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Two Texas College Students Killed; Pot Smuggling Tunnel Found; Target America: More on Cargo Bombs Plot; Chilean Miner to Run New York City Marathon; President Obama to Host 'Slurpee Summit'

Aired November 04, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Time's flying, top of the show again. Want to welcome the men and the women watching us right now on American Forces Network all around the world. We are going to move fast. Let the rush hour begin.

First, breaking news we are following. You have this unidentified object causes this full emergency on a Delta Air Lines flight bound from Mumbai, India. This is Delta Flight 70 from Amsterdam. It has now landed safely in Mumbai. All 244 passengers and crew have been taken off the plane. Bomb squads right now inspecting all of that cargo, and Delta is tweeting that it asked for some of the cargo to be, in fact, rescreened.

Sara Sidner is in Delhi, India, following all this for us.

Sara, bring us up to speed.

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, what we are hearing right now from the Mumbai International Airport spokesperson is that they are continuing to screen items.

And, remember, this plane landed a couple of hours ago, but that they believe it will take about another hour for the screening to come to a close. This flight landed around 11:30 p.m., India time. It was actually originating from New York. It left at 5:31 in the morning on -- excuse me, p.m., on Wednesday from New York, scheduled to land in Mumbai on Thursday.

It did land. The passengers are safe, have gotten off the plane, but the security check is still in progress at this time.

BALDWIN: Got it, so one more hour and then I'm sure we will be checking back in with to you get the status update on what the suspicious cargo is.

Sara Sidner for us in India.

Also, busy day, breaking news also on Wall Street, looking at this with you. Look at the number, the Dow 11434. It is up 219 points. This is huge news.

Alison Kosik been watching these numbers all day long, and joining me from the New York Stock Exchange to help me make sense of all of this. Alison, walk me through some of the numbers and let's talk about why this is so significant.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, definitely. I mean, the Dow up 219 points, the Nasdaq, S&P 500 all joining the party, all rallying to their highest levels in more than two years.

If you have got a 401(k), now it's time to open it again because you are going to see an improvement there. Traders here on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange are ecstatic. They don't think this is a one-hit wonder, Brooke. They think stocks are going to be on this upswing until spring.

This is happening because Republicans are in control of the House. Wall Street sees that as good for big business. The Fed also said it is pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy, which in turn gets investors to flock to the stock market.

Look, Wall Street has been expecting this. It's been on this slow, steady rise since the end of August when Ben Bernanke, the Fed chief, hinted back in August the Fed was considering stimulating the economy. What you are seeing today, Brooke, is the culmination of the whole thing. We are seeing investors buy into stocks, buying into Wall Street in a big way -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. This is huge on so many different levels.

Alison Kosik, thanks for the update.

KOSIK: It is. You got it.

BALDWIN: Also unfolding this very minute, let's roll this, at least eight students in Los Angeles hospitalized after eating some kind of chocolate. We are told a lot of these students had reported accelerated heart rates.

CNN affiliate KTLA is reporting that the students are being tested for marijuana. It is unclear at this point exactly how the students got the food. CNN is following the story. As soon as we get more information, some updates and some of those young folks, we will bring it to you.

Meantime, next, Haiti braces for yet another disaster, as Tropical Storm Tomas is approaching. Hundreds of thousands of survivors of that January earthquake are now being told just to get out of those makeshift plastic tent cities, find safer shelter. Tomas could bring floods and landslide. Haiti is a direct target. We are working with Chad Myers. He is looking at some of the latest updates. We're going to get you an update with Chad. As soon as he has some new information, we will certainly pass that along to you.

Next, it is now up to the Connecticut jury whether Steven Hayes lives or if he dies. This is that Connecticut murder trial where that mother and her two young daughters were murdered in their own home. Closing arguments in the sentencing phase here of Hayes' trial, it ended today. The jury convicted him of the murders last month. And just this morning, the prosecutor brought jurors back inside the home where the murders took place. The jury will begin deliberating Friday.

