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Glimmer of Hopeful Job News; Scramble Over Food Safety; The Fury at FEMA; Katrina's Kids: 5 Years Later; Opry's Famed Wood Circle Restored
Aired August 26, 2010 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone.
Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories for Thursday, August 26th.
The new scramble over food safety. A half-billion recalled eggs point out Congress' do-nothing approach. It is part of CNN's day-long focus, "Food Fears."
Five years ago today, Hurricane Katrina taking furious aim at New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We focus on a region on the rebound.
And in Nashville, the circle is unbroken. A piece of the flooring from the original Grand Ole Opry stage is put back in place three months after historic flooding.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
So, let's do this -- let's start with a glimmer of hopeful job news after a wave of really grim economic reports.
The number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits actually fell last week. The Labor Department reporting 473,000 initial jobless claims. That is down 31,000 from a week earlier, and the first drop in four weeks.
Patricia Wu is at the New York Stock Exchange to break down the report for us.
And Patricia, 473,000 new claims, that's still a lot. But what does that number really mean? What does it represent?
PATRICIA WU, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's still a lot, but Wall Street is going to take this one as good news. It's the only positive data we've seen in a long time, so a bigger than expected drop in new claims, a step in the right direction.
Analysts say that the latest number supports the belief that the economy can avoid a double-dip recession. The problem is, as you said, Tony, that number is still very high. This chart shows the new claims since 2007, before the recession started. New claims were around 300,000. That's the sign of a healthy economy.
But then it peaked in 2009, when we were mired in the depths of the recession, to around 650,000. And then look at this year, no improvement. Claims have just been stubbornly hovering just under 500,000 for all of 2010 so far. So, we need claims to establish a declining trend for the unemployment rate to come down -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. And Patricia, just a few weeks ago, we were talking about corporate earnings and they were pretty good. But now, it begins to feel like the wheels have come off a bit again.
What are traders saying on the Street about the economy?
WU: Well, Tony, the mood has shifted. Even those who were optimistic are saying that we're in a slow patch.
Right now fear is guiding the market. Stocks are on track to post a third weekly lost, and analysts say -- some of them, anyway -- that we probably haven't seen the bottom yet.
Yes, companies are making money, but the problem is they're not spending it. They're still very cautious, so they're not hiring. And they probably won't spend as long as we get reports like the ones we have been getting this week in housing.
Existing home sales plunged 27 percent. New home sales hit a record low. Unemployment claims are still high, and tomorrow GDP is expected to be revised lower. And some say the market will take another significant drop then -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Patricia. Appreciate it. See you a little later in the hour. Thank you.
(NEWSBREAK)
HARRIS: Now, throughout the day, CNN NEWSROOM is putting your nation's food safety under the microscope. How safe is the food you eat?
We start with Josh Levs.
And Josh, who is responsible for making sure that the food supply in this country is in fact safe?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If there were only a simple answer to that, Tony, we would all be a lot happier, especially when it comes to eggs. And you can learn a lot about this at Eatocracy, which you'll see from the main page of CNN.com. In fact, the folks there are telling me they're thinking about renaming it "Eggtocracy" after everything we're talking about this week.
Let me break this down for you. I want you all to see where things stand with overseeing egg supplies in this country. There's two things to know. Boom.
First one is that the USDA, the Department of Agriculture, officially regulates raw meat, poultry and certain egg products. And then, at the same time, separately, you have the FDA, the Food & Drug Administration, that oversees all other foods, including dietary supplements and bottled water.
So, when it comes to egg products, you're kind of straddling these two different agencies. And this is what the problem is when it comes to food safety in America.
And coming up this hour, Tony, we're going to be getting some really helpful answers from a woman I actually learned about from reading Eatocracy with The Center for Science and the Public Interest. Listen to what she says here.
Ten years ago, the administration was talking about this. President Bill Clinton at the time said that he was going to take steps and the Congress would take steps to eliminate the threat of salmonella in the nation's egg supply.
It's 10 years later now, we're having this huge recall, people getting sick. So, what has happened? You've got congressional inaction, you've got a bill that's been sitting there for a long time, and you've got two agencies that are responsible for it, neither of which is equipped with adequate resources, funds, any of the basics to make sure that they can actually get it done.
