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CNN Live Today

Four Schools Locked Down in Leonardtown, Maryland; Border Crossing Closed for Nine Hours After Shooting; New Cancer Vaccine

Aired May 19, 2006 - 10:59   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we have breaking news out of the state of Maryland. Carol Lin is following that for us -- Carol.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Leonardtown, Maryland, Daryn. This is in the southern portion near the Chesapeake Bay. According to our affiliate WTTG, a kid walked into Leonardtown High School with a backpack, and apparently something inside that backpack triggered suspicions. Possibly a gun, according to our affiliate.

Two people were led away. And as a result, four schools now in that area in lockdown right now. A security situation under way.

And as you take a look at some of these pictures here, you see a heavy police presence. There were dozens of police cars in a parking lot that separated what we believe is a high school and a middle school.

So we're working on this situation right now. But you take a look at the situation in the parking lot, Daryn, there is something going down right now.

KAGAN: It looks like a police station parking lot.

LIN: Yes, it does, but unfortunately it's a school.

KAGAN: Yes. All right. We'll check back with you. Thank you, Carol.

LIN: OK.

KAGAN: A wild chase and a deadly shooting today. There are questions on the border. The incident happened at San Ysidro, California, the world's busiest land crossing point. An officer shot and killed an SUV driver, a person suspected of hauling illegal immigrants.

CNN's Peter Viles is at the crossing with late details.

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, this started with a citizen tip. A citizen called the Border Patrol and said he had seen what he thought was an SUV picking up five illegal aliens near another border crossing about five miles away.

The Border Patrol found this black SUV and chased it to this border crossing. And there was no doubt that the driver of the SUV was trying to make it to Mexico, which as you can see behind me, it's pretty easy to do. You can drive to Mexico without stopping. However, this was towards rush hour yesterday, the traffic was backed up.

The Border Patrol cornered him here, if you will, got out of the vehicle -- the Border Patrol got out of their vehicle, and then this guy made another run across traffic, and that's when the shooting happened. He was shot by at least two law enforcement officials, was declared dead on the scene.

The five passengers in the vehicle are in custody now. We still don't know the nationalities of any of these six people or whether there was any immigration smuggling involved. That's what we hope to learn today -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Peter, the border is back to flowing at a normal rate today?

VILES: Yes, and the southbound traffic flows pretty quickly. You don't have to stop before you go into Mexico. You can just slow down and go right on in.

The other direction, if the flow is heavier coming into the United States -- there are more people who come into the United States to work than go to Mexico to work. But it's flowing, it's flowing very well. It was closed for nine hours last night as they investigated the shooting.

KAGAN: Peter Viles, live along the California-Mexico border.

Thank you.

Talking about English-only right now. The Senate is looking at that, the idea of one country, one language. Many say that immigrants need to learn English if they want to blend into American culture.

With more on that, here's CNN's Kyra Phillips with a "Fact Check".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Twenty-seven states now have some form of English-only legislation. A spearhead of the movement is the Washington-based group U.S. English Incorporated. Founded in 1983, the group says it's the nation's oldest organization dedicated, in its words, to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States.

Immigrant and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is a member of the U.S. English advisory board. Other celebrities on the board are actor Charlton Heston and golfer Arnold Palmer, and former defense secretary James Schelisinger.

U.S. English isn't limiting its efforts just at the state level. It's mounted a campaign on Capitol Hill to pass a law making English the official language of the United States. U.S. English and a similar group called Pro English argue that, English, as official language laws, will help immigrants learn English and thus succeed in this country. The American Civil Liberties Union and other critics say English-only laws do nothing more than discriminate against and punish those who have not learned English.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we'd like to hear from you. Should English be the official language of the United States? The Senate is considering it. You can e-mail us at livetoday@cnn.com.

Here are some of the comments we've already received from you.

Going first to Linda, she says, "Yes, English is and should remain our national language. Do they think any other country in the world would accommodate us in this way?"

Matlock says, "Yes, English should be the only language spoken in our country. Although we cannot enforce what is spoken in the home, it should be a law that it is the only language spoken in public places."

And Jake from Reno, Nevada, says, "Official English won't prevent people from continuing to use their native languages at home, in religious institutions or in newspapers. It simply ensures that we maintain a thread of unity in how we officially communicate and work together."

And finally, Candace from Perry, Georgia, says, "I want to burst into flames when asked, 'English or Spanish' when using my credit cards or phone services. We as U.S. citizens should not have to learn other languages to communicate with foreign people."

Once again, you can send us your e-mail, livetoday@cnn.com.

