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DC Subway Terror Plot; Cholera Outbreak in Haiti; President Obama Appears on Last Night's "Daily Show"; Monster Storm Moves to Tennessee; Countdown to Election Day; Mexico's 20-Year-old Police Chief

Aired October 28, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Hey, we're going back to the early '90s. We're going retro, but I'll tell you, their new album is amazing. And as usual, they stick to a real social message.

Wait until you hear them play. The album is fantastic. And they're a great bunch of people so we're excited.

ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Take it away.

CHETRY: All right. We're listening.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, guys. All right. 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast right now, 6:00 a.m. out west. I'm Kyra Phillips.

Here's what we're talking about this morning. Five days until the midterm elections, President Obama on the campaign trail and Comedy Central.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": Does that happen to you wherever you go? Is that just a wild -- when you -- because when you go to work, do people typically applaud or -- it's a nice feeling.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a wonderful welcome. It does not happen, for example, when I go to the Republican caucus meetings.

STEWART: I see. Slightly different.

OBAMA: Yes.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And a shocking story of intolerance out of Arkansas. A Facebook entry urges more gay people to commit suicide. And the person who posted it such a hateful thing? A school board member.

And at Notre Dame, a special mass today for a student killed in yesterday's storm. High winds toppled this camera tower where he was standing and videotaping football practice. We begin with the developing story this morning, though, on an alleged terror plot in the nation's capital. A Virginia man charged with planning bomb attacks on Washington subway system. The feds say that he thought he was conspiring with al Qaeda operatives.

CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve with more on the investigation -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, this arrest highlights two troubling trends, increasing targeting of mass transit and plotting by domestic terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): The intended target -- Washington's metro system which carries 750,000 people every day. The government alleges that 34-year-old Farooque Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, wanted to kill as many military people as possible and cased four metro stations near the Pentagon.

He did his alleged plotting with people he believes were affiliated with al Qaeda but they were really working for the government.

As of now, officials say they have no indication that he was working with other extremists overseas or here in the U.S.

TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: The fact that he was arrested and the case made public is a strong indication that it's not jeopardizing any other active investigation.

MESERVE: The indictment says Ahmed provided video and sketches of the four metro stations and suggested an attack during afternoon rush hour to maximize casualties.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's definitely scary for me to think that something could have happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because there's really no things in place to keep someone from actually just coming into the system and blowing up the metro.

MESERVE: The investigation is continuing. Police searched Ahmed's Ashburn, Virginia townhouse where he lived quietly, neighbors said, with his wife and young son.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, you don't expect people that are citizens to do things like that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: But U.S. officials have been sounding the alarm over domestic terrorism. More than 20 Americans have been charged with serious terror violations this year. But officials insist in this instance the public was never in any danger -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Are they increasing security in any way? I mean the Big Marine Marathon is this weekend, right?

MESERVE: There is and there is increased security planned for that, not because of this incident but because of those shots that have been fired at the Pentagon and at the Marine Museum down in Quantico and there was another incident at a recruiting station. They're still trying to figure out if that's linked or not.

But yes, they're upping security around the marathon. As for the metro system, they claim that they've got security to pretty high level in any event. There's always a lot of concern about mass transit because it has been targeted successfully in other countries, Spain, India, London.

And in this country, you've had other plots including the Najibullah Zazi plot against the New York subway system -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Got it. All right, Jeanne Meserve, thanks so much.

Well, people running for cover in parts of the southeast. A massive storm system that spawned two dozen tornadoes in the Midwest earlier this week took aim at Hamilton County, Tennessee, yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN CLARK, WITNESSED TORNADO: I saw the building on top of the railroad bridge come apart and it come down and picked up the two job site trailers and dumped them in the creek.

Next time I looked out there, I saw the rain going up instead of coming down.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, that storm also swept through an apartment complex but residents say that they never got a warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I expected to hear, you know, sirens or some type of emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we saw the funnel cloud, there was no sirens. It was very calm. And it wasn't really windy. Things just started to move fast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many of my neighbors were sitting outside when it occurred and one yelled to people, run, get inside. It's behind you.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Hamilton County has no tornado warning systems for its 300,000 residents. The Emergency Management director says it's just too costly.

