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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  March 24, 2010 9:00am-11:00am EDT

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remark about health care, they weren't letting on. press secretary gibbs tweeted, and yes, mr. vp, you're right. if it was such a big deal, within two hours of his utterance, it was already on t-shirts. the guy really known for salty language is chief of stam rahm emanuel, who wouldn't tell on the president when he talked to "60 minutes." >> but i do not kurgs in the oval office. >> does he curse? >> reporter: once again the curse of biden strikes. a form of actual curse. jeanne moos, cnn. >> thank you, joe. >> reporter: new york. >> all presidential live events will be on a six-second delay. >> i guess so. our tweet peeps on twitter saying we wouldn't have heard it, neither would our kids, if the media didn't keep replaying it. >> it's all our fault.
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>> cnn "newsroom" with kyra phillips continues. >> if they kept our mikes on during the commercial breaks they'd have plenty of bloopers. >> oh, yes. no argument here. >> see, kyee kiran, i love how transparent you are. john, you're just faking it. happy wednesday, guys. we're going to be move straight ahead. we'll be talking in the next couple hours about of course friends and allies, looking at each other but not seeing eye to eye. has the bond between the u.s. and israel been strained? prosecutors say a man broke the trust in sickening ways. was he a sex offender first and a pediatrician second? and so green, so lush, so toxic. what is it about this small scenic california farming town that's making babies sick? our special investigation next hour. jill dougherty is filling us in on where health care goes next.
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remember the government program to help you save from foreclosure? the program itself might need saving. stephanie elam tells us why it's getting slammed. and your questions about changes in your health care. what will reform mean when it's time to see the doctor or the surgeon or the pharmacist? our dr. sanjay gupta has some answers for us. we're at the top of the hour now, and the ink is barely dry on the new health care law, and now the fight returns to capitol hill. the senate begins debate over possible changes to the house measure, and senate republicans are champing at the bit and promising to use every maneuver possible to undermine or defeat the measure. 14 states have already filed lawsuits saying the law is unconstitutional. as for the president, he'll go behind closed doors today to restrict federal funding of abortions. it was that promise that clinched the final, critical votes for the bill's passage. as a matter of fact, it was the very issue that stirred so much rage that a congressman shouted "baby-killer" in the house chambers during sunday's
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historic vote. cnn's jill dougherty at the white house. so, what's the deal with this executive order being signed behind closed doors, and what does it mean, jill? >> reporter: well, kyra, the president really had to reassure members of congress and the senate who supported -- who do not support abortion rights that the federal restrictions on funding for abortion remain in place, that nothing had changed. and so what he does is he signs an executive order. and, again, it really is just one more step to reassure them that everything is going to be the same and that federal money will not be used for abortions. >> so, jill, why wasn't this just put in the bill? >> reporter: well, in effect, it kind of is in the bill because nothing changes. but there was so much concern by people, let issei bart stupak, member of congress who will be here today. in fact, the president has 13 members of congress and one senator who do not support
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abortion rights who will be here for the signing. it was just one more way of making it explicit. they needed that because it was so contentious. they really wanted the president to go that extra step. >> and now the president hits the road tomorrow. so what's his next move? >> reporter: right. so he goes to iowa city, iowa. why there? because that's where back in 2007 he began the campaign, during the campaign began his campaign for health care reform, so he goes back to the beginning and once again goes out to talk with americans about how this bill should work. >> jill dougherty at the white house, jill, thanks so much. as expected, the health care reform law is headed to court. 14 states have now filed lawsuits trying to challenge it. attorneys general from south dakota to south carolina say it's unconstitutional because congress is mandating that people buy health insurance. legal experts say the lawsuit has little chance of succeeding because under the constitution federal laws trump state laws. senator ted kennedy spent decades fighting for health care
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reform, and he was not forgotten when the overhaul was finally signed into law. kennedy's youngest son, patrick, left this note by his grave at arlingt arlington national cemetery. "dad, the unfinished business is done." kennedy died of cancer in august. president obama credited the late senator's work in yesterday's bill signing. we've received hundreds of e-mails from you asking what the health care reforms will mean. well, in less than ten minutes we're going to get some answers from cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. then next hour we'll answer more of your questions. we're going to be joined by a doctor and a lawyer about the changes that you can expect to see. first, our vice president was just in israel, then israel's prime minister got the snub here. it's pretty clear. the u.s. and its key ally in the middle east are fighting like never before. and in a word, here's why. jerusalem, it's in the eastern part of the holy city where many palestinian arabs live and where they had hoped to create their future state capital.
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but israel, which governs all of jerusalem, insists on building more apartments there for its jewish residents. well, last night the israeli prime minister, benjamin netten ya hue, went to the white house for a good talking-to by president obama. but unlike most visits by israel leaders, there was no photo-op, no chitchat with reporters afterward, nothing. why is this critical? americans lead the paegs effort there. and then there's iran. we'll go thrive jerusalem later for the bigger picture. issue number one, it's still the economy by a mile. take a gander at this cnn opinion research poll done over the weekend. we asked, what's the most important issue to your vote for congress? 43% said the economy, 23% answered health care, education at 11%. meaningless goals, lousy execution making a bad problem even worse. not exactly high praise for the
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government program to keep americans in their homes. stephanie e slam with us to talk about a watchdog group's report. they really ripped into this foreclosure program. >> reporter: yeah. they made it very clear how they feel about this, kyra. we're talking about the $75 billion loan modification program. and basically we have the special inspector general of the t.a.r.p. bailout, talking about neil barofsky here, coming out, really saying the program has a lot of problems. it may help as little as 1.5 million to 2 million people, about half the target the obama administration had in mind when this was announced in 2009 in february. and keep in mind that about 8 million people are reportedly behind on marges or are in the foreclosure states. so they're saying the government set meaningless goals that were unclear and believe the program will fall short of its goal all together. they're also saying the implementation of the program was mismanaged and people didn't have the proper documentation necessary to take them to a more
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permanent setup. now they're saying there's a large number of defaults at risk here because people may still have issues with these and may still end up losing their homes, which is just crazy to hear about. so through february, if you take a look at where we are through february, 170,000 borrowers got permanent modifications. more than 1.3 million, though, were in those trial modifications. and the treasury says that 40% of the homeowners in the program may redefault, and the reason for that is because the program didn't factor in the total borrower's debt. so at this point, kyra, neil barofsky is saying here's what needs to be to happen. they need to clarify their expectations of this program, the treasury department. they need to let them use other forms of income clarification so people can move out of trial into permanent fixes for their situation with the mortgages. also they're saying they need to work to bring down the risk of defaults here. if you take a look at this, all together the biggest thing i see coming out of this is that
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barofsky believes, because this wasn't handled in the right way in the first place, this could actually spread the foreclosure crisis out over several years than helping to truncate it as of now. as for the treasury department, they're saying that there are some successes out there and they shouldn't just be judged completely on the number of people who have permanent modifications. they say they are going to work to become more clear about their objectives. but it's pretty clear, kyra, overall neil barofsky thinks this program is a bunch of mess. >> a bunch of mess. that was well put there. >> reporter: yeah. >> unlike vice president joe biden. >> reporter: too many different things. did i scare you? >> yeah, i got a little nervous. thanks, stephanie. all right. well, you've been filling our inbox with questions about changes in your health care, and we're answering them in just a few minutes. and we have a big storm system rolling through the middle of the nation that could bring a lot of different rough
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weather, types of rough weather to the rockies and severe storms to dallas and ft. worth. when i grow up,
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well, we have received tons of your e-mails with questions about health care, and chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is here with answers at our health care desk. we've had our stimulus desk, all kinds of desks. but you know what? we have to have a health care desing. isn't this great? this is all for you. we're going to hopefully be doing this -- >> first guest. >> there you go. the first doc. we were talking about the digestion and when you swallow your gum. does insurance ha if anything goes wrong? >> i'll have to look that one up specifically. 2,700 pages.
