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Deadly Tornado Outbreak; Searching for a Serial Killer; High Tech Identity Theft; Bill Calls Cartels Terror Groups; Getting More Miles Per Tank; Seafood Prices Still Sky High; D.C. Market Builds up After Fire; President Obama to Hold Series of Town Halls

Aired April 16, 2011 - 11:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, take a look at that scene these are some folks in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Yes it looks like maybe an Alfred Hitchcock movie, flock of Greckles (ph) nesting near a bank's parking lot, been attacking the customers as they leave the bank. You can't do much about this, however. The birds are a federally-protected species.

Well, hello from the CNN Center, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us.

There are some new reports of a fierce new offensive against a rebel held town in Libya. The weapons used in the attack are also sparking outrage. We will explain why.

Also, deadly tornadoes ripping through parts of the U.S., some of these pictures are just unreal. We will show this to you in about 30 seconds.

Also, thieves are using technology to steal your credit card information right through your purse and your pocket and they can do this from as far as ten feet away from you. You don't even have to be close. You can find out how they're doing this. Also you need to find out how exactly you can protect yourself, a kind of an easy fix.

Well, we do need to begin this hour with the latest on the powerful storm system that has left a trail of destruction across the south. The death toll has climbed this morning to at least 17. Parts of the East Coast now are on alert. There's a threat of tornadoes, hail, heavy rain from the Carolinas through Virginia. The system started in the plains spawning tornadoes in Oklahoma and then made its way east into Arkansas, more damage and death there; and then Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy crap.

HOLMES (voice-over): Transformers exploded, cars tossed, trees toppled. All made for a wild spring night in parts of the southeast. In Alabama, there are reports of tornadoes touching down in at least six counties. This woman in Tuscaloosa ran into her hallway as the storm hit. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got in the hallway and I could hear this -- I don't know what kind of noise it was. It was a whizzing and crackling and it scared me.

HOLMES: In nearby Birmingham heavy winds knocked down power lines and tore off roofs. Further south in Washington County, Alabama a large tornado was reported on the ground. This house was flattened, tossed yards from its foundation.

In Mississippi folks are waking up to a state of emergency in 14 counties. A twister ripped through Interstate 20 in Clinton.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The funnel cloud dropped right there at the laundry and we were lucky we even got in the door. And it just crossed and went behind us and across I-20 and in like five minutes it was over.

HOLMES: Even blew over an 18-wheeler. It also ripped through local businesses and homes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first we heard a lot of wind blowing and it's not just sounded like a train and a whistle and all of a sudden we'd seen a black funnel cloud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw people standing outside we don't know why. So we decided to go out there and see, too. And then we saw all this damage out here.

HOLMES: In the Atlanta area, a tornado watch was in effect for most of the night. Heavy rain and hail blasted several counties, falling trees and pummeled homes. This woman came to check on her parents after a large tree uprooted and fell through their roof.

TABITHA OWENS, PARENT'S HOME HIT BY TREE: I thought the wind (INAUDIBLE) because my daddy was right there next to that window and the tree barely missed him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, we need to turn now to our meteorologist Karen McGinnis keeping an eye on things happening today and also what happened yesterday. And we -- you and I went through this a little earlier. I turned to you and saw that map and thought, wow.

KAREN MCGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes and that was an interesting reaction. And here is the additional wow factor of this. This is Google Earth image of the tornadoes that really pounded, especially the southeast yesterday.

But so far this year, 442 reports of tornadoes. Last night, almost 100 of those 442 tornadoes reported in just one night. And kind of Ground Zero for this area is right along the Mississippi and Alabama border. Here is Alabama, here is Mississippi and then you see that cluster of tornadoes with right along the border. The area that was hit the hardest.

The death toll continues to go up, already 17. Earlier this morning, 10; then it went to 13 and now it's 17.

We've got lots to tell you about. I'll be back in just about 30 minutes to bring you another update and show you more images of what happened across the southeast -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Karen McGinnis, has been on here for us all morning. We appreciate you. We'll chat with you here again shortly.

MCGINNIS: Thank you.

HOLMES: I want to turn now to Long Island, New York, where at least eight sets of remains have been recovered since December. Police say it could be the work of a serial killer.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is at Oak Beach this morning and she has been on this story for us. And Susan one of the strange new details that came out is that the sister of one of the victims may have gotten a taunting phone call from the killer.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Several of them, T.J., as a matter of fact. The suspected killer used his alleged victim's own cell phone to make those calls -- talk about creepy -- making taunting phone calls to victim Melissa Barthelemy's little sister, Amanda, who was 15 years old at the time who lives in Buffalo, New York.

