fence-sitting democrats are willing to take a stance on the issue until the second the vote is called. jim acosta, cnn, washington. the man is back. and we've got him. cnn newsroom continues right now with ali velshi. >> always a blae sure to see you, tony. i'm ali velshi. i'm here with you for the next two hours today an every weekday. i'm going to take every important topic and i'm going to try to break it down. my goal is to help you make important decisions about your health care, spending, security. basically your world. here's what i've got on the run down. last week, kansas city. this week, droetroit. public schools are shutting down across the nation. is it smart business or just short-term thinking to save short-term cash? speaking of cash, i'm not saying it's the reason. but, guess who's coming back to golf. after a scandal that many said would ruin him forever? i think you can guess his name. i'll give you the details in a minute. speaking of scandal, there's a big one rocking the catholic

church. it goes back decades and it goes all of the way up to the pope. what did he know, when did he know it and why wasn't something done sooner to protect more children from abuse? let's start with the big story in detroit. public schools are on the chopping block. let me tell you a little bit about what we're dealing with here in detroit. in the year 2000 there were 263 public schools in detroit. today there are 172 public schools in detroit. and next year, there are likely to be about 127 public schools. that's half the number that there were about a year ago -- about ten years ago. now, robert bobb is the school's emergency financial manager. he was put in place by the state to deal with this budget shortfall and over-capacity issue that detroit has. he says it is necessary to close these schools, to fight shrinking enrollment and poor performance by students there. let me show you another picture. let's talk about how many students there are in the school program.

in 2000, in the year 2000 there were 162,000 students in the detroit school program. now there are 85,000 students. and by 2014, it is projected that there will be only 56,000 students. let's talk about graduation rates out of detroit. the national graduation rate from high school is 89%. the graduation rate from detroit high schools is only 58%. so i want to have this conversation, but before that i want you to hear robert bobb's words. this is the school's financial manager in detroit. here's what he had to say about why schools in detroit need to be shut down. listen to this. >> some people may think, as i stated earlier, that our plan is too ambitious, but the bottom line is that we have lagged behind for far too long. we no longer have to send our children to second- or third-class schools.

>> let's find out more about what is going on, why this is happening. i'm joined from detroit by the detroit free press education writer, chastity. thank you for joining us. you know much more about this situation than we do. so give me a characterization of what's going on. is this because there isn't enough money to keep these schools open? is it because of performance? is it because there's too many schools for too few students? what's the situation in detroit? >> well, the situation is there are too many schools for few too students. competition with charter schools, primarily competition with charter schools, has been the reason why the school district has lost so many students. just five years ago the school district had started closing schools. and 100 schools have been closed since 2005. and you add 45 to that, this is going to be the first major city to close more than half of its schools in just five years. so charter school competition is the major reason, and then there are some school districts in the suburbs that are starting to

say, hey, we need students, we need money so they're accepting students from detroit as well. this district is shrinking at an incredibly fast rate. some call it a death spiral because one issue feeds the other. you lose students, you lose money. you lose money, you lose students. >> in about an hour you're going to be at a meeting where some decisions are going to be made. tell us what the news is likely to be. >> well, tomorrow we're going to be able to tell parents exactly which schools are going to be closed and what the plan is going to be for the closures. it's going to be an emotional thing tomorrow. parents, nobody wants to see their schools close. nobody wants to see the vacant buildings like we've seen in the past five years, just there, empty, vai can't buildings ravaged by thieves. those are affecting communities, those are affecting tax values, those are affecting property values. so it's going to be an emotional event but we're going to be able to say this is the plan that robert bobb is laying out for school closures and that will be released tomorrow. >> robert bobb is a name we're

going to hear a lot about for next 24 hours. he was put in place by the governor by the state to deal with this problem in detroit schools. i know this is a situation that's mirrored around the country. the detroit federation of teachers do not like what he's doing and they've asked the governor to remove him from his job. tell me about the politics surrounding robert bobb, his job he's got to do. >> last year robert bobb was appointed by the governor to be the emergency financial manager, essentially to oversee the finances for the school district. and in doing so, he said, look, i have to making a dimick decisions because academics and finances are tied together. that has caused a huge amount of controver controversy. the school district is suing say, no, you can't making a dimick decisions. the union has joined in that lawsuit or they have voted to join into that lawsuit to say, no, you cannot make academic decisions. even as the school district is shrinking and there are all these issues with very, very bad

test scores and graduation rates, there's this power struggle that's going on between robert bobb and the school district. and the union is now inserting its voice in the argument. >> i'm going to talk to you more about this and find out what the implications are nationally. chasti chastity dawsey, we'll continue this discussion. it's almost like we're moving across the country and having it in different cities every week.

let's take a look at the numbers on your screen. these are the number of public schools from the detroit public school district in 2000. 263 schools. now there are 172. and next school year there could be 127. i'm joined by chastity pratt dawsey, the detroit free press

education writer. chastity, we have been reporting, last week we reported on cans is city. the kansas city school district shutting down 29 of its 61 schools in that particular district. and there were many in that kansas city area. similar situation, too many schools, too few students, more students getting attracted to magnet schools and charter schools elsewhere? >> definitely same situation. it's not just cans is city and detroit. it's happening all over the nation. washington, d.c. had the same problem with competition causing the school districts, the primary public school district to lose students and lose funding. so everyone is feeling this kind of competition. and the financial pain that comes afterward in some instances. in detroit, it's unmatched. since 2005, 100 schools have closed. so in five years, from 2005 to 2010, we will have seen more than half of the school district in this major city shuttered, closed down. >> what do you do if you're a parent of those t. students that need to go to the public school

system in detr seeing this happen, your kid's school is being shut down? obviously you're being accommodated. you said something a few minutes ago when we talked. it's a cycle. it's the students means money and money gets the students. >> right. when the school districts lose money they lose students. they have to close schools. closing schools in a lot of times make more students go away. so each problem causes the other problem. so a lot of times, what we're seeing is the charter schools are gaining more students from the school district. the school district is shrinking. and again, the suburbs are saying, we'll take some of your students as well, because they need money, they need students. so parents aren't getting more options. again, there's something else happening in detroit. just last week there was a leadership group that's calling itself -- it's the excellent school district. they're saying we have $200 million and we're going to help close down bad schools, open up good, well-performing schools, charter, public, or private.

they're not being discriminatory in any way. so in ten years if this group and if this school district, educational plan, if these two plans braid together, we're going to see a totally different system of schools as robert bobb said. not school system but system of schools. the ball game is going to change educationally here in detroit. >> as you say, microcosm of what's happening in many places in the country. chastity, thank you so much. we'll check in with you again. another major development, when i come back, christine romans is going to join me to explain what this massive financial regulation overhaul bill is that senator dodd introduced yesterday.

