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11 Killed From Twisters in Bertie County, North Carolina; BP Oil Spill: The Situation Now; Timeline for a Disaster; On Ramp to the Workforce; Texas Fights Hundreds of Fires; Fast Track To U.S. Citizenship
Aired April 18, 2011 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to seed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From your house to the corner. Yes, there goes the roof off a house.
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MALVEAUX: The federal government is sending a dozen relief teams to North Carolina today to help people get back on their feet. It is going to take a while.
The state took the hardest hit from a storm system that whipped up twisters killing 45 people in six states. People are cleaning up today if they have anything left at all.
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TINA PALMER, STORM VICTIM: The windows broke out. The roof went. The walls went. There's nothing left. There's a tree on my daughter's truck. I don't know where my cats are.
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MALVEAUX: The tornado outbreak started Thursday in Oklahoma, where two people died. Twisters then moved east, killing seven people in Arkansas and Alabama; one person in Mississippi; and then 22 in North Carolina; and then six in Virginia. There were at least 230 reported tornadoes. Some of those were likely sightings of the same twister.
Half the 22 deaths in North Carolina happened in Bertie County. That is where our own CNN's David Mattingly is there.
And David, it is heartbreaking when you think about how many people suffered and died from this weather, this severe weather.
What is left? What are you seeing?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, it's really an important point to notice that 11 people lost their lives in this rural county. It's a sparse population here, people spread out all over the place. It just shows you how widespread and how strong this storm truly was.
You can see the house behind me. The roof collapsed, windows blown in. And this is one of the houses that was in a direct path of the tornado that's remaining standing. So many, including the ones next to this house, were completely blown off the foundations, and people dying in those houses as a result.
But the people here have a story to tell, that they were at the hospital. The husband telling me that his wife actually got sick. He took her to the hospital, and that's where they were when the storm hit. Otherwise, they would have been sitting right inside that front window on that couch that's now covered with debris.
Now, we're hearing so much about what was happening that night. David LaFon is with the North Carolina Forest Service.
And you were in charge of search and rescue for this county after the disaster happened. What did your guys see once they got on the ground and started going to these houses?
DAVID LAFON, BERTIE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, SEARCH & RESCUE: They have seen mass devastation. I've talked to several firemen, talked to Milton Felton, who's the fire chief here in Colerain, and he's been in emergency services for 30 years. He said he had never seen anything like it. He was just devastated by the amount of destruction that had come through.
MATTINGLY: What was your toughest rescue?
LAFON: The toughest rescue was down off of Glovers (ph) crossroad where Chief Felton himself was at. And him and his guys with the Colerain Volunteer Fire Department were struggling to get an occupant out of one of the houses.
MATTINGLY: Now, this is a county where you're close to the ocean here. Normally, you're prepared for hurricanes, you're prepared for flash flooding, those types of natural disasters. You have tornadoes, but nothing like this.
Were you prepared for this?
LAFON: No, not exactly. You know, typically, we're hurricane and floods, like you said, but a lot of the time we have to be ready for whatever comes up. You know, I think all the local citizens took all the appropriate action that they could, tried to get to the center part of their house, tried to get low and stay low. But as you can see with the force of this hurricane (sic), it ripped the houses into shreds.
MATTINGLY: Thank you.
David LaFon of the North Carolina Forest Service.
You just heard him, Suzanne. Everyone here pretty much doing everything they could.
Something important to point out is that because we're so close to the ocean, so low to sea level here, that no one has any basements. No one has any storm cellars. So, if they were caught in the path of this tornado, they had to rely on their house to protect them. And as you're seeing all over this county, that simply was not enough -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: David, thank you so much.
David Mattingly.
Texas wildfires claimed eight homes overnight in Austin. One man has been charged with reckless endangerment for accidentally starting one of the fires.
Texas Governor Rick Perry says his state cannot handle wildfires on this scale. He is asking Washington for help.
Residents were stunned by the fire's speed.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It came so fast that we are usually packed at the Catholic church.. They've moved us away. It's come so fast. He's moving us now.
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MALVEAUX: An FBI Black Hawk helicopter joined the search for a serial killer on Long Island, New York, today. Now, police think this person has left the remains of at least eight people near Long Island beaches. Detectives are waiting for test results today on bones found in the water off Oak Beach.