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better have something about that in there. >> thank you, sanjay. let's get to our first question, shall we? this is coming via twitter from virginia. what will happen when there are not enough doctors to oblige all of the patients? >> this is probably one of the most common questions we get. and the math is pretty simple here, kyra. right now they predict there will be a 40,000-doctor shortage even before the health care was signed. 40,000 primary care doctor shortage. now you'll add about 32 million more people that have insurance. so the math is pretty simple. by the way, those 32 million people who sign up for new progr programs, a lot of them, will get free preventive services, as well, which will obviously increed the need and demand for doctors as well. there's incentives built in to get more doctors into the system, student forgiveness loans, increase rebim ursments for certain specialties. they're also banking on this idea of community health centers, not hospitals but -- >> we have stories on this. >> right. they can service a lot of the
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nonurgent needs of a particular community so, that may help take some of the pressure off those primary care doctors, as well, but i think this is going to be an issue going forward. >> those clinics are called doc in a box, right? >> some people call them that. >> not very -- >> you're one of them. >> exactly. sanjay, we should have talked about swallowing gum before the segment. but the hope is, too, if more doctors are made available that less people will be flooding the emergency rooms, because that's a huge problem right now. >> that's absolutely -- what you're describing is absolutely the case. and e.r.s have a lot of overhead expenses. there's a lot of things that go into taking care of a patient in an emergency room, so taking care of the exact same patient, the exact same diagnosis simply costs more in the e.r. getting people to maintain their doctors visits would be a huge advantage. >> all right. another question here. this is from joans in new jersey. does the elimination of lifetime
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caps under the new health care bill apply to existing policy holders as well as new insurance sign-ups? >> the short answer to this question is yes, and that's some good news potentially. the scenario is this, kyra, that you've been healthy, fine your whole life. then you have a medical problem, whether a trauma from a car accident, some sort of chronic disease. there's this concern all of a sudden. will your insurance company cover anything? will they stop paying after a certain amount of money? that's what a cap is. under the health care bill, for all policy holders, new and existing, there will be no lifetime caps on what insurance companies should pay to take care of you. as far as annual caps, the cap in any given year, it will be much more restrictive. the department of health and human services will create that language specifically, but that's what we're hearing about annual and lifetime caps. >> what happens if i can't afford health insurance and don't qualify for medicaid? what are my options?
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>> this is a common scenario. someone's cost of living is high enough they simply can't afford health care insurance, but it's also too high to qualify for medicaid. two scenarios. one is if they have a medical problem they can within 90 days qualify for a high-risk pool. they can join these pools of medical care around the country. >> how do you do that? >> well, you have to qualify. people can't buy insurance because the premiums are too high or they're not making enough money to buy health care insurance. you sign up for the pool and it's using the volume of a lot of people signing up to try and negotiate rates with health care insurance companies. it's still going to cost money, which is why the federal government is saying we're going to put $5 billion into these pools to take care of this. ultimately, there will be these exchanges. in four years, like a supermarket of health care plans available to you. you go shop as opposed to having one or two choices. you have lots of choices
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allowing them to compete for your business. that's the hope that people with can get their premiums lower on that. if they can't still, they'll get subsidies. >> got it. we cover a lot of story, and the health care -- i mean, just yesterday on my blog in less than two hours we had 500 questions. we just made one mention of send us your questions. there are so many americans that are interested in this and have a lot of questions. and it's not stopping. it's continuous and we're getting more and more. >> what's amazing, i've read this bill twice, 2,700 pages. i felt it mandatory for me to read it twice to understand it. but there are things that are that people are asking -- >> better than a lot of our lawmakers, never got through it the first time. >> but there are a lot of questions coming up that people just simply didn't think through. even though it's a long bill, things will come up that people have to figure out with this. that's what's going to take place in the next several months or years. >> keep doing the health desk. all right. we'll have more obviously with
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sanjay in the 10:00 hour and also coming up tomorrow. all right. the calendar says it's spring, but it looks a lot like winter in broomfield, colorado. this is just outside denver. wet snow falling yesterday at a rate of up to an inch an hour. 19 inches of snow in boulder, colorado, yesterday. now that storm is going to head to north texas. you know, reynolds, we thought spring had sprung when we saw the cherry blossoms in washington, d.c. what happened? >> i know. saturday afternoon is when it officially began and still old man winter is hanging on. the sangre de cristo mountains in parts of colorado into new mexico, it seems as though the ski season will never end. the reason this is all happening is pretty simple. we have this area of low pressure set up over parts of the southern plains, and we have plenty of moist air coming in from the gulf of mexico and it's wrapping around where you have some very shallow and cool air in parts of the rockies. when it comes in, obvious it's going to fall through the lower levels of the atmosphere and give us that snowfall. but right ahead of that
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boundary, we can see strong storms develop especially through parts of the dallas/ft. worth metroplex. afternoon hours, could have some strong thunderstorms and could see delays in places like dallas. relatively calm in places like the northeast, but we could see some delays. already at jfk, a one-hour delay. more of those in boston due to the wind. all the airports in d.c., philadelphia could have an hour-plus delay due to the wind. cleveland due to fog and in denver, yeah, more of that snowfall which is going to hamper some of the visibility. visibility in new york looks pretty good. this is a shot from central park. you see the ice-skating rink right there. enjoy it while you can because summer is right around the corner. that is the forecast. let's send it back to you at the news desk. >> thanks, reynolds. >> you bet. a split decision on the case of a teenaged lesbian barred from taking her girlfriend to a high school prom. (announcer) it's one of the best mid size sports sedans in the world if it's not
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there are over 50 international awards we'd better give back. the jaguar xf. the critically acclaimed result of a very different way of thinking. what had happened in central harlem was failure became the norm. the schools were lousy... the healthcare was lousy... gangs we u prevalent. violence was all over. families were falling apart. you can't raise children in a community like that. people had been talking about things, but not doing anything. hi, mr. canada... how are you? i'm doing great, how 'bout you? right here on 119th street. if we could fix this block, then we could fix the next block, then we could fix the next block... we promised parents, if your child stays with us, i guarantee you that child is going to graduate from college. failure is simply not an option. the sixty...the seventy... the eighty... the ninety-seven blocks which ends up being 10,000 children. we start with children from birth,
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violated when her high school refused to let her take a same-sex date to the school's prom. but the judge also refused to order itawamba school system to hold that dance that was canceled due to controversy. changing security at the airport. metal detectors may no longer have the last word. instead, it might be you in a face to face interview with screeners.
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president obama's choice to run the tsa has a model in mind -- israel. kate, fill us in. >> very interesting.