i want to take you to a scene that we've been following for some time here at cnn. a bus has turned over in campbellton, texas, on the highway. i want to go straight to our reporter on the scene from kast in san antonio. stephanie, what is the situation and what are the developments? >> reporter: well, it's still very much an active scene out here. as you can see behind me, crews are still in the process of transporting all the injured people to the hospital. now, two people were killed in this accident. several people have been

airlifted out. a dozen others have been taken by ground crews. they do not have an exact count on the injured at this time. we are told most of them were transported to university hospitals in san antonio, all of them in critical condition. they say the driver said she heard a popping sound, which she thought was the tire when she lost control of the bus. and then it rolled over. now, we're told there are about 35 people on the bus, including the driver, and that they were on the way to mccallen and mexico. most of the passengers there were in their 20s and 30s. we talked to one witness who pulled over to help the victims. she told us that there was a lot of people climbing out of the windows of the bus, just trying to get out, trying to get help. and again, it's still very much an active scene. we are told by dps officials that they are going to do a full-scale analysis of the accident, but at this time, they have heard that they do believe it is a tire that popped on the bus, that could be the cause of the accident. they will be out here for at

least another two hours. we are live, stephanie serna, cnn news. >> thank you for joining us. stephanie is with our affiliate kast out of san antonio. the scene of that accident is 40 miles south of san antonio. let's go to christine romans now to discuss this very big financial overhaul bill that was introduced yesterday. almost hard to get your head around. a year and a half out from when financial regulation was such a big deal, it's sort of hard to concentrate on this, anew. but tell us about this. chris dodd introduced a massive, massive bill that is somehow going to change the way our system is regulated. >> they say 1300-page bill. some say it's so big, 1300 pages. look, this is reordering the regulation of the financial system. as chris dodd said, this is the first big reform of the financial system, the biggest since 1930. this is what's in it, ali, the fed would oversee consumer

protection. independent agency housed within the reserve bank. to have your credit cards, your mortgage, the things that you touch and use, this group would have authority for making sure that you are being treated fairly and the rules are followed. new rules for too big to fail. the big banks would have to pay into this $50 billion resolution fund so that the government could come in and start taking apart a company that was failing a big financial company before it took down the global economy. earl li warniy warning system o counsel of nine regulators that would be able to see and start to act when something was going wrong. and also a provision in here where shareholders would get more of a say. but it's a nonbinding say on pay. i will tell you that consumer advocat advocates, they say this is not as strong as they wanted overall. and others say, look, why are we going so fast? let's slow down. >> it seems counter intuitive,

christine, that somebody would say why are we going so fast given everything that's happened. there is an argument that people make to say when we regulate, sometimes or when we take out regulations, it has unintended consequences and sometimes those consequences are 10 to 15 to 20 years down the road. when's the right time and what's the right speed with which to put some regulation in? as you and i discussed, everything that happened in 2008 can happen again today. virtually nothing has a rule that would prevent it from happening again. >> absolutely. the only reason why it wouldn't happen today is because the banks are so chastened and the big, you know, kind of financial engineers and some of the insurance companies are so chastened they're not making the risky bets they used to. when that memory fades, what is there in place right now, ali? you're right, to make sure this doesn't happen again. one of the things so interesting about this is that chris dodd was on that senate committee, banking committee, the most powerful committee about over e overseeing our economy, for 26 years. he's only been running it for three years.

26 years. many of the same team. timothy geithner, he has been in government for many, many years. ben bernanke. alan greenspan before him. henry paulson. all of these people who are now involved in talking about how to make sure this doesn't happen again didn't see it coming. and, in fact, we're all part of the system that pushed home ownership, weaker lending standards -- >> lower interest rates. >> -- lower interest rates, weaker lending standards and deregulation of wall street. remember, congress decided to lower system barriers on wall street. >> they were in place ten years ago. >> right. >> they were taken away. >> so are we going to get it right now? you're right it's very important to get it right now. the bank of montreal said something interesting this week, ali. he said that you've got congress acting on health care reform 17% of our xhi, and on a reordering of the financial regulation, necessary, but would touch every single thing that you do. your job, your home, your credit card, your auto loan, but if you

think government's broken and you're concerned about washington, every single thing you touch is pretty much being reformed or talked about right now, so it's incredibly important. right. >> christine, we'll talk to you again in another hour. co-host on "your money," you can watch us on saturday at 1:00 p.m. eastern and sunday 3:00 p.m. eastern. in one hour we're going to hear from the federal reserve about whether or not they're going to do anything with interest rates. here's a story you may have heard about. here's the words he used. i feel like i'm ready to start my season at augusta. those 11 words, tiger woods has all the speculation and ends his self-imposed sex scandal-driven exile from pro golf. three weeks or so until his mags masters comeback. the chairman of augusta national golf club. quote, we support tiger's decision to return to competitive golf beginning with this year's masters tournament. additionally we support and encourage his stated commitment to continue the significant work

required to rebuild his personal and professional life. cnn's susan candiotti is following this story from new york. he's be she's on on it from the beginning. susan, your initial reactions that you've been getting to this announcement that tiger woods is coming back to golf, very, very quickly were this is exactly what all experts are predicting. if he was going to come back soon, that's the drum beat we've been hearing, it would be at the masters. why the masters? well, because it is a tightly controlled tournament. yes, he loves playing tl. yes, he's won it in the fast. this is, the fans go there consider to be the creme de la creme. the press who attend by invitation only. and ali, if you are caught with a phone or a blackberry or anything on the course, it could be turned off. you are escorted out the door and, as history has shown, you get your press credential yanked and you never get invited back again. >> susan, you remember from the beginning of this when you were covering it, some people said,

my goodness, after all of these women and allegations it will be a very, very long time before tiger woods is able to return to golf and then we had that unusual press conference or statement that he made recently. the issue is there is a lot of money riding on tiger woods getting back into golf. >> reporter: that's for sure. and he certainly has lost a lot of his sponsors. the only ones who have stuck by him, nike and gillette. others dropped off, including gatorade, including accenture. so his time for him to come back on the tour. and certainly the pga commissioner himself put out a statement just moments ago that i got hold of. obviously the pga tour is happy to have him come back because the ratings have been sinking. when tiger plays, they make more money. what reaction is he going to get from fellow players on the course. he's certainly had support from the likes of arnold palmer himself. but some of his follow players have indeed taken shots at him

and some are saying we're tired of hearing about all of this, let's get on with it. the fact of the matter is, they're going to be better to see him back because the purse fills up, too. >> susan, thanks for your coverage of this story right from the beginning. susan candiotti joining me on tiger woods' return to golf. we're going to take a break. when we come back, elizabeth cohen is going to join me with something interesting. he's going to take a close look at what you probably know as the medicare doughnut hole coverage gap. if you don't know what it is, she's going to tell you what it is. she's going to tell you about overhauls that might actually have an affect on how much you pay for your medical care.

any of you who know about medicare who use it or are planning on using it know about something called the doughnut hole. it's a coverage gap in medicare. our seen your medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us now to tell us a bit about this and some potential changes. >> right. the doughnut hole is not a good place to be. >> right. >> it is not sweet but it is

sticky. you don't want to be there. let's talk about what this doughnut hole is because it's gets very confusing. we're trying to be simple here. if you're a senior citizen medicare will help you pay for your prescription drugs. it's generous when you spend between one penny and $2,830. you're in good shape. they're going to help you. but when you spend $2,831, that section starts being on you're own. you're going it alone. then for that amount of money after that, that dollar figure, when you hit $4550, they start helping you again. >> that's the doughnut hole. between $22 $2,831 and $4,550. >> right. it's not an uncommon thing. >> what's changing? >> for health care reform what they hope to do what the current bill says it's going to do is to close that gap so that gradually over a period of ten years that gap won't exist and medicare will help you all of the way through. this has been -- this is not the first attempt to try to do that.

it will be interesting to see. >> at the moment people have to buy separate coverage if they want to kor that. >> you can do that. that's expensive. >> elizabeth, thanks so much for that. elizabeth cohen, our senior medical correspondent. when we come back, let's do it right now. let's over to chad myers, covering a weather situation for us across the country. what have you got? >> well, you know what i have, a couple of things they want to talk about. couple of things about the northeast. this was an ugly weekend, obviously now the storm finally over. brand new video in. so let's go to a couple of pieces that we have, a couple out of massachusetts, a couple out of new jersey and then we'll take you to some video out of the midwest because they are prepare for a flood that is going to be taking place really this weekend. even though the water is coming up now. the water is still rising. and it won't even stop rise for quite some time. one more thing i want to tell you about, too, if we don't have that video. we will go to another -- a new flood warning just issued for iowa. i haven't seen this yet this year, ali. an ice jam nearesterville in

iowa. the water trying to flow down it is hill, through des moines and out into missouri. ice jam near the highway 4 bridge. so now more things to worry about when that ice, the big chunks can't get under the bridge. it starts to pile up and pile up and pile up. all of a sudden you made a dam. that dam is now pushing that water all of the way back out toward estherville. it's not the only area. we have flood warnings from chicago up to grand forks. and it's the red river we've been most focusing on because that's where the water has been coming up so quickly. there are flood really threats all of the way from pennsylvania and new york down across the southeast because of the el nino rain that we've seen all winter long. and than the high areas up here obviously because that water here has to go north and eventually in one little fell swoop, the water out of the missouri goes through the south. so it's all kind of -- almost like a continental divide up

there across pats of where the red refer goes one way and missouri goes the other way. it's all very wet and there's up to eight feet of snow has fallen in some of those areas. now all that has to melt. >> they are prepare for a flood. there are some sandbagging going on along the red river. we'll keep checking in with you on that, chad. thank you. chad myers in our severe weather center. when we come back, this is another story we've been following closely. you probably read or heard about it, the church sex scandal. german catholic priest has been suspended and people want to know if this is tied to the pope. so many arthritis pain relievers --

i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day. perfect. chptse aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just 2 aleve have the strength to relieve arthritis pain all day.

