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Iran Fires at U.S. Drone; New Storm Strikes Sandy's Victims; Nor'Easter Brings Record Snow; Stocks Drift Lower; Super PAC Impact Questioned; Loughner Sentence to Life Without Parole; China's Hu Warns: Graft Threatens State; Overcoming the Scars; Rumblings of a 51st State; "Cradle to Grave"

Aired November 08, 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: We have a correspondent inside that courtroom. We're going to talk to him and take all of that live as soon as the sentencing hearing is over.

But first I want to get to this here. New information just in to us at CNN. Two Iranian fighter jets apparently fired at an unarmed U.S. predator drone. We're hearing this happened last week. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon for us with this exclusive report.

And, Barbara, tell me what you know.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, new military tensions now with Iran. CNN has learned it was last Thursday, just one week ago, that two Iranian SU-25, old Russian fighter jets that the Iranians operate, flew out into the Persian Gulf, into international air space, and fired on a U.S. Air Force predator drone, an unmanned drone, in international air space, that the Pentagon insists was conducting routine, although classified, maritime surveillance.

The Iranian aircraft fired continuously. They did not hit the drone. The drone was able to return to base in that region. But this does raise some serious new tensions with Iran. It was, of course, just a few days before the presidential election here in the United States. Officials that we have talked to, or who are confirming it after we questioned them, say they just don't know at this point what the Iranians were really up to. Were they just out to cause trouble or were they really trying to bring down that U.S. drone.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: So, as you point out, this is clearly raising tensions. Could this be considered an act of war?

STARR: Well, that's an interesting question I suppose for the Pentagon lawyers. The thing is, you know, they fired, the U.S. believes, we're told, in an unprovoked fashion. They say that the drone was in international air space about 16 miles off the Iranian coast in the northern end of the gulf and that it was completely unprovoked and without warning. The Pentagon, through the State Department, has protested to the Iranian government. The Pentagon says it hasn't heard anything back from Teheran.

BALDWIN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you.

Now, to the northeast, where nature is delivering this one-two punch. Take a look. As if Sandy didn't deliver enough misery to all of you in this region. Folks just trying to recover from last week's superstorm are now being hit by a cold, cruel nor'easter. That means snow. It means wind. It means freezing rain for a lot of you here. And I know the last thing in the world this region needs, more power outages. Listen now to New Jersey's governor react to this latest weather threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I said I'm waiting for the locusts and pestilence next. Now, you know, I --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hopefully no locusts, Chris Christie.

Here is what the nor'easter is delivering. More than a foot of snow in some areas. A new round of evacuations. Power outages stretching, we're told, all the way from Delaware to Maine. And along with the misery, the storm is fueling anger. Want to begin our coverage here with the misery. Bitter, bitter cold temperatures. No lights. No heating. This nor'easter really knocking out power to many who only recently -- perhaps as recent as yesterday -- finally got it back. Many folks, they've had enough. And as the temperatures are plummeting, frustrations are on the rise. Some in poorer neighborhoods say they're being neglected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody is sticking together and everybody's trying to do the best that they can, but we need help here in Red Hook. Especially in the towers. You have shut-ins, you have people that can't go to the bathroom. They can't wash themselves. And it -- it's just so -- it's emotional for me to be right here but this is all I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This is all I have.

Deb Feyerick is live in Brooklyn.

Deb, it's heart-wrenching when you hear the stories from some of these folks. You're out there in the thick of things. What are people telling you?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're saying they're suffering. A lot of people that we're speaking to are saying they're suffering. Not only that they've lost everything. So not only do they have to live with the cold and the freezing temperatures in weather, damp, mold-stricken homes, but they just don't know what the next step is.

Some of these cars that you see here, one of the reasons they haven't moved is because the huge wave came all the way down this block. And, Brooke, just to situate everybody, on the other side of the water is Breezy Point. That's where those 110 homes burned down the night of Hurricane Sandy. That was zone a. Brooke, this is zone b. People didn't feel -- people weren't told that they had to evacuate. One man said, by the time he was told he had to evacuate, the water was up to his waist, up to his chest. There simply wasn't any time and they lost all electricity. They say they have seen a couple of people from FEMA but not enough to make a difference. And also some folks from the Red Cross who have come to help. But they say what they need is they really need manpower and right now they don't feel like they're getting it.

