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Pakistan Flood Details; Persuasive Technology; FDA Approves Contraceptive Pill; Eight Killed in Off-Road Racing Accident; Obama Visits Gulf Coast
Aired August 15, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Expensive weight loss surgery for state employees with state taxpayers footing the bill. Find out why this controversial program got the green light.
And guilt gadgets. They are high-tech devices that prod you to do the right thing from losing weight to conserving energy. We will tell you how they work in today's tech time.
And then at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, traveling the world alone. Plenty of people are doing it. Find out what they are experiencing that the rest of us are not.
I'm Brianna Keilar, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.
And an off road race took a tragic turn in the California dessert near San Bernardino eight people were killed when one of the race trucks crashed into the crowd. Several other people were sent to the hospital. You can actually see the trucks in this video, including the white truck that crashed. Witnesses say what happened is the driver lost control going over a jump. And just rolled into the spectators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When a car comes out of control, the first instinct is to run. And then get out of the way of the vehicle. And just in our racing, it is unfortunate. You know, it is an open area that we do get close to the course. But it is very rare that since situations like this, you know, happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Off-road racing is a whole lot different from more traditional racing. The course is rough. The drivers have to navigate hills and quick turns. And the spectators aren't behind massive steel fences.
Our Josh Levs giving us a look here at the track as well as the rules.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's take a look at the map behind me. I want to show you something here. I want you all to see where this is taking place in the United States. So let's zoom right in. We are going to California here. It is in this section. Where we are going to go as we zoom in is east of L.A., east of San Bernardino. We are going to go down to have sort of a parallel view where this takes place, where this race is.
Soggy Dry Lake, that area is 50 miles long and it goes around four times. Now, what we are hearing about this area, the "L.A. Times" described this as a Mecca for off-road racing and you can see from the terrain why it would be used for off road racing. Why it is so popular for that. There are lots of races that take place in this area throughout the year. All right. Let's get to some of that video. I'm going to tell you now about the rules. These are written rules. You can see them for yourself on the web site, nbrracing.com.
And look at what some of them say. First of all, it says, "do not spectate within 100 feet of the course." Looking at what we are seeing here, it is clear that these people are way, way within that.
Now, exactly how many feet are considered the course, we don't know for sure. But it does clearly seem any one of them could jump out, launched at the car and touch it as it is going by. It also say "spectate only on pit side, of course." Now, when we are looking at, we are seeing people on two sides. Does this violate the rule about the pit side? (INAUDIBLE) about that.
It says "Do not stand or drive on the course." Well, looks like some folks may be standing on the course at least at some point during it. "Do not spectate on the outside of a curve or turn" is another one of the rules. Another rule I will tell you here, "do park with your lights on and facing oncoming race vehicles."
Just a couple of the many rules there. Now, also I will tell you there are a lot of rules surrounding the vehicles that do this trip. We talked about what kinds of cages have and what kinds of nets they need to have. Safety precautions, certain fire extinguishers on board, safety harnesses. This five-point safety harnesses, can't be any older than three years from the date of the present race. There are a lot of rules surrounding this. So this is not the kind of thing that you are hear that sort of happens or getting people to decide to do it and do it.
There is an organization here and they do operate. So what we have right now are a lot of questions about how something like this happens, about who is it up to enforce certain rules. Are they supposed to be barricades everywhere? Is it up to the people who show up to know what these rules are? And follow them and also is there anyone who checks the entire length of the course.
KEILAR: And as Josh pointed out right there, that video from the race really shows just how close the crowd was there. So coming up later this hour, we will be talking to one car expert about the dangers of the sport and then in our 5:00 hour, we will talk to guy who was there in the crowd shooting that dramatic video.
General David Petraeus had more to say today about the deadline to start pulling troops out of Afghanistan. The new commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan discussed the president's withdrawal date on NBC's "Meet the Press."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. FORCES AFGHANISTAN: That's what's July 2011 really connotes. It is to all the participants, those in Kabul, some of us in uniform, and, again, our civilian counterparts that we have to get on with this. This has been going on for some nine years or so.
That there is understandable concern and in some cases frustration and that, therefore, we have got to really put our shoulders to the wheel and show during the course of this year that progress can be achieved and, again, one manifestation of that is out there that you have this date.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Let's bring in CNN'S Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence now.
Chris, when we listen to General Petraeus' remarks today, are we hearing anything new? Does anything really stick out to you?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the thing that jumped out to me was that he basically said look, the first eight years of this war, we had it all wrong. We didn't have enough troops. We didn't have the right people in certain positions. We didn't even have the right sort of measurements as to what we really need to do.
