOSTA: Carl Azuz, thanks a lot.
Well, today's students are tomorrow's leaders, so CNN is asking parents, teachers and students to join a national conversation about what to do to fix our schools. Join us for a special week of coverage beginning August 29th.
Well, they struck without warning, sweeping perhaps hundreds of people to their deaths. The landslides in China only one of the natural disasters affecting so many people across the world this weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Devastation and desperation in Northwest China, landslides in the middle of the night swept away homes, cars and bridges. China's news agency reports at least 127 people are dead, hundreds more are feared buried under mud or debris. Rescuers are digging with their hands because equipment can't get through the thick mud. More landslides and flash floods are taking a toll on a town in Northern India. Torrential rains also took sleeping residents there by surprise. At least 132 people are dead. About 600 more are said to be missing. Thousands of soldiers have been ordered to the region.
And it's still pouring in Pakistan. That flooding has affected around 12 million people.
Our Dan Rivers takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a flood like nothing seen here in living memory. This is the International Red Cross warehouse outside Nowshera. What should be a busy distribution hub getting vital supplies out to those in need is instead under a meter of water.
At its height, the water was three times deeper than it is now, soaking 25,000 canvas tents in sewage-polluted water. There is $15 million worth of supplies here, and officials are wondering how much is salvageable. This depot is four kilometers from the river, but even here, these vital stockpiles weren't safe.
RIVERS (on camera): Many of the aid agencies have supplies pre- positioned in Pakistan, but, as you can see, there is no way they're going to be able to get these tents and cooking utensils and family survival kits out to the people that need them. Now, instead, they're going to have to turn to their depots in countries as far away as Malaysia and Dubai.
FELIX DE VRIES, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION RED CROSS/RED CRESCENT: It makes me sad. The idea of pre-positioning stock is to allow us to move quickly with the distributions of relief items, and this is back to square one, so to speak.
RIVERS (voice-over): This is what it's like for those who thought they'd seen it all.
Asrie (ph) is 70 years old and now shivering outside her makeshift shelter. People here are living a dozen to a tent. This encampment is in the center of a highway and stretches for kilometer after miserable kilometer.
Asrie's (ph) grandson says we only managed to get our children out of the house. We have nothing, literally nothing. The only help we get is from members of the public.
Rusodin (ph) says, it's really bad here. We haven't got food, shelter or money. It's been raining on our children the whole night and day. We begged people to take our children away to the shelter.
But most are still here. Soaked and homeless, more than a week into this disaster, there is precious little sign of help for these people. They're dragging the few possessions worth salvaging from the sea of mud that has consumed whole villages. A landscape robbed of color and people saturated and empty as the true scale of this disaster becomes apparent.
Dan Rivers, CNN, Nowshera, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Moving to Russia, in and around Moscow, the dangerous smog growing thicker by the day from all the wildfires and intense heat there. At least 52 people have died, dozens are in hospitals, flights have been delayed and hundreds of travelers have been stranded.
And back in this country, turning to our Karen Maginnis in the CNN Weather Center. Karen, from what I understand, there have been some pretty tough tornadoes up in the upper Midwest. We're looking at some video now. Here it is. Up in North Dakota.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Spectacular, and the storm chasers were able to get these classic tornadoes. The good news, Jim, is that there were no fatalities here.
This one out of North Dakota. This is in Richland County. I want to show you some pictures - maybe we already showed them, but out of Minnesota, and they were in Wilkins County. This tornado, also shot by the storm chasers, actually moved across just kind of flat land, then moved across a farmhouse. Now, the owners of the farmhouse were not in their home, so they were spared.
Look at this. This is very dramatic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MAGINNIS: Yes, exactly. No.
The debris is flying up from underneath the tornado, and we did see a swarm of tornadoes move across the region. As I mentioned, the good news is there was no fatalities.
Today, we're just seeing a line of some showers, maybe a couple of thundershowers here and there. Across Chicago, we did see a line of storms move in earlier, but that seems to be dying down.
But the heat is still back on, and across the southeast, if you're lucky enough to get a - some thunderstorms, that would be the good news. Not tornadoes. It doesn't look like it's going to be that kind of environment as we go towards the afternoon.
