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Standard & Poor's Downgrades U.S. Creditworthiness; At Least 31 U.S. Soldiers Die in Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan; CNN Hero Helps Women with Breast Cancer; Record Number of Americans on Food Stamps; Police Set Up Fake Lottery to Make Arrests; Tiger Woods Struggles on the Course; Severe Famine in Somalia Continues

Aired August 06, 2011 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: And from CNN Center, this is CNN Saturday morning. It is August 6. Good morning. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for T.J. Holmes.

It has been one of the deadliest days yet in the long Afghan war. More than two dozen members of the U.S. Special Forces have been killed in the downing of a Chinook helicopter. We're going to get a live report from Kabul.

Also, another blow to the U.S. economy. In a move last night the country's credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor's. No longer do we have superior AAA status. We'll explain how the move impacts you.

We begin with what could be the deadliest day yet for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. military says more than two dozen U.S. troops are believed to have died in a helicopter crash in Wardak province in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement saying as many as 31 U.S. Special Forces and seven Afghan troops were killed.

CNN's David Ariosto joins us from Kabul. David, what other details are you learning?

DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It appears this helicopter was traveling, like you said, Deb, from Wardak province over into the central eastern part of the country. now, the east has been one of those restive areas of Afghanistan in recent weeks and months. The south, in addition, we've seen an uptick in insurgent activity.

Just last week -- excuse me, a few weeks ago, we saw a downed NATO helicopter. Fortunately, no casualties as a result of that incident. Not the case with today's incident in Wardak. From Taliban sources and from locals we've been speaking to in the region, it seems that insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at this helicopter, resulting in the crash.

It seems that the majority of those on board were, indeed, Americans. It would represent the deadliest day for American soldiers here in Afghanistan, really, since the war began back in 2001. We're coming up on the ten-year anniversary.

And this is also a moment of transition. NATO forces are handing over security to local forces, and, at the same time, they're drawing down. The first batch of U.S. soldiers left earlier last month. The first 10,000 soldiers are set to leave by the end of the year. So, again, a critical, critical moment here in Afghanistan and perhaps the deadliest day for U.S. soldiers.

FEYERICK: All right, David Ariosto, and a recovery mission underway right now. Thanks so much. We'll check in with you a little later on. Appreciate it.

Well, this morning's other breaking story, Standard & Poor's downgrading the nation's credit rating, based partly on the growing deficit and last week's cantankerous and partisan debate over the debt ceiling. Here's S&P managing director John Chambers talking with Anderson Cooper about how the downgrading could have been avoided.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CHAMBERS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, STANDARD AND POOR'S: I think they could have done a few things. I mean, the first thing they could have done is to have raised the debt ceiling in a timely manner so that much of this debate could have been avoided to begin with as it had done 60 or 70 times since 1960 without that much debate. So that's point number one.

And point number two is it could have come up with a fiscal plan, you know, similar, for example, to, you know, the Bowles-Simpson commission, which was bipartisan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: The Bowles-Simpson commission that Chambers talked about was the panel set up by President Obama to find ways to cut the deficit. It's formally known as the National Committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

And we have reaction from both the White House and Wall Street this morning. Felicia Taylor is live in New York. Athena Jones is live in Washington. We're going to begin with her. Athena, right now the Obama administration, bad news for them. How are they reacting?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not well. They're not happy. They believe this was a rush to judgment on the part of the S&P. They wanted them to wait and review their analysis. Treasury officials pointed out to the S&P that they'd made a $2 trillion mistake in calculating future U.S. deficit, and that's an important calculation that goes into the whole debt-to-GDP ratio, part of the decision in making this downgrade.

But officials have also pointed out that there are two other rating agencies, Fitch and Moody's, that still have the U.S. at a AAA rating. They're at least happy about that, for the moment, those two other agencies haven't followed suit of what the S&P has done.

FEYERICK: So is it fair, then, to say that the U.S. has lost its sort of gold standard, or just one in area, technically?

JONES: Well, it's hard to say how the markets are going to react. Some of these officials we had a briefing with have said that S&P acted on news that was already in the public domain. And so we have to wait and see what happens there.

But certainly the big grade that Congress got out of this from the S&P is a big "D" for dysfunctional. They cited Congress numerous times in their statement, saying that the long, drawn-out debate over raising the debt ceiling made them pessimistic about future agreement, that the two parties could come to agreement in the future on further cuts.

