Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Recovering in Joplin, Palin: I Have "Fire in my Belly"; Taking Loans Against Your 401K; Appetite to Help Others; Clashes Spread in Yemen; 132 People Killed in Joplin; President Obama Calls Poland Strong Ally; Extreme Couponing for a Cause; Investigating John Edwards
Aired May 28, 2011 - ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Joe Johns in for T.J. Holmes.
Borrowing from your 401(k) to make ends meet. Many Americans are forced to do it, but two senators say, it's a bad idea. And they want to limit the practice. The story this hour.
A government agency says thousands of swimming pools should not open this Memorial Day weekend. We'll tell you why.
And extreme couponing for a cause; find out how this man is sending care packages to military troops overseas without even coming close to breaking the bank.
But first, six days after a tornado ripped apart Joplin, Missouri, rescue crews are still trying to find everyone. We're expecting an update shortly from state officials. But as of right now, 156 people are unaccounted for and the death toll has reached 132. More than 1,000 people are hurt. The federal government has approved nearly $3 million in aid and President Obama plans to meet with survivors in Joplin tomorrow.
All week we've been hearing extraordinary stories of survival, of strangers helping strangers. Our Paul Vercammen is in Joplin looking in all of the debris. It is really hard to believe that people actually made it through this, Paul.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Wait until you hear this next story in just a second, Joe. A guest is going to join to me not live his name is Rance Junge and he's a pharmacist over that rise. His pharmacy was absolutely leveled and we have some still pictures of that.
What Rance did during the storm to survive is amazing. He and five others, he's going to step in here live and tell us about it literally -- you hung to the toilets.
RANCE JUNGE, PRONTO PHARMACY: To the toilet. And we didn't have much time. I opened up the back door, I saw a massive wall and knew that we were in real trouble so I thought we could make it across the street to the basement at St. John's. Unfortunately, that time wasn't there. The door flew out of my hands. I said, we didn't have enough time let's go to the bathroom, we just slid into the bathroom and we hung on to the toilet for dear life. The plumbing and anyway, we survived that way. All I can say is I'm really glad the toilet held because I didn't think it would.
VERCAMMEN: And the roof was torn off everything else was gone but just you, two perfect strangers you've never met before, two employees hanging to the plumbing in the toilets.
JUNGE: Right, right. And that's -- and that we survived. So I'm just hoping we can rebuild from this disaster. It's -- I'm glad the President's coming. I want him to see, and I think this devastation you can't, the videos just don't do it for you. And you just got to see it in person.
And so hopefully, he can help us rebuild. We rebuild other things like Iraq, Afghanistan. Let's hope we can rebuild this in our backyard.
VERCAMMEN: You also said that you leased this building and were starting to see these signs of red tape because of someone who leased. You don't have free reign to go ahead and rebuild on your own and you've got to go ahead and get the person involved who owns the property. What's that like?
JUNGE: Well, I waited for two hours in an SPI office trying to get a loan to start rebuilding and they asked me if I wanted to rebuild. Sure, I want to rebuild. I've been part of this community and family since the 1800s. And when I talked to them about the loan, they said, well it wouldn't -- we'll there's a lot of paperwork involved number one.
But once you get through all of that. They said, well you leased, you didn't own that property. So we can't really help you with that. And I said, well, I don't know what the existing property owners are going to do. I'm hoping, you know, I may have to buy my own piece of property and put up my own building now to provide my own pharmacy for the community.
Ok so -- so, anyway I just -- we're just trying to get it done the best we can.
VERCAMMEN: Well, we hope you are successful --
(CROSSTALK)
JUNGE: Ok, thank you.
VERCAMMEN: -- in all of your efforts. Thirty years in the pharmacy business here. Rance Junge, another one of those just harrowing tales of survival and now the hard part - seeing if he can rebuild right over that rise, Joe.
JOHNS: Paul thanks so much for that. Just incredible reporting this morning. That's Paul Vercammen in Joplin, Missouri. Thanks so much. More now on the President's visit in Joplin. He's expected to arrive early tomorrow afternoon, just hours after returning from his European trip. He'll walk through some of the devastated neighborhoods and talk to survivors and then he'll speak at a memorial service for the victims.
That is set for 3:00 Eastern Time. CNN is going to be there, we plan to bring it to you live.
And here is how you can help the people of Joplin. Just logon to CNN.com/impact and check out our special page. It has all the tools you need to make a difference.
So what can you expect for your Memorial Day weekend plans? Reynolds Wolf, you've been taking a look at how the weather is looking, of course, it depends on where you are. You know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: (INAUDIBLE) There is a huge potpourri of weather conditions around the place -- around the country. What I can tell you as we get --
JOHNS: Oh I've got to get the mike on.
