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CNN Saturday Morning News
Key House Committee Passes Health-Care Bill; Honda Adds 440,000 Cars to Recall; Source: Hit Suspected in Florida Couple's Killing; Microsoft, Yahoo Make Play To Topple Google
Aired August 01, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, from the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for the first day of August. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Can you believe it? August?
HOLMES: I can't.
BALDWIN: I'm not ready.
HOLMES: We started about the New Year.
BALDWIN: I'm not ready yet.
HOLMES: But welcome back. Good to see you again.
BALDWIN: Hey, thanks. Hey, I'm Brooke, in for Betty again this weekend. She's long away in Vietnam doing some great things on that part of the...
HOLMES: She'll be back soon. She'll be back.
BALDWIN: Part of the world. She'll be back next weekend.
Let's start with some of what we're working on for you this morning, including, of course, talking this morning about the health- care plan. President Obama is now one step closer to congressional approval.
Last night, big vote in the House; the House Energy and Commerce Committee finally passed their version of the bill. Two other committees had already signed off. So...
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: ...we will probably be seeing some kind of full-chamber vote sometime September, October. But now they're long gone on recess.
HOLMES: They're off and having to explain themselves...
BALDWIN: Yes.
HOLMES: ...on this recess, to their constituents.
BALDWIN: Yes. HOLMES: We're going to be talking a lot about health care this morning, so stick around for that.
Also, Honda says some of their cars could literally kill you. At least one death being linked to a default in one of their vehicles, a couple of their vehicles. If you drive an Accord, an Acura, a Civic, you need to stay tuned and check with your dealership as well. We'll tell you what's going on with these cars and what you need to be looking out for.
BALDWIN: Also this story, I'm really looking forward to seeing.
HOLMES: Uh huh.
BALDWIN: Reynolds Wolf going on a mission to figure out how dairy farmers are using cow manure -- cow manure to save money, and apparently he took things a little too far.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHAWN SAYLOR, HILLCREST SAYLOR DAIRY FARM: I think these cows are fed better than me because they have their own nutritionist.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh man. It tastes like (BLEEP).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Oh no he didn't. Reynolds -- protein? What did it taste -- look at it hanging out of his mouth. Bad decision. I like that font (ph). Yes. We'll be -- we'll be getting the -- the scoop from Reynolds on how -- how that tasted, how that went for him.
HOLMES: See how you swashing that down and see how he's doing now.
BALDWIN: Yes.
HOLMES: We'll get him up here in a second.
BALDWIN: A little breakfast.
All right. Let's talk news this morning. Here are some of the stories we were following for you overnight.
The U.S. looking into reports that three missing Americans may have been detained in Iran. According to Kurdish officials in northern Iraq, the Americans were last seen hiking near the unmarked Iranian border. Kurdish officials its group -- it's likely the group accidentally crossed into Iran at Ahmed Awa. That's a popular tourist destination there, right along the border.
CNN's Arwa Damon following the story for us today. We'll talk to her in just about 30 minutes. HOLMES: All right. We can add five more banks to the list of those that have been shut down this year. In Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio, New Jersey in Illinois, these latest. The biggest failure was Mutual Bank of Harvey, Illinois. Officials estimate the latest batch of closures will cost the FDIC more than $900 million.
A lot of banks, a lot of smaller and regional banks have been shutting down this year because of the downturn in the economy. And a lot of families, a lot of local folks cannot make those payments. So that is why some of these banks do go in and get into trouble.
So far, 69 banks have been taken over by the government this year.
BALDWIN: The murders of a Florida couple last month may have been contract killings. That's what we're hearing. A source familiar with the investigation is telling some reporters the state attorney's thinks most of the suspects were only there to rob Byrd and Melanie Billings. But the alleged organizer of this thing, Leonard Gonzalez Jr. and other suspects may have been planning this hit all along.
The state attorney's office says he cannot comment on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL EDDINS, FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY: It's my belief that the primary motive for this murder was robbery. However, we will evaluate and review all possibilities and we will consider and review all evidence as it relates to motive. That's been my position from the beginning. That's my position now.
Because the investigation is ongoing and because of the magnitude of this matter, I do not believe that it would be appropriate for me to comment further.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, seven people altogether charged with murder in the Billings case. A safe was taken and later found at a home connected to the chief suspect.
BALDWIN: But a legal expert who spoke with Anderson Cooper last night says he was not surprised to see more lawyers in the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY: And I think most people, when they heard about this first, when the arrests came out, I think most people probably said, the way that this was carried out just seemed to be a little bit more than a robbery.
It was planned -- the ninja-style outfits. It was precise; they practiced a month before. So I think, generally, people were saying it just doesn't sound like a robbery.
So the fact that now they are investigating this murder for hire I don't think is so unusual.
And I think they're going to keep it close to the vest, because they are still investigating.
COOPER: Keep it close to the vest, as they should.
But -- but they -- I mean, the idea of a revenge killing, in some way -- what would be a possible motive for a revenge killing in a case like this?
HONOWITZ: Well, we're not going to know anything until, you know, basically people start flipping.
And I think the woman that was arrested -- you know, she was the last one who was arrested, for accessory after the fact. And I think the bottom line is, she's going to be the flip witness. She's going to be the one that is going to start talking in order to get a good deal.
And that's why now I think you're starting to hear this aspect of murder for hire, because maybe some of them are starting to talk. And that's why additional charges might come down and they might be looking for additional suspects.
COOPER: What's interesting...
HONOWITZ: And we're going to have to wait and see. As this progresses, as people start talking, as more evidence comes forward, we're going to hear more about it.
COOPER: What's interesting though, and what may complicate all this is that -is that the same source also told CNN that the state attorney's office is working under the belief that most of the suspects in the case thought they were actually there for a robbery, and that it was really only -- that only some were -- were plotting the hit.
HONOWITZ: Yes, I mean, the source -- and what I have read is, the bottom line is, people that were up from this gentleman Gonzalez, who they say is the shooter, knew what was going on, and the people lower were just kind of lassoed into this robbery.
And you know what? You know, as a prosecutor, I can tell you theories do change as evidence becomes more prevalent, as people start talking, especially in a case when you have more than one people -- person arrested, more than one suspect, in this case, eight people, people start talking.
So different theories, different portions of the investigation start coming forward as the case goes forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: The couple they're talking about, they had 16 children, many of them they adopted with special needs.
HOLMES: That has been a strange case from the beginning. So many people...
BALDWIN: The strange case keeps going.
HOLMES: And it keeps going. It keeps on giving. Who knows if we'll ever get to the bottom of that. We'll stay on top of it.
Also, we're on top of health care, as another step forward for President Obama's plan to reform the health-care system. A House committee passed a version of the bill late last night.
Now, that bill has to be merged with other versions that were passed by other committees in the House as well.
BALDWIN: So three versions.
HOLMES: Three different versions.
BALDWIN: Did I get them right?
HOLMES: There different versions; you got to bring those together.
BALDWIN: OK. So the final version will probably go before the full chamber sometime September, maybe October. Yesterday's vote came just before the House went on August recess.
Now, the Senate probably won't reach a deal before it goes on recess next Friday.
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: So there will be plenty of unfinished business left in Washington while all these lawmakers are out and about vacationing for the month of August.
