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Search for Answers in Alaska Plane Crash; Deepwater Drilling Moratorium; Taliban Weighs in on U.S. Aid; From Fed Up to Famous; Prisons For Profit; 1,110 Plus Dead in China Landslides; Examining Social Security

Aired August 11, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7 at CNN headquarters, the big stories for Wednesday, August 11th.

The search for crash clues begins in Alaska. Four people survived the accident that killed a former U.S. senator. Rescuers credit good Samaritans who beat them to the scene.

Weather advisories along the central Gulf Coast. Potential Tropical Storm Danielle has already interrupted BP's well kill operation.

And the reluctant patient goes to the doctor. Our senior medical correspondent shows me how to become an empowered patient.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When was the last time you had a checkup?

HARRIS: Was that a trick question?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

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

The search for answers begins. Federal investigators start working on site today to determine what caused a small amphibious plane to slam into the side of a mountain in Alaska. It killed five people, including former Republican Senator Ted Stevens, the longest- serving Republican in the U.S. Senate.

CNN All-Platform Journalist Patrick Oppmann joins me by phone. He is in Dillingham, Alaska, near the crash site.

And Patrick, what is going on as best you can determine at the crash site today? PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Well, the investigation continues, Tony, in what caused this deadly plane crash. And for investigators in Dillingham, that means just getting back out to that crash scene. It's only about 20 miles from where we are, but it's in an incredibly inaccessible area.

The poor weather conditions, the low cloud cover aren't going to help investigators' efforts today. They stymied most of their efforts yesterday.

One of the first people I spoke with yesterday when I arrived is a local pilot named Eric Shade. He's one of the two good Samaritan pilots who were asked to begin searching the area when the plane carrying Ted Stevens and eight other people went missing on Monday. And Eric Shade told me they were able to find the missing plane after only about 20 minutes of searching, and it was a horrifying scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC SHADE, FOUND CRASHED PLANE: It was pretty smashed. The wings were laying beside the fuselage on each side, and I couldn't see the floats.

I didn't think it was survivable. It looked pretty -- from where he hit to where the airplane came to rest was probably just 100 feet -- 150 feet, maybe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPMANN: As you heard the pilot, he initially doubted that anyone had survived, but he said a rescue helicopter next directed to the site then spotted someone waving from inside the downed plane, and that started the long, arduous process of rescuing those four survivors and removing the bodies of the five victims -- Tony.

HARRIS: Patrick, maybe you can tell us a bit more about where the plane was trying to land.

OPPMANN: This was a fishing trip that this group was on, and the party was on their way to a lodge not far from here. As you said, Tony, this was a float plane that you land on water. So this is a lodge that is -- you actually get to by landing on a nearby lake.

Alaska is such a rugged state, that some places you can only get to by flying on these kinds of planes. So this is the kind of travel and risks involved that come with living in this kind of state. It comes with the territory.

HARRIS: Yes.

Our CNN all-platform journalist Patrick Oppmann for us.

Patrick, appreciate it. Thank you.

Let's talk about the weather conditions at the time of the crash. For that, we turn to our Rob Marciano. And Rob, I know we got some information from the NTSB, but you have been helping us sort of sort through the conditions at the time of this crash.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, temperatures, at least at the surface, Tony, were above freezing. So they would have had to been flying well above the surface in order for there to be some sort of icing situation. So, at this point, that probably is unlikely unless they were traveling at 5,000 or 10,000 feet up.

Here's a look at the lay of the land here.

Dillingham is about 300 miles or so away from Anchorage. And as Patrick mentioned, this is rugged terrain.

Lake Nerka, which is one of the fishing areas and one of several lakes that line this particular valley, well, it's pretty much surrounded by mountains, and some of these mountains are well over 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 feet high. And further to the north, in the Taylor Mountains, even higher than that, and the Alaskan range even higher than that.

So, just navigating either from one lake to another, or all the way, say, ,down to Dillingham is pretty tricky territory. You pretty much have to shoot the gap down the valley, and if you stray on either side, you're going to run into some mountains. And that's presumably what happened.

