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A Search of the 6-year-old Missing in Tucson Continues; George Zimmerman Still in Jail; A Presidential Election in France is Ongoing Today; One foundation is putting up $100,000 to say there is a better way for the country's best and brightest

Aired April 22, 2012 - 17:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with the search for 6-year-old Etan Patz. It's been suspended for "operational reasons," the search that is, with the FBI and the NYPD aren't explaining what that means exactly but they do say will be back searching tomorrow. Investigators are also following up on an important development, the discovery of a suspicious stain they found on a basement wall.

National correspondent Susan Candiotti is at the scene in New York.

So Susan, any more information as to why they suspended that search?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They've been very tight- lipped about it, Fred. It is a very curious development, however, because after working here all day long, I would say early in the afternoon, all of a sudden we noticed some movement. And one of the crime scene units from the New York police department pulled up in an apparent attempt to block our view from down the street that's been blocked. But we've been able to look down there.

We noticed the FBI was taking down a blue tent that had been covering the entrance to the basement where they had been doing their excavation work. And when we peppered them with questions to find out why they were stopping their work, they simply said, we're suspending operations for now, and we will resume them in the morning. But they would tell us nothing more.

So, we're left to wonder, is there a development? Have they found only that suspicious stain that we'll tell you more about? Or were they simply knocking off for the day? Fred?

WHITFIELD: And it's clearly very rainy there. Is there any link between the weather and how they're conducting this search?

CANDIOTTI: Impossible to say. But really, the key focus is what we've been able to learn from a law enforcement source, about what they discovered on Saturday when they were here. And the technicians downstairs in the basement, after digging everything up, were spraying a chemical called Luminol. And Luminol is able to detect the possibility of blood. It's commonly used in all kinds of crime scenes. In fact, they did detect something that they called suspicious, and an area of interest. And so this stain on part of a cement wall was cut out with chain saws. And the FBI is sending it to its crime lab in Quantico, Virginia. They will to try to determine whether in fact that stain is blood, and if it is, who it belongs to.

WHITFIELD: Now Susan, earlier you mentioned that location of the search is not far from Patz's family home and that family members still live there. Has anyone spoken with them? Are family members talking -- saying anything about this investigation now being reopened just less than a block away from their home?

CANDIOTTI: Right. Exactly. It's just a half a block in this direction, basement right over my shoulder. In fact, the school bus stop where Etan had headed that day is just another block in that direction.

No, the parents really have said nothing. They've even posted a note outside their front door that says, please, we'd like to remain private at this moment. So we haven't heard anything from them.

However, an author who has written a book on the investigation was in touch with them the other day. And they said that, of course, they're just watching and waiting to see what this development is. They've had a lot of ups and downs over the past 33 years. So they're in a wait-and-see mode right now. It's got to be tough.

WHITFIELD: No kidding. All right. Thanks so much, Susan Candiotti in New York.

All right. Police and FBI agents in Tucson, Arizona are searching for a missing 6-year-old girl. The parents of Isabel Mercedes say they discovered her missing when they went to wake her up yesterday morning. They say they last saw her Friday night when she went to bed. Her family is still in shock over her disappearance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN MASTROMARINO, ISABEL'S UNCLE You don't think anything like that would actually happen to you. And all of a sudden you wake up one morning and you're in that scenario. And confusion. You know, everything -- all -- everything goes through your mind. You're angry, you're upset, you're frustrated, you're confused.

SERGEANT MARIA HAWKE, TUCSON POLICE DEPARTMENT: Officers are conducting a good search. We have bloodhounds that are taking area as well, to pick up any scent of the little girl and they are cordoning additional detectives and investigative resources in order to try to get to the bottom of where it this girl may be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And police are expected to hold a news conference any minute now.

United Nations ceasefire monitors are on the ground in Syria. (VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: This is amateur video shot today. U.N. monitors are touring towns hammered by more than a year of shelling and street fighting. The U.N. security council voting yesterday to boost the unarmed military mission from 30 to 300 monitors.

Opening argument in John Edwards' fraud trial begin tomorrow in North Carolina. The former presidential candidate is accused of misusing nearly $1 million in campaign money to cover up a sexual affair. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

It has been two days since George Zimmerman was granted bond by a Florida judge. But today he remains behind bars. The bond was set at $150,000 which means he has to put up 10 percent of that in cash to gain his freedom. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

All right. Iran says it has cracked the codes of America's spy drone. Details on that story ahead.