in the catholic church in europe. the church is increasingly on the defensive as a child sex scandal grows in germany. this is in addition to another scandal that was being followed in ireland. and this one may have ties to the vatican. so, in fact, to the pope himself. we want to discuss this a little bit more in detail with our reporters. i want to introduce you to fred in berlin. fred, let's start this conversation with you. let's start with this issue of the german priest, who is he, what is he accused of doing, and what is his thie to the pope?

>> very close ties to the pope himself. this is a priest by the name of hullermann who was suspended from duty yesterday. he's down in bavaria down south. apparently in 1980 when the pope was the archbishop of munich he allowed this man to come into the archdiocese of munich at the time. apparently church records now indicate that at the time people involved in that move had to have known that he was already in therapy for molesting children. now, what happened later in 1985 and 1986 is that he kept on molesting children there. then he was convicted of sexual abuse, did time on probation. and also had to pay a fine. he was then subsequently moved from one position to the next, but he did have one thing, one rule that was out there, was that he was not allowed to deal with children anymore. now the church has found he disobeyed that order, he did deal with children, he did have church services involving

children. he has been suspended. this is certainly someone who was working in the diocese when the pope, when benedict himself was the archbishop of munich back in 1980. ali? >> now, there are a lot of responses. i want to no what the vatican has said. one of the things i heard is that they said what the pope, the current pope knew was that he was back in the diocese. he was not aware that he was being allowed to work with children. >> that's exactly the case. that's exactly what the vatican is saying. that's exactly what the church here in munich itself is saying. back then when the pope was the archbishop he must have probably known this man was undergoing therapy in munich for molesting children. what he didn't know is that lower down people in the church were allowing this man to work as a pastor there in the bavarian area and allowing him to work with children as well. so one thing the vatican has said is that the pope himself cannot be blamed for the lapses that happened for while he did

allow this man to come and did know that he was undergoing therapy, he was certainly not aware of the fact that this man was, in fact, allowed to work during his time there in munich. ali? >> thanks so much. let's go to diana in rome now who has been speaking to people and finding -- getting the vatican response to this. but not just to this, diana. there's been a discussion about how the vatican has generally responded to these allegations of sexual abuse. >> that's right, ali. there was a very frank interview given by the man who's actually responsible for investigating the crimes that the vatican considers the most serious. he's a man called monsignor charles. and what he said was that in the nine years that he's been looking at these kind of cases, 3,000 cases have come across his desk. interestingly, the vast majority of those, he said, were from the united states, from 2003, 2004 when do you remember those sex abuse allegations rocked the catholic church back in the

united states. of those 3,000 cases, monsignor said that only 10%, i.e., 300 of them, involved actual peadephilia. the rest were homosexual ly liason. 60% were never brought to trial because of the aged of the accused. ali, it's quite interesting because we've been speaking to so many victims across europe as this scandal unfolded. many of them realize that by speaking at this they have no hope of legal recourse anymore precisely because many of the cases date back to the 1950s and the statute of limitations on bringing them to trial has expired. but they say they want to talk about them, they want to bring them into the public sphere to make sure this kind of thing never happens to children today. ali? >> diana, what has the response been to the media?

there's been a lot of people trying to connect this line between the pope and his former diocese in germany. the vatican hasn't liked the fact that the media is trying to make that connection personally to the pope. >> the vatican spokesman, as you say on saturday very angrily really responded to what he sees as unsuccessful and flagrant attempts by the media to try and implicate the pope in a personal fashion with this situation that fred was talking about in the archdiocese of munich. so fairly frank angry statement from the vatican in response to that. this is an unfolding sex scandal which involves the pope in a personal sense because this is his home country. much more so than the cases in ireland or certainly in the united states. >> right. okay, dye anniana. in a moment, we're going to go to our senior vatican analyst standing by in denver.

as diana said, we've seen so many cases in the united states, it's surprising that this is new in europe. is it really new? goes back decades. does it really stretch to the pope? scared. they don't know where to begin. so we start to talk about what have they done and what are their goals. and then we plan. it's a very good feeling as an advisor to work with people and help get them to their goals. once people perceive that they can control their destiny then they accomplish unbelievable things. [ male announcer ] we're america's largest financial planning company. meet us today at ameriprise.com. it was really nice to meet you, a.j. yeah, you too. a.j.? (alarm blasting) (screaming)

(phone rings) hello? this is bill with broadview security. is everything okay? no. there's this guy - he just smashed in my door. i'm sending help right now. thank you. (announcer) brink's home security is now broadview security. call now to install the standard system for just $99. the proven technology of a broadview security system delivers rapid response from highly-trained professionals, 24 hours a day. call now to get the $99 installation, plus a second keypad installed free. and, you could save up to 20% on your homeowner's insurance. call now-- and get the system installed for just $99. broadview security for your home or business-- the next generation of brink's home security. call now. i want to continue this discussion about the sex abuse scandal unfolding in europe with the catholic church. i want to bring in john allen, he's our cnn senior vatican analyst. he's a vatican correspondent for the catholic reporter, the

national catholic reporter. he wrote a book about the current pope. he's got an uncoming book called "the future church." thank you for joining us. i want to pretend that we haven't had these discussions in the past. and wonder, given all the discussions and all of the heart-wrenching things that were unfolded in the united states, why is there a new uncovering of things in europe now? would this not have led the catholic church to have dug some of this stuff up a decade ago? >> ali, that's a very good question. i think what typically happens in these cases is that everyone sort of knows that there is a potential crisis waiting to happen. and then there's some kind of triggering incident. in the case of germany, it was the -- actually the principle of an academy in berlin run by a religious order in the church who decided to go public with the fact that a few former students had come forward to

allege abuse. he wanted to handle it in a transparent way. that revelation then sort of set fire to the situation. and now what we have is a national scandal engulfing germany that is in in ways very familiar with the pattern of earlier scandals in other places such as united states. obviously,the new element in the german story line, ali, is, of course, this question of the pope's own rule as a diocese and bishop in the late '70s and early '80 sglz this is where the question comes in. maybe i didn't follow this up and understand whether something wasn't made very clear, certainly in -- after we went through this in the united states. and that is, the similarities are that someone was found to have done something inappropriate and was shuffled about or somehow protected, moved to another place, may have then gone back into getting involved in inappropriate activities. is there something clear? has the catholic church made it clear as to what you're supposed to do if you're in charge of a diocese or a church and you find

out there's a priest who has been involved in pedophilia or involved in sexual activity? >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, today, zero tolerance is the official policy of the catholic church and it is one that has been completely embraced by pope benedict xvi. i think to the it is abundantly clear if he abuses someone, he's going to be immediately disciplined inside the church, yanked out of ministry and potentially kicked out of the priesthood and immediately reported by the church itself or by the victims, if it's their choice, to the police and he will have to suffer the criminal consequences of his actions. i think that actually has been clear for some time. i think the problem here is that when we talk about the sex abuse crisis, ali, there are really two interconnected problems. there's problem of priests who abuse and there's the problem of bishops who fail to clean it up, who should have known better and who failed to act. i think most people would give the church and the pope himself

