Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Missionary Leader Still Jailed in Haiti; Massa: "I Was Set Up"; New Runaway Toyota Claim in California

Aired March 09, 2010 - 08:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Tuesday, March 9th.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us.

And here are the big stories we'll be telling you about, coming your way in the next 15 minutes.

American missionary Teresa Coulter is out of a Haitian jail and in Miami this morning. She was jailed for more than a month, one of 10 people accused of kidnapping in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Haiti.

But the group's leader is still in jail this morning. We'll have the latest coming up live from Port-au-Prince.

CHETRY: A congressman from New York claims he's the victim of a conspiracy. Democrat Eric Massa is resigning this week, insisting that fellow Democrats forced him out so he couldn't vote "no" on health care reform.

We're live on Capitol Hill with the finger-pointing, the allegations and the political fallout in just a moment.

ROBERTS: There's a brand-new report of a runaway Toyota this morning. A man says he was standing on the brakes of his Prius as the car broke through 90 miles an hour on a California highway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES SIKES, PRIUS DRIVER: My thought was going over the side of the hill, because there are too many hills, too many angles. And that's why I wanted to shut the car off, but there was no straight place to do it and nobody to protect me from behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: That Prius is a big piece of potential evidence. We'll tell you what Toyota is saying about it all this morning.

American missionary Charisa Coulter is back on U.S. soil in Miami this morning. She's one of 10 people accused of kidnapping 33 children after Haiti's deadly earthquake. But the group's leader, Laura Silsby, is still in jail and the future of her case remains very hazy this morning.

Our Sara Sidner is tracking this developing story. She joins us live this morning from Port-au-Prince.

Good morning, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Yes, Charisa Coulter was let out of jail yesterday. The judge signed her release papers and she was immediately taken from custody to the airport and sent straight out of the country. She landed in Miami. She didn't say anything to reporters. She didn't make any comments when she was in Haiti nor did she make a comment once she landed in Miami.

But she did -- her father did end up speaking and this is what he had to say upon her release.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MEL COULTER, FATHER OF CHARISA COULTER (via telephone): She's going to desperately need some time to reflect on what she's been through and some time to kind of recover from the ordeal. But at the same time, I think that she still wants to work, do anything she possibly can to help Laura's case, and insure that Laura's released soon.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SIDNER: Speaking of Laura Silsby -- as you mention, she is still in custody. She is still here and she is here, she says, because she was the leader of this Baptist missionary group from America who came to Haiti. She still says that they came here simply to help the children; that they wanted to be here and help the children of Haiti after this terrible earthquake. She says she did not try to kidnap these kids.

But she is still in custody. The judge is just not satisfied. He wants to look into every detail of what was said and what was done. And he is doing that thoroughly, trying to look at all the different angles and talk to all the different people involved in this case.

We did get a chance to speak with Silsby yesterday as she left the judge's chamber. She was in there speaking to him. He had many more questions for her to answer and then she was taken back into custody.

Here's what she said to us yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA SILSBY, AMERICAN MISSIONARY JAILED IN HAITI: I am very happy that Charisa went home today. I'm very for her, for her freedom, and I expect that mine will soon follow.

SIDNER: Why are you the last person left though? Why do you think you're the last person?

SILSBY: Because I am the leader of the team. They're still finishing their process.

SIDNER: Did you do anything wrong? Did you try to kidnap these children?

SILSBY: Oh, of course, not. I came here to help the children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You heard it from her there. She said she did nothing wrong. The judge is still looking into this case still -- John.

ROBERTS: What is the judge saying about the case and the fate of Silsby this morning?

SIDNER: Well, he told us that he expected that he was going to work on some details of this case, look at some of the issues, for example, go to speak with these children, go to the orphanage where they are, and try to figure out what really happened. And he said he will be doing that through the week.

So, we know that perhaps she will be still in custody at least through the week. He did not mention that she would be let out anytime soon. He did not make any statements about that. But he really wants to look at this case and look at all the details to try to figure out exactly what happened.

I should mention, though, that the other members of this group, the other nine members were all let out on an unconditional bail, which means they didn't have to pay anything and they were sort of set free, but they were on an unconditional, OK?

ROBERTS: OK. So, they were let out on unconditional bail. What are the chances that may have to end up back in Haiti for a trial?

SIDNER: Usually, unconditional bail here means that they will likely not be brought back for trial. There is nothing really holding them here. So, that is an indication of what might happen. But obviously, it's up to the judge in the end as to what happens next -- John.

ROBERTS: All right. Sara Sidner for us this morning live from Port-au-Prince -- Sara, thanks so much.

