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St. Louis Tornado Cleanup Begins; Pope Celebrates Easter Mass; China Cracks Down on Christians; Obamas Attend Easter Service; Mubarak to be Transferred; Syrian Forces Fire on Protesters; Protests Despite Yemen Deal; Debate Over U.S. Libya Policy; Beer for Lent; Royal Wedding Computer Crash; Pursuing that Dream Job; President Obama Hits the Road; Donald Trump's Net Worth
Aired April 24, 2011 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of families in the St. Louis area are spending this Easter Sunday cleaning up from Good Friday's massive tornado. The task almost overwhelming. Lambert, St. Louis International Airport took a direct hit with heavy damage to the main terminal. Winds there were estimated as high as 165 miles an hour. The airport reopened today on a limited schedule. A few hours ago, there were just over 100 departures. On a normal Sunday, 230.
The tornado, a powerful EF-4, flattened whole neighborhoods. It damaged at least 750 homes. On this Easter, a time for thanks. No deaths or serious injuries were reported there in the St. Louis area. A church that had its steeple blown off held Easter services as planned today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: In Bridgeton, a St. Louis suburb, the tornado blew apart homes in just a matter of seconds. CNN's Dan Simons is there.
Dan, how are people coping with what has happened? I know they've been kind of reliving and replaying to you all afternoon what they went through in just a matter of 30 seconds.
DAN SIMONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can imagine how difficult it is for all these people. I mean, you can just see the task in front of this neighborhood. All these homes levelled.
This house, you can see is standing, but it's going to have to come down as well. I want to show you what it looked like inside as things were collapsing, if you will, as soon as the tornado came through this neighborhood.
This home belongs to Dave Koenig, and he's allowed us to show you around. I think it gives a really very vivid example of what it must be like to live through a tornado. This is the kitchen area. You can see the ceiling came down.
Dave and his wife, they've lived here since 2003, they were huddled in their master bedroom when this happened just after 8:00 on Friday evening. You can see that the bedroom, the wall has come down, part of the ceiling has come down. They were watching television, watching the local news and they realized there was a tornado in the area. So Dave and his wife decided to go to the bathroom. They thought that might be the best place to protect themselves. This is Dave Koenig. Explain why you went in here.
DAVE KOENIG, HOMEOWNER: Well, we've got 26 windows in the atrium. I was afraid that the glass was going to explode, and it did. We went from the bedroom straight to the bathroom, shut the door and got on the floor.
SIMONS: OK, so you're in there, and the tornado comes through just pretty much right after you got in there.
KOENIG: We shut the door, the house started shaking. It started sucking the air out from underneath the door. There was a whistling sound. They say a train. It was more like a tank. I mean, it was rumbling. The house was shaking. It was bouncing.
In 30 seconds, it was sheer quietness, nothing. We opened the door and came out. The living room furniture was here in the hall. Dining room furniture was in the kitchen. Walls were missing. Glass was everywhere. It was just about how you see it right now. It was just pure havoc.
SIMONS: So, obviously, this is going to have to come down. What are you doing today? Trying to salvage anything you can?
KOENIG: We've been picking up stuff, trying to get our clothes together so we can get it cleaned and washed. Just pick up anything that's not, you know, shattered.
SIMONS: And I think just, you know, it's worth pointing out that one of the reasons why you moved here is because you loved the view so much, right?
KOENIG: We couldn't see out back. I mean, there was nothing there but trees. We had deer come up here and feed. I fed deer all winter. It was nice. We had a big pond out here. It was landscaped a little bit better than it is right now.
SIMONS: Well, Dave, thank you for inviting us into your home. I wish it looked better, but we appreciate you showing us what it was like.
KOENIG: I tell you what. Come back in a year, and I think things will be better.
SIMONS: You got it. Thank you so much. Fred, we'll send it back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right, lot of optimism there. Thanks so much, Dan Simon. We appreciate that in Bridgeton, Missouri.
All right, turning to today's other news. Pope Benedict celebrated Easter mass in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City before a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD (voice-over): In his address, leader of the Roman Catholic Church says he hopes peace will triumph over division, hate and violence in the Middle East. He also prayed for the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Hundreds of Christians in China didn't get to celebrate Easter Sunday. They are under house arrest. Chinese police blocked 500 worshippers from attending services at China's largest Independent Church. Dozens of others were arrested.
Our Stan Grant is in Beijing and tried to go to the church. Well, take a look and see what happens when police intervene.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Over here, you can see the police that have turned out today. Now, this is where one of the home churches, the so-called illegal churches in China was going to hold a service, an Easter Sunday service.
Now this church has been part of the crackdown by authorities over recent weeks. Hundreds of members of the church have been rounded up and detained. The leaders of the church are, in fact, still under arrest, still being held somewhere.
