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Gas Prices Rising; Eight More Killed in Koran Burning Protests; Mitt Romney's Bail-Out Views Assailed in Detroit; Widow Kicked Out of Murder Trial; Chef Lives With Type 1 Diabetes; Hoop Star's Battle With Addiction; MVP's 50-Game Suspension Overturned; Web Giants Agree on "No Track" Button

Aired February 24, 2012 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now this:

And we continue on, top of the hour. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Gas prices, yes, we're talking about it again, inching up. Every time you blink, right, they go up. Also, continued rage over the Koran burnings despite a U.S. apology. And nasty weather threatening your weekend fun.

Time to play "Reporter Roulette."

Straight to Washington we go to Lizzie O'Leary.

We're talking gas prices. They jumped three cents a gallon from yesterday to a national average of $3.65 a gallon. I think I know the answer, but I'm going to ask. Why? Why, Lizzie O'Leary, have they gone up?

LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN AVIATION AND REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: I wish I could give you the political sound bite the politicians want, but it's just not that simple.

The reason is the world is big. There are three things driving this, and that is essentially the price of oil that's influenced by Iran and the Middle East, supply and demand. You have a lot of people, certainly in India and China, who are getting richer than they have ever been before, using more, and then speculators.

It sounds like an evil word. Sometimes it means banks and hedge funds, but often it means the investments that you and I and anybody who has a pension hold. Pension funds, remember, betting the oil markets just like everybody else. These aren't just people who are actually going to use oil at the end but people who make money on the price of oil going up and down.

So even if you're paying more at the pump, it's also possible that your retirement fund is earning some money because the underlying price of oil is going up.

BALDWIN: OK. So sort of a silver lining.

O'LEARY: Sort of.

BALDWIN: Tell me where my money goes when I pay for gas.

O'LEARY: Most of your money goes to oil, crude oil. When you look at what makes up, say, your regular old pump worth of gasoline, there you see it, a little money for taxes, a little money for marketing the product, moving it around the country. That depends on where you are.

Some for refining, making oil into gas. But there you go, 76 percent comes from oil. We all know the price of oil is very high right now, largely because of those other factors we were talking about, certainly tension in the Middle East always a big one. We looked at these numbers for 10 years ago, and, Brooke, what was driving it then, only 37 percent, in the 30s, really, 10 years ago was made up of the price of oil. That's really the big determinant here.

When oil moves, gas prices move with it. There's not a supply squeeze here in the U.S. We're not using as much, and there's actually so much extra gas sitting around, refiners are exporting it to other countries, where they're happy to pay for it.

BALDWIN: And it's the fear of the market going up, up, up.

Lizzie O'Leary, thank you so much from Washington, D.C.

Next on "Reporter Roulette" to Nick Paton Walsh in Kabul, Afghanistan, where President Obama's apology has really done very little to calm the violent protest against the burning of Korans at a NATO base -- Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, violent protest showing no sign of letting up on this, the fourth straight day in a row many Afghans out in the street in protests that were initially peaceful but obviously not heeding the calls from Afghan authorities for restraint.

In the west of the country, in Herat, a series of demonstrations, one of which outside the U.S. continent in which police clashed with protesters left across the province a total of six people dead, 60 injured, one person dying in protest in the north of the country, another dying in the east. In the capital here of Kabul, police firing over the heads of a crowd moving towards the presidential palace.

A total of 70 people injured in the capital today in these protests. So deep concerns, really, about tomorrow, about whether -- people appear to be coming out day after day despite these freezing temperatures in Kabul and certainly in much of Afghanistan, whether this fury could ever really be tempered, particularly given that President Barack Obama has now apologized and the Afghan authorities as I say have appealed for calm at this particular point.

We also heard today though from NATO Commander General John Allen, a man normally very calm, considered, who visited troops at a base where yesterday two Americans were shot by a man in Afghan army uniform working it seems in conjunction with the protest against this Koran burning that was outside. He delivered a very impassioned address to troops there. Let's hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. JOHN ALLEN, COMMANDER, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ASSISTANCE FORCES: There will be moments like this when you're searching for the meaning of this loss.

There will be moments like this when your emotions are governed by anger and a desire to strike back. These are the moments when you reach down inside and you grip the discipline that makes you a United States soldier. And you gut through the pain, and you gut through the anger, and you remember why we are here. We're here for our friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: I think you can hear there in the frustration, perhaps, in John Allen's voice how many NATO officials may be feeling after days of protest and violence.