And Christine Holland is joining me right now.

I want to ask you, you have been coordinating the effort here at the relief center. And if you just take a look, by the way, Brooke, that relief center there, OK, if it weren't for the relief center, a lot of people would have given up hope a long time ago.

Christine, what are some of the things that you need?

CHRISTINE HOLLAND, VOLUNTEER ORGANIZER: The main thing is we need heat and electricity. We really need Con Ed to come down and organize and let people know. So, more Con Ed presence. And also National Grid needs to come down and show their presence so that people will understand better what to do about getting their electricity fixed.

We really need volunteer licensed electricians licensed plumbers. Boilers. We need boilers to come in. we need supplies to come in for all that. We need professional tree cutters very badly. We have trees ready to fall on top of houses. I know four so far and I can't get help for that. Firemen can only cut the front of the door, but we need professionals.

FEYERICK: There's a lot. There's a -- do you feel that Garretson Beach has been -- has been ignored? That other areas have gotten help faster?

HOLLAND: I haven't seen any news.

FEYERICK: Because you have no electricity.

HOLLAND: I have no electricity.

FEYERICK: So you're not really sure?

HOLLAND: I'm not sure. I'm not sure on that.

FEYERICK: Right. But you know what your community needs.

HOLLAND: Yes.

FEYERICK: Is it frustrating to you that you haven't seen more people from Con Ed here, who are handling this? Because now they're saying, well, you have to get the licensed electrician to sign off and make sure your breakers are OK to begin with before we can even turn them back on.

HOLLAND: Yes, it would be great to see some more Con Edison representatives just talking to the people and making them feel more comfortable who what's going on. Tonight there is a town hall meeting. We'll see if Con Ed shows up or not.

FEYERICK: National Grid, I've seen a couple of more trucks than I did before.

HOLLAND: (INAUDIBLE) National Grid. True. Me, too.

FEYERICK: Are they -- are they starting to come to this area?

HOLLAND: I've just seen the trucks trickling through. I'm in the old section of Garrison Beach. I don't know about the new section. Like I said, my Internet's not working. I can't get much connection on my phone. So it's been difficult to really get communication.

FEYERICK: And last question. At the fire house, at the relief center, we heard that there were a lot of people last night and a lot of people were crying. They're just hanging on by a thread right now.

HOLLAND: We really need counselors to help with trauma. I've heard of people that haven't left their house yet because they're terrified to leave their homes. So we're dealing with trauma issues and we really could use some volunteers, Red Cross, whoever can come help with those issues.

FEYERICK: All right, Christine Holland, thank you so much for joining us.

HOLLAND: Thank you.

FEYERICK: And as you can see, it's not just the obvious things, but they even need grief counselors, psychological counselors, to help them, walk them through this because they've lost so much, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Deb Feyerick, there are no words, I think, to describe what so many of these people are going through. I appreciate you. I appreciate the woman who's trying to help people out. I know the frustration is palpable there. In fact, I want to bring in someone who I have a feeling is fairly frustrated as well. Her name is Stephanie Levatino. She is staying in her home on Staten Island. She's joining me here by phone.

Stephanie, you with me?

STEPHANIE LEVATINO, STATEN ISLAND RESIDENT: I am -- I am here.

BALDWIN: All right, Stephanie. So I understand that you evacuated last night. You planned to return to your home this evening. You have no heat. No power. Why go home?

LEVATINO: No heat. That's right.

BALDWIN: Why go home? LEVATINO: I mean what -- what could you do? You have to go home. You have to go back and protect what's left.

BALDWIN: What is left?

LEVATINO: Well, you know, some people on my block have lost -- have had water in the house up to 14 inches. Trying to protect their homes, you know? The basements blew out doors and you feel like you can't leave. If you leave, you're leaving your home empty and open. Listening to some of the other callers, they're hoping for volunteer electricians. I didn't -- never even heard of such a thing. I thought that we just had to get our own.

I, you know, we don't know what to do. We're just standing there not knowing what to do next, you know? Start cleanup? Get that water out of your house? It's contamination.

BALDWIN: Yes.