Medical issue for you now. Vaccinating young girls against a sexually transmitted disease, health experts say it will help prevent cervical cancer later in life. And the FDA is on the verge of approving the shot. But critics say hold on here a second, what is the message for teenagers?

Earlier today I had a chance to talk with our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, about how this vaccine works.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The way it would work is really in some ways the way other vaccines work. We're all used to bringing our children in to get a vaccine against measles and mumps or chicken pox. You would bring your daughter in. This would not be a vaccine for boys.

You would bring your daughter in to get a vaccine against two strains of the Human Papilloma Virus. That's the virus that causes cervical cancer. It wouldn't be against all the strains, it would be against two of the strains that cause 70 percent of cervical cancers.

KAGAN: So you say bring your daughter in. At what age would a girl get this vaccine?

COHEN: In this study, they gave it to girls as young as 9 and then through the teenage years. And the reason why you do that is that you have to give it to a girl before she becomes sexually active.

So they decided in the study, why not get girls as young as 9? That way you make sure that you're getting them before they become sexually active. So really, at any point before a girl has sex is the time to give it to her.

KAGAN: Which brings me to my next question, where I ask you not just as a medical correspondent, but as a mother three, almost four girls, to look at -- you have an 8-year-old, is your oldest. To look at this little girl and say, hmm, I need to think about her being sexually active, that's not a place that a lot of parents like to go.

COHEN: It's a very weird concept. I mean, it definitely is. To bring her in and say, "You might get chicken pox, I'll give you a chicken pox vaccine" is one thing. But to bring in a 9-year-old girl and say, "We're going to protect you against something that you're going to get when you have sex" is a little bit odd. And it's something that parents will definitely have to get used to.

And so that's something doctors are going to have to talk parents through. And it will be a decision that parents will have to make. Do you want your 9-year-old daughter get this? Or would you rather get it -- if you're sure that your daughter is going to wait until marriage to have sex, do you want to give it to her the week before her wedding? It would work really at either time.

So that's a decision that parents will have to make.

KAGAN: Does it have any side-effects?

COHEN: According to the study, it has few, if any, side-effects. It appears to be a very safe vaccine.

KAGAN: Do people worry, though, that is someone gets the vaccine, they think, I'm bulletproof, no problem, I don't have to worry about being protected from other sexually transmitted diseases?

COHEN: That's right, some people might think, oh, I'm going to get this vaccine, it's going to protect me against two strains of the Human Papilloma Virus, that way maybe I'm protected against other things. It's not.

It's very specific to these two strains of the Human Papilloma Virus that cause cervical cancer. It's not going to help against other kinds of sexually transmitted diseases.

And, of course, there are some groups, some religious groups who think that it's going to make girls think, oh, wow, look, I'm protected against sexually transmitted diseases -- I'll go off and have sex now. So there's that concern for some as well.

KAGAN: And when should it be available? COHEN: It is not known when it's going to be available. Right now, this FDA panel has approved it. The full FDA has to look at it. That will happen very soon within the next couple of weeks.

And then for it to be put on the vaccine schedule, in other words, for pediatricians to be told, give the measles shot, the mumps shot, give the HPV cervical cancer shot, that could take -- who knows? The CDC is probably going to discuss it as soon as the next couple of months. But who knows if and when they will be put it on that schedule.

KAGAN: But something to be on the lookout for.

COHEN: That's right.

KAGAN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: One to go back live now to the Pentagon. Barbara Starr has news on Guantanamo Bay -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, some disturbing news now being confirmed by the Pentagon. Yesterday there was a prisoner disturbance at Guantanamo Bay, the facility where the U.S. military is holding hundreds of, what they say, of course, are terrorist al Qaeda detainees.

What apparently happened yesterday, officials are telling us, is first, there were three suicide attempts by prisoners at the facility. They attempted suicide unsuccessfully by swallowing pills, medication that they had hoarded.

Then later in the day, a fourth prisoner attempted suicide by hanging himself. When U.S. military personnel tried to get the man down -- this was in a dormitory facility, a medium secure area of the -- of the compound -- other prisoners began to attack the U.S. military personnel.

They are confirming that the U.S. military people were attacked by prisoners using fans, light fixtures, sticks, that sort of thing. Things that they had gathered up.

Now, what we don't know is the scope. We don't know how many of the prisoners were involved yet. We are not being told any more of the details.