A lot of big questions to get answered this hour.
HARRIS: Well, we're going to talk about legislation kind of stalled on Capitol Hill with Brianna Keilar a little later.
Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.
LEVS: You got it. Sure.
HARRIS: I've got to tell you, after being the punching bag during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, FEMA has a new disaster plan.
And Jacqui Jeras is following the ups and downs of Hurricane Danielle.
Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning.
Danielle a hurricane once again. Plus, we have Earl out there. And believe it or not, more tropical waves are trying to develop behind it.
We'll have the latest on the tropics.
Plus, good morning, Chicago. What a gorgeous day for you. Look at Michigan Avenue. It's 69 degrees and partly cloudy. It's my pick city of the day.
We'll have your nation's forecast coming up in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Snapshots of a disaster and a recovery still in progress. CNN.com teamed up with iReporters to put together a past meets present look at New Orleans, scenes right after the storm, the same scene in 2010. You're going to see it for yourself.
Log on to CNN.com/Katrina to see the Then and Now Project.
Got to tell you, no government agency bore the fury of Katrina and its victims like FEMA. Nothing, it seemed, went right.
Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve takes a look.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Tony, every single expert I spoke to said FEMA would do a better job if there were another major disaster. But has the agency improved enough? The answer to that is a little less clear.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWD: We want help! We want help.
MESERVE (voice-over): FEMA was the symbol of the inept and inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.
MESERVE: FEMA Director Michael Brown became a punch line; the agency, a punching bag.
On this anniversary, the new FEMA administrator has come to New Orleans to visit recovery projects.
(on camera): Are you hoping to refurbish FEMA's image to a certain degree?
CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, a lot of people worry about that. I'm more worried about, are we ready for the next disaster?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an efficiency improvement.
MESERVE (voice-over): Craig Fugate, Florida's former emergency manager, has attracted other seasoned professionals to his team, reversing the brain drain that left a quarter of FEMA jobs vacant when Katrina hit.
JAMES CARAFANO, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: They are nonpartisan, they want to get the job done. They have a sense of business practice reform and organizational reform. MESERVE: Then FEMA fumbled supply distribution. Now government investigators say that logistics planning has significantly improved. Then toxic trailers and shelter snafus turned evacuees into nomads. Now governments can share and update shelter information online.
Then many elderly and disabled were left in harm's way. Now special plans are in place for their evacuation. Then FEMA waited for state and local officials to ask for help. Now the agency is leaning forward anticipating what will be needed.
FUGATE: If we wait until we have a request it will be too late.
MESERVE: FEMA got high marks for its response to the Tennessee floods and other recent disasters. But a Homeland Security expert still has concerns.
STEVEN FLYNN, CENTER FOR NATIONAL POLICY: While FEMA has been improved, there's still a lot of keystone cops. There isn't really clarity across the federal government, who is responsible for what, once you get beyond the initial evacuation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Even Craig Fugate said the agency hasn't had a really big test, another Katrina, or something even larger, that would truly show if the agency is ready or not.
Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you.
You have joined our day-long coverage on food safety. You expect your dinner to be satisfying, not sickening. An expert says government is failing you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Paying parents to attend their child's school events? A Delaware school district wants to offer small stipends for showing up at everything from open houses to parent-teacher conferences.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL THOMAS, CAPITAL SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPT.: With the involvement of parents, kids, they achieve higher in school, they attend school better, they participate in all activities better. You know, behavior is generally better. It's just a more effective student in school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK BARNES, PARENT: I think it's absurd, you know, to even consider something like that. Parents have to rise up to the challenge. If you really feel like you want your kids to succeed, you'll do your part.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, this won't make him happy. A total of $15,000 is budgeted for the program. The money would come from federal Race to the Top funding. Payments to parents would actually be deposited into their child's college savings account.
And tune into CNN all next week for a special series on education. "Fix Our Schools" will focus on success.
And we want you, as always, to join the conversation. Tell us about the smallest things that are making a big difference in your school, parents and teachers. Tell us what you think it will take to fix our schools.