Now strong storms also moved across Atlanta yesterday. Boy, we felt it here knocking down trees and power lines. One of our photojournalists actually caught these time-lapsed images outside a window right here at the CNN Center.

And, Rob, it didn't stop, I mean, all day and through the night.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: Kyra, back over to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Rob. Thanks so much.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Medical teams working around the clock in Haiti to keep a cholera outbreak from spreading. Nearly 300 people have died and that number could go a lot higher if the disease reaches camps in Port-au- Prince.

Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is there in the Haitian capital.

Sanjay, give us a feel for what it's like right now.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, cholera is one of these diseases, as you know, Kyra, that if you get some very basic life-saving supplies, it's completely treatable.

You don't get those supplies, patients can die and certainly that's what people saw in the first few days after the epidemic.

The concern now is two things, really. That there's several people who get the disease who don't get sick but they're carriers. They're going around the country, possibly moving the bacteria around the country, as well, and they're worried of clusters of outbreaks over the next couple of weeks.

Second issue is that some of these warehouses that have so many of these basic life-saving supplies they've had a hard time figuring out exactly how to distribute the stuff and we've seen firsthand now some of the ramifications of that.

People who needed supplies very early on, difficult to get, and even now aid groups trying to prepare for these potential clusters of epidemics coming, having a hard time preparing. So logistical challenges and still this continued concern about the epidemic -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now, Sanjay, you've been there since the very beginning. And you have watched the lack of resources. You have watched a lot of resources come in and folks don't know how to distribute it.

Looking at the beginning of this crisis to what they're dealing with right now, what is the greatest challenge? Is it getting what they need or distributing what's already there?

GUPTA: You know, Kyra, I really don't think it's getting what they need anymore. You go to these warehouses and I don't know if you can see some of the images from the warehouse we were in yesterday. But that was the -- that's one of the biggest warehouses in Port-au- Prince.

It's full. So the issue seems to be that the supplies sometimes they have difficulty actually getting through customs but a lot of supplies are getting into the warehouses. It really seems to be a distribution problem, Kyra.

And part of this, Kyra, I know you've traveled all over the world. Part of this is just the third world. I mean we're at these warehouses ourselves yesterday. Spent hours waiting for anybody who could tell us anything about what was happening.

We're doing a story but if we were people, you know, and trying to get supplies to take to patients in dire need, obviously you can imagine the frustration people have.

It's a distribution issue. To be fair, it's still hard to navigate around this country. You still got rubble on the streets, which is very hard to get around. There aren't enough helicopters, for example.

So there are challenges and there's also this idea that if we give all the resources in this area, we might not have any resources over here if another epidemic breaks out. So they try and plan ahead, but hundreds of people died, Kyra, to your first question's point, that probably didn't need to because this is a very treatable and preventable issue, cholera.

PHILLIPS: We'll continue to follow the story with you. Sanjay, thanks so much.

Well, one minute the suspect is handcuffed and pulled up in the backseat of a squad car. The next, he's darting down the street and the cop is wondering if he arrested the ghost of Harry Houdini.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We thought the master of escape Harry Houdini died in 1926. Boy, were we wrong. Apparently he's alive and well and on the lam in central Texas. Police officer arrested 25-year-old Louis Citron for driving without a valid driver's license.

The guy is sitting in the back of a squad car, and when he gets the handcuffs over his legs, kicked out the window and jumped out, too bad he can't use the flexibility to do good. Last we heard, the cops are still looking for him.

Here's a last-minute Halloween costume idea. You can impress all your non-PETA friends and attract every stray dog in town with the raw meat dress. Yes, it's like the one Lady Gaga wore at the MTV Video Awards.

A steakhouse in New York is actually selling this fleshy frock, 112- pounds of meat, topped with 32 ounce rib-eye hat. And if the sight of all that red meat doesn't do something to your heart, well, the price tag will. $100,000.