There were seven phone calls in all after Melissa disappeared between July and August of 2009 and in one of the calls he even described in graphic detail what he did sexually to Melissa. In the seventh and final call, Melissa's mother is revealing for the first time now that this man allegedly confessed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNN BARTHELEMY, MURDER VICTIM'S MOTHER: He was, basically, torturing her. She, you know, she kept asking where her sister was and he just wouldn't tell her. She would ask if she was alive and he wouldn't answer. I mean, we always had hope until that last call when he told Amanda that he killed her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, what he says specifically was to this little girl, you think you'll see her again? You won't. I killed her.

Now, the family's attorney says police tried to trace some of the remaining phone calls. It took them a while to get on to the case, but evidently, this caller was able to stay one step ahead of the law. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE COHEN, BARTHELEMY'S ATTORNEY: So, the -- the caller seemed to have an understanding of how long it took to triangulate. And the caller made sure that he called from very busy areas: Madison Square Garden, Times Square, the Port Authority. So that the cameras and the web cams that are out there would be able -- would look down into a crowded field and at any given time, there were at least dozens of people who were talking on the cell phone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, Melissa Barthelemy was one of four prostitutes whose remains have already been identified by police. Her family says on Thursday of this week she would have turned 26 years old. And in her honor they even -- they baked her a birthday cake -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. The hard details to hear there and the possibility of a taunting phone call and you also mentioned four of those remains -- four bodies have been identified. What's the word on the others?

CANDIOTTI: Right, the other four sets of remains have yet to be; they're under examination by the medical examiner's office. So we're still waiting for word on that and, of course, also in the past week, they found a skull and some other remains, but they don't know whether they have anything to do with the others that have been recovered.

In fact, they're not even sure whether the ones who have been identified may be linked to the four that have not yet been identified. So, a lot of questions certainly remain during this long- running investigation -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Susan Candiotti has been on it for us. Susan, we appreciate you. Thanks so much.

And to our viewers, we have a CNN special on the suspected Long Island serial killer, includes a closer look at the timeline, and what leads the police have. This airs for you tonight at 7:00 Eastern Time right here on CNN.

I want to turn to some politics now.

Headlining a big Tea Party rally in Florida today, Donald Trump's it's the real estate mogul's first political event since announcing he may run for president. CNN's Shannon Travis is at the rally at Boca Raton, joining us live.

Shannon, good to see you as always and it's weird to say he has announced that he might announce that he is running. But he's courting the Tea Party at least, why?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: T.J., who knew that the man who has fired so many people, at least on his television show, would be such a big hit with the Tea Party crowd. And you just noted we're waiting on Donald Trump to head line this Tea Party rally here in Boca Raton.

You can see behind me that there's a stage being set up, there's American flags, there's bunting, it sure looks like a campaign-style event. But as you mentioned, Donald Trump hasn't said anything about his presidential intentions yet. He said that he'll announce it on his show, "The Apprentice" sometime in June. Donald Trump has been rising in the polls with a lot of Tea Party activists. He's been saying a lot of things that they like. He's brought up the birther issue that a lot of people like, as well. But, last night we caught up with Donald Trump at his estate Mar-a-Lago here in south Florida and he said some things about the former president that some people may not like.

Take a listen, T.J.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, CHAIRMAN & PRESIDENT, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: George Bush gave us Barack Obama. If it weren't for George Bush, we wouldn't have Barack Obama. So I'm not thrilled with George Bush.

Because he didn't have a great presidency, especially at the end and because of his actions and because of his aura, it was very tough for a Republican to win.

And in all fairness to John McCain and to Sarah Palin, I think it would have been very, very tough for anybody, for Abraham Lincoln to win after having followed George Bush.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS: So, it's anybody's guess how that kind of talk against the former president, as he criticizes President Obama will play with this crowd.

One other thing to note, T.J.

HOLMES: Yes.

TRAVIS: Donald Trump supported the bank bailout that a lot of Tea Party activists hate, so, it's unclear if a lot of activists know that or if they're just overlooking that. So, we'll see the reaction to Trump in a few hours.

HOLMES: When is -- when is he showing up there?

TRAVIS: He's supposed to be showing up around 2:00, 2:00, 2:30 somewhere in that time frame they're telling us.

HOLMES: All right Shannon Travis on it for us. Shannon, good to see you as always. Good to see you back here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We're going to be talking to you plenty buddy.

TRAVIS: As always T.J.

HOLMES: Thanks so much.

