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CNN Saturday Morning News
Nannies Gone Bad; One Couple's Nightmare with the Housing Market; Prices Going Up on Groceries; Dangerous Floods Continue in the Midwest; Passport Breach; March Madness
Aired March 22, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, March 22nd. Good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We do want to thank you for starting your day with us.
First up, check it out, nannies gone bad. Disturbing videos like this one have many parents wondering, what can I do to protect my children? I'm going to talk to the founders of Nanny Poppinz this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MCCUE, LOST HOME TO FORECLOSURE: It hurts because you work so hard, and you don't expect this to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes, you don't expect to go from that dream house you're seeing on your left, to a camping trailer. One couple's nightmare, bad advice, questionable decisions, and financial fallout.
NGUYEN: Also, eating out or at home, plan to spend more money, either way you go. The cost of your daily bread, it is going up, and we are bringing you the news, and the issue that is number one, and that, of course, is the economy.
HOLMES: All right. But we're going to start this morning with the flooding dangers happening in the Midwest.
NGUYEN: Yes, you can see extreme weather right behind us in that video monitor there, a home in Calico Rock, Arkansas, carried -- right there, carried away by floodwaters. Right now, the worst of the flood is in Missouri.
CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins us from Pacific, Missouri where the Merrimack River is more than 13 feet above flood stage. Jacqui, any chance they're going to get some relief?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. In fact, breaking developments here this morning in the town of Pacific where we are, along the Merrimack River, and that's good news this morning, that the river crested just a few hours ago. So, it's been at its highest level and is slowly receding, but the bad news is, it's going to take a long time to clean up this mess.
This is First Street in Pacific, and there are about 140 homes and businesses behind me that are surrounded in water. This is a main thoroughfare through town and obviously, with all this water, it's pretty tough to drive to town.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERAS (voice-over): Boating is the only mode of transportation here in downtown Pacific. We caught a ride with the Coast Guard patrolling the flood zone, encouraging residents to get out. The Merrimack River is filling the streets and engulfing homes.
JOSH LAKER, U.S. COAST GUARD: Besides Katrina, this is the biggest one that I'd seen around here.
JERAS (on-camera): Most of the people have left this area, about 500 have voluntarily evacuated, though there is one man that's holding out.
(voice-over): Above the murky water, comes the smell of barbecue.
What are you cooking?
JAMES NATZ, PACIFIC, MISSOURI RESIDENT: Barbecued ribs.
JERAS: James Natz's home is the only one in the area built after the record floods of 1982. He's confident he'll stay dry.
NATZ: Life goes on, flood or not, I guess.
JERAS: While rescue workers want them out, legally, they can't make them leave.
LAKER: We're out there trying to help people. If they want to stay, and that's their right, they can stay.
JERAS: Down the street, around the corner in the business district, Dave McHugh is pumping water out of the sub-floor of his Great Pacific Coffee Company. The historic building was constructed by his great grandfather 100 years ago.
DAVID MCHUGH, BUSINESS OWNER: You've got people just coming in from all over to help out. It's awe-inspiring when you see that kind of township come together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JERAS: And you would think people would be waking up this morning very weary with this mess that they have to clean up but the mood overall is upbeat. They feel like it could have been a lot worse and it didn't quite break the record here in the town of Pacific, but that still could happen downstream in the town of Eureka, where evacuations have taken place there. Downtown is OK in Eureka now, but they'll be watching that very closely. We're also watching a levee in Valley Park, which is just a little farther to the east of here. There have been some leaks in that levee, and the Coast Guard is watching it very closely for the possibility of that breaching later today. But so far, it is holding.
And lastly, Interstate 44, of course, a huge thoroughfare, thousands of people travel along that every day, several lanes are closed. So, traffic has been a huge nightmare for travelers, which is a holiday weekend for some people and there is the potential that 44 could have to close later on this morning -- T.J. and Betty?
NGUYEN: What a mess all the way around. Jacqui Jeras joining us live early this morning. We do appreciate it, Jacqui.
HOLMES: And we'll turn to the upper Midwest now, the problem there: snow. Several states hit by a spring snowstorm that rolled across the region. The forecast calls for six to nine inches in Chicago. That caused headaches for travelers, and of course, at O'Hare International Airport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to get out of here. We want to go someplace where it's warm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife got on a flight with the kids on one flight, so, hopefully I can squeeze in there with them or else it's going to be a really interesting afternoon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: More than 450 flights at O'Hare were canceled because of the snow.
NGUYEN: Well, more than a foot of snow in parts of Southern Wisconsin and Southeastern Minnesota, causing dangerous driving conditions. Dozens of Wisconsin churches canceled Good Friday services because of the weather and flights were also canceled or delayed at airports in Wisconsin and Michigan. Not only there, though, but Chicago.
Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf joins us now. You've been watching this very closely. As far as the folks in Chicago, they're going to get a little bit back on track today, right?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A little bit. Actually, conditions have really improved in places like Milwaukee where the snow has begun to stop but the snow continues for places like Chicago. And you have to remember -- you don't think of this in terms of just the weather, you think how it's affecting the people.
People are trying to go visit families for Easter, somewhere in those airports, you've got families there have been sitting there overnight in Milwaukee, they've already opened up their Easter candy, they've got three and four years old that are -- got the sugar buzz, they're running around like crazy, waiting for the plane to take off and planes are expected to start taking off. Once again, the airport reopens officially at 9:00 a.m. local time, that's 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
Now, the snow is, again, as I mentioned, making its way to Chicago. So, they're going to have some issues there, of course, Chicago a major hub at O'Hare, and that is just, again, just a nightmare for so many people. It's really a bad situation, it rally all began Friday afternoon. You've got business travelers, you've got holiday travelers, you've got so many things going on and then, sure enough, it all comes together in one big snowy package.
And what we're also dealing with, of course, is the big story (ph) in parts of the Midwest, mainly in Missouri, the extreme flooding. Take a look at this video from Fenton, Missouri. It kind of gives you an idea of what happened before and after. That's the before picture of this intersection and there's the other side, you go from what is just your normal Midwest to a shot that kind of resembles Venice except that you don't have the funny gondolas on that one but you certainly have the water.
And let's go right back to the weather computer. We've good news for people in places like Fenton, all the moisture is staying well to the north. So, that's not going to be your issue. What's going to be your issue in terms of today's forecast is going to be mainly in spots St. Cloud back in Minneapolis, twin cities, you're going to continue to see that snow.
As I mentioned in Milwaukee, you'll notice most of the snowfall is beginning to drop a little bit farther to the south in places like Wynn Point back to Waukegan. In Chicago, not a perfect situation, still freezing conditions but at least you're not going to get that additional snowfall that's going to be piling on.
Backwards, we go to places like Lansing, over to Sterling Heights and even into Detroit, scattered snow showers there. When you get to Cleveland, same story, a little bit of snowfall, back into Pittsburgh, you have a little bit of a wintry mix and of course, in New York, it's been a little bit of everything, some rain drops and some sleet and even some snowflakes that should last through the mid-morning hours.
Again, another weekend where you have huge weather stories, and of course, we're going to bring it through step by step to you. Let's send it back to you at the news desk, so I can have a chance to breathe a little bit.
NGUYEN: All right. You take a breather, we'll be back though. Thank you, Reynolds.
