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Las Vegas Jobless Rate; Israel and Hamas Swap Prisoners; Tough Lessons Learned as Governor; Marines Win Fight Over KIA Bracelets; Jennifer Granholm Interview; Danger in Your Baby's Crib; Smartphone Wars Heat Up

Aired October 18, 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. I want to get you up to speed.

A helicopter brought a young Israeli soldier to his hometown today, ending a long hostage drama. Hamas militants held Gilad Shalit for more than five years. Now, Israel released 477 Palestinian prisoners to get him back. And it's supposed to release several hundred more soon. Shalit says he hopes his ordeal can move Israelis and Palestinians towards peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILAD SHALIT, FREED ISRAELI SOLDIER (through translator): I hope that this deal will help to achieve peace between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, and this would help support the cooperation between the two sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Polls show that most Israelis supported the prisoner swap, even though the Palestinians got four more people out of that deal.

Well, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, she is in Libya today. She brought a new American aid package and a pledge of support to Libya's new rulers as they move the country towards democracy. Clinton is the highest level cabinet official to meet with members of the National Transitional Council in Tripoli.

President Obama keeps on pounding the Republicans who killed his jobs bill. He spoke just a short time ago at a community college in Jamestown, North Carolina, and the president urged Congress to take up a $35 billion component of the jobs bill this week. It would help save the jobs of teachers, police officers and firefighters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will take time to rebuild an America where we restore security and opportunity for folks who are in the middle class or trying to get into the middle class. It's going to take time to rebuild an economy that's built to last and built to compete, an economy that works for everybody, not just for folks at the top.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The president is on a three-day bus tour across North Carolina and Virginia to promote his jobs bill.

So who is actually getting better press? Is it the president or the Republicans who want his job?

Well, a study by the Pew Research Center says that negative stories about President Obama dominate his coverage 4-1. Among the Republican candidates, Pew found that Rick Perry had the most positive coverage, but it is growing more negative over time. Pew reviewed news stories from 1,500 news outlets for 23 weeks to come up with those findings.

Well, a new CNN/ORC poll has Mitt Romney and Herman Cain in a statistical dead heat for the Republican presidential nomination. So take a look here.

Romney leads with 26 percent, followed by Cain at 25 percent. Now, Rick Perry and Ron Paul, they lag pretty far beyond there. But when you ask, who do you think is most likely to win the nomination? Romney is the clear favorite, 51 percent to 18 percent over Cain.

Well, three of the four mentally disabled adults who were allegedly held captive in a dank Philadelphia basement are speaking out today about their horrific ordeal. Police think that kidnappers held the four so they could steal their Social Security checks. Well, the victims say they were chained to a radiator and given little to eat, and even hit on the head.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMARA BREEDEN, HELD CAPTIVE IN BASEMENT: He hit me with a bat in my head, and all this was all bleeding and everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was real dirty of you. That was wrong.

JERICKA DUNCAN, REPORTER, KYW: Did you guys willingly give her your information?

BREEDEN: No. She asked for it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She took it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She asked for it.

BREEDEN: She took it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She took it away from me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, Philadelphia police are holding three suspects. They say that one, Linda Weston, served eight years in prison for killing a man. That man was locked in a closet and literally starved to death. Police say they found dozens of IDs when they arrested the suspects, and detectives think that those IDs could lead them to more victims. Shocking security camera video has China and the rest of the world, quite frankly, outraged. You're going to see this, a toddler run over by a van, and then later buy a small truck.

Now, the first driver stops, looks, but then drives off. Eighteen people pass by over the next 10 minutes. Nobody does anything to help the girl.

These are pictures of the child shot today. She is in critical condition, and doctors reportedly believe that she will survive.

The child's distraught mother was so grateful to the stranger who finally helped her little girl, she bowed to her. Chinese media say both drivers who ran over the toddler have been jailed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANA RANCIC, E! NEWS CO-HOST: We sadly found out that I have early stages of breast cancer, so -- and it's been a shock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Fans are sending love and support to Giuliana Rancic. The host from the cable channel E! revealed she has breast cancer on "The Today Show." Rancic says she went public to encourage women to get mammograms.

