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Evacuees Count Their Blessings; Anthony Trial to Resume Monday; Gay Pride Weekend in New York City; iPhone Fitness Apps; Life of a NASCAR Race Driver; Leffler Burns Up NASCAR Track; Logano's Career in High Gear; Selloffs on Wall Street; Obama Administration Taps Oil Reserves; IRS Raises Mileage Reduction; Possible New Suit over Facebook; Second Quarter Ends Thursday; Bill Clinton Leads Jobs Program; Obama to Hold Deficit Talks; "Boil Water" Order in Minot, North Dakota; Bachmann to Formally Announce Presidential Candidacy; Rough Road for Allman; Dems and GOP Debate Spending Cuts; Congressional Staffers Get Bonuses
Aired June 26, 2011 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. It is Sunday, June 26th. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
Firefighters say they are close to containing a 200-acre wildfire in Alabama's Gulf State Park. The fire began yesterday near some camp areas and spread quickly because of dry conditions. Helicopters have been dumping water on the flames and crews have been setting smaller fires ahead of the main fire to try and - to try to burn the fuel out.
The water is as high as it's going to get in Minot, North Dakota. The river that runs through it has crested at a record high and floodwaters are expected to start falling this evening, but it could be days, even weeks, before some people can get back to their homes.
About a third of the city of Minot was evacuated. CNN's Jim Spellman is there for us. So, Jim, any word on how much damage has been caused there?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey, Fredericka.
Just this morning we heard from officials here that about 4,000 homes have flooded. It's really terrible. We're right at the edge of the floodwater here in the neighborhood at Northwest Minot and you can just see this - this devastation here and you don't have to go but maybe a block or two before the water is up to the roofs.
Some people here along the edges have been a little lucky. They've built little, small sort of homemade dikes and sandbags around their homes, and they're just - you know, they're - they're just hoping that it - that it didn't come up a little more and they got a little bit lucky. It ended up being about two feet less than their estimations.
People have been showing up, coming here to the water's edge to try to take a peek down into the flood area and see how their own homes made out. Unfortunately most of them have found pretty bad news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVE KNAB, MINOT EVACUEE: It's a somber feeling, sitting here, listening to sirens go off and they evacuate us, and coming back the next day and seeing this. It's - it's disheartening, but we'll get there. We're healthy, so we'll get there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SPELLMAN: And unfortunately, Fredricka, that's - it's just the same story all over town, people coming up, trying to get a glimpse and just trying to figure out what they're going to do next with their lives - Fred.
WHITFIELD: And so, I - I wonder too, you know, Jim, there are lot of folks who do want to at least survey some of the damage, try to get some sort of papers, anything, in order to get some assistance. Have you noticed whether any of the FEMA representatives or insurance folks have showed up already to help people out so they can start thinking down the road?
SPELLMAN: Yes, there's definitely FEMA. FEMA folks have been on site here all week, and the day before yesterday they - they announced that FEMA will allow individual people here, homeowners, to seek assistance from them.
But, you know, Fred, it's a long process, with a lot of paperwork. And hopefully people got all of those papers out. You know, it's really difficult that - one of the overwhelming things is people show up and they have no idea what they're going to build or rebuild, if they're even going to be able to stay in Minot. So it's going to be a long process.
Those people are here, and we know they'll try to do their best, but it's - it's never an easy process - Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. And just because they may be able to go back to their homes, still, no power in many cases and no water that's safe to drink or even cook with.
SPELLMAN: Yes. Yesterday they instilled a boil water order so, you know, already people are in difficult conditions and have to now boil the water before they use it.
You know, there are a lot of people - I just want to show you one last thing really quickly, Fredricka. There are so many National Guards here, about 700, and they're really out, trying to do everything they can to keep people safe and to, you know, ease this transition. But with 4,000 people - 12,000 people evacuated and 4,000 homes underwater, it's just not going to be - be an easy process for anyone - Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jim Spellman, thanks so much, in Minot, North Dakota.
Let's check in with Alexandra Steele because certainly people are not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination despite cresting or - ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right.
WHITFIELD: -- waters that are receding.