WOLF: This is amazing the wonders of technology?
JOHNS: Yes, I know. It happens every time.
WOLF: It's unbelievable. The weather is going to be on today. Just like this microphone. But what I can tell you with your weather is that we're going to have a combination of rain in some places and some heat in others and actually, some snowfall in a few spots.
In fact, Aspen and the ski run is going to be open today. You're going to have some snowing; there's going to be quite heavy in parts of the Sierra Nevada even into the Cascades.
Let me show you something else you're going to be dealing with; chances of severe storms that Joe and I have been talking about for a good part of the day. We had some storms earlier in parts of Missouri and then back into Kansas. They have since calmed down a bit but later on in the afternoon as the heat begins to build, you might have more.
Very quickly your highs for the day that you can anticipate; expect highs across the landscape to vary as you would imagine, 70s in the Northeast and 101 in El Paso, 58 in Billings, 72 in Kansas City. As we fast forward for the rest of the weekend, the trend will continue but the northern half of the country, mainly some rainfall into the south, as you might imagine. Humid and warm for the southeast and hot for Texas and a kind of a mixed bag for you in California.
(INAUDIBLE) north of Redding, California, but for southern and central California conditions should be just fine for you.
All right, loud and clear, back to you. JOHNS: Great, thanks man.
WOLF: You bet.
JOHNS: She's been out of the spotlight for months but Sarah Palin is now back in the headlines. We'll tell you what she is doing now that speculation is intensifying about a possible presidential bid.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Sarah Palin is back in the national spotlight. The former Alaska governor is kicking off a multi-city bus tour tomorrow after keeping a low political profile for months.
Let's turn to CNN's deputy political director Paul Steinhauser who is live in Washington. Paul, let's start with Sarah Palin. Do you think she is actually about to announce a bid or do you think it's somewhere down the road?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: This could be a signal that yes, at least she's considering running for the White House. Joe, like you said, it gets her back in the spotlight. We haven't been talking about her much lately.
But there have been a bunch of signals recently. It was about a week ago when she was asked about running for the president. She said she still had fire in the belly. I guess that was the first kind of -- first tipoff and then we learned that a pro-Palin film made by a conservative filmmaker. When is it going to premier? Next month in Iowa, the state that kicks off the race for the White House.
We learned she's rehired two political staffers; she is buying a house reportedly in Arizona. Joe, it's a lot easier to campaign in the lower 48 from Arizona than it is leaving in Alaska.
And finally that bus tour which launches I guess tomorrow and will go to New Hampshire, another very politically important state.
But there's some signals too that she may not run. Listen, let's be honest, up until now she hasn't done anything concrete really in those early voting states. No staff, no organization, really. She really hasn't reached out to voters.
And also this is interesting Joe, we have been talking about this, you and me, Fox News is not altering her contract right now. She's a contributor, a paid contributor with them. Remember, they did alter the contracts and forced out Gingrich and Santorum who are now presidential candidates. So, that could be a telling sign, as well, Joe that she may not run.
JOHNS: Ok, so let's just run through who she hurts and who she helps as far as the people we know who are in the presidential race or the people who might get in. You've got Bachmann, Santorum, Pawlenty, maybe Romney, where do these people fall? What's going to happen to them if she gets in the race? STEINHAUSER: Yes I know, we were talking about this the other day. Bachmann let's start with her, she could be hurt because Bachmann and Palin are both kind of darlings of the Tea Party Movement. Those are very influential voters in the Republican primary process; that could hurt Bachmann.
It could also hurt Herman Cain. Listen, same thing, a very popular, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO, he's a conservative talk show host and also popular with Tea Party voters. What if Palin gets in it could hurt him.
Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, listen, Iowa is crucial for him if he wants to win the nomination. If Palin jumps in, she can take a lot of those voters maybe away from him in Iowa.
And Santorum, the former -- the senator from Pennsylvania, the former senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum, is very important with social conservative because of his stance on the issues but if Palin runs, it could hurt him.
Who could help, maybe Mitt Romney who is considered -- maybe the frontrunner in this early contest right now. If she runs maybe it helps him because it clarifies the field, I guess.
JOHNS: Well, let's stay on Romney now. His announcement, I guess, is just days away. What he -- when is that going to happen and what do you know about it?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, Thursday. Ok, he's all but declared but on Thursday he will declare and where is he going do it? It's telling. He does it in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary. I think it's pretty obvious here that he's going to concentrate on New Hampshire in his bid for the nomination his second bid. And he needs to win in New Hampshire, I think, if he's going to win the nominations. So no surprise that he will be announcing in New Hampshire -- Joe.
