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Three Dead After Las Vegas Shootout; Who's to Blame for Sequestration?; New Pro-Gay Marriage Ad Quotes Republican Supporters; Is Gay Marriage Comparable to the Civil Rights Movement?; The Scooter Store Facing Medicare Fraud Allegations; Winter Weather Impact, Lakers Pay Tribute to Jerry Buss; From the Band to the Court
Aired February 21, 2013 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Just like unbelievable things going on in Las Vegas right now. Right on the strip in the heart of the tourism district in the city of Las Vegas police tell us right now there was a car-to-car shoot-out. You're taking a look at the aftermath of this car-to-car shoot-out, our affiliate KLAS is reporting injuries and possible deaths from this incident. Right now police have closed down that area. This is right at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road. If you've ever been to Las Vegas it's right by Bally's, across the street from the Bellagio with the big, beautiful fountains that spot up, you know that scene.
Can you imagine? It's just mind-boggling. We're on the phone with Las Vegas police right now to try to find out how this incident started, how far this car-to-car shoot-out went -- was it a couple miles down Las Vegas boulevard? We just don't know right now. You can see the aftermath. Other cars were damaged in this shoot-out and as you can see one of the cars appeared to be on fire at one point. You can see the stuff in the road that the fire department used to put out the fire. Again, we don't know what started this, but an affiliate KLAS is reporting there are injuries and possibly deaths, when we get more information we'll pass it along to you.
"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three topics, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today, CNN political analyst Roland Martin and CNN contributor and analyst for "The Blaze," Will Cain. Welcome, gentlemen.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Glad to be here.
COSTELLO: Washington's blame game in full effect, this time over those forced spending cuts or as Washington likes to call them sequestration. Republicans blame the president for that stupid idea, Democrats say Republicans agreed to that stupid idea. President Obama now urging Congress to do something to act on something, not on Capitol Hill of course but in a series of interviews with local television anchors. In the meantime, some Republicans say the buck actually does stop with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. RAND PAUL, (R ) KENTUCKY: I'm not really willing to discuss it in the framework that he's made up for himself. I mean for goodness sakes, it was his proposal, you know, he proposed the sequester. It was his idea. He signed it into law, and now he's going to tell us that, oh, well it's all our fault?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's Senator Rand Paul. So our question, who is to blame for the forced spending cuts and really should we care? Roland?
MARTIN: All of them. I wish they would shut up, all of them. First and foremost remember, okay, Congress had to pass it, the. The president had to sign it. It's called equal blame. Secondly, there was a super committee that was supposed to meet to hammer out an agreement to avoid this very thing. On the super committee, Republicans and Democrats. Could they agree? No. So everybody should be quiet, stop whining and complaining and passing the buck and accept responsibility for a lack of leadership, lack of action.
COSTELLO: Will?
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Agreed. Who cares? There's so much blame to go around and these forced cuts are such a small issue to shove it all into. Roland gave an analysis (ph) who is to blame for what happened in the past. I'll tell you who is to blame for what's going on right now. President Obama is to blame for demagoguing Washington monumenting, meaning these small one percent cuts are going to be on the most important things. We don't have anything else we can cut? And Republicans to blame for acting like all of a sudden military cuts are the huge job creator, and we can't dare touch those. The truth is both are hugely to blame for not handling big issues, big problems addressing this as one big deficit reduction package. Not this small little force cut project.
COSTELLO: We've all played the blame game ourselves. I didn't want to be accused of being a hypocrite. That standoff continues on spending cuts. There are signs of some common ground on marriage equality. That's on display in this new ad from the respect for marriage coalition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of us would want to be told we can't marry the person we love. That's wht a growing majority of Americans believe it's time to allow marriage for gay and lesbian couples.
LAURA BUSH, FMR. FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: When couples are committed they ought to have, I think, the same sort of rights everyone has.
COLIN POWELL, FMR GENERAL: Allowing them to live together with the protection of the law it seems to me is the way we should move in this country.
