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CNN NEWSROOM

Queen Elizabeth II Hospitalized; Crews Tearing Down Florida Home Ruined By Sinkhole; Hit-And-Run Kills Young Orthodox Jewish Couple, Baby Survives; 87-Year-Old Woman Dies After Nurse Refuses To Perform CPR; Biden Joins Commemoration Of Bloody Sunday In Selma

Aired March 3, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. These are the stories topping our news this hour.

Queen Elizabeth II has just been admitted to a London hospital where she is being treated for gastroenteritis. Buckingham Palace says the 86-year-old monarch was taken there as a precautionary measure, and she is expected to be there for two days. We'll have a live report from London coming up in just a few moments.

And in Florida today, crews are tearing down that house that was partially destroyed by a sinkhole. One of the home's occupants, Jeff Bush, is still missing and presumed dead after he disappeared into the sinkhole in the middle of the night Thursday. Demolition crews moved parts of the house onto the street to help the family recover some of the belongings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MERRILL, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR: The family is being well taken care of. We're looking after all of their needs. We'll be looking towards providing some housing on an interim basis and then also looking for some permanent solutions for them. We believe they've been very pleased with all of the valuables we've been able to recover for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The demolition is expected to be done by tomorrow.

Police in New York are on the lookout for two hit-and-run suspects who fled this horrific crash scene in Brooklyn. Officials say the suspect's BMW crashed into a cab carrying two expectant parents. Both the husband and wife were killed. The baby was delivered by C-section and is now in critical condition. We'll have a live report on this tragic accident and the manhunt for the suspects straight ahead.

On to Selma, Alabama now to today. Vice president Joe Biden is helping mark a civil rights milestone. It was 48 years ago this month when Alabama state troopers and others attacked a peaceful group of marchers. They were marching from Selma to Montgomery in support of what would become the Voting Rights Act. We'll have a live report from Selma coming up minutes from now.

Buckingham Palace is canceling or postponing all of Queen Elizabeth's official engagements this week. She was taken to the hospital earlier today, suffering from flu-like symptoms. Our Richard Quest is at the hospital and joining us now. So,Richard, what is the latest on her condition?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, all we know is that this afternoon, after presenting some long service medals at Windsor Castle, the queen who had been suffering from gastroenteritis, was driven in a private car, no ambulance or anything like it, to the King Edward VII Hospital. And that's pretty much all we know. Except for the fact that all her engagements over the next few days will either be canceled or postponed. And that would include a trip that she and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, were due to make to Rome.

The queen is expected to stay in hospital for possibly two days. Now the queen's gastroenteritis, we don't know too many details, other than she was first afflicted on Friday. We knew that engagements were canceled yesterday. It seems to be a precautionary measure. She is 86 years old. They decided to bring her to hospital.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Richard Quest, for that update. Keep us posted as you learn more information about Queen Elizabeth II's condition.

All right. Meantime, at the Vatican today, it's not business as usual. For the first time since Benedict XVI's resignation, there is no pope to say the Angeleis Prayer over St. Peter's Square. Also today, Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Scotland apologized for improper sexual conduct in his past. In apparent response to allegations that he behaved inappropriately to several priests decades ago. CNN's senior Vatican analyst John Allen says the O'Brien case could influence the conclave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: What it's likely to do is reinforce a conviction that was already very strong among the 115 cardinals who are going to be voting in this election. First of all, that the next pope has to profile as a reformer on the child sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church. That is, he has to strike the world as part of the solution rather than part of the problem. And the other thing is that if nothing else, he has to have clean hands himself on this crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Cardinals are still arriving in Rome for the conclave, and tomorrow's pre-conclave meetings, they'll be discussing the future of the church among other things.

All right. Meantime back in this country in New York, heartache in the Hasidic Jewish community after a car accident takes the lives of a young Orthodox Jewish couple expecting a baby. Susan Candiotti is live for us now from New York. So, Susan, the baby, a little boy, survived this horrific accident. I mentioned still being watched at the hospital. What more do we know about the accident and the search for the suspects?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, the pain must be nearly unbearable for the family of this young couple. A premature baby boy born after his 21-year-old first-time parents were killed in a horrific hit-and-run two-car crash. Pictures of damage to the car the couple was in are stunning. The top of the livery car, a cab, is sheared off. It's not clear whether it happened during impact or when the young man and woman and cab driver were removed.

