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Hurricane Earl Nears U.S.; President Obama Meets With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Inside a School Intervention; Lessons in Responsibility; Hurricane Earl Nears U.S.; August Job Cuts
Aired September 01, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories for Wednesday, the first day of September.
After seven years of war, a new day for Iraq. The United States formally hands over military control of the country and steps into the background.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It means we've done well and we've worked ourselves out of a job, which is what we came here to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: No job, the battle many war vets are fighting once they get home. Now a jobs boot camp tries to give them an edge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the military, what we're really, really good at is managing chaos, and we thrive in chaos. So, in small business, that's what it's about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Failing schools forced into a U-turn. The education secretary's strategy for a classroom turnaround puts teachers' jobs and schools themselves on the line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW BOTT, PRINCIPAL, ORCHARD GARDENS: I'm not willing to say that this is going to take us 10 years. The school has been so underperforming for so long, that the kids don't have time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Our focus on fixing our schools continues.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM. So let's gets started with the latest on Hurricane Earl.
The powerful storm is on an ever-so-steady track toward the U.S. East Coast. Now, by tomorrow night or early Friday, it is expected to be of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Mandatory evacuations already under way on parts of the North Carolina coast, and with Labor Day just ahead, Hurricane Earl could disrupt plans for millions of people.
CNN of course is your hurricane headquarters. Let's do this -- let's check in now with Jacqui Jeras.
And Jacqui, if you would, give us the latest dynamics on the storm.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, brand new advisory just in here, Tony. We've got some big changes, so pay attention here.
The first thing is the status. We're still at 125-mile-per-hour winds, Category 3 storm. We're about 750 miles or so away from the coastline. The storm's intensity has been holding steady, and we do expect a major hurricane to be very near the Outer Banks of North Carolina Thursday night and into Friday morning.
Now, we've got some hurricane warnings and tropical storm warnings which have just been issued. Hurricane warning for the East Coast of the U.S. from Bogue Inlet, North Carolina, northeastward, to the North Carolina/Virginia border. There you can see that plotting in the red here.
The hurricane watch now has been adjusted northward and extends from the state line there up to Delaware. There you can see that.
And then we also have tropical storm warnings now which have been issued from Cape Fear westward to the Bogue Inlet. So that's including a much greater area here, warning people that they need to be prepared for this storm.
If you're in the warning area now, this means you need to rush all of the things that you need to do before this hurricane arrives. So rush to completion, getting all of your things in place. Make sure that you have got those three-day supplies of food and water, as well as batteries, your NOAA weather radio, all of those things, because you could be losing power as those strong winds get a little bit closer.
Let's show you the latest forecast track. I don't think this has really changed at all. It looks it's about the same as the last advisory. I will read the discussion and soon as I'm able to get to that and see if there's any notes in there, but it looks just about the same, and the timing looks the same as well.
So that Category 3 storm moving on in here. We'll continue to monitor the situation.
Those winds really starting to get rough. We are seeing live pictures of the Carolinas, showing us those waves are starting to get big.
And you mentioned those rip currents with the holiday weekend, Tony. You know, this is not a great beach weekend, unfortunately. Maybe Monday you can go to the beach, but still probably not go into the water, would be my recommendation.
And here you can see those probabilities that we have of those hurricane-force winds along the coast and the tropical storm force winds. And look at how far inland they extend. They can even head over towards Philadelphia, into Portland, Maine. So, this impacting a whole lot of people throughout the holiday.
HARRIS: So, Jacqui, let's do this -- let's sort of treat this as kind of a breaking news situation. As you get any additional information, changes in the path, changes in dynamics, wind speed, or whatever, just let us know --
JERAS: Sure.
HARRIS: -- if you get some pictures of surge, of waves.
JERAS: Yes. The hurricane hunters are flying into it right now, so we could be getting new data at any time.
HARRIS: OK. Just let us know and we'll pop you up.
All right. Jacqui Jeras in our hurricane headquarters.
Rip currents, as Jacqui mentioned, a major concern along the East Coast as Hurricane Earl heads that way. Ahead this hour, we will check in with Rob Marciano in Virginia Beach.
