Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Neighborhood Wants Answers After Gas Explosion; America Hiker Released From Iran; Tea Party vs. GOP Battles; Higher Education Online; Obama on U.S. Hiker's Release; Pediatrician on the Run; CNN Equals Politics, What's Hot; Soldier Survival Stories

Aired September 14, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen. Here are some of the people behind today's top stores.

A horrific explosion. People's moments of panic captured on tape. We will show you what happened and dig deeper on whether America's aging natural gas pipe line system is safe.

Primaries battles. Even if no one is voting in your state today, this last round of primaries could still affect what happens in your state in November.

And you're online right now. We are, too. Ines Ferre is following "What's Hot" -- Ines.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, careful what you put as your Facebook status. Some teens in New Hampshire are accused of finding empty homes using Internet status to rob homes.

And check this out. What about a week without Twitter or Facebook? One university is banning social media for one week -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Ines, thank you.

Let's get started with our lead story.

A California utility is setting aside $100 million to help rebuild a neighborhood devastated by a gas explosion and fire, but the people of San Bruno want more than money from Pacific Gas and Electric. They want answers about what caused the deadly blast.

Details now from CNN's Ted Rowlands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This gas station surveillance video shows the first moment of last Thursday's explosion. Watch closely as the man in the red vehicle gets out. First, you can see chunks of asphalt and debris, then a massive wall of flames shooting into the sky. Within seconds, the fire grows larger. A woman carrying a baby runs across the street away from the flames, while others seem attracted to the blaze. Some actually drive towards the fire. Nobody knew what was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My first thought is a plane went down. OK? And I run up halfway down there. You know, the fire was pretty bad.

ROWLANDS: Across the street, inside this grocery store, people say they first heard a strange hissing sound. Now watch as the sliding doors push in from the explosion. Watch it again in slow motion. The store quickly turns to chaos, people start running away from one of the exits while others desperately try to get out of the store.

Still unanswered -- what caused this massive explosion. Many people here are getting impatient waiting for answers.

BILL MAGOOLAGHAN, RESIDENT: My kids play at that park which is now melted. These are neighbors. The woman down the block, my dog played with her dog, and she's dead. It's not fair.

ROWLANDS: The investigation is centered on this section of pipe installed in 1948. Did the gas company PG&E miss warning signs that something was wrong before the explosion?

(on camera): Several people in this neighborhood say in the days leading up to the explosion, they smelled gas. One person even says he saw and talked to a PG&E crew about a gas leak. But PG&E says according to their records, since the month of July, they've only been here twice.

CHRISTOPHER P. JOHNS, PRESIDENT PG&E: In one instance, there was a small leak at the meter, which we replaced, fixed it right away. And in a second instance, there wasn't a leak found anywhere.

ROWLANDS: We may never know if there was a second leak and if so whether or not it was associated with the explosion. The pipe itself was last inspected in March. Keeping them honest, we asked for the results of that inspection, but we were told they couldn't be provided because of an ongoing investigation. We got the same response at a press conference.

GEISHA J. WILLIAMS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT PG&E: That is part of the NTSB investigation and I really cannot share the findings of that particular assessment.

ROWLANDS: PG&E is taking responsibility, setting up a $100 million fund for victims. This week they plan on giving everyone whose home was destroyed up to $50,000, no strings attached. They claim it's the right thing to do. What's still unclear is what PG&E may have done wrong and whether there's a chance it could happen again.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, San Bruno, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, the tragedy in San Bruno raises questions about the safety of aging pipelines across country.

Josh Levs has been checking into that for us.

Josh, what are you finding?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Tony, we've got to remind everyone how incredibly massive it is. This huge mess on this map behind me, these are all natural gas pipelines in the United States.

And what you're seeing here in the blue are the interstate ones, the ones that go across different states. The red are the intrastate ones that operate inside certain states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas. But you can see it's massive.

In fact, let me show you some of the numbers here, then we'll talk about some of the dangers that go along with it. When we look at pipelines in this country, 2.5 million miles worth of pipelines in this country, enough to cross the Earth 1100 times.

