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CNN Saturday Morning News

Jill Carroll Happy To Be In Germany; Activists Taking Fight Over New Orleans' Mayoral Election To The Streets; Bruce Gordon Interview; Yoga Teaches Kids Valuable Life Lesson; Shannon Sullivan and Jordan Urbach Honored By "Teen People"

Aired April 01, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: American journalist Jill Carroll flies to Germany from Baghdad. It's a brief layover on her way home. Carroll was held captive nearly three months in Iraq. What she said about her kidnappers is raising eyebrows. Her dad says she was coerced. We'll have more on this in a live report about a minute from now.
Election workers are going door to door ahead of the scheduled April 22 election in New Orleans, and civil rights leaders are lacing up their shoes for an old-fashioned protest march there today. Reverend Jesse Jackson calls next month's election unfair to displaced New Orleans residents. Hear more of what he has to say this morning at 10:00 Eastern.

Paradise is all soaking wet. Torrential rain, or liquid sunshine, as some like to say, whichever you call it, is falling in Oahu, flooding several homes and a mall, also tying up traffic, as you can tell. The National Weather place -- Service, that is, placed the islands under a flash flood watch until this afternoon. Rain has been falling continuously in parts of Hawaii, get this, since February 19.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Ouch.

Shoring up in Germany. Rain and melting snow have swelled rivers in Germany and parts of Austria, Romania, and Slovakia. Water seeped into houses, forcing thousands of Central Europeans to evacuate.

Well, you don't see them here, but America's top diplomat was actually being heckled by protesters as she made this appearance in Britain. Noisy antiwar demonstrators greeted Condoleezza Rice at a foreign policy meeting. The secretary of state said the U.S. has made thousands of mistakes in Iraq, but is pursuing worthy goals there.

And it's a hookup in space. A Russian Soyuz capsule docked today with the International Space Station and brought a load of supplies and new Russian and American crew members. Brazil's first astronaut joined them on the trip.

NGUYEN: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, April 1. April Fool's, everybody.

HARRIS: Yes.

NGUYEN: Getting your tricks all together. It's the day, 8:00 a.m. right here at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in the Mississippi Valley.

Good morning, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: Morning, Betty.

NGUYEN: Morning, Tony.

HARRIS: Good morning. I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for being with us.

Coming up this morning on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, he's had a violin in tow ever since he was 3 years old. Now, at 14, his music sells out Carnegie Hall and brings in thousands of dollars for sick children. We will introduce you to Jordan Urbach.

Also, ready or not, New Orleans' primary election is fast approaching, and many residents aren't even in the city. So how will they cast their ballots? NAACP president Bruce Gordon, right there, joins us to talk about the voting rights of hurricane evacuees. Reverend Jesse Jackson is leading a protest this morning against the April vote. We'll talk with him in the 10:00 hour.

Also at 10:00 Eastern, the day we've all been waiting for around here, the final four of the NCAA men's basketball championship takes place tonight. But did you pick the right teams on your March madness brackets?

NGUYEN: I did not. Nope, not here, not a chance.

HARRIS: Not even close.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: We will take you beyond the game.

NGUYEN: Well, "happy to be here." That is what former American hostage Jill Carroll said after arriving in Germany this morning. Imagine how she'll feel when she makes the final leg of her trip home. Now, that's going to happen soon.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us on the phone from Frankfurt with more. How's her health, though? How's she doing? Was she checked out?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Well, Betty, she looked tired, but she certainly looked happy. We don't know whether or not she's had any health checks per se. But we don't really think that she has. There is a medical center, the Landstuhl Hospital, which is very close by to the Ramstein Air Base, which is where a lot of the military, when they're injured from Iraq and Afghanistan, go to.

We don't believe that she's actually gone there for a health check. She did look in very good form as she got off that plane that landed at 9:00 a.m. local time, that's 2:00 a.m. Eastern. She was chatting with the military personnel that were escorting her, and she was giggling a little bit. And as you can imagine, she just looked delighted to be free.

She did look tired, and then she was whisked off into -- in a military car. We don't know exactly where she went. A Ramstein spokesman said she is in a hotel, or at least she was at a hotel, and we are expecting her at some point later this Saturday to get on the plane and go back to the States to go and see her family.

NGUYEN: Well, that's definitely going to be a wonderful trip for her. She's obviously so relieved that she's finally going to see her family after all this time, and that she is alive, safe and sound. Paula Hancocks, we're going to be there every step of the way when we see her land there in the U.S. Thank you.

