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CNN Saturday Morning News
Six U.S. Aid Workers Killed in Afghanistan; Traffic Stop Costs Officer's Job; End Childhood Obesity; Athletes' Images Take a Hit; Sour Lesson in Bureaucracy
Aired August 07, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR, SATURDAY MORNING: Hello, everybody. From the CNN center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this August the 7th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, SATURDAY MORNING: And I'm Kate Bolduan. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us. We do have breaking news though to get to out of Afghanistan, so let's get right to it.
HOLMES: A sad developing story this morning that is changing by the moment. It has changed for us now. We were telling you earlier two American aid workers presumed dead, now it is up to six. Six Americans killed in Afghanistan.
Again these were aid workers. We're not talking about soldiers here. They were a part of a group of 10 medical personnel that were working on a mission there in Afghanistan. Our foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty is live for us this morning. Jill, this has been a fast-moving story but now it is possible that there were more Americans among the dead.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, T.J., at this point what we know from the head of that organization that's called International Assistance Mission, which is, as you said, a humanitarian organization formed by various Christian organizations, bringing medical assistance into the people of Afghanistan.
He is saying that there were six Americans, one German, one British citizen and four Afghans, two of whom were let go. So the total dead, killed, murdered now we believe by the Taliban is 10 and two Afghans were able to escape. That claim of responsibility is coming from the Taliban.
A spokesman for the Taliban telling CNN that they did kill 10 foreigners and then details on the Taliban website in fact saying that they consider them spies, that they wanted to stop them, they wanted to take them alive and that they kill them when they could not do that when the people tried to escape. However, another story, T.J., is coming from the head of the police chief in that area. He is saying that they were taken out of their vehicle and methodically killed.
Now why were they there? They were there to provide assistance to the Afghan people, we understand from the organization, dealing with eye health, you know ophthalmology, also internal health. And T.J., I think we have that Facebook site, the Facebook page that this group, the team that was coming from the International Assistance Mission had. And if we do, you can see that where they were actually trekking up into this very remote area where, unfortunately, after they had provided some help, they were killed. So more details will be coming out but that is what we know at this point T.J..
HOLMES: Also, I know a lot of our viewers here in the U.S., Jill, would be curious to know but it's so early in this, but no indications of where these Americans may have been from back here in the U.S.
Do we even know if they had been based there in Afghanistan and living there for quite some time or maybe even living in some other foreign country? How much do we know about these Americans right now?
DOUGHERTY: Yes. We really don't know at this point because, of course, they're trying to identify the bodies. That's one question they have to remove the bodies and probably will be taken out by helicopter. They have to be identified.
The U.S. embassy, we've been speaking with them quite a lot, but they're not ready to confirm anything. We do know, however, from the organization that many of these people actually had been the medical staff had been helping Afghans for a number of years. And that organization in fact has been here since 1966.
So it is a sad commentary that the people who are here to help out are being targeted. And it's a worrisome sign, especially when the Taliban are taking responsibility for that.
And T.J., just one fact that I did leave out. We are told that they were killed on Thursday. Today is Saturday. So it's two days ago. News does travel rather slowly, especially from that area.
HOLMES: Jill Dougherty, we appreciate your reporting this morning. We'll continue to check in with you again as we continue to get more details. Our Jill Dougherty, foreign affairs correspondent. Thank you so much.
Also this particular group she was just talking about, the International Assistance Mission, is what they're called, been working there in Afghanistan for some 40-plus years. The members of that group are the ones who in particular were killed.
Our sister network, CNN international, spoke with the head of the International Assistance Mission. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIRK FRANS, DIRECTOR, INTL. ASSISTANCE MISSION (BY TELEPHONE): We know that the chief of police in (INAUDIBLE) province where the 10 people were murdered actually said that he thought it was a robbery. We understand he said that on the basis of the fact that (INAUDIBLE) they had been stripped completely of any valuables, no phones were left, no money, no passports, no satellite phones, no nothing. There was only -- that was the only thing we know at the moment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CORRESPONDENT: Were members of your team physicians or were they missionaries?
FRANS: They were not missionaries. We are an NGO and we've actually been working here since 1960. We've registered with the government of Afghanistan as an NGO and we abide by the Afghan law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So you hear there again, that that was the individual who was the head off, Dirk Frans, the director of the International Assistance Mission giving us a few more details at least, saying that the bodies, the people according to a local official, were in fact stripped of all of their goods and belongings, even passports and things were taken.
But again the updated numbers are that six Americans -- again, we're talking about aid workers, six Americans, one German, one Brit, two Afghans are among the dead. We'll continue to keep you updated about this fast moving developing story.
