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Four Marines Identified who Appear in Video Defiling Dead Bodies; Interview With Michael Hastings; GOP's Most Conservative Seek Romney Alternative; Fists And Eggs Fly Over iPhone; Ohio Earthquakes Could Be Manmade; Jarring Ringtone Halts Concert

Aired January 13, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. As always, top of the hour. Let's get you caught up on everything making news, "Rapid Fire."

Let's go, beginning with this story just into us here in the CNN NEWSROOM. CNN has caught up with one of the convicted killers who was pardoned in Mississippi this week. And in an exclusive interview with our own correspondent Martin Savidge, Anthony McCray says he has found God and changed his life.

McCray worked if the governor's office and apparently talked to Haley Barbour daily on a work detail. He tells CNN he will be in court on the 23rd and is not on the run.

We're going to have much more on this story coming up tonight, and that exclusive interview as well, so stay tuned for that.

Now, to this. The main suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway is going to prison for murdering a woman in Peru.

Peruvian judges sentenced Joran van der Sloot to 28 years today for beating and strangling 21-year-old Stephany Flores to death in 2010. The court also ordered him to pay almost $75,000 to Flores' family.

Van der Sloot was arrested twice in Natalee Holloway's disappearance in Aruba back in '05 but was never charged.

In Texas, a mother's SUV was stolen, but she is finally feeling pretty lucky right now. Her 18-month-old son at the time was asleep inside of her Jeep that was stolen, but surveillance video of a store parking lot shows exactly what went down last night. And the mother says she left her Jeep just running for a moment so she could go inside the store.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIAH O'NEIL, MOTHER OF FOUND TODDLER: I left my son and my niece in the car because it's very, very cold out here, and it's windy, and I had just gotten them bundled up and the heat had started running, and I didn't want to take them back out. As I'm running out, I saw my niece running towards me screaming my name and my car going down the road. I dropped everything and ran towards the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Here's why she's feeling lucky. Houston police found her baby boy in the SUV this morning behind a strip mall not too far from that store.

A missing Montana school teacher has been found dead, and the FBI says they have one suspect in custody. Sherry Arnold (ph) was missing for six days. Her school district announced the news of her death just a couple of hours ago.

She went running last Saturday morning and never returned. Search crews discovered one of her shoes, but that was the only clue they made public.

And in Washington, President Obama today spoke before a group of business owners at the White House just a couple of hours ago, promising a leaner, more responsible government.

Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm calling on Congress to reinstate the authority that past presidents have had to streamline and reform the executive branch. This is the same sort of authority that every business owner has to make sure that his or her company keeps pace with the times. And let me be clear. I will only use this authority for reforms that result in more efficiency, better service, and a leaner government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The president today.

Also, an odd case of stranger danger. Police in California say they arrested a woman because she bit two children. Forty-six-year-old Polly Beltramo (ph) is charged with felony child abuse. The incident happened at a book store in the San Francisco area. A mother was in the children's section when her 2-year-old daughter was bitten.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOTRANATHA AJAYA, CO-OWNER OF BOOK STORE: Some other woman came up to the lady's little girl, and then the girl started running to her mother saying, "That lady bit me." Suddenly, the little boy who is just a couple months old started screaming. And they went to him and his cheek was bleeding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Biting children. Police say the woman ran out of the store, but they found her in a nearby coffee shop.

And authorities say the pilot of this plane here in the thick of some trees had been drinking when he landed there. This is rural Wisconsin. Neighbors say he climbed on down, walked over to a barn, and slept for a couple of hours before knocking on their door. Despite the scene, he only had minor injuries.

And much more news to come here over the course of the next two hours, including this --

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Elite Marines sent to war to fight and sometimes kill. Now several of them are being questioned over this video that shows them desecrating enemy bodies.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Oh, to be a fly on the wall in this room. Dozens of social conservatives meeting to discuss whether to unite and back one candidate for president. But is that candidate currently in the race?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need to take your child out of this school.

BALDWIN: Young students allegedly locked in scream rooms. But wait until you hear what parents say happened behind closed doors.

Plus, he's the "Rolling Stone" writer whose article took down General Stanley McChrystal. Now Michael Hastings is revealing what military men at the highest level told him over drinks. He joins me live.

And --

STAN GRANT, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Security are running down here now and the mall but continuing to follow them.

