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Director Roman Polanski Arrested; Teen Fatally Beaten in Street Fight; Serial Killings in Jennings, Louisiana?; Iran's Defiant Act; "Katrina" of the Philippines; William Safire Dead at 79
Aired September 27, 2009 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. At the top of the hour, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
He spent 30 years running from his past, but the long arm of the law finally nabbed fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski. The Oscar-winning director was caught trying to enter Switzerland 31 years after pleading guilty to having sex with a drugged teen during a Los Angeles photo shoot. Polanski fled to France where he has been dodging arrest ever sense.
But the 76-year-old director of "Chinatown", "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Pianist" was caught while trying to make his way to a film festival honoring his work. His friends are furious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OTTO WEISSER, ROMAN POLANSKI'S FRIEND: This is for me a shock and I'm ashamed to be Swiss -- that Swiss is doing such a thing to a brilliant, fantastic genius that millions and millions of people love his work, they love it. He is a brilliant guy and he made a little mistake 32 years ago. What a shame for Switzerland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The surprise arrest came late last night as Polanski landed at the Zurich airport so, he never made it to the Zurich Film Festival to pick up the award honoring his life's work.
CNN's Morgan Neill is live at the festival. Morgan, what are fans and other filmmakers there saying about all of this?
MORGAN NEILL, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can see, Don, I'm right in front of where they're holding this film festival.
We got a chance today to talk to a couple of particularly the filmmakers here, the other filmmakers here and they are in the vast majority very sympathetic to Polanski in this case. They say they're shocked and appalled to see him arrested; arrested by Swiss police on Saturday, as you pointed out.
Now, they are careful to make the point that of course, they say they're opposed to sex crimes against minors, which is what Polanski was, indeed, charged with, but they say the difference they see in his case is that the victim herself has said she wants to see an end to this trial. That each time it comes up it brings her back into the spotlight as well.
Now of course, not everyone sees things that way. We did run across one man here holding up a sign that was saying this was Polanski's past catching up to him. And of course, prosecutors in the case have insisted for years that it will be a miscarriage of justice to drop charges against a man who they say drugged and raped a 13-year-old -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Morgan Neill, thank you very much for that, Morgan.
That's we're going to be talking about what happens next in this case. The political elite of France and Poland are calling on Switzerland to set Polanski free instead of extraditing him. A Polish news agency says the nations are planning a joint appeal for clemency on his behalf.
France's Culture Minister claims he is dumbfounded saying, he strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them.
So what's next for Roman Polanski? Is he going to fight extradition to the United States?
Steve Cron is an L.A. criminal defense lawyer with a long list of celebrity clients. He is going to sort it all out for us. We'll hear from him and you at the bottom of this hour.
On this program -- we have been paying close attention -- again, I should say, on this program we have been paying close attention to the violence in Chicago's deadly streets. It happened again on Thursday. And I have to warn you the video that you are about to see is extremely graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(TEENAGER BEING BEATEN ON A CHICAGO STREET)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Ok, so this amateur video that shows a Chicago teenager -- look at that -- being beaten to death in a street brawl on his way home from school. Several people picked up boards and began swinging. 16-year-old honor student Derrion Albert was knocked down, punched, and kicked. He later died of his injuries. His family believes he was targeted because he refused to join a gang.
Police believe his death was random and that Derrion was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police say they do -- they are looking at some persons of interest. So far, no arrests in this case and no formal charges.
Two different surveillance videotapes -- or there are two different videotapes, one a surveillance tape, the other a passerby. We're going to have much, much more on this heart breaking story at 10:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN, including this person. Anjanette Albert, the victim's mother is going to join us at 10:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.
A big mystery is stalking a small town deep in Louisiana. At least eight women in the town of Jennings, that's in Jefferson Davis Parish in Louisiana, they have been found dead in the past few years.
Well, the first victim's body was discovered in May of 2005. The most recent was just last month. Police have stopped short of saying that they have a serial killer on they are hands, but they say there are many similarities to see -- that seem to tie all of these cases together.
So with us now on the phone from Jennings, Louisiana, to explain what might tie these women's death together is a private investigator. His name is Kirk Menard.
Kirk, he shot one of the victims a couple of months before she went missing and then her body was found. A videotape of her going into a home which seems to be the central point in many of these cases.
Kirk, are you there?
KIRK MENARD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR (via telephone): Yes, I am.
LEMON: Yes. Tell us about the video in the home.
MENARD: Well, the video was shot because a witness came forward and explained to us that she had seen several of the victims go into that home. And I decided to conduct a stake-out around that area and that's when I caught the last victim.