STEELE: That's right. I mean, it's almost moot that it has crested because as quickly as this has come up, it is going to be incredibly slow to come down. It certainly wouldn't move at the same pace, so we're going to watch it stay at crest level and stay well above record stage through even the July 4th holiday. So it is going to be weeks before kind of that muddy debris begins to move away.
So I just wanted to give you a little picture. This is the Souris River, or known as the Mouse River locally. I'll give you a little perspective, this red here, this is major flood stage. This line is record stage set in 1881. We're talking about centuries-old records. And this, right here, four feet above record stage, again, centuries old, at 1.561.72. So that's where it is, and just look at how unbelievably high.
So, again, it has crested, has crested through the overnight hours, still at that cresting level, but we're going to watch that very slowly recede. And, unfortunately, yesterday there was an incredible amount of rain that moved through, exacerbated the situation more in terms of evacuation than adding to the rain.
Right now, you can see, look at more rain coming here at the Dakotas. Right now around Minot we are seeing some rain showers and will until about 2:00, 3:00 local time, so another hour or two. Then it will all push eastward.
The next problem will be, we're going to see storms later today, and then finally begin to clear up. For the next two days we'll see sunny skies. But then, the threat becomes severe weather, and I'm going to talk about where that severe weather will be coming up in just a bit.
But, you know, one thing that aggravated this, all the rain this spring, last spring and even the snow.
WHITFIELD: Right. (INAUDIBLE) -
STEELE: We had an incredible amount of snow, and, you know what, they're skiing in California because of all this snow.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.
STEELE: So, look at this. This was just recently. They're skiing today, yesterday in Mammoth in t-shirts and shorts.
WHITFIELD: Gorgeous.
STEELE: The sunny skies, the snow capped mountains.
But, again, this did aggravate, and this flooding was really a year and a half in the making. It was the snow from the winter, the snow melt, the spring rain, and last spring rains, too.
WHITFIELD: Just too much, period.
STEELE: That's right.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much Alexandra.
STEELE: Sure.
WHITFIELD: I'll check back with you.
All right, meantime now, authorities say at least six people died in an Amtrak crash in Nevada. That number could rise. Again, some people listed as passengers still have not been located.
Amtrak's California Zephyr was on its way from Chicago to the San Francisco area Friday when it was hit by a tractor-trailer truck at a crossing near Reno.
The murder trial of Casey Anthony is expected to resume tomorrow in Orlando. After meeting with attorneys from both sides yesterday, the judge abruptly recessed the trial, citing an unspecified legal issue.
Casey Anthony is accused of killing her two-year-old daughter, Caylee.
And now to presidential politics and a big announcement coming from Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. The Minnesota Republican will formally declare her candidacy tomorrow in Waterloo, Iowa. She was born there, and today Bachmann claim to have an edge in that state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: Part of it is because I was born in Iowa, and Iowa, I have a distinct advantage there, I think. And also, I think since the debate, people have paid attention, and they've recognized that I am very serious about what I want to do, because the country is on the wrong track, and my goal is to turn the economy around and have jobs created. People recognize I'm serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: After Bachmann announces her candidacy, she'll kick off a three-day swing through New Hampshire and South Carolina.
New York City's Annual Gay Pride Parade began just two hours ago. This celebration comes two days after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law allowing same-sex marriage. Cuomo was scheduled to speak during today's festivities.
And take a look at this. Do you recognize him? This is Billy the Kid in the only authenticated picture of him in existence.
Well, he paid a quarter to have this image taken 130 years ago. Well, yesterday, an Old West collector bought it at an auction in Denver for - get this - $2.3 million. The picture's new owner says he'll display it in small museums.
Rock legend Gregg Allman now revealing a side of himself that many have not seen. That story coming up next.
And then, later, get behind the wheel with a man who rocks the race track.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: -- like to go speeding around this Charlotte Motor Speedway? I'm about to find out with Jason Leffler, right there.
Ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, international headlines now.
A fresh new wave of clashes and street fighting in Syria this weekend, security forces trying to shut down crowds of anti-government protesters. Human rights activists say more than 1,100 demonstrators have been killed in the fighting since March. Syria's military says more than 400 security forces have been killed.
Delegates from the African Union are meeting again to try to hammer out a ceasefire in Libya, and who is not at the negotiating table? Well, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. An A.U. official did not specify who, if anyone, is representing Libya.
