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Teacher Faces 'Lewd Acts' Charges; Supplies Smuggled to Families in Syria; Rocket Launched Into Northern Lights; Catholic Church Hierarchy Prosecuted; Kids Trained To Be Suicide Bombers; Rihanna and Chris Brown Collaborating

Aired February 21, 2012 - 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.

Just moments ago, Wall Street reached a big benchmark. The Dow hit 13,000 for the fist time in four years. It is now sitting at 12,987.

Stick around. In two minutes, we're going to break down why it happened, what it means for your pocketbook.

Also, a former California teacher accused of lewd acts against children in the classroom is going to be in a courtroom any minute now in Los Angeles. Police say 61-year-old Mark Berndt bound and gagged some of the children and then took photos of them. The pictures, very disturbing.

We are going live to Los Angeles for the latest in the courtroom in just moments.

And the Arizona sheriff accused of threatening to deport his former boyfriend says the allegations against him are part of a political plot. Paul Babeu strongly denies the accusations. Babeu resigned from a leadership post with the Romney campaign, but he's still running for Congress.

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, he said he should be judged on his record of service, not his sexuality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF PAUL BABEU, PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA: This is outrageous, that this has been brought up because I'm a conservative Republican, and now they think that somehow there is hypocrisy because I'm gay. I've never worn it on my sleeve like this is who I am. I don't define myself, I don't think we in America -- we're different in America, and we celebrate our differences, and we see it as a strength, the beauty of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: There is no letup in the violence in Syria, despite pleas from aid workers. They are trying to persuade both sides in the conflict to stop fighting long enough to get food and medical supplies to families who are stuck in the most devastated neighborhoods in the city of Homs. Opposition activists say at least 18 people were killed there today alone.

So this protest erupted outside Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan after word spread that religious materials, including Korans, were being burned. Now, desecrating the holy book is seen by many Muslims as an unforgivable affront. The commander of the international security force in Afghanistan was quick to apologize. He said disposing of the material in that manner was a mistake.

President Obama trying to build momentum from the payroll tax cut extension passed by Congress. It's worth more than $80 a month for someone who's making $50,000 a year. Just a couple minutes ago, the president called on lawmakers, keep that spirit of cooperation going, pass more bipartisan measures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now my message to Congress is: don't stop here. Keep going.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA Keep taking the action that people are calling for to keep this economy growing. This may be an election year, but the American people have no patience for gridlock and just a reflexive partisanship, and just paying attention to poll numbers and the next election instead of the next generation, and what we can do to strengthen opportunity for all Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Mitt Romney trying to get his political mojo back. The latest national polls showing him trailing Rick Santorum by 10 points. Romney is on the campaign trail in Michigan today.

Newt Gingrich is in Oklahoma for his speech before the state legislature. Gingrich is stepping up the attacks on President Obama, saying he is incapable of defending the United States.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

MALVEAUX: Want to also focus on the rundown of some of the other stories we're covering over the next hour.

First, the fight to get medical and food supplies to desperate folks inside Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Even an operation like this one, bringing in these basic supplies that residents here so desperately need, has to happen under cover of darkness. And it also has to be as fast as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And jury selection today in the trial of a Philadelphia monsignor accused of covering up a priest child sex abuse scandal.

And then, a NASA rocket meets this gorgeous green glow. This is from a northern lights display. Our own Chad Myers, he's going to tell us what the launch is aimed at discovering.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A former teacher accused of taking bizarre bondage-style photos of his young students will be in a L.A. courtroom any minute now. Mark Berndt is facing charges of lewd acts on a child. He was arrested in January.

Our Casey Wian, he's outside the courthouse.

Casey, what is going to happen today?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're expecting former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt to enter a plea on 23 counts of alleged lewd contact against children at Miramonte Elementary. We were expecting the proceedings to begin about a half hour ago. The judge has just recently entered the courtroom just within the last few minutes.

My colleague Alan Duke (ph) is inside the courtroom, sends us word that the judge is now handling other cases. So we are waiting for the actual plea.

Now, to just sort of recap what he is being charged with, Suzanne, we mentioned 23 counts. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail on each one of those counts, so $23 million total bail.

He was -- the investigation into this case originally started over a year ago, and that's when Mark Berndt lost his job, was put on suspension while this investigation continued for about a year. The charges were -- he was arrested, I should say, just in January of this year.

