[Costello:] All right, a quick look at what's going on down in Norwalk, Iowa, right now. you can see Donald Trump is on the stump. We expect that Sarah Palin will join him shortly. We're going to keep an ear on this and an eye on it and we'll take you back to Iowa as is warranted. Let's talk about Michigan, though, because there are two crises that are thundering through that state and threatening the very quality of life for tens of thousands of children. Today in Detroit, more than 80 schools have been forced to close. Desperate teaches are calling in sick to call attention to decaying schools and a system that could be inching towards financial collapse. They're trying to send an SOS to President Obama, who will be in town. A short time ago we learned he'll have lunch with Detroit's mayor. That should be interesting. The other crisis already demanding the president's attention, though, the governor, now vowing to fix it, the tap water in Flint, contaminated with lead and posing the greatest danger to young children who could develop a lifetime of problems. Let's begin, though, with Detroit's embattled school system and CNN's Jean Casarez. Good morning, Jean.
[Jean Casarez, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Carol. You know, we spoke with the school district and they have been scrambling this morning to notify parents around Detroit that there would be no school. And we're standing right in front of Martin Luther King High School. As you can see, parents must have gotten the word. We haven't seen one student dropped off this morning. But it's 88 out of 97 schools and the district tells me they're still trying to get the numbers of how many students that effects. And last week when we were here, parents weren't exactly in favor of the sick out because they have jobs they have to go to. And all of a sudden, they have child care issues. They have to have someone to stay with their child while they try to get to work. But the conditions here in Detroit, that is what the sick out is all about. And we saw it firsthand last week. Floors that were buckling, gymnasiums at schools that were closed, swimming pools that were not filled with water. The answers, they say, is for a gym teacher, for instance, to try to make alternatives so children can get some exercise. Well, last night at the State of the State Address, Governor Rick Snyder talked about this situation. He said that Detroit Public Schools are in a crisis and the time to act is now.
[Gov. Rick Snyder , Michigan:] All of us, from state and local officials, education to charitable and civic leaders, parents to concerned citizens, need to work together quickly. The challenges are well known. The alternatives are defined. Now is the time to get something done. Great schools are critically important, both to the city of Detroit and the entire state of Michigan. Let's address this decades' long crisis now.
[Casarez:] Now here's the challenge. The challenge is, Detroit Public Schools are in $515 million worth of debt because of short-term bond interest, because of providers not being paid, and it's just added up. And they have to take money from the students to be able to pay for that debt and they can't fix the schools. And we do want to tell you, not all of the schools are in that dire of a condition. And the school district really made that apparent to me last week. But many are. And they have to make the tough choices of what schools to fix, how to do it, and in what order. But, Carol, the reality is, the mayor has ordered all the schools to be inspected by the end of April. The first school to inspected is now under an investigation by OSHA, the Michigan Division of OSHA. And today we understand the mayor will speak to President Obama about the Detroit Public Schools and the crisis that they are in, in this community. Carol.
[Costello:] All right, Jean Casarez reporting live from Detroit, Michigan, thanks so much. Now to the Flint water crisis. Michigan's governor also said he was sorry about that. He said he would fix it. But worried residents, especially those with children, say the damage is done. CNN's Sara Ganim is live in Flint, Michigan to tell us more. Good morning, Sara.
[Sara Ganim, Cnn Correspondent:] Carol, we're here along the Flint River. This is really how all the trouble began two years ago, because this river water is highly corrosive and it wasn't properly treated when it was flowing through the pipes to people's homes. Those pipes leeched lead and other hazardous metals into people's water supply and that's how they all began to get sick. Now, last night the governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, asked the Michigan lawmakers to put $28 million towards handling this crisis for the people of Flint. He also apologized for how state and local officials handled it. Take a listen to what he said to the people of Flint last night.
[Gov. Rick Snyder , Michigan:] Government failed you, federal, state and local leaders, by breaking the trust you placed in us. I'm sorry most of all that I let you down. You deserve better. You deserve to know the truth. And I have a responsibility to tell the truth.
[Ganim:] Now, Carol, critics say that $28 million is not nearly enough. Doesn't even come close to even the most conservative estimates of what it would take to actually fix the problem here in Flint. Congressman Dan Kildee telling us this week that the EPA estimates it will take between $50 million and $75 million just to replace the pipes in Flint that are now damaged and still leeching chemicals into metals, I should say, into the water. That doesn't include things like early childhood education, nutrition, better healthcare for the people who have been effected by this lead poisoning here in Flint. Now, last night, yesterday, the mayor of Flint, Karen Weaver, met with President Obama over the federal response to this issue. And today, Obama's administration is sending a team from the Department of Health and Human Services to be here on the ground in Flint with the people managing the federal response. But the residents here, Carol, are still very angry. They still believe that on many levels they were failed. They were failed by their local government, their state government, their federal government and they say all of this help, it just seems to be coming so late, almost two years after they began drinking this corrosive water. Carol.
[Costello:] All right, Sara Ganim reporting live from Flint, Michigan. Up next in the NEWSROOM, Trump on the campaign trail, on the heels of getting that endorsement from Sarah Palin. Would Trump consider Palin for a cabinet position?