HOLMES: However, as our Dana Bash explains, summer vacation won't bring the health-care fight to a halt at all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the last vote, the exodus, House members rushing home for the entire month of August. And if you're a vulnerable Democrat, prepare for the political tsunami on health care.
REP. TOM PERRIELLO (D), VIRGINIA: They're going to get the first shot in, the 30-second attack. But the more people know, the more they like what we're doing. And that's going to be good for us over the long term.
BASH: Tom Perriello is a freshman Democrat who only won his conservative Virginia district by two-tenths of one percentage point. He's undecided about his party's health-care plan and will use August with his constituents to decide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighteen counties, 18 "Tom in your towns" and meetings with elected officials and doctors and others. Road-testing this; I haven't committed on the bill.
BASH: Democratic leaders are hoping to defend Democrats like Perriello from withering Republican attacks by arming them with a media strategy, from Power Points to simple message ideas: hold insurance companies accountable, remove them from between you and your doctor.
To get their message out, Democratic leaders suggest using town halls, Twitter, Facebook.
Pennsylvania Democrat Jason Altmire rolls his eyes at those instructions.
REP. JASON ALTMIRE (D), PENNSYLVANIA: The House bill is in my opinion flawed.
BASH: He's a vulnerable Democrat who voted against his party's health-care plan in committee, and says Democratic leaders have put Democrats like him from conservative districts in a tough spot by including controversial proposals in their health-care plan, like a tax increase.
ALTMIRE: Go back to their district and explain to their constituents why they took a politically unpopular vote. It just was tone deaf to me.
BASH: He insists he's not worried about the onslaught of ads, calls and protests that await him at home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least it's encouraging debate. We didn't ram this through. We took the August recess to allow the country's voice to be heard.
BASH (on camera): Talk to just about any Democratic lawmaker and they'll tell you they were elected on a promise to reform the health- care system, and they believe, at the end of the day, it will happen. But the key is to regain the message back from Republicans, in a words of one lawmaker: "Explain what they're doing for you, not to you."
And they're very much treating this like a political campaign. In fact, one Democratic leader that they're determined not to get swift boated during recess.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Good morning.
WOLF: Good morning.
HOLMES: How are you? I've been -- we've been talking about this video this morning. Let's go ahead and take this full here and show what we're talking about.
Some -- some video out of St. Augustine, Florida. Some light -- ah -- lightning strikes.
WOLF: Pretty intense, isn't it?
I mean, this is -- you see part of the Intercoastal Waterway off there in the distance. This is not too far from Castillo de San Marcos, which is known as the Old Fort in -- in parts St. Augustine, near Highway A1A. And what they had there was an intense thunderstorm all the way from, say, St. Augustine up through Ponta Vedra, back through Sawgrass, even as far south as...
HOLMES: Wow.
WOLF: ...Daytona. I mean, it is -- that is actually the lightning capital of North America.
HOLMES: Really?
WOLF: Did you know that?
HOLMES: I did not know that.
WOLF: It is. That's what happens in central Florida.
Now, the lightning capital of...
HOLMES: Wow.
WOLF: ...the world is actually in central Africa. But it's...
HOLMES: How do you know this stuff?
WOLF: Because I'm a geek. I'm a nerd. I'm a meteorologist. That's what we're trained to do.
HOLMES: Well, these folks here at this house -- now you would think, maybe some serious damage or something. You see the house (INAUDIBLE)
WOLF: Absolutely.
HOLMES: Somebody rocked (ph) with the camera there. They didn't lose power; all they lost was their Internet connection.
WOLF: Wow.
HOLMES: That was it.
WOLF: I would have lost a lot more than that. There's no question.
HOLMES: Well, OK. When you say the lightning capital of the U.S....
WOLF: Yes.
HOLMES: This area you're talking about, do you have an idea of how many lightning strikes that means per year or per...
WOLF: Well, I can tell you that lightning...lightning strikes the Earth -- strikes our planet an average of seven times per second. So every second. One, two three -- lightning strikes are going crazy right now.
I mean -- but it just happens that you have it really in central Florida, because it's right on a peninsula, you have the converging sea breeze. And every afternoon between 3 and -- and 6 p.m., into the early evening, you have a chance of thunderstorms, year round.
There are times of the year that they're less noticeable. But, you know...
HOLMES: Man, it's good talking -- I learn something every time I talk to you over here (ph).
WOLF: And there's so much that he doesn't learn when we talk off the air.
(LAUGHTER)
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: And coming up, we're going to be talking about something entirely different. I'm going to take you to the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania, to the Hillcrest Saylor Dairy Farm, where they derive their power not just from any, say, power plant, but their own power plant with horns. Straight from cows.
We're going to give you the stinky details coming up very soon.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: You're a brave man.
HOLMES: You got people talking this morning about that already.
BALDWIN: You're a brave man.
WOLF: I am terrified when I saw some of that video. It's kind of freaky. You kind of forget some of those things. You kind of block it out, you know?
But being, you know, able to revisit it, not always a good thing.
HOLMES: We're not going to let you forget it this morning, buddy. Looking forward to seeing it.
WOLF: No. See you guys.
HOLMES: See you soon, Renny.
BALDWIN: It -- it's like that show, "Man vs. Wild." It's like "Reynolds vs. Wild."
HOLMES: It is, yes.
BALDWIN: Looking forward to that.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Also, I had a little bit of a wild time, actually, this past week. I was in Chicago. And we're asking the question -- we're talking about Chicago violence, and really what it's like to be in a gang.
I sat down and I rode along in some of the dangerous part of the city with a gang member. We'll hear his personal story, talking about some of the violence, especially among kids on the streets, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BALDWIN: What is that, (INAUDIBLE)
HOLMES: I am bringing in my CD collection now (INAUDIBLE).
BALDWIN: After last weekend you're...
HOLMES: After last weekend...
BALDWIN: Taking -- taking charge.
HOLMES: We can't leave it in Deanna's (ph) anymore, guys.
Reynolds...
BALDWIN: Reynolds Wolf, not just your favorite CNN meteorologist, but getting down and dirty in Pennsylvania.
WOLF: Yes, with the cows. Moo.
Yes, I had a chance to go to southwestern Pennsylvania to the Hillcrest Saylor Dairy Farm. It's a place that's been in operation for -- for over a century. And the family started off with three cows. Now they have over 600.
And they actually power the farm not with just regular electricity, but electricity that has been formed by...
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: Manure? Yes. Just -- just see in the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF (voice-over): Milking a profit from a dairy farm is not easy. The price of milk is dropping, but the cost of running a farm isn't getting any cheaper.
(on camera): Well, how about one of these cows like 3095. What is her day going to be like?
SAYLOR: She's going to need to eat 100 to 110 pounds of food.
WOLF (voice-over): Shawn Saylor owns this fourth-generation farm in Pennsylvania. And he's finding creative ways to make ends meet.
SAYLOR: That's one of the mechanical scrapers that scrape the barn.
WOLF (on camera): It's not scraping dirt. It's scraping something else. What's it scraping there?
SAYLOR: A large pile of manure.
WOLF: All for power?
SAYLOR: Yes.
WOLF (voice-over): That's right; Saylor's 600 milking cows help power the farm. Their waste is flushed into a big digester and stored for about 16 days to create methane gas.
SAYLOR: The digester is just another high-efficiency stomach.
WOLF: And the gas created inside of it generates enough electricity to power Hillcrest Saylor Dairy Farm. And it does in neighboring home.