As you know, this deal last week made some initial cuts but leaves it until later in the fall for this joint committee of Republicans and Democrats to come together to make cuts in other areas. And so they kicked the can down the road when it comes to tax revenues and entitlement reform, and that's left the S&P pessimistic for the moment, Deb.

FEYERICK: All right, Athena Jones, thank you so much. Now we'll head to Felicia Taylor in New York. Felicia, lots of uncertainty here in this uncharted financial territory. You look at this, how is this going to play out globally?

FELECIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, unfortunately, you know, you said that magic word that Wall Street and the markets definitely don't want to hear, and that's "uncertainty." And this poses a lot of uncertainty. You know, Athena was talking about the dysfunction that's been happening on Wall Street -- excuse me, in Washington, and that's exactly what's Wall Street's paying attention to. The dysfunction that's happening in Washington has got everybody uncertain about what's going to happen down the road. That's the problem globally.

The markets open on Monday and we'll see Asia open on Sunday night, you have to see whether or not they're going to interrupt this badly. I mean, we've been put on watch by the other two agencies. Now we've got a debt downgrade. And it's a question of whether or not we've got financial stability. Will we be able to make our interest payments on the debt we already hold? That's a question for some of our largest bond holders, which are countries like China and Japan. Will they be so concerned that they'll start to reduce those the debt holdings?

That's a big problem. I've been told by many traders that a lot of this has already been placed into the marketplace, so presumably there won't be as much of a downturn on Monday because we already heard about this on Friday. But do expect to see some sort of a selloff, probably in reaction to this, but maybe not as dramatic as we saw in the past week. Deb?

FEYERICK: And when we're looking at the AAA rating also, clearly that affects just about everything. What are we talking about?

TAYLOR: Well, initially, what we really are talking about is the average American. And that's the person that's really going to be affected. You are going to see higher interest rates when it comes to taking out a loan, whether it's your mortgage, whether it's a car loan, a credit card, anything like that. It really affects the pocketbook of the average American out there.

And that's what is really a problem, because when we're talking about a recovery, already it's been difficult to borrow money. There's been very slow moving money out there, and Americans haven't been able to get a hold of any kind of loans for things. So this means that the recovery is going to be stalled even further. That's about the last thing we need to hear right now, frankly.

So the average American that's going to be affected first, but overall, it's going to have a global impact, because it has an effect on the overall economy.

FEYERICK: Snowball effect, absolutely. Felicia Taylor, thank you so much. Clearly the S&P sending a strong signal, you've got to create jobs and come up with a plan and work it out nicely. Felicia Taylor there in New York.

And as we said earlier, this is unchartered territory for the U.S. economy. But one thing is certain -- America's money crunch just got a lot tougher. CNN's Poppy Harlow looks at some of the possible ripple effects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Your home loan, you can watch your interest rates on your mortgage go up. More homes are then going to sit on the market. Prices of homes could fall even further to this already depressed housing market, and the only silver lining is for long-term investors who see a buying opportunity here.

When you look at your car loan, very similar story. Expect your interest rate to go up, car prices to go up. It's going to be pretty tough for people with middle to lower credit scores to buy cars, and new car sales are going to fall. The car market isn't that healthy right now either.

And then finally, when it comes to college loans, what does this mean for your college loan? When you look at interest rates, very similar story. Private student loans are going to see their interest rate increase. It's going to be tougher for students to get a loan for the spring term, so a very near-term effect here. Students are going to have to work more through college to pay off that increased interest rate.

And finally, the only silver lining is most students have their financing for next year already lined up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: All right. And coming up at 7:00 eastern tonight, CNN presents a special hour on the credit rating decision, the impact on you, your children, your future. That's tonight at 7:00 eastern right here on CNN.

More now on that breaking news story out of Afghanistan, and this reaction from President Obama to the deaths of more than two dozen U.S. Special Forces troops today. The president says, quote, "Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who served in Afghanistan," unquote.