HARRIS: Well, there has been a lot of talk about some taped comments Jill Carroll made as she was being released. She was critical of the U.S. government and praised Iraqi insurgents. Did she mean it, or was it forced propaganda? Listen to this videotape, excerpt posted on an Islamic Web site.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL CARROLL, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": He knows it was built on a mountain of lies, and I think he needs to finally admit that to the American people and let the troops go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Carroll's father told her employer, the "Christian Science Monitor," that his daughter was forced to make the comments as a condition of her release.

That brings us to our e-mail question this morning. What do you make of Jill Carroll's critical comments about the U.S. government? E-mail us your thoughts, weekends@CNN.com, and we'll read your responses throughout the morning program.

NGUYEN: Take a look at your TV. Some tiny quintuplets cause a big stir in Washington state. The four girls, one boy, and their mom are all doing well. Now, the babies were born on Thursday. And more good news for the proud mother and father. Their church is raising money to build them a larger home, something they're definitely going to need.

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead an hour before you go to sleep tonight, or you might just wake up late tomorrow. Daylight Saving Time kicks in across most of the U.S. on Sunday morning at 2:00 local time.

And for the first time in more than 30 years, the Hoosier State will be springing ahead too. Indiana is going on Daylight Saving Time. It's now the 48th U.S. state to observe it. Hawaii and most of Arizona still don't.

HARRIS: Activists are taking the fight over New Orleans' mayoral election to the streets. Later today, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Al Sharpton, and several other African-American leaders will hit the pavement. They're protesting the city's April 22 election. And here's why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS (voice-over): A federal judge has refused to delay the April 22 vote. The issue is, New Orleans was about 70 percent African-American before Hurricane Katrina, and since, less than 50 percent of the city's nearly half a million residents have returned. There is fear African-Americans will lose their political voice if the election proceeds.

One elected official says fewer than 10,000 registered voters in New Orleans have registered absentee ballots. Mayor Ray Nagin is seeking reelection and has made no secret of his stance on the city's demographics.

MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: I don't care what people are saying uptown, or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: The Reverend Jesse Jackson says today's march will be the most critical demonstration since the civil rights era.

NAACP president Bruce Gordon joins us from New Orleans.

Bruce, good to see you. Good morning, sir.

BRUCE GORDON, PRESIDENT, NAACP: Tony, how are you?

HARRIS: Good, good, outstanding. Great to see you. Thanks for being with us.

The most critical demonstration since the civil rights era. Do you agree, and why?

GORDON: Let's deal with the issue.

HARRIS: OK.

GORDON: And the issue is the right to vote. We passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. It gave us the right along with -- the right to vote. And now, we find ourselves in 2006 trying to protect that right.

We've got to make it very clear that people who have been displaced from New Orleans need to find a way, need to be given a way, given an opportunity to participate in an election for their next mayor and the next city council.

There are 22 candidates. It seems to me that we would want the highest level of participation. And I'm talking about participation of all people, because there's too much of an emphasis, I think, on trying to make this a political issue, where we who are protesting today are trying to determine the candidate.

This is not about the candidate, it is not about the date. It is about the process, it is about maximizing voter participation.

HARRIS: OK, Bruce...

GORDON: It's just that simple.

HARRIS: Yes, Bruce, let me pick up on something you said there just a moment ago and then switched up on it a bit. Should they, should the evacuees of New Orleans make the effort to find a way to participate?

GORDON: I think that evacuees certainly should make an effort, and I'm sure that they are. But you've got to keep in mind, Tony, that evacuees are in Atlanta, San Antonio, Houston, Washington, D.C. The absentee balloting process is not the most reliable process. The U.S. Mail system is not working at its best right now.

We'd ask simply to set up satellite voting locations in those cities where there are concentrations of evacuees. That seems to me, Tony, to be a very reasonable request when, in fact, you know that Iraqi citizens based in this country were given the opportunity to vote in the Iraqi national elections.

If we can fight for the right of them -- and we should, by the way -- to participate in a overseas election process, we certainly ought to fight for the right of New Orleans voters to participate in this election, no matter where they are in this country.

HARRIS: Hey, Bruce, I have to follow up on that. What's been the reaction? I think that's a reasonable point. What's been the reaction to that request that there be satellite voting centers in, say, Atlanta, in Houston? What's been the response?

GORDON: Let's just deal with the end result. The state of Louisiana has not agreed to provide those satellite voting locations. The Department of Justice has not insisted upon it, as I think they should have, given their obligations under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, section 2 and section 5.

The state has not, the governor has not supported this. The secretary of state himself, by the way, says that it is his idea, that he promoted the notion of satellite voting locations, yet, at the end of the day, the state has not agreed to do it.