Contact us, of course, through Facebook and Twitter. And how about this? Go to our blog. It's always open for you, CNN.com/Tony.
An area the size of Florida under water. Dr. Sanjay Gupta puts the Pakistan disaster in perspective as he heads to the flood zone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So if you haven't heard about Eatocracy, you will today. It is the site on CNN.com that tells you all about food. And right now it really is all about eggs.
Josh is here, along with an expert, to talk about what it will take to better protect our food supply -- Josh.
LEVS: Yes. And Tony, this is something I was just telling you about minutes ago.
I want to introduce Caroline Smith DeWaal. She's director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Caroline, there you are. How you doing?
CAROLINE SMITH DEWAAL, DIRECTOR, FOOD SAFETY, CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: Hi, Josh. How are you?
LEVS: All right. Great. We've got you up and running.
Listen, I was very interested in what you wrote on Eatocracy, and you talk about, in your worlds, unscrambling, basically this web of food safety agencies.
Can you explain what the problem is in protecting the nation's egg supply right now? You have got two agencies. What do they do, what do they not do?
DEWAAL: Well, the problem with eggs has been around for about 20 years. And, in fact, we had solutions identified by really the mid to late 1990s. President Clinton even said they were going to solve the problem in 10 years' time. What happened next is that USDA and FDA were debating who was responsible for the hens that lay the eggs. It really got down to that level of discussion, even after a president had already decided the issue.
So, for eight years they debated this. We finally had a proposed rule in place in 2004, but it took until 2009 and after President Obama was in office before the regulation got finalized.
LEVS: OK. So that's the big picture.
Now, we'll tell our viewers that right now, the way it works with egg products is that the FDA and the USDA both have a role there. And what you write in your column -- and it's on CNN.com and on Eatocracy -- is you say that this is not the right way to go, it should all be under the FDA. And that in the meantime, you say the FDA needs the resources and the strength to actually get its job done.
What is missing from the FDA right now that is preventing that agency from watching out for all of the nation's egg supply?
DEWAAL: Well, the good news, Josh, is that they do have a strong regulation in place. But, you know, it's only good as the paper it's written on unless they have inspectors who are regularly visiting those facilities to make sure they're complying.
There's legislation in the Senate, right before the Senate right now, that would give FDA mandatory inspection frequency for these facilities. It would also give them mandatory recall authority and civil and criminal penalties. That's in the House bill, but we expect it to be in legislation that goes to the president.
LEVS: OK. But even still, you are talking about legislation, which is also a piece of paper. What you want to see -- even if it does go through, it's still just going to be on paper.
What you want to see -- and I'm looking at the words here -- you say inspectors from the FDA had not even visited either of the two egg farms implicated in the current outbreak. You want to see something forcing, right, something ensuring that federal inspectors will go to all of the major plants on some sort of a regular basis.
Make it really practical. How often do they need to be there? What do they need to do to keep the nation's egg supply safe?
DEWAAL: We think that high-risk facilities, including these egg plants, should be visited every six to 12 months. That's critically important if we're going to see improvements in egg safety, in spinach safety, in peanut butter, and lots of these food products that have caused outbreaks in recent years.
LEVS: OK. And you think that if that's in place, and that would actually do what it takes to protect the nation's egg supply, we wouldn't see this ever again, in your view?
DEWAAL: We might see it occasionally, but it wouldn't get so big. And it's critically important that Congress act quickly.
LEVS: Well, these were just the kind of answers we were looking for from your point of view.
Caroline Smith DeWaal, thank you so much for joining us today.
HARRIS: Good stuff.
LEVS: And Eatocracy, Tony, I will tell you, it's part of CNN.com. Now it's packed with information about finding the safe eggs right now.
HARRIS: That's good stuff. All right, Josh. Thank you.
LEVS: You got it.
HARRIS: In just a couple of minutes, Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar reports on the politics of food safety. And of course you can get more information on all things food by clicking on to eatocracy.cnn.com.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: More monsoon rain threatens to add to the flooding misery in Pakistan today. The death toll has reached at least 1,600.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, talked about the scope of the disaster from Islamabad on his way to the flood zone.
