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CNN Saturday Morning News
Chicago Loses Bid for Olympics to Rio de Janeiro; Typhoon Parma Slamming the Philippines; Man Arrested in David Letterman Extortion Case; Latest Job Numbers Report
Aired October 03, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody. From the CNN center on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING for October the 3rd. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's already October. You can feel it in the air around here. It's hard to believe this year is just flying by. Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. It's 8:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in Chicago which unfortunately did not get the 2016 Olympics but 9:00 a.m. in Rio de Janeiro where they are celebrating. We're going to take you there live.
HOLMES: The celebrations -- I mean it's a party place anyway but they have an extra reason to party. Like Betty said, Chicago came in fourth out of four cities, unfortunately. Tokyo, I think pulled in third, Madrid was the runner up to get the 2016 games. We'll be going there live with our poor reporter.
NGUYEN: It's such a tough assignment isn't it?
HOLMES: That poor thing.
NGUYEN: She says they're going to be partying all weekend long. Oh darn.
OK, we're going to move from that to something that really is tough to talk about and that is typhoon Parma which hit northern Philippines today. It is just a powerful storm, rains and winds, no word yet of injuries but the reason why we're saying this is not only because it's a powerful storm, but if you may recall back on September 26, another storm caused more than 200 deaths. This is not something that they need to be dealing with right now. We'll take you live to the Philippines for a report.
We do want to start this morning with more details in the David Letterman extortion case.
HOLMES: An award-winning producer it turns out, was working for CBS. He's free on bond this morning after been accused of trying to blackmail Letterman.
NGUYEN: He's the only one parting with cash, the only thing Letterman has offered up is a mea culpa on the air. Our Susan Candiotti has the latest in this quickly developing story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over); Veteran CBS news producer Robert Joe Halderman is now making headlines in a tawdry blackmail case. Prosecutors say he tried to shake down late night talk show host David Letterman for $2 million to keep Letterman's sex life quiet. But Letterman beat him to it, surprising his audience by announcing he had affairs with co-workers and told a grand jury about it.
DAVID LETTERMAN, "THE LATE SHOW" HOST: The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.
CANDIOTTI: His production company says the affairs happened before Letterman's marriage to his long time companion last spring. Prosecutors say Halderman gave Letterman a rude awakening about 6:00 a.m. three weeks ago, leaving a package in Letterman's car outside his Manhattan home. The package contained a letter and a one-page screen play idea threatening to reveal Letterman's affairs.
ROBER MORGENTHAU, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Halderman rumored (ph) that he needed to make quote, a large chunk of money unquote by selling Letterman a so-called quote screen play treatment unquote. The one-page screen play treatment attached to the letter referred to Mr. Letterman's great professional success and to his quote beautiful, loving son.
CANDIOTTI: Letterman's attorney called the DA and they set up a sting. Two meetings were recorded between Halderman and Letterman's attorney at New York's Essex House hotel. Wednesday, prosecutors say Halderman took the bait, deposited a dummy check. He was arrested outside CBS Thursday.
Halderman worked for CBS for 27 years and won an Emmy for this "48 Hours" documentary. He lives in Connecticut. He's divorced with two children and is paying $6,800 a month in alimony. A family spokesman says Halderman's been depressed about being far away from his kids. His lawyer says they'll fight the charges.
GERARD SHARGEL, JOE HALDERMAN'S ATTORNEY: He's doing as well as can be expected. He's not dispirited. There is another side to the story. I'm not telling it today. There is another side to the story. It's not the open and shut case.
CANDIOTTI: How Halderman knew about Letterman's affairs is not clear. We know he had a live-in girlfriend who works for "The Late Show." Was she the source? The DA says his investigation isn't over.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Yeah, I think we have a feeling that it's very far from over at this point.
HOLMES: And you know, he's usually making people the butt of jokes when they do something wrong, politicians.
NGUYEN: Exactly, politicians, anyone out there.
HOLMES: Well, I guess it's his turn now and who else but his rival, over at NBC, to take advantage of it, Jay Leno, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, TV HOST: If you came here tonight for sex with a talk show host, you've got the wrong studio, all right, I'm sorry. What is going on? Boy, first Conan hit his head, then somebody tries to extort money from Letterman. I am so glad I'm out of late night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Kind of funny, though. So we want to get your feedback this morning, Letterman's confession sparking some debate about workplace relationships. Do you think it's OK? Is it something that, hey, you spend a lot of time with these people, so you get to know them and sparks fly and whatnot, but is it different when it's between the boss and a subordinate?
Let us know what you think. You can reach us by Facebook, Twitter, even our blog. You can also go to cnn.com/newsroom and we will be reading your responses on the air.
HOLMES: You got a pretty good one from somebody a second ago I can't wait for to you read.
NGUYEN: It's great. You guys are sending in some really good stuff this morning so keep it coming.
HOLMES: We'll turn to issue number one now, the job scene, September was worse than the experts actually thought it would be. The Labor Department reporting 263,000 jobs were lost in September. That turns out to be 90,000 more than those so-called experts, those economists out there were predicting.
NGUYEN: It's only the second time this year that job losses were up from the previous month. The nation's unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent last month.. That is the highest that it's been in 26 years.
President Obama calls those numbers sobering. Just more bad news to end his week on top of Chicago's failed Olympic bid. CNN's Elaine Quijano joins us now from the White House. So Elaine, what else is the president saying about the latest job numbers because they are not good at all?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not good at all. You're right, Betty. President Obama is basically Betty echoing what a lot of analysts have said and that is even as a recession comes to an end, even as things start to turn around in an economy, unemployment always lags behind.
That's basically what he said yesterday in the rose garden after coming back from Copenhagen and it is also what he said this morning in his weekly radio and web address. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We certainly made progress on this front since the period last winter when we were losing an average of 700,000 jobs each month. But yesterday's report on September job losses was a sobering reminder that progress comes in fits and starts and that we will need to grind out this recovery step by step.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now it's interesting. The president is also trying to once again draw the connection between the economy and also the need to get health care reform legislation done this year. He said in his address that small businesses, which create a lot of jobs in this country, are really being slammed.
They're being overwhelmed, he said, by rising health care costs. He believes that part of what is going to get the U.S. economy back on solid footing for the long haul is to get a health care reform bill done this year -- Betty?
NGUYEN: That's the president's take. What about Republicans? What are they saying about these unemployment figures that we're noticing that are really starting to jump?
QUIJANO: Well, you know, it's interesting. The Republicans are basically saying that these numbers are proof that that big economic stimulus package simply is not working. For their weekly address, the GOP turned to a Michigan Congresswoman Candace Miller and it's interesting in her state, Michigan, the unemployment rate continues to be the highest in the nation, 15.2 percent.
Now, Congresswoman Miller says that the $787 billion stimulus plan was supposed to create more than 100,000 jobs in her state. Instead, Betty, she says that local economists are saying that Michigan is on track to actually lose 300,000 jobs this year alone, so a pretty bleak picture.