JOHNS: Paul Steinhauser in Washington, D.C., thanks so much, Paul. Good talking to you.
STEINHAUSER: Yes.
JOHNS: It's not your typical restaurant. It gives away its profits. We'll tell you why, coming up next.
But first, new legislation in Congress will make it tougher for you to borrow money from yourself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Times may be hard for many Americans, but two senators don't want you to keep dipping into your 401(k). Democratic senator Herb Cole and Republican senator Mike Enzi have introduced legislation that would limit the loans you're allowed to take. Earlier I asked financial analyst Clyde Anderson why they're pushing this legislation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: With Social security having problems, they want to make sure we have some sort of retirement fund in place, even though, again, this is our own money.
JOHNS: Herb Cole's rich.
ANDERSON: Right, Herb Cole, definitely the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, a philanthropist and lineage of the Cole --
JOHNS: When do you think he tapped his 401(k)?
ANDERSON: That's where I'm having a problem. Right here, I have the bill in my hand and I have a problem because I think he may be a little bit out of touch with the reality of what middle class Americans are going through right now. Again this is money that we've put aside, you know, for our own savings and now they're saying they want to limit the amount that you can touch it.
People are using this money right now for foreclosures to avoid foreclosure and really just help make ends meet.
JOHNS: So, who does this benefit?
ANDERSON: Well, you know, they're saying again they want to protect the consumer so they want to say they want to limit the amount of time that you can pull loans from this. Now, some people may be in situations where they may have abused this and said, you know, I needed excess -- I needed to do certain things to pay for certain things, you know, as Americans consume
But again you have a lot of people that are in positions where they're being smart about what they're doing, but realize this is money they have taken aside, put it away and companies have made money off of this 401(k), as well. You're talking about putting money aside that came out of these pre-tax dollars and I think a lot of times we get caught up in the pre-tax. And it seems like so much more and so we go with the 401(k) and invest it.
JOHNS: Right. Now, what I did here on the radio and in some other places, they were using that term 401(k) abuse. If you look at it on the other side, what is 401(k) abuse supposed to be? Too many loans or taking money out and not paying it back or what?
ANDERSON: Well, they're saying it's too many loans but also, as a lot of people are taking these loans out, then they're losing their jobs. What happens when you lose your job, usually you have several years to pay back this loan if you're taking it from the employer. But once you lose your job, you have 60 days to pay it back.
And so a lot of people, almost 70 percent of the people that take these loans are defaulting on these loans. So it's becoming a problem because everybody is losing from that stand point. You're looking at it in a company perspective.
JOHNS: So, it's maybe not so much 401(k) abuse as it is 401(k) financial disaster.
ANDERSON: I think you may be right. I think there's time for a shift. I mean this has been in place for a while. I think it's time for us to look at a different mechanism instead of the 401(k). I think it's a little bit outdated.
JOHNS: I asked viewers to weigh in on the 401(k) plan and I got some responses on, it was either my Facebook or my Twitter page; I can't remember. Anyway.
Judy says, "My two older kids had to dip into their 401(k) but they pay it out of their check. I see no problem with it." Right, ok.
ANDERSON: Right. Again, you mentioned, it's your money, it's like a piggy bank. It should be. It's my savings account. So if I need to pull from it, I'll pull from it. And then I'll pay it back as need be.
JOHNS: Right. Now Nardra sent me this one for the senators. "No comment considering they have the golden parachute retirement that takes care of them and their families for the rest of their lives." There really is, you know, a pretty good deal on Capitol Hill when it comes to benefits, if you're working there, certainly working for a long time.
ANDERSON: Yes. And I think we mentioned that -- a little out of touch with reality maybe.
JOHNS: And Catherine said this, "It's been a life saver since credit dried up."
Now there's another thing. The banks won't give you credit, but you can still borrow from yourself.
ANDERSON: Right. Exactly. And again, you mentioned, I think this is why it was put in place. This is a mechanism to save me if I need to, you know. If the market crashed, you can't get credit. I got this money put aside, why can't I tap into it to save my financial situation. So I think we have to look at it that way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Going now from borrowing from yourself to basically giving it away.
This is a story that's sure to make you feel good inside: a restaurant owner in Charlotte, North Carolina giving all his profits to programs that help the poor. Tom Foreman shows us how he's building up his community one meal at a time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In busy downtown Charlotte, by lunchtime folks had built up an appetite so at the King's Kitchen Restaurant, that's when the real building begins. Because Chef Jim Noble's goal every day is to help his diners help their community.
CHEF JIM NOBLE, KING'S KITCHEN: And I think everybody wants to help. They just don't know how.
FOREMAN: Noble is one of the state's most renowned chefs and deeply religious. So he opened the King's Kitchen a year and a half ago as a non-profit restaurant. The money made here goes to programs that feed the poor throughout the community. Last year, $50,000.
