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CNN Saturday Morning News
Luxury Ship Goes Down; Barbour Defends Pardons; GOP Candidates in South Carolina; Oprah: No Need to Endorse Obama; Heart Surgery for John Edwards; Extreme Couponing for Others; Hot New Gadgets Unveiled
Aired January 14, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: And from the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is Saturday, January 14th. Good morning, everybody, I'm Deborah Feyerick.
European vacation, Mediterranean nightmare: A massive cruise ship runs aground and lurches over. Several people are dead, dozens more are missing. We will have the latest developments for you.
Ford recalls a half million minivans and SUVs. The reason: safety issue, power problems, possible fires. I'll tell you if your family's vehicle is on the list.
And a mother is fed up with her son's law-breaking ways so she hands out some of her own justice mom style. Not everyone is on board with her brand of tough love.
At least three people confirmed dead, as many as 70 are still unaccounted after a cruise ship accident in Italy; 4,000 people, passengers and crew, were on board this Italian-operated cruise liner when it scraped the sea floor and listed on to its side after dark last night.
On the phone now from a port near the accident site is journalist Barbie Nadeau. And Barbie, first of all update us on what you're seeing, who's there and what people are still missing.
BARBIE NADEAU, JOURNALIST: All right. Right now we've got still between 50 and 70 people missing that were -- whose names were on the passenger manifest and who have not been accounted for. Either coming through these the Porto Santo Stefano here on the mainland where people have been processed by both the Italian authorities and the coast -- the cruise ship company.
What we don't know, though, is whether or not those people belonged on the list or if they actually got on the ship or not. There have been reports in the last 20 to 30 minutes, though, that there has been potentially not -- this is not confirmed but some indications that there are still bodies in the boat. This is coming from divers who are out -- at the site.
That is an unconfirmed report but there are people coming back to the shores here that are saying that there are some bodies left in the ship which -- which you know, I think everyone's expecting this death toll could rise with an accident like this and the sheer number of people -- 4,234 who are on the ship.
The rescue efforts in terms of the live passengers have gone fairly smoothly. All of those people have been dispersed to various ports in Italy where they'll either be sent home or they'll continue their Mediterranean vacation. I suppose some people still will.
What we don't know, though, is what caused this accident. All of the passengers that I spoke to this morning had the same story, that the electricity went off and then they felt a jolt and a scraping sound and that was when this huge ship ran on to a sandbar that had rocks.
One of the most curious things that I've been talking to a lot of people in this small fishing village, a small resort town and fishing village and you know three or four cruise ships go on this -- in this lane between the island of Giglio and the Italian mainland every night. So this isn't some random off course. People would have known that the sandbar existed. It was a known entity.
It is a very, very heavily trafficked area in terms of these cruise ships so all of this points, of course, the fact this could be an error in navigation system on the boat that would fit in with the reports of electricity going off and what felt to some passengers that the ship was trying to turn before it ran aground, but yet, we don't have any confirmation or either where those 70 missing people are and how many may or may not be trapped --
FEYERICK: Right. Well Barbie, this is interesting.
NADEAU: In the underwater hull of the boat. And we don't know what the cause of this accident was.
FEYERICK: Right. And obviously, that's a grave concern is that a number of people are trapped under the hull as you say. We spoke to one woman who was on the boat, on the ship, we spoke to her just a short time ago. And she said that passengers were actually told to return to their cabins. And it wasn't until what seemed about 45 minutes that they were given the order to abandon ship. Were rescue crews able to get there quickly, especially since Mayday wasn't issued until after the evacuation began?
NADEAU: That's right. The Italian Coast Guard has confirmed that they were not even alerted about this accident until the evacuation process already began. And one of the really dreadful things about this accident is that by maritime laws you do not have to have the safety procedure drills, until you we have to -- within 24 hours of setting sail.
This ship had not yet gone through the safety procedures so a lot of people who weren't accustomed to cruise ships wouldn't have known exactly what to do.
But they did not -- from out of the witnesses and the passengers I talked to -- they did not make the call to the muster stations as they're called which is where you go, where you're designated to go. All that information would have been in the cabins, of course, of the -- the cruise and things. FEYERICK: Right.
