Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

More Triple-Digit Heat; California Gay Marriage Ban Repealed; Supermodel Naomi Campbell Testifies in War Crimes Trial at The Hague; Connecticut Police Release Tape of 911 Call from Office Shooting; Dash Cam Video Shows Carjacking Suspects Backing SUV into Police

Aired August 05, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, you guys. And good morning, everybody.

Naomi Campbell and Charles Taylor. The supermodel and the dictator. War crimes and blood diamonds. We're taking you to court.

Nuns in the debate over immigration. One of their sisters might still be alive if an illegal immigrant with a long record had been sober.

Hollywood's special effects. They got nothing on Mother Nature. A spectacular northern lights show and now an encore.

It's 9:00 a.m. on the East, 6:00 a.m. out West. I'm Kyra Phillips and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin with the heat. From the lower plains to the northeast it feels like a furnace blast. Extreme heat hanging on for another day and just looking at today's high temps will make you sweat.

Little Rock, 104, Birmingham, 99, Dallas, 102, even New York and Washington in the mid 90s. The heat is not just unbearable but deadly. A Mississippi road construction worker -- first day on the job -- died from extreme heat.

A Tennessee man collapsed and died while mowing his lawn. And listen to this heart-wrencher of a death. While chasing four burglary suspects, this police dog in Georgia died from heat exhaustion.

And this is how wide the heat wave goes. Advisories now in place in 19 states. From New York to Florida to Texas.

And in Memphis, where it's going to be 102 today, firefighters are going door-to-door to check on older and special needs people. They are also asking neighbors to check in on each other.

The city has opened four cooling centers and set up a phone number for people to call for help. But if you don't need a cooling center or knock on the door, how about a free movie?

Some theaters in the Oklahoma City area are offering a cool deal to people 60 years and older. Free admission when the temp tops 100 degrees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mine was free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had my dollar out. And she wouldn't take it. She said you're free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're starting "Beat the Heat" deal for anyone aged 60 or older. It's going to be a free pass for them.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: But it's not just people and animals trying to survive this heat. Nature is, too. Trees are changing color and dropping leaves. It's not a sign of early fall. Experts say that it's just the trees' way of trying to stay alive.

Our Rob Marciano is out in Atlanta's Piedmont Park where it's going to hit 94 today.

What do you think, Rob? Any relief in sight?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, it depends on where you are, Kyra. Certainly a little bit farther north, we've got some cold fronts coming through that will help cool things off. And maybe get as far south as Atlanta to maybe drop the humidity levels.

But that's really been the keys. Those humidity levels, you know, you can't cool off during the day. You can't cool off at night. There's really no relief. And some of these record-high temperatures that came in yesterday just as startling as the day before. And for places like Arkansas, it may wind up being one of the hottest summers on record.

As far as hot springs, it certainly was hot yesterday, 108 degrees. That certainly -- that was a record. And what it feels like right now, and the sun just coming up in some of these spots.

You couple in the heat and humidity, feels like 91 in Shreveport. Feels like 92 in Little Rock. Feels like 96 already in Memphis.

Boy, it was just six months ago we were in Memphis talking about the record cold. And firefighters were going door the door for the record cold. Now they're doing the same for the record heat.

And the problem in some of the larger cities is during the day the sun just heats the cement and the buildings. And at night, that absorbed radiation just radiates back into the surrounding areas. So it just doesn't cool down much if you're near a city and that -- that is a big problem as well.

Heat indexes, 105 to 115 in the pink areas. Excessive heat warnings are out. And as Kyra mentioned heat advisories go all the way up to New York City today. There will be a little bit of a cooldown, as mentioned. A couple of cool fronts. But they're not going to get all the way down to the Deep South. They'll just get about maybe about halfway there.

So that's what's going on with the heat. And then we've got that Colin (ph) where that may percolate a little bit and we'll talk more about that in the coming hours and days.

But the heat is relentless, Kyra. And at least for the Deep South, there is no relief in sight. So all the precautionary measures that they're taking are certainly welcomed. And just -- you know, go ahead and check on your neighbors and do what you need to do to stay cool and survive this heat wave because it's certainly the worst one we've seen so far this summer -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. And I know you'll track it. Thanks, Rob.

Day 108 of the Gulf oil disaster and BP says it's ready to move ahead in the next step of shutting down the ruptured well permanently.

Sometime today the oil giant says it will begin pumping cement down the well in hopes of permanently sealing that leak from above. But the government is also demanding that BP continue work on plugging the leak from below as well.

