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Sex Ads on Craigslist; How Farmers are Keeping Eggs Safe; Nigerian Children Accused of Being Witches Tortured and Abused; Hurricane Danielle Strengthening in Atlantic; NASA Discovers Thousands of New Stars and Hundreds of New Planets. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Release Details on Terror Plot Linked to Al Qaeda; Special Olympics Rejects Teen Athlete
Aired August 26, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning guys. Thanks so much.
Good morning everybody. Here's what we're working on this morning.
Sex for Sale on Craigslist: young girls posted and priced. A CNN investigation prompts 17 states to act.
A witch hunt targeting children in Nigeria. Desperate parents pay churches for deliverance. Kids too young to know better are abused, abandoned, even killed.
A special needs student barred from the Special Olympics in Chicago. All this 17-year-old wants to do is play basketball. And we're talking to her this hour.
It's 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, it's been a pretty dismal week of economic news. And this hour we've got new numbers to consider. Just minutes ago, the government announced that jobless claims actually fell more than expected last week. The new number, 473,000.
Not much higher than what economists want. But not as bleak as the new claims filed the week before. More than a half million new claims were filed in the worst week of the entire year.
Now at the bottom of the hour, business correspondent Stephanie Elam will join us to actually break down those numbers.
All right, our top story this morning. Sex ads on Craigslist. CNN has shown you how it's become a smoke screen for prostitution and even child trafficking. Now that CNN investigation has helped push attorneys generals from 17 states to demand that Craigslist crack down on the ads immediately.
The letter from them says, quote, "A growing recognition that ads for prostitution, including ads trafficking children, are rampant on it."
A letter highlighted reporting from CNN's Amber Lyon. She posted a fake ad in the adult section and within just a few hours received 15 calls soliciting sex.
Amber joins us now to discuss what the states are demanding from Craigslist and what action the Internet giant is likely to take.
Do you think we'll see any dramatic action?
AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well -- well, as of now I spoke with Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and he says he isn't quite expecting Craigslist to take dramatic action because they haven't in the past. So he says they're going to carry on and keep continuing to push until something is done about this.
In this letter here, the attorneys generals state that they're pretty upset with Craigslist. They say that the site has been kind of ignoring their claims for the past two years. The attorneys general have been begging Craigslist to clean up this adult service section of the site, Kyra.
We have law enforcement, victims advocates, even the public saying that children and women are being forced to sell sex on Craigslist against their will. And as I said earlier, they've been given two years to clean this up. That hasn't happened. We showed that in our investigation.
The attorney generals also say they're a little bit upset with Craigslist because they feel that Craigslist has been placing the blame on others rather than looking internally. Law enforcement at one point Craigslist asked victims why they haven't turned in evidence of the crimes.
And yours truly was even -- had the finger pointed at me at one point.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYON: Look at this ad. It says young, sexy, sweet, and bubbly. Clearly here she writes $250 an hour. I mean what do you think she's selling in her bra and underwear? A dinner date? And she's in her bra and underwear?
CRAIG NEWMARK, FOUNDER, CRAIGSLIST: Have you reported this to us?
LYON: What are you doing? But you guys say you screen all these ads manually in your blog.
NEWMARK: Have you -- I've never -- I don't know what this is.
LYON: But Jim Buckmaster --
(CROSSTALK)
LYON: He says these are being screened.
NEWMARK: Have you reported this to us?
LYON: Why do I have the responsibility to report this to you when it's your Web site? You're the one post thing online. (END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: He didn't have much to say, did he?
LYON: No, he didn't. It was definitely an odd interview. One of the most odd interviews of my career, I will admit.
(LAUGHTER)
LYON: And Craigslist has been saying -- Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, has been saying that they're manually screening these ads. They're checking them all out and making sure none of them are selling sex or none of them are minors. So we wanted to put them to the test.
PHILLIPS: It was pretty obvious what you posted and even saying --
LYON: Yes. I want you to take a look at this ad. We have a graphic made there for our viewers of it. And this -- this is what we actually posted on Craigslist. We've created this ad with all these red flag words in there that would indicate sex might be being sold.
PHILLIPS: All right. What would the red flag words be?
LYON: So new girl in town. Victims advocates say that's often the sign that girl is being sex trafficked. They take them from -- the pimp takes them from city to city. Also looking here sweet, innocent -- two code words the girl could be underage. And clearly on this ad you see that, Kyra, right there, $200 an hour. We're giving a price.
The ad did end up getting posted on Craigslist and soon after the phone started ringing off the hook. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYON: So we put some words in here, sweet, innocent, new girl. And we're going to see what happens. We'll see if Craigslist is going to let our ad post. We'll also see, you know, what kind of calls do we get.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw your ad on Craigslist.