In Tennessee, searchers have emerged from a cave with four adventurers who went missing yesterday. Now, the two men and two teenagers were cave-climbing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The group was cold and wet but they were not injured. Officials say the four were not properly trained or prepared for their overnight cave adventure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOB MILLER, GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATL. PARK: Had they come to get a permit, we had checked out their gear and realized they were not competent with the gear they had, and we would have advised them that they weren't going to get a permit at that time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The group reportedly huddled together to stay warm in that cave, where the temperature was in the 50s.
NGUYEN: Sex for a green card, a federal immigration officer faces felony charges for allegedly demanding and receiving sex from a Colombian woman in exchange for a green card. Isaac Baichu was arrested last week and according to court document, the woman says she gave in to his demand for oral sex because of his position of authority. The woman says she recorded the encounter with her cellphone. The recording was posted on the "New York Times" Web site.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. Tell me. We going to be friends, or?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be friends. I want sex, one or two times. That's all. You get your green card. You won't have to see me anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Baichu's attorney says her client denies any wrongdoing here, calling the alleged incident entrapment.
NGUYEN: Well, snooping into passport files. You know, when you hear about something like that happening to Senator Barack Obama, you can't help but wonder who else has this happened to?
HOLMES: Well, now we know. The passport records of all three of the major presidential candidates have been eyeballed a time or two by unauthorized people.
Our State Department correspondent Zain Verjee reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The "I'm sorry's" just keep coming. First, to Senator Barack Obama, after the revelation that State Department's contractors had sneaked a look into his passport file three times this year.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I told him that I was sorry and I told him that I, myself, would be very disturbed if I learned that somebody looked into my passport file.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She called me and offered her apologies, which I appreciated, but I also indicated that this is something that has to be investigated diligently, and openly. VERJEE: Then, word that a trainee, a State Department employee, got into Senator Hillary Clinton's file last summer. Rice called the senator again, offering apologies.
Next victim on the Republican side is Senator John McCain. He reacted to the Obama breach.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If anyone's privacy is breached, then they deserve an apology and a full investigation.
VERJEE: That was John McCain before he found out he was also on the list. One of the same people who clicked into Obama's file surfed (ph) his as well. Rice telephoned him in Paris.
A top State Department official was dispatched to the Hill, to brief all three senators' staff. Obama and others are demanding congressional investigations. Big questions remain: What exactly is in a candidate's passport file, why would anyone want to see it, and was any of this politically motivated?
SEAN MCCORMACK, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: It is still our initial take, this was, I referred to it as imprudent curiosity, but we are not dismissive of any other possibility.
VERJEE: We've been down this road before, an unauthorized leak of the passport files of then presidential candidate Bill Clinton in 1992. The probe cost $2.2 million and no laws broken.
The count so far, two contractors fired, one disciplined for the two violations, and a State Department's trainee, still on the job.
(on camera): The State department says that computers flagged the breaches immediately. The problem was, was that low-level supervisors failed to report up to senior management. The State Department is also revealing the identities of the two contractors involved in all of this. They are Stanley Inc. and the Analysis Corporation.
Zain Verjee, CNN, at the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: OK. Can you imagine going from your dream home to a creaky camper?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
B. MCCUE: This is not what I had planned to be 50-years-old and wind up on a little life (ph) for the rest of my life in a little camper.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There, the housing crisis leaving one family without any options. NGUYEN: Also ahead, how to make sure, this right here, doesn't happen to your child. The founders of Nanny Poppinz, we'll have some expert advice on how to choose a caregiver.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Here are some other stories making headlines today. We begin in Rome and a test of the faith in this Good Friday.
NGUYEN: Yes, thousands braved a cold driving rainstorm to attend the Pope's Way of the Cross procession. It was held overlooking the Coliseum.
And in Japan, a U.S. sailor is being held for questioning in the stabbing death of a taxi driver. The body of the 61-year-old cabbie was found near a U.S. Navy base south of Tokyo. Now, the sailor's name has not been released and he has not been named as a suspect. He has, however, been charged with desertion.
NGUYEN: Well, we don't know how dangerous they are but they sure are heavily armed right now, these robbers in Fort Worth, Texas. Surveillance tapes are showing burglars kick in a display case at a gun store. They take 19 large caliber semiautomatic handguns. Other security measures prevented from stealing more including some assault rifles.
NGUYEN: All right. So, from dream home to financial nightmares, one couple trapped in this foreclosure mess.
HOLMES: Yes, they're forced to trade in their luxury home for a what? A leaky trailer.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): High in the mountains behind a white picket fence is space number 96, a place Bill and Vicki McCue now call home.
B. MCCUE: What you see here, our fireplace, our fountain. This is all part our of our house decorations.
GUTIERREZ: This was the 2,700 square foot home the McCues once owned in Las Vegas that went to foreclosure. This is the 28-foot camper trailer they now own.
(on camera): What is it like living in a camper trailer (ph)?
B. MCCUE: There are two sides of it. Number one, it's beautiful, number two, it's insulting, because I worked very hard all my life to get where I've gotten, and I wound up here.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): A camper that leaks when it rains and is designed more for weekend getaways than full time living.
B. MCCUE: This is not what I planned to be 50 years old and wind up on a lot life (ph) for the rest of my life in a little camper.
VICKI MCCUE, LOST HOME TO FORECLOSURE: Here is our bathroom.
GUTIERREZ: They say living here has been a huge adjustment.
V. MCCUE: Up in here our desk, in here, food. My kitchen before was huge. I had granite countertops, stainless steel appliances.
GUTIERREZ: The McCues thought they were doing everything right. They worked full time. He was a technician at a five-star casino. She was an administrative assistant. They were ready to buy their dream home.
V. MCCUE: We walked in and it was like, we can get this for $265,000? No money down, oh my God.
GUTIERREZ: Soon their home nearly doubled in value.
So, for a while you were sitting on a mountain of equity in your home.
B. MCCUE: Yes.
V. MCCUE: Yes.
GUTIERREZ: Then, Vicki lost her job. They took out equity and their payments went up 57 percent to $1,100 a month. The McCues decided to sell. The buyer fell through, so they took out a $35,000 emergency loan to help pay the mortgage.
(on-camera): What would you say to the money people on the other end who are going, yes, but you wanted free money. And you signed a loan documents. You knew that it was an interest-only loan. You should have read the fine print and you shouldn't have signed that loan. What would you tell those people?
V. MCCUE: I would tell them they shouldn't have lied to us on the phone and convinced us that was the way to go and that our payment wouldn't go up more than $100 each year per month.
GUTIERREZ: Did you read the fine print?
V. MCCUE: The way that they word things, it's not real clear. It's not real straightforward, and you put together what you're being told with what you're reading.
GUTIERREZ: So, you were trusting the people who (INAUDIBLE) the loan.
V. MCCUE: We were trusting people because they kept telling us this is the only way to go.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The McCues say they were trying to build for their retirement, in the process, lost it all.
B. MCCUE: It hurts because you work so hard and you don't expect this to happen. It hurts emotionally. It hurts physically. I didn't cause this to happen. Others caused it. Nobody cared. Everybody just walked away.
GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Yucaipa, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Man, it's tough.
Well, the economy many of you say is issue No. 1. And we have all the financial news that you need: info on the mortgage meltdown, the credit crunch, so much more. Again, it is "ISSUE # 1," next week, 12:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday, only here on CNN.