There's the runway for Dillingham, not that we know for sure that they were heading in that general direction. So, visibility was the main issue with this.

So, when you have visibility that is very, very limited, and you've got mountainous terrain on either side of a track that you're trying to fly, that's the main issue, and that probably is what happened. Maybe they got disoriented and, boom, you're into a mountain. But the visibility was poor, temperatures likely above freezing. But it was probably just a matter of not knowing where you are and having your bearings.

HARRIS: Light rain, cloud cover, obviously, a low deck on the clouds.

MARCIANO: For a good 24 to 36 hours. And winds were not great, but they weren't horrible by Alaskan standards. And most pilots should be able to take care of the winds. But I don't care how good you are, if you can't see in front of you and you are not really that good with the navigation equipment, and you've got a mountain on either side of you, it's a tough go.

HARRIS: It is. All right, Rob. Appreciate it. Thank you.

I've got to tell you, this deadly crash really does spotlight Alaska's legacy of airplane tragedies. Josh Levs is investigating that side of the story for us.

Josh, what are you finding?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And Tony, as I've told you before, we talk about plane crashes, I always keep in mind, a lot of people watching us in airports, a lot of people watching us on airplanes, all over the world. And some of you might be flying tomorrow.

I want to start off with the big picture, reminding you I've done reality checks on this a lot of times. Flying is by far the safest major form of travel in America.

So let's look at the big picture first, then we'll dig into Alaska.

When we look at the airplane crash statistics in general, this a really well put together list at planecrashinfo.com. You have four fatalities per million flight hours across a decade that they looked at. And that's in the major airliners. If you're in commuter airlines, it's a little higher, 11 fatalities per million flight hours.

And when you're in other types of aircraft, which rarely most people are -- it does not include the major commercial jets or military craft, but other small planes out there, private planes -- 22 fatalities per million flight hours. So, in general, you find very few crashes.

Now, it is a different story in Alaska, and this picks up where Rob was talking about, and a lot of that has to do with the terrain. We can look at some of the video right there -- the difficulties of flying across Alaska and the necessity to fly very often, especially in some of these private planes.

No one puts it better than two people who were on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning explaining the challenges and risks of flying in that state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN DAVIS, ALASKA AIR NATIONAL GUARD SR. AIRMAN: The weather definitely has a lot to play in a lot of the rescues that we do that involve plane crashes. It can be winds that can force an airplane into the ground, it can be the clouds that obscure their vision to the ground. So, yes, I would say that the weather is the main problem.

KRISTOPHER ABEL, ALASKA AIR NATIONAL GUARD SR. AIRMAN: Just the volume of aircraft up here. It's an aviation-based state. Everything is really far, so in order to get there, you have to fly, and there's a lot of airplanes.

DAVIS: So, with that, the law of odds, the more airplanes you have, the more crashes you're going to have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Law of odds they're saying operating against them.

I have some statistics here also from the FAA about Alaska.

They're saying in 2008, 29 fatalities in all types of aircraft, and 25 fatalities in 2009 in all types of aircraft. So, again, there's a lot more flying going on there, plus the unique challenges to Alaska.

One more thing to let you all know about, especially since I'm standing at this helpful screen right here. The FAA makes available a lot of webcams that you can actually see live video of all sorts of airports in Alaska, including Dillingham, which, as we know, is right near where this crash took place.

At FAA.gov, you can check out the conditions at all sorts of airports inside Alaska at any time. If you want to know what conditions are like there, just check out the live feeds right there -- Tony.

HARRIS: You want a tricky landing in Alaska -- I mentioned this yesterday -- fly into Dutch harbor.

LEVS: Yes.

HARRIS: Whew, that will get your attention.

All right, Josh. Appreciate it.

LEVS: You got it.

The tropics now churning. Rob is back with a check of the Gulf forecast.

And we're better than 90 minutes into the trading day. And take a look at what's happening with the Big Board and stocks there. It seems the Fed's new take on the recovery is certainly rattling investors.

We are back, following these numbers throughout the day for you.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's update this story for you.

