Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Wisconsin Teachers Kill The Bill; Funding And Running Schools; Game Over For South Florida Basketball Team; Osama Bin Laden To GITMO; Wisconsin Teacher Kill The Bill; Unemployed Need Not Apply?; Education Success Story: Urban Prep Academy; Web Searches With Your Camera; Deadly Crackdown in Bahrain
Aired February 17, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: So, next in NEWSROOM, in for Ali Velshi. It's Don. Hey, Don.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's always good to see you, Suzanne. We're going to be talking about what you and Carol were talking about.
Boy, let's get you live, now, to Madison, Wisconsin. It appears to be a pretty rainy day, there, but that's not stopping all of these teachers, the union members, from coming out. They are upset. Thirty thousand people, they're saying, in some days, came out for this.
But, again, look at the folks out there. A dreary day and you can't blame the snow, you can't blame the rain. It is way too soon for spring break. The reason because thousands of students in Wisconsin are spending one more day of at home. It's because their teachers want to teach the governor a lesson, today, and all this week. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD (chanting): Kill the bill! Kill the bill!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: People, there, are screaming, kill the bill. They are fighting what Scott Walker, Republican, barely six weeks in office, is calling his budget repair bill. It would help close to $137 million deficit, there, by stripping most public workers, including teachers, of most of their rights to negotiate contracts with the state. It would also limit collective bargaining to wages only and sharply drive up workers' contributions to pension funds and health plans.
Pension contributions would jump from 0.2 percent to 5.8 percent. Health contributions would more than double to 12.6 percent. The bill has cleared committee and goes, today, to the full State Senate and Wisconsin. I've got to tell you, not the only state trying to save money by reigning in unions.
Check this out. Idaho, Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio, all considering measures that would give state officials much more power to dictate terms to teachers or public employees, in general. Back in Wisconsin, though, the teachers and the governor are standing on principle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I agonized over it, and I don't think there's a single teacher that can stand down here and say, I loved calling in sick today. However, this bully needs to be taken care of. And this bully needs to be shown what it is that is important to the citizens of Wisconsin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT WALKER, GOVERNOR (R), WISCONSIN: There's got to be fairness and we've got to be in balance with where the taxpayers are who foot the bill for all of us.
CROWD (chanting): Kill the bill! Kill the bill!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We're going to talk more about this, next hour, with Republican speaker of the Wisconsin state assembly.
But, right now, our "Two at the Top" -- our "Two at the Top" segment. I want to pick the brain of one of this country's most accomplished educators. Maybe you recognize him. Tim King is founder and CEO of Urban Prep Academies which operates Chicago's first, and only, public charter high school for boys. And, for the second year in a row, 100 percent of Urban Prep's senior class has been accepted to four-year colleges or universities.
So, Tim, thank you so much for joining us. First off, are charter schools the answer to America's chronic problems with education funding?
TIM KING, FOUNDER AND CEO, URBAN PREP ACADEMIES: Thanks for having me, Don, great to talk to you. You know, I don't think charter schools are the answer. Charter schools are an answer and need to be part of the national education reform landscape.
LEMON: Well, here's the usual beef. Let's go to teachers' unions, now. With teachers' unions is that they protect ineffective teachers, you saw it in the waiting for "Superman" movie. Do you have a belief behind that movie. Do you have a beef with unions?
KING: No, not at all. Urban Prep, by law, cannot have members of the Chicago Teacher's Union employed but that doesn't mean there aren't members of unions, across this country, who are doing incredibly valuable work inside the classroom, as teachers. My mom was a public school teacher. She was a part of the union, and she did exceptional job.
I think, the issue, here, that we're seeing nationally, frankly, has to do with a lack of resources. And we know that there's not enough money in education, and we, also, recognize that given the budget crises that these states are facing, there are going to be changes and sacrifices made. And this is an example of an area where we're going to have to see some change and sacrifice.
LEMON: OK, Tim, correct me if I'm wrong. I've been to your school a number of times. I did a story on you, right after the election. It seems that you run your school, almost, like a private business, where you're in close contact with the family. Should schools be run like private companies? Is that what Urban Prep does that other school districts don't or other schools don't?
KING: Well, charter schools, in general, are, often times, run by non-profit organizations, and Urban Prep Academy is a non-profit organization. So, in one way, I suppose, you could make the argument that a place like Urban Prep, our network of charter schools are operated like a business. But that, simply, means that we're paying close attention to the money that's coming in, and close attention to what's going out, and trying to provide the best service as we can to the young people we serve. And, I think, that's a positive.
