cheating to make sure no child is left behind and this story. >> ten people once lived here, six died including the parents of these small concern, cared for now by their aunt and uncle. >> boy, the desperate survivors of this week's earthquake in china hungry, cold and waiting. our cnn correspondent in the disaster zone. i'm tony harris. those stories and your comments right here right now in the cnn "newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- first, we want to start with some breaking news from wall street. the government accusing powerhouse goldman sachs of defrauding investors. it is all tied to those subprime mortgagees that led the country into a financial downturn. we will have much more on this story later this hour. now the worldwide travel impacted for a second day. yeah, much of europe a no-fly zone for a second day. some 17,000 flights canceled due to drifting ash from a volcano in iceland. hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded. we are getting reaction from some of them. >> it is a danger because, i don't want the plane going down, you know? this is really dangerous, but i've been in some different situations over the years and this is a new one. >> so we've basically missed a wedding. so not sure if we're still going to go or not. i don't know that there's any point anymore because we've missed everything. what the trip was ultimately for. >> the travel chaos is expected to last another 24 hour according to european aviation authorities. let's get to our gary tuchman. he is in iceland and gary, where exactly are you? are you actually on the western slope of the volcano? >> reporter: that's right, tony. this is iceland on the southern coast of iceland, this mountain is what's causing all the worldwide travel chaos. this is the volcano. you may be wondering how am i standing next to a volcano, and i have no ash or there are no problems whatsoever. that's because we are on the west side of the volcano and the winds are 40 miles per hour to the east, mainly in europe it's on the other side of the volcano and that's where the plume of ash is. it's relatively clear ash and you don't see much of the ashes and on the other side, there's plenty of it and that's the direction it's going. that's the irony. here in iceland, there are very few problems. this water here flooded far and that's because when the volcano erupted it was under a glacier. we don't see magna and lava, we see floodwaters and we see rocks and refuse and that is from the volcano, but there's been no one killed here. there has been nobody hurt. there's been floodwaters on the roads, but the travel here was relatively easy. we were able to fly into rake vick because it is west of the volcano. you're having these immense, chaotic problems throughout much of the world and people trying to connect and get to europe, but so far here in iceland, everything is going well. the only problem is the winds can shift. if the wind shifts in this direction to the west then they might have to close the airport in racovic, but the idea now, the winds could come from the north and in this direction and in this direction is the north atlantic ocean. that's the best direction for the winds to be going because there's no land there. the problem, tony is the last time this volcano erupted in 1821 which was two centuries ago, the eruptions lasted for two years and that was before the dawn of air travel so they didn't have to worry about that, so that's a great concern if these eruptions continue for a long time. >> gary, very quickly here because i know you can do it and there's no way i could, what is the name of that volcano? >> reporter: you're giving me a great challenge here. i've been practicing this all day. i have to read it because it's 15 letters and here is the best icelandic volcano. eye at fall jock you will this is a 350,000 people are the only people in the world who speak icelandic, and it's a beautiful language and not spoken by many people and i haven't practiced it that much during the year. >> and the translation? >> reporter: the translation is icy glacier, basically. that's what it means. it's actually three words put together in icelandic and it means icy glacher and that's indeed what it is. it's erupted throughout the ages and they call iceland, tony, the land of fire and ice because it's very icy. although it's not as icy as greenland, that's the irony. greenland is the icier land iceland is the greener land. that's why it is here because of the volcanoes that are formed through the eons and people are used to the volcanoes. they're used to dealing with it and i must tell you lots of tourists are coming here taking pictures and they don't seem to be excessively worried. they do know it's causing lots of commotion throughout other parts of the world. >> yeah. >> reporter: but here things so far are relatively calm. >> we've got our fingers crossed and the wind direction stays as it is and doesn't shift into your direction. thank you. i've got to tell you, some of the busiest airports on the east coast. we're talking about atlanta's hartsfield jackson international and washington's dulles international and new york's jfk all posting flight cancellations right now. our richard roth is at jfk international airport in new york and richard, isn't the simple truth here that you're not likely to get out today if you were flying out of the united states on say, a british airways flight? >> right. >> reporter: there's no flights flying for british air to many parts of europe especially northern europe. the board reads cancellation, cancellation, cancellation. there was a flight at 8:40 eastern time, a regular flight to london and that, of course, was canceled. there are two flights later in the evening that they're hoping to get to glasgow, scotland, and maybe bus passengers to other parts of the united kingdom. with me is wendy sante of brighton, england. she was scheduled to be on that 8:40 in the morning non-stop to london. well, you haven't flown at all. tell me what's going on? what are you doing now? >> we're just sitting and waiting. we've not been given any information at all apart from we're on standby to go to glasgow tonight and we will issue coached down to heathrow. >> reporter: how did you hear about, you're on vacation had you heard about it? did you think you would be able to fly. >> we heard the news on the television and we were advised to go to jfk so we didn't know the flights were canceled and we thought if we didn't come and the flight hadn't been cancelled and wield hawe would have misse our flight. >> reporter: are you upset at the attendance? what's your sense of things? >> it's a natural disaster an it can't be help would, but it's the lack of information and they no information at all coming from them and not even to come out and say we have no information. >> reporter: do you think they think listen, this is an atmospheric rarity, you should know what's going on? >> maybe, when you're on holiday you don't always have access to information on what's going on back home, back in england. so who knows? don't know. >> did you have a good time in new york? >> absolutely fantastic. >> good luck. we'll see if you get out to scotland later tonight. very chilly winds out here. wendy says she had good weather out here in new york for the week. tony, back to you. >> appreciate it. thank you. the question many of you are asking is this, why can't jets just fly through this ash? oh, let's cue chad myers. >> why can't planes fly through volcanic ash? because that's what a volcano ash particle looks like. >> oh, boy. >> what do you think that would even do to your car at home? >> just thinking about my lungs. >> right. these particles are literally, they could be lava and what happens if planes fly especially jets, fly through that type of thing it can re-melt this ash back into lava and it will literally freeze the engine solid. so you will lose all four engines all at the same time and that's not a good thing. >> boy, chad myers will be back with with us in just a couple of minutes and he'll have more details for you on the dangers of volcanic ash. he is live from the weather center at the bottom of the hour. plus listen to this -- ♪ ♪ ♪ >> do you remember her? candy stayton? she's stuck in london due to the volcanic ash, and she joins us in the cnn "newsroom." you know, arizona's controversial bill cracking down on illegal immigration heads back to the state senate on monday for reconciliation. the senator who drafted the bill and an activist who opposes it faced off right here in the cnn "newsroom" and it was hot yesterday. >> this is a crime problem and -- >> it's an illegal problem. it's a crime. >> it's a crime problem, right? >> yeah, well, it's a crime problem and they're taking jobs from americans. billions of dollars in costs. we spend $1 billion in arizona just to educate the children of illegal aliens. it's a constitutional right of the citizens of this country to expect their laws to be enforced. we're going to enforce them. >> mr. pierce is absolutely wrong. immigrants have done nothing, but contribute to this society especially to the economy of arizona. >> we've got to tell you, you can watch the entire discussion. we've put it on our blog. man, it's hot, at cnn.com/tony. as that discussion was taking place yesterday, 47 people, as we were talking about this issue, 47 people were being rounded up by immigration and customs enforcement officials in arizona. they're