Sources saying there will be some sort of press conference in the hours ahead from the U.S. military down at Guantanamo Bay about all of this. They tell us they did subdue the prisoner unrest, that these detainees were then moved to a more secure facility out of this group communal dormitory living situation that they had been in. But clearly, this is an event that to the best of anyone's knowledge has not taken place previously at Guantanamo Bay, where the military continues to hold about 500 detainees -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr with that breaking news from the Pentagon.

Thank you.

Also ahead, we're looking another a situation in Maryland, a school in lockdown. We'll have the latest on those details about what's happening at that school.

And we go inside Opus Dei, behind the scenes of the secretive group featured in "The Da Vinci Code".

You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We've been following news of a school that's in lockdown in the state of Maryland.

Carol Lin has the latest details on that -- Carol.

LIN: Leonardtown, Maryland, Daryn. This is in the southern portion of the state near the Chesapeake Bay.

We have a situation now, you're looking at an area where four schools are located. And it is in a lockdown after our affiliate, WTTG, or at least local affiliates there, reporting that a kid walked into one of those schools with a backpack, something suspicious inside, possibly a gun.

Apparently, authorities led two people away. But the situation is serious enough that they have locked down those schools. That means the students cannot go outside.

Heavy law enforcement presence that you're focussing in on right now as these pictures are just coming in to the CNN Center. One of the affiliates in the area is reporting the names of these four schools, Leonardtown High School, Leonardtown Middle School, the Dr. James A. Forrest Career Center, and the Alternative Learning Center. All under the same complex, Daryn.

Take a look at the situation as these heavily armed, almost looks like a S.W.A.T. team situation, going into that school.

KAGAN: Yes, walking into that -- all right. We'll have you continue to track that. Carol, thank you.

And now we want to show you live pictures coming out of the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld holding a town hall meeting today. You also see the Joint Chiefs chairman, Peter Pace -- there he is -- answering questions. Employees who work there at the Pentagon invited to come and ask questions to those leaders.

We will listen in and bring you the highlights.

Also ahead, Opus Dei, the Catholic group that's part of "The Da Vinci Code" mystery. A look inside with CNN's faith and values correspondent, Delia. A story you saw first on "PAULA ZAHN NOW".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As the world waits for the movie version of Dan Brown's best seller to hit theaters, "The Da Vinci Code" is poised to explode.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in the middle of the a war to protect a secret so powerful, that if revealed it would devastate the very foundations of mankind.

GALLAGHER: But a war being waged off screen pits Hollywood against Christianity, raising the question, how far should fiction intrude on fact?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Witness the biggest cover-up in human history. At the center of the controversy is a real life group called Opus Dei, unwillingly cast as the villains in Dan Brown's book and brought to life on film by an evil bishop and a killer monk who lurks in shadows and whips himself bloody.

But what is Opus Dei? Opus Dei describes itself as a Catholic organization whose mission is to enable people to serve God through work and everyday life. But in "The Da Vinci Code," Brown describes it as a deeply devout Catholic sect, a brainwashing cult and a secret society.

From the first page of the book, Brown sets the stage for his tale of conspiracy inside it's $47 million headquarters on Lexington Avenue. This is the actual building. It's 17 stories tall with separate entrances for men and women. Inside separate facilities divide male and female members called numeraries. They make a life long commitment to celibacy and to living in an Opus Dei residence. There are his and her chapels, dining rooms, classrooms and fitness centers.

TONA VARELA, OPUS DEI NUMERARY: This is the exercise room also known as the torture chamber.

GALLAGHER (on-camera): The real torture chamber.

(voice over): Tona Varela has been a numerary for 25 years.

VARELA: In Opus Dei, we are about holiness. In holiness, you need to be free to love God.

GALLAGHER (on-camera): Do you feel brain washed? Do you feel like you belong to a cult?

VARELA: I hope I don't look brainwashed to you. And I am completely free. I am very happy and free.

GALLAGHER (voice over): Not all members of Opus Dei are celibate. The majority of the roughly 3,000 American members are what is called super numeraries. They can marry, have children and live in their own home. Terri Carron is one of them. A wife, mother of four and public relations consultant, Terri is one of several members the group has been providing to the media in recent months.

(on-camera): What is the biggest myth perpetrated by the book or the movie about Opus Dei?

TERRI CARRON, OPUS DEI SUPERNUMERARY: I think the biggest myth about Opus Dei is that it is some kind of religious organization, you know, involved in conspiracy to find some elusive holy grail, and the reality is much more down to earth. You know, we are just people, lay Catholics looking for God in our everyday life.

GALLAGHER (voice over): As for "The Da Vinci Code's" hulking albino monk named Silas who steals murders and then tortures himself...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a secret you will die for.