Now, doctors say they caught the cancer early, but Rancic will have surgery and radiation treatments. We wish her all the best.

Eight hours to go now before most of the Republican hopefuls face off again. Their latest debate taking place now in Las Vegas. It's a city that thrives on tourism, right? But with many Americans who are pinching pennies, there's not as many people who are coming out to visit.

And our T.J. Holmes, he discovered that this is affecting all of us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to Las Vegas. Underneath the glittering lights and entertainment, a city that's struggling in the down economy.

Just ask the cab drivers.

(on camera): You think people don't get it, how bad you're hurt?

LANCE OLIVIA, TAXI DRIVER: They don't. The Strip will be busy to them. We know it's not.

ANDY ABBOUD, V.P., LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP.: People are coming to Vegas, but they're hesitant to spend money.

HOLMES (voice-over): Andy Abboud helps to run the Venetian. He said business is starting to pick up, but it's not enough by itself. ABBOUD: So, while other people in other parts of the country are rolling in, locals still don't have the confidence that they can go out and start buying homes again and making money.

HOLMES: Construction, the engine of the Vegas boom has come to a standstill. The unemployment rate is at 14.2 percent. The foreclosure rate is higher here than anywhere else in the country.

One of the few places that's bustling, VetServe, which provides meals for threat veterans that can't afford them.

SHALIMAR CABRERA, VETSERVE: The economy is closing down businesses and they're losing jobs. So, the number one reason veterans coming to us right now is unemployment.

HOLMES: One idea to help Vegas rebound, trying to put the focus back on the people who live here.

ZACH WARE, ZAPPOS.COM: So, this is Fremont Street.

HOLMES: Zach Ware works for the Internet premier shoe shopping network site, Zappos.com. The company is in the process of relocating more than 1,200 employees downtown, to old Vegas, the heart of an economically depressed area.

WARE: For us the community and the locals are first. And if we happen to create something that's really, really cool as a community and they want to come to visit, that's awesome. We love that. I think the most important thing we can do as a community is really focus on creating the elements in downtown Las Vegas that serve the community and not fall into the trap that the Strip has fallen into for all the right reasons, which is we need to serve the tourist community, we need to make sure it works for them first, and then the locals second.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: T.J. joins us now from Vegas.

T.J., good to see you. You've been there for about a week, yes? You've talked to a lot of folks.

Tell us why this is so important where you are now.

HOLMES: Well, you know we think Vegas oftentimes -- people around the country, you think about this adult playground, you think about the Las Vegas Strip and you think about these hotels. People come here for the entertainment and the gambling, and pretty much blowing money in a lot of ways when you go on vacation here. So you think the area is awash in cash, but the reality is, there's no better place for these candidates to be, for us to be to be holding this debate, and for us to be talking about the economy than right here, because when people are hit hard by a recession, you can't afford to travel, you can't afford that flight, you can't afford that hotel, but you certainly can't afford all that and come and expect to just blow money at a casino floor. So this is the place to talk about the economy. The highest unemployment rate in the country of any metro area is right here in Las Vegas. And also, the number one, the highest unemployment rate in the country for any state is in Nevada. So this is the perfect backdrop, unfortunately, but it is the perfect backdrop to be talking about the economy tonight at the debate.

MALVEAUX: Now, T.J., it's also, as you know, the home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the leading Democrat. Do we see Republicans who are going all out there trying to drum up their own support?

HOLMES: Well, they certainly are going all out, and they know this is a big night for them. And to have these candidates certainly here during the Nevada caucuses, one of those early voting states is a big deal, but that comes with controversy now, because Nevada, moving up its caucus to January 14th. That's kind of put them in a battle with New Hampshire about that date.

So, some of these candidates talking about boycotting Nevada. At least five candidates say they're not even going to participate in the caucuses if Nevada keeps that date.

So that could actually backfire, work against this state, which needs these candidates, needs that national attention to talk about and highlight the issues they are having right here. So that could actually backfire on them.