LEVATINO: You know? Germicide and gutting, you know? So that's the first place to start. But, you know, with all the mess that everybody's going through, I think that FEMA is probably addressing, you know, I mean, people have lost so much more than I have. I mean, it's one big ground zero. And it's devastating. But even that I'm devastated, I know that there are people that have lost more, like their lives.

BALDWIN: One big ground zero. Let me ask you this. Are you -- are you alone? I understand what was it, your brother and your brother's children, you all were together? You rode out Sandy.

LEVATINO: Yes.

BALDWIN: Are you alone now?

LEVATINO: No. I actually have three brothers, but one of my brothers is staying at the house with me.

BALDWIN: OK.

LEVATINO: My three brothers, we were all together when it happened. We didn't evacuate. We did evacuate for Irene and it, you know, we didn't evacuate for this. I evacuated for yesterday, which turned out to be not so bad, you know, because you don't want to make the same mistake twice. But my brother, yes, he lost his whole first floor and he has four kids. It's -- you know, and you don't know what to do. It was a full week before we found out that we even needed to contact electricians to get the boxes looked at, you know, and I'm just, you know, there because I didn't know what to do. I know that I couldn't leave. I have dogs. I was keeping his dogs because --

BALDWIN: Sure.

LEVATINO: You know, he's got his kids to deal with. And I was just holding the fort down, you know? I didn't want the leave and leave my house open to have more violation. It's violative (ph), you know, to have somebody coming in after and take --

BALDWIN: Right. Absolutely. People are -- yes, people are concerned about looters.

LEVATINO: Right.

BALDWIN: Stephanie, we wish you warmth. We wish you hopefully a speedy, you know, return to power and life for you and everyone else up and down there in the northeast. Stephanie, thank you for calling in.

I want to get straight to Alexandra Steele because, gosh, I mean, you listen to her and she says, despite her losses, it's not so bad considering others have lost lives. But it really is like a ground zero.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. I mean, and, you know, and when you listen to her, I think so many people don't know what to do.

BALDWIN: Yes.

STEELE: I think she's certainly not the exception.

BALDWIN: Yes.

STEELE: She's kind of a rule, I bet, with what's happening here. And, you know, unfortunately, for Stephanie and so many others, it's cold and it's windy. And though we are going to see some more rain coming, unfortunately. So let's get to the maps. I want to show you what's what.

Now, the area of low pressure that brought this is now moving out. And for Stephanie and everyone along the Jersey coast, Long Island coast, things are certainly going to improve. Here's the area of low pressure now, to give you a little perspective. This is New York. This is Long Island. So it's south of Cape Cod. So certainly it is moving east. So, it more or less is a quick hitter. By tomorrow it will be completely a done deal.

East Hampton seeing some rain. Hartford, you can see a heavy band of rain coming. Now, this is on top of -- in Hartford County, between four and nine inches of rain. But now, in Hartford, temperatures in the mid-40s. Wind gusting, though, to 39 miles per hour. So still raw wind chills feeling like the 20s.

Here's where these winds are. Now even in Philadelphia, still gusting to 25. Providence and Boston, of course, because you're further north and east, you're going to hang on to these winds a little bit longer.

Here's the wind gust forecast. You can see the time stamp taking you to Friday afternoon. Still in Portland, Maine, in Boston, still between 35 and 40 miles per hour. Finally, though, this storm is exiting. Again, only improving Friday. You can see it off the coast. And again, Brooke, by tomorrow afternoon, certainly everyone will see sunny skies. The winds will abate and things certainly will improve. BALDWIN: What about flights, though, Alexandra? Because from what I saw, something like 1,500 flights were canceled in certain parts of the northeast.

STEELE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Is that back on track?

STEELE: Yes, well, 600 flights were canceled today.

BALDWIN: Six hundred.

STEELE: And 1,600 flights were canceled yesterday.

BALDWIN: Wow.

STEELE: But the 1,600 flights that were canceled today, there are flights up there, but we are seeing delays right now in Boston and in Newark. Those are the two places. But also with the lines, like Long Island Railroad, Metro North. Metro North, interestingly enough, is slowing its trains because of the ice on the tracks. So they're slower. And Long Island Railroad is up and running. It suspended last night, but still delays today, about 20 minutes.

BALDWIN: OK. We'll keep talking about this. We'll talk next hour.

STEELE: OK.

BALDWIN: Alexandra, thank you very much.