NADEAU: But this ship hasn't been sailed very long. So a lot of people wouldn't have known what to do. People who knew what to do didn't know exactly in this particular ship where they were supposed to go. There was -- it sounds like a lot of confusion and -- and there were no -- go ahead.
FEYERICK: No, no I was going to say, I think earlier you told us that, in fact, the captain was off the ship even before many of the passengers, passengers who were dangling in lifeboats over the side of that ship. A lot of -- a lot of confusion, a lot of panicking. Crew apparently had no alternative but to jump in to the water as the ship began to sink.
How common are these accidents in that area in the Mediterranean?
NADEAU: They are very rare. I talked to the port authority here and there hasn't been an accident like this certainly in the last decade.
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: Yes.
NADEAU: In which a cruise ship has had -- has had to evacuate or abandon ship in a cruise ship area. These are calm waters. They're very heavily trafficked waters. There are no unknown entities; like I was saying the sandbar was not something that would have just cropped up that they wouldn't have known.
The seas are low this time of the year but they're not -- not you know, not an anomaly in terms of low seas.
FEYERICK: Sure.
NADEAU: Things like that. It was a clear night. The sea was very, very calm according to the fishermen who -- who were down at the port earlier. I was speaking to them about the weather conditions and the sea conditions. It was a perfect night for sailing according to one of the fishermen I talked to and there's really no reason other than some sort of obviously, traumatic failure on the part of the ship itself. Because no other natural cause that would have contributed to this, certainly.
But the divers are still out there right now. It's getting dark here in Porto Santo Stefano and in Giglio and the divers are still out there finishing up and there are still many, many, many boats around the perimeter of that sunken ship offering support to those divers who were searching this massive structure for -- for bodies at this point.
FEYERICK: All right. Barbie Nadeau, thank you so much for joining us and obviously one of the things authorities are going to be focusing on specifically is what caused this traumatic failure, whether an electrical problem triggered something, some reason for the boat, the ship to run aground, but also, why passengers were told to go to their cabin and not to prepare to evacuate and abandon that ship for what seems to be about 45 minutes.
We'll we're going to turn now to politics. Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, he's standing by the decision to pardon nearly 200 criminals. Among them were several convicted murderers who were immediately released from prison.
Barbour pardoned the men with no announcement at the time and no explanation. A judge quickly put a halt on more prison releases and the state legislature is now considering changing their Constitution to take those powers away from the governor. Now, former Governor Haley Barbour made his first public comments about the pardons just a few hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY BARBOUR, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MISSISSIPPI: The historic power of gubernatorial clemency by the governor to pardon felons is rooted in the Christian idea of giving second chances. I'm not saying I'll be perfect that nobody who received clemency will ever do nothing wrong. I'm not infallible and nobody else is.
But I am very comfortable and totally at peace with these pardons including those at the mansion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now, when he says at the mansion, what he's talking about are prison trustees, people who worked at the governor's official residence. Four convicted murderers who worked at the mansion were pardoned including Anthony McCray, convicted of killing his wife in 2001.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY MCCRARY, PARDONED BY HALEY BARBOUR: Everybody deserves a second chance in life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think people should be angry at Governor Barbour?
MCCRARY: No. No, sir. He treated us like we're his children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Judge Mike Smith presided over McCray's murder case. CNN's Martin Savidge asked him how he feels now that the man he sent to prison is free.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE SMITH, RETIRED MISSISSIPPI JUDGE: I was disappointed that -- that he was pardoned.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is there more to that or is that as much as we're going to say?
SMITH: I hope that the Attorney General will be successful in having the pardon overturned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: In all, Barbour says he granted clemency to 215 people; 189 of them had already finished their sentences and they were out of prison; 13 of the remaining 26 inmates have chronic medical conditions. And Barbour says they were let go so that the state ultimately wouldn't have to pay for their expensive medical care.
Coming up, he cheated on his wife while she was recovering from cancer. Now sources say John Edwards is so sick it's affecting his upcoming corruption trial. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: A federal judge's ruling just shrunk the list of names Virginia Republicans can pick for their presidential nominee. Here's a preview of the March ballot. Just Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, that's because the judge says the other candidates, these candidates right there, failed to meet state requirements to get their names on the ballot.
At stake, Virginia's 49 delegates. Focusing now on the near future, one week from today, the candidates will face off in the South Carolina primary. One hour from now, voters there will have a chance to see most of the candidates, side-by-side at a forum.