The church members have said that they would hold this service anyway, in defiance of the threat from the police. We haven't seen any of them yet turn up, but we have seen plainclothes police coming toward us, even turning their cameras on us.
He's filming us. This guy over here is now filming us, filming him, which is every indication -- OK. We should just get out of here. Just keep shooting here. He's shooting us.
I'm going to try to walk up the stairs now to where the service was meant to be held. Let's see how far we can go. Happy Easter. Yes, we're just trying to get through to -- so we have to go another way?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says there's an event being held upstairs, and we're not able to go.
GRANT: OK. OK. Move back. Move back. Move back. OK. OK. We leave. OK. Let's go. Let's go, Brett. Let's go. Clearly, we're being chased out of here. These people don't want us here. We're not going to be able to get to see the church service here today. So we're going to leave. Stan Grant, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, CNN international anchor will be joining me in less than 10 minutes with some insights into China's Easter crackdown on Christians. More on that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Also, President Barack Obama and his family observed Easter at the historic Shiloh Baptist Church today. This is home to one of the Washington, D.C.'s oldest African-American congregations. Last Easter, the Obamas worshipped at a Methodist church.
And tomorrow another tradition, the White House Easter egg roll, always a whole lot of fun there. Tricky trying to get those eggs go down that line. It also takes a whole lot of preparation. Behind the preparation are stories of second chances. Here now is CNN's Sandra Endo.
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chefs at D.C. central kitchen preparing what may be their most important order of the year, 6,000 hard boiled eggs going to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue colorfully served up for the annual White House Easter festivities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was some of the stuff that was made earlier today and yesterday. It will be going out tomorrow.
ENDO: Chef Jeff Ragsdale explains how his life and the lives of many of his co-workers have broken pasts.
(on camera): What were you doing that made you hit rock bottom?
JEFF RAGSDALE, CHEF: Drugs, alcohol, illegal activity.
ENDO (voice-over): For years, Ragsdale was in and out of jail. At one point homeless with nowhere to turn.
(on camera): What was it like for you?
RAGSDALE: Desperate. Figuring out how I'm going to survive day to day. Escaping death one bad situation after another, but things don't like that anymore.
ENDO (voice-over): He applied to D.C. central kitchen's culinary job training program, which gives formerly incarcerated and homeless people a chance to learn new skills.
RAGSDALE: I've been working with the kitchen for almost a year now.
ENDO: Ragsdale worked his way up to a shift supervisor for the program working with volunteers.
RAGSDALE: It makes you feel good to know that you're part of an organization that does so many good things for the community and to be recognized by the White House is -- it doesn't get much better than that.
ENDO (on camera): Jeff is one of hundreds who have come through this program is now thriving. There are so many different stories to be told here, and a lot of workers say this is the one place where they feel understood. BRIAN MACNAIR, D.C. CENTRAL KITCHEN: There's a lot of people who would like some training, but we really look at ex-offenders, men and women in substance abuse recovery.
And we found the ones that we screen and get to, the beginning stage of the program are really ready to change their lives. This is a life-changing program. This is not just a culinary job training program.
RAGSDALE: I know what it's like to go through struggles. They say you can only keep what you have by giving it away.
ENDO (voice-over): Giving away some Easter spirit just a little example of their rebirth. Sandra Endo, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Certainly making the White House Easter egg roll that much more meaningful.
Yemen's president has reportedly agreed to give up power. So why haven't the demonstrations ended there?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will be transferred to a military prison hospital in Cairo that's according to a spokesman for Egypt's prosecutor general.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Mubarak has been hospitalized in Sharmel Sheikh Egypt because of heart and blood pressure problems.
He is accused of corruption and misusing state funds during his presidency. Officials say he will be transferred to Cairo as soon as security measures are arranged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: In Syria, witnesses say at least three people were killed today when security forces opened fire without warning on protesters on Syria's western coast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Elsewhere in Syria today, there were funerals for protesters killed in previous demonstrations. The protester aimed at President Bashir Al Assad and they have continued even though Assad recently agreed to end Syria's 48-year-old state of emergency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to give up, but that's not stopping the protest there. Ralitsa Vassileva will be joining us now from CNN International. So he has agreed to give up power in principle, but then when might it really happen in definitive?
RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNNI ANCHOR: There was a deal, which was brokered by Saudi Arabia and a few other Gulf states, which asks him to step down in 30 days. However, it grants him immunity, and that is the catch.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters showed up in the streets, saying we want him to face justice. We want him to step down immediately.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VASSILEVA: The official opposition says that in principle it supports this deal and still holding out some hope that they can reach some agreement. But basically the youth organizers of those protests don't want him to leave without making sure that he will be prosecuted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And then still in that general region, it seems that it kind of unrest is contagious, isn't it? Libya is still unresolved. Some might say there's a real stalemate taking place right now. We also have recently just heard from a U.S. senator about his sentiments upon making a visit to Libya.
