chancellor kline, great to have you on the program. >> great to be here. >> we're just into a new academic year. want to talk to you about what's going on. new york's 1,500 schools had to institute an across the board budget cut of about 5%. what kind of an impact have you seen? >> it's having an impact. i mean, schools that lost a teacher, that retired, they haven't replaced them. some of our after-school programs have been affected. i think the schools have managed it effectively, and we let our principals and our school communities decide how to make the cuts. we don't try to make them for them, so you'll see different schools. some schools, for example, that might have had very little class size, they're willing to expand their class size. other schools that have a lot of after-school programs or weekend programs make cuts there. but it is a serious cut. >> this is something that is very important that you have given the principals this power to make the cuts where they see fit. this is one issue that we have talked about in the past where principals had not had the leeway even to hire

we booked ezra kline who has a fascinating blog about this.to technical difficulties, i am told that we cannot get the segment on today. now for more on the alleged extortion plot against david letterman. >> we have had some news regarding the suspect in this blackmailing case. he is a longtime cbs news producer. he is working most recently on the show "48 hours." he pleaded not guilty for trying to extort money from david letterman. he made that announcement during the taping of his show last night. in the courtroom today, he entered the plea. the bail is set for $200,000. we are told that he is probably going to post $200,000 bail and might be freed as soon as he does. prosecutors alleging in court that he demanded $2 million last month in exchange for not releasing information that he thought would ruin david letterman's reputation. authorities say that after he came to him and made this announcement, david letterman went to his attorneys and they undertook what they basically called a sting operation they booked a room at a fancy manhattan

kline who spoke out on being a good friend of his for so many years.till going after the money. >> listen, if he was owed money by jackson and his estate has an obligation to pay that. i don't know if you dismiss a $50,000 claim because michael died. i'm not saying that, but days after he died, he was right there on "larry king live" and talked about the drugs that he used when he treated michael. watch what he says. >> i used sedatives for when he had surgical procedures, but he had a severe burn from the pepsi commercial and hair loss when he contracted lupus. >> what was the strongest medication you gave him? >> demerol to sedate him. >> he said i didn't do anything wrong. filing this claim perhaps another way for him to say i'm good here. i didn't do anything wrong and have no problem talking about this. >> it's like buying meat at the super market. there so many people trying to cash in. "this is it" is the headline and this is secondary. i don't think it will affect how people view him. >> thanks so much, guys. we have been asking you to vote. wi

kline was up against a filing deadline here, he had to get it in, but i thought, what a case of bad timingee? it comes across as being at least pretty insensitive, filing this claim, just as this movie made to honor jackson hits theaters. >> i do agree, a.j.. it seems to be very poor taste to file it on this particular day when we're celebrating what a great entertainer michael jackson was. but i guess it reminds us that so many people wanted a piece of michael jackson and still do. so many people are looking for their way to cash in. even somebody like dr. klein, who has spoken out about being a good friend of michael's for so many years, he's still going after the money. >> and the truth is, listen, if he was owed money by jackson and his estate now has an obligation to pay that, then he should perhaps see it through. i don't know if you just dismiss a $50,000 claim, you know, simply because michael died. i'm not saying that, but just days after jackson died, dr. klein was right there on cnn's larry king live. and he talked about the drugs that he used when he treated michael. you've got