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Fed Takes New Steps to Prop up Economy; Still no Verdict in Blagojevich Trial; Getting Real on Racism; Fed Up Flight Attendant; Deepwater Drilling Moratorium; New Blue Collar Worker; What's Hot

Aired August 11, 2010 - 11:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everyone, I'm Tony Harris. Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen, and here are some of the people behind today's top stories.

Deadly plane crash in the Alaska wilderness, the investigation into what caused it goes on today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

I couldn't see anything in the front of the airplane. From the window forward -- the cowling and everything was gone.

I didn't think it was survivable .

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Charged with corruption, the fate of flamboyant former governor Rod Blagojevich in the hands of a jury for 11 days now. What, if anything, does that say about the case?

You're online right now, and we are, too.

Ines Ferre is following the top stories trending on the Internet -- Ines.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, this is what a lot of you are looking at right now on CNN.com: Four surprising reasons why women can't lose weight. And also, a lot of people are Googling Shaquille O'Neal. I'll tell you later on why the Boston Celtics center is a man of his word -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Can't wait.

Let's get started with our lead story.

Fear is gripping Wall Street once again today. You see the numbers behind me here. Let me get out of the way here.

It comes after a stunning about-face by the Federal Reserve. Just a few moments ago, Fed bankers were ready to unwind measures designed to prop up the wounded economy. Now with the recovery sputtering, the Fed is again trying to massage resurgence, taking steps to push interest rates even lower and hopefully spur lending.

Let's talk about this with my good friend, Georgia Tech economics professor, Danny Boston. He is in Montgomery, Alabama.

Danny, good to see you. So let's get started here.

The Fed's top policymakers releasing a statement saying that new information indicates -- and this is the portion in quotes here -- "indicates that the pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed in recent months."

Output and employment has slowed. Break that down for me. Let's get beyond the Fed speak here.

PROF. THOMAS "DANNY" BOSTON, GEORGIA TECH: All right. Well, output and employment -- if you look at various sectors of the economy, what you will see is that it is slowing down.

Think of the economy as you would blood flowing through the body, this circular system, and you have to have this constant spending and investment. Well, what we have as consumers are saving a great deal, and these who are not saving, they're large numbers that are unemployed.

We have businesses, particularly the corporate sector now, that's doing a lot of cash hoarding. They're the healthiest sector of the economy, but they're not putting that money back into the economic system in the form of capital formation and investment.

And so -- and then you have, of course, in general, a decrease in consumer and investor confidence. And so that's what's happening, and that's dragging the overall rate of growth lower.

HARRIS: We're also getting indications that the Fed will buy government debt. How does this help the output and employment picture? Can you link it all together for us?

BOSTON: Yes. Well, whenever the Fed buys debt, they're buying debt actually from institutions, they may be buying debt from individuals like you or I, anyone who has bought a government bond. And when they buy that debt, what they do is pay individuals in return cash.

That cash goes into the banking system, and it makes that cash available to be borrowed by businesses and other individuals. And so that's an idea -- that's how they inject money into the economy and create the attention (ph) of more spending.

HARRIS: Well, here we go then. You're talking about that move from the Fed, and we're talking about companies perhaps hoarding cash.

How do we get, let's say, for the sake of this discussion, more successful companies, let's assume with some pent-up demand here, to issue some bonds to build plants, to get investors off the sidelines and in the game? That seems to be a way to get more private sector job growth going.

Am I barking up a tree with no limbs here?

BOSTON: Yes, you're right. And that's exactly what we want, but that's not what we're getting.

We're getting almost the opposite. In other words, the low interest rates really are a double-edged sword. They help us and they also hurt us, because what the rates are doing right now is making it convenient and easy for large corporations to borrow money through the form of corporate bonds.

HARRIS: Yes.

BOSTON: And they're holding that money. They have about $1.8 trillion in cash, about 25 percent more than they would normally have. And so that's creating a problem. And we have to figure out a way to --

HARRIS: To loosen that money up. Yes!

BOSTON: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely.

HARRIS: OK.

Thomas Danny Boston, it's great to see you, as always. See you in the studio in a week or so. Thank you, sir. Thanks for your time.