Converting waste to power saves Saylor almost $200,000 a year.
SAYLOR: So you're taking a system-project cost of over $1 million to build a system, but a payback of -- of five years or less.
WOLF (on camera): If your great-grandfather, who started this operation, if he were alive today, and you were to say, 'Grandpa Saylor, we are powering our farm with cow waste' ...
SAYLOR: Probably disbelief. It'd be more like science fiction.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: I'm -- I'm still in disbelief. I think the cow is, too.
BALDWIN: The cow's not happy. Did you see the cow's look?
WOLF: No.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: He's like, 'What are you doing?'
WOLF: What are you guys doing over there with that big camera?
Yes, it -- it -- it's a very weird thing. When you go up there -- I mean, just the -- the whole idea of what they're doing, it -- it -- you know, it -- it seems on the face of it kind of a gross thing. But then when you -- you look past that, you look at the dollars and sense that they're saving, you look at how -- how not only does the farm benefit, but also parts of the community, because they actually give some of this power back to the grid.
And many of the -- the homes in the community get power from that farm. It -- it is really a neat thing. We're probably going to see more farms actually follow suit, do basically the same thing. And ... . HOLMES: Two hundred thousand dollars a year?
WOLF: Two hundred thousand dollars. And that's for...
HOLMES: That is real money.
WOLF: And this is not a huge farm. This is not a big one. As I mentioned, only around 600 cows. I mean, there are many cattle farms that are much, much longer. So -- so we see this technology replicated in other parts of the country, who knows what kind of -- of help we could do.
BALDWIN: People getting creative.
WOLF: Yes. Stinky creative, but creative nonetheless.
BALDWIN: Stinky creative.
HOLMES: Reynolds...
BALDWIN: Thanks, Reynolds.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: You bet.
BALDWIN: That was great.
HOLMES: Well, a lot of people, as we know, have a tough time right about now finding a job. A lot of people make a lot of mistakes.
One of them may be that you may seem too desperate when you are job hunting. Who knew?
BALDWIN: Not a good thing.
HOLMES: No. But some people are desperate.
BALDWIN: I know.
HOLMES: So...
BALDWIN: So we'll have some tips on what not to do and not seem desperate.
Also, we're talking to Josh Levs, who has a tale of two titans.
Hey, Josh. JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there. Good morning to you guys.
This is one of the biggest things that's happened on the Internet all year. You've got Microsoft and Yahoo now coming together to take on Google. And their goal is to build the ultimate search engine.
Will this change the way that you search online?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BALDWIN: It started off as just a couple guys in a garage. But it became one of the biggest companies on the planet. Talking about Google.
HOLMES: Mm-hmm.
BALDWIN: Pretty much dominates the online-search market.
HOLMES: Yes. But is that about to change?
Two powerful companies came together this year in hopes of taking over.
Josh Levs with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: Some are calling it Microhoo!, this combination of Microsoft and Yahoo getting together to try to challenge the dominance of Google.
Will this change the way you search online? We're going to get some answers now.
Steven Levy is joining us from "Wired" magazine.
Steven, thank you.
STEVEN LEVY, "WIRED" MAGAZINE: Thank you.
LEVS: All right. So talk to us.
For a big picture here, do Microsoft and Yahoo really have a shot at challenging the dominance of Google as the ultimate way to search online?
LEVY: I think it's a real, real long shot to think that even in the long term, you know, this Microsoft-Yahoo combination -- right? It's more like ying, because it's Microsoft search engine Bing, which Yahoo is going to use.
They really can't supplant Google in the -- the medium, or even long term, because Google has a lock on Web search. Seventy-five percent in the U.S, even more -- up to 92 percent in western Europe. Microsoft is now a strong No. 2.
LEVS: If they don't have a shot at becoming No. 1, why even go for it? What are they going to get out of it?
LEVY: Well, first of all, there's money to be made by being a strong No. 2. And they could inch up their share, particularly if they buy their way into it by buying placement on browsers.
The second thing is, they're -- Google doesn't have permanence everywhere. There's different -- the Web moves fast, and there's different ways that search is going to go into people's lives. There's going to mobile search, video search, all kinds of other searches.
So I think Microsoft puts itself in a strong position now to be a competitor in these future areas of search.
LEVS: Is there a place that a lot of people out there are saying, 'You know what? I like Google, except it keeps doing this thing wrong'?
LEVY: Right.
LEVS: Where is Google weak?
LEVY: Well, it's interesting; Microsoft actually tried to identify a few places, so they concentrated on a few areas, like health and travel. But it's very difficult to scale these things when you kind of pinpoint and take a rifle shot in search there.
I think right now, the difficulty is going to be the delivering much more varied, multimedia results, and keeping the simplicity.
LEVS: In reality, for most people out there who sit down at their computers and search for information, are they likely to see any kind of sea change in the next couple years?
LEVY: Well, I think we're to see improvements. This is good for the -- the consumer.
It's good that Google has a lot of competition now, and the competition's going to be focused really to -- to where it belongs, into the -- the -- the company which is most competitive with Google in -- in other areas. And then we'll search companies like Facebook and Twitter, in terms of real-time search of what people are doing now, and to search their social graphs.
So I think the -- the consumers, you know, may not see like a -- a big sea change, a big bang. But they're going to see improvements coming from all directions.
LEVS: All right. Well, Steven Levy, "Wired" magazine, thank you so much.
LEVY: Thank you.
LEVS: All right, guys. Back to you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A recall you need to know about involves one of the most popular cars in the country, and one of these could be sitting in your driveway. And it's even -- the recall has to do -- it's a deadly defect even.
BALDWIN: Talking about Honda.
HOLMES: Talking about Honda, yes.
BALDWIN: Still to come, we'll tell you what's going wrong with several of their models.
Also, a question for you: is gang violence considered a public- health issue? One Chicago doctor I talked to this week says yes. I spoke with her and a young man whose life she saved, a gang member on Chicago's street.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: We're in a crew car headed from downtown Chicago to the city's southwest side. It's an area with known pockets of basically gang activity. And we're going to this interview; we're talking to a current gang member. He's willing to share his story about the violence in Chicago, but he's only willing to do it as long as we keep him in the car, we don't share his face and we don't drive into any other neighborhoods, any other gang turf, just to keep and our crew safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hello everybody. Welcome back to this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BALDWIN: Good morning. Happy Saturday. I'm Brooke Baldwin, in for Betty again this weekend. Thank you for starting your weekend with us.
Talking about another step forward for President Obama's plan to reform health care. A key House committee passed a version of the bill late last night before going on this monthlong August recess.
Now, it has to be merged with two other versions passed by two other panels within the House, and then the full chamber will probably get the final bill vote on it sometime in September. The Senate probably won't reach a deal before it goes on recess, next Friday.
HOLMES: Well, Honda is recalling 440,000 more vehicles because of a potential problem with driver's side air bags. This is in addition to a recall announced back in November. The cars affected are 2001 and 2002 model Accords, 2001 Civics and Acura TLs, that were made in 2002 and 2003. Honda says in rare cases the air bag inflators have ruptured when the air bag deployed and that then shoots out these metal pieces that caused injury and at least one death is attributed to this defect.