And a scholarship plan that pays students to drop out of college. We'll talk with the man who runs the program about why he thinks it will actually help the economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. It has been two days since George Zimmerman was granted bond by a Florida judge. But today, he remains behind bars. The bond was set at $150,000, which means he has to put up 10 percent of that in cash to gain his freedom. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder with the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

And David Mattingly is in Sanford, Florida, covering this case for us.

So David, why might Zimmerman remain in jail? What is it about the family not being able to collect enough collateral in order to post bond?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know the family was going to have difficulty with this. The prosecution wanted $1 million bond. The judge said it at $150,000. It's still difficult for this family of limited financial means to come up with what they need to get George Zimmerman out of jail right now.

The amount in cash, and the amount of collateral to come up to cover the rest of the $150,000. We heard in court George Zimmerman through his attorney say he's indigent, he's not employed, he can't pay for his own defense. His wife is unemployed college student. His father is a disabled veteran of limited income. His mother is retired. They do have a home. They're paying a mortgage on that. But they have limited income, and limited savings. So $150,000 is a very steep figure for this family to try and secure.

WHITFIELD: And so what potentially might be next? What are Zimmerman's attorneys saying could be next? MATTINGLY: Well, as far as next, it's all contingent on when he gets out of here. At this point, we were looking at his Web site today. There have been no new updates to that Web site for the past two days.

Yesterday his attorney came out and said that he hopes that George Zimmerman is out by the middle of this week. He mentioned the difficulty with the financial arrangements for the bond.

Also, he had concerns about security. Not just about George Zimmerman, about when he gets out of here, but for Zimmerman's family as well. So he said a lot of things to work out. Nothing at all that easy for this family.

WHITFIELD: All right. David Mattingly, thanks so much, out of Sanford, Florida.

All right. Other news happening overseas today.

Iranian officials say they've figured out how an American spy plane works. This is the unmanned American drone that went down inside Iran last December. Remember that? Iran's semi-official news agency reports that the military has extracted and decoded intelligence information stored inside the plane. No comment from the Pentagon.

In Bahrain, protesters failed to stop its running of a major formula I race today. Some streets near the Bahrain grand prix course were blocked by burning trash and tires. Groups demonstrating against the government called the race a publicity stunt. They did manage to cancel the race, however, last year.

And take a good look at this volleyball. See the Japanese writing there? That ball washed up on shore on an island in Alaska. Turns out that ball came from a Japanese school hit by last year's tsunami and probably floated the 4,500 miles across the pacific ocean.

Today is Election Day in France. And voters went to the polls all day, and early exit polls don't paint a very optimistic picture for President Nicolas Sarkozy. His opponent has already declared first round victory. They hold election a little differently in France then people used to here in the states.

Ralitsa Vassileva is here from CNN International with the closer look on what is turning out to be a nail-biting kind of race, isn't it?. Even though many days to go. But, no one should be too presumptuous.

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR: Yes. Well, it's a two-stage process. And if none of the candidates running for the first round gets 50 percent of the vote, they go into a second round. The two top candidates.

So now we have the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his major challenger socialist, Francois Hollande, who will be facing each other in two weeks on the May the 6th. And we will see what they do now. Hollande has scored quite a victory at this point, six percentage points, over an incumbent. And that hasn't happened in France since 1958, since the 5th Republic for an incumbent president to lose a first round. That hasn't happened in more than 50 years.

WHITFIELD: So, why is it believed this is happening this way? What's different?

VASSILEVA: Well, the voters that we have talked to say that they simply don't like Sarkozy, after five years of him. He's very brash. And also 10 percent unemployment. Higher than the United States.

WHITFIELD: And the economy is the root of many elections.

VASSILEVA: With the pocketbooks. And so, we see this, of course, they say in the first stages of the election, the first round of French usually vote with their heart. That is probably there some protest votes there, which are seen in the showing, the surprise, the shocking showing of the far right anti-immigrant party, 20 percent of the vote at this stage that they have won.

So, they expect now Sarkozy to try to go and woo those far right supporters of the national front to try to get them to vote for him so he gets enough votes. They also have debates. Sarkozy excels in debates. But still, this is a huge blow and the momentum is with the socialist Hollande.

