Crawfish Crawling Back To New Orleans, Great Economic Benefits
DE LA CRUZ: Well, like we promised you our .com countdown continues now with the top three stories at CNN.com. Number three, severe weather in the Balkans has caused the Danube River to rise to its highest level in more than a century, driving residents from their homes and farmlands. And number two, as you may know by now, police say the body of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin was found in a neighbor's apartment last night in Oklahoma. The district attorney says he plans to seek the death penalty in this case. And number one, drum roll please, we go to Boston, Massachusetts, for this one. A couple has been charged with filing fraudulent insurance claims that said ate glass found in their food at restaurants, hotels and grocery stores. The couple allegedly filed claims in at least four different states, used aliases and even ate glass intentionally to support their insurance claims. That is dedication. You can find all the stories online at CNN.com/most popular. Wouldn't you agree? That is pure dedication.</s>HARRIS: Dedication to fraud and crime.</s>NGUYEN: It's desperate. Come on!</s>HARRIS: There's a padded cell waiting for them.</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>HARRIS: Veronica, thank you. Folks in New Orleans just love those mud bugs.</s>NGUYEN: Crawdaddies as some people call them.</s>HARRIS: If you don't know what they are, CNN's Gulf coast correspondent Susan Roesgen explains what they are, where they went and who's standing in line to get them.</s>SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you're not from Louisiana, boiled crawfish can look a little creepy, but in this part of the country standing in line for them is an Easter weekend tradition.</s>CARMIE WINTERS, CUSTOMER: I have a child coming in from college and this is the one request. No candy for Easter, but crawfish so that's why I'm here.</s>ROESGEN: Crawfish aren't really fish at all. They're crustaceans. Think of them as miniature lobsters and they're a lot more appetizing. In Louisiana we call them mud bugs because they live in the muddy rice fields in the southwestern part of the state. That's an area that got hit really hard by hurricane Rita and it ruined a lot of the rice crop and killed many of the crawfish, but the crawfish have come back sweeter than ever. A small, but significant sign of hope for people like seafood store owner Henry Poynot. He lost his home in hurricane Katrina, but he's glad to be back in his busy store.</s>HENRY POYNOT, STORE OWNER: Doing great to see the customers back and we're glad to have the old New Orleans back. Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.</s>NGUYEN: Well if you're standing in line, let's show you what the weather's like outside down there in Louisiana waiting for those craw daddies. Do you eat crawfish, by the way?</s>HARRIS: That's it for the day. We're going to take a break and come back with CNN SATURDAY MORNING, the 11:00 hour follows these commercials. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com