so far there's been no indication that anyone is alive down there. other miracles have happened as you saw in 2006. so we'll keep a very close eye on the story throughout the day and bring you the latest developments on it. kieran? >> thanks so much. we welcome people to join the conversation on today's stories by heading on our blog cnn.com/amfix. we'll see you tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. eastern. here's cnn "newsroom" with kyra philips. >> thanks, kieran. >> have you turned on the lights, the coffeemaker? you've turned on the tv. for people when live and die, taking coal out of the ground. miners trapped underground right now. hope for their survival tempered by a grim reality. we're continuing our coverage of the nation's worst mining disaster in 25 years. how bad is l.a.'s money problem? so bad the city might shut down for a couple of days a week. and there's gold in that there carry on. gold for one airline, just when you thought you couldn't be nickelled and dimed anymore.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com we begin at the top of the hour holding out hope for a slim chance of survival. the rescue effort intensifies for four miners after monday's deadly blast at a west virginia coal mine. recrews are making proing res while families for the 25 killed are making final arrangements. west virginia governor joe manchin telling us rescuers have made a breakthrough completing one of the four bore holes in the area where miners are believed to be. that hole is an exhaust port using high-pressure fans to fill the gas-filled mine with clean air. here's the heart wrenching reality. there's been no response from any of the missing miners as rescuers continue to knock on pipes hoping those miners will reply. we've got big-time team coverage. "american morning's" john roberts live in naoma with the

part of this. chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta, as well, medically speaking, could the four remaining miners still be alive? and ed lavandera praying that that answer is yes. john, you actually talked to the ceo of this mine. let's go ahead and listen to his defense as you grilled him on production, profits and mine safety. >> wield disagree in terms of the condition of our mines. a number of violations can depend on what area you're operating in, who the inspectors are and a whole host of issues and we're a big producer, but the truth is we're doing a better job in our mines typically than what we observe otherwise. >> are you suggesting that you've been unfairly singled out? >> i'm not suggesting anything. i'm saying we know because we hire the top people from graduate schools. we do a good job of keeping our mines in good shape and we're

very open with the regulators and very dedicated to safety. so i have no belief that we are not doing as good or better job than others. >> in the wake of the sago mining disaster and you know this well, mr. blankenship. new regulations were drawn up with the miner act, talking about families and how they should be informed and kept apprised of what was going on in the event of an accident. we've had several complaints from families that massey has not reached out to them and not telephoned immediate family members about the situation. can you explain what happened? >> i don't know any particular incidents, but i know we're updating the families every two hours with our chief operating officer and other key people involved. i've been to three people myself and we're giving them the best information we have available. whether someone was missed for some reason or whatever, i don't know, but we've set up a communication center for the family that's functioning every

two hours. >> so, john, does he think his mine was operating safely even with all of the safety violations? >> reporter: he made the argument yesterday, kyra, that regardless of the safety violation and there have been 638 of them in the last 15 months that his mine is as safe if not safer than a mine of comparable size elsewhere in america. there is some evidence to back that up, for example, somebody from the company yesterday made the point that in the first three months of this year they did not have any significant accidents. of course, right after that, they had a massive accident that killed 25 people. so there is an ebb and flow to these things and certainly in terms of violations, sources that i talked to in the mining industry say that this company is one of the worst offenders when it comes to the violations and the severity of the violations. you can make arguments on both

sides and as always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. >> it is interesting what sou e sources are telling you. sanjay, i want to ask you, it's been roughly 41 hours now sense this massive blast and we all remember that sago mine survivor, randall mccloy. he was pulled out alive 40 hours into the rescue. so could we have a miracle here? >> yeah. no one's going to give up hope until they can confirm one way or the other and with randal mccloy in particular. if he'd had some sort of injury to his lungs and what kind of volatile gas or carbon monoxide gas exposure that he has. what we don't know if there are primary injuries just from the collapse itself and the gasses if it was, in fact, an exposure

and how profound that was exposure and was there anything else, any other circumstance that would lessen or increase their chance of survival. as john was talking about earlier, the people who did survive were much further away from the area that they're looking now. >> when you consider on the man trip, the railed sled that takes miners in and out of the mine shaft. it was $1,000 feet away from other miners who were found dead and they were hundreds of feet away from the actual point of ignition. if you have people 1,000 feet away from the ignition point that were killed. it would stand to reason that that blast was so massive that anything within that radius, 1,000 feet either way did not survive, and it makes the situation very dire for those miners that have been looking. >> i can tell you, kyra, just trying to on go ahead. >> no. >> the effect of the e mroegz that is so profound and in a

contained space, that amplifies it. >> here's definitely a reality we all know because both of you have talked to so many miners and both of you have covered these stories and talked to so many family members. just aside from this blast. this profession takes a toll on these miners' health every single day, and i want to listen to part of a piece, sanjay, that you put together. let's listen in for a moment. >> scarborough is still waiting for any word from inside the mine. friends and people she loves are not yet accounted for, but it took me just minutes to realize that while we wait with her today, in fact, lor ella has been waiting and worrying for decades. >> you're always concerned every time you walk out the door about a fall, about the explosion that exists there. there are so many things that can go wrong. >> so many danger, some intense and unpredictable, and others that seem to creep into miners'

lives over time. lorella's husband went to work for 30 years. going a couple of miles under ground in a very, very dark hole where it's dark and damp, like i said before, the mountain starts falling in on you there is nowhere to go and when the light goes out, you don't have any idea where to go and what to did. >> reporter: that's in the case of an explosion, but lorella is talking about something else, slower deaths, black lung, coal dust killing off your lungs and literally turning them black. over the past decade, 10,000 miners have died of black lung disease. kidney disease affects 20% of miners and there are neurological complaints as well. >> my daughter called me very early this morning and she was very, very upset because she said one of the hardest things that she had to do was to send her husband to work today. >> today. >> he's terrified.

we all are -- we all are. this could happen again today. we're disposable commodities here and this is the only game in town. we live in a model economy. >> what that interview tugged at our heart strings and we should point out that her husband did pass, but sanjay, what really grabbed our attention was seeing you walk through that graveyard and put things in perspective. you said she doesn't just lose her husband, she's got a number of family members in this graveyard and it puts into perspective what these workers go through every single day. >> yeah, i had no idea, kyra. she kept saying she wanted to show me something. we walked to the back of her house which is where the cemetery and was there are tombstones and graveyards, grave stones just about everywhere and so many of those family members, over a few generations now have died to mining-related causes

and either from tragedy, accident it is like this or from black lung and the chronic illness associated from being a miner and they died at such a young age. you talked about her husband debilitated at the age of 51 and he died shortly after that and it's an incredible impact. let me ask you before we go and i don't know, this is the non-doctor in me, but i'm curious to both of you, maybe john, i'll start with you. do you guys notice anything just being on assignment there, the air? do you feel it in your lungs? are you guys breathing this dust as we speak? >> reporter: well, there are so many satellite trucks with so many generators running, that's probably the immediate thing that you feel here, but one thing that i did discover yesterday. we were at a school which is the marsh fork elementary school, which is near the facility and the owner of the mine has donated $1 million to move it elsewhere.

it was very controversial, as you can imagine right next to a coal processing facility, but if you go inside, the windows are sealed up. the windows are never open, but if you run the finger along the inside, it's black. it makes its the way through the doors and cracks in the walls. so you have young children in there being exposed to coal dust. it's not a good health situation. >> that puts it in perspective even more. john robert, sanjay gupta. thank you so much. appreciate it. stick with us. we'll bring you the latest developments that happen out of west virginia including scheduled news briefings or any breaking news from the scene. later this hour, our ed lavandera talks to very concerned relatives about the missing miners and what they're going through on a minute-by-minute basis. buried under a wall of mud. heavy rain bringing devastation to brazil. rescues, while thousands flee another possible mud slide. i'm rob marciano in the cnn

severe weather center. record-breaking heat once again yesterday and again across parts of the east and the severe weather threat continues. learn more at sprint.com/guarantee. ♪ .