CHETRY: President Obama is fired up and he's launching his final push for health care reform. He was at a rally yesterday in Pennsylvania where he sharpened his attacks against the health insurance industry and Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll be honest with you. I don't know how passing health care will play politically, but I do know that it's the right thing to do. (CHEERING)

It's right for our families, it's right for our businesses, it's right for the United States. And if you share that belief, I want to you stand with me and fight with me, and I ask you to help us get us over the finish line these next two weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, Republicans are pushing back. House Minority Leader John Boehner called the president's latest pitch, quote, "heavy on snake oil and light on reality."

ROBERTS: And Democratic leaders in the House are denying that they forced Congressman Eric Massa to resign because of his opposition to health care reform. Massa is a Democrat from Upstate New York, announced last week that he would not seek re-election because of health problems.

CHETRY: Well, he says that that's when he learned he was the target of an ethics investigation. So, he decided to step down. But now, he's insisting that he was actually pushed.

Our Brianna Keilar joins live us from Washington this morning.

So, Massa certainly doesn't intend to leave Capitol Hill quietly. He's saying a lot of pretty inflammatory things.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, he is not leaving quietly. And, John and Kiran, he's really taking aim at Steny Hoyer, the number two Democrat in the House. Massa says that he has intentionally and maliciously drawn attention to these ethics allegations. He says Democratic leaders wanted him out of Congress and it has everything to do with this impending health reform vote, because -- as you know, this is going to be a very close vote, a squeaker in fact, and Massa was planning on breaking with Democratic leaders and voting no.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FMR. REP. ERIC MASSA (D), NEW YORK: I was set up for this from the very, very beginning. If you think that somehow they didn't come after me to get rid of me because my vote is the deciding vote on the health care -- then ladies and gentlemen, you live today in the world that so innocent as to not to understand what's going on in Washington, D.C.

KEILAR (voice-over): A spokesperson for Hoyer's office says that's completely false and there is zero merit to that accusation. Massa is facing an ethics inquiry for making one of his male staffers uncomfortable, according to a senior Democratic aide, who says the allegations involve a sexual implication.

Massa has acknowledged, "My own language failed to meet the standards that I set for all around me and myself." But on a local radio station in his Upstate New York district, he said the incident in question took place at the wedding of one of his staffers, painting a picture of lewd locker-room banter.

MASSA: A staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid. And his points were clear, his words were far more colorful than that. And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and I said, "Well, what I really ought to be doing is fracking you," and then tussled the guy's hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where it was not right to be there.

Now, was that inappropriate of me? Absolutely. Am I guilty? Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Hoyer's office insists the majority leader was not trying to draw attention to these ethics woes. They say that he was asked a direct question last Wednesday by a reporter whether he knew about these allegations before the story broke. Hoyer said, yes. His office then put out a statement saying what happened was when Hoyer had found out about those allegations, he basically had his staff tell Massa's staff, "You need to go to the ethics committee with this and if you don't," Hoyer is going to do this. His office insists, John and Kiran, this has nothing to do with the health care vote.

CHETRY: And back to the health care vote -- is Massa really the deciding vote on this?

KEILAR: You know, it's interesting, because certainly, since he was a no vote, this plays well for Democratic leaders, because any vote really matters. So, that certainly matters to them.

However, it's really too soon to tell because there is no final health care reform package that has been written, certainly released to these members. It's really too soon to count votes and say, oh, yes, he is the deciding vote. So, you can't really go that far.

CHETRY: All right. Brianna Keilar for us this morning -- thank you.

ROBERTS: So, was former Congressman Eric Massa pushed out by his own party to pass health care reform? Hear from the former congressman in his primetime interview tonight. Eric Massa on "LARRY KING LIVE," 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

CHETRY: Meanwhile, right now, we're checking with Rob Marciano for a look at weather across the country.

And, boy, we had some amazing pictures of a tornado that blew through -- it was Oklahoma. But we're actually enjoying the weather in our part of the country. Out west, though, a totally different story.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the eastern range, so to speak, or the east coast has certainly enjoyed some spring-like temperatures in the last day or two. Seventy yesterday in Atlanta. It sure felt nice. I don't know if we have the video of the tornado loaded, but I would love to show it again because it's certainly dramatic stuff. If not now, we'll do in about 30 minutes.

What we're looking at -- there you go. Western parts of Oklahoma, this storm chaser got up close and personal with this tornado that dumped or destroyed five homes, damaged a bunch of others. Nobody injured, thankfully. And that is certainly hard to believe considering how much debris was flying around that, this particular twister. No word on how strong it was, but certainly strong enough to do that sort of demolition.