Previous peace talks that included Gadhafi have fallen through.
And the Venezuelan government denies published reports that President Hugo Chavez is in critical condition. A Spanish language newspaper in the U.S. cites intelligence sources as saying Chavez has prostate cancer.
A Venezuelan official says the president is just recovering from surgery in Cuba.
Gregg Allman has been making music for over four decades, but all of those years of life on the road finally caught up with him. In today's "Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives us a peek into Allman's battle with Hepatitis C and liver cancer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREGG ALLMAN, ROCK N' ROLL LEGEND: Three rules of the day were don't mess with my wife, don't sit on my Harley, and do not mess with my Hammond B-3.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For rock legend Gregg Allman, the good old days were filled with good times and great music, a lot of it here at the big house in Macon, Georgia.
ALLMAN: We thought, well, we should go find us a big, huge house, you know? Big - what we call a big, huge, hippie crash pad. GUPTA: Today, that big house is a museum - a testament to the Allman Brothers Band.
ALLMAN: I mean, every time I looked somewhere, it brings back another - a different memory, you know?
We then go on tour (INAUDIBLE) here.
GUPTA: But Allman is here for more than just a stroll down memory lane. He's taping a public service announcement for drug company Merck about hepatitis C, a disease he says he got after years of heavy partying and risky behavior.
ALLMAN: They think that I might have got it from an early tattoo.
GUPTA: Allman wasn't diagnosed until more than a decade later.
ALLMAN: I just started getting real tired, you know? Energy just ain't there.
GUPTA: For years, the virus lived, undetected in his system, all the while doing irreversible damage to his liver. And after 10 years of failed treatments, Allman developed cancer and he needed a new liver.
ALLMAN: They put me on the liver list, and in five months and five days, they found me a 29-year-old liver.
GUPTA: Now, just a year after the transplant, Allman is back to touring, full time.
ALLMAN: Your energy comes back a little bit at a time. It's so much better than it was.
GUPTA: He still has hepatitis C, but he is living with it. And while a liver transplant is no picnic, it's much better than the alternative, and he wants to get that message out.
ALLMAN: It doesn't really matter how you get the Hep C, you got it. And you need to treat it.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Many members of the U.S. Congress are pushing spending cuts while handing out bonuses, by the way, to their own staff. We'll explain how, why and how big were those checks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meeting tomorrow with Republican and Democratic leaders. Their goal, to get negotiations on the debt ceiling back on track.
The Treasury Department says Congress has until August 2nd to raise the ceiling or the U.S. will start defaulting on its loans. Bipartisan talks to address the core problem - the country's growing deficit - broke down last week over the issue of tax hikes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We've got more revenue than we ever had. We're spending more than we ever had. We don't - we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.
The government is doing things that we can't do well. We're wasting billions of dollars, and we're not going to address that waste and the fraud unless we have to.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: You cannot achieve what you set out to do if you say it's just about cutting. It has to be about increasing the revenue stream as well, and there are many things you can do in terms of, again, special interest tax loopholes so that the tax code is rampant - is just full of.
Now, let me just remind, all this talk about tax cuts, the - in the Bush years, the Republicans said that tax cuts will produce jobs. They didn't. They produced a deficit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And as Congress debates spending cuts, many members have been giving their staff members bonuses. The checks are as high as $13,000. CNN's Lisa Desjardins discovered the payments after taking a hard look at Congressional expense reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA DESJARDINS, CNN RADIO CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember the government shutdown debate?
REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D), TEXAS: Let them shut the government down. Shut it down.
DESJARDINS: At the heart of all that drama, the news conferences, the federal workers scare, was a battle over spending cuts.
REP. STEVE AUSTRIA (R), OHIO: Washington needs to cut spending.
DESJARDINS (on camera): Let's freeze that. That's Congressman Steve Austria as he called for spending cuts. And as he and others, like Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, debated a government shutdown, CNN has discovered both of them and dozens of other House members reported giving bonuses to their staff.
Our three-week long analysis of the latest House expense report shows up to $6.1 million in House staff bonuses.
