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Lab Tech Arrested for Yale Grad Student's Killer; President to Recognize G.I.'s Sacrifice; Teeth Can Help Eyes?; Another Yale Murder Unsolved for Over a Decade

Aired September 17, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST: Thanks so much, Tony.

A lab technician arrested, a chilling death attributed to workplace violence, but who is Raymond Clark III, and why is he accused of killing Yale grad student Annie Le? We're pushing forward on the details.

And American defense against Iranian missiles. President Obama stands down on a plan that riled Russia, saying he has something quicker, better, and cheaper.

And a selfless act in an Afghan ambush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL MONTI, JARED'S FATHER: He just did what the soldiers' creed said: you never leave a soldier behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We're pushing forward to the highest recognition of the ultimate sacrifice in battle, the Medal of Honor. You'll see the ceremony live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

They had him under round-the-clock surveillance since he walked out of custody yesterday. This morning, New Haven, Connecticut, police were ready to make their move. They shut down an interstate highway and blocked local roads, then swooped on a Super 8 motel, arresting a Yale lab worker in the murder of grad student Annie Le.

His arrest comes more than a week after Le disappeared from a medical school research building and four days after her body was found hidden inside that same building. As he announced the developments this morning, the New Haven police chief made an interesting distinction here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JAMES LEWIS, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, POLICE: I think it's important to note this is not about urban crime; it's not about university crime. It's not about domestic crime, but an issue of workplace violence, which has become a growing concern around the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Shortly after that, Raymond Clark made his first court appearance. The judge formally charged him with Le's murder and ordered him held on $3 million bond. Clark did not enter a plea.

So, from the moment we first saw him in the back of that cop car on Tuesday, people have been wondering, who is Raymond Clark? We know he worked in the building where Annie Le did research and where her body was found.

And in an e-mail to the campus community today, Yale's president offered some official background. Quote, "Mr. Clark has been a lab technician at Yale since December 2004. His supervisor reports that nothing in the history of his employment at the university gave an indication that his involvement in such a crime might be possible."

So, that's one view of Clark where he worked. But what about where he lived? CNN's Tom Foreman went to Middletown, Connecticut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 30 miles from the crime scene, the street where Raymond Clark lives is buzzing.

ASHLEY ROWE, CLARK'S NEIGHBOR: He was decent, you know? His dog was really excited, and he was just like, "Oh, he's really friendly. Don't worry, you can pet him. He's really nice." So, yes, pretty much he was just known to love his dog and walk around with his dog all the time.

FOREMAN (on camera): And you said he was sort of different in that he wanted to know a lot about the people he was talking to?

ROWE: He wanted to know their full name, where they're from, stuff like that.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Clark, who is 24, is not student at Yale, but works there taking care of mice in the medical labs. His fiancee and two relatives also work in the labs, according to police. But officials will say little about how Clark knew Annie Le.

LEWIS: They worked in the same building. They passed in the hallways. Anything beyond that I'm not going to talk about.

FOREMAN: Any past troubles for Le?

LEWIS: Not going to talk about that either.

FOREMAN: Any video of Clark in the building that day?

LEWIS: I'm not going to talk about what video we have and do not have.

FOREMAN: An old high school friend, Lisa Heselin, remembers Clark well.

LISA HESELIN, CLARK'S HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND: He was a nice kid. I mean, he was a jokester, kind of like a class clown. Everybody knew him; everybody liked him.

FOREMAN: For a while Clark lived here, not far from Yale, but neighbors here have little to say.

(on camera) This is the house where he used to live, up there on the second floor, we're told. But all of the residents of this building now say that they either moved in after he left or, if they knew him, they did not know him well. They saw him in passing, at best.

He had a girlfriend and a dog, my most accounts. But that's about all they know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And momentarily we'll be talking with a reporter with the "Hartford Courant," who has been working this story, to find out a little bit more about the suspect, Raymond Clark.

All right. The story came to light early Monday, when New York police and the FBI launched a raid in the New York borough of Queens. We now know that Najibullah Zazi of Aurora, Colorado, had been there days before and had stayed in one of the raided apartments.