VASSILEVA: A very senior U.S. senator, Senator John McCain, who last week travelled to Benghazi. He met with the rebel leadership, and what he saw made him call for more training, more arming the rebels.
He has been joined by other lawmakers, senior lawmakers, who are calling on the Obama administration to get more involved. Let's listen to what Senator McCain had to say. He's very concerned about a stalemate. Let's listen to what he has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It wasn't al Qaeda that sparked this uprising. It was the desire for freedom and democracy. Now, if you have a stalemate, I think it's very possible that al Qaeda could come in and take advantage of a stalemates situation, but right now it's not al Qaeda that motivated this, and it's not al Qaeda that's running it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VASSILEVA: So he's calling for the Obama administration to get more involved to offer weapons in training to the rebels, and Senator Lindsey graham is going even further than that. He is saying go after Gadhafi himself.
In fact, he uses the words go after the head of the snake. However, McCain doesn't think that that's a good idea. The Obama administration is calling for patience.
They say they've authorized $25 million in non-lethal military help and also the use of drones, which have started the last two days, they have started targeting the Gadhafi forces. So that's where things stand on the Libyan front.
WHITFIELD: And still unclear whether there is the rebel leadership that could actually lead a country like Libya.
Let's move on to China now where we saw earlier Stan Grant was trying to report on a church service that would have been an Easter church service for people who are Christian there in Beijing. That was shutdown.
What about this religious freedom or lack of thereof in China?
VASSILEVA: Well, the thing is that the Chinese authorities allow the practice of Christianity if you have registered your church with the state. And there were 20 million Christians practicing in such state sanctioned churches.
However, there are more, tens of millions more, who are not. This is what happened to Stan Grant, our correspondent, when he tried to cover one Easter service that they were trying to hold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said that there's an event being held upstairs. We're not able to go.
GRANT: OK. No, Brett, move back. Move back, Brett. Move back. OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VASSILEVA: And all of this, Fred, is part of an increasing crackdown against any dissent, be it people who have not registered with authorities to have an Easter service, be it any dissidents who speak out against the government in any way.
The reason being is they're worried about what happened in the Middle East, the unrest there. And there have been anonymous calls online for Jasmine revolution in China. Nothing has materialized.
But authorities are very nervous, and they're taking no chances on to clamp down on even journalists, even western journalists not allowed to cover it.
WHITFIELD: The government of that country and any government would know that there is power in numbers and that's what it sounds like this government wants to --
VASSILEVA: They detained the senior pastor of this church. They detained people so they couldn't get it to, and it didn't materialize.
WHITFIELD: All fascinating stuff. Thank you so much, Ralitsa Vassileva, for bringing all of that to us. Appreciate it. We'll have much more in the NEWSROOM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. This is when we like to convert the NEWSROOM into the chat room. Just for, you know, a couple of minutes, three minutes or so.
Alexandra Steele with me now. This is kind of things off radar, but we want them to be on radar, so we're going to talk about them.
ALEXANDRA STEELE: Real water cooler segment.
WHITFIELD: All right so it's Easter. You know, what comes before Easter, 46 days of Lent. We've got a very interesting, intriguing, funny kind of thing. Departure from the usual what do you give up for Lent?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: This young man, Jay Wilson said, you know what, I'm going to give up food in exchange for beer. So he had a diet of drinking beer on a regular basis. He's a father. He is a newspaper man and guess what? He got to drink beer, imbibe all the time while at work.
STEELE: For breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Actually, I think he looks -- I've been on a lot of diets in my time, cabbage soup diet, never the beer diet. He really looks good, 20 pounds?
WHITFIELD: Twenty pounds that he lost. That's pretty impressive and you know what. Everyone around him seemed to embrace it. OK, he's 38 years old and you know what he said it's like drinking good bread all the time because beer is very heavy. You can see there he went for the kind of darker beer. So he feels like he had a fairly decent diet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEEL: He probably was a lot of fun for those 40 days. His wife probably never loved him as much.
WHITFIELD: I don't know why he wasn't drunk all the time. Tells you something about his limits. Have you ever been to Japan?
STEEL: No.
WHITFIELD: OK, well, if you go to Japan, one thing that stands out, the toilets. The toilets are like spas there. No joke, it's a very strange thing. But guess what, here in America now, it appears as though someone has come up with the nice concept of combing art, music, and a toilet.
STEEL: Of course, this comes from Kohler which is based in Wisconsin. So, of course, Kohler used to have cold climates and all the executives there. For $6,400, it's a lot of cold weather kind of things. The seat is heated. There are warm vents coming from the floor.
WHITFIELD: So you never want to leave.
