Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Katie Couric Leaving 'CBS Evening News'; Unrest in Syria

Aired April 26, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Let's begin with the wild ride in parts of the South. Really, it is about to begin. We are talking about tornadoes. And what we're looking at now is what is shaping up to be the busiest April ever for twisters.

April 2011 all but in the record books and four days left. What you're looking at here, this is south of Dallas yesterday, obviously, a tornado.

But let me take you to these pictures. This is central Arkansas. At least eight people are dead, four alone in the town of Vilonia. We heard a witness say today it looked like trees just spinning around in a blender. Imagine. Eight dead in Arkansas. And Governor Mike Beebe is among those warning right now that another round is coming today.

Another round today, probably another round tomorrow farther east, they are predicting. And take a look at this here. You see -- and focus in on that pink in the center of the radar here. This is unusually strong warning from the National Weather Service. The area there in pink, that is covered by an alert that is very rarely issued.

In fact, the last time it was issued, we saw the vicious twister outbreak, remember this, 10 days ago in both Virginia and North Carolina.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: And we want to talk a little bit more about what is happening on the ground on Arkansas.

You know, as we reported, this second round of storms is expected to central Arkansas within the course of the next couple of hours and a second round of storms potentially worse than what ravaged Arkansas yesterday.

Joining me on the phone is Steven Hawk with the Faulkner County Office of Emergency Management.

And, sir, the last we had here at CNN was four dead in your county, in Faulkner County. Is that number still holding?

STEPHEN HAWK, FAULKNER COUNTY OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Yes, that is absolutely still holding.

The Office of Emergency Management, and the emergency personnel, law enforcement have canvassed the areas. They have looked all of the homes that were destroyed by the storm, damaged by the storm, affected by the storm. There are no other injured or deceased people, civilians.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What about people, Stephen, who might be missing or unaccounted for?

HAWK: Actually, at this point, I just talked to the fire chief, and everyone is accounted for now.

BALDWIN: Thank goodness. Thank goodness.

(CROSSTALK)

HAWK: Yes, absolutely.

Now, unfortunately, that includes the four deceased, but, you know, thankfully, within all of this, what we can see is an effective forewarning system that allowed for people to seek shelter and to avoid being injured, avoid being killed by this significant storm that came through. And it is evident by the lack of injuries and the...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hopefully, Stephen, if you are still with me, if you are still with me -- and obviously you're not still with me, but Stephen Hawk with the Faulkner County -- sir, are you still there? No, we lost him. OK. We will move on. Stephen Hawk, thank you so much.

Want to take you further here Midwest, where widespread flooding could also break records specifically in Kentucky and Missouri. The most urgent situation there, this is southeastern Missouri. Look at the water. The Black River is rising. Levees are failing. We are told several already have cracked and breached. Hundreds of people right now being evacuated as more storms are threatening the region.

Water is rushing into now rural parts of the county. In Poplar Bluff, that area got six some inches just last night. Coming up, I will be speaking live with the Missouri governor, Governor Jay Nixon, who is definitely calling on the National Guard for help.

Also, this just into us here at CNN. Katie Couric is leaving "The CBS Evening News." She made it official today in a statement to "People" magazine. Couric says she is proud of the team at CBS. Here's part of the statement -- quote -- "In making the decision to move on, I know the 'Evening News' will be in great hands, but I am excited about the future."

Many, many people out, they have been talking about this one. Possibly her future may include a possible syndicated talk show. Couric became the first female solo anchor of an evening newscast when she joined CBS in 2006.

And we have Howard Kurtz on the phone from the Washington bureau, chief for The Daily Beast.

And, Howie, this isn't a huge, huge surprise.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, it is the worst kept secret in broadcast. But it's still interesting to hear how Katie puts it.

I interview her just the other day. And she was kind of wistful about moving. She is very proud of the five years that she spent at "The CBS Evening News," even those of we who keep score in this say she was third place in the ratings. She got the $15 million a year, therefore was not a success.

She did win some awards. She conducted the famous interviews with Sarah Palin. She acquitted herself well, but she was not able to break through where it counts in television, and that's at the box office.