But I wanted to show you, as far as the heat is concerned, we've got temperatures mostly in the 90s. Right now, Dallas is 96, Tulsa is 97, Oklahoma City 97. Now, they're talking about the heat wave in Dallas, but this doesn't even compare back to 1980, but still insufferable where the past eight days, the temperature has been 100-degrees plus. It looks like today is going to be another round of 100-degree temperatures. The southeast, the same, temperatures in the 90s. It feels like temperatures, with the heat and the humidity, right around 100 degrees for most areas, from Atlanta, to Birmingham, all the way down towards New Orleans. It feels like 101 degrees in New Orleans right now.
Well, coming up for this afternoon, temperatures still hot, muggy, lots of triple digits, but going into tomorrow, the same. And Jim, even going into next weekend, all the way through next weekend, triple digits. No heat relief in sight.
ACOSTA: My goodness.
MAGINNIS: Yes.
ACOSTA: Well, Karen, thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. I wish we could get some relief.
And speaking of all these hot temperatures, you know, the folks who are very concerned about global warming, and there are lots of them all over the world, are going to be looking at what's happening in Greenland right now because of this massive ice break that happened up there, and you're going to talk us through it, right Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's a huge - it's a huge chunk of ice that fell off.
We have some videos. Take a look at this. It's called the Petermann. This is the Petermann Glacier, and it's this area in - in Greenland. And what we're seeing here is so incredibly massive. Let me read you the size of this. According to researchers in the United States, it is a 100-square-mile basically ice island that broke off on its own.
It's four times the size of Manhattan, so about half the height of the Empire State Building.
ACOSTA: Wow.
LEVS: It's the biggest piece of ice to break away from the Arctic ice caps since 1962.
What you're seeing now is a video of Petermann in general.
Let me tell you one more thing about it while we look at it. They're saying that the fresh water stored in this ice island could keep the Delaware or Hudson Rivers flowing for more than two years. It could also keep all U.S. public tap water flowing for 120 days.
Listen to this. It's coming to me now. I want to show you here on the map what we're talking about, because we're talking about this section of Greenland here. We must put it into perspective, and this is the United States down here.
And this is the area where that chunk has fallen off. I'll show you in a second sort of the size of it itself. Now, the concern the researchers have is if it starts to work its way down here into the Baffin Bay area, there's a lot that it can crash against. So this massive chunk of ice could then break up into other islands, and it's possible that over time, it could take a couple of years, but that it could, even as a huge chunk still or a various chunks, work its way into the Atlantic, which can cause problems in the Atlantic. It can affect travel. It can affect all sorts of things, commerce, when it works its way down here.
So they're not totally sure which way it's going to go. But this is the area where it is, and the researchers who found this, particularly this image here. This goes way in where it says Ice Island right there. This is their satellite image, so you can see we're at Greenland right here. This is the size of the chunk that they're talking about.
This is from Professor Andreas Muenchow at University of Delaware who created this image. So we're talking about basically a massive, massive chunk of ice, one of the biggest you'll see or have seen, anyway, in years and years and years. So, obviously, the potential problems for this is pretty huge and this is what people are watching right now.
ACOSTA: Yes, and a lot of people are worried in the scientific community who studies this issue that eventually we're going to get to a point we're going to have an ice-free summer in the Arctic, and I suppose this type of event is only going to fuel more of those fears.
LEVS: Definitely. This plays right into the whole discussion about climate change and what's going on, particularly in that area. Definitely.
ACOSTA: Josh Levs, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
We're checking our top stories. Police now say two escaped inmates from Arizona may be responsible for the deaths of a couple in New Mexico this week. They've been on the run for more than a week and are considered armed and dangerous. The mother of one of the inmates was arrested yesterday for allegedly giving them money.
Friends and family gathered at a church in Upstate New York today to remember one of the six Americans killed in Afghanistan this week. Tom Little was a member of a medical group providing eye care for Afghans. They were robbed and murdered in a remote area of Northeastern Afghanistan and the Taliban claimed responsibility.
Drilling on a relief well has resumed today in the Gulf of Mexico. It's basically an insurance policy to permanently seal the ruptured well with what's called the bottom kill. That means pouring in more mud and cement, and they expect to finish the relief well by next weekend.
College is a lot more high-tech than it used to be. Now, you need a printer, a computer and a whole lot more. We have some ideas on how to save some dough, spending some dough on all of that and calling home for free. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ACOSTA: Man, oh, man, where did all the time this summer go? You're off to college, let's say, new adventures, friendships and worries about paying for it all.