HOLMES: And take a look at this soldier here, wasn't hit by shrapnel, wasn't shot but still deeply wounded all the same. This Iraq war veteran, we've got her story and she's not alone.
NGUYEN: Also, do you remember this disturbing home video of a babysitter handling infants like rag dolls? Well, we're going to talk with two women about how to make sure this doesn't happen to your child.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, parents, some of you may feel guilty leaving your baby in the care of someone else while you go to work but just imagine seeing a nanny do this to your child in your own home.
Our next two guests say they can help prevent this from happening. Deneane Maldonaldo and Susan McCloskey are with a service called Nanny Poppinz and they join us from Miami.
Good morning, ladies.
SUSAN MCCLOSKEY, FMR. FEDERAL AGENT: Good morning. How are you?
NGUYEN: I am doing all right but a little disturbed especially when you see this video. Deneane, first of all, should parents with small children who have nannies always have a nanny cam?
DENEANE MALDONALDO, PRES., NANNY POPPINZ: Absolutely. We absolutely recommend them as the service. We think it's crucially important. We also use it as a screening tool for our nannies, when they come to Nanny Poppinz to interview with us we talk to them about having nanny cams and stress the importance of the nanny cams and knowing that there is going to be a nanny cam in each of our client's homes.
NGUYEN: Well, apparently it's catching nannies who are, you know, many would say abusing children, this particular woman, I'm not sure if she was found guilty of anything, but when you look at it, you're definitely shocked, and as a parent, you are angry.
So, let me ask you this, Susan because you are a former federal agent. Some of what's caught on the tape is not only shocking but it's hard for parents, because they feel like they have screened these nannies, they have talked to them and they have done their research but yet, these abuses, mistreatment occurs and I want you to listen first of all to a parent who had said he did the screening himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WESLEY LOCKLAIR, FATHER: I end up blaming myself, you know. I should have been able to prevent this, you know. I'm her father. It's my job to protect her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: See, he says, you know, I should have been able to prevent this. I am a father. But as a former federal agent, when you look at this, what are parents not doing? What is it that they should be doing to make sure that doesn't happen to their child?
MCCLOSKEY: Well, I think, as that gentleman said, that he screened them. But I think going with an agency, a professional reputable agency like Nanny Poppinz, we're the experts at screening and recruiting.
NGUYEN: What do you do different besides, you know, doing the background checks, and talking to them and getting references, things that some parents do already?
MCCLOSKEY: Oh, no, absolutely. It's just that, since we've been doing it for over 15 years at Nanny Poppinz and none of our nannies have ever been caught on tape doing or anything wrong, you know, we feel that we can assist the families and help them with this, and how we do that is we personally meet each and every nanny, and screen them in an hour or more interviews, spending time with them and then, we do the background checks as you said.
And being a former federal agent, when I came on board with Nanny Poppinz we've even added an additional background check, a county court record search, which sometimes will catch things that maybe the national criminal history doesn't. And if the job involves driving, we also do a DMV check. So, the parents are very confident that the nanny will be safe with their children.
NGUYEN: And let me ask you, Deneane, if a parent sees abuse or they feel like something's not right, what should that parent do?
MALDONALDO: They should absolutely, you know, take matters into their own hands. These are their children, the most important people in their lives. So they have to act right away, not worry about nanny cams or anything like that, just take matters into their own hand, find a professional nanny agency like Nanny Poppinz and find some reputable help, people that are experienced in handling crises like this to able to get them help for their children.
NGUYEN: Because when you watch this video, again, many parents not only shocked but they are angry to see that happening to their child and any other child for that matter, because they put themselves in those shoes and say, man, that could be my child as well. So, Deneane Maldonaldo and Susan McCloskey, we do appreciate your time this morning, thank you.
MALDONALDO: Thank you.
MCCLOSKEY: Well, thank you.
HOLMES: All right. We've had all this talk about superdelegates and the fact that they can go with one candidate or another, they can change their minds, but the candidates: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, they can depend on the pledged delegates.
Well, Josh Levs is here to say, well, maybe not. Don't confuse. So, everybody's a superdelegate now?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Some people think that way, you know, they say with the pledged delegates like these, who needs superdelegates? Look, I mean, the reality is in the end, even pledged delegate count can change at any time. What this says about the actual votes themselves?
We'll have that coming up, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. We look forward to hearing about that. See you soon here, Josh.
Also, March Madness, my absolute favorite time of the year, just check out this highlight right here at the buzzer, walk off, go home, we're going on, you guys hit the bus. It was a beautiful day yesterday, Betty, for this tournament.
NGUYEN: Cinderella story.
HOLMES: Yes, you can tell I'm a little bit excited about this.
NGUYEN: Just a tad.
HOLMES: So, please come back and continue the excitement with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: It is a long way from the war zone to Colorado. While many soldiers are glad to be home, they can't leave the nightmares behind. We're going to be talking about this story today.
In the meantime though, welcome back, everybody. It is Saturday, I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. We're so glad you could be here with us this morning.
We are watching the floodwaters rise. Folks in parts of the Midwest are fighting to save their homes from disastrous flooding. Heavy rains this week forced rivers over their banks, some as many as 20 feet above flood stage. Much of the worst has been in Missouri where evacuations have become commonplace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK JAMES, MISSOURI DEPT. OF PUBLIC SAFETY: We have conducted throughout the state hundreds of swift water rescues, and thousands of evacuations. Every state agency in Missouri state government has been fully involved in this mission.
The state has procured, and this information is as of our 10:00 o'clock briefing this morning, approximately 100,000 sandbags that have been deployed throughout the state. That number doesn't include sandbags that local jurisdictions have pro cured for themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, there is flooding in at least 70 counties in Missouri right now, at least 16 deaths now being blamed on severe storms and flooding in five states.
NGUYEN: All right, so, we're going to talk about that. And also flights in the Midwest, they are being affected. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is keeping track of all that is going on. Boy, you got a lot on your hands today, Reynolds.
WOLF: Yes, you know, but we do have some good news, the best news we are dealing is that in Missouri, we don't have a lot of action right now, other than the flooding, of course. But the good news is that we're not adding more precipitation to the fray. So, it looks like the conditions, although the rivers will continue to rise, we're not going to add any more rainfall to it.
Wish we could say the same for much of the Midwest as we go towards Minneapolis, you see the scattered snow showers there. We're going to zoom a little bit farther to parts of the Great Lakes, western half of the Great Lakes, from Milwaukee, the snow is beginning to end southward, in places like Chicago, we still have the snowfall and take a look at these images that we have for you from the airports, both at Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee and then southward in Chicago.
This is Milwaukee first, they are going to be closed there until about 10:00 a.m. local time. Right now, they're working as hard as they can to de-ice the planes. You see the crews there, on the left- hand side of the screen, they are up there, ladies and gentlemen, that is one very cold job, they're getting all the ice off of the planes.
On the other side, you see comments of CLTV, downtown Chicago, right along parts of Michigan Avenue, the flurries continuing to fly, the snow beginning to taper off and conditions at the airport there should improve very quickly.
