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At Least 5 People Killed in Plane Crash in Alaska; Former NASA Chief Onboard Plane; Former Senator Reportedly in Plane Crash; President Obama Calls For Congress to Pass Bill Saving Numerous Teachers, Police and Firefighters Their Jobs; New Test May Detect Alzheimer's Before Onset; Search Continues for Arizona Convict and Cousin/Fiance That Aided in Escape

Aired August 10, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. And just let me bring our viewers up to date that if you're just tuning in.

Here's the latest information on that plane crash near Dillingham, Alaska. It's gone down in an area, as Barbara was saying, very remote, very rugged, tough to get to. We're talking about bad weather and weather that is still not helpful to those rescue efforts that are going under -- or that are under way right now.

But according to the FAA in a preliminary report, eight people were on board this private jet. Two of those being identified as former Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens and former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe.

Stay with me, John and Barbara. Rob, are you -- can give us an update on those weather conditions? Barbara Starr just reported to us that the Air Force 11th Rescue Coordination Center which is manned by the Alaska National Guard was brought in to help out here. Three squadrons including fixed wing and helos. You've been looking at this area --

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know --

PHILLIPS: Tough spot to get into, right?

MARCIANO: The -- the visibility hasn't improved much at all, and just in the last couple of hours -- I know we talked about that the winds haven't been horrible by Alaskan standards, but just in the last couple of hours, we've seen winds gust between 20 and 30 miles an hour. So that alone isn't good.

And we've got fog in the area, and at the Dillingham Airport, at least, the visibility is fluctuating between two and five miles. So that's not debilitating visibility or debilitating fog.

PHILLIPS: Rob, stay with me. Stay with me.

Just, real quickly, Melanie Whitley, one of our desk producer on the phone with us. Apparently, she just talked to a family friend of Ted Stevens, the former Republican U.S. Senator. Melanie, have you been able to confirm if indeed Ted Stevens was killed in the plane crash?

MELANIE WHITLEY, CNN NATIONAL DESK PRODUCER: They would not confirm to me at this time that he was on the plane. He said no one really knows for sure.

Basically, what he could tell me was about those good Samaritans we've been hearing about that were at the crash site after it happened. I was told that one of them is a female doctor and has been with the survivors through the night. The communication is really bad where they're at, so they couldn't really get any other information. And it's been a couple of hours since they've heard from them.

So that's what we have that's new.

PHILLIPS: Wow. All right. Melanie Whitley, appreciate it.

Tony Harris, you're going to pick it up. You've got John Zarrella out of Miami, Tony. Also, Rob is monitoring the rescue conditions there in Dillingham. And our Barbara Starr is working on all the rescue efforts taking place right now via the Alaskan National Guard.

But, Tony, right now, what we have is two people still missing, five confirmed dead, one survivor. That's all according to the FAA's preliminary report that we just got -- Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Kyra, appreciate it. You really stacked the deck for us. We can pick it up from here. Terrific work.

Thank you, Kyra Phillips.

Let's continue with this breaking news.

We understand now that rescuers have now reached the site of that plane crash in southwestern Alaska near the town of Dillingham. As you know by now, Reuters is reporting that the former Republican Senator Ted Stevens was on board. It is not clear yet whether Stevens is among the survivors.

We are still working this story as best we can with all of our resources.

Let's get to Michael Carey right now. Michael is on the phone with us. He is with "The Anchorage Daily News."

Michael, good to talk to you.

Bring us up to speed with what you've learned about this developing story.

Is Michael on the line with me? Someone? Anyone?

OK. Michael is not there. All right. We will check back in. We'll get Michael on the line and we'll have a conversation with him shortly.

Right now, let's get to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

And Barbara, if you would, bring us all up to speed on the rescue efforts right now.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, what we are learning is, a short time ago, at least three squadrons of the Alaska Air National Guard have been told to try and help. The weather, as Rob Marciano has been reporting, is very bad there. So right now they haven't really been able to launch any effort with helicopters or fixed wing to be able to go to the site. But at least three squadrons from the Alaska Air National Guard now trying to get up in the air, get involved, and engage in search and rescue, recovery, whatever it takes.