Drilling on a relief well in the Gulf has been halted do to a tropical depression. Workers are now down to the final 50 feet of the relief well. It's expected to intercept the damaged well and permanently seal the blowout from below the ocean floor. The procedure was scheduled to be completed by the end of this weekend, but the storm pushing that back to next week.

Let's get to Rob here.

(WEATHER REPORT) HARRIS: I've got to tell you, at this hour, the federal judge in New Orleans who blocked the government's six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling is holding another hearing on it. The Obama administration and several environmental groups are expected to make a case for a new version of the ban based on safety measures. The state of Louisiana sides with the oil services companies suing the government to overturn it.

Ines Ferre has been following the moratorium story for a couple of months now, and she's back with us.

And if you would, Ines, remind us of what's on the line here.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, Tony. Well, let's take a look at what this moratorium is really affecting.

It's affecting some 33 deepwater rigs. That means that companies aren't allowed to drill at these rigs for the duration of the moratorium, as late as November 30th.

Now, opponents say that this is costing the Gulf jobs. The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association -- it's a trade association -- says that this could possibly cost up to 46,200 jobs if you count on people who work on rigs and jobs supported by this, meaning chefs, cleaners, helicopter pilots.

Now, the lost wage potential is up to $330 million per month. Now, what the moratorium doesn't affect are approximately some 590 production-producing wells. So, deepwater production continues, but new deepwater drilling has stopped -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Ines, appreciate it. See you next hour. Thank you.

FERRE: Thank you.

COHEN: Well, my esteemed and much-loved colleague over here, Tony Harris, is one of many men who just doesn't like going to the doctor regularly, so I urged Tony to make an appointment, and we brought the cameras along to follow him every step of the way. And I do mean nearly every step of the way.

Find out what Tony learned about his health, how to talk to his doctor, how to ask good questions, what tests he needs.

HARRIS: You can't talk about me like I'm not in the room with you here.

We're back in a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. I'm just going to get your vital signs.

HARRIS: OK. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just put this under your tongue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 98.4.

HARRIS: Perfect, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, look, it's the truth and I can't even deny it. Men are pretty notorious for not going to get regular checkups with their doctors. So I agreed to have CNN Senior Medical Correspondent -- what was I thinking at the time I agreed to this?

COHEN: I have no idea.

HARRIS: Elizabeth is here. She actually took me to the doctor's office, and helped me to come up with a really important list that we should all think about before we head to the doctor's office.

And you were spot on, which is why you do what you do in helping me get the best out of that visit.

COHEN: That's right, because you know how long doctor's visits last these days. It's something like 13 minutes. And it's hard to have a productive meeting in 13 minutes.

So that's why I went with Tony to the doctor to make sure he got the most from the minutes he had with his doctor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

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

HARRIS: Is that a trick question?

COHEN: So let's go over some of the things that I hope you've already done. But if you haven't, we'll try to do them now.

HARRIS: OK.

COHEN: OK. Have you thought about your family health history?

HARRIS: Yes.

COHEN: OK. Tell me about your dad.

HARRIS: My dad had at least -- I want to say three, but I'm sure of two heart attacks before the hearth attack that took his life.

COHEN: So around what age did he start getting --

HARRIS: My recollection is in this 40s. COHEN: That's important to know.

Another thing to think about -- have you seen other doctors since the last time you saw this guy?

HARRIS: Yes. I've had a couple of surgeries.

COHEN: Those are important things. And you're going to want to make sure that you tell him that.

HARRIS: OK.

COHEN: I assume you also want to know what kind of tests you ought to be having, what kind of screenings. Do you need a colonoscopy, that kind of thing, right?

I mean, have had you a colonoscopy? You're 51 years old.

HARRIS: No, I haven't. No.

COHEN: After you see your doctor, if you have follow-up questions next week, or whenever, how are you go to get a hold of him?

HARRIS: Well, I'm either going to call him or send him an e- mail.

COHEN: Well, do you have his e-mail address?

HARRIS: Wow. I really am horrible. No, I don't have his e-mail address, I don't have his cell phone.

COHEN: So you can write down there, "Ask for his e-mail."