Now take a look at this. You're really talking about three different things that go in these pipes that lie beneath us -- hazardous liquids, gas transmission, and then by far the bulk of it are these natural gas distribution pipelines. So when we hear a lot about these pipelines and we see how they're all over the country, this is by far the majority of it, is natural gas distribution.

Now, I've been looking at the incidents involving dangers. Take a look here.

The number of significant incidents, according to the Transportation Department, over 20 years, going back to 1990, they're saying about 5,600 significant incidents involving pipeline safety ever since that time. And take a look here. Three hundred sixty-five fatalities, 1,553 injuries.

So, clearly, it is problem and it is a concern. Let's go to these pictures now.

I also want to tell you the other side of it, which is the Department of Transportation says, you know what? When you take a look at what it takes to move all of this massive volume of natural gas across the country, they say it is the safest, most cost-effective system that there is.

In fact, they specifically say that when you compare it to other ways of moving forms of energy, like oil, this is by far one of the safest. So, you have that other side of it.

But, look, there are these concerns out there from many experts who take a look at this and say not enough is being done. Here is one that joined us in the NEWSROOM this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK KESSLER, PIPELINE SAFETY TRUST: Only seven percent of these pipelines, the pipeline mileage, is actually required to be inspected under the 2002 law. We need not only to expand the areas, but a process for continuing to expand the pipe -- the areas of pipeline that have to be inspected. And they've got to be inspected with more rigor than they are today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: And Tony, he's hardly alone. A lot of people saying a lot more needs to be done.

HARRIS: Well, is anything being done to increase inspections right now, Josh?

LEVS: A little bit. You know, Congress, over the last couple of years, has actually upped the number of inspectors that the federal government has. But even so, the federal government only has in the mid-80s. It's going up to about 100 now.

But more inspectors actually come from the state. So what needs to happen also is that individual companies and states around the country need to update that themselves.

Also, I want to show you this here. This is a little bit of new technology. I was learning about this from the Department of Energy.

Can we get a shot of this? Let's close in.

HARRIS: Of course we can, yes.

LEVS: This is -- look at this. This is called a sensor developed to detect defects in natural gas pipelines, and it's basically its own little robot that would kind of travel around and search for potential defects.

Now, whether this will actually do it or not, we don't know yet. But the idea here is you have humans operating, right? We're going to do as much as we can.

HARRIS: Right.

LEVS: Fortunately, we're also getting a little robotic action in there as well, searching through these pipelines, some of which are ancient, decades and decades old, searching for flaws that could potentially lead to disaster.

HARRIS: Let's use the technology if it's available.

All right, Josh. Thank you.

New developments from Boulder, Colorado, today. A newspaper reports a 71-year-old volunteer firefighter is under investigation in the fire that raced through the canyons just outside the city last week. The Boulder camera says the inferno started accidentally. A backyard fire pit apparently wasn't fully extinguished and winds fanned it back to life.

The wildfire went on to burn, as you know, 166 homes. It is now 100 percent contained.

After 14 months locked up in an Iranian prison, American hiker Sarah Shourd is finally coming home. She reportedly left Tehran a little while ago on a charter plane.

Our Mary Snow has been covering this story for us this morning.

And Mary, have we heard anything from the families? Any kind of a statement?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have, Tony. In the last hour we have heard from the families as this, as you just reported, that CNN has confirmed that Sarah Shourd is on her way to Oman in a charter plane.

Now, the families released a pretty lengthy statement, saying, "All of our families are relieved and overjoyed that Sarah has at last been released, but we're also heartbroken that Shane and Josh are still being denied their freedom for no just cause. We applaud the Iranian authorities for showing compassion in Sarah's case, and again call on them to do the only right thing and release Shane and Josh immediately. Shane, Sarah and Josh are all innocent."

And we heard from CNN's Reza Sayah earlier today. Reza spoke with Sarah Shourd's attorney who was with her when the release papers were signed. And he reported that Sarah was happy, smiling, but that she had wished that all three Americans were being released together.

All three Americans were detained in July of 2009, as we now know. They were hiking in Iraq. They have been accused of spying. Their families say if they crossed that unmarked border, it was done so by accident.

