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Pirates on U.S.-Mexico Border; O'Donnell Ad and Senate Races, New Brain Cancer Vaccine; Getting Enough Sleep Can Aid in Weight Loss; Heat From Laptops Can Cause Toasted Leg Syndrome. Rescuers Getting Closer to Trapped Miners in Chile

Aired October 05, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I never miss it. You all have a great morning.

Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips.

We're taking a closer look at a violent attack on a lake between Texas and Mexico. A woman claims Mexican pirates shot and killed her husband and tried to kill her, too.

And if you're thinking about raiding your retirement money to pay for your kid's college, stop right now. Experts say it's a move you will regret.

And we'll tell you about a new study that links weight and rest. If you want to lose fat, better get a full night's sleep.

It's 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A breaking story right now we're following. This involves an 8-year- old girl kidnapped in front of several people including her mother. The girl was kidnapped from her Fresno, California, neighborhood just last night. Police are now investigating an area outside of the city.

We don't know yet if they have found the girl or the suspect but what we can tell you are the chilling circumstances of the girl's abduction. Police say the suspect drove up to some children last night, telling them that he would take them to buy toys if they got into his car.

The man then grabbed the 8-year-old, pulled her into the car and then simply drove away. Police say the mother was nearby. Got into a car, tried to chase the suspect down but he got away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEONOR CARDENAS, ELISA CARDENAS' MOTHER: (speaking in foreign language)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, whoever has her daughter to bring her back. All she wants is her daughter back home.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right. And of course, taking place in about 30 minutes from now, a press conference there in the Fresno area involving the investigators. We hope to learn more about their ongoing search and how you perhaps might be able to help.

Meantime, a recreational lake between the U.S. and Mexico is both a murder scene and a reminder of just how volatile the border has become. An American is shot to death while jet skiing on a lake along the U.S./Mexico border.

Now his grieving family is begging the Mexican government to help recover his body. The wife's terror was captured on a frantic phone call for help.

CNN's Josh Levs has that and more on this story. And these allegations of something terribly wrong happening right there on that lake.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's chilling. And you and I have done a lot of reporting on what's going on that border now and this is just another part of what we have been seeing lately.

This is the fear that's gripping more and more people in the U.S. who go to some parts of the border with Mexico. It's the lawlessness and drug-related violence leaving innocent people dead.

David and Tiffany Hartley were on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake when they were ambushed by gunmen on four boats. David was hit in the back of the head. Tiffany managed to escape.

Here now is part of Tiffany's 911 call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Ma'am, were you shot?

TIFFANY HARTLEY, HUSBAND SHOT AT LAKE FALCON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: On the Mexican side --

HARTLEY: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: -- or was it on the U.S. side? So it was the Mexican side. OK. Did you see anybody?

HARTLEY: There were three boats.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Ma'am?

HARTLEY: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Are you sure that your husband got shot?

HARTLEY: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Was he thrown out of the jet ski? That he's in the water or something?

HARTLEY: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: So you more or less know where he is?

HARTLEY: Yes. But he's on the Mexican side.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Well, local officials in that part of Mexico believe the gunmen were pirates linked to drug cartels and this is not the first time that people doing recreating activities on Falcon Lake have come under fire apparently from Mexican bandits.

There's a fisherman who told us, our "AC 360", that he was on the U.S. side of the lake in May when he came under fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD DRAKE, FISHERMAN CAME UNDER FIRE: Yes, you just kind of think, oh my gosh, what did I get myself into here? And, you know, in an instant you think do I pull over and take -- or take my chances and, you know, hit the gas and fortunately I had a faster boat than they did so outran them. They chased me about a mile, a mile and a half, and then they tailed off.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Tailed off. Well, a Good Samaritan who helped Tiffany Hartley told us that he lives in fear in that area. We'll be hearing from him next hour.

And, Fred, authorities this morning are continuing the search for his body in Falcon Lake.

WHITFIELD: Yes, this is very frightening stuff. And I guess the real message here for a lot of people who live in that region, they're going to have to stay away from that area or they're feeling like they want to stay away from that area for a while at least while this investigation is ongoing.

LEVS: Yes. This is an area of recreation. But right now people are hearing these stories and they're running the other way.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. Josh Levs, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

LEVS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: We're going to talk politics now because we're just four weeks away from voters heading to the polls for midterm election that could change the balance of power in Congress.