BALDWIN: -- chaos and violence, all over iPhones. CNN takes you inside the madness.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The news just into us here at CNN, Europe has been on high alert. And we have now learned, according to AFP, a French news outlet, that Standard & Poor's has now downgraded France's AAA rating, downgraded from AAA.

We will have much more of course as we approach the closing bell, which happens in less than two hours. We're going to check on the U.S. markets and what that could mean for us.

Meantime, let's talk about something all of you have been talking about. Everyone knows what they did. And now the military knows who they are.

Military investigators say they have now identified all of those four Marines in the video that appears to show them urinating on corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. And again, we'll show you the video, but I just want to preface this by saying you may find it disturbing.

Take a look.

I want to bring in Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. And Barbara, now that the brass knows who these men are, what happens to them potentially?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, things are moving very quickly into the legal phase, Brooke. They have identified all four. They've interviewed at least two of them, we know.

Today, the Marine Corps appointed a general in charge of the overall investigation. He will sit over top of everything -- the criminal investigation being conducted by the NCIS, the Navy Criminal Investigative Service, as well as a separate administrative investigation. And that's a signal that this is expanding just a little bit.

They want to look and see if there was some breakdown, if you will, of discipline at the higher levels. Were there higher-ups that weren't watching and weren't commanding appropriately over these lower-ranking Marines? Was there a breakdown of unit discipline? Was there a possibility of other incidents?

We don't know. These are some of the questions they are now going to start looking into -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Barbara Starr, I know you will continue to follow it. Thank you.

I want to bring in now Michael Hastings, contributing editor for "Rolling Stone." In 2010, he wrote that article that led to the resignation of the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. That being General Stanley McChrystal.

Michael has this new book here all about it. It's called "The Operators." We're going to talk to him about that in a moment. We had him booked for that.

But before we get to that, Michael, we would be remiss not to discuss this video. And I know you've reported from Afghanistan. You've talked, you've had incredible access to privates, to generals.

First question, something we really sort of mulled over this morning, is, how often does something like this happen when cameras aren't around? Did you see or hear anything of this?

MICHAEL HASTINGS, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": No. I would say it's -- this sort of digital trophy taking is fairly common. I mean, even on my own cell phone I have a photo that a soldier sent me a few months ago of an Afghan they killed in action a few years ago. So these photos are fairly common.

Now, exactly doing what the Marines -- we see the Marines doing, that, I would think, would be a little more uncommon.

BALDWIN: Uncommon. You spent time --

HASTINGS: For that specific act.

BALDWIN: Sure. You never, ever heard of anyone doing something like that before?

HASTINGS: Well, there was an incident in Iraq where U.S. soldiers had thrown a bottle of urine at Iraqi civilians who were alive on the street. I mean, I think there's one thing that we sort of forget. Marines and infantrymen are taught to break the biggest taboo we have in civilization, which is, don't kill people. But they're trained to do that.

So it's a very, very difficult situation once you unleash the dogs of war to then say, oh, well, these people who have been trying to kill you that you just killed, you should treat their bodies with respect. And I think, also, one of the things that frustrates me, these Marines, now that they've named them, they're going to be punished for it, and they should be, but the people who really should be on trial, it should be General Petraeus, it should be General John Allen, it should be the military leaders who, yet, 10 years in, have put our soldiers and Marines in this situation where this is happening.

BALDWIN: Let me jump in, because that springboards into my next question, which, is, of course -- and I want to ask you about the mindset of some of these Marines, some of them very young. But look, you had access to very, very high brass in Afghanistan. Can you at all, in your experience, Michael, trace this attitude that we see clearly from the Marines -- can it be traceable up the chain? Does it reflect commanders' attitudes at all?

HASTINGS: I would say it probably does on a certain level. I mean, I would --

BALDWIN: Probably does. What does that mean?

HASTINGS: I would say that if we injected our generals with truth serum and asked them how they felt about the Afghan people, they would not say they love them, is what I mean. And I think there has been a breakdown in discipline from the top.

It was explicit in my reporting on General McChrystal, but this sort of contempt for common sense that we've seen where we have, you know, again, 10 years in, and we have, you know, General John Allen and these other top generals saying we want 10 more years, I mean, if that's not a breakdown in discipline to try to wage an endless war, then I don't know what is. Obviously, I'm not talking -- no general is out there doing this sort of thing that's viewed in the video, but I would wonder if there aren't a lot of other incidents on the ground that are happening all the time and that we don't know about them because they don't get leaked.