All right. Let's talk about today's forecast. This storm will begin to weaken. And I don't know think we'll see much in a way of severe weather today, although we'll see some thunderstorms. The second low you see to the left there into the Colorado Rockies, that will bring more energy into the lower plains tomorrow. Here's your storm today.

Daytime highs as you mentioned getting -- well, pretty nice. Sixty-three degrees in D.C. today and that's maybe even a couple degrees cooler than it was yesterday. So, enjoy it while it lasts. I'm not sure how much longer it will last in the east coast. Temperatures eventually will cool back down.

John and Kiran, back up to you.

ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much. We'll see you again soon.

Well, can a video game change the world? You know, gamers are always accused of being coach potatoes, sitting around, doing nothing but playing video games. Well, there's a new video game out there that can help you solve the world's problems and it urges people to actually take action. We'll talk with the game's creator coming right up.

CHETRY: Also, we're going to be talking about yet another problem for Toyota, after one man says that his Prius, the acceleration continued no matter what he tried to do. He said he was literally standing on his brakes as this car continued 90 miles an hour down a highway. Well, now, Toyota investigators are going to be checking out this latest claim to see what's going on.

It's 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Fourteen minutes after the hour.

We are following a developing story for you this morning: a new terrifying account of a runaway ride in a Toyota.

CHETRY: Yes. The company is now sending investigators to California where this happened. A driver claims that he almost flew over a hill down an embankment going 90 miles an hour in his Prius yesterday, powerless to get the vehicle to stop no matter what he did.

Deb Feyerick has all the details for us this morning on this latest situation -- because the Prius was recalled not for accelerator issues.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. It was recalled for breaks. So, whether this is opening up a whole new can of worms, that certainly will be determined. But this could be an important development because if this is sudden acceleration, well then, Toyota now has a car that they can analyze to see what is going on. They can look at the electronic components.

Now, here's what happened: the driver, James Sikes, was cruising east on Interstate 8 outside the San Diego area when he says he tried to pass another vehicle, a slower vehicle. Sikes pushed down on the gas pedal and says the pedal did something funny, it wouldn't come up. It was stuck.

The car accelerated to 90 miles an hour. He couldn't control it. Sikes desperately was trying to avoid other cars, other drivers. He tried to slow the car, keep it from going over a cliff.

In a news conference yesterday afternoon, he relived part of the terrifying ride.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES SIKES, PRIUS DRIVER: My thought was going over the side of the hill, because there was too many hills and too many angles and that's why I wanted to shut the car off but there was no straight place to do it and then nobody to protect me from behind. There was a few times that I got really, really close to vehicles, and especially a truck, twice. Once early in the game, and then another one when he was on the side of me, came real close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Sikes managed to call 911 for help dispatchers tried to instruct him on how he stop the car, but nothing worked. At one point, he said he actually reached down, trying to pull up the gas pedal by hand but it quote "stayed right where it was."

Now California Highway Patrol officer caught up to the runway Prius and using the patrol cars' PA system helped Sikes bring the car to a stop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIKES: I was just holding on to the steering wheel with my left hand and I was down at an angle trying to pull it back, I thought it was stuck. I mean my mat was perfect, there was nothing wrong with my pat. And the pedal, it wouldn't do anything. It just stayed right where it was.

He got up on the side and told me what to do and I was standing on the right pedal and looking out the window at him, and he said push the emergency break, too. And I laid on both of them, and it finally started slowing down right there, and it went down to 55. It had been at 94, I know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Toyota issued a statement saying that it has been notified and has sent a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the report and offer assistance. And you know what is so interesting about this is that in many respects the California Highway Patrol is taking this a little bit personally because they lost one of their own officers. He was the first person to call 911 to report his car was out of control. It had been a loaner car.

So now even when I spoke to the people from the California Highway Patrol, they say that they are looking at these incident very, very differently now, and also very interesting that that other patrol car would respond the way they responded.

ROBERTS: You know Toyota has maintained all along that there is no problem with the electronic controlling, that this is not an electronics problem. But he says the mat was not a problem, however he did say he reached down to try and pull the accelerator up and it seemed to be stuck. So is this an indication that there may be a problem, that it may indeed be electrical or could it be mechanical?

FEYERICK: You know that is the big question and I think nobody knows that right now. That's what they are looking into because it just does not make sense. There are so many unanswered questions and people want to know and they want to be certain.

We have a pretty good story coming up this week. A couple good stories coming up this week on Toyota, where we really take a closer look at the investigation, and maybe what Toyota could have done better and what they maybe didn't do that was right by the public.