By all accounts, we believe some have perished in this crash and there are some survivors. We were told a little while ago by a U.S. government official that a commercial helicopter was able to drop off a medical team.

All of these first reports coming in. People really trying to figure out what exactly is going on here, how many survivors there may be. There may be four survivors, we are told, but the situation is evolving. We don't know their condition, and it is not at all clear yet exactly -- how does one delicately say this? You know, whether things have changed in the last couple of hours. If people are in bad shape in a crash in this remote area, their condition may be very precarious -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Barbara. I know you will keep us posted on the rescue efforts and assets on the ground there in Dillingham.

Let's bring in Michael Carey now. We've got him on the line. He's with "The Anchorage Daily News."

And Michael, bring us up to speed on the latest information that you're getting on this developing story.

MICHAEL CAREY, "ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS": Well, we have a story on our Web site which says government officials say that there were nine passengers on the plane and there are four survivors. What kind of shape they're in, we don't know.

One of the things that would leap out to an Alaskan is that Ted Stevens was -- this would be his second major crash. He was involved in one in 1978 which he survived and his wife was killed in. That was in Anchorage.

HARRIS: Michael, when was the last time that report on your Web site was updated? Because the latest information we have suggests eight on board, but you're reporting -- at least your most recent reporting has nine people on board?

CAREY: Yes. And I just suspect that until we -- there may be some -- a lot of discrepancies as the story unfolds. I wouldn't be surprised. The update I saw was just now. But eight or nine, we'll find out.

HARRIS: Michael, tell us about that region and why it would be difficult to get up-to-the-minute, accurate information on what has transpired.

CAREY: Well, people know Alaska is big, but it's also sparsely populated. Dillingham is an important fishing community, but the number of people there would be in the low thousands, if that. And there's probably no road that can be followed. So if the aviation conditions were poor for helicopters or for fixed-winged aircraft to fly by and perhaps drop somebody, it would be very hard to get there, although we did have an earlier report that some so-called Samaritans -- that must be local people -- had showed up.

HARRIS: OK, Michael. I can understand why we've got the information on the former NASA administrator being on this flight, Sean O'Keefe, but what's your understanding as to the information chain here that suggests that the former Senator Ted Stevens might be on this flight?

Can you help us with that?

CAREY: Well, the best I can do is that there have been attempts to contact his family after there were stories/rumors, facts that he was on that airplane, and that we immediately tried to contact people and haven't been able to confirm it. But this is something -- it's very early here, but the newsroom is getting busy and we're starting to work on this.

HARRIS: Michael, we have been trying to contact the former senator's office, his home. I trust that you've been doing the same. It makes sense.

And have you been able to make any headway in that area?

CAREY: No, we haven't. In fact, Stevens has several homes. And just personally, myself, I'm not sure which one -- presumably, he was at Girdwood, the famous house that got involved in his trial. But I don't know that for a fact.

HARRIS: Any information on where they were headed specifically?

CAREY: To a fishing lodge. And this wouldn't be surprising at this time of year, that executives, retired executives, people with money, and corporate people go to some very, very high-end fishing lodges that attract very, very high-end guests. This would be one of the best places in the world for salmon fishing.

HARRIS: Do we know who owned that particular lodge?

CAREY: No. I'm sorry to be such a disappointment. We're at the stage where there's a lot of fact-gathering going on, as your previous correspondents noted.

HARRIS: OK. Michael, we will let you go to do some of that fact-finding right now.

Michael Carey is with "The Anchorage Daily News."

Michael, we'll check back with you in the next hour or so. Appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

Let's get to our John Zarrella.

And John, if you would, bring us all up to speed with the latest information that you're getting on this crash and the news that we're getting that the former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was on this flight.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is correct, Tony. The confirmation is only that he was in fact on this flight. And what we are also hearing from the aerospace company for which he was CEO of their North American division at this time is that it was private business, it was vacation time. So it certainly does correspond to what the correspondent from the newspaper was just telling us, that, in fact, they were going to a fishing lodge. So it certainly makes perfect sense that this was his own personal time, some vacation time, and that that's why Sean O'Keefe was on this aircraft.

Now, he's also -- when he left NASA in 2005, he went into the private sector. At one point, he worked as chancellor at Louisiana State University.

