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NFL Players Take Fight To Court; Transocean Execs Donate Bonuses; Meditation For Pain Relief; Heading for a Government Shutdown; Baseball Game Turns Violent, Lands Victim in Coma; Richard Branson's Poseidon Adventure; Former U.S. Congressman Meeting with Gadhafi in Libya

Aired April 06, 2011 - 12:59   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Suzanne. Thank you.

As we know, almost nothing is certain in the showdown over a spending plan to tide the government over through September. But this much we know. If no plan is passed by midnight, Friday, and the federal government starts to shut down, the people who couldn't make a deal, that's members of Congress, and the president won't be subject to furlough. They're considered essential employees. Eight hundred thousand of their federal colleagues are not and tens of millions of non-federal workers will also feel the effects of the first federal shutdown in more than 15 years.

Now, let's be clear, it hasn't happened yet, but neither have Republicans and Democrats agreed on the size and source of tens of billions of dollars in spending cuts for the next six months. And midnight Friday draws closer by the second. That's when the latest stop-gap spending bill expires. Six months and eight days into the fiscal year.

Check the calendar right there, Friday, April 8th. Republicans floated a one-week extension with $12 billion in immediate cuts and six months of funding for the Pentagon. Democrats said no and no more high-level meetings are planned. But there's plenty of speechmaking, finger-pointing, buck-passing, all of which is gut-wrenching to Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski. In an embarrassing moment for the presiding senator, fellow Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, Mikulski pleaded today with both sides to think of the consequences of a government on hiatus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: Madame president, hello? Madame president? Maybe -- I don't know if my speech is not that attention getting but could I have your attention?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's -- the Senator has consumed ten minutes.

MIKULSKI: Well, then my time is up. But, look, maybe the Senate's not paying attention, but the American people are paying attention. And I'm telling you, this is a situation of enormous negative consequences. And I think we're going to rue the day at the way we're functioning here. We need to come to the table and we need to sit around and act like rational human beings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: We're watching this battle from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. CNN's Kate Bolduan is at the White House where President Obama, by the way, is not. Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill. Dana, let's start with you. Any movement in the past hour?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I've been talking to sources all morning, Randi, and they do say that things are more positive than they were yesterday where they were rock bottom. But there have been discussions on a staff level, leadership aides have been having discussions. No White House meeting in the works right now, but we are told that the president talked to house speaker John Boehner, but Boehner -- what his aides tell us that what he said told the president, if you don't -- he doesn't want the government shut down, but that he wants real spending cuts.

Well, what does that mean, Randi? That means from the perspective of Republicans, if they want to have cuts like they've passed in the House across the board. So, that is really what they're focusing on. Democrats say, no, that those -- many of those are nonstarters and that they want to do things that have less impact -- Randi.

KAYE: All right, Dana, thank you to you. Now, let's bring you to Kate. Kate, first off, where is the president? And I also want to ask you what's happening at the White House with the staffers? Are they essentially dividing the essential and nonessentials?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good question, Randi. First of all, where the president is, he just left a short time ago heading to Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania in the area of Philadelphia. It's a previously scheduled town hall event there, where the president will be talking about his energy plan and pushing his energy plan. You can be sure, as they have talked about, they're keeping close watch on the negotiations going on. The president did speak with house speaker John Boehner and we're actually hoping to get a read out on the call from the White House's side in a short time.

From the position at the White House hat this moment, my colleague, Dan Lothian, got an administration official to say that the White House officials feel good about progress being made. You can read into that if that's a glowing endorsement on where things stand or not. So, at the moment, that's where things stand from the White House perspective.

In terms of White House staff, that remains to be a big question, and we're actually looking for some more details on how the White House will be impacted if the government does shut down.

Senior administration officials did hold a call with reporters. I was on there, I asked them about how the White House would be specifically impacted, and the only detail we could get then is that the White House would be significantly impacted by the shut down on who would be essential and who would be nonessential, a big question still. But you can be sure this place, just like other federal agencies, will be impacted but some workers -- many workers they say are going to be asked to not come to work if this happens.

KAYE: All right. Kate, Dana, thank you to both of you. We will continue, of course, to watch this, and if there is any breaking news at this time, we will let you know.

