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Journalists Killed In Homs; Marine Helicopter Crash in Arizona; Birth Control Debate: Where Are The Women?; Privacy Advocates Say Google Knows Too Much; Around the World For Free

Aired February 23, 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. Sad news out of Arizona. Seven Marines are dead in the mid-air helicopter collision near Yuma. The choppers were taking part in a training exercise last night at the Marine Corps air station. A spokesman says that the Marines were training to deploy to Afghanistan. We're following the developments of the crash and we'll bring a live report in just a few minutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED SYRIAN MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Heavy attacks continuing in Syria. A U.N. commission is now accusing Syria's government of widespread systematic and gross human rights violations, amounting to crimes against humanity. The commission is urging talks in the crisis. An opposition groups says more than 60 people have been killed today alone, and about 9,000 have died since the government began attacking protesters.

France and Britain are demanding that Syria return the bodies of Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik. The two Western journalists were killed in the besieged city of Homs, yesterday. Colvin was am American journalist who had reported from war zones around the world. Her family spoke to CNN earlier about the loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAT COLVIN, SISTER OF MARIE COLVIN: I really thought she'd get out. I think she's been in so many life-threatening situations and always gets out, maybe not safely, but she makes it out and I was just so shocked that she didn't this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: This week's burning of Korans by NATO troops sparks protests against Afghanistan. A lot of emotion, there. Now, an apology from President Obama. He sent a letter to Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, calling the burning an inadvertent error, promising to take steps to avoid any reoccurrence. Two NATO troops were killed by someone wearing an Afghan army uniform. Now, NATO is not sure if this was revenge for the Koran burning.

It might the last formal debate in the Republican contender for the White House. Last night's duel in the desert had off and on again, Rick Santorum catching heat from the left and the right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A new television ad that labels him a fake. Why?

RON PAUL, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because he's a fake.

(LAUGHTER)

MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But while I was fighting to save the Olympics, you were fighting to save the bridge to nowhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Stay with CNN, full highlights from last night's Republican debate when we are live from Phoenix in just a moment.

And gas prices going up again. three cents overnight. That's according to AAA. National average for a gallon of gas, now $3.61, still going up. Economists say the gas could jump to four or $5 a gallon by the summer.

We're going to hear from President Obama on gas prices and energy policy, that's happening later today.

And this is very touching. a story of love, heroism from Michigan. A teenage boy lifted a 2,000 pound car to save his grandfather. The two had propped the 1992 Buick up on cinder blocks to work on it, Austin Smith said he jumped in an action when that car fell trapping his grandfather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN SMITH, SAVED HIS GRANDFATHER: I had no clue, probably out of adrenaline. I couldn't do it right now.

ERNEST MONHOLLEN, SAVED BY GRANDSON: Thank God he was here because it would have just been me and his grandmother, you know. I feel it would have been over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Wow.

Now, more on the deadly Marine helicopter crash. Seven Marines were killed when their helicopters collided midair near Yuma, Arizona. Chris Lawrence, he's live at the Pentagon.

Chris, what do we know about this tragic accident?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well Suzanne, we know it was in a very remote area, in that area where they were training, a rugged area. The weather was pretty mild last night, not believed to be a factor. But, how and exactly why these two planes collided, that's what the Marine Corps are looking into now to try to figure out.

Just to bring you up to date, again seven U.S. Marines were killed last night when their two helicopters collided midair, one is a Super Cobra the other is a Huey. Their identies are not being released, just yet, because they're still in the process of contacting all of the families.

Now, the incident is under investigation, but here's what we do know. This is an area, there's training areas, about a million acres, and encompasses part of Arizona and California. It's strictly for military use, the public is not allowed access. And it's where they practice lot of their maneuvers, when the fly in places like Iraq and now, of course, Afghanistan. A lot of the mission is at night. And so, they train the way they fight, in rugged, remote areas, at night, and this appears to be where this crash and when this crash occurred, during this training exercise. It's not the first time in the last year.

Two Marines were killed when a helicopter went down at Camp Pendleton, last fall. And in another incident, the pilots were able to eject and land in the Pacific Ocean and had to be rescued. So, you know, even when it comes to training, you never climb into one of these helicopters thinking this is just a gimmy (ph), it's just training. Every time that helicopter takes off, there's an extreme element of danger, there.

