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Foreign Service Officer Killed in Afghanistan; Youngest Son of Pastor Rick Warren Dies at Age 27; U.S. Missile Test Delayed; Louisville Defeats Wichita State in NCAA Men's Tournament; South Korea Says North May Test Launch Missile This Weekend

Aired April 07, 2013 - 22:00   ET

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


DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Don Lemon. Let's get you up to speed on everything you need to know to start your work already week tomorrow.

Today, we learn the name of the American diplomat killed in this weekend's bombing in Afghanistan. Anne Smedinghoff was one of five Americans, three of them U.S. troops, who died when a suicide bomber hit their convoy. Smedinghoff was 25-years-old and worked for the state department. The group was on a mission to supply a supply with donated books.

I spoke earlier with his father. And in a few minutes you will hear him tell me about his daughter's sense of duty, compassion and the sense of loss the family is feeling tonight.

Moments away, Congress will tackle immigration reform this week. The house and Senate have dedicated groups working to resolves sticky issues such as citizenship and border security. Lawmakers are optimistic they may have legislation soon, and may get final passage this summer.

This is one of the teenagers whose hiking trip went horribly wrong a week ago. Nicholas Cendoya was released from the hospital today. He and an 18-year-old friend got lost and then separated while hiking last Sunday. They spent several days in the forest before rescuers found them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS CENDOYA, HIKER: We were just planning on just like having a nice Easter, getting to know each other and walk up the trails, you know, you walk up the trails and we did for awhile. But then, we know, we end up seeing a little creek while and we were just hop- scotching on it and my shoes fell in and it got all wet. And we saw this mountain. We started climbing it, and eventually we just kept climbing it. We didn't come back down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A big weekend of entertainment in Atlanta, Sting and the Dave Matthews band and our own Nischelle Turner - Nischelle.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You hear that, Don? It's the sound of the Dave Matthews band still on stage almost two hours into his set now. This is the big dance concert series, and we are here for the big finish.

We are going to send it back to you.

LEMON: All right. We'll check back in with Nischelle. The big dance is down to two. Louisville will play Michigan tomorrow night for the NCAA men's basketball championship. It will be a might matchup between the cardinals' defense and the Wolverines offense.

Coming up in about 20 minutes, you will hear our sports expert weigh in on which team he thinks will win the big dance.

This weekend in Afghanistan, six Americans were killed in two separate insurgent attacks. One of them was a suicide bombing that killed three U.S. service members and two government civilians.

25-year-old Anne Smedinghoff was among those killed. She was a state department staffer at the U.S. embassy in Kabul and loved what her family describes as work that made a difference in the Afghan people's lives. I talked earlier with her father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM SMEDINGHOFF, ANNE SMEDINGHOFF'S FATHER: We are -- we are doing OK. I think we are -- we are consoled by the fact that, you know, our daughter was really doing what she loved and making an important contribution, a positive contribution in the process, and we have been so gratified by all of the outpourings of support and condolences from so many people that she -- that she knew from so many lives that she touched. It really has been just a wonderful thing.

LEMON: What did she love about her job? Apparently in order to do this work you have to love it.

SMEDINGHOFF: She -- I think she really enjoyed the challenge. She really enjoyed the opportunity to work with the local people in the community. She did a lot of public outreach. She helped with a lot of the educational efforts in the schools in Afghanistan. She did a great deal of work with many of the women's groups that were working for equality for women in Afghanistan, and she -- she helped organize a group, a musical group to come to the United States. She was helpful in organizing their soccer team, the women's soccer team, just all kinds of different things working with the local community to try to really improve things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Anne Smedinghoff's family is traveling it to Dover air force base tonight. That's where the remains of the Americans killed this weekend that scheduled to arrive in the morning. Their names have not been released.

As soon as we get those, we'll let you know and if we here from their families. We will let you know as well here on CNN. South Korea's government says North Korea may test launch a missile this weekend. This comes as the north urges all workers to leave an industrial complex near the border by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, China, one of North Korea's last remaining allies, has sent a thinly veiled warning to the communist country. China's president Xi Jinping saying quote "no one should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain.

