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Police Fatally Shoot Unarmed Teen; Clinton: Syria Sanctions Working; Pro-Democracy Win In Myanmar; Paul Ryan: "I Misspoke"; Three GOP Primaries Tuesday; Financial Cost Of Autism; 1 In 88 Children Has Autism; Job Slump Ending For College Grads; Seventh Grader: Forced To Clean Toilets

Aired April 01, 2012 - 14:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM this Sunday, April 1st. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

In California, Pasadena residents want to know why a teen ended up fatally shot by police. This is what we know so far. The incident began when a 911 caller said two men had stolen his computer and backpack and both had guns.

When the police arrived on the scene, they said they saw a young man running away and then they chased after him. That young man was 19- year-old Kendrick McDade. When they finally caught up with him, police say it appeared to them that McDade was reaching for something near his waist.

The officers fearing he was grabbing a gun fired multiple shots and killed him. Police now admit the young college student had no weapons on him.

As for the young man who called 911, he confessed that he lied to police about the teens having gun and he was arrested. The shooting has left many in the town outraged.

At a town hall meeting yesterday, the police chief tried to answer questions and said he wanted the healing process to begin.

And U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says sanctions against Syria are working. Clinton is in Turkey today, talking to world leaders about increasing pressure on Syria to end the conflict.

She tells CNN the so-called friends of Syria group formed a committee to create sanctions and cut off the leader's ability to, quote, "to wage war on its own people."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: And the United States will be working with the Arab countries, the European countries, North African and others to have them understand the most effective way to implement sanctions.

Because as one of them said to me, the Americans have a lot of experience in doing sanctions. We don't. So we're making progress. Also, the individual sanctions, you know, the travel bans, the visa bans, the kinds of direct personal sanctions are beginning to really wake people up.

They're looking around thinking, you know, for the rest of my life, I'm only going to be able to maybe go to Iran? That doesn't sound like a great idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Clinton also announced today that U.S. aid to the Syrian opposition will nearly double. This is money for humanitarian aid and medical training.

Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi wins a seat in Myanmar's parliament. That's according to her pro-democracy party. The official results will probably come out tomorrow.

Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest and her party was banned during her struggle for democracy in Myanmar. The country has been under military rule for 50 years.

The chairman of the House Budget Committee says he misspoke when he accused U.S. military officials of not being honest about the Pentagon budget. On CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning, Candy Crowley told Paul Ryan that military leaders were a little offended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: I really misspoke, to be candid with you, Candy. I didn't mean to make that kind of an impression. So I was clumsy in how I was describing the point I was trying to make.

And the point I was trying to make, and General Dempsey and I spoke after that, and I wanted to give that point to him, which is, that was not what I was attempting to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Ryan is the leading Republican on the budget debate. The House passed his budget plan last week.

And we have another set of GOP primary races coming up this Tuesday. Voters head to the polls in Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and in Maryland.

An NBC/Marist poll gives Romney a lead in Wisconsin with 40 percent of the vote. Santorum comes in with 33 percent. Let's bring in CNN's Shannon Travis. He's in Milwaukee.

So, Shannon, there are those who say, if Romney wins then it's all over for Santorum. So Tuesday, is it make or break for those GOP candidates?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, Fred, there's a growing chorus of people who are saying that if Mitt Romney wins here on Tuesday, that it's over for Santorum.

Obviously, Santorum, the candidate himself says, no, it's not. That he's going to go on, that voters deserve a choice. But if you look at what's happened within just the past few days, we obviously know that President George H.W. Bush, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, today, Senator Ron Johnson from this state, all endorse Romney.

Even the paper, the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" here in Wisconsin endorsed Romney also. And it started out its endorsement saying, you know, if Romney has a convincing win here, it's pretty much all over, although it did also say they wonder, which Romney they will see in the fall.

So there is that chorus, that growing notion that if Romney does well here, it's all wrapped up. But look, he's still got to get to 1,144 and he's still got two competitors who are saying, you know what?

