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Wildfire Rages in Florida; Dior to Fire Star Designer
Aired March 01, 2011 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Checking top stories right now. A wildfire in east central Florida has closed part of I-95. The 10,000 acre fire threatening a neighborhood but the governor is hopeful crews can bring it under control soon and it is raining there and that helps.
The "Sweat Lodge" death trials begin today. Self-help author James Arthur Ray faces three counts of reckless manslaughter. Arizona prosecutor say the lodge was heated to dangerously high temperatures. The defense attorney says everyone was warned.
And Charlie Sheen attacks addiction specialists, calling them losers. The actor tells CNN's Piers Morgan that he's clean. We'll hear more from Sheen in about 10 minutes.
Right now, on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is talking foreign policy, and the spiraling crisis in Libya is sure to be a focus. We'll let you know what she has to say. And there are new concerns over about what Moammar Gadhafi had to say. He says the protests are not against him. And that his people would die to protect his regime. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations called him delusional.
The U.S. is moving Navy ships closer to Libya. The Pentagon would not say if any American ground forces have been put on a heightened state of alert. The mission could include creating safe zones for Libyan refugees, but one foe of the United States says the Pentagon is preparing for an invasion.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a long-time ally of Moammar Gadhafi, both share a bitter disdain for the United States. So let's get some perspective from Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence. So, Hugo Chavez, I mean, is the Pentagon taking this seriously?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: No. Short answer, Carol. I haven't got any sense from anyone here in the building that anyone is talking about a massive military intervention in Libya. What we're seeing now is the U.S. moving some of its U.S. Navy ships closer to Libya. You've got the USS Kearsarge now up in the northern part of the Red Sea, close to the Suez Canal. The USS Enterprise, the aircraft carrier a little bit further down in the Red Sea. It's also got a destroyer already in the med.
But what these are - what I'm hearing is these are being positioned to keep options open. The first option would be to provide some sort of humanitarian relief for all of those refugees streaming out of Libya. The USS Kearsarge, for example, has not only the ability to land Marines. It's also a huge floating hospital bay. Six operating rooms, the ability to care for up to 600 patients. So that could be used in some sort of humanitarian relief. The Enterprise obviously with its aircraft could be used to help and assist with a no-fly zone if the decision was made to go forward to try to impose one.
COSTELLO: Understand. Chris Lawrence live at the Pentagon. Thanks.
Within three weeks after similar protests forced Egypt's president from office, the new government is taking action. Egypt's attorney general is freezing the assets of Hosni Mubarak. He and his family may not leave the country. The attorney general says he has documents showing the Mubarak family has secret bank accounts hiding nearly $150 million.
Protests flaring in other Arab nations as well. For a fourth day in a row, demonstrators hit the streets in Oman. The anti-government movement is issuing the same demands we've heard elsewhere. More freedom, more jobs, less corruption. The unrest in Oman is stirring concerns about oil prices though. A significant share of the world's shipments passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Thousands of protesters also gathered in the capital of neighboring Yemen. Today's crowd in Yemen included thousands of people loyal to the president. He's considered a key U.S. ally, and Washington is afraid if he's ousted, the terrorist groups will have even more free rein in the country.
Now to central Florida where rain is providing some welcome relief to firefighters battling a massive fire. I-95 is open again after earlier today, the 20 miles stretch was closed. As you might expect, that caused a little bit of a traffic nightmare. Homes have been evacuated, and one school was closed this morning. So let's head to Florida and out John Zarrella. Give us an update, John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, that was the good news just a little while ago that all of the lanes on interstate-95, the main north-south artery are back open again, and traffic is flowing as are most of the other arteries that had been closed down by this wildfire. In the overnight hours, it looked like this had the potential to be a really dangerous, precarious situation. Firefighters were telling us at one point the embers were traveling a half a mile from the front point of the fire. So they were setting to jumping the highway, and it was very, very difficult to get a handle on this, but with the rains today, about two hours of steady rain and the fact that they had heavy equipment, bulldozers in there building fire breaks all morning and into the morning hours, it's really allowed them to get a handle on this fire.
