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Six Days and Counting With No Power; Michigan's Vote For President; What It Means When Your City Goes Broke; Americans Working Too Much Overtime; Republicans Follow Obama on His Bus Tour; Soldier in Africa Returns After Fire Destroys Home
Aired July 05, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to try to get that picture for you later. No fireworks needed for the light display, this was the sunrise yesterday at Copacabana Beach in Brazil. Quite nice.
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MALVEAUX: I'm Suzanne Malveaux this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM. We are taking you to Ohio where President Obama, he's on the first campaign bus tour of the season. We're going to get an update on the food shortage as well in the East because of all those power outages.
We're also going to find out why so many Americans are now working overtime. Let's get straight to it.
Just a short time ago, a judge in Florida set bond for George Zimmerman at $1 million. You might remember he is the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin.
Well, Zimmerman's earlier bond of $150,000 was revoked after prosecutors told the judge he misled the court about how much money he had. It is not clear how soon Zimmerman is going to post bond or when he is actually going to be released.
A Florida lifeguard has been fired after saving a man from drowning. Yes, that is right. Tomas Lopez says he was let go from his job in Hillendale (ph) Beach when he went beyond the area of the beach he was responsible for to actually rescue a guy outside.
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TOMAS LOPEZ, FIRED LIFEGUARD: I'm not going to put my job over going to help someone again. I'm going to do what I thought was right, and I did.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Lopez says several other lifeguards have quit to protest his firing and my colleague, Erin Burnett, she is going to talk live to Lopez tonight at 7:00 Eastern on CNN's "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT."
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Politics now, President Obama on the road, he kicked off a two-day bus tour in this obviously politically critical state of Ohio.
The road to the White House has always run through Ohio and the president, he has made several stops today on his -- what they are calling their "Betting on America" tour. Right now, he is in the town of Maumee -- that is not far from Toledo -- and Dan Lothian is reporting on all the stops.
You are on the phone, Dan, and you're just chugging along. What have you seen so far?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right. We just hopped on the bus here in Maumee; the president is doing affiliate interviews. He often does that when he goes on the road like this, so had some interviews with local affiliates.
We are heading from here to Sandusky, which is about an hour away, and the president will delivering some remarks at an ice cream social, then wrap up the day in Parma, which is just outside Cleveland.
The message here that the president has is all about the economy, focusing on -- essentially defending what he has been doing over the past 31/2 years, his economic policies, also what his administration did, the bailout of the auto industry.
That really resonates with this crowd, because this is a region that has been hit hard in the manufacturing sector, GM, Chrysler employed a lot of people in this region and a lot of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs from this region were lost.
And so the president spelling out what he has done to bring some of those jobs back here and what he will continue to do to put these folks back to work, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Dan, obviously, everything that he says, the messaging is critical at this time. They are running out of time before voters actually go to the polls. Is he attacking Mitt Romney directly now?
LOTHIAN: He did, and, you know, I was expecting perhaps a little bit more from the president on that today, but at least on two occasions the president did -- perhaps three occasions, but I will point out that the president went after Mitt Romney, first of all, on the auto bailout, the president talking about what the administration had done.
This is obviously something that they were criticized for investing so much money in the private sector, the president drawing a contrast between what he did and what Mitt Romney would have done. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When the American auto industry was on the brink of collapse, and more than 1 million jobs were on the line, Governor Romney said we should just let Detroit go bankrupt.
I refused to turn my back on communities like this one. I was betting on the American worker, and I was betting on American industry. And three years later the American auto industry is coming roaring back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: Ad the president also went after Romney for working with a private equity firm that, as the president pointed out, was a pioneer of the outsourcing, the president telling the crowd that he is working to insource jobs, those companies that sent jobs overseas, providing tax breaks for those companies to bring those jobs back home, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Dan, we noticed a couple of things in listening to the president. First he is sweating, he is out there with folks. He's also speaking in a little bit more of a casual way, as he is known to do when he gets in front of large crowds. How is he being received there in Ohio?
LOTHIAN: Well, you know, I think that certainly here in this crowd, it was friendly territory and so he was received quite well.
But what you are seeing here is really a change of face, change of the campaign. Mostly the president has doing some of these big- name, big-city fundraising sessions. There have been some rallies as well, but it mainly has been sort of the Hollywood set or New York set of fundraising.
And this is more of the retail politics, the president getting out to the Rust Belt, meeting folks up close and personal and specifically those blue-collar workers that both of the campaigns are really trying to get after.
MALVEAUX: All right. Dan, thanks for joining us from the bus there. I hope it's not too bumpy a ride. We'll talk to you in a little bit. Thanks.
LOTHIAN: OK. Bye-bye.
MALVEAUX: Not to be outdone, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a serious out on what they're calling a shadow bus tour, the Republican governor of Louisiana and former governor of Minnesota, they are tracing the president's route. We will have more on their so-called "Middle Class Promise Gap" tour. That's going to be later in the hour.