All right, let's talk more about President Obama on "The Daily Show," shall we? The commander in chief clearly wasn't there to test out material for his next White House Correspondents Dinner. He was pretty much all business.

Jon Stewart got him laughing, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have passed historic health care reform, historic financial regulatory reform. We have done things that some folks don't even know about. For example, we've just --

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": What have you done that we don't know about?

OBAMA: Well --

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: Are you --

OBAMA: No, no, no, no --

STEWART: Are you planning a surprise party for us?

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: Filled with jobs and health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, and then the president started talking about his top economic adviser Larry Summers. Notice how Mr. Obama had a President Bush moment, and Stewart was all over it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: And in fairness, Larry Summers did a heck of a job trying to figure out how to --

STEWART: You don't want to use that phrase, dude.

OBAMA: I was --

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Pun intended.

STEWART: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A president on a comedy satire show, kind of different, right? Can you imagine President Gerald Ford going on, say, "Saturday Night Live" back in 1975 to talk up his administration with Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd? Well, times have sure changed. Let's talk about it with Howie Kurtz. He's the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and Washington Bureau chief of "The Daily Beast." So, you know, we're coming close to the midterm elections --

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): "Dude."

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. I -- you know --

KURTZ: He called him "dude."

PHILLIPS: Howie, maybe we should start there, because -- all right. There's a way to be relaxed with a guest, but do you call the president of the United States "dude"?

KURTZ: It was a funny moment. But look. Those -- Kyra, people who think that Jon Stewart is just a funny man who ought to keep his nose out of politics now need to zip it. That was a terrific interview.

Yes, it was funny at times, but Jon Stewart, comedian -- he's not a Sunday morning inquisitor -- had the president of the United States on the defensive on several points. And I think it's because he was, A., he wasn't just reading off blue cards, he was speaking from the heart. And he was speaking as the voice of disaffected liberalism. Jon Stewart is liberal. He likes Barack Obama. He's disappointed in Barack Obama, and guess what? So are a bunch of other people. And that's why, I think, there was a certain authenticity to that conversation.

PHILLIPS: Do you think this was a test for this host in a way?

KURTZ: I think it was, because if Jon had just told jokes, and joshed around with him, as he has sometimes done with important guests, especially coming just a few days before he's having -- he and Stephen Colbert are having this big rally on the Washington Mall -- then, I think, it would have been harder for us to take him seriously. He shouldn't be in the business if he's going to have the president on, he shouldn't be in the business of rolling over or just doing shtick.

But he didn't. And, in fact, he actually kind of waded into the weeds on health care. He really pointed up the gap between the hope and change guy who ran in 2008 and then, you know, limited results that President Obama has produced. And you could see at various points Obama almost struggling to make the case, in a different kind of format, he's not on "Meet the Press," he's not on "State of the Union." While trying to connect with younger viewers, which is, of course, the whole reason he went on the show.

PHILLIPS: And he did make the point, "Jon, I love your show" --

KURTZ: But --

PHILLIPS: But he also went on to say, "But I also disagree with you on this and that." How do you think that went with regard to fact checking? The president and Jon Stewart's back and forth on the serious issues.

KURTZ: Well, there was no inaccuracy in that particular exchange. Jon Stewart was basically saying, "I don't know really know what you stood for in the long health care fight," and he was kind of hinting at the compromises that were made on insurance company regulation, and there was no public option and all that.

The president comes back and says, "Because of this bill that I got passed," which, by the way, seems unpopular in the midterm elections, "30 million more Americans, eventually, will have health care."

But on the other hand, it kind of pointed up how here's this greatest legislative achievement of the president's first two years, but it's not playing very well. Even some Democratic candidates running away from it.

So, I thought Obama did fine in the sense that although that brownie moment, "heck of a job," was not his finest moment as a television presence, he seemed to be having a real conversation with somebody who cared about the issues, and had some good punch lines. And I think that comes across well, as opposed to just sort of sitting there and hitting your talking points, and everybody knows that that's, you know, everyone's tired of politicians who simply do that.