A short time ago, Florida's governor said he had a good feeling they had the possibility of they would probably get this fire under control by late morning, this morning here, certainly into the afternoon hours. So right now looking good that they're going to get a handle on this thing and wrap it up. Carol.
COSTELLO: That's good news. Thank you, John Zarrella from Brevard County in Florida. The rain is helping out in Florida. Elsewhere, people are cleaning up after a day of wild storms. Let's get the latest from Rob Marciano. Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. This little front going that's going through Florida, that's associated with the storms that came through yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're in the dark.
MARCIANO: I'm totally in the dark.
COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE) sunshine.
MARCIANO: Oh, man, I tell you what. It's bad enough we feel like the kid sitting at the kitchen table on Thanksgiving sometimes. You got to put the light on. The front, and the wind field today much less intense than yesterday, even down here because the core of the storm that was driving all these wind energy, not only here but in Texas has moved out to sea. But nonetheless, here's where the leftover front is.
The rains that John spoke of now moving south of Titusville. There's the fire. You know, it didn't rain a ton but it may have thrown a tenth to a quarter inch of rain on there and that certainly helps, and the winds behind this front are not drastically more intense. I mean, they shift a little bit more northerly but not drastically intense. So hopefully John is right and they get a handle on that.
Texas, a little bit of wind today. It will be warm and dry but it's nothing that's extreme or critical. Generally speaking, there is your storm that goes east. Take a look at some of the damage coming out of Tennessee. We had six reports of tornadoes yesterday. This one unfortunately took the life of one person in Franklin County, Tennessee. Tremendous amount of damage through this area. And that was really the bull's eye that the storm prediction center had in there that they thought was going to be the worst of it and it certainly was.
Where there wasn't severe weather, there's certainly a lot of rain and rain causing some flooding across parts of Indiana, Ohio, parts of the mid south, western Kentucky and western parts of Tennessee as well. So that's going to be an on-going issue as we go through the next few days. You know, because some of these areas still has a decent amount of snow on the ground. So that has worked through the river system as well.
Temperatures well above freezing, a little BIT cooler behind thIS front, and then warmer tomorrow and then another shot of colder air coming in from Canada. 47 degrees with a high temperature in Chicago, 71 in Dallas, 65 degrees in Los Angeles. That's balmy after even some snow flurries around the L.A. area over the weekend. So everybody getting a little taste of winter now that we're finally in March. Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob. Appreciate it.
MARCIANO: You bet.
COSTELLO: Do or die time in Wisconsin. At 5:00 p.m. Eastern today, there will be a new move in the standoff. Governor Scott Walker plans to release his new state budget even as protests over his repair bill for this year's budget enters a third week. Hundreds of people, thousands of people had been protesting inside the Capitol building.
Police asked them to leave yesterday so they could clean the building. But not everybody left. Demonstrators are protesting a bill that would strip the collective bargaining rights of most public union workers. Crowds of union supporters are expected to return to the state capital in Ohio today. They protests Senate Bill five, the measure would prevent public workers from negotiating health care, pensions and automatic pay raises based on seniority. The measure would also ban strikes for all public workers, not just public safety officers like police and fire.
Charlie Sheen was live with Piers Morgan last night on CNN to try to set the record straight and to defend himself against the accusations he's on drugs. So how does he prove he's straight? Well, like this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Are you under the influence right now of any substances?
CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: No, nothing. I'm under the influence of you.
MORGAN: I'm a drug during this interview.
SHEEN: Of you.
MORGAN: That might not be the best influence.
SHEEN: I'll take it. Looks pretty cool to me, you know.
MORGAN: But you took a drug test to prove that you are currently completely drug free?
SHEEN: Yes. I have the results.
MORGAN: You have the results on you?
SHEEN: Well, yes, these days, I mean, carry this stuff with you, right?
MORGAN: When was this taken?
SHEEN: It was taken - when was it taken, yesterday? MORGAN: And this is -
SHEEN: Day before.
MORGAN: Assuming this is accurate, which I believe it is, this is completely clean. When was the last time you took a drug?
SHEEN: I don't know, because not being held hostage by AA anymore, I don't count my days because it puts such a premium on them, (INAUDIBLE) don't lose your days, don't lose your days. Boom, I lost my days and then it's like, where did my days go." Keep coming back, here's your one day back. Everything's cool.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Could this be part of an act? Or are we finally seeing the real Charlie Sheen? How did a guy with such a checkered past and so much violence too in his past get to be so well loved? What's next? Hollywood insider Sharon Waxman coming up.