LEMON: So how -- what is happening with the police department there? They are saying that they believe that all of these things may be tied together, they don't have any forensic evidence that ties them together, but they have it out to the lab.
So what is going on? Why have families of the victims felt the need to hire a private investigator?
MENARD: Well, they have come to me because for the purpose of information gathering where I'm able to gather information where law enforcement or the task force may not be able to or apt to speak to the public more freely than what they can.
And they just felt that because of lack of manpower they needed someone on the outside to look into it for information gathering purposes.
LEMON: Ok. So if police are there -- and I spoke with the sheriff last night and he said, again, that he -- they believe that it's possibly all of these may be linked, but until he has solid evidence, again, forensics evidence that will tie all of these women -- and there are also some other people involved, 13 people, five other people on top of the eight -- but until he has that, he can't say for sure. So what's happening there in the community? I mean, it would seem odd that these eight women whose bodies were dumped on the outskirts of town all disappeared under the same circumstances. What is going on in the community there that you believe people are feeling and what may be contributing to this?
MENARD: I believe that people are scared. I believe that they're nervous right now with what's going on. We're a town of 11,000 maybe a little over and they have reason to fear.
We've been watching the streets. We're not privy to what law enforcement has gathered, of course, forensics.
Our only function in this is gathering information that we turn over to law enforcement and the task force. But people in our town are scared right now.
LEMON: Why not a lot of coverage on this? I haven't seen much locally. Even when I was there visiting home recently -- I'm from Baton Rouge -- I didn't see a lot of coverage on the news, and I haven't seen anything really nationally.
MENARD: No, sir. We've been working on that, it's getting more and more coverage as it goes along. I believe that the sheriff and the law enforcement is doing everything they can with the resources that they have. And you know, my clients definitely -- they're opinions -- they have their own perceived opinion and they're opinion is certainly not mine.
I try my best to work as closely as I can with law enforcements and supply all the information I can to them on leads. I just can't understand why we haven't gotten any national coverage.
LEMON: Yes, the reason is -- I asked one of the victims, Mr. Dubois last night about this and he had his own things -- that's the reason I pose that question to you. They believe that there's something going on with law enforcement that is keeping this from becoming as big a story as they would like it to be.
Kirk Menard, thank you very much for joining us today.
Again, we reached out to the sheriff and he told us they're waiting for evidence to come in so that they can link all of these together, if they are, indeed, linked to a possible serial killer. Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana; we have been following the story and we'll continue to follow it.
Security tapes that have long been kept secret by the FBI suddenly seeing the light of day 19 years after they were made: the place is downtown Oklahoma City, April 19th, 1995. Video surveillance cameras capture the immediate confusion of the bombing of the nearby Murrah Federal building.
Well, the videos were taken from the surrounding buildings. They show people scrambling after Timothy McVeigh, the truck bomb, exploded there. A lawyer recently obtained the videos using the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA as we call it. He gave them to the Oklahoman newspaper which posted the videos on its Web site; 168 men, women and children died in the attack. Tim McVeigh was executed in 2001. Co- conspirator Terry Nichols is serving a life sentence.
Overseas today Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims to have successfully test-fired short range missiles. A provocative act considering the world just learned about Iran's secret uranium enrichment plant.
CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House with more -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, even as the U.S. and Iran prepare to sit down for nuclear talks, Iran today flexed its military muscle test-firing short-range missiles.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
QUIJANO: Iran's missile test comes just days after the U.S., France and Britain called out Iran for building a secret nuclear site.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER BOND, (R) MISSOURI: Today's action in firing the missiles is really a poke in the eyes to those who think that diplomatic efforts and agreements and inspections are going to change the way that Iran is going.
QUIJANO: But on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with John King, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believes there's still room for diplomacy.
ROBERT GATES, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: To see if we can leverage publicizing this additional illegal facility and activity, to leverage the Iranians to begin to make some concessions.
QUIJANO: And the U.S. wants those concessions within weeks, according to Obama administration officials. They include giving international inspectors unfettered access to the newly revealed nuclear site, providing access to the people who helped build the facility and providing a timeline of the site's construction.
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Words are not enough. They're going to have to come and demonstrate clearly to the international community what they're up to.
QUIJANO: What Iran is up to, the U.S. has long believed, is trying to develop nuclear weapons and these dramatic new satellite images obtained by CNN could help explain why. Outside the city of Qom eight months ago what appears to be the beginnings of construction including tunnels into the hillside.