GALLAGHER: Opus Dei wants you to meet a real Silas. Far from hulking or albino, Silas Agbim is a Nigerian born stockbroker who lives in Brooklyn, works on Wall Street and stands just 5 foot 5.

SILAS AGBIM, OPUS DEI SUPERNUMERARY: I'm not a monk nor an albino. I'm married with a wife and three children.

GALLAGHER (on-camera): And no murders in your background?

AGBIM: No murders? No murders in you my background. All you have to find in my background is a jolly fellow.

GALLAGHER (voice over): For all of the debate about the book and the movie, neither Dan Brown nor the filmmakers are the first to portray Opus Dei in a negative light. Some former members have told stories of fear, entrapment and brainwashing on this web site, The Opus Dei Awareness Network, which claims to describe the groups questionable practices in vivid detail.

COLLEEN, FMR. OPUS DEI NUMERARY ASST.: Opus Dei is a cult. And, you know, I want people to know that a year ago I would have never said that. Looking at this makes me feel sad.

GALLAGHER: Colleen was a numerary assistant in Opus Dei for 20 years, living and working in its residences throughout the U.S., including the one in New York. But last year Colleen left for good.

COLLEEN: Opus Dei preaches goodness and peace and love, but really what they do is not ethical. It's deceptive and it's scary, and it's not so good. I still have nightmares every night that I'm in Opus Dei, and I can't get out.

GALLAGHER: Colleen says she was expected to practice strict rituals like corporal mortification, striking herself with a knotted whip called a discipline and wearing a spiked metal chain as a reminder of Christ suffering.

COLLEEN: We believed that the more you mortified yourself, the more graces you would win for people. GALLAGHER (on camera): The Albino monk in "The Da Vinci Code" wears a cilice so tightly, he makes himself bleed. This is an actual cilice worn by numeraries around their bare thighs for two hours a day. You can see for yourself just how sharp these spikes are. Depending on how tightly you tie it, it could be pretty painful.

REV. MICHAEL BARRETT, OPUS DEI: Corporal mortification is harmless to your health. It doesn't cause any physical damage whatsoever.

GALLAGHER: It doesn't make you bleed?

BARRETT: Not a bit.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Reverend Michael Barrett insists that Opus Dei is not a cult and thinks that "Da Vinci Code" director Ron Howard should have left out any mention of Opus Dei in the movie.

BARRETT: The trailers that I've seen are so sensational, I have this little bit of hope that maybe it's going to fall on its own foolishness.

GALLAGHER (on camera): He says it's a work of fiction.

BARRETT: It's a work of fiction, but it still doesn't entitle a person to say whatever he wants about real institution.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Opus Dei asked Sony Pictures to add a disclaimer to the movie, reminding viewers that it's fiction.

But Ron Howard declined, saying that spy thrillers don't start off with disclaimers.

(on camera): What would you say to moviegoers of "The Da Vinci Code?"

BARRETT: I'd say to see the movie with your eyes open, not to just take things is as though everything presented is fact and true.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Delia Gallagher, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And you can see more stories like Delia's on "PAULA ZAHN NOW". Watch weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

So many of you have been waiting for it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "THE DA VINCE CODE": Cryptics (ph). They're used to keep secrets. It's Da Vinci's design.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: It is no secret "The Da Vinci Code" is not playing well with critics. We're talking code with Mr. Moviefone coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY.

And it's a small gesture with a big impact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I'm doing something that everybody should really do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because it will be very helpful. And it will make the kids from the floods really happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: A 10-year-old girl who knows what it's like to suffer. Now she's helping those in need. What she did, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So we asked earlier today to hear from you. The question of the e-mail "Question of the Day": Should English be the official language of the United States? And as always, our viewers come through with the number of opinions.

You can, by the way, still send us e-mail at livetoday@CNN.com.

First one from Barbara in Kentucky. "Absolutely, without question. To me, it is absurd that we should even ask the question. Our 'political correctness' is totally out of control."

To Los Angeles and Jean. "All of our historical documents are in English, and our forefathers used this language to develop all that we value as a unified people. If a person wants to take advantage of all the USA has to offer them, they need to speak English."

To Alejandro Diaz, Miami, a native of Venezuela. "I totally agree that whoever comes to live in this country should learn at least basic English."

It was overwhelming. As we put it out there, we usually like to give you a smattering and represent both sides. But overwhelmingly, the answer was, yes, our viewers saying that English should be the official language of the U.S.