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hey there, kyra. after this position remained vacant for more than a year, president obama's new pick to lead the transportation security administration will be sitting down for a second day of confirmation hearings on capitol hill today. and yesterday retired army major general robert harding started laying out his ideas for u.s. airport security, saying he really wants to beef it up to better resemble certain airports overseas. listen here. >> i agree with you that we should move even closer to an israeli model, whether it's more engagement with passengers. i think that increases the layers and pushes the layers out. i think that's a very important aspect of providing security is engaging the public. the last point -- >> now, you heard right there he says more engagement with passengers. well, the israeli system is marked by aggressive questioning of passengers, and it's praised
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by security experts as making their system one of the most secure in the world. but kyra, it's also criticized by some privacy and civil rights advocates especially who say that the system leads to passenger profiling. one more point also during the hearing, harding endorsed the use of full-body imageers at airports that we've been talking so much about that have raised privacy concerns among some, kyra. >> there was a lot of concern, too, that the head post had remained vacant since the bush administration. >> yeah, absolutely. since the bush administration, harding is actually president obama's second choice for this position. erroll southers was nominated but then withdrew his name after a situation where he sort of changed his story, really, on a disciplinary matter while he was an fbi agent. but this is a very important post, some have said, and we talk about this post all the time. it's very important and has remained vacant over a year now and people are very happy to see these confirmation hearings are
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at least beginning. but there's really no date yet. it needs to go before the full senate, kyra, and no date set for when that vote will happen. >> we'll track it. thanks, kate. >> of course. accused of raping kids. a delaware pediatrician heads to court today. guh. [ male announcer ] for a better-looking tomorrow. vicks nyquil cold & flu. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine. ♪ one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach.
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how do we know how big our hospitals need to be?,m 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.
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and it's almost 9:30 eastern time, about 30 seconds away. we're keeping a close eye on wall street right now, waiting for the opening bell. investors are keeping a close eye on the latest barometer of the economy, of course. we're going to have a new housing report just minutes from now. but yesterday's rally on the ropes? hmm, we'll take a look at the board as soon as the bell rings. there it is. also we'll be talking about your credit score. do you even know how you got it? some lawmakers on capitol hill want to help you keep track of who's looking at your scores. a house panel is actually holding a hearing this afternoon on credit reporting and its impact on you and me. on the hot seat, representatives of the three major credit bureaus that rate you. okay. it's a story that just makes your skin crawl. a delaware pediatrician is headed to court for the first time today accused of abusing
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more than 100 of his patients. sometimes the parents were right there in the next room. more on this in two minutes. (announcer) it's one of the best mid size sports sedans in the world if it's not there are over 50 international awards we'd better give back. the jaguar xf. the critically acclaimed result of a very different way of thinking.
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the power to help you succeed. this story shocked us, shocked parents and disgusted a very trusting community. a delaware pediatrician charged with rape. dr. earl bradley is accused of sexually abusing more than 100 kids, some of them as young as 3 months old, all of them patients
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of his. he's in court today, and we promised you we would stay on this story. on the phone once again, chris bearish, who's been covering this story for the news journal in wilmington, delaware. chris, any surprises out of today's arraignment? what do you think? >> reporter: i don't think so. it will be the first time anybody has seen him since december out in public. so he'll probably plead not guilty to his attorney. i don't expect him to say much. one new development is that his private attorneys left the case last week and now he's being defended by the office of the public defender. >> that's because the judge froze his assets. right? why did he do that? >> well, the attorney general beau biden put a lien on his assets or the court put a lien on his assets so that victims who would be suing him and his estate will be able to recover some of those as sets. now, the private attorney said this put him in a position where he would have to petition the court to get paid for himself
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and the experts he was planning to hire to put on a mental health defense and it was basically too much hassle and effort and he decided he wasn't going to do it. >> well, as you and i talked about when this first broke and we read about the 471 counts that he was indicted on, it's going to be pretty hard to prove in any way, shape, or form that this guy should be cut any type of break because of what he did and what was captured on videotape. remind our viewers, chris, just how disgusting these allegations were. >> well, what's been reported in police affidavits is that he was recorded having intercourse and oral sex with children ranging from 3 months to 13 years old. five of the children, according to court documents, appeared to lose consciousness or stop breathing during the attack. he was barking commands at victims. in one he had a violently
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enraged expression on his face. and these were attacks he committed at his office. he would take children away from their parents ostensibly to give them ice cream or a treat or just to calm them down if they got a shot and he would do this while he had other patients waiting and pulled it off, according to prosecutors, for more than a dozen years. >> that's what a lot of us wanted to know. how could he pull this off? you were telling us apparently he was very good at kind of schmoozing the parents. there was a playroom and kind of a whole setup of different areas where other kids could be distracted with their parents while he would say, oh, it's okay, let me take littlejohnny in and give him his checkup. >> exactly. well, not his checkup. like go, you know, just calm him down or give him a treat or -- he had one room he was setting up as like a movie theater. he had one room decorated as pinocchio. and what he would do is he would look for vulnerable parents, like a parent changing a diaper with another child who was crying, and he would say, you know, let me take the little
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girl away for a second and, you know, one second on the -- or five seconds would turn into a minute on the second one or even five minutes. one mother said he took her daughter away and she waited for, like, five to ten minutes while people were waiting in the waiting room and literally went outside and found the child walking back with him from this outbuilding he took her to, crying. she's not sure what happened in there and is waiting to see if she's on the videotape. so this is just a case that's just enraged people down here. >> yeah. it's enraged us, too. i mean, he deserves the worst punishment possible. we will follow today's arraignment. cris, always great talking to you. cris barrish from the news journal. >> thanks, kyra. an irish bishop has resigned
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amid the catholic church abuse scandal 37 bishop john mcgee apologized for any abuse by priests on his watch. five irish bishops have handed in resignations since december due to this scandal. the vatican has accepted two of them. and remember her story? killer whale dragged this seaworld trainer under water, killing her last month. family members of dawn brancheau want to make her final moments don't go public. a seaworld security camera apparently recorded it. a florida judge is expected to decide how long to hold the release of the video. under state law, the video will become public record once the investigation ends. we told you some foreclosure horror stories, but here's a real twist. a cleaning crew sent by the bank to a florida home found dozens of dead snakes inside. 17 other snakes were barely alive. that's not enough to make you a bit squeamish, there were also dead scorpions, frogs, insects
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and mice. one cop called it the nastiest home he's ever been in. the home's previous owner has been arrested on animal cruelty charges. so, is this how friends behave, using words like insulting, not taking photos when they get together? this is where the u.s.-israeli relationship is right now. in less than a minute, we'll tell you why. and the academy award for best actress goes to halle be y berry. remember that? it was on this date eight years ago she became the first african-american to win that award. the movie was "monster's ball," and in her tearful acceptance speech she paid tribute to all the women that came before her. remember captain joseph hazelwood? he was at the head of the "exxon valdez" in 1989. 11 million gallons of oil spilled into alaska's prince william sound. ♪ and 1958, elvis joined the army. he reported to the draft board
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in memphis, tennessee, for his induction. a day later he got a buzz cut. private presley was trained in tanks during his two years in service and obviously never stopped writing his music.
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dysfunctional allies? the u.s. and israel are stuck right now over the issue of construction plans for east jerusalem. israel's defiant about moving forward. the u.s. wants it stopped, saying that middle east peace is at stake. kevin flowers is in jerusalem. the u.s. and israel are tight. we've known that for years.
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the u.s. gives israel nearly $3 billion a year in aid. so how far will israel push this building issue? >> reporter: well, kyra, that's a question a lot of people are asking here as well. and what we know for certain is that it's almost politically impossible for the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, to announce publicly a freeze on construction in east jerusalem. if he did that, his coalition would fall apart. he would be out of power. but at the very least what the united states would like to see is an end to these various public announcements that we've seen from the israeli government about new israeli construction in east jerusalem. just last night, it was revealed that -- by the jerusalem municipality that 20 more units of israeli housing in an arab neighborhood of east jerusalem had gotten approval last week, this during the entire sort of breakdown of relations with the u.s. over this very issue. so it's moves like these that
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the americans see as provocative and not being helpful to getting the israelis and the palestinians back to the negotiating table. so they definitely like to see that change, kyra. >> and we're not just talking about a peace deal here that the u.s. and israel and the palestinians have been working on for years but also the u.s. and israel's joint stand on iran. anybody in israel worried that this growing rift will stop two old allies from tackling that iranian threat? >> reporter: well, i don't think many people here believe that the u.s. won't stand behind israel in face of an iranian threat. but what people are worried about is that issues like this, a rift, a deterioration in relationships over construction in east jerusalem, construction of settlements in the west bank, that these all take away attention from what is the number-one priority for this israeli government, which is to shine international attention on the potential threat from iran.
