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CNN Saturday Morning News

Snow Storms in Midwest and New England; Pistorius Released on Bail; Federal Government Sues Lance Armstrong; Microsoft Hacked; Budget Cuts to Impact Head Start Programs; Dark History of L.A.'s Cecil Hotel; White House & GOP Swap Jabs; Obama Pressures Congress; Social Media for the Dearly Departed; Child at Center of Hearing Aid Fight

Aired February 23, 2013 - 08:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to have you with us. Randi Kaye is off this morning. It's 8:00 on the East Coast. 5:00 out west. Thanks for starting your day right here.

New England cannot catch a break. For the third straight weekend a winter storm is ready to drop snow on that region, as much as a foot and a half in some places.

The Midwest knows this storm packs a punch. It's already rolled through that area, causing trouble like what you see here. Look at this. You can look right into their house. Heavy snow -- this is in Missouri -- collapsed a roof at a dance school in Gladstone. Fortunately, no one was hurt here.

And Chicago knows how to handle bad weather but the storm was enough to tie up traffic yesterday. It dropped fewer than three inches on the city, nothing Chicago can't handle, but it was still the largest amount of snow this season and enough to cause several accidents on several streets there and of course, on the highways.

Now, Chicago is not alone. Look at this, a multi-vehicle crash shut down part of interstate 80 in Iowa. A semi truck lost control, smashed into a cable barrier on the roadside. Then a charter bus smashed into the semi, slicing it in half. The bus was carrying the Simpson College softball team. Good news, no one was hurt. One player tweeted that an angel must be watching over them.

People in this building thought it was an earthquake when sheets of snow started sliding off the roof. That's right into the street, right on the road there. The iReporter who took this video in Wichita, Kansas, described it as the sound of a thunderous roar. Wichita saw its second highest two-day snowfall total on record.

Is this what New England can look forward to this weekend? Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is tracking the storm for us. That could have been dangerous if someone had been walking on that street.

(WEATHER REPORT)

BLACKWELL: Let's go to South Africa now. Oscar Pistorius can go home again, at least while the conditions of his bail are still in effect. Pistorius was in the back seat of a car driven away from court by his uncle. South African magistrate granted bail for the Olympian accused of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Local media reports say Pistorius spent the night at his uncle's house.

Besides not being allowed to return to his home, Pistorius cannot go near an airport, he had to surrender his passport and his guns, he cannot drink alcohol and he must report to police twice a week.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Johannesburg.

Nic, this story has captured the attention of South Africans -- really, people all over the world. But in South Africa, what do they believe about the decision to release him on bail?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Everyone's been following it here, whether it's on Twitter, whether it's the headlines in the newspapers, whether it's the lead story on the television. Everyone has been watching it. Everyone has been talking about it.

Now that there's a decision, it seems people are divided over this decision to let him have bail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's fair. I think the man is -- we don't know if he's guilty or not and to try him now it's not really fair and I think they set the right conditions for the bail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shocked me to think that despite all the evidence that were mounted up against him, he still managed to get bail. I guess it's a reflection of --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: He has already had a visit at his uncle's house. Oscar Pistorius has already had a visit at his uncle's house from parole officers on Saturday morning. He is staying in a well-heeled suburb of Pretoria, large house, large walls, big gates.

What the legal experts are saying is don't read too much into the bail hearing. It's not a proper trial. There are detailed legal arguments that haven't come out yet.

BLACKWELL: And those will come out as the trial starts. Nic Robertson in Johannesburg for us this morning. Thank you.

Let's now talk about Lance Armstrong, and the federal government is now taking up the case. The Department of Justice says they will join a lawsuit accusing Armstrong of filing false claims for tens of millions of dollars in federal money. The money was for the Postal Service team Armstrong rode for when he was competing for his Tour de France titles. Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs when he won those titles; the government says that broke the contract.

Microsoft is trying to figure out who carried out a brazen hacking attack. The tech giant says some of its computers, including some in its business unit were infected with malicious software known as malware, but insist no customer data was taken. Microsoft is just the latest big-name company to get hacked. Cyber attackers also targeted Apple and Facebook earlier this month.

Let's go to Washington. President Obama is pressuring Congress to get to work. He wants a deal on those forced spending cuts that go in effect March 1st. If no deal gets done, that means a cut of $85 billion this year.

