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Logan Airport Security Alert; Mystery Jawbone Not Holloway's; President Obama at Chrysler Plant

Aired November 23, 2010 - 13:59   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Want to get you real quick to Kokomo, Indiana, where the vice president and President Obama are there touring a Chrysler plant. Let's dip in and listen to Vice President Joe Biden.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. And we had three clear goals led by the president.

One is, help communities and people who are hit the hardest, hit the hardest by this awful recession. Save and create jobs today, but also lay a foundation for long-term prosperity in the future, because more than a year after implementing this act, I can say proudly that not only have we helped millions of people, but -- not only have we created millions of jobs, not only have we spurred growth in new industries, but we have completely transformed with the great leadership of the local and state leadership here, communities like this one here in Kokomo.

(APPLAUSE)

BOLDUAN: We're going to get back to that in just a second, but we want to update you on our big stories and our top stories we're watching as we come on the top of the hour, 2:00 here in Atlanta.

You're looking at live pictures of Boston Logan Airport, a story we've been following, a developing story about a security situation of a suspicious package at Logan Airport in Boston. A cargo area evacuated.

Let's get straight to Allan Chernoff. He's got more for us.

Allan, what do you have now?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Kate, very important to note that the cargo area is very separate from the passenger terminals at Logan Airport. You know the passenger terminals are all bunched together over there.

The spokesperson at Logan Airport is telling us that a K-9 unit "hit" on two duffel bags in this cargo area, and we're told it is a Delta cargo building that they're checking out right now. The bomb squads are on the scene looking into these two duffel bags. The spokesperson tells me that the duffel bags have a mailing tag that is in Nigeria.

Now, that doesn't mean that the bags were headed to Nigeria. He didn't know yet whether or not they had been tagged, even which airline, whether it was Delta or not where those bags might be heading. But, again, the mailing tag, the mailing address on these bags, was Nigeria.

So, again, the bomb squad on the scene. This building has been evacuated, but normal operations are ongoing at the passenger terminals of Logan Airport -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: This might be a moot point at this early stage, but is the bag -- do we know where the bag originated? Did it originate in the Boston area?

CHERNOFF: Well, I believe, according to the spokesperson, he was saying that these were simply dropped off. That was his impression. So, not that they had necessarily been in the air cargo system just yet.

And, also, we did ask whether or not this was headed for passenger or headed for an all-cargo plane. That we don't know as well.

So, a lot of information yet to find out. But the TSA is now telling us, they're giving confirmation that, during a routine inspection in the Delta cargo building at Logan, a K-9 team from the TSA checked out these bags. They were on a cargo pallet, and they're saying, "Out of an abundance of caution and per standard procedure, the building was evacuated."

So, we've heard those terms before, and once again being used this afternoon in Boston.

BOLDUAN: All right. Well, obviously, we tread lightly and carefully in these early moments of these developing stories, but we'll check back with you.

Allan Chernoff in New York for us.

Thanks, Allan. Great information.

All right. Big stories going on today. Let's catch you up on other top stories we've got.

(NEWSBREAK)

BOLDUAN: Now to some news that we've been waiting for out of Aruba. The jawbone that was being tested, it is not Natalee Holloway's.

Dutch forensic experts had been examining the bone after a tourist found it on an Aruban beach this month. Holloway disappeared from the area in 2005 on a senior class trip. Her family sent dental records for comparison with the jawbone, but today Aruban authorities said it belongs to a Jane Doe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TACO STEIN, ARUBA SOLICITOR GENERAL: We obtained the dental records from Natalee Holloway from the United States. They were sent in last week, late -- Friday in the afternoon. They were sent to Holland.

And during the weekend it had been established that the molar that was in the jawbone that has been found is a wisdom tooth. And from the dental records we got from the United States, we learned that with Natalee, her wisdom teeth had been taken out.

QUESTION: So it was obvious right there?

STEIN: Yes, it was obvious. Right there and then it was obvious it wasn't Natalee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Natalee Holloway's father, Dave, he issued a statement today thanking people for their thoughts and prayers, and he said the family "remains hopeful that someday" they'll "get some answers."

