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CNN Saturday Morning News
Balloon Boy Mom Admits Hoax; Plane Overshoots Runway By 150 Miles; Problems in Afghanistan for Upcoming Runoff Elections
Aired October 24, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: You're just now saying that?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I'm a little parched.
NGUYEN: You're a little parched this morning. We'll work on that. We're going to get you something. Hello everybody.
HOLMES: I'm a thirsty T.J. Holmes and this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for October the 24th. Glad you could be here with us.
NGUYEN: Yes, we all have issues, folks, good morning. Thanks for joining us. Let's start with this. Coming up, more problems in Afghanistan for the upcoming presidential runoff election. The Taliban urging a boycott, claiming it's all a ruse, staged by the United States. We'll delve into that.
HOLMES: Yes and we're trying to figure out this morning what in the world happened up there in the skies above Minnesota? A plane overshoots the runway, not by a few feet, not by a few yards, not by a mile even.
NGUYEN: Even a few.
HOLMES: A hundred and fifty miles, misses the runway essentially.
NGUYEN: How does that happen? And what were they doing?
HOLMES: That's the question. What were the pilots doing? We're talking about them and hearing from one of the pilot this is morning.
NGUYEN: Also want you to take a look at this, one of the most popular videos on cnn.com this week is right behind us here an armed robber changes his mind, drops down and prays with his victim. We're going to hear what he has to say.
HOLMES: All right, but first, a lot of people wondering what to do with this family now. The mom of the so-called balloon boy admits it was all a hoax, like many people suspected but now in court documents, Mayumi Heene says she and her husband knew their son was not in that runaway balloon, knew he was in the house, knew he was hiding all along. She also says in those court documents they told the kids to lie to authorities and also lie to the media about the whole incident.
NGUYEN: Well, in Chatham, New Jersey, police are warning residents to be extra cautious after a Catholic priest was found dead in his church rectory. Investigators say it appears to be homicide, but so far, no arrests have been made and there's still no word on a motive.
HOLMES: And one person dead, another hospitalized after a brutal bear attack, this was during rehearsals for a Russian circus in Kyrgyzstan. You're seeing this here, essentially the bear performs these tricks. It's a five-year-old bear trained to ice skate, mauled one of the trainers and severely injured another trainer that was trying to stop him. The bear was later put down.
NGUYEN: There are more questions than answers this morning after a Northwest plane actually blew past its destination Wednesday, missing it by 150 miles. Investigators want to know why the pilots didn't make radio contact for more than an hour. Here's what one of the pilots told CNN affiliate KGW.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD COLE, FIRST OFFICER NORTHWEST FLIGHT 188: Nobody was asleep in the cockpit. No arguments took place, but other than that, I cannot tell you anything that went on, because we're having hearings this weekend. We're having hearings on Tuesday. All that information will come out then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, we cannot wait to hear. In the meantime though, CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve tells us more about this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The cockpit voice recorder from Northwest flight 188 was headed over to investigators Friday afternoon, but it is only 30 minutes long. Recordings of what was happening in the cockpit during the period the plane was out of radio contact were likely taped over. Investigators want to know why the plane did not respond to repeated radio calls as it cruised from the Rockies almost to the great lakes.
STEVE WALLACE, FORMER FAA ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS CHIEF: For an airline crew to have no contact with air traffic control for I've heard one hour 18 minutes is unthinkable in the domestic United States.
MESERVE: A police report identifies the captain as Timothy Cheney, the first officer as Richard Cole. Police who interviewed them after landing described them as cooperative, apologetic and appreciative and say breathalyzer tests were negative. While they were in the air and in communicado, air traffic controllers made repeated attempts to reach them on regular and emergency frequencies.
CRAIG BOEHNE, NATL. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSN: Once the airplane passed over the airport at cruise altitude, then the level of concern, anxiety increased significantly. MESERVE: Controllers feared the plane had been hijacked. Fighter jets in Wisconsin were put on alert. There were interagency phone calls in Washington. The TSA checked to see if there had been screening issues with passengers. When, with the help of other pilots controllers eventually made contact with the plane, they found the pilot's responses vague.
They asked them to make extra turns on his way back to Minneapolis to verify he was in control of the aircraft. Crew members explained the gap in communications, saying they had been distracted by an intense discussion on airline policy. Others suspect they were asleep.
(on-camera); Investigators will analyze the flight's data recorder. If it shows the plane's controls being operated during the one hour and 18 minutes of radio silence, it would appear to confirm that the crew was awake, not asleep, but the investigation has just begun. The NTSB hopes to interview the pilots this weekend or early next week.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A bit of a do over in the Afghanistan elections and the White House paying close attention because the outcome could have a pretty big impact on U.S. troop levels there. Our Elaine Quijano live for thus morning at the White House.
Elaine, good morning to you, and I guess we got to know who is going to be running the place over there before we make a decision about troops.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know that's exactly right, T.J.. For President Obama, the stakes really could not be higher, when it comes to these Afghanistan elections. In fact you remember last week around this time, White House officials were saying that the U.S. needs to make sure it has a credible partner in Afghanistan.
In fact, the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs even said look, does it really matter how many more troops you add to Afghanistan? If there's not a credible, legitimate partner in place, that is why what happens in Afghanistan, matters so much to the United States, why the internal political situation there really makes a difference for the U.S.
Here is what U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had to say about the administration's ongoing Afghanistan review. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're looking at a full range of activities and our strategy in Afghanistan has been said publicly in Washington and as I've said, we're not pulling out. I think that any reduction is very unlikely. The question is, do we have the strategy right in light of the situation we face? Does it need refinement in some way and if it does need some adjustment, in light of the events that have taken place over the last number of months, including the election and so on and then what are the implications of that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: So Defense Secretary Robert Gates there meeting with NATO allies and here, T.J., is something else for the White House to consider. NATO allies actually got behind the strategy that was put forward by General Stanley McChrystal. Of course, he's very important.
He's the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and he's advocating for sending tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, not just to fight the Taliban, but also to try to help build up Afghanistan's own troops basically help plus (ph) up their own police and military forces there, something for the White House to consider.
As for a time frame on all of this T.J., Secretary Gates said that he thinks this analytical phase of the administration right now is coming to an end or at least beginning to come to an end and that over the next two or three weeks or so, that is when there will be some specific options being considered as the president makes his decision here -- T.J.?
HOLMES: We will see, because two weeks away from election day, maybe it will help them make decisions as well after we hear what happens in Afghanistan. Elaine Quijano, thank you so much.
NGUYEN: The campaigning begins today for Afghanistan's presidential candidates or maybe we should say that it begins again. If you expect to see a lot of handshaking, baby kissing, our Chris Lawrence will set you straight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The campaign to become Afghanistan's next president just kicked off on noon on Saturday and with only 12 days to campaign, you would think the candidates would be out here trying to speak to as many voters as possible. But I can tell you here in Kabul it is anything but that.