BOSTON: All right. My pleasure.

HARRIS: Always my pleasure.

High unemployment has been a major drag, as you know, on the economic recovery. We've heard the stat over and over again: 15 million people are out of work. But Stephanie Elam is here to tell us there are jobs available.

Stephanie -- and you've got the numbers to prove it, huh?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony. We're talking about 2.9 million job openings as of June 30th. This comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They just released these numbers just about two hours ago, and they're saying job openings, they actually increased from May to June in manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, as well as government jobs. And if you take a look at it by region, openings increased in the Midwest and in the South.

But here's the thing -- hiring just doesn't seem to be catching up with all of these openings. So take a look at this graphic from "The Wall Street Journal" to put a picture to it.

The purple bar, that represents job openings in different fields. The orange bar represents how many people have been hired.

So, the good news, yes, jobs are available. But the bad news, Tony, is that a lot of companies say they're just not finding the right people to fill the positions that they have open.

HARRIS: Well, so what's the deal here, Stephanie? Why this disconnect? ELAM: Yes. Basically, it comes down to one major issue: skills. And employers say they can't find qualified candidates for the positions that they have open.

Career Builders says nearly half of HR managers report a skills shortage, especially for jobs in information technology, customer service, and also communications. And it's even more pronounced in an industry like health care. Sixty-three percent of HR managers at big health care companies say they're seeing a shortage of qualified workers. And a lot of those jobs, they definitely require very specialized training.

Then there's one more issue though that we have to put out there, and that's worker mobility. In the past, people have been able to pick and move for a new job, but because of the housing meltdown, millions of people now owe more on their homes than they're worth. They can't sell their home, and they definitely can't afford another mortgage in a different city. So they're stuck, and that is really limiting opportunities.

On top of all of that, corporate budgets. They have been cut, so because of that, there's a bigger gap between how much a job seeker thinks that they're job should be worth and what they're willing to do for that and what the company is willing to pay. All of that causing for this gap here -- Tony.

HARRIS: We've got to get some things -- we've got to get the stars aligned here, Ms. Stephanie.

Good to see you. Welcome back, Stephanie.

ELAM: Good to see you, too. Thanks.

HARRIS: I've got to tell you, one of the reasons folks aren't getting jobs in manufacturing, the field is no longer just blue collar repetitive work on an assembly line. It is highly skilled and highly specialized, involving computer program software. We visited one such high-tech facility, and we talked to guys about their jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the assembly line method, you might just have a single person who does single task all day long, and that's all they do. It's repetitive, it doesn't tax the mind, it's simple work. And really, what you're seeing is that the world has changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, coming up at 12:45 Eastern, the new blue collar worker. You will see why so many people just don't have the skills for high-tech manufacturing. Meet the guys who are doing the work right now.

And turning now to the investigation into what caused a small plane to slam into the side of an Alaska mountain, killing a legendary political figure. Federal investigators have to battle rough terrain and weather to reach the site of the crash that killed five people, including former Senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate. The NTSB says it is unclear if they died while waiting 12 hours to be rescued. Autopsy results are expected today.

Four others survived, including former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe. A doctor and some volunteers stabilized the survivors overnight until they could be airlifted down the mountain. The feds are conducting interviews with first responders. Some of them have spoken to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTOPHER ABEL, ALASKA AIR NATIONAL GUARD SR. AIRMAN: The fuselage itself was surprisingly intact, and that's where all but one of the survivors and everybody else were located.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: And what was it like inside the aircraft? How would you describe that scene?

ABEL: Well, it's a jumbled mess, and it's wet. And as I said, fuel smell.

The volunteers we've gotten there, spent the night there, were frazzled. They were dirty and wet and tired themselves. They had been treating these guys overnight. But as I said, it was relatively intact, and they were able to ride out the weather there.

JONATHAN DAVIS, ALASKA AIR NATIONAL GUARD SR. AIRMAN: One of the younger survivors, I believe he was able to get out of the plane himself, and he spent the night underneath the wing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A little girl with a giant voice is our "Random Moment of the Day." "Britain's Got Talent" made Susan Boyle a star. Will "America's Got Talent" do the same for Jackie Evancho?