Now, the mother-to-be, Raizy Glauber and her husband, Nathan, were sitting in the back seat. Police say they were heading to the local hospital for a checkup. It was almost midnight. Now, it's unclear why they were going at that late hour.

The cab was T-boned, smacked and the driver's side by a oncoming car, a light-colored BMW. The pregnant mom and her husband were both dead on arrival at two different hospitals. But the doctors were able to deliver a baby boy by C-section. Police say the infant is in critical condition. The cab driver survived.

Police say the two people in the BMW fled the scene on foot. The Hasidic community in Williamsburg, New York, is rallying around the family, trying to come to grips with what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISSAC ABRAHAM, NEIGHBOR OF VICTIM'S FAMILY: They have all the resources there to deal with it, all the psychological help that they need. The impact of it? As we all learned, is children go to the grave with the parents. Parents don't go to funerals of children. And here we're going to have two sets of parents going.

BARRY SEKETE, COUSIN OF ONE OF VICTIMS: It's terrible. It's terrible. The one year -- not even married a year. And you know, they're going in for the happiest time to have a baby, and that's what happens. Terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now police tell me they are talking to the registered owner of that car, the BMW. No more details on who that is or who fled the scene. A funeral for the parents of the baby boy is expected to begin shortly, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, wait a minute, they know the -- they have the vehicle, because you say the two suspects fled on foot. They're talking to the person registered to the vehicle. Is it believed it was a stolen vehicle or that the person registered to the vehicle may know the suspects?

CANDIOTTI: Those are exactly the questions that I've been asking. But so far, they say we're still investigating this. We're still trying to piece all of this together, and they're certainly looking for the two people who are on foot. But we don't know whether they had any relationship to the registered owner of that car.

WHITFIELD: Terribly sad. All right, thanks so much. Susan Candiotti there in New York.

A 911 operator begs a nurse at an assisted living facility to help a dying woman, but she won't do it. The reason? It's against policy. You've got to hear this 911 call.

Plus, on the front lines of the civil rights movement nearly 50 years after this historic march, Vice President Joe Biden leads another walk across the bridge. Live to Selma, Alabama, next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An elderly woman is dead after a nurse at a senior living facility in California refused to give her CPR. The nurse is heard arguing with the 911 operator, who pleaded with the nurse to do something. The nurse says she was complying with policy at the Glenwood Gardens facility that bans employees from attempting CPR.

Nick Valencia is all over this story. Nick, you know, before we hear the call, how did this all begin?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It all begins with a heart attack. An 87-year-old woman suffers a heart attack at a senior living facility, and Fred, what transpired over that 911 call really spells it all out. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GLENWOOD GARDENS: We can't do CPR at this facility.

911 OPERATOR: OK, can you hand the phone to the passerby? If you can't do it, hand it to the passerby. I'll have her do it. Or if you have any citizens there, I'll have them do it.

GLENWOOD GARDENS: No, no. It's not -

911 OPERATOR: Anybody there can do CPR. Give them the phone, please.

I understand if your facility is not willing to do that. Give the phone to the passerby, that stranger, that started. I need -- this woman is not breathing enough. She's going to die if we don't get this started. Do you understand?

GLENWOOD GARDENS: I understand, I am a nurse. But I cannot have our other senior citizens who don't know CPR --

911 OPERATOR: I will instruct them!

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR:I will instruct them. Is there anyone there --

GLENWOOD GARDENS: I cannot do that.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Now, that Brookdale (sic) Senior Living facility provides different options for their residents. It's worth pointing out that this woman was living in the independent living portion. It's also worth noting according to our local affiliate, KGET, that she did not have a do not resuscitate order. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Meantime, the woman's daughter is speaking out. What has she been saying?

VALENCIA: Well, surprisingly, she's also reportedly a nurse herself. And she told our local affiliate, KGET, that she's satisfied with the care that the senior living facility gave her mother. Apparently, they were well aware of the protocol surrounding CPR.

Now, in the extended version of that 911 tape, you would hear the 911 dispatch operator say the EMS will take liability for any injury suffered during the CPR. I did a little bit of research and found out that even under the California Good Samaritan law, this nurse would have been covered from culpability. We're unsure, though, if she may have been fired from defying protocol. We tried to reach out to that facility, Fred, and they have not called us back.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Valencia, thanks so much. I know you'll have more for us a bit later on, at 4:00 Eastern hour. Thanks so much.