Now, a lot of people, you talk to on the street, they are not happy about that. Many people in the GOP not happy about that, because this was a time to showcase their state and also to highlight the problems here.

So we talked to the state GOP here, the chairwoman, Amy Tarkanian, and she says they are not moving that date at all. So it's setting up a battle that could, in the end, really hurt the people of Nevada, who, a lot of people, Suzanne, will tell you are already hurting pretty bad.

MALVEAUX: All right. T.J., thanks. We'll be watching that debate tonight. Thank you.

You can catch every moment of the Republican debate right here on CNN. It is tonight, 8:00 Eastern, from Las Vegas. Our Anderson Cooper is going to be moderating.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: So, Palestinians, they're filling the streets of Gaza City to celebrate the release of hundreds of prisoners from Israeli jails. The release was part of a prisoner swap for just one Israeli soldier. He is 24-year-old Gilad Shalit.

Hamas held Shalit prisoner for five years. Well, he was just 19 when he was captured while guarding an Israeli army post.

I want to bring in our Matthew Chance. He joins us live from Gaza City.

And Matthew, I understand, first of all, that you are standing on a building that's overlooking the Palestinian celebrations in Gaza City. So tell us what you're seeing and you're hearing from your vantage point.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, we're standing on this building just a short distance away from where tens of thousands of people gathered in the center of Gaza City to celebrate the release of these 1,027 Palestinians in change for that Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

Actually, the prisoners have already been released in this first batch. At least the ones that have come to Gaza are standing on the stage right over there. The prime minister of Gaza who is from Hamas, he has been making speeches. In fact, he's making a speech right now, saying these people are heroes and things like that, saying "This is a day that was given to us by God."

And it's all being received absolutely like a carnival atmosphere here in Gaza. There's no concerns about the deal that was done here, and like we're hearing from Israel, of course, and the divided opinions about whether it should have been done or not.

Here, the atmosphere is like a carnival. This is seen as a major victory by Palestinians against Israelis.

MALVEAUX: And Matthew, who are these Palestinian prisoners? Are these political prisoners? Are they people who have been convicted of serious crimes?

CHANCE: Well, I think they (ph) will say they are political prisoners. But the fact is that the vast majority of them have been convicted of very serious crimes indeed in Israeli courts. I spoke to one man today who was convicted of a sentence to six life sentences in Israel for planting explosives, for organizing terror attacks, murder, organization of illegal organizations, like membership of illegal organizations like Hamas.

So they're basically terrorism offenses that have been carrying extremely long sentences indeed. Again, six life sentences, this one guy. I met another guy who had been here for 23 years on a murder conviction after an attack inside Israel.

And so these are people with -- I think Israel would say with blood on their hands. They said they wouldn't release these kinds of people, but they have.

MALVEAUX: And why have they, Matthew? Help us understand why it is that they would let go a thousand Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier.

CHANCE: Well, I think Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, made clear this is a very painful decision. But they took it on basis that that's what they had to do to secure the release of Gilad Shalit.

He had been held captive inside Gaza for the past five years by Hamas. The price they wanted for his release was the exchange of the prisoners that they named inside Israeli jails. And obviously the people they value most here in Gaza, that Hamas values most, are the people that they see as their heroes, the people that have carried out attacks against the Israelis, that are being held in those Israeli jails.

So, I mean, that's why they had to come to a deal. They came to it, and it's left a bad taste in the mouths of many Israelis.

MALVEAUX: All right.

Matthew Chance, thank you very much, out of Gaza City.

Well, was it a classic bystander effect, or something more sinister? Right? It's hard to understand why a wounded little girl would be left lying on the street in China after she was run over twice.

We're going to get answers right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We want to go straight to some live pictures here. And you are seeing Noam Shalit. He is the father of Gilad Shalit, who was just released from prison, from Hamas.

Let's take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

NOAM SHALIT, GILAD SHALIT'S HUSBAND (through translator): -- a long, exhausting journey which began in July, 2006, and has come to an end four years and four months later, in October, 2011.

Gilad has come home.

