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Dallas School Board Considers Radical Solution to Lack of Bilingual Teachers; Michigan Cold Case Cracked; White House Reiterates War on Terror Points

Aired February 09, 2006 - 14:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS: Athletes and security guards make up only a small percentage of Torino's visitors, but organizers are ready.
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DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Organizers are hoping more than 1.5 million people will attend the games in Torino, Italy. But then, planners have been overly optimistic in the past. Salt Lake City officials were looking for 70,000 visitors a day during the last Winter Olympics in 2002. They got little better than 40,000, putting the 17-day attendance total at about 700,000.

If you can't make it to Torino this year, you'll have plenty of opportunities to catch the games on television. NBC is scheduling 416 hours of coverage on its main network and cable channels. That wallops the previous record of 375 hours for the Salt Lake City games.

Still, that's just about a third of the 1,200 hours devoted to the summer games in Athens a year and a half ago. And summer games always get a lot more foot traffic. Chinese officials are already making plans for seven million spectators at the Beijing games in 2008.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, getting a breath of fresh air is tough for some people. More than 20 million Americans live with asthma, some better than others, and where they live is a big factor. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America lists the 100 worst U.S. cities for asthma sufferers, beginning with Scranton, Pennsylvania, followed by Richmond, Virginia, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milwaukee. Criteria include sheer number of asthma patients, pollen levels, air quality and public smoking laws.

Coming up on LIVE FROM, a college film class makes a documentary about a 27-year-old murder. Now detectives make an arrest. Have they cracked the cold case? We'll have more in just a few.

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PHILLIPS: Dedicated gumshoes and idealistic college students finally crack a cold case of murder. It could be the plot of a movie, and it was. A documentary by film students at Hope College inspired Michigan detectives to take a new look at a 1979 killing. The victim was a Hope student.

Reporter Lesley Randall with CNN affiliate in WWMT in Kalamazoo has more.

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CHIEF JOHN KRUITHOFF, HOLLAND POLICE: With the arrest of Robert Lynch, a significant part of this heinous crime has been solved.

LESLEY RANDALL, WWMT REPORTER (voice-over): A packed news conference. Janet Chandler's mom and dad sit front and center. For 27 years, they've agonized, wondered what happened to their little girl, and now perhaps some answers. This man, Robert Michael Lynch, now 66, today charged with chandler's murder.

JAMES FAIRBANKS, RETIRED DETECTIVE: I was the original detective assigned to this case back on January 31 of '79.

RANDALL: Detectives thought they had cracked the case one day.

FAIRBANKS: I knew it was solvable, and I was hoping for closure.

MAYNARD SCHROTENBOER, RETIRED DETECTIVE: And when something occurs, somebody knows something.

RANDALL: But years went by. The case was thrust back into the spotlight when Hope College students produced a documentary. Then in '04, cold case detectives picked up the case.

LT. JOHN SLENK, MICHIGAN STATE POLICE: I always ask them if they've turned over every rock. And if the answer is no, then we keep going until we turn over every rock. And that's what they've done and they're still continuing to do now.

RANDALL: It wasn't just Janet's family. There are many here in Holland that cared enough to never stop asking questions. To them, this news is starting to sink in.

DAVID SCHOCK, HOPE COLLEGE PROFESSOR: It's not like an on switch and now I'm joyful. It's just more. It's just part of this. And slowly I'm recognizing what's happened.

RANDALL: Perhaps this is case of justice delayed, but never denied.

SCHOCK: Justice for Janet, I mean, it doesn't get better than that.

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PHILLIPS: Too many classes, too few bilingual teachers, plenty of immigrants, not so many non-menial jobs. You do the math. The Dallas, Texas, school board is pondering a radical solution to an integral problem that critics say is just plain wrong.

CNN's Casey Wian reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dallas public education officials say they need 700 credentialed bilingual teachers, and they want to fill those jobs by hiring illegal aliens. That's against federal law, punishable by six months in jail and fines of $3,000 per employee. School trustees met Tuesday seeking a way around the law.

PROF. RUDY RODRIGUEZ, UNIV. OF NORTH TEXAS: I can't believe that a law can be so rigid and inflexible that it doesn't take into account the needs of our children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With some laws changed, it could be very easily be legal.

JOE MAY, DALLAS SCHOOL BD. TRUSTEE: We have numerous amounts of individuals who came to the United States at the age of six months, one year, two years, have been here all their lives, and are not able to teach simply because they don't happen to be American citizens.

WIAN: You may remember Joe May as the man behind the requirement that Dallas school principals must be bilingual. Now he's spearheading the illegal alien teacher movement and is looking for support from other school boards nationwide.

AIMEE BOLANDER, AMERICAN FED. OF TEACHERS: There are enough teachers. They just choose not to teach in Dallas. A lot of bilingual teachers will go back home because they don't feel that the environment for teaching is good here, or they don't feel the salaries are proper.

WIAN: The average teacher in the Dallas school district earns $48,000 a year. The average Dallas high school football coach's annual salary is $70,000 a year.