Meantime, Vice President Joe Biden joined a gathering today in Selma, Alabama. It is a commemoration, the day known - commemorating, rather, the day known as Bloody Sunday. It was 48 years ago this month when Alabama state troopers and others attacked a peaceful march. The group was marching from Selma, to Montgomery, in support of what would become the Voting Rights Act.

Victor Blackwell is live from Selma for us now, where you've got a pretty sizeable gathering behind you there. So, Victor, voting rights is back in the forefront because of a new case right before the U.S. Supreme Court. Vice president Biden, will he and any others be addressing that?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the vice president spoke at a brunch a few moments ago, and actually the man on the stage behind me, (INAUDIBLE) is a special counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He argued alongside Donald Verilli, who is the U.S. solicitor general in front of the Supreme Court to uphold the reauthorization from 2006 for the Voting Rights Act.

The controversy is over one portion, Section 5, which gives the federal government oversight over the election laws in several Southern states. Alabama one of them. Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Virginia, and localities in other parts of the country. Now Shelby County, Alabama, brought this case before the justices to say those protections are no longer needed, and the discriminations that were supposed to be eliminated by the Voting Rights Act have ended. Now, the solicitor general who's speaking behind me and the vice president, they all say there has been a lot of progress. But those parts of the voting rights laws should stay intact. Here's what he told the group a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We still have a lot of work to do, but I think it's going to be easier, a lot easier, than it was 48 years ago for one overwhelming reason. Because what you all did here 48 years ago changed the hearts and the minds of the vast majority of the American people. That's why I'm absolutely convinced we will prevail in this new fight with regard to voter access and voter rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now Fredricka, during the oral arguments on Wednesday, Justice Scalia said one thing, that that portion of the Voting Rights Act amounted to racial entitlement. Well, the person who you just heard from said in fact that ignores the history of the country and the institutionalized discrimination against minorities and the voting process. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Victor Blackwell, thank you so much from Selma, Alabama.

All right. It seems like everybody had something to say about the forced spending cuts. But we've got a take that you may have missed. Here's a hint -- the Village People are part of this one.

Plus, will we keep finding ourselves in financial crisis mode every few months? I'll ask our senior political analyst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: In just a few minutes, I'm going to be talking to Saul Griffin. He's an engineer and inventor. He's working on some truly breaking technologies in the field of robotics and alternative energy. He run a research outfit called Other Lab. And it's a sight to behold. Just amazing to see what happens when brilliant minds are allowed to wander.

Stay tuned. THE NEXT LIST, 2:30 right here on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And of course, these cuts will affect our military. Our civil servants. Federal construction projects. Even grants to Native Americans.

(LAUGHTER) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm the one who has to tell these folks -- young men, there's no need to feel down.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Young men, pick yourself off the ground.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Young men, just because your funding is down, there's no need to be unhappy.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We shouldn't laugh. Saturday Night Live, though, poking fun at the stalemate over those forced spending cuts. But back in the real world, the cuts will impact many Americans. And for lawmakers and the president, it's costing them perhaps some political capital.

Ron Brownstein is CNN's senior political analyst and editorial director at the "National Journal." Good to see you, Ron.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, you write how both sides botched the sequester fight. So, in other words, you say there are no real winners here. Both are sacrificing some long-term priorities. In what way?

BROWNSTIEN: Well, look, almost everyone in both parties agree we have to do something in the long-term deficit and debt under control. But I think the sequester is far from the ideal way to do that in several distinct respects. First of all, at a time when the economy is still weak, it concentrates all the austerity right up front, and there are estimates that pulling this much purchasing power out of the economy could reduce the number of jobs created next year by as much as 700,000 or 750,000.

Second, it's indiscriminate. It doesn't differentiate between programs seen as successful and those seen as unsuccessful. It kind of cuts across the board.

And third, it has a generational inequity. You know, the sequester is aimed - I don't know if people understand this fully enough - is aimed solely at discretionary spending. The kind of day- to-day operation of the government. It completely exempts entitlement spending. Almost completely. Medicare, Medicaid, programs like that. As a result, it cuts deeply at the programs where we make our investments and the productivity of the next generation: education, infrastructure, research and development. And really only nicks very slightly entitlements that primarily benefit the elderly.