Also today, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in court facing the man who shot her. Victims of Jared Loughner are speaking out today. He is finally being sentenced for shooting and killing six people, injuring 13 others. We'll hear from our reporter who's been sitting inside that courtroom.

Also, watching the markets here for you today. The day after the day after Election Day. Not quite as bad as we saw yesterday. The Dow down 60 points. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Breaking news here into CNN. We have just now learned out of Tucson, Arizona, the judge, the federal court judge, has now sentenced the man you see over my shoulder, Jared Lee Loughner, who killed six, injured 13, back two Januaries ago, sentenced him to life without parole. In fact, let me look over and quote this judge here. Quote, "the evidence clearly shows that he knew what he was doing despite his mental illness."

Let me give you some background here into today's sentencing hearing because we also know this. Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, she stood up in this courtroom today. She faced the man who tried to assassinate her by firing a bullet into her brain. Her husband, former astronaut shuttle commander Mark Kelly spoke on her behalf at this sentencing hearing for Loughner. And here is what Kelly said. Let me quote him. "Gabby would trade her own life to bring back any one of those you savagely murdered that day. Her life has been forever changed." He goes on, "every day is a continual struggle to do those things she was once so good at."

Federal prosecutors have said Loughner, we now know, has been -- has been given life without parole. During this hearing here, at one point aides helped Giffords out of the Arizona courtroom for a few minutes and then she did return. We still don't know why she left. At least nine other shooting survivors are there, including a woman who stopped Loughner from reloading his gun and one of the men who helped tackle him to the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BADGER, SHOOTING SURVIVOR: You're angry the first time you see him and -- but you calm down a little bit.

PAT MAISCH, SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I don't know how I'll react. So I'm planning on speaking. I might change my mind. But I really do have some things I want to say to the judge and to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Again, six people were killed, 13 injured in last year's shooting rampage outside of that grocery store in Tucson. Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 charges, all as part of this plea deal. That happened in August. Prosecutors dropped the death penalty and one survivor said in court today that Loughner's sentencing cannot bring closure to that dreadful day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAISCH: That incident will be in my heart and mind for as long as I live. So I call it another step in the journey. It gives you a new perspective on the important things in life and it can't help but change you. And hopefully for the better.

BADGER: It changes your priorities. And you look at all the good things that are happening every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This is federal court, keep in mind, so we can't show you video from inside the courtroom, but we do have a crew in there. We have a correspondent inside. And now that we know he has been sentenced to life without parole, we will bring you that correspondent and get some of the color inside that courtroom, including, really, this is the first time that some of these victims, some of the survivors, were able to confront this man for the first time.

Now this. Did you check your 401(k) this morning? Probably not a pretty sight after the stock market's post-election tumble just yesterday. The Dow's worst day of the year down 313 points. Folks, that is more than 2 percent. Let's go to Alison Kosik. She's at the New York Stock Exchange for us.

And we are just about an hour 40 minutes from the closing bell and should we avoid looking at our retirement accounts tomorrow morning, Alison?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what, go ahead, look at it. I mean, to be honest with you, don't go ahead and change your 401(k) based on one bad day because you want to really look at the S&P 500. That's what your mutual funds, your 401(k) really tracks. And, guess what, the S&P 500, it's still up 10 percent for the year. So chances are your 401's probably doing all right at this point.

And if you look on Wall Street, stocks are trading a little calmer today. We saw stocks trade a little higher this morning. Now they're in the red. The Dow is down 62 points. You know what, it could be an indication of what's to come down the pike. You know, the market's probably going to be churning for the next couple of months because of the fiscal cliff. Now, the expectation is that the president and Congress will wind up hammering out a deal. But you know what, until we're there, you're not going to see this real strong conviction to buy stocks.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Can we talk Black Friday, because it's almost upon us?

KOSIK: Let's talk Black Friday.

BALDWIN: Can you believe it? We're now hearing Wal-Mart opening earlier than ever, 8:00 Thanksgiving night. Eat your turkey. Go shopping.

KOSIK: That's right.

BALDWIN: Why are they doing it? To cash in?