CNN political reporter Pete Hamby is live from Greenville, South Carolina. Peter, first of all, which candidate is not attending this forum and why?
PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. As you said, all the candidates will be there except for Ron Paul. The Texas Congressman, he's been pretty absent from the South Carolina campaign trail. He had a couple of down days in Texas. I talked to his campaign manager Jessie Benton this morning. They said they have a long standing prior engagement that they can't get out of.
So they won't be at the forum in Charleston which is being hosted by Mike Huckabee he ran for president last time as you know and was something of an antagonist to Mitt Romney, the GOP front-runner. But Romney will be there tonight and will be in -- excuse me in a little bit this afternoon in Charleston answering questions about the race for undecided voters, Deb.
FEYERICK: Now it's interesting. Because I read something that said that Ron Paul is a hero to many in South Carolina. The problem is he's not going to survive the more realistic conservative voters in South Carolina.
Let's twist over to Rick Santorum. This morning, he went on the attack against front-runner Mitt Romney but a Super PAC behind Romney is now going after Santorum. So tell me about that.
HAMBY: Yes. We've been talking about the negative TV ads here in South Carolina from the Super PACs and the campaigns. We haven't really talked about the mail. Mail might not be as effective as TV ads but they can have an impact. The Romney restorer future Super Pac, this is not affiliated with Romney but they've been attacking Rick Santorum over earmarks in the mail. This is really the first sharply negative mail piece we've seen in the South Carolina race.
The Super PAC is claiming that Santorum drove up deficits by voting for earmarks while in Congress but Santorum is hitting right back really drilled Mitt Romney this morning here at Tommy's Ham House in Greenville. Take a listen to what he had to say this morning -- Deb.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're looking for someone -- we're looking for someone who can be the anti-establishment candidate. The establishment is trying to ram down the people of South Carolina, everybody else's throat, Governor Romney as if he's the inevitable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMBY: That message right there that Romney is the moderate establishment soft on conservative issues candidate, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both hammering that message home. Those two guys are both vying for that conservative anti-Romney vote and they're training their fire on Romney trying to bring him down in the polls so possibly it becomes a three-way race -- excuse me -- and one of them can escape South Carolina with a narrow victory. But right now Romney is still the front-runner, Deb.
FEYERICK: Ok. Peter Hamby, thanks so much. We're going to be checking in with you a little later. Hopefully get a chance to speak with some of those voters and we'll see how they're feeling with the deluge of advertisements both good and bad there in South Carolina.
Thanks so much, Peter.
Well, two days before the South Carolina primary, see the GOP contenders in what may be their last chance to change primary voters' minds. CNN's "SOUTHERN REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE" airs Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
A program note. Join Fredericka Whitfield every Sunday afternoon at 4:00 Eastern for a special hour dedicated to the presidential contenders in the 2012 election.
And what about the man all the GOP contenders are trying to beat? President Obama already has more than $100 million in the coffers for his re-election but one thing he won't have that he did the first time around, believe it or not, the official endorsement of Oprah Winfrey. Why? We're going to explain that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, MEDIA MOGUL: I don't need to endorse him because I'm a 100 percent supporter of him and I've already endorsed him and I have already, you know, everybody always asks, are you going to do what you did in 2008. What I did in 2008 I did because people didn't know really -- my own friends didn't know who he was at the time.
They're like, "Who's this guy? Do you think that guy's going to be president?" I go, "Yes, I really do."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So your not publicly endorsing him is not a sign of disappointment?
WINFREY: Oh, absolutely not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Safe to say she remains his number one fan. Winfrey did add that she would do whatever the President asked her to do and to be, quote, "of service".
Well, a court source telling CNN John Edwards has a life threatening heart condition and surgery's scheduled sometime in February's forcing the delay of the ex-senator's corruption trial. Now, the trial will start no earlier than March 26th. Edwards is charged with multiple violations involving his 2008 presidential campaign and a mistress who's now the mother of his youngest child.
Next, plenty of European leaders not happy today at Standard & Poor's. The credit agency pushed down the credit ratings of nine countries. I've got reaction from Europe and market impact.
