Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Oil Hits Record High; Clinton and Obama Meet in Washington; Ed McMahon Behind on Mortgage Payments; McCain Stumps in Florida

Aired June 06, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A day of ups and downs, and a downer for issue number one -- the up, oil, setting a new trading record.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the down, well, it is the Dow. We are going to take you live to Wall Street.

LEMON: And also the downer, the jobless rate higher and uglier than expected.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Kyra Phillips.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: We're following breaking news in the CNN NEWSROOM.

No other way to put it. The Dow is tanking and oil has reached a record high, a disturbing record high. We have all of our players here for issue number one, Ali Velshi, who is our senior business editor, our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, Susan Lisovicz, at the New York Stock Exchange. And we have Poppy Harlow at our "Energy Fix" desk to talk to us about what's going on.

I want to start with Susan Lisovicz first to talk about the Dow and how it is down over 300 points.

Susan, take it away.

OK. We don't have Susan right now. Susan is making her way to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

We are going to get to Ali Velshi standing by with his barrel of oil.

And we see $139.01. That was the highest it was today, the actual closing price, a little bit lower than that, but not much, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: About a half dollar low -- $138.54 was the settle price on oil. But as oil trades all the time, it is already now trading above that. It was back at $139 just a few moments ago.

This is due to at least four specific things today. The first one is that the U.S. dollar is down again. And there's a direct correlation between the U.S. dollar and the price of oil. So, the dollar is down.

The second one is, there were some comment from an Israeli official that, the way things are going, that a conflict with Iran is unavoidable. So, that caused oil prices to spike. Then a Morgan Stanley analyst who follows oil came out and said, he's expecting oil to hit $150 a barrel by July 4, July 4 of this year. He said Asian demand is increasing faster than expected.

And then there's word of a possible worker strike in Nigeria, which is a major oil producer. You put that all together, and you have got the biggest gain we have ever seen in the trading of oil, more than $10, a gain of more than $10 today. In fact, I can tell you the exact number. It was a gain of $10.75 in one day. We have never seen that.

That, of course, will have an impact on the price of gasoline, diesel oil, transportation, heating oil, manufacturing, all over the country. This combined with news of a higher unemployment rate and more job losses is what's sinking the Dow right now.

LEMON: All right, Ali Velshi, stand by with that. We are going to get back to you. We want to talk about the economy a little bit more here. We talked about the price of oil. We can see right there in the corner that the Dow is down.

And our Gerri Willis, she's our personal finance editor. She joins us now.

Gerri, this does not help consumer confidence, especially when it comes to your mortgage, your home, and your personal finances.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: You know, I'm sitting here listening to Ali Velshi talk about what's going on and I hear the frustration in his voice. And I know it's even worse for people across the country, people who are worried about their mortgages, worried about their 401(k).

And I am here to say right now, stand back, sit down, calm down, because every bit of news that hits the wires in a marketplace like this is going to hit the price of oil. It's going to impact stocks. That's just when people get upset, you see all the worries reflected in these prices, so you really have to sit back, be calm, leave your 401(k) alone this afternoon. Don't do anything to it.

The last thing you want to do is to sell stocks into a sell-off. You're guaranteed to lose money. Make sure you take your time here and think these through.

And I think for consumers the better thing to be thinking about right now is, what is my job security like? Let's think about that for a minute. Do you feel confident in your job? What can do you to make sure that your job is going to be there tomorrow, the day next, the next month, the next year? Those are the kinds of things you want to be thinking about, not the longer-term ramifications here of a 401(k) -- Don. LEMON: All right, Gerri Willis, our personal finance editor -- thank you, Gerri. Stand by. We are going to be using you throughout the hour as well. Thanks.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

KEILAR: Be calm, sit back, don't worry about your 401(k) today, probably some of the best advice, I guess, that we're going to hear today.

LEMON: Yes.

KEILAR: Now let's head to Susan Lisovicz. She's on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

You have got someone with you there, Susan. I know earlier you were saying that on the floor, you could hear gasps, you could hear yells. Who are you going to introduce us to?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're saying be calm, let's all take a breath.

And this is the gentleman who has seen the highs and lows, the crazy times, the cocktail parties of the '90s, the dot-com days, Teddy Weisberg, the head of Seaport Securities, who has been trading on this floor for 39 years.