Next, to Salt Lake City we go. The trial of the man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart back in 2002 has been halted. The Smart family quickly left the courtroom when the delay was announced. The reason for this abrupt halt? Defense attorneys Brian David Mitchell have filed a motion for a change of venue. They claim their client can't get a fair trial in Utah. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver is reviewing that motion right now.

Tune in tonight and tomorrow night for a special HLN report on child abductions and how parents are making a change in the system. "Every Parent's Nightmare," this what we are calling it, tonight, 7:00 Eastern on HLN.

Next, passengers getting screened through Philadelphia's Airport did not see the humor, not so funny, in a TSA worker's prank. This story is just coming to light, but it happened earlier this year. Here is the deal. According to these released records, a TSA worker was fired for falsely claiming he had discovered cocaine in the luggage of some of these travelers.

And one of the victims of the prank complained to airport authorities, not laughing.

It turns out the highway is not only place you need to watch out for deer. For all of you in Pennsylvania, be careful in the classroom? Yes. A deer came charging through the window of this college campus. A student says the deer jumped over him, cleared his desk. Excuse me. Police say the buck was probably chasing something, saw its reflection in the window, crashed through, broke a leg. The student was injured, after going through a window just to get out of there. The buck had to be put down.

Next, this week, as Hannah Linder sang patriotic songs during a school assembly, she got a huge surprise. That tall guy down there down front, that's her dad. That is Private 1st Class James Linder. The surprised second-grader hadn't seen her dad in four months. Where has he been? Proudly serving his country in Afghanistan. We're told the unusually -- or excuse me -- usually outspoken student was left speechless when she finally saw her father.

And finally have you heard what the feds found inside a tunnel going from California to Mexico? You have got to see this. We are taking you live inside this tunnel, crawling through. That is next.

Plus, a nightmare along the border: Two college students from the University of Texas El Paso, you know, UTEP, killed on their way home from class when gunmen opened fire. We will tell you what police found on the scene, learn a little bit more about these two young men. That is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We told you we would be keeping a close eye on this breaking story out of Florida. Let me just revisit it for you.

Palm Bay police officers, SWAT personnel, they are responding to this gunman who essentially has barricaded himself inside this hospital, this Palm Bay Hospital in Florida. If you know the area, this is Malabar Road. We know that shots have been fired inside, but there are no injuries at this point in time.

We want to bring in Yvonne Martinez. She's a spokesperson for the Palm Bay Police Department.

And, Yvonne, if you can just bring me up to speed, we have been reporting the gunman is barricaded and that hospital personnel are still safe. Is that still the situation?

YVONNE MARTINEZ, SPOKESPERSON, PALM BAY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Yes.

We have our SWAT personnel that are doing active operations right now to attempt to make contact with the suspect, but the hospital is in lockdown. Everybody is as safe as they can be for the moment. The gunman is isolated. We believe we know where he is. And so we are attempting to confirm his location and get hands on him.

BALDWIN: What do we know about this gunman? Who is he?

MARTINEZ: Let me start from the beginning.

We got the 911 call at about 20 minutes after 2:00 from people in the cafeteria area of the hospital.

BALDWIN: OK.

MARTINEZ: This individual went in and basically was pointing a gun at anyone who attempted to communicate with him.

During our police response, we were told that shots had been fired. Nobody was injured. He managed to get himself barricaded into a room, into an office, we believe, in that cafeteria area. Anybody that was in the adjacent area and offices that were adjacent where he was located was safely evacuated.

Now, I can tell you again that the hospital is in lockdown, so hospital operations are continuing. Everyone is safe as they can be for the moment. And our police personnel are going in to attempt to make contact with this individual.

BALDWIN: So contact has not yet been made; is that correct?

MARTINEZ: I can't confirm. We have crisis negotiators also here on scene. They may have had had contact with him. I just don't have that information.

BALDWIN: Sure.

MARTINEZ: I do know that we have a -- we have a good grasp of where we believe he is located. And we believe we can safely get to him, but the officers here who are trained to deal with these types of situations are going through there, going through the steps to get to him, and hopefully bring this to a peaceful resolution.