And this morning, a controversial Senate candidate is releasing her first television ad of the general election. And right off a Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell references that 1999 interview where she said that she had dabbled in witchcraft.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm not a witch. I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you.

None of us are perfect but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us. Politicians who think spending, trading favors and backroom deals are the way to stay in office.

I'll go to Washington and do what you'd do.

I'm Christine O'Donnell and I approve this message. I'm you.

BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: Wow. I think when you have to start your campaign ad with, "I'm not a witch."

(LAUGHTER)

MAHER: The battle has been lost. I think she would have been much smarter to ignore that but, you know, being much smarter is not her strong suit.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. That was Bill Maher who had O'Donnell as his guest on his former "Politically Incorrect" show. Maher is a guest all this week on CNN's "JOHN KING, USA" at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. And it was on his show where she made the comments about dabbling in witchcraft. So there is a relationship there.

All right. The O'Donnell ad is generating a whole lot of buzz this morning. Let's talk about it with CNN's senior political editor Mark Preston.

So, Mark, clearly this whole witchcraft thing has gotten to the point where she felt like she had to address it. Why did she feel she had to address it as opposed to just saying, I'm you, and forget the witchcraft discussion part?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, you know, Fred, you know, some would say that she shouldn't have addressed it at all. But, you know, I'm a contrarian. I think that she did the right thing by addressing it.

The fact is what she's trying to do is try to wipe it out of the way, try to make fun of herself, poke fun at herself and then immediately as you see in that ad, she then tries to shift to her candidacy. What she is running on.

She is just an everyday citizen, she's saying. She's going to go to Washington and change things up.

I'll tell you, the fact that she has to be sidelined by this whole idea of dabbling in witchcraft in high school certainly is not good for her campaign. But I think she was smart, Fred, to address it head on.

WHITFIELD: And then there's Sharron Angle and audio tapes. What's happening with that campaign?

PRESTON: Yes. It's a terribly embarrassing episode right now for Sharron Angle. She is the Tea Party candidate, the Republican nominee, out in Nevada. You know, she is really made her candidacy about running against the Washington establishment.

And in fact, she made such comments to a rival of hers last week. The rival actually secretly recorded it. You know, in this recording she is heard bashing the Republican Party, but what is really embarrassing for her is what she said here.

Let's take a quick listen, Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: That's really all I can offer to you is whatever juice I have, you have as well. You want to see DeMint, I have juice with him. I go to Washington, D.C. and I say I want to see Jim DeMint. He's right there for me.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: So there you are, Fred. You have Sharron Angle, the Tea Party candidate who's been running on this whole idea that she is going to go to Washington and do away with these backroom deals, she's been bashing Harry Reid for it.

We just saw Christine O'Donnell, another Tea Party candidate in Delaware, in her first ad, talking about doing away with backroom deals, and you have Sharron Angle right there on this secretly recorded conversation doing a backroom deal.

But what's really interesting, Fred, is she's here in Washington tonight with several other Republican candidates. She's raising money with the Republican establishment.

I'll tell you, to be a fly on the wall when she appears at this fundraiser with these Republican establishment figures.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

PRESTON: That would be priceless.

WHITFIELD: One word. Awkward.

PRESTON: One -- awkward.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: All right. All the more reason why November 4th is going to be very unpredictable. Mark Preston, thanks so much.

PRESTON: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're closely monitoring a developing story out of Pakistan where a suspected U.S. missile strike in north Waziristan yesterday is credited with killing 11 militant jihadists.

Pakistani intelligence officials describe five of the dead as German nationals. It's not clear if any of the five were linked to any European terror plot.

The missile strike comes a day after the U.S. issued that travel alert that warned Americans to be very careful while in Europe.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani national who admitted to trying to detonate a car bomb in New York's Times Square earlier this year will soon learn his fate. Thirty-year-old Faisal Shahzad goes before a federal judge next hour in Manhattan. Prosecutors want a life in prison sentence for Shahzad for the May 1st bombing attempt.

CNN is at the courthouse. And of course we'll let you know when the judge hands down that sentence.

And if you're trying to lose weight, then you want to hear about a new study. Just published. It could change your sleeping habits, as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. So when we think of cancer we think of chemo, radiation. But there's a new therapy being developed to fight brain cancer that's totally different.

Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with me now.