WHITFIELD: So, Francois Hollande, what is the secret behind his new- found popularity in this race?

VASSILEVA: What analysts are saying, it's simply the pocketbook issues. People just don't see Sarkozy delivering. He came five years ago. He said he would deliver a more dynamic economy. He's had, of course, because of the global financial crisis, he's had to do a lot of austerity cuts. And that's hit a lot of people. He raised the pension age.

And as I mentioned, they just, as a person, they really got disillusioned with him. And that doesn't mean they really like Hollande that much. But it's just -- they're just not excited about those candidates. Most of the people that are being polled.

So we will see. It goes on to the second round. Hollande already has far left party. And the green party voters are going to go to him because the leaders have already come out and said we want you to support him so that we defeat Sarkozy.

So, it's going to be very interesting. Also, the first ipsos poll that came out after the exit polls, it is showing that Hollande will win the second round. But you never know. They've got two weeks, they have got debates. A lot could happen in politics.

WHITFIELD: We all know that. It's a nail biter.

VASSILEVA: We know.

WHITFIELD: I know.

Ralitsa Vassileva. Thanks so much. I know you'll be back next weekend to keep us posted on the outcome. Thanks so much. Appreciate that. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is gearing up for a grueling triathlon again and he won't be alone. Some of our viewers will join him as well. Sanjay talked to one of them in this edition of "fit nation."

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A little less than five months away until race day for me and a group of CNN viewers, we call the lucky seven.

We're all trying to compete Malibu triathlon. And so far, you know, training seems to be going well for just about everyone. And now that the lucky seven have all gotten their road bikes, they started riding outside, I wanted to check in with one of them to see how things have changed for her since joining the program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Joining me now from Lockport, New York, right outside of buffalo, is Adrienne Lagier, one of our "Fit Nation" triathlon participants.

Adrienne, good to see you. You are from (INAUDIBLE). I think it's spring break for you and your students. How are things going for you? What are you doing up there?

ADRIENNE LAGIER, FIT NATION PARTICIPANT 2012: Well, I'm enjoying some wedding planning here. I'm getting to visit my parents. And I've been able to work out with my sister while I've been here. So that's the first time I've ever actually ever come home with a plan to actually exercise. So, it's been a different type of spring break in Buffalo this time around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: We've got a couple other updates as well. Remember Glen? When we first met Glen, he was sleeping with a c-pap machine every night to help deal with sleep apnea.

Well, I'm happy to report he's lost about 30 pounds since joining the challenge. And for the first time in years, he's sleeping soundly enough without the machine.

Also, Rick Morris, a firefighter from North Carolina, who smoked nearly a pack a day. Well, he smoked his last cigarette during our kickoff weekend. He said he would, and he did. And since quitting, his blood pressure dropped from 150 over 95 to 114 over 60. No meds, just diet and exercise.

I'm really proud of their progress. I can't wait to see more of their transformations as well, and hopefully you can follow along.

Checkout CNN.com/fitnation. Also join us on facebook where we're doing something new. We are posting beginner workouts every Monday morning. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Lots of inspiration there. All right. So how valuable is your college education? One foundation is putting up $100,000 to say there is a better way for the country's best and brightest. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Would you take $100,000 to leave school to pursue your best business idea? Well, that is exactly what the teal fellowship does. It offers 20 kids under 20 to take the chance to take a two-year program where they can get an opportunity to start up their own business. The catch is, you can't be in school, in college, to do it.

James O'Neill is the founder of the 20 under 20 fellowship. And he's joining us now from San Francisco this afternoon. Good to see you.

JAMES O'NEILL, CO-FOUNDER, 20 UNDER 20 FELLOWSHIP: ice to see you. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: OK. Where in the world did this idea come from? You hear so many people trying to encourage kids to seek higher education. You're saying, don't do it.

O'NEILL: Well, we're saying people should think very seriously about the costs and benefits of all their options starting when they're about 15, and for some people, college would be a good buy, at the price, and for other people there might be better ways to make better use of your time.

WHITFIELD: OK. You said some people. Now, how do you distinguish those who might be best eligible for this kind of program, and those who do need to continuing to pursue their college careers?

O'NEILL: Well, what we're looking for is people who are really passionate about technology, extremely talented, and very impatient. They want to tackle the world's greatest problems and they want to do it now. And that's a great attitude that the world needs more of, especially in the technology space.

