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Former Senator Ted Stevens and Former NASA Chief Sean O'Keefe Reportedly in Plane Crash; Stabbings Linked in Three States; The Help Desk; How Race Impacts Your Health Care; Charles Rangel on House Floor

Aired August 10, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hello, everyone, I'm Tony Harris.

We are following breaking news on a search for plane crash survivors in southwest Alaska. We are being told nine people were on board a small plane that went down in a remote area near Dillingham overnight; five reported dead, at least two seriously injured.

And it is still unclear whether former senator Ted Stevens was on the plane. But his former chief of staff, Mitch Rose, tells us the Stevens family is in touch with the search and rescue effort, and that the family is thinking everyone for their support and their prayers.

Let's get to the Pentagon now. Barbara Starr is there on her post.

And Barbara, if you would, bring us up to speed with the latest on rescue teams and those efforts on the ground there near Dillingham.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we have been told, Tony, over the last several hours, at least four squadrons from the Alaska Air National Guard being basically put on alert to try and get involved in help with the search, rescue, recovery, if it comes to that. But the weather is bad in this area, as Rob Marciano has been reporting. It will be very tough for any helicopters to get in there at this point, or any fixed-wing aircraft, both due to the remoteness and the weather situation on the ground. So it's not at all clear that the Air National Guard has really been able to launch any missions to try and help.

We were told by a U.S. government official that some hours ago -- and it may well have been last night, we just don't know -- a commercial helicopter was able to drop off a private medical team, that they went on the ground to try and render some assistance in this situation. The details, of course, very sketchy, very much in the category of first reports. It is believed there are survivors on the ground.

Everybody waiting to hear the fate of all of those nine souls on board -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right. And Barbara, I know you'll keep us posted with the latest information. I'm reminded that this plane crash took place late last night, into the overnight hours, and we understand that this is a remote area, but we're still trying to understand, you know, the information flow here, and why it's been particularly difficult to confirm a lot of the numbers surrounding this story. But I know you're doing your part to help us.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.

Barbara, thank you.

Let's go to the Capitol right now. And CNN Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar is there.

And Brianna, what are you hearing there on the Hill? And any kind of reaction at this point?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, we are getting some reaction. And, of course, the Senate is on recess right now. But Ted Stevens is a legend here on Capitol Hill, so we have been talking with some of the aides to senators, and Lisa Murkowski, Senator Murkowski of Alaska, has put out a statement just saying, "While we await further information about this tragic accident, I ask Alaskans to join me in prayer for all those aboard the aircraft and their families."

And when I've talked to a number of different offices, Tony, this is really the sentiment. They don't have answers, just like we're looking for some of these details. But the sense is that they're obviously fearing the worst. There are so many senators here that are friends with Ted Stevens, and so there's a tremendous amount of concern here -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. And clearly, if the family of the former senator wanted to, they could have cleared up this matter. But there is clearly some information that they're looking for as well in all of this.

We know that there was a number out there of people who are confirmed dead, and we also know that there are people who apparently survived this crash, as well. So I suppose we just need to keep digging and be patient here.

Brianna, you mentioned that the former senator was a legend there on Capitol Hill. And as I recall, kind of a legendary personality, as well.

KEILAR: Yes, a legendary personality, because he is known for his fiery temper. In fact, someone reminded me that he actually, in his time here serving as a senator, would wear ties that featured the Incredible Hulk, because it kind of played into that tough guy sensibility that he liked to really have out there. But at the same time, he has friends across the aisle.

In fact, one of his very dear friends is Daniel Inouye, a top appropriator for Democrats. Of course, Ted Stevens was a top appropriator. They are avid fishermen and would go fishing together. And so they had a big friendship there.

But I think what's also so significant is that Ted Stevens is legendary because of his role in Alaska politics. We said when you think of Alaska politics, you think of Ted Stevens.

This is someone, as the top appropriator for many years, he brought home the bacon during his years here as a senator. You may recall even very infamously, that Bridge to Nowhere earmark. He was a prolific earmarker. That was his.

So, certainly, he was known during his time here in the Senate for really delivering for his state of Alaska.

HARRIS: You know, and Ted Stevens lost his re-election bid in 2008, and that was one of the big upsets that we remember from that year.

