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Government Shutdown Looming; Trouble in Space?; West Virginia Remembers Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster One Year Later; Gadhafi's Son: Next Leader?; Bristleworms Swarm Florida Beach

Aired April 05, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now top of the hour.

Happening right now, we have been watching NASA here as they have been monitoring a piece of what they call space junk, it's space debris, that could come pretty close to the International Space Station. There are three crew members on board right now, one of whom is an American. But the good news, they got the all-clear within the last hour here. We're told they are not in any danger.

The debris, though, could come closest to the station in the next couple of minutes. So we're still watching that situation for you. And we will take you live back to Florida coming up. But, first, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: The clock is ticking, fingers are pointing. Will the federal government suddenly shut down? The next few hours are critical in this game of political chicken. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: The White House now has increased the likelihood of a shutdown.

BALDWIN: The blame game begins. President Obama, Republicans, Democrats meet behind closed doors at the White House. We are now hearing what happened inside.

The woman who said she was raped and beaten by Moammar Gadhafi's men speaks to CNN. Find out why she's scared for her life.

Plus, more planes, new cracks, and new fears of flying -- what you need to know about your safety in the skies.

And invasion of the worm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two or three times a year they come out of the mud and then get all on top of the water.

BALDWIN: Thousands take over this beach in Florida. We will tell you the reason behind this frenzy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Happening right now, another emergency budget meeting. House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, they will be meeting behind closed doors this hour. In fact, we learned from Brianna Keilar up on Capitol Hill that the meeting will be taking place in Speaker Boehner's office.

Now, the top congressional Democrat and top Republican meeting right now to avert some sort of government shutdown deadline midnight Friday. They failed to get it done at the White House this morning in that closed door meeting. President Obama not so happy about that. He said a short time ago they are close to a deal, but they're quibbling over the details. Here he is, the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Myself, Joe Biden, my team, we are prepared to meet for as long as possible to get this resolved. My understanding is that there is going to be a meeting between Speaker Boehner and Harry Reid this afternoon at 4:00. The speaker apparently didn't want our team involved in that discussion.

That is fine. If they can sort it out, then we have got more than enough to do. If they can't sort it out, then I want them back here tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. Let's go to congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar. There she is.

Brianna, you were the one. We talked the last hour. You broke the news to us that this meeting between House Majority Leader -- Senate Majority Leader Reid and House Speaker Boehner is happening Speaker Boehner's office. I know we're three minutes into the top of the hour. Have you learned anything in a few minutes? I'm guessing no.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, we haven't learned anything. We're going to be waiting until the end of this meeting to get a readout.

But I can certainly tell you where this meeting is taking place. I am right now outside of the House chamber. So, this is going on in Speaker Boehner's office. If you were to sort of go through all of those tourists there and in between those two statues, hang a left once you get through that doorway, you would be in the speaker's office.

I wish it were so simple, Brooke, because we could go in there and listen and figure out exactly what Senate Democrats and House Republicans are talking about. But we will be waiting to get a readout from that meeting as soon as we can.

BALDWIN: OK. So you will wait for the readout. And that's kind of exciting, I guess, for those tourists visiting Capitol Hill, a little of excitement on the Hill today.

We also know that both sides are very busy talking smoke and mirrors, blaming one another. Let's listen.

KEILAR: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: What you have right now is the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party in the House saying it's our way or it's a shutdown. You have got to get 100 percent of what we demanded or we're going to shut down the government.

CANTOR: The White House now has increased the likelihood of a shutdown in just dismissing out of hand a vehicle that we have put forward to say, look, we don't want a shutdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So perhaps, and we heard from the president maybe they are close. But why risk it, Brianna? Why play this game of political chicken and risk a government shutdown?

KEILAR: Well, right now, they are saying they don't want a shutdown, but, Brooke, the fact is both sides are so far apart on at least their demands when we talk about what is really going on at this point.

So what are the sticking points? Well, first off, you have the amount of spending cuts that Democrats in the White House vs. House Republicans, what really they are willing to take here. You look at Republicans, they want $61 billion in spending cuts for the rest of the budget year.

Democrats are saying, we will go to $33 billion. That's quite a bit of money. And right now, it's been days and both sides are really not budging on that. But there's another issue that maybe isn't getting as much play I think when we talk about this, but it's very important. And that has to do with hot-button social issues.

