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Libyans Risk Dangerous Voyage; Navy SEALs Worried About Retaliation; Swollen Mississippi River; Coming Back From Disaster; Talk Back Question; The Help Desk; Mary Tyler Moore Brain Surgery

Aired May 13, 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 speed on some other developing stories this hour.

(VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Ambulances wail in Pakistan. The Taliban say they're behind a double suicide bombing outside a military academy. That happened today. A spokesman calls it retaliation for the death of Osama bin Laden. Eighty people, most of them Pakistani military cadets, lost their lives. Another 140 people were wounded.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates complains that there has been too much official chatter about the bin Laden raid. So much so, that he says the Navy SEALs who took out bin Laden are worried about their safety, the safety of their families, and they're going to get increased security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: A week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden. That all fell apart on Monday, the next day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Sources say the U.S. has questioned bin Laden's three widows. None of them were forthcoming. The group interview took place in front of Pakistani intelligence officers. The women's demeanor, described as hostile.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is warning people who live in the Morganza Spillway to get out. That area stretches from I-10 west, from Baton Rouge to the Gulf. The Army Corps of Engineers may open the spillway as early as tomorrow to lower the flood risk to Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hearts go out to everybody downstream. This is monumental water. It's never been seen before.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Georgia gets a tough immigration law today. It is modeled on the one that's adopted in Arizona.

With a handful of angry protesters outside, Governor Nathan Deal signing the bill at Georgia's state capitol. That's happening this hour. Now, this new law allows police to question certainly criminal suspects about their immigration status. Opponents now plan to sue.

Libyan opposition leaders are due at the White House in just a few hours. The delegation, headed by this man, Mahmoud Jibril, is scheduled to meet with President Obama's national security adviser. The opposition wants the United States to recognize it as the legitimate government of Libya.

More than 800 Libyan war refugees arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa today, and more are coming. They made the dangerous journey knowing that hundreds of others have died trying.

Our CNN's Ivan Watson now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the third boat crammed with migrants and refugees from North Africa, from Libya, that has arrived here in Lampedusa just today. Each one, carrying more than 100 people. As you can see, they're crammed into wooden fishing boats here, that open air, and they're traveling on a perilous journey that takes at least 24 hours across the Mediterranean Sea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Amateur video shows Syrian women struggling to retrieve the bodies of other women. Unbelievably disturbing video that we are watching right now.

Today is being called the "Friday of Free Syrian Women" to honor women killed in the two-month-old uprising. This is very disturbing. The United Nations says the crackdown by Syrian security forces has killed as many as 850 people since March, and new violence is now reported today.

More now on the safety concerns among Navy SEALs who took out Osama bin Laden. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the department is looking for ways to pump up security for the SEALs.

We want to bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence.

And Chris, give us a sense here. Secretary Gates, he's worried that too much information on the bin Laden raid has now been made public. Why were there so many operational details that were released in the first place?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: More than likely, Suzanne, because they got Osama bin Laden, and lot of officials were proud of that fact and wanted to talk about it. And, you know, not to be hypocritical, there's plenty of us in the media who kept asking those questions. We wanted to know more, and people wanted to know more details about those raids, and people kept talking about it.

Before this happened, we didn't even know the U.S. had a stealth Black Hawk. Now we do. We didn't know some of the tactics, the mockup, that compound that they practiced on. All of that has come out.

And I think now Secretary Gates is saying there is a real danger not only from him, but that some of the SEALs feel there is a danger that their names could eventually become public. And the secretary does not want that to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GATES: When I met with the team last Thursday, they expressed a concern about that, and particularly with respect to their families. And so we're -- as you say, I can't get into the details in this forum, but we are looking at what measures can be taken to pump up the security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: And obviously we're living in the age of WikiLeaks. You can probably expect that a lot of the reports that go out on this will have names and equipment redacted, meaning they'll be blacked out, just in case some of this is ever, ever put out in the public.

MALVEAUX: Chris, I want to talk a little bit about the United States questioning Osama bin Laden's three wives who were left at the compound after he was killed. What have we learned about that interview? Do we have any information on that?