STEVE ELLIS, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: $6 million, in the big scheme of things, isn't a lot of money. But, at the same token, these are - these are Congressional staff. They're getting these bonuses while a lot of the constituents of the lawmakers are actually looking for jobs, much less not getting bonuses. DESJARDINS (voice-over): Now, those bonuses were not easy to find. Inside this House expense report, we found items called other compensation, a broad term that could be a bonus or not. So we contacted over 115 offices to ask, then we weeded out anything that looked like vacation or sick pay.
The result? Up to $6.1 million in bonuses reported between January and March -- $908,000 by Republicans $3.1 million by Democrats, the rest from committees.
Now, before you judge -
DANIEL SCHUMAN, SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION: Congressional staffers earn significantly less than their peers in the private sector.
DESJARDINS: Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn agree, defending bonuses in this statement, "My staff worked extremely hard, including all-nighters and weekends. I rewarded them with an end-of-the-year bonuses."
But these bonuses come at a time when budget cuts dominate debate, and they're handed out by some lawmakers who say federal workers are paid too much, like Dennis Ross of Florida, who actually held a hearing on it.
REP. DENNIS ROSS (R), FLORIDA: Our taxpayers can no longer be asked to foot the bill for these federal employees while watching their own salaries remain flat and their benefits erode.
DESJARDINS: That same month, Congressman Ross gave his staff a documented $8,750 that looks like bonuses. His staff did not return our request for clarification.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DESJARDINS: Now, these bonuses, Fredricka, came even from the budget- focused Tea Party Caucus and also from some in the Liberal Progressive Caucus. They range in dollar amount as well, with some staffers getting just under $100. Others, we saw lots of that $13,000 number, but the very largest bonuses were up to $17,000 - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Wow. All right. Pretty significant.
Thank, so much, Lisa Desjardins, in Washington.
All right, you've probably seen them everywhere, brightly colored and oddly shaped little things called Zanybandz. You see a lot of kids wearing them around the wrists and sometime their ankles.
Our Tom Foreman visited the creators who are "Building Up America" with their Zany ideas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the shipping line, the SLAP Watches are running fast, out the door all day, every day. Another trendy hit for business partners Jim Howard and Lori Montag.
JIM HOWARD, BIG TIME BRANDS: Oh, it's mind boggling.
LORI MONTAG, BIG TIME BRANDS: Oh, yes it is.
HOWARD: It's hard to get your arms around it.
MONTAG: And we've had up to 200 people -
HOWARD: Yes.
MONTAG: -- you know, at a time, working here in - in our distribution center.
FOREMAN: Their small company is making huge waves in the competitive world of gift items. For example, those oddly-shaped rubber bands that kids can't seem to get enough of? When Jim and Lori put their Zanybandz on the market -
MONTAG: The phones did not stop ringing night and day.
HOWARD: At one point we were missing 700 to 800 phone calls a day, missing.
MONTAG: A day.
HOWARD: Missing.
FOREMAN: From retailers?
MONTAG: Going into our - yes.
HOWARD: Yes.
FOREMAN: Since then, they've sold $40 million worth of Zanybandz.
HOWARD: We just sold 50,000 packages today for the Middle East.
MONTAG: Yes.
FOREMAN: And they believe a key to their success is the economic crisis itself, because while people have cut back on buying more expensive items, they are convinced it has spurred the market for lower cost, fun products, like their watches, which go for about $20.
HOWARD: It's what's been making the economy tick lately.
MONTAG: And we have stores that have even said to us, your product kept our store alive.
FOREMAN: Their company has, simply put, found a sweet spot in the sour economy - sweet enough to support 270 jobs across the country and to keep their sales building up every hour of every day.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: It's law in New York. Same-sex couples can marry. It's a victory for gay advocates all over the country, and an issue comedian Margaret Cho feels very strongly about. I talked to her today, "Face to Face," so hear her reaction.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Top stories right now.
New clashes and street fighting in Syria this weekend, security forces trying to shut down crowds of anti-government protesters. Human rights activists say more than 1,100 demonstrators have been killed in the fighting since March. Syria's military says more than 400 security forces have been killed.
Well, that right there is one sick bird. It's a young emperor penguin that had just showed up on a beach in New Zealand last week. That's nearly 2,000 miles from where it's supposed to be, in Antarctica.
