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Google Maps Shows Fukushima; Doctor in Brazil Allegedly Killed Patients; Extortion Lawsuit Detailed
Aired March 28, 2013 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROOKE BALDWIN, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Bottom of the hour, I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Technology, sports, business, science, showbiz news, we got it all for you, you know the deal, the "Power Block," starting with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERARD BUTLER, ACTOR, "OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN": Five minutes, sir.
Evening, ma'am.
ASHLEY JUDD, ACTRESS, "OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN": Merry Christmas, mike.
BUTLER: Mustang, this is Big Top, bringing out the full package.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Playing the first lady is as close to politics as Ashley Judd will be getting, at least for now.
After months and months of hot and heavy speculation, the actress is passing on a run for the U.S. Senate from Kentucky.
Word that Judd was thinking about challenging Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell put the GOP machine in high gear.
Judd tweeted that she's decided not to run because, quote, "After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities and energy at this time need to be focused on my family."
That is Demi Lovato and her hit, "Give Your Heart a Break," which reached number one on the Billboard charts last year. Fox announced she will be returning as a judge for season three of "The X-Factor." That's the show Simon Cowell now hosts.
And American Airlines and US Airways are approving to take off on their merger. A federal bankruptcy judge OK'ed the $11 billion airline union, but he declined a severance package for the CEO of American's parent company, AMR.
A town crushed and forgotten, more than two years after that deadly earthquake and tsunami crashed into Japan, the town once bustling with 21,000 people now sits empty.
These folks banned from returning to this area. This is still contaminated from radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
We now have pictures, thanks to Google Maps. Look at this with me. They're sending their truck in to take photos. This part of the world been really frozen in time.
Chad Myers, here to walk us through the pictures, and so, Chad, this is what? You said four miles away from that power plant?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. A town basically where a lot of the people who worked at the plant would live.
BALDWIN: Wow.
MYERS: And now it's just -- it's devastated.
It's hard to imagine that this town where people's lives, people had businesses, they had things going, they had schools, all of a sudden, it's gone.
Finally for the first time they've allowed Google to drive their car in there with the camera on top. And if you've ever -- if you have a computer, you know about Google, you know about Google Maps, you know about Google surface maps. You can drive along and take pictures.
Well now these blue lines right here along the prefecture of Fukushima, now you have blue lines, you're able to take a look at some of those pictures.
Let's take a look at some of them right here. This is driving through one of the towns, and I happen to find a reflector, kind of -- one of those mirrors so you know whether traffic's coming or not, and they actually took a picture of itself.
There's the little ball on top of the car taking the pictures, and so there you go.
But then you take a look at something that may not be not quite so interesting or fun to look at, what looks like downtown, what should have been full of bustling businesses, people walking through town, it's just not there at all.
Ad then closer to the water where the -- this is just devastating to look at. This literally looks like Katrina, all those areas, and Bay St. Louis, Waveland, all those areas, because this was a 30-to-40-foot wall of water that washed through this part of the country about 100 feet or so from the ocean.
You'll be able to see this, another kind of interesting picture to show what happens as it went on through, just the water washing everything away.
One more thing, this is about a mile inland from the ocean.
BALDWIN: Is that a boat?
MYERS: That's a ship -- a boat, yes. Just not anywhere near the water, it rose up because of the water as the wave came in, the tsunami came in, and washed it all the way in here.
These poor people are displaced and they probably will be displaced for decades.
BALDWIN: And now Google allowed in to take the pictures. Chad Myers ...
MYERS: Briefly because there's still a lot of radiation.
BALDWIN: Yeah. Yeah, people can't go back, at least for now.
Chad Myers, thank you very much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: Investigators, they're now unraveling what may be one of the world's worst serial killings, and now there are chilling new tapes that could help back it up.
A doctor and her team at a Brazil hospital are charged with murdering seven, terminally-ill patients, but we're told that number could climb into the hundreds.
Prosecutors have released wiretaps they say reveal a definite motive.
More on that, let's go to Shasta Darlington in Sao Paulo, Brazil. What are you hearing as far as a motive?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Brooke.