MALVEAUX: And Chris, give us a sense of what kind of things do they do in these helicopters? When you talk about a training exercise, what does that entail?

LAWRENCE: It depends on what specifically they could be training for, are they training for a pickup. We know the Cobra is an attack helicopter, it usually has a pilot and a co-pilot. Now, the Huey can carry up to about 10 marines. And they often fly together. These same two basic types of helicopters actually collided in Afghanistan about three years ago, a Huey and a Cobra, down in Helmand Province, where they were operating.

So, they often do fly together. You know, it could be a pickup, it could be, you know, the Cobra coming in to attack a target while the Huey drops Marines are dropped into an area. It just depends on what scenario they may have been working on at the time. but again, these two helicopters, they're often used together and the Marines have to train in the same way that they plan to fight.

MALVEAUX: All right, Chris, thank you so much. I appreciate your reporting. Thank you.

LAWRENCE: Yep.

MALVEAUX: So, whether you're at work or you're just taking a break, many of us are asking, right now, because it's lunch and we're a little hungry -- what am I going to eat? Well, for an estimated 78 million adults, who are obese, that choice has a major impact on their health and now an FDA advisory panel is recommending a diet drug called Qnexa. It's hopes it's going to help those who are struggle with their weight, but that same drug as previously rejected by the FDA, due to health concerns.

So, question is, is it even safe for you to take? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's joining us to help answer the question.

Sanjay, first of all, how does this drug, this pill, actually work, Qnexa?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. It's a combination of two medications. One is Phentermine, which is something that's been in other diet pills. That's sort of a stimulant, almost like a speed-like stimulant. It can actually suppress appetite. That's the mechanism, there.

The other one is called Topiramate, which is actually used to treat migraine headaches, used to treat seizures. But one of the things they found about this medication, It can also make people sort of have a feeling of fullness, so that also acts as a appetite suppressant . So, this is really a combination of both these drugs.

As you indicated, it's been studied for some time. They said the safety studies were inadequate a couple of years ago, but they did find that it was effective in certain segments of the population, people who had really high body mass index, who are obese, they were able to lose weight, about 10 percent of their body weight, while taking this sort of pill.

MALVEAUX: So, this has got a lot of us on our team talking about this, you know, the possibility of this diet pill and losing weight. The FDA rejected it before. So, what were some of the concerns, previously?

GUPTA: Well, you know, with a lot of these types of diet pills -- and I think you know me well enough know that, you know, I really advocate fitness and good diet and stuff, but the idea, first of all, that, look, we have a real obesity problem in this country and a lot of the things that we advocate doesn't always work, and it sort of increases the enthusiasm.

But it's counterbalanced by the fact that people -- their heart rate went up, there was some psychiatric issues with this pill and also birth defects. So, imagine someone is taking this pill and then becomes pregnant. Doesn't know that she's pregnant for several weeks and is still on this pill, they found that the rate of cleft lip pallet, for example, or cleft lip, was higher on this particular medication.

So, that was one of the -- those are some of the concerns raised back in 2010. Then they said, go back, get more safety data, bring it back to us. That's what happened yesterday. And right now the advisory panel is saying, OK, we'll go ahead and recommend to the FDA that this be approved.

But, again, this high obesity rate, I think, is really fueling the desire to find something that could work.

MALVEAUX: Sure. Now, the FDA doesn't have to follow the recommendations of the panel. So, what actually happens next? Is it likely that it's going to be approved and it will follow the recommendation and approve this?

GUPTA: You know, I've been covering these sorts of stories for a long time, and you're absolutely right, I think typically the FDA does follow what the advisory panel says. So, it used to be almost a formality. But that's changed a little bit over the last few years. One of the big questions is, they have said, look, you need to do larger scale studies, find the safety data on larger groups of people, more varied groups of people and come back to us.

The question is, will the FDA approve before those larger studies come back or will they make them wait another three years or so, which is how long it will probably take, and get those studies back, first. So, we don't know the answer to that. If they approve first, this could happen as quickly as April, so just a couple of months away.

MALVEAUX: really?

GUPTA: Yeah.

MALVEAUX: OK.

GUPTA: Yeah, could move fast.

MALVEAUX: All right. We'll be following that. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.

GUPTA: You got it.