BALDWIN: A rancher in Southern California is wondering who poisoned 23 horses on her ranch. Three horses are seriously ill this morning, in a hospital. The owner says somebody broke into the ranch, that's in Rancho Santa Fe, in California, and fed these horses toxic leaves mixed in with their apples. She says she's still going to install a security camera.
HOLMES: Iranian news agencies are reporting that trials began today for about 100 protestors detained after the disputed presidential elections in June. Their charges include attacking military and government buildings and destruction of public property.
In the meantime, some 17,000 other prisoners were either pardoned or had their sentences commuted by Iran's supreme leader. Their amnesty honors Mohammed's assignment to prophet hood.
U.S. officials are checking on reports that three American tourists may have been detained in Iran. The Americans were last seen hiking in Iraq, near the Iranian border. CNN's Arwa Damon following this story for us in Baghdad.
Arwa, do we have any idea where they are right now?
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J.
Well, the Kurdish authorities in that part of northern Iraq believe that these three Americans are in Iranian custody, in Iran itself, but they are still looking into the exact details as to what happened after these three Americans went missing.
This is what we know, confirmed from three or four senior officials in Iraq's Kurdish north. These four Americans started out their journey in Syria. Two of them are actually students there. From Syria they went to Turkey. On the 28th of July they crossed into northern Iraq from Turkey to the city of Irbilsk (ph) spend a few days there. Then on Thursday they drove to Sulamania (ph), checking into a into a very cheap backpacker-like type hotel. They left that hotel early Friday morning but only three of them left. One was sick and stayed behind.
The three went to this area called Ahmed Awa, it's right up against the Iranian border. It's a tourist spot, and a tourist attraction because of the natural beauty that exists there. It's mountainous. There are a number of waterfalls.
They were in regular contact with their friend, who had stayed behind, talking about what a wonderful time they were having. Then things began to change because at 1:30 p.m., on Friday, local time, the last phone call that their friend, who stayed behind, received from them was that they were surrounded by the Iranian military. That is the last that anyone has heard from these three.
Now, tourist police in the area say that they did spot them prior to that phone call being made that they did warn them about the proximity that they were into the Iranian border and that they should watch out because they were Americans, not Iraqis, and also saying that these were very tense times, T.J.
HOLMES: Arwa, do we know what happens now? And when do -- or have U.S. officials gotten involved here?
DAMON: Well, according to our sources in the Kurdish north, the one who stayed behind in Sulamania (ph) is in the hands of the U.S. embassy right now. Quite frankly they haven't been disclosing any information to us other than to say that they are investigating this incident.
This is a very, very tricky situation right now. Iraq also does not want these three to be in Iranian custody either. It's very diplomatically difficult to try to maneuver and navigate this at this stage. Iraqi officials are most certainly going to be talking to their counterparts in Iran. They're going to try to get these three back. We did hear from senior Kurdish officials that there were ongoing meetings into very late last night as to how to get these three safely back home because the last thing that anyone wants to see happen is having this blow into some sort of international incident.
HOLMES: Arwa Damon in Baghdad, thank you so much.
BALDWIN: We are "Pushing Forward" this morning, talking about violence in Chicago. According to the CPD, they say homicides are down compared to this time last year but shootings are up. One of the major reasons why? Gang violence.
I spoke with one young man just 31 years of age, joined a gang when he was just 13. Met him on the streets of Chicago in the Southwest side. He insisted we call him Bob, but he told his story about how he recently recovered from a horrific beat down on the streets. We talked to his doctor, talking about violence and -- educating, in particular, educating kids on the dangers of gang banging.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN (On camera): We're in a crew car, headed from downtown Chicago to the city of Southwest side, an area with known pockets of basically gang activity. And we're going to this interview. We're talking to a current gang member. He's willing to share his story about the violence in Chicago, but he's only willing to do it as long as we keep him in the car, we don't show his face. And we don't drive into any of their neighborhoods, any of their gang turf, just to keep him and our crew safe.
Do you have any idea how many people you've shot in your lifetime?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope.
BALDWIN: Did you ever feel remorse for anything you've done?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
BALDWIN (voice over): Born and raised on Chicago's streets, this man who insists we call him Bob says he joined a gang when he was just 13.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's actually fun to be honest with you. At least, I thought, at that point. The rush you get from what you are doing. It's like a drug. You can't get enough of it.
BALDWIN: Shootings in Chicago have set grim records this summer. According to police, even though homicides are down, shootings are up, more than 6 percent. This week 15 people were shot in a single night.
(On camera): It's midday, broad daylight, what are they doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making money. Dirty money.
BALDWIN (voice over): Heroin is the drug of choice on these streets according to Bob. A corner dealer can bring in up to several thousand dollars on a good day. But if someone doesn't pay up, Bob says that's when the shooting starts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's either about gang or money, that's it. It's never going to stop. I don't care who you lock up, or anything. It's never going to stop.
BALDWIN: Bob says he's been locked up three times, most recently serving six years for attempted murder.
(On camera): One of the reasons we can't show you his face is because he has some very specific markings of a gang member, tattoos, facial tattoos, all up and down his arms, and marks of this recent horrific beating.
(Voice over): He's been shot, stabbed and this month bludgeoned with baseball bats left on the street to die.
DR. MICHELLE GITTLER, MT. SINAI HOSPITAL: It was more of an issue of brain damage.
BALDWIN: Doctor Michelle Gittler was part of the medical team at Chicago's Mt. Sinai Hospital that helped save Bob's life, while doctors have to alert police about shooting victims, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians, there is no federal law requiring doctors to track the number of gunshot wounds. The doctor Gittler says it's an epidemic that goes underreported.
To put it in perspective, for the H1N1, or swine flu; alerts go out to all the hospitals on how to recognize it, how to treat it, how to report it. So that's 20 and this is 2000. I'm a little bit confused about why this isn't as emergent a public health issue.
BALDWIN: Doctor Gittler is the only reason Bob agreed to do this interview. He made her a promised to teach kids that they have a choice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't have to turn to gangs if they don't want. They just feel like they do at some point. I'll let them know how I live my life. But also I want to discourage from doing the same mistakes I did. BALDWIN: Despite that tough talk, Bob says his love for the gang remains. He is not getting out. Still, he survived these streets to see his 31st birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Technically we're not mean to be here, regardless. So, I mean, it's bound to end. It would be nice to end the right way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: What an interview. Just riding along and talking to him and how, can you imagine? Just not being able to walk in the neighborhood next to yours for fear of being shot, for fear of being killed. Gang violence is not just in Chicago. Not just Chicago. But it is interesting just hearing the inside perspective and how I think a lot of people feel they can't get out. His whole message to me was, you know, to kids, just don't join in the first place.
HOLMES: It's unfortunate. We've done stories about the violence in Chicago and how many young people have been killed. If they could get a handle on that, boy, we'd love to see that. Thank you for bringing that to us this weekend.
BALDWIN: Yes, you've got it.
HOLMES: We've got a picture to show you this morning, folks. It's a new picture. You remember Air Force One or pictures that were taken, of a plane that looked like Air Force One, over New York. This was back in April where some new pictures have been released. Back then the White House only released one photo. Now they've released some 145 others.
But this was essentially just a photo op for Air Force One. Technically it's not Air Force One unless the president is on it. But you get the point here. It looks like Air Force One, photo op over New York City, the Statue of Liberty there, costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, sent people in New York running into the streets because they saw (AUDIO GAP)
BALDWIN: A lot of people on the ground in New York calling it Scare Force One, simply because it sort of reminiscent of flashbacks of 9/11 and seeing planes fly low. Not a smart move.