And imagine having a $10,000 water bill for your home? Sounds like a nightmare right? In one major city, it's reality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For you to expect us to think that four million gallons of water is leaking somewhere in our property and not showing up is absolutely mine-blowing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Homeowners are now fighting back and we're asking what is behind these big bills?
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Just imagine getting your water bill, and it's more than your mortgage. That's exactly what's happening in Atlanta. Kyra Phillips is here. Welcome back.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.
COSTELLO: She's actually on maternity leave but somehow she's come back and done this great investigation.
PHILLIPS: I have to do a couple more pieces before I go. You know that.
COSTELLO: This is a great story.
PHILLIPS: Well, let me tell you, and this has been something we've been talking about for years, so finally, I said, we're going to investigate this. And you've lived in Atlanta, and believe it or not Atlanta already has the highest water rates of any major city in the United States, and residents are outraged and they're confused about why they're paying hundreds and even thousands of dollars each month for water.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are mad.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Atlanta residents clearly have had enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For you to expect us to think that four million gallons are water is leaking somewhere in our property is not showing up is absolutely mind-blowing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were taking a shower every day. Now we're skipping sometimes because we're trying to save the water.
PHILLIPS: For more than three years Atlanta, a city of more than a half million residents, has been bombarded with complaints of outrageous water bills. Similar complaints are popping up around the country in places like Cleveland, Charlotte, Tampa, and Brockton, Massachusetts. But the water bill war is nothing like in Atlanta. Just ask Wilda Cob.
WILDA COBB, ATLANTA RESIDENT: I feel like I'm going crazy.
PHILLIPS: Cobb lives by herself in this 1,800 square foot home. Her water bill averages $30 to $40 a month, until it began going up. More than $1,200 in November. Her December bill, nearly $6,900. Cobb now she owes more than $10,000 and city inspectors found no leaks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me to have to take the time to do this -
PHILLIPS: And then there's Debbie Scarborough. Her water bill shot up more than $3,000 after two months of huge spikes last summer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is another bill, another month.
PHILLIPS: She eve hired two plumbers to prove there was no leak. Five years ago, the city hired a company to replace its aging water meters with automatic meter reading devices. All city workers have to do is drive by and electronically collect the data. But it hasn't gone as smoothly as it looks. As early as 2007, problems arose when city auditors found they were unable to verify electronic reads for 13 percent of the meters that were tested. Then, in 2009, another audit found a high number of accounts that don't get actual meter readings because of meter read errors, equipment failures or human error.
PETER AMAN, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, CITY OF ATLANTA: A significant amount of frustration on everyone's part.
PHILLIPS: Peter Aman is the chief operating officer for the city of Atlanta. AMAN: When these automatic meters were put in, obviously, the subcontractors to the city that did this work, did an absolutely horrible job in a number of cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baloney.
PHILLIPS: And residents are getting more and more angry. Aman tells us one percent of the meters sampled were not properly installed. A mistake that could cause a water bill to double.
AMAN: At this point, it looks like just good old fashioned incompetence.
PHILLIPS: Aman showed us how the meter's register, which measures how much water is being used didn't even fit properly with the meter base.
AMAN: Well, these two components don't matched and guess what? They're both labeled. This one says three-quarters on it and this one has a one on it. Now, it's small print but it's big enough to see.
PHILLIPS (on camera): You wouldn't get an accurate reading?
AMAN: That would be a totally inaccurate reading.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): We repeatedly tried to interview executives of both Neptune Technologies, which manufactured the meters and systems and software which provided the billing system but they refused to comment.
Aman says there is no evidence those companies are at fault but he says the company that installed the meters should be held accountable. That company is KHAFRA, based in Atlanta, which teamed up with another firm in Pennsylvania to carry out the $40 million installation contract.
Valentino Bates is KHAFRA's president.
VALENTINO BATES, KHAFRA PRESIDENT: For the three years that we worked on that project, we satisfied all concerns with respect to that contract.