BALDWIN: And as they begin that negotiation process, Yvonne, if you can kind, just kind of walk me through. Ultimately, the goal, get this guy out of there, and get everyone -- make sure everyone is safe, but how does that process begin?

MARTINEZ: Well, the process is lengthy. We have got law enforcement from our agency, from the sheriff's office, from adjoining agencies all working together in a coordinated response to get this individual.

And the goal, as you said, is to get him to surrender safely without any injuries. We have managed to accomplish that so far. We're just at a point now where we need to get hands on him and get him in physical custody so that we can further secure the scene.

BALDWIN: OK. Well, I'm going to let you go. I'm going to let you keep doing your job, but we want to get an update, if possible, here. And hopefully this happens swiftly, safely, calmly for you.

Yvonne Martinez, spokeswoman for the Palm Bay police department, thanks for jumping on the phone with me. Appreciate it.

Want to tell you about this really big and truly unusual drug bust. U.S. law enforcement discovered this tunnel. It is so well- equipped, it has its own ventilation, its own lighting, its own underground rail system. This tunnel, if you can imagine, this is six football fields in length. And what it does is, it connects this warehouse in Tijuana to a warehouse in Southern California.

And you see all that pot there? That was 30 tons of pot that law enforcement was able to seize, street value, $20 million. We can tell you more about how intricate this tunnel is, but, instead, we have arranged a live guided tour.

Want to bring in Casey Wian, who is at the tunnel opening in Otay Mesa, California.

And, Casey, let's just start at the beginning here. How did authorities even find this thing to begin with?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they were staking out this warehouse. I'm in one of these industrial warehouses, they're all along the border here in the Otay Mesa section of San Diego. Tijuana, Mexico is just across the border, trucks go back and forth all the time. So they saw suspicious activity, they were staking out this warehouse.

On Tuesday, they got a tip that there were drugs in here. And so they came to this warehouse after arresting two suspects north of here carrying 10 tons of marijuana in their truck. There were 20 tons of marijuana in this warehouse, and you are not even going to believe how it got here, it is unbelievable.

This is a closet. Next to it is a closet that's had its door taken off, and down at the bottom, you can see where drug smugglers have cut a hole through the cement floor of this warehouse. This is how they moved all this marijuana across the border.

Now, we are going to put on our helmet here and climb down in and give you a tour. It is a really tricky effort to get down in here, it is a small hole, as you'll see once we get a little bit closer.

Climb down in here, I'm not a very big guy, but it is a real tight squeeze to get through here. You can see that they have tarps along the floor here to soak up some of the water that was still in this tunnel to try to protect their loads of marijuana from the moisture.

We also found out something interesting from authorities. They say that this tunnel was actually in operation for only about a month. And one of the ways that they can tell that is you see the walls of this tunnel, which have been very, very crudely cut out, dug out, they are still damp. There is still some areas of clay that are still damp and they say that these tunnels dry out relatively quickly. So based on their experience, they think this tunnel has only been operating for about a month.

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, we spoke with him earlier today and he talked about the significance of this particular tunnel discovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MORTON, DIRECTOR, U.S. IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: I don't pretend that this particular seizure is going to end the problem of tunnels, but that our 75th tunnel ends up in a seizure of 30 tons of marijuana, again, a very bad day from the cartel's perspective, is a sign that our efforts are working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: Now, what you're seeing is the other end of the tunnel. An agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bob, is there sort of protecting us from any air quality problems we might have or any threats from the other side of the border, which is still open.

On that side, the picture we are showing you, a couple hundred yards down there, there were rail systems and lighting and ventilation to help move the cargo into the United States. But on this side of the tunnel, it is very, very crude. There is none of that infrastructure.

So you can imagine that these drug smuggle hearse to actually physically pull these bales of marijuana through this narrow opening and back into the warehouse, which is where we are going back now.