Listen to this.

(SINGING)

HARRIS: You can't believe that. Can you? She looks like an ordinary 10-year-old -- why are we back on me? You need to see her.

You know, just an ordinary 10-year-old girl from Pittsburgh, right? But the voice, you can't believe it, right?

Evancho brought the house down last night on NBC's talent competition. "The Random Moment of the Day" predicts you'll be seeing a lot more of this new singing sensation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Canada joins in the manhunt for the last of three escaped Arizona convicts and his suspected accomplice. Police say John McCluskey and Casslyn Mae Welch have nothing to lose and may not surrender without a battle. They are believed to have made their way to Montana, possibly with the idea of entering Canada.

McCluskey was serving a 15-year sentence for attempted second- degree murder when he and two other convicts broke out of an Arizona prison July 30th. Officials suspect Welch helped them escape by throwing cutting tools over a fence.

Another manhunt we're following for you, this one for a suspected serial stabber linked to 20 attacks mainly against black men. The stabbings happened in Michigan, Virginia and Ohio beginning in May. Five of them were fatal. Authorities in Michigan, where most of the stabbings took place, say they do not have enough information now to make the leap that the attacks are racially motivated.

Jurors in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich still trying to reach a verdict in Chicago. Blagojevich, as you know, faces 24 federal counts, including racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion. The two-term Democrat is accused of trying to sell then-President-Elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat. Blagojevich was removed from office in January, 2009.

Vinnie Politan joining me now from our sister network, truTV, "In Session."

Vinnie, good to see you.

VINNIE POLITAN, HOST, "IN SESSION": Nice to see you.

HARRIS: Where are we in this process now? Are you surprised that deliberations have gone on this long?

POLITAN: When you say "this long, I don't think necessarily it's really, really long.

HARRIS: OK. Eleven days in?

POLITAN: Well, I've been watching trials for 10 years with "In Session." I was a prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney. And I studied this.

Here is the formula that I have for you, and you can use this in the future. OK?

HARRIS: OK. Thank you.

POLITAN: You have my permission. All right?

Every week of a trial I would say equals about one day of jury deliberations in an average case. This case, about an eight-week trial. So once we hit around eight days, that would be an average jury deliberation. OK?

HARRIS: Yes.

POLITAN: But this case is a little different. Why? Two defendants, 23 counts. So it gets even a little more complicated.

So, I would say right now we're at the bubble of, we start going into day 12, 13, 14, now we're getting into what I would consider pretty long deliberations. Right now we're probably just a little past average for a case like this.

HARRIS: Yes.

Are we getting any indications that we might be getting close to a verdict? I'm thinking notes to the judge, anything to indicate that?

POLITAN: Well, they're reading transcripts, so I think there's going to be a battle about facts. And it's very complicated stuff.

When you get into racketeering and those types of charges, some of it a little bit more subtle than others. But they've got to be unanimous on all of them. And if they tell the judge that "We're stuck," the judge is going to send them back in to deliberate a little bit more because of the length of the trial.

So, federal cases get very complicated, a lot of money, a lot of time put into it. And the jury comes in knowing nothing before they hear that first witness. Now they've got to put it all together, and they all have to agree.

HARRIS: Right, right, right.

Given where we are in the deliberative process -- you know, you mentioned just a moment ago, we get to day 12, 13, 14, we may start to have some issues here -- what does it say where we are right now about the case itself, the complexity of the case, and the fact that it doesn't appear that there was clearly a slam dunk for either side in this?

POLITAN: No. No, not a slam dunk for either side. And here it is.

You've got 24 counts. We've got a lot of different things that happened. And you have to determine, OK, one thing is the Obama Senate seat. Then you've got all these other things that happened in Chicago.

So, what's happening is, they've got to first determine what happened. And once the jury determines what happens, well, OK, now is it a crime? What are the elements of the crime? Has the prosecutor met their burden? And don't forget, they've got to prove all this stuff beyond a reasonable doubt, and just figuring out what that means could take 12 days.