So fighting brain cancer with a person's immune system.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

WHITFIELD: Sounds pretty fascinating but at the same time, how does it work?

GUPTA: Well, it is interesting. We're talking about probably the deadliest form of brain cancer certainly, called glioblastoma, about 10,000 cases a year. And this is the type of cancer that when you get it you're basically told, you know, 12 to 14 months to live and those numbers haven't budged.

The way that it works is they found a particular protein on the surface of the cancer that is unique to that cancer. It is not present in any normal cells in the body and the reason that's so important is if you find something unique it becomes a target.

It becomes a target for all kind of medicines and in this case using the body's immune system sort of treat the cancer as a foreign body, teaching the body to say fight back, look for that protein, if you find it and kill it.

That essentially what this therapy is all about. And that -- this is becoming more and more common. This sort of harvesting of the body's immune system.

WHITFIELD: The therapy to me says this maybe prolongs your situation but we're not talking about cure, fixes? You said therapy.

GUPTA: It is not a cure. And when you talk about glioblastoma, again, the stats are terrible. So survival on average with this in early trials is about double. So instead of 14 months, it's closer to 26 months.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

GUPTA: Some patients have lived as long as five years. But this is still early. What they're basically proven now is this can work. Now they've got to figure out can it work in larger populations of people? Might it work on other cancers? Another question.

But the reason we wanted to talk about this is because I think when you talk about chemo and radiation, people know those things. This could be something else that's really part of that armamentarium.

WHITFIELD: That's super fantastic. Something else that caught our attention, weight and sleep. There's a real correlation here.

GUPTA: That's right. Yes. You know, so the more you sleep, the less you -- the more weight you can lose.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

GUPTA: Maybe you're not eating as much because you're actually sleeping. Because people eat all the time when they're awake.

WHITFIELD: Yes, OK. You're taking a better care of yourselves, you're making better choices.

GUPTA: Yes. It could have a lot to do with how you take care of yourself overall, but what they find is there's a couple of hormones in the body that change if you're sleeping enough, the sort of stop hormone that tells you to not to eat as much actually is activated.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

GUPTA: So people who sleep better, about eight and a half hours on average, actually end up eating less and they end up burning more of their weight as fat as opposed to muscle. So --

WHITFIELD: Wow.

GUPTA: Another reason to get good sleep.

WHITFIELD: That is fascinating. And that's cheap, too, right? Doesn't cost you anything.

GUPTA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: The diet plans --

GUPTA: If you can afford to get more sleep, you should --

WHITFIELD: That's right, the fad diet pills and plans. All right, now let's talk about -- everyone does it. They put their laptops on their lap, hence the word. That's not a good idea. And you feel the heat.

GUPTA: This may go into the file of let's use some common sense.

WHITFIELD: Right.

GUPTA: There's something known as toasted skin syndrome, and dermatologists actually talking about this, quite a popular story today. But, in fact, there was a study came out of pediatric showing a boy as young as 12 years old, putting the laptop on his lap and actually creating a sort of burn of the skin. It's something called erythema.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

GUPTA: But the skin became quite mottled. It's something that'll go away after a while, but the advice was, look. If it's -- they generate a lot of heat, you're putting it on your lap or you're smothering it so it can't vent as easily, and a laptop can cause the sort of problem to your legs, for example.

WHITFIELD: So use some sort of pad or something.

GUPTA: Yes. And they say, make -- don't use a pillow, because that even reduces the venting even more. So use a hard surface, like a tray or something to allow the laptop to cool itself.

WHITFIELD: Wow, fascinating stuff. We just went around the world. We touched base with everything, didn't we?

GUPTA: We did, we did. We've got a lot more to do, too.

WHITFIELD: I know, I know. There's more. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Thanks so much. Appreciate that.

GUPTA: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. A story ahead, rescuers. They're less than two football fields away from reaching those trapped miners in Chile, but then comes the most dangerous part of the operation. We'll explain that.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Fall is here, which typically means we can have crazy weather on either side of the country, and we have just that. Weather's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. A woman claims gunmen in boats shot and killed her husband last week and tried to kill her on a lake between Texas and Mexico The couple was riding jet skis on Falcon Lake between Laredo and McAllen, Texas. She told authorities they were on the Mexican side when the gunmen ambushed them. Her husband's body is still missing. No word on a motive, but a sheriff in the area believes the shooters could be pirates linked to Mexican drug cartels.

