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New Orleans Continues Recovery From Hurricane Katrina; Glenn Beck Holds Rally at Lincoln Memorial; Financial Adviser Talks Finances in Relationships; Architect Builds Revolving Room in Hong Kong; Superdome Successfully Refurbished after Hurricane Katrina

Aired August 28, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Couples having candid conversations about money. Not very romantic, but getting financially naked could be key to a strong relationship. Details straight ahead.

Dogs and squirrels are natural enemies, but don't tell that to this Chihuahua. This story in today's viral videos coming at 3:00 Eastern time.

And then at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, a chilling look at this week's new movies.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM where news unfolds live this Saturday, August 28th. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with Katrina, the long road back. Five years ago this weekend, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast. It flooded entire neighborhoods of New Orleans. The levees failed, and promises were made that it could never happen again.

Our Jeanne Meserve is in New Orleans where many people living in the shadow of those levees are still not convinced.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, $14 billion was spent to refurbish -- is being spent to rebuild these levees, walls, pumping stations. But despite all that money and despite the fact the officials say the city is favor than before, some people near the levees are skeptical.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The long road back from Hurricane Katrina has brought Sonja Hill here to one of the handful of houses rebuilt where the industrial floodwall gave way.

SONJA HILL, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I'm looking at that wall and thinking what if that breaks again. What if it breaks in front of the door and I'm in here with my kids? I don't feel safe here if a hurricane comes through.

MESERVE: Sonja says she can't afford to live somewhere else. But Roy Arrigo doesn't want to move. His house is 17 feet from the where the 17th canal floodwall fell. MESERVE (on camera): This the same kind of wall that failed.

ROY ARRIGO, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: Yes, it is.

MESERVE: Is that scary?

ARRIGO: Yes, it is. This is a fragile wall.

MESERVE (voice-over): Arrigo is angry at the Army Corps of Engineers and blames it for the destruction of the city.

ARRIGO: We see the work and told about the progress and can we trust it. To be quite honest, I don't think we can.

MESERVE: In the Genteelly neighborhood near the London Avenue canal breach, Willean Brown believes the engineering isn't what matters.

WILLEAN BROWN, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: If you want to tear down a building, wherever, how high, 25, 30 feet, it can knock it down with its power.

MESERVE: Her faith makes her feel safe here. Not her sister Callie.

CALLIE BROWN, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I had to give the government the benefit of the doubt that the walls are going to hold. I try. That doesn't mean it's going to work.

MESERVE: For Callie Brown and many others, the shadow cast by the levees is long and dark.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Now, we did talk to some people who have confidence in what officials are telling them. But every person who we talked to said if a big storm is headed towards this city, they are headed out of town. Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: Jeanne Meserve, that you so much. Appreciate that.

Let's move to the nation's capital where today there were two very different rallies taking place, all taking place on this 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech.

One was being led by conservative talk show host Glenn Beck. That taking place at the Lincoln Memorial and another being led by the Reverend Al Sharpton taking place quite a few blocks away at a high school. It is being called a march, a march that will make its way to the future site of the Martin Luther King Memorial.

Let's begin with the rally that has just ended just a few moments ago at the Lincoln Memorial. That's a political producer Shannon Travis is joining us now to give us an idea of the high points of that location. Then we'll be going to Sara Lee, who is still at Dunbar high school where the march will be under way. Let's begin with you, Shannon.

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: That march may be getting under way, but the music and speeches here have just stopped pretty much. Many people are filing out but they are taking back with them the message from today. That message was not about politics, it was definitely about restoring hope in what they see is a nation that's sliding in terms of hope.

Restoring hope, unity, equality -- you can see now some of the people filing out. The crowd is thinning out right now. But at its fullest, this crowd stretched from the beginning of the Lincoln Memorial all the way back past the reflecting pool, back towards the Washington Monument.

So there were definitely a lot of people, I spoke with a lot of people and said, hey, did you get out of this rally of sorts, this honor rally, this rally to restore honor, did you get out of it what you wanted, and a lot of people told me yes.