In fact, we have a statement that I'm just going to read off my BlackBerry, a portion of it. It says, "The LSU community is deeply concerned about Sean and his family at this difficult time of uncertainty. Sean is a valued member of the LSU family and our thoughts and prayers are with him."

And that came from LSU chancellor Michael Martin just a few moments ago.

Now, O'Keefe, Tony, ran NASA from December of 2001 until 2005, and he was of course appointed by former President Bush. This was an extremely difficult time for the space agency.

The space station program was $5 billion over budget. The space shuttles were starting to fly into retirement, although nothing had actually been decided. And then, of course, in February of 2003, the tragic Columbia accident took place of which O'Keefe had to shepherd the agency through and at the same time give the space agency a new direction, the retirement of the space shuttle, bringing it back into some budget reality.

And, you know, Tony, the times that I met O'Keefe and spoke with him, very pragmatic, but yet very, very thoughtful and very eloquent in the way he spoke about the future of space exploration. But he came out of the Office of Management and Budget, and he was brought into NASA to kind of rein in a lot of this wild spending that had been going on, and to bring some sense of reality back to NASA during a very, very difficult time.

And again, Tony, shepherded the space agency through a very, very terrible, terrible time after the Columbia accident -- Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, John, do we know much at this point about the company he was heading up?

ZARRELLA: Just that it's a very, very large global. It's called EADS. And a very large global aerospace defense contractor -- defense company involved with companies like Airbus. And he was the head of the North American division of that company, the CEO of that company.

HARRIS: OK.

John Zarrella for us.

John, appreciate it. We'll check back in with you in just a couple of minutes.

Peter Goelz is with us on the line with us right now. He is a former NTSB official.

And Peter, if you would, give us an idea of how the investigation of this crash will unfold.

PETER GOELZ, FMR. MANAGING DIRECTOR, NTSB: Well, this kind of high-profile accident will get a lot of attention from the NTSB. First, the NTSB does have a regional office in Alaska. The role that aviation plays in Alaska is unique, and the NTSB has had an office there for years.

So, their local investigators will be first on scene, if possible, accompanying the search and rescue team. And from Washington, the NTSB will send a full team of investigators, and my understanding is that they are assembled and that they're getting ready to go almost immediately.

HARRIS: All right, Peter. We're going to check back in with you in just a bit as well.

I want to get everyone to a break. And as we do, the breaking news at this hour, five of the eight people on board a plane that crashed near Dillingham, Alaska, overnight were killed. Our understanding, at least at this point, is that one sustained serious injuries, and the condition of two other people unknown at this time.

That comes from a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration. The former NASA administrator, Sean O'Keefe, confirmed on that flight. Still waiting for confirmation that the former Alaska senator Ted Stevens was on that flight.

We'll take a quick break. We'll come back and we'll learn more about the weather conditions in that area at the time of the crash from our Rob Marciano.

But first, a quick break.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We have got Mitch Rose on the line right now. He is the former chief of staff for Senator Ted Stevens.

Mitch, thanks for your time. And I understand you have a statement that you want to share with us?

MITCH ROSE, FMR. CHIEF OF STAFF FOR TED STEVENS: Yes. This is statement from the Stevens family.

It reads, "The Ted Stevens family offers their prayers for all those on board and for their families. We thank the brave men and women who are working to reach the site. We continue to work with the Alaska National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Alaska State Troopers. We thank everyone for their support and prayers."

HARRIS: Mitch, I know you're not of a mind to take questions, but I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you at least -- or at least attempt to ask you one.

ROSE: Sure.

HARRIS: Do we have any confirmation -- we understand the statement as you've read to us. Do we have any confirmation, is the family willing to confirm, do you have any information so that we can move forward with the story beyond the speculation? And as you heard Michael Carey from "The Anchorage Daily News" suggest, that we're operating in some respects here on rumor that the former senator was on that plane.

Can you move this story forward?

ROSE: You know, I think the only way I can move it forward is to refer to the statement, the fact that the family is working with search and rescue personnel. I think I could leave it at that.

I'm not privy to all of the information that's going on, but the family is working with search and rescue personnel. A very courageous people and very difficult environment out there in southwestern Alaska.

