it was even notarized and a few years ago an argument put them at odds and they stopped talking. that was over $250, by the way, and this was a bit bigger. so what do you think? does the earlier agreement still count? a judge will answer that $250,000. >> oh, split the money, come on! >> exactly. come on! >> split the money, you're sisters! whatever the riff is, it runs deep, right? >> i think there are probably other issues there. >> you know that's right. >> i remember back in the day if i had hair -- >> did you part it? >> back in the day i would part it. >> you told me you had the big afro going on and you tried to part it and it would blow in the wind. >> those are the days, my friend. >> you're still a handsome devil. part or not. >> have a great day. >> see you, tony. >> it is wednesday, march 24th. top stories for you right now in the cnn "newsroom." america's jobs crisis. the unemployment rate for

african-american workers are almost twice that of whites. >> this state in point you are not above doing anything to generate income coming in. with health care done black leaders call on frz to focus a strong jobs bill, plus this -- >> no matter how nice the neighborhood is or how light the sky is or how many children are out in the streets. if these narco traffickers are targeting you or they mace take you for someone they want to target you're almost as good as dead. a city under siege. drug cartels have juarez, mexico, in their grip and it's people in a constant state of fear and safety when you fly. the man the president wants to put in charge of aviation security says the israeli model is a good blueprint. govern, everyone. i'm tony harris and you are in the cnn "newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com as you know, health care reform has dominated headlines lately, but now that the bill

has been passed and signed what's next? president obama answered that question while celebrating the health care legislation. >> there's still the work to do to rebuild this economy. there's still work to do to spur on hiring. >> jobs and the economy. over the next few hour, we re-focus attention on those issues of top concern to the administration and of course, to you. here's where things stand. the country's overall unemployment rate is at 9.7%, but it's much higher for african-americans and the national urban league is calling for urgent action to put black america and the country back to work. >> what's important now is for the nation to embrace the idea why closing those gaps is not only good for african-americans, but also good for the nation at large. when we have unemployed people, we also have people who can could be contributing to the overall economy that's why we strongly support a robust jobs

initiative by the president and the congress. >> and so that's where we begin this hour, with the urban league's call for creating jobs in its annual report on the state of black america. stephanie elam from the cnn money team live from new york. good morning. good to see you. what does the state of black america report? tell us. >> it tell us us a few things, tony. good to see you as well. it talks about a slight improvement based on the equality index for 2010 and the equality index basically measures how equal blacks are to whites when you look at economics, health, education and social justice. so when you put these all together, they're saying this is the first one-year uptick in the last few years mainly drawn by civic engagement and that's because so many turned out to vote in the 2008 presidential election and add to that their new hispanic equality index. this is the first time they've done this. this is a new one and they're saying just looking at minorities here and how they've been affected and what they found is that social justice and economics, those were the two

areas where blacks and hispanics were lagging behind whites. they have the highest inequality there and blacks and hispanics were nearly three times as likely as whites to live below the poverty level and also less of half of plaque and hispanic families own homes compared to three-quarters of white families in this country and also, if you take a look at the unemployment and you mentioned there for a second that the recession levels of unemployment is a big deal. it's something that we talk a lot about on the money team, but the unemployment rates in this country. see the national average as of february is 9.7%. for blacks almost 16% and for hispanics and almost 13%. and not just, but a much smaller number there, but blacks and hispanics tend to live with recessionary levels of unemployment throughout most of the year whether we're in a recession or not. just to put that into perspective on why that is so important, and if you take a look at the reason why the

numbers look a little bit better here as far as the overall economics is because unemployment rates went up for both blacks and whites during this recession that we've been in, tony, and that's why you see a change there in that number. >> stephanie, let's leave it there for now and we'll talk more about this over the next couple of hours. we'll have much more ahead on jobs and the economy for african-american, for whites and hispanics and for everyone in the country. later this hour we'll hear from an older american who says he will do just about anything to get a job. we're also looking at younger workers and the summer jobs look now, not later and we put together a dynamic panel looking at issues facing black america and possible solutions and that's where we want to focus our solution. other big stories we are following on this day after president obama signed the health care bill. republicans are on the attack right now in the senate and they're fighting democrats over a package of fixes from house democrats. some prominent conservatives including columnist david fromme

weighing in on the bruising battle and the possible impact on the gop. >> what i would worry about is not that republicans were too angry against democrats. i worry about what's happening with republicans and the republican leadership and the way republican leaders are trapped and constrained and unable to do things that are in the long-term interest of the republican party and institution with conservative values by the intense emotionalism of the republican membership. that's our problem. >> later today president obama will sign an executive order re-affirming the ban on abortions that he struck to get anti-abortion house democrats to vote on the health bill. it took a woman-to-woman talk on the deaf nation suit with the former head of the south african girls school sued the talk show host after she was defamed. the two women met and celted the case. the trial was set to begin five days from now. there's been a dramatic

improvement in michael brewer's condition. back in october he was burned over two-thirds of his body. police say classmates doused him with alcohol and set him on fire. take a look at the new pictures of michael brewer. at a family picnic. he's well enough to play a game of catch, and cnn is working to get an update on his physical therapy and whether he has to have any more surgeries. it is an emotional flash point. we're talking about the city of jerusalem. >> we're building for jews and arabs alike. some people claim that we should stop building only for jews, that's illegal throughout the world. >> jerusalem's mayor defends new settlements each as the city approves yet another housing project. you know, they talk

today aide to the american and israeli leaders plan to keep on talking. they'll hash out ideas raised last night when president obama and prime minister benbenjamin netanyahu both sat down discuss disputed lands. jill dougherty at the white house and senior editor for middle east affairs octavia nasser helping us understand how the arab-israeli relationship why it's so rocky and stress-filled right now. jill, another announcement on israeli settlements was made just this morning and put that

into context for us. >> reporter: the latest announcement is the municipality has given approval for a housing project in a palestinian neighborhood in east jerusalem and this is another 20 houses that would be constructed. interestingly, project by an american millionaire. now why this is significant is because this announcement is coming right after that meeting between president obama and prime minister benjamin netanyahu and flashback to just about two weeks ago. >> that's right. >> reporter: when another announcement of other settlements came out just as vice president biden was making a big trip to jerusalem. so the symmetry is pretty bad. >> yeah. >> reporter: and raises all sorts of questions again of where they're going on this issue. >> jill, what's going on here? what's going on with these announcements? first of all, the vice president is in the country and now this announcement when the prime minister is meeting with president obama? what is going on here? >> reporter: you know, tony, there are a lot of layers to