We saw a smattering of political signs, tea party activists with flags saying don't tread on me. They were definitely in the minority. They definitely heeded Glenn Beck and the organizer's message to stay away from political signs.

WHITFIELD: Shannon Travis, appreciate that, thanks so much.

We also understand throughout the rally today, Glenn Beck also used quite a bit of video and also paraphrased Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech. Can you give an idea whether the king foundation found that acceptable given the copyright issues over Martin Luther King's words?

TRAVIS: There's no way to tell their immediate reactions to snippets of Martin Luther King's writings and speeches used. We can tell you leading up to this event they were outraged. Some people even said that Glenn Beck was trying to hijack Dr. Martin Luther King's dream.

Definitely they stood by their embrace of Martin Luther King's message today, through using some of the writings, some of the speeches. So definitely there are a lot of people outraged on this day 47 years ago, the day where we had the "I have a dream speech," that he's using this venue on this day, but there was no running away from that for Glenn Beck or any of the organizers.

WHITFIELD: Shannon, thank you there on the national mall.

Meantime, not too far away Dunbar in northeast Washington, that's where we find Sarah Lee. She's been covering the event taking place there being led by the Reverend Al Sharpton. He says this is not a rally, instead this is a march.

So Sarah, have they already started to make their way to what will eventually be that historic monument from Martin Luther King? All right, I have a feeling she can't hear me there. We're going to try to reestablish connection there with Sarah Lee at Dunbar high school and give you an idea what's taking place involving Reverend Sharpton's march.

Meantime a civil rights legend weighs in on today's rallies, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. We've been covering two dramatically different rallies, one by Glenn Beck, the other by civil rights activist Al Sharpton. Both rallies being held on this 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a Dream" speech.

CNN's Sarah Lee is at the Sharpton march at the Dunbar high school. I said "march" because Reverend Sharpton said this is not a rally, this is a march, one that will end up in the location where the historic site where Martin Luther King will eventually be erected, correct?

SARAH LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They just wrapped up speakers here. They ran a little long. They were hoping to get the march started at 1:00 eastern, so just a little late.

You can see the last of the crowd filing out of the Dunbar high school. They were on the football field earlier. At its peak, crowds on this half and on the track were shoulder to shoulder.

Now they are going to take the three and a half approximate miles to the future site of the Martin Luther King memorial. There were a whole host of speakers representing members of the community, the religious community members, the clergy, educators as well as civil rights leaders and community leaders.

There was only one direct mention of the other rally that was going on, the large rally that was going on today over at the Lincoln Memorial hosted by conservative talk show radio Glenn Beck by the Morehouse College president, Dr. Martin Luther king's alma mater, he made a reference to Glenn Beck, and then the Reverend Al Sharpton himself.

He urged the crowd here as they go along this march to the Martin Luther King memorial, which is going to pass by the Lincoln Memorial to not pay attention to hecklers, to just smile at them, he said. He said do not walk up on each other's heels. Keep your eyes on the prize. Here is a little bit more what he told the crowd assembled here earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: They told me that others are going to be at the mall, and they are going to be standing where Dr. King stood. Well, they may have the mall, but we have the message. They may have the platform, but we have the dream.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: So of interest to point out, Fred, is that while the Glenn Beck rally was taking place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, this rally or this gathering was here at Dunbar high school, which historically was a segregated school for high-achieving African- American students.

Also along with Reverend Sharpton earlier today we heard from the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who was talking about closing the education gap. We had here issues of race that were discussed, criminal justice as well as closing the education gap, reclaiming the dream, they were saying, reclaiming the dream of educational standards in the United States.

So this march should take them an hour or so to get over to the future site of MLK Memorial where Martin Luther King III will address the crowd, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Sarah Lee, thank you for joining us from the nation's capital. Appreciate that.

Joining us live not from either one of the events in the capital but from Las Vegas today one of Dr. King's former aides and ambassadors, Andrew Young. Good to see you, ambassador.

So you were there 47 years ago. And as you reflect on this day remembered from Martin Luther king delivering his "I have a Dream" speech, what were your thoughts there would be these very differ events taking place in the nation's capital today?

ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER U.N. AMBASSADOR: Well, I think that we have to remember the first part of Dr. King's speech was America had presented the negro with a bad check. This was an economic speech.

But I think the other thing we have to remember is this movement, that was not just a speech, but I can remember hearing Thurgood Marshall talking about how the constitution had to change to ensure the rights of black people. And so right on through Montgomery, Selma -- Selma was later -- but the issue was how to make the government work for all of our citizens.

I think the issue here is a little different. I think it's the confusion about what the issues are. The issue is no longer primarily political. It's an economic problem we're facing now, and it's an economic problem you don't need to blame on either the Democrats or the Republicans.

I would say it started back in 1973 when we ended what was called the Bretton Woods agreement that created a fair economy for the whole world. Oil was $3 a barrel then. In six months it was $30 a barrel and went on.

Then the other thing was in the second term of President Clinton, we changed something called Regulation Q and the Glass-Stegall Act. Those three events are the events that helped shape our present day economy. They I think caused the housing crisis. I think they caused the imbalance in the banking situation.

And so I think the previous panel you had on with Ali Velshi and the others.

WHITFIELD: And King.

YOUNG: -- talking about economics, yes, I think that you all are on the issue there. What we're seeing, I think, is a march of people who really feel frustrated and confused, and they want to blame somebody, but they don't know who to blame and they don't really understand the predicament we're in.

WHITFIELD: So then does it bother you that this day would be used as a backdrop in which to have that discussion or to voice concerns or those frustrations?

YOUNG: No, it doesn't concern me because I wish somehow they had been able to get together.

But the Beck rally, as I understand it from your reports, by and large was talking about the restoring of honor. I'm all for that. I'm all for supporting our troops.

But I think we still have to ask why are our troops player, what is it that caused them to be there? How long are we going to keep them there, and what is the cost to America.

One of Dr. King's major issues was could we have guns and butter. That was over the war in Vietnam. We survived that. We worked through that. We realize now that we probably could have gotten along with Vietnam without a war. We're doing very well with Vietnam right now as a result of diplomatic and economic relations.

Can we every get to the place where we can do the same with Iraq and Afghanistan? These are the questions I think we need to be thinking about.

But in the meantime, the world, the nation and everybody is frustrated, wanting to blame somebody. I don't think there's anybody to blame. I think we all were born into this situation.

And one of the messages Dr. King had was we don't need to blame our white brothers for their condition. They were born white. We were born black. We're not trying to blame. We're trying to solve the situation. And we can do that if we can learn to live together as brothers before we perish together as fools.

WHITFIELD: Ambassador Andrew Young, thanks so much for your time coming to us from Las Vegas today. Appreciate it.

All right, finances, not exactly a romantic topic. We're going to be talking about economics in a very different way now. Experts say committed couples need to talk about money to actually maintain a healthy relationship. So find out exactly what issues you need to cover as a couple, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories now. On this fifth verse of Hurricane Katrina, new trouble in the Atlantic. Hurricane Danielle is expected to brush past Bermuda and head north. The U.S. East Coast bracing for dangerous surf. Tropical storm Earl could become a hurricane later today. It's too early to know where it might be heading as yet.

And President Barack Obama ends his vacation tomorrow and heads to New Orleans. He'll take part in ceremonies marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The first family has been on vacation this week in Martha's Vineyard.

And unrest at California's Folsom State prison. Guards fired shots at inmates to stop what's being called a major riot. The riot which broke out last night in the prison's main yard involved about 200 inmates. Seven of them were injured. It's not clear exactly what triggered the violence.

And when you find your true love, discussing money probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind. But financial expert Manisha Thakor says maybe it should be. She's the co-author of the book "Get Financially Naked" and she joins us live from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Good to see you, Manisha.

MANISHA THAKOR, PERSONAL FINANCE ADVISER: Great to be here.

WHITFIELD: When exactly does a couple start talking about money?