House Republicans, the conservative wing of House Republicans, they are demanding that health care reform be defunded in this bill and that Planned Parenthood be defunded in this bill. They also want to take on the Environmental Protection Agency.

Those are what are being called as -- you may have them called policy riders, when we heard Speaker Boehner talk before, and he said those are on the table. So, those are certainly part of the discussions that will be going on between Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

BALDWIN: OK, Brianna, so Congress is your beat. You're talking to your sources. You're listening to the whispers in the hallway. Are you seeing -- I have heard they are passing out pamphlets. Are you seeing preparations in the case for a shutdown? KEILAR: Well, nothing is really that different, other than kind of the buzz of there's a whole lot of news going on. But we do know that certainly the administration is telling departments, OK, you need to prepare a contingency plan for this, if there is going to be a shutdown.

We know some of the things, Brooke, that will be shut down, national parks all across the country. You come here as a tourist in the Mall, you can look at the Washington Monument. You're not going to be able to go into it. And that's going to be the case for all national parks and museums.

One thing that kind of struck me, I was talking to one aide who said, well, I have hit my parents up and told them, if I'm not getting a paycheck, I'm going to need you to spot me a little cash. When you talk about kind of the day in, day out of some of the employees here on the Hill, that's one of the things I have heard.

BALDWIN: I see. So mom and dad will be footing the bill if this government shutdown happens. Brianna Keilar, let us know if you learn anything within this next hour there in that office of the doorway right beyond your right shoulder. Brianna, thank you.

And now I want to take you to space. The focus this hour is this teeny-tiny piece of debris, well, it's six inches square, and also the safety of the International Space Station. Now, NASA is predicting this debris could come near the station in the next couple of minutes. The good news is we have heard now the crew up there, the three-member crew, it's all clear. They are safe. But we are watching the situation and we will take you live to Florida for the latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are still continuing to watch what is happening in space right now.

Here's the story. There's this six-inch square piece of this old Chinese satellite. It's not too far now from the International Space Station. So NASA says that this piece of space junk, this debris, will come closest to the space station in just a couple of minutes.

So last hour NASA determined it's not serious enough in terms of a threat to force the three station crew members to seek shelter in the Soyuz, but they are still watching this thing very closely. In fact, just a short time ago, I spoke with someone who knows about hopping in the Soyuz, is all too familiar with a potential emergency, former astronaut Norm Thagard.

NORM THAGARD, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: You do get these calls from time to time any time the estimation is it will pass within a certain distance.

Only once on my almost four-month flight did we actually have to get in the capsule. And in the case of the Mir space station, it had no capability to change its orbit, unlike apparently we just heard the International Space Station can do, so if it is coming close enough, you have no choice but to use the Soyuz, because ultimately it is your lifeboat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's John Zarrella joining me now live from Miami.

John, Dr. Thagard explained to me that it's actually the Air Force who watches and measures the trajectory of, right, this piece of debris, relays that information then to NASA. So they are the ones watching this right now.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, that's absolutely right. They are the ones that have their eyes on every piece of space junk up there that they can physically see and track. And, of course, as we know, there is lots of other stuff out there that is too small that they simply can't see.

And then, as in the case of this piece, it was not detected until too late in the game for them to maneuver the space station away from it. So that's why they had to give the astronauts the heads-up that they might have to get into that Soyuz lifeboat. But fortunately, they didn't have to do that.

And, Brooke, I spent about a year with this particular crew, astronaut Cady Coleman, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli and the Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev. And we were in Houston when they went through training for just these kinds of eventualities, a piece of debris, a fire in the station, a chemical leak, anything that might happen, and what they have to do.

So there are procedures that they go through as soon as they get the word that, hey, something is wrong or something might be wrong, and there's a whole checklist of things they have to do to get ready.

BALDWIN: Yes, it sounds to me they are uber-prepared. And in talking to Dr. Thagard, he was saying this is sort of small potatoes, the idea of this teeny piece of debris potentially coming towards them. He wasn't too worried.

ZARRELLA: Unless...

BALDWIN: Unless what?

(CROSSTALK)

ZARRELLA: Yes, unless you get hit by a piece of that debris, he's absolutely right, because traveling at 17,500 miles an hour, even a small piece of debris can leave a substantial hole or dent or something that could very easily be problematic for the space station if it were to be struck.

BALDWIN: All right, well, let us know definitively when that piece of space junk passes by the ISS, will you, John Zarrella?