this because if you look at it simply in terms of the u.s.-israeli relationship, that's not the whole story. there's a big domestic component, and prime minister netanyahu is in a coalition, and he's in a coalition with a number of very conservative people who believe that, as he has said, that israel has the right to its capital, jerusalem whole ask uand unique. it's the third rail of politics and if it goes against that it's very bad for him and it could weaken his position and his coalition can fall apart. >> octavia nasr, i'm hearing rumblings and strong statements from israel from quarters of the international community. i can't remember hearing this kind of tone being taken toward israel from so many different quarters in a very long time. >> right. just think that yesterday the british foreign secretary spelled the head of intelligence

from the israeli embassy and basically the british government is telling its citizens that their passports can be compromised if they travel to israel. this is after the british government found that israel is responsible for forging passports and all of this involved in the killing and the assassination of a hamas operative in dubai. so that put israel in a very interesting position where the british government is accusing it of being behind this and other countries joined in. now france is involved and australia is involved. all these countries are allies of israel and they're coming out and saying they're investigating. they're looking into -- >> octavia, just to move it along. it's also the united nations here. the secretary-general ban ki-moon was in gaza on sunday saying, look, the closure's here and we've got the quote, but the closures here are just unsustainable. >> right.

what's interesting in all this and here you're looking at his statement. he did basically hail the gazans. he said the people of gaza were heroes for what they're sustaining and he was very vocal in this.

israel's position, israel is not changing any of its positions. it's staying on the issues and as you heard earlier from jill, israel basically is making these announcements at very key times when vice president biden was in israel they announced the settlements. as the president is meeting with the israeli prime minister right after that meeting we hear that the municipality gave its signature for the homes. very important to say these homes will be built on land that has right now a historic hotel built by palestinians and owned by palestinians. so these homes are going to be built in a palestinian area, a palestinian neighborhood and it will dictate the tearing down of a historic building that is owned by palestinians. you can only imagine the reaction that this is going to okt ra a is t 3 %yo >onla o tyoh.tho th nd e %ath. that's overriding issue, and if you listen to mr. netanyahu, that's a lot of what he talks about all of the time. with this peace process, right now is not going anywhere. in fact, right before all of this blew up the two sides israel and the palestinians had

agreed to at least indirect talks and mitchell, george mitchell, the special envoy would be going back and forth between them. now even that is in jeopardy so what secretary clinton has been saying is when you have things like this settlement flack it undermines all of that, and it undermines the ultimate objective which is to get both sides together talking directly and getting the peace process back on track. >> yeah. boy, really want to know what's going on here at the heart of all of this. jill dougherty, appreciate it. be onning taffia, good to see you as always. if you want to buy a car or house you need a good credit score. we'll have top tips to help you. you're in the cnn "newsroom."

if you tried to get a loan for something, anything, you know the better your credit score, the better your chances, right? in ines ferre is here with how you can give your credit score a shot in the arm. what do we need to do here? first of all, good to see you. >> good to see you, tony. these days you need a fico credit score of 720 or higher to get better terms on mortgage rate, credit cards or auto loans so it's very important to know what can kill your score. what can that be? that includes not paying bills on time or defaulting on loans and even minor late payments like 30-day blink wenses can be a negative. you can redeem yourself if you

make payments on time. closing accounts can shut your score. the total amount of your available credit is lower and your balances look much larger in comparison. unless you have a massive annual fee, keep your card open. every time you open a new account, your score drops 10 to 15 points. as long as you manage your bills wisely this will only impact your score for a short time. also, beware of retail store credit cards. those credit cards where you get 10% off on the sale? every time you open one of these you're giving the retail lender the ability to pull your credit score and that can lower your credit score, too. for a complete list of credit score killers go to cnnmoney.com. >> i'm not going to let you go before i ask you a quick follow. how much is the derogatory and negative information stay on your mike owe score. >> most negative credit information remains on your credit report for a maximum of seven years.

if you file chapter 7 bankruptcy it's ten years. for chapter laen 13, everything is there for seven years if you pay it off. if you pay on time you'll see positive credit information indefinitely. remember, it's really important to get a copy of your credit report from all of the three credit bureaus and the website to go to is annualcreditreport.com. >> good tips. see you in just a couple of minutes. you have the skills. you have the experience, all you need is a paycheck. our focus, out of work in america. >> given the opportunity. i proved my worth over and over again, and all i'm looking for is a chance to show you what i can offer your company or organization. [ advisor 1 ] i have clients say it's really hard to save for the future and they've come to a point where it's overwhelming.

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okay. top stories for you now. president obama signs an executive order dealing with abortion this afternoon. it bars federal money for abortions under health care reform beyond what current law already allows. it is part of a deal with anti-abortion house democrats. we're getting your phone calls, as you know, about new health care legislation. >> i want to thank the president very much for what he did. at least he had the courage and so did the democrats, and this is a start. i'm just sorry it's going to take six months. >> i believe they ought to kill the bill. it's not for everybody. that's taking the freedom of speech from the american people. >> they're telling us it's our fundamental right to have health insurance, and i think that's right, but it is also our fundamental right to vote. are they going to tell us how to do that, too? they should be going after the insurance companies finding out why they're making millions.

some pictures. we have pictures to show you here. snow so heavy you can barely see two feet ahead of you. folks in colorado will have a lot of digging out to do after this early spring snowstorm. around boulder, 19 inches and about that much, reynolds, in the denver metro area. are you -- is the storm over, at least? >> it is still going to bring more snowfall today. hard to believe we're talking spring here and even though it says spring on the calendar,

tony, as you know we're not done with that season just yet. >> oh, yeah. >> we still have winter weather to deal with. if you look at the map behind me you'll notice the numbers. take a look at jamestown, colorado, 19 inches and a little bit less, but still above a foot in places like nederland and aspen. very easy to see on the map. we have all kinds of colors to deal with. wherever you see white, well, that indicates snowfall. no big surprise there. we see plenty of that south of denver and anyone making the drive on 25 headed down toward albuquerque, you'll run into issues possibly up to one, maybe two feet of snow in the highest elevations and when you get to the other side, warmer air coming in from the gulf and scattered showers and storms and possibly strong thunderstorms near dallas later on today. >> now here's the big weathermaker. it's this area of low pressure and on the other side, here on the gulf coast we'll have very warm and muggy conditions in the least and this system will draw its way into parts of the gulf coast and we could see rough

weather there. as we wrap things up very quickly, here's a look at some of your delays. we have new york, and jfk and laguardia. we have a 35-minute wait at this time. we'll send it back to you. >> the bloodbath in mexico, cnn goes to ground zero in the drug war.

a high-level american delegation is back in washington today after a one-day trip to mexico. more on that in a moment, first. the reason for the trip the drug war and escalating body count, the city of juarez across the boarder from el pass o texas. more than 2600 people were killed there last year. tens of thousands of residents vashgs bandoned the city. cnn's gary tuchman paid a visit. >> reporter: this man has just watched gunmen 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 get killed at a party by narco traffickers who made a mistake, targeting the wrong house and people are not stunned by it. law-abiding citizens be damned. this past weekend we went to the funeral of an american who

worked at a 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 what has led to juarez having the high of the murder rate in the world. there's no such thing as a quiet weekend day in ciudad juarez. about one hour ago police got a call that in this murky river there was a body. when they got to the scene they found a body with a bullet hole right on the forehead. behind me, members of the military with guns, police, these guys will probably be at another murder today. we didn't realize how quickly we'd see them again. a five-minute drive away this was the scene. two men in the gold pickup, six gunmen came up to them and 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 pickup. the gunman left him unharmed.