HARRIS: All right. And here's the very pointed question. And I apologize for it, but I have to ask it. Can you confirm or will you deny that the senator was on that plane?

ROSE: I simply can't confirm that. I simply can't for you. All I can say is that the family is in touch with the search and rescue personnel.

HARRIS: OK.

Mitch Rose is the former chief of staff for Senator Ted Stevens.

Mitch, we appreciate it. I trust I've got a copy of it, and I'll share the statement with everyone again after a quick break.

Mitch, appreciate it. Thank you.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. A couple of things here.

Let's remind you of the statement that was just shared with us just moments ago from Mitch Rose, the former chief of staff for Senator Ted Stevens.

It reads, "The Ted Stevens family offers their prayers for all of those on board and for their families. We thank the brave men and women who are working to reach the site. We continue to work with the Alaska National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Alaska State Troopers. We thank everyone for their support and prayers."

Mitch would not confirm and he would not deny the reporting so far that suggests that the former senator was, in fact, on that plane.

We do know that the former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was in fact on that plane that went down in the overnight hours in Dillingham, Alaska.

John Zarrella is standing by with a bit more background on Sean O'Keefe -- John.

ZARRELLA: Yes, Tony. As I was saying earlier, he was very, very pragmatic, but yet very, very eloquent. And for the four years that he ran NASA, that was his focus and that was his life. And, in fact, someone that I know at the space agency, I had asked that person, "Well, how do you remember Sean from the days that you worked with Administrator O'Keefe?" And I got this e-mail back.

And it says, "He was direct and focused on space exploration. He made the hard decisions to initiate better management of NASA's budget and contracting. He was a great ambassador for NASA both nationally and internationally. He had the ability to communicate his enthusiasm for America's space program to gain support for a robust effort to continuing to explore the unknown."

So, at least from one of the folks at NASA who had worked with Sean O'Keefe over the years, from '01 to '05, a pretty glowing testimonial to the kind of an individual he was and his determination to bring the space agency through that very difficult period of time -- tough budget, overbudget, and, of course, the Columbia accident in 2003 which he shepherded NASA through -- Tony.

HARRIS: John, why did he leave? Or was this --

ZARRELLA: Well, it was the change in the administration, and he was the 10th administrator at NASA. And it was time to move on, and he wanted to move on himself. And he did wait until there was a -- he agreed to stay on until a new administrator was named.

And so he did kind of stay a little bit longer than he wanted to, but, again, as I mentioned earlier, then he moved into the private sector. And he was chancellor, I believe, at Louisiana State University. And we heard the statement that was issued a few moments ago that I read from the current chancellor at LSU. And then he moved on to this aerospace company after that -- Tony.

HARRIS: How would you describe your dealings with him?

ZARRELLA: Well, I met him on several occasions and interviewed him on several occasions, and he was always very much to the point. He did not evade questions. He answered the questions with a great deal of sincerity, honesty, and he was very frank about the issues that faced the space agency and how his job was -- he had come out of the Office of Management and Budget, OMB -- was to bring the agency back to a position of reality, focused on, how can we do this with the money we have?

And he was very focused on the fact, that, look, there are going to be tough cuts, there are going to be tough decisions. Of course, we've heard that a lot lately, tough decisions. But it certainly existed in that time, and he understood what he had to do. But again, he was always very, very up front and very honest in his answers to you. He didn't evade questions and gave you the most direct answer he could -- Tony.

HARRIS: You know, we are reporting -- I'm sharing with folks the reporting of others, other news organizations that the former Alaska senator, Ted Stevens, was on that flight with Sean O'Keefe.

Do we know anything about their relationship? Is it anything more than maybe a friendship that was struck over the years of both men working in Washington?

ZARRELLA: I don't know. And Kyra had asked me that last hour, and I've got to look a little bit more into whether there were any committees that the former senator was on that O'Keefe may have also, during his time at NASA, been part of. But other than the fact they were both in Washington at the same time, I don't know.

HARRIS: OK. John, appreciate it. Thank you.

And we'll get back to John Zarrella a little later in the hour.

Let's take a quick break. And we're back with the latest information that we have on this crash in Dillingham, Alaska. Five of the eight people on board confirmed dead at this point.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. A couple of things here.