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that's what they're worried about and that's what they want people to pay attention to more than anything else, kyra. >> kevin flower, appreciate it. coming home in the middle of the night. family members stayed up late to welcome home hundreds of troops fresh off a year's deployment on the battle of afghanistan. we get the story now from our affiliate wtoc in savannah, georgia. >> daddy. very tired. >> reporter: 3-year-old katie hanley and hundreds of families with the 48th bring grade of the georgia national guard braved the cold. >> well, we've got blankets and hot chocolate. >> reporter: waiting for their loved ones to arrive home from afghanistan. >> just looking forward to them coming home so we can kind of get back to normal, a new normal, actually. and we're just happy at this point the deployment's over and everybody's coming home safely. >> we've been lucky. he's been there several times but for short deployments. this has been the longest one and the hard west a 3-year-old
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and a 3-month-old. >> reporter: and hanley knows exactly what her daddy is going to do once he sees her. >> daddy is going to smush me. >> reporter: waving flags and holding signs, these families, friends, and loved ones can't wait to hug their soldiers again. >> to see him right in front of me, that's going to be saw many. >> reporter: and the cheers start to build. >> usa! usa! >> reporter: and finally, families see the soldiers march into ka trel field at ft. stewart. >> a job well done. >> reporter: then the waterworks begin. these brave men and women of the 48th brigade are returning home from afghanistan, where they spent a year training and mentoring afghan security forces. our cameras captured the moment when katie finally got her hug from daddy. >> this is what you think about, constantly overseas. >> it felt good to see everybody here, you know, knowing that your family members are here waiting on you to get home. >> reporter: safe at home in the arms of their loved ones.
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>> the rest of the 48th is expected home next month. the national guard soldiers will spend a few more days on active duty before returning home to their families. a somber home coming in hot springs, arkansas. the body of navy s.e.a.l. adam lee brown arrived there yesterday. he died from injuries from a combat mission in afghanistan. friends, family, people who didn't even know him showed up to honor him. he got the bronze star for his bravery in battle. we remember him and also lift up the 1,019 u.s. troops who have died in afghanistan and the 4,390 that have been killed in iraq. [ male announcer ] when you buy a car, what are you really buying? a shiny coat of paint? a list of features? what about the strength of the steel? the integrity of its design... or how it responds... in extreme situations?
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you can tell your grandkids back in my day they used to let us embrace at school. they were called hugs. yep, at one middle school in oregon, it's come to this. hugging banned, hands off, no xs, no os. why would the principal do something like that? don't we encourage hugs, not drugs. don't we see bumper stickers that say have you hugged yourself today? don't we put huggies on babes? why hate on a hug? help me get my arms around this chlt sophie from kptv in portland tried to explain in an uncomfortable manner. >> reporter: it was that more than hugging behavior that first caught allison couch's attention. she said school is a place for learning and when the hugging distracted from that she had to
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put an end today. not only were student arriving late to class because of the hugs, but some kids got hugs even if they didn't want one. the most extreme case, she says girls would hug boys as a game to see how long it would take to get them aroused. >> that just seems absolutely strange and shocking. >> what he said. well, when you put it that way, maybe it's not such a bad idea. health care reform, proponents, detractors and promises made, we'll get into that story beginning with jill dougherty at the white house. jill? >> there's another health care signing at the white house today, but this one is being done in private and we'll have details at the top of the hour. and we all know starbucks, but did you know that they give health care to a lot of their employees that aren't full timers, even the barristas behind the counter. it's costing the company $300 million, but it's critical and we'll tell you why coming up in the next hour. and it is an early spring time storm that could bring
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heavy snow to part of the rockies and possibly strong thunderstorms on the plains. we'll give you the full details coming up in just a few moments. >> thanks, guys. next hour i'll take you to ketelman city, california, a latino version of mayberry usa, but with one hug and disturbing distinction. how do we know if a birth defect is more than one mother's misery? ♪ ♪ >> translator: it's such a small town and such a large problem. we want to give our children life, not death. >> our investigation straight >> our investigation straight ahead in the cnn "newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com if it's not there are over 50 international awards we'd better give back. the jaguar xf. the critically acclaimed result of a very different way of thinking.
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rising tide of drugs, guns and violence along the u.s. mexican border in the search for an answer, secretary of state hillary clinton led a u.s. delegation to mexico yesterday whereshe admitted much of the problem mexico stems from the appetite for illegal narcotics. we know that the demand for drugs drives much of this elicit trade that guns purchased in the united states as we saw some of
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the examples outside are used to facilitate violence here in mexico, and the united states must and is doing its part to help you and us meet those challenges. >> and those challenges grow daily. drug-related violence has gotten so bad that the mexican border town of juarez is now one of the most dangerous places in the world to live and die. cnn's gary tuchman gives us a blood-curdling first-person account of theic credible violence there. i've got to warn you, this story is not for the squeamish. >> reporter: this man has just watched gun mern ambush his brother and murder him in one of the most frightening cities in the world, juarez, mexico. a place where 16 young people can be killed at a party by narc owe traffickers who made a mistake targeting the wrong house and few are stunned by it. law-abiding citizens be damned. this past weekend we went to the
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funeral of an american woman who worked at the u.s. consulate in juarez. she was shot and killed along with her american husband and her unborn child. it happened right in front of the juarez mayor's office, a stone's throw away from el paso, texas. over the next few hours we saw first hand who has led to juarez having the highest murder rate in the world. there's no such thing as a quiet weekend day in ciudad juarez. one hour ago police got a call that in this murky river there was a body. when they got to the scene they indeed found the body with a bullet hole right on the forehead. behind me members of the military with guns and police. these guys will probably be at another murder later today. we didn't realize how quickly we'd see them again. only ten minutes after we left that river, a five-minute drive away, this was the scene. two men in that gold pickup, six gunmen came up to them. the driver ran out, was shot and now he's under that tarp. why was he targeted? we may never know. this is the brother of the victim who was also in the
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pickup. the gunmen left him unharmed. >> translator: we were just going to the tire shop to pick up a tire and nothing more. 30 minutes later another execution-style killing. a worker at an electrical store shot multiple times at close range. neighbors are afraid to talk about what they know and fear the murderers will come after them. i asked this man if he heard anything. [ speaking spanish ] >> reporter: as an observer it's very disturbing how this starts feeling very routine. we're seeing the same police officers, the same members of the military. no matter how nice the neighborhood is or how light the sky is or how many children are out on the streets, if these narc owe traffickers are targeting you or mistake you for someone they want to target you're almost as good as dead. we are told that something horrible happened in the middle of the desert outside of juarez. we drive on a gravel road into near total isolation to see what police discovered from it an anonymous tip. what the authorities found here
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was a mass grave. this hole right here had five decomposed bodies, one of them without a head. it had been less than four hours since we arrived in juarez when we saw this scene. the body of a man shot more than a dozen times shot at close range in the backseat of a car. outside the police line, a woman who didn't want to talk sobbed. this woman was one house down from where the execution took place. did you hear gunshots? >> no. >> reporter: you're right next door to where they happened. >> yeah, but no, we didn't hear anything. >> reporter: would you be afraid to tell me if you did hear something? >> well, yes. >> reporter: so many people are afraid in juarez. after a sunny saturday afternoon here, you see why. gary tuchman, cnn, juarez, mexico. and you're looking at a live picture of a court hearing right now that just started in florida. it will determine whether to keep footage of this seaworld trainer under lock and key.