BOLDUAN: Let's take a look at some of the other top stories that we're following this morning.
Out in Maryland, police in Prince George's County, Maryland say they have a person of interest in custody after discovering a quadruple murder at this home outside of Washington. Police described the victims as two women and two young children.
And we have police chief Roberto Hylton from Prince George's County, Maryland on the line with us. Thank you for joining us, sir. Can you give us the latest? You have some suspects in custody, yes?
CHIEF ROBERTO HYLTON, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND (via telephone): Yes, ma'am, good morning. We have Darryl Ballard (ph) of Dickenson, Texas and Takisha Gilmer (ph) of Texas City in Texas as our murderers of this quadruple incident which occurred yesterday in a very quiet community in Prince George's County.
BOLDUAN: Do you know anything about the relationships between the suspects and the victims here?
HYLTON: Yes, ma'am. The suspects and the victims were involved in a drug relationship, drug sales relationship and something went wrong and the murderer, Darryl Ballard, who was assisted by Takisha Gilmer, murdered two adult females victims and very cold-bloodedly murdered the two children, ages four and three during this incident.
BOLDUAN: And how were they killed? How were they found?
HYLTON: They were executed. They were shot multiple times. I will tell you that this scene was very disturbing. It is still very disturbing to me, the manner in which especially these two young kids were executed.
BOLDUAN: And very quickly, sir, where do things go from here for the investigation?
HYLTON: Ma'am, both Ballard and Gilmer are accused of and being charged with first degree murder. If any case screams for justice, it is this case. I'm hopeful that justice will be served on these two murderers.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely tragic. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Police chief from Prince George's County, Roberto Hylton, thank you so much, sir.
HYLTON: Thank you ma'am.
BOLDUAN: Moving on to some other stories that we're following this morning, U.S. solicitor general, now former Solicitor General Elena Kagan is going to become the next U.S. Supreme Court justice later today. The former dean of Harvard Law School will be the third woman on the high court, only the fourth woman to serve in U.S. history. She will be sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. You want to see it here, right here on CNN.
And oil giant BP is denying reports it has future plans to resuscitate its blown-out oil well off the Louisiana coast. Meanwhile, company officials say they're going to share what they've learned from the Gulf oil disaster and will work with other oil producers to make sure that this never happens again.
HOLMES: Yes, never happens again. We can only hope and certainly the people along the Gulf coast are hoping for the same thing.
Our Reynolds Wolf is back there along the Gulf coast, this time in Pensacola. Reynolds, good morning to you once again.
Buddy, we've been hearing what has been good news, if you will, relatively speaking, for the past several days and even weeks. No oil has been spilling. The relief wells, everything seems to be going well. Do you sense there in Pensacola there is that same feeling of optimism?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, very much so. I can tell you the hotel where we're staying is sold out completely, sold out tonight. It's booming as far as business is concerned. And a lot of it stems from the idea that we're not seeing oil wash up against the shores here. Certainly some great news here. They haven't seen oil, they haven't seen the sheen, they haven't seen tar balls in weeks and weeks. And that's wonderful. It all goes back to the wellhead itself being sealed off with the static kill.
That's really the first part of this operation, although it seems like the story is fading, we've got one more giant step we have to have and that is going to be the bottom kill. I can tell you that progress on the bottom kill all really depends on the relief well. The digging has now gone down to about 18,000 feet. Hard to believe from the surface you've got 5,000 feet down, then from the time you hit the ocean floor all the way down to where the well is going to go, another 18,000 feet. They have another 100 feet to go. Drilling should continue as we get to tomorrow and then should finish up this Friday, the 13th.
Friday, the 13th is when they're expecting that should end. Hopefully that will be the final part of this story. Then they're going to start the process called the bottom kill where they do basically the same they did with the static kill. They're going to inject a combination of both mud and concrete into it and that should finally seal off the well -- T.J.
HOLMES: Normally, Friday the 13th would give us all reason to pause. But in this situation it is probably perfect that everything's going to wrap up on Friday the 13th.
You mentioned that the hotel was sold out. There's been such a concern on that front. Are they feeling like people are getting the sense that in fact this thing is over? Maybe people are more and more starting to visit the region?
And also, how much is washing up where you are? Are they still seeing tar balls?