ZARRELLA: Yes. Will do.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. ZARRELLA: Will do.

BALDWIN: Now to this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get in the vehicle and drive down the road. Ain't no different when you go underground. If it's your time to die, you're going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The life of a coal miner, today marking the one year since 29 miners died in West Virginia. Coming up, I will take you there and you will hear more from that 19-year-old I met there in West Virginia a year ago.

Also developing right now, the government finds very, very small amounts of radioactive material from Japan in our drinking water right here in the U.S. Find out whether we should be worried at all. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If it's interesting and it's happening right now, you're about to see it. "Rapid Fire," let's go.

Another scare in the skies today after a Southwest Airlines plane makes an emergency landing, this time at Oakland International Airport. An official tells CNN it happened this morning after the pilot detected a problem with the wing flap indicator just after takeoff. The plane did turn around, did land safely.

But keep in mind, this is on the heels of Friday's scare when that hole opened up in on the Southwest Boeing 737. Since then, Southwest has discovered new cracks in four other jets. Today, the FAA is demanding a closer inspection of older Boeing's in this whole emergency directive, saying routine inspections alone are no longer adequate.

Radioactive material from Japan's troubled nuclear power plant has now been found in drinking water here in the United States, that is according to the EPA. Scientist found teeny, tiny amounts in Idaho and Washington state. But not to worry, the amounts were so miniscule, we're told that an infant would have to drink 7,000 liters of it just to get the same dose of day's worth of normal radiation.

And you exactly expect a delivery like this one, especially on Capitol Hill. A frozen pig's foot was sent to the House Homeland Security Committee chair, Congressman Peter King, to his office. A note included anti-Semitic statements like "Evil Jews will return this hoof to Palestine." The package didn't make it to him, it was intercepted before delivery so neither the congressman or his aides actually saw it. Congressman King held hearings on Muslim radicalization on the Hill just last month. To Queen's New York, and this is video here. This is a small plane forced to make an emergency landing on the shallow surface of the beach. The pilot and two passengers were able to climb out of the plane uninjured. Despite the rough and wet landing, the plane managed to remain intact.

Down south to Jacksonville, Florida, where an argument behind the wheel sent two people to the hospital after the car they were in crashed into the side of that building. The driver and his girlfriend told police the crash was caused by an argument between the driver and her son. The driver became distracted, swerved in front of another vehicle and hit a parking meter before smashing into the vacant building.

It was a year ago today a massive explosion happened in a West Virginia coal mine that ultimately killed 29 men. Well, today that state is honoring those miners with the name reading ceremony and a moment of silence at Massey Energy's Upper Bigger Branch Mine.

The explosion stunned the nation last year, becoming the deadliest to strike the U.S. coal industry since 1972. I was there for the entire week, covering the story as it happened. I will never forget this 19-year-old who I met and interviewed. His name was Joshua Mitchell, who was fresh off his shift, this overnight shift at a mine just down the road; black soot covered his face.

But despite what was happening at Upper Big Branch, the tragedy, the chaos, Joshua reminded me and all of you, for them in West Virginia, this is a treacherous job but it's a way to feed their families.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What do you enjoy? I mean, for people that don't know much about the coal community, what do you enjoy so much about your job about coal mining?

JOSHUA MITCHELL, WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINER: I just like being down there and digging coal. It just thrills me.

BALDWIN: How so?

MITCHELL: It just does.

BALDWIN: Because you know you're doing what?

MITCHELL: I know I'm giving everybody electricity and supporting our communities, and making our nation greater.

BALDWIN: How long do you hope to be a coal miner?

MITCHELL: At least 40-plus.

BALDWIN: Forty-plus years? MITCHELL: Yes.

BALDWIN: And then what?

MITCHELL: Then I'm going to retire.

It's dangerous and, I mean, you take a chance every day, but you can get killed going down the road here. You can get in your vehicle and drive down the road and die. Ain't no different when you go underground. If it's you're time to die, you're going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Nineteen years old.

One year later, regulators and federal prosecutors are still investigating what caused that explosion. Just thought you wanted to know.

Coming up, there's already a system that makes convicted drunk drivers do a breath test in order to start their cars. Well, now there could be a similar device for people who text and drive.