Going to get more now on the other story, the $1 million bond that was set today for George Zimmerman. David Mattingly has been following the story about Trayvon Martin and all things related to Zimmerman. And we understand, this is a very large amount of money, compared to what he was being offered before the $150,000 bond. Why the difference now?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, because, essentially he lied to the court. The judge had some very strong words for him. And the biggest damage to George Zimmerman today is not how big that bond is, it is the damage we've seen done to his credibility and to his freedom.
In the ruling, the judge clearly says that, under any definition the defendant flaunted the system when he tried to say that he didn't have the funds to meet the $1 million bond that the prosecution was originally asking for in this case.
The judge also said the defendant offered no justification for his deception. He uses these words, very strong words, and again saying that he tried to manipulate the system. So now, when he gets out, not only does he have to come up with 10 percent nonrefundable of that $1 million bond, he has some very harsh restrictions now placed on him.
Before George Zimmerman could go just about anywhere to go into hiding, now we are finding out he cannot leave the county. The judge says you cannot leave this county, and there are all sorts of other restrictions placed on him.
He cannot engage in criminal activity. He cannot have contact with the victim's family. He's going to have electronic monitoring. He can't leave the country. He has to report on a pretrial release every 48 hours. Before he had, I think, three days.
So it is all very tight now, tight on his freedom and something that the judge said here really jumped out at us, he said the defendant was preparing to flee to avoid prosecution, but plans were thwarted. He doesn't --
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MALVEAUX: Wow. He actually believed that he was a flight risk.
MATTINGLY: That is what the judge is saying here. Those are his exact words. He does not offer any details about why he thought that, but now we are finding out the judge did believe that George Zimmerman was a flight risk and now, with a $1 million bond, don't you believe that a bondsman is going to have some incentive to go after him if he does skip bond.
MALVEAUX: Is there any chance, David, that he could -- you said 10 percent -- make that bond?
MATTINGLY: Yes, 10 percent nonrefundable, and we know that he has got it, because his attorney did say in court that the defense fund that he has now is up to $200,000. So $100,000, he's going to be able to get out of jail.
MALVEAUX: All right, David, thank you. Appreciate the update.
Here is what we are working on for this hour.
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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Two Michigan auto workers with two very different opinions about why they have a job today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who do you credit for having a job?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I credit President Obama totally.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obama just wants to take us deeper and deeper and deeper into the social democrat mess that the Europeans are going through right now.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Cities around the country, from Stockton, California, to Central Falls, Rhode Island, are in so much economic trouble, they filed for bankruptcy. I will look at a how that will impact the people who live in those towns, and why the American workers are putting in the equivalent of 45 days of overtime a year.
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MALVEAUX: Now the aftermath of a freak storm that knocked out power to millions. Six days after the storm hit, more than 483,000 homes across 11 states are still without electricity. About a quarter of them, they're in West Virginia. That's where food and water shortages are widespread in a state where a lot of folks are already struggling.
The median household income in West Virginia is just over $38,000. That compares to almost $52,000 in the rest of the country. Now 17.4 percent of West Virginians, they are living below the poverty line. And many more than the national average.
Now government agencies and charities, they are now rushing food, water, to try to get it to thousands of people who are quite desperate right now. Brian Todd, he has more on this relief effort.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Roberts is in a hurry. He's got to get a truckload full of food and water to a shelter soon. Roberts runs a faith-based charity called Mountain Mission.
We follow his team as they pull into the Kana City (ph) community center, a temporary shelter in Charleston for dozens who've been without power and food for days, many of them low income are visibly relieved at his arrival.
YOLANDA WILCOX, W.V. RESIDENT: Thank you so much.
TODD (voice-over): People like Yolanda Wilcox (ph), legally blind and on food stamps. She says her family of eight struggled to find food since a tree fell on her house and knocked out the power.
We went to churches and you know, stuff like that to get some food, you know. But it's been very hard, very hard indeed, because had to go place to place and then it is hot.
TODD (voice-over): Twenty-three-year-old Blue Pack (ph) tells an even more desperate story.
TODD: How long did you go without food and water?
BLEU PACK, W.V. RESIDENT: About four days.
TODD: What was that like?
PACK: Very hard. Very hot. You felt like you were going to pass out, got trembling, shaking.
TODD (voice-over): State officials, charity leaders tell us nearly every county in West Virginia is dealing with food shortages. Stores without power have tossed out spoiled food. State food banks are depleted of non-perishables.
JOHN ROBERTS, MOUNTAIN MISSION: This has really surprised us. I mean, I've been doing this job for 12 years, and we help with a lot of fires, a lot of floods, things like that. But this storm snuck up on us.
TODD (voice-over): Now eight groups and state officials are working furiously to head off a worst-case scenario.