We didn't have a good civilian component to help build up the Afghan government. What he is saying is really only in the last six months or so has there begun to be some level of progress. A senior defense official told me that they would like more time, that they think some of these plans can work but that with the late start, they are going to need more time.
Again, you talked about that date. This time next year is President Obama's date to start taking some troops out of Afghanistan. The big push will be for General Petraeus to show some sort of benchmark, some sort of progress, you know, in the next six months to a year to sort of say, "look, this is working and that we can slow down this withdrawal."
There is a big difference between this time next year and taking out, say, 3,000 troops versus withdrawing say 10,000 to 15,000 troops.
KEILAR: And - Chris the big part of the plan here for General Petraeus is to really root out the Taliban but it just makes you wonder because, you know, so many Afghans not only do they not see the Taliban as the enemy here but it is actually kind of part of their family and certainly much more so than U.S. troops or allied forces.
LAWRENCE: That's right. A big part of this plan is trying to reintegrate parts of the Taliban. Now, General Petraeus made a point to say, you know, this doesn't mean that Taliban leader Mullah Omar is going to be marching down main street and putting his hand on the Constitution and swearing allegiance to Hamid Karzai's government. But they think some of those lower-level fighters, there is a possibility to reconcile with them and he said that could be a key to what happens going forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETRAEUS: The $5 a day Taliban are certainly candidates for reintegration into Afghan society and that is actually starting to happen a bit more over time. And we are still awaiting the fairly imminent announcement, we think, of the actual integration and reconciliation of policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: What they have not outlined really is specifics. Really hard lined specifics as to what's going to convince these individual fighters to come over. Other than saying lay down your arms, swear allegiance to the government and that sort of thing. But General Petraeus said they have begun to start to pick some up chatter among Taliban forces, wondering where their senior leadership is, that their senior leadership doesn't join them in the battle, that they simply, you know, make cell phone calls from Pakistan.
And General Petraeus does have a track record. Remember back in Iraq, he was able to find ways to sort of disrupt the Iraqi insurgency by getting some of those groups to break off.
KEILAR: Really interesting to see if that's going to work here. Always good to see you, Chris. Chris Lawrence, our Pentagon correspondent therein D.C. and let's move now to Pakistan where entire villages have been reduced to giant lakes.
Nearly 1,400 people are dead. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says that an estimated 20 million flood victims are in need of food, clean drinking water, medicine, and shelter and he's allocated another $10 million in emergency aid from the U.N.. He's also appealing for a whole lot more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: We need the strong and urgent media support from the international community. The United Nations has been working around the clock. Together with the government and international donors and NGOs and we are very much grateful for those generous support.
I'm sure that with such the courage and resilience and vibrancy over Pakistan, if they are supported by the international community, then they can overcome this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now, if you would like to help flood victims in Pakistan, just visit our impact your world page. That is at cnn.com/impact.
And in China, it is a national day of mourning. More than 1,200 people killed in mud slides triggered by this summer's torrential rains. Rescuers are racing to find 38 people feared buried in landslides yesterday in southwestern China. Hundreds more are missing in villages to the northwest.
The president is clarifying comments that he made about building an Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero. We'll have that story straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Will this be the week that the ruptured BP oil well is killed once and for all? Our man on the gulf coast says everyone is in a wait-and-see mode.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm Reynolds Wolf coming to you from Gulf Shores, Alabama, where conditions are just beautiful today. The beaches are wide open and the water is just wonderful. In fact, take a look at this video and you can see the families and kids out there enjoying just everything nature has to offer. It is just beautiful out there.
Now, just a few days ago there was some oil that was actually washing up on shore due to the remnants of tropical depression five, bringing in some of the heavier surf and of course, lifted up some of that oil off the bottom. What's interesting about tropical depression five is remnants of that are hovering over parts of South Alabama and there is a chance, about a 20 percent possibility, that may actually pull back over the Gulf of Mexico and may strengthen and that could possibly cause delays in terms of digging the relief wells and the bottom kill procedure with the well.
Now, the latest on that retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen mentioned in a teleconference yesterday that is the long-term plan, to finish drilling the relief well, to finish with the bottom kill. But before they get to that point, they are going to conduct some pressure reading tests inside the well. Those tasks end up being favorable and they'll push forward with the procedure of the bottom kill. However, that could take all the way into next week. Of course, tropical depression five 5 actually strengthens and reforms that could cause a few more delays.
Another big measure along the coast is going to be pulling in more of the boom. We spoke with some BP workers and said that is going to be the plan. Not just on parts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, but even Louisiana. Pulling in more of that boom.
Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Gulf Shores, Alabama.