HARRIS: At what point here -- and I don't know how long this is going to go. We had you on the program today because we thought maybe it had gone on exceedingly long, but you're telling us, no, no, no.

POLITAN: Not necessarily. Not for a case like this, no.

HARRIS: So at what point does the judge begin to consider some other options here? And I'm thinking maybe extending the workday or something like that.

POLITAN: Well, the judge could do that. Sometimes -- my father was a federal judge. And sometimes he would lock the jury down a little bit, keep them going a little bit longer and give them longer days.

What we found and what I found, time and time again is, Friday is always a big verdict day, because you've got the weekend coming up, and jurors are humans also, and they want to wrap the thing up. But at the end of the day, a judge isn't going to do anything until the jury says, "Hey, we're stuck." And then if they say they're stuck, then he's going to read them some additional instructions to get them moving.

HARRIS: Vinnie, what happens here? Final analysis. You have been following this case. What happens here?

POLITAN: What's the verdict?

HARRIS: Come on.

POLITAN: Well, I have a difficult time thinking he's going to walk out on all 24 charges. However, I think there's a lot of wiggle room. And remember, that burden is beyond a reasonable doubt.

There is some explanation for some of it. So I think you're going to have some sort of a split compromise type verdict in this case. But that's just my guess.

HARRIS: Yes. When is your program on the air, on our sister network, truTV?

POLITAN: It's on 9:00 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday, "Trials Across the Nation."

HARRIS: The guy does a great job.

Vinnie, great to see you. Thanks for your time.

POLITAN: Great to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: Still to come, talking about race in America. We really need to get a better conversation going. Would you agree? But how do we approach it?

I've got a great guest who has an idea. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK) HARRIS: Got to tell you something. I've made it at least one of my missions on this program to get the country talking more about race in America. It is a conversation we all should have more often. But the question is, how do we approach it?

Joining me now is a renowned author on race issues. His name is Tim Wise, and Tim is the author of the book, "Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama."

Tim, good to see you.

TIM WISE, AUTHOR, "BETWEEN BARACK AND A HARD PLACE": Good to see you.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Thanks for participating in this.

You have given us three main bullet points from which to engage in an effective conversation here, a dialogue-starter here. You begin with -- and we'll put it up on the screen so everyone can follow along here -- "Racism and racial discrimination continues to place people of color at a significant disadvantage."

Why is this an important starting point?

WISE: Well, I think it's the point for any honest dialogue. We have to understand the way things actually are rather than the way we would like for them to be.

And historically, and still today, the evidence -- and I present it both in the book that you mentioned and my newest book, "Color Blind," the evidence is overwhelming. One of the big studies I mentioned, all of it referenced in the book, found that a huge nationwide study of tens of thousands of companies estimates conservatively that one-third of the time when people of color are out on a job search, they are the victims of discrimination.

That effects about a million to 1.2 million people of color a year. That's not a minor consideration.

So if we're going to have a talk about housing or employment or education or wealth or the criminal justice system, we have to start with the reality that the disparities are real, and that in part, they are still significantly caused by racial discrimination. That's the starting point.

HARRIS: Are white people going to accept those numbers? Are they going to accept some of the conclusions found in some of these reports and studies?

WISE: Well, I mean, I'm white, and I accept them. I know there are some who do and some who don't.

The biggest problem that we have to get over is white denial, though. And I say that as someone who has studied that for a long time. Even in the early '60s, before the Civil Rights Act was passed, Gallup polls found that two out of three white Americans thought that black Americans had fully equal opportunity. Now, obviously, that's absurd, but that's what otherwise decent, sane, intelligent people thought even then.

So obviously, the hurdle for a lot of white Americans and even some folks of color is there. But the evidence is the evidence. And I encourage folks who are skeptical to look at the data, to look at the footnotes, look at the studies and see for themselves.

HARRIS: Tim, the next point is, being color blind or, as you put it, "color mute," is not an option. What do you mean by that?

WISE: Well, what I mean by that is -- and Julian Bond, you know, civil rights legend, really says it best. He says that "To be blind to color is to be blind to the consequences of color."