They are on a tight timetable to convince the world and Afghans that this place is getting safer, that NATO troops can withdrawal, that Afghan security forces can take over. And now what they admit was a simple, unintentional mistake, this accidental burning of the Koran, is meaning that day by day they're dealing with these violent protests that show no signs of letting up and are really distracting people from the urgent task at hand and that's NATO troops handing over to Afghan forces here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick Paton Walsh north of Kabul, Nick, thank you.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: That's your "Reporter Roulette" on this Friday.

Coming up, the head of an Army hospital in Washington State -- it's one of the biggest in the West -- under investigation for reportedly not diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, in American veterans. Why? Because it costs too much. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Did you hear about this, this week yet? The head of a U.S. Army hospital was placed on leave this month amid complaints from troops who had evaluations for PTSD -- that's post-traumatic stress syndrome -- the hospital is connected to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State.

That is a major source of troops for both the wars in Iraq and also in Afghanistan. Suggestions have arisen that medical evaluations may have been skewed by the Army's concerns over the cost, the cost of claims from troops diagnosed with PTSD.

I want to play you some sound. This is what a ranking member of Congress is saying about this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NORM DICKS (D), WASHINGTON: It was found that the Navy and the Air Force had a higher rate of disability than the Army. That's hard to conceive of, being more concerned about money, frankly, than the soldiers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to bring in from Washington Tom Tarantino, an Iraq war veteran and deputy policy director for the IAVA. That's the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Tom, thanks for coming on.

I know you can't speak for the Army, but you can for vets. What, if anything, can you tell me about this situation at that hospital in Washington State and the complaints from soldiers?

TOM TARANTINO, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA: Right.

Overall, it's unacceptable. Frankly, as a veteran, it's insulting. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a real problem. Granted, the vast majority of people who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan do not suffer from PTSD, but for those who do, it can be very serious.

It's already hard enough to go and seek treatment for something like post-traumatic stress disorder. And when people hear something like this, it makes it even harder. The fact that they're concerned that this is going to cost too much, aside from just being completely disrespectful to the service of the men and women who need help, it also shows that they don't really understand these issues.

If someone is suffering from an invisible injury, not treating them up front, it's actually much more expensive later down the line if that condition goes untreated. So not only is it smart fiscal policy, but it's also part of the responsibility we have to the men and women who sign up to join our military.

BALDWIN: But what about the Army on the whole? Because we heard the impassioned sound from Congressman Dicks, right, that the Pentagon may be putting cost ahead of soldiers' health.

We did reach out to the Army. I just want to read their statement and they're saying this -- quote -- "The U.S. Army Medical Command is committed to ensuring that soldiers get the best quality care possible on the battlefield and at home. Currently, the U.S. Army Medical Command and the Western Regional Medical Command are conducting investigations into these inquiries and concerns regarding soldiers' PTSD diagnoses."

Tom, do you buy the assertion that the Army is committed to the best possible care for our troops? Do you buy that?

TARANTINO: Overall, yes, I do, because the Army, especially in the last four or five years, has gotten much better at this. We have to take a step back.

First of all, this is one hospital, one incident. It's a fairly significant one and the consequences should be very, very severe for these people who were putting other concerns above the lives and the well-being of American soldiers.

However, we have to understand that the military as a whole has gotten much better at dealing with these issues, and frankly, they are trying, although they're not quite there yet, to make up for some of the failures of the past, where early on in these conflicts, people with invisible injuries, post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, were not getting the care and services they need.

We have since through a lot of time and work both from the military, from Congress and from the veterans community has helped bring that level of care up to where it is today, but honestly, we still do have a long way to go.

BALDWIN: A long way to go, but I want to ask you about the price of PTSD, and I'm talking dollars and cents, because when you read this "L.A. Times" story, and they obtained this memo from the Army. According to this memo, one Army doctor, he is connected to this Joint Base Lewis-McChord, he cautioned his fellow colleagues that a PTSD diagnosis could cost the Army $1.5 million. This is for one soldier over the course of his or her lifetime, $1.5 million. Does that sound accurate to you?

TARANTINO: Possibly.

I'm not an economist or a doctor, but, you know, the right answer to that isn't doesn't that sound right? The right answer is so what? This is a young man or woman who has put their life on the line for this country, and has gotten a wound while in combat. We have a moral, practical and legal obligation to take care of them when they come home, and cost shouldn't factor into that.

When you go to war, you make a promise to these men and women. And, ultimately, when you think long term, this affects the entire military. If the American public is not convinced that our government and our country is not going to take care of our service members when they come home, they're just not going to join the military. So this incident, if taken out, can really, really be detrimental to the armed forces as a whole.