Libyan rebels say NATO is using weather as an excuse to ground its war jets. A rebel spokesman says that Moammar Gadhafi's fighters have no problem with the weather as they continue fierce attacks on Misrata and Ajdabiya. Government forces are targeting the port at Misrata today, blocking ships with food and medical supplies.
(GUNFIRE)
Syrian opposition sources say that 24 people have been killed in anti-government rallies in the past two days. Syrian state TV blamed the violence on what it called armed criminal gangs that are terrorizing people.
Stock prices are tumbling today. Right now the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off, down about 200 points. You see 205 there. The sell-off comes after Standard and Poor's cut its outlook on the government's debt rating from stable, now to negative.
Gas prices are heading now for a record. Six states and Washington, D.C., are already above $4 a gallon. And that number is expected to go up, which brings us to today's "Talk Back" and our own Carol Costello.
Carol, what can we do?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What can we do? What can our politicians do?
MALVEAUX: Yes.
COSTELLO: Deficit, deficit, deficit. Have you heard enough about the deficit lately?
We all know curbing the deficit is critical to helping our economy in the long term, but what about what's affecting our pocketbooks right now -- sky-high gas prices, $3.83 a gallon on average, says AAA? What to do?
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood just told Suzanne the president has a vision.
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RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We're going to encourage people to buy cars that get better gas mileage, but we know that people are still driving cars that use a lot of gasoline, and we know this is a big, big, serious problem for family budgets. And we're going to stay on it and take a multifaceted approach to it.
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COSTELLO: It sounds like a good idea in the long term, but what about now? Tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? President Obama says now is not the time to do that.
It sort of brings you back to the 2008 presidential campaign when we were talking about this very same thing. Gas was at an all-time high and there were a few ideas out there like a gas tax holiday, tire gauges and "Drill, baby, drill." John McCain even said we should build more nuclear power plants for energy independence, but that was before Japan.
Now, instead of ideas on how to lower energy prices, we're talking vision. Oh, except for possibly Donald Trump, who had this to say about attacking Libya --
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DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: Either I go in and take the oil or I don't go in at all. We can't be the policemen for the world.
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Just take their oil?
TRUMP: Absolutely. I'd take the oil, and I'd give them plenty so they could live very happily. I would take the oil.
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COSTELLO: OK. So that's not realistic but at least it's an idea.
"Talk Back" today: Why isn't anyone doing anything about gas prices?
Write to me at Facebook.com/CarolCNN, and I will read your answers later on in the hour.
MALVEAUX: OK. That's the Trump doctrine, take the oil.
COSTELLO: Just take it!
MALVEAUX: Take it. All right. Carol, thank you. Good to see you.
COSTELLO: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Ahead "On the Rundown," one year after the worst oil spill in American history, a long-awaited status update from the EPA.
Japan has a timeline for getting its nuclear crisis under control, and it's not anytime soon.
And keeping air traffic controllers awake on the job. FAA officials on a cross-country tour now. The first stop being here in Atlanta.
And plus, wildfires burning across Texas. The entire state now declared a disaster area.
And this --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): It all began with an improper landing by a captain on IndiGo Airlines. Investigators looked into her credentials and allege she did not pass the exam that allows her to captain an aircraft. Instead, someone had forged her results.
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MALVEAUX: Fake pilots flying in India.
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MALVEAUX: This week marks one year since the worst environmental disaster in this nation's history, the BP oil spill. We are focusing on the problems that persist and stories of success as part of our coverage, "CNN In-Depth: The Gulf a Year Later."
Eleven men were killed when Transocean's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th. Well, authorities say that more than 200 million gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf. It took 85 agonizing days to completely stop the flow of oil. The disaster is still impacting the people, the water, the wildlife in the area one year later. I want to talk to the woman in charge of restoring the ecosystem in the Gulf Coast, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. She joins us here in the NEWSROOM.
And thank you so much for being here.
Obviously, a lot of people still suffering. Two hundred million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf. Is it all gone now? Where is the oil?
LISA JACKSON, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: No, I don't think it's fair to say it's all gone. Some of it was recaptured, some of it evaporated. But we now know, as scientists are starting to do work, that some amount of oil is still trapped in the ecosystem itself, some of it at 1,100, 1,300 meters, 3,500 feet down. And, of course, there's still some oil in marshes, some amount that washed up as well.
MALVEAUX: What is the impact of that oil that still remains?
JACKSON: Well, the oil that's in the deep sea, I think we're learning. Scientists are learning what happens when that volume of oil gets trapped at that depth. It's very cold down there, it's under pressure.