BALDWIN: That is --

WIAN: As I mentioned earlier, they did arrest two suspects and they are continuing their investigation, they are fingerprinting this warehouse as we speak. Authorities say they are going to be looking at the owners of this warehouse and trying to figure out what is going on in Mexico, what is happening here and who is responsible for this major, major drug bust.

BALDWIN: Casey, that is truly amazing on so many levels. The fact this they found this tunnel. The fact that it is so fresh, you mentioned a month, you showed the wet clay walls. The fact that these drug cartels obviously having a bad day, seeing you on TV, knowing that this tunnel was found.

Let me talk to you about this marijuana. What is unusual about this bust, not only obviously how intricate and how sophisticated the tunnel is, if I want to use that word, how much they had down there, but how much marijuana was seized.

What else is law enforcement telling you? It's a huge day for them.

WIAN: Well, that is very unusual. They've found 75 tunnels underneath the U.S./Mexico border the last four years. What is unusual about this bust, not on the amount of marijuana, which is the largest amount of marijuana ever seized in connection with a drug smuggling tunnel, it is the second largest amount of marijuana ever seized in United States period.

What's unusual is that they found this tunnel, it was actually active. Many of the tunnels that they have found in the past are either in the process of being constructed or perhaps abandoned. Some of them, they are not even sure if they are drug tunnels because there are storm drains running across this border.

This one was hot and it's unusual for both its size and the fact that it was currently operating it and they busted it in progress -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Excellent reporting. Casey Wian for us inside a tunnel there, San Diego area. Casey, thank you for that.

Was one of the devices found on a cargo plane last week minutes away from exploding? We are going to have the latest news here and some perspective on this botched terror plot, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We do have a bit more movement today on the story involving those unexploded packages, those package bombs on airplanes. This much is what the French official is out there saying, it's something the White House suspect confirming, but won't deny either.

The French official is saying that one of the bombs recovered on cargo flights bound for Chicago, remember the ones that originated in Yemen, it was timed to blow up in 17 minutes, 17 minutes before the bomb was disarmed.

Live from New York now, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruikshank. And, Paul, what do you make of this information, the 17 minutes? You know, the White House U.S. officials are not confirming this, they're not touching that. This is French authorities. Does that sound reliable to you? PAUL CRUIKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, it is possibly accurate, but it has come from the very top French interior minister. But CNN have not been able to confirm it. The White House have not been able to confirm it. Other officials in other countries have not been able to confirm it.

I mean, it is possible that the thing was going to blow up in 17 minutes, and that could correlate to when this thing was originally planned to be approaching the United States, because there was some delay from loading this stuff off and then finding the bomb in the British example, but we are not able to confirm that information at this point, Brooke.

BALDWIN: If it's the case, if the French officials are reporting this correctly, what might this tell us, though, about the target, the goal here of this attack? Does this just further underscore the possibility that this very much so was intended to blow up the airplane?

CRUIKSHANK: Well, what we do have a firmer idea of is this was a ticking time bomb. There was some sort of perhaps an alarm on the modified cell phone components and this was going to be timed to go off at a certain point.

Now, the investigation is looking at whether this was going to be when this was approaching Chicago airspace, timed to go off over the United States when you could have a kind of Lockerbie-style convenient, casualties on the ground. This may be what al Qaeda was planning here, Brooke.

BALDWIN: With this, though, with this ticking time bomb, I'm going to ask you, Paul, a question with I asked you a couple of days ago here. Did we just get lucky? Who won this?

CRUIKSHANK: Well the bomb didn't go off and this was an intelligence success. There was a tip from Saudi Arabia passed onto various governments in the West which stopped this thing in its tracks.

But al Qaeda created a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, a lot of media coverage and also there's likely to be billions more dollars spent on cargo security. When those billions of dollars on extra screening may not even prevent this sort of attack from successfully taking place in the future.

So, from al Qaeda's perspective, al Qaeda and Yemen, this is a partial success. Even though those bombs did not go off, there is a lot of fear that there will be follow-on attempts as well.

The bombmaker responsible for this is believed still at large in Yemen and they're still capable of launching this attack either from Yemen, perhaps, or from somewhere else in the future.

