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Dow Rises; Recall Election in Wisconsin; Interview With Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; Interview With Atlanta Division FBI Officer Brian Lamkin; Young Group of Sibling Goes on Crime Spree; Man Shoots Girlfriend and Many Others; Recall Elections Taking Place in Wisconsin; Warren Jeffs Gets Life in Prison; Dominique Strauss-Kahn Case: Hotel Maid Files Civil Suit against Him; Dow Soars 400-Plus Points on Wild Day; House Page Program to End

Aired August 09, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let me just welcome all of you back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Top of the hour, let's just -- just because we can, guys, let's pull the Big Board up once again. You can see the Dow finishing today in the green, up triple digits in the positive territory, up 430 points, good news after the last two trading days.

We're going to get right to Wall Street here in just a moment. But quickly here's a look at what else we have got coming up this hour on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): A high-speed shoot-out, an armed bank robbery, and cryptic text messaging sent on the run. Two brothers and their big sister eluding police. States across the country on the lookout.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I promise you, we will win and we're going to bring you to justice.

BALDWIN: Plus, six months after this, it's up to the voters of Wisconsin to decide the fate of six recalled Republicans. I will explain why millions of dollars have been poured into this massive state battle.

America's schools falling short, not making the grade.

ARNE DUNCAN, U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY: We need to raise the bar and we can't afford to wait.

BALDWIN: Whose fault is it? An urgent plea from the top educator in this country. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is live on my show.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: And welcome back here.

Just in here to us at CNN, the Dow is in positive territory, which is a welcome relief for many of you investing there in the market. Again, the Dow, the number still settling, the Dow up 429 points.

I want to bring my colleague Alison Kosik back into the mix for me as always at the New York Stock Exchange.

And, Alison, to what do we attribute this? Essentially the Fed coming out and saying, look, we will keep the interest rates the same. But it wasn't like they were doing a happy dance, because essentially they're talking about inflation up, unemployment, that's still going to gradually decline. It wasn't some big magical solution.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what? Wall Street liked what the Fed said.

But just to get to this point of 430 points higher, I'll tell you what. Talk about volatility, Brooke. Today's session, it was a seesaw on top of a roller coaster. At one point, we saw the Dow move 200 points higher. Then it dropped 200 points in a matter of minutes. Now, a lot of this volatility came right after the Fed came out with its decision and its statement.

Now, if you talk to some traders, they say, you know what? Wall Street was looking for a confidence boost and it didn't get it in this statement. You talk to other traders and they say, you know what? What you saw here was big relief rally that the Fed finally acknowledged the economy is weak and that it pledged it will continue to give the economy support through investments from its previous economic stimulus ban.

That's what really set stocks higher. The bad news, though, the Central Bank sharply downgraded its view of the economy for the third time this year. But back to the good news from the Fed, as you said, Brooke, it plans to keep interest rates near zero for another two years. And what that also did is send the yield on the 10-year treasury tumbling near an all-time low. Remember, S&P downgraded U.S. debt just days ago -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: No longer that stellar AAA rating, but we will take the triple-digit increase in the Dow this afternoon. Alison Kosik, thank you.

And I want to talk a little bit more about this Fed meeting today. And to do so, I want to bring in Poppy Harlow.

And, Poppy, it sounds like the takeaway is not so much what the Fed did as what it said in its assessment of our recovery.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we knew. I mean, there was no one doubting that they were going to keep interest rates at these exceptionally low levels between zero and a quarter of a percent. We know that it's always about this thing, this statement, this press release from the Federal Reserve that we got at 2:15 Eastern time.

BALDWIN: Four paragraphs. HARLOW: Yes, exactly.

But we really care about -- we hang on sort of every single word they give us. I want to point out some of the key words. I think we can pull them up on your screen if you have got them. They expect a somewhat slower pace of recovery, right there acknowledging what we are all feeling. They say the unemployment rate will only decline gradually. Yes, we have been expecting this for a long time, but, as Alison said, they're now acknowledging this.

What also stood out is they said the downside risks to the economic outlook have increased. That means a few months ago when they met as Central Bankers the situation has gotten worse. They also went on, Brooke, to point out the fact that a few months ago, we had higher energy prices, higher food prices, but they said that only accounts for some of this slowdown. So you can't blame the whole slowdown on that.

What they didn't say -- and this is always important too -- what is not in this release is that they didn't say that they're launching another program to help prop up or stimulate the economy. They said, yes, we're going to keep interest rates exceptionally low, by the way, until the middle of 2013. That is almost 24 months away.