THAKOR: So I like to say if you're willing to take your clothes off one way, you should be willing to take your clothes off with each other financially speaking. In a more literal sense, what that means is when you find the person you think is the one, people are looking for the can't miss investment, and I'm here to tell you it's talking about money with your honey.

WHITFIELD: That's cute. First off you've got to talk about what kind of money honey may be bringing in, what are the salaries involved and how eventually that might be divvied up.

THAKOR: Exactly. Fredricka, this balance of who is bringing what to a relationship has really shaken up. I think we're at a tipping point. Forty percent of women are now breadwinners in their family. Working moms, two-thirds are breadwinners, co-breadwinners.

So the traditional gender divides about who is making what is thrown up in the air. We need a new way to talk to each other about this.

WHITFIELD: Wow, so I guess there needs to be common ground. If, you know, the woman is making the most money, that means perhaps she's going to be paying most of the bills, right? You may want to advocate both parties paying bills and one is making a whole lot more than other, how do I split up the ratio of the bill paying, right?

THAKOR: Fredricka, you've nailed it. There's not a right or wrong solution. The key is to discuss it. There are a couple of different options you have. One is to pay proportionally. If the household income is $100,000, one person is making $70,000, the other person making $30,000, you might want to have the person making $70,000 feels 70 percent of the bills.

If that's too clinical, that's OK. You could trade. You could alternate who pays for different bills. The key if you have disparate incomes, however, and you continue to split 50-50 without talking about it, tensions can build up that the hurt your relations over the long run.

WHITFIELD: And then the same thing would go before the two of you come together under one rooftop one owns the home, the other one may be renting. When the other person moves into the home with a mortgage, does that mean there's still going to be rent involved, paying rent, or contribution made?

THAKOR: Right. How unromantic does that sound? I love you honey, move in, and now pay me rent.

Logistically speaking, if you think about it, this is what I advise couples, if the person who is moving into the home would be paying about the same or less than they would if they were renting on their own and they are not interested in owning their own home by themselves right away, it makes sense.

The thing I worry about, Fredricka, is when I see couples move in and the non-homeowner contributing to capital improvements in the home, and then the relationship splits up, you lose your sweetie and the investment you made in the home.

WHITFIELD: What about co-signing, buying a car together or buying a property together, that whole co-signing thing?

THAKOR: Yes. So this one is coming up more and more because credit standards are so tight oftentimes people need co-signers. And what I say is, love may not last forever, but that co-signing will. So don't do it unless you are absolutely willing to pick up the full obligation of the debt you are co-signing on.

WHITFIELD: If they lose the job --

THAKOR: That's what you've agreed to do, exactly.

WHITFIELD: So as you come together, you bring your families together. What happens when a family member wants to borrow some money, wants to borrow something which is an asset or has capital asset, what do you do?

THAKOR: We are floating around with unemployment above nine percent, which is a very common and very sticky scenario. So I think it boils down to how you as a couple have decided to handle your money.

If you have joint funds, then I believe you both should talk about it and it should be a joint decision. If you have separate funds, I think as long as party a helping their family does not affect party b, in other words, if it goes wrong that party b becomes the financial back-up plan, then party a has complete right and reasonable grounds to make that decision.

But it really comes down to talking about it, which is the thing -- it's the pink elephant in the bedroom. People don't want to talk about family members needing help.

WHITFIELD: You talked about the whole co-signing thing, but say one of you loses your job. Then what?

THAKOR: So the first and the biggest mistake I see here, Fredricka, is couples continuing to spend money as if they had two incomes because it's embarrassing and it hurts your ego and it's gut wrenching to go through this.

And so as tough as it is, the first conversation you need to have is what expenses can we cut down on, what changes can we make, because you only have two levers to keep your finances going, earn more or spend less.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then before you get to that point, maybe you both still have a job, there's signs there may be money trouble. Somebody is not handling finances right. What are the signs? What do you look for? How do you know?

THAKOR: This may be counter-intuitive but I found it amazingly accurate. Fredricka, I watch people and how they pay bills. I mean that in public places. Say you're in a restaurant and the bill comes. I find individuals who throws down the credit card, doesn't even look at the bill, typically is the one in financial distress.