Until he clinches 1,144, they're going to stay in the race, which, of course, again, what's also growing is the possibility of a brokered convention -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, we will see what happens. Thanks so much. Shannon Travis there coming to us from Milwaukee. Again, Tuesday primary in those three places.

All right, 1 in 88. That's how many children have a form of autism in the U.S. The statistic is startling and the cost of caring for a child with autism is even more overwhelming. We'll talk with one couple, the former executive officer of GE and former CEO of NBC along with his wife. They know firsthand, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: New research released this week with shows 1 in 88 children has a form of autism. That's up 78 percent from a decade ago. Autism takes an emotional and financial toll on families.

According to a study from the Harvard School of Public Health, it can cost a family up to $72,000 a year to care for a person with extreme case of autism in their family.

A couple who's been working very hard in fundraising to help families and advance research, Bob and Susan Wright, cofounders of Autism Speaks.

Good to see both of you. It is the nation's largest autism science and advocacy organization, and it is because of your efforts that it has grown the way it is. Good to see both of you.

BOB WRIGHT, CO-FOUNDER, AUTISM SPEAKS: Thank you, Fredricka.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Nice to be here.

WHITFIELD: So you have firsthand experience. Your 10-year-old grandson, Christian, has autism. How do you hope that these new findings are used to help families deal with the financial and emotional cost that come with autism? Bob, you first.

BOB WRIGHT: Well, the numbers are so staggering now, we're hoping that we can really get a prioritized approach from all kinds of people, from the federal government at the state level, to the municipal level with the medical academies.

We've got so much people who are standing by, but not taking an active role in this. When you have 1 in 54 boys, which is what's in that number, and 1 in 88, you don't have anything even comparable to this that has anything nearly the devastating impact on families.

Those numbers that you talked about, the 70,000 or 60 -- that's almost entirely borne by families.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's incredible.

BOB WRIGHT: And this is not tax deductible. There's no other condition or disease that I'm aware of that where families have to pay out of their own pocket for most of all the coverage. And that's very --

WHITFIELD: And why is that? Why is it that it appears as though so many families are having to bear the burden? That their insurance isn't covering it?

That their employers don't have the wherewithal or perhaps they don't know enough about what families are going through that there would be some sort of assistance that goes to families, who have someone who's autistic?

BOB WRIGHT: Fredricka, it's all about mental health. Mental health has been an area where insurance has dodged away for a long time. Psychiatry has not been very capable of lobbying or explaining the need for insurance to cover cost.

It's become a world of psychiatry trying to move out of that world into the medical world. If you have a child with pediatric leukemia, and I have leukemia, so at least I can speak not to the pediatric.

That cost per year is probably going to run somewhere around $700,000 for care. A hospital admission for pediatric leukemia runs almost $50,000 a day.

WHITFIELD: And you can count on your insurance and your medical coverage to help pay for that --

BOB WRIGHT: All covered. All covered so that -- these parents are out here on their own, because it's a mental health issue. Mental health receives very, very little coverage in all the larger insurance policies.

We've had to go state by state to get insurance coverage. Now, roughly half of the people that are employed in this country work for companies like General Electric, which are self-insured, and the federal government, the largest single employer. The other half work for smaller companies. The states regulate the smaller companies and the ones in-state, and the federal government and congress regulates the larger companies, the so-called self- insured.

We have 30 states now that have passed insurance bills that regulate the smaller companies. But the Congress has not -- we have not been able to get the Congress to pass the state, the bill governing federal employees and large corporations like GE.

And until that happens, they stand outside. So if you work for one of those, if you have the misfortune to work for my old company, GE, and the people next door working for a company with only 100 employees, they will have coverage in those states, those 30 states, which are 70 percent of our nation's population.

So there's a real inequity here. It was never supposed to be that way. They should have come along, but we're still trying to get that fixed.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder, Suzanne, if you think this study will in large part kind of help Congress become more involved. And you know, if you can comment on that.

And also give me an idea, what was it like for the family when Christian was first diagnosed? What was the biggest challenge for your family? So first on Congress and then second on that big challenge.