>> translator: we were just going to the tire shop to pick up a tire and nothing more. >> reporter: 30 minutes later another execution-style killing. a worker in an electrical store shot multiple times at close range. names 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 all starts feeling very routine. we're seeing the same police office 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 narco traffickers are targeting you or they 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 an anonymous tip. what the authorities found here 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 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. >> so did you hear gunshots? >> no. >> you're right next door to where they happened. >> yeah, but no, we didn't hear anything. >> would you be afraid to tell me if you did hear something, though? >> well, yes. >> reporter: so many people are afraid in juarez. after a sunny saturday afternoon here, you see why. gary tuchman, cnn, juarez, mexico. >> we will dig deeper on mexico's violence with our very own nick valencia and ines ferre. we're back in a moment. you're in the cnn "newsroom."

okay. now the drug war summit in mexico. secretary of state hillary clinton led a team of heavyweights from the obama administration. what was accomplished in the one-day meeting? for that let's bring in cnn's ines ferre and cnn's editor nick valencia. ines, let's start with you. it was more than just secretary of state hillary clinton. if you would, who were some of the other u.s. representatives on hand? >> okay. the key players were secretary of state hillary clinton, as you mentioned and defense second robert gates and janet neapolitan o admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint

chiefs of staff and dennis blare. clinton met with pat rhysia espinoza and later with mexican president felipe calderon. the meeting was to expand and improve programs under what's called the merida initiative. it's a $1.4 billion multi-year aid program to fight drug crime. this includes also modernizing border crossings, better inspection of vehicles and people crossing the border, but one of the really main strategy expansions here is to do more on the social economic front, helping poor communities where instability is so bad that young people have fallen into crime. so when you talk about security it's not just the obvious security presence, but also the social and economic security that many mexicans have been lacking. one of the cities that's been a reference point as far as the mexican drug violence is juarez with more than 400 drug-related deaths there since january. >> okay. let's do this.

ines, if you would, stay with us. we'll talk to nick, and i know you have questions for him as well. nick, let's take this on a microlevel to begin with here, and what is it like for the people of juarez? you mentioned, what? a million -- >> it's about 1.3 million, 1.4 million people. other than the fact it's complicated it's a very complicating case. it's not so black and white like people would like to think it is. there are not good guys necessarily and the bad guys on the simplest of levels. it's a very gray area where you have cartel, la linea which has operated in juarez for years. these narcos, these narco traffic kantes, they went to schooling and the and drank in the same bars. when we saw the sinaloa cartel move into the juarez area and we saw the mexican military, about 10,000 troops enter juarez,

that's when the violence started picking up a lot since 2008, in the last two years. >> and what is the fight? you mentioned two cartels here. repeat those names again and what is the fight over? clearly, the spoils of the drug trade, but it's also for territory and a strip of land in particular. >> that strip of land is called the juarez plaza. it's a strip of drug trafficking corridor that goes directly into the united states. there's two cartels battling for that along with some of the proxies and local gangs and street-level gangs that they use to outsource their violence. one of the cartels is la liena and sut it's much like hamas and the med i army. they fund civic projects, they fund churches. they're the ones in the rural areas where the military has no presence and the narcos reign like kings. the residents trust them more than the officials fighting for them. the other cartel you have the sinaloa cartel. they operate in western mexico along the coast.

and they're also known as the pacific cartel. they moved into juarez in 2005 from new of on laredo. nuevo lar owed was drug violence. the gulf cartel and the sinaloa cartel if you're staying with me, they came to an agreement, came to a truce, so to speak. realized they were spending more time killing each other than they were making money upon. so they came to an agreement essentially the sinaloa cartel was taxed to use that corridor and they saw and took advantage in 2005 the la linea, was sort of weakened and the leadership had dissolved and people had fled and defected to the sinaloa cartel the main rival to la linea. they started operating in the juarez plaza. >> they're acting like multinationals and making deals with one another. let's jump in here. i know you have a question for nick. >> the strategy hasn't been working. so the question is calderon sent out thousands of military to

fight this drug war. so why hasn't this been working? why has the military not been able to do this? >> well, what we're hearing from mexican authorities in a lot of ways is the alleged corruption, first of all on the local level and the municipal police department is just rampant corruption is what we're seeing upon. the municipal police department used to be under the defacto control of la linea, of the juarez cartel. he fired and everybody put them through lie detector tests and put them through drug tests and a lot of them failed and a lot of them plain left. as you have the municipal police force under the control of the mexican military, and the mexican military are often implicated in a lot of human rights abuses, if can often be seen as bad guys themselves. >> let me do that, let's see if we can do that to some extent, good guys and bad guys. the mayor of juarez, who you mentioned. is he a good guy? is he someone that mexican

officials that mexican people, that american citizens should rally around? is he a good guy and tell us a bit about him. >> when you look at the history of jar sxez you look at the history of the mayoral elections, in the last five years candidates who have won have come in by less than 2% margin. when he was elected into office, democratically elected he won by a 17% majority. >> tell us who he is again. >> he is mayor jose reyes feris, graduate of notre dame university and got his masters there. he's a law professor by trade. he can practice in california and he can practice in mexico, and he was sought after to be the mayor of juarez. this is not a job he signed up for. it's a job that he was recruited for, and now he's taken the responsibility to be the good guy and act as the face against the narco traficantes. >> putting his life on the line. >> i'm glad you mentioned that. today is the two-week deadline given by cartels. they left a note, a decapitated

pig's head was found in the city two weeks ago today with the note next to it saying in part to the mayor, you have two weeks left to live. today is the deadline. >> i need one more note here. >> tell me who the top drug guy is in mexico now. i'm sorry to do this, but we need to see names and faces. we need to recognize who the top guy, the problem is here. who is he? >> absolutely. it's one guy and everybody knows who he is and he's cinnamon mouse with the drug war it's joaquin "el chapo" guzman. he's head head of the sinaloa cartel and the main rival to the sinaloa cartel. >> ines, thank you. where are you? >> see you next hour. >> thank you. mexico's bloodbath, a continuing focus tonight on anderson cooper "360," 10:00 and 7:00 on the west coast only here on cnn.