LEMON: All right. Tim King, thank you. The CEO of Urban Prep Academies, in Chicago. And, Tim, I want you, and everybody else, to stick around, because, later in the hour, we're going to talk more about the amazing Urban Prep success story. Tim and his top ranked graduating senior will join us at 1:30 eastern. You don't want to miss that.
And next hour, we're talking teacher unions with the CNN "Stream Team."
And all of the protests across the Middle East, now, and north Africa, have made for some dramatic sights and sounds. In Bahrain, demonstrations had, almost, a carnival like atmosphere for days, but things can change in the blink of an eye, as you'll hear in today's "Sound Effect."
From an ABC Correspondent Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE.) No, no, no, no!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)
MARQUEZ: I just got beat, rather badly, by a gang of thugs. I'm, now, in the marketplace near our hotel where people are cowering in buildings. I mean, these people are not screwing around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And as you heard, Marquez says he was beaten by a mob, there, and he should be OK. But in a follow-up, Marquez said, despite a few scary moments, both he and his producer, again, are OK.
We'll check the top stories, right now, on CNN. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg just outlined his bleak budget plan, to officials, at city hall. In it, he proposes laying off nearly forty-seven hundred teachers.
Bloomberg says, the reductions are necessary to make up for a $2.1 billion loss in state aid. The plan calls for getting rid of an additional fifteen hundred teacher positions through attrition.
It looks like it's game over for a south Florida basketball team. A Miami appellate court judge, on Wednesday, overruled a circuit court's ruling that kept the state's top rate team in the playoffs. The team's senior guard, born in the Bahamas, was deemed ineligible to play by the state's high school athletic association, because proper immigration papers weren't filed. Now, the school, Michael Krop Senior High, could face six-figure fines.
The last thing the TSA needs is more bad press, but they are getting it with the arrest of two TSA officers at JFK Airport in New York. The men were arrested, Wednesday, after $40,000 went missing, from a checked bag, back in January. Prosecutors say the two men scanned the bag, swiped the cash, met in the bathroom, and then divided it up. Police say the pair has confessed to even more thefts, at the airport.
He is the world's most wanted man, but what happens to Osama Bin Laden if the U.S. nabs him? Well, he'll go straight to GITMO, that's according to the CIA team. Leon Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Wednesday, if Bin Laden, or his deputies, are found, they'd likely be air lifted to Guantanamo Bay. But what about President Obama's campaign promise to close the military prison. Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted, today, those prospects are now "very, very low." The bounty for Osama, in case you're wondering, 25 million bucks.
We want to know what you think. If captured, should Osama Bin Laden go to a military prison at Guantanamo Bay, or be tried in U.S. courts? Head to Ali's blog, www.com.CNN.com/Ali, to join that discussion.
You know, it's a Wisconsin budget battle. An assault on unions like President Obama says. I will ask former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer that very question next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.
We, often, hear politicians bemoan the lack of quality public education. But when budgets cuts are needed, you, often, find education among the first slashed. Ari Fleischer is a former White House former press secretary under President George W. Bush, and he joins me, now.
All right. Thank you for joining us. You doing OK?
ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm doing fine, thanks for having me.
LEMON: All right. Wisconsin public employees rushed to the state capitol to protest this budget bill that we've been talking about. I want you to look and, then, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Kill the bill! Kill the bill! Kill the bill!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, all right. You've had to deal with budget cuts and education, in your time, serving at the White House. President Obama says that this budget battle seem more like an assault on unions. What do you think?
FLEISCHER: Well, no, I think the real issue, here, is not education. It's the salaries and carve outs that people in the public space have gotten. For example, the proposal in Wisconsin is to increase the amount that they pay for premiums from 8 percent to 12 percent. When I was a federal employee, I paid 25 percent of the cost of my health care premiums. They're being asked to just go up to 12. This is the problem. They've had a sweetheart deal and it's nothing to do with the fact they are educators. It has to do with the fact that they're public employees who were able to use the muscle they have to get something from the taxpayers that is way out of line with what the private sector pays and what federal workers pay.
LEMON: So, but are you saying --
FLEISCHER: Instead, they're being brought into line. They're --
LEMON: You said it's a sweetheart deal, though. It was a different time when you worked as a -- you know, in the federal ranks. I mean, the economy is very bad, now. So, certainly, you can understand people's apprehension about having to pay more in these tough economic times.
FLEISCHER: And, then, it's even worse for the taxpayers. Remember, it's the taxpayers who have to pay the price for people to receive such a gigantic subsidy for their health care.