WHITFIELD: How do you --

O'NEILL: That's what we're looking for.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, how do you decipher, you know, the 20? Because clearly you're going to get applications from hundreds, if not thousands. You have to whittle it down to 20. What are you looking for?

O'NEILL: Well, we ask a lot of questions on the application, then we do phone interviews with experts, and then bring the finalists out to interview with us. We're looking for intellectual independents, which is in one way demonstrated by the willingness to skip college, and also by the willingness to take the world's biggest problems seriously, but also see through to a possible solution. And attack challenges that most people just roll their eyes and ignore.

WHITFIELD: Are you also sending another message here, that college just isn't worth it? Is that the message you're trying to send?

O'NEILL: Well, in a sense. We do think higher education is in a bubble. That in many cases it's vastly overpriced. The cost of college has quadrupled since the 1980s, on top of inflation. Whereas the quality has probably not changed much at all.

So for a lot of people, college is way too expensive for what they get. Especially because so many people don't even graduate, or graduate and end up with jobs that don't require college.

You have a lot of 30-year-old waitresses who have wonderful jobs, there's nothing wrong with waiting tables, but if you're paying off student debt at the same time, it's less than ideal a situation. So, we're trying to ask everyone to think about these decisions before they make them and think about the price.

WHITFIELD: All right. So given that you've got this, you know, philanthropic effort going on here, why would you not then say to yourself, instead of using this money to pay some of these young people under 20, to venture out, try to start their own business, why not use some of that money to help them with that college debt or pay for college as opposed to discouraging them from college? Or perhaps there's another route in which to lower the cost of college at institutions?

O'NEILL: Well, the cost of college is probably going to keep going up. Because when you have government subsidizing things, it tends to make it more expensive. And also, when you have a situation where people are encouraged to not worry about the price, as we saw in housing, that kind of attitude just tends to make the price go higher and higher, until it collapses.

WHITFIELD: All right.

O'NEILL: So I think the biggest thing we can do to call attention to the price is doing what we're doing. And asking people to think about the price. Maybe as more scrutiny goes into the situation, as more smart people start to think twice about going into this debt that might have some effect on the price. It might help everyone.

WHITFIELD: So, how do you know this will work? How do you know this is the best alternative? Peter Teal, the head of the foundation, has two degrees from Stanford after coming here from Germany. You have a college degree as well. How do you know that this is the best alternative for this generation of kids?

O'NEILL: Well, if you think back to the 1980s, when Peter and I were deciding on college, I think we compared notes, we both felt that we didn't really have much of a choice. No one encouraged us to think twice. No one encouraged us to think about the costs or consequences.

At the same time, lots of really smart tech people were making this choice. A lot of the great tech companies that have massively improved the quality of life for people, were people who did not finish college. So Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, all these people had a very compelling vision for how technology could be a lot better. And they didn't decide to wait around until they collected a degree, that's a pretty vague credential, they just did it when they had the idea. They struck while the iron was hot. And the world is better for people like that. And we think there are probably many more ideas in the next few decades that will be achieved by young, smart, driven people who can't wait.

WHITFIELD: James O'Neill of the Teal foundation. Thanks so much for your time.

O'NEILL: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: All right. "Titanic" director James Cameron, he recently took a submarine to the deepest spot in the ocean. Well now, he's aiming for outer space. He's just one of the people expected to make big news this week. We're bringing you some of the stories impacting your world in the week ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Time for a check of what's happening in the week ahead.

Opening arguments are set to begin tomorrow in the murder trial of William Balfor. He is the former brother-in-law of singer Jennifer Hudson. Balfour allegedly shot and killed Hudson's mother, brother and nephew, to spite Hudson's sister who had got a new boyfriend.

And movie director, James Cameron, and two billionaire executives from Google are setting up a new space mining company. The idea is to use space exploration to hunt for natural resources. The company debuts its plans Tuesday.

And Texas ranger catcher Evan Rodriguez will announce his retirement tomorrow. The veteran all-star player will be honored during an on- field ceremony before the ranger's game with the Yankees in Arlington, Texas.

And it's going to be quite a stormy week in parts of the east. In fact, it's already stormy right now in some parts. Jacqui Jeras is here with the details on that.

