Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Severe Weather in Texas Causes Devastation; More Information on Taxes; Going Green; Who's to Blame: Imus or Rappers?

Aired April 14, 2007 - 09:00   ET

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

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Stay tuned now for more news on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard the sirens go off, and I knew then it was serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CO-ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: Yes, it was, serious and deadly. The Dallas area waking up to scattered damage this morning.

T.J. HOLMES, ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: Also, ladies if you're still waiting for prince charming, now is your chance. Prince William is available.

NGUYEN: Uh-oh.

HOLMES: This morning details on the split from his long-time girlfriend. That's straight ahead.

Also, we've got this --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm down with that boy. We love you Snoop Dogg, yeah.

I love you, too.

NGUYEN: That's a way to start a morning right.

HOLMES: It is.

NGUYEN: A closer look at a multi-million dollar industry built on words that we can't even say on television. But we can say this, good morning everybody, from the CNN Center in Atlanta. I am Betty Nguyen. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

HOLMES: Is it really? Because Snoop doesn't start off singing that Saturday morning.

NGUYEN: No, no he doesn't.

HOLMES: But he should more often. No. Good morning, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes. We're so glad you could be here with us.

But first, no rap videos, no messing around here, this is serious stuff here. Live pictures out of Haltom City, Texas. This is our affiliate WFAA, which is bringing this live picture to us. But serious storms and tornadoes ripped through that area overnight. Not sure what that noise is we're all hearing that, but this is the live picture. You can see the damage, some tractor-trailers here, apparently knocked over, but a live picture. We saw reports earlier as well from families dealing with destruction at their homes. So just kind of a mess.

And the severe weather system is really moving east now. We're going to be seeing severe storm watches and warnings popping up probably throughout the day and maybe all weekend. But our Bonnie Schneider is keeping an eye on that stuff for us and we'll have updates on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE BENDIX, SAGINAW, TEXAS, (via video): Uh huh, no, they're bigger than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: You hear the sirens and the pounding hail? Yes, a rough night in north Texas. We have a lot to show you this morning.

HOLMES: And part of that severe weather roaring across the south toward the east coast this weekend. This is an i-Report, actually, of baseball-sized hail coming from Saginaw, Texas. This was sent to us by Lee Bendix. Then there is also this to show you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The wind picked up, and me and my son, we walked outside and we seen it coming. And I ran back in the house and screamed "it's a tornado, get in the hall, get in the hall!" we grabbed the dogs and got in the hallway and hunkered down and waited until it calmed down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had a tornado. You can see the devastation, the trees and everything. I was at home fixing dinner for my mother, and I heard the sirens go off. And I knew then it was serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Yes, indeed. Not just one, but two tornadoes were spotted last night in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area right through the smack dab part of tornado alley, as they call it. Those storms killed at least one person. Now, the storm did knock out power to thousands and caused some major damage to homes and businesses, you can see a little bit of that right now, including this church in Ft. Worth.

Let's get you the latest with CNN's Bonnie Schneider, who's been following all those storms. Not only did it damage the north Texas area, but Bonnie I understand it's moving eastward. BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, and this system is slow-moving, really, because it will affect many areas across the southeast, not just today, but tomorrow as well. I want to show you first; we have a tornado warning just in for Leak County, Mississippi until 8:30 this morning. So we still have a ways to go. That county is just west of Philadelphia, in Mississippi. Earlier on we had tornado warnings pop up for Yazoo County that's expired, but you can see as we are speaking here that new thunderstorm warnings are popping up across Mississippi. Because we are looking at a severe thunderstorm watch for this entire region here down through southern sections of Louisiana.

The tornado watch has just expired just a couple moments ago, but we're likely to see another tornado watch issued later on today. You can see the storm, some of the heaviest rain now north of Baton Rouge, but we do have rain sweeping all the way across much of the south at this point. Some heavy rain towards Nashville. And we're also looking at some wintry weather for areas into Kansas. Now we're looking at rain for Kansas, but earlier we did see snow. Not so much in Kansas City, but to the west. Wow! Look at this! A whiteout for Garden City, Kansas. That's in the southwest corner of the state near Dodge City. And you can see heavy accumulation of snow on the ground. It's kind of a wet snow. So this morning it will be very tough to shovel out. Very heavy, wet snow falling across Kansas. I'm expecting more snow in the forecast for there.