HARRIS: So, all right, blood pressure, cholesterol, diagnostic tests, colonoscopy, ask for e-mail. Good.

COHEN: Are you feeling prepared?

HARRIS: Now.

COHEN: OK, good.

HARRIS: All right. Here we go.

COHEN: I think you sit there.

HARRIS: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I'm just going to get your vital signs.

HARRIS: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just put this under your tongue. 98.4.

HARRIS: Perfect, right? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is.

HARRIS: Ideal.

You see what we're building on here?

COHEN: I see it. This is great. Your first vital sign, A-plus.

HARRIS: You said 122 over 80, which is?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perfectly normal.

HARRIS: What is this gismo?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to be doing an EKG. It's an electrocardiogram.

And I'll let you put your shirt back on. Dr. Khant will be with you in just a few minutes.

DR. SANJAY KHANT, INTERNIST: Hi.

HARRIS: How are you?

Did you meet Elizabeth?

COHEN: Nice to meet you.

HARRIS: What do you want to do today?

KHANT: So, today, we did the EKG already, so I'm going to examine you and check everything out.

HARRIS: Should we get started?

KHANT: Yes.

COHEN: Bye. Have fun.

HARRIS: Bye, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Bye, Tony.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Make a fist for me. Take a deep breath. There you go.

HARRIS: There you go, E. Cohen.

COHEN: OK. Thank you. Thank you.

HARRIS: So I think I got it accomplished. I went in not an empowered patient, talking to you, getting my checklist. I've come out an empowered patient. Thank you.

COHEN: Oh, yeah! Good for you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: That was nerve-wracking. It really was.

COHEN: But you did it. You went to the doctor. Aren't you proud of yourself?

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: For doing what I'm supposed to do. Come on. And we all have to do this.

COHEN: Exactly.

HARRIS: All right. Here's the thing -- when do you know that maybe you should take the information you're getting and you should run it through a second doctor, get a second opinion?

COHEN: You know, I think when you have a specific situation like you do, you might want to consider seeing someone else because of your father's family history. He had heart attacks in his 40s. Unfortunately, he passed away at 59. You're 51.

And the blood pressure, for example, 122 over 82. Your doctor was fine with that. Other doctors wouldn't be quite so fine. They would consider it pre-hypertension. And your dad had hypertension.

HARRIS: That's true.

COHEN: So, you can think about there are doctors who specialize in preventive cardiology, which your doctor doesn't.

HARRIS: Right.

COHEN: So that would be a situation where maybe you want to go see someone else in addition to your regular doctor.

HARRIS: You know, it's got a benefit here that I've got a really active lifestyle. As you know, I have got two teenagers that I'm chasing behind here, and a lot of tennis and a lot of outdoor activities. That's got to help me --

COHEN: Oh, absolutely.

HARRIS: -- in all of these areas that we've got some concerns here, right? I mean, it certainly wasn't my dad's lifestyle.

COHEN: Right. You eat better than he does. You exercise. You don't smoke.

HARRIS: Yes. Well, and listening to you. Don't smoke, never have.

You're bringing back "Empower Me Fridays"? Is that what you're going to do?

COHEN: Right, we are. We are bringing back "Empower Me Fridays," which is where people can e-mail us and ask us questions like all the questions you ask me. People can ask those questions via e-mail, empoweredpatient@cnn.com.

Ask us your questions, and on Friday we'll answer as many as we can.

HARRIS: Hey, where is your book? Did you bring the book?

COHEN: Oh, I forgot to bring it. I have a signed copy for you and everything. Tomorrow.

HARRIS: Thank you. The first rule of this, Madame Author, is that you bring the book on set whenever you're on television.

COHEN: Yes.

HARRIS: The title of the book is --

COHEN: "Empowered Patient."

HARRIS: All right. So bring it up tomorrow. All week.

COHEN: I will. Tomorrow I will do that. And we have a documentary coming out in September as well, so it's an exciting time.

HARRIS: Well, that's my tease. I want to remind everybody. Next month, right?

COHEN: Right.

HARRIS: And we want to remind you to be sure to tune into Elizabeth's special report, "The Empowered Patient: Taking Control of Your Health Care," which you helped me do.