So they are saying in essence that they think the economy is going to need that help from low interest rates for the next two years. But what they didn't say is that they will have what we would deem in Wall Street talk as QE3 or quantitative easing 3, meaning buying back a lot of bonds in order to prop up the economy. They didn't do that. That would be very, very difficult to do right now. It would get a lot of political backlash to do right now, Brooke.

So they didn't say that. And I thought it was fascinating. You saw that huge sell-off after they came out --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Right after they came out, it went down. Exactly.

And I was talking to Neel Kashkari last hour and I said, look, would a quick cash injection help things at all? And he said, no, not necessarily long term. And you talk about things that perhaps were missing from this statement. And I sort of sat here puzzled reading this final line, vexed.

They say, we will continue to access the economic outlook in light of incoming information and is prepared to deploy those tools as appropriate.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Poppy Harlow, what tools are available to the Fed to help us in this recovery?

HARLOW: It's exactly what I was talking about before, something called QE3. BALDWIN: OK.

HARLOW: Essentially saying we're going to spend even more money. We're going to buy up a bunch of bonds. It's what they did twice already. That's why there was QE1, QE2. They did that already.

That last sort of stimulus program, if you can call it that through monetary policy ended June 30. And we all knew that was coming to an end. There was fears there was going to be a big sell- off after that. We didn't see this big decline until the past two weeks. They have the ability. They always have the ability to keep interest rates low, to buy a lot of bonds, to try to do things that they think will stimulate the economy.

But, Brooke, there are those that would argue the Fed has already done that. Policy-makers have done so much. Are they running out of ammunition, and is it just us relying on the private sector just like you asked Neel Kashkari, which was spot on. Do American corporations have some sort of a moral obligation to spend all that cash and hire people?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: And he kind of said yes.

HARLOW: You know what? But no one can make them do that. And until we turn around the jobs picture and get a lot of hiring, people aren't going to spend and 70 percent of our growth in this country comes from everyone watching right now spending money. How can you ask them to do that when they're trying to de-lever, pay down their debt?

So it is unfortunately this vicious cycle, but I will take that close on Wall Street today, up 430 points.

BALDWIN: I was about to say.

HARLOW: We will take it.

BALDWIN: Exactly. Let's just say it again, up 430 points on the Dow, quite the different picture, as you and myself and a number of us were pontificating the downward slope of the markets right around this time yesterday.

Poppy Harlow, thank you so much.

But now I do want to switch gears and talk a little bit more about a very, very somber happening at an Air Force base today in Delaware. President Obama, his defense secretary, his service chiefs, they're all there at Dover Air Force Base joining more than 250 members of military families from all across the country.

They're there. They're watching the bodies of 30 U.S. service members returning to the United States. These are the special forces troops, the Navy SEALs, the Army air crewmen who went down in that Chinook helicopter early Saturday in the mountains of Afghanistan. Barbara Starr live for us at the Pentagon.

And, Barbara, tell me more about this ceremony. We have called them dignified transfers. What exactly happens?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, what we're talking about of course is the return of the fallen, the 22 Navy SEALs, some Air Force special operations troops, the Army crew on board that flew the second and some Afghan troops.

They are all now at this hour coming off the aircraft, two C-17 transport aircraft on the runway at Dover. Very somber ceremony. They are being taken off by military pallbearers in a very slow, dignified process.

We have seen it on TV before when families have granted permission for these ceremonies to take place. We know what they look like, but we will not see today's events. The Pentagon says because the remains are not identifiable, the families are not able to give permission for specific sets of remains to be seen coming off the plane.

So, the entire ceremony closed to the public, but at least 38 sets of remains, and this is now going to on for a couple of hours, we're told. It will take a very long time for them all to come off the planes, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And another important point, some of us where wondering why were all 38 bodies. We mentioned the 30 Americans, the eight Afghans who were also killed. Why are all of them being returned to the United States?

STARR: It's an unusual circumstance.

This is as a result of course of the Chinook helicopter being shot down on Saturday by a suspected Taliban rocket-propelled grenade. It was a catastrophic event, the helicopter utterly destroyed. And due to the catastrophic nature of the shoot-down, basically the remains are not identifiable. So they have to bring them all back, get them all identified and sort it all out.

The Afghans will be returned home. But we see here the names, the faces of the fallen. So many of the families have decided to speak out this week about their loved ones. They want people to know about them. They want them to know about their military service.