Let's go right back to the weather computer and as we do so, you're going to see, again, the good news, all this moisture pushing a bit farther to the south. We've got a lot of families in Chicago, a lot of Milwaukee all trying to catch flights today. The airport conditions, again, slow going for the time being but no surprise. Here's a look at the latest flight tracker and you'll notice, again, normally this time of day, you got a lot of flights taking off, very minimal activity right now all due to the weather.
That's the latest in the forecast. We've got so much to share with you this morning, so, don't go anywhere, stay put and stay planted (ph) to your chair. Let's send it back to you. If you had to use the restroom, I understand, got to get coffee, (INAUDIBLE) we've got a lot to share with you.
NGUYEN: We do have a lot to share because the folks in Missouri are dealing with some flooding there and T.J.., you were up there a little bit earlier this week.
HOLMES: Yes, you know, I heard Reynolds what you all warned folks about all the time. I talked to a guy from the Water Patrol out there and he said, folks, will you please just stop driving through this stuff? They had rescues going on all over the place.
I wasn't particular at place (ph), just outside Springfield and Ozark and the guy is telling me, we've got 50 or so rescues going on around the state and we've got more to get done and I just asked them, hey, man, on a personal level, does it just annoy the mess out of you that people continue to try to drive through these roads? There he is there from the Water Patrol.
NGUYEN: He looks like kind of annoyed right there.
WOLF: He looks annoyed at you.
HOLMES: Yes. It was early and we didn't drive through anything. We didn't have to be rescued but that's what he talked about, folks, stop trying to drive. You can't tell and the water is moving so fast so Reynolds, all those warnings, you and Chad and Jacqui are always warning people don't try it. And there he was.
NGUYEN: Apparently not many people are listening, then, huh?
WOLF: Well, the phrase is what has turned around, don't drown, because it only takes 18 inches of water on the roadway to pick up some of the heaviest vehicle. So, why take the chance, you know?
NGUYEN: Especially when you don't know how deep it is, you know, that's really the problem because they see a little bit of water, and they think, it's not much, I can make it through and before you know it.
WOLF: Well, I mean, you're encapsulated in a big truck or car and you feel like you're unstoppable, you feel safe and you get in there and boom, you go downstream thanks to the river.
NGUYEN: So, turn around, don't drown.
WOLF: Turn around, don't drown, and otherwise we'll be annoyed like the fellow in the picture (INAUDIBLE).
NGUYEN: I think that was just T.J., though.
HOLMES: It wasn't me out there.
WOLF: T.J., you have that effect.
NGUYEN: He does.
HOLMES: Well, it's on Betty for sure.
NGUYEN: Especially on females, this one in particular.
HOLMES: Oh, well.
NGUYEN: No, I'm kidding!
WOLF: That's between you and Betty and everybody else, I'm just walking off.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. (INAUDIBLE) safest plan.
HOLMES: We were trying to warn people about their driving and you turned it into that, Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, the facts are the facts.
HOLMES: I guess, bring in another guy who is annoyed by me a lot of time.
NGUYEN: Speaking of facts, Mr. Reality is here.
HOLMES: We're talking politics and pledged delegates. Good morning, Mr. Reality. Please get us out of here.
LEVS: I can't focus anymore. This is too good. Can we keep going with this for a little while longer? No, I do mean it (ph) to take it away. All right, so, we're talking about before the break, first (ph) now about superdelegates and how pledged delegates can switch, too.
And this is what's going on that, in awhile there's been all this focus about the superdelegates, a lot of people don't realized that the pledged delegate count can change it any time. It's often not determined directly by voters. Just look at what's just happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS (voice-over): In the race for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama has laid out this strategy.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we come in to the convention with more pledged delegates then, I think we can make a very strong argument that our constituencies has spoken.
LEVS: But how much do pledged delegates actually represent voters? In the Nevada caucuses, for example, Clinton won by a six- point margin. SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I guess, this is how the west was won.
LEVS: But she came out one delegate behind, because of how the delegates were awarded. Now, a new twist shows how far this battle is from a one-person, one-vote system.
Remember Iowa? Based on the caucuses, Obama was estimated to get 16 pledged delegates, while 15 would go to Clinton and 14 to John Edwards. Now, throw those numbers way.
Iowa held its county convention, the state's second step in selecting delegates to the national convention and some of the folks who were chosen at the caucuses to attend these conventions switched camps. Obama is estimated to get 25 delegates. Many representing Edwards' supporters defected to Obama as did some who backed Clinton, so, she'd lost a delegate.
The campaigns pushed at the county level and Obama won. In caucus states, there are several times when things can change, just another complexity in this bitter battle. In fact, there's enough difference between votes and delegates nationwide that Clinton's most prominent surrogate predicts a split finish.
BILL CLINTON, FMR. UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: By the end of this process, it's more likely that Hillary will be ahead in the popular vote and he'll have a little lead in the delegates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: So, Obama's insisting that he's going to hold onto his edge in that popular vote but in the end, this will be decided by the delegates and that's all of the delegates to the national convention in the end, pledged, superdelegates or whatever, they can vote however they want, no matter what the voters said.
HOLMES: OK, that makes no sense. They're call pledged, all right, and you tell me, and you're right, technically they can, but for the most part they do, do what they're supposed to do and go with the candidate they're pledged.
LEVS: I mean, traditionally they have but if you think about it, if that's what split finish happens, right, if in the end, you have popular vote on one side and pledged delegate count on the other side, what's the right thing to do? You know, and they can be called that one (ph).
NGUYEN: Well, if it comes to the superdelegates, you know, people are going to be very upset since they went to the polls.
LEVS: And it could come down to that.
NGUYEN: All right, we'll be watching. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks, guys. NGUYEN: You can experience the political campaign from the perspective of voters. Here you have to do, you tune in to CNN'S "BALLOT BOWL." It is today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Don't miss it.
HOLMES: Well, women soldiers surviving the Iraq war but hitting rock bottom at home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What does rock bottom feel like?
KERI CHRISTENSEN, SUFFERS FROM PTSD: Very dark, lonely place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: She's one of the first American women classified as a combat veteran. Her story ahead.
NGUYEN: Plus, find out what this female medic did in Afghanistan to earn her a Silver Star for heroism, and get this, she is only 19- years-old. We're going to talk with her live next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, the Pentagon says about 180,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NGUYEN: Yes, and many have returned home but not all have left the war behind.
Here's CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE (voice-over): On the playground, she feels safe, close to her children, far from the nightmares and the crowds that terrify her. I first interviewed Keri Christensen in November 2006. She was part of history then, among the first group of women in the history of the United States classified as combat veterans.
But like her male counterparts, Iraq haunted her. She was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD and last fall she hit rock bottom, thoughts of suicide.
CHRISTENSEN: I ended up calling 911 and they ended up getting me hospitalized for a couple of days.
KAYE (on camera): What does rock bottom feel like?
CHRISTENSEN: A very dark, lonely place.
KAYE (voice-over): In 2006, the Veterans Administration diagnosed nearly 3,800 women with PTSD. Keri meets with a counselor weekly and attends group therapy.
(on camera): What's this here? CHRISTENSEN: This is for the sleep disturbance, here (ph) PTSD, and this is for my nightmares.
KAYE (voice-over): A member of the National Guard, Keri transported tanks in Iraq. She was shot at, and nearly a victim of a roadside bomb. The convoy in front of hers blew up.