TODD: John Roberts' group has distributed 50,000 bottles of water this size, 4,000 pounds of non-perishable food to the residents here in need, but as far as the federal response goes, a FEMA official tells us, this is not another Katrina.
That official says FEMA has learned from Hurricane Katrina, has coordinated with state officials from day one, bringing 100,000 meals into West Virginia, more than 50 tractor-trailers full of water, nearly 100 large generators. Some of it clearly has arrived without much time to spare.
WILCOX: It's hard, but yet they -- yet still we thank God that it is a place that we can come and get food.
TODD (voice-over): One of the biggest challenges here is communication. So many people in the hard-hit areas of West Virginia live in remote areas, and it has been difficult for state officials to get word to them on where they can go to get help -- Brian Todd, CNN, Charleston, West Virginia.
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MALVEAUX: John Roberts, who is the head of the Mountain Mission relief group, featured in Brian's report, he's joining us now. And, John, one of the biggest problems, we understand, at least in West Virginia, is communicating to these remote areas, and you are just trying to deliver some of the food to these places. How is that going?
ROBERTS: It's actually -- It's really going pretty well right now, compared to what it was right out of the box. Right after the storm -- we did not see the storm coming. Meteorologists did not pick up on it; it gave us no warning. So it caught us, you know, sleeping a little bit.
But I tell you, federal officials, government officials here, state officials have all responded just great. Very positively. American Electric Power has done good. We have -- got most of the state back online with electric. So communications has increased. It's really getting much better.
MALVEAUX: Sounds like it's a little bit better than we thought.
I know the American Red Cross is providing up to 25,000 meals a day in the state and the federal government has sent a good bit as well, about 100,000 meal meals or so. Are they getting what they need here?
ROBERTS: Well, it's coming. Yes, there are still some rural areas that they're working on. And it's really difficult. Like I said yesterday in Brian's piece, the -- West Virginia is a beautiful state. Very mountainous. Therefore, when we have high winds and get -- the trees will take out some of the power lines. And it takes a little bit of time to get to the back road and things like that.
But all of the emergency officials and everything are doing everything in their power to make sure that people have the medication they need, that they have the water, the food, all the resources they need to survive. And it's really -- it is tough. A lot of the grocery stores, the shelves are somewhat bare, especially of the perishable items like dairy products and meat and things like that. But we're really coming together and making a difference here.
MALVEAUX: Yes, John, I was going to ask you about that, the grocery stores there, because they had to dump so much spoiled food across the state. How are they actually restocking? Are they able to get some more food back into those stores?
ROBERTS: We have talked to a couple local grocery stores today. And, yes, food supplies are coming in. They're actually going off the shelf just about as fast as they come in. But that's OK because we know it's going into the hands of people that need it. So outside, surrounding states have helped us. You know, the National Guard has -- Governor Tomblin has had the National Guard involved. And they've done a terrific job, helped us raise a lot of money and food and water over the last couple of days. And it has really -- I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I really can. In another two or three days, I think we'll see a major, major positive move here. I think we'll see a big impact.
MALVEAUX: All right. It's good to hear some good news there. You're the third John Roberts I know. Thank you. Glad things are going well. Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
MALVEAUX: Sure.
The popular toy Legos has been a staple for kids around the world, right, for decades. Well now a Lebanese woman has what she says is the 21st century version. It's an electronic toy. It helps foster an appreciation for science and engineering. Check it out.
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AYAH BDEIR, FOUNDER, LITTLE BITS: My name is Ayah Bdeir. I'm an engineer and I'm the founder of Little Bits.
These are Little Bits. The little bits of a system of electronic modules that snap together with magnets to teach kids about electronics and science and technologies.
One of my favorite things, I think, the first time people interacted with Little Bits. They take their two pieces, they snap the two pieces together, a light comes on and then suddenly their face lights up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh.
BDEIR: Suddenly, you feel like the whole world of imagination opened up to them and they're able to imagine what's possible.
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MALVEAUX: Pretty cool stuff.
Michigan is a big swing state for the fight for the White House. People there are really divided. We're going to talk to one auto worker who supports President Obama, and another who supports Mitt Romney.
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MALVEAUX: Both President Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, are stumping for votes in states rich in delegates but hit hard by the economy. Poppy Harlow, she's been on a road trip herself to the rust belt and her latest stop is Michigan, the auto capital where people have sharply differing views on which candidate will best represent them.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): On the outskirts of Detroit --
BRIAN PANNEBECKER, FORD PRODUCTION WORKER: I don't see the economy turning around.
HARLOW: Two auto workers.
STACEY STEWARD, CHRYSLER ENGINEER: And Michigan is on its way back.
HARLOW: With similar 9 to 5s, but dramatically different views on the economy here, where unemployment is about 8.5 percent.
HARLOW (on camera): Who do you credit for having a job today?