Financially responsible people at least check, make sure they didn't get the other table's bill, weren't charged for three bottles of wine when they only ordered one.

Another thing I notice is attitude towards luxury items and how much home or car they have in relation to their income. If there are disparities there, those can be classic red flags.

WHITFIELD: Wow, all right. Follow the money, honey. I kind of like that line you gave at the top. Manisha Thakor, thanks so much. Good to see you. And hopefully we'll keep couples together as they keep finances in check thanks tower free advice today. Appreciate it.

And of course we're going to be catching up with three people who become household names, not necessarily for all the best reasons, in the weeks and months following Hurricane Katrina. What are Michael Brown, Kathleen Blanco, and Ray Nagin up to these days? We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We're looking back at Hurricane Katrina this weekend, five years after it attacked the Gulf coast and left a path of destruction from Gulfport, Mississippi to New Orleans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it was the single most catastrophic natural disaster in history. Damage in the billions of dollars and more than 1,700 people died. Many communities have yet to recover from the destruction.

So Katrina and its aftermath turned Michael Brown, Kathleen Blanco, and Ray Nagin into household names. What are they doing today? We decided to take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Five years ago they were at the center of the response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Today, they're all out of office and largely out of the public eye.

As director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown lead Washington's initial response to the disaster.

GEORGE W. BUSH, 43RD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Brownie, you are doing a heck of a job.

WHITFIELD: President George W. Bush's praise for Brownie became a punch line for critics of FEMA's performance. Brown resigned just 10 days later and now hosts a talk show on a Denver radio station.

MICHAEL BROWN, FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR: One of the fatal mistakes that I made was not making it clear that indeed, things aren't moving as quickly as they need to move. When I'm executing mission assignments to ask the Department of Defense to go do something, that shouldn't take three or four days, it should take three or four hours.

WHITFIELD: Louisiana officials took flack for the disaster response too. Much of it was directed at then Governor Kathleen Blanco.

KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), 54TH GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA: We had talking heads from all over the country, you know, beating on me personally when our people were drowning. And I told my press people, we don't have time to play silly party political games.

WHITFIELD: Blanco did not seek reelection in 2011.

BLANCO: I will focus my time and my energy for the next nine months on the people's work, not on politics.

WHITFIELD: Ray Nagin was the mayor of New Orleans when Katrina struck. He was a strong critic of the federal response to the crisis, but he also faced criticism himself and now admits he should have issued evacuation orders earlier.

Nagin also sparked controversy early in the rebuilding process when he vowed that New Orleans would retain its majority black population.

RAY NAGIN, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: It is time for us to rebuild a New Orleans the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don't care what people are saying, uptown or wherever they are, this city will be chocolate at the end of the day.

WHITFIELD: Nagin managed to win reelection nine months after Katrina hit, but during his second term of office, critics said his efforts to rebuild the city were moving too slowly.

NAGIN What I find is that citizens wanted immediate fixes when there was no immediate fix, so I took the brunt for that.

WHITFIELD: Term limits prevented Nagin from seeking a third term this year. He is now on the lecture circuit where his topics include "New Orleans Revival," Rainbow After the Storm" and "Revitalizing a City: The Keys to Successful Urban Renewal."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: While New Orleans received most of the attention, Katrina had widespread devastation along the Mississippi coast. One of the reporters who covered the story had a personal stake. Her own childhood home was destroyed. We'll talk to her coming up next hour in the newsroom.

The rally today at the Lincoln Memorial in the nation's capital is controversial partly because of the location. A site packed with significance. Josh Levs is here to tell us all about it. Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Fred, the Lincoln Memorial was a key civil rights spot in a huge event decades before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech there. What that big event was and what it says about today, that's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now.

In Afghanistan, a brazen Taliban attack comes up short. Today insurgents attack two U.S.-run bases in Khost province along the border of Pakistan. U.S. and afghan forces repelled the simultaneous assaults killing 20 insurgents in the process.

