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CNN Live Today
Border State Governors React to Bush Immigration Speech; Accused Child Molester Arrested After Congress Hearing
Aired May 16, 2006 - 10:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Story of a man overboard. The Coast Guard says stormy weather is delaying the search for a missing passenger. Rescuers believe the Ohio man fell from a cruiseliner, the Mariner of the Seas, sometime Monday morning. The ship was bound for the Bahamas from Port Canaveral, Florida. Friends waited about 11 hours to report that the young man was missing.
Well, there is a flat out denial from BellSouth today. The telecom says it did not turn over customer calling records to government spies. "USA Today" reported last week that BellSouth, along with AT&T and Verizon, handed over millions of phone records to the National Security Agency. Government officials haven't confirmed or denied the existence of any such program. BellSouth says the review found no indication anyone at the company was ever approached by the NSA.
Well, speaking of the NSA, we're watching this hearing, which looks like it's in perhaps a break. But basically what you're seeing is a Senate Intelligence Committee meeting. It is a confirmation hearing for the assistant attorney general for national security, Ken Weinsten, which wouldn't necessarily be news, but of course with this NSA phone records program, it could be a more interesting to hear on the questioning of Mr. Weinstein.
If you are at work and you are cranky in your cubicle, you can take heart. Coming soon, upgrades for those awful office spaces. Miles O'Brien has blueprints for your groovy work space of the future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, 5:00 I'm ready to run out the door screaming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The current work environment is probably not very efficient.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some workspaces can be sort of cramped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a cubical. They tend to have less privacy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Phone calls are like hurdles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The future office might have more technology.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A relaxation room. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lighting actually plays a huge key into an office space.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just want to be more relaxed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are there most of your day, it really matters.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): A noisy newsroom, glaring studio lights, a guy in a tie yammering over your shoulder. If you had the chance, you probably could come up with some pet peeves about your workspace as well. So if life in your cube seems as grim as a Dilbert cartoon, we have some new ideas for you to consider.
(voice-over): When it comes to office space, Steelcase designer James Ludwig is thinking out of the cube. He's trying some new shapes and sizes in office design.
JAMES LUDWIG, STEELCASE, INC.: It's about bringing architecture, furniture and technology together in new ways to make their people more effective.
O'BRIEN: For noise control, how about a real life cone of silence, ala "Get Smart."
DON ADAMS, "GET SMART": Something is wrong with the cone of silence.
O'BRIEN: Step into the cell.
LUDWIG: Industrial felt is a sound absorbent material. And the ambient lighting is created by LED, which also brightens when the space is occupied.
O'BRIEN: You need to collaborate with a co-worker, have a seat in the digital yert. Its hard outer shell reflects outside noise. The felt-lined walls inside keep conversations private.
LUDWIG: When two people come together, decisions are made more quickly, they tend to be smarter and they tend to have deeper impact, innovation flows more quickly through a network.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: An Oregon sheriff sends a bill to Mexico's leader. Why did he do that? Well, he wants the president of Mexico to pay up for the illegal immigrants he's housing in his jail. The lawman, his letter and illegal immigration, when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.
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KAGAN: Looking at live pictures of Methuen, Massachusetts. They've have way too much rain there. And that's the Spickett (ph) River Dam we're looking at there. There's been concern in recent days that that dam might give way. I had a chance to talk to the mayor of that town just a few minutes ago. He said, it looks the river is actually going down, and that the dam will hold. But our Dan Lothian is there on the scene and will be keeping an eye on that and the situation all over New England.
Meanwhile, an accused child molester gets the attention of Congress. And now the 28-year-old Michigan man is getting the attention of police.
CNN's Allan Chernoff has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ken Gourlay was arrested Monday in Detroit on 10 counts of felony child abuse. Justin Berry and Michigan authorities claim Gourlay molested Berry starting when Berry was 14 years old. They also claim that in a series of encounters, Gourlay introduced Berry to the world of online prostitution.
MIKE COX, MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: We allege that during the course of these meetings, Kenneth Gourlay got Justin to prostitute himself.
CHERNOFF: If convicted, Gourlay could face more than 100 years in prison. Gourlay's lawyer refused to comment on the charges against his client saying he looks forward to trying the case in court. Barry's case gained national attention last month when he testified before Congress on Internet predators.
JUSTIN BERRY, ALLEGED VICTIM: I hope the web-cam would help me meet other teenagers online and hopefully a few girls my age. That never happened. No teenager outside of the web-cam pornography business ever contacted me. But I did hear from many child predators.
CHERTOFF: According to Berry's attorney, his client is grateful to Michigan authorities for apprehended Gourlay. Gourlay is now being held on half a million dollars bond.
Allen Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Now a story that's a wakeup call for parents. Many teens are getting their drug fix from the family medicine cabinet. For the third straight year a study from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America found that one in five teens have tried prescription painkillers to get high.
Forty percent of teens say that prescription meds are safer than street drugs. Nearly a third said nothing is wrong with prescription drug use. The head of the partnership says many parents don't see the problem. That's because prescription drug abuse wasn't as widespread when they were kids.
Coming up, a chance to talk with one of the border governors, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, is my guest, talking about some of the proposals that President Bush put forward last night. What does he think and what would work for his state? That's just ahead.