MALVEAUX: And of course, this weekend, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's going to go in depth on why the battle against drug and alcohol addiction is so hard. Join him, this Saturday and Sunday morning, 7:30 a.m. Eastern, for a special edition of "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D."

Here's some more of the rundown, stories that we're covering over the next hour. First, we got responses from the "Talk Back Question," Should contraception be a campaign issue in 2012?

Then, more journalists injured in the intense fighting in Syria. We're going to talk to a veteran reporter about what it's like to work in a war zone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Google knows almost everything about you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Privacy advocates, they're upset over a new Google policy, pretty much tracks every move you make on its site.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The other Republican candidates went after Rick Santorum aggressively last night in Arizona, it was debate night. Santorum was feeling frontrunner heat.

ROMNEY: While I was fighting to save the Olympics, you were fighting to save the bridge to nowhere.

(APPLAUSE)

RICK SANTORUM, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You are entitled to your opinions, Mitt, you're not entitled to the -- you know, to misrepresent...

ROMNEY: I've heard that line before. I've hear that before...

(CROSSTALK)

SANTORUM: To misrepresent the facts. And you're misrepresenting the facts. You don't know what you're talking about.

Yes, Governor, you balanced the budget for four years. You have a constitutional requirement to balance the budget for four years, no great shakes. I'm all for it. I'd like to see it fairly, but don't go around bragging about something you have to do. Michael Dukakis balanced the budget for 10 years. Does that make him qualified to be president of the United States? I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right, lots of heat going on. Arizona's Republican primary is this coming Tuesday, same day as Michigan's primary. One short note for Michigan, biggest daily newspaper in Detroit, the "Detroit Free Press" announced its support today for Mitt Romney, it's his second endorsement from a major Michigan paper, this week.

Here's a chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. Where are the women? That is a question that many asked when a Republican congressman held a hearing on the president's birth control coverage policy, didn't have any women on the panel.

Well today, House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, she's holding her own hearing and the one woman who was turned away last week, is the only witness. Carol Costello, she's here with today's "Talk Back."

Carol, you've got a lot of people, you know, are scratching their heads like, what is going on?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I don't know. I mean, birth control, a political football in 2012? And you thought the price of gas would be front and center. After all, it shot up three cents this morning. Yes, gas prices have been brought up, but not heat he hardly talked about like contraception. During last night's debate, the question on birth control got on Newt Gingrich's nerves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just want to point out, you did not once, in the 2008 campaign, not once did anyone in the elite media ask why Barack Obama voted in favor of legalizing infanticide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Note to Mr. Gingrich, this elite media type did a lengthy story on Mr. Obama's voting record on the Illinois Born Alive Infant's Protection Act, but I like Mr. Gingrich, digress. Back to birth control.

Some Republicans say it's an important political issue because they say Mr. Obama's contraception rules force religious institutions to provide contraception to their employees, despite their religious beliefs, something that Mr. Gingrich has brought up repeatedly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: I, frankly, don't care what deal he tries to cut, this is a man who is deeply committed -- if he wins re-election, he will wage war on the Catholic Church the morning after he's re- elected. We cannot trust him. We should -- we know who he really is and we should make sure the country knows who he really is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Of course, that rhetoric does not mean Gingrich or any other Republican candidate is fighting to ban birth control -- they're not. Still, Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, is holding an unofficial hearing on women's reproductive rights, today, starring the Georgetown University law student who was barred from testifying at last week's Republican-lead hearing on reproductive rights and religious liberty.

So, I end where I began. Birth control, a political football in 2012? The "Talk Back" question for you today: Should contraception be a campaign issue? Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments, later this hour.

MALVEAUX: All right, Carol, it's does seem kind of surprising that is something that 2012 folks are debating, but obviously, some people find it to be a controversial issue.

COSTELLO: Well, it's all in your perspective. If you're a conservative Republican, it's all about religious liberty, if you're a Democrat or maybe an Independent, it's about barring contraceptive use for women.

MALVEAUX: All right.

COSTELLO: We'll see where our viewers land.

MALVEAUX: And let's see where the women play into all of this, as well. Obviously, their role -- people want to know what they're thinking. This is part of the conversation about women -- birth control. Thank you, Carol. Appreciate it.

COSTELLO: Sure.

