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Rick's List
Regulating Wall Street; Travelers Remain Stranded; Ash Cloud Continues to Disrupt Air Travel; Documentary Examines Anti-Immigration Policies; Stocks Up in Wake of Goldman Sachs Fraud Charges
Aired April 20, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here's what we got going on right now: two big developing stories that I'm going to be taking you through. I'm going to be taking you through those through the beginning of this newscast.
First, here's what else we're going to have bringing your -- coming your way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Here's what's making THE LIST on this day.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: We cannot allow endless taxpayer-funded bailouts for big Wall Street banks.
SANCHEZ: Now that we know it's not a bailout, what's the plan to reform Wall Street?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not going to drink. He's not a boyfriend.
SANCHEZ: A high school tells a uniformed soldier he can't escort his little sister to the prom? And you say, what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to repel this invasion one way or another.
SANCHEZ: What happens when immigrants actually pick up and leave? You will see a case study, this while the cardinal of L.A. calls Arizona's new anti-immigrant law -- quote -- "Nazi techniques."
Why are we seeing so many earthquakes? Because women are being too promiscuous, that's why. Which genius said that?
The lists you need to know about. Who's today's most intriguing? Who's making news on Twitter? It's why I keep a list, pioneering tomorrow's cutting-edge news right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: OK.
Boy, it's one of those days when the news is coming in so fast, that we're going to have to give it to you in pieces. I'm going to start with a developing story out of Washington, and then there's another story that's developing internationally as well.
All right, this happened barely a half-hour ago, so we're just kind of putting it together as we're getting ready to go on the air. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has made a major announcement on financial regulation. You know what I'm talking about. This is the effort to try and rein in some of these guys on Wall Street, the guys who many say caused the meltdown in the first place. Stay with me here.
Up until this announcement, McConnell was telling the Republicans, I want you to vote against this bill. We're going to filibuster this thing, if necessary.
In fact, here now is his new position. Listen up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: It's pretty clear now and the majority leader's indicated to me that serious discussions have resumed. I think the 41 letter last week indicating that Republicans wanted to see serious negotiations occur rather, than just political sparring, has worked, at least for the short term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, Mitch McConnell is now saying that his party is back in.
I want to give you some background on this. McConnell's getting hammered in many ways for a meeting that he had with some Wall Street bankers. Now, as you may recall, because we talked about this a little bit yesterday, even the president then jumped on that one.
In fact, we -- I think we have that.
Roger, play that tape, if we have got that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The leader of the Senate Republicans and the chair of the Republican Senate Campaign Committee met with two dozen top Wall Street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue.
Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican leader came out against commonsense reforms that we have proposed. In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts, when he knows that it would do exactly the opposite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. That's what sets this whole thing up. So, what we have now, just as we're getting ready to present you this newscast, it is starting to look like the Republicans, who were clearly saying they would oppose or at least argue against financial regulatory reform, cleaning up Wall Street, are now back in, and they're going to be working with the president and working with the Dems on this.
That's what it appears like, but, obviously, look, this thing's just starting to happen, so there's a lot of questions to be asked, and that's what I'm going to be trying to do for you, not to mention taking some of your questions off of Twitter that I know you want me to ask as well.
But there's another developing story that I want to take you through right now. In fact, Chad Myers is here and he's going to be helping, taking us through this as well. Here's what's going on, folks. This is bizarre. Stay with me here.
We are hearing that there are 26 British Airways' flights from all different locations in the world that are now heading toward London, but it appears that there's a bit of a stalemate in that they're not going to be allowed to land.
Well, where are they going to go? What's going on here? Is someone trying to maybe force the issue here? We are going to get into that with Richard Quest as well, who is standing by. He's been all over this story.
But before we do anything else, let's get the news first.
Paula Newton is standing by right now in London. She's been breaking this story and giving us the very latest information.
Set the scene for us, Paula. Tell us what's going on.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Behind me, at Heathrow, nothing is going, and that's what we assumed was going to happen, because this airport, along with anything here in London, the major hubs, supposed to stay closed until 1:00 local here this morning. That's about 8:00 your time, Rick.
OK. B.A. then lets us know they have 26 long-haul flights from points all over the world, including the West Coast of the United States, that are in the air right now. They say they hope to land half of them here and half of them at the other major London airport at Gatwick.
Their language now, they are saying, we hope that we will be provided with a window of opportunity to land these flights. In the meantime, the airports remain closed. They say they will divert the flights to other European airports.
Well, what they have done is, they have put more than 8,000 people most likely in the air not knowing where they were going to land, but assuming that they could land in London.
What's going on here? A lot of the stuff behind the scenes, British Airways desperate to put some pressure on the civil aviation authorities, the people who decide if it's safe to land here, and saying, look, open up an air corridor. We are desperate for an air corridor. We have had our test flights up there. We do not believe it is not safe to fly. Let us in.