After an exhausting and long struggle, as I've said quite often, we were told that we were tilting at windmills, exhausting, and it was arduous. But ultimately, we've managed to bring him home. And as I've seen today, he came home and walked up the steps that he left, and has come home, went through the door that he left so many days ago, 1,942 days ago.

Gilad feels good. He's suffering from a number of small injuries that have remained with him because he wasn't treated properly from shrapnel wounds, and also the results of a lack of sunlight. Now, he's had extensive medical checks, and he will get the appropriate treatment from the Israel Defense Forces.

Gilad is very happy to be home, and of course it's difficult for him to just expose himself to so many people because he's been in isolation -- really in isolation for so many days and so many years. And he was unable to communicate with people, of course, in his own language, and the only thing he was able to do was to communicate with his doctors and his guards.

He will undergo a process of rehabilitation. We hope that this process will be as fast as possible as a result of the contribution of IDF medical services, and we hope that he'll be able to get back to normal life.

Today, really, we can say that we have experienced the rebirth of a son.

MALVEAUX: You've been listening to Noam Shalit. He is the father of Gilad Shalit, the one who was actually just released after five years in the custody of Hamas, in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. This is a point, perhaps a jumping off point, where both sides can more forward with the Israeli/Palestinian peace process.

But you're looking at pictures there of Gilad Shalit, who is now free. His father saying 1,492 days in captivity, that he now feels good.

We have a heartbreaking story of a hit-and-run. A little girl run over twice, her motionless body left for dead, and people carry on with business just as usual.

Our Eunice Yoon has more on the story from China.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EUNICE YOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A security camera in southern China captured 2-year-old Wang Yue wandering into the alley outside her father's hardware store, but what happens next is too disturbing to show you. A white van barrels into the toddler, running her over not once, but twice. A few minutes later, a truck approaches and drives over her motionless body.

The video outraged the public when it hit the Internet here. Equally shocking to citizens, the reaction of passersby -- pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, more than a dozen of them who didn't stop to help.

Millions are weighing in on what they see as a decline of morality on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. This user writes, "We once believed in a world filled with love and were taught by the government on maintaining high moral standards -- but the cold reality just keeps flying in the face of our belief."

Some observers argue the country's education system has failed to cultivate a respect for human life, as 1.3 billion people compete to climb up the economic and social ladder.

(on camera): There have also been several cases recently of elderly people who have collapsed or injured themselves in public places, who later sue the people who try to help them. So many people in China are concerned that they can get into trouble themselves for being a good Samaritan.

WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: This is sort of classic bystander effect, if you will, where people sort of have a diffusion of responsibility. They think, do I have to stop? There are other people who might see this.

But secondly, they were going places. this was Rush hour. Studies showing that when people hurry and they're having to meet a deadline, they are less empathetic, less compassionate, less more likely to stop.

YOON: After 10 minutes, someone did stop, a 58-year-old woman who collects trash for a living. She moved Wang to safety.

"I didn't understand why no one else had carried her from the street," she says. Wang's mother expressed her gratitude for the scavenger's kindness. Both drivers have since been detained, and the little girl is now in hospital, where she remains in critical condition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Such a disturbing story.

Well, she was the first female governor of Michigan, and she took office during a financial crisis. I'm going to talk with Jennifer Granholm about the lessons she's learned and whether they can help the country's economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown of some of the stories that we are working on.

Up next, lessons learned from years in office. Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm is joining me to talk about her new book and her state's recovery.

Then, they wear them to remind themselves of fallen comrades, but now Marines are being told to leave the killed in action bracelets behind.

And later, bumper pads that could be deadly inside baby cribs. We're going to tell you what you need to know to protect your child.

Well, you might say it was the best of times and the worst of times for Jennifer Granholm. She was elected as the first ever female governor of Michigan, the eighth largest state, a state that is home to the auto industry, with a bigger economy than Saudi Arabia. But she also inherited an economic crisis and a state in financial trouble.

Granholm has written about her experience in the book "A Governor's Story," and she joins us from Berkeley, California.

First of all, it was a very interesting read. It was very compelling. And in your book, you acknowledge the economic crisis that Michigan was in, and you speak openly about some of the mistakes and the lessons learned.