Put it in perspective for us. Is this really just -- this is the excess just shaking out of the credit, the housing market, and with inflation a concern, or is it something worse? Should we be bracing ourselves for something worse?

TED WEISBERG, PRESIDENT, SEAPORT SECURITIES CORPORATION: Well, I'm not sure that it should be something worse, but I clearly think it's just one of those day days when we have had a lot of negative news coming together all at once.

Let's not forget that, yesterday, we were up 200 points and we were feeling pretty good yesterday at 4:00. And now we're on the other side of the mountain.

I mean, it's a combination of things. We had a weak employment number this morning. We have had increased -- renewed weakness in the dollar. We have had saber-rattling coming out of the Middle East, which I think is particularly onerous at the moment, because we haven't had a lot of that lately. And it's just the combination of the three that have the market pinned down 300 points.

It's disturbing and it's not a lot of fun, but the fact is, we have been dealing with this kind of volatility going back to last summer. So, though you never quite get used to a market that's down 300 -- up 300 is a lot easier to accept, obviously -- but is it a one- day event or is it the beginning of something new? I don't know.

The market's been kind of struggling for almost since the beginning of the year. So, I would say we're still within the trading range. If you look at the March lows, we're certainly not near the March lows, so we're probably at the lower half of the trading range, and it's not a lot of fun. But this too will pass. And maybe next week, things will...

LISOVICZ: Well, let's hope those oil prices pass, that is, that we start to see a change in direction.

Tell me what it was like on the trading floor, because I really heard a roar when oil shot up $9 in one day. That really was something we have never seen the likes of before.

WEISBERG: Well, I think it is -- you know, it's a record move for oil. But -- and it's been the focus, I think, of most people down here all day.

They have been watching oil, because we're all traders. So, we're looking to see where the movement is. And, clearly, that's where the movement has been.

But I think -- I think, Susan, it's just -- it's -- I hate to say it -- it's another event that the market will adjust to. And, clearly, it is an unusual event, but I don't think that oil moving up as much as it has in the last two days necessarily means that we're about to leap into some new era. Most forecasters have been forecasting higher oil. We all know the negative impact. It's not good for the economy and obviously it's not good for the stock market.

LISOVICZ: What are you telling clients who are undoubtedly calling you, who have their 401(k)s, who are sending their kids to college, who are trying to fix up their kitchen? What are you telling them? Sit tight? What?

WEISBERG: Well, basically, you shouldn't panic no matter what the situation. And I think clearly in terms of looking at the stock market, if you own good stocks, I think you ride out the storm. If you have money on the sidelines, it's a good place to be.

At the moment, I think caution is the buy word. Cash is king. This is a very difficult environment. It's not a good thing to try to pick bottoms. I think basically I would just stay on the sidelines, let the dust settle. The dust will settle.

LISOVICZ: It always does.

WEISBERG: There is no end zone in this business. We just trade from lower levels. And events move markets. And that events today are obviously negative, but that doesn't mean we can't get positive events next week. I just think it's a little too volatile now. I think I would basically advise people just to kind of be cautious, stay in the sidelines. There will be opportunities in the future.

LISOVICZ: OK, spoken like a true bull. And, of course, it's always the weekend, so everybody can get a good night's sleep or two nights' good sleep -- Brianna, back to you.

KEILAR: Teddy Weisberg, thank him for us, really kind of a voice of reason there. I want to quote him saying, this too will pass.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Thanks for introducing us to him. Appreciate it.

LISOVICZ: Thank you.

LEMON: We want to get to another voice of reason. Lakshman Achuthan is a managing editor Economic Cycle Research Institute from New York. He studies this.

You heard the trader there on the floor saying, I don't know if this is a one-day event or if it's going to become a trend. Talk to us about the price of oil and what you see going on today on Wall Street, Mr. Achuthan.

LAKSHMAN ACHUTHAN, AUTHOR, "BEATING THE BUSINESS CYCLE": Well, I think a lot of this ties in with the business cycle. We're having a mild recession that's -- that seems to have started this year. And...

LEMON: Real quickly, you say mild recession. That's the question. Does this mean we're in a recession? We're hearing lots of people say we're not in a recession. And, right off the bat, you're calling it a mild recession.

ACHUTHAN: Yes. Actually, it's kind of what I do. I spend a lot of time on this.

