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CNN Saturday Morning News

Airline Glitch Strands Passengers; U.S. Collecting Information on Potential War Crimes Committed By Syria Government; Teen Sues School Over Prom; Tips on Saving Money at Restaurants, Grocery Stores; U.S. Life Expectancy Lagging Behind Other Industrialized Nations

Aired June 18, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And we are back to the top of the hour here on the CNN Saturday morning. Hello to you all.

We've got some long lines and some stranded passengers. United Airlines saying the two words no airline passenger wants to hear: computer glitch. They also say it's fixed now, but the pain may not be over for all those travelers.

Also this Saturday, Casey Anthony will be back in court facing murder charges. We're keeping an eye on the drama inside the courtroom. But, also, there's a lot of drama happening outside the courtroom as well.

Also, all Constance McMillen wanted to do was go to the prom, but she wanted to go with her girlfriend. The school said no. Now, a TV series is devoting an episode to her story.

Hello to you all. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING for June 18th. I'm T.J. Holmes. Reynolds Wolf will be along here just in a moment.

Well, for a lot of you who are out there flying today, you might be delayed because of lingering effects of a United Airlines' computer glitch. United says the glitch is fixed, but the system went down several hours last night.

Thousands of people were affected. Some passengers may still be waiting at airports this morning waiting to get out.

United tried to process everybody by hand while the system was down. So, how did that work out?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN HABBAS, STRANDED PASSENGER: This has been horrific. We're hungry, we're tired. We want to get home. They won't give us any answers.

You have a thousand people in line. How do you process all these people and get us home. You can't, it's impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: We do have a statement from United apologized for the disruption caused to travelers saying, and I quote, "United apologized for the disruption caused to travelers at affected airports and is re- accommodating travelers where necessary." The airline also waived change fees for the stranded passengers.

Well, a man who is illegally in this country, well, he shouldn't be able to get on board a plane, but he certainly shouldn't be able to get clearance to actually work for an airline.

Police in Miami say that is exactly what's happened at American Eagle Airlines. The man, you're seeing him now, 38-year-old Jophan Porter. He has been arrested and been charged with stealing another man's identity to work as a flight attendant for the airlines. Porter was arrested after his flight returned from London. Passengers and probably you shocked to learn that a flight attendant was an imposter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did he do that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How come that company, a big company like that, you know, they should check that before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, Miami police say Porter is from Guyana and used the identity of a New York man when he applied to work at the airline.

Also, some developing news we're getting out of Afghanistan this morning where the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, is telling a youth group that Washington is involved in peace talks with the Taliban. U.S. officials could not be reached immediately for comment.

"The Guardian" newspaper reporting earlier this month that the U.S. and Britain want U.N. sanctions against 18 former senior Taliban members removed. President Obama is expected to announce plans for troop withdrawals next month. We'll get you more on this as we get it.

And British nationals are being told to get out of Syria this morning. This comes from the British foreign office. Syria has been the site of deadly confrontations during anti-government protesters and the military. State Department warned American citizens to get out of Syria back in April.

Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie is at a refugee camp in Turkey right now. She serves as a United Nations goodwill ambassador. She's praising Turkey for accepting nearly 10,000 Syrian refugees who have been fleeing the violence in their own country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELINA JOLIE, U.N. GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: The Turkish government and the Turkish Red Crescent have just been extraordinary in their generosity and in all that they've done. They are very organized. We are so grateful to them.

They also made a point to say they're not going to be forcing anybody back and that they're going to keep the border open, which is saving the lives and making a difference to all of these children and their families. So, we're very, very grateful to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, a senior Obama administration official says the U.S. is collecting information on possible war crimes carried out by the Syrian government during its crackdown on protesters.

Also, violence escalating in Sudan, ahead of southern Sudan independence next month. Take a look and listen.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HOLMES: Now, this is video actually from earlier this week. Sudanese war planes dropped several bombs near United Nations camp. People in southern Sudan voted to become an independent country. That will happen officially July 9th. But border disputes caused mass exodus. At least 100,000 have fled areas where northern troops have taken control.

There may be some movement on the diplomatic front, but this is still a desperate situation for a lot of people there.

Meanwhile, back here, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is back home in Tucson, Arizona, this morning, for the first time since she was shot there back in January.

Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, spending the weekend there with family. Giffords as you know was shot in the head during a meet and greet with constituents in a supermarket parking lot in January. She was just released from Houston area hospital earlier this week.

Her husband releasing a statement saying, "We have been dreaming of this trip for some time. Gabby misses Tucson very much and her doctors have said that returning to her hometown could play an important role in her recovery."