And you know what, Tony? Earlier today, Tehran's general prosecutor told state-run television that Shourd's representatives paid her bail, that bail had been set at $500,000.

Let's take a listen to that translation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Today the representatives of this lady accepted to bail her out. It was paid in Muscat, the Bank of Iran. The money was paid there, and the judge issued the release order. And Ms. Shourd was simply set free, and she can leave Iran if she wants to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: And Tony, there had been a lot of back and forth over the past couple of days, but that senior prosecutor in Iran had cited Sarah Shourd's medical condition as one of the reasons why she's being released. We do know from the family she had a pre-existing condition and that, apparently, she had told her mother in recent months that she had found a lump in her breast -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Sarah Shourd out of that Iranian prison.

Mary Snow in New York for us.

Mary, appreciate it. Thank you.

And still to come, today marks the campaign season's final round of primaries. Pundits try to gauge the strength of the Tea Party movement.

First, though, our "Random Moment" in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Oh, it's so good. All right. When the roads are jammed, literally a parking lot out there, the blind traffic reporter -- yes -- gets you moving. It's the "Random Moment of the Day."

Tommy Edison just can't see. He can't. But he has been guiding Connecticut commuters for almost two decades.

He gets traffic details from police scanners and calls from radio listeners. Edison likes to shock people by being so normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY EDISON, TRAFFIC REPORTER: Why is if that just because I'm blind that I have to sit home or panhandle in front of Grand Central Station in Manhattan? You know what I mean? I don't think I'd be able to land a 747 at LaGuardia on Runway 2, but generally I can do most things that everybody else can do, and that's what this is all about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That's what it's all about.

OK. A producer is making a documentary on Edison's work life and is shopping it around at the networks. Remember, you saw him first as the "Random Moment of the Day."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A Tea Party favorite and a GOP candidate locked in a tight race. A longtime congressman battles ethics charges and five opponents.

It is Primary Day in seven states and the District of Columbia, the last primaries before the November elections, and we are spotlighting the hot races to watch.

CNN producer Shannon Travis joins us live from the site of one of those races. He's in Delaware.

Shannon, good to see you. So, Delaware and New Hampshire really topping our list because of what we like to call the Tea Party factor. Look, you have been covering the Tea Party for a while now. So how is this movement a factor where you are?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: It's a factor because, I mean, the Tea Party movement is coming into literally one of the bluest states in the country, and could actually make an impact there. They're definitely getting a lot of buzz right now because of this endorsement of Christine O'Donnell, this conservative candidate, and their slamming of Congressman Mike Castle.

So the Tea Party, it's just a sign of yet another bold move by the Tea Party movement, that they're not just focusing on red states that they think they can win, and they're even coming in, some might even say infiltrating, blue states. So they're having some impact.

HARRIS: Yes. And Shannon, we know Tea Party activists have little love for Democrats. But what you're pulling together here, what we're discussing here, is another example of the Tea Party activists going after Republicans just like we saw in Alaska.

TRAVIS: That's right. I was in Alaska a few weeks ago covering that race between Joe Miller and Senator Lisa Murkowski. A lot of the activists I talked to called it a rhino hunt, and Mike Castle, Congressman Castle, is taking heat.

Take a listen at what he told our Brian Todd earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Was Lisa Murkowski's loss in Alaska a wake-up call for you?

REP. MIKE CASTLE (R-DE), SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, it was an added wake-up call. I mean, we had watched some of these elections around the country and saw what was going on. I actually received a call from Lisa at the election just saying, "Mike, you need to be prepared. They will come at you hard."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS: "They will come at you hard." Listen to those words that Congressman Castle said about -- at least from Senator Murkowski's advice to him about the Tea Party movement. And that's what they've been doing, basically branding him as a liberal who will be a rubber stamp for the Obama administration.

So it's a nasty race, it's a tough race, but one that will be decided later on today.

HARRIS: I think you're absolutely right, Shannon. OK. We'll be following you throughout the day.