(voice-over): In fact the Taliban have just ordered a boycott of the upcoming runoff election and threatened violence against anyone who participants. In a written statement, Taliban leaders say that the election is being controlled by Americans, not Afghans and said quote, the mujahedeen are fully prepared to disrupt this process and anyone who participants and gets hurt will only have themselves to blame.
We've also been in contact with the campaign of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, who is running for president. He says he's running a completely different campaign this time than the first time, when he went out and tried to speak with the voters. This time Dr. Abdullah says he is only speaking with influential leaders, people like tribal elders, clerics, businessmen who can then influence the vote of a lot of other people. It's the same style that Hamid Karzai used during the first election and it is a tactic that got him very, very close to a majority.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Kabul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: So a runoff wasn't the only option for Afghanistan, so why did Hamid Karzai agree to another election? Our Fareed Zakaria asked Karzai that directly in an exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Were you pressured by the United States, did Ambassador Eikenberry, did people in Washington call to you pressure you to agree to a runoff?
HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN: Well, a lot of leaders called to ask me that. (INAUDIBLE) was here who conducted himself I would say that, I think (INAUDIBLE) conducted himself very, very well in Afghanistan and during all those periods of various negotiations with us. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called. Other leaders called, my friend and my brother, the president of Turkey called, (INAUDIBLE) called for different reasons.
There was this friendly effort by some governments to ask me to accept the result of the ECC but that's not the reason I went to call for a runoff and accept the result of the IEC (ph), the body that I respect a lot. It was recognizing that Afghanistan had gone through so many years of difficulty, so many years of internal strife, backed by foreign players and I felt that Afghanistan was entering that period again.
I felt as if Afghans were pitted one against the other and for that reason and for the reason of safety and security of the Afghan people and as I mentioned earlier, cementing democratic traditions in Afghanistan, I went to agree to a second round, which I believe is good for Afghanistan, which will eventually be good for all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And you can catch the rest of Fareed Zakaria's exclusive interview with Hamid Karzai right here on CNN tomorrow. See it at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: Well, everybody's waiting on the decision from the president about how many more troops possibly to send to Afghanistan.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: That could have a huge bearing on the place I was all week, a people wondering where in the world was T.J.?
NGUYEN: Where were you?
HOLMES: I was in the middle of the Mojave desert at Ft. Irwin at the national training center. This is where they train to go to Iraq and Afghanistan, mainly Iraq (ph). What you're seeing here, they have scenarios set up to make this field exactly like Iraq, what you just saw there was a mock suicide vest to assassinate an Iraqi general and what you're seeing here are scenes, these are all actors, most of them Iraqi-Americans who are out here to contribute.
They live out there, allow the troops to go out and train and they re-enact and I shouldn't say re-enact, they literally live in character. They're not there hanging out, take one, take two. No they live in character. What you're seeing, Iraqi police, the whole thing with the towns they set up to help these troops feel like they are in Iraq and know what it's going to feel like so no surprises to get there.
That's me just walking through the town. These people stay in character. She's trying to sell me something like someone might try to ...
NGUYEN: Liked the vest you got there.
HOLMES: ... in the streets in Iraq, yes, I had to turn that back in. That's where I was for the week, first brigade, 3rd infantry, good group of folks, appreciate them but we're going to be bringing you those reports over the next days and weeks but fascinating stuff they do out there.
NGUYEN: It really is, because it's real life training for them, I mean the closest you can get without going over to Iraq.
HOLMES: And that is right now they do mainly Iraq scenarios out there, but they do rotations every month, going to start possibly doing more Afghanistan rotations than Iraq. So stay tuned for those. Those will be coming in the next days and weeks.
NGUYEN: Looking forward to that. Glad to have you back. You've been eating NREs and pears right?
HOLMES: ... pears out there..
NGUYEN: And a fruit diet and sleeping in your bed finally, not a tent during a sand storm. T.J.'s been through a lot lately folks. Give him a little slack if he's a little off today.
HOLMES: Nothing like those guys, just a week. I get to come back home to Atlanta. They're going to be heading to Iraq, so appreciate their hospitality, going to be sharing their story.
This is a story only if all criminals would do this. A thief changed his mind in the middle of trying to do his thieving. So he didn't just change his mind and say I'm not going to do it. He actually dropped to his knees to pray with his potential victim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me and her was in that situation for a reason and I'm just trying to figure out what that reason is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Isn't that just incredible? His story from behind bars still ahead.
And a small New Jersey town shaken by the death of a well-loved priest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, police in Chatham, New Jersey, searching for the killer of a Catholic priest who was found dead in his parish rectory.
NGUYEN: Susan Candiotti tells us that his body was discovered after he failed to show up for Friday mass.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a small town where no one's been murdered for almost 20 years, investigators searched bushes and backyards for any evidence that might lead to the killer of Pastor Ed Hines (ph). To those who knew him, Father Hines was a kind soul who oversaw St. Patrick's parish and its Catholic grade school.
KATHY PHILLIPS-BRODIE, FRIEND OF SLAIN PRIEST: He put 100 percent into it and it was, I don't know if anyone could take his place. And it seems like he blessed me, for some reason, I just have that feeling in my soul. Sorry.
CANDIOTTI: When the 61-year-old priest didn't show up to say daily mass Friday morning, a parish employee found him fully dressed and lying face up in the rectory's kitchen next door. In an exclusive interview with CNN, the chief prosecutor describes signs of a struggle and multiple wounds on the front and back of the priest's body.
ROBERT BIANCHI, PROSECUTOR: Mainly focused to the front part of his body and some wounds on the back. There was a fight that preceded it. It just was in a very localized area and again, there's blood spatter in various locations of the kitchen, in different areas of the wall and the floor inside the location.
CANDIOTTI: Investigators say Father Hines was attacked sometime after 11:00 p.m. Thursday. Earlier that night a fellow priest said Father Hines had a meeting with someone at 7:00, but neither that priest nor police will reveal more.
Among the questions, did someone force their way into the pastor's home or did Pastor Hines invite in his killer, perhaps someone asking for help? Investigators won't say and won't reveal whether the murder weapon was found. Residents are stunned in what's described as a quiet, upscale bedroom community to New York City. UNIDENTIFIED PRIEST: When you're the sole pastor in a parish and you do most of the baptisms and weddings and funerals, people end up loving you. This will be a big loss for the parish and a big loss for the diocese.