BALDWIN: Right. And I was talking to a Marine captain just yesterday and I asked him, well, is it possible that this could be happening but folks who were up the chain wouldn't even know about it, including himself, and he said, "Yes, Brooke, absolutely."

I do want to ask you thought -- obviously, you've been quite critical of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. Is there something flawed, Michael, in America's policy in the region that leads to what we see in that video? HASTINGS: Well, yes. We shouldn't be there. We shouldn't be there trying to nation-build. That's the flaw.

The question we always have to ask ourselves about Afghanistan, is what we're doing there make us safer? Does it protect us from terrorists? Does it protect us from al Qaeda?

Now, we don't know the full circumstances of what kind of firefight those Afghans were killed in, but I guarantee you, the killing of those Afghans and then the urinating on them did nothing to make America safer.

BALDWIN: Michael, stand by, because obviously we brought you on. Want to talk to you about this book on Afghanistan and the amazing access you had to the man who was in charge at the time, General Stanley McChrystal.

So stand by for that.

Plus, we're going to talk about this terrifying situation in North Carolina. A man opens fire in a business, and now we're learning several people are dead. That story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A North Carolina man killed three of his co-workers and wounded a fourth at a lumber company today. This is according to police.

Investigators say 50-year-old Ronald Dean Davis opened fire and then fled the scene. They say they found him inside his home with a gunshot wound to his head. At this moment, he is clinging to life in a hospital.

Now let's pick up where we left off. And for this, I've got to take you back to April of 2010.

So, a "Rolling Stone" reporter gets unprecedented level of access to the man at the time in charge of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. So he follows McChrystal and his entourage from Paris to Berlin as they try to sell their NATO allies on the new counterinsurgency strategy and then to Afghanistan.

What he observes -- the drunken nights, the disrespect for their bosses in the White House, the anger of the troops in the field -- all of this, these details, end up in this July, 2010 issue of "Rolling Stone." And inside is one of the most explosive articles ever written in the decade-long war in Afghanistan.

The title -- it's right there on your screen -- it was entitled "The Runaway General," and it spells the end of McChrystal's command.

Bringing back here Michael Hastings, who penned that article. And he's expanded now in this new book -- I have it here -- it's called "The Operators."

You call it "The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's war in Afghanistan."

And Michael, we already heard your criticism a moment ago. You said, look, we shouldn't even be in Afghanistan. Critical of the counterinsurgency strategy in the book.

General McChrystal, forced to resign after you exposed his conduct in that "Rolling Stone" article. And my question is, did President Obama force him out for the right reasons?

HASTINGS: I mean, I never really weigh in on whether or not General McChrystal should have been let go or not. I think, clearly, this wasn't -- the "Rolling Stone" -- what he said in "Rolling Stone" and after the "Rolling Stone" story came out, that wasn't General McChrystal's first incident with the White House. In fact, it was sort of like a three strikes and you're out.

General McChrystal had been publicly critical of Vice President Biden a number of times. And the White House felt very burned by the Pentagon during the entire Afghan strategy review.

So I look at this as one of the steps that President Obama has taken to reclaim or retake control of the Pentagon.

BALDWIN: OK. One of the steps.

There is a now infamous moment in this article that you expand on in this book. So you have McChrystal. Let me set this up.

He's talking to his top adviser, Jake McFerren, about Joe Biden, the vice president. So here's the exchange. I'm going to read this.

"'Are you asking about Vice President Biden?' McChrystal said with a laugh, 'Who is that?' 'Biden?' Jake said. 'Did you say 'Bite Me?' Everyone started laughing. Jake finished off the back-and-forth with another jab at the vice president."

For all their disrespect, you say Biden was actually the only one who was right when it comes to strategy in Afghanistan. Why do you say that?

HASTINGS: I would say if Vice President Biden had had his way in the strategy discussions of two years ago, we would not be looking at that video that we just showed earlier today, because what Vice President Biden advocated for was a limited footprint of American soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan to focus on this specific counterterrorism mission, meaning specifically target the terrorists, the al Qaeda- linked terrorists, who threatened the United States homeland. That's what Vice President Biden wanted to do, and that's where, actually, we're on the path now. We're heading towards that path.

BALDWIN: Counterterrorism Plus is what he calls it.

I also wanted to ask you --

HASTINGS: CT Plus, right. BALDWIN: Right.