HOLMES: But we got the pictures, pretty pictures. Not worth it. Pretty pictures, nonetheless.
Trees crashing into homes, debris flying all over the place. What's it like to be in the middle of a storm?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then all of a sudden the stuff just fell right in front of my van and I couldn't move. All the wires were around it and everything is sparking.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Reynolds taking a look to see if any of these people are in the clear now.
BALDWIN: Plus, the Cash for Clunkers program is running out of gas. Congress decided, fill her up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: That was the first video.
WOLF: It was.
BALDWIN: MTV, 1981.
WOLF: Yes. Entered by I think Mark Jackson, or J.D. Jackson, Mark Goodman, or J.D. Jackson. Those were -you know, those were V- jays.
BALDWIN: On this day 28 years ago.
WOLF: Yeah. It is a British synco-they're a pop group. T.J. looking at me like, you can join us. It's on your I-Pod list, isn't it.
BALDWIN: T.J., he's Mr. Jam.
HOLMES: I did know the name, I didn't know -- it was Buggles
BALDWIN: The Buggles.
WOLF: The weird thing is, a long time ago MTV used to show just videos all the time. Now you have "Cribs" and -
BALDWIN: You remember that?
HOLMES: You can't find a song.
BALDWIN: I remember like, sneaking over to my friends house, because we didn't have cable. Some of us were going over to my friend's house, and making them turn on TV just to watch videos. Watch all the videos. Nowadays there's barely videos on.
WOLF: I know. Nor do we with emulate the way these guys dressed. And what a great look that was.
BALDWIN: You had those shades.
WOLF: Still do.
BALDWIN: And that jacket.
WOLF: Absolutely.
HOLMES: Actually, I do have the jacket.
WOLF: There you go. Good times, man. HOLMES: The anniversary is coming up, how also are they going to commemorate and celebrate? With Michael Jackson's specials, actually. Michael Jackson was a big part of that network's success. It took them a while to actually play his music, and play his videos. But once they did, of course, the rest is history.
WOLF: It was a good partnership, no question.
HOLMES: So, Reynolds, we're talking some more weather.
WOLF: Yeah. We're going with a different kind of music, mainly boom, boom, boom variety. We are not talking about base. We're talking about thunderstorms. It really did hammer parts of the Northeast, especially Massachusetts. Sudbury, take a look at this, we had all kinds of rough stuff. Trees that have been downed, power lines, even some small fires.
Lynn Jolicoeur from CNN affiliate, WCVB in Boston she has the full scoop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNE GRUNTOSKY, CAUGHT IN STORM: Then all of a sudden the stuff just fell right in front of my van, and I couldn't move. All the wires were on it and everything is sparking.
LYNN JOLICOEUR, REPORTER, WCVB (voice over): Shattering the afternoon calm. The whipping winds lasted five minutes or less.
DIEMITRI MORAN, CAUGHT IN STORM: The trees were flying everywhere, and then all of a sudden a big huge tree was coming flying at my car and I had to swerve.
JOLICOEUR: Police helped these two women out of their cars after wires and trees came down around them.
ANGELA PARKS, CAUGHT IN STORM: Everything went crazy. Everything went nuts.
JOLICOEUR: The winds were strong enough to snap this massive ash tree at its base where the trunk is five feet wide. The tree came crashing down onto Cabot Street bringing power lines down with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard a lot of wind. When we with went outside, the trees were with like crushed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The branches, everything like going like really fast just flying off trees and breaking off. You look over, you go to the field over there, and just saw the trees split apart.
BOB EVITTS, CAUGHT IN STORM: It just got pitch black all of a sudden and the rain came out of nowhere with. So, I go upstairs to shut my fans off and stuff. Next thing you know the power is out and trees down all over the place.
MARK BARBEAY, HEARD TREE FALL ON ROAD: Strongest wind I've ever seen.
JOLICOEUR: Residents including Mark Barbeay, think it had to be a micro-burst that blasted their neighborhood.
BARBEAY: Pretty loud crash, but --.
JOLICOEUR (On camera): Did you know it was that one?
BARBEAY: Yeah, I did. It's a nice tree, but oh, well, what are you going to do?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Microburst, straight-line winds, tornadoes, really doesn't matter. They have damage they will be cleaning up today. A little further south in New York, the view is just spectacular.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Oftentimes because of flight delays and because of weather but we have a situation going on in LaGuardia Airport, up in New York, where you certainly need to check your flight information. Because Concourse C has been shut down, according to the Port Authority. They're telling us that it has been shut down, closed, and is evacuated. They have evacuated Concourse C.
We do not know why, at this point, but LaGuardia Airport in New York, a busy hub, a lot of back and forth, in and out of that airport.
BALDWIN: Saturday morning.
HOLMES: Especially on a Saturday morning. People trying to get in and out of there, this is again not something weather-related. Oftentimes we see situations with flight delays out of this airport. However, this is going to be a whole new situation. You need to check your flight schedule. Concourse C, LaGuardia Airport, shut down and has been evacuated. We are working to find out why. When we get that in, we will certainly pass that along to you.
BALDWIN: Well, President Obama's second 100 days in office just about over. The question is, how is he going in the polls? We'll dissect some of those numbers.
Another GI Bill goes into effect today. Families of troops will now be able to cash in, but how else does it differ from the first one?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A major upgrade for the military, not on the battlefield but in the classroom.
HOLMES: Talking about the new GI bill here, goes into effect today, giving veterans new opportunities for better lives after the military. Here now, our Heidi Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An historic change in the GI Bill now gives new incentives for troops serving on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. After they're done serving our country, their opportunities for education will be completely different. Millions of veterans have used the GI Bill to help pay for college since it was first introduced back in World War II. But a lot has changed since then, so the GI Bill, adapting for today's military.
KEITH WILSON, DIRECTOR, VETERAN AFFAIRS EDUCATION: You could have two individuals, for example, patrolling the streets of Baghdad, one individual being on active duty and another individual being a Guard Reserve member that was called up. When they return, they would have received very different benefits. Now under this program because it's based on active service, those individuals can end up receiving the same benefit.
COLLINS: The new bill will allow veterans who serve at least 10 years to pass unused benefits on to their families.
MAJ. RON LEE, U.S. ARMY: My daughter now, who is 16, will get her first two years of college paid by this GI Bill program. My daughter who's 10, Veronica, she will receive the second two years.
SGT. NATHAN O'DONNELL, U.S. ARMY: When I have kids and it's comes their time to go to school, I'll be able to let them use the GI Bill and pay for education using the benefits from when I served.
COLLINS: Then there's Joe Gittings. He served in the Army in World War II and used the benefits to learn a lifelong trade, which he still is using now as age 82.
JOE GITTINGS, WW II VETERAN: A lot of veterans, in all fields of endeavor, benefitted from the GI Bill.
COLLINS: Back then, veterans only got only $500 a year, at the most, to further their education via college or apprenticeships. Today the bill has a cap of about $16,000 a year. The new bill can only be used toward a college or university education. But it kicks the amount of money way up, matching the cost of some of the most expensive state schools in the country.
Overall, the director of the program says the major changes will make it easier to get new recruits and keep the more experienced troops longer.