I think, if I was able as a federal worker, who made very little money for most of the time I was on federal payroll, to pay 25 percent of the cost of my health insurance premiums, in other words, a three to one subsidy, why are they getting an eight to one subsidy? This is the problem, and, I think, the luciferase (ph) reaction they have to it is part of the problem. They won't exceed to any of the normal requests to get in line with the private sector other public employees. That's the power that unions, sometimes, unions. And this is why, I think, the governor is doing the right thing, drawing the line.
LEMON: Unions aside. Why is education always threatened with budget cuts?
FLEISCHER: It's not education that's getting its budget cut. It's public workers who have received these great exemptions that nobody else, in society, seems to be able to get. I mean, who doesn't want to only contribute 8 percent or 12 percent of the cost of their health care premiums. I'd love to get that deal.
So, it's not the question that they're teachers.
LEMON: The thing is, they're not making as much as people in the private sector, though, Ari. I understand your argument, but they aren't making as much money. We know teachers don't make as much money.
FLEISCHER: Sure. The average salary, in Wisconsin, I read, was about $48,000, and I pay 25 percent of my health care premiums when I was a federal worker for the entire time I worked on Capitol Hill. And I started on Capitol Hill making $13,000 a year. And, then, I moved up over time. The point is, federal workers don't make big salaries, neither do state workers. But to carve outs and the exemption they get on health care, on pensions, are bankrupting the tax payers. They need to be brought in line.
LEMON: OK. Ari, I want to pick your brain, since you had a bird's eye view of this. I want to talk about the Mideast now, and especially Arab nations, where you see this sort of domino effect happening with these countries. You see Bahrain now, Yemen, and before it was Egypt and then Tunisia before that.
It seems that the people obviously fighting for democracy, learning from each other, but do they really have the tools to make a democracy -- to put a democracy in action? Or are we going to have to help them do that?
FLEISCHER: Don, this is one of the most hopeful moments any of us could be watching on earth, the breakout of potential democracy in the Arab Middle East is a massive development. We all have to cheer for it.
The reality is, well, my heart is 100 percent with the protesters, my mind says be careful, because the history of revolutions is never a straight line and, in the Middle East, the power of the Muslim Brotherhood and other religious fanatics to hijack it because they are organized remains potent. So, we have to hope.
And then, America has an obligation to help build democratic institutions wherever we can. But President Obama is right about this, our means are limited.
So, I'm hopeful. I'm watching it. I'm cheering for them, but there's a part of me that's holding back because I'm scared if it goes the Iranian way instead of the American way, so to speak.
LEMON: I want to get this on record. You agreed with the president, right? You agree with President Obama?
FLEISCHER: Oh, no. I've said -- I've said that throughout. I think the president has handled what started in Egypt rather well.
LEMON: OK. Just having little fun with you. Hey, listen --
FLEISCHER: I only -- I wish he had done that about Iran. LEMON: Yes. Do you have --
FLEISCHER: That's my only fault.
LEMON: I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry about the delay here.
FLEISCHER: Smile more.
LEMON: Yes. Do you have any advice for Jay Carney, the new press secretary, Ari?
FLEISCHER: I think that Jay is going to increasingly become comfortable and look the part. It takes a little while. It just takes getting those butterflies out of your system for the first couple of days or weeks, and he needs to show a little more, which is informality up there, a little more jocularity when the moment is right, and I think he will. It's -- you're cautious until you're ready to have more fun at that podium.
LEMON: Yes. I need to tell you, Ari, that he is live. We're showing a picture of him right next to you, a live picture. And he was smiling. As you were saying, he needs to smile more. So, maybe he's listening in and he's taking your advice.
Ari Fleischer, thank you.
FLEISCHER: Thank you.
LEMON: All right.
The current job market may be bleak but what does the future hold for Generation Y? That's next in "Your Money."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: In today's your money, there's evidence to suggest that companies might be using your current employment status to determine whether you get hired or not. Is it really happening and is it even legal?
Let's check right now with Christine Romans. She's in New York.
Is it legal, Christine?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it appears it might be, quite frankly. The EEOC, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is looking into which might be any civil rights violations here.
We're talking about companies -- they are posting for job applicant saying, if you already have a job, we'll consider you for this position. If you are out of work, please don't apply. We're not looking for people who are currently out of work.
And the thinking here among some employers seems to be that there are so many people who are at work right now with contacts and sales and leads and rolodexes that they're not interested in someone who's been out of work for six months or longer.
What you're looking at right now is something that was presented to an EEOC hearing of a company that issued a classified ad that said it would not consider or review anyone not currently employed regardless of the reason.