One of the wrinkles, though, right now, Brooke, is whether the Pentagon itself will formally announce the names of the fallen. Right now, we're in unprecedented waters right now. The Pentagon may not announce them. They say they want to keep them private because they belong to a covert unit, but the reality is, as we see from these pictures, so many families do want their loved ones to be recognized.

BALDWIN: So many of them coming out and speaking and maybe for some of them, it is cathartic.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you so much.

And as the bodies of these service members return home, a powerful cleric sends a rare and disturbing warning to American troops. Coming up, what he's threatening to do if they don't leave Iraq very soon.

But up next:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUNCAN: We need to raise the bar and we can't afford to wait. So it's not my job to psychoanalyze Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: If kids aren't passing tests and reaching their goals, is it OK to let them and schools off the hook? President Obama is gutting a Bush administration law that basically give states a way out, but he's doing it without Congress.

I will ask Education Secretary Arne Duncan some tough questions here, including what to make of all of these cheating scandals across the nation.

The secretary will join me live. Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, Quick check of the big board. You can see the numbers really starting to settle now. We're 14 minutes past the closing bell on Wall Street, the Dow up 429 point. This is quite the about-face. Right around this time, it had tanked in the red, some 634 points, a lot of people pointing to the Fed, the Fed coming out and saying one thing.

They're going to keep those interest rates zero to a quarter percent right there to hopefully get stimulating the economy, get people spending. They're going to keep them there right through mid- 2013. Keep your eye on the Big Board there. Go to CNNMoney.com.

Coming up next, the secretary of education, Arne Duncan, on this show live -- back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it, "Rapid Fire."

Let's go, beginning with London. Look at these pictures. Three days and nights of rioting. Parts of the city look as they did after the blitz. Sixteen thousand police officers, they've now doubled the fore there to 16,000, they're trying to restore order even as rioting continues to spread.

Prime Minister David Cameron.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is criminality pure and simple, and it has to be confronted and defeated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: There is new information today about the shooting death of a man last week that sparked a lot of this rioting. An independent investigation says there is no evidence the man ever shot at officers. That is likely to inflame the situation.

The rioting has claimed its first victim, a man found in a car last night shot in the head. He later died.

And then there's this -- it looks as though a good Samaritans -- I say that loosely -- helping a man injured in the rioting here. You saw the guy in the backpack, look a little closer, maybe we'll play it again. Those guys were actually distracting him so they could steal things out of his backpack. London, that's what's happening.

Also today, a warning from Iraq's radical Shiite cleric Mqutada al Sadr. He issued a letter in English on his website saying American troops should, "go back to your families," that "you and we as well lead a peaceful life together." Iraq's leaders have until the end of the year to decide whether to request some of the 47,000 American forces to stay in their country next year.

Heavy explosions lighting up the sky there. This is Tripoli. Our CNN crew shot these images. They say air strikes and secondary explosions continued for about an hour.

Separately from this, just about 100 miles away, a Libyan government spokesperson accuses NATO of airstrikes that kill kilned more than 80 civilians. NATO officials say their targets were farm buildings used as staging areas for forces and at this time have no knowledge of civilian casualties.

After nearly 30 grouping hours trying to become the first person to swim from Florida to Cuba without a shark cage, Diana Nyad calling it quits. She's back at home in the U.S. Listen as the 61-year-old explains for herself what went wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANA NYAD, XTREME DREAM: Last night at midnight, I was trembling. The 11 hours of asthma had taken so much from my body that I was absolutely spent. When I found out it would be not only to swim at midnight through the rest of the night through this entire day, through this entire night coming up, I just knew that it wasn't mind over matter anymore. I was absolutely spent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I say congratulations to her for even trying that feat.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on Diana in this hour-long documentary they're calling " XTREME DREAM: DIANA NYAD." Watch it Saturday night, September 17th 8:00 Eastern on CNN.

And now to this, you know this phrase -- No Child Left Behind. If there's a school-age child in your life, you know what those words mean. It's the name of the Bush-era education program, dates back 2002, that assigned a level of proficiency, a standard set by each state to every public school in America and held them accountable.

Here's the issue, No Child Left Behind requires a certain success value by a year that now isn't too far away from us here, 2014, and that standard will not be met by possibly more than 80 percent of all schools in this country. That's according to the administration.

President Obama's secretary of education, Arne Duncan, joining me live from Washington.

Secretary Duncan, thanks for coming on. Let's begin with --

ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Thanks for the opportunity, Brooke.