And looking at the metrics that tell us where we are in the cycle, it's becoming very clear that the recession diagnosis is in. There's not a lot of debate about this. I think people have on been confused because the GDP number has yet to slip negative.

But when you have job losses for five months in a row, which we do, you have never seen that outside of a recession. When you have the unemployment rate go up by a full percentage point since last spring, that's twice as much of a rise in the unemployment rate than you have ever seen outside of a recession.

Now, I know that these numbers are not precise. Economics is not a precise science. So, there's probably some issues with what the exact number should be. But the trend is very, very clear that we are losing some jobs here. And we have been doing so for many months on end.

And, once that trend starts, it doesn't stop very quickly. And I think that -- that is what's sinking in today. And when you recognize that we are in some sort of a mild recession, then you also -- the markets, I think, recognize that the Federal Reserve is not likely to raise rates, raise interest rates, any time soon.

LEMON: Yes.

ACHUTHAN: And then that immediately does something in the foreign exchange market. What it does is, it makes the dollar weaker relative to other currencies. And that in turn makes oil prices go up. And that's what you're seeing, I think part of what you're seeing today.

LEMON: OK.

ACHUTHAN: And, so, that's how this linkage kind of works. Of course, it's very unfortunate, because it exacerbates this downturn in the near term, because families have to spend more for food and energy.

LEMON: And, Mr. Achuthan, and we always try to boil it down for the people who are watching us and paying attention.

If someone is watching you and I here on CNN, what should they be concerned about? How is this going to affect them? Is it really too early to tell with the Dow tanking today and with this rise in oil prices?

ACHUTHAN: Well, you know, this is -- as dramatic as it is, it's actually kind of part and parcel of a free market economy, where we are going to have these corrections from time to time.

The fact of the matter is that most people have jobs, OK? Even though the unemployment rate went up, most Americans who want to work do have work. And if -- if there was one basic piece of advice, I would say, is, you know, keep your eye on the ball at your job, and hang on to the job that you have.

People who are looking for work are going to struggle a bit longer than normal in finding a new job. And I think, when people get afraid of like some big inflation ahead of us because of these spiking commodity prices, one of the things that recessions do all the time, no matter what, is, they eventually bring inflation down.

And, so, even though we're suffering through a spike in food and energy costs right now, on the other side of this, a quarter or two down the road, I do believe prices are going to recede.

LEMON: Lakshman Achuthan, he is a managing editor for Economic Cycle Research Institute.

And I'm being told by our folks here at CNN who have to deal with you all the time that your group has never been wrong when it comes to assessing whether or not we're in a recession and that you're the gold standard for these kind of issues.

We appreciate you joining us today on CNN.

KEILAR: And, if you check out the Dow on the lower right side of your screen, if you check out the banner, you see what crude oil is settling at today, you know that we have brought you some bad news. So, let's bring you the news that you can use.

Let's bring in Gerri Willis.

Gerri, what are the real threats to consumers here?

WILLIS: Well, let's see. Yes, let's have a reality check here.

The real threats here, we're talking inflation, higher prices, so pressure on your budget here. You know prices are going up both at the grocery store and at the pump. If you were thinking you were going to take a long trip to the beach this winter -- or this weekend because of the 90-degree heat, you might have to forget about that, but also jobs.

And that's what we just heard. You have to worry about jobs in a recession, because that's what goes away. That's what you have to think about every day as you get up. Do I have job security? What do I do to make sure I have job security? Is there another job, a second job, I take on just to make sure I have income coming in?

And if you're the kind of household, maybe a two-income household, that requires two incomes to meet the bills week after week and month after month, well, you need to think about that as well. These are the kinds of things you want to have in the back of your mind as you watch what's going on with the markets today.

And I just want to point out, you see what's going on with the Dow right here, down 292, as you can see in the corner there of your screen. That doesn't compare to the 370 points the Dow lost on February 5, another 315 on February 29. We have been doing this a lot. It's just a culmination of all these things coming together, which I think have -- have people nervous today.

But, at the end of the day, you have to sit back, take stock, and understand what you have. What are the positives on your side today? And I think a lot of people will take this weekend to think through what are their priorities.

KEILAR: All right. So, take a breath. And you also said don't mess with your 401(k) today. I know it's tempting.

