Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Health Scare in Oklahoma; S&P Hits Record High; North Korea Rockets Aimed at U.S.; Washington Landslide Still Moving; Cinderella FGCU Dances Tonight; Former NFL Player Comes Out

Aired March 29, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. All the best, Soledad. We'll miss you. And I know we'll cross paths again because we always do.

All right, happening right now in the NEWSROOM, a dentist's office described as a menace to public health. Rusty equipment, sickening discoveries and now an HIV warning to thousands of patients.

And in the NFL and gay. One former player coming out of the closet after hiding his sexuality for years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KWAME HARRIS, FORMER NFL PLAYER: You want to escape this fear, this turmoil, and maybe your mind goes to dark places sometimes. But I would just say that I -- I'm happy today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A CNN exclusive interview with Kwame Harris.

Reports of Ford cars, trucks, and SUVs, suddenly speeding up on their own? A newly -- nearly, rather, three dozen makes and models could be involved and owners want Ford to pay up.

And trail blazing newswoman. Barbara Walters about to retire? A new report says yes. We'll have some of her greatest moments.

CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Hello, everyone. Good morning. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Carol Costello has the day off.

We begin with a story sure to shake the confidence of anyone who sits in a dentist chair. Health officials in Tulsa, Oklahoma, say as many as 7,000 dental patients may have been exposed to HIV and Hepatitis in this dental office. The officials also say conditions were so bad investigators were physically sickened by what they found. And that may not be the worst of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN ROGERS, OKLAHOMA BOARD OF DENTISTRY: The thing that was most upsetting us, because we take a very dim view of this from our board's perspective, is he was allowing unauthorized, unlicensed people to do IV sedations. And that is completely unacceptable and illegal in Oklahoma.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Tulsa with the latest.

So, Ed, what are health officials doing there today?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, health officials are most importantly at this point trying to communicate with the 7,000 patients that have been treated here over the course of the last six years and urging them desperately to get tested. They're offering free blood tests to see if they've been infected with Hepatitis or HIV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Tulsa health officials say the sanitation conditions inside this building where Dr. Scott Harrington works as an oral surgeon were horrifying.

ROGERS: I will tell you that when the Health Department investigators and we left, we were just physically kind of sick. I mean that's just how bad -- and I've seen a lot of bad stuff over the years.

LAVANDERA: Those health officials say that as many as 7,000 patients in the last six years might have been exposed to HIV, as well as Hepatitis B and C. Health officials say Dr. Harrington treated a higher population of patients with those illnesses. But when investigators started inspecting the dental tools and equipment in the office in the last two weeks, what they discovered was disturbing and extremely unsanitary.

ROGERS: The instruments that came out of the autoclave were horrible. I wouldn't let my nephews play with them out in the dirt. I mean, they were horrible. They had rust on them.

LAVANDERA: So far health officials believe at least one patient was infected with Hepatitis C from treatments in this office. The news has sparked a nerve-wracking sense of unease. Patients are receiving letters urging them to get tested.

DR. KRISTY BRADLEY, OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: The magnitude of these infractions in clinical practices and the unknown length of time that the practices may have occurred have prompted public health to begin systematic notification of Dr. Harrington's patients and recommend testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C viruses, as many persons who may be infected with these blood-borne viruses may be infected for years without experiencing any signs of illness.

LAVANDERA: State health officials say Dr. Harrington voluntarily stopped practicing after the investigation of health and safety law violations started a few weeks ago. Harrington is 64 years old, a veteran oral surgeon, who started practicing more than 35 years ago. But it's not clear if the closure is permanent or temporary. We haven't been able to reach Dr. Harrington yet, and this is the message callers to his office hear now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have reached the office of Dr. Scott Harrington. The office is currently closed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And as far as criminal charges, none have been filed so far against Dr. Harrington, but state health officials say they are in contact with the District Attorney's Office here in Tulsa, and it's not only Dr. Harrington, but we're also told that it's the assistants that work with him here at the practice could also face criminal charges as well -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Frightening stuff. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much in Tulsa.