CANDIOTTI: In an eerie coincidence on the night of Father Hines' murder, police fingerprinted children at the church next door for a crime prevention program.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Chatham, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The Taliban threatening Afghanistan's runoff elections, on the day that campaigning officially started again. Afghanistan preparing for the runoff on November the 7th. President Hamid Karzai up against former foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Today the Taliban collecting or rather calling for a boycott and says it plans to disrupt the vote with violence.
NGUYEN: So we got more U.S. bank failures to tell you about today. The number this year, get this, reached 106, and the latest, three in Florida, one each in Georgia, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. The Federal fund that covers bank failures now stands at $7.5 billion, $7.5. Just one year ago that fund was $45 billion.
HOLMES: Health officials say they're frustrated with the delays in vaccine production as the H1N1 virus spreads quickly. Only 16 million doses of the vaccine have been shipped out so far. The virus is now widespread in at least 46 states. That's up five from last week.
NGUYEN: The south was hit with some thunderstorms last night, but it's been raining a lot in the southeast, specifically.
HOLMES: I've been in the desert for the past week. Tell me about it. The weather, though, included at least one tornado in Louisiana; that ain't good. Brace yourselves in the northeast as well. Bonnie Schneider says that system is headed your way.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All over the world today you're seeing signs like this. Take a look at that one and you're seeing this, and we got another one for you. It is popping up in all 50 states, too. What is going on today? We're going to show you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Check this out, a tornado touches down in southwest Louisiana. You're looking at the damage right here, some uprooted trees, snapped power lines, actually overturned a tractor trailer and about 10 homes were damaged because of that. Some homes still without power, but the good news in all of this is there are no injuries that have been reported as far as that tornado is concerned. You know, storms that hit the south yesterday, they are heading to the northeast. That can be causing some major problems.
Bonnie Schneider joins us this morning with the latest on that. Hey, Bonnie.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEVS: All over the world today, things like this are happening. Let's show you these pictures. It's kind of amazing. It could be literally anywhere, more than 180 countries, people making these huge demonstrations with the number 350. Let's go show you a couple more. They're coming to us from all over the world.
What is all this about? I'm going to show you on the screen behind me. This is a demonstration organized by 350.org, which has an environmental message. We'll get to the number in a second, but take a look at these pictures coming in all over the world. This one is from Kazakhstan. This one is from Australia.
There are 5,200 events today all about the number 350 and they're calling it the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. One picture that's getting a lot of attention is this from some soldiers in Afghanistan who put this together as well.
Also let's go to some of the video right now. We have video from the great barrier reef off of Australia where some people have gone underwater in order to hold up a sign that says 350 and again we'll tell you in a moment what the number is about. And let's go to this one we're getting from Kenya, a little piece of video coming to us from Kenya where a group of children took part in a 350 event as well singing, some chanting going on; let's listen in.
So what's this all about? Let me tell you. Let's zoom in on the screen behind me, 350.org points to this. I have a little image right here, the signs of 350 and the very simple idea is that they're looking at the the carbon count. You hear a lot about carbon, CO2 in the air. They're saying right now we're at 387 parts per million. We need to work our way down to 350 parts per million. That's what a lot of environmental activists say, also climatologists.
And here at cnn.com/environment we talk to you about these kinds of issues. I pulled up a quote from CNN so we can get you some facts here. Let's go that and we'll end with this.
I want you all to know, what we can tell you here. They say that the intergovernmental panel on climate change has put the maximum amount of CO2 that we should aim for at 550 by 2025. They say others including NASA's top climate scientist Dr. James Hansen (ph) think that the figure is much lower. It should be down to 350. So that's what this is all about, this 350 figure today with an environmental message attached to it.
We want to know what you think about it. Let's show how you can weigh in here. We've got the information posted for you, cnn.com/josh, also Facebook and Twitter, lots more pictures and videos coming in throughout the day. Send us your thoughts on this environmental event. Will it make a difference? Do you agree with the principle here? What do you think? We'd love to hear from you so Betty and T.J., that's why the mysterious 350 signs today in all 50 states and all over the world. NGUYEN: Very interesting. All right, thank you, Josh.
HOLMES: A lot of folks, you'll remember those huge crowds last spring at the so-called tea party demonstrations. Tens of thousands of people showed up, cities all over to protest, among other things, the president's plans for health care reform. Well, not done just yet. That was just round one.
NGUYEN: Plus why would parents instruct their kids to lie to authorities, even the media? Well, there is new information about that runaway balloon hoax.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody and welcome back on this Saturday morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. I'm glad you could be here with us this morning.
It's Tea time, once again. This weekend the Taxpayer Tea Party movement launches a new round of protest, the group first organized last spring criticizing President Obama's health care reform plan and the mounting federal deficit. They've held rallies, town hall meetings and marches and including a pretty big one in Washington in September.
What can we expect this time around? Well, our Paul Steinhauser, CNN's Deputy Political Director and friend of our show here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING here live with a preview.
What can we expect this time around?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I guess you call this one Tea Party Express the sequel or part two.
HOLMES: The sequel.
STEINHAUSER: Right?
HOLMES: All right.
STEINHAUSER: Unlike any sequel T.J., you can have a similar plot line in the story line like the first cross country caravan which was in late August and early September. This one is going to start in California as well, it's going to move east, a little bit of a different path. This one is going to finish up not in Washington, D.C., but down in Florida on Veteran's Day. A lot of stops along the way including right down your way in Atlanta.
And T.J. one big question, remember the last one came right after all that excitement from those town hall protests...
HOLMES: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: ...over health care. It also came in August and September, tail end of summer when people were off.
So will there be as many crowds, the size, will it be as big this time as last time? We'll see.
HOLMES: That's a good point there and of course at the time, a lot of this was about the health care reform. Well, a lot has happened in health care reform since we saw those first protests, but will health care be again a central focus of the protest in?
STEINHAUSER: It will be one of the focuses and still they don't like what they see. A lot of the protesters we're going to probably see over the next two weeks on this Tea Party Express they feel that what the Democrats and the president are pushing through Congress right now is going to lead to a government takeover of your health care. And they don't like that, because they don't the idea of the federal government getting too involved in our daily lives -- T.J.
HOLMES: Too involved in the daily lives -- remind us again who are these folks? I know some conservative groups are involved here but still, is that really primarily what we're going to see out here?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, conservatives -- some conservative groups that are helping out here but the organizers say listen, this is grassroots, this is from the bottom up, we're just here to help facilitate it. But they're saying this is basically Americans, many of them, yes, conservatives who are angry with the large -- the enormous growing what they say of the federal government, the large budget deficits, too many taxes, people they say are just fed with what's going on in Washington and how Washington started to take over their lives.
HOLMES: Ok and we know, I mean, the overwhelming majority of folks out there, I think it's fair to say, I mean, they want their voices heard, they have something that they're against, they want to protest that, that's fine and dandy.
