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Three- to Four-Foot Hole Opens in Jet; Growing Anger in Japan; Probe Suggests School Cheated; Unrest in Syria Setting Off Alarms; Heroin: Making a Comeback; Coping with a Drug Addict; Massacre Reported in West Africa; No More Child's Play; Berlusconi's Sex Trial; Spring Brings More Snow to New England

Aired April 02, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and it's 3:00 in Washington, D.C., noon in Los Angeles.

Checking the headlines at the top of the hour right now.

Workers at Japan's crippled nuclear plant are pouring concrete into a cracked shaft that's outside Reactor Two. Highly radioactive water is leaking out of that basin and into the ocean. They suspect one of the many pipes inside the reactor is leaking radioactive material.

And Southwest Airlines has grounded 79 planes for inspections after a terrifying incident yesterday. A three- to four-foot hole opened in the roof of Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 right after it took off from Phoenix. The pilot was able to make an emergency landing in a military base in Yuma, Arizona.

Debbie Downey and her husband Larry were on board.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DEBBIE DOWNEY, PASSENGER ABOARD SOUTHWEST FLIGHT 812: My husband said, when he looked up, it's immediately, "Oh, my gosh. It's a blue sky." We looked at each other and thought. "Oh, my gosh. This is not a good sign," immediately put our head down, looked up, see the air masks fell down immediately within seconds, so we grabbed our masks, started to kind of look out the window.

And as soon as I tried to look out the window and put up the shade screens, the aircraft went into a complete nose dive -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

DOWNEY: -- fast.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Incredibly scary stuff.

No one was injured, by the way.

In Little Rock, Arkansas, an Atlantic Southeast Airlines jet was forced to make an emergency landing after it struck a flock of birds. You can see the damage to the plane's nose in the pictures that you're seeing here.

The 49 passengers and crew members were a little shaken up, but no one, thankfully, was hurt.

NASA engineers are inspecting the Space Shuttle today. A nasty thunderstorm caused minor damage this week after lightning struck near the launch pad. Insulating foam at the top of the Endeavour's external fuel tank was damaged.

Endeavour's final mission is scheduled to begin April 19th.

All right, three suicide bombers targeted a NATO base in Kabul, Afghanistan today. Two set off bombs near the base. Police killed the third bomber before he could strike. No one else was hurt.

This is according to Afghan officials. No word yet from NATO.

And it seemed like an odd place to talk about oil exploration, but President Obama went to a UPS Center in Maryland to applaud the company for using clean energy vehicles. He says that will cut our need for imported oil, and so will drilling for more of America's offshore oil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This week, I released a blueprint for a secure energy future. It's a strategy to reduce the oil we import from around the world, and to make our economy stronger at home.

Part of the strategy involves increasing our oil exploration right here in America. In fact, our oil production last year reached its highest level since 2003, and we want to encourage more safe, responsible drilling where we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, it didn't take Republicans too long to respond. House Speaker John Boehner says no matter whether you're talking about oil or jobs, this administration, he says, isn't doing enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Our economy still isn't creating enough jobs, and one of the reasons for this is that the spending binge that's going on here in Washington.

Washington's inability to get spending under control is creating uncertainty for our job creators. It's discouraging investment in small businesses and eroding confidence in our economy. And, to put it simply, the spending binge in Washington is holding our country back and keeping our economy from creating jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk basketball now. The Bulldogs of Butler are hoping to make their second straight NCAA Men's Basketball Finals. They have to get through VCU first. Those two teams meet up in a couple of hours in Houston. Then, later tonight, it's Kentucky versus UConn.

The national championship game is Monday.

All right. Passengers on a Southwest Airlines Flight 812 are no doubt very happy to be safe on the ground today. The Boeing 737 was headed from Phoenix to Sacramento when a gaping hole opened in the roof.

The pilot made an emergency landing at a military base in Yuma, Arizona, and that's where we also find CNN's Ted Rowlands, more on how in the world did this hole happened and how are those passengers doing.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the passengers, as you mentioned, have to be absolutely relieved today, especially thinking back on what they went through. Boy, talk about a terrifying experience.