LYON: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. What is your donation for an hour in-call?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: What did he say? What's your donation?
LYON: Donation. All those are code words.
(LAUGHTER)
LYON: I totally -- I have several guys hang up on me --
PHILLIPS: Interesting. LYON: -- because we didn't know the code words to begin with. And --
PHILLIPS: So they knew immediately probably you weren't the real deal.
LYON: Oh yes.
PHILLIPS: Because they're probably looking out for undercover cops, right?
LYON: Mm-hmm. Very much so, Kyra. And we learned the lingo. And eventually, I mean that was very G-rated. We had some disgusting requests from these men that were clearly using this site to try to hire someone to have sex with them.
PHILLIPS: So what -- by the way did this make you feel uncomfortable at all? Did you get nervous?
LYON: Yes.
PHILLIPS: I mean --
LYON: Disgusting.
PHILLIPS: Did any at point did you want to see what these guys were like just out of curiosity? Did you want to, you know, meet them and see if they went a step further or would that have not been a save move?
LYON: We kind of decided to end it at the phone calls just because we weren't sure about the safety. But speaking -- we've spoken with a lot of these victims advocates. They say the majority of these men are in their 30s, they are -- a lot of them are married.
In fact, listen to this. One of the most popular times for our phone to start ringing was at about 11:00 in the morning until 2:00 in the afternoon. Lunch break.
PHILLIPS: Lunch break.
LYON: Mm-hmm.
PHILLIPS: That just makes you sick to your stomach.
LYON: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. So we saw the -- how the attorneys general are responding. It will be -- I mean it'll be interesting to see, too, if we also hear from the heads of Craigslist and if something is going to be done.
LYON: Yes. We spoke with them yesterday. And they say that they appreciate what the attorneys generals are trying to do with ending the child sex trafficking. They also say that they plan to continue to work with law enforcement and key nonprofits to put an end to this. But they didn't mention anything about in regards to shutting down this adult service.
PHILLIPS: Of course that's the one word up we want to hear and we're not hearing. There's kind of skipping around. Sort of like the ads. They've got all their key words of what they are saying and not going to say.
LYON: Yes. It's been a pattern. And on this story definitely did.
PHILLIPS: Well, we'll follow up with you. Amber, thanks.
LYON: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Well, today we're taking a closer look at the safety of the food that you eat. Tracking it from its source to your lips.
Let's go ahead and start with what we know about the egg recall. According to "USA Today," clues of the big salmonella outbreak surfaced weeks before FDA sounded a warning.
Back in July state and federal health agencies identified Wright County Egg in Iowa as a likely source of illness but the company didn't launch its recall until mid August when it was discussed with the FDA.
Now more than half a billion eggs have been recalled from Wright County Egg and another company Hillandale Farms. Both companies have begun shipping eggs again but those eggs are still being laid by potentially infected chickens so they'll be pasteurized to kill bacteria.
They could be pasteurized in the shell. They can be sold as liquid eggs or put in other products like mayo or ice cream.
The Centers for Disease Control says that about 1300 people have gotten sick in the current salmonella outbreak. But for each reported case, it says there could be as many as 30 unreported illnesses. So we wanted to know what farmers are doing to keep eggs safe.
Martin Savidge is actually at a hen house in an organic farm just outside of Atlanta.
So, Marty, you've got the farm manager there with you. Let's talk about why these chickens are apparently so different.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can do that. And good morning to you, Kyra. Here it is. Early in the morning. I'm surrounded by women. They all have feathers. But --
(LAUGHTER)
SAVIDGE: That's part of the process here.
PHILLIPS: You're in your element.
SAVIDGE: We're at Serenbe Farms -- yes. Serenbe Farms located just south of Atlanta. You can see already by the people in the field, they do farming here the old fashioned way. And that includes raising chickens.
Say hello to the farm manager, Paige Witherington. Good morning to you.
PAIGE WITHERINGTON, FARM MANAGER, SERENBE FARMS: Great to see you. Good morning.
SAVIDGE: I like to call her the farm czar here. Anyway, we're talking chickens. And your chickens here, immediately, we look at them, the difference is they're out and about. Free range.
WITHERINGTON: Exactly. Yes.
SAVIDGE: Organic chickens.
WITHERINGTON: Organic chickens.
SAVIDGE: OK. SO what do you feed them? How do they eat?
WITHERINGTON: They get to eat whatever they like within their paddock here. And we check this paddock regularly so they have ample fresh grass and bugs and all kinds of things that they would normally eat in nature.
We also supplement their food with non-genetically modified organic grains. So they're fed 100 percent healthy food.