high marks on that first problem. i think it's the second problem where people still have questions about the church's response. >> ultimately, and again you dind poidid point out this is something the current pope may have been involved in in the '70s and '80s. does the vatican deflect this or solve it or does this scandal really reach into the vatican and into the pope's chambers and really start to affect how people see him? >> well, i think, ali, the answer to that will depend upon where this story goes in the next few days and in the weeks to come. i mean, if this is an isolated case, one guy who was apparently reassigned by someone lower down the food chain than the then cardinal joseph ratzinger, now benedict, that's one thing. if we learned anything from the trajectory of this crisis and other parts of the world, usually one report, one allegation, one case leads to these. if what happens, if what emerges is that there was a pattern in

munich while cardinal ratzinger was there, then the question is, can the pope credibly ride herd on bishops who fail to respond to this crisis if it turns out he had the same problem himself when he was in a diocese and bishop 30 years ago. and whether that's the turn this story takes is going to depend upon what we learn in the days to come about what the record in munich during those five years actually was. >> we'll stay on this story. john, thank you. john allen is our senior vatican analyst joining us from denver. all right. when we come back, boy, what a scene on capitol hill today. we heard a few weeks ago that the tea party was taking their battle against health care reform on capitol hill. guess what, they did. brianna keilar has been following it. across america, people with diabetes have... one thing in common when it comes to their numbers -- - mine were too low. - too high. - all over the place. they'd like to discover what they mean...

and how to best use them. and now they can. because the accu-chek aviva system now comes with... new, easy-to-use tools to help you discover... what your numbers mean and how the things... you do are connected to your blood sugar patterns. plus you get an educational video... to guide you step by step. with this tool i saw how little changes can make a big difference. you too can quickly see how food, exercise, and even the time of day... affect your numbers, and make healthy choices. you'll also receive a prescription discount card. i discovered what i can eat and how much. i discovered i only needed a twenty-minute walk. i discovered how to wake up feeling great. there's so much to discover in the accu-chek aviva system. why not start your discovery today? all: i did.

if you are a house democrat who's wavering on health care, the political universe revolves around you right now, at least for a few more days. president obama, speaker pelosi, all of their aides and allies are imploring you to vote yes. but to vote yes on what is not entirely clear just yet. more on that in a minute. but you're also being lobbied or maybe targeted by the anti-health care reform crowd represented here by the tea party, an associated groups

rallied this morning on capitol hill. now, to illustrate the theme of their "kill the bill," some of them, look at these signs. look at these signs carefully, depicted the president in a casket, a picture of the president in a casket. one protester said the real problem actually isn't the pictures, it's verbal. listen to this. >> you know, it's a funny thing. they keep throwing some of these words out at us like reconciliation and they hope that we won't understand what that means. those $10 words. you know what's so funny is that these presidents seem to have trouble with the little two-letter words. >> no! >> that's right. what part of no doesn't president obama understand? >> okay. it's true that this debate has taught all of us a legislative lexicon that most of us probably never wanted to learn. reconciliation is a prime example but not the latest one or the most controversial. that gets me back to what exactly house members will be

voting on this week. cnn's brianna keilar joins me now to break it all down. i don't know where to start. you are introducing us to't kno. you are introducing us to new terminology that most of us thought we'd never need to learn, brianna. >> reporter: add this to your lexicon, it's called deem and pass, and this right now is the prevailing strategy for democrats in the house while they try to pass the reform package. i've broken it down so i don't confuse myself and certainly not you, house democrats need to pass the senate bill but they want to pass changes to the senate bill, so they would pass it separately in the changes bill. but the problem is for democrats there's a lot of vulnerable democrats who say i really do not want to vote on this senate bill because it's got a whole lot of stuff in it that i don't like. for instance, the so-called cornhusker kickback, the sweetheart deal worked out in the senate with the state of nebraska, or a tax on cadillacs, the so-called cadillac, high-end health care plans, they want to

pare it down with the changes bill. so, what they are doing is taking something called a rule, sort of a procedural vote, normally it doesn't do a whole lot, members of congress vote on it and they say, hey, we're going to debate for this long, but what they're doing is they're rolling the senate bill into the rule, and here i'm going to -- i'll staple it together, so we can make it official. it's stuck in there. and then they would vote on the rule which would deem that the senate bill is passed and then they could emphasize this changes bill. republicans are screaming about this, ali, and they say that they're going to force a vote this week about whether or not this tactic should even go forward, ali. >> let's keep it in mind. the rule thing. until now we thought rule was a four-letter word, but it's actually a methodology, something that they can use to get the bill through. republican representative virginia foxx had something to say about this. she's from north carolina, let's listen to this both together. >> i serve on the rules

committee. they are planning to bring a rule that say if you vote for the rule, you've voted for the bill. that's never happened in the history of this country, and, again, it undermines the rule of law and the american people will not stand for it. >> now, it's not entirely true, in fact, it's not true at all that it hasn't happened in the history of the country. we've found a few examples of where it's happened in 1993, in 1999, but clearly, the republicans are not interested in this. >> reporter: yeah, this has happened many times, if you're talking about the folding in, we call it a self-executing rule. you pass the rule, and whatever's embedded in it will then pass. this has happened, i believe, dozens of times in the last decade. actually, most recently in february. and member of congress, republicans and democrats, have done it to give themselves political cover for votes. this is the whole point of this. this is february, they did it with the debt ceiling which was obviously something the democrats needed to pass to increase the debt ceiling, but it's not popular, and so they

put it in the rule and it gives you a little cover. but you have republicans saying, don't trick us, don't try to fool us. in the rule, we know it's the senate bill and we're going to hit democrats with passing the senate bill with a lot of unpopular stuff in it. but democrats are standing by it, saying look at the overall package we are passing, not the senate bill, we're changing this bill. >> i remember years ago talking about the news business and i wonder if we ever thought we'd be sitting here discussing the arcane, procedural matters, but that's the news, and that's why we cover it. but thank you for the signs. it's simple and straightforward. brianna keilar on capitol hill, he'll be seeing a lot more of her and her pages as we cover what's going on. to a well-equipped buick lacrosse. get inside each. and see what you find. if perfection is what you pursue, this just might change your course. meet the new class of world class.

the twenty-ten lacrosse, from buick. may the best car win. how do we know how big our hospitals need to be?, the census helps us know exactly what we need, so everyone can get their fair share of funding. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census. if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol... a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number...

of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day.

all right. talking to brianna about all that procedural stuff brought out the inner geek in me, so now i'm going into overload. the internet hits every single aspect of our life, from business to homes to schools to finances. some of you might even be watching me online right now, but there are huge problems with cost, speed, and access to the internet that you may not know about. frankly we're in need of a big boost to the internet, so today, the fcc, the federal communications commission, brought forward plans to bring high-speed access to all americans. this is a quote directly from the plan. quote, like electricity a century ago, broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life.

it is enabling entire new industries and unlocking vast new possibilities for existing ones. i want to talk to you about broadband for a minute. right now, on average, americans get about four megabits per second, 4 mbs on their computers. this pipe represents the 4 mbs, this is fantastic for downloading a photo here and there, downloading a song to your ipod, things like that. but this is sort of the initial stages to the internet. the fcc wants to bring 100 megabits into homes by 2020, in 10 years. this represents 100. the little pipe was 4. some people have 6, i have 6, some people have 10. but they want 100 going into the house by 2020. imagining how much more information will travel through the larger pipe. with this we're uploading video and we're having teleconferences. now, take this to a global level

for a minute. not the household level, but global level. you probably think that we are a world leader for internet access. get this, we are not even close in the united states. we're barely -- we're certainly not in the top ten. we're barely in the top 20. let's take a look. various studies ranked countries differently. but take a look at the top ten countries according to an internet tracking firm, japan, hong kong, south korea, czech republic, sweden, denmark, latvia, netherlands, row mmaimr america may not be in the top 16 or 17. south korea by the way takes the top spot. japan, hong kong, you'd expect those places to up near the top, but the next one as you can see over there are -- are leaders. they all do better than the united states does. all right, so that's the story of broadband. that's the story of why we're talking about this. as we do here every day on my show, i want to break down the

fcc plan for you and i've got somebody who can help us do that. former fcc chairman, michael powell, will join us live to tell us how this plan can change the way -- not just the way you surf, but the way you live. [ crowd cheering ] [ male announcer ] competition... it pushes us to work harder. to be better. to win. but sometimes even rivals realize they share a common goal. america's beverage companies have removed full-calorie soft drinks from schools, reducing beverage calories by 88%.

