Transcripts For CNN CNN Newsroom 20120522

lawmakers and activists made clear that there are 80,000 known chemicals, martin. only 200 have been tested and only 4 have been taken off the market. i want to bring in a couple of the moms who came here from far and wide around this country. first, i want to go to katherine. why are you from and why are you here? >> i'm from providence, rhode island, and i am here today because i myself have two small kids. i'm concerned about my children's health. we know that so many products that our kids are using every day are loaded with toxic chemicals that are dangerous for their health like for example this is a nursing pillow made for a tiny baby to lie on every day and we know that it's packed with flame retardants which can cause neurologic damage, can cause cancer. >> reporter: we think it might. the issue is we don't really know. that's part of the problem and you are from idaho. you came very far. >> i brought my daughter. we're from boise, idaho. we are gravely concerned about the impact of toxic chemicals on our bodies and candidly i feel powerless to protect my family against it with what we know right now. >> and you both are -- i don't want to say just moms but you're not political activists. >> this is first political moment of my life honestly. we've never been involved like this and it feels good. it's time. >> and, martin, they are going to go to their senators' offices. they have packets of petitions like this to deliver to try to convince their senators to push forward with this legislation and the legislation would effectively give people information and force the chemical industry to explain what chemicals are in products that we all use every day and also try to explain whether or not they're hazardous. >> what do you think the prospects are that they will change or update the law? >> reporter: they don't seem very high. the good news for the people who are here is that they had two of the democratic leaders at this press conference, and they run the place. the bad news is there are only 18 co-sponsors and they're all democrats. this needs to be a bipartisan issue for it to pass, especially in these highly, highly partisan times. >> absolutely, dana. thanks very much. just to echo what she said, an advocacy groups estimates over the past three decades the epa has called for testing on only 200 chemicals on some 80,000 that are used. the fullerton police officers charged with the beating of that young schizophrenic to death are due back in court. you'll remember the whole thing was captured on video. 16 gut wrenching minutes during which thomas screams i'm sorry, and he begs for his father to help him. he passed away five days later. one of the cops is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. the other is charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony use of excessive force. oklahoma city police, they're trying to piece together the events that led to eight people being shot after an nba playoff game late last night. one person is in critical condition. it happened among a crowd of thousands in an area close to the arena. the oklahoma city thunder had just beaten the los angeles lakers to close out the playoff series. witnesses say there was a lot of pushing and shoving after some sort of altercation. police say they've questioned several people but no one right now is in custody. the dragon spacecraft is on its way. it lifted off early this morning in spectacular fashion. >> three, two, one, zero. and launch of the spacex falcon nine rocket. >> this is the milestone mission for space x, the private company bidding to be nasa's partner in reaching the international space station. today's launch is the testing ground for that partnership. cnn's john zarrella joins me from miami. let's start off by asking john how is the mission progressing so far? >> reporter: early on going really, really well. there's only four gochts vernme that have ever accomplished what they're attempting to accomplish. russia, the united states, japan. that's what space x is attempting to do. so far so good, marty. on track to do that sometime on friday. >> when you read the reports of this launch, you hear words like this changes everything or a game-changer. and explain to people why is this so important, this particular launch? what does it mean for the future of space? >> reporter: yeah. it's a whole sea change in the way that nasa does business. very early on nasa determined, you know, this is why we have the space shuttles retired now. nasa could not afford to continue firing the space shuttles up to the international space station as cargo carriers and astronaut carriers. couldn't afford to do that and at the same time build a new rocket to take astronauts on to places like an asteroid or onto mars. decision had to be made. they turn over low earth orbit to commercial companies and we're in those first steps now. and, charlie bolden, the nasa administrator this morning, talked about just how significant today's events were. >> to be quite honest, we have a significant amount of control over the russians. they are part of the partnership, but what's really important is not control as much as it is the fact that the united states will once again be in the lead, will be providing our own vehicles to take our own astronauts and cargo to the international space station. it's fine to rely on partners, but that's not where the greatest nation in the world wants to be. we want to be taking astronauts and cargo on our own vehicles. today was a huge day in the step to getting there. so, you know, we're on the way, and people should hang with us. >> reporter: as administrator bolden said right there, the russians are the only game in town for us right now, which is hard to believe, but there's no other way to get u.s. astronauts to the international space station. but on russian rockets. >> he said clearly part of this mission eventually will be to transport humans. when is that going to happen? >> reporter: you're looking at 2016, and the thing about it is this summer nasa will choose which company or companies will get the contracts to go ahead and start building those manned vehicles, the human rated vehicles. space x is in the running for that, but there's no guarantee space x will get it. again, there's three, four, five companies out there all vying for that pot of dollars to do that in 2016. >> and they are also going to meet up with the space station on this trip. >> reporter: absolutely. this is the key to this, the success of this. rendezvous at the space station. they will do a fly around of the space station to check out all of dragon's automated systems. if everything checks out, then friday in the overnight hours astronaut don pettit on the international space station will reach out with the station's robotic arm, grab dragon, and pull it into the station and berth it, and then they can say that it's been successful. in fact, they're not going empty handed. there's about 1100 pounds of cargo on board dragon, including everything from laptop computer to dry goods to meals for the astronauts and i was told they're even carrying spare underwear for the astronauts. >> good to know. always good to know. john zarrella, thanks very much. space x got a 12 mission deal for nasa. that's a $1.6 billion deal. when it's configured for passengers, dragon can carried we're told up to seven people into space right now. there were six people on board the international space station. the last three arrived thursday aboard a russian soyuz capsule. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna to do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. nothing can stop me now. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. i bathed it in miracles. director: [ sighs ] cut! sorry to interrupt. when's the show? 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[ applause ] [ male announcer ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. just a quick note for those of you who are heading out the door, don't leave me behind. actually, you don't have to. you can keep watching cnn from your mobile phone or if you're heading to work, you can also watch cnn live from your desktop. you just go to cnn.com/tv. multimillion dollar art state of the military hardware done in by counterfeit parts from china. that's the nightmare scenario revealed in a senate investigation on the pentagon's supply chain. thousands of vital components of u.s. weapons systems originating in chinese scrap heaps and then sold to you and me, the u.s. taxpayers, as the real deal. cnn's brian todd has been on this story and he joins us now from washington. brian, first of all, good morning. and how did this problem come to light? >> reporter: well, the senate armed services committee, martin, has been investigating this for more than a year now and they found thousands of cases of counterfeit parts being used in some very important american military equipment. just in digging through a fairly narrow slice of the supply chain, the committee found more than a million counterfeit parts, mainly for aircraft which hunts for enemy submarines and assists with surface warfare. they found a part with comprised the helicopter's nice vision system contained counterfeit parts. investigators traced that back to china. another aircraft, the navy's version of the 747, it contained a reworked part that never should have been on the plane. that part originally came from china as well. the part was used but made to look new according to investigators. senate armed services