The good news is that they haven't seen anything above levels that harm marine life. But, of course, what we've said to the people of the Gulf is that we're going to keep studying this for years into the future because we're learning as we go, in some cases, about this much oil. It's the worst environmental disaster, as you said.
MALVEAUX: There were two million gallons of chemical dispersants that were also used. A lot of questions about the safety of those chemical dispersants.
Do we know the impact of the residue, of that which was used there?
JACKSON: Of course, a year ago, when these dispersants were starting to be used in response, people were so concerned about the toxicity and what would that mean. Tough decisions about how best to protect the shallow marshes.
What we've learned and what scientists are seeing are very, very levels of one of the chemicals, dos (ph), that's in the dispersant that's showing up only in the deep sea, nothing at the shoreline, nothing in the shallows. We do believe it helped to disperse the oil. We do believe that it fulfilled the fundamental mission of using the dispersants, along with others, which was to keep that oil out of the shallows, the nurseries for the seafood along the Gulf.
MALVEAUX: And is the seafood safe?
JACKSON: Yes, the seafood is safe. You know, NOAA and FDA have been testing.
I'd say now that Gulf seafood seems to be tested more than most seafood Americans consume. And they do that because they realize that consumer confidence is a big part of the puzzle. The federal waters are open except for around the area right around the wellhead, and I think the state waters, about 96 percent of them are open.
MALVEAUX: What is the most vulnerable when you look at landscape and the seascape? Is it the turtles? The birds? Is it danger, threat, to human beings?
JACKSON: No. I think right now what we look at over the long term -- during the response, of course, we had to make sure that we weren't threatening, first, the workers, the responders, the people who were out there, the people who lived along the Gulf Coast. That's why we did air and water monitoring.
Now, as we look at the longer story, and there's reassuring data that has come back, we want to continue to get that data. There are multiyear studies of the ecosystem and a 10-year study of the health of workers to look at any impacts that might have come from the short- term effects of the spill, as well as the mental health impacts, the stress that people were under down there.
MALVEAUX: Talk to us a little bit about the Japan Fukushima nuclear power plant. You know, obviously, a crisis situation over there. A lot of people very worried over here about the safety of our air, our water, and our food.
Can you guarantee to the American people that there has not been a dangerous, a serious threat to our air, our water and our food, that it is safe here?
JACKSON: Yes. I feel very confident in assuring the American people that there haven't been any radiation events above health-based levels over here. And the reason I can do that is because of the monitoring that is happening.
The EPA's RadNet system has been monitoring the air. It's a continuous monitoring system. The results are at www.epa.gov/japan2011.
The FDA and EPA are looking at milk. We're looking at precipitation and drinking water events. And we have those results up.
We're seeing slight increases in radiation. Almost traces, what we'd expect to see. And that's consistent with all the modeling we've seen from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and others, who say no matter what happens in Japan, as tragic as it is, and it's certainly not a stable situation yet, we don't expect to see impacts above health-based levels here.
MALVEAUX: One of the reasons you're here in Atlanta is you're highlighting the fact that there are coal-powered plants that have had really a bad impact, very negative impact on some communities, particularly minorities communities, when you look that there are behavioral developmental disorders among the children because of things that you have found, whether it's mercury or acid, those kinds of things.
Very quickly, how big a problem is that in the three states that you're focused on?
JACKSON: Well, we're here to remind people of the connection between things like our Clean Air Act, which sound like an environment law, and public health. And you're absolutely right, 21 years ago the Clean Air Act said we should clean up mercury and acid gases, arsenic, cadmium, nickel from coal-fired power plants.
We just proposed that rule last month. And we know when that rule is implemented, it will save 17,000 premature deaths a year.
And mercury is a neurotoxin. We also know that that rule will mean fewer children who are born with developmental disorders because they and their mothers aren't exposed to mercury.
MALVEAUX: Does the EPA feel confident that it's safe, the nuclear power plants in this country, or should the EPA also be conducting a similar study?
JACKSON: Well, you know, the president has called for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review each and every operating plant in this country, and they're beginning that review right now, as well as plants under construction. There are some around the country under construction as well.
That's over and above the normal safety reviews that are done. And it's just like -- you know, there is a correlation with the BP spill. Out of every catastrophe, we owe it to ourselves to make these systems even more safe.
