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CNN Saturday Morning News

Oil Leak Still Not Contained in Gulf of Mexico; Tea Party Response to Elena Kagan; Arizona Under Fire Again, This Time for Ethnic Studies Law

Aired May 15, 2010 - 08:00   ET

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

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from CNN center. It is Saturday morning. Welcome to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's May 15th, Armed Forces Day. So a special good morning to everyone serving in the military. I'm Jim Acosta in for TJ Holmes this morning. Good morning to you.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning my dear and I'm Kate Bolduan. It is 8:00 here in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in New Orleans. Thanks you so much for joining us. So containment domes, top hats and oil dispersants. Officials are really trying a lot of things -- pretty much anything to stop the millions of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. We're going live to the coast this morning as Coast Guard officials try a few new tactics.

ACOSTA: That would help and plus, from historic flooding to a severe hail storm, Nashville can't seem to catch a break. Baseball- sized hail smashed cars and damaged houses. We'll get the latest this morning from Bonnie Schneider on weather. But first a look at the headlines. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. So checking our top stories, a long standoff between sheriff's deputies in Washington state and one of their own has ended. Authorities say a Pierce County sheriff's deputy shot his father-in-law and mother-in-law yesterday and then barricaded himself and his two children in a home. he children got out safely. Both in laws were killed. The deputy was found dead in the home this morning.

And an apology from Seattle police for the conduct of two of their officers. They were seen in this video kicking and stomping a man they thought was a robbery suspect. Both officers were placed on administrative leave after the video had surfaced. Authorities released the man when they found out they had the wrong guy.

And Congress will hold an important safety hearing at the end of the month. FDA inspectors found numerous quality and safety violations at a Johnson & Johnson plant in Pennsylvania and shut it down last week. That plant makes children's Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl, among other things. The FDA recalled many of those products.

ACOSTA: Kate, it's time to check in with our Reynolds Wolf. He is in Biloxi, Mississippi this morning where we understand the beaches are open for business, but without many takers because of that big oil spill down there. And Reynolds, you've been in the Gulf coast area pretty much since day one of this oil disaster. And it's just incredible to look at these pictures from overhead, over the Gulf. But when you look at the beach, you don't see what a lot of us expected throughout this crisis, to see gobs and gobs of oil washing on the beach.

What's the latest this morning Wolf? Reynolds, sorry.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we've got really two updates for you Jim. What we've got is we've got one update really for you that's taking place down in the Gulf that you were talking about and one that's taking place here on shore.

Let's talk about the one out in the Gulf first and foremost. This morning the latest news that we have is that both the Coast Guard as well as the EPA have given BP a thumbs up in terms of using the chemical dispersant 5,000 feet below right at the source of the leak. So as the oil has been coming out, they're going to try to spray it with that chemical dispersant with the idea that that dispersant is going to create a molecular bond to some of the oil and weigh it down on the ocean floor so it won't reach the surface and then eventually come towards shore.

Now on the shore, the latest update we have is, well from our vantage point here in Biloxi, we're right along parts of highway 90 is right behind the camera and on the other side the Edgewater mall. But here at this spot, we've got a place that should be busy, got a few kayaks over here, a few chaise lounges here that people would normally get into to enjoy the sunshine. Over here we've got these trikes, these aqua trikes. And I can tell you it has been a rough ride for a lot of businesses up and down the Gulf coast because of course the big story out in the Gulf.

I will tell you, when it comes to places like this, when it comes to a lot of the restaurants, it comes to hotels and the casinos, they are indeed open for business despite the issues that we've been having. They really, really want you as a customer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF (voice-over): At Shaggy's Harbor bar and grill in Pass Christiane, Mississippi, you'd never know there's a threat of oil looming in the Gulf, island music, drinks at the bar, families enjoying steamed crab claws. General manager Michael Dyson is even interviewing a potential hire.

MICHAEL DYSON, GENERAL MGR., SHAGGY'S: Everything has been normal. Just reading the paper and hearing about all these horror stories about what's going on with the Mississippi Gulf coast and it's much ado about nothing.

WOLF: It's not just oil booms offshore. Business is also booming.

DYSON: Our season doesn't really officially start until about a week before Memorial Day. We kind of got a head start with all the people that are coming down wanting to help with the disaster.

WOLF: The Gulf coast Chamber of Commerce says tourism is down.

KIMBERLY NASTASI, CEO, GULF COAST CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: It's kind of bitter sweet. The tourists really have been affected, have been canceling their trips. They're concerned about coming down here. On the same hand, we've had people come down here that were planning on maybe coming down a little bit later saying that they want to experience it before something does happen.

WOLF: In Gulfport, no obvious signs of tourism. White sand beaches are deserted except for Jeff Rose and his family who traveled from Illinois to meet a new grandbaby. You have the whole beach to yourself.

JEFF ROSE, TOURIST: I know. It's nice.

WOLF: Have you ever been to a beach this empty this time of year?

ROSE: No, especially on a beautiful day.

WOLF: Tourists wouldn't have any problem finding a spot on the beach or on a jet ski.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything has been kind of slow. Not much action. Not many people.

WOLF: Thirteen miles east, most visitors to Biloxi are here for the casinos, this one ironically named Boom Town. The Chamber of Commerce is trying hard to fight perceptions.

NASTASI: It's still the beautiful Mississippi Gulf coast and we really want people to know that we're open for business and we need their support.

WOLF: The view from Shaggy's on the harbor is picturesque for now, but will it last?

DYSON: Running a restaurant, I always have a backup plan for anything, that what if incident. And I would hope to think a company that was worth $65 billion would have a backup plan for the what if this disaster happens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF: Now, according to the state of Mississippi, the water is fine. In fact they've been doing some testing right along the coast now on the barrier islands with no trace of oil as of yet. So that's certainly some good news. But of course, a lot of that can change. As you can see at home, got some pretty decent wind here and the oil out there is really at the mercy of both the currents and the wind. Coming up in just a few moments, Bonnie Schneider is going to give you the very latest on the forecast. Her forecast may help us get an idea of where the oil may be headed next.

Let's send it back to you in the studio.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Reynolds.

We should also note the Coast Guard is authorizing the use of chemicals to break up that oil at the source. The techniques has never been tried before at this depth. Since the April 20th explosion, BP estimates about 210,000 gallons a day is pouring out of the ruptured pipe. A Purdue University mechanical engineering professor believes the leak is much larger. He estimates and BP disputes this, it's gushing close to three million gallons a day. The new technique works this way. Chemicals will break the oil apart and keep it from reaching the surface.