Basically, these wiretaps that were published in newspapers indicate that she was communicating with her team and asking them, how many have we gotten rid of today, this kind of thing
In another, she says, I think we should just clear out the intensive care unit. It's making me itch.
In another, she said, well, I feel like we're kind of the go-between between this world and that.
Just very chilling messages that we see in these wiretaps.
Now, we should be clear, of course, that so far she's only been accused of killing seven, terminally-ill patients.
What we've heard is that investigators think that she could be tied to as many as 20 already and they're investigating a total of 300 murders that they believe this director of the intensive care unit in the evangelical hospital in Curitiba, that she could have been behind that, Brooke.
BALDWIN: You were reporting she was arrested, she's been out on bail, but that may change here as those numbers of killings, it sounds like, are on the rise.
Shasta Darlington in Sao Paulo, Shasta, thank you.
Breaking now on CNN, the United Nations has just approved the first- ever offensive peacekeeping force. It's a combat force, 20,000- stron,g will now enter the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is a country now overrun by armed militia groups, rebels determined to take over the African nation, one city at a time.
This week, they violently seized the capital and along with that, seizing a presidential palace.
This final move prompting the United Nations to send in this unprecedented combat team to carry out, quote, "targeted offensive operations." News from the Congo.
Coming up next, Ali Velshi and "Your Money."
Mr. Velshi?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I've got good news for "Your Money."
Take a look at that Dow. If it stays anywhere close to where it is right now, we're going to have yet another record.
I'll tell you all about that and how you can take part in it when we get back on "Your Money."
Stay with us.
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VELSHI: From the CNN Studios in New York, I'm Ali Velshi.
The stock market continues its bull run, but does that mean the entire economy is set to soar? That is the question we've got. This is "Your Money."
Another market record today, the S&P 500 spent the day above its all- time closing high set in October 2007. If things stay stable for the next 20 minutes or so, it'll set a brand-new record.
This matters to you because you probably have 401(k)s and IRAs that mimic this index. It's up 10 percent in just the first three months of the year. That's about as much as you can expect to make in an average year in the stock market.
And with markets closed tomorrow for Good Friday, the Dow is now moments away from wrapping up its best first quarter, first three months of the year, since 1998.
Those of you who stayed invested sometime around when the market bottomed out back in March of 2009 would now have a gain of about 130 percent in four years. But I can tell from my tweets that many of you still aren't buying it, and that's in part because of a disconnect that some of you are convinced between this bull market and the wider economy.
Now, despite 36 straight months of private-sector job growth, a stock market that's more than doubled, folks are wary, or don't have the money to invest, or don't trust the markets, or governments, or banks, or figure it would be dumb to buy into a record setting market.
Consumer confidence, as you can see, has taken a bit of a dip as well.
I talked to Pimco CEO Mohamed El-Erian. His company is one of the world's largest investors in bonds. That means he needs to know when to bet on economies and when to bet against them.
He says it's easier for rich people to take the kinds of risks necessary to make money.
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MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, PIMCO CEO: Let's speak to the fundamental issue any investor should be asking today. It's not what can go well, but if I make a mistake, what mistake can I afford to make?
And the reason why the average American is not getting involved is because they can't afford a big mistake ...
VELSHI: That's right.
EL-ERIAN: ... whereas rich people can afford a mistake, so they get the upside and they also have self-insurance against a downside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: So that lack of wiggle room many Americans feel probably explains your attitude towards this bull market.
Look at this. Despite four years of almost constant gain, more than half of you still say that investing even $1,000 in the stock market is a bad idea.
Needless to say, I disagree with you, but the more important question isn't when you should buy, it's when you should sell.
Remember, you don't make any money until you sell, but a rising market can make you greedy. You fear getting out too early and losing out on the next bull run.
So one thing you could do is set a target selling price. It's not easy to decide what that target should be, but if you can lock in a 20-percent gain on a stock, you're doing pretty well.
