[Kaye:] Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back, everyone. CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Randi Kaye.
[Blackwell:] I'm Victor Blackwell. Our first morning together, are you feeling all right?
[Kaye:] I'm feeling it. I'm feeling good. Yes, yes.
[Blackwell:] Ok, you're feeling good. Picking it up where I'm putting it down.
[Kaye:] Oh yes.
[Blackwell:] All right, thanks for starting your morning with us. All right, a serious issue now. Most classrooms in America, in the third largest public school system in America, could be empty on Monday. That's because teachers in Chicago are threatening to go on strike if they don't get a new contract. Now the issues are pay and hours and job security. Negotiations are scheduled today. But if there's no breakthrough, this could be Chicago's first teacher strike in a quarter century. Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., has checked out of the Mayo Clinic where he was being treated for depression. He's 47 years old and he's not been on Capitol Hill since late May. And asked whether he'll be back at work on Monday, a top aide said, quote, "We hope." In New York City a police officer mistakenly shot a robbery victim. According to officials, 20-year-old Reynaldo Cuevas had managed to escape from three robbers when he, quote, "Became entangled with a police officer whose gun accidentally went off". Remember, this is the robbery victim. Police have been under great scrutiny in New York since nine pedestrians were wounded on August 24th. Police shot and killed the murder suspect but their bullets also wounded the bystanders. To the NFL now and a reprieve for the four players suspended for their roles in the New Orleans Saint's bounty scandal. They can all play this weekend that's the decision of an appeals panel. Now the NFL commissioner is reviewing suspensions of Jonathan Vilma, Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove and Will Smith. After he heard the decision that he can play Vilma tweeted, "Victory is mine". When the monthly jobs report came out yesterday, people called it disappointing and said the economy didn't add enough jobs. Even if you have a job you still may face a lot of hardship of that's the case for one man in Santa Barbara, California. He's got a fulltime job but he still can't afford rent, so he's living out of his van. CNN's Kyung Lah has the story.
[Kyung Lah, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Victor, politicians have been taking jabs at each other over this jobs report. But the numbers only tell you part of the story. Talk to people who are considered the working middle class and they will tell you they can't keep up even if they have a full-time job.
[Lah:] Julius Torrevillas is behind the wheel of the Santa Barbara MTV bus five days a week; a fulltime job that pays $19 an hour to the jovial driver with the unforgettable beard. When his workday is over, he moves from his bus to another vehicle, his van where he lives.
[Julius Torrevillas, Homeless Bus Driver:] A regular full-sized mattress.
[Lah:] This is home, because he makes too much to qualify for public housing but can't afford rent in the high-cost city of Santa Barbara. [on camera]: A lot of people think that if you have a fulltime job in America, you're ok. That's not really the case for you, is it?
[J. Torrevillas:] No. You know I've got a fulltime job and barely making ends meet.
[Lah:] Debt from a failed small business piled up and he and his wife are still digging out. So this county parking lot is where they sleep, joined by more than a dozen others who live in their cars. It's called the safe parking program. A 114 spaces spread out across the county with a waiting list of more than 40.
[Nancy Kapp, New Beginnings:] I have senior citizens, I have couples, I have families.
[Lah:] A third of the people, says the program manager, have jobs but are underemployed like approximately 17 percent of Americans. [on camera]: What do you think it says about America when somebody who has a job, who wants to work, still has to live in a car.
[Kapp:] I think people would be shocked. I think they would be shocked if they would come and meet some of these people. Because I tell you when they come into my office, I want to cry because it reminds me of someone that could be my mother, my sister, my brother.
[Lah:] Or your bus driver
[J. Torrevillas:] Good morning.
[Lah:] who starts his day on the move. Breakfast with his wife Mary is at the doughnut shop.
[J. Torrevillas:] Toothbrush, toothpaste.
[Lah:] The bathroom, a public one; the dressing room, the back of the van.
[Mary Torrevillas, Julius's Wife:] Normal life is watching this, you know, if living in a van is not the norm.
[Lah:] Has the middle class in America changed?
[J. Torrevillas:] I think the middle class has slid down the scale a little bit more towards the lower class and it's a little tougher for the middle class people to survive and to actually pursue the American dream. I love you.
[M. Torrevillas:] I love you, too.
[Lah:] Torrevillas keeps chasing his dream hoping whoever wins this election will be able to shift the economy into gear.
[J. Torrevillas:] Good morning. Thank you.
[Lah:] Torrevillas says he and his wife have considered moving to a more affordable city but he's worried he wouldn't be able to find a new job Victor.
[Blackwell:] Kyung Lah thanks. And this problem is not unique to Santa Barbara. The average home price there is more than $600,000. Now that's a lot, right? Well, it doesn't even rank in the top 100 in terms of cities with the highest average home prices.
[Kaye:] Next the legal case of a convicted murderer who was granted a sex change operation from a federal judge. Why it's affecting your wallet. We'll examine this very unusual case next.