Mindful of recessionary pitfalls that could derail this effort, the chef started by raising enough donations to open without any loans.
NOBLE: This is not the best time in the world to get in debt in a restaurant, you know. So -- so we wanted to do this debt-free.
Number five. And what does that say?
FOREMAN: The restaurant also offers job training for jobless people, folks such as Philip Lewis who joined the program less than two months ago when he heard about it at church.
PHILIP LEWIS: I've got more than I've had for a year. Faith, finances, everything I needed this place has given me. It's a life- changing place. No matter where you are in your life and it brings something positive to it that wasn't there before.
FOREMAN: Sure, this non-profit restaurant competes with Chef Noble's for-profit places but he has faith there is room for all.
NOBLE: Sometimes in life you have to make a distinction between success and significance.
FOREMAN: And for him, the significance lies in knowing every plate that goes out of the kitchen here means poor people are being fed all over town.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Charlotte, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: It's a vacation weekend, so how do U.S. workers rate with the rest of the world when it comes to vacation.
That's in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Hopefully you're enjoying the holiday weekend so we thought it was a good time to talk vacation. Some interesting facts: compared to the rest of the world, U.S. workers not only get fewer days off, they take fewer of the vacation days they're entitled to. In fact, only 38 percent of U.S. workers say they take all of their vacation days.
According to an expedia.com survey, the average employed worker in the U.S. got 18 vacation days last year, but used only 14 of them. In France workers got 37 days of vacation and used just about all of them, 35 days. In Great Britain, workers received 28 vacation days and used 25.
If you're planning to use some of your vacation at the beach this summer, you will want to stick around. Coming up, tech expert Katie Lennondol (ph) will share some great beach gadgets you're going to want to take along.
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, and you know what that means, pool time. But before you jump in, you're going to have to hear this, a new warning from the federal government. Thousands of America's pools are not safe to swim. Alison Kosik tells us why.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Joe. It's the kind of news no one wants to hear on a holiday weekend, but the government is advising thousands of public swimming pools not to open this weekend because of a massive recall. One million pool drain covers were recalled a few days ago. Pool drains have up to 500 pounds of vacuum force and that's why they need these drain covers so that swimmers don't get trapped under water by that suction.
It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it really can be. The Consumer Product Safety Commission or CPSC says it caused a dozen deaths between 1999 and 2010. Some of the recalled drain covers weren't rated correctly so they may not protect you. Kids are most at risk, which is why the CPSC is really urging public kiddie pools and wading pools to respond immediately to the recall.
In-ground spas they're also at risk. The faulty covers have to be replaced or retro-fitted and it could be an issue if you have a pool in your backyard, too. If you are a private pool owner, you can get more information at 866-478-3521 or apsp.org/draincoverrecall. The faulty covers were sold between 2008 and April of this year.
Joe, hopefully everyone is going to have a safe holiday weekend. Back to you.
JOHNS: Alison Kosik in New York.
A bit of welcome relief to the millions of Americans traveling this holiday weekend; gas prices are, actually, believe it or not, dropping. AAA says the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.81 a gallon. That's down 15 days straight. But let's not kid ourselves, that's still up almost a dollar more than last year.
Just ahead, time could be running out for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Another round of NATO strikes hit his compound today and now another powerful country is calling for him to step down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Checking our top stories. Where explosions rocked Libya's capital city today, a government official says one of the blasts hit a compound in Tripoli belonging to leader, Moammar Gadhafi. NATO confirmed it bombed a vehicle storage area and a second strike nearby. Meantime, Russia's joined the call for Gadhafi to step down offering to negotiate his exit.
In Yemen, more explosions today amid rising fears that nation could tip into civil war. Today's blast happened in the capital city, Asana (ph), between anti-regime tribesmen and forces loyal to embattled president Ali Abdullah saleh. The U.S. state department is urging private citizens to leave that country.
For a sixth straight day, rescuers are searching what's left of homes and businesses in Joplin, Missouri. At least 132 people confirmed dead. Officials also say 156 people have not been heard from since the tornado slammed into the city Sunday.
President Obama heads to Joplin tomorrow to tour the disaster zone and attend a memorial service. Today, he wrapped up a six-day European trip with meetings in Poland. President Obama called Poland one of America's strongest allies, he said the country's successful transformation to democracy makes it a valuable partner in addressing unrest around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We discussed the issue of how jointly we can promote democracy. The session that I had this morning with democracy promotion experts, including many of the founders of solidarity who recently traveled to Tunisia to share their advice and assistance is just a symbol of why Poland is so important. It has gone through what many countries want to now go through and has done so successfully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The president left for the U.S. about an hour and a half ago and is due back in Washington tonight.