Not everyone is on board with this effort though. The director of the Louisiana health and hospitals department says Federal regulators dismissed his state's concerns about the chemicals. They're coming up at 9:00 Eastern, we devote an entire half hour to delve deeper into the spill and the efforts to clean it up. Kate?

BOLDUAN: The state of Hawaii, well the state of Hawaii is so fed up answering questions about President Obama's birth certificate, they've approved a law to ignore them, the request that is. Meanwhile, tea party activists open their playbook to fight Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Let's bring in CNN's political producer Shannon Travis who has a lot more on this. Thank you so much for joining us Shannon. What is the initial tea party response to Elena Kagan?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well Kate, you might actually see the first major split between different tea party groups. You would otherwise think they might be unified in opposition to Solicitor General Elena Kagan's nomination, but not so far.

Right now you have the tea party Federation, they actually exclusively gave CNN a document, what they're calling five constitutional principles, that they'll use to basically judge Elena Kagan's nomination. They're going to meet with senators and observe the process, but they're not taking a hard line against her at all.

Meanwhile, on the other side, you have another tea party group called the Tea Party Nation that's based near Tennessee. They're basically saying, quote, Elena Kagan must be stopped. And their goal, their aim is to convince at least one Republican senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee to basically vote no so that her nomination won't make it out of committee. So you're seeing a little bit of a split in terms of response to her nomination so far.

BOLDUAN: Is this the first time just real quick, the first time we've seen a real split between tea party members on an issue this big?

TRAVIS: It's a good question. Not necessarily. There are some tea party activists who would rather push social issues, gay marriage, abortion, what have you. The core of the tea party activists don't want to touch that stuff at all. They mostly want to stick to fiscal issues, adherence to the constitution, economy and things like that. So this isnt' the first split. But this could be a pronounced split

BOLDUAN: That's a good way to distinguish that. So let's move on to this issue in Hawaii. What is this about a new law in Hawaii having to do with these birther requests?

TRAVIS: That's right. You described it right in the setup. Basically Hawaii is essentially fed up with all of the requests that they're getting from these birthers for President Obama's birth certificate. The department of health says they get about 50 e-mails a month requesting access to the president's birth certificate. Now obviously we know there's proof that the president was born in Hawaii in 1961. It's without dispute.

But there's some people who question that, who say that because the state of Hawaii is only releasing a certificate of live birth, that that doesn't actually prove that he has a birth certificate. So Hawaii is saying, look, we're not going to honor all these repeated requests.

If you send in one or two or a few requests, we're pretty much done with it and this law basically cements that. One really interesting point, Hawaii has a Republican governor who signed this into law. She campaigned for John McCain and Sarah Palin on the main land. But she says now before signing this law, she says now, this is a settled matter. Get over it. Move on.

BOLDUAN: Move on. Wow. Thank you so much, our political producer Shannon Travis. Thank you for breaking that down Shannon.

TRAVIS: You bet.

ACOSTA: Coming up next, Bangkok's downtown business district looks more like a battlefield today. We'll have an update on the violence in Thailand and what started all the chaos there.

BOLDUAN: Plus, Arizona has done it again. The governor signed another bill that sparked anger and student protests. Our Josh Levs takes a look at this new law and how it's touching a nerve with so many.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: We're back. Five Pakistani Americans facing terrorism charges will be in court today. It's the first time the men known as the DC five, you'll remember that name, that they will be questioned in detail about their charges. All five worshipped together at a mosque in Virginia until they were reported missing in November. They were arrested a month later in Pakistan. They could spend life in prison if convicted.

And the nine-year-old sole survivor of that plane crash in Libya is on his way home. He was flown back to the Netherlands today, not long after being told his brother and parents didn't make it. Doctors are still stunned this young boy survived the crash at all.

Take a look, take a look here. The plane broke apart after landing short on the runway yesterday, just devastating. You can barely see anything of it left. One hundred and three people died, most of them Dutch tourists. Forensic teams will begin the grim work of identifying victims today.

ACOSTA: Bangkok, Thailand, a city under siege, a government under attack. More clashes and fresh casualties today as demonstrators demanding new elections face off against security forces. Thai hospital officials say at least one person was killed and more than 20 injured today following days of government protests that have left at least 18 dead and 150 hurt.

Thai government officials say they're slowly gaining the upper hand in evicting the thousands of demonstrators encamped in downtown Bangkok. This morning the U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning to Americans advising them to defer travel plans to Thailand's capital.

And the state is already under fire for a new immigration law, we're talking about Arizona, of course. Now a law about ethnic studies in schools has sparked a wave of protests across that state.

BOLDUAN: You've heard about this and we're talking about it again today. This has gotten a lot of attention. Our Josh Levs is here to tell us about it all. Josh, first up, what exactly does this law say?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been piecing through it because the language is very interesting. And as you look at it, you start to realize how incredibly subjective it can be. Basically it limits some kinds of ethnic studies, but not all.

Let's quickly show you video, just one of the many pieces of video that we've gotten that are filled with these protests. We have students in schools protesting and they're saying their education is not a crime. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to play you a couple sound bite back to back and what the two sides are arguing this. And then along with me, you all are going to dig into this bill.

Let's take a look at what they're saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HORNE, ARIZONA SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: They divided the kids into different races, so African studies for the African-American kids, raza studies for the Latino kids. Raza means the race is Spanish. Asian studies for the Asian kids, Indian studies for the Native American kids. Particularly in the raza studies they taught a very radical agenda, a separatist agenda. We have testimony from teachers and ex-teachers, said they were teaching kids they live in occupied Mexico.

KYRSTEN SINEMA (D) ARIZONA STATE HOUSE: Tom is actually incorrect when he states that students are divided into these courses. The fact is very clear that these courses are open to all students. So any student of any race or ethnicity can take an African-American studies class and learn about the history of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.

Similarly they can take an Asian-American studies class and learn about the history of Japanese internment camps and the exclusion of Chinese Americans from our country. That's an important part of the American education system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So what exactly is not allowed? I'm breaking down the bill for you right here. Take a look. The ones that are banned, this is what it says in the actual legislation. You cannot have any classes that promote the overthrow of the government nor any classes that promote resentment toward any race or class of people.

Now look at this. You can also not have classes that are designed primarily for one ethnic group. This right here might be the trickiest to determine. You cannot have any courses in Arizona now that advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treatment of pupils as individuals. What's so complicated and important about this is that schools aren't supposed to advocate in general. They're supposed to educate.

So how do you decide if a class is advocating ethnic solidarity instead of individual treatment? Is it a matter of how the teacher presenting it? Is it a matter of the curriculum?