It has animal experts scratching their heads. They believe the penguin actually swam there. It got some help - it has some health problems, and vets are doing all they can to keep the bird cold and healthy while they try to figure out exactly what to do next to try to keep it alive.
The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in Nebraska today. He is there to tour a nuclear power plant threatened by floodwaters. The Cooper Nuclear Station is located south of Omaha.
A nuclear plant north of Omaha is threatened by flooding as well, and that plant will be inspected tomorrow.
The Souris River is finally cresting at its highest level ever in Minot, North Dakota. The floodwaters are expected to start going back down this evening, but that's little comfort for several thousand homeowners whose houses are already underwater.
Here's what one evacuee told me yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And have you seen your home or heard anything about whether you will be moving back into your home once waters recede?
STUART DULL, MINOT, NORTH DAKOTA RESIDENT: Well, they're - you're not supposed to go back into the area, but I guess me being me, I snuck back in to take a look and I - as close as I could get was about three blocks away. I - I could -
WHITFIELD: And - and -
DULL: I could see the house behind us, and I could see our roof, and from what I could assess, I'd say the water's probably about four foot into our living room.
WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. DULL: So our basement is definitely flooded.
WHITFIELD: So what did you feel when you saw that?
DULL: Yes, I - you know, I guess words kind of escape me for what I felt. It's - it's a sense of despair.
You just - it's really maybe a - a check on some of the things that you hold dear. I mean, I was glad my wife was with me. I'm glad my kids were safe. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful - I'm thankful - we do have family here in town, and they've been awesome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: An attorney for Casey Anthony says he expects her murder trial to continue tomorrow. The judge abruptly called a recess yesterday, but he did not explain why.
Anthony is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. The trial was going to be going on for -- or has been going on for five weeks now.
So what had been planned as an extended weekend workday in the Casey Anthony murder trial ended before it began yesterday morning, yesterday I talked about the trial to legal attorneys, civil rights attorney Avery Friedman and criminal defense attorney Richard Herman and asked them why they thought Judge Perry decided to cancel Saturday's session.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHT ATTORNEY: That's actually the $64,000 question, my belief is that there was certain evidence the prosecution should have turned over.
It goes to a material question of what the expert was about to say and therefore because it's a legal issue, we'll never know until the case goes to appeal, which it will.
The bottom line is I've heard wild ideas about incompetence on the part of counsel, a whole bunch of different reasons on why the judge stopped it today.
But the bottom line Fredricka is that it probably had something to do with the failure to turn over some evidence, an effort rectify. The case will proceed starting at 8:30 on Monday.
WHITFIELD: And also means, Richard, it could be anything from maybe there was an unexpected witness, maybe it meant a witness is no longer available when at first they thought. That person would be or could it even be a problem with a juror?
RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, it could be a problem with a juror, that's one thing it could be, Fred. I don't think it's a witness issue because I understand there were like 15 witnesses in the hallway ready to go today. So for the judge to stop everything, this is very serious, whatever it is and Avery is right, wild speculation out there. It's very serious for this judge to put this jury back into see sequestration for two more days with the July 4th weekend coming up. Not good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: You can catch our legal guys every Saturday noon Eastern Time.
This is Gay Pride Weekend in New York City and activists there have plenty to celebrate. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law Friday same-sex marriage.
Comedian, Margaret Cho is an outspoken supporter of gay rights. Face- to-face she told me her thoughts on the New York law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARGARET CHO, COMEDIENNE: I think it's time. I think it's time that people realize now -- I think conservatives realize that they cannot legislate morality and they cannot continue to discriminate against a group of people.
In order to kind of fulfil their political agenda, that discrimination can no longer be part of the political agenda. I think this is what conservatives now are getting and that's why things are changing.
WHITFIELD: And do you suppose that with gay marriage, with same-sex marriage being allowed in New York, being the sixth state now, this is going to be much more impactful than the previous five and the District of Columbia's acceptance of same-sex marriage has ever been?