Up close and terrifying. It's one thing to see the fierce and power of a tornado from a distance, but some trying to get the closest view possible. They're storm chasers, experts who spent the week trailing twisters state to state as they tore across the Midwest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's coming! The power lines right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get up there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can hear it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's getting big, big, big.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's huge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got it all on video. I got it all on video. Sounds like a waterfall. Wedge tornado.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is on the outskirts of the western edge of Waverly now. It is in a more populated area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. There it is, there it is. Oh gosh, that is a monitor tornado.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crossing the road right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god, back up. Oh, no. Stop. Oh, no what did it destroy? Oh it's terrible out, slow down Bernie (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very large tornado.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just had a power flash, hopefully they will get everybody out of there and safe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my gosh. The motion is tremendous. David Payne, are you still with us? By the tornado --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, (inaudible), it's another killer tornado. It went right across highway 81 is when it intensified and it almost got us. It intensified right on top of us. It is amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a violent tornado. You see how it's carving out kind of a v-shape debris cloud, and we'll let this roll. This is live for a good 20, 25 minutes. That's the Goldsby water tower, and we showed that to you a short while ago but watch this as it comes into Goldsby. And folks were watching and they were in their safe spot and a lot of folks left town -- a lot of folks got out of town, they were in their safe spot, because homes are obliterated down in Goldsby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there, right there, you got it. We got a funnel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tornado on the ground, Parkin (ph), Arkansas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: You know, Reynolds Wolf is here right now and you lock at this stuff, it's terrifying. You know -- you know people's property's gone, people have been hurt, people have been killed. Five hundred people this year, probably the worst year since 1953?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Easily, easily.
JOHNS: Right, I mean, so, why? I mean, that's the question, why?
WOLF: We're in a very active pattern for one and another thing that we have that works against us is that we haven't been forecasting these using Doppler radar for a very long time. You have to remember, the planet 4.6 billion years old, we've only been using it for just an eyelash of an amount of time and long before we've been keeping track of these, there's no telling how many storms we might have had. But there's no question, it is very active.
You know, Joe, you brought up an amazing point earlier today saying why are we seeing so many of these? And you kind of answered your own question, you said because technology is so incredible. But anyone can have a cell phone with the technology and basically record it, document these things and we're seeing tons of them.
Certainly a very active season, I want to show you the reason why, Joe. It all begins with two entirely different air masses, you have humid and warm air right on the Gulf Coast, that's a no brainer.
You happen to go up in the northern plains, big sky country, well, at those time and you happen to go theory and know that it is very cold. The problems begin when you have these two air masses that contrast. And when they do and they conflict, what do you have? You have a frontal boundary that lines up between the two air masses. They do not get along, these two different spots, and when it happens, that's where things are going to be very unstable.
Another huge factor has been a stronger than normal jet stream. Trough out towards the west, a ridge in the east. When you have a jet stream that's going to enhance lift and you have to have plenty of lift to get a very unstable atmosphere, hence is one of the reasons why we've had so many of the tornadoes. And that boundary has shifted, it hasn't been in part of the central plains and Midwest, you'll remember, it also was in portions of Alabama into the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee. So, we've seen this fluctuate just a little bit.
But it hasn't been just tornadoes alone, we've seen all kinds of things that have happened just over the last several days and weeks. Of course, the colder air out to the northwest, we've had an incredible spring snow pack with that in the mountains. We've got some places where the snow, especially in spots like Yellowstone National Park, roads are still blocked and more than 20 feet of snow. We've had our historic drought in parts of the Southwest, then on top of it, of course, the tornadoes and the historic flooding that we are dealing with in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi as we speak.
Back to you, Joe.
JOHNS: Great, thanks so much, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
JOHNS: One man has taken coupon clipping to a whole new level. He's not only trimming his grocery bill, he's helping U.S. troops serving overseas as well. What you can learn from him, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Many of you are probably gathering your coupons for a trip to the grocery store, but you probably don't go nearly as far as Nathan Engels. He's featured on the show "Extreme Couponing" which airs each Wednesday night. He's not only saving himself tons of money, but his coupon clipping also benefits U.S. Troops serving overseas. I talked to him about how he discovered "Extreme Couponing."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NATHAN ENGELS, "EXTREME COUPONING": I started it because my wife and I got married and we combined our finances and I tell you, we were drowning in debt. We had so much debt and it was just incredible. And so, we started setting a grocery budget. And to start setting a grocery budget I realized, I had to stretch my money. And so, I naturally turned to coupons to do that.