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president obama making nice with russia. he heads to the czech republic tonight going there to sign the next generation of nuclear arms treaty with dmitri medvedev. this comes just after the u.s. set out a new nuke policy for our arsenal. white house cress suzanne malveaux joins us. suzanne? >> reporter: hi, kyra. it was a year ago when i covered the historic speech the

president made in prague and the czech republic when he said two things. he outlined that he wanted to press the reset button when it came to russia and he also wanted to get rid of nuclear weapons and rid the world of nuclear weapons and gauging from it the audience's reaction, it sounded like it was either incredibly naive or rather ambitious. what we will hear from the president is he'll be leaving with ours and he's going back to prague and he'll say yes. he will acknowledge that the aspiration is far off in the future and that the united states and russia have taken significant steps toward that aim. what will they be assigning here, kyra, it cuts nuclear weapons by a third on both sides, significantly reduces missiles and rocket launchers and will put in place a strong verification program to make sure that both sides are complying with this agreement. what is it about? the president will say this is about leadership, about the united states and russia that, by the way, own 90% of the

world's nuclear weapon, that they will take the lead in trying to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. take a listen to the president. >> in many ways, nuclear weapons represent both the darkest days of the cold war and the most troubling threats of our time. today we've taken another step forward in leaving behind the legacy of the 21st century while building a more secure future for our children. we turned words into action. we've made progress that is clear and concrete and we've demonstrated the importance of american leadership and american partnership on behalf of our own security and the world's. >> reporter: so, kyra, the president will leave the white house later this evening. he's going to be traveling there to the czech republic where he'll be signing that treaty. he'll be meeting with the president of the czech republic as well as russia and then next week a very big meeting that will take place here in washington. about 47 world leaders will gather together. the president is going to host them to try to come up with ways

to secure nuclear weapons to make sure they don't get in the hands of terrorists. all those leaders meeting here in washington to talk about the next steps. kyra? >> and you'll be covering it for us. suzanne malveaux at the white house. thanks, suzanne. a hillside has given way in brazil crushing homes in rio de janeiro. take a look at this destruction. more than 100 people now reported dead and an unknown number still missing. rescue crews were able to pull people out of that mud. heavy rains were the cause and people are waiting for the next slide. as many as 10,000 more homes still in danger right now. we've got severe storm threats in the south and midwest, rob, right? from louisiana to ohio? >> this just popped up our magic wall, kyra with the warnings that fly up whenever they happen. there's been a flash flood warning that's been posted. there was one earlier this morning as well for the island of oahu and honolulu proper.

heavy rains falling there. we don't expect the torrential rains they saw in brazil because it will not last quite that long. nonetheless, paradise in honolulu, seeing heavy rain at least at the capital. here's the severe weather threat you mentioned. we have windy conditions out west with cold air dropping down. we have some incredible amounts of snow falling in the colorado rockies and the wasatch of utah and it continues to come down. from detroit back to chicago. none of these are severe yet, but the threat later on today will continue. we didn't see any tornadoes yesterday. that's good news, but hail and wind reports were plentiful especially back through parts of the central plains. i mentioned the cold weather back behind this system. winter-like weather from denver to colorado springs. another couple of hours of snow showers expected here so winter storm warnings remain posted at the higher elevations and so that continues to be a concern. april is that month when we get the clash between the real cold and the real warm. that's why we have the severe weather threat today.

tornadoes are a possibility, but we expect about the same risk as we saw yesterday. so hopefully keep that under control. the record breaking heat. that's going to continue to be the call here. check out some of these numbers yesterday afternoon. in washington, d.c. and dulles, 93 degrees. that is just steamy. 92 degrees for colombia south carolina, a record second day in a row. atlantic city, 8 degrees and philadelphia seeing 87 degrees even now with the sun starting to come up. it's 73 in d.c., 68 in st. louis and 48 degrees in chicago. that's where you see the cold front and currently 31 degrees in denver, colorado. that's the latest from here. back over to you. >> thanks. taking the protest too far. a man under arrest accused of threatening a u.s. senator over her health care vote.

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so do you remember the death threats after the health care vote? a 68-year-old washington state man is now under arrest. he allegedly called in threatening democratic senator patty murray and said she had a target on her back. murray voted for the law. he bragged to undercover fbi agents that he carried a gun. an alleged co-conspirator of the woman named jihad jane is due in a philadelphia courtroom. jihad jane is a pennsylvania woman accused of trying to kill terrorists and a plot to kill a swedish artist. she was arraigned last month.

another woman turned herself in friday to face the chase manhattan charges and she's expected to plead not guilty. people in los angeles may soon see more closed signs on city services. mayor antonio villaraigosa says many departments will have to shut down two days a week to save money. we're not talking about police or fire departments, but things like libraries and city parks would be affected. the mayor says the city will have trouble meeting payroll. he meets with union leaders today and we'll take a closer look at l.a.'s troubles at the top of the hour. >> placing blame for a young girl's death. accused bullies in court, but they're not the only ones on the hot seat. are schools just as responsible?

billied into bullied into suicide. we've been watching the tragic case of phoebe prince hanging herself suppose lead after bullying by schoolmates. six are charged in the case, but they aren't the only ones being blamed. cnn's alina cho has more. >> reporter: hey, kyra, there has been so much outrage in this community ever since 15-year-old phoebe prince committed suicide in january by hanging herself in the stairwell of her home. many people asking who's to blame? fellow students, school administrator, parents? three of the accused were arraigned yesterday, but they were not in court. >> we'd ask not guilty pleas be entered at this time. >> the arraignment of sean mulveyhill, 17-year-old kayla

narey and austin renaud, the three facing charges in the phoebe prince case lasted less than five minutes. all three will be booked by the end of the week and released on this condition -- >> that they stay away from the prince family. >> reporter: prosecutors say the bullying was so severe it drove 15-year-old prince on january 14th to hang herself in the stairwell of her home, using a scarf her sister gave her for christmas. the case has put a national spotlight on bullying with many local parents blaming school officials in south hadley, massachusetts, for not putting a stop to it. in neighboring chickopee, massachusetts, when it comes to bullying they have a zero tolerance policy. >> we have as many incidents of bullying than other schools have, the difference here is how we deal with them. >> at the comprehensive high school, adult monitors in every hallway, high-tech surveillance cameras and even an armed police officer. >> think teenagers respond well

to adults and in general they respect the teachers in the building and they lean on them when they do need help. >> reporter: they also know they can't get away with it. >> that is true. >> they're not just watching the students. they're getting parents involved, too. something that some allege didn't happen in south hadley. >> you actually sent a question air out to parents every single year. >> every year. a bullying survey. >> 80% to 90% of parents say we're happy with the job you're doing. >> the mayor says times have changed so the policies have, too. >> back in the day it used to be kids fighting on the playground and the noon mommers on the lunch moms would get out there and break it up and that would be the end of it. sort of boys will be boys and somehow it's gotten worse that when school lets out the bullying doesn't let up. >> reporter: the three teens arraigned yesterday in absten cha will be in court april 15th and three other girls charged in this case will be in juvenile court tomorrow, but kyra, we're

hearing that at least one of the girls has waived her right to appear. kyra? >> alina cho, thanks so much. you knew this was coming. you just knew it. an airline turning an overhead compartment into the moneymaker. how long before the others start salivating over your carry-ons? i remember being at the hospital, thinking about my wife. i should have done more to take care of myself. now i'm exercising, watching my diet, and i trust my heart to lipitor. [ male announcer ] along with diet, lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds of heart surgeries in patients with several common risk factors or heart disease. lipitor is backed by over 17 years of research. lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems p9 and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. is may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect.