MALVEAUX: New explosions, new deaths in Syria. We're also getting reports of more Western journalists now hit. A live report is coming up in an effort to get the injured journalists out, alive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Syrian forces are pushing ahead with their relentless attacks on the besieged city of Homs, that is despite a call for ceasefire so some injured journalists can get out of the flashpoint city.

Our Michael Holmes, he is covering the crisis from neighboring Lebanon.

And Michael, first of all, I understand that you've got more information about journalists who have been hurt in a series of explosions.

MICHAEL HOLMS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you heard that, the assault continuing there and it did, it went on all day today. This taking place in the neighborhood of Baba Amr, inside the city of Homs.

Now, yesterday, of course, we lost two of our colleagues. Marie Colvin, well-known to a lot of us, and also Remi Ochlik, a well-known French photographer. Well, there were two other journalists who were wounded in that same attack.

And what happened today was on the Internet video service, first word, if you like, from them, Edith Bouvier, a journalist, she's been badly wounded in her left leg, the left leg is pretty much shattered, the femur. She's being looked after by activist doctors, at the moment, but she says, and the doctor who's with her says she needs to get out, that leg is in bad shape and they can't do much more than strap it up and try to close the wounds. She does need surgery, she needs it now.

On the same video is William Daniels, a photographer, a French photographer we thought was injured, it turns out he's not. But, he is with Edith. And then a second video surfaced and that's of Paul Conroy, he's a British photographer for the "Sunday Times." He too is wounded in the left thigh, they seem to be wounds that are of the flesh, major, not bone. But he too is in a bad way and needs to get out as soon as possible.

Now Paul, was the photographer with Marie Colvin, on assignment there, when she and Remi were killed. So, they were both pleading for help to get out, saying they need to get out, need to get medical attention and asking for anyone to help them get out -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: You know, Michael, you and Arwa Damon have both been reporting about what it is like there on the ground in Syria and the fact that so many people, the Syrians, their families, they don't have the medical help that they need. Are we talking about the need to get them out within days now, within weeks?

HOLMES: Well, they need to be out within days. Yeah, there are cases there of local people who are literally bleeding to death and dying every day because of the simplest of wounds that the medical people there -- and we're talking about a doctor, there's veterinarian, there's a dentist who are trying to patch up the wounds. They just don't have the equipment, they don't have the anesthetics, they don't have the necessary material they need to patch these people up.

Looking at Edith and Paul, they seem to be in pretty good spirits, in pretty good shape. But in Edith's case, in particular, she has a double fracture of her thigh bone, her femur, running down the length of her leg. She does need to get that seen to, and pretty quick, too. One of the problems that we've seen with other injured people in those situations is that wounds start to rot and they need to have that treated, obviously -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Michael, I understand that you...

HOLMES: There's no way in and out, though.

MALVEAUX: Sure -- that you had an opportunity to speak with the family of Marie Colvin, today. What are they telling you? Clearly they must be distraught?

HOLMES: A very hard conversation to have. You know, I knew Marie well, a lot of us did, and to hear her family, to hear their strength. They're obviously devastated by this, but they knew what she did and talked to her often about the types of assignments she took on. And they spoke to me about her bravery and really her mission, as a journalist. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSEMARIE COLVIN, MARIE COLVIN'S MOTHER: I'm very proud of her, myself, that her life meant something and she was -- it was an important thing that she did in our world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. I think, yeah, we -- you know, our soldiers, our soldiers do tour of duties that are, you know, months or years or whatever, and Marie's been 25 years of that and, you know, that's, you know, an incredible tour of duty and we're all proud of her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yeah, Hard to listen to, Suzanne. Very brave people. Her brother and sister and mother there. But as I said, they knew what she was doing, they've very proud. I mean, they've seen her injured before a couple of times and so -- but, nobody expects this kind of news. A lot of us always saw her as being pretty much indestructible, so it really did stun the journalistic community -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yeah, I just can't imagine what that family is going through. Michael, please be safe. Thank you.

A little note on Google's, site says that their privacy policy is now changing. Well, they meant it. It has not got some privacy watchdogs sounding an alarm. We're going to Silicon Valley to find out why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: President Obama says he wants to protect your privacy, his administration has unveiled consumer privacy bill of rights, it's designed to give people more control over their information. It calls for transparency, giving consumers the right and easily access. It also demands respect for what the administration calls "context." It gives consumers the right to expect companies to disclose how they're going to handle their personal data, also requires companies to inform consumers about the security risks associated with handling of their personal information.