Some other news you need to know about today. A former Catholic priest in Texas already charged with sexually abusing a teenager, well, he's been arrested again for allegedly seeking a hit man to kill that accuser. A neighbor of John Fiala tipped off police earlier this month, and the neighbor says Fiala offered him $5,000 to take care of the boy who is now 18 years old.

And there are some red faces in Washington and Kabul over reports a senior Taliban commander involved in secret government talks -- get this -- was an imposter. Afghan officials tell "The Washington Post" he may actually have been a humble Pakistani shopkeeper.

The man was reportedly flown to Kabul by NATO for negotiations. And a Western diplomat says the imposter was paid a lot of money to convince him to take part in those talks.

Also, today is the last day for folks on the Gulf Coast to file short-term damage claims with BP. Now the process shifts to lump-sum, long-term payouts. People who accept those give up their right to sue BP over this year's disastrous oil spill in the Gulf.

And new hope in the fight against AIDS on two fronts. We'll show you a promising new global report and a possible new treatment that could prevent HIV infections.

Let's get you an update on the breaking news that we've been watching continuing to develop on a suspicious package at Logan Airport. We should tell you, first off, this is in a cargo area that Allan Chernoff in New York rightly points out, this is separate from you, if you're traveling through Logan to fly somewhere, where you would be. This is a cargo facility. It's been evacuated. And we're told two K-9 -- there were two "hits" on duffel bags there. We'll get you updates on that.

Also, let's go to President Barack Obama in Kokomo, Indiana. He's just taking to the podium. He took a tour of a Chrysler plant today and is speaking with people there.

Let's take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have to just say, by the way, Joe is not only one of the best vice presidents in history, he's also one of the best introducers in history. I try to take him wherever I can.

I want to thank your plant manager, Jeremy Keating, for the great tour and the great work that he's doing here.

(APPLAUSE)

He is proud of the work that's being done at this plant.

I want to thank your local UAW president, Richie Boruff, who is here.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank them for showing me around.

A couple other hotshots, U.S. Senator Evan Bayh is here.

(APPLAUSE)

Congressman Joe Donnelly is in the House.

(APPLAUSE)

Congressman Andre Carson is here.

(APPLAUSE)

Congressman Baron Hill is here.

(APPLAUSE)

By the way, Congressman Baron Hill is in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. Now, that's pretty cool.

Being a congressman is cool. Being in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Indiana, that's something.

Mayor of Kokomo, Greg Goodnight, is here doing outstanding work.

(APPLAUSE) The CEO of Chrysler Group, Sergio Marchionne, is here.

(APPLAUSE)

The president of the UAW, Bob King, is in the house.

(APPLAUSE)

And we've got some of the best workers in the United States of America right here at this plant.

(APPLAUSE)

And I had a chance to meet some of you as we were going around seeing these amazing transmissions that you're building. And I was very happy to hear that after a couple of tough years, this plant is now running at full capacity. And that's why I'm here today. That's why I'm here today.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, we all know that one plant by itself doesn't mean that there aren't people in Kokomo who are still hurting. I had lunch with the mayor and some firefighters, and there's still a long way to go.

The mayor has got all kinds of great plans. There are businesses that are looking to start expanding. But the fact is there are millions of people around the country who are still looking for work in the wake of the worst recession in our lifetimes.

And I don't have to tell you that. Many of you still have friends or neighbors, a husband or a wife, who is still struggling. And I know that before this plant started rehiring, a lot of you were in the same position, so you remember that it is a tough, tough thing when you're out of work, especially when you've taken a lifetime of pride in working and supporting a family and making great products.

But even as we continue to face serious challenges, what's happening here at this plant, the changes we're seeing throughout Kokomo, are signs of hope and confidence in the future -- in our future together. You're showing us the way forward. You're living up to that spirit of optimism and determination, that grit that's always been at the heart of who we are as a people, at the heart of America.

I remember coming to Kokomo a little over two years ago. And Joe will remember this. Some of you might have been here.

What was happening here reflected what was happening all over the country, all over this region. For a decade or more, families had felt a growing sense of economic insecurity. A lot of manufacturing had left the area. And then a recession started taking hold, and folks were seeing job losses and facing new hardships.

That was before anybody knew how devastating the recession was going to be. So by the time I took office, just a few months later, the financial crisis had hit, the auto industry teetered on the brink, and we were losing millions of jobs. And that left Joe and I with some tough choices.