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getting going this week, but today wall street will hear from several fed officials for a preview of how that might affect trading. let's go to stephanie elam with more. hi, steve. >> we're expecting a lower opening today, but later today we'll hear from fed chiefs past and present. we've got alan greenspan and ben bernanke speaking today. investors will be listening for clues about how the central bank will withdraw all of that stimulus from the economy because the minutes from the last meeting didn't really provide any details. today also marx the start of a three-day hearing that will look into the causes of the mortgage momentdown. alan greenspan is testifying right now before the commission on just that topic. in prepared testimony greenspan says steps can be taken to limit the impact of another shock, but warned that regulators can't prevent a crisis from happening. one of those sparks for the crisis over the past few years as we know, came from the housing industry and today the mortgage bankers' association says the 30-year fixed loan

jumped to 5.3% since last summer. rates going up could be a sign that the recovery is working. another positive sign, bloomberg is reporting that home depot is panning to add jobs after they cut jobs in each of the last three years. no word on how many new jobs will be created. the retailer is benefitting from higher sales. with that in mind, let's take a look at numbers here as the day gets started. we've got the dow off 24 points at 10,945. off to a red start today and the nasdaq and s&p they're also on the down side as well. we'll keep our eyes on it, kyra. >> sounds good. thanks so much. spirit airlines, on their website they say we are proud to have broken the rules. yeah, they're breaking the rules all right. spirit's going to start charging you for carry-on bags and get this, up to 45 bucks per bag. what pioneers, mavericks. yes, they charge for checked luggage, so the big question here is will the other airlines do the same? and how long before we all have to fly naked and pay a fee for

each article of clothing we wear. you knew that was coming, right? all right, but here we go. are you ready to pay 45 bucks for the privilege of stuffing your bag in the overhead compartment? give me some input. cnn.com/kyra. you are now free to move about my blog. the amount of technology in today's cars is like something out of a spaceship. which is why, mechanics nowadays are more like rocket scientists. they have to be. the technicians at ford and lincoln mercury dealerships are highly trained. they really do know their stuff. and, they have all the parts

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for four miners unaccounted for after a deadly blast in a west virginia coal mine. rescue crews are making progress while families for the 25 killed are making final arrangements. here's what we know. drillers have broken through with the first vent hole. they banged on the still haven't heard anminers. the crew will begin venting the poisonous guyses from the mine. rescue teams will begin searching the area where the miners are believed to be. west virginia's governor acknowledged the fading hope saying everyone will cling to the hope of a miracle now. it's an agonizing time of uncertain we people with loved ones still down there, want sure if they're dead or alive. cnn's ed lavandera has been talking to those families. how are they holding up? >> reporter: it varies for many different people across this region, kyra, but many of the families that are still clinging on to that hope have been kind of secluded in an area inside

the mine grounds where they've been getting updates from company officials and state officials and the rescue teams that have been going and boring those holes through the mountains. so the news as soon as they get it quickly trickles out and spreads throughout this community here. we spoke with a woman by the name of judy peterson. she believes her brother dean jones is one of the four missing miners inside. we talked with her yesterday. a nice conversation. she's incredibly tough, holding on to that sliver of hope and she's really hoping that her brother becomes that one miraculous story that we will all talk about in the coming days. >> my brother dean is an incredible brother, an incredible father. he's the father of a 13-year-old child with cystic fibrosis. >> judy, you're telling me your brother dean, you believe, is still trapped inside the mountain? >> i believe my brother is still

trapped inside the mountain. the fact that he has not been found gives us hope that he may have been able to escape to safety. he wasn't working in the same area. he was deeper in the mines at a new area that was being developed by the company and there is a possibility that because his body has not been found that he's escaped with the other two crew members that work right side by side with him and he may have escaped to a safety zone where there's food and water and oxygen and actually be the miracle that could come out of this that all of us are waiting and hoping for. >> reporter: this waiting must be excruciating for your family. >> the waiting is excruciating because you want so badly to hold on to the hope that he's going to be all right. but you -- at the same time you know that this was a terrific explosion. >> reporter: kyra, judy peterson's sister-in-law is the family member inside the mine grounds getting those updates.

we asked her how dean jones' wife was holding up through all of this and she said it's been very difficult to talk to her over the last few days. she's incredibly emotional. so that's kind of the point where we're at, kyra, as the people here and the governor of west virginia said a while ago, it will be a big day in terms of getting news from inside that mountain. so we'll have to see how it plays out later today, kyra. >> we'll all be paying attention. that's for sure. thanks, ed. there's still hope for 32 coal miners in china. those guys deep under ground. rescuers say they know where they are, but they have to get past explosive gas that's been building up under ground as well as water that's blocking the way. they found six bodies yesterday. monday, they pulled out 115 survivors. >> sorry, ma'am, this won't fit in the overhead. two women busted at the airport. i won't tell you why, i'll just

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native american trail blazer wilma mankiller has died. she had pancreatic cancer. she was awarded the medal of freedom, the high of the civilian honor in 1998. wilma mankiller was 64 years old. pay for performance. it works in sports, but what about in school? teachers in florida protesting a proposed law. it could hit the governor's desk next week. the plan actually rewards teachers if their students get good scores on standardized tests, but if students do poorly pink slips. he always sleeps like that. that's what two women told airport workers when they were carting around a dead man in a wheelchair. they also had their kids tell the same story.

the family tried to board a flight from liverpool, england, to berlin. needless to say it didn't work. someone noticed the 91-year-old man was dead. the woman, wife and step daughter said that he was alive when they got there. well well, you know the guy was wearing sunglasses, so maybe they couldn't tell. maybe he was a heavy sleeper and always stopped breathing for hours at a time. the women are facing minor charges. here's david letterman's take. here's a story and boy, you just wonder about what goes wrong. a woman is getting on a plane in england and she's got her husband. we think it's her husband, in a wheelchair and he's got sunglasses and she was wheeling him in and turns out he's dead. yeah. trying to get a dead guy in a wheelchair with glasses in priority boarding. right? for the deceased priority boarding. and so i'm thinking i've got to

write a joke about this, this is tremendous, it is so weird. all day long i keep trying to come up with one, and i can't come up with a joke that doesn't have something to do with larry king. i'm sorry. >> low blow. it's amazing what you can learn by watching cable. stuff like how to save your friends from an avalanche from an inch of their life sgloos a quick happy birthday we could not pass over. the lovely luvenia posey turned 110 years old this week. wow! 110. she was born in 1900. one of her three husbands actually died fighting in world war i. loveni accredits clean living for her longevity. >> let's put them over here.