Clearly, we're in the early stages of reporting on this crash. Obviously, a tragedy has taken place here. And we're getting information and turning it around for you and amending previous information as quickly as we can here. So, our Allan Chernoff has been working on this story, and here is the latest that we've been able to learn from the FAA and other.

Five of the nine people on board -- it's five of nine now. Earlier, we had been using a number of eight on board, but the latest is nine people on board. Five of the nine on board the plane that crashed very near Dillingham, Alaska, overnight were killed, two suffered serious injuries and two suffered minor injuries. OK. So that's the latest that we have on the number of people who were killed in this crash, the number who suffered injuries, serious and minor injuries.

I want to get to the statement brought to us just moments ago right here in the CNN NEWSROOM from Mitch Rose, the former chief of staff for former Senator Ted Stevens.

Listen to that. And let's run that right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSE: "The Ted Stevens family offers their prayers for all those on board and for their families. We thank the brave men and women who are working to reach the site. We continue to work with the Alaska National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Alaska State Troopers. We thank everyone for their support and prayers."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. I went on to ask just a couple of questions just to try to move the story along. I think the question that everyone has at this point and wants an answer to as to whether or not we can confirm that the former Senator Ted Stevens was, in fact, on that plane. We have that statement, read into that statement what you will, but, you know, to our standards, we haven't been able to confirm that story yet.

Michael Kerry with the "Anchorage Daily News" doing the best he can to move that story along, along with Allan Chernoff and others here at CNN.

But the latest information that we have right now is that five of nine -- five of nine people on board that plane that crashed are now confirmed dead; two suffered serious injuries and two suffered minor injuries. We have not had an identification on any of the names for any of these categories. We're still waiting on that. So a lot of information still to come in.

And Rob is here to remind us just how remote an area we're really talking about here, Dillingham. And you were painting a pretty vivid picture of what the conditions were like around this time, in this window of the time when this crash might have taken place.

And I can tell you firsthand that the airports in the area that we're starting to talk about here, they're pretty small, municipal airports.

MARCIANO: And what kind of plane were you flying in? And what was your experience like coming down and making that landing?

HARRIS: Well, I will tell you this, I flew into Dutch Harbor, Alaska, that's right on the tip there and next to the Bering Sea, and it was about as steep a decline into that landing on that approach as anyone would ever want to go through.

MARCIANO: Sure.

HARRIS: OK. So I remember at some point when we started the descent, the person I was sitting next to saying that the pilots actually get hazard pay because it's such a tricky landing. I don't know what the conditions are, if the approach is that dramatic to Dillingham and I'm wondering, I don't know, Is there any way to get Google mapping or anything on that to help us get a look at that?

MARCIANO: It's -- yes, I'm trying to figure that out myself, but I can tell you this, just by knowing the area geographically, basically it's surrounded by mountains.

HARRIS: Exactly, exactly.

MARCIANO: Even though it's next to the Bering Sea, you have coastal mountains to the northwest, you've got mountains of the Aleutian range to the south and then you've got the Alaskan range, which are the larger mountains just northwest of Anchorage.

And in the midst of this -- this is the infrared imagery of cloud cover, and any time you see vivid green or blue on this map, that would mean that you would have clear skies to see from outer space, either the blue ocean or the green land as represented on this map. And you can see, there is not a whole lot of that. There's a lot of white, there's a lot of other gray colors which indicates cloud cover.

There's a storm here that has not been moving very much. And storms don't move quickly this time of year. They are not as strong as in the wintertime but nonetheless, they can sock in areas like this. They can give you a wind or a crosswind anywhere from 15 to 30 miles an hour, which is what we've seen over the past 12 hours. And we haven't seen visibility improve much, so fog has been an issue and we haven't see much in the way of that clearing.

As far as what kind of aircraft it was, from what we're finding out, it was a DHC-3, which basically, if you have seen a Hollywood movie that shows somebody flying into a remote area in Alaska to go on a fishing trip, that's the plane. Single engine, it's got pontoons if need be to land on water, probably carries a half a dozen to a dozen people, and it's got a range of -- I don't know -- 600 to 800 miles. A puddle jumper, quite literally. They were built in the '60s and they are quite, quite useful in this area.