Jacqui, rain slogged in the nation's capital. And New York.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. All across the northeast really. This is a southeastern soaker yesterday. Today it's transitioning up to the Carolinas and mid Atlantic. And it's got a long way to go before we're over and done with, with this rain. And that's just one aspect of this storm system. We are concerned about flooding, because this is going to be a long duration event. And we're talking about flood watches in place for all of the big cities, into the northeast.

As we could see, as much as two to four inches of rain before all is said and done in the next 48 hours. Urban flooding can be expected, in addition to coastal flooding in places like Atlantic city, New Jersey, could get in on that.

And then on the back side of this system, we're talking snow. That's right, it's April. We're talking the "s" word. And we could be talking as much as a foot in a few locations. You really have to get up in the elevation for this to be impacting you.

Pittsburgh might get a couple of inches here. And most of this is starting out as rain. It will transition over to snow after midnight tonight.

One of the biggest concerns, you all know we've had a crazy warm spring, so far, right? So, all the leaves are out on the trees as we speak. And so, that gives warm but heavy wet snow more surface to collect on, so we are worried about power outages, and of course, we're real worried about travel for folks who are going to be in this area as well.

And of course, yes, you mentioned Washington, D.C. and all the rain, it's earth day, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: I know.

JERAS: But, the festivities still going on.

WHITFIELD: That's right. It is not drowning out the festivities there on the nation's mall. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

All right. Police out west now looking for a 6-year-old girl in Arizona. We'll have a live report from Tucson straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Police and the FBI in Tucson, Arizona, are searching for a missing 6-year-old girl. The parents of Isabel Mercedes say they discovered her gone when they went to wake her up yesterday morning and they last saw her Friday night when she went to bed.

Marcelino Benito from our affiliate, KGUN, is on the phone with us from Tucson, Arizona.

So, Marcelino, what is the latest? Where is the focus of this search?

MARCELINO BENITO, REPORTER, KGUN (via telephone): Fredricka, we just got out of a press conference with two Tucson police departments head officer here, the police chief Villasenor. He tells us this investigation has pretty much hit a roadblock. It's been more than 24 hours since anyone has seen 6-year-old Isabel the least. She was last seen on Friday night when her parents tucked her into bed.

And this investigation has hit a roadblock. They received numerous leads, but still no sign of her. We do know that the search has expanded from the neighborhood area. Yesterday, they completely locked down this neighborhood, if you wanted to go in and out, you had to bypass a Tucson police officer. Now, that search area has expanded to two and a half to three-mile radius from that home. But still, no one's seen this girl, even though the Tucson police department has thrown every resource they have. There's multiple agencies, border patrol, the FBI, department of corrections, you name it, they're out here, but they can't find this girl so far.

WHITFIELD: So Marcelino, no signs of break-in? Was the little girl's room on the ground level? Any details about the house?

BENITO: It was on the ground level, Fredricka. We asked the police if they could give us any details of what the scene looked like. We do know the window was pushed open. The blinds were pushed to the side. The police aren't confirming that they believe that someone broke through the window or anything of that nature.

They're being very cautious how they classified it. Yesterday, for most of the day, it was just a missing child. Last night they called it a suspicious disappearance with a possible abduction. But they're not going (INAUDIBLE), they are convinced this is a kidnapping.

I asked the police if they have thrown out that the parents may be suspects in this case, and they do not want to throw out anyone in this case. They've been questioning the parents all night long. They're still questioning them today. But so far they're not ruling anyone or anything out.

WHITFIELD: Are there any warnings or anything being, you know, posted in the neighborhood to other families with children, et cetera?

BENITO: Well, this community has really come together in the last few hours. You know, fliers have been distributed everywhere with pictures of this little girl. You walk into any shopping center or gas station, you see her face on the wall.

No warnings out to the community because, again, the Tucson police department does not want to go on record and say this was a kidnapping, or there's anyone around the community snatching kids. They want to leave all their options notes. But the community is coming together in a remarkable way. And tonight there will be a candlelight vigil held at the command center post here for the little girl.

WHITFIELD: Marcelino Benito. Thanks so much for that update.

The U.S. secret service is in a lot of hot water over the recent scandal in Colombia. We'll have a live report in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A Colombian taxi driver is perhaps the most sought-after person in the U.S. secret service scandal. The "Huffington Post" reports the cabby drove a prostitute home from this hotel in Colombia after a night of partying. And he later led the media to her house.