And five current and former New Orleans police officers now face possible life sentences for their roles in the post-Katrina Danziger bridge shootings. The men were convicted yesterday on 25 civil rights violations for shooting six unarmed civilians, killing two of them, and then taking part in a cover-up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM LETTEN, U.S. ATTORNEY: Today's verdict by these jurors sends a powerful, a powerful, unmistakable message to public servants, to law enforcement officers, and to the citizens we serve, and indeed, to the world. That message is that public officials, and especially law enforcement officers, will be held accountable for their acts, and that any abuse of power, especially that power that violates the rights and the civil liberties of our citizens, will have serious consequences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And in another courtroom, a Texas jury is back in court this morning to hear evidence in the sentencing phase for Warren Jeffs. The polygamous sect leader was convicted of sexually assaulting two teenagers, a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old he calls his spiritual wives. Jeffs asked to be excused from court today. He said he doesn't want to hear his religion degraded.

People in Charlotte, North Carolina, are drying out after a die of torrential rain and flash flooding. Our Reynolds Wolf has been following it all. Reynolds?

(INAUDIBLE)

FEYERICK: And Reynolds, we're going to jump in a little bit while you sort of get that microphone on, because we are -- we need to hear what you're saying. But take a look at these pictures. This is what's really remarkable. This is incredible looking at all of this water, these emergency operations going on, because it happened just so quickly, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really did. And one of the things you have there, especially in poor drainage spots, you can see the water pile up. But this is just a situation where you had a lot of rain fell in a very quick time. And much of the flooding has begun to recede, but still the cleanup begins.

And it wasn't just residential areas, a lot of businesses, you see here, this is actually in a hotel we have in downtown North Carolina, take a look at this, in Charlotte, just some of the ceiling falling in, just a tremendous mess, but maybe a little bit of a better day today. But last night, not a good time at all. No question.

FEYERICK: And just remarkable, you start the day one way and end it another. And we'll be checking in with you, because we've got a lot more weather coming up.

WOLF: Absolutely, powered up.

FEYERICK: OK.

Hurricane season is gearing up and we've got a good reminder as tropical storm Emily made its way through the Caribbean this week. On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its updated forecast for this season. How many major hurricanes is NOAA predicting for this year? We'll have the answer coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, this week, NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration updated its number of hurricanes for this season. And before the break we asked you how many major hurricanes NOAA is predicting. The new forecast is 14 to 19 named storms with three to five major hurricanes. Major hurricanes are defined as category three or above with winds of at least 111 miles per hour.

(WEATHER BREAK)

FEYERICK: In case you've been away, you know it's been a week of terrible economic news, with plunging stock prices and unemployment above nine percent. The U.S. department of agriculture released the latest food stamp numbers as well. How many Americans are using food stamps? Is it 15.7 million, 30.2 million, 45.8 million or 60 million? We'll show you the answer right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: And before the break, we asked you how many Americans are using food stamps, and the choices, 15.7 million, 30.2 million, 45.8 million or 60 million? Well, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the correct answer, astounding, 45.8 million people. That is a record number for people on food stamps.

And now, life in hard times. The number of Americans living on food stamps has increased dramatically in the last few years. CNN's Brian Todd introduces us to one man who put a human face on the suffering.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On a short walk to the grocery store with Frederick Mack, in the shadow of the capital, a bracing window into how tough life's been in recent years.

FREDERICK MACK, FOOD STAMP RECIPIENT: See right here. One of my daughters died. Yes sir. That's her. They gave her a bus stop. TODD: A memorial to his eldest daughter, a community aid worker who died of childbirth complications. Frederick now lives in a transitional home for people struggling to get back on their feet, unemployed he tells for eight months, on food stamps for a year and a half, he symbolizes the staggering rise of Americans on food stamps since 2007, a climb of about 70 percent to nearly 46 million people. Advocates who fight hunger say it's a perfect storm of hardship.

JAMES WEILL, FOOD RESEARCH AND ACTION CENTER: Unemployment has went way up and has stayed high. Wages are flat or down for really the bottom half of the population.

TODD: Frederick Mack's trying desperately to get back to his calling. He's got 35 plus years experience as a cook. In the meantime, he gets $200 a month in food stamps. Is that enough?

MACK: No, it's not enough. I just find ways how to stretch it.

TODD: We duck into grocery stores where he shops. There's a lot in here that's off-limits on you food stamp card.

MACK: This, I can't buy it. Because it's hot.

TODD: What do you buy most of the time?

MACK: Salads and fruits. That's the cheapest thing you can buy.

TODD: We comb through aisle after aisle. Frederick doesn't buy anything that's not on sale.