That airs September 25th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

Elizabeth, appreciate it. Thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

HARRIS: Food safety officials -- in other news now in China -- are investigating claims that a powdered milk may be causing premature breast growth in infant girls. Have you heard this? New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra supplies milk powder to a Chinese company. Fonterra says it remains 100 percent confident in its milk supplies.

This is the latest case involving the China dairy industry. Two years ago, you may recall, milk powdered tainted with malamine left six babies dead, and sickened almost 300,000.

The Taliban pushing Pakistan's government to turn down millions of U.S. dollars for food relief. Does the terrorist group really have a say in this?

A live report from Pakistan.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Toyota is no longer selling its cars, trucks and SUVs in Iran. The automaker says it halted exports in June. That's when the U.N., the U.S. and European Union tightened sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Toyota sold 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles a year in Iran over much of the last decade, but this year just over 200.

New this morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scolding her former Senate colleagues. They left Washington without debating the new nuclear treaty with Washington known as START. Republicans are holding out for a promise from President Obama. They want him to modernize the current U.S. nuclear arson. .

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I believe that this treaty is too important and it will merit the most thoughtful and substantive response from members of the Senate. It should not be in any way caught up in election year politics. When I look back at the record of overwhelming support, 95-0, 98-3, I mean, just an enormous bipartisan commitment to continue arms reduction as a policy that is embraced by both sides of the aisle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, here's the thing -- treaty approval requires 67 votes, something, as you know, that is hard to achieve these days given Washington's bitter political climate.

The U.S. is committing almost $60 million to the relief effort in Pakistan. Flooding has killed more than 1,300 people, millions are suffering, as you know. But the Taliban are urging Pakistan's government to reject American humanitarian aid.

Our Reza Sayah is in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

And Reza, so here you have this disaster in Taliban territory, and they're saying no to U.S. help. Is that likely to impact U.S./Pakistani relations?

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, I don't think so. And I think this a very predictable message, Tony, from the Pakistani Taliban, and I think we should be careful not to hype this message, because I don't think there's any way the Pakistani government is going to heed this warning by the Taliban. But, indeed, the Pakistani Taliban is calling on the government here to reject U.S. and international aid.

Remember, much of these flood ravaged areas in northwest Pakistan are areas that were plagued, and in some cases still plagued, by the Taliban. Now there is a lot of relief working going on in these areas, especially in areas like the Swat Valley where the U.S. military is very active.

In a phone call to CNN, the spokesperson of the Pakistani Taliban, Azam Tariq, said, for god's sake, don't accept aid from the U.S. because they are our enemies. Whatever they give you, we will give you more. The Taliban also calling on the Pakistani government not to be Washington's puppet.

When asked how the Taliban is going to get money to help the flood victims, Azam Tariq, the spokesperson for the Taliban, said the money is going to come from god.

But again, Tony, I don't think there's any way that the Pakistani government is going to reject U.S. and international aid considering what's been happening here, but you can be sure that the Taliban is going to continue to denounce the U.S., even as they're helping a lot of desperate flood victims here in Pakistan.

HARRIS: CNN's Reza Sayah for us. Reza, appreciate it, thank you.

The JetBlue flight attendant who has become a folk hero to some is out of jail. We will take look at Steven Slater's 15 minutes of fame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: From fed up to famous, the JetBlue flight attendant who popped the emergency chute and bailed on his job has posted bail. Steven Slater walked out of jail last night in the Bronx and into a media frenzy.

Allan Chernoff is following this story for us.

And, Allan, let's talk about Slater's 15 minutes of fame here. My understanding is he's already got a pretty big Facebook following. Is that true?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's 115,000 and counting, Tony. I highly recommend to our viewers have a look at that site. It is full of a lot of laughs. There's something about this story that is resonating with Americans. Have a look at that -- "Quit your job with style, Team Slater." That's just one of the many pictures on that Facebook site right now.

There's another site, Free Steven Slater, more than 25,000 fans on that one. And Steven Slater indeed is free right now. He made bail last night, $2500, walked out of a jail in the South Bronx.