SANCHEZ: This is interesting. This is the very question that I was having yesterday in a conversation with Richard Quest, who's joining us now as well.
Richard, did you hear what she just said? It almost sounds like that the business sector, the guys who are telling the scientists, look, we know there are issues, but we want to land planes. What's going on here? You break it down for us.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, no, once again, no, no, I think it's more than that. It's called bringing the fleet home.
You have got to get the fleet back. Lufthansa did that yesterday with 50 of its long-haul big intercontinental jets. British Airways is trying to do the same thing tonight. It's not about trying to force the issue. It's about getting the jets back to the U.K.
Now, the difference, of course, is that, in Lufthansa's case, they did have an undertaking from the German authorities that it would be able to fly in under VFR rules. I suspect there may be something about going on with the U.K.
There's no way that those planes are going to fly in unless it's safe to do so.
SANCHEZ: All right, let me bring Chad in. You have got maps. You can look at this thing and try to explain to us. I'm confused. And I think some of the viewers are.
Why would you put 26 planes in the air, assume -- assuming that they're headed for England, in any way shape, or form, if there's no way that they can land there? Why are they in the air?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I don't know why they have put EGLL or Heathrow or Gatwick, why would they put that on the identifier of the airplane when they know they're probably going to have to land at Amsterdam or somewhere else anyway, airports that are open?
I don't have that answer. But let me take you -- I will take you to one flight.
SANCHEZ: Go ahead.
MYERS: Here's one flight we have that we have. And we have been using this Flightradar24 all along. This is Flight 84, British Airways Flight 84, which is from CYVR, which is Vancouver, Canada, on its way, and been in the flight eight hours and 22 minutes now.
And you see what it's doing at the very end of the flight? It's flying around in circles over the Isle of Man. Under the word live and over to the right of CNN, that's where London would be. So, they're in the air. They're at 33,000 feet, and they are circling, hoping that the people that are in charge of the airspace open the airspace, so that they can fly through it.
At 33,000 feet, that air is completely clean.
SANCHEZ: Right.
MYERS: There's no ash in that air, but between them and the ground, there is an ash layer.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So, they can't land.
Paula Newton, are you still -- Paula, are you still there? Do we still have Paula?
NEWTON: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Paula, I'm curious.
NEWTON: Yes, I'm here.
SANCHEZ: What is British Airways telling you their intent is with these flights?
NEWTON: It's very interesting, because when you talk to the press office, they continually read off the release. You can tell this is a very sensitive issue.
And they say, we are hopeful that we will be given a window of opportunity to land these flights. We then check with the aviation authorities, who have an update within about an hour, but they so far say that we have had no change to our policy that these airports remain closed until 1:00 in the morning local time. That's at least five hours from now.
SANCHEZ: So, Richard, I come back to you, then. How can they just be hopeful that they're going to be able to do something that they're being told they can't do? Make this make sense to us.
QUEST: Because -- no, it doesn't make a great deal of sense.
And, of course, there is a bit of pressure being put to bear. But ultimately they know that if they have to put down somewhere else, they will do so, and those aircraft, Rick, will be closer to the U.K.
And, yes, I agree, it's perhaps a little -- well, the word you're looking for is disingenuous if they have given the view to -- maybe that's the best word -- if they have given the view to the passengers on board that they will be able to land.
But there's a lot of people, particularly on different parts -- in parts of the world that at least will be happy to be back on the continent of Europe, so they can start to make other plans to get back.
(CROSSTALK) QUEST: But I agree. At first blush, as we look at it tonight, it seems a bizarre situation.
SANCHEZ: Close us out. We got about 10 seconds, Chad.
MYERS: No, I think that's very right. I think it's bizarre to tell the passengers you're going to London, and you're probably not.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: And then they're going to land in Amsterdam. They're going to get a train, they're going to get the Chunnel, then they're going to get home. But at least they get home. That's what the people -- they just want to get where they want to be.
SANCHEZ: Yes, put me as close as you possibly can.
MYERS: That's exactly it.
SANCHEZ: What a story, I'll tell you what.
Paula Newton, thanks so much for bringing that to our attention.
And, as usual, having Richard Quest always makes it interesting as well, because he's got a lot of experience with this. And you and I will be coming back later, because I also want to talk about what is going on in Iceland.
MYERS: OK.
SANCHEZ: I mean, this thing looks like it's not going away.
MYERS: Yes. Not going to go away for years, dude.
SANCHEZ: All right, thanks, Chad. We will do that in just a little bit.
In the meantime, take a look at this, if you would.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not going to drink. He's not a boyfriend. He's very responsible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: A high school student wants her big brother to escort her to a prom. The school is saying no. Why? I mean, he's her big brother and he wants to show up in a uniform.