STEEL: Not in Kohler, Wisconsin, you won't.
WHITFIELD: Very funny stuff. Did you go to prom in high school?
STEEL: I did.
WHITFIELD: OK, so you know the kind of angst that came with trying to pick out the prom dress and all that. So this one family took it to a whole other level. They decided to plan something like six years in advance of this get-up right here. Does it lock familiar at all?
STEEL: Yes, it does, cherry, lime, orange, blue. This is star burst at its finest. The mom of the girl did this seven years before. How do you know what shape you're going to be in? Talk about a diet. Seven years ahead, the mom started preparing this, and looks like the date even has a little vest.
WHITFIELD: She had to apparently buy starburst. She tried other candy wrappers. They didn't seem to work as well. Starburst paper is a little waxier. You see her manipulating it with the tweezers.
She would buy starburst candy, 20 pound-containers at a time and there's the cute little dress and she got the shoes to go with it. It's very colourful.
STEEL: And I like the little fringe around the boobs. That looks good.
WHITFIELD: It looks like her date had a vest there. I didn't see any information about that -- handbag.
STEEL: The theme was candy land of the prom so seven years before --
WHITFIELD: How did they know?
STEEL: Prescient. I have no idea.
WHITFIELD: Maybe mom, her name is Karen Frye. Maybe she had something to do with it, a little PTA duty. She's got ins on, you know, with the administrators of the school.
STEEL: Those are all good stories.
WHITFIELD: I know. They're fun. They're on radar now because we put them there.
STEEL: A lot of upper Midwest stuff happening.
WHITFIELD: Alexandra, thanks so much. Thanks for playing in the chat room.
Back to the NEWSROOM now where thousands of college graduates will be getting their diplomas in the coming weeks. So one valuable tool that can help them land a job, social media.
Earlier, I talked to Debra Shigley. She's the author of "Go-Getter Girls Guide." Debra author says friending the right people is the key.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBRA SHIGLEY, AUTHOR, "THE GO-GETTER GIRL'S GUIDE": And the standards are a little bit different for the tools we're going to use, right? So on Facebook, that's where you're friending people.
Linked in is a great place with more professional contacts, and you want to be bold in terms of who you reach out to because you never know when that connection is going to help you. And it's interesting with linked in, they say the number is 50 people.
So you want to have at least 50 contacts because that's when you see first and second degree connections. At that point, you can start to reach out and create more connections.
WHITFIELD: But then you have to be careful about what you say. Maybe you don't want to put the Saturday soiree on there. What do you say when you mean there has to be a complete profile? How complete are you talking?
SHIGLEY: Exactly, so you want to be careful to scrub your Facebook, linked in anything that would perhaps untoward you want to show potential employers. But on linked in, for example, if you have a complete profile, meaning, you have more than one job posted, meaning you have photo included. You're many times --
WHITFIELD: Always go for the photo?
SHIGLEY: Well, you're seven times more likely to be viewed at on linked in if you have the photo included.
WHITFIELD: Look your best.
SHIGLEY: Very professional.
WHITFIELD: And then you say you really want to maximize your online resume.
SHIGLEY: Right.
WHITFIELD: So it's got to be fitted just right for online reading.
SHIGLEY: Right, in particular, linked in kind of is the new resume. You wouldn't have a half completed resume that you sent out for a job application, right?
So you want to include the past jobs for college students in particular. Internship internships, previous summer jobs, all that should be on there because you're trying to create a great online profile that employers can see and see that you're qualified for positions that are open.
WHITFIELD: Internships are big. A lot of people will think, you know what, I haven't really had a job yet. I don't have much work experience, but that internship is work experience. Put it on there. SHIGLEY: Absolutely. You need that.
WHITFIELD: Favorite companies, what do we mean by this?
SHIGLEY: Well, it's interesting. You can follow favorite companies on linked in. Obviously, you want to be looking.
WHITFIELD: Places you want to go.
SHIGLEY: Places you want to go. You can see what's coming and going. You even can see what employees have been hired or not working at the company anymore. Also, with Facebook, most companies don't have Facebook profiles, have Facebook pages.
You want to be looking at that because that's how you set yourself apart in terms of the job search, knowing what the hot topics are and knowing what's going on with the company. Social media is just another way to keep up to date on what companies are doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: We always learn something from Debra there. She also says some companies actually tweet their job openings. So incentive there as well.
Very tough Easter weekend for a lot of people in the St. Louis area. They lost everything in Friday's massive tornado. The latest on the damage and the cleanup next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories now. Flights are taking off and landing again in St. Louis two days after a tornado shut down the city's international airport. The twister heavily damaged the main terminal. Today's schedule is limited, however. So far there have been only about 100 departures, on a normal Sunday, more than 200.