After the meeting, supporters of the proposal ducked three questions from a reporter about increasing pay for legal teachers instead of trying to hire illegal aliens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure if I follow you, but, you know, we're talking about credentialed, qualified people.

WIAN: Texas is one of nine states offering illegal aliens in- state college tuition. Many are now graduating with teaching certificates but can't find jobs.

MARIA ELENA GARCIA-UPSON, U.S. CITIZENSHIP & IMMIGRATION SERVICES: They're still here illegally breaking the law, and you cannot go from an illegal status to a legal status.

WIAN: Dallas school officials say they will follow the law, at least for now.

(on camera): They're hoping that the Federal Dream Act will pass. It was reintroduced in November, and would give legal status to illegal alien students, who eventually could become bilingual teachers.

Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

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PHILLIPS: Too much homework? No question for kids, but grown- ups see it differently. More than half of the parents surveyed by AP and AOL say their children get about the right amount of homework. Not surprisingly, most teachers agree.

But parents also believe they spend enough time helping their children with their ABCs and whatnot, but almost nine out of 10 teachers say parents aren't doing enough. The poll also found girls study about 10 minutes longer than boys every night.

She could have been a contender, but the grown-ups goofed. A spelling bee snafu spells trouble for a Nevada county and maybe for the whole state. LIVE FROM has the outrage straight ahead.

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PHILLIPS: Straight to the White House briefing with White House spokesperson Scott McClellan. He might talk about that West Coast airliner terrorist plot that was foiled.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: ... to bring the terrorists to justice. The president wanted to highlight today the strong international cooperation in the war on terrorism. All nations have a stake and all nations have a role to play.

As the president mentioned, we now have more than 90 nations that are participating in the global efforts to win the war on terrorism by cracking down on terrorist financing, by going after the terrorists, and working to bring them to justice.

Terrorism is a global threat. It requires a global response. Today's speech talked about how we are partnering with many nations to break up terrorist networks an prevent attacks.

We are also -- as we talked to the American people about the progress in the war on terrorism, we are always looking for ways to keep the American people informed and provide greater understanding about the threat we face and the kind of global effort that is required to confront the threat.

The president today cited a specific example of a plot that was disrupted. He talked about how our efforts, working in partnership with international partners to disrupt a plot in which al Qaeda planned to hijack planes and attack the West Coast. And you heard more from the president, then you had additional information from our homeland security adviser about that plot.

Again, I would just reemphasize what the president said earlier. We are winning the war on terrorism. The terrorists are under a lot of pressure. They are frustrated and on the run because we are taking the fight to the terrorists. But they are a sophisticated, lethal, and determined enemy that wants to strike America again. The president made it clear that he will not wait to be hit again. We must and will continue doing everything within our power to protect the American people. And with that, I'll be glad to go to your questions -- Terry.

QUESTION: Scott, why did the president change his mind and decide to expand the briefings in Congress about the NSA surveillance program and include more members rather than just limit it to the handful?

MCCLELLAN: Well, first of all, we've made it clear that we want to continue working with Congress. As you might recall, we had briefed members of Congress, Congressional leaders, on this important terrorist surveillance program more than a dozen times over the course of the last few years.

This is a vital tool that is aimed at detecting and preventing attacks against the United States. It is focused on al Qaeda -- international al Qaeda communications, some of what the president talked about today in his remarks. And the president indicated previously that he would resist any efforts that would compromise this vital program.

But we want to continue listening to ideas that are out there. The way I would describe it is that there is a high bar to overcome for such ideas. But we will continue working with members of Congress as we move forward. And I'm sorry, I was jumping to another question here.

QUESTION: Yes, the question remains, why did he decide to allow more members to have Congress to be briefed rather than -- I think it was just eight members. Now it's a much broader number. Why?

MCCLELLAN: Yes, these are -- yes, I would speak to some of the characterization, because keep in mind these are highly classified. Well, some of the characterization that was in the press about it -- it was ...

QUESTION: So are you talking (ph) about my question?

MCCLELLAN: No -- these are highly classified briefings for the full intelligence committees, and they are designed to talk about how this terrorist surveillance program works.

We wanted to provide additional information so that members of the Intelligence Committee had a better understanding of how this program is carefully tailored and its closely monitored.

And I think you heard from Chairman Hoekstra yesterday when he said this was not the full, operational briefing that the Congressional leadership, the bipartisan Congressional leadership, received and that the bipartisan leadership of the intelligence committees received, but we are glad to provide this additional information. General Hayden and the attorney general have participated in these hearings and, again, these are classified hearings, but we're glad that they appear to have a better appreciation for the importance of this vital tool in the war on terrorism.

PHILLIPS: Scott McClellan, the White House's spokesperson, once again driving home that he and the Bush administration want to credit international cooperation on the war on terrorism, along with the NSA and eavesdropping program, when it comes to cracking down on terrorists. Specifically talking about a case where al Qaeda had planned to use shoe bombs to hijack a plane and go after the Los Angeles U.S. Bank Tower out on the West Coast. We'll be talking more about this story, of course, throughout the day.