So, while nuclear power is certainly a pollution-free or almost pollution-free way to get our energy generation, no one wants to see it be a threat to us. So we have to have both.
MALVEAUX: All right. Lisa Jackson, thank you very much.
JACKSON: Thanks for having me.
MALVEAUX: Appreciate you here in the NEWSROOM.
JACKSON: Absolutely.
MALVEAUX: The nuclear crisis in Japan began more than a month ago, but now the government there is saying that it's going to take a lot longer than that to get the situation under control.
Our Michael Holmes, he's going to join us with the very latest in this evolving emergency.
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MALVEAUX: It's been over a month since the earthquake and tsunami set off Japan's nuclear crisis. The news today is that it's going to be no longer quick fixes for this disaster. Our Michael Holmes is here to go beyond the headlines.
And we understand that the owner of the plant is now laying out a plan here, and it looks like it's going to take a long time to clean this all up.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I know. There's no quick fixes here.
This is the first timetable we've actually heard out of Japan. TEPCO, in doing so, really seems to be looking to the future, which makes a nice change from dealing with the crisis minute by minute.
It's hardly good news yet though. It's going to take an estimated three months to just reduce the levels of radioactivity in the plant and restore normal cooling systems in the reactors and the spent fuel pools. That's according to the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO. Now, another three to six months after that will be needed before the reactors are fully shut down and then new shelves get built around damaged housings.
MALVEAUX: What about the folks that were displaced from the disaster? What happens to them?
HOLMES: Still very much displaced. We actually heard from the Japanese government on that.
They say they're going to try to decontaminate what they call the widest possible area in that same nine-month period we were just talking about before deciding whether those tens of thousands of people who had been forced to flee will be allowed to return. But, now, just last week, Japan warning residents in several towns outside the current 30-kilometer or 19-mile danger zone around the plant to evacuate or prepare to leave their homes. So, widening out as well.
Now, remember, the Japan disaster was just up to that same level as the '86 Chernobyl explosion. It's a tenuous thing -- and we've talked about this before --
MALVEAUX: Sure.
HOLMES: -- a tenuous comparison in terms of the amount of radiation released. Only 10 percent of the Chernobyl amount released in Japan.
But people there in Chernobyl have still not been able to return to the immediate vicinity 25 years later. And if we're going to use that sort of gauge to measure these things, the answer is, don't hold your breath for a quick return anytime soon.
MALVEAUX: All right. Michael, thank you for breaking it down. Obviously, it's going to be a long story.
HOLMES: A long haul, yes.
MALVEAUX: A long haul. Thank you. HOLMES: OK.
MALVEAUX: Well, great food never wasted, driven instead to the people who need it the most. City Harvest is the world's first food rescue organization.
Deborah Brunswick has more in today's "Green Solutions in Focus."
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CRUZ QUILAN, TRUCK DRIVER, CITY HARVEST: Right now I'm picking up a food donation that we give out to the people that are hungry.
My name is Cruz Quilan. I work as a truck driver for City Harvest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: City Harvest is the world's first food rescue organization. We'll rescue food from all segments of the food industry, so restaurants, corporate cafeterias, farmers, manufacturers. And we'll deliver it to New York's hungry men, women and children.
This year we'll rescue more than 28 million pounds of fresh fruit, and our expertise is in rescuing highly perishable foods, more than 60 percent of which will be produce.
BEN POLLINGER, EXECUTIVE CHEF, OCEANS: The fact that we cook here for pleasure, you know, we cook here for people to enjoy food for food sake. And while we're doing this there's people out there who don't have enough food for their basic necessity of life. So it's really important. Anything that we have that's fit to serve goes to some good use somewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not eating crappy food. We're not. We're eating quality food. You know? It's a blessing when I come here.
QUINLAN: Before I worked for City Harvest, I was having financial problems. I had no choice but to go to soup kitchens and stuff like that. Now I have the privilege of taking the food to those soup kitchens.
One, two, three.
I feel very good going to work, not like other the jobs that I had before. At least now I feel I'm doing something for community, I'm helping out. I speak for the other drivers when I say that it's like an honor to do this. It's like an honor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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MALVEAUX: Ahead "On the Rundown," way too many air traffic controllers have been caught sleeping on the job. The FAA, on a cross-country tour now to try to end all of this. Plus, fake pilots? That's right, fake pilots flying passengers around in India.
And the entire state of Texas now a disaster area after more than 7,000 wildfires in one season.