BALDWIN: He is hiding out in Yemen, known for making these very sophisticated bombs, very familiar with PETN.

So, what is one of the biggest, I guess, variables for officials right now as we move forward?

CRUIKSHANK: Will this organization, al Qaeda and Yemen, be able to launch follow-on attempts? Will the Yemenis manage to capture this guy first before they try this again?

Because try this again they will. They are determined to attract United States. Their cleric in chief, Anwar al-Awlaki, is determining to do everything he can to disrupt the natural American way of life, and by launching this sort of attack using American technology against it, using UPS, FedEx against it, they are trying to do that, Brooke.

BALDWIN: The intent very much so still there, the sophistication appears even to be improving here time after time. It's frightening stuff.

Paul Cruikshank, thank you.

Two Texas college students became the latest casualties in Mexico's epidemic of violence. Why did they risk leaving their El Paso campus to enter one of the most dangerous cities in the world? I'm going to talk to a dean from this campus here, knew one of the students very well. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Look at these pictures with me, this just into the CNN NEWSROOM, obviously, firefighters working very, very hard to put these flames out.

This is Rock Island. This is the Rock Island Bridge in Grove Heights, Minnesota, obviously on fire. The bridge, from what I understand, it is under construction. So far there are no reports of any injuries, but quite a number of flames, a bit of smoke and water coming on all sides to get this thing out.

Apparently a section of the bridge collapsed back in September of '08, so officials had to block access to it, been under construction. So fortunately no one was driving across this thing when it caught fire.

No word as to how this happened but we will keep a close eye on this picture and as soon as we have an update, we will bring it to you live.

Let's talk about this story. Two students from the University of Texas at El Paso were shot and killed Tuesday night, and investigators say the students were gunned down in this hail of more than 30 bullets while driving in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. A police spokesman confirms one student was a U.S. citizen while the other was a native of Juarez.

And this was not the first incident for UTEP students in Juarez. According to the school's student-run newspaper, two other university students were kill there in May.

Joining me now from El Paso, Texas is Robert Nachtmann, the dean of the College of Business Administration, which is where both of these young men were undergraduate students.

And, sir, I appreciate you coming on. I'm sorry about these two young men. I want to -- I had read a lot about this story and I read that UTEP's vice president has come forward and said these two young men, very much so courageous for commuting -- they were commuting between El Paso and Juarez. And I'm just curious, this young man, Manny Acosta, who you were very familiar with, in your conversations with him over the past couple of years, did he -- was he aware of those risks in commuting?

ROBERT NACHTMANN, DEAN, UTEP COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINSITRATION: I'm sorry, what was the last thing you said?

BALDWIN: Was he aware of the risks of commuting back and forth, over the border from Juarez to El Paso to go to school?

NACHTMANN: Well, Manny Acosta, Manual Acosta, worked in our dean's office for about three years as a student worker. And had worked closely, frankly with all the staff, but certainly over the past year, worked closely with me on a major project for the college. And I had spoken to him a number of times.

You know, he chose to live in Juarez because his family lives in Juarez. The other student, Diaz, the same situation. His family lived in Juarez. If you put this in context, the University of Texas at El Paso is the premiere academic institution in this Southwest region, which is at the confluence of the westernmost point of Texas, the northern part of the state of Chihuahua --

BALDWIN: Here is the map.

NACHTMANN: Juarez is obviously a neighbor city.

BALDWIN: Right, with the a map, we see how close they are.

NACHTMANN: Yes. And so we as a university here focus on this regional population in southern New Mexico, northern -- northern Chihuahua and Juarez and El Paso. About 20 percent of the students in the college of business are from Chihuahua and primarily from the city of Ciudad Juarez.

So, it is not unusual, and if you put that in context and recognize that this region has been a very integrated region over its history, that there are family members on both sides of this border, you know, for generations.

BALDWIN: Absolutely.

NACHTMANN: So it is very difficult -- go ahead.