expected to appear in federal courts in one of the largest-ever human smuggling busts. our casey wian reports from phoenix. >> reporter: they appear to be mom and pop businesses, operating shuttle vans between border towns and major cities in arizona, but they're allegedly part of a confederation of illegal immigrant smuggling rings according to immigration and customs enforcement. >> this is the largest human smuggling operation i.c.e. has ever conducted and i'm quite confident at end of the day we will have dealt a very strong and severe blow to the alien smuggling industry here in arizona and along the southwest border. >> reporter: hundred of agents from nine federal and local law enforcement agencies fanned out across the state thursday arresting more than 40 criminal suspects and shutting down several businesses. here's how investigators say the human trafficking rings operated. smugglers would help illegal immigrants enter the united states near a border city such as nogales. they would then be transported to tucson where one of these shuttle vance would take them to phoenix. once there they would rendezvous with another vehicle and being taken to a drop house and moved to cities all over the united states. i.c.e. says it's year-long investigation, found they were operating by u.s. citizens and legal residents. they were issued phony tickets for shuttle trips that way, investigators said, drivers could claim they were operating legitimate businesses if they were stopped by law enforcement. immigrants rights groups criticized the timing of the raids. >> think we're getting absolutely mixed messages. i saw that just yesterday that first lady michelle obama she wants to see immigration reform happen and then we wake up this morning and we have i.c.e. raids intensively throughout the state of arizona. >> reporter: i.c.e. officials say politics played no role in the operation which they say represents a shift in enforcement strategy. for years, they've concentrated on busting illegal immigrant drop houses and now they're after the troirgz networks that supply the smuggler's human cargo. i.c.e. says it has received unprecedented cooperation from the mexican government which also arrested some suspects on the other side of the border. agents could not say how many illegal immigrants were actually moved as part of this alleged smuggling operation, but they say that number was significant. casey wian, cnn, tucson, arizona. standardized test results under suspicion in georgia. did school officials tamper with tests to meet federal standards? 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[ male announcer ] discover the accu-chek aviva system and save with a prescription discount card. start your discovery today. she was a pretty quiet person. she'd be pretty shocked at all the, you know, the outpouring of support that we're getting. even at the time of her death her memorial was overflowing because lisa touched so many people's lives that now it's another chance to celebrate who she was. >> janice langben was forced to sit in a waiting room while her partner of 17 years died from an aneurism. it was a situation many gays and lesbians face and it was her case that helped inspire president obama to take action. an order from the president will change the relatives-only visitation policies at hospitals, and it will allow patients to decide who has visitation rights and who can consult on same-sex partners. jill dougherty with more details from the white house. >> reporter: hi, tony. this will affect almost all hospitals in the united states because almost all hospitals in the united states do participate in medicare and medicaid, and that is the legal way that they are -- that the president is now issuing that memorandum for hhs to issue the new rules. and here is how it would work. any hospital that is receiving medicare or medicaid funding must allow patients to decide who can visit them. that's number one. then they must prohibit discrimination based on a variety of characteristics and that can include sexual orientation and gender identity and finally it would guarantee all patients advanced directives and that would be such as who can make health care decisions if the patient isn't able to do it. and tony, as you mentioned some of this was sparked by that case, janice langben and her partner lisa pond. they've been together for 17 years. partner lisa developed an aneurism when they were in florida and she was actually, janice was kept from her partner's side and plus their four children and unfortunately, her partner died alone. so president obama yesterday actually called janice and janice was interviewed by anderson cooper on his show and here's how she described that conversation. >> the president actually called you today. what did he say? >> that was pretty shocking. he said that he apologized for how our family was treated which is something i've been asking jackson memorial to do. they refused to apologize to me and our children. >> the hospital in children. >> they refused to apologize for the kids and i, but the president did and that means a lot and they directed hhs to this memorandum that he was signing today so that patients could decide who their family is, who their circle of intimacy was, and i thanked him because i believe this will be lisa's legacy, that she didn't die in vain. >> reporter: as you might expect gay rights organizations are reacting very positively to this. it's certainly important for them and it's important for the obama administration because, after all, many gay voters were supporters of obama during the election campaign, tony. >> that's right. jill dougherty at the white house for us. good to see you, jill. thank you. hundreds of thousands of americans can now re-apply for unemployment benefits today as we get the top stories for you now. president obama has signed a bill extending payments for those who have exhausted them. it is a temporary fix, just through june 2nd. congress will now try to fund the program for the rest of the year. conservatives are calling on the obama administration to appeal a ruling on prayer. the national day of prayer is an unconstitutional government promotion of religion. the white house has tweeted. the president still plans to observe the day next month. of course, we want to hear from you on this one. this is pretty hot. do you think the country should head up a government-sponsored national day of prayer or do you think it is unconstitutional. just go to our blog, cnn.com/tony. leave us a comment and we will share some of them on the air a little later in the program. vacationers, business people, entertainers, they are all in the same boat because of the volcano in iceland. we ort phone with soul singer candy stayton. she's stuck. we'll talk to her next in the cnn "newsroom," candy stayton. okay. get a load of this ash. that's quite a cloud, huh? from the volcano in iceland, pretty nasty stuff there, right? it is spewing out stuff that is way too dangerous for aircraft to fly through, that's for sure. so basically nothing is flying across much of northern europe and then there are all of the people with places to go and they just can't get there. one of them is singer candi staton. is candi staton really on the phone with me. candi, are you there? >> i am here. >> is this really candi staton in. >> oh, yeah, this is me. people like to call news channels and play little pranks. what was your big hit? >> "young hearts run free" and i have one that went platinum called "double love." that's candi staton. how are you? >> i'm good. how are you? >> you were stuck, where were you supposed to? >> i was supposed to be in norway and they cancelled it, we can drive there and next week i'm trying to fly again, so we just have to bait and see. >> have you gotten information from your airline as to when you can get out and get going here? >> every day they push it back. we're getting in the air tomorrow at 1:00 and then the next time you hear it it's, like, we just don't know when you'll get back up in the air so we're all grounded. >> are you getting a little frustrated. >> at first i did, but i'm starting to enjoy just being on the ground. >> yeah. yeah. okay. your band is with you, everyone is with you and the hotel is treating you well? they're not trying to move you out because they've got other people coming in, are they? >> we had a little problem last night, i was kind of worried because i was supposed to check out today and then people started crowding in because the airports were just completely closed down and so i had to rush downstairs and try to get a room for the next couple of days and i was able to do so. >> can you see anything? i guess it's 20,000 feet in the air. is it strange to not be able to see the source of the problem that's keeping you grounded. >> you know what? the only time you can see it, tony s in the evening when the sun starts to go down, it starts turning red, so you know something's wrong up there, but other than that, we don't have any ash on the ground here in london. >> let me check your health here. are you wearing a mask yet? >> no. >> how about itchy or irritated eyes. >> well, you know what? come to think about it, yesterday i did get a little irritated. i don't know what it was from. >> how about a sore throat which would be problematic for you. >> yeah. i got one of those yesterday, too. so i was lying down in bed today wondering why i had a sore throat, but that might