Well, a lot of folks are busy this weekend trying to get their taxes done. Some of you might have been confused and thought the deadline was supposed to be, you know, the 15th, like it usually is. But you've got a few extra days. Do you know why, though? We'll explain. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 13 minutes past the hour.

Now, before the break, we asked you, do you know why you're getting a few extra days and getting this weekend to do your taxes and the deadline is actually on the 18th? Well, the reason for the delay is because of the Emancipation Day Holiday happening in Washington, D.C.

Now, this marks the day President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Act which freed 3,000 slaves in the nation's capital. Emancipation Day is actually today, but it was observed in D.C. yesterday on Friday.

Now, Friday would have been the normal tax filing day, but under tax code, the Federal Tax Code, filing deadlines can't fall on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays. So, the IRS extended the deadline to Monday the 18th for all of us. So, just so you won't be confused here, the Emancipation Act it came nine months before Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation that everyone is familiar with for slaves in the confederate states.

So there you go.

Well, your credit card and debit card information can be stolen without anyone laying a finger on you, your wallet, your pocket or your purse. Police call it electronic pick pocketing. Thieves are using cheap scanners that they get online, some as small as the business card themselves and they scan your pocket and steal your card numbers. The expiration dates as well, and sometimes other personal information and they can do this, these thieves, from as far as ten feet away from you.

Our financial analyst, Clyde Anderson helped explain this to me how these things work and how you can save yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLYDE ANDERSON, CNN FINANCIAL ANALYST: The new technology RFID is Radio Frequency Identification.

HOLMES: Yes.

ANDERSON: And what they do is they can pick up these waves. They're transmitted through these antennas. And so you can pick them up from as far away as ten feet.

HOLMES: OK. This is probably getting people. How in the world is my credit card sending out a signal that can be taken. And that is where it comes in. People -- do people even realize --

ANDERSON: A lot of people don't realize the switch has happened. And it's funny this technology was actually patented for the first time in 1983. So it's becoming more widely used. It's actually going to take over bar codes. And so a lot of grocery stores are using this technology. When you see people in the stores using those RFID scanners, they're giving the information for inventory.

HOLMES: It's supposed to be contactless is what they say but --

ANDERSON: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Some gas station or gas companies were the first --

ANDERSON: Yes. The first with the express pay --

HOLMES: Yes.

ANDERSON: And so you can just swipe the card. And so they say it saves time. It saves about 10 seconds on each transaction.

What it also does is that you don't have to give your card away to someone, a waiter or someone at a store to go away and not see then what they're doing to your card. You can just pay at the table.

HOLMES: How complicated are these scanners and how technologically savvy do you have to be to do this?

ANDERSON: Not at all. Not at all. You know, some easy -- you know teenagers or anyone can, you know, if you have any kind of computer savvy, you can really go online and buy these things for about $40. You can buy one of these scanners and again, a lot of businesses use them when they're out on location doing business. So you can go and buy these same scanners and it picks up the information.

HOLMES: How close do they have to be to you?

ANDERSON: About ten feet.

HOLMES: That's not --

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: About ten feet and then they can go ahead and get that information. So they can be close and so, the thing is, if it's in your purse or if you have a wallet in your pocket, they can just swipe this pass and whatever is there, they can pull that information.

HOLMES: OK. This is the part that gets me now. This is a very easy fix. You can protect yourself, how?

ANDERSON: Yes. You can protect yourself. One easy way to protect yourself is you can wrap your cards in aluminum, that wouldn't detect. That will make sure that they cannot --

(CROSSTALK) ANDERSON: That's the low-tech way. You have wallets and new e- wallets are coming out. iCache is a company that has a wallet that uses your fingerprint technology too, to bring out your information. It's protected in this metal wallet and so it doesn't come out and no one can get that information from there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Scary stuff there, folks.

Well, are cartel members terrorists? One congressman thinks so. You need to hear what he wants to do about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 19 minutes past the hour now. The city of Misrata came under rocket attack today by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The rockets fell one day after a human rights groups said government troops fired cluster bombs in civilian areas. An outraged opposition councilmen showed CNN remnants of the bombs that most nations have actually banned.

Meanwhile, witnesses report dire conditions with residents fearing Gadhafi snipers would shoot down anyone walking on the streets.

So it's Election Day today in Nigeria. The incumbent Good Luck Jonathan is leading the pack in the race for president of Africa's most populous nation. He remains the front runner despite a poor showing by his people's democratic party in parliamentary and senate elections. Those happened last week. Those votes last week were marred by violence and accusations of fraud.