KEILAR: President Obama, the first lady, and their youngest daughter, Sasha returned to Washington this afternoon after a weekend visit to the gulf to help boost tourism there. This morning they toured the waters off Panama City Beach. Mr. Obama even took the plunge. This photo coming to us from the While House. He and Sasha there swimming in the bay, directly off of the gulf. He was kept out of the open ocean because of concerns over rip tides and his security.
President Obama is revisiting his comments that he made about a proposal to build an Islamic center and a mosque near Ground Zero. On Friday, the president defended the plan saying Muslims have the right to practice their religion and build a place of worship.
But yesterday the president told CNN's Ed Henry that in defending the right of developers to proceed with the proposal, he was not commenting on the wisdom of the project. This controversy was a hot topic on the Sunday morning talk shows, as you can believe. And on "CNN's State of the Union." Two New York lawmakers were on very different sides of this debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I do agree. The Muslims have - everyone else says, the right to practice their religion and they have the right to construct a mosque at Ground Zero if they wish. What I'm saying no is they should listen to the public - and they should listen to the deep wounds and anguish that this is causing to so many good people.
The if the imam and the Muslim leadership in that community is so intent on building bridges then they should voluntarily move the mosque away from Ground Zero and move it to uptown or somewhere else, but move it away from that area. The same as the Pope directed the Carmelite nuns to move a convent away from Auschwitz.
This is such a raw wound and they're just pouring salts into it. That's my point.
I think the president, by the way, is trying to have it both ways. Because I don't know of anyone who is saying that Muslims do not have the right to practice their religion. But with rights go responsibilities and that's the part the president didn't comment on.
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: The government has no right and no business to comment one way or the other on whether a church or a synagogue or a mosque should be anywhere so long as they meet the legal requirements. And frankly, if government tried in any way, if the Landmarks Commission had ruled - and marked that building for any - for reasons opposing the mosque, not for real landmark reasons, the courts would have said it. There is no way for government to block this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: A new CNN opinion research poll finds 68 percent of Americans oppose building the Islamic center and mosque at that site.
Tricky words that we just can't seem to say correctly. Maybe you have marveled at a Hermes scarf, perhaps. It is not called that. We are going to find out which other words mess us up the most often next in the chat room.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Time to check our top stories. In California, police are investigating a crash that killed eight spectators in an off-road race in San Bernardino county. This was a truck barreling into the crowd that was gathered along the course there. Six people died at the scene. Two others died later at the hospital. Several more were injured.
And veteran actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is apparently in pretty bad shape. Her publicist says she asked her husband to call a priest to her hospital bedside. The 93-year-old Hungarian-born actress went back into the hospital Friday to have a blood clot removed. She has been hospitalized most of the past month recovering from hip replacement surgery.
Today, a new federal ban takes effect which prevents banks from charging you a surprise overdraft fees on debit or ATM cards. Banks can no longer enroll you for overdraft protection without getting your permission first. Opting out means your card will be declined if you don't have enough money in your account. That can be kind of embarrassing, I suppose.
You are joining us now in the chat room. We have some really fun stuff, Jacqui Jeras, to talk about.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We do. We have a diverse list today.
KEILAR: Very diverse.
JERAS: Yes.
KEILAR: And the first one is human dominoes.
JERAS: I know.
KEILAR: In China.
JERAS: 10,000 people. Can you imagine?
KEILAR: Yes. More than 10,000 people. It's actually spelling, I guess, the name of the city where they are at.
JERAS: Yes. Ordos, O-R-D-O-S, is what they are spelling it. And they did it in Chinese as well as -
KEILAR: English.
JERAS: English.
KEILAR: It took an hour.
JERAS: An hour.
KEILAR: So you are leaning there for an hour with someone's like shoe in your side. I don't know about that. So dedicated people. And in the end, Guinness record. So, yey for them.
JERAS: A little too close for comfort for me.
KEILAR: Yes, one hour of patience will get that.
JERAS: Will it be painful? Until I fall down on the next person. KEILAR: I think uncomfortable would be the word.
JERAS: There you do.
KEILAR: OK. So this next one is - I really like this one. You know, we have a really hard time with these words. There is a web site that lists words that people mispronounce without realizing it.
JERAS: Yes.
KEILAR: You want me to try? I will do it and then you see.
JERAS: OK. You will embarrass me on some of these.
KEILAR: I'll admit -
JERAS: They wouldn't let me look ahead of time.
KEILAR: OK.
JERAS: (INAUDIBLE) spontaneous.
KEILAR: Here's the word. How do you say that?
JERAS: Yes. This is that berry that's supposed to make you lose weight. That I can tell you. I heard it pronounced - and it is not at all the way it looks.
KEILAR: Acai.