Plus, Congressman Paul Ryan and Republicans making a big move today. They're going where many politicians would not usually dare to go. Gloria Borger is standing by, she is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now for your "CNN Equals Politics Update." Let's go to Gloria Borger with the latest news off the Political Ticker.

And, Gloria, I mean, I listened to the president this afternoon, you listened to the president. He was very, very frustrated when he was speaking at the briefing.

What do you think he's trying to accomplish? What is he doing by being so frustrated?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, after I heard him, I made a couple calls over to the White House and, yes, he was frustrated. And I think, politically, what he's trying to do is to be the grown up.

I think they made a calculation that the White House that the public does not want a government shutdown, that they are getting dangerously close to a government shutdown and that it was time for the president to come out and sort of be the adult and say, look, there are things we can control in this world and there are things we can't control in this world, much like you would talk to your kids, and say, OK, this is one of the things that we can control, so let's just get it done.

Because in the grand scheme of things, we have a large budget debate that we have to have, but this really isn't it. This is about a small percentage of last year's budget. So just get it over with because the public does not want a shutdown of the government.

BALDWIN: So we know right now, we have Speaker Boehner in Speaker Boehner's office and also Senator Reid, they're meeting behind closed doors with the president or even a member -- no member of the White House is part of this meeting. Why is that, Gloria?

BORGER: I know. Life is all like fifth grade, right? Or seventh grade maybe?

And so the president came out and said, we weren't invited to the meeting on the Hill. So I asked somebody at the White House and they said to me, look, Jack Liu, who is the budget chief, asked if he could come to the meeting and was told no.

Then I talked to somebody on the speaker's staff who said, no, that wasn't his understanding of it. His understanding was that, in fact, the decision was made after the White House meeting to just have a Hill meeting.

If you ask me, I think the reason is, that Boehner wants to have these discussions on the Hill, he doesn't want to have the White House involved in Hill discussions when he, in particular, has to talk to his own Republicans and say, this is what I did or did not get from the White House. He wants to keep it a Hill issue and deal with Harry Reid. That's just the way it is.

BALDWIN: That's your take, keep it on the Hill.

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: OK. But there are other bigger issues or other issues, I should say, you know, the new budget, debt ceiling. So why this fight, and it has lasted so, so long, about the 2011 fiscal year?

BORGER: Well, it's kind of interesting because you do have these 87 new House members. Eighty-plus of them are Tea Party members and they ran on fiscal restraint and this has become a symbolic issue for them as much as anything else. There are also some social issues thrown in. For example, the funding of Planned Parenthood.

And so, I think this becomes sort of symbolic, ideological, their first big fight, the test of the speaker, and all of the rest of that wrapped into one. There are big issues. You have Congressman Ryan just proposed a very far-reaching budget which should be discussed.

But, you know, first you have to get through last year's business and sometimes last year's business becomes this year's business when it's about politics and ideology and what you ran on in the last election.

So that's what it is about.

BALDWIN: The president pointed that out, let's not fight politics and ideology. Let's handle reality.

BORGER: Politics in Washington? Are you kidding me? BALDWIN: What? I know.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Gloria, thank you for your (INAUDIBLE), as always.

BORGER: OK.

BALDWIN: Now to this -- street shootings, rocket attacks. The situation on the Ivory Coast is escalating. There are now reports of a possible surrender. That is next, don't miss that.

Plus, a serious health warning to all of you workaholics out there. Eleven hours a day, sound like you? They are lining up now. "Reporter Roulette" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: New reports that an embattled leader may soon surrender, an investigation over apps and privacy, and a health warning to all of you workaholics out there. Time to play "Reporter Roulette."

I want to begin with the Ivory Coast where the battle for control may, may soon end. I'm not talking about a political battle. I'm not talking about a war of words. Folks, is a full five-month full-on armed combat street shootings, rocket attack. By some counts, a million displaced people. So, if Red Cross estimates are accurate, a massacre of nearly 1,000 civilians.

Very quickly, here's the cause of all of it. It's this man. Laurent Gbagbo. He became the president of the Ivory Coast back in 2000. But in an election held just last November, he was quite decisively beaten by this man: Alassane Ouattara. Now, the U.N. validated the election. Most of the world community recognizes Ouattara as the new president. But Laurent Gbagbo, he doesn't buy the results, and since November, he doesn't want to leave. He's not giving up. He even basically swore himself back in as president.

In fact, our own president, President Barack Obama, sent him a written letter asking him to step down. Other African presidents have urged Gbagbo to move aside. He will not budge.