I checked my list. And you want to know what's going on here, so I'm going to ask for you, all right? That's ahead on THE LIST.
Also, remember our extensive coverage of this attack on an IRS building? We were all over this on the day that it happened. Well, guess what we have now got? We have gotten the 911 calls that explain this story as it happened.
And, by the way, we're getting a tweet now from British Airways that I'm going to be sharing with you in just a moment as well.
Stay right there, a lot of stuff going on. And I want to take you through it. This is your national conversation, your LIST, RICK'S LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. We have been wanting to hear from what's going on with British Airways. And we have just got -- we call the show RICK'S LIST because I make a list of people who I think might be tweeting on any given day about relevant stories.
Well, guess what? There's nothing more relevant right now, given what we were just talking about, than the story involving British Airways. Take a look at this. "We have had to divert some flights" -- quote -- "which will land at a number of European cities." It doesn't seem very specific, does it? "We remain hopeful that we will be able to land at -- at the two airports." That's Heathrow and Gatwick, right? Yes, LHR and LGW. That's Heathrow and Gatwick.
It's always hard in airline-speak trying to figure out the acronyms. We are going to stay on top of that story for you.
But I want to show you this, as promised. Remember Joseph Stack? He flew his plane into an IRS building in Austin. This was back in February. He had a major beef with the government at the time.
We took you through this story as it happened, left a long anti- government note on a Web site that was registered in his name. Authorities have now released a 911 tape that seems to reveal the initial confusion, which we all remember from that day, and some of the frantic moments right after that crash. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: So, building two there was an explosion?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounded like an 18-wheeler slammed into the building. And all I saw was a burst of fire.
911 OPERATOR: Did you see anything happen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I just heard it. I looked out my window, and there's flames.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Did you -- do you see an 18-wheeler has hit the building, or is that just what it sounded like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just sounded like. And I would call you from -- let me try to change offices to see if I can get a better...
911 OPERATOR: OK. Please do...
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: ... because, right now, we really don't have any idea what happened.
911 OPERATOR: Austin 911. Police, fire, EMS.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. In the Echelon building on 183...
911 OPERATOR: Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... building -- a plane just crashed.
911 OPERATOR: OK. What kind of plane was it? How big was it, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked like a Cessna...
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... like a prop plane.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A small prop plane, maybe a six-seater.
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: OK. We have the call, sir. We got a lot of help on the way. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. Thank you.
911 OPERATOR: Austin 911. You need police, fire, EMS?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm outside a Babies 'R' Us across the street on the other side of 183. I hear the sirens.
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: Are you calling about the aircraft, ma'am? Are you calling about the plane...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm talking about the explosion.
911 OPERATOR: OK. There was a plane crash there, ma'am. We have help on the way, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Oh, my God. It's like four floors.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: By the way, it wasn't so much a plane crash or an accidental plane crash, certainly. It was an attack using a plane on an IRS office. Those killed include, obviously, his pilot. His name was Joseph Stack III, and then there was an IRS employee who was killed as well. His name was Vernon Hunter. He was a Vietnam veteran, respected, loved by his family.
More than a dozen others were also injured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't ever forget 9/11 and who was responsible for 9/11: illegals. God bless America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. This is a big argument going on in our country right now. Was 9/11 committed by illegal immigrants? Well, that's the question she poses. It's not the big part of the argument. Nonetheless, I'm going to fact-check that for you, because, when we raise a question, we should try and answer it, right?
And I'm also going to drill down on that move to kick out illegal immigrants in the United States. Most of all, I want you to see -- I want you to see what happened in one town where they were able to do just that. They kicked them out. They left. I will take you through that.
But back to a developing story I told you about at the very top of the program. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has apparently changed positions on -- has apparently changed positions on financial reform.
Instead of the vote no and filibuster because it's a bailout position, which he was saying last week, he's now asking Republicans to get back to the table with Democrats and work on this thing to see if they can get it through. Why is he doing that? Why is he doing it today? What's going on in the periphery? That's what we're here to do for you, to bring you those details.
So, stay right there. I'm going to bring that to you and analyze it with Gloria Borger next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: Hi, Rick. This is Bob from Illinois.
I'm watching this Goldman Sachs thing, you know, why doesn't this government and all of the international governments declare financial terrorism as harmful as regular terrorism and brand Goldman Sachs as a financial terrorist, yank their operating licenses, and turn the place into a big parking lot?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. That was Bob from Tennessee.
And, you know, what we do on this show is we try and connect to you, to what you're thinking, what you're saying, what we can express on your behalf. Back to our developing story, and this is a story many of you have been e-mailing me and tweeting me about. Senate Republicans -- this is brand-new, folks. Stay with me here. Senate Republicans are now back in negotiations with Democrats on trying to, together, both parties, rein in Wall Street.