What we can do is we buy a lot of stuff, as you can see on TLC's "Extreme Couponing." And so what we do with all that stuff is we can give it away and we're empowered to give through that. And so, I think that's one of the great things about it.
A lot of people when they see the show, they have wow, those people have so much stuff in their garage, but they really don't understand the purpose of why we stockpile. And we tell people, why would you pay for something later when it's free or cheap today, it doesn't make any sense. But, if it's free or cheap today, buy a couple extras so you can give it away.
And that's the cool thing that what we're doing is we're empowered to give to organizations like Operation Troop Aid, Operation Homefront, those are great organizations you can support. And this week there are wipes that are free at some major grocery stores and that's a highly requested item that troops in Afghanistan request. Instead of those things, I wouldn't be able to buy $300 or $400 worth if I didn't have coupons, but because I have those coupons, I can go and get those wipes and donate them to the troops in Afghanistan.
So, just give me an idea how many boxes of stuff you have in your house right now?
ENGELS: I do have a lot. If you watch the show, you can see my stockpile. I mean, it's a pretty -- it impresses -- it impresses me sometimes. But I mean, what our -- our stockpile is really designed to prevent me from spending $200 or $300 at the store.
So, right now I think I have, like, 20 or 30 tubes of toothpaste, I have about 50 boxes of cereal, I have about 300 or 400 cans of vegetables and soup. So, but those things are great, they have a great shelf life, and I don't have to buy them when they're expensive at the store.
JOHNS: So, you're kind of an extreme example, but is there any way the average shopper can do this? Use coupons to donate stuff to troops?
ENGELS: Sure. You know, you can get on our Web site and that's a great place where you can learn how to do this. It's really simple for the average shopper. It doesn't take too much time if you know what you're doing, we liken this a lot to chess, you have to learn how to play the game.
And if you learn how to play the coupon game, you'll really play it well. But you sort of have to learn the rules, and so Web sites like ours are a great way to empower you to learn. We provide you with lists and coupon matchups that will make the time that you spend doing this a lot quicker.
JOHNS: I've also read that you sort of dumpster dive for coupons. How does that work?
ENGELS: Yes, I dumpster dive for coupons because who wants to try to actually spend money for them? And you know, if you buy the newspaper and you buy a lot of newspapers, like a lot of couponers do, you spend $20 or $30 or $40, and that can be counterintuitive. So, we stress different ways, creative ways, to find coupons cheaply.
So, sometimes you can go to a convenient store -- I'm sorry, you can go to like a cafe and see if anybody has purchased a paper and discarded it. You can go to a dumpster and pick out the newspaper, Sunday newspapers, that have coupons in them. There are a lots of different ways you can get coupons for cheaply.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: After months of review, the criminal investigation into former presidential candidate John Edwards may be about to come to a head. We'll fill you in, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: There could be a major development in the case involving former presidential candidate Senator John Edwards, the former senator. Sources tell CNN, Edwards could be indicted in the next couple weeks or perhaps there could be a deal. It's all because of an affair he had that essentially ended his political career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): John Edwards the politician, remember him?
JOHN EDWARDS (D), VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: We have much work to do because the truth is we still live in a country where there are two different Americas.
JOHNS: But as it turned out, Mr. two Americas here had two very different faces himself, and one of them wasn't very pretty. People close to him said it was the face of betrayal, betrayal of the people closest to him. His late wife Elizabeth, his supporters, his staffers, his contributors.
Granted Edwards was a promising politician at first, successful democratic senator from the south, intelliginic (ph) guy, rich trial lawyer, but a spokesman for the poor, smart but home grown. Talked such a good game, he got picked up as John Kerry's running mate in 2004.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have chosen a man who understands and defends the values of America.
JOHNS: But it didn't work out, so next election cycle Edwards jumped into the race for the white house, once again. By early 2008 --
EDWARDS: It's time for me to step aside.
JOHNS: He was out but not before getting entangled in a messy relationship with a woman named Rielle Hunter, she eventually gave birth to Edwards' child. Edwards at first denied having the affair and then denied being the father, but last year, he finally admitted it.
The story reached a sleazy low point when a videotape surfaced that is reported to show Edwards and Hunter having sex. The tape wound up in the hands of former Edwards staffer Andrew Young, who turned it over to a court after Rielle Hunter filed a lawsuit.
It took eight months before Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, suffering from terminal cancer, learned the extent of the affair. And before she died last year, she went public with her feelings in a book and numerous TV appearances.
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE: I wrote in it, maybe it was that 30-year investment that I had in my marriage. Maybe I could not separate the flawed man before me from the boy I fell in love with in 1975. It does not matter now.