PHILLIPS (on camera): So you think a successful contract includes one percent of the meters not operating properly?
BATES: And those one percent were fixed prior to our leaving and turning over the warrant to the city.
PHILLIPS: So you are saying right now all of your meters are installed properly?
BATES: Yes, ma'am.
PHILLIPS: Bates said repairs were completed last year on 968 meters that had a mismatched base and said he was not aware of additional meter issues identified by the city. BATES: If there were installed incorrectly by the contractor this way -
PHILLIPS: But we showed him what Aman said about the newly discovered improper installations. He says that's the problem and that's causing a number of the bills to double.
BATES: I'm not - I can't speak to what it is, but all of the ones we were notified of when we did our own internal audit and the audit that was done by the city, we took care of those problems.
PHILLIPS: But residents say there is more to the problem. Our water bill would be enough for a large Olympic pool to be filled. I'm at my wit's end and ready for a nervous break down. This smells like a scam.
(on camera): Do the majority of the people who have complained about high water bills, do they have leaks?
AMAN: The majority of the people who complain about high water bills have some issue that's not associated with the meter. Many, many of them have either leaks or increases in usage through irrigation or pool-filling that they didn't fully understand the impact of.
PHILLIPS (on camera): But don't tell that to Debbie Scarborough or Wilda Cobb.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have a $3,000 water bill and no leaks. And my meter is working fine. Well, it's still unclear what's wrong. The city is now monitoring water usage at her home. As for Wilda Cobb, the city says something must have happened in a one month period for her bill to shoot up so dramatically and then go back down to just $34.
WILDA COBB: I literally this can't be real.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Cobb knows something about water issues. Ironically, she's an attorney with the Environmental Protection Agency.
COBB: As a person, I know something's wrong here. As an attorney, what can I do about it? But I don't think it takes a law degree to say, you know, $7,000 for a month's use of water by one person in a small home is just crazy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And class action lawsuits by residents and commercial properties have been filed against the city and THE contractors over the high water bills and so far there's been no resolution. The previous management team at the watershed department is out. The new administration says it's making progress on the water bill problem. In fact, last year, close to a half million dollars was refunded to residents who appealed their bills. And Carol, here's an interesting twist. The city of Atlanta, it's water bill has nearly doubled in the past two years, close to half a million dollars, and, you know what, no evidence of leaks or broken meters.
COSTELLO: Yeah, and the taxpayers are paying that bill, too.
PHILLIPS: Exactly.
COSTELLO: Everybody up in arms. It's a mystery in many ways.
Thanks for coming in, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: You bet. Good to see you.
COSTELLO: Hope your babies come soon, I do.
PHILLIPS: So do I Hopefully my water doesn't break during the water story.
COSTELLO: That would be (INAUDIBLE)
To learn more about Atlanta's water bill, go to cnn.com. And while you're there you can see the cost of water in cities across the United States and find tips to lower your water bill. Just go to CNN .com.
If there's something you can buy right now that's perfectly legal that gives smokers a marijuana-like high. Now the government is taking emergency measures to get it out of stores.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: CNN is now confirming that French fashion house, Dior, has suspended - has started the process of firing a star designer, John Galliano. The company wants to sack him after Galliano allegedly used anti-Semitic language against strangers at a restaurant in Paris. Dior suspended Galliano soon after a video clip was released. We have it for you but we want to warn you the language is coarse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN GALLIANO, DIOR, STAR DESIGNER: People like you could be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers (INAUDIBLE) would be gassed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Do you have a problem?
GALLIANO: With you, you're ugly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that Galliano met with French police about the incident and no word on how that meeting turned out. Let's take a look at some of the stories making news "Across Country." We start in Philadelphia where a struggling pizza shop owner might have used live mice to sabotage his competitors. Police say he walked to one shop and planted the critters in the bathroom ceiling and then he went to another place and dumped more mice in a garbage can. He's now charged with disorderly conduct and animal cruelty.
An Arizona high school teacher has been fired because of a bumper sticker on her car. It reads "have you drugged your kid today." (INAUDIBLE) says society is overmedicating hyperactive kids and this was her way to protest. She says some parents complained and she was fired when he refused to take the bumper sticker off. She's fighting to get her job back.