WOLF: Well, optimism really is out and about. The oil is no longer showing up and the optimism is sweeping in. That's phenomenal for many parts of the Gulf coast. However, when you get to Louisiana, that's a very different situation. I can tell you that in St. Bernard Parish they had 26 different reports of oil sightings in less than 24 hours. I can also tell you that one fisherman by the name of Acy Cooper in central Louisiana has seen plenty of the oil and it makes him furious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACY J. COOPER, FISHERMAN: That's oil. That's crude. That's no doubt in my mind that's crude. Look at it. I am a fisherman. (INAUDIBLE) This is what I do. But health is more important. anybody. Before we get any family sick or are kid sick we need to think about what we're doing here. (INAUDIBLE) think about what we're doing. Let's take another look at it, make for BP pay, hold back as long as we need to do it until we have this cleaned up. We don't want anything to happen to anybody. We know, if it happens we may never sell our seafood again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF: So bad news and good news.
Let's go with the bad news. Right where Mr. Cooper was, where we interviewed him yesterday, where our photojournalist (INAUDIBLE) had that interview, they still have plenty of oil there. Oil has inundated many of the marshlands and Pristine wetlands and parts of southern Louisiana. That's the bad news.
The good news is that for the rest of the Gulf coast, conditions do appear pretty good. I can also tell that in Mississippi that they have now opened up fishing for both commercial and recreation. That includes not only bringing in shrimp and also some of the fin fish, if you will, but there is still a little bit of a wait right now with regard to say the oysters and the reason for that and also the crab is because they still have to conduct some tissue samples on many of the animals that live right on the ocean floor because some of that oil they believe may have seeped to the bottom.
So if you're going to do some additional testing, then possibly within a week or two, we'll know if waters will open up for oyster and for crab fishing. Back to you guys.
HOLMES: Reynolds, at least it is something you can report good and bad news. For a while there, it was all bad news there in the Gulf. There is some good news now. Reynolds, we appreciate you, as always. Talk to you again soon.
BOLDUAN: It is another busy, busy weather day and I'm not making it up. It really is busy. We've got heat and two tropical storms brewing. The heat is gripping much of the country, but good news for some. A nice day in store for the northeast.
Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is tracking it all. Jacqui, good news? Bad news? You can do it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Coming up, it was a legal and symbolic victory for supporters of same sex marriage this week. A Federal court judge said no to California's prop eight.
BOLDUAN: This morning we're really focusing in on the changing laws about marriage all over the country. Josh Levs is here to talk us through it all. Hey there, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, guys. It is really hard to keep track of and it is one of these interesting things that's going on in our society nationwide right now. So coming up, I'll look at how many states now have same-sex marriage, also how many are recognizing those marriages from other states. The answers keep changing. So what we have for you is the marriage map of the U.S.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: The court battle over California's same-sex marriage law getting a little more complicated by the day.
BOLDUAN: It sure is. A Federal judge struck down the law calling it unconstitutional and then granted a temporary stay. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the attorney general in California, they want the judge to allow same-sex couples to marry while his ruling is -- while that ruling is being appealed.
Most expect this whole thing to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. California voters banned same-sex marriages when they passed proposition eight. They say the court should not overturn a law that people have approved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANITA ZUBERE, SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE: We're in it to the end. It is going to go to the Supreme Court and I think Americans are going to understand that we are people. We lead exciting lives, boring lives. We love our family, our friends, our children. And so it is a great day.
RANDY THOMASSON, SAVECALIFORNIA.COM: The judge has dealt a terrible blow to natural marriage, the voters' rights, the constitution and this republic we call the United States of America. You mark my words, if marriage can mean anything, then marriage ultimately will mean nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So what does it mean? What does this mean for the rest of the country? California is a big state yes and it's just one state. How quickly could things possibly change nationwide?
BOLDUAN: Josh Levs is here to break it all down for us.
LEVS: Hey guys. In this debate we often hear people talk about the fact that historically states have made marriage laws, made decisions about marriage. What that means is that we as a country are ending up now with a pretty complicated patchwork of marriage laws when it comes to same-sex issues around the country. I'm going to show you a couple of things interactive to figure out where things stand in your state.
Let's zoom way in here. I'm going to tell you about this map we have from National Conference of State Legislatures. And what they're doing is breaking down for us what these laws are in different states. The few states that are in blue here are the ones that officially recognize same-sex marriage as of now. We are including California here even though obviously that's still in flux. Also, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and DC.
What we also have here are a few states -- this is important -- that recognize those marriages from other states. They're in yellow over here. Rhode island, New York, Maryland, are actually recognizing same-sex marriages from elsewhere without offering them themselves. In New Jersey, you have civil union laws that are basically the same in general, spousal benefits. And finally, you have a bunch of states that offer domestic partnerships. Those are marked in orange here.