Now, if you believe in guardian angels, today's "Sound Effect" is a shout out to one who is really on the ball. If you don't, well, just call it luck. The other day a woman named Wendy Cobb was driving on a highway in Shelby, North Carolina, when she got a little irritated by some trucks playing cat and mouse in front of her. Well, she whipped out her smart phone to take a video never dreaming she was about to cheat death. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE (voice-over): So, the truck on the left ran over a 2x4 on the road, and yes, look at that. It propelled it like a missile right into her windshield. Now, she says she was too shocked to scream, cuss or cry, but now knows just how lucky she was to have survived that without a scratch. Can you imagine?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The long-awaited sex trial of Italy's prime minister's Silvio Berlusconi started today, but it's been adjourned until May. He was not at today's hearing which lasted only about ten minutes. Prosecutors say Berlusconi paid to have sex with an underage prostitute at least 13 times. The 75-year-old politician is also charged with abusing his power to get the girl out of jail. They both deny having sex.

Angry protest broke out between pro and anti-Berlusconi demonstrators outside the courthouse today. Dozens of police were on hand to keep the peace.

The fight over money between the NFL and his players is playing out in court today. A federal judge is hearing arguments today in Minnesota from lawyers representing the players. Start quarterbacks Tom Brady, Payton Manning, and Drew Brees filed a lawsuit on behalf of other players to stop the lockout. The NFL owners and the players are locked in a battle over how to divide the league's $9 billion in revenue. If the judge grants a preliminary injunction, the football season could kick off without delay.

I want to take you now to Japan where emergency workers where emergency workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant have plugged a leak that sent radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. The leak was believed to be coming from the crippled number two reactor.

The plant's owner says radioactive iodine in seawater around the plant dropped sharply even before workers plugged the leak. The Japanese leaders warn this nuclear crisis is far from over. Rocked by aftershocks, explosions, leaks, and setbacks, Japan's chief cabinet secretary says, quote, "We cannot be optimistic." Tokyo Electric has also started injecting nitrogen into a containment vessel around reactor number one to prevent a buildup of hydrogen from causing an explosion.

An update now on those fat bonuses given to Transocean executives for their alleged stellar record on safety. Now, this is the company that owns the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf about a year ago. Well, now they plan to donate their safety bonuses to families of the 11 workers killed in last April's Gulf oil disaster. The explosion in the Gulf spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP had leased the rig from Transocean.

The donation follows outrage over a Transocean financial filing that claimed 2010 was its, quote, "Best year in safety." More than $250,000 will go to the Deepwater Horizon Memorial Fund.

This story out of Colorado is grabbing national attention. Police pepper sprayed an 8-year-old boy. This police report details the little boy's violent temper tantrum while in class back in February. It says the boy, Aidan Elliott became enraged and started spitting, throwing chairs, and threatening teachers and students with a sharp piece of wood that he had pulled off the wall. Police were called and they pepper sprayed and handcuffed the second grader when he refused to drop the object. Aidan's mother says police should have handled the situation differently.

So, we want to know what you think about this. Join the conversation on our blog, CNN.com/Ali. You can also post on Ali's Facebook and Twitter pages and my Facebook and Twitter page as well. Let us know what you think? Should he have been pepper sprayed? Should the police have handled it differently? What do you think? We want to know.

Will Congressional leaders start acting like grown-ups as suggested by President Obama or allow the government to shut down? We'll check the sticking points on the budget deal, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The countdown clock and a possible government shut-down is ticking. Tempers are flaring on both sides of the isle. So, what exactly is holding things up? Tom Foreman has been digging into this question and joins us now from our Washington studio. Hey there, Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Randi. How are you?

KAYE: I'm well.

FOREMAN: I'll tell you something, while we're doing this, if you have any questions, I want you to jump right in, because I had a lot of questions going through this.

KAYE: I am sure. Well, I see you have president's proposals there behind you, so why don't we start with those?

FOREMAN: Well, let me tell you something interesting about this, Randi, and I want to make sure everybody is clear on this. If you saw all the headlines yesterday about Paul Ryan talking about these giant cuts that include Medicaid and all that, that's the 2012 budget.

That's not what they're talking about at the White House today. This whole big debate is about the 2011 budget which was proposed last year for about $4 trillion, pushing up there, that would run from October of last year to October of this year.

This is the budget we're talking about right now. It was not passed for a variety of reasons, the chief one among them for both parties was that it was a midterm election year, neither party wanted to get wrapped up into something that was going be really messy and ugly when they were trying to get themselves elected.