have been, now that you mention it, is that a -- is that some of the symptoms? >> well, we keep hearing that the particles are too fine to really impact you. eye hope it's not a psycho somatic thing and it might be bad air where you are. >> anyway, i'm fine. i'm great. >> you're good, right? >> yeah. i'm good. >> all right. thanks for calling us. i can't believe it. >> you are so welcome. >> canned i staton is on the line with us. boy, oh, boy, i keep hearing that the particles are too fine and they really shouldn't cause a problem for you if you're in europe. >> well, you know, it just depends. this volcano basically exploded in the atmosphere so it pushed a lot of things, tens of thousands of feet high so that's not where people live, but now as the ash is falling down, you will see it. if you see it on the hood of a car and then you know that it's in the air, but you know, this is what candy was talking about, how the skies turn red. it's the refraction, it's the reflection off of these things up in the upper atmosphere and you know what? the frustration with the flyers is there because the airlines don't know when the ash is really going to be out of the way. i'm just saying, you know, carol costello has this little segment called just sayin', i don't want to be in the first flight in the air to see if the air is okay. are you with me on that? >> i am so with you on that. snunless i have a parachute i don't want to be on that plane. that's just not something i'm feeling good about. the ash clouds are still coming in from the north and from the west sliding out toward the southeast and the uk being affected here. look, everything just being affected. all the uk airspace, dusseldorf, cologne, frankfurt, berlin and the finnish airspace as well and that's because of the way the air is now moving. yesterday it was moving in a slightly different way, coming over the volcano which i will will not pronounce, but you can go -- you can do a wikipedia search and put that word in and it's -- and it sounds like something going -- it sounds like a beatle record going backward. >> you just had a cosby moment there. that's terrific. >> that's what it sounds like. today it's sliding down to the east and there's ash circulating from when it didn't make its way down to the west of france and that has to push its way across. it will still be days for some people. >> we are having too much fun on the friday. i know the bat phone will ring here in a second. candi staton and chad myers, that's good fun. april is national child abuse prevention month and this week's cnn hero is drawing on her own childhood experiences to save others. wynona ward reaches out to battered women and children in rural vermont with the motto, have justice, will travel. >> when i was growing up on a rural back road, family violence was an accepted way of life. >> this was my mother and i'm the baby here and my father and my brother richard and my sister pauline. my father would commonly abuse all of us. he raped me and beat my mother and my other siblings. when the neighbors heard screaming coming from our home they just turned their heads. for domestic violence victims in rural areas it can be very devastating. they're out there on these back roads with no access to in-town services. many of them do not have telephones. some of them do not have driver's license or an automobile so we go to them. my name is wynonna ward. the turning point for me was when a child in my family revealed that she had been abused by my father and my brother. i just said this has to stop. when i graduated from law school i was 48 years old. >> good morning, my dear. >> i go to people's home, give them in-home consultation, provide them with free legal services and transportation to and from court hearings. i don't want children to have to go through what i did as a child. i want to see my clients become empowered. i can understand them and they know that i will be there to protect them. wynona ward estimates she drives some 30,000 miles a year and has helped almost 10,000 victims of domestic violence. to nominate someone you think is literally changing the world, just go to cnn.com/heroes. ♪ who's born to care this life was protected... ♪ seems you've always been right there ♪ this life was saved... ♪ soothing sadness ♪ healing pain and this life was made easier... ♪ making smiles appear again because of this life. nursing. at johnson & johnson, we salute all those who choose the life... that makes a difference. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference band now we're insuring overts do18 million drivers. gecko: quite impressive, yeah. boss: come a long way, that's for sure. and so have you since you started working here way back when. gecko: ah, i still have nightmares. anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. ♪ traveling in the world of my creation ♪ ♪ what we'll see will defy ♪ explanation [ male announcer ] remember when you were five and anything was possible. ♪ happy 5th birthday again. ♪ come with me and you'll be ♪ in a world of pure imagination ♪ ♪ is that your new car ? uh... yeah ? cool. thanks. i knew i wanted a subaru legacy. i went back and forth on the hood scoop... but i'm glad i went for it. the subaru legacy. feel the love. i've got to get you more now on the breaking news out of washington because i think this is huge and it certainly has a direct impact on wall street. powerhouse goldman sachs i can't understate that, a powerhouse on wall street has been charged with defrauding investors. it has to do with securities it sold involving subprime mortgagees. colin barr is a senior writer for fortune.com. colin, i'm going to let you run here, but i think this is a huge story, parse it out for us, if you would. >> you're absolutely right. this is very big because the sound you hear is the other shoe dropping on wall street. people have been saying for years that wall street was playing these games where wall street profited from ripping people off essentially and here you have evidence of that. that's the sec's allegation in any case and what they're saying is the two most successful firms in the subprime housing crisis, the two firms that made out best in the subprime housing crisis, goldman sachs and the hedge fund, paulson and company that these guys were clueding to rip people off and that was a huge allegation. a lot of people have said the sec was nowhere, and i think everyone assumes this is the tip of the iceberg and we will see more of these. >> yeah, because if you think about it and i don't know who this paulson and company is, maybe we can find out about that, but we certainly know about goldman. >> well, john paul son. >> go ahead, john paulson made 4 billion. he made 4 billion shorting the housing market and if these allegations are true, that looks a little less freshent and a little bit more, i'm not sure, what, sneaky, i don't know, is that the word? this thing has very big ramifications for the way this is all going to be seen in the history books and of course, it also has ramifications for civil suits and all sorts of other things. >> how about the pervasiveness of this practice that we than there were all kinds of banks involved in bundling up these subprime mortgagees and selling them wherever they could find a buyer, so it seems to me, particularly in light of the fact that we've got congressional hearings going on on the financial collapse right now that groups like wamu, the former countrywide, that there are implications for all of those former and current financial institutions. >> well, i think that something like this is always one of the lessons that announcements like this are always good for the lawyers. i think lawyers will have a full employment act out of this. i think that we've seen other -- we've seen allegations that this was going on elsewhere, pro-publica did a headline the other day about a story called magnetar involved in this sort of thing and there were wall street banks involved in that as well. the kind of legal angle that wall street potentially will have to pay out a lot of money and it will be very busy fighting these kinds of allegations over the next couple of years. >> hey, colin, is there a trickle down -- go ahead, make your point. >> the other thing is this is just -- i would assume that we are going to eventually see, maybe not in this case, but somewhere along the line we're going to see the justice department get involved in this sort of thing, too. once again, we haven't seen a lot of that. we haven't seen a lot of that. people are saying where are the perp walk. there was a huge amount of fraud up and down the line. when will we see someone go to jail for that? this is not that. this is a civil case and no criminal allegations. the sec is not commenting on any justice department referral here or anything like that. everyone is now looking for that, too. we're expecting to see something like that at some point because it is obvious that there was a lot of very brazen stuff going on. >> okay. so the that we're talking about at this point is the charge of defrauding investors, but look, we're talking about individual homebuyers who will be making potentially a stronger case now that they were defraud, correct? >> absolutely. you referenced wamu. there's wamu earlier this week in the senate. >> absolutely. >> and the materials that senate investigation committee pulled up on that are amazing. wamu knew that there were mortgage offices that