Mexican drug cartels are responsible for countless murders, but a U.S. congressman says they're not just killers, they're actually terrorists and they should be treated that way. Our Rafael Romo with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Should Mexican drug cartels be considered terrorist organizations? Representative Michael McCall, a Texas Republican, says they should and not only that, McCall has introduced the bill that would add Mexico's six dominant cartels to the State Department's foreign terrorist organizations list.

This would allow law enforcement agencies to have increase powers to limit cartels' financial property and travel interests and impose harsher punishments on anyone who provides material support to cartels.

Responding to the bill in a letter to the "Dallas Morning News", Mexican ambassador Arturo Sarukhan fired back saying, "If you label these organization as terrorists, you would have to start calling drug consumers in the U.S. financiers of terrorist organizations and gun dealers, providers of material support to terrorists." "Otherwise," the ambassador wrote, "you really sound as if you want to have your cake and eat it, too."

At a house judiciary committee hearing last month, FBI director Robert Mueller expressed concern about the danger posed by the cartels.

ROBERT MUELLER, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: The extreme violence across our southwest border continues to impact the United States as we saw in the murders last march of American consulate workers in Juarez, Mexico and the shooting last month of two U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in Mexico.

ROMO: Consular employee Leslie Enriquez and her husband Arthur Reynolds were shot and killed in Juarez, Mexico by gangs affiliated with a drug cartel, according to authorities. ICE agent, Jaime Zapata was killed and another agent injured in February when they were ambushed on a highway in central Mexico.

JANET NAPOLITANO, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Now, we remain very concerned about drug cartel violence in Mexico and we must vigorously guard against potential spill-over effects into the United States.

ROMO: Mexican officials have repeatedly said that drug cartels are neither an insurgency nor terrorist organizations because the purpose is neither to destabilize the government nor promote a political ideology. Their level of cruelty is unprecedented, but they don't hate a particular group. Their only motive, Mexican authorities say, is hard, cold cash.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Thanks to our Rafael Romo.

Of course, prices at the pump, you noticed, going up just a bit; soaring, others would say. Everybody is looking for a bargain on gas.

Well, this maybe not the best bargain, but at least we can help you find the cheapest gas in your area; some simple stuff here. I'll have the ideas for you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, gas prices sky high; shouldn't come as any surprise that we're paying about a dollar more a gallon today than we were the same time last year. So, where is the cheap gas? Is there cheap gas out there?

We found three Web sites that might help you out. The first here is gasbuddy.com; breaks it down by state and county with a top five list of low prices. You might want to write these down, folks, gasbuddy.com.

Another, gasprices.mapquest.com take you to stations with the best prices in your area. And also there is fuelgaugereport.aaa.com. That's a long one there. The AAA site shows you the states with the highest and lowest prices.

You know what I'll do for you, I will grab all three of those, I will tweet those out and Facebook those out here in just a second and make sure you do get them if you didn't catch them there.

Finding cheap gas, step one. Next, getting the most miles out of every tank of gas, Stephanie Elam shows you how to do that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey T.J.

So we're here at the (INAUDIBLE) port. I'm joined by Jon Linkov who's here to show us, really, how to do better about our gas mileage. I mean a lot of people are thinking about it now, gas prices are above $4 in a lot of cities in the country now and we're getting really close to the national average being near that all-time high that we hit in July 2008.

So with that in mind, what do you think we should do?

JON LINKOV, AUTOS EDITOR, CONSUMER REPORTS: I think we should take a ride, we can talk about ways people can save money on fuel.

ELAM: All right. Let's do it.

So, one thing that I think a lot of people do, obviously city drivers do it more is the idling. But that's a bad thing to do, right?

LINKOV: Well, if you're going to be idling for 30 seconds or even up to a minute at a time, it's really best for you to turn your car off. You do not use that much fuel turning the car on and off as much as you do if you're just sitting there.

ELAM: What about the speed, though.

LINKOV: Really the best way to drive to maximize your economy is to think that you're driving with a cup of coffee sitting on your dash board. You want to accelerate slowly, tip into the throttle and not really splash the coffee back up on you. That is one thing that you have to avoid.

ELAM: So go ahead and tell me about the need for slowing down.

LINKOV: If you really think about it, try a week where you do drive gently. You do drive a lot easier and not with huge inputs on your throttle and you'll find that you may go half a day longer without having to put fuel in the car and that is going to be a savings in your wallet.

ELAM: Tell me about the trunk. There's something you want to tell me Jon.