Casey Anthony will be back in court in just a couple hours from now. Testimony scheduled to start up again in her murder trial at 9:00 Eastern Time. She, of course, is accused of killing her 2-year- old daughter.

Anthony's attorneys haven't said if they plan to put her on the stand in her own defense.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HOLMES: But this is the drama that continues to unfold outside the courtroom. A little brawl broke out in the line. These folks lined up, trying to get in. Many have been lining up in the overnight hours, just trying to get a few of the coveted tickets to get in to be a part of the trial, to see the trial.

But there are some new rules now that have been put in place to try to keep this from happening again. And it's going to require that these court watcher wannabes line up the day before to get their tickets to the trial. And they have to line up at specific times.

More on the case is coming your way in just about 30 minutes.

Also, if you are listening to the news now, I want you to stop and look at the TV for a moment. Have you seen this picture? This is from the Vancouver riots on Wednesday. You see the riots happening all around these folks, and you see a couple laying in the middle of the street.

They got caught up in the riots after the Canucks hockey team lost the Stanley Cup. This photo has gone viral. What you're seeing there is Scott Jones and his girlfriend, Alex Thomas. Jones and Thomas say they got caught between the police and the rioters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT JONES: Started beating us with the shields, like trying to get us to move. I don't know why we weren't being aggressive towards them or anything like that. But then, eventually, they passed over us, and that's when we were on the ground. I was just -- she was a bit hysterical afterwards obviously and I was trying to calm her down.

ALEX THOMAS: I think people were able to see it is just a moment that happened to be on camera, and that it's not embarrassing at all, it is sexually really a beautiful shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It is a beautiful shot and I love it. It needs some explanation here.

What you're seeing highlighted there, she was actually injured in the riots. They didn't just lay down on the ground and decide to start making out in the middle of a riot. She was actually injured and her boyfriend just laid down next to her to comfort her at the time.

The camera catches the shot of them when he actually gave her a kiss on the cheek, just tried to calm her down because she was hysterical.

Now, as we put that picture, Deirdre, I love that picture. Put it back up for me. It seems like the young man, at least according to his mom, may be a bit of a romantic. His mom telling the newspaper he is a bit of a dreamer, and that, quote, "he wouldn't have even known there was a riot going on around him possibly."

But a lot of people saw this on the Internet. It certainly went viral, got passed around. It looks like two people are laying there and just decide to start making out. But this was actually a very dangerous and serious situation for the young lady who was hurt there. He was just trying to comfort her, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and that is the image that has gone around the world.

Now, at eight minutes past the hour, we have been telling you about the wildfires in Arizona. But there are real fire worries in the Southeast as well.

Reynolds Wolf, good morning to you once again. You're watching both for us.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's really bad, bad shape in the desert southwest, where they got the fires. In fact, nearly a half million acres burned, only about 30 percent contained. In Florida, the situation is very different. You've got some fires that are popping up there. The biggest reason why is because of lightning strikes.

Now, we got some rough weather in the country, we are going to talk about that, let you know how it's going to affect your flying today. It's coming up in mere moments.

You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING. You see the sign. There it is. All right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Eleven minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Look what they are dealing with. Rain would certainly help in the Southeast and Southwest right now -- two parts of the U.S. dealing with these fires.

We start in Arizona. The situation there -- it looks like it's getting worse. Actually, we have been telling you about one wildfire out there that's burned nearly a half million acres. But you're seeing video from another part of the state now, in the southeastern corner of the state, along the Mexican border, crews there are fighting three different fires.

Also in the southern part of Georgia -- some 225,000 acres burned in fires in parts of this state. Wildfire officials blame lightning for sparking fires in three counties near the Florida border.

Reynolds is here now to talk about rain. Is rain a possibility in either of those places?

WOLF: The best chance in either of these spots probably going to be in south Georgia. That being said, the odds of it happening is not good. North Georgia perhaps, but definitely, we're seeing some rainfall across parts of the Midwest into the Ohio Valley.

You can see it plain as day.

We have a couple of tornado warnings this morning. Right now, it's thunderstorm watch that is in effect for parts of Missouri. But this entire area is really going to be a place of potential trouble, especially the Ohio Valley. Flashing flooding is going to be a certainty because we're seeing a lot of this rain began to develop and move over some of the same areas again and again.

So, Lexington may get some flash flooding, Minneapolis same story, perhaps even St. Louis before the day is out.

We got 30 seconds to show you what's happening here across the nation.

Again, this area of low pressure -- that is the big engine that's going to make all of this work. The fuel is the moisture feeding from the Gulf of Mexico. That combined with your daytime heating is going to give just a crazy atmosphere.