On the front of your book, right -- so, in this right-hand is a glass, I don't know, scotch, whiskey, whatever it is. I just have to ask you about the role of alcohol in your book, because you write about McChrystal's favorite beer being Bud Light Lime. One of his top advisers claims he worships the God of beer.

Alcohol, Michael, peppered throughout the book. Why focus so much on that?

HASTINGS: Well, for me, part of it is to get a sense of how these guys really live their lives. Remember, General McChrystal is one of the most successful Special Forces operators in American history. And his staff was these, you know, outrageous bunch of characters who were very, very talented, very ambitious, and very willing to accept all sorts of risks.

That comes along -- I mean, Ulysses S. Grant was drunk all the time. Patton or MacArthur, these are these huge personalities. And so booze came to represent this sort of release and this intoxication.

And I like to look at it sort of metaphorically, you know, that there has been this intoxication not just with booze, but with endless war, with this sort of -- the power that has come from the Pentagon's ability to wage two wars for the past 10 years. So there's sort of a metaphor call thing.

Plus, also, I want people to get inside of like -- you know, it's kind of like, you know, we're just so used to these pictures of heroes, these kind of clean scrub pictures. And whenever you can get a couple of shots of whiskey into a story, it makes for better copy, that's for sure.

BALDWIN: Final question. After, you know, you wrote the article on "Rolling Stone," and, of course, now the book, I know you've been in touch with some of the people you wrote about.

Tell me about any kind of fallout from that article. What have they said to you?

HASTINGS: Well, clearly, they were not too pleased with the result of the story. And I have been in contact with them, and they've maintained a very professional level of behavior with me personally.

Now, on the side of that, there has been a fairly sustained campaign from General McChrystal and his allies to try to undermine the reporting in the story. There were two Pentagon investigations. I've been banned from going on embeds.

And you see a pretty consistent leak campaign that tries to undermine Rolling Stone's reporting. It's been unsuccessful though. "Rolling Stone" continues to do great work. I was able to put this book out and keep doing my best to give the most accurate picture of the war in Afghanistan and the guys who are running them.

BALDWIN: Again, your book is "The Operators."

Michael Hastings, a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on.

According to all the latest polls, Mitt Romney still sits at the top of the list of Republican presidential candidates, but there has been a bit of a shuffle among the other candidates.

Coming up next, we're going to show you where they have all now landed. And I have a special caller on the line right now who is en route to a very important meeting of conservatives.

Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The South Carolina primary and, really, here's a test for Mitt Romney. Can Romney start to lure his party's most conservative voters, the Evangelicals, the Tea Party voters? South Carolina just may deliver the answer.

Tony Perkins, he is the head of the Family Research Council. It's part of a group of Evangelicals about to converge in Houston for a series of two-day meetings aimed at coalescing around a single conservative candidate.

And Tony Perkins is on the phone with me, literally on a plane headed to Houston.

So let me just ask you quickly, sir, have conservative Evangelicals -- have they written off Mitt Romney, or are you just determined to get behind someone else?

TONY PERKINS, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: You know, I think there's a level of uncomfortability there. And I think there's a desire not to repeat what took place in 2008, when conservatives were kind of segmented behind various candidates, and not the strongest candidate emerged. John McCain went forward to get the nomination, but not win the presidency.

BALDWIN: Are you -- are we talking potentially someone else getting in the race? Are you holding out that hope? Or do Evangelicals simply have to get behind a Newt Gingrich or a Rick Santorum here?

PERKINS: No, I think who is in the race, that's what we have. And I think people are going to be there who are supportive of Rick Perry, people who are supportive of Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich as well. But I do see a consensus beginning to build.

Now, I don't think there's going to be a unanimous decision about a particular candidate, but I do think you will see, increasingly, some individuals come out supporting one candidate or -- I would say around one candidate in the next week or so.

BALDWIN: So, once this group, once you build this consensus, even though it won't necessarily be unanimous, you will get behind, let's say, candidate X, what resources can you group bring to this candidate here?

PERKINS: Well, I just think it's a matter of showing momentum behind a particular candidate and seeing various constituencies, especially in South Carolina. I mean, South Carolina is going to be telling. Whoever wins there, if Mitt Romney has a repeat of what took place in New Hampshire, I think it's pretty much his path to the nomination. But this is much different than New Hampshire.