And you can see how strong the tornado was in this video from an airport surveillance camera. Take a look there. Some airline operations, by the way, are now being moved from that damaged terminal to other concourse after that wind simply swept through while people were inside that terminal.
Meantime, in neighborhoods not far from the airport, almost total devastation. The tornado damaged at least 750 homes.
Alexandra Steele is in the weather center. Let's get a quick peek on that activity there over your right shoulder where it say more is on the way for that region.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. April going down in the books, Fredericka, with record tornadoes.
WHITFIELD: Boy.
STEELE: Just incredible now. Now more than double that we normally see. Now also in addition to the tornadoes, we've got flooding. So some major flooding happening today, especially around Kentucky and Arkansas, and even one tornado report around Abilene, east of Abilene in Bard, Texas. Also in Abilene right now, some big hail coming down. A lot of reports of that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. That's pretty scary stuff to see that in the mid-Atlantic like that, too.
STEELE: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks for keeping us posted on that, Alexandra.
STEELE: Sure.
WHITFIELD: All right, the FBI meantime has identified the suspect in the Colorado pipe bomb case. He is 65-year-old Earl Albert Moore, and he has an extensive criminal record. Someone found the bomb at a Littleton mall on the 12th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting.
Moore had been released from federal prison exactly one week earlier. The FBI warns that he is considered to be armed and dangerous, and they're still on the look out for him.
Pope Benedict celebrated Easter mass in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City before a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands. In his address, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church said he hopes peace will triumph over division, hate, and violence in the Middle East. He also prayed for the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
And back in this country, an emotional Easter weekend. Homecoming in Massachusetts. After nearly a year overseas, military families reunited with their loved ones there. As you see tears of joy.
These troops are from the 342nd Military Police Army Reserve unit that handled customs duties in Afghanistan. They weren't supposed to be home in time for Easter, but their journey brought them home a few days early after all.
All right. If you didn't get an invite to the royal wedding, you may plan to watch it online. And now offices are getting a warning about that, aren't they, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They are, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Yes, he's back. There he is.
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: Here I am.
WHITFIELD: So what's going to happen at offices around the world? LEVS: I'll tell you this much, this is warning that's going out now. And we're calling it a different kind of wedding crasher. This is one that could affect you if you try to get online anywhere on the day of the royal wedding.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. The countdown continues in a very big way because we're talking just five days away now. Kate Middleton and Prince William taking their vows. The royal wedding is expected to be one of the biggest if not the biggest event online.
LEVS: Ever.
WHITFIELD: But is the Internet ready? Ever.
LEVS: I mean it could be.
WHITFIELD: Josh Levs.
LEVS: Yes, hey, everybody.
WHITFIELD: Back with us here.
LEVS: So I've been talking to experts about this, and no one wants to give me a hard number which makes sense because historically some predictions are wrong. But a lot of people are saying they think this will be the biggest event online, more people watching anything than they've ever watched before. Whether it's live or after --
WHITFIELD: That makes sense. There hasn't been any big giant thing.
LEVS: Right. And every time there's a big --
WHITFIELD: Date people can watch at once.
LEVS: Right. Yes. And this is going to be the first thing that puts that to the test, you know, for discussion of new era.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEVS: Take a look at one video here. One thing that's happening is YouTube is actually hooked up directly with the royal family. They're streaming --
WHITFIELD: My gosh.
LEVS: The event itself. The royal family has approved this. And not only that, but during it they're going to have live blogging so while you're watching the ceremony on YouTube, you'll be able to click on the blog to learn more about what you're seeing or some term you just heard, or in the procession, a building. You'll be able to have this interactive experience there.
Plus if you go there now, YouTube has already set up this next video, which is a 3D tour of the procession itself and all the sites. WHITFIELD: My goodness.
LEVS: Using -- you know what's happened in this kind of technology these days is amazing. You're seeing basically every window, every little corner.
WHITFIELD: This is crazy. This is so fascinating. Something tells me Will and Kate must have said we're all on board with this.
LEVS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Because this does not seem like an idea that would be presented to the queen, and she -- you know, would give thumbs up. No.
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: You're exactly right. They -- and take a look at this quote I have for you on the screen. That's exactly what happened. Will and Kate, being part of this generation, came along and said they want this.
This is a statement from St. James Palace. "Prince William and Catherine Middleton are like any other people their age in respect of social media. They are Facebook users and YouTube users, and their intention has always been that their wedding should be accessible to everyone."
Now here's part of what's interesting.
WHITFIELD: They're probably thinking.
LEVS: Yes. You're seeing those words on the screen, computer crasher? So here's the thing. Some people are concerned. If there are so many people trying to get online at once, will your computer crash? And a lot of people are going to watch at offices during the day.