All morning, we've been telling you what those cuts would mean to you. Our Athena Jones has more on the effect on early education.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elette Ward, dropping her grandson (INAUDIBLE) off at an early Head Start center in Virginia. She says the preschool program for low-income families is vital to his success.

ELETTE WARD, GRANDMOTHER: When they do get into kindergarten, they know their A, B, Cs. They know how to count. My seven-year-old, she started off in early Head Start at three, very smart, honor roll student and it came from early Head Start.

JONES: Ward supports three children by cleaning hotel rooms, so she relies on Head Start for child care. Her three-year-old niece is on the wait list for Head Start, but she could become one of up to 70,000 kids the administration says will be shut out of the program if forced spending cuts go into effect this coming Friday. Those cuts would come even as President Obama pushes for preschool for all kids, including expanding Head Start.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You are looking for a good bang for your educational buck, this is it right here.

JONES: But not everyone thinks Head Start is such a good idea. Critics point to a government study that raises doubts about its long-term benefits.

GROVER WHITEHURST, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: The findings were, all the effects were gone by the time kids were in kindergarten and certainly not there by the end of third grades.

JONES: That debate aside, Ward says the program works for her family.

WARD: Don't take the daycare program from the kids. They're innocent little kids. They don't know nothing about budget cuts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Department of Health and Human Services says if these cuts go through, some head start classrooms will have to close early this school year and start late in the fall -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Athena Jones in Washington, thank you.

We've got much more ahead this hour. Here is a look at what's coming up.

It's the hotel at the center of the mysterious death of a Canadian tourist, but it's not the first time guests have checked in and never left.

A little boy with a rare condition desperate for a hearing aid. But his insurance company says it's not mandatory. The truth about a widespread health crisis in an exclusive CNN SATURDAY MORNING report.

Tiger's new teammate, average Joe's oops and the maverick meets his match.

Your look back at the week that was.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: An 18-year-old man in Colorado will face trial in the brutal killing of a 10-year-old girl. Police say Austin Sigg confessed to killing Jessica Ridgeway last October. Ridgeway had disappeared on her way home to school. Sigg will also face trial in the attack on a jogger last May. That woman survived. Sigg remains behind bars and will be arraigned next month.

A nationwide manhunt is underway for the occupants of a black Range Rover involved in this fiery crash on the Las Vegas Strip. Someone in the Range Rover started shooting at a Maserati on Thursday. Well, the Maserati slammed into a taxi, which then burst into flames. The taxi driver and his passenger and the Maserati's driver, an aspiring rapper and young father, were all killed.

Police are searching for answers in the death of a Canadian tourist in L.A. The body of the 21-year-old Alisa Lam was found in the water tank of Skid Row hotel after she was reported missing. That was in January when she was reported. Police say she may have been in there for a few weeks. One autopsy has been completed, but the coroner says the results were inconclusive. There are more tests to come.

But Lam's death is just another sordid tale in the history of this hotel. Nick Valencia has been digging into the history of the hotel.

What's else has happened at the Cecil?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a very dark and sketchy past to say the least here at the Cecil Hotel. In 1985, if you remember the serial killer the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, terrorized all of Los Angeles, killing at least 13 people throughout the city. He used it as his hideout in 1985.

Fast forward a few years, in the early '90s, there was another serial killer named Jack Unterweger. Now he targeted prostitutes and it's reported, Victor, that he brought back his victims to the Cecil Hotel where he then carried out the killings.

Now even before then, even before the '80s and '90s, this was an infamous spot for lover's leaps. In the '50s and '60s, it was a place where people at the end of their rope, so to speak, would end their life.

So this is a very dark and sort of sketchy past for the Cecil Hotel.

BLACKWELL: And one of the most notorious crimes in LA, the history there. Tell us more about that.

VALENCIA: The Black Dahlia. It's a favorite of our executive producer, Nora. It's a murder mystery, sort of a whodunit. And this case, 1947, the Black Dahlia was reported to have drank there at the hotel bar before she was gruesomely killed.

This is just a long, sort of a extensive history in Los Angeles. It's pretty well known to some of the Los Angeles residents. And as much as officials have tried to sort of gentrify the area and clean it up, it still has this very dark and ominous history to it.

BLACKWELL: They don't put that on the website.

VALENCIA: Not so much.

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

All right, 4.5 million Twitter followers, close to 3 million Facebook fans. Stephen Colbert is someone you would be campaigning for you, right. And yes, the Comedy Central funny man is hitting the campaign trail today. We'll tell you who he's helping out and why it's close to home.