NGUYEN: That is very tough to hear. OK, Elaine Quijano joining us live, thank you Elaine.
I want to give you a look now at the week ahead for President Obama. Monday he'll meet with doctors across the country to push health care insurance reform. That meeting will be at the White House. On Tuesday he visits the national counterterrorism center in Washington and both Wednesday and Friday he's going to meet with his national security team to talk strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Well, they are talking the Olympics in Rio today, celebrating the winning bid for the 2016 Olympics at Copacabana Beach. Take a listen to this. Yeah, they're partying now but they got a lot to do between now and 2016. As you know, Rio offered an ambitious budget, some new venues that they've got to build. The Olympics have never been in South America so that's another reason why this is so celebrated and you know, Rio, part of their pitch was it's the happiest city in the world. Hey, we've all seen "Carnival." It seems pretty happy there right.
HOLMES: ... a pretty good time. "Forbes" magazine voted that a little while back.
I guess the unhappiest place in the world in the next hole (ph) might be Chicago.
NGUYEN: I knew you were going to say that.
HOLMES: Not just because -- they were prepared that maybe we won't get this thing but a lot of people, the reports were it was going to be between Chicago and Rio.
NGUYEN: And when the president steps out, the first lady steps out, goes to Copenhagen, you almost think it's a sure-fire deal.
HOLMES: Yeah, but the first city to be eliminated was Chicago in the voting. So the president, of course, went. He was disappointed, didn't come back a sore loser necessarily, still giving Rio its props (ph). Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I do want to congratulate Rio de Janeiro and the nation of Brazil for winning the 2016 Olympics. I think this is a truly historic event, as these will be the first Olympic games ever to be held in South America. And as neighbors in the Americas, as friends to the Brazilian people, we welcome this extraordinary sign of progress and the fact that the 2016 games will be in the Americas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There's something, still in the Americas.
NGUYEN: In the Americas. I like how he just, yeah.
HOLMES: They can spin some things in Washington, still in the Americas. We'll take that.
Here's a look now at the agony of defeat. These folks in Chicago, the windy city, it's called, they were blown away. Look at their reaction now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just flabbergasted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had the potential (ph) for these games for so long and really showed the world what we're made of and now we don't get a chance to prove it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: OK, I'm going to bring in now Katherine Skiba, reports for "The Chicago Tribune" who I talked to a couple weeks ago before all this went down. KATHERINE SKIBA, REPORTER, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Good morning, everyone.
HOLMES: Hello, hello there. Tell us, what have you been able to figure out now? What does everybody believe went wrong? Do they think mistakes were made in how the city was presented in the bid or other forces were at work? What do people think went wrong?
SKIBA: Well, if you look at "The Chicago Tribune" this morning the banner headline says "Flame Out." Olympic dreams have been torched in my hometown despite the president and the first lady's efforts. Look, people think it's a couple things. Rio, as you've stated had the emotional compelling argument, bring the games for the first time in history to South America and secondly, look, the IOC has got about 106 members. It's a secret ballot. It's a quirky electorate. Dick Durbin, the senator from Illinois said to me yesterday, we may never know.
HOLMES: Do some people think and it's in nature people want to blame somebody for it, but who are they kind of pointing to, maybe city leaders. Are they pointing to maybe the president and the first lady getting involved too late in the process?
SKIBA: Oh, gosh, who to blame.
HOLMES: Yeah.
SKIBA: One thing that people have been pointing out is that the public in Chicago, a poll by my newspaper "The Chicago Tribune" conducted late August found that 47 percent of residents supported the games. There was slippage. Maybe they needed a little more buy-in from the public. There is a recession going on.
People have skepticism about the management of the city and how the games would be managed, so I would say there wasn't exactly the public buy-in. In terms of the appeal, look, Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett and other top officials at the White House went out there early. There was lots of one-on-one lobbying going on and persuasion. They had star power. They had Oprah. The president cleared his schedule to go and in the end, Rio prevailed.
HOLMES: All right, last thing here and I don't know if this is going to be a possibility down the road for Chicago to make a bid for another Olympic games. I think I was hearing that maybe for awhile they're not going to be able to pull anything off so we might not get another chance at Chicago for awhile.
SKIBA: That's under discussion, of course. I asked Valerie Jarrett yesterday, the top White house adviser, will Chicago try again? She said it's much too early to decide that, to talk to Mayor Daly. It's a real emotion letdown, not just in Chicago. But the White House was spinning this as America's game. So those of us who follow Olympic sports and cherish the Olympic movement, there is disappointment today and regrouping and we'll know I think in the days ahead what's in store.
HOLMES: Katherine Skiba, we appreciate you. When something jumps out on this Olympic front, we'll have you back on.
SKIBA: Thank you, I'd love to go to Rio for you.
HOLMES: I know you would.
NGUYEN: Get in line behind us.
HOLMES: Betty yelling at you over here. Good to see you. Thank you so much.
NGUYEN: We've already put that bid in. It is on record we want to go to Rio.
HOLMES: I wonder if anybody's listening.
NGUYEN: No one's listening. At least not the bosses but hey, it's always on tape, though.
HOLMES: Poor Chicago. A big part of it was not just, they were kind of split with the polls, who wanted it but still it was a sense of pride. You just hate to lose, no matter what, if you want the games to come or not, just to hear that you lost like that.
NGUYEN: They put so much effort into that, like you said, for the president and first lady to get on board, you really felt like there was a lot of momentum behind it and Chicago might get it. Unfortunately it did not. There are many more years to come; it will happen one day.
I want you to take a look at this right now. Would you be brave enough to swim with sharks? Well Reynolds Wolf is and he is here. He lived to tell about it and he's going to share his story with us.
HOLMES: There's a brave enough and a crazy enough. Not sure which one he falls into.
NGUYEN: A little bit of both.
HOLMES: A little bit of both. Also we're going to be taking you inside, that's a school folks where kids walk in, they have an enthusiasm like you've never seen before. Why some say this school may be the key to revolutionizing education for this country.
NGUYEN: And this is the picture of the day. What is that? What are they doing? Well, we're going to explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES All right, this next scene and this music, it speaks for itself. You don't have to explain it, just let it ride. Wait, that's the wrong music.
NGUYEN: It was totally wrong.
HOLMES: That was the wrong music.
NGUYEN: You were supposed to have the da, da, da, da, da the "Jaws" music.
HOLMES: A thousand apologies folks for me setting that up and then letting you down.
NGUYEN: Too bad it didn't deliver. But anyway, you get the point, 1976 film "Jaws" first released. This is a clip from that movie. Look at this footage, well, I guess we're not going to see that either. There it is, the Georgia aquarium. Who is that guy with the sharks?