KOSIK: It's the new trend. You know what, they're the trend setter. Forget Black Friday. Wal-Mart's opening at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. This is actually the second year in a row Wal-Mart's doing this, opening on Thanksgiving night. Opening two hours earlier this year. And the company, Brooke, is just responding to customer feedback. These shoppers. They want to have their turkey. They want to go shopping. And then they want to go to bed at a reasonable hour. All apparently in the same day. And the National Retail Federation agrees.

I want to show you some numbers. Eighty percent of shoppers, they say they'll start shopping before December this year. But, get this, 12 percent started their Christmas shopping before September, which means they're probably in their flip flops and bathing suits. And you know what, for this influx of people coming in, these retailers have to be ready. Christmas shopping is huge for them. It's a real critical time for year for them no matter how long that season lasts, even if it begins when we're swimming in the pool.

BALDWIN: So you mentioned this is Wal-Mart's second year. Any other retailers doing this? KOSIK: There are. There's Sears and Kmart. They're also announcing they're going to open on Thanksgiving as well. And expect more stores to follow, as well.

You know, last year, Toys R Us opened early, though it waited until November 19th to let everybody know they're opening early. You know, the National Retail Federation says the number of shoppers hitting the stores on Thanksgiving Day has really soared in the last three years. A little over 3 percent in 2009, jumping all the way to more than 24 percent last year. And with these stores opening up earlier and earlier, expect that number to go up again. We just can't get enough of our holiday shopping.

BALDWIN: After my turkey dinner, I am comatose. Put me in sweatpants, send me to bed. But power to these people who have the energy to do it and do it early.

KOSIK: I hear you, yes.

BALDWIN: Alison Kosik, thank you.

KOSIK: Sure.

BALDWIN: And now this one. This story -- this pilot steals a passenger plane. We now have the video. We have the surveillance tape of what this looked like as he was crashing into buildings. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: For two weeks in October, drivers were terrorized by a gunman. And some of these shootings were right along this stretch of highway. Take a look on the map. This is I-96 here in -- just outside of Detroit, actually. In all, there were 24 shootings in four different counties. And the gunfire was random. It went on for weeks. Today, finally, a sigh of relief for a lot of you because this man has been charged and was arraigned yesterday. Forty-three-year-old Raulie Wayne Casteel. "The Detroit Free Press" is reporting Casteel is married and has a preschool aged daughter. A former neighbor is quoted as being shocked by the charges. But Casteel's mother reportedly says she has been worried about his mental health. He is a suspect in all of these 24 shootings. Right now he is only, though, charged with this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

911 DISPATCHER: Livingston County 911, what is your emergency?

911 CALLER: I'm calling. Um, I was driving in my car down I-96 and I thought something hit me, like something like a really loud noise happened.

SHERIFF BOB BEZOTTE, LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN: It went in right at the door handle to the rear driver side door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did it pass through the vehicle?

BEZOTTE: It passed through and lodged on the other side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Casteel is being held under $2 million bond.

Also, the Egyptian-American man behind the anti-Muslim film that stirred up a lot of violence in the Middle East, he will be in federal prison for quite a while. He is Mark Youssef. He was sentenced to one year behind bars in California for violating his probation in a bank fraud conviction. His attorney said Youssef admits to being the writer of the film "Innocence of Muslims" and that he might also have been a cultural consultant on the film. Muslims all across the Middle East protested that film, which portraying the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and a killer.

And some just-released video here. This is surveillance video you're about to see. It actually shows these maneuvers of a man on the run as he is stealing a plane in Utah! Look at this with me. Brian Hedglin commandeered this empty Sky West jet. This was back in July. The surveillance video, new. This is happening several days after Colorado Police say he stabbed and killed his girlfriend. And you can see here the plane crashing through, moving. Apparently, though, he was not trying to take off, we're told. He actually heads to the parking lot and clips the corner of the terminal building. This is Utah's St. George Airport. He shot himself in the plane shortly after the video ended.

Billions of dollars poured into this election. But did the big-time spenders get their money's worth? Coming up next, why money can't always buy an election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The expected onslaught of super PAC ads come and gone for now, I should say. Some of the deep-pocketed donors who funded those ads are asking what they got for all of their money.

Republican allied interests shelled out most of the $1 billion that was spent on independent campaign ads. Let's say that again, $1 billion. But their candidate lost the White House and they failed to win control of the Senate, not much return on investment here.