KEILAR: This is one of the big upsets that certainly stands out in my mind. He lost by mere votes to the mayor of Anchorage, Mark Begich, who now holds that seat. And Senator Stevens was the longest- serving -- continues to be the longest-serving Republican senator in history. And so, as you can imagine, that he was unseated -- but it happened amid an ethical and a criminal investigation.

He ultimately was indicted and convicted for really what the court said was lying about gifts that he received, hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts, including some home improvements that were paid for, allegedly, by an oil services company. Ultimately, though, the Department of Justice, just here in the last year, set that aside, saying that there was some misconduct on the part of prosecutors.

But, you know, Tony, I mean, I recall here -- I think it was just in the last year, I was walking down the hall, and, you know, there, all of a sudden, was Ted Stevens, which was so interesting, because he isn't up here anymore since he lost re-election. But when you see a senator like Ted Stevens -- and this is why you pay so much attention to this with all of these unanswered questions right now -- he is a legend. He is one of those people who has been in the Senate for so long, was in the Senate so long, 40 years, that, you know, Democrats and Republicans -- it's just a name that pops for all of them.

HARRIS: Right. And difficult to imagine the place without him, frankly.

All right. Brianna Keilar.

KEILAR: It has been.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

Our Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill for us.

Thank you.

John Zarrella is with us now, and he covers NASA for CNN. He joins me from Miami.

And maybe this is a good place to start, John. We were just talking about Ted Stevens, and Sean O'Keefe, the former NASA administrator, on that flight. That's been confirmed.

Maybe you can start here and talk about the relationship. We've got the pictures of the two men side by side here. Talk a bit about that relationship.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tony.

You know, in fact, Sean O'Keefe was administrator at NASA from 2001 to 2005. But the relationship with Ted Stevens goes back many, many, many years.

Many people that I've talked with in the last half hour or so have been saying that, in fact, Stevens was O'Keefe's mentor going back to 1989, when Stevens first nominated O'Keefe for a comptroller's job at the Department of Defense. That job did not go through -- that appointment didn't go through, confirmation. But subsequently, it did go through a few years later.

And then, ultimately, when O'Keefe became NASA administrator in 2001, it was at the same time period that Ted Stevens was, in fact, the chairman of a very powerful committee that basically controlled a lot of the purse strings at the space agency. And Stevens was a big supporter of the space agency. So, as one person that told me a little bit ago, he said the bottom line was, Stevens had the money that O'Keefe needed at the space station.

Now, Sean O'Keefe was also brought in to NASA at a very, very difficult time in the space station program, $5 billion over budget. Then in, of course, '03 you had the tragic Columbia accident, which, of course, O'Keefe had to shepherd NASA through and get it right back on track, get the space shuttles flying again, et cetera, et cetera. So it was an extremely difficult time at NASA.

Now, Tony, one other thing that's interesting is that we know that O'Keefe was on this plane. We do not know his condition. But it would make sense that, in fact, Stevens was on it as well, although that's not confirmed, because according to people I've spoken with, they said that Stevens, on many occasions, flew with people.

He was very, very close to a lot of these aerospace companies. They liked him a lot, and his position, because he really supported the space agency.

And periodically, they would go on fishing trips. A lot of these company executives would go with him -- or former company executives would go to Alaska to hunting and fishing lodges can Stevens. So, it certainly would make sense that the two of them were likely together on this flight, although, again, not confirmed that Stevens was, in fact, on the plane -- Tony.

HARRIS: And the Stevens family has not scuttled any of the reporting on that story so far. It's important to point that out. Good information. John, appreciate it. Thank you.

I've got to tell you, we are following every development we can, that we can get our hands on, that is credible on this breaking story, including how weather played a part, perhaps, in the accident, and is playing a part in the rescue efforts.

Meteorologist Chad Myers is just ahead.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Let's do this -- let's start with this.

Do we have a picture ready?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

HARRIS: All right. This is -- Chad Myers is with me here.

And Chad, I want to be careful here, but the studio is confirming, and they're telling me it's OK to go with this, that this is a picture of what we believe to be the actual plane --

MYERS: That is.

HARRIS: -- that went down in the overnight hours. That time frame is anywhere from you know, 11:00 p.m. last night on.