DICK CHENEY, FMR VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Freedom means freedom for everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Okay, so that ad features prominent Democrat and Republicans although Laura Bush now says she did not approve of being in the ad and she wants to be taken out. Still, this is an issue seeing increased support nationwide but some say equating the fight for marriage equality to the struggle of African-Americans in the '50s and '60s is inaccurate and inappropriate. Are gay rights the same as civil rights? Will?
CAIN: Yes, but I would caution that that question is a little too broad. So for example on the issue of same-sex marriage, gay marriage, is that a civil rights issue? Yes, I think it definitely is. I think denying couples the ability to marry for the state to treat them the same as heterosexual couples is a violation of a civil right. For example I don't think "don't ask, don't tell" is a civil rights issue, so we can't just throw one umbrella over all of the gay rights fights and say are they civil rights. But, on the issue of same-sex marriage the answer is yes.
COSTELLO: Roland?
MARTIN: Is there a difference between what's happening with gay rights and with what happened with African Americans? Yes there is, because again, you could have been gay and white in Jim Crow and still been able to eat in a hotel or a restaurant. But here's the issue with civil rights that's a broad term. Look at Title IX. The reason Title IX has passed in 1972, that's a provision of the civil rights act. The Americans with disabilities act has been deemed as a civil right that also as a result of the Civil Rights Act, The Americans with Disabilities Act, that has been deemed as a civil right that also as a result of the Civil Rights Act. So the Civil Rights Act was not called the black rights act, it was called the civil rights act and so it's been applied broadly. That's where you have commonality and why it's been used.
COSTELLO: All right. Final question, one of the hottest tickets in Washington, the White House correspondent's dinner, Conan O'Brien set to host the annual event which has turned into quite the star-studded affair attracting people like Kim Kardashian and Steven Spielberg, but is all this hobnobbing between Hollywood, the press and politicians they all love so out of touch? The question, is the White House correspondents dinner passe? Roland?
MARTIN: First of all it's a dinner. Who cares? It's a scholarship dinner. You had stars of the NBA all-star game I was down there kickin' it with the folks, so was Wolf Blitzer other media folks there, you have the super bowl, all kind of other events, you have people in media who go to the Oscars. Frankly, this is Washington at its best where this is the only time they really get to be that important and try to hobnob and so what the heck? Let them have their party, more importantly, they need to learn how to laugh so Conan, bring the jokes, please!
COSTELLO: Will? CAIN: Conan will, I'm sure. This is not Washington at its best, it's Washington at its worst.
MARTIN: It's a party.
CAIN: I've been to this thing, the whole thing is designed to make you feel like you're a star, which you're not, no matter what Roland might think of himself.
MARTIN: Hey, hey, play Prince's "Baby I'm a Star" right now.
CAIN: That was a troll, I easily got him right there. The whole point of the press is to be adversarial and the last four years they've fallen down the job. Well not you're talking about drones or anything else. The press is seeing themselves as part of story, part of the hobnobbing, we're supposed to be adversarial here.
MARTIN: Carol the real deal is Will can't wear a tuxedo unless he's wearing boots and a jacket.
COSTELLO: I like that look. Will Cain, Roland Martin thanks so much. We've got to get back to Las Vegas where I reported just a couple of minutes ago, there is breaking news a car-to-car shoot-out right down Las Vegas boulevard in the heart of the tourism area in Las Vegas. KLS our affiliate reporting three people are dead. The shooting apparently ended right by Bally's across the street from the Bellagio. These are live pictures we're showing you right now. Las Vegas boulevard has now been closed down by police. Let's listen to the chopper reporter for KLAS right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just unbelievable as we continue to piece together exactly what happened and obviously metro police, they're continuing to try to kind of piece things together themselves but once again our live pictures from Chopper 8 showing you the horrific nature, the fiery end to this horrible accident involving a Maserati and another unnamed vehicle that was actually shooting at the Maserati, exchange of gunfire, once again as we were mentioning the passenger of that Maserati was shot and killed before the car actually crashed. There's the Maserati right here on northbound Las Vegas Boulevard slightly north of Flamingo ,there's the taxi cab caught fire and exploded upon impact killing two people inside that vehicle and then we have numerous other cars, involving two more in the intersection and a pickup truck just outside the shot. I'll pull out quick and show you the closure parameter at Interstate 15, this is I-15 and that's where traffic is just starting to back up as everybody has to be diverted on to the northbound I-15 whether you like it or not. This is going to be your detour. Northbound I-15 use Harmon, Tropicana, use Spring Mound (ph) or the DI super arterial to avoid this area as it will be shut down probably until at least noon today if not later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: KLAS also reporting again three people have died as a result of this car-to-car shoot-out on Las Vegas Boulevard. As we get more information again (ph) we'll pass it along to you. We'll be right back.