Joining me from Washington, Matea Gold of the "L.A. Times." Matea, Welcome. Your lead line, money isn't everything. This is a new set of rules, you know, remove the constraint on the outside ads, presume to be huge advantage specifically for Republicans, doesn't seem to have worked. Why not?

MATEA GOLD, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": It really was a fascinating development. As you mentioned, a record $6 billion spent on this campaign, largely that spending driven by outside groups that were reporting spending $1 billion.

That doesn't even include the perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in expenditures by tax exempt groups that don't have to report the spending and Mitt Romney was largely the beneficiary of the outside spending in the presidential race by a margin of at least three to one at least.

But it was not the game changer that many anticipated it would be and a couple reasons for that. One is, while outside groups helped Mitt Romney on the air, they really only brought him to parity with the number of ads that were being run on his behalf.

Compared to Obama because Obama as a candidate got a lower ad rate than these outside groups, which had to spend a lot more money and then there were the number of groups running ads on Romney's behalf.

There were so many groups piling on, media strategists said perhaps too many messages. Some were talking about the economy. Others were talking about Solyndra and others were talking about welfare. In the end, it may have created too much noise for viewers.

BALDWIN: Too much noise, too many messages. Let me jump in because, you know, we hear about these billionaires and you talk about wanting to -- the game changers shelling all these money to try to defeat Barack Obama. They lost. Here's what I want to know. Are they angry?

GOLD: It is safe to say that they're in a lot of soul searching going on right now.

BALDWIN: Soul searching.

GOLD: And I think that, you know, donors have indicated they wanted to know really what kind of return they're getting on their investment. One major donor said to us yesterday, you know, he's really questioning the strategy of putting so much money in ads.

BALDWIN: Who are they questioning, Matea? Who are they soul searching with?

GOLD: Well, clearly, the strategists who run the -- ran these groups. Karl Rove being one of them are having to answer a lot of questions today. And I do think that a lot of these donors while seems like $5 million is a lot of money to us.

It's really, really a small investment for them so for some of the folks this was a vote with their money on behalf of who they thought they wanted to win and they're ideological donors.

They are going to keep giving money, but I think there are also a lot of donors who had hopes of seeing greater returns and they're probably going to think carefully of where they put their money next time.

BALDWIN: It's $6 billion, it's a lot. Matea Gold, "L.A. Times," thanks for coming on.

GOLD: My pleasure.

BALDWIN: And now, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords standing in court today facing the man here who fired a bullet into her brain. We have now learned Jared Lee Loughner, this murderer, has now been sentenced by a judge in Tucson to life without parole. Casey Wian was inside that courtroom. He joins me live. Casey, what was it like in there?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, it was very, very tense inside that courtroom. Jared Loughner walked in to the courtroom. We have seen many pictures of him with the head shaved, his hair has grown now. It's now short.

He is a much different looking young man than we have been accustomed of seeing. We also saw Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords walking in to the courtroom with the help of her husband and with help of friends.

They were going to confront Mr. Loughner for the first time since that day back in January when he shot Congresswoman Giffords and several other people, killing six people.

The victim after victim paraded before the court and spoke many of them directly to Jared Loughner looking at him, describing the impact that this shooting had on all of their lives. Many of them surprisingly I think, Brooke, offered forgiveness.

They said because he's mentally ill, they have some capacity in their heart to forgive him. All of them, according to the prosecutor or nearly all of them, said that they did not want the death penalty in this case.

And that the prosecution honored those wishes because of Mr. Loughner's mental illness. Perhaps the most poignant moment is when Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabby Giffords looked at him directly and said we are done thinking about you.

A lot of people talk about the word closure. The judge talked about the word closure. He said it's a 25-cent word. When's really happened to today in his words resolution, the resolution of this case, seven consecutive life terms in prison.

One for each person who Loughner killed and one for the assassination attempt of former Congresswoman Giffords plus 140 years in prison for all of the other assaults, all of the other injured victims.

Bottom line, he will not see the light of day outside of prison walls ever again -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Casey, has the people line up as you describe and looking I presume straight in the eyes of Jared Loughner and speaking, how did Loughner react?

WIAN: I was behind him so I couldn't see his face, but for the most part he looked at him. My producer, Linda Feeny had a better look. His attorney was stroking his arm, apparently trying to calm him, keep him -- keep him calm as he heard all of these people talk about the horrific things that he has done to their lives.