Yesterday, agents searched his Colorado apartment and another home nearby, while Zazi spent hours at FBI headquarters in Denver. His lawyer says he's cooperating fully and has no ties to terror plots of any kind.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is working the story in Denver and checks in live at the bottom of the hour with the latest on this probe.

And remember that Bush administration plan to put missiles in Poland and radar systems in the Czech republic? All designed to shoot down missiles from Iran. Well, forget about that. As you may have heard live this morning, in the NEWSROOM, President Barack Obama said he has reassessed the threat and U.S. capabilities and decided on what he calls a new defense architecture, involving different types of missile interceptors and radars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our new missile defense architecture in Europe will provide stronger, smarter and swifter defenses of American forces and America's allies. It is more comprehensive than the previous program. It deploys capabilities that are proven and cost-effective. And it sustains and builds upon our commitment to protect the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats. And it ensures and enhances the protection of all our NATO allies.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: The Bush plan had deeply angered Russia, but the Obama administration says that that had nothing to do with the change.

So, as he grapples with a troop buildup in Afghanistan, the president will pause next hour to honor one soldier's remarkable act of bravery. He'll award the Medal of Honor to the family of a Massachusetts G.I. who gave his life while trying to save a comrade.

Our Ed Henry has this story. He's joining us now live from the White House.

And, Ed, you got a chance to know the family quite a bit.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Sergeant Jared Monti really showed remarkable valor on the battlefield in Afghanistan, a war, as you know, that is really losing public support by the day.

So, I decided to spend some time with his father, who wanted to tell his son's story, because he thinks Americans need to see the sacrifice that's happening in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY (voice-over): A crisp New England morning in a small town outside Boston. Paul Monti is wrapping up his daily ritual that ends in the garden he built to remember his son, Jared.

MONTI: This is where I get my solitude.

HENRY: Sergeant Jared Monti was killed in Afghanistan three years ago.

MONTI: I walk an hour and a half to two hours every morning, and that's nice. There's a -- there's a sign that the town dedicated to Jared, and I walk up to the sign, talk to him, and then complete a big loop.

HENRY (on camera): What do you say three years later?

MONTI: I just tell him what's going on, what went on the day before.

HENRY (voice-over): The father wears his son's dog tags, has a shrine in the living room, and now he's accepting his son's Medal of Honor from President Obama.

MONTI: I would give all of it up to have my son back. Everything. There's nothing I wouldn't give, even my own life, to get my son back.

HENRY: According to a Pentagon account, and CNN interviews with soldiers who were there, Sergeant Monti was leading a small patrol ambushed by dozens of Taliban fighters.

A young private named Brian Bradbury was badly wounded, unable to move.

SGT. MARK JAMES, U.S. ARMY: I remember him saying that, you know, Bradbury was his guy, so he was going to be the one to go get him back.

HENRY: With bullets flying, Monti had to take cover. He ran out a second time, but the enemy fire got more intense. So, he stopped and yelled for help. Then, he ran out a third time.

JAMES: We all kind of heard him, you know, scream.

HENRY: Sergeant Monti knew he was dying, and his family was in his final thoughts.

MONTI: He said the Lord's Prayer, and he said, "Tell my family I love them." And that's about the most meaningful thing that there is.

HENRY: Inspired, his squadron beat back the enemy, but then a terrible twist. A U.S. helicopter lowered a medic to grab Bradbury, the young private, Monti, tried to save. As the two men were being raised in the air, a cable snapped. Bradbury and the medic plunged to their deaths.

MONTI: It didn't matter, the end result, because that was him. He just did what the soldiers' creed said. You never leave a soldier behind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Now, Paul Monti is a retired schoolteacher, and he told me that his son wanted to follow in his footsteps. He also said that Sergeant Monti had told his family he didn't want to marry until he got out of the service, because he knew just too many military widows. Obviously, very sad that that prediction, that concern, turned out to be true, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And Ed, we know that the sergeant's dad will be there during the ceremony. What might be the sequence of events that take place during that ceremony?