SAVIDGE: And here's the thing. It's not just the diet, Kyra, what they eat. But I think we can show you the regulars. You take a look at the eggs there. Absolutely beautiful. All different colors. You've got white, you've got green, you've got brown in there. All these different shades.
That, too, the farmers say is an indication of the healthy eggs. The real question, though, is how do you make sure -- how do you know by raising them this way that you don't have problems like salmonella?
WITHERINGTON: Because they can diversify their diet and eat whatever they like to eat and live like a chicken. They can fly around. They can dust (INAUDIBLE). They can roost. They aren't confined to a small area. And they -- they're not stressed. By having a non- stressful lifestyle, they're not as prone to illness.
SAVIDGE: So this is the real key message here. Happy chickens are healthy chickens. And even though this is a throwback to the way we used to farm and used to raise chickens, it actually makes scientific sense in how we keep the chickens from being stressed which you say keeps them healthy which helps to keep down the process of disease.
WITHERINGTON: Exactly.
SAVIDGE: All right, Kyra, so this is how they work it here at Serenbe. They're collecting eggs usually about twice a day. They're just getting started here in their egg production but they are supplying many of the surrounding community as far as the restaurants and people who have signed up to be a part of this experience. PHILLIPS: Yes.
SAVIDGE: Just cooking up very well so far -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, and what a difference visually from these mega- production farms. You know it's a totally different feel and vibe and hopefully you're bringing back breakfast.
Thanks, Marty.
SAVIDGE: You bet. See you.
PHILLIPS: All right, there's more about the egg recall and how it could affect you and your family on our Web site. Just head to Eatocracy.com and keep it right here on CNN NEWSROOM throughout the day as we track your food from farmhouse to your fridge.
Well, this is a story that's going to make you wonder what century we live in. CNN's Christian Purefoy shows us how belief in witchcraft is alive, well and heartbreaking. Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's apparently been here for three days. And from everyone here is saying his mother abandoned him, accusing him of witchcraft. You can see he's got some scars. He even doesn't want me touching him.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Superstition leading to child abuse. And child torture. Christian will tell us how poverty plays a role in this and he'll introduce us to a man who's actually trying to save these children.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. We have two storms that we're tracking in the Atlanta. Both of which are intensifying. Find out where they're going.
Plus wildfires may be dangerous but they do create some very beautiful pictures. We'll show you some coming up in your forecast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Children tortured, mutilated, even buried alive because adults think that they're witches. Our "Morning Passport" takes us to southeast Nigeria. That's just one place where it's happening. And thankfully these little victims of superstition and child abuse have a champion trying to save them.
CNN's Christian Purefoy has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): his name is Godswill, and he's been beaten and abandoned, cast out by his own family and society at large, accused of being a witch. No matter that he's a five-year-old boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: The boy said that the woman said that he is witch.
PUREFOY (on camera): He's apparently been here for three days. And from what everyone here is saying, his mother abandoned him, accusing him of witchcraft. You can see, he's got some scars. He even doesn't want me touching him.
PUREFOY (voice-over): Sam Ikpe-Itauma believes there are thousands of children like Godswill in this region of Nigeria, and he's trying to rescue them. Using a little care and attention, Sam starts the process of trying to restore Godswill's trust in the world around him.
SAM IKPE-ITAUMA, CHILD'S RIGHTS AND REHABILITATION NETWORK: You can see from here he must have been undergoing some torture. You can see these are all some injuries and scars all over his body, meaning that he must have passed through some high level of torture and traumatization.
PUREFOY (voice-over): At this orphanage, Sam cares for more than 200 children who have suffered similar ordeals.
IKPE-ITAUMA: Once a child is said to be a witch, to be possessed with a certain spiritual spell capable of making that child to transform into a cat, snake, vipers. A child could cause all sorts of havoc like killing of people, bringing about diseases. Misfortune into family.
PUREFOY (voice-over): Sam believes that there is no such thing as witchcraft and is trying to raise awareness in communities now gripped by hysteria. Belief in witchcraft is rooted in centuries of tradition. But it's only in the last ten years, says Sam, that it's become associated with child abuse.
IKPE-ITAUMA: It's actually a social crisis because poverty is a big factor that actually propels this child witch phenomenon. Poverty is actually a twin sister to ignorance.
PUREFOY (voice-over): Children can be accused of witchcraft for almost any reason. Maybe seizures, maybe just talking in their sleep. Six-year-old Emma was blamed by her stepfather for bringing about the death of her mother with black magic.
IKPE-ITAUMA: You can see from this face here, the scars are gradually wearing off. And one of the pastors who claimed that she's responsible for the death of the mother used hot water to bathe her face, and used machetes to cut her finger off as a sign to show that she is not wanted there.