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a security camera actually captured the death of dawn brancheau after one of the killer whales dragged her under water. her family wants to make sure that the final moments don't go public in hopes that the judge will hold on to the video's release. 50-year-old anthony sowell is accused in the brutal murders of 11 women. their remains were found last year at his home now dubbed the house of horrors. sowell faces 85 charges including murder, rape and kidnapping. he's pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. expanding smoke-free zones inside cars. that's what a british doctor's group is calling for and they say the secondhand smoke inside a car can cause severe health problems for children and adults. a smoker's group says this could be the first step in banning smoking in homes. health care reform the day after. the ink is barely dry from yesterday's signing, but president obama goes behind closed doors for the next signing. he'll re-affirm the existing ban
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on the federal funding of abortions. we'll have more on that in just a moment. meanwhile, 14 states have filed lawsuits challenging the new law. they say it's unconstitutional because congress is mandating that people buy health insurance. as senate begin debate to the house measure republicans are licking their chops. >> under a reconciliation procedure there are multiple amendments. we'll be able to get more amendments on this bill than we got on the one that passed back in december. the american people expect us to try to change this if we can, and if we can get a simple majority under the procedures that are laid out on this particular measure, we can change it and send it back to the house and continue the debate and the debate, by the way, will not be over today. this is just the beginning of it. >> let's take a closer look at today's executive order on abortion. it was that very issue that stirred so much rage that a in the house chambers during sunday's historic vote.
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jill dougherty with the story. what's the deal about the executive order being signed behind closed doors and what does it mean, exactly, jill. >> reporter: in order to get the democrats onboard, obvious leet democrats are onboard with the general bill and now law on health care reform, they had to get over that hurdle of what was going to be done about abortion, and would it be more liberal than the existing rules? so the president is actually signing an executive order, one of the key people who wanted him to do that is congressman bart stupak who led the charge on all of this, he will be here along with 13 other members of congress and one member of the senate as the president signs this executive order and what does it do? essentially it says that the restrictions that already are in place will remain in place, and here's how it actually is put in this executive order. it establishes policies and procedures to ensure that federal funds are not used for
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abortion s abortion services except in cases of rape or incest or when the life of the woman would be endangered and that, the president would say, is consist went existing restrictions that are known as the hyde amendment. it's really going the extra mile, kyra, to make sure that these legislators are comfortable with what is now the law. >> and the president hits the road tomorrow. what's his next move? >> reporter: he does. he goes on iowa city, iowa, and that is where he back in 2007 during the campaign launched his push for health care reform. so it's kind of coming full circle on that and he does want to go out and convince people that this law will work the way he wants it to work and begin to make the case for it. >> jill dougherty from the white house, we'll be following it and taking it live tomorrow as well. we received hundreds of e-mails, by the way, from people
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asking what the health care reform will mean to them. in less than ten minutes we'll be joined by a doctor and a lawyer about the changes you can expect to see and they'll answer your questions. first our vice president was just in israel and then israel's prime minister got the snub here. it's pretty clear, the u.s. and its key ally in the middle east are fighting like never before and in a word, here's why, jerusalem. it's in the eastern part of the holy city where mainly palestinian arabs lived and where they had hoped to create their future state capital and israel which governs all of jerusalem insists on building more apartments there for its jewish residents. last night the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu went to the white house for a good talking to by president obama, but unlike most visits by israeli leaders there wasn't a photo-op, no chit-chat with reporters, nothing. why so critical? americans lead the peace effort there. let's now take a look at the racial divide. this hour the national urban league is releasing its annual
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report on the state of black america, and a big focus is jobs. a few highlights from the report finds african-americans are almost twice as likely to be unemployed, they lack health insurance and lag in homeownership rates. the report says the landmark health care law is not enough. urban league says now is the time for a strong jobs bill and is calling for $150 billion for direct job creation in local communities and get this, unemployment among african-americans is projected to reach a 25-year high this year. a group of chicago high school students is trying to get a leg up on the job market, though. they run a coffee shop in their school, getting work experience now hoping that that will help them later. photojournalist kevin myers brings us their story from austin polytechnical high school. >> the kids get here at 6:00. let's put cups and lids in case you stay down.
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>> they start brewing the coffee. >> that's fine. you already have it. >> okeydokey. >> and they get the hot chocolate machine together and they start selling. >> i'm marketing manager. so, for example, if we need some advertising, that would be my job to get posters posted around the school. >> yes, i can. >> my role is general manager and bookkeeper. >> five, six, seven, eight. oh, it's perfect. >> it teaches me how to manage money and work in a team environment and actually work ethic, like coming in and doing the work and feeling the reward from the work. >> each day we keep a tally of how much we sold. how many cups of coffee, how much tea and how much hot chocolate and everything and at the end we count up the money and hopefully the tally and the
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count will match up. >> 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. >> high five! >> good morning, stephen. >> good morning. >> it's easy to balance it with school because school always comes first, and it was made in a school so when you have to go to do a test instead of being at coffee shop they understand because school is the number one priority. it's all about learning. >> in five months i would like to go solo for five. >> you have to have a lot of responsibility for it because if you indulge too much in your school work then you forget the responsibilities of being an employee or if you're too self-indulged in doing what you do for the business you might slip on grades and grades are a huge factor for us for the coffee shop. >> it teaches them to be altruistic, to care about each other. >> i think it's great. we only work an hour and we get paid pretty good.
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high five. oh, yes. >> thank you. >> you have a wonderful day. >> you, too. >> putting americans back to work. we'll have a closer look at the urban league report in the noon hour including a panel discussion on solutions to the employment gap between african-americans and whites. when it comes to health care questions our inbox runneth over. you've been hitting us big time with hundreds of e-mails. we've got the experts here with answers, hopefully. a doctor who is also a lawmaker, two for the price of three, and a lawyer who goes everywhere to talk about health care. so get ready, you two. also ahead, our special investigation, so green, so lush and so toxic. what is it about this scenic california farming town that's making babies sick? nice haircuts? now go home. yep. this do got twin boys suspended from school. ed listerine® whitening® vibrant white™ rinse. the mouthwash that gets teeth four times whiter than the leading toothpaste.
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i'm meteorologist reynolds wolf, and you are watching cnn, and this is your forecast for the day. the big weather story is the area of low pressure that continues to march its way right through the central plains and bringing possibly rough weather through kansas city southward to oklahoma city and maybe to dallas before the day is over and in the back half of this area of low pressure we see snow picking up and we could see up to a foot of snowfall in parts of the rockies. here's the big troublemaker. nice and dry on the eastern seaboard and breezy in the northeast and relatively dry if the northeast until the northwest until you get north of san francisco and look for delays in places like philadelphia, san francisco and new york, about a 25-minute delay in jfk. that's the latest on your forecast. stay tuned for more right here on cnn. [ female announcer ] sometimes you need tomorrow
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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.