And this, of course, after the event on Monday when he confronted an unruly passenger who actually had hit him on the head with some luggage. They exchanged words, he then went on to the public address system, shared that four-letter word with the entire airplane and deployed then he emergency slide and slid away along with a beer and his luggage as well. Police arrested him at his home a little while later. He is facing some serious charges, we should note, because deploying that emergency slide would be dangerous. He's facing charges of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.

But for right now, the fame is what it's all about and last night, Mr. Slater said he's gratified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN SLATER, JETBLUE FLIGHT ATTENDANT: It's been very, very appreciated. And it seems like something here resonated with a few people and that's kind of neat.

QUESTION: Are you going to lose your job?

SLATER: More than likely.

QUESTION: Tell me about rude passengers. Talk about that for a second

SLATER: There's a lot of wonderful people out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Looks like he's loving it, Tony.

By the way, JetBlue does have him on leave pending their own investigation -- Tony.

HARRIS: Oh, boy. All right, Allan Chernoff, I'm going to reserve my thoughts. I don't need the e-mails. All right, Allan, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a manhunt centers on Montana's Glacier National Park, but a pair of desperados have plenty of wide open real estate in front of them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Time for a quick check of the top stories.

Investigators plan to comb through the wreckage of a plane crash that killed former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and four others. They are hoping to find out why the plane clipped a mountain near the Bering Sea on the way to a fishing camp.

A tropical depression has pushed back work on a permanent seal for the ruptured oil well in the Gulf, drilling has been suspended. It was expected to be done by the end of this weekend, but Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen says it may be delayed by two or three days.

And happening right now some 220 miles above the Earth, astronauts are trying to make repairs to the air conditioner on the International Space Station.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The search for a prison escapee and his accomplice girlfriend/cousin focusing on the Canadian border today. Federal agents have boosted their numbers around Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana.

John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch have been on the run for a dozen days now since he escaped from an Arizona prison. U.S. marshals say the couple has nothing to lose and probably won't give up without a fight. Two other escapees are back in custody.

Felons can no longer chat away on their cell phones from their prison cells. President Obama has signed a law barring wireless devices from federal prisoners.

It's an effort to keep them from directing crime from behind bars. A visitor caught smuggling a cell phone to an inmate could wind up in a federal prison. The penalty? Up to a year behind bars.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, the Arizona escape story we updated just moments ago is fuelling a pretty heated debate right now over prisons that are run by private for-profit companies.

Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ominous warning about the Arizona prison break and its violent aftermath, there could be more.

TERRY GODDARD (D), ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I hope nothing happens, but the risk has gotten to be much, much higher.

TODD: That's Arizona's democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard. He's blasting the state's republican Governor, Jan Brewer, in the wake of the escape that officials say has led to two murders.

In an interview with CNN, Goddard accuses Brewer of moving too aggressively to make state prisons privately run, like the facility in Kingman where the breakout occurred, and as a result --

GODDARD: When you put these very high risk, very violent offenders into a private situation which is designed to operate for a profit, then that means they're going to cut costs wherever they can. We are putting the public's safety at risk, and that's impermissible.

TODD: Goddard points out that also means putting violent offenders into medium and minimum security jails.

The Kingman prison is medium security prison, originally built for DUI offenders. Two of the three inmates who escaped from there are convicted murders. There are a total of 117 murderers there.

Goddard is himself running for governor and will likely be Brewer's opponent this fall.

An aide to Governor Brewer's said she couldn't do an on-camera interview with us, but her spokesman sent an e-mail saying in part, "The Attorney General is clearly being forced to make these reckless and irresponsible statements at the behest of union bosses who back him politically, and demand that he attempt to politically exploit this terrible tragedy." Goddard denies he is acting on behalf of the unions.

Goddard's spokesman says they're not cutting prison spending, and says the state's system of placing prisoners was also used by former democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, currently homeland security secretary.

Arnett Gaston, a college proffer who once ran New York's Riker's Island Prison, says private prisons can be effective, but he says wouldn't let guards at private jails watch violent offenders.

(on camera): What couldn't they do?