PUREFOY: With new cases every week, Sam is simply overwhelmed.
IKPE-ITAUMA: I have become sick sometimes when I see a child. I cannot take the child to the center because the center is already accumulated with a lot of children and you don't have spaces for children.
PUREFOY: No one knows why Godswill was accused of witchcraft. His parents have still not been found. But for now, he and the other children are safe. Christian Purefoy, CNN, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: It is really hard to imagine that you could treat your children that way. And Impact Your World has taken on a campaign to try and support the mission to help these kids. Just go on to cnn.com/impactyourworld. You can see how you can get involved and take part in making a difference.
Hurricane Danielle is strengthening in the Atlantic. Jacqui Jeras watching all that for us. What do you think?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey. Well, I think for the most part it's going to be what we would call a fishing storm there, Kyra. That's a little bit of good news. Although the storm has been intensifying. It's category 2 now, with winds of 105 miles per hour.
But we also have another storm over here, and this is Earl. It's a tropical storm, 45 miles per hour winds. And this one bears a little bit closer watching. While still days and days away from even getting close to any type of land, you can see down the line it does get close towards the Leeward and Windward Islands. So we want to watch this, because it will be intensifying, and likely to become our next hurricane as well. Right now, we'll have to wait and see what happens down the line. Well over a week away but people along the Atlantic coast certainly want to stay tuned to your hurricane headquarters for the latest that.
Some incredible pictures that I want to show you. This is a fire vortex. These pictures were taken in Brazil. There was a brush fire and just a really strong wind can get sucked into these with rising air and it's basically a fire tornado. So really incredible to see something like that. Nobody was injured, by the way, in this.
Fires also make for some beautiful pictures back here at home. Our iReporters taking these pictures. This was in the Mount Diablo State Park from our iReporter Perry Lentine (ph). And there you can see, they make for beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Just wanted to show you a couple of those. You get all those particles in the air and it reflects off of the light. Just really incredible pictures.
The heat still very high out west. We had a number of record highs yesterday across parts of California in particular, well into the triple digits. And the fire danger remains high in the Pacific Northwest with that heat and wind gusts, could reach up to 60 miles per hour.
Beautiful conditions, though, Kyra, across the nation's midsection and a front moving through the east, it's going to make for a really nice start to the weekend.
PHILLIPS: That sounds good. So, has anything happened to you on air where it's been embarrassing?
JERAS: Oh, multiple times. How about the water I dropped on my shirt? You can see it on my shirt right about now.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Actually, I don't see it at all. But now that you've drawn all our attention -- now we're focused in the wrong place, Jacqui. Talk about a ball going in the wrong place. Did you see this video?
JERAS: I did.
PHILLIPS: You saw it earlier. Take a look at this. This sideline reporter getting smacked by this soccer ball. Oh! Yes. Now, apparently --
JERAS: I cringe every time.
PHILLIPS: Isn't that terrible how they do it over and over and over again?
JERAS: Yes, you --
PHILLIPS: You wonder, what did the co-anchor do? Apparently the player ran over there immediately. This is making me feel really bad right now. Let's stop putting that in repeat.
JERAS: At least it wasn't a baseball, or we'd be talking about some serious injury there.
PHILLIPS: Yes, that's true. At least soccer balls you're supposed to do the little head butt, right?
JERAS: That's right.
PHILLIPS: From the other way.
JERAS: Getting in on the game.
PHILLIPS: She needed to turn around. Just one of those things you can't stop watching. Anyway, poor German reporter. Thanks for playing, Jacqui. All right. Go work on that spot on your sweater.
JERAS: All right, thank you.
PHILLIPS: NASA's finding tens of thousands of new stars and maybe even some new planets. Ahead, details of a space odyssey for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC - "2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY")
PHILLIPS: It's been a yearlong odyssey for NASA, and today the space agency is set to announce the discovery of what it calls an intriguing planetary system. Get your attention? The Kepler Space Observatory actually recorded data from more than 150,000 stars and more than 700 possible planets. NASA scientists say that more investigation is needed, of course.
Let's check our top stories. Jobless numbers down 31,000 this morning from last week. 473,000 people filed for benefits. In a few minutes, we're going to take a look at how these numbers are impacting Wall Street.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il may be visiting China today. As usual with the secretive state, there's been no announcement. There is speculation that Kim is seeking economic help, with North Korea under sanctions pressure. We'll be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Royal Canadian Mounted Police plans to release details today on a terror plot that may have links to al Qaeda. Police arrested two suspects in Ottawa and expect to arrest more. "The Ottawa Citizen" newspaper reports that the group's suspected ringleader attended terror training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A US law enforcement source tells us there's no clear link between the Canadian suspects and the US.