All right. Turning now to your money. The stock markets are closed this Good Friday. But before traders headed out for the long weekend, they pushed the S&P 500 higher, breaking through its all-time record high.

Zain Asher in New York.

So, Zain, has the economy finally turned that corner?

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. Well, you know, we're going to need more time to know for sure, but, you know, signs generally have been positive. The S&P is expected to keep moving higher as long as the Fed keeps pumping billions of dollars into the economy, sending interest rates low. People will continue to fleet stocks. That's obviously good news for people's retirement accounts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER (voice-over): Finally. Wall Street wins.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with breaking news on Wall Street.

ASHER: The S&P topping its peak held six years ago. The index, along with the Dow and Nasdaq, sprinting, finishing a first quarter we've all been waiting for.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I want to be very clear here. The U.S. is moving in the right direction. This week a lot of economists in the U.S. actually raised their forecast for first quarter GDP. We talk a lot about what happened in the fourth quarter. But the first quarter is looking like it's going to be stronger.

ASHER: The Dow up 11 percent since the start of the year. The S&P up 10 percent, the Nasdaq charging ahead 8. Have you opened up your 401(k) lately?

One of the brightest spots in our economy, housing. Prices are up. Sales are up. Mortgage rights are low and we're buying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2013 should be a very good year for the housing market. We expect the spring selling season to be quite robust. We've got historically low mortgage rates with a 30-year fixed being well below 4 percent.

ASHER: Optimists say it's all a sign things are getting better. People are more confident, buying more, investing more, investing in Netflix. The Internet movie site is going gangbusters and leading the S&P. If you invested in the company on January 1st, you've doubled your money. The stock is up almost 107 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We describe ourselves as an Internet television network. We program Netflix for our members. We really know what our members love to watch so we license the content that we know that our members are going to love to watch.

ASHER: Other big movers this year? Big box store Best Buy, up 87 percent. Hewlett-Packard up 68 percent.

So what's next? Big bank strategists David Kelly at JPMorgan Chase tell us to enjoy the ride. He expects stocks to return between 6 and 8 percent a year for the next five years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: But I do have to mention that even though stocks appear to be good, unemployment in this country does remain stubbornly high at 7.7 percent. That means 12 million Americans are out of work and the economy is growing, but it's doing so ever so slowly, Fred, and those forced budget cuts are still on the horizon -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Zane Asher, thank you so much.

All right. This morning, a remarkable story of heroism from a man who spent years battling addiction. The 32-year-old man saw a stranger, you will see it in the video here, tumble onto the tracks at the Philadelphia subway station and then actually rushed to his rescue. He stayed on the tracks with the man for 15 minutes until help arrived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE CHIEF THOMAS NESTLE, SOUTHEASTERN PA TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY: There are bad scenarios that could have happened here and didn't happen because a person that was unknown to our victim jumped into that track and saved his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There have been people there for me when I needed somebody, you know, and these people, I can't pay back. So the next best thing would be to pay it forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So the backstory may make the heroism even more impressive according to the "Philadelphia Enquirer." That man struggles with addiction most of his life. Even while studying neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh. He has been clean and sober for the past two years now. And a few hours from now, Pope Francis will celebrate his first Good Friday service as leader of the Catholic Church. Yesterday as part of Holy Thursday mass, he washed the feet of juveniles at a -- youth detention center. The move mirrored Jesus' washing of his disciples' feet and is in keeping with this Pope's emphasis on humility.

And later today the Obama administration is expected to unveil a plan calling for cleaner gasoline. Over the next several years, the new rules would reduce sulfur and gas, and cut back smog by 30 percent. Critics say it would also drive up gas prices.

This morning, North Korea claims rockets are aimed at U.S. military bases in Hawaii, Guam, South Korea and even the U.S. mainland. It is the most recent threat from North Korea's Kim Jong-Un. This photo showing him meeting with the military and planning the attacks. North Korea says it is a response to the U.S. flying bomber planes over South Korea yesterday as part of a joint military exercise. Now Pentagon officials say they are not taking the North's threats lightly.

Jim Walsh joining us now from Watertown, Massachusetts. It's good to see you, Jim. He works for MIT Security Studies Program.