Six secret service members have stepped down and 12 are under investigation. They allegedly brought back several prostitutes to their hotel ahead of President Obama's visit to Colombia.

Our Lisa Sylvester is live in Washington with more on this investigation - Lisa.

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka.

Well, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing this week. The ranking member of the committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, is questioning how wide this problem goes, who knew about it, was the White House office of advance said the White House communications agency involved in any way. And the investigation is focusing on 12 secret service agents, six of whom have since resigned as well as 11 members of the U.S. military.

Republican senator Susan Collins today on ABC this week says she doesn't think this was an isolated incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Sen. Susan Collins (R), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: To me, it defies belief that this is just an aberration. There were too many people involved. If it had just been one or two, then I would say it was an aberration. But it included two supervisors. That is particularly shocking and appalling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Now, there are also questions on whether the head of the secret service, Mark Sullivan, should be asked to step down.

Democratic representative Elijah Cummings on the house oversight and government reform committee was on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."

Candy Crowley asked if higher heads should roll.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: I'm very confident that what happened here was limited to these folks. But we'll find out. But the thing that impressed me about Sullivan is that he acted quickly.

Keep in mind, the head of the region down in south America was on that situation immediately. Got those folks out of there immediately. And she, of course, was acting on behalf of Sullivan. So I think Sullivan has done a very good job. A lot of us on Capitol Hill, most of us have a lot of confidence in him. Both sides of the aisle, by the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: So what does the White House have to say about all of this? Well, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday, all indications are that this scandal involved only the agents and military personnel, and he criticized those who are, in his words, trying to politicize the issue - Fred.

WHITFIELD: So Lisa, this is really embarrassing on so many different levels. And this whole scandal has even turned the secret service into kind of the butt of jokes. Take a look at this. Spirit airline ads, which pokes fun at what happened. And then also using it as advertisement to offer very cheap fares to Cartagena. So, how in the world can the secret service kind of recover its image?

SYLVESTER: Yes. You can see - and this really points to a bigger problem. This is an agency that has been around since 1865. And it's always been held to a certain standard, if you will. And people are now saying, you know, maybe it's not quite as esteemed as we thought it was. That's the problem that the secret service now has in terms of reforming its image. Because this doesn't look good.

I mean. Let's face it, Fred, it just doesn't look good. And now as you mentioned, it's being the butt of jokes, it's being used in this advertisement for spirit airlines. Spirit airlines is a budget airline that offers cheap fares to the Caribbean and to Cartagena. And see obviously, how they're making light of all of this.

WHITFIELD: Boy. And it is no funny matter, because lots of jobs are on the line. And, clearly, a reputation that has been for a very long time ruined.

All right. Thanks so much. Lisa Sylvester.

All right. Did you panic when Gmail went down for a few hours this past week? Or did you see it as an unexpected kind of gift? Put down the Smartphone or iPad for a few minutes, and we'll talk about the idea of unplugging, even if just for a little while. Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Does this sound familiar? You have a cell phone, blackberry and an iPad? Well, you've got to stay in touch, right? Well, this thing about using gadgets for communication actually is nothing new.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's a nice little device. You prime it by pressing that back like this. You see? The smaller model is now standard issue. Fitted into the heel of your shoe. Its larger brother is magnetic. Right. To be concealed in the car you're trailing while you keep out of sight. Deception on the dashboard here. Audio, visual, range 150 miles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ingenious tool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So, we're taking you to movies, to a little 007 action. So, we're not all James Bond or like get smart, but we do seem to carry around a lot of gear these days, more than we ever did.

Bob Green is a CNN contributor, and best-selling author.

Good to see you, Bob. You've got a new column, in fact, on CNN.com that says a recent breakdown of Gmail got you thinking about the break from technology that maybe it's not such a bad thing.

BOB GREEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, actually, I was in an airport. And the guy in front -- and the guy in front of me, he took -- he had his laptop, two cell phones, kindle reading device, some sort of digital music player. Put them all on the bin. And that's when I said to him, did you ever see gold finger? He said the old James Bond movie? He said, sure.

Who do you think carried more equipment? James Bond or you? Yes, we all are outfitted that way. And yet, as you pointed out, Fredricka, last week when Gmail went down temporarily, they put down a notice saying it affected only 10 percent of their users. But that's 35 million people.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Isn't that incredible?