BALDWIN: It was a pretty great interview with Sarah Palin. I remember that one.

But also though significant, as I just mentioned, she was the first female anchor of any sort of evening newscast. What kind of impact sort of looking back do you think she has made and also looking in terms of the future for female journalists?

KURTZ: Well, she made such an impact that it was sort of unremarkable and not terribly newsworthy when Diane Sawyer became the second solo female network news anchor at ABC. And by time, we were used to it.

But that was a blessing and a curse for Katie Couric, because there was so much hype, much of it -- some of it ginned up by CBS about her debut and she was going to revolutionize the evening newscast and all that, that it set expectations impossibly high.

She changed things on the newscast too quickly at the beginning and then alienated some traditional viewers, but I think what it really comes down to based on my conversations with Katie Couric is, she is this great, freewheeling fun-loving performer who thrived on "The Today Show" with two hours of morning television.

To have her essentially sitting at a desk most of the time in front of a prompter for 22 minutes of news reading is not the best use of her talents. She concluded it was not the best fit. She will do some kind of syndicated or daytime show and one that will allow her to sort of show more parts of her personality, interview a wider range of people, and probably will do pretty well.

BALDWIN: OK. Howie Kurtz, so this was you say the worst kept secret.

What about the next secret. Who will fill the shoes? Who will be the next evening anchor? Obviously we are all sort of big "60 Minutes" fans. The name Steve Kroft has been floated. What are you hearing?

(CROSSTALK)

KURTZ: I'm virtually certain that it will be Scott Pelley, not Steve Kroft. Steve Kroft is a great newsman.

Scott Pelley from Texas, sort of in the Dan Rather mode. He is not flashy, but having tried somebody who was a celebrity, in addition to being a fine journalist, in Katie Couric, I think CBS ready to go with somebody who is a more button-down journalist, couldn't do any worse. He will probably make a little bit less than Katie Couric did, and I think that will be announced next week.

BALDWIN: Yes. And remind us what that salary was, Mr. Kurtz.

KURTZ: Fifteen million dollars a year. I'm sure that is just slightly higher than yours.

BALDWIN: Just a smidge.

Howie Kurtz, thank you so much for calling in. Appreciate it.

Switching gears here, Americans now being told get out of Syria now as the situation there gets worse. We will tell you what witnesses say the government is doing to these peaceful demonstrators.

Also, have you seen this video? You see that guy middle of the interstate? He was on a motorcycle. Well, thankfully, he survived. And he is going to join me live to talk me through it. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The State Department is telling Americans in Syria right now to get out as soon as possible. The situation there is getting more dangerous. A human rights group tells us more than 400 people have been killed over the past couple of weeks. All of this as the government intensifies its crackdown there on the pro-democracy supporters.

Witnesses tell us security forces have been firing randomly at protesters in recent days. And the Syria government will not let CNN into Syria so we cannot independently confirm some of these witness accounts, some of these numbers or even verify this video here from YouTube.

The United Nations Security Council, though, is talking about the escalating conflict in situation today. We are likely to get a statement condemning the violence later on.

But I want to bring in Arwa Damon, who has been covering the situation about Syria from Beirut.

And, Arwa, in reading some of what the witnesses on some of those streets have been saying, they describe it as prison. Talk to me a little bit about some of these checkpoints that have been set up by the security forces set up around some of these towns. ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, the way witnesses describe it is that this is basically, these are basically areas under siege.

This is the Syrian government deploying its own military against its own people in the harshest way imaginable. That is what eyewitnesses are telling us. Of course, the Syrian military moving into the southern part of the country, Daraa, on Monday. An eyewitness we were able to reach there this morning. And during our conversation, we could hear gunfire still in the background, telling us that he had a list of at least 21 individuals who he said had been killed in this crackdown, but he said, he did not know when those funerals would be taking place because he said Syrian security forces have taken over the cemetery.