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we've been getting so many questions on the health care reform that we're unveiling the health care desk right here in the cnn "newsroom." we have two guests to kick it off. steve kagan is both a congressman and a physician and kathy mcclure is an attorney and the president of health care.org. she's traveling the country to help educate people about health care. i appreciate you both being here. this coverages you know, all three aspects. we have the congressman also involved in policy and involved in the medical field. we've got you that has been reading this many times over and you know all of the details about it. seriously, we have not received so many e-mails about a subject
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matter in such a long time. we've just been flooded on the blog. have you seen more questions about this subject matter, do you think, kathy than a lot of other things since you've been on the job? >> definitely. i think that the american public knew very little about this bill, still knows very little about the bill. they're learning more and more about it every day and that's good news. i think that it's reassuring to the american public to see that there are provisions in here that will really protect people from runaway premiums and will ensure that we'll all have access to affordable health care. >> congressman, what do you think? our dr. sanjay gupta said he read this twice, 2700-plus pages twice. fess up, i want to know. how detailed were you when it came to figuring out what this all means and have you been receiving lots of responses from your constituents? >> absolutely, yes. as a practicing physician for many years i took care of my patient's problems and i had to read a lot of material to get
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there, this health care bill is not only a monster, but great for the american people. no longer will a family go broke just because their child has an accident or becomes ill. this bill essentially applies civil rights that protect each american citizen from discrimination to the health care industry. you now have civil rights that protect you against discrimination. if your child is born with a defect, no longer will the insurance company discriminate between you and your children. >> let's get started. we'll direct this question from dan to you. my daughter is 25. is she covered under my plan starting now until her 26th birthday? she does not have any other health insurance. >> well, dan, your daughter will be covered shortly in a matter of 60 to 90 days for the regulations to kick in. your daughter would then be covered until her 26th birthday and thereafter, she'd be available to purchase insurance on her own. essentially what this very
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significant piece of legislation does, it provides subsidies for people to purchase private health care. so there's really no change in our health care delivery system and your daughter would be in that private health care system. >> kathie, this one dollars liz. i've been working as a substitute teacher while applying for several jobs a week. i've had to move back in with my parents because i make less than $500 a month. am i going to be fined now if i can't afford health insurance? >> liz, i have good news for you. first of all, no fines will be imposed on anyone until the individual mandate kicks in in 2014, but even when it does you won't be subject to any fines because you, in fact, earn less than the filing requirement for individual income tax return which is $9350. so liz, you will be protected from any fine, in fact, be exempt from it. the other good news is that you're actually eligible for medicaid, so you will have the
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opportunity to get care through the medicaid program. >> interesting. maybe i can follow up with you, if you don't mind. how much will the fines be for those that don't buy health insurance? >> well, c.w., the fines, again like the mandate, don't kick in until 2014. so no one's going to be paying any fines or being required to purchase any insurance until 2014. and when the mandate does kick in, it will ease in. for example, in 2014, an individual that fails to purchase an insurance policy would pay a fine of only $95. that would graduate to $695 in 2016 or 2.5% of household income, and in the case of families the fine would be up to 20,000 -- let's see, $85 or 2.5% of family income, whichever is greater. of course, that creates the situation where sometimes the fine is cheaper than the premium
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particularly in the case of families. so -- >> some would rather pay the fine than deal with the high premiums. >> yes, i think that will be happening because the fines are not unreasonable for families. >> interesting. congressman kagan, you sort of touched on this, but this is coming from diana. my daughter is 32 years old and was denied health insurance due to a pre-existing condition. is there anything we can do before 2014? >> absolutely, yes. first of all, immediately this year no child will be discriminated against because of prior illness or pre-existing condition, and for the rest of us by friend 14, there will be no discrimination against any citizen due to pre-existing conditions and simply said if you're a citizen you're going to be in the risk pool. you'll be able to purchase health insurance in a very competitive and openly competitive medical marketplace. >> let me follow up with you one more time, congressman.
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jeanie wants to know i'm currently retired, and what will happen to the cost of my medicare and supplemental health care coverage up or down? >> there will be no changes to the rules and there will be changes, particularly in medicare part d. many people fell into what we call the doughnut hole which is the gap in coverage and immediately this year there will be $250 to help you in medicare part d to get through the coverage gap and later in time we'll close the doughnut holcomb pleatly. the other advantages in medicare will be that you'll have no co-payments and no deductibles for prevention health care services. so for women, a mammogram will be covered already within medicare and also within standard insurance policies sold privately. >> got it. >> kathie, if you don't mind, i want to get a question in about our vets. love our vets. brian writes in, with this new bill will disable the vets that have health care via the va have to get insurance, too? >> i have great news for brian.
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the answer is an emphatic no. that's -- veteran benefits will remain the same. the good news is that any veteran enrolled in a program with the va and currently receiving care through the va will continue to receive that same care. nothing will change about the care they receive. the same is true for tricare and tricare for life which are programs that provide coverage for our vets' families and for vets after they retire so their programs will remain the same, too, as well. which you would imagine would be a top priority for our lawmakers in washington. the good news is and this is a little-known fact, there are 16 million veterans who don't receive health care through the va because they're not eligible. >> really? that many? >> there are income requirements for eligibility for veterans' care. also, whatever is being treated has to be in many cases
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service-related. so the good news is for those veterans and their families who are currently unable to afford health care which is quite a few. i believe over 2 million several years ago, a lot of vets and their families, they will be able to participate in the insurance exchanges like everyone else in america. they'll be able to buy an affordable policy through the insurance exchangees. >> congressman, there's your next policy fight. you have to make sure every vet gets health care. that's crazy. >> it's quite a battle, but every soldier who has served overseas and has defended our back, we need to be there and cover their backs when they come home. >> absolutely. >> also understand that our veterans get higher quality care today than when i began my practice in medicine in the 1907s. in the 1970s the va was not adequately funded and this congress and the previous congress i had the honor to serve in had increased the benefits tremendously to our veterans who qualify, but understand, that overall, our health care system in the end
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will have three-tiered system. we'll have the va system which is going to be available for our military veterans who qualify. we'll have government-sponsored programs such as medicare, medicaid, public health service, indian health service and the third-tier system which will be an openly competitive medical marketplace with transparent prices for everyone to see so we can finally go shopping. the real goal is to allow competition between insurance carriers to drive the prices down and the quality up. everybody watching here today understands you want the highest quality care at the lowest possible price and that is the goal of congress to be able to deliver that. >> congressman steve kagan, thanks so much. kathie mcclure and it's vote o health care.org. logon. thank you. as always, we want to hear from you. if you have something to say on health care or any other topic go to my blog, cnn.com/kyra, post your thoughts and we appreciate your questions this
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week. there must be something about meeting oprah in person with the face-to-face put a lingering lawsuit behind her. she's not the queen of talk for nothing. [ 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. is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. host: could switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance? host: is ed "too tall" jones too tall? host: could switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance? host: does a ten-pound bag of flour make a really big biscuit?
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[ 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. ♪ the stimulus with pop rocks and your mouth will explode. watch out for the stimulus swimming around loch ness. we're talking about myths about the stimulus and doing some debunking. you can label as "different." like janice. uh-huh. yeah. fashion deficient. and tom... copy incapable.
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it's open kimono time. looking good, dan. oh, we want to make sure all our ducks in a row. yeah. volume control syndrome. but we focus on the talent and skill that each person... brings to the team. i mean, no one's really concerned about labels. not even mine. labels get in the way. disabilities rarely do. visit thinkbeyondthelabel.com to evolve your work force. hey, ask our doctor about garlique, okay?
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garlique's clinically tested ingredient maintains healthy cholesterol naturally. eat right. exercise. garlique. the hearing is under way in cleveland right now. 50-year-old anthony sowell accused in the brutal murders of 11 women. their remains were found last year in the home now dubbed the house of horrors. sowell faces 85 charges that include murder, rape and kidnapping. he's pleading not guilty by
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reason of insanity. she won her legal battle, but lost h a federal judge agreed with the mississippi teenager constance mcmillen. he ruled her first amendment rights were violated when the school refused to let her attend prom with a same-sex date. the judge refused to order the school system to hold the dance that was canceled due to the controversy. talk show queen oprah winfrey has settled a defamation lawsuit filed by the former head mistress of her south african girls school. the lawyers say a woman to woman talk between the two resolved dispute. the head mistress alleged winfrey defamed her by implying she knew of the abuse and tried covering it up. kettleman, california. some call it a latino version of mayberry, usa, opie and aunt bea never had to deal with this. >> how do we know if a birth defect is more than one mother's misery?