As for the question of what happened, well, that's the goal of this investigation, and it absolutely needs to be answered. The NTSB is here. They flew out from Washington overnight and earlier today, about ago - a few hours ago, they went on board the plane and actually took the data recording off the plane, and they'll take that back to Washington.

They're also going to take back a hole of the plane, and they cut around the existing hole and test that material, the skin of the aircraft, if you will, back in Washington. They'll also do some work here in Yuma, but, for the most part, they're going to do a lot of the analyzing in Washington, D.C.

A hundred and 18 passengers, five crew members; no serious injuries. However, you can imagine how terrifying it must have been for those folks on board that plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was texting my sister to make sure that she told my kids that I loved them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was in back of me, to the left, and I did hear it. It sounded like a shot, and a lot of air decompressing. And it was quick and it was scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Now, Southwest has dealt with this before. A football- sized hole was basically opened up on a flight back in 2009 in Charleston, West Virginia, and the cause of that, it turned out, was metal fatigue. So basically out in the exterior of the plane, the metal was compromised. In that case, there were no injuries. In this case, there were no injuries. What Southwest has done, they pulled 79 of their flights off the table today and they are testing them, looking at them, analyzing them, looking at the skin.

These are aircraft that were due for a maintenance check, and they're doing that now and the result of it is 300 flights have been canceled today, so there are some delays, but I'm sure passengers would rather suffer a delay in an airport than go through what those folks did in that plane last night --

WHITFIELD: Unbelievable.

ROWLANDS: -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Ted Rowlands there in Yuma, Arizona.

A very stressful job that the NTSB certainly has right now and all those involved in that Southwest Airlines. A very close call.

All right, speaking of jobs, how about you? Are you happy at work?

According to Forbes.com, here are the top five happiest careers in America. Number five, purchasing procurement; number four, administrative assistant; number three, education; number two, customer service.

We'll have number one - the number one career that makes people the happiest right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK, before the break we began listing the top five happiest careers in America according to Forbes.com. But here's number one, topping the list, biotechnology.

All right. Well, the career choices for a group of workers in Japan have actually prompted death threats against them. Japan's nuclear disaster has executives for TEPCO, the utility company, fearing for their lives.

CNN's Kyung Lah reports from Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING JAPANESE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING JAPANESE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING JAPANESE).

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tempers flare at a TEPCO company housing unit for workers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING JAPANESE). LAH: This man is upset that we've shown up on this public street, trying to talk to TEPCO employees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING JAPANESE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING JAPANESE).

LAH: Tokyo police officers, six of them, quickly arrive, and a man who identifies himself only as a company officer for TEPCO explains why.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The people who live here are nervous, he says.

LAH (on camera): Are you worried about the safety of the workers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are a lot of threats on the Internet, he replies. Not just angry threats, but death threats on numerous Japanese Internet chat sites.

LAH (voice-over): One threat is titled "How to Execute a TEPCO Executive." This comment says, "Put them in the pressure vessels," referring to the nuclear plant. And another, "Death is too easy for them. They should go into the plant."

More alarming, the TEPCO executives who have held the news conferences are now seeing their home addresses posted all over the web. Their salaries and criticism for how much top executives make are also on numerous sites.

TEPCO says 40,000 complaints for (ph) the public are coming into their offices every single day. Police officers are now posted around their Tokyo headquarters.

Public criticism towards TELCO has grown almost daily as the company goes back and forth on data and the crisis now threatens to stretch into months, sympathy growing for the workers while rumors the company is forcing families to stay quiet about their health and work conditions inside the plant is fueling resentment against TEPCO. Which is why at the TEPCO company housing unit tensions are so high at the mere sight of a TV crew.

A picture at the front of this building appeared on a blog, reposted on other blogs. The blog then posted this picture, with the words TEPCO on the building were covered with black tape. Today, the sign simply states the neighborhood and the word "dormitory."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is all because of the Fukushima incident, says the TEPCO officer.

LAH: The Tokyo police officer says we can't air any of this tape, even though we're on a public street and in no violation of the law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING JAPANESE).

