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Police Name Suspect in Fatal Hit-and-Run Crash; Sinkhole Disaster; Interview With Valerie Plame Wilson

Aired March 04, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: A newborn dies, just after her parents. Now the search is on for the person behind the wheel of a tragic hit and run.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My 2-year-old daughter has nothing. My wife has nothing. And I have nothing now. And I don't know what to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Crews demolishing a home where a man disappeared into the ground.

And she is the former spy whose cover was blown. Now Valerie Plame is joining me live with her warning about nukes. The news is now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

New developments today in that tragic hit-and-run traffic accident in New York that killed a young couple and their unborn child. Police now say they are looking for 44-year-old Julio Acevedo, who was arrested just a couple of weeks ago on February 17 on charges of driving while intoxicated.

Take a good, long look at this guy here as we can tell you police also say they have arrested a Bronx woman, Takia Walker, who is the registered owner of the car that caused the crash. Doctors performed a C-section on the mother to be and saved the unborn baby. But he lived for just one day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just lost a beautiful couple, two wonderful people, always with a smile on their face, always trying to help.

BARRY SEKETE, COUSIN: It is terrible. It is terrible. Not even married a year. And, you know, they're going into the happiest time to have a baby and that's what happens. Terrible. ISAAC ABRAHAM, NEIGHBOR: The message to the driver used to be in my younger years was, give yourself up before we find you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hundreds gathered for the funeral of the young parents just yesterday.

The belongings of a Florida family are scattered across their lawn today. Workers are continuing to demolish the home where a sinkhole, about 20 feet wide and 50 feet deep, swallowed 36-year-old Jeff Bush on Thursday when he was in his bed. His brother, who dove into the sinkhole, trying to save him, broke down at a press conference today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY BUSH, BROTHER OF VICTIM: The house is still standing. The only reason the house fell is because they put the machines on it. I feel that they could have tried harder to try to get my brother out of there.

My mom and dad are going through hell right now, my mom waking up every hour on the hour crying in bed. She's going through hell. No one wants to bury their kid before they go. I just want my mom and dad to know that I love you and I tried to save your son. I tried my hardest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's George Howell is live just outside that home.

And just hearing this brother again, your heart goes out to this family here. And then on top of that, the rescue crews, they won't be able to go into retrieve the body. So then what happens to the sinkhole?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brooke, and at this point there are no plans to go in and try to retrieve the body.

And that's the frustrating point for Jeremy. This has been a very emotional day for this family. It has been an emotional day for these crews. They have been very deliberate, very delicate in their process. I want to show you where we are right now. You can see that the home is destroyed, it is down. It has been demolished, except for one wall here on the side.

And what these crews have done all day is they have tried to bring all of the debris, and I say debris very loosely, because again we're talking about a home full of many years of memories, trying to bring all of that close to the street, and try to salvage some of the valuables so the family can go through them and pick out what they could to save them.

But you heard just a few minutes ago Jeremy. Jeremy is angry. He's angry because he says, you know, it is a good thing the crews are able to save a lot of the valuables, but he doesn't think that they did enough to find his brother. Take a listen. I spoke with him earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Are you satisfied with where this is now? They're not searching for your brother.

BUSH: No, I'm not satisfied at all. I would love to still try and at least pull his body out --

HOWELL: Yes.

BUSH: -- so we have some kind of closure, just so he's not there, staying underneath the house and all that stuff still on top of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Jeremy said it is hard for him to see all of this debris on top of his brother.

So, it is a difficult process for this family to watch. Again, Brooke, there are no plans at this point to go into that hole, presumed to be some 50 feet deep, maybe 20 to 30 feet wide, no plans to go into it at this point. The only plan is to remove the foundation, the concrete foundation, get an idea of how big this sinkhole is, and whether it will affect other homes nearby, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just awful. George Howell in Florida, George, thank you.

Now to the story -- hopefully this one will raise your spirits. This is the story everyone is talking about today. A woman stops -- not this one coming up -- a woman stops breathing, a retirement home in California. Glenwood Gardens is the name of this one. None of the staff, at least none of those in the loop was willing to save her life. Why? Well, it is against the rules.

That's right. No CPR at Glenwood Gardens in Bakersfield here. This woman was lying unconscious in the dining room. She at the time was still breathing. But despite the valiant efforts of this 911 dispatcher, she died. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: I understand if your facility is not willing to do that, give the phone to that passerby or that stranger to have it done. I need -- need this woman is not breathing enough. She's going to die if we don't get this started. Do you understand?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I understand.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a nurse. But I cannot have our other senior citizens who don't know CPR --

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: I will instruct them. I will instruct them. Is there anyone there who is --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cannot do that.