Other big stories we're following for you this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The U.S. vice president, defense secretary and Joint Chiefs chairman in Iraq today for a change of command ceremony. It marks the formal end of U.S. combat operations. Remaining U.S. troops now in support roles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RAY ODIERNO, OUTGOING COMMANDER, U.S. FORCES IN IRAQ: Today is a new dawn in our relationship with the government of Iraq. We can no longer dwell on our past accomplishments, but must remain focused on the tremendous opportunity at hand.
Iraq has always played a vital role in this uncertain part of the globe. A strong democratic Iraq that is an enduring and an equal partner of the United States can become an engine for peace and stability in the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And today was the last day on the job for that man, the top American commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski is throwing in the Tea towel. She has conceded the Republican nomination to Joe Miller, backed by Sarah Palin and Tea Party activists. Murkowski was trailing by more than 1,600 votes as absentee ballots were being counted. Miller is considered the favorite in November's contest with Democrat Scott McAdams.
Paper or plastic? Well, shoppers still have that option in California. A bill to ban plastic shopping bags statewide went down in the California Senate last night. The bill's supporters, including Hollywood stars, say plastic bags harm the ecosystem. Opponents called the bill a job-killer.
Launching a new round of direct Middle East peace talks, President Obama meeting right now with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. The president will later meet separately with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of Jordan and Egypt.
White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joining us live now.
And Suzanne, look, I haven't had a real sense of whether expectations were high, low, or nonexistent for this summit, but the chief Palestinian negotiator put down a marker last hour saying it is not time for more talks, it is time for decisions to be taken.
Let's listen to a little bit of that sound and then I'll have you comment on it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Now it's time not for negotiations. It's time for decisions.
We know -- Palestinians and Israelis know today that all issues are doable, including Jerusalem refugees, security, et cetera. And they require decisions.
Palestinians and Israelis know that they don't need to eat the apple from the start. And they don't need to reinvent the wheel. Palestinians and Israelis know that if not this year, next year, in 10 years' time, it will be a two-step solution on the 1967 lines, Palestine next to the state of Israel. And the difference in time here is how many lives of Israelis and Palestinians will be saved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Suzanne, at least from one side of this summit we have clear expectations.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the Palestinians, on the Palestinian side, they're saying that they are recognizing the security issues, and that is a big concern among the Israelis, because the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is with the president now in the Oval Office, has made it very clear that security is first and foremost before any of those final status issues are going to be discussed or talked about it.
On the Palestinian side, they say, look, we recognize that security is important, but we also feel like all those things should be put on the table, and that includes borders, refugees, the state of Jerusalem, all of that together. So there is clearly already, Tony, a split here between these two sides. But the important thing here is the security aspect.
I have been speaking with a Palestinian source who's been traveling with Mahmoud Abbas, and he tells me yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton secretly, quietly met with Mahmoud Abbas at his hotel about 1:00 or so in the afternoon, spent more than an hour trying to talk about, set the stage for these talks. Both of them found out at the same time about an attack that happened, Hamas against four Israeli settlers, killed in the West Bank.
Now, that source telling me Mahmoud Abbas was very angry about this, felt like it was undermining the talks, put out a written statement condemning those attacks. And then we saw Secretary Clinton coming out as well making it very clear that they do not want this to undermine what is taking place today.
I want you to take a listen, Tony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We pledge to do all we can, always, to protect and defend the state of Israel and to provide security to the Israeli people. That is one of the paramount objectives that Israel has and the United States supports in these negotiations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Tony, it was actually rather rare that you have Mahmoud Abbas putting out that written statement condemning the attack against the Israeli settlers, because from their opinion, form their point of view, it's illegal to have those settlers there in the first place. But he does not want to be weakened back at home. He wants these talks to move forward in a very legitimate and earnest way -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us. A lot to cover over the next couple of days.
Suzanne, appreciate it. Thank you.
Turning around a troubled school, part of CNN's weeklong focus on America's classrooms in crisis. Today we head to Boston to see how one of the government's so-called interventions is working.
And the markets, a nice little run-up. Look at this, 236 points.