Now in that area a building and those same tunnels appear to be covered up. While it's not clear whether this is the newly-revealed nuclear site, lawmakers fear the worst if Iran develops a nuclear weapon.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: If they are successful, the Sunni Arab states in the region will want a nuclear weapon. Israel becomes much at risk and we're walking down the road to Armageddon. QUIJANO: Ahead of key nuclear talks Thursday, the Obama administration believes it has the upper hand.
GATES: The Iranians are in a very bad spot now because of this deception in terms of all of the great powers. And there obviously is the opportunity for severe additional sanctions.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
QUIJANO: That possibility raises the stakes for a critical meeting Thursday in Geneva. That's when Iranian diplomats will sit down with officials from the United States and the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany to discuss Iran's nuclear program.
Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.
LEMON: Thank you, Elaine.
300,000 people forced out of their homes this evening because of massive flooding. Authorities are calling it the "Katrina" of the Philippines. We'll take you there live.
Plus, protests over the arrest of convicted rapist Roman Polanski jailed after 30 years on the run.
Also, talk to us about the stories, especially the Chicago story; Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or iReport.com. We want your comments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: When we say severe weather -- you see that banner there -- we mean it. The "Katrina" of the Philippines, that's how Filipino President Gloria Arroyo describes a massive flooding that has rocked her island nation and its capital. A month's worth of rain in just a few hours just pouring down, sending residents scrambling and U.S. military into action.
American soldiers are providing inflatable boats and assisting in rescue operations. There are an estimated 300,000 people displaced by the storm; 73 reported dead and a number of people still missing.
And take a look at these images. They were provided by CNN iReporter John Perez of Quezon City; that is just outside of the capital city of Manila. And you can tell the intensity of the floodwaters by the number of vehicles tossed around. The clean-up is ahead and it is considerable and it's daunting to say the least.
For a better idea now, we want -- the size of the scope of this calamity. We want to go now to Steve Lunt; he joins us now from Manila. Steve, is it as bad as this video that we are seeing -- as it looks?
STEVE LUNT, FREELANCE CORRESPONDENT: John (SIC yes, it is. The latest official report of the number of people who died as a result of this tropical storm now stands at 86. 86 confirmed deaths as a result and hundreds of reports of missing people have been coming in through the night.
It's morning here now in the Philippines and many people still are seeking shelter in evacuation shelters across the region -- John.
LEMON: So, Steve, people are homeless. It's Don, by the way, with a D, D-O-N.
People are homeless there. Tell is about the operation, the military and what they are doing to try to rescue these people and to try to get them into homes.
LUNT: Well, the Army are using their helicopters and the Coast Guard are using rubber boats to go down the flooded streets, major streets have been flooded. And they are coordinating with the other agencies, the Coast Guard, the police and the Red Cross.
They've rescued over 5,000 people already, people who are waiting to be rescued from roofs of their homes because their houses were just flooded completely.
LEMON: And what about the condition as far as food and contamination and all of that, because with this -- as we know from Katrina here in the United States -- comes disease and all sorts of things.
LUNT: There's a great deal of concern about that. The government agencies are doing their best to get as much food to the people stranded as they possibly can. And they are sheltering thousands of people there. There's about 45,000 people in the evacuation shelters that have just been made out of schools and churches across the area now. But the rescue operation and the effort to get food to the communities in distress continues today.
LEMON: All right.
LUNT: It's morning here in the Philippines and there's been some respite from the weather. There's sunshine and blue skies, so let's hope that that will make the rescue operations just a little less difficult.
LEMON: All right. Steve Lunt, a freelance correspondent joining us by Skype from Manila. Thank you very much. And be safe there, sir.
There is still a few weather issues right here in the United States to talk about. Jackie Jeras, fill us in on that. We had flooding, but man not nearly that bad.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Not quite, but bad for a lot of people. The good news is that our storm system has cleared out and looks great across the Eastern Seaboard but a new storm in the upper Midwest right now is going to affect two thirds of the country.
Find out what's its going to do to your travel plans tomorrow. That's coming up in just a minute.
LEMON: All right, Jackie, thank you very much.
Plus, we'll tell you about a pro-football player who criticized some fans on one of his tweets. Should he be fined?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, traffic -- if you want to call that -- on the Ohio River at a standstill. It's just a blockade right now. A lock break has occurred near Warsaw, Kentucky. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, all river traffic is shut down in both directions. And here's what a corps spokesman calls the break, catastrophic for commerce.
Engineers are on the scene to this -- on the way to the scene I should say. It is not known how long river traffic will be halted there.