CHETRY: In the meantime, if you are driving a Toyota and you have these concerns, what do you do? They were sort of giving you this advice if this happens to you right -- about putting the car in neutral.

FEYERICK: Exactly, well you push on the brake and then slow the car into neutral. But you hear this man, he wasn't able to gain control of the car. So and it's just so frightening, and you are trying to do all these different things at once. If you have a push button, as appose to a key car, you are supposed to hold down that push button for three seconds, check the manual all the cars are different. And just hope.

CHETRY: And in this case, he got very lucky. It could have been much worse.

FEYERICK: Yes. Exactly

CHETRY: All right, Deb, keep us posted, we look forward to other stories as well. Thank you.

FEYERICK: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Thank you, Deb. Saving up, do you have enough money for your retirement or are the years going to run out long before the money does our Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" she's up next, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Christine Romans here "Minding Your Business" this morning, she joins us now with more - and we are out with yellow brick road -

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Everything blissful -

CHETRY: Yes, I know, it does.

ROMANS: All right. We are rebuilding our yellow brick roads, everybody. Two years after a horrific - during a horrific recession, look at some important retirement stuff here for you.

Sixteen percent of you are well prepared for retirement. You have more than enough money saved.

ROBERTS: Only 16 percent.

ROMANS: Only 16 percent, that's the second lowest rating on record. What are you doing today to get yourself in that 16 percent is what I want to know because it is very, very difficult. Look of the most recent study from the employee benefit research institute, this is a retirement confidence survey found that we are not preparing as well as we were. We are not saving enough is there any wonder why?

We are all just trying to live today and restore our lost incomes. 43 percent have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. That is not enough. This is not including the value of your house, which has fallen, and your pension, and not your 401(k), but your pension and fewer people are getting pensions, right? 66 percent has less than 50k. And 11 percent have more than a quarter million dollars.

What are the reasons? Well you can't afford to retire. Most people say I cannot afford to save for retirement. 6 percent say they have other priorities, like paying for their kid's college. Among them, I just talk to Suze Orman on our weekend show with Ali and I she went crazy about the idea of paying for your kid's college over paying for your own retirement. Your own retirement comes first because you cannot borrow to pay for retirement.

You can borrow for your kid's college. 5 percent just don't have the time. Well that's economic Darwinism. And 4 percent say things like they have plenty of time to save. Well the point is, if you are saving now, you have more time to build-up income. Figuring out your retirement means 44 percent told the EBRI that they guess, hint, you don't guess at a diagnosis for your health, why would you guess about how much money you need, you're not a doctor, you're not a financial planner. Twenty-six percent used their own estimate, 18 percent use a financial provider/advisor, and the 9 percent I guess they are here and listen to what I'm telling you, and try to make their own retirement plan.

CHETRY: What's the difference between guess or your own estimate, isn't that pretty much guessing?

ROMANS: Well you can use your own estimate, you could go on calculator on a website and we have lots of them, go to CNNMoney.com. you can go to bankright.com, you can go to a million different places for a calculator. In general they tell you to save, use 75 percent to 80 percent of your right now earnings in retirement.

CHETRY: Per year.

ROMANS: Per year. Well the problem with that is people are just trying to get 75 percent to 80 percent of their earnings today. You know, they are trying to get less - I mean we have lost a lot of money, we are taking pay cuts if we have a job. So I get why people are not saving. And you can see really see these in these numbers. People are not saving.

ROBERTS: You have a Romans numeral for us?

ROMANS: I do it's 10 percent. And this is --

ROBERTS: The amount of net income that you should be socking away for retirement?

ROMANS: Yes, 10 percent, 6 to 10 percent is what people say.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Yes, you need to save about 10 percent. This is in your 401(k), this is in maybe in other plans that you have set up. This is maybe in - this is not counting the 529 for your kids-

ROBERTS: Yes. So many companies have gotten rid of their retirement plans that you got to rely -

ROMANS: Yes.

ROBERTS: On you for all of this stuff.

ROMANS: Yes and it is so hard. I mean I don't want to sit here - I don't want to be preaching to you guys, because a lot of people don't have any money. We just don't. The economy is not working for us. And that's why these numbers show that the economy today is not working for people to be able to make these important investments in their own future.

CHETRY: Right but if your company offers 401(k) it's free money for you --

ROMANS: Totally. CHETRY: If they employee match. And you know it's just -- it's a small little thing you wouldn't believe how it adds up.

ROBERTS: And if you start when you are 12-year-old.

ROMANS: If you have a job and you have money, if you make 100 live on 80, and if you make 80, live on 60. If you make 60 you --

ROBERTS: Christine Romans this morning. And here endeth the lesson.

