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Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski to Run as Write-in Candidate; BP to Permanently Seal Oil Well; Civil Right Hero May Have Been FBI Informant; Parliamentary Elections Held in Afghanistan; CNN Hero Continues Work; High School Star Quarterback Dies Suddenly on Football Field; Girl Raises Her Own Money to Buy School Supplies

Aired September 18, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

The gloves are off -- those are the words of Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski who lost her primary race. But now she has a new plan to still win reelection. She wants the voters to write her name in.

Also, today is the day the well could be dead, completely, sealed off, never to be heard from again. We will give you the latest details on this latest method they are using to finally kill this thing once and for all.

From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, 10:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, Georgia, 9:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Good morning to you all, wherever you may be. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for being here.

Also coming up for you in next 60 minutes here, Pope Benedict is in London. He has a lot going on today, including taking care of the faithful. Some 80,000, that's a live picture you are seeing -- they are expecting some 80,000 to show up to Hyde Park trying to make their way to see the Pope. He will be having a prayer vigil there this evening, but he is not expected for another couple of hours. But they are already making their way there. We will take you to London.

Also, a Texas high school star quarterback and a straight "A" student has died. Reggie Garrett is his name. He was running to the sidelines and collapsed after throwing his second touchdown pass last night. This happened in a small town in Texas, one of those places where everybody knows everybody, and everybody knew Reggie. We'll tell you more about this young man.

Also, we are going to hear possibly from Sarah Shourd, the American woman held more than a year in Iran, expecting to hear from her next hour. She's expected to speak at the airport in Amman before flying back to the United States. Her two hiking companions, however, still remain in custody in Iran.

Let's turn to the big political we saw last night. Alaska's Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski is hoping to pull off what some are calling a real long shot. She is trying to win reelection by winning on a write-in. The incumbent senator announcing her renewed bid, I say renewed because she already lost in the state's primary to a tea party backed political newcomer.

If she sins she would be only the second U.S. senator ever to win with a write-in campaign. Last night in Anchorage, Murkowski explained herself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: I will be the first one to admit to you that in the primary campaign, we made some mistakes. We talked about ourselves. We talked about me a lot. But we didn't educate Alaskans about the extremist views that were held by Mr. Miller. And when he swung, I didn't swing back.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, friends and supporters, the gloves are off, and I'm fighting for Alaska.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You saw her campaign signs. They said, "Let's make history." She is talking about making history, because this hasn't been done a whole lot -- in fact, only one other time. South Carolina's Strom Thurmond won a U.S. Senate seat by a write-in 56 years ago.

Our CNN political producer Shannon Travis is here with me.

You have been to Alaska and you were covering this race in particular up there. For a lot of people who might not know Murkowski, is this her MO? Is this her, talking about taking the gloves off now in the campaign season, or is she just ramping it up now with this renewed campaign?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: She is ramping it up now. She has to ramp it up for her supporters.

This isn't her typical disposition. Lisa Murkowski is a pretty amenable woman. She is polite and a lot of people know her for that. But she feels like and a lot of her supporters feel she didn't fight enough. There are some people that say she underestimated Jill Miller during the primary and the tea party movement who supported and endorsed him and went to Alaska and campaigned for him.

And so now, according to her, you just heard her say, I'm ready to fight. She even acknowledged, maybe I didn't fight enough in the primary, but I am ready to fight now.

HOLMES: Murkowski, a lot of people around the country might not know that name. They know it real well in Alaska. Is that possibly going to be enough that this write-in campaign could work?

TRAVIS: It could be. Her father was a governor and senator. The Murkowski name is very well-known across Alaska. Joe Miller is a lot more of an unknown commodity. People know him because of the whole fever around the race, but they don't really know a lot of what he stands for. he has to explain that.

We actually have some sound of Murkowski last night naming names as she talked about this renewed fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MURKOWSKI: You all know that I went back to Washington a couple days ago, the land of negative nabobism.