You know, it's always tough getting around in a flood as one motorist in suburban Atlanta found out. Take a look, talk about going nowhere fast.
The driver of this car says he was on his way to work yesterday when a sinkhole literally swallowed his entire vehicle adding to his troubles. Vandals apparently broke into his car and they stole his stereo. Nice.
Jacqui Jeras...
JERAS: Talk about a rough day.
LEMON: Talk about adding insult to injury.
JERAS: I know, but he wasn't injured or at least not seriously.
LEMON: Well, all that's replaceable and we wish him the best of luck. But those thieves, I hope they get them, dirts.
JERAS: Not nice.
LEMON: No.
What do we have?
JERAS: Hey, we've got a huge storm system and much better condition all across the east with the exception of the northeast. They're still looking at some wet weather but we've got a big storm and this is going to be our big player over the next couple of days and it's going to be impacting more than half of the country, in fact like two thirds.
A very powerful low pressure storm system combined with an upper level system moving through. And today it's already bringing some very strong gusty winds, into the Dakotas, to Minnesota and Iowa where winds are gusting 40 to 50 miles per hour.
It is going on kick up some showers and thunder showers ahead of it and pull in some cooler air behind it. Wind advisories are in effect for the Midwest and into the Great Lakes throughout tomorrow. We could see some of those 50 to 60-mile-per-hour gusts so we are concerned that we're going to see some downed tree limbs and some power outages will be spotty across the area.
By Tuesday the front makes its way all the way down to the Gulf Coast, high temperatures only in the 50s. 60s across the Ohio Valley and 70s maybe all the way down to the Gulf Coast.
Our concern this evening is that the storm could produce some isolated severe weather, places like Milwaukee, Chicago, into the northern parts of Indiana even into Detroit. So be aware of that threat. I think hail will be the primary threat but you can't rule out some gusty strong winds and an isolated tornado or two.
Our northeastern system then just bringing in some light rain showers but because of the overcast conditions that's kind of a nuisance we've got a lot of travel delays to talk about, Boston, JFK well over on hours. As well as Newark, Philadelphia and Teterboro (ph) getting in on the action. Well, I can see a lot of delays because of that wind tomorrow Don as well.
LEMON: Well, all right, thank you very much Jacqui Jeras.
Commute -- what your commute is going to be like; Jacqui will tell us at 10.
Have you ever seen a famed frog eat a bird? You're about to now or a gecko with leopard stripes; neither had scientists until now. The ferocious frog is among 163 new species discovered by the World Wild Life Fund last year. They were all found in the greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia along with over 100 new plants. Scientists say the discovery showed just how little they know about the region's wildlife.
Here we go. Nothing new under the sun there; skipping right there.
Well, it's right now the most popular story on CNN.com. He spent three decades as an international fugitive. Now Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski is in jail, but will he ever have to serve out his sentence? We're going to talk about that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You know this is a three-decade long cat-and-mouse game with International Police. Well, it has he ended for Roman Polanski. The fugitive filmmaker was nabbed by Swiss police just yesterday. The Oscar-winning director was arrested in Zurich while on his way to a film festival honoring his work.
Back in the 1970s Polanski pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13- year-old girl -- old girl in Los Angeles, but he fled to France before sentencing. He is expected to fight extradition to the U.S., and French and Polish diplomats are now rallying in his defense.
L.A. criminal defense attorney Steve Cron joins us live now from Los Angeles.
Steve thank you, sir. You know, a lot of people, you know, want the Swiss to set him free. How likely that -- is it that he'll actually be extradited back to the United States?
STEVE CRON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: if I had to guess, I would say that it's pretty likely he'll be coming back. I'm not sure that the Swiss government is going to care what France and Poland has to say. They have an extradition treaty with the United States and as far as I know, they're going to honor it.
LEMON: Yes. You know, some of our viewers are wondering before -- let me catch some of the viewers up on this story because it's a very interesting story. And then we'll get to the specifics of it Steve.
CRON: Sure.
LEMON: Married to Sharon Tate, right?
CRON: Correct.
LEMON: Right.
And then in 1969, you know, we talk about the murders and you know, the movie "Helter Skelter" and all of that, so connection to that. Then it is believed after that, after his wife died in a really bloody horrific murder that he sort of went to the deep end, started dating younger women and then his life took this turn to this.
This supposedly happened at Jack Nicholson's house with this young woman. Jack Nicholson was out of town. Angelica Houston, Jack Nicholson's wife at the time, or girlfriend - I believe they were married at the time, was there during all of this. So it's a very interesting story. After it happened Roman Polanski fled to France, and the U.S. was not able to bring him back.
