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Pelosi Names Three to Debt Panel; Plunge, Surge, Repeat; "It Worked Better Than We Thought": Researchers Turn Blood Cells into Cancer-Killers; Homeless Man Dies After Beating; Syrian Forces Continue Violent Crackdown on Demonstrators; Famine Continues in Somalia

Aired August 11, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: A new hour could mean anything on Wall Street these days, but guess what? We are still in a rally, everyone. You don't need to peek through your fingers.

The Dow is actually up 354 points after yesterday's selloff, which followed a rally, which followed a selloff. So consider this. At some point in each of the past three days, the Dow has soared or plunged more than 5 percent.

That happened only once, if you're keeping track, in all of 2010. So here's where I turn to CNN's Alison Kosik at the epicenter of it all. Alison, what's happening on the street right now?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are holding on to our gains. You have to be happy about that after the week that we've had. The rebound that you're seeing is really from the market just being oversold over the past few days.

You're seeing investors come in and scoop up bargains because stocks have fallen so much. You're also seeing the market react to a positive jobless claim number. We're below that crucial 400,000 mark. We'll see if we can hold that level for at least another few weeks and see if there's a trend growing there.

Also, Wall Street is happy about some earnings that came out from Cisco Systems, considered a bellwether company for the tech sector and that's also why we're seeing the Nasdaq up almost 4 percent, but I'll tell you what, Randi.

You know, we're seeing the sentiment here. It's clearly changed. I'm seeing less nervousness now that concerns about France are easing. Officials from French banks have come out in press conferences disputing the rumor about possibly being the next country to lose its AAA rating.

As you know, this the U.S. is connected to everybody else around the world. You know, evidence of that is the last recession that started as the subprime mortgages here in the U.S. and then, of course, rippled throughout the world.

So relief that the crisis, at least, or the perceived crisis about France has eased a bit and that's also why you're seeing the big rally today. Randi --

KAYE: And there also seems to be some relief about the jobless claims as well-being down.

KOSIK: Exactly. And as I said, you know, jobless claims numbers, they fell by 7,000, and talking about the first-time claims, so for people who are first out of work and filing those initial jobless claims, benefits, requests, they are down by 7,000 to 395,000.

And we really want to see that number stay below 400,000, because economists see that as job creation, that there's job creation going on. But this is only one week, so we'll have to really kind of watch this very closely.

You'll want to see the level kind of go down even further week after week to really show that jobs are being created and less people are being laid off. Randi --

KAYE: All right. Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange, Alison, thank you.

Now, I want to read you a quote that we wish we could hear from everybody who does research into cancer treatments. Are you ready for this? Quote, "it worked much better than we thought it would."

Now it is an exciting new approach to attacking the most common form of leukemia. Doctors at the University of Pennsylvania took a certain type of white blood cell from three leukemia patients who had exhausted the conventional therapies.

They inserted some genes that made the cells recognize, target and kill the cancer cells and to multiply inside the body. The good cells thus became serial killers of sorts, of the bad cells. One year later two of the patients have no detectible cancer in their bodies. The third has 70 percent fewer cancer cells than before.

Joining me here to talk about this in Atlanta, to talk about all of this and what this means exactly is Dr. Otis Brawley. He's the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, and from Philadelphia we're also pleased to welcome to the show the lead researcher himself, Dr. Carl June.

Dr. June, I'd like to start with you. Tweaking patients' own cells to attack disease isn't new, so I'm curious what you did that past researchers didn't do?

DR. CARL JUNE, DIRECTOR OF TRANSITIONAL RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA'S ABRAMSON CANCER CENTER: Well, thank you. There are several new innovative aspects to the trial that we just reported. First of all, our trial was the first to use an HIV-based virus to introduce the gene into the patient's good cells, the T-cells as you call them.

That then turned the cells into what we call Chymerat-cells, and for an animal that's composed of two different species, and in this case we made the T-cells chymeric so they resembled both the D-cell, which makes antibodies and then T-cells, which are able to kill other cells, in this case tumor cells.