They'll have to decide in every case and if it is determined, Kate and Jim, that in the end they decide, you know what, this school is doing something that's wrong, that school can have up to 10 percent of its portion of state aid withheld and in these critical times for education -- always critical times, but in these tough economic times for schools all over the country, that can really mean a serious hit for school funding.

So this right now is what the stakes are, losing up to 10 percent of your money if your course violates one of these rules.

BOLDUAN: Unfortunately I think it's just leaving more questions than answers, not offering any clarity to the poor teachers who are trying to plan this.

ACOSTA: One provision in the legislation where we can't have classes talking about over throwing the government. I don't remember any of those kinds of classes growing up, Josh. I don't know about you. Were they actually teaching that in Arizona? That's a question. Are they writing legislation to something they think is going on?

BOLDUAN: Or do they know?

ACOSTA: Or perhaps it's not going on.

LEVS: What some of these lawmakers are saying is that they feel when they looked at the way this curriculum was playing out, that it had the effect of teaching kids not to respect the government, maybe not to even appreciate the government. Maybe they can even find a case where they're trying to argue some sort of other view that would mean over throwing the government. But a lot of this is so subjective and just to show you how much it even gets this way, they cannot ban classes for Native Americans because there's a Federal law requiring to have those classes and it also says they cannot ban courses that include the history of ethnic groups in general as long as they're open to everyone, as long as they also don't break any of those other rules.

It's very complicated, very subjective. You can already foresee a lot of potential questions about it. I've actually posted the entire law for you on my Facebook page, facebook.com/joshlevscnn. I encourage everyone to take a look at it for yourself. It's exactly what you guys are saying. We can start to right now foresee all sorts of cases where we don't know if it will be in violation of the law or not, very subjective. How do they decide that? We're going to have to wait and see some test cases on that.

BOLDUAN: The teachers are in the middle of it.

ACOSTA: And everybody is talking about Arizona. That's for sure. Josh Levs, thanks so much.

And coming up next, are you on Facebook? Are you on Facebook?

BOLDUAN: I'm not. I'm the lone holdout.

ACOSTA: Good for you. I'm proud of you. I am actually. If so, you may be unaware of just how much personal information you're giving away on the social networking site.

BOLDUAN: Exactly and we'll show you how to keep your personal information personal. Come back with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So there are more than 400 million people on Facebook. Wow. And if you're on it, everything you post on the site could be shared with all of those other people and then some. It got us thinking, especially me, what can you do to keep your private information, well, private? That's why we're bringing in our tech guru Mario Armstrong. Walk me through this. What can people do and what is going on?

MARIO ARMSTRONG, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: Kate, a lot is going on. A lot of changes have been made to privacy policies with Facebook and people are really concerned. And a lot of people have been talking about deleting and deactivating their accounts. That's why it's become such a phenomena right now. You mentioned 400 million users are out on the site, so there's a lot of people.

So number one Kate, customize your settings. By default when you open up a brand new account, typically your information can be shared with what we call friends or with everyone. So you may want to adjust those things, specifically like your mobile number. You can use your mobile devices with Facebook, but maybe you don't want to share your mobile number with everyone. Maybe you only want to share that with specific people or maybe with nobody. So your bio information, your wall posts and especially that personal contact information like your mobile and home address. You want to edit those settings and customize that.

BOLDUAN: But also there's a big question about photographs.

ARMSTRONG: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Can't people really steal those from your own site? What can you do about photos?

ARMSTRONG: Photos is a really tough situation because number one, your profile image or let me just say any image on any website can pretty much be downloaded unless there's some other controls put in. But specifically to Facebook, you have photo albums. So maybe you want to share your wedding photo album with family and friends, but maybe you don't want to share that birthday party where you had a lot of fun and you may only want to share that with specific people.

Facebook specifically says that they do not allow third party sites to steal your photos and use them. But it's been shown that other websites are doing this. So if you have friends that are taking your photos and posting them up, ask them to take it down. But also look at a website called tineye.com. Essentially Kate what tineye does is it will look for any images that you upload to it and find out where your photo is on other websites.

So if you're really worried about if someone is stealing your photos and using them in other places, you can use tineye to find out exactly where those photos are.

BOLDUAN: There's a lot going on. Facebook has the new policy, they have this new, I think it's called an opt out thing. I mean bottom line, what is the most important thing for people to know? You know Facebook. You know they're doing it right now, millions of people. What is the most important thing for people to know and to do?

ARMSTRONG: Kate, the most important thing is to stop feeling the false sense of security. Your stuff is on the Internet. It's being housed in computers. These computers can be breached. It has been shown to be buggy at times. So the bottom line is the information going on the web needs to be dealt with very limited revealing info.

In other words, once you put something out there, Kate, it really can potentially be public information. So I think this is an all or nothing. Either you're going to accept the fact that your information could become public or you're not going to use these type of services at all.

BOLDUAN: Just be aware. Awesome, thank you so much Mario, setting it out there for us.

ARMSTRONG: We got more tips on the blog. I know it's a lot to digest so just hit up marioarmstrong.com and cnn.com for more tips.

BOLDUAN: We will do that. So join us every Saturday at this time as our tech guru, Mario Armstrong gives us the scoop on the latest technology. Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back. I'm Kate Bolduan.

ACOSTA: And I'm Jim Acosta in for T.J. Holmes. Thanks for starting your day with us.

BOLDUAN: First, let's take a look at our top stories right now. After an hour's long -- after hours long standoff with authorities, a Washington State sheriff's deputy is dead. He was suspected of fatally shooting both of his in-laws. Investigators suspect the 11- year veteran of the Pierce County sheriff's department committed suicide.

And Mexican police say six people were shot and killed yesterday morning in a deadly drive-by -- drive-by shooting near Juarez. Police say gunmen opened fire on this van which crashed into a kindergarten classroom. Luckily no children were hurt. The shooting is still under investigation.

And a new tactic to lessen the potential environmental damage from that massive crude oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; the Coast Guard giving BP the go-ahead to use underwater dispersants at the source of the rupture.

More top stories in 20 minutes.

ACOSTA: In the meantime Kate, the oil spill and ensuing ban on fishing in affected areas of the Gulf of Mexico is causing a run on nearly everything seafood related.

CNN's Patrick Ottman visits one family restaurant that is struggling to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to pick up oysters first, some crab claws, crab meat. Second they'll be picking it this morning and then go and get some shrimp. The thing is the further they have to go for it, the more it's going to cost.