We are following the Dow, we are following the NASDAQ, we are following the markets for you throughout the morning, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: "Fix our Schools," those three words will drive much of what you see on CNN this week, because as America's children return to school, CNN has a mission. We have sent reporting teams across the country to document the education crisis around America. Most importantly, we will shine a light on success stories that can empower us to offer our children so much more than they're getting right now.
Today we go inside a Boston school where the principal has just 36 months to make the government's turnaround plan work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a quick question.
HARRIS (voice-over): Andrew Bott has a lot of questions he must answer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know this sounds crazy. Are we going to put some --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now our server is down again.
HARRIS: As the incoming principal of Orchard Gardens, Bott is charged with rescuing this K through 8 school, one of the lowest- performing schools in Boston.
BOTT: Right now, if nothing were to change, anywhere from 75 to 85 percent of our students are not on track to get a high school diploma. When you throw science in, one percent of our students scored proficient on science. So 99 percent of our students, based on the science criteria, are not on track to get a high school diploma. And we have a lot to do.
HARRIS: More than 2,000 schools nationally are now undergoing turnarounds, intervention plans designed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. In the case of Orchard Gardens, Principal Bott was handpicked to lead the job. He now has three years to make his failing school successful, starting with $3.7 million in competitive grants he will use to extend the school day.
BOTT: It really helps us cover the cost of teacher and teacher aide salaries for extending the school day. It is -- you know, time is the biggest cost.
HARRIS: The turnaround plan mandates replacing at least half the staff.
BOTT: In the everyday work of teaching, ultimately I had to hire nearly 80 people. We asked teachers for their data so that we could see their track record, and we really pursued people who had a proven track record of success.
JENNIFER DEAL (ph), TEACHER: We've had a new principal every one to two years since this school has opened seven years ago. HARRIS: Jennifer Deal (ph) was one of the teachers let go.
DEAL: It's a little emotional, so I'm going to do my best here. But it definitely made you feel very unappreciated. So it wasn't really fair. It wasn't fair.
BOTT: It's something that I've certainly lost a lot of sleep over, because I fundamentally believe that the quality of teachers will make the biggest difference in our students' education. So, really, the pressure is on me. If I get this wrong, the turnaround won't work.
HARRIS: But some critics say that's exactly what's wrong with the federal turnaround solution. The teachers are replaced, but the problems persist. It is easy to blame teachers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The middle school is --
BOTT: I'm turning over the staff. I'm turning over the school administration. The school has been through this pretty much every year since it's opened.
I'm not willing to wait for the school to improve. I'm not willing to say that this is going to take us 10 years. The school has been so underperforming for so long, that the kids don't have time.
HARRIS: Massive curriculum overhaul is also required. Bott is letting his new staff lead many of those changes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to at least have one performance play.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are teaching them and we want them to become good people.
HARRIS: While the hallways are still empty, Bott and his new team race to finalize the details. School starts in Boston on September 8th.
BOTT: So how are we going to roll out the information to kids about cell phones? How are we going to roll out uniforms? How are we going to --
HARRIS: If Bott fails, the school fails. Ultimately, his goals are elementary.
BOTT: A dramatic increase in student performance. I mean, I think it's within reason that we can -- you know, 75 to 80 percent passing, and increase our proficiency 20, 25 percent.
HARRIS: The question for Andrew Bott and other principals across the country, will turnaround schools work?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Now that we've heard from a principal, we turn to the students. How are they juggling getting an education with being a kid?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to set and organize time to have fun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Students tell us about their responsibilities -- their responsibilities -- in their education.
A "New Dawn" in Iraq. A ceremony marks a transition from combat to a support role. U.S. troops reflect on the change.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Operation Iraqi Freedom gives way to Operation New Dawn. Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates presided over the ceremony in Baghdad today. It symbolized the beginning of a new role for U.S. forces to train, assist and advise the Iraqis.
Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence looks at what the transition means for U.S. troops.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now it's official. American troops who once led missions now assist Iraqi forces.
(on camera): What does September 1st mean to you?
STAFF SGT. BRADLEY BEAZER, 4-10 CAVALRY: To me it means we've done well and we've worked ourselves out of a job, which is what we came here to do in the first place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It means that I'm not going to have to come back.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): September 1st means more work for some American flight crews, especially those flying Black Hawks.