You've got this tilt we're already living through in the budget where we are spending $7 per capita on seniors at the federal level than we are on kids.

So, in all of these ways, I think, the sequester kind of steers both parties away from when they ultimately want, which is a growing economy and a long-term solution that controls the debt.

WHITFIELD: And so those are the consequences economically. But House speaker John Boehner has been receiving some accolades from conservatives who say he's digging in his heels. Not acquiescing to taxes going up. And so for him, it's a real victory because now he is pleasing the caucus. So, it seems as though the politics are far outweighing, I guess, the needs of the American people or what the electorate was hoping for this term. More cooperation.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, that's a whole other question. Look, I think for both parties, there are short-term benefits to the road they're on. But even by other lights, there are long-term costs. Yes, for the Republicans, this does allow them to show their base, they're standing up to President Obama and it also allows him to bank some real spending cuts.

But in the long run, the only way to achieve their highest goal, which is to control the growth of government, is to control entitlement spending, which as I said, is almost totally exempt from here. The only way they're going get limits on entitlement spending that is meaningful is with a deal with President Obama, which can only be achieved through a comprehensive package that includes new revenue and entitlements. So, they have a short-term gain here at a long-term cost of not really advancing what is their real goal.

The president polling shows will probably come out ahead in this fight. He's basically come out ahead in every other budget collision with Republicans since 2011. But he has an interest in getting a deal that eliminates these land mines that keep threatening to blow up the economy and derail the rather - you know, the slow but steady recovery.

WHITFIELD: Yet you say the president also appears to be myopic, despite the fact that you say he comes out the winner here. But in what way is he myopic?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look. Again, I think it's both sides. It's short-term gains that imperil really long-term goals. For the president, I think the key to his legacy is accelerating the recovery. They have demonstrated in these last two elections that they have a coalition that is a potential lasting majority coalition in national politics of the millennial generation, minorities and college-educated white voters. And the biggest threat to that coalition enduring is a lack of economic growth that allows its members to feel as though they're moving ahead in their lives.

The president needs, I think, a deal here more than the White House understands, to some extent, to both eliminate this headwind on the economy and also to free the space up for the other things he wants to do on immigration and gun control.

Just to be clear, the principal obstacle is the Republicans and the House are not willing to consider more revenue at this point, If they were, you could see perhaps a pathway to a comprehensive deal. But both sides, I think, need a deal more than the short-term gains are suggesting.

WHITFIELD: Ron Brownstein, thanks so much, of the "National Journal."

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, a T-shirt with a rather shocking message. This was for sale on Amazon's Web site. Twitter users went absolutely nuts, but what happened next and the other T-shirt people? What they're talking about today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Accused murderer, Jodi Arias, is back on the stand tomorrow. And for her defense team, it's all about damage control. Cross-examination ended Thursday with arias admitting that she killed her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander. But it was in self-defense, she says. Prosecutor Juan Martinez became increasingly frustrated after Arias repeatedly said she couldn't remember the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: Do you remember that we're talking about Travis Alexander? Let's start with that.

JODI ARIAS, DEFENDANT: Yes, I remember that.

MARTINEZ: That's why we're here, because you killed him, right?

ARIAS: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So is Jodi Arias a domestic abuse victim or cold- blooded killer? Watch the AC 360 special report, "SEX, LIES AND AUDIOTAPE: THE JODI ARIAS TRIAL." That's tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time right here on CNN.

Meantime, here's a look at what's trending online. Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez is said to be fighting for his life. And now political allies and opponents are squabbling over the handling of the news. Chavez has not been seen or heard from since the October election.

And this T-shirt is causing a lot of outrage on Twitter. It reads, "keep calm and hit her." The shirt appeared on Amazon's UK site. The U.S.-based company that prints the shirt says it removed the item from Amazon and apologizes.

Evernote says it was hacked. The online note-taking service has about 50 million users. It asks users to reset their passwords. The company says no user content or financial information was actually accessed. And I'll be back at 4:00 Eastern. I'm talking to a race car driver who is trying to follow in the footsteps of Danica Patrick. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Right now, time for THE NEXT LIST.