BOB POPE, RESTAURANT OWNER: My name is Bob Pope with a P. And I've been -- I've been here in this restaurant, August 1st will be 37 years. One of the things that you'd like to have especially in this business is as close to local seafood as you get. People come here and you can buy shrimp anywhere.

But to come here, they're looking for local shrimp. My mother works here, well, she's been here with me just about well, she started three years after I got the place and my nephew and his wife. And actually it's just about the whole family has been through here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, if a hurricane don't come and knock all our electricity out and you know what to expect in hurricane. This you don't know what to expect. ADAM POPE, CONCERNED ABOUT OIL SPILL: She wanted oysters and asked me, has the oil spill affected it yet? It's not even close to the coastline yet and they're already asking. What kind of effect is that going to have? People don't want to go to a seafood restaurant on the bay that's covered with oil. I'm telling my wife, is it time to move now and go somewhere else?

B. POPE: It depends on how thick this layer is of oil coming in, whether it's -- whether it ends up an irritant or whether it ends up just a devastating glob of something. I'm going to remain optimistic until shown otherwise that this is going to be something that's going to be short-lived, going to be a mess that's going to get cleaned up.

We'll do what we have to do to get through it and get over it and get it behind us where down the years we're just talking about "that oil spill". That's what we're good at. I mean, we take a whipping every once in a while here. And you just have to brush yourself off, come back and hit it again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Tough situation down there.

Plus, coming up at the top of the hour, we'll take a closer look at the massive oil slick and what's being done to stop that huge leak. We'll show you where things stand this morning and the impact on the environment and economy -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's bring in Bonnie Schneider right away with a tornado warning, Bonnie? What's going on?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kate -- we're watching these tornado warnings pop up for parts of Louisiana right now in the southeastern parishes. Now it's kind of affecting many different parishes.

Here is the warning right here, north of New Orleans. And take a closer look at this box right here and you'll see it covers various parishes, including Ascension, Livingston, St. Charles, St. James and St. John the Baptist.

Now, this warning is in effect until 8:00 Central time. So we still have a little ways to go. I think the severe weather unfortunately will continue because look at what's happening in Texas just north of Corpus Christi, we're seeing some very strong storms with heavy rain near Victoria.

This means we're seeing a lot of lightning as well with these storms. It's the same system that rolled through San Antonio earlier on this morning. And now it's working its way across I-10 on into Louisiana. So once again, Texas, Louisiana getting hard hit with extreme weather.

And it wasn't too long ago we were talking about another part of the south also facing extreme weather. Nashville in the form of flooding. You've got to see this video. It's incredible. What we're looking at right now, is video of an area of a store, Pep Boys that was just struck by the heavy water rushing to the store front.

There it is. And you can see it right there. What we're looking at -- the water just rushing in, overtaking the computers as well and literally knocking a cash register off its foundation. It looks like a river coming through the door there in Nashville.

But people still cleaning up. Luckily it's not raining in Texas and into Louisiana, as I mentioned. But we're still seeing a lot of rain across much of the south.

All right, let's take a closer look at what else is happening weather-wise. We have high pressure across parts of the west and then through the south, very warm conditions, temperatures have really been steamy across the southeast. And that will continue as well for today.

There is a front that's working its way eastward and it will cut through some of this humidity in cities like Atlanta for tomorrow.

But in the meantime, check out the high temperature for today, 86 degrees. It is 88 in Washington, D.C., 78 in New York City. So we're looking at some nicer conditions in the northeast. But the southeast still very steamy out there.

Stay tuned, we'll have a check of your top stories coming up on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back. Let's check some of your top stories right now.

A long standoff between sheriff's deputies in Washington State and one of their own has ended. Authorities say a Pierce County sheriff's deputy shot his father-in-law and mother-in-law yesterday and then barricaded himself and his two children in the home.

The children thankfully got out safely. Both in-laws though were killed. The deputy was found dead himself, dead in the home this morning.

And five Pakistani Americans arrested on terrorism charges appeared in a Pakistan courtroom today. Instead of being questioned in detail as expected, they were only asked to turn in written statements. The men known as the DC 5 worshipped together at a mosque in Virginia until they were reported missing in November. They were arrested a month later in Pakistan. The next hearing is June 9th. They could spend life in prison if convicted.

And the Gulf Coast has authorized BP to begin using chemical dispersants at the source of the leak. That's about 5,000 feet below. They hope the dispersants break the oil apart and prevent it then from getting to the surface.

Stay with us, we'll be right back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: I requested that song personally. Thank you. Welcome back.

Time to turn to sports. The Preakness horse race is in just a few hours. And organizers want you to get your Preak on. But not -- and that's how they put, yes but not everyone is happy with the race's slogan. More on that in just a second.

But first the story that is dominating the sports headlines this morning, the future of Lebron James. The author of the book, "Beyond the Box Score" and CNN sports business analyst Rick Horrow breaks down where the King James may play next.

So Rick, Lebron is arguably this generation's Michael Jordan. He's definitely the best player in the world as it stands right now he has the opportunity to change teams.

But the Cleveland Cavaliers lost again before making it to the conference finals in the NBA for the second year in the row. Everybody is frustrated in Cleveland obviously. And Lebron has a -- is also frustrated. Let's listen to him after the game. We'll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS PLAYER: I mean, it's all about winning for me. And I think the Cavs is committed to doing that. And -- but at the same time, you know, I've given myself options to this point. And like I said before, me and my team, we have a game plan that we're going to execute and we'll see where we be at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Boy, right after the game talking about options, Rick. So the big question, where is Lebron going? Does anybody know at this point?

RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: I'm not (INAUDIBLE) nobody knows; it's great to have options. We all ought to have options.

ACOSTA: Exactly.

HORROW: And the NBA by the way, yes, gives him the ability to resign with Cleveland and make about $30 million more bucks net, net, net. He's got a lot of options though, the New York Nicks.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HORROW: The New Jersey Nets, the Chicago Bulls, the LA Clippers, the Miami Heat all have what's called cap room. Salary cap of x, they've got some room. They've cleared out some space, as they call it, they trade guys away. They're all ready for this guy who will save everybody. Governor Strickland in Ohio is saying please stay. He's got a video. Mayor Bloomberg may say let's change it to Lebronx. ACOSTA: They may pass a law in Ohio just to keep Lebron James from moving out? Is that right, Rick?

HORROW: Yes.

ACOSTA: I mean, I have a question, I mean, if he couldn't take the Cavs to the finals and he had Antoine Jamieson (ph) with him, you know, courtesy of that implosion that happened in Washington with the Wizards, I mean, do we think that if Lebron moves to another city, that he can take a team to a championship? I mean, the Knicks are -- they're a basket case.

