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Deaths Blamed on Budget Cuts; Mississippi Frees Scott Sisters; Raises are Back; Monarch School Helping Homeless Kids Get Education, Better Life

Aired January 07, 2011 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour right now. Let's check some of the big stories we're following.

The nation's unemployment rate fell a good bit in December from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent. The U.S. Labor Department says the economy gained 103,000 new jobs last month.

Here's the president just a little bit ago from Landover, Maryland, outside D.C.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We saw 12 straight months of private sector job growth. That's the first time that's been true since 2006. The economy added 1.3 million jobs last year, and each quarter was stronger than the previous quarter, which means that the pace of hiring is beginning to pick up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: More than 14 million Americans were out of work in December.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLADYS SCOTT, RELEASED FROM PRISON: We're free!

JAMIE SCOTT, RELEASED FROM PRISON: We're free!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: They're saying "We're free!" Mississippi freed the Scott sisters today on the condition one donates a kidney to the other. The governor of that state says the release will save that state the cost of dialysis, about $190,000 a year.

The sisters were convicted of an $11 armed robbery back in 1994. A judge gave each double life sentences for that crime.

Within the last hour, the Republican push to repeal the health care reform law cleared a procedural hurdle in the House. The vote was 236-181, mostly along party lines. This sets up a final House vote next Wednesday on undoing the health care reform, repealing that law. The bill stands little chance of passing the Senate and surviving a presidential veto.

Outrage is spreading over the deaths of two people in Arizona who were denied organ transplants because of budget cuts. Last week, the state legislature slashed $1.2 million in Medicaid funding for certain transplants.

Federal matching funds went away along with it, and hospital officials say one man died after being denied a liver transplant. The other needed bone marrow.

Almost 100 other people have also been taken of the transplant list. CNN's Kiran Chetry spoke with one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDALL SHEPHARD, DROPPED FROM ARIZONA TRANSPLANT LIST: About a year after I was placed on the transplant list, I received word that these cuts were on the horizon, there was a chance that this was going to happen from my nurse coordinator. And she said, "Contact your state legislators. Contact everybody that you can. We're working on our end to get the word out."

And then, as of October 1st, I got the official call that I'm officially on the inactive list, and until either funding becomes made available, or I'm able to raise the funding myself, that it's not -- I'm not going to get my heart until then.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I know you have two young girls, 13 and 9. You have a 4-year-old son as well. I mean, did they -- how much do they know about how potentially deadly your condition is?

SHEPHARD: Well, they know dad's sick and dad needs a heart. They don't -- I man, my wife and I want them to have as normal of a childhood as they can. We don't want them involved in the politics of it. We don't want them thinking at any moment, we can come home and dad won't be there.

CHETRY: What do you say when you hear, "We just don't have the money in this state to continue these programs"?

SHEPHARD: Well, it's obvious, if the state's broke, it's broke. And, you know, I can -- excuse me -- I can kick and scream all I want, and if there's no money for a transplant, then it's just not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: One state senator is blaming Arizona Governor Jan Brewer for the cuts. David Schapira says Brewer could have taken the money from other parts of the budget that don't involve life-and-death issue. And he plans to introduce a bill to restore funding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SCHAPIRA (D), ARIZONA STATE SENATOR: It's $1.2 million. It's a minuscule part of our state's budget. I've offered the governor 10, if not 20, options of things that we could cut. Folks who are medical professionals in Arizona have offered up things that we could cut within our state's Medicaid program and just move that money to this transplant funding.

People's lives are literally at stake at this point, and we have really got to just put all of this politics aside. There are 96 people still on that transplant list who have been told that they would receive transplants paid for by our state's Medical program, and many of which were added to the transplant list, had surgery scheduled, and then were sent denial letters after October 21st.

