stephanie elam here for christine romans this morning, "minding your business."s going into effect. >> that's true, and this is something you need to know about. you give somebody a gift card, you think they'll use it, the greatest gift they can want, but a lot of people lose them as the case may be for someone sitting at this desk. >> somewhere. >> somewhere over there. well, they do have a time limit. let me tell you what's going on. the federal reserve wants to put these rules together to protect consumers. the rules go into effect august 22nd of this year. they'll limit fees issuers can charge on gift cards, including for inactivity, dormancy and other fees. they'll have to clearly state the terms and conditions of these fees so the consumer knows what they're up against here. they'll only be able to charge fees after a year of the card not being used and after that the fees will be limited to one a month, and they can't charge fees -- i should say they extend the expiration date for gift cards to at least five years. should be plenty of time for you to go ou

i'm stephanie elam and this is "your bottom line." spring has finally sprung and that means it's high time for some spring cleaning. we'll save you time with weekend projects and with less than a month for tack day we'll make sure you don't have those overlooked tax deductions. plus protecting your privacy. how to make sewer you're not the latest victim of identity theft. the show that saves you money starts right now. >>> all right. let's begin this morning with the final big push on health care reform and who doesn't remember how a bill becomes a law? you know, from school house rock. i love that. for a refresher course on the inner workings of capitol hill, we'll turn to our political national correspondent jessica yellin, part of the best political team on television. hi, jessica. >> hi, stephanie. beale break it down for you. first we have the senate version of the health care bill. he's just a bill trying to become a law, remember school house rock? this is still awaiting action by the democrats in the house. some of these democ

stephanie elam is at the new york stock exchange with details. wow, this is big. stephanie? >> it is big, tony. and it is a first for a major soft drink company. both pepsi and coca-cola pulled their high-calorie drinks from american schools. that happened back in 2006. but now pepsi is going global, hitting 200 countries by 2012. here exactly is the plan. in elementary schools worldwide pepsi will only sell water, fat free or low fat milk and sugar-free juice. high schools will offer those choices, plus low calorie soft drinks like diet pepsi. a big change from when i was in school, tony. >> wow. i love that! >> it is great. >> man. as a guy who is way too jacked up on sugary drinks today, maybe i could take pepsi's lead here. how is this going to affect food company's bottom line there? >> good question. pepsi says schools don't make up a big portion of their total revenue but there will definitely be a decline in sales. the question is how much. we do know that restrictions in the u.s. pushed down sales of high-calorie drinks in schools by 95% over the past five

stephanie elam has advice on all of that and more in today's top tips report. >> reporter: today we're focusing on job-related questions and viewers have some great ones. first up, kyle. kyle writes i recently filled out a job application. i wrote my work e-mail address as a way to contact me. should i have written another e-mail address? here's the bottom line on this one, kiem. yeah, totally. get a free personal e-mail address like hot mail or g-mail when you're looking for work. you don't want to use company resources when you're trying to get a new job and you never know someone from your current job may come across e-mails that you wouldn't want them to see. maybe the higher-ups can scan employees' work i mails. don't send it out from your work e-mail. >>> kristen is in georgia and she asks i have an upcoming job interview but the employer wants me to get a credit report before the interview at a time. they recommend using a specific website for this information. is this legit? i'm really glad that this raised your red flags on this one, kristen, because this is totally a scam. th

that's this week's "getting down to business," stephanie elam, cnn, new york. >>> all right.teph. check this out. loggers in oregon have discovered the remains of a military bomber missing more than 60 years. it is a curtis sb-2c held diver, which vanished during a are you teen flight of august 1935. it was a small two-seater used during world war ii. we received a facebook message from a woman whose father flew one of these planes in the war. it's an incredible story these veterans have to share. an

stephanie elam, what have you got?porter: well, we are looking to see more green on the screen, maybe even matching mr. van dillen's shirt, as green as that today perhaps. the rally is set to continue with more modest gains. investors are encouraged that both the u.s. and japanese central banks are leaving interest rates where they are. fed chairman ben bernanke will be back in the spotlight today. he'll defend the fed's role in the supervision of banks on capitol hill. the senate proposed limiting the fed's control to only large banks but bernanke is expected to tell a house committee that the fed is uniquely suited to oversee financial institutions of all sizes. >>> investors have put blockbuster on death watch. shares of the video rental chain right now are tumbling almost 32%. it's now at 27 cents. the company said it may file for bankruptcy to deal with about a billion dollars in debt. >>> finally, there was a major heist at an eli lilly warehouse in connecticut last weekend. it's like something out of ocean's 11.

. >>> coming up next, the bottom line with our own stephanie elam coming up right after the break ands at the top of the hour and we continue our coverage of this big weekend with health care reform. stay with us.