All right. Let me tell you what I did yesterday. If you were watching yesterday, you saw we pretty much carried the confirmation hearings full time for General Michael Hayden to become the head of the CIA. So since I was not of use here, I went downstairs to our new service called Pipeline -- and you can find that on cnn.com -- and did my job from down there.

If you're a CNN fan, I encourage you to check this out. Just go to CNN.com and click on "Pipeline".

What is it? Basically, it puts you more in control of what you want to watch on the news. Four different video streams, or pipes, as we call it. You can watch the news unfiltered or you can watch a news anchor talk you through.

It's a little bit of a looser format. We go more in depth. And really interesting technology.

So go to CNN.com and check out Pipeline. And we hope in the weeks and months to come, we'll be doing more cross-promotional work, a little CNN, a little Pipeline, stepping into the future.

And I want to say thanks to all the folks down at Pipeline for being so nice and welcoming me and my crew.

You can see a little secret there, too. Did you notice green behind me? So what you think you're seeing you're not really seeing.

More on that ahead.

Meanwhile, let's get back to some news here. The twilight zone, that time between sleep and wakefulness, strange things can happen, and very strange.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at the phenomena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You're looking at good sleep gone bad. A twilight zone, where the normal barrier between sleep and wakefulness is blurred. These people are actually asleep, but they suffer conditions called parasomnias, disorders that frequently interfere with sleep, like sleepwalking or night terrors. In extreme cases, parasomniacs show all sorts of strange behavior, eating, talking...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, oh wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, no.

GUPTA: Throwing punches or worse.

Toronto Native Kenneth Parks drove a car 14 miles to his in-laws house where he stabbed and beat his mother-in-law to death. But he was acquitted of murder on the grounds that he was probably asleep at the time.

DR. CARLOS SCHENCK, MINNESOTA REGIONAL SLEEP DISORDERS CENTER: We're at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center.

GUPTA: Dr. Carlos Schenck helped discover one of the most bizarre and sleep conditions. REM behavior disorder, or RBD.

SCHENCK: Men with REM behavior disorder usually either stay in bed and become violent or charge out of bed, run into the furniture or the wall and then awaken. Whereas, sleepwalkers actually leave their room, leave their home and may even drive a car.

GUPTA: The REM cycle is when we do our most active dreaming. In healthy REM sleep, the body is paralyzed even as the mind races. But with RBD, the safeguard of paralysis is gone. And patients act out their often violent dreams.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, kicking, fighting, cussing, whatever.

GUPTA: Cal Pope (ph) was one of Dr. Schenck's first patients, more than 15 years ago. By the time we caught up with him, he and his wife, Rawina (ph), were getting ready to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, they said it would never last.

GUPTA: They came to the clinic after suffering nine years of Cal's (ph) violent nightmares. Rawina (ph) says she'll never forget the first one.

R. POPE: He was dreaming that he was trying to kick a neighbor out of the bed, and what he was doing was kicking me just with all of his power. He was just pummeling me with his feet, and literally kicked me out of bed.

GUPTA: In the sleep center, patients go to bed wired with more than 20 electrodes. The machinery of sleep and dreams plays out, as technicians watch from a separate room.

SCHENCK: Now we can enter our mission control.

GUPTA: Watching the patients, it's hard to believe they're really unconscious. But Schenck says sleep is impossible to fake.

SCHENCK: That indicates the deepest stage of sleep.

GUPTA: This is a sleep chart of another patient with RBD during a REM cycle, probably during a dream. The top two lines track the normal rapid eye movements. The black line here is a sensor on a chin muscle. That's a good marker since in healthy people it would be totally paralyzed, the line would be straight. On this chart, it does something else entirely. That indicates a parasomnia.

SCHENCK: Cal's (ph) was quite severe, as severe almost as the most severe case that we have seen.

R. POPE: You want to get some water to make coffee.

GUPTA: And yet Cal Pope's (ph) case was in some ways typical, in that the patient wasn't really aware of what was happening.

C. POPE (ph): Maybe once a week, but it wouldn't be that bad.

R. POPE: Well, this happened every time he went to sleep, and more than once a night.

GUPTA: Desperate, the loving couple was forced into separate beds.

R. POPE: It was a lonely thing to do. It's like a death. It's like a separation. GUPTA: Fortunately, it turned out there is a very effective treatment. The National Sleep Foundation says a drug called clonazepam stifles symptoms in nine of 10 patients if taken in the proper dosage every night.

Cal Pope (ph) showed us a hole he kicked in the wall on the night when he missed a single dose. Ninety percent of patients are men, mostly older men. No one knows exactly what causes RBD. But Schenck has found one major clue. A disturbing discovery. That a majority of patients develop Parkinson's disease within 10 or 15 years. It may be that RBD is caused by the disintegration of neurons controlling movement, the same disintegration that's responsible for Parkinson's.