CHRISTENSEN: We just have this fear like oh, my God, I still have to drive through there. Am I going to make it?
KAYE: That fear is still with her. She drives no more than two miles from home.
CHRISTENSEN: Because when I get outside of my familiar, safe territory, I start to feel a little overwhelmed. It gets foggy.
KAYE: Keri says she's also dealing with trauma from sexual harassment in Iraq. The military tells CNN, Keri's complaint has no merit. The V.A. reports between 2002 and 2007, nearly 22 percent of women veterans had experienced military sexual trauma, or MST, which includes sexual harassment and assault.
Darrah Westrup counsels women veterans. The numbers are even worse, she says, many are afraid to report their problems.
DARRAH WESTRUP, NATL. WOMEN'S TRAUMA RECOVERY PROG.: The same individuals that attacked are those that will be protecting you or that you'll be fighting alongside the next day.
KAYE: Keri was reassigned after an injury to a job which included preparing coffins.
CHRISTENSEN: In a war zone (ph), there's going to be death but you just never really know how it's going to hit you until you physically see it.
KAYE (on camera): Keri has made some improvement. She no longer has imaginary conversations with her husband and her sleeping habits are much better. When we saw her last, she was only sleeping about four hours a night because of the nightmares. Now, she's averaging about six.
So do you have hope that one day, will you be able to return to the woman you were before you left for war?
CHRISTENSEN: I don't think we'll ever be the same. I think that you can learn to cope with it.
KAYE (voice-over): A new class of women, learning to live with hidden scars, while a country tries to figure out how to heal them.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Broomfield, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And you can help soldiers just like Keri there. All you have to do go to CNN.com/impact to see the list of agencies who reach out to the U.S. military.
Coming up, in about 25 minutes, we're going to introduce you to a determined army medic who has become the second female to receive a Silver Star since World War II. And she's going to join us live from Afghanistan.
HOLMES: Gas prices not the only thing going up these days, it may cost you more the next time you go to the bakery or the next time you pick up those Krispy Kreme Doughnuts or maybe next time you grab a pizza, why? It's all about the ingredients.
NGUYEN: And: How are you doing in your basketball brackets this year? Let's talk about the important stuff, March madness with our own Rick Horrow.
HOLMES: You're doing well in your bracket right now, aren't you then?
NGUYEN: Number two.
HOLMES: Look at him, always good to see that face on a Saturday morning. Well ...
NGUYEN: Notice you said the face and not hear the voice. Yes, we cut your mike, Rick, we'll talk to you later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We're talking brackets.
HOLMES: We are talking brackets, we're talking about Cinderella, ah, that's just one of the daggers we saw yesterday. That was UConn going down to San Diego in a last-second shot. Well, a lot of stuff going on.
I guess, the biggest story, Rick Horrow, is that the Razorbacks are moving on, they beat Indiana yesterday. I know that's not the top story of the tournament, Pretty Ricky but come on in here, let's start talking about this tournament and what's going on.
So first, how is your bracket?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: My bracket is fine, better than yours, apparently you don't do these. We're going to bet a steak dinner. And I've lost eight of these games so far. Betty, how are you doing?
NGUYEN: I am number. I am doing just fine.
HORROW: Number two relative to what? By the way, we're not even half way through, so don't worry that yet (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: But Rick, I have to give you this, man, she is number two really in the office and the office bracket, she has Arkansas going to the final four.
NGUYEN: Do I really?
HORROW: Well, wait, I heard the banter. She heard she did that by mistake. OK, maybe that's your bracket.
HOLMES: No, it's hers. It's hers.
NGUYEN: Well, they won here in Atlanta so I picked them. It was last second there, Rick.
HORROW: They did well.
HORROW: I understand, so -- will you let me talk please? You guys can do this anytime.
NGUYEN: OK, go ahead.
HOLMES: Oh, yes, he's here.
HORROW: Arkansas is playing North Carolina, right, which is my daughter's school and Texas is playing Miami, where I'm living, so, both of you are at steak dinners at end of this. I know gambling is not to be encouraged but by the way, 30 million office pool participants. Admit it. It's like alcoholics anonymous. (INAUDIBLE).
Facebook has got a deal with CBS now, so there are going to be even more. By the way, there is a proposition bet out there on one of the Web sites, to how many times Bobby Knight's going to explode on his commentary now uttering profanity. I'm going to bet early and I'm going to bet often.
HOLMES: That's a pretty good bet. Well, how can they improve this tournament, Rick? This thing is really one of the big sporting events. I mean, the Super Bowl is one thing, but this is something that everybody gets into, in the office, is everybody has a buzz (ph) about it. Can the NCAA really improve this tournament? Is it perfect?
HORROW: Well, you know, how do you improve something where 130 million viewers tune in, which is almost half the TV sets? How do you improve something where CBS spent $6 billion on a TV contract that funds along with football most of the college programs?
The issue is my upset index. By the way, if you have less than four, they say it's boring. Last year, the worst ratings in 25 years. More than 13 upsets, the big teams are out, people don't like it. Two years ago that was bad (ph). Right now by the way, there are eight underdogs that beat top seeds and we're half way there. So, we're right in that sweet spot.
HOLMES: Now, is it reduced, I was going to say reduce to, and you give me a hard time because I don't fill out of bracket. And the reason being, I filled it out one year and then, I found myself cheering for my bracket, instead of cheering for a good game or a good upset. So, is it reduced to this, just this office bracket show almost and people really aren't into the basketball all that much until maybe it gets to maybe the final four?
HORROW: No, it's reduced to people doing better than you did in that bracket that year. That's what it's reduced to. It's also -- seriously, it's reduced to the fact that 30 million as I've said, many of them don't really think of this as basketball. They think of it as a social experience.
But the hard core fans are the ones who sponsors really go after, you know, the state farms, all of the big companies that are spending big dollars, they do it because they understand that this is one of the big times of the year, and Super Bowl is the appointment of viewing, remember.
But the final four and March madness lasts for five months, excuse me, five weeks and you know, this final four, San Antonio, big one, economic impact, we'll talk about that next week and we'll talk about it in San Antonio as well.
HOLMES: OK. Again, how is your bracket, though?
HORROW: It's doing very well. Betty, I ...
NGUYEN: It's not doing well. You tell the truth, Rick, you are number five on the list. Where am I? Number two.
HORROW: Well, that's why, you know what? It doesn't really matter right now. It's what happens at the end, right? OK?
NGUYEN: Sure it doesn't.
HORROW: It's true, though, folks and it's always the ones like Betty, who hasn't watched a basketball game all year, just fills out the bracket.
NGUYEN: That is not true. My Texas Longhorns are going to take it all the way. That's all I'm saying.
HORROW: Betty's had a very bad athletic experience this year and the year before, so, we're going to have to see what happens.
HOLMES: All right.
NGUYEN: Steak dinner. I'm looking forward to it.
HOLMES: Pretty Ricky, always good to see you, buddy.
HORROW: See you next week.
NGUYEN: All right. Take care.
And: Speaking of food, eating pizza, well, you can forget about watching your waistline and why you should start watching your wallet instead. Plus, Reynolds Wolf is watching the weather for us, he joins us now live. How's your bracket doing?
WOLF: No comment whatsoever. We're just going to stay with weather and I'm going to stay with something that we're good at.