So, they did a series of continuing resolutions, that's what you've heard about, to keep the government operating right up until today at 2010 funding levels. That's how we reached this point. In the process of doing that, they've agreed on some cuts, because they all know the economy is in trouble. About $10 billion in cuts have been approved as they've gone through these resolutions by Democrats and Republicans.

The House Republicans have now passed a version with $61 billion in cuts to the president's proposals, and all of this, Randi, is in the discretionary spending. We're not talking about social security, Medicaid, Medicare, all of that. Those are the big ones that someday have to be addressed that aren't addressed here.

KAYE: Sure. So, give us an example, if you can, of some of the proposed cuts since you've been digging into this.

FOREMAN: Yes, well, this is where -- this is where it gets really sticky for both parties. Look at this, this is what the Republicans wanted to knock off here, $5 billion from Amtrak and high speed rail, $1 billion from Head Start and Even Start, $400 million from National Public Radio, basically defunding it, $300 million from NASA, $300 from Job Corps, $69 million from the peace corps.

One thing you may notice about this if you look closely, is this includes a lot of things that Democrats really like. I mean, they're very fond of these things, and the Republicans have attacked them in the budget. So, the Democrats are trying to defend these items by saying, hold on, we can have cuts, but not so much in, gosh, you can't go after these programs.

So, the Democrats have countered with about $33 billion in cuts. Now, there's talk about some range around $40 billion being the compromise level, but we really don't know because the negotiations are going on behind closed doors and on and on they go. But here's three things, Randi, if you want to explain this to anybody during the day, if you want to understand what's really going on --

KAYE: I'm going to leave that up to you.

FOREMAN: We're talking about three things. Yes, well, you're going to have a chance. This comes down to three things, politics, policy and price. These are the three p's of these debates right now, and they're in that order. A lot of this debate right now is about politics which is based on this notion of policy. The Republicans want to use this process to dismantle some of the Democratic policies. Democrats want to defend their policies through this, and then they get around to the question of everybody agreeing we can't afford everything that we're paying for these days.

So, they need to figure out a way to control the price while addressing this much bigger fight. And when they get done with this, Randi, then they'll look at that 2012 budget and they'll start the fight all over again.

KAYE: Yes, the time is certainly running out for this year. All right, our Tom foreman. Thank you, Tom, for making sense of all that.

FOREMAN: All right.

KAYE: Every part of this potential government shutdown influences your life. So, we want you to join this discussion. Tell us what this shutdown would mean for your home, your job, your school. Let us know what you think. Leave your comments on our blog, CNN.com/Ali.

Also we'd love it if you would record a video using your webcam. Then head to cnnireport.com and share your story with us. We'd love to see those iReports coming in.

All right, cheap houses, cheap interest rates, but good luck trying to get a mortgage. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: In today's "Your Money" segment, some good and some bad news for home buyers. The good news, of course, is that interest rates are low and there is a flood of houses on the market. Many of them for bargain basement prices. But good luck actually getting a mortgage. Roughly one if four applicants is now getting turned down by their financial institutions. That doesn't even count the number of folks who don't even bother applying because they think they just won't qualify. Even if you think you have a pretty decent credit score, here are some chilling numbers.

Take a look. If you want a conventional loan, the average credit score needed has risen to 760 from 720 just a few years ago. An FHA loan is a bit easier. The average needed there is only 700 from 660 a few years ago. The number of applicants below a score of 660 getting approved these days, pretty much zero. That's a far cry from a few years ago when just about anyone with a pulse was getting approved for a mortgage.

So let's say you do get approved for a mortgage. The new magic number for a down payment is now 20 percent. The simple math is that if you want to buy a $200,000 house, you will need 40 grand to put down for most lenders to approve you. All of that explains why home prices fell for the sixth consecutive month in January.

All right, now let's jump from mortgages to iPhones. Earlier this year, AT&T lost its exclusivity on iPhone sales when Verizon started selling the latest version. So some customers who were critical of the AT&T network jumped for joy saying they could hardly wait for a Verizon version. So are customers any happier at Verizon?

Well, it turns out, not really. The satisfaction rates for both carriers is pretty much the same for the iPhone. That is despite the fact that AT&T drops about three times as many calls as Verizon. AT&T's current rate is still below 5 percent of calls dropped, which isn't too bad unless, of course, it's your call that just got dropped.