ARNETT GASTON, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: They could not arrest. They could not affect an arrest. They were not empowered to.

They may not have sufficient training in arrest procedure. They may not have sufficient in escape prevention, riot techniques, responsibilities, responses to emergency situations that could require physical force up to and including deadly physical force.

TODD (voice-over): Gaston says it's important that guards have all of that training and certification as so-called peace officers.

(on camera): An official with the state department of corrections says guards at Arizona's privately run jails, like that one in Kingman, do not have that certification, don't have the power to make arrests as guards at publicly run jails can.

But they say the level of training is the same across the board. They say the training at that facility was adequate, but they acknowledge there was human error on the day of the escape.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Want to tell you about a frantic search underway right now for survivors in China. People have been trapped for days under mud after a massive landslide. Look at the work going on there now.

CNN's Emily Chang has more on the rescue effort.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) village now lies beneath this sweeping mud plain, 300 homes swallowed by the landslide.

Li Jen Ming (ph) was pulling up in his taxi when he saw the mud and rock race through. I was crying, and I was so anxious, he says. He tried to call his family, but they were already gone.

(on camera): This is the bedroom?

(voice-over): They found his wife's body and are still looking for his two sons.

(on camera): He's drawing a map of his home for me and describing where he believes his family members were when the landslide happened.

(voice-over): Others don't know exactly where to start. Mr. Zshwe (ph) believes his brother's bedroom is here, but hasn't found signs of a structure.

(on camera): Even days later, there are still floodwaters cutting through the disaster zone, and the mud is still so soft that if you step in the wrong place and stand there too long, you could easily sink in, and that is really slowing down the rescue efforts here.

(voice-over): Even at the base of the mountain, heavy machinery is stranded and the threat of more flooding looms. Debris has built up in the river and the water level is dangerously high.

It's a long uphill trek to bring in supplies like water and instant noodles, but the painstaking work goes on.

Family members sob over dead bodies, wrapping them in clean clothes. Villagers believe the death toll is much higher than government reports. It's definitely too low, these men say, 2,000 people lived in this village alone.

Thousands of government soldiers continue to heave stone by stone. But for most, it's too late. I don't have anywhere else to go, says Mr. Li (ph). A few blankets and bowls are all he has left, along with haunting memories of a life that was lost in seconds.

Emily Chang, CNN, Jochu (ph) County, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And CNN, of course, is your source for financial news. I should wait for the animation on this thing.

I want to get you to CNNMoney.com, and you can see it's story here, "Fear factor driving stocks lower." We are two-and-a-half hours into the trading day and you'll see the numbers in just a second here. Federal Reserve -- I guess this is the sub-headline here -- Federal Reserve recovery is losing steam.

Just about two-and-a-half hours into the trading day, and take a look at the numbers. Stocks trading lower, dramatically. Look at that, quite a selloff. Down 222, 223, 224 points. We'll continue to follow that. The Nasdaq, I would guess is down, as well. Down 63 points.

Let's get a market check here for you. So what is the big concern on Wall Street today? It's obviously the economy, and it's no wonder. There is a new report out that says many people just can't seem to sell their homes, so they're being forced to slash the prices. That's a problem, as well.

Felicia Taylor is at the New York Stock Exchange with details.

Felicia, good to see you. Give us some more of the information on this story.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Tony, it's good to see you, too.

And the real reality about this story is not a happy one -- 25 percent of all home sales out there have had at least one price cut. So in real dollars, that translates into about $30 billion of price cuts. This information comes to us from trulia.com the website, and you can check it out.

Let's take a look at a map right now. You can where some of the biggest decreases have been. Detroit -- 26 percent; Miami -- 14 percent; Las Vegas, Phoenix, Cleveland -- 13 percent; Jacksonville -- 12 percent. Virtually every region and market has been hit, including the luxury market.

So frankly, it's all across the board when it comes to at least one price cut for homes that are out there for sale -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Felicia, what's the problem here? Higher than -- I don't know, expectations out of line with the market on the part of buyers or sellers and then buyers, there are just not enough out there, or a bit of both?

