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CNN Saturday Morning News

Deadly Tornado Kills Seven, Maybe Eight People in Arkansas; Polls in Guam Closed: Who Did They Vote For?; How Foreclosures Affect Families

Aired May 03, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said, get out. There's a tornado heading towards there. Get out right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Extreme weather on the move this morning. Tornado watches issued in three states. We have the information that you need.

So, good morning, everybody. What a busy one it is here at the CNN Center in Atlanta. It is Saturday, May 3rd. Already in May and boy, the storms have rolled in.

I'm Betty Nguyen.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes.

Got a lot of weather to talk about this morning.

Also, politics. Every vote counts right now, of course, in the close Democratic race, every delegate matters. And today, Americans are voting in Guam, the spotlight on the tiny U.S. territory. The polls have closed. We expect an announcement on a winner quite soon. As soon as we get it, we will hand that off to you.

NGUYEN: But right now, we do want to begin with that severe weather outside. Storms, even tornadoes, cut a deadly path across the central U.S. in Arkansas, at least seven deaths so far. And we're checking reports of an eighth fatality.

HOLMES: Several of the deaths were in areas still recovering from tornadoes that hit just three months ago.

CNN's Sean Callebs joins us live from one such area, Damascus, Arkansas. Just give us an idea of what you're seeing around you there.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Van Burren County, basically north central Arkansas, if you look behind me, you can see the foundation for this house. The storm came through, just ripped the house off its foundation, slammed it down. You can see it's absolutely splintered here in this area. Three people about a quarter mile from where we're standing right now, T.J., passed away yesterday during the very violent storms.

Twenty-four hours ago, this area of Arkansas was simply being punished by winds. At one time, two massive tornadoes were ripping through this area. We talked to some local residents. And they said at the top it was extremely wide, then went down to a very, very narrow point and just ripped through this area.

I want to show you, it's the little things that kind of stand out in the aftermath. If you look up here, in fact, I was talking with Reynolds Wolf after one of our earlier shot about this weather. You can see the lucky horseshoe still sticking up. We're still trying to determine, was it luck or was it not luck? Because there was nobody in this house at the time the storm hit.

But people all around here, one gentleman, Doyce Stevenson, we talked to a while ago, just built a storm cellar about a year and a half ago after living in this area for 20 years. And we had had a chance to speak with his son-in-law, Doug Crider. We have some pictures of him. He works with a backhoe digging oil and gas lines in this area. And he was actually ripping down some damaged trees that happened to his property. His house simply devastated. Doug is going to join us right now.

Doug, you were telling me yesterday that you were about 12 miles from here when you got the word. The first thing you did is called your father-in-law and said, get out, get to safety quickly. Then you made the drive over here. What was on the horizon when you left the town of Clinton to begin here?

DOUG CRIDER, STORM VICTIM: It was probably about -- there was probably four, five funnel clouds on the horizon that were forming. And they were small, but they were in rotation and all the other guys that were going down the road to get on the main highway, they started backing up and turning around. But I was scared that the school was hit.

CALLEBS: There's a school less than a mile from us, right in the path of the storm. Your kids go there. A lot of others in this area. What was going through your mind?

CRIDER: I just need to get there. I need to do something, you know. And that was just the main objective to focus on that.

CALLEBS: We talked about the national ...

HOLMES: It appears -- we're still not hearing our Sean Callebs ...

CALLEBS: I think we're back.

HOLMES: Oh, there you -- we do have you back.

CALLEBS: Yes, just support at the end of the microphone.

HOLMES: Go ahead, right there, Sean. CALLEBS: We talked about the National Guard that was up on the road. In the distance, we can see the large power lines. Those went down yesterday. So right now we are seeing a lot of the authorities with the electric company going back in there. What's it like? You've been out here seeing this. How much has the landscape changed in the last 24 hours?

CRIDER: A lot. It's just ravaged. It's just not -- it don't look like home anymore. Hard to deal with.

CALLEBS: You lost your house. You have insurance. You're going to rebuild. But very tough conditions out there. Doug, thanks a lot for joining us here. Best of luck to you and all the other folks in this area.