(LAUGHTER)

These outside interest groups, like the tea party express, the pundits -- there a lot of naysayers. Some of my fellow Republicans, they tell me this can't be done, that this is a futile effort. Well, perhaps it is one time that they met one Republican woman who won't quit on Alaska.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Oh, gee, who is she talking about?

TRAVIS: Who is she talking about there? I don't know exactly who she is talking about, but I can tell you this that when this governor Sarah Palin quit or resigned from the governorship in 2009, Lisa Murkowski came out and publicly said that Palin abandoned the state.

So you just heard in that bite saying this is one Republican woman who won't quit on Alaska. So you draw your own inference from that.

HOLMES: It is getting nasty up there. How are other folks reacting to this right now? The Democrats are happy to see this going on. But how are folks in Alaska reacting to this given that, you know what, you lost?

TRAVIS: Depends on which side you are on. If you are a Murkowski supporter, you are like, great, this is great that you are back in the fight. We wanted you to stay in. We've loved you all along. If you are a Miller supporter, you are obviously upset about it. clearly, if you are one of the conservative activists that work to defeat her, your very angry about it.

HOLMES: What about the impartial observer?

TRAVIS: The impartial observer --

HOLMES: Maybe that independent that she certainly needs right now.

TRAVIS: They are likely saying, hey, you had your chance. You ran in the primary. You ran a good race, but you lost and you conceded. So sit out this time and maybe even take on the Democrat, the other Democratic senator, Senator Begich. The impartial observer might be saying that. And Alaska has a lot of independents. It is no way to tell. Actually, I was chasing down the senator the other day trying to talk to her about again this claim from the tea party movement that she is a RINO and that they hunted her down. Some of that might have fueled her decision to get back in, that they were claiming victory against her and she came back and said, not so fast.

HOLMES: And she now is clearly going aft tea party in some of that language calling them "an extremist group."

TRAVIS: I talked with Amy Kramer, the chairman of the tea party express. I said, she is calling you an extremist group. She said, hey, it is not about us. The Alaskan voters voted against her and they are not extremists. So they're deflecting the criticism.

This notion of the tea party movement being an extremist group is not new. They are a lot of other people who say that they are. They certainly use extreme tactics whether they are an extremist group or not. They come in for money, time, resources, it's almost like commando style. They definitely use extreme tactics. Is it fair to call them an extremist group? Murkowski thinks so.

HOLMES: People are taking notice of what they have been able to do. Shannon, good to have you in the studio with us today. Always a pleasure to know that you are going to be back out there on the campaign trail. Look forward to that.

Still talking about politics today, day two of the conservative political gathering known as the Value Voters Summit. It's going on in Washington. The summit highlights GOP promise and peril heading into the November midterm election.

A look at what's on tap today -- conservative talk show host Bill Bennett was up first thing this morning followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Virginia governor, Bob McDonald will be speaking here shortly.

The Delaware political upstart Christine O'Donnell was given a hero's welcome at the summit on Friday. She slammed the Obama administration, saying the elite's will never have the last word on liberty. She was featured as a part of the who's who in rising Republican stars.

And for the latest political information, political news, you know the place to be -- CNNpolitics.com.

That well at the heart of the largest oil spill in U.S. history should be dead, completely, today. BP stopped oil from gushing from that Gulf of Mexico oil well back on July 15th. They put a cap on it and got all the stuff to work. They were able to keep the oil from going out. But still, they weren't done. Cement now is going to be pumped into the bottom of the well to make sure it's sealed once and for all.

Oil gushed from that well after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April the 20th, and 11 workers were killed.

I am going to turn back to the U.K. now and Pope Benedict. You are looking at a live picture here now. You see those folks in between the building, those are people gathered on that street now. They are gathered there making their way to Hyde Park in central London, one of the royal parks in town.

They are going there because the Pope will be holding a prayer vigil. This prayer vigil is not expected to start for another couple of hours. I do believe I have that right. But they are expecting, according to our Phil Black, on the ground and reporting for us, expecting some 80,000 people to show up and see the Pope on the third day of a four-day trip in the U.K.