But some, a few pockets, handfuls, whatever you want to call them had some pretty nasty things, some tough rhetoric, some -- and this anti-Obama sentiment. What are organizers saying about that? Are they trying to keep that to a minimum?
STEINHAUSER: Yes and you're right, we saw that last time both at the Tea party cross country caravan and with that march on Washington in early September.
What the organizers say is what they said last time -- I spoke to one of them yesterday -- that they don't encourage this at all. This is not their message but at the same time they say we are not policing these crowds. These are rallies and grassroots events and we're not there to police them -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, we know you'll probably be back out there, so we'll look for you on the road. If you're not planning on being back out there, I think I just signed you up, Paul Steinhauser.
I appreciate you are as always buddy. We'll talk to you again soon.
STEINHAUSER: Thanks, T.J.
NGUYEN: All right, coming up, police say they have a confession all right, in the case of the wayward balloon but wait until you hear what the mom in this case has to say.
HOLMES: Yes, didn't we already hear a confession from the boy live on "LARRY KING LIVE" and with our Wolf Blitzer?
NGUYEN: Yes, "I did it for the show."
HOLMES: I did it for the show, well yes, you know this thing by now. It was in fact a hoax that had all of us glued to the TVs live hoping for the safety of a 6-year-old boy. Well, mama is talking.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Time now to check the "Top Stories" for you.
In Chatham, New Jersey, the police are warning residents to be extra cautious after a Catholic priest was found dead in his church rectory. Investigators say it appears to be homicide, but so far, they have not made any arrests and there is no word on a motive.
Well, one person is dead, another hospitalized after a brutal bear attack. Listen to this. It happened during rehearsals for a Russian circus in Kyrgyzstan. The 5-year-old bear trained to, well, you see it right there ice skate, actually mauled one of its animal trainers and then severely injured another trainer who is trying to stop him. The bear was later shot and killed.
And the Taliban is threatening Afghanistan's runoff election on the day that campaigning officially started once again. Afghanistan is preparing for the runoff on November 7th. President Hamid Karzai is up against former Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah. Today the Taliban are calling for a boycott and says it plans to disrupt the vote with violence.
And the mom of the so-called balloon boy admits it was all a lie, in a newly released court document but that's not all she's saying.
HOLMES: Yes, she's saying a whole lot more here and actually confirming what a lot of people actually already suspected.
Let's turn to Adam Chodak now of our CNN affiliate KUSA in Colorado, he's got the affidavit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAM CHODAK, KUSA REPORTER: The act was convincing.
RICHARD HEENE, ACCUSED OF PLANNING HOAX: I'm really sorry I yelled at him.
CHODAK: First there was the tear-filled post attic news conference and then there was that expletives-filled home video. And then to top it off, you had the 911 call where quiet Mayumi Heene gave quite a performance.
MAYUMI HEENE, ACCUSED OF PLANNING HOAX: We've got to get my son.
DISPATCHER: Ok, hang on just one second, don't hang up.
CHODAK: Then on CNN the story started to crumble.
FALCON HEENE: We did this for a show.
CHODAK: The Larimer County sheriff then confirmed everyone's suspicion.
SHERIFF JIM ALDERDEN, LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO: It has been determined that this is a hoax.
CHODAK: But Friday, the hard evidence arrived. This is the paperwork the sheriff's office put together to justify a search of the Heene home. At the very end of the affidavit, the investigator says Mayumi Heene came clean on the whole deal. Specifically she said she lied to police.
The investigator also said Mayumi admitted quote, "The motive for the fabricated story was to make the Heene family more marketable for future media interest."
And they had quote, "Instructed their three children to lie to authorities as well as the media regarding this hoax." 9 News legal analyst Scott Robinson says the confession is key for prosecutors in this case but has its limits
SCOTT ROBINSON, LEGAL ANALYST: But if Richard Heene goes to trial, neither her confession nor her testimony can be used against him, if he invokes the privilege that spouses have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Let's turn to some money and sports now.
By this time tomorrow, we could know which two teams will be in the World Series. We know the Phillies are in it but maybe the Yankees could join them. Now the Yankees have the fattest payroll out there, but they still have to get by the Angels.
Let's bring in -- certainly never been called an angel probably -- Rick Horrow, our sports business analyst and visiting sports expert at Harvard Law School, Betty, so when you think Harvard, you think Rick.
NGUYEN: Yes, sure.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Yes, you do. Yes, I'll interrupt, yes, you do. All right, she may not but I do.
HOLMES: All right, now we're down to the final three now, so we should make the assumption that these are the best teams in baseball. Is that fair to say? Are these just the ones who can afford some of the best players?
HORROW: Well, certainly the latter and of course with the Yankees who are not in yet, even though here's an official Yankees World Series ball, except for one material thing they're not in it yet. So we'll talk about it in a couple of days.
Yankees' payroll is almost twice that of the Phillies or the Angels which is almost twice some of the other teams, just to put it in perspective, it's $70 million more than the next team, and the Phillies and the Angels almost fight for that second level to enter the playoffs.
One more thing, you know, the Yankees top 25 people making "x" dollars...
HOLMES: Yes.
HORROW: ...in baseball, in sports, the Yankees have four of them, no Angels, no Phillies, so Jeter and A-Rod are a big deal but they're certainly spending more than anybody else.
HOLMES: Ok, four of the top 25 are on that squad. Explain to people right quick and I know you could sum this up but people hear it all the time, but explain it to them why the Yankees have the biggest payroll, why they can afford it because they are in that market they are in.
Please explain that right quickly for folks.
HORROW: Yes, because they're spending more but the bottom line is local revenue in television is not shared in baseball so when the Yankees cut a local television deal, they make basically $70 million, $80 million more than anybody else. Guess what? Their payroll is $70 million, $80 million more than anybody else too, not a coincidence.
HOLMES: All right, all of these high-priced stars you were talking about -- last couple of things you're trying to get both of them in -- all of these stars, these high-priced stars we're talking about, are they earning their money? Sometimes they don't always deliver in the clutch when it's most important so are they this time around?
HORROW: Some of them do. A-Rod is making an annualized salary of $33 million. That's in T.J. money ok, so and I'm trying today to make those dollars.
HOLMES: Oh my goodness please stop.
HORROW: Derek Jeter, number 8 of the top 25, top 50 probably not having a good series...
HOLMES: Yes.
HORROW: ...but the beautiful thing about the Yankees is they have a whole lot of guys to choose from, even Teixeira in the top 15 so it isn't over for them.
HOLMES: All right, but last thing, recession-proof, the World Series, is it going to be affected one way or another? Still going to see sold-out stadiums despite what we're going through economically in this country?
HORROW: Ad sales up, attendance will be there, viewership big because it's Philly, LA, New York no matter who wins big time markets, people are tuning in. Baseball is doing very well especially in the post season.