That relief well and this second procedure could get under way in another week or so.

BP is also fighting a public relations battle. The company is trying to lure angry customers back to their local stations by lowering gas prices by as much as two cents a gallon.

California's ban on same-sex marriage overturned by a federal judge. Outside the San Francisco courthouse signs of anger from gay marriage opponents countered by celebrations from gay rights supporters.

The judge ruled that, quote, "Moral disapproval is not enough to save the Prop 8." The voter-backed ban that defined marriage as only between a man and woman.

But no one thinks that this fight is over. Lawyers on both sides expect this decision to be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.

Ted Rowlands joining us live from Los Angeles.

So, Ted, where does the case go from here?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, initially the first question that needs to be answered, Kyra, is the stay. How long will it be enacted for? Judge Vaughn Walker who issued this 138-page decision also issued a stay in this case.

Both sides are going to argue it this week, at the end of the week. And then the judge will say, all right, is it going to be until the 9th Circuit has it or will it be for X amount of months?

That in question is the first one and then the next step, of course, is going to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel.

Everybody is onboard with the notion that this is the first step of a long process headed towards, as you mentioned, the U.S. Supreme Court. Still last night both sides had a lot of emotion when this judge handed down his decision.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS (voice-over): In San Francisco's Castro district and L.A.'s West Hollywood and downtown the party went late into the night.

Lisa Bartoli (ph) and Anita Zubere were married two years ago.

ANITA ZUBERE, SUPPORTS GAY MARRIAGE: We're in it to the end. And it's going to go to the Supreme Court and I think Americans are going to will understand that we are people. We lead exciting lives, boring lives. We love our family, our friends, our children. And so it is a great day.

ROWLANDS: David Boies and Ted Olson, the attorneys that faced off against each other in 2000 for Bush V. Gore, teamed up successfully to argue this case.

TED OLSON, ATTORNEY, AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR EQUAL RIGHTS: This is the man who did that.

ROWLANDS: Last night they took the stage together at a rally in West Hollywood.

OLSON: We're a part of the way to the end. But it is a very, very important first step.

DAVID BOIES, ATTORNEY, AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR EQUAL RIGHTS: We are a nation of a culture. And that culture is the culture of equality.

ROWLANDS (on camera): The mood may be festive if you're in West Hollywood but the bottom line is Prop 8 did pass in the state of California. And there are a lot of people not only here but across the country that are very upset with the judge's ruling.

RANDY THOMASSON, SAVECALIFORNIA.COM: Mark my words, if marriage to mean anything then marriage ultimately will mean nothing.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): In the ruling Judge Vaughn Walker wrote that Prop 8, quote, "does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same-sex couples."

MAGGIE GALLAGHER, CHAIRWOMAN, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE: Seven million Californians believed that we had a core civil right to organize, to donate, to vote for marriage. One judge in federal -- a federal judge in San Francisco has stripped us of that core civil right.

ROWLANDS: The judge also issued a stay meaning same-sex couples will have to wait to be married until after the appeals process which both sides say they are looking forward to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: And, of course, that appeals process could take some time. Again, the first order of business here in California is to figure out how long this stay will be enacted for.

We did hear one story, Kyra, of a couple that after the judge's decision went into the city hall in San Francisco and tried to get a marriage certificate and apparently they are very close but then the stay came down before they could actually get a marriage license.

But boy, that would have been great in terms of throwing another wrinkle into all of this. Of course you have the 18,000-plus people that did get married before Prop 8 was enacted and they are recognized in the state of California as having legitimate unions.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ted Rowlands, we'll obviously continue the debate. Thank you so much.

Well, this is the first ruling in the country to strike down a marriage ban on federal constitutional grounds. So this could have a ripple effect across the country. Right now the five states in blue and D.C. allow gay marriage.

The states in red have some sort of state ban on same-sex unions and the yellow states give spousal rights to gay couples or recognize out- of-state marriages. While the orange states have a ban in place but still allows some rights to gay couples.

So the gay marriage battle may be Supreme Court bound but by the time the case gets there, the bench could look different.

Elena Kagan could be Supreme Court Justice Kagan by the end of the week. The Senate is supposed to confirm the high court nominee today and she could be sworn in by the end of the week.

The solicitor general was picked by President Obama in May to replace retired Justice John Paul Stevens. Kagan is on track to become the fourth woman ever to serve on the high court bench.