New York police say a passenger slashed a cab driver's face and body just because he was Muslim. Ahmed Sharif picked up a 21-year-old passenger, who was apparently friendly at first. But the cabbie said that the man started cursing at him, yelling out the Arabic greeting for peace before attacking him. Despite the gushing blood, Sharif was able to flag down police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMED SHARIF, CAB DRIVER ATTACKED BY PASSENGER: The cop kept asking what happened. He said, "I'm trying to rob him."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: That's what he said?
SHARIF: Yes. The cop said, "Well, you're trying to rob him," and he saw I'm bleeding. He said, "What happened?" I told him I'm a cab driver. He tried to kill me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The passenger, Michael Enright, has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime. Police say he was drunk at the time of his arrest.
Rick Scott's deep pockets are the talk of the campaign trail. Florida's new GOP nominee for governor opens up about his $50 million primary campaign and allegations that he bought his win.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: On Wall Street the economy is the big focus this week. We've seen a pair of dismal housing reports the past two days. But this morning, we learn the labor market took a step in the right direction. New jobless claims fell to 473,000 last week. That's down 31,000 from the week before, significantly better than expected. New claims have increased for three straight weeks so this is a good sign. A report pushed stocks up a bit in premarket trading.
All right. Well, you just heard the jobless numbers. So let's get some perspective on what they mean. For that we turn to business correspondent Stephanie Elam in New York.
Hey, Steph (ph).
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.
Yes. You hear a number like 473,000 people. But still while it's better than expected that's a lot of people. If you're one of those people it is still really difficult situation out there for you if you're filing for unemployment benefits.
In a healthy economy just to give you a comparison here, claims are generally below 400,000. So remember, we've got unemployment at 9.5 percent and more than 14 million Americans out of work. And one economist tells us that you'd to see 260,000 jobs created a month to bring unemployment down one full percentage point. Obviously we are not seeing that until we see some job creation.
The economic recovery will be a bit hazy. That fact has a lot of people talking about this term here, a double-dip recession. In case you don't know what that is, it's basically that it would mean the recovery would fail and wouldn't take hold and the economy would start to head south again. But I should point, Kyra, while we hear this and we will hear people talking about it, a double-dip recession is actually rare in the United States.
PHILLIPS: And the housing numbers we got this week certainly aren't helping the outlook.
ELAM: Yes. No, they're not helping at all. Both existing and new home sales fell sharply in July. Housing, it makes up about 15 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. So what we're churning out here - so when it's weak, it's really going to have a drag on the economy.
And a lot of people have already taken such a big hit on how much their house is worth so they're cutting back on spending. And if people aren't spending, then the economy is not going to get that oil it needs to keep churning along.
So, bottom line when the housing prices collapse it has a big ripple effect on the overall wealth and confidence of how Americans are feeling right now. So if we're seeing weak jobs and recession level housing numbers, then it's really going to add to this nervous feeling that we're seeing.
So while these jobless numbers are in the right direction, there's still a lot of people out there who are feeling the pain. But I guess it's something we keep talking about. PHILLIPS: Yes. And we'll keep talking about it.
Steph, thanks.
ELAM: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Let's fast forward and looking at more economic news that could move the markets. Tomorrow investors will be watching the newest figures on the nation's gross domestic product. That's the leading indicator the economy because it includes all the goods and services that come from the U.S.
And we're also waiting to hear from Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Central Bank unnerved investors earlier this month when it issued one its most pessimistic outlooks in more than a year.
Abraham Lincoln, the president of modest means, said a very long time ago our government is meant to be of the people, by the people and for the people. But how many people do you actually know have $50 million to spend on a primary campaign? Rick Scott did and now he's Florida new GOP nominee for governor. A lot of people are talking about Scott, not just because of his win but because of his money and a shady past.
John Roberts asked him the tough questions just last hour. Brings us to our A.M. Extra.
John, Scott was a bit evasive.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": He was a little bit evasive. The first thing I asked him about was charges he bought this election. And it's not just Democrats who are making those charges. Republicans are, too.
His challenger, Bill McCollum, longtime Florida politician who's the current attorney general there said this of Rick Scott's win. Quote, "No one could have anticipated the entrance of a multimillionaire with a questionable past who shattered spending records and spent more in four months that's ever been spent in a primary race here in Florida."
You've got to remember, Kyra, he got into the race in April, a virtual unknown. And then he walked away the nomination on Tuesday night.
As to that questionable past, it's well known that Rick Scott is a former health care industry executive. He founded and ran Columbia HCA, which became the biggest hospital chain in the United States, one of the biggest companies in the world. And also paid one of the biggest settlements to avoid charges of Medicare fraud -- $1.7 billion. Those charges were racked up against Columbia HCA while Rick Scott was the CEO. He was ousted by the board in 1997, the fines were paid subsequently.
