Four People in Custody in Alleged Scheme to Resell Grave Plots; Biden On The Road Drumming Up Support for President's Economic Recovery Plan; Protesters In Tehran Clashing With Militia Members
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And checking other stories that are happening right now. Michael Jackson's death being described as a wake-up call to the nation about prescription drug abuse. The government's drug control policy chief discussed on CBS a short time ago, parents are key to addressing the problem of prescription drug misuse. A vaccine for the H1N1 flu is on the way. That's news from a critical health summit going on in Washington right now. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who you see there, said some doses of a vaccine should be available by mid-October. One hundred seventy people have died from swine flu in the United States. Some of Pakistan's 2 million displaced people may be headed home as early as next week. They were forced from their homes into camps when Pakistan's military launched an offensive against Taliban fighters. Pakistan's prime minister now says basic services are restored and people can return to their towns July 13.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mom, she's been buried here since 2004 and, actually, this is kind of a surprise because I was just here a couple weeks ago to just visit.</s>COLLINS: Families are now left to wonder, where in is my loved one. Police in one Chicago suburb are investigating an alleged scheme to resell grave plots. Investigators say they found bones tossed into unmarked graves in the back of a cemetery. The headstones from those graves were just thrown on the ground. At least four people are in custody right now. Earlier on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING, the sheriff talked about the crime and what they're doing to try to identify the remains both in and out of the ground.</s>TOM DART, SHERIFF, COOK COUNTY: We're bringing in some high-tech machines that are going to be able to use ultrawaves and light to make sure that nothing has been tampered with. We have thermal imaging units that are going to be on site here soon. And we're going to double-check everybody because like we told people, this is an incredibly historic cemetery for the African-American community. But as well as the notables, there are regular family members everywhere, children, and grandparents. When you look at some of the grave stones, Joe, that we come across that have been dumped throughout the cemetery and had been hidden, you see grave stones of babies, you see grave stones of grandparents, husbands, wives, parents. This is heartbreaking stuff.</s>COLLINS: There's no question about that. A lot of people very upset here. It is also a tough task for investigators checking graves, but it is devastating for the families who do have loved ones there. A little bit later on we're going to be talking with Reverend Steve Jones. He's the chaplain for the Cook County Sheriff's office. He'll give us the very latest. We are talking about this story on our blog, as well, this morning. Just go to cnn.com/heidi and you can post your thoughts there. And we, of course, we'll be sharing some of them with you just a little bit later on right here in the broadcast. Tracking the money and the jobs. Vice president Joe Biden on the road today talking about the progress of the president's economic recovery plan, and we are going to continue to follow that story coming out of Cincinnati, Ohio, where Biden will begin talking a little bit later this hour, and then he will be off to New York. Well, this all comes as Republican lawmakers rip into the Obama administration. They say the stimulus package is not working, and they accuse the White House of overstating the ability of the package to create jobs. More on that now from CNN's Kate Bolduan.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORREPONDENT (voice-over): Even as the Obama administration touts the jobs being created by Recovery Act spending...</s>JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're starting to see some real progress.</s>BOLDUAN: Unemployment had soared to 9.5 percent and 3.4 million jobs have been lost in the past six months. Republicans say the stimulus isn't working and Wednesday they pounced.</s>REP. BRIAN BILBRAY (R), CALIFORNIA: I think that we need to justify how much money we're spending and where are the jobs saved and where have they been preserved, and I think that we got major credibility crisis here. The president is quoted as saying that the stimulus has "done its job." Is that true or not true?</s>ROB NABORS, DEPUTY BUDGET DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: We believe that the stimulus has had the impact that we had predicted which is job creation.</s>BOLDUAN: In the hot seat, the president' deputy budget director, Rob Nabors, who said the stimulus plan is slowing the economic freefall. Nabors said 150,000 jobs have been created or saved.</s>NABORS: It's a work in progress, but it's steady progress.