BALDWIN: I was just going to say we have reported so much, and I know you were very, very, I'm sure, well versed, being right there in El Paso, well versed in the bloodshed in the Chihuahua region of Mexico.

I'm just curious with regard to Manuel specifically having to go back and forth and back and forth, the fact that you mentioned his family is in Juarez. Had had he ever said to you, you know what? I have seen some of this violence firsthand. I'm a little bit nervous when I hop in my car and I head home at night? Did he ever express that to you?

NACHTMANN: He never expressed being nervous. I did ask him, and he is a very strong young man. He simply said that when he leaves the -- when he leaves the college and leaves the campus, he drives directly home. He no longer -- none of our students, or frankly very few people in Juarez spend normal evenings in Juarez. So, he would simply travel home.

This particular evening, I understand it, unusually, he chose to give his friend, (INADIBLE) Diaz, a ride home.

BALDWIN: Do you --

NACHTMANN: And this --

BALDWIN: If I may --

NACHTMANN: Go ahead.

BALDWIN: Do you think he was targeted for any reason, or was this yet another example of senseless violence?

NACHTMANN: I seriously doubt that he was targeted in any way. He was simply driving -- as I understand this, he was driving this young man home. They had been conducting -- that they were in an operations management class that has a normal schedule that ends at 7:30 in the evening twice a week.

And this incident, as I understand it occurred some time between 8:00 and 8:30. So, you can imagine Manny and had his friend, Adair (ph) got into his car, which by the way, I understand it, has Texas license plates, and drove home. They parked in front of Adair's house, and before I guess either one of them could exit, this incident occurred with a van that simply passed by them --

BALDWIN: I understand it was a barrage of bullets, a hail of bullets.

Forgive me for interrupting you, I am just entirely out of time. Robert Nachtmann, thank you. And it is a horrific story and yet another example of senseless violence in this region of Mexico. These two young people trying to get an education.

Mr. Nachtmann, thank you.

Let's talk politics now. Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill where there is a little bit more action today. She he has some brand-new information in from the world of politics. We'll talk to Dana on the other side of the break. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Balance of power has now officially shifted on Capitol Hill, and CNN has all your latest political news with The Best Political Team on Television. "CNN Equals Politics."

Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill for us. We had Dana running around all over the place yesterday. Dana, for the GOP, it is obviously not too early, never too early to begin the transition.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is not at all, and this -- you have it first, Brooke. It's about to go up on CNN.com/ticker. It's from our producer, Deidre Walsh, who just attended a meeting with Republican congressman Greg Walden. He's heading up the Republican transition team transitioning to the majority in the House.

And he said that there will be about 22 members on this new transition team. That they are going to focus on how to implement the campaign promise these laid out during the election. Especially the idea of reforming the way Congress works. And they're going to have their first meeting on Monday night. Look for that on the Ticker.

The second item is one that I really think is fascinating, Brooke. I know you will, too. It breaks down the demographics of just why and how Republicans won so big on Tuesday. Specifically, talks about women. You know, females, less than half of female voters voted for Democrats. Democrats usually can rely on women. Not this year. It was tied for the lowest ever, back in 2002.

Male voters went big-time for Republicans. Fifty-six percent voted for Republicans, and also senior citizens, you know, mostly they go for Democrats, at least historically. Not this time, not Tuesday at all. The vast majority went for Republicans. Really interesting. Take a lock at that.

And lastly, you and I talked yesterday, Brooke, about a potential Slurpee summit at the White House, the president joking about it and John Boehner kind of playing along. We don't have to wait for that. We don't have to wait for that in terms of looking at people trying to sort of make amends who were have in very tough re-election campaigns. It happened today in the state of Illinois, it was a very, very intense fight between Alexi Giannoulias and the Republican who won, Mark Kirk.

But guess what they sat down and they had what might be called a beer summit in downtown Chicago, and they're going to go in downtown Chicago, I bet you can guess where they would go.

BALDWIN: Oh -- where?

BASH: Billy Goat Tavern. I don't know if you remember, probably goes back in time. John Belushi on Saturday Night Live -

BALDWIN: Oh, yes!