And in the Atlanta area, some burglars have found a way to get around the security system. Go through the roof. They have hit at least four businesses so far.
Coming up, a fire in Florida temporarily shuts down part of a major U.S. highway and forces families out of their homes and closes school. We got the latest details from the fire lines.
Plus, Wisconsin governor will unveil his budget plan this afternoon. Will it end the protests?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking top stories now. Rain is giving welcome relief to firefighters battling a massive firefighters in Florida. It shut down a 20-mile stretch of i-95 in Brevard and (INAUDIBLE) county. Some homes had been evacuated. Florida's governor says he is optimistic firefighters can knock down the fire later today.
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to block the release of the autopsies of the six people who died in the shooting spree that injured Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Prosecutors worry the release would hurt the court's ability to have a fair trial for the suspect Jared Loughner.
CNN has learned two new suspects have been identified in the death of an American tourist on the U.S. border with Mexico. The two suspects are known drug traffickers but their names have not yet been released. David Hartley's disappearance remains unsolved. Authorities say he was shot and killed by the gunmen on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake back in September. His wife Tiffany survived.
Despite all of the protesters inside the capital and outside the capital, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is pushing forward with his two-year budget plan. He will present it to the legislature today. It would cut $1 billion from schools and local governments and severely limit collective bargaining rights.
Let's go straight to Casey Wian. He's at the capital in Madison, Wisconsin. Casey, what's the latest? CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the protesters you mentioned have numbered in the thousands, in the tens of thousands in the past few weeks. But they have dwindled to about 40 or so remaining inside the state capital, and as you mentioned, everyone is waiting to hear Governor Scott Walker's budget proposal, which he is scheduled to be released at 4:00 local time this afternoon.
People familiar with the governor's plan say to expect very deep cuts in state spending on schools, perhaps in the order of nine percent, and also money going to local governments, which some people say could result in reduced police and fire services.
Other developments here, the state public employees' union has filed an unfair labor practice claim against Governor Scott Walker for his refusal to negotiate, they say, with the union over this issue of collective bargaining rights and his budget repair plans efforts to strip them of many of their collective bargaining rights.
Meanwhile, senate Democrats, the folks who have stopped the budget repair plan from moving forward because they have left the state, remain outside the state. Governor Walker is trying to persuade them to come back. And he says if they do not come back by today, the state will lose $165 million in debt restructuring savings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: It is now time for them to come home. If they choose not to -- let me be clear, this is not a threat, this is not a strategy, this is not a negotiation. The bottom line is if they do not come home, there are dire consequences. Dire consequences I don't think any of us, Republican or Democrat alike, would like to see happen here in the state of Wisconsin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIAN: Now, those dire consequences include the layoff of about 1,500 state employees the governor says will be necessary by April 1 and as many as 12,000 workers over the next two years. Now, I just spoke to one of those runaway senate Democrats, Senator Chris Larsen. He says despite what the governor's position is, those Democrats are staying put. They are not going to come back to the capital. And that despite if they want their paychecks, which come out today, they can't get them unless they come here, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Casey Wian. Thank you for that update from Madison, Wisconsin.
Crowds of union supporters are expected to return to the state capital in Ohio today to protest senate bill No. 5. The measure would prevent public workers from negotiating health care, pensions and automatic pay raises based on seniority. The measure would also ban strikes for all public workers, not just public safety officers.
It's called fake pot, but federal officials say the side effects are very real. And they're trying to get it out of stores ASAP.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Put away the lava lamps and black light posters. The so-called legal alternative to pot is getting banned. The fake pot has been selling under the name Spice. The DEA has now banned the sale and possession of the stuff for at least one year.
Elizabeth Cohen joins me now. So, if this isn't -- they call it synthetic marijuana. I mean, what is it, exactly?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it sounds like polyester or something --
COSTELLO: Yes, weird.
COHEN: Right. There are chemicals in this stuff that are very similar to THC, and TCH is the active ingredient in marijuana that gets you high. And these other chemicals are legal. So, you can buy Spice and other stuff called K-2 and I think one of them is called Blaze and Red X Dawn. There's a whole bunch of them. You can buy them online, you can buy them in stores.
COSTELLO: You smoke it, right?