Heidi Collins, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Are you looking to get rid of that gas guzzler that's sitting in the driveway not doing much for you? The Cash For Clunkers program isn't over yet. How you can take advantage.
HOLMES: Also, a lot of you remember the story, the kids in Philadelphia, they were not allowed into a country club to swim. Remember that? They found an even better place to play.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Well, they didn't realize they'd be taking a vacation. We're talking about a group of kids from Philadelphia, it was earlier this summer, a group of kids, as part of this camp simply wanted to go to this country club and take a swim in the pool. Well, the country club said no. They canceled contracts with the day care center because of safety, crowding, apparently.
So, what happened? So this entire group of kids ended up at Disney World thanks to Tyler Perry. There he is, taking them all down, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse.
He said, hey, if you can't swim in a Philadelphia country club pool, I'll do one better. So, he just took them down there. And these are the first few pictures we're getting from the trip.
HOLMES: Of course, the story really touched a lot of people around the country. Really struck a nerve because a lot of these kids -- I mean, they were crying to our reporter, Susan Candiotti there, because they had overheard, they said, some people actually saying, we don't want the kids there because they're black. Heard some derogatory things. And no kid should be subjected to so that really got a lot of attention, national attention, and got the attention of Tyler Perry there, as well. As you can see, he came through, and Mickey Mouse.
BALDWIN: And made it happen. Sent them to Disney World, did one better than taking them to the pool.
HOLMES: Glad they got a happy ending there. But we are just starting here this morning on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's the first day of August. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BALDWIN: Good morning, I'm Brooke Baldwin, back in for Betty Nguyen. We thank you for starting your day, your month of August, with us here.
HOLMES: We just got information in. We are working to find out what's exactly going on. A busy airport, one of the busiest in the country, New York's LaGuardia Airport, Concourse C has been evacuated. People have been taken out of there. We don't know why yet, but it is evacuated. As soon as we get more information, we'll let you know. Right now, people have been told to get out of the concourse.
BALDWIN: Moral of the story, check your flight. Before you head out to the airport this morning.
Want to talk quickly about health care. President Obama's health care plan now one step closer to congressional approval. Last night, here's the information we have, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the reform. The House is now at a month-long recess so just to explain here. This is the third version of the bill. Two other committees have previously signed off. So, when they all come back together, the entire chamber is slated to vote on this thing sometime September or October.
To the other stories we are following for you now. There is new evidence in the Michael Jackson case that suggests that the pop star shopped around for a doctor who would give him a powerful anesthetic called Propofol, brand name is Diprivan. That is the drug that investigators suspect Dr. Conrad Murray gave Jackson hours before he died. And this latest piece of information comes from a search warrant which names Dr. Allan Metzger. Metzger says he previously denied Jackson's request for the drug.
HOLMES: Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino has died at the age of 76. She had colon cancer. But a family spokesman says she died from cardio respiratory arrest. Her election in 1986 ended the rule of a dictator, Ferdinand Marco there.
Aquino was the first woman to become president in the Philippines. Her husband was an opposition leader during Marcos' rule. And she got into politics after he was assassinated in 1983 back in Manila.
A sailor charged with killing this man seaman August Provost at Camp Pendleton in San Diego last month has committed suicide. That is according to military officials. Petty Officer Jonathan Campos was found dead in his jail cell yesterday, apparently from self-inflicted expiation. Campos was being held at the Camp Pendleton brig. Officials say no indication that Provost's killing was a hate crime.
BALDWIN: Glimmers of hope on the state of the economy. President Obama says new gross domestic product numbers show that the economy is leaning toward recovery. But long-term investments are still necessary to make sure the economic recovery continues. Here is more now from his weekly address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got to build new foundation, strong enough to withstand future economic storms and support lasting prosperity.
Next week, I'll be talking about that new foundation when I head to Elkhart County in Indiana, a city hard hit not only by the economic crisis of recent months but by the broader economic changes of recent decades. For communities like Elkhart to thrive, we need to recapture the spirit of innovation that has always moved America forward.
That means once again having the best educated, highest skilled workforce in the world. That means a health care system that makes it possible for entrepreneurs to innovate and businesses to compete without being saddled with skyrocketing insurance costs.
That means leading the world in building a new clean energy economy with the potential to unleash a wave of innovation and economic growth while ending our dependence on foreign oil. And that means investing in the research and development that will produce the technologies of the future -- which in turn will help create the industries and jobs of the future. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That was just a snippet of his Web and radio address. The president also talked about the fact that even as we continue to rescue this economy, we must also work to rebuild it stronger than ever before.
The GOP weekly address was on health care and we will hear from that in just a few minutes.
HOLMES: President Obama is waging his health reform battle with some of the lowest poll numbers he's had since the start of his administration. So, what has the American citizens concerned most?
Our Paul Steinhauser, a friend of our show here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING and our deputy political director -- he's has been going over the latest numbers.
Paul, let's start with the all-important approval rating numbers. So, where are we -- where is he, I should say, not where are we. Where is he with that number?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, T.J., this is what we did at CNN. We put a "Poll of Polls" together. There were a bunch, seven or eight, national polls this past week. And we averaged them all.
Take a look at this number. You can see the president at 54 percent -- 54 percent of Americans in our average are giving Barack Obama a thumbs-up as he handles his duties at the White House; 37 percent disapprove of how he's doing.
Now, that is interesting because that's still a good number -- but take a look at this, T.J., you can see just last month, late June, the president's approval rating stood at 61 percent. It has dropped seven points in our average over the last month. And that is of concern to the White House. Remember, the approval rating is an important number because it really measures how much political clout and how much political capital a president has, T.J.
HOLMES: So, still, 54 percent as you said, not so bad. A lot of presidents would have been happy to have that, but down from where he was. So, what's behind the drop in his numbers?
STEINHAUSER: Well, I think two things may be behind the drop. Those are the economy and health care. Take a look at this because there were a lot of questions about how the president is handling the economy.
You can see in our CNN "Poll of Polls," we averaged out the polls, the surveys that asked specifically that. And Americans appear to be split, 48 percent giving Barack Obama a thumbs-up in how he's dealing with the economy, 45 percent disapprove. That number is down a little bit from where it was earlier this year.
And health care -- of course, that's the domestic issue that's really consuming the White House and Congress right now. Here is our CNN "Poll of Polls" on how the president is handling health care. You can see 43 percent approval, 45 percent disapprove. Again, that approval number, T.J., down from where it was earlier in the year.
HOLMES: All right. So, should we automatically assume that just because the president's numbers are going down a bit, does that mean the Republicans' numbers are on the rise?
STEINHAUSER: You would think that, right? Because what goes up comes down...
HOLMES: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: ... and the laws of physics, but not in this case. The Republican numbers in most polls across the country have not really jumped or increased that much over the last couple of months. And, in fact, when you look at Americans in most of these surveys, Americans say they still think Barack Obama would do a better job in health care and the economy than the Republicans in Congress, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Paul Steinhauser, keeping an eye on it all, as always -- Paul, we appreciate you, as always, buddy.
STEINHAUSER: Thanks, T.J.
BALDWIN: Facing foreclosure. There are ways to stop the bank from taking your home away from you, but they come, let's just say, with their own set of risks. We have some expert advice on making that decision that will probably work best for you.