Here is part of his report from CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This has been going on for some time, really almost a month now. But the amount of water now covering really the south, the southeastern part of the country, it's 20 percent of the country, Anderson, under water, three to five feet.
To give you a little bit of perspective, we were thinking about this. If you take a look at a couple maps here, it's like the size of Florida, Anderson, like as if the entire state was suddenly under water -- schools, roads, entire communities, hospitals. It's remarkable to think about the numbers you said, 1,600 dead.
But, Anderson, as you know, having covered natural disasters like this, that number right now really doesn't mean anything. I don't even know how they begin to count the overall mortality impact from this particular amount of water.
They talk about, you know, at least 800,000 people right now stranded, meaning that nobody can get to them. And again, this has been going on for close to a month now, getting them the most basic supplies. They're surrounded by water, but it is contaminated water. And they're at real risk for a significant disease.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Boy, to a clear patch -- oh, sorry. My apologies. I didn't know that that had ended that way.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, food safety legislation stalled in Congress. But some California farmers are not waiting for lawmakers to act. Find out what they're doing to make your salad safe.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Turning now to a food safety success story.
After an E. coli outbreak hit lettuce farms in California, the industry decided to work together to raid the bar on food safety.
CNN's Dan Simon joining us live now from the lettuce fields.
Dan, what did the farmers do specifically? And where are you exactly?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tony.
We are in "America's Salad Bowl." This is California's Salinas Valley. It has this nickname because so much of America's lettuce and spinach comes from this area.
And you can see these workers behind me harvesting some red lettuce. This is prime harvest season here in the Salinas Valley.
And Tony, you talked about what happened in 2006. They had this major spinach scare. Hundreds of people became ill across the country, three people died. And what that did is it caused the industry here -- they call it the leafy greens industry -- to take a very close look at itself.
And what it did is it wanted to figure a way to raise the safety bar. They had no government oversight in the past. And so what they did is the industry came together and they came up with what they call the LGMA, the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, and what called for was a uniform set of regulations that the entire industry would follow.
And they also said to the government, we want you to come in here and we want you to look at what we're doing and audit us. And by all accounts, it's been a success.
We talked to one farmer who told us that it has made him more cautious here in the fields. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Do you feel the industry has been rehabilitated as a result of the organization?
JESS QUINLAN, SABOR FARMS: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think it's been great. Food safety is allowed us to transcend our differences. In any industry, there's a lot of competitiveness. But because of food safety, everybody's on board because everybody feels that this is the most important thing out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: So, Tony, this LGMA system that they have in place, it's sort of become a model for the rest of the country. As a matter of fact, the Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, he was out here last week touring the fields, talking to the workers. And this has become sort of a symbol of the way private and public companies can get together and figure out a way to make the food supply safer. And it may spread across the country. Who knows.
HARRIS: Yes. And, you know, Dan, feels like a success story but I guess one of the things you have to do is measure this thing.
What kind of results have we seen so far?
SIMON: I guess the best thing to look at is, has there been a major scare since 2006 when had you that spinach scare? And they really hasn't been anything of huge significance.
Now, let's be honest here. It's not a perfect system. You know, any one of us could get into a car accident when we drive. But, really, what it is, it's really common sense. You know, when you look at society and you think about some of the things that we did in the past, like smoking on airplanes, for example, or when people didn't wear seat belts, you say to yourself, that didn't make sense. We don't do those things anymore.
Well, in this particular situation, you have people coming into the fields to make sure they're operating in a safe manner. It's something that makes perfect sense and they weren't doing it before and now they are.
HARRIS: Yes, yes. It does make sense. And it probably makes good business sense, too.
Dan Simon for us. Dan, appreciate it. Good to see you, sir. Thank you.
Let's talk about the politics of food safety now.
Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar joining us from Capitol Hill.
Brianna, let's take a few minutes here. I've got a bunch of questions for you and I want to work through all of them. There is and has been legislation to better protect the food supply working its way through Congress. Now, that will come as news to a lot of us.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. A lot of people might not have paid attention to this, Tony, but they certainly are in the midst of this egg crisis, and that including members of Congress.