COHEN: You smoke it just like pot, and the chemicals inside them are very similar to THC.
COSTELLO: So, it really does make you high?
COHEN: It does.
COSTELLO: It's incredible that this kind of stuff would be in the stores.
COHEN: Well, it's legal. People are going to pay for it. Those two things put together, you got a business, right?
COSTELLO: I don't know. I guess I never thought of companies coming up with products that they know might make someone high and then sell it legally and get away with it!
COHEN: Well, because it's legal, that's why they get away with it. And they're making money off it. So, there's a huge incentive to sell this stuff. And kids get high, so there's an incentive to buy it.
COSTELLO: So, what is the government doing to stop it specifically?
COHEN: They say they're going to ban it. They say they're going to ban it. This is an example where the government is always going to be ten steps behind the people who are going to make money, right? They're ten steps behind the entrepreneur. But they say they are going to ban it.
COSTELLO: So, do we constantly have to keep vigil over this? Is this a sign of things to come, or has it always been like this? COHEN: As a mom, I'm going out on a limb and saying if your kid is going into a head shop buying something and smoking it, you should be worried.
(LAUGHTER)
COHEN: I don't care if it's legal or not, you should be worried. This isn't good. I mean, since September, they've had 1,500 phone calls to poison control centers. The list of stuff this does to you is just horrible. It's seizures, hallucinations, paranoia, nausea, vomiting, racing heart beat, elevatied blood pressure. Some people are saying it's even more potent than pot.
COSTELLO: Oh, that's crazy. So, it's a good thing it's going to be taken off - but it hasn't been taken off yet, so --
COHEN: Well, I think this will work pretty quickly. Now that they're moving on it, my guess is it will go quickly.
COSTELLO: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.
You can accuse Charlie Sheen of a lot of things, but you cannot accuse him of being shy or avoiding the media. What's behind his recent string of bad behavior and his interview rants? Is Hollywood enabling this type of behavior?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Amid the backdrop of union protests in Ohio and Wisconsin, a top presidential aide will speak to the AFL-CIO today. Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is here with more. Ooh! More ammunition out there.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about this, keeping this fight going. David Plouffe, the president's senior adviser, we're told by various officials, is going to be addressing the AFL-CIO here in Washington behind closed doors. Just after noon. It will be a luncheon speech, basically. Speaking to their executive counsel, senior staff, maybe about 75 to 100 people. No doubt that Wisconsin, the budget battle there, but also now the battle between Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich, and public employee unions there in Ohio, will be on the topic - on the agenda as well.
What else will David Plouffe be talking about? We don't know because this speech will be closed to TV cameras and media.
Secondly, Tim Pawlenty, Republican potential presidential contender, is really kind of cozying up to the Tea Party. His PAC put out a new video today hailing the Tea Party movement, saying it is a, quote, "great addition to the conservative coalition and coalition for change in this country." In fact, this past weekend, Tim Pawlenty was in Phoenix, Arizona speaking to a Tea Party group.
So, he is clearly courting the voters. The question is whether or not it will work. As you know, there are people on the other side of the aisle, big Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who say they believe the Tea Party is a flash in the pan and will basically have no impact in the 2012 election. So, maybe Tim Pawlenty will be the guinea pig here. Will his fortunes rise and fall based on whether or not the Tea Party is here to stay, Carol?
COSTELLO: I guess we'll see, Ed. You remember Bernie Sanders' eight-and-a-half hour filibuster. You lived it, didn't you?
HENRY: Oh, absolutely.
COSTELLO: Well, relive it with us right now!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: We need a handful, seven or eight, members of the United States Senate to hear from their people, to say, wait a minute, don't hold my kids hostage. Don't force them to pay higher taxes in order to give tax breaks to the very, very rich.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Okay, that went on for eight-and-a-half hours, and his speech was opposing the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts. He's now made it into a book, Ed. And the title, "The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class." Do you think he'll have any buyers?
HENRY: I think he is. In fact, I will have to go here. I wan to go over to my - I've got my Amazon Kindle here. I will download it if it is available. I don't know if I have to preorder it or what, but that sounds fascinating! Almost as fascinating as the item I have for you, which is that Christine O'Donnell, you remember her as well -
COSTELLO: Of course!
