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CNN Sunday Morning
Hurricane Katrina: Five Years Later; Pope Prays for Trapped Chilean Miners
Aired August 29, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Sanjay, thank you.
If you are waking up in the New Orleans, look at this live picture. This is the French Quarter. I think that's right by Jackson Square. It is wet. It is rainy.
And it was five years ago today that Hurricane Katrina forever changed the lives for people in New Orleans, and, of course, Mississippi. Dozens of ceremonies planned today to mark the celebration. And then this afternoon, President Obama will be traveling to Xavier University, in the heart of New Orleans, one of many universities hit by storm. He will be speaking. We'll bring that to you live.
Also, Pope Benedict XVI praying this morning in his weekly mass for those trapped Chilean miners. He gave the special prayer for them during this morning's mass there, at St. Peter's Basilica there in Vatican City.
Also, speaking of the 33 miners trapped underground, that we're done there for a couple of weeks now. We are hearing from the rescue crews who were looking now for plan B to get those guys out of there. We'll have details on that plan B option for you here on this hour.
From the CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is 8:00 a.m. in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in New Orleans, 5:00 a.m. in San Diego. Good morning to all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin. T.J. Holmes gets the day off. Thanks for starting your Sunday with me.
Also, coming up here over the course of the next 15 minutes, another food recall: the Cargill Meat Corporation is pulling 8,500 pounds of this stuff, the beefs specifically, because of that threat of E. coli contamination. Three people in the Northeast already have been made sick by this tainted beef.
In Omaha, Nebraska, a church that oftentimes demonstrates at the funerals of fallen service members -- I know you've seen these videos here -- they're actually are getting hit with pepper spray. So did several others. People have a person in custody. Now, that person faces a long list of charges.
And I want to take you to Kenwood, Ohio -- thousands of dollars worth of merchandise just totally stolen by the smash and grab robber. Look at the video. It's all caught on tape -- took just a couple of minutes for this bat-wielding thief to get to the loot. But this is not your normal smash and grab. I'm going to walk you through that and tell you what he actually walked away with.
But, I want to begin with this. Gulf Coast residents -- they are observing the anniversary, the five-year anniversary of one of the nation's worse natural disasters. You know I'm talking about Hurricane Katrina, just totally rocked the region five years ago.
And the eye of that storm actually made landfall in Waveland, Mississippi. It was a category 3 storm. It hit Waveland. You see all the storm, the surge, the rain -- well, that awesome force of hurricane wiped out many, many communities along the Gulf Coast.
But then New Orleans, you know the story, all those levees broke, setting off catastrophic flooding there in New Orleans. And in the days following the storm, rescuers went from house to house by boat, calling out for survivors. They pulled people -- just like this man from their attics, their roof tops.
Hurricane Katrina just entirely changed the landscape of New Orleans, whole communities blown away, streets flooded to the hilt. A Coast Guard pilot was one of the first people to get the look by air. CNN's Jeanne Meserve joins me now with his story.
And, Jeanne, good morning to you once again. It's hard sometimes when we talk about Katrina to just put this in words to what it looked like five years ago.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is very difficult. I think the pictures tell the story more than anything.
But, you know, government officials were having a very hard time putting their arms around this, figuring out exactly what the scope of the disaster was all along the Gulf Coast, not to mention just here in New Orleans.
But this Coast Guard pilot we talked to was one of the first to put his eyes on the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): From his Coast Guard helicopter, Roberto Torres surveys what has changed in New Orleans and what has not.
LT. CMDR. ROBERTO TORRES, U.S. COAST GUARD PILOT: All this green was not green before. it was all houses.
MESERVE: He has also seen it all water. Torres was one of the very first to get up in the air and actually comprehend the scale of the disaster.
TORRES: If you can believe it, it looked like a lake.
MESERVE: Just hours after the storm, some of these first photos of the damage were taken from his helicopter. He calls the scene then, surreal.
TORRES: It's almost like we were missing the camera crews and the lights and stuff. WE -- It looked like a movie set of an Armageddon scene.
MESERVE: Torres and his crew flew like they never had before, testing their limits and their machines, dodging power lines, trees and buildings, even other helicopters, to hoist as many survivors as they could to safety.
TORRES: I had a huge place of cardboard go into the rotor blades, kind of steer the thing at it one time. You know, a lot of scary moments.
MESERVE: Eventually, other choppers from other agencies came to help.
TORRES: You could tell they were new at this, they got out on the radio and say, oh, my gosh, we have 50 people I need to pick up over here, and they were very panicky in their voices, and we were not trying to blow them off, but we were like, yes, I mean, there's people everywhere.
MESERVE: As he flies over the city now, he wonders what happened to all of those people he saved. Did they reunite with their families? Did they come back home?