So they -- they were very efficiently manufactured in the chymeric cells with express antibodies, which are a known and effective form of therapy for cancer and another aspect of the trial that we think made a difference was that the cells actually replicated when we infused them into the patient.

We found that in all patients the cells were still present more than six months after they were infused, and furthermore, in two of the patients, the cells expanded between 1,000 and 10,000 fold within a month after infusion.

And there's one other aspect, which made the cells work, which is that they were multitasking cells so that these chymeric cells, when they encountered the tumor, they killed the tumor.

They were told to do that by the chymeric protein, but the other thing they did is they then divided so they made more of themselves, and we found that each cell was able to kill more than 1,000 tumor cells this way.

KAYE: That's amazing. I want to bring in Dr. Brawley here because I'm curious what you think of this. I mean, it sounds like we might be on to something here.

DR. OTIS BRAWLEY, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: I think this is incredibly good work. I don't want patients to get the wrong impression, however. There's still a lot of good work to be done.

Dr. June has been working on things like this since his old days at the Bethesda Naval Hospital and we were both together at that time more than 20 years ago.

This is still probably going to need probably five to 10 years of good work before we can get it out to large numbers of people if it works then. We've helped three patients so far, and hopefully we're going to be able to help more, but it's going to take some time.

KAYE: Dr. June, what type of leukemia did you actually study here?

JUNE: Well, first of all, I want to emphasize what Dr. Brawley said, which is entirely true. It takes an average five to 10 years to get FDA approval and to make something like this generally available, and that's a large task ahead. And the patients, specifically we've treated had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which is one of the most common kinds of leukemia in adults.

KAYE: Why was the study so small? I know we're talking about three patients here.

JUNE: Well, it was a pilot study, the first time that this had been tested, and we were only able to get enough funding to do that, to treat initially to see if it would be safe or not. And then -- now we plan to continue the study and -- and, you know, to go on to the steps that Dr. Brawley was mentioning so they could be more widely available.

KAYE: Dr. Brawley, is there a shortage overall of cancer research funding in the U.S.?

BRAWLEY: Absolutely. You know, about 10 percent of all the ideas submitted to the National Cancer Institute actually get funded, those ideas that have been judged to be worthy of funding.

We're at a point where we have lots of ideas, lots of very good science that could be done, but only about 10 percent of it is actually funded.

So there's probably some good studies like this that got no money whatsoever and never got to the patients, that's one of the reasons why we're so adamant that we need to support scientific research.

KAYE: Sure and even though it may take a while, maybe five or 10 years as Dr. June, you say, we're certainly excited about it. Thank you so much, Dr. Brawley, Dr. June for coming on and discussing this with us.

BRAWLEY: Thank you.

KAYE: An update on the alleged beating death of a California homeless man. Next, we're going to talk with the district attorney who is investigating this case. Are there any charges pending? We'll dig deeper.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We are staying on top of a disturbing story that we first brought you last week. Kelly Thomas, a California man who is homeless and schizophrenic was allegedly beaten to death by six Fullerton police officers.

Now I want to warn you. This picture that we're about to show you is very tough to look at. This is what Kelly Thomas looked like before. That's on the left side, and then after the beating, barely recognizable.

On July 5th, Fullerton police responded to reports of a man trying to break into cars near a bus station. Witnesses say what began with the search of Thomas' backpack ended with this. They say Thomas was kicked, tasered multiple times, hogtied face down, smashed against the concrete. His head slammed with a flashlight.

Thomas fell into a coma and died from his injuries five days later. Officers reportedly found some things in Thomas' backpack that didn't belong to him. Police say Thomas also tried to run from them.

We did reach out to the Fullerton Police Department, and they everyone you'd this brief statement from Police Chief Michael Sellers who says, quote, "this is tragic for our community. We are in the midst of an investigation."

