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Reflecting on Hurricane Katrina; President Obama Travels to New Orleans; New Phase for Troops in Iraq; Protecting New Orleans; Nine Patients Die After Sedation; Back to School Technology

Aired August 29, 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: It could take four months to rescue those trapped miners in Chile, but now there's a plan B. We'll tell you about that this hour.

And Hurricane Katrina was a terrible storm, but it was the levee failures that flooded New Orleans. Are the levees safe today? We'll take a look at 4:00 Eastern Time.

And as U.S. combat troops leave Iraq, what did the invasion really change? Stay with us for a report in the 5:00 p.m. Eastern Hour.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

It's hard to believe that was five years ago, when Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore. Entire communities along the U.S. Gulf Coast were decimated, 1,723 people died. The lives of hundreds of thousands more changed forever.

Well, this afternoon, some of them are reuniting and sharing survival stories at what became the shelter of last resort, at least in New Orleans, the Superdome.

And the president and first lady are now in New Orleans. He is set to speak at Xavier University next hour in New Orleans.

All right. One of the first reporters in New Orleans immediately after the hurricane hit was our own Jeanne Meserve. Jeanne is there again to take us back to five years ago, and then also help us look forward to what people there are looking forward in terms of rebuilding and change.

What are some of your first thoughts as you return to New Orleans, Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can't help but be struck when you're here in the French Quarter at how normal things seem here. Yes, there are remembrances. For instance, the Katrina exhibit, it opened at one of the museums here just yesterday. But when you go to other parts of the city, when you go to the Lower Ninth Ward, for instance, it's still largely a wasteland.

Yes, there has been some construction, but there are huge gulfs between the houses, gulfs full of undergrowth, frankly, as tall as I am now. There are streets that have completely vanished in that undergrowth, other streets that are just rutted dirt roads. They haven't been rebuilt.

So you really do sense here that they still have a ways to go as far as they may have come -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, Jeanne, I wonder -- as the president will soon be speaking there with New Orleans as a backdrop, do people, the general public, people who live there, feel like they've got a chance to interact with him first hand, see him as he delivers this speech, or do they even care?

MESERVE: You know, I haven't talked to a lot of residents here. It's a very closed audience that he's spoken to here, I believe just about 400 people. The rest of the public seems to be going around its business, ,unconcerned with that.

I think the people who live here, though, are very aware that this is the anniversary date. It's been all over television, all over the newspapers. There are a number of events here today besides the president's visit to remember what happened, to commemorate the dead, and to look forward to what's coming.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, the president is going to be hearing a lot of stories, as the general public has heard a lot of stories about people remembering five years ago. You were one of the first reporters there five years ago, giving us a firsthand look about what you were seeing. It was quite devastating, wasn't it, not just for people who lived there, but for folks to see this?

You're an experienced reporter. You're seen a lot, covered a lot, but this was eye-opening in so many different ways, wasn't it?

MESERVE: Yes, it was. You know, I've said a couple of times now that when you go to cover an air disaster or a car crash, you steal yourself emotionally, you get ready, you put up some emotional protection before you step into it.

I had been in downtown New Orleans through the storm. Like everyone else, I thought the city had dodged a bullet. And when I drove out that interstate and I saw what was happening in the far reaches of this city, it was virtually incomprehensible. And I felt that, emotionally, I had trouble processing some of it at the time because the destruction was so widespread and because of this thing not only that you saw, but that you heard.

When night fell and the rescue efforts were suspended that very first day, you could hear across the water the sounds of people and of animals screaming in distress, so much counting on somebody hearing them and somebody coming to their rescue. And there was nobody there to do that. And that's the memory that really lingers with me and which has truly come to the surface again this week here in New Orleans.

WHITFIELD: So, for you personally and professionally, is it difficult to kind of separate those emotions upon this return?

MESERVE: Well, it was difficult at the time. And if you heard any of the work I did then, you hear the emotion in my voice.

I try very hard on my reporting to suppress those personal emotions, but I think the magnitude of what I was seeing was such that it not only affected me, but everybody who I was with. There is a real fellowship, a real brotherhood that exists amongst the people who were here at the time of the storm.