And our Prop 8 coverage continues throughout the day. Coming up at 12:15, a CNN exclusive, plaintiffs in California gay marriage case speak out a day after their courtroom win.

Hear from Paul Katami and also Jeff Zarrillo coming up in about three hours right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Now poor Naomi Campbell getting on her supermodel life then a war crimes trial gets in the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAOMI CAMPBELL, SUPERMODEL: Now I didn't really want to be here so I was made to be here. So obviously I'm just like wanting to get this over with and get on with my life. This is a big inconvenience for me.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, sorry for the inconvenience. But there's the small matter of a man accused of fuelling a civil war that left thousands of people dead or mutilated.

We'll explain why Miss Campbell has gone from supermodel to model witness.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about Naomi Campbell. You might know her as the supermodel with a bad temper. But did you know she's a star witness in a war crimes trial? Campbell testified today in the trial of Charles Taylor.

Let's talk about him first. Taylor is the former ruler of Liberia. And he's accused of stirring up a civil war across the border into Sierra Leone.

This war raged on from 1991 to 2002 and it was brutal. About 50,000 people were killed. Civilians, men, women, children, murdered. Their arms and legs hacked off and tortured in many other ways.

A lot of the attackers, teenagers forced to kill, rape and plunder and given drugs to make them even more violent.

Charles Taylor believed to be a major player behind all of it. How did he pay for it? With the region's precious natural resource, diamonds. And that's what prosecutors are claiming now.

So where does Naomi Campbell fit into all of this? Let's connect the dots. Or the diamonds, in this case.

Naomi says that two mystery men gave her rough 30 diamonds back in 1997 during that war. Campbell assumed they came from Taylor.

Here's why her story is so important. If prosecutors can link Taylor to those diamonds, they could link him to the atrocities. It would help prove that Taylor had contact with the currency that paid for the death and chaos. Taylor has always denied he handled diamonds during the war.

The trial is happening at The Hague. Netherlands. Prosecutors rested their case more a year ago. But when they learned about the Naomi Campbell connection, they reopened it. Here's a bit of what she said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since that time, or even later that night, have you had any other contact with Mr. --

NAOMI CAMPBELL, WAR CRIMES TRIAL WITNESS: No contact. I have never seen him again since the dinner table. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: And, Miss Campbell, I notice, again, you are answering before I finish --

CAMPBELL: Sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: Are you a bit nervous?

CAMPBELL: No. Well, I didn't really want to be here. So I was made to be here. So, obviously, I'm just wanting to get this over with and get on with my life. This is a big inconvenience for me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: And you said you didn't want to be here. Why did you not want to be here?

CAMPBELL: Because I really don't want anything to do with this, and I care about the protection of my family. And as I said on television before, I didn't want to have anything to do with this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: Why would you be concerned about the protection of your family?

CAMPBELL: Because this is someone that I read up on the internet that's killed thousands of people, supposedly, and I don't want my family in any danger in any way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Phil Black is following this story for us. He joins us from The Hague. Quite the spectacle. World famous supermodel sauntering in to give testimony like this, Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. Quite extraordinary, really. The idea of a supermodel giving evidence at a war crimes trial.

The prosecutors had wanted Naomi Campbell to come along today and confirm that yes, she had received a gift of uncut diamonds from Charles Taylor, tying him to the possession of such diamonds, as you pointed out, which they say is a big part of their case. Proving that he had these diamonds and these diamonds were, in fact, the motivation, really, behind his alleged involvement in all the war crimes that took place during that conflict in Sierra Leone.

But Naomi Campbell came up short. She admitted that following a dinner party at former South African president Nelson Mandela's home, she was woken in the middle of the night and received a gift. She said she didn't ask who it was from. Didn't ask what they were and didn't think about it. Didn't know at the time that they were diamonds because they weren't sparkly, didn't come in a box. She didn't know and has never known that, yes, they came from Charles Taylor.

The best the prosecutors got today was that yes, she appears to have received what were probably or could have been blood diamonds. Not knowing what they are, not knowing what they're from. Then gave them away all within hours, mysteriously, of being in Charles Taylor's company. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: So Phil, do we know for a fact that these two did not have any type of relationship and that this was a gift to somebody that he was attracted to or wanted to court?

BLACK: Well, according to Naomi Campbell, they met for the first time over the dinner table at Nelson Mandela's home that day. She says, however, she didn't speak to him directly. Spoke in very general terms to him. She'd never heard of him, had never even heard of his country, Liberia, previously. So she said when she went to bed she didn't simply -- didn't give it any further thought.