Shannon Travis for us. In New York, Congressman Charles Rangel is in perhaps the toughest fight of his political career. Rangel faces five challengers, including the son of the late congressman Adam Clayton Powell. In the past, re-election has been a slam-dunk for Rangel, but this time he is also facing an ethics charge in the House later this year.

Igor no longer the only other hurricane in the Atlantic. Julia upgraded from a tropical storm. Chad Myers tracking both hurricanes when we come back.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The Justice Department might sue BP for big damages from the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Attorneys told a district court in New Orleans today that it might seek claims under the Oil Pollution Act which gives the government the right to seek potentially huge penalties.

Voters are headed to the polls for primaries in seven states today. In New Hampshire and Delaware, conservative candidates threaten to upset those favored by establishment Republicans.

Got to tell you, too many teens are getting high these days on things in their own medicine cabinets. The DEA now wants parents to get involved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Wow. OK. Want to get you to CNNMoney.com.

As you see, the lead story here, the CEO of Intel saying the stimulus didn't work, that the Obama administration has to do more to get the economy back on track. More stimulus spending? Something else?

If you want the answers to those questions and much more, just go to CNNMoney.com. Our Money team doing a terrific job -- "Why Obama doesn't get it." Wow.

OK. Let's get you to the Big Board, New York Stock Exchange now. We're still trading in positive territory. As you can see, we're up 35 points. The Nasdaq -- let's see -- we are three hours into the trading day -- is up 15.

Something I want to bring your attention to. Mixing cough medication with prescription drugs, that is what one in 10 teens are doing these days to get high with some dangerous results. Some are actually dying or getting sick off the over-the-counter cocktails.

Is it time the FDA got involved? Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Carl Hennan (ph) was your all-American teen: good looking, talented and popular. But Carl had a secret. For much of his high school years, he was getting high on over-the-counter cough syrup.

His mother, Misty Fetko, a registered nurse, always talked to him about the effects of drugs and alcohol, but never thought to talk about cough suppressants until she tried to wake him up one morning and couldn't.

MISTY FETKO, CARL'S MOTHER: Unfortunately, I found him in his bed, and at that point it was too late.

COHEN: That was in 2003. Since, Fetko has been on a mission to make sure other parents are aware that over-the-counter cough medicines can be abused.

When Fetko first discovered empty bottles of the stuff in the home, it never occurred to her that Carl might be doing something dangerous. But on the day he died it hit her. What triggered his death was sitting right there in her medicine cabinet.

FETKO: It's inexpensive. And the fact is, the kids don't have to have a scary drug dealer to obtain it.

COHEN: According to the Partnership for Drug-Free America, eight percent, or 1.3 million teens, have reported abusing over-the-counter cough suppressants over the past year. The ingredients in these medicine that creates the high is known as Dextromethorphan, or Dex.

(on camera): Dextromethorphan is found in all sorts of products on drugstore shelves. When you take a lot of it, it can create a euphoria, and it can also raise your body temperature, your blood pressure, and your heart rate. And then, if it's mixed with other drugs, it can kill you.

(voice-over): Dex-related emergency room visits increased more than 70 percent from 2004 to 2008. So the Drug Enforcement Administration is asking for help. They want advice from the Food & Drug Administration on whether to make products like Nyquil, Robitussin and Tylenol Cold medicine available by prescription only.

Some say this is going overboard.

STEVE PASIERB, PARTNERSHIP FOR DRUG FREE AMERICACOSTA: When you've got inhalant abuse four times higher, marijuana abuse many, many times higher, compared to other drugs of abuse, this is not the most serious threat facing a lot of families.

COHEN: Cough medicine makers say their products help millions of people and should stay over the counter and parents are the key to curbing abuse.

LINDA SUYDAM, CONSUMER HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION: Many parents do not talk to their children but we know that parent that is talk to their children have a 50 percent decrease in using drugs. COHEN: Missy Fetko agrees. She says restricting these medicines to prescription only probably won't help.

FETKO: It might be, you know, a short term quick fix. So the access is still there.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: He is the host with the most. Now Tom Joyner wants to bring higher education to the masses.

We're back in a moment.