Now here is a much simpler map. See all that red? That, and it could include California, depending on how stuff shakes out. These are states that have constitutional bans specifically defining marriage as between a man and a woman. That's a big sea of red you are seeing around the country. What the questions are now is how much that will change.
What's interesting to me when I look through this is how quickly things are changing. I was just looking at about the last year. What you see is every few weeks we have another state with another battle over same-sex marriage.
Here's what happened in Washington at the end of last year when the mayor signed same-sex marriage into law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ADRIEN FENTY, WASHINGTON: I say to the world, today an era of struggle ends for thousands of residents of Washington, DC who have been denied the fundamental right to marry the person of their choosing. I say to all of those residents who watched the nation's capital today that our city is taking a leap forward in assuring freedom and equality for all residents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That was in December. Then just a couple of weeks later these protests going on in New Jersey where there was a similar battle going on there, people lining the streets on both sides talking about whether or not this would happen, whether or not they were going to be OK with it.
I believe we have a little bit of sound here from someone who was specifically opposed to it happening in New Jersey.
Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm opposed to legalizing gay marriage because I believe that God is opposed to legalizing gay marriage. Also if you look at it scientifically, men and women together, same sex, homogeneous relationships, they cannot procreate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Ultimately, New Jersey does not have the official same-sex marriage.
They are one of the ones that does not, although they do have benefits. Now it can be incredibly complicated to keep track of this. And one thing I was saying that's so tricky, that it keeps changing so often. Look at California as one example.
The battles are still going on around the country. Here's a good interactive map. It is probably the best one I've seen online. It is from the "Los Angeles Times." And what they do here is they have a basically clickable map so you can go to your state at any time and you can find what the laws are for you and a little bit of the background. They'll talk through the years, what happened each year and how it came about. You'll find that at latimes.com.
Guys, it is certainly a sign of the times. And no matter how many constitutional bans are out there, the battles still continue, not just in California but elsewhere in the country. We can see a shifting of this map every couple months in the years to come.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Because it's been shifting so much and changing so often as you've been mentioning, it's left and leaves many of these marriages in limbo. People don't know where things stand for them, if they went through it and were able to get married.
LEVS: They don't know if they're married or not and more (ph) in some cases. They don't know if they move to another state if they're married there or not. It is a very interesting situation for these couples.
BOLDUAN: Thanks so much Josh.
HOLMES: Twenty five past the hour. Quick break, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Kate Bolduan.
HOLMES: Good morning to you, I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could be here with us this morning.
BOLDUAN: So it's back to school for a lot of kids this month, but what does that mean? That means parents are really feeling the squeeze on their wallets, many of them. We understand so we thought we'd tell you how and where you can save some money on school essentials. Joining us now is tech guru Mario Armstrong. Mario, this really affects everyone. Every parent is going to go through this if they haven't already. Textbooks are expensive. How much are people actually spending on textbooks -- I love your props. How much are people spending on textbooks and where can they fine these textbooks for a little less money?
MARIO ARMSTRONG, DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Kate, here's the deal. I'm so glad you guys are focusing in on this piece because this is a tight economy. People are looking to save anywhere.
And you will not believe that most college students on average spend $1,122 for the last academic year on just these. Just the books alone to go to class, to be able to keep up with the class and be able to do their homework and prepare for tests.
So $1,122 are being spent every year on these books. That's an increase of about 32 percent over just the last few years. So these aren't flattening prices, they're definitely going up.
BOLDUAN: Tell me about how people can find these same textbooks a little cheaper. How can people save money here?
ARMSTRONG: So the web, the Internet, right? This has created a whole opportunity for online book sellers to now also rent textbooks online. A lot of people still aren't aware of this, but there are websites like chegg.com and that's spelled c-h-e-g-g.com and they have rented over two million books to about 6,400 or so different schools.
And basically, you go on to the website, you look for the book to make sure it's there for your class. They send it to you in a box with -- you pay for the shipping. And you don't have to pay for return shipping to send it back at the end of the semester or at the end of the time that you need it. So there are several different sites out there. Chegg is one, another one that's really great is RentScouter.com. RentScouter is kind of like a comparison shopping. So you go into RentScouter and type in the title of the book and it will look for new, used or rentals and try to find the best price for you that's out there.
So Chegg.com and RentScouter.com -- these are sites that can really help you out when you're trying to find and rent textbooks online.
BOLDUAN: The Internet can always be such an asset at the same time --
ARMSTRONG: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- I always have to ask this -- this next question though --
ARMSTRONG: Ok.
BOLDUAN: -- how trustworthy are these sites?