together with schools, we're helping kids make more balanced choices every day. ♪ hey, ask our doctor about garlique, okay?

garlique's clinically tested ingredient maintains healthy cholesterol naturally. eat right. exercise. garlique. all right. new hour, new rundown, here's what i've got on the rundown this hour. reforming wall street, a top democratic senator said the time is now, but some republicans say hold on, not so fast. a sweeping financial overhaul is

on the table. are we really thinking this one out, or are we rushing headlong into another financial meltdown? plus, richard quest in las vegas. homes not gambling, he's going green. richard's showing us a side of vegas you've never seen before. do you know the massive buffets, they are literally turning into hog heaven. you'll want to see that. >> dropping thomas jefferson, praising talk about revisionist history, your kids' history books could be in for major changes. but first the story that we talked about before the break. major changes to broadband, the federal communications commission issuing a big idea that everybody in this country should have access to good, high-speed, fat-pipe internet like this one by 2020. ten megabytes per second coming into your house. this may not be news to some of you, some of you may already have this speed.

but there's someparts of the country that don't have this kind of access to the internet. imagine what your life would be like if you didn't have fast internet. he was appointed to the fcc by president bill clinton and he's an honorary co-chairman of broadband for america which is a group of companies coming together to try and -- and get more broadband out there in america, and in that -- in that capacity, mr. powell, you wrote an article for "forbes," sort of outlining the big deal about broadband. why we need to care so much about something that like electricity we don't really worry that much. we don't think about. we just think it gets faster and better every year. tell me the case for more broadband, better broadband, faster broadband. >> i think the first thing we have to come to grips with we've had a transformation in the economy, on the planet. we've gone from the industrial age to what we're calling the information age, and it's not assured that the united states

is a great empire in the information age. what's critical is that we have a digitalally literal society that's fully connected to the infrastructure that makes it possible. so, as a matter of national policy, i think it's a national priority. a national broadband plan, if it's done right, and i commend the commission for what it's done, really helps set out a public policy framework that can allow greater stimulation and private investment in broadband and help take the united states to the place where it wants to be -- >> why are we where we are? why is the united states -- i was very surprised to see on various studies we're 15th, 16th, 17th in the world in terms of our broadband speed? why are we not -- in the top three? >> well, it's interesting. i think a lot of people debate and dispute and quonder about the value of these rankings, but i think it's nearly universally agreed that the united states should do a lot better. you know, we have a larger country with a more diverse population and a tougher

geography to solve than many of those countries and many of the rankings are per capita, where we have large households in the united states to connect to. but the short answer is we need to stimulate private investment to a greater degree than we have, and the public policy has not been harm onized to get the free market to move forward. >> in basic terms, what's going to have to happen? because i know people who have much better broadband access than i have, i'm limited by the service i have to whatever it is i get. but some people can get better service and we'd like people to get a lot more service. what has to happen, when you talk about the private initiative and investment, what is it that has to happen to get this small pipe that i've been showing people on tv into this big pipe? >> well, a couple of things i think we need to take care of right away, and you mentioned it at the top of the hour, first of all 5% of americans don't even

have the small pipe, and i think it is a matter of national impaerative to provide assistane and program and support to get those folks online to have any kind of access to the internet. then i think to really increase speeds -- i mean, it is fair to stay, despite these international rankings, 95% of us have access to broadband. >> right. >> and private companies are investing stuns sums of money on an annual basis to increase the speeds and at the end of the year a lot of people will have 50 to 100 megabytes. part of it is whether we have enough value, you know, a huge percentage of americans who have access say they don't subscribe because they don't see the value to their lives and i wonder whether we're doing a good enough job in terms of providing government services and other kinds of support services that would really show the indispe e indispensable nature of it to subscribe to it. the affordability issue is not the price of the infrastructure, to get on the internet, you have to have a computer and the hardware and gadgetry and you

have to be digitally literate to have a command with what you do with the infrastructure. all of these things are things we need to work together on. >> i want to ask you one thing. i just upgraded my internet speed about a week ago and i wanted to teleconference with my team at cnn. that's where i realized i didn't have the upload numbers and we did all kinds of tests and things like that. what kind of thing is it that people are going to say that they need more broadband, i'd subscribe to this, and i'm prepared to pay more, but i want a lot more bandwidth? >> that's a great question. sometimes we get hung up on the speeds the average consumer doesn't understand what we're talking about when we say four megabits or ten megabits. it's what you can do with it. number one, entertainment is a driver. to have full-motion, high-quality video is a strong experience that many consumers subscribe to. but coincidentally if you get

the high-quality video bandwi h bandwidth, you can also send your mris to your doctor, you can manage your energy efficiency more effectively. while there are playful uses, there are life-enhancing functions on that capability as well. i really think not only the content industry that has to produce more value to get the infrastructure better, but i'm a big fan of government 2.0 which is in your communities as a citizen, does your government provide easy functionality and access to get your car registered, to pay your taxes, to vote, to engage in the functions of citizenry, and i'd like to see the government in local and state communities put a lot more emphasis on that as well. >> well, you broadened our mind, michael powell, thank you so much. >> thank you. he's the former fcc and the honorary co-chair of broadband for america. it's a topic we'll be talking a lot about. we'll also be talking about the efforts on capitol hill to reform the financial system. when we come back, we'll talk to

christine romans my co-host on "your $$$$$," and jessica yellin, about the efforts that chris dodd has put forward, the massive overhaul to police wall street. does it make sense? [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. it works on my worst symptoms so i'm ready by the time we get to the first hole. and that's good because the competition's steep today. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air.™

okay. at more than 1,300 pages, this is an ambitious bill. democratic senator, chris dodd, plans to police wall street, well, those would be the most sweeping changes in financial rules since the great depression. the ultimate aim is to prevent

another financial meltdown like the one we just went through. here are the nuts and bolts of it. the federal reserve would oversee consumer protection rules, there would be new rules aimed at preventing big financial firms from collapsing, basically the "too big to fail" problem we've had, there would be an early warning system for possible trouble, and share holders in companies would get a say -- not a binding say, but a say -- on fat-cat salaries. chris dodd, the chairman of the senate banking committee, wants to get this through committee next week. that's just one issue that republicans are speaking out against. why the hurry? joining with their insight in washington our national political correspondent, jessica yellin, and in new york, my co-host for "your $$$$$," christine romans, welcome to both of you. jessica, let's start with you. you've been following this very, very closely, the response, because we know what happens when people put big bills out there and say they want to get them done in a hurry. there are a lot of responses. give me a sense of what you've -- what you've got. >> you have senator dodd

effectively slipped the baby on this one, ali, and so everybody is unhappy a little bit. so, the democrats on the left are very unhappy about where this consumer protection agency is located. they want to it be independent. they also think that there's not enough power over these banks to separate some of the risky practices they've been doing from some of the holdings of most americans' bank accounts, basically, so they want more protection for the people. and then the republicans almost universally are saying it's altogether too much regulation, that what we need are more enforcement of our existing laws and better empowerment of our existing regulators and they're very worried about the bill slowing down the growth of our economy right now, and so right now everybody is at odds trying to figure out if there's even a compromise to be brokered. >> right. >> politics are ugly. >> imagine that a concern about regulation slowing down the growth of the economy. heard that one before, christine? listen, you were on moin"americ