WILLIS: Yes. No, look, I know people who look at their 401(k) every single day. They look at, am I up, am I up, every week, every month?

You know what, I look at mine every month, every quarter, because I know I'm going to be putting money away all the time. And on a day like today, you're buying stocks cheap. Now, I know that sounds glib and easy to say, but the reality is, if you're a long-term saver, this is where you actually get your best deals.

KEILAR: Yes. I do that as well. You know, when things are really bad, I don't check it. I used to think it was ignorance is bliss. It makes me feel better that you say it's not unwise.

WILLIS: And a lot of people will use this as buying opportunities.

I can't say this is the bottom of the market. I have no idea. But what -- you have to have confidence in the American market to move higher over time. And that's what your retirement bet is with your 401(k), that things will ultimately improve and get better. But in terms of the economy, you need to be thinking about what to do to keep your family safe here, your job safe, and to be sure that you can pay these rising bills.

Fortunately, what we just heard is that recession tends to bring prices down. So, don't think that they're going to climb higher forever here.

KEILAR: All good information. Consumer editor Gerri Willis, thanks.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

LEMON: Of course, one big question is, what are lawmakers doing with all of this? How are they trying to help the average person deal with this downturn in the economy, and, as one expert said, a recession?

The climate change bill in Congress, Poppy Harlow is going to join us now from the energy desk to talk about that.

Poppy, how did all of this play out? How is it going to affect oil prices, gas prices down the line?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, of course, it's a very fitting day that this is going on, Don.

This morning, a big move on Capitol Hill. A bill that would curb emissions has been blocked by Senate Republicans, who say it would tax already-strapped energy consumers, everyone out there trying to fill up their tank.

But supporters of the bill say it would actually help wean our country off of earth-unfriendly expensive energy. Well, that is just key today when we see this record price for oil. Supporters of the bill, though, they are encouraged. They believe it is gaining some momentum. Actually, both presidential nominees, Senators Obama and McCain, sent a letter saying they would support this legislation.

You know, this happened this morning. Look at what has changed since this morning -- the Dow making up some losses, though, now down still more than 300 points, a record for oil. So it's really going to put this in a whole new perspective.

Supporters of this bill obviously encouraged today, thinking that this may actually push forward initiatives like this. What this would do is, it would charge companies more for the coal that they burn, those emissions. And that could essentially, supporters say, make alternative energy sources like wind cheaper.

They say, yes, it might expensive at the beginning, but it might be cheaper in the long run, better for the environment. So, we will see what happens there. But I want to get into what this also means for the stock market. What we saw was right across the board today. Chevron and Exxon, those two huge oil companies, actually held on to their gains for most of the session, have just turned negative. But, remember, you're dealing with oil companies making record profits, Exxon making more than $40 billion last year, as Americans struggle at the pump.

So, they just turned negative, but still at the top of those Dow 30 stocks. Also, if what has happened with oil, if that actually happens with gasoline, take a look at these numbers. Oil has jumped 13 percent in the past two days. If that happened with gas, we would be up 50 cents a gallon -- Don.

LEMON: OK, all right, Poppy Harlow, thank you.

KEILAR: So, we told you that oil hit over $139 a barrel today. This was an intraday, I'm going to call it a super-record. This is very high. This is a huge jump.

Let's get now to Ali Velshi. He's in New York to tell us what the final price of oil -- Ali.

VELSHI: Well, final price is $138.54, after it hit $139, $139.01.

But guess what? While you were talking to Poppy and Susan, we got another one, $139.12. So, it's going up in after-hours trading. It's right around $139. It's backing-and-forthing, very active trade in after-hours.

Oil trades all the time around the world. So, that's number one. Number two, that market, the Dow came back. It was less than 300 points off again a few minutes ago. Now it's back down to -- the losses are accelerating, down to 325.

I'm just looking at the Dow, which is made up of the 30 stocks, 30 of the biggest companies in the word. Not a single one of them is positive. They are all way off. And the one that's closest to positive, it's only off a little bit, is Chevron Texaco, obviously, an oil company, doing well on the price of oil.

So, this is a tough day all around. There's a lot for investors to digest. It's the price of oil. It's the fact that we have an unemployment rate that's increased fairly dramatically by the biggest increase in 20 years, the fact that 49,000 more people lost their jobs in May, which brings the running total for the year to 324,000.