LINKOV: One thing you want to think about is not keeping that much junk in the trunk. Your vehicle is carrying around more things, carrying more weight; you're using more fuel to drag that stuff around.

ELAM: Does it matter whether you get 89 or 91 or whatever kind of gas for your car?

LINKOV: Well, it's really important to know the type of gas that your car takes. For example, this Chevy Cruise, in the owner's manual will tell you exactly what fuel type it is. For this car, it's an 87 octane that's recommended. That's the lowest grade.

ELAM: That's the lowest one, right?

LINKOV: Right, right. So you gain nothing by putting 91 in this car at all. However, if you have a vehicle that said, recommended 91, if you drop down and put in 87, you're saving a little bit of money, but you run the risk of damaging the engine.

ELAM: Is there any good way to track gas prices?

LINKOV: Well, you know, you can use GasBuddy, that's one site that's out there that a lot of people reference. A lot of Web sites will link to that. Use your local newspaper and use your local Web sites.

ELAM: Jon, thanks so much for the good information. Really good to meet you -- T.J.

HOLMES: Thanks to our Stephanie Elam there.

We have seen the destruction across the south and we have seen the death toll go up this morning from a powerful series of storms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy crap.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yes, holy crap is just one way to put it. Alabama just one of several states hammered by tornadoes, hail and heavy rain. We are tracking the storm. This thing is not done yet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 32 minutes past the hour now. It was a heck of a night and been a heck of a couple of days in parts of the South. Just take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw that lightning and it scared me half to death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You hear that? Yes. Are you hearing that? Some of this thunder and lightning we've been seeing, you know, in parts of the Atlanta area where we. Also, you're seeing this video here from Alabama.

Damage, likely going to be in the tens of millions of dollars after a line of powerful storms flattened homes and businesses in five states: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. The death toll is now at least 17 people.

And our meteorologist, Karen Maginnis, this certainly is not over. But as we look back, it's amazing, the past 48 hours we just saw.

MAGINNIS: Exactly.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: And Karen is here, of course. She is in for our Reynolds Wolf. And right now I want to let you know why Reynolds is not here this weekend.

We have sad news to pass along about our dear friend and CNN SATURDAY MORNING family member. Reynolds' father, William Miles Wolf, Jr., passed away at 7:10 yesterday morning. According to Reynolds, he passed quietly. And, in Reynolds worlds, "He left the world gracefully. Also in Reynolds' words here, "He was the happiest SOB on the planet."

His father was someone that I had the pleasure of spending some time with, and he was one of the happiest guys I had ever been around. And being around him, certainly understandable why Reynolds became the dear friend and the man he is today.

But our hearts, our thoughts, our prayers are with Reynolds and his family today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, this month -- well, one year ago this month, the seafood business really took a hit, and it hasn't quite yet recovered. The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, horrific on countless levels, but right now we're talking about how it hurt the restaurant business. You better believe it's still hurting pretty badly.

Sandra Endo was with one seafood business owner yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the freezer, huh?

DAN DONNELLY, CANTLER'S RIVERSIDE INN: Yes. I know I might have, you know, 500 to 1,000 pounds of shrimp in there. There's 10, 20 -- and what's that, 15? So I've got 35 pounds of shrimp in here. That's it.

ENDO: There's just none out there, huh, especially from Louisiana?

DONNELLY: And I prefer Louisiana. I just can't get it. Well, from last year at this time, it's gone up about $5 a pound.

ENDO (voice-over): We first visited Cantler's in Annapolis, Maryland, last year, where crab prices soared because of the spill. But now it's the shrimp, so expensive, it will likely affect the menu.

DONNELLY: Increasing prices a little bit just so we can keep our people employed and everybody happy.

ENDO (on camera): And this is the jumbo-size shrimp?

DONNELLY: Yes.

ENDO: And size matters.

DONNELLY: Size matters. It does.

ENDO: This is what customers want.

DONNELLY: That's what they want.

This is the Cantler's-style jumbo shrimp boiled with some seasoning, some red potatoes and onions.

ENDO: And this is your best seller, right?

DONNELLY: Huge seller.

ENDO: Not only is the seafood industry still hurting and feeling the effects of the oil spill, now the crisis in Japan could be another factor which could drive seafood prices up.

DONNELLY: If they are leaking any kind of radioactivity into the water, I mean, everybody is going to be looking at that. That is a volatile area right now.

ENDO (voice-over): At Cannon's fish market in Washington, a coveted delivery from the Gulf.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Louisiana.