HENRY: Well, there's a citation that the president reads and others -- other officials who are there, and the president sort of tells the narrative. And I've seen the narrative of the battle from the Pentagon, as well as the citation. And it's pretty graphic in terms of talking about the valor that we laid out in this piece, of how he literally put his life on the line.

And I think it's noteworthy also that the president chose -- this is the first time that he's awarding the Medal of Honor, which is the highest military decoration that the president can give out, and he's highlighting someone who died in Afghanistan, not someone who died in Iraq. That's significant, obviously, because this president is focusing a lot more these days on Afghanistan and has a lot of tough decisions ahead in terms of whether to send more U.S. troops. So, highlighting this sacrifice is very noteworthy, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And might there be any of his comrades...

HENRY: Yes.

WHITFIELD: ... the sergeant's comrades, that might be in attendance as well? I understand in your piece you talked about the testimony that they gave in order to help secure this Medal of Honor. But might any of them be actually present?

HENRY: Yes, many of them are. In fact, Sergeant James, the young gentleman who was in the piece near the end, he was basically 18 years at the time. He was just a private. He's now been promoted up to sergeant. He's about 22 years old, and he's on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan right now.

But I met him last week at Ft. Drum in New York. The military let him out for a couple of weeks so he could come all the way to the White House, the first time this young man is coming to the White House. He say he's looking forward to meeting a lot of comrades who have been serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, all around the world. They're all coming here to the White House, maybe the first time for some of them to see each other since Sergeant Monti's death and the first time for some of them to meet his family. Obviously going to be very, very emotional, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, all right. Ed Henry, thanks so much, on what is likely to be a very poignant ceremony. And that begins at 2:05 p.m. Eastern Time, and of course, you'll see it live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, right there from the White House.

A former high school football coach, charged in the death of one of his players. He could soon know his fate. The jury in David Stinson's reckless homicide trial is getting ready to deliberate. We'll get an update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Afghanistan in flux, not only because of the eight- year war against the Taliban, but also a presidential election that is still unresolved four weeks after the voting. And it may not be resolved for weeks to come. Turnout was low, and fraud allegations high.

On a surprise trip to Iraq, vice president, Joe Biden, reflected on all of this in an exclusive interview with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The prospect of success is in direct proportion to the legitimacy of the government, as perceived by the Afghani people. And so I think the process, the reason why the process has to work its way out, is because it's very important that there be viewed, by the Afghani people, that there's a legitimate government. And I still think that is very possible, but it is -- it is not done yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: According to final, but uncertified results, the incumbent Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, won re-election with 54 percent of the vote. He'll be a guest today in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. That's at 4 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

A look at our top stories right now. Bond is set at $3 million for the suspect in the killing of the Yale grad student Annie Le. Yale lab technician Raymond Clark was arrested and arraigned this morning. He did not enter a plea. Le was strangled, her body hidden behind a wall in the lab's basement. Police are calling it a case of workplace violence.

And jurors in the reckless homicide trial of a former Kentucky high school football coach are expected to begin deliberations soon. Both sides are presenting closing arguments today in the trial of David Stinson. He's accused in the death of one of his former players. Prosecutors say Stinson ran a brutal practice session the day Max Gilpin collapsed. The sophomore died three days later.

She was a folk legend, Mary Travers of Peter, Paul & Mary fame has died at the age of 72 after a long battle with leukemia. The Grammy-winning group had a number of big hits in the 1960s, among them "If I Had a Hammer" and "Puff the Magic Dragon."

Job seekers out there, there's a Web site for you, and the man behind it has a pitch of his own, right here from the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, more evidence today that job losses in the U.S. are slowing. New claims for unemployment dropped to 545,000 last week. That's down 12,000 from the week before, and it's the lowest level of new claims since early July. But the number of people continuing to get jobless benefits, that jumped 129,000 last week to just over 6.2 million.

Now, every Thursday we're letting job seekers tell you their story, and hopefully connect them with a new employer. We call it the "30-Second Pitch," and you could be one of them.