This thing went down 20 miles east-northeast of the Dillingham Airport, was trying to make an approach from the lake resort, which is basically somewhere up in through here I believe, if my geography is right. May have had to make an approach like this because this blue icon right here is the GPS of the last known communication that the FAA had with the plane. And as you point out, you have got mountains on each site shooting the Bristol Bay area into Dillingham. So, you know, nobody was in that cockpit or airplane to tell exactly what went down, but that's what we know at the moment, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, yes. OK, Rob, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

MARCIANO: You bet.

HARRIS: Let's take a quick break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, we're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's bring you up to date with what we know. We have been telling you all morning about this plane crash, the plane going down overnight in southwest Alaska. The FAA is reporting nine people believed to be on board; five people are reported dead, four others injured.

Former NASA Chief Sean O'Keefe was on board. Still unclear whether former Alaska store Ted Stevens was on board. We are really trying to nail that bit of the story down, and a former spokesman for the Stevens family just moments ago says that the family is in touch with search and rescue teams.

Let's do this, let's bring in our Ines Ferre. She's been following and helping us on this story. And, Ines, I know you have a lot of comments from folks but you also have a statement to share with us from the former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Sarah Palin writing on her Twitter page, "Heartbreaking Bristol Bay plane crash. Alaska's heart surrounds loved ones. More info coming in. Please pray for Dillingham rescue this morning."

She just tweeted about this about 27 minutes, Tony. So we're following all the comments online. A lot of comments that I'm seeing are people praying for those in the plane crash and their families.

HARRIS: OK, Ines, appreciate it. Thank you. I know you will keep following this for us and comments on our blog page as well.

Let's take a break. We'll be back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right, let's bring you the very latest on what we know on this breaking news story. We have been telling you about this plane in Dillingham, Alaska that went down, a tragic accident here.

The plane went down overnight in southwest Alaska, that's where Dillingham is. The FAA is reporting nine people believed to be on that plane at the time of the crash; five people reported dead, four others injured. We have confirmation that the former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe was on board. Still unclear -- and, again, we're trying to get our arms around the best reporting on this at this point. Still unclear whether former Senator Ted Stevens, former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, was on board. Former spokesman, actually chief of staff for Senator Stevens, Mitch Rose, reading a statement from the family, the Stevens family is in touch with search and rescue teams.

OK, we are expecting the president in just a couple of minutes. The president pushing Congress, in particular here the House to pass $26 billion spending bill that should provide some relief for states in a real funding crunch right now. And the estimate here is that if this is passed and the money goes exactly where it is intended, it will save approximately 160,000 teaching jobs across the country.

The president will be joined in a couple of minutes here by at least two teachers that we are aware of. When the president makes his way to the Rose Garden, we will take you there for the president's comments.

Do we have time to get to Elizabeth Cohen?

OK, all right, let's talk about a breakthrough in predicting Alzheimer's disease. Researchers say there is a new test for it and it may be 100 percent accurate. Would you want to know?

Let's get to our Elizabeth Cohen. Elizabeth is in New York for us.

Good to see you, Elizabeth. What can you tell us about this test and its predictive qualities here?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Tony, this a huge scientific advance.

In a nutshell, what scientists did is they gave folks spinal taps, you put a needle in someone's spine and you extract fluid, and they found that there were some proteins in there that predicted whether or not they were going to get Alzheimer's. If you had a lot of these proteins, you were more likely to get Alzheimer's. And up until now there really hasn't been a great way to predict whether someone is going to get Alzheimer's or not.

HARRIS: Should we run out -- and I know this probably depends more on where you are in your life cycle. You know, at some point should we think about running out and getting this test?

COHEN: You know, right now, you can can't. If you went to your doctor and said, give me that spinal tap, I want to know if I'm going to get Alzheimer's, the doctor wouldn't give it to you.

First of all, family doctors, internist, they're not skilled, they don't do spinals usually. And a neurologist would probably tell you, you know what, it's a little bit early, if you want to know, go join a clinical trial.

But, Tony, in the future, it might very well be like that you can show up at your doctor's office and get this test.

HARRIS: You think at some point it will be widely available?

COHEN: I think it really could be because the results of the study are so strong.