LAH (on camera): All right. Arigato. LAH (voice-over): An embattled energy company, facing not just a nuclear emergency, but a crisis of public confidence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING JAPANESE).

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Did a public school in Washington, D.C. cheat on its standardized test results? A new investigation suggests yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. When kids score better on tests, their school gets more federal money. So when a national newspaper thought scores at one Washington, D.C. school looked too good to be true, they found some numbers that just didn't add up.

Here's CNN's Sandra Endo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE RHEE, FORMER D.C. SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR: Good job. Can you give me five? Give me five.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 2009, then D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee tours (ph) Crosby Noyes Education Campus, an elementary school that went from being on the "needs to improve" list to receiving a national blue ribbon for improvement in test scores just two years later under her watch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sequencing. Right -

ENDO: Now, the school's at the heart of a national investigation into erasure rates of answers on standardized tests. A "USA Today" probe found that from 2007 to 2010, Noyes Elementary had extraordinarily high rates of erasures, where wrong answers were changed to right ones.

More than 100 other schools in Washington are also in question. According to the investigation, 80 percent of classrooms at Noyes were flagged by the testing company for irregularly high rates of changing answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chance - and we put this in the story - of winning the lottery is more likely than this - that this rate of erasures to occur by chance.

ENDO: When the story first broke, in an interview the former chancellor quickly went on the defensive, saying the school system paid for an independent review of the tests which found no wrongdoing.

RHEE: If you look at the story overall, I think it absolutely lacks credibility.

ENDO: Then some back pedaling just days later, where Rhee admits some cheating may have been involved.

RHEE: I can't say for certain that some people, you know, may not have - have done what they were supposed to do.

ENDO (on camera): With higher test scores posted here at Noyes Elementary and other D.C. schools, in 2009 the district was awarded an additional $75 million in federal funding for public and charter schools. With millions of dollars at stake, the pressure to perform is high for schools nationwide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Testing became the number one issue, no matter what. There were a decrease in programs like art and music and an increase in programs such as test taking strategies.

This is the unfortunate byproduct of that type of environment.

ENDO (voice-over): Education experts say misleading test results shatter the picture of any real gains in the classroom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If these allegations are true, and adults are - are cheating kids, because we're not getting a true reading of how well they're learning, so it's terrible. It's damaging.

ENDO: D.C.'s Board of Education is going to hold a hearing to further investigate what happened with those scores.

Sandra Endo, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has so far declined repeated requests for a CNN interview.

All right, three weeks after Japan's quake and tsunami, rescuers made a surprising discovery. Look closely at this debris found floating off Japan's coast Friday. See, right there in the debris? A four- legged little survivor.

More when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Checking our top stories, workers at Japan's crippled nuclear plant poured concrete into a cracked shaft that's outside Reactor Two, but we're told the effort failed. Highly radioactive water is leaking out of that basin into the ocean. They suspect one of the many pipes inside the reactor is leaking radioactive material.

A surprising discovery more than a mile off the Japanese coast. Just look really closely there. What do you see? A dog floating on a damaged rooftop there, now rescued. It's been more than three weeks since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

The Japanese Coast Guard rescued him, as you see, and then promptly gave him a little blanket and some treats of biscuit and sausage. All right, we're hearing that President Barack Obama might be filing papers with the Federal Election Commission next week. The "Chicago Sun Times" reports that the president will register as a candidate for reelection within the next few days.

The president already has some fundraisers lined up this month, including an event in his hometown of Chicago.

All right, Southwest Airlines has grounded 79 planes for inspections after a terrifying incident. A three- to four-foot hole opened in the roof of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 after it took off from phoenix. The pilot was able to make an emergency landing at a military base in Yuma, Arizona.

Are you hearing boos there? It was very unwelcome crowd there as Florida Governor Rick Scott tossed out the opening pitch at the Tampa Bay Rays' opening game last night. A social media campaign launched on Twitter and Facebook urged people to boo the governor.

It's part of a larger protest over Scott's recent decisions about state spending cuts. He waved anyway.