Having said that, there's going to be some contradictory evidence to that heard in this court next week, when her former agent, Carole White, gives evidence here. Because she's already given a statement to this court saying that Naomi Campbell flirted with Charles Taylor over the dinner table. They talked about diamonds, he promised to give her some over the dinner table, and she knew that that gift was going to be delivered at some course over the night, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Final question, Phil, and it's a bit of a different angle. But when you mention that they were having dinner at the table of Nelson Mandela, you tend to wonder, what was this relationship between Nelson Mandela and this dictator accused of killing and torturing so many people?

BLACK: At that time, Charles Taylor had not long been the president of Liberia. And I guess at the very least, these were both heads of state within Africa. But already then, it's certainly fair to say, that Charles Taylor was a controversial figure.

In fact, there has been some evidence presented in the court today that Nelson Mandela's partner, his future wife, Graca Machel, was, in fact, particularly unpleased to have -- displeased to have Charles Taylor in their home that evening. Was reluctant to allow guests to have their photo taken with him, and has said to guests that she was doing their best to make him leave.

So, controversial dinner table guest, no doubt, on a night there were other celebrities there. Particularly from the United States and across other parts of the world as well. But he was a guest to a dinner party hosted by Nelson Mandela, where all the guests had been formally invited, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I tell you, it's quite an intriguing story as it develops even more. Phil Black, thanks so much.

A cop had the carjacker suspect right where he wanted him. Trapped with nowhere go. Or so he thought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Right, then. Let's keep our men on the tail of that car.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Oooh. Didn't see that coming. We'll tell you how it ended up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories. Day 108 of the Gulf oil crisis. BP plans to start pouring cement down that well. It's the next stage of the static kill operation designed to make a permanent seal. Louisiana officials say that coastal areas are still affected by patches of oil.

In northwestern Pakistan, intense monsoon rains let up, allowing aid groups to reach more flood victims. At least 1500 people have died last week. Thousands of homes have been destroyed. Many bridges and roads are washed out.

The battle over same-sex marriage in California, far from over. A federal judge ruled yesterday that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Prop 8 is the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. The case is expected to be appealed and could finally wind up before the Supreme Court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's check the stories making headlines across the country now. Let's begin our travels in Connecticut and the site of Tuesday's workplace shootings. Police have released 911 calls from the chaotic scene, including one from a company executive who was wounded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPERATOR: 911.

CALLER: I need the cops here at Hartford Distributors right away. Shooting.

OPERATOR: What's going on? Who got shot?

CALLER: Somebody got shot, I got shot.

OPERATOR: OK, I need some information, sir. Who got shot?

CALLER: Somebody -- We need the cops. Omar Thorton, shooting people. I just got shot.

OPERATOR: OK, I need to know what his name is and what he looks like.

CALLER: His name is Omar Thorton, he's a black guy. Get the cops here right away, please.

OPERATOR: Sir, stay on the line while my partner --

CALLER: Bleeding all over the place.

OPERATOR: OK. How many people got shot?

CALLER: I don't know.

OPERATOR: OK, you don't know. And you're shot where?

CALLER: In my head.

OPERATOR: You're shot in the head?

CALLER: Yes.

OPERATOR: And what's your name?

CALLER: My name is Steve Hollander (ph).

OPERATOR: And where are you in the building, sir?

CALLER: I'm hiding in an office.

OPERATOR: Hiding where?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A disgruntled worker killed eight people before killing himself. Today, new details could emerge. The president of the business has scheduled an afternoon news conference, and family members of some of those victims are also expected to attend.

Happening thing hour in New York, the ex-hot dog eating champ accused of raising a ruckus at this year's contest is set to appear in a Brooklyn court. Takeru Kobayashi rushed the stage at competition on Coney Island on July 4th. He's been barred from the event because of a contract dispute with the organizer. Kobayashi's charged with resisting arrest, trespassing, obstruction of justice, and disorderly conduct.

There maybe new problems down the road for legendary bicyclist Lance Armstrong "The New York Times" reports that federal prosecutors are intensifying the investigation into whether he used performance- enhancing drugs. The newspaper says that fellow cyclists are now saying that Armstrong took part in a systematic doping ring. They also said that cheating was widespread in Armstrong's US Postal Service team. Armstrong has long denied any wrongdoing.