morning" and you had chris dodd on, and you asked him about the banking bill, listen to his response. >> i became chairman of the committee 36, not months, ago, and when we started holding hearings on this in january and february of 2007, these matters had been going on for years. i didn't disagree there should have been far more oversight and accountabili accountability, but my chairmanship only began months ago. >> he makes a good point, but he's been in the senate a long time and been on that committee for a while, and he's on the committee during a period of deregulation, fewer rules for wall street. >> americans look at somebody who has been on the committee, the most powerful committee with oversight of the banking system on that committee for 26 years and he said, wait, i've only been running it for 36 months and this is what i think we should do to clean it up. the entire time that chris dodd

was sitting on that committee, and many others, not just chris dodd, there was a bipartisanship push for more home ownership, more lax lending standards, and deregulate wall street. the big deregulation of wall street happened under a democratic president in the late 1990s, some of the rules we're talking about putting back into place were taken apart underneath a democratic president. so, look, many people realize there was lot of illusion happening, people bought into the same kind of idea for many years, and now they are wondering will congress get it right this time. and, jessica, the politics of it, i think that's why people who are really worried about consumer protection, they get nervous, because they know there's going to be horse-trading. we'll put it here if we can have this. well, you can have this, but we want to have this, and who is really looking out for the consumer, especially if you don't get people who admit, do you know what, we have made some false assumptions and this is

what led us here and now we've got to think differently. >> jessica, a few different examples of republicans who are objectioning to this thing. tell us what is saying what. >> i want to give you the three big republicans to follow on this. one is senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, he is the one who sort of helped get a sense of where the caucus, the republicans are going in general. he has been very reluctant to support any of the direction dodd has taken, and has helped organize republicans to oppose health care in general, a lot of people think this will go the same way. then there is senator richard shelby, who is the chief republican on the banking committee, also strong opponent of the dodd proposal, and then there's this other person, senator bob corker. he also sits on the banking committee. he's a republican. he is not one of the leaders here, but he has stepped out of his role as one of the new guys and said to chris dodd, look, i want to create a bipartisan bill, i want work with the democrats.

he tried to negotiate a deal. it fell apart. but there's a chance some people think there could be some wigging room getting bob corker over. some people think it will never pan out, but that's where the game is still in play. a lot of moving pieces here, ali. >> i would say in 1,300 pages, i'm sure we can find some wiggle room in there. thank you for covering this so well, christine romans, my co-host on "your $$$$$," and jessica yellin, you can see her all over this network. all right, when we come back, tom foreman back on the cnn express, just making me jealous on that bus i used to call home. he's in montgomery, alabama, a town that has learned to hold on to young talent. what is montgomery's secret? we'll tell you when we come back.

ies who need assistance getting around their homes. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little or no cost to you. imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it.

one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need. in fact, if we qualify you for medicare reimbursement and medicare denies your claim, we'll give you your new power chair or scooter free. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today.

♪ sweet home alabama doesn't just make you mad? you turn on the news and it's all about everybody messing up and everybody doing something wrong and getting into trouble. there's not enough good news that really matters, so cnn is investing a lot of resources and i might say some of its finest talent in finding people who are building up america, people who are finding fantastic solutions to get out of the morass financially and psychologically, people that are making a go of it. what we're doing is sending the cnn express across the country, and the latest stop is montgomery, alabama, tom foreman joins me now from montgomery with a fantastic story from there. firms of all, tom, as you know, every time i see you, ever we love to see you every time you are on the show, but there's a little tinge of jealously that it's you and not me. >> reporter: i understand that. montgomery is a really interesting lace.

it's a great place. this is actually where i began my tv reporting career about 30 years ago, so i know these streets very well. and i'll tell you this, where i'm standing right now is important in a historic sense in a very big way. i'm only a very short distance from where jefferson davis took the oath as the only president of the confederacy, and right behind me, i'm standing at the spot where rosa parks boarded the bus -- >> wow. >> reporter: -- and started the montgomery bus boycott, the civil war, the civil rights movement all centered right on the ground i'm standing on -- where i'm standing right now, incredibly important place, but when you talk about this plan to move forward here, what's happening here that's making it work is that people are saying, we respect our history, but now let's look at our future, and our future is in younger professionals, people who can build our businesses and our community, and look what they are doing. on a highway north of montgomery, in a building you'd

hardly notice, jerry monroe is growing a heck of a business. >> evevery day, you've got to me something happen. you see opportunities, and because, you know, we develop everything ourselves, we just, you know, we start hammering on those ideas. >> reporter: how important do you think that is in a difficult time in the economy? >> oh, it's critical. >> reporter: his company, the online commerce group, specializes in internet sales of custom-made cushion covers, drapes, pillows, but what it's really doing is fulfilling a dream jerry has had since college, of succeeding in his home state of alabama. >> it is good business. it is an absolute blast. >> reporter: keeping young talent from running away to the big cities is a serious matter, especially in hard times. chamber of commerce formed this group called emerge to foster leadership, success, and community among young professionals, whom they know have different needs and wants from older workers.

>> well, i think excitement, activities, nightlife, especially nightlife. >> another issue that a lot of people don't normally think about is education and things for kids. >> i want to be able to just really know that i -- my voice is heard. ♪ >> reporter: so, the city is expanding its entertainment venues, offering more activities, improving schools, and mayor todd strange said it's all to keep young talent around. >> all of those things taken together really do offer the opportunities. but we have just begun to fight. ♪ >> reporter: this is not all about the future. jerry monroe has found immediate rewards. >> we've got young people that don't have a lot of experience with business, but they have a tremendous amount of knowledge about the internet, about technology, and they've lived it. >> reporter: and about that community. how people communicate.

>> exactly. >> reporter: by tapping that knowledge, he's more than doubled his business almost every year since it started six years ago, creating 30 jobs, along with a reason, and a way, for that talent to stay. and you heard the mayor say there, they've just started this fight. this is a realization here. you talk to young people all over this town, they'll tell you this town is not there yet. they haven't really created that really strong core that will make younger people all want to stay here. >> yeah. >> reporter: and not run off to atlanta or nashville or new orleans, but they're starting, ali, and that's part of their key to building up here. >> all right. well, we'll keep an eye on it over the years and see how it develops. thank you, tom, we'll be visiting with you a lot on the cnn express. tom foreman in montgomery, alabama. let me give you a check of the top stories. interest rates are holding steady, near zero. the federal reserve made the announcement moments ago.

they are pledging to keep them near zero for an extended period in order to feed the economic recovery. but as the economy improves, the fed will need to start increasing interest rates to fend off inflation. you can still get a house for about 5% on a 30-year, fixed mortgage. a move to pass the health care bill through the house without a direct vote. lawmakers are expected to vote this week on the $875 billion overhaul approved by the senate, the problem is the democrats are struggling to find the 216 yes votes that they need, so speaker, nancy pelosi, says they may vote on a more popular package of fixes to to the senate bill, passing the overhaul through the tactic called the self-executing rule. confused? don't worry about it. a lot of us are. tiger woods will play in the masters. the golf great said today he will return to the links for next month's tournament. the announcement comes after the bizarre thanksgiving weekend crash and a series of sex scandals that followed. he's won the masters four times

since 1997. who needs the alarm clocks when you have earthquakes waking up? today got off to a pretty shaky start in southern california. chad is watching it all. he goes off the radar for us when we come back.

i'm here at the weather center with chad. we're watching the story of flooding sort of all over the place so far. >> the three-day event literally. new england, new york, you at way down -- you were in philly, you said it was crazy. branches and sticks all over the place. >> winds. >> and we still have flooding here. let's go to a couple pieces of tape that are just coming in right now. let's go up to new jersey, up in passaic, water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink. don't be touching this stuff, there's bad stuff in that water there. it comes from everywhere and things float out of places, you don't want to be in or near the water, plus there could be power lines there as well because of the wind. switching gears to massachusetts, get you up there, to bedford, water everywhere again, out of the banks in some of these rivers. up to 10 inches of rainfall foal in parts of massachusetts and rhode island. i'll take you to one more piece

of video, switching you 1,500 miles to the west where they are getting ready for a significant flood. >> i heard you call it near epic. >> absolutely. last year was the record-setting flood. >> right. right. >> this will only be three feet short of that and you remember how many days. >> sure. >> months, literally they put sandbags. >> yep. >> higher and higher. and you have to stay off the levees and berms, you will get a ticket if you are walking on them and you certainly don't want to be driving on them. >> you'll be keeping us posted. let's go "off the radar." >> the whittier section of the elsinore fault, there are a lot of faults. this is the san andreas fault, the big white one, that's the one we're worried about that will give us the 7.2 someday, that's the big one we talk about. that wasn't today obviously. we have seen the shaking all the way up here, i'll go up to l.a. i'll give you a better map. >> wow.