But the big focus today for this afternoon and tonight, large hail, tornadoes likely across the southeast. This is what we call a moderate risk area for tornadoes. And you know, when you're grading these areas, moderate is significant. That's what we had yesterday in Texas. So we're likely to see large hail once again for the states you see here.

Betty, T.J..

NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Bonnie.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, we want to head to Iraq and tell you about deadly car bombs that have gone off in a crowded market in Karbala that is about 70 miles south of Baghdad. More than 40 people were killed in that attack, another 55 injured.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, insurgents launched their second attack on a bridge crossing the Tigris River. This morning the blast was just south of the heavily fortified green zone. At least ten people were killed, but the bridge was not badly damaged. Ten people also killed in a bridge attack on Thursday. CNN's Kyra Phillips is in Baghdad this morning. We will hear from her next hour.

NGUYEN: But right now those inflammatory comments by fired radio talk show host Don Imus drawing reaction from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice says it was disgusting for Imus to refer to the Rutgers women's basketball team as nappy-headed hos. In an interview with talk show host Michael Medved, Rice said, "The basketball players were showing that they're really fine athletes playing under extraordinary pressure and their deeds were ruined by Imus's disgusting remark."

HOLMES: Well, a CNN opinion research poll finds most Americans think Imus's remarks were offensive, but blacks and whites differ on how they view of the talk show host. More than half of blacks consider Imus a racist, fewer than 1/3 of whites feel that way.

NGUYEN: Well, the Don Imus story may be coming to a close, but perhaps not the debate over who can say what about whom. CNN's Tom Foreman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON IMUS, TALK RADIO HOST: If they're going to go in and clean out --

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If you were disturbed by what Imus said, cover your ears.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going to back that thing up or should I push --

FOREMAN: Top-selling rap artists use the same words all the time, glorifying violence, drugs, promiscuity, and denigrating women. Imus was fired, but listen to what people close to the hip-hop world are saying about rappers.

CORY "COCO BROTHER" CONDREY, HOST OF SPIRIT OF HIP HOP RADIO ONE: I think what has to happen is we've got to actually stand with them, you know, not beat them upside the head, not judge them, but just stand with them and actually walk with them.

FOREMAN: Russell Simmons the legendary music producer, issued this statement "Hip-hop is a worldwide cultural phenomenon that transcends race and doesn't engage in racial slurs. We are concerned about the false comparisons between Don Imus and hip-hop. Hip-hop artists rap about what they see, hear, and feel around them."

But researchers say rappers are also shaping their world. A study by the Prevention Research Center, which studies health issues, found that young fans of rap and hip-hop are more likely to have problems with alcohol, drugs, and violence. And the black youth project at the University of Chicago found that African-American kids themselves overwhelmingly say rap songs portray black women in offensive ways. So others are now asking, should Imus be the only one held accountable for airing such words?

MICHAEL HARRISON, "TALKERS" MAGAZINE: Why don't we fire all the executives at all the record companies who have been signing and promoting all of these rap artists who have been saying these insulting words about African-Americans and women for all these years?

PAUL PORTER, INDUSTRYEARS.COM: No doubt about it, we should hold everybody accountable. And most of the times, the thing that gets overlooked is the corporations. I mean, corporations are the ones who are profiting from this. FORMAN: If the issue was Don Imus and a few ill-chosen words, the story is done. But if the issue is many others saying the same words and worse to much bigger audiences, the story is just beginning.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was supposed to mediate Thursday night's meeting between Don Imus and the women of the Rutgers basketball team. But instead, he was involved in this, a major car accident. Governor Corzine remains now in intensive care this morning. The governor suffered multiple broken bones. State police are still looking for a red pick-up truck that is believed to have caused that accident. The extent of Corzine's injuries may be partly blamed on the fact that he was not wearing a seatbelt. The governor was in the passenger seat. The state trooper who was driving the SUV was released from the hospital Friday afternoon. We are expecting a live news conference updating the governor's condition, expecting that at noon Eastern Time, and CNN will bring that to you live.