BOBBY MOORE, CANNON SEAFOOD: A lot of fishermen stopped fishing because they took payouts from BP, and there's not as many fishermen, so it's driving the price up.

ENDO: Although Gulf waters are open now for fishing and shrimping, they were closed for months after the spill, taking a toll on inventory.

MOORE: There's less product now, so, supply and demand, we're paying probably double in price right now.

ENDO: A necessary pain for these businesses to stay alive.

DONNELLY: The last thing you ever want to do is take something popular and not have it. That's like me not having crabs. I mean, it's just unheard of. You can't do that. So, I've got to scratch and whatever -- claw -- to find this product. And I've been able to, but I'm paying for it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENDO: And consumers may have to pay for it, too, because the price of Gulf Coast shrimp has doubled since last year. And shrimp is actually the most popular seafood here in the United States, but it seems like whatever the cost, there will always be a demand. So, it's going to have to balance out somehow -- T.J.

HOLMES: And Sandra, we were talking about concerns about the seafood that was coming out of the Gulf for a while. Now there are concerns, as well, about seafood being affected by the radiation, possibly, from the Japanese disaster?

ENDO: Yes, absolutely. There's really no hard and fast data yet, but talking to seafood industry experts, they say that fear alone could really alter the supply and also drive up costs. So, that is a big area of concern right now. They're watching and waiting for any news out of that area, but, obviously, with shipments coming from Japan as well, it could alter really what goes on here in the states and perhaps drive those prices up.

HOLMES: All right.

Sandra Endo in D.C. for us.

Always good to see you. Thank you so much.

ENDO: Sure.

HOLMES: Well, a group of market vendors in the nation's capital considers themselves extremely fortunate after surviving a powerful economic blow that had the potential to destroy their businesses.

CNN's Tom Foreman reports on their remarkable recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Melvin Inman is back at Washington's historic Eastern Market, selling fresh fryers and handing out smiles. Four years ago, he almost lost it all.

MELVIN INMAN, EASTERN MARKET: It was devastating. Truthfully, I thought it was done for.

FOREMAN: Four years ago, a devastating pre-dawn fire ripped through the market, a popular spot since shortly after the Civil War for Washingtonians, to buy meat, fruit, flowers and more. Gone in an instant were dozens of jobs, and hundreds more were affected by the loss of this economic mainstay of the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Vendors, including Mary Calomiris, who had been here 50 years, were heartsick.

(on camera): You thought it was done for good.

MARY CALOMIRIS, EASTERN MARKET: We thought it was done forever.

FOREMAN (voice-over): But a $22 million rebuilding effort was launched almost immediately, funded by the D.C. government, with some federal and business contributions, too. A temporary market was erected so vendors could keep selling while the reconstruction went on.

BARRY MARGESON, INTERIM MARKET MANAGER: Our goal was to maintain, to continue with the exact same merchants who were at Eastern Market when the fire happened. And the only way really to do that was to keep them in business.

FOREMAN: It worked. Two years after the fire, and despite the recession, the market re- opened. Today, business has almost fully recovered.

INMAN: The community did not want to lose it.

FOREMAN: For many here it is just that simple.

CALOMIRIS: I'm telling you the truth. When you work hard, you accomplish everything.

FOREMAN: Even rising from the ashes to build up again.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, what a treat for us here at CNN when one of our own ends up on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" as very much a prominent guest. But the thing is, our CNN-er who ended up on "Jay Leno" didn't even know they were on "Jay Leno."

It's all about the man on the phone in the background. It's kind of ridiculous, but we'll show it to you anyway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 12 minutes until the top of the hour.

Now President Obama holding a series of town hall meetings next week.

CNN's deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, here with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey. Good morning, T.J.

Call it location, location, location. Next week, two of the three states where President Barack Obama holds town halls are battleground states, places where he needs to win to win re-election next year. Those two states are Nevada and Virginia. The other state where the president holds a town hall next week is California, generally a safe place for Democrats, but also a good place to raise money. And you know what? That's just what he's doing, holding fundraisers in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Mr. Obama kicked off his bid for campaign cash Thursday, back in his hometown of Chicago.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's going to come a time when I'll fully engage in this race. When the time comes, I will be campaigning.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: I'll be ready to go. But I've got to tell you right now, I still have this day job.

STEINHAUSER: And that's pretty much Mr. Obama's strategy for now -- president by day, fundraiser, at times, by night, with official trips often taking him to battleground states.

You know, if you're shocked, don't be. Most recently, Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton used the same strategy when they were running for re-election. So, this is nothing new -- T.J.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Thanks to our Paul Steinhauser.