I asked him if his company was accused of defrauding the government and now he wants to be the government, if people would ever really trust him to be the governor of Florida. He sort of evaded the question telling me about the great things Columbia HCA did in building up a great company. So I tried to pin him down on it by saying OK look, you may have done some good things in terms of employment and all of that, and patient satisfaction, but you were also accused of defrauding the government. Are you trying to avoid my question?
Here's what he said.
BVC
ROBERTS: But, you also ran a company that was accused of defrauding the government. Yet, you are kind of avoiding that this morning.
SCOTT: No. I told people all along from the day I got into the race, said look, you know, when you run a company, you build a company, anything that happens in that company you take responsibility. I do. People made mistakes. What I say is when I'm governor, which you know, is I will take responsibility. If anything goes wrong, I will fix it.
Now in contrast, let's think about what politicians do. We have the highest unemployment on record. Has there been a politician to take responsibility? We have almost 50 percent of the homeowners under water on their mortgages. Anybody take responsibility? We are walking into a five-plus billion dollar debt. What they know from me is I built a great company. I take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. And I will make sure that when I'm governor I will do the same thing.
EVC
PHILLIPS: You asked the tough questions. So how's it looking for the general election?
ROBERTS: Yes, he's obviously got his talking points down. There's no question about that. He's got some problems when it comes to the general election.
When you look at how he's faring against Alex Sink, who is the Democratic nominee, she would poll in a general election, 41 percent. He would poll 44 percent. Where he's got some real problems though, favorability ratings. Only 28 percent of people see him favorably, 49 percent see him unfavorably. And then, of course, there's the intensity question, particularly important during a midterm election.
While Republicans seem to have more intensity in the primaries on Tuesday night, collecting 300,000 more votes than the Democrats did, when it comes to intensity in November, things may fall off a little bit for him. Democrats, 72 percent of them say they'll vote for Sink. Only 57 percent say they'll vote for Scott.
So it looks, Kyra, as though he's going to have to throw around a little more money in the Sunshine State if he hopes the win the general election on November 2.
PHILLIPS: Dig even deeper and deeper into those pockets. John, thanks.
Advice for the president. CNN viewers and readers weigh in telling President Obama what he needs to do to give his party a boost by the midterm elections.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A look at our top stories.
A German pop star has been found guilty of not telling sexual partners she's HUV positive and actually infecting one of her partners. A court handed her a suspended sentence.
Sex for sale on Craigslist. The web site not bowing to pressure to shut down its adult services section. Instead, Craiglist says it will work with the authorities to prevent misuse of its site. 17 state attorneys general are demanding the web site get rid of adult services saying its ads for prostitution victimize women and children.
(INAUDIBLE) of a salmonella outbreak linked to eggs may have surfaced weeks before the FDA sound a warning. According to "USA Today," state and federal health agencies Iowa's Wright County egg company as a likely source of illness back in July. But a recall decision wasn't made until two weeks later after the FBI investigation.
And who says you need a guitar or even Guitar Hero to totally rock out? Guitar isn't just for teen boys locked up in their rooms with that Led Zeppelin cranked. Anyone can compete in this air guitar championship in Finland. It's actually the 15th year. Let me tell you, too. These guys take their fake power cords and solos very seriously.
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PHILLIPS: Well, on top of that, the president's poll numbers are down and he's taking a verbal beating from a lot of people. CNN.com asked its readers to weigh in and give the president some advice on what he meds to do for the November midterm elections to help his party.
Josh Levs is here with suggestions - Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well you know it's in about 10 weeks now, Kyra. So it's interesting what happened.
We've been hearing from all these strategists on recent days on TV and CNN.com about what each side really needs to do leading up to those elections.
So now what CNN.com did was it reached out to you and it said, hey, what do you think each side should do, what are the big things? We have a team at CNN.com that went through some of your responses, culled (ph) the most popular ones.
Let's start off with key points for the president from readers on CNN.com. First of all, they're saying govern from the center. A lot of people saying that they believe that there could be more done on job creation. The president ignored some of the far left voices in his party and focused more from the center.
Tout accomplishments. A lot of people saying they don't feel that this president has gotten enough juice out of healthcare legislation passing and some other things that have happened since he has been in office. They say spend more time touting his own accomplishments.
Rise above partisan pretty much speaks for itself. A lot of people say this. I'm going to tell you more about that in a minute. And shake up the staff. Even some of the most ardent supporters of this president have been saying that they want some fresh faces in there as major players.