NATO forces seized suicide vests, rifles, and unexploded ammunition. Four coalition U.S. soldiers were injured in that attack.

And in Washington a large crowd gathered by a rally organized by conservative talk show host Glenn Beck. It was staged at the Lincoln Memorial on the national mall, the same spot where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I have a Dream" speech 47 years ago today. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was also a featured speaker.

And the Reverend Al Sharpton is also holding a march and rally in Washington. People have gathered at a high school in northwest Washington and later will march to the new King Memorial near the tidal basin.

Sharpton said followers of Dr. King will never let conservative forces turn back the clock on civil rights. And people attending the rally on the national mall gathered at an iconic spot with historic significance. Let's check with josh, talk about how you measure the amount of people and the relevance of what took place today.

LEVS: We're going to talk about why this one agency a lot of people look to no longer gives numbers. Everyone talking about the Martin Luther King event, let's go to historic video we have of that day, 47 years ago today when that event took place.

The National Park Service said 200,000 people turned out. That was not the first major civil rights event there -- 24 years earlier there was another one on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: That was Mary Anderson. She had been denied the right to perform in Constitution Hall because of her skin color. When she performed on that Sunday in 1939, it was a very big deal, considered a major civil rights event. And the National Park Service said there was 75,000 people there at the time.

They no longer give numbers, though, and that's because of the next one I'm going to show you, which brings us all the way up to 1995 with the million man march. There was all this controversy afterwards, complexity over how you measure the number of people actually there. National park service actually stopped doing it. They are not giving any estimates for any events anymore. They made a slight exception last year for the inauguration.

So one thing you have to watch out now for now, Fred, is what other agencies are going to say about turnout today. We know a lot of people want to know. We'll have to see what police and others say.

WHITFIELD: We also want to know what viewers have been thinking about and what they are witnessing.

LEVS: I'll tell you, we're hearing a lot from viewers. Let's get in a few of these. You're weighing in all day long on both rallies and you what think.

Emily saying "Glenn Beck is simply standing up and speaking for us, the people the government won't listen to any more. The way he's judged is disgusting." Jackie says "You, have you to have honor to know what restoring it means. The guy incites hatred and controversy to gain support."

"Just wondering what Reverend Al Sharpton would do for a living if he didn't find anything he thought was racist." Another, "Beck should be considered showmanship. He is the P.T. Barnum of our age, and a very good businessman, too." And one more from Derek, "This is political theater for the ignorant and gullible."

We try to do two things, show a balance of both side, but also a legitimate impression of what most people are saying. If you all want to weigh in on Facebook and twitter, keep conversations going. Listen to each other, have a conversation, be respectful, but go ahead and be passionate in your views. You know where I stand, Fred, let people talk and listen.

WHITFIELD: Very good. Josh Levs, thanks so much. Appreciate that. Thanks for bringing those thoughts and sentiments.

And picture this -- a family photo saved their vacation. Coming up, see how they caught a would-be thief on camera.

And Hong Kong is a crowded city where space is at a premium to say the very least. That has prompted an architect to design a small studio apartment that actually houses 20 rooms. Anjali Rao shows us in today's "Edge of Discovery."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANJALI RAO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hong Kong is among the most densely populated places on earth, with seven million people sharing just 1,100 square kilometers of land. Sure there are ways to make less look like more, but Hong Kong architect Gary Chang has gone one better.

RAO (on camera): So this is 350 square feet and turns into how many?

GARY CHANG, ARCHITECT: Roughly 20.

RAO (voice-over): Twenty rooms in that tiny space, how is that possible, you might ask?

CHANG: Instead of me moving from one room to another, the space changes for me.

RAO (on camera): Behold, the kitchen.

CHANG: This is my mini bar.

RAO (voice-over): Nothing goes to waste here. A few more walls reveal the master bedroom, the office, a laundry area, a spa-themed bathroom, guest accommodation, and more. There's even a mini movie theater. Hong Kong's biggest little home even works as a party pad.