>> there have been shocks all over, l.a., long beach, santa ana, here's the 605, and you can drive right up the 605, you would have felt the shaking. there was a little bit of damage on soft some of the highways, but they have temporary repairs and patches on the highways and things will go okay for the afternoon rush hour, they'll take some apart tonight, though, so if you're driving home, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, if you have a late shift -- >> that part of the world you are used to slow traffic. >> you want to be used to the shaking but you never -- >> you are more used to the traffic than the shaking. thank you very much, chad. when we come back, we'll tell you about clashes that broke out in jerusalem between israelis and palestinians around the reopening of an old synagogue. to a well-equipped buick lacrosse. get inside each. and see what you find. if perfection is what you pursue, this just might change your course. meet the new class of world class.

the twenty-ten lacrosse, from buick. may the best car win. when that's why hefty food knbags click closed. secure. be sure it's secure with hefty food bags. just one click and you know it's closed. hefty hefty hefty ♪ stinky! ♪ stinky! ♪ stinky! ♪ stinky! ♪ hefty! ♪ hefty! ♪ hefty! ♪ hefty! hefty bags with unscented odorblock technology help neutralize odors and stop the stinkies. ♪ stinky! stinky! ♪ stinky! stinky! ♪ hefty! ♪ hefty! ♪ hefty!

well, tensions are often simmering in jerusalem, but now they are boiling over, as hamas calls it a palestinian day of rage. clashes spun into riots. it's against israeli's controversial housing plan and the opening of a synagogue in a disputed part of the city. paula hancock is live in jerusalem with more. what's the latest? >> reporter: hi there, the hamas group did call for a day of rage and it was close to that. we saw protests in many of the suburbs of jerusalem, turning into clashes and there were injuries. almost 100 palestinians were injured, almost 50 of them were

arrested and about a dozen israeli police were injured as well. now, this is the fifth day in a row that we have seen these kind of clashes in and around jerusalem, but from a personal point of view, today was more significant. we saw more people on the streets. we saw more anger on the streets, for a myriad of reasons, as you say, a synagogue that was reopened, that was destroyed back in 1948, was reopened monday night. that sparked tensions, but tensions were already incredibly high, for a start, last week's announcement of 1,600 new homes in east jerusalem which also started that diplomatic spot with the u.s., that infuriated palestinians who are really concerned that israel is trying to make east jerusalem, which they want as the capital of their future state, more jewish. so, at this point the clashes seemed to have calmed down, we don't know what tomorrow will bring. the thing is that tensions are still very high in jerusalem, we know 3,000 israeli police were on the streets is today and

there will be heavy security as well tomorrow. >> no particular resolution in response to the 1,600 houses in east jerusalem. we've heard about it a lot because the secretary of state criticized the israeli prime minister, but bottom line they said nothing will change about the decision to build the new houses. >> reporter: nope, not at all, ali. and what we have heard from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, he said for 42 years, israeli governments have been building in east jerusalem and he named all the presidents and prime ministers that have done it and he named the areas that he'll continue to build in, he has made it perfectly clear that he does not intend to change the policy of building in east jerusalem, of course it makes tensions even higher. now, we know the senator, george mitchell, the u.s. middle eastern envoy, was supposed to come here to start the indirect talks, that was postponed, which is probably a good thing, to be honest, given what i saw in the

streets of east jerusalem, no one was interested in pocking peace, ali? >> paula hancocks, in jerusalem for us, thank you. when we come back, we'll go to another part of the world. we're going to go to las vegas. richard quest is in las vegas, and you're not going to believe what he found in a city that was already known for excess. it feels like a liner, but protects like a pad. because it absorbs 10 times more. there's nothing quite like it. carefree® ultra protection™. feels like a liner, protects like a pad™.

[ gorilla ] nice move. but can your retirement income keep pace with changing interest rates? this new variable anúéity from axa equitable has an option that can help your retirement income move with changing interest rates. but what do i know? i'm just the 800-pound gorilla in the room. [ female announcer ] make the retirement cornerstone annuity from axa equitable part of your retirement plan. consider the charges, risks, expenses and investment objectives before purchasing a variable annuity. contact a financial professional for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully. whoo hoo! [ female announcer ] sometimes you need tomorrow

to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. ♪ let me go if we've learned nothing else from las vegas, it is that nothing succeeds like excess. but now las vegas is learning that lavish, needless consumption 24/17 a losing proposition. cnn's richard quest highlights one simple thing. for vegas and the planet. ♪ >> reporter: the lifeblood of vegas.

the strip at night. this is the sign of the city that draws 40 million visitors each year. this, on the other hand, is the side of vegas that few, if any, tourists will ever see. underneath the sprawling venetian and palazzo ohell casinos, the excess from above in fuel view below. 70 tons of waste, brought down daily. sorted. smashed. carted away. at one time, most of it would have ended up in the local landfill, but in just a few short years, the complex has converted itself, into one of the valley's largest recyclers, and all with the help of one unlikely aali.

>> okay, we're heading over to the cooker. here we go. >> reporter: bob kohn, a small pig farmer, tons and tons of food waste, from many of the major casinos. it all ends up here, on combs' 150-acre farm. >> we are going, all right? >> reporter: with his newly built boiler, in just two hours, combs can turn ten tons of buffet leftovers into nutrient-rich pig feed, and just like that, bright-light city to the south, this is a 24/7 operation. >> i work it, yeah. pigs can outrun me now, most of them can. >> reporter: his farm is a shrine to conservation. even the pens themselves are made from recycled world war ii landing mats. ♪

in building the future las vegas, sands' chief operating officer, mike levin, said combs' message of sustainability makes sense, especially in the current economic climate. levin points out the recycling of food waste is just a small part of the venetian and palazzo's sustainability plan. >> massive buildings mean massive opportunities, and although one person can do his own or her own good for what's going on with sustainability, big properties like this can save an awful lot, up to 100 millions of gallons of water a year, that's a billion gallons in ten years, light savings, energy savings that amount to four, five times our investment. >> reporter: the key, says levin, is to conserve. while keeping the comforts visitors have come to expect, which mean efforts like bob combs' recycling pig farm stay out of view. the sustainable side of las vegas' future, out of sight, but not out of mind.

richard quest, cnn, london. that guy can tell any story well. all right, checking some top stories. thousands of people in the northeast still have no power after a devastating weekend rainstorm flooded streets and knocked down trees. at least 11 people died in storm-related accidents. in parts of minnesota and north dakota, folks are in a race against time as the swollen red river is expected to crest on saturday. in texas, two people were killed, more than a dozen injured, when a bus rolled over near campbellton, it happened on interstate 37, about 50 miles south of san antonio. the bus with about 35 people on board was headed to mexico. no word yet on the cause of the crash. and tiger woods is returning to competitive golf at the masters. after a four-month break because of a sex scandal, in a statement he says he'll play at augusta national next month. woods dropped out of competition in december after a string of women revealed they had affairs with him. all right, when we come back, there he is. is he at the white house?

because i was trampsing around there yesterday looking for him. he's at the white house. ed henry, this is part of the ed henry segment we do every day at this time. he's our white house correspondent and he's got the inside scoop.