BASH: "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, Pepsi, Pepsi." That was from the Billy Goat Tavern. It's a very famous place in Chicaco. Obviously, you can get more than Pepsi there. You can get beer.

BALDWIN: You can get some brewski. Throw 'em back. Politicians, brewski and Slurpees. Dana Bash, thank you so much.

BASH: Always works.

BALDWIN: We'll get another political update for you next hour. Of course, the latest political news online. Go to CNNpolitics.com, or on Twitter @politicalticker.

So, how do you celebrate freedom after more than 60 days in a teeny, tiny mine? Oh, yes, with another test of endurance. You may not believe this, miner number 12 is on the move. We will tell you where, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Some of your favorite games are getting a new honor. You have Ben Bernanke defending the Fed's latest move to stimulate the economy, plus one of those rescued Chilean miners is preparing for a different kind of endurance test.

Let's check in with what's "Trending." We've missed Poppy Harlow! In New York. Poppy, let's first start with Ben Bernanke, had the op-ed in "The Washington Post" this morning, basically saying inflation, do not fear.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes, this is a major move, right? The Fed came out yesterday, bought $600 million in assets. That mainly means they're printing money, pushing it into the economy over the next eight months, hoping that will turn around the demand picture and obviously the employment picture.

And he wrote this op-ed, which is very unique because you rarely see something like this from the head of the Federal Reserve, let alone from Ben Bernanke. And what he said in it, I want to show you his statement here, he said "Easier financial conditions will promote economic growth, increase spending," that's key, "and lead to higher incomes and profits that in a virtuous circle will further support economic expansion."

This is the hope that this will turn the economy around. But I want to note something, Brooke. At the end of that op-ed, there's one key line. He said "the Federal Reserve cannot solve all the economy's problems on its own." He said the government has to take part, Congress and also, this is key, the private sector. Private companies in this country have to hire in a meaningful way for this economy to turn around.

This is "Trending." This really made a big market rally today. The Dow up 219 points. Two-year highs across-the-board for all the U.S. averages. I think investors really liked to hear from Ben Bernanke this morning to get that vote of confidence we will see a turnaround. So, a lot of talk about that one.

BALDWIN: Clearly those numbers translated on Wall Street. Transitioning to toys. First of all, Ms. Harlow, I had no idea there was a National Toy Hall of Fame.

HARLOW: Nor did i. But it has been around since 1998. There is one, and it includes things like Silly Putty and Legos and Monopoly, of course. But what they did today, Brooke, is a National Toy Hall of Fame inducted playing cards, simple game of playing cards and the Game of Life into the hall of fame.

And it's interesting. It was up against some pretty tough contenders. Cabbage Patch Kids, Dominos, Hot Wheels, the Rubik's Cube. Life and playing cards beat out those. Why? Pretty tough criteria here. Four things: icon status, longevity, discovery, does it help had you learn something, and innovation. And they say playing cards and the game of Life do just that.

BALDWIN: You know, this created quite a bit of fodder among our team today.

HARLOW: Oh, yes?

BALDWIN: Playing cards? How is that a toy?

HARLOW: Because -- you know what? They said you could play the most games with playing cards.

BALDWIN: I'm thinking Magic 8 Ball.

HARLOW: Come on.

BALDWIN: Come on.

HARLOW: Totally. Or Rubik's Cube.

BALDWIN: Exactly.

OK. And number three, as if, like, hanging out in a mine in Chile isn't enough for you, I would be like hanging out, feet up on the beach in Greece or something. But this one guy, miner number 12, wants to run, a long time.

HARLOW: This is the most incredible story. Miner number 12, Edison Pena, 34 years old, in that mine for some 70 days. And not long after, he is running the New York City Marathon.

It will kick off this Sunday morning in New York, of course. And he was invited because he was nicknamed "The Runner" when he was in the mine. He was also known as the guy that loved Elvis songs, and would try to cheer up the people down there with him with Elvis songs.