NGUYEN: All right, ladies listen up. There is a big breakup in Britain to tell you about. The "Sun" Newspaper reports Prince William and his long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton have split. Yep, the news agency says this split may come as a shock to many, but the couple was believed to be on their way to an engagement and even a royal wedding. The son quotes a friend who says William's military duties kept them apart far too much for Middleton. William is second in line to the British thrown. As you know. Middleton the daughter of self-made millionaires.

HOLMES: Why do you sound so excited when you say he is on the market?

NGUYEN: I was just throwing the information out there.

HOLMES: Well, we will move onto this now. Getting busy in the classroom.

NGUYEN: What?

HOLMES: That doesn't sound so bad. But if you say it like this -- getting busy in a classroom! Yeah. This is risky stuff happening.

NGUYEN: What are they doing?

HOLMES: You won't believe who was caught on camera.

NGUYEN: Maybe the principal.

HOLMES: Oh my goodness.

NGUYEN: Oh, OK, stop it. Enough with the video already! It's a morning show for goodness sakes.

OK, also going green to save green. We'll tell you who how you can do that in your own home that is a little bit later this hour.

HOLMES: But first, if you're trying to beat the clock to get your taxes filed, you might as well hit the snooze and ask for an extension. Gerri Willis straight ahead with the details on what to do and she should know. She's already filed for an extension.

NGUYEN: Well as of Friday she hasn't filed just yet for an extension.

HOLMES: How is our expert on this going to be filing us an extension and giving us advice? Well CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues in just a moment. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Even the president can't hide from Uncle Sam. The President and Mrs. Bush's tax return shows the couple earned more than $642,000 last year and they paid more than $186,000 in taxes. Meanwhile, the vice president, the second in command there, he's making more than the president! He and Mrs. Cheney earned more than $1.6 million in 2006. They paid the government $464,000, $51,000 of that was an overpayment to go towards next year's return.

NGUYEN: Yeah. I'm not giving any overpayments as of yet. But how about you? You got your tax returns ready? Maybe you need to file an extension. And what the deadline on Tuesday, how do you know if you can find a post office, which is open late at night? Well, I talked with personal finance editor Gerri Willis about what you need to know.

Good morning, Gerri. I think the first thing we want to know is how do I file for an extension, if that is the way many people want to go and actually need to go?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, good to see you. It's easy enough to file an extension. You just file a form 4868, which you can get on IRS.gov. It's easy enough to do. Fill it out. You get an automatic six-month extension. That's the good news. The bad news is you still have to pay your taxes it doesn't get you out from under having to stroke that check. But the easy way to do that, the rule of thumb is just estimate it by using the number you used last year. So if you paid $1,000 last year, pay $1,000 this year. Betty.

NGUYEN: That makes good sense, but there are still those out there who can't even afford to pay what they owe. So what do you do then?

WILLIS: Right. You've got to file for an installment agreement. This would allow you to make payments over time. Now, you can only do this if you owe $25,000 or less. But it's an easy thing to do, Betty, I've got to tell you. It's not hard to do. A lot of people opt to pay by credit card, and that can be a very big mistake, because they're going to charge you 2.5 percent of your payment to do that.

NGUYEN: Ooh.

WILLIS: You're paying extra fees. NGUYEN: Yeah.

WILLIS: You might as well do the installment agreement. Now, you will pay late fees and penalties on that to the IRS, but they are less than if you simply didn't pay at all, you didn't fill out any form at all. Betty.

NGUYEN: Mm-hmm. And with April 15th falling on a Sunday this year, when does that tax return have to be postmarked?

WILLIS: Well, it's tricky this year. Yeah, the 15th is on a Sunday, and then Monday is a holiday in Washington. So it's Tuesday, the 17th that your taxes are due. Betty, here's the tricky thing.

NGUYEN: OK.

WILLIS: People are used to having the post offices open until midnight. But in recent years, so many people have been filing online that some of the post offices are closing early. So you need to contact --

NGUYEN: Oh no.