SPC. NICOLE JONES, BLACKHAWK FLIGHT CREW: We're the only -- one of the only support aircraft here since we had Chinooks that were here. They just recently left. So, it's picked up quite a bit for us.
LAWRENCE: The first full day of "New Dawn" is especially poignant for soldiers who slogged through years of fighting "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
STAFF SGT. ADAM STEFFENS, 3RD BRIGADE, 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION: I've been here, you know, four tours, and the change I've seen is remarkable.
LAWRENCE: Staff Sgt. Adam Steffens was part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, then deployed twice during the most brutal fighting.
STEFFENS: It was really, really crazy for a couple years there. But now, I look back at that and, I mean, it's a breathtaking difference.
LT. COL. JOHN DIGIAMBATTISTA, U.S. ARMY: It is a significant thing for a soldier to see Iraqis that you might have trained two years ago and they weren't that -- they didn't have much initiative. They weren't that well trained, they weren't that aggressive. Now to come back and see them, and they're doing operations on their own and we're following them, he's getting paid back for that that time that he's already spent here.
LAWRENCE: More than 4,400 American troops died fighting "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Another 34,000 were wounded.
(on camera): When you look back at your experience in '05, '06, '07, was it worth it?
DIGIAMBATTISTA: Absolutely. There are a lot of individuals that made the ultimate sacrifice. A lot of soldiers here in Iraq, soldier's faces and the people I worked with. And if their sacrifice can be worth where we're going, I think we're doing the right thing.
LAWRENCE: Ironically, some American troops are month optimistic about Iraq's future than many Iraqi people themselves, but the soldiers did tell me a lot of that goodwill that they're feeling right now will completely disappear if Iraq slides back into chaos again.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Going from the armed forces to the workforce can be a challenge for troops returning from war. Now, next hour, a conversation with a director from an Ohio-based employment service. The service caters exclusively to veterans transitioning to civilian life.
Let's get you caught up now on our top stories.
A hurricane warning and mandatory evacuations today for parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Hurricane Earl is expected to brush the coast on Friday. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the CNN Hurricane Center shortly.
Middle East diplomacy all day at the White House. President Obama holds individual meetings with the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Egypt. Direct talks, the first in two years, begin tomorrow at the State Department.
And for a third day, Dutch police are holding two United Airlines passengers who arrived from Chicago. Now, officials say the travelers from Yemen had suspicious items in their luggage. Now, U.S. officials have played down any link to terror, but the Dutch appear to be taking the incident as a serious threat. OK. While we are bringing you news from around the world, we are also watching what's hot online. Ines Ferre is surfing the Web for us -- Ines.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, a new take on the little black dress. It's getting a lot of attention on mashable.com. This one is wireless and it's a dress. Wait a second. It's also a cell phone.
It's actually both. All you have to do is lift your arm and just say hello. That simple.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. CNN is your hurricane headquarters.
You know, I've got a lot of information that I could share, but better to get over here.
You've got a lot to show us. This is a very dangerous storm.
JERAS: It is.
HARRIS: And I need to get as close as I can to all of this so that I can see it.
JERAS: Have your finger on the pulse of what's going on here.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
Where do you want to start, Jacqui?
JERAS: Well, I want to just give folks who haven't been paying attention and tuning in right now the latest stats on Earl so everybody knows where it's at and what it's doing.
A hundred and twenty-five-mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds. So that's a Category 3 storm. We call that a major hurricane.
And this is the Bahamas. They're going like this right now. Right?
HARRIS: Yes, absolutely.
JERAS: They're so lucky that this is as bad as it's going to get for them for the most part and pulling on away.
Now, there are a whole bunch of buoys out there in the ocean, right? And that gives us some data.
And take a look at one of the buoys. It's very near where Earl is right now, and it gives us these readings. And you don't have to look at all the lines, but I want to point out a couple of different things. The red line that you can see there, that red line, is the wind speed. Look at how the wind speed goes up. It peaks up here about 85 knots or so. That's about 100 miles per hour winds that it was recorded, and then notice how it dropped. So you know that's where that eye of the hurricane is, where it goes over.