New rules are now in place to keep air traffic controllers from sleeping on the job. The changes come after a series of incidents involving snoozing controllers.
According to the FAA, air traffic controllers will now have nine hours off between shifts instead of eight hours. No swapping of shifts without nine hours in between, and no more working unscheduled midnight shifts following days off.
I spoke to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood just this last hour about how they arrived at these additional nine hours.
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RAY LAHOOD, U.S. TRANPORTATION SECRETARY: Well, we got that recommendation really from a fatigue study that we just are releasing, and that study says that pilots should actually have nine hours, and we thought the controllers should, too. But look, if that's not enough hours -- and that's really one of the reasons that the administrator and the president of the controllers union are traveling the country starting in your bailiwick today, in Atlanta, talking to controllers about workplace rules, about more rest. And if it needs to be more, then obviously we'll take that in consideration. We think nine hours is probably the right amount of rest. But if it's not, we'll do better.
MALVEAUX: How do you actually hold those air traffic controllers accountable? I mean, say they have a nine-hour rest period but they're not sleeping, they're not resting. I mean, how do you actually change people's behavior?
LAHOOD: By telling them they have to take personal responsibility for the idea that when they're supposed to rest, that means sleeping, that means resting, that doesn't mean doing other extracurricular activities. They need to take personal responsibility for the idea that they have the lives of thousands of people in the job that they do every day. And so they need to be well rested and well trained and they need to just say they're going to do this.
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MALVEAUX: The FAA and National Air Traffic Controllers Association are holding the first in a series of meetings about air traffic control safety as well as professionalism. Our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, is at the session in Atlanta. Jeanne, bring us up to speed here. What is the purpose of this meeting. What have they accomplished so far?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they want to talk to air traffic controllers, and they want to get feedback, their ideas for how to correct this situation. The FAA administrator, Randy Babbitt, emerged from the session here and called it a "wholesome discussion" with controllers.
We were able to listen to about the first 15 minutes of the presentation. I would describe it as part cheerleading, praising air traffic controllers for the professional job they do most of the time, and part scolding for this recent series of events where controllers have fallen asleep on the job, the most recent one of course, just in Miami this past weekend. Here's a section of what the FAA administrator had to tell the troops.
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RANDY BABBIT, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: For the last couple of weeks we have had a couple of instances -- incidents that have put a real terrible blemish on the work that we do.
And that blemish, I take that both personally and professional. None of us like it. I don't like it, Paul doesn't like it, you don't like it. It is something that we need to address and address quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Suzanne, you've outlined some of the scheduling changes they made over the weekend, including saying that controllers have to have at least nine hours off between shifts. We asked Randy Babbitt how much those changes are going to cost. He said between $2 million and $9 million a year. He says we want to be fiscally responsible, but safety comes first. And of course, more changes may be in store after they complete looking at this issue.
Also, Babbitt told us that one of the controllers involved in one of these incidents has now been fired. He's the controller in Knoxville, Tennessee. That's where it appeared that he had intentionally fallen asleep on the job. Suzanne, back to you.
MALVEAUX: Jeanne, it may a little early, but do we know if there are going to be additional rules? Are there any other ideas or things this that they're thinking about or talking about in terms of behavior of some of the air traffic controllers, if they are really going to be getting more sleep if they get an extra hour? How they're held accountable?
MESERVE: Well, they talked about a couple of things. They said that there was an FAA study on fatigue which the FAA received after the first of the year. They're going to be looking more closely at that and some of the recommendations it makes in addition to the scheduling changes they've already made. They're talking about a professional code of conduct for air traffic controllers that they think may up performance levels.
Also, I was told by an official that they're looking at fatigue education. They want to teach controllers more about this issue, about how to recognize the signs and about how to address it. So, it is going to be a combination of things, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Jeanne Meserve. Thank you very much, Jeanne.
A huge corruption scandal in India now has airline passengers flying scared. It turns out that some pilots are actually faking it. About a dozen government officials (INAUDIBLE) pilots, have been arrested now in connection with a license scam. Investigators are checking thousands of certificates looking for more unqualified fake pilots.
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ASHOK CHAND, DISTRICT POLICE COMMISSIONER: We found that there were around seven pilots who obtained this license on the basis of false documents.
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MALVEAUX: The investigation started after a botched landing in January found that the pilot turned in passing marks even though she had repeatedly failed parts of the licensing test.