they had where 83% of the loans were fraudulent and five or six loans that they made were fraudulent and they did almost nothing about it. the price of this is going to be paid for a long time. it's already being paid by individual home owners and by investors, and i think the people who were involved in this thing and made out on it will take a long time. >> it's finally feeling like we're getting the rub on this. colin barr, appreciate it. great hues ole this. >> thank you. schools around the country learning tough lessons in economics. another district announces major job cuts and school closings. we're back in a moment. -d-d-d-dd let's get you caught up on top stories now. senators investigating the fort hood shooting spree saying the obama administration is putting up road blocks and they're threatening to issue subpoenas unless the departments of defense turn over documents. >> what's really frustrating to me is the white house has made available information to its hand picked investigators. we're asking for that same kind of access, to people to documents so that we can put together what happened. >> yeah. makes sense. the man who ran the los angeles police department during the 1992 riots has died. former police chief daryl gates was known for prickly style and a short fuse, his handling of the riots led to his resignation. daryl gate his been battling bladder cancer. he was 83 years old. could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots. ask your doctor about plavix. protection that helps save lives. people with stomach ulcers or other conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, may affect how plavix works. tell your doctor all the medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. there are engines... and then there's the twin-turbocharging, 365-horsepower-generating, ecoboost engine in the taurus sho from ford. that has the thirst of a v6 with the thrust of a v8. the most innovative full- size sedan in america: the taurus sho, from ford. drive one. hey bets, can i borrow a quarter? 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[ female announcer ] people who eat more whole grain tend to have a healthier body weight. multigrain cheerios has five whole grains and 110 calories per serving. multigrain cheerios. try new chocolate cheerios with a touch of delicious chocolate taste in every bite. >> an estimated 6 million americans will travel arc broad for medical procedures this year. cnn's dr. sanjay gupta follows a woman on her way to mexico for weight loss surgery. >> it's 10:00 a.m. in san diego and sharon howel was just arriving on a flight from atlanta. she's not here for vacation, she's heading south to tijuana to have laparoscopic surgery. >> i was tempted to make the surgery in the states and the insurance company made it extremely difficult. >> reporter: so sharon decided to be a medical tourist. >> we looked up the physician and saw hoo that he was highly credentialed. >> her experience? >> incredible. and her price tag $6,000, that's a third of the cost from the united states without insurance. >> it's a different economy, different cost structure. insurance costs for the facilities and for the doctors, and a bunch of different factors that if you add them up, some up to the lower cost, but it does not in any way affect the standards of quality. >> reporter: but there be risks when seeking cara, broad so says emory university's dr. john sweeney. >> the issue is the long-term follow-up and the continuity of care that is going to be difficult to achieve. >> and also it's important to research the types of certifications both the hospital and the surgeon hold and patients should be prepared to pay out of pocket for complications that may arise once they return home. those who receive poor or damaging treatment abroad often have no legal recourse, but sweeney does note just because a hospital is outside u.s. borders doesn't mean it's bad. >> we tend to be very closed minded and realize that hey, there are countries outside of the united states that do it as well as we do or better. >> as for sharon, she says all of the travel has been worth the cost savings. >> i work at a hospital institution and this is very well run. >> dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting. >> of course, you can get more information on cnn.com/fit nation and also this weekend on sanjay gupta, m.d., a colorful conversation with chef jamie oliver on how to fight obesity and why he's so passionate about it and that's at saturday and sunday at 7:30 a.m. on cnn. that used to make me sneeze. with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. so i'm ready by the first hole. with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i can love the air®. 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[ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. oops. i don't know if i sold that. april 15th has come and gone. you haven't filed your taxes yet? well, don't worry. really? all right. ines ferre is here to help you minimize those penalties. ines, good to see you. where do we start with this process? >> okay. tony, let's say you haven't filed if best advice here is to act immediately. interest and penalties begin from the date that taxes are due. the penalties can be severe. if you owe the government $300 and you file your return between now and may 15th you'll pay a 5% penalty fee. that's $15. add another $1.50 a month for not paying on time, plus you'll owe monthly interest. if you don't file your taxes within two months, you'll be responsible for $135, tony. >> wow. what's the best strategy for making sure your paperwork gets to the right place? >> so if you're paying by check or by money order, make sure that you make t out to the u.s. treasury, not the irs. put your tax year on it, include your social security number and form 1040 on the check. you want to make sure your payment is associated with your return. and as a follow-up, you can call the irs to make sure that the money was received, tony. >> okay. and it's more important to file than to pay, is that correct? >> yeah. it sure is. if you can't pay, file anyway. call the irs to see if you can get on some sort of installment plan. as you can see, the penalties are much stiffer for folks who don't file or those who can't pay. so you want to make sure that you file. >> gotcha. very good. next hour, tell whoever that is behind you to pipe down. we're trying to do some television here. you have important information we need folks to hear. >> okay. we'll do. >> all right, ines. see you next hour. and coming up on "your bottom line" this weekend with stephanie elam, the five best uses for your tax refund. nearly 90% of americans are set to receive refunds at an average of $3,036. that's good. at chully up 10% from last year. also on the show that saves you money, the best of jobs at grabs. how to save big bucks on your utility bills and how to spot the red flags when it comes to mortgage fraud. all that and much more. i don't think there's anything left. did i tease everything? "your bottom line" saturday right here on cnn. and here's what we're working on the next hour, floating ash from iceland's volcano closed or partially closed airspace in much of europe. how is it affecting you u.s. air bases over seas? cnn's barbara starr joins us with that and this week's powerful earthquake left tens of thousands of people in western china homeless. survivors and rescuers, freezing temperatures and thin air in the remote region where the quake struck. we will have a report from john vause coming up next hour in the "cnn newsroom." i have missed you. pollen in the air kept hunter cooped up itching his eyes and sneezing. but now i found zyrtec®. it's #1 allergist recommended. with children's zyrtec® he can get 24-hour allergy relief indoors and outdoors. ♪ now he can run wild... with the rest of the pack. with children's zyrtec®, he can love the air®. [ male announcer ] this week only save up to $12 on zyrtec® products at zyrtectv.com ♪ [ male announcer ] designed to function the way you function. the lexus rx. ♪ at your lexus dealer. school districts across georgia began standardized testing this week. and they've come under more scrutiny after suspicions last time around. audit found unusually high number of answers had been erased on thousands of tests. cnn's don lemon looks into whether tests had been tampered with to meet federal standards. >> reporter: michael harden is worried. >> are you the only parent concerned about the forms? >> no. >> reporter: someone may have changed the answers on the standardized tests on his daughter's schools last year. you have concerns in. >> yes, i have concerns. i hope that there's no cheating. if it is cheating, there needs to be a punishment for it. >> reporter: and he's not alone. the state of georgia is investigating 10% of its elementary and middle schools. 