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KAGAN: We have our correspondents and cameras all across the country watching the immigration debate and the talk following President Bush's speech last night. On the left part of your screen, you see the floor of the U.S. Senate. They once again this week taking up the issue of immigration reform. And we had on the right side of your screen Michael Chertoff, which of course that's not Michael Chertoff, but Michael Chertoff today doing a briefing. There he is, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, talking about immigration reform and what it means to his department.
Now clearly, there is a lot at stake for the governors of the border states. New Mexico's Bill Richardson has concerns about the president's plan for the National Guard, and Governor Richardson we have tracked down in New York City, as they would say back home, in New Mexico.
Governor, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, NEW MEXICO: Thank you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Number of issues to talk about here. First, I want to go with this idea that the president puts forward to use National Guard troops and put them along the border between states like yours and Mexico. What do you think of that plan?
RICHARDSON: Well, I'm skeptical, because what we need is more U.S. Border Patrol agents that are trained and know how to do the job.
Our National Guardsmen are war fighting heroes. In New Mexico, we use them to fight forest fires, and we're going to have plenty. So my worry...
KAGAN: You know, governor I talked to Sheila Jackson Lee, the Congresswoman in Texas, and she had a similar criticism. My response to that is, so do you do nothing at this point? Obviously long-term you would like to have more Border Patrol agents and Guards there. But if you don't, this is something you could do very quickly.
RICHARDSON: Well, the fact that it's one year, this is what the White House has told us in a briefing, and I wish they'd consulted with us, because what I would have said is, I would have said accelerate the number of Border Patrol agents that you promised us.
New Mexico was promised 265 new border agents from the last appropriations bill. Only a handful have arrived. So my preference would have been to dramatically increase the number of border patrol agents, because our Guardsmen, they're tired. Border protection is not one of their responsibilities.
But if it's a short-term effort, I'm ready to work with the president to make it happen, but I'm skeptical. I don't like the idea of militarizing the border, even for a short term. We do need to enforce and increase security at the border, because it's not just illegal people coming in. It's drugs. It's violence.
So hopefully, this is a short term plan, backed up by a Congress passing comprehensive immigration reform that not just has border security, but also an earned legalization plan for the 11 million undocumented workers that are already in America.
KAGAN: Right, let's talk about the other topic that President Bush brings up, and that is the idea of earned citizenship. To some conservatives, you're saying that is just amnesty.
RICHARDSON: Well, that's flat wrong, because what the president and others are proposing basically is benchmarks over about an 11-year period, where you take undocumented workers that are already in America and you measure them. You measure them by whether they learn English, whether they pass background checks, pay back taxes, pay fines for being here illegally.
KAGAN: How do you do that, if people are living kind of below ground because they're illegal and don't want to be found, how do you monitor people like that?
RICHARDSON: Well, we've got a system where, if you say to them, you've got to come out of the shadows and then you will have a shot at a permanent residency or a green card, and eventually citizenship, I think that will bring them out of the shadows. Right now, the alternative is they're all hiding. They're all in an underground economy. There's fear, and America's not like that. I think it makes practical sense to put some of these workers, keep them in jobs that Americans don't want to do. They're essential in the service economy. They're essential in the construction economy. They're essential in many other jobs that Americans don't want to do.
KAGAN: Finally, governor, let me ask you this because our time is short. Few people have worked at more levels of government than you have. So let me just ask you, as somebody who knows how Washington works, is anything really going to get done?
RICHARDSON: Well, I am hopeful. I'm an optimist. I commend the president for stepping in, wading into this very difficult issue.
But my worry is that the politics in the Republican Party, which only wants border security -- they want to make felons out of these 11 million people -- that that view will prevail.
I'm optimistic, though, because I think the U.S. Senate will do the right thing and eventually the country is going to demand -- and us border governors that live with this every day require comprehensive immigration reform, more border security, earn legalization, enforce our laws by punishing those that higher illegal workers. And then a new relationship with Mexico. Work a deal with Mexico that curb the flow of workers into America. Nobody's talked about that. KAGAN: Yes, all topics we could go on for a couple of hours right now. Governor Bill Richardson in New Mexico, today in New York City. Governor, safe travels back to your home state.
RICHARDSON: Thank you.
KAGAN: Thank you.
Coming up, a lot of events to get to, including President Bush will be joined by Australian Prime Minister John Howard. They're holding a joint news conference in just under an hour. You'll see that live here on CNN.
And then in about an hour and a half, a little bit more than that, Tony Snow, the new White House spokesperson, holds his first White House briefing. It's one thing to be on television; it's another to run the White House press corps. We will see how he does. You'll see that live today, 12:30 p.m. Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
KAGAN: Susan, under our "Who Knew?" column, guess what you have in common with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not a whole lot heck of a lot...
KAGAN: No, you do!
LISOVICZ: ... if you by our academic careers.
KAGAN: But personal interests -- music fans.
LISOVICZ: Ah.
KAGAN: Yes.
LISOVICZ: Do tell.
KAGAN: She is an acid rock fan, perhaps.
LISOCVICZ: Oh, I love...
KAGAN: The Secretary of State lays it out, shall we say. Her eclectic list of all her favorite tunes. What does Condoleezza Rice listen to? We'll tell you just ahead.
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