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COSTELLO: Now to your money, the Scooter Store from the tv commercials -
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're living with limited mobility, call the Scooter Store today, we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Now the Scooter Store is under investigation being accused of Medicare fraud. Their Texas offices have been raided, employees told to leave. Alison Kosik joins us from the New York stock exchange with more on this. Good morning.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And everybody thought the Scooter Store is invincible. Kidding there. The FBI is staying quiet on the details, but we know over 100 law enforcement officials marched into that Scooter Store headquarters yesterday in New Braunfels, Texas and told the employees to go home. We also know that the Scooter Store has reported millions of dollars in Medicare over-payments, pretty much creative accounting, and it's already agreed to give $19.5 million back to the government.
Medicare is in the process of cracking down on fraud. The program is especially concerned about paying for devices that are prescribed to people who don't need them. Medicare is trying harder than ever to stop medical equipment suppliers from abusing the system and they're sort of putting out some red flags to patients and sometimes these aren't necessarily fraudulent against the patients. It's more fraudulent against the government. Some telltale signs offering a free scooter or wheelchair, offering to waive co-payments or billing Medicare for equipment the patient never gets or after it's returned. Carol?
COSTELLO: Alison Kosik reporting live from the New York stock exchange.
A tuba player at LSU really, really stood out in the student band. Now he's a standout on the, can you spot who the basketball player it? We'll be right back.
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COSTELLO: It is 47 minutes past the hour.
We know a little bit more about what's going down in Las Vegas right now, a car-to-car shoot-out on down Las Vegas Boulevard, that's on the Las Vegas strip. We understand the shooting started in front of a casino in these two cars, one of which was a Maserati. Then the cars started driving down Las Vegas Boulevard, apparently the drivers were shooting at one another. We know from KLAS that there are reports that three people are dead but in the course of this car-to-car shoot- out other cars were involved.
You can see one of the cars caught on fire. Another car involved was a taxi and that's pretty much all we know right now. We don't know what the shooting initially started over but it did start in front of a casino. As I said KLAS is reporting that three people have died in this incident. Las Vegas Boulevard remains closed this morning.
In other news Oscar Pistorius stays in jail for now. Just a short time ago a South African court said a bail hearing for Oscar Pistorius would resume tomorrow. He's accused of, as you know, of premeditated murder in the killing of his girlfriend.
To Damascus, Syria where at least 35 people were killed after a car bombing near the ruling party's headquarters, more than 230 people were hurt, most of the victims were civilians. The bomb went off at a checkpoint manned by government soldiers.
People in Germany will not see cool YouTube videos of that meteor streaking through Russia. A Web site says there is a fight between YouTube and the primary organization that licenses music in Germany. That group actually wants YouTube to pay a fee for each video where a car's radio music is heard in the background. Oh forget that, says YouTube. It's now blocking videos of the meteor in Germany.
Thirty million people across the country are dealing with scenes like this one in Kansas today. Heavy snow is falling right now in the Central Plains and the storm is roughly the size of Mexico almost half the country is dealing with this wintery blast 18 states is now under a warning, watch or advisory.
A new report from the CDC highlights some pretty unhealthy eating habits for Americans. On an average day between 2007 and 2010 adults got 11 percent of their calories from fast food. That percentage is actually down. The previous report showed adults got 13 percent of calories from fast food.
The latest report shows young adults getting 15 percent of their calories from fast food and young African-American adults getting 21 percent of their calories from restaurants like Wendy's, Taco Bell and KFC.
"Talk Back" question for you today, "Who is to blame for forced spending cuts?" Facebook.com/CarolCNN or you can tweet me @CarolCNN. Your comments, next.
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COSTELLO: "Talk Back" question, "Who's to blame for forced spending cuts?"