BALDWIN: -- you know, some phrases that are popping up. The fact that the administration, by issuing this executive order, letting schools off the hook here. They're offering these waivers.

Explain how that will work.

DUNCAN: Well, basically, the law is four years overdue for reform. We're really hoping Congress would act and act in a bipartisan way to fix this No Child Left Behind law that is fundamentally broken. That hasn't happened, unfortunately. The law is far too punitive. Many, many ways to fail. Basically, no rewards for success. Very prescriptive, very top down from Washington. It led to a dumbing down standards. It led to a narrowing of the curriculum.

None of these things are what our children or our country needs right now. At a time where we need to get better faster than ever before, we can't have a law that stands in the way of progress, stands in the way of innovation.

So what we'll do is we'll work directly with states in where states are doing the right thing, raising the bar, having higher standards, being thoughtful about teacher and principal evaluation support, turning around underperforming school. We want to give those states a lot more flexibility.

The best ideas in education are never going to come from me or, frankly, from anyone else in Washington. They're always going to come at the local level. We're seeing tremendous courage, tremendous leadership at the state level. We need to get this law off of people's back and let people continue to improve at the local level where the real action is.

BALDWIN: As we mentioned, this would be done by an executive order, and I'm just curious what this is a result of. And I'm sure it's a result of an amalgamation of factors, but specifically, I want to ask you about some of these cheating scandals. I mean, how much of this decision were impacted by these scandals across the country, certainly Atlanta for one, where you have these teachers who are just trying to teach the test to improve proficiency to, you know, comply with No Child Left Behind?

DUNCAN: Yes, well, obviously that kind of behavior is very, very disappointing unacceptable. We don't want anyone teaching to the test. All of us have to have integrity in what we do.

But honestly, that was no part of our calculation, our decision.

BALDWIN: No part at all?

(CROSSTALK)

DUNCAN: (INAUDIBLE) On that side of the country -- I've been to 44, 45 stats, no part -- all rural, urban, suburban, everybody is asking for relief, everybody is asking for more flexibility. They don't want Washington to be so top heavy.

When I ran the Chicago public schools, I had to come to this building and meet in my conference room and beg the federal government, beg our Department of Education for the right to tutor my children after school. About 25,000 children wanted to work harder, wanted to have additional tutoring. Washington didn't want to give me that flexibility. That made no sense.

That lesson stayed with me. Where folks are working hard, doing the right thing by children, where they're raising standards, reducing dropout rates, where we're seeing growth and gain, we've got to give folks more room to move. These are tough economic times. We have to give them more flexibility.

BALDWIN: Yes, so you mentioned back home in Chicago, you have Illinois, you have all of these 50 states I know who were encouraged to apply for these waivers, essentially waiving the law's proficiency requirement. But for a waiver to be approved, be specific with me, Secretary Duncan, what sorts of programs, what sorts of ambitions will the states have to show?

DUNCAN: Well, basically, we've seen amazing progress and courage at the state level over the past two and half years. Forty-four states have raised standards, college and career-ready standards for every single child. That's an absolute game changer.

Under No Child Left Behind, unfortunately, many states dummied down standards, reduced them, were actually lying to children, lying to parents because it made politicians look good. It's bad for children, bad for education, bad for the states, ultimately bad for our country, but that happened in far too many places.

We're seeing, again, a tremendous move in the opposite direction, raising standards. Where folks are doing that, where they're being very though thoughtful about teacher and evaluation support. We want to give them a lot more room to move. That's where we're tracking --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You talk about some of the goals --

(CROSSTALK)

DUNCAN: -- reward high standards.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Forgive me for interrupting, but what specifically -- what will these schools have to prove, have to offer to get a waiver?

DUNCAN: We're still working through that final package. We will announce the final package next month after Labor Day. But I've tried to hit on a couple of the key points.

Where there are high standards we want to partner with folks. Where there are dumbing-down standards, reducing them, that's not a state we want to partner with. Where districts and states are focusing on growth and gain rather than absolute test scores, how much are folks improving, we want to work with them. Where they're being very thoughtful and creative around teacher and principle evaluation, we want to work with them.

BALDWIN: What about --

DUNCAN: We they're willing to challenge the status quo in very low-performing schools, dropout factories where is 50 percent, 60 percent, 70 percent are dropping out. Where we're seeing real courage, Brooke, that's where we want to partner. And we're seeing leadership, again, from states. We want to give them room to continue to move in the right direction.