LAWRENCE: Yes. And the first indications we're getting from some officials are that they didn't get much from this initial interview, but we're hearing from a Pakistani official that the U.S. will be granted another chance to interview them.

Remember, U.S. officials wanted to interview these women separately to see if there was any discrepancies in their stories. They didn't get to do that. They were all in the room together with Pakistani officials. And from what we understand, it was the eldest wife who spoke for all three of them.

MALVEAUX: All right. Chris Lawrence, thank you very much.

Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the stories that got us talking a lot. Today's question: Are politicians revealing too much?

Carol Costello with that question, that hot question.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we're just not talking about information.

MALVEAUX: Pictures. We've got pictures.

COSTELLO: We've got pictures. Once upon a time, when you heard from a member of Congress, it was strictly about policy like taxes and foreign affairs or defense spending. Well, those days gone. Dignity seems to be out the window. Welcome to the era of TMI.

Check out this tweet from Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. "I'm tired of looking and feeling fat. Maybe talking about it publicly will keep me on track as I try to be more disciplined. Off to the gym."

Hey, it worked for New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. After losing her baby weight, she took to "Vogue" magazine to show off her slimmed-down figure. But it's not just a woman thing.

Male lawmakers also seem obsessed with their body politic, or political body, so to speak. Take Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock, proud owner of these six-pack abs on the cover of "Men's Health."

And while we're at it, do we really need to know that Barack Obama is stinky and snory in the morning, or that he hates picking up his dirty socks? It's hard to believe that there was once a time when Americans did not even know that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in a wheelchair.

We didn't want politicians to be like real people, and certainly not sex symbols. But now it's a topic that carries a lot of political weight, and one we can't get enough of because, frankly, they won't let us.

So the "Talk Back" question today: Are politicians revealing too much?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll be eager once again to read your comments later this hour.

MALVEAUX: Come on, Carol. Don't you think it makes them more appealing? You know?

COSTELLO: I think there's a line.

MALVEAUX: People are worried about their wait and that kind of thing.

COSTELLO: There's a line.

MALVEAUX: You know, you can kind of relate to what they're talking about.

COSTELLO: I don't want to see my lawmaker half-naked. I just want them to do their jobs and I want to believe --

MALVEAUX: Even if it is a six-pack? Come on, now.

COSTELLO: Even if it's a six-pack. I'd rather they use this up here. I don't care about it. That's just me, though. I'm old- fashioned. MALVEAUX: Yes. I don't think you're all that old-fashioned.

I can hardly wait to hear what folks have got to say about this one.

COSTELLO: It will be interesting.

MALVEAUX: This is going to be a fun one. All right. Thanks, Carol.

Here's a look at what's ahead "On the Rundown."

First, we are watching the water rise. We're going to have a live report from Greenville, Mississippi.

And New Orleans, now in the crosshairs again. General Russel Honore tells us how the levees now are holding up.

And, then danger in Syria. Could today's anti-government rallies invite another oppressive crackdown?

And the sound of music encouraging school kids to play an instrument.

Finally, brain surgery for actress Mary Tyler Moore. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the type of tumor that is being removed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: "CNN In Depth: Troubled Waters." Along the swollen Mississippi River, an excruciating wait for hundreds of thousands of people. The river has still not crested in places like Greenville, Mississippi, and that is where CNN's Rob Marciano is. It's an area with a long history of flooding.

Rob, tell us what's going on right now. What are people feeling and how high is this water?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, much like what we saw up in Tunica, there's an area of this town that is completely cut off and inundated with water. But if you're on the unprotected side of the levee, which is where we are, things are pretty wet -- very wet.

Yet another casino, at least the non-floating part of it, that is under water and closed for business. So another vital part of this area that is shut down economically.

You know, the Mississippi eventually meets up with the Yazoo River down around Vicksburg, and that's going to be interesting as those two rivers crest here. We could get another logjam as far as some serious flooding down there in the next several days to come.