GREEN: And you wonder if in a way, some people felt like it was a snow day, like they were finally relieved of having to do their --

WHITFIELD: I know. It actually feels good when you're cut off from the rest of the world, at least for some of us. For me, I don't mind it.

Don Lemon is walking in here. He's a gadget guy all the way. I know he was devastated when that happened.

GREEN: Well, I was thinking about all the World War II guys.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

GREEN: Who were sent away from the United States for four years, and more. And during that entire time, four years for some of them --

WHITFIELD: Yes. No immediacy.

GREEN: Not one phone call.

WHITFIELD: No.

GREEN: Sporadic overseas mail. But they had to take it on faith that without hearing the voices of the people they loved, for four years, their parents, their wives, their children, that the people they loved would be all right. And somehow most of them made it through.

But us, stuff goes down for an hour and it's close to a panic.

WHITFIELD: I know, it's devastating. And then, you know, later on in years, other wars, I mean, it became letters that were the real life lines and care packages. And now, people don't even letter write anymore. What's the matter with them?

GREEN: I think people who do --

WHITFIELD: Don Lemon said, he doesn't like writing letters.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. I hate that people don't write people.

WHITFIELD: OK. That hurt my feelings. I'm still a note writer, and letter writer.

GREEN: The ones you save forever. The ones you save are not an e- mail or text message.

WHITFIELD: So true.

GREEN: The ones that mean something. And not just a letter, but letters written in a person's own handwriting.

WHITFIELD: I know. That's sweet.

GREEN: But as you know, as the postal service, because everyone is doing everything through digital means, the post office is having to continually raise prices. As you know, in Congress they're trying to keep the post office alive.

WHITFIELD: I know it.

GREEN: So, if the only -- so the day may be coming when we don't have a choice. That there's going to be no such thing as a handwritten letter.

WHITFIELD: That's going to break my hearted. A nice little note -- you know, that's not doing it for me, texting all that. I want to see the whole word written out, cursive and all.

Bob Green, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

GREEN: Thank you so much. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, you can read Bob's column by going to CNN.com and clicking on that opinion tab.

All right. Don Lemon is coming up next. We could go on for days to talk about technology and how much you need it. But instead, let's kind of shift gears and talk about a little music. I know you like music.

LEMON: I love music.

WHITFIELD: Cheap trick.

LEMON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: They were performing on the mall. And about to tour with Aerosmith. I'm going to be front and center. That's my promise.

LEMON: I'm going to stay with you.

WHITFIELD: I want you to want me, don't you remember?

LEMON: I want you to want me

WHITFIELD: Yes, keep going.

LEMON: I need you to need me.

WHITFIELD: That's very good. So, I spoke to them earlier, and talked about, you know, they're excited about their earth day celebrations today on the mall. And how they said it was just, you know, important for everybody to care about the environment.

Of course, they're pumped up about performing. Rain or shine, it doesn't matter. Look, he's putting away the umbrella. So here's a little clip from "hello there." Let's listen.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: It sounds good. I like it. I'm so glad they joined jus earlier. It gets us all rocking a little bit.

LEMON: I love the '80s.

WHITFIELD: It was nice to think back -- look at that. We've been talking about the letter writing, you know.

LEMON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: The importance of just plain old mail. And then, of course, a little cheap trick, too.

LEMON: The kids don't know cursive anymore. And every time -- if I have a nice meeting with someone, I like to send a hand-written note, and it means a lot.

WHITFIELD: People are OK with not receiving that anymore. We want to e-mail, just make it quick. Come on. We got to move on. That's what they are thinking.

How are you doing? What you got going on?

LEMON: I feel great and you are looking good.

We've got a lot going on. Coming up at 5:00, we're going to cut through all the rhetoric, as they say the smack talking here, and we're going to get down to the candidates. What do the candidates actually stand for? What do they stand for? We know Mitt Romney wants less spending, he wants smaller government, he wants a stronger military.

But what about President Obama? What about President Obama? What are his plans for a second term? What do you think about it? What does he really passionate about?

Exactly. A lot of people say they don't really know what he is exactly passionate about or what he actually stands for coming up. And our colleague Jeffrey Toobin has penned a column talking about that because we knew what George Bush stood for the second term, we knew what he wanted.