This would be the first major rewrite of food safety law in about 70 years, if you can believe that. The House has actually already passed a bill. The Senate is expected to really take this up when they return from their recess here in September. Maybe September, maybe October, they'll deal with this.
But certainly this huge egg contamination crisis has really kind of lit a fire under this issue, and Congress realizes they need to do something about it, Tony.
HARRIS: So, Bri, what's in the bill?
KEILAR: There are number of things and obviously the House and Senate bill are different. But overall, here's sort of what it does. It would give the FDA direct recall power.
You may not realize the FDA doesn't have this. The only thing they can directly recall themselves is baby food and then they have to have industries going along with recalling their own stuff. It would also put in place more food inspections.
Right now FDA inspectors may inspect a food producer only once every several years. It would increase that. And also, there would be better tracking of food borne illness, but also contaminated products so that they could come off the shelves more quickly. All of these things I know consumers are probably looking and going, OK, I see how that affects me. But the House bill is a lot harder on the industry when it comes to oversight and enforcement. The Senate bill is a little softer. So there are some big differences here that would still need to be reconciled.
HARRIS: So Bri, what are the big hang-ups in passing a food safety bill in the past, as you know is opposition from the industries that produce the food. We don't need any more regulation. It's going to be too expensive. We have to pass on the cost of that to consumers.
What's changed here?
KEILAR: Well you heard they feel differently. You heard that in Dan Simon's report. And it has to.
I think a really good example is this. With that 2006 spinach e. Coli scare, it only affected fresh spinach, right?
HARRIS: Right.
KEILAR: And yet we were talking to a consumer advocate who said the frozen spinach market still has not recovered. These food industries have been hit very hard economically and some feel like there are bad actors that are giving the industry as a whole a bad name and they think that these regulations would make consumers feel better. And the bottom line is that they're going to be protecting not just the consumer, but their bottom line, the money they're making.
HARRIS: Yes, absolutely. I think I've got time for maybe one more. I know there's a Democratic senator who was trying to get a BPA ban into the bill, that's the chemicals in plastics, right?
KEILAR: That's right.
HARRIS: And that it didn't happen. It is a big concern, as you know, because it's been in baby bottles and the sippy cups.
Is that provision totally dead?
KEILAR: Yes. And this something that will concern a lot of new parents because when they're buying all of those bottles for their first baby, is there BPA in it? They don't want the BPA in it. Or, if you drink out of a jug like this.
Senator Dianne Feinstein wanted this in the underlying bill. She didn't get it. It's very controversial. The chemical industry is opposed to it, but we are expecting that she's going to have a vote on an amendment to include this BPA ban. It's really one of those wait and see what happens. We don't know exactly if that's going to be pushed through in the Senate.
HARRIS: OK. Good stuff. Our Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar for us.
Brianna, good to see you. Thank you.
We go down on the farm in Iowa next hour. A live look at the many safeguards in egg production. And remember, get more information on all things food by logging onto eatocracy.CNN.com.
Five years ago, hurricane Katrina was barreling toward the Gulf Coast. What was it like for a child to go through that terrible storm? And how are they doing today?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on top stories now.
The number of people filing new claims for unemployment insurance fell to 473,000 last week, breaking a three-week trend. But better than expected results. Last week, the number of first time filers spiked to more than 500,000.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to meet today with a taxi driver who says he was stabbed by a passenger after being asked if he was Muslim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMED H. SHARIF, NEW YORK CAB DRIVER: (INAUDIBLE) when I see the knife (INAUDIBLE) right here. Otherwise this hit - this is all I got (INAUDIBLE) and you see this on my neck? And then again he (INAUDIBLE) then I'm trying to hold him and I'm telling him, please do not kill me. I'm a very hard work. I work very hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Five years ago, CNN's Soledad O'Brien followed several children coping with the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. We're about to find out how they're doing today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Experiencing one of the nation's worst natural disasters through the eyes of a child. That is what CNN's Soledad O'Brien and filmmaker Spike Lee set the to do when they gathered their children of the storm. Today we check in on some of these young adults.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPIKE LEE, DIRECTOR: Now you see we have a very diverse group here and you're each going to be given a camera.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three years ago, we gave kids in New Orleans a chance to document their lives in the aftermath of Katrina.