I want to show you the actual levee that protects Greenville proper. Here it is.

It can take this river to go as high as 75 feet. The forecast crest is for 65 feet, so we're confident that the city should be OK, but there's a number of lakes, there's a number of weak spots, there's seepage, there's these sand boils that bubble up, and they're constantly fighting that battle.

You know what's interesting? Wildlife has had basically to scurry away from these floodwaters. Just an hour ago, just down near this levee, this is what we saw, yet another deer swimming in the floodwaters.

Deer have been found in downtown Greenville. Wild hogs have been running around. All sorts of animals that normally would be living along the river, now are forced to move a little bit closer to populate areas, not to mention what's floating in the river that's -- that I'm constantly keeping my eye out for, which are those snakes that we saw up the road in Memphis.

So the water continues to move south, Suzanne, but it's a slow and painful process. And the people that live just that way, that are cut off and their houses submerged, they won't be able to get back into their homes for several weeks.

We'll stay above flood stage here for about a month. It will take a full month before we go below flood stage here.

So they sit and they wait and they hope, and they constantly fight the flood with those leaks occur in the levee. But so far, most of the levee system is holding up according to plan -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Rob, be safe. Obviously, a lot in that water, including those snakes that you do not want to come across. And warnings, people should not be in the water if they can help it at all.

Thank you, Rob. Appreciate it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MALVEAUX: If you're not personally affected by the flooding, chances are you are going to be over your lifetime. This is according to FEMA.

Flooding is the number one natural disaster in the United States in terms of lives lost and property damage. Floods cost the United States $2.7 billion annually over the past 10 years.

Floods happen in all 50 states. Twenty-five percent occur in areas the government designates as low-to-moderate-risk flood zones. But get this -- only four percent of homeowners have flood insurance.

It's one of the most ruthless states in the Arab world when it comes to beating back protest rallies, but the threat of violence is not scaring off activists in Syria today.

Michael Holmes has more on this very dangerous situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: It's been a bloody week in Yemen. And violent crackdowns on anti-government protesters turned deadly once again today. Security forces shot and killed four people on their way to a funeral for another fallen protester. Twelve others were wounded in the gunfire.

And in Egypt, president Hosni Mubarak gone, but the protesters haven't stopped making their voices heard. Today, thousands gathered between Cairo's landmark Tahrir Square and Egyptian state TV building. They marched in support of Palestinians and poor people in other Arab nations who are demanding change from their governments.

And in Syria, it's been billed as the "Friday of Free Syrian Women," but today's rally against the government could turn into another brutal crackdown.

Michael Holmes is here to go "Beyond the Headlines" into the dangerous situation in Syria.

And, obviously, it looked like the Arab Spring, that Syria was immune to all of this kind of turmoil. A very different situation.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, the funny thing is that the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, he literally said that, that his country was immune to such uprisings as we saw in Egypt because his regime, he used the words, was "in tune with the people." Well, so much for that.

Syrian protesters have been taking some bold risks of course against their government. These pictures are just so dramatic to watch, too. Heartbreaking, in many ways.

Lots of people have laid down their lives to make these protests. So far, as many as 850 people dead. Thousands have been detained. Many are missing. That's according to the United Nations.

Since taking over for his father -- let's talk about Bashar al- Assad -- he has at least made promises of giving more freedoms to people. He's pledged to drop the emergency rule. He's bumped up some pay scales, although a lot of people in Syria doubt that those moves will amount to much in the big picture.

Syria, it does remain one of the region's most repressive regimes, and these crackdowns that we have seen since protests began in March, just another example of that ironclad rule. Despite the threat of getting locked up or killed, street demonstrations have continued over the past two months in Daraa, where it all started, really, Homs, Baniyas, and other cities as well.

MALVEAUX: And Michael, it's really hard to just look at these pictures when you realize that these are women who are trying to get -- female bodies. You know, bodies of the protests from the street.

This is not something that the administration is ignoring. We've heard from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at least trying to address the situation. HOLMES: Yes, words. You know, we did hear her address the situation yesterday.