And I've got something else to show you here about Paul. Did you see this -- as I bring in Deb Feyerick. She's going to be filling in for Fredricka today.

But did you see his appearance on "The Tonight Show"?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely hilarious.

HOLMES: Did you see it?

FEYERICK: Absolutely hilarious.

HOLMES: OK. For our viewers who may not know so much about Paul, Paul is in our D.C. bureau. We take a lot of shots from up there from different people in front of the microphone. His desk is in the back. OK? Jay Leno noticed.

Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": There's this guy on CNN. I see this guy every day, and every time the camera is on him, he pretends to be on the phone. This is annoying to me.

Watch. Here. He's not good at pretending.

Right there -- oh, he sees the camera on him. Look. Yes. Look.

Oh, look at that. Who has that kind of conversation?

Here he is about an hour later. There he is in the background. Yes, hello? The camera's on him again.

Look. This goes on all day -- look. Oh, I'm on camera? Hi. How you doing? That's stupid! I'm not falling for it!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Jay Leno is annoyed.

FEYERICK: It's the ultimate talking head, right?

HOLMES: It is. But we had Paul on earlier. We had him on live. He actually said that what is happening there, people see him on TV and they call him just to say, "Hey, you're on TV," and that's why he picks up, and is like, OK, yes, I know, and hangs up the phone. That was his claim.

FEYERICK: Well, this way he doesn't do anything embarrassing, so I'll give it to him.

HOLMES: OK. Are you buying that excuse?

FEYERICK: I'll take it.

HOLMES: Oh, stop it.

All right. You're coming up at the top of the hour here. You got the legal guys today?

FEYERICK: We've got the legal guys today.

HOLMES: I love the legal guys.

FEYERICK: And we've got a couple of really interesting topics.

First of all, we've all been irritated when we have to wait too long for something. Well, it turns out that LeBron James' mom, OK, got into an argument with a valet, a parking attendant at the Fontainebleau Hotel, and slapped him. Now he's turning around and he's suing her, saying, basically, he is now lost his ability to enjoy life and he's seeking $15,000 in damages.

HOLMES: What does that mean, anyway, loss of enjoyment of life?

FEYERICK: It must have been some slap is all I can say. That's the case he's bringing against the basketball great's mom.

We're also going to take a look at the sandwich generation. Now, a lot of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, they have got children on one end, they've got aging parents on the other. Well, guess what? You can actually claim both of them as dependents, even if they don't live with you.

And we're going to have something on that. So that should be good for a number of folks out there.

HOLMES: You call it the sandwich -- what did you say, the generation?

FEYERICK: The sandwich generation. It's the people in the middle with the kids --

HOLMES: Right in the middle.

FEYERICK: -- and the aging parents, and there you are trying to make a life.

HOLMES: OK. Now, the legal question is a fascinating one here about the slap. We had Sunny Hostin on talking about this, this morning.

And what can you really claim? That you were slapped? OK.

FEYERICK: Well, exactly. And he's also going to have to prove that after the slap happened -- you know, the slap heard around the world -- he's going to have to prove that everything went downhill, that he became depressed, that he was humiliated or embarrassed.

So, a lawyer may be able to argue that. The question is, is what are they going to put on the table as proof? And is a judge even going to buy this argument, especially since the video shows that perhaps he wasn't completely, let's say --

HOLMES: What is the right word?

FEYERICK: That he may have gotten into just it as much as she did.

HOLMES: Well, yes. He defended himself a little bit.

FEYERICK: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Now, also, are you done -- we were discussing the royal wedding before we came on. Are you -- you'll be more excited when we get there, right?

FEYERICK: Well, that's exactly right. I am really excited.

Look, I watched the wedding of Diana, and at that point, you know, it was still a fairytale. Now I think we're all a little bit wiser, a little bit more savory about what a royal wedding entails. She's going to spend the rest of her life in a fish bowl. She's probably got a jump on what Diana had. I think nobody knew what Diana was going to experience, T.J.

HOLMES: OK. We do have a special at 2:30, I think it is. FEYERICK: Coming up.

HOLMES: That will be coming up 2:30 Eastern Time. Going to be talking about the royals.

Deb Feyerick, we'll see you in just about six and a half minutes.

FEYERICK: Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: Good to see you, as always.

FEYERICK: You, too.

HOLMES: Well, talking about this royal wedding, we're taking a look at some of the most eligible royals. There are some out there, folks.

Some ladies, actually, on the market, including Charlotte here of Monaco. She's 24 years old. She's fourth in line to the thrown and the granddaughter of Grace Kelly.