Plus, the amount of money this woman saves using coupons, it will astonish you and run out and encourage you to buy papers. Now she's using her talents to help others.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: Nine Euro Zone countries saw their credit downgraded by Standard & Poor's yesterday. It wasn't unexpected S&P warned 15 countries last month that rating cuts were probably coming. The French financial minister brushed aside the negative news insisting that France is still a safe bet for investors. Italy's downgrade to triple B status puts them close to the level of junk bonds.
World markets dipped a bit at close yesterday. We'll see the real effects on Monday when the markets open.
And it is extreme couponing for good. A Georgia woman is using her money-saving talents to help other people fill their cupboards.
Natalie Allen explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To many people, the costs of basic things like groceries can be overwhelming this time of year. One woman has taken the couponing craze and turned it in to an opportunity to help people in her local Georgia community. RHONDA SMITH, FOUNDER, SAVE IT FORWARD: I was doing it for my family. I was amazed what you could get for free or almost free and God just really laid it on my heart, why not use the same concept to help meet the needs of others?
ALLEN: So she created "Save It Forward", providing more than 60 families groceries every month using extreme couponing. That means collecting every coupon she can find and using them to cut her grocery costs.
School counselor Jessica Haye is familiar with seeing many students who don't have enough to eat.
JESSICA HAYE, SCHOOL COUNSELOR: I believe that the pantry program supports their families by making the parents feel secure knowing that each month they're going to receive groceries and food.
ALLEN: Like Keith Braswell whose wife had to stop working because of illness.
KEITH BRASWELL, PROGRAM PARTICIPANT: By them, you know, providing the food for me and my family creates time for me to really be with them and do the things I need to do for them as a caregiver.
ALLEN: Financial analyst Clyde Anderson sat down with Rhonda to find out just how "Save It Forward" works.
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: So tell us a little bit. These are the bags that the families actually receive.
SMITH: Yes.
ANDERSON: How do you determine what goes into the basket?
SMITH: The things that I love about extreme couponing is it allows us to love on people extravagantly. What people receive in our bags is not the normal food pantry-type of food. We provide items, name brand items like brownies and fruit snacks for kids.
ANDERSON: How much is actually saved with some of these receipts?
SMITH: On this particular receipt we've spent $3.69 and we actually saved $63.36.
ALLEN: Volunteers help purchase groceries and stock the food pantry.
JENNIFER BROWN, VOLUNTEER, SAVE IT FORWARD: "Save it Forward" makes it super easy to hand in an envelope and you go to the store, put it with you grocery list in your purse and you're done.
ALLEN: But no matter how much food fills the pantry, Rhonda is always looking for more coupons.
SMITH: In the economy we live in, we all are trying to stretch every dollar that we can. And this is -- we make it easy for people to give back to the community without a significant impact on their wallet. ALLEN: Natalie Allen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Ford says about a half million minivans and crossover SUVs contain flaws that may cause them to lose power or in some cases actually catch fire. They specifically mentioned the Ford Escape, the Ford Freestar and the Mercury Monterey. The company's recalling certain models of those vehicles to fix the problems.
And super thin laptops were the buzz of this year's the Consumer Electronics Show. A look at ultra-books and other high-tech highlights.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: The world's biggest gadget convention is now history and in case you could not make it to this awesome Consumer Electronics Show, HLN digital lifestyle expert, Mario Armstrong has this year's highlights.
MARIO ARMSTRONG, HLN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Hey Deb, I'm at the electronics show in Viva Las Vegas. It's amazing what's happening. 1.7 million square feet of space; it's like 30 football fields full of technology.
This is the premier conference where exhibiters, buyers, retailers all come together to really talk about what technology are you going to actually see in the stores.
A couple of key categories that I'm seeing this year -- ultra-books. These are very thin, lightweight laptops that power on quickly, have great battery life and are really lightweight, easy to carry.
I'm seeing a lot of stuff in digital health and fitness. Things where you can track your calories, your pedometer, your heart rate. All of these things. Check your glucose from your wireless phone. Exciting things that are happening in health.
Even car connectedness is happening here. Vehicles being able to talk to each other through sensors in the actual cars, preventing accidents, making congestion go away.
All kinds of cool stuff and connected home. Having your appliances in your house be more intelligent, more smart. We're seeing washers and dryers that can make me know when a load is done by signaling you on the device.