But first, how about a home built in 24 hours or maybe even rapid construction of a moon colony? It all sounds pretty farfetched, we know. But new technology could make it possible. In this week's "Start Small, Think Big," Gary Tuchman tells us how one company's big plans will start by helping everyday people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEWT GINGRICH: We will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Newt Gingrich has his way, we'll have a moon colony by 2020. We'll need buildings up there. Contour Crafting is creating machines to do just that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The advantages that these technologies offer is that they are great for autonomous operation.

TUCHMAN: But before space, Dr. (INAUDIBLE) is working on building homes on earth. The technology can create simple designers or elaborate structures that would be difficult for a builder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For machines, the learning curve does not apply. Machines just follow the programs that they receive.

TUCHMAN: Contour Craft could create a family home in 24 hours and doesn't need breaks. But while Dr. (INAUDIBLE) is shooting for the moon, his hopes are more simple. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think and hope that the first beneficiaries of the technology will be the most deserving folks, the nearly one billion people who live in the slums now or are homeless. Some people ask me who wants a house in a day and my response to them is there are a lot of people who lose their houses in a minute or less. Definitely, those people want their house in a day.

TUCHMAN: They're currently raising funds to build an entire house. But with NASA and private companies already showing interest, they're building on a good foundation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Welcome back, 21 minutes after the hour now.

We're just less than a week away from forced spending cuts, possibly feeling them. The $85 billion cuts will affect programs almost across the board -- transportation, defense, education. So, what would you be willing to give up?

A new Pew Research poll asked that question and 48 percent said they would decrease funding for helping needy people around the world. Then came the State Department budget and unemployment assistance. So what is untouchable? The fewest numbers said they wanted cuts to veterans benefits. That was followed by Social Security and education funding.

Well, in just a few weeks, one of the biggest political conferences of the year kicks off and C-PAC could give us a preview of the 2013 GOP campaign for mid terms and 2016 for president. At least seven potential White House hopefuls will be speaking at the conference, including Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Congressman Paul Ryan. Also scheduled to speak, former Senator Rick Santorum, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. C-PAC starts the third week in March.

Well later today, Stephen Colbert, the funny guy, he will be hosting a political fundraiser to help out his older sister. The Comedy Central TV host will be at a bowling alley in Charleston, South Carolina. That's where his family is from.

His sister is Elizabeth Colbert-Bush, Colbert-Bush. She pronounces it the way it's actually pronounced. She's running in a special election to replace Republican Tim Scott who moved to the Senate. Bush is a Democrat; the district leans Republican.

All right, so the royal baby bump makes a debut. The maverick ain't going to take it and double-barreled Biden is doing it again. Here's a look at the week that was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you feel about President Obama playing golf with Tiger Woods?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, he calls up, and say, hey, Tiger, you want to play?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President Joe Biden is out with another one of those sound bites.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: If you want to protect yourself, get a double barrel shotgun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator John McCain facing an angry crowd.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R ), ARIZONA: We've had enough time, pal. You've had enough time.

BLACKWELL: Tiger teams off with the commander and teammate. Average Joe shoots from the hip and the maverick meets his match. All stories making headlines in the "Week That Was."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, some invitations you cannot pass up.

BLACKWELL: Like, wanting to golf with the president.

JIMMY KIMMEL: You know you have a good marriage when you say, sure, honey, go have a guy's weekend with Tiger Woods.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: So, he did. The president flying solo without the fam in Florida and teaming up with Tiger on the links.

JAY LENO: Tiger Woods gave the president some very valuable tips. The most valuable one, erase all your text messages. That's the first thing you do --

(LAUGHTER)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Vice President Joe Biden is spearheading a push for President Obama's gun control proposal. And here's the advise he gave to a woman who was worried about defending her home.

BIDEN: If you want to protect yourself, get a double barrel shotgun --

BLACKWELL: Oh, Joe.

BIDEN: Walk out on the balcony.

BLACKWELL: Here we go.

BIDEN: Fire two blasts.

BLACKWELL: His point, though, is this --.

BIDEN: You don't need an AR-15. It's harder to aim, it's harder to use and in fact you don't need 30 rounds to protect yourself.

BLACKWELL: Of course, you could just write it off as -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gosh, Joe Biden being Joe Biden.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't push me, please.

BLACKWELL: Alec Baldwin's legendary temper may have reared its ugly head again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The New York Post" says he threatened their reporter and yelled a racial slur at their photographer.