A piece of legislative action was put on the house floor earlier this week, and it was rejected. So at the legislative level, at the statehouse level, and at the Department of Justice level no one seems to view this reasonable request as one that they're willing to act upon.

HARRIS: So Bruce, how do you move forward? What are you asking for? Do you want this delayed?

GORDON: What I want is to maximize voter participation. What I want are satellite voting locations to be set up outside of the state. What I want is the FEMA mailing lists to be made available to candidates, so that these 22 candidates have a way to reach those voters no matter where they are in the country.

And if those two provisions are made possible, then we simply want to have enough time to put those provisions into effect so they can work well.

HARRIS: So how is it ...

GORDON: And that may lead to delaying the vote a bit. But I don't think it has to delay the vote that long.

HARRIS: So how is this going to happen? Is the NAACP going to pay for it? Are you asking the state to pay for it? Are you asking for the federal government to pay for it? How does this ultimately, what you want, how do you get it?

GORDON: This is not about cost, this is about commitment. The NAACP doesn't have to pay for this. The state should, the Feds should. And -- but Tony, let's not be confused here. This is not a cost issue, this is a willingness issue.

And by the way, if we are not successful, and I have to be honest with you, I'm not satisfied with the responses we've gotten so far, so this election may take place without satellite voting. And if that's the case, then the NAACP will reach out, if we need to transport people into Louisiana from these remote locations, we'll do that. If we need to help them go through the absentee balloting process, we'll do that.

We've set up an 800 number, 866-OUR VOTE. We're inviting people across the country to reach out to us, tell us where they are, so we can touch them and get them engaged in the voting process some way, somehow.

HARRIS: OK, Bruce, good to see you. And ...

GORDON: Tony, thank you very much.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, good to see you.

And we'll be following this over the next couple of weeks, to be sure. And I'm sure we'll have you back as we get closer to the election. Bruce Gordon, president of the NAACP.

This is a phone number that's been set up by the secretary of state. If you are one of the displaced New Orleans residents who is trying to get involved and trying to participate in this election, you can call that number and you can request more information.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson is the man behind the movement. We'll hear from him and what he has to say about today's march and why he's opposed to the scheduled mayoral election. That's right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

NGUYEN: A young woman from New Jersey helps battle looming dangers awaiting kids on the Internet. We're going to have a look how she is making a difference. HARRIS: Plus, parts of Indiana saw dangerous weather conditions yesterday. What's in store today? Reynolds, good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yoga is fun, but it also teaches children valuable life lessons, that according to yoga trainer to the stars, Baron Baptiste. It was his passion for kids that inspired him to write the book "My Daddy Is a Pretzel."

BARON BAPTISTE, AUTHOR, "MY DADDY IS A PRETZEL": I'm the -- I'm a pretzel.

Yoga is a wonderful tool, a wonderful process to really learn about our own bodies, to learn about our thoughts, to learn about our feelings.

COSTELLO: He says kids lead busy, stressful lives, and yoga is a great way for them to experience inner calmness.

BAPTISTE: It teaches us about how we react to stress and how we can even hold that stress in our bodies, and also a way to undo the stress, to rinse our bodies out like a sponge.

MARTHA HALL, MEGAN KELLEHER'S MOTHER: I think it's really teaching her to relax with her body, and that there is really a kind of a mind-body connection.

COSTELLO: And Megan's favorite part?

MEGAN KELLEHER: Exercise.

COSTELLO (on camera): Exercise.

That's good. How about relaxing?

KELLEHER: Yes.

COSTELLO: Do -- yes.

(voice-over): A relaxed child. Ah.

Carol Costello, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: You know, it is April Fool's Day, and I just keep waiting, Tony.

HARRIS: What's up?

NGUYEN: I know it sounds ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: ... we have around here?

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: That was good stuff, yes, that was good stuff.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: The focus weather-wise...

NGUYEN: Yes.

HARRIS: ... is on the Midwest right now, and Reynolds, are we anticipating a line of storms to pass through the Midwest?

(WEATHER FORECAST)

NGUYEN: Well, it may sound like a weird combination. But we are going to tell you how a 14-year-old teamed up with Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach to help children in need.

HARRIS: Plus, there's plenty of controversy and debate about the upcoming primary elections in New Orleans. In about two hours, Jesse Jackson will be in the house to discuss it all. That's at 10:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Who says you're too young to make a difference? Every year, "Teen People" magazine highlights 20 teenagers who are changing the world, proof that you can make an impact at any age. These remarkable young men and women are featured in "Teen People's" April issue.

And two of them are here with us this morning, Shannon Sullivan and Jordan Urbach.

Shannon, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us.

SHANNON SULLIVAN, TEEN ANGELS: Good morning. Thank you.