Now over on the other side, just an examples, we've polled the top Republicans in the House and the Senate -- Mitch McConnell and John Boehner right here. People on dot com saying, avoid far right commentators. Don't go by the far right commentators. Again, go more from the center.
Keep religion out. This is interesting. A lot of responses about what the Republicans should be doing, said, hey, keep religion separate from the concerns of politics. And I'll get to two more here. Be conservative but bipartisan speaks for itself. And we can end on this one right here, represent constituents, not party agenda.
Now, as we take a look at this, I am going to tell you, we often find that people like to say these things and unfortunately, you know, Kyra, you know the reality of politics. When it comes to voting, a lot of people in tend really are swayed by attacks and are swayed by a lot of the partisan stuff. When it comes to getting votes, it actually works. So, while there are a lot of people saying this now, let's see how it actually plays out in November at the box office, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Josh.
Did you say the box office?
LEVS: I said the box office How did I get the box office?
PHILLIPS: Do you want to tell us what's hot at the box office, too?
LEVS: OK, I tell you what, next hour.
PHILLIPS: OK, fabulous. Let me know because I'd like to see a movie this morning.
LEVS: You got it.
PHILLIPS: Or this weekend. See, I did it, too. It's the early hours.
Thanks, Josh. LEVS: I need my Red Bull. Bye.
PHILLIPS: All right. We're about to have a conversation about the Special Olympics and I want you to weigh in on it. Special Olympics is supposed to be all about inclusion. But we're asking why this wonderful organization has shut this teen girl out and denied her the chance to play on its basketball team.
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PHILLIPS: All right, we're about to have a conversation about the Special Olympics. And I want you to weigh in on this. Special Olympics is supposed to be all about inclusion.
But we're asking why this wonderful organization has shut this teen girl out and denied her the chance to play on its basketball team.
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PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about the Special Olympics this is an organization that's very close to my heart. And it's supposed to be all about inclusion. Giving kids with unique challenges the chance to compete, feel important and be inspired.
To feel like every other kid and if you don't know the motto, here it is. And it's pretty clear. "Let me win but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt". This is the organization that's supposed to say yes to every mentally and physically challenged kid and adult.
But it has said no to this athlete in Illinois. Seventeen-year- old Jenny Youngwith wanted to play basketball for her Special Olympics team. But it rejected her. Because of her service dog and the oxygen tank that he carries for her. Never mind the fact that she's already played hoops with Simba by her side for six years.
Let's have a conversation about this. Jenny and her mom, Janice, and Simba are with us from Chicago and so is their lawyer, Barry Taylor, because this case is now going to Federal Court.
So Jenny, tell me why you love basketball so much.
JENNY YOUNGWITH, ATHLETE: I love playing with my -- with my friends at school.
PHILLIPS: And how does it make you feel when you're on the basketball court and you're getting a chance to shoot hoops?
JENNY YOUNGWITH: It makes me feel happy when I'm playing with my friends at school.
PHILLIPS: And I hear you're a really good player. Would you agree?
I think that's a yes. Tell me about Simba and why Simba is so important to be with you and by your side?
That's ok, yes tell me about Simba. How old is he?
JENNY YOUNGWITH: He's six years old and he carries my oxygen tank.
PHILLIPS: And he -- he carries your oxygen tank. So he helps you keep breathing right?
JENNY YOUNGWITH: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And -- and tell me why you want to play for the Special Olympics. Why is that important to you, Jenny?
JENNY YOUNGWITH: Because I want to play with my friends.
PHILLIPS: Understandable.
Janice, this is an organization that is not supposed to say no to mentally and physically challenged kids. I mean, that's why the organization was created so -- so kids like Jenny would be able to participate in sports.
So when you found out that they said no, how did that make you feel and did it shock you?
JANICE YOUNGWITH, JENNY'S MOTHER: Shocking and baffling because we were never given a reason why, only that it's not appropriate. And Special Olympics, let me tell you, Kyra, it is a wonderful organization. We just want to be part of it.
PHILLIPS: And -- and Jenny was already playing at another program at North Wester -- or I guess at Northern Illinois University, right, she was playing for six years?
So why is the Special Olympics team so important to her? Because she is playing with a fabulous team already and she's a great player. Tell me why this is important?
JANICE YOUNGWITH: With Simba.
PHILLIPS: Oh I'm sorry I missed what you said. There is a little bit of a delay, Janice, so please repeat what you said.
JANICE YOUNGWITH: I said, that yes, she did play at Northern Illinois University and still does for about six years. She's also played for the past two years in her P.E. class at school with the same children that are in the Special Olympics program; the same building, the same facility and the same game.
PHILLIPS: And so tell us why it's important to her, and important to you and the family that she's able to participate in the Special Olympics as well.