Meanwhile, Sellers was put on medical leave yesterday, according to the Fullerton Police Department. The six officers allegedly involved in this beating have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Yesterday, I spoke with Pat McKinley who is a current city council member and the former Fullerton police chief. Here's what he said about the six officers involved in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Do you know any of the officers involved?

PAT MCKINLEY, CITY COUNCILMAN, FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA: I'm certain I do. I probably hired them all.

KAYE: You hired them all, you think?

MCKINLEY: Probably --

KAYE: How do you feel considering that officers you hired might have been involved in this, appear to have been involved in this?

MCKINLEY: Well, I'm going to guess now. I'm going to guess that there may be two that are deeply involved. The others, I don't think the investigation will show had any culpability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: So will there be any charges filed against anyone in this case? Joining me now is Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. He's investigating the death of Kelly Thomas.

Mr. Rackauckas, thank you for coming on the show. You have said that there is no evidence yet that suggest that the officers had intent to kill Kelly Thomas. Is that still the case?

TONY RACKAUCKAS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: Yes, it is, and what I mean by that is that I don't see any evidence of intentional killing. That is, a police officer starting out to -- to kill Mr. Thomas and then -- and then having that result, but this, of course, is a very tragic incident. It's -- it's a desperate struggle that results in -- in the death of Mr. Thomas.

KAYE: Yes. Let's talk about this surveillance video. It hasn't been released to the public. Have you had a chance to view it, and if so, why isn't it being released?

RACKAUCKAS: Well, it -- I have had a chance to view it, and it's a central part of our investigation. This is something that -- that we're looking at and that we need to also look at all of the different circumstances surrounding the incident to -- to determine just what it was that happened.

So, you know, as a part of the investigation, I think that we need to -- to use it for that, and it's not -- it wouldn't be appropriate to release it at this time, but I can assure you that at some point it will become public. If there's charges filed, it will become public as part of the public trial, and if not, eventually it will -- I'm sure it will still come out. So, you know, at this point it needs to be -- it needs to be a part of the investigation. We need to view it that way you.

KAYE: You say it's a key piece of evidence. Certainly sounds like it is. Can you give us an idea if you're not releasing it what is seen on there?

RACKAUCKAS: Well, it -- it shows the -- the encounter, how -- how it started and how it erupted into a -- this violent and desperate struggle that I discussed. And it -- it helps us to answer -- it will help us to answer the question, which is the primary legal question in this case.

That is, whether or not the -- the police were using lawful force or reasonable force in the conduct of a lawful duty. So, I mean, that's really what it comes down, to reasonable force under all of the circumstances of the case.

And you can see a great deal in this video as to how these things -- how everything started.

KAYE: Right.

RACKAUCKAS: And how it proceeded.

KAYE: Was it hard to watch?

RACKAUCKAS: Yes, it's heart wrenching. It's heart wrenching. It's hard to describe it differently. Like I say, it's a tragic incident, and if it makes your heart go out to the family of Mr. Thomas and to just -- to see it, it's not -- not a pleasant thing, no.

KAYE: Yes. I want to mention to you some comments that we had yesterday made by community activist who was on the show. Said he's been pushing for the surveillance video to be released.

We also spoke with City Councilman Pat McKinley. He told us yesterday that he thought you would release the video. Listen to what he said and then we'll come back and talk a bit more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCKINLEY: Now the district attorney has said, and I'm quoting I think the District Attorney Rackauckas properly that once the investigation is completed, then he will release the tape. The district attorney will release the tape, the city won't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Is that true? Once the investigation is completed, do you think you'll release video?

RACKAUCKAS: This is going to depend on where we go. I mean, if charges are filed, then we have certain rules of evidence and we're going to have to use the video in the course of handling the case so properly.

So it would certainly be released during that event during -- during the maybe preliminary hearing or trial or whenever it would come up during the -- during the course of the proceedings.

KAYE: What charges are you considering?