You've got 55 percent of the vote are Evangelicals, compared to 21 percent of New Hampshire. So the outcome could be much different there. And it's a good place for a Rick Santorum, and the ground is pretty fertile for Newt Gingrich as well.

BALDWIN: OK. Tony Perkins, I appreciate it, on the phone, about to push off from Baton Rouge to Houston.

Head of the Family Research Council.

Appreciate it, sir.

Let's to go straight to -- we were just talking about South Carolina. Let's go to Duncan, South Carolina, to Peter Hamby, who is in this conservative bastion near Spartanburg.

And Peter, you just heard there from Tony they're hoping to coalesce around this one candidate, a candidate already in the race. And a lot of talk, as he mentioned, perhaps what happens in South Carolina, perhaps that area where you are, could be a harbinger of things to come.

PETER HAMBY, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a total bellwether for that Evangelical vote.

Greenville and Spartanburg Counties, where I am now, were two of the five biggest deliverers of votes in the Republican primary in 2008, and the brand of Republican here is a social conservative. There's a lot of business folks here as well, but there's many Evangelicals, and they make up the dominant share of the Republican vote in the primary.

Tonight, here in Duncan, there is going to be a forum moderated by two U.S. House members. And Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich will be pitching their ideas to party activists here to try to win them over. Tony talked about people rallying behind one or the other, but I can tell you, they're both pitching a really conservative message out there, and the vote is divided at this point.

Listen to what Newt Gingrich had to say with Jim Acosta today down in Florida. This gives you a flavor of the real conservative kind of message they're pushing as they try to be the anti-Romney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- very much in the Massachusetts tradition, he appointed liberal judges who were pro abortion. He appointed liberal judges who were for gay marriage. He helped Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States. He raised taxes. His entire site called romneytaxes.com. I think that's a record what makes him very uncomfortable. He would like to not talk about it, but it's a fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMBY: So I think that's the kind of language you're going to hear tonight at this forum, Brooke. Obviously, economy is the number one concern on voters' minds and these candidates are aware of that.

But you are going to hear them lace their pitches tonight with references to, you know, Mitt Romney sort of squishy position or past positions, rather, on things like abortion and same-sex marriage -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: What is Romney and his folks doing, I guess, to try to count it out in South Carolina, to try to win over the Tea Party voters, the social conservatives. Do they think they're making progress? Do they think they have a real shot come January 21st?

HAMBY: Yes. As the Romney team kind of gains out South Carolina, it looks a little bit like Iowa. They realize that in a splintered field they only need a plurality of the votes. They don't need to win overall these Evangelicals.

They need to do well among some of them. You know, if he outperforms up in this part of the state on primary night it's going to be a very good night for him. They're sending out mail pieces touting Mitt Romney's faith.

They don't mention his Mormon faith, but they do mention his stance that he is pro life, they say in the mail pieces. But they're confident that they can win this state, you know, without winning over the voters.

They can appeal to the other parts of the state where there's a strong military presence. There are a lot of moderate voters in this state. And again, the economy is number one. Romney is pitch perfect on the economy for Republican voters with his business background -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Peter Hamby, thank you, in South Carolina for us. Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security are running down here now by the mall. I continue to follow them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Stan Grant in the midst of this mob. What are they looking for? Apple iPhone 4S. They got so violent after the Apple store kept its doors closed to people trying to get their hands on these new phones. So why all of this outrage? Coming up next, we're digging deeper for you into China's obsession with Apple, all things Apple. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Remember the throngs of Americans, perhaps you were in the midst of the crowds waiting in line to buy that latest iPhone this past year?

Well, if you thought that was a scene, check out China. These two men, they're security guards for an Apple store. This is in Beijing. This mob is made up of angry customers who could not buy the Apple iPhone 4S today because of this, craziness.

Apple has suspended now all in-store sales of the 4S in Beijing and Shanghai. It is quite honestly just worried about people's safety. CNN's Stan Grant was in the thick of it all as it went down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It wasn't supposed to be like this, eggs pelted at the Apple store, people furious then tempers reaching boiling point. Angry potential Apple customers viscously attacking security.

(on camera): Security are running down here now by the mall, I'm continuing to follow them. This is what happened when they didn't open the Apple store. The crowd are getting angrier and angrier. Punches have already been thrown. They're still following security. Look over here.

(voice-over): It didn't start this way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really like iPhone 4.