He was also telling us the wounded were not able to be treated at the hospitals. They had to be treated at secret undisclosed locations, again because Syrian troops have occupied that location. People very concerned about seeming to be involved in all of this. Perhaps the Syrian security forces would detain them or worse.

In the Damascus province of - suburb of Duma -- sorry -- we also heard about an ongoing crackdown there with one eyewitness describing checkpoints being set up behind sandbags, describing Syrian security forces using heavy machine guns.

It has been incredibly difficult for us to try to reach anyone there today, that of course of great concern as well. And all of this happening while the international community is watching while these statements of condemnation are coming out. And yet we continue to see this military crackdown continue, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes, if the U.N. officially condemns the violence later today, A., Arwa, would that make any difference? And, B., when you talk to some of these analysts, they say, yes, the international community can help, but they can only do so much, really it's up to the Syrians to determine Syria's future.

DAMON: You know, it is a very tricky situation because Syria is just such a sensitive country. It doesn't have its own natural resources. It is not a very wealthy country, but it still has the ability to impact what is happening in the entire region, especially when it comes to its strategic alliance with Iran.

That is very critical when it comes to, for example, how the U.S. and how the international committee are in fact approaching the Syria situation. Analysts say that they are going to be much more delicate and sensitive about it because the concern is if they do isolate Syria even more, that is going to further solidify the strategic alliance that it has with Iran.

But many analysts are saying that even if more sanctions are being put into place, even if there is stricter action that is being taken against the Syrian regime, that is not necessarily going to be enough to try to stop the Syrian authorities from continuing to use this kind of force against the demonstrators. And that is why this is such a tricky situation.

On the one hand, we have a regime that is refusing to leave power, that is deploying its military, saying that it is taking these deployments, undertaking these deployments because they claim they are going after armed groups, terrorists that have infiltrated the demonstrators. You have these demonstrations crying out for help, saying that they are being massacred and an international community that basically at this point has its hands pretty much tied.

BALDWIN: Right. President al Assad says these are the bad guys, these demonstrators. It is a tricky situation.

Arwa Damon, thank you so much for your perspective.

And now hiding in plain sight -- the suspect in that attempted mall bombing near Colorado High School has now been captured. We're going to tell you where the FBI finally tracked this guy down.

And then town hall anger is back, but this time not about health care. When we come back, we will tell you what has some people so fired up this time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Town hall meetings, remember those? Getting pretty rough for some Republicans. Blowback coming over the 2012 budget, you know, the Ryan plan. In fact, take a quick listen. Here is Congressman Paul Ryan being booed by some of his constituents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BOOING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Yikes. So, yes, they are talking about taxes and a lot of the folks there want the rich to pay more taxes, but the lightning rod in that particular Ryan plan appears to be Medicare reform.

Here are two more town hall meetings, both of which were from last week. First, you will hear from Pennsylvania Republican Patrick Meehan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How will you explain that to people who are in their 50s who are out of work, that they will have not the Medicare that I have?

(CROSSTALK)

REP. PATRICK MEEHAN (R), PENNSYLVANIA: No, you asked if I voted to abolish Medicare.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you did vote to abolish Medicare plan.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is what his vote is.

Nothing in the campaign about, I'm going to change Medicare. Now you have voted for a plan that will destroy Medicare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I won't destroy Medicare. Medicare is going to be destroyed by itself.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a great way for you to pay for it. I have a great way.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Look at her, arms up, angry voters in some of these town hall meetings. Sound familiar?

Jessica Yellin, national political reporter, Jess, what is going on there?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Republicans are -- House Republicans at least are caught between the Tea Party and a hard place.

House Republicans voted to support the Ryan, Paul Ryan's budget, take on Medicare. That is something sacred to a lot of voters. A lot of politicians are always fearful about doing it, so it is not really a surprise that they are getting an earful from voters.

What is surprising maybe is that they were so quick to embrace it to begin with because of the Tea Party momentum. I mean, it is something that many politicians are afraid. And Democrats, not surprisingly, Brooke, were quick with their own ads like this one from the Democratic-aligned group Americans United For Change. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: Paul Ryan looks like a nice young man, but on April 15, he voted to end Medicare and its guaranteed health care benefits. Instead, he wants seniors to get coverage from private insurance companies.