191 of them, because of moderate to severe concern over test results in 2009. when the answer sheets like these were scored, the computer scanners could tell when the bubbles were erased and the answers changed. kathleen matthers heads the state audit. >> it's no t that they changed the answers it's when they changed answers they got the answer right as a result of that change. >> reporter: classes with an unusually high number of these changes were flagged. >> it's sort of like having a blizzard in ft. lauderdale in the middle of july. you know, in theory, it could happen, it's just so incredibly unlikely that you really need a substantial explanation. >> reporter: usually when we talk about cheating, the focus is on kids. in georgia, the finger is being pointed at teachers and administrators. cnn obtained af eed aft davids david affidavits. former principal james berry admitted they went into an office and began to erase answer sheets and change answers. alexander, the assistant principal, says she read the answers to berry. he needed for 26 students to pass for us to make ayp. ayp is adequate yearly progress, an improvement standard set by the no child left we behind act. schools that repeatedly failed to meet ayp had sanctions. alexander was transferred and completed community service. >> we have done some work with our monitors. >> reporter: today mathers is working with the state school board to keep it from happening again. >> as aformer teacher i would say we're better than that. >> reporter: they're now taking the 2010 crt test and watching over the whole process, state test monitors aimed at making sure these tests can be trusted. >> okay. tune in this weekend for a cnn special report "fixing america's schools." a town hall moderated by don lemon. it features education secretary arne duncan and audience of parents, students and teachers firksing america's schools. i just want to go home now. >> go home? pretty volcanic ash spreads across europe, turning much of the continent into a no flow zone. plus this -- >> i trouly believe that who yo want at the moment of death should not be defined by blood relation. >> president obama dramatically expands the rights of same-sex couples. hospitals will no longer be able to deny visitation by a domestic partner when the patient requests visiting rights. boy, let's begin here with big trouble for a big investment firm. goldman sachs is charged with fraud in connection with its subprime mortgages. let's get right to our senior correspondent, allan chernoff. allan is in new york. allan, you talk about a shot across the bow, the u.s. government not going after a small big player on wall street but the biggest, the baddest player on the block, the guilded goldman sachs. >> that's right. goldman sachs, no question, is the most envied firm on wall street. and this morning, right now, we've got goldman charged with fraud by the securities and exchange commission. here's what's going on. goldman sachs back in 2007 put together an investment betting on the health of the housing market. remember, that was about when the housing market was just beginning to totter a little bit. they were buying into an investment that was tracking a group of mortgages, a pool of mortgages in subprime mortgages, not your high-quality mortgages, okay? you've got that on the one h now, on the other hand, goldman sachs also was dealing with a giant hedge fund, paulson and company. paulson was betting against the housing market, shorting. that's what it's called on wall street, shorting these mortgage securities. that's okay. the problem is this. goldman told the first group of investors, hey, a third party is putting together these mortgages into which you're going to be investing. but, in fact, the s.e.c. says paulson and company, the group betting against the housing market, was actually picking some of the actual mortgage securities that the first group was essentially investing in. so there's the conflict over there. the s.e.c. says, hey, that is fraud. no good. >> well, well, is the s.e.c. essentially saying here, goldman, you know what? you were double dealing? >> yes, yes, no question about it. that's basically what the s.e.c. charges come down to here. and you're allowed to deal with players on both side of the market. that's okay. you can be a market maker. you can say, okay, you guys think housing is okay. you think housing is collapsing. that's fine. the problem here is that the first group of investors, who, by the way, lost a lot of money, the first group of investors were told, hey, the mortgage securities are being picked by an independent third party. no conflicts. >> ah, i see, allan. yeah, so the investors -- wow, okay. gotc gotcha. allan chernoff in new york for us. what a story. did you want to add something, allan? >> by the way, tony, those investors lost a billion bucks. the hedge fund betting against the housing market, made a billion. >> oh, nan. what a story. allan, appreciate it. billion dollars, that's real money. now to the volcanic eruption being felt around the world. 17,000 flights grounded. drifting ash from a volcano in ooigs iceland is to be blamed for it all. forced to shut down airports across much of europe. hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded for a secretary of defense day. i spoke with singer candy stain last hour. she's in london. >> every day they push it back. they say we can get you -- we're getting in the air tomorrow at 1:00. and then the next time you hear it, it's like, we just don't know when you'll get back up in the air. so we're all grounded. >> you get a little frustrated? >> at first, i did. but i'm starting to enjoy just being on the ground. >> yeah, yeah. okay. so your band is with you. everyone is with you and the hotel is treating you well? they're not trying to move you out because they've got other people coming in? >> we had a problem last night, i was kind of worried, because i was supposed to check out today. but then people started crowding in because the airports were just completely closed down. and so i had to rush downstairs and try to get a room for the next couple of days. and i was able to do so. >> so many travelers right here in the united states are being effected. the air transport association says american carriers operate about 340 flights to and from europe each day. a third of the flights were canceled yesterday. more cancelations happening right now. the volcanic ash is creating a costly headache. not only for businesses, airlines and tourists but also for the u.s. military. for that angle, we turn to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barba barbara, what kind of impact is the volcano having on u.s. military operations? >> well, you know, tony, just like civilian commercial air operations, europe is a major hub for the u.s. military. cargo, refueling, troop flights, going in and out of europe on their way back and forth to afghanistan and iraq. let's go to the map right now. let me show you a couple of places that are shut down. in britain, in the uk, the royal air force bases at lakenheath and mildenhall is shut down and that means the f-15 fighters, tankers, refueler, not fine, they are grounded. spangdhlem in germany, shut down. cargo flights shut down. ramstein is the one that may be getting the most attention right now because the flights of the wounded troops coming from afghanistan and iraq come to ramstein where they are being transferred to the army hospital at ramstein for medical care. r ramstein is shut down so the wounded cannot go there. those flights down to spain, down south, the medevac crews are now basing out of spain, flying over to afghanistan and iraq to pick up the wounded. and instead of taking them to germany, they are bringing them right back here to washington to andrews air force base. that's a long haul flight. it involves refueling in many cases, but they're going ahead and they're getting them out of the war zone and bringing them here, notifying their families of this change. the military says it's coping. you know, basically they're going the southern routes across europe like everybody else. but the impact does go on, tony. >> sounds like it. barbara starr at the pentagon for us. appreciate it. barbara, thank you. and let's now get to the source of the problem. we're talking about hazardous ash erupting from a volcano in icela iceland. man, pictures are dramatic. gary tuchman is near ground zero. we say right near ground zero, we mean it. are you on the western slope of that volcano, gary? >> western slope, tony. pretty much as close as we're allowed to get. this is the mountain that's the source of all these worldwide travel problems. this is where the volcano is. and behind me, this is the mud, the ice balls, the rocks, and the flood waters that have come as a result of the volcano. what's happening when the volcano erupted it was underneath a glacier and caused floods. there's no magma or lava here. what we have are the floods on these farmlands. fortunately it's not that extensive just yet. this is not an overly populated area. it's also a situation where they've had lots of roads that have been destroyed but no people have been killed, nobody has been hurt. that's the iron any of the situation, tony. we're seeing so much suffering and people stranded. when we left john k. kennedy last night to fly video reykjavik, bewunt coat out. reykjavik is 75 miles from here. right now the temperature is 35 fahrenheit with winds that are about 35 miles per hour. you can imagine it's quite cold right now. people are stranded all over the world, but here, life is fairly normal except for these flood waters. i hope you can see that water ball behind me. the reason i'm pointing that out to you that's not from the volcano. that's always been here. the reason i mention the waterfall is if you watch the show "the amazing race" a couple years back they had it in iceland and they had to go to that waterfall. that waterfall was famous from the "the amazing race." now it's famous because it's connected to the mountain who