Could a video game change the world? One woman is out to prove, we'll be talking to her, coming up in just a few minutes. It's 25 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. Your top stories just a couple minutes away. First an "A.M." original, something you'll see only on American Morning. Yesterday we introduced you to a second grader named Carlos, 8 years old and his family uninsured, and he is struggling with ADHD and severe anxiety.

ROBERTS: The big budget cuts in California have put his future in jeopardy is it fair to put a price on something like that? Our Thelma Gutierrez look at both sides of that debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Carlos. He lives in south Los Angeles, his mother is the home maker, his father a street vendor. Carlos says he wants us to understand his world.

CARLOS: My sister's name is Anandra and that's my skateboard. That's is a picture - and I am reading the bible.

GUTIERREZ: And although he is only a second grader, what struck me most over the month we spent with him, is that he is only 8. Already he says, he wants a new life.

CARLOS: I was going to change my life, it's a little bad.

GUTIERREZ: Carlos suffers from ADHD and severe anxiety.

CARLOS: I draw a picture about my family because they were fighting. Sometimes when I fight, is because when my dad drinks.

GUTIERREZ: Carlos's father did not want to be on camera but acknowledged he has had a hard time lately and financial pressures has only made things worse at home. Carlo's mother, Leticia wants to keep the family together. She knows she needs help. Her son was failing school and becoming disruptive at home. But when she went looking for help what she found were clinics grossly overburdened.

(on camera): In Los Angeles County alone, $216 million was slashed from the mental health department, so now they are only taking children who are physically violent or suicidal.

(voice-over): Not kids like Carlos whose condition may not be as urgent but still just as serious. It took nearly a year for Leticia to finally find St. John's, a free clinic that would helped.

I asked her why she was so emotional? She told me her kids are everything to her.

Sometimes you and George fights. And she loves to shoot her son's therapy sessions. Is that right? Because she wanted to put a face on California's bruising budget crisis.

(on camera): What did we learn last week?

CARLOS: We learned about when my mom fights with my dad I have to read a book.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Now, just as Carlos is starting to make progress, Leticia learns St. John's clinic is having its mental health care budget slashed.

JIM MANGIA, ST. JOHN'S FAMILY CENTER: Just from this one clinic, 7,000 people will not receive mental health services.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): Out of that number, how many are children?

MANGIA: Out of that number, probably 4,000 children.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): This is where kids like Carlos are pulled into a political war.

MIKE SPENCE, CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY: I know it sounds mean. All the money trees have been cut down in California. So we have to deal with it by reducing spending as best we can.

MANGIA: Does this state have a responsibility to care for its children? Do conservatives think we don't have that responsibility?

SPENCE: The government has over-promised to people.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): But this is a program for children who are mentally ill.

SPENCE: Yes, there are lots of programs for children, mentally ill and disabled, and the problem is the government keeps over taxing and over spending.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): But it's a tough tradeoff. Carlos' therapist says taxpayers will pay the price. Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because eventually we end up paying for the emergency services the psychiatric wards, the costs it takes to imprison someone.

GUTIERREZ: In California, it costs about $45,000 a year to keep someone behind bars. Fernandez worries leaving a generation of kids like Carlos untreated could mean losing them forever.

But numbers aside, what about the price Carlos would pay?

(on camera): What do you want to do in the future?

CARLOS: In my future, I want to be good.

GUTIERREZ: After six months, some hope. Fernandez says Carlos is finally ready to leave therapy. Meanwhile his mother says the drinking and fighting at home has stopped.

And at Carlos' new school, his teacher told me he noticed a big difference. Now he is thriving in the classroom and on the playground. The cost of saving Carlos -- about $2,000.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: It's time for this morning's top stories.

A suspect is in custody this hour after an early-morning shooting at Ohio State University. One person was killed and two others injured. They were all campus employees. The university says e-mail alerts were sent out to students warning them about the incident.

CHETRY: Police in Milledgeville, Georgia confirming they plan to interview Super bowl winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the next few days. A 20-year-old college student is claiming that Roethlisberger sexually assaulted her last week at a Georgia nightclub.

His attorney insists no crime was committed. Roethlisberger is also being sued by a woman who alleges he raped her two years ago in a Lake Tahoe hotel.

ROBERTS: American missionary Charisa Coulter is back in the United States this morning after being jailed in Haiti for more than a month. The group's leader, Laura Silsby, is the only one who remains behind bars. She talked with our Sara Sidner yesterday while coming out of court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SILSBY: I am very happy that Charisa went home today, very happy for her freedom, and I am expect that mine will soon follow.

SIDNER: Why are you the last person left?