Under Ryan's plan, seniors' cost will go up over $6,000. Ryan wants to use that money to give millionaires a $200,000 tax break. Ending Medicare so millions can get another tax break? Really? Call Congressman Ryan and ask, what were you thinking?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Sounds like a nice little old granny just so worried wringing her hands, huh? So Democrats plan to keep up the pressure like that and Republicans will have to push back.

BALDWIN: We all remember, what was it, it was summer of 2009, when you go back to some of those other town hall meetings and Democrats were attacked over health care reform. And some of those got very, very ugly, so, Jess, my next question is, and here is some of them, do the Republicans here, do they see the potential for something like this, this time aimed at them over Medicare reform?

YELLIN: Right. Well, clearly, we are not at the decibel level of those health care town halls. Just look at the difference in body language.

And Republicans are out with their own ads and messaging campaigns now, saying, look, what one of the members just said in the sound we played earlier, that by voting to fix Medicare and Medicaid now, they argue, they are preserving them for the long haul.

The political danger for them is that their reaction to their vote on this is coming so quickly after the vote. Health care town halls happened after months of debate and ads explaining and building up. So, this was a pretty quick reaction to the Ryan budget.

That means both sides have some time to try to spin it and send out messaging campaigns to change public opinion.

BALDWIN: But what about -- we know that there are a lot of Democrats out there who are very, very angry about the GOP Medicare plan. And it looks like some of the older voters, right, so they are pretty perturbed as well, but if you look at the nation as a whole, how is the whole country reacting to this?

YELLIN: It is unusually majority opposition to some of these changes -- 78 percent of Americans in CNN's latest polling oppose cutting spending on Medicare to reduce the national debt -- 69 percent oppose cutting spending on Medicaid to reduce the national debt.

So playing with either of those programs is politically dangerous.

BALDWIN: Jessica Yellin, thank you very much.

And let's take a look at this video. You know I love astronauts. Let's watch this together. Here they are. The space shuttle Endeavour astronauts just arrived at Kennedy Space Center, so exciting, for this Friday's launch. And mission commander Mark Kelly, he talked about having his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, there for the big event, the big launch. We will hear from him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Couple of stories unfolding right now, including the guy suspected of trying to bomb a Colorado mall last week is now under arrest.

Here he is. Boulder police nabbed Earl Albert Moore today out of all places the grocery store. The FBI has him now. Moore is suspected of putting a pipe bomb in a mall in Littleton just week on the 12th anniversary of those Columbine High School shootings. Investigators have not found any connection between the two incidents.

Showing up for work in style. Take a look at this. The crew of the shuttle Endeavour arriving at Kennedy Space Center today. Endeavour blasts off Friday. I know the precise time, 3:47 p.m. Eastern, on its final mission. So excited. Behind the controls there, that is the man who will lead the shuttle mission, Navy Captain Mark Kelly.

In fact, he spoke about how happy he is that his wife will be there in Florida to see him off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK KELLY, HUSBAND OF CONGRESSWOMAN GABRIELLE GIFFORDS: I'm personally looking forward to my wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, getting here pretty soon to be here in time for our launch on Friday.

It is something she's been looking forward to for a long time. She's been working really hard to make sure that her doctors would permit her to come. And she's, you know, more than medically ready to be here. And she is excited about making this trip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We told you yesterday that her doctors have permitted her to come. She will be traveling to the launch in Florida.

And, again, just a reminder, we're going to be watching that liftoff, Endeavour launch, set for this Friday afternoon 3:47 p.m. Eastern time. We will take it live.

Also just in here to CNN, we're getting word a southwest flight has slid off of the runway at Chicago Midway, and here are live pictures coming in from Chicago. Apparently the plane took off from Denver and we are told it slid into presumably that grassy area. Passengers are right now getting off of the plane. Still, the question is why this happened, but no word about any injuries.