JIM WALSH, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, MIT SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: And has traveled to North Korea before to discuss the nuclear issue.

So, Jim, you know, is this a sign that North Korea is likely to pull the trigger? What are they doing here?

WALSH: No, they are not going to pull the trigger. The fundamentals have not changed. And these are the core facts. North Korea is the weaker of the two military powers, between North Korea and South Korea. If there was a war, North Korea would lose and lose badly. The Kim regime would end as we know it. North Korea would end as we know. North Korea does not want that to happen.

And that's not even counting the U.S. The U.S. has over 20,000 troops there on the Peninsula to support our South Korean allies. So the North Koreans don't want a war, but clearly they want to provoke, and that may be for domestic consumption, for a young new leader that is consolidating his position, or winning the support of the military, or it might be for purposes of trying to coercively bargain, to try to win concessions out of South Korea, but in any case, we don't know why they're doing it. The fundamentals haven't changed but it's still scary. It's -- you know, this has a different feel about it than it has in past years.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, you know, we know that North Korea cut off military communications with South Korea. We also know reportedly that North Korea has been moving missiles from midrange to long-range positions. So you said it is a little scary. How worrisome is it?

WALSH: You know, I don't think -- no one wants war, so unless someone messes up, there won't be a war. That said, the pace of activity this week has been unbelievable. B-2s flying over, you know, nuclear capable American B-2s, B-52s. The U.S. in South Korea this week signed a secret defense pack.

I've tried to get details on it but it's classified. Very little is written about it. Meanwhile, the North Koreans are, you know, doing this, cutting communication lines. So there's a lot of rhetoric, there's a lot of activity.

My concern is not a war by choice, that someone would deliberately enter. I always worry about people messing up. That there is a mistake, a misperception, an accident, a miscalculations and then something small turns into something big. So that's what I worry about right now, not a deliberate act of war by the North Koreans.

WHITFIELD: And those would be very costly mistakes if it indeed were the case.

All right, thanks so much, Jim Walsh at MIT. Appreciate it.

All right. The ground is still moving on Whidbey Island in Washington State. And at least one more house is at risk of falling. Experts are calling the slide a 1 in 100 or 200-year event. At least one home has been destroyed. They say some of the dirt may be 11,000 years old and it would take 40,000 dump trucks to actually remove all of that earth.

Kyung Lah is near the landslide.

Good morning to you. Pretty frightening there.

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Especially for the people who live here and are look at their backyards, slowly disappearing. Well, it disappeared in that one fell swoop.

This sign over my left shoulder, Fredricka, really tells you the story. It says, "Warning, danger, active landslide area" and for the people who are watching it, they are hoping that no more earth moves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (voice-over): The view is breathtaking until you look closer. The earth is still tumbling down hundreds of feet. The grass of this backyard dangling on the edge above an impromptu cliff side that took out one house and cut off 17 others.

Daniel Garcia lives -- or lived here. His house tagged yellow means it's possible it could go tumbling.

DANIEL GARCIA, RESIDENT: Kind of seems like the best interest to go.

LAH (on camera): So you want to get out of here?

GARCIA: I wouldn't -- I'd rather not but the situation kind of dictates.

LAH (voice-over): This sort of large landslide in Washington State is a 1 in 100 or 200 year event says geologist Terry Swanson.

TERRY SWANSON, GEOLOGIST: Just beyond the cliff here. You don't want to get too close. And so the entire road, this whole section here, about 600 to 800 feet of it has been completely rotated.

LAH: Swanson says scientists knew this was coming but couldn't predict exactly when.

SWANSON: When you get lots of water, the water pressure can push the sand grains apart, and then there's no cohesion and the stuff moves.

LAH (on camera): And is this an example of man versus nature? Have we built on stuff we just didn't understand?

SWANSON: Yes, absolutely. Back in the 1930s and '40s when they were plotting this, in 1950s, even the 1960s, people weren't thinking about this.

LAH (voice-over): Resident Karen McCoy certainly wasn't when she moved in a few months ago.

KAREN MCCOY, RESIDENT: I thought of it as like a huge, huge, huge wave crashing against the cement wall. And it was just really strong.

