Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

City Park in New Orleans Still in Disrepair; AIDS Strikes Many Who Don't Expect It; Teens Compete in Robotics

Aired April 29, 2006 - 18:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news. A homemade bomb explodes in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi police officer. Meantime, a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb southwest of the city. Sixty nine American troops have died in Iraq this month alone.

Chants on the streets of Manhattan as thousands of anti-war protesters press the Bush administration to bring American troops home from Iraq.

On the East African island of Tanzania, a mystery from the deep. On a popular beach in Zanzibar, scientists are trying to figure out why hundreds of dolphins have turned up dead. About 400 bottlenose dolphin washed ashore on a two and a half mile stretch of coastline yesterday.

Back in this country, salvaging what's left of their homes in East Texas. People are cleaning up after a string of tornadoes hit five towns near Houston today. Despite all the damage, no serious injuries reported.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Last year's hurricane season displaced about a million people. But think about three times that many. That's how many people died of AIDS last year. Senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at some of the faces of AIDS here in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are more than one million people living with HIV or AIDS in the United States. John Paul Womble is one of them. He was diagnosed 14 years ago, just two years after his own father, an ex-Southern Baptist Minister died in the first wave of the American AIDS epidemic.

JOHN PAUL WOMBLE, HIV POSITIVE 14 YEARS: Lots of people have excuses. Lots of people have legitimate stories of they didn't know better. I knew better. You can be stupid like I was. Young and feeling invincible.

GUPTA: As gay white men John Paul and his father were once considered typical AIDS patients.

Now that's changed. Today John Paul works with victims of HIV like this couple. Poor, married and in their 20s.

ANTOINE DAVIS, HIV POSITIVE: Sleeping on the street, trying to look for a job is a real hard task and we done it for a while. Then, also having the virus on top of that is extra hard.

GUPTA: African Americans are the hardest hit.

While they represent only 13 percent of the population, they make up 40 percent of those diagnosed AIDS cases. And consider this. An African-American woman is 14 times more likely to get HIV than a Caucasian woman, 14 times.

AIDS has moved beyond major metropolitan areas. The South had the greatest number of people living with and dying from aids in 2004. Almost half the people living with the disease in this country do not get regular HIV care or treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's it. Thank you for coming and I'll see you back in a month.

EVELYN FOUST, SOUTHERN AIDS COALITION: If you make $13,000 a year, you can't afford your medication. So there are people that choose not to work. They want to work. But they can't or they'll lose their medication which is keeping them alive.

GUPTA: Without insurance or assistance, the cost of treatment is anywhere from $12,000 to $30,000 a year. But for Antoine, hope goes hand in hand with sharing his story.

DAVIS: If the people just hide and close their doors, the more the infection is spreading around and people are dying off without being helped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Former president Clinton has traveled the world to fight AIDS and he took part in a special forum with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: I want to stay on point with a topic we were talking about last segment. Mr. President, when it comes to stigma, it strikes me as a sort of vague thing. We talked about medication, we talked about prevention but can you legislate behavior the way people think?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't legislate it but you can change it. First of all, if I stigmatize you for any reason -- I don't like Indians -- it's about me, not you. Stigma is never about the people who are afflicted with HIV and AIDS. It's about the fears of other people.

One of the things I try to do -- for example, when I was in -- the Chinese government asked me to come in and work there. They actually asked me to go out into rural China and have dinner with people with HIV on national television, sit on the floor and play with the kids to help overcome the stigma.

In Tanzania, which has done a great job -- and go back with what we said earlier. All the various religious groups -- Muslim, Christian, tribal groups, they're all working together doing what they can in good conscience, but all together.

I went to a prevention and support program in Zanzibar, the island off the coast that's almost 100 percent Muslim. After it, the women who were HIV positive walked down the streets to the capital with "I am HIV positive" t-shirts on in a Muslim society.

The Pakistanis just asked me to sign a partnership with them on national television to fight stigma. So I want to say to all of you, this is -- anybody who stigmatizes anybody else for nearly anything is afraid.

ROESGEN: Join Dr. Sanjay Gupta and former president Bill Clinton tonight as "CNN PRESENTS: The End of AIDS: A Global Summit with President Clinton." You can watch it at 8:00 eastern right here on CNN.