And this isn't exactly a newsflash, but gas prices have gone up 15 straight days now. It's just how much they've gone up, really, that is hitting home. Take a look at this. Yes, take a look at those numbers. You see those. Yes, ouch. A 20 percent rise in the average price per gallon. And that is just since January. The price jumped another two cents overnight to $3.70 a gallon. It's not even the peak summer driving season yet. You know the story, the price of oil is skyrocket thanks to turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East and that is what's pushing gas prices up, too.

If you're wondering about the all-time high, well, that was in July 2008 when prices hit $4.11 a gallon.

Be sure to join Christine Romans for "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern. And don't miss "Your Money" with Ali Velshi Sundays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.

Checking stop stories right now.

Time is almost up to overt a government shutdown. Lawmakers have until midnight Friday to reach a deal. Key Democrats rejected a Republican proposal Tuesday to keep the government running for one more week at the cost of an additional $12 billion.

Tokyo Electric says it has plugged a major leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Highly radioactive water had been gushing into the Pacific. Workers tried concrete, sawdust, even newspaper at one point to stop this leak. A chemical mixture they call liquid glass turns out finally did the trick.

Former Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon is in Tripoli, Libya, right now. He's trying to convince Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi to give up power. Weldon says he'll propose a ceasefire and an interim Libyan government headed by the current prime minister and an opposition leader. Weldon has known Gadhafi since leading a congressional delegation to Libya back in 2004.

The age old art of meditation. Some people swear by it. But can just a few minutes a day really cure your everyday aches and pains? We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. Just about 25 minutes past the hour.

More children are getting CAT scans these days. A study in "The Journal of Radiology" finds the number of CT scans children received in emergency rooms has shot up five fold in the past 14 years. Between 1995 and 2008, the number of ER visits that included a CT exam increased from approximately 330,000 to 1.65 million. Researchers found most of the exams happened in non-pediatric hospital. Doctors say more caution needs to be taken because children are much more vulnerable to the radiation in CAT scans than adults are.

You know those aches and pains that just won't go away? Well, before you take that next aspirin, think about using meditation to make yourself feel better. I want to bring in senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen to tell us a little bit more about what this new study says.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is really one of the more interesting and a little bit bizarre studies that I have ever heard of because -- partly because what they did is they burnt people on their calves. Like the researchers --

KAYE: To feel pain?

COHEN: Yes. The researchers actually applied heat --

KAYE: Wasn't there a simpler way?

COHEN: I know. There must -- I was thinking, how about just taking an elastic band and snapping it on the wrist or something.

KAYE: Yes.

COHEN: I don't know. But they actually burned them on their caves. And they sort of registered how much pain, they reported how much pain they felt. Then they meditated. And over a period of days. And then they burned them again. And they had a 50 percent -- more than 50 percent reduction in pain after meditating.

KAYE: Without taking any pain medication.

COHEN: Correct.

KAYE: So do you have to be a professional mediator to make this happen for yourself?

COHEN: You don't have to be. And that's what's so weird about this is that -- or so interesting about this is that these folks had just learned how to meditate. So they took a course over a couple of days. They had a couple of lessons. Like 20 minute lessons on how to meditate. Now it wasn't a big deal. They hadn't been doing it for long.

KAYE: I've tried to meditate. It's actually kind of hard. So I'm pretty impressed they were able to do it because it's just hard to keep your mind quiet. COHEN: Right. You keep your mind quiet and you try to focus on sort of this one word and you try to keep your mind away from your reactions and all that.

KAYE: Away from your pain, I guess.

COHEN: Yes. I mean I don't know how people do it, but they do, and it works.

KAYE: So what's actually going on than in the body or in the brain to get rid of the pain without any other help?

COHEN: Well, I think one of the most interesting parts of this study is that they imaged these people's brains. Both when they got the pain before the meditation and after. And what they found was that a certain center of the brain lit up like a Christmas tree before the meditation. You can see it right there. That's a center that would show the pain they were feeling in the calf, which is on the left hand side. And then, after the meditation, that center didn't light up so much. So the bright yellow kind of piece that you see there, it kind of dimmed down. You can see, you can hardly see it now. So they could actually see that the pain they were feeling and their perception of pain went way down after the meditation.

KAYE: So after a long day at work, a stressful day with your children, I guess try it.