So you're thinking that he is going to come back to the United States, but once he gets here, what are the charges? I mean, is it going to be the same charges from, you know, the 70s?
CRON: Well, he has already been convicted. He pled guilty, and he has been sentenced. The problem is there was a documentary that came out within the last couple of years in which a deputy D.A. who was not assigned to this case admitted on tape that he was conferring with the judge giving him ideas, trying to get the judge to change the sentence to basically pull the rug out from underneath everybody so as to give Polanski a harsher sentence than what everybody had agreed upon. And that's improper.
Whether you like Polanski or hate him, we all believe in having a fair level playing field, and a judge should not be conferring outside of court who is giving him ideas on how to change the deal. That's the part that's going to cause a problem. And when he comes back, he will probably be asking to have the whole plea set aside because of the tainted procedures by the judge or at the very least say the sentence should be back to what it was supposed to be.
LEMON: So do you believe he will see any jail time or prison time for an extended period of time?
CRON: If I had to guess, no. I would say that the district attorney's office and the L.A. superior court are not going to want to have this thing relitigated and bring out the improper procedures by their office and by the judge in the way this thing was conducted 30 years ago.
LEMON: The 45-year-old - the victim now is 45 years old, and she is speaking out and tell us what she is saying about all of this, and even before.
CRON: Yes. Right from the beginning she and her mother are saying they didn't want to have them prosecuted. Enough is enough. She wants to move on with her life. It's also been hanging over her head for 30 years. She has asked the district attorney's office to drop the case. When it comes back to court, if Polanski is back in Los Angeles, she is going to go back to the judge and say I would like this whole thing dropped.
What the judge is going to do, we don't know, but at least I'm comfortable in thinking that it will be a fair proceeding without these private conversations and people pulling the judge's strings and telling him what to do.
LEMON: I was just having a conversation with someone here in the studio, and he said, you know, I believe this was accidentally on purpose because Roman Polanski is well aware of where he can and cannot go because this is has been going on so long. Perhaps maybe, you know, he did do it. I know that you have said that it may be a huge weight off of his shoulders, like an albatross gone.
CRON: That's true, but, Don, as far as I know, he has been in and out of Switzerland a couple of times - or had made plans to go to Switzerland. The D.A.'s office from L.A. tried to nab him, but he found out, didn't go all the way. This time he is going to get an honor, an award, and they notified the Swiss authorities. He continued into Switzerland and was arrested in Zurich.
LEMON: OK. Just a couple of words. How long do you think before we see him back here?
CRON: I'm guessing three, four weeks.
LEMON: All right. Thank you. Steve Cron.
CRON: My pleasure.
LEMON: We appreciate it.
To the economy now and the tough odds facing people looking for work. We all know the unemployment rate is very high. Close to 10 percent in the country. But here's another way to look at it. The "New York Times" reports said that as of July, there were 2.4 million full-time job openings in the U.S.. That sounds like a lot until you consider that more than 14 million people were officially unemployed. Now, as we've been reporting, perhaps no American city has felt this recession or battled rising unemployment like Detroit. CNN Money.com Poppy Harlow back now with more on her "Assignment Detroit." Hello again, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hi there, Don. In the 6:00 hour we introduced "Assignment Detroit," and we showed you how hard it is for people to make it there, but there are some bright stories, and we want to be responsible journalists here and show you the bad and the good.
In this next story that you're going to see is a woman, an entrepreneur who started a business in a very rough part of Detroit known as the Cass Corridor. Right next to her, abandoned homes, burned out buildings, abandoned plants. She's trying to make it, doing what she can. Take a look at Liz Blondy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ BLONDY, OWNER, CANINE TO FIVE: It's confusing. Detroit is kind of a weird place. It's definitely a dichotomy of, you know, people that pay $4 for a latte and people that pay $10 for a crack. It's weird. This used to be - we call it midtown now, but it used to be called the Cass Corridor, and the Cass Corridor was traditionally a very rough neighborhood. Lots of hookers. Lots of drugs. Behind our amazing community garden that we have here we have a building. Pretty burned out. Drug infested. It's about 100 yards away maybe. About 200 yards in that direction we have a Starbucks.
I got people standing in front of my business occasionally asking my customers for money. It's very, very frustrating. I work very, very hard to make sure that that doesn't happen. We got security cameras installed. I doubt if I was in the suburbs I would have had to get security cameras installed to make sure that my customers' cars don't get broken into.