And at the oddest times, he imagined what they went through while they waited for him in their hot attics without food or water.
TORRES: But I imagine that all the critters that -- you know, they're going to stay out of the water, too. So, roaches, rats, whatever, up in the attic. So, every time I go to get a suitcase nowadays from my attic at home, I always -- the first I always think of is like, wow, imagine being in that situation for three or four days.
MESERVE: Torres believes he saw the worst and the best of human nature. But now, five years later, most of his memories are good. He says God helped him forget the bad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: One of the stories he tells is about one flight where he had one adult, one teenager and seven babies in the back of his helicopter. He said he was terrified the babies were going to start crawling around or perhaps fallout.
Fortunately, Brooke, that's a story that had a very happy ending. They were all safe and sound. Back to you.
BALDWIN: Seven babies? I cannot imagine.
Jeanne, tell me about, though, what it was like on the ground, searching through one of the worst-hit areas, the Ninth Ward.
MESERVE: It was horrible. It sounds like a cliche put it in that phrase. But that's really what it was.
BALDWIN: It's the truth.
MESERVE: One of our photojournalists, Mark Biello, actually went out on one of the rescue boats that first night and was with the rescue workers as they went from house to house, helping to get people off roofs, helping to break through into the attics.
He came back with simply hair-raising stories about the things that he'd seen, about the obstacles they faced in the water. They were worried about live power lines. They were worried about submerged cars. They were worried about gas lines.
They had -- Mark actually physically got out of the boat at one point to help hoist it over some partially submerged railroad tracks to get the people in the boat to safety.
It was -- it was an experience none of us will forget. It has created sort of a fellowship, a brotherhood, those of us who were here, who saw it, who lived it can talk to one another about this in a way that nobody else can comprehend.
BALDWIN: Yes, one of those stories, you just almost take off the reporter hat and you just -- you just help -- you just help whoever you can. Thank you, Jeanne, for that.
President Obama -- he will be in New Orleans today. He'll be commemorating Hurricane Katrina's fifth year anniversary at Xavier University, a historically black college, Catholic university in New Orleans. He will be speaking, 3:10 -- we are hearing so far -- 3:10 this afternoon, Eastern Time, 12:10 Pacific. As soon as we see him speak, we'll bring it to you live here on CNN.
Also, former President Bill Clinton has some thoughts on this anniversary of Katrina. We have a statement I want to read you, just part of it. Read it with me. He says, "Although new challenges have captured the headlines like the Gulf oil spill, we have not forgotten those who lost their loved ones, their livelihoods and their homes in the storm."
He goes on to say that the Gulf Coast has come back in a way that inspires great confidence and optimism.
Mr. Clinton and the former President George H.W. Bush had helped raise some -- $130 million for Katrina relief.
And as we're talking about Hurricane Katrina, we have to talk about another hurricane, downgraded, Danielle here -- still hundreds of miles from the shore, already proving to be dangerous. You are looking at live radar spinning out there in the Atlantic. The cat-2 hurricane blamed for creating powerful rip currents up and down the U.S. east coast.
In fact, in Ocean City, Maryland, have you been there? Great beaches there, right? About 150 miles from D.C. The U.S. Coast Guard is resuming their search this morning for the swimmer in his 20s, who just totally went missing last night, out in the water. They don't know what happened to him. Presumably, he was caught in the riptides powerful undertow.
So, this morning, I actually, I was on the phone with the Ocean City beach patrol captain -- this is Butch Arbin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. BUTCH ARBIN, OCEANCITY BEACH PATROL (via telephone): We were only about seven blocks away, our nearest person. We got the call of swimmers in distress, our guards went down. There were three swimmers in distress, the guards entered the water to make the rescue. There was a nearby surfer who paddled over and helped one individual. The person came in, we brought two in.
It wasn't until we arrived on the beach and started talking with them and found out that there had been another swimmer out there with them. That swimmer was never seen by us, that swimmer was already underwater by the time we responded to the 911 call.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, a spokesman for Ocean City's fire department says there are no plans to close the beaches there today despite today's forecast for the riptides to continue into this next week.
I want to talk about the dangers though of this rip currents. People, you know, aren't familiar what that really means. What it feels like.
Reynolds Wolf -- I mean, heaven forbid, you know, you've never been trapped in one, but you kind of have to heed warnings. If lifeguards aren't around, get out of there.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, exactly. The way it works is very simple. It's basically when you have these storms, they generate some very heavy waves -- wind-driven waves -- and it actually causes the water to really pileup on the shore. So, when it piles up on the shore, either by one of these tropical systems, or even something like a nor'easter, the water has got to go someplace. It's not going to stay on the beach, it's going to recede and pull back in the ocean.
When that happens, a lot of times --
BALDWIN: Pulling.