HENRY: -- Delaware Republican Senate candidate, came in out of nowhere. She was invited to participate with "Dancing With the Stars" on ABC. She said no. Most people see that maybe as a great career move. She hasn't been doing a lot lately, let's face it.
She turned it down because she said she wants to focus on writing a book. What she is going to say in this book, what is left to say about a Senate race that is now a few months old that she lost, I'm not quite sure. But you know what? I will see if that's available on Amazon as well, Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. I bet the word Democrat will be mentioned several times in her book.
HENRY: I think so! The word witch might come up, too, as well. Because, you know, that was a big issue in that campaign, as you may recall.
COSTELLO: Maybe so! Thank you, Ed!
HENRY: Good to see you, Carol! COSTELLO: We'll have your next political update in one hour. And a reminder, for all of the latest political news, go to our Web site, CNNpolitics.com.
From mugshot to mugging for the camera, Charlie Sheen. He spoke last night to our Piers Morgan. Just raw Charlie talking. His publicist, as you know, quit. Sheen's antics in the past sometimes turned dangerous, though, especially for the people around him. We'll take a closer look at what's led up to the Charlie Sheen we're seeing now.
And let's flashback 50 years. On this date in 1961, President John f. Kennedy officially established the Peace Corps. Since then, more than 200,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries. More than a third of the volunteers serving in Africa.
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COSTELLO: New information coming in to CNN about Christina Aguilera. She is now accused of public drunkeness, according to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. Authorities say the pop singer, who famously flubbed the national anthem at the Super Bowl, was in the passenger seat in a car driven by her boyfriend. The couple was pulled over by officers at 2:45 this morning. Boyfriend was cited for driving under the influence, but officials also accused Aguilera of being drunk. So, they brought her back to the station and detained her for her own safety. She's been released on $250 bail.
And everyone seems to be having a little fun at Charlie Sheen's expense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, LATE NIGHT HOST: Charlie Sheen, in case you have not been watching television today, has officially gone crazy. And not just a little crazy. Gary Busey thinks he's nuts.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Charlie, thanks for sitting down and talking with me. I want to talk today not about the drug or the TV show or even the porn stars. I want to talk about current events. Who do you think is more insane, you or Moammar Gadhafi?
CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: Look at me! Duh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Charlie Sheen's publicist resigned today. His publicist resigned. Yes, I don't know about you but I'm really excited to see what Charlie's like now that he's allowed to say whatever he wants.
(LAUGHTER)
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COSTELLO: Ooh, and last night, Sheen spoke live to our Piers Morgan with his most revealing interview to date. But should we be so surprised about how shocked Charlie Sheen is acting by his ego?
Sharon Waxman is an editor for "The Wrap." So, Sharon, thank you for joining us first of all.
SHARON WAXMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHEIF, "THE WRAP": Sure.
COSTELLO: I want to focus on enabling, and how Hollywood forgives a star who makes them a lot of money. We decided to take a trip into Sheen's past and found that since 1990, there were 32 incidents involving alcohol, drugs, prostitution and worse.
Take a look at this graphic. In 1991, he accidentally shoots his fiancee, Kelly Preston. In 1995, a case is settled with a woman claiming Sheen beat her for refusing sex. In '97, he avoids jail time after pleading no contest to assault charges. 2006, his estranged wife, Denise Richards, gets a restraining order. She claims physical and verbal abuse. In 2009, he was arrested for threatening his wife with a knife. And in 2010, an escort describes a frightful night with Sheen in his hotel room.
So, Sharon, we hero-worship Sheen - and don't say we don't, because we do. His show is the No. 1 comedy. First of all, what does that say about us?
WAXMAN: Well, I mean, I think what we don't know is what Charlie Sheen is looking to accomplish by this constant going from one interview to another. So, what we're seeing is something different than all of those years of incidents in which you have to look at each one individually to know whether the person in question would press charges, because in a lot of cases, they wouldn't.
And the main thing for his employers at CBS and Warner Brothers, when you're talking about enabling, is that he still showed up to work and he did his job. What's happening now is you just have somebody in complete meltdown, and he's doing it in our 21st century way, which is on full display on the media in real-time, so we can all participate. That's something rather different.