911 OPERATOR: OK. I don't understand why you're not willing to help this patient.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Great, then I will walk you through it all.

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: EMS takes the liability for this (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I'm happy to help you. OK? This is EMS protocol. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you (OFF-MIKE) right away. I don't know where he is, but she's yelling at me and saying that we have to have one of our other residents perform CPR and she will instruct. And I'm not going to do that and make that call.

911 OPERATOR: Is there anybody that works there that is willing to do it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't --

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: Or are we just going to wait -- we're going to let this lady die?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that's why we're calling 911.

911 OPERATOR: We can't wait. She can't wait right now. She is stopping breathing. She can't wait for them to get there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's saying we don't. So you can talk to my boss, and I don't know --

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: OK. They're refusing CPR. They're going to let her die.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Can you believe that? By the way, the operator, the only hero here, her name is Tracy Halvorson.

The executive director of Glenwood Gardens has issued this statement. Let me read this statement. Let me read this for you. This is what he says here: "In the event of a health emergency, our practice is to immediately call emergency personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives. That is the protocol we follow." They are standing by the nurse.

Now to the story that will lift our spirits, I promise you, and we need some good news on this Monday. A two-year-old cured of HIV. This is a researcher's dream come true, or have to be the cynic and also ask, is this too good to be true? We will get that answer in just a moment.

We will also hear from someone who knows a thing or two about living with HIV. She is now 28 years old. Her name is Hydeia Broadbent, and she was born with HIV and really she became a symbol for children and African-Americans with this virus. She stepped into the spotlight. Who could forget those tears? This was back in 1992. She was on Magic Johnson's Nickelodeon special when she was all of 7. Do you remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HYDEIA BROADBENT, 7 YEARS OLD: I want people to know that we're just normal people.

MAGIC JOHNSON, FORMER NBA PLAYER: You don't have to cry, because we are normal people. OK? We are. And we just want to be treated like that, right? You just want your friends to play with you and call you up and come by and still have sleepovers and things like that, right? Yes. It's OK to cry. It's OK to cry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: She wanted to be treated as normal. That was when she was 7. Again, she's 28. We will talk to Hydeia here in just a moment.

But, first, senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with me on this pretty incredible story.

And you don't ever use the cure word. So I really thought of you when I read this story. Have doctors found a cure?

(CROSSTALK)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Doctors say that they have cured -- that this little girl has been cured of HIV. So in a nutshell what happened was, born to an HIV-positive mom, baby was HIV-positive, started her on drugs second day of life. She took the drugs for 15 months and then the mom stopped. We don't know why. The mom just stopped giving them.

For five months, this little girl didn't have medication, didn't go to the doctor. She comes back to the doctor, by now, she's almost 2, the doctor tests her and the HIV is gone. Can't find it. And at first, she thought she had done something wrong. But then she checked back. The baby really was HIV-positive. And then she calls her friends and her other researchers and said, please test this child, tell me if I have gotten this wrong. They say, no, you haven't gotten it wrong, we can't find HIV. They could find tiny-teeny little fragments, but it --

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Yes, it doesn't affect her. She's treated as just a normal child. She's not being treated for her HIV. She's not sick in any way. They're guessing that she -- it will not return. It could, I suppose, but they really don't think that it will.

BALDWIN: It is incredible. I want to believe this is the beginning of something hopefully, hopefully. Thank you.

Hydeia Broadbent is joining me now.

Hydeia, my goodness, I remember that clip when you were seven. You broke my heart. I was just a couple of years older than you. Watching that clip just a moment ago, what goes through your mind?

BROADBENT: I just think about how hard it was for people, especially young people living with HIV/AIDS, the discrimination, the fear of not knowing if you're going to live or die, so it is just -- it just takes me back in time.

BALDWIN: And now you hear this news today about this little girl, who doctors are saying was cured of HIV, what is your reaction to that?

BROADBENT: I mean, at first, I was kind of apprehensive. I didn't really know what was going on, but the more that I was reading, I was happy.

And it just makes the future seems so much brighter, the possibilities of actually having a cure. I think it is great that the little girl turned out to be negative, because even though I love my life, it is not easy having AIDS. And I don't want anyone else to go through that. And that's why if we can possibly find a cure, I think that's the best thing possible for our future generations.

BALDWIN: Hydeia, you talked when you were seven, sitting there with Magic Johnson about how you just wanted to be treated as normal. Do you feel like you're treated as normal at age 28? Has that changed?

BROADBENT: In some aspects, I'm treated normal by my friends and my family. But there are people who they still don't get it.