Well, for millions of Americans, maybe you, too, much of your real life depends on your online life. Here's CNN's Dan Simon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the morning I check the headlines on Google News, send personal e-mail using Google's Gmail, I may check Google Maps for driving directions. Later at work, I remember to do a Google search for plumbers. I also needed to do research for this story, more searchers. Later I'll glance at my Google calendar for appointments, upload some videos to YouTube and maybe I'll logon to Google+, the company's growing social network. And some variation of this happens almost every single day.

PETER ECKERSLEY, ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION: Google knows almost everything about you.

SIMON: That's why privacy watchdogs, like Peter Eckersley, are sounding the alarm about Google's new privacy policy. Beginning next month, the company is going to keep track of your activity across all of its sites and build a profile of you.

Google says it will use the information to improve its services. Services, where, for example, a user is more likely to get better search results.

ANNOUNCER: Well all understand that when you search for "jaguar," you're looking for a jaguar.

SIMON: Critics say the company is stomping on privacy to bluster its advertising and in turn increase its profits.

ECKERSLEY: If there are things that want to keep private about your life, those records are all in there. If there are things that you actually need to prevent other people from knowing about you, those will be in there.

SIMON: Those already nervous about the company's influence, pounced when it became known last week that Google exploited a known weakness in Apple's Safari browser, bypassing the browser's privacy settings.

JONATHAN MAYER, STANDFORD RESEARCHER: When I first found what Google was doing, I thought I had it wrong. I thought I had to have it wrong.

SIMON: Jonathan Mayer is the Stanford researcher who uncovered the Safari breach. On the surface, he says it may not seem like a serious transgression.

Google's code was being used only to target ads and users' personal information was never collected. But for some web searches believed to be private were not and that Mayer says opens the door to private information being exposed by rogue employees, internet hacking, and more.

MAYER: Does it get disclosed because an employee is evil, because that company messes up, does it get disclosed because the government demands it.

SIMON: As for the new policy, Google acknowledges that, quote, "People have different privacy concerns. Our goal is to be clear about what information we collect so that you can make meaningful choices about how it is used." The bottom line, people use Google because it offers important and useful services that are also free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, I absolutely have to trust Google. On one hand, Google is probably more trustworthy than a lot of the technology companies. But because they know so much about us, we have to hold them to a higher standard of trust.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: All right, Dan Simon live from San Francisco. So, Dan, if we're concerned about the privacy on Google, what can you do about it?

SIMON: Well, first of all, Suzanne, I would venture to guess that most people have never read a privacy policy. I myself have taken time to read very few of them. But because in many ways Google represents the center of our digital lives, I would suggest people go and read the Google's new policy and you have to actually give them credit for writing one that is pretty easy to understand.

Now there are a few things that people can do if they're concerned about their privacy. Number one, they can actually go on the Google site and there are some privacy settings and you can tweak those where you can actually edit and delete your search results.

And, second, and this is probably more important, if you have a Google account and most people do, you can actually sign out of that account and then do your web searches and then all of your searches will be anonymous.

But the bottom line here is, this is a very important story and a lot of people are paying attention to it and Google -- they really have to get out in front and let people know what is going on here -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you, Dan. Appreciate it.

Well, this is sort of go around the world, 52 trips in 52 weeks for free. That's right, for free. Hear one traveller's story as well as his tips.

Also, meet the guy who designed a $100 laptop. He's on "The Next List."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we started designing the $100 laptop, we were just looking at how do you protect the keyboard and the screen, how do children sort of carry it around?

We set aside between 10 percent and 30 percent of our work hours towards those kinds of projects. I can't tell you that that's just what made business sense every month. But I can tell you that is what made human sense every month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right, when it comes to finding a job after being laid off for three years -- three years ago, Scott Ford decided it was time for just, you know, a change of scenery. So what does he do?

He takes a trip around the world 52 trips in 52 weeks and he does it without spending a dime. I love this story. Scott is joining us from Portland, Oregon via Skype. How did you do this, Scott? Tell us a little bit about your trips.