We saw him holding mass earlier. In that mass he did address the child abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church for several years here now. I want to quote the Pope saying, "Above all, I express my deep sorrow for the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes along with my hope that the power of Christ's Grace and his sacrifice of reconciliation will bring deep healing and peace to their lives."

Those are the pictures from that mass. Again, people are gathering to see him now. Of course, there are going to be protests. Some people think he is not doing enough when it comes to the child abuse scandals. But, again, third day of a four-day trip, they are starting to make their way through Hyde Park in London. We will continue to keep an eye on that.

We are also keeping an eye on hurricane Igor. Our Reynolds Wolf is in Bermuda for us. He's going to be live right after the break. It's 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's about quarter past the hour here now. We are tracking this hurricane, hurricane Igor in the Atlantic. Also worth keeping an eye on this tropical depression Karl. What you are seeing there now is Igor making its way to Bermuda. They get this year after year. They know how to handle this.

But as our Reynolds Wolf, who was there, was explaining to me earlier, you made a great point. No matter how many times you see a hurricane coming your way, nothing ever routine about these things.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, T.J. I just missed a little bit of what you were saying, sometimes when you are speaking through satellites that happens. If you are alluding to the past and what happened here in Bermuda, it is a checkered history when it comes to deal with all kinds of storms.

We have had people living on these islands since 1609. They have had many storms. The most devastating was in 2003. We had Fabian that lashed this area, this south shore of Bermuda itself. It came in, brought all kinds of devastating winds for some parts of the islanding for three weeks and killed four people and did millions of dollars worth of damage.

This storm is still a ways off. I will tell you, already, we are seeing it flex its muscles. We walked down to the beach moments ago. This is what we saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF: Another look at the deteriorating conditions on elbow beach in Bermuda. Steve, watch your feet. That's our photojournalist, Steve Stork, we are trying to give you a better perspective. The waves continue to come in, some are mammoth in size off in the distance. Some of them, five to seven feet, and as the winds continue to pick up, these are going to get bigger.

High tide comes in early this evening and around dawn tomorrow. That coupled with the storm surge could be very interesting. You see some of the waves pounding up against these rocks in the distance. It's amazing to see the power of these things. Some of the waves have been coming right up against the structure here, against this part of the building. If you look at the building, itself, many have hurricane shutters up getting ready for what is at this time the strongest storm in the planet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF: That strongest storm right now is a category two. As you know, these storms are very, very fickle. In terms of intensity, it is expected to fluctuate. It may weaken a bit, intensify to a category three, a lot of unknowns. When it comes to tropical systems, strength is one of the most difficult things to forecast. Direction, though, it still looks like it will be making it a beat on Bermuda.

That being said, this storm is so tremendous, it doesn't even have to make a direct hit to bring devastating effects to this island. T.J.?

HOLMES: All right, Reynolds keeping an eye on things. I know it is on the way. Thank you, buddy. We will continue to keep an eye on things this morning.

I am going to turn our attention to a man who was working closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He may actually have been working though for the government. We will tell you what we're learning now about the man who captured some of the most iconic images in civil rights history.

It is 18 past the hour here on CNN Saturday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's 21 minutes past the hour. Taking a look at some of the stories making headlines.

Alaskan Republican senator Lisa Murkowski says she will run as a write-in candidate in November. She already lost last month's primary to Joe Miller, who was backed by the tea party. Oil giant BP says it expects to finally cap that well in the Gulf of Mexico sometime today. The well started gushing back in April following a deadly fire on a rig. More than 200 million gallons spilled.

Toyota has reached a settlement with two families after a crash that killed four family members. Toyota did not admit liability in the settlement. An investigation revealed the accelerator became trapped on the floor map that had been incorrectly installed.

Well, was he a secret agent? That's what some are calling him. Ernest Withers is who we're talking about, a photographer who was part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s inner circle. He's accused now of spilling secrets to the FBI about the inner workings of the civil rights movement.