CHO: I mean, I feel like New York culturally, politically, it's really -- it's really something that affects the rest of the world, not just the rest of the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: More face-to-face with comedienne, actress, author, she does so many thing, Margaret Cho, next month right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
All right, coming up, a new device measures and tracks your blood pressure from your iPhone. That thing does everything, doesn't it? Our gaming and gadget expert talks about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: OK, so perhaps you're trying to lose some weight this summer. We have iPhone apps designed to help you get rid of the extra LBs and stay healthy in other ways as well.
Joining me right now our own gaming and gadgets expert, Marc Saltzman. So first, let's begin with this new device that just came up this week and we're talking about, yes, being able to monitor your blood pressure right there.
MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: That's right. So it's from Y Games. This is a French technology company best known for a Wi-Fi bathroom scale. They came out two years ago. So they've got $129 gadget that plugs into an iPhone or iPad Touch or in this case here an iPad that automatically downloads a free Y Games app and it's for hypertension monitoring.
So it is for all intensive purposes, a blood pressure monitor. You simply unvelcro that cuff, put it on your left or right arm and it gives you thorough instructions. You close it up and then you simply plug in -- you can see that typical 30-pin connector, press start and it gives you your blood pressure and your heart rate.
And you can chart this progress. You can e-mail to a physician. It will show you in graph formation and you can synchronize it with Google Health and other, you know, online tools. So it's a pretty neat device.
WHITFIELD: OK and perhaps you want to lose weight, what do you have there to assist in that?
SALTZMAN: Sure, the second app we look at is called "Lose It." It's a free app and as the name suggests, you set a goal like I want to lose five pounds over six weeks. What it does, it will give you a calculation, what your caloric intake should be on a daily basis.
And what you do is every time you eat something and it's divided into meals and snacks, you simply type in what you had and it has got a data base of thousands of products, both brand name as well as you could say a small apple or a medium-sized, you know, piece of cake and what the icing was.
It will give you all those readings and it will set that goal for you. Plus you exercise and it subtracts some of the calories so you're allowed to have more that day. So it does set these goals, it's called "Lose It" and it's a great and freeway to monitor what you're eating and to help you reach those goals.
WHITFIELD: Wow and then finally, perhaps you want to exercise better and you want to workout smarter, so to speak.
SALTZMAN: Right.
WHITFIELD: How might you do that?
SALTZMAN: This is called "Fitness Builder." It's from Pump One. It's a $10 app that gives you more than 2,000 different exercises and workouts and many videos as well. So you simply -- it's basically having a personal trainer for your pocket.
What it does is that you set your goals. You can say all right, I want to learn more about weight lifting or maybe it's more cardio. You see where you are, maybe at home or at gym or maybe a hotel room and it will walk you through various instructions and workouts, some with video photos. It's got built in counters counting down. So it's basically meant to be a companion that gives you thousands of tools for the $10 app. Plus you can buy a premium annual membership and get nearly 6,000 videos and workouts to choose from. It all synchronizes with web sites as well. So you can keep track of your progress.
WHITFIELD: Fantastic so no excuses, you brought us things, a little something for everyone. Lots of incentives to stay healthy.
SALTZMAN: Exactly between gadgets and apps and video games where you workout, there's very few excuses these days.
WHITFIELD: Excellent. Marc Saltzman, thanks so much, appreciate it.
SALTZMAN: Thanks, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And for more high tech ideas and reviews, just go to cnn.com/tech and look for the gaming and gadget tab.
All right, better than riding a helicopter, a roller coaster or even speedboat, taking a spin in a stock car on one of NASCAR's most priced motor speedways, face-to-face with NASCAR's Jason Leffler coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Who's idea was this? I'm actually really excited and I know I'm in great hands. If I'm going to have a first time race car experience, this is the way to go. We're in a Richard Petty NASCAR experience vehicle. So here we go. Let her rip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So a very few butterflies they didn't last long either. I'll go face-to-face with Leffler and fellow NASCAR driver Joey Logano in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, imagine driving up to 200 miles per hour, 200 times around a race track over a 10-month, 36-race season. That's NASCAR.
Well, two NASCAR drivers I caught up with face-to-face tell me that quote, "it beats work for a living." Before we all sat down, Jason Leffler, number 38 on the track took me for a spin around the Charlotte Motor Speedway to give me a more authentic view.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: So when you're practicing, what are you working on? Are you working on speed? Are working on the banks?