One of the things I want to point out, as well, many of these victims stressed that they wanted to make sure that Mr. Loughner is required to take the medication he needs for his mental illness. They want him fully aware of what he's done for the rest of his life and the judge part of the sentence did order him sent to a prison where that can happen -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: To be fully aware locked up for the rest of his life. Casey Wian in Tucson. Casey, thank you.

Coming up next, if you think the U.S. Electoral College is a complicated system for choosing a leader, we'll show you the process here that's going on in China right now as they go through this leadership change, "Globe Trekking" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to China. Where a once in a decade leaders of transition is under way. This is the 18th Communist Party Congress. The outgoing President Jintao issued a blunt warning to this group. That being that China's Communist Party could collapse if they fail to clean up corruption.

A couple of things you need to know about this change in leadership here. First, there are no democratic elections in China. Leadership change involves an elaborate succession plan. You can see the pomp and circumstance here.

But remember, one thing to remember here in this long process, there is only one party in China. That is the Communist Party and party loyalty is absolute.

Imagine growing up with scarring so severe that your only wish is to be able to walk down the street unnoticed. In today's "Human Factor," CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to this young woman who has turned a childhood accident into a new career helping others seize their pain.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The scars on Basma Hameed's face serve as a never ending reminder of a kitchen fire she endured more than two decades ago. Basma was just 2 years old at that time. She was in the kitchen with her brother who was 6.

BASMA HAMEED, PARAMEDICAL MICROPIGMENTATION SPECIALIST: He took a frozen chunk of meat from the fridge and he put it in to oiling oil so fire started. He tried to take it over to the sink and he tripped on top of me so the oil spilled on 40 percent of my face.

GUPTA: Thankfully Basma doesn't remember the accident or the pain. She does remember being rushed to the hospital and the surgeon working tirelessly to open her stuck, which was stuck shut from that burning oil.

HAMEED: All of the time growing up it was really difficult because everybody was there and especially at school. It was really hard to fit in. GUPTA: Feeling frustrated after more than 100 procedures, at age 16, Basma asked her plastic surgeon what else could she do?

HAMEED: He had said, take your money and go on a vacation. I was still left with one eyebrow and I was really disappointed at that time.

GUPTA: Disappointed but undeterred. Basma began to research her options. Soon enough she began experimenting with micropigment implantation, the fancy term for tattoos.

HAMEED: I had nothing to lose so that's when I took the tattoo machine and I sat in front of the mirror and I started working on my own face for two years.

GUPTA: She's now made a career of helping others soften their scars. Today, she's tattooing a birthmark that's largely kept her from venturing outside her home in childhood.

HAMEEED: When I was in kindergarten they held me down and tried to erase my face with a pencil with no eraser on it.

GUPTA: She tried everything. Nothing worked until she found this, and medical cosmetic tattooing. It's the last step both women say in learning to love themselves from the inside out. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

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BALDWIN: Medical cosmetic tattooing. Sanjay, thank you. We'll check you out. "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." aired Saturday 4:30 p.m. Eastern and Sunday 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time "SANJAY GUPTA M.D."

With all of the excitement over this presidential election or perhaps disappointed depending on which camp you are in, a ballot measure with little attention could someday lead to the change of number of stars on the American flag. Details on a historic vote for statehood next.

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BALDWIN: With the election following the presidential race, the House, the Senate, you might have missed this vote, the possibility of a 51st state. The people of Puerto Rico voted in favor of statehood.

It's a nonbinding referendum, 54 percent rejected Puerto Rico's current status as a commonwealth. In a second question, 61 percent said they want Puerto Rico to be a state, 33 percent preferred a semi- autonomist, quote/unquote, "sovereign free association," 6 percent favored outright independence.

Senior Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo here with a ballot, the modelo and --

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Yes, the actual ballot.

BALDWIN: This is the actual ballot. Tell me here why is this referendum different?

ROMO: Well, it is different because it's the first time that the option of statehood wins in Puerto Rico. They have done this three times in the last 45 years and this is the actual first time that statehood is number one.

However, if you take a look at the ballot, you have three options. The first two are very simple. It says statehood, independence or sovereign free associated state. The first question that comes the mind is, what the heck is sovereign free associated state?