Now, they have been threatening to filibuster, you know? But now apparently they're not going to. It sounds like they're back in, or at least sounds like that.
Here again, let me play this for you. This is Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell just a little while ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: It's pretty clear now and the majority leader's indicated to me that serious discussions have resumed. I think the 41 letter last week indicating that Republicans wanted to see serious negotiations occur rather, than just political sparring, has worked, at least for the short term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Gloria Borger is joining us now from Washington.
Is this a 180-degree turn?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he's taking credit for negotiations continuing, when, in fact, they really had never broken off, to tell you the truth...
SANCHEZ: Interesting.
BORGER: ... that Republicans and Democrats were working late on Friday night.
And, look, Mitch McConnell made his point. And it was a point which said, we're not going to let you guys have the bill you want to have. He raised this bailout issue...
SANCHEZ: Which was wrong.
BORGER: ... a lot of people believe is patently...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Erroneous.
BORGER: You know, it's not true. There is a bailout fund. It's paid for by the banks themselves. It's for companies who are going to die, to allow them to die without creating a panic.
But what's really happening to the leader here is that he doesn't have a united Republican Caucus. There are Republicans with whom I have been speaking and all of our -- Dana Bash, Jessica Yellin -- we have all been talking to Republicans who actually want a bill. SANCHEZ: Right.
BORGER: You saw Senator Corker on the floor yesterday saying, I don't like the way either party is behaving.
SANCHEZ: I talked to Judd Gregg...
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: There are folks who have been working on this.
SANCHEZ: I talked to Judd Gregg yesterday. He sounded like he was in when I talked to him yesterday on this show.
BORGER: Yes.
SANCHEZ: But let me share -- let me share something with you, because sometimes facts don't lie or at least polls come pretty close to the truth oftentimes.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: Sometimes.
SANCHEZ: This is Gallup poll, a Gallup poll released today. Ready for this? I want to share something with you, Gloria, and I want to share it with our viewers -- 67 percent of Americans say they favor new government regulations on Wall Street. Only 20 percent oppose it.
BORGER: Right.
SANCHEZ: And look at this -- 42 percent back the Democrats' position -- 34 percent back the Republicans'. So, the question...
BORGER: Hello.
SANCHEZ: The question here is, were Mitch McConnell and the Republicans on the wrong side of this argument when they started looking at some of these numbers like the ones I just read to you?
BORGER: Well, right. You know, that's right.
By looking at the word bailout -- bailout's a buzzword -- they tried to use that word to characterize what the Democrats were doing with the banks. And I don't think that was working for them. The truth of the matter is that you have an American public who doesn't trust the government right now to take out the garbage. But what do they want the government to do? They want the government to regulate Wall Street.
SANCHEZ: Exactly.
BORGER: So, here you have an American public asking the government to intervene...
SANCHEZ: It's almost a...
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: ... to regulate Wall Street.
SANCHEZ: The one group they may hate less than the government are the guys on Wall Street.
BORGER: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But you and I get excited about the process. And we're junkies. You and I are political junkies. And we look at this stuff and we read about this stuff and we go to bed reading about it.
But, in the end, for the American people, what you and I are reporting right now is that Democrats and Republicans are going to come together and pass something...
BORGER: Right.
SANCHEZ: ... that the American people want. Hey, you know what? We should send balloons up, shouldn't we? This is good.
BORGER: Right. Right. And I -- but here's what I'm -- but we have also been watching the machinations. And what's been going on is this little kind of Kabuki dance, because I'm telling you, behind the scenes, people had been working long and hard on financial reform.
SANCHEZ: Right.
BORGER: And, Rick, there's one more thing we need to pay attention to here. And that is the president of the United States. Remember, on health care reform...
SANCHEZ: Uh-huh.
BORGER: ... he got really involved in the last six weeks? We only learned where he was on that public option in August.
SANCHEZ: Right.
BORGER: In this case, the president is jumping in.
SANCHEZ: He's been all in.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: He is all in. And that's why he's going to Wall Street on Thursday. That's why he gave his radio address on Wall Street reform.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BORGER: So, you know, the Republicans, they are not just dealing with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. They're dealing with Barack Obama and the White House on this.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: That's a great point. As my old friend here, one of my colleagues, Tony Maddox, always says, there's a difference between those who are doing something and those who are all in. And, in this case, the president -- he's a Brit, by the way. And, in this case, the president seems to be all in.
Hey, Gloria, I enjoyed the conversation. It's good stuff.
BORGER: He's in on this one.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.
BORGER: Me, too.
SANCHEZ: Take a look at this, folks.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BRAD BISAILLON, AMERICAN AIRLINES PASSENGER: First thought was, I can't believe they would fly a plane with duct tape on the outside of it. Next thought was, we have been up here for an hour. Third thought was, I can't believe they would fly an aircraft with duct tape on it.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Did they really use duct tape on an airliner, a 737, no less? That's ahead.