So, anyone traveling over that boundary, going, say, from Dallas to Chicago, you're going to have a bumpy flight part of the trip, no question. Also in St. Louis, the same situation. Fire threat over the Desert Southwest. Out west, pretty sunny for the most part. But along the Eastern Seaboard, it's going to be mix of sunshine and clouds, possibly a few scattered showers.

As we things up, 85 your high in New York, 103 in Dallas, 79 in Kansas or in Salt Lake City, and 65 in Los Angeles.

That is a wrap on your forecast. T.J., back to you.

HOLMES: Reynolds, appreciate you, buddy. Thanks so much.

And at 13 minutes past the hour now.

A teenager took on her entire school district after the school didn't approve of who she wanted to go to prom with.

You see, she wanted to go with her girlfriend. But now, this teenager is being rewarded for her courage and her persistence. We're talking "Drop Dead Diva," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Fifteen past the hour on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Constance McMillen, all she wanted to do was go to the prom. But the school had a problem with her date. You see, her date was her girlfriend. School refused to let it happened. But Constance stuck to what she believed.

And, now, her story has inspired an episode on Lifetime Television's "Drop Dead Diva," and a guest appearance by Wanda Sykes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And action!

HOLMES (voice-over): She never thought of herself as an actress or diva.

CONSTANCE MCMILLEN, WANTED TO ATTEND PROM WITH GIRLFRIEND: I am a shy person in the since that I don't really like attention. HOLMES: But the story of 19-year-old Constance McMillen was made for TV.

JAIME BABBIT, "DROP DEAD DIVA" PRODUCER: What was great about the Constance McMillen case is it's just an inspiring story about a girl who fights for her rights.

HOLMES: McMillen wanted to go to prom with her girlfriend. Her high school said no. She fought back. The school cancelled the dance.

MCMILLEN: I just didn't believe it really because I was into school with these people my whole entire life. They knew I was gay. I mean, I never hid it. And -- but -- and they didn't have a problem with that so much as whenever prom got cancelled, they blamed me for it.

HOLMES: Her story grabbed headlines, and got Hollywood's attention.

Comedian Wanda Sykes said McMillen's courage was inspiring.

WANDA SYKES, COMEDIAN: It was concerning. And I wanted to just reach out to her and to let her know that, you know, there are people who were thinking about her, who were supporting her.

It took me 40-something years to be able to stand out and say, hey, this is -- this is who I am, and I'm proud to be, you know, be gay, and there's nothing wrong with it.

But for her to, you know, just to say, hey, this is who I am and I want to live my life the way that it's intended for me to live my life -- just very proud of her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you thinking everything happened for a reason? Well, I sure hope I was right.

HOLMES: Now, "Drop Dead Diva," a series on Lifetime, is telling McMillen's story, with Sykes and McMillen as guest stars.

Her story fits the show's message of acceptance.

SYKES: They wanted to do her story, and I think it's a very important story. I think, you know, what she went through and it's -- you know, it's a good message to let people know that you have rights.

MCMILLEN: I hope that it inspires them to stand up for what they believe in and be proud of who they are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Some parents and some reports out there said that parents actually put together a prom party at a secret location for the rest of her class. McMillen was apparently sent to a decoy party with special ed kids. She successfully sued the school. She was also named one of "Glamour" magazine's Women of the Year. We're at 18 minutes past the hour now.

Of course, you want to save money at your favorite restaurant. Of course, you want to save money at the grocery store. You can. There are deals out there, plenty of them, if you know where to look. We do. You will, too.

That's next. Clyde Anderson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Twenty-one minutes past the hour.

Clyde Anderson has been saving you money for quite some time. This weekly segment he does with us.

You're about to save more money on things that people do all the time. We go out to eat and go to the grocery store.

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Exactly.

HOLMES: Now, how much money we talking about. We can just leaving on the table by not looking into some of these things.

ANDERSON: You know, recently, I saw a statistic that said a lot of people save about $400 a month on things like groceries from using some of these coupons. I mean, it's amazing some deals that you can get.

HOLMES: Why don't all -- why don't all of us do this? Is it -- does it seem like a lot of work?

ANDERSON: A lot of time.

HOLMES: OK.

ANDERSON: A lot of time, you know --and it's a learning curve for some people, just to kind of learn where the deals are, how to use the coupons, how to use the savings, and make sure they do it right.

HOLMES: All right. Save us some money. Where we supposed to go?

ANDERSON: Well, several things that you can look. You know, several places that you can start. Scout Mom is a great site.

HOLMES: Scout Mom.

ANDERSON: Scout Mom is great site. We can save up to 50 percent on a lot of things, but you can save on books, you can save on dining, you can save on a lot of different things, just by going to Scout Mom.