i'll ask a couple of 13-year-old boys in washington who their hero is and they can tell you, it's 12-year-old dalton anderson. he went from friend to hero over the weekend when he dug his two buddies out from underneath an avalanche. >> there were, like, two feet of snow on top of his head and it was really hard for us to find his head, and i stuck my hands under his helmet and unbuckled his helmet and his lips were purple and he had blood on the side of his mouth and there was blood around the snow. >> if it wasn't for dalton, he wouldn't be here. i can't let go of him. he's part of the family forever. >> get this, he learned what to do in an avalanche because he watched a show on the discovery channel. got to love it. picture perfect docking in

space today. the shuttle discovery linked up with the international space station. they are rolling over about the coast of indonesia there, 213 miles above. the first time four women astronauts have been in space the first time. three above the shuttle, through in the station. they had backups to help with the docking. it looks like snow, but it's really little piles of hail in kansas. our affiliate wsnw, captured the icy mound in the town of bellaire in the eastern part of the state. the good news, no big damage. meanwhile, it's hot in the east and storm threats in the south and midwest. right, rob? >> that video looks like snow, right? kind of piled up, the hailstorm? check this out, can you see anybody in there? it's hard. right here, that's a ski pole. okay? you want to talk about

completely buried in it. >> someone's holding on to that ski pole? >> somebody is right there. there's a head there and a ski pole there. these pictures coming out of solitude, utah, and they got four and a half feet. here's a head right there. my goodness. we better make it clear that they're doing some pretty awesome powdered skiing and they're not buried screaming for help. >> they're fine. no deadly avalanches there. just amazing a amazing snow for the month of april. they often get dumped out there, but the last couple of weeks they've had a lot of spring skiing and they've had a pile of skiing and that extended across the i-70 corridor, south towards aspen and vail, i think, got 19 inches of snow. not a lot of people showing up for work today. careers are nothing today on a powder day. you don't have friends. you don't have mothers. denver seeing some snow right now and this will begin to taper off throughout the afternoon. the rainfall today right now, chicago, back through detroit,

this is not severe yet, but later on today we still have that threat for seeing severe weather in the same spots and maybe shifting it just a little bit farther to the east today. this is a very slow, slow moving storm and there will be severe thunderstorms that pop up. we will see more in the way of hail and gusty winds and lightning and just a slight chance of seeing tornadoes. yesterday we didn't see any and we haven't seen much at all this year, actually. 80 or so since the beginning of the year and we should see 300 and we're well below average and that's good news. if you like the heat, my goodness, you will see it today, temperatures were well above average and by over 20 degrees and temperatures getting to 89 degrees in d.c. and those may very well be record highs and again, 51, meanwhile in chicago and 46 degrees in denver. slowly, this front moves to the east and yes, it's been a hot masters as well. today is wednesday so the par 3 tournament in the beginning of the big one, round one and they

may see some showers tomorrow as this slow-moving front continues to creep off towards the east. kyra, back over to you. >> thanks, rob. what kind of camel can dive hundreds of feet under water and stay down for months at a time? joe camel. his deep sea days are almost over. raspberry cheesecake... ...yeah, every night it's something different. oh yeah yeah...she always keeps them in the house. no no no, i've actually lost weight... i just have a high metabolism or something... ...lucky. [ wife ] babe... ♪ umm, i gotta go. [ female announcer ] 28 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. yoplait, it is so good. indulge in new blueberry pie and new red velvet cake. yoplait light. it is so good. just to make phone calls. but when at&t or verizon offer you an unlimited plan for $69.99, that's all it's good for -- phone calls. with sprint, for the same price,

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♪ ♪ yellow submarine, yellow teeth. the navy times is reporting that smoking's going to be banned on american submarines. still waiting for the final

order, but it's expected to come soon. now for the news flash. right now you can smoke on a submarine, really? and a drink for months at a time in you can't smoke in a restaurant on dry land with space and ventilation. if you're in a sub, go ahead. smoke them if you've got them. here's an ashtray. the navy is banning it because of the way secondhand smoke can affect the crew. tiger woods' long, powerful drives might inspire guys to up the golf game, but is his powerful sex drive moving them to get vasectomies? don't know. that's probably a stretch, but our affiliate in seattle reports a lot of guys are getting vasectomies right now. snip, snip, why? because it's the perfect time to ice down and heal up in the man cave. let's go ahead and hear from a snipper and a snippee. >> we added one extra day to make sure there's plenty of capacity and right at the start

we had 28 guys sign up for a day. >> my wife is wonderful. she brought me food and brought me drink and i sat around and watched sports. all of the sports. >> all right! throw in flech and three stooges and there you go. you're golden. it's a busy morning in the cnn newsroom. cnn crews bringing you the latest developments and starting with you, john robert n west virginia. >> it will be a big day according to governor joe manchin because they have bored one hole down where the four remaining miners might be trapped. they're trying to get the toxic and poison gas so rescue crews can get back in. those crews, kyra, very anxious to get to the miners and very anxious to learn what the fate of those four miners in. i'm elizabeth coen in miami. an injured haitian baby whisked to the united states after the earthquake is finally reunited with her parents here in miami.

i was there. our cameras were there and we'll bring you that emotional video at the top of the hour. and i'm rob marciano in the cnn severe weather center. if you're icing down and preparing to watch the masters tomorrow, a little rain for them, but more record-breaking heat for the east coast at the top of the hour. >> i love how you listen to that, rob. i know you won't be icing down, but i know you'll be watching the masters. one city's budget crisis leads to dire sacrifices. servicy are slashed and parks are closed and you'll be surprised who is arguing for similar cuts in the police and fire departments. are these tough choices coming to your neighborhood? ♪ 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

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airline passengers, buckle up. there's another new fee on the horizon. spirit airlines will start charging 45 bucks a bag for putting a carry-on bag in the overhead bin. so what do you think? will other airlines follow suit. christine romans, part of the cnn money team, what do you think, christine? >> that's the big question if other airlines follow suit. we know you're paying to check your bags. but that's causing people to bring more and more on to the plane, kyra, so now spirit

airlines wants to charge you to put it in the overhead bin. you can just have one little bag underneath the seat in front of you and to put something in the overhead bin, if you bring it to the gate, it will be $45. if you sign union line it will be $30 and for the aeroclub members it will cost them $20 to put something in the overhead bin. in the overhead bin! charging for carry-on! what things are exempt. i was thinking, wait a second, this will cost me a fortune if other airlines adopt this. a baby bag is exempt, food, a plane, a walker. you can bring a bag of food on, so there are some exemptions that you can watch out for there, but lafk lebasically, thm line is they'll charge you for the carry-on, the bag that you want to stuff in the overhead bin. your coat, they're not going to charge you for your coat, but this is taking that unbundling

of costs and fees, right? it's taking this to a whole new level, isn't it, kyra? >> what about breakables? okay. sometimes during the holidays you bring gifts in a frame or a piece of art. i'm being random here. we shouldn't be charged for that because we don't want it to get demolished in checked baggage. >> but if it's big and bulky and you'll put it up there, so unfair! >> the breakables are small enough to put under the seat, but look, you know, spirit is interesting because they have their fares and they break them down so they show you. you pay one penny for the fare and $12 from atlanta to say, myrtle beach. you pay $12 for the gas and the plane and you pay $18 in fees and they break it all down for you, this is the unbundling that they're talking about and you pay for what you use. >> that's frustrating. >> the other side of this story, people are frustrated and outraged, actually, but the other side of the story is the flight attendants who say 80% of

them who say they've had some sort of strain or injury, because instead of paying the checked bag fee they bring as much as they can on to the plane and they're trying to get it up there with the running shoes tied on to the roller bag that's busting them in the head. >> knocking them on the head, causing a bruise. >> the bottom line is pack light because everything you bring you're going to get charged for. >> oh, wow! we'll keep following the story, of course. we've gotten a lot of response as you can imagine. >> i know. are you ready to pay 45 bucks for the privilege of stuffing your bag in the overhead compartment. give me some input, would you? cnn.com/kyra and i'll share your comments in the next hour. checking top stories. president obama working on better relations with russia. he's leaving with the czech republic and the deal cuts both countries nuclear arsenals, but does not prohibit the u.s. from building a missile defense system in europe. the president is also expected to press his russian counterpart on sanctions against iran.