So, if color is having consequences, we can't ignore the thing bringing it about. Let me give you an example.

If I'm a teacher right now in the state of Arizona, and I've got a lot of Latino kids, I can't be color blind or blind to the role that their identity plays in their life, because they are right now, in the eyes of some, not all, but in the eyes of some, under suspicion as if they shouldn't even be there, they don't belong. If I'm a teacher, and I'm going to meet the needs of those kids, I've got to know where they are. I can't have this idealized version of life that says race doesn't matter to them, because it does.

As a parent -- I have two kids, and as a parent, if you don't talk to children about racism, both past and present, they grow up. They can look around and see the disparities. They can see that who has what is often about color, who lives where is often about color.

If you don't provide the context for that, you know what happens? Those kids grow up, according to the research, to believe that those disparities are, A, natural, which is a dangerous thought, or B, that the folks on the bottom are there because, you know, they just don't try hard, they're bad people, they aren't as smart as the rest of us. So really, color blindness or being color mute can actually feed prejudicial perceptions.

HARRIS: OK. One final point you make here that needs to be a part of this race dialogue. "We all have a stake in combating racism and racial inequality." Expand on that, if you would.

WISE: Yes, I think this is critical, especially for getting over that problem of denial. A lot of times I think we think it's a zero sum game, that if people of color make progress, it's going to hurt white folks. But really, the fact is, we are ultimately, in the next 30 to 40 years, going to learn, if we don't already know, that racial inequity is dangerous for all of us.

In 30, 35, 40 years from now, about half the population of this country will be people of color. About half will be white. There is no way that we can maintain a healthy, productive economy or society if one half of the population has double the unemployment rate, three times the poverty rate of the other half, one-tenth the wealth of the other half, nine years less life expectancy, double the infant mortality rate of the other half. We have to worry about these racial disparities and the racism that is in part responsible for them, because otherwise the whole society is not going to be functional in about 30 or 40 years.

HARRIS: Hey, Tim, thanks for your input. What we're going to do is --

WISE: You bet. Thank you.

HARRIS: Yes. We're going to sort of continue to have these discussions, and we'll sort of build out a template for the broader discussion on race in America, and we'll see where it goes.

Thanks, Tim.

WISE: That sounds great. Thank you.

HARRIS: And again, we're going to spend some time talking about race on this program. Everyone says we've got to have a conversation, we've got to have a conversation, we've got to have a conversation about race. So we'll try to frame it out and see where it goes.

A lot of you are responding on our blog.

From Latoya, "The black community has spent most of their time around people who look, behave and speak like ourselves. So when we are around others who are different, we feel threatened, afraid and intimidated. This needs to change."

Frankie D. writes, "We can begin to tackle racism by not referring to ourselves as hyphenated Americans -- simply 'Americans.'"

And from Norma, "We will never move forward by constantly digging up the past."

Hmm. OK.

You can still leave us a comment at CNN.com/Tony.

A JetBlue flight attendant strikes a chord with the overstressed and overworked. A lot of you look ready to make him America's newest folk hero. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So the JetBlue flight attendant accused of grabbing a couple of beers and sliding down the escape chute is now out on bail. Steven Slater is facing felony charges and may be out of a job, but has become a hero to many workers across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Tell me about what you think about all the support you've gotten. You know about it (INAUDIBLE). STEVEN SLATER, JETBLUE FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Wow, it's been very, very appreciated and it seems like it's -- something here has resonated with a few people, and that's -- 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)

HARRIS: You know, this type of behavior can be dead-on serious. People who snap sometimes have a gun and don't make humorous exits. Just last week we covered a workplace shooting in Connecticut where an angry employee gunned down eight co-workers. What leads a seemingly normal, everyday Joe to lose it?

CNN's John Roberts asked the experts on "American Morning."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people have this fantasy in their head, John, that they just would love to say to an employer or someone who's been rude to them, "take this and shove it." And we play it out all the time, but we don't say it, we don't do it because there are consequences.

I'm not surprised. We're kind of anti-government these days. You know, kind of anti-corporation. And we know the abuse that flight attendants get each and every day. It's a tough job. But it was totally inappropriate. And as you said, he flipped out. And I don't trust someone on an airline that I'd be riding with who could flip out in that way.