</s>BOLDUAN: The Government Accountability Office said of the $29 billion delivered to hard-hit states so far, most have gone to paid Medicaid costs, balance budgets and avoid layoffs. At the same time, Tom Evslin, Vermont's chief recovery officer, said funds for big job- producing investments like broad band and the electric smart grid are still caught in the stimulus pipeline.</s>TOM EVSLIN, VERMONT OFFICE OF ECONOMIC STIMULUS AND RECOVERY: The frustration has been that the money hasn't come out and we kept hearing later and later dates for the money coming out.</s>BOLDUAN: Massachusetts governor Duvall Patrick says states are ready and waiting.</s>GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No funds, no projects. No projects, no jobs.</s>BOLDUAN (on camera): Also in the hearing, Robert Nabors seem to indirectly criticize states for making what he called unwise choices to simply use stimulus money to balance their budgets. The administration has said actual stimulus spending will peak in 2010. Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.</s>COLLINS: So, where is the money? In our next half hour, we're going to show you how much of the recovery package money is being used where you live. We'll break it down for you. Saving the planet. On the agenda at the G-8 summit, President Obama is leading a forum on climate change with some non-G-8 nations invited to the table. CNN's Paula Newton is covering the summit for us from L'Aquila, Italy and is joining us now, live. So Paula, good morning to you.</s>PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, Heidi. I just had a look at the draft declaration on some of those climate change issues. What's missing is an actual target to cut those emissions by 2050. Now at one point in time, they had said that they were hoping that industrialized countries would agree to cut emissions by 50 percent. That's a lot, Heidi. Right now, it says that they're going to try to come to a consensus by the end of the year on how much they will cut. You know, Heidi, that's a lot less than the environmental groups were hoping for going into this meeting and some of them really being quite harsh about President Obama leadership on this. Listen to Phil Radford from Greenpeace for a moment.</s>PHIL RADFORD, GREENPEACE USA: Well, I don't think President Obama has gone much further than Clinton. It's easy to compare him to Bush, who denied the science. The big problem now is President Obama actually accepts the science, he accepts that this is a big problem and still he's doing very little to nothing to lead on the issue. I don't know what's worse, not believing in it and not doing anything or knowing how bad the problem is and not doing anything.</s>NEWTON: They're not really mincing words on this. Now, President Obama is still hard at work at this. He thinks that they give it to the end of the year, they can come up with some hard numbers to really root for with both the industrialized countries and those emerging countries. Although not too sure that they are the ones that should be stuck with the problem that we're trying to clean up the planet with the industrialized countries, they say, caused the problems Interviewer: he first place. And, Heidi, I said I was going to tell you about some hoops...</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>NEWTON: Well, I did say yesterday that they had one of these makeshift basketball courts. Here, White House officials saying that, indeed, that President Obama played horse yesterday.</s>COLLINS: Who did he play with?</s>NEWTON: I remember that stuff from my school days. Yes, he played with his body man, I think, Mr. Love. The guy he usually plays with. So no celebrities or anything like that out there on the court. But it was apparently just before dinner, and he did blow off some steam. A lot of steam to blow off here for many different reasons but yes, I'm told he might take to the hoops again today.</s>COLLINS: Yes. I mean, I was hoping though for a little three on three, the different world leaders. I mean, that would have been a really cool photo op, right?</s>NEWTON: Well, we've now started a rumor here. George Clooney is going to be touring the earthquake ruins here with Carla Bruni in a few hours or so...</s>COLLINS: Holy cow.</s>NEWTON: ... that he will play with George Clooney, who's -- I know, who said that he always wanted to play and shoot some hoops with President Obama. So we suggested it to some White House people. I'm not sure it is going to happen.