HORROW: Yes, but that's the -- that's the $16 million annual salary question as far as Lebron is concerned. I've got five bucks right here, so I'll start the pot wherever it's going to go. And by the way don't hold the big sale for Lebron James; he makes $40 million in endorsements. And those endorsements will travel with him no matter where he goes.

ACOSTA: And you know, let's switch topics to football, you know it's ...

HORROW: Yes.

ACOSTA: ... it's pretty far off from football season.

But you know, there is a story that came out this week that more than half of the teams in the NFL are raising their ticket prices. Lebron may be able to afford a ticket. But everyday families may not and it's already very expensive to go to games. What do you think of that? Do you think the NFL is making the right move here?

HORROW: Well, it's up to each individual team.

ACOSTA: Right.

HORROW: And it's not frankly the net price, the graphic you see, Cowboys were up to $700 for a family of four for tickets and meals and parking and all of that. The average NFL about $500 to $300 ...

ACOSTA: Wow.

HORROW: ... but the issue is what you get for that. For example, Miami Dolphins have this game day vision and experience the device where you come into the stadium. Steve Ross has his investors, like Gloria Estefan with concerts all the time.

You can't guarantee a winning season although they look pretty good. But you guarantee a fan experience in the bank for the buck and Miami Dolphins is leading the way in that respect, for example.

ACOSTA: And Rick, what in the world is going on with "get your Preak on"? What's happening at the tracks?

HORROW: Hey, I'm supposed to be cool so I'm going to tell you that's a great thing. Right? ACOSTA: Exactly.

HORROW: But what's happening at the track is an appeal to the younger audience. And the demographics are such where you've got to make sure you change the target demographic from over 50 to over 60 to down to 20 or 30. And the fact that people are talking about it, that's a good thing.

Now, if Supersaver wins, you have three more weeks of thinking about a two-time winner gunning for the triple crown. If not, we wait another 50 weeks and talk about the derby next year.

ACOSTA: Well, Rick Horrow, you gave us a lot to talk about this morning. And we're all going to be following Lebron James.

And for the record, you did not make a prediction there as to whether he's going to a different team or where he's headed next. And I appreciate that because everybody has a prediction and they're probably all wrong.

HORROW: Stay tuned. Stay tuned.

ACOSTA: Exactly. All right Rick. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: On a more serious turn, take a look at this video. This is a teacher beating up on a 13-year-old. What would you do if this was your child? Up next, the teacher tells her side of the story.

Plus, coming up at the top of the hour the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; several attempts to stop the leak have failed. We'll take a closer look at where things stand this morning and what's being done to stop the huge leak.

We'll be back right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating complaints from some moms and maybe some dads that a new Procter & Gamble diaper is causing burn-like rashes on their children. Pampers with Dry Max -- get this -- was released earlier this year but an Internet crusade is already under way to bring back the old diapers, including a Facebook page -- if you can believe it -- with thousands of fans.

A lawsuit was also filed against Procter & Gamble Thursday in federal court in Cincinnati. The suit claims babies have had severe reaction to Pampers with Dry Max. One mother says it looks like someone took a flame to her son and burned him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY BLANK, MOTHER: It can't even be described as a rash. I mean it actually looked like burns on his bottom. It was blistered and bleeding. The worst I've ever seen.

DR. KIMBERLY THOMPSON, PROCTER & GAMBLE CONSULTANT: The evidence that we've seen so far suggest that Pampers with Dry Max is not causing any difference in the experience that parents are having with diaper rash, period. The challenge is that when you introduce a new product like Pampers with Dry Max, parents see a rash and they say I have a new product, maybe that's the cause.

But when you look at the overall safety profile and the consumer data that the Pampers with Dry Max team has collected, it's very clear that the relationship is not there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Procter & Gamble also put out this statement. "Our own research" -- the company says -- "validated by outside experts and physicians, shows that Dry Max is a wonderful product that helps keep babies away from the very wetness that may contribute to rashes in the first place. Although some attorneys may wish to profit from rumors and misinformation" -- the company says -- "the dry max product is completely safe and does not cause skin irritations."

The company goes on to say, "have every confidence that we will prevail in this meritless lawsuit."

BOLDUAN: And a Houston Charter School teacher is apologizing for the beating she gave to a student. It was caught on tape. Take a look at this.

A classmate recorded this video on her cell phone. The family of the 13-year-old has filed a lawsuit against the teacher, Sheri Lynn Davis and the Jamie's House Charter School. They also have taken the teen out of the school. Davis apologized at a news conference yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERI LYNN DAVIS, FORMER TEACHER, JAMIE'S HOUSE CHARTER SCHOOL: I would also like to apologize to each and every one of you. I apologize for the pains that the result of this situation has brought us to. I apologize for this particular incident, and I am very regretful and sorry that this incident has ever occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Wow. Well, the teen suffered a black eye and some bruises. It was very troubling video to watch.

The school fired Davis on Monday. And police say she was also wanted on a criminal mischief charge.

ACOSTA: Turning to another story, this is interesting -- this is your story, right?

BOLDUAN: This is actually really interesting ...

ACOSTA: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's kind of "Back to the Future" maybe.

ACOSTA: Yes. Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: Some folks in D.C., they want street cars back. While others worry that the cables will block views, very precious views of Washington monuments.

ACOSTA: Kate's going to tell us, will going green mean losing the fantastic views from the streets of the nation's capital? That story is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Some Washingtonians, they want to bring the streetcar back. Others are concerned that the overhead wires that could be required to power them will be an eye sore in a city known for its beautiful monuments. I spoke with folks at the forefront of this mass transit debate in our nation's capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Street cars last rattled through Washington nearly 50 years ago. Now, old may be new once again as history intentionally repeats itself. D.C. is laying the first tracks of a new streetcar system eventually completing a 37-mile route.

(on camera): D.C. Plans may seem like a step back in time, but D.C. officials say it's not backward, it's the next generation in mass transit.

TOMMY WELLS, D.C. COUNCIL MEMBER: The streetcar today is not the streetcar of your great, great grandparents.

BOLDUAN: D.C. council member Tommy Wells is an ardent supporter of the plan. He says the street car will not only alleviate the growing congestion on public transportation in the district, but also help spur economic development in some of D.C.'s struggling neighborhoods.

WELLS: Well, Street cars really is the next generation of mass transit in that we have a world class subway system, but it's really for commuters. Even our extensive bus system is to get commuters in and get commuters out; really kind of the vestiges of the car era and so street cars connect neighborhoods.