iran is lashing out at president obama and his newly announced limits on launching nuclear weapons, too. the president vowed to not use nuke against countries that do not have nuclear weapons. here's the catch. the pledge doesn't include iran or north korea because of their renegade programs defying international will. iran's president, mahmoud ahmadinejad went on a rant against president obama kuling him a cowboy and saying, quote, he can't do a damn thing. a strong earthquake shook northern indonesia, triggering two tsunamis. several people are injured but no word on deaths at this point. people started to flee to higher ground after the quake. holding out hope for a slim chance of survival. the rescue efforts intensify for four miners unaccounted for in a deadly blast in a west virginia coal mine. rescue crews are making progress while family members are making final arrangements.

here's what we know. west virginia governor joe manchin is telling rescuers they have made a breakthrough. they've completed one of the bore holes in the area where the miners are believed to be. that hole is an exhaust port of sorts with rescuers using high-pressure fans to exchange the gas-filled mine with clean air, but even with that progress, here's the heart wrenching reality. there's been no response from any of those missing miners as rescuers have been knocking on the pipes hoping that one of those miners would reply. despite, that west virginia's governor is keeping the faith. >> we still think we're in that 10:00 to 2:00 period where we'll have some real good date to make a decision, and we're hoping that we can get the mine and the air safe enough to get our rescue teams back in some time this afternoon. so the timetables are still the same as we thought they would be. the drilling went better on hole number one.

>> all right. let's get right to "american morning's"'s john robert. you heard the governor and this hope for the 10:00 hour, and they're wanting to make this decision, right? between 10:00 and 2:00 on what to do next. why do they think they might be able to figure out something in four hours. they've been trying to figure out something for 40 hours. >> well, the problem is, kyra, they haven't had access to the mine for the last 24 hours. you'll remember early monday morning when the rescue crews encountered the high levels of methane gas and the decision was made to tap in. it was like opening a window on the mine. they drilled the bore holes and put those high-powered vent laters on and they started to exchange fresh air. very, very toxic, the carbon monoxide and coal dusts and other things that kept the rescuers from going in. they're monitoring the air as it is being pumped into the mine

and in the 4:00 period they'll keep analyzing that air and when they see the methane levels have gotten down to a safe zone then they'll tell those rescue crews potentially as maybe later this afternoon to go back on in and they figure it will probably take five or six hours for them to make a dent into the area of the mine where they believe the four reminding miners might be and being able to ascertain their fate. >> you had a chance to talk to the ceo of this mine when nobody had gotten to him yet, and a lot of people have been saying. okay. what is it going take to make these mines safer? time and time again critics are saying it's been profits over people and mine safety and now you're finding out through your sources about all of these safety violations and that allegedly this mine is one of the worst offender. you know, what's going to be done to take care of these miners? >> reporter: well, if you talk to mine safety and health officials, they say the way to do this is simply for the mining

companies to look at the violations, fix the violations and apply them rather than fighting the violations as has become much more common practice since the miner act of 2006 to say, okay. we've got a problem. it's wrong. we're going to put the money in to fix it. i talked to don wooten who is the chief mine regulator for the state of west virginia, and he says while massey does do some good things and they do have a good safety plan, he says there seems to be a breakdown between that safety plan and applying it to the face of the mine which is where they're cutting the cola, way from. to some degree they're not fully listening to the idea. it's the cost of doing business. either you face $1 million in fines. how much would it cost you to fix the problem and how much would it cost you if the mine were to shut down for a week while you fix the problem.

in some cases it's cheaper to pay the fine for the violation or increasingly with your high-powered attorneys or deep pocket goes to court. tie the mining safety and health administration up in knots so they can't do anything while you continue to pull coal out of the ground. >> families wonder, you know, what's next for their loved one who goes into the mine and if anyone's respecting their safety. that's an even bigger question to address. john roberts in west virginia. thanks so much. stick with us because we'll bring you the latest developments as soon as they happen out of west virginia. we'll figure out what's going to happen in this news briefing that will take place in about 25 minutes and hopefully we'll get answers to how crews can get into one specific area where those four remaining miners might be. desperate times call for desperate measures. that's the story in los angeles this week where the mayor is pushing for a three-day workweek for city employees. that's right. three days. a five-day weekend sounds pretty

cool, right? unless you want to go to a library or city park. they'll be closed. >> i am asking the ceao to develop a plan to shut down all general-funded city services with the exception of public safety and revenue-generating positions for two days per week beginning the week of april 12th. >> now, apparently public safety is off limits like police and fire departments and bernard parks is actually a former police chief there in l.a. and also current city councilman. he's chairman of the budget committee. he joins me now to talk about how the mayor's plan will impact those living in los angeles right now. council member parks, good to see you. >> thank you, kyra. >> good to see you. how do you feel about the mayor's plan? >> i think first of all, we just heard about it yesterday and it will have to be vetted. he asked for a report back, but the council will have the final say as it relates to addressing

how we're going to deal with this budget crisis, and i think the important thing to assess is that the small number of employees that this would affect have already given substantial parts of their salary back on furloughs, and i think the issue will have to be a broader look at what cuts in service -- i don't think you can continue to keep the police and fire out of this equation, and i think that's what the council will have to grapple with. >> here's what's interesting. you were former police chief there in los angeles. are you saying that fire and police should get days off as well? >> well, i think you will have to look at how you manage the budget. fire and police currently are over 70% of the city's budget. you cannot cut $600 million over the next 15 months out of the remaining 30% and have any

semblance of city government and services to the community. and so i think there's got to be a more balanced approach. i don't think anything can be off the table, and i think that's what the council is going to have to address, not only towards the end of this fiscal year, but as we look to next year's budget. i just don't think you can realistically keep going in a direction of anything off the table at this time. >> here's what i -- you know, growing up in california and going to school in l.a., living in l.a. and working in l.a. and you know this by being police chief. here's what makes me a little nervous is if you close down the libraries and close down the parks, okay? where are the kids going to go because there are so many programs in both of these facilities. that's what's keeping kids out of trouble. i mean, that's what's helping with the gang problem and so i'm wondering, are you worried about violence on the rise, crime on the rise if these places are shut down a couple of times a week and then if you cut budgets

in police and fire it's like a double whammy. >> i think you thit on the head, kyra. a lot of people clearly understand that parks and libraries and cultural services are as much a part of public safety as a police officer. they also realize that it's important to give real credibility to the importantance of civilian employees and how they help police officers and firefighters be effective. if you do not have mechanics fixing fire trucks and police cars and do not have technicians fixing raid scombros computers, just having a set number of police officers is not really in our interest. what we want to make sure is are they the most effective public safety force that we can put out there and they need civilian employees to do the service that make them effective and i think, again, there's a much broader issue that deals with public safety than just counting police