So there's a company, computer networking company Cymtec that says do this. They're really encouraging people in your offices to have a network -- a party, a viewing party on a big screen.
WHITFIELD: As opposed to everyone's terminals being -- you know plugged in.
LEVS: Yes, because they're afraid that if everyone tries to watch these videos during the day -- there are a lot of places out --
WHITFIELD: Are the bosses going to like that? Wait a minute. We're having a wedding viewing party, boss. Can't get to that work right now.
LEVS: Yes. But they're recommending that because it's better than everybody spending all day.
WHITFIELD: Yes. LEVS: And then if your computer system crashes in your office because so many people want to stream that video?
WHITFIELD: Right.
LEVS: Then all of a sudden you won't get anything done. All day. But if you wait and you say OK, we've got this thing on tape, we're going to all watch it at 11:00 a.m. or whatever your office wants, Cymtec is saying, that's the way to go.
WHITFIELD: OK. That sounds great. How about -- OK. So where do people go?
LEVS: All right. So --
WHITFIELD: CNN.com for one, of course.
LEVS: CNN.com, of course. I'll show you a few sites, and then I'm going to show you all where the best places are. It's all linked for you so you don't have to write this down.
First of all, we have a massive section. This is one of the most tricked out CNN.com sections I've ever seen for anything. We have profiles of the couple. Take a look at this. And when you can learn about -- this is the iReport page, by the way. You can send your messages, your views, your ideas, what you think about all this.
This is a profile of Kate Middleton. We have this right here -- is a profile. And look at this picture of Prince William with -- I mean.
WHITFIELD: I know. Isn't that something?
LEVS: It reminds you we've known him his whole life. We don't know him.
WHITFIELD: His whole life.
LEVS: But this is -- you know this is the feeling. And --
WHITFIELD: People feel like they know him.
LEVS: Yes, we do.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEVS: And I'm going to say one more thing about that. By the way, this is the official site. Officialroyalwedding2011.
WHITFIELD: What a cutie pie couple.
LEVS: Everything I just showed -- it's beautiful couple.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEVS: I got everything posted for you at my Facebook page. It's all in order, just like we talked about. You can see my screen. But, you know, Fred, one thing we hear a lot about, some people are saying, oh, it's too big a deal for this one wedding. Some people are really excited. You know how I told you that at fireworks I like to turn around and watch people stare at the heavens because I think it's cool?
WHITFIELD: Yes?
LEVS: So here I'm thinking how cool is it that the whole world -- billions, at least hundreds of millions of people will be pausing in their day to watch something that's about love and hope and the future.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEVS: That in and of itself, even if you're not that excited about this one -- it's a beautiful thing for the world.
WHITFIELD: That is nice.
LEVS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: I liked -- you described CNN.com as tricked out. Tricked out and phat all for the wedding.
LEVS: Phat with a PH.
WHITFIELD: PH of course.
LEVS: It's hot, two T's.
WHITFIELD: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: OK.
WHITFIELD: OK. Josh Levs, thanks so much.
LEVS: Thanks, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Appreciate that.
LEVS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, of course. There is more, tonight 8:00 Eastern Time. We know you can't get enough. We take you behind the scenes with "CNN PRESENTS "The Women Who Would Be Queen." Then, of course, the big day, Friday, April 29th, tune in for CNN's royal wedding experience, or you can always DVR it, but you know, it's going to be best live. So set your alarm clocks 4:00 a.m., Friday, Eastern Time, that is.
All right, switching gears now, in pursuit of your dream job. Many people start their careers with big ambitions then they find that there are obstacles that they just simply didn't expect. So last hour I talked to Valorie Burton. She is the author of "How Did I Get So Busy?" And she talks about asking yourself these questions. Who did I want to be before life got in the way, for starters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VALORIE BURTON, LIFE COACH: If you find yourself really not enjoying the career field that you're in, if you really feel like you're not living on purpose, that your work isn't really tapping into your strengths and your passion and you know there's something more, that's when you need to be asking that question.
WHITFIELD: OK. So ask your question, who did I want to be before life got in the way? All right. And then you're going to ask them, who do you want to be now? Or who do I want to be now, right?
BURTON: Yes. Yes. So the reason you ask questions -- I always say, if you ask the right questions, you get the right answers. But it takes slowing down a bit and being a little bit self-reflective.
So when you ask that question, it means, you know what, maybe you had a dream a long time ago. Things have changed. You may have changed. So you want to make sure that you adjust that question and say where is it that I want to go from here, right now? Who am I? And where is it that I want to go?
WHITFIELD: OK. And then what is the most significant change that would turn you in the direction of your dreams?
BURTON: Yes. So this is, what's the next step? For some people, it's a complete career change. What kinds of things are you going to need in order to be able to do that? So you need to find an action step.
WHITFIELD: It may mean training.