The photographer died in 2007 but his images certainly live on. He captured so many iconic pictures, many you have seen about bus desegregation, a school integration, strikes. He was even in Dr. King's hotel room hours after he was assassinated.

But that legacy may come with a footnote. The Commercial Appeal in Memphis calls Withers a super-informant, one who reportedly spilled details about rallies, disclosed the ideals of leaders, even jotted down license plate numbers. The newspaper says it identified Withers by his informant number, ME338-R. His daughter, though, Rosalind, says she is not buying it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALIND WITHERS, ERNEST WITHERS' DAUGHTER: We as a family, none of us have ever heard anything like that. I don't believe it. I think this whole thing is based on one thing, which is a number, and do we know that number was assigned to him? Where is the proof of that? Is that number only assigned to an individual or is it assigned to a project? So there are so many speculations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: A lot of speculations, family not buying it.

Let me bring in Marc Perrusquia, the reporter who broke this story there in Memphis joining us live from Memphis.

Marc, thank you for being here. Let's pick up on the sound bite we heard from the family member.

What makes you so sure? Are you sure you got the right guy and are you sure he was up to what you say he was up to?

MARC PERRUSQUIA, REPORTER, THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL: T.J., we have the right guy. Mr. Withers was, after he had been an informant, years later, had gone to work for the state Tennessee and got caught up in a public corruption probe. And it is through that investigation and the release of these documents of that public corruption probe that we were able to verify he was indeed a confidential informant working for the FBI back in the 1960s.

There was a background report done in that investigation and it says very clearly that Ernest Columbus Withers was designated as informant MM338-R.

What we were able to go back and look at documents that were released in the Freedom of Information act related to the 1968 sanitation strike in Memphis as well as a two-year probe that the FBI did of the invaders and were able to track that number and find specific things that Mr. Withers was doing for the FBI.

HOLMES: What did you find he was doing? Again, you are basing on matching it up with his name according to the number. What was this number, if you will, doing for the FBI?

PERRUSQUIA: He was doing a number of things. The first match that we actually got was from Dr. King's funeral down in Atlanta, which we know that Ernest Withers was there covering because we have his photos. He shot pictures of Coretta and the final services at Morehouse College.

And in this report, ME338-R is telling the FBI, hey, be on the lookout, a couple of Dr. King's aides are coming back to Memphis. This was just a week after they had a very disastrous march. Dr. King had led a march a week before his death that turned into a riot. And so the FBI was on high alert for any kind of violence.

And here their informant, ME338-R was telling them the aides are coming back.

HOLMES: Marc, have you been able to find any living person to corroborate the story that you are matching up with the documents?

PERRUSQUIA: Well, yes. I initially had a source. I didn't just stumble upon this. I went looking for this, because I had a source that told me that Ernest Withers had worked as an informant for the FBI. He had taken a number of photographs for the FBI, he provided tips. He was a good informant because he was well-connected in the community. He knew everyone.

Ernest Withers got around all through Memphis and throughout the south during the civil rights period. And so yes, everything that this source told me came to light and were corroborated when we were actually able to piece this together.

HOLMES: A lot of people saw this is a betrayal, someone who did have such access during the civil rights movement to the civil rights leaders, one of them being Ambassador Andy Young. We had him on our air this week. I want to let our viewers listen to how he reacted to this news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER ATLANTA MAYOR: You have to understand that our movement was designed to be totally transparent. He was our voice to the world. RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: But if he was that much of a trusted friend, why would you expect of him, Andy, I'm going to keep doing this but I'm working for the FBI. Why wouldn't you expect him to be straight with you and Dr. King?

YOUNG: Because it wasn't that important to you.

SANCHEZ: How could it not be important to you?

YOUNG: I don't know why it needed to be. We knew we were trying to change America. We knew our instructions from our lawyers were for us to inform the FBI and the Justice Department of everything we did before we did it. We had no secrets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: As you see there, Marc, the point he was trying to make was we wanted this thing to be as transparent as possible so we didn't mind. But a lot of people seemed to mind. A lot of people feel like this was a betrayal. What has the reaction been around town?