JERAS: I'm not going to go there. I think it's a-sigh or something like that.
KEILAR: OK. I have it right here.
JERAS: Acai. Ah-sah-ee.
KEILAR: Ah-sah-ee. There you go.
JERAS: We're close.
KEILAR: All right. We both weren't so good at that one.
OK. And our next one, this one is pretty good, too. I actually - OK, how would you say this?
JERAS: I know this one.
KEILAR: Chee-phot-lay. But a lot, even my producer here, Katie Baritone (ph), not to fully call out but it was calling it chip-ol-te, which everyone does, right? And it's chee-poht-lay.
JERAS: Well, I think now that they have restaurant out -
KEILAR: Yes.
JERAS: More people know how to pronounce that word.
KEILAR: Yes, I agree. I agree.
All right. And so our next one is - you know, we use this all the time, right?
JERAS: Right.
KEILAR: It is that little star on the sentence.
JERAS: Yes, but nobody writes this word.
KEILAR: Not really. It is phonetic.
JERAS: (INAUDIBLE) mispronounce it all the time.
KEILAR: OK. They call it ass-ter-isk.
JERAS: Yes, instead of an ik.
KEILAR: But it's an ass-ter-isk. It is a risk at the end. You got to remember that. Got to remember that. OK.
And then the fourth one, I totally get this one wrong.
JERAS: Yes.
KEILAR: I think - it is fun to say gyro. And I like it. You know, it's a Mediterranean dish with the lamb.
JERAS: Right. It's like the pita and the cucumber.
KEILAR: Delicious.
JERAS: Red onions.
KEILAR: Totally wrong.
JERAS: I know how to pronounce it, thanks to my Uncle George at a very young age.
KEILAR: Do school us. Yeer-oh. Here we go.
JERAS: Yeer-oh. And I think you are even supposed to have that a little bit of a roll on the "r" for that one.
KEILAR: Say it one more time.
JERAS: Yeer-oh.
KEILAR: Yeer-oh. And lastly, espresso.
JERAS: Yes. I say this one wrong. I think - I say express-o instead of espresso.
KEILAR: I think that's OK because an express-o is just a really fast espresso.
JERAS: Perhaps.
KEILAR: That you're getting it fast.
JERAS: You know, Americans tend to say this - I don't mean to offend anybody but Americans tend to be lazy with their English. And we tend to drop certain syllables so that it's easier to say. And I would say, we are used to saying express, so we say expresso.
KEILAR: Yes.
JERAS: Or for asterisk, it's easy using that extra consonant.
KEILAR: But we basically - we co-opted this word. So we need to get with it and we need to start pronouncing it right.
JERAS: We do. Absolutely. Well, there's like 12 words apparently that everybody and their mother - just mispronounced.
KEILAR: Sure.
JERAS: That's just a sample.
KEILAR: Definitely. OK. And our last story here, this is pretty cool.
Rod Stewart, he is 65 and his wife is expecting.
JERAS: Yes. He's going to be 66 before the baby is born.
KEILAR: Oh, my goodness.
So he has -- what, five kids from previous relationships.
JERAS: He got seven.
KEILAR: One from his current wife and this will be the seventh.
JERAS: Yes. And I think that he has one that was adopted when he was very, very young as well. I think it's actually eight total. That's a lot of children (INAUDIBLE) a lot of people out there -
KEILAR: A lot of people think he's sexy.
JERAS: That's sexy.
KEILAR: They want his body.
JERAS: I tried to get Brianna to sing that and dance for us today but -
KEILAR: She was going to pay me to sing and dance. And I said no. Later. Off camera.
JERAS: We were all disappointed for you. You should have seen her in the make-up room earlier. I'm just saying. But it creates, you know, creates the question, a lot of people are asking, how old is too old to be having children?
KEILAR: Sure.
JERAS: I mean, Penny is 39 years old -
KEILAR: That's not too old for a lot of women.
JERAS: He's 65. How long is he going to be around for that child?
KEILAR: We'll see and maybe we'll do the dance during the commercial break. We will be right back.
JERAS: I'll get my iPhone.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Investigators are at the scene after deadly race accident in a remote part of South Carolina. Authorities say eight people were killed when an off-road race truck plowed into a crowd. Several other people were injured.
And earlier I talked to Larry Webster. He's the automotive editor for "Popular Mechanics." He's driven in these types of races before. So I asked him how this could have happened and what can be done to stop it from happening again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY WEBSTER, AUTOMOTIVE EDITOR, "POPULAR MECHANICS": Well, it is really tragedy. It is awful. You know, I was looking at the racing organization's web site and they cautioned spectators to stay at least 100 feet from the racing surface.