JANET PFEIFFER, ANGER MANAGEMENT COUNSELOR: There's a part of me that feels like he had this planned because he wanted that 15 minutes of fame, and that really distresses me.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Really?

PFEIFFER: Oh, yes. That distresses me a lot because, in this country, we do tend to glorify bad behavior and we reward it. And so I'm concerned about the consequences that this is going to have on the rest of society as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, fortunately, Steven Slater's meltdown was nowhere near as serious as something we've talked about here. In fact, it is garnering applause, if you can believe that, in many circles. I guess I understand that, too. Senior correspondent Allan Chernoff has been covering the incident. And Allen, Slater clearly did not intend to hurt anyone. I'm just sort of curious, moving this story forward a bit, have we heard from his family?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Actually, our affiliate, KABC, caught up with his mom in California. She is suffering from cancer. She told KABC that, you know what, her son deserved to have a meltdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE SLATER, STEVEN SLATER'S MOTHER AND FORMER FLIGHT ATTENDANT: I also don't think that people who are in the service industry should be abused by anybody. Whether it be a passenger or, you know, family, anybody. Nobody should be abusing anybody. And I can understand why he snapped. And I would have snapped, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: We should point out that Diane Slater is a former flight attendant. But her son clearly does come from a family that worked in the airline industry. They know a bit about it.

HARRIS: Let me follow up here. Has JetBlue fired Steven Slater?

CHERNOFF: He hasn't been officially fired just yet. JetBlue has put him on leave pending their own investigation. And they're going to check out all the -- all the facts on this.

HARRIS: Right.

CHERNOFF: But, you know, let's not hold our breath waiting for him to appear on your next JetBlue flight.

HARRIS: Nice. He certainly has plenty of backers. You were talking to us last night about the number of Facebook followers he has now. What is it that Slater has tapped into here?

CHERNOFF: You know, Tony, I think there are a couple things. Number one, obviously, you know, a lot of people would love to say to their boss, hey, take this job and shove it.

HARRIS: Yes.

CHERNOFF: There's an example of what's on the page. You know, just general frustration.

On the other hand, aside from workplace issue, within the airline cabin. You know here in New York City, people ride the subway together, they're used to that, they're used to just being in their own little coon within the subway and they tolerate it. You know, on an airline, well, it's not always that way.

HARRIS: Right.

CHERNOFF: People are also cooped up together for hours. Yet, for many people, for some passengers at least, there is almost a sense of entitlement. Where's my meal? Where's my baggage? Get me off, you know?

The fact is, the flight attendants are trained, they are trained primarily in safety. It is their job to make sure that we are safe. And when a flight attendant says, "sit down, we are not at the gate yet," you've got to listen. And a lot of people don't do that. And I think part of what he's tapping into here is the fact that the majority of Americans recognize that.

HARRIS: Yes.

CHERNOFF: They know the flight attendants have an important job, and clearly he was dealing with a passenger who didn't want to know of it.

HARRIS: Yes. Boy, the moment you get to the gate on these flights, everybody's so quick to jump up. You hear the bell and everybody -- where are you going?

CHERNOFF: That's it.

HARRIS: Where are you going?

CHERNOFF: That's right. Exactly. And it's all about getting there safely.

HARRIS: Exactly. Yes, great point. All right, Allan, appreciate it. Thank you.

This Saturday, CNN begins coverage of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, with a special host by Anderson Cooper. We will catch up with three CNN heroes as they work to rebuild New Orleans in "Coming Back From Katrina." 2009 top 10 CNN hero Derrick Tabb takes us to a place that inspired him to connect kids with the tradition of music in the birthplace of jazz. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DERRICK TABB: Right now you're in the Treme. The Treme is famous because of the musicians that come through. Pre-Katrina in New Orleans, we had a lot of middle school and high school marching bands. One of the schools that stood out was Andrew J. Bell, where I attended.