let's do this. let's get you caught up on top stories now. oort irish bishop steps down in the wake of the catholic sex abuse scandal. bishop magee says he is sorry for what happened in his diocese. the church has only accepted one other offer. republican politician sarah palin is about to get real. a number of reports say she is close to a deal for a reality show on the discovery channel. it is a travel series called sarah pail in's alaska. she reportedly will earn $1 million an episode. wow! a remarkable improvement for a 15-year-old florida boy set on fire back in october. here are new pictures of michael brewer playing catch. that's a burn suit to protect him from infections. the boys who attacked brewer are awaiting trial on charges of attempted murder. african-americans are twice as likely as whites to be out of work.

we will talk to a panel about a new report on the state of black america.

now that health care reform has passed, getting americans back to work is top priority for a lot of people including the national urban league. it shows african-americans are almost twice as likely to be unemployed than whites. the group is calling for the government to create $368 billion to create 3 million jobs. judy redmond spoke with john roberts this morning. >> basically, i think because i'm over educated which is a very thing. my parents worked hard to get me the best education possible. i got it, and now they don't want to pay me for what i deserve to be paid even though i'm willing to work for much less. >> wow! >> just to have a job.

>> and then there is roosevelt pargo who used to help people find jobs and now he's looking for work. are all platform journalist chris welch has his story. >> this is a copy of my resume currently. >> what did you do as part of your job? >> well, we assisted folks in finding employment, developing resumes, producing cover letters, learning job search techniques. >> so now you're in the same position that the people you were trying to help were. >> yeah. i'm in the process of trying to find a job and it's a real challenge now, and at this stage in point you're not above doing anything to generate some income coming in, you know? so -- >> how old are you again? >> i'm 51. so my age has something to do with the current market also, you know? i'm not one of the young people just graduating from college where you can take an entry-level job at 18,000 to $20,000 a year and be satisfied,

you know? with the house, a wife and a mortgage, there's a little bit more demanding than that, you know? >> does having to do that you used to teach put into new perspective for you? >> yeah. because when i used to talk to my classes doing my orientation and my work shops i used to tell them the only thing that separates sus two paychecks and the reality is once you go a month without a solid paycheck you fall into the category of everyone else out there looking for a job. >> how would you sell yourself right now if you could tell someone why they should hire you. >> given my opportunity and i've proved my worth over and over again, and all i'm looking for is a chance to show you what i can offer your company and organization. >> the issues facing black america and some possible solutions. we'd like to focus on the solutions here. we've put together a really smart panel to hash it all out. improving airport security by giving officers more face time with travelers. it is working in israel. is it coming to the united states?

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i needed to reach out to the program and i need you to talk to me directly. a couple of ways for you to do that. first of all, cnn.com/tony takes you to here, our blog send us r thought on facebook. here's what you do. tonyharriscnn. twitter, tony harris cnn. call us. pick up the phone. 1-877-724-5760. let's have more of your thought tons program. "cnn newsroom" with tony harris.

improving security and the nation's airports, president obama's choice to have the tsa tells congress we can larn a thing or two from israelis. kate baldoun is managing our security desk. kate, the answer is pretty obvious here. but tell us why we are looking to israel. >> what it comes down to really, tony, is passenger engagement as they call it. let me ask you this. would you feel comfortable almost every time you travel

being asked questions why you're traveling, the purpose of your travel, where you live, and other background we cans like that? >> yeah, yeah, if it would help overall security, of course. >> you might be right in line with the president's nominee to lead the transportation security administration. in a hearing he said that may be the direction, the strategy for security in u.s. airports that he wants to go. this is retired army major general robert harding. he wants to beef up u.s. security. in doing so, he's saying in these confirmation hearings he may want to move in the direction of some airport security models overseas. listen here. >> i agree with you that we should move even closer to an israeli model where there'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. >> now, harding did say he wants

to move in this direction, but just how far, he did not say in these hearings. now, tony, you probably are aware of this but many people may not be. the israeli airport security is aggressive questioning of passengers. interviewing every passenger between one minute to ten minutes, up to the extreme cases to even an hour. in some cases asking passengers to produce documentation to support some of the information they're giving. say you're going for a business conference, maybe to find something that can support that kind of information so it can be very intense in some cases. >> i've traveled through the airport, and that security apparatus, it is no joke. but here's the thing, kate. israel and united states are very different places. could this model, given the amount of the volume of traffic in the united states, work here in the country? >> you really hit the nail on the head. the israeli model is praised by experts by making the israeli airport system some of the most secure in the world but it's

also criticized by privacy and civil rights advocates for including passenger profiling. so it does raise a lot of questions. i actually spoke, you mentioned ban gorian airport, i spoke with the head of security at tel aviv airport, he said in his view the israeli system is not a perfect match of the u.s. because of privacy concerns and what you mentioned, the sheer volume of passengers. the u.s. airport has a lot more passengers traveling through it than the israeli model. but more human interaction, he says, would be a benefit to the u.s. system. >> it's worth exploring and investigating. thank you. see you next hour. here's what we're working on for the next hour of "cnn newsroom." the state of black america still lagging behind despite some process. we will talk to a panel about the issues of jobs, education and health care. and miles to go, but then what? a frequent flier grounded by the recession. he is living on those airline he is living on those airline points. [ male announcer ] the cadillac laurel sales event.

so it's about time, time for many people to start thinking about finding a summer job. here's a question, are companies hiring young people right now? felicia taylor is in new york with details. what is the outlook for summer jobs? >> not so great, tony. the good news is the outlook is about the same as last year. that, of course, is really the bad news. the new survey from snagajob.com says 47 percent of hiring

managers don't plan to hire any seasonal workers this summer. as for the pay, that's also about the same. the average summer job will pay about $10 an hour. that's especially tough news, especially for teenagers and college kids because they make up the bulk of those looking for seasonal work over the summer. so it's really not a great news story, tony. >> yeah. so if half of managers aren't hiring, does that mean the rest are hiring? >> very good question. snabajob.com does have summer jobs posted, but get on it. they're all over the country. places like hershey park, amf bowling, marriott vacation club. they've got restaurants posted like steak and shake and dairy queen. retailers, toys "r" us, michael's, sears. experts say you should start applying right now. if you're still in school, offer to work nights and weekends. if you wait until may or june, there won't be that much left. get out there and look for that job now. let's take a check on wall