But first, I want you to respond to your critics. There are some who look at the book and they believe it's self-serving. The Wall Street Journal's William McGurn, he says in this op-ed here, "Some politicians give us failure. Some politicians give us failure mixed with spectacle. Once in a generation, a politician gives us failure and misunderstanding so colossal, that his or her bad example rises to the level of public service. To this elite few belongs Jennifer Granholm."

How do you respond, first of all, to your critics?

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, FORMER MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: Can I just say that the "Wall Street Journal" is an entity that has promoted the old solutions that haven't worked and this book is about what didn't work and what did work.

I tried a lot of solutions that the editorial page of the "Wall Street Journal" would have a governor try. In my first term, I cut taxes 99 times, small cuts, big cuts, targeted, you name it. By the time I left office, Michigan was 48th in terms of the size of government.

So we shrunk, but that didn't work. And the point of this book is to say from the laboratory of democracy, the thing that ended up working was the ability to invest in strategic sectors that made Michigan competitive.

And as a result, in 2010, Michigan's unemployment rate dropped six times faster than the national average. We're not there yet. We have a long way to go, but I can tell you what worked and didn't work and that's what the book is all about.

MALVEAUX: What do you think was the most important lesson that you learned over your eight-year tenure?

GRANHOLM: The most important lesson and thing I want people to understand is that Michigan is the poster child for what is happening to America's economy. It just hit us first. Everyone is scratching their head how to create jobs.

The reason why it's been so difficult is because the playing field has changed so enormously with trade and with technology, the globalization means that our economic competitors are out there every single day battling for jobs.

We as a nation have not adopted a uniquely American development strategy to combat those competitors. So just cutting or less fair hands off means that those competitors like China and Mexico and Germany, they're in there every day trying to pull our job providers there.

If we don't battle back then we are going to lose. I'm talking about playing offense and playing defense. We can't be passive at the world trade organization nor can we be passive in trying to recruit international investment into this country.

I'm advocating for active government, not big government, but active government that will keep jobs and create jobs for our citizens.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk about that on the national scale because President Obama, he is out there and he seems to be pretty much in the same place where you were with Michigan. He inherited this economic mess and trying various approaches to address it.

And he's trying to convince Congress to adopt the jobs bill piece by piece. We see him in this bus tour today North Carolina and Virginia trying to convince folks that he's trying to turn things around. What does he need to do, do you think, to deal with the economy on a national level here and create jobs?

GRANHOLM: Well, I think he's doing it right now. He's out there swinging every single day trying to convince both the citizens as well as members of Congress to vote for the jobs bill. The interesting thing about the jobs bill that he's put on, he is -- it's focused on creating jobs in America.

If you don't tie tax policy, for example, to job creation in the United States, that tax cut that you may give to business, if it's a multinational business, they will use the money to invest where they can get the biggest return and that's not the United States.

If you do tax cuts without requiring job creation in the United States, you may be facilitating the flight of capital and jobs somewhere else. The bottom line is, what the president is doing is out there swinging on behalf of job creation in the U.S., not just public sector jobs.

It's private sector jobs as well. That's what his tax credit for job creation is all about. And for those who are on the other side who keep advocating 20th Century solutions, solutions that may have worked in the 20th Century, but are not applicable anymore, this is a real important lesson. Globalization has changed the playing field.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk a little bit about some of the things that you were trying to do back in July last year when you were governor. You and I spoke about a new investment in Michigan's economy, the battery making business. Here's what you said back then. I want you to listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: How important is this new industry for your state?

GRANHOLM: Well, that's the whole thing. This is a whole new industry. So what you're going to see here is one of 16 battery plants that are coming to Michigan or having been built in Michigan. Those 16 plants wouldn't be here, but for the stimulus dollars. Those 16 plants are going to create 62,000 jobs here over the next ten years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: How is that going?

GRANHOLM: It's great. In fact, Suzanne, you know, you're in the book because I describe that very scene --

MALVEAUX: I didn't realize that. GRANHOLM: Where you and I are talking about this. But this is an example of this cluster that we created because it was strategic for us as a state. We built car 1.0. We wanted to build car 2.0 and that means the electric car and the battery that's the guts of it.