Stigma is very -- is still very much alive. There are people who will ask my friend, why did she make me her god-daughter -- why did she make me the godmother of her child? Isn't she afraid that her daughter will catch AIDS from me?

So you still have things like that that you deal with, but I think it's better, things have gotten better, but it is not all -- it is not as great as it should be.

BALDWIN: I was talking to Magic Johnson on the show just a couple of months ago, and he was talking about this new at-home test and his whole thing is know your status, know if you're positive. I know you, age 28, you know, are in a better position to reach out to young people, right, to make sure they know their status. What is your message for young people in America when it comes to AIDS?

BROADBENT: Well, basically, what we want people to know that HIV/AIDS has not gone away. There is no official cure for people like myself who are living with HIV or AIDS.

So you have to protect yourself, stay negative, and know your status. If you are HIV-positive or have full-blown AIDS, if you're on treatment, you have less than a 3 percent of actually passing the virus on. Now, if I wanted to have a child, me knowing my status, I could get pregnant and have a child without passing the virus on to my child, but that's because I'm in treat.

We encourage people to get tested, know their status, stay in treatment, adhere to what your doctor is telling you to do and basically just be safe and know your status. I mean, it is not the death sentence that it once was. I will be 29 in June. And I didn't think I would live past the age of 5.

BALDWIN: Wow. Wow. And look at you now. And then here is Magic. What did he tell me, he's been living with it I think it was 21 years. Have you stayed in touch with him through all these years?

BROADBENT: We see each other at events. We have done a couple of shows together, so, I mean, I see him quite frequently. So, sometimes in passing, but, yes, we still see each other.

BALDWIN: You still see each other and keep in touch after all those years.

Hydeia, we wish all you absolutely the best. Keep spreading the messages. We will as well here at CNN.

BROADBENT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Hydeia Broadbent, thank you. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: What a story.

President Obama just a short time ago assembled his second-term Cabinet. A lot of smiles. But they did quickly get down to business, and $85 billion in forced spending cuts they are now kicking in. Here is the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to be spending some time talking about the potential impact of the sequester on all the agencies and missions across the board. It is an area of deep concern.

I think everybody knows where I stand on this issue. We are going to manage it as best we can to try to minimize the impacts on American families, but it is not the right way for us to go about deficit reduction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Homeland Security is reporting longer lines at several big airports and local officials in Cody, Wyoming, report Yellowstone National Park will open late this spring due to cuts in snow removal. Just here are some of the examples of some of what this nation will be feeling.

Gloria Borger, our chief political analyst here, I caught something over the weekend. Watch this with me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENE SPERLING, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMICS ADVISER: These are very harsh cuts that were not ever designed to go into effect.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Be careful what you sign into law.

SPERLING: Well, you know, that's I hope that doesn't turn out to be the case because the idea of this enforcement mechanism, these very deep cuts, both on domestic spending, and on defense spending, was that they were just to designed to be so onerous that they would force both sides to go back to the table and finish the grand bargain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It is what Candy Crowley actually inserted that I wanted to call to our viewers' attention. She said be careful what you sign into law. Has the president made miscalculations here?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think you have to look at the way the situation has played out to say that the White House probably has.

The first thing is, I think they really underestimated Republican resolve not to raise taxes in any way, shape or form. If you look at it from the point of view of the Republican Party, they just went and did the fiscal cliff deal a couple of months ago, where they raised taxes considerably. This is the no new taxes party, you will recall, and to think that they're going to come back two months later and even close loopholes, I think, was a little optimistic, shall we say, on the part of the White House.

They were never going to do that. These are Republicans who are afraid of primary challengers when they stand for reelection who will run from their rights, saying, look at that Republican. He voted to raise taxes not once, but maybe twice. And then, you know, the second thing I think is that this White House had been talking about the coming Armageddon, and it is going to take a while for these cuts to snowball. So what the White House hope is that after a week or two weeks and the lines get longer at the airports and more national parks can't open, et cetera, et cetera, the public will finally be on their side and force the Republicans to get to that negotiating table.

BALDWIN: So that is what they hope, as you point out. It's not a quick thing, but they will be gradual and they will click into place. Maybe this will change in a matter of weeks, maybe by the March 27 deadline. We will see. Gloria Borger, thank you very much, in Washington here.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, what we call our power block, big news on everything and everyone, from Oprah, to a breathtaking buzzer beater, from Facebook to the queen's health, hitting you with all of it next.

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BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin. We have it all for you. Technology, sports, business, health, science, and showbiz news. We're hitting it all in the power block beginning with Facebook.