But of course, the spectators are there for a thrill. And it is just exciting to be close to these trucks speeding by. So when something happens, a truck rolled off course, there's a lot of people that unfortunately are there.
KEILAR: I'm a racing fan and NASCAR fan, as it is. When you tell people that you are a racing fan or I guess, you a background in racing, they say, you know, what's the point?
WEBSTER: Yes.
KEILAR: You just like to see cars go fast and you like to see them crash. But there is, of course, a considerable amount of skill involved here. What is the big deal about this sport? What's the allure here?
WEBSTER: Well, I mean, it is really exciting. You are controlling a very fast, powerful machine over unpredictable rough terrain. And that in itself and there's a real challenge to that. This race is 200 miles. It is at night. So it is tricky. There's a lot to it. And it's one of those things, once you are in the seat and you experience it, I think it is one of those firsthand things that people can really get a sense of only by doing it.
KEILAR: But you wouldn't really say, Larry. that this a mainstream sport, right?
WEBSTER: No. This is pretty much an amateur series and this is guys doing it on the weekends for fun and things like that and spectators are there. It's on a weekend. It's something different to do.
A lot of these races, you watch them on TV is one thing. But once you are there live, for the NASCAR race, I mean, you can hear it and you can smell it and you can feel it. It is really exciting. It is quite a thrilling experience.
KEILAR: So is there sort of a governing body here? Someone that puts out official rules and which would include guidelines for spectators? Is there someone that does that or is this really informal?
WEBSTER: Yes, no, there is. It is called the Mojave Desert Racing Organization. And they host a series every year, I don't know -- eight, ten races, and set the rules for spectating, for driving. They set up the event and things like that. This is one of those very few open races are left in the world. And it is just very difficult to control the spectators. You can give all the warnings you want. At the end of the day they are out there and on their own. And they do what they want.
KEILAR: Coming up next hour, we will talk to one of the spectators who was there at the race and captured some of that dramatic video.
Well police apparently arrested the wrong man in the weekend shooting spree in Buffalo, New York. They dropped the charges against him, 25- year-old Keith Johnson. But they are keeping him locked up due to unrelated parole violations. Four people were killed, four others wounded in Saturday's shooting outside of a downtown restaurant.
Pleas for help for flood-stricken Pakistan. The United Nations' secretary general saw the devastation for himself today and immediately allocated another $10 million in emergency aid from the U.N. He's also urging the international community to step up its effort to help. He says an estimated 20 million people are in desperate need of food, clean drinking water, and medicine, and shelter.
And close to 1400 people are dead, entire villages transformed into lakes there. CNN's Sara Sidner says many of those rescued are worried just about tomorrow.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are here inside what's normally a high school. But here in the town of Sukkur, this has been turned into a makeshift clinic where hundreds of thousands of people are trying to figure out what do, they have lost their homes or their homes are damaged and they cannot stay there. People have brought lots of things. Look back over here, you will see livestock, you see a chicken there. They brought whatever it is that is left they feel that can help them survive all of this.
Word over here, one of the big concerns here is the health of the people. What they are going to do. There are a lot of problems with children health in particular. They have six children and you will notice their little girl here, she's only 11 /2 and notice how thin she is. She was already sick before this flood. And now she's having diarrhea, problems that really endanger her life. The family is very concerned. The mother is pregnant and so these are some of the things that are happening to families right now while the flooding has already destroyed their homes and starting to subside a bit. The real concern now is the health of the people that are left with absolutely nothing.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Sukkur.
KEILAR: Can your computer make you a better person? We will try to find out during tech time ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: What is that? You might wonder, a cop car chasing a zebra yes. That's not a horse that you see on the street there in Carmachael County, California. That, yes, is a zebra. Two of them got loose yesterday evening as you can imagine, the startled onlookers and motorists. One actually ended up in a swimming pool at an apartment complex where it was rescued. The other one is still on the loose. Apparently they got away there from owners who were actually keeping them as pets.
A break from the heat for parts of the U.S. Jacqui Jeras is tracking all of the weekend weather for us. Jacqui that zebra managed to get a break from the heat.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, from the swimming pool. Good thing to take some advice after, right. Yes. If you are looking for some heat relief that's the place. We have got some heat relief. How about this? Look at the temperatures, this feels-like temperature, the heat index that's out there. And, man, it is feeling good across some parts of the Midwest. We have seen major breaks in the heat. We are going to watch it slowly sink southward over the next couple of days. Now it is not going to be dramatic for everybody. But I think at this point we are going to take what you can get. Right?