HOLMES: Ok, we could know tonight. We see the baseball, congratulations you got a baseball.
HORROW: I'm practicing though. I'm just telling you, you're a big deal in Little Rock. I just came back by the way; you're a hero, a multi-sport guy. I figured we'd talk baseball.
HOLMES: All right, Rick Horrow, our business sports analyst. Again, Betty, when you think Harvard...
NGUYEN: You think Rick Horrow.
HOLMES: Yes, all right.
NGUYEN: Don't you, I mean don't we all? Why wouldn't we.
HOLMES: Thanks as always, Rick.
HORROW: Very well done.
NGUYEN: All right, listen up, Rick, because wow, you've got quite a head of hair there and sometimes we're about to speak of hair and that's the real deal, right? Just for the record.
HORROR: Yes.
NGUYEN: Ok, I'm just checking, I'm just checking.
HORROW: Real deal.
NGUYEN: Because it all falls in line with this, sometimes a woman's hair, maybe not Rick's but a woman's hair off limits, don't even think about touching it.
HOLMES: That's not all you need to know, however. Comedian Chris Rock tries to get to the bottom of the relationship between black women and their hair.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, now it's time to talk about crack of the creamy variety. Let me explain here, it's called creamy crack. If you're not familiar with that, maybe you're not familiar with relaxers and weaves or maybe you're starting to figure out we're talking about the language of hair now. We're talking about it because Chris Rock has made a documentary, a movie, a film, a comedy certainly and it's called "Good Hair." It opens nationwide this weekend and of course with Chris Rock you can get the comedy but also this film comes with a bit of controversy also some criticism.
You know, the guy known for making people laugh and now he's pulling back the curtain on the subject that some women would rather not talk about.
Well, Chris Rock talked to me and so did Nia Long, who's featured prominently in the film. Take a look at our conversation; then we'll talk about the controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS ROCK, ACTOR: What's your definition of good hair?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something that looks relaxed and nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If your hair is relaxed, white people are relaxed. If your hair is snappy they're not happy.
HOLMES: Tell me first -- you all just tell me -- how would you all define "good hair" not the movie, actual hair. What is good hair?
NIA LONG, ACTRESS: All hair.
CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: There you go. All hair is good. She's got good hair.
LONG: As long as it's behaving.
ROCK: As long as it's not attacking you. It's not flesh-eating hair.
HOLMES: Some people need work to get it to behave. Would you agree with that?
LONG: Anything good takes work.
ROCK: Yes. It takes a little work.
LONG: Product.
ROCK: Some TLC.
HOLMES: How much work for both of you? How much work and TLC did this take, how much work and TLC does that take? I didn't mean to say it like that.
ROCK: This takes a lot less work and TLC than this.
LONG: This actually took this morning 20 minutes.
HOLMES: That's not bad. ROCK: Twenty minutes but 20 minutes with engineers and architects.
Just yesterday my daughters came into the house and said daddy, how come I don't have good hair? I wonder how she came up with that idea.
LONG: Within the black community, if you have good hair you're prettier or better than; the lighter, the brighter the better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want to go like this, like Farrah Fawcett.
LONG: There's so many pressures just written here.
ROCK: My ring still there?
LONG: Black hair is a big issue. What's more beautiful, straight hair or curly kinky hair? And it's been a huge issue within the community and I think if you look at sort of the journey of black women and their hair we've tried to assimilate to the images of white women, where the hair has been straighter or blond or lighter.
And this is a great film, simply because it creates awareness. It's really a conversational piece, this film, and your hair, but ultimately, if you're ok with who you are on the inside and you're ok with what is sort of your own spiritual sense of self, then it really doesn't matter what your hair is doing. That's why it could be looking crazy and it's still have good hair.
ROCK: So has anybody ever tried to steal your hair?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
ROCK: If you see some black women, just run the other way.
My daughters I just wanted to, you know, I wanted this document to exist, you know what I mean? There hasn't been a movie about black women's hair. And it's such a rich, rich, rich topic that can be used educationally and comedically. And when I say comedically not in the sense -- I'm not making fun of black women in this movie at all.
And I'm not judging anybody for having -- for doing anything to their hair. I'm -- there's lots of movies with me with the jerry curl that exists. There's a few.
LONG: And that was by choice, by the way.
ROCK: That was a choice.
LONG: His Jerry curl was a choice.
ROCK: Pookie has a Jerry curl in "New Jack City. ".
Tell us how dangerous a relaxer is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sodium hydroxide will burn through your skin.
ROCK: That can has a good perm.
HOLMES: What do you tell your daughter? That was kind of part of the reason behind the movie. We had an incident, one of them saw another girl's hair and thought that was good hair, straight hair.
ROCK: Yes. It was just -- my daughter was raving too much about her friend's hair, it was like, you get a little kiss (ph). It was like when my wife raves about somebody else's house. Hey, this is a nice house.
Hair is addicted to relaxant?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am on the creamy crack.
ROCK: So what's in your hair now.
LONG: This is a weave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two pieces here. You know, like extensions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like that.
ROCK: You know, at the end of the day it's fashion in a sense.
LONG: It's an accessory.
ROCK: It's an accessory and if you're changing it because it's an accessory, it's great, if you're changing it because you want to be somebody else, then there's a problem there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The black hair business is a $9 billion business.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of these can run you $5,000.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a lay-away plan.
ROCK: So you can lay-away the wigs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.
ROCK: Have you ever put your hand through a black woman's hair?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hell, no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just don't touch it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do not touch my weave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does your wife let you touch your hair?
REV. AL SHARPTON, ACTIVIST: The question is do I let her touch mine. (END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And that is the question, so funny.
HOLMES: The movie is funny. And you know you're going to get comedy with Chris Rock.
NGUYEN: Oh, totally.
HOLMES: But it's stirring up a lot of controversy because it's not as well...
NGUYEN: You don't talk about women's hair, ok?
HOLMES: Some feel like he's attacking black women. He is saying that black women want to be white -- want to look white.
NGUYEN: Really? I didn't gather that from this.
HOLMES: I've seen the entire movie but it's saying as well that he's making fun of black women, put them under a microscope as well but there are a lot of people out there talking about this that don't really appreciate what he did.
He also was sued; someone trying to stop the movie from coming out and saying he stole the idea from a documentary that came out several years back.
NGUYEN: Not the hair, but the idea.
HOLMES: Not the hair, the idea. Thank you for clarifying.
NGUYEN: Just have to make that announcement and put it out there.
HOLMES: Now, we have this thief to talk about. It's an interesting video.
NGUYEN: Yes, this is quite a story.