committee chairman carl levin talked about that issue when he discussed how widespread this problem is. >> we looked at just one slice of the defense industry. we found 11,000 different casings involving millions of parts. it's pervasive. it's an open market for counterfeit parts in china, a place called shenzhen out in the open. they wash, they take all the used computers, pull out parts. then they wash them and then they restamp them, put phony numbers on them and sell them back to the defense industry here and it is pervasive. it's just something which must be stopped for the security and safety of our troops. >> reporter: but the u.s. economy also takes a hit on this. the semi-conductor industry association says fake parts cost american semi-conductor companies more than $7.5 billion a year in lost revenue which results in the loss of about 11,000 american jobs, marty. we have to note that the pentagon did issue a statement on this saying that they're aware of this report, that they take counterfeit parts very seriously and will address this issue. this is according to a pentagon spokeswoman, marty. >> and you point out, there's so many family members that would be worried about their loved ones serving in the military. have there been any cases where it's been found that these phony parts have contributed to some sort of accident or disaster? >> reporter: so far the information we've gotten does not indicate that. you would think that we've gone through some of the documentation, you would think if it had, it would be front and center in some of this report. but we've not found any cases yet. we're still poring through the documents. we've not found any cases yet where it's directly caused an accident or put someone in harm's way. i guess it's just the potential for it. when a night vision system doesn't work on a chopper, that's going to be an issue. there's a lot of potential for accidents here. >> and quickly, the solution? is there one? >> reporter: well, you know, the senate armed services committee has actually kind of worked on that already. they have put an amendment into a defense authorization bill requiring that when a contractor finds a bad parts in a weapons system, the contractor or the parts supplier is going to pay to fix that problem. now, before those costs were incurred by the department of defense. so they're trying to get at the problem by passing this amendment requiring the manufacturer or the contractor, the supplier or the contractor to pay for the bogus parts. so maybe trying to head it off, you know, at some of the source points. >> i mean when they think of knockoffs we think of gucci purses and rolex watches. far more serious. brian todd, thanks very much. look at the car! my dad's gonna kill me dude... 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[ male announcer ] with wells fargo advisor's envision plan, you always know where you stand. in fact, 93 percent of envision plan holders say they will retire on their own terms. get started on the plan you need today -- wells fargo advisors. together we'll go far. it's been more than a year after japan's earthquake and tsunami. debris from that disaster is now washing up nearly 4,000 miles away in alaska along the beaches and islands out there. and now come the concerns that are being raised over possibilities of pollution and health risks. in terms of environmental impact there are comparisons already being made to the "exxon valdez" oil spill. casey wians joins us from alaska, and, casey, what are you finding up there? >> reporter: well, martin, we're on an estuary about 20 miles outside a small fishing village. you can see on that strip of sand across the water there, that's called the black sand spit. we went over there the other day and this is some of the debris that we found washed up onto the shore. debris washes up on these beaches all the time, has been doing so for years. but locals say they're seeing things they have never seen before like these big buoys that are used in oyster farming in japan. also building insulation material. the spray on foam that's used to insulate buildings and most dangerous of all for right now in terms of the wildlife are these styrofoam buoys. you see how easily these pieces break off. when they break off fish and birds eat them and then it becomes a real big problem. we spoke with a local biologist and photographer who has been seeing, he says, a lot more birds dying in the last few months. here is what he had to say. >> birds are going to consume it, filter feeders fish are going to consume it. the birds mistakes it for feed or food or something that they can ingest and they feel full and they don't eat and we're in a major fly away in the spring and they run out of energy. also makes them easier prey for raptors. >> reporter: you know, the environmental and wildlife impact is a big thing. they don't know what that's going to be because so much of this debris is still to come. but right now they're desperately trying to get this cleaned up off the beaches. it's a big problem because this is such a remote area. the town near here is only 650 people. we visited the island which has the most debris earlier this week and that is completely uninhabited. it's a real logistical nightmare and they're racing against the clock. >> you mentioned the potential threat to wildlife. what about the impact for humans. is that a possibility? and radiation is another fear that many people have. >> reporter: well, they put the radiation fears to rest, at least for now. according to the people we've spoken with, the scientists who have done giger counter tests on this type of material, they all say that nothing has come up abnormal yet. doesn't mean it can't happen some day, but it hasn't happened yet. in terms of the human impact here locally, there's a very big fishing industry here. nets could get caught up in all of this debris and that could be a problem. also if this gets into the food chain, that is a big problem. and 400 of the 650 residents of this town are native americans and many of them still exist on subsistence fishing. if that goes away or are impacted, they're going to have a real tough time in an already difficult economy, martin. >> casey wian up there in alaska. thanks very much. according to the alaska dispatch, the largest and most impressive piece of debris so far is a 150-foot abandoned fishing boat. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. 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[ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com. neosporin® plus pain relief. i haand then i have eleven my grandkids. right when you see them, they're yours, it's like, ah, it's part of me. it's me again. now that i'm retiring they all have plans for me. i'm excited. we've got a big driving weekend ahead of us and most of us are always looking for ways to save more and spend less, especially when it comes to filling up the car. alison kosik is here with some tips on how to extend your gas mileage and spend less at the pump. alison. >> so with gas prices still at high levels at this point, americans are driving fewer miles, they're taking more trips on public transit and they're buying more fuel efficient cars. in fact, 37% of drivers are saying fuel efficiency is the most important feature when they're choosing a new car. that's according to a survey released today by consumer reports. even if you're not planning to buy a new car soon, you can take steps to reduce your fuel consumption. you can start by slowing down. easier said than done. the department of energy reports that driving at speeds above 60 miles an hour tends to burn more fuel. reduce your speed and you could get up to 23% better mileage. aggressive driving can cost you as well. going easy on the accelerator and breaks can increase your mileage by 33% around highway spe speeds and 5% around towns. consumer reports found that making multiple short trips on an engine decreased fuel economy by four miles a gallon. >> i have a vehicle that says it uses premium gasoline but when i go to the pump i'm tempted to use regular because it's cheaper. is that a good idea? >> let's talk about the type of gas you put in your car. "consumer reports" says filling your car with premium gas will cost you more but won't make your car run better. many car that is are designed to run on premium will run just fine on regular. if you thought filling up in the morning will help you get a bit more gas for your money, "consumer reports" says it's not going to make a big difference either. >> that's good news for me. let's talk about facebook. the news hasn't necessarily been that good there. give us an update. >> no. actually, facebook shares have recovered a bit for this session though they continue to fall 2.5% after falling 11% yesterday. and this, of course, follows friday when facebook had its public debut that pretty much fizzled after all the hype. you remember that on friday trading was delayed because of a glitch at the nasdaq and when many investors tried to sell their shares in the morning, when facebook opened to the public. the problem is their orders didn't go through. by the time they went through, shares for facebook had already fallen, so investors had to sell their shares at a lower price basically taking a big hit on their investment. what that wound up doing was undermining confidence in the stock. so by monday people started questioning facebook's business model and they were running for the exits selling the stock. >> a lot of people wondered about that friday release. alison kosik, thanks very much. it looks like the plunge in facebook stock hasn't really phased the overall market. u.s. stocks opened higher this morning after bouncing back yesterday from what was their worst week of the year on renewed optimism that yup would find its way out of its debt crisis. the same goes for my retirement. with the plan my financial advisor and i put together, a quick check and i know my retirement is on course. 