ARMSTRONG: No these are great --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: -- when you look at the book and you're sending the money how trustworthy are they?
ARMSTRONG: But you have to ask. Because you know, we have to check that. And it's absolutely -- these two sites that I'm recommending to you today are absolutely recommended. They're equal. The books -- the books get sent to you. Everything is kind of secure in that fashion that you actually do receive the textbook.
Now, you are renting used books so there will be some wear and tear on the books but you won't have missed pages. You will see some highlighting possibility in the textbooks though.
BOLDUAN: Real quick, as usual --
ARMSTRONG: Ok.
BOLDUAN: -- we're out of time. Software, you need software for your computers. Every student does.
ARMSTRONG: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Where can you find discounts really quickly?
ARMSTRONG: Ok so real quick; Microsoft is offering a student edition that's only $79. It regularly costs $149. So look at Microsoft.com's Web site for that. If you want to go the free route and forget paying even the $79 discount, look at Web sites like OpenOffice.org, or look at Google docs. Both of these have office software that's pretty much available and online and at no cost. BOLDUAN: These are great tips. These are really fabulous. So thanks so much, our tech guru, Mario Armstrong.
ARMSTRONG: All right, Kate.
BOLDUAN: And all this month Mario will be giving his --
ARMSTRONG: That's right.
BOLDUAN: -- cost saving tips on back-to-school gadgets. So you'll want to see it next week. He'll be talking about how to save on a laptop. Those can be pretty expensive, too.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right and coming up here, I'll just show you the video here. Let me set it up for you, an elderly man driving a car, driving a little fast because he's in a hurry to get his friend to the hospital. He gets stopped by the cops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNY HODGE, STOPPED FOR SPEEDING: I have a doctor waiting on --
OFFICER GRANT JONES: It doesn't make no difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, a police officer in East Texas, out of a job after a videotape from his cruiser surfaces. It shows the officer berating an elderly man who was speeding on his way to the hospital.
This story now from our CNN affiliate KTRE. Our reporter Jena Johnson has the videotape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENA JOHNSON, REPORTER, KTRE (voice-over): A 30-minute traffic stop begins with Diboll Police Officer Grant Jones chasing a speeding gray truck down a busy highway. You can see in the police cruiser video Jones aggressively approaches the truck gun drawn, not knowing who was inside.
He claims he thought they were fugitives. The video tells the rest of the story. Jones then pops open his baton, shattering the driver's window. Seventy five year-old Tracy Lott is pulled out of his truck. As Jones puts him in handcuffs, Johnny Hodge (ph) is gasping for air hooked up to an oxygen tank in the passenger seat.
After a week in the hospital, Hodge spoke to us over the phone. He's at home bed ridden. He claims Jones almost cost him his life.
HODGE: I probably wouldn't (INAUDIBLE) they probably got me recuperated a couple of days. JOHNSON: An internal Diboll police review of the video found Jones had violated policy by approaching the vehicle before backup arrives.
HODGE: I have a doctor waiting on me --
JONES: It doesn't make no difference. It don't make no difference whatsoever. Just because you got a medical problem don't think you can come out here on this highway and do whatever you want to do. When you get to that hospital, you're going to have a pair of handcuffs waiting on you.
JOHNSON: Hodge says Jones violated his civil rights and showed no compassion, only aggression.
HODGE: He was pretty angry. I guess that's the reason he shattered that window.
JOHNSON: While Jones will no longer patrol the streets of Diboll, Hodge feels his resignation is only a slap on the wrist.
HODGE: I think he ought to get six months in jail on top of it.
JOHNSON: For Hodge the case is not over. He says a civil suit may come next.
In Diboll, Jenna Johnson, KTRE East Texas, News 9.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Oh, that's a tough situation.
BOLDUAN: It is.
HOLMES: There -- but it's amazing what you -- you know, we'd never know that if not for those video cameras we learn so much from.
BOLDUAN: That happens quite often these days.
HOLMES: All right. Well, we are pleased to have yet someone else in our studio today. We've had Clyde Anderson; we had the mayor of Port-au-Prince in studio with us today.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: And now -- this would be good, we've got a judge in the house.
HOLMES: We got a judge in the house. That judge there. Don't let that smile fool you though. She has a worthy cause. She's going to be talking to us about heading up an anti-obesity campaign. We're going to be talking to her live coming up.
BOLDUAN: And this little girl is fined hundreds of dollars for setting up a lemonade stand without the proper license. Oh, how times have changed. Details on that coming up after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. And for the first time -- this is just startling -- kids have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
But Judge Glenda Hatchett, you know her from her syndicated TV court series, we're getting her out of the courtroom and we're getting her in the studio and she is issuing an order -- listen to me -- to end obesity. It's very serious.