You're in the CNN newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Talk show host and entrepreneur Tom Joyner is launching a business that encourages higher education among African-Americans. Here is the Web site. Let's put it up for you.

HBCUs Online provides a support system for African-Americans to enroll in online college courses at historically black colleges and universities.

Tom Joyner joining us live from Dallas. He is the king of all media. Someone else claims that title, but, Tom, good to see you. How are you, sir?

TOM JOYNER, RADIO TV TALK SHOW HOST: I'm doing good. How you doing, T. Harris?

HARRIS: I am rockin' it!

Hey, look, what are you responding to here with this offering? Is it what some have described as an exodus of African-American students to online colleges like the University of Phoenix? What's the rationale for this project?

JOYNER: OK. Well, I started with this idea probably about seven years ago. Remember when Morris Brown right there in Atlanta --

HARRIS: Absolutely. That was sad to see. That was sad to see.

JOYNER: That's when I came up with the idea.

HARRIS: Yes.

JOYNER: Right, right. My idea at the time was to buy Morris Brown, take it out of debt, put it for-profit and online and then return it to the church after about 20, 25 years. But the church didn't actually see it that way. So we -- I said -- because it was very evident then that although enrollment at historically black colleges had been dropping each year, African-Americans have not stopped trying to get a higher education. Because more and more everyone recognizes that in order to get somewhere in this life, in this economy, you have to have a degree.

HARRIS: Yes.

JOYNER: So the University of Phoenix has been going strong for a long, long time. And not just the University of Phoenix, but, you know, there's Kaplan, Straya (ph) Capella and the other. But by far the number one is the University of Phoenix. Did you know they have over half a million students?

HARRIS: I did not.

JOYNER: Over half a million students.

HARRIS: Wow.

JOYNER: And almost a third of those half a million students are African-Americans. Mostly 25 years and older.

HARRIS: Yes, --

JOYNER: So the market was right there.

HARRIS: Yes, sounds like it. Is it that students -- you mentioned that so many are leaving the brick and mortar universities. Is it that students today need more of an education that fits their lives better?

JOYNER: Right. I mean gone are the days, Tony, when, you know, you get out of high school, you choose a college, you go away to school for four years, you might do some grad work and then you're off into the workforce and everything is lovely.

HARRIS: Right, right, right.

JOYNER: That just doesn't happen. Most people, if they finish, they have to piece their degrees together.

HARRIS: Uh-huh.

JOYNER: And at historically black colleges, historically black colleges have always been known, from their inception, to take a student, care for them, nurture them, you know, make it so that they are equipped for success in this world.

HARRIS: Yes.

JOYNER: And that's what we're doing with hbcuonline.com. If you're thinking about getting an education, if you're thinking about getting a degree and you're thinking about online, think about getting it from a black college. When you go to a black college, and you will be a student at one of our colleges, we have two colleges right now, Hampton and Texas Sub. There are 105 historically black colleges in existence and we're not going to stop until we help all of them.

HARRIS: Yes. JOYNER: But when you register with us, you become a student of that college. You become a Rattler of Florida A&M. You become a Pirate of Hampton University. You become a Tiger of Texas Sub. And you become that student. And you know like I know, when you find somebody who graduated from an HBCU, it's a different kind of confidence, a different kind of swagger, a different kind of leadership, a spirit of success just goes with them that they were inbred when they went to this historically black college. So we're going to do that virtually.

HARRIS: Right. So if the students don't have the time to attend the traditional classes and the brick and mortar university, why would they have time to participate in an online HBCU experience, as great as that might be? Because that HBCU experience is about that community that you just described, isn't it?

JOYNER: And we're going to re-create that community, too. We'll even have -- you know, on every black college campus, Tony, there's a place where all the students gather called the yard.

HARRIS: The yard, yes.

JOYNER: And we have that on our Web site. We recreated the yard. Recreated the student union. We recreated the social networking there and we have advocates who will, unlike other online universities, we have advocates, counselors, that are going to hold your hand from registration to graduation. At these others, these other virtual online institutions, they register you, they worry you to death to get registered and then they pretty much leave you alone and you're there studying in your underwear and in tons and tons of debt.