♪ ♪ until you mail it back. ♪ yeah, we need participation ♪ for better schools and hospitals. ♪ ♪ the census, the tool, to make it all possible.♪ ♪ we can't move forward, ♪ until you mail it back. ♪ but there's one that makes your skin look better even after you take it off. 98% of women who tried neutrogena healthy skin makeup thought so. does your makeup do that? neutrogena cosmetics. she is the greatest thing ever. one little smile, one little laugh. honey bunny. [ babbles ] [ laughs ] we would do anything for her.

my name is kim bryant and my husband and i made a will on legalzoom. it was really easy to do. [ spits ] [ both laugh ] [ robert ] we created legal zoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. garlique's clinically tested ingredient maintains healthy cholesterol naturally. eat right. exercise. garlique. ♪ we're not going to take it

no we're we ain't going to take it ♪ there he is, our chief white house correspondent, senior white house correspondent, ed henry, where he should be at the white house, i was at the white house yesterday and i could find no evidence of. >> reporter: what were you doing here, by the way? >> i was milling around, looking for a gift shop. >> reporter: why are you sneaking around the white house, it's not like i come flesneakin around atlanta, oh, yeah, i did. >> you had a better thing because you were able to get in and do what you want to do. i was walking around the place, i know ed henry, just let me in. it didn't work that way. >> reporter: did it work? >> i was still lost. i couldn't find the gift shop. i would have left something for you. you had another visitor to the white house today, the chairman of the democratic national committee, tim kaine, what was that all about? >> reporter: that's right. tim kaine came in, he had lunch with the president. a lot of people wondering now that he's -- his term is up as governor of virginia, maybe the president was offering him a job, special envoy or something like that after his dnc tenure. robert gibbs said he didn't

offer him anything but salt. we'll see whether or not there's salt in the wounds, i guess, on capitol hill, because health care is a big stoppic and i asked governor kaine, chairman of the dnc, obviously, what about this procedure, it's really only? washington where you can have what's called an up-or-down vote on health care which the president is zee mademanding an speaker pelosi may set it up so democrats don't have to vote on the bill on the house side. i asked governor kaine about it. >> the procedure they are complaining about is one they use often which is a rule of the house, so you're going to see a lot of that over the next couple of days, it's desperation. >> reporter: they have done that, they've used the procedure, the republicans have, but again yesterday they pointed out the president said there needs to be an up-or-down vote. >> there will be. >> reporter: on the changes but not the actual underlying bill. >> the changes -- look, it's an up-or-down vote that pem wile live with, whether they vote yes or no. everybody knows what it's about.

it's about whether there's a health care package or not. and i think democrats will be very comfortable voting yes, and then putting this system in place and being judged by how it does. and i think republicans will be held to account for voting no in standing with insurance companies rather than trying to solve the issues. >> reporter: but there's a perception -- so, did you catch that, governor kaine when i pressed him said there will be an up or down -- well, a vote. it's not clear whether it's a direct up-or-down vote like the president has been promising the american people,ing? i pressed robert gibbs about as well, and he said the same thing as governor kaine, basically everybody knows where the lawmakers stand, whether it's a procedural vote or a direct vote on the health care bill, we'll know, but then if it is so clear, why don't the lawmakers just vote up or down. >> it does become -- >> reporter: i think we'll see a lot of this. >> it does seem to be a particular problem, what was brianna calling it, a self-extracting rule, a self-executing rule, it's

complicated. you wonder why people don't understand what goes on. >> reporter: only in washington can ul have a vote that's not a vote, i guess. >> that's exactly right. tell me about, you said something about salt, did the president and governor kaine have lunch? >> reporter: well, it's funny, because, you know, the president's been sort of joking but it's also a serious topic about how his cloholesterol has risen lately, i put it to governor kaine, what did he have? give us a little secret of what he ordered while you were with him. >> salad with chicken. >> reporter: for both of you? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: because he's been joking that his cholesterol is a little bit high and the first lady, wants to make sure -- >> well, someone's watching out for his health. >> reporter: it looks like the president has made some adjustments, but the thing is what i haven't gotten about the whole president joking about the diet, whatnot, the guy is about the skinniest guy, obviously he wants to make sure his cholesterol is down, but he's in

pretty darn good shape. >> a guy like me i might talk about eating better and you might see some difference. >> reporter: yeah. >> what do you mean, yeah, are you calling me fat? >> reporter: no, saying yeah about the presidential part. >> senior white house correspondent, ed henry. i can't hear you. i can't hear you. when we come back, i'll talk to josh levs, who has never called me fat. he's at the stimulus desk, a pretty skinny guy himself, we'll talk about how much money has gone in to the economy to stimulate the economy for us. hom he's the man of the future.

♪ one way or another i'm going to find you ♪ all right. here's the thing. you've been working on the stimulus desk for a long time. >> i've been camped out here. >> i just want a straight answer. is it working or not >> a va majority of economists say yes. "the wall street journal" talked to 54 economists, and 34 said it's having a serious effect. mitigating loing job losses and mitigating the economy. only six of those 54 ned overall it's not helping. >> and they've actually come out with some numbers about, let's say, when you look at jobs, what it might have been without the stimulus. >> this is interesting about the survey, they have a number, check this out, right now we know that unemployment is 9.7%,

and the economists think without the stimulus, it would be at 10.4%. it is putting people to work right now, and it's a legitimate concern to talk about the future. we're talking on all the debt, and we're paying interest, there will be long-term damage. ultimately will it do more good than bad? we'll see years from now. but right now the folks are saying it's paying off. >> all right. i'll wait for your theory. i think you may know more about the stimulus than anyone i know. >> i didn't know it would work out that way, but we're digging into the stimulus like crazy and people are crazy about it. we are answering your questions, you can tweet me at joshlevscnn, and that's cnn.com/stimulus, that shows you -- >> it shows you. >> isn't it cool? all the money the government has been spending. >> not just the stimulus amount, there's a whole bunch of other stuff. there's josh. >> that's me. >> right now we're promoting york on twitter and facebook. the other guy -- >> i got three tweets about my tie. three. >> i don't think ed henry got

any. >> of course he did. >> all right, josh, thank you. when we come back, i want to talk about an interesting move under foot in texas, to change the way history is written. plus, every volkswagen includes no-charge, scheduled, care-free maintenance. so, what's this punchdub days about? you know, where you punch someone in the arm every time you see a volkswagen. red one! [ baby crying ] test drive? [ male announcer ] with great deals on all 13 models, it's a whole new volkswagen. and a whole new game. ♪ ♪ my country ♪ 'tis of thee ♪ sweet land ♪ of liberty ♪ of thee i sing [ laughs ] ♪ oh, land ♪ where my fathers died ♪ land of the pilgrims' pride ♪ from every mountainside

♪ let freedom ring

time now for the "xyz" of it. we talk about education. if you have a high school student, have you ever looked at their textbook, you may want to look. and it could change soon, by that i mean, the history in it

could be changing and what your kid is learning could be changing. if texas gets its way, high school textbooks will have a definite conservative slant. republicans got their way when the texas board of education last week approved in a party-line vote a curriculum that includes some of these changes. thomas jefferson would no longer be included among writers influencing the nation's intellectual origins, a reduced scope for latino history and culture, confederal general stonewall jackson cited as a role moddam for effective leadership. there are many other conservative-slanted changes. why should you care what textbooks are in texas if you don't have a student in texas, because texas is one of the largest buyer of textbooks in the country and the ones it buys are usually used by many public schools across the country. the process is done every ten years. republicans on the texas board of education lost out last time, well, they appear to have a much better chance this time around.