BALDWIN: I think a lot of people agree with you, Secretary Duncan, and a lot of people are thinking about our children and education should absolutely be a priority. But when you look at some of the criticism of offering these waivers, you see phrases -- and I read them -- you know, that you're the letting people off the hook, you know, circumventing the law, sort of this backdoor to proficiency.

DUNCAN: We're not -- furthest thing --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But Republicans also, let me just throw this at, you Secretary Duncan, just hold on just a moment. Republicans are also worried that you're, you know, undermining the House committee's work on the bigger picture of federal education reform. I just want you to respond to that and then I have to let you go. But how do you explain the temporary relief measure?

DUNCAN: Yes, very, very simple. Again, there will be a high bar here. We will absolutely maintain accountability, absolutely focus on disaggregating data and achievement gaps. And so, anyone who's stepping back on accountability, we simply won't partner with them, we won't grant them a waiver. So that concern is null and void. Secondly, again, we desperately hope Congress would work and work in a bipartisan way on behalf of children and behalf of education in the country. That didn't happen, but we think this waiver package can be a bridge, a transition, and we continue to hope Congress will come together and do the right thing by our nation's children. So this in no way prohibits them or impedes their progress. In fact, it may be a bit of a road map in terms of where they need to go.

Brooke, the last thing we can do is sit back here and not listen to the outcry we're hearing from teachers and students, parents, administrators, school superintendents, governors. I've talked to probably 35 governors over the past two or three days. Every single governor is saying this is the right thing to do. Every single one.

BALDWIN: Secretary Duncan, we're going to follow up with you. I would love to have you back on and also see what sort of details you all do release when it comes to these waivers. A lot of teachers, principals, schools paying close attention to you.

Secretary Arne Duncan, Department of Education, thank you so much.

And happening right now, a desperate manhunt underway for this trio of siblings who apparently are robbing banks, they're shooting up police cars, they're leading officers on a high-speed chases. The most frightening part here, the feds say these fugitives are not afraid to die. They're leaving these cryptic messages while on the run.

Coming up next, I'll talk live to the FBI here in studio about possible leads, possible leads in the case. We're back in 70 seconds. Possible.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We have just released this police dash-cam video of these three Florida siblings, they're now on the run, the FBI in hot pursuit and their mother now coming forward begging for them to surrender peacefully. We're going to play her plea for you in just a moment, but first I want you to take a good look at these three young people on your screen.

These are the Doughertys, brother Dylan and Ryan, big sis Lee Grace. Look pretty clean cut, range in age from 22 to 29. Let me read to you what Lee Grace Dougherty posted online, "I love to farm and shoot guys and wreck cars. I'm a redneck and proud of it. I like milk and German engineering and causing mayhem with my siblings."

Mayhem indeed.

The FBI says trio repeatedly shot at an officer who tried to pull them over for speeding in Zephyrhills, Florida on Tuesday.

Take a listen to this.

(VIDEO CLIP, ZEPHYRHILLS, FLORIDA POLICE)

BALDWIN: These three are now suspects in the attempted murder of that police officer.

Want to show you another image here. These are some of the images of their car. Take a good long look, because FBI needs your help. We're told it's a white four-door 2006 Subaru Impreza. Just a couple of hours and a couple of hundred miles away from that chase, the trio allegedly robbed this bank in Valdosta, Georgia.

And we have this, these are surveillance photos from inside the bank. The FBI are not exaggerating when they warn these siblings are very well armed and extremely dangerous. Everyone, friends, relatives, local sheriff, even their mother, as I mentioned, are predicting this manhunt will not end peacefully.

Brian Lamkin, here with me now, is with the Atlanta division of the FBI.

BRIAN LAMKIN, FBI ATLANTA DIVISION: Thanks for having me, Brooke.

Let's just begin with -- you know, it's been, what, a full week now, since they've popped up. Do you have any leads?

LAMKIN: We follow up on everything we get. Right now, the last thing we've seen was Valdosta, the robbery in Valdosta bank.

BALDWIN: A week ago today. What, Brian, triggered this, do you believe? What their mother is saying?

LAMKIN: It could be a number of things. We have to ask them once we get them in custody, correct. But Brian possibly from a court sentencing that happened the day before, he cut off his ankle bracelet for monitoring and then within a matter of minutes is engaging in the speeding pursuit with the officer firing on them.

BALDWIN: I heard he is a father, about to be a father? Wanted to see his child. Perhaps that's why he cut off the ankle bracelet. I guess no one fully knows, like you said, until you actually catch them.