LAH: It cut off the main road to her house. She finally climbed through a dirt trail at night to get her cat.

MCCOY: She's a little freaked out right now. It's OK. There's just a lot of anxiety about, like, what's going to happen. Will I be able to move back home?

LAH: Daniel Garcia isn't anxious. He's made his choice. The man who moved into this house for the view is now leaving because he has too much of one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: Now, not everyone is leaving many we were at a meeting last night with some residents, and the residents said they would be staying. Why? Some of them love it. Their houses have been in their families for generations.

But others are stuck. They don't have the insurance for this kind of a disaster, because of the geological problems. And, Fredericka, obviously, if they want to get out, they would have trouble selling their property now.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my goodness. No kidding. Well, an incredible loss for so many people on so many different scales. So, now, when will there be an all clear given so speak, whether it'd be, you know, for folks to return to retrieve more, figure out what to do with their properties next?

LAH: Well, it's not quite so simple. We would really like there to be a simple all clear, but what geologists are saying is that you just have to kind of watch the land and after a certain period of time, then determine, OK, that one house that really is precarious and the other four that are sort of in the middle, they have to wait for this period of time.

The question is, what is this period of time? They are trying to figure out exactly how long that is.

WHITFIELD: Incredible, an incredible view there. Thanks so much. Kyung Lah, appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead, after years of hiding his sexuality in the NFL, one player out of the closet. See the emotional exclusive interview with former San Francisco 49er, Kwame Harris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: College basketball fans will be glued to their sets tonight for four big games in the NCAA tournament.

But the big with the biggest buzz involved the team few expected to be playing. Florida Gulf Coast University has shocked the sports world and busted brackets with two upset wins.

Our Joe Carter is on the campus of Fort Myers, Florida. And basketball fever is very high there. They are over the top excited, aren't they?

JOE CARTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what? You said they were going bananas and they were. The party actually started at about 5:00 a.m. this morning, Fredricka. But it is now official over. The kids have to get their rest. They got to recharge. Some 13 hours from tip time.

But you see the video there. Very, very cool morning. About 500, 600 fans showed up to this plaza here on campus of Florida Gulf Coast University. Actually, the "Today" show was here putting on a spirit competition between this school and their opponent, tonight, University of Florida and they did award Florida Gulf Coast University as the spirit award winner, so congratulations to them.

Obviously this team is really up, the excitement level of the NCAA tournament. They have become the tournament darlings, if you will. They are the eighth team. This is really their moment.

But before last week, not a lot of people outside of the state of Florida had even heard of this university. I mean, it's only been around since 1991. As a matter of fact, there's one player on the team, Fredricka, who's actually older than the university.

But the basketball team has earned right to be playing in the sweet 16. As you said, they beat Georgetown by 10 points in the first round. Then, they beat San Diego state by 10 points in the second round. And now, they have a mighty challenge in their hands tonight when they play third seeded Florida.

But as you'll hear, this team is not only enjoying this run. They're also enjoying the attention, and that everyone is getting to know these players a little more personally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHASE FIELER, FGCU PLAYER: Well, first news conference, a lot of people we're really sure of the questions to ask us. They kind of looked at us with blank stares and just kind of talk about the feeling of being in the NCAA.

So, the week has come where now they're asking us to prepare for number three team, where they have questions for us personally. They know a lot more about our school, come a long way, the recognition of our players and school. They actually -- you guys asked a lot of great questions and know us almost on a personal level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: Now, campus to campus, Fredricka is only about 265 miles that separate the two, but as far as their basketball reputations go, they couldn't be further apart. Florida, obviously, the much more dominant, much more tradition rich program, having win two national championships before if they win tonight. They'll be back in the elite eight for the third time.

It is David versus Goliath tonight. The odds makers like goliath, Florida is 11.5 point favorite. But as the kids here at Florida Gulf Coast University told me, they maybe a quarter of size in terms of student body, but they have twice the spirit.

Tip-off time, still a generous 13 hours away.

WHITFIELD: Very exciting stuff. All right. You know, we're counting the minutes. We know that. Joe Carter, thanks so.