Listen to what former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman had to say about these comments from China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON HUNTSMAN (R), FOR UTAH GOVERNOR: This is rather unprecedented for the head of the party, the head of the military and the president, all one person, Xi Jinping to be saying these words, and it suggests to me as I've watched the ratcheting up of frustration among Chinese leaders over the last many years that they probably have hit the 212-degree boiling point as it relates to North Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: As the situation reaches a tipping point, the U.S. has delayed a planned missile test firing in California.

Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with more on the U.S. response - Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Intelligences still high, and a lot of concern that North Korea still might be planning to test fire ballistic missiles from its east coast as soon as this week.

A lot of focus on the date of April 10th because that's the date when the North Koreans are pushing to get South Korean workers out of North Korea in an industrial area where they have been working. And the North Koreans have also been telling foreign nationals they cannot protect their embassies after April 10th. So, that's one date on the calendar people are looking at.

In Washington, the Pentagon, somewhat in response to these rising tensions, has cancelled a minute man missile test that it had planned. Said the test was routine but wanted to cancel it so that there would be no concern about the North Koreans misinterpreting that as a provocative U.S. action, but the U.S. military has taken a critical additional step. The top U.S. general in South Korea cancelling a long planned meeting here in Washington saying he needs to stay home and watch the unfolding tensions in that region.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

SMEDINGHOFF: Barbara, thank you. In about 20 minutes here on CNN, we will have a live report from the region where it's just after 11:00 Monday morning.

In southern California, the congregation of Rick Warren's Saddleback mega church gathered today to mourn the suicide of Warren's youngest son. 27-year-old Matthew Warren apparently shot himself Friday morning after a lifelong struggle with depression.

Our Nick Valencia was at today's service.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An assistant pastor filled in for Rick Warren at the evangelical mega church he founded two days after his 27-year-old son apparently committed suicide and delivered a sermon called surviving your worst day.

TOM HOLLADAY, ASSISTANT PASTOR, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: We are going to pray for them together. We are going to worship together. We're going to look to God and his word and the hope we have for him and go together with it as a family.

VALENCIA: Matthew Warren who had worked at Saddleback church died Friday to a gunshot wound to the head in what his father described as a momentary wave of despair. He told church staff members his son had struggled with depression all his life. And plunged into what he called dark holes of depression during what he had suicidal thoughts.

Tom Holladay, an assistant pastor serving the church's Orange County congregation is Warren's brother-in-law. He had taken over here after Warren was stricken with pneumonia after Easter weekend. The church, as well as his friends, described Matthew as kind, gentle and compassionate with a sweet spirit.

MIKE CONSTANTZ, MATTHEW WARREN'S FRIEND: There are days when, you know, he was just this bubbly, outgoing, you know, effervescent, reaching out to people, and there were the days when he just didn't want to be around people, you know, just the pain, excruciating pain was just too much.

VALENCIA: It was during one of those moments that he took his own life. In a letter to church members and other letters, Pastor Warren said, quote "I'll never forget how many years ago, after another approach had failed to give relief, Matthew said, dad, I know I'm going to heaven. Why can't I just die and end this pain?"

The youngest of Warren's three children, Matthew worked for the church's mail order warehouse division. The church said he played an important but quiet role at Saddleback. During Sunday's sermon Matthew's uncle asked for prayers, even from those who didn't know him personally.

HOLLADAY: We are a family, and we're walking through this together. And as I said a couple of times in that message, your prayers for Rick and Kay and their family, you may think I'm just adding one prayer to many, many others. Every single prayer makes a huge impact.

VALENCIA: Before becoming ill this past week Pastor Rick Warren planned on delivering a sermon on how church members can get through tough times. Now he's counting on them to help him get through tough times of his own. Nick Valencia, CNN, wake forest, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Nick, thank you very much.

President Obama expected to put out his budget this week, and already there's griping from the left and the right. Does it have a chance in congress? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Time now for a look at the political week ahead.