Now, some of the concerns that were aired before the EEOC include the fact that you have a disproportionate unemployment rate in this country, depending on who you are. And this could hurt some people more than others. For example, the unemployment rate among whites in this country is 8 percent. But when you look at the unemployment rate among African-Americans, it's 15.7 percent, among Hispanic, it's 11.9 percent.
In particular, there are progressive economists who are very worried about the disabled and other people who might have a very high unemployment rate and might be trying to get back into the market. It also discriminates potentially against stay-at-home moms who are trying to come back because they need to get more income -- you know, because their husbands maybe are not fully employed or don't have the job they used to have. So, this is something they are looking into.
And I'll tell you, Don, among the trade groups that testified was a human resources trade group that said this may be happening but not on a widespread scale.
I've been asking human -- you know, human resources managers, do they think this is happening on a wide scale and they are telling me no. What you're hearing from people who have been out of work for a long time is that they think yes, Don.
LEMON: OK. OK. Let's move on now because I want to talk about something positive, some positive news out there regarding the economy and jobs, right, Christine?
ROMANS: The Fed has upgraded its economic outlook, basically. And this is from -- coming to us the most recent Fed minutes. And I want you quickly what they're looking for. They are looking for maybe 9 percent unemployment by the end of the year and economy that could grow up to 3.9 percent. It doesn't sound like a lot, right? Not very different from what we have now, better than we thought.
They are naming a few things -- strengthen household spending, particularly among cars. People are buying cars again. That's good for household spending, they say. Positive business activity, companies are buying -- they're buying software. They're starting to invest again. And they say the labor market is gradually improving, although they point out, Don, that these numbers, the labor market data has been very erratic. And that's the Fed's word, "erratic."
LEMON: OK.
ROMANS: And is absolutely true. Real quickly, I want to --
LEMON: You said it's a small percentage, but it's in the right direction, though. And I want to move on because real quickly before we go -- what about Generation Y? I teased that before. What about them? Is there good news for them?
ROMANS: There might be good news for you if you're on the right side of Generation Y. You're studying the right things. This is what Ian Bremer told me yesterday. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IAN BREMER, PRES., EURASIA GROUP: It looks great for Generation Y if they are university-educated and if they're entering into the sort of higher levels of the economy. The Gen Y is not going to be one sort of mass that everyone can get a job. It's going to become like the country, increasingly divergent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Increasingly divergent. That's really important for people to understand. For Gen Y, he -- he's a political scientist. Many economist, you saw Nouriel Roubini, he agreed there. They say that if you are in college right now, make the right wise moves because you want to be on right side of this divergent economy -- Don.
LEMON: All right. It's a different economy than when you and I were types in college.
ROMANS: It is.
LEMON: Thank you, Christine.
And make sure you join Christine Romans for "YOUR BOTTOM LINE," each Saturday morning, 9:30 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. And, also, "YOUR $$$$$" with Ali Velshi, Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.
Let's check your top stories right now, some other developments this hour.
Military vehicles patrol Bahrain's capital today after an overnight crackdown on protesters. Security forces moved in as many demonstrators slept. Witnesses say they fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds. Three people were reported killed and more than 200 were hurt.
This is a scene inside one hospital emergency room following that crackdown.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
LEMON: That's Wisconsin. At least 15 school systems across Wisconsin have canceled classes today as teachers and other public employees continue protesting a bill that would strip them of most of their collective bargaining rights. The measure also would hike their contributions for benefits. Republican Governor Scott Walker says the legislation is needed to help tackle the state's budget crisis. Critics call it an attack on unions.
Honda is recalling 97,000 of its 2009 and 2010 Fit subcompact cars because of a potential engine problem. The Japanese automaker says it needs to replace a part in the valve train that might lead to stall. There are no reports of crashes or injuries related to the problem. Owners should receive recall notifications next month.
Facebook, Apple, Google -- all companies at the top of their game. So, what can President Obama learn from them today when he heads to Silicon Valley today? We'll check it out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The president heads out to Silicon Valley today with meet with some of the nation's top tech gurus.
And one of our top tech gurus, our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is on the stakeout.
So, Ed, what's this meeting all about, sir?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's trying to follow up on the State of the Union when the president talked all about innovation and what can the government do to kind of help American business foster some of that innovation and create some jobs, deal with the stifling unemployment right now. Along the way, the president is going to be having a little dinner tonight out there in San Francisco with Steve Jobs of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook, as well as Eric Schmidt from Google.
And interesting kind of subtext is the fact that Steve Jobs, obviously, just a couple weeks ago took a second medical leave of absence just in the past couple of years for an undisclosed illness that he's battling. He really has not been public, has not -- you know, had any high-profile meetings like this. So, a lot of people will be looking at this from the business, economic standpoint but also on a personal level. A lot of people are wondering how Steve Jobs is doing right now.