That's our very own Reynolds Wolf. Reynolds, we really tried to set this up for you.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's all good. I got a chance to go there yesterday and actually swam with some sharks, not only the hammerheads you see there, but also the giant whale sharks, some over 20 feet long. When you're swimming in a tank, (INAUDIBLE) it's like having a Cessna swim right below you if airplanes could indeed swim.
But just monstrous things. We're talking about fish the size of mini vans, just a freaking, fun time thing. They have a brand new shark exhibit that we're going to share with you next weekend but that's a little snippet, a little sneak peek of what underwater life is like at the aquarium.
NGUYEN: Were you scared at all?
WOLF: Believe it or not, it's kind of like an out of body experience. You really didn't comprehend that there are things that are in the water that could actually probably munch on you.
NGUYEN: How close did they get to you?
WOLF: As close as I am to you, the whale sharks, but the whale sharks are plankton feeders. They don't have teeth so it's not like...
NGUYEN: Did you get to reach out and touch them?
WOLF: You're not supposed to touch them. But if they touch you, then they're going to. It's kind of hard to tell a 20-foot, 30-foot long animal to stay away. When they come close, they're going to come close. Also a chance to meet a guy there by the name of Rodney Fox, who was a shark attack victim back in 1963. He is the designer of the shark cage, the thing that they actually put in the water.
NGUYEN: I've been down in those actually.
WOLF: Amazing stuff. He actually invited me to go to Australia next spring and actually go on an expedition.
NGUYEN: Great white shark diving, it's amazing.
WOLF: Creepy, crazy, weird stuff but they're amazing animals. We'll learn more about them in the coming weeks.
NGUYEN: Very good. You got all of your limbs. You're good to go.
WOLF: All the fingers, all the toes, good times.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: We're going to switch gears. Many of you are going to be out celebrating the beautiful fall weather today. In Germany they're celebrating something a little bit different. I want you to see this video. It is freaky. It is weird.
NGUYEN: What is that thing?
WOLF: That thing is like a giant scuba diver with the old-time diving masks. They're actually celebrating the 19th year of reunification. It was about 20 years ago the Berlin wall fell, dividing east and west Germany. Now it's a united country and they celebrate with that creepy, weird thing.
NGUYEN: I'm trying to make the connection between scuba diving and the reunification.
WOLF: What is that about? I'm the guy from German descent, Wolf, but that's just freaky, bizarre, weird. That's some strange stuff.
HOLMES: You're supposed to be the expert here, Reynolds.
WOLF: I guess. This is actually a marionette that's actually controlled by I think about I think 10 or 11 people. It's 30 feet high. It's actually going to make that walk through Berlin all the way to the Brandenburg gate, which is actually the separation point between what was once east and west Germany.
NGUYEN: Right. And they spray it down? What is that all about?
WOLF: Betty, I don't know.
NGUYEN: You just report the news right.
WOLF: I'm blown away by this. It's a great question. I just wish I had some answers. I mean hopefully someone can give us a little bit of leeway as to why they do.
NGUYEN: Maybe it just got lost in translation that's all.
WOLF: Maybe so. This is the land of Oktoberfest we're talking about, this is the land of good times and ooomp ooompa ooompa music and plenty of beer.
NGUYEN: They are having a good time, no doubt.
WOLF: I would think they certainly are, but just weird stuff.
HOLMES: This big one actually meets up with a smaller one that's supposed to be its niece, they call it but it's supposed to be symbolic of the reunification of them joining each other, finding each other with the reunification of Germany. I have to step in here and tell the German guys.
NGUYEN: But on full disclosure he was searching that out just seconds ago but we got it.
WOLF: I can see some marionettes wearing lederhosen and the happy little caps and stuff and maybe the Ricola horns, whatever, that kind of thing, but scuba gear?
HOLMES: Interesting video.
NGUYEN: Can you explain that?
HOLMES: There's a company there that makes these things. They made a big elephant once before.
NGUYEN: So every year it's a different theme?
HOLMES: Don't know about every year. We should stop now.
NGUYEN: They're celebrating 19 years now.
WOLF: And what better way to do it with old timey scuba gear.
NGUYEN: Maybe we should get a live reporter on the scene.
HOLMES: Thanks, Reynolds.
NGUYEN: Thank you Reynolds.
HOLMES: Still ahead a story that got a lot of peoples' attention about the stalking of an ESPN reporter, Erin Andrews. There has now been an arrest in that case.
NGUYEN: And our Josh Levs joins us now with a look at the after the Olympics bid and what happens to all those stadiums.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm supposed to talk about that but I'm still working on that giant walking through those streets in Germany.
NGUYEN: Can we just not go back there.
LEVS: Seriously, where am I -- I know what it is. The world watches them for a handful of days every couple of years and then some of these stadiums turn into financial black holes. We are going to give you a look at Olympic stadiums past.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Quick check of our top stories right now. NATO says five U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan, three killed in eastern Afghanistan, two in an attack and another in a roadside bombing. Two others were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. Fighting has been reported elsewhere in the country today as well.
Also some tragic news for the real housewives of Atlanta. Police say cast member (INAUDIBLE) fiance Ashley Jewell known as AJ was involved in a fight at an Atlanta nightclub. He was hit in the head and died later at a hospital. Detectives say they are questioning a person of interest. Jewell made regular appearances on the show.
An Illinois man is under arrest on Federal charges of stalking ESPN reporter Erin Andrews. He's accused of secretly taping Andrews while she was nude in two hotel rooms. The FBI says he then made seven videos that he posted on the Internet. He's due in court later this morning in Chicago.
HOLMES: We'll turn back to the Olympic bid, Rio, of course, as we know now, has won and people around the world are wondering what's it going to be like there?
NGUYEN: The city is giving answers to all of this online. Our Josh Levs joins us with that. A lot of people think Rio, they think carnival. We're talking Olympics this time, so how is that going to be different?
LEVS: They're doing some celebrating online. They're calling themselves the happiest city in the world and saying they just got even happier. I want to show you the website in a second. First let's take a look at this video that they posted at the site as part of their bid.
The online effort that they put in here including putting videos out there and all sorts of images did help all of the cities were pushing, I'll show Chicago's in a second and what they've been up to. Let's go in on the screen here. So I want you to see some of their plans that they have in Rio and what kind of facilities they're showing they're going to be using at the games.
They're showing you here the training center that they're planning, the training center that they've designed, what's going to be set up there for a lot of these events. They're also showing you the Olympic villas. They're showing you some of the tennis facility. There you go. So they have these designs of all the different facilities and you can see everything that they're planning here, rio2016.org.
Let's jump over to Chicago now because obviously Chicago was disappointed yesterday. You can see they have this big message. They're saying thank you to everyone who participated and they are pointing to this, the world of sports Chicago which they say is a lasting legacy from the games, from their effort to win the games.
This is a program in Chicago that's working to increase sports, bring more sports to the city and reaching out to young people who might be in troubled situations, and get them involved in sports.