She is heading up a five city anti-obesity campaign and it kicks off in just an hour. Thank you so much for joining me, judge.
JUDGE GLENDA HATCHETT, FOUNDER, PARENT POWER NOW: Absolutely. Oh thank you so much for having me.
BOLDUAN: We've got so much to talk about. But talk to me about -- I guess why are you so -- we know you're passionate about the law. Why are you passionate about fighting childhood obesity?
HATCHETT: Right. Because you know, I'm fixing kids up; I'm constantly trying to get them on track --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HATCHETT: -- get their lives straightened out.
But if they aren't healthy then we are really behind the 8-ball. I mean, what good is it if we don't have our health.
And we got to get real about this, this whole notion of it having tripled. I mean that is severe. And the fact that they may not live as long as their parents -- I mean we have got some serious work to do and we've got to get out of the denial piece.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HATCHETT: So -- in terms of them getting grounded and doing well, I also want our kids to be healthy.
BOLDUAN: It's not just about health. It's -- right now it's long-term health.
HATCHETT: Long term.
BOLDUAN: So talk to me about --
HATCHETT: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- the campaign kicking off today.
HATCHETT: Yes, today. Yes, yes. We're in five --
BOLDUAN: Five cities -- five cities, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, L.A., Philadelphia. (CROSSTALK)
HATCHETT: Right.
BOLDUAN: Tell me about the campaign. What can people expect?
HATCHETT: So we're going to have families involved, we're going to have a power walk. I'm leading the power walk here in Atlanta this morning in just a few minutes at Lenox Square.
But the idea is for families to get involved and to make this a priority. We are serving an eviction notice that obesity doesn't live here anymore.
And it's going to be fun. We're going to have games and we're going do old-school challenges. And all of these live events -- I can't be every place so I have celebrity friends coming to all the cities who are helping me out today.
But the people who can't be in the live events --
BOLDUAN: Right.
HATCHETT: We want you to go online to ParentPowerNow.com and get involved in the game fast which simply says put the games down, put the video games down today and go out with your children and do something that you do did as a kid. Hula hooping, jump roping, hop scotch.
I mean, how many of our kids even know what hop scotch is? But this is a kickoff today, all school year long. We're going to be doing something every month, very intentional and getting families involved and we're going to be tracking our progress.
BOLDUAN: It's seems it's a lot like -- we talk about the problems of education --
HATCHETT: Right, right.
BOLDUAN: -- it starts at the home.
HATCHETT: It does.
BOLDUAN: You can do so much at school but it starts at the home.
HATCHETT: Yes.
BOLDUAN: And that seems to be really at the core of taking on this big challenge of fighting childhood obesity.
HATCHETT: Right, exactly. And so Parent Power Now is designed to become the social networking site for parents and influences their children. So we want you to come, build your profile and get involved.
But this is one component of it that we're going to be really hammering on -- health, this year. Rise and shine pledge. For instance, five minutes. We're just telling parent just five minutes as a family, get up and stretch before everybody starts running out in their day.
BOLDUAN: And a lot of it we talked about it right before you came on, is staying motivated. You kick off events, do you have to raise awareness and have to get people back to reality to know that this is happening.
HATCHETT: Right, right.
BOLDUAN: But staying motivated throughout the year --
(CROSSTALK)
HATCHETT: Right.
BOLDUAN: -- and taking something on like this can be a challenge. How do parents do that?
HATCHETT: Right, well, we're going to be -- we're going to be putting up tips, we're going to have health-related calls every month. I do live calls every Monday night but one time out of the month we're going to be specifically talking about eating and what we need to be cooking and how we do exercise and how we make this family focus to spend more time together as a family.
And then we're going to be sharing information on the Web site. And people are going to be sending in their videos and we're going to be sharing ideas.
BOLDUAN: So it can be less of a chore --
(CROSSTALK)
HATCHETT: Yes, it's going to be fun.
BOLDUAN: -- and seemingly for kids like a punishment, it's more like a family making a change together.
HATCHETT: And we want people to stop being in denial. People say, oh, come on, come on. You know, it's just baby fat or her grandmother is big. I'm like, yes, we know her grandmother has big thighs. That's why we want to work on her not having them.
We've got to come out of this space of denial and be very intentional about our children's health.
BOLDUAN: You have two boys.
HATCHETT: I do. I do.
BOLDUAN: One in studio. What are the rules in your house? How are you keeping them on the straight and narrow?