BURTON: That's right.
WHITFIELD: It may mean relocating. Those kinds of things?
BURTON: Absolutely. A lot of times we feel like, I've got to figure this out all by myself. That's why it's good to have a mentor. It's good to have a coach. It's good to have people around you that already know the answer. So make sure you tap into that. Who are the role models that you can talk to that can give you some of those steps you need to be taking now so that you can move towards your dream job in the future?
WHITFIELD: Because so often people, once they've realized, OK, I'm in this place, this isn't the place that I envisioned, then it seems really overwhelming to figure out how do I start over, if at all. So if you ask yourself these questions --
BURTON: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Maybe some clarity will come into view?
BURTON: And it's not all or nothing. What's the first step you can take? Maybe you're not going to transition for another three years, but if you start taking those steps now you can make a smooth transition.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And you can reclaim your career every Sunday at 4:00 Eastern, 1:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
All right. Donald Trump, he likes to talk, right? Understatement of the year?
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: But getting him to spill the beans on how much money he has is no simple task. But we do go -- we do go a few rounds with him anyway.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A couple of things to watch for in politics and the week ahead.
President Obama and the first lady head to Chicago on Wednesday to tape a segment with Oprah. And someone who is eyeing the president's job is also hitting the road.
Here now is CNN's deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Fred.
I guess you can call it president by the way, fundraiser at times by night. President Barack Obama heads to New York City Wednesday. That night he's the main attraction of a top-dollar dinner for his reelection campaign.
Mr. Obama announced his bid for a second term at the beginning of the month. Since then he's headlined fundraisers in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and now this week New York.
If you're surprised, don't be. This Oval Office strategy is nothing new. Most recently Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton employed the same strategy when they were running for reelection.
The same day Mr. Obama is in New York, Donald Trump heads to New Hampshire. As just about everybody knows, the businessman, real estate mogul and reality TV star says he might just run for the White House.
His meeting with Republican officials and activists in New Hampshire mark his first visit to one of those crucial, early voting states in the primary and caucus calendar. Trump says he'll announce whether he'll make a bid for the GOP presidential nomination by June -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Paul.
So Trump has been bragging that he has more money than Mitt Romney. So how much does he really have?
Our Susan Candiotti went a few rounds with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "The Apprentice" opening boasts about the power of money. But pinning down Donald Trump's own wealth is tricky business. We talked by phone.
(On camera): You say your wealth is more than $2.7 billion. How much more? Is it more than $6?
DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: Well, it's much more.
CANDIOTTI: Is it more than $10? Is it less than 20?
TRUMP: I would say -- well, I don't want to do that because I don't want to ruin the suspense for the day that I possibly announce, but I will tell you it is much more.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Announce whether he'll run for president. If he does, he'll have to tell all on a required financial disclosure form. For now it's a guessing game.
TRUMP: My big thing is real estate. I mean, I do great at real estate. I mean, I'm really good at it.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Can you give us a dollar amount?
TRUMP: And people will see. Well, I'd rather wait honestly until the filing.
CANDIOTTI: How about just the "Celebrity Apprentice" contract?
TRUMP: It's been a very, very lucrative show.
CANDIOTTI: Well, just give us a number.
TRUMP: I'd rather not.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Clearly he's a wealthy man. Trump's name is in gold on 40 Wall Street, one of many assets. Want to play on a Trump golf course? High-rise apartment buildings on New York City's West Side all say Trump but his stake in them is less than clear.
How about Trump vodka? Trump steaks? Thirsty for some Trump spring water? He won't say how much he makes on those deals either.
TRUMP: I make a lot from licensing. I make a lot from other things.
CANDIOTTI: Should Trump's net worth matter to potential voters?
STU ROTHENBERG, COLUMNIST, ROLL CALL: They need to be comfortable with the person. And Donald Trump, part of who he is, is how he's made his money and how he's lived his life.
CANDIOTTI: People do wonder about his riches.
ESOSA AMASWA, STUDENT: He has a lot of dealings with -- that, you know, affect many people. And I would like to know if he has the people's best interests in heart.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): You're gone through some well-publicized bankruptcies.
TRUMP: Well, let's stop that because that's wrong. I never went bankrupt at all.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): True. His Atlantic City casinos were thrown into Chapter 11 Trump says strategically to save the business.
TRUMP: We've used the laws of this country to our benefit but we've used the laws of this country to reduce debt. Now I had a casino company and still have. I have a casino company where I cut the debt from $1.8 billion to approximately $300 million.
CANDIOTTI: How much of the casinos does he still own?
(On camera): How much?
TRUMP: It's a very valuable piece.
CANDIOTTI: Can you say --
TRUMP: It's a very valuable piece.
(CROSSTALK)
CANDIOTTI: What percentage?