Go to CNNMoney.com/RiskTest. There you'll find 15 questions to assess your personal risk tolerance, figure out how to build your ideal portfolio with the right mix of assets so you can take part in this stock market in a way that meets your own tolerance for risk. For more in-depth coverage this weekend, tune in to "Your Money," Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
From the CNN Studios in New York, I'm Ali Velshi.
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BALDWIN: Now let's talk about -- this is my favorite story of the day. This is the story of an office pool and this big lottery win.
And I know what you're thinking. If you're thinking what I thought, this ends in court, somebody didn't want to share. Nope. No, no, no, this actually seems to be the start of a great workplace family.
And here's why. There's a group of 12 employees -- here they are -- at Keller Williams Partner Realty. This is in Florida. They decided to share their lottery jackpot with all of them, including the one worker, the only worker, who didn't actually pay into the pool.
You heard me right. The other staffers, they chipped in $20 to pay and play the $338 million Powerball, but one new employee opted out. She's a single mom watching the budget. Twenty bucks is a lot.
The group hit five of the winning numbers. That's a million dollars in winnings. And then the head of the office, the woman holding the check here in this picture, she got everyone to agree that the newbie should get a cut as well.
Here is one of the office workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATALI LEVINE, CO-WORKER AND LOTTERY WINNER: We knew from the day she started that she's great and she's one of us and we -- it wouldn't have been as special if she wasn't included.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Live with me now, Laurie Finkelstein Reader. She's the one who spearheaded the idea to share the jackpot, and also with us, Jennifer Maldonado, the lucky employee who did not pay into the pool.
So, ladies, welcome. I love this story. I love that you're sharing. We never get stories like this.
But I do have to ask here off the top, Laurie, among you ladies, at any point in time, did anyone not want to share with Jennifer?
LAURIE FINKELSTEIN READER, LOTTERY WINNER: Hi, there, how are you?
Absolutely everyone wanted to share from the moment I sent out my text message blast, saying that I think that it's the right thing to do.
It was about a 30-second time frame as each person, all 12 of us, chimed in saying, yes, we're in, we're in, let's do it, that's a great idea. Let's do it. BALDWIN: You are good women.
Jennifer, to you, tell me what happened, because you have these 12 coworkers, they all decide to plunk down twenty bucks into a pool. They come to you. They say, hey, you want to play, as well? What do you tell them?
JENNIFER MALDONADO, RECIPIENT OF LOTTERY WINNINGS: Well, I told them, not today. I said, maybe I'll get into the next one. I'm actually not a single mom. I am married, but we do ...
BALDWIN: Oh, forgive me.
MALDONADO: Oh, that's OK.
We just -- we -- you know, we just -- we work. We're regular working people, We work paycheck to paycheck, and you know, I was just starting a new job, and unfortunately I just thought that that $20 could go to something, you know, more -- something with a higher odd maybe.
BALDWIN: Something not assumingly frivolous as playing the lottery because you think, who would actually ever win?
MALDANODO: Right.
BALDWIN: You do.
MALDONADO: Exactly.
BALDWIN: Laurie, you're the one. You go buy the ticket, and you almost don't get the winning ticket because of what happened in line.
What happened?
READER: Well, I went to buy my tickets. There was a little miscommunication between myself and the clerk. We had a little language barrier, and instead of her printing me 120 tickets, she printed me 60 tickets.
And the gentleman went around me, kind of frustrated because there was a wait, and he bought his tickets, and then she went back and ticket and then she went back and printed me 60 additional tickets.
In that pile was our winning $1 million lottery ticket.
BALDWIN: So had the guy not gone around you, you may actually have not gotten the winning ticket.
READER: That's possible. It's very possible.
BALDWIN: It's crazy. It's crazy.
So then ...
READER: It's been very crazy, too. BALDWIN: So you have it. You win. You get every number but the Powerball, you know, total $1 million.
And so, Jennifer, I mean, Lori mentioned this text blast. Tell me how you heard. I imagine everyone else ultimately comes to the office. They're screaming, you won, you won!
Did you think, oh, no? I should have put in that $20?
MALDONADO: Well, I have to say initially I was definitely shocked. I walked into the office to do some additional training with my co- worker on Sunday.