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>> translator: it's such a small town and such a large problem. we want to give our children life, not death. >> i'll tell you why some in kettleman city fear a toxic turn for the worse.
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bowl champ a couple times over. we've got new information about the sexual assault investigation. ddddddddd the screenings that happen here
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might be fun or dramatic, but it's not real life. there's another screening that is real life, and it could save your life. it's a screening test for colorectal cancer, the second-leading cancer killer of men and women. screening finds precancerous polyps, so they can be removed before they turn into cancer. i got screened. now, it's your turn. so you can stick around and enjoy the show. if you're 50 or older, get screened for colorectal cancer.
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california is the most environmentally friendly state in the u.s., but one small farming town may be wondering where their friends are. i'm talking about kettleman city. you may never have heard of it, but when you see what's happening to the children this you can't help, but want to know more. >> reporter: -- is more than one mother's misery. ♪ ♪ >> translator: it's such a small town and such a large problem. we want to give our children life, not death. >> reporter: how do we know if maria salcedo's misery is part of a pattern? maria is not alone in the farming community of kettleman city, california.
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her misery has company. >> reporter: when you're driving through the san joaquin valley here in california, it's beautiful. it's green, it's lush and there's rolling hills. but just a few feet off this busy highway something else that grabs your attention. the largest toxic waste dump west of the mississippi. last year 400,000 tons of hazardous waste including lead and cancer-linked pcbs found in plastics was dumped here. less than four miles away is kettleman city, a small, poor community with no grocery store, no high school and few sidewalks. the town of 1500 is also plagued with poor air quality, unsafe
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drinking water and exposure to pesticides. it also has a startling number of birth defects that some residents believe could be linked to this toxic dump. in the past three years ten babies have been born with birth defects. three of those children have died. small town, troubling numbers. troubling for mothers like maria salcedo and darya hernandez. darya's son joel was born with a cleft palate. >> when you look at these pictures, as a mom, how does it make you feel? >> translator: it makes me sad because i look at them, and i remember what we had to go through. it was difficult for him to eat. >> reporter: maria's daughter ashley also had a cleft palate. she died.
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when you knew she didn't have a strong immune system and that you were losing her, what did you say to her? >> translator: i apologized for not taking her earlier to the hospital, but the doctors told me it wasn't my fault. that with babies like this this is what happens. >> reporter: and just this past february another baby was born with a birth defect. this is baby azul, the tenth known case in kettleman city. yet in december, local officials voted in favor of expanding this waste site, sparking protests across this small town. our investigation led us to a shocking document. take a look at this 1984 report commissioned by the state of
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california. it actually identifies communities that are least likely to resist a waste site in their area and some key characteristics, low income and catholic. >> those describe farmworker latino communities to a tee. >> reporter: in a statement to cnn, waste management says the facility operates safely and is fully protective of human health. in addition, four government entities have concluded that waste management operates safely. however, we discovered past epa violations including failure to perform monthly monitoring for fluids at its pcb landfill. ingrid brastrom is an attorney on waste, poverty and the environment. >> if there's any potential that these birth defects are caused by environmental contaminants then we shouldn't be introducing
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any new contaminants. there should not be an expansion of the hazardous waste dump. waste management has paid $3 million in taxes to the county. >> it's essential that the county knows what is causing these birth defects for the hazardous waste dump can be expanded, and i mean, it really appear like this is really a case about the money. >> reporter: so now residents and activists have filed a lawsuit against king's county. >> for any discussion of an item on the consent calendar. >> richard valley, the chairman of the kings county board of supervisors agreed to an interview with cnn, but when we came to town, he didn't show up. >> hi, i'm kyra phillips with cnn. >> hi, how are you? >> you canceled our interview last week. >> let me call you back. >> i want to ask you a couple of questions and most importantly why you voted to expand the toxic waste site even without a
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thorough health investigation. >> do you know that i'm the one who called for the health investigation? >> valley did ask the state for an investigation into birth defects on december 15th, but just a week later on december 22nd, he voted to expand the waste site. >> i separated the health concerns out of kettleman city with the land use decision. the land use decision that i made as it relates to the permit of the waste management expansion. >> the point is why vote to expand the toxic waste site when that investigation is not done? when the families haven't been talked to and the kids haven't been studied. >> but i answered that already. >> the question is subject to litigation right now? that's what we're saying is talk to our attorney about those issues. >> we'd be more than happy to talk about this. i have out in the chambers and public meetings, but right now i have to stand with the county. folks have filed a lawsuit
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against us. i thought that i had delivered with the health investigation to some people apparently that's not good enough. >> would you feel kettleman city. would you feel comfortable if your wife was pregnant and living in kettleman city? >> i can't answer that. i don't think that's a fair question. >> maria salcedo echoes the mothers of kettleman city. >> translator: i want a response, and i want it quickly. nobody's given us any answers and children continue to be born sick. >> now california's governor arnold schwarzenegger has stepped in demanding not only an investigation from the california department of public health and the epa also. so far waste management's toxic waste dump in kettleman has still not been granted a permit to expand. we'll follow the story. grande health care reform. the newest flavor for starbucks and its ceo is pretty happy with
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the new law. its effect on their bottom line for sure. there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. new motrin pm. i can download files up to 10x faster than 3g... outside. i can stream the movie "airplane" to my cell phone... at the airport. i can have a crystal-clear videoconference with my clients... ...muffin basket or something... ...while working offsite, or share five high-speed connections for online gaming... while enjoying the great outdoors. [ video game sound effects ] eat it, yoshi! what can you do with 4g? [ male announcer ] experience 4g from sprint. it's more than a wireless network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities, it's a wireless revolution. access www.sprintrelay.com.
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a parting of the ways for a set of tennessee twins. they had to leave school over the part in their hair. of the world's most revered luxury sedan. this is a history of over 50,000 crash-tested cars. this is the world record for longevity... and one of the most technologically advanced automobiles on the planet. this is the 9th generation e-class. this is mercedes-benz. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial. ♪
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multiple published reports have georgia police dropping their dna requests of pittsburgh steelers quarterback ben roethlisberger. the 20-year-old college student claims the nfl star assaulted her at a georgia nightclub. it's the second time in three years he's faced such an accusation. in texas, this dashboard cam gives a front-row view to a
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crash involving a police officer. he says he tried to avoid impact, but -- boom, no such luck. the officer says he was pursuing a speeder and had his lights on when another car pulled in in front of hum. the patrolman and the driver had to go to the hospital. businesses big and small are paying close attention to health care reform and what it means for their bottom line. starbucks is one company that wants to see the system changed. the coffee giant says it spends more on health care than it does on coffee beans. cnnmoney.com poppy harlow's in new york and tell us more about stars bucks and this connection. >> a lot of us drink the coffee. a lot of people say it's too expensive, but this is something that's admirable about star bucks. we went to seattle to sit down with the ceo howard schulz and what struck me most and you can see there is what the company spends and their dedication to health care and it goes back 30-plus years to his childhood and what health care meant to
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him and his family. i want you to take a listen to part of our interview. >> i grew up in brooklyn, in the projects which was subsidized housing. my parents were great, working-class people, but at the same time as we grew up i think realized that we were not the privileged few. we were on the other side of the tracks and i think what i -- what i felt as a kid and what -- and what stayed with me as i was trying to build starbucks is to ensure the fact that any insecurity or lack of respect that someone would feel as a result of where they came from should somehow be refined by how the company would treat its employees, and i just felt very strongly that we couldn't bring the company to where it needed to go if we did it on the backs of our people. >> thank you, mr. speaker.