All right, the U.S. and U.N. are closely watching what's going on in Syria. Anti-government protesters were fired on yesterday in several Syrian cities. The U.N. Secretary-General today condemned what he called violence against peaceful demonstrators.

Let's bring in our senior State Department producer Elise Labott. So, Elise, you know, Syria - well, it doesn't have oil and its economy is in shambles, so why is the U.S. so interested in all that happens there?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Well, Fred, Syria is really critical to all the U.S. policies in the region, starting with the Middle East peace process. The U.S. has really tried to bring Syria along and it's really been seen as really critical in terms of a comprehensive Mid-East peace.

Syria is also very involved with Hezbollah, Hamas. The U.S. has been trying to pull it away from Iran.

So a lot of concern that if President Assad were to go, that Syria could become a real destabilizing factor in the region. At the same time, it could also present a lot of opportunities for the U.S. in terms of weakening Iran's influence in the region.

So while we see a lot of focus on Libya right now, Syria, really, a lot of critical U.S. interests at play here, really at the center of the Middle East.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder, you know, if, you know, Assad were to fall, does the U.S. feel like it has a pretty good grasp of what's behind this opposition or this protest movement? Just as the U.S. says, it has a pretty good grasp of those who are behind that opposition movement in Libya? LABOTT: I don't think it has really any knowledge at all, Fred, because the truth is that there really is no viable opposition, so to speak, in Syria. As we've seen in a lot of countries around the region, particularly in Syria, there are a lot of people that want President Bashar al-Assad to go. But there - because he's ruled with such an iron fist over the years and his father before him, there's really not seen as any kind of viable political opposition.

And so they're really concerned that if President Assad were to go, they're really in the territory of the unknown. They're worried about a potential civil war, which could open up a lot of sectarian tensions in the region.

President Bashar is from the Alawite Tribe, which is an offshoot of Shia Islam, and there's really a Sunni majority in the county. So this could really blow the lid off a lot of those sectarian tensions, so very concerned about what they don't know.

WHITFIELD: OK. You know, this is perhaps one of the biggest challenges ever for U.S. foreign relations. So much at stake in the Middle East all at once. Is the State Department and the White House feeling this enormous pressure to get it right and to have a consistent worldwide message?

LABOTT: They're really juggling a lot, Fred. I mean, they've really - the Obama administration has tried to stick to some basic principles - no violence, protection of human rights and the right of all of the people in all of these countries to protest peacefully, and via freedom of assembly.

But, at the same time, as we've been discussing, the U.S. has various interests in a lot of these different countries. In Yemen, the President Saleh is really a close ally of the United States and is fighting al Qaeda in his country. King Abdullah in Jordan, a very close ally. We've talked about Syria. It's really a lot harder for the U.S. to call for these leaders to go as it is in Libya where there aren't a lot of vital interests.

So they're really juggling a lot right now. We saw in Egypt, when they finally decided to cut Mubarak loose, so to speak, that was a critical ally of 30 years. So they're really trying to - to stick to those basic principles, but just not have a cookie cutter approach to the region because it's very complex.

WHITFIELD: All right, Elise Labott, thanks so much. From Washington. Appreciate that.

LABOTT: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead, we're going to talk about a problem that is disrupting a whole lot of American families. Drug addiction is on the rise in some circles. So what kind of help is available for families and those who are hooked?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Drug use affects the entire family, the people closest to the person with the addiction. And in this "In Your House" report, Julie Peterson spent time with the parents of a long time heroin addict to learn more about the family's struggles.

We've changed their names to protect their son's privacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE PETERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sculpture as therapy.

GRACE, MOTHER OF HEROIN ADDICT (voice-over): I did a series called "Addiction" a couple of years ago. That involved small pieces of figures who wear striped suits and bags over their heads. The bags represent fearlessness, not facing reality, being out of control and shame.

PETERSON: Meet Grace and Mark, parents of Robby, a 26-year-old heroin addict. He started smoking and drinking marijuana as a teen and quickly moved on to other drugs.

MARK, FATHER OF HEROIN ADDICT (voice-over): Crystal meth, crack cocaine, cocaine. Drugs like ecstasy, LSD.