One was to help the auto industry restructure. And that wasn't an easy call.

I understood that there were some reservations of those who said that the industry should pay a price for some poor decisions by the part of management. But we also knew that millions of jobs hung in the balance. We also knew that the very survival of places like Kokomo were on the line. And we knew that the collapse of the American auto industry would lead to an even deeper disaster for our economy.

And you know what? We also believed that America, which popularized the automobile, whose middle class was made on the basis of manufacturing, that we couldn't just give up, we couldn't throw in the towel. That was not an option.

There were those who were prepared to give up on Kokomo and our auto industry. There were those who said it was going to be too difficult or that it was bad politics, or that it was throwing good money after bad.

You remember the voices arguing for us to do nothing. They were pretty loud, suggesting we should just step back and watch an entire sector of our economy fall apart. But we knew that the auto industry was not built and this country was not built by doing the easy thing.

It wasn't built by doing nothing. It was built by doing what was necessary, even when it's difficult. So we made the decision to stand behind the auto industry if automakers, if CEOs like Sergio were willing to do what was necessary to make themselves competitive in the 21st century, and if they had the cooperation of workers who were taking pride in the products that they made.

We made the decision to stand with you because we had confidence in the American worker more than anything. And today we know that was the right decision. We know that was the right decision.

(APPLAUSE)

Today, each of the big three automakers has increased their market share. Each of them.

For the first time in over a decade, Americans are buying a larger share of Chryslers, Fords and GM cars, and a smaller share of their foreign counterparts. For the first time in decades.

(APPLAUSE)

We're coming back. We're on the move.

All three American companies are profitable, and they are growing. Some of you read last week GM's stock offering exceeded expectations as investors expressed their confidence in a future that seemed so dim just 18 months ago. And as a result, the Treasury was able to sell half of its GM stock. So here's the lesson -- don't bet against America. Don't bet against the American auto industry. Don't bet against American ingenuity.

(APPLAUSE)

BOLDUAN: President Obama in Kokomo, Indiana, as you can see there, talking to workers at a Chrysler plant, touting a lot of what the federal government has done for that town, a town that had unemployment of about 20 percent in 2009. And now it's down to about 14 percent. Still, high unemployment.

But talking there to workers at a Chrysler plant.

Also, looking at the other part of the screen, the other thing that we're watching over here, breaking news, a developing story out of Boston Logan Airport. A cargo facility that we've learned from Allan Chernoff, a Delta cargo area, where they have evacuated it because of a suspicious package there, two duffel bags they're kind of zoning in on and taking a closer look. We know there are a lot of police, fire department, bomb squad often the scene, taking a look.

We'll have an update and a lot more news coming up right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: The United Nations says the global AIDS epidemic is slowing down and actually beginning to reverse. New HIV infections worldwide have decreased almost 20 percent in the last decade.

Let's map this out. These are some really interesting numbers.

In 2009, an estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV. That compared with the estimated 3.1 million newly infected in 1999, just 10 years earlier.

And also in 2009, approximately 1.8 million died from AIDS- related illnesses, compared with about 2.1 million deaths in 2004. And there's even more encouraging news with this.

When you zero in on the AIDS crisis in the 15 most severely affected countries, the rate of new HIV infections among young people has fallen by more than 25 percent. That's because, the U.N. says, young people are adopting safer sex practices in those countries.

The report is not all good news though. For every one person starting HIV treatment, two people are newly infected. But the U.N. says overall, the investments in combating AIDS are paying off.

But the challenge, of course, now is to speed up the progress. And there could be a breakthrough in the battle against AIDS using drugs to prevent HIV.

Researchers have found a combination of drugs reduces the risk of infection by almost 44 percent in men. The drugs are two widely used HIV medicines taken daily. And researchers tell CNN that they need to do more investigating of this, but the drug combination could make a significant impact in the fight against HIV.

Just wanted to give you an update of that.

Also want to give you an update on the breaking news that we are watching out of Logan Airport in Boston. This is a cargo facility. We've been talking about it now. We just want to go give you a quick update because we are watching it.

A Delta area of the cargo facility has been evacuated. They're zeroing in on two duffel bags that had two K-9 "hits' that they're focusing on as suspicious packages, they're being called.