Our tech guru, Marc Saltzman, is in Toronto right now, ready to help you save some money. And we're all sad about summer coming to an end for a lot of these students out there. They've got to out to school and earn their keep.
But first tip for some of them out there, Marc, a web cam?
MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: Sure, Jim. Absolutely. Why pay money to your long-distance company when you can chat for free and with video?
So, many laptops have a built-in web camera already, or you can pick up one pretty inexpensively, and they - they allow you to keep in touch with mom and dad back home or friends at other colleges without having to pay anything more than your - your high-speed internet connection, which, in many cases, would be free in the dorm as well.
So, you know, Skype is very popular. There is other means to do it. And even on smartphones, there's Skype for audio only, but at least it's free, if you're in a wi-fi hot spot. Or if you have an iPhone 4, you can chat with FaceTime, and that is face to face video calling over a cell phone, so great stuff.
ACOSTA: Yes, and - and sort of like what we're doing right now, you know?
SALTZMAN: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Any way we can save some money here at CNN, we appreciate it.
Now, your second tip free software. Explain that one.
SALTZMAN: Sure.
So software to keep productive at school can be quite expensive, even with the student discounts. But there are many free alternatives online.
For example, openoffice.org from Sun Oracle is a great product. It has a word processor, a spreadsheet creator, a presentation maker, and it's completely free and you can use it offline as well. It supports many operating systems, so it's not just Windows.
There's other free software. Free photo editing software, music where you can stream CD-quality music for free. There's anti-virus software.
So if you go to a website like cnet.com, C-N-E-T.com -
ACOSTA: Love that site. SALTZMAN: -- spyware free, so check it out.
ACOSTA: Yes. I love that site.
And now, this next one I want to ask you about, because you're talking about free online storage, and this one makes me nervous. Tell me why I shouldn't be nervous about this.
SALTZMAN: OK. So instead of buying an external hard drive, which is a good back-up solution to protect your files, there are free web sites that will store your files.
One of them that I'm sure is more than secure, is Windows Live SkyDrive from Microsoft. Consider it a password-protected virtual drive that exists in cyberspace and you can upload up to 25 gigabytes of free storage. That's a lot, and that's per account. You can even create multiple accounts.
So the way it works is that you choose the online ID and password. It can be your Hotmail address, for example, and then you can access it from virtually any internet-connected computer in the world.
But I understand your reservations. There's always reports of leaks and password leaks. So - I mean, but, you know, if you're worried about someone stealing your college paper on psychology, well, you know, then you don't want to use a service like that. But nothing's 100 percent, even when you back it up locally on an external drive.
ACOSTA: Very true. Now talk about convergence. I know that's one of your tips. What is that - what is that all about?
SALTZMAN: Sure. So number four on the list of ways to save money by using technology for students is to buy products that can do a number of things. So a - an all-in-one printer, for example, is also a photo copier and a scanner. A smartphone replaces your iPod, your GPS navigation device, your camera, your camcorder, your Nintendo DS or PSP. So it does a number of things.
Now, often, it doesn't do them as well as dedicated devices, but if cash is tight, consider one of these gadgets that can do it all. For example, a dorm - someone living in a dorm room can use their laptop as a movie player. They can use it as a - like a stereo system, instead of buying dedicated things.
ACOSTA: Yes.
Well, Marc Saltzman, those are not only good tips for students going back to school, they're good tips for all of us. We appreciate your time this afternoon, and always good there's somebody who can break this stuff down and make sense out of it. I tell you, call me old- fashioned, I just can't do it myself.
But, Marc Saltzman, joining us from Toronto. We appreciate it. Good to talk to you.
SALTZMAN: Thanks, Jim. Likewise. Cheers. ACOSTA: Cheers to you.
And on the immigration issue, a border agent turned immigration activist now detailing abuse along the border. His story is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: We turn now to allegations of abuse along the border. A former agent says he saw terrible mistreatment of immigrants taken into custody, accusations echoed by others.
CNN's Adriana Hauser has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIANA HAUSER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a border patrol agent for nearly a decade, Efraim Cruz was on the frontlines of the immigration debate, coming face to face with those trying to enter the United States illegally. From 1998 to 2007, Cruz was based in Douglas, Arizona, across from the border town of Agua Prieta, Mexico.
HAUSER (on camera): Did you ever have a conflict between what your job was, what your duty as a border patrol was, and your conscience?