Those 96 people right now are waiting for the slate legislature to come back into session, because, clearly, the governor is not going to act on this prior to Monday, although we've been calling on her to do so for the last three months now. So, now, on Monday, I've introduced the very first bill in the legislative session, Senate Bill 1001, which will restore the transplant funding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Governor Brewer says she expects a robust debate over the bill on Monday. She told "The Arizona Republic" newspaper the transplant cuts were recommended based on studies on what would affect the fewest people.

The governor's spokesman told CNN this: "The minority leader has yet to produce a single proposal to resolve Arizona's massive Medicaid deficit. Only this empty rhetoric, despite being asked for over a year to submit a plan that might succeed and garner a report."

That coming from the governor's office.

So I want to bring in Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen to talk more about this.

You're on the list. Say you are someone who is on the list, you've been counting on this, hoping for it. What kind of recourse do you have now? And I wonder, if this is happening in Arizona, people are going to be a little bit worried that it might be happening or potentially happening in their state, too.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Let's take the first part of that question first.

If you're on a transplant list because nothing else has worked you, and you're going to die without a transplant -- and really, they don't have a lot of choices left, Fred. I mean, they can try to appeal to a hospital to do it as charity care. And hospitals do do charity care, but this is really expensive, this procedure. It's not just like taking someone's tonsils out. I mean, this hospital would really be coughing up a lot of cash to do this.

The other thing they can do is they can try to -- I don't know, I guess you go on Twitter or something, and say, hey, will someone pay for this for me? One guy who was on the list did actually get a wealthy beneficiary to pay. But by the time the guy knew about it and said he would pay, he died.

WHITFIELD: Oh no.

COHEN: So, I have been wracking my brain all morning. If, God forbid, my sister were on this in Arizona, on Medicaid, waiting for a heart transplant, what would I tell her to do? I don't know. Those are the only two things I could come up with.

WHITFIELD: No one could expect something like this to happen. They think if there is a program in place, if there is this potential benefit available to me, I can count on it. I'm going to do all the right things, get my name on the list, supply anything that is being required of me, and I just have to wait my turn.

COHEN: Right. And these people did do all the right things. They went to the right doctors, and they got on the list, and they got on Medicaid, and they were told, OK, wait your turn. And then all of a sudden, they're told, sorry, there is no turn.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, now, what might be the recourse? I mean, what happens if you were on that list in Arizona? Could you, you know, be a -- in a position where you could go to a neighboring state that says, you know what, this is what's happening to me here? Can I get on your list? I've got this very desperate situation.

COHEN: It would be very hard to do, to go from one -- you know, first of all, you're sick to begin with. To move to another state, get on their Medicaid list, you probably wouldn't have top priority because there are other people on that list already.

And speaking of other states, you know, every state is facing Medicaid cuts of some kind or another. I mean, Medicaid is really having a lot of problem.

Others -- I don't know why Arizona had chose this, because other states manage to cut their budget without killing anyone. I mean, they cut things like hearing aids, or vision, or home health care. I mean, things that definitely hurt people, but didn't kill them.

So, you know, the governor says, well, we did these studies and we saw that these transplants don't really help. And it's left doctors scratching their heads, because they do these transplants every day, and they know that it gives people many extra years of life. And so no one can figure out how the governor did her medical analysis. She hasn't published it in a medical journal yet, so it obviously hasn't been peer reviewed.

WHITFIELD: And we know the discussion on this, just the tip of the iceberg. We know that we've been trying to reach out to Governor Brewer for her point of view on this. And as we mentioned, next week there may be an opportunity, if not beforehand, where we actually hear from the governor or any other.

COHEN: Right. Well, she told Anderson Cooper she was busy. Busy next week, busy, busy, busy, couldn't be on his show. WHITFIELD: All right.

Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate that.