Now some thrilling and scary dashcam video. A cop in Maryland chasing an SUV full of carjacking suspects. He thinks he has them trapped right where he wants them, but he didn't factor in the reverse gear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're heading into 3 B, heading over the (INAUDIBLE) main bridge. He's going to hit a vehicle (INAUDIBLE) on the bridge. There's a vehicle there. Stand by.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, let's keep going on this.

SETH CARSON, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD POLICE: First thought to me, this is great, because the driver's side door is pinned on the car, and the passenger side's pinned on the bridge, and like, they can't get out. They can't even run.

Next thing I know, I see the reverse lights, and I go, "Oh, this is good." They came at me, at first I thought if they hit me, it would just hit me. I didn't think it would drive over me like Bigfoot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: "Bigfoot" as in the monster truck, not that hairy legend in the Pacific northwest, by the way. No one was seriously hurt. Police arrested three teens.

You think your cat is a genius? How about a blue jay? Just how smart or dumb your household pet is. Up next on A.M. Extra.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The opening bell rang just a few seconds ago. Investors expected to remain cautious ahead of tomorrow's July jobs reports. Weekly unemployment claims rose by 19,000. Continuing claims fell slightly. That news put pressure on the market ahead of the bell. The market also has sales numbers to digest from about 25 of the nation's retail chains.

Steamy weather across the country got people into the malls. But Americans remain cautious about spending. That raises worries going into the back-to-school season. Back to school is the second most important season retailers behind Christmas.

This morning President Obama showcases his high hopes for the nation's automotive industry. Less than two hours from now, he will speak at a Ford plant in Chicago where the company is adding some 1,200 jobs. Ford, you may remember, is the only major U.S. auto maker that didn't take a government bailout. We're going to have live coverage of that speech that's scheduled to get under way 11:15 Eastern Time.

OK, animal lovers. I know many of you think that your pet cat, dog, parrot, hamster, is the smartest of its species. Smarter than shaggy DA, Benji, and Lassie combined. Well, think again. You may want to bring a bonobo, or maybe a blue jay home.

For hundreds of years animal lovers and scientists have wondered, can animals move beyond instinct? Are they capable of complex thought and emotions? Our sister publication "Time" magazine tackles that question in this week's cover story.

Our John Roberts actually sat down the author of that article.

So, what did you learn, John?

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": Well, Jeff Kluger, who wrote the article for "Time" magazine, came in the this morning. I learned from him that as intelligent you may think that your dog or cat is, and I know -- how much you love dogs and cats, Kyra. No matter how smart you think your dog or cat is, a blue jay or crow is actually higher up on the intelligence scale. At the top of the scale are the seditions, the whales, the dolphins, and then great apes. Among those, the subspecies of ape, the bonobo, has demonstrated at least at the Great Ape Society of Iowa, shades of extraordinary intelligence. It's a 29 year-old bonobo Konzi has a board that's got icons on it, which Konzi uses it to communicate with people and can also understand language.

Take a look at this clip here, this piece of video. A woman, a researcher who has a welder's mask on so that she's not giving any facial cues to Konzi, simply asking him with her voice to do certain tasks.

Watch this piece of video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Konzi, pour the Perrier water in the jelly. Thank you. That's good. That's good. You see the TV set? Could you take the TV outdoors? Could you carry the television outdoors, please?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: OK. So, John, is he just copying what he's learned in the past? Or are these real thoughts?

ROBERTS: Yes. It is pretty remarkable when you look at that video. You might say - and I asked Jeff Kluger this question this morning, how different is that than saying to your dog, fetch, or sit, or roll over? I remember with the dog I used to have, I'd say, where's your ball, where's your ball? And the dog would go and find the ball.

He says that it's far more complex than that. That she is actually asking him a long series of thoughts that he is putting together. As well, when Jeff went in to visit Konzi, and he was at that pictoral board with all those icons on it that he uses to communicate, first of all, he asked him if he would like to, by pushing two icons, have coffee. Then a concept which there was an icon for, he actually made something up. He was eating kale, you know, the vegetable, and he called it slow lettuce by pushing the two icons thinking that -- it takes longer to eat than regular lettuce, so how can I describe this? Slow lettuce.

It's pretty remarkable when you think that this bonobo may actually be processing and reasoning through very complex thoughts.

PHILLIPS: We've heard about how this species is intelligent before.

But are there other animals with these types of abilities that may surprise us?

ROBERTS: Well, dolphins have demonstrated intelligence capabilities. That's why they're very close to the top of the list along with bonobos. The Corvidae species of bird, which would include blue jays and crows have been known to use tools to try to get what they need, even filling up a jar full of water with pebbles or half full of water with pebbles so that it brings the water closer to the surface.