After Katrina, it just really never came back. This is actually my first time in this very room since right before Katrina. And it's a little heartbreaking, you know. It's kind of depressing. Seeing that building today inspired me to see all the kids that's not going there, I want them over here by me. I want them (INAUDIBLE) some music.

Are you all ready to play?

KIDS: Yes, sir.

TABB: I said, are we ready?

KIDS: We're ready.

TABB: To do what?

KIDS: Play!

TABB: On the base drummers play.

And I want to be able to see the future, band directors, future musicians. I demand a lot out of them. I want to see a lot.

You all remember your all parts?

KIDS: Yes, sir.

TABB: The actor, Tim Robbins, is very inspired by the program. Called me up and was like, hey, man, can I do a fund-raiser for you, you know? And it was like, wow.

TIM ROBBINS, ACTOR: This organization has a goal of taking someone in middle school and puts them on a road to a college education, self-confidence and leadership.

TABB: People from New Orleans are not going to give up and we're coming back strong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Tune in to CNN Heroes "Coming Back From Katrina," this Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m., hosted by Anderson Cooper.

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HARRIS: The federal government and oil service companies at odds over the ban on deepwater drilling are back in court today. The Obama administration and several environmental groups want a new version of the ban based on safety measures. Ines Ferre has been following the moratorium story for us.

And, Ines, good to see you again.

If you would, remind us of what's on the line here.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Tony.

Well, the moratorium is affecting some 33 exploratory deep water rigs. Now 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 and Gas Association, its trade industry association, estimates that this could be possibly -- this could mean some 46,200 jobs. Now that could mean jobs that are on the rig and also jobs supported like it, like chefs, like cleaners, helicopter pilots. The lost wage potential is estimated at $330 million per month.

Now, what the moratorium doesn't affect are approximately 590 deepwater producing wells. So what this means is that deepwater production continues, but deepwater drilling has stopped.

HARRIS: OK. Let's see where this goes. Ines, thank you. We'll see you a little later with "What's Hot."

A super model defends her testimony at a war crimes trial. A check of your top stories straight ahead.

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HARRIS: Well, let's get you caught up on top stories now.

Federal investigators are looking for the cause of the Alaska plane crash that claimed five lives. Former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is among the dead. Former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe is one of the four survivors.

Rescuers pulled a survivor from a sludge of a massive mud slide in China. Officials say more than 1,100 people died underneath a mud avalanche. More than 600 are still missing.

Super model Naomi Campbell says she had nothing to gain when she testified at the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor. Campbell claims she didn't know who gave her diamonds, but actress Mia Farrow testified Campbell told her the diamonds came from Charles Taylor. Prosecutors are trying to prove Taylor used so-called blood diamonds to fund a brutal civil war in west Africa.

Fifteen million people out of work. Many just don't have the skills they need. This is the new face of blue collar. High-tech manufacturing. What you need to know to get the job.

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HARRIS: You know, I've got to tell you, the days of punching out widgets in an assembly line are quickly going away. Today, manufacturing is a highly skilled, high-tech injury and it is a problem for those who don't have the skills.

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HARRIS (voice-over): Snapshots in time of manufacturing's past in the deep south, when cotton was king. The textile industry employed hundreds of thousands of workers over the last century. Today, most of those textile jobs are gone. This is all that's left of that dying industry, empty, decaying factors. Jobs gone overseas where they can be done cheaper. Even jobs that stayed were fewer than before.

Automation meant companies could do more with less labor. The recession saw South Carolina's unemployment rate more than double in just two years to 12.6 percent, the highest in two decades. Today, South Carolina is facing a 10.7 percent unemployment rate. Now, South Carolina is fighting back. Turning things around with a different approach to manufacturing. Welcome to the new high-tech factory, operated by Adex Machining Company, owned by a couple of Georgia Tech grads, Sean Witty and Jason Premo. The shop makes parts for the aerospace and energy industries. Employees spend as much time in the office as in the plant. They get their hands dirty, but their brains are stimulated. You might call these guys the new blue collar worker. They don't just operate machines, they program the machine, telling it where to drill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We actually do a fixture up ourselves and these are actually location holes and dye holes where we're actually going to bolt the fixture together.