We'll have more on that coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: This just in of another kind, entertainment news.

CNN Entertainment has confirmed from NYPD that there is now a complaint on file from Capri Anderson against actor Charlie Sheen. The complaint accuses Sheen of harassment and was filed late Monday.

Anderson filed a complaint. Detectives interviewed her late yesterday, and the complaint is currently under investigation.

Let's also turn to some of the top stories that we're watching in developing news.

South Korea is promising enormous retaliation, and its military has gone to crisis status after North Korea shelled southern territory, killing two soldiers. The U.S. special envoy to Korea and other foreign diplomats are urging restraint from Seoul.

And still no answers for the family of Natalee Holloway. Forensic results came back today on a jawbone found on an Aruban beach recently. The bone does not belong to the teenager who disappeared during a senior class trip to Aruba back in 2005. She's presumed dead, but no remains have ever been found.

And we are following developments unfolding right now. And these are live pictures you're looking at, at Boston's Logan Airport, where police are investigating a suspicious package there.

A police dog, a K-9 unit, alerted authorities about two duffel bags at a Delta Air Lines cargo facility. The building is not near any passenger terminals, but investigators tell CNN the bags have mailing addresses in Nigeria. We don't know the significance of that quite yet.

Got a lot going on today. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Holiday weather and more with our Chad Myers. (WEATHER REPORT)

BOLDUAN: All right. Coming up, misery turns to violence in Haiti. We've been talking about it, and we have an iReport coming up. You don't want to miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Now we're going to go "Globe Trekking." We've been telling you about the cholera outbreak in Haiti. Now there's a problem with anti-United Nations protests.

Let's break this down for you a little bit. The first confirmed case of cholera in Haiti was in late October. So far 1,344 are dead. Another 57,000 people have been treated for cholera. International health officials are expecting that number to rise into the hundreds of thousands.

United Nations has criticized the international response to the Haiti cholera outbreak. It says donors have only pledged about 10 percent of the money needed to curb the disease. We're talking about doctors, nurses, water purification systems, chlorine tablets, tents, soap, et cetera.

Now after all of that, we want to talk, of course, about the Haitians. Check this out. There are people in Haiti who blame the very organization that's trying to help them, the United Nations. They accuse Nepalese soldiers serving as U.N. peacekeepers of bringing cholera from their home country. The U.N. and Nepalese officials deny that charge. The protests against the United Nations and Nepal turned violent last week in Port-au-Prince and the northern port city of Cape Haitien.

CNN iReporter Johnny Colt traveled to Haiti and talked to a man who said he saw U.N. taking bodies away after clashes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY COLT, CNN IREPORTER: What about with the clashes with the U.N.?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said he can't really tell you because yesterday they killed so many of them but they put them in bags for them to go throw them away.

COLT: Did he see that? With his own eyes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he witnessed it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And Johnny Colt, is so nice to be here with us again. You may know his name for being the bassist for some well-known bands. Black Crowes, Train as well.

After looking at that iReport, I just want to get your take on it. So many people see and watch this on TV but no one gets to go there and listen to what the people have to say. Why -- you hear it in that man's voice. You heard it in your other iReports. Why are they so frustrated?

COLT: Yes, most people are heading out of Cape Haitien, not into it.

BOLDUAN: Exactly!

COLT: Everything is frustrating. I think that one of the things that will stand out is we actually have some photographs of bullet holes. Can we pull those up? So, what happened was - well, they told me back there they could pull them up. If you look at these pictures, what happened is the U.N. were patrolling, and got their armored car stuck on a tree stump. The way that they're creating checkpoints is that they chop down a tree, it falls in the middle of the road. When they want to remove the checkpoint, they light the tree on fire and it dissolves.

So, the truck got stuck, and when it was stuck for a few hours, people were throwing bottles and rocks and armed with machetes. The U.N. response was this. There are bullet hole and rounds in a 360 around the area where the truck was stuck. It was hard to get the photographs because of how dangerous it is to be in the area, but there are bullet everywhere. If you look closely at these bullets, especially down in the bottom right corner the most graphic visual, that is a very, very large round. I have a ballistics expert reviewing that right there, and I've sent this off to the U.N. to get a response. They have yet to respond to me.