Meet Ken Won and his family. They were living in the Silicon Valley. And they were living the dream there. He was a senior marketing executive for a major computer company, until he got laid off earlier this year. But instead of moping in the six months that he has been out of work, he has found a way to encourage job seekers with a Web site that he created.

Ken Wan joins us live now from San Francisco.

Good to see you, Ken.

KEN WON, LAID-OFF MARKETING EXECUTIVE: Hi. Great to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, it's called JobSuccessStories.com and while you started this Web site, you do make some money, but not necessarily enough to kind of consider yourself employed and take care of the family. I do have that part right?

WON: That's right. The whole idea of the Web site is really just to help job seekers get inspired and new ideas about how to find work.

WHITFIELD: So, where did you come up with this idea? Why did you feel like this was necessary, that there needed to be a place where people who are without work kind of find some company and comfort?

WON: Well, as I started looking around for jobs, what I was amazed at the generosity of people that I would talk to. I'd meet people that I don't even know, and they would offer to help me out, find a job. And I thought, wow, this is a great thing. And as a job seeker, I found that it was really interesting to learn how people were actually finding work.

So, I thought, hey, what a great way to offer to help back the community, to give back to the community, to have this site about how people are finding work and to give them some real inspirational stories, so that's how I started off.

WHITFIELD: So has it given you -- oh, good. So, has it given you any guidance about how you're going to go about finding the job that you're looking for?

WON: Oh, it has. There are so many interesting aspects to this, you know, people always say, you should go network, but there's many different ways to go do networking. And this site can help people understand all the different ways that people are being successful finding their jobs.

WHITFIELD: What's the job you're looking for?

WON: Well, I'm looking for a director marketing of position in the high-tech industry.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, you've got 30 seconds. Hopefully that employer is out there somewhere listening. Give us your best pitch.

WON: OK. Hi, my name's Ken Won. I'm looking for the director of marketing position in the high-tech industry. I've managed a multibillion-dollar product line. I also drove a project where I increased revenue from $340 to $360 million.

My expertise is in building and implementing focused business plans that accelerate revenue. So if you want to accelerate revenue for your company, give me a call, and we can talk.

WHITFIELD: And your e-mail is kwon357@yahoo.com. Right?

WON: Correct.

WHITFIELD: That's one way people can reach you?

WON: That's exactly right. Or you can go to the Web site, JobSuccessStories.com.

WHITFIELD: And Ken, how flexible do you feel like you are going to be or that anyone looking for work has to be right now to find out, I guess, other avenues to take to try and transfer some of your skills?

WON: So, the job market has changed quite dramatically in the last few years. You have to be very flexible is how you go out looking for a job. It's very different than what people used to do a few years ago. As well as you have to be open to new ideas, because the industry and the world is changing.

WHITFIELD: Ken Won, all the best. And we appreciate you volunteering your time on "30 Seconds" and your best pitch.

WON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, if you missed Ken's address or maybe you have a job for him, we have it on our blog: CNN.com/Kyra. And if you want to be part of the pitch yourself, get in touch with us there, as well. Or via Twitter at KyraCNN.

All right, let's talk weather. Very nasty, particularly for the southeast. It's unrelenting, this rain, Chad Myers.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, we've gone from brown, which is essentially drought, to green, which is flood watch, just about three minutes ago issued for Atlanta. All the way from Nashville back to Dallas, this whole area, flood watches. And the bright stuff here, those are all flood warnings, which means flooding actually is occurring in those cities or in those areas. It has just been a mess.

What we have is just an air mass that will not move. This entire thing has been spinning around Louisiana and Texas. We can zoom into this spot right here, show you the heavy rainfall into Nashville now, all the way down north of Huntsville and through most of Tennessee.

The problem and the reason why these flood watches are now issued is because this area has already seen a lot of rainfall. The ground is saturated. There's no place for this rain to go. There's one more cell going through Atlanta and all the way back down south. Look at this, Tallahassee. The good news is, at least you're close to the ocean here, and a lot of the water gets right into the ocean rather than running off and getting into some big creeks and streams and causing more flooding.

Showers have been with Arkansas for the past couple of -- it seems like weeks, and showers only in Dallas. So, it gets better from here, although we still have two to three more days...