MYERS: Right. Notice the floats on the bottom of the plane, capable of landing in the water.

HARRIS: Right.

MYERS: That first picture had a very long nose, kind of a obnoxious-looking nose on the plane. That's the Texas turbine conversion. The turbine's engine much more powerful.

This thing is a one-ton truck. The de Havilland is -- this is 1957 technology, but this plane has probably had hundreds of thousands of hours. And I don't know the number, because it doesn't ever show it. But this is a work truck, utility plane.

Four hundred and sixty-six of them built. Most of the time, it's spent its time around the Wood River Lodge in Dillingham. And these planes take men and women to remote places, drop them off, leave them for a week, pick them up a week later and say, "What did you get?"

HARRIS: "How did you do?"

MYERS: "How did you do?"

HARRIS: "How did you do?"

MYERS: Exactly. Whether it's going up for bear, whether it's going for fish, this is the utility truck. This is the bus, basically, because this is the big -- you hear about the -- you hear about the otter and the beaver and all that, and this is the bigger plane, capable of holding more people, capable of holding more cargo. Just a very safe -- very, very safe plane.

HARRIS: What's the max seating capacity on that aircraft?

MYERS: I don't know that one.

HARRIS: Yes. We know that there were nine on board. You know, when you factor in luggage, cargo and everything else --

MYERS: Most of the time, the rear seats are removable on some of those planes, because the pilot and the whole corporation -- this is a CGI Communications Corp. I don't know exactly what that means, but it's based out of Anchorage, Denali Street in Anchorage.

And so you can remove some of the seats in order to pack more things in, or take more people. It just depends on -- it's a beautiful airplane.

HARRIS: I think we're getting, actually, some more information on the aircraft itself.

Jeanne Meserve in Washington. She has that for us. Stay right where you are, Chad.

Jeanne, what are you learning about this aircraft?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, according to records, this particular aircraft had an air frame that dated to 1957. That may sound very old, and it is older than the average in the US air fleet, but I talked to Chris Dancy (ph) of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. He says it is not excessively old, that there are a lot of aircraft in the air from the '40s and '50s, they are considered airworthy, they all have to undergo annual inspections. And if they are leased, they have to have an additional inspection after every 100 flight hours.

We did query government databases. There is no indication that this particular aircraft was ever involved in any sort of accident. However, we were able to find 12 accidents between 2001 and 2008 with this kind of aircraft. None have been recorded since 2008.

An FAA spokesman, Les Dohr (ph), says it doesn't sound like an abnormal amount, considering how widely these aircraft are used, and considering the flying conditions in Alaska, where, as Chad mentioned, they are the workhorse of the fleet. And some of these accidents, clearly, had little to do with the integrity of the aircraft.

I pulled up one accident report where a pilot says he was trying to take some skiers to a remote mountain glacier. He landed in the wrong point, and the ski, you know, broke off and punctured the fuselage of his aircraft. So that's the kind of accident at least some of them have had over the years. Again, no record this particular aircraft has had any problem at all. Back to you.

HARRIS: Yes. You anticipated my next question I was going to ask you in the reports on those crashes -- was there any kind of commonality, similarity in terms of causes for the accident? It sounds like it was pretty disparate.

And Jeanne Meserve in Washington for us.

Jeanne, thank you.

So, Chad, when we come back -- we'll squeeze in a quick break here. When we come back, let's talk about weather conditions at the time of the crash -- we've got a window that we're working with in here -- and weather conditions on the ground now that might be hampering the rescue efforts. Let's do that.

But first, a quick break.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, I just -- Chad is making some adjustments on the mapping on all of this, because there is some interesting things developing, and he'll be back in just a second.

Want to give you the very latest that we have right now on this breaking news, this developing story from the late overnight hours.

We are being told that nine people were in fact on board this small plane that went down very near Dillingham, Alaska. That's southwest Alaska. That will become important in a moment when we talk to Chad.

It went down in what's being described by everyone as a very remote area. Five people at this point reported dead, at least two seriously injured.