EFRAIM CRUZ, FORMER BORDER PATROL AGENT: I never did. I had folks plead with me very emotionally, begging in the most profound ways, very moving ways.
I was hired to do a job. I'm doing it well.
HAUSER (voice-over): But according to Cruz, not everyone at Douglas Station was executing their jobs responsibly.
CRUZ: Not feeding kids in custody, and when I'm saying not feeding, you know, a - a day or two would pass of folks being in our custody, and it included pregnant women, it included elderly folks. We were also violating the detention center's capacity, which is posted, of the cells.
HAUSER: Cruz recalls two incidents where he says agents made detainees adopt very uncomfortable positions to the point of exhaustion.
CRUZ: A push-up (ph) position or in the - the chair position, you know, where the individual has their back against the wall and their leg is at a 90 degree, which really exhausts the thigh muscles.
HAUSER: He says he filed several complaints verbally and in writing. The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security launched an investigation, but its results were not made public.
That office and the Department of Homeland Security wouldn't comment on specific cases. But in a statement to CNN, the department said its custom and border protection agency "takes accusations of mistreatment very seriously and reports all allegations for thorough investigation."
The statement added, "Each detained individual is afforded the opportunity to speak with a consular official from their country of origin and receive any necessary medical treatment." It also said various federal agencies "work collaboratively to investigate possible cases of mistreatment and misconduct."
Cruz insists the problems he raised were never addressed. In retaliation, he alleges, he was charged with trying to smuggle another agent's girlfriend across the border. A federal jury acquitted him after a two-week trial.
Allegations of mistreatment have also come from advocacy organizations. One group, called "No More Deaths" published a report two years ago listing 12 areas of concern regarding treatment of detainees at short-term detention centers at the Arizona border.
ANDY SILVERMAN, "NO MORE DEATHS": We're hearing the same stories that we heard two years ago. We have been filing official reports with the Department of Homeland Security concerning the abuses that we're identifying, but we have not - we have never heard back from the department.
HAUSER (on camera): The organization continues to collect information and document specific cases of detainee mistreatment. He plans to release a new version of the study in the very near future.
HAUSER (voice-over): In response to the allegations, the Office of Inspector General told us it's "committed to working with our law enforcement partners to identify and aggressively investigate all allegations of corruption."
As for Cruz, he left the border patrol in 2007 and eventually moved to New York, far away from the frontlines but still active in the debate over immigration.
Adriana Hauser, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: A group of artists has accepted a new challenge, change the way you think about professional dancers, and seeing then perform means just stepping outside for some folks. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: All right. You're going to love this one.
An Atlanta dance troupe wants to change the way people think about performance artists, and since we're in a recession, they're doing it for free. Their kind of dancing doesn't take place in stuffy dance halls or auditoriums but on front lawns and in city courtyards, and the audience is encouraged to interact. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BILL KAELIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GLOATL: If you've never seen dance before, this will totally reshape your idea of what a dance performance can be about. It's multi-media, it's live music, it's theater, and dances may be the main piece to it, but it brings all these pieces together.
LAURI STALLINGS, CHOREOGRAPHER, GLOATL: There's a lot of wonderful incubated material of energy that's happening in the city. GloATL, the way it works, embraces all of those ideas and - and has a sense of understanding about today's world.
NICOLE JOHNSON, DANCER, GLOATL: It's bringing, I think, groups of the city together that haven't typically found themselves in the same place at the same time, I think because of the varying locations and the fact that a lot of our work is open to the public, that it's free.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's just so different and it kind of - it kind of breaks all the rules of what you think a performance should be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of these people probably wouldn't go to a typical dance show, and the way that it's set up, a lot of people have access to it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) used all the scenery around here, using the buildings as a backdrop. I'd encourage anyone to go check it out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it made interesting use of this space, this piazza. I thought it gelled nicely with the music and the projections, and I really liked the fact that it culminated in a community event.
KAELIN: Instead of making it a thing just about snooty art snobs, we had people from all walks of life.
ACOSTA: All right, no time for me to do any stepping here. So, for now, I'm Jim Acosta in Atlanta.
At 5:00 pm today, we'll talk to one of the hosts of the new Oxygen show, Hair Battle Spectacular. You're not going to want to imss that, folks, let me promise you.
"YOUR MONEY" starts right now.