Then you get further down the intelligence scale into pack animals, like hyenas and wolves. And then further into herd animals. And then your lowly mollusks and bivalves as they're called, oysters and things. They're at the very bottom. When you eat an oyster, don't worry, it doesn't know that you're doing it.

But, I've got to say, Kyra, that on the very, very bottom of the intelligence scale is my daughter's poor dog, Maddy (ph).

PHILLIPS: The one that didn't handle a thunderstorm and ended up in the sink?

ROBERTS: Who was very scared by a thunderstorm and ended up in the sink.

PHILLIPS: And if I remember, your daughter sent you that picture at like 1:00 in the morning.

ROBERTS: She did. And the dog later gave up the sink for the bathtub. The poor dog. We should mention that she has epilepsy and - her poor little brain is partly fried. And that's the reason why thunderstorms really scare her.

PHILLIPS: OK.

ROBERTS: I'm just kidding. She's not at the bottom of the intelligence --

PHILLIPS: Poor Maddy, the dog can't catch break.

Thanks, John.

Well, you never know what is stuffed in back of the freezer. TV dinners that you bought in 1996 and forgot about or maybe an old ship stuffed in the earth's freezer since 1853. Wonder if it's still any good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Superhero to the rescue. We know he can leap over tall buildings and pick up cars with his bare hands. But, who knew that Superman could save a real family's home from foreclosure? Yes, it looks like that's exactly what's going to happen.

A New York family was in the process of packing up and moving out of their home when they discovered a rare copy of "Action Comics No. 1" in their basement. It is the comic book that introduced Superman to the world and it's considered the Holy Grail of comic books. It could rake in $250,000 on the auction block later this month. Luckily bank officials say they're going to wait for the cash.

Eerie lights and a ghastly glow. If you live in the northern United States you may have seen the spectacular display of the Northern Lights. The celestial show has lit up skies from Montana to Maine, and it's all tied to this past weekend when the sun erupted with a mighty belch. What we're seeing now is charged particles plowing into the earth's magnetic field.

All right. Let's take a closer look. CNN's Josh Levs brings us more images and probably some pretty good facts that we didn't know.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Take a look at this.

We are getting so many pictures of these Northern Lights from people that have been all over the world. We're getting a lot of them out of Norway, also some from Ontario, also some people in Michigan getting great views of them.

The basic idea here is that the sun is kind of waking up after a long slumber and its surface erupted the other day sending out this plasma, this ionized particles. What happens is these things stream down and they end up basically getting attracted to the poles of the earth, the magnetic poles. And they crash into nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere and they light up in the atmosphere. And you end up seeing pretty incredible images.

Depending where you lived, you may have had a spectacular view. This is one of the best right here. Take a look at that. In fact, we have a time lapse video. This is from our iReporter Jesper Grone (ph). We put this together and what you can see is more than 100 different images that show what he was able to see over time. And he created a time lapse video out of it.

Now some of you might be wondering, hey, no fair. I didn't get to see it, I want to check it out. Well, guess what? I was just learning from our folks in our weather department here that some of you might be able to. We have a Google Earth image I want to you see here. It's possible that some people in the U.P, the upper peninsula, that are of Michigan, might actually get a view tonight. There could still be some remnants of this.

Also, there will be a pretty good view probably for some folks who are in parts of Europe, especially northern Europe. But definitely the best stuff that was there taking place over the last two nights. And we're getting more and more images in. So in the coming days, our folks at iReport.com are going to keep filling up the list over here, sending us these spectacular photos.

Let's go through these one more time. And I will tell you, it's rare that you get to see something like this. But NASA is saying that there's more and more solar activity as the sun starts to wake up. So one thing we can watch for is the positive side of all of that in coming years, Kyra, is potentially more beautiful Northern Lights, this aurora, when the particles go crashing through the sky, you get to see something pretty cool in the middle of the night.

PHILLIPS: That is pretty cool. Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: You got it, sure.