Then there's Princess Madeleine of Sweden, 28 years old. She's third in line.

But there are some royal princes out there as well, and they are some of the most eligible bachelors on the planet. You'll hear from them after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the British royal wedding, less than two weeks away. You knew that already though, didn't you?

Don't cry though, ladies. Prince William, yes, he's off the market, but you have a few other prince options out there. They are on the most eligible royal bachelor list.

Let's start with Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, 31 years old, second in line to the throne.

Now Prince Albert of Germany. Is this your cup of tea? He's 28 years old. He was once the youngest person on Forbes' list of billionaires.

Where is he? There's my guy with the sideburns. Don't let that fool you. Again, he was on the list of youngest billionaires at some point. You could probably get over the sideburns if you had to.

Also, it's probably no surprise that Prince Harry is the top of that royal bachelor list now. His brother's wedding, of course, is coming up. He has now moved to the top of the list of the world's most eligible bachelors.

(MUSIC)

HOLMES: Boy, can't wait until that music goes away. Well, April 29th, it's the big day for Prince William and Kate Middleton. But if you live in England, it's a big day for you too.

Why? Schools around the country, closed. And nine out of 10 businesses giving their employees the day off.

I talked to our Katie Caperton. She's our entertainment editor at CNN.com. She weighed in on all this hoopla.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: So the country is shutting down.

KATIE CAPERTON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, CNN.COM: It's like a national skip day, basically. It's a bank holiday, which means it's not mandatory for companies to let their employees stay home. But schools are closed, and they're just -- they're enjoying it.

HOLMES: Will people have options? You don't get invited necessarily to it, and most people aren't. But will they have options for somewhere they can go down there and try to get up close and get a view of anything?

CAPERTON: Yes. Lots of people are starting camp out along the parade route. And we're going to be there covering it, the week of. You won't believe it. Days ahead of time people are going to be camping out.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness gracious. Is it two weeks from yesterday? Is that right?

CAPERTON: Yes. Excited?

HOLMES: I'm excited to get this thing done. It was something funny, and I was going to ask you about it, but we don't have it, from Jerry Seinfeld, who made some kind of controversial comments saying -- and I don't know how funny he was trying to be. But he said, you know what? Yes, we'll let them play pretend. We'll let them dress up and pretend they are special people.

And for some people I talk to just around, and friends and colleagues, it struck a chord that we're really giving all this attention and paying attention to these two people who were just born into the right families, quite frankly.

CAPERTON: Yes, there's a lot of that.

HOLMES: A lot of that talk.

CAPERTON: There's people who are really excited about it, and there's people like Jerry Seinfeld, who said, you know, it's just a circus. But at the end of the day, I think there's a lot of discussion about how many people are talking about it and covering it.

HOLMES: It's fascinating.

CAPERTON: But at the end of the day, it's a wedding.

HOLMES: It is.

CAPERTON: It's fun.

HOLMES: At the end of the day, it's a wedding, it's fun. Absolutely right. I love weddings, by the way.

What is the deal with this jelly bean?

CAPERTON: There's a jelly bean that looks like Kate Middleton.

HOLMES: How is that possible?

CAPERTON: There's a couple in Somerset, England, who found a jelly bean from a place called The Jelly Bean Factory.

HOLMES: Oh, wait.

CAPERTON: And they think that it looks just like Kate Middleton. I don't know. You have to judge for yourself.

HOLMES: Do we have the picture? There it is.

Oh, stop it!

CAPERTON: It sort of does look like -- and it also looks like Elvis. It also looks like me. It could be anybody.

HOLMES: It's --

CAPERTON: But they say it looks like Kate Middleton, so they want to sell this jelly bean on eBay for 500 pounds, roughly $1,000.

HOLMES: Oh, stop it, Katie!

CAPERTON: I'm serious.

HOLMES: Oh, stop it.

Keep this picture up for me for a second.

I thought -- the first story, I thought they were actually -- a company was producing special Kate jelly beans, but no.

CAPERTON: It's a magical jelly bean. Again, just like people find Jesus on a pancake, Elvis on a potato chip, the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese, you've got Kate Middleton on a jelly bean.

HOLMES: On a jelly bean.

CAPERTON: You can't deny it. It looks a little like her, or a little like me, again.

HOLMES: Stop it.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: And I see me a little bit in there as well.

CAPERTON: Anybody here.

HOLMES: All right. Katie, good to see you as always.

CAPERTON: Good to see you, too.

HOLMES: Thank you so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)