We could get a verdict today from a murder trial in Connecticut. Steven Hayes is accused of killing a mother and her two daughters back in 2007 and burning down their house. Another defendant will be tried separately.

And the Port of Houston, the second largest port in the country, is closed for a third day because of an electrical tower leaning over the channel. Coast Guard officials say power lines are hanging too low for ships to pass.

All right. Some pretty severe weather roared through southern Nevada yesterday, leaving a lake -- leaving Lake Meade Marina in tatters. Witnesses say strong storms dumped so much rain into the surrounding canyons that it created a wall of water and mud and rocks that came careening down into the Callville Bay Marina. The flash flooding trashed a few boats and damaged equipment, as you see there. No one, thankfully, was injured.

And it appears that more rain is forecast for the southwest. Meteorologist Rob Marciano can tell us more about all that.

MARCIAON: Hey, Fredricka. Pretty intense thunderstorms yesterday rolling across Vegas and Phoenix and other parts of the southwest. Flash flooding in parts of Nevada and Arizona, also. We are seeing that again this morning. North of Phoenix, except yesterday it was developing in the afternoon. All rotating around this low right here which is kind of -- it's not really moving all that quickly.

Also, on top of the amount of rain that we've had, a little bit of white now popping up there in the Sierra Nevadas. If you go above 8,000 feet, and we've got several inches of snow that are falling. And we could see six to ten inches of snow in some parts of the southern Nevadas -- Sierra Nevadas and in through parts of Yosemite.

So. Take that, you summer lover. Because it's pretty much over, isn't it? On the East Coast, we are looking at a similar situation. We kind of have two lows that are book-ending the country. This one rotating Atlantic moisture into the northeast and creating unsettled weather here. And this will hang around probably for another day, day and a half. But some of this goes all the way back through parts of Ohio and those are the issues that we are having there.

Here is what it looks like on the weather map right now. Big, blue "H" in the middle. That's where your gorgeous stuff. But we've seen record lows over the past couple of mornings, all the way from Michigan as far south as the Tennessee Valley and into parts of Ark -- Texarkana.

But the warmth going all the way up into Montana, where yesterday they saw some high temperatures that they've never seen before. So, it's the time of year where fall certainly gets interesting. Mother Nature doesn't really know what to do and it's certainly showing that right today.

OK, I want to touch on this as well. What's going on here in the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center -- because it is still hurricane season, right, for the next two months -- has upgraded this to a high probability of it developing into our next tropical depression if not tropical storm.

And once that happens, the question is, what does it do? Does it head this way? We've got a lot of dry air over here. So that's good. That helps protects us. And then we also have those two -- that low that's creating the showers across the northeast. That may very well protect us, as well.

But nonetheless, it's creating a world of hurt for folks in the northern Lesser Antilles and through Puerto Rico. So they are not liking life.

And this, Fredricka, for you. Sean Morris dialed this up, because you are such a lover of fall, we threw in the falling leaves.

WHITFIELD: Aw, I like that touch. It's very sweet.

MARCIANO: Yes. Some areas that are where the foliage is peaking is across the western Great Lakes and across parts of the northern areas. So, get out there, leaf peepers, and enjoy 74 degrees in Kansas City and 72 -- that's pretty mild --

WHITFIELD: That's beautiful.

MARCIANO: In Minneapolis

WHITFIELD: All right, very nice. Love it. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: You're welcome, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate that.

All right. More moms and dads these days are cashing in their retirement savings to pay for their children's college education. We'll tell you why some experts say that may be a big mistake. A mistake of a lifetime.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Yesterday was a tough one on Wall Street. The Dow gave back some of its recent gains as concerns about the economy came back to the forefront. But today, Wall Street could get its mojo back. Carter Evans is at the New York Stock Exchange with more on that. Carter? CARTER EVANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Yes. Stocks are set to rise at the open thanks to some encouraging signs here and overseas. Overseas, the Bank of Japan says it has a plan to boost its economy, and that includes cutting the Central Bank's key lending rate, and then buying some government bonds.

Now, Japan is the world's third largest economy and a big trading partner for the US. So what happens there definitely affects us here. Here at home, we're expected a report at the top of the hour to show that activity in the service sector picked up a little bit last month. Now, this area accounts for most of the nation's jobs. Everything from hotels to restaurants to banks and hospitals. So it's very important. Hopefully, we're going to see the numbers rise when the opening bell rings in just a couple of minutes, about one minute away right now.