NGUYEN: Hey, you are just 14 years old. How in the world did you learn of the dangers online, and then decided you wanted to do something about it?

SULLIVAN: Well, this lady named Perry Acksef (ph) came to my school, and she talked to us, Internet safety and the dangers of the Internet. And immediately, I wanted to go out and help other kids, because I knew there were so many dangers, and so many kids had no idea what was really going on on the Internet.

NGUYEN: Well, a lot of adults have no idea. Predators, on the other hand, really have the market here, because they know how to get in touch with teenagers. So that can be a real problem. So you started Teen Angels at your school, at least a chapter of it. Tell us what that does.

SULLIVAN: Well, you go through training sessions, and you learn all there is about the Internet. You do many practices, and you actually Google yourself in one of the exercises. And then each chapter has a goal. And my chapter, their goal was to go out to their high school, because we were all graduating, and form a chapter in your high school. And that's exactly what we all did.

NGUYEN: You say you Google yourself. Did you find some information on there that you didn't know was out there? Or did you find out that you were putting information out there that really you shouldn't have?

SULLIVAN: Actually, I found something from five years ago, when I was a Girl Scout, which was weird to find. But it's amazing how much everything that's posted on the Internet can come back.

NGUYEN: I understand you and your teen group actually are being trained by the FBI.

SULLIVAN: Yes, we're trained by the FBI.

NGUYEN: What are they teaching you?

SULLIVAN: Well, first, law enforcement trains us, and, you know, Internet predators, and teaches them all about us -- all about them, and how they actually come and track down kids. It's very scary. And then we go out, and we train FBI to teach them how, you know, 14-year- old kids will act and talk, so they can try to catch these Internet predators.

NGUYEN: Yes, that is really amazing. Is it catching on with students in your school? Are more people seeing the dangers, and they're saying, You know what? This is really smart, I'm going to help out?

SULLIVAN: Definitely. Kids aren't posting as much information as they used to. Like, normally, they would post, you know, their full name, their address, everything. But now, you know, they're not posting their full name, maybe just their first name, and they're not talking to people they don't know.

NGUYEN: That is good information. We appreciate what you're doing. That is fantastic.

SULLIVAN: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Jordan, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

JORDAN URBACH, CHILDREN HELPING CHILDREN: All right. NGUYEN: OK, so you've been playing the violin since you were 3 years old. You started a charity when you were 7, this charity called Children Helping Children. It's all about music. Tell us how music can really help those in need.

Can you hear us, Jordan?

URBACH: Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry. I'm having -- OK. Would you please repeat that question? I can't hear you.

NGUYEN: Yes, no problem. I was just retracking what you've done. You're just 14 years old, but you started playing the violin at 3 years old. And then at 7, I mean, who thinks a 7-year-old's going to decide to start up a charity? And your charity's called Children Helping Children. But it all surrounds music. And tell us how music is helping others.

URBACH: Well, when I was 7 years old, I founded Children Helping Children. And basically, our original charter was to provide musical therapy services for hospitals and national medical organizations, such as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society across the country. And since then, we've branched off into fundraising and have raised over -- or raised over $200,000 so far.

NGUYEN: That is -- are you really 14? You don't even sound like you're 14. You are well versed in all of this. On top of all of that, you've raised this money. But tell us exactly where it goes and what it does.

URBACH: Well, basically, we help neurological charities, so like the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or Beth Israel Hospital. Also at these, I've performed at, you know, Carnegie Hall to raise money. We raised over $65,000 at that concert, as well as over $100,000 worth of media coverage.

Fact, at all these concerts, I sell picture -- I sell my books, and I'm actually a twice-published author. I have two books, one is "Leaving Jeremiah," which is a science fiction adventure, and the other one is "Inside the Music," which is about life at a conservatory like Juilliard...

NGUYEN: Oh, that's fantastic.

URBACH: ... where attended...

NGUYEN: OK.

URBACH: ... pre-college division.

NGUYEN: So you started a charity, you're a violin prodigy, you're a published author twice over, a researcher. It makes Tony and I look like a bunch of underachievers. Let me ask you quickly, what's next for you?

URBACH: Well, I hope to continue fundraising using the violin, and also to go into neurology, which -- it's a wonderful field. I've always been interested in it. And Children Helping Children is basically my foray into that field, the field of neurology.

NGUYEN: Well, best of luck to you. And I have no doubt you're going to be a great success, as well as Shannon. You're both doing fantastic work. I want to thank you both for being with us today...

URBACH: Thank you.

NGUYEN: ... and all that you're doing. Best of luck to you in the future.

URBACH: Thank you.

NGUYEN: And there's much more to come right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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