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

stephanie elam, whew, boom. >> exactly. we were so excited and now we're kind of like, yeah.'re right, there are still some roadblocks that are out there. wall street's was expecting today's unemployment report to show jobs were added this month, but instead private sector payrolls dropped by 23,000, so adp says american businesses are on the cusp. >> referee: of recovery, that's how they put it. it doesn't compare to the hundreds of thousands of job losses we saw at the start of the recession and it happens to be the smallest number of cuts in two years. this report comes two days before we get the big jobs report from the government for march, and it's expected to show job growth since take into account the folks that were hired to handle it will 2010 census, the fact that some people couldn't get hired because of the snowstorms in february. so this is actually supposed to show a really big number of 190,000. that's the estimate there. we'll be keeping our eyes on that one. it's usually more in line than this so we'll be watching this one. may have to do with folks hired to

stephanie elam tells us why it's getting slammed. >>> and your questions about changes in your health care. what will reform mean when it's time to see the doctor or the surgeon or the pharmacist? our dr. sanjay gupta has some answers for us. we're at the top of the hour now, and the ink is barely dry on the new health care law, and now the fight returns to capitol hill. the senate begins debate over possible changes to the house measure, and senate republicans are champing at the bit and promising to use every maneuver possible to undermine or defeat the measure. 14 states have already filed lawsuits saying the law is unconstitutional. as for the president, he'll go behind closed doors today to restrict federal funding of abortions. it was that promise that clinched the final, critical votes for the bill's passage. as a matter of fact, it was the very issue that stirred so much rage that a congressman shouted "baby-killer" in the house chambers during sunday's historic vote. cnn's jill dougherty at the white house. so, what's the deal with this executive order being signed behind clo

stephanie elam has a look at the market today.mature exulting with the clapping before the bell. >> reporter: yeah. got to get the early claps on. got to get ready for the day, fred, when you're down here. i'm still trying to figure out if i should be worried about being on wall street with dr. gupta's last segment there. >> stay calm. >> and laugh. but there's nothing to be sad about because we've got some green on the screen already starting off the day. over the past six days the gains have been relatively small, just a little more than 1%, and today could be more of the same. still, investors are encouraged that the fed and the japanese central bank are holding interest rates steady. here in the u.s., policymakers have done that because a report out just around an hour ago says inflation is, in fact, in check. fed chief ben bernanke will be back in the spotlight today, testifying before a house committee about the central bank's role in supervising banks. and another financial company is taking steps to pay back its government

stephanie elam tells us how one restaurant owner is hitting all of the right notes in this "small businesshe youngest son of gladys night, he grew up around great music and great food. >> i had the luxury of having parents that were in the travel and entertainment industry, and that's really where the passion for what i do now started. >> shanga took musical influences from his mom and combined it with love for food and created gladys knight chicken and waffles. >> it started in the '30s in harlem, one of the things i was raised around. when i decided to go into the business i might give myself as muchf a leg up as i could and go with one of the combinations that i have grown to love over the years. >> in 1997, shanga opened his first restaurant in atlanta and although it's named after his legendary mother it's the food that keeps people coming back. >> i always tell people that you can only see a gold record on the wall one time and you're going to come ck if you really like what you had and the service was good. >> if you're a small business owner we'd love to hear your success story. go

stephanie elam is answering tough questions in this edition of "top tips." >> today we're focusing on job related questions. kyle writes i recently filled out a job application. i wrote my work e-mail address as a way to contact. should i have written another e-mail address? here's the bottom line, yeah, totally. get a free personal e-mail address like hot mail or g mississippi magmail. you never know when someone from your current job will come across e-mails you wouldn't want them to see. don't take the risk and definitely don't send out your resume from your work e-mail. our next question comes from kristin. kristen is in georgia and she ks, i have an upcoming job interview, but the employer wants me to get a credit report before the interview date. they recommend using a specific website for this information. is this legit? i'm glad this th raised your red flags because this is totally a scam. the employer probably isn't real. we spoke to the better business bureau and this kind of thing has been happening for years. that website that you have been directed to isn't a place to get

stephanie elam has some tips in this week's edition of the help desk. >> where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me doug, flynn a certified financial planner, and donna rosato. the first question comes from suleman. i'm overloaded with debt, i have paid my minimum balance on my credit cards for more than three years. how can i get debt-free and what type of program do you recommend? what do you think, donna? >> a lot of people are struggling with credit card debt these days. the best thing to do when you're think being how to get out of credit card debt is first of all stop using your credit cards. you know, stop digging that hole. it's hard. if you really feel tempted, maybe don't take them with you. some people go as far as putting them in a block of ice. but then you want to start paying them down. there's two philosophies on how to do it. we usually recommend start with the highest interest rate credit card first. those are the cards you will be paying the most interest rate over the long term. if you can start paying that down, you will pay less interest over th