So we developed a whole strategy to be able to do that, public private partnerships and a partnership with the federal government. It is true, but for the partnership with the federal government, all of these battery companies and in fact there are 18 now in Michigan, they would be largely in Asia.

They would not be in the United States. We would not be building the electric vehicle to make us energy independent. This is the whole point of this book. The U.S. has to get smart about this. If Hu Jintao, the premier of China, wakes up every night thinking how can he create 25 million jobs a year for his people.

And he is not abiding by the old theories that many of those running for president right now in the United States are abiding by, he's actively intervening in the economy to create jobs for his people. We've got to wake up and realize we've got to craft our own strategy.

Michigan's example in the battery industry is one example of a cluster strategy that was unique to us but in partnership with the federal government and private sector to create jobs.

MALVEAUX: All right, Jennifer Granholm, I'll make sure I check that chapter.

GRANHOLM: It's a good news chapter.

MALVEAUX: All right, well, all the best to you. Good luck to you as well.

GRANHOLM: Thank you so much.>

MALVEAUX: Well, you've seen people wear rubber bracelets to draw attention to causes like the fight against cancer, but there are also bracelets to remember troops killed in action. Marines have had to fight to be allowed to wear those bracelets. Find out the outcome of their battle.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The names of American troops killed in action are etched on bracelets to remember the fallen. They're worn by civilians, but also troops who want to keep their comrades in their hearts.

But the U.S. Marines say they don't allow jewelry and some Marines have been fighting the policy to make an exception. Marine Sergeant Megan Cavanaugh joins us by phone from Washington.

First of all, Megan, we have just learned from the Marines Public Information Office that they are now changing this policy. Your reaction first of all? SGT. MEGAN CAVANAUGH, MARINE SENATE LIASON OFFICE (via telephone): I'm very excited about it. I think until now it was never really made an issue and once Marines started making an issue and you know, showing that this is important to them. I think it's amazing that the sergeant major looked into it and they are approving it for wear. I think it's amazing.

MALVEAUX: Sergeant, tell us, what is the significance of this? Obviously, it is very important to a lot of marines wearing these "Killed in Action" bracelets.

CAVANAUGH: You know, to me it's important for the Marines I've served with, myself. I think Marines in combat back here in the states. It's important because it's the hardest thing in the world is to bury a Marine that you served with and someone right next to you.

These bracelets are memorials. You know, we wear them and they say our friends' names on them and when they were killed. It kind of keeps them alive on a day to day basis. It keeps your memories of them with you. It let's other people see that you lost somebody that you may have in common with somebody else.

MALVEAUX: Do you think that the policy makes sense? I know there are -- they ban, forbid jewelry with very few exceptions. Do you think that's outdated now that we see the exception is being made for these bracelets as well?

CAVANAUGH: You know, I think the policy on the jewelry is not outdated. You know, they made the new policy. The secretary of the Navy came out with statement years ago, for the prisoner of war and missing in action bracelets because at that time they were suffering from a lot of prisoners of war and Marines and soldiers going missing in action.

I think at that time that was good for them. It just never -- no one thought to bring it up now in our war that we're having so much killed in action that we would want to wear these. For so long I think it was not ignored but people didn't notice it or didn't think to ask for it to be included into the policy.

And once they heard it was an issue and that Marines were kind of standing up for it and it was important to us. I think it's great that they are including that into the policy and that they'll be authorized for wear.

MALVEAUX: Sergeant Cavanaugh, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Again, a development in that story now the Marines reversing that policy. Appreciate it.

Moms and dads, there is critical information if you've got a baby. Pediatricians want you to toss out the baby bumper. Doctors say they are dangerous. But first, here's some free money advice from the CNN Help Desk.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Time now for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Lynnette Cox, the founder of the financial advice blog, askthemoneycoach.com and David Novak is a certified financial planner and a professor at NYU.

Guys, thanks for being here so much. Appreciate it. Lynnette, first question to you. This comes from Harold in Maryland. He filed for bankruptcy a year ago and still making payments on high interest credit cards and wants to know how long it will take to build that good credit again?