COHEN: You can try it. And what's interesting is that --

KAYE: Especially for people who don't want -- who don't like to take medicine.

COHEN: That's right. That's right. And that it doesn't take years and years of practice. I mean these people had just had a couple of lessons on how to meditate and it seemed to work for them.

KAYE: All right. That's great news. And a very strange study, but, still, interesting.

COHEN: Yes. Yes, we don't advocate burning people on their legs, right.

KAYE: Yes, I think you can just wait for the headache and then just see if that could (ph) let it go away.

COHEN: Exactly. That may be a better way to do it. Right. Right.

KAYE: All right, Elizabeth, thank you. Good to see you.

COHEN: Thanks.

KAYE: All right. So here's something that you don't hear every day. A Florida man credits not a person or a weapon from saving him from a hungry alligator, but baggy pants. Really? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAYE: Time is running out for lawmakers to reach a deadline to avoid a government shutdown. The deadline is midnight Friday. So if no deal is reached, President Obama and members of Congress won't be subject to furlough. They're considered what you might call essential employees. But 800,000 of their federal colleagues are not so lucky and tens of millions of nonfederal workers will also feel the effects of the first federal shutdown in more than 15 years if it happens.

A regular baseball game takes a violent turn for one fan. Brian Stowe, who was an avid San Francisco Giants fan was brutally attacked last week at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium. He remains in critical condition, in a coma. Investigators are still looking for his attackers releasing a sketch, as you just saw, of the two men. Police say the men kicked and punched him in the parking lot while screaming profanities about the Giants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN COLLINS, SISTER: We all love each other and love him. It's just been so hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: His family says they are grateful for the outpouring of support. There's a $100,000 reward for information leading to any arrests.

Wildlife workers have found a decapitated bald eagle in a drainage ditch in Louisiana. The state's wildlife department is calling it a brutal case of animal cruelty. Agents believe the eagle had been dead for a couple of days and are working to track down who might be responsible.

An investigation by CNN affiliate WGCL has uncovered some of Georgia's poorest are spending their welfare dollars not on food and looking for a job, but vacation destinations. They say out of the 50 million used by welfare recipients, $1 million were spent out of state. Thousands of dollars were spent in California, Vegas, New York, even Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

A Florida teen says his baggy pants saved him from an alligator attack. Kendrick Williams was walking home Monday night when a large gator took a bite out of his pants before he could make a run for it. You can see where the gator's teeth actually tore large holes through the fabric in those jeans. Williams says the gator was about six to seven feet long and he could have lost his leg if not for those baggy pants. Not exactly jeans, just baggy pants.

A former Congressman is now in Libya for expected talks with Moammar Gadhafi. This is video from our affiliate WPIX. So, just who is Curt Weldon, and what exactly is his mission? A live report from Tripoli, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A new twist in the war in Libya. As fierce fighting continues between the rebels and forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, a former U.S. Congressman has arrived in Tripoli with a plan to end the conflict. That is Curt Weldon. He is a former U.S. Congressman. He's actually met with Gadhafi before. He says he was invited there, that the White House is aware of his mission. He hopes to work out possibly a cease fire. He thinks an interim government might be the answer, maybe with someone from Gadhafi's inner circle, and possibly someone from the opposition rebel forces, as well.

We can also tell you that from our senior State Department producer Elise Labott telling us that a letter was addressed to President Obama from Gadhafi. It arrived at the State Department appealing to the U.S. to stop the NATO bombings. And the official said that the main thrust of the letter is that it appealed to the U.S. to stop these bombings. No offer, of course, to step down or negotiate. So we will, of course, keep an eye on this.

We also want to tell you, you should definitely tune in into "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer today. Be sure to watch that show because Wolf will actually be interviewing Curt Weldon, the person who is there. And you can watch the entire interview starting at 5:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

Meanwhile, we have our Nic Robertson who is in the Libyan Capitol with much more on this.

So let's take a look at that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Curt Weldon says he is not representing the White House, not the U.S. State Department, but it's interesting the White House hasn't so far talked (INAUDIBLE) or talked down his mission here.

His arrival coincides with a letter sent from Moammar Gadhafi to President Obama, essentially recognizing that the United States has withdrawn its aircraft from the coalition enforcing the no-fly zone. At least that's the way Gadhafi's letter reads, implying the United States is stepping away from its war, as he calls it, as part of a crusade or alliance here.