HATCHETT: Well, you know what we did is that we didn't have a lot of sugary stuff. We made popsicles from fruit juice and put them in the freezer. And that was fun and very intentional about a lot of sugary things instead having fruits and vegetables.
So I did that intentionally with them and they're both athletes and they're both very healthy. But as a baby my first child was overweight at 10 months old. And --
BOLDUAN: Wake-up call.
HATCHETT: Yes, it was a wake-up call. It hurt my feelings when she said -- I said can't you call him plump? She said, no, it's on the scale of being obese. But that was a wake-up call at 10 months old that I needed to do things and be very intentional.
(CROSS TALKING)
BOLDUAN: Remind me real quick, the name of the Web site one more time.
HATCHETT: Parentpowernow.com.
BOLDUAN: Ok. Everyone go to it --
HATCHETT: Yes, build your profile.
BOLDUAN: -- build your profile. It's kicking off today.
HATCHETT: Right.
BOLDUAN: I think you can sense the passion. I can sense the passion. Judge, thank you so much.
HATCHETT: It's good to be out power walking.
BOLDUAN: That's right. You have to lead the pack, you better be ready.
HATCHETT: I have to power walk.
BOLDUAN: Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much, judge.
HATCHETT: Thanks for having me.
BOLDUAN: Fabulous -- thanks so much.
T.J.
HOLMES: That's your son over there, Judge Hatchett --
HATCHETT: Yes.
HOLMES: -- the skinny one? You got to feed that boy. You can cut back a little bit, judge, but come on now.
HATCHETT: No, he was star quarterback in high school.
HOLMES: There --
HATCHETT: I mean -- or something. Captain of the football team; captain of the football team.
HOLMES: We didn't mean to put him down like that.
BOLDUAN: In the blue shirt back there. Good to get him on as well. Judge Hatchett, always good to see you. Thanks for being here.
HATCHETT: Thank you T.J.
HOLMES: We saw a big milestone this week. A-Rod got into that 600 club. He hit his 600th home run. Who cares? He's only the seventh person in baseball history to do it but it was kind of a nonevent. Of course, you know why. Is this going to really be his ticket to the hall of fame? That's one question we have.
We're also going to be talking A-Rod, we're got Tiger and we've got Lance to talk about with our guy who's got the hair in place. Rick Horrow coming up after the break.
It's 15 minutes to the top of the hour.
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HOLMES: The reputations are on the line. Images are taking a hit. A-Rod, of course the Yankee slugger, he hit 600 home runs; happened this week. Another career milestone but lot of people just thought it was a non-event because he's admitted to cheating. He's the youngest player to get to 600. Also the steroids scandal continues to follow him around.
And also legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong back in the news this week taking a hit when it comes to his image as well.
Also golfer Tiger Woods no longer alone at the top of favorite American athletes in a poll we just got out this week.
Let's kind of get some perspective here from our Rick Horrow, our business sports analyst. Rick, always good to see you. I call this kind of -- a lot of did -- where do you put it in perspective? A-Rod, one of the youngest, he's number 7 -- only the seventh person ever to hit 600; a lot of people just like, "Yes, ok."
RICK HORROW, BUSINESS SPORTS ANALYST: Thirty-five years old, he has a lot of time to even go to 700 but he makes some dollars on the field, certainly big-time contract. But a lot of people care more about who he's seeing these days off the field and then they cause a problem.
Of course the steroid admission taints at least 150 of his home runs and he admitted hitting with the Texas Rangers while he was on the juice, so to speak and there is a big asterisk next to his -- is he going to the hall of fame or not. And a lot of people don't care about number 600. It is a little troubling. HOLMES: I guess people will probably get more interested when -- if he ever get possibly to where Barry Bonds' number is. Who is he dating, by the way?
HORROW: You know, check today. I don't know. Is this a gossip column? Is that what you're talking about?
(CROSS TALKING)
HOLMES: I don't know. You mentioned it. You said people were interested. You didn't name who it was. I don't know who he is dating.
HORROW: It is a secret. Tune in next week.
HOLMES: Ok, great. There you go.
HORROW: That's right.
HOLMES: Let's move on to the next athlete behaving badly, some would say. But things have been surrounding Lance Armstrong for years. Nothing's ever been proven. He's always vehemently denied using steroids.
Now we have this report out in "The New York Times" this week. And you know what? It seems like federal prosecutors might be on to something, some would say -- Rick.
HORROW: Well, on to something but they're also talking about defrauding investors if he actually did take performance enhancing drugs while he was cycling. Seven-time Tour de France winner. He's number ten in the Bloomberg Business Week Power 100. He's got huge ability to raise dollars for charity.