Police have found, so far, over -- about 400 photographs of him with young children. Some of those photographs depicting bondage, some of them depicting large cockroaches on these children's faces, and some of them eating -- some of them depicting children eating a substance that sheriff's investigators say they believe is the former teacher's sperm.

So, obviously very disturbing allegations against this teacher rocked the community around Miramonte Elementary School. About a third of these students did not go to school after it was closed for about two days.

The entire staff of this school was transferred to another school, though attendance is back close to normal, Suzanne. So we're just waiting for word from inside the courtroom.

MALVEAUX: You just can't even overstate just how disturbing this whole situation is. And that community there, those parents there, largely Hispanic, of modest means. Not a lot of people trusting the law enforcement there, feel very much victimized by this teacher.

I want you to just listen to some of the parents' reactions when they first heard the news that this was going down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know my son was pulled out of his class a year ago, you know. And we just found out about this now.

For all I know, it could be my son. But until you see the pictures, you're going to really know if it's happened or not.

It's really upsetting. It makes you concerned, it makes you wonder, you know, what else has happened in all these years. Who else? Is there any more teachers like that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Casey, the school board, they took action and they replaced all the teachers and the staff at that elementary school.

What is happening now? How are parents, how are students dealing with this dramatic change that has occurred in their life?

WIAN: Well, the initial reaction, Suzanne, is a lot of those parents were very upset that all of the teachers were transferred. They were very worried that this was going to be even more disruptive to these students' lives. As we mentioned, though, the attendance has sort of gotten back close to normal, back up above 90 percent.

One of the other things that has been happening and that has investigators very worried about the actual outcome of this case is many of these parents have lawyered up. There are many other students who are alleging similar acts of abuse, but they have not been in contact with sheriff's investigators. They have hired lawyers and are suing the school district, suing the teachers.

So the investigators are very concerned about potential impact on the jury once this case gets to trial -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Casey Wian, thank you very much.

We've got more explosions today in the Syrian city of Homs. Aid agencies have been pleading for a cease-fire so that food and medical supplies can reach families who are stuck in the most devastated neighborhoods.

Our Arwa Damon has seen the crisis first hand, and she shows us how volunteers are risking their lives to get supplies to these needy families.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): The men call out names, carefully counting out and distributing baby diapers to families huddled in a bunker. Everything here is carefully rationed including food, which is running short.

Sheik Ayman (ph), who leads the humanitarian effort in Baba Amr tells us that in the last two weeks, nothing has come into the neighborhood. Some of what they've gathered comes from stocks and homes or salvaged from stores hit by artillery.

"We take the products to distribute so they don't go to waste," Sheik Ayman (ph) explains. "We keep track of everything we took to reimburse the owners." Moving the staples is an elaborate process.

(on camera): Even an operation like this one, bringing in these basic supplies that residents here so desperately need, has to happen under cover of darkness. And they also have to be as fast as possible.

They've been quickly calculating exactly what it is that they need to take out for the time being, and they've been loading things like babies' diapers, cracked wheat, lentils. But then someone called out saying, "Oh, should we put cooking oil on the truck?" Well, they've run out of cooking oil. In fact, this is pretty much all that they have left.

(voice-over): All they have left for the thousands trapped in Baba Amr. "There is no food, there is only cracked wheat and rice," this woman at a bunker laments, showing us what bread she has left.

"Look at it. Look at what we are eating!" she cries.

The shortages are not just confined to Baba Amr. On the outskirts of Homs, there are entire networks in place just to deliver bread and fuel. War brings out the worst in people, but also the best.

(on camera): Abu Fadi (ph) here is one of the many people who is trying to help others out by making runs to Damascus to get things like bread, gasoline, cooking oil.

(voice-over): But even that takes lengthy planning and great risks, he tells us. "We have people there that we are working with to gather the products," he says, "but it takes time, and the road is very tough. We have to go through the farmlands, getting shot at, just for a bite of bread and a bit of fuel."

Local bread factories lie idle.

(on camera): There is still hardened dough covering these machines, although this particular bread factory has not produced a single loaf for around a week now, even though there is yeast in the refrigerator and there are bags of salt. However, there is no flour, and that is because flour is subsidized by the government.