Well, take a listen to what he said about why he is running in the New York City Marathon. Just amazing. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDISON PENA, RESCUED CHILEAN MINER (through translator): Yes, I was very eager to take on this huge challenge of the New York Marathon. I wanted to show the world that I could run it and that, yes, we can. We can, and that's why I wanted to participate. When I ran in the darkness, I was running for life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Running for life. I mean, talk about inspirational.

BALDWIN: Wow.

HARLOW: I'm sure he will have the most fans. He is not the going to win. He said he's got an injured knee. It could take him about six hours. But he is dedicated to finishing this one, and he is going to be on "Letterman" tonight.

That's the first interview of one of the miners on network television. That will be tonight.

And then he is also going to spend time here in New York with the Chilean community, Brooke, at a Chilean restaurant after the race. So I'm going to watch the marathon and cheer for him on Sunday.

BALDWIN: Are you?

HARLOW: Yes, I have a friend running it.

BALDWIN: That is impressive. Tell him, "Buena suerte."

HARLOW: Yes.

BALDWIN: But I'd say, pass the pina colada. I will pass on the 26.2, thank you very much.

HARLOW: Yes, I will, too. You got it.

BALDWIN: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Sure.

BALDWIN: I want to remind you here, we are awaiting -- we should be getting an update here any second now, an update on this powerful storm barreling toward Haiti. It should come any minute, as I said.

Chad Myers all over this. We'll get that you update coming up live on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A quick update here just in. We told you about that security scare on board that Delta Flight 70 in Mumbai. Well, the latest is, it's an all-clear. Security agencies have now cleared the onboard cargo. That's the latest in Mumbai.

Let's talk Washington. The president planning a Slurpee summit, and he is inviting some of his harshest critics: John Boehner, Eric Cantor. Mitch McConnell also invited, and he has reiterated his goal of making Obama this one-term president. You've heard the sound bite.

Wolf Blitzer joins me now from "THE SITUATION ROOM."

And Wolf, the last time the president had that group get together, that there was the Health Care Summit, and that got rather testy. Cantor pulling out a huge stack of books. The president not so much amused.

So, in light of all of that, what do you expect from the Slurpee Summit, sir?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Republicans are already making it clear. And Mitch McConnell doubled down on what he said only the other day. He doubled down today by saying, you know what? My number one priority, the Republicans' number one priority right now, is to make sure that Barack Obama is a one-term session, that he is defeated in November of 2012, two years from now.

So I don't know how productive that summit is going to be on November 18th over at the White House. I'm sure it will be lovely. It will be a nice dinner. They will have a good time. But in terms of cooperation on some of the major issues, the Republicans are determined to do whatever they can, for example, to repeal, to do away with President Obama's health care reform law.

They won't succeed because he has that veto power, and they certainly don't have a two-thirds majority in both Houses to override a presidential veto. But we will see what they can do.

There are some issues on foreign policy, for example, some other issues, maybe energy-related, that they can work out some sort of accommodations. But on the big, most important, substantive issue like health care, creating jobs, I suspect there's not going to be a whole lot of cooperation.

BALDWIN: Wolf, quickly, on the Tea Party, obviously hugely energized folks. Republicans not so enthusiastic. What's the take on the Tea Party right now?

BLITZER: The Tea Party is here to stay. They have got some major victories, including Rand Paul in Kentucky, which was a big victory for a lot of the Tea Party supporters. They have got some others around the country.

They lost in Delaware, in Nevada, in Colorado, and maybe in Washington State. We'll see what happens to Dino Rossi, who is fighting Patty Murray, the incumbent senator.

So they've got a mixed record now, but they certainly did energize a lot of people out there. And I suspect they're going to be around in the next election cycle as well.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. Wolf Blitzer, we'll see you on "THE SITUATION ROOM" in five minutes. Thank you.

Now I want to talk about this deadly storm that's now headed for Haiti. People there bracing for some potentially dangerous weather. But where would they go? We are just now getting some updates here on the storm's track. Chad Myers has that update, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

BALDWIN: Meantime, send it up to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, with "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.