But it may not be all good news today. Fed chief Ben Bernanke sounded an economic warning bell last night. He was speaking in Rhode Island. And Bernanke said the US could take a hit if the government does not take steps to curb our huge budget deficit. Right now, it's at $1.3 trillion, and that is very close to the record high.

But Bernanke says it's a very delicate balancing act, because if Congress cuts spending or raises taxes too quickly, that could have a big affect on our economy. It could possibly slow the recovery. It could also, possibly, hurt job growth. And no one wants to do that right now. It's a big concern, Fred. This deficit is a big concern to a lot of people. And hopefully, hopefully we can get that under control. Because if we have too much debt, it really could hurt job growth in this country.

WHITFIELD: OK. We're just seconds away -- and there it is right there.

EVANS: There it is.

WHITFIELD: The bell ringing. OK. Where are we starting today?

EVANS: Well, hopefully, we're going to see an increase as soon as the bell stops ringing right now. We're at 10,751. So we're getting pretty close. And there we are. The numbers are rising as I speak right now. Looks like the Dow is up about 18, 19 points to start the day. Not too bad.

WHITFIELD: All right, perfect. Carter Evans, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

OK, parents, you know this. You make sacrifices but this one is raising concerns among financial experts in particular. Nearly one fourth of all American parents are raiding their retirement savings to pay for their kid's college tuition. The experts say that's a bad move on many levels.

Christine Romans of the CNN Money team is here to explain why -- Christine. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, for so many families, Fredricka, there simply isn't any other choice, right? They're caught between two cardinal rules of personal finance: you're trying to get the kids on the right foot, in the right college, in the right education so they can compete in the labor market. And you're also trying to save for retirement and some families simply can't do both at the same time.

So, you're right. This recent poll from Gallup and Sallie Mae, the student loan people, found that 24 percent of people plan to use their 401(k)s, their pensions, their IRAs to fund their kid's college. And 24 percent said they're planning to use 529 accounts. What are 529 accounts? Those are those accounts that are specifically tax- advantaged and meant to be a vehicle for college savings.

So 24 percent, that number is too high. How many people this school year raided their retirement accounts? According to this poll, six percent of people had to dip into their own retirement money to pay for their kid's education. That's up from three percent the previous year.

Why does it matter? Look, Fredricka, your kid can borrow for college and has his or her whole life to try to pay it off. You cannot borrow for the retirement. That's the issue for so many people. You can go to CNNMoney.com and you can see this entire story on its web site and hear some pretty important advice from other personal finance experts about how to plan properly.

But the bottom line is there's not enough money to go around for retirement and for college education for so many people. Education is still very expensive, tuition is still rising. This is a place that a lot of people have found themselves caught between.

WHITFIELD: Wow. In a very big way.

All right, Christine Romans, thanks so much. Appreciate that from New York.

ROMANS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right. This is a Breast Cancer Awareness Month and you will see a lot of pink ribbons in this month of October. Well, now, take a look at one example of awareness that's upsetting a few folks. Take a look. It is a pink version of Mike's Hard Lemonade to support breast cancer research. Critics say this is hypocritical because alcohol can actually increase breast cancer risk. The president of Mike's Hard Lemonade, which is an alcoholic beverage, claims the company donated $500,000 to breast cancer research over the past couple of years. Some groups won't take that money. Others will but say they don't endorse drinking.

All right. One soldier's ordeal. He bears the scars of being gunned down on his own army base in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get nightmares and stuff a lot. But I mean, I'm used to it by now. I know it's not real, I know it's not happening anymore. You still wake up sweating and, you know, your heart's beating real fast. As long as you tell yourself, you wake up, I look around and see all my friends here. It's like, all right. Never mind. Go back to sleep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well today, this Ft. Hood soldier finds an odd sense of peace in a war zone. We'll share his story from Afghanistan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. Pakistani intelligence officials say a drone attack has killed 11 suspected militants. Five of the dead are German. The missile struck a building in North Waziristan.

There's no word on whether that drone attack is linked to the terror threat to European cities. Intelligence officials believe a group of jihadists from Germany were behind the plot. A State Department travel advisory remains in effect for Americans in Europe.