GRACE: Some we have not even heard of.

PETERSON: Grace's art work reflects their struggles over the past dozen years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The parent tries to fix the child. The child grows dependent on being fixed. Therefore, the parent and the child are held prisoner.

PETERSON: To deal with his drug abuse, they tried everything. They sent him to boarding school in Utah. After that, it was college in North Carolina, but he flunked out after one semester. His parents decided to move him back closer to home to Georgia.

(on camera): This is the Atlanta neighborhood where Grace and Mark tried to give their troubled son a fresh start. They rented him an apartment and he promised to get a job. But they say he didn't hold up his end of end of the deal, he didn't get a job.

The apartment became deplorable, obscene graffiti written on the wall, dog's feces on the bed and drug dealers who moved in. There was no longer any doubt their son was an addict. So they made the tough love decision and cut him off.

(voice-over): Robby wound up on the streets homeless. He moved around living at various times in Miami, New Orleans and Chattanooga where he broke his back jumping off a bridge after a night of heavy drinking.

Over four years, his parents still had to step in and rescue Robby after each episode. Their stress and anger drove them to a group called "Families Anonymous" for help. GRACE: When I go to these meetings, I know that that support system is there and that it is powerful.

PETERSON: The group offers a 12-step program for families of addicts and persuaded them to relax the permanent safety net that they've created for Robby.

MARK: No question. We hope the best for him. We love him. We want him to have a happy, productive life and hopefully he will.

GRACE: But whether he does or not, it's up to him. It's his choice.

PETERSON: The last call Mark and Grace got from Robby came after four months of hearing nothing from him.

MARK: Our son is currently in New Orleans.

PETERSON: He told them he wanted to go into detox again. This time, they told him how to help himself.

MARK: We gave him numbers to call to arrange detox. We also assisted with that.

PETERSON: After four days, Robby left detox.

MARK: We assume he is back on the streets.

PETERSON: Through "Families Anonymous," Mark and Grace say they've learned it's OK to take care of themselves.

GRACE: The last year or two, we've experienced more joy because our conscience are clear.

PETERSON: As seen in Grace's art work.

GRACE: One piece is called recovery. It is a smiling face with bags that hang down from it as if the baggage has been left behind.

PETERSON: Julie Peterson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So if this story sounds familiar to you and your family listened to Jeff Vanvonderen. He is a professional interventionist and he can help. He's joining us right now from Wisconsin.

So, Jeff, you know, we heard in the story that this family tried a whole lot of these things. They've tried the tough love. They've tried boarding school, sending him off to college, giving this child opportunity.

But in the end, does it boil down to the person who is addicted, their willingness to seek intervention and to get help?

JEFF VANVONDEREN, INTERVENTIONIST: I mean, from listening to their story, one of the things I wanted to point out is that there is a difference between sobriety and recovery. Sobriety means you are not using. Recovery means healing and quality of life and living skills and coping mechanisms.

It sounds like they have time and time again they were trying to get him sober, but never really addressed the recovery issue. What happens is that when a person is sober -- if you want them sober, you can kidnap them and lock them in the closet. They are sober, but that doesn't solve the problems going on within the person.

So his willpower to not use is less strong than his need for the chemical. Then he relapses over and over again. So that is one of the issues. I heard the person talking about co--dependency and becoming dependent on the addict.

It is not that the addict becomes dependent on the parent's trying to fix them. It's that the parents actually become dependent on trying to fix them. So just like the addict --

WHITFIELD: Because you love this family member. You want to see them recover. You want to see them return to the person that you always known them to be. So that seems very natural for a family by accident become enablers.

VANVONDEREN: Yes, it is very natural. It is not helpful. What happens is, you end up supporting all kinds of things that you don't really agree with on the inside. For that very reason you just said. Just like the addict has a mood-altering substance, the addict becomes the mood-altering substance for the family.

They are doing great, looking good and trying hard and making promises, the family members mood alter up and when they're, you know, breaking promises and getting caught and doing scary things, the family members mood alter down.