Now, forces loyal to both men went on this brutal offensive against one another with the entire nation essentially caught in the middle. Today, after all of these months and all this internal violence, we're hearing the most optimistic reports yet that Laurent Gbagbo is ready to surrender. A U.N. envoy, two of the Ivory Coast, tells us that the shooting has stopped. Very few fighters are out on the street, and it's all over but the negotiating.

So, on that end, let's go to Richard Roth at the United Nations. Richard, what are you hearing there? Is there any kind of time line for when the conflict will be over?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: It's at a delicate stage now. Laurent Gbagbo or people representing him, negotiating perhaps the exit, the final hours. But there appears to be resistance yet again from Gbagbo as to officially recognizing that Ouattara won this election. It may be diplomatic formalities, he may be out of the country when this is all over. These are the key points.

So, everyone has buttoned up here and over at Ivory Coast. The fighting, at least, has stopped primarily, though it could always be ignited if Gbagbo digs in his heels. Rare for U.N. attack helicopters to be in action, which happened on Monday. But the U.N. was empowered by a Security Council resolution saying troops could use all necessary means to go heavy weapons, which is what Gbagbo was employing against people and civilians.

It's been a nightmare for the people of Ivory Coast for decades over different periods of time. Gbagbo has resisted even holding elections for five-plus years before this bloody four-month stalemate after the election was supervised or at least guaranteed by the U.N. that said Gbagbo lost.

BALDWIN: Richard Roth with the latest on the negotiations with regard to the Ivory Coast. Richard, thank you.

Next, on "Reporter Roulette," using technology to help stop people from sending text messages while they drive? Alison Kosik is live in New York. And Alison, I know it's a lawmaker in Rhode Island proposing a new way to stop the problem. How would this work?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Brooke. So, if you're in Rhode Island and you get caught texting and driving, not only will you get a ticket for $85, a state lawmaker wants to have this device actually installed in your car to jam the cell phone if the car is running. He really wants to make this a law, and if it passes, it would be the first state to do this.

Now, not even just for everyday people. He wants to put this technology in police cars, fire trucks, and even on the driver's seats of buses as well.

Manufacturers do admit, Brooke, that the technology is not perfect. It only works with the user's phone itself and their car. And big surprise here, it doesn't work on iPhones or those older-style cell phones. But gosh, you really have to really be addicted to your cell phone if you can't stop yourself from texting while driving.

BALDWIN: Put your phone down. Put your phone down.

KOSIK: Exactly.

BALDWIN: What about the investigation, Alison, over the apps and whether your privacy is safe? What do you know?

KOSIK: The feds are looking into how Pandora Radio -- that's the Internet radio streaming service -- how its mobile application gathers and uses our personal data. You know, feds are looking to see how Pandora may be illegally sharing your name, your location, your gender with advertisers without you knowing it.

But this is a much broader issue when you look at it. We're talking about our security, our personal information. This is whether you download an app for Pandora, a game or you're getting sports scores. At the same time, Brooke, you have to realize there is personal responsibility. Many of us download apps without considering the consequences. Few of us probably even pay attention to the app's privacy statement. We all just want to get that app downloaded. Maybe take a moment and take a look at the privacy statement.

But you know, if our information is going in and being sold off to some advertising conglomerate, we really can't be that surprised because we gave that OK when we downloaded that app.

BALDWIN: Mm. Didn't realize that! Alison Kosik, thank you so much.

And finally here on "Reporter Roulette," a brand-new study shows if you are hitting the grind and working those long hours, you could be doing serious damage to your health. Uh-oh. Elizabeth Cohen is joining me now to talk about how long is too long?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, as soon as your show is over, Brooke, I want you out of here.

BALDWIN: Right, I'm done. Sorry, boss! See you later! Yes, right.

COHEN: Got to go! I mean, this study is actually really striking. They looked at British civil service workers and ones who worked more than eight hours. And what they found is that people working 10 to 11 hours had a hugely increased risk of having a heart attack. The exact number is a 45 percent increased risk of having a heart attack.

More than 11 hours, 65 percent increased risk - I'm sorry, of having heart disease, not a heart attack. Of heart disease.

BALDWIN: So, what is this specifically, then, about working the 10 to 11 hours? Is it just that you're getting up and working for a long time or you're increasing the stress level?