BLACKWELL: And because Baldwin is now accused of yelling a racial slur, the case turned into more than just that nasty temper.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alec Baldwin, hate crime investigation.

BLACKWELL: Baldwin denies making the alleged remarks and both men had filed complaints against one another.

MCCAIN: I'm in charge. You're not, and I can tell you that it's not going to be the case.

BLACKWELL: Arizona Senator John McCain got more than an earful during a town hall meeting this week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Build the dang fence. Where's the fence?

BLACKWELL: Hot topic, immigration.

MCCAIN: You've had enough time.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAIN: We've had enough time, pal. You've had enough time.

BLACKWELL: The no nonsense maverick.

MCCAIN: You can say that pigs fly, but it's not true.

BLACKWELL: Never one to stand down to a fight.

MCCAIN: But occasionally I get a jerk like you here. So, thank you.

BLACKWELL: And Duchess Kate's royal ruckus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world's most famous mom to be revealing that bump. It's a ..

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Teeny-tiny --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- baby bump.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: But the whole world saw it. As the British newspaper, "The Daily Mail" breathlessly put it today, Kate put her baby bump on parade.

OK.

And that's a look at "The Week That Was."

Six underground tanks at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site are leaking radioactive waste. Now Washington State's governor says whether or not you could be at risk. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Victor Blackwell. Thanks for starting your morning with us.

Let's start with five stories we are watching this morning.

Number one, the storm that blanketed the Midwest is heading to New England next. Some areas could see a foot of snow or more. And you know what that means -- canceled flights, slick roads. Hey, if you're going to travel today in or around New England, one, reconsider. Two, check the airlines Web sites for any possible delays. A lot of cities in the northeast will escape the worst of the snow but it could still cause some headaches. We'll have a check of the weather in about 30 minutes.

Story number two comes from British Columbia. Two skiers were able to escape an avalanche. Now police say they were pulled out by other skiers. And one other person was killed in a snow slide. Search teams are going out today to try to recover that body.

Number three, last week it was revealed that a nuclear tank was wasting or leaking nuclear waste. And now the governor says six tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Site are leaking toxic sludge. He says there is no immediate health risk but he says that this is disturbing. The Hanford facility is considered to be the nation's most contaminated nuclear site.

Number four, the Pentagon has grounded the entire fleet of F-35 fighter jets. A crack was found in the engine of one of the planes during a routine inspection. Now at $400 billion, the F-35 program is the most expensive weapons system in military history.

Five, now with no deal in sight, we are six days away from forced spending cuts that will slash $85 billion in federal spending and the White House is putting pressure on Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here is the thing. These cuts don't have to happen. Congress can turn them off any time with just a little compromise. They can pass a balanced plan for deficit reduction. They can cut spending in a smart way and close wasteful tax loopholes for the well-off and well-connected. Unfortunately, it appears that Republicans in Congress have decided that instead of compromise, instead of asking anything of the wealthiest Americans, they'd rather let these cuts fall squarely on the middle class.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right that's the argument from the President. Here is how the GOP is firing back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN HOEVEN (R), NORTH DAKOTA: The fact is Republicans in Congress right now will provide the flexibility to make the necessary spending reductions and address our deficit and debt instead of going through the sequester. In fact, House Republicans have already passed two bills to replace the President's sequester.

So the question is why won't he work with us? And the answer, quite simply, is because he wants higher taxes. But the right way to address our deficit and debt and get past the sequester is not higher taxes or just better spending control. It's by creating jobs, growing the economy and expanding the tax base.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well here is the bottom line. If there is no deal, then we'll see $85 billion in cuts and when the number is that large it's really tough to put it into perspective. But as CNN national political correspondent Jim Acosta explains, that is exactly what the White House is at least trying to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sitting down with the Japanese Prime Minister, President Obama was all but saying so long to Congress when it comes to those forced spending cuts that are now just one week away.

OBAMA: I will just keep on making my case not only to Congress but more importantly to the American people.

ACOSTA: To make his case the President is spending more time going over the heads of GOP leaders, appearing on talk radio.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OBAMA: So what I need listeners to do more than anything is to just put a little bit of pressure on Congress as usual, to get their act together and do the right thing.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The White House also sent out transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to warn how the cuts will impact air travel, 47,000 federal aviation employees would face furloughs; that means few air traffic controllers in the towers and more delays. In smaller communities air traffic control towers could be closed all together.

RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Flights to major cities, like New York, Chicago and San Francisco and others could experience delays of up to 90 minutes during peak hours.

ACOSTA: LaHood urged Republicans in Congress to see the movie "Lincoln" to learn how to work together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, now --

ACOSTA (on camera): Speaking of movie references, this is what you call an acting performance, because you are -- you are scaring -- you're going to be scaring the public today. This is going to be scaring the public about their travel plans.

LAHOOD: Well, we'll see what the reaction of the public is. What I'm trying to do is to wake up members of the Congress on the Republican side to the idea that they need to come to the table, offer a proposal so that we don't have to have this kind of calamity in air service in America.

ACOSTA: But on Twitter White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and his counterpart in the Speaker's office traded tweet over who is to blame, but Carney noting a recent poll showing Americans support the President's approach to deficit reduction, it's a sign administration officials are confident public opinion is on their side.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The fact of the matter is that we can't get anything done without a bill passing the House of Representatives.

ACOSTA: But some Republicans say hold on. Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma sent a letter to the White House asking why some administration officials are spending money traveling the country, advising communities on how to secure federal dollars, saying "It is important that we, as public officials, lead by example."

But that won't stop Washington's latest game of budget chicken, one the President seems comfortable playing.

OBAMA: Unlike issues like the debt ceiling the sequester going into effect will not threaten, you know, the world financial system.

ACOSTA (on camera): Administration officials said once again they are open to a short term deal to head off these budget cuts. But in the meantime, the President plans to travel to Virginia to visit a naval ship builder that will take a direct hit if these cuts go through.

Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Ok listen to this apparently social media is about more than what you're saying or doing or thinking right now. You can also send the same types of messages after you've passed. Yes after you're dead. Companies are popping up now that will manage your accounts after you go on.

So you can say hello or wish some -- someone a happy birthday or say something mean and disrespectful from the grave. A little creepy, at least and who wants to hear from you after -- oh, well.

A woman's body is found in a hotel water tower. And police have no idea how she got there or even how she died. Is this a murder mystery or just a tragic accident? A former FBI agent joins us to discuss this puzzling case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: A tourist disappears in the city of angels, her body later found at the bottom of a water tank. We're talking about the case of Elisa Lam. She was 21 years old from Vancouver. She disappeared in January while staying at the Hotel Cecil in downtown LA. 19 days later, 19 days, her body was found at the bottom of one of the hotel rooftop water tanks.

CNN legal contributor Paul Callan joins me from New York and in studio with me, former FBI special agent, Harold Copus. Good to have both of you this morning.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Nice to be with you Victor.

BLACKWELL: Let's start with you, Harold. The LAPD has said that they have not ruled out foul play. How can this be anything but foul play?

HAROLD COPUS, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: There's no way. You know it's got to be. I mean someone had to take the body up there, put it in the tank, thinking they were going to hide it and never be found.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So when they say that maybe, it's almost -- it almost has to be, right?

COPUS: Oh it has to be. There's no way you could go through the hatch, an individual -- this is not a huge person -- go through the hatch, get on the roof, climb the ladder to get to the platform where the tanks are, put a ladder on the tank, climb up, open the top, get in, close it and die. No way.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So Paul let's talk about the hotel and liability. The hotel says that the door to the rooftop was locked, but there was no lock on the water tank where Lam's body was found. How much of a liability is this for the hotel, not having that tank locked?

CALLAN: Well, believe it or not, as horrible and disgusting as this case is, I mean, the body might have been in the water tank for 19 days and people were bathing in the water, drinking in the water, brushing their teeth in the water. The case against the hotel is not a real strong case. The law basically says that this is called, "Negligent infliction of emotional distress." It's an accidental causing of emotional distress and, first of all, most places probably don't lock their tanks and they don't inspect them on a regular basis.

So it's hard to prove it's accidental. But also the tourists will have to prove that they were not just distressed to hear about this but they suffered almost physical injury. And it's kind of hard to prove that. You know you've got bad feelings about drinking water afterwards but are you physically injured by it? The law makes it very hard to bring lawsuits in cases like this.

BLACKWELL: Yes the tests thus far in the water there and the -- the water system says that there was no really harmful bacteria but yes, you're drinking water from a tank that had a body in there for up to 19 days.