GRANT: The 18-year-old Tom was among hundreds who cued in the freezing cold overnight for the official China release of the Apple iPhone 4S. This store in a popular Beijing shopping center was supposed to be open at 7:00 a.m.

As the time ticked past, the mood turned sour then an announcement. The phone would not be sold here today. As people refused to leave, police moved in.

(on camera): So we're here in the middle of the crowd. The police have been thinning them out slowly. And as you can see here now, they're moving in -- they're shouting on the megaphone for people to leave. If you look over here they're trying to force people away right now.

(voice-over): Those who wouldn't leave peacefully were hauled away by force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are very angry. People are pissed off and that's for sure.

GRANT: Some people here blame Apple, others even holding the United States to account. But anger also directed at China itself, a country they say too quick to attack its own people, too ready to use force to impose order.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is China. We just need -- don't push. The police push us.

GRANT (on camera): You don't like China police?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like China police.

GRANT (voice-over): What should have been a day of celebration has backfired for Apple, its customers, even the state itself. Stan Grant, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Over a phone. CNN's Silicon Valley correspondent, Dan Simon is here just to give us a little context. Dan, look, I mean, I'm the first to admit I have never been in a line for an iPhone, but I know I've seen the video. Americans love their iPhones. But what's with the obsession with all things Apple in China?

DAN SIMON, SILICON VALLEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are a few things that play here, Brooke. First of all, the Chinese have an appreciation for industrial design. That's what Apple is known for.

But more significant than that, it is seen as a huge status symbol there in China before these products might have been available only to the rich, but with China's growing middle class they have to have one of these things.

They may not be able to afford say a big house or a nice car, but they can scrape together enough money to get themselves an iPhone. So for Chinese people, this is a big status symbol and that's why you're seeing the crazy lines and all that action you saw there today.

BALDWIN: And Apple does huge business in China, don't they?

SIMON: Well, it's unbelievable. It's their fastest growing market in the world. They did $13 billion in sales last fiscal year, the year before they did $3 billion. So it comes down to supply and demand. They just can't make these phones fast enough and, in China, we're really seeing unprecedented demand for Apple products -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Amazing. Dan Simon, thank you so much.

Millions of young people say they want to change the world and today CNN Heroes recognizes someone who did just that. Justin Churchman is just 18 years of age, but he's already changing lives in Juarez, Mexico. How is he doing it? One house at a time. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To give someone a home is from your heart and it's to their heart. You really change their life forever. My name is Justin Churchman. I work with an organization called "Casas for Cristo" and they build houses in Juarez, Mexico.

After I built my first house, I just fell in love with it. It changed my heart and it changed the way I saw the world. It's an addiction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We organize the team and at 13 years old led a group of Americans across the border. He built a home and he handed the keys of that home to that family in need.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our first house that we built. We met this wonderful lady and I've just fallen in love with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had a goal pretty early on that he wanted to build 18 houses by the time he turned 18.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My parents got behind me and supported me and "Casas for Cristos" supported me and on my 18th birthday, I completed my 18th house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's absolutely a young wonder. He's changing the world one house at a time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: That is awesome. Do you know someone who is making a big difference in the lives of others? Just go to cnnheroes.com now to nominate a 2012 CNN Hero today. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: There has been a lot of talk about how much money is being spent on the presidential race, but we just really wanted to dig through how much each of these candidates are worth and we're also including in this list President Obama's.

We're going to start from the bottom and work our way up. So let me begin with Texas Governor Rick Perry so somewhere in the ballpark of $1 million to $2.5 million.

Next, Rick Santorum, $1 million to $3 million. Congressman, Texas, Ron Paul, just about $2.5 million to $5.5 million. Next up, we have the president, between just about $3 million and $11.8 million.

Newt Gingrich, this one is a little bit more of a range, between $7 million and $31 million. And Jon Huntsman, $16 million, $72 million and finally, take a look at this. Mitt Romney, between $85 million and $264 million.

If you want to see how the candidates' wealth is actually broken up, you can find all of this, just go to cnnmoney.com.

And now this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never had an earthquake in my whole life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was frightening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jet Airliner crashed on the side of my house.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: It was the biggest of 11 earthquakes here since mid-March. Get this, scientists tell us they think they're manmade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You heard Poppy right, manmade earthquakes. Coming up in two minutes, we're going to show you what may be to blame.

But first, if you watch this show regularly enough and I hope you do, pretty big music fan. I like to go to live shows like I did last night.