had this volcano. >> gary, i see people walking around behind you. are these locals or tourists trying to take pictures? what's going on? >> come here for a second, if you don't mind. >> way to go. >> what timing. let's find out exactly. come here. come here. where are you from? >> i'm from iceland. >> turn around this way. >> i'm from reykjavik. >> reykjavik is the capital of iceland. how do you explain to the viewers on cnn. are you nervous talking to me? >> not really. >> isn't it amazing how this is causing problems all over the world but in iceland things are fairly normal. >> i'm actually here trying to figure out what is going on here. >> so you're a journalist. >> i'm a journalist. >> no wonder she's not nervous. she's a journalist not a tourist. people are calm about this. >> very calm. i think it's mainly the farmers around here who might be worried about their farm and all, animals, horses, sheep. >> that's the issue, the livestock, the farm. thanks for talking to me. good luck with your newspaper, okay? tourist, tony, not just from iceland but from france, denmark, sweden, they want to see what's going on right here. >> that's terrific stuff. look, we say all the time anything can happen here in the "newsroom" and it usually does. great moment. you know we're looking for real people and everyone around the world knows journalists aren't real people. appreciate it. thank you. see you next time. all right. we have got our eye on afghanistan. boy, more fighting, more attacks, more deaths. we will take you live to kabul in a moment. first, though, a random moment. 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[ sighs ] [ male announcer ] ...for the deepest clean and the healthiest mouth. listerine®. clean deeper. get healthier. boy, what a show. things a cat would never consider a friday random moment. putting a dog on treadmills. some pooches are as fat as people. it's a good way to exercise your pet especially when the weather is pretty bad. just don't try this with your cat. that brings us to a random moment flashback. everybody needs a shower after exercising, right? a japanese company is marketing an automated doggy bath. shampoo, rinse, and fluffy dry. all right. wait for it. wait for it. again, not recommended for cats. we do, however, recommend our random moment of the day. all right. turning our attention now to afghanistan. more attacks every day it seems. three people killed a in saw side bombing in kandahar. three afghan policemen were killed in heavy fighting. today president obama is meeting with the national security team of office strategy in afghanistan and pakistan. cnn joins us now from kabul. and tia, let's start with these recent blasts. what do they mean, if anything, in the broad scheme of u.s. strategy there? >> tony, one thing is clear, these two strong blasts that rocked the city of kandahar yesterday, the biggest one coming in the evening time, actually injuryinging three americans as well. killing three afghan security guards and a man from britain and south africa. this is a sign that the fight in kandahar is going to be a big fight. this is a spiritual home of the taliban. this was the capital of the taliban. this is an area where omar himself, osama bin laden lived during the to ban regime. they're not going to go down without a big fight. this is going to be a bit different from the fighting that we've seen in the past. this is going to be a political way that the nato forces want to fight this. they want to go to the people of kandahar and get them to actually push the taliban out of the area. but the question really remains, will the taliban actually go for the diplomacy. many people think they won't. tony? >> tia, maybe you can remind us again. it's really vital information here, i think. why is kandahar so important to the war effort there in afghanistan? you were just there with president karzai and general mccrystal. how are they approaching the situation in kandahar? >> it's going to be a big push. what happened when i went with general mccrystal and president hamid karzai himself, what's interesting is he went to a council meeting and invited the leaders of different tribal groups throughout the central trying to get support and find a way to see what they need in helping them push the taliban out of kandahar. president karzai himself reaching out to the taliban, calling them his brothers, saying that they should come towards the government and they can make a change in afghanistan together but it should be noted that president karzai said that doesn't include the terrorists, that doesn't include the taliban who are killing innocent civilians, that are launching attacks like the one wes saw yesterday. what they want to do is go district to district to talk to these tribal leaders to ask them exactly how they want the nato forces' help. this isn't something like we saw a couple of months ago in helmand province where there was a big d-day and air assaults into marjah, hoping to secure and hold the area. this is different. they want the help of the afghan people. they think that by getting the afghan people involved, it can make a bigger difference. truth be told, tony, this is afghanistan. this is the land of the afghans, the afghans themselves know their land. they know their people. they also know how to talk to the taliban. the reason the taliban have had success in the last eight years is when you talk to the average afghan, they see these men who speak their language, who look like them, talking to them and although they are responsible for the majority of civilian casualties, the foreign forces are still very foreign to the afghan people. they see them coming in in uniforms, see them coming in in helmets. that scares a lot of these villagers. they see them as aliens to the country. this is a way for president karzai and the top nato commander to make their way forward in afghanistan with the help of the afghans themselves. >> that's a really good reset for us. tia for us in kabul, afghanistan. good to see you. thank you. is government prayer unconstitutional? a new court ruling that reaches from the white house all of the way to a higher power. let's get you caught up on our top stories p hundreds of thousands of americans who ran out of federal unemployment benefits can now reapply. last night president obama signed a bill to extend payments through june 2nd, payments will be retroactive for those who lost benefits. the chairman of a senate panel says federal regulators ignored mounting problems at washington mutual as the bank collapsed. it was the largest ever u.s. bank failure. senator levin said the main regulator, the office of thrift supervision, was a watchdog with no bite. charges have been dropped against nine american missionaries accuse of trying to kidnap children from haiti after the january earthquake. that's according to the office of an idaho senator. the group's leader is still jailed in haiti. a new fight over religion. a judge says a federal statute authorizing the national day of prayer is unconstitutional. ines fer ray re is in new york. ines, what was the judge's thinking on this? >> tony, the judge in her ruling, federal judge barbara crab, said that the national day of prayer goes beyond mere acknowledgement of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer. she goes on to say that the government has taken sides on a matter that has to be left to individual conscience. now, there's been congress reactions from both sides on this issue. americans united for separation of church and state says this decision is a tremendous victory, add that congress has no business telling americans when or how to pray. and, also, you've got the group the national day of prayer task force which is urging the obama administration to appeal the decision saying this is a concerted effort by a small but determined number of people who have tried to prohibit all preferences to the creator and the public square, whether it be the ten amendments, pledge of allegiance, this is unconscionable for a free socie society. both sides really feeling very strongly about this issue. >> wait a minute here, ines. this day has been around for decades. so it's not a new concept, we're talking about here. >> it's not a new concept. the date was made official in 1952, signed into law by president harry truman. reverend billy graham helped to introduce the idea of an annual day of prayer. there was a fear in the u.s. of communism then. under the law the president would assign one day where americans could turn to god and meditation at churches and in groups. in '88 president reagan amended it to say it would be the first thursday of may. >> and what happens now? where does -- do we know where the administration stands on this? >> well, yeah, the ruling says that the injunction won't take affect until the appeals process is exhausted and the obama administration tweeted about it yesterday, saying that the president intends to recognize this year's national day of prayer on may 6th. >> ines, appreciate it. see you later in the hour. we want to hear from you on this issue. what do you think the country -- do you think the country should have a government-sponsored national day of prayer or maybe you think it's unconstitutional? go to my blog and leave me a comment. tough lessons in school districts across the country. systems forced to cut back because of tight budgets. one of the latest is st. louis, missouri, last night officials