You take all that together, and it's not a great day on the horizon. You were just talking -- Don was just talking to Lakshman Achuthan, who says, again, you can weigh which is important to you of all the economic issues. But, if you don't have a job, they all kind of become irrelevant to you, because you can't pay any of your bills.

So, when we lose jobs, from a psyche and a confidence, perspective, that's the biggest problem right now. So, this is what's all coming together and weighing on the market. The only positive here I can suggest is that the Dow is not at its lows. We have got about 20 minutes left -- 40 minutes left to go in trading. It could be that some people are saying this is overdone or this is an opportunity to buy.

Gerri's advice to viewers a little while ago, if you're not a day trader, do not get involved in buying and selling out of your 401(k) because you see a market drop. This is the second biggest drop so far this year in the Dow, but again, be measured about your investments. Your investments should long-term. Unfortunately, your gas tank is not long-term.

KEILAR: Yes. But it is time to sit back, relax, take a breath.

VELSHI: Yes.

KEILAR: Ali Velshi for us in New York, thanks.

LEMON: Our thanks to all of our folks there, Ali Velshi, Gerri Willis, Susan Lisovicz, and Poppy Harlow as well.

Meantime, we have some other news happening in the CNN NEWSROOM, including this story. John McCain hits the trail in the key battleground state. We have got a live report on the Republican senator's trip to Florida.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Leading our Political Ticker: a new photo of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. They're meeting face to face. This picture in the current issue of "TIME" magazine shows the two former rivals together. This is one day after Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. And this meeting took place during their appearances at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee meeting Wednesday in Washington.

LEMON: So, guess what? You can apparently mark John Edwards' name off the list of possible running mates for Barack Obama. He said again today he has no interest in the job. Edwards was the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee four years ago and a presidential candidate earlier this year. He endorsed Barack Obama last month.

KEILAR: Well, let the general election ad wars begin. Republican John McCain is out with his debut spot. The 30-second ad begins airing today in major battleground states. And, in this add, McCain talks about his family's history of military service.

And he says -- quote -- "I hate war."

LEMON: Hillary Clinton gets ready to throw her full support behind Barack Obama. Days after he clinched the Democratic nomination, Clinton is scheduled to officially drop out of the race tomorrow at an event in Washington.

Ahead of that, a face-to-face meeting between Obama and Clinton to settle their differences and talking about how to win in November. The presumptive Democratic nominee and his former rival met in Washington last night at Senator Dianne Feinstein's home. They issued a joint statement, calling their talks productive.

And Feinstein said they were laughing after that meeting. As the two Democrats make peace, John McCain is campaigning in a battleground state. The presumptive Republican nominee is in Florida, where he is touring the Everglades and meeting with the media today.

LEMON: What do Democrats think about Hillary Clinton as Barack Obama's running mate? What do they think? Do they want it? Do they like it?

Well, our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, is poring over some new poll numbers. And he joins us now from Washington.

Anything interesting in there we should know about, Bill?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, last night, they met, they talked, they drank water. But do Democrats think that Barack Obama should put Hillary Clinton on the ticket? And here's the answer.

Yes, not overwhelmingly -- 54 percent say he should put her on the ticket -- 43 percent say no. What is driving it? The answer is Democratic women. It is the dream ticket of a lot of Democratic women. Among women Democrats, 60 percent support the idea, men, not so much, 51 to 46. Men say no. So, they're sort of divided over the notion -- Don.

LEMON: It seems kind of split, because she got -- it was almost half and half of the country, right, one of the closest finishes for a second-place nominee. So, that kind of reflects that a little bit. But here's the question. If he doesn't pick her, do people still want her to go on?

SCHNEIDER: Well, we asked that question of Democrats, and they say pretty resoundingly no. Just drop it if he picks someone else -- 75 percent do not want her to pursue the nomination if he selects someone else. A quarter of Democrats differ with that. They say, you go, girl. But the prevailing sentiment is no.

LEMON: You go, girl. OK.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Then what's the most important issue? Did we ask them the most important issue to them, the voters?

SCHNEIDER: This was of everybody. And the answer is not a surprise here, issue number one, the economy.

LEMON: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: Forty-two percent.

A second issue, which has still considerable concern among voters, Iraq, 24 percent. This is a problem for John McCain, because he would like to change the focus to other issues besides the economy and Iraq. But right now, that's what voters care about.