JOHNS: The death of Elizabeth Edwards might have been the end of the story, except for the fact that there has yet to be a full public accounting. Edwards raised $49.3 million in campaign money in his bid for the White House, where some of it came from and where it went has been carefully scrutinized.
Rielle Hunter worked for the campaign and got paid as a videographer. Questions have been raised whether any of the federal campaign funds donated to support Edwards might have been used improperly, misreported, not reported at all, or used to keep the affair quiet. Andrew Young said he was persuaded to claim Rielle Hunter's child was his own, and that he went to great lengths as Edwards' aid to help conceal the affair.
ANDREW YOUNG, STAFFER: This was John Edwards' idea from the beginning.
JOHNS: Which brings us back to the golden boy, a once rising politician with so much promise. Something like this could never have been part of the plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Long-running case there.
NEWSROOM continuing at the top of the hour with --
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Joe.
JOHNS: Hey, Fredricka, how you doing?
WHITFIELD: How you doing?
JOHNS: Getting ready to pick up the baton and run with it? WHITFIELD: Oh, that's right, I know you're going to pass it on to me.
We've got our legal guys who are going to begin with us beginning at the noon Eastern hour. They are, too, going to be talking about that Edwards' case and what could be expected, will there indeed be charges, or what happens next?
And then "Hangover II," that starts this weekend. Did you see "Hangover I"?
JOHNS: Yes, it was hilarious.
WHITFIELD: OK, (inaudible) funny?
JOHNS: Right, yes, Mike Tyson, the tiger, the baby.
WHITFIELD: That's right. Well, speaking of Mike Tyson, you know, that signature tattoo well, you know, the creator of that tattoo is raising a big stink in this "Hangover II." This movie almost didn't come out this weekend as a result of that copyright issues over that.
JOHNS: Oh.
WHITFIELD: Yes, with a legal case, we're going to delve into that with our legal guys.
And then, 2:00 Eastern time, the Dolans, the dynamic duo, financial experts that they are, are going to be with us to talk about how you can try to avoid being hacked. That's a big problem that seems to be growing these days.
JOHNS: Yes, huge. Yes, and they'll take just like a penny from everybody who has a bank account at a bank or something and get rich.
WHITFIELD: Right. And then, you know, they've got millions, that's right.
JOHNS: Get rich, yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, also, national parks, this Memorial Day weekend is the big one for going to national parks. Well, Yellowstone among them that are closed, we'll explain why and what happens if you were driving to any of these destinations, national parks, to find out they're closed.
JOHNS: Yes, that's incredible.
WHITFIELD: Yes, weather being a big part of that.
And then, how do you like to drive? Fast, slow?
JOHNS: Well, it just depends what kind of weather, night or day. I'll drive fast during the day, I'll drive slow at night because it gets --
WHITFIELD: Well, I think we all have it in us where we want to be a racecar driver, what's that feel like? You know there's the big NASCAR and Indy weekend, Charlotte Motor Speedway. Indy 500, guess what? This week, I got a chance to be in a NASCAR racecar.
JOHNS: Did you drive it fast?
WHITFIELD: I was a passenger with this young man right here, he is one of the top 10 drivers on the Sprint Cup Series. He is in the driver's seat, I'm the passenger, loved it.
JOHNS: That must've been --
WHITFIELD: We did 170 miles per hour.
JOHNS: The need for speed.
WHITIFIELD: It was incredible.
JOHNS: That must've been a blast.
WHITFIELD: So, next month, face to face, you are going to meet these drivers, Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, we sat down and we talk at Charlotte Motor Speedway and at the hall of fame.
JOHNS: Really?
WHITFIELD: The NASCAR Hall Of Fame in Charlotte, we talked about everything about what it takes to be a NASCAR driver.
JOHNS: I heard you could go to like camp --
WHITFIELD: You can.
JOHNS: And actually they'd let you drive around the track.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
JOHNS: I mean, whose car are they going to let you wreck?
WHITFIELD: Well, the Richard Petty NASCAR driving experience allows you to drive an actual race car.
JOHNS: That's amazing.
WHITFIELD: Oh, it's amazing. So, you got to look forward to that. I had a blast this week, and I look forward to -- kind of getting the reaction of everybody else to hear face to face from these drivers of what it is to be a racecar driver.
JOHNS: Great, all right. Good, looking forward to all of it.
WHITFIELD: Next month. We got to get through today, right?
JOHNS: You got it, got to do something.
WHITFIELD: A lot straight ahead. Thanks, Joe.
JOHNS: You bet.