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[ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. it was a year ago today that a massive tornado devastated joplin, missouri, killing more than 160 people. thousands of homes, buildings, and lives were destroyed. but while the city reflects on the past year, the community is healing, rebuilding, and moving forward. jim spellman is there, and jim, let's talk, first of all, how much change has happened in the year since you were there last? >> reporter: a tremendous amount, martin. i was standing just about right here for days on end after the tornado. our viewers will remember this. this is st. john's hospital. it's still standing there. it is still heavily damaged. a lot of people tell me they can't wait for this thing to come down. it's a horrible reminder every day of what went on. but there's a lot of good news. look at cunningham park here. they have done a tremendous job with this. they've put in a memorial over here to all the volunteers that came and helped in this effort and they had put in basketball courts and a pool. they've even planted trees and these trees are really important because one thing this tornado did was take away all the trees. that will really help the neighborhood feel more like home again for people. another iconic thing people remember is st. mary's catholic church. the church and rectory was wiped out but the cross remained standing. i caught up with the priest there, father moynahan, to hear what it was like for him to emerge from the wreckage and see the cross. >> i thought, wow, god is really with us, and he's letting us know he's going to take care of us. it was a tremendous -- it was a real gift to see that and became a symbol all over the community. in fact, all over the world. >> reporter: but perhaps more important than these iconic things we've all seen are places like this. this was once somebody's home. this was a block full of houses. now it's just an empty lot. each family here has had to make difficult decisions about staying in joplin, where they're going to live, are they going to rebuild, can they rebuild. there's a lot of progress but no one here is kidding themselves. they know they have a lot more work to do before this community is whole again. >> how is joplin going to mark the day? >> reporter: well, they're going to have a unity walk. they're going to walk all the way through the devastated area and end up right here. this is where -- right across the street where the tornado first touched down at 5:41 p.m. at 5:41 mm-mmm they wip.m. they have a moment of silence. along the way of the walk they're going to plant time capsules including some from the students at joplin high school. that school was destroyed. the kids have been going to a temporary high school in a shopping mall here. they've shown a lot of strength. they wanted to leave some of their memories behind. when they dig that up, they want to have some of their treasured items in that time capsule. >> and you sort of touched on this, but i'm wondering more, how are people mentally doing as far as the recovery? >> reporter: well, there's no doubt it's been a tough year for people here. with so much destruction and so many reminders every day when they drive through town, seeing these empty sort of treeless tableaus and the hospital and the church that are destroyed. i think they're glad to see the remembrances here and to honor all the volunteers and all the strength they've shown. they were glad to have the president come here last night and speak at the graduation of the joplin high school class, but i think they're ready for this day to come and go so they can get back with the rebuilding because one thing it's forced them all to do is to remember that day that they'd really just as soon forget, martin. >> you mentioned the volunteers. the numbers are pretty staggering. we're talking about a town i think it's about 50,000 but the number of volunteers double, almost triple that. >> reporter: yeah, indeed. it's really remarkable. this memorial here is to the volunteers and they've been handing out these blue wrist bands. they say the miracle of the human spirit, and there to honor all these volunteers and everyone that came to help. not only did they come at the time to feed and house people, they're here rebuilding homes. habitat for humanity is here, other groups like that. people have set up a tool library. there's even good samaritan groups here that are distributing cars to people who need them. whenever a need has arisen, there's been volunteers to show up to help with them. everybody here is so grateful. i have heard that over and over from people here. >> i bet they are. jim spellman, we're grateful to you. thanks very much for the report. and speaking of those volunteers, today's events are expected to attract more than 130,000 volunteers to joplin to help out and continue the rebuilding of homes. ten months after going into hiding, casey anthony will be heading back to court. you may remember she was acquitted of her daughter's murder. according to "the huffington post" and "people" magazine she's going to have to appear at a defamation trial. she had claimed her daughter caylee was kidnapped by a babysitter, zenaida gonzalez. gonzalez claims anthony ruined her reputation so the case will go to court in january. and if you've ever wondered the worth of presidential blood, here is one answer. at least $9,910. that's the latest bid for a vial of president ronald reagan's blood. the online auction site says the dried blood rescue idue is clea visible inside the vial. they say the blood was drawn from reagan while he was recovering from an assassination attempt in 1981. often the most captivating news stories come straight from our ireporters. we want to honor you, the view worries have given us the awe inspiring pictures from around the world. we need to you decide who deserves this year's community choice award. log on to vote. here are the nominees for compelling imagery. ♪ ♪ >> i am taking a stand to end slavery because i think i can make a difference. ♪ dude you don't understand, this is my dad's car. look at the car! my dad's gonna kill me dude... [ male announcer ] the security of a 2012 iihs top safety pick. the volkswagen passat. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 passat for $209 a month. that's the power of german engineering. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. if you're leaving the house right now, just a reminder, you can continue watching cnn from your mobile phone. you can also watch cnn live from your desktop. all you got to do is just go to cnn.com/tv. it's been more than four months since that cruise ship, the "costa concordia" capsized off the coast of italy killing at least 30 people. in a few days a high-tech operation is going to get under way to raise the massive ship in one piece. that project will proceed despite the fact that two people are still listed as missing. brian todd is back with us. he's been talking with those involved in the salvage operation. >> reporter: nearly 1,000 feet long, weighing close to 50,000 tons, every day on its side is a looming environmental disaster. experts now say they'll salvage the wrecked "costa concordia" cruise ship in one piece off the coast of italy. one marine expert says it's like raising a floating city, a salvage leader calls it the largest ship removal by weight in history. >> we feel comfort dent that we can do it, and we feel confident that with the our partners we will do it safely and with the least disturbance to the environment and the least disturbance to the economy. >> reporter: american owned titan salvage, it's italian parter, and the cruise line provided journalists with footage and animation of their plan. they will attach heavy cables to poles to keep the concordia from slipping. then steel plated slings to support the hull. then underwater platforms 40 x 40 will be anchored to the sea bud to suppoed to support t vessel. then kasons will be affixed to help with leverage. at that point possibly the most crucial part of the operation, massive cranes fixed to the platform will pour the concordia upright. concordia will be towed to a nearby port and demolished. we recently skirted around port everglades florida with officials from resolve marine group which bid on the concordia salvage job. officials at resolve say one of the options discussed, cutting the c the concordia into pieces where it sits would have been easier but environmentally harmful. >> anybody doing any work is going to be, you know, in a weird position, so you're going to have to have safety harnesses and training and equipment that it can deal with that kind of environment. because nothing is straight. your bulk heads are your floor and your floor is your bulk head or war. >> reporter: salvage and cruise line officials say this operation could take up to a year and could cost around $300 million. joseph fare rel says cutting the vessel up to sell the metal and other parts for scrap could recoup some of the money lost. when i asked whether they will sell off parts of the concordia, an official at the cruise line said no decision on that has been announced. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> one other point about the accident, the ship's captain is being investigated for possible criminal charges including allegations of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and if you will remember abandoning ship. he remains under house arrest. ♪ how are things on the west coast? ♪ ♪ i hear you... ♪ rocky mountain high ♪ rocky, rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ all my exes live in texas ♪ ♪ born on the bayou [ female announcer ] the perfect song for everywhere can be downloaded almost anywhere. ♪ i'm back, back in the new york groove ♪ [ male announcer ] the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. rethink possible. fair game now. one comment on a sunday talk show you have probably seen has caused a whirlwind of political talk for newark mayor cory booker. he's a darling among democrats, so that raises the questions why is he starring in a new ad for mitt romney? >> look at the totality of bain capital's record. they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses. >> even obama's own supporters have had enough. >> it's nauseating to the american public. enough is enough. >> booker later explained that while he said he was uncomfortable with the obama administration attack on bain capital, he agreed romney's role with that company was fair game and now he has some choice words for republicans over the ad. >> here they are plucking sound bites out of that interview to manipulate them in a cynical manner, to use them for their own purposes, and that slogan is really what had me and basically my entire staff really fit to be tied. it hurts me -- i feel personally disappointed that now i'm being used to undermine the president in this kind of cynical venial way, and i'm going to work harder. if anything they have turned me on even to work harder the next six months from fund-raising to whatever need be to ensure that our president gets re-elected. >> joining me now is cnn contributor lz granderson and republican analyst boris epst n epstein. lz, did romney reporte erers tor with this ad? >> completely tone deaf here. they didn't need to do anything. the media was doing all the work for them. as soon as remarks, you know, they were overanalyzing and second guessing president obama's strategy all to themselveses and to the voters. for romney's campaign to get involved with this, all of a sudden now does exactly what corey booker says and reinvigorates because it was completely tone deaf and typical romney. >> boris, is the issue overblown in this case? >> i think corey booker said what he said on "meet the press," this issue is much more complex than what the bam team is putting out there and that across the spectrum was absolutely wrong. another democrat said private equity is good, not bad. when the economy has been struggling as bad as it has under president obama, his message of, oh, let's look at this and say that it's awful is absolutely incorrect and the american people are seeing through that. that's why you're seeing mitt romney leading no some of the polls over barack obama. >> one of the things i thought he was talking about were these attack ads and now the back and forth was really serving no purpose here and basically getting way from the issues. so why is he being so heavily criticized and showing up in republican ads? i mean, he had a good point. >> it's an excellent point. but there is a difference between attacking mitt romney's record as fair game and attacking mitt romney's record in terms of political gain. it's fair game in the sense that if you look at his management strategy, if you look at how you created jobs and whether or not he actually was involved with that, that's all fair game. if you're trying to use it for political gain, which is what mayor booker was arguing against, not fair because it's venture capitalism. this is all part of the american economy. and to cherry-pick what's been good and bad for political gain was wrong, was tone deaf. but, again, romney should have just sat back and allowed the media to do the work for him. now what he's cone done is add more power to the democratic side and something else to push against. >> boris -- go ahead. yeah. >> i disagree with that, i think by drive to point home, the romney campaign is saying, look, even staunch democrats like corey booker are coming out against these attack ads, against the bam campaign's effort to portray mitt romney has someone who's been a capitalist from a bad perspective. there's no reason for us as americans, as capitalists, to demonize capitalism. so to drive that point home by the romney campaign is not a problem. what is going on with cory booker, he's almost ruining his own political situation. he said one thing on "meet the press," completely going back on it and now he's reinvigorated? >> he's not going backwards. >> why wasn't he invigorated to begin with? >> he's not going backwards. he's saying to do not cherry-pick my comments for your political gain. >> but as a politician, he should not -- but as a politician, he should know anything he says, especially on "meet the press," is going to be used. it was actually a full sentence. he said these attacks nauseate me. that is not cherry-picking. that's using a full sentence. what's wrong with that? the bam campaign has done that to mitt romney as well. >> let me stop you right there. boris, i agree, he did open his mouth and once you do that you're in a lot of trouble. let's move on to politics in mexico, because from what was said to now what is being seen in mexico, there is a candidate running for office, happens to be a woman, and she's decided to get her message out by going topless on a billboard. clearly, she wants to draw attention to herself, but would we ever anticipate a stunt like this in america? go ahead, boris. >> hopefully not in the presidential election. it wouldn't get us anywhere. politics are what they are. we'll see a lot of stunts from now until the general election in the u.s., but both in the congress, the senate, hopefully not in the presidential but in all the elections out there, a lot of times you'll see crazy things in the muns pal elections. >> that's it. we have to wrap it. one last word. >> i was going to say, i go to very short lengths that i'd like to see american congressmen try. let's hope it does not come to pass. >> thanks for joining us. a quick check of the markets. there's the big board. up in positive territory at 57 points right now with the dow jones industrials. a party? 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[ dog ] we found it together.upbeat ] on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. a milestone of historic proportions in egypt. tomorrow they vote in the first-ever presidential election. the arab spring toppled hosni mubarak from power. but the noise of election fever sweeping that country isn't drowning out the concerns, fears, and outrage of many. one group in particular is skeptical about the outcome. what egyptian women say they really want in this election. >> reporter: in the cairo metro, there are women who are there, but there is also anger. has life changed for women since the revolution? this 23-year-old says for her it's become worse. "it was better before, even though you suffered from oppression, now it's difficult for our parents to agree just to let us go out." these are some of the images that have caused the most outrage. a woman dragged partially stripped and beaten by soldiers during a protest last year. the forced virginity tests on women arrested by the women. some have fought back like samirah. she sued the military but lost. so is the world wrong to think the revolution has hurt the cause of women here? she calls herself a feminist and a leftist yet as an adviser to an islamist presidential candidate. and her cairo home, she tells me the abuse of women was a problem long before the revolution. >> the world wasn't paying attention to egypt, and then suddenly they discovered us, and they look at it and think that everything that they're seeing is new and is to achieve revolution, whereas the continuity, in terms of women suffering and their struggles to gain different rights has been going on for decades. >> reporter: but what about the younger generation of female revolutionaries? one is an actress and video blogger, and she calls herself a revolutionary, too, in this society that is still deeply conservative. is there hope for women in the country? she says she's fighting for. >> when you're 30, 35, what will egypt look like for women? >> you can't just change a whole society overnight. it's the people on the street, and people do it because that's their intention. they don't mean well. they're sexually harassing women. so in order to wipe that off, it's going to take time and effort and a lot of patience. >> reporter: patience and lots of optimism. in last november's parliamentary elections, only 8 of more than 500 representatives elected were women. and an islamist-dominated assembly is considering legislation that will, among other things, strip women of their newly won right. back in the cairo metro, ordinary egyptian women say they just want security, jobs, and respect. as she reached her final stop, when asked who she would vote for in egypt's presidential election, this woman said there's no point in voting at all. i'm going to vote for god. >> that's it for me. thanks for watching. "cnn newsroom" continues with ashleigh banfield. >> thank you, martin. thanks for