announced plans to shut down six schools and cut almost 500 jobs. the school system is facing a $58 million budget deficit. there could be more cuts in the future, including low performing schools. >> we have some schools that are challenged for a number of reasons. they're not as supportive as they need to be. some of the academic persons in the biding are not as strong as they need to be. so we need to make some changes. >> eight superintendents since i've been vice president of this union. it's just been an incredible roller coaster ride. but we're not done yet. we've always been part of the solution, not the problem. >> sad state of affairs because a lot of my students, my son, fifth grader, going to miss out on a great opportunity. i'm sad and hurt for those teachers and staff members that are going to be losing out as well as the community. >> you know i've got to tell you, parents in a with we have ended a week of sit-ins to protest teacher furloughs. this is an i-report video from the nonadministration in tdemon governor's office. they push for an end to the 17 furlough days. on the days off, mean hawaii has the shortest school year in the nation. and tune in this weekend for cnn's special report "fixing america's schools." a town hall moderate bid don lem men and features arne duncan and audience of parents, students and teachers. "fixing america's schools" saturday at 7:00 p.m. okay. cnn your source for money news, of course. let's get you to cnnmoney.com. the lead story at cnnmoney.com. it's all about goldman sachs and the s.e.c. charging investor fraud. it's a big story. we've been following it for you the last couple of hours right here. let's get you to the new york stock exchange. wow, this is big down day. stocks were down big time. i wonder if it's some kind of reaction to the s.e.c. going after goldman sachs. as you can see, the dow is down big time, 135. the nasdaq at last check was down 38 points as well. we're following these numbers. boy, big day. big selling day already. imagine. we've been tell you about this massive no-fly zone across much of europe. here's the culprit. man, thick hazardous ash from a volcano in iceland drifting slowly across the continent forszing the cancelation of 17,000 flights. many major airports shut down. here's a look at london's heathrow. usually bustling airport. now virtually deserted. airline travelers are scrambling to find alternative transportation. our ti tika shubert reports from london. >> reporter: here at the eurostar terminal in london, it's all about the queue. people are lining up hoping to get train tickets to replace those flights they're missing. unfortunately, all the eurostar trains today are booked and there is only limited availability for train tickets tomorrow. people are really just trying to get as close as they can to their desnations. it could all be pretty chaotic except the people really are saying we're all in this together. we're just trying to get to our destinations. there is a lot of cooperation on the ground. here's what some passengers told us about how they're trying to get back home. >> i'm trying to get the eurostar ticket to go to paris and go to friends there. and hopefully while we work on organize a car from paris to milan. >> now instead of going to berlin you're going -- >> glasgow, london, brussels, cologne, berlin. >> wow. so this is an emergency. you have to get to brussels? >> we do, yeah. it's urgent. i've got a lot of people to save. there's only one man for the job. he was busy so i'm going. >> how are you hoping to get to brussels? >> well, we walked across london to start with. so if we -- we're think that if we can't walk or we'll swim. >> rumors that the euro train is booked for today and tomorrow. maybe possible sunday. but for us, we will see when we can get it and stay and enjoy london. >> what do you think about the way this is being handled, all the travel problems? are you okay with it? >> no effect. i just think safety comes first. and i really do feel if it's in the best interest of everyone to be safe, then they've taken the very right decision. as far as i'm concerned. >> now the you'eurostar says th passengers trying to get train tickets, check on the website instead of coming here directly because otherwise, it would just be too chaotic here. for those passengers who are trying, check the website first. with any luck, it will be tickets available. atika shubert, cnn. >> there's no way to predict it. >> there's not. these things that look like pumice balls are floating. they do settle but these ash plumes, these pieces of ash, this is very, very small. we've blown this up to make it look -- people are choking here. is that your brain on drugs? no. it's just one piece of ash. it's already friday for some folks. so this is going up into the sky. you can't get this into your jet engine or it stalls the engine. you can actually get the glass that you heard about, the volcanic glass, remember in fifth grade you heard about how volcano can make glass when it hits the water. it's a slow cool. well, that can actually do that with that. and then it coagulates and penetrates into the back of the jet and then you get that glass on the back of the jet and literally the jet clogs itself to death. you don't want to do that if hey, i have something new that i just found in the past 15 minutes. >> okay. >> flight radar 24.com. there aren't that many paths in this website right now so you have to be patient. every little blue spot is where there is an airport or a transponder. there should be all kinds of yellow planes all over here, all over northern europe. not. the only planes that we find coming out of orley, some have made it out which is surprising because a lot of other places are still closed. and then all of the way here through here, no planes here, planes here. so this is the closed area. here's the open area. and it's going to be one long weekend for some people. and tony, you have to think about i just got this e-mail to me that there are some boston marathon competitors coming out of africa through europe, can't get to the boston marathon right now. they are stuck in europe. they are some of the main runners for the boston marathon. we'll have to see if they can get here. >> maybe an american can win this year. >> easy. >> easy, easy, pump the brakes. hospitals will no longer be able to deny visitation rights to gay and lesbian partners. the heartbreaking story prompted president obama to act. president obama moves to end discrimination in hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples. he's ordered a rule change for all hospitals that receive federal funds. he said the current relatives only policy means gay and lesbian americans are often barred from the bedsides of their partners, unable to be there for the person they love and unable to fact as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated. it was sparked by the case of a couple kept apart as one died from an aneurysm. janice langedon spoke with cnn's anderson cooper. >> tell us a little bit about what happened to you, you and your kids with with your partner in florida, there for a cruise for a trip. lisa collapsed and she was taken to the hospital. i mean, how did they say that you weren't allowed to see her? >> my partner collapsed and when she got to the hospital, which is about 3:00, 3:30 florida time, social worker garnett frederick came out and told me, quote, you're anti-gay city and state and won't get to see your partner or know of her condition. and then turned to walk away. i said, wait a minute, i have a power of attorney. he came back and gave me his fax number. within 20 minutes of him telling me that, they had our legal documents. i continued to wait. >> you had the legal documents needed. you had advanced directives, power of attorney? >> i did. yes. >> and yet they still wouldn't let you see her? >> yeah, because i have multiple sclerosis so we were planning for anything like this. and it didn't matter to this hospital. >> they finally did let you see her briefly but only when they were reading her her last rights, is that right? >> yeah. a chaplain came to me. i said i need a priest immediately. and i didn't want the children to see her for the first time that way because i didn't know what i would see. and so just i went back to do the last rights. she must have had some amount of consciousness because she was actually restrained to the bed at that point. though not verbal or conscious. and then they -- after the five-minute ceremony brought me back out and i continued to wait with the kids another five hours. it wasn't until her sister showed up from jacksonville that then i was allowed in to have access to my partner of 17 years. >> wow. okay. today cnn quick vote question and vote. what do you think of president obama's order to allow hospital visitation rights to gay and lesbian partners? 