President Obama will try to kick start momentum for his gun control legislation with a trip to Connecticut. The president will speak in Connecticut tomorrow not far from the Sandy Hook elementary school where 20 children and six adults were gunned down in December. Today, Connecticut's governor slammed the NRA's CEO Wayne Lapierre.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DANNEL MALLOY (D), CONNECTICUT: Wayne reminds me of the clowns at the circus. They get the most attention, and that's what he's paid to do. But the reality is that the gun that was used to kill 26 people on December 14th was legally purchased in the state of Connecticut even though we had an assault weapons ban. But, you know, there were loopholes in it that you could drive a truck through. I mean this, guy is so out of whack. It's unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, just three days ago governor Malloy signed what advocacy groups called the strongest and most comprehensive gun legislation in the U.S.

CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser has joins us now from Washington.

So Paul, what do you expect to hear from the president tomorrow?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, we just learned tonight, Don, a little bit what the president may say tomorrow in Hartford, Connecticut, this from our chief White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin. The White House is saying that nation -- the president will say the nation has an obligation to the children lost in Newtown and the other victims of gun violence to act on these proposals. And that's basically what the president is going to be doing in Connecticut, just as he did in Colorado last week, on another statement that just passed some very tough gun control legislation. He's basically going to be touting these new laws in the state and kind of putting the onus back on Congress to get something done.

As you mentioned, as early as this week, as early as this week, a democratic bill could start work in the full Senate. And that bill, of course, Don, has background checks, universal background checks is part what have this bill has.

And take a look at this. This is interesting. All the polls we've seen, including this win from Quinnipiac university, the most recent, shows that about nine in ten Americans support this background checks for all gun buyers, and that's across party lines, Democrats, independents and even Republicans, so why such a tough time? Why will this bill maybe not even make it through the democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled house? Go to the next poll. This really tells the story and this is what the NRA is saying.

They are saying if there are universal background checks it could lead to the government maybe confiscating, maybe confiscating legally owned gun legally owned guns and that's part of the big pushback and one of the reasons we may not get anything done, Don.

LEMON: Paul, let's move on now. Let's talk about the budget.

President Obama set to unveil his budget this week. What should we look for there?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. On Wednesday we expect the big budget to come out, and what we're going to see in the budget, and it is already attack n, being attacked not only by Republicans as would you expect but by a lot of Democrats, a lot of progressives and liberals saying this budget has some very big cuts for Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, the entitlement programs, and they are furious about that, Don.

So, this budget will be right in the middle, and on one side you'll have the house Republican budget. On the other side you'll have the democratic Senate budget. These three budgets, we'll see if there's any meeting of the mind here. That's not too easy, as you know, in this town in, Washington, D.C. This budget is just the beginning of a big battle, and we'll see what we get out of it, but right now don't expect a lot of people to get together on this one to come to agreement on, Don.

LEMON: Mister Steinhauser, thanks for the look ahead. We appreciate it. Have a great week.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

LEMON: I talked earlier CNN contributors Lz Ganderson and Ana Navarro about President Obama's budget and I asked them what sort of chance does it have getting through congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think the president's budget in the short term, Don, has no chance of getting pass. I think the Republican budget has no chance of getting passed, and I think the democrat budget out of Senate has no chance of being passed.

But, you know, what the president did was start to talk about some very important issues, like change CPI, like putting entitlement reform on the table. This is a starter. Rome was not built in a day. I can assure you a grand bargain is not going to be reached between this White House and this Congress in a day or maybe even a month, maybe not in a year, but it is starting to put this issue out there. It's going to get slammed, I assure you, on the right and on the left, but people are going to start thinking about it. And I think Republicans need to acknowledge and give the president credit for having started this conversation.

LEMON: All right. So you said it doesn't stand a chance from either side.

NAVARRO: He needs to go a lot further than this.

LEMON: Yes, it doesn't have a chance from either side. So, thank you both for joining us. We are going to move on. Kidding.