I'm not talking just about the reporters, because what we were going through was really quite negligible. We were just having trouble processing what we were seeing.

The people of New Orleans had just lost everything they owned, many of them. Some of them had lost family members. For them, the emotional repercussions of this must be extraordinarily deep, extraordinarily profound, and extraordinarily difficult today -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Jeanne Meserve, thanks so much, in New Orleans.

And it's likely the president will feel that in so many different ways from people there in New Orleans as he and the first lady wrapped up their vacation in Martha's Vineyard. They are now in New Orleans to mark this anniversary.

The president will be addressing people from Xavier University in about an hour and five minutes from now. At least that's the scheduled time.

CNN White House Correspondent Dan Lothian has been traveling with the president for over 10 days now.

So give me an idea of what the president is expected to say, and if he will feel that that emotion that Jeanne spoke of, professionally and particularly personally, if that is palpable, if the president will get a sense of what people really do feel there in New Orleans five years later.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I don't think that you can come to New Orleans and not get that sense. I mean, I spent a lot of time here after Katrina, and every time you come back, you do feel that. Whether you talk to anyone directly or not, you will feel that, so no doubt the president will sense that as well.

But as you touched on with Jeanne, some of the themes that the president will be focused on today, first of all, remembering all those who did lose their lives during Hurricane Katrina, and also talking about the devastation that not only New Orleans was hit with, but also all across the Gulf region. But also you'll hear the president talk about the recovery process, the progress that has been made, how the people of the Gulf region are resilient, are bouncing back, and then the role that the federal government has played in helping to do that, and a commitment that the federal government will not forget the people of New Orleans or the Gulf region. And I should point out this is not the first time that Mr. Obama has been here. He did come to this college back in 2006 when he was the commencement speaker at the time, encouraging the students to look beyond the failures and the neglect of the federal government. And this obviously is a school that was impacted heavily during the storm. In fact, it was under several feet of water. But a remarkable story here, because they were able to resume classes just five months after Hurricane Katrina came through here -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, Dan, while you mentioned president remains committed to that region, there in New Orleans -- that's the city where he is -- in what way might this government or this administration promise more in its commitment, or is it staying away from any new promises to the entire Gulf Coast region?

LOTHIAN: Right. Well, I think you won't hear anything -- any new major announcements from the president today. I think what you'll hear, though, is the president saying, listen, anything that we've committed in terms of providing money for schools and education, we'll continue to make sure that any red tape that may exist, that we'll break through that red tap to make sure that the money continues to flow to this region. So more of that is what you'll hear from the president as well.

And I should also point out that it's not just about New Orleans. I've been asked by people leading up to this day, "Why didn't the president go to places like Mississippi?" And what the White House will point out is that New Orleans was sort of the symbolic epicenter of the storm, it's the region that was heavily impacted by Katrina, and that's why the president felt that it was important to come here. But they also point out that, for instance, Secretary Napolitano is in Mississippi today, that the president, in his speech, will also talk not only about New Orleans, but also the damage in other parts of the Gulf Coast and the recovery efforts going on there as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Lothian, thanks so much, there outside Xavier University, where I see a lot of umbrellas. It's still raining.

LOTHIAN: That's right.

WHITFIELD: A lot of people were lining up who get an opportunity to go in there.

In fact, among those invited or able to sit inside to hear the president would be whom?

LOTHIAN: People from the region. It was open.

Obviously, it's a typical event as you have in event where the president does show up where you'll have local officials, state officials, also cabinet members who are coming here, but people from the community and also from the school were invited here. And I did notice a few minutes ago that there are also a few protesters out here. I doubt that they'll get inside, but protesting about various things such as the BP oil spill and so forth. So, you always have a few protests mixed in whenever a president comes to a place like this, on an anniversary like this.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Lothian, thanks so much, outside Xavier University in New Orleans there. Appreciate that.

And once again, the president will be speaking now about -- at least scheduled for about an hour and one minute from now.