And, Reynolds, talking about some severe weather this Saturday -- good morning.
WOLF: That's right. You know, yesterday, it was parts of the northeast and parts southeast in Florida. But right now, we're seeing strong storms raging through parts of the central plains, now moving into portions of the Midwest. We're going to talk about where the storms are headed next -- coming up in just a few moments on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: OK. Possibly, lawmakers underestimated just how many clunkers are out there on the road. You know, "cash for clunkers" program -- it was a good idea and it worked, but it worked so well that now it's running on empty.
BALDWIN: Yes, (INAUDIBLE) this morning.
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: What it does, it basically gives rebates for exchanging these gas guzzlers for more efficient cars, but the money is running out quickly.
But our Bill Tucker tells us more might be on the way. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bill is passed without objection...
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It took the House just a few hours to pulp an additional $2 billion into the "cash for clunkers" program and send the bill to the Senate and the president praised their quick action.
OBAMA: Thanks to quick bipartisan responses. We're doing everything possible to continue this program and to continue helping consumers and the auto industry contribute to our recovery.
TUCKER: Washington is in love with the "cash for clunkers" program.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's a success that there's concern that too many people are buying cars. That's a good thing.
TUCKER: Dealers are enthusiastic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be a huge success and, you know, I can't wait to do another 100 of them.
TUCKER: But what is all this enthusiasm based on? A survey by the National Automobile Dealers Association of 2,000 dealers reporting an average of 13 deals ready to be approved under the program. NADA then extrapolated that data out to the more than 23,000 dealers participating in the program and declared the program's $1 billion budget to be spent.
REBECCA LINDLAND, GLOBAL INSIGHT: There's definitely a reason to just take a deep breath for a moment. If, you know, Congress goes ahead next week and we get final approval from the Senate on this two billion more dollars, that's great, but it -- and everything just seems a little bit rushed.
TUCKER: On the Senate side, there appears some who would like to slow it down. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins are asking the Department of Transportation for a report on exactly what vehicles are being traded in and bought. The CEO of Auto Nation told CNN Money that demand is tilting in favor of foreign carmakers, yet "cash for clunkers" was designed to put more fuel-efficient vehicles on the road and boost the U.S. auto industry.
Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Well, we ran all kinds of stories on how the recession has forced people out of their homes. But this week, we saw just a tiny ray of hope in this new report. It's from RealtyTrac showing the foreclosures are easing in some of the worst hit areas of the country.
For example, foreclosures are down in New York, in Boston, Cleveland, even Detroit. All four cities are down by double digits.
But let's be clear here -- the nation is certainly not out of the woods just yet. A lot of areas still in trouble and some of those cities that were not considered foreclosure hot spots are now seeing foreclosure increases. Those cities being Provo, Utah, Boise, Idaho, Eugene, Oregon, and Salem, Oregon. RealtyTrac blames increases on those cities on unemployment.
So, what if you find yourself hitting a hard financial spot? What if your situation is so dire that it demands a foreclosure on your home? That is happening. That's the reality for thousands of people and they're now considering what's called Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Filing a proper chapter 13 stops the foreclosure dead in its tracks but, of course, there are some curveballs here, things you need to consider.
And joining me more to iron some of this stuff out, our housing expert, chief thinker -- as we saw at his business card -- Clyde Anderson, author of "What Had Happened Was."
All right, Clyde...
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCE EXPERT: Yes.
BALDWIN. I've heard of Chapter 11.
ANDERSON: OK.
BALDWIN: Chapter 13, what is it?
ANDERSON: Right. Chapter 11 is for businesses, Chapter 13 is for individuals. It's a restructuring of your debt. So, you got Chapter Seven or you have Chapter 13. The 13 is what you're going to actually pay back the debt, but usually, out of a lower monthly payment.
BALDWIN: Now, Chapter 13 versus Chapter Seven. Explain this.
ANDERSON: Chapter Seven is a total wipe-off of debt. Mostly, all of your debt can be included except some things like student loans and some tax liens. But for the most part, you wipe the debt off.
BALDWIN: Should you really file Chapter 13 bankruptcy though just do to save your home?
ANDERSON: Well, you really got to look at the whole picture. You really got to consult with an attorney. But you really got to determine, "Can I make the payments?" So, if I file a Chapter 13, there's still payments that have to be made.
So, if you've lost your job, it may not be the best thing to do and try to keep your home. You got to really make a decision, do I need this home? Can I afford this home? Is Chapter 13 going to help me there?
BALDWIN: So, here are some other tips. ANDERSON: Yes.
BALDWIN: You talk first about mortgage payment, calculate a lower rate...
ANDERSON: Right, exactly. Calculate the lower rate, the lower payment. So, they're going to take all of your debt, consolidate it.
And so, you'll make one payment to the bankruptcy court. Then you also have -- it's definitely more forgiving than a Chapter Seven as well. So, you definitely have that in consideration.
So, they're going to give you a lower payment, you can stay in your house during the process. It buys you time and also relieves the home buyer of the deficiency judgment. So, a deficiency judgment means that if you sold your house or you're bankrupt, you know, $50,000 is what you sold it for, but you owed $200,000, you're going to have a $50,000 deficiency judgment that will come off after the bankruptcy.
BALDWIN: You got a lot of major issues at stake, big decision. What should people really sit down and consider before making this decision to file?
ANDERSON: Really, what they have to look at is, again, can they make the payment, is there any other option? You know, use this as a last result. It's a really temporary fix. It's like putting a Band- Aid on a big wound.
So, you know, you still got issues there. They're going to affect your credit both, you know, they're going to hit them hard. You know, we've talked about it before -- almost a couple of hundred points on your credit. So, both of them are going to have a huge impact. So, you really got to look at it.
BALDWIN: You mentioned the Band-Aid. I mean, this whole idea of filing, this couldn't be a possible cure-all for your financial woes.
ANDERSON: Oh, no, no. Definitely.
BALDWIN: No, no, no.
ANDERSON: Exactly. It's not for everybody. It's not going to fix everything. It is temporary.
So, you got to have a plan. What's next? So, after I file this bankruptcy, what do I do now? You know, what's my budget? You know, can I still afford what I had before or do I need to let some of these things go? That's really what you have to ask yourself.
BALDWIN: All right. Lot's -- you always (INAUDIBLE) -- I'm always learning something from you. Clyde Anderson, chief thinker this morning -- Clyde thanks.
ANDERSON: All right. Good to see you.
BALDWIN: T.J., over to you.
HOLMES: Who puts that on their business card?
BALDWIN: This guy.
HOLMES: Who does that?
BALDWIN: This guy -- chief thinker. You're jealous.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: We're not kidding about it. We do have the card here. It says chief thinker of the company.
BALDWIN: Yes.
HOLMES: That's brilliant. Keep thinking over there for us. We appreciate you, Clyde.
BALDWIN: Thinking hard. Thinking hard.
HOLMES: All right.
Well, up next, you're getting your hands dirty for love of the game. It just goes to show one man's muck is another man's gold. But how did this guy's mud become an important part of baseball? We'll have that story.
Also, helping you navigate health care this morning -- Josh?
LEVS: Hey there, T.J. You know what, you hear this battle, but do you know what's actually being proposed? We got a few key Web sites to get the facts. We're going to show you right here.
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HOLMES: All right. It looks like somebody is pretty upset about health care right about now.
BALDWIN: Yes.