COHEN: Probably a couple of things going on. One, the stress. Because stress hormones can put your heart -- make your heart work too hard. Secondly, what happens is that if you're working 11 hours, when are you cooking so you can eat well? You're probably eating fast food --

BALDWIN: Take out.

COHEN: Right, exactly. Take out. So great. Or, another example, you're not exercising. So when you' working that hard, it's hard to fit in all of the right things as well.

BALDWIN: Is there any kind of conversation a patient should be having with their doctor about it?

COHEN: Yes, the authors of this study actually calculated what would happen if when you go to your annual doctor, they just don't take your blood pressure and get your cholesterol -

BALDWIN: They ask how long you work!

COHEN: They ask how long you work! And they say that they could actually prevent an additional five percent more heart attacks if they just asked that question.

BALDWIN: But not everyone - people are sitting there saying, well, I would love to work an eight-hour work day but, look, it's just not possible. What do you tell those people?

COHEN: And so many people are just grateful to have a job.

BALDWIN: Absolutely!

COHEN: So, what you have to do is keep in mind what we all know, but really worth remembering again and again, all of the basic things that you need to do. You need to eat right and basically sort of sum that up, eat less meat, eat more things that come out of the ground. Exercise, keep your blood pressure, cholesterol, and your weight down. I know these are obvious, I know we all try to do them. But if you don't have many hours in the day, just do your best to get those things done.

BALDWIN: So, even if you have a long day, I just always try to get up in the morning and run. It keeps me sane even if I'm working a lot.

COHEN: But at the end of a long day, the temptation is just to go zone out in front of the TV with a bag of chips. Zone out with a bag of carrots, maybe. Or better yet, exercise.

BALDWIN: Resist! Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

And it's one of the most famous colleges in the world, but some students are calling Yale a hostile sexual environment. Wait until you hear what they're accusing the university of doing.

Also, prosecutors say social workers could have saved a little girl's life. And now, they and others are being charged. Sunny Hostin is "On the Case." That is next.

Also, the hunt for a possible serial killer in New York, and those bodies that investigators have found eight bodies along this desolate stretch, Gilgo Beach in Long Island. More on that. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Two New York City welfare workers are facing homicide charges for the death of a four-year-old girl. Also, Yale University under investigation by the federal government. The feds say they are not doing enough to address sexual harassment on the their campus.

Those stories are "On the Case" today. And let's go to Sunny Hostin. And Sunny, I want to begin with the child welfare case. Talk to me about the details in this case. Because I know they are heartbreaking.

SUNNY HOSTIN, TRUTV CORRESPONDENT: They really are heartbreaking, and it's certainly hit home for me. As you know, Brooke, I have a four-year-old little girl at home. It's such a wonderful age for a child.

You know, this child was allegedly beaten and bound almost on a daily basis. She was malnourished when at her death, she only weighed 18 pounds. The average weight for a child that age is at least 35 pounds. So certainly, certainly, it is clear that had someone been proactively taking care of this child and watching over this child, this child could still be alive today.

What is so interesting and novel about this case is that this is the first time in New York's history that a social worker, someone from the ACS agency, is going to be charged with criminally negligent homicide for basically dropping the ball on this case. Two workers, former workers have been charged with criminally negligent homicide.

And that is the lowest level of homicide. Not that difficult to prove. All you have to prove is that they should have known that there was a risk of death, and they disregarded it. Interestingly enough, the agency commissioner has already said that they did not do the right thing by this child.

BALDWIN: So quickly, then, with regard to the case worker, what would her defense be?

HOSTIN: You know, they are certainly pointing the fingers at the others. The supervisor saying this was a substandard worker, I tried to get rid of him. I could not. He is saying I did everything that I could do, and the child looked OK. So, certainly, pointing the fingers and who knows what will happen if this goes to trial.

BALDWIN: OK. Case number two, Yale University. We know that the Department of Education Civil Rights office is now investigating 16 Yale students and alumni filing this complaint last month. What are they alleging?

HOSTIN: Well, they are pretty vile allegations. They are saying that Yale didn't do the right thing by making sure that there was equal access to education for women on the campus. And that is because they say that there was this sort of sexually charged environment.

Interestingly enough, some of the allegations say that in 2009, there was an e-mail sent out called the "preseason scouting report," Brooke. And it ranked incoming freshman women by their looks and claimed to know how many beers it would take to have sex with them.