This morning, we got two huge weather stories to talk about. One, the airport remains closed in Milwaukee due to snow removal. It's going to open up about a couple of hours. Meanwhile, we still have widespread flooding throughout the great state of Missouri.
We're going to have the very latest on that for you coming up in mere moments right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, the economic indicators: oil, employment, Wall Street.
NGUYEN: Yes, but what about pizza? Yes, pizza as an economic indicator. We're not joking here. In fact, Allan Chernoff has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $37, I couldn't believe it.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gold Medal brand flour seems more golden than ever to the pizzeria owner Joe Vicari.
JOE VICARI, OWNER, MARIELLA PIZZA: It's like gold, yes.
CHERNOFF: The pizza dough that Joe and his temporary apprentice need is suddenly more precious than ever because the flour from which it's made now costs $37 for a 50-pound bag, a price that has more than doubled in the past month.
VICARI: I can't believe how much it'd go up the flour. When I see the bill I can't believe it. That's too much money.
CHERNOFF: Vicari raise the price of a slice up to $2.50 earlier this year after the cost of cheese jumped. If flour keeps climbing, Joe says, he'll have to hike it again.
VICARI: Over here, people who come to buy pizza, I mean, they're working people. How much I'm going to raise the pizza now if flour to go up to over $40 and then, I have to raise.
CHERNOFF (on camera): Prices for all kinds of baked goods are going to be heading up and that's all because of the rapid rise in the cost of a bag of flour, which is the result of wheat trading near an all-time high.
(voice-over): The price of wheat is now two and a half times what it was just a year ago. Why? Huge demand for ethanol has farmers planting more corn to produce the fuel when they could be growing wheat.
And the dollar is sinking to a record low is making U.S. wheat relatively cheap for foreigners. As a result, nearly 60 percent of the wheat harvested last year is being exported, leaving wheat supplies here at the lowest level since the end of World War II, another factor pushing prices skyward.
FRANK KARALIS, EUROPAN BAKERY CAFE: It's killing us.
CHERNOFF: So, bakery owner, Frank Corrales plans to raise the price of every item on his menu next week.
KARALIS: Someone's going to come in here and buy for something for $2. That amount (ph), they're going to be paying $2.50 and then, I kind of like that.
CHERNOFF: So, if you're thinking about dwelling (ph) on a low- carb diet, this might be a very good time to try it out.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Welcome to CNN Center.
NGUYEN: What a morning.
HOLMES: We are having quite a morning. And you'll see why you're giddy here in just a second, a big morning for us on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Hello, I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes, something we truly enjoy. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We do want to thank you for starting your day with us.
First up, soaked with no relief in sight. Flood waters in Missouri has people bracing for the worst.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Makers of bottled waters have stepped up to donate water to the community, to kind of get them through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Hey, don't drink the tap water. That's the warning in one town after dozens of people get salmonellas.
NGUYEN: And we will go live to Afghanistan this morning, so you can meet only the second female soldier to receive a Silver Star since World War II.
HOLMES: And do we have this live picture. We just missed it.
NGUYEN: We'll have to re-rack the video. HOLMES: We're going to re-rack that quickly because this was an implosion out of Cincinnati and our faithful, our loyal viewers know...
NGUYEN: We love implosions.
HOLMES: Implosions are us around here. This is Cincinnati, Ohio, implosion -- I mean we literally missed the live picture by seconds. You can see people there hanging out, taking pictures of it, a big boom there in Cincinnati. We'll tell you more about it, re-rack it and show it to you.
NGUYEN: And give it to you straight. And here's the deal, the debris there just to let you know how big this implosion was, debris is 30 feet tall according to reports that we're getting, so this was quite an implosion. We'll give it to you shortly.
In the meantime though, let's do start with this, flooding danger in the Midwest. Take a look at the extreme edge of the disaster there. That is a house (INAUDIBLE) Arkansas, carried away by flood waters.
HOLMES: And right now, the worst of the flooding is being seen in Missouri. Some good news this morning however and CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins us from Pacific (ph), Missouri with some of the good news at least.
Good morning to you again, Jacqui.
JERAS: Good morning T.J., there is good news here and that's that the river crested just a couple of hours ago. And now the floodwaters are going to slowly be receding. In fact I'm walking right now on First Street which is a main thoroughfare here in town. About 140 homes and businesses behind me are engulfed in water.
But just up here, we're at the intersection and I was riding literally in a boat on this yesterday afternoon. So it's good to know that you couldn't get a boat in this intersection. So we have definitely seen a significant difference in this water going down and the other good news is that it didn't quite hit that record crest here in Pacific. But obviously, a lot of damage has already occurred.
We have got several buildings back here and houses that have water at least waist-deep in them. And the water is going to take a while to go down as well. We're talking about this is going to be a flood at least into Monday afternoon possibly into Tuesday. So it's going to take a long time.
And I heard you guys by the way talking before about the water rescue crews going out there and getting upset about all the people who are driving through the water. Travel is impossible around this area. Here you can see some sandbags, what a tremendous community effort in this town yesterday and there you can see them lined up along this old ice cream shop.
People came from all over, volunteers, well over 100 of them to help this community out and try and save some of these buildings. In fact we were hearing a story about a guy who owned a coffee shop yesterday and some guy just showed up from the state of Illinois and said he was watching the news, heard that they needed the help and came out to help sandbag. So it's just been a tremendous effort in this area.
And Pacific's certainly not isolated in this flooding. Along the Merrimac, flooding goes all the way up towards the city of St. Louis and we're still concerned about what could happen downstream. There's a levee that we're watching that's sprung a few leaks in Valley Park (ph). It has not breached at this point, but it's a possibility as the rivers cresting downstream at this time.
Interstate 44, thousands of people, travel along that, a number of lanes are closed on that interstate and this whole thing might have to get shut down later on this morning if the river rises just a few more feet.
HOLMES: So there is some good news as we heard there, but still not everybody able to kick back and relax just yet. Jacqui Jeras, we appreciate you this morning. We'll be checking in with you again.
NGUYEN: In the meantime though, the calendar does say spring, but in the upper Midwest it still looks a lot like winter. Check it out. Parts of the region hit by an early spring snowstorm and it forced Chicago's O'Hare airport to cancel hundreds of flights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to get out of here. We want to go someplace where it's warm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife got a flight with the kids on one flight so hopefully I can squeeze in there with them or else it's going to be a really interesting afternoon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That is an understatement. More than 450 flights at O'Hare were canceled and many flights in Detroit were grounded.
Officials at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, they're advising travelers to check with the airlines ahead of time. More than 10 inches of snow grounded flights there yesterday. Hundreds of people had to spend the night at the airport. Flights are scheduled to resume at 10:00 a.m. local time.
HOMES: They're scheduled. We will see if that happens. Yes, we've heard that before and we have seen that screen behind you before. Tell us what this means.
WOLF: This one you're referring to back here?
HOLMES: Yes, that one.
WOLF: This one behind me? HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: This screen you see behind me, this is our flight explorer and you can see as we explore the map, we've got all kinds of airplanes that are popping up. All the planes you see on the screen behind me are either taking off, landing or at least hoping to land or hoping to take off.