Courtesy of a cold front here that's kind of draped across the Great Lakes down into parts of Arkansas and into Oklahoma. Ahead of it, we are getting some strong thunderstorms. Some of which could become severe this afternoon and this evening. Watch out for some damaging winds potentially and some hail with this as well. That cold front is trying to make some progress and we have a real difference in temperatures and difference in humidity and a lot fewer states today under the heat advisories. As we head in a tomorrow we think we will see even less of those. How many degrees are you going to be dropping? As much as 15, 16 degrees for some of you.
Put together a map to compare what your high temperature was on Friday and compare it with what we are forecasting for Monday. You will be dropping down 16 degrees in Kansas City, 12 in Indianapolis, 8 in Cincinnati, 6 in Little Rock. Look at that. 10 degrees cooler than you were in Oklahoma City. So it is going to help a lot. We also got some heat today across parts of the west. Feeling like the triple digits for you in Seattle and Portland. And we are also watching the tropics. Believe it or no. Brianna remember TV number 5?
KEILAR: I do.
JERAS: Trying to make a comeback. It is diving southward towards the Gulf of Mexico. And we can see some developments with this one, I will have more details on this coming up in about a half hour.
KEILAR: And of course that's a huge concern considering they are trying to kill this --
JERAS: Relief well operations, it certainly could be impacting that.
KEILAR: Sure, once and for all they want to get that done. OK. Jacqui, we will check back in with you in a second. Let's check your top stories right now.
A Massachusetts man in prison for alleged attacks tied to the popular website Craig's List. He was found dead in his prison cell. Police believe that he committed suicide. Philip Markoff was charged in the shooting death of a woman that he had allegedly met on Craig's List.
And U.S. marshals are once again focusing on Montana and the Canadian border in their search for a fugitive inmate from Arizona. John McCluskey was one of three inmates who escaped from prison about two weeks ago with the help of his fiance. The other two were recaptured. The warden and chief of security from that private prison have resigned.
The first family wrapped up their Gulf Coast vacation with a boat ride off of Panama City Beach today and earlier President Obama and his daughter Sasha took a dip in the water. You can see from that photo from the White House, this trip was intended to boost tourism and renew confidence in the Gulf Coast in the wake of the Gulf oil disaster.
You know most of us want to do the right thing. Sometimes we need to be a little nagged, pushed in the right direction; we need some nagging to get there. That used to be the job of your mom or your dad, maybe your husband or your wife. Now you can rely on your computer for this, too. B.J. Fogg is the director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University and he is here to talk about these different high-tech guilt gadgets that could help you change your ways for the better. So, B.J., we are going go through some of these. To start off, just explain what is a Persuasive Technology?
B.J. FOGG, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Persuasive Technology is some type of computer, whether it is a website, a mobile phone app, or a video game designed to change your behavior to influence you.
KEILAR: And one of the first ones, this one is pretty interesting, it is called o-power. It kind of puts a new spin on keeping up with the Jones's. What's this do?
FIGG: O-power is a system that was rolled out to 30 utility companies. What it does is it sends to each home a report of what their energy use was for the month and it compares them to the average of their neighbor. They can see they are using 20 percent more. It might put some pressure on them to reduce their energy use.
KEILAR: That's certainly - I mean, you sort of put some competition into this. And it makes it more fun. I know this is what a lot of people do when they are running and they keep track of their stats through technology. They can compete with their friends. So that kind of brings us to the next one here. Imoveyou.com. This is something fun you can do with your friends, I mean you are chuckling just thinking about it. What is this about?
FOGG: Fun, definitely, yes. Imoveyou is a way to challenge a friend to some physical activity. It can be something serious like if you run two miles I will swim for 20 minutes. It can be kind of lightweight and fun. A lot of what's going on the site is lightweight and fun. Such as if you dance to three Michael Jackson songs, I will do 20 somersaults in the front yard. You post that and a friend gets challenged and according to the company representatives about 70 percent of those challenges get fulfilled. It is that social challenge and that social support, getting people to be more active.
KEILAR: Something else to try to get people to be healthier. At least stick to their regimen is something called glowcaps. I never heard of this. What is this and how effective is it?
FOGG: Glowcaps is a relatively new invention and it is a cap that goes on top of the pill bottle. And it reminds people to take their medications. Right now, across the world, they think that -- how much you take your medications about 50 percent. So 50 percent of the time people are forgetting and with Glowcaps, it has a light and if you don't take your meds then a sound. If you don't take your meds then the system calls you on the phone. With Glowcaps, it seems to boost the adherence rate about 30 percent. You are going from about 50 percent adherence to about 80 percent and with some of the studies, over 90 percent adherence to medication.
KEILAR: That's -- that's really difficult sometimes to remember. I know a lot of people they are on antibiotics and doctors will say it is so hard to get people just to remember to take. That's only for a week or something, it is really difficult. This next one, B.J., I mean, this scares me to death. I have to tell you. The wi-fi enabled scale. This, to me, could be mortifying. Explain this.