BOLDUAN: So how could you argue with that, right? Well, the $1.5 billion plan isn't winning over everyone. The system will require overhead wires to power the street cars and in a city known for its monuments, that's an eye sore to powerful federal preservationists, potentially derailing the whole thing.

MARCEL ACOSTA, NATIONAL CAPITAL PLANNING COMMISSION: So we're looking at a way to essentially get the best of both worlds. We want a sustainable, modern transportation city with the street cars, but we're also looking at ways of protecting important views of places like the White House.

BOLDUAN: Why are views important?

M. ACOSTA: I think they're iconic. They're important to the American people.

GABE KLEIN, DIRECTOR OF DDOT: I think it says a lot about the city and how far we've come.

BOLDUAN: Gabe Klein is the district's transportation boss. And he's pushing ahead with the plans.

KLEIN: Higher and better use for this would be a streetcar maintenance facility as it's literally 50 feet from Union Station.

BOLDUAN: And that's where it will be.

KLEIN: That's exactly what this will become.

BOLDUAN: Klein is now floating a compromise, a hybrid streetcar, drawing power in some spots, but running on battery in others.

KLEIN: I think you've got to balance the need to keep a wide- open vista with the need for transportation options and a clean environment.

BOLDUAN: But even that may require overturning more than 100 years of law, a ban on overhead wires in historic sections here. D.C. officials say it comes down to taking what worked in the city's past to move it into the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: We're checking top stories: a police standoff that lasted six hours ended violently this morning. The sheriff's department in Gig Harbor, Washington says a veteran deputy shot and killed his in-laws and then took his own life. Why? Nobody knows. Forty-nine-year-old Alan Myron had barricaded himself inside his house. The SWAT team found his body.

The FBI is on the case of a Seattle police officer seen on video kicking and beating a Latino man mistakenly stopped as a robbery suspect. The NAACP wants the officer charged with a hate crime. The officer apologized, calling his actions offensive and unprofessional.

And in Thailand today, more antigovernment protests; troops opened fire in Bangkok, wounding four. The Military says it is confident it can regain control. But the violence has already killed 17 people and wounded 141 others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one thing we do know is that on the evening of April 20th, there was a sudden catastrophic failure of the cement, the casing or both. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any kind of test would look at that and you'll see that thing is wired wrong. All you do is check the batteries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People canceling their vacations. People canceling their fishing trips.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I can tell you is that flow rate looks pretty much the same as it's always looked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We continue to remove oil from the surface. Preliminary figures indicate birds and marine mammals are also affected by this incident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So if it's a legitimate claim, of harm to the fishing industry, both short term and long term, you're going to pay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to pay all legitimate claims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I'm buying. Welcome back and thank you for joining us this morning. I'm talking about coffee.

BOLDUAN: We are.

ACOSTA: Of course. 9:00 here in the East Coast. I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks for joining us.

BOLDUAN: And I'm Kate Bolduan. Thank you so much for joining us. Again this time every Saturday we spend a half hour digging deep into issues that directly affect you. And today we are talking about that massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. And here is what we know so far.

The leak started on April 20th,after the Deep Water Horizon oil rig exploded and sank. Since then BP says it's been leaking more than 200,000 gallons of crude daily into the gulf. The Coast Guard has authorized BP to use chemicals to disperse the oil at the source of the leak 5,000 feet below the sea.

It's hoped the chemicals will break the oil apart and keep it from reaching the surface which would cause more problems they say.

Not everyone, though is on board with this effort. The director of the Louisiana Health and Hospital says federal regulators dismissed his state's concerns about the chemicals.

ACOSTA: And Kate, as you know, oil is only washed ashore in a few places. Let's see what kind of impact the spill is having on businesses in the gulf. CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is in Biloxi, Mississippi, this morning.

Reynolds, first, are you hearing anything about the containment efforts? How are those going? WOLF: Well, the containment efforts are actually pretty varied. I mean with a situation like this, they've been trying all kinds of things. For viewers tuning in across America, you'll remember that originally one of the big ideas was to get a containment dome, something that was about 40 feet in height, looked almost looked like a two story or rather, I guess, a four-story house almost. Weighed 125 tons. They've lowered that. And of course, that didn't work. That was set aside.

The other option they've had, is the latest one, one of the latest is actually getting a six-inch pipe, taking it some 5,000 feet from the very surface, all the way down nearly a mile down to the ocean floor and then actually putting that pipe into this giant vent that's leaking like crazy. It's coming out with such force, it's almost like getting a dandy line and throwing it into a tornado.

I mean, it's a very difficult thing when they bring that down. The goal is to use underwater robotics, robots to actually place it in there and try to siphon off some of that (inaudible) or rather that oil and take it to the top and put it on a container vessel and then ship it to shore. That's one of the other ideas.

Then they have, of course, the top hat, is almost like a smaller version of the original containment dome. The idea would be to lower that and then place it over the leak. And then same rule applies, they'd siphon it to the surface.

And then one idea that they were batting around a few days ago was the idea of something called the junk shot, where they would use, self-explanatory, junk, pieces of tire, pieces of rubber. They take even golf balls. And the idea would be to blast it right at the leak almost in the effect of a giant shotgun and using all those particles like, say, shrapnel almost to try to clog it up.

Then they would get a layer of mud and then even cement, almost like if you have a cut on your arm, it'd be a giant compress. That would be the idea to try to stop the leak. But we haven't heard of the idea back for quite a while. So there's a couple of things that they're batting around. They're hoping this one with the six-inch pipe could be a big game-changer. Back to you.

ACOSTA: Reynolds, we're not even sure if the underwater dispersants that they're talking about will be safe. I mean, we've been talking all morning about restaurants and other fishing industries in the gulf that are concerned about the chemicals and the effect on the sea life there.

WOLF: You know, Jim, that's a great point you're bringing up. And we have been talking about the dispersant. As you mentioned, the EPA and the Coast Guard have given BP the thumbs up. But the thing is, it's really certainly nothing to sneeze at. This could also be a big help. But there are a lot of people that do have concerns about that. We're going to address those concerns coming up. We have a guest that's going to give us more on that.

But again, there are a lot of raised eyebrows about that. But the effect it's been having on places along the Gulf Coast business wise, no question they've seen a slowdown in some places, certainly here at this beach ski rental location, it's certainly been slow and go. But they're hoping things will open back up. They're certainly open for business and they certainly need as many customers as they can possibly get. Jim.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Reynolds. As you've been pointing out all morning, folks are calling ahead down to the Gulf coast to hotels and all sorts of destinations trying to figure out should I even come. So that's going to have a business effect as well. Reynolds, thanks for keeping track of this. We appreciate it.