And then there's a stabbing that leads us to our most intriguing person in the news today. Now, this is -- this is interesting. Who do you think it could be? That's next. This is RICK'S LIST, your LIST, and your national conversation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: ... just told me that Richard Quest just buzzed her and said that there may be a development in the story we began the newscast with, that situation about 26 planes, British Airlines planes -- Airways, I should say -- that are heading into England, but there's no place to land them.
So, this is a mess, folks, and we're trying to get you through it. So, if Richards has some new information, we will get him on right away.
Meantime, I want to do this. Time to check the list for the most intriguing person in the news today.
He's a 23-year-old born in Nigeria. He's a senior at California State University, Chico. Look at what he's dealing with today. He was stabbed in the neck, in the chest, and also in the stomach, cuts up and down his arms, as you can see right there. Now, it happened Sunday when he says that a guy jumped him, yelled -- screamed some racial slurs at him, then punched him and started slashing him with a knife. He's very lucky to be alive, wouldn't you say? Police arrested the attacker. And our most intriguing, instead of being angry or vengeful, he's actually philosophical about this hate crime.
Quote: "Just having this conversation more in our classroom, because that's the only way I think the circle of ignorance will be eradicated. It doesn't belong in our educated population."
Show him, Roger. This is who we're talking about. His name is Joseph Igbineweka, and he's not just a student at Chico State, he's the student body president, interestingly enough, showing leadership and level-headedness in the face of really, what, senseless violence? Can we call it anything else?
And he's going to be in court this week to face his attacker. And all for that, he is today's most intriguing person in the news.
All right, I just told you a little a while ago that we might be able to get back to Richard Quest because he might have new information that we began the newscast with. Let's do it. Richard Quest is standing by. Richard, what do you have?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You were talking earlier about the 26 B.A. flights that took off from various parts in the world and heading towards London without knowing whether they'd be able to land. I can tell you from my sources that the airlines have pretty much already decided that the planes are going elsewhere.
For example, my understanding is the Boston flight is going to Shannon, Las Vegas is going to Shannon in Ireland. Miami's going to Shannon. Houston is going to Nice. Sao Paulo is going to Barcelona. Denver's going to Shannon.
The question you were asking, why did they take off if they didn't know what was the airport they could land? The reason, I understand tonight, is because the advice when the planes left was that British airspace would be opened between 6:00 and 7:00.
Now, that in London time is just about two hours ago. So, they expected it to be open when they took off, and they figured, the airline, get the people in there, get them heading back across the pond, and have a plan just in case they can't land on the other side.
SANCHEZ: Well, that's interesting. Chad, are you there, by chance? Chad? All right, I do this all the time. I just call out to Chad. I'm just going to turn around real quick to see if he's got it. You got it?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, buddy.
SANCHEZ: I got a question for you.
MYERS: Yes. SANCHEZ: He's talking about the possibility, Richard is, that they thought that the airports would be open two hours ago.
MYERS: Sure.
SANCHEZ: Is that reasonable? Was there reason to believe that the airports were going to be open two hours ago?
MYERS: That was never an official statement, no. The official statement always was it was going to open up at 1:00 a.m. London time, which is still a few hours from now.
So, go ahead and take our flight radar 24. And you'll see that one plane we talked about, that's still circling. That came from Vancouver, Canada, it's been circling for an hour now.
SANCHEZ: But they were told -- OK, but Richard just reported that they believed when they took off that they would be able to land two hours ago because by then the airports would be open. Where in the hell did they get that information?
MYERS: I have no idea.
SANCHEZ: But meteorologically --
MYERS: Not officially.
SANCHEZ: But meteorological speaking, in other words, you've been looking at your maps and the effect of the volcano, there's no reason to conclude it reasonably.
MYERS: No reason to conclude it. Plus yesterday we had another eruption from 10,000 to 15,000 that spewed more ash into the lower levels of the atmosphere, not 33,000 where the plane is right now. But between that plane and the ground there is still ash and that's why the airspace below that plane is still closed.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting. Richard, what do you make of that, Chad's explanation?
QUEST: Well, that the advisory that the airline was going by, and I remember because I was talking about it on air, was that there was the -- the word from the CAA was that they had hoped to open the airspace between 6:00 and 7:00 as a -- using those three corridors that the Euro had put in place.
If you remember, last night, you and I were talking about the possibility of B.A. starting to do some limited, short-haul flights yesterday.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
QUEST: They'd intended to do short-haul flights. Well by then, of course, the planes had taken off from Vancouver, from San Paolo, from Denver, they literally flew through the night with the time difference and now are overhead. That expected window of opening up didn't happen.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
QUEST: And, of course, I suppose -- I suppose it is a wonderfully interesting debate whether back then they should have taken off or not. The decision was that they should. Now, with hindsight, of course, they're going to places like Nice, Barcelona, Shannon, and Charles de Gaulle.