LEMON: Yes, it's going to be interesting to see how he looks and, again, as you said, how he's doing.
Let's talk about other big news here. What is the White House doing about the situation in Bahrain, if anything, Ed?
HENRY: Well, you know, yesterday, Jay Carney had the first briefing, just came out of his second one. At the first one, yesterday, he was saying that there needs to be restrain, essentially, no violence from the government, whether it be Bahrain or whether it be Libya, any of these other countries in the Mideast and North Africa where we see these protests playing out.
And then what happened a few hours after Jay Carney said that, the government in Bahrain just ignored it -- ignored the White House, this administration completely and led that crackdown you've been reporting on, people killed, people roughed up, including journalists caught in the crossfire.
And so, I was pressing Jay Carney on that point because you've got "The New York Times" coming out with a story today saying as far back as last summer, President Obama was ordering his staff to come up with this secret report looking at different options about how to deal with the Mideast if there was unrest, that there were powder kegs out there, Egypt and Bahrain and others. And so, I was asking Jay that very question about why -- if they've been doing months of preparations, why they seem sometimes flat-footed in their reaction. And he insisted they're not struggling in their reaction and also said, look, you know, this is an evolving situation and in fairness to them, obviously, this is evolving through all of our eyes.
I mean, the president -- right before all of our eyes, the president in his news conference a couple of days ago was pointing out and sort of tweaking the media in saying, Egypt essentially had this massive revolution in the span of three weeks. And some people were saying, why can't you move faster, what's going on here? I mean, this is a very, very dramatic change. And even if you've been planning for the possibility for months, to actually deal with it is a whole other story, Don.
LEMON: Hey, Ed, I just have a short time here left so this is going to be our lightning question. House Speaker John Boehner, among others, president getting it from all sides of the budget, slamming the president on the deficit -- I should say.
So, I guess we can get ready for a fight on Capitol Hill?
HENRY: Well, I guess so. You know, the president at that news conference the other day says he wants to have an adult conversation. And then John Boehner's on FOX saying the president is sitting around the Oval Office, he's not leading on the deficit and Republicans are going to have to do it for him.
Jay Carney, I asked him about that, he didn't really want to fire back, maybe he didn't want to escalate it. But the line is both sides are saying they want to sit down and get moving on deficit, and yet neither side is doing it yet.
LEMON: Adult conversation. That phrase is becoming like teachable moment and closure, you're hearing it quite a lot.
HENRY: Exactly.
LEMON: Thank you very much, Ed Henry at the White House.
HENRY: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: I want you to picture this. An entire senior high school class, not only graduates but gets accepted to four-year colleges and universities. Sounds like a dream. One man has made this a reality at an all-male public school in Chicago. Urban Prep Founder Tim King joins us again after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's tell you what's happening right now.
Bahrain is the latest flashpoint in the Middle East. Days of relatively peaceful demonstrations exploded into a scene of violence as security forces stormed an encampment of protestors in the dead of night. Bahrain's health minister says three people were killed and about 200 were hurt. The U.S. has told Bahrain it has deep concerns over the crackdown.
You're looking at live pictures now as thousands of protesters, many of them angry. They are back at the Wisconsin State Capitol for a third day now. Teachers and other unionized public employees are outraged over a bill that would eliminate most of their collective bargaining rights and make them pay more for benefits. Schools are closed in at 15 Wisconsin districts because of the protests and staff absences.
You know, we talk a lot about what's going wrong with public education in this country, but we can't forget to highlight those schools and students who are succeeding and making big strides in learning.
An example of a huge education success story is Urban Prep Academies in Chicago. There's their campus, I've been there. Great school. Urban Prep is the nation's first all-boys public charter high school. The entire student body is comprised of African-American males. And for a second year in the row the entire graduating class of 104 students at the Academy's Englewood campus has been accepted into a four-year college or university.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RICHARD DALEY, CHICAGO: The facts are the facts. These young men are going to college.
VENITA ABRAMS, SON GETS SCHOLARSHIP OFFER: I am so proud of my son. Going to Cornell and it's about a full ride, I would say. They only has to pay $200 for a year. So it's like a full ride to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: They are all excited. Boy, the mayor was passionate. Did you see Mayor Daly there?
let bring back the founder and CEO of Urban Prep Academy, Tim King, the number one ranking student, as well, in the graduating class is Matthew Williams.
Thank you so much and congratulations to you, Matthew.
MATTHEW WILLIAMS, #1 RANKED SENIOR, URBAN PREP ACADEMY: Thank you.