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, FOUNDER, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Probably not as long as he might think. The bankruptcy is going to stay on the credit report for 10 years, but you can rebound by doing things like opening a secured card.

Check out card ratings.com, for example, to get the best one based on your current credit status and how you're spending every single month. You pay the bill on time every single month. You load some money on your secured card and then after that, you start to build a more positive credit rating.

HARLOW: Maybe a little better than he thought. David, this question comes from Frank in Chico, California. Frank is 67 and has a 401(k) and annuity, he wants to know when he should draw that down and if he can use that money to pay down his mortgage and avoid taxes.

DAVID NOVICK, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER, PROMETHEUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, it's not very likely that if he takes the money out of his 401k, he's going to avoid any taxes. Here's a couple of things he needs to be aware of.

If it's an annuity, it may have surrender charges where there may be a percentage of the value that may be taken out up front. If he has a low rate in his mortgage, he may want to keep it for now because he is getting a tax deduction. If he as other assets such as savings, that might be a better place to look at paying mortgage if he's insistent.

HARLOW: All right, thank you, guys, so much. We appreciate it. Folks, if you have a question that you want answered, just send us an e-mail anytime to CNN Help Desk at cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The nation's top pediatricians say that something in your baby's crib could actually kill them. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, she's joining us.

Elizabeth, we have a crib here. Show us what's wrong with this, first of all.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. You see these green things here?

MALVEAUX: Yes.

COHEN: These are called bumpers. Every parent I know, I will say including me, has put bumpers in their kids' crib. They're on sale at every baby store and it's kinds of like a rite of passage. You buy bumpers when you buy a crib. Pediatricians today are saying, get those bumpers out of the cribs.

MALVEAUX: Really?

COHEN: They could kill your child.

MALVEAUX: Why? How come?

COHEN: I will demonstration with a fake baby. All right, there are several ways that this could happen. You have the tie to keep the baby -- to keep the bumper on the crib.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

COHEN: This could get around the baby's neck, and that's actually happened, that these ties have been what strangles the baby. Here's another thing that happens. Sometimes the baby's face goes up against that soft padding and they can suffocate. And here's a third way. Sometimes the baby's head gets stuck in between the bumper and the mattress and the rails and the baby can suffocate that way.

MALVEAUX: Have babies actually died?

COHEN: They have. Not a huge number, but 27 babies over the course of 20 years. So, again, not huge, but it happens. And, of course, you don't want that to happen to your baby.

MALVEAUX: And you're still able to buy these cribs, though, in the store?

COHEN: Well, the crib is not really -- the crib is not the issue.

MALVEAUX: It's the -- it's the padding.

COHEN: The issue is the bumpers, right. The issue is with the padding.

MALVEAUX: The bumpers.

COHEN: Right. Exactly.

MALVEAUX: And I guess some people would be wondering, too, if you --

COHEN: Sit the baby up. She looks so sad. OK.

MALVEAUX: No, no, no, but if you don't have this padding here and the baby's head is just hitting up against the hard thing, is that a danger for the baby as well?

COHEN: Right, and that's why parents do it because you want your baby, if the baby rolls around, to hit something soft. And so I asked the American Academy of Pediatrics about that and they said, yes, you know what, it might be a little discomfort. Your baby's going to hit the side of the crib. Basically they said that's not a problem. I mean it might make you sort of sad to see the baby bump their head. It's not really going to hurt the baby. You baby's going to be fine. And it's not worth putting your baby at risk just to protect them from some little bump.

MALVEAUX: So get rid of these pads all together?

COHEN: Get rid of them all together. And I'll tell you, I think this is a really big deal because every parent uses these. They are sold everywhere. You set up your crib, you get the sheet, you get all the stuff and you put these bumpers on. And parents need to go and get them out, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

MALVEAUX: All right, it is a big deal.

Elizabeth, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: Appreciate it.

Well, it's not just a phone an anymore. Companies are going all out to convince you their smart phone is the right one for you.