PERRUSQUIA: The reaction has been all across the board, T.J., everything from denial, people feeling betrayed, people embracing it. It has created quite a stir, no doubt. And Mr. Withers, as you might know, is a long-time Memphis hero. I think he remains that. And what this will do to his legacy ultimately, I guess history will decide. But I think it only enhances him as a very intriguing historical figure.

HOLMES: All right, Marc Perrusquia, we appreciate you taking the time with us and sharing some of your reporting with the Commercial Appeal on this story. Thank you so much for your time. I'll see you maybe when I'm back home there. You enjoy the rest of your weekend.

PERRUSQUIA: Thank you.

HOLMES: It's 28 past the hour now.

The polls closed in Afghanistan. Voters faced threats of Taliban violence, but they voted anyway. We are live in Afghanistan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All year we have introduced to you remarkable, everyday people who are changing the world. In just one week, we will reveal our top ten CNN heroes of 2010. Let's check in with our 2009 hero of the year to see how the recognition has transformed his life and helped him expand his extraordinary work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The CNN hero of the year is Efren Penaflorida.

EFREN PENAFLORIDA, CNN HERO: We are the change that this world needs to be. COOPER: For 12 years, Ephraim and his team volunteers have pushed their mobile classrooms through the streets of their neighborhoods teaching kids that never make it to school. After being named 2009 CNN hero of the year, Ephraim became a national hero.

PENAFLORIDA: This is really overwhelming.

COOPER: Upon his return, Philippine president Gloria Arroyo presented him with one of the country's highest honors. One year later, the pushcart classroom model has been replicated more than 50 times across the Philippines and inspired the construction of an education center funded in part by the CNN Heroes grant.

PENAFLORIDA: They used to see it as a symbol of poverty, but now they see the pushcart as a symbol of hope and education.

COOPER: Recently, Ephraim has had his story told in six countries and languages and can be seen weekly in his own search for heroes on Philippines television. A young man from the slums has turned the attention of a nation toward a common dream.

PENAFLORIDA: My fellow Filipinos, thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: So who is it going to be, the CNN hero of the year for 2010? Actually, you tell us. You decide. Next Thursday, we will be announcing this year's top ten heroes on CNN.com. That will be at 1:00 p.m. Then that's when you can vote online for the CNN hero that inspires you most. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's a political gamble. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski says she will use a write-in campaign to try to keep her job. She lost the job essentially when she lost the Republican primary to tea party backed candidate Joe Miller.

Sarah Palin endorsed Miller and she says Murkowski's move is a futile effort. A tea party spokesman also said in effect that the people of Alaska fired Murkowski. Murkowski, though, is calling on Alaskans who maybe didn't vote in the primary to turn out for her next month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MURKOWSKI: I will be the first one to admit to you that in the primary campaign, we made some mistakes. We talked about ourselves. We talked about me a lot, but we didn't educate Alaskans about the extremist views that were held by Mr. Miller. When he swung, I didn't swing back.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, friends and supporters, the gloves are off, and I am fighting for Alaska.

(APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We'll go to round two, now. Write-in campaigns never work, for the most part. In fact, only one senator ever won that way. That was Strom Thurmond back in 1954 in South Carolina.

Another name -- are we going to see it on the bath ballot or not? Sarah Palin -- she headlined the GOP's biggest fundraiser last night in Des Moines. She revved up the Republican base at the Reagan center saying she can't wait until 2012 to get the country back on track.

Palin didn't say anything about her chance to run for president in 2012. Instead she has helped little-known candidates win like Christine O'Donnell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: It's a time for unity now because the time for choosing is near. In just 46 days, Republicans will put their ideas and their experience on the line and they will let the voters decide. It is time to unite.

If the goal really is to take away the gavel from Pelosi and Reid and to stop the Obama agenda and make the government respect the will of the people and the wisdom of the people, then it is time to unite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The Iowa caucuses are the first test, as you know, for presidential candidates. For the latest political news, CNNpolitics.com.