WHITFIELD: So, he is saying that people don't know what Obama wants?

LEMON: It's a little bit nebulas.

WHITFIELD: OK.

LEMON: OK. So, we're going to look at his plans or lack thereof for a second term. Also coming up here, you know hockey? Do you like to watch hockey?

WHITFIELD: Well. It's been a long time since I have been to a hockey game.

LEMON: Look at this.

WHITFIELD: The brutality? I know. I'm a wimp. I can't.

LEMON: It's the main draw for a lot of fans though.

WHITFIELD: But I love sports all together, it's just that. Should I be going?

LEMON: Well. If -- do you like that?

We're talking stretchers and suspensions here and hospital visits. And now the NHL says they're going to crack down on this but can they do it since it's the main draw? We are going to talk about it.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, we look forward to that. thanks so much.

Keep rocking. Thank you, Don.

All right. Well, they have spent years in cramped cells and now chimps that were once used in medical experiments are tasting life outdoors for the first time. We will take you to their retirement home, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Chimps in medical labs spend their lives being poked, drugged and dissected. But things could change for them. And it's up to Congress to decide.

John Zarrella takes us to Shreveport, Louisiana where those chimps will have a sanctuary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A red rose snack. Some like the stems, others the petals. And cut up fruit? But you get the sense they would prefer you hand it to them.

Here have some more.

LINDA BRENT, DIRECTOR, CHIMP HAVEN: Susie, you're not catching well.

ZERRELLA: This is chimp haven, the only federally subsidized chimpanzee sanctuary in the nation sitting on 200 acres outside of Shreveport, Louisiana. They are forced to habitats, great for climbing fruits and veggies are always scatter around.

In essence, this is a chimp retirement home.

BRENT: We look at what a chimpanzee needs. We look at what they are like in the wild. What does wild chimp needs. They need a lot of friends, a lot of space.

ZERRELLA: There are 130 of these great apes here and there is a growing chance that in the near future, hundreds of chimps now in research facilities might need a home like this.

Legislation awaiting action in Congress would put an end to all invasive research using chimpanzees. And a much anticipated study commissioned by the national institute of health, NIH, found the use of chimps in most cases, quote, "unnecessary."

The growing concern for sanctuary and laboratory officials is what to do with all these animals if suddenly they can no longer be used for research.

Chimps can easily live more than 50 years and the daily cost for care is between $25 and $50 an animal per animal.

BRENT: We can probably take 40, 50, 60 more chimpanzees if just this outside area was completed.

ZERRELLA: Money is the reason. It has been sitting unfinished for six years ever since the contractor went bankrupt and caused escalated. The chimps here come from a variety of backgrounds.

Henry was a pet. He lived 15 years in a cage in a garage before he was rescued. 50-year-old Sarah was used in cognitive research.

So these here behind me there are five of them, are here for one very specific reason. Nobody else would take them. They were at one time infected with and carry the aids virus. Most of chimp haven's animals were research subjects.

KATHLEEN TAYLOR, SANCTUARY MANAGER: It's amazing to see them experience breeze for the first time. Some of these chimp have not had outdoor access before.

ZERRELLA: Right now if the law were to change there are not enough retirement sanctuaries for all the chimps. Many would likely stay in the research facilities where they have already spent most of their lives.

John Zarrella. CNN, Keithville, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And you can see more on freeing the chimps tonight 8:00 Eastern time on CNN presents. All right, today, a Nobel peace prize winner came to visit us right here on CNN. Professor Muhammad Yunus is known as the father of micro finance. And he told me, companies that mater-self on technology, could actually provide some of the world's greatest advances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUHAMMAD YUNUS, 2006 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER: The big problem is health care. So we build a lot of social businesses around health care. And this technology, the wire phone and cell phone technology becomes so important. We can bring health care in various ways. And many more will be coming with more doctors diagnosing someone right there at her home.

WHITFIELD: And you see this here in the U.S.? you see this, abroad?

YUNUS: Everywhere, because cell phones are everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Next weekend, we will have the entire interview with professor Yunus and he will tell us just how close this medical cell phone technology is to widespread use.

That's going to do it for me. I'm Fredrick Whitfield. Much more in the newsroom straight ahead with my colleague, Don Lemon.

LEMON: Bye, Fred.

WHITFIELD: He's got some music playing, gadgets going. All of that. Have a great week.

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