street. stocks retreating after yesterday's more than 100-point rise. surprise drop in new home sales is dragging down sentiment. sales fell to a record low in february. the dow off 29 points. that's off the earlier lows though. nasdaq composite is off half of 1%. >> felicia, appreciate it. thank you. time for your top of the hour reset. i'm tony harris in the "cnn newsroom." it is noon in washington where african-american leaders are saying it's time for obama to focus attention on jobs. in saudi arabia, dozens of people are arrested in plots targeting oil installations and police. and it is 9:00 in the vegas burb where we wondered does health care reform look different now now that it's law? unemployment and jobs, jobs are a major focus of the national urban league's annual report. the group is call rg to action to put african-americans and the rest of america back to work. >> what's important now is for the nation to embrace the idea

while why closing those gaps is not only good for african-americans but also good for the nation at large. when we have unemployed people, we also have people who could be contributing to the overall economy. that's why we strongly support a robust jobs initiative by the president and the congress. >> health care reform has dominated president obama's domestic agenda in recent weeks but he says repairing the economy and creating jobs are top priorities moving forward. cnn's jill daugherty joining us from the white house. jill, good to see you again. what is the president doing on the jobs issue? >> well, just last week you had his first really jobs bill. and that was $17.6 billion. it was for tax breaks for business and also infrastructure spending, which would, they would hope, spur employment. and now we asked the white house what they're looking at next steps. and right now they're planning

on a $30 billion bill, increasing money to small business, eliminating capital gains tax for small businesses. and the third point would be tax credits to retrofit houses. apparently that would be energy conservation. so they know that it's very important for them to get moving on that front. you're right, a lot of the energy has been expended right recently on health care. that feels kind of far in the future, but jobs are really what have to be solved very quickly. >> appreciate it. onchts there big stories, the president is getting ready to sign an executive order that will keep existing limits on federal funding of abortion in place. he promised anti-abortion democrats he would do that. and that helped clench the deal on health care reform. it is full steam ahead for republicans as they keep up their fight against the health care reform bill. right now, i guess that's the health care reform -- it is, still the bill. still work to do.

right now in the senate they are battling over a package of fixes demanded by house democrats, minority leader mitch mcconnell talked about the road ahead on cnn's "john king usa." >> a lot of democrats are going to the floor today saying stunt, stunt, stunt, saying that you're going to force them over the next few days until this is voted and you assume the democrats have the 51 votes they need, to take a lot of votes on amendments to get those votes recorded and use them in campaign ads. is this a subject? >> they're the ones that needed to have a second bill to clean up the messes they created in the first bill. it was their idea to have a second bill. >> if they need a second bill you will at least try to take the most political opportunity to you in it? >> look, under the procedure there are multiple amendments. we will be able to get more amendments on this bill than the one passed 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 in this particular measure, we can change it. 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. >> all right. so what's in the new health care law? here are a few of the bottom line pocket book items within months, dependent children up to 26 can be included on the family insurance plan. this year, health insurance plans must pay at least 80% of their revenue in benefits. if they don't they must give the ku hers a rebate. families earning more than $250,000 will pay higher taxes on earned and investment income and starting in 2018, there will be a 40% tax on those so-called cadillac insurance plans. and indoor tanning services will pay a 10% tax. another case of really bad timing for israel. the city of jerusalem approves new homes on land claimed by palestinians. word came as president obama met israeli leader benjamin net

netanyahu. israel has ignored the demand. two weeks ago israel announced a different housing project for east jerusalem during vice president joe biden's good will visit. three degrees, and still no job. it is a reality for the jobless in america. photo journalist john torigio filed this report. >> my name is julie redmond and currently i am unemployed. i have a degree from uc berkeley, i have one in communications, one in social science, and one in journalism. this is my life, my family. we have your classic embarrassing high school pictures. i was the first black person at west side harvard school. who would have thought that all the time i've spent being educated, getting educated, learning, and yet there's nothing i can do with it.

it seems to be detriment these days to have degrees because they feel they have to pay you a certain amount. i've done everything from administrative clerk, assistant, mental health counselor. i've had my own job as communications. this is my father when he was in the air corps. he was a tuskeegee airman in the first squadron. i don't know how to put it but i'm almost glad they're not alive to see the fact i'm unemployed. sooner or later it's going to be okay again to be educated. right now it's a detriment. they're looking for people who barely got their geds because they don't want to pay them. some day the economy is going to turn around and they're going to, go whoa, she speaks languages, she's sbel jenintell she got through school. my time will come again. i just wish it would come today, seriously, because it's getting

weird. >> blacks in america making small gains have big gaps. we will talk with our panel about the state of black america.

okay. how much would jesus eat? it's got to be a random moment of the day. researchers studied 52 versions of the last super, all painted since the year 1,000. computers compared head sizes of jesus and the apostles with food portions. what a discovery. the size of the entrees at the biblical dinner grew 69% over the millennium. the plates, of course, got bigger to hold all that food. more food, more bread, the size of the loaves rose 23%. the point of this is to say we've been over-eating for centuries. a random moment, served with a a random moment, served with a side of skepticism.

a small gains, but still big disparities. that is the bottom line from the national urban league's annual report. the report says blacks still lag behind in areas of education and

health care. joining us now to talk about this is dr. michael brooks, senior vice president of west end medical center is here in atlanta. michael, good to see you. angela glover, blackwell founder and chief executive officer of policy link. good to see you. and in new york. mark lamont is back with us, cultural anthropologist and professor at columbia university. mark, let me start with you. congress has passed a jobs bill. congress has passed a stimulus bill. is that enough or does there need to be a jobs program specifically for black america? >> there absolutely needs to be more done. it needs to be a jobs bill for black people. there needs to be educational reform targeted toward black people. i understand the political, you know, sort of trouble with saying this is a black jobs bill. it's hard to get a black jobs bill through. but never the less, we need race-targeted policy because there are particular social circumstances that black people face that can't be met through a rising tide races. >> like?

like? >> like, like job employment. we know based on all empirical evidence that black people don't get the same access to job opportunities as white people. black -- and without felony convictions, for example, are three times less like lie to get a job callback than white men with felony convictions. you can open up markets, create job opportunity but that's not going to necessarily make sure that black people getting a cess. just as an example. >> got you. angela, weigh in on this. something specific targeted to african-americans? >> we need to target the people who need the jobs most. black people, latino people were surfing before the recession. we were hit first and worse. and we're continuing to feel the brunt of this recession and unemployment. we need to have an urban policy and we are developing an urban policy that targets urban areas. we need to focus on those area where's we have high unemployment and make sure that we're doing job training, that we're getting people connected to jobs. if we don't focus where people are unemployed in concentrated

ways, we're not going to create the kind of momentum that will lead to a tipping point and get people back to work. we target areas of high unemployment. >> are we talking about a return to the days of blocked grants and enterprise zones? >> i don't think we need to have enterprise zone, but what we need to have are zones of employment. we need to identify where we need to get workers and target in like a laser. you can call it an enterprise zone, a green zone, green impact zone as they have in kansas city. but we need to target people who need work. and many of them are african-american and latino. >> michael, weigh in on this. does it sound to you like a return to the days -- i'm thinking the '90s when we were talking about these enterprise zones and blocked grants. >> i'm not sure blocked grants are the answer at all, either. i think we need to focus more on community-based action, community-based health care. in other words, get patients