SILSBY: Because I'm the leader of the team. They are still finishing their process.

SIDNER: Did you do anything wrong and try to kidnap these kids?

SILSBY: Of course not, I came to help the children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Sara continues to watch this case closely this morning, and if there are any developments we will be sure to get her up from Port-au-Prince right away.

CHETRY: You may not know it, but that coworker sitting in the cubicle next to you could be a hero to thousands in an online universe.

ROBERTS: Now a new online game hopes to harness leadership qualities people develop in their cyber lives to help change the real world. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wherever you are, whoever you are, if you found this message, it's your destiny to join us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: This is a game that promises not only points for winning but also teaches you how to solve real world problems. Joining us now from San Francisco is Jane McGonigal. She is the creative director of the online game called "Evoke."

Jane, it's great to talk to you. I have been wanting to do this for a while. We should point out "Evoke" is kind of billed as a crash course for changing the word and it's specifically targeted towards people in Africa. What are you doing?

JANE MCGONIGAL, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ONLINE GAME EVOKE: What we wanted to do is make a game that would give gamers a chance to develop their real-life superpowers, so creativity, collaboration, courage. And we wanted to give those gamers a chance to get super powers to change real world problems, like hunger and poverty, sustainable energy, clean water access.

So we invented "Evoke." As you said, it's a crash course in changing the world. We developed it with a team of education specialists at the World Bank Institute. And it's a 10-week class you can take online. We launched it a week ago. We currently have 8,000 students enrolled from 120 countries.

CHETRY: That's amazing, already 8,000 people wanting to take part in this. Every week a new mission is posted, and it's introduced by a chapter in the comic book. And then the players come up with solutions through blog posts and videos and photos about their projects, and ten they earn points in categories.

So explain more. Jump off from there. How does it work?

MCGONIGAL: Every week there is a new episode in our graphic novel, which is really the textbook for the course.

The big idea in the story here is that in the future, the people who tackle problems today, especially in Africa where the challenges are so great and the resources are so constrained, those are the people that will be best able to solve any crisis in the future, crises that might happen around food shortages or pandemic or natural disasters.

So the story is set ten years in the future, and every week we look at a possible future crisis. The first episode is about a food shortage in Japan, and then we think about how we might use some of the problems that are created in developing countries today to solve problems all over the world in the future.

ROBERTS: We should mention, too, Jane, that people actually can't just sit there and work this online. They have to get out and work in the real world and put together a project to help solve the problem.

You mentioned this, but I want to go back over it again. You are teaching people things like collaboration, creativity, courage, entrepreneurship, sustainability, knowledge networks, vision. You are really employing game strategy here because you said gamers are trained to believe they can win. Explain that.

MCGONIGAL: Right. Well, gamers are more optimistic than just about anybody in the world because they have grown up playing games that give them these kind of epic missions, save the world, be a superhero, and games are designed so that you stick in there and work on problems that are really hard for you longer. They give us emotional positive rewards.

And so what we are doing with "Evoke" is asking players to tackle real challenges. Each week have you to come up with a creative solution to the fictional crisis and you actually have to try it out.

So we have a food shortage in week one. Have you to try and improve somebody's food security in your real life, improve their ability to get the food they need every day. And so you can't just play the game by imagining. It's not a fantasy game. You have to actually do something and report back, as you said, with blog posts and videos.

CHETRY: And then how do you turn that into eventual real world change? How do you take those solutions by very creative thinkers and make it happen for people that are suffering?

MCGONIGAL: The way the missions and quests are designed is that by the end of the 10-week game you will have an idea for a new project or new business that you can develop into a way to tackle one of these extreme scale challenges.

And at the end of the game, we look at all the top players and award online mentorships with experienced social entrepreneurs. We are going to give travel scholarships to players so they can come to Washington, D.C. to talk with other social innovators. We are going to give seed funding to some of these projects.

So by playing the game you are setting yourself up for continuing support in the kind of world-saving work you might want to do. ROBERTS: We should mention, too, Jane, that the World Bank has given you money to award scholarships and seed money, but there are criticisms that I'd like you to address. One is that games are addictive. People who play games mostly avoid getting out there in the real world, that online gaming skills elbow out real world skills.

And the fact that there is very low Internet access in Africa, which is where you want get this project off the ground.

MCGONIGAL: The first criticism about games being addicting. Let me tell you, if gamers get addicted to this game, that will be fantastic, because this is not a game about escaping reality. It's about doing something that matters.

So if you get addicted to this game, what that means is you will be working to solve some of the world's toughest problems alongside a global community.

So we are trying to take what can sometimes be a negative about games and harness it to bring all the energy and passion that comes with gaming to work that really matters.