LEMON: How are you feeling?
WILLIAMS: I'm feeling great.
LEMON: Yes? Did you think that you were going to ever get to this point because at one point you were homeless. Is it before you entered the academy or while at the academy?
WILLIAMS: It was while -- while I was at the academy.
LEMON: Did you think you could get to where you are now through Tim's guidance and other people's at the school?
WILLIAMS: I did. They always believed in me, no matter what. They always pushed me to go 100 percent of the time, to my maximum ability so I never -- it was never any doubt that this moment would happen.
LEMON: It's just like your creed says, "We never fail because we never give up. We make no excuses."
WILLIAMS: Exactly.
LEMON: So, Tim, what a lot of people may not realize is, the majority of students there that come to Urban Prep, they come in, they aren't reading at a high school level. Many of them are grade school level or can't really read at all.
TIM KING, FOUNDER AND CEO, URBAN PREP ACADEMY: Right. I mean, one of the challenges that we face at Urban Prep and frankly, this is a national problem, is that you have African-American males in particular who are going through an elementary school system in which they aren't really challenged and kept up to their grade level. Then they get to the high school level and they have even more challenges.
So since we have an open enrollment Lottery process at Urban Prep, our students are not selectively enrolled. We don't look at test scores or grades. We take any student who applies if we have room for the student in the class. So we do have many students who come to us who are behind grade level.
Mr. Williams here, was not one of those students. He has been a brilliant scholar since day one. But as you talked about just a second ago, he's faced some other challenges in his life, economic challenges, challenges with homelessness. And so we try to make sure that regardless of how a student comes to us, we do our best to ensure that that student achieves academic excellence and success.
LEMON: OK. So listen, this is an incarnation of the tie. I haven't been there in a while. Maybe a year or so that I haven't seen -- I've seen the red tie, I've seen the gold tie.
What's the significance of the striped neck tie? Is it new or did I just miss it?
KING: I think you might have missed it last year. We had it, but Mr. Williams, why you don't you about it. WILLIAMS: Yes. The red and gold stripe neck tie is for anyone -- any senior who was accepted to a four-year college or university.
LEMON: And that's why you're wearing it.
KING: And we make a big deal -- right, exactly.
We make a big deal of presenting the seniors, it's one of our rituals that we do at the school. So on Fridays during college admission season, when a student brings in his letter, we exchange his red tie in front of the entire student body, with a red and gold striped tie.
And that's what we did yesterday when Mayor Daly came to the school and was able to bear witness to the last couple of students getting their red and stripe tie so we could make that 100 percent college acceptance mark.
LEMON: Matthew, where are you going to college?
WILLIAMS: I'm not sure yet exactly. I've been accepted to several Illinois schools, several HBCUs, about 11 in total. I've been accepted to Howard, Fisk, with full tuition scholarships. And I've been accepted to East Illinois, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois from Illinois.
KING: But he's going to be too shy to tell you this. He wants to go to Yale. So, if there are any folks out there listening from Yale, he had the Yale interview yesterday. He's the number one ranked student. He's a great guy and he hasn't heard from Yale yet. So, he's got about 10 other applications he's waiting to hear from. And we'd love to see him out there in New Haven.
LEMON: What a nice thing to ask for and even become a possibility considering where you started and where many others at Urban Prep started.
Matthew and Tim, thank you so much. Best of luck to both of you, OK?
KING: Thank you very much. Thanks for having us.
WILLIAMS: Thanks.
LEMON: All right. Let's move on now. So, when you do a search online, you normally have to type in a word, right? Well, imagine being able to just take a picture, right, just take a picture of it and it will do the search for you. It's today's "Big I" and it's coming up right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Every day on this show we do a segment, it's called the "Big I." It's all about big new ideas and innovations. I want you to check this out. Google has developed new software that allows you to search using your camera instead of your keyboard. It's called Google Googles (sic) and here to tell us about it is Google's senior software engineer Mike Lebeau. He joins us now from our New York studio.
So, Mike, thanks for joining us. First, how does this work?
MIKE LEBEAU, SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER, GOOGLE : Thanks for having us. Sorry, go ahead.
LEMON: How does that work?
LEBEAU: It's -- so basically there's a couple of different features we're working on. And there's a lot of artificial intelligence work going on at Google.
Google Goggles, which you mentioned, is one of the features that we have that allows you to take pictures of the world around you and actually identify -- Google will try to identify what the things are, what objects you see in the images and then take -- give you more information about that, let you do a search, basically a Google search based on that information.
So it works on lots of different things. You can imagine, you know, book covers, wine bottles, landmarks, things like that, bar codes. It's pretty impressive.