86%, pretty wide margin here, agree with it. 14% do not. you know, it is a scheme that took the irs for a literal ride. we promised you this story yesterday but because of breaking news we couldn't get it on the air. you will have it this hour unless, of course, we get more breaking news. okay. let's get caught up on top stories. the securities and exchange commission has charged wall street mega bank goldman stacks, defrauding investors in the sales of securities tied to subprime mortgages. goldman shares tumbled 10% in mid morning trading on the s.e.c. charge, see what's happening on wall street. oh, steep sell-off right now. the dow is down 166 points. that's a pretty strong reaction, isn't it? former los angeles police chief daryl gates has died. he was in charge during the 1992 riots that followed the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of black motorist rodney king. gates retired amid wide spread criticism of how his department handled the riots. devastation, desperation everywhere you look in western china rocked by a powerful earthquake on wednesday. hundreds dead, many more injured. we take you to the earthquake zone. thousands of hungry survivors of wednesday's magnitude 6.9 earthquake in western china are still exposed to extremely cold weather. no food, no shelter. at least 790 people were killed. john vause was one of the first reporters on the scene. he reports now from qinghai province. >> reporter: how do you rebuild when all you have left is this? but this is life now, families living out in the open with overnight temperatures below freezing. two days after the quake, the search for survivors seems less urgent. they are looking for a woman, her husband and child already found dead. these rescuers have been digging here for the last hour or so. there was a faint hope that maybe this woman would be alive. but now she, too, is just another fatality of this earthquake. as the bodies are hauled away, the death toll ticks higher. ten people once lived here. six died, including the parents of these small children. cared for now by their aunt and uncle. >> translator: this is the most difficult time of my life, he says. >> reporter: they all live under plastic sheeting with whatever they could salvage after their house was destroyed by the quake. i don't remember what happened, he says. my mind went blank. i just ran outside. it is mostly, the earthquake has laid bare what most already know, nearly everyone here is local to the dalai lama, considered an enemy of the state by beijing and they believe the death toll is much higher than official figures. >> lots of people dead. place, nobody, nobody home. >> reporter: and many say in the hours after the quake, chinese soldiers did little to help. we had to get the monks to help dig out my wife, this man told me. officials in beijing deny that saying soldiers and police did everything they could as quickly as they could to help as many people as possible. for me, a tour of the rubble, promised to make life here good again. given the history of ethnic tensions in this region, that may be a much bigger challenge than just rebuilding. john vause, cnn, jiegu, western china. saving money, it's a great idea, but how? these days. stephanie elam is brainstorming over at the help desk. >> time now for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me this hour doug flynn, certified financial planner, and founder of capital management and ron kurtz is executive editor of "aol small business." thank you for being here. first question is from clint. he says, as a practice i try to save at least $5 a day. for example, for a 31-day month i put $155 into my savings account. what other methods can i use to save money directly from my paycheck? doug, what do you say? >> it's great that he's saving that. one of the best things to do is every time you get a raise, what i love is take half of that for yourself to spend because you earned it but take the other half and notch up what you're saving. if you do that each time you get a raise you will save more money as time goes on. this is after-tax money. if you have a good cash build up, three to six months, look at a 401(k) because you could put over $200 month away and it will feel like $150 after taxes. >> the next question is from mike. i'm 61 years old and my wife and i are retired. we own our home, cars and use two credit cards and pay them off monthly. we have $600,000 in an ira and cds. cd rates are bad right now and i'm looking for something with a better return than 3%. we have a very conservative lifestyle. any suggestions? >> congrats on retirement. cd rates are pretty abysmal right now. i think that you go much higher than that you're not going to be conservative anymore. you look at different investments, municipal bonds and corporate bonds. there is risks associated with it. with cds, one thing i like a laddering cds. take a pool of money you want to spend and invest some of it in a one-year cd, two-year, four year. it's almost like dollar cost averaging for cds. each year you have return income coming in that you can then reinvest in another cd. if they're sticking with that, stick with the conservative i vestment plan, that's one i would do. >> great. thanks so much for being here. helping us out today. the help desk is all about getting you answers. send us an e-mail to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com. we might have the answer to your question next week. you with pick up the latest issue of "money" magmagazine. it's a tax season scam that earns millions of dollars for jail birds. one of the main guys at one point is telling one of his cohorts that he's not going to do white collar street crime anymore because uncle sam is taking good care of him. >> wow. many bogus returns in the "newsroom." ppppppppppppppppppppp let's understand this. taxpayers already cover their room and board. turns out the irs is paying prisoners, too, yeah. paying prisoners. cnn's john zarrella looks at a tax scheme that rakes in millions. >> reporter: just a routine search of a jail cell. officer mark lenback didn't expect to find much. >> after the inmate has exited the cell. went over, basically pulled up the mattress. he had some of the items under his mattress. additional mattress underneath the bunk. >> reporter: the items, tax forms and address book with social security numbers, birth dates and cheat sheets for filling out returns. that was december of 2006. what lindback stumbled upon was a scheme run by inmates at the monroe county jail near i can west. before they were busted they filed for more than $1 million in tax refunds involving half the jail population. >> but what they would do is go to other inmates and suggest to an inmate, i can get you $4500 in a tax return. it will cost you $500. >> reporter: in some cases with the help of friends and family, the prisoners would fill out the 1040 ez short form. then attach a 4852 form with the names of businesses that didn't exist. and income they never earned. the 4852 is a substitute used when an employer doesn't provide a w-2. the initial investigation handled by county prosecutor john ellsworth. phone calls were recorded. >> one of the main guys at one point is telling one of the cohorts that he's not going to do white collar -- street crime anymore because uncle sam is taking good care of him. >> reporter: before they were caught and the jail started intercepting incoming checks the inmates collected at least $100,000 from the irs. one inmate had checks sent to his brother's house. >> dozens of checks were going to one address. and that didn't raise any red flags with the irs. >> apparently not. i mean -- >> reporter: by 2007 ellsworth turned over boxes of evidence to the irs. case closed, right? not so fast. >> they said, well, we're working on it. we're investigating. we can't take your investigation and prosecute from your investigation. we have to do our own. >> reporter: earlier this year nearly 3 1/2 years after the scheme was busted, federal indictments were finally brought against a couple of ring leaders and family members. why so long? the irs wouldn't say. now, don't think this inmate get rich quick scheme started here at the monroe county detention center. oh, no, authorities tell us it's been going on for decades at state and federal prisons all across the country. >> one of the inmates that i interviewed said that he had learned of it. when he was in a federal prison. >> reporter: in a statement the irs told cnn that it has programs to combat this. but the irs said, quote, it is not a simple process, particularly considering the fact that some inmates are entitled to tax refunds and that the prison population is not static. according to congressional testimony, in 2004 more than 4,000 bogus refunds were issued to prisoners for almost $15 million. but the irs blocked more than 5 million in false claims. >> the system has a flaw that needs to be fixed. it should be easy enough to fix, but changing a form or changing the submission. >> reporter: while the irs is now prosecuting the monroe jail case, guess what some inmates are still doing, filing fraudulent returns and still getting checks. >> i think we have one here that came in that was for about $5,000. about $5,000. >> reporter: this is an irs check that was sent to that inmate. >> right. >> reporter: for $5,920. it was intercepted. at least here, the checks end up in the hands of the fbi. john zarrella, cnn, key west, florida. still to come, a c controversial ruling on national frar day. you've been letting us know how you feel. your thoughts after a quick break. last hour we asked, do you think the country should have a government-sponsored national day of prayer or do you think it's unconstitutional? chris says, i am a christian and i like the idea. the problem with them trying to remove the national day of prayer is if it does happen, will it stop there? tim writes, i think as long as a specific religion is not mentioned it is constitutional. it is an optional day of public observance that you could observe or ignore.