Right now, we don't have a whole lot of activity at this point in Milwaukee, which is obvious because it's closed. It will be until 10:00 a.m. local time. They've got to do everything they can to clean up all the ice and the snow and it's a complete mess and it's just a catastrophe for so many peoples' plans. But you have to remember, it's far better being inside the terminal and waiting than being stuck on the runway waiting to take off hour after hour. Been there, not fun, trust me. It's not something you want to do.
The weather conditions are going to get better in both locations. In fact in Milwaukee right now, the weather situation has improved. As we zoom in on a couple of spots at the twin cities and back to Milwaukee, you'll notice we do have some scattered snow showers in Minneapolis, but in Milwaukee, notice this. Everything drifting farther to the south and moving right into Chicago, where believe it or not, despite the snow, flights are still taking off there from both of the major airports in the Chicago area.
Meanwhile, we're going to go a little bit farther to the east, show you what's happening in Detroit, Detroit, you're going to have some issues there from Jackson right along parts of Detroit from 96 to 94. You're going to have some icy conditions. And back over to Cleveland, we see some scattered snow showers, but in Pittsburgh, a little bit of a mix, kind of bright for the time being.
I want to show live images that we have from Pittsburgh at this time, this is WPXI in Pittsburgh. Good morning to you. Looks pretty good, cloudy skies. You're going to see a few snowflakes here and there. As we go back to the weather computer and wrap things up, you're going to notice as we make our back to New York, we have seen from Yonkers southward into New York and into Edison, a mix of rain, sleet and even some snowfall.
I know, the calendar says spring, but it sure looks like winter out there, doesn't it?
NGUYEN: It absolutely does. Reynolds, we do thank you.
WOLF: All right guys.
NGUYEN: Talk to you soon.
HOLMES: All right, folks do not drink the water. Folks in one Colorado town, I'm talking to you. You could be hearing that advice for the next three weeks because of a salmonella outbreak.
NGUYEN: Three weeks, official says the municipal water supply in Alamosa, Colorado is the source of this outbreak and they're scrambling to provide safe sources of water while they disinfect the system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Makers of bottled water have stepped up to donate water to the community, to kind of get them through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: One hundred thirty eight cases of salmonella have been reported. Seven people were admitted to the hospital.
HOLMES: New information now on a bizarre story out of the Florida Keys. A woman killed there by a giant spotted eagle ray. It never stung her, actually. Instead the medical examiner says the Michigan woman died from a blow to the head. The woman was riding in a boat when the 60-pound ray jumped out of the war, hitting her in the face.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN BOUCK, VICTIM'S BROTHER: Our family is very, very close. What we need right now is some privacy and time to grieve alone. We all miss Judy dearly, it just really hasn't even sunk in yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Still here a mystery is whether the impact of the ray killed her or if she hit her head when she fell backwards on the boat, so sad story all the way around no matter how...
NGUYEN: Chances of that happening though, really a freak situation.
So we're going to move on from that to something that we do truly enjoy here in the news room this morning and what does that mean, T.J.?
HOLMES: It's been a while. It's implosion time. Oh, that's good stuff, Betty.
NGUYEN: And there she goes. So much so that the audio just went because, I guess the sheer force of hearing all that go down, all that concrete. This happened just moments ago in Cincinnati and a six- story former packaging plant as you saw there brought down to make room for new student facilities at Xavier University.
A lot of materials like the concrete, the steel, all of that will be recycled and just to show you how big this building is, as I mentioned a little earlier, the debris alone expected to be 30 feet tall. But, again, cleanup is going to begin right now, immediately. They're not wasting any time.
HOLMES: It has been a while, I didn't realize it. It's really been a while since we have had an implosion on the show.
NGUYEN: Several months. HOLMES: I'm sure they're imploding buildings all over the place, but for whatever reason, our staff has not been on it.
NGUYEN: Do you feel satisfied though?
HOLMES: I feel better. I feel better.
NGUYEN: We'll be able to hold out until the next one. Don't worry, it will be here on CNN.
HOLMES: Let's move on to this now and let's talk about what it takes to get a Silver Star. We'll find out from a young solder. She is the second woman to get a star since World War II. She's going to join us live from Afghanistan.
NGUYEN: And in politics, where do the candidates stand in the popular vote? Josh Levs has a preview of what's ahead.
Hey there, Josh.
LEVS: Hey to you.
We hear all sorts of claims about that all important number. But in the end what is it? Turns out we're never going to actually know ever the full number. But what we do know, let's just say it's incredibly close. We'll have the figures right here, CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories making headlines today, China has issued a list of it's most-wanted protesters in Tibet.
HOLMES: Two-week old demonstrations becoming the largest challenge to China's control of Tibet since the 1959 uprising. China's flagship newspaper is calling for efforts to crush the uprising.
NGUYEN: This is a look at the violent protests in southeast Turkey as Kurds clash with police. The backdrop, the annual spring festivals that draws tens of thousands of people. Police had increased security and initially stood by when demonstrators broke the law by burning images of a jailed rebel chief.
HOLMES: The U.S. military says four soldiers have been killed in Iraq over the past 24 hours. Three died this morning when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in northwestern Baghdad. The fourth died yesterday of injuries from indirect fire south of the city; 3,996 U.S. service members have been killed since the war began five years ago.
NGUYEN: Speaking of the war, Monica Lin Brown, just 19-years- old, she should be dating, studying in some dorm somewhere, but instead, she is an army medic dodging bullets and mortar fire in Afghanistan and she is only the second female to receive the Silver Star since World War II. Army Specialist Brown joins us now live from Afghanistan and Monica, first of all congratulations, good morning. I want to talk to you about this wonderful honor that you have received. But first of all, take us back to that day when you earned the Silver Star. Walk us through what happened.
SPEC. MONICA LIN BROWN, U.S. ARMY: Well, I was attached to Charlie troop 473rd at the time and we had been out for a couple of days and we were actually heading back to the home base we were stationed at at the time, whenever it all happened.
We had gotten about a mile, mile and a half outside of a village and turned left into a river bed and that's when the fourth vehicle in the convoy got hit by an IED. We immediately stopped the convoy, got out of my truck and grabbed by aid bag. My platoon started right back to the burning Humvee at this point in time with me.
And the guys were about 10 or 15 feet away from the vehicle and then we were receiving small arms fire at this time and then drove them to a different location, trying to protect ourselves a little bit from the incoming fire and the burning Humvee started actually shooting off the rounds that were inside and the mortar rounds that were inside.
And we also started receiving incoming mortars and then Sgt. Zantos (ph) my platoon sergeant came back and said that he had a vehicle we could load the patients in. So moved the patients another 100 meters, got in back of a truck and moved about 500 more meters to a safe location where I was able to actually to treat him.
NGUYEN: That is really incredible. When you're in a situation like that, you're seeing the folks in your unit who have come under attack, their vehicle is on fire, you are dodging bullet to try to get to them. At any point did it strike you how dangerous this was or were you just so focused on trying to save these people?
BROWN: I was just worried about the guys and getting them out of there as soon as possible.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, that is why you have earned the Silver Star. And I know you have with you, next to you, Specialist Jack Bodani. He is also a distinguished member of your unit, received several honors as well. And specialist I want you to describe how Specialist Brown's actions went that day and what that meant to you as you covered her essentially while she was able to do that important work.