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>> given the fact that we're in the middle of the health care debate, what i feel really proud of is that we didn't turn our back on our people. we kept the benefit and it will cost us almost $300 million. >> so what do you think then, howard, when you look at the debate going on in washington right now over health care for more americans? >> the fact that between 40 and 50 million americans don't have health insurance, in my view, is the -- is kind of the fracturing of humanity of our country. it doesn't feel right. there's no reason why we should be so far behind. >> you spoke with the president? >> i have spoken with the president. this is a runaway train and we're on a collision course with time if something doesn't happen. >> and kyra, what you heard there is that he's committed to giving their employees health care even the part-time baristas, people that work 20 hours or more at the company all get health insurance and it costs the company $300 million and that's why he said something
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needs to change. companies need help paying for this and a few days after that interview we saw health care reform pass. really interesting, something i didn't know about starbucks, they give this despite the $300 million cost to the company. >> i've known people that work there and they give pretty incredible benefit, too, when you start working there it covers things a lot of big companies don't. these are good businessmen, that's for sure. thanks, poppy. we'll take you live to the new york stock exchange right now. the dow industrials are down about 24 points. two cute little boy, one problem. haircut. what is it about this 'do that got this duo sent home from school? the watchdog who looks out for fraud in the stimulus has come out swinging. he says some people are hyperventilating. i'm josh levs. i've got a reality check just seconds away.
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earl devainy, that name ring a bell? maybe want, but he's got a really important job. he's chairman of the government accountability and transparency board, that's a fancy way of saying that he investigates waste, fraud and abuse in the stimulus program. he's kept a low profile, but he went public this week to refute what he says are myths about the stimulus program. josh levs in his natural habitat over there. so what's mr. earl devany complaining about? ? he says he's going on the attack on the myths spreading wild. the stimulus is $ 62 billion, borrowed dollars that we're paying interest on. there are all these myths and lies flying about. let me show you a few of what he's complaining about. you may have heard this one, that billions of dollars from gone to phantom districts.
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there were reports that billions went to districts that don't exist. there were basically some typos and people filling out where they were using the money. he says no money went into a black hole. a lot of people think that he and the board overseeing the stimulus are taking orders from obama, president obama and his administration. he says that's not true. we're totally independent and the most important one i want to take a look at, he's complaining about this. he's complaining about reports that look at how much money is in the stimulus and how many jobs have been created. he says the idea that $250,000 per job is what's happened so far from the stimulus. he says that's ridiculous. i want to show you quickly on the computer what he writes in his blog where he's going after critics. look, what about the benefits of the highway project to motorists? what about the indebt job, the sub contractors and the suppliers that benefit? his position is don't just look at the jobs numbers, but you know what, kyra? the stimulus is a jobs program
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that's what we should be looking at there. >> let's talk about how many jobs the stimulus has created. is there any way to put together a hard and fast number? >> the administration likes to say 2 million. they're talking about three kinds of jobs, direct, indirect and induced. here's how they total their jobs. direct job, you hire a contractor to work on the street and he gets paid. along with that, he needs to buy the concrete to do his work and the people who make the concr e concrete, indirect. a lot of that is guest store, guesstimation, 2 million people are working who would aren't be working otherwise. the short version here is we'll never know for sure how many people are working because of the stimulus that wouldn't be working otherwise. we won't know. >> thanks, josh. two sisters once joined at the hip now facing off in court. at the center, a lottery ticket, a winning ticket worth a half a million dollars. one wants her half while the other doesn't want to share. what's a judge to do? -d-d-d-d-dd
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wings of change that can bring new life to the tying region. i'm talking about the once rust belt and what's being cultivated there by wind farming. joe johns has more in this installment of kwd building up america." >> reporter: this used to be steel country usa with its towering pollution machines and now new jobs in the clean energy sector putting people back to work, going green all at the same time. the u.s. subsidiary of a company based in spain, gamesa usa is generating enormous wind blades
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at this plant, shipping them all over the u.s. ron sanders is the plant manager. >> how many of these do you guys make a week? we're moving back up to produce more at 11 blades per week. >> reporter: sanders got a break from the recession by coming here to work. he used to work for an automotive supply plant that fell on hard times. >> i've been in automotive for almost 30 years. as the industry declined i found myself having to leave the employer that i was working for at the time. >> reporter: ed burnett had jobs at three different steel plants before it all dried up. he's grateful to be working here. >> most of the guys that work here like the idea of it being green. we like the idea of this cleaning our environment up, and a lot of people here like that idea. >> reporter: creating green jobs is something the president talks a lot about, but to tell the truth, the u.s. lags behind western europe and wind mill production and use, so in the end the real job may be standing up the wind mill industry in the u.s. so it can create more jobs,
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more energy and compete in the global market. joe johns, cnn, evansburg, pennsylvania. two cute little boys, one problem, haircut. what is it about this 'do that got this duo sent home from school?
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new reports sayyaf can americans are almost twice as likely to be unemployed, they lack health sxhrns lag in homeownership rates. coming up at noon right here on cnn, a panel looks for solutions for black america. tony harris hosting that. 5 year. i do remember sitting down with my boys, and i'm like, "oh, promise mommy you'll never ever pick up a cigarette." and brian looked at me at eight years old and said,
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"promise me you'll quit." i had to quit. ♪ my doctor gave me a prescription for chantix, a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill. in studies, 44% of chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment, compared to 18% on sugar pill. it's proven to reduce the urge to smoke. seeing how chantix worked, i wasn't so afraid to try quitting again. [ male announcer ] talk to your doctor about chantix and a support plan that's right for you. some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice agitation, hostility, depression or changes in behavior, thinking or mood that are not typical for you, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. talk to your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which can get worse while taking chantix.
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some people can have allergic or serious skin reactions to chantix, some of which can be life threatening. if you notice swelling of face, mouth, throat or a rash stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away. tell your doctor which medicines you're taking as they may work differently when you quit smoking. chantix dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. the most common side effect is nausea. patients also reported trouble sleeping and vivid, unusual or strange dreams. until you know how chantix may affect you, use caution when driving or operating machinery. chantix should not be taken with other quit-smoking products. ♪ my benjamin, he helped me with the countdown. "ben, how many days has it been?" "5 days, mom. 10 days, mom." i think after 30 days he got tired of counting. [ male announcer ] talk to your doctor to find out if prescription chantix is right for you. this story brings new meaning to having a bad hair day. a set of very cute twins
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suspended from a tennessee elementary school because of the way they parted their hair. take a look at that. what's wrong with that? exactly, tony harris, i heard a big what from tony over there. 9-year-old jordan and jason thought school officials thought the part in their hair was a gang symbol and it violated school dress code. are you kidding me? edwards says his sons have been wearing that same hairstyle since they were toddlers and he's got the pictures to prove it right there. we're showing it. the school overturned the suspension and the boys are back in school. keep the part, wouldn't you say? >> it looks good. >> listen to this, tony. this is classic. i want my share. that's what two elderly sisters are battling in court over a half million dollar lottery ticket. this is what happened. one of them bought it and the other says i deserve half, i'm your sister. they had an agreement to split all those winnings apparently because at the casinos they would go together and gamble together and there the lottery

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