being with us. i'm in for susanna, but let's get to the news, shall we? they are concerned about chemicals in baby bottles and cribs and toys and other i ttem too. >> every we go! >> everywhere we go! >> people want to know. >> a veritable brigade of stroller moms and dads descending on capitol hill today. they want more regulation of toxic chemicals like flame retear disinfectants in the products we use. the group is backing the, quote, safe chemicals act, something sponsored by new jersey senator frank lautenberg. >> our current toxics laws allows too many untested chemicals on the market. and why should parents who would be left to wonder if the chemicals used in their babies' bottles, pacifiers, cribs are safe? the status quo is dangerous and unacceptable. also making news, we're following up on a developing story that we've been covering. death at the top of the world. now at least four people have died while descending to southern slope of mt. everest. with these four deaths, the number of people killed on everest this year alone has reached six. this is the spring mountaineering season, the most popular time to climb the world's tallest peak. three, two, one, zero -- and launch of the space x falcon 9 rocket as nasa turns to the private sector to resupply the international space station. >> it's a beautiful thing. boldly going where no private spacecraft has gone before. three days after aborting the launch because of engine problems, it worked. space x has done it, successfully launching the first private rocket off to the international space station. this is a really significant move because this could usher in a whole new era of space exploration. our john zarrella was watching it at kennedy space station in florida. >> reporter: history is certainly in the making as the dragon spacecraft now in orbit is heading for the international space station. this is a total sea change in the way space flight has been for the last 50 years. nasa is turning over to private companies flying both cargo and eventually astronauts to the international space station so that it can use its limited dollars in order to eventually fly astronauts, an asteroid or onto mars. so this is the first major step in achieving those goals. only four nations, only four governments in the world -- russia, the united states, the european union, and japan -- have the capability of doing what spacex is attempting to accomplish. and this first big step, getting off the ground this morning, was applauded by both the head of spacex and by nasa's administrator. >> the company gathered around mission control, so -- and really seeing the fruit of -- they're seeing the fruit of their labors and wondering whether it's going to work. and there's so much hope right now on that rocket. so when it worked, people saw their handiwork in space and operating as it should. i mean, it was a tremendous elation. >> reporter: what's really important is not control as much as it is the fact that the united states will once again be in the lead, will be providing our own vehicles to take our own astronauts and cargo to the international space station. it's fine to rely on partners, but that's not where the greatest nation in the world wants to be. we want to be taking astronauts and cargo on our own vehicles. today was a huge day in the step to getting there. so, you know, we're on the way, and people should hang with us. >> reporter: before you can say that this mission is a complete success, a couple of big hurdles yet to overcome. the dragon capsule is going to have to rendezvous with the space station. then there will be a series of checkouts to make sure all of the autonomous systems are working. they'll fly the dragon underneath the space station. if all that is a go, then very early on friday morning they will attempt to berth with the space station, unlike a docking. what will happen is astronaut don pettitte on the station will reach out with the iss' robotic arm, he will grab the dragon capsule and very slowly bring it in and then berth it to the space station. and that then will complete pretty much the most difficult parts of what is clearly a very historic mission. john zarrella, cnn, miami. john, thank you for that. dragon and a falcon in the sky. how cool is that. let's take you to north carolina now. jurors in the john edwards trial taking a second look at a couple key pieces of evidence in that case. it's day three of deliberations in that federal corruption trial. former presidential candidate sitting there and waiting. he's charged with illegally using almost a million dollars in campaign donations to cover up his love affair, his love child. our legal contributor paul cowan is here with me. i like to read the tea leaves, although i know i should. you do it best. when you ask questions and you're a jury, it is significant. it tells you what they're thinking and where they may be headed. >> lawyers like to think that, and sometimes we predict well and sometimes we don't. >> they asked questions about the two top counts. >> they did. yesterday i was interested in the questions as well. they seem to be focusing on the could bes dealing with contributions from bunny melon, the bunny money, as it was called. >> $750,000. the most money there is. >> a huge amount of money. she's the elderly heiress, in her 90s now, didn't testify, but she took a liking to john edwards. he reminded her of john f. kennedy, and she was very disturbed that the press was criticizing him for getting a $400 haircut during the presidential campaign. i don't know if you remember that incident. >> i sure do, because i can't imagine a $400 haircut and i'm in tv. >> well, but his hair looks pretty good. >> i'll let that go. >> so bunny melon called up the campaign and said from now on send the bills to me when john gets a haircut. he shouldn't have to deal with the press with respect to this. >> are these the exhibits that they wanted to see? >> that's one of the things they asked to see. they wanted to see bunny melon's famous haircut note. how do you read that tea leave? the edwards defense is this is personal money from bunny melon to john edwards, not intended as a campaign contribution, hence can't be a violation of law. the law, however, says, though, if the expense is being used in connection with a presidential campaign or a campaign for federal office, it is a federal expense. so the bunny note could cut both ways. >> how does a juror -- that's an average guy like me. how do they make the connection as to whether it is or isn't a campaign donation? >> one of the things they were instructed by the judge were that if it's the kind of expense that would not be made except in a campaign, then it's personal. now, i guess a haircut you could say would not be normally made -- >> or a love child. >> or a love child. how about a $400 haircut? the prosecutors could argue $400 haircuts are people who are in the public eye and are worried about their public image. that's not personal, that's profession professional. >> or very, very wealthy people who aren't in the public eye have gotten used to a certain way of living. >> as you can see, this is a tea leave that can be read either way, very, very difficult to read this. all of their questions seem to be focused on bunny melon. those are the first two counts of the indictment, very important counts because they involved $750,000. >> you know what i can't believe is they asked for transcripts baud it's a month-long trial, and the judge says, no, you have to rely on your memory. so unfair. >> unusual, too. but those federal judges are tough. they're appointed by the president and sit for life and do what they want. >> verdict could happen any moment. paul callan, great to see you. also what we're working on for this hour, a deadly blast in yemen. now a branch of al qaeda coming forward saying it was us. what does this mean for a country that is truly on the vernal of free first of all? then gas cans and volleyballs, eve an harley. take a look at that mess. that is not the remnants of a bad picnic. that is debris from the japanese earthquake and tsunami, and it's washing up on our shores. also, do you know that you can flex your own imagination muscles? it's true. you don't have to be the creative type. you can become the creative type. a way to free your creativity. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone 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[ sneezes ] huge election excitement in egypt. take a look. looks like an uprising but that usually is excitement. that country for the first time in 5,000 years will be able to choose its own leader. two days of voting get under way tomorrow, all of this coming just over a year after that uprising that forced hosni mubarak to step down there. there are a lot of people wondering if the elections are actually going to change anything in that country. now, also, to yemen where officials are blaming al qaeda, yes, al qaeda, for a massive suicide bombing. if you didn't hear about this, it is a remarkable death toll. 100 people dead at least and 220 who were hurt in the capital. all of this happening yesterday. troops were getting ready for a parade. jihadists posted statements said to be from alabama sharia, a branch of al qaeda, and they are being blamed for this attack. michael holmes, this is not the first time in recent days that we've been hearing about terror, terror plots and activity coming out of yemen. it is starting, is it a concern this is becoming like a mini afghanistan? >> it is certainly. there's no question that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, they're set up in the south. this is what's worrying everyone. they have a change of government there. arab spring change of government. a new president in. this sort of thing could have happened anyway. as you know, ashleigh, yemen's best day is going to be a very bad day. you're talking about a country here that has massive unemployment. it's got corruption. it's got a shia uprising in the north. it's got separatists in south. it's running out of oil and it's running out of water. the capital could become the first major urban center to run out of waeter in the years ahead, five ten years ahead. you've got an absolute ripe environment for al qaeda to take root. and this is what has happened. we've seen it. south of the country particularly. and this is where you're seeing this sort of -- this sort of action take place. this was the first major attack in the capital most of the other action has been in the south and of course the export of terror across a very porous and long board we are saudi arabia as well. for this to happen, not just in the capital but in an army parade is like al qaeda saying to the yemeni government, got you, you can't stop us, we'll take you on anywhere, any time we like. this worries not just yemenis but the united states incredi y incredibly. >> that is getting a lot of attention as well. michael, thank you. we have some breaking news ip to bring to you. a spokesperson with us airways is confirming to cnn that us airways flight 787 that was bound out of charles du gal airport in paris had to be diverted to bangor, maine, because of a, quote, security issue. officials are not being more verbose than that but suggesting there are no additional details they can release to us except that that has happened. we don't know how many people are on board or what that security issue is. again, that is the confirmation from us airways, spokesperson. chad myers joining me with additional details. what do you know? >> bangor, maine, would be the first big airport that a plane in any type of distress would get to on the way over from there, and that's what they're doing now. they still had about a two-hour window to fly to charlotte, but because it's near bangor, that's the track. typically is track goes right over nova scotia and into the charlotte regional airport. because bangor is right there, they made a little diversion to the right and landed in bangor. we were watching this flight on our flight explorer and it did get down to 300, 400 feet and appeared to make a landing on our maps. clearly, i don't have any visual on this yet, but we'll have to see what happens with this plane and why this plane was diverted to that airport. just a small, little diversion to get to bangor, but it's obviously 2 1/2 shorters than going all the way to charlotte. >> ip to jump in with lizzie o'lea o'leary, our correspondent based in washington, d.c. lizzie, do you have any additional details on this and maybe what kind of aircraft this might be making a transatlantic flight? >> reporter: it's a 767, a boeing aircraft, pretty common for this kind of flight. they have a pretty large capacity, but we don't know from the airline how many people were on board. they did say a security issue. that's interesting, ashleigh, in that this is -- was pretty immediately kicked over toward the people who handle more security-based things. we talked to the faa, and they put us in touch with the tsa, the department of homeland security. they are not confirming things at this point. but certainly the immediate read on this is it was a security issue and that's what the airline is telling us. chad is pointing out this is a pretty quick diversion from the aircraft's normal flight path. it would head down the eastern seaboard after it crossed the atlantic. that's what they do. we're reaching out to federal law enforcement officials to figure out any other details. usa airways said the plane woul be landing shortly or was already on the ground but they did not know if it had touched down in maine, ashleigh. >> do you have any idea where the point of no return would be? i'm trying to do the math in my head. how long would bit into the flight before they would decide they've got to continue crossing to america instead of returning back? >> reporter: well, they would already be pretty significantly across the atlantic when their diversion part was bangor or somewhere farther north or on the european side. but they essentially go as far north as they can and cut over quickly and go straight south down the coast to avoid a long time over the atlantic. >> all right. we'll keep on looking into details on this. if you could stand by, lizzie, for a moment. i'll fit in a quick break. in the mean tile, we'll look at any other details us airways is releasing to us. we can confirm a 787 from paris to charlotte diverted to bangor, maine. us airways confirming this to us saying only that it is, quote, a security issue. no other details. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! want to get you up to speed on some breaking news come in to cnn. us airways had a flight that was bound from charles de gaulle in paris to charlotte here in the united states. it had to make a diversion and land in bangor, maine. we can tell you it is a plane like the one you are seeing on your screen. it's a 767, a boeing 767, us airways flight number 787. it's safely on the ground now. it has landed in bangor. lizzie o'leary, our aviation correspondent, is live in washington, d.c. able to get anything out of the tsa on this? >> reporter: they just told us that the flight has landed safely and it is a little bit confusing because the flight's number is 787, that's not the type of airplane it is. they said that the flight has landed safely in bangor, maine. tsa is aware of reports of a passenger who exhibited suspicious behavior during the flight. out of caution, it was diverted to bangor where it was met by law enforcement. this is all they're telling us right now about sort of who caused this diversion, what caused this diversion. reports of a passenger exhibiting suspicious behavior. they've diverted the plane to bangor. it is on the ground now. the flight number was us airways flight 787 from charles de gaulle in paris to charlotte here in the u.s. and this was a boeing 767. that bit is a little bit confusing. we don't know how many folks were on the plane yet. usairways is not giving us that info yet. the plane is on the ground and being met by local law enforcement. >> the tsa telling you a passenger was exhibiting suspicious behavior. a spokesperson with us airways named andrew christy has confirmed to cnn only that there was a security issue, not going any further than that, a security issue and confirming also that it was the flight number 787, us airways flight number 787. i want to bring in chad myers, as well, who has been tracking this flight. i was mentioning earlier, you've got the map behind you, that that kind of a diversion, why particularly bangor? why not not newfoundland or somewhere else? >> i think they wanted to get back on u.s. soil. i will show you where the diversion took place in just a second. you think, wow, this went to maine, supposed to go to charlotte. that's way off course, but not really. planes from charles de gaulle or from london would not take a straight line to charlotte. they would take this curved line all the way across the northern part of the united states, literally right over new york city, and down the east coast to charlotte. now we'll zoom this in until it starts to break up. but what the normal flight path should have been following this blue line. but it was diverted there in bangor. not as significant as saying, wow, this thing went to maine, didn't go to north carolina. it's not literally that bad. this thing was right on the track. bangor just a few miles away from the track. they took it to bangor to a u.s. place. and then you have all the passengers that were trying to get to the u.s., they now can go through u.s. custom because that's where they were going any ai wand if they were on visas, that's why they want to go to the closest u.s. airport and probably not a canadian airport. >> does that also, chad, the tell you if it's a security issue, visas be damned, they want that thing down on the ground, it doesn't matter what country you're landing in? does that give you some indication, look, abundance of caution means just that, let's just get to u.s. soil? >> from when the diversion took place, hard to see on this map, it may have been only 70 miles to get to bangor to get to the diversion spot, to the bangor airport compared to staying on course to the charlotte airport. but, yes, of course, obviously, if this is something very, very bad, they would look to the ground and find the nearest roadway if they had to. but that's not the way this happened. this was a planned diversion to bangor into a u.s. airport. and, you know, even unruly passengers, passengers that have had too much to drink and don't act properly can make diversions like this happen. it makes a lot of other people very, very angry. >> yeah. it makes the rest of us awfully concerned coming off the heels only a few weeks ago of a new underwear bomb that was found in yemen, as well. i do want to let our viewers know, chad, that this flight was met by law enforcement, as well. that was the tsa statement to us that it was, in fact, a suspicious person, a person behaving suspiciously on the plane, that led them to make this diversion and that this flight safely land and was met by law enforcement. going to squeeze in a quick break as we continue to collect more details on this flight. us airways flight number 787 bound here from paris to charlotte, a boeing 767. you're not landing in charlotte. you're in bangor, maine, instead, and hopefully your family members are finding out now that you are safe and on the ground at this point. ok! who gets occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating? 