Gary once entertained 20 friends here. He admits when guests wanted to have private phone conversations, well, they had to do it in the shower. But it seems a small price to pay for all that space.

Anjali Rao, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, some fun stuff in our water-cooler moment. A shooting headache and black gold all part of what we're talking about today. First take a look at this picture here. It's a nice family photo. This is the Meyers family vacation photo album we're now spinning through.

That guy right there, he was up to no good. The family was posing at the Wisconsin state capital while the alleged thief makes off with their stuff. He was there in the background as you saw in that previous photo.

Now another picture of him right here, a mug shot. But he said he didn't do it. Meanwhile the family did get their stuff back. You see that happening in the background. They did get their stuff back, plus they got a great story to tell their friends back home in New Jersey.

Now on to Germany. A 35 yearly man went about his business without knowing he had this little thing right here, a bullet in his head. This week he went to the doctor to have what he thought was just a cyst removed. Instead doctors found that it was a .22 caliber bullet in the back of his head.

The guy is recovering from surgery, and he says he actually remembers a blow to the head at a New Year's party five years ago but forgot about it because he was drunk. Maybe someone was shooting their gun up in the air and he got nailed with a bullet. Lucky man, though.

So here is a very unique memento of the Gulf oil disaster -- jewelry out of tar balls. Would you wear it? Jessica Boykin says she got the idea walking along the oil-splattered beaches of Dauphin Island, and this idea just kind of crossed her mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA BOYKIN, MAKES JEWELRY OUT OF OIL TAR-BALLS: I see that god created something ugly to figure out how to make something pretty out of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We talked about what to do if we could do anything. And we thought it would be neat to have a souvenir of a relic of an environmental disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, first they heat up the tar balls so it kind of melts in a microwave oven. The heat separates the oil from the sand. Then Jessica paints the oil onto acrylic pieces and inserts charms, as you saw there. Five stores already want to sell her jewelry, and she plans to use the money to help pay for college.

(WEATHER BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Building up America after Hurricane Katrina. The Louisiana Superdome was the face of disaster. You remember the images. Well, coming up, we'll look at how it's now become a symbol of success.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: A work in progress five years after the storm -- the New Orleans superdome played host to thousands of Katrina victims. Now it is host to the Super bowl champions. CNN's Tom Foreman takes a look at the massive project that got the stadium back in business.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No place was more emblematic of all that went wrong with the evacuation of Katrina than the superdome. The 10-acre roof ripped open at the height of the storm, packed with people with nowhere else to go. The man in charge then and now, Doug Thornton.

DOUG THORNTON, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, SMG: We were very concerned about falling debris from the roof. We had no water pressure. We had no ability to remove trash and debris. And we're taking on more and more people. The Superdome was literally the poster child for misery and suffering.

FOREMAN (on camera): It took days for the rescue to be complete. As soon as the last person was out, the hard work began. Teams of laborers swarmed all over the dome trying to restore this crown jewel of the city.

(voice-over): Mountains of debris were cleared. Architects worked out a plan to save the dome, repair the damage from an ocean of water dumped into two million square feet of walled electronics and furniture -- a new sound system, $7 million, new concessions, $3 million, $8 million more for phones. They did it all while fighting budgets and racing the calendar to reopen.

More than 70,000 seats were soaked and molding. By cleaning them, wrapping them in plastic and blowing hot air for two months, all but 20,000 were saved.

THORNTON: If we would have had to replace 72,000 seats, we wouldn't have made it.

FOREMAN: But they did, opening for the Saints first home game a little more than a year later. They won.

FOREMAN (on camera): The work has continued nonstop for five years, and it is going on still. This is the largest stadium restoration project ever attempted in this country on what remains one of the biggest rooms in the world.

(voice-over): The final bill will be over $300 million. For Thornton it's worth every penny.

THORNTON: I didn't think there would be any way to come back -- not to the city, not to the dome and not to my home.

FOREMAN: But the Superdome has come back. The Saints have too in a very big way, and now homecoming for any town even been sweeter.

Tom Foreman, CNN, New Orleans. (END VIDEOTAPE)