We'll have much more from THE NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A former NFL player is coming out of the closet and opening up about his sexuality for the first time. We're talking about Kwame Harris, former offensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers, who was recently outed in the media. Remember, the NFL is not necessarily known for its acceptance of gays. And not one player currently in the NFL is openly gay.

Covering the CNN exclusive is Coy Wire, a former NFL linebacker and frequent guest of this show.

So, Coy, good to see you.

COY WIRE, FORMER NFL LINEBACKER: Good to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: You played with Kwame back at Stanford.

WIRE: I did.

WHITEFIELD: He revealed to you in a personal way why he decided that now was the time to reveal he is gay, not while he was an active NFL player, but now, as a former player. Why?

WIRE: Well, you know, the thing about this was that Kwame is -- he's such an impressive guy. Not only one of the best football players at Stanford, but he was playing masterpieces on the piano, on the violin.

None of us knew for certain he was gay. He could have assumed as much, but we didn't really care.

So, I went back to the college field where we played football together and learned about the fears and also some of mental torment that Kwame experienced when he was hiding his true identity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KWAME HARRIS, FORMER NFL PLAYER: In this field, huh?

WIRE (voice-over): Kwame Harris is always a standout football player, from high school to Stanford University, to first round pick in the 2003 draft. He played six seasons in the pros. Five with San Francisco 49ers and one with the Oakland Raiders.

HARRIS: I loved football. Football provided me with some experiences and some opportunities that I wouldn't trade for anything else. But at the same time, the cost was great in asking me to not be candidly or be able to be open about myself in this complete manner.

WIRE: Harris is gay. He says he's always known this but concealed it until recently.

HARRIS: I wasn't publicly out until about, I don't know, the beginning of the Super Bowl, when it was publicized.

WIRE: It was publicized after an altercation with an ex-boyfriend outside a restaurant.

Not long after, current 49er, Chris Culliver, made this comment on Artie Lange's radio show.

CHRIS CULLIVER, SAN FRANCISCO 49ER CORNERBACK: No gay people on the team. They have to get out of here if they do.

WIRE: Culliver ultimately apologized, but the sentiment is not uncommon in the sports world. Last baseball season, Toronto shortstop Yunel Escobar was suspended for three games for a gay slur written in Spanish in the grease under his eyes. Escobar apologized as well.

But it does explain why no player in any of the four major male professional sports in the U.S. has ever come out while playing.

(on camera): Did you ever consider coming out while you were a player?

HARRIS: No. Not while I was playing. I didn't see those two things as being compatible, now when I look back in hindsight, if I could have done it differently, I would like to think I would find the strength or find the fortitude or the grace to kind of make the hard decision.

WIRE: Fawn Yacker and Dee Mosbacher started The Last Closet, an organization to encourage the end of homophobia in male pro sports.

FAWN YACKER, THE LAST CLOSET: You just have to look back to Jackie Robinson's days when he came into baseball. And he had some trouble, but it was the management that really took care of him and made it OK.

WIRE: Yacker points out that for many players, it's a nonissue.

BRENDON AYANBADEO, BALTIMORE RAVENS LINEBACKER: We're going to support him and we're going to treat him just like we treat every other else, every other teammate with love, fairness, kindness, and compassion, because we know it's really going to be a tough burden on that person.

WIRE: For Harris, the burden almost became too much to bear.

HARRIS: You want to escape the fear, the turmoil and your mind goes to dark places sometimes, but I would just say that I -- I'm happy today. I'm glad that, you know, I didn't actually -- that those are just ideas and I did go on any of those things. And that, you know, it does get better in the end.

WIRE (on camera): Haven't spoken to any media at all. So, why now?

HARRIS: I want people, whether they're gay athletes or athletes who still in the closet or youth who aren't quite sure what their sexuality is, to realizes that that not only is that not unique, but those feelings are common feelings. Don't feel incredibly alone in having those questions. Secondly that, I'm gay, and I'm a former athlete and I think I'm a pretty normal guy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. Very candid, very revealing conversation with Kwame Harris and you. So, you know, you revealed he didn't ever consider coming out while he was playing.