It seems to indicate that there may be diplomatic space on Gadhafi's side for the message or the proposals, at least that Weldon is bringing. He says it's going to propose that Gadhafi steps aside, not steps down because that's confrontational language. That he also enforces a ceasefire here, that he gets his forces out of key cities, cities that the U.N. has already outlined, but also that the opposition should stop their advances, well, stop trying to take more territory.

The proposals include a power sharing interim where the government -- current government prime minister would share leadership with the opposition leaders, Jalil. Possibility in the in the future of a parliament here, that there would be a parliamentary advisory council set up with international politicians to help Libya. And for Gadhafi, the possibility of the honorary title or honorary chairman of the African Union.

But of all these proposals it's far from clear that these can be acceptable to Gadhafi, can be acceptable to the opposition here or acceptable to the international community at large. But Weldon's mission here comes at a time when Libya is looking very, very keenly to establish diplomatic ties in the international community and in particular with the United States. But, far from clear his visit here can succeed.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tripoli, Libya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Turning to the conflict in Ivory Coast, forces loyal to elected President Alassane Ouattara today stormed the residence of former President Laurent Gbagbo. But he apparently wasn't there. His spokesman says he's willing to talk about African Union proposals for a handover of power, but he won't discuss surrendering before then. The spokesman claims Ouattara forces are trying to kill Gbagbo.

Meantime, fighting continues between the two sides. Hundreds of people have been killed since Gbagbo rejected the results of the democratic election last November. He claims he won, not Ouattara. The U.S. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon today lashed out at Gbagbo, calling him a coward for refusing to step down.

Richard Branson plans to go deeper into the ocean than Mount Everest is high. So just how exactly is he going to do that? That's today's Big I.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. Are you watching the calendar like we are? The deadline for that government shutdown is approaching fast. Congress has until Friday to agree on a package to fund the government for the rest of this year.

After speaking with congressional leaders Tuesday, President Barack Obama checked in with House Speaker John Boehner this morning. Boehner says he told the president he is hopeful a deal can be reached soon. Talks are ongoing.

After rising for 15 straight days, gas prices are now 41 cents away from reaching an all-time high. According to AAA, the average price of unleaded jumped more than two cents overnight. Prices have spiked a whopping 20 percent from January. The increase is fueled by higher oil prices with the Mid-East uprising intensifying.

Microsoft and Toyota announced a $12 million partnership today. The companies will create an advanced digital information and communications system for the Japanese automakers' cars. The joint venture will deploy telematics in Toyota vehicles. That's the catch all term for car communication technology, including GPS, multimedia, and telecommunication services.

The earthquake in Japan has left many people homeless and it could take years to rebuild. Now one group of entrepreneurs is working on a new design that could one day provide housing quickly and easily after an earthquake or maybe another disaster.

Reynolds Wolf has the story in this Edge of Discovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): At first glance, this design looks more like art than architecture, but it could be an important piece in providing quick shelter to those in need.

DROR BENSHETRIT, DESIGNER: It can be used for all kinds of quick erected structure of all kinds.

WOLF: It's called Quadror, and it is the work of this designer, Dror Benshetrit.

BENSHETRIT: Really started by realizing that four identical L- shaped pieces like that when placed next to each other, you get this unit that is able to actually open up and create this geometrical locking.

WOLF: Those pieces can be set up and stacked without any additional parts or tools. Meaning the base structure for relief housing can be put together with little prep time, and Quadror's ability to fold flat makes it easy to transport, and its eco-friendly.

BENSHETRIT: The advantage is that you ship very little material, and you're using everything else from the local environment.

WOLF: The studio also works on art installations and interior design, but currently, they are working on building bigger concrete versions of the box. But for now, the focus is on helping those in need.

BENSHETRIT: We're now starting to set up relationship with different organization that will be able to utilize this geometry.

WOLF: Reynolds Wolf, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: In today's "Big I," Richard Branson's Poseidon adventure. He's going to explore the deepest depths of the ocean and he's doing it in this. Yes, take a look at that. It's a submarine that almost looks like a plane. Branson told our Poppy Harlow about his plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: So Richard, you have sort of conquered the air. You have conquered so many things. And now you are working to conquer some of the deepest depths of the ocean in honestly what looks like a plane to me behind us. But this is a deep, deep water submarine.