SUZANNE WRIGHT, CO-FOUNDER, AUTISM SPEAKS: Well, I hope that Congress will listen to the young people of the nation. As you know, we have a light it up blue campaign.

And this year we went around to the college and the universities and we have hundreds participates in the light it up blue. This is the generation that's going to have to face the epidemic of autism.

So I hope with the votes that they will have in this generation, that Congress will, indeed, seriously contemplate this epidemic and do the something about it.

Now, as far as our private family matter was concerned with autism, it was very private for a while, and I did my daughter and son-in-law great credit for letting us go public because the stigma of autism was there.

Many people still don't want to talk about it. It was very heartbreaking. We had to move them from another state here, because there were no services, and then Bob and I, as you know, he was the chairman of the NBC at the time, I couldn't believe that no one was talking about this.

So now we have a voice. Autism Speaks is a voice for all of these people that do not have a voice. Now I need the voice of the next generation of kids that will have to face this. BOB WRIGHT: We have 400,000 people that will walk for autism speaks this year in 90 walks around the United States. And that's kind of our army of advocates.

SUZANNE WRIGTH: And we have a million Facebook fans.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic! Well, Bob and Suzanne Wright, thank you so much for giving so many with autism a voice through Autism Speaks. It's so good to see you.

All right, college grads, they were hit hard by this economy, but things just might be looking up. A new study shows more companies are recruiting. The companies looking to hire and why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: New college grads have been particularly hard hit in this economy, but a new survey of potential employers indicates that hiring is making a comeback on many college campuses.

According to the survey, employers expect to increase their hiring of this year's batch of college grads by 10.2 percent. It's pretty encouraging.

Let's bring in Paula Caligiuri. She is a professor of Human Resource Management at Rutgers University. Good to see you.

PAULA CALIGIURI, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: Nice to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right, first up, where are these new jobs?

CALIGIURI: Well, you know, what's interesting is this is the first time we're seeing them across the board. We've seen for a while hiring to happen in science technology and engineering math, those great stem fields, but now we're tart starting to see them across the field, even in liberal arts. That's good news.

WHITFIELD: OK, that is good news. So let's take a look at a couple of the companies who have announced they are looking for new hires. Among them, General Electric, just talked to one of the former CEOs of GE, Amazon, Apple, and Barclays Global. Why are these companies hiring now? What are they looking for?

CALIGIURI: Well, in each of those case is something a little bit different. So science, technology, engineering, math, always that standby, but also finance, any of those high-level skills, but the companies in general are looking for those bachelor's level graduates with great leadership skills, communication skills, analytic skills. There are lots of other skills they're looking for as well.

WHITFIELD: How about on your campus, Rutgers, are you seeing more recruiters?

CALIGIURI: We are. I think across the board, universities are seeing an uptick in campus recruiting, so this is really good news both at the graduate and undergraduate level.

WHITFIELD: All right, how about geographically? Are there certain areas of the country that seem to be the bigger hot spots?

CALIGIURI: Well, it's going to follow the industries, right? The industries that are hot right now who are hiring and where are those companies located. So in finance, of course, it's great to be in New York City. If you're in I.T., great to be down in California, you know, the usual suspects.

WHITFIELD: OK, and of course the grads, new grads want to know what kind of salary expectations to have. A lot of them are leaving and saddled with a whole lot of college tuition debt.

CALIGIURI: Right. But in many ways, that's good debt, right? So they're coming out at about what, $20,000 to $23,000 worth of debt on average. But the good news is that depending on the field, they could be ranging between $30,000 to $40,000 a year starting salary and $60,000 on average they come in at about $40,000 a year with a bachelor's degree so that's good news.

WHITFIELD: Very encouraging, pretty good. So what about those grads from past years, who have been unable to find jobs? What do they need to do to get these companies' attention? Does it mean going back on campus and taking advantage of some of those job fairs?