Have you heard? It has happened again, another air traffic controller fired after, you guessed it, allegedly sleeping on the job. This guy worked at Seattle's Boeing field. The FAA says he had dosed of in January and again in April. Last week, two other controllers were fired for sleeping on the job, one in Miami, the other in Knoxville. Five similar events at airports nationwide have been revealed since March.

OK, so air traffic controllers, getting a bad rap over the last couple of weeks, but there are some very capable skilled ones out there, and as CNN Marty Savidge reports in depth today, there are plenty of men and women ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A plane in trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayday, mayday. Cactus 289 with engine two flame out.

SAVIDGE: It is a 757.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Catch, 289. Roger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Requesting landing anywhere we can.

SAVIDGE: With close to 200 people on board. OK. So here is the deal. Grant Paladino is the one who is handling this emergency, and what he has done is to redirect the aircraft to where?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: San Fran.

SAVIDGE: And you might be wondering why I am pestering an air traffic controller in the middle of a crisis? Well, that answer is easy, none of this is real. Welcome to Embry-Riddle Aeronautic University. These students' grade depends on what is thrown at them.

SID MCGUIRK, EMBRY-RIDDLE UNIVERSITY: We want it to be as real as possible. We want the students to be as prepared as possible when they get to the field.

SAVIDGE: For these soon to be graduates it has taken four years working in the classrooms and the state-of-the-art simulators and not the mention the $120,000 tuition to get this far. Miranda Blackwelder has learned all of the aspects of the job, from takeoffs and landings to guiding flights cross-country. So what about the stress?

MIRANDA BLACKWELDER, EMBRY-RIDDLE UNIVERSITY SENIOR: It is the first thing that everybody says. It is like, well, yes, but what job isn't stressful?

SAVIDGE: Like a number of students, Mary Beth started off wanting to be a pilot, then got a place for controlling planes and liked it.

SAVIDGE (on camera): Have you made mistakes?

MURRAY BEST, EMBRY-RIDDLE UNIVERSITY SENIOR: Definitely.

SAVIDGE: Do you learn from them?

BEST: Yes, because I realize that I would lose my job and if anybody was hurt I would be responsible.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): I asked Miranda, if all of the scrutiny made her uneasy about her career choice.

BLACKWELDER: I feel very confident. I am happy about my decision to go into this field.

SAVIDGE: One day likely to guide your flight, the class of 2011 feeling good about their future and sounding very much in control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: There he is, Marty Savidge at Daytona Beach, Florida, standing outside of one of the classrooms. Marty, you mentioned it in the piece, but in talking to the men and women about the reports and you talked to a lot of people and air traffic controllers have been falling asleep at the job for decades, what are they saying about all of this?

SAVIDGE: Well, let me show you something real quick and I will answer that, Brooke. We are at the air traffic controller tower simulator. Final exams and they are just finishing up an exam here, and you can see Daytona Tower and how it would look by computer simulations and on this side, they get to play the pilots and make it real.

This is stories ripped from the headlines and talked about it. Here is the takeaway, there are 15,000 air traffic controllers in the system, and less than a handful who have had serious problems in any shape or form, so what they are saying is that it does not diminish the overall quality of the industry. It's just a few bad people, and you will find them in any area of the job.

But here is how they sometimes differ from the FAA transportation board or the federal government is the rest periods. They believe what the FAA says it does not believe in that there should be rest periods. Those who work late night hours like long-haul pilots. When they work, another crew sleeps. They say it might be wise to have some controllers on the job and some resting so that everybody stays sharp.

BALDWIN: Marty Savidge, I didn't have to write it for you, and that is a perfect segue into my next story. So to Marty's point, if the doctors or pilots have mandatory sleep time should air traffic controllers have the same rules? Coming up next we'll have someone who testified on this very debate on Capitol Hill, and he had strong words for the FAA and says he knows who is to blame. He is Charles Sizeler joining me live. We are back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Back now to the story we were talking about before the break, air traffic controllers sleeping on the job at our nation's airports. In the last couple of weeks the FAA has warned airports in five states and Washington, D.C. about controllers dozing off on duty. These reports have garnered a lot of media attention, but this is not a new problem. In fact, the FAA has known about it for at least 30 years now. But it is not until recently they have realized that something has to change.