It looks like a large 762 round which people have bottles and rocks, and they're firing at them.

BOLDUAN: People know obviously that the Haitian people have been through so much. Not only the earthquake. It's almost a year later, and now this massive cholera outbreak. People are confused. Why are they angry, why are they fighting with, why are the frustrated with and protesting the very people who are there to supposedly help them?

COLT: The U.N. -- they feel like they're an occupied country. The U.N. are known for stealing their food, stealing their goats. They call them goat stealers. That's the nickname they have for them. They don't interact with the individuals very often. There's been rumors of sexual abuse from the U.N. toward the locals.

So, in that way, this protest is more organized than the news represents. It was put together as a four-day protest in Cape Haitien on Haiti's anniversary of independence. They went four straight days like they said they would. The morning of the fifth day when I got up, they were lighting all the trees on fire themselves and clearing the roadblocks.

Four days of protest, they overran the U.N. base to demonstrate that they want the U.N. out of there, so they have decided to be their own police force and they're control themselves. They don't want the U.N. poisoning their water. For them, they steal their food, they poison their water, they're insensitive and they're from all these other parts of the world. They don't feel like the U.N. are invested in the reality of what it is to be a Haitian on the ground day by day.

BOLDUAN: Such a horrible situation. Thank you for bringing this to us. Are you heading back down there?

COLT: I'll be there for the elections.

BOLDUAN: Oh, my gosh. OK, we'll have you back.

COLT: We'll see you then.

BOLDUAN: Maybe Ali will be here. But I'll have (INAUDIBLE). Thanks so much, Johnny Colt. Thanks so much for joining us.

So, ending hunger in America. That's a huge challenge but we'll introduce you to someone working on it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: A couple updates to get to you.

First let's go back to Boston, Logan Airport. We've been following this. We're getting the all-clear at Logan Airport. Reports of what we were told was a suspicious package in a cargo area. Two duffel bags we're now told was bedding material, and it is nonhazardous. And we're getting that from the Massachusetts state police. So an all-clear in Boston Logan. Very good news there.

Another update to get to you, just very quickly. We were talking earlier about a loaded magazine found on a flight from Burbank to Phoenix. A CNN crew was on the flight and actually were able to help confirm what it was and handed it off to a flight attendant. We're told now that it was actually a law enforcement officer's gun magazine that was misplaced. The law enforcement officer apparently was on an earlier flight, but all procedures and protocols were taken appropriately in having that.

But that's the update for both of those big stories that we have been watching. So the all-clear in Boston. Big news we wanted to make sure we got to you real quick.

All right. Today's "Mission Possible." Don't just ask why. Find an answer for why. As many prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with a feast, keep in mind the sobering numbers from the Department of Agriculture. Last year, nearly 30 percent of U.S. families were classified as "food insecure" on some level at one time or another, meaning they went hungry on some level with little to no food. That's more than 50 million people in the U.S. 17 million of those hungry are children. This year, those numbers are expected to be higher.

Bill Ayers joining me now. He's a former priest who's been answering why for more than 35 years. Bill co-founded the group World Hunger Year, also known as WHY Hunger.

Bill, thanks for joining us. Tell me about your organization, and tell me how we're going to solve this problem.

BILL AYERS, WHY HUNGER CO-FOUNDER: We've been at this for 35 years. Harry Chapin and I started in 1975. And there's no one answer for fighting hunger in America. We need everybody at the table so everybody can eat at the table. Certainly we need to have the government doing more. They're doing a great job with the S.N.A.P. program which is the program that has replaced food stamps. It's a very good program. We have 42 million people on it now. If we didn't have that, we would have massive hunger in this country, much more so than we have now.

We also have all of the child nutrition programs, and there's a bill that the Congress is going to be deciding on next week, the child nutrition reauthorization bill. Please tell your Congressperson or your senator to pass that bill. It will have $4.5 billion added to the child nutrition programs. That means school lunch, school breakfast, summer meal programs, all of that. So, that's what the government does and more.

But we also need business and labor and churches and everybody else to be a part of this. And that's happening. We have just wonderful groups of people all over the country. We work with 8,500 community-based organizations. We help them to get funding. We help them to get connections to one another, and we look for the very best programs in the country that are helping people not just to get food, but to get people back on their feet again.