So the question is, do you really want to know because there's not a whole lot that you can do. There are some drugs that somewhat decrease the systems of Alzheimer's. But on the other hand, do you want to walk around knowing that you are at a high likelihood for getting Alzheimer's, that's a huge psychological burden.

Not to mention the fact that a spinal carries some risks. I mean, you're having a needle put in your spine.

HARRIS: You mentioned risk, is there a way we can reduce our risk of getting Alzheimer's?

COHEN: Yes, there are ways. You can be an empowered patient and do several different things.

First of all, keep your mind active. Tony, you have a good job for keeping your mind active. Also, eat a diet low in fat and cholesterol. Remain socially active as well. You know, keep a good network of friends. And also just generally get in shape.

And you know, Tony, later, when and if --

COHEN: Elizabeth, I apologize. I apologize, I promised everybody we would get to the president when he arrived in the room. He is there.

The president of the United States.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- cut critical services and lay off teachers and police officers and firefighters.

Now, it's one -- it's one thing for states to get their fiscal houses in order and tighten their belts like families across America. Because families have been doing it, there's no reason that states can't do it, too. That's a welcome thing.

But we can't stand by and do nothing while pink slips are given to the men and women who educate our children or keep our communities safe. That doesn't make sense.

That's why a significant part of the economic plan that we passed last year provided relief for struggling states, relief that has already prevented hundreds of thousands of layoffs.

And that's why today we're trying to pass a law that will save hundreds of thousands of additional jobs in the coming year. It will help states avoid laying off police officers, firefighters, nurses and first responders, and it will save the jobs of teachers like the ones who are standing with me today.

If we do nothing, these educators won't be returning to the classroom this fall, and that won't just deprive them of a paycheck, it will deprive the children and parents who are counting on them to provide a decent education. It means that students in Illinois and West Virginia who count on Rachel and Shannon are going to be not getting the education that they deserve.

It will deprive countless cities and towns of the law enforcement officials and first responders who risk their lives to keep us out of harm's way. It will cost us jobs at a time when we need to be creating jobs.

In other words, it will take us backwards at a time when we need to keep this country moving forward.

Now, this proposal is fully paid for, in part by closing tax loopholes that encourage corporations that ships American jobs overseas. So it will not add to our deficit. And the money will only go toward saving the jobs of teachers and other essential professionals.

This should not be a partisan issue.

I heard the Republican leader in the House say the other day that this is a special interest bill. And I suppose if America's children and the safety of our communities are your special interest, then it is a special interest bill.

But I think those interests are widely shared throughout this country. A challenge that affects parents, children and citizens in all -- almost every community in America should not be a Democratic problem or a Republican problem; it is an American problem.

I'm grateful that two Republicans joined Democrats to pass this proposal in the Senate last week. And I'm equally grateful that Speaker Pelosi has called back the House of Representatives to a special session so that they can vote as well.

I urge members of both parties to come together and get this done, so that I can sign this bill into law.

I urge Congress to pass this proposal, so that the outstanding teachers who are here today can go back to educating our children.

America is watching, and America is waiting for Washington to act. So let's show the nation that we can.

I want to thank Rachel, as well as Shannon, not only for being here today but for the extraordinary work that they're doing each and every day with special education children, with kindergartners so that they're getting off to a right start.

And I also want to thank Arne Duncan, who has been doing as much as anybody all across the country to try to emphasize how important it is to make sure that we are providing a first-class education to every single one of our children.

This bill helps us do that, and so it's time for Democrats and Republicans to come together and get it done.

Thank you very much, everybody.

HARRIS: OK, there you have it, the president from the Rose Garden pushing Congress and the House of Representatives -- hey, do we have a shot of the House right now? I know debate is going on right now on this bill.

The House of Representatives called back for a special session, one-day special session to debate this $26 billion spending bill and then to take a vote on it. The bill is designed to help states sort of really crushed right now under the weight of a lot of debt to help states continue to employee teachers and other you heard the president say other necessary state professionals.

And the House, as we mentioned, is debating it right now. I just checked on one of the monitors. The debate is going on right now and the vote expected later today.

I think we're actually going to see a shot of the House now as the -- there we go, the House debating it right now. The $26 billion in spending to be paid for, the president said, by closing some tax loopholes so that it doesn't add to the deficit. The idea is to save approximately 160,000 teaching jobs across the country and really to help the states really struggling now under a lot of debt.