LEMON: It's the economy, stupid, right?

SCHNEIDER: I have heard that.

LEMON: Yes. I have heard that before, too.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right, our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider -- we appreciate it, Bill. Have a great weekend.

SCHNEIDER: Thank you.

LEMON: And coming up at 4:00 p.m. Eastern in CNN's "SITUATION ROOM," we will have some new poll numbers on the horse race between Barack Obama and John McCain.

KEILAR: Former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield backed into a corner, and this one is a financial corner, the boxing king's castle in foreclosure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Parents -- of course they worry about what their children eat. I mean if you were 12 and you had your choice between nachos and turkey on whole wheat, what would you pick?

Well, now some schools are trying to help. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look in today's Fit Nation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: With the economy in a downturn, the burden is falling on schools in many areas to provide nutritious and affordable meals for kids.

EDWARD KOCH, PRINCIPAL, FAIRHILLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Nutrition is critical for children's success. If children are well fed, well balanced, our children achieve well.

GUPTA: But just getting enough food can be an issue for some families. So getting healthy, and often more expensive food, becomes an afterthought. The end result of those decisions can be devastating.

CARLA HARRIS, TEACHER: We do have several children that are obese. We do have several children with diabetes. We have children with rotting and decaying teeth.

GUPTA: But there is some good news. A recent study in the "Journal of Pediatrics" shows that small steps can make a huge difference.

SANDY SHERMAN, THE FOOD TRUST: We reduced the incidence of students becoming overweight by 50 percent just by making small changes. GUPTA: And like any good education, it starts in the classroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a question?

SHERMAN: We did training of teachers. We did classroom education. And then we just helped to make some alterations in the lunch room.

GUPTA: Changes -- like replacing soda with water and skim milk, taking candy out of vending machines and teaching kids how to make better choices. It's a program that makes teachers, parents and students alike very happy.

KOCH: I have seen an increase in test scores and a decrease in behavioral issues.

HARRIS: They love it. I don't know if you saw them attacking the fruit. They actually like it. I think if it were more accessible, they would be more willing to try it.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: A survivor of a different sort -- life without oil -- we'll introduce you to one man preparing for that day.

KEILAR: And former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield is backed into a financial corner. The boxing king's castle is in foreclosure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's talk now about a murder trial more than two years in the making. It's underway near Boston. Prosecutors say Neil Entwistle shot and killed his wife and their 9-month-old daughter then hopped on a plane for his native England without telling anybody what happened. Now, today, prosecutors laid out their case, saying Entwistle was depressed, broke and obsessed with sex. The defense painted him as a loving, grief-stricken grieving father who is not guilty.

You can listen to both sides at CNN.com. We are streaming the trial live for you.

KEILAR: Well, another teacher in handcuffs and in serious trouble. This story is out of Central Florida. It's about this woman, 32-year-old Danielle Jones. She is accused of having sex with four teenage boys at her apartment. Now, two of them are her former students. All of them were under age. These alleged crimes happened last summer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF GRADY JUDD, POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA: We're challenged with trying to understand, in this day and age, with all the news coverage, why a schoolteacher would do something like this. It's painfully obvious to us that she's a pedophile. We say that based clearly upon her desire and her ability and her recognition of having sex with these children. It was absolutely inappropriate conduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Well, the sheriff's office says the boys were 14 to 16 years old at the time. Jones is on paid leave from her job as a middle school science teacher.

LEMON: Yes. We've had breaking news concerning the economy all afternoon here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And you know what, it looks like no one is immune to this foreclosure problem.

Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick for 30 years, is talking about the possible foreclosure of his multi-million Beverly Hills home. Now, McMahon and his wife say they're $644,000 behind on their mortgage payments. Wow!

Well, he talked about it last night on CNN's "LARRY KING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LARRY KING LIVE")

ED MCMAHON, TV PERSONALITY: It can happen. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that. And, you know, things happen. You want everything to be perfect, but that combination of the economy, I have a little injury, I have a situation. And it all came together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ed McMahon, who is 85 years old, says he stopped working after breaking his neck in a fall. That happened almost two years ago. But he says he is getting better -- with a few exceptions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

E. MCMAHON: As long as I wear this brace, I'm OK. I may have to do another operation. I have had two; I need one more maybe. But as long as I wear the brace -- the only problem is it wrecks having a hot dog. You just can't have a hot dog.