She said in a statement that she promised to hold Syria responsible for its human rights abuses. What she said, you see it there on the screen. "There may be some who think that this is a sign of strength, but treating one's own people in this way is, in fact, a sign of weakness."

MALVEAUX: Could we see a change here? I mean, I want to play this again. And perhaps we can even take a listen to what is taking place on the streets here for a moment.

Michael, it is so powerful and so disturbing. Do we think that there's the will of the international community, whether it's United Nations or some other international body, to get involved as we saw in Libya?

HOLMES: Yes. That's the irony, isn't it? I mean, and people who are looking in from the outside say, well, you act in one way for one country and another way for another. It's very -- to be honest, very difficult to see that happening, a Libya-style sort of thing.

The U.S. administration stands right now a tentative no. Well, not at least beyond the threat of greater sanctions, and a little bit more diplomatic tongue-lashing. But this is a country with a lot at stake for the West.

Unlike Libya, it's a pivotal nation in the region. It's the chief ally to Iran. It is also the great supporter and sponsor of groups like Hezbollah, Hamas. It is a linchpin player in the Middle East.

If Syria goes bad, the region can go bad. And right now, despite al-Assad's regime saying they have things under control -- they said that just yesterday -- I mean, you can clearly see that that's not the case. But it's a crucial nation in terms of what it can lead to if things go bad there.

We've heard talk of potential for civil war, Iraq-style, sectarian-style civil war, about it bleeding into Lebanon, which has had its own history of civil unrest. A lot at stake in Syria.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. Michael, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

HOLMES: Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: School budgets are being cut across the nation, and music and arts programs are often the first to go. But three young musicians, they are trying to keep the spirit alive by inspiring students through their performances.

Ayesha Tejpar has today's "What Matters."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) AYESHA TEJPAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Williams cousins have been playing the strings together for seven years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All three of our moms played the piano. They thought it would be nice for us to play the violin.

TEJPAR: Ade and Mira, both 13, play the violin for their trio, the Sugarstrings. Mira also knows the viola. Nineteen--year-old Ayanna is the group's cellist.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whenever I start a new piece or something, I get really excited. I'm like, wow, it's a new piece, I'm going to have so much fun with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I particularly love playing the violin because I feel like it's a part of me. When I'm feeling a certain mood, you know, it feels this mood, too.

TEJPAR: The Sugarstrings perform professionally, and yet they still find time to bring music back to kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With my experiences in public schools, the arts, the arts, there's no funding for it. I think our goal is just to show kids that you can still do music.

TEJPAR: They recently played at Mira's alma mater on Chicago's south side.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty cool how they move their hands so fast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that I might want to do violin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just can't realize how motivational it was. The impact will be months and months and months later on. Kids will continue to talk about it.

We have a lot of people saying, like, "Oh, I used to play, you guys inspire me."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Don't give it up."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't even cross my mind to give it up, but it is good to hear that, that we're actually doing the right thing.

TEJPAR: Ayesha Tejpar, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Will New Orleans be spared record flooding? That is a question a lot of people are asking as the Mississippi's floodwaters are headed that way. We're going to speak live with General Russel Honore, who led the military's response to Hurricane Katrina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown on some of the stories that we're working on.

Saving New Orleans from a record flood. We're going to be speaking with General Russel Honore. He's the man who led the military response to Hurricane Katrina.

Plus, the education crisis in America. We're going to meet a young student who has big dreams. But she might not get the education she needs to turn them into reality.

And, we're also going to find out about actress Mary Tyler moor's brain surgery from our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

CNN in-depth, troubled waters. There's still no decision on whether to open a spillway north of New Orleans to divert floodwaters from the Mississippi River. The flood is moving slowly in that direction.

Joining us now from Baton Rouge, retired General Russell Honore. He led the military's response to Hurricane Katrina. General Honore, thank you very much for joining us here.

Having dealt with New Orleans flooding firsthand after Katrina, you know the state of the levees in that area. How are they holding up? Is New Orleans going to see major flooding?