All right. The promise of a transplant played a key role in actually setting two sisters free. Different state, different circumstance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

G. SCOTT: We're free!

J. SCOTT: We're free!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Gladys and Jamie Scott are released from a Mississippi prison after serving 16 years for an armed robbery conviction. A live report straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Freedom, finally, for two sisters who have spent 16 years behind bars for a robber that netted $11.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

G. SCOTT: We're free!

J. SCOTT: We're free!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Jamie and Gladys Scott, you are hear them in the background there leaving the central Mississippi correctional facility this morning. They were serving life sentences, but Mississippi's governor suspended their punishments on the condition that one sister donate her kidney to the other.

CNN's Martin Savidge joins us now from Jackson, Mississippi, with more on their release.

We heard them in the background. They're very excited and ecstatic. What's next?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, next is a news conference, which is why we're standing here at the Masonic (ph) Hall in downtown Jackson. About three hours from now is when it's anticipated.

How much we'll actually hear from the sisters, well, that's still a little bit up in the air. The attorneys are being extremely guarded right now in these first few hours of freedom for these two young women for number of reasons, but primarily because they know that this is a conditional release.

And that's part of the reason, also, why when you saw them come out of prison at 8:00 local time this morning, yes, you heard their shouts of excitement. But otherwise, it was a very low-key release.

And the same thing is going to be true of this news conference. Whether the sisters will actually speak remains to be seen. And how much they actually talk about their time while in prison also remains to be heard.

In the meantime though, I had a conversation with Ben Jealous, the president of NAACP, and I was asking him, once they take care of medical issues, which are first and foremost -- Jamie does need to be treated -- beyond that, will they be looking for a pardon? Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT & CEO, NAACP: We are heartened that this is the first step for this governor. Whenever he ultimately gives a pardon, the first thing he does is he suspends the sentence, and then he follows that up some time later with a pardon. He's in office for one more year. We will push him hard for the next year to make sure that that happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: So, the sisters had always maintained that they were innocent. They were found guilty of armed robbery, but they maintained that they were totally innocent of that crime.

What they would like to do is to be exonerated. That remains to be seen. And, of course, that's another legal issue that has to be worked upon.

In the meantime, Jamie has to go in for dialysis tomorrow morning, and that's going to take place in Florida. So we know that once they finish the news conference, at some point they're heading to Pensacola to be reunited with their families and, of course, begin the serious medical treatment -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Marty, no word from the governor? This was his idea.

SAVIDGE: You're right. No, the governor has stayed very quiet.

In fact, we were anticipating, you know, on the day that it was announced that he was suspending their sentences, that he might hold a news conference. He did not. And there is no news conference, as far as we know, with the governor, Haley Barbour, today.

Part of the reason for that is that there could many people who would ask some difficult questions. Specifically, a lot of attention has been paid to this conditional release of donating the kidney. Many in the medical profession believe that's totally unethical, and we've already heard from the NAACP, that also believes that that is wrong.

WHITFIELD: Martin Savidge in Jackson, Mississippi.

Thanks so much.

All right. Time now to go "Cross Country" with a look at some of the stories that our affiliates of covering as well.

In Splendora, Texas, a lifesaving move by a good Samaritan. A pickup truck hit a hog before hitting a tree and then catching on fire. And then entered Tom Porter (ph), who saw it all happen.

He rushed over and pulled a baby girl out of the truck before it became engulfed in flames. The baby's father made it out earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PORTER (ph), PULLED BABY OUT OF TRUCK: We were sitting out by a barn pile (ph) and heard a large crash, knew it was a wreck on this road. And we jumped in the truck, came down here, and one of the other neighbors said there's a baby still in the truck. So I jumped into the back of the truck, cut the car seat straps, and pulled the baby out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's a dream come true for the rescued Chilean miner who just simply loves Elvis. Remember Edison Pena? Well, he was the one who was singing a lot of Elvis tunes.

Well, apparently now he's in Graceland, in Memphis today, for Presley's birthday celebration. The late king of rock 'n' roll's birthday is actually tomorrow.

And how often do you see this, that murky water? And right there if you look really closely, it's kind of looking like an orange alligator, right there.