WHITFIELD: Oh, no.

MYERS: ... of heavy rain in the same places. Here's Arkansas. I know it's hard to see, but there will be areas there with 5 more inches of rain in 48 hours, Fred. WHITFIELD: Whoa. That's really too much. It means a warning for flash flooding and all that, as well, right?

MYERS: Especially at night when you can't see it, when you're driving and all of a sudden it just looks wet, but you have no idea how much water is that roadway. You really do need to be careful at night.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Got to be really careful and pay attention to those forecasts.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Chad.

Well, this is one movie ACORN hopes it will never see again. CNN investigates the latest firestorm over the liberal community group, and the heat is on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An airport shuttle driver is now the center of a terror investigation running from the Rockies to the Atlantic coast. Najibullah Zazi spent eight hours at the FBI bureau in Denver after his apartment was raided. But the Afghan immigrant says he's not the bad guy, and now he's reportedly ready to answer more questions.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is joining us live now from Denver.

So, Ted, what is the latest?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest here, Fredricka, is that Zazi is expected back here at the federal building in downtown Denver in about 2 1/2 hours, to continue the interview, which you mentioned, lasted -- which lasted eight hours, that started yesterday. This according to his attorney.

And the bottom line from his attorney, Zazi is basically saying, "My life is an open book. You ask me whatever I want. I'll give it to you." He's already given, according to his attorney, the FBI DNA samples, writing samples and fingerprints, et cetera. He says he wants to come clean in all of this.

Meanwhile, according to a source close to the investigation, also going on (AUDIO GAP).

WHITFIELD: Oh, sorry about that, looks like we lost that signal. We'll try to re-establish that with Ted Rowlands. He was joining us via broadband, and we'll see what we can do to get him back from Denver.

Meantime, let's talk about President Obama. Taking his push for health care reform today, not far from the White House, but still inside the Beltway. The president speaking to students and young adults at the University of Maryland last hour, saying the country is closer to health care reform than ever before, but also taking aim at big insurance companies and his critics from across the aisle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've heard a lot -- a lot of Republicans say they want to kill Obama-care. Some may even raise money off it, but when you ask these folks what exactly my plan does, they've got it all wrong. When you ask them what their solution is, it amounts to the same old, same old. The same status quo that's given us higher costs and more uninsured and less security than you've ever had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: As President Obama was pushing for health care reform, so were his point people, including Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who took a moment to scold one White House correspondent on the best way to prevent the spread of flu. Just take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senior administration official...

(SOUND OF SNEEZE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bless you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... a possible impediment to give you a deal...

(SEBELIUS GESTURES TO COVER THE FACE)

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see you're learning.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I mean, what is that about? Geez!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to point out, Margaret sneezed a few minutes ago, very correctly, in the sleeve. I mean, it would be one thing if it was...

SEBELIUS: I don't know. Who's got some Purell? Give that to Mr. Todd right away. A little hand sanitizer. Good. Good. We'll have Elmo give Chuck a special briefing.

(LAUGHTER)

SEBELIUS: We'll get Elmo over. Elmo knows how to sneeze.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, a look at the top stories right now. Out with the old missile defense approach, in with the new. President Obama didn't get into specifics about his new plan today, but this means that President Bush's plan for a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic will not move beyond the blueprints.

A murder at Yale blamed on workplace violence. A university lab technician was arrested today, accused of killing Annie Le. She's the grad student who was strangled and her body crammed into the wall of a research building. The suspect, Raymond Clark, did not enter a plea. Bond is set at $3 million.

Old bones could mean new leads in the case against a California couple accused of kidnapping a little girl 18 years ago. Searchers found pieces of bone at Phillip and Nancy Garrido's home, adding to the fragments that they found next door. It's not clear if they are human or animal bones. The couple arrested last month for allegedly snatching up Jaycee Dugard back in 1991. Now, police are looking for links to at least two other unsolved kidnappings in the late 1980s.