into area where's they can get health care and get jobs and create jobs in those area where's people live. >> you see the employment issue and health care linked. explain that to me. >> well, education status, economic status, and health all runs together. >> yeah. >> if you look at african-americans -- >> doesn't it start with education and jobs? >> it starts with education and jobs. when you look at only 46% of blacks have sponsored health insurance by their employment companies, it all reports back to good health. and you cannot have jobs without having good health. you cannot have jobs without proving your economic status in this country. >> michael, let me come to you on this next one. i hate the idea of asking the government for anything and i know you do as well. but you know the president is talking about another jobs bill. what does, in the words of mark morial, who is calling for a robust jobs package, what does that mean to you? the administration is talking

something in the order of $30 billion bill, credits, incentive, helping small businesses. does that look and sound like a robust jobs package that could help african-americans? >> it does sound like that. >> it does. the first -- >> go ahead. >> no, mark, go ahead. >> first, let me say, you know, i don't have a problem getting things from the government. we are citizens of this nation. and somehow african-american people can develop a philosophy where they have to choose between doing for self and getting what they're entitled to as citizens of a democratic government. we should do ourselves but we t. government owes us something, we pay taxes and we need that. the bill, we need tax incentives for businesses to encourage them to hire is t. most vulnerable people, many are black and latino. we need to extend benefits and keep unemployment benefits extended. we need to create opportunities to produce new jobs and new ideas. we need to create the infrastructure for the next big idea. we saw the dotcom boom. we need the next big idea. >> right. angela, let me have you weigh in

on this. i don't like asking the government for much because i think we're more often than not going to be disappointed by the government. moving forward with this next big idea, this initiative, are you hearing anything in what the white house is talking about now that seems to make really good sense in terms of helping african-americans create jobs and to be entrepreneurs and to hire? >> there's a lot that makes sense. first, we need to focus on youth, and i know they're talking about the white house about really expanding the youth job training and the youth summer jobs program. that will make a big difference. next, we need to understand that the black agenda is the green agenda. really investing in green jobs, investing in communities that are the older housing stock. the $5 billion in weatherization money really needs to get used and we need to expand those programs to connect black people to green jobs. we need to understand that public transportation is green in every way. and anything that gets black people associated with construction for public transportation, operating, those

are green jobs. the big ideas are take the infrastructure investments that we're starting to do, target communities where we have high unemployment, get blacks and latinos getting trained for jobs and in jobs, this big idea will be a big idea not just for blacks and latinos but for america. >> wow. >> exactly. >> angela, that's quite a soap box. that was good. michael, let me have you weigh in here. in your sector, what's the next big idea that you think that african-americans should be looking to, pointing to, and making inroads in? >> in my sector it's going to be in the area of health. educating young african-american kids about opportunities in jobs and health care. whether it's only entry level, positions, support staff, in order to improve and work on the health reform bill. there's going to be a lot of opportunities for employment as we expand access for americans to get health care. >> yeah.

mark, last one to you. how does the legacy of slavery and segregation impact on continuing progressing, closing the equality gaps that we see in this country? >> well, i think we still have a deep and dark legacy of white supremacy that normalizes black suffering. somehow black people's misery, black unemployment, black poverty never seems to strike the american consciousness in the same way white misery does. in some sense we have to whiten the face of poverty and unemployment. the other thing here we see during slavery is black folk even during the midst of this never stopped believing in america's promise. our work now continues but we have to continue to fight for america to live up to its democratic possibility. and i think we can do that. i think we will do that. >> glad you made that pivot. mark, thank you so much. angela, great to see you and to meet you. michael, you as well. thanks to all of our guests. thank you. still to come, dozens arrested in an alleged terror plot.

saudi arabia busts up a major terrorist offensive. officials say they've or rested more than 100 people accused of plotting attacks on police and oil refineries. cnn's senior national correspondent nic robertson is in london. what have you learned? >> the saudi officials say that in october last year they busted a small group of people that they then followed the leads from that small group and it led to rounding up 101 different people over the past five months. they say 47 of them are saudis. 52 are yemenis. one bangladesh and ethiopian. this is part of a large network that was conspireingwed saudi a attack policemen, video recording equipment, computers, a lot of equipment. and they say the saudi authorities also say that they have busted two other cells, two six-man cells that were planning

suicide missions against saudi arabia's oil terminals. saudi arabia has typically been making these types of announcements a long time after the fact. it does two things for them. one is, it doesn't make it look as if the saudis are always dealing with an al qaeda problem. and the other is that they get a lead, they can follow it. much the same as intelligence agency s do around the world. they want to exploit all the information they can get from the people they arrest. people everyone else in that group in the dark so they can try and round them up. that's what they seem so to have done here. the group, they say they were connected to al qaeda and the rabian peninsula. that is a saudi-yemeni part of al qaeda. >> that was my next question, whether or not this group has been tied to a known terrorist operation. obviously, the answer to that is yes. nic robertson for us. thank you. top stories. if nation's bailout cop is taking on president obama's

foreclosure prevention program. a new report, he says the program will likely fall short of its goals and could do more harm than good. he says it targets set by the treasury department are not meaningful. a judge in mississippi agrees that constance mcmillen's rights were violated when her high school refused to let her take a same-sex date to the prom. the judge refused to order the whole district to hold a dance it canceled. it would interfere with plans with private dance in which they a r. all welcome. more fallout from the catholic church in europe. the pope accepted the resignation of another irish bishop. bishop john mcgee apologizes for any abuse that occurred in his diocese. we are heading to t stimulus desk for fairy tales with josh levs. would you believe a lot of stuff you hear about stimulus spending just isn't true?