In terms of internet connectivity, we designed the game so it could be played on mobile phones. Mobile phones are ubiquitous throughout Africa now. And you might be surprised, there is, you know, quite significant Internet connectivity.

For instance, they are about to launch a new "World of Warcraft" server in South Africa. So there are big gamer audiences there wanting to go play online games. We think the best way to reach them and engage them in real world problem solving is to make an online game.

ROBERTS: Something new and innovative. We'll definitely keep watching it. Jane McGonigal, thank you for stopping by and sharing some time with us.

CHETRY: If you want to check it out, urgentevoke.com is the website. Jane, thanks so much.

Well, it's 40 minutes after the hour. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to be talking more about some school districts needing to do what they call really the worse of two evils, the least of two evils, rather.

It's switching to a four-day school week rather than needing to let go of thousands of teachers. A lot of people say it won't work and hurt our kids in the long run. We will talk about that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning.

Here is a story prompting a little bit outrage this morning. Delta and JetBlue wants exemption from the new rules that limits the amount of time that passengers can be kept on the tarmac. The carriers say delays caused by the main runway closure at JFK airport could cost them millions of dollars in fines.

Under the new government regulation, which takes effect at the end of April, airlines must let passengers off planes delayed for three hours or face very, very hefty fines.

CHETRY: And tough economic times taking a toll on school across the country. Some districts have to lay off staff and teachers, and in some cases even shut down. And now there is a growing movement to switch to a four-day school week to try to save money. A lot of educators and parents, though, say it's the wrong direction to take.

It's a trend catching on in districts like Pueblo, Colorado, where the public is expected to keep the kids busy on the fifth day of the school week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The programs on Fridays are not going to be run by the school district. They're going to be run by the taxpayers and the community and the parents, but they can be in the schools, the schools will be open and available for our community and our kids.

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: You can't either cut your way or tax your way through the affects of the worst recession since the Great Depression. That's why you need investments from the federal government in order to stave this off because kids don't get a second chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, in exchange for giving up a day of classes students and teachers have longer hours on the days that they are in session. About 100 districts in 17 states have made the switch to four-day school weeks and dozens more are considering it.

ROBERTS: We've got some bad weather across the country today: rain, thunderstorms, some snow in the mountain regions as well. Rob Marciano is tracking it all for you this morning and he's got the forecast coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Good morning, New York City, where it's a beautiful, beautiful day out there. Look at the Hudson River looking north from Manhattan up through the George Washington Bridge and on up towards West Point there. It's sunny and 47 right now later on today a high of 53 and it will remain sunny, a beautiful day. Get out there and do something.

Rob Marciano is at the Weather Center in Atlanta and yesterday, Rob, people were actually at the outdoor cafe sitting outside in New York City yesterday. Maybe pushing the season a bit, but --

CHETRY: Oh yes, they'll take what they can get.

ROBERTS: -- enjoying it. CHETRY: Yes, we've had it tough.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes cabin fever in full force I think. Any glimpse of sunshine and temperature above the freezing mark has everybody running outside in a hurry and you had a good couple of days of it.

We do have a storm -- a couple of storms that are rolling out west creating some different problems.

Check out this the rock slide out of Colorado. I-70 shut down for a while -- actually shut down until further notice. Massive boulders the size of semi-trucks are blocking this and damaging the roadway and they had to bring in explosive crews and blow up some of these boulders to make it so that they are more manageable. It will be days or may weeks before this stretch of I-70 is back to where it should be.

All right, tornado video out of western Oklahoma yesterday. We were saying how quiet February was. Well, look at what's coming out of Tornado Alley from yesterday. Five homes completely destroyed and a number of homes damaged as well. And little -- no injuries good news there and this storm is weakening, thank goodness. We don't expect a whole a lot of severe weather today.

Mainly just some rain showers from the northern Great Lakes and Plains down across the Gulf Coast and maybe a little bit of snow, but generally speaking the severe weather threat today isn't as bad as it was yesterday.

Tomorrow, a different story; fog, to Minneapolis to Chicago. We do have some ground stops out from Milwaukee and Chicago at this hour. Minneapolis might get into the mix as well, as well as Houston because of some thunderstorms and some wind is slowing things down in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

All right, the energy and the next batch comes out of Colorado and into the plains tomorrow, I think that the mid-South, the mid Mississippi Valley down across the southeast will be under the gun for severe weather tomorrow, much like we saw yesterday and maybe a wider expanse. And this is the area of the country where we typically see it as we head into March and April.

John and Kiran that's the latest from the weather; back up to you.