STEWARD: I credit President Obama totally, 110 percent.
HARLOW: Why?
STEWARD: Because when everybody else turned their backs on the auto industry, he said that there was no way that he was going to let us fail.
HARLOW: Mitt Romney's criticism of the auto bailout doesn't sell well here in Michigan. It's home of the big three, and also Romney's home state. Michigan's leaning towards Obama this election, but not all the auto workers we met here are.
PANNEBECKER: I think Mitt Romney will do a much better job managing the economy. The government needs to be out of the economy as much as possible.
HARLOW (voice-over): You see, even though Brian Pannebecker is an auto worker, he doesn't think President Obama should have bailed out the industry.
PANNEBECKER: I think markets need to be allowed the work. And there were some fundamental problems that GM and Chrysler had that really were of their own making.
HARLOW: He works for Ford, which didn't take a bailout.
STEWARD: Life is a whole lot different today than it used to be.
HARLOW: But Stacey Steward's company took one. She was laid off from her job as an electrician at Chrysler in 2008. Out of work nearly a year and a half.
STEWARD: The auto loans were granted. They started doing the restructuring. And I came back to work one month later and I've been back to work ever since.
HARLOW: That has meant being able to send her daughter to college and a new house.
STEWARD: I really feel that without Obama's bailout, that we would not be here today.
HARLOW: Pannebecker is doing fine, too, but doesn't credit government spending.
PANNEBECKER: Obama just wants to take us deeper and deeper and deeper into the social democrat mess that the Europeans are going through right now.
HARLOW: He's committed enough to work part-time for a Republican state representative.
PANNEBECKER: We need some austerity and some fiscal responsibility, I think, and that's Mitt Romney.
HARLOW (on camera): Why should we keep bailing out this industry? I think that's the feeling that some of the people on the road I've talked to have.
STEWARD: The big three supports the entire state of Michigan. The auto loans didn't just help Chrysler and GM. The auto loans helped all of our suppliers. They helped all the small businesses in the area. It helped the citizens.
HARLOW (voice-over): Despite the bailout, Michigan has actually lost about 50,000 auto manufacturing jobs since 2007.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some even said we should let Detroit go bankrupt. You remember that.
MITT ROMNEY, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe the market works better than a president stepping in to take care of his friends.
HARLOW: Mitt Romney's 2008 op-ed "let Detroit go bankrupt" is notorious here.
CROWD: Hey, hey, go home. Mitt Romney has got to go.
HARLOW: Obama took 53 percent of the vote here in McComb (ph) County in 2008. Romney's supporters know the uphill battle they face here.
HARLOW (on camera): What do you think Mitt Romney's biggest challenge is here in Michigan?
PANNEBECKER: When Chrysler and GM were grabbing for a lifeline, it came off as if he didn't care about the auto industry. Well, he talked about the bailout, the auto crisis like a financial guy, a bean counter, rather than like somebody whose heart was really there.
HARLOW (voice-over): A candid reflection from an auto worker who knows the importance of detail, both on the production line and in politics.
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MALVEAUX: Poppy, that's a fascinating report there, to take a look at really two very different sides to this -- to this topic here. Are the folks in Michigan, are they still focusing on the Romney op-ed "let Detroit go bankrupt," from four years ago? Is that still resonating?
HARLOW: It is, even more than I expected. It's absolutely resonating. Of course, the Obama supporters and knows that have seen the auto bailout work for them in their jobs, they bring it up and they say Romney was wrong. And even people like you saw in the piece, Brian Pannebecker, the Ford worker who supports Romney, he said I think the issue is that he treated the bailout like a businessman. Well, Mitt Romney is a businessman and he wanted a traditional bankruptcy financed by the private sector, not using taxpayer dollars. So it absolutely is still key.
But also key is the fact that it's really indisputable that in Michigan the auto bailout did help bring down unemployment. OK, you had Michigan with 13 percent unemployment in 2010, and 8.5 percent unemployment in the area right now. Michigan is the state that has seen the biggest decline in unemployment, Suzanne, in the last two years. It's Michigan and then it's Ohio, where the president is today. So that's going to be key and that's why, clearly, Romney is going to have a tough time in Detroit especially.
But I thought it was fascinating to find auto workers, and I found, you know, more than just that one. A steel worker I met at a local bar told me that, you know, his job is tied to the auto industry, but he is still supporting Romney.
MALVEAUX: It's fascinating. A fascinating report there. Thank you very much, Poppy. Really appreciate it.
HARLOW: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Tomorrow, of course, a big day for the people in the city of Stockton, California, because members of their city council, they're going to be in federal court for the first time since filing for bankruptcy. That is right. The city is broke, in debt, wants protection from the creditors. And here's the important part. Stockton, California, it is the biggest city in American history to file for bankruptcy. I want to talk about this with Clyde Anderson. He's the financial expert whose following this story very closely.