It is confirmed at this point that the former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe was on board. We don't know his condition at this time. It is still unclear whether former senator Ted Stevens was on the plane, but his former spokesman -- spokesman, chief of staff -- we'll clear that up, too -- Mitch Rose, who was on with us live last hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, telling us that the Stevens family is in touch with the search and rescue teams, and that everyone -- thoughts and prayers are being received by the family, and the family is thanking everyone for their support and their prayers.

Let's take a break. We'll get back with Chad in just a couple of minutes.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Let's continue our conversation with Chad Myers.

Chad, first of all, let's get everybody up to speed on what we know right now, and then I've got a couple of questions for you. And I know you've got some mapping to help us explain the story to folks.

Rescue teams, we understand, are on the scene now of a small plane crash. That's in southwest Alaska. And the plane crashed overnight in a remote area near Dillingham.

We are being told that at least nine people on board the plane, five people are reported dead, two other seriously injured. Former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe was on board. We don't know his condition at this time.

Still unclear whether former Alaska senator Ted Stevens was on board. A former spokesman says the Stevens family is in touch with the search and rescue teams.

In fact, do we have that sound ready? We don't have it yet?

OK. This is Mitch Rose, the former chief of staff for Senator Ted Stevens, last hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITCH ROSE, FMR. CHIEF OF STAFF FOR TED STEVENS: "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. That was last hour here in the NEWSROOM.

Chad Myers is with us now.

And Chad, there are a couple of things that we're trying to figure out here in terms of weather conditions -- the weather conditions at the time of the crash, obviously, in the overnight hours, and then how weather might be impacting the search and rescue efforts going on right now. And take whichever one of those you want, and let's rock and roll here.

MYERS: Well, you have to understand that where this plane is down, there's not a weather reporting station.

HARRIS: Yes.

MYERS: Literally, you have to go to Anchorage to get a reporting station, or down by the coast. This is near neither one of those places. So the weather is significantly different where they are now.

So, Anchorage, the visibility never went down below two miles, which is fine. You can completely fly a plane in two miles. But where they were in this kind of -- this remote area, these -- the mountains go up so fast, literally, in Alaska. The topography is like almost a fiord at times. You think about fiords as in Norway and Sweden, but we have them as well in Alaska and America.

And so that's where they are now. So I don't know the visibility, but we knew that at the time when they were trying to rescue -- when this rescue started hours ago, that they were having trouble getting planes in there. And we would expect that. We would expect the National Guard to probably have some trouble at that point in time.

And then I don't know how close it was to the water, but maybe Coast Guard was involved. And so now we have all kinds of teams that are converging on the area.

HARRIS: Do we have any idea of the flight path at this point?

MYERS: We know -- from the plane itself, from looking at the floats on N455A, the otter, we know that it was probably -- it came out of the water, and was probably going back into the water, although there are wheels, and some -- pilots like to land where they take off. And, you know, and even Jeanne was talking about some of these other events that have occurred with this plane.

It is not easy to land a plane on a rocking shoreline with waves on floats. So I would say not pilot error, but literally, oh, my gosh, what am I going to do with this plane now? I've got three-foot swells. I'm going to try to land the plane down and see how good it goes.

And things break. And, you know, and connectors break to the floats. And so a lot of those, I would suspect, of those 12 incidents she was talking about, had something to do with weather, and whether it be part of the water it was trying to land on or whether it was some kind of a visibility issue or snow issue, because these things are the work truck.

These are the one-ton -- literally, this is the Dodge Ram 250 with wings. Right? Whatever the number is. I don't know. It's the old power wagon they used to drive around.

And so you put one ton of things in there, one ton of people in there, and you fly it to wherever those people want to go, and then back and forth. And a very common plane for Alaska, for Canada, for fly-in, fly-out, fish. The Otter and the Beaver are by far the plane of choice to have in that area. No question about it.

HARRIS: You know, I know everyone is hustling on this story in New York and Washington, in Alaska as well, for us, at CNN and everywhere else, other news organizations. It is -- does the remoteness of this location explain in part to your mind the slow flow of information?

MYERS: Yes, possibly.

HARRIS: OK.

MYERS: Yes. And this will all change. In the coming years, this "We don't have a flight path, we don't know where your plane is" is all going to come to an end. You can go online and Google the new search, how we're going to know exactly where every single plane is. And every single plane will know where every other single plane is, rather than, yes, I'm 4:00 low, and you see them, oh, there you are.