BALDWIN: Let me throw this at you because there has also been some concern on the flip side. Some have seen, perhaps, some members of the military, they're angling for the highest paying diagnosis in terms of the disability claims. They want the cash that comes with the PTSD diagnosis and they're perfectly fine. Is that suspicion valid?

TARANTINO: So what?

Yes, are -- a few people might want to game the system? I don't care.

BALDWIN: You don't care?

(CROSSTALK)

TARANTINO: I don't care if two or three people are going to game the system if that means the five or 10 who need help aren't going to be afraid to get it. That doesn't matter.

What we have to do is focus on taking care of the service members who need help as early on as possible so that they can readjust back into civilian life or go back into service. So if a few people are clever enough to figure out a way to game the system, so what, because ultimately what this is about is taking care of service members and that should be the primary concern, not trying to figure out how to regulate the exceptions.

BALDWIN: Tom Tarantino, the IAVA, Tom, thank you.

TARANTINO: Thank you.

BALDWIN: We are told there are more than 9,000 people now, 9,000, who have been murdered on the streets of Syria, including innocent families.

But breaking today, women and children are being evacuated. This is brand-new information. We will have it for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In Syria today, the Red Cross says rescue crews are finally being allowed to evacuate the wounded along with sick women and children from the beleaguered city of Homs.

And this news comes as world powers are gathering in Tunisia to try to map out an end to this conflict. For more than a year, we have watched this, the Syrian government continuing to shell civilian homes in its crackdown on anti-government protests. The number today, 90 -- 90 people have been killed.

I want to bring in Michael Holmes. He is live in neighboring Beirut there, neighbor Beirut in Lebanon.

Michael, we have this news. Right? The Red Cross says it's finally being allowed to evacuate the sick and the wounded, but does that mean anybody has actually been removed yet?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Actually, I can tell you that, yes, seven people have been taken out of that problematic sealed-off neighborhood of Homs, Baba Amr.

This has happened in the last few hours. The Red Crescent, Syrian Red Crescent has been permitted to go into that neighborhood. They have picked up seven people, we understand women and children who are among the most seriously injured in that neighborhood.

And they have taken them out and to a hospital still in the city of Homs, but out of that battered and bruised neighborhood of Baba Amr. This comes after hours and days of negotiating to try to get some sort of humanitarian assistance to the wounded inside that -- it has been days now, nearly three weeks, in fact three weeks tomorrow, of continuous bombardment of Baba Amr.

It was brought to the fore in the last couple of days when we had the American journalist Marie Colvin and the French photographer Remi Ochlik who were killed in that shelling of the media center in Baba Amr. There were two other journalists who were wounded, one of them very badly, by that shelling. And they have been wanting to get them out as well.

That's what really brought it into the wider public, if you like, that they needed to get those people out and into surgery. What's happened is that the Red Crescent has gone in. They haven't brought out the journalists, according to our sources, yet, but they are bringing out some of the worst injured civilians. Only seven so far. It's just the beginning. Hopefully this will go on in the hours and perhaps days to come to get out the worst of the injured -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Hopefully so. That is seven and that is out of who knows how many people who need help. Michael Holmes for us in Beirut, Michael, thank you.

Coming up next: Talk about dramatic video here of race car driver Danica Patrick crashing in her Daytona NASCAR debut.

And this guy over here, meteorologist Rob Marciano, normally covering weather, hey.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good to see you.

BALDWIN: Hello. He's hanging around this afternoon because you had kind of a cool assignment recently.

MARCIANO: I did, speaking of NASCAR and the Daytona 500.

BALDWIN: We will be right back. So cool.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

about A frightening finish for Danica Patrick in her Daytona NASCAR review. Ouch. Patrick, on the last lap in one of the qualifying races yesterday got caught up in an accident. You saw her slamming into that wall. There's the inside. Good thing they had those helmets, huh?

She wasn't hurt. She already has qualified for Sunday's big Daytona 500.

And speaking of racing, you may think of my buddy Rob Marciano here as a guy who chases hurricanes, stands out in knee-deep snow to do weather for us.

You're just such a tough guy, Rob Marciano.

MARCIANO: Yes, so tough. BALDWIN: So tough.

Apparently you're a bit of a NASCAR fan.

MARCIANO: Who knew?

BALDWIN: Who? Not I.

MARCIANO: I do love it.

BALDWIN: We're getting ready for the big Daytona race.