HARRIS: Then they head to the factory floor and make it happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get to see the finish work is what I really love about it. We take what's on paper and we bring it to life.

HARRIS: They make mathematical computations on the fly if adjustments are need.

STEVE MARKS, CNC PROGRAMMER: C.038.

HARRIS: Each worker is a computer programmer, machinist and quality control engineer. What typically was three different jobs now wrapped up in one. It's called lean manufacturing, and the workers love it.

JESSIE SIMMONS, CNC PROGRAMMER: If I were only running the machine, it wouldn't be a very satisfying job. If I were only programming, it wouldn't be a very satisfying job. And where I get to do both, I couldn't make myself do anything different.

SEAN WITTY, CO-OWNER, ADEX MACHINING: In the assembly line method, you might just have a single person who does a single task all day long and that's all they do. It's repetitive. It doesn't tax the mind. It's simple work. And really what you're seeing is that the world has changed.

HARRIS: Adex received 100 resumes for every job it filled last year. Even so, Sean and Jason had a hard time finding qualified applicants.

JASON PREMO, CO-OWNER, ADEX MACHINING: It's almost like a little -- a mini MBA to be able to be the high-tech worker on today's factory floor.

HARRIS: And it pays like a white color job does. From $50,000 to as much as $80,000 a year, depending on experience and job training. Unlike in an assembly line factory, the employees say they feel empowered.

MARKS: It's hands-on. You get to actually make something. But you still have to think about what you're doing. HARRIS: Sean is hoping to change the negative stereotype of manufacturing in hopes of drawing more young people into the industry and help American industry get back on top again.

WITTY: I think a lot of people associate manufacturing with 20 and 30 years ago, when Detroit was big. It was very dirty. It was very long hours. Your boss beat up on you all day. But that's changed. We work with our employees. It's not a boss man mentality. Very much we're asking them, what are your ideas? How is the best way to produce this?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: That's where we are right now.

Did you know your smart phone is actually revealing things about your sex life? Behind your back? We are about to dial up "What's Hot" for Wednesday.

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HARRIS: We're running out of time. We've got to get to Ali at the top of the hour, but we've got to get in "What's Hot" before we run. Ines Ferre is here.

We've got a couple of items we need to get to right away, huh?

FERRE: Yes, that's right, some viral videos that -- this is from an Astros/Braves game on Monday.

HARRIS: OK.

FERRE: And check this out. There's a foul ball.

HARRIS: Right.

FERRE: It goes right towards a couple on the stands and the boyfriend gets out of the way and it hits the girl.

HARRIS: Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

FERRE: And you'll see right there. He --

HARRIS: The dude ducks.

FERRE: (INAUDIBLE) to the right. That's right. And the girl then gets hit by the ball.

HARRIS: Give him the business. She's giving him the business. Oh.

FERRE: And now she's been nicknamed Bo the Baler.

HARRIS: Yes.

FERRE: And this video's gone viral and the Astros won, by the way.

HARRIS: Yes. He's a short timer there. OK.

FERRE: And then Shaq versus -- OK, this is from --

HARRIS: Shaquille O'Neal?

FERRE: That's right. His reality show. And he was -- he was boxing against "Sugar" Shane Mosley.

HARRIS: Oh, OK.

FERRE: Check this out. So Mosley's 5'9", about 150 pounds.

HARRIS: Right.

FERRE: Shaq's 7'1", about 355 pounds.

HARRIS: And he's down.

FERRE: And he is a man of his word, because he said if he lost, he'd wear those pink panties. Unbelievable.

HARRIS: Shaq is --

FERRE: And this next one is about iPhone users. So Open (ph) Cupid did this survey where iPhone users, they say that iPhone users have more sexual partners by the time that they're 30. That's right. Unbelievable. Like what else were they going to study? So more than Androids, more than Blackberry users, believe it or not.

HARRIS: You lost me after Shaq and the pink -- all right. We've got to go. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. That's "What's Hot."

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HARRIS: It is time to run. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with the man, Ali Velshi.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, my compliments to you for such a great pitch. I enjoyed watching you. Have a great afternoon, Tony Harris.

HARRIS: Thanks, Ali.