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MALVEAUX: Maternity tourism. It's the first in a list of options for "Choose the News" today. Pregnant women from other countries travel to the United States. They want to make sure that their babies become American citizens. And check out this old news reel.
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ANNOUNCER: Down these troughs, 30 feet to the bottom where largest continuous building concrete core in the west.
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MALVEAUX: That's your second choice. It was a futuristic marvel when it was built 50 years ago. Today, Seattle's space needle defies the city's skyline. Find out how it went from doodle to landmark.
Your third choice -- hip-hop explosion in Libya. How the rising against -- the uprising against Gadhafi -- is inspiring these musicians to sing out. Vote by texting 22360. Text 1 for maternity tourism, 2 for space needle turns 50, or 3 for Libya hip-hop. The winning story will air later this hour.
Nicolas Cage adds his face to the mugshot gallery. And Lady Gaga's religious controversy. A.J. Hammer from HLN's "Showbiz Tonight" joining us from New York.
Hey, A.J. Let's get started with Nicolas Cage. Lot of folks get in trouble in New Orleans. My native New Orleans. What happened?
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes, it does happen even if you are a big-time star, Suzanne. Actor Nic Cage went on a drunken tear in New Orleans' French Quarter over the weekend. It ended with his arrest and a surprise visit from Duane Chapman, you know, Dog, the Bounty Hunter from the reality show.
Well, here's what New Orleans police say happened. The Oscar winner is in New Orleans. He's working on a movie right now. And at 11:30 on Friday night, he began arguing with his wife, Alice Kim, loudly on the main street. Apparently, they were disagreeing over the location of the house they were renting. Well, police say that Cage grabbed his wife by her upper arm, pulled her to what he believed was the correct address and then began striking vehicles and attempted to get into a taxi.
Now, according to a police spokesperson, officers arrived to find Cage, as they put it, "heavily intoxicated." Cops ordered him out of the cab, which prompted Cage to start yelling. The officers took him to central lockup. He was charged with domestic abuse, battery, disturbing the piece and public drunkenness. His bond was set at $11,000. Needed someone to pay the bond, right?
So, here's where the story gets extra colorful. Cage was released from jail on Saturday afternoon, bailed out by Duane Chapman, known as Dog the Bounty Hunter from the A&E reality show. Now, Chapman told "Showbiz Tonight" he's just a fan of Nic Cage's, insisting he was simply doing his job as a bail bondsman. It was in no way connected with his show.
And as of now, Suzanne, Cage's reps have not responded to our requests for comment. I'm sure that that story of what you hear of happens on main street in New Orleans. This time it was just a little more colorful because of the characters involved.
MALVEAUX: Very strange. Lady Gaga. She's at it again. This time, she has religious leaders kind of upset. What happened?
HAMMER: Well, Gaga certainly has a colorful history, as we all know, getting people talking. Now she's got Christian religious leaders outraged over her brand-new song "Judas." I'm driving in the car Friday night, this thing comes on, and I'm thinking, "Oh, we're going to be hearing from the Catholic League." And we have.
Now, Gaga rush released Judas on Friday after it was leaked onto the Internet. And of course, it's just as Christians began celebrating Holy Week leading up to Easter.
Now, some Catholics are upset at the song's anti-Christian tone and lyrics in which Gaga proclaims she is in love with Judas. Judas well known among Christians as the apostle who betrayed Jesus. Now, the president of the Catholic League, never shy with his opinions, slammed Gaga to HollywoodLife.com. And here's what he's saying, "She is trying to rip of Christian idolatry to shore up her talentless, mundane and boring performances. "
Well, Suzanne, I can certainly say, I understand why he's upset. Mundane and boring? I've never seen that from Lady Gaga.
MALVEAUX: A.J., don't go away just yet. I want you to check out this video. Check this out.
HAMMER: OK.
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MALVEAUX: This is great. If you -- this is the spoof of the royal wedding. This has gone rival, A.J. It's like -- it would only be better if it was like, you know, a Soul Train line or something. This is fantastic.
HAMMER: It's perfect. And I actually would like to see this happen. I don't think it is going to. I saw a royals expert being interviewed by Barbara Walters this morning. And she asked him what can possibly go wrong at this wedding? The guy said not a thing. So, this isn't going to happen.
MALVEUAX: This is what could happen at the royal wedding. We'll have to wait and see if they got enough flavor there to pull that off. Huh?