I grabbed just a select few of a couple things that happening here. Number one, the power bag. I love this backpack. This is really cool stuff. What they thought of was the fact that they're going to put in a charging device, a battery, that goes in the backpack that enables you to carry and power up all of your devices while on the go.
Power mat is here. You may have heard of power mat before where you can take your receiver case from a phone, place it on a power mat and get charged or you can power mat devices like this. Take it with you to give power to multiple devices at the same time.
Nokia is here and they have their Luna 900. This is getting a lot of attention with windows on the device. You can see they have the nice details. Tiles. Beautiful screen here. Beautiful super ambulant screen on this device. Looks gorgeous. Operates fast and I think a lot of people are going to like this when it hits the store shelves.
Last but not least, Sony came with a unique design of a portable tablet that has two screens. Pretty neat. You can utilize both of these screens for watching content, playing games, pulling up your e- mail. Pretty interesting design and unique device.
The type of stuff that you see here at the Consumer Electronics Show. As you can tell, Deb, my voice is fading because the show is that exhausting. I'll have more when I get back at headquarters. All right?
Until then, I'll see you from the CES 2012 Consumer Electronics Show.
FEYERICK: So many toys, so little time. Thanks, Mario.
Well, a tense situation in the Straits of Hormuz is getting worse. The reason: Iranian speedboats buzzing U.S. Navy and coast guard ships. Coming up, what's at stake.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: At least three people are confirmed dead, dozens are still unaccounted for after a cruise ship accident in Italy, 4,000 people, passengers and crew, were on board this Italian-operated cruise liner when it scraped the sea floor and listed on to its side. It happened after dark just at about dinner time.
A Canadian passenger described for us what it was like when the ship ran aground and why they immediately knew it was serious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURIE TIBBITS, SURVIVED CRUISE SHIP ROLLOVER: Sitting watching the magic show and it'd just barely started, and all of a sudden the lights flashed and the -- we heard a -- the boat tipped like it was turning but it didn't return to level. And then, it -- we heard a scraping noise to the -- on the left side of the boat, the ship.
And then my husband said, we're sliding off our seats. We were sitting on the opposite side. So we were on the high side at that point. We're sliding off our seats. Something's wrong. And the magician disappeared. That was the funny part.
But we knew we had to get out of there. We knew it was something serious. And by the time we got -- we ran to our cabin to get the life jackets and didn't grab -- we grabbed our coats. That was it. None of our valuables. None of the important papers.
On the other side of the ship, which was the high side at this point, the lifeboats got stuck and there were people hanging in the -- well, in the lifeboats safely, but they were hanging in midair for a long time and children crying and screaming and people actually jumping.
We heard that passengers jumped -- not passengers but crew members jumped at the end in to the water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Well, the ship carried about 3,200 passengers and a thousand employees. Witnesses say not all of the lifeboats were usable because the ship was listing so hard on its side. The ship was on a tour of islands and European ports. Most of the passengers were Italian.
Things are getting increasingly tense in the Strait of Hormuz. Take a look at this Defense Department video from last week. It shows Iranian speedboats harassing U.S. ships, coming dangerously close. Worse, the crews seemed to be holding AK-47s.
This comes after Iran has threatened to close the strait, a vital oil shipping lane.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
: The thinking is that the Iranians really were not looking for a shooting match. They were going to break off but they were going to cause a little heart-stopping action before they did that.
One of the things here is, look, the Iranians gained some intelligence by getting so close to U.S. Navy ships. They were able to gauge the U.S. military response as they came at those ships. That gives them valuable information if the next time it's not just a cat and mouse game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Well, pardons this week in Mississippi have legislators there and in other states considering major changes to state law. Among the people pardoned by now former Governor Haley Barbour were 26 current inmates, including several convicted killers.
A judge halted the release but five inmates had already gotten out. The state has found most of them. Barbour said he has no regrets and that his grandkids helped him decide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY BARBOUR (R), FORMER MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR: I have absolute confidence, so much confidence that I've let my grandchildren play with these five men. I've let them ride their tricycles out on the driveway with them watching out for them.