Speaking of elections, there is one in Afghanistan. The polls have closed in the parliamentary elections. Voters had to deal with what many considered a corrupt process as well as scattered attacks from insurgents. Our Atia Abawi live for us in Afghanistan. Atia, did the Taliban make good on their promise to disrupt things on this day?

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: T.J., they definitely did disrupt it in certain parts of the country sporadic spouts of violence and intimidation. But it should be noted it was less than it was last year in the 2009 presidential election.

We are actually here in the city in western Afghanistan, in Herat, considered one of the safest provinces. The people did make it out to the polls, and in fact many here telling me that they don't want anyone to stop them from picking their own government and picking the future of their country. T.J.?

HOLMES: What was the turnout like there as well in the country? And if there was a lower turnout, can we attribute that to people being scared to go to the polls, or is there just not as much interest, quite frankly? People don't feel like their vote is going to mean as much this time around. ABAWI: That's a very interesting point you just made, T.J. It is expected that today's turnout will be far less than what we saw last year, which was far less than what we saw in 2005, and 2005 turnout was far less than we saw in 2004.

It is partly to do with violence, but it has a lot to do with corruption and fraud. The legacy of the Afghan elections unfortunately is fraud and corruption. Many Afghans are saying why should I risk my life to head to the polls if my vote won't count anyway?

I am telling you right now, they have placed more checks into the game whether it comes when it comes to the elections. When they are counting ballots, there are hundreds of Afghan observers making sure that the election workers aren't stuffing the ballots. But even President Hamid Karzai said there will be irregularities during the vote and in the ballot-counting process.

But at the same time, it shouldn't stop Afghans from choosing their own government. What we are waiting to see is how long this ballot-counting will take, when we will hear who the victors were, which might not happen until the end of October. And even when that happens, out of 2,500 candidates, there will only be 249 winners. So obviously there will be many complaints to deal with. But many experts believe we won't see any parliament in place until possibly the end of December.

HOLMES: Atia Abawi on the story for us. Atia, always good to have you. Thank you so much.

It's 40 past the hour here. We need to turn to a story that struck a chord in our newsroom and its striking a chord in a particular town in Texas. There's has been a tragedy under the Friday night lights. Small town of West Orange, Texas, in a state of shock right now after the star quarterback of their high school football team died during last night's game.

Witnesses say that young man you are seeing, Reggie Garrett, collapsed shortly after throwing his second touchdown pass of the night. He was quickly rushed to the hospital. Hundreds of fans, teammates, friends gathered there as doctors tried but could not save him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN COURTNEY, BAPTIST HOSPITAL (via telephone): The paramedics did everything possible in the field. We worked with him for well over an hour and we did everything possible, including our physician getting on the line to a local cardiologist to see if there was anything else we could do, but we just simply couldn't get a heart beat back.

HOLMES: What was that hospital like and was it full of people at the time?

COURTNEY: His family was all there, of course and it was very devastating, lots of crying. But then shortly after the game ended, the parking lot completely filled with people. The waiting room was full. The parking lot was full. There was cheerleaders, there was band members, all the coaches were there.

It was just the entire community, the entire football stadium came to the hospital to check on him. We were trying our best to give them good news and comfort them, but it was impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You hear Miss Courtney there. You hear it in her voice. Her voice was quivering. She was holding back tear the entire time. She went on to tell us that Garrett was a senior, a straight "a" student at the high school and was being courted by a number of colleges to play football.

It's 42 past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's a quarter to the top of the hour here now.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: We want to take a look at some of the stories making headlines as well. The well at the heart of the largest oil spill in U.S. history should be completely sealed today. We are getting that word from BP, cement now being pumped in the bottom of the well to make sure it is sealed once and for all. This should be the last step. This thing should be dead sometime today.

Pope Benedict expressing deep sorrow for the child sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church. He met earlier with the British prime minister and led a mass at Westminster Cathedral and will hold a prayer vigil at Hyde Park here shortly.

And Jews around the world celebrating the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. It's a time for soul searching, repentance, and reflection. A video here of people preparing for the holiday in Jerusalem. Jewish tradition bans the use of electricity on Yom Kippur.