Its distribution, well, that is fully under the control of the regime. And the regime is not sending supplies out here anymore.

(voice-over): Ahlam (ph) lives in a bunker in Baba Amr after her home was destroyed by artillery. By day, she volunteers at the medical clinic in Baba Amr and then comes back to this. "Today, I just had a cup of coffee and two cigarettes," she tells us, "and nothing the last two days before that. I can guarantee you this -- people will starve to death."

If the shelling doesn't kill them, maybe hunger will.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Our Arwa Damon, she's joining us live from neighboring Lebanon.

Arwa, I mean, just very, very powerful reporting and storytelling there.

How do they survive when they have some things that they need and other things like flour, you mentioned, they just don't have? How are these young people and the children sustaining themselves?

DAMON: Well, it's incredibly difficult, as is very evident. The children cry all the time, parents tell us there's also a severe shortage on things like baby's milk. And it is often cases and situations like this where it is the most innocent and the most vulnerable that end up suffering the most. And you can also only imagine what the parents are going through, seeing their children in such a state and being unable to provide for them.

The area has been under siege for more than two weeks now. There has been heavy sustained bombardment. It is bombardment that continues to this very day.

Activists are telling that the shelling today, the most intense that it has been over the last two-and-a-half weeks. So, quite simply, the longer this drags on, the more people are going to continue to suffer. And if the shells don't kill them, as we were reporting there, most likely starvation will. That is their great fear.

And all of this happening, Suzanne, as the world is watching.

MALVEAUX: Arwa, do we have a sense of we're talking about days here, weeks here, hours here before these folks need to get those supplies?

DAMON: Well, according to what the head of the humanitarian office is saying, they actually have less than a week's worth of supplies left. And if they can't get additional supplies, well, then you can only imagine what that is going to do for the population there.

These are also families that have, in many cases, tried to flee, but have been unable to do so. In some instances, it's because they've been turned back from government checkpoints. In other cases, it's because they really don't have any other place to go.

This is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Homs, and they are trapped there. A lot of people are continuously voicing their anger and frustration at the fact that this is all playing while the world is watching. The images are coming out, the reporting is coming out. And yet, it seems to those that are trapped in these conditions, that the world quite simply doesn't care and is either unwilling or unable to bring about some sort of resolution.

MALVEAUX: Arwa Damon, as always, thank you for your insightful reporting, for bringing us those pictures, for explaining what is taking place in that part of the world, how desperate those folks are for international aid.

Thank you, Arwa.

NASA sends a rocket into the heart of this northern lights display. I want you to check out the gorgeous picture it made. Actually, we're going to tell you what scientists are trying to learn from this launch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Free plastic surgery for teachers. It sounds kind of bizarre, right? But not if you live in Buffalo, New York.

For the last 40 years, teachers there have been getting this Hollywood star treatment on the taxpayers' dime. Last year, the district spent almost $6 million on facelifts, breast implants, a lot of nip/tucks going on there.

So, should teachers get free plastic surgery paid for by taxpayers?

Share your thoughts at Facebook.com/SuzanneCNN. We're going to read more of your comments later this hour.

And NASA launched a rocket more than the 200 miles into the air, into the middle of one of those gorgeous northern lights displays.

Chad Myers joins us with some of those awesome pictures.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It went up the 200 miles, it split in half, two sensors came out, one finding magnetic fields, one finding ions.

And why? Why do we care what's up there? Because that's where our satellites live, right?

MALVEAUX: Oh.

MYERS: Our satellites are up in space, and they're being bombarded by this light, by these things coming out of the sun, by these particles, charged particles, plasma, whether it's a solar flare, which is x- rays, or maybe even like coronal mass injections. We talk about those.

But look at this beautiful shot here. This is all about the shot, really, because it's a green aurora.

Now, just north of Fairbanks, Alaska, Saturday night, Sunday morning, they shot this thing up into it with the ions going through, the green in the sky. It fell 200 miles down range. Not only did they go up once through it, but they went up, over it, and then back down through it in another place. They have all this data. And why do we care?

MALVEAUX: What are we learning from this?

MYERS: We care because next time we send up a satellite, we'll figure out what's up there that could harm it. Right now, these things are just up there going, oh, OK, well, hopefully we don't get hit by something. But if we can make them stronger, if we can make them more shielded like that Russian rocket that was trying to do to Mars that wasn't shielded -- they found out that was the problem -- it ran into some of these particles, and that Russian rocket never made it to Mars. It splashed back down into the ocean.