WOLF: Exactly. The pulling mechanism will break some of the sand bars, they'll create almost like a strong channel, almost like a conveyor belt, and if a swimmer happens to get pulled in that, you can get pulled all the way out to sea. And it can be a frightening prospect.
The idea is that if you are caught in it, you want to let the current take you, then eventually it will break off, you swim parallel to the shore and you are OK. But we're going to talk about that in- depth coming up in the next hour. But it is certainly a rough thing.
BALDWIN: Meantime --
WOLF: Yes. I'll share with the viewers, she made a comment last hour about how it's a almost like a storm factor in the Atlantic, you're right.
BALDWIN: Yes.
WOLF: It really is.
Check this out. Let's hop over here and you see a couple things. One of the things shaded in this box, we're going to take one minute and give you the latest in the Atlantic. You see this -- this might be your next named storm. That might be Fiona.
But we've already had storms with a couple of names, namely, this one over here. This happens to be Earl. And this is Danielle. Danielle, thankfully, beginning to move out of harm's way, farther to the northern Atlantic where it's going to interact with much cooler water and it's going to die out altogether.
But Earl might be a big problem. And the reason we say this, it's not because of what it's doing now or even tomorrow, but what may come in the next couple of days. It is going to move into an area of warm water and minimal shear, very weak winds aloft, which is going to allow the storm to continue to build. And as it moves into the Bahamas, at least according to this forecast from the National Hurricane Center, it is expected to intensify to a category 3 storm, that is a major hurricane.
And then as we get into Thursday, winds of 120 miles per hour by early Thursday morning off the coast, the eastern seaboard. If you look at the cone of uncertainty, the storm possibly could make a landfall somewhere along the eastern seaboard, the outer banks, perhaps Wilmington, maybe even in places like Nags Head, or even out towards, say, even to Jersey shoreline for that matter.
But there's also the possibility it can stay deeper into the Atlantic. So, there's a lot of uncertainty, and it often happens this time of the year. We're talking about a rotating storm in a spinning planet in a rotating universe.
So, again, Brooke, as you can imagine, there are a lot of components of these things and we're watching it very carefully over the next couple of days. Back to you.
BALDWIN: Reynolds, thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
BALDWIN: I think that's been pretty decent weather.
In the Martha's Vineyard, we've seen the president golfing. He's been hanging out with his family. Now, the first family, though, vacation is over today, this 10-day vacation for the president. It is back to business.
White House correspondent Dan Lothian says he is looking at a very busy schedule.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After recharging his batteries during his Martha's Vineyard vacation, President Obama's back-to-work week may just leave him asking for more down time. On his schedule: a major primetime Oval Office address on Iraq, a visit to U.S. troops in Texas, and then two days of Mideast peace face-to-face talks in Washington.
But as fears of a double-dip recession linger and foreign policy dominates his public schedule, some Republicans see a tactical decision to deflect.
BRAD BLAKEMAN, DEPUTY ASST. TO PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: What went through my mind is typically what presidents do when they have trouble domestically is they switch to an area that they have much more control of and that's foreign policy.
LOTHIAN: In fact, the big foreign policy push started here on Martha's Vineyard when the president's counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, briefed reporters on a Mideast peace talk's breakthrough.
JOHN BRENNAN, WHITE HOUSE COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER: A strong sense that these talks can succeed.
LOTHIAN: And then days later, touted progress in the Iraq, ahead of the drawdown deadline.
BRENNAN: We are confident the Iraqis are going to be able to fulfill their responsibilities and obligations.
LOTHIAN: Other recent presidents, like George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, were at times accused of focusing on stronger issue policies as a diversion tactic.
And Brad Blakeman, deputy assistant to President George W. Bush, says with the midterm elections around the corner, the economy is a hard sell.
BLAKEMAN: It's all about the economy. That's all it will ever be between now and Election Day. So, the president is really doing a Hail Mary on foreign policy, hoping against hope that the American people will give him credit for achievement.
LOTHIAN: But deputy White House spokesman, Bill Burton, says the president is focused on world events as they happen, and that fixing the economy remains a top priority.
BILL BURTON, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: We'll be meeting with his economic advisers when we get back next week. So, I assure you that alongside all the other things that are on the president's plate, he's continued to focus on the economy. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Well, the president is scheduled to speak on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans today. He'll be delivering a speech right around 3:00 Eastern this afternoon at Xavier University, one of the universities really hit hard by that storm. You can catch that live right here on CNN.
Also, election season means politicians making all sorts of promises. How many of those promises do they actually keep? Josh Levs is tracking those promises next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Fifteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Some election results to tell you about this morning.
In Louisiana, Republican Senator David Vitter easily overwhelmed his two challengers to win his Senate primary election. On the Democratic side, Representative Charlie Melancon defeated his two opponents to win that primary.