Let's see what trouble you got into.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: We're at Roush Fenway Racing, where they're prepping three teams for Daytona. Today we get to spend time with the Carl Edwards 99 pit crew to see how they make it happen.

That was fast. What is the goal here, how many seconds?

ANDY WARD, FENWAY RACING PIT CREW CRASH: We just shoot 11: 50 in practice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to be your instructor. You have your left hand here and then when he pulls it out -- how much does the tire weigh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 65 pounds. I have been changing diapers, if it's more than nine pounds, I can't lift it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got the job already. Jack man leaves, run through traffic. Playing "Frogger."

MARCIANO: Playing "Frogger," good analogy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 25 seconds Rob. Very good.

You look a little intimidated running out in front of a race car.

MARCIANO: It's coming in hot. I was afraid he wouldn't stop.

17 team now in for pit practice, the 99 team in the waiting room. Hey, you're the strength guy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am the strength guy.

TODD: I need some help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Have a seat here.

MARCIANO: How often do these guys train?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They train twice a week doing full body strength training workouts and then they train two other times a week doing conditioning with us.

MARCIANO: First and foremost their best abilities are they abilities.

Obviously NASCAR is a long season. They do a lot of pit stops

MARCIANO: I can see why you can build a championship team.

All right. This is one of the cars that Carl's going to be running down in Daytona. What are the things that we're working on today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today we're working on set up stuff. I'm going to have you check the air pressure. We're going to set the heights and we'll get this thing dialed in.

MARCIANO: All of what you're showing me here is this incredibly precise serious engineering. A lot of people say that they're just driving around in circles. I mean that's got to drive you bananas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To make a 3400 pound car turn left at 200 miles an hour. I mean it takes a little bit to make that happen.

MARCIANO: What kind of tricks do you have up your sleeve first for Daytona this year. ?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can't say.

MARCIANO: Come on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Dude, you were kind of struggling with that 65-pound tire.

MARCIANO: Trust me, my chiropractor is in business for a couple of years. It was heavy. It's awkward. I clocked the guy in the head with the thing.

BALDWIN: Nice job.

MARCIANO: You said they do it fast, they have to be strong, they work out.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I had no idea they trained.

MARCIANO: They train hard. They do that, the pit training in the morning, and then they go to the gym. And then most of those guys, at least at Roush Fenway Racing, actually work on the cars, so they're engineers and/or mechanics, so they're athletes and they're smart and know how the car works.

BALDWIN: And did Edwards' team qualified for the pole?

MARCIANO: Yes. You saw the car that I was working on.

BALDWIN: Right.

MARCIANO: It was that car and another car, and those two cars, one of which actually won the poll.

I don't think I had anything to do with that.

BALDWIN: You're so into this.

MARCIANO: Totally, absolutely.

BALDWIN: Awesome.

MARCIANO: Danica is going to run the thing, and there's six guys that go over the walls, we like to say. There is a total of, I think, 21 that are in the pits during game day, but they have got like a farm system of about 70 guys that are just kind of working their way up through the ranks. It's definitely more of a team sport than you would expect.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Had no idea. Nice job.

MARCIANO: Hey, thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: All right, see you next time.

MARCIANO: See you at Daytona.

BALDWIN: All right, deal.

Coming up here, here we go, days before huge primaries in the presidential race, Mitt Romney makes a big speech today in Michigan on his plans on the economy.

And Joe Johns is in Detroit for us.

Joe, did the governor reveal anything new?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think yes.

First, you said it was a big speech and that's the way the campaign certainly saw it. It was a huge speech when you consider the venue. The venue where he gave this was the Ford Field, the 65,000- seat football field where the Detroit Lions play.

Now, obviously, campaigns try not to put their candidate in gigantic rooms like that because the crowd looks to be swallowed up. And that's sort of what happened, but the campaign really didn't have any choice on that. The Detroit Economic Club held this, and, as you know, they basically had a smaller room, and then they had to move to a larger room because they sold out, and that's where he ended up.

That said Mitt Romney really thought this was a huge deal, and he said as much during the speech. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I have described, I believe, are economic plans that will strengthen America and strengthen Michigan.