Straight ahead, in our 4:00 Eastern hour, we will have special guests. You know them, political analyst husband and wife team James Carville and Mary Matalin in New Orleans. And Louisiana as a whole very near and dear to their hearts. As political commentators, they come at issues from opposite directions, but as it pertains to New Orleans, this is their home, and they agree much more needs to be done to bring this region back.

A live discussion with them just two hours away. Join us for that.

Also, in the 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour, we'll hear the president's speech in New Orleans in its entirety.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, as Iraq prepares for this week's handover, the race is on to make sure Iraqi security forces are ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And (INAUDIBLE) we've got right here is how properly to run a checkpoint. Within that there are certain things that we teach them as well -- how to search people properly; if there is evidence found, how to exploit it properly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We'll take you through the important training process.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. military marks a milestone in Iraq this week with the official end of combat operations. President Obama said the U.S. would draw down to 50,000 troops by Wednesday. They've done that already.

And with the end of combat operation comes a new name. It is now going to be called Operation New Dawn instead of Iraqi Freedom.

So the change doesn't mean all U.S. troops are coming home right away. There is still work to be done, making sure their Iraqi counterparts are ready to take over.

CNN's Michael Holmes has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a remote checkpoint near the Iraqi border, officers check their soldiers' readiness. In the background, a U.S. officer watches on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make sure like you normally do. Make sure they're running through checking their equipment, checking their gear. Make sure they all have their weapons and ammunition.

HOLMES: This is a combined Iraqi Army/Kurdish Pashmerga checkpoint, but the lessons are the same.

(on camera): What's going on here at a checkpoint like this is a pretty good illustration of the new phase of the U.S. mission here. It is to advise, assist, equip and train. And these guys are having all that from U.S. troops who are over there every single day.

COL. MALCOM FROST, U.S. ARMY: We're kind of hitting it from both ends, from the strategic and operation level, and then from the tactical level on up, and hoping at the end what we'll find is a better-trained force that we are advising and assisting as they fight the counterinsurgency.

HOLMES (voice-over): With U.S. troop numbers now under 50,000 and the combat phase of the war over, the race is on to make sure Iraqi security forces are as ready as possible for the day towards the end of next year when the Americans will be gone.

LT. ROBERT MINER, U.S. ARMY: And the (INAUDIBLE) we've got here is how properly run a checkpoint. Within that there are certain things that we teach them as well -- how to search people properly; if there is evidence found, how to exploit it properly.

HOLMES: The training runs the gamut from what tactics to employ when under attack, to lessons in battlefield medical treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First, you tighten it with your hand as much as you can.

HOLMES: Recent attacks on Iraqi security forces have raised concerns that troops aren't protecting them themselves well enough, let alone civilians. For commanders, there is an appetite for more of this training.

"Our soldiers are ready to take over the mission," says Lieutenant Abdul Rahman of the Iraqi Army. "But, yes, we do need some assistance."

His Kurdish counterpart, Lieutenant Hamakhan, agreed. "We need to be trained on counterterrorism," he says, "but all of this has been very valuable."

And while this is the new phase of the war for Americans, the old phase, the combat phase, may have ended in name, ,but not in reality. This is still a front line in a very dangerous place.

FROST: It is still dangerous. My unit has tragically had two soldiers killed within the last month, and I do not believe that it will be the last casualty that we see here.

STAFF SGT. DAVID WINKEL, U.S. ARMY: Yes, there's daily risk. We're still in threat of IEDs, small arms fire.

HOLMES: And those risks will be part of the job over the coming year as checkpoints like this gradually move into Iraqi hands without the Americans moving on.

MINER: So that means, you know, to the very last day, training them so that they're best prepared for when we finally leave here.

HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, in Diyala Province near the Iranian border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And President Obama will mark the milestone by addressing the nation from the Oval Office. You can see it right here, live on CNN, Tuesday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

And this week will also be a very important one for the peace process in the Middle East. Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders sit down face to face in Washington, Thursday. It is their first direct talk in two years. Both are hopeful and apprehensive about the prospects for peace. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says peace and security in the region can only be reached if both sides take the talks seriously.