WOLF: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: So three weeks after the explosion, what's making the cleanup in the gulf so challenging. The source of the leak almost a mile under water where there's high pressure and total darkness. It's why BP says it's having such trouble capping the gusher. Sunlight can't penetrate the water past 1,500 feet. So it's pitch black down there. And also at 5,000 feet below sea level, there's water pressure. We're talking 2,300 pounds of pressure per square inch. Enough pressure to crash a submarine.

With that kind of pressure, naturally occurring methane gas in the ground can be much more damaging. It's believed to have caused the explosion and fire on the Deep Water Horizon rig. The water is near freezing at that depth, at the very same time, look at all of these things working together against us basically.

Normally, the water temperature is in the 70s on the surface this time of year. This water is 40 degrees. So, the oil spill could be much worse than we thought.

Now we're realizing, a Purdue University scientist tells CNN about three million gallons a day are leaking, in his opinion, from his research. BP though stands by its earlier estimate of 210,000 gallons a day. Whatever the number is, this is an environmental disaster.

Back with us again this week, Casi Callaway, the executive director of Mobile Bay Keeper. Casi, thank you so much. We've been checking in with you several times since this whole thing began. Really, in your opinion, how are things today? Better? Worse? The same? What are you seeing?

CASI CALLAWAY, EMORY UNIVERSITY: They're a combination of the same but combined with a whole lot of frustration. We're working every day to figure out how to protect our shores, how to know what's going on, to get as much in and as much lined up if, frankly, we think when the oil hits our shores, but we're challenged and stymied by it's fine, it's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it and no, it is 5,000 gallons or barrels -- it's not 70,000 barrels.

So lots of confusion, very little information and a whole lot of frustration, frankly. BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. You can absolutely tell. I mean, other than the fact that there seems to be a lot of -- in your opinion confusion, misinformation, what remain your biggest concerns really when we're talking about the environmental aspect of this oil spill? What about those chemical dispersants?

CALLAWAY: The chemical dispersants are still our number one concern. We understand that EPA is allowing them to do the dispersant at the well head again because they've done tests that they think show it's fine. What we don't know is what those tests are, what the results are and what it means.

What we also fear greatly is that it's continuing this out-of- sight, out-of-mind. Even Tony Harris said yesterday our number one goal is to keep this off the surface. Well, if you keep it off the surface, you're simply dropping it to the bottom to create another entire problem. The oil doesn't go away simply because it's been dispersed. You might be able to break up a little bit of it. But it's still there, it's still persistent in the environment.

And we don't know what all it's doing and how far it's going and how vast of an impact it's going to have. And again, we still don't know what the dispersant does at the concentrations and at the levels that we've been dumping and pummeling the oil with it.

BOLDUAN: Right. You've been on the ground and you've been on this from the beginning. I mean, are BP officials and government officials, frankly, are they listening to your concerns about these chemical dispersants? Are you getting any answers there when you're raising these red flags?

CALLAWAY: We were on a conference call with the EPA administrator and the NOAA administrator. And frankly, the reporters who are on the line and asked question after question, same thing. What are the chemicals in there and what are you studying for? And every answer was vague. And these are the folks who are charged with protecting us. So we still greatly fear what is it, what does it mean? What is it going to do? How long does it stay in the environment?

We know it bio accumulates. We know that the bigger critters who eat the smaller ones are going to build it up in their systems. We know it stays and builds up in the grasses and even in the sediments. What we still don't know is what it does and what all that means. So we have a lot of fears and we're not, frankly, getting a lot of answers.

BOLDUAN: Yes, unfortunately, it seems a lot of things are a lot of it wait and see. Casi Callaway, thank you so much. It has been great. You have been great to be eyes and ears on the ground there. We'll continue to check back in with you. Thank you so much.

CALLAWAY: Thanks for having me.

ACOSTA: So what are BP executives saying about the oil mess in the gulf. One of BP's top officials coordinating the clean up answers our questions. It's coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHNEIDER: Good morning. I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider. We are tracking extreme weather across Texas right now. Flash flood warnings are in place. Look at this, a severe thunderstorm warning popping up at this hour in Kingsville, Texas. So much water is on the roads that we are seeing flash flooding. So just be careful and just make sure you don't try to pass over any road that's covered in water because you don't know how deep it is.

Look at this heavy rain working its way from San Antonio to Houston, all the way into those southern parishes of Louisiana. We had a tornado warning just to the west of New Orleans earlier. That has expired. But still very heavy rain and hail right now in Hammond, Louisiana, just to the north of New Orleans. So this is a rough go of it for the early morning hours into much of Louisiana.

You can see a closer look at the thunderstorm cell. I'll have more on that and a look at the weather in the Gulf of Mexico. That's all ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Inconsistent figure from BP over the oil leak in the gulf have some doubting whether the company has the problem nailed down.

ACOSTA: That's right. Our Brian Todd caught up with a BP executive and grilled him about the company's response to the growing environmental disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under intense public pressure, his company is desperately trying to stop this gusher. At the same time, fending off charges that it doesn't have its act together. We put some tough questions to BP managing director Bob Dudley, one of the top officials coordinating spill response.

(on camera): You first said it was a 1,000 barrels a day and you had it under control. Then you said it was 5,000 barrels a day and you are struggling to control it. And then we hear about all these different options that we're trying, none of them seem to work. Why should anyone believe what you guys are saying about this anymore?

BOB DUDLEY, BP MANAGING DIRECTOR: Well, earlier days we were getting the data, looking at the flow rates and looking at the satellite data. And collectively there was an estimate of 1,000 barrels a day. We now have raised that estimate consistently for sometime. Again, it's not a BP estimated, it's a unified command center estimate with NOAA and the Coast Guard.

Since the very first day of this spill, we have put together, brought together from the industry the best engineers and scientists together with the U.S. government to work at multiple tracks and options to try to solve a problem that we've never seen before. TODD: You say you've got the best minds on this. You've got the technology to do the drilling and to get down that far in the first place but seemingly don't have the technology or the plan in place to stop something like this. Why not?

DUDLEY: Well, the oil and gas industry has been drilling in deep water for 20 years. This is a new and different accident. The blowout preventers didn't work. No one ever expected that.

TODD (voice-over): Dudley rejected the claim by a university professor that this riser is leaking up to 70,000 barrels of oil a day, far more than BP's estimate of 5,000 which they're still sticking to.

DUDLEY: That number is not accurate at all, 70,000 barrels a day.