PHILLIPS: Well, we should point out, too, that the first lady and also Mrs. Biden will be on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" this afternoon. So, it looks like they're all making the rounds, Howie.

KURTZ: What a media blitz.

PHILLIPS: Exactly. They know what audience they're going for. Howie, thanks so much, dude.

KURTZ: Thanks, Kyra.

(LAUGHTER)

KURTZ: Bye-bye.

PHILLIPS: All right. Next hour, we're actually going to talk about a pretty shocking Facebook post. Someone actually refers to the young people who committed suicide recently as, quote, "queers." And he wants all homosexuals to kill themselves.

Now, you might expect a post like that from a kid who doesn't know any better, right? But this is a grown man in Arkansas. Clint McCance, that's the one who posted it, bad grammar and all. And get this. McCance is the elected vice president of a school district. He goes on to use more derogatory terms for homosexuals, and talks about what he would do if his own kids were gay. This story's a real talker. We're going to dig into it next hour.

Everyone from the school superintendent to the state Department of Education insists that McCance's view is not their view. So, what do you think? Should the district try to boot this guy over something that he posted on his personal Facebook page? Tell me what you think, cnn.com/kyra. I want to hear from you, and I will read some of your responses in the next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. One of the most controversial players in the NBA is raffling off his brand-new championship ring for charity.

Ron Artest is best remembered for this 2004 brawl. He charged into the stands and punched a fan. He says that he later turned to a psychiatrist, who helped him turn his life around. So today, Artest is hoping his ring will help raise a million dollars to fund mental health services for youth who can't afford it. Here's what he told our Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON ARTEST, NBA PLAYER: Luckily, when I was 13, I had -- my psychologist was paid for. My mom found an organization where I could get help for my anger management. I was 13 years old.

But now that I'm older and in the NBA, I can pay for this stuff. It's easy. I have marriage counseling, parenting counseling. I was a young dad, so I had to become a better dad.. I had anger management counseling, et cetera.

But some kids can't pay for that. You know? White, black, Asian, Mexican, whatever. And then it leads to foster homes. And then it just kind of recycles itself. Welfare and all this stuff, and kids don't know how to deal with their problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Artest says that he was transformed when a judge ordered him to undergo anger management therapy.

Forget Superman or Batman, if you're out of work, there's a superhero looking out for you. Unemployed Man is here to the rescue, and we're going to hear from the creators.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Here's some of the stories that have us talking this morning. The feds busted a suspected terror plot to blow up DC-area -- area, rather, Metro stations. Investigators say that suspect thought he was part of an al Qaeda-planned attack to target several subway stops, including the one at Arlington Cemetery. Officials say he was actually working with the FBI instead.

Parts of Tennessee targeted by a monster storm. A tornado snapped trees and overturned trailers. All of this destruction but not a lot of warning. Hamilton County has no tornado warning system for its 300,000 residents. Emergency management director says it's just too costly. And it was a first for a sitting president. Barack Obama making an unprecedented appearance last night on "The Daily Show." The White House reaching out to young voters and working to reel in core Democrats with just five days before the big vote.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

PHILLIPS: Well, If you drive a Nissan, you better listen up. The Japanese automaker is recalling more than 2.1 million vehicles due to engine problems that may cause the engine to stall, and in extreme cases, can't be restarted. Six U.S. models affected include the Armada, Frontier, Pathfinder, Titan, Xterra, and Infinti QX-56, built between 2003 to 2006, also by the way.

Dollar Tree is recalling more than 680,000 battery-operated Halloween lanterns. That recall involves orange, black, and white plastic-themed lanterns designed to look like pumpkins, ghosts, and skulls. Well, that Consumer Product Safety Commission says the bulb can overheat posing a fire hazard. There's a picture of all of them right there. If you bought one, you can actually take it back to the store and get a refund.

All right. Meet a superhero for our next generation. Unemployed man. He may be down, but he's not yet out. Locked in a heroic fight against evil villains -- the kind that drain bank accounts and leave people out of work -- John Roberts spoke to the creators of the new graphic novel. And that brings us to our AM Extra.