BOLDUAN: Bill, it's the 35th anniversary of WHY Hunger. Explain what that means, what that should mean to people that are watching today.

AYERS: Well, it should mean that we've been around all these years. So, we're a trust worthy organization.

All of the radios -- about 15 radio stations in New York City are doing this hunger-thon for us, and Sirius Satellite radio is as well, and we've been on several television stations. We're trying to raise money for the programs that help people all over the country.

We have a program that goes into what we call food deserts in places like the Mississippi Delta and southern Arizona and cities where there are no food stores for maybe 30, 40 miles. We help to bring new sources of food to those places.

We also run the national hunger hotline, the only one of its kind in America. We answer calls from thousands of people all across the country at 1-866-3-HUNGRY. 1-866-3-HUNGRY. So, we're asking you to make a donation today. But if you're hungry or you know somebody, call us and we can help you at the national hunger hot line. We connect you to emergency food. We'll connect you to all of the government programs.

But we'd also like you to make a donation at hungerthon.org or 1- 800-548-6179. There's a whole range of wonderful auction items. We have this shirt. I don't know if you can see it, Kate. But this is a John Lennon shirt. Yoko Ono lets us do this. We've partnered with her for several year because she believed John wanted to ends hunger. That was part of the Imagine song.

We have this shirt for a donation of $75 a sweatshirt and T- shirt, $50, and we have a pen as well. Give us a call, 1-800-5- HUNGRY. 1-800-548-6479. Or go on hungerthon.org. You'll see all of the wonderful, wonderful auction items we've gotten from people like Bruce Springsteen and lots of performers as well as lots of sports items. And that's all up there, and we'll be up there for several days.

BOLDUAN: Bill, you stole my last question. I was going to ask how people can get involved. But you're a very good promoter for your cause, and it's a very great cause.

AYERS: That's one way. The other way I would suggest is work with these organizations that we work with all over the country and help them. This is a soup kitchen, a food pantry, a homeless shelter, a shelter for battered women, all these kind of programs.

You can help. You can volunteer. You can raise money for them. These are some of the very best people in the country. They're working their tails off. They're underpaid and they're overworked. You can help them.

BOLDUAN: Something definitely keep in mind as we're sitting down to give thanks this Thanksgiving season. Thank you so much, Bill. Happy Thanksgiving to you.

AYERS: Same to you.

BOLDUAN: All right. So, a hard hit in a high school football game changed a player's life forever. His memory nearly erased.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Time now for a CNN Political Update. CNN's chief national correspondent John King joining me from the politics desk in Washington. Hey, John, what's going on?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How are you, Kate? It's not every day the president and the vice president are out together, but Barack Obama and Joe Biden did travel to Kokomo, Indiana, today to promote their efforts to get jobs back in the country. 9.9 percent unemployment in Indiana right now. The president carried that state in 2008, but Democrats took a drumming there as part of the midterm elections.

The president making the case, among other things, at an automobile factory because his effort to bail out GM and Chrysler has turned into a success story. The president reminding anybody listening a lot of conservatives opposed that policy.

The race for mayor in Chicago. We knew the president's former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was leaving for that job. He's getting a more crowded field today. Roland Burris, who was in Washington as the interim United States senator filling Barack Obama's old seat is going back to Chicago. And our Mark Preston is reporting a group of friends have filed the nomination paperwork, including the more than 12,500 signatures necessary to get Burris on the ballot to run for Chicago mayor. We'll keep an eye on that one.

And the lone remaining Senate race from the midterm elections, yet to be resolved. That's the Alaska Senate race. We can show right here on the ticker, the political unit here. Joe Miller the Republican candidate has gone into state court now trying to say that some of those write-ins for Lisa Murkowski should not be counted because the name is not spelled just perfectly. Went to state court after a federal judge told him, go to state court, not federal court. We're waiting on that one.

BOLDUAN: This race starting to remind me a little bit of Al Franken in Minnesota. But hopefully, it won't drag on that long.

KING: Let's hope not, Kate. Let's hope not.

BOLDUAN: All right. John King, chief national correspondent, host of "JOHN KING USA," 7:00 tonight. Thanks, John.