O'BRIEN: Our children of the storm pointed their cameras at friends, family members, and themselves to capture the long road to recovery. Amanda Hill lived in one of the worst hit areas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I live in St. (INAUDIBLE) Parish. I live in a FEMA trailer with my grandma. I live with my grandma because my mom died when I was 11.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm opening a letter from FEMA saying that we have to try to move out of this trailer. They're trying to get us out of here to be put in the house and the house is not even livable. It's not even ready to live in.
O'BRIEN: The effects of the storm were taking a toll on her grandmother's health.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm scared that I'm going to lose her and she's all I have. All I could say was it's going to be OK, but I don't think it is.
If God's will and the creek doesn't rise again, May 2012, I'll graduate from LSU HSC School of Nursing. I'm pretty excited about that. My grandma's still working and I'll let her retire when I graduate. I'll take care of her now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, sir, if you can hear me, we are marching because the violence has gone too far.
O'BRIEN: When we met Deshaun Dabney (ph), he was a high school senior fighting against the crime and violence infecting his city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senseless acts of violence are murdering our teenagers.
I don't want to be dead at 15 when I have a whole life to live. I have dreams. I want to be this huge entertainer. This is my high school diploma. My grandmother actually died a few months before my graduation, so when I walked across the stage and received this, it was pretty much in honor of her. So, Grandma, this is for you.
I've been trying to live out my dream with the whole theater thing. I'm actually a theater arts major here at the Duli (ph) University. And I've been pushing to get the big role. Still haven't gotten that big, huge one yet, but the train is going to keep going like, up, up, and up, like, you know, some stairs. So hopefully that will happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You wouldn't believe that man looks just like his daddy. I'm too proud.
O'BRIEN: And then there was Brandon Franklin, our 19-year-old father trying to get his music career off the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now who we have here is I'm going to say my second daddy. I can't even call him a band director. He's my second daddy named Mr. Wilbert Rawlings (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was trained since the eighth grade. He wanted to be a band director. He told me that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you think life's going to turn out now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How good?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, there's so many people that are missing Brandon Franklin right now. It's ridiculous. Brandon came into our lives. He not only touched my life. He touched so many other people's lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Earth to earth, ashes to ashes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This nice guy lost his life due to the same violence I was fighting and still am fight today. It's just terrible.
(END VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN: Amanda and Deshaun both said that they feel more prepared than maybe other young people their age to face what the world has in store for them because they've been through Katrina, which I guess in some ways is a little bit of a silver lining. They feel if they could make it through Katrina, they can make it through whatever the world throws at them next.
As for Brandon, Brandon was killed by a young man who -- Brandon had broken up with his girlfriend and the girlfriend invited him to come over to please change the locks on his door. The young man she had just broken up with came by, told Brandon, listen you can get out if here, you're not of this. Brandon refused to leave the young woman alone with the guy and he was shot.
The young man who shot Brandon ended up turning himself into the police a little bit later. So, as much as there is a tremendous stories of recovery, violence in the city still is, you know, a big challenge here.
HARRIS: That's shocking. I didn't see that coming, Soledad. My goodness.
O'BRIEN: We loved that kid. I tell you, it was shocking to us.
HARRIS: Can I ask you just what it's like to be back in that city five years since?
O'BRIEN: You know, I've been here a lot.
I probably come 20 times a year anyway because my best friend lives here and I do a lot of events in the City of New Orleans, so I've seen a slow progress and it's sometimes really painfully slow. It's nice to be back because it feels with K-5, what they call here, Katrina plus Five, people are looking for a milestone of we've made progress, a ways to go, but I think people are feeling optimistic. It certainly feels that way in the streets today. Crowded with tourists again and looking really good. It's really hopeful.
HARRIS: Folks at home didn't see it but we've been watching and folks have been coming up and greeting you. It's good to see people out there on the streets and living their lives again in New Orleans.
Soledad, good to see you.