LT. GEN. RUSSELL HONORE, (RET.), U.S. ARMY, LED MILITARY RESPONSE TO KATRINA: Everything's possible here, Suzanne. A lot of work has been done on the levees in New Orleans to include the massive gates that prevent the high water from coming in to the city, as you saw on the 17th Street Canal and some of the other canals where the water came in from tidal surge.

In this case, the water's coming from up north from extensive flooding that started in the Midwest and now is pushing its way through Mississippi. But if we can get the Morganza spillway open and we get the effect we need from it -- and hopefully General Walsh and Colonel Fleming will make that decision to open that Morganza tomorrow that will reduce the pressure in New Orleans immediately.

MALVEAUX: And you think those levees will hold.

HONORE: We think the levees that have done the enormous amount of work on will hold. But between New Orleans and about Baton Rouge, there's a lot of danger area there, Suzanne. We have enormous number of communities that have been built close to the levee, as well as enormous number of chemical plants and refineries. That if they get flooded, we could have a second or third order effect from that flooding.

And all of that is dependent on the levees holding. Right now, we've got boiling. Sand boils north of Baton Rouge on the Poinkepete (ph) side between Baton Rouge and New Road. As you know, this is my hometown. This is where I spent my barefoot years, as we say in Louisiana. And there's a lot of danger right now in Poinkepete (ph) Parish, and that is where Morganza is.

So, hopefully the Corps will open that floodgate and relieve that pressure on the parish in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge should be first stage on the 22nd of May, which is just a few days away. Once it reaches flood stage, it will only have about four inches to spare before the water would come over the levee. So opening that Morganza is key to all of this right now, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: OK. General Honore, I know a lot of my family spent their barefoot years there as well. I want to bring in our Chad Meyers here who has a quick question for you.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: General, what's the plan if this boil turns into a breach? If this breach goes, water's going to pour out of that river faster than people can get out of the way. What kind of warning system is set up for those people that are still stuck behind that levee thinking everything's OK?

HONORE: Well, let me tell you, the governor and the National Guard -- I'm leaving this station right now to go do PSAs . A lot of work has been done by the parishes, local governments and the state to get the word out to people of who would be in the floodplain.

This is based on the Morganza release. We've got to do more probably work on keeping people informed without getting them panicked on what is the possibility of the levee breaking either on the Poinkepete or west Baton Rouge side or, God forbid, something happen just south of Baton Rouge. Inside of Baton Rouge we got the big Exxon fuel refinery. North of Baton Rouge, we've got a nuclear power plant. And south of Baton Rouge is St. Charles parish, we've got the water for the nuclear plant.

I think we need to start now turn our attention to those worst- case scenarios and really showing people the ones that are in the worst case scenario. And to the states right, the state and Corps has released that now. Now we got to get people to listen, Chad -

MYERS: General, though -

HONORE: -- and see if they're in that worst case scenario.

MYERS: But Amelia, Morgan City, other people are in danger if you open that Morganza floodway. What do you say to them?

HONORE: Well, right now a lot of work has been done in Morgan City. The National Guard has been there putting up additional hesko baskets (ph) to give them additional protection. But from 1912, 1927, 1937 and 1973, this area has flooded. Poinkepete Parish as well as down to Morgan City.

That's one of the reasons why that floodgate was put in Morganza to control that water. And most of that area is agricultural area, until you get to Morgan City, which has a ring levee around it to help protect it. The Corps has done a lot of work, but private levees have been built to protect homes. So, we're at a high-risk situation right now. MALVEAUX: All right. General Russell Honore, thank you very much. And obviously, we hope for the very best, those in Baton Rouge and all along the Mississippi River and those areas that will be impacted by this ongoing flooding. Thank you very much, General. Have a good weekend.