LARRY KING, HOST: Why?

E. MCMAHON: You can't open your mouth wide enough to get a hot dog (INAUDIBLE).

PAM MCMAHON, WIFE OF ED MCMAHON: It's a little tough on the sex life, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: A little humor there...

KEILAR: TMI. No. LEMON: Humor always helps, you know, in situations like that. Well, McMahon's mansion has been on the market for two years now. It's listed at $6.25 million.

KEILAR: The mortgage meltdown is apparently hitting home for ex- heavyweight boxer champ Evander Holyfield. Now, a legal notice in a local paper says Holyfield's mansion -- this is outside of Atlanta -- says that it's in foreclosure and set to be auctioned off July 1. The 54,000 square foot home is reportedly worth $10 million.

LEMON: Well, just when you thought things might be easing up, crude oil prices hit a record high today -- above $139 a barrel. One expert warns they could hit $150 a barrel by the fourth of July. Now, that's taken most of the shine off a slight glimmer of hope at the gas pumps today. AAA reports that the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.98 and .6 of a cent. Now, that's 3/10 of a cent from yesterday's price, $3.98 and .9 of a cent. Diesel is at $4.76 a gallon, down a penny from yesterday.

We'll check back in at the New York Stock Exchange.

That's straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The loss of a child is always a tragic event. In Jill Levine's case, the loss of her son has sparked a crusade.

Now her mission is the subject of today's CNN Heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL LEVINE, MEDICAL MARVEL: Robby was a great kid. He was fun, he was energetic and he was very athletic. He loved all sports, but baseball was really his passion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was standing at first base. Robby ran past me. I remember thinking about how I never saw him run so fast before. Then a few seconds later, he was laying on home plate and I started to try to do CPR.

LEVINE: Someone came banging on my door -- you have to come to the hospital right now. Something happened to Robby. We get there, they walked in and said he died. I started screaming. This is a healthy 9-year-old kid.

How in the world could his heart just stop?

Robby really could have had a chance if there was a defibrillator. And I just knew that we needed to do something.

My name is Jill Levine and I help coaches save lives.

My goal is to make defibrillators mandatory in youth sports, in the same way that you have to wear a batting helmet. My first priority is to raise awareness about the need. We've been talking about doing this for a while. You definitely won't regret it. They're very simple to use, but you still need to be trained.

LEVINE: Coaches are prepared and lives can be saved. In some way, I'm still parenting Robbie.

I'm still his mom. I feel like I'm helping people because of him and that helps me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Just moments after he claimed victory in the California primary, presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was shot by an assassin. Kennedy died the next day. That was 40 years ago today.

The nation was visibly shocked and stunned. Some two million people watched his funeral train as it took his body from New York to Washington.

"Look" magazine photographer was on that train. And tonight in a CNN special, Campbell Brown brings you some of the unseen photographs from his journey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL FUSCO, MAGNUM PHOTOS: The first thing I saw was hundreds of people on train station platforms. I was absolutely stunned. I didn't anticipate it. I hadn't thought about it. I couldn't -- it was like an operation. I instinctively jumped up, grabbed one of the windows in this little train car, pulled the slip, pulled it down, stood in that window until the train got to Washington. America came to mourn. And it was just stunning, overwhelming. All these people -- young, old, black, white, yellow just all there together driven by one concern and a love hopefully for a great man -- a loss of their future.

Bobby Kennedy, at that time, made a lot of people believe that it wasn't the only the rich who had a great time to be in America. America was for everybody. Everybody had a chance.

It was an incredibly emotional train ride, just unrelenting. There was a black woman at the end of the line of maybe 30 or 40 people who was in absolute agony, arms splayed out. Her face was twisted with pain and anguish. A young family, a mother of five -- five children very carefully standing at attention by the side of the tracks and a woman by herself in this empty landscape. It was very strong, melancholy and it makes you worry about her and wonder about her.

So many clumps of Americans all mourning and saying goodbye, farewell to -- so long, Bobby. And they were all there.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: An unpopular war inspired voters -- a nation ready for change -- African-Americans and women empowered as never before. That, of course, was 1968, but it's also 2008.