All right. How can we as a nation fix the nation's schools? We'll hear some smart ideas from those who know the problems the best. We're talking about students offering their solutions, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Fix our schools. Those three words will drive much of what you see on CNN this week.

As America's children return to school, CNN has a mission. We've sent reporting teams across the country to document the education crisis in America. Most importantly, we will shine a light on success stories that can empower us all to offer our children so that much more that they could be getting in their future is definitely in their future.

So, to get the ball rolling for us is Carl Azuz, who is in position to get a perspective on the success that you don't usually get to hear. Carl is anchor of the show "CNN Student News," designed for middle and high school students all over the world.

So, Carl, you fanned out, talked to a lot of -- some of America's brightest and boldest. And they've got some really strong, concrete ideas about what they want to see in a good school.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: And one of the first things we asked them was, "What makes a good school?" And to a man, every one of them told us it's more important what's in the school rather than the facility itself.

So they're talking about their teachers. They're talking about the camaraderie between students and what they get out of that, what they get out of their extracurricular activities. And so you have a group of about 11 students here who are some of the brightest in the state of Georgia, and they really care more about the experience than where their school is or -- especially now, in a time like this, what sort of funding it might have.

WHITFIELD: So they feel that they have a responsible, too, make their schools better?

AZUZ: Oh, yes.

WHITFIELD: How.

AZUZ: And one thing I asked them -- that was one of the questions. I said, "How many of you feel responsible that you are ultimately responsible for the kind of education you get?" Every one of their hands immediately shot up, and that led pretty smoothly into my next question, which you can hear right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: What do you think students can do to make sure they get a better education?

ZACK KENT, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL : Personally, I believe you take AP classes and at least honors classes.

ALEX KELLY, CARVER HIGH SCHOOL: It's not that you have to take the AP class. I feel that it's you have to push yourself to learn as much as you can in whatever class you're in.

JANVI CHAWLA, WALTON HIGH SCHOOL: I think that the students, they need to take it upon themselves. If they don't understand something, then they need to attend student sessions, they need to go to that teacher and ask for help.

JULIA ABELSKY, NORTH SPRINGS CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL: I think just simply raising your hand in class and saying something, and taking an active role in just a single class helps you stay more involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Taking an active role. That's one thing I think that could sum it up pretty well.

These are students who are very engaged in their education, and their advice for other students is don't just show up, sit in your seat, and expect to learn something. You get out of this what you put in. And that's why it's important for you to get engaged.

WHITFIELD: So most of the kids are very aware of the budget cuts that have swept across the country. Do they feel powerless, or do they feel like there is still room for improvement even if it means a tightening of the budget belt?

AZUZ: I think if you talk to a group of minors, you're always going to hear there's room for improvement, and certainly at a time when their schools are struggling with budget cuts and a myriad of other problems right now in America.

They did have a lot of solutions and a lot of things they thought were working in their schools, and advice for school systems to help them improve. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXIS JOHNSON, CHAMBLEE CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL: We have more kids in the classroom, ,which means that the teachers can't pay attention to all of us at the same time. We really need that one-on-one attention.

KRISSY ROBINSON, DEKALB SCHOOL OF THE ARTS: I would also include a caring administrative staff, because I think, like, good schools start at the top and then they work themselves down.

SHAUYAN SAKI, CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL: Our counties actually shrunk the budget to the point where we're working on a skeleton budget and a skeleton staff. But what we're doing right, I think, is -- actually, we're making the most of what we have as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know we need to save money, but we definitely need to pay attention to education, because I think that's what comes first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: And they're all on the same page as far as that's concerned.

But one thing I did notice about this group of 11 students is that they're optimistic and they're hopeful. Despite what they're seeing, despite that they're seeing things in schools that students hadn't seen in decades, you know, as far as teacher layoffs go, and budget cuts, not having the money for field trips and things like that.

WHITFIELD: Having to do more with less, even, overall.

AZUZ: Yes, absolutely. And they're making it. They're finding ways to do more with less, and they're managing to be pretty optimistic in the process.

WHITFIELD: Oh, good. Well, hopefully that optimism will rub off on the rest of us out there as we as a nation try to figure out what to do to help revive some of our public schools that really are dying.