BALDWIN: What the heck is that?

ROMO: Well, nobody really knows.

BALDWIN: OK.

ROMO: That's the problem and that's the reason why a lot of Puerto Ricans left this question blank and some critics say that's the reason why statehood won.

So that's why many are calling this a victory with an asterisk and not a clear mandate. Nobody has really defined how it's going to work and as you can see, it is the one with the longest description of what would be.

Now again, we are only talking about what Puerto Ricans want, but the referendum is nonbinding, which means that it would be up to the U.S. Congress to decide if they want to move ahead with this.

BALDWIN: Yes. This is at Washington, is it likely?

ROMO: Well, not really. It is very difficult to find the political will with all of the challenges that the new Congress is going to have to move on something like this. President Barack Obama was in Puerto Rico earlier this year and listen what he had to say about this issue.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When I ran for president, I promised to include Puerto Rico. Not just on my itinerary, but also, in my vision of where our country needs to go.

And I'm proud to say that we have kept that promise, too. First of all, we've addressed the question of political status and when the people of Puerto Rico make a clear decision. My administration will stand by you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: He says we'll stand by you.

ROMO: Yes, that's right.

BALDWIN: The people of Puerto Rico? ROMO: But you listen to him, he said when they make a clear decision. And in this case, it doesn't seem all that clear. But again, first time that statehood with asterisk or not wins in {uerto Rico.

BALDWIN: Rafael Romo, thank you.

ROMO: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Teargas, Molotov cocktails, stun grenades, protests turned violent in Greece as the country's parliament preparing to cut pensions, raise taxes, we have the details.

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BALDWIN: How many of us can say we know someone who's been the victim of gun violence? Perhaps you can, but unfortunately many inner city kids raise their hands when they're asked that question.

In fact, in Philadelphia, an educator and a trauma surgeon is trying to prevent more kids from becoming victims and doing it in a productive and provocative way. Sarah Hoye has more on this week's "Black in America."

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome. I work with gunshot patients. How many of you know someone who's been shot?

SARAH HOYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Philadelphia educator Scott Charles is on a mission to save young lives. Charles and Amy Goldberg, chief trauma surgeons at Temple University Hospital co- founded the "Cradle To Grave" program to help reduce gun violence in the city of brotherly love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're going to do today is kind of take you behind the scenes, pull back the curtain and let you see what we do.

HOYE: The "Cradle to Grave" program brings local high school students inside Temple's trauma center to relive the final 15 minutes of life of a teen killed by gun violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That young boy stood over Lamont and fired ten more shots in to him.

DR. AMY GOLDBERG, TRAUMA SURGEON: You know, gun violence can kill so I think it's our responsibility to prevent the kids from coming in.

HOYE: Among America's largest cities, Philadelphia's homicide rate is the worst with African-Americans making up 85 percent of the victims.

SCOTT CHARLES, "CRADLE TO GRAVE" PROGRAM: You know, statistics suggest that as a young black man you have a greater chance of being shot and killed in Philadelphia than you would have if you're a soldier serving in the conflict in Afghanistan or Iraq. That's absurd to me.

HOYE: Since 2006, more than 7,000 students have come through the "Cradle to Grave" program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want that to happen to me. I want to be something.

GOLDBERG: We want to really teach them the preciousness of life. That in an instant your life can be changed forever.

HOYE: Change they want for the better. Sarah Hoye, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Sarah, thank you.

So who's black in America? Is being black determined by the color of your skin, your family, by what society says or perhaps something else?

Soledad O'Brien will be examining provocative questions about skin color, discrimination and race in our new documentary "Who is Black in America." It premiers Sunday, December 9th at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

New austerity measures for Greece lead to a familiar face off in the streets of Athens. Take a look. Protesters as many as 70,000 showing up against police here demonstrating against budget cuts they say they can't take after years of belt tightening here.

The public rage is evidence here and didn't stop lawmakers from adopting the new cuts including raising the retirement age to 67 and reduces pensions and pay and reduce $40 billion in bailout money.

Another presidential election in the books, but once again, not in Florida not yet at least, the state still counting. Still counting the ballots two days after election. Next, details on when we can expect a decision on Florida's electoral votes.

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