(on camera) This is one of the meat islands where Frederick shops. He says you can pick out items from an aisle like this, but you've got to watch out for sales. You can only pick out a little bit at a time, and even if you do, you still stand a pretty good chance of tapping out your card every month.

Basic stuff here like tooth paste? What about that?

MACK: Can't do it.

TODD: You can't buy tooth paste?

MACK: You can't buy toothpaste, can't buy soap, you can't buy deodorant. If it's not edible, you cannot buy it.

TODD (voice-over): For those items, you have to use your own money, if you have it. Frederick says at 53, first-time unemployed, his pride's taken a big hit from this.

MACK: I don't want to be on them. If I didn't have to eat, I sure wouldn't be. But I have to eat to live. That's the only way I can do it these days. I can't go around, you know, on the street begging, or with a sign on my chest saying I need something to eat, help me, I need something to eat.

TODD (on camera): So this at least prevents you from having to do that.

MACK: Prevents me from begging and panhandling. This prevents me from doing that, because I do have a pride. I am a human being.

TODD (voice-over): As eager as he is to get out of the food stamp program, Frederick says he's got other priorities. He's got to first get out of that transitional home. And to do that, like so many others, he's got to find a job first. So like tens of millions of other Americans, he'll probably be on the food stamp program for a little while longer.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Well, a helping hand for breast cancer patients. One survivor is using her own experience to make a difference. We're going to meet her, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, there are nearly a quarter of a million new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the country every year. One survivor is using her own experience as a springboard to help others. Meet Debbie Cantwell, this week's CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBBIE CANTWELL, CNN HERO: When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, my kids are really young, and I was working full-time. We were struggling. When you start adding hospital bills and medication costs, it just throws your world upside-down.

My husband took care of me, took care of the kids. My parents and my friends did everything for me. But through treatment, I was meeting women that just didn't have it as easy as me. All these people were there for me, and I couldn't possibly pay everybody back. Soy decided I was going to pay it forward.

My name is Debbie Cantwell, and I provide care and comfort to young women fighting breast cancer. We get two $25 subways. We send out gas gift cards, restaurant gift cards, and house cleaning services.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was really bottoming out emotionally. And then all of a sudden, I could buy diapers. And I could get food.

CANTWELL: Yes, there's a card. Look at that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so much more than just tangible things. It's hope.

CANTWELL: I help young women that can't wait for a cure. These women are sick right now and need help today.

Hi, Rachael, how are you? Did your groceries come? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just got them. I appreciate it. It's such a huge help.

CANTWELL: They're my sisters and I would do anything to help them out. I take it really personally. It's hard when I lose somebody, but it's just a part of the job. I'll probably die of breast cancer someday, but I want to really make the most of the time I have by doing some good in the world and being the best I can for whatever time I have left.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: And remember, every CNN hero is chosen from people that you tell us about. You still have time to nominate someone who you know is making a big difference in your community. Go to CNNheroes.com.

And S&P downgrades the U.S. credit rating and blames D.C. politicians for their poor handling of the debt crisis. Are Republicans or Democrats more to blame? Our power of politics team is going to weigh in on that and a whole lot more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, it is 30 minutes past the hour, 10:30. Welcome back. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for T.J. Holmes. Thanks so much for starting your day here with us.

Well, today's big story, the U.S. has lost its sterling AAA credit rating status. Standard & poor's knocked it down to AA-plus Friday. As CNN's Allan Chernoff reports, the decision deals with more than just the nation's spiraling deficit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Deb, in cutting the credit rating, Standard & Poor's is making a decision about the level of debt in the United States, much too high, but it's also commenting on politics. It's saying the political situation in Washington has been much too chaotic for Washington to do enough about the debt. And S&P is making a judgment about the economy. It expects slow economic growth, and as a result, it says debt as a percentage of economic output as a percentage of GDP is going to increase in the next few years. That's worrisome to S&P, and one reason the rating agency is saying it could act again to yet again lower the U.S. credit rating.

This is certainly an embarrassment for the U.S. in financial markets and the United States now has a lower credit rating than Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden. Deb?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: All right, Allan Chernoff, thanks so much.

Well, the Republican presidential hopefuls are weighing in on the downgrade. From Mitt Romney, he says "America's creditworthiness just became the latest casualty in President Obama's failed record of leadership on the economy. Standard & Poor's rating downgrade is a deeply troubling indicator of our country's decline under President Obama."