SCOTT FORD, UNEMPLOYED WORLD TRAVELER: I simply acted as a volunteer. It was important for me when I lost my job in New York City three years ago to save every penny and the opportunity existed and I simply gave up my seat in exchange for an airline voucher.

MALVEAUX: And you kept doing this over and over and over again?

FORD: I did. It sort of became my life. I love airplanes, I love airports. And I developed the perfect strategy where I would purposely get stuck in the middle of the country earning airline vouchers.

MALVEAUX: That's awesome. Where did you go? FORD: Tokyo to Mexico City to San Juan, Puerto Rico to Amsterdam to Venice, Italy, 52 vacations in 52 weeks last year.

MALVEAUX: And you saved almost, I believe, $100,000 on this trip. How did you do that? How did you manage to do that?

FORD: Basically, airfares that were $600 or airfares that were $800, I combined airline vouchers to cover the airfare. At the same time, I also used my airline miles flown for hotels worldwide, hotel rooms that were $400 or $500 a night, simply using the mileage. It was all about the miles.

MALVEAUX: Wow. And so what were you paying for? Basically food but you had your hotel and you had airfare covered for these 52 trips?

FORD: That's correct. On all the trips out of the country, it was always $100 in my pocket with foreign currency. That was for postcards or any small expenses. It's 100 bucks.

MALVEAUX: All right, so Scott, you've got to help us out here because we all want to save a little cash here. I guess, I'm not doing it the right way, the smart way here. We want to know what you have been doing. Tell us a few tips about how to make it happen on the cheap.

FORD: Most importantly is spring break is right around the corner. We have a lot of summer trips. The airline ticket is expensive. So the family of four that vacation can be for free. It's just a simple magical words to the airline. Do you need a volunteer? Give up your seat. The vacation can be for free.

MALVEAUX: Wow. And you also mentioned as well about choosing planes that are small. Why is that?

FORD: Small planes are also important. If you pick routes, for instance, from Atlanta to Dayton, Ohio, typically the return flights going back to a hub city, those flights are always full.

Less fights, not a big plane so you have the option to be flexible by volunteering. You can get routed to Detroit. You can get routed to Minneapolis, to get to Atlanta, with the opportunity to earn a lot of money in vouchers.

MALVEAUX: And how does it actually work that you can use layovers? How does that work?

FORD: Say for instance, like I flew from New York, JFK to Los Angeles. Typically one would fly in a non-stop flight. I would do a triple connection in one day going through Denver or Chicago getting to my final destination.

MALVEAUX: Triple connection. I've never even heard of that before. Scott, you're my new hero here. I don't want to spend any more on flying. That is fantastic. Glad you had a good time, a good trip there. What's in store for you next?

FORD: I'm launching a travel web site, my very first, packabagandgo.com. I truly wanted to share my experience with the world on the experiences in travel and the beauty to travel. This has been an amazing experience and I am so blessed and thankful for this opportunity.

MALVEAUX: And Scott, there could probably be a job as well if you charge a little bit or write a book or something like that. That's fantastic, really great to talk with you. A lot of fun and I'm going to -- I'm going to take some of those tips and use them. Thank you, Scott.

FORD: Thank you for your time.

MALVEAUX: My pleasure.

Swept away in Colorado. High winds are knocking folks down as well as causing some big damage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Checking stories across country, swept away in Colorado. Take a look at these pictures. It's unbelievable here. High winds knocking people off their feet, pushing big trucks cars off the road. Wind gusts clocked between 80 and 100 miles per hour. Left behind wide spread damage and spread to at least two wildfires.

Fire fighters in Sacramento, California, had more to battle than just flames last night. A grass fire spread to a colony of beehives and crews were trying to contain that fire. They were able to do it. No word on whether any of those fire fighters got stung.

Finally in Ohio, a self-proclaimed animal rights activist is accused of targeting people who wear fur. Meredith Lowell has been charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill random people wearing fur. Lowell allegedly searched for a would-be killer on Facebook.

You are sending your responses to us on the "Talk Back" question. Should contraceptives be a campaign issue? Here's what Aaron said, "Absolutely not. I am pretty sure that the support for or against contraception will not produce more jobs. Stick to the real issues that Americans care about." More of your responses in just a moment.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the "Help Desk" where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, John Ulzheimer, the president of Consumer Education with smartcredit.com and Lynette Khalfani Cox is a 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 a loan out for the repairs?"