CALIGIURI: Right. Many of the universities do have alumni career services. If those folks who have came out in the past few years and aren't really happy with their current jobs, I would recommend they activate, go back to their alumni associations, their career centres, and maybe start recruiting on campus again. There's a lot of great hiring happening on campus.

WHITFIELD: Good. We like that we're able to spread some good news to some of the college grads. All right, Paula Caligiuri, thanks so much. Appreciate that. Have a great afternoon.

CALIGIURI: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right, a seventh grader caught skipping class. Her punishment --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: She told us that we were going to have to clean the bathrooms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wait a minute. Is that a fair punishment? The school says it's investigating.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, everybody. Welcome to my necks of the wood Sherman Oaks, California, in San Fernando Valley.

All right, everyone who knows me knows I have the biggest sweet tooth ever and when I get those killer cravings, I just have to make a run here to Blizz Frozen Yogurt for some of my favorite treats.

Let's begin. Here in L.A., there seems to be a celebrity tie-in to almost everything and Blizz is no different. It's owned by Dr. Paul Massive, renowned plastic surgeon and husband to Beverly Hills housewife, Adrienne Malou.

Blizz is known for its frozen yogurt, but crepes, smoothies, and waffles are also on the menu. In fact, I'll give you a little taste. All right, I'm no expert in the kitchen, but today I'm going to show you just how I like my crepes with a little help from Tom. And then we use the spatula. All right, we got half of it.

Perfect. Now we go in for the kill, some of my favorite toppings, chocolate and of course, raspberry sauce. We're ready! Let's go. And this is my favorite part, time to dive in. Delicious! Kareen Wynter, CNN, Sherman Oaks, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Other stories making headlines right now. Some of the things our affiliates are covering, in fact. A seventh grader in Charlotte, North Carolina, claims she got a unique punishment for skipping class.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: She told us that we were going to have to clean the bathrooms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Mariah Brooks says she was one of three middle schoolers that a teacher forced to clean toilets for skipping class. School administrators say they are now investigating.

Linsanity has quickly turned to Linjury. The surprise star of the New York Knicks has injured his knee and has to have surgery for torn cartilage. The point guard will miss the next six weeks and possibly be out for the rest of the season.

And look what Google announced today as the next big thing in motor sports. Google racing! Ever heard of such a thing? That's a partnership with NASCAR.

And here's the amazing part, race cars with no drivers behind the wheel, kind of remote control, self-driving cars. Well, before your mind is blown too much, check the calendar and the small print on the web site. It is April Fools, by the way. Google's having a little fun with all of us.

All right, Happy April fools. Usually people get a big kick out of it. Alexandra Steele, have a little fun this morning, a little April Fools kind of way?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: My mom did. My mom loves it. So this morning, I was visiting her last week and I bought a bike for my daughter on the side of the road. No one was home in the house, this hot pink baby bike, perfect for my daughter.

So no one was home, so I left the $20 on the windshield of the car and brought the bike home. My mom calls me this morning and says, you know, they came and took the bike back because you never paid for it! I was like, I did! I left the money on the windshield!

All right, two areas of wet weather around the country. This is the place for severe weather today, potentially. Maybe some hail, some strong winds, Tennessee, Kentucky, maybe Illinois, Indiana.

This is the quadrant of concern, the warmth though, the huge story. This is even tomorrow. Look at these numbers, St. Louis, all the way to Chicago, the axis of that heat, Fred, moves farther eastward.

Tuesday, still, 10 to 20 degrees above average. This has been such an incredible, incredible month and certainly a very warm winter, warmest winter on record for many like Chicago, Indianapolis, and so many more.

WHITFIELD: It was really something. All right, that means next winter it's going to be bitter cold. All right, Alexandra, thanks so much. Happy April Fools.

I'll be back in an hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The political buzz from the trail is what we'll have. Mitt Romney getting more support from his peers, is he finally set up to seal the deal?

Plus, Santorum keeps pushing forward, but does he have the momentum to really keep going? A look at the presidential contenders 4:00 Eastern Time right here on CNN. Stay with CNN. "YOUR MONEY" starts right after this.

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