This from William, "I'm glad to see cuts of any kind. Sequestration or others. We must work to get spending levels down."
This from John, "Congress is to blame, but we're the ones who keep putting these do nothing bozos in office, so we can't escape at least part of the blame." This from Ken, "The Obama White House -- too bad, let it go or we will never cut anything."
This from Mary, "Come on, no brainer, Congress, but more specifically, the obstructionist GOP, not all the GOP, just the ones who want to bring the country to its knees to try to prove their point, most of whom drink tea."
Please continue the conversation, Facebook.com/CarolCNN or tweet me @CarolCNN.
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COSTELLO: The winter weather out west was so bad at the opening round of the PGA tour in Arizona had to be postponed because of snow. Joe Carter has details in this morning's Bleacher Report.
JOE CARTER, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey what's up Carol? Yes, 71 day and beautiful weather for golf of course nice and sunny, then 24 hours later, 32 degrees and snow. That's like football weather. The opening round of the World Golf Classic went from this to that. Wow. Look at that. Two inches of snow covering the desert, the cactuses out there, all that sand, the course, this one is about 30 minutes north of Tucson, Arizona.
Of course, as Carol said, round one postponed until today. They can't get on that course and play until all the snow melts.
Now this shot is from Scottsdale, Arizona. This is Salt River Field -- it's where the Arizona Diamondbacks hold spring training practice and games. There is no baseball. There is no baseball league to play there at all. Well the conditions will of course improve later today. It's going to be 50 and sunny. So everybody it's going to be all right. It's quite an experience for them.
Plenty of emotion last night at Staples Center it was the first home game since owner Jerry Buss passed away. Fans as you see signed a card for the lost of a family, the team left his seat in the owner's box empty. Kobe Bryant before the game started to address the crowd.
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KOBE BRYANT, LAKERS PLAYER: On Monday we lost who we all know to be the greatest owner in sports ever. He was a brilliant and incredible owner, but he was even a better person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: Now, Buss won ten championships in 34 years as the Lakers owner. Now the team got a good game last night from Dwight Howard. The Lakers went out and delivered a big win over the Boston Celtics. It (inaudible) if you're a Lakers fan in a rivalry that Jerry Buss helped build.
Check out this amazing table tennis shot. The guy in the blue tops screen goes behind the back for the point. Unbelievable, even his opponent is impressed by the shot. I know it happened fast, so here we're going to show it to you one more time the replay, watch him, behind the back, even with spin on it. That's skills. I love it.
Let's end here. Andrew Del Piero plays center on LSU's basketball team right now. Three years ago, he was a freshman with a scholarship to play tuba in LSU's band. So how did he go from band member to division one basketball player? Well at 7'3" he said he couldn't go anywhere without somebody asking hey, why are you on the band and not the basketball team?
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ANDREW DEL PIERO, LSU BASKETBALL PLAYER: You hear people on the other of the street like oh that guy needs to go to try out for the basketball team and what's he doing in the band? You know all that kind of stuff. Yes the games were just packed with stuff like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: Awesome. I love the ending to that sound bite. For all your entertainment sports news go to BleacherReport.com.
Keep in mind Carol, this guy only played one year of high school basketball, he didn't play for a few years in college, and now he doesn't play that much, but he's a division one basketball player.
COSTELLO: He likes to play the tuba there's nothing wrong with that.
CARTER: I'm thinking he could to become a gym coach and a band teacher. All at the same time. It will be great.
COSTELLO: Joe Carter thanks so much.
All right, we want to get right to Las Vegas and the breaking news happening there right now. Las Vegas Boulevard remains shut down after a rolling shootout right down the Vegas strip. It apparently involved a Maserati and another car, two people inside shooting at one another. There was an ensuing crash, the local affiliate there KLAS reporting three people are dead. Let's listen to their chopper reporter.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- was shot and killed here in the rolling shootout on Las Vegas Boulevard at Flamingo. A passenger survived and was injured and involving this accident. But it makes a lot more sense here because I was trying to piece together a little bit of this accident just looking at my vantage chopper. And we noticed that the passenger side window was not busted out, but the driver's side window is completely missing.