CRIDER: Thank you.

CALLEBS: T.J., he said he had enough insurance to cover it and he'll be able to rebuild. But the tough part is all the time to put in to make his house his home. You can't get that back. That's what we're hearing from a lot of people out in this area this morning as they begin to try to put the pieces back together -- T.J.

HOLMES: So tough to watch the aftermath of some of these storms. People are always resilient, say they want to rebuild. Once again, seeing that happen in Damascus. Sean Callebs, we appreciate you there this morning.

NGUYEN: Well, you know, we are getting pictures of storm damage from many of you today. I-reporter Steve Craft sent us these photos that he took from his driveway in Liberty, Missouri. You can see a house destroy by a tornado there. Craft says houses down the street they were damaged as well, but his home was not. He's one lucky guy.

And this picture of the snowstorm in South Dakota is from i- reporter John Longoria in Rapid City. You can barely see the house for all the snow. He says two weeks ago, get this T.J., he was wearing shorts and sandals, not today.

HOLMES: What a difference two weeks makes. It's been a rough couple of days. Reynolds Wolf, in the extreme weather center for us. What are we watching? You've been watching it since you walked in the door this morning really, you've had your eyes on these maps.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's been just an avalanche of severe weather in parts of the southeast. What's interesting though is we had the outbreak that took place earlier in the week back in Virginia. No fatalities, no major injuries, no issues. We had, of course, storms yesterday in parts of let's see, Kansas, back into Missouri, into Oklahoma, even Texas. We had some tornadoes. No issues.

However in Arkansas, that's where everything just collapsed. That's where we had so many problems and we're still dealing with some issues there this morning cleaning things up. And as we look ahead in this line of storms, we don't have any tornado warnings, but we still have a tornado watch in effect.

Let's go right to the computer. We're going to zoom in on a couple of locations right now mainly into Louisiana. We're just north of New Orleans. It's coming down like a sack of hammers. I mean, it is just some heavy rains at this point, some strong winds.

We have a live image out of New Orleans at this time. We'll show you what we have. And that live image of New Orleans coming up any second. There you go. We got the cloudy skies, and scattered showers. The wind is beginning to pick up. Some 30, 40-mile-an-hour gusts recorded in downtown New Orleans.

No doubt there's going to be stronger activity to the north of that. Let's go right back to the weather computer. And as we do, you're going see those storms.

Let's see, we're going to have to get back to that. We're being told to wrap. Let's send it back to you, guys, at the news desk.

NGUYEN: OK, Reynolds. It's going to be a busy day. Thank you.

WOLF: You got it.

NGUYEN: Let's move to politics for you. Because we are waiting for caucus results from Guam this morning. Yes, I said Guam. The tiny U.S. territory has a big place on the political stage, and that shows the importance of every single contest in this tight Democratic race. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is live, not in Guam unfortunately, but in Indianapolis this morning with the "Election Express."

I bet you wish you were over in Guam where really, you know, all eyes are on that little tiny island this morning. Because you know, here's the thing though, Paul, they only have, what, four delegates, four to six delegates, something really small, but they're making a big difference?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You know, small island, only four delegates at stake, four pledged delegates but it's a big story. We're talking about Guam. We thought about moving the CNN "Election Express" bus to Guam, but it was just too far to go, Betty.

But we've heard reports of long lines and a heavy turnout. That's why they're still counting the votes in Guam and as both campaigns advertising down there. Just a sign of how intense this race is between Clinton and Obama.

Besides Guam, North Carolina and Indiana, they both vote Tuesday. We're looking at 177 delegates between the two states. And both Clinton and Obama last night down in North Carolina at a Democratic party dinner, and both of them were speaking out about John Edwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to make sure that I say a special thanks to John and Elizabeth Edwards because they really set the tone for this presidential race with their courage, with their ideas, with their passion and their commitment to working people and to making sure that we focus our attention on not just the haves, not even the have littles and want mores, but the have nots in America.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And let me say what a great fighter North Carolina and working Americans everywhere have in John Edwards. John ran with compassion and conviction. And his courageous fight to end poverty is a fight I will see to the finish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Edwards, of course, dropped out of the race earlier this year. He's the former senator from North Carolina as well. We don't expect him to endorse either candidate right now before the primary. But I misspoke. I said 177, 187 delegates at stake in both states. In North Carolina, Obama is up about ten points in the polls. Right here, Betty, in Indiana, it is dead even -- Betty.