Clyde, good to see you and in person here, of course.
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Good to be here. Yes.
MALVEAUX: I want our viewers to take a look at the cities that have filed for bankruptcy. This map that we have here. They're all over the country. We're talking about New England, the deep south now, the 300,000 population, the city of Stockton, California. So tell us what happened, first of all, in Stockton?
ANDERSON: Well, I think it's a combination of things, you know. I hate to call it the perfect storm, but it's a bad situation because what happened is mismanagement of funds, you had an economy that just went awry. You had also -- you had the housing market, that bust. And a lot of people, you know, they put a lot of investment on the boom of the housing market. So Stockton was going to be the place where it was kind of that suburb of San Francisco. People were going to go to and it was going to boom. So they spent a lot of money on new entertainment venues. They built a new city hall. They did all these investments and they used bonds to buy them but they didn't pay off.
MALVEAUX: So what happens now that this city is bankrupt? What does that mean for the people who live there? ANDERSON: Basically what it means is, they're cutting pensions. They've already cut a lot of the police force. They've cut a lot of the fire departments. A lot of the city workers have lost jobs. So now what happens when you cut pensions is, people that have retired that were promised pensions for the rest of their retirement now lose that. And so now you've got a lot of people without health care, without health benefits and without their pension. And so now you also have crime on the rise because we've cut the police and we've cut the fire. So it's a situation where people are worried now about their protection. Are we going to be safe here in this city? And then you've got the housing situation that's there.
MALVEAUX: Right. So if you were in a city and you suspected that your city, your town is not doing well. It potentially could go bankrupt. Would there be anything that you could do to actually protect yourself?
ANDERSON: Well, I mean, I think right now the thing is to be prepared and read all the information. You know, we cannot get away from politics as far as, once we elect people, just let them be and do what they do. We've got to kind of oversee that. And so now the situation is, we need to be on tap with what's going on, constantly know what's going on. And also for the people that are losing some of their health benefits, they need to find what they're going to do now going forward. Make sure their jobs are secure and see what type of services are going to be cut from this point. But there's not a lot that I can do as a citizen because I didn't make this situation.
MALVEAUX: Is there any upside to bankruptcy?
ANDERSON: Well, I mean, it's an upside for the city because it's getting out of a lot of the debt that was there. You know, a lot of those pension accounts that they go into and to get people to come to the city to say that, you know, we're going to give you pensions for life and we're going to give you all these health benefits. Now they're getting out of a lot of these debts that they have. Unsecured debts especially. And so it's going to help them to be able to rebuild and restructure.
Can they come back? Yes. But in the meantime, how long is that going to take and how's it going to affect the citizens that are already there, people that cannot sell their homes. You know, some big foreclosure. This has been the foreclosure capital Stockton has labeled, because, again, it rode the boom of the housing market and everyone's going to move.
MALVEAUX: Could this happen to many other cities, do you think?
ANDERSON: Oh, it can, definitely. And we've seen in your show where it's happened in the past. And now with the whole again (INAUDIBLE) of what's going on in the economy and everything that can happen in other cities. Detroit is already having these conversations of, you know, how do we avoid bankruptcy. And so you can see it in several other cities. It's just a matter of time. And we've got to see -- make sure that the government, the people that are in place are managing those funds correctly. MALVEAUX: All right. Keep an eye on them.
ANDERSON: Yes, you have too.
MALVEAUX: All right, Clyde, thank you very much. Good to see you.
ANDERSON: Yes, thank you.
MALVEAUX: So, are you working too hard? I mean, really, working too hard. Long hours. Long days. American workers are putting in a record amount of overtime these days. We're going to tell you why.
Also, don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer. While you're at work, head to cnn.com/tv.
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MALVEAUX: Here's a challenge for you. Put down the Blackberrys or the wireless device. Leave it alone. Can you do it? I don't think so.
(LAUGHTER)
A new survey says that Americans put in about a month and a half of overtime every year just by answering calls and e-mails at home.
Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.
Allison, do you do that? I know I do.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do. I'm guilty, guilty as charged. But, it is not only about being addicted to the devices, but it is feeling more and more pressure of being available to the bosses. So it is a reflection of the times. Since the recession, companies have reduced their head count and are squeezing more work out the people they do have. So a new survey from a web security firm called Good Technology that found out that a good majority of people, about 80 percent of us, continue to work even though we have left the office. The survey finds that we are putting in an extra 45 days a year, and guess what, we are not getting paid for it. Most say they do it because they want to stay organize and feel they don't have a choice because the customers are demanding quick responses. And some, yes, some are addicted and they find it hard to switch that off button.
And here is the thing, Suzanne. Listen to this. This is so common that a lot of people say it is a complete nonissue with their significant others. So they don't care. Keep on working. Keep on working.
MALVEAUX: Everybody is so used to it by now. And how much money are we talking about here and what are we missing out on?