RACKAUCKAS: Well, we're looking at everything. There's -- you know, whenever something like this happens, like I say, we have to answer the question as to whether or not there was reasonable force.

And if not, how much unreasonable force was there and what was the state of mind of the police officers who might have used it. So it could be anything from if it's simply -- if it's unreasonable force that results in the death of Mr. Thomas.

KAYE: Yes.

RACKAUCKAS: It could be a -- it could be a manslaughter. If it's very severe, it could be a homicide, a murder.

KAYE: We just showed the picture again of the before and after of Kelly Thomas. I mean, is there any question that force was used sneer when you look at him. You can barely tell that it's a human being or even the same human being?

RACKAUCKAS: Of course, there's no question as to whether or not force was used. It was. The question is whether or not it's reasonable force under all of the circumstances presented to the police at the time and whether -- whether or not they were overcoming unlawful resistance by Mr. Thomas.

So these are legal questions that have to be answered. We're moving fast towards answering these. I think we'll have the whole picture here in a short time, and we're -- we're moving towards a just and fair result.

KAYE: All right. Well, when you get to that answer, we'd love to have you back on the show and talk about what you found in terms of force. We appreciate it.

RACKAUCKAS: Thank you.

KAYE: Tony Rackauckas, thank you for your time.

RACKAUCKAS: Thank you.

KAYE: Downgraded from AAA to AA-plus, what long-term effect, if any, will it have on the U.S. going forward? That's ahead in today's "Q&A."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Now the credit rating of the U.S. has been downgraded. The credit rating agencies are now in the spotlight. Ali Velshi and Richard Quest tackle the topic in this week "Q&A." (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, HOST, CNN INTERNATIONAL'S "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS," and so does my friend, Ali. We're here together in the CNN NEWSROOM and around the world.

Good day to you, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And to you, Richard. We are here as always to talk business, travel, innovation, nothing is off limits -- Richard.

QUEST: And proving that point today we're going to talk about downgrades and credit agencies. With Standard & Poor's dropping the rating for the U.S. to AA-plus. It got people talking about the usefulness of these agencies and credit raters.

VELSHI: So here is the question this week. Are credit rating agencies a threat to your wealth? Richard, I'll let you go first. You've got 60 seconds.

QUEST: Yes. It's a very simple question with a simple answer. The major rating agencies have done a terrible job of catching financial crises, and often have made bad situations worse. For instance, the agencies missed the undercurrents that led to the crisis of '08.

It gave high ratings to mortgage-backed bonds, which spectacularly blew up. The congressional committee blasted the agencies for sloppy work and for conflict of interests. Perhaps to redeem their reputation, S&P decided to downgrade the U.S. when everyone, everyone agrees that there's no real risk of default through an inability to pay.

S&P probably deserve much of the criticism. Their timing stank. Right after the debt crisis it was like shouting fire in a crowded theater. S&P's actions made a bad situation worse. We can't get rid of them. We need them to do their job better.

VELSHI: Interesting way of looking at it, Richard. Let me have a go at this. Despite these losses triggered by the downgrade, Standard & Poor's is not the danger. No ratings agency actually is.

As you will agree, Richard, the real threat is what S&P is pointing out. America's government appears to be broken and tone deaf. While both parties in Washington have spent the week since the downgrade blaming each other and S&P, very few have stepped up, taken notice of the grade and set out on the road to improvement.

The part of the S&P downgrade being conveniently ignored in Washington, Richard, is where they discuss how Washington is less stable, less effective and less predictable, and that is the real danger to your wealth.

The deal struck to raise the debt ceiling didn't cut in the right places. It raised no taxes because lawmakers simply couldn't agree, Richard, and the Super Committee we have now tasked with finding another $1.5 trillion in either cuts or tax increases is likely doomed to the same fate.

Can you question S&P and the agencies, but in the end it's all done -- all it's done it announced that the emperor has no clothes, and the whole world sees that America is naked. Richard.