And the other thing is this green line, this is the pressure. Look at how that pressure just bottoms way down. So that's how we know where that hurricane is and what it's doing and what some of that structure is. So, some interesting information just coming in there.
Here are the watches and warnings. We were able to get that now on a graphic for you to help you under who is under the warning, who's under a watch.
A warning means that hurricane conditions can be expected in 36 hours or less. We're expecting the worst of the weather to be hitting the North Carolina coast Thursday night into Friday morning.
So it's going to be overnight when you are sleeping, so you need to think about where you are going to be sleeping and what your plans are, and make sure that you're prepared to have food for a couple of days, water for a couple of days, and no power potentially as well, because you could see these hurricane-force conditions coming in here, bringing in those winds over 75 miles per hour.
Whether or not this is going to make landfall, it's going to be a really close call. Those models are bringing it right up towards the edge now of Cape Hatteras and stretching further on up to the north.
This is going to continue to make its way -- it's not just North Carolina. We don't want to forget about you folks in New England, because this is also likely going to get very close to Nantucket. And you guys are going to see tropical storm force conditions very likely, and those rip currents will be up and down the coast.
We have got this live cam. This is out of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. And take a look at those waves which have been rolling in.
HARRIS: Love that spot.
JERAS: We've got a red flag which is flying there. Rip currents, a big problem with that holiday weekend, Tony. People need to stay out of the water. Even if the weather looks good and the hurricane is not on top of you, those waves are going to be very rough all the way up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
HARRIS: And don't wait until the last minute. Boy, you know, make your plans. And you said it, make your plans and get out of there early.
JERAS: Especially if you are going to a place that you're unfamiliar with. If you're in the path of this storm, you don't want to go there, yes.
HARRIS: It's a biggie. All right, Jacqui. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Juggling school, homework and extracurricular activities. Students talk about taking part in their education while still finding time to be young people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to set an organized time to have fun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Lessons in responsibility, part of our "Fixing Our Schools."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We've talked about the role of teachers in improving the education in the United States. As we continue our week-long focus "Fix Our Schools," we talk with students about what they can do to make the most of their education.
Carl Azuz of CNN Student News gets the conversation going.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS CORRESPONDENT: How many of you feel that what you get out of your education is on you? What do you think students can do to get a better education?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Personally, I believe you take AP classes and at least honors classes.
AZUZ: Do you think students should push themselves?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have noticed that some students probably wouldn't last in an AP class. I wouldn't say they don't have the capability to learn but you have to push yourself to learn as much as you can in whatever class you're in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 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 the teacher and ask for help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think simply raising your hand in class and saying something and taking an active role in just a single class helps you stay more involved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't just put your education in a little box at school. Go above and beyond that.
AZUZ: How many of you guys are involved in extracurricular activities? How do you deal with the pressure of keeping up in your afterschool involvement as well as maintaining good grades? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With me, it's always about prioritizing, because for me, even though I go to a performing arts school, I always say my academics come first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just knowing that I can't be everywhere at one time. A lot of people want to be at basketball and soccer and cross country at the same time, but they just have to know to limit themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll do homework waiting in line at the store, in the car, anywhere I can to just finish up the last little bit of homework.
AZUZ: With everything you guys are doing, how do you have fun?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My personal, really close friends have just gone way on the overachieving side, and been like president of five clubs and six different languages. And I mean, there's a point where they're childhood is being affected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Entering my senior year, I told myself I was going to be involved in things I like doing because if I'm going to invest my time in it, at least I should be having fun.
I've got time management down and I'm a lot better balanced. So it's a whole lot easier even with so many AP classes. It's just great to have that overall feeling of being balanced.
AZUZ: Sounds like time management is pretty much central to all of you in your success.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds weird, but you have to set an organized time to have fun. If you know your best friend's birthday party is next weekend, do not plan to have a rehearsal or go, you know -- just make sure you come up with some excuse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I make it a point to make sure my weekends are for me.
AZUZ: Jeez, you guys are so much like all the adults I know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: You know, we had a pretty good laugh about that with me telling them that with my adult friends I have to plan things several months in advance, but there is a serious undercurrent, Tony, because you and I remember being in high school and we had more free time.