I mean, we do all kinds of stories about thieves that will do crazy things but this one is something that I haven't seen before. A thief goes into a store to rob it of course, but instead, changes his mind and drops down to his knees to pray.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me and her was in that situation for a reason, and I'm just trying to figure out what that reason is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yes. Hear his story from behind bars.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, folks, so it's not unusual to hear a repentant criminal talk about finding God.
HOLMES: Yes. You hear that all the time.
NGUYEN: That's normally after the crime, not during it.
HOLMES: Yes, this week a suspect hit his knees during a holdup in Indiana, he didn't stop to pray to be a better robber or that there would be a lot of money in this register. He is behind bars now and he's talking to Emily Longnecker from our affiliate WTHR.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREGORY SMITH, ROBBERY SUSPECT: Me and her was in that situation for a reason, and I'm just trying to figure out what that reason is.
EMILY LONGNECKER, WTHR REPORTER: And while he sits behind bars, Gregory Smith has nothing but time to try and figure out why and how a woman he had never met was able to bring him to his knees in prayer.
SMITH: She prayed over me.
LONGNECKER: Smith walked into this loan office Monday afternoon with a gun to rob it.
SMITH: I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders at that point.
LONGNECKER: Smith says he was desperate to keep his family from being evicted from their home.
SMITH: This is something I would have never resorted to under any other circumstances.
LONGNECKER: Smith says he'd been unemployed for more than a year, unable to find a job.
SMITH: A lot of people have had the thought through their head, too, though. It's just I was dumb enough to react, and actually try to do it.
LONGNECKER: But police say it wasn't Smith's first try.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911, what is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just got robbed.
LONGNECKER: We're listening to a 911 call made last Thursday from a loan office on 38th street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was acting like he was trying to get a loan and he pulled a gun, told me to go to the bank.
LONGNECKER: Police say smith has admitted to robbing the loan office; it was his 23rd birthday.
SMITH: If you talk to anybody who know me they'll tell you that this is not me at all.
LONGNECKER: But Smith's criminal record says something else. According to court documents he was already on probation for auto theft and receiving stolen property in Bartholomew County.
SMITH: I'm just asking for forgiveness at this point.
LONGNECKER: Do you think you deserve forgiveness?
SMITH: At this point, I don't know.
LONGNECKER: But Smith says he's ready to face the consequences for his actions.
LONGNECKER: You're a changed man?
SMITH: Honestly, yes. I just got to figure out a way to do what I need to do to get myself back on track.
LONGNECKER: Smith says this moment on his knees with Angie Montez (ph) was the first step.
Emily Longnecker, Channel 13 Eyewitness News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Hi there, everybody, from the CNN Center -- did you have something you wanted to say?
NGUYEN: Just wanted to say hello.
HOLMES: OK. I'm T.J. Holmes, this is October the 24th, glad you could be here with us.
NGUYEN: Glad you could be here with us. Good to have you back, T.J.
Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. Thanks for starting your day with us.
OK, your health that is the topic of this half hour.
HOLMES: We're looking at concerns about H1N1, including the number of schools that are closing because of outbreaks.
NGUYEN: We're also going to look at a potential time line for a health care reform bill.
HOLMES: Also, in this half hour we hear from you, through of course, Twitter, Facebook. Some of you shared your health care concerns, all of that coming up.
NGUYEN: But first a quick look at some of the other top stories we've been following for you.
The mom of so the called balloon boy admits it was all a hoax in court documents, in fact. Mayumi Heene says that she and her husband knew their son wasn't trapped on a runaway balloon after all. She also says that they told their kids to lie about it to both authorities and to the media.
All right, in other news: More American banks are failing, the number this year has now reached 106. That is the most since 1992. The latest, three in Florida, one each in Georgia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. The federal fund that covers bank failures now stands at $7.5 billion. That fund held $45 billion one year ago.
One of the pilots of that commercial jet that overshot its destination by 150 miles is defending the crew. Northwest Flight 188 left San Diego Wednesday evening en route to Minneapolis. It's been speculated that the pilots may have been asleep, they may have even been arguing. First Officer Richard Cole spoke to CNN affiliate KGW. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD COLE, FIRST OFFICER, NORTHWEST FLIGHT 188: Nobody was asleep in the cockpit. No arguments took place, but other than that, I cannot tell you anything that went on, because we're having hearings this weekend. We're having hearings on Tuesday. All that information will come out then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Authorities at one point, because they could not get in contact, radio contact with the plane for an hour and 18 minutes, at one point authorities believed the plane may have even been hijacked.
HOLMES: Empty hallways, classes canceled? Not exactly typical for late October. This is when school is supposed to be in full swing. But we got a little issue here, called H1N1.
We've never seen an outbreak quite like this before and the CDC confirming this morning the virus now widespread in over 45 states. CNN education Contributor, and friend of our show here on CNN SATURDAY MORNIGN.
Mr. Steve Perry, joining us now from Hartford, Connecticut, always good to see you.
What's happening, first of all, at your school? Are you having issues just yet?
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: No, we haven't have had any issues. In fact, if we were, we couldn't tell the community because of privacy laws that says we couldn't identify the child if there was such an issue.
HOLMES: All right, what is everybody supposed to do here, though, Steve? I mean you have to make some kind of a balance between canceling classes, canceling school, and make sure the kids are educated versus health. Does health simply come first and you have to shut down? PERRY: Well, you have to err on the side of caution. What we need is, we need the medical profession to give us a clearer understanding and directive. And also, we need our friends in the media to pull back a little bit. There are approximately 5,000 deaths of teens in car accidents in a year. We don't call that a pandemic, and some cities we've had as many as 100 children die to violence in a year. And still we don't call that a pandemic.
So we need to put it in a relative perspective. While it is the flu and this is flu season and we're moving at a much faster clip, we do need to put things into relative perspective. Because in schools we're having enough trouble teaching kids reading, writing and arithmetic. You're asking to us be experts on everything and that's too much.
HOLMES: Steve, where are we failing, would you say? I will start -or we can start with the medical profession out there? Are the doctors out there giving us these warnings about H1N1, this is serious stuff. And then we are relaying it, the media, doing so, so you think this is contributing to people, I guess just getting a little scared, freaking out a little bit, and starting to cancel prematurely classes?
PERRY: We always want to err, again, on the side of caution. But at some point, we need to -- for instance, at the beginning of the school year, we were told essentially cough into your sleeve, use some anti-bacterial soap, and you should be good. Now, the entire direction has shifted in less than 30 days.
And again, I go back to the fact that we, as educators, are being asked to be an intellectual mall, the center of all information. While it is important for us, because the highest risk population is under our care, we need a clearer directive. And, of course, we, in the media, are now taking the directions from the medical community, who don't seem to know which direction to go.
HOLMES: And you said it shifted, you said cough into the sleeve is kind of what we have we've been told. But you said the whole directive has shifted. What do you mean by that. Shifted to what?