By making bold cuts in spending and commonsense entitlement reforms, we will make our government simpler, smaller, and smarter. Through pro-growth policies, we are going to get our economy back on track and get our citizens back to work. And taken together, the plan I'm proposing represents the biggest fundamental change to the federal government in modern history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Honestly, though, he was sort of restating a lot of stuff he said before on the campaign trail, reducing the tax on everybody, getting rid of the Alternative Minimum Tax, getting rid of the death tax, changing entitlements, so a lot of things we have heard before on the campaign trail -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let's talk, though, Joe, about the people in Detroit who are not at all happy with Romney. We have video. These are the union protesters in Detroit today. What are they protesting? Well, they're upset. They're upset over Romney, over his op-ed from last year, they -- because he had suggested that the U.S. should Detroit go bankrupt. So they're angry.

JOHNS: Right. They're absolutely angry about it. But I mean, I think you also have to say that the Romney campaign says, Look, he didn't write the headline. It was in "The New York Times." And they say what he supported was a managed bankruptcy, which they say is roughly the kind of thing the administration was looking for and ended up getting.

Still, there are people here who just do not like Romney's policies and the way he talks about the auto bail-out. And these were, of course, members of United Auto Workers union right here in town.

Romney has also been critical of organized labor overall, and certainly, that's a reflection of sort of the animus you see there in the streets this morning here in Detroit. I'd say a couple hundred people maybe, 250, something like that.

BALDWIN: OK.

JOHNS: Halfway decent-sized crowd.

BALDWIN: OK, halfway decent inside and outside. Joe Johns, thank you. Remember that primary in Michigan and also Arizona next Tuesday. We're all over it. Thank you so much. Coming up, the woman whose husband was shot and killed outside their children's day care, broad daylight. He gets -- she -- she gets banned from the court, thrown out. She is the main witness! What did she do? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The main witness so far in the Dunwoody, Georgia, day care murder trial is banned from the courthouse. This is the latest twist here in a trial that has already seen claims of seeing an angel that looks like Olivia Newton-John and a demon that sounds like Barry White.

Sunny Hostin back with us this hour "On the Case." And we're not talking about some random witness who was tossed out of the courthouse. I mean, this woman is integral to the trial. She's the victim's widow. I can't imagine this happens very often.

SUNNY HOSTIN, FMR. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It really doesn't. I mean, this is just extraordinary, Brooke. It's remarkable. I mean -- and it doesn't happen because witnesses listen to the judge, they listen to prosecutors when they were instructed not to have any contact with other witnesses.

Well, this witness, Andrea Sneiderman, as you mentioned, the widow of the victim in this case, doesn't seem to get it. She doesn't seem to listen. Perhaps she doesn't want to. But right there in the courtroom, after one of her friends testified, she hugged her friend in front of the jury. You see it right here.

But then, Brooke, she follows it outside and says to the woman, You are no longer my friend since you don't believe me. And that is because Andrea has just completely, completely stated and denied that she did not have an affair with this defendant, and her friend said that while she wants to believe that, in her heart, she really doesn't believe that. She believes they did have an affair. And Brooke, there is a lot of evidence coming in that there may have, indeed, been an affair in this case.

BALDWIN: OK.

HOSTIN: So this was really just remarkable. She's not only blocked from speaking to other witnesses now or from the courtroom, she's barred from the courthouse.

BALDWIN: Wow!

HOSTIN: And that's just something you just don't see.

BALDWIN: So back when she was in the courthouse and on the stand, she was really hammered by the prosecution. You know, you'd think she was the one on trial. What's the point in that? What are they trying to prove?

HOSTIN: Well, the prosecution is trying to prove that this was a premeditated, planned murder by Hemy Neuman, the defendant, and that is because he was having an affair with Andrea Sneiderman, and he wanted another man's wife, and so he killed that other man. That is the prosecution's theory of the case.

Now, of course, the defense in this case is saying, That's not true. There was no affair. He is out of his mind. He suffered from delusions, and he just thought perhaps that there was an affair. He was deluded when he thought there was an affair. And that sort of dovetails quite nicely with Andrea Sneiderman denying the affair. And so the prosecution I think is trying to show the jury that an affair, indeed, did occur.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you so much.

In today's "Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with celebrity chef and cookbook author Sam Talbot about living with type 1 diabetes. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Sam Talbot, making healthy food taste good has been important for a long time, long before fans around the country got to know him as a contestant on the TV show "Top Chef."

SAM TALBOT, "TOP CHEF" SEASON 2 SEMIFINALIST: I started my first job. I was probably 13 years old. I started off as a dishwasher and then I moved my way up to a busboy, and then I was cooking pizzas when I was 14. And then my first professional job, I was about 15 years old.

GUPTA (on camera): Naturally good at cooking?