Interview the artist and bring tunes to you. Well upcoming from weekend I'm going to share my passion with you in an half hour pack we'd music. We're calling it "Sound Check." Take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In this economy, communities are desperate to try to get people back to work. But folks in Ohio now fear the promise of jobs could literally bring down all that they value.

Literally because nearly a dozen earthquakes have hit Youngstown since March and there is concern they're caused by waste water coming in from an industry, the process known as fracking. CNN's Poppy Harlow visited the town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to know what's causing the earthquakes.

HARLOW (voice-over): Youngstown residents are demanding answer about why their houses shook on New Year's Eve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never had an earthquake in my whole life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was frightening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought a Jet Airliner crashed on the side of my house.

HARLOW (on camera): It was the biggest of 11 earthquakes here since Mid-March and get this, scientists tell us they think they're manmade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the New Year's Eve earthquake.

HARLOW (voice-over): Seismologist John Armbruster says the 4.0 quake was likely triggered by this disposal well, which injects waste water from fracking and oil and gas drilling at intense pressures. Nearly 9200 feet underground.

JOHN ARMBRUSTER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SEISMOLOGIST: Injecting this much waste is disrupting mother nature. Mother nature in this one case is biting back.

HARLOW: The company, D and L Energy, says proximity alone does not prove causation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Channels one, two, and three --

HARLOW: Ohio called on Armbruster to help figure out what is causing all the earthquakes and closed five nearby disposal wells indefinitely.

RICK SIMMERS, OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: It's possible that there's induced seismic activity so that's one possibility.

HARLOW (on camera): Manmade earthquakes.

SIMMERS: Correct, but we don't have conclusive proof yet.

HARLOW (voice-over): There are more than 170 of these wells across Ohio.

(on camera): We wanted to understand how this process really worked so we're getting a rare look at these massive waste tanks and then how it is all injected deep into the earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trucks unloading the two tanks then it is going through a filter and then injected down hole. We're putting it exactly where the federal government says to put it.

HARLOW (voice-over): It is mostly saltwater, but also a small amount of chemicals from the frack fluid used to break apart the shale.

(on camera): How much drilling waste water is being pumped deep into the earth here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 2,000 barrels a day approximately.

MAYOR CHUCK SAMMARONE, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO: I've lived here about 42 years. We've never had an earthquake like that.

HARLOW (voice-over): A proponent of fracking for the jobs it brings to this depressed economy, Youngstown's mayor is now worried.

SAMMARONE: When you feel unsafe in your own house, then it's a serious situation.

HARLOW: The fracking boom is causing huge demand for more disposal well permits.

(on camera): Do companies have to do any seismic test before they drill a well?

SIMMERS: No, nowhere in the country are seismic test sheets for injection wells.

ROBERT HAGAN, OHIO STATE HOUSE: All officials are rushing to find out anything that we can do to provide jobs for this area. We have to do it in a safe and environmental way and I don't think that they're doing it.

HARLOW (voice-over): State Rep Bob Hagan is calling for a moratorium on all injection wells in Ohio.

TOM STEWART, OHIO OIL AND GAS ASSOCIATION: It would stop the development of the best economic opportunity that's ever presented itself over the past two decades for the state of Ohio.

JIM BUNDSKY, OHIO RESIDENT: We need the jobs, but at the same time, the cost of people losing their homes, losing what they've worked for their entire lives?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Poppy Harlow, I can't believe that guy thought a jetliner crashed on New Year's Eve. I know a lot of trucks are transporting a lot of the waste water from fracking in both Pennsylvania -- transporting it from Pennsylvania to Ohio. So is the issue Ohio specific or no?

HARLOW: It's not just Ohio. There's been this huge ramp up in the disposal of this waste from fracking in Ohio so it's getting all of the attention right now and had that big earthquake on New Year's Eve, but it's happening in other places.

In Arkansas in the past year, they had a rash of earthquakes in an area where they don't usually have them. I spoke to the man who monitors all this in Arkansas today.

And he said to me, Brooke, he quoted nature is objecting to what we're doing. So you've got a lot of scientists in different states saying this is happening as a result of some of these injection wells.

Not all because there are over 100,000 across the country, but some of them, we heard reports in Texas and also reports in West Virginia.

BALDWIN: How much of a boom, an economic boom could the oil and gas drilling be for the town of Youngstown?