TAYLOR: You know, it's a little bit of both. And I'm going to be very honest with you, I'm at fault for doing this. I tried this out. I sort of floated my apartment out there to see what I could get. And I put the price out there for too much, and that's the god's truth as to what is happening.

Listen, people are listing their property for too high. They look and see what they can get and it's not working out. So then what's happened? People are obviously owing more on their homes than what they're actually worth so they're not getting the responses.

And then, of course, there just aren't enough buyers out there. People come and take a look, they think the price is too high, they don't make the offers and then you get stuck.

People don't qualify for loans. We know how difficult it is to actually get that kind of credit out there. So that's another problem. Other people just don't want to buy because they're the not sure if they're going to have a job for very long, if they're lucky enough to have a job.

So frankly, the job market, the housing market, all coupled together. And I'll tell you, nobody offered me the price I was asking for.

HARRIS: Well, I will tell you this. I talked to our chief business correspondent this morning, Ali Velshi, and he says it's all about -- it begins, it ends full stop with jobs. Until we can get jobs going in this economy, we're going to have stories like this.

Good to see you, Felicia. You wanted to add to that?

TAYLOR: Well, just going to do across the market, take a look at how things are.

Now we're down about 2 percent pretty much across the board, almost 3 percent on the Nasdaq. Those are pretty much the worst levels we have seen of the day. Basically, everybody taking a look at what the Federal Reserve said yesterday.

Bad news coming out of China. Also the Bank of England forecasting a worse than expected prognosis for their economy, as well. So a bit of a selloff.

HARRIS: That is a selloff, 221 points at the moment. All right, Felicia, good to see you. See you next hour. Thanks.

TAYLOR: Sounds good.

HARRIS: Fifteen million Americans are out of work, but there are millions of job openings. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its latest count. Why are there so many openings when unemployment stands at 9.5 percent? We will break it down in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

Plus, why is it taking the jury so long to reach a verdict in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich? Our legal expert weighs in next hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Almost everyone who works pays into Social Security. The idea being, you'll get money back when you retire. But with the number of retirees growing, can we count on it anymore?

Our Lisa Sylvester looks into that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paul Skidmore is home now. He just interviewed for a temp job an hour and twenty minutes from his house. The former insurance claims adjuster was laid off when his company downsized last year. PAUL SKIDMORE, UNEMPLOYED: Looking more than a year now, going into 13 months, and it seems sporadic. At times, things go well and I get a lot of response, get interviews. And then it seems like you can go weeks and months on end at times, and nothing happening.

SYLVESTER: Now at 63, Skidmore is considering retiring early, tapping into Social Security, but to do so means about $300 less a month in benefits than if he waited for full retirement age of 66.

With a weak economy, other seniors are considering doing the same. More than 2 million people filed for Social Security last year, the most ever in history.

That's putting a strain on the system. According to the Social Security Board of Trustees, this year and next your, the amount paid out in benefits will exceed revenue, a trend that is long term unsustainable.

MELISSA FAVREAULT, URBAN INSTITUTE: The members of the baby boom are going to be drawing Social Security, they'll be collecting Social Security benefits for the rest of their lives. So it's a marker to us that the time for us to make adjustments to Social Security is starting to run out.

SYLVESTER: One possible adjustment, raising the eligible retirement age from the current 66 to age 70. Demographers and economists say it may make sense because people are living longer and healthier lives.

Republican John Boehner on "Meet the Press" said, it's time to have that conversation.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), MINORITY LEADER: These entitlement programs serve tens of millions of Americans, and they're critically important. But we also know that these programs are unsustainable in their current form.

SYLVESTER: But it would be an unpopular move among some seniors, and it's meeting resistance on Capitol Hill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently took up the issue at a conference of liberal activists.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I will admit, and accept the fact that if we -- as we make Social Security more solvent, it will have a positive impact on the deficit. But we shouldn't go looking on reducing benefits or raising ages and all the rest.

SYLVESTER (on camera): Another option for shoring up Social Security would be raising Social Security taxes, but that could hurt small businesses and low-wage workers. So, again, you'll find opposition and there are no easy answers.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)