And what they do is they sign you up by zip code, so they know where you are. So, they give you the deals for your area.

HOLMES: OK. And you can do, anybody can do this, if you have a phone, a smartphone, or a computer.

ANDERSON: You can do it on the computer, and if you have a smart phone, they'll send the deals directly to your smartphone. And a lot of times, the coupons are there embedded in your phone.

HOLMES: OK. Now, we are used to different (ph) catches. So, you tell me there is one?

ANDERSON: Well, you know, there's always things that you got to be prepared and looked out for. A lot of times, on Scout Mom, what it is, is an expiration time.

So, they offer the deal from every 24 hours. And so, the clock ticks down as far as how long you have to actually answer that deal and say, yes, I want this deal.

HOLMES: OK. You're talking about this particular site. But, really, how much work does it take to go out there, to spend the time, maybe download an app or fish around --

ANDERSON: It's not much time. It's worth it. You know, when we were talking about $400 in savings, it's definitely worth that.

I even talk to people that have gotten money back at the grocery store by using some of these codes and using some of these Web sites. You know, they'll go and spend $1,000 and get 13 cents back. It's just a way to do it. It's an art form. They even have classes for some of these things.

HOLMES: You told me about this.

ANDERSON: And so, some of the Web sites offered -- they have a class that you can actually go to in different states to really learn how to do it.

HOLMES: OK. This one you're talking about, how many other places are we talking about? You're kind of highlighting one here in particular.

ANDERSON: Yes.

HOLMES: But any others in particular?

ANDERSON: Yes. Actually, Village Vines, I like because for dining experiences. They let you go in, and they really want to fill the tables of some of these high end restaurants, you get 30 percent discounts in some of these places. So, Village Vines and Daily Gobble is one I like as well, because again, they tell you the time that you can go to these restaurants.

What Daily Gobble does, you go to the restaurant, you eat and you take a picture of your receipt. And they'll actually deposit money into your account.

HOLMES: What? ANDERSON: Yes. They'll deposit money. So, they give you the savings once you show that I've been to the restaurant. And so, the restaurants love it because they're filling up the tables.

HOLMES: OK. Are these secure? Someone hearing that, you know, the account -- clearly, you have to give some information and things like that. But for the most part, these are safe and checked out. I assumed the ones we're using are safe.

ANDERSON: Definitely. I mean, think about it, PayPal has a way you can transfer funds. And so, a lot of these will transfer money into your PayPal type of account, and then you can transfer it to where you need the money to go from there.

HOLMES: OK. Last thing in, a lot of people are concerned. You end up getting spam once --

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: A lot of times you will. (INAUDIBLE) don't spam. But what I recommend is setting up a separate Web site, I mean, a separate email address, like a Gmail account, and you do just for your coupons. And so, these all the coupons should you come to this one site. And so, you can kind of manage them better that way, and also avoid, you know, having excess spam mixed in with your business or your other personal stuff.

HOLMES: Good information as always, Clyde, saving us some money.

And to our viewers, I will immediately send these out, those Web sites, if you didn't catch them. I'll send them out. I'm @TJHolmes on Twitter and also @TJHolmes on Facebook. We'll get those to you here immediately.

Clyde, good to see you as always, buddy.

ANDERSON: My pleasure.

HOLMES: Thanks so much, my man.

Well, we're getting close to the bottom of the hour.

New report says life expectancy in the U.S. is lagging behind a lot of other countries. You need to hear this after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, a new study saying life expectancy in the U.S. is lagging behind most industrialized nations.

Here now, our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: T.J., researchers at the University of Washington took a look at life expectancies in countries around the world. And they wanted to see where the people have the shortest and longest life expectancies.

And you know what? It's kind of surprising. What they found is that the U.S. ranks number 38. That means 37 other countries have life expectancies longer than folks here in the United States.

So, let's take a look and make some comparisons. For example, the Virgin Islands, Martinique and Costa Rica have life expectancies longer than people in this country.

Now, people in certain parts of the United States live shorter lives than in other parts of the United States. Let's focus in on some counties in Mississippi. In these counties in Mississippi, people have shorter life expectancies than in Honduras, Peru, the Philippines, or Brazil.

Now, when you look at those other countries, you probably think to yourself, wow, I thought we had better health care here in the United States than in some of those places. And while that might true, here's the issue -- take a look at this map. This is obesity is highest in the United States, it's also where people have the shortest life span.

So, obesity and also access to health care are two big reasons why life expectancies are shorter in those particular areas -- T.J.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. I will be back with you at the top of the hour with more live news.

Right now, time for the good doctor.