And in West Virginia Senate race, the Governor Joe Manchin defeated his two opponents in the Democratic primary. While West Virginia businessman John Raese easily scored enough votes to take down nine opponents in that Republican primary.
Keep in mind: as these two face each other in November, this is significant because this is a seat to replace the late senior senator, Robert C. Byrd, a Democrat, and, of course, you know, the longest- serving member of Congress in U.S. history.
It is an election year. So, politicians are making all sorts of promises. Who looks back to see actually how many of those promises are kept? Josh Levs is a back with a look at President Obama's record on that front.
Josh, what do you got?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, it's time for you and me to say one of our favorite words, the Obameter.
BALDWIN: Obameter.
LEVS: Obameter. It is fun to say, and actually, it's just a great thing. It's from PolitiFact.com, this Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site that follows promises from the president and they're calling it the Obameter.
I got to speak with the head of PolitiFact.com, Bill Adair, and I asked how the president is doing so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL ADAIR, EDITOR, POLITIFACT.COM: We're tracking all of the promises he made from the campaign, 506, and kept 121, broken 22. LEVS: Yes.
ADAIR: But now comes the hard part. We've got 240 promises rated in the works, and I think with this Congress, even with Democratic control, it's going to be tough for him to keep them. So, we expect a lot of the promises to moving to our rating of "stalled" or even to "promise broken."
LEVS: Well, we'll be keeping an eye on that. You know, I've said it before, I'll say it again, I don't think politicians should get a gold star when they keep their promises. (INAUDIBLE) only called out when they do not do it which is why I'm glad you're doing it, because they don't qualify on the campaign trail. They don't say I'll do this if Congress lets me. They say, elect me, I'll get this done.
So, one of the ways that you found the other day, you say there's a promise broken, introduce comprehensive immigration bill in his first year of office. You guys looked at that, that's not something you're saying he's achieved in that first year.
ADAIR: Yes. We rated that a promise broken. He had promised to make a big push for immigration reform in the first year. And, of course, the first year was dominated by health care reform, which was -- you have to recognize -- was one of the big successes of the Obama administration in the first year. It fulfilled several dozen promises on our Obameter.
But this particular one he said he would do, he didn't. So, we rated it promise broken.
LEVS: OK. And I know you've also been -- as you said, pointing out promises kept, including pulling troops out of Iraq. I want to switch over, I want see how far the camera can zoom way in here, because it just so happens that your latest ruling right now takes on Glenn Beck, and you are giving him your rating of "pants on fire" for an assertion.
What's that about? What did he say? What are you guys saying here?
ADAIR: He said that the government is trying now to close the Lincoln Memorial for any kind of large gatherings in the future. And his point was that the government was going to try to silence this kind of thing in the future. And we looked into it, we checked the facts, and we found that's just not true. The Park Service issues lots of permits for things for rallies at the Lincoln Memorial. And so, we gave that our lowest rating, "pants on fire."
LEVS: OK. Now, you guys also do intelligence. You contacted these people, and you said, hey, does he want to clarify the statements, and more information we should have.
That said, you know, you guys sometimes do have controversy. I want to point out that you guys have also given him at times a true rating or mostly true. And it's not just conservative political figures. Arianna Huffington, a major liberal figure, took you on. She said she didn't like the way you all ruled on her.
And one thing a lot of people wonder when they look at PolitiFact and these rulings, is they say, how do you choose which things to rate? Do you hear something crazy and go grab that and try to highlight? Or do you look at absolutely anything? How do you choose what you're going to highlight in PolitiFact.com?
ADAIR: Well, we'll check anyone first of all. We'll check the president, we'll check members of Congress, we'll check political talk show hosts -- and we are guided by what we think people are curious about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And that's actually one of the things a lot of you are curious about. You often ask me how those things get chosen, and there you go, whatever the thing people are going to be interested in.
Obviously, here at CNN, we do a lot of our own fact-checking.
But, Brooke, it's always nice to have brethren in that effort. I'll keep an eye on PolitiFact.com, one of my favorite Web sites right here. I encourage everybody to check it out all the time. See if what the politicians are telling you is true.
BALDWIN: Awesome. Check those promises, Josh Levs. Thank you.
LEVS: You got it.
BALDWIN: Let's talk about the story in Chile. We've been following this, these miners, all 33 of them. They've been trapped underground, about half a mile down. Well, today, we are hearing they may be able to speak to their families directly. This is the first time they may be able to do this.
Also, some words of comfort coming from the Pope, coming directly from Pope Benedict XVI, from Vatican City, sending up a prayer and a special message this morning for those miners.
Twenty-three minutes past the hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Checking some of the morning's top stories.
The bodies of five campaign workers found today in western Afghanistan. A government spokesman tells us they were kidnapped and killed by insurgents three days ago. The workers were campaigning for a female candidate for parliament.