NGUYEN: That's why a lot of focus is on Tuesday. And today we're going to give you the votes from Guam as soon as we get a winner out of that. We'll bring that official tally to you as soon as we get it. Thank you, Paul, for joining us today. Thank you.

HOLMES: We will turn now to some money talk. Some of you have already gotten your economic stimulus checks. Congratulations. Well, before you spend it, Gerri Willis has some advice for you.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, as we know, the government wants us to spend that stimulus money, and there's some great incentives out there that will allow you to take yours a little further. For example, Sears is giving customers an additional 10 percent if they cash in their entire rebate check for a gift card.

And if you're worried about rising food prices, Krogers, Albertson, Jewel-Osco and other grocery store chains are offering similar deals. And as far as the spending of the money versus saving it or paying it down, well the best and most responsible thing to do is to think about your finances first.

If you have high interest credit card debt, put the money towards paying off those balances and remember job security is key during a recession. Consider investing part of your rebate check to upgrade your skills. Look into programs at your local community college or online.

Coming up on "OPEN HOUSE," the candidates' plans for health care are leaving some pain at the pump. And what some European countries are doing to lure in American travelers. That's "OPEN HOUSE," 9:30 a.m. Eastern.

NGUYEN: It will be interesting to see what they're doing to lure American travelers. Yes, up the price of the dollar. That might help. HOLMES: Yes. The dollar's not doing so well right now. And you know, food prices kind of hiked up these days.

NGUYEN: That's true.

HOLMES: A lot of people struggling with that. But is it enough to make you buy slightly expired food?

NGUYEN: Really?

HOLMES: A grocery store in Minnesota doing just that. They're selling it and selling it cheap.

NGUYEN: And apparently it's pretty popular. Jeff Olson of affiliate KARE has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF OLSON, KARE REPORTER: Business at this north Minneapolis grocery outlet percent grew 30 percent last year. 2008 is looking just as good.

SCOTT GODES, CO-OWNER, SO-LOW: We've always gotten people from all over the metro. We're just again going through another phase of starting to see new ones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything counts you know.

OLSON: Today, those customers are finding deals like a box of frozen angus beef patties for $3.99.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are $6.99, $7.99 around town.

OLSON: Cartons of Tropicana lemonade, normally $2.00 are now $0.99. And the big one, entire cases of yogurt are 99 cents. Price to sell because --

GODES: It's either close or outdated.

OLSON: According to owner, Scoot Godes, outdated but still edible, like these cookies. Today 99 cents gets you both packs.

GODES: As long as it looks good, smells good and tastes good, it's considered good. Everything, no matter what it is, is guaranteed 100 percent. We monitor that.

OLSON: Godes said they monitor meat especially closely. As a result, they're able to offer great deals.

GODES: Last week we had fresh chickens, whole chickens, for 49 cents a pound. That's a huge -- that's regularly 89, 99 cents a pound.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's smoked right on.

OLSON: And for folks who aren't so sure about experimenting with expiration dates. Godes offers himself as a walking, talking testament to them.

GODES: I've eaten, you know, outdated foods all my life. And here I am.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: I think that might be a guy thing. Because half the stuff in my fridge is expired and I'll eat it just fine.

NGUYEN: As long as it smells good, right?

HOLMES: It smells just fine. Stay here with CNN. Our money team has you covered with jobs, debt, housing, savings or expired food. Join us for "ISSUE #1," the economy, all next week, noon Eastern.

NGUYEN: So losing more than just your home.