AZUZ: I agree. We could all use a little optimism.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

Carl Azuz, thanks so much.

Of course our special weeklong coverage focusing on the nation's education system begins in earnest tomorrow, "Fix Our Schools," ways we can create a better classroom. All that starts tomorrow, right here on CNN.

All right. In the meantime, rebuilding the levees around New Orleans, it's still a work in progress. We'll look at those levees then and now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Across the U.S. Gulf Coast today, people are gathering to remember one of the nation's most horrific disasters. The President and First Lady are in New Orleans as well, where many are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. That's him and the First Lady arriving there in New Orleans. Mr. Obama will be speaking at Xavier University the next hour.

And among other events commemorating this fifth anniversary, a special healing ceremony in New Orleans' Ninth Ward where the levees broke, setting off catastrophic flooding. And, Jacqui Jeras, until Katrina, we know that the levees had protected the city of New Orleans for some 300 years. Something terrible happened in this circumstance, and you got a chance to kind of profile and get a better understanding of the levees and the vulnerabilities there in that city below sea level.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes. It's hard to believe that those levees have been there. You know, people literally dug with shovels back in the 1800s to start this, and before Katrina I think everybody pretty much knew that this system was out of date and needed upgrading.

Since that time, the United States Army Corps of Engineer has been working hard daily to try and keep New Orleans protected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERAS (voice-over): It wasn't Katrina alone. It was the levees, too. A government task force reports that major levee breaches and pumping systems that didn't work are what flooded the Lower Ninth Ward and other parts of the city.

In Louisiana, more than 1,400 people died as a result of Katrina.

JERAS (on camera): Of the 50 major levee breaches, those along the industrial canal were amongst the most compromised. What happened is that water got pushed from Lake Borgne, it funneled though the intracoastal waterway, and then pushed up against the industrial canal and it just couldn't hold against that fury.

Here's the Google Earth that show you what it looked like before Katrina. This is the canal here. And this is what it looked liked afterwards. You can see the breaches and the water everywhere. This system was so compromised that those that stayed in New Orleans after Katrina were concerned that even a tropical storm could put them back under water.

JERAS (voice-over): Five years later, the United States Army Corps of Engineers says the city is safer than ever, thanks to $14 billion of federal funds that's being used to build and rebuild the system of levees, flood walls, gates, pump stations, breakwaters and armory.

JERAS (on camera): The project began in late 2005, and the Corps says it's about one-third complete. It promises a 100-year level of flood protection and it's slated to be finished in June of 2011. Already, the three major canals that you can see here had been reinforced and gates have been added.

It's a very complex system. The levees and walls encircle New Orleans 350 miles around this city. And these walls are as tall as 20 feet. The Corps says that there's a one percent chance on any given year that storm surge or flooding would equal or exceed the level of protection.

JERAS (voice-over): The areas most vulnerable today, as shown on this map on the Corps' website, are Eastern New Orleans and the area between Lake Borgne and the Mississippi River. Although the project is still under construction, the Corps says there's better protection now than before Katrina struck.

Even when the multibillion dollar improvements are complete, New Orleans remains a place of risk. The city is surrounded by water on all sides, and for the people here, it's literally like living in a bowl. The ground there is slowly sinking, adding global warming, causing sea levels to rise, and Louisiana is losing a little bit of land every day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JERAS: So, the bottom line is that New Orleans will always be a place of risk when it comes to hurricanes, and there will be another Katrina. It's not a matter of if but a matter of when. And, Fredricka, if you'll remember, Katrina was only a category 3 storm. It wasn't even a category 5.

So people really need to heed the warnings. You know, a levee will protect you to a certain degree, but not forever, and so you need to evacuate when the officials tell you to.

WHITFIELD: So New Orleans clearly - you know, right there on the gulf, we know hurricanes come into the gulf all the time.

JERAS: Right.

WHITFIELD: But how much of a threat is a hurricane to New Orleans on a regular basis?

JERAS: A very big threat. Every season, there's always a risk. And, you know, it's one of the top five vulnerable cities, I would say, when it comes to frequency of hurricanes.