And while we're looking at what's online, I wanted to show you guys this too. We mentioned before the break, it's interesting, we're linking to it at CNN; it's from time.com. And they're showing Olympic stadiums past and what has been happening to them ever since. And if we take a look at a few of these, a lot of them, this one in Munich is now used as a museum to commemorate what happened at the time, also still hosts events inside.
But they also point to this one, Montreal, which they say is doughnut shaped, it is called the big "O" but some people are calling it the big "o-w-e" because it's largely unused. Some people calling it a financial black hole.
And this is the one in Atlanta. And we'll you what happened here, they way -- it was a lot bigger at the time of the Olympics. They went around removing individual sections to make it smaller now used by the Braves.
So we have all of this stuff for you right there CNN.com and we will keep an eye on the Rio site as soon as there are new details about what the 2016 games will be like we'll post them for you; Facebook, Twitter and the blog CNN.com/josh -- guys.
NGUYEN: All right Josh, thank you for that.
Tens of thousands of residents are headed to higher ground in the Philippines.
HOLMES: And that's because of typhoon Parma that's slamming ashore there right now. We'll have the latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now, the Philippines taking a beating right now from typhoon Parma, that's the second to hit the country in the past week.
NGUYEN: Yes.
CNN's Eunice Yoon is in Isabela province in the Philippines and she joins us on the phone from an evacuation center. Eunice, what's the scene like right now?
EUNICE YOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Right now, the evacuation center is actually quite dark because there's been a power outage. There are a lot of kids; there are a couple hundred people who have been in this evacuation center. They were brought here because they needed to get to higher ground and their homes were in more low-lying areas.
Some of the officials we've been speaking to, said that further north the winds are still quite severe and that they're seeing continual heavy rains. There are trees and electrical poles that have fallen on to the roads. Some of the damage, some damage has been seen on homes.
There was one report about one villager who was actually clinging to a post near his home. Many have been urged to get to higher ground, such as places like this evacuation center, to the school, but they only evacuated really at the very last minute because there was some resistance to leaving their possessions.
NGUYEN: And this is an area that really took a beating September 26th with another storm. Have they even begun to recover from that?
YOON: They have started to recover, but like you said, especially in Manila, the capital, they have been traumatized by this experience and that they are quite concerned about the rains.
The typhoon had veered away from Manila and people in Manila were quite relieved about that because the earth there is waterlogged. And in fact that there are quite a few people there who are just worried that they wouldn't be able to handle another disastrous calamity.
NGUYEN: All right, Eunice Yoon joining us, live. Thank you Eunice. We do appreciate that, joining us on the phone from a shelter there, where she said the electricity is already knocked out. They're having a difficult time.
HOLMES: And they've been having a difficult time for the past week.
Reynolds, they just dealt with one about a week ago, now dealing with another. Is it right on them right now?
WOLF: It is actually moving into the northern Philippines right now. The people that are really concerned happen to be the people that are tuning in and staying in the Taiwan area.
I know it's going to be a nightmare for them, with the storm approaching. This is the largest storm on the planet right now, still very strong, moving west-northwest at 10 miles per hour, winds at 90, gusts however have been up to 115 miles per hour. You can see it's still pretty well-defined and usually these storms weaken considerably when they interact with land.
It has weakened but not before producing quite a bit of rainfall. You're going to see mudslides north of Manila. It is going to be just a huge powerhouse. I can tell you right along the China coast they are getting some heavy wave action, parts of Taiwan same story all due to the storm.
The question is, where is this thing headed? Well, the latest path we have brings the storm, at least the forecast has it as you go into Saturday and then into Sunday and Monday, storm veering a little bit more to the north and just as a category 1 storm, then gaining a bit of strength as it interacts with very warm water.
And then it is expected to veer off more a bit more due east and still as a category 2 storm as we get into Tuesday and then fast forwarding into Thursday, same story moving out to sea. That is some good news but a very close call for the time being for people who happen to be in Taiwan.
That is a look at your forecast. Let's send it back to you at the desk.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds, thank you for that.
Chicago, unfortunately you're out in the Olympic bid. Rio, you are in.
HOLMES: Right, so but I've just being kind of a very sympathetic and emotional favorite. What exactly did Rio do that maybe Chicago and the other cities did not?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, CBS producer Robert Halderman in court yesterday. Why? He is accused of trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman. There are some pictures of him in court.
He posted a $200,000 bond and what he was trying to do was say, look, if I don't get $2 million from you, David Letterman, I am going to go public with the screenplay that pretty much says you have had sex with your co-workers.
Well, David Letterman beat him to the punch on that, this week on his show, he came out and admitted that he has had sex with staff members. And so we're going to see this court case continue. But in the meantime, we want to know from you, what do you think about relationships -- interoffice relationships with, you know, co-workers, maybe even a boss?
Is that something that is normal for some people because you work with the folks every day? You spend a lot of time with them, relationships can build. Or is it just not a good idea no matter what?
We're getting a lot of good responses from you on Facebook and Twitter.
HOLMES: Let's start with Facebook over here by Diana Daniels says it actually depends -- to the right, wrong screen, there it is my man. Says, "It depends if two people get involved with each other there should be a discussion to set some rules and guidelines and if both parties are cool with them, then it should work out."
Also someone on Twitter saying, "You should not get your honey and your money in the same place. You just don't do that."
NGUYEN: All right. Well, let's go to my Twitter site really quick.
Wesmike (ph) says, "I work over 60 hours a week at a job so it is natural to hook up at work." Wow, OK, he's just putting it out there.
And then gregd999 says, "A workplace romance or tryst almost never ends up in a good way. Percentage of the ones that last a long time is very, very low."
Although we have talked to a few people and actually gotten a free responses on Facebook and Twitter that it does work; they've been married for years, have kids, happily devoted to each other. So I think to each his own, but it's really interesting.
HOLMES: Who's that first guy again.
NGUYEN: Wesmike, apparently he hasn't found the one just yet but hooking up at work, according to him, is all good.
HOLMES: I wonder what his rep is around the workplace.
NGUYEN: Exactly.
HOLMES: We'll have a special half hour as we do on Saturdays 9:00 a.m., devoted to health care this morning. If you have questions we have some answers. Again, that's always in our 9:00 a.m. half hour that's coming up here in just a few minutes.
NGUYEN: And they are partying like it's 2016 in Rio, folks, we're going to take you there live in our 10:00 a.m. hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
NGUYEN: We finally got music on the show. It's only taken us until 8:46. I've been screaming for it all day long.
HOLMES: Goodness, gracious.
NGUYEN: You want to something right.
HOLMES: Well, we found the proper place, why you do me like that? That's what a lot of people waking up in Chicago saying this morning. Chicago's lost.
NGUYEN: That and a few other things that we can't say on the air. It was tough. It was.
HOLMES: As you know by now Rio has gotten the 2016 games. We want to bring in our sports business analyst Rick Horrow. Hey, you got me all right. I'm mourning this morning. You hear me ok?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: I'm good now. Thank God.