HAMMER: Don't think so.
MALVEUAX: All right! A.J. Hammer, thanks. We'll have more after the break.
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MALVEAUX: Economists say that some women fared better in the recession than men, even calling it the he-cession and the she-covery - I think that's what it is. But as life situations change, women still have to look for the on-ramps onto the workplace. Here's Christine Romans.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" (voice-over): In the 1950s, roughly 30 percent of the workforce was women. According to the latest government stats, now it's nearly 47 percent. Historic gains with an asterisk.
LINDA REALE, PWC EXECUTIVE: I think for a women you do face these challenges. I have my family demands, I have my husband's demands, I have schools, I have after school activities, importantly, I have work.
ROMANS: Linda Reale, for 20 years, built a career at PWC. Then her husband was suddenly transferred overseas and she faced taking the off-ramp.
REALE: I felt, you know, overwhelmed with, you know, what was I going to do from a professional perspective and then also from a personal perspective.
ROMANS: PWC allows employees to take time to raise children or care for aging parents and come back to their jobs.
NILOFAR MOLAVI, DIR. OF DIVERSITY, PWC, TAX AND AUDIT FIRM: The reason PWC implemented the full circle program was that we were seeing a number of our women who were leaving the workforce because of a life event.
ROMANS: Big companies are offering flexibility, but many women have found that they can balance it better working for themselves.
ROD KURTZ, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, AOL SMALL BUSINESS: We're seeing a huge trend of what they call mom-preneurs. And it's just as it sounds. I think a lot of moms are saying, you know, to heck with the rat race, I'm going to get out there, I'm going to start my own company, and they often target these niches that frankly corporate America is ignoring and we see these businesses grow to be quite big.
ROMANS: Research firm Into It recently estimated that by the year 2020, the gender gap in earnings will narrow, women will graduate college at a higher rate than men, better preparing them to lead in a knowledge economy, and will be a dominant force in health, education and service sectors. But no question, the challenges of family and work remain.
REALE: I was out of work for 18 months. It doesn't sound like a long time, but when you completely change your life from being, you know, a working girl, to a working mom, to being 100 percent at home and focused on other things, it's a really long time.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
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MALVEAUX: Starting your own business is one solution, but one problem still remains, studies show for every dollar a man earns in the workforce, a woman earns just 77 cents.
Well, we are asking you why -- why isn't anyone doing anything about gas prices. Well, Timothy says, "they are doing something about the gas prices. They're raising them." More of your responses straight ahead.
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MALVEAUX: Another extremely dry and windy day across parts of Texas. One forest service official calls it the perfect storm for wildfires. The danger is evident with hundreds of wildfires burning across the state. Our CNN's Ed Lavandera is in north central Texas.
Ed, I understand that you're heading towards an area that might be evacuated. Give us a sense of how this state is doing in fighting all of these fires that have spread so quickly.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Governor Rick Perry, today, state officially that the state doesn't have enough resources to keep up with the wildfires that are raging in so many corners of this state. We are west of Ft. Worth, Texas, heading toward a little town called Graham. And this is the sight of one of the bigger fire. Some 50,000 acres. We've been told that at one point this one particular fire that we're getting close to is about a mile wild and essentially several towns in the path of the fire have already been evacuated over the weekend. Those towns are Stawn (ph) and Catoak (ph).
The town we're heading to, which is a little town called Graham, they haven't evacuated yet, but we understand that there are dozens and dozens of strike teams that are on the edge of the town, essentially just kind of playing defense, if you will. This fire's just too large to really try to battle it on the front lines. So what they're trying to do is protect the areas where obviously people live in their homes and structures. So they're kind of in a defensive mode at this point.
But, you know, the conditions here in Texas today, Suzanne, are just terrible for firefighting. Low humidity. Lot of heat. And the winds are extremely fierce, gusting up around 35 miles an hour depending on where you are. So across the state, another extremely dangerous day of firefighting for firefighters that have already been exhausted.
And they're bringing in more and more crews. In fact, they're lining up some four military C-130 aircraft to come attack some of these fires with fire retardant here within the next 24 hours. So you can see that the intensity of these wildfires has really picked up here in the last few days across the state.
MALVEAUX: Ed, we're seeing extraordinary pictures there. Can you tell us about an arrest that was made involving one of these fires?