Pope (ph) is lucky. It's been 27 years since his first escapade, as he calls it. And he shows no signs of Parkinson's.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: One more time, I want to check in on what's happening with that school situation, which was in a lockdown in Maryland. Carol Lin has more on that -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Leonardtown, Maryland, in the southern portion by the Chesapeake Bay. This is what CNN has learned firsthand, that dozens of police officers, as you're seeing, were searching Leonardtown High School in Southern Maryland after somebody reported seeing a student placing what they thought might have been a handgun in a backpack, and then entering the schools. All right, no shots fired, no gun found. But the school and the surrounding buildings, which are other schools, education centers, have been locked down just as a precaution.

But we want to emphasize, no shots fired. According to local affiliates, apparently one of the students had reported that they thought they might have seen a gun. So we are working on it, but more importantly, nobody hurt -- Daryn.

KAGAN: OK, Carol, thank you. Carol Lin.

Lured by freedom and sold into slavery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said, dogs have more rights in this country than we have.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She said dogs had more rights than you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, thank myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Coming up, broken promises and shattered lives. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: English only, please. The Senate has voted to make English the national language. It's an amendment added to the immigration bill that is now up for debate. But a second (INAUDIBLE) amendment also passed. That one declares English the common and unifying language of the U.S. The conference committee will decide which amendment, if any, makes any final immigration bill.

They come freely, they end up slaves. Illegal immigrants lured across the border with promises of a job, a home, an education.

CNN's Tom Foreman has the story from "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): Against the 5:00 o'clock rush in Los Angeles, this woman named Flor thinks about how the worst trip of her life began.

When a friend in a sewing class told her recruiters in her Mexican town were looking for tailors to work in America.

FLOR, VICTIM OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: She was a teacher. She was a sewing teacher.

FOREMAN (on camera): She knew that you had children, you needed the money and you had skill?

FLOR: And she said they were going to pay for everything.

FOREMAN (on camera): But after Flor was smuggled in, she says she was taken to a sweat shop, forced to sew 18 hours a day and sleep in a storage room while her boss demanded $2,600 for bringing her here.

FLOR: She threatened me. She said that if I tried to escape, if I tried to do something that wasn't right, somebody who I love will pay the consequences.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Human trafficking, the modern slave trade, closely watched by the federal government in recent years is believed to bring 18,000 people across the border into America annually -- half for the sex trade; half for forced labor as domestic help, farm, factory, and construction workers, according to Wade Horn, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

DR. WADE HORN, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I would be a mistake to believe that this is a crime that is only occurring in border towns, only occurring in big cities.

FOREMAN: This is happening along Main street, U.S.A., everywhere?

HORN: It is happening everywhere in the United States unfortunately. FOREMAN: The victims are lured by promises of good jobs, education, free housing. And traffickers then often prevent their victims from ever telling the families back home that those dreams have been lost.

KAY BUCK, COALITION TO ABOLISH SLAVERY AND TORTURE: The one thing that people don't realize is most traffickers have pretty strong ties to the communities where they traffic. And what that means is there's some trust.

FOREMAN: This month a massive campaign was launched by the Inter-American Development Bank to warn people in Latin American countries.

HORN: Traffickers see human beings as commodities, and as commodities, they see them as dispensable and disposable.

FOREMAN (on camera): As for Flor, she says she escaped her prison after a month and a half and is now living here under a special visa, trying to bring her children in too. But a memory of her trafficker haunts her.

FLOR: She said dogs have more rights in this country than we have.

FOREMAN: She said dogs had more right than you?

FLOR: Yes.

FOREMAN: What did you think?

FLOR: In some way, she was saying the truth.

FOREMAN: For her, the truth is, thousands of people living secretly in the land of the free are not free at all.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: A tale from the dark side of immigration, first seem on "AC 360." You can join Anderson Cooper weeknights at 10:00 Eastern.

Unforgiving water, about 14,000 homes in Massachusetts have been damaged by this week's floods. Financial losses could be much worse than predicted. Some residents are helping hard-hit neighbors, including a little girl who knows what it's like to struggle.

Here is Phil Lipof of our affiliate WHDH.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL LIPOF, WHDH REPORTER (voice-over): Ten-year-old McKenna Cronin certainly knows of value of a good teddy bear.

MCKENNA CRONIN, HELPING OTHER KIDS: I've had her ever since I was born, and she's my favorite of all.