The new technology for airplanes is going to be tremendous.

HARRIS: Coming soon?

MYERS: Coming in the next couple of years. Mandated.

HARRIS: Oh. All right, Chad. Thank you, sir.

MYERS: OK.

HARRIS: Let's get to our Ines Ferre. And Ines is following comments online.

And Ines, I know we've got a statement. Is it a tweet from something on the former governor of Alaska's personal Web site?

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's a tweet from former governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

She says, "Heartbreaking Bristol Bay plane crash. Alaska's heart surrounds loved ones. More info coming in. Please pray for Dillingham rescue this morning."

We've also got some comments, Tony, from people on CNN.com, and some local sites in Alaska, too. "Mr. O'Keefe is a truly honorable, compassionate man, and I pray for him and all on board that plane."

Also, Dixie Chicks saying, "I hope the survivors recover quickly and safely. Condolences to the families, and rest in peace."

And also, "I pray for safety of former NASA chief."

And also one from "Anchorage Daily News" saying -- someone saying, "So scary. I hope the survivors are rescued soon."

A lot of comments online right now -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. All right, Ines. Appreciate it.

Let's take a quick break, and we will give you the latest information that we have on this crash in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. We continue following the story out of southwest Alaska. A private plane crashed in the middle of the night in a remote area near Dillingham. Reports indicate eight or nine people were on board. That number fluctuates. We get reports either way on that number. Five are reported dead, two seriously injured.

Among passengers, a former head of NASA, Sean O'Keefe. His condition is still unknown. Also possibly on board, former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. The Stevens family is neither confirming nor denying that. Family members have issued a statement offering their prayers for the crash victims and thanking the search and rescue teams.

And just a while ago, let's see if we have that tape again. We want to play for you this statement. Do we have it, the statement from Mitch Rose, the former chief of staff? All right, let's play that statement from last hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITCH ROSE, STEVENS' FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: 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. In other news now.

Police in three states and the FBI are searching for a suspected serial stabber. Authorities say 20 brutal slayings, including five fatal stabbings, are linked to the same person. CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll has been following this developing story.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tony, this is a story that really has people on edge in several towns. Investigators are calling these crimes of opportunity, saying they believe the suspect is, quote, "very desperate" and "very dangerous." Police in Flint say they now think 15 attacks there are linked. Five of them deadly.

The suspect is described as a white man in his late 20s or early 30s. As you can see from the sketch there, they've got a description of him. He's stocky, unshaven and muscular, about 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, and usually wears a baseball cap. Police say, in some cases, the man first lured his victims closer to his car in the early morning hours by asking for directions or help. Most of the victims are African-American. So police think race could be a motive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LEYTON, PROSECUTOR, GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN: The evidence suggests that we've had now 16 incidents here, and 14 of the 16 individuals who have been attacked are African-Americans. Flint, where most of these crimes have occurred, is a predominantly African- American community. In Leesburg, you have three stabbings. Two of the individuals were African-American. One was Hispanic-Latino, is my understanding. It's also my understanding Leesburg is a predominantly white community. So the evidence would suggest that. But we don't know what's in the mind of the assail ability. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: According to police, the attacks started on May 24th in Flint. The most recent in Michigan was August 2nd. By the next day, the stabbings in Virginia started, possibly leading up to the one in Ohio on Saturday. We did hear from one woman who talked about how her nephew was attacked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said they just started stabbing him and stabbing him and stabbing him, you know. He's still in the hospital. He's not doing good at all. He's a serial killer, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Authorities were able to link the crimes after interviewing the victims. They gave similar descriptions of the attacker and the vehicle he drove. Described as a dark green, early '90s Chevy Blazer. We're also told, Tony, that investigators have received some 175 tips. That has helped them develop some leads and they seem to be confident that they're going to find this guy.

Tony.

HARRIS: All right, Jason, thank you.