PERRY: Meaning that now, schools are being canceled all over the country, in Connecticut, schools are being canceled. We haven't been, but in Connecticut, schools are being canceled. We participate in athletic competitions in other activities with other schools, so depending upon the tide at this point, we could be called in and I could be told in the event something were to happen you need to cancel school.
That has not been the case. But my point is, we need clearer directives. We need a better understanding of what's going on before we make this drastic action. Of course, being clear, canceling a day of school is not the end of the world, you just added it to the back end of the school year.
HOLMES: OK, that was going to be the last question. Glad you wrapped it up there. Hopefully you won't see so many cancellations that kids end up in school too much longer at the end of the year. Steve Perry, young fellow, always good to see you. Appreciate you this morning.
PERRY: Take it easy, little brother.
HOLMES: All right, my man.
I'll hand it back over to you now.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you.
As you've been talking about, T.J., the H1N1 is becoming even more widespread. The CDC now tells us it's prevalent in 47 states. But it's also cold season. And that has many people asking, what's the difference between a cold or the flu?
Well, a cold can actually cause you to feel just miserable, but the flu? Even worse. Symptoms can come on rapidly. And in one big difference, sore throats, they are far less common with the flu than a cold. Coming up in about 15 minutes we'll show you a website that will actually gauge your personal risk to tell you whether it's just the flu, or if it's the H1N1.
And if you have been following the health care reform debate, you know that one of the most divisive issues is the public option. In fact, many were ready to declare it dead on arrival, out of any final version of the bill. But now the public option could be making a comeback. Paul Steinhauser is CNN's deputy political director. He joins us now live.
All right. Paul, let's just go over the basics of this. Remind us why the public option is such a lightning rod.
STEINHAUSER: Well, first of all, what is it? It's a government- funded option or government-funded insurance that would compete with private insurance as an option. But what Democrats say one thing, Republicans say another, Betty.
Democrats say this is a good idea. It will increase competition and lower costs. Most Republicans say the opposite. This will lead to higher premiums, higher taxes and that eventually private insurance wouldn't be able to compete with the public option, because it doesn't have to turn a profit. And they say that would lead to a government takeover of our health care, Betty.
NGUYEN: Lightning rod or not, though, if you look at some of the poll numbers it shows there's more public support for this. Why are supporters, in fact, a little more optimistic about the public option? Here's that poll that I was talking to you about. In August, those in favor only 55 percent, but now it's 61 percent.
STEINHAUSER: Let's start with those polls. That was ours. We put it out this week, CNN Opinion Research Corporation. You can see a definite bump up there. Support for the public option. Another national poll this week, as well, from the ABC and "The Washington Post" showed a similar thing. And that got some buzz out there by supporters of the public option.
Another reason is in the Senate, remember that big Senate Finance bill we spent so much time covering. It didn't have any government option. But now as the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to put everything together in one bill, there is talk that whatever maybe comes out on the Senate floor, Betty, would have some kind of public option. That's why people are excited.
NGUYEN: All right. But would the addition of a public option really be a deal breaker for Senator Olympia Snowe, the only Republican to sign on to the Senate Finance Committee bill a little bit earlier this month?
STEINHAUSER: It could be. At least the one that we think Reid may want to push towards, because what he has been discussing is something that would allow states to opt out of the public option if they wanted to. Everybody would start with it but then some states could opt out. She doesn't like that plan. She's pushing something called the trigger, which there would be no public option, or government plan, at first. But if health insurance stayed very high and expensive, then this would trigger a public option. That is what she is pushing.
Why is she so important? Because as you mentioned, Betty, she's the only Republican so far to sign on to any of these Democratic bills. The White House really wants to get a couple of Republicans on board so they can say this is bipartisan.
NGUYEN: Gotcha. All right, Paul Steinhauser, as always, we appreciate it, thank you.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, a lot of people of course, have followed the health care debate. From the public option, to caps on out-of-pocket expenses, to more control of insurance premiums. A lot going on out there.
NGUYEN: So much and the big question is, when are we actually going to see a bill? Well, we're going to take a look at a possible time line next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: With all the speeches, town hall meetings, and political back and forth, the president has remained adamant, he wants a health care bill to sign before the end of the year. Democrats say they want to make that happen, but even if it does, when will we see any of the changes?
Ceci Connolly with "The Washington Post", joins us now.
Ceci, before we get to that point will the president actually see a bill on his desk before the end of the year? CECI CONNOLLY, NATIONAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, certainly the talk is maybe this will be a little Christmas present for President Obama. I think that we're still a ways off. The legislative process takes a long time and right now they are deep into the nitty gritties of it, Betty.
But that said, forward progress continues on Capitol Hill, so there's certainly reason to believe that it can come together, but it could well be December.
NGUYEN: There are hurdles and what are they?
CONNOLLY: There are a number of hurdles. There are big disagreements even within the Democratic Party about how to pay for health care reform, whether it should be a tax those Cadillac health insurance policies, whether it should be a millionaire's tax, if the reductions in Medicare are the right size. Of course, we've all been following the contentious debate over the so-called public option.
NGUYEN: Yes, and I want to talk about that really quick, Ceci. Because there's a new poll out that shows that it is gaining a little bit, in popularity, among the public when it comes to the public option. It looks like what, 61 percent are in favor now, as opposed to August when only 55 percent were in favor. What is your opinion on this public option? Do you think that will be in the final bill that gets to the president?
CONNOLLY: Well, fortunately I'm a reporter who gets to ask questions. So, I don't have to make a prediction like that, Betty.
NGUYEN: You're going to stay away from that one?
CONNOLLY: But what I will tell you is that we're seeing a number of efforts on Capitol Hill, especially over on the Senate side, to find some compromise. So it may not be that pure single federal- government public option, there might be either something done by the states. There might be this trigger proposal that Senator Snowe talks about. So maybe a modified public option.
NGUYEN: Are the Republicans trying to rebrand this -- not the Republicans, I should say the Democrats -- trying to rebrand this in a bit. So it's not just the public option? Maybe it's Medicare, in a different form, or something along those lines?
CONNOLLY: Well, that was an idea that we saw floated in the House, because Medicare, the program for the elderly and the disabled, is very popular across the country, popular with senior citizens.
Interestingly, though, you point out that polling number and we here at "The Washington Post" had similar polling results on the public option, earlier in the week. And so I don't know that it's a real branding problem at the moment. It's actually a substantive problem in terms of health policy, and some lawmakers who are taking some very serious looks at the impact that that might have on the entire insurance market. NGUYEN: Uh-huh. And let's talk about impact, because if this bill does pass before year's end, how long before the American public will actually see, or feel, any of the effects?