So you talk about an animated interview, they even came in costume.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": They did. You know, this is Gan Golan whose a graphic artist, and Erich Origen, who's an author. They have done some graphic novels before. But this one is "New Heroes for Hard Times," the adventures of unemployed man.

He was a guy who was running a corporation, suddenly found himself unemployed. And he and the cast of fellow superheroes like the Master of Degrees, who's a guy who's just overqualified for every job; Wonder Mother, who tries to make ends meet; and Fantasma, who is an illegal immigrant who turns invisible when she comes over the border, a statement that they become invisible as they get to the United States, are fighting against the evil arch villains like FICO, your credit score, COBRA, your health care payments that you have to continue to provide health care for yourself after you're unemployed, plastic credit cards.

This does come from some personal experience, which I'll tell you about in a second. But, first of all, I asked Erich exactly who is Unemployed Man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERICH ORIGEN, "THE ADVENTURES OF UNEMPLOYED MAN": Unemployed man, yes. I am jobless crusader. I can send out a thousand resumes in a flash of an eye. Bringing comic relief to people. If people can't have actual relief, at least they could have comic relief. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. So what's the personal experience and how is the response, then, to these guys?

ROBERTS: Well, both of them are freelance. Gan Golan, who is dressed as the Master of Degrees, is a freelance graphic artist. And Erich Origen is a freelance writer. So, by very definition, they're unemployed very often. They know what people are going through.

And right now, Erich says he has tapped out his retirement savings. He has borrowed from the evil villain Plastic and he has $1,400 a month COBRA payments, so he understands what people are going through. And the people with whom this is resonating, according to these guys, because they were in Times Square getting all kinds of hugs from people who are unemployed. The worse off people are, the more they need comic relief and the more they appreciate this comic graphic novel about the Adventures of Unemployed Man.

PHILLIPS: I'd love to see them walking down the streets in New York in their uniforms. I'm sure -- probably more response than the naked cowboy, that's my guess.

ROBERTS: You just have to be there at the right time.

PHILLIPS: Exactly. Thanks, John.

What do voters want from this election? Our Don Lemon hitting the Midwest states to find out.

So, Don, where are you today?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, I'm in -- right now we are in Madison Heights, Michigan, Kyra. And we are at Leo's Country Oven. Look at the great breakfast on the table. We got some coffee, I got some bacon and sausage, and we've got some workers here and real folks. We're continuing the tour of the Midwest, talking to real voters. And Kyra, you and I are going to talk about it and see their concerns right after the break right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": We are in the home stretch, ladies and gentlemen. The midterm elections are next Tuesday. Or as I've been telling my Democratic friends, next Wednesday.

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: Emotions are running high, folks. You can feel the excitement pounding in your heart. Or if you're a liberal activist at a Rand Paul rally, pounding on your head.

Let me explain. It seems Lauren Valle, 115-pound female MoveOn.org activist got her cranium dangerously close to Rand Paul outside a Kentucky debate. But luckily two men had the courage to throw her to the ground and hold her down while a third hero stomped on her melon. It is her own damn fault, folks.

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: Everybody knows if you don't want someone to step on your face at a Tea Party rally, you carry a flag that says, don't tread on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: We are on the home stretch, too. We're traveling around the country listening to as many voters as we can. Don Lemon is in Madison Heights, Michigan, pounding down a pretty good breakfast. Any excuse to eat. Thanks, Don.

LEMON: I know you. Kyra, this is your kind of town because these are real folks, right? This is what we call blue-collar America. This is your kind of town where the breakfast is good. You've got your sausage. Yummy. Shouldn't talk with my mouth full, my mom would say that. You've got strong coffee, you've got some orange juice here. And I heard you talking earlier about the jobs, the incentives to come here. That's what on the front of the paper this morning.

Show Kyra the steak over there because I know she'd like it. Look at that yummy breakfast. Yum.

PHILLIPS: Nothing like steak and eggs, baby. That's right. Get that heart pumping in the morning.