COSTELLO: But couldn't you argue -- I mean, Charlie Sheen now is threatening to sue CBS. CBS is threatening to counter-sue Charlie Sheen. But didn't CBS sort of suspect this kind of behavior? That Sheen's behavior would turn into what it has become? Didn't they know? Shouldn't they have known?
WAXMAN: Charlie Sheen is an individual with rights and he has a private life. So, it's not as if CBS has the right to go in and arrest someone or otherwise intervene. There are contractual limitations on what is appropriate for them to do as an employer, as a company, and Warner Brothers is technically who is employing him because they're the production company.
And there have been attempts to send him to rehab before, and he has gone to rehab before. In fact, he said he went to rehab, and that's kind of what it took. It took Les Moonves', as Charlie explained, once again - he's told the story several times now to Piers Morgan. He's told it again. Les Mooves, the head of CBS, came over to his house, sat in his kitchen and said, "Dude, you're out of control," and finally, he needed to go to rehab. He said, okay, and I went, and now I'm cured.
COSTELLO: But isn't it more than that? I mean, I understand alcohol problems and I understand drug problems, but all of these alleged abuses against women, and some of them were serious. This is different than just dealing with alcohol issues.
WAXMAN: Right, and he has faced --
COSTELLO: So you have a show about a guy who is a misogynist, and we all laugh about it?
WAXMAN: It's a very popular show.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I know!
WAXMAN: I mean, if you are suggesting that television executives should not put people on television who have misbehaved in their private live, there would be many fewer people on television and in the movies.
COSTELLO: I'm just wondering about Chris Brown with Rihanna. He paid a price, right? I mean, he's appearing on television now. But it took awhile. That didn't happen with Charlie Sheen.
WAXMAN: Charlie Sheen has been arrested, and he has had to go to court and faced jail and had to deal with the legal consequences of his behavior. Now, we are in an entirely different sphere, which is he's basically -- he's self-destroyed his career, essentially. And now he's completely pulverizing whatever public sympathy he may have had out there in the interviews.
In one after another, we are just going to finally ask, "Won't he please just go away?" because this week, we have more interviews of Charlie Sheen undoubtedly saying more of the same, and how much do we want to hear and what is he trying to accomplish honestly? I think that we just kind of have heard what he has to say, and at a certain point, even those of us in the media, who find it kind of horrifically fascinating will probably say, okay, we're tired of this. Go away, please.
COSTELLO: We'll see. Sharon Waxman, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. WAXMAN: Thank you.
A pop star is giving away $1 million. Why? She says the Gadhafi family gave it to her. We'll explain, next.
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COSTELLO: This just into the CNN NEWSROOM. Reports say the economy is getting back on track, but the unrest in the Arab world could be affecting that, too. Listen to Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, who said this just minutes ago to the Senate banking committee.
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BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Although overall inflation is low, since summer, we have seen significant increases in highly visible prices, including those of gasoline and other commodities. Notably in the past few weeks, concerns about unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, and the possible effects of global oil supplies, have led oil and gasoline prices to rise further.
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COSTELLO: Right now, the average cost of a gallon of regular is $3.37, up nearly 17 cents in the past week.
For years, Moammar Gadhafi has lived a life of opulence in Libya, and so has his family. But you may be surprised who else has shared in the bounty. Canadian pop singer Nelly Furtado says the family, the Gadhafi family, paid her $1 million to perform a private, 45-minute show in Italy. That was in 2007. Furtado says she will now donate that money to charity.
Gadhafi's son reportedly hired R&B stars Usher and Beyonce for a million bucks for a personal concert in 2009. That's according to the diplomatic cables produced by Wikileaks. The stars are not commenting. Nor is Lionel Richie. Wikileaks said he performed in Libya in 2006. The concert marked the 20th anniversary of a U.S. raid on the North African country.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: That's just insane. They like to party, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I guess so, huh?
COSTELLO: It's unbelievable.
MALVEAUX: We'll see what happens, huh?
COSTELLO: Yes. I'm sure you'll have many more updates on Libya, and I'll join you in five minutes.
MALVEAUX: Good! All right, thanks, Carol. Appreciate it!