LIPOF: Micha bear went with McKenna every time she had chemotherapy treatments to control a benign brain tumor. All of these other stuffed animals were given to her by friends, family and strangers when she was diagnosed. Now she wants to give that same gift to kids who lost their stuffed animals in the floods.

CRONIN: They can sleep with something, and hug it while they're sleeping.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It didn't surprise me. She always wants to take care of her people.

LIPOF: McKenna's mother suggested toys for tots, so that's where all of these guys are headed.

(on camera): And McKenna's not the only one trying to help out. When the owners of this motel on Route 110 across from the Merrimack heard that their neighbors had been flooded out by the river, they simply opened up their doors for free.

DENNIS HOULIHAN, NEIGHBOR: And when we when to pay, I couldn't believe it.

LIPOF (voice-over): Dennis Houlihan lives across the street from the hotel, his house attacked by the mighty Merrimack. He and his wife stayed three nights. Other did, too. The owner won't take any of their money. So...

HOULIHAN: We're going to come up with something. I don't know what yet, but we will do something for them.

LIPOF: Neighbors helping neighbors, pretty basic concept, even a 10-year-old can understand.

CRONIN: I think that I'm doing something that everybody should really do.

LIPOF (on camera): Why?

CRONIN: Because it will be very helpful, and it will make the kids from the floods really happy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Great story there. True story.

What is not a true story but fiction that is intriguing a lot of people, "The Da Vinci Code," the movie, opens today. Is it any good? We'll get the take from Mr. Moviefone, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Texas is one of the fattest states in the nation. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thirty- five percent of school-aged children are considered obese or overweight.

Here's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Henry Gonzalez Elementary School, 55 percent of students are considered overweight. Another 37 percent are deemed obese. There are plenty of concerned parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My child that's in sixth grade, he's overweight. So he takes -- if anybody else doesn't want the food, he gets the food.

GUPTA: Students now drink low-fat milk, and fresh fruit replaces sugary juices. These changes are part of a wellness program brought here by a nonprofit group concerned about childhood obesity in bordertowns.

Miguel Anaya, Esmerelda Rodriguez (ph) and their four children enrolled after program workers were concerned about 3-year-old Ashley's weight.

When CNN visited, 34-year-old Miguel found out he has dangerously high blood pressure. There's also a troubling family health history on both sides.

MIGUEL ANAYA, "GET FIT" PARTICIPANT: My father-in-law, he had to live with diabetes. Had he a stroke. My mom, she passed away. She had diabetes, too.

GUPTA: The Anaya family has no health insurance. A staggering 34 percent of those under the age of 18 live below the national poverty line in this community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer this chilling projection: Half of all Latino children born five years ago in the United States are expected to develop diabetes in their lifetime.

Anaya credits the Wellness Program organized by Methodist health care ministries with teaching his family to exercise and eat better.

ANAYA: I got my plums. I like eating a lot of fruits.

GUPTA: Anaya says he lost seven pounds and feels better, but he adds that fast food is everywhere.

ANAYA: Anywhere you go, there's food. It's kind of calling you. I'm over here, I'm over here!

GUPTA: Anaya is now taking medications for high blood pressure. Doctors just found a small clot in a vein, but he says without the new awareness from involving his family in the program, he might have put off medical treatment.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

KAGAN: Speaking of the weekend, "The Da Vinci Code" is out. Here's a peek.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: "The Pertruvian (ph) Man." That's one of Leonardo Da Vinci's most famous sketches.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: And the star on the skin.

HANKS: Pentacle.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: And it's meaning?

HANKS: The pentacle is a Pagan religious icon.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Devil worship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Is it a "Da Vinci" debacle? Moviegoers around the world are gearing up for today's opening of "The Da Vinci Code." But before you head to the theaters, we have Mr. Moviefone, Russ Leatherman, with the lowdown for you.

Russ, you had a sneak peek.

RUSS LEATHERMAN, "MR. MOVIEFONE": Hey, Daryn, how's it going? Happy Friday.

KAGAN: To you, too.

Will it be a happy Friday for those headed to the theaters to see "The Da Vinci Code?"

LEATHERMAN: Well, it's funny you say "The Da Vinci" debacle is the question. And I think debacle might maybe a little bit of an overstatement. It's funny, so many people are already talking about this movie, critics, everybody. There's no such thing as a movie with more hype than this, I don't think.

So I guess the biggest question that moviegoers are asking me is, is this movie better than the book? Well, here's what I can tell you and can't tell you. I didn't read the book, because as you know, I believe that's why god invented movies.