Two down, two to go. Considered armed and extremely dangerous, the national manhunt continues for escaped Arizona prison inmate John McCluskey and fiance Casslyn May Welch. Federal investigators have narrowed the search down to western Montana or southwestern Canada. Tracy Province is one of the convicts who broke out of the Arizona prison with McCluskey 11 days ago. He was apprehended yesterday. We are learning more about where he spent some nights on the run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN HARTMAN, INMATE CRASHED ON HIS FLOOR: He was hitchhiking up there. We've been working up here. And he hitched right back. And, you know, I don't know --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just came into the barn --

HARTMAN: Yes, he came into the barn -- well he was here at 2:00 or 3:00. So they just come in and started drinking beer with us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so did he say anything about where he was coming from or where he was headed?

HARTMAN: He said the Yellowstone deal. His wife left him. And he was trying to make his way back to Indiana. And I said, well, you can just sleep on the floor, because we was all drunked up anyway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We are following breaking news on the Alaska plane crash. More on that story right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We continue following the story out of southwest Alaska. A private plane crashed in the middle of the night in a remote area near Dillingham. Reports indicate eight or nine people were on board. The number changes according to the reporting that we're getting here. Five are reported dead, two seriously injured. Among the passengers, a former head of NASA, Sean O'Keefe. His condition is still unknown. Also possibly on board, former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. The Stevens' family is neither confirming nor denying that. Family members have issued a statement offering their prayers for the crash victims and thanking the search and rescue teams.

OK. You've got questions about your money. As we move to some other news on the day. We all have questions about our money. Poppy Harlow is at the CNN "Help Desk" with some answers for you.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Manisha Thakor, a personal finance author, also John Simons of "Black Enterprise" magazine. Thank you both for being here.

First question, John, is for you. It comes from William. William wrote in, "my wife lost her job and is having trouble finding another full-time job. We were in the process of trying to buy the house we're renting when she lost her job. I'd like to find a loan on just my income to pay our bills and borrow enough to buy the house. I haven't found any place to get this done. My credit score is in the high 600s. Is this possible?"

JOHN SIMONS, "BLACK ENTERPRISE": OK. It sounds like William is asking to borrow money from the bank to purchase the home and then borrow on top of that some money to tide him over until his wife finds a job. As far as I know, a product like that just does not exist these days. So I think what he needs to do is be really patient. Wait perhaps six months or maybe a year for his wife to find a job and apply for a mortgage as a dual income couple. His credit score is actually a little below average. So he's not going to be able to get the best mortgage anyway, if he's doing it himself. Apply as a dual income couple. Perhaps his wife's credit score is even better than his and they'll be able to get, you know, the home they really want.

HARLOW: Right. So wait it out.

SIMONS: Wait it out.

HARLOW: Don't just sort of rush and try to make a -- get a loan that might not be good in the end.

All right, Manisha, this question comes from N.M. N.M. wrote, "I live in New York and will be working in New Jersey starting in August. How will this affect my taxes? Will I have to file two separate forms?" That's a good question.

MANISHA THAKOR, PERSONAL FINANCE AUTHOR: It is. And there's an urban myth that you have to pay double taxes. The way it works is income that N.M. will earn in New Jersey will be taxed as a non- resident. However, when N.M. files New York taxes, N.M. will get a credit for the taxes that were paid in New Jersey. So the taxes that will be generated or paid for in New York would include interest dividends, cap gains and then you'll get an offset for the income taxes that were paid in New Jersey.

HARLOW: And they have to file two separate tax forms?

THAKOR: The forms -- yes, you'll have to run through two separate -- you'll have a fair amount of paperwork. You'll definitely want a good CPA, let's put it that way.

HARLOW: A little more paperwork. A little more paperwork. Thank you, guys, so much.

And "The Help Desk," folks, all about getting you answers. Send us an e-mail to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com or log on to cnn.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions. You can also pick up the latest issue of "Money" magazine. It is on newsstands now.

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HARRIS: And we continue to follow the story out of southwest Alaska. A private plane crashed in the middle of the night in a remote area near Dillingham. Reports indicate eight or nine people were on board. Five are reported dead, two seriously injured. Among the passengers, a former head of NASA, Sean O'Keefe. His condition is still unknown. Also possibly on board, former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. The Stevens' family is neither confirming nor denying that. Family members have issued a statement offering their prayers for the crash victims and thanking the search and rescue teams who are working right now close to or at the scene. The Alaska Air National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard, we understand, are actually there on the scene right now.