So this is the debate going on right now on the floor of the House. A vote is expected later today.

Let's take a break. We are back in a moment. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, we are really hustling to get you the latest information on this tragic plane crash in Alaska. Rescue teams are on the ground now of a small plane crash in southwest Alaska. The plane crashed overnight in a remote area, very near Dillingham, Alaska.

We are being told that at least nine people were on board the plane; five people are reported dead, two others seriously injured. Former NASA Chief Sean O'Keefe was on board, we don't know his condition. Still unclear at this time whether former Senator Ted Stevens was on board. A former spokesman for the family, Mitch Rose, in a statement that he read on our air earlier this hour says that the Stevens' family is in touch with the search and rescue effort and the family is asking for your prayers.

Let's get to John Zarrella standing by for us. And, John, I asked you a little earlier in the hour, I know Kyra talked to you about it last hour, we're just trying to sort of assess the relationship between the former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and Sean O'Keefe. I know you've got some more information on that. ZARRELLA: That's right, Tony. In fact, from what we're finding out now, the relationship goes back many, many, many years, that the former senator was considered Sean O'Keefe's mentor. And back in 1989 timeframe, the senator, then senator, nominated O'Keefe for a job as comp. Controller of the DOD, Department of Defense. And at that time, it didn't go through, but then was later nominated again by Stevens and it did go through that time. And in fact, then O'Keefe ultimately became a member of the Office of Management and Budget.

The Stevens' relationship with O'Keefe went on for all of these years. And then ultimately when Sean O'Keefe became the NASA administrator was named that by former President Bush, that, in fact, Stevens would -- became a very, very strong supporter of O'Keefe, of O'Keefe's positions at NASA, and what -- and what O'Keefe wanted to do with the space agency.

So they had this long-standing relationship. And, in fact, you know, what we're hearing now is that this trip to Alaska, at least as far as O'Keefe was concerned, probably the others on board as well, was a personal trip. The company that Sean O'Keefe was CEO of, EADS North America division, told us that in fact it was a personal trip, it was vacation time. And, of course, we're also hearing that they may well have been going to a fishing camp off of -- very close to the Alaska coastline.

And so, it would make sense that the two of them were on board on this plane, although it's not confirmed as far as the former Senator Stevens is concerned, but it would certainly make some sense, because they were so close and had been close for decades -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. That's great information.

All right, John Zarrella for us. John, thank you.

We're going to try to work in some other news as we await more details, more information on the developing story in Alaska.

And still to come, your health care in black and white. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is back with racial disparities you need to know.

We're back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Once again, we want to get you the latest information on what we know.

Rescue teams are on scene, obviously, of a plane crash in southwest Alaska. The plane crashed overnight in a remote area near Dillingham, Alaska. We are being told that at least nine people were on board the plane; five people are reported dead, two others seriously injured.

Former NASA Chief Sean O'Keefe was on board. We don't know his condition, and it is still unclear whether former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was on board, former spokesman -- the former chief of staff for Ted Stevens. The family is in touch with search and rescue teams, and the family is asking for your prayers.

One other quick story before we get to the top of the hour here, I know a lot of you have been following the story. The feds are said to be pulling out all the stops to find the last of three escaped Arizona convicts and his suspected accomplice.

Authorities say John McCluskey and Casslyn May Welch may in western Montana or southwestern Canada. They were described as cousins and fiances who have nothing to lose. The chief deputy U.S. marshal for Arizona tells CNN the two are desperate and could rob or even kill to further their escape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DEPUTY FIDENCIO RIVERA, U.S. MARSHAL, DISTRICT OF ARIZONA: John McCluskey was convicted of attempted homicide for a drive-by shooting in 2009. His partner, Casslyn Welch, is one wanted for conspiracy in the escape of McCluskey.

In addition, John McCluskey is a suspect. He was linked by forensics to a double homicide of an elderly couple in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. So we believe both individuals are armed and extremely dangerous.

We're concerned for the public's safety. We believe that in the interest of the public, if they see them to, please contact 911, their local police, and do not try to impede the individuals in any way whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)