But again his image is taking a hit. He didn't fare very well in this year's Tour de France. He's up in age as far as a cyclist is concerned and he's got some limits as far as his earning power is affected as well. It is on the course cycling wise, not just off as well.
HOLMES: Now, we talk about those limits there but this man has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in cancer research. Could some of that possibly take a hit? Some of that good work -- no doubt that's good work and lot of money going towards a good cause.
HORROW: Well, that's good work that transcends all of his other -- let's call them indiscretions though they're unproven --
HOLMES: Yes.
HORROW: -- and so we're hoping that will continue on stage.
HOLMES: All right. Last thing -- let's get to this quickly, the most popular athletes out there, usually Tiger Woods was always at the top; LeBron James always somewhere at the top as well. These guys still are favorites?
HORROW: Yes. You hit it quickly but you probably shouldn't because these are two big guys. LeBron took a 12 percent hit when he made his decision not to stay in Cleveland. But that's not for issues that are off the court. The off the court stuff is Tiger Woods 50 percent reduction in likeability --
HOLMES: Wow.
HORROW: -- lost $22 million in sponsorships. The advice is keep your head down, stay clean, make your free-throws, make your putts and things may get better for those two guys.
HOLMES: And he is not playing well this weekend -- horribly right now the first two days of this latest tournament. I guess he could turn around -- a lot of people say when he wins -- but he's not playing well right now.
HORROW: No. But the major championship, the fourth of the year, is at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin starting next week. Finally, finally, maybe Tiger plays well but he had all three majors to do that with this year and hasn't done is so far. Hey, he has a lot of stuff on his mind obviously.
HOLMES: He does. And a lot of people gave him credit when he came out in the press conference saying, you know what, I haven't had so much time to practice because of family reasons and dealing with the kids. A lot of people thought that was a good sign at least admitting he's not practicing as much and maybe the results we're seeing out there on the course.
Rick, always good to see you buddy. We appreciate having you. No matter what I say and how I treat you sometimes, I do appreciate having you here.
HORROW: I'll see you next week. I'll give you another chance.
HOLMES: I'll see you next weekend, buddy.
BOLDUAN: It was all a 7-year-old Oregon girl wanted. She wanted to earn a little bit spending money and you know, making lemonade from lemons. But then the city unfortunately stepped in.
HOLMES: Then what she got instead of a little pocket change was a sour lesson in bureaucracy.
BOLDUAN: Reality.
HOLMES: Yes. Reality. Five minutes to the top of the hour. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: It seems sometimes people just take their jobs a little too seriously. We clearly don't -- just kidding.
Take, for example, some people in Portland, Oregon.
HOLMES: All right. We're talking about a little 7-year-old. Her name is Julie Murphy. There she is, being a little camera shy. A little law breaker, you could say. What's happening to these kids these days?
BOLDUAN: I know.
HOLMES: Health inspectors though in Oregon shut down her lemonade stand. Why? Not because she was spiking the lemonade. Her mother says she didn't have a license to sell food and drink.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA FIFE, LEMONADE SELLER'S MOTHER: You have to have a vending license. Apparently it costs $120 and I didn't know about that. So $120 to sell 50 cent cups of lemonade. They're going to look into changing it so that little 7 and 8-year-old kids can have their lemonade stands and don't have to worry about being shut down by the government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well? Dozens of people rushed to Julie and her mom's side. They defended them. The county's health department apologized to them and the Murphy family won't be charged that $500 fine. And kids, yes, in fact will be able to have their lemonade stands without a license.
BOLDUAN: Yes. Poor thing. She got way more attention for that lemonade stand than I think she was hoping for.
HOLMES: And now she's going to make a lot of money for all those --
BOLDUAN: It's well, she should.
HOLMES: Everybody wants her lemonade.
BOLDUAN: Exactly.
Also, controversy in the Midwest over teachers and a very popular medication.
HOLMES: Yes. We're talking about the Milwaukee teachers union. They want a judge to order the school board to bring back Viagra in its taxpayer funded health insurance plan; this while Milwaukee school district is in a financial crisis. Hundreds of teachers may be laid off.
The teachers union charges the board's policy of excluding erectile dysfunction drugs discriminates against the male employees. School board lawyers say those drugs were excluded in 2005 in order to save money.
BOLDUAN: And debating the future of Proposition 8. It's been a long week for supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage and it could be headed for the Supreme Court.
HOLMES: Now, all through the next half-hour we're going to go a little deeper into this issue. We're going to hear both sides of this debate. That's coming up in just a couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