They can become as pre-occupied with their loved one as their loved one is with heroin. They can develop all kinds of routines on how to fix their loved one. Just like the heroin addict has to have routines on how to get the heroin and how they inject it.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder what kind of advice you can give to the family out there listening to you right now saying, OK, my son, my daughter, my husband, my wife is an addict.

And I hear you when say it's going to be up to the addict to want to change themselves. How do you as a family member help get them to that point without helping to prolong this dependency?

VANVONDEREN: Well, there are a couple of things. One thing is stop supporting everything on the outside that you don't agree with anything on the inside.

If you don't agree with an addict living in your apartment rent free, don't let your addict live in your apartment rent free. You are actually buying their heroin and that is saying that the family members --

WHITFIELD: You say kick them out.

VANVONDEREN: Another thing that is essential is that they started taking care of themselves. They decided that they had to be well whether the addict got well or not.

When they do that, the addict's problem becomes the addict's problem and once that happens, then the attitude changes. Because what addicts to is they manage to have the problem, but pass the pain and consequences off to everybody else and that doesn't help the addict.

WHITFIELD: All right, bottom line, no easy fix. But I know you've helped a lot of folks just in those couple two or three minutes that we've been talking. Jeff Vanvonderen, thanks so much for your time. I appreciate it.

VANVONDEREN: I appreciate you having me. Thanks very much.

WHITFIELD: All right. It has been an especially brutal winter in Boston where thousands of women are homeless, but this week's "CNN Hero" tries to give them something they can count on, quality health care right in the shelters. Her name is Roseanna Means. Here is her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEANNA MEANS: Are you OK? Every week, I talk to women sleeping outside. It's only 17 degrees out so I didn't want you to get frozen. There's so much pain and suffering right on the fringes of our perspective. Do you need some help?

In Boston, despite all of the medical resources for the homeless population, I was seeing very few of the women using the services, for women who are poor, homeless or battered, to deal with a system of health care. It becomes overwhelming. They don't have an address. They don't have a phone. There are lots of emotional issues, psychiatric issues.

I just did not like the idea they were falling through the cracks. I'm Dr. Roseanna Means. I bring free quality medical care to the women in the shelters of Boston. The women come into the shelters to get warm and feel safe and we are there.

There is no registration. We are not charging anything. If they want to come see us, we will use that moment to try to build a relationship. This is my safety net.

The women learn to trust us as ambassadors of the health care system. Over time, we can teach them how to use the system as it was intended. Eventually they do move forward.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I knew she cared, I started wanting to take care of myself.

MEANS: I love these women no matter what. That starts to get taken inside. That if I matter to somebody else, maybe I matter to myself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, we always want to hear from you. Tell us about the heroes in your life, in your community. Send your nominations to cnn.com/heroes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Some very disturbing news coming from West Africa. A United Nations agency says today that hundreds of people have been killed, shot to death, in the Ivory Coast.

Ralitsa Vassileva is here from CNN International. Thank you - what you did great job explaining to us last week because a lot of people did not know about the conflict that has been bubbling over the last election and the president who was dethroned and not leaving and now it has led to this.

RALITSA VASSILEVA, ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT, CNNI: Well, what a difference a week has made. In four days, the supporters of the rightfully elected, internationally recognized president managed to takeover a huge chunk of the country. They now control 80 percent of the country.

It happened because of the military and police support for President Gbagbo, the incumbent who refuses to step down, just switched sides. They were able to reach the commercial capital where there is fierce fighting and looting. People are just hankering down.

But the most disturbing news came yesterday when the international committee of the Red Cross said they had seen 800 bodies in a town in the west. The U.N. today came up and said that they have seen 330 people killed there both mercenaries and civilians. And they blamed that massacre mostly on the supporters of the internationally recognized president.

WHITFIELD: And are there any details? Were people wrestled from their homes? People who were in some common area and that's why they were targeted, what's the story behind that?

VASSILEVA: It is still very murky. They're still trying to get --

WHITFIELD: They are trying to find a clear story.

VASSILEVA: Both sides were involved. They also say this is retaliation from the internationally recognized president's forces who are allied with him. This was retaliation. They are warning that the tension is so high that the country could really go into an orgy of retaliation.