I have no question in my mind that these five guys are not a threat to society, but, you know, people like you can say, what if, what if, what if, until the moon goes down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Mississippi's new governor says that he would support a new law limiting his own power over pardons. Thirty-two states give the governor full authority. In eight states the governor and an advisory board share it. And then in 10 states the governor has no hand in pardons.
Oklahoma State Senator Harry Coates wants to limit the governor's influence in the pardon process in his state. He talked to us about the resolution and Barbour's pardons just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY COATES (R), OKLAHOMA STATE SENATOR: That's what the senate joint resolution 46 would do, would send it to the vote of the people as to whether or not they want the governor micromanaging the pardon and parole board.
FEYERICK: And, sir, what's interesting is that part of the governor's thinking was that these are men who have served their time, so if you give them a pardon, if you basically give them clemency, they have done their time but at least now they can go and apply for jobs and not have to put down, yes, I was a felon or, yes, I served time. Is there logic to that thinking?
COATES: Well, I think there is a logic to it, but that is the responsibility, I feel, of the pardon and parole board. The governor in Oklahoma has -- still has tremendous ability to manage the pardon and parole board in that the governor appoints three members, the supreme court chief justice appoints one and the court of criminal appeals appoints one.
And so it's not that the governor would be completely out of the process but it seems somewhat arrogant that when a parole and pardon board recommends a pardon or a release of an inmate that the governor would second guess the people that they had appointed. And it creates a huge bottleneck in the governor's office.
FEYERICK: You know, it's interesting because a number of these people actually worked in the governor's mansion, which means he got to know them personally. I'm sure that's a very plum assignment if you're going to be working close to the governor because then at least if nothing else he can weigh in, say this is a good guy without necessarily knowing either the minute details of the case or the facts of the law.
Is there an inherent conflict in having folks work in the governor's mansion?
COATES: Well, I view it as a conflict in that the governor most likely doesn't know the background of these individuals. The pardon and parole board does. They have all the time in the world to do research and recommend parole for worthy individuals. And to have the governor step in and do a mass release, as Governor Barbour did, just creates chaos and really doesn't allow the pardon and parole board to do their job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Well, a Georgia lawmaker says he and his colleagues should lead by example. If people looking for state aid have to take drug tests, so should lawmakers. He's going to explain why coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: A bill just introduced in Georgia would require drug tests for state lawmakers to prove they're not legislating under the influence. Georgia State Representative Scott Holcum is the bill's sponsor, the bill is a response to a Republican drug-testing initiative that he says singles out the working poor.
Holcum told me he believes lawmakers should lead by example.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT HOLCUM (D), GEORGIA STATE LEGISLATOR: The reason why I wanted to push back was because I'm certainly not a defender of anybody who misuses taxpayer money, whether that's the working poor, whether that's a corporation, or whether that's a government worker who wastes time on the job.
But it struck me as being really unfair that our state would single out a single group of citizens who receive taxpayer benefits, the working poor, but nobody else for drug testing.
And so, I think that leaders should lead by example and so since state legislators receive benefits, I said, we should also abide by the same standard if that's what we're going to do for the working poor.
FEYERICK: Do you see the measures -- a number have proven unconstitutional. You can't mandate drug-testing but do you see this as essentially anti-poor, anti -- what?
HOLCUM: I do. I do see it as that. And really I think what it is in a bigger sense is that the GOP is out of ideas and so they're recycling ideas from 20 years ago, which the welfare debate was undertaken about 20 years ago and there was massive reforms.
And so they're using stale ideas because they can't come up with anything new to really recharge our economy. And here in Georgia what's even worse is not only does the GOP not have any good ideas, they steal bad ideas from other states.
FEYERICK: You feel very passionate about this and I think one of the reasons is because, obviously, the people who are getting money, you've said you don't want the money to be spent on drugs.
However, there are children that are being penalized for this. And you can't necessarily -- you know, you may have a mom who's got an addiction problem but you still have a kid who needs help.
HOLCUM: Right. And that is what this program is designed to do, it is to help the neediest of our needy families. And to your point earlier about food is that's really what this is about.
And those that oppose it, it's almost as if many of them saying that food is a luxury item, which clearly it is not. And the agency that runs this program in Georgia, the example that they on their Web site is that this would be for a working mother with two kids who makes about $784 a month.
FEYERICK: Right.