TALBOT: Naturally. Yes. It just is one of those God-given abilities, I think, you know? I remember being, like, 8 years old and going to the farmers' market with my grandmother and getting eggs and making scrambled eggs and all those types of things that an 8-year-old not -- you know, doesn't necessarily just pick up.

GUPTA: You said your food is generally pretty healthy?

TALBOT: I am a person living with type 1 diabetes, right, but I'm not necessarily cooking for diabetics all the time.

GUPTA: When you got diagnosed, you were 12 years old. What do you remember? Were you not feeling well or...

TALBOT: You know, my uncle, my mom's brother, was diabetic. So a lot of the same symptoms that happen when you're becoming (INAUDIBLE) diagnosed, things were happening to me. And my mother obviously had seen them from growing up with her brother.

So one night, you know, I used the bathroom, like, 15 times over the course of a 10-hour sleeping period. My mom took me to the hospital. We went to the emergency room, and they checked my blood sugar and my blood sugar was, like, 980. It was crazy.

GUPTA: Normal is usually below 100 or...

TALBOT: Normal is, like, 80 to 120 or something, and mine was 900 -- 980, I think. And my mom burst into tears. So she took me across the street to Friendly's, and we got a bunch of sundaes and ice cream, and now my blood sugar was probably through the roof, whatever. But she was, like, you know, Do this now because you're never going to be able to do it again.

And from that moment on -- I was 12 -- I really made it, like, a lifetime goal of mine to never have to say that to anybody and to never have to live within a certain parameter.

GUPTA: How much of your life is dictated by, you know, measuring your sugars and your diabetes overall?

TALBOT: I mean, you know, we both wake up in the morning. We both shower. We both brush our teeth. I just have a few more steps that I have to go through. And that is my life.

GUPTA (voice-over): Talbot's motto is "cook nice," food that makes sense for the mind, body and soul. He shares his philosophy and his recipes in his new cookbook -- it's called "The Sweet Life" -- which he says is for everyone, not just those living with diabetes.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: From basketball player to cocaine addict. Chris Herren battled addiction for 14 years, and he won. His story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Our in-depth report on addiction today is the story of this one-time basketball star whose rise to the rarefied NBA obscured a personal hell. You name it, cocaine, oxycontin, even heroin, Chris Herren used all of it while playing for Boston college, later played in Fresno, later played for his hometown team, the Celtics. Chris Herren's story shows addiction doesn't discriminate. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chris Herren is back on the court.

CHRIS HERREN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: Two minutes left. My name's called in the starting line-up.

CARROLL: But this one-time rising basketball star is not performing the way he had once imagined.

HERREN: My first memory as a Boston Celtic was hanging on the street corner, waiting for oxycontin.

CARROLL: Herren is speaking to students at Pingree School in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, talking about who he really is. (on camera): How do you define who you are?

HERREN: I'm a recovering drug addict, extremely grateful, grateful for one day at a time.

CARROLL (voice-over): In a basketball town like Fall River, Massachusetts, Herren was the answer to all those who dreamed of making it. A 2,000-point scorer at Durfee High School, a McDonald's All-American, a "Sports Illustrated" darling, all before Herren started for Boston College.

HERREN: I was just like every other kid. You know, I was an athlete. I went out on Friday and Saturday nights thinking, you know, this is what high school kids do. And I just took it one step further than most.

A dollar bill was handed to me, and at 18 years old, I snorted my first line of cocaine.

CARROLL: Three failed drug tests, and a year later his career at Boston College was over. But Herren wasn't out of the game. He landed at Fresno State, the Denver Nuggets, then with his hometown Boston Celtics. But his drug use escalated, turning to deadly overdoses.

HERREN: I woke up in the back of an ambulance. The police officer cuffed me and said, My man, you were just dead 30 seconds ago.

In the world of addiction, you hate yourself, you know, so escape yourself. So whatever drug's in front of me, I'm going to take because I don't like being me.

CARROLL: After years of abusing heroin, cocaine and prescription drugs, after losing his career and nearly his family, Herren finally accepted help through a 12-step program, his troubled past detailed in the book "Basketball Junkie." He's been sober since August 1st, 2008.

(on camera): Three years sober.

HERREN: Three-and-a-half.

CARROLL: Three-and-a-half.

HERREN: Don't cheat me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) former NBA basketball player and Boston Celtics (INAUDIBLE) Chris Herren!

CARROLL (voice-over): Speaking about addiction is therapy for Herren, taking his story to schools word nationwide and reaching out to people like Luke Szarythe and his father. Luke has had trouble with alcohol.