SANCHEZ: It's just a heck of a thing, you know, I guess it's -- it's -- it's fitting to use the expression here, to actually do something on nothing but a hope and a prayer, and in this case, it doesn't seem, at least, like there was confirmed information that they could do what they intended to do.
It's an interesting development. We got to close this out, but go ahead, wrap it up.
QUEST: What they didn't have is what the Germans had, which was an undertaking that they could land under visual flight rules, come what may. That's what the Brits didn't have when they took off.
SANCHEZ: Chad, you just came out here. Is there anything you want to add?
MYERS: I'm just watching the flight.
SANCHEZ: Walk under the light.
MYERS: I'm thinking about the 300 people on the plane. They've been circling now for an hour. They've been flying eight and a half hours from Vancouver, and now they are going around and around over the Isle of Man. They are 150 miles from their destination and they can't get there.
SANCHEZ: It's a wing and a prayer, a hope and a prayer, but it's like they took off saying we think we might be able to get you there, but we're just hoping they can get them there.
MYERS: But in British Airways' defense, they knew they could go somewhere.
SANCHEZ: That's true.
MYERS: It's not like they're stuck up and there and not land anywhere.
SANCHEZ: Somewhere does not England make. My thanks to you and Richard. Good stuff, interesting conversation. Sometimes the best stories are the ones that are developing as we talk about them.
All right, were the secrets to the new iPhone actually left in a bar? Think about what I just said. The top secret documents to how an iPhone works, left in a bar. If it sounds crazy, well, it just may be. I'll take you through it.
Also, look at this. Whoa. That's going to leave a mark. What is it? How bad? Yep, I'll show you.
And, by the way, if you ever want to be here and join us on this show even on days like this when we got so much news buzz sawing around, pardon the pun, all you got to do's call this number, 1-800- 4CNN-tour. This is your national conversation. This is your list. This is RICK'S LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: OK. We're about to do "Fotos" for you, it's always one of the favorite segments of the day. And, by the way, you should know that I put this somewhere on my blog. We'll give you the information. We're getting a lot of tweets right now -- show them the tweet.
By the way, the "Brooke Block" is pushed back a little bit. You're here.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's OK.
SANCHEZ: Why do all the women on my staff hate the polka dotted tie so much?
BALDWIN: Did you yank it off?
SANCHEZ: I took it off because Angie and these guys made me take it off.
Look at this funny video, I was arguing with Angie and pam. "I'm glad that you didn't wear the polka dotted tie. Did your wife say something about it?"
BALDWIN: I didn't check you out earlier.
SANCHEZ: My wife usually couldn't give a hoot about my tie.
BALDWIN: No surprise.
SANCHEZ: Just bring a paycheck home.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Can you help me with "Fotos"?
BALDWIN: Sure.
SANCHEZ: You do the first one and I'll do the second one and you'll do the third one. I'll give you the beginning. Flying makes a lot of people nervous, so it's time for --
BALDWIN: "Fotos."
SANCHEZ: -- "Fotos del Dia"
BALDWIN: All right, you get in a plane -- window or aisle? I guess it kind of depends on the view here. Can you imagine glancing out during your flight and seeing this? SANCHEZ: Duct tape.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Look at that, it's duct tape. In a pinch, grab a little duct tape.
SANCHEZ: Every man in the country is watching, yep, that's how I would fix it.
BALDWIN: An American Airlines' flight 737.
SANCHEZ: Let me do this one. Guess what? It is perfectly legal and it's approved by the FAA.
BALDWIN: What is this?
SANCHEZ: It's call high-speed tape. It's not really duct tape.
BALDWIN: Wow.
SANCHEZ: And it's used all the time for temporary patches.
BALDWIN: Not duct tape. Right, of course.
SANCHEZ: Cutting-edge hard care, you might call. Do you know the incredible powerful saws they use to cut in concrete?
BALDWIN: No, I don't use those. Talk about dangerous, this video in Lorain, Ohio, spun off its hinges. What is that, through the house, into the house? Apparently the thing was so fast, I guess watch with me. Look at it going through the yard. Good thing the guy got out of the way.
SANCHEZ: That's a real buzz saw.
BALDWIN: Show down the footage. Put that bad boy away.
SANCHEZ: It went right through the house.
BALDWIN: No thanks.
SANCHEZ: And we're back to the story about the volcano. Give them this one.
BALDWIN: I'm not going to begin to pronounce it. There's an app for it. A British couple went through with their wedding plans. I picked this story, I love this story. Despite being stranded in Dubai, they had to go to London to get married, but they even had their London guests in virtual attendance. There was the wed cam.