FOGG: Well, you know, we look at the realities of human nature, two things. Number one we are lazy. Number two, we are pack animals. We want to belong to the group. We don't want to be ostracized. So any of these technologies or any persuasive technologies to succeed, they need to be simple and they need to be social. Because our social groups, social pressures, social support, can help us overcome that laziness. The scale is really is simple. You just step on it and it turns on, it weighs you and takes your body mass index. And then it shifts it to your computer, your -- your mobile phone, or if you want, it post the results on twitter.
KEILAR: And that is the part that -- that is freaky to me. I get it, you know, if you were to do it and sort of have a record of it. Or it goes maybe -- I don't know if there is -- a site obviously that tracks it. But the idea that you can actually post it to facebook, I mean, I guess that's the ultimate in accountability, right?
FOGG: Well, yes. So -- you don't have to post it into twitter if you don't want to. But for some people, they would find a lot of -- I know I would find a lot of social support. For example, if I'm trying to lose ten pounds and get on the scale and lost two, I want to celebrate that with my friends. And certainly I would get some responses saying good job B.J. keep going.
KEILAR: OK, maybe -- maybe you can just do it with a couple of -- I could do it with a couple of girlfriends. Not everybody that's on my facebook page, I will tell you that. B.J. Fogg the director of Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford. Great stuff, really interesting and thanks for being with us.
FOGG: Thanks for having me.
KEILAR: Paid weight loss surgery for state workers. This is a proposal that came up in South Carolina last week and wait until you hear what they decided.
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KEILAR: The Food and Drug Administration has approved a controversial new emergency contraceptive. It is like the morning after pill but can be taken up five days after sex. The pill is called Ella. An abortion rights groups are really happy about this approval. But as you can imagine, anti-abortion activists are not. Earlier today we heard from both sides.
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CINDY PEARSON, EXEC. DIR., NATL. WOMEN'S HEALTH NETWORKS: I'm basing on what I think about on the hundreds of pages of documentation that was submitted to the FDA and made public a couple of months ago and our review of those studies show that when given to women who had an unintended accidental exposure to intercourse without protection, this pill reduces the risk of those women getting pregnant when they didn't want to very significantly and for a period of up to five days after intercourse. That's been studied in hundreds of women, actual real women. Not just in the tissues and the lab. That's when we know about the pill.
CATHERINE DAVIS, GEORGIA RIGHT TO LIFE: I'm astounded that we are not testing this pill to see what the effects would be. The European Medical Association, which is the equivalent of our FDA, is giving exactly opposite information than this one woman is saying today. They are saying it does cause abortion. They are saying that in mice and monkeys and guinea pigs, et cetera, that it does cause abortion, which is why they require a test.
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KEILAR: The Ella pill was approved for use in Europe last year, and it's already available in at least 22 countries.
China says it's completed an investigation into a Chinese company's baby milk powder and there's no evidence it caused three infant girls to grow breasts. The government says that clinical investigation showed no link between the premature sexual development of the babies and the milk powder in any of the samples that were tested.
So here's one story that really grabbed our attention. South Carolina Budget and Control Board has approved a pilot program paying for weight loss surgery for some state workers. Critics say that it's a big waste of money, especially at a time when the state faces huge budget shortfalls, and Yvonne Wenger is covering this story for the "Post and Courier Newspaper." She's joining us now live from Columbia, South Carolina.
Yvonne thanks so much for coming in to be with us. But before we get to this question of is this a good idea, considering the economy, just kind of explain to us exactly what's going on with this pilot program, who's going to get these surgeries.
YVONNE WENGER, REPORTER, "THE POST AND COURIER:" Sure. The state is funding 100 weight loss surgeries for state workers and retirees on the state health plan. And it's about $24,000 per operation. So there is $2.4 million that's been set aside for these surgeries within the next year.
KEILAR: Now, they're obviously doing this because they think that long-term, even that up front $24,000 investment in each of these folks, that it's going to pay off. What have they cited to make that case?
WENGER: There really wasn't much discussion on the house or Senate floor, if any, for this program. So it wasn't vetted, at least before the public very much. It was debated at the committee level. But they're going to track these individuals for 18 months, and look at the results, and then decide if it's something that they want to continue or not. So, I didn't have access to any hard numbers that say they believe that they can save "x" amount of money after this person has lost the weight. I don't think that study has been done to this point.