Let's get to our Ines Ferre.

And, Ines, you're following comments online. People weighing in.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So many people, Tony, right now. Let's check some of these out.

One of them is from a guest via CNN saying, "Mr. O'Keefe is the brother of a dear friend of mine. My thoughts and prayers go to him and his family and to the deceased and injured in this tragedy and to their family members."

Also, you've got kyster via avn.com saying, "my thoughts and prayers are with all victims, survivors, families, friends, rescuers. It's a terrible tragedy for anyone involved in anything like this."

Also you have tonystark1 via CNN saying, "my condolences to the victims and to their loved ones."

And you've got sheppard1 saying, "prayers for all those aboard, their families and the search and rescue members," Tony. We're following all these comments online.

HARRIS: All right, Ines, thank you.

FERRE: Sure.

HARRIS: Does your race impact your health care? You may be surprised. In her new book -- we're so proud of her -- released today, "The Empowered Patient," CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen takes a look at this controversial issue.

You know I started to say rather controversial. And there's no rather about it, it is just flat out controversial, Elizabeth. And she's joining us from New York, by the way.

Elizabeth, what does race have to do with being an empowered patient?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Tony, I think it has everything to do with being an empowered patient, because there is so much evidence that people have different experiences at the doctor, depending upon their race.

Let me give you two examples. These are studies that have been done. And in the first study, what they found is that when a black man has a stroke versus when a white man has a stroke, the black man has a 25 percent chance of surviving that stroke, and a white man has a 52 percent chance of surviving that stroke. Both of these guys had stroke in the study. They made sure that the intensity of stroke was the same, et cetera. So that's a really pretty stunning statistic.

And now look -- look at this. When a black man has cancer versus when a white man has cancer, the black man is 40 percent more likely to die from that cancer. And when you look at this, you have to think that when you're a person of color, it is, again, a different experience with the health care system.

HARRIS: I wonder if that -- if access has something to do with that. Maybe we can get to that question. What about the reasons for these discrepancies?

COHEN: You know, experts think that access does have something to do with it. Since African-Americans are often less likely to have health insurance, access matters.

However, what's interesting is that many of these studies have been done at places like the Veterans Administration, where everyone has the exact same insurance, and they still are seeing worse outcomes for African-Americans.

And I hate to use the b word, the bias word, but people do use it. Here's another interesting study, Tony. What they found is they gave a group of doctors a medical history. The exact same medical history, but one of the medical histories had a picture of a black man and one had a picture of a white man. And the doctors were more likely to recommend expensive, gold standard procedures for the white man than for the black man, and it was the exact same medical history. That had suggests something right there.

HARRIS: Yes, it really does. Is there anything you can do if you feel you're not getting top care?

COHEN: Yes. I think what you have to do -- and this is true also for women. It's been shown that women often in some areas have worse outcomes than men for the same diseases. What you have to do is trust your gut. You can't ask your doctor, are you a racist, are you sexist, that's not going to work. But if you feel uncomfortable with the doctor, if you feel that they are not representing you the way that they should. If you feel, for example, if you're a woman and you feel that the doctor is sort of patting you on the head and not taking you seriously, that means you should go get a new doctor. You don't need a study. You don't need anyone to come out and do something overtly racist or sexist. You need to trust your instincts.

HARRIS: You've got something pretty special for us tomorrow?

COHEN: Tony, it's something special, because it's you. So therefore it's special. Yes, we do. We do have something special. We have a terrific piece about why men -- and you're one of them -- don't like going to the doctor. Take a listen to this.

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HARRIS: I'm one of those patients who hates to go see the doctor.

COHEN: When was the last time you had a checkup?

HARRIS: Is that a trick question?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh my.

COHEN: That wasn't a trick question, Tony, and you couldn't answer it. So we're going to be talking about that tomorrow. You and I go to the doctor together. And I -- I hope you learned a little something. I had fun being there with you.

HARRIS: I did. I did. And congratulations on the book, Elizabeth. It's terrific.

COHEN: Thank you.

HARRIS: A great read. Everyone should pick it up.

COHEN: Thanks.

HARRIS: All right, Elizabeth Cohen in New York for us.