HARRIS: I clowned. I'm not kidding. But I don't think that these young people today, given everything we report today on the economy and how competitive the workforce is, you are not competing against guys and ladies in your neighborhood anymore. You don't have a birthright to a job anymore in this country as many -- look, in our generation, maybe we felt that way. Wrongly, but we felt that way. Worst case scenario, we could go to GM and get a job. AZUZ: And now, even to get into college, I mean, with so many folks going back to school in a recession, with there's so much more competition for scholarships, a lot of these students feel that pressure to overachieve, to take on all of these activities and in some senses to sacrifice their childhood so they will be able to compete more effectively in a much more competitive world.
HARRIS: Are their parents with them on this?
I love this idea with this group of kids that, you know, they feel like, I have to go to school and I've got to hold the system accountable. I know that I've got to get something out of this and I've got to go prepared., but I need the system to deliver for me and I'm going to hold the system accountable. I'm wondering if the parents are involved as well?
AZUZ: That's is exactly what we are going to talk about tomorrow, because some of these students have their parents 110 percent behind them and others are saying their parents are not as involved, which makes it more challenging for them in their schooling. I'm going to bring you full details tomorrow, sir.
HARRIS: I tell my kids, you better go get it. You better go get it.
AZUZ: Take command.
HARRIS: Go get it!
AZUZ: These are doing it. Thank you, sir.
HARRIS: Inspiring kindergarten students to strive for college and helping them pay for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: How much money is this?
CHILDREN: $10.
NEWSOM: And do you think if you go to college, do you think it costs more than $10? Probably, huh? So you need a lot of these to go to college?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A college savings account for every kindergartner courtesy of San Francisco's taxpayers? That story next hour.
Troops come back home and now they're looking for jobs. We will show you how one vet is helping others get into the workforce.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Hurricane Earl on track toward the East Coast this hour. CNN is your hurricane headquarters, and here's the latest for you.
Earl is still hundreds of miles off the East Coast, but no one is taking this storm for granted. Mandatory evacuations are already in place along parts of the North Carolina shoreline. President Obama is keeping a close watch on what's happening. He spoke by phone this morning from the Oval Office with the FEMA Chief Craig Fugate.
Earl is expected to sweep up the East Coast, stirring up dangerous waves. Areas all along the coast are getting prepared.
Here's reporter Mark Wagner with our affiliate WHDH on the Massachusetts coast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK WAGNER, WHDH REPORTER (voice-over): Harry Hansen pulling his boat out of the water after the Chatham harbormaster warned boat owners about Hurricane Earl now making its way up the East Coast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was here during Hurricane Bob, and it took every boat off that was left out there, took it off its mooring and through it up on the beach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as their boats out in the water, we have a saying down here, when it doubt, haul it out.
WAGNER: Big surf and rip currents at Mosset Beach (ph) in Orleans (ph), vacationers here waiting to see what Earl brings.
(on camera): What are you going to do when the hurricane comes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Play scrabble, play monopoly. Stay home and just enjoy it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to be here where I'm sitting now.
WAGNER: Here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unless the wind blows me away, I'll be right here.
WAGNER (voice-over): No one knows exactly how close Earl will come, but Chatham officials say they are watching closely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be looking at whether it comes to high tide or low tide, how fast the storm is moving, we may have to in some of the low-lying areas around Chatham be encourage people to leave their homes.
WAGNER: Some vacationers are cutting their stay short.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll probably leave Friday morning.
WAGNER (on camera): Because?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, because we don't want to get stuck here.
WAGNER (voice-over): And cape fisherman say they plan to stay out of Earl's way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will get some effects from it, so we don't take chances.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Got to tell you, when a hurricane like Earl is near, you really don't want to risk getting in the water, rip currents are real deadly threat.
CNN's Rob Marciano is in Virginia Beach -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Tony, another beautiful day here along Virginia Beach, Virginia. The waters behind me look beautiful and deceptively calm. The problem is they have had huge issues with rip currents the past few days.
Hundreds of water rescues over the weekend, not from Earl but from Hurricane Danielle, a much smaller storm well out to sea. So with Earl coming up, regardless of how close it gets, we will have a problem with rip currents through the weekend.