SPEC. JACK BODANI, U.S. ARMY: Well, she did her job and when I saw her coming up in the truck after we got everybody out of the vehicle, she started assessing casualties right away and she did it quickly, assessed who needed to be treated first, got everybody away from the kill zone, got everybody like she said further and further away so she had more security to work and she worked quickly and as fast as anything and everybody was just trying to fumble to help her.
So, we tried to do our best just to cover her so she had enough security, she didn't have to worry about anybody creeping up on her and just to make sure she get everybody OK so they could all go home.
NGUYEN: She did quite a job that day. It sounds like you're obviously very impressed with her. Specialist Brown, you're only the second female to receive a Silver Star since World War II. This was actually presented to you Thursday night by Vice President Dick Cheney. I got to ask you this. You're only 19 years old. That must feel pretty incredible to have earned the Silver Star.
BROWN: A little overwhelming at times, but I'm really proud to represent the 82nd airborne division and my brigade and all the training that I have received is shown and portrayed in the actions that I did that day.
NGUYEN: Very professional about it. Your brother was there and at the end of the day, you went there to do a duty, your brother was there to see you win this -- not really win -- but earn this incredible honor. How special was that for him to be there in Afghanistan while you were receiving the Silver Star?
BROWN: For him to be there and experience the situation with me was absolutely amazing. I couldn't have asked for anything else.
NGUYEN: You don't go to earn awards, you go to do a job and you absolutely have done yours. I just want to ask you this, as you're sitting there, the latest Silver Star recipient, is there anything that you want to say back to your family in Texas?
BROWN: That -- I want to say thank you for all their constant support throughout this whole entire situation. My grandmother has traveled everywhere and done interviews and she's a constant support for me and I know that I can tell her anything and that means a lot to me.
NGUYEN: I know she's very proud of you today and so are we all, Specialist Monica Lin Brown and Specialist Jack Bodani. We appreciate what you're doing and the valor and the bravery that you have shown. Thank you so much.
BROWN: Thank you.
BODANI: Thank you.
HOLMES: Nineteen.
NGUYEN: Nineteen-years-old, only the second female since World War II to win a Silver Star.
HOLMES: Nineteen-years-old, just doing her job.
NGUYEN: Isn't that amazing?
HOLMES: That is outstanding.
NGUYEN: We are such underachievers.
HOLMES: At 19. NGUYEN: I don't even know what I was doing at 19. You don't want to know.
HOLMES: We're going to take a political reality check. Just ahead, our Josh Levs is going to be breaking down the popular vote for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
NGUYEN: And speaking of popular, want to make some time with the ladies?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not actually how to talk to a girl, but it's how to get a girl to like you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: You know, I have been working on that for years.
NGUYEN: How's that going for you?
HOLMES: There's been some ups and downs. An eight-year-old Casanova is going to help me out this morning and break it down for love struck third graders. But still, there might be something in there I can use. The secret of his success is next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: Just don't try it on third graders, T.J. We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, the tight race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has focused mostly on the delegate count.
HOLMES: Mostly. But it would be a mistake to overlook the popular vote.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
HOLMES: Josh Levs is looking at the popular vote. Does this help us figure anything out a little better?
LEVS: It's not going to solve everything, but at least it's a little dose of reality. Because here's the thing, everyone keeps making claims about them. So what I want to do is show you what we actually know about it.
The best source for this is realfairpolitics.com (ph) because they go through every primary in existence everywhere. The first thing I want to show you here is that we're actually never going to know the full results because some of the states that refused to say the original numbers, Iowa, Nevada, Washington and Maine. They just don't say. They'll never say.
We do know those are the numbers right there. Given all the states where the numbers are actually reported. I know it's big numbers. I'm going to summarize it for you, 13.3 million for Obama versus 12.6 million for Clinton. We're talking about a total difference of 700,000. If it helps you look at percentages, look at that, 49 to 47 percent basically.
It is so incredibly close. Now they're fighting over Florida, right? Look at what happens if Florida votes had been counted. It becomes 48.5 percent to 47 percent. These numbers are so incredibly close. If they had counted Florida, the total difference would be 400,000. In order to count Florida, there's lots of questions about that and it might never happen.
And also, if Michigan were in there, that would likely go in Clinton's favor as well. Without Florida and Michigan, you have enough of a difference that it's a tougher thing for her to come back from, but if there were to be some form of voting in those two states, you can see why the popular vote would start to move closer in her direction.
NGUYEN: Do you know what would happen if Michigan were to come into play?
LEVS: If Michigan were to come into play, if they were to include that, if her name on the ballot, his wasn't, but she came out 90,000 votes ahead of him. It would shrink down to a total of 300,000 votes apart which is again incredibly close. And since Pennsylvania is coming up right now and that benefits her in terms of the current polling, it could if all those states we're in there, we're talking about a virtual tie in the popular vote.
There's all these ifs in the race, but realfairpolitics.com, that's where the numbers stand and even if you don't include those, they're still not even a million votes apart out of 27 million votes they're counting.
NGUYEN: So we're talking super delegates here. Is that was this is going to come down to?
LEVS: Given that the popular vote is so incredibly close and no one's ever going to know the full number, it's easy to believe that in the end, this is a delegate battle, pledged delegates and super delegates, absolutely.
HOLMES: Did you say realclearpolitics.com?
LEVS: Yes.
HOLMES: That's an oxymoron.
LEVS: You're going to get calls from the Web site.
HOLMES: Thank you for clearing all that up.
NGUYEN: Right, Mr. Reality.
HOLMES: Appreciate it. We'll experience the political campaign from the perspective of voters, tune in to CNN's "BALLOT BOWL." That is today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
NGUYEN: All right, T.J., some tough talk about the battle of the sexes here, are you ready for this? One young author has some love advice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes you get a girl to like you, then she ditches you. Tip, about 73 percent of regular girls ditch boys, 98 percent of pretty girls ditch boys. Life is hard, move on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Move on.
HOLMES: You can't move on from a pretty woman, come on.
NGUYEN: Where does he get his statistics? That's what I want to know. But you know what? You got to be strong, kids, words of wisdom, you want to keep it right here on how you can be lucky in love.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Right, reading, writing, and romance in the third grade? And eight-year-old Colorado boy shares his advice for getting the girl.
NGUYEN: Oh, you have to hear this. Alex Greven is the author of "How to Talk to Girls." Now, it started as a writing project in class. But now, it is a best-seller at Sworing (ph) Hawk Elementary School in Castle Rock and Alex says don't let the title of the book confuse you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX GREVEN, AUTHOR, "HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS": "How to Talk to Girls," it's not actually how to talk to a girl, but it's how to get a girl to like you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: See, there you go. How to get a girl to like you. Alex says he came up with the idea because a lot of boys need help with girls and he's already working on his second book. Maybe this is a future "Dr. Love" out there. Did you see it?
HOLMES: Yes, he's off to a good start. He's off to a good start.
NGUYEN: He's a cute kid, and you can't -- you really need a -- hear him coming up. He's going to be in our 10:00 a.m. Eastern hour. We'll be live, interviewing the little eight-year-old author here.
Maybe he can help you out to talk to girls in your own age range.
HOLMES: OK, in my own age range, thank you. NGUYEN: Let me clear, that's what you do. Let's be clear about this.
HOLMES: All right. Well, make sure to come back and see us then. We'll be talking to that young fellow. But right now, we're going to toss to another young fellow, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and "HOUSE CALL" right now.
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