JASON LEFFLER, NASCAR DRIVER: You are working on speed. You're working a little bit of your technique behind the wheel of a car because the track conditions change every day every time you come to a race track. But then the main thing you're working on is the race car, trying to set it up, communicating with the crew chief and we're not on the edge with this car. I mean, when you're on the edge and -- you're not looking for seconds, you're looking for tenths of a second.
WHITFIELD: My gosh! That is so awesome. I love it. I so love it. Man, why didn't I start out earlier, I could be a race car driver. Danica Patrick because I am so hooked.
You could have competition one of these days soon. I love that. That was great. So how fast did we go? Not that it matters because I can feel it on those turns.
LEFFLER: So we're probably going 170 for sure.
WHITFIELD: That is fierce.
LEFFLER: We're going faster than the car wanted to go.
WHITFIELD: It felt good. I liked it.
LEFFLER: I wanted to give you a real idea what went on out here.
WHITFIELD: It really did. I just tried to imagine all of these other cars on the track and how close you like to be to that wall.
LEFFLER: Yes, we weren't even that close to it. I took it up there one time to give you a feel. Sometimes you're inches off the wall. You just go where your car handles best.
WHITFIELD: Wow. That is fantastic. I love that. I'm really admiring your job.
LEFFLER: Thanks.
WHITFIELD: You got a cool gig.
LEFFLER: Beats working for a living.
WHITFIELD: I'd say so. OK. My gosh, I loved that, that was so fun. I don't know how many times we went -- that was another thing I noticed you lose track of where you are, you probably don't. I noticed the threes and fours for the turns maybe --
LEFFLER: You can, yes. If you're not used to it, it's easy to get lost out there. Who would have thought it is easy to get lost when you're going in a circle.
WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Jason. I love that. What's with the steaming there?
LEFFLER: I think we ran the car a little too hard.
WHITFIELD: We did. That's all right. I got the full experience, the full effect.
LEFFLER: Yes, we wanted to give you the full deal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Smoking the engine after 170 miles per hour. Jason Leffler, well, he's not the only kid who dreamed about being a race car driver, Joey Logano did as well.
Coming up, I talked with NASCAR driver, Joey Logano, face-to-face also about his passion for the sports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So what's it like when you look at the fans here, whether it's in the stands or here at the hall of fame?
JOEY LOGANO, NASCAR DRIVER: It's great. I think it's awesome. We wouldn't be here without the fans. There wouldn't be a hall of fame. There wouldn't be a Joey Logano, the race car driver. We wouldn't be doing this interview right now if it wasn't for the race fans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Top NASCAR racer, Joey Logano, number 20 on the track had loved cars and racing since he was six. Now at age 21, he has smoking up the stock car circuit.
Face-to-face, at the NASCAR hall of fame in Charlotte, he told me how much he both admires and is inspired by the NASCAR greats of yester year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: You know who he is.
LOGANO: What's up? It's cool. We walk through here and a lot of fans here obviously. The cool part about this part of the hall of fame, you see the race cars, how they changed from the beginning and if you walk up the hill here and see how the race cars have changed.
All of the champions and stuff in here so it's cool, you have modified down there, which is a really neat race car. They still race today and look the same as they did back then.
WHITFIELD: How would that change your driving experience do you think?
LOGANO: As far as being able to be a different race car?
WHITFIELD: Any one of these different cars?
LOGANO: You always have to be able to adapt. I was able to do it growing up, drive a lot of different race cars and being able to adapt to certain race cars, everyone of these cars are driving completely different than the next. WHITFIELD: Have you ever interested in Indy or you even interested in trucks or are you ever interested in Formula?
LOGANO: You know, racing is racing, I want to drive anything. I love NASCAR though and stock car racing, that's where the best racing is.
WHITFIELD: What is it like when you look at the fans here, whether it's in the stands or here at the fall of fame.
LOGANO: It's great. I think it's awesome. We wouldn't be here without the fans. There wouldn't be a hall of fame. There wouldn't be a Joey Logano race car driver. We weren't be doing this interview right now if it wasn't for the race fans.