If we can find out what's up there, we can build better spaceships.

MALVEAUX: That's a gorgeous, gorgeous picture.

MYERS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: I love that picture.

You know another picture I love, Chad?

MYERS: What's that?

MALVEAUX: It's New Orleans. It is Mardi Gras time. This is where my people are. I want you to take a look.

MYERS: That's a different kind of aurora.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: Oh, you're going to see a lot of different colors there. They're partying up in New Orleans despite the cold temperatures. But about a dozen parades around New Orleans there. It's a, you know, last big blowout, the carnival season before Ash Wednesday tomorrow.

MYERS: Right. It was really wet there a couple days ago, too. So it's really good that it's dried out.

MALVEAUX: Dried out and cold. Yes, a little cold. But that's not going to dampen any Mardi Gras spirit. I'm going to tell you that much. Folks are going to be out there.

MYERS: Ninety-five percent of the people are anesthetized with alcohol. They can't feel the cold temperature anyway.

MALVEAUX: That might be some of my family. But, yes, it's always a good time. Always a good time for the who-dats there.

All right. Nice to see you, Chad.

MYERS: Good to see that picture. Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: Oh, yes. It's great.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Jury selection begins in a sex abuse trial involving the Catholic Church. This time, a high-ranking official is among those facing charges.

And then, we've seen it in training videos. Well, now, Afghan police say they have rescued dozens of children insurgents (sic) -- well, children, rather, that insurgents planned to use as suicide bombers.

And in about 20 minutes, they made headlines when he was arrested for assaulting her, but now Rihanna and Chris Brown are making music together.

For the first time, a Catholic Church higher-up goes on trial in a priest sex abuse case. Jury selection is happening today in Philadelphia. Monsignor William Lin supervised priests who are also on trial, charged with raping and assaulting boys in their care.

Now, Lin is charged with covering up the abuse. The case could set a legal precedent, because it is very rare for a prosecutor to lodge charges against the church hierarchy.

I want to bring in attorney and CNN contributor Paul Callan. And Paul, first of all, this scandal could really open an historic chapter in this abuse crisis, just changing the way that the criminal justice system deals with this.

Because now we've got higher-ups that are being held accountable, how is this going to impact what these -- the hierarchy in the church and how they deal when you have these kinds of allegations of priests abusing kids?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you're right, Suzanne. This is a landmark case. It's the first case, probably, in American history that's been brought against a higher-up in the Catholic Church.

The monsignor, who, by the way, was an adviser to the Philadelphia cardinal at the time, that the cardinal is now deceased, he's a former seminary dean, he wasn't directly involved with abusing a child.

The claim here is that he transferred priests who he knew were abusers without warning the schools that they were being transferred to, and that two young boys were raped as a result of that.

This arises out of an extensive investigation into child abuse conducted by grand juries in Philadelphia in 2005. And if this theory is upheld, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church could be exposed for the first time to criminal charges arising out of this horrible scandal.

MALVEAUX: Paul, does it make it harder for the church to cover up sex abuse when it happens? CALLAN: Well, you know, the church is treated legally the same way any other institution is. If you obstruct justice, if you willfully cover up a crime, that is a crime in most states. They are hard cases to prosecute.

Because most of what takes place in the Catholic Church and probably most other religions is done behind closed doors and there's not a lot of reason for one priest to come out and testify against another.

But this case, there's talk about secret archives that were kept by the church, which are going to be looked at, possibly made public. It's going to be a real eye opener of a trial, Suzanne, in terms of looking into how the Roman Catholic Church was organized in Philadelphia.

And what efforts it took, if any, to protect the children of the Philadelphia diocese. So it's going to be a real eye-opener of a trial.

MALVEAUX: And do we think that this trial is actually going to make it easier, more hospitable for victims of alleged abuse to come forward?

CALLAN: I'm not sure that it will. I think that we have to see how it pans out. And I say that because the theory against the monsignor who's the defendant in the case, Monsignor William Lynnk, is somewhat of a shaky theory.

They're relying on a law saying that he had an obligation to report child abuse. It's not clear that that law, which was an old version of the current law that we hear about in the Sandusky case, even applied to him.