WILLIS: Yes. You need to check it out ahead of time, make sure that they're opened if you're filing at the very last minute. Let me give you a phone number here. It's 1-800-ask-usps to check out, find out if your local post office is open as late as you need it to be.

Betty.

NGUYEN: That is a very good point. I will tell you, though, proud to say that I have filed. All is well. What about you? Did you file yet?

WILLIS: Very impressive. Not yet.

NGUYEN: Oh, Gerri!

WILLIS: Not yet, but we definitely will. But yeah, you've got to make the deadline at the end of the day, because it just costs you time, money and headaches, if you don't make it.

NGUYEN: All right. So tell what's coming up later today on "Open House."

WILLIS: Well we are going to talk more about taxes, everything you need to know, a procrastinator's guide to taxes. Then, should you buy or rent in this market if you're looking for a house? And finally, allergy-proofing your home. I don't know if you have allergies --

NGUYEN: I do.

WILLIS: But let me tell you, they can be a real hassle. What you do to your house to make you feel better.

NGUYEN: That is so important, especially with the pollen count down here in Atlanta. I will be watching. Gerri thank you so much.

WILLIS: You're welcome, Betty.

HOLMES: All right, got a warning for you here now. Brace yourself. This video is not for the faint of haroff (ph) or anybody possibly eating breakfast.

NGUYEN: OH, Do you see the bottom? See what's in his mouth? It's not a doctored picture, either. We'll take down that banner next time so you can get the full effect. But somebody sure needed a doctor after this happened. Stick around and find out how it went down.

HOLMES: Also, caught on tape in the principal's office, a graphic lesson in inappropriate behavior.

NGUYEN: Uh-oh.

HOLMES: Oh my goodness. Just stop, just -- OK, stick around if you want to.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We, of course, have been following severe weather in the south. Yesterday, last night the Dallas-Ft. Worth area was hit by a storm system, and Rebecca Lopez, of our affiliate WFAA, joins us now from Haltom City. Good morning to you again, Rebecca.

REBECCA LOPEZ, WFAA: Well, good morning. Yes, a lot of devastation here. Look at this tree here. It was just uprooted and just basically, just landed on this person's -- in their yard. They say that in the backyard, there is actually a tree that's even bigger. This is Gilbert and Brenda Quintanilla they join me live here. You actually shot some footage of this. Tell me about that.

GILBERT QUINTANILLA, TORNADO VICTIM: We were at a restaurant not far from here, seen the funnel cloud, and it just came up so quickly on us. The debris was flying all over the place. We didn't know it was right above our house. We were only about half a mile from here, then got home and noticed all this.

LOPEZ: Brenda, what'd you think? Let's walk over here, because around your home there is a trampoline that's been basically wrapped around your house. Tell me what you were thinking when you saw all of this.

BRENDA QUINTANILLA, TORNADO VICTIM: I was just in shock, really amazed how it missed our house. After seeing the neighbors' houses, you know, their roofs falling, and I was just amazed that it could have been worse.

LOPEZ: You said you were surprised because while you do see the devastation here, there is also some statues and stuff that didn't get broken nearby.

B. QUINTQANILLA: Yes. We came around looking to see what kind of damage we had around our house, and we looked, and my sons and we noticed our Jesus statue and our Mary and our angel still standing, and we were amazed. I guess god is watching over us.

LOPEZ: Thank you so much for joining me. I'm going to come over here to the neighbor here. This is Tina Cain. You also basically rode the tornado out in your home.

TINA CAIN, TORNADO VICTIM: Rode it out. Rode it out. Seen trees coming, heard it coming. Looked out the window. I actually seen trees sliding toward us, and basically we bunkered down and rode it out, just rode it out.

LOPEZ: All right, well thank you for joining us this morning.

CAIN: Thank you.

LOPEZ: So there you go, a lot of cleanup now still to be done. One person did die in this tornado, just across the street from here. And now these people are just basically trying to get their lives back to normal. Reporting live, Rebecca Lopez, CNN.

HOLMES: All right, Rebecca. Thank you so much this morning from Haltom City.