But I want to read something. Apparently the deputies said Brian Daugherty specifically sent his mother this troubling message after the shooting. Here's what he said, "At some point, we all have to die." This message this son sends to his mother.

Meantime, the mother is urging the siblings to give themselves up. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Only mom knows what good people you are inside. Please prove me right and everybody wrong by doing the right thing now and turning yourselves in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Clearly mom speaking in shadows. Doesn't want to be seen or identified. Is she cooperating with you all?

LAMKIN: She continues to cooperate with law enforcement. I couldn't agree more. We want to see them turn themselves in. We do not recommend the public at all, you know, engage them. But treat them with extreme caution.

BALDWIN: We seen the billboards have been plastered all over, armed, extremely dangerous. But I do want to ask you. Do you know anything about this home they lived in in Zephyrhills, Florida? I read about this bunker underground. Apparently according to some reports it was hidden below the property. A sophisticated bunker, two 40-foot cargo containers buried side by side, manmade hallway, running water, electricity. Do we know --

LAMKIN: Not familiar with that, but we continue to follow up on everything that we develop in the case, whether it's credible or not.

BALDWIN: OK, Brian Lamkin with the FBI here in Atlanta. We'll follow up with you when and if we catch them. Thank you so much, sir, appreciate it.

Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You remember these images from just a couple months ago, the outrage in Wisconsin over the budget law there, the one that took away rights from the unions. Well, voters are right now deciding the fate of several Republicans in this unprecedented recall election. Not only might this have national implications, but the cash involved, that's a pretty fascinating part of this story. We're going to take you live to Wisconsin next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Unusual times, very unusual in the state of Wisconsin. Here's what's happening today. You have five Republican state senators are facing these recall elections. And the thrust of this story goes far beyond the badger state. Let's go to CNN's Ted Rowlands, live from Madison there.

And Ted, first, take us back. I remember I was sitting here when this whole thing was percolating a couple of months ago, but remind us how this started.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In February, of course, thousands of people came to Madison from around the states because they were outrage because of what Governor Scott Walker and Republican were doing in terms of specific legislation. It was called the budget repair bill, but in that bill was a clause that restricted collective bargaining for unions, for public employees.

And that really made a lot of people angry. And it made Democrats angry because unions, let's face it, are the lifeblood of the Democratic Party. You have not only funding through unions that help campaign finances, but also unions can bring out the vote. So this was an attack and this was a war that was being waged here, and it is still going on.

At the time in February, the big threat was, well, we're going to get you guys with recalls. Here we are. Today, six senators are being subjected to recall elections. They're fighting for their jobs today. Voters are going to the polls basically to say should you stay or should you go, and it all stems from last February and all the anger that surrounded that.

BALDWIN: But here's the other slice of this story, the money angle. We have heard, Ted, that $30 million from all around the country has been pumped into campaigning, $30 million. Why are these recalls, Ted -- put this in perspective. Why are they so important to Democrats and Republicans nationally speaking?

ROWLANDS: Yes, I mean, it's -- the estimate is about $30 million and $40 million. It's an extraordinary amount of money for Wisconsin state lawmakers. We're talking about small towns up in northern Wisconsin where candidates normally go to the 7-Eleven to get votes. Now they have these fancy commercials all being financed from out of state.

Why are the stakes so high? Because of the unions. We're talking about a colossal fight here between Republicans and Democrats, and the unions are at the center of it. Democrats want to send a message to other states around the country thinking about doing this -- don't try it because you'll lose your jobs is. Look what happened in Wisconsin.

On the other side, Republicans would love for these recalls to go down in flames and to say to other state, you, too, can change the rules of the game, go ahead and do it. There's not that much to risk. So there's a lot at stake nationally all coming together in Wisconsin.

BALDWIN: Stakes are high. We should point out that six Republican state senators face recall this week, two Democrats next week. Ted Rowlands live in Wisconsin, appreciate it.

Coming up next, a man waving a gun chases down this 11-year-old kid, follows him into a neighbor house, then pulls the trigger. But the shooting spree, it doesn't end there. You're going to hear the 911 calls during a rampage that left seven people dead. We're also learning today about a little bit about who the suspect targeted -- his girlfriend, who survived.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Police near Akron, Ohio, they are still at a loss to explain what caused a man to go on this shooting spree Sunday. And they may never know for certain. The gunman was killed by police. But not before witnesses say he ran through backyards, chasing people, shooting them after reportedly shooting his girlfriend at their own home. When this was all over, seven other people were dead, including two teenagers and an 11-year-old. Here is the police chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MICHAEL MIER, COPLEY TOWNSHIP, OHIO POLICE: The first phone calls came in reported gunshots heard in the neighborhood. Then we heard calls of a man chasing someone and shooting. And then we eventually received calls that helped us pinpoint the shooter's location. Our officers arrived in a few minutes. And when they arrived on the scene at the addresses that you will hear about, they located several bodies and realized there were several shooting victims.