It is in a neighborhood in Venice, Florida. One biologist says the animal actually might be albino, even though it appears orange to everybody else. But other experts say it might be something in the gator's environment, like iron oxide. So still the mystery.

The economy added fewer jobs than expected in December, but the unemployment rate did fall to 9.4 percent, the lowest level in 19 months.

Stephanie Elam joins us now from New York.

So, Stephanie, if things are looking up, does this mean that it's time to ask for a raise for anyone out there who does have a job?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Fred, I'm sure a lot of people would like to, but it might be a little early for that just yet. You know, you might want to just hold down the hatches and stay there right now. But, yes, it's true, the job market is starting to look a little bit better.

If you take a look at what economists are saying that are surveyed by CNN Money, they're saying they expect more than two million jobs will be added this year. So that might make your current employer worry that you're preparing to bolt.

But experts say, you know what? There's a lot of uncertainty out there and, really, there's a lot of competition, because there's more than 14 million Americans that are out of work. So there are plenty of people lined up to take the job that you're in.

And that's one reason why people are feeling pretty pessimistic about their salary outlook. A new survey finds 45 percent of workers don't expect a raise in the next 12 months.

So, bottom line, Fred, even though the job market may be showing signs of some improvement, employers still have the upper hand as things stand now.

WHITFIELD: And don't they always?

ELAM: It seems like it, yes.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I think so.

We know that companies are sitting on a lot of cash these day, those that are doing very well. Might that help out in the salary outlook in any way?

ELAM: Well, we do see from these surveys that there's a suggestion here that most companies do plan to offer raises this year. The question everyone wants to know is, how much?

One survey finds companies plan to raise salaries by a median 2.8 percent. Obviously, that's better than last year, but still a far cry from the four percent yearly raises that we saw from, like, 2005, 2007, before the recession.

Of course it does vary by industry. Staffing firm Robert Half has outlined 11 jobs where there's growing demand and higher salaries. Just to name a few, you've got financial analyst. There's staff accountants on there, paralegals, and senior administrative assistants. They also see a nice bump there, as you can see there on the screen.

So, as the recovery slowly progresses, prospects are looking better for some paychecks. Job experts say you should also take time now to research the average pay for your position and experience.

You can go to a site like glassdoor.com to help you out on that end. That way, when the job market is on firmer footing, you'll be armed with the information you need to ask so that you can get that raise and probably be a little more in line with maybe what the employer wants to hear -- Fred. WHITFIELD: All right. Interesting stuff.

Thanks so much, Stephanie Elam. Appreciate that from New York.

ELAM: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, we're going to visit a unique school in California for today's "What Matters" segment. Every student at this school is homeless.

First, though, you'll see the "Random Moment of the Day."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Breaking news now on a sexual assault case out of Los Angeles, California. It involves a video that apparently shows men sexually assaulting severely disabled women.

CNN's Casey Wian has been following this story. He has new developments now -- Casey.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, there's been a major break in the case this morning.

I'm at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department headquarters, where the videotapes were mailed a few months ago. They received more than 100 hours of videotape of these women, these handicapped women, apparently in a residential care facility being sexually assaulted by as many as 10 men, all on videotape.

These images were very, very grainy, and detectives have spent a long time trying to enhance them. They had no idea who these suspects were. They had no idea where these sexual assaults happened.

But what they have been able to tell us is they are some of the most horrifying images these detectives have ever seen in their careers. And these are detectives who deal with all kinds of violent sexual assaults, some against children, and they're absolutely floored by the images that they've seen, more than 100 hours of videotape.

After this case was discussed last night, detectives say they were contacted by the Los Angeles Police Department. Detectives there at LAPD said they recognized two of these suspects on the videotape, and they were from cases from 2007 and 2009. According to the LAPD, one of the suspects was actually convicted of fiduciary crimes, neglect, and sexual assault in a residential care facility.