If it makes a jog any further to the west, we have more than rip currents to worry about. No evacuations here in Virginia, but across the outer banks in North Carolina, they are beginning to evacuate the folks there.
The issues I have seen here is that people aren't too concerned. It's been a long time since they've had any sort of storm. In fact, it's been since Hurricane Isabelle. So if this does jog to the west, I'm afraid that folks here might not be as mentally prepared and physically prepared as they should be. So certainly hope for this storm to make that right turn sooner, rather than later -- Tony.
HARRIS: Appreciate it. Thank you.
Let's take a look at top stories right now.
President Obama wades into the Middle East peace process, kicking off two days of meetings with Israelis, Palestinians and leaders from across the region. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat tells CNN if Israel resumes building settlements, they may walk out of the those peace talks.
It is an historic day in the Iraq war. General Lloyd Austen takes charge in a ceremony marking the end of combat operations and the start of the military's new advise and assist mission.
Actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor is back in the hospital. He husband found her unresponsive Tuesday. Gabor is 93, a family spokesman says her current condition is not life-threatening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: Troops leaving Iraq have another battle when they get home, that's finding a job. But one program is helping disabled veterans start their own businesses so they can be their own boss.
CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN IGLESIAS, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: It blew up, it felt like someone hit me in the face with a 2x4.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): It was an IED explosion in Iraq that nearly killed Brian Iglesias. In total, 40,000 American men and women have been injured fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
MIKE HAYNIE, ENTREPRENEURSHIP BOOTCAMP FOR VETERANS WITH DISABILITIES: Brian's story has been phenomenal.
HARLOW: Mike Haynie and Brian Iglesias were brought together by war, both veterans and now both entrepreneurs.
HAYNIE: What is entrepreneurship? What are the fundamentals of entrepreneurship?
HARLOW: After serving 14 years in the Air Force, Haynie became a professor of entrepreneurship. But he saw his fellow veterans struggling to find work after returning from war.
HAYNIE: Self-employment, entrepreneurship, going out and starting a business, has been a vocational path that the government has virtually ignored when it comes to the transition process for veterans.
HARLOW (on camera): So what was it like for you looking for work after serving for so long?
IGLESIAS: It was probably the toughest thing I had to go through. Because then when you don't get a job it's like, rejection after rejection, it gets pretty tough.
HARLOW (voice-over): So Haynie set out to change that, founding the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans With Disabilities, or EBV. It's a free training program for vets who want to start their own businesses.
The competition is steep, but vets that make the cut take 40 days of online classes and then a summer course at one of six universities that have signed on.
HAYNIE: The most American dream possible, I think, business ownership. That's the aim of this program. Passion is the number one criteria.
HARLOW: Brian's passion was film and he set out to make movies, starting his own production company. IGLESIAS: It was that purpose, it was that mission. It was, we will do it no matter how tired you are, no matter how hungry you are, you don't have an option to quit or stop.
I don't want to owe anybody any money, right? So I found another veteran, got together, so let's do it.
HAYNIE: Brian had no resources. He bootstrapped, you know, that's what we call it in entrepreneurship. He bootstrapped, found a way to get his movie made.
HARLOW: The result was a documentary about the brutal Korean War battle at Chosin and it's now being turned into a $100 million feature film, and Brian will be an executive producer.
IGLESIAS: So with the military what we're really, really good at is managing chaos and we thrive in chaos. And in small business, that's what it's all about.
As hard and as difficult as it was, it will never, ever be as hard and as difficult as combat. That's the beauty of perspective.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: That is indeed the beauty of perspective.
And, you know, Tony, by the end of the summer, more than 300 disabled vets will have graduated from the program, a hundred businesses have already been started. And pretty impressive when you look at the results, some of those businesses, Tony, are already turning over a million dollars in revenue a year, so major successful businesses here.
HARRIS: Can't see this piece enough, Poppy. So the program clearly targets disabled veterans, but who does that include? Can these newly returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan, can they qualify as well?