It has been a tough disaster year. In the last nine months, 32 states have had emergency or disaster declarations. Want you to check out this map from FEMA. The states in red have had either severe flooding, tornado damage, severe snowstorms or even tsunami wave damage from the Japanese earthquake.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: High school senior in Arizona wants to attend an elite university to become a solar engineer. But she attends a school where half the students can't pass standardized state tests. CNN's special correspondent Soledad O'Brien has her story.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: And Suzanne, that girl is Maria Castro. Maria Castro is representative of American students in lots of ways. First of all, she's Latina, so she's a part of growing population of American school children.

Also, Maria Castro really didn't have access to high level math and science classes. Most American students won't take a class like calculus, for example, either because they opt out or because it is just not made available in their school.

But Maria Castro is different. When she was told the class wasn't available, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maria, what is the ratios of the 45?

MARIA CASTRO, STUDENT: The one, the one and the radical two.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Maria wants a career that pays well and is pushing herself and her school to get it.

CASTRO: I was like cool, well, why isn't anybody like challenging me? I mean, I would do a whole week's lesson in (INAUDIBLE) and, you know, it's like, OK, this is too simple for me. OK, what's next?

O'BRIEN (on camera): Do you worry that when you go off to college you're not going to be prepared to compete?

CASTRO: Yes. I -- and especially like, an example, English, we're learning how to capitalize and when to capitalize. I mean, that's things that my little sister should be learning, you know.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's because more than half of the 2,200 students at Maria's school don't pass statewide tests in reading and math.

FREDI LAJVARDI, TEACHER: When they come to school, you know, they come with a fourth grade reading level and behind in math. So we really have a lot of catching up to do.

CASTRO: It's just my little sister and I.

O'BRIEN (on camera): Everybody is older and moved out?

CASTRO: Everybody moved out.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): She's the sixth of seven children.

CASTRO: All of my brothers and sisters were straight A students.

O'BRIEN (on camera): And they went from being A students to --

CASTRO: Dropping out.

My sister, she got pregnant when she was younger. And like everybody was kind of just expecting me to follow into their same footsteps, you know.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Everybody including her father. She overheard him two years ago at her Quinceanera (ph), her 15th birthday party.

CASTRO: He was like, it's just a matter of time before she fails.

O'BRIEN (on camera): Fails?

CASTRO: Yes.

CASTRO: He was just like -- it doesn't really matter what she does right now. I mean, she'll eventually give up.

O'BRIEN: Did it motivate you in any way?

CASTRO: Yes, it did.

O'BRIEN: It did?

CASTRO: Yes. No, it's like, OK, if I'm going to get straight A's, it's not just for you anymore, it's for me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Clearly, there's lot of blame to go around. You can blame the parents for being uninvolved, you can blame the kids for being lazy, you can blame teachers, you can blame administrators, you can blame crumbling schools -- blame, blame, blame.

Ultimately, though, we wanted to explore in our documentary what is working, what is inspiring kids to want to learn about science, technology, engineering and math, all the fields that they have to really understand in order to get the jobs that exist in the future.

This particular documentary focuses on a robotics competition. Maria is one of the young people who tries to build a robot that can win. Back to you, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Soledad.

Our CNN documentary "DON'T FAIL ME: EDUCATION IN AMERICA" examines the crisis in public education and why America's financial future is at risk if our students can't excel in math and science. Don't miss the full report from our Soledad O'Brien when it premieres Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEUAX: Thomasville, North Carolina is known for its huge furniture industry. It is a challenging place to start a small business. But today in "Building Up America," CNN's Tom Foreman introduces us to a mattress maker who not only outlasted the recession, but also survived a fire to keep people in work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid the clatter of nail guns and sewing machines, 1,400 mattresses a day roll out of the Carolina Mattress Guild. At least on a good day. But the owners of this small company, Kathryn and Neil Grigg, have learned how to handle bad days, too.

KATHRYN GRIGG, VICE PRESIDENT, CAROLINA MATTRESS GUILD: We had to, to survive. We would have -- we lost half or more of our customer base. So to survive, we had to be very proactive.