Other news across America. An SUV crashes through an office building in Salt Lake City, Utah. The police say the driver was a woman who was trying to hit her husband. The whole scene was captured on videotape. You can see the husband there. He did have some minor injuries. But, otherwise, he's OK.

Entire hillsides on fire in Central Florida. A massive brush fire has burned more than 2,000 acres over the last three days. At least one home has been destroyed. Crews are working around the clock to try to put out the fire. The cause is under investigation.

And in Louisville, Kentucky, they call it the hot air balloon glow. A yearly tradition that's held about a week before the Kentucky Derby. The famous horse race, the first jewel in the Triple Crown, is next Saturday.

Well, you could say it's the Olympic Games of ingenuity. In Atlanta this weekend we have high schoolers, 9,600 high schoolers for the first robotic competition. Thousands of high school students going servo to servo trying to take home the big price. CNN's Reynolds Wolf has watched the competition all day and joins us now with the winner.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have a winner. We have a blue team and a red team. And the red team just won. Now, we're going to find out exactly who the red team winners are. They're made up of a group of kids from all across parts of America, some kids that are south of the border, some north of the border. And it's a great illustration of teamship -- of teamwork -- hi, kids. How are you doing? You're a winner, aren't you?

Good to meet you. What's your name? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stephen Galesio (ph) from Staten Island, New York.

WOLF: Tell me about some of your teammates that you've met.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as what

WOLF: Tell me about the people you have met.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people are great. They picked us -- actually, I think it was meant to be. We're a great defensive robot. They were the last pick and they picked us, which I love you guys for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wouldn't have chosen it any other way.

WOLF: Never met each other before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We met at another competition. We had a tough time against them and we knew they were an awesome robot, so we picked them. We had to pick the Thunder Chickens. Their robot was in disrepair at the beginning of the week. They rebuilt it almost entirely, They had an awesome job.

WOLF: What have you learned in this competition?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We learned teamwork, cooperation.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: It's loud. It's a lot of fun. My mouth is moving but I don't hear a sound. We'll send it back to you guys and get more information about this great event. It's been a lot of fun. Send it back to you in the studio.

ROESGEN: Let's hope some of those things can iron our clothes for us.

Still ahead, should you be obsessing about your weight? You know that you do. But how much can you really lose in a short amount of time? We'll talk to an expert.

Sliding and swinging in New Orleans before the bad weather tonight. New Orleans reaches another milestone with thousands of music fans coming for the fun.

Plus, the city isn't worried about a Crescent City Gym, but this guy is. We'll tell you what he's doing when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: You know it seems like everybody you know is talking about shedding the extra pounds, but is dieting American style becoming unhealthy.

Look at this. Nearly half of the people who took part in a recent survey said they worry about their weight all the time. Dieters think losing an average of 29 pounds is a realistic goal. Is there something wrong with this picture. Let's get some answers. We're joined by the author of "The Fat Smash Diet," Dr. Ian Smith. What do you think of that survey?

DR. IAN SMITH, DIET EXPERT AUTHOR: I think it is very interesting. The most important thing is that they found that 25 percent who were surveyed are actually on a diet. That is a large number. About 66 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, so we should be on a diet or food plan making these lifestyle changes.

The number that I am not concerned about is that people are trying to lose 29 pounds. They say that is an unrealistic or overly ambitious goal. I don't think that is overly ambitious because the problem is people are so heavy. I just got about 25 emails from people over 400 pounds trying to lose weight. They need to lose a lot of weight.

The real issue here is this. It's how fast people want to lose weight. I always tell people, don't try to lose the weight too fast. It took you a long time to gain, it takes time to lose it. If you set a realistic time frame then you should be fine.

ROESGEN: Everybody seems to have a secret, Doctor, for dieting. What is your secret?

SMITH: The first thing I tell people is do not start a program until you are ready. One of the major problems that people try to diet at the wrong time in their life or they don't have their motivation together. Make sure that circumstances and your level of motivation are correct. the second thing is I tell people it's not about a short term fix, it's about making lifestyle changes so that when you are done with a program, you are then able to live that way forever.