time now for a visit to the stimulus desk. the chairman of the government board that keeps tabs on stimulus spending says there are a lot of myths out there. josh levs has been looking into that. josh, what are these so-called myths? >> yeah, you know, tony, if you really came out swinging, this man whose job it is to be the nonpartisan watchdog says some people are hyper ventilating, in his words, with some of the things that they're saying about the stimulus. and in the end it's all about our money. $862 billion, we're all paying sbreks on it. it will aft our nation for years or decades to come. let's look at what he's talking about. this is a few of the things he's complaining about. first of all, you might have heard that billions of dollars have gone to phantom districts. what actually happened there was

that early on in the reporting, some recipients of stimulus money gave the wrong district numbers. so when people looked into it they were like, that doesn't actually exist. it came across looking as though it went to the middle of nowhere. he says no money has gone into any black holes. he complains the recovery board that oversees the stimulus, he says a lot of people think they're really just an arm of the obama administration. he says they're not. totally independent. the thing i want to spend the most time with you on is this right here. take a look. $250,000 have been spent more every job created from the stimulus. his complaint is something you and i have talked about before. what he says is that you can't just go by total number of dollars spent and how many jobs created so far. his name is earl and he says basically, i'll give you the basic idea. he says you've got to think about the roads, you've got to think about the people who are spending the money that's been spent out there. he says it's not that simple. the problem is, it really in a way is because, after all, this is a jobs bill. so i'm certainly not going to

apologize for looking at how much money has been spent and how many jobs has been created. >> it's a measurement. it's a metric. >> most important measurement. >> so how many jobs has the stimulus actually created? >> this is where i get to go a little schoolhouse rock on you. i'm going to talk about how the administration is defining how many jobs come from the stimulus. before we look at the fiunky picture look at the names. these are the three kinds of jobs. direct jobs, indirect jobs and induced jobs. now, the picture is what's going to show us what these jobs are. here's the idea. all right. you pay someone who build a road, right, wherever you live. that person is getting paid. that's a direct job. that person in order to do his work needs some concrete. company that makes the concrete gets paid so then they can pay their people, that's an indirect job. then he is getting paid so he can go to the grocery store and buy food for his family. that is what the administration calls an induced job. what they've done is with a lot of studies they've done a big broad guesstimate.

they've said, they think 2 million jobs can be attributed to the stimulus. the problem is even those own studies say we're never going to know. it's very broad. it's a lot of guessing going on. there are conservative critics who say no way. if the money weren't in the stimulus it might be in the private sector in some places doing better. we're never going to know for sure. that, tony, is how the administration comes up with that figure that we hear all the time. >> here's the thing. when no one else was spending, when private corporations were not spending, when credit seized up for everyone, the federal government was the only entity throwing money into that system that you've just described for all of us. >> it certainly is factual that a huge number of economists, we're saying, that spending is the way out of it. some complain on the other side, the left, saying the administration did not spend enough soon enough. you are seeing that. but absolutely, it's true that a lot was done, the spending was called for. let them weigh in. one of the things we offer this

is because there's such intense feelings. we're talking about the blog cnn.com/josh, facebook.com/joshlevscnn. weigh in on how you think. >> josh, appreciate it. thank you. winds have changed that would breathe new life into a dying region. i'm am talking about the ones mighty rust belt and jobs being cultivated there by wind farming. joe johns has more in this latest installment of "building up america." >> reporter: this used to be steel country usa. but now new jobs and 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, gameausa is manufacturing windmill blades, 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. >> well, i've been in automotive for almost 30 years. as 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 this is cleaning our environment up. and a lot of people here are, you know, 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 n. windmill production and use. so in the end the real job may be standing up the windmill industry in the u.s. so it can create more jobs, more energy, and compete in the global market. joe johns, cnn, pennsylvania.

no beans about it, starbucks spends more on, a, health care, or b, coffee? think about that one.

cnn is your source for money news. just check out cnnmoney.com. terrific work of our money team. the headline story there at cnn.com now is tanning salons burned by health care. there's a tax included on tanning salons in the health care legislation, now law. the tax doesn't kick in until 2080. cnnmoney.com. let's get you to the new york stock exchange three hours into the trading day. the nasdaq is down 14 points. the dow, so it's a down day so far, down 22. we're following the numbers right here. businesses began small are paying close attention to the health care reform and what it means for their bottom line. starbucks is one company who wants to see it change. the coffee giant says it spens spends more on hale care than coffee beans. did you though that? cnn.com's poppy harlow is in new york. pop poppy, you got more on starbucks and health care, don't you? >> who would guess that they spend more on health care than on coffee beans. the reason behind that is they

spend $300 million a year on health care for their employees. why? they give it to their employees, anyone who works there, even behind the counter, the clerks, if they work 20 hours or more a week. we went to seattle where starbucks is founded. we sat down with this man, the ceo there, to ask 60 him a lot of questions and one of them is, why do you provide this health care for the company. what we found out is it goes back many decades and it's pretty personal to him. take a listen to what he told us. >> i grew up in brooklyn in the projects with subsidized housing. my parents were great working class people. but at the same time, you know, as we grew up, i think realized that we were not the privileged few. we were on the other side of the tracks. i think what i felt as a kid 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 on how the company would treat its employe employees. 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 if. >> thank you, mr. speaker. >> given the fact that we're in the middle of the health care debate, why feel really broprouf is that we didn't turn our back on our people. it will cost us 300 -- what do you look for now as you look at the debate in washington right now looking for health care for more americans? >> the fact that between $40 milliand 50 million americans in america don't have health care, in my view, is the truck chfracturing humanity in our country. it doesn't feel like. there's no reason why we should be so far behind.

>> you spoke with the president. >> i. have spoken to the president. this is a run-away train. and we're on a collision course with time. if something doesn't happen. >> all right. so there you heard him say something needs to change in terms of health care reform. that interview was just a few days before we did see health care reform pass in the house and become law, tony. what's interesting is that this company, he said they spent $300 million a year on health insurance, not even for all their employee, estimated to be roughly 42%, 50% of employees. the cost is not sustainable for the company and he wanted to see change. we'll see if this is enough. interesting to see that perspective from a company that spends that much on health care and because of how he was brought up and the struggles his family had, he won't abandon the health care no matter what it cost the company. >> that was terrific stuff. you've got more of it on cnnmoney.com? >> he was very impressive. you don't expect to hear that often from a ceo. he's dedicated. >> let's do that.

and let's get more of that. you've got more than we had to get on the air tomorrow? >> no problem. >> all right. let's go that. poppy, good stuff. appreciate it. try telling the folks in colorado it's springtime. parts of the state will have to dig out from almost two feet of -- kara mcginnis what is going on here. >> nutty. >> i know. >> yes. you know what, tony, the month of march is colorado's snowiest month. you wouldn't think that. you might think january or february. but, yeah, denver has already picked up just about nine, almost ten inches of snowfall. it continues to snow there. let's go ahead and show you the video that we do have out of broomfield, colorado. if you were to travel just to the north northwest of denver, this is what it looks like. yep, the snow is coming down. they closed a portion of interstate 70. that's that major highway that runs out to the wonderful resorts just to the west of denver. and in jefferson county alone, some parts saw more than 23 inches of snow.