</s>COLLINS: Actually, well, that would be breaking news. You make sure you let us know if that occurs. Paula Newton, thanks so much. We do appreciate that live from Italy this morning. We do have more on climate change in today's "Energy Fix" segment. We're going to be looking at the two reasons why developing nations are against cutting emissions. More now on a story that we brought you at the top of the hour. Police in one Chicago suburb are investigating an alleged scheme to resell grave plots. It's a very tough task for investigators checking the graves, but it is devastating for the families who have loved ones buried there because these bodies have been dug up, the headstones have apparently been smashed and moved to the back portion of this land. Need to talk a little bit more about it with the sheriff of Cook County. That's Tom Dart and Reverend Steve Jones from the Cook County Sheriff's Office, as well. They are joining me now live from Alsip, Illinois. Thanks to the both of you for being here. This is just a pretty incredible story. I know you have been answering a lot of questions about it this morning. Sheriff, I want to get to you first. What is the latest in the investigation? What have you been able to learn in all of this?</s>DART: We have four people that are charged right now with class- act official offenses, which are the most serious in the state for dismembering the bodies. The investigation is continuing. There's more angles that we're looking at now, and we're anticipating the FBI any moment now who are going to come in and assist us with some of the excavation and the forensic side of this as well.</s>COLLINS: Can you tell us how this all came about? Sheriff, did you learn about this and how did investigators learn about it? I mean, if I understand correctly, this has been going on for quite some time.</s>DART: Yes, it appears that this was going on in the neighborhood of about four years.</s>COLLINS: Four years. That's pretty incredible, isn't it?</s>DART: The whole thing is amazing. When you see the site and you get the gravity of just the expanse that we're talking about and the bones that are laying everywhere, you can see where it's not -- amazing that more people didn't know about it, for starters. When you see some of the vaults that are broken open and laying around, it's difficult to understand that. But nonetheless, someone did come forward and they called the owners, the owners have been concerned about financials. They contacted us about four, five weeks ago and then we opened up what we originally thought was a financial investigation, and then it turned into this.</s>COLLINS: Wow, unbelievable. Reverend, I see you shaking your head there. I understand that you were brought into this investigation pretty early on, right?</s>REVEREND STEVE JONES, CHAPLAIN, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS: Well, as soon as the sheriff realized that we're talking desecration of graves, the spiritual side of this -- I'm one of the chaplains for the Cook County sheriffs and if this is just so unbelievable because of the gravity of people's loved ones being disturbed, the final resting place being disturbed. And he felt that it was a need for not only the clergy to be involved, but he also brought involved the funeral home owners and the directors so that they can be aware of what was going on because this -- this is devastating. This is a landmark in Chicago. This is our neighborhood cemetery and to think of your loved ones' remains being disturbed is just unconscionable.</s>COLLINS: Absolutely. Well, I'm glad that you are there. I do wonder what your role has been. I mean, have you had to go out and tell family members about this story?</s>DART: Well, you know, I'll let Steve speak to that, but Reverend Jones have actually been physically driving loved ones to the grave sites -- he's been phenomenal.</s>JONES: We, you know, our pastoral duty is to give pastoral care. And in this instance, all we can do is be a help. And so my role has been basically Father Malett (ph) and myself went out yesterday and we blessed the site, did a temporary committal of the body. So the body so when they go to the final resting place they can be recommitted.</s>COLLINS: Wow.</s>JONES: So those things had to happen, as well as now the families are coming out. They need assistance. They need reassurance and they need comforting and that's our job. That's pastoral care and that's what we're here for.</s>COLLINS: We were just actually showing some video of you doing that and blessing the area once again. What was the reaction, Reverend, from some of these families?</s>JONES: Well, everybody thinks when you put somebody to rest, that part of your life is kind of -- finishes that piece, but now to have somebody come and disturb that part of it, it's really, everyone's in an uproar. The families are just really hurt, and it brings fresh pain. You know, when you think it's finished, it brings that fresh pain like it just happened again. That's what I'm hearing a lot of the families say. They're saying, you know, this has brought it all back. And you know, to re-deal with bereavement, it's just not an easy task.</s>COLLINS: Well, it's a very sad story, obviously. Sheriff, before we let you go, remind us again. The previous owners of this cemetery, we should be clear, were apparently the ones involved in this and the current owners are the ones who noticed all of this going on and saying, wait a minute, this is not right, obviously.