WHITFIELD: Does something happen as soon as you get into an arena and see thousands and 170,000 people in the stands, does that kind of give you an added adrenalin rush or make you nervous? Do you think, my gosh?
LOGANO: You don't realize when you're in the car, you don't realize there's a lot of people watching you. You go out there and race.
WHITFIELD: You're concentrating on your game.
LOGANO: But when you get out of the car, I think it's really cool the night race, there's something neat about it. There's so many fans there. It feels like a stadium and that place is full and they do a national anthem and flyover, you get to see it all and experience and hear the fans. It's so cool.
WHITFIELD: As you walk down and look at the vehicles, you got a favorite or a fantasy ride that you see here?
LOGANO: Obviously, the Richard Petty's car, Richie Evans car up there, you know, for me growing up in the north, modified racing is huge. To this day, I got to drive one before and it's the most fun race car I've ever driven.
WHITFIELD: Really? What makes that experience so special?
LOGANO: The fact that they are pretty light. They got a lot of rubber and they've great bumpers on them. If you watch a modified race at the local short track it is the most entertaining race you ever go to.
You can beat and bang and cars are tough and they are just fun to drive and really fast. I think it's the best short track car you can possibly have like that.
WHITFIELD: Is that probably because it's complete opposite with the stock car racing where you don't want to bump? That's not objective when you're going 200 miles per hour, that's going to be a wipeout?
LOGANO: Every weekend when we go to the fast race tracks and you can get behind someone making moves. There's people taking the air off you and really adjusting what your car is doing while you're in there. It's a different way but the same thing is still happening.
WHITFIELD: Joey Logano, thanks so much.
LOGANO: All right, thank you.
WHITFIELD: All the best. I'm sure one day you and your car will be right in here.
LOGANO: I hope so.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: So I'm not the only one who has questions for Joey Logano and fellow NASCAR driver, Jason Leffler. Coming up at 4:00 Eastern, they actually answer your questions that you sent to me, to talk to them face-to-face and then at 5:00, these rock stars of the race track tell me face-to-face the keys to their success.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Americans took quite a roller coaster ride from Wall Street to Main Street this past week. Our money team zeros in on the highs and the lows. First to Allan Chernoff in New York.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. It was another wild week here on Wall Street. The Federal Reserve Wednesday lower the its forecast for economic growth. That triggered a sell-off as the Dow raised its gains from earlier in the week.
Oil prices tumbled more than 5 percent, partly because the Obama administration agreed to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Some analysts believe the move will act as a new economic stimulus package. Others argue it will only have a short term impact on gas prices. Felicia --
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Allan. Gas prices are on the way down, but they are still higher than a year ago. As a result of the IRS took an unusual step to raise its mileage deduction rates mid-year. Starting July 1st, drivers can deduct 55.5 cents per mile instead of 51 cents.
Tyler and Cameron are back at it. They want to reopen the original lawsuit that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea. They claim internal Facebook e-mails support their claim. A separate suit asking for bigger fairer settlement was tossed out in April. Poppy --
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Well, thanks so much, Felicia, a rocky second quarter comes to an end on Thursday. Over the last three months, the stock market has declined. The housing market has continued to struggle and job growth has slowed.
Jobs will be the first order of business at the Annual Clinton Global Initiative Meeting in Chicago this week. The group hopes to generate some solutions to help put many Americans back to work. President Clinton will lead the opening session and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel are all scheduled to participate along with business leaders. We'll keep a close eye on it for you on CNN Money. Fredericka, back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Remember, you can get your financial fix every day on cnnmoney.com.
A look at our top stories right now, President Obama is getting into the middle of deficit negotiations. He's holding separate White House meetings tomorrow with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, talks between the two parties on raising the debt ceiling broke down last week.
And flood victims in Minot, North Dakota, have a new worry. They are being told the city's drinking water supply has been contaminated and should not be consumed without boiling first. This news comes as the Souris River reached its peak earlier today.
I'll be back in one hour from now. Coming up later on in the NEWSROOM, a 95-year-old woman reportedly asked to remove her adult diaper in order to complete a TSA pat down search. Her daughter filed a complaint with federal authorities. I'll be talking to the daughter in our 5:00 o'clock Eastern hour.
I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.