HOLMES: Homeowners aren't the only ones to suffer in a foreclosure. A new report looks at the toll on kids. We'll talk to the author.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: OK. I want you to listen to this number -- an estimated two million children will be left homeless in the next two years because of the foreclosure crisis. That's according to a new report by First Focus, which is a child advocacy group.

And Bruce Lesley is the president of First Focus. He joins me now from Washington. And Bruce, two million children? Is that number right? How did you come across that number?

BRUCE LESLEY, PRESIDENT, FIRST FOCUS: We were looking at basically the numbers of -- we looked at kind of the overall impact on mortgage foreclosures and how many families were being affected and did some analysis of how the impact was across the country and found that over - you know, almost two million children will be affected by just mortgage foreclosures. That doesn't even account for the families that are affected by rental properties that are also going under.

NGUYEN: We're just looking at the breakdown of the numbers when it comes to demographics there on the screen. OK, so, you know, when it comes to losing a home, for parents, that is difficult enough, but for children, a lot of people don't stop and think about the affects there. I mean, they've got to change their schools, they got to change their friends. They got to start all over. And for some people, some kids especially it's almost embarrassing at a point, isn't it?

LESLEY: Yes. I mean, what we're finding also is that, in Cleveland, for example, over 2,000 children are homeless. And that's a 30 percent increase over the previous year. And so the impact on those families is devastating. As children move, you know, they have their education is affected. They have all kinds of evidence that they're more likely to retained a year, that they may drop out of school. All kinds of problems with their education. It also affects their health care, as if you can't afford --

NGUYEN: Your mortgage, how can you afford health care?

LESLEY: That is exactly right. And so, their health is affected, their education is affected. And in addition to that, when families are under stress, you also see increases in child abuse. So there's huge ramifications for children across the board.

NGUYEN: All right. So when it comes to a family that has had to lose their home, homeless, on the streets, even aside from that, folks who have had to move, go to a rental property or whatnot, what are some of the behavioral problems that parents should really look for in their kids to make sure that they can come back from this?

LESLEY: Well, one of the things that we believe that really needs to happen is there needs to be more support for families in this crisis. I mean, one of the things the government is doing is they're definitely looking to the things about, you know, helping bail out Bear Stearns and so the financial industry, the credit, mortgage, and housing industry. But at the same time, you know, the impact on children is happening in the world.

NGUYEN: Exactly. So, Bruce, what can parents do to help their kids cope?

LESLEY: One of the things that parents can do and schools can do is really provide some of that services. You know, caring adults in their lives to really provide some stability. I mean, that's the problem for kids, stability is a key issue. So as much support that families can get, and that is not what's happening. You know, the industry will recover, but families won't.

And so at the very time this is occurring, we're actually seeing reduced federal investment in kids, and so what families and schools need is really more support.

NGUYEN: All right. Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, thanks for your information today. It is really staggering number, an estimated two million children will be left homeless in the next two years because of the foreclosure crisis essentially in the U.S.. All right. Thank you, Bruce.

LESLEY: Thank you very much.

HOLMES: That is a staggering number to hear.

NGUYEN: It's hard to stomach.

HOLMES: All right. We will turn to something else hard for people to stomach right now, gas prices. We can't promise you that the prices are coming down, but what we can offer you here are at least tips to increase your gas mileage, cut down on your trips to the gas station. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, folks, gas prices -- they are on the rise. You know it. We know it. Everybody does. And there's really not much we can do about it.

HOLMES: There's something you can do to at least try to conserve gas, save some money. Kathleen Koch has those tips for us. She's at a service station in the nation's capital.

NGUYEN: Look at that. See, we can't change that, but, Kathleen, we can change, I guess, the way we drive and what we do so that we can save a little bit of money?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We can, Betty and T.J.. We can do a little bit. And these are really all very common sense tips, things I know you've heard over the years.

Let's start out with the air filter. Just having a clean air filter can boost the efficiency of your gas mileage, your engine, by as much as 10 percent. That can save you about 35 cents a gallon. Your alignment. Poorly aligned tires not only wear badly, wear out quickly, they put strain on your engine. So get an alignment. That will reduce your -- it will reduce gas mileage -- or increase gas mileage by as much as 10 percent, saving you 35 cents a gallon.