This will show you how often on average New Orleans will see a category 1, once every eight years; a category 2, once every 18; category 3, what we consider a major storm, once every 31 years; category 4, once every 65; and a category 5, once every 170 years. So those aren't very good odds.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So they're always staring at the possibility.

JERAS: Yes, they are.

WHITFIELD: That's nerve-wracking in and of itself.

All right, Jacqui Jeras, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

All right, five years after the deadly storm changed New Orleans forever, some families are still dealing with tragedies that played out after the levees broke.

CNN's Special Investigations Unit was the first to break this story about nine patients at the city's Memorial Hospital. Too weak to evacuate, they were all given pain killers and sedatives. Top forensic experts call it homicide, but, five years later, no one has ever been held accountable.

CNN's Drew Griffin has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is no mystery for Lou Ann Jacobs. She knows what happened to her 90-year-old mother, Rose Savoy, on the seventh floor of the New Orleans Memorial Hospital.

LOU ANN JACOBS, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: She was definitely murdered.

GRIFFIN: Her mother, one of nine patients found dead in the hospital that were part of an extensive attorney general investigation concluding they were literally sedated to death by the last remaining hospital staff and a doctor named Anna Pou.

JACOBS: I still feel it was premeditated murder, because they planned it. They got medicine together, mixed the cocktail, put it in the syringes and gave it to the patients.

GRIFFIN: It's not just Jacobs' feelings that point to premeditation. CNN was the first to obtain this report from the Louisiana State Attorney General's investigation revealing on September 1st, the day the hospital was to be evacuated, Dr. Anna Pou told staff lethal doses were going to be administered to the nine patients who could not be evacuated.

The pharmacist told investigators he was instructed to bring morphine. Others told investigators they witnessed Dr. Pou administering drugs through IVs and a tray of syringes. And within just a few hours, every single one of the nine patients died.

One patient, awake and alert when given the lethal dose, openly complained. Jacobs said that patient was her mom.

JACOBS: But I know in my heart that woman that got the shot that said, "Ow! That burn!" that was my mom. GRIFFIN (on camera): Is that not killing a person?

ART CAPLAN, BIOETHICIST: That is homicide.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Art Caplan is director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also one of five forensic and ethical experts consulted on the Memorial Hospital deaths by New Orleans coroner. All five concluded the hospital staff euthanized the nine patients.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Is this a case, though, where doctors did their best and failed?

CAPLAN: We don't know whether doctors did their best in the field. All I can say in reading the record is that I think they assisted the death involuntarily of these patients. They didn't ask them. They didn't talk about it. They just said we better put these people to sleep.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): A grand jury was convened to investigate, but neither Caplan nor the other four experts were asked to testify. That grand jury failed to indict anyone.

Five years later, despite all the evidence, the New Orleans coroner still classifies the deaths as unknown.

JACOBS: I want justice.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Relatives of these victims have good reason to be frustrated with the law enforcement community here in New Orleans. Their cases, the cases of their loved ones, remain unsolved homicides. And guess what else? Nobody seems to want to solve them, including the district attorney.

In open court last month, Leon Cannizzaro, the new district attorney of New Orleans called what happened at Memorial Hospital a homicide. "I do believe human beings were killed as a result of actions of doctors." That's what he said in court. Then he went on to say that he has no intention of pursuing the case unless new evidence shows up at his door.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Like the coroner, Cannizzaro said in court, he "just doesn't feel he has enough evidence."

GRIFFIN (on camera): And, get this, the new district attorney, Leon Cannizzaro, he wouldn't even come out and tell us why.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): After weeks of asking and one day of waiting, the district attorney, we were told, slipped out a side door.

Through her attorney, Dr. Anna Pou has consistently refused requests for interviews with CNN. But she has told other media outlets that while she did inject some patients with the potent drug combination, it was for palliative care. Comfort, not murder.

In the ensuing years, the state, which employs Dr. Pou, has paid out hundreds of thousands in legal fees to settle cases against her.

Drew Griffin, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, high-tech school supplies - back to school. It means kids need things that they didn't need a few years ago. New laptops, Netpals, all that good stuff. Some are better than others. Our technology expert will be picking his favorites.