HOLMES: All right, we got you now. Let's talk about this Rio situation. Everybody was talking about Chicago, about what a big disappointment it was but would Rio have had to quite frankly screw up terribly to lose this thing? It was in their hands, it was their Olympics to lose?
HORROW: With the politics of Olympics selection there are hundreds of thousands of different finger pointing equations.
The bottom line is we are focused on Rio. I was there a couple of months ago. There was a sports development expedition. I was able to see it first hand.
Their growth rate is 3.5 percent. Their light car and truck sales are up to 3 million; 10 percent higher than anybody else. What does that mean -- more advertising? They're in a growth mode and the U.S. is either in a contraction or stable mode. That's one of the big differences people have to keep in mind.
It's not just Chicago's loss. It's Rio's tremendous gain, also the fact this is the first Olympics in South America. That is a big deal.
HOLMES: Now everybody seems to want to focus on that right there, Rick. The big deal about that sentimental favorite of being the first in South America but it sounds like you're talking about it from a business standpoint, purely business and growth over the years, Rio made sense.
HORROW: Well, let's put it in another perspective. 38 percent of the Fortune 500 worldwide have expanding Brazilian ties, and they're also 160 million Brazilians under the age of 18, the high demographic buying power numbers, another example. And the other thing, too, is by the way, they're hosting the 2014 World Cup.
So people were talking about how this is not a mature country infrastructure wise. They're spending $14 billion to boost that infrastructure and they're going to have a big worldwide event under their belt two years before the 2016 Olympics so let's take some heat off of Chicago and let's congratulate Rio.
HOLMES: You talked about the infrastructure there, again in 2014, they'll get a chance to highlight that infrastructure and what they've done. How much work do they have to do? Every Olympic city has a lot of work -- you don't just have these -- some places do. But you always have to build. I guess how far away are they, how much work do they have to do compared to maybe some of the other cities?
HORROW: Well, based on how long it took me to get from the airport to downtown, they got a lot of work to do, but listen, that's no different than a lot other cities as well. And one of the magic things about choosing an Olympic seven years before it happens is you've got these seven years of excitement to build that infrastructure; five before the World Cup, seven before the Olympics.
Let's keep this in mind, though, everybody talks about how this is a wasted effort by everybody. Kudos to Chicago, they've developed a lot of excitement because of this bid. They'll parlay that into something else to be sure but 50 cities had hired consultants to get in the race for Olympics during the decades of the 2000, 10s and 20s so people want this.
Coming in fourth, some Republicans say is terrible. But let's understand, there are 50, 60 cities that wanted these Olympics and other Olympics to begin with as well.
HOLMES: All right. Last thing here quickly, if you can, I know you said Chicago gets something out of it, but will they get an Olympics out of it down the road? Are they going to get back in the game at some point?
HORROW: There's this never again when you lose. I guess it's like being turned down by your date after spending all this money putting on some good clothes and you may get around to doing it again. Let's just remember that you can put emotions aside. Olympics are big business so they'll be back.
HOLMES: Rick Horrow, our business and sports analyst, good stuff this morning. Good to see you as always.
HORROW: All right man. See you next week.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
NGUYEN: His creative way of connecting with students really could change teaching as we know it.
HOLMES: We're talking about Ron Clark Academy, and yes, you are required, Betty, I wasn't just there playing around.
NGUYEN: Yes, you were.
HOLMES: You're required to go down a slide.
NGUYEN: So you were slide certified.
HOLMES: I have a sticker that says so. We'll explain to you what they do at this school that is working.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, Ron Clark, he's a teacher here in Atlanta and he initially set out to get his students' attention. Now he's got a lot of people's attention. He's got some pretty unconventional teaching methods that could end up changing education as we know it, at least he hopes so.
Oprah is paying attention. He's got the attention of the White House as well. He keeps getting high marks but he never set out to be a teacher in the first place.
I spent a day at Ron Clark Academy, and you will see right now just what makes this place so different.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: This isn't a music class or choir. It's language arts class, yet these middle school students are singing about possessive nouns.
STUDENTS: I know what possesses me, boy I want to know. It's so easy, can't you see.
HOLMES: singing a grammar lesson is one of the nontraditional teaching methods you'll find in classrooms at Ron Clark Academy. It's a lot different from the first classroom Ron Clark walked into 15 years ago in North Carolina.
RON CLARK, CO-FOUNDER, RON CLARK ACADEMY: This kid looked down and he said are you going to be our new teacher and I was like, I guess so.
HOLMES: He was only there because his mom convinced him to fill in as a substitute. He had a college degree but no teaching license, and no desire to become a teacher. But that day changed his life, and taught him a lesson that has shaped his teaching philosophy.
CLARK: You can't teach the way we used to teach kids. These kids have iPods, video games, movies and all these stuff that's going on and they're text messages. You can't just bring kids and have them sit down and expect them to stare for an hour.
HOLMES: Clark Academy is different. You notice that immediately upon walking in the front door and are greeted by a two-story electric blue slide.
It's not just for the kids. Every visitor to the school is required to get slide certified.
Clark and Kim Bearden co-founded the private middle school in a rough Atlanta neighborhood in 2007. They kept it private so they'd be free to experiment. Tuition to the school is about $18,000 a year and just about all of 100 or so students are on scholarships.
And though there are only about 100 students enrolled, Clark says his real mission is teaching teachers.
CLARK: When teachers come to our school, they see color, life and energy and they see students that are on fire, students that want to learn, every kid's sitting up, paying attention, the kids are raising their hands and the teachers are just electric.
We're using music and energy and it's hands on. And there's art and color and extremely high expectations.
You have a test on that tomorrow.
HOLMES: After a visit to his school Clark hopes teachers will take what they learn and implement it in their own classrooms across the country, leading to what Clark calls a revolution in education.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we're singing songs it actually helps us to remember.
HOLMES: Even though education reform can seem like a big, expensive and complex problem, Clark doesn't think the solution is big, expensive or complex at all.
CLARK: People just need to listen to me. I wish the government would just listen and people would say he knows what he's talking about.
HOLMES: It's that he simple.
CLARK: It's that simple. It all involves with the teacher. You can talk about the state government. You can talk about principals, superintendents; it all comes down to finding passionate people who want to teach. We have to give teachers more freedom, trust them more and allow them to use their own creativity to fire up their students in the way they know that they need to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job, that is perfect. HOLMES: His results can be measured with the enthusiasm you see in the hallways and classrooms and on standardized test scores. His students posted major gains in practically every subject and scored in some cases in the top 70 percent, 80 percent, and 90 percentile compared to other students in the country.
But perhaps the biggest place that success shows is on the faces and in the hearts and minds of these students.
CHI CHI UGWUH, STUDENT: Our motto at the school is like there's no room for fear so I'm going to put myself out there and just get what I get.