And rescuers trying to reach those trapped miners in Chile are now about 175 yards away. But after a drill clears the way, a decision must be made about lining the mine shaft with casing. That could mean days more work for the rescuers.

On to Las Vegas now. And people came together to rally against bullies in school and on the internet. This is their response to the recent suicides of gay and lesbian students. A lot of people here say they were bullied in school and the man who actually organized the rally, well he says he was a bully in high school and made another student life's hell even though he was gay himself. The group called for federal laws against bullying.

And that indeed was a topic on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Anderson asking a couple of experts if it's the law's job to stop bullies like the ones who allegedly humiliated the Rutgers student who jumped off a bridge.

Here's some of that discussion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, I have to say, we're all so heartbroken about this case that there's a desire to see the law fix it. But I'm very skeptical of the law's ability to make much difference and, in fact, could make the situation worse.

Remember, we're talking about teenagers, maybe young teenagers who are the victims and the perpetrators of bullying. Do we want the cops investigating this all the time? Do we want police streaming through high schools, junior high schools, investigating what people have on the Internet? I mean, I suppose in extreme cases, yes. But this has got to be schools and parents, much more than law enforcement. It's just not going to work, I think.

ROSALIND WISEMAN, AUTHOR, "QUEEN BEES AND WANNABES": Yes. No, I work with a lot of district attorneys who really believe and want for this to be an issue that families and schools work on together, to discipline kids.

So that there are three goals here. One is that you teach what the values of the community are about that don't include degrading other people, that you give concrete consequences. And you allow for a re-integration of the bully into the community.

And really, when we get to the place where it's stalking, it's harassment, where it is really a district attorney's purview and responsibility, that is when they would come in. So of many of the district attorneys that I work with are saying, "We want schools and parents to work on this, and we will come in when we believe it's our responsibility."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Right now, 45 states have laws against bullying. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" will dig deeper into the bullying problem tonight at 10:00 Eastern.

And next hour we're talking to a man who's reaching out to victims by way of YouTube. He's giving gay and lesbian teens support that they might not be getting from their own parents, pastors or peers.

All right. The race for Robert Byrd's Senate seat is tighter. We're heading to West Virginia for this hour's political ticker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Time now for our political update. CNN's senior Congressional correspondent Dana Bash is in Morgantown, West Virginia.

When's happening there, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Fredericka. The first thing that is on the ticker, something that we just put up and that is that there are a pair of new television ads put up by the Republican National Party in Washington and by the Republican candidate for Senate here, John Raese, that are really hitting the governor here Joe Manchin. He, of course, is the candidate for Senate here. And they're saying what we've heard many, many times while we've been on the ground here, that they believe that he is going to be just like President Obama who is not popular here. But Joe Manchin is popular here.

And brings us to the second thing on the ticker. This is actually something that we posted, a rather lengthy story about the Senate race here. And it is a Senate race to replace the legendary and late Robert C. Byrd. If you go on here, you can actually see some of the interviews that we did with both candidates, John Raese and the Democratic Governor Joe Manchin. That's second on the ticker.

Last, want to tell you about a fundraiser that's going to go on tonight in D.C. It's going to be headlined by Scott Brown, the senator from Massachusetts. He is going to be helping raise money for a lot of the candidates, Republican candidates from across the country. They're going to go into a private residence in D.C. and try to get one last check or two out of some of the Republican fundraisers to help them go back to their states like Nevada and elsewhere, New Hampshire, to try to beat the Democrats they're fighting very hard. A lot of races neck and neck to try to unseat Democrats or at least replace Democratic seats in the Senate, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Right at the edge of our seats on all of these runs come November.

Thanks so much. Dana Bash, appreciate that.

Of course, we'll have our next political update in one hour and a reminder for all the latest political news, go to our web site CNNPolitics.com.

All right. Time to head cross country. First to Gainesville, Florida, where police there say a 24-year-old man went on a shooting spree killing his father wounding five others before killing himself. Authorities say the man had a history of mental problems.

Next up, Los Angeles, where the school system is considering using a finger scan system to speed up cafe checkout lines. A pilot program is already being tried in one school. The ACLU and some parents say they're concerned about privacy. We're told no schools required to adopt the process and for those that do, students can opt out.