QUEST: And that is enough to -- the thought of Ali talking about nakedness, to put me off any dinner this evening.

The Voice joins me now, and Ali, to the question time.

THE VOICE: Let's jump right in, gentlemen.

Question number one. According to S&P's credit rating system, which of these countries is a better investment for foreign investors? Is it A, India; B, Italy; C, South Korea; or D, Brazil?

Richard.

QUEST: I'm going with Brazil.

THE VOICE: Incorrect.

Ali.

VELSHI: India. India.

THE VOICE: Incorrect yet again. The correct answer is Italy. It gets an A-plus rating, and even though they are in their own financial trouble, they rank highest on the list.

On to question number two. A country's wealth can be measured as GDP per capita. Using that formula, which of these countries does the World Bank rank as the wealthiest? Is it A, Canada; B, Singapore; C, Germany; or D, Japan?

Richard.

QUEST: I'd say Singapore.

THE VOICE: Incorrect. Care to give it a shot, Ali?

VELSHI: Japan.

THE VOICE: Incorrect again. The correct answer is Canada. Canada's GDP per capita is $46,000, just behind the U.S., but well behind the U.K.

That's pretty embarrassing, Mr. Velshi, your home country.

VELSHI: I hope you have extra space in your flat, Richard, because I'll never be able to go home.

THE VOICE: Let's see if one of you can win this week. All of this credit rating news has sparked talk about the bond market. Let's talk bond, shall we.

According to boxofficemojo.com, which of these James Bond movies made the most money adjusted for inflation? Is it A, "Quantum of Solace"; B, "Diamonds are Forever"; C, "Thunderball"; or D, "Goldfinger."

VELSHI: Hold on. Richard, don't answer. It's a trick question, he adjusted for inflation. Remember, the extra number of screens that it opens on is not an inflation adjustment so it's got to be one of the newer ones. "Quantum of Solace."

THE VOICE: That is incorrect, Ali.

Give it a shot, Richard.

QUEST: Yes, of course. It's going to be "Goldfinger."

THE VOICE: Incorrect again. The correct answer is actually "Thunderball." It made nearly $600 million, and "Goldfinger" was number two. It just goes to show you can't beat a classic Sean Connery as James Bond.

VELSHI: There you go. All right, voice.

QUEST: We didn't get any of them.

VELSHI: Yes. We didn't get anything right and we'll be rooming together. That's really what I've taken away from this week.

QUEST: That will do it for this week. Remember, we're here each week, Thursdays on "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS," 18:00.

VELSHI: And at CNN in the NEWSROOM at 2:00 p.m. Eastern keep the topics coming on our blog, CNN.com/qmb and CNN.com/ali. Tell us each week what you want to talk about.

Richard, see you next week, buddy.

QUEST: See you next week. Have a good one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Syrian President Assad is accused of killing his own people every day. Now word that the U.S. plans to call on Assad to step down, but is this going to do any good? Our Hala Gorani who just returned from Syria will join me next.

And we're also, of course, waiting for President Obama to speak in Michigan. We'll bring that to you as soon as we can.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It has been a daily activity in Syria for months, government forces opening fire on demonstrators demanding that President Assad step down. This video shows what witnesses say is a mosque being shelled by Syrian military artillery. Human rights groups say thousands of people have been killed since the unrest first erupted back in March. There were more clashes today with reports of at least 22 people killed across the country. But Assad shows no sign of ending his crackdown until order is completely restored.

So far, the U.S. has not officially called on Assad to resign, but there are growing signs that may be about to change.

CNN's Hala Gorani recently returned from Syria and she joins us now to talk about this a little bit more.

So the U.S. has said OK, more sanctions. That happened yesterday. And now they may actually call for Assad to step down. Why now?

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the escalation of violence for one thing, and the U.S.' important ally in the region, Turkey, is also putting a lot of pressure on Syria. The belief is putting that much pressure with regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, pulling their ambassadors for consultations might make a difference.