OSEI AVRIL, STUDENT: Not only does it teach you how to be academically great but it teaches you how to be a global citizen and a global leader.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: I love the excitement on their faces.
HOLMES: You don't see that at school. You just don't see that.
NGUYEN: We didn't stand on tables and dance around and sing. That's great. It makes you want to learn.
HOLMES: If you're there and you want to be there, you will learn. That is the idea behind it, and you heard the last song there, it got a lot of attention last year with the...
NGUYEN: The T.I. Song.
HOLMES: The T.I. Song "You Can Vote However You Like" that was the new song you heard at the end.
NGUYEN: One of your favorites and it's by Miley Cyrus.
HOLMES: I love that Miley Cyrus song.
NGUYEN: It's a great song.
HOLMES: "Party in the USA" they put their own hook on it about health care. It's a problem in the U.S.A. but they've been getting attention for that one, too. The point again, they only have 100 students in the school but they bring in thousands; about 3,000 a year. Teachers just visit to observe the methods. He's hoping they'll take that to their classrooms and they'll spread and -- like he says -- quite frankly start a revolution in education.
NGUYEN: $18,000 a year to go there.
HOLMES: It's expensive. They're all on private scholarships.
NGUYEN: But most of them are on scholarships. Got you.
HOLMES: A lot of scholarships, a lot of sponsors, and these kids by the time they're in seventh or eighth grade have been to six of the seven continents through traveling with the school. So it makes for these types of students.
NGUYEN: That is incredible.
HOLMES: All right. Well, there is much more to come right here on CNN. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. From CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Can you can believe it's already October 3rd?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Where has the year gone? Good morning, folks. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Wherever you may be this morning, glad you could start your day here with us. This half hour as we do every Saturday, 9:00 a.m., we are focusing on health care.
NGUYEN: Yes. And today we're going to look at how the health care reform bill could impact those with breast cancer and look at why more and more senior citizens are turning to the internet, but first let's get you this information.
President Obama using his weekly address today to try and connect with small business owners. Many fear his health care plan will mean higher taxes. Our own Elaine Quijano is standing by now for us live at the White House.
So, Elaine, is the president saying anything different today than what we've heard in the past?
QUIJANO: You know, he's not really saying anything different than in the past, Betty. The president is once again trying to draw a connection between the overall economy and the need to get health care reform done this year. The president in his weekly radio and internet address said that small businesses which create a lot of jobs in this country are getting overwhelmed, just slammed with rising health care costs.
The president believes part of what is going to get the economy back on track is to go ahead and get health care reform legislation done this year. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Rising health care costs are undermining our businesses, exploding our deficits, and costing our nation more jobs with each passing month. So we know that reforming our health insurance system will be a critical step in rebuilding our economy so that our entrepreneurs can pursue the American dream again and our small businesses can grow and expand and create new jobs again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, at the same time, the president also acknowledged the latest jobs figures that are out, showing 9.8 percent unemployment. The president said that the numbers are a sobering reminder that progress comes in fits and starts, and that the economy, the country needs to take this economic recovery step by step -- Betty?
NGUYEN: All right. Well, that's what the president is saying. What about Republicans? What is their take on all of this?
QUIJANO: You know, Republicans, Betty, are continuing to blast the president's and Democrats' health care proposals saying that they're basically a costly government-run health plan. In their weekly address, the Republicans argue that Democrats plan to fund their reforms with cuts to Medicare benefits and new taxes on businesses.
But of course, we know that the president has said, look, what we plan to do instead is to find money in these government programs in the form of waste and inefficiency and cut it that way and get some money to fund these health care reform proposals. So Betty, the back and forth certainly on this issue continues. Stay tuned.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. Elaine Quijano though joining us live and try to sort it all out. Thank you, Elaine.
HOLMES: There's been so much debate about the so-called public option in health care reform. Well, the Senate Finance Committee said no to that public option as part of it.
Senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash reports the fight still isn't over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Conrad? No. Mrs. Lincoln? No. Mr. Nelson?
Mr. Nelson. No.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What you're seeing and hearing ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Chairman?
SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), FINANCE COMMITTEE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Chairman. No.
BASH: -- are Senate Democrats opposing ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight ayes, 15 nays.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The amendment fails. BASH : And defeating a Democratic priority, a government-run insurance option for health care. The Democratic chairman who helped block a public plan called it simple math.
BAUCUS: I can count and no one has been able to show me how we can count up to 60 votes with a public option in the bill.
BASH: Senate Democratic leadership sources privately tell CNN he's right. There aren't enough votes to pass a public option in the Senate, but don't try to tell that to ardent democratic supporters of a public plan, determined to fight the fight anyway.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Give people a choice. What is wrong with giving people a choice?
BASH: Arguing the only way to drive down the high cost of health care is to have a non-profit government-run health care option to compete with for-profit insurers.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: A public option every day in every way in rules that we haven't thought about will compete and bring those costs down and serve the public as opposed to simply the shareholder.
BASH: The Democratic divide on this issue is so deep, a liberal Democratic group is running this ad against the Democratic chairman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Bachus, when you take millions of dollars in health and insurance interests that oppose reform and oppose giving families like mine the choice of a public option, I have to ask, whose side are you on?
BASH: With that running back home, it's no wonder Max Baucus and other moderate Democrats against the public option mostly let the Republicans do the talking here.
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: The government is not a fair competitor. It's not even a competitor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you don't want Medicare. It's a predator.
BASH (on camera): Supporters of a government-run insurance option tried to put a positive spin on their defeat saying they got more Democratic votes on this conservative committee than they thought they would. Still there's no getting around the fact that losing is at the very least a symbolic blow to a huge Democratic priority on health care, especially for the president.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. So this year alone, more than 192,000 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer. 140,000 of them will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. And for those diagnosed, the fight to survive is a long and expensive one.
Joining me now from Detroit is Dr. Douglas Blayney, who specializes in the treatment of breast cancer. Doctor, I appreciate your time this morning. First thing I want to ask you though, in your experience of treating cancer patients, what are their main challenges with this current health care system.
DR. DOUGLAS W. BLAYNEY, AMERIAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY, PRESIDENT: Well, the current health care system that's employer-based insurance relies on patients retaining and getting their health insurance enforced. We know that a woman or man who is diagnosed with cancer has half the chance of living if they have no insurance than a person who has health insurance.
So we think that whatever, and it's too early, as your correspondents have pointed out, it's too early to say what's going to emerge in this health care debate and reformation. But it needs to guarantee that patients with breast cancer or other kind of cancer have access to coordinated, high quality cancer care.
NGUYEN: You know, we hear a lot of talk of people saying this is what we need, this is what we need, and some talk about how are we going to pay for it. But you have some real life examples of how people are trying their best, but if they are not insured, it's simply extremely difficult out there to get the kind of treatment they need especially if they have cancer.
BLAYNEY: Well, that's true. As I said, if patients who are diagnosed don't have insurance, they don't have as good a chance.