A lot going on here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us. We've got much more for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: If you're thinking about getting a swine flu shot at work anytime soon, think again. Businesses may have to wait months to offer the H1N1 vaccine because the first rounds will be rationed out to higher-risk groups. On the list, children, pregnant women, health care workers and the chronically ill. The first swine flu vaccine shots should be ready by early October. President Obama says 10 percent of the U.S. supply will go to other countries to help fight the global pandemic.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth? Well, not quite. A blind woman can see again after a team of Florida surgeons yanked out her tooth and actually put it in her eye. Sounds bizarre, doesn't it? Well, this could be a cure for blindness. Here's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAY THORTON, LOST VISION: I thought about suicide. But then I thought, I can't.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kay Thornton lost her sight nine years ago when a bad reaction to a drug scarred her cornea, the clear covering of the eye. It was so bad, even a cornea transplant wouldn't help. Doctors gave her no hope. But Kay believes in miracles.

(off-camera): Did you ever think a miracle would involve a tooth?

THORTON: Uh-uh. No.

COHEN (voice-over): It's amazing that a tooth -- a tooth -- could help someone see again. When Dr. Victor Perez at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami first heard of this odd-sounding procedure, he couldn't believe it either.

DR. VICTOR PEREZ, BASCOM PALMER EYE INSTITUTE: I said, "Oh, my God, how can people do that?". That seems to be a very, you know, far-fetched idea.

COHEN: First, Dr. Perez removed the scar tissue from Thornton's left cornea, because it was blocking her vision. Then, get this, he took her canine tooth and part of her jawbone and whittled it down. This is the actual surgery.

He then used a piece of her tooth and bone to hold in place a new lens that acts as her cornea. Just hours after the surgery, Dr. Perez removed Thornton's bandages, and for the first time in nearly a decade, she could see her best friend, Rick Brister.

THORTON: He's the prettiest thing I believe I've ever seen.

COHEN: This procedure won't work for most blind people, and Thornton can't see perfectly.

THORTON: I can't tell exactly what color you have on, either blue or black.

COHEN (on camera): I have black on. I'm wearing black.

THORTON: C-A-V.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's really good.

COHEN (voice-over): Her vision will get better, and meanwhile she's thrilled by what she can see right now.

THORTON: The blues are bluer. The clouds are bigger and just beautiful. The clouds here look like mountains.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's an extraordinary story.

All right, switching gears quite a bit here. Catching a foul ball at a major league baseball game. It's something every fan dreams about, right? Well, a fan at a game last night had a very different idea of fun. Making for a memorable and most unusual moment. Here now is CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a foul ball catch that left folks in anything but a foul mood.

(VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: No, it wasn't Steve Monforto's catch at the Philadelphia- Washington game that had them laughing. It was his 3-year-old daughter's right arm.

And though she threw back Daddy's souvenir, the heartwarming hug is what lingers. It's one of those moments that evokes this from women...

(VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: ...and from men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like what he's doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: He was doing what Emily was used to doing -- catching and throwing a Nerf ball with dad. But it was the post-toss hug that tugged at most folks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband would have had a fit, but he recovered very nicely to hug her.

MOOS: That hug turned the 32-year-old engineering project manager into a paragon of parenting: "What a prince," "absolute hero," "dad of the year," "best dad ever," "I want to meet this dad."

Yes, well, he's already married. That's his wife with their younger daughter at the game.

Steve told us he hugged Emily when she looked as if she thought she'd done something wrong by tossing away the ball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow! Classic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (on camera): Right away, the Phillies sent someone up to the stands to give dad and daughter a ball to replace the one that Emily threw back.

(voice-over): When an online curmudgeon suggested dad should have tossed her after the ball, the next person responded: "Do us all a favor and don't reproduce."

But let us reproduce the slow motion replay and watch Steve's face as he realizes the beloved foul may be gone, but the fairest of all was still in his arms.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, that is daddy's girl for sure. All right, they passed themselves off as a pimp and a prostitute to shoot undercover video of ACORN employees, but what do we know about them and their motives?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, back now to the make-or-break issue for America. The Obama administration today announced a $25 million medical malpractice initiative as part of its plan to rein in rising health care costs. Doctors say that figures large in the health care equation. Here now is CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over nearly two decades, Dr. Wendy Fried has delivered more than 3,000 babies. So many babies and still this OB-GYN has never been found to be at fault.