Lz, I mean, some on the left are having trouble with the budget, too. So, do you think ultimately, this is a good stab at some compromise, as Ana said, or could this turn out to be a big political gamble for the president?

LZ GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, when I look at the budget and I hear the conversations of both sides, I'm reminded of why I so wish we had term limits for congressmen because when you don't have to run for anything, you don't have to pander to people and you can actually deal with real issues.

And I agree with Ana. We should definitely at least acknowledge the fact that the president is willing to tick off his own base in order to get something done. This isn't about political risk for him. This is really simple, as Bill Clinton said, arithmetic. And the fact of the matter is costs of Medical care is going up. People are living longer. We don't have as many people funding these programs. We need to have some sort of entitlement reform, and we also need to address the raising costs of health insurance and medical insurance and medical care but that's a later conversation. We first must at least address the fact that the entitlements have to be addressed, and I'm just happy that he's at least now having this conversation more seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: My thanks to l.z. and Ana Navarro.

When it comes to musicians, Beyonce and Jay-Z, here's a phrase you probably thought you'd never hear, diplomatic backlash. The superstar couple were all smiles as they celebrated their fifth anniversary in Cuba last week.

Now, two Florida lawmakers say the couple may have violated travel restrictions to the communist island and they want a government agency to investigate. Tourism restrictions began in 1959 when Castro took power. The Obama administration lifted some of the restrictions just this year.

It is a big dance weekend in Atlanta. And we go live to the crowds of thousands next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A big, big party in the ATL tonight. Big parties. We're not talking about the final four. This is the big dance concert before the championship game of the big dance, the NCAA tournament.

Some huge, some huge names in entertainment have hit the stage since Friday, from Ludacris, to Florida and Sting and the grand finale was the Dave Matthews band.

Nischelle Turner is in the middle of it all with fans, and they are finally heading home now.

So Nischelle, I will say it, how was my favorite calls it, Florida?

TURNER: That s pretty funny.

Florida as pretty darn good and Ludacris was pretty darn good. Don, you just said folks are finally headed home. Not so fast because a bunch of people just fell for the Dave Matthews okey-doke, and they thought he was done. Played what would you say? Walked off the stage, but you know there's got to be an encore, and if you look right behind me here you see he's back on stage.

Now, let me tell you this. Dave Matthews started playing at six minute after 8:00 eastern time tonight. What time is it now? He's still on stage. Two hours plus into this set, and this is a free concert, so these people have really got their money's worth, don't you think?

LEMON: Oh, yes. They certainly have.

TURNER: You want to listen to a little bit of Dave Matthews.

LEMON: Yes, let's listen.

TURNER: Can you guys hear? You want to listen to a little bit?

(VIDEO CLIP PLYING)

TURNER: I don't know about you, Don, but that's good music. I know that's real music.

LEMON: I got to hear Sting play last night. He played again today. You heard Sting. What was your favorite moment of the weekend?

TURNER: You know, I had a few favorite moments. But I have to admit today hearing Sting play and hearing him live, never heard him live before. And all the other acts I had heard live before so hearing him and hearing how great he sounded, goodness, goodness. It was amazing. Let's listen to a little bit of sting from earlier today.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

TURNER: I mean, just great, and he's what, 61 years old? Goodness. I mean, he looks 30 years younger. He sounds fantastic. It was a really good three-day concert series.

Now, last year in New Orleans, about 140,000 people over the three-day period came out to the concerts. It felt like there was 140,000 people out here today alone it was so packed out here.

So Don, I'll send it back to you. I'm going to go finish listening to the Dave Matthews band, and you continue doing the news. How about that?

LEMON: I will. And we enjoyed Florida as well. Florida.

Thank you, Nischelle. Appreciate t.

The big dance it down to two. Louisville will play Michigan for the tournament. A wild and wacky tournament with a slew of upsets early on, and I asked Terrance Moore, CNN.com's sports contributor and columnist at mlb.com what happened to the Cinderella teams in this tournament?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TERRANCE MOORE, CNN.COM SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's just come in the past, as always been like major teams, major schools. You had in '85, you have Villanova beating Georgetown. You had two years before that NC state winning. The last true upset, last true Cinderella that we had was way back in 1966, Texas El Paso, the all black team beating the all-white Kentucky team.