LUKE SZARYTHE, COLLEGE SENIOR: It's helped put a perspective on, you know, this is a path where I can take from this point.

CARROLL: It took Herren 14 years to find his path sobriety.

(on camera): Do you ever think to yourself what could have been?

HERREN: Who cares? Who cares? Honest to God, why should I care? Because it's -- I'm too happy where my feet are today to worry about my footprints behind me.

CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: And Chris was good enough to talk to me on Monday. Here's our interview. Just go to my blog, CNN.com/brooke, and we'll tweet it out, as well, my Twitter handle @Brookebcnn.

We are just now getting some news out of San Francisco. Apparently, there has been some sort of checkpoint issue at the San Francisco airport. They have closed -- closed one of the checkpoints. We're getting information. We'll pass it along after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the "Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, John Ulzheimer is the president of consumer education with Smartcredit.com. Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is a personal finance author and founder of the financial advice blog AskTheMoneyCoach.com. Guys, thank you both for being here.

Lynnette, your question comes from Kiana (ph) in Arizona. She's 22. She's new to investing. She's got a checking and savings account, and a savings account for her son, but she wants to ensure she's going to have enough money for her son to go to college and for her to retire. What should she do?

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, FOUNDER, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Well, she should approach this issue as a two-pronged strategy because there really are two goals, save for retirement on her own via a 401(k) plan or a 403(b) plan on the job, or maybe even an IRA, where she starts, because she's so young...

HARLOW: Right.

KHALFANI-COX: ... she's got four decades plus until retirement, and then separately save for her son through a 529 plan. That's a state-sponsored college savings vehicle.

Some parents, you know, make the choice of just funding a 529 plan and forgetting about their retirement.

HARLOW: Right.

KHALFANI-COX: You don't want to do that. You really do have to do both. And kudos to her for starting off at such a young age. HARLOW: A young age. Good on her. All right, John, your question comes from Shannon (ph) in Michigan. Shannon wrote in to us, "I'm 26. I have $30,000 in debt, $10,000 in student loans. Some accounts on my credit report are over six years old. Should I file for bankruptcy?" So she's really got $40,000 outstanding here.

JOHN ULZHEIMER, SMARTCREDIT.COM CONSUMER ED. PRES.: I can think of two reasons why she should not file for bankruptcy. First off, student loan debt is not statutorily dischargeable in a bankruptcy, so it's going to be worthless to file bankruptcy for the student loan debt.

Second, in Michigan, it is not legal to collect or sue to collect debt that is older than six years old. And it sounds like most of it is older than six years old. So she might be actually scot-free. And in one more year, all that stuff is going to fall off her credit reports because you can only maintain that negative debt for seven years on a credit report.

HARLOW: Yes. Good advice. Thank you very much. If you have a question you want answered, just send us an e-mail any time to CNNhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, let me get to that news out of San Francisco. Here's what we know. CNN has confirmed that a security checkpoint, checkpoint C, if you're familiar with SFO, San Francisco's airport, has been shut down. This particular wing services Delta. So heads up if you do have a flight.

The bomb squad is investigating a suspicious package. We are also told at least one person is being interviewed. Flights, though, still on schedule. Updates, obviously, as soon as we get them there out of San Francisco airport.

Now to this. This is the first time a major legal baseball player has argued a drug suspension and won. And it's not just any player here. We're talking about Ryan Braun, the National League MVP. He will be in the lineup when the season starts for the Milwaukee Brewers in just a couple of weeks.

An arbitration panel overturned his 50-game suspension for testing positive for elevated testosterone levels back in October. But here's the reason why. Braun's urine sample took two days to get to the lab, when the rules say it has to happen on that same day. Braun views this as a complete vindication.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN BRAUN, MILWAUKEE BREWERS: The system and the way that it was applied to me in this case was fatally flawed. The initial test result in question was on October 1st. It was a playoff game. I was made aware of the positive test result on October 19th, at which point I had a conversation with the Players Association. I expressed to them that I have not done anything that could have possibly led to this test result.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Mel Antonen on the phone, contributor for Sportsillustrated.com. And Mel, does this finally put the questions, the speculation about Braun -- does it put it to rest?

MEL ANTONEN, CONTRIBUTOR, SI.COM (via telephone): It doesn't put it to rest at all. I think there's going to be a debate because while there was problems with the shipping, you have to remember that in his appeal, Braun didn't argue evidence of tampering. He didn't dispute the science or the medical evidence. He just argued protocol.

So the issue is done as far as major league baseball is concerned, but I think in the eyes of the fans, there's going to be some debate.