and at the height of the storm, there were about 36 plus thousand people without power. most of those people have their power back on. yeah, these late spring snowstorm, early spring snowstorms really can pack quite a wallop. yes, this one is traveling from this four corners region, pushing into the central plains. we've got a whole different set of problems now. not just a snowfall, but now it looks like we could see the chance for some pretty good thunderstorms erupt over north central and northeastern texas. so a whole different set of problems erupting across the central united states. but i want to show you the snowfall totals that we did see in portions of colorado. jamestown, now, if you were on your way up towards the rocky mountain national park, they saw 19 plus inches of snowfall. they can say genesse, colorado, 14 plus inches of snow. this snowstorm as it pushes into the plains, ahead of it

thunderstorms. ahead of that, thunderstorms in parts of north central texas.

let's get you caught up on top stories now. president obama signs an

executive order dealing with abortion this afternoon and borrows federal money for abortions beyond what current law already allows. it is part of deal with anti-abortion house democrats. and more than 100 people have been arrested in saudi arabia. official with the interior ministry says they were planning attacks on police and oil refineries.

it isn't exactly what we

wanted but we'll take it. we are start doing hear that more often about the new health care reform bill. ted rowlands is in nevada asking some small business owner what's works and what doesn't. >> reporter: the las vegas suburb of henderson, nevada, is historically a hotly contested congressional district. freshman democrat dina titus represents henderson. he was an 11th-hour yes vote for health care reform. >> i think there are more important things than my re-election and the help of people in this country would certainly be one of those. >> reporter: at the cupcake, 22-year-old and 23-year-old are pleased they'll now have the option to get health insurance through their parents' policies until they're 26. something cameron may do because he has no coverage at all. but what about the business owner, pamela jenkins, who does offer insurance to her full-time employees? potentially down the line it could cost you more money. your thoughts on that. >> it could, but it could also

give us great tax credits for covering our employees. i already provide health care, so for me, i don't see it as anything detrimental. i see that i'm already shelling out major, major bucks to these huge insurance carriers. if we can get a change, i'm for the change. >> reporter: one of the groups that will see an almost immediate effect from the health care reform are the folks that have pre-existing conditions and were denied health care. this is glenda mccarty. she went without health insurance for eight months. she says she's very happy that there are changes now. the reason, you say, is because living without health insurance was a nightmare. give us a window into that. >> living without health insurance was terrifying. i had to drive more carefully, eat more carefully. everything i did in my life was with a thought that i had no health insurance and could not get sick. and that was for eight months. and it was just -- i was on edge all the time. >> reporter: you say this bill isn't everything, isn't that great, but you're pleased with

it. >> i think the bill will take work and i think it will take work for some years to come. but the fact that all americans will be covered and especially for me, those people without -- that had v. pre-existing conditions. >> reporter: but not everybody here is for it or happy that the health care reform bill passed. this is dr. joe heck. he is a practicing emergency room physician. he is also running for dina titus' seat in the 3rd district in nevada. >> there are a lot of problems with this bill that ultimately will do nothing to curtail the spiraling cost of health care. >> reporter: something should be done? >> if you talk to any fication they will say we need reform if it's hard to taking care of patients in this current environment. but those same group of physicians will say this is not the right thing to do. there's not enough in there to make this work, to be able to take kark of people who are going to get this new entitlement. >> reporter: different opinions from people with different life experiences who will all be directly effected by health care reform. ted rowlands, cnn, henderson,

ted rowlands, cnn, henderson, nevada. laurel sales event.

let's look at the stories that are getting a buzz over the internet. they are the stories many of you are taking about. ines ferre is joining me good. what's hot? >> what's heating up between google and china? you've heard about this. who blinks first? one day after google decided it would no longer censor search results in china, the chinese government counters that move by

partially blocking access to the site. most google users in mainland, china, are experiencing difficulties making searches. it's like a never-ending saga. >> i got a sense something is going to be done here and resolution of this thing. we'll get an understanding. health care reform, the new law, i know a lot of people are talking about that and looking into the law a little deeper. there's something in here about tanning salons and burgers. >> burgers and tanning salons. tax the tanners, tony. >> yes. >> right. well, this is part of the health care reform. and part of that reform includes taxing tanning salons. they will be charging 10% for tanning sessions to folks. indoor tanning association saying, quote, it's a crummy, crummy way to make tax policy. also, chain restaurants, tony, with more than 20 locations will have to include calorie information next to the food item on the menu. so you'll be get that calorie count on your burgers and such.

>> so what is the story? we were talking about it this morning, about being able now in some cases to use a reel to apply to college? >> past our time, right? >> yeah. you know what. >> i didn't mean to say that. >> that's nice. >> but it's true. they offer a new way for students to introduce themselves to the college board on youtube. listen to this report from alina cho. >> what you want, what you want is him. >> reporter: what does this, this, and this have to do with getting into college? >> i hope the admissions officers will notice it, be like, oh, hey, this guy is really cool. >> reporter: the university in boston is now accepting personal videos as part of the application proprocess, among t first in the nation to do so. not to replace essay grades or sats but as a supplement. the videos are not required but students are, well, getting into it. >> do the right thing.

accept this israeli. >> reporter: already almost 1,000 students are taking part. out of the 15,000 applications they received. some on youtube have been viewed by thousands. ♪ demonstrating creativity in animation, winderness survival skills. >> i'm making a lightweight reusable oven out of cardboard box, tinfoil. >> reporter: and in her case, a twist on a familiar phrase, walk a mile in my shoes. in her case, literally. >> i wasn't trying to come off as, you know, demarcos and say i have 3,000 shoes but i wanted to show a bit of who i was. these are mu mans looking at filed filled with so many papers and trying to discern you, what i want, would i be intrigued by you. >> reporter: what does the youtube video provide for an admissions officer that the application doesn't? >> well, you really get to see these applicants in their

adolescent best, when you see their clifferness and you see their goofiness and you see who they are as human beings. and this is the point. >> reporter: jones, former admissions at m.i.t. call the personal videos refreshing. >> it's very easy to fall in love with someone in one minute, it's also easy to get turned off. what these students are doing by providing these videos this year is a very high wire act. they're taking huge risk, which is why i love them. >> reporter: showing a kind of intellectual hutzpah to go along with the other. can you tell me what you got on the s.a.t.? >> out of 2400 i got 2300. >> reporter: oh, my gosh. you didn't need that video. for others, a place where playing with fire can be a ticket to college. >> everyone else probably talks about community service or being a varsity athlete.

so i thought fire, the only thing i know that i do that nobody else does.

you will get a kick out of this. getting by on sky miles alone. he would have been out on the street if he hadn't spent so much time in the air. much time in the air. this is a remarkable story. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>> i was managing corporate development for a firm in the bay area. helped them acquire their largest competitor and they said thank you and sent me packing. i lost my house about two months ago. i did a lot of traveling in the software business for firms needing clients. so i accumulated a lot of miles. when i accumulated them i was hoping it would be for something more like trips to hilton head to play golf or wine country, europe or something. but turns out that i'm using them to put a roof over my head. i found after a while you could use united and delta points on