First, if you drive a car to get around, you know it's not cheap. One of the gas -- on top of gas prices you've got insurance, maintenance, tolls, parking. The list goes on and on. So which U.S. city do residents spend the most money to drive a car? The answer after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: So before the break we asked you, which U.S. city do residents spend the most money just to drive a car? Number three, Durham, North Carolina. Folks there spend an average of $578 a month. Plano, Texas, number two, at $662. The most expensive city to drive a car, Austin, Texas. That's where drivers spend a whopping $764 a month on their cars.

All right, so everybody has got a smartphone these days, right? They've become powerful little mini computers that fit easily in the palm of your hand. But there is a war that's going on right now to control the market. It's getting ugly. CNN's Silicon Valley correspondent, Dan Simon, he is joining us from San Francisco to tell us what's going on.

Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN SILICON VALLEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are at the Blackberry Developers Conference here in downtown San Francisco. And you sort of touched on it. We live in an era where smartphones are very important to people. And I'll tell you what, no company personifies a smartphone more than Blackberry. But, boy, it has been a miserable two years for that company.

I want to go to a graphic now and show you what things looked like in August 2009. Take a look at the smartphone market share back then. RIM or Blackberry at 42 percent, followed by Apple, 23 percent, Microsoft, 20 percent, and then Google just had 2 percent. Now, fast forward to August 2011, Google with 43 percent, Apple at 27 and RIM at just under 20 percent. It lost nearly half of its market share in two years. So Blackberry trying to do something dramatic today, but the first thing the CEO did is he wanted to apologize for that mass e-mail outage we saw last week. And take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE LAZARIDIS, CEO, RESEARCH IN MOTION: I want to address some recent news items. First, the worldwide outages we experienced this week were unfortunate. We restored full service as quickly as we could. Now we're focused on the root cause analysis, our internal systems audits and making this right for more than 7 million Blackberry users around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: So Blackberry trying to do something dramatic to get some of its users back. One thing it's doing is it's giving $100 to all of its 70 million users to try to download some apps, hopefully, at least from their point of view, hopefully that will bring some customers back into their tent and keep the Blackberry name alive.

But it's tough going for this company. One thing they announced today is they've got a new operating system. They're calling it BBX for their next generation of smartphones and tablets. There was a lot of speculation that they would get rid of their tablet entirely. It's called the Playbook. It hasn't sold -- they haven't sold very many of them, but they say they're doubling down on Playbooks and they want to try to go after the iPad. But it looks awfully tough for RIM or Blackberry.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Dan Simon, thanks. We appreciate it.

Well, still ahead, a little boy survives a three-story fall from this apartment fire. That amazing story coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Let's check out these stories from our affiliates.

First, this apartment fire outside Boston. Fifteen people trapped, including a six-year-old boy. His grandmother was holding him out of the third floor window when she lost her grip. A firefighter raced over to make the catch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GLENN MCGILLIVARY, BOSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT: I knew she wasn't going to be able to hold him forever. So, at that point, when I got underneath him, we said, go ahead and drop him. I was thanking my lucky stars.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: That boy is OK, thank goodness. The twelve other people were hurt, including two firefighters.

In Colorado, looks and feels more like winter. Up to half a foot of snow has fallen in the central and northern mountains.

In western Texas, the wind kicked up so much dust, check it out, it blocked out the sky in Lubbock. This is amazing video that you're watching here. Knocked out power, uprooted trees, moved planes around at the airport. Very powerful.

And President Obama urging people to pressure Congress to pass his jobs bill. But "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, he is a little bit overwhelmed by the president's marching orders. Here's the political punch line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: You know he wants us to do this stuff and it's hard to keep up with him if you try to do it. Well, here.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pass this bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Sounding like Candidate Obama, he urged the Richmond audience to pressure members of Congress.

OBAMA: I want you to call. I want a -- I want you to e-mail. I want you to tweet. I want you to fax. I want a -- you to FaceBook. Send a courier pigeon.

LENO: Do you see that. I'm trying to help. I'm trying to do my part.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That was pretty good.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Joe Johns, who's in for Randi Kaye.

Hey, Joe, good to see you.