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[ female announcer ] live the regular life. nno matter what you do. when you're living with moderate to severe crohn's disease, there are times it feels like your life... revolves around your symptoms. if you're tired of going around in circles, it may be time to ask your gastroenterologist about humira. because with humira, remission is possible. humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications... but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. if you're tired of going around in circles, get headed in a new direction. ask your gastroenterologist about humira today. remission is possible. just want to get you up to speed on some breaking news that cnn has been following. we have confirmation from us airways that flight number 787 that was on its way from charles de gaulle in paris to charlotte here in the united states did not make its intended destination. it was diverted. the airline telling us the reason, quote, a security issue. now we're told by the tsa that that plane has landed and has been met by law enforcement officials. that is the kind of plane we're looking at on your screen, not the plane, but the kind of plane. large-capacity plane, but we don't know how many people on board or exactly what the security issue was. we know this from the tsa.ppare exhibiting some suspicious behavior. hopefully, law enforcement will be able to get to the bottom of that. we'll continue to collect details and bring you that, as well. in the meantime, a lot of people coming in, political gut check today. political news driving tomorrow's headlines. our political director, marks preson, is is joining me live in washington. colin powell getting into things kind of, i think we can say. he's got a book, making the talk show rounds, and not saying the things that he said back in 2008. i'm talking about an endorse m. why? >> reporter: well, you know, remember, ashleigh, back just a few weeks before the november election in 2008, colin powell made big news when he came out and endorsed barack obama for president. colin powell, the republican, you know, and still is, endorsing the democrat. that was very big news. but today he wasn't so willing to get right behind president obama. in fact, let's listen to what he said on the "today" show. >> i always keep my powder dry, as we say in the military. i listen to what the president says and what he's doing, but i also have to listen to the other guy. i've known mitt romney. a good man. not a matter of whether you support bam or rom romney but who they have coming in with them. you had colin powell saying he's not ready to make an endorsement for the presidential race. i went back and i listened to the interview he did with "meet the press" when he made that endorsement. a couple things struck me at that time. first of all, he said the republican was going too far to the right at the time. and that brought him a lot of concern. he also didn't like the fact that john mccain chose sarah palin, who he said wasn't ready for the job. and also at the time he described president obama, then senator bam, has a transformational figure. now you have to ask yourself, does he no longer think president obama is transformational and is he really looking to see if mitt romney can take the republican party and keep it more in the center instead of having it go a little bit to the right. it will be interesting to see what colin powell does in the next couple months. >> or maybe he's waiting to see who mitt romney chooses as his vp candidate before he weighs in since it made such reverberations last time. >> no doubt. certainly going to have some kind of role in who he decides to pick. >> let's move on to cory booker, the now very famous newark, new jersey, mayor who some say stepped in it and others say was telling it like it is when he criticized not only the bam campaign but mitt romney's campaign for getting -- i'll just throw the word in there -- too dirty. he was not happy about it. the dominos seemed to keep falling. is this thing over? is it going to go away, or will we continue to see more ads using bits and pieces of what people say on "meet the press"? >> we'll continue to see cory booker in the news. it's really bad for a candidate when one of his top surrogates goes out and becomes the news of the day, and that's what cory booker has been now for a couple days since he criticized the negative tone of the campaign, not only being directed by the super pacs, the independent expenditures, but also the candidates themselves. by doing that, the republicans immediately seized upon that and they said that, look, even cory booker says that mitt romney's campaign should not be going after the whole of private equity and investment in america. we are going to continue to see this. we already saw just an hour ago, saw the romney campaign doing another conference call with reporters to try and hammer home this message that president obama is not good for business and is not good for creating jobs. and then, look, look what happened less than 24 hours ago at the nato summit. president obama is up there trying to talk about international issues and he's being forced to talk about the this campaign specifically about cory booker's comments. not very good for a candidate to have to do that. you know what, ashleigh, it's not going away anytime soon. >> it feels like aeons ago we were talking about social issues and same-sex marriage, but now it seems to be all about the economy and the fallout from booker. i want to talk about the new poll that's come out that shows there's an absolute split between these two candidates when it comes to who americans think is more likely to be able to fix the economy. that's a dead heat, folks. 47% to 47%, president obama and mitt romney coming in even. i guess the question is, is this a philosophical debate now for americans between, you know, the government intervention and free market capitalism or is it who's campaigning better about those issues? >> i think it's both. and, look, it's something that has been talked about for the last year or so. we just haven't heard mitt romney being able to come above the fray, so to speak. he's been engaged in the republican primary trying to fight back the attacks on his right from his primary opponents at the same time, fighting back the attacks from his left from president obama. so what we're seeing now is a whole discussion about how can you turn the economy around. that "washington post" poll, which was just out this morning, really hits it home. the fact of the matter is we've known all along this is issue number one. the fact of the matter is people are out of work, they're losing their homes, and they want to know how it's going to be turned around. the most fascinating number that came out of this "washington post" poll is that 17% of american america americans this their poll said the economy was excellent or very good. i have to ask you, who are these 17%? who are these people that think we're doing very well right now with our economic conditions? >> always great to talk to you. just a wealth of knowledge. we have to have coffee sometime. >> absolutely. >> on me. mark preston, nice to see you. thanks very much. also want to let you know, if there's breaking political news you'll hear about it first on cnn's "political gut check." get the information straight to your inbox every afternoon. e-mail mark. he reads all your e-mails and responds, i'm told. are you having a hard time getting those creative juices flowing? we'll talk with "the new york times" best-selling author whose new book aims to put the power of creativity right into your hands. good to see you. on the help desk, we tear talking act financial planning. stacey francis is a financial adviser. we've got an e-mail from dennis in virginia. he's 64 years old. he'll retire in two years. he said my wife and i have around $1.3 million in savings. how should we divide the money in terms of stocks, bonds, et cetera? obviously a little more risk averse at that age. >> often it will start off with a 60-40 allocation, 60% stocks, 40% bonds, and then it deviates based on your goals, risk tolerance and when you need the money. they may not need to touch the money immediately. if they need it immediately, we want to take a year's worth of their living expenses they'll pull from their portfolio. keep it in a high-as best as savings account and take the rest for the longer-term savings and diversify. >> ryan, when is the best time to start planning? real len li when you get your first job. >> right out of college. you have your accumulation phase, conservation phase and distribution phase. accumulation, you're starting your job. learn and read as much as possible. get that 401 k. read the benefits package. you'd be surprised how few people know what is in their funds. make sure you're having a good analysis of your financial adviser if you choose to have one. >> absolutely. there's so much free online as well. thanks, guys. >> absolutely. >> if you have a question, send us an e-mail anytime to cnn help desk. back to you. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. we're following breaking news of a us airways flight number 787 that was bound for charlotte from charles de gaulle airport in paris, but it is not sitting in charlotte. it is sitting on a runway in bangor, maine. there on your screen courtesy of our ti ai fill yacht wbz, passengers on board that plane are probably more than likely about to be getting that you have plane awfully soon. this is after a security issue over the atlantic forced a diversion to bangor, maine. our aviation and regulation correspondent lizzie o'leary is live in washington, d.c., with further information about the passengers. what do you know? >> reporter: well, we know, ashleigh, that this was an almost-full flight from de gaulle to charlotte. about 179 passengers, nine crew. that's coming from us airways. that is an almost full flight. a plane of about this size can handle some 200 people on board, 205 or so. looking at those pictures, i see steps by the rear door of the aircraft. hard to tell if anybody is coming out of those now. what we know from the tsa is they had reports of suspicious behavior by a passenger. out of abundance of caution, the plane was diverted to bangor, maine. you and chad have been talking about this. it's not all that far off the normal flight path of this flight which would have crossed the atlantic at a fairly northern point and then turned and made to come down the east coast, bangor a quick jog to the right. 179 passengers on board. nine crew according to us airways. and that is an almost full flight for the this delight and type of plane. >> the flight was met by law enforcement officials. i don't know a thing about the airport we're looking at right now and i'm not going to suggest that you do either, lizzie, but what i am curious about is when there is a security issue like this and a flight has to be brought down and perhaps there's an unruly passenger or a passenger who's acting suspicious, do they often keep the plane away from the actual terminal and then bring the staircase or do they at times bring it up and attach the jetway -- do they want that separation of space for any particular reason? >> no. that separation of space is pretty much standard practice for any type of diversion, certainly one with any reports of an unruly or suspicious passenger on board or in some cases if you had a mechanical problem, a plane would off ever divert to a slightly more remote runway, would not come up to the airport, they would not attach the jetway. that's pretty much standard protocol in any sort of situation like that. certainly, we saw something similar when that jetblue flight -- when the pilot started acting in an unusual fashion. that was diverted to amarillo, similar situation. it tends to be met at a more remote runway. pretty much standard practice for this. >> i've been on a flight before where law enforcement officials boarded the plane through a jetway that was connected to the terminal because there was a drunk behaifg badly. and he was escorted off in handcuffs. that's why i wondered if, you know, passengers behaving suspiciously can all be classified absolutely differently. and you might see someone taken off this way who's not just a drunk. >> reporter: yeah. you certainly might. i mean, i think at this point the tsa, you know, is remaining somewhat loose in their characterization here. they're saying, you know, reports of suspicious behavior and that and the runway pretty much tell us that they are treating this as a law enforcement situation now until any other information comes forward that would indicate that they need to treat it in any other way. >> just to quickly wrap this up, 767 on your screen, this live picture courtesy of our affiliate wlbz out of bangor, maine, sitting on that runway. all those passengers on board were expected to be in charlotte, not in maine. but they are in maine because of diversion. they were headed from paris and charles de gaulle airport. but because of some kind of a security issue that's not being made clear to us yet, that was a diversion that was necessary. tsa going further than us airways to us in saying that there was a passenger exhibiting suspicious behavior. so we'll continue to follow any of the developments in this news. t we'll bring more to you here. high schools in six states enrolled in the national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. [ male announcer ] we began with the rx. ♪ then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. ♪ now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ home prices might just be starting to shift. prices have been frozen now for a couple of years. a lucky few, a serious thought might be just about to happen. allison is following this live from the new york stock exchange. she joins me now. this is great news for a lot of people, especially for people who are under water in their mortgages. >> it really is. considering where the housing sack or the has been, it's good to hear finally some good news. right? we're finding out home prices are soaring by the double digits in some places, so you're right, ashley, the time is turning, especially in me deer ra, california, where prices are expected to rise 22% by the end of next year. fingers crossed there. medford, oregon, 22% increase expected there as well. go to cnn money for a full list. keep in mind, a lot of this is because those places i mentioned got hammered during the recession. look at madeira, say you had a home for $375,000 five years ago it recently sold for $127,000. so what happened is madeira found a bottom. it can't recover until a bottom is hit and that may be happening. >> that was such a question, where is that darn bottom, especially for the people in florida, arizona, and nevada. this r those the three that suffered the sfwhors. >> they really did. those are some of the areas that suffered the worst. if you look at the broader market, you're not seeing the the 20% gain for the broader market. but on the bright side, there is improvement the broder market. there was a report today about existing home sales showing they hit a two-year high in frill. we look at this report because it is one of the most important housing reports because home resales account for about 90% of the overall market. more good news, home prices overall are inching their way up, too. what it really shows is that the recovery is taking hold, housing is finding its footing. no doubt about it. we've got a long way to go but it is on the right track. >> i like hearing that. allison kosik, you are welcome back. >> thank you. following breaking news about a plane diversion opinion right when you see them, they're yours, it's like, ah, it's part of me. it's me again. now that i'm retiring they all have plans for me. i'm excited. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. so we've been following this breaking news of this flight, which is a us airways flight number 787 from paris to charlotte that was diverted to bangor, maine. if you look carefully, you might be able to see buses that have been dispatched to that plane possibly to take the passengers off of the plane. you can see on the left-hand side of your screen one of those buses. now we are learning a very interesting detail about what happened as this flight was being diverted. we've had confirmation there was suspicious activity from a passenger, and now norad is confirming to us from lieutenant colonel mike humphreys that two fx/15 aircraft had to be dispatched and scrambled to direct that plane to land in bangor, maine. they're being very cagey about these details. they here not telling us where the f-15s were based out of. they're not telling us any more about the passenger being sus suspiciously. us airways initially said it was a security issue, period, and didn't tell us why they chose bangor, maine, but they landed there after taking off from charles de gaulle in paris. then we got a comment from the tsa. the tsa said it wasn't just suspicious activity, it was one suspicious passenger, one passenger behaving suspiciously. we also know that that plane, as it sits on the runway, and those pictures thrive us are courtesy of our affiliate wlbz, was met by law enforcement officials. that's a boeing 767 if you know your planes. it's also a plane that can hold a capacity of about 200 passengers. we're also told by us airways that this was almost to capacity. this was almost a full flight. they had 179 passengers on board and nine crew members. so presumably that's what those buses could be for. as we continue to watch this and get more information out of norad about those scrambled f-15 aircraft, fighter jets that glided that thing back into american air space and to bangor, maine. we will bring it to you. k, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, 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passenger aircraft diverted on its way overseas from paris to charlotte and never getting to charlotte, diverted, instead, to the runway that you're looking at right now. that is a boeing 767. it was diverted to bangor, maine, where it sits with about 179 passengers, nine crew members on board. the original word came to us from usairways that there was a security issue. that was it. somewhere over the atlantic, something went wrong and they diverted that plane here. but later the tsa gave us a further date death tail saying not just a security issue, this was a passenger behaving suspiciously. not only was that plane brought to where it was, but it was

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