</s>DART: Yes. There's an element of it, too, when you have ownership, which is not unusual, it is not on site that the ownerships are spread throughout the country. They weren't physically here seeing this, and so, this was going on unbeknownst to them. When you really walk through the scheme that was put together, you can see where it is pretty easy to see how they could hide a lot of this from people because, frankly, there were not new graves being dug so you weren't seeing your property numbers decreasing. Because they weren't cutting into new earth at all. So, it was a well thought out scheme by people and, Heidi, the difficult thing is talking to these folks here today. It's heartbreaking. They're crying, and they're telling us about the uncertainty of their loved ones. I talked to a woman today who came back from the gravesite and the head stone is gone and the head stone is missing and she is sitting there now and she's going to have to worry for quite some time whether or not her loved one was one of the ones who was dis-interred. And we can't give her a quick answer on that.</s>COLLINS: No, of course, you can't. Very, very quickly, what will happen to those who are in custody right now?</s>DART: There's a bond hearing that's going to be conducted in a few hours here in Cook County, and that will determine their fate prior to the trial, and then the trial will proceed from there.</s>COLLINS: All right. Well, to the two of you, we certainly appreciate the story and also to the comfort that you are able to provide whatever possible to the families in all of this. Sheriff of Cook county Tom Dart and also the chaplain for the Sheriff's Department there, Reverend Steve Jones. Gentlemen, thank you very much.</s>DART: Thank you so much, Heidi.</s>COLLINS: Breaking news now. I want to get back to protesters on the streets of Tehran again today, clashing with militia members. The demonstration coming on the anniversary of a student uprising 10 years ago. We are not able to report from Iran as you know because of Iranian government restrictions but CNN's Reza Sayah is following the very latest developments now from our Iran Desk. We should also say, Reza, reminding everybody we really haven't seen many protests, many people on the streets for the last few days.</s>REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's been a couple weeks, but now it looks like they're back. Things really starting to heat up in downtown Tehran, and at times they are getting ugly. According to a few observers on the ground in Tehran, about 2,000 to 3,000 protesters are trying to gather in a main square in downtown Tehran. There to meet them, a few thousand security forces and that's usually a recipe for some violence. And that's exactly what we're seeing at this hour. CNN can confirm at least five clashes between security forces and protesters. And let's go ahead and tell you exactly where this is happening. This is happening at Revolution Square, exactly over there which is near Tehran University. Now, Tehran University, 10 years ago, was the scene of another protests that led to deadly government crack down and protesters are using this anniversary to come out and protests these recent elections. And here are some things coming to the Iran desk within the past couple of hours. Observers report seeing forces beating protestors. One of our observers says he saw a man in his 30s with a bloody face being encouraged to get in an ambulance but he was refusing. Also reports of what sounds like gunshots. Now there could be tear gas canisters being fired off or gunshots by security forces in an effort to get people to disperse. We are also getting reports of people wiping their eyes. Again, another indication of tear gas. On a couple of occasions I got on the phone with two of our observers on the ground and I could clearly hear very loud chants of god is great and death to the dictator. And, again, after a two-week lull, this is the first time at least some people, a couple of thousand people have come out. And again international media, including CNN, not allowed to be on the scene. What's interesting is some of the information we're confirming coincides with the activity on Twitter. Take a look at what we're seeing on Twitter. A few tweets coming in recently with people moving towards Tehran University. It's chanting "Down with the dictator." This one says</s>COLLINS: Yes, interesting. What is that they're showing over there on the state-run television?</s>SAYAH: On the state run, it's black and white. So it looks like possibly a history program.</s>COLLINS: Yes. Exactly.</s>SAYAH: That is the Farsi-language state-funded TV and there you see the English-language TV, which looks like an interview with a professor. But no sign of the activity going on at this hour at Revolution Square.</s>COLLINS: Reza, keep us posted. We'll come back to you, should we need to do that.</s>SAYAH: Will do.</s>COLLINS: Thanks so much from our Iran Desk this morning. Meanwhile, a parents' nightmare. Kids becoming a victim of school bullying or even worse than that, but it's so serious these day, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are trying to get involved.