So they're saying if this comes to a head, it looks like he will finally be able to assume the presidency if Gbagbo falls, which looks like he might because he only has a few loyalist who are left with him.

The military has left him. His army chief fled to South Africa. We were talking about the brink of civil war. One million people have fled. So it's a very dicey situation like last weekend we're talking the country being on the brink of civil war. One million people from Abijan have fled. It is still --

WHITFIELD: The longer it takes, possibly the more volatile and possibly more violent. Ralitsa, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

We will have much more from the NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Remember how your either parents always said, just go outside and play. Well, a neighborhood in Central Florida is trying to ban kids from actually doing that. I talked with our legal guides, Avery Friedman and Richard Herman about that earlier.

It sounds crazy on the surface. There is a good argument. Edgewater, Florida. The homeowners association for 48 town homes say it is not safe for kids to be playing tag or skateboarding in the town homes there. If you do so, there will be a $100 fine for every violation. Richard, can HOA Really do this lawfully?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They can, Fred, they can and they should. Homeowners association, condominium boards, co-op boards are in charge of the common areas for these facilities. And what this board is saying is that for safety reasons, this is a parking lot.

Kids should not be riding. If one of these kids should get injured or hit by a car, this community is going to sued for a lot of money. They don't want that. They are trying to protect the environment. If you don't like it, vote new people in the homeowners, have your vote heard and try to over roll it.

WHITFIELD: So then I wonder does this neighborhood not have a playground? The money that people spend toward their HOA, does that mean the HOA now has to be aware of the populous there and there are kids and there needs to be a safe place to play. Why not erect a playground? Might that be a decent argument?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: I guess. Fredricka, the fact is that this activity, this proposal, is a dope-slap concept That flies in the face of the federal fair housing act. Ronald Reagan enacted -- or signed a law in 1988 that prohibits the homeowners association from doing what they are doing.

Let me tell you something, Justice Department will be down there, the only one bringing suit in federal court faster than they will be me. There's no way they can justify the law, $100 for playing tag? I don't think so.

WHITFIELD: We're moving to a case that is so embarrassing. My goodness, we're talking about the Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi scheduled to go to court, to trial on Wednesday. He's accused of paying underage young women, particularly one named Ruby, for sex and then trying to cover it up. But what's interesting here too, that's interesting on the surface, right? But what's even more interesting is that actor George Clooney is among those being called by the defense to testify. Where in the world is this one going, Richard? Why would Clooney be in all this??

HERMAN: First, Fred, your dress is so neon. I don't know when you signed up for the cast of "Grease", but I have to --

HERMAN: Hey, hey, hey, hey, take it easy, man. Holy smokes. It's overwhelming.

WHITFIELD: You got the pink memo, I see.

HERMAN: But you look marvelous. You look Marvelous. Hey, listen, why is Clooney -- why are they bringing him in? Why are they bringing for Ruby. Why they're bringing her down for the Bunga-Bunga trial?

Because Ruby made that some comments to the police when she was interviewed and she said, at one of the dinners I saw George Clooney with his date. So the Clooney's defense team just wants to corroborate her.

They want to show, yes, that she wasn't lying to police because she adamantly denies that Berlusconi even laid a finger on her. So that's going to be hard to prove a rape case if the victim said she was never raped.

WHITFIELD: You can finish your point, I'm sorry.

HERMAN: I'm just saying it's a ridiculous case against Berlusconi, like the other hundred previous cases brought against him. The guy is just Teflon. They can't get him.

WHITFIELD: That's a lot of love for Berlusconi. So Avery, Clooney is saying, OK, yeS, we had a conversation, but it was about money to Darfur.

FRIEDMAN: Right. It was not about bunga bunga. In fact, it was about Darfur and that fact is that that's exactly right. Ruby, the heart stealer, did identify George at a party. His girlfriend says, well, we weren't there.

But the fact that George is on the list. There's 78 people on the list. He's not going to testify in this case. If he does, he's not going to help the prosecution. Interesting, but I think it's going nowhere, absolutely nowhere.