HARRIS: You know what -- you --

JOYNER: You're in a lot of debt and it's boring and you probably won't finish.

HARRIS: All right. I've got one more for you, Tom.

JOYNER: You probably won't finish. The retention rate for the University of Phoenix is 16 percent. Only 16 percent of their students graduate.

HARRIS: All right. I want you to be successful with this, Tom. So what do you do about the HBCU that wants to participate but doesn't necessarily have the necessary infrastructure that you just described?

JOYNER: We help them build that out.

HARRIS: That was my question, you're going to help them build it out?

JOYNER: We help them build that out. We help them with their content, we help them with their infrastructure, we help them with their faculty. We train them. Going to -- becoming an online -- having an online degree with a whole lot of capacity is more than just a notion. That's why my team has invested so much time and money to get these schools ready. And that's why we've taken so long to go up with this.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

JOYNER: And because we want to make sure that the schools are ready, and not only the schools, but the students are ready. We're going to counsel students, make sure that this is the right step for them. No pressure here. We're not -- no pressure here because you may not be ready to learn with -- you may not know how to learn when you're going on online education. You may not know how to learn. You may not know how to teach. But hbcuonline.com is -- we help the student prepare for learning, we help the school prepare for teaching.

HARRIS: OK. Tom, we're going to follow it. OK? You're launching in January, correct?

JOYNER: We are registering now for January classes.

HARRIS: Terrific.

JOYNER: We launched today. Today is our launch day.

HARRIS: Congratulations.

JOYNER: And we are hbcuonline.com.

Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, it's good to see you, doctor and -- doctor, and we'll talk again soon I'm sure.

JOYNER: Doctor doctor.

HARRIS: Thanks, Tom. And say hello to the rest of your team for us.

About 30 minutes from right now, President Obama speaks to the nations' school children. He will urge students to make the most of their education. And according to a text of the speech, he will tell them, "your life is what you make of it. And nothing absolutely nothing is beyond your reach." This is his second back-to-school speech. His first last year was met with skepticism from conservatives. They thought he would use the forum to push his political agenda. That concern proved unfounded and he received praise from both parties for delivering a positive message on education.

And this just in. New information from the White House regarding the American hiker released from Iran. Suzanne Malveaux is live in Philadelphia

Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Tony, just got this on my Blackberry, an e-mail from the White House. This is from the president himself talking about the release of Sarah Shourd. I just want to read really quickly. It's about two paragraphs or so. But he says, "I am very pleased that Sarah Shourd has been released by the Iranian government and will soon be united with her family. All Americans join with her courageous mother and family in celebrating her long awaited return home. We are grateful to the Swiss, the sultan of Oman and other friends and allies around the world who have worked tirelessly and admirably over the past several months to bring about this joyous reunion."

He goes on, Tony, to say, "while Sarah has been released, "Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal remain prisoners in Iran, who have committed no crime. We remain hopeful that Iran will demonstrate renewed compassion by ensuring the return of Shane, Josh and the other missing or detained Americans in Iran." He goes on to say, "we salute the courage and strength of Shourd, Bauer and the Fattal families who have endured the unimaginable absence of their loved ones who have gained their strength from resolve and we'll continue to do everything we can to secure the release of their loved ones."

As you know, Tony, the White House, the administration was making it very clear from the very beginning that this is not kind of bargaining with any type of terrorists or government that we would be taking American citizens. That there is not this kind of quid pro quo so to speak, but this is something that must be handled in a humanitarian and diplomatic fashion. Certainly not in a political one. But the White House making it very clear that they are pleased with this latest development. That this is good news and they certainly hope for the return of the other two.

HARRIS: Yes, absolutely. All right, our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, traveling with the president in Philadelphia today.

And, Suzanne, appreciate it. Thank you.

Let's take a break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The FBI is searching for a Phoenix area pediatrician on the run today after a grand jury indicted him for child pornography. Rudabeh Shahbazi report from affiliate KNXB.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know why anyone would want to indulge in child pornography. I think it's horrible.