And the Pope this morning including those 33 trapped Chilean miners who just saw now getting glimpse on this video, thought of them this morning in morning mass in Vatican City, saying he continues, of course, to pray for them and their families.
Mine engineers have come up with plan B -- we'll call it -- that could free the 33 men in half the time. Keep in mind: they're thinking three to four months. So, maybe that's two months -- that is if it works. Right now, digging a rescue shaft will take up to four months, Christmastime.
First, eggs -- now, beef. Here we go, the Cargill Meat Corporation has had to recall 8,500 pounds of beef because of a threat of E. coli contamination. Two people in Maine, one in New York, have already gotten sick from a strain of E. coli.
And here we go -- a surveillance camera catches a smash and grab robbery as it happens. And guess what? Caught on camera, take a look with me.
A man -- here is a man, bam, smashes into a store. This is Kenwood, Ohio. He steals tens of thousands of dollars worth of eyeglass frames. All of this smashing for glasses.
Take a look at him. He is swinging this 2 x 4 kind of like a baseball bat. Put that trash can back up. That's right. Make it neat.
Grab the frames. Throw them into a container. It took just five minutes. There he goes. Police have yet to find him.
Does he just have really bad vision? I don't know.
It's been called the Taj Mahal of secondary schools. We're talking about the $587 million Robert F. Kennedy Community School. It's built in Los Angeles amid huge teacher layoff, the economy is not so hot in California. So, is there a disconnect in America's education system and how can we fix it?
"Extra Credit," Carl Azuz -- coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All this week, CNN will be taking a really good, hard, long look at the nation's education system, where it's making the grade, failing miserably, and where we can step in, where we can make improvements in the classroom.
And CNN Student News anchor, Carl Azuz, will help us get the ball rolling for us this morning.
Good morning. Hello.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning, Brooke. Great seeing you.
BALDWIN: So, I know you had great conversation, a roundtable discussion with some of these students. But, you know, in learning about the school, let's set up a school briefly. This is in L.A. This is half a billion dollars.
AZUZ: Yes.
BALDWIN: B, billion dollars. I think we have some video of the school. I mean, how flush -- this thing is pretty plush.
AZUZ: The school is amazing. I mean, we have an auditorium that's constructed, modeled after the coconut grove night club. You see it right there. There's a teachers lounge that looks like a five- star restaurant. They have a maple wood basketball court.
BALDWIN: I've seen the maple wood. I've seen the video of that. Look, that's some of the TV monitors in the walkway. So, it's easy. You can understand.
But some people are saying, hang on a second, really? We're spending all this money? To be clear, it's six schools, right? It's a complex of -- six schools total.
AZUZ: It is K through 12. Yes.
BALDWIN: But the students say what?
AZUZ: Well, I'll tell you what the students say -- first, I want to tell you what Los Angeles says.
BALDWIN: Yes.
AZUZ: They say this school was built from a voter-approved bond measures. So, this is not coming of California's beleaguered education budget. This is a voter-approved bond measure. And to be fair, ground was broken on the school before the recession sank its teeth in.
BALDWIN: Correct, correct.
AZUZ: So we wanted to ask students, what's your take on all of this? I mean, what matters more to you? Is it the facility where you're getting the education or the teachers who are bringing it to you? And you could see the results from our poll right here from CNNStudentNews.com.
An overwhelming majority, over 90 percent are saying it's about the teachers first and foremost, the building and the after school programs take a second to that.
And so to bring you specifically what they're saying, I have some comments. The first one is from a student named Racheal who actually does agree that the facility is very important in and of itself.
BALDWIN: Yes.
AZUZ: Racheal is saying that if the classrooms are dilapidated and outdated students might view the school as not caring about their education or future. Racheal is the minority opinion though, because you'll see from this comment from Kelby that the money is -- you know Kelby understands the money is divided in the different categories what should be spent where.
But they ought to put the money in the teacher's salary. That would benefit students more. And you can hear a collective amen from teachers about --
BALDWIN: I know, I was thinking my mom was a teacher --
AZUZ: Mom to you, oh yes.
BALDWIN: -- exactly. It's not a lot. It's a thankless profession in a lot of ways and you think, you see the bells and whistles on the school and I get it, it's great, it's lovely for those students, but given the economy, it's tough.
AZUZ: Teaching -- it's a job you absolutely have to love. That's what my mom regularly tells me is she loves it. And you know, it's so hard that the work is very hard. You do get summers off but the hours during the day do kind of drag on. You are talking a lot of times about the same subject to six different groups. Some of which are engaged, some of which you have to work to engage.
And so for these reasons it's a job you absolutely have to love. And while we're on the subject of teaching education --
BALDWIN: Yes this week.