However, those who know the region, many analysts say, look, this regime is not fighting against its own citizens for anything other than survival, anything less than survival. This is a minority regime composed of Alawites. Opening up this government to reforms and a pluralistic democratic system that many say will lead to its downfall, and many say it will lead to the death.

KAYE: So what is the upside and maybe even the downside for the U.S. acting?

GORANI: The upside would be if it joins a chorus of condemnations, including the United Nations, that are now passing even with the support of some of those who have been opposed to condemning Syria, such as Russia and China. And perhaps all of this, all of these voices put together will start having an impact.

But the reality inside of Syria is that this is a regime that has the full support of its military, very unlike Egypt, for instance. So really a tide can only start turning in that country when the armed forces start disassociating. Will you see high level defections? Will you see divisions among the regime officials? That's what will end up weakening this government, and that is what might end up producing a change in that country.

But if that happens, it won't happen right away. It is a much longer term story in Syria.

KAYE: Well, we'll see how the U.S. acts this week, maybe even today. Hala Gorani, thank you.

GORANI: Sure.

KAYE: We've been telling you about the tragedy unfolding in Somalia, tens of thousands dying as a result of the worst drought in some 60 years. Even worse, if that's possible, the hundreds of thousands of very young children facing starvation.

Nima Elbagir has been talking with desperate families and aid workers in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, and she joins us now.

Nima, you have information on one family who reached a refugee camp but not in time for at least one child. What happened?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is actually a story, Randi, that we were hearing from so many of the families that we were speaking to there. We were in hospital ward, the children's ward in one of the largest hospitals in Somalia, and we noticed that there was a family who was sitting. They weren't speaking. They looked incredibly distraught. We realized because they were sitting with the body of their one-year-old baby wrapped in a shroud.

They had actually come up their three children risking everything to try and save all three of their children. Two of those children died on the journey out there, and the last baby had died that morning. And they were sitting on that bed waiting because they didn't even have enough money to bury their child, Randi.

And it was just a story that even in that ward on that same day we heard so many times it was just unbelievable to be in that hospital and realize that this is the major facility that's tending to these children, and there was no running water, no electricity. They were running out of saline to rehydrate. They had absolutely nothing. The aid pipeline coming into Somalia is failing people, Randi.

KAYE: And does it seem to you, it certainly sounds this way here, does it seem that the doctors and the aid workers are just overwhelmed by this disaster?

ELBAGIR: Well, I think the aid workers are definitely trying their best and they are trying to scale up their operations as best as they can. But the issue is the funding. You know, we spoke to the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, and he said they have fallen incredibly far short of the $1 billion that they need to save lives. He actually said that there are some worrying gaps.

And even more heartbreakingly he said that because the aid has taken so long to -- the pledges are taking so long to get in. They have been talking about this figure of 29,000 children who have already died, 600,000 children that are estimated to starve to death.

And I asked him given the severity of the situation, given the thousands of people still flooding in, do you think that figure is going to grow? And he said yes. He said even if today donors pledged more money children would still die because it's been so long in coming, but that they still need that money to come in to try and ensure that this situation doesn't continue so much longer.

You know, children -- people will die whatever happens in Somalia today, but it's the hope that this situation doesn't become ever more sustained, Randi.

KAYE: Yes. Nima Elbagir, thank you so much

To find out how you can make a difference and help the victims of the famine find the impact your world page at CNN.com/Impact.

Well, any moment now president Obama will be speaking in Holland, Michigan. When he does, we will bring it to you live, so keep it here. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Happening right now, President Obama is appearing in Holland, Michigan, where he's hoping to equate battery power with economic power. The city of Holland is an emerging hub for hybrid car battery technology.

The president is visiting a plant that was built with nearly $300 million in grant money from his 2009 economic stimulus program.

Our own Athena Jones is following President Obama in Michigan today.