LEMON: OK, so come over here. Let's talk about this. I'm going to do it. All you have to do is, you can use a camera, right? You can use your cell phone camera, correct?
LEBEAU: Yes.
LEMON: And you just go to the Google app on your phone. I just went to the Google app --
LEBEAU: That's right.
LEMON: -- on my phone and I put in search. Here you go, put it right there. You go to the Google app, you put in search and then you hit the camera button. And so then anything you take -- let's do -- you said it will translate, right? Let's do this first before I do the translation. Let's try this box and see what happens.
Sorry, moved my left hand there, Tony (ph).
So I clicked it, it's doing the Kleenex box and then you hit this and it says, "Kleenex logo." Look, it comes up. I don't know if you can see it. I mean --
LEBEAU: Yes, and I have examples here if you -- you want to see any of it.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes, let's see what you have there.
LEBEAU: OK, so, you know, I mentioned all the kind of cool things you can, you know, the sort of obvious ones that you would be expect to be able to do, you know, logos and things like that. I have with me a Sudoku puzzle. I can't see actually if you can see what I can see, so I'm hoping --
LEMON: Yes, we can see the puzzle. We don't see the letters, you know, strongly, but we can see it. Go ahead.
LEBEAU: OK. Sure, sure.
So here I have an android phone, this is the Google Nexus S, it's one of many android phones that can run Google Goggles. If I take a picture of this Sudoku puzzle, sort of a more fun example of something we do. Let me just take a picture here. There we go.
Now, if you can see this on the little side screen here, I've got the camera here. It notices that's a Sudoku puzzle and click right there on the link and it'll go straight in and it recognizes the puzzle itself. I can click solve here, it actually goes in and solves the whole puzzle for you. I hope you can see that.
LEMON: Yes, that's awesome.
LEBEAU: So pretty cool. It's another one of those additional features.
And, you know, all of this is happening sort of impressively through Google's, you know, cloud technology, right? So it's not just -- this is not all happening on the phone itself. It's happening sort of through servers on the Internet that Google powers where we send all the information. So, you know, we can do A LOT more than what the actual phone is capable of.
LEMON: And I'm glad you said Google Goggles, cause I said Google Googles. But that would be pretty interesting as well.
Come back over here, I want to show this.
I think it translates foreign languages here. So I'm going to do this, Mike, and then we're going to see what happens.
So someone gave me this.
LEBEAU: Cool.
LEMON: Take a picture of it. So if I'm in a foreign country or something -- let's move my hand here -- and then it will say --
LEBEAU: Yes, it's really great.
(CROSSTALK)
LEBEAU: If you're in a restaurant with a menu --
LEMON: Sorry, you hit translate and it will do it.
LEBEAU: That's right.
LEMON: And this says turn left flank. There you go.
Will it do any language?
LEBEAU: It won't do every language right now, but it recognizes anything with a Latin script right now. So we're working on lots more, obviously.
But it's connected to Google Translates, which is a different service that we have that will do any language if you either speak or type your voice input or your text input. So we find that to be really useful for people, especially when they are on the go. Sometimes you want to take a picture for that sort of thing. Sometimes you want to be able to, you know, just speak it. Sometimes you want to be able to type whatever you see in. But no matter what it is, we sort of try to support it on our mobile devices.
LEMON: I want to get this in real quick because there's obviously, there has to be quite a bit of power something like this. How are you able to make this work on something as small as my iPhone or cell phone or the Droid as you said?
LEBEAU: Yes, absolutely. It's -- this is sort of the interesting thing about where AI is going right now is it's not just the power of AI in some big, you know, some big super computer in a data center somewhere. We can actually take all of that and because all of the phones are Internet connected, we can actually connect them straight to those data centers, send the basic requirements up to the server, let the server do all the processing power and return the results to the phone.
So suddenly, you have a lot more that's possible on your phones than just whatever the phone itself can do, if that makes any sense. It's basically the power of cloud computer. When you hear that term, that's what people are talking about.
LEMON: OK, I would be remiss if I let you go without this.
What is the next big trend in software that you see coming up?
LEBEAU: Next big trend I would say is probably, for me, the thing I'm interested in most and I think is really going to become a big deal, is voice technology. So that's other thing that these mobile phones are good at with sort of artificial intelligence and cloud computing technology. You know, it's possible to speak into your phone and get lots of actions done automatically these days.
So some of the features we have are Google's voice search, voice actions, which allow you to speak thinks like text messages and e- mails automatically. We think it saves a lot of time when you're on the go and similarly to what you saw with Google Goggles, allows you to do a lot of sort of new functionality on your phone and things where you otherwise would be have to fiddle with the phone, do a whole bunch of things, typing and all that, you can just sort of skip all that and just do it all by voice.