HARLOW: I think the folks there said it best when they said this could be unlike anything that we've seen here in decades. One woman at a local restaurant said this could really be our next gold rush.

There's a study that came out that said by 2015, so in just a few years, 200,000 jobs could be added in Ohio alone because of the oil and gas industry. They say bringing in some $22 billion.

The question on folks' minds is, at what price. These earthquakes shock them. You've got some concerns about water and pollution. The industry says it's completely clean.

It's completely safe. We do this in the right way. And you have an economy that is so depressed they need these jobs desperately. You've got two sides of the aisle on this one -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Poppy Harlow, appreciate it. Thank you.

And now as if you needed me to tell you this, just another excuse now for you to play games on your smart phone. Coming up next, we're going to tell you the story of a man whose life was saved by the popular app, and I know a lot of you play it, "Words with Friends."

Plus, a 70-year-old man with a new phone -- thanks, guys -- gets booted of the New York Symphony because his phone rang and he couldn't figure out how to turn it off. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here's what trending. Have you ever played the cell phone games, "Words with Friends?" It's addictive just ask Alec Baldwin. It turns out under the right circumstances it can also be a lifesaver. Watch this. This is from our Missouri affiliate KCTV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's the only one I play with.

ALAN SHOPE, KCTV (voice-over): Blue Springs resident Beth Legler started playing "Words with Friends" on her cell phone more than two years ago.

And that's where she met Georgi and Simon Fletcher from Australia. While playing the game together Georgi mentioned Simon wasn't feeling well and described some of his symptoms.

Beth's husband Larry is a doctor. He immediately diagnosed Simon and made it clear he needed to get to a hospital. Simon had a 99 percent blockage near his heart. Had they not gotten to the hospital that day, there was a good chance he would have died.

GEORGIE FLETCHER, "WORDS WITH FRIENDS" PLAYER: Had Larry not sent that message. I don't think Simon would have gone to the doctor that day.

SIMON FLETCHER, HUSBAND OF "WORDS WITH FRIENDS" PLAYER: I'm going to buy that man a beer. He saved my life. I would really like to put my arms around him and give him a big squeeze.

SHOPE: Two families living half a world apart drawn together by an online game to save a man's life.

GEORGIE FLETCHER: Had I'm not had that random opponent all that time ago -- SIMON FLETCHER: I owe Larry everything. I'm lucky to be here.

SHOPE (on camera): Now nearly three months later, both families are doing well and, strangely enough, very thankful for the online app game. Although they've never met in person, both families now feel like they are lifelong friends.

BETH LEGLER, "WORDS WITH FRIENDS" PLAYER: Once we started talking, we really haven't really shut up.

DR. LARRY LEGLER, GAVE MEDICAL ADVICE OVER "WORDS WITH FRIENDS": Real credit for Simon is he has a wife that was really kind of following through on things. She was quite determined to, you know, have him seek the care he should have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: How about that? And from a cell phone app that saves a life to a cell that makes this sound. I recognize that. Perhaps you do as well.

This is a ring tone if you have an iPhone, hear them all the time. But there are a couple of places you really don't want to hear them, like this place.

The conductor there that was Alan Gilbert and this is the New York Philharmonic. The ring tone you hear interrupted the final quiet, quiet measures of "Symphony Number 9" Tuesday night and the conductor, yes, not so amused.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN GILBERT, NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC CONDUCTOR: This ring tone was going on and on and on. And it was actually the loudest thing in the hall. There was so much tension and there was such a stunned feeling, I think for everybody in the room, but certainly for the musicians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Gilbert decided enough was enough, and the audience was with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILBERT: Something had to be done. So we had to stop the music. If you lose your bearing and you have to sort of orient yoursel, and that's how it felt to me. OK, what do we do? We have to finish this piece somehow.

JENNIFER MALONEY, WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER: Meanwhile, the audience was going nuts. They were shouting, and jeering, and saying "Throw him out."

BALDWIN: So, it took a while, but finally the offending cell phone owner got the hint and clicked off the phone. Postscript to this lesson in cell phone etiquette -- the offender turns out to be an older gentleman who wants to remain anonymous.

But he tells the "New York Times" he had just gotten the iPhone the day before the concert. He didn't know how it worked, he says, didn't know it had an alarm. According to the times, the gentleman apologized to the conductor face to face. The apology was accepted. Lesson learned. I guess at least turn the ringer off. Now this.