They did the whole thing virtually because of the volcano, everyone is getting stuck. The lovebirds found themselves stuck because the air travel was suspended due to the article from the Icelandic volcano.
SANCHEZ: Good for them.
BALDWIN: Congratulations.
SANCHEZ: It's been wedding week.
BALDWIN: Proposals yesterday, marriage yesterday, divorced tomorrow.
SANCHEZ: That is --
BALDWIN: "Fotos."
SANCHEZ: All right, take a look at this. The NFL addresses the "big Ben problem," as in Roethlisberger. You're going to hear the dish from the commish. You like that?
BALDWIN: Did you write that?
SANCHEZ: I did.
BALDWIN: Oh, my goodness. Are you rhyming?
SANCHEZ: This is your conversation. This is your list. This is RICK'S LIST. We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: Oh, my goodness, this story just continues to develop and develop and develop. I'm being told now there's yet another development in this story about these 26 wayward planes -- well, I suppose I shouldn't call them wayward.
They're 26 planes heading for England that don't have any place to land in England, so they're being diverted to other places. But the question we're posing why did they take off in the first place if there was nowhere in England to land?
Paula Newton is standing by and she has an update on the story. Paula, take it away. What's going on?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Major development, good news for the American passengers, and I've spoken to a lot of them that want to leave this. A phase three opening in the skies over Britain has been announced. That means the ash cloud not posing a danger to airplanes engines. And it starts at 10:00, Rick, in just over an hour.
There may, in fact, be, we can't confirm this, B.A. literally said keep your eyes peeled, literally, that's what they said, there might be a plane landing at London Heathrow, at 10:00 tonight a little over an hour from now from the west coast of the United States.
We continue to watch and we'll see. But the good news here, Rick, is that the skies are now opening. They should break the logjam. SANCHEZ: So, in about an hour from now, Yankee time, U.S. time, a little over 4:00, we might be seeing planes landing in England, either Gatwick or Heathrow, that's what you're saying?
NEWTON: Yes, that would come as a huge -- yes, Gatwick, exactly, what they're telling us. They still have, as you said, more than two dozen planes in the air. What's key here is the aviation authority told us that they are reopening the skies over Britain in a phased manner beginning at 10:00 tonight. They will not say if that includes Heathrow.
So there might be an end to this.
SANCHEZ: I was just going to say, the more this story changes, the more it changes. And you're doing a fabulous job on this. Thanks so much, Paula, bringing us up to date on all the information just as you get it. We're so glad we have you there across the pond, as they say.
Meanwhile, take a look at this. Goldman Sachs is getting grilled for alleged fraud, so what's going on with the first quarter earnings? They came out today. How are the financial markets reacting to Goldman Sachs? I'll be checking the numbers. It's about a quarter of right now, so you know the market closes right at 4:00. I'll take you there.
And look at this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to repel this invasion. One way or another, it will be repelled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, what happens if the illegal immigrants are, in fact, kicked out? What if they leave? Can a town do that? What if they do that? I'll tell you where they did. I'll take you through it and show you how and tell you what the reaction. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We now have some new information, by the way, on the Ben Roethlisberger situation. Expect that during our 4:00 hour. We might be getting some info from the commish's office, from Roger Goodell's office.
I want you to watch something with me. Are you ready? This is an impactful story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why am I upset?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I just want to understand that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I went to Lowe's today, and the cashier was speaking Spanish. I particularly don't enjoy speaking Spanish in my country when our constitution and our laws are being ignored by a whole group of people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many people here are documented?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes? You, too? Because there are 12 million illegals in this country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You came from England.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My ancestors were here before there was a constitution. Before --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you go to school and study and don't get into one of those gangs and you go to college, then I applaud you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You know scenes like that happen in America. That's part of the national conversation as well. It's also part, at least that one is, part of a documentary on the immigration question set in one American town. This is Prince William County, Virginia.
Now, let me give it to you in short. A local blogger begins what turned into an anti-immigrant frenzy. A local politician stirred it up even further. He proposed that there should be probable cause law that forces police -- forces them -- to stop and question Hispanic- looking people. The law passes.
Well, guess what. The trusted local sheriff says, OK, that's fine by me, if you want to pass the law. But to enforce your new law, I'm going to need dashboard cameras on all my cruisers to protect my police officers from accusation of abusing citizens' rights.
The county doesn't have the money to pay for the cameras on cruisers, unless, you guessed it, there's a big tax increase. They don't want to do the tax increase either, so it doesn't happen.
But in the meantime -- you staying with me here? The unwanted immigrants, not illegal, by the way, packed up and leave town. Local businesses, then, start losing money. You got some abandoned homes, unrented apartments, neglected neighborhoods.