And no one knows more than my next guest Charles Sizeler who is not only a sleep expert, but he testified on the Hill in 1983 about this very issue. And his advice, he says, fell on deaf ears, and Charles, thank you for coming on. You know, I read your article and I encourage anyone else to do it on CNN.com/opinion where you are blaming all of this on the rattler's schedules that the FAA uses for the air traffic controllers and you are calling for the FAA to outright ban these schedules and for those of us who have no idea what rattler schedules are, what is it and why is it a bad idea?

DR. CHARLES CZEISLER, BALDINO PROFESSOR OF SLEEP MEDICINE: Well, it's called a rattler because it comes back to bite you. They work two evening shifts from 3:00 to 11:00. And just when they are getting used to staying up, suddenly they are switched to a 6:00 a.m. shift where they have to go to 2:00 p.m., and then when they finish in the afternoon they have to come back in the same day at 10:00 in the evening.

So it is a completely inhuman schedule to work them that same day until 6:00 a.m. So it is no doubt 95 percent of controllers say they are feeling sleepy at work and 80 percent of them doze off unintentionally when they are at work.

BALDWIN: We will get to the stats, because they are startling. Here is some of them the air traffic controller fatigue, and 95 percent say they are regularly tired or sleepy and 54 percent take naps at work. But why is this rattler schedules exist. Is it because it is nice to have a four-day work week?

CZEISLER: Well, I mean, that is one way of looking at it that you are trying to come press all of the work into four days so that you can have a three-day weekend. But they are so wiped out by the end of the midnight shift that four of five of them have lapses of attention when they are driving home from work and one out of three actually fall asleep at the wheel while they are driving home from the work and that is quite a way to start a three-daybreak.

BALDWIN: And the FAA recognizes this and offering solutions, we have the Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood who is pledging reform and recently the FAA announcing new guidelines for the air traffic controllers and here are a couple of them.

And most notably adding this extra hour off between the shifts so that adds an hour in the break. So my question in conjunction with these rattle schedules is if you add that extra hour, does that mean that they won't be able to pull a double? That they will have to work five days?

CZEISLER: It's like a drop of water in an ocean of sleep deprivation. It is not going to do anything. But even the FAA administrator said it is an inadequate first step. They need to implement a fatigue --

BALDWIN: I'm just trying to wrap my head around it and then talk about being a sleep expert, but by adding that extra hour in the break, does this negate the rattler schedules and the double-shifts?

CZEISLER: It does not. And the reason is because first of all the time off that they have to start at 6:00 in the morning that day. Most of them have not gotten an adequate amount of sleep the previous night. Then they come home in the middle of the afternoon and they can take a nap, and typically two to three hours of sleep, but then we have a clock in the brain that makes it difficult for us to sleep late in the evening. So you add an extra hour in there and they won't get any more sleep, which is the critical thing they need before staying awake all night.

BALDWIN: Well, being a sleep expert, what is the solution? How do these men and women get rest to come to work refreshed ideally and be able to perform their job?

CZEISLER: Ideally, they would stay on the same shift for several weeks at a time. They would work for or at the maximum four or five days consecutively, and rotate in a direction of rotation where they go from day shift to evening shift. Then they get used to working the evening shift for a couple of weeks and then they rotate on to the night shift. That way they don't make this -- they don't go cold turkey from working at 6:00 in the morning to suddenly having to start at 10:00 p.m. and work all night.

BALDWIN: Interesting solution. Many of us working in TV have worked every shift and many people out there, and doctors and folks driving trucks, it is tough. It is tough no doubt. Charles, thank you. I do want to remind everyone that folks, you can read his column go to CNN.com/opinion.