Let me ask you, Harold, about this new video that we're seeing of Elisa Lam inside this elevator. I know we have it, she's on the elevator, kind of standing on one side, pushing buttons for four floors, she's just poking her head out. the last shot we -- we've seen of her the day before, I guess, she was killed.

So some suggest she's looking like she could be hiding from someone, being playful. What do you see in this video?

COPUS: Well when I look at it I think I see someone who is maybe hiding and especially when she looks out like, hey, what's going on?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

COPUS: All we're seeing, though, is the video shot from inside the elevator. They'll have cameras on the floors and that's where you have to get the real information. We don't have that yet. Police do.

BLACKWELL: Well speaking about what we don't have, what's the most important clue in this investigation?

COPUS: I think at this stage is that what you have to ask is who had access to that roof? It was allegedly locked. What they have to have anymore is you have to have it locked and you have to have it alarmed. So if there's an entry, someone has to know. Personally, my list of about 10 or 15 people, the first occupants would be maintenance staff on my list.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And Paul, you know you've talked about the distress and lack of, I guess, damage to the people who lived there. You know they're going to file lawsuits. And there's this waiver that they signed. Does the waiver wipe out any rights that they might have had?

CALLAN: No the waiver -- I think the waiver will be held useless to them. They'll be able to file lawsuits against the hotel. And frankly you know this is a $65 a night hotel. It's a place where reportedly two serial murderers used to live. So they don't need any more bad publicity. So you would think they would be settling right now, offering these -- these guests free hotel stays at other maybe nice hotels rather than risking lawsuits.

And you know getting back to the issue of criminal liability in the case, you know, as a former homicide prosecutor, the thing that I would like to know is what's the cause of death? Did she drown? Was it a drug overdose? We don't have toxicology reports. So that's of course going to be a very important fact in any homicide investigation. You know was she put in the water after she was dead or did she drown in the water? So those are all questions that have to be answered by L.A. Police.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So many questions still in this really bizarre story. Paul Callan, Harold Copus -- thank you both.

CALLAN: Nice being with you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can hear clear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does it make you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That's a seven-year-old boy, wearing an ear device that's used for hunters during sport. Now, find out why his parents had to resort to buying it so their son could hear.

It's a CNN SATURDAY MORNING exclusive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The Obama administration is making a move in what could be a landmark case. It's urging the Supreme Court to strike down a federal law that denies financial benefits to married, same-sex couples. The Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.

In a brief filed with the high court, the Justice Department says DOMA treats gay and lesbian couples unequally violating the constitution. The court will hear arguments next month.

Tomorrow Pope Benedict XVI will give his Angelus Prayer -- that's when he looks over the St. Peter Square in the Vatican and gives a blessing in front of a crowd. CNN will be airing it live when it happens tomorrow morning, the 6:00 am Eastern hour. The Pope steps down officially on the 28th. Now, the Vatican is hoping to have a new pope in place before Easter.

All right. For just a moment, imagine your child has hearing loss, but you cannot afford hearing aids. More than 1.5 million kids in the U.S. live in silence because their health insurance doesn't think they're essential.

CNN's George Howell sat down with 7-year-old Hayden McKenzie for a look at the drastic measures he and his family have taken for him to hear. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For seven-year-old Hayden McKenzie, it takes a little more time in the morning to get started. And for his twin brother, Colby, it takes a little more patience from his parents.

AMANDA MCKENZIE, HAYDEN'S MOTHER: A lot of times he'll sit (inaudible), you know, our big question of the day is, do you have your hearing aid on. Can you hear me? Actually I was thinking about this last night, it felt like a cell phone commercial. "Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?"

HOWELL: Hayden started losing his hearing when he was four-years-old, a crippling result of repeated surgeries to treat a disease affecting his middle ear.

(on camera): So Hayden has hearing aids now. But these are hearing aids that were donated from a deceased child.

MCKENZIE: Right.

HOWELL: This is a temporary thing?

MCKENZIE: Yes. It's definitely not our ideal situation. It's definitely helping right now, but in order to get him the proper ones that he needs, you know, we would have to go through our audiologist and purchase them and, you know, the insurance just doesn't cover it.

ORWELL (voice-over): A working class family, the McKenzies find themselves stuck in the middle.

MCKENZIE: We make too much money to, you know, to do the Medicaid route and we can't use them -- we can't get any kind of supplement. So it's just all out of pocket. And $6,000 is a lot of money.

HOWELL: desperate for solutions, they even resorted to buying these, game ears, amplifiers that hunters use as a cheap option just to get by.