I deal with the neighborhood. I deal with the challenges. I actually hope that in opening my business here I am making the neighborhood a little bit better. I think I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right. I can tell you, Don, she is making that neighborhood a better place. We spent a lot of time around there. She's one of the only thriving businesses turning a profit, increasing profit quarter after quarter. 28 percent unemployment in Detroit, Don, and I can tell you in that neighborhood the Cass Corridor, unemployment is a whole lot higher than that, unfortunately.
LEMON: You told us a little bit about the commitment to covering Detroit in the 6:00 hour. Tell us more about that, Poppy.
HARLOW: Sure.
It's at least a year-long commitment. So what we don't want to just parachute in for a week or a day to tell one story. Time Inc. has bought a house in Detroit, fully staffed with a reporter. We're going in and out every month, every few weeks reporting from there, but it's a CNN Money and Time Inc. initiative.
You can take a look here at the web site to get more of an idea. It's CNNmoney.com/detroit. You'll see our videos, our reports there. We interviewed the mayor, Mayor Binge who is going to run for re-election there. The governor, the heads of GM and Ford.
But also, mainly the real people in Detroit, Don, the 900,000 people that are left there that are stuck in Detroit, trying to make their city a better place. It's all about them. It's our commitment to the city. You'll see many more stories coming up over the next year.
LEMON: OK. You talked a little bit about that. You talked about the mayor. But you know, anybody else that we can expect to hear from? Because remember Michael Moore did that whole thing in Detroit.
HARLOW: Yes. He did, actually, and I interviewed Michael Moore this week about his new movie "Capitalism," but I asked him. I showed him "Assignment Detroit." I said I know you're from Flint, Michigan. What do you think of Detroit? Do you have hope for Detroit? Of course, "Roger and Me," the movie marking a 20-year anniversary now, Michael Moore's movie about Detroit.
Don, honestly, he told me he doesn't have much hope at all for Detroit. He said if we're going to make it, it has to be in green energy, moving forward. Not making cars, making mass transit. That interview with him is also on the site. But it's sad to see people that love Detroit don't have hope for it.
LEMON: "Michael and me" has been 20 years.
HARLOW: Yes. I know.
LEMON: Wow. Getting old. It doesn't seem like that long ago.
HARLOW: You're not old, Don.
LEMON: You know, real quickly, I do want to talk to you about this, Poppy, but we have to get on. But this is important. Public school system there in danger of going into bankruptcy.
HARLOW: Yes. No official announcement on that yet. We spoke to the emergency financial manager a few weeks ago. But we should know in a matter of weeks whether or not Detroit public schools will have to file for bankruptcy. There's more than $200 million budget gap that they have to fill. October 1st marks the end of the fiscal year. We're watching that story closely, Don.
LEMON: CNNmoney.com Poppy Harlow. Poppy, thank you.
HARLOW: Of course.
LEMON: We have some sad news today from the worlds of both politics and journalism. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist William Safire has died. Safire wrote a twice weekly column for the "New York Times" from 1973 until 2005. He was a conservative voice on the liberal editorial page winning his Pulitzer Prize for a commentary back in 1978.
Now before joining "The Times " Safire wrote speeches for President Richard Nixon. He was also a novelist and a popular commentator on the use and frequent misuse of the English language. Very smart columns by William Safire. "New York Times" quotes a friend who says Safire died of pancreatic cancer. William Safire, 79 years old.
When a pro football player sent out a tweet calling some fans dim wits, it became a major issue. Now what? Plus, Michael Vick's three- year exile from the playing field came to an end this afternoon. Two topics for Rick Horrow after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, he knows business. He probably say business. He knows sports and tonight he is talking about quarterback's football and twitter. There he is. Is that - did I make you red? Or are you normally that way.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: No, no. It's just the background. We have apparently - we have some radio activity around. I don't know what the make up is but that's the best compliment you have given me in a long time. Thank you, my friend.
LEMON: OK. All right. Let's move on. You are in Jupiter, Florida, tonight. So Rick, the twitter - what does twitter have to do with professional sports? I know what it does. It's - this is kind of - this is a little odd.
HORROW: Well, listen. You are a star in twitter because you perfected the art of that social communication. There are a lot of teams that are jousting with it for the first time. Like cell phones used to be. Rookie linebacker for the Washington Redskins called fans dim wits last week after they didn't support him. Not the brightest thing in the world because the team lost to the lions today. The first win for the lions in a couple of years. So the guy probably ought to keep his mouth shut. But as for a fine, we got some first amendment issues, employers can regulate the workplace. So we're want done with this.