AZUZ: -- I want to -- yes fix our schools.
BALDWIN: Huge.
AZUZ: The big -- the big topic for CNN this week, we're taking a look at America's public education system; a system that many experts say is broken. And we're looking at some of the creative solutions that schools, administrators, the education secretary, parents and teachers, we're looking at some of the creative solutions they're coming up with to improve that broken public education system, if you will all the while dealing with budget crisis nationwide.
It's going to be a very good in depth conversation, and we'll be having it all week here on CNN.
BALDWIN: Yes, we've all be getting the e-mails, we're getting ready; tomorrow the big roll-out.
AZUZ: It's how to do more with less, and there will be a lot of really good information.
BALDWIN: Good deal. Carl Azuz, thank you. Have a great Sunday.
AZUZ: Thanks for having me Brooke.
BALDWIN: It's good to see you.
AZUZ: I appreciate it.
BALDWIN: And be sure to join us all week. As Carl mentioned you know CNN taking this long look as to how we can fix our schools.
So every hour -- every hour all week right here on CNN.
Stay here, it's 32 minutes past the hour, you're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: In just two days from now the President's focus will be switching from the Katrina anniversary to the war in Iraq. Mr. Obama will be travelling to Fort Bliss, Texas to talk to the troops, many of whom have served multiple times in Iraq. He will then address the nation about the military drawdown in a speech he'll give from the Oval Office.
And now that the last combat unit have in fact left Iraq the President will talk about his commitment to pull out all the troops by next year.
In Omaha, Nebraska, a man is facing several counts of assault after pepper spraying demonstrators at a funeral for a Marine killed in Afghanistan. Paramedics were called to scene just outside First United Methodist Church, after a man rode by in his pick-up truck, sprayed some of these demonstrators from Westborough (ph) Baptist Church in Kansas.
You know about this church. Their members believe God is punishing the country for homosexuality; that's one of their beliefs. Church members hold protests at funerals for many U.S. service members.
And a CNN iReporter that got sprayed was in the midst of that sent some images after the incident was reported to police. The police arrested 62-year-old George Vogel on 16 counts of misdemeanor assault.
When is it just too racy for Christian radio? That is the focus of our "Faces of Faith" segment this morning. An inspirational radio show where no topic apparently is too controversial or too sacred.
Our T.J. Holmes caught up with the host of "Sky High"
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on, girlie?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey Portia, how are you today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the looks and sounds of it --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On BeehiveFM.com --
HOLMES: -- you're tuning in to a typical radio program.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to definitely have a hot show today.
HOLMES: Nothing typical, though, about this show, this is "Sky High", an inspirational Christian radio show, but listen closely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go to the sins of the week.
HOLMES: Sky High is an online show that discusses controversial topics without passing judgment.
PORTIA KIRKLAND, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/HOST, "SKY HIGH": We deal with those hot topics, from homosexuality in the church to adultery to masturbation, whatever it is.
HOLMES: Portia Kirkland is the executive producer and host of "Sky High" and she worked in the music industry for years alongside such big names as Ludacris, Gucci Mane and Nicki Minaj.
In 2004, she rededicated her life to Christ and now considers herself a light in dark places.
KIRKLAND: It doesn't matter if you're a born again Christian, if you're somebody that goes to church once a week or goes to church every two years, Sky High is for the believer and the unbeliever.
HOLMES: Just recently, Kirkland sat down with a Buddhist, a Muslim, two Catholics, a Baptist Youth Minister and a man who practices Judaism trying to find out if one religion was better than the other. The three-hour debate touched on everything from God and faith, the marriage and stereotypes.
KIRKLAND: The molestation that's taking place, how is the Catholic Church at this point dealing with that issue?
What do you feel that you've gotten from Islam that you did not get from Christianity?
HOLMES: Faiths were questioned.
PATRICIA FERREIRA, BUDDHIST: My perception of many Christians is that they alienate themselves as kind of like the chosen group.
HOLMES: Stereotypes were addressed.
RODERICK BRIDGES, CATHOLIC: I thought I would come in and speak on the black cats in the community there --
KIRKLAND: Please do.
BRIDGES: -- that you think that we don't exist, but we do exist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most people don't believe that Muslims believe in Jesus, if you have an issue with the Muslims, but really like -- that's your brother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Christians and Muslims together, we have to wake up and say, you know, really? We're family.
HOLMES: And in the end, even praying together.
FATHER JOSEPH PEEK, CATHOLIC PRIEST: Lord, we thank you for this chance to come together, and to seek the truth together.
REGINALD MADDOX, MUSLIM: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Christ's name, Amen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Well, T.J. says you can check out "Sky High" on BeehiveFM.com -- BeehiveFM.com, not funded by any church. But it is available on 82 countries worldwide.