LEMON: This is what they do in the morning and then go off to work if they're lucky enough to have a job and then afterwards they want to relax a little bit and that's what we did yesterday. We checked out bowling league at the Pampa's Lanes. Guys and gals, as they would say here, talking about the issues that they have, what they're concerned with going into the election.

Take a look at what we did last night, Kyra, and then we're going to come back and talk about it. We're going to talk to some folks here, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Pampa's Lanes at 14 miles and Van Dyke (ph) and I'm here practicing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A getting a little strung up on my operations. I'm trying to get my game back together. Well, Detroit has -- I've been here over 60 years. And it's not the same. Politics has been the detriment of Detroit. We need to bring back some real good leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a lot of the politicians are out of touch with what the people in this state need. And not just this state but throughout the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get it. Yes. I mean, it was the auto industry. We -- we lived by it and now we're dying by it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever this election's going to do, it's about Americans learning how to survive perhaps maybe with less, but then getting things back through some agenda that can be created by a consolidation of all parties.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we need people that have the stated heart, that are willing to get out there and work and maybe make a few sacrifices and don't let the sacrifices all come from the middle income class.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans and Democrats and Independents, even the Tea Party. Let's come together and work together for a better solution for all American people. We can't come together in a house divided among itself. It's going to fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, I sort of barged in on a table here, a booth, Kyra, to talk to these people of their concerns. I walked over, they were already talking politics before we even came into the joint this morning. Melissa, Gabon (ph), Scott and Amy are here this morning.

Listen, going into Tuesday, what are you concerned about? What's going to influence your vote, Melissa?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Education.

LEMON: Education. Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have three kids. I'm concerned about their education, funding, things like that.

LEMON: What about the economy, Gabon, here in Michigan? Were you laid off?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was. For two months. And I'm just worried that we're not getting enough jobs. A lot of outsourcing. I'm still concerned about the outsourcing.

LEMON: So you were laid off but do you -- have you found employment now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LEMON: You're one of the lucky ones. Do you know anybody who's out of work still? You were laid off for a while?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was laid off for a while -- for a while I was laid off for about six months. But I'm more worried about the government control, too much control over people's lives. I don't think the government should, you know, tell us what to eat and things like that.

LEMON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think, you know, people need to be more responsible for what they do themselves.

LEMON: Yes. And you're concerned you said is what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My concern is the economy and the war.

LEMON: Yes. The war. What's your concern about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, right now, there's things going on in the Middle East with the war. I know that there's talk of letting go of the tank.

LEMON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That M-1 Abrams tank. My husband works in the defense industry for defense components of Detroit, and that would really hurt the economy of Detroit and stop production.

LEMON: Yes. And you really -- you have people in your family, you have war vets in your family so that's her concern.

Hey, listen, this is the second highest unemployment here besides Nevada, so people are concerned about that.

Again, I heard you talking about the job incidents at the auto industry or whatever. As you walk around to all these tables, you hear people talking about that and that is amped up here as Tuesday quickly approaches.

PHILLIPS: Don thanks.

And Josh Hamilton sacrifices his baseball career to get high?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH HAMILTON, PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER: All I could think about was -- was how to get and use more drugs. I mean, that's all I cared about and all I thought about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now Hamilton's comeback trail from addiction has led him all the way to the World Series.

And we got a special treat today. Hip hop beats married to a social message. That's the mission behind Arrested Development and they're bringing their soulful songs right here to CNN.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, some Catholic nuns in Baltimore are trying to sell the holy grail of baseball cards. This is a rare century-old baseball card. We're going to see this? Do we -- we're going -- we are going to bring it to you in a minute. We are actually in the wrong block. So guys, tell me where you want me to go.

All right. We're heading into Juarez Valley, Mexico. Is that right? All right, you know we've talked a lot about that, that's the heart of the murderous drug cartel. Policing communities in Juarez Valley is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and nobody wants it until now.