You can join Campbell Brown tonight for an "ELECTION CENTER" special at 8:00 Eastern examining the parallels between 1968 and 2008.

Don't miss "SOMETHING'S HAPPENING HERE." Again, that's tonight, 8:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

LEMON: John McCain is in Florida today. He toured the Everglades.

And CNN's Susan Candiotti has been following the Republican candidate. Well, she has been following him to report.

Susan joins us now to talk about what she has been witnessing -- Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don.

Well, certainly, if you are a defender of the environment and are promoting -- or not promoting, rather, but trying to stop global warming, one of the things you want to do is -- if you are a presidential candidate, surely -- you want to take a tour of the Florida Everglades.

This is an historic landmark, called a national treasure by just about every politician on the face of the Earth. And so that is the backdrop this day for a tour of the Florida Everglades by the presumptive GOP nominee for president, Senator John McCain.

He took that tour along with Florida Governor Charlie Crist and a Republican Congressman, as well. And during that time and afterwards, he promised to defend the Florida Everglades and to make sure that there is enough money in Congress to make sure that it is restored, to make sure that it is the pristine place that it is.

Democrats, however, portray Senator McCain as someone who is misinformed about various bills that have come up -- in particular, the Water Resources Act, which McCain opposed a few years back.

Democrats are arguing that he opposed it unnecessarily, that it was not an appropriations bill, it was only an authorization bill.

However, Senator McCain defends his decision to oppose that bill, instead saying that it was promoting about 900 projects, many of them not worth spending the amount of money that was called for, in this case, $2 billion to restore the Florida Everglades.

He was asked about it at a news conference following his tour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And if we see the drastic consequences of the further deterioration of the Everglades, it will not only affect Florida, it will not only affect the United States of America, it will affect the globe. And one of the things that may happen as water levels recede, or as water levels become polluted with salt water, then you're going to see a dramatic increase in methane gas, which is one of the most pernicious of all greenhouse gas emissions.

So I will try to educate the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: So Senator McCain said that he would not promote bills or pass bills that approve of a number of projects -- omnibus spending bills, as they're called. Instead, he thinks that the Florida Everglades deserves a separate authorization bill and that, he says, he will support -- back to you.

LEMON: All right. Susan Candiotti, thank you very much for that.

KEILAR: Watch the catcher here.

Have you ever seen a catcher duck like that before? Have you ever seen an umpire beaned like that before?

We're going to tell you what high school officials decided to do about this pitch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. There's the pitch. And there's the umpire's face. Ouch. Thank goodness for the face mask. A high school baseball team in Georgia got slapped with a $1,000 fine and a warning because of this bean ball. That one right there.

Apparently, a team effort between the pitcher and the catcher, it happened in the deciding game of the state championship series. The team on the field, Stevens County (ph), had been arguing with the home plate ump prior to the pitch. They lost the game 3-1. The ump is OK. He was wearing a mask.

KEILAR: Oh, my goodness.

LEMON: Yes. You can could see that. He ducked down.

KEILAR: Still, I mean the force of that is just really -- I mean just amazing. That would still hurt pretty badly.

LEMON: Yes.

KEILAR: Well, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.

LEMON: Susan Lisovicz is standing with a final look at a very busy trading day.

Susan, it kind of went south about two hours ago. Man.

LISOVICZ: Well, I think it went south from the opening bell. We could have used a referee here on Wall Street today because it was an outright massacre by the bears when it comes to stocks today. Just really dramatic evidence today underscoring the fragility of the U.S. economy. A historic surge in oil prices, nearly $11, one day move into oil prices, settling at just below $139 a barrel.

So consumers, corporate America, everybody is paying more for something that is insulin for the company.

On the other hand, you see the job market continuing to shrink for the fifth month in a row. The U.S. economy, the greatest economy in the world, lost jobs. And the unemployment rate, meanwhile, jumped to 5.5 percent.

So take a look at the big board. You are seeing now, folks, the worst selloff of 2008. The Dow Industrials will close at their low, 400 points down. The NASDAQ, the S&P, all of them down at least -- about 3 percent on the day. We have the weekend to sleep on it, maybe some bargain hunting on Monday.

Have a great weekend you guys.

LEMON: Yes, and speaking of that, Susan, we have a day long issue No. 1 on Monday. We're going to focus on this.

Thank you very much.

KEILAR: And let's head now to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.