There he is, Marc Saltzman. He'll be with us right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, back to school means back to school shopping for students, and the high-tech items that they need nowadays can be especially expensive. So before you hit the stores, you'll want to hear which products are getting a big thumbs up from high tech guru, Marc Saltzman. He's with us live via Skype from Toronto.

So, Marc, forget the whole just needs a new paper, pens and all these stuff. You need all these, like, interesting gadgets in order to get by in school, beginning with not just a laptop, but maybe a Netpal, something more portable. What do you like?

MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: Yes. That's right. So, for $279 you can grab a Netbook if you only need basic tasks. So don't expect to play hardcore online games with this thing, or edit and upload video. But you're, you know, basically using this to research essays and write them out, you know, pick up your e-mail, a Netbook is just fine.

This is the Dell Mini Inspiron 1012. Again, it's $279. What I like about it, especially for college students, is it's got almost a ten- hour battery, and it only weighs three pounds. So it's very portable and affordable.

WHITFIELD: Easy to put in your little backpack, all that good stuff.

And then when you get back to your dorm or, you know, your room, et cetera, now you need to print out some of the materials that you've just, you know, copiously been taking notes on. So tell me about this all-in-one printer.

SALTZMAN: Yes. So that's a great pick, is - is one of these compact printers like this that can print, scan, copy -

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. So light, the way you picked it up.

SALTZMAN: -- and sometimes fax as well, especially if you're in a small dorm room.

But you were saying, when you get back to your dorm room, you need to do all that. Not anymore. What I just showed you there is the first web-enabled printer. It's from HP, called the e-All-in-One, and it's the first printer that lets you print from anywhere, any time, on any device. It basically comes with an e-mail address, and from your phone or from a computer anywhere in the world, you can e-mail to the printer.

So you can have photos or documents printed and done before you get back to your dorm room. It's $100 and it's a great little product.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. This is amazing.

OK, and what about the hard drive? Because now you need - you know, you need to boost up your memory. What do you do with this new thing you've got there? Which looks like a little CD case.

SALTZMAN: Yes. So I've heard horror stories. I get e-mails from students who have lost that important paper they've been working on for - for days or weeks. So you've got to back up your important files. An external hard drive like this one from Iomega is a good pick because it's - it's also cool to look at.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SALTZMAN: It's a little, portable drive, but the size of a deck of cards. Let me hold it up close to you.

WHITFIELD: Neat.

SALTZMAN: It's called the Skin Hard Drive because it has different skins on the front, with almost, like, tattoo-like graphics. So if Ed Hardy and a hard drive came together, the result might look something like this. It's a 500-gigabyte drive for $120.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then the college kid - I mean, I know they have the cell phone and all that, but do they really need the BlackBerry? And then, if so, what do you have there?

SALTZMAN: OK, yes. So I am - I did bring with me the new BlackBerry Torch 9800 because it's the first Smartphone from BlackBerry that has both a touch screen for iPhone-like functionality, as well as a glide- out qwerty keyboard for messaging.

WHITFIELD: Oh, neat.

SALTZMAN: So if you're pinning your - your classmates, you're sending BBM or BlackBerry Messenger - messages to each other, it's very comfortable. But you also have the - the pinching and swiping on a touch screen.

I think, generally speaking - and this, by the way, is - it's new and it's $200 on a two-year AT&T plan. But I think a Smartphone is becoming an increasingly important tech tool for students, especially in older grades and of course in college, because it helps you keep organized. You can record lectures on them. You can, of course, communicate, even with video, with friends and family back at home.

So I think it's a great pick to have a Smartphone to complement the computer.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Fantastic. It's expensive, going back to school, isn't it?

SALTZMAN: It can be, but the products that I showed today are actually - the good news with technology is, over time, the features get better and the prices drop. So I don't think I showed anything that was really over the top.

WHITFIELD: OK. Fantastic. Mark Saltzman, thanks so much. Appreciate that. This way, our kids are really hip as they head off to college again.

SALTZMAN: Thanks, Fredricka. Cheers.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.