And coming up on "STATE OF THE UNION," not Candy Crowley -- another guy you're going to recognize, Ed Henry, he's taking a look at the Obama administration's effort to rebuild New Orleans five years after Katrina.
We'll check in with Ed coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Coming up in just about ten minutes -- 20 minutes here 9:00 a.m. Eastern, CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" and Candy Crowley finally -- this lady works all the time -- she has a day off, but another guy who apparently works all the time, he is waking up early with me. Hello Ed Henry.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Brooke. How are you?
BALDWIN: I'm well, our favorite White House correspondent. So Ed, you've got a huge rundown.
HENRY: Yes.
BALDWIN: Let's start for, as we've been committed this weekend really talking about Katrina. I know it was, you know, Senator Landrieu announced this past week that it's $1.8 billion you know for -- for public education in New Orleans, and obviously there is this effort from the Obama administration to help rebuild.
HENRY: Sure. I mean, they are trying. We've got an exclusive interview this morning with the President's housing chief, Shawn Donovan; he's down in New Orleans with the President today.
As you mentioned, the President is giving a big speech at Xavier University. He's not just going to talk about Katrina. We're told by a White House aides he'll also talk about the broader context of trying to rebuild the entire region. Let's not forget they've just been hit by the worst oil spill in American history.
BALDWIN: Yes.
HENRY: So people have been hurting there. And -- and part of what I asked the secretary about, is that fact that -- people are frankly getting a mixed progress report. There are some people who have been rebuilt down there; there are others who are still waiting five years later.
So we talked about that but we also broadened the conversation a little bit to -- to talk about housing in this country and the economy. There was some bad numbers this week, as you know, existing home sales and new home sales way down.
And the secretary reveals some new initiatives that the administration is going to -- is planning to roll out in the next few weeks, including maybe some news on that $8,000 tax credit for first- time home buyers.
A lot of people are wondering whether the President is going to extend that credit, it's expired now and a lot of analyst believe with the expiration of that tax cut, that's why a lot of people are not buying homes right now.
So we've got a little bit of news on that you're going to want to stay tuned for.
BALDWIN: Yes, it's been kind of dismal, I know specifically also in Florida, I think Governor Crist was speaking to some realtors association over the weekend.
HENRY: He is.
BALDWIN: And speaking of the governor, you know, it was a huge primary this past week, right? You have Kendrick Meek, Marco Rubio now and now Crist running as an independent and you have a couple of those gentlemen today?
HENRY: We do, we've got an exclusive with Governor Charlie Crist, he was elected as you say as a Republican as governor, now running for the U.S. Senate as an independent. He kind of bolted the Republican Party. He tells me the party left him, really.
There has been a civil war in some of the places like Florida. He is running against Marco Rubio who's now the Republican nominee; they were originally in the primary. Marco Rubio has got some tea party support. And so Crist kind of moved out and is now running as an Independent.
Kendrick Meek is going to be live on "STATE OF THE UNION" next hour. He's The Democratic nominee; he has the support of the President, but in a three-way race like that, Kendrick Meek is in third place right now and a lot of Democrats are wondering whether he's got credibility. Can he really beat Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio? We've got some tough questions for him as well as Governor Crist, so you want to stay tuned for that as well.
BALDWIN: Ed Henry filling -- sitting in the big seat today, and Candy Crowley gets the day off. Ed Henry looking good; we'll see you in 15 minutes. Thank you, sir.
HENRY: Thanks Brooke.
BALDWIN: Keep it here for "STATE OF THE UNION" it will be starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time here on CNN, 6:00 a.m. Pacific.
Forty-five minutes past the hour. You are watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The Coast Guard is searching once again this morning for a swimmer missing off the coast of Maryland. The man was last seen right around 8:00 last night. I'm talking about Ocean City, Maryland. The problem here is hurricane Danielle and the powerful rip currents that she is very much so stirring up for a lot of the East Coast.
Let's talk more about the dangers of rip currents. Reynolds Wolf has been taking us through it this morning. I know we'd love to be very, very careful, especially, you know, in Ocean City. It was the case after 5:00, lifeguards they were gone.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You can't be really. It's a very frightening phenomenon, no question about it. The thing that's interesting about it is they can occur anyplace where you happen to have ocean water. And a lot of times, they can take place when storms are far away from land.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: What is a rip current? To get an answer, we're going to go over to this guy.
This is Gino Serrano. And Gino, what is it? What is a rip current.
GINO SERRANO: A rip current is a channel (ph) of water. Usually happens when we have easterly winds, (INAUDIBLE) and well-sustained. We have a lot of water accumulate against the shoreline, and the channel of water pulls all that water back out to sea.