And when we come back here, look at the video and watch for the motorcycle on the left-hand side of the screen moving along and I want to talk to the man riding it. He is hit by a car an thrown from the bike and thrown in the middle of the highway and he will join me live in 70 seconds. Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You are about to watch what must have been the longest 12 seconds of Zachary Perez' life. Check this out. Perez was on his way home from work when he was hit from behind. You see him there hit from behind and crushed between two of the cars, and we will re-rack it and you can see it again. He was thrown off of the motorcycle on this Dallas toll way. It is stunning video. Watch it again. There he is hit by that car in the middle of the roadway, and amazingly he survived to tell his tale.

Zacharie Perez is joining me live from Dallas. Zachary, someone passed this video on to me, one of the guys in the Dallas bureau, and it is stunning. When you look at the video, sir, how do you feel when you look back at that moment?

ZACHARIE PEREZ, SURVIVED DALLAS MOTORCYCLE CRASH: I'm just thankful that I'm alive and actually able to walk. I mean, that's the main thing I get from it. I mean, I'm glad that people were actually, other people were actually paying attention on the road and able to swerve and you know, brake and other people behind me as well, and I'm glad I had my helmet and that I had all of the gear I did have on. I had my backpack which I am sure took some of the impact from the back. So I'm really --

BALDWIN: Take me back, the car in front of you was starting to break and the car behind you did not. I know you were conscious the whole time, and what are you remembering?

PEREZ: I remember everything. I was we hind the silver Taurus at one point and saw braking. There was no traffic in front of them and they had hand gestures and what not and seemed like they were dancing in the car, I'm not exactly sure. And I ended up passing them, and then the people in front of me started to slow down, so I started to slow down and the next thing I heard was a loud crash.

I remember landing on the ground and trying to get back, and get myself back to the left lane, and you know, trying to get up and some of the witnesses eventually got out of their cars and told me to stay down and that the paramedics were on the way.

BALDWIN: So you clearly remember the moment that you were lying in the middle of the interstate and cars whizzing by. What were you thinking in that moment?

PEREZ: I just couldn't believe it had actually happened to me.

BALDWIN: So you were fully aware?

PEREZ: I was always cautious on the road and whatnot, so it was a big shock. You don't think it is going to happen to you until it hits.

BALDWIN: Well, thank goodness you had the helmet on, and you believe that saved your life, but I also saw a great quote from you earlier. You are a veteran and you say, "I survived Iraq and almost died on the Dallas north toll way." Did your military training, did that at all help you? In these moments after you were hit?

PEREZ: You know, I mean it may have, and maybe just like instinct just to try to get out of the way real quick that may have been. But, yes, it is really, that is pretty much all I can pull from that. There is really -- you can't be trained for that kind of thing, that kind of stuff.

BALDWIN: I know you a couple of injuries and obviously for the most part, you are OK. Final question, and it is up to your fiancee, you will not be hopping back on the bike any time soon, right?

PEREZ: That is right. Definitely not. Hopefully, hopefully, we kind of learned something from all of this to be aware of the motorcycles is what I am trying to get the point out. And I mean, I don't know, maybe, maybe some laws will change and something will happen, because this guy had no license, no insurance and he got away with pretty much three tickets, and you know, his car was totaled.

BALDWIN: Mr. Perez, I am happy to be talking to you and that is an understatement. Be well.

PEREZ: Thank you, ma'am. BALDWIN: Take a look at this. Do you see all of the trailers? That is the media camped out for the royal wedding. We have been telling you about how the palace is getting ready for the big day, but next, we will take you behind the scenes and show you how members of the media are getting ready as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Imagine a third of the people on earth all doing the same thing at the same exact time? Folks, it could happen this Friday. More than two billion people expected to watch the wedding of Prince William and Katherine Middleton, two billion people. And it takes a village of journalists to bring you the event trending this big. Becky Anderson takes us on a tour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This is the nerve center for what is one of CNN's biggest broadcasts in years. There are a couple of hundred people, and let's talk to the man who has made it all happen. Jeff, talk me through exactly how this is going to happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have done conventions and major funerals in the United States, the Pope's funeral, and this is right up there.

ANDERSON: You have covered big events before, and how big of a deal is this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just huge. The size of the media village is massive, so this is as big as it gets.