KOSIK: Well, not every job offers overtime. Those that do, standard overtime is time and a half, so, say, you make $50,000 a year, that works out to about $13,000 of overtime that you don't see. So that is not changing a lot of people's habits though. 70 percent say they cannot go to sleep without checking their e-mail from work first. And almost as many people say they are checking it when they are out with family. And one-third of them say they routinely check it at the dinner table, which is really sad.
Guys, can't put it down when you are eating. That is sad.
MALVEAUX: you have to come up with rules here at home when you have to put the Blackberry down. Tell us a little bit about the jobs reports out today and what they say about the labor market. I understand there's good information.
KOSIK: Yes, a couple of the reports came out today, Suzanne, showing that the job market may be perking up. Weekly jobless rates fell by 14,000 last week, which is the biggest drop since April. The payroll processor, ADP, said private companies added 176,000 jobs last month. When you look at the board at stocks today, you're not see the good news translating though on the Dow. It is down about 16 points. That's on downbeat comments from European Central Bank president, Mario Drahgi, that is the equivalent of our Fed, over shadowing the entire area. He's saying he's concerned about spots of weak growth in the entire Euro area, not just the Eurozone but in countries who have not experienced it before. So that is putting the downward pressure on the markets today -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Alison.
Fourth of July, right, and the partiers ready for oohs and ahs. The most explosive fireworks display in the United States. But it only lasted 15 seconds.
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MALVEAUX: It is kind of funny actually. The San Diego fireworks show was supposed to last 18 minutes with music and, well, something happened. The entire display shot up into the night sky all at once. Some people waited hours to San Diego's famously choreographed big boom. And some folks got a head start on the traffic going home.
President Obama traveling through Ohio this hour. And he better check the rear-view mirror, because there are folks following closely behind. We will tell you who.
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MALVEAUX: President Obama not the only show in town. We brought you details earlier about the president's stop in Maumee, Ohio. And that is where he kicked off the two-day bus tour dubbed "Betting on America." Mitt Romney has Republicans shadowing the bus route. Republican governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, and former governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, are on the tour for what they call the "Middle Class Promise Gap" tour.
Paul Steinhauser is joining us from Washington, D.C.
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So, the last go around, 2008, it was not surprising that people would show up at the same place, relatively within a day or two of each other. But now you have the kind of people running into each other. How is it different now?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: yes, you are seeing it now, and it is called bracketing or shadowing, you name the term, but it's basically the same thing. The campaign is going after the other campaign's candidate. And we saw it this morning as Tim Pawlenty and Bobby Jindal in Maumee, Ohio, a few hours before the president. They will follow him to Pennsylvania. What they're doing, they are saying, listen, President Obama, in the three and a half years in office, has not been good to the middle-class. They are saying that the president's policies have been detrimental to the middle class. Listen to both men.
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TIM PAWLENTY, (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is dubbing his tour the "Betting on America" tour. Well, of course, we should all bet on America. But we shouldn't double-down on Barack Obama. His presidency has been a losing hand for Ohio and for America.
BOBBY JINDAL, (R), GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA: This president cannot run on his record, so he will do everything that he can to distract our attention and attack Mitt Romney. He'll talk about what he did in high school, and talk about what he did in Massachusetts, and what he did in the private sector, trying to distract us.
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STEINHAUSER: You know, what is interesting about this tour though is that Pawlenty and Jindal are both two gentlemen that Mitt Romney may seriously consider as running mates. And that is why this tour is a little more high profile than some of the other bracketing tours.
Look at the polls in these states, of course, in Ohio, one of the granddaddies of the battleground states. And this is the latest poll from Quinnipiac. The president has a nine point advantage. 18 electoral votes at stake. Go to Pennsylvania. You will see the race is a little tighter there in Pennsylvania, according to Quinnipiac. 20 electoral votes at stake there. Suzanne, you will see both candidates spending a lot of time in both of these states.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely. I know the Republicans aren't the only ones who are doing this.
STEINHAUSER: Right.
MALVEAUX: The Democrats did the same thing last month during Romney's five-day, six-day tour. Why do they think this is effective?
STEINHAUSER: Well, maybe it helps with local attention, and local media especially. Doesn't get much national attention. But when it comes to local media who cover these bracketing tours or shadowing tours, the other campaign gets their message out to local voters in the states -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Paul. Good to see you.
He is fiery and controversial, and he wanted to be the next president. It did not work out for him. But now, former presidential candidate, Herman Cain, has advice on who Mitt Romney should pick as V.P.
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HERMAN CAIN, (R), FORMER GODFATHER'S PIZZA CEO & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think that the decision should be made upon gender or ethnicity. It should be made upon who is the best person to step into the shoes if something happens to Mitt Romney. Secondly, and secondarily, someone that can energize the base. I think that's also important. But I don't think that should be the number-one thing. To pick someone based on gender or ethnicity is pandering.