WOLF: When an increased volume of water is pushed towards the shoreline by a tropical system or nor'easter, it retreats rapidly back into the surf creating channels. And an unsuspecting swimmer caught in its conveyor belt to swift water is at the mercy of the current. The key for survival is to remain calm.
The key is don't panic.
SERRANO: Do not panic. Never panic and do not swim against the rip, you are not going to win.
WOLF: Sounds easier said than done. We have to be trying that for ourselves.
Five minutes later and 50 yards off shore, there is a definite ebb in flow of the ocean's rhythm but not a strong outflow of current. Lifeguard Larry Cox is with me. And he says that if carried away from the beach, the best course of action is to swim parallel to the shoreline and out, not against the rip current. When free from the current's grip, slowly swim to shore. Larry also says that the best way to avoid problems is to use common sense.
LARRY COX, LIFEGUARD: Look at the flags that the lifeguards have up so you are aware of the conditions. Always swim near a lifeguard tower, and you are not a strong ocean swimmer, on a rough water day steer clear of the water.
WOLF: So basically you know, when in doubt, don't go out?
COX: Exactly.
WOLF: Right. There you go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: So again, with the recent storm we had; with Hurricane Danielle we saw the circle kick up. And with this particular storm and tropical storm Earl getting very close, possibly to the Eastern Seaboard as we get into Thursday and Friday, we could see this reoccurrence once again.
A lot of threats for rip currents out there.
BALDWIN: Yes, you've been speaking from experience with those rip currents. You went into it yourself. Reynolds thank you.
Faces and images we will never forget. We're going to take a look back at the damage and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina through the eyes of you, our iReporters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: I love music from New Orleans, don't you? The people of the Gulf Coast who survived Katrina now want to revive that devastated region. And you, our CNN iReporters are showcasing past and present images that we will certainly never forget.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything was gray. Just like what you saw up in 9/11 where, you know, the streets were all gray. You could not find any greenery.
Nobody -- no one coming down the street. It was very eerie -- very eerie to be just in the silence. That's what I remember it just being so quiet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing -- nothing we could change. I mean, like you have an overturned car in the middle of the street, yes, we moved that, but that's it. Like I said, the people are not coming back. You don't see the commerce, and it's like some -- still like a ghost town.
It's just a reality that we have -- it's like, hey, this is how we live and this is what we have to deal with. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the photo with the shrimp boat that is going a little ways into the house, where that boat came from I don't know. But it's at the end of the street close to a levee, which right on the other side is a body of water. So I don't know where this boat came from, but it certainly did not belong on the street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I took pieces of a church -- there was a church, basically, right behind me across the street. It was a two- story church with a huge set of stairs going up to it. And it collapsed sometime during the storm, so it was collapsed when I came back. The whole site has been cleared since and now just the stairs are there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am hoping now people realize, they have whatever number they had, how many died in Mississippi, how many died in the Lower Ninth Ward. But really, you'll get to see -- you know it wasn't just that weekend or those few months, it continues. People are still affected by what happened.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Keep in mind, today the President will be travelling to New Orleans to give a speech on this fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. He will be doing it at a historic black college, the Catholic University of Xavier.
His speech should start around 3:00 p.m. Eastern time this afternoon and as soon as he starts speaking, CNN will carry it live.
It is just about 9:00 a.m. here on Sunday. And we will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Want to tell you about some election results this morning. Take you to Louisiana. The Republican Senator Vitter easily overwhelmed two challengers to win his Senate primary election. On the Democratic side, Representative Charlie Melancon defeated his two opponents to win that primary.
And over in West Virginia, the Senate race there, a big race, Governor Joe Manchin defeated two opponents in the Democratic primary. While businessman John Raese easily scored enough votes to take the Republican primary win over the nine opponents there. This is a huge race because keep in mind, this is to fill the spot left vacant now by the late senior Senator Robert C. Byrd, a Democrat and the longest serving member of congress in U.S. history.
As we mentioned, we checked in with him just a little bit ago, Candy Crowley gets -- hope she's sleeping in -- she is off. Our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry will be in at the top of the hour to host CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".
But first, I want to get you a quick check of some of the morning's top headlines. The bodies of five campaign workers found today in Western Afghanistan -- a government spokesman says they were kidnapped and killed by insurgents three days ago. The workers were campaigning for a female candidate for parliament.
And to the story deep underground in Chile, we want to take you to actually Vatican City in Rome. The Pope this morning including those trapped Chilean miners in his morning mass, continuing to pray for them and, of course, their families. Mine engineers have come up with a plan B that could free those 33 men -- if it works, they could free them in half the time. Right now digging a rescue shaft will take up to four months.
And just quickly, beef recall to tell you about -- Cargill Meat Corporation recalling 8,500 pounds of beef because of the threat of E Coli. Two people in Maine, one in New York, already sick.
Up in Washington, Ed Henry.