Let's get to the floor of the House now. Representative Charles Rangel addressing his colleagues on his -- on his ethical challenges, shall we say. SEN. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: Given you enough reason to get re-elected and they continue to do something. But, quite frankly, I think I've given -- I mean a lot of people don't know but when the -- well, I don't want to be critical of the ethics committee because my lawyer said that you can't make them -- you can't get annoyed with them because there still may be room for a settlement.

And I thought about it. And, well, when I found out that one of the Republicans that will be sitting on what they call the adjudication committee had made remarks condemning me for my contributions to city college, that it was a Rangel thing, an ego thing and a corrupt thing, and he was going to judge me, I asked my lawyer, I said, well how can they do that? They said, well the ethics committee can do what they want. I said, well, do me a favor. I've paid close to $2 million. I continue to owe you money. And you're telling me that you have no idea when there's going to be a hearing. And every time I talk with you, there are six or seven lawyers.

I said, do me a favor, I said, Friday, let's see what happens today in terms of reaching out to settle this thing because I can't afford to be represented by counsel. Each and every day the expenses build up and I think that I have an obligation to younger members of Congress to be able to tell them, if you couldn't raise the $2 million, you're out of business, no matter what the allegations are because no one's going to read the defense.

And, of course, just the allegations by themselves, with members of close districts, Republicans and Democrats, they would be out of business. So I'm here because I could afford lawyers for close to two years. But everyone would know that there comes a limit. So I told them, just put everything on hold, see what happens when we meet here. And guess what, nothing happened.

There's no agenda. So what they're saying is that, well, the ethics committee will be leaving to -- for members to be able to work in their districts and to get re-elected. And I'm having a primary that I have to wait until after my primary to find out when the ethics committee intends to have a hearing. And then that hearing comes just before, maybe, the general election. There must be something wrong with the rules because people would advise me that I can only hurt myself by coming before this committee. Nobody has tried to protect the integrity of the Congress with two years -- almost two years of investigation. They said the mistakes that Rangel has made should be public and it should have been public earlier than now. And I couldn't say anything because I didn't want to offend and don't want to offend the ethics committee. But the ethics committee won't even tell me when I'm going to have a hearing.

And, heck, people who are concerned about me, I'm 80 years old. I don't want to die before the hearing, you know? And I think my electorate are entitle to finding out who their congressman for 40 years is. Who am I? Am I corrupt? Did I get a nickel. What did they offer me? And I want to be a role model for new members and tell them the mistakes I made so they don't make. And so they are --

HARRIS: OK. So we've got an acknowledgment of mistakes being made there by New York Representative Charles Rangel there on the House floor talking about the ethics cloud he is living under right now. And then there is California Representative Maxine Waters. The congresswoman is denying ethics charges, saying she will not be, quote, "a sacrificial lamb" for anyone. As you know, the House Ethics Committee is investigating the 10 term congresswoman for allegedly steering federal bailout money to a bank her husband had a financial stake in. Waters was interviewed on the Tom Joyner morning show today along with CNN contributor Roland Martin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA (voice-over): What I'm saying is, no, I'm not guilty of any violations. And if you're going to wrap this all around creating these violations because I failed to supervise my staff, it doesn't hold water. They don't have any proof of that. And I maintain that I want to go to trial or whatever they want to call it, adjudicatory hearing, because I think I don't deserve this.

ROLAND MARTIN, ANALYST, TOM JOYNER RADIO MORNING SHOW (voice- over): Democrats are saying that you and Congressman Rangel should accept some kind of censure, if you will, to move this along. That Republicans could use this against the Democrats in the midterm elections, similar to what Democrats did against Republicans in 2006. Will you accept some kind of deal that makes this go away?

WATERS: I am not going to agree to any violations that I have not committed. That's number one. Number two, this OCE was created by Democrats under Nancy Pelosi's watch and this whole politicizing of so-called corruption and draining the swamp, pitting (ph) up what I consider an unconstitutional and illegal organization. Yes, we have said something about it. Marcie Proj (ph) has put together legislation that will -- that try and clean it up. I'm a supporter of it. And, no, I will not be a sacrificial lamb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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HARRIS: The truth is, I'm sick of standing so far away from Ali at handoff time.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right