NGUYEN: Don't you have a specific example though?
BLAYNEY: I do. I saw one of my patients who I've been treating for about almost a year now on Thursday. He had a very aggressive kind of cancer, very aggressive treatment, was off work for awhile. He came in to see me Thursday, we're in the midst of another treatment and he said, "Doc, things are going to change for me. I've lost my job. I'm going to have to move my two kids and wife, sell the house and move, because we are devoting our energies to this cancer fight and our economic resources are much less than we had."
This is a story I hear all too often, and whatever reform comes out needs to take into account this kind of thing. Lifetime caps, pre-existing conditions, and ability to care for the many more cancer survivors that we have, need to be critical forms of health, whatever comes out of health care reform.
NGUYEN: Help us put some faces to these numbers. If a person is suffering from cancer, needs treatment, but is not insured, what are the chances of them still trying to get some kind of treatment? Do they just fall by the wayside.
BLAYNEY: Well, there are a variety of safety net programs in this country, as you're aware, Medicaid in the states and Medicare, not a safety net.
NGUYEN: But that doesn't cover all of cancer treatment, correct?
BLAYNEY: Well, the Medicare, the way and certainly Medicaid doesn't cover the costs of doctors and hospitals delivering cancer care. Now patients don't see this, but physicians see this, and this, I think is the inability to cover the full cost of cancer care needs to be covered someplace else, and often this cost is shifted to private insurers. So any health care reform needs to take into account the full cost of covering cancer care, otherwise access will be limited for certain people.
NGUYEN: Should all folks take into account prevention as well, if there's any way to do so?
BLAYNEY: Oh, you bet. It's impossible for a cancer doctor to talk to an audience like yours and not talk about smoking cessation and tobacco control. This is one of the major successes we've had. There are demonstrably effective ways to stop smoking, screening, catching cancers early.
There is also a very effective way of cutting the death rate of cancer. As cancer doctors, none of us want to see more cancer patients. We want cancer to go away as a problem.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
BLAYNEY: These are some of the most effective ways.
NGUYEN: All right. Well, and speaking of specific cancers, it is breast cancer awareness month. On that front, how much progress has been made?
BLAYNEY: Well, I've been doing this for 25 years. During that time, we've seen great advances in women's attitudes toward talking to their doctors about lumps that appear in their breast. We've seen great strides in screening, great strides in the ability to get rid of or move cancers from the breast, and conserve the breast and also treat with chemotherapy and other systemic treatments.
The death rates are dropped by two percent a year for the last five years. This is a very important thing. Your viewers can go to cancer.net as our web site for more information relevant to them.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. I know you're having a little bit of difficulty with your earpiece there in hearing us but we do appreciate your time and your insight this morning, Dr. Blayney, thank you so much.
BLAYNEY: All right. Good, thank you.
HOLMES: All right. We use social media, twitter and Facebook and all that stuff here. A lot of people think it's a young person's game.
NGUYEN: That's true.
HOLMES: If you will, not anymore. NGUYEN: We're going to tell you how interactive tools on-line are helping seniors stay on top of the health care debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF: Welcome back to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. You know, all morning long, we've been telling you about typhoon Parma that's been forming out at the Pacific. Now, we're going to give you an idea of what's happening back here at home for your weekend.
It looks like if you happen to be in the Great Lakes, and the northeast, scattered showers and possible thunderstorms are going to be in the mix but a little bit farther back to the west it's going to be a windy day for you, St. Louis, back to Des Moines, Iowa, pretty much the same situation. The reason why is because you've got low pressure forming up over parts of the Great Lakes. High pressure diving into parts of the central plains. Combination of these two entities is going to give you some strong wind gusts, some topping 30 miles per hour.
Relatively dry for you in the southeast but when you get into Texas right along parts of i-35 from Austin to San Antonio, maybe as far north as Dallas, you have a chance of some storms, possibly some thunderstorm activity into the afternoon. Relatively dry for you cross the four corners and when you get into the central and northern Rockies we are talking about snowfall.
Temperature wise, take a look at what you can expect. 53 degrees in the windy city of Chicago, 78 in Memphis, 79 in Dallas. Houston with 80 degrees. If you like those colors on the map, hopefully you like these, too. Your fall colors is going to be at their peak as they towards parts of upstate New York, into Vermont, even into Maine. Same deal for you in the central and Northern Rockies.
But if you look at this color code here, it looks like it's going to be November and October, late October for your colors to be at the peak parts of the southeast, the Ohio Valley and into the central plains. That is a look at your forecast. We got lot more coming up straight ahead here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. See you in a few.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back to the CNN SATURDAY MORNING where every Saturday we are dedicating our 9:00 half hour to health care. What we want to talk about is the internet, Facebook, Twitter, not just for young folks these days. More senior citizens are getting hip to tweeting and hanging out on-line. They want to stay plugged into this health care debate as well as keep up with their grandchildren and their own friends.
Our tech radio show host Mario Armstrong has a long way to go before he's a senior citizen, joining us this morning from Washington.
MARIO ARMSTRONG, TECH RADIO SHOW HOST: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: You're telling me now that I need to watch out for a friend request from our grandparents.
ARMSTRONG: That's right. They're happening like you wouldn't believe. Grandparents are going on to tools like Facebook. I'm calling it now, T.J., Facebook is like the new digital living room. It is where all of the conversations are happening online that used to take place in the home, but so many families are cross the country or across the globe and grandparents are really finding out that they're getting more connections and more talk time with their families via online.
HOLMES: So is this just a sign of the times, there's only a matter of time before senior citizens got hip (ph) to it or is it being sparked by some of the debates, some of these issues and so much of the debate happening online especially with health care that affects these?
ARMSTRONG: It's absolutely being sparked by that. A great insight. I mean, when you look at the election that took place you saw a huge increase in the amount of seniors embracing the internet because so much information was happening there.
And you look at the health care debate now, so much information, whether it's video from youtube, whether it's information off of other networks or going to websites like AARP, they want to be plugged in, engaged and informed and they have to go online to get that latest information.
HOLMES: So are you telling me they're using the internet just like everybody else is? It's not like they have some special senior section, if you will, but they're going to, like you just mentioned youtube, they're doing Facebook and twitter, doing what everybody else is doing?
ARMSTRONG: They're doing a lot of what everyone else is doing. There are some sites though that are geared specifically to seniors which does make it a little bit easier. Things like seniorjournalnews.com or places like eons.com which is actually, T.J., a social network -- E-O-N-S dot com is a social network for just aging baby boomers and seniors. So it's a place for them to have to share their photos, find companionship, put their information up online and find others that are dealing with health issues that they may be dealing with.
HOLMES: I know a lot of people -- you talk about the numbers that are going up but for seniors who are not getting in the game, who are still resistant to it, who still don't necessarily want to do it, how big of a disadvantage are they putting themselves in right now?