I take them through a four phase process where we detox the body, then we slowly teach them how to eat the right foods in the right portions. It's all about lifestyle changes, not quick fix.

ROESGEN: You almost sound like you're letting people off the hook when you say don't start until you are already. Shouldn't people who are overweight be ready right now?

SMITH: They should be, but the problem is that everyone has different things going on in their life. They have job stress, home stress, they are travelling. That's not a good time to start a program. I don't want to let them off the hook, but I want them to make sure that your environment is poised where you can take full advantage of being on the program.

You should not start a program when you know, for example people email me and say, I have to go to a big party in a week. Should I start now. I say when you find that the slate is clear for you to do this. That's when you should do it.

ROESGEN: I don't know. I think you got to make some people do it. What do you say is harder, for people to lose the weight or keep it off once they've lost it.

SMITH: I think the hardest thing is to keep it off after you've lost it. There are a lot of diet programs in which you can lose weight on. The problem historically has been that people will lose a lot of weight, then they go off the diet and they gain it back and even more. SO what I try to advise people is, if you lose weight gradually, about two to three pounds per week, but you also adopt lifestyle changes, you eat the right foods, you're eating the right portions, you're eating multiple meals a day. If you make those kinds of changes, then it's not about being on a diet anymore, it's about a way of living.

ROESGEN: If we don't think about dieting, maybe it won't hurt so much when we give up our favorite foods. Thank you Dr. Smith.

Coming up, New York has Central Park, New Orleans has City Park. One man designed both, but it's the hard work of this guy that's getting the attention.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: The sound of New Orleans. The swing is back. Despite Hurricane Katrina, the city's popular Jazz Fest never really missed a beat. Fewer acts this year, but they expect the crowds to be about the same. Thousands of people expected to turn out for a homecoming of local musicians and big stars.

Can you imagine New York without Central Park. In New Orleans, people are asking how can the city recover without it's own Central Park. It's called City Park and it's the largest green space in New Orleans. After Katrina the park's days may be numbered.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(voice-over): Tony Biagas used to sit behind a desk all day. As City Park's athletic services director, he negotiated contracts with people who wanted to rent the park's fields. Now he is a one man grounds crew, mowing those fields all by himself.

TONY BIAGAS, CITY PARKS MANAGER: Before the storm I had right at 30, 40 full time and part time employees in my department, and right now, I'm the whole department.

ROESGEN: Before Katrina, City Park was an urban oasis, 1,300 acres of graceful bridges and peaceful ponds. Today the paddle boats are idle, the children's roller coaster is empty and the track and field, which some had hoped would host the Olympic trials in 2008 is now ruined by a month underwater.

BIAGAS: Some areas look pre-Katrina, but the majority of the park really depresses you if you've been here before and the park is important to you. It's depressing.

ROESGEN: The city of New Orleans owns the land, but doesn't pay anything for the upkeep. The park always supported itself with revenues from things like sporting events and wedding receptions. But with so many of those things gone, the park could run out of money by September.

LYNN FERNANDEZ, CITY PARK VISITOR: Oh, I sure hope we can bring it back like it was before. I know that we lost quite a few trees, but there is a lot left.

ROESGEN: City Park was designed 150 years ago by the same man who designed Central Park in New York. Now Tony Biagas and a handful of others are trying to keep it alive.

BIAGAS: Without help, we're not going to survive, but I just can't let myself believe that help is not going to come at some point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: The park is counting on corporate donations to try to keep going. By the way, the New Orleans Museum of Art in the park has reopened.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROESGEN: We've got a big night ahead for you here on CNN. Up next, at 7:00 eastern, sleep. A special with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, how much sleep do you and your kids really need to get by, how much are you getting?

Then at 8:00, 8,000 people die of AIDS every day, but what if that suddenly stopped. Former president Bill Clinton on Dr. Sanjay Gupta team up for a revealing look at what the world would be like without AIDS. "The End of AIDS" a CNN global summit at 8:00 p.m. eastern.

At 9:00 "LARRY KING LIVE." An exclusive interview with Deep Throat, Mark Felt. The revelations about Watergate that you have never heard before. A check of the hour's headlines next and then our sleep special. Don't go away.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com