ANDERSON: So there are more than 7,000 accredited journalists and some 40 broadcasters and another ten rooms like this across the media village for what is a media extravaganza and let's go to see who else I can find. You will recognize this face. Cat Deeley, of course. What are you looking forward to?

CAT DEELEY, CNN ROYAL CONTRIBUTOR: I can't wait for the actual day, because there is so much build-up now, and we have come here and the first time to come here and the tents and everybody is kind of fevering away and the rest of it, and the actual day, I am looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the kiss. I want a full on smacker on the lips.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON: This is what we call the live shot, three stories, 22 studios, and it's from here that you will see the coverage of the royal wedding. Let me show you around. Take a look in here. This is one of two studios that CNN has got set up. This is Brooke Anderson. What do you think of the setup?

BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": It's so stunning and the British flag has been hung everywhere. It's all over the city. You can tell that there's royal fever all around. ANDERSON: So what does the media village look like for those who live there at Buckingham Palace? Well, follow me around and that is the outside of it. I'm told, though I can't confirm, that these structures were going to be white but the queen decided that it should be green to go with the trees.

Becky Anderson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Becky, thank you.

In the next hour we'll take you live to London where someone ran into Prince Harry and apparently he's nervous. Let's find out why.

And then on Friday, CNN's royal wedding experience. Watch it, participate. Join Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan, Richard Quest, Cat Deeley as they bring you every unforgettable moment. We're live from London starting at 4:00 a.m. eastern time.

And then gas shortages are being reported in Libya. We'll tell you what our reporters are seeing on the ground next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

To Libya now where Misrata city center is actually calm. But in the outskirts where Gadhafi forces continue to battle it out with the rebels, it is anything but. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Stunning video coming out of Libya. It shows rebels under siege, although we cannot authenticate it.

Now, all of this shelling came after rebel fighters chased troops to the center of the city. One doctor said that civilians were fired on. In the meantime international sanctions against Libya on importing gasoline to the western part of the country, that's having a huge impact on people who live there.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports massive lines, evidenced here, massive lines at the pumps. The current waiting time to fill up a tank in Tripoli, three days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Republican member of the last Republican governor of Hawaii, do you have any doubt that Barack Obama was born in the United States?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not. I have no doubt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That woman, who has no doubt, actually has seen the original copy of President Obama's birth certificate. Our own Gary Tuchman went digging in Hawaii to try to put an end to the so-called birther debate. We will tell you exactly what he found.

Also, check this out. Football players heading back to work after a judge says stop the lockout. But guess what? They can't practice. We'll tell you what is going on next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And now to Wolf Blitzer with the latest news hot off the CNN political ticker. Wolf Blitzer, what do you have?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Brooke, thanks very much. Let's talk presidential politics now. Mitt Romney, one of the presidential candidates, he is really going after President Obama, saying President Obama, his down fall, he says, will be the unemployment numbers that are out there. The president says he's about winning the future while people are losing the present.

Romney says you have people suffering in this country. Unemployment is not a statistic. He goes further and says that there is now what he calls an "Obama misery index" and that's why he thinks the Republicans may capture the White House next year.

The Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, by the way, he's saying this whole birther issue is a distraction. He thinks it is hurting the Republicans. "Donald Trump," he says, "and the candidates can talk about it all they want. But my position is that the president was born in the United States." He says his main concern is winning the election. "I think what move voters are the issues involving jobs, the deficit, and spending, among other things."

Meanwhile, the Arizona governor Jan Brewer in defending her position not to sign into state law this notion that you have to prove that you were born in the United States, this birther issue out there, she's also suggesting it's a huge distraction. "It's just something that I think is leading our country down a path of destruction. It is just not serving any good purpose," she told our own John King.

So it's obviously a hot political issue out there right now, the Republicans gearing up for their primary contests, their caucuses. It's going to be exciting, Brooke, as you know.

BALDWIN: Of course, of course. Wolf, thank you so much.

We will get another "Political Ticker" update for you in half an hour.