Athena, the president is about to speak. What do you think we can expect him to say?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is all about jobs. The president is here not only to talk about this clean energy technology, the kind of technology with these advanced batteries for hybrid economic cars that he believes will help spur economic growth and create whole new industries of the future as you often hear him say.

He's also likely to talk about what he's done what, what his administration has done to help save the auto industry, to bail out two of the big three auto industry companies. That was an unpopular move at the time, but it saved a lot of jobs. And so the idea is that this is all part of the administration's attempt to show that the president is focused like a laser on jobs.

He's been promoting though this clean energy technology since before he was president, and he believes that this is the kind of way to help America to compete in the global economy. Here at Johnson Controls, as you mentioned, they got a lot of stimulus money to begin making these kinds of vehicles. But he was here just last year, last July at another advanced battery plant that was just breaking ground. That plant isn't up and running yet.

But I can tell you that there's a lot of pent-up demand here in the city for these jobs that these plants are bringing. Right now the plant we're at now has about 75 people working for it. It will get up to 320 at full production. But I was just speaking to some company officials a little while ago, and they said that there have been already more than 1,500 applicants for these 320 jobs here at this company since they just started opening it up last January, January 2010. KAYE: Have you had a chance to speak with some of the workers there? And how do they feel about the president's visit?

JONES: I haven't spoken to the workers here, but we were here yesterday speaking to some people around town, and there's a lot of excitement in the sense that you have these new companies coming in. But the real question on people's minds here is how quickly does that translate into jobs? As I mentioned, you've got this plant here that has 75. It's not yet fully ramped up. But you've already got five times the applicants for the jobs it's ultimately going to have.

You have the excitement from last year with the LG Chemical plant opening up that the president was at the groundbreaking for, but that's not yet online. So there's excitement in town but still a lot of people who are trying to apply to the few jobs that are existing. And so the general question not just here but in general is how quickly can these jobs come online at these different companies, even with government help and government stimulus money and that sort of thing, Randi.

KAYE: All right, Athena Jones, thank you so much. We'll continue to watch and wait for the president there who is about to speak in Holland, Michigan and tour the Johnson Controls, Inc., that battery facility we were just talking about.

So let's get a quick break, and as soon as the president starts to speak, we'll be here with it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: And we want to remind you that we're waiting for President Obama to speak. He'll be speaking any moment now we believe in Holland, Michigan. He's been touring a plant there for hybrid car battery technology, and this very plant was actually built with nearly $300 million in stimulus money. So we are waiting to hear from him. We're watching the podium there, and we'll get to those comments as soon as he starts to speak.

In the meantime, here's a look at some of the headlines and other news that you may have missed. U.S. markets are back up today after positive news about corporate earnings and the labor market boosted investor sentiment. The Dow up 389 points after yesterday's 500-point plunge.

At some point in each of the past three days the Dow has soared or plunged more than five percent. That happened only once in all of 2010.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi today named the final three members to the 12-member bipartisan congressional committee on deficit reduction. Joining the nine we already knew about are James Clyburn, the number three House Democrat, Javier Becerra, member of the ways and means committee, and Chris Van Hollen, senior Democrat on the House budget committee. They join three senate Democrats previously appointed to the panel. This super-committee is charged with crafting a plan to reduce the nation's mounting deficits. Talk about fast, the U.S. military today tested an experimental aircraft designed to fly at 13,000 miles an hour and reach any target in the world in less than an hour. The high-tech unmanned glider separated from a rocket booster at the edge of space as planned before contact was lost. No updates since. The military's goal is to develop technology to respond to threats around the world at more than five times the speed of sound.

A Connecticut woman who underwent a full trace transplant after an attack by a chimpanzee in 2009 showed of her new look today. Charla Nash revealed her new face for the first time in a photo release. She underwent surgery at Brigham Women's hospital in Boston back in May.

And now the president has started to speak. Let's listen in.

(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF A LIVE EVENT)