The tax cuts President George W. Bush put in place are about to expire. We will explain how that may or may not affect that wallet of yours. It's 48 past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: As we get close to the top of the hour, the big battle on Capitol Hill is over tax cuts. Lawmakers are planning to extend the cuts from the George Bush era, but they are at odds as to whether to continue those tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans.

Josh Levs looking at the arguments here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is one of the biggest political battles facing the president. It is a time that the battle in Washington does affect your wallet. The president wants to keep the tax cuts on the first $250,000 of income and then drop the Bush era tax cuts on income above that.

Let's start off with our friendly neighborhood avatar couple. Here is what we got. If their income is right in the middle at $57,000, a little above that, then their taxes are just over $3,400 hundred. If the current tax cut expired, they would be paying a couple thousand dollars more in taxes. This couple is in the income range which everyone is saying let's keep those tax cuts.

Let's make the same couple's income $396,000. When we plugged in these numbers, their taxes are at $102,000 right now. If President Obama's plan were to be enacted, they would pay $6,000 more in taxes every year. That is factoring in a permanent patch to the AMT, which the president wants.

Finally, what is a big buzz word we keep hearing throughout this debate? Millionaires, that millionaires shouldn't get away with holding on to money. So let's take our couple and make them millionaires. Why not? $1.75 million, we are giving them an income just over $1,750,000 for a year. If their taxes are currently $573,000, they would be paying a lot more, about $645,000. That's another $70,000 in taxes.

And this is where you get into the debate in America, which is better for the economy -- to leave that money in private hands for spending or investment or collect it for the government and do something about the debt and deficit or pay for programs that are currently being put into place. That tension is where this comes into play.

If you want to know how all of this will pan out for you, head over to the tax calculator. I linked it for you at Joshlevs@CNN. Plug in your information and see how it might play out for you.

I am Josh Levs, CNN, Atlanta.

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HOLMES: A teen girl, she has found a way to help her family with costly medical bills. We have a story for you here about sacrifice, selflessness, and somebody we just thought you should know this morning.

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HOLMES: Every Saturday and Sunday morning, we would like to introduce you to someone we think you should know about. One is those people this weekend is 13-year-old Ella Longworth. She's from Missouri, and a far more thoughtful and mature than her age might suggest.

George Sells now from our affiliate KPLR with the introduction to the person you should know.

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GEORGE SELLS, KPLR REPORTER (voice-over): Running a yard sale might seem like a big responsibility for a 13-year-old, but not this kid.

ELLA LONGWORTH, HOLDING YARD SALE FOR SCHOOL SUPPLIES: A lot of people say I have grown up really fast for my age.

SELLS: Ella Longworth has lived a life as the ears and voice for her parents, both of whom have been hearing impaired since birth. Now this yard sale is her attempt to help with financial challenges for her family. She needs something many kids take for granted -- school supplies for her and her brothers. A teacher noticed Ella's lack of them.

LONGWORTH: And she was like, what's been going on? You hardly had any pencils with you. You have to ask your neighbors. I said, I'm sorry. I have just been having trouble with money and everything.

SELLS: The family came to Imperial in search of a better life.

LONGWORTH: Our neighborhood was horrible. My parents got beat up in the middle of the street it really scared me. We were coming home from the store.

SELLS: Arriving here in Imperial brought new problems, termite and wiring damage to their home, which they can't afford to fix. Sometimes finding optimism is tough.

LONGWORTH: It has been tough my whole life. Sometimes I can't take it, and then sometimes when I come home, I just feel all upset.

SELLS: But that doesn't last long.

LONGWORTH: We have lots of stuff for 25 cents or 50 cents.

SELLS: Ella's story is one of optimism, coping with problems the way someone does when their responsibilities are far greater than their years.

LONGWORTH: Thank you. Thank you so much. Do you need help?

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HOLMES: That was George Sells of our affiliate, KPLR reporting. Ella's yard sale is going on right now actually.