Another of the allegations is that there was sort of a group of men outside of a female dorm in a fraternity saying things like, "We love Yale sluts," having signs saying things like "No means yes" and chanting that. So, they are pretty significant allegations.

Of course, Yale has issued a statement saying that Yale does not and will not tolerate sexual harassment and seeks to build an environment that is supportive of both women and men. If this goes forward, you know, their federal funding is certainly at risk. A serious, serious issue right now for Yale University.

BALDWIN: Yale University. Sunny, thank you for that.

And now just in. We're getting an update on a story we actually brought you in the last hour. This is from Suffolk County police. Long Island, New York. It has been determined, according to police, three most recent sets of remains that police had found just yesterday along the stretch of roadway in Gilgo Beach, that they were found on April 4 on the Ocean Parkway they do not belong to this woman.

This is Shannan Gilbert. They had been searching for her. Thinking may be some of the remains were that of Gilbert.

The search area is going to continue for tomorrow there along Long Island. Gilbert is the woman from New Jersey whose disappearance last May triggered the search on the beach that has now yielded eight different sets of remains. We're going to stay on that one for you.

Now this -- this woman stormed into that Tripoli hotel, full of international journalists. She's screaming. She was crying accusing Moammar Gadhafi's men of rape and torture. Now, she is speaking out. She's speaking out to CNN. You will hear her voice. Her emotional story and why she says she is scared for her life.

Plus, will Gadhafi hand over power to his son, Saif here? The rebels are now responding to that idea that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In Libya today, a source close to Moammar Gadhafi's struggling government says there is now plan that's being floated to replace one Gadhafi with another.

So under this plan, the long time leader's son, Saif Gadhafi, would take over from his father and essentially usher in this new area of reform. So a spokesman for Libya's opposition movement is calling this proposal ridiculous.

But now, this is an update on the woman who claims she's been beaten, she's been raped by Moammar Gadhafi's troops.

Eman Al-Obeidy says she is no longer in jail, but she's not allowed to leave her house. She's not allowed to see her family.

Last night, she spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper by phone from Tripoli. She told him she fears for her life every moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EMAN AL-OBEIDY (through translation) (via telephone): There's no safe place for me in Tripoli. All my phones are monitored, even this phone I am speaking on right now is monitored and I am monitored.

And yesterday I was kidnapped by a car and they beat me on the street and brought me here after they dragged me around. They told me, whenever you leave the house, we will do this to you. Meaning that I was not allowed to leave the house or see the journalists.

I had asked to seat journalists. They beat me, hit me, and set me back. Please tell all the human rights organizations to return me safely to my family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Al-Obeidy was dragged away from that Tripoli hotel there last month while begging all those international journalists to hear her story. She claimed she was taken from a checkpoint, held for two days and repeatedly raped.

We are now 10 minutes away from THE SITUATION ROOM with Wolf Blitzer. And Wolf, as always, joins me with a little check in.

Wolf, you know, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner meeting right now, assuming it's still going on in Boehner's office there on the Hill and ought to be a fly on that wall.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Yes, actually, I think the two of them, as counter intuitive as this may sound, Harry Reid and John Boehner. They actually have a decent relationship. I know that Harry Reid respects John Boehner and I assume John Boehner respects Harry Reid.

Politically they disagree on a lot, on all of these related issued, but I think they both recognize that this is a moment of leadership that the American public really doesn't want a government shutdown right now.

They want to make sure that the checks continue to go out to those that need those checks. They want to see the government working. They're not all that far apart. There are some substance and issues. I think it's sort of eyeball to eyeball right now, who I going to blink, the Republicans or the Democrats.

You know, they still have a few more hours to go. We'll see how they do, but my own sense is that in the end they will work out an arrangement because the stakes are simply too enormous not only substantively on the issues keeping the government operating, but also on the politics and what it means.

And John Boehner, for his party remembers what happened to the Republicans back in 1995 when there was a government shutdown. Newt Gingrich was then the speaker. They lost, the Republicans. Bill Clinton was then the Democratic president. He got himself re-elected the next year in part because of that government shutdown. So all those Republicans who lived through that era, that is very much on their minds. A lot of the Tea Party activists, they didn't necessarily have a direct, you know, experience living through that earlier government shutdown.

So they're a little bit more emboldened right now to go forward so it's going to be a close call, but I suspect the government will stay on.