LEMON: Wow. All right. I'm interested to see how all that plays out. So, you know, several big name quarterbacks are making beg news, but they're doing it for, you know, a couple of different reasons.
HORROW: Yes. Do you want to start with Favre or do you want to start with Vick?
LEMON: I think we start with Vick.
HORROW: All right. Well, Michael Vick didn't bring the house down today. He ran for seven yards. He had two passes. None complete. Here's the bottom line. He played. No major protest. The Eagles killed the Chiefs. He is on the roster. He is now number two in jersey sales, and Philadelphia is excited to have him. Kudos to Jeff Lurie, the owner for taking this risk. So far it's paying off.
LEMON: And it's you know, get it behind you. Get it behind you. So that was probably - he probably had that feeling. You said no major protests. Were there any protests, any signs, any disturbances because of his presence?
HORROW: Hey, look. That's 69,000 people, so someone has got to express their opinion. But I think the bottom line is people came to see football, and the Eagles satisfied that. They performed pretty well.
LEMON: OK. Let's talk to - about Brett Favre now.
HORROW: Yes. Well, I knew something was going to go on today. I didn't shave today because Brett Favre did the same kind of thing, and he won and you know, I'm still waiting for my victory. But last minute come from behind. The magic survives.
Next week Brett Favre goes back to Green Bay in an incredible homecoming. We have to cover that. In the meantime, by the way, Don, Brett Favre is number one in jersey sales in the NFL for the third straight year with the third different team. It is unbelievable.
LEMON: He makes us old guys look good. Hey, real quickly, especially for our friend, yours and mine, who works here, by the way, Jen Bernstein, who is a Florida gator and who is leaving us. Very sad about that. I don't want to cry on the air. Jen, we'll miss you.
HORROW: So we'll cry on the air. She'll be around. She isn't leaving, but her team, the Gators, lost Tim Tebow.
LEMON: But she was very sad about Tim Tebow last night.
HORROW: Well, listen, everybody was all upset about the brand. This is now a brand. It's not just a quarterback. Sam Bradford, the guy that won the Heisman for Oklahoma, he is maybe coming back this week. So Florida's revenue is $100 million a year, and a lot of it rides on how quickly Tim Tebow comes back. I apparently - I understand he was released from the hospital today. So we'll just have to see what happens.
LEMON: Yes, this morning it was weird because, you know, I guess I didn't expect that we caught a very private moment when something came up last night. Everybody was, like, oh, take that off.
OK. Giving it away. We're watching the game. We're preparing for the show but we're watching the game at the same time.
HORROW: All right. Well, watch the game. We'll talk next week. Bye, Jen.
LEMON: Yes. So long, we should say, Jen, and so long to you, Mr. Horrow. Always a pleasure.
HORROW: All right. Seven days. He was the first major Hispanic presidential candidate in America that earned Bill Richardson a spot today in our series. "Pioneros: Latino Firsts."
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LEMON: That should pick you up. The next person we're going to talk about should be inspirational as well. Here in the NEWSROOM, we're profiling Latinos who overcame obstacles and shattered stereotypes to make history. It's part of our series "Pioneros: Latino Firsts."
In the political world Bill Richardson's life has been full of firsts including becoming the first major Hispanic presidential candidate. Throw in two terms as governor of New Mexico, U.N. ambassador, energy secretary, seven terms in the House, and you get the idea. I don't need to go on. I recently sat down with him at the governors office in Santa Fe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): Speaking Spanish? And plain English.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Today I'm announcing the formation of a presidential campaign exploratory committee. With a clear intention of declaring my candidacy for president.
LEMON: On January 21st, 2007, Democrat, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced on his website his candidacy for president of the United States, admittedly by his own mother, it didn't last long.
RICHARDSON: She jokes about my presidential race about, how short it was. But you know, she's given me so much.
LEMON (on camera): Did you say mom, at least I did it. Come on, give me some credit.
RICHARDSON: Well, I did. You know, at one point we were on the phone and we were speaking Spanish. And she said to me, son, are you still governor? I said, yes. No one is throwing me out yet. In fact, mom, you know I announced for president. And she said president of what?
LEMON (voice-over): What got Richardson more attention than his one- year anemic run and perhaps in his entire political career was his endorsement of then democratic upstart and likely presidential nominee Barack Obama, over long time friend and political ally Hillary Clinton.
RICHARDSON: Barack Obama will be a great and historic president.
LEMON: Richardson' friend and former boss, Hillary Clinton's husband Bill, has yet to forgive him.