JANICE YOUNGWITH: I think it's important to any child to belong and to feel a part of things, especially at your own high school. Jenny has been actually devastated by being excluded from this program and it was a shock to us and remains to be. We've reached out many times and eventually reached out to "Equip for Equality" to help us in this.
This has been a long, thoughtful process of almost a year now of trying to figure out why and what accommodations, if any, could be made.
PHILLIPS: And Barry, let me ask you. Special Olympics Illinois did give us a statement, and here's what it said. I want to get to you respond to this. "Regarding the use of the service animals and metal oxygen tanks by athletes during competitive sporting events, we hope the community will recognize Special Olympics Illinois must make decisions that take into account the safety and well being of all athletes participating in its sporting events and practices. Those familiar with our programs and philosophy know that Special Olympics Illinois regularly makes reasonable accommodations to permit individual athletes to compete safely with their teammates and competitors."
So what's so unsafe about the dog and the oxygen tank? And do you -- what do you feel about the -- how do you feel about this statement?
BARRY TAYLOR, ATTORNEY, EQUIP FOR EQUALITY: Well, we don't think there's anything that's unsafe about using the dog or the oxygen tank. The law requires for any exclusion of a person with a disability under the ADA to show specific medical evidence as to why you should exclude somebody.
As it was explained before, we haven't gotten any specific information, just that it's not appropriate. And we provided Special Olympics Illinois and the school district with a lot of information from coaches, from doctors, from all kinds of experts who say that Jenny can participate safely, and as you said before, she's participated safely in the past.
We don't know what's changed. She can participate safely and they're not giving us a reason why they don't think she can.
PHILLIPS: And Barry, aren't there other kids in other states that play with oxygen tanks in sports?
TAYLOR: There are. There's another person, another Special Olympics athlete in Montana who had participated safely. He has an oxygen tank of 20 pounds. Jenny's is only four. There's also a child who participated in baseball. There's a YouTube video of him running around the bases and sliding into home plate with his oxygen tank and no problems at all.
So I think this is just an overreaction and a knee-jerk reaction without really looking at the real facts that are involved in Jenny's case. As Janice said, she's participated safely for years and there's been no problem at all.
PHILLIPS: And -- and Janice, you know, I was even more shocked to hear about this because here in Atlanta, I'm involved with the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children. And there is a mom with a daughter who's suffering with a brain tumor, and she's got to be on oxygen as well. And her mom runs up and down the soccer field with her holding that oxygen tank so she can play soccer, and it's not even a Special Olympics team.
And I see you smiling because I have a feeling as a mom would you do the same exact thing. You would probably do whatever you needed to do so Jenny could do this.
JANICE YOUNGWITH: Kyra, that's exactly what I used to do until Simba came into our lives. She's been a true link to her independence. She's attached by what a five-foot chord to her life line, her oxygen. And I used to be the one carrying it or her aide at school. Now Simba does that. It's wonderful and for her independence, it's vital.
PHILLIPS: So what do you hope to achieve with this lawsuit Janice? Is this the only way you think you can get what your daughter deserves?
JANICE YOUNGWITH: I'm hoping for a speedy resolution, and I think from both Jenny's and my perspective, she just wants to play basketball with her friends at school.
TAYLOR: I think you mentioned Kyra --
PHILLIPS: Yes, Barry
TAYLOR: This was a lawsuit that was filed in haste. We tried to work this out collaboratively with the school district and Special Olympics and it was only until they wouldn't really respond at all appropriately that we filed the lawsuit.
PHILLIPS: Yes. Well, I understand why you did it. Jenny, do you have a favorite position?
JENNY YOUNGWITH: No.
PHILLIPS: Yes, go ahead, mom.
JANICE YOUNGWITH: Her brother, who claims to have taught her everything she knows, says she's excellent at free throws and getting really close to being pretty darn good at three-pointers.
PHILILPS: Ok. There we go, so the free throw and the three- pointers. Jenny that's what you're going to be able to do hopefully very soon. Does that sound good?
JENNY YOUNGWITH: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Ok. You stay strong, Jenny. We really, really appreciate you joining us. And Simba, what a well-behaved dog. My goodness. You have him so well trained. How could that guy be a safety issue to anybody?
PHLLIPS: Janice, Jenny, Barry, Simba, thank you to all four of you. We will definitely follow this case.
I want to know what you think. Go to my blog at CNN.com/Kyra and tell me. Do you think that the Youngwiths should just drop this whole thing or should the Special Olympics of Illinois accommodate Jenny? I'll read some of your comments next hour.
You expect your food to be safe but the big egg recall has a lot of people giving the stuff in their fridge a second thought. Coming up next hour -- a woman who almost died because she ate raw cookie dough. We're talking with her lawyer.
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