HARLOW: Absolutely. I talked to Mike Haynie, the founder of the program on the phone yesterday, he said so far so good. This summer they're sort of wrapping up the course. Of course, the newly returning vets can apply. It's pretty tough competition, but they can apply for next year.
And what's important to note is this isn't just veterans that have physical disabilities, like Brian in our story that was hit with an IED. This is vets that have PTSD, they are dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder.
And what's also interesting is this program has now just started, it launches in the fall, another part of the program that will help the families and caregivers of disabled vets because oftentimes they're left with having to make the money for the entire family. So they are going to help the vets and also the families there.
You can see a lot more of that story right here, we have the full thing on CNNMoney, Tony.
HARRIS: Good stuff. All right, good to see you, Poppy, thank you.
Next up, conversation with Robert Walker, a director from the Ohio-based employment service called Recruit Military. It caters exclusively to veterans who are transitioning from military to civilian life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: I've got to tell you, let's get you to CNNMoney.com. What a robust debate in the commercial break. If only we had recorded that -- well, you can't have it live.
Take a look at CNNMoney.com. The lead story here, "Stocks Surge Over 2 Percent on Manufacturing Data."
I think a lot of folks -- this will come in as a market depressing number, but no, we've got a nice pop here. The Dow surging -- let's do a slow reveal on the number, Jack. Let's take a slow walk and show everyone the good-news number of the morning. The Dow -- bam! -- up 249 points. That's a good number. Nasdaq -- we don't have it up, but I bet that's positive, as well.
You know, the rally on Wall Street comes despite a downbeat reading on the health of the jobs market. Employers here in the United States cut thousands of positions last month.
Alison Kosik on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange now with more on that report. Good to see you. Good morning, Alison.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Tony.
You know, investors are pretty much shrugging off that ADP report that you were talking about, and instead they're focusing on more positive news that's coming out.
But you know, the ADP report still hard to completely ignore. You know we found out from ADP that private employers cut 10,000 jobs last month. That's after we saw a gain of 37,000 jobs in July, so we're clearly going in the wrong direction.
It turns out, as well, that large companies are really the only ones that are hiring right now. In fact, the report says that the latest numbers confirm that there's a pause in the recovery.
But you know what's interesting here is that we got a really good headline out of China today, finding that Chinese manufacturing rebounded in August, and Australia's GDP number came in higher than expected. Those figures are actually giving hope that there is really a global recovery underway.
And that's why we're seeing this huge pop in the Dow right now. The Dow up 256 points. And then we also got another pop here in the numbers when we heard about U.S. manufacturing which also rose in August, as well.
So I mean, Tony, when you look at all of this data together, it's clear that it's conflicting. And bottom line for employers is they see it's conflicting, too, and they're really reticent to hire until they see a continuous growth in the economy that it really has legs, Tony.
HARRIS: What about Friday, Alison? I want to jump ahead to Friday. We have a big jobs report coming out on Friday, what with you hearing there on the floor of the stock exchange?
KOSIK: That's when we get the big jobs report, the Labor Department comes out with that, the government jobs report. It's a better snapshot than the one we got today, because it focuses on the private and public sector, as well.
Wall Street having low expectations on this one, though, Tony, they're expecting we're going to lose 120,000 jobs that those were lost in August, and that's after a loss of 130,000 jobs in July. And they're going to go ahead and attribute most of these job losses to those temporary census jobs that went away.
The unemployment rate is also expected to tick up to 9.6 percent. And this is how far we are in the hole as far as jobs go, Tony. Over time, the economy has to create 125,000 to 150,000 jobs a month, just to keep the unemployment rate where it is. So we really have got a long ways to go, Tony.
HARRIS: But the good news number at this hour, Alison --
KOSIK: Exactly.
HARRIS: What's the number again?
KOSIK: We're up 254 points. The Nasdaq up almost 3 percent, that's really big for the Nasdaq today.
HARRIS: Let's enjoy that for a minute. Can we?
All right, Alison, see you next hour.
KOSIK: You got it.
HARRIS: Making the transition from military to civilian life, veterans have unique challenges reentering the private workforce. A job fair is trying to help in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Plus, San Francisco wants to help public school kids get to college and they have a pretty unique approach -- get them while they're in kindergarten.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