BALDWIN: Now, a little bit of history. Braun reportedly offered to give this DNA sample that could be compared to the tested urine sample. Why didn't the MLB accept it? I presume that's part of what helped him win this.

ANTONEN: Well, that's a good question. Major league baseball declined. However, that's other reports that said that Braun's side backed off an offer to take a DNA test, as well. That's sourced (ph) material, very difficult to nail down at this point. So there's a lot of speculation on the DNA testing. Nobody knows for sure. And it's just been hard to nail down because it's all sourced -- it's all sourced material.

BALDWIN: Right. And I know the MLB, they're not commenting on record. But have you heard from any of our league sources? Is the league itself convinced that this was an untainted sample?

ANTONEN: Well, major league baseball is in charge of the drug testing, and they were part of it and they believe that it was untainted -- that it was an untainted sample. They believe that it was taped three times in the FedEx package and the bottle and all that. So they believe that -- that it was -- that there was reason to think that there was tampering.

However, because it sat for roughly over the weekend, 44 hours, Braun's lawyer made the case that it could have been tampered with. But major league baseball's argument is that it was -- there was no evidence that this was tampered with.

BALDWIN: They say it was sealed three times. Nevertheless, they didn't follow protocol. Final question. Is that that? I mean, is it possible that the league could go after Braun again?

ANTONEN: No, I don't think the league can do anything now. The system was in place. The system that the Players Association and major league baseball agreed in the basic agreement was put in place.

Ryan Braun had a right to appeal. He won his appeal, and that's that. I don't think baseball can do anything more. They can continue to test. Ryan Braun will be continued -- will continued to be tested randomly, and unless he -- unless he comes up with another positive test, this is going to be it.

You know, he did pass 25 other tests. And so -- but it'll just be standard procedure now. They won't go after him any more. They won't go after him any less. But randomly, he will be tested. And if he tests positive again, this is all going to come up again.

BALDWIN: That can be it. Meantime, we'll see him in a couple weeks in the Brewers line-up. Mel Antonen, thank you, sir, SI.com.

Some huge news here involving the battle over your privacy on line. What Google may soon do involving your Web searches. Talking about that again today. Back in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, before I let you go, crazy pictures out of Brazil. Take a look at this rescue helicopter falling apart. Look at that. Piece by piece, the chopper shook to pieces right after landing at an airstrip. This is yesterday in the state of Para (ph) in northern Brazil.

The cockpit totally comes apart, the tail, as well. It starts to break up. Amazingly, no one was badly injured. The four people who were on board, they got out of there with minor injuries. Brazilian investigators -- they have yet to determine what happened, what caused this chopper to fall apart. Here's one theory, though, that's being sort of thrown around. It's called ground resonance. This is a term when the rotor is spinning and spinning, and the helicopter's just sitting on the ground, and apparently -- fall apart.

And now, when you're on line, just assume someone's watching what you're doing, from your Web searches to your e-mail traffic. But breaking today, a huge development in the fight over your privacy.

Dan Simon live for us in San Francisco. And so Dan, apparently, the Web giants, including Google -- they have agreed to this "do not track" button. How does that work?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is something, Brooke, that sounds really great in theory, that you would have a button on your Web browser that you just push, and then the Web companies can't track your on-line activity.

That's not what this does. What this does is prevent advertisers being able to send you targeted ads. But there are some significant developments in here because if you do click this button, companies cannot use your data for things such as employment, credit, health care, insurance, and as I said, customized ads.

But on the flip side of Brooke, it, your data can still be used for market research, product development, and it can also go to law enforcement. So beware here, if you click that button, it really only affects the Web marketers' ability to send you those targeted ads -- that some people like and some people don't like, by the way, BALDWIN: OK. So what I'm hearing is it's a "do not track" button, but they can still track you.

SIMON: They can still track you. And you know, privacy advocates say this really doesn't have a whole lot of teeth to it. They would prefer that there just be a button where you can't be tracked, period.

But remember, all of your data, everything that you're doing on line, companies like Google, FaceBook, when you click that white button, they can see pretty much everywhere you're going on line.

And really, why do they do that? Because the backbone of the Internet is funded by advertising. They want to be able to send you ads that are relevant to your life. And as I said, some people like having those ads and some people don't.

BALDWIN: Watch what you're Googling. Someone is watching. Dan Simon, thank you very much. Have a good weekend. Have a great weekend to all of you, as well.

Now to Gloria Borger, in for Wolf today. The "SITUATION ROOM" starts now.