Get a tune-up. Tune-up -- it's very simple, that will boost your mileage by four percent, saving you another 14 cents. Then the tires, where the rubber meets the road, properly inflate those tires. About a quarter of people are driving around on poorly inflated tires. But if they're properly inflated, they can knock another 10 cents a gallon off your gas.

Now, another tip from the Energy Department -- get the junk out of the trunk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID RODGERS, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: Remember -- offload your trunk. Every extra 100 pounds that you carry around in your car is like wasting 7 cents a gallon when you fill up. So get this junk out of your trunk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, obviously don't speed because speeding is against the law. It's not safe. But also, you're wasting gas. Say you're driving 75 miles or 70 miles an hour on the highway. If you knock just 5-mile-an-hour off that down to 65, you'll save 25 cents a gallon.

And then finally, don't idle. When you're just sitting there idling with your engine running, you're getting zero miles to the gallon. So, if you're going to be stopped for just at least 30 seconds, when you're off the road, shut off the engine. They say for every two minutes that you're sitting there that you don't idle you'll save about a penny a gallon. Betty and T.J., it does all add up and it can really mean some significant savings when you to the pump.

NGUYEN: Wait a second. Doesn't it cost more to recrank that and you know get the gas flowing again? I'm no expert here.

HOLMES: Details, Betty. Little details.

KOCH: Not according to the experts. I think if you were only going to shut it off for 30 seconds, then it may not make sense. But certainly don't sit there idle two, three, four minutes. Because you're just wasting gas, going nowhere fast.

NGUYEN: And get that junk out of your trunk, as you say.

KOCH: You bet.

NGUYEN: I saw you smiling when you said that, Kathleen. Thanks.

HOLMES: That's the key for you, Betty -- slow down.

NGUYEN: I know. It's hard. OK. we're going to say, move over Wii so we can make room for the ZCam. You know what that is?

HOLMES: I don't. We're about to find out. The new technology here that lets you get into the game in a major way. But will gamers give it a thumbs-up?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Al right. The Wii. You remember the Wii. You got to do the demonstration here when it first came out. You got to show off your skills right here on the air. Don't know if you're going to get a chance on this one, but there's a new device that uses motions and hand gestures to create video games with no controllers at all.

NGUYEN: You know, it's really cool because it's a three- dimensional webcamera that allows you to really get into the game. Veronica de la Cruz has details on this tech effect report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the 2002 movie, "Minority Report," Tom Cruise's character used hand motions to control images on a screen. Today, a device called ZCam promises to bring that future closer to reality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think this will really create a totally new experience to interactive machines.

DE LA CRUZ: ZCam looks like a regular webcam but it's a three- dimensional webcam that uses infrared lasers to measure depth and movement. So with gaming applications, and without a remote control, you can use your hand and body gestures to play a boxing game like a heavyweight champ or fly an airplane like a fighter pilot.. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can understand the way a person is moving. So, we can -- we're actually creating a new type of man/machine interface for multiple different arenas, video gaming being one of them.

DE LA CRUZ: Other applications include browsing your PC with specific finger motion, but clear (ph), says ZCam could also help save lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are applications related to automotive safety where we can understand (INAUDIBLE) means or the sensors to understand the size of a person, the head location, et cetera, just to (INAUDIBLE) before an accident and then operate airbags more safely.

DE LA CRUZ: ZCam will be released later this year, but developers are already experimenting with the technology. For applications like controlling second-life avatars, making it even easier for players to get in the game.

Veronica De La Cruz, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: OK, that's cool. That was really cool stuff.

HOLMES: We got to get you on a demonstration on that one.

NGUYEN: Absolutely.

Well, right now though, the spotlight is on this. Presidential politics shining on the U.S. territory of Guam this morning. We are waiting for results from today's Democratic caucuses.

HOLMES: And of course, we will bring those to you when we get them.

But first, "OPEN HOUSE" with Gerri Willis starts right now.