Facebook has a problem. Bored teenagers. Teens are not unfriending Facebook, per se, but business insiders are reporting they have now moved on to Instagram and Snapchat. Facebook knows it. Here is what we have from their annual SEC report -- quote -- "We believe that some of our users have reduced their engagement with Facebook in favor of increased engagement with other products and services such as Instagram."

Steven Spielberg keeping with history for this new project. Spielberg tells French TV he's developing a miniseries about Napoleon. But what has really got Hollywood buzzing here, Napoleon was written for the movies by the late director Stanley Kubrick. Think "Clockwork Orange," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket." Spielberg and Kubrick worked together on the 2001 film "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Today, after a lot of scratching and rest, I'm fine and I'm healthy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Barbara Walters back on "The View." Also, zombies on cable devour network TV here.

Entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner in Los Angeles for me.

Let's start with Barbara Walters. She says she's fine. She says she's healthy. It has been a rough year for her, hasn't it?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has, Brooke.

She had the chicken pox and a concussion that sidelined her for a month. I know she's probably saying I'm done with 2013 right now. She fell and she hit her head on the trip to D.C. when she was attending the presidential inauguration. While she was at the hospital for that, she was diagnosed with the chicken pox. She thinks she got the chicken pox after she hugged a famous actor, who shall remain nameless because she doesn't want to say who it was, and she said she gave this unnamed actor a hug and kiss on the cheek and later discovered that he, assuming it was a he, had shingles, which of course is the same virus as the chicken pox.

But it was actually the concussion symptoms that kept her laid up until now. She apparently said she spent her time relaxing in bed, yelling at the TV while watching "The View," frustrated she couldn't be there. And actually A.J. Hammer from "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" spoke with her tonight after her return to "The View." You can see that complete later over on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" over on HLN.

I have to say, this story kind of freaks me out, because I have never had the chicken pox either.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I was about to ask you if you had.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You might get them. Beware, my friends.

BROADBENT: Shingle carriers, stay away from me.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We will know when you're doing this, doing this all the time on television.

Let's switch gears and let's talk zombies. People love their zombies, "The Walking Dead" killing the competition, including network television.

TURNER: Absolutely. The zombies are taking over television on Sunday nights. "The Walking Dead" is attracting millions of viewers on some Sunday nights, often more viewers than anything on network television that is up against it. More importantly, the people that are watching tend to be younger viewers which are much more desirable to the advertisers.

One of the weeks in February, it beat all of the network competition, attracting the highest number of people in that coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic. So in addition to being really profitable, it is attracting a lot of attention as the example of changes in television. People are making this out to be an indication of how much power the networks have lost in attracting major audiences. If you look at the recent ratings, NBC has even been behind Univision. The TV landscape is shifting more and more towards the cable channels that regularly offer, you know, the edgy, sometimes the gory entertainment like "The Walking Dead."

And full disclosure, Brooke, "Walking Dead" is not my cup of tea. I had to call my younger cousins, who watch the show and it gives them a rush.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That's why they love it, because now they're looking everywhere, seeing what is around the corner. It is that adrenaline rush.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You're making me feel not as bad because I'm like I heard of "The Walking Dead." Zombies, it's just not my thing, but people love them.

(CROSSTALK)

TURNER: We are dating ourselves.

BALDWIN: Nischelle Turner, good to see you. Thank you so much.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: And now talk show host network honcho businesswoman, philanthropist, this gal, Oprah Winfrey, she has done it all. And now she can add Harvard commencement speaker to that list. Harvard announced today that Oprah will deliver this year's graduation address. Certainly she's no stranger to college commencement circuits. She has spoken at Spelman College, Stanford University, and Duke.

And the state final was in its last seconds, his team two points behind. So what did Khalil Edney of New Rochelle High School do? Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is Edney to throw it in. Edney tosses it. It's knocked around and Mount Vernon will hold on and win. But hold on, one second.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Look at that. Everyone racing the course, buzzer beater from 55 feet away. It's crazy. Watch it again. Winner, New Rochelle over rival Mount Vernon 61-60.

The health care appears to be over for Britain's Queen Elizabeth. She, thank goodness, walked out of the hospital just a couple of hours ago. She was admitted yesterday, symptoms of basically like a stomach bug. The 86-year-old smiled as she walked into a waiting limousine. Buckingham Palace say the hospitalization merely was a precautionary measure after she came down with again what was suspected to just be issues with just her stomach.

Coming up next, she is the former CIA spy outed infamously during the Iraq war. But now after years of working to uncover secrets, she has a warning for the world about nuclear weapons. Valerie Plame Wilson standing by. She will join me live in studio next.

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