O'BRIEN: People riding by on their bikes holding tubas, you know, kind of the way it is in New Orleans.
HARRIS: All right, Soledad. And as always, good to see you.
New Orleans is known, of course, for its music. Following Katrina, musicians from all over the world came to the Crescent City.
Here is Branford Marsalis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRANFORD MARSALIS, HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: Hi, I'm Branford Marsalis, and we can make an impact by rebuilding New Orleans.
I got involved with Habitat for Humanity through Harry Connick Jr. What Habitat for Humanity does is provide low-income families with affordable housing. The Musicians Village is in the upper ninth word of New Orleans. We are currently in the process of building the Ellis Marsalis (ph) Education Center for Music, for everyone in the neighborhood.
Join the movement. Impact your world. CNN.com/impact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's do this, let's get a market check for you very quickly here.
Big Board, New York Stock Exchange, you can see we're in negative territory. I thought we might get a little bounce with the better- than-expected numbers for new claims, new unemployment claims, first- time claims, but here we go, we're trading negatively. We're down 29 points and the Nasdaq is down three, let's call it flat for now.
We'll follow these numbers throughout the day. Maybe we'll get a bounce, here on the CNN NEWSROOM.
Serving coffee and living with a law degree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of my customers were like, what are you doing here? Did you go to law school? And I was like yes. And they were like, did you pass the bar? And I'm like yes. Well, what are you doing here?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: You're going to see what life is like for thousands of those who graduated in this recession. "College Grad Blues" airs tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. Eastern right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And our focus on food safety takes us to an egg farm in Iowa. Casey Wian live in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Plus, five years after Hurricane Katrina, strong signs of progress across the entire Gulf Coast and you can thank volunteers, more than a million of them. We will talk with a man who is coordinating efforts to rebuilding a refurbish homes in the storm zone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So let's work in another reminder for you here.
Tune in to CNN NEWSROOM all next week for a special series on education, "FIX OUR SCHOOLS." We'll focus on success. And, of course, we want to hear from you, we want you to join the conversation. Tell us about the small thing that are making a big difference in your school. Parents and teachers, tell us what you think it will take to fix our schools. And you can contact us through Facebook or Twitter or our blog page, CNN.com/Tony. That's all next week, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
A piece of country music history is back on display. The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville was extensively damaged by flooding in May. Now a beloved piece of its stage is restored.
Josh Divine of our affiliate WSMB has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRAD PAISLEY, COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST (singing): Will the circle be unbroken by and by --
JOSH DIVINE, WSMB REPORTER (voice-over): The song itself was short and sweet, but the sentiment is long overdue.
PAISLEY: This is the first step towards normalcy, think.
(APPLAUSE)
DIVINE: Today, Grand Ole Opry members, Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens welcomed the famed center stage circle back to its rightful place.
JIMMY DICKENS, COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST: I don't think it's ever looked this good before. And I'm just wondering now what it's going to look like when it's finished. It's going to be beautiful.
DIVINE: On May 2nd, floodwaters filled the Opry, damaging everything, it seemed, except the six-foot circle. Those who showed up to help grabbed it first and mourned the rest.
PAISLEY: Oh my goodness. I have never seen it like this.
DIVINE: Paisley was there just days after the flood.
PAISLEY: It felt like watching your church be demolished. It just felt that sacred and that wrong somehow. And to see them take this to this degree and make it this much more beautiful in the end, I mean, it's going to be ten times better than it was.
DIVINE (on camera): This circle might just be a small part of the Opry's multimillion-dollar recovery, but easily it's the most significant part, pointing both to the Opry's past and now to its future.
MAYOR KARL DEAN, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: This is a great iconic institution and this is a great moment.
The Grand Ole Opry is a great contributor to our history and our identities. And having it restored and operating will be a great boost for the city.
DIVINE (voice-over): The Opry will celebrate September 28th. The lengthy lineup includes Trace Atkins, The Charlie Daniels Band, Mel Tilles (ph), Josh Turner, Paisley and Dickens.
As of tonight, the circle is unbroken and back center stage, and the best of what Music City offers the world will soon follow.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