TRUMP: I don't want to say. But it is a nice chunk.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): But if he runs and opens his books --
(On camera): Are owe prepared for the kind of scrutiny that that is going to unleash?
TRUMP: I'm sort of a public person for 20 years. I mean people know me. And they know --
CANDIOTTI: But they don't really know -- they don't really know what you're worth.
TRUMP: Well, they don't -- well in a way --
CANDIOTTI: They don't.
TRUMP: They don't know that much because I'm a private person in terms of financial, but that will be disclosed.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Maybe then we'll get a sense of his dollars. Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And of course, we'll be right back and I'll tell you about a first for me today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: OK. About six minutes away from our Don Lemon in the "NEWSROOM." The king of Twitter.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Like "American Idol." Six minutes.
WHITFIELD: That's right. It's counting down.
I mentioned the king of Twitter because, you know I have resisted for so long.
LEMON: You did.
WHITFIELD: And so I am reluctantly on board.
LEMON: Yes. Tell us about this --
WHITFIELD: True admission. But this is why. Because you know what?
LEMON: Tell us about your "Face to Face" though.
WHITFIELD: I'm seeing that Twitter will be a great instrument for my "Face to Face" segment.
LEMON: Awesome.
WHITFIELD: We talk to extraordinary people who are leading extraordinary lives who are doing beyond what you think you know them for their public demeanor.
And so Venus Williams, tennis great, I'll be talking to her. And I want to know what you would ask Venus. So tweet me.
I can't believe I'm saying that.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: Tweet me at FWhitfield. Tweet me your questions that will be posed to Venus Williams. You'll be part of the conversation. That's "Face to Face" interaction with a tennis great.
LEMON: Fred is on Twitter. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: I'm like the last of the party, but hey, I'm at the party.
LEMON: Your producers came over to me, they're like, Fred tweeted. (LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I'm like, OK.
WHITFIELD: No, it's scary.
LEMON: Fred tweeted first thing. So I did a tweet and I included you on the tweet, and I ask people to re-tweet.
WHITFIELD: You did?
LEMON: Yes, but it was -- it's about Easter.
WHITFIELD: Don't have high expectations of me now. Baby steps. Baby steps. Baby steps.
LEMON: You're in the background of this video. Let's take a look.
WHITFIELD: I am?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Hi, Easter Bunny?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing today?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Are you kidding me?
LEMON: That's you in the blue dress back there.
WHITFIELD: No, thankfully I do not see me.
LEMON: That's Matthew -- Mo, who works in the newsroom.
WHITFIELD: All right.
LEMON: He dressed up as the Easter Bunny today.
There's a real Easter Bunny, he just dressed up as Easter Bunny. He visited my team. And he visited Fred's team. So there you go.
WHITFIELD: That's right.
LEMON: With the Easter Bunny.
WHITFIELD: That's right.
LEMON: So I included that. That was a tweet bid. And then that's your tweet case.
WHITFIELD: That's cute. I know. That's very fun.
LEMON: Yes. FWhitfield.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEMON: OK.
WHITFIELD: At FWhitfield. Keep reminding me.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: I got to get used to it myself.
LEMON: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Can we talk about what's coming up on the show?
WHITFIELD: Yes, what's going on -- that's right.
LEMON: Speaking of Easter, you know the 11-year-old -- you remember the 11-year-old with the near-death experience. Wrote about it. His book is going gang-busters. It's a best seller now.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEMON: He has these things where he talks about people he didn't even know before him. We're going to talk to him and talk to his dad coming up at 6:00 on CNN.
And then a little further ahead at 7:00, we're going to talk about the NFL saga, that is Brandon Marshall, the Miami Dolphins receiver, and his wife. First he said it was self-inflicted himself. It was an accident. He had a brush some glass. Now his wife is saying she was defending herself against him so she stabbed him.
WHITFIELD: Yes. She was -- yes. And released from jail.
LEMON: Yes. So we want to see what's going on.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEMON: With that.
WHITFIELD: OK.
LEMON: And if it means anything for his career and what it means for her. Not the first time they've had this sort of thing, though.
WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, everyone has got to hope the best, right?
LEMON: Yes. And on a better note --
WHITFIELD: Yes. Happy Easter.
LEMON: Here's come --
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: Right. Hopping down that bunny trail. And I'll be hopping along.
LEMON: Happy Easter, happy Passover.
WHITFIELD: "CNN NEWSROOM" four minutes away.
LEMON: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Right? OK. Thanks much, Don. Appreciate it. Tweet me. I can't believe I'm saying that.
LEMON: FWhitfield, FWhitfield on Twitter.
WHITFIELD: It's so scary. All right. Thanks for hanging out with me this afternoon.
Now you can hang out with Don Lemon. Have a great week and happy Easter and happy Passover.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