LAVANDERA: Yes, I think the one you're referring to there is one that was on the outskirts of Austin. And I think that it wasn't an arson charge or anything like that, it was a person who was arrested and I believe they were charged with reckless endangerment. So there's various reasons for why these fires started. You know, you have -- that one was obviously near Austin. Authorities believe it was man- made. But lightning also causes problems in some of these other parts of the state.
MALVEAUX: All right, Ed, please be safe. Ed Lavandera in Texas.
Gas prices are up, as we all know. The 27th straight day. And summer travel kicking in. Of course that season means that the gas prices could go even higher, which leads us to the "Talk Back" question, Carol, what should they do? Not we do. What should they do?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What should they do? The "Talk Back" question today, why isn't anyone doing anything about gas prices? You know, as in politicians.
OK, Jerry, FaceBook friend, we are using your answer. Jerry says, "the problem is that Americans want the government to bring the solution to us. It's up to us to find the solution. Big oil industry and the government are making money off of us. Do you really think they're going to bring the solution to light and lose money? Not."
This from Tracey. "I question if the rise in gas prices is real or contrived. It should be based on supply and demand, but it's not. Gas companies own the refineries and can produce more if they want. It is speculation in the markets that drive up the price." This from Michael. "OK, so CNN just had Ray LaHood on and he said that Obama is working with carmakers so that automobiles will run on less gas and more battery? That makes me laugh. By the time all that happens, gas prices will be at $9 a gallon and who will have the money to buy all those cars?"
This from Michael. "As long as big oil rules the roost, we will be paying overly inflated gas prices. Don't get me started on Wall Street speculators!"
Keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn. And, as always, thank you for your comments.
MALVEAUX: Any good ideas, do you think, that people threw out there?
COSTELLO: They don't have any -- I mean most of the people who commented on this question say, yes, we're partially to blame because we have to use less gas. But we are using less gas. And gas prices are still high. And they're still going to shoot up to maybe $5 per gallon this summer. So clearly something else needs to be done. So now we're asking of our politicians, hey, help us out here. We're doing our part.
MALVEAUX: Come up with some ideas.
COSTELLO: Right.
MALVEAUX: Sure. OK, Carol, thanks.
COSTELLO: Sure.
MALVEAUX: You told us what story you wanted to see. Your "Choose The News" story, that's just moments away.
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MALVEAUX: You had three stories to choose from. Only one could air. Here is your choice for "Choose The News" winner. Thelma Gutierrez has the story of maternity tourism.
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THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's sold as the ultimate U.S. tour package for wealthy pregnant women around the globe. It's called "maternity tourism" and it's big business.
DANIEL DENG, ATTORNEY: The rate now -- the advertised rate from $15,000 U.S. dollar to $50,000.
GUTIERREZ: That's air, hotel, medical care and the guarantee of an American-born baby. In Manhattan, a luxury hotel caters to wealthy Turkish women. In Tucson, rich Mexican women fly in on private jets. And in Los Angeles, affluent Chinese mothers are boarded in stately town homes. They give birth, then recover until they're able to return home. GUTIERREZ (on camera): In these townhouses, inspectors have been called out to investigate on three separate occasions.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): They found the townhouses had been converted into a multi-unit facility. And the kitchen was turned into a nursery for newborns. While it was shut down for multiple city code violations, there's nothing illegal about coming to the U.S. to have a baby.
CAT CHAO, KAZN-AM: This is a hot topic for the show.
GUTIERREZ: Cat Chao is the host of a Chinese radio show. She says L.A. is a hub.
CHAO: It's like insurance, isn't it, for your future? There you go, it's yours. Well, I think the parents, they really want to do everything for their kids.
GUTIERREZ: Attorney Daniel Deng says while maternity tourism is controversial, it is a fast track to citizenship for the privileged.
DENG: L.A. (ph) could envoy the retirement benefit and also the best medical care that America could -- the government can offer.
GUTIERREZ: I went to meet one of the customers.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): When is your baby due?
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): She declined to appear on camera, but told me she's from Shanghai and here on a tourist visa.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): Part of the immigration debate is that you should do it the right way and you need to wait in line. These people who have money aren't waiting in line, are they?
CHAO: No, they are not waiting in line. However, they do not violate any law. OK. And again, if you really want to stop it, if U.S. government really want to stop this, you got to make the law. You got to change the law.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Chao says until that happens, the wealthy will continue to come, give birth and return home with their precious cargo.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
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