Here's what Minnesota's Michele Bachmann had to say -- "I call on the president to seek the immediate resignation of treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and to submit a plan with a list of cuts to balance the budget this year, turn our economy around, and put Americans back to work."

The S&P downgrade is just the latest blow on the economic and political front this week. Potential voters not happy. According to a CNN-ORC poll conducted after the debt deal was announced, Americans say 77 percent of elected officials who dealt with the debt ceiling acted like spoiled children.

As you might imagine, those polled don't think much of the job Congress is doing. According to the CNN-ORC poll, 84 percent say they disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

Joining me now to talk about the world of power politics, Democratic Strategist Maria Cardona in Washington and Republican Strategist Lenny McAllister in Chicago. So, both of you, the economy not doing so hot. Congress left town for a break, and everybody gets a vacation, I get that. But the president's been holding campaign fundraisers. Who is showing leadership? Is this all about spin now? Let's go to you first, Lenny.

LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I don't think anybody's showing leadership. I think, unfortunately, we're looking at somebody that's not the commander in chief or economist in chief, we're more looking at the campaigner in chief. And this has been one of the criticisms from the Tea Party about President Obama since day one.

And sure enough, just on the heels of this credit rating downgrade coming out Friday night, here's president Obama here in Chicago, Illinois, raising money for himself, trying to make sure he can get reelected during one of the worst economic times since the Great Depression.

And it's not just him that's showing a lack of leadership. This is all across the board. Basically, everybody did what they were supposed to do in Washington, according to partisan politics, and nobody really got the job done. And once again, I think in 2012, people are going to be looking for a change they can believe in, but they're going to be looking for a change away from President Obama.

Maria, what about you? Have the Republicans shown leadership? Has anyone in the Tea Party shown the kind of leadership to bring this country together?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, absolutely not, Deb. In fact, it's completely the opposite.

And let me just say, from the very beginning of this whole crisis, it has been President Obama who has brought people to the table, regardless of the fact that Republicans have walked away five times during the negotiations, walked away from the negotiating table. That's not leadership.

It's the president who has been the adult in the situation and you see, actually, poll after poll, saying that Americans believe by and large that it was the Republicans who have shown a lack of leadership, a lack of willing to negotiate, and especially the Tea Partiers.

Deb, interestingly enough, I blame the credit downgrade, specifically on the Tea Partiers, and the S&P has said from the very beginning -- and they did make a $2 trillion mistake, by the way, in terms of how they came to this downgrade, which is unfortunate -- but they did say that politically, it was because we were on the brink of default. Who brought us to the brink of default? None other than the Tea Partiers in Washington. Americans can thank them for that.

FEYERICK: Well, this is much more than just a slap on the wrist. In many respects, it was a punch in the face. And I think to all lawmakers, getting the message from the S&P that they've got to work it out. Lenny, do you think that the Republican response was appropriate? Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann -- is blame where we have to go right now?

MCALLISTER: Yes, it was an appropriate response. Listen, the lack of leadership does not come from the Tea Party folks that responded in response to the Democrats not passing a budget for years, to the Democrats worrying more about health care reform than they're worried about jobs or the economy or the debt ceiling at the time.

Listen, even with the FAA situation, again, we had Democrats doing piecemeal type of agreements from 2007 when they controlled the House of Representatives on forward. If there's a lack of leadership, it goes back to the Democrats.

And who's the top of the Democratic Party right now? It's president Obama. So with these Republican presidential candidates coming out and saying, listen, we need real leadership in Washington, D.C., you know, let's look at what the Tea Party did. They brought the spending issue to the table.

This is something that Democrats were not looking to do. The stimulus failed, cash for clunkers wasn't a big success, and we know about the health care reform and what it's done to this economy. There hasn't been much going on. There's a reason why we still have 9.1 unemployment rates, there's still a reason why we have now downgraded our debt ceiling -- excuse me, our credit rating.

So if you look at all these things together, listen, we had a super majority in 2009. We had a huge majority with the Democrats in 2010. This is not a lack of leadership from the Republicans coming in trying to pull people back to where we need to be --

FEYERICK: Lenny, let me interrupt for one second, because one of the huge issues that a lot of people saw and the markets saw and corporations saw, and that is that usually when the debt ceiling has to be approved, it's approved, and it's approved quickly. But when you tie in the budget issue with debt approval, I think it was Fareed Zakaria who says, you hold it hostage. And that was the perception. Maria, is that really what happened?