RUDABEH SHAHBAZI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Emilio Luna's arrest shocked his neighbor and co-workers and parents at his Phoenix pediatric office. He's accused of sharing thousands of files of child porn online.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If, in fact, that he did do it, then he should never be allowed to be with -- be around children again.

SHAHBAZI: But a judge did allow him to be around children before a trial. He was under house confinement with an electronic monitoring device, but was allowed to go to this Glendale church. The judge made the discussion because he had no criminal record and was not considered a flight risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to wonder at the treatment given to criminals, particularly ones that would go after children.

SHAHBAZI: A family member called investigators when he didn't come back and detectives found his abandoned vehicle. Inside, bolt cutters and his cut-off ankle monitor. Desert Valley Pediatrics initially released a statement saying, "obviously, as pediatricians, we are disgusted by the allegations which are against every belief that we as pediatricians hold dear."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want him caught. Who knows what he's going to do next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: The FBI says Dr. Luna has homes in Texas, California and Illinois. Agents say he could also be in Mexico, where he was born.

It is a powerful primary day across the nation and CNN is the place to watch it all go down as voters in seven states head to the polls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And time now for your "CNN Equal Politics" update. Senior congressional correspondent, all right, Dana Bash is with the best political team on television. Dana joining us live from D.C.

And, Dana, what's crossing right now?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What's going on in really one of the big stories on the ticker this hour is what you see right here, and that is that the United States Congress is back in session. One-third of the Senate where I am and all of the House, they are back to -- they're up for re-election and they are back to talk about the policies that they are going to push forward legislatively for the next three weeks while they are temporarily back from the campaign trail.

You see all the hustle and bustle behind me. You see there's Republican Senator Byrd right there. All of the discussions that are going on in meetings as we speak here are about -- primarily about the tax cut debate and whether or not and how there can be an extension from the Democrat's point of view, just the tax cuts for the middle class and how Republicans can try to force Democrats to have a vote most of them don't want to have, which is to extend all of the Bush era tax cuts.

On this note really quickly, I ran in on my way in here to Senator Russ Feingold, Tony. He is one of those Democrats who they went home not thinking that he was going to be a problem in terms of his re-election campaign, but during the summer it looked like -- it looks like he is going to have a tough rates. I ran into him and he says that the Democratic base is doing better. He says he feels better. But, you know, he has a tough race and he is one of those that Democrats are watching.

The other thing that everybody is watching here, Tony, everybody, is what is going on up in Delaware. And I had a really interesting conversation, this is on the ticker as well, with the head of the Republican committee to elect Republican senators. That's John Cornyn of Texas. And he was very candid with me and he said it would be a shame to nominate somebody who could not win that seat. And from his perspective, he has doubts about whether Christine O'Donnell, who is, of course, the Tea Party candidate up there, can actually win. And he also admitted that if Republicans have any chance of winning back the majority of where I am right now, in the Senate, that that is, in his words, a linchpin. And if she does wins, he admitted that they would have to have a quote/unquote pow wow of whether they would just pull their resources from that state of Delaware. They were really hoping to win.

And one last item on the ticker that I want to tell you about.

HARRIS: Sure.

BASH: And that is, you know, I've been on the campaign trail. We have seen -- Nancy Pelosi is the boogeyman when it comes to Republicans running against Democrats. You talk to Republican candidates and they use her name in every other breath to try to link their Democrats to her and she now has a pretty tough web ad that's gone viral from her opponent, John Dennis. He has no chance of winning, but he has an ad portraying her as the wicked witch of the west. This is tougher than we've ever seen for sure. And I'll tell you, her spokesman, Jane Kreider (ph), said laughing, "how silly, lions and tigers and bears, oh, my."

Tony.

HARRIS: Oh, my. Good stuff. Dana Bash for us.

Dana, appreciate it. Thank you.

And your next political update in an hour. And for the latest political news, you know where to go, at cnnpolitics.com.

Grandma's got a brand new bag. A dime bag. Oh boy, it's one of our stories. We're back in a moment. That's just wrong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK, so the e-mail nation has spoken and the e-mail nation wants to see Ines Ferre handling top stories without me because they say I just get in the way. So, here we go. "What's Hot," Ines Ferre.