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MALVEAUX: Herman Cain has launched a new TV network -- or a network, called CainTV, actually a web site. On it, politics, religion, technology, entertainment, inspiration and even home cooking and a wide array of contributors, as well.
So if you're looking for a great deal on a hotel this summer, there is a web site that has new deals that you might not be aware of. So we'll help you how to save some cash up next.
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MALVEAUX: We are going to plan a summer get away, well, it is more affordable than you think.
Clark Howard is joining us with the deal of the week.
And, wow, OK, not too late? Really?
CLARK HOWARD, HLN MONEY EXPERT, EVENING EXPRESS: No. And I am really excited about this one.
MALVEAUX: I want to go somewhere.
HOWARD: Of course, there are deals. There are always deals. And you know my rule?
MALVEAUX: What is the rule?
HOWARD: You buy the deal and figure out why you want to be there.
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If you do that --
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MALVEAUX: Spend the money first and then --
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HOWARD: You do. I'll tell you. It is crazy to say, but if you follow the bargain, eventually, you will see the whole world. I have been to every continent except for Antarctica.
MALVEAUX: Me, too.
HOWARD: And every one on sale.
MALVEAUX: Nice.
HOWARD: See, neither of us have been to Antarctica because it's not a deal yet.
MALVEAUX: I haven't been to Antarctica.
OK. What is the deal?
HOWARD: This, I love. It's something PriceLine is doing. PriceLine this is a true bona fide deal, especially with hotels and car rentals. The hotel thing, you have to bid. A lot of cannot stand the bid deal, so they abandon doing the bid, because they are intimidated by it. So they have mimicked Hot Wire with a new feature called Express. When you go the Priceline, you can go to bid on the hotel or we will give you these choices. You don't know the name of the hotel, but you know it is four star or five star or three and a half star or whatever, and this is what you will pay for this and this is the part of town that you will be in. So you, instead of you trying to figuring out the price to bid, and you click on it, you own the hotel room, typically, at about 35 percent below what you would buy otherwise.
MALVEAUX: That is amazing. You have deals regarding Hawaii, I believe.
HOWARD: Yes.
MALVEAUX: It is a place I would love to go.
HOWARD: I am ecstatic about it.
MALVEAUX: Hawaii is expensive.
HOWARD: Yes. The Hawaii market has been very, very pricey for airfare for the last five years. And the reason is that several discounters went bust and really only full-fare airlines flying to Hawaii. The fares went up and up. And now Allegiant -- you've heard of Allegiant Air?
MALVEAUX: Yes.
HOWARD: There are based in Vegas, a discount airline that's booming, growing so far. They've added two cities so far from the mainland to Hawaii. Over the course of this year, they'll have about another half dozen. And the fares start at about $300 round trip, from the west coast to Hawaii. It is a true bona fide bargain, so much so, that Alaska Airlines, who have been so powerful from the U.S. market to the mainland, is now offering new routes and better fares, trying to squeeze Allegiant. And you know who wins?
MALVEAUX: We do.
HOWARD: We do. It squeezes our buck. It's good stuff.
MALVEAUX: Clark, what if you're on the east coast. I'm an east coast gal and I've got to travel --
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HOWARD: We get such cheap fares across the country. You get from the east coast to the west coast, typically on sale, $250 round trip or $280. Add that to the fair coast to Hawaii, ultimately, it will pressure the fares further and further to the east, what is going on. Plus, Hawaiian Airlines is now flying from New York nonstop to Honolulu, another discounter, so we have lots of great stuff going on if you want to get to Hawaii.
MALVEAUX: All right. I might have to do that.
Now I don't know if people realize this, but we did our own traveling yesterday. We did a 10K, the Peachtree Road Race.
HOWARD: Yes. And we used no gasoline to get down the street.
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MALVEAUX: We did it ourselves. We are looking at the pictures here. And this is team CNN.
HOWARD: But you look so much more fit than I do in the shots.
MALVEAUX: What is your time?
HOWARD: Under three and a half hours.
MALVEAUX: What!
HOWARD: No, just kidding. I ran the first three and walked most of the rest, so it took 80 minutes. And you did it in 55, right?
MALVEAUX: Little bit more than an hour. And I admit that I stopped and was taking pictures and tweeting along the way.
HOWARD: And the T-shirt was great and worth doing the race. Get the T-shirt.
MALVEAUX: And did you get the peaches at the end? Did you get a whole bunch of peaches?
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MALVEAUX: They were giving them out at the end.
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MALVEAUX: That was a good deal. That was a good deal.
HOWARD: See, I'm the last person to start the race and that is my tradition. And I never win the race. But by the time I start, all of the gimmes are gone and I don't get anything free. I got a couple of free bananas.
MALVEAUX: I will give you a couple of peaches I picked up along the way.