We've told you about this new chief in town, a 20-year-old woman still in college. Here's an update now from our Kaj Larsen who actually went and visited her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAJ LARSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Its early morning just over the border into Mexico. It's one of the most violent areas in the country. We are headed 60 miles south of El Paso, Texas into Mexico, into the Juarez Valley, which is sometimes known by its more sinister moniker, "The Valley of Death".

Meet Marisol Valles Garcia, a 20-year-old university student and mother of a 7-month-old, and almost by accident, she's also the chief of police. Yes, this criminology student with no law enforcement experience is now chief of police in one of the most violent areas in the world.

(on camera): What does your job entail? What do you -- what do you do in your job a police chief?

MARISOL VALLES GARCIA, CHIEF OF POLICE, JUAREZ VALLEY, NEW MEXICO (through translator): We divide the town into nine different parts so the police officers go around town.

LARSEN (voice-over): Thirteen officers, nine of them women in this town of about 8,000. Praxedis has been plagued by violence from the drug war, almost 2,500 killed in the valley just this year. It's been without a police chief for almost 18 months. Why -- because no one else would take the job.

(on camera): Are you afraid of the drug traffickers -- are you afraid of the cartels?

GARCIA (through translator): I have fear. I'm afraid for my security but this is natural for the chief of police.

LARSEN: That may be true, but this place is anything but natural.

(on camera): Just to give you an idea of how acutely dangerous Chief Valles Garcia's job actually is, her predecessor in the position, the former chief police, he was abducted and then murdered and they took his head and they placed it in a cardboard box and placed it right here outside the building.

(voice-over): Walk around the police station, and you quickly get a sense of what feels like a David versus Goliath struggle.

GARCIA (through translator): This is the weapons bank. We're going to get new weapons but right now we don't have many. We have two pistols.

LARSEN (on camera): Do you know how to shoot a gun?

GARCIA: No.

LARSEN: Have you ever shot a gun?

GARCIA: No.

LARSEN: This is their one police vehicle and you can see there's a bunch of bullet holes just in -- in their vehicle alone, a small caliber bullet holes right here, right here, right here.

(voice-over): Even the entrance to the police station which Chief Valles Garcia walks through every day was shot up.

(on camera): You work underneath the photograph of a man who was killed by the cartels. It must be on her mind.

GARCIA: Yes, I'm afraid but we're very focused on prevention.

LARSEN (voice-over): Instead of fighting the cartels head on, this young woman is taking a more indirect approach. She is the face of a team of women who are going out into the community directly to talk to residents about stopping the violence.

I loaded up with some of them who wanted their identities protected because they're scared of retaliation.

Tell me about this job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think it's great because we're going to help some people to have opportunities not to be scared anymore --

LARSEN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- because all the people are just afraid to be outside.

LARSEN: it's because of the drug violence that they're scared?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LARSEN: Has there been a lot of killings here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LARSEN: When you think about fighting the drug war in Mexico, you think about the federals and the Mexican Army versus the cartels, but that strategy thus far has proved to be fairly ineffective. Since 2007, almost 30,000 people have died in Mexico due to the drug violence.

A lot of killing, a lot of danger, but this is now more than just a job to Marisol.

GARCIA: At the beginning, I didn't think about the risk of becoming a police chief but I wanted the job because of my young son. It's part of my dream to establish the calm and create the peace. I don't care about my age. I care more about what's in my heart. That's why I'm doing it.

Kaj Larsen, CNN, in the Juarez Valley, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. We're following live developments in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's go ahead and check in first with senior White House correspondent Ed Henry -- hey Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, good morning. You know, Mr. Obama became the first U.S. president to ever appear on "The Daily Show" while in office. Who got the last laugh? I'll have that story at the top of the hour.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center, that monster storm slowly winding itself down across Canada but the storm still left over; complete forecast coming up in the next hour.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam in New York. You want to find happiness at work. You might want to enlist. I'll explain, that's coming up in the next hour -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks guys. And hip hop superstars Arrested Development tackling politics, war and the environment. They've sold millions of albums and now a new generation of fans is hearing this socially conscious message on their newest CD. They are here, live. They're singing for us, and they are strong.

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