NGUYEN: Well, there are a lot of other stories out there that we are keeping an eye on this morning. CNN.com's Veronica De La Cruz has details for us now. Hi there, Veronica.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM: Hey there, Betty. Some of the most popular stories on CNN.com. We have to warn you, we've been trying to show you this morning. This video might be a little too much for some people. Take a look now. We're looking at a crocodile here, and the crocodile has a man's arm in its mouth. It belonged to a vet who was trying to give the giant reptile some medicine. Zoo officials managed to get the arm back more or less in one piece. Surgeons were able to reattach it.

And to Woodner, New York now for another popular story this morning. A woman rescued from underneath a six-foot pile of trash in her home. Her husband was found dead. The 85-year-old woman was discovered after relatives said they couldn't find her, they couldn't reach her. Debris mixed with human and animal waste was piled high in every room. In some rooms, it was piled all the way up to the ceiling. Those are just a couple of stories making the most popular list this morning.

Betty.

NGUYEN: Yeah, we're still trying to get over that video of the arm inside the crocodile's mouth.

DE LA CRUZ: I know, I know. But he's fine. They're able to reattach it, doing OK.

NGUYEN: He's well.

HOLMES: Show it again this morning, please.

NGUYEN: As you're having your corn flakes this morning.

DE LA CRUZ: Your breakfast, yes.

NGUYEN: Minus the arm. OK, thank you.

Well, when you think of the green houses out there or just plants and flowers in a glass room, that's usually what comes to mind, right?

HOLMES: But green is increasingly becoming a way of life and a way to save money. CNN's Greg Hunter reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Les Bluestone builds homes that are environmentally friendly, like this new townhouse in the Bronx. But this house isn't just green, it saves you green, too.

Les, this is a toilet with two buttons, why?

LES BLUESTONE, DEVELOPER: Greg, these are our duel flush toilets. It's a new technology. This button here on the right is for a liquid flush, and this one here is on a solid flush.

HUNTER: Saving water and money. Replacing aerators, which control the flow of water on faucets and showers heads will too, from $300 to $500 a year. This energy-efficient boiler heats water for all three floors of this building, saving another $300 a year. But you don't have to be in a new house to save money. An easy way to be green is to change your old light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs.

JENNIFER BOGO, SCIENCE EDITOR, "POPULAR MECHANICS:" If you replace every one of those bulbs with a compact fluorescent, you would save about $180 on your energy bill every year.

HUNTER: And for under $100, a programmable thermostat that will automatically lower the temperature in your home when you're sleeping or at work. One of the more unusual green and money-saving devices, this green roof, atop architect Richard Cook's Manhattan office building. The soil and vegetation act like insulation, but there are other benefits.

RICHARD COOK, ARCHITECT: To look out over this prospect of Manhattan and in the foreground see our green roof is basically something that we think is beautiful and makes us feel good, makes a healthier, more productive workplace.

HUNTER: The reason why these fluorescent light bulbs are so inexpensive to operate, they use 75 percent less power. If you put these all over your house in every outlet you'll save a couple hundred dollars a year.

Greg Hunter, CNN, Brooklyn, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: I do have some of those lights, they're so bright and they use a lot less electricity.

HOLMES: I'm not saving the planet just yet. I'll have talk that you about that.

NGUYEN: Work on that.

HOLMES: Beware of the hidden cameras folks you know this. This frisky couple didn't know it apparently, they just found out. She looks a little excited there. This is in the principal's office, no less. Details, straight ahead.

NGUYEN: Talk about excitement. Also, do you want to live to be 100 years old? Do you really? How about 80, maybe even 60? Well, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been investigating the secrets of living longer, and he's going to share some of those with us next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. An unexpected sex education lesson for school kids in Chicago. Seems their principal is allegedly getting busy in his office with a teacher and they were not grading papers.

NGUYEN: The teacher looked a little giddy there. Let me tell you what police are working on here two fronts on this case, trying to determine if the principle or teacher will face charges and they are also trying to learn who placed this hidden camera in the principal's office. And here's what's so interesting about it, the scandal broke after copies of a sex tape were mailed anonymously to parents this week just days before a contested school board election. The big question is, who planted those cameras?

HOLMES: Oh my goodness.

NGUYEN: And what did the teachers say for her reason of resigning?

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com