Our colleagues did not show up today. And we are the only two who showed up to work today who did the 10K.
HOWARD: Well, let's do another 10K today.
MALVEAUX: All right. We've got to -- they are telling me to go.
HOWARD: OK.
MALVEAUX: We will go for another run another time.
HOWARD: That's a deal.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Clark.
You can catch Clark every night on "Evening Express," from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. eastern on HLN.
When the Colorado wildfires started, one of the state's residents was in the Horn of Africa, serving our country. Well, he saw his house in flames on his Smartphone. How he raced across the globe to get to his wife and kids.
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MALVEAUX: Good news this hour from Colorado Springs. The Waldo Canyon Fire 90 percent contained, but fires still burning in several other western states, including Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
In Colorado Springs, among those who lost their homes was a U.S. captain on deployment in Africa.
Jim Spellman reports.
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JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the fire roared into Colorado Springs, U.S. Army captain, Manuel Mgana, was four months into a deployment in the Horn of Africa. Wife, Melissa, was home, taking care of the three kids.
MELISSA MGANA, WIFE OF CAPT. EMANUEL MGANA: It was my son's 10th birthday actually and we picked up out cake. Our home, the kitchen windows look up to the foothills and, when I say the fire come over the ridge was when I really new if was very serious. I said, we have to get out of here.
SPELLMAN: The winds picked up and the fire raced down the hill to their home. She scrambled into the car with the kids and made their way to safety at a friend's house. The bad news came later that evening when she saw this photo from the "Denver Post," their home, front and center, engulfed in flame.
Meanwhile, in Africa, her husband was following the news from back home on his Smartphone when the picture showed up.
MELISSA MGANA: So I texted to him and I just said, you know, here's our home.
SPELLMAN (on camera): What did you think when you saw a picture of your house engulfed in flames?
CAPT. MANUEL MGANA, U.S. SOLDIER: I think, in a way, I was satisfied that I really knew that there was no question my house was actually burning.
SPELLMAN: He immediately showed the picture to his superiors.
MANUEL MGANA: The first thing they said is, you need to go home.
SPELLMAN: Captain Mgana was on the next plane home, but he decided to keep his return a secret from his wife and kids. Less than 24 hours after receiving the photo, he was back in Colorado.
MELISA MGANA: There was a ring at the doorbell.
MANUEL MGANA: My daughter, Grace, I believe, opened the door first.
MELISSA MGANA: And there he was. And I mean, the kids were there and we were all just sort of in disbelief. I mean, just, oh, my gosh.
SPELLMAN (voice-over): They were together again.
(on camera): When he walked in that door, what was it like?
MELISSA MGANA: Oh, just elation, and just the feeling of, OK, we can get through this together. So it was great.
MANUEL MGANA: I was completely ecstatic. I just wanted to hold them all together. And it was just something that I just had to be with my wife and my kids.
SPELLMAN (voice-over): They're spending the Fourth of July in a hotel as they figure out what's next.
MANUEL MGANA: After almost 15 years of being together, I think we've weathered a lot of storms together and we just know how to get through things together.
MELISSA MGANA: And knowing that we will. We will get through this. It's just a matter of time and patience. Lots of patience.
MANUEL MGANA: It's just a new beginning for us.
SPELLMAN: Jim Spellman, CNN, Colorado Springs.
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MALVEAUX: Scientists have come one step closer to unlocking some of the universe's deepest secrets.
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MALVEAUX: Our understanding of the universe is about to change. Scientists have come one step closer to unlocking some of the universe's deepest secrets.
Atika Shubert has more.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As layman, I would now say I think we have it.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You agree?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Until this week, the so-called God particle, the key to our understanding of the universe, existed only in theory. But not anymore. Collecting data like this, scientists at CERN have announced the discovery with 99.999 percent certainty that the Higgs boson does exist, the so-called God particle.
Professor Peter Higgs, now 83 years old, who first theorized its existence in 1964, was in the audience for this historic moment. PETER HIGGS, HIGGS BOSON THEORIST: For me, it's really an incredible thing that has happened in my lifetime.
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SHUBERT (on camera): So what is the God particle, and just what does it do? Well, in once sense, it is the missing link to this massive equation. This is the standard model for particle physics. And this is our understanding of how the universe works.
(voice-over): The Higgs boson gives us mass, which is how we measure matter, the stuff we are made of. Scientists say, without mass, stars, galaxies, and planets would not have been able to spin themselves into existence after the Big Bang.
So how did scientists find it? Well, with a massive particle collider, 27 kilometers of tunnels under Switzerland and France. Researchers smashed particle beams together to see what's inside, effectively recreating the Big Bang trillions of times, over and over. And this is what they saw -- subatomic debris, including the decayed remains of what they say appears to the Higgs boson, thereby, proving its existence.
But the mysteries of the universe --