(on camera): Did you repair that relationship? Is it patched up?
RICHARDSON: With President Clinton? No. He's still mad at me. With secretary of state Clinton, we kind of repaired it. But no. With President Clinton, he's not happy with me. But that's all right.
LEMON: Did you reach out to him?
RICHARDSON: Well, we both need to reach out to each other and it hasn't happened. I'm fine with it.
LEMON (voice-over): Even before serving as President Clinton's U.N. ambassador and energy secretary, Richardson was a staffer to Henry Kissinger and a congressman from New Mexico. He says he owes all of it, especially his standing as a first viable Hispanic presidential candidate, to his father.
RICHARDSON: Well, my father wasn't born in America. He was born in Nicaragua. And he always felt a complex that he wasn't born in America. So as his first born, he wanted me to be born in the United States. So he made a special trip to see a sister in California, so that I would be born in America and we returned to Mexico where he was posted there.
LEMON: His Mexican born mother is still inspiring him.
RICHARDSON: My mother, who would only speak to me in Spanish always said to me, hijo, se puerte, (SPEAKING SPANISH) opiniones.
Basically she said be strong. Have strong opinions. Don't shy away.
LEMON: But he was a great baseball player in high school and later at Boston's Tufts University. But unlike some minorities of his generation, his edge didn't come from sports.
(on camera): Why did you choose public service?
RICHARDSON: I felt I had an advantage because I was international. I spoke two languages. I loved international affairs, foreign policy. I was a late bloomer in politics. I ran for president of my fraternity house in college and I liked the power that that gave me to do good things.
LEMON (voice-over): Now, nearly four decades after earning a degree in law and diplomacy from Tufts, he is still at it. Recently an early contender as the new Obama administration's Commerce secretary but he bowed out because of a federal investigation alleging pay to play dealings as governor. He was cleared of any wrongdoing just days before I sat down with him.
(on camera): How do you feel about it?
RICHARDSON: Well, I feel good. Because it is behind me. This investigation kept me from being secretary of commerce. I feel vindicated. We did nothing wrong. It's like a cloud has lifted over you so I feel physically better. I feel a big albatross has been taken away. So I'm back. And back doing what I normally do. Active, governor, diplomacy. I'm back.
LEMON (on camera): But don't look just yet for this avid horseman to ride off into the sunset. He's governor until 2011. (on camera): Would you take a position in the administration?
RICHARDSON: Probably not. I mean, you never say never. But right now I'm content with my life. I got a year and a half to go as governor. I've said to my wife who has always followed me in every job. This next job I have you decide. And she doesn't want to go back to Washington. I've also said that what I want to do, something that I've aspired to all my life. I want to visit every single major league baseball stadium and decide which is the best. I want to drive myself.
LEMON (voice-over): Bill Richardson, always the pioneer. That's why he is a Latino first.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: I'm sure he'll do that. Drive across the country. Thank you, Bill Richardson.
Next week as we continue our series on Latinos first, we'll be talking with the first Hispanic to hold the cabinet level in U.S. government. The first ever. His name is Lauro Cavazos. He served as secretary of education under President Reagan and then again under President Bush, the first President Bush.
Coming to CNN in October, "Latino in America," stories you will see only here on CNN. Our Soledad O'Brien hosts.
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LEMON: For you fans of HBO's "Big Love," you know that show, this story is just for you, guys.
Meet Milton. He is a South African man apparently in big demand with the ladies there. Not just one or two or even three, but four. Yes, Milton tied the knot with four brides in one fell swoop yesterday. Why did he do it? Well, besides being in love, he is thrifty. Milton says he would rather pay for just one wedding instead of four. What a guy. Polygamy isn't against the law in South Africa but multiple marriages are considered rare. All right, Milton. Good luck to you, man.
His timing was off but, you know, Kanye West may have been on to something just a little bit that Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. You know, even babies dig it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I can't get enough of this video. He's so cute! This is all over youtube. It is a youtube favorite. It also all over Facebook as well. Go baby, go!
All right. So if you think making a music video takes professional crew and lots of time, well you're wrong. But check this out. This is from the University of - usually it does. This is from the University of Quebec in Montreal. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go, we go easy come, easy go, up and down...
LEMON: 172 students. It took a month of planning. Two hours to set all of this up. They shot it twice. The second one without any edits. Tonight at 10:00, we'll ask the director how they pulled this one off. I'm Don Lemon, CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. See you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern with more on our Chicago deadly street story.
"STATE OF THE UNION" with John King begins right now.