Major snack attack in Ft. Lauderdale as a group of defiant grade schoolers refused to hawk junk food for a class trip. Speaking for her classmates, 10-year-old Daphne Auguste (ph) says that it's just not logical for teachers to preach against the evils of puffs, chips and sweets and then ask kids to sell the stuff after school.

Since it meant that they would miss a week-long trip to Washington, this boycott of empty calories was no empty gesture. When the chips are down, you find out who your real friends are, right? Veronica Atkins, widow of anti-carb king Dr. Robert Atkins says she's proud of these pint-sized Norma Rae's of nutrition. She's donated $16,000, enough to send 36 kids. Another anonymous donor has kicked in $6,000.

Now to a hornets nest in Nevada over a spelling bee. An eighth- grader left in tears, her parents are up in arms and judges say rules are rules. Can you spell lawsuit? Reporter Amanda Sanchez with our affiliate KRNV with the latest word.

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SARA BECKMAN, CONTESTANT: And I was given the word discernible, which is spelled d-i-s-c-e-r-n-i-b-l-e. That's the preferred spelling, but they had a-b-l-e.

AMANDA SANCHEZ, KRNV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): According to the dictionary, discernible it can be spelled both ways.

CINDY BECKMAN, MOTHER: So I went running to the bookstore and I looked it up and sure enough, she was right. I go running back by that time, it's over.

SANCHEZ: But the official spelling bee rules state that a verbal protest must made immediately when a word is in question.

STEVE MULVENON, SCHOOL SPOKESMAN: I guess it's a little bit like an NFL game. If a coach on the sideline is going to challenge the ruling on the field, you've got to throw the challenge flag before the next play commences. Otherwise, it's too late. Water is under the bridge.

SANCHEZ: But Sara Beckman and her parents disagree and have now hired a lawyer to give her another chance.

S. BECKMAN: I'd really like another chance at it, but it's not for sure.

MULVENON: I guess as heartless and cruel as this sounds, the rules are the rules. They were there for everybody to follow and they weren't.

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PHILLIPS: The family's lawyer says if something isn't worked out he'll sue the local sponsors and try to stop the state bee later this month.

Enough with the style aspect of Fashion Week for a moment, there's a biological aspect as well to be found, the symbiotic relationship between designer and celebrity. CNN's Sibila Vargas has more on the state of the mutual benefit and dependence.

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SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're everywhere, celebrities sitting front row and center at Fashion Week.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD, SINGER: Fashion Week is about coming up here and having fun and seeing all of the beautiful clothes by all these wonderful designers.

VARGAS: Celebrities may love Fashion Week, but some in the industry say enough is enough.

LAUREN DAVID PEDEN, FASHION WIRE DAILY (voice-over): I think celebrity backlash has been building for a while.

VARGAS (on camera): A big reason for that backlash is this, incredible media frenzy every time a celebrity comes to a fashion show.

LAREN DAVID PEDEN, FASHION WIRE DAILY: Last February, at the Baby Phat show, Andre Leon Talley, who again is a "Vogue" editor-at- large, very well respected, somebody that you want at your show -- was denied admittance because Usher had come in right before him with an entourage of 13 or 15 people and the fire marshal said it was too full and you couldn't go in. So to have somebody like Andre Leon Talley turned away from show is not so good.

VARGAS (voice-over): "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" caught up with Talley backstage at the Carolina Herrera show. And he said in spite of everything, celebrities do need to be a part of Fashion Week.

ANDRE LEGON TALLEY, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, VOGUE: I think celebrities are very important to the world of fashion. I think that Renee Zellwegger, who is a chronic Carolina Herrera customer is not here this morning, but when she steps on the red carpet on March 5th in one of those great dresses, redone for her in a special color, it's going to be fabulous.

VARGAS: And that's why many celebrities tell "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" their sole purpose of Fashion Week is clothes, clothes, clothes.

AMERIE, SINGER: I think celebrities kind of really influence what's going on in fashion and then they've also influenced by what's going on the runways, so it's kind of hand-in-hand. It's not really fair, a fair comment.

LEANN RIMES, SINGER: I think, you know, obviously it's the designers day, their time to shine. But I think celebrities, it's great that we're able to go to their shows, we're the ones who wear a lot of their clothes to different events.

VARGAS: Many designers tell me there's a time and place for everything and one of them, designer Kenneth Cole, perhaps a celebrity in his own right, says show biz and the fashion biz go hand-in-hand.

KENNETH COLE, FASHION DESIGNER: I think fashion wins when celebrities pay attention when celebrity participates. And is there a sense of a distraction? Yes, I would imagine there is, but the level of attention is so much more significant.

VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, New York.

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PHILLIPS: Commotion over cartoons, the Muslim world on edge -- the heart of the matter, pictures of a prophet. But how do Muslims feel about images of Jesus or Buddha? You might be surprised. LIVE FROM has the story coming up.

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