All right. Memorial Day marks the official start of the summer vacation season. And if you aren't sure where to go yet, how about a trip to the beach? Professor Steven Letterman of Florida International University is popularly known as Dr. Beach, he scours the country for America's best beaches every year and here are this year's picks. Coming in at number five, Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. OK, I'd buy that. Main beach in East Hampton, New York, is fourth. Number three is Kahanamoku in Hawaii. And we're also going to come to you next with the two top beaches in the country. I'll tell you right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Before the break, we began counting down America's best beached as listed by Dr. Beach. Here is a look at the beaches rounding up the top five. Coming in at number two, Coronado Beach in San Diego. And the best beach in America -- we don't have a drum roll -- thanks, Brad, Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida. There you go.
Some hotels are sewing small washable microchips into towels, sheets and bathrobes, that's that so if you accidentally, quote, unquote, "walk off with one," you're charged for it.
Earlier, tech expert Katie Linendoll gave me the lowdown on these microchips as well as the 411 on gadgets you may want to travel with this summer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE LINENDOLL, TECH EXPERT: If you walk off with that luxurious bathrobe or that bath towel, chances are hotels are now implementing a new technology that imbeds an RFD tag right inside there. So, in other words, it is tracking technology that will actually track that you have taken it.
And you might be saying, well, that's kind of cheap on the hotel's part, right? Get this. One of those towels can cost around $8 to $9 apiece, and one hotel that's implemented this tracking technology has actually went from 4,000 towels that were taken a month down to 750, saving them $16,000. So, that's a lot of money when we talk about linens that people are walking off with. So, think twice because you might be being tracked.
JOHNS: Yes, that's pretty interesting stuff, but once they start keeping all their towels, I wonder if they're going to bring down the hotel rates. Anyway, another story. Now, a lot of people hitting the road, heading to the beach this holiday season, let's talk about some of the gadgets that you shouldn't leave home without.
LINENDOLL: Yes. So we have some must-have memorial gadgets. So, let's start off with -- this is underwear scuba and snorkel goggles. And this is pretty cool, because remember when we were little and we had the disposable cameras that would go under and we thought we were awesome? Well, this totally kicks it up a notch. These take high-def video and five megapixel stills. And what's amazing is you can now capture that and there's a little LED light in your peripheral that will let you know that you are taking pictures under water. And you can go ahead and then save and store these and share them with friends. But it's awesome to be, you know, under the water taking high-def video, really kicks it up a notch.
JOHNS: I'm going to try that, I love that. I mean, do you just -- what do you hold a thing to snap the picture in your hand or do you have to push the button? Do you know?
LINENDOLL: Yes, I'll show you this one because it actually stands out better on the yellow. So, there's a shutter button right here, it couldn't be simpler. And now with that LED, you take the picture, it will tell you that, you know, while you're taking a picture. Awesome.
JOHNS: What else have you got there? You got other stuff or what?
LINENDOLL: So, I have a bunch of stuff.
JOHNS: Yes.
LINENDOLL: Yes, so here's the rocket, this looks like a little pill capsule, right? This is actually a speaker. Now, you got to follow me here, this was recently on "Shark Tank" and it just kind of exploded. The rocket is actually a speaker, you pop this into anything that had a headphone jack, like an iPod or an MP3 player, and you unwind this little chord.
Now, right here is a sticky pad. This little sticky pad, you put it on a cereal box, you can put it on a surfboard, and it turns into a speaker. And I want to tell you something, the noise inside here, it vibrates and it sounds so loud just from this little $50 device, the Rocket Two (ph). And of course, I have to tell you, Joe --
JOHNS: No more boom boxes.
LINENDOLL: Yes, no more boom boxes. There's always like a dude at the beach that always has like a giant boom box, and you're like, what are you thinking? Got to come down in size.
JOHNS: Exactly.
LINENDOLL: The Cruzin Cooler. It goes from $350 to about $1,400. You can get customizable rims. It goes up to speeds of 14 miles per hour.
JOHNS: That's cool. Yes.
LINENDOLL: And, I can't see the monitor here, but I know that our producer - I asked her if it was OK, if we could show the Cruizin Cooler, and she has been riding the Cruizin Cooler for years. So producer Alicia Egan (ph).
JOHNS: I love it. Yes, you can -
LINENDOLL: She's fabulous.
JOHNS: You can -
LINENDOLL: She's been working this for a while.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: That's hilarious.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, is that functional, like a functional cooler? You put stuff in it -
JOHNS: Yes. I think so. Right.
Yes, you - you ride your beer and drink it, too. That's about - you know -
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.
JOHNS: Unbelievable.
WHITFIELD: That's funny stuff.
JOHNS: So, all right, Fredricka. So, have a fine time, and, you know -
WHITFIELD: Thank you so much.
JOHNS: And we'll see you tomorrow.
WHITFIELD: All right. See you tomorrow.
JOHNS: You bet.
WHITFIELD: Have a great one. I appreciate that.