BALDWIN: Well, we've heard from Mr. Boehner. We've heard from Mr. Obama. Both of whom said, look, we don't want, you know, any kind of government shutdown. There's a big difference between not wanting to shutdown and not being willing to compromise. So we'll wait and see if that will happen shall we?

BLITZER: Well, a few more hours to go.

BALDWIN: We'll get the answer perhaps in your show. Speaking of, who do you have coming up?

BLITZER: Well, we're going to do a lot on that obviously, but we're also taking a closer look at Yemen in the coming hour because as much as we pay attention to Libya, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen is a country already that has a significant al Qaeda presence.

And that could grow dramatically causing enormous heartburn for the U.S., its friends in that part of the world so Paul, a terror expert, he's going to be joining us in a few minutes. I think the viewers will be interested in this.

BLITZER: President (inaudible) ally of the United States with regard to counterterrorism measures. I would be interested to hear what Paul things. Wolf, thank you so much.

Now -- does this make your skin crawl? It makes mine crawl, but it's pretty amazing. Those are worms. Thousands and thousands of worms, they're invading a beach in Florida. Find out what happens when you touch them and why they are swarming like that in the first place. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to tomorrow's news today, President Obama, he's going to head to Pennsylvania to talk energy. He plans to host a town hall with workers at a wind turbine manufacturing facility in Ferris Hills.

Also, the trial of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi begins in Milan. Berlusconi is accused of paying an underage prostitute and then trying to cover it up. Both he and the girl denied these allegations.

And in Augusta, Georgia, players get ready for the start of masters the golf tournament begins on Thursday.

And now to a story that had a bunch of us creep out this morning in our editorial meeting, still creep out, but we had to share it with you. This is a story straight from Florida.

It is a site that happens only once a year. You got to see this.

That is not red water. You could see that. It's not rippling sand. Those are worms. I'm told they are called bristle worms, thousands upon thousands of these bristle worms are swarming in the waters.

This is off of Florida's Velano Beach. This was Monday. Somebody brave enough to hold these things. Apparently they come out in mass like this once a year. The reason? They are mating.

This is the way that worms mate. They just go back to living in the sand. Locals say they do not pose a threat to humans. In fact, most humans never see them.

That is because the frenzy only hopes in the wee hours of the morning, but some fishermen have seen them up close and a little too close for me. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grab handfuls of them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did that feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like they are grabbing a hold and chewing on you a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do they bite?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if they bite. I throw them down pretty quick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Yes, I think I'd be throwing them down pretty quick too. Did he say chewing on him? Did I hear that verb being used?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They can give you a little bit of a bite.

BALDWIN: What are these called?

MYERS: Bristleworms.

BALDWIN: Because they make bristle.

MYERS: Well, they have little things -- they are like little centipedes on the water. They have these little things on the side.

BALDWIN: We couldn't get over the image. Is that in the sand?

MYERS: They say there are mullets under there trying to fish on them. That's like a dock out there along the beach shore. So fishermen are very, very angry because now all of the fish that they want to catch are full of warms. Clearly the season seems to be going OK, 3:00 in the morning someone was out there with a camera.

BALDWIN: You think that somebody is being out there with the camera because you gave us that amazing image with all the little worms.

MYERS: You can actually get them in your fish tank at home too if you have a salt water aquarium.

BALDWIN: OK, not going to be doing that. Thanks, Chad.

Let's quickly update because this is a story that we've been watching closely. I know the air force has been watching it closely and NASA has been watching it closely. The space junk hurling through space. They were worried that it was going to come close to the international space station and it did not?

MYERS: It missed it by about six kilometers, three miles.

BALDWIN: 6.07 kilometers.

MYERS: Now the fact that they know that scares me.

BALDWIN: It's kind of awesome actually.

MYERS: I can't tell you how far away I live from my work. It's about three kilometers and it was so three-and-a-half miles away. That could have put a hole on the side of it and they would have had to abandon the space station, get into capsule and come back to earth.

BALDWIN: Something like five miles a second?

MYERS: Fast, 15,000 miles per hour.

BALDWIN: Wow. Well, I'm glad that they go the clear.

MYERS: It happens a lot. It surely does. They get these little red alerts a lot. They knew it. It would have hit - by half hour ago. It missed.

BALDWIN: All is clear. Chad Myers, thank you.

And all is clear for us here as well. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Now to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM -- Wolf.