HOLMES: President Obama's plan to reform health care will hit the House floor maybe some time in September. And when it does, it will face some pretty stiff opposition from a lot of conservatives.
BALDWIN: In the weekly Republican Party address, South Dakota Senator John Thune, lays out his party's main objection.
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SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: The Democrat plan would spend more than $2 trillion and further increase our exploding deficit. Their plan would pile up higher costs, create new Washington bureaucracies and burden every state through new requirements on Medicaid.
Governors and state legislators from both parties have said that increased Medicaid costs would overwhelm their already strained state budgets. In fact, one Democratic governor last week called the increases proposed by congressional Democrats "the mother of all unfunded mandates."
In my home state of South Dakota, the new Medicaid requirements could require $45 million a year in new state spending. That may not sound like much, but for a small state that's required by law to balance its budget every year, it's a lot.
That money would have to come from somewhere -- and that means either higher taxes or cuts to other priorities. That's what we're facing not just in South Dakota but nationwide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, the House is now officially on their recess. The Senate probably won't reach any deal on health care reform before it goes on recess next Friday.
HOLMES: So, the debate goes on and as it does, it's easy to get lost in all this rhetoric and miss some important facts out there.
BALDWIN: Josh Levs -- he's all about the facts, showing us some important Web sites to sort out facts from fiction -- Josh?
LEVS: Yes, I try to be. You know, this is actually really a good chance to -- excuse me -- take a look at some of the most important Web sites that will do that for you.
Let's zoom right in -- because the best thing I want to show you here is: CNNMoney.com has now set up a special section that focuses on fixing health care. And if you go to it, check this out. Every time you see a blue line, that's another separate story. Sometimes, we'll have 10 in one day that take you through some of the basics.
Let me quickly show you a couple of others. A lot of people are visiting this, which is HealthReform.gov. If you want to know where President Obama stands and get past some of the claims out there about what he has said, check out HealthReform.gov. It's actually getting a lot of traffic.
And he's put together a little map here in which you can click on any state and he'll tell you why he believes his plan is good for your state. I clicked on Pennsylvania, for example. It gives his argument for why to go there.
Let's look at the other side now: GOP.gov. If you want to look at what a lot of Republican points are, go to GOP.gov. This got a lot of traffic.
They've put together what they're calling the organizational chart of the House Democrats health plan, and basically what they're doing is this massive, ridiculous bureaucracy that makes no sense.
Some Democrats then struck back with this, organizational chart of the Republicans' health plan and basically it's only question marks. I'm showing you that from "Talking Points Memo."
All right. Two more things and then I'm going to tell you where you can get this whole list so you don't have to write anything down.
This is really important, PolitoFact.com -- a great Web site that shows you the facts from the fiction. In fact, let's take a look at this here. There's a chain e-mail going on right now that claims this, all non-U.S. citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free health care services. They're giving that pants on fire, they say no way, that's not true. FactCheck.org does something similar.
That's a lot of Web sites I just told you about. But all you need to do is go to one place. Let's go to this graphic right here. I have them all listed for you on the CNN blog and Facebook and Twitter. There you go -- CNN.com/Newsroom, Facebook or Twitter, just type in Josh Levs CNN.
I'm going to post all the links I just showed you and more, so you guys can make sure the next time you hear some claims that you get the facts, all right?
T.J. and Brooke, back to you.
BALDWIN: Fact from fiction, Josh Levs, thank you.
LEVS: There you. Thanks, guys.
HOLMES: And our health care special begins at 9:00 this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We're going to break this down and simplify, simplify, simplify for you. Take a look at how your coverage may change and whether it's going to cost you more as well. Again, we're going to dedicate our 9:00 half hour to it.
BALDWIN: But wait, before we talk health care, let's eat gumbo, right?
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: A perfect little segue there. Chef Jeff will be in the house. Jeff Henderson is cooking up his soul food favorite just for us. He's handing down this recipe. So, in a sense, we're also asking you to hand down yours. Visit our blog: CNN.com/Newsroom.
I'm hungry.
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HOLMES: All right. Performance enhancing drugs -- a lot of people are getting tired of hearing about it. We heard two more big names linked to another list from back in 2003 of Major League players who on this list who tested positive, David Ortiz of Boston, also, Manny Ramirez. But a lot of people getting tired of it and they're calling for a cleanup of Major League Baseball.
BALDWIN: But one man thrives on keeping it dirty.
HOLMES: Yes.
Rafer Weigel has the story in this week's "How We Got Started."
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RAFER WEIGEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
JIM BINTLIFF, MUD FARMER: I don't mind the mud.
WEIGEL: Several times a year, Jim Bintliff treks to a secret location along the Delaware River to collect this, and turn it into Lena Blackburne's Baseball Rubbing Mud.
BINTLIFF: In the 1920s, a batter was killed by a wild pitch. From that point forward, the umpires were looking for a way to get a better grip for the pitcher on a new baseball. Lena Blackburne being a player and a manager himself knew of a mud that he thought might do the trick. And through trial and error, came up with a concoction.
WEIGEL: With a little spit and a good rub, it worked like a charm. Today, the mud is used by every team in Major League Baseball. In late 1950s, Blackburne passed the business to his best friend, Jim's grandfather. And it's been in the Bintliff family ever since.
BINTLIFF: I was in the mud when I was 9 years old.
WEIGEL: Jim says mud doesn't bring in enough money to live on so he has another job, but despite the hard work, he wouldn't give it up for anything.
BINTLIFF: It's the history and tradition. From 1938 on, all those record home runs and those thousands of strikeouts, my mud's been on every ball.
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BALDWIN: So, here's kind of a frightening number: 15 million Americans out of work looking for jobs right now. And so, we've compiled this big massive list of dos and don'ts.
HOLMES: Who knew some of these things you're not supposed to do. But this career expert says there are several things that people do wrong when they're looking.
BALDWIN: Yes.
HOLMES: And the first one here kind of gets your attention because these are desperate times for a lot of people, but one of the first things they say is... BALDWIN: Don't appear desperate.
HOLMES: ... don't appear too desperate. Even though the list I have in front of me doesn't really go with the list we have on screen, so we'll go with the one that's on the screen. OK, we'll go with my list here.
All right. Don't appear desperate it says. Another says: don't rely solely on ads and online job sites. Don't list a bunch of activities on your resume. But do need to detail your achievements.
What else we have here?
BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE) along with you.
HOLMES: Don't go to the interview unprepared. That's kind of common sense.
BALDWIN: That's obvious, right? Don't do that. Don't confuse networking with asking for work. Ask people you know for advice, not a job. That's a good tip.
HOLMES: That's interesting.
BALDWIN: That's very good. I still ask definitely for advice.
Don't treat staff poorly. T.J., you know, the rumors about you, awful, awful -- just joking. Sixty-one percent of executives say they ask the assistant's opinion. Be nice to all of your staff members, of course. And don't forget to just tap your resources. That's a good tip there.
HOLMES: Yes. But don't appear desperate.
BALDWIN: It makes sense.
HOLMES: It makes sense, I guess.
All right. Stay with us. We're still working the story in LaGuardia. Concourse there has been evacuated. Check your flight schedules before you take off this morning.
We're back at the top of the hour with more live news.
But right now, we're going to hand it over to Dr. Sanjay Gupta with "HOUSE CALL."