WHITFIELD: Interesting stuff. All right, It's like a soap opera, isn't it?

FRIEDMAN: Isn't it?

WHITFIELD: Riveting.

HERMAN: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: Avery Richard, always good to see you. Yes, I'm totally digging the shades there. That's hot, very hot.

HERMAN: We're digging your outfit, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Always digging that Richard and Avery, they're so funny. OK, Karen Maginnis, always digging you too. Here we go.

KAREN MAGINIS, METEOROGOLIST: We've got lots of stuff to tell you about. Let's start out with Maine. In sections of New England, they saw between 3 and 6 inches of snowfall, but our I-Rreporter, Margaret Donahue, shot this.

She's near Baxter State Park, known for moose, but instead now they have got 14 inches of snowfall on the ground so very spectacular. But here's what we've got coming up over the next 24 to 72 hours. All the way from just south of Chicago towards Dallas.

By Sunday evening could see a round of severe thunderstorms, could see hail, strong winds as well as some frequent lightning and the possibility of tornados. It shifts towards the south central United States and into the Tennessee and Ohio River Valleys, going into Monday.

But by Tuesday in towards the Carolinas, so we've got a lot of activity to tell you about. We'll stay on top of it and bring you some updates, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Karen. Appreciate that. When we come back, I'll ask reality TV show star Bethany Frankel why she thinks it's better to say yes than no.>

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. If you are a reality TV show fan, you probably know her as just Bethany. Bethany Frankel, a natural food chef, brain child behind skinny girl margaritas and now author of three books.

She's very public about just about everything in her life. The star of "Bethany Frankel Ever After" on Bravo tells me face-to-face why she's advising you to say yes more than no.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: One wonders where do you have time to pen yet another book? This one a place of yes, ten rules for getting everything you want out of life. Where did this come from?

BETHANY FRANKEL: Basically the way that I got here in my life is coming from a place of yes. It doesn't mean that I'm always positive or always in a good mood.

It's just that there is no such word as "no" in my vocabulary and it's just yes, it will get it done, it will happen, I will make it happen and keep going, plow straight through things.

WHITFIELD: So first you break the chain and then you say in your book you have ten rules. Everything is your business. Give every job your all, respect others, and play fair. You know, something tells me that you detailed this in a very unique way.

FRANKEL: If you're bartending, if you are a bus boy, if you choose to do a job, you can't think it's beneath you and you have to treat it like it's the most important job in the world.

WHITFIELD: You have to take pride in that job, whatever that you have and whatever is in your grasp, be the best at it because you never know, it might be a stepping stone to the next thing.

FRANKEL: Yes, I moved to L.A. when I was 21. The first thing I did was I went to bartending school. I thought that was so stupid, when I'm ever going to use that. That was a waste of money and now I have the number one ready to drink cocktail, skinny girl margarita. All roads lead to Rome, which is another big rule.

WHITFIELD: How did that road to Rome lead you to reality shows?

FRANKEL: It started on the Martha Stewart apprentice. I really wanted to be her predecessors. I wanted to be Martha Stewart's apprentice. "The Real Housewives" was a decision that was very difficult. It was originally called "Manhattan Moms."

I turned down the show because I thought it would ruin everything I had just begun to build. Then I said I have a book, I have a cocktail idea and this could be a great platform. It's not that easy to get on television.

Coming from a place of yes is also being able to sit down and really search for your gut and kind of see the chess board and try to think about how it might be a few steps forward and weigh the pros and cons.

WHITFIELD: Once you got in it, did you identify right away that, you know what, there can be something that happens from here. I could be a breakout star, which is what you ultimately became.

FRANKEL: And that's always been the case. It's been very easy for me because this is what I really do for a living. This is what I was doing before I went on television. I didn't run into the store and stay, my God, I'm on TV. It was all pretty authentic.

WHITFIELD: Was there a moment where you thought venturing in this direction doing housewives might undermine my business sense?

FRANKEL: I absolutely thought doing "Housewives" might destroy what I was doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, next hour, more face to face with Bethany Frankel, the new mom with advice to her daughter and advice for yours.