CARDONA: Absolutely, deb. You hit the nail on the head. And this is what economist after economist have said. If we had -- if we had raised the debt ceiling cleanly, we would not within this downgrade right now. So, again, I think the blame lays specifically on the Tea Partiers.

And let's talk about these presidential candidates. You have Mitt Romney, who was, by the way, terrific at creating jobs in India and in China, when he was head of the private equity firm he headed. And when he was governor of Massachusetts, the state ranked number 47th in job creation. That's the kind of leadership we want?

And let's talk about Michele Bachmann. She was the one who literally said bring default on. She did not believe in the -- in what would happen if we actually went to the brink of default. And now we're seeing what did happen. And so I blame it on her, I blame it on the Tea Partiers. They have absolutely no idea how to govern, how to come to a negotiation, and we do need that kind of leadership in Washington.

FEYERICK: OK, now, I'm going to ask both of you this question, and a quick answer from both of you. Now, 82 percent of Americans disapprove of the job U.S. lawmakers are doing. Do they now have to put partisan politics aside, get to the table, and play nicely with each, just simply stop all the sort of rhetoric, for lack of a better word, this hostile speech that a lot of Americans are simply just tired of, Lenny?

MCALLISTER: Yes, yes. We do need to bring more leadership back to Washington. But, listen, most people in Washington are partisan politics type of players. What we need are more everyday people going back to Washington and working for the American people in a humble type of way. And that's going to be more the type of movement such as the Tea Party, not what we've been getting from status quo Republicans and Democrats for the last several years.

FEYERICK: OK, and Maria, last word?

CARDONA: The last thing we need are more leaders like the Tea Partiers, who it's my way or the highway. We do need reasonable people in Washington. And frankly, President Obama and the Democrats have been the ones who have been most reasonable throughout this crisis. They have never walked away from a negotiating table. They have offered up their most sacred programs to make sure that we are where we need to be. And that's the kind of leadership that we need. And we hope the GOP will join us.

FEYERICK: OK. Leadership cohesion --

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: We've got to stop it right here. We could talk all afternoon, but thank you both for your time and your insights and your opinions, a lot for us to think about.

OK, moving on. Well, the tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri, is shown here as it rips up a high school. We'll show you the rest of this jaw-dropping video just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: And it is now 43 minutes past the hour. It's also 17 minutes to the hour.

(WEATHER BREAK)

FEYERICK: If it seems too good to be true, it may be a good idea to double check the fine print. Some lucky ticket winners at the Iron Bowl now behind iron bars. How officers came up with a clever, elaborate sting to nab deadbeat dads. That story, it's a sports story, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, Tiger, and you know who I'm talking about, is back. And he's trying to make up some ground at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. It's his first tournament in almost three months after an injury layoff. HLN Sports anchor Ray D'Alessio is here with more on how Tiger is doing right now.

RAY D'ALESSIO, HLN SPORTS ANCHOR: He's struggling. He's got a lot of ground to make up, Deb. He's got about three holes to play in his round today. He's currently at even par for the day. But he's 10 strokes back from the leaders right now.

And yesterday was his putting that got to him. Today, he's all over the place. In this first nine holes, he could not hit a fairway off the tee. He was like zero for seven off the tee. But yesterday he had three bogeys and one double bogey. Today he's got two bogeys, does have two birdies, and again, he's at even par for the day. But not the Tiger-esque we've saw of the past. It's going to be interesting to see how he does at the PGA champions.

FEYERICK: But he was doing better, with his new caddie, which is interesting, although his old caddie is now playing with the leader, which is interesting. He's doing better and the guy who is winning is actually -- anyway.

D'ALESSIO: And Tiger doesn't let mind games get to him like that. Tiger's not struggling with things like that. He's struggling with more of his swing. He had another recent swing change, still trying to work through all of that. So I think with one tournament under his belt with this new swing and these new changes, it's going to be interesting to see how he does next week at the PGA championship, which will be right here in Atlanta.

FEYERICK: We've got some other stories too. Want to talk about the recent sting operation involving those deadbeat dads. And it was a very interesting ploy. D'ALESSIO: And give credit to authorities in the Lee County sheriff's department. This involved, like you said, people who allegedly owed child support. Iron Snare was the name of the operation. The suspects got letters telling them they'd won tickets to this year's Iron Bowl, which is the big --

FEYERICK: And there's one of those dads going down, yes, exactly.