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, right, Tony. "What's Hot" on cnn.com.

A pot-growing grandma in California. She's been growing pot since 1970s.

HARRIS: Hey now.

FERRE: She's been growing it and dispensing it in California. And this piece was done by our writer producer Elliott McLaughlin. And now she doesn't want to it be identified. And take a listen to what she says about growing pot in her garden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've done very well because nobody tells on -- about anybody else, you know? And nobody let's in an outsider because they're going to be a fed. And once the feds come in, it's no good. They bust the big growers or in-door growers or people who are hiding their pot. So my theory is, grow it in the open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FERRE: Now she says that she mixes it with other plants, like squash and everything else. And you can check out the whole story on cnn.com.

We'll be right back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We first introduced you to three soldiers after they were seriously injured in a massive IED bombing in Afghanistan. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reunites with them to see how they're recovering here at home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I don't know if you remember meeting me.

PFC MIGUEL GARCIA, U.S. ARMY: I do, ma'am. Yes, I do.

STARR: Can I say hi.

GARCIA: OK.

STARR: How are you?

GARCIA: Pretty good, ma'am.

STARR: I don't want to hug too tight.

GARCIA: Oh, we're fine. I'm good, ma'am.

STARR (voice-over): I first met Private First Class Miguel Garcia, Specialist Aaron Nuckolls and Staff Sergeant Benjamin McGuire on stretchers, wounded in a massive IED blast in Afghanistan, they were making the journey home.

Now up and around back at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of the 101st Airborne Division, we checked in to see how their recovery was going. McGuire was the most seriously hurt, a shattered jaw.

STAFF SGT. BENJAMIN MCGUIRE, U.S. ARMY: I was completely unconscious, ma'am. The first memory I have of that whole event was, I came -- started to come around as they were pulling me out of the truck the rest of the way.

SPC. AARON NUCKOLLS, U.S. ARMY: I saw him -- they pulled him out of the truck and it looked like someone had just slit his throat, because he was -- that cut underneath his jaw. It was just -- it was a nightmare.

STARR: The men initially thought they had been separated by the blast.

GARCIA: It was horrible.

STARR (on camera): Yes.

NUCKOLLS: You know, I didn't even know -- I didn't know where Garcia was. The worst thing about it was, no one would tell me what was going on. That was a -- how's McGuire, how's McGuire, how's McGuire? That's all I was yelling. No one would actually tell me he was OK.

STARR (voice-over): But still a bit of humor when they look at their trip home when they were all still on heavy doses of pain medication.

GARCIA: Morphine talk right there.

STARR: Now we learn more about what the men had been through. Garcia was the gunner, Nuckolls then joined the team.

MCGUIRE: The very first time he was with us on patrol, when he joined our crew, on our truck, we actually got ambushed that day on a route heading north in our sector. And our truck was hit by an RPG on that day. So I joked whether or not that you're not allowed to be my driver any more.

STARR: Nuckolls was driving on July 12th when they were hit by the IED that made them brothers in arms forever.

NUCKOLLS: All I was worried about was rolling off the cliff we were on, because where we were at was not a good spot to get hit. I think what they had really planned to do was blow us off the side of the mountain. Because if they could have rolled us over, what, two feet further --

STARR (on camera): That would be it.

NUCKOLLS: We would have rolled down about 3,000 -- 2,000, 3,000- foot drop-off.

STARR (voice-over): On that mountain, no Washington policy or politics, a friendship under fire that these men say will last forever. STARR (on camera): Day to day it's really not about what Washington says, it's about your buddies?

GARCIA: I don't care about the politics, ma'am. They tell me where to go and I just make sure that, you know, I try to take care of them as much as I can. That's what I do.

STARR: You feel the same way?

NUCKOLLS: Yes, I know without a doubt these guys would die for me, just like I'd die for them.

STARR (voice-over): All three soldiers will tell you they're doing well, but they will tell you, yes, they are still having nightmares about the attack. Still, they all hope to return to Afghanistan.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Hmm.

Let's push ahead now. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi in New York.

Ali.