So that's becoming a huge thing for us and we're seeing that in the adoption rates that we've been getting on that stuff. LEMON: He listen, we have to run. You can give me a yes or no answer. I have become Scrabble -- I love to play Scrabble now on my iPad. Can it do the same thing it did with the Sudoku thing with Scrabble?
LEBEAU: Not yet, but that's a good idea. That's a very good idea.
LEMON: You got to get it. You got to get it.
LEBEAU: I'll send that one back.
LEMON: Mike Lebeau, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
LEBEAU: Thanks for having me.
LEMON: OK.
Let's turn now to other news that's happening around the world.
A violent government crackdown today in the Gulf state of Bahrain. Armed security forces launched a predawn strike in the capital of Manama. Officials say at least three anti-government protestors were killed and more than 200 wounded. Witnesses say this was the most violent government reaction to the street protests that have taken place all week.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed Washington's deep concern in a phone call to Bahrain's foreign minister, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke to a top Bahraini defense official. They are a key U.S. ally and the home base of the Navy's 5th Fleet where some 6,000 sailors and other Americans live and work.
The protesters are virtually all Shiites, as is the majority of the country's population. They are demanding better jobs, housing and basic civil rights and claim that they are discriminated against by members of the royal family who are Sunni Muslims.
CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now by phone from Manama.
So, Nic, what's happening right now where you are?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, we've just heard from the foreign minister of the country who defended the actions of the government today, saying they had to go in and crackdown on the demonstration because the country was staring into a sectarian abyss, he said.
They had tried going in at 3:00 in the morning, he said, because that was when there were fewest protesters there. He said fair warning had been given, that weapons were found in the roundabout, the Pearl Roundabout where everyone was camped out. Guns and knives, he said, had discovered when the protesters were chased off.
We've heard from people at that peaceful demonstration who say they had no warning and they were attacked by tear gas and buckshot guns were fired at them, as well. We saw many injuries at the hospital that affirmed what we were hearing from the eyewitnesses who were involved in the situation.
So we've heard today from the foreign minister really saying what was at stake for the government and why they cracked down. Interestingly, an emergency meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council has said -- essentially, one Gulf state for one and all for one. If the security of any Gulf state is threatened, then the others will step in and help.
LEMON: Nic Robertson watching the developments unfold in Bahrain.
Nic, thank you very much.
New polling shows just how close a battle for the White House may be in 2012. I'll show you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It's time right now for a CNN Political Update, and CNN's deputy political director Mr. Paul Steinhauser joins me now from Washington.
Hello, Paul. The hypothetical battle for the White House is a dead heat, right?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, take a look at new numbers, Don. It's 20 months until the next presidential election, but a poll out from Gallup last night and it asked just that.
Would you support President Obama or whoever that Republican nominee is going to be? And you can see right there, according to those numbers, 45 percent say they would vote for President Barack Obama, 45 percent for the GOP candidate and 6 percent, Don, they're not so sure. And I can understand why, it's a long way away.
And a couple things about this poll. Remember, we don't have a nominee right now on the Republican side. You know, we don't really even have a candidates yet. Got people who are thinking about it, but nobody's really officially jumped in. And, of course, polls are a snapshot of how people feel right now. The election is a long time from right now.
But talking about that battle for the Republican nomination, another thing on the Ticker, you know, is it social issues or fiscal issues, what's more important in the battle for the Republican nomination? Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana whose thinking about running, has said let's have a truce on social issues. A lot of social conservatives all over him.
So Senator John Thune of South Dakota, another Republican who is thinking about making a bid for the nomination, in an interview with the Christian Broadcast Network he said let's not minimize social issues, they are very, very important. So, Don, this give or take between social and fiscal issues in that battle for the GOP nomination, Don.
LEMON: All right, Paul Steinhauser is, thank you very much, sir.
Your next update from "The Best Political Team on Television" is just one hour away.
You can lead a horse to water, but what about coffee? A Texas- sized iReport next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, as it says, "Odds and Ends."
A horse is a horse of course, of course. For those of you old enough to remember that. Take a look at what one of our iReporters spotted in Plano, Texas. Yes, That is a woman on a horse at a Starbucks drive-through. Makes sense, right? I mean, after an all, everything is bigger in Texas, so why not be a little bit more bizarre, too? You know the saying, you can lead a horse to water, but somehow I doubt this one drank the coffee. Although Starbucks new trenta sized makes for a nice trough, cause it's huge. Don't you think?