D'ALESSIO: The big Auburn-Alabama football rivalry. When they showed up to claim their prize, yes, authorities had a surprise for them. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, I am now a winner of the Auburn University for two free tickets. Thank you!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me introduce myself. I'm Dennis O'Hare with the Lee County Sheriff's Office and we have a warrant for your arrest for child support. Put your hands around you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

D'ALESSIO: Busted!

FEYERICK: Part of me feels these guys owe money, and are behind on their child support, and it's a big amount of money, between $30,000 and $70,000. That's a lot of money they owe. And the disappointment -- that excitement of winning something only to realize that karma has a way of circling around.

D'ALESSIO: And one person after they were arrested, they said, OK, fine, do I still get my tickets? Yes, you get a ticket -- a ticket to jail.

(LAUGHTER)

D'ALESSIO: Again, there was no tickets to be given out. This was all part of a sting to get them there. They sent out about 140 letters and made over a dozen arrests.

FEYERICK: All right, Ray, well, thank you so much. We didn't get time to show the video of the guy throwing the baseball through the net, but hopefully we'll circle back around to that a little bit later on.

D'ALESSIO: OK.

FEYERICK: Thank you so much, Ray D'Alessio.

Well, a famine crisis in the Horn of Africa. CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is getting ready to travel to Somalia, one of the hardest hit areas. We'll have more on his upcoming journey, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: And 12 million people are in desperate need of assistance in the horn of Africa. Somalia is the worst-hit. Almost 30,000 children -- 30,000 children -- have died there in the past 90 days.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be heading to the region in the next 24 hours, and I spoke to him earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They haven't had a drought this bad since 1950 in this region. And if you combine that sort of lack of rain with the conflict that you're describing, it is creating, you know, this tragedy that's unfolding here.

I'll paint the situation like this. If you think about this area of the world and this country, so many of the people there live off the land, they're agricultural farmers. When the drought happened, obviously, the crops died off and the livestock on many of these farm also went away. So now these people have no food and they have no water and they start literally trying to walk for tens of miles, 30, 40 miles to try and get to aid camps.

But, you know, oftentimes, these children, these women malnourished by the time they get to these camps, and a lot of these camps just simply weren't prepared to have enough food to feed hundreds of thousands of people who are coming en masse. That's what the countryside of Somalia looks like. And when they arrive at these camps, which are hundreds of thousands of people in size, there are just not enough resources. It's been going on and the problem's just been getting worse, Deb.

FEYERICK: And Sanjay, with these Islamic militants who are controlling this country, they're not helping the people. How did it get to such a dire point?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I think, you know, and you have to really look back over history a little bit here, over decades. But Al Shabaab, the militant group that you're talking about, for a long time simply banned any sort of foreign aid coming into this country. So this became a pattern. If you were an aid organization trying to get into Somalia in years past, even, you're worried more so about safety in this country than any other place in the world. So that was the history here.

Now with this drought and the situation happening as bad as it's become, that ban has been lifted. But you can imagine, Deb, there's still a lot of concern from these aid organizations when they try to get food in, is there going to be a pattern of violence that comes back? Are these militant groups going to attack these refugee camps, these relief camps, even? So it's a real balance here.

I think it's getting better in the sense that there's a little bit more trust in terms of whether or not there's safety from Al Shabaab attacking these camps. But it's not 100 percent, and I think that's part of the problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: And about 640,000 Somali children are malnourished. Moms are leaving some of their babies on the side of the road and in the bush because they simply cannot take them to those refugee camps.

Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta are headed to Somalia and they'll be reporting there all week on this devastating famine, something you're going to want to watch. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: And checking stories our affiliates are covering cross-country, these bank robbers were caught on camera holding up a bank in Valdosta, Georgia. Police say just hours earlier, the same group, a sister and two brothers -- it's a family affair -- shot at a police officer during a traffic stop hundreds of miles away in Florida.

Well, police say an extreme coupon clipper in Arkansas stole more than 180 newspapers so she could get the coupon inserts. She was caught on surveillance camera stealing the paper night after night from in front of the store. The woman is charged with a misdemeanor and the paper is asking for $216 in restitution.