TODD (on camera): There's no way it could be accurate? I mean, there's a huge disparate here? There couldn't be somewhere in between 5,000 and 70,000?

DUDLEY: You can look at the amount of the oil that's coming to the surface on satellites. We can measure the pressure drops at the top of the B.O.P. and what's coming out, that photograph really does need a little ruler next to it to give you the sense of the size. Because the photograph is going to make it look bigger than it physically is.

And again, you take into account the expansion nature of the gas and the crude, a lot of it evaporates. It's a light, sweet crude, low sulfur crude, 70,000 barrels a day isn't anywhere I think within the realm of possibility.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: The Coast Guard has now authorized BP to use chemicals to disperse the oil at the source of the leak, some 5,000 feet below the sea. They hope this will break the oil apart and prevent it then from getting from the surface.

And still to come, they're going to be partying for a cause along the coast this weekend.

ACOSTA: In light of the oil spill, the hang-out, beach music and arts festival is taking place and all of the profits will go to cleanup and preservation efforts. We'll talk to a top chef who is firing up the grill, oh goodies, for the festivities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Organizers of a film festival on the Alabama coast are doing their part to help out after the BP oil spill. The hangout, music and arts festival is donating all profits to regional coastal cleanup and preservation efforts. The Gulf Shores Festival is taking place this weekend and features big name artists like Lenny Kravitz and John Legend. ACOSTA: And another oil spill benefit concert is taking place in New Orleans this weekend, and acclaimed chef and restaurant tour continues to cook, with seafood from the gulf, Chef John Besh is involved in a musical fundraiser to benefit coastal conservation in the seafood industry.

He joins us live from the Big Easy, New Orleans this morning. John, thanks for joining us. You have six restaurants. They all focus on local cuisine and local fresh ingredients. And the big question a lot of people have all over the country because we just love the food down there, are you worried?

JOHN BESH, NEW ORLEANS CHEF: Am I worried? Absolutely. It's not a panic right now. You know, the key right now is for all the folks offshore to do their job to stop the leaking oil and then allow the cleanup to really take place.

Right now, what we really want to focus on is raising money and raising awareness. Money for the crippled fishing industry that we have here. We have a lot of precautionary closings, and parts of the area that may be affected by the oil spill, not yet. You know, a lot of these are precautionary. So Louisiana seafood out there is safe to eat. We want to really highlight that as well.

ACOSTA: Yes, you know, John, we should point out that you're working with Paula Dean on this effort which, you know, we're a big fan of hers as well. I'm just curious as you talk with other top chefs, when you talk with other restaurants and other, you know, food suppliers down in New Orleans, I mean, what is the growing sense about how all of this is being handled by BP, the government, what's the sense you're getting?

BESH: I think most of us down here just want the finger pointing to stop. Take care of it. We'll figure out, you know, who is to blame later. Everybody, let's just combine forces and take care of it. The funny thing is some of the first responders that actually came forth to say, hey, let us help, were the fishermen, and the fishing families of south Louisiana that have fed our country for generations.

ACOSTA: Right.

BESH: And so we just want people to stop pointing fingers, figure out how to stop the flow of oil and then let us clean it up. We've got a thriving seafood industry down here. There's large portion of our state still open to fishing. And we want to focus on the positive right now and help those that need help.

So the shrimpers that can't get out there to shrimp, the oyster families who can't get out there to harvest the oysters, we want to help them, in the meantime. Kind of shore them up so that when we do get it cleaned up, we can put them back to work again and we can cook that good food.

ACOSTA: And John -- exactly and that's what we're all talking about here. I mean, New Orleans ...

(CROSSTALK)

BESH: It all comes down to the food, doesn't it?

ACOSTA: It does, especially with me, let me tell you. What do you do if that seafood supplier from the gulf becomes affected, what do you do at that point?

BESH: Well, from that point on, really it's out of my hands.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BESH: It will take a while to really mitigate all of that. You will have portions of the gulf still open and still thriving. We'll focus on those areas. We'll buy our seafood from the people -- from the areas that are open. And you know, I think we just need to all stay calm right now. We need to come out, listen to some good music, eat some good food, help the people that we can help. Focus on the important things. You know, we've got a thriving domestic seafood industry. Support it.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BESH: In the meantime, if you want to help us, come on down and join the fun.

ACOSTA: John, you know what, if they would let me come down there today, I would do that right now. I would drop everything and come down there. John Besh. We could talk all day about this, especially about the food down there. Thanks so much for joining us and telling us about this worthy cause. We're pulling for you down there. Thanks a lot.

BESH: Gulfaide.org. Go there.

ACOSTA: Excellent. Thank you, John. Appreciate it.

And still to come in our half-hour special, we're tracking the oil spill and we're also following the money. The millions of dollars it's taking to clean up this spill and why it's just small change for BP. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back. So just how much is the massive oil leak costing BP? Our Josh Levs -- easy for me to say -- he is here to break that down. Hey there, Josh.

LEVS: It is really early, you know. So listen, I appreciate that. Here is the deal. The money is kind of stunning. Because when you look at the amount of money BP is saying it already had to spend, it's a huge amount of money and then all of a sudden you look at what their profits are all year-round, it's amazing. Look at this.

Here you go. As of Thursday, BP was saying $450 million it had to spend on oil cleanup. That money keeps going up every day, the total cost. This is how much as of Thursday, they were saying. Now let's take a look at their first quarter profits for the year, $6.1 billion in profits in this economy in the first quarter alone of 2010.

So we did a little math crunching over here. That comes down to in profits about $67 million a day in profits for BP. So if you look at just how much they're spending in that $450 million, that's about one week's worth of profits. Now, I will tell you and we have some video of, you know, this continuous leak and the problems that are coming from it.

The fact is the amount they spent so far might ultimately be only the beginning because later on they're going to have all sorts of more expenses for cleanup. Also, in every case after this there are some lawsuits. And as we know, those can be expected already. And there are long-term costs as well. So this $450 million is very much not the total that BP is ultimately going to face.

That said, when you look at how incredibly much they make in profits, just like oil companies do, you can see that ultimately it does look like BP will easily be able to handle all of these costs and ultimately, you know, continue to be a very much a profit-making company.

So we'll keep an eye on those numbers guys going forward. We expect some updates from BP next week as the total cost gets more. But there you go, those profits keep on churning in for oil companies.

ACOSTA: Wow.

BOLDUAN: It's a good breakdown, Josh. Thank you so much.

LEVS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And thank you for joining us. Thank you. We'll be back right at the top of the hour.

ACOSTA: "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" with Stephanie Elam starts right now.