CHETRY: All right, Rob, thanks so much. We'll enjoy it for one more day.

ROBERTS: Yes.

CHETRY: Because it looks like it's changing for us unfortunately.

ROBERTS: Well, take what you can get this morning.

CHETRY: Yes, exactly.

All right, well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to be joining us up next. We will talk to him about some medical issues.

It's 50 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's becoming more clear that children who are overweight often go on to become overweight adults. And now there are two new studies showing the time to intervene could actually be a lot earlier than many of us thought.

ROBERTS: Maybe even before they are born, especially in minority communities.

Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta this morning with details. Sanjay, how can you influence a child's health habits before they are born? It wouldn't seem to make sense.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You might predict, a lot has to do with the mom. This was really based on a study looking at 2,000 mom-child pairings trying to figure where there are some clues or some indicators very early on even before the child is born of what the child's weight was going to be like and could they become an overweight or obese adult, even.

Now obviously, some of this is going to seem more intuitive to some people. But obviously pregnancy gain during pregnancy for moms obviously makes a difference, depression, smoking during pregnancy, and also glucose control. All those things seem to make a difference and were predictors for not only childhood but also adult overweight and obesity.

What was sort of interesting John and Kiran was that they also found that these children, these same children were more likely to also eat fast foods, have sugary drinks and really seem to have a link to socio-economic status and also African-Americans and Latinos seem more likely to be affected by this.

It sort of raises up the whole issue that the researchers sort of focused in on, how do you correct some of these problems? One of the ways they looked at was how do you make some of this food more accessible, healthier food more accessible, and more affordable in urban communities, for example.

I don't know if you could see some of these images here but I've really become fascinated by this idea of urban gardens. This is Chicago where they're actually growing food, healthy food in the middle of the city. In a place where they simply had no access to this and if they had access miles away it was far too expensive.

You guys may know in Detroit right now -- and Detroit could become one of the largest urban gardens in the country if not the world. It's 143 square miles of space there that just had two fully functioning grocery stores, just two. You just could simply -- couldn't get healthy food and about 800,000 people over there. So growing urban gardens in an area like that really seems to make a difference. So, a little potential strategy there to try and address some of these problems.

CHETRY: Yes, it is really amazing when you look at that. It's something I know that the first lady, Michelle Obama, is trying to battle as well, talking about getting access to fresher foods.

But then conversely, what about the idea of taxing junk food, sort of disincentives to eating things that are bad food for you. Any evidence that that actually helps?

GUPTA: This is a fascinating area. There was a study about this recently that I thought was very interesting. But you know snacking foods, this is something that a lot of people focus on with regard to overweight and obesity. About 98 percent of children snack.

Kiran, your kids may snack and my kids snack up to three snacks a day. But I think when you hear that about 27 percent, more than a quarter of calories right now for the average (INAUDIBLE) that comes from these snack foods, that does get people's attention.

To your question, Kiran; it does seem to make a difference in terms of deterring people from buying unhealthy food. So they did a study where they actually had a mock supermarket and tried to create a scenario that you are talking about, making unhealthy foods more expensive.

What they found was that people were less likely to buy them as a result, but they were not more likely to buy healthy foods with the money they saved. Why? Probably because healthy foods still remain very expensive as well.

So the takeaway from that I think is you have to figure out ways to try and make healthier foods cheaper as opposed to trying making unhealthy foods more expensive. And I think again that's where these urban gardens come in. Is there a way to do that?

This is at least one strategy but again, this idea of taxing food, it doesn't sit well with a lot of people. It's not the same as tobacco and keep in mind that if you're a family of 5 living near the poverty line, going to McDonald's for $20 is not a bad deal. So making healthier food cheaper is the key.

ROBERTS: Twenty-seven percent of calories from junk food. That's pretty surprising.

Doc, thanks for being with us this morning. Good information for us.

CHETRY: Thanks Sanjay.

GUPTA: Thanks guys. Anytime, you got it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Continue the conversation on today's stories, including how my hair changed so dramatically just between the commercial break. Go to our blog.

CHETRY: It's a little shorter, and looks nice on you.

ROBERTS: What, in the last (INAUDIBLE)

CHETRY: Yes, you know how quickly I worked to try and cut it in between breaks.

ROBERTS: It's CNN.com/amfix. We want to hear from you.

CHETRY: What does it say back there?

ROBERTS: Thanks for joining us. Go Knicks.

Thanks for joining us this morning. We'll see you again tomorrow.

CHETRY: All right. Meanwhile the news continues. Here's "CNN NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin -- hey, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You guys. John Roberts, I like the do. Very nice.

Guys, thank you.

ROBERTS: Thank you.