And last stop, Atlanta, where a federal judge is facing weapons and drug charges, including possession of cocaine and marijuana. 67- year-old Jack Camp was released yesterday on $50,000 bond. FBI agents say he bought drugs for a stripper with whom he was having an affair. The judge's attorney says he is innocent.

And breaking news involving an eight-year-old girl kidnapped in front of several people, including her mother. The girl was kidnapped from her Fresno, California neighborhood just last night. Police are now investigation an area outside the city. We don't know yet if they have found the girl or the suspect. What we can tell you are the chilling circumstances of the girl's abduction.

Police say the suspect drove up to some children last night telling them that he would take them to buy toys if they got into the car. Well, the man then grabbed the eight-year-old, pulled her into the car, and drove away. Police say the mother was nearby, got into her car and tried to chase down the suspect but he got away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LENOR CARDENAS, ELISA CARDINAS' MOTHER (through translator): Please, whoever has her daughter, to bring her back. All she wants is her daughter back home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. And a press conference right now. There's the Police Chief of Fresno and apparently some of the latest information is that they are calling this a stranger abduction. That clearly the person, the suspect that approached those children, was somebody that no one there knew. At least the child did not know. And they continue to search the area and they're hoping for the public's help, as well, to try to locate the eight-year-old and the suspect.

We'll have much more in the NEWSROOM right after this.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Our next story takes us to one of the most dangerous places in the world and shadows one of the most dangerous jobs but the U.S. soldier in Afghanistan bares scars brought from home. He was a victim of the deadly shootings spree at Ft. Hood in Texas.

CNN's Ivan Watson has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Some of the soldiers fighting this war are survivors of one of the deadliest domestic shooting incidents in American military history.

(voice-over): A bomb-hunting patrol rolls home in a cloud of dust. Among the road weary troops, Alan Carroll a 21-year-old soldier from New Jersey. He moves with surprising strength and speed. Less than a year ago Carroll was shot four times with a pistol.

SPECIALIST ALAN CARROLL, U.S. ARMY: I got hit one right there. And I took one right there. And it came out here. And I took the one in my side and one in my leg.

WATSON: Carroll was wounded not in Afghanistan but at Ft. Hood, Texas, during a shooting rampage by a lone gunman last November. At first, Carroll thought the shooting was a joke. Then, after being hit by two bullets, Carroll says he came face to face with the suspected shooter, Major Nidal Hassan.

CARROLL: And me and him just like looked at each other and the only thing you think was (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you know? Damn it, I'm dead. Then he fired off two shots. And apparently the one go past my ear and the other hit me in the leg.

WATSON: By the time the smoke cleared, 13 people were dead. Carroll's company lost three soldiers that day.

CARROLL: It's bumpy.

WATSON: Three months later the company deployed to Afghanistan. Despite his wounds, Carroll was determined to be here with them.

CARROLL: They all said, no, you're not fine, you won't make it. You're not going to make it. I like proving people wrong. It's my thing, I guess.

WATSON: In Afghanistan, the 20th Engineering Battalion hunts roadside bombs. Carroll spent his first six months here operating a one-man bomb sniffing husky vehicle that his sergeant nicknamed "The Coffin". Improvised explosive devices have hit all but one of the vehicles in the platoon including Carroll's.

CARROLL: I had one hit underneath my truck. But it really wasn't that significant. Still scared the crap out of me, but it wasn't really all that crazy.

WATSON: Thanks to armor, Carroll survived.

CARROLL: Kevlar.

WATSON: But Taliban ambushes have claimed victims, including a fellow platoon member who was killed last August.

CARROLL: You.

WATSON: Nine years ago, Alan Carroll was in seventh grade, waiting for a school bus when he first learned about the September 11th attacks. A lot has changed since then.

CARROLL: I get nightmares and stuff a lot. But I mean, I'm used to it by now, so I know it's not real, I know it's not happening anymore. You still wake up sweating and your heart is beating real fast. And as long as you tell yourself, you know, you wake up, and I look around and I see all my friends here and it's just like, all right never mind, go back to sleep.

WATSON: Today, these young soldiers are veterans of battles both at home and abroad, with the physical and mental scars to prove it.

(on camera): The soldiers of the 20th Engineering Battalion have received hours of counseling and therapy, and now say they just want to leave the Ft. Hood shooting behind them. Their officers say their true test of their emotional and mental health will come when they return home from Afghanistan after their dangerous tour of duty.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)