What is this about? RICHARD BRANSON, CHAIRMAN, VIRGIN GROUP: Well, what it's all about is that our oceans haven't been explored. The furthest American submarines or British submarines or French submarines that have been under the sea is about 18,000 feet. And because the pressure is so enormous below that they've never built a submarine to go deeper. We built this submarine with the aim of going 36,000 foot under the water and to explore mountains and valleys and trenches that mankind has never visited or seen before.

HARLOW: What's the goal of this? I mean, is this going to turn into a commercial endeavor sort of like Galactic, like your airline? Will people -- will you be touring people in depths below the surface of the ocean, or is this purely scientific, purely sort of exploration?

BRANSON: Well, our dream is that if this is successful, if we can withstand the 1,500 times the pressure an airplane has to withstand at 36,000 feet, then we one day will build a bigger craft and we'll have astronauts, not astronauts -- we'll have aquanauts traveling to the bottom of the oceans to help map out the oceans.

And there's something like 90 percent of this species in the world have not been discovered because they've never had a craft to go below 18,000 feet. So we hope to discover, literally, numerous species down there.

We'll find numerous wrecks. I mean, there are literally thousands of wrecks down there that that nobody has seen. And lots of Spanish galleons with lots of gold.

But the scientists are frothing at the mouth with excitement with the idea that we might overcome the technological problem of getting a submarine down there.

HARLOW: You're taking this to the five deepest points in the ocean over the next two years, all around the world. Where did this come from?

BRANSON: Well, the original idea, interesting, came from Steve Fossett before he died. You know, he just wanted to break the record for the first person to get, you know, a solo dive to the deepest part of the ocean. You know, we have taken his idea, you know, developed this submarine, hopefully overcome all the technical problems that we needed to, and expanded the idea.

And working with scientists, we literally want to explore the Puerto Rican Trench, which is the deepest place in the Atlantic, the Mariana Trench, the deepest place in the Pacific, and the deepest in the Arctic, the Antarctic and the Indian Ocean. Some of the life forms we're going to find will be breathtaking. We just have to hope that no giant squid fancies us for dinner.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: I want to bring in our Chad Myers now.

So Branson is going to some of the deepest places on Earth, at least hoping to get there.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I love this vehicle. It looks like a bottle-nosed dolphin.

KAYE: Yes, you want one. Every guy wants one of these. I see a safety issue, but a guy sees, oh, a cool toy.

MYERS: Hey, you know what? Let me off this planet going, whoo, what a ride!

And there it is. It's a one-person thing. And you would think, wow, this is going 36,000 feet down, there's no way you could get a body in there. But, yes, Chris Welch is going to be the first one to the Mariana Trench. Literally 36,000 feet down -- 36, two oh, 1.

And not just up and down. There have been two people that have been down to the bottom of that trench. They went down, they went back up, that's it. These guys are going to be able to fly around there and look around. Go up the ridge, literally go up the part that makes all the earthquakes, makes the ring of fire there in the Mariana Trench.

KAYE: Oh, my.

MYERS: And see what else is there.

Then Richard Branson, Sir Branson, is going to go to Puerto Rico. He's going to do the trench here, cause his house is -- I've looked at it, never been in -- right about here. Necker Island, he lives in. I think you can rent it for about $35,000 a night.

KAYE: So he's sticking close to home on that one.

MYERS: Yes. He's going to take that little catamaran and do right there.

Then they're going to go around -- this is going to be a two-year adventure.

KAYE: Sure.

MYERS: You can't just move this thing back and forth.

KAYE: He's trying to set world records here.

MYERS: Yes.

There's Australia, and there's the trench at 26,401. That is south of the -- it's in the Indian Ocean, southern Indian Ocean, southern part of the Indian Ocean.

Let's take you back out, take you where we go next. Now, here's -- here's the coast here, this is South America, and then all the way down here to the Sandwich Trench. That's 23,000 feet. They don't know what they're going to see down here, because no one has ever been down here. Yes, that one trip down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, but nothing has ever been down to this trench.

And then farther closer to us, way up to the north, it's not a trench, it's just a deep part of the northern Atlantic Ocean. This is Greenland, although it's white. It actually -- should be called Iceland because it's covered in ice, but they called it Greenland. And there it is, there's the Molloy Deep at 18,399. Taking this thing down and flying it around. See what's down there.

KAYE: I don't get it. I don't understand. First of all --

MYERS: You don't think this is exciting?