JOHN ULZHEIMER, PRESIDENT OF CONSUMER EDUCATION, SMARTCREDIT.COM: I love the position that they're in.

HARLOW: Yes.

ULZHEIMER: Having a house free and clear of any loan is really a nice place to be right now. I like the idea of going forward and buying the house with cash, as they had planned, and taking out what's called a HELOC, or a home equity line of credit.

HARLOW: Sure.

ULZHEIMER: A small enough HELOC so that it's not overbearing, but large enough to cover the cost of the repairs. The good news is, 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 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 under water on our mortgage. We do not have a government-backed loan. We have a V.A. loan guarantee available if we refinance. What should we do?"

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, FOUNDER, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Well, the V.A. prospect is a good option to consider. However, since they said that they don't have a government-backed loan, they might have a loan from one of the major five lenders, like Citi or Chase or 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 who are underwater, who have a loan that's held by one of those five institutions, to refinance. So this is going to be a really big thing, obviously, 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, 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 V.A. loan in order to get a low-rate loan.

HARLOW: 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)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: You've been sounding off on the "Talk Back" question, should contraception be a political campaign issue? Carol Costello, she's joining us from Washington.

So, Carol, I imagine a lot of folks weighing in today, huh? COSTELLO: Oh, yes, they're very vocal today, Suzanne.

This from Lamar. He says, "Duh? Health care is a big campaign issue and pregnancy affects a woman's health. My question as an independent voter who is conservative when it comes to abortion, why is the GOP trying to deny women contraception when 99 have used it to prevent the need for abortion?"

This from Sharon. "My generation fought for women's rights and dealt with this issue in the 60s. It's insane that birth control is even being discussed in the 21st century."

This from Ryan. "Ladies and gentlemen, stop listening to a few talking points and research the issue. This is not about Republicans, et cetera, trying to eliminate birth control access for everyone. This is about the government forcing a religious organization to go against its long held beliefs."

And this from Julia. She says, question for Republicans: "If a Christian hospital can refuse to cover birth control for employees, could they also refuse to cover treatment for obesity because gluttony is a sin?"

Thanks for your comments today. Thank you. Thank you. Facebook.com/carolcnn if you would like to continue the conversation.

MALVEAUX: All right, Carol, good to see you.

I know it's kind of that lunch hour, but even if you're really hungry, Carol, would you ever take food from the break room fridge that wasn't your own? Like somebody else's lunch?

COSTELLO: Oh, no. Never. Never.

MALVEAUX: Never. Well, that's a good thing. Because I want to show you this story. This cop. He's in Texas. He thought it was his duty to clean the community fridge at work and he's caught on camera taking his co-worker's lunch. There's a surveillance camera that's set up to watch whoever's stealing lunches. It was set up for more than a year, right. So this officer, he's caught, you know, taking sandwiches. He's suspended. Faces misdemeanor of theft charges. Right. But he's going to be back at work in March, we're told, and hopefully he's going to bring his own lunch. So he's not going to be so hungry to take somebody else's. I guess it happens --

COSTELLO: They're going to charge him? They're going to charge him for take --

MALVEAUX: They did charge -- misdemeanor. They charged him. Yes.

COSTELLO: Man, that's hard core.

MALVEAUX: So if anybody out there ever, you know, gets that urge to steal somebody else's sandwiches, don't do it.

COSTELLO: There's some blueberry yogurt in the refridge (sic) today, though, Suzanne, and I really want it. I'll try to resist, though.

MALVEAUX: It's so tempting. It's so tempting.

COSTELLO: I know.

MALVEAUX: That's why you need that little camera up there to catch whoever it is stealing the lunches. It happens everywhere. I mean, I'm telling you, Carol, White House press corps, we had a break room in the White House. Somebody was stealing sandwiches, steeling food. It happens everywhere.

COSTELLO: Oh, my gosh.

MALVEAUX: I kid you not.

COSTELLO: OK. OK. Well, we should all like post a camera there. That would solve the problem.

MALVEAUX: Yes. Get those cameras up and working or just bring your own lunch.