CONNOLLY: Well, what we hear from the Obama White House is that a number of those insurance underwriting changes, the things that would prohibit insurance companies from denying you coverage because of your health status, maybe a preexisting condition, maybe because of gender, or really jacking up your rates for those reasons. Those changes could take effect quite rapidly next year.
There's still going to be some implementation period to enforce that, but those could be some of the first things that people actually notice. A number of these other provisions, expanding Medicaid, offering tax credits to people who purchase their own insurance, that may take a couple of years.
NGUYEN: All right, Ceci Connolly with "The Washington Post," thank you for your time. Do appreciate it.
CONNOLLY: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, today, Atlanta is holding a three-day breast cancer walk. More than 2,000 people walking 60 miles from the northern suburbs of Atlanta all the way to Turner Field.
HOLMES: Yes, this isn't your normal kind of walk. This happens, like you said, over three days but they stop along the way, they hang out and they camp essentially in some places before they all make it here to Atlanta.
About 20 miles a day they do walk. This is a fundraising effort, of course, to raise money for research and funding for breast cancer. Our Paul Ferguson is out there walking with them. CNN's Paul Ferguson he is there. I think we have him on the line now. And I think we can see him face as well.
NGUYEN: All dressed up, yes.
HOLMES: Paul, tell us first why you are involved? Why are you out there walking there with them?
PAUL FERGUSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Betty and T.J.
This has been -- this effort is sort of remarkable. Since 2003, this has raised more than half a billion, that's billion with a "B", billion dollars toward breast cancer research and breast cancer education. Tremendous effort. They do it in 15 cities around the country and today is Atlanta.
NGUYEN: All right, and I see you there on the side of the road talking to us. When are you going to start walking yourself, Paul?
FERGUSON: Well, we started pretty early in the morning. It's a long day of walking. We went yesterday from about 8:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m., today will be another 20 miles and tomorrow yet another 20 miles.
NGUYEN: That's fantastic.
FERGUSON: My (INAUDIBLE) runs a half marathon, I've never had a blister. But when you walk all day like this you get a few blisters, but you raise a lot of money and goes towards a remarkable cause.
NGUYEN: You said half a billion dollars that is tremendous.
HOLMES: Paul, also, this one's a little different. Give us the tone along the way. We see a lot of walks and the marathons, half marathons, and different things like that to raise money. But this one is totally different because it does take place over three days. So what kind of camaraderie and friendships actually build, in that three days?
FERGUSON: That's really the remarkable thing about this and different from any event I've ever been in, in my life. What's different is the kind of encouragement and the hope and the optimism, really in the past few decades, treatment for breast cancer hasn't changed all that much. It's basically chemo or radiation, or mastectomies.
There's not a lot of huge advances in the fight against cancer, but you won't hear that from folks here. There's a tremendous amount of optimism and tremendous amount of firepower and fundraising toward working for a cure. That's what makes this really different and remarkable -- T.J.
HOLMES: Our Paul Ferguson out there. Paul, we appreciate you taking a couple of seconds out with us here and get to steppin'. We'll see you later.
NGUYEN: Yes. You got a long ways to go but for a good cause.
FERGUSON: Back to the trail.
NGUYEN: Yep, take care.
HOLMES: We've been talking about H1N1 this morning, a lot of people wondering do I have it, when they get sick. They wonder is this the regular flu.
NGUYEN: Or if it is really the H1N1, yes.
HOLMES: How can you tell? It might be as simple as turning the computer on.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. Answer a few questions on a website, but here's the real deal about this.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Is it accurate? Will this website really tell you if you have the H1N1? We're going to find out.
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NGUYEN: All right, so if you think you're at risk for the H1N1, you may want to spend a few minutes in front of your computer. That's right, before you head to the doctor, in fact. Mario Armstrong knows all things high-tech and he knows a website that will actually tell you if you have the H1N1.
OK, so let me get this straight, Mario, say I have the flu or something like that. I'm not sure if it's the regular flu or if it's the H1N1, so what do I do?
MARIO ARMSTRONG, NPR TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTOR: So what you do, you do exactly what I did. You're talking about a scenario, you know, fictitious scenario. I had a real scenario in my household, where my wife was showing these types of symptoms. And you know me, being the techie, I'm like, there's got to be a way to go online to find some information out. And we're inundated with so much information so how do you really know?
So, what we did, I went to, Microsoft has an H1N1 response center. It's an online self-assessment. And you can find this by going to my website at Marioarmstron.com, because the web address is too long. I don't know why they made it that way.
But nonetheless, it is a part of series of online tools that help you determine whether or not you have H1N1 and whether or not you should go and see the doctor. You go through this questionnaire. It's a series of questions and it will ask you, Betty, everything from whether or not you had a temperature of 100 degrees or higher the past 24 hours; whether or not you have chest pains or discomfort; and whether or not your stomach can handle liquids.
In the end you get this summary. And the summary gives you some details as to whether or not you need to see a doctor right away, call 911. The really cool thing is that you can print out the summary of your questions and answers so you can take that with to you the doctor or the ER.
NGUYEN: Yes, and say here is what I got, read it.
ARMSTONG: That's right.
NGUYEN: For students, though, let me ask you this, sometimes schools will shut down, classes will shut down, because maybe one or two students or several of them get the H1N1.
ARMSTRONG: Right.
NGUYEN: For those students who are stuck at home is there a way to keep them in the classroom?
ARMSTRONG: Yes, and absolutely it is. And this is interesting, because it's called distance learning is what it's called. We've been seeing this in higher education, but not so much in middle and high school and lower education. And essentially they're using tools like Microsoft has one that's called Live Work Spaces and this enables teachers to be able to connect students through the Internet to the classroom. So students are collaborating on projects, teachers can track performance and participation, and so this is one way of enabling students.
Another school system that's out of Louisiana is using a technology called Blackboard and many school systems use Blackboard. And kind of does the same thing, basically enabling students, teachers and parents to still stay in the loop if their home from being sick at school, you know, from school. This is a way of keeping learning going.
NGUYEN: Doesn't mean homework --doesn't mean you're free from homework. Class will still go on no matter what.
ARMSTRONG: No, no, no, just because you're sick, that's right, you are not on vacation, people.
NGUYEN: Exactly.
ARMSTRONG: The dog that ate their homework trick is gone.
NGUYEN: Not going to work because it's online now.
All right. Mario, as always we appreciate it. Hopefully you didn't get the H1N1 and your wife is better.
ARMSTRONG: No, I'm clear right now, so far. I'm checking also text message alerts. I actually signed up for a new service I'll talk about next week, about how you can get H1N1 alerts on your mobile device.
NGUYEN: Very interesting. We'll talk to you soon, thanks.
ARMSTRONG: See you soon.
NGUYEN: And we will be right back.
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