And so when we -- when I walked in, you know, there was a different energy in the office, no doubt.
BALDWIN: A different energy.
MALDONADO: And -- different energy.
So Lori sat me down and told me, you know, this is real because I initially thought that they were pranking me. So, you know, I thought it was some office joke because I knew I was the only one who had not put the money into the lottery pool.
So I found out it was not a joke, and I was shocked, but ultimately I was thrilled for them, and just what an exciting experience.
BALDWIN: So then ...
MALDONADO: Who wins the lottery, right?
BALDWIN: I know. I know.
So how much does each person get to take home?
READER: Well, actually, you're the first to hear this. We just picked up our check this afternoon.
MALDONADO: Woo hoo!
BALDWIN: Yay!
READER: And I believe it's approximately $83,000 or $85,000 per person. We haven't done all of the math, but we will. We'll do our accounting on Monday.
BALDWIN: OK, so this is $83,000 or so before taxes, and so, Jennifer, do you get an equal slice of the pie?
MALDONADO: Every news channel is asking that question.
READER: That's a question of the day, I must say.
BALDWIN: And what's the answer?
MALDONADO: It's a generous amount from what I'm aware of.
BALDWIN: Generous amount?
READER: She actually doesn't -- she doesn't really know. It'll be a surprise on Monday.
BALDWIN: OK. Well, let us know, and congratulations, ladies. We appreciate it very much, Jennifer Maldonado and Laurie Finkelstein Reader.
Just when you think you can't win, you can. Thanks, ladies. Appreciate it.
READER: Thanks a million.
MALDONADO: Thank you so much.
BALDWIN: Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The founders of a popular jewelry and accessories store are embroiled now in this high-profile lawsuit. They're suing the daughter of their long-time maid for extortion after she threatened to release embarrassing information.
Sara Ganim has more on the newly-released undercover tapes that could land the woman behind bars.
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SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You probably haven't heard of this family of multi-millionaires, but it's likely you've seen shops or maybe got your ears pierced at one of the accessory stores they created.
Now police say they're the victims of a blackmail plot all caught on audiotape.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $3 million?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the minimum.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can go higher, but that's the minimum.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they're not going to agree to $3 million dollars.
GANIM: The woman on that tape is Camille Brown, the daughter of the long-time housekeeper for Rowland Shaefer, the man who first opened Claire's accessory stores.
CAMILLE BROWN, ACCUSED EXTORTIONIST: I feel that the family shouldn't even think twice about paying that amount to get this material back.
GANIM: The material? Brown says she has embarrassing letters and journals detailing domestic abuse in the Shaefer home.
These court documents say Camille Brown came to this hotel thinking she'd be meeting with a family representative.
Instead, she met with an undercover officer who recorded their conversation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't doubt that you have the documents. What we're saying is we want the documents back so they're not a threat to be released anymore.
BROWN: Right. So you'll have them as soon as I have my payments.
GANIM: Brown was arrested in the parking lot, charged with extortion.
Police say the blackmail began just days after Brown's mom was fired.
In an e-mail, Brown's attorney denies any extortion and says Brown was given the letters by Roland Shaefer's own wife.
Not true, Shaefer family attorney William Shepherd told us, adding this is about taking advantage of an elderly couple.
WILLIAM SHEPHERD, SHAEFER FAMILY ATTORNEY: Many family members rely and trust the help of trained professionals who are going to look after both medical needs and day-to-day needs of elderly parents.
And this was one of those situations and, unfortunately, it ended the way it did with trust betrayed.
GANIM: And they want their journals and letters back.
Brown isn't talking, but in the court file, a draft agreement she signed. She promises if she gets the $3 million, all efforts to coerce, control, blackmail, or extort the Schaefer family will end.
Sara Ganim, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, check this out. Would-be robber, look at him, looking around, wearing pajamas.
Didn't put the mask down. Walks away. Puts the mask down in front of his face. There he goes.
Not satisfied. Grabs a rock, boom, smashes, runs, and falls.
And there you have it, best video of the day.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.