(on camera): These hearing aids, you like them? They work ok? What about those game ears? They work, too? What do you like better, the game ears better or the hearing aid better?

HAYDEN MCKENZIE: Hearing aid.

HOWELL: Why?

H. MCKENZIE: Because I just wear it.

ORWELL (voice-over): Amanda says her insurance company told her hearing aids are elective. At Hayden's elementary school, his teacher sees otherwise.

JORGENE WEST, HAYDEN'S TEACHER: Sometimes when he needs help, he won't ask for it. And then if he's not understanding, he gets frustrated and then sometimes he'll cry.

HOWELL: Even Hayden's principal who herself, who raised a hearing impaired daughter knows exactly how frustrating it can be getting hearing aids.

(on camera): And insurance will not pay for this?

SUSAN BURRELL, PRINCIPAL, BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: They didn't pay for a dime, no. The first time I talked to the lady about it, because I was bound and determined they were going to. She said she doesn't have to have them. And I said, but ma'am, she can't hear without her aids and she said she doesn't have to have them.

ORWELL (voice-over): In fact, a recent national health interview survey by the CDC shows that nearly five in every 1,000 children, age 3 to 17, were either deaf or had a lot of trouble hearing without an aid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen, with your permission, I would like to start with House Bill 74, which deals with hearing aids.

HOWELL: The outrage over affordability has prompted advocates to push for new legislation, requiring insurance companies to cover hearing aids for kids.

EDWARD LINDSEY, GEORGIA STATE HOUSE: We have documented literally hundreds, if not thousands, of folks that are slipping between the cracks in our society as a result of a lack of proper insurance.

HOWELL: But such mandatory coverage laws end up having the opposite effect according to Susan Pisano with America's Health Insurance Plans --

SUSAN PISANO, AMERICA'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS: Many employers already are having difficulty affording to provide coverage. It really becomes difficult for them to consider new benefits that they really might like to add.

HOWELL: The McKenzies insurance carrier, Aetna, tells CNN though the family's plan does not provide hearing aids, the company did offer to provide discounts through their contracted vendor. But McKenzies say it's still too expensive.

MCKENZIE: It's a necessity. It's a necessity that's a medical necessity. And it's got to be covered by insurance. It's got to be.

HOWELL: George Howell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: 20 states, they're here in green on this map have mandatory health insurance coverage for hearing aids. Legislators in Georgia have submitted a bill hoping to join them. We'll continue to follow this story, of course.

A couple of college baseball teams take whacks -- not at the ball. Look at this, each other. It's rough on the diamond.

But first when traveling to other cities and countries, you know the best way to get a real taste of the place is through the local food. So CNN iReport has teamed up with "Travel and Leisure" magazine to create a global list of "100 Places to Eat like a Local". Here's CNN's Jim Spellman in Atlanta with a southern food sample.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Atlanta is a big cosmopolitan city with lots of great restaurants. But at its heart it's still a southern town and if you want some good southern comfort food you have to come to Carver's Country Kitchen.

When did Carver's Country Kitchen start?

SHARON CARVER: Well, we used to be a grocery store. And then my husband and myself decided I think we want to have a restaurant. We started very small, about 1992. And it has since grown to be quite a large endeavor.

SPELLMAN: It smells incredible in here.

CARVER: Yes, it's really good.

SPELLMAN: I could smell it even out on the street. So good -- I don't know what else to say.

Three chicken breasts? What did you get? Meat loaf? We must pause for the Twitter photo. This is really a truly local place.

CARVER: This is. It's the best place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, iReporters, here is your chance to help us create a food lovers map of the world. Go to ireport.com/100places. Send us a photo of your favorite restaurant and dish and why it's special and how you discovered this place. The definitive list of "100 Places to Eat like a Local" will be revealed in just a few weeks. And some iReports will be on that list.

Stay tuned to see if you'll be one of them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The pros are warming up in Florida and Arizona right now. But the college players, they seem to be in mid season form. Look at this. Sacramento state versus U.C. Riverside -- shove, punch, benches cleared. This was the home opener for Sacramento State.

Get this. These two teams play a doubleheader today. We'll see what happens in this one.

All right, Michelle Obama knows how to move. Check this. They did he "Raise the Roof," and then the "Hip Bump," the sprinkler, Dougie, first lady got down with Jimmy Fallon, showing the evolution of dance with moms.

That's it for this hour, a whole new hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING begins right now.