PHILLIPS: Here's something else that's pretty cool. Up from the deep, ghostly images of a sunken British Navy ship trapped under Arctic ice for more than 150 years. This is the first video ever shown of the HMS Investigator, which was abandoned in 1853. It was dispatched to the Arctic to rescue an earlier expedition but it got stuck. And the crew spent two years on board before rescue. (INAUDIBLE) Canada is now looking over the wreck well preserved by the frigid Arctic waters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Pressing our political ticker. Black members of the Tea Party say that their movement is not racist. Two dozen black conservative leaders are standing together to praise the grassroots groups about a month after the NAACP accused them of harboring racist elements. Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, just one in a long lineup of speakers who shot down those racism charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN KEYES, CHAIRMAN, CONSERVATIVE PARTY, PAC: Because I always hesitate to feed what I think is the sad and stereotypical effort on the part of the Obama faction, Democrats, the media, others, who always seem to want to drive the politics of this country in a direction that sees everything through the lens of the phony category of race. It's a phony category, of course, because human communities really don't define themselves like breeds of dogs and cats, according to physical characteristics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The NAACP resolution did not brand the entire Tea Party movement as racist, but civil rights group points to racist signs on display at Tea Party rallies, saying that the movement's leaders aren't doing enough to drive out racists in the ranks.

Tennessee primary voters go to the polls today. One choice they have to make is a Republican candidate for governor. The U.S. Congressman, the lieutenant governor, and the mayor of Knoxville are the choices. And a sitting Democratic Congressman is getting a primary challenge from the former mayor of Memphis. While Harrington tells voters to pick him because there are no other African-Americans representing Tennessee in Congress.

The Republican National Committee is gathering in Kansas City and one its biggest goals - raise a ton of money -- $107 million this year, to be exact. It comes as Chairman Michael Steele battles some embarrassing missteps of the committee's war chest. Most famously, a $2,000 reimbursement for a bar tab at a bondage-themed Hollywood nightclub.

From hip hop artist to Mr. President, sounds pretty far-fetched. But it's a dream of Wyclef Jean. Now the recording artist who has been center stage in the Haiti earthquake relief efforts says he wants to run for president and he's expected to make that announcement in an exclusive interview on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE." You can watch Wyclef Jean's big announcement tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern

Nuns get caught up in the debate over immigration. One of their sisters might still be alive if an illegal immigrant with a long record had been sober.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So where do you start with this story? With the DUI laws that failed or the immigration laws that failed? It looks like they both failed miserably in this case.

An illegal immigrant with a long record gets behind the wheel again, allegedly drunk again. Now he is accused of killing a woman in a car crash and the victim, a nun.

CNN's Brian Todd has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A life of devoted service cut short, police say, by a speeding drunk driver. At this bridge in Northern Virginia, according to police, Carlos Montano swerved off the road, hit a guardrail, careened across the opposite lane, hit a wall and slammed head-on into a Toyota sedan.

Two nuns were seriously injured. Sister Denise Mosier killed instantly. At the monastery of the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia, Sister Andrea Verchuck talked about the 30-plus people who Sister Denise regularly counseled.

(on camera): How big a loss is this for them?

SISTER ANDREA VERCHUCK, BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF VIRGINIA: I'm sure it's a great loss, because they depended on her.

TODD (voice-over): While grieving the loss of their colleague and praying for the recovery of the other two, the sisters here at the Benedictine Monastery find themselves caught up in a much broader story about politics and illegal immigration. Something they say they would rather not be involved in.

But officials in Prince William County aren't about to let go of this case.

(on camera): What makes you most angry about this case?

COREY STEWART, PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: What makes me just furious about this case is that we've handed this person. This illegal alien, we identified him as an illegal alien, we told ICE that he had -- he had twice been convicted now of DUI's -- that he was -- he posed a threat to the community and they turned around and they released him right back into the neighborhood --

TODD: Prince William board supervisor, Corey Stewart is referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, ICE.

Carlos Montano has a long rap sheet. Before last weekend's accident, prosecutors say, he'd been convicted twice of DUI, once for reckless driving, twice for speeding, once for public drunkenness and other violations, all while being an illegal immigrant. He'd had his license revoked more than a year ago. CNN was unsuccessful in trying to reach a representative for Montano. Officials with ICE tell CNN, Montano has been handed over to them twice, but they've had to release him each time because his offenses haven't been serious enough for mandatory detention.

He's been monitored and has been in court proceedings for removal from the U.S. But the case hasn't yet worked its way through system. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano who oversees ICE responded to CNN's question about that.

JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: This is a terrible, terrible thing but it's also something that I have immediately asked to be looked at.

So, why is it that this individual was still out driving? He was in removal proceedings. Why were the removal proceedings taking so long? I do not, obviously, as of today, have the results of that, but I will get them.

TODD: Back at the monastery, I asked Sister Andrea what her friend would have said to Carlos Montano.