So why is she paying close to $170,000 a year in malpractice insurance?

DR. WENDY FRIED, OBSTETRICIAN/GYNECOLOGIST: For the year, I will be paying $168,192 to be able to practice obstetrics.

KAYE (on camera): In case you're sued?

FRIED: In case I'm sued.

KAYE (voice-over): Everyone wants a perfectly healthy baby. So when something goes wrong, some families sue. Among all medical specialties, obstetricians are sued most.

In 1998, one of Dr. Fried's patients sued for malpractice. She says the pregnancy was fine, but during labor, the baby just didn't budge.

(on camera): What did that tell you?

FRIED: Immediately I suspected a uterine rupture, which is our biggest fear. At this point, I recognized that she was absolutely going to need an emergency, life-saving hysterectomy.

KAYE: Dr. Fried had to act quickly. She says her patient would have been dead within half an hour, had she not performed that emergency hysterectomy. The woman had lost so much blood she had to give her 54 units. That's about seven times the average amount of blood in the entire human body.

(voice-over): Both mom and baby survived. Such a happy conclusion, the family invited her to Christmas dinner. Then six months later...

FRIED: I would up getting a request for my records for this patient from a plaintiff's attorney. And it was like a knife in the heart.

KAYE: At that point did you realize you were being sued?

FRIED: Even at that point, I kept saying to myself -- being naive as I am -- I kept saying, "You know what? This is probably just a fact-finding mission."

KAYE: In fact, information, it was the beginning of a three-year legal battle. Dr. Reid was sued for unnecessary hysterectomy and failure to counsel her patient. Dr. Fried felt betrayed.

She said she had saved this woman's life then canceled her office hours for days to sleep at her bedside to safeguard her recovery. The patient's surprise decision to sue blew her away.

FRIED: Every single morning I would go through it and say was there something else that I could have done?

KAYE: Dr. Fried's deposition, all 900 pages of it, took three days. The trial lasted 3 1/2 weeks. When it was over, the jury decided Dr. Wendy Fried did nothing wrong.

(on camera): What was it like for you to be at a trial when you in your heart believed you did nothing wrong?

FRIED: It was such a horrible feeling, because the plaintiff's attorney tries to present this as you woke up one day and decided to destroy somebody's uterus and their life.

KAYE (voice-over): The cost of malpractice insurance is only going up. Two years ago, Dr. Fried's premiums jumped 14 percent. She's cut back on expenses at home just to afford malpractice insurance.

As for the debate over so-called defensive medicine, Dr. Friend says she does now order extra tests, even though they may not be necessary.

FRIED: Even though I may know that somebody's not sick, I may wind up ordering a test just to prove that.

KAYE: That fear of getting sued, on top of the pricey liability insurance, has forced hundreds of OB-GYNs to give up their practice.

Dr. Wendy Fried says she isn't quitting the baby business. She shouldn't, she says, because she's a good doctor. She says she can't quit, because too many others are.

Randi Kaye, CNN, North Hills, New York

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The nonprofit community group, ACORN, under fire and practicing serious damage control in the wake of some very embarrassing videos, including ACORN staffers who were caught on hidden camera giving alleged tax advice to a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute. ACORN's CEO Bertha Lewis says the employees involved have since been fired, and a new independent review of its programs is now in the making.

Here now is Ms. Lewis on CNN's "SITUATION ROOM."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERTHA LEWIS, CEO, ACORN: I've been with ACORN almost 20-some years. I am always going to make sure that we serve low- and moderate-income people of color. I will clean this house. It is being done now. And -- here's what I would like. I'll come back in three months, and you can look at what we have done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. The series of undercover videos slamming ACORN has raised a lot of questions, namely who's producing them and why. Here now is CNN national political correspondent Jessica Yellin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If Tom Jones is going...