HOLCUM: That would be $26 a day. That's not $26 a day in spending money. That's $26 a day for housing, for electricity, for water, and for food for two children. So these are the very poor people.
And here in Georgia, we've been underperforming for the last decade where our unemployment rate averages about a point higher than the nation.
FEYERICK: So you're hurting them even more.
HOLCUM: You're going to be hurting them even more.
FEYERICK: All right.
FEYERICK: And where are the job opportunities?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: And that was Scott Holcum there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
FEYERICK: Well, a mom doles out a harsh lesson for her son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DYNESHA LAX, MOTHER: I decided he broke the law and they only gave him a few hours of community service. So I decided that we were going to wear a sign since you're looking for attention, we're going to get you attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Boy, that 14-year-old looks really unhappy. But she is making him wear a sign that says "I lie, I steal, I sell drugs." But is this tough love just too tough?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: Well, an Indiana mother is just fed up with her son and the court system. She says authorities have not pushed him enough to change his behavior. So she's making him wear a sign in public that says "I lie, I steal, I sell drugs, and I don't follow the law." Elizabeth Fields of CNN affiliate WANE says not everyone approves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAX: Actually, the sign that's hanging around my son's neck is because my son constantly chooses to keep breaking the law.
ELIZABETH FIELDS, WANE REPORTER (voice-over): Dynesha Lax says the list of her 14-year-old son's crimes is growing. She says the punishments aren't enough to get him to stop so now she's showing him some tough love.
LAX: I decided he broke the law and they only gave him a few hours of community service. So I decided that we were going to wear a sign since you're looking for attention, we're going to get you attention.
What else more can I do? They put him on probation and when they did probation, they're quick to talk about the $300 you've got to pay in fees, but nobody's trying to help me fix my son.
FIELDS: The teen son clearly states he doesn't follow the law, but apparently some drivers passing by didn't think his mom was either and called police. Officers say Lax is completely within her rights to make her son stand on the side of the street. It is unconventional but not illegal.
LAX: I'm hoping that having him out here is going to make it sink in. It wasn't for it to be a joke or anything funny. He just had to stand out here two hours and suddenly it blew up. Then again, they have got their way of hearing it, and I've got mine. My object is to save my son.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Well, NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour with Fredricka Whitfield.
And Fredricka, what do you have coming up for us?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, lots. We've got, of course, our legal guys who are always with us every noon Eastern time. And today Avery and Richard are going to tackle something very interesting. So what would you do in the case of you get stopped for a speeding violation, you get a citation, but then the police officer decides to reach out to you and leaves you a note on your car and says, I want a date.
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: There is a problem there.
WHITFIELD: That is the case now that our legal guys are going to delve into. She is actually suing. She says her right of privacy was violated. So we're going to talk about that one.
And then we are already seeing that the presidential race, the race for the White House, is taking a whole new kind of shape in large part because of super PACs. We're talking about supporters who can make very sizeable donations to the candidates of their choice, unlimited donations without the direct participation of the candidates.
Well, it's really changing the face of this race and it also is giving some candidates quite the upper hand. We're going to talk about what super PACs are, how it works, and where's it going from here.
Then also in the 3:00 Eastern hour, Consumer Electronics Show is under way and our gadgets guru, Marc Saltzman, is going to be along. He has five of his favorite picks from the show. He's going to be sharing them with us.
And then 4:00 Eastern time, you've heard a lot of people who are in the workforce who say, you know what, I'm thinking about should I go back to school, vocational school, community college, or maybe even university? Will it help me get the upper hand at the place in which I work or help me get a better job?
Lifestyle guru Valerie Burton will be along to let us know how do you even consider that and can you afford it, not just financially but time-wise too?
FEYERICK: Which is always the big thing.
WHITFIELD: It really is.
FEYERICK: All right. Interesting lineup there. We'll definitely look forward to tuning in to all of that.
WHITFIELD: Yes. And we're looking for people to send their tweets, your comments to Facebook as it pertains to whether you think it's a good idea or not to think about going back to school. You've been in the workforce for some time now. Should you go back to kind of recharge those batteries or try to revitalize your career? Is it necessary? Tweet me @FWhitfield. I know it's rare to hear but I said it, and T.J. is not even here to witness it, so this time it's you, Deborah.
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: On the record, On the record. That's right. I prefer a sabbatical. I'd take like a year off maybe.