KEILAR: And something about South Carolina is that it does have an obesity rate that is above the national average. So it's certainly even more of a concern in that state. But when you talk to people, and even they know that, that this is a problem that they're facing in their state, what do they think about this? Are they OK with this? Or do they think that it's a bad idea to spend 24 grand for each of these people, when a lot of people are pinching pennies?
WENGER: Yes, well, at least the vocal readers that I've heard from are pretty opposed to the program. They think their legislators have their priorities mixed up and that the state has many more pressing needs, and that there needs to be some more personal responsibility involved, and that the state shouldn't be bailing these people out from a situation that they created.
And, again, that is the vocal readers I've heard from and I'm sure there are many people across the state who think that this is a smart investment, and that this is a way to improve quality of life for people and help them to change behaviors that have resulted in South Carolina having a higher rate of obesity than the nation. And it is the same for children. Children in South Carolina are heavier than kids elsewhere in the country.
KEILAR: I cover Congress normally, so we're always hearing about voters, who are very upset about spending, and deficit spending, but just spending and government spending. And obviously that is coming up as an issue here, too. But do you think, when you say that there weren't really, I guess studies or statistics that were cited publicly by these lawmakers who decided to do this, do you think maybe a better way for them to have gone about this was to really make their case for this. Did they not do a good enough job making their case for why this is a good idea?
WENGER: I think that that precisely the opposite happened. That this program didn't raise a lot of curiosity in lawmakers, otherwise it would have been an issue. It would have been a big floor debate. But I think that there is data out there that shows that this is a cost- effective investment, and I was talking to a surgeon as part of my research for the story, who said that there's a national database that surgeons enter thousands of patients, weight loss results, and show, details that show that they come off of more expensive treatment down the line for diabetes, or high blood pressure or sleep apnea.
And so I think that the data is already out there, but I don't think there was any specific case study in South Carolina that showed -- that's what this is intended to be, is that case study to say, here are our results that we have in South Carolina.
KEILAR: That's really interesting. Yvonne Wenger for us there, covering the story from "The Post and Courier" Newspaper there in Columbia, South Carolina. Sounds like a good investment, but maybe just the timing is really hard for some folks to swallow. Thanks for being with us, Yvonne.
WENGER: Glad to be here. Thank you.
KEILAR: They trained, they fought, and they survived. But coming home presents a new battle.
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RICHARD WILKS, UNEMPLOYED NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIER: After you go back overseas because I couldn't find work. This is just -- I volunteered to go back to Iraq.
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KEILAR: We follow one man's struggle to find work after coming home from the war.
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KEILAR: They answer the call to serve their country and when they come home they naturally want to pick up where they left off. But CNN's Kate Bolduan reports that's becoming a whole other battle.
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WILKS: I'm looking up security and law enforcement type jobs that they might be offering.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Forty five year-old Richard Wilks has served with the Army National Guard for five years, fighting eight months in Iraq, only to return home in 2008 to a new battle he never expected. The fight to find a job.
WILKS: I was putting out resume, after resume. I'd have some interviews. And you just -- I just couldn't get hired.
BOLDUAN: Frustrated and running out of money, Wilks turned to the only place he knew would hire.
WILKS: I opted to go back overseas because I couldn't find work. This is -- I volunteered to go back to Iraq.
BOLDUAN: Employers are required by law to hold jobs for reservists called to duty. And are banned from discriminating against a job applicant because of their military service. But soldiers like Wilks fear their guard service makes employers reluctant to take them on.
WILKS: They don't want to take the time to hire someone and then have them deployed and then have to rehire someone.
BOLDUAN: Wilks is back home once again and again facing the same transition to civilian life without work. He's not alone. The jobless rate among veterans who've served since 9/11 rose to 11.8 percent last month. Compare that to the national rate of 9.5 percent. The Army National Guard says this problem is especially troubling among their ranks.
CPT. BRIAN ZDUNOWSKI, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: They have skills, and they have training that should, in a good economy, give them an edge over their peers.
BOLDUAN: But what's the reality that you're seeing?
ZDUNOWSKI: The edge is gone because they're getting lost in the volume of people.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Unemployment is such a big issue for the Army National Guard that some states are testing out programs to help their part-time soldiers. Captain Brian Zdunowski runs one program in Maryland.
ZDUNOWSKI: You see employers out there. What I'm in essence doing is into the sea throwing a life ring for them and pulling that life ring until one of these employers picks them up. BOLDUAN: The help includes resume tips, interview coaching, also a database of military friendly employers and job openings.
ZDUNOWSKI: They deserve the assistance because they have stepped forward for their country.
BOLDUAN: Richard Wilks continues his search, a tough economy, another tough battle ahead. Any regrets?
WILKS: I don't have any regrets at all. I love serving in the military and I love serving my country.
BOLDUAN: Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
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