With the assistance of some folks in the neighborhood and the calls that were coming in, our officers were able to pinpoint the location of the shooter. Our officers went there immediately.

As the first officer approached the location where the shooter was, a former police officer who lives in the area saw what was going on and joined our officer. Our officer located the suspect, issued some commands. The suspect did not obey or did not go along with the commands, and the suspect was shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was the police chief. I want to play something else for you. This is a frantic 911 call made by a neighbor, grabbed her kids, headed to the basement when she was hearing these gunshots. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911, where is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something is running around the neighborhood shooting a gun. I'm inside my house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know if it's a male or a female?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. My husband went outside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Police have identified the gunman as 51-year-old Michael Hands. His girlfriend, the very first person shot during this rampage, she is the only one to have survived.

He is convicted of telling young girls, and I'm quoting from his audio recordings jurors heard, "Don't think about the pain. You're going to heaven," then raping his so called child celestial brides. Now a jury makes the decision. Warren Jeffs learns his fate.

Plus, the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn may be on the verge of collapse. What this housekeeper accusing him of rape is now demanding, and that is raising some eyebrows. Sunny Hostin is on the case. That's next.

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BALDWIN: A whole 30 minutes, just half an hour is all it took for the jury to deliberate this one in the case against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. He got life in prison. He was convicted last week on two counts of having sex with underage girls.

And yesterday, jurors, listen to this graphic audio tapes, telling children how to please him and that this was the will of God. Sunny Hostin back on this case. If I may, yuck, if I may and also, is this what we expected, maximum sentence here.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: I certainly is. I think what most people expected, what most people hoped for especially the victims that have come forward now. He was looking at life in prison on the top count, which was the aggravated sexual assault of a child.

He was also looking at up to 20 years on the second count, which was also a sexual assault count. So this judge gave him life in prison plus 20 years because she found that it had to run consecutively.

So my understanding, Brooke, is that he will spend at least 45 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. He is 55 years old, so that will be about his 100th birthday. So most people believe he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

BALDWIN: I know a lot of people reacting kind of how you and I have over this one, but what about from the community he claimed to be a prophet of. Have with gotten any reaction from them?

HOSTIN: Well, it's interesting. There's sort of a split with the FLDS. And there are some that have broken away from Warren Jeffs as a prophet, but those that still support him have been blacked out from any news.

Warren Jeffs told his followers they were not to listen to anything having to do with this trial. And so my understanding, Brooke, is they still support him because they don't know what happened in the court case. That is very, very interesting.

Not only did he manipulate so many people while he was a prophet of the FLDS cult, he's still manipulating those members that are still a part of it.

BALDWIN: OK, so he gets life in prison. Let's talk with this other case, the DSK case, the Dominique Strauss-Kahn. First, this made, this housekeeper says she wants justice now. It seems like she wants a little money.

The hotel maid accusing Strauss-Kahn of rape filed a civil suit against him just yesterday. That as the criminal case against him already ready to collapse. What, Sunny, does this smell like to you? Was this a setup for money or not? HOSTIN: Well, you know, I have a copy of the lawsuit, it's about 16 pages and what I do smell is the death of the criminal case. Because prosecutors do not want their victims, their star witnesses to speak to the media or file civil suits.

And so I think it is very clear that on August 23, his next court appearance, it is probable that the criminal case is dropped. But I don't know why there's always this public outrage when victims of crime sue civilly, Brooke.

Because don't we want our victims of crime to benefit or get money from their abusers? Shouldn't they be compensated? I don't think it's inconsistent that someone that's been viciously attacked wants to be compensated for that.

And so many people are saying that she only wanted money, but if what she is saying is true, then I don't think it's inconsistent that she's suing him civilly.

BALDWIN: OK, Sunny Hostin, thank you very much. We'll see you tomorrow.

Now to this, House Speaker John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi, they agree on something. Yes, they agree on a little something and it's not good news for one very specific group of people. That is ahead.