KAYE: Well, I do think it's very cool, of course, of course. Especially, for him. He loves this stuff.

But there isn't going to be any, hardly any communication and rescue, from what I understand, would be impossible at these depths. So it's risky stuff.

MYERS: A leak is bad.

KAYE: A leak is very bad. Really cool, but remember a leak is very bad. Good advice. Good to know.

All right, Chad, thank you for taking us around the world there. Very cool.

And if you want to learn more about Richard Branson's Virgin Oceanic, go to our blog, CNN.com/Ali, we will hook you up right there.

Lawmakers fighting over a budget to keep the federal government running, so why does it feel a lot like high school?

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KAYE: Welcome back. Time now for a "CNN Political Update." Senior political analyst Gloria Borger joins me now from Washington.

And, Gloria, I understand you have some debate news?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, we are going to Vegas, baby.

KAYE: Woo-hoo.

BORGER: CNN has -- yep, CNN has been chosen by the Western Republican Leadership Conference to host a Republican presidential debate on October 18th.

And, of course, we are all going to be there. It is going to be our third debate that we are hosting, so far. I'm sure there will be more on the horizon.

So we're going to end up in Vegas. We had some presidential debates there last time, so we are all looking forward to that. It is a big toss-up state, and it will be an interesting debate I'm sure, Randi.

KAYE: Yes, it sure will.

Let's talk about the budget fight happening in Washington. Feels a whole lot like the ninth grade, you say. A little bit like high school?

BORGER: Yes, it does feel a little bit like high school. I mean, they can't even agree who should be in the meetings.

Yesterday, the Democrats were complaining that the administration wasn't allowed into a meeting on the Hill. You talked to the Democrats, and they say that the Budget Director Jack Liu wanted to go to meeting and he was not allowed. And then, the speaker's office said no, that is not true. That's not really the way it happened.

I actually reported this out, it was not a real lucrative reporting experience I can tell you that. And it got me to thinking why are we having these kinds of arguments right now about last year's budget, a relatively small amount, when we have got the question of raising the debt ceiling coming up, not the mention the larger budget issues of how do we tackle entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security to make our country solvent again?

So we are much ado about nothing, right? They have to get it over.

KAYE: And what do you make of the president who said he was going to summon everybody back to the White House to have a discussion on this, meanwhile, he's not even at the White House today?

BORGER: Right, he's not even at the White House today. But to me it sounded like I used to sound when my kids were little. Sort of, if you don't get your homework done, I'm going to sit you down at the kitchen table until you finish your homework, right?

KAYE: Yes.

BORGER: And so, the president was clearly doing was trying to be the grownup in the room, a lot of that for television consumption, I might add, but you know, trying to act like the one who's going to make sure that they actually work it out.

Now, of course, he is not there today. They are continuing to talk. Hopefully, Randi, they are going to get this done by Friday. It would be a pity to shut the government down.

KAYE: Yes, a lot of people affected by that. Friday at midnight is the deadline.

Gloria, good to see you. Thank you.

BORGER: Good to see you.

KAYE: And the updates from "The Best Political Team on Television" is coming your way in just about an hour. Preserving history or promoting hocus pocus? The town of Salem, Massachusetts considers a name change.

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KAYE: The name of a elementary school in Salem, Massachusetts may soon be changed. There is a proposal to change Witchcraft Elementary School, and not everybody is happy about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRICIA PANNETON, PARENT: That is what Salem is about, the witches. That's what we have, that's our claim to fame. And for the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, we are the only Witchcraft Heights Elementary School in the country, and that makes our kids very proud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: If the proposal goes through, the school would be named after a city councilman. School officials are also against that idea.

All right, this next story you are going to love, we sure did. Her parents would not let her have a horse, so 15-year-old Regina Mayer found a creative way to fulfill her riding dreams. After years of training, the German teen taught the family cow, Luna, to jump makeshift hurdles. Yes, the cow.

Luna's equestrian training began with gentle walks before she was introduced to a saddle. Regina says she still wants a horse, but she will always love her cow, Luna.

Imagine cleaning out your garage and finding a car. This is what one Kentucky businessman discovered under a huge pile of junk in a storage unit. The '66 Shelby Mustang is one of only 1,100 it turns out made in the U.S. It was in the garage for 26 years, but still in near perfect condition. The Mustang could sell for around $200,000 at auction.