And with respect to a claim that he willfully transferred people and put them in a position where they could rape children, you have to prove foreseeability. That knew that there was going to be child abuse when he permitted the transfer.

And he also said he was just following the orders of the cardinal. So it's not an easy case to prove against the monsignor and we'll have to see what happens.

MALVEAUX: All right. It's a very important case. Thank you, Paul, appreciate it.

Well, it's hard to even imagine, right, children used as suicide bombers. Well, Afghan police have found dozens of kids who they think were taken for such a mission. We're going to have a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Afghan police say they found 41 children who insurgents were planning to use as suicide bombers. It seems incomprehensible to many people, but while I was in Afghanistan, I watched U.S. troops train Afghan police in this hypothetical exercise to deal with such a situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): This is the scenario. A suicide bomb strapped to a child. A police officer must disarm the explosive and save the boy. The terrorist is taken into custody using tough, but measured force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Our Nick Paton Walsh, he is joining us live from Lebanon. Nick, obviously, this is a very disturbing practice here, that they would recruit these kids and potentially use them as suicide bombers.

And we're talking about kids as young as 6 years old being smuggled into Pakistan for this. What are we learning about these kids who they have taken?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What a large group we're talking about here. They were apparently intercepted in Kunar, in an area I've been to that's very poor, very remote. That's where Afghan police came across them, apparently en route to Pakistan.

We don't know exactly what was going to happen there, but it's fair to assume that may have gone to the more radical madrassas, been trained in this sort of thing.

Quite how they got to be in this large number, got away from their families, nobody knows. Afghan police are suggesting maybe there was some form of suggestion. But some of the children are actually sold -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Do we know where their parents are? Do we know how this came about that they were able to be recruited and taken?

WALSH: No, we don't, at this early stage, to be honest. It's deeply troubling, of course, children being taken from their families, let alone for this kind of practice.

But Afghanistan area is deeply impoverished, many children living on the streets, trying to earn money for their family. So you could imagine situation where groups as powerful as the militants could persuade families to give their children up.

MALVEAUX: Do we have any sense whether the Afghan authorities, it's the police we saw the Afghan police being trained there for this type of thing are addressing the problem?

WALSH: This has been going on for quite some time. We do hear these reports, reasonably recently, President Karzai has previously pardoned children who have been recruited for similar things.

And often they're brought up to remind people of the more vial part of the insurgency that would do such things, use children as suicide bombers.

But, no, there appears at this point to be no obvious way of stopping them. Much of this is to do with taking them across the border to Pakistan, perhaps a promise of a better life, and there it's the Madrassas, perhaps, or even straight up training camps to get them ready for this kind of terrifying mission -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much. We're glad that these children are safe.

Well, this school's famous alumni include Judy Garland and Cher. But today Hollywood high's faces are a lot more diverse than they used to be. Stay tuned for America's "I am America" spotlight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Carol Burnett and Mickey Rooney graduated from this high school, but it doesn't look anything like it did back in the day. They call it diversity high.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the "Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. And joining me this hour, John Ulzheimer, the president of Consumer Education with smartcredit.com.

And Lynnette Cox, is the personal finance author and founder of the financial advice blog, askthemoneycoach.com. Guys, thank you for coming in.

John, your question today comes from Brandy in Kansas. Brandy wrote in, "My husband and I have enough in savings to buy our first home as a cash purchase, but the property we like will likely need some work before we move in. Should we finance the home purchase or take out a loan for repairs?"

JOHN ULZHEIMER, PRESIDENT OF CONSUMER EDUCATION, SMARTCREDIT.COM: I love the position they're in. Having a house free and clear of any loan is a nice place to be right now.

I like the idea of going ahead and buying the home with cash and taking out what's called a HELOC or home equity line of credit. A small enough HELOC, that it's not over bearing, but large enough to cover the cost of the repairs.

The good news is the interest on HELOCs is generally tax deductible and not bad for your credit score and you can pay it off and the interest is usually about 3 percent or 4 percent. Very, very good rates right now.

HARLOW: Good advice. All right, Lynnette, your question comes from Michelle in Michigan. Michelle said, "We're underwater on our mortgage, we do not have a government-backed loan. We have a VA loan guarantee available if we refinance. What should we do?"