The other suspect, they say, was let go because of lack of evidence. The district attorney was not comfortable in moving that case forward to a prosecution.

But they do have, they believe, identifications of two of these suspects. And they are going to be meeting later today with the Los Angeles Police Department to kind of merge these two cases together and see if they can find out who the other eight alleged perpetrators of these horrific crimes are -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: And so, Casey, what is being revealed about the suspects then? Is it their relationship between them working at these facilities, or having some sort of regular contact with the people of this facility?

WIAN: This information is so fresh, that the detectives here at the sheriff's department don't have answers to those questions. They don't know the names of the suspects. They are not willing to talk about any details right now.

They've still got to go over it. They just got this tip from the LAPD last night, so they've still got a lot of questions to answer.

What we can tell you, though, is that these tapes -- they still want to speak with the person who mailed these tapes to them. This is someone who was -- it's really strange how this happened.

This was someone who was asked to clean the hard drive of a laptop computer that was bought by someone else on the streets of Englewood, apparently from a crack head for $25. At least that's what the letter that was sent to the sheriff's department indicated.

This person saw those images on that laptop and was so disgusted by them, he copied them on to 13 DVDs and mailed them to the sheriff's department. That person has remained anonymous to this date, but they're asking that he come forward and help them solve this case -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Casey Wian, thanks so much for more on the very disturbing story.

All right. Now, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, about three million people are likely to experience homelessness in a given year. More than a million will be children.

Thelma Gutierrez reports on a California school whose entire student body is made up of homeless children in this week's "What Matters" segment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHASE KNAUL, STUDENT: My name is Case Knaul.

I have my mom, my little sister. This is my horrible neighborhood.

My brother's wife have had kicked us out of his house. This is where we came to seek shelter.

MICHAEL YOUNG, STUDENT: Hi. I'm Michael Young.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people over there, I feel very sorry for them.

TEXT: Michael Young is 12. He has been homeless since he was 10.

YOUNG: I'm real tired right now. I'm tired, but I have to go to school, get an education for a better life.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in the heart of San Diego, where Monarch School is located. What makes this school so unique is that the entire student body is homeless.

(voice-over): Sarita Fuentes is principal at Monarch.

SARITA FUENTES, PRINCIPAL, MONARCH SCHOOL: Historically, we had always hovered at 100 students, and we went up to 165 students last December.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): A lot of this due, of course, to the economy.

FUENTES: Yes, absolutely. And for the first time ever, our population, the face of the homeless student changed, because we received students that had actually lost their home due to foreclosure.

GUTIERREZ: How difficult was it to uproot your life, to move here, and then to become homeless?

KNAUL: It was very hard, because I had just turned 9. And I had to leave my, like, best friend. And we don't get to, like, see each other grow up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chase, give me one.

KNAUL: (INAUDIBLE).

TEXT: Monarch School is a public school supported by a nonprofit corp. Yearly budget: $4 million.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Monarch students are taught by credentialed teachers. They also get free tutoring to make up for any gaps in education, and free medical and dental care. And simple things to make life better like new shoes, a place to shower, and a laundry room to wash your clothes.

(on camera): Were you treated differently by other kids when you went to the other schools?

YOUNG: Kind of.

GUTIERREZ: How?

YOUNG: Like, teasing.

GUTIERREZ: What would they say to you?

YOUNG: Like, "bum" or something.

GUTIERREZ: They would actually call you a bum knowing that you were homeless?

YOUNG: Yes.

GUTIERREZ: That's a terrible thing. That's very mean.

How did that make you feel?

YOUNG: Sad, mad.

GUTIERREZ: What did you tell them?

YOUNG: Like if they were in my situation, they wouldn't be saying the same thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So, what do these homeless children hope for their future? You'll hear from them after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We just showed you part of a report from Thelma Gutierrez on a California school whose entire student body is made up of homeless children.