It's really a bit of a riveting story. And I'm -- obviously, look, I'm left with many questions as I watched this documentary and see how this one microcosm, this one town developed. You tell me you have questions as well. So, keep sending them to me on twitter, because this gentleman is a part of the documentary.
ERIC BYLER, NATIONAL SPOKESMAN, COFFEE PARTY, USA: Yes.
SANCHEZ: This is Eric Byler, and he'll take us through the conversation. That's coming up right after this break. Stay right there. I think this is fascinating. Job well done.
BYLER: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: I mean, the documentary seems reasonable. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Stand by because Chad Myers just came out and he says he's got brand new information on the situation of the plane being able to land in England. He's got a map and he'll take us through it right now with me here.
This is a story that all Americans talk about. This is director producer Eric Byler. He's one of the people behind that documentary that we were talking about. These people really left town. The immigrants, legal and illegal -- both, I imagine, because some were just afraid and felt, what, unwanted?
BYLER: People felt hurt, people felt unwelcome. And there was a bit of an exodus. We saw not only the Latino grocery store close but also the giant food close down. There was definitely an economic impact felt.
SANCHEZ: There really was a negative impact on the town? This isn't something that we can just say happened in their neighborhood? It affected the entire community?
BYLER: Right. I think it was something that we didn't realize as we were documenting this story. I don't think many of us realized this. But the immigrants were already integrated into our regional economy. These were actually some of the hardest workers, many had two or three jobs.
And they spent all their money within the confines of the community. They didn't drive into Washington, D.C., for work every day. And so when we lost them, they gave up homes that they were paying mortgages when they gave up those homes. We found ourselves with a foreclosure rate seven times worse than the regional average.
SANCHEZ: So it's almost a question of be careful what you ask for.
BYLER: Right.
SANCHEZ: At least in this town. I don't think we should make a hasty generalization about all the problems in country. You're not here to say, let them all be legal, let them all come over the border, right? You're not saying that, are you?
BYLER: All I know is that in my community, where I live in Prince William County, we paid heavy tolls, not just economically, but we suffered in terms of public safety. We had 15 years of falling crime rates while our immigrant community grew. That trend was reversed the year we had the immigration culture war. SANCHEZ: And as a result -- let's watch this piece of tape. Then I'll ask you what they did with the law. Is it still on the books, or did they repeal it? Don't answer that question. Let's go to tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't ever forget 9/11 and who is responsible for 9/11 -- illegals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to repel this invasion. One way or another, it will be repelled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing I can do. I got three children. I clean sewer pipe. I'm going to lose my house. I pay this house for four years. I pay almost $40,000. This is in my heart here. If they deport me, I can't go all the way to --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Is the law still on the books?
BYLER: No. After two months, we repealed the law. It was in part because of the economic impacts. It was in part because of the lawsuits. The Bush Justice Department had let us know that we were going to be looked into.
But also I think that it was because ordinary citizens, the silent majority finally realized that this wasn't a white versus Hispanic conflict. This was something that affected us all.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting.
BYLER: So you say Republicans and Democrats, the religious community, the business community, stay at home moms --
SANCHEZ: We have so much breaking news. You're starting something called the coffee party?
BYLER: Yes.
SANCHEZ: You got 20 seconds to make your pitch on the coffee party.
BYLER: In many ways "9,500 Liberty" was the prequel to the coffee party. We were concerned, as we saw, a national culture war developing, sort of as a blueprint that was tried out in Prince William County. And we saw it happening on the national scale.
SANCHEZ: Is it a lefty version of the tea party?
BYLER: No, I think what --
SANCHEZ: Come on.
BYLER: What we've done is we learned the lessons in Prince William County that it really takes a bipartisan coalition to reinvigorate a democracy that's been hurt by polarizing, really extreme tactics. And you can't just go on the other side and start throwing bricks. That's what tried in the first half of our movie. And you see that. It's only when the coalition in the middle comes together --
SANCHEZ: Listen. Good for you. No, I'm serious, good for you. Good for anybody in the United States who wants to be more involved with their government. In the end that's probably what we need more of.
BYLER: Can I see one thing? Annabelle Park will be having a news conference soon to announce our new initiative. We'll be focused on financial reform and also getting money out of politics.
SANCHEZ: OK. You just did. Thanks again, Eric. I appreciate your time.
Poppy Harlow is joining me next with the market close. And I understand that -- no! You talked to Donald Trump today? What did he -- what did Donald Trump say, Poppy?
HARLOW: He wanted me to pass a message on to you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes?
HARLOW: You're fired.
SANCHEZ: I'm fired?
HARLOW: Sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: I'm going to fire you for not putting on that microphone before you talked to me. We're going to be right back.
HARLOW: I'm kidding.
SANCHEZ: Poppy, stay right there. We'll do the whole Donald Trump interview. I can't wait to hear what he has to say. This is your national conversation, RICK'S LIST.
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