LYNNETTE KHALFANI COX, FOUNDER, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Well, the VA prospect is a good option to consider, however, since they said that they don't have a government backed loan, they may have a loan from one of the five lenders like Citi or Chase, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, et cetera, B of A.

Those lenders as we know just signed an agreement with attorneys generals around the country and this is going to allow homeowners that are underwater, that have a loan held by one of those five institutions to refinance.

So this is going to be a really big thing in the months and really years to come. I would definitely look into that. Those provisions are that if your loan is above 5.25 percent, they're really going to try to get you in at current rates today.

Hsh.com is a good web site they can go to shop around for that, for the mortgage rate side. But really, I would look into it. And don't be locked into thinking, I have to get a VA loan in order to get a low-rate loan.

HARLOW: Right. Right, especially with the settlement.

KHALFANI-COX: That's right.

HARLOW: Thank you guys, both, very much.

And, folks, if you have a question you want answered, just send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right, free plastic surgery for teachers. It kind of sounds bizarre, but not if you live in Buffalo, New York. For the last four decades, teachers there have been getting the Hollywood star treatment, but on the taxpayers' dime. Last year, the district spent almost $6 million on facelifts, breast implants, a lot of nip/tucks. So earlier we asked you if you thought schoolteachers should get free plastic surgery paid for by taxpayers. And you've been sounding off, mostly against the idea.

Fernando says, "if the teachers have an issue with their appearance, that's a personal issue, not something taxpayer money should go towards."

Cindy wrote, "this is what hurts teachers and their unions, especially in these tough times. If they're underpaid, get rid of the plastic surgery coverage and increase their salaries."

June had a different idea, "when you look at the pay they get and the lack of respect compared to the pay that Congress gets, teachers should get Congress' pay. They earn every dime they get."

So what do you think? Keep sharing your thoughts with us at facebook.com/suzannecnn.

So in a year when politicians and pundits insist they know exactly what is right for America, we wanted to know more about who we are. All this week, CNN NEWSROOM go in depth sharing the stories of unique individuals across the country. People who are proud to tell CNN, "I am America." Today we meet up with a diverse class of Hollywood High School.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN (voice-over): Hollywood High is Hollywood history. Alumni include Judy Garland, Lana Turner, and Mickey Rooney, Carol Burnett, James Garner and Cher.

Now a new generation of Hollywood High students pursue their dreams of stardom. But this production is in full color.

FARAH BILLAH, HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: (speaking in foreign language)

IBIYEMI FAMILONI, HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: (speaking in foreign language)

ALEXANDER MOSHENSKY, HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: (speaking in foreign language)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking in foreign language)

KARLA SAMAYOA, HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: (speaking in foreign language)

WIAN: This is how Hollywood High students looked in the 1940s. Today, as many as 30 languages are spoken by students here. Even Principal Jaime Morales is an immigrant from Nicaragua.

JAIME MORALES, HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: Hollywood always struck me as a place where it doesn't matter where you're from or it doesn't matter what you believed in, you are welcome here.

WIAN: Sophomore Roger Neal, whose father is white and mother black, says he usually felt like an outsider before Hollywood High.

ROGER NEAL, HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: Everyone just comes together and they like accept you. The first time you walk on campus, they accept you. And I've, you know, I've never had that happen to me before.

WIAN: Ibiyemi Familoni was born in Nigeria.

FAMILONI: I want to learn a lot of languages, so it just -- it's cool having people from Hispanic backgrounds or even Armenian backgrounds. And I have a friend who's Greek and I want to learn her language.

WIAN: Karla Samayoa's parents fled a civil war in El Salvador. Now she's editor of the school paper and about to be valedictorian.

SAMAYOA: I feel like that's what immigrants bring here. They bring fresh blood, fresh ideas. They prevent America from becoming stagnant. They bring progress.

WIAN: But they also bring challenges. Farah Billah immigrated from Bangladesh three years ago. She's resisted pressure from her partners to wear a hijab and agree to an arranged marriage.

FARAH BILLAH, HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: That's not really (ph) for me because I'm going to be a doctor. WIAN: She cherishes rights many Americans take for granted.

BILLAH: I'm so glad to be here and have my rights to talk and no one going to say that, oh, you're saying this wrong.