YELLIN (voice-over): These are the hidden camera videos that triggered a firestorm over grass routes activist group ACORN. Behind the videos, two 20-something. Hannah Giles (ph), seen here posing as a prostitute, and James O'Keefe pretending to be her pimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hannah Giles (ph) and I continued our investigation of ACORN.

YELLIN: The two are conservative filmmakers. According to her web biography, Giles is the daughter of conservative writing Doug Giles. Now an Internet sensation, she's appeared on FOX News.

HANNAH GILES, CONSERVATIVE FILMMAKER: As I sat there, I was like I cannot believe they're actually falling for this and not necessarily falling for it but what can we get them to say next.

YELLIN: O'Keefe says he's a filmmaker dedicated to exposing corruption he believes the mainstream media ignores. Here he's in his pimp outfit on FOX News.

JAMES O'KEEFE, CONSERVATIVE FILMMAKER: I think this is the future of investigative journalism and it's the future of political activism.

YELLIN: The two have gotten results. Since these videos were posted the U.S. Senate has voted to cut off some of ACORN's funding and media outlets from "The Washington Times" to Jon Stewart are asking --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, TV HOST: Where were the real reporters on this story? You know investigative media, give me camera three. Where the hell were you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: It's not the first time agenda-driven activists had made headlines with hidden camera reports. The animal rights group PETA makes them all the time, and political campaigns have driven news with videos like this.

Remember Macaca (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Macaca (ph), or whatever his name is.

YELLIN: That remark considered racially offensive by some took down an incumbent senator. Experts in investigative journalism say reporters are wise to be cautious about posing as fake characters using hidden cameras to get a story.

ROBERT ROSENTHAL, CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: You really have to weigh again how important the information is, how important the story is to society, the community, and is there any other way to get at it. Because I think it does raise questions of fairness and the credibility of the media.

YELLIN (on camera): The videomakers turned down our request for an interview through their sponsor, the conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart. Breitbart tells us the two made these videos out of a sense of idealism and righteousness, and he says they have another video coming.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Suzanne Jovin. You might not know her name, but people in New Haven, Connecticut sure do. Her murder, still unsolved. Why? CNN investigates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A Yale student brutally murdered. The case grabs national headlines, and I'm not talk about the Annie Le killing. I'm talking about another crime more than a decade old that also rocked New Haven, Connecticut. That crime, still unsolved. Erica Hill shows us why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven years ago, Suzanne Jovin was the Yale student at the center of a murder investigation. On the night of December 4, 1998, her body was found near this New Haven intersection. The college senior had been stabbed 17 times. And the investigation into her murder has become exhibit A for what not to do in a homicide case.

Criminologist Dr. Casey Jordan.

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: I think in retrospect everyone agrees that there was way too much emphasis put on James Van de Velde. By the time you find out you may have the wrong person, all of the clues, the evidence, that window of opportunity has actually passed and is gone.

HILL: James Van de Velde was Suzanne Jovin's adviser for her senior thesis and the only suspect ever named in her murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no way that you would ever harm her?

JAMES VAN DE VELDE, ADVISER OF SUZANNE JOVIN: No.

HILL: No evidence tying him to the case was ever revealed. He was never charged for any crime, but his life was turned upside down. He lost his job at Yale. Suspicion dogged him.

In 2001, Van de Velde sued the New Haven Police Department, claiming officials violated his rights to privacy and to equal protection. He added Yale to that suit in 2003.

The federal case was dismissed in 2004, but in 2007, state claims were reinstated.

JORDAN: People wanted to solve this case, they wanted so badly that they really maligned Mr. Van de Velde's character. The person's life was truly destroyed. It's never the same. There is no coming back from that.

HILL: Van de Velde has not returned CNN's calls today for comment.

In 2006, the Jovin investigation was reclassified as a cold case. Then in late 2007, the state's attorney formed a special investigation team made up of four retired state police detectives.

In 2008, they released this sketch made from a 1998 description of a man seen running in the area around the time of Jovin's murder. As for updates, CNN was told the team doesn't comment on ongoing investigations.

But Suzanne Jovin's family is speaking out. Her parents...

(END VIDEOTAPE)