FOREMAN: Ten years ago, just after they'd opened in the heart of Carolina's furniture belt, a devastating fire struck, wiping out their inventory, their life savings, which they'd invested here, and leaving a huge question --

NEIL GRIGG, CAROLINA MATTRESS GUILD: My God, what are we going to do? How are we going to overcome this?

FOREMAN: The answer -- rebuild fast. Moving into temporary space, they raced to repair. Once again, dropping as much money into their dream as they could scrape up.

FOREMAN (on camera): This is all highly specialized equipment.

N. GRIGG: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

FOREMAN: And I'm guessing kind of expensive.

N. GRIGG: Very expensive. Very expensive.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Then they had an inspiration. They developed a groundbreaking product based on their experience. A fire resistant mattress. One of the first of its kind on the market. It took off with customers.

N. GRIGG: It did gain us some new business. So there was a silver lining to that cloud.

FOREMAN: The lessons learned about taking care of their staff, working hard and never giving up have helped them grow from a handful to 100 employees, despite the recession. Their mantra is simple.

K. GRIGG: You can't retreat. You can't retreat. You have to keep moving forward.

FOREMAN: That doesn't guarantee success, but even in tough economic times, it helps them all sleep a little easier.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Tom Foreman joins us live from Thomasville, North Carolina.

Hey, Tom, great to see you. How does a small company like this end up competing against really big manufacturers?

FOREMAN: I think they do it, in part, Suzanne, by being what small companies can be -- very nimble, very adaptable and emphasizing that one-on-one relationship with their customers that often is hard for a big company to manage that way. Sure, they have individual people, but here the owners themselves speak directly to the people who are their clients if they need to, to work out any problems, any product supply. They're fast, they're nimble, they're responsive. That's allowing them to be competitive even in these tough times.

And they'll say right up front, this is a tough business. Success is not assured. But, like I said, they're sleeping a little bit easier with the formula they've put together right here in the heart of furniture and textile making country.

MALVEAUX: All right, great story, Tom, thank you. Appreciate it.

We're having a lot of fun with our "Talk Back" question today. We asked, are politicians revealing too much? Brian says, "it just goes to show you that self image on the outside has become more important than what's on the inside." Our Carol Costello is back with more of your responses.

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MALVEAUX: From tweeting about being fat to showing off rock-hard abs, politicians these days letting it all hang out and it gets us to today's "Talk Back" question and Carol Costello with your responses.

Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good responses they are. The "Talk Back" question today, are politicians revealing too much?

This from Zach. "If I wanted my politicians to pose provocatively in magazines, I would have voted for an underwear model. We need to take these politicians to task for the poor job they're doing and not popularize them over trivial matters."

This from Heidi. "No one cares if our leaders have a six-pack unless it's a pack of beer before they get behind the wheel of a car. This pageantry is the last thing our leaders should be focused on when our country has real problems."

This from Ben. "Politicians are hard at work on recasting their image. They want Americans to see them as most Americans see themselves. Sadly, this is not leadership. This is a desperate attempt to create a form of relatability for the common person."

This from Nicole. "I don't care if you're fat, stinky or snore-y. What I care about is fixing our nation's health care, fixing the budget and jobs."

And this from Tom. "I was watching the news with my 10-year-old when this came on and he said, way too much. More than I want to know." Even 10 year-olds are weighing in.

MALVEAUX: Even the 10-year-old knows better.

COSTELLO: Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Thanks, as always, for your comments.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

MALVEAUX: Have a great weekend.

COSTELLO: You, too.

MALVEAUX: Sounds ominous. Mary Tyler Moore decides to undergo elective brain surgery. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why the actress may have agreed to go under the knife.

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CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we give answers to your financial questions. And joining me this hour is Manisha Thakor, a personal finance author, and Doug Flynn is a certified financial planner and founder of Flynn Zito.

Now we have our first question of the day. Kathy in Patterson, New York, is saying, "I'm having problems keeping up with the high mortgage on my condo. If I use my savings to pay for it, the money will only last two years and then I'll be broke. I can't sell it for enough to pay off the mortgage. What should do I?"

Manisha, a lot of folks in this position.