WIAN: Maria, as we'll call her, was sent to the United States when she was six months old, illegally by her mother who was unmarried, uneducated, and barely surviving by cleaning houses in Mexico.

"MARIA", HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: I'm just like any other teenager trying to succeed in life. Trying to go for my goals.

WIAN: Now Maria is thriving at Hollywood High, but facing an uncertain future. She can't afford college and her illegal status blocks her from receiving most financial aid.

"MARIA": I tried so hard. And to think that I won't be able to go on because I don't have the money for it.

WIAN: But most of the students say they relish being in this true melting pot, including Alex Moshensky, whose parents are from Russia and Ukraine.

MOSHENSKY: I've learned to speak with different people, learn how to talk with them, how to interact with them. And maybe I can further, like, in the future, that can help me maybe get a job.

MORALES: We try to make you at home. It doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't matter what you believe in, because we believe that everybody needs an education.

WIAN: And a chance, perhaps, at being a star.

Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Rihanna and Chris Brown together again. We are talking about musically, not romantically. He's still on probation for physically assaulting her three years ago. What's going on? We're going to have a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: So Rihanna and Chris Brown collaborating again. He sings on her new song, "Birthday Cake." And she sings on the remix of his "Turn Up The Music." But you can't forget the images. This image from TMZ. Rihanna after Brown beat her three years ago. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge, was sentenced to five years probation. Probation report says the pair were involved in at least two other domestic violence incidents before the attack, which Brown was sentenced.

Well, Chris Brown, he has done his community service and it looks like Rihanna has been able to forgive and forget. But how does it work and is it even a good idea? We're going to talk to Alduan Tartt about the whole thing. He's a psychologist and relationship expert. And thank you for joining us. First of all, there do seem to be signs that the two of them at least, you know, a friendship, there's collaboration that's happening with their music. A lot of young people are looking at this couple and wondering, are they going to get back together and is that a good idea? What is Rihanna, if she goes back to Chris Brown, walking into?

ALDUAN TARTT, PSYCHOLOGIST & RELATIONSHIP EXPERT: Probably more of the same. When you think about it, unless they've done a significant amount of work in therapy to figure out what happened in the first place and dealing with both of their pasts, in addition to the dysfunction of their current relationship, it could be headed for, you know, round number two.

MALVEAUX: If somebody is engaged in violence, like Chris Brown was in this relationship, can he abstain if he decides he's going to be in this relationship again? Is that possible for someone to overcome their violent past?

TARTT: Absolutely, but you have to take responsibility for the action and then put in the work to figure out what went wrong in the first place. It takes a lot of work. Sometimes it could take years to really undo. Remember, this is a young man that witnessed domestic violence as a child to the point where he told his mother, I want to -- I'm going to go to jail by the time I'm 15 by beating my stepdad. So he's seen this before. Unless he's going to realizes -- unless he's going to deal with his past, in addition to what happened with Rihanna, I don't think it's a good idea.

MALVEAUX: Should -- what should Rihanna do if she really loves him or she likes him or she wants to be his friend and supportive, should she enter in this romantic relationship and get back together with him, or should she just stand from afar?

TARTT: Well, this is the hard thing when your emotions are involved, in that your heart might tell you one thing and your brain another. I think it would be dangerous for her to be involved in a relationship with any man that has not done any significant work when it comes to domestic violence. My question as Rihanna would be, have you done the work? Can we go to couples counseling coming -- starting off to make sure that we don't make this same mistake that we've done in the past? We have to be realistic that we've messed up not once, not twice, but three times and we need to be in therapy on a weekly basis to -- if we're going to be healthy with so many kids watching us.

SAWYER: Do you think -- and a lot of kids are watching them. And are you encouraged or discouraged when you see the possibility of them getting together, the message that it sends to other young couples?

TARTT: Well, I see it two ways. One, I mean, they're adults, and who are we to tell them who to love. But, two, you're a brand, and people follow your lead. So it's a dilemma. But I like to see them kind of go their separate ways and just start over. But who am I to tell them who to love? It's a tough situation.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you very much. Appreciate your being here with us and, obviously, we're going to be keeping a close eye on the couple. And I know you've worked with many folks before. So, thanks again.

TARTT: Thank you, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.

Hey, Ashleigh.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne Malveaux. Nice to see you.