KING: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: CNN is committed to keeping you informed on all the important political news. Your next update is just about an hour away.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: High school football, the hits are hard and often brutal. Young players who endure multiple blows can lose their memories or even their lives. Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta continues his investigation of the concussion crisis.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that the concussion can cause more damage in a developing brain. And we also know that younger people can take longer to recover from a concussion. That's really what's at play here.

So, we investigate the story of Max Conradt, 17-year-old football player who played through concussions, something that a lot of high school players do. But what he teaches us is the urgency of what's happening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Friday night, game night. On a kickoff return, 17-year- old Max Conradt takes a hit.

RALPH CONRADT, MAX CONRADT'S FATHER: He took a knee to the head and went down for several seconds and was staggering off the field. GUPTA: A week later, another game, another hit.

RALPH CONRADT: He drills his forehead and helmet right into Max's chin.

GUPTA: For some reason, Conradt let him catch the ball.

GUPTA: Astonishingly, Max continues to play. But then --

JOY CONRADT, MAX CONRADT'S STEPMOTHER: He was walking toward me, and he looked at me and he said, "My chin hurts." And then he collapsed.

GUPTA: Max Conradt, star athlete, stellar student was dying. What happened -- second impact syndrome, one concussion closely followed by a second one before the brain has time to heal. In Max's case, his brain began to swell uncontrollably.

GUPTA (on camera): During a concussion, the brain, which has a consistency of jell-o, is stretched and twisted. As it's rocked, chemicals start to flood it, damaging different cells within the brain and throwing the brain into a sort of state of crisis. With rest, the damaged cells can heal. But when a second concussion happens too soon after the first, brain cells die, and that's when permanent damage sets in.

GUPTA (on camera): Max was rushed to the operating room.

RALPH CONRADT: The head surgeon comes over and puts his hand on my back, and he just goes, "I'm really sorry," basically telling us he's not going to make it. He's not going to survive.

GUPTA: Three operations in ten days, Max is alive but barely conscious. It took months before he finally woke up.

MAX CONRADT: What happened?

RALPH CONRADT: What happened?

MAX CONRADT: Yes.

RALPH CONRADT: You were hurt in a football game.

MAX CONRADT: What?

RALPH CONRADT: Yes.

JOY CONRADT: Yes.

MAX CONRADT: Oh my god!

GUPTA: That was 2002.

MAX CONRADT: I don't remember the season. I don't remember the football season. GUPTA: This is Max today. He's 26, living in a home for brain injured adults. He still has no memory of the hit that changed his life. In fact, these days he has problems remembering, period.

MAX CONRADT: Once in a while I get upset about if I can't remember the stuff I want to remember. I wish it never happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: I can tell you, it really is amazing. Max still doesn't remember that game. He has only hazy memories of the entire football season. So, it's pretty remarkable what happened to him.

I will tell you, his parents were instrumental in getting a law passed in Oregon, Max's Law. It sort of requires that coaches have training and are able to recognize signs and symptoms of concussion. That players, if they have any signs of symptoms, are not allowed to play at least a day, and only after a medical professional has cleared them.

A lot of people ask about the signs and symptoms of concussion. Keep in mind, there is no blood test or a specific scan. But headache or pressure in the head, nausea or vomiting. Balance problems or dizziness. Vision problems, light sensitivity. Confusion, attention, memory problems. Those things can be checked, some of those right at the sideline after a player has had a concern about a concussion. And oftentimes the player will be kept out of the game.

But again, there's so much we don't know about concussions. We do know this, that a second impact as we saw in the case of Max Conradt, can be so problematic for him. Tomorrow, we're going to talk to Fred McNeil and talk about the long-term impact of concussions. Back to you.

BOLDUAN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, continuing to do great work. We want to see more of that.

All right. Stay with us. Royal engagement, save the date. Did you make the list? We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Let's ends on a light note, shall we? Well, save the date. The royal wedding day and place are set. Prince William and Kate Middleton will swap vows April 29, 2011 at Westminister Abbey in London. Most of Britain won't be invited. Sorry. But all of Britain can celebrate. The government plans to declare it a national holiday. That is fabulous.

The thousand-year-old Abbey has a long history with the royal family. Will's grandmum, the queen, got married there. And it was also the site of his mother's funeral. Congratulations to them.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend, Brooke Baldwin.