MANISHA THAKOR, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Carmen, it's so true. And the good news is that Kathy realizes that she's got her back up against this financial wall. She's actually a classic candidate for a short sale, which is fancy speak for going to the bank and saying, let's sell it for what we can and call it a day. Reasons for short sale can include hardship or also the fact that you're just underwater. It sounds like in Kathy's case there may be some hardship there, if she's had a job loss, an income reduction.

The key is, short sales vary from lender to lender. So Kathy needs to talk to her lender and start the application process soon. In a good case scenario, six to eight weeks, but often times, Carmen, as longing as three to four months to see if you're going to be accepted.

ULRICH: It's going to take some patience and fortitude (INAUDIBLE).

THAKOR: Exactly.

ULRICH: OK, we've got Ken of Palmetto, Florida. Ken says, "I'm selling our second house and will make $100,000 off the sale." Congratulations. "Now I want to save safely but also gain interest on the funds for my grandkids' college. What do you suggest?"

Doug, lucky grandkids.

DOUG FLYNN, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: Yes. And, well, the first thing you have to consider is, since this was an investment property, a second home, whether there's taxes due on this. So make sure you don't invest that. You put that aside. I don't know if that $100,000 is after taxes or not.

But after that, whatever you have to invest, the first thing you should look at is a 529. It will allow them to put the money away and grow tax free when used for college, which was the specific goal here.

The big issue is that you can choose the investments within the 529. So if you're looking for something safe, then you could do that if you want. You might want to look at something age appropriate for the child. But if you want something safe, that is an option in there and that's the place you want to look. And you can also give more than just the $13,000 per child in those 529s. You can do a couple of years at a time. So that would work very well.

ULRICH: And keep it in the grandparents' name, right?

FLYNN: And control it by keeping it in the grandparents' name, but out of their estate at the same time.

ULRICH: Exactly. Thank you, guys, so much.

Do you have a question that you want answered? Well, send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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MALVEAUX: Mary Tyler Moore is having elective surgery on her brain. Many of you know her as the woman who could turn the world on with her smile. Her publicist says the actress has a slow growing brain tumor that's fairly common and benign. So I asked our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta why the 74-year-old might have opted for surgery.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, it's not that unusual for these tumors not to be operated on, at least immediately. And the reason is because they're typically thought of as benign tumors. If they're also small, the discussion between doctor and patient may be, look, let's keep an eye on this. There's a chance that you may not need to have any therapy for this in your entire lifetime. And so you get yearly scans, MRI scans, and check to see, is this tumor starting to change. The tumor may have been found incidentally. So someone goes in for an unrelated issue and they find this tumor and that's when this whole discussion starts to take place.

The tumor, as you mentioned, a meningioma, really is a tumor sort of on the -- located on the outside of the brain typically. So growing from the outside in, sort of pushing into the brain as opposed to growing within the substance of the brain. And, again, it's found -- it has a very characteristic look when you get an MRI scan.

Now the big question a lot of people ask then is, why operate now? Mary Tyler Moore is 74 years old. It really comes down to three basic reasons, or at least one compelling reason of those three. The tumor could have started to grow quickly. So year to year maybe it was unchanged or it was growing very slowly and all of a sudden on a scan you see a more explosive rate of growth.

Two is that the tumor may be changing to some extent. So it looked like a benign tumor, but now on scans something's changed about the tumor that makes it look like it may be becoming more malignant.

And, three, as you might guess, is that it's starting to cause some symptoms. Starting to cause numbness or weakness on one side of the body. Starting to cause blurriness of vision. If those things are starting to happen and they're related to the tumor, that might be a reason to operate as well.

If the tumor is entirely removed, which it often is, oftentimes nothing else needs to be done. If it's not entirely removed, a patient may need radiation therapy afterwards to sort of address the remaining tumor.

But that's a little bit of an idea of what's probably been happening with Mary Tyler Moore over the last several years, and, of course, most recently.

Suzanne, back to you.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Sanjay. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now for Randi Kaye who's in for Ali Velshi.