and fire, sworn officers. there's a whole cadre of city services that support public safety. >> let me ask you about that because we're talking about city services being shut down here and looking at the number of times that the mayor said, hey, let's just raise utility rates and i'm seeing that the council rejected it a number of times. why not just raise -- i mean, you're in a horrible budget situation. why not raise utility rates? doesn't that seem less radical than saying to folks, you know, two days a week, we're shutting down services. >> first of all, that raise in the utility rates isn't necessarily fund goesing into the general fund to keep libraries open. they're talking about raising utility rates so that they can have more operational cash to run dwp. the reason that there's this dispute is that dwp was just evaluated by one of the major

bond companies. they have over $1 billion in liquid cash reserves at this time and when you look at the unemployment rate in the city of l.a. and you look at the foreclosure rate. you look at the number of homeless people in all of these services and to say to them we're going to raise your utility power bill as much as 20%, you are putting a significant burden on small businesses and everyday residents who in many instances cannot afford that. >> so what would you do? bottom line, what would you do? >> as we did yesterday in the council, we requested the mayor to sit down with his appointees on the dwp board and his general manager and to have them move forward on a transfer of monies, somewhat like a franchise fee because the dwp pays no property taxes on a number of other things to put that money into the general fund that they had

promised several months ago. that would ease the tension initially. now the next step would be that the city continues along the process of the agreed upon layoffs. we've put in place right now, as of today, about 20 plus million dollars in layoffs for next year. the next step is that we're going to have to continue looking at the budget over 100% of the budget and not just 30% of the budget in order to find the cuts necessary. so it's a variety of things that need to be done. we have to be sure that we're keeping in mind service levels for the public. those 4 million people that pay all of our salaries deserve to have as much service as possible. >> got it. >> and we also have to make sure that we're solvent so that as we move forward and have to borrow money that we're borrowing it at the lowest rate possible. >> we'll definitely follow this and see how it all breaks out. council member bernard parks, always appreciate talking to you. thanks for your time. >> thank you, kyra. >> you bet.

we'll hear more from the mayor on his plan for a three-day workweek and he'll talk live with our ali velshi. that's coming up at 1:00 p.m. eastern time and we'll get his take on his plan. he's going to climb mount everest, but he's not exactly sir edmund hillary. he didn't pack two month of homework in his backpack. i'm rob marciano, cnn severe weather center. just released from experts at colorado state university, talking about hurricanes for this coming season, they've got the forecast and we'll show it to you next.

no alarm clock needed here when you've got all this going on. i-reporter rob kosio awoke to the sound of hail pounding his roof in illinois. he got up and shot this video for us right off his backyard patio, by the way. it was definitely coming down. >> look at that. >> pretty good stuff. >> accumulation of hail. good pictures for us, but not good for his -- well, i don't know. that wouldn't hurt his patio turn utsch you are too badly. >> maybe put some dings in the windshield and the car and maybe the roof as well. second day in a row we've had a decent amount of hail in the northeast. this is running into seriously warm air. i don't have to tell you that if you live east in the mississippi. it's been drastically barm temperatures, 20 degrees above average and in some cases

record-setting temperatures in places like d.c. and new york will be in the mid-80s. 51 degrees in chicago and places like chicago and milwaukee over the next couple of days, they may see flakes of snow after seeing record breaking heat. i want to talk about this. this just released from colorado state university. the hurricane experts there upping the ante for the forecast this coming hurricane season. named storms predict side 15. the average is 11. the hurricanes predict side 8 and the average is 6. major hurricanes are forecast, is two. el nino expected to wane and they're well above average and those are the main reasons for the expected above-average hurricane season this coming year. >> thanks, rob. here's something you don't hear every day or maybe ever until now. an arkansas woman accused of harassment slapped with a lawsuit. the accuser? her teen son. he claims that mom hacked his facebook account, changed his

password and trashed him online. i guess he's defriended her by now. denise new says she has every right to keep an eye on her child. >> it's crazy to me that we are even having this interview. >> i'm going to fight it. if i have to go even higher up, i'm going to. i'm not going to let this rest. it could be a precedented moment for parents. >> her son lives with his grandmother. denise doesn't have custody, but she claims that she and her son had a great relationship. remember the name jordan romero in the name might come in handy if you're on a game show or playing trivia. if all goes well he will be the youngest person to summit mount everest, you know, the top of the world, sherp as, bottled oxygen? talk about peaking at a young age. >> yeah. i've been looking forward to this for so long and now it's finally happening and you can't even imagine the feeling.

>> jordan, his dad and his dad's girlfriend head to nepal next week. jordan's talking about two months worth of homework, by the way. he's climbed six of the world's highest mountains. life came first, the law came second. the haitian baby girl, a tiny survivor. the earthquake was just the beginning of her family drama.

it looks like anti-government po tests got way out of control in the central

asian nation of kirg stan. it just borders china to the east there. at least taken people killed and some 180 wounded as riot police opened fire on opposition demonstrators marching toward government buildings. protesters set fire to city's prosecutor's office and looted the radio and television building. they're angry over government corruption and a recent hike in power prices. remember the death threats after the health care vote? washington senator patty murray got them. now a 64 washington state man is under arrest. he allegedly called in threats to murray's office and said she had a target on her back. he supposedly bragged to undercover fbi agents that he carried a gun. wilma mankiller died. she was the first woman leading the cherokee nation, the second largest tribe in the united states. she was awarded the medal of freedom and highest civilian honor in 1998.

wilma mankiller was 64 years old. for one haitian family the earthquake was just the beginning. they feared their baby daughter was dead. now baby jenny and her parents are reunited, but there was a lot of drama in between. cnn senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen has the story. >> the story of baby jenny starts here in this collapsed apartment building in port-au-prince. when the earthquake hit, 2-month-old jenny was with her mother nadine devilmay who was knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital. every day nadine told her husband, junior alexis to go back to their home and search for jenny in the rubble and every day for four days junior came back with the same answer. i can't find jenny. the couple started to give up all hope of ever finding their daughter alive until what the parents call a miracle happened. on the fifth day somebody else found her alive and whisked her off to the hospital.

jenny was brought to the field hospital where i was stationed. >> she's got a depressed skull fracture and she's had broken ribs. doctors said jenny would die within hours if she didn't get to a real hospital in the united states. >> i thought the state department wasn't allowing haitian patients. >> i don't care what the state department says. >> dethey put her on they assumed she was an orphan and told the driver if you can get to the plane on time we'll name the baby after you. the driver was patricia and that's what the baby was called until jenny was learned to be her real name. she was taken here to room 16 of the pediatric intensive care unit at jackson memorial hospital upon. by the time her parents found out she'd been taken here. it was too late. they weren't allowed into the united states. they had no passport, no visa. they didn't even have proof that jenny was their baby. for nearly two months nadine and

junior tried to get haitian and u.s. authorities to believe them that this was their child. i visited them at their home in a tent city. >> so you say this is your baby? >> yes. jenny is my daughter. >> how does it feel as a mother to know that your baby has just flown off without you to another country? [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: i can't sleep. >> meanwhile, back in the united states, lawyers arranged for a dna test. it took weeks, but final finally approved that nadine and junior were truthy jenny's patients. several more weeks later, nadine and junior were allowed to come to the united states. >> today is the day. at the port-au-prince airport, nadine and junior thanked the doctor who saved their daughter's life and boarded a plane to miami to their foster

home where the baby has lived for months. >> a happy reunion for parents who once thought their daughter was dead in the rubble of haiti's earthquake. >> i tell you what, elizabeth, what a story, you know? now -- you were there from the very beginning which makes it all the more powerful. all this time that the baby has been in the u.s., had who's been taking care of her? has it just been this foster home? >> that's right. it has been a foster home. jenny was considered a refugee when she came here without her parents and as such she's a ward of the federal government and they've taken care of her here at this foster facility behind me. it's called his house. kyra, we hear a lot of bad things about foster care, but from all indications and you can see it in that video, this baby has really thrived here. she's really in terrific shape. >> what's the future for the family?