All right, Carol, we've got to let it go there. We're going to have more after the break. Great seeing you again.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All this week CNN NEWSROOM goes in depth sharing the stories of unique individuals across the country. People who are proud to tell CNN, "I am America." Well, today, we look at gentrification in America when middle class families move into lower income neighborhoods. We talked to two families from an Atlanta neighborhood that's seen a lot of change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUANA SLAUGHTER, LIVES IN ATLANTA'S EAST LAKE NEIGHBORHOOD: Come on, let's go up the street.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): You would have never seen Luana Slaughter taking a walk in this neighborhood a few years ago. Not this close to dark. Not with her children.

SLAUGHTER: We moved to a street, I guess, that was in transition.

MALVEAUX: There were drug sales on her block and prostitution around the corner.

SLAUGHTER: My son, at the time, was young. And I said, oh, no, we can't -- he can't go out and play.

MALVEAUX: But this Brooklyn born woman kind of knew what she was getting into. Luana and her husband were drawn to East Lake because of its diversity and historic homes.

SLAUGHTER: I grew up in a diverse neighborhood with all kinds of -- I grew up with all kinds of kids, all kinds of economic status. And I wanted that for myself and for my own children.

MALVEAUX: They heard East Lake was on an upswing. She wanted to live in a community where she could make a difference.

SLAUGHTER: So we wanted a community where we felt like we could volunteer and it was -- we could do our part as neighbors.

MALVEAUX: A local developer had torn down a housing project in East Lake. Folks referred to it as little Vietnam because it was so dangerous.

SLAUGHTER: It was a horrible housing project and I think one of the worst in the country at the time. And the whole redevelopment at East Lake included East Lake Meadows, which are now beautiful apartments and town homes, mixed income. We have our wonderful school, which is a high-performing national model for a school -- true charter school, which my children go to.

MALVEAUX: But there was lots of work left to be done to make the community safer. Home burglaries were going up as wealthier people moved in. She began going to neighborhood meetings, but hardly anyone attended. There was some distrust on the part of the older neighborhoods when the new families came in.

Natalyn Archibong is the city councilwoman whose district includes East Lake.

NATALYN ARCHIBONG, ATLANTA CITY COUNCILWOMAN: People felt it was a concerted effort to displace. That this was now an end community. And so there was not a desire to have a community but rather there was a takeover. And then to have property values escalate at a rate that outpaced their income was a very, very, very stressful time.

MALVEAUX: Freddie Reese, who's lived in her East Lake house for 46 years, was one of those older neighbors who saw their taxes double.

FREDDIE REESE, LIVES IN ATLANTA'S EAST LAKE NEIGHBORHOOD: My taxes went up tremendously. I was paying like $500 or $600. It went up to like $1,200 or $1,300. (INAUDIBLE) didn't do nothing about it because I had to ask (INAUDIBLE) and he helped me pay it (ph).

MALVEAUX: The tax burden was far too much for this 81-year-old retired nurse practioner to handle on her own. But even though Miss Reese is being hit hard financially, she feels pretty good about the neighborhood renewal. As a past president of the neighborhood association, she continues to volunteer and show up at the meetings. She's seen a lot of change in the neighborhood since 1966.

REESE: When I moved here, it was real, real good. But I lived to see some bad changes in this neighborhood. Real bad changes. I mean, bad enough to want to but you didn't have nowhere to go. A lot of nights we had to sleep on the floor where the shoe (ph) jumping over the fence.

MALVEAUX: But change was coming once again. After the housing project was torn down and rebuilt as mixed income, the neighborhood was looking up. People were buying up houses and rehabing them.

REESE: It is real good as of right now. I hope it don't ever change again.

MALVEAUX: Luana Slaughter started a community policing program when she moved in, using membership dues for off-duty police officers to focus on East Lake.

SLAUGHTER: They go to the neighbor's doors. They get to know their neighbors.

REESE: I really appreciate that because I think it could (INAUDIBLE) a lot of other houses around here too.

MALVEAUX: They got to know who the bad characters were and neighbors even showed up at their court dates to put pressure on the judge not to put them back on the streets. Today, Luana is happy with East Lake, and so is her neighbor, Miss Reese.

REESE: It had been kind of nice. You know, everybody seems to be very friendly. Everybody's outgoing. Everybody will welcome your dogs (ph).

SAWYER: Luana Slaughter and Freddie Reese, they are America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Fredricka Whitfield.

Hey, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks so much, Suzanne. Have a great day.

MALVEAUX: You too.