KAGAN: It was a great book.

LEATHERMAN: I believe it was a great book. And I'm guessing that this thing probably played a little better on the page than it does on the screen. I mean, you've got Ron Howard, what a great director, "Cinderella Man," loved that last year. You've got a fantastic great cast with Tom Hanks. But really you've got a movie that falls pretty flat. I think the critics are being a little too hard on it. I don't think it's terrible by any stretch of the imagination.

I just think with such fertile material, such an unbelievably interesting story, that they couldn't have made a more compelling movie, I have to tell you. I had cracked the code about 20 minutes into this movie, and I ain't no Sir Isaac Newton, you know what I'm saying.

KAGAN: Yes, well, this just into CNN on that one, Russ.

LEATHERMAN: So there you go. I think -- you know, I feel bad for Ron Howard, because he's a great director. I think his heart was in the right place. But I believe that some of the controversy even got to him while he was making this movie, and he may have pulled back in places that he shouldn't have. And really, it's just not as compelling a movie as you would hope for. So it's not awful. The critics are saying it's awful. It's not awful, but it's not great, either.

KAGAN: OK, what if you have a family and headed to the movies this weekend? What about this "Over the Hedge"?

LEATHERMAN: Well, I think it's a nice little family movie. Again, it's not a terrific family movie, but if you're looking for something to do with the kids, you can go check out "Over the Hedge." it's the adorable critter who are voiced by the likes of Bruce Willis, Steve Carrell, Wanda Sykes, Gary Shandling. So you have a great voice cast. And here's what happens. They wake up out of hibernation, look over the hedge, and discover a housing development instead of trees.

KAGAN: Oh, no!

LEATHERMAN: Yes, the -- people bad, animal good -- is really the theme of this movie. Now, I have to tell you -- maybe it's just me. I think we've probably gone as far as we can with these talking cute animal movies. I think this is about enough. But you know what I think would be a really great idea, is say if the studios made a movie about cute talking cars.

KAGAN: Well, that's coming up.

LEATHERMAN: Yes, and by the way, that's a Pixar movie. It's funny, all of these movies, they try to do what Pixar did, which is create great stories with terrific animation. I think they've fallen pretty flat so far. This movie is not what I expect "Cars" to be, which is a great, well-done, well told story. But this one's OK. If you're looking for something to do with the family, it's not going to hurt. Go take them to see "Over the Hedge."

KAGAN: OK. We'll look for "Cars" later in the summer. Russ, thank you so much.

LEATHERMAN: My pleasure, Daryn. Have a great weekend. KAGAN: Mr. Moviefone, Russ Leatherman.

Well, we've been talking on a more serious topic today. The question, as the Senate looks at making -- or a proposal to make English the official language of the U.S., what do you think? Should English be the official language of the United States? Our e-mail is at livetoday@CNN.com. We've been getting some interesting responses, and I'll share those with you just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Earlier this hour, our Barbara Starr broke a story about Guantanamo Bay and reports of an uprising there. Let's go back to the Pentagon to get more on that -- Barbara?

STARR: Daryn, this all happened yesterday in a dormitory holding ten detainees at Guantanamo Bay. They lived in a communal arrangement. U.S. troops had entered the dorm room to try and assist a man who appeared to be attempting suicide. When they came into the dorm room apparently then several of the detainees began throwing sticks, light fixtures and other objects at the U.S. troops.

None of the U.S. forces were hurt. We are told they used non- lethal force to subdue the detainees, and they took them off to a more maximum security area of the facility. More information is expected on this later today. Guantanamo Bay, of course, is the camp where the U.S. military holds some 500 detainees -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr, live from the Pentagon. Thank you. More on that story as the information becomes available.

Right now, our last chance to get to your e-mail. This morning, question, should English be the official language of the United States?

This from Owen Stiles. He says, "As a teacher in a public high school, I see every day the travails of second language students as they struggle to succeed. I believe the avenue to success is learning English. If parents of these immigrants got on board, our task would be much easier to accomplish."

Bradley writes, "Do you think in Italy that they would be asking their citizens if Italian should be the national language?" Thank you, Bradley.

Ted from West Hurley, New York, "To make English America's official language is unnecessary and unenforceable. Worse, it's chauvinism and thinly disguised racism dressed as patriotism."

And love this one, from Carlos in Boise, Idaho. "Should English be the official language of the United States? Si." Very clever. I always say we have the most clever viewers on this show.

Thank you for your participation in that.

I'm Daryn Kagan. International news is up next. Stayed tuned for YOUR WORLD TODAY.

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