>> the future for the family is that they've been given permission to stay in this country for one year and that's because you can see in that video that the baby still has injuries here. she has trouble using her left hand. she needs physical therapy so she needs to stay here for medical care and that's what the authorities feel. they're being cared by by the international committee any that committee will help them find work and help find a place to live and if someone wants to donate to this family or families like it go to cnn through impact your world go to cnn.com/impact. >> great story and what a fabulous reunion. thanks, elizabeth. >> thanks. we are still waiting for that news conference here out of west virginia. we're expecting the governor possibly to let us know what we've all been waiting to find out, when exactly were those rescue crews be able to go down into that mine and try and find out if those four last remaining

miners are alive. they've been able to drill one hole to try and get fresh air in that mine. they're working on a couple of others, but they sort of gave a period of time when they were going to try to make a decision when they knew rescue crews could get into that mine. hopefully we'll hear something soon and bring it to you live as soon as it starts. [ sneezes ] ♪ music plays ♪ [ sneezing ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what are you gonna miss when youave an allergy attack? benadryl® is more effective than claritin® at relieving your worst symptoms -- runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes -- and works when you need it most. benadryl®. you can't pause life.

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the rescue effort intensifying for four miners unaccounted for after monday's deadly blast at a west virginia coal mine. rescue crews making progress, but we are still waiting to hear if they can get into that mine. meanwhile, families for the 25 killed are preparing to bury their loved ones already recovered. we're waiting for a news conference to get under way at any moment. let's recap what we know at this

point. drillers have broken through with their first vent hole. they actually banged on the pipe, but haven't heard any response from the miners down below. the crews will now begin venting the poisonous gasses from the mine and three more holes are planned and rescue teams will begin searching the area where the miners are believed to be once given the okay. earlier this morning west virginia's governor acknowledged the fading hope saying that everyone's going to cling to hope still and pray for a miracle. total helplessness. one of the shared pain, friends and families of the missing miners are feeling as they patiently wait to hear word of their loved one. it's a sentiment that gary tuchman first encountered just a few years back covering the canyon in utah and it's being experience ashgsd gen in west virginia. >> three small children who don't understand what happened to their grandfather and they're not the only ones in the family who don't know what happened with west virginia coal miner

rick ricky workman. >> we know he didn't come out. that's all we know. we don't know if he's one of the ones that's there or if he's deceased. he's one of the ones that we're praying is one of the miracles that walks out of there. >> he has lived here his whole life. his whole career has been in the mines. his relatives are traumatized and confused. >> i feel really sad and i've cried my heart out about it. >> many of his kin are hoping for a miracle. >> i hope that god will get him out. >> don't give up hope. don't give up. >> a drill is now cutting into the top of the mine. it has to go 1100 feet and that process is not expected to be finished until wednesday. the plan is to pump fresh air into the mine. the hope is to find evidence of survivors and an attempt to rescue. >> if rescuers make the decision to go into the mine. we can give you an idea of what it might be like that's because three years ago i was given

permission to go into utah's crandall canyon mine, where a collapse trapped six miners. here's how i reported it back then. >> we entered the crandall canyon mine through the same tunnel the trapped workers went through. in a small truck that would take about a half an hour. we pass red skew workers and their vehicles on the way to the ultimate destination. >> right there is where the rescue effort is going on. >> this is as far as we could go. this is where the mine had collapsed. you're looking at an effort to drill into the coal and rock to rhett rescue the six men. >> we're about 2,000 feet deep, but the process had to stop for almost two days because of seismic activity that has shaken up the mine and made it too dangerous for rescue workers. the work to get to the mine began at a different point of the mine. >> we had this cleaned up 310 feet. the machinery is still in there. >> another shift in the earth caused another partial collapse

and the cleared area filled with coal again. >> it is eerie standing here being that 2,000 feet behind me and maybe less are the six trapped miners. it's da cold, dark, a claustrophobic could never cut it here. the ceilings are low and we're 30 minute away from the nearest exit. in normal times it is very stressful and right now there's a lot of tension and the rescue workers and the people who normally work in the mine are calm because they have a job to do. >> sadly, the bodies of the six miners were never recovered and tragically, three of the rescuers were killed days after we were in the mine, following another collapse. that was three years ago. today ricky workman's relatives pray for a different outcome. >> god will take care of everybody. and he's going to take care of rick pep he'll take care of ricky. >> gary tuchman, cnn. stick with us and we'll bring you the latest developments out of west virginia. we continue to wait for the news conference. possiblet governor stepping up

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president obama looking on better relations with russia is leaving for the czech republic tonight. that's where he'll sign a new nuclear arms treat we russia. the deal cuts both country's nuke har arsenal, but does not prohibit the u.s. from building a missile defense system in europe. he's expected to press his russian counterpart on sanctions against iran. pay for performance, it works in schools, but what about in school? teachers in florida protesting a proposed new law. it could hit the governor's desk next week. that plan rewards teachers if the students get good scores on

standardized tests, but if students do poorly, pink slips. we were talking about a pretty unbelievable law in california, long forgotten yet still on the books. it listed homosexuals as sexual deviants and calmed on health care experts to search for a cure. we talked to one lawmaker who was working to repeal it and after our show that effort took a big step forward. it was passed out of committee and now headed toward a final vote. we'll keep you posted. giving soldiers a different kind of weapon for a different kind of battle. the army has opened up a mental health school at fort jackson, south carolina. the issue is to teach men and women how to deal with emotional stress before they're sent into a war zone. >> we can take the same skills that fight depression, that produce more resilience and better performance in the civilian world and teach them to our soldiers before they're put in harm's bay. . >> the army is hoping this training will help curb suicide

rates in the ranks. they've hit a record level. just about out on the farm. cnn's barbara starr follows up on her previous visit to archie's acres and she found things have taken a major turn for the worse. >> we first visited had hillside near san diego last year because it was a success story for a group of young marines recovering from the stress of war. >> these aren't just people that come out here for training. these are guys that we support each other overseas with. >> we have come back because everything has come crashing down. >> i did have pull out my laptop just to try to get extra money to eat and, you know, everything's really, really tight for me, and i think for everybody here. >> here at archie's acres, farming has helped the former marines decompress and learn new job skill, but the va cut off

funding saying after three years it discovered the money it was using to pay the vets came from the wrong federal account. that government snafu has led to this. >> who's stressing? i mean -- i'm really concerned, you know, rent, me, my mood swing, you know? just -- i'm spending more time by myself away from my wife because i just -- it's hard. yeah. it's hard. >> robert krauss keeps an eye on the younger vets. >> carlos here with an upcoming young family, in the beginning starting out, you know, it's not a good, solid basis. >> this young marine veteran who goes just by the name mike often sleeps under the trees here. he worries about the others. >> when i see what these guys are going through right now it's just -- it's very, very sad. i mean, because, you know, these guys put their lives on the line for this country.