VERCHUCK: I could practically quote Sister Denise. If she had been conscious at the time that he was taken from the wreck and if Carlos had been there, she would have said, Carlos, I forgive you.

TODD: But officials here are not ready to forgive so quickly. Right now, Carlos Montano was charge in this case with involuntary manslaughter and DUI but the commonwealth attorney for Prince William County told me he's likely to pursue more serious charges, including felony murder.

Those proceedings would take priority over his immigration case and a conviction could put Montano in prison for about 40 years.

Brian Todd, CNN, Woodbridge, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, well next hour I'm going to talk to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. You heard him right there in Brian Todd's story. And I'm going to ask him directly what he is doing to make sure those laws don't fail like this again.

Here's what else we're working on in the next hour at CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in with Phil Black once again -- Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, here in the Netherlands, supermodel Naomi Campbell has been answering questionings about whether she received a gift of blood diamonds from an accused war criminal. I'll have more on that extraordinary court appearance coming up at the top of hour.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in Piedmont Park in Atlanta where it's going to be another steamy day. Heat advisory and some heat warnings again across much of the southeastern third -- dangerous heat. We'll have a live report in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia in the next hour.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Alison Kosik in New York. Will social security be around when you retire? We'll get an update today on the financial health of the program from raising the retirement age to increasing the taxes. We're going to break down some of the options for fixing social security. That's coming up in the next hour.

PHILLIPS: And they're running from Afghanistan's battlefields. Not quite whole but far from defeated. Our Barbara Starr has a moving tribute to the nation's wounded warriors. She follows them on a long journey home in our next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Mother of two sentenced to death by stoning after she alleged admitted adultery in Iran. Now, last month an international outcry put that case on hold. But a final verdict is expected today and the woman's life or death lies in the balance. Her attorney is seeking asylum in Turkey and our Ivan Watson spoke to him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPONDENT: Mohammad Mostafaei said he knew the risk he was taking by bringing the world's attention to the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two, who was scheduled to be stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery in Iran.

But Mostafaei said he had to do what's right. And so he loudly proclaimed his client's innocence to the world. Internet campaigns and rallies held worldwide in support of Ashtiani turned the international spotlight on her case but also turned Iran's attention inward it seems on Mostafaei.

Now Mostafaei sits in a detention center in Turkey, waiting to hear if he'll be granted asylum while his wife sits in Evin Prison in Iran, waiting to learn what charges, if any, will be filed against her.

Human rights groups Mostafaei's wife is being held as collateral and accused the Iranian government of trying to pressure Mostafaei to stop talking about the Ashtiani case.

RUDI BAKHTIAR, INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, IRAN: This is something that the government of Iran has tried over and over again to hush with using fear, intimidation tactics, and also imprisoning anyone that they feel is threatening.

WATSON: In an open letter allegedly penned while in hiding, Mostafaei explained his decision to flee his homeland. "Despite the arrest of the American I love most in my life, I've decided not to ever set foot in a judicial office where the interrogators do not abide by basic laws." His anguish and his anger at the Iranian judiciary pour out on to the page. "I leave you and your interrogator at the mercy of God, the creator," he says. "I hope that you won't let my child cry for her mother, not eating food and wanting her mother back. She needs to hug her mother. If through this separation from her mother she gets hurt, it's a sin that you have committed."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Ivan Watson is joining us now live from Istanbul, Turkey. So Ivan, could we possibly see a court decision today?

WATSON: It's not entirely clear. What we do know is that a senior official from the Iranian Foreign Ministry briefed a United Nations committee in Geneva today. And he said he was amazed at how journalists had swayed public opinion on this matter. This is Mr. Golan Hussein Deani (ph), he said, quote, "The woman was not only accused of double adultery, but had also been found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband. And in Iran, anybody who murders an innocent person could be subject to capital punishment."

The big question is, how is she supposed to defend herself in court if one of her key lawyers had to flee the country? When we spoke with Mr. Mostafaei who's at a detention center not far from where I'm standing here in Istanbul he said the Iranian authorities, quote, "told me if you don't turn yourself in, we will not let your family go." That is, his wife who he says has been detained without charge in Iran.

And he, quote, "made a decision after I saw that they were still going to arrest me and mistreat me that I must leave Iran. It was a very hard decision." And he's calling on the international community to raise attention to demand the release of his wife from prison inside Iran -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Definitely let us know if you get a decision. Thanks so much Ivan.