Plus, one more look at the Dow on this Tuesday here, 50 minutes after the closing bell up 400 points. Dow closing up 429. This is the Dow's biggest gain this year.

A big reason -- the fed announcing this afternoon that interest rates would stay low for the next couple of years through mid 2013. CNN NEWSROOM is back in a moment.

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BALDWIN: Now let's check in with Wolf Blitzer in Washington a look at what's coming up on his show here.

Wolf Blitzer, I would be remiss if I didn't say happy birthday wish in "THE SITUATION ROOM" one day late.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": You know what? Today is the beginning of year seven in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Brooke, thanks very much. Yesterday we celebrated our sixth anniversary. How time flies? It's been a nice ride. The beginning of year seven today in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

What a day it is. Just think about this, Brooke, for a moment. You've been reporting it since the market closed almost an hour ago. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, he speaks. He says, you know, what, they're going to keep rates low until at mid- 2013.

You see what happen. Markets go up more than 400 points. Yesterday, the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief, the leader of the free world, he spoke around 2:00 in the afternoon.

Didn't necessarily have such a huge impact on the markets, the markets went down more than 600 points yesterday. So what does that say to you, Brooke?

BALDWIN: It says to me, I can't make sense of it because when the feds' announcement, when the statement came out today, it actually dipped and then back again.

BLITZER: Yes, it's unpredictable.

BALDWIN: Totally volatile.

BLITZER: Even though it was good today, bad yesterday. One of the things we've learned about markets over the year, we never know what it's going to be tomorrow because markets go up, they go down. That's what you have to live with unless you stay out of the markets then you have to live it. You just keep your money someplace else.

BALDWIN: I suppose so. Wolf Blitzer, we'll see you in "THE SITUATION ROOM" here on first day of your seven in just a moment here. Wolf, thank you.

We've been hearing a lot of talk here about partisan politics, but didn't you hear Nancy Pelosi and House Speaker John Boehner actually have a little something in common. They're getting rid of a century old tradition, a program that involves kids.

Joe Johns has the scoop. Your "Political Pop" coming up next.

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BALDWIN: After many, many years here, the House Page program bites the dust. For many high school students with dreams of becoming a congressional page and rubbing elbows with the power elite at the Capitol and the likes of Joe Johns, how could you miss that, the dream about to become history.

Joe, you know, this is crushing the hearts of Poli-Sci students everywhere. Why is this happening?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I wanted to this. I mean, a lot of buzz on social media on this right now. There's a Facebook book, save the page program page. People are talking about keeping it alive with private funding.

House Speaker Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi apparently agreed on dismantling it, official reason -- the program costs a lot of money, $5 million. The House of Representatives wasn't getting much for that.

It's an amazing program with a lot of history. They're just dumping it. It brings in high school kids to be messengers, couriers for members of Congress on Capitol Hill. They come one semester, two semesters at a time. Get regular schooling, get paid. They run errands around the Capitol, but now, I mean, there are Blackberries, iPhones, iPads and so who needs kids to carry paper anymore. And you know, the upside is, it really exposes these high school students to the political system close up, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I don't think I fully realize it was paid. So when I intern at CNN many years ago --

JOHNS: It's $20,000 a year.

BALDWIN: Wow. That's decent. But we can't let you go and let the page program end without a little talk of scandal. Let's go there, Joe Johns. What have you heard up?

JOHNS: Yes. Got to go there, you're right. The case most people probably remember is former Congressman Mark Foley of Florida who resigned in 2006. He was investigated for sending and soliciting inappropriate electronic messages to former male House pages, and then you go all the way back to 1983, two members of Congress actually censured for having sexual relations with pages.

The pages involved were passed the age of consent so it wasn't statutory rape or anything, but you get the picture. The congressional leadership for them, there's got to be few things scarier than inviting these high school students to Washington. Taking responsibility for their well-being and schooling for a semester or more, knowing if anything happens to them, it's definitely going to be a national scandal. So you can sort of see why the leaders felt it was OK to get rid of it. Senate's page programs --

BALDWIN: Yes, the flip side?

JOHNS: It's much smaller than the House program. The House has like 72. The Senate has like 30 so very few chances there for American students --

BALDWIN: If you're a high school student, you want a front row seat to our government, what do you do? Take a tour?

JOHNS: I guess, they got to think of something. Funny thing too, a lot of pages actually became members of Congress, which is really interesting, you know -

BALDWIN: And no longer, no longer, Joe Johns. Thank you so much. Good to see you.

Good to see you as well. I am finished here.

Now to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.