>> the archi in archi's acres is archie, a marine in iraq. he bought this determined to keep helping fellow marines. >> when i left, i was hoping i could create some type of unit outside of the military that was as proficient as the unit in the military. >> when the va cut the funds, colin and his wife paid the men thousands of dollars out of their pocket all of the while talking to the va about how to get the money being turned back on. >> the problem is the vets that we have in the program are falling victim to the interpretation of statute and it leaves them high and dry until we can patch that up. high-level va officials have come to the farm to try to find a funding solution, but we are told that those visits came after the va learned cnn was working on the story. private money has been donated to pay some of the vets' immediate bills.

what we have found on this hilltop, once former marines, still marines helping each other. retired brigadier chen jal ral, an attorney s here helping with legal advice. >> we always hear, you know, once a marine, always a marine. >> yes, that's why i'm here. that's why sometimes a burden gets heavy and you've got to be here. you can't leave them on the battlefield. that's why we're pulling together. you don't leave wounded on the battlefield. >> barbara starr, cnn, san diego. the department of veterans affairs sent cnn a statement, that it is working to find source of long-term funding for those vets, but the va says it believes archi's should be paying the vets' wages. making a pickle barrel a lifesaver. two firefighters are building up

america with pocket change.

so in this down economy, fewer fire departments have the budgets for cutting-edge equipment. two brothers, both ex-firefighters saw that need and found a way to rush in to help. their world is building up america and saving lives. cnn's david mattingly has their story. >> reporter: it came from out of nowhere, one second francisco tuttle was feeling fine. >> it was a typical day, typical morning. had a busy schedule that day and -- >> this is where it happened. >> right here, exactly. but in an instant, he was on the floor, unconscious, not breathing, no pulse. the victim of a sudden heart attack. >> francisco tuttle had no way

of knowing at the time that his life was about to depend on an unusual act of philanthropy, the donation of a special piece of equipment that came about in a very unusual chain of events. >> francisco tuttle was saved by a pickle bucket? >> in one way or another. >> yeah. >> brothers chris and robert sorenson are former firefighters who founded a national chain of sandwich shops called firehouse subs. their connection to francisco tuttle and the pickle bucket we were talking about had its roots dating back five years to the aftermath of hurricane katrina. >> we were given these, you know, these people that have lost everything a hot plate of food and half of them are breaking down crying. >> reporter: that happened in pearlington, mississippi. virtually wiped out by the storm. the sorenson brothers drove in food and supplies, not feeling like that was enough, they decided to give the town a used fire truck they found on ebay.

>> and you just couldn't stop after that. >> no, that was just beginning. >> believe me, everybody needs something. there's no department that doesn't need some kind of gear. >> since 2005, the sorenson brothe brothers' foundation has donated $4 million worth of equipment in 13 states. a lot of that comes in selling pickle buckets, empty, from their shops. >> we sell 5,000 to $10,000 a piece. that all goes to the foundation and it keeps them out of landfills too. >> that money helped pay for this device, called the auto pulse, donated by the mount pleasant south carolina fire department which brings us back to francisco tuttle. >> i was dead. >> the precision, non-stop compressions of the donated auto pulse brought tuttle back to the print and today i'm bringing him to meet the guys that made it possible. >> i've got someone i want you to meet. this is francisco tuttle.

>> francisco. >> this is the first time the sorenson's had ever met someone saved by their acts of charity. >> if it wasn't for your contributions and your done asian, i wouldn't be here. >> two ex-firemen finding new ways to come to the rescue. david mattingly, cnn, mount pleasant, south carolina. take you live to west virginia. joe manchin talking about the rescue efforts. >> i've just come from the families and they always tell me things that they want to make sure you all know. the red cross and all of the volunteers who are helping them so much, they're so appreciative of that and they also want to say that they hope that you all would understand the privacy that they're asking for and right now just the families are working together. they've come together and they're working together and the families have bonded, if you will. they hope that you would

understand and respect the privacy that they're asking for at this time. so with that, where we are right now, i know from the media we have somebody that you have, we'll be taking b rolls, if you will, they're up at the drilling site right now. we told you also that when rescue operations commence again, we'll make sure that you have footage of that, that i've been told. they've decided to drill a third hole and the reason for that, the first hole went so fast and so well, if the third hole with the big rig they have there, they can get these three down they could be venting a lot better and pulling more air out and if you will, decannedering that area quicker. so they've decided on that. they're working on that. as we speak now they're up there and the fans and kevin and joe

will give you more of an update on where we are on that, but trying to get those readings. until we start getting those readings and knowing where we are and what type of air we have down there will determine how quick and what timetable we're on. once we do that, then you will have a better idea of when they believe the air will be safe enough to send the rescue teams in. the rescue teams are prepared. they're charged up and ready to go. they'll go at a moment's notice. so we're very thankful for all of this them. the question was asked before, when this commences how many people might be involved in this first rescue operation and i've been told maybe up to 30. it could be 30. rescuers going n but safety will be the word of the day, if you will and nothing will happen until then. with that, the families are -- they're still very strong and they're very hopeful and they're

very prayerful and they're holding very strongly. yes? [ inaudible question ] >> there were two holes in the first one. they decided to put a third hole right beside it because that will give them more ability to extract, if you will, and vent and hopefully be able to get better readings quicker. >> that's in addition to others? >> yeah. nothing else has changed, and i'll have joe or kevin, if they want, they can explain what they're doing, but that decision was made just recently and they have that big rig, the fast rig that drilled the first hole. they decided to put a second one there, too. >> how big are the holes? >> wait a second. >> the first two holes are immediately next to each other and the third hole would be in the same general area. >> the second hole. >> is the second hole done?

>> no. the second hole is down only about 500 feet so it's about half way down. >> about how big are those holes in diameter, would you say? >> it starts out on the surface as 12 inch and it's reduced to six inch. [ inaudible question ] >> did you start the venting and the reading? >> no, we didn't, ma'am. the hole wanted to intake and that makes sense because we have a fan pulling in another area of the mine so what we had to do, we had to cap it off and we had to get the high pressure exhaust fan set up so when we start pulling the air out of the mine is when we'll be able to begin having more readings. >> okay. when do you plan to do that? as soon as we can. they're trying to get the fan over to where the bore hole is and to get it installed in the operation. >> what about the two miners -- >> okay. i was asked about the miners.

we have both miners are still alive. one is doing extremely well and our other miner's in icu. the families have been asking for the courtesy and respect that it's very private and it's a family thing, but i know there are reports on one of the miners that might be a more serious -- icu as serious, but he's still alive. >> governor, you said 30 people going in as ri skewers. how big is the area are they going in? will 30 of them fan out in different areas or will they concentrate on one area? >> you might want to share, joe. >> yeah, go ahead. >> they'll be fanning out. naturally, we've got two locations that we talked about earlier that people are unaccounted for. three in one area and one in the other so they'll be fanning out in two different areas and they'll be actually advancing. what we have to have is many people in an out by area in case

something would be onning tour rescue the rescue teams in an in by area. when we talk about 30 in round number, wield expect 15 to be advancing and 15 to be backing up those individuals. >> you want to show them, kevin where they would go when they get up here. >> the rescue teams are going to come from the outside in and wield help one group to focus the area where we have three unaccounted miners as well as go through this rescue chamber and the other group of rescue teams to go where we think one miner is unaccounted for. naturally, they may not be in the exact location where we wanted so we may have to fan out more to try to find that individual if he is somewhere in the mine and we just kind of play it by ear and basically, you have to shoot from the hip with the information that you have available to you at that time. >> how do you know where they are? >> we don't know exactly where they are, but we can