WHITFIELD: That's a nice option too.
FEYERICK: Exactly. Thanks so much, Fred, appreciate it.
All right. Well, call it "Iron Chef: Inmate Edition." These guys put their impressive skills to the test from their prison kitchen, the mouth-watering competition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: Taking a look at stories making news across the country, we'll start in Illinois. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): Speeders better learn to slow down in Johnson City, Illinois. This week police started handing out more tickets along the interstate that cuts through town. The reason? To close a budget hole.
CHIEF DUSTY KING, JOHNSON CITY POLICE: We're not looking to just go out and harass people, we're just looking to slow people down and help us out in the process.
FEYERICK: It costs $35,000 a month to run the police department, and the city plans to get about half of that operating cost from speeders.
Now take a look at this from Rio Vista, California. A gas pipeline ruptured Friday night, causing these flames. That fire is shooting up as high as 100 feet. Fire crews were able to put it out quickly. No one was injured.
In Plainville, Connecticut, something to make you smile, Marine Corporal Greg Caron waited patiently to surprise his fellow soldiers who were coming home to their families.
CPL. GREG CARON, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I'm very anxious to see the guys, especially the guys that I was with during the patrol. It will be my first time seeing them since the accident.
FEYERICK: Just two months ago, Caron lost both legs from an IED blast in Afghanistan. He was told it would take months and months for him to be able to stand up, but look at this. He's standing on two new prosthetic legs, greeting his comrades one by one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just amazing how fast he's recovered. I didn't anticipate this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: And now for our "Morning Passport." OK, so you've seen the show probably "Iron Chef," the Food Network TV series that you see here where chefs are pitted against each other in a cooking showdown. Well, inmates in the largest prison in the Philippines, convicted murderers and all, well, they eat up and the show has inspired a cook- off that's been dubbed "Iron Bar Chef."
Nadia Bilchik joined me to explain the criminal and culinary competition.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So what they have done in the prison and they did it last week in fact, the first ever "Iron Bar Chef," they had six teams of three inmates each. And they gave them exactly 60 minutes. In the 60 minutes they had to come up with a gourmet dish.
And some of them came up with marinara, roast beef, and some of them came up with squash croquettes and all kind of interesting things. What they proved is that it was a great team-building effort and boosted morale.
FEYERICK: What about the people who were watching? Because we see in some of that video that there are men who are actually watching, and again, they're under a lot of pressure. They actually had real judges. But how was this received?
BILCHIK: It was received so well. People got into the spirit of it. They also enjoyed the delicious food. And one of the judges, who's an executive chef at an all seasons resort in Australia, says he was so surprised by the caliber of the food because a lot of the inmates in fact had had jobs in kitchens before going to prison. So that was one of the things that he mentioned.
But this is a broader program, as I mentioned. This particular prison has 17,000 inmates, 12,000 under maximum security. And they have really embarked on efforts like gardening and cooking and all kinds of hand crafts and playing tennis in order to really rehabilitate these inmates.
This is one of the things that has just proved so helpful and so helpful and so cathartic and so therapeutic for these inmates.
FEYERICK: And that's remarkable, because one of the things, especially with inmates, is once they have a direction, once they get the things they need to go out and succeed, then their chances of going back into prison obviously are less.
BILCHIK: Exactly, are less. And this is a skill. This is a life skill. So who knows, Deb, maybe we're looking at the next reality series, "Iron Bar Chef," inmates doing a reality show and cooking.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Well, CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Fredricka Whitfield.
Hey, Fredricka, you know, this Italian -- we were just talking about this cruise ship, and just to see it on its side. And it is so large, so immense, like a village, that it's just -- it had to be so scary for the people who were on that knowing that it was going down. And they described it as the Titanic.
WHITFIELD: Absolutely. Yes, it had to be pretty frightening. You can see the scrapings at the bottom of that hull. So clearly they ran into something a little more rigid than a sandbar.
FEYERICK: It was definitely not a sandbar, it had to be much bigger. And apparently the captain got off first -- or not first but before all the passengers had gotten off. So there are going to be some very serious questions...
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: In fact, we're going to some more details on exactly how people were able to get off and how frightening those moments were. Deborah, thanks so much. I'll see you a bit later.