ARMSTRONG: That is a major concern of mine, a major disadvantage because the information cycle is happening so quick you're missing out. Seniors, if you're tuning in and listening, I can't tell you enough, look getting training is easy to do these days, T.J..
People are getting easier with teaching seniors how to leverage the internet and I don't want people missing out on the information because essentially they will become digitally illiterate if they do not embrace today's technology to be informed and to be up-to-date.
HOLMES: No, there are and I wanted to make sure we got this in, what they need to be watching out for and keeping in mind as far as limitations go with what they can be doing out there.
ARMSTRONG: Yes. There are a couple of things. I brought something with me in here that I'm going to show you guys.
HOLMES: You always do. You always got props. I love it.
ARMSTRONG: Well, this is a great one because this is by Chester Creek and this is called the vision board.
HOLMES: Wow.
ARMSTRONG: And as you can see, yes, really large sized keys, one inch keys so this helps people who are low vision impaired or have dexterity issues. A lot of people can't use standard keyboards like you and I can, T.J., because it hurts their hands or it's painful. But there's also, you know, mice out there as well that people are using that look like this.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness gracious! Look at this! Oh, my goodness!
ARMSTRONG: You put your hand on this track ball and it's very easy for them to use and makes it more comfortable for them to navigate the web. So companies like Chester Creek, myway village and some others out there have really created technologies that help seniors embrace the internet better.
NGUYEN: You're supersizing.
HOLMES: You know, that is a good point. I mean we look at it there and maybe, Betty and I have seen it first. You give a little chuckle because it's a huge mouse but we wouldn't think of using that but that is amazingly helpful for a person who can't see that well.
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely.
HOLMES: ... who had some issues with their hands, can't move that well.
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely.
HOLMES: That is great stuff. Mario, we appreciate the props as always.
ARMTRONG: One last thing, real quick.
HOLMES: Go ahead.
ARMSTRONG: They should go on. If you're looking for training, they should go to seniornet.org, list as a lot of the training that's available across the country so that they can find a community college, a library or community health center where they can get free or discounted training for that.
HOLMES: Mario, that is great, great information this morning. Thank you so much.
ARMSTRONG: Thank you, T.J.
HOLMES: Good to have you and we will be talking to you again very soon.
ARMSTRONG: Thank you. All right. See you soon.
NGUYEN: Hey, I might need that supersize keyboard. I mean sometimes the laptop keyboards are too small.
HOLMES: And they keep getting smaller and smaller.
NGUYEN: And smaller. Exactly.
All right. Let me ask you. How much money do you think health care insurance companies keep because people don't know how to collect it or they just get so overwhelmed that they give up? We have the answer ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. We are back with our special half hour geared toward health care. So ever get sick or hurt and you try to file a claim and wonder how many trees that died in the name of paperwork for that thing to get processed.
HOLMES: Yes. You know, some of that language anyway on these forms, you just can't understand it, what it means.
NGUYEN: There are codes and all of this other stuff and it's not just right, it gets sent back.
HOLMES: It's very confusing, of course, and you think maybe insurance companies are milking cash from all the confusion possibly, at least one woman certainly believes that.
Our Tom Foreman has her story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YOGI YOGAN, INSURANCE CLAIMANT: 1,250.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There's 1,400 here.
(voice-over): Yogi Yogan is fighting mountains of insurance paperwork.
YOGAN: 11,000.
FOREMAN (on camera): Yes, this is 11,000. Here's 1200 over here.
(voice-over): And a nagging suspicion.
YOGAN: 20,000.
FOREMAN: Ever since she broke her wrist ice skating and says she was told by an insurance company rep, it was not covered.
YOGAN: Do you really mean to be telling me that I had, you're calling this a pre-existing condition? And she said yes.
FOREMAN (on camera): A broken wrist, they called a pre-existing condition?
YOGAN: They absolutely did.
FOREMAN (voice-over): She eventually convinced them otherwise and the company paid.
YOGAN: Come on, Gus.
FOREMAN: But Yogan is certain without her dogged persistence her claim would have been forever lost in the paperwork jungle of the insurance trade.
YOGAN: There's a reason for this, it's called money. Other people's money.
FOREMAN: Doctors, too, accused insurance companies are boosting their profits through a baffling claims process, that often allows them to keep money that should go to patients. Dr. Val Jones is part of an innovative practice that doesn't even take insurance. It's straight fee for service. Why? Because she grew weary of seeing patients struggle with their health and wealth on the line.
DR. VAN JONES, DOCTALKER FAMILY MEDICINE: They don't know why they're getting these questions asked. They don't know what the forms mean and they're getting compensated, it's dependent upon it.
FOREMAN (on camera): Keeping them honest we wanted to know just how much money insurance companies are keeping because people don't know how to collect it or because they get tired of trying and just give up. The answer? No one knows. These are private companies with private records and they say they pay all appropriate claims.
(voice-over): But some estimate it could be billions, among them Wendell Potter, a former insurance executive turned crusader, who says just think of the thousands of doctors and hospitals.
WENDELL POTTER, FMR. EXECUTIVE, CIGNA: The millions of individuals who are insured in these private plans, that money adds up quickly.
YOGAN: And you know, ca-ching.
FOREMAN: The insurance industry says it's not true.
ROBERT ZERKELBACH, AMERICA'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS: It's not true.
FOREMAN: Robert Zerkelbach is with the National Insurance Trade Association. He says there's a lot of paperwork because laws require it and insurance companies are just as concerned as consumers about the confusion.
ZERKELBACH: We agree that reform is needed. In fact, that's why we've been working very hard to develop reforms to make the system more efficient.
POTTER: I don't buy that. They've not made it a priority.
FOREMAN: We contacted Yogan's insurer today and they said they could not comment without her permission and more time to study her case. However, "We worked diligently with our members to ensure they understand and receive fully the benefits to which they are entitled."
But back in the paperwork jungle ...
(on camera): When you look at all of this, what do you think about the insurance industry in this country?
YOGAN: They're not here to help. I better stop going through these. This is depressing.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Depressing and maybe more costly than consumers know.
Tom Foreman, CNN, McClean, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Boy, that's got to be frustrating.
HOLMES: Everybody is going through that. You know, she kept an eye on it.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: And it worked out to her advantage.
NGUYEN: Well, that's the thing. You got to stay persistent with it and some people just don't have the time to continue making the phone calls, waiting for 10 minutes for someone to answer and then going through the whole scenario all over again and getting back to square one where you never made any progress to begin with.
HOLMES: The health care and issues people we go through such a big problem. Kids decided they want to sing about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yes, it's a problem in the U.S.A.
Singing to the Miley Cyrus song "Party in the U.S.A.." That's right. Something about health care that will actually make you smile this morning. You definitely want to stick around for this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, so when's the last time that you've seen anybody singing and smiling about health care?
HOLMES: Yes, you haven't. We're going to show it to you this morning, leave you with a song from the kids at Ron Clark Academy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STUDENTS: (singing)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