It's clear that Louisville is the definitive team of destiny here, OK? You got the Kevin Ware thing. We all know about that with a broken leg. Now, this guy is a living gipper as opposed to the dead gipper at Notre Dame. This guy is courtside every game inspiring his teammates, OK? Then he got all this Rick Pitino stuff, Don. Rick Pitino had a horse yesterday win at Santa Anita, OK? So, his horse is in the Kentucky derby which is where Louisville.

And it gets even better. Rick Pitino any day now officially will be in the basketball hall of fame. They say give the guy the trophy right now and call it a day.

LEMON: I was going to say who gets it. He is going to in the hall of fame and then where all the attention is on ware. I think he got more air time yesterday than the actual team. I'm being a little facetious.

MOORE: Well, I tell you what, being at the Georgia dome last night, every five minutes on the big screen, putting the camera on him courtside.

LEMON: That's what I meant, yes.

MOORE: So, it's almost like they were willing Louisville to win the game.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. Thanks to Terrance Moore.

You know, it's a story with has millions on edge and there are reports now that North Korea may conduct a mile of launch as early as Wednesday. We are going to go live to our reporter in Seoul next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Half past the hour now. Getting close, and it's time for the headlines.

Anne Smedinghoff's family is remembering her tonight as someone who is always looking for ways to make a difference in people's lives. The 25-year-ol state department employee was one of five Americans killed this weekend in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan. They were on a mission to deliver donated books to a school in remote southern Afghanistan. Immigration reform will top the agenda when Congress returns from spring break tomorrow. Both the house and the Senate have dedicated groups working on bills. One of them is Republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina who today addressed the thorny issue of citizenship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: The politics of self- deportation are behind us. Mitt Romney is a good man. He ran in many ways a good campaign, but it was an impractical solution. Quite frankly it was offense you have. Every corner of the Republican party to libertarians, to the RNC, house Republicans and the rank and file Republican party member is now understanding there has to be an earned pathway to citizenship. That gives us leverage on immigration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Some lawmakers say legislation could be ready by the end of the week.

Police in New Hampshire would really, really like to know where Leland Isenberg is tonight. He is missing again. Remember, six year ago, took Isenberg took a fake bomb into Hillary Clinton's campaign office and held several people hostage for five hours. He was sentenced to a halfway house and minimum security and missed a head count today.

Police now consider Leyland Isenberg escaped. He has done it before. Back in 20soIsenberg cut off his tracking bracelet and disappeared for a day.

North Korea may test launch another missile as early as Wednesday. The U.S. is watching the movement of two missiles and now has our own missile defense system seen here locked and loaded.

The missiles are already, now widely believed to be musudans, medium- range missiles with a potential range of 2,500 miles which would put American bases in Guam within reach.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in Soule, South Korea.

Now Kyung, why does South Korea believe this launch may happen this week?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, South Korea's presidential office has been given enough clues by North Korea, that it's probably, at least the highest probability, will be on Wednesday, and let's take a look again at that video.

This video is something that we captured at Osan air base. This is a U.S. military base about an hour south of Seoul where I am, two hours south of the DMZ. What you are looking at are U.S. patriot missile batteries. They are pointed in the air. They are just over that wall. They are in plain public view, and they are pointed north. Why? Because they are there just in case there's any sort of debris that is heading towards the air base. This is something similar to what we've seen in the past in other parts of South Korea, in Japan as well as in Guam.

So this sort of U.S. military preparedness, especially this week, Don, we are certainly seeing that everyone is getting ready for something to potentially happen on Wednesday, Don.

LEMON: The top U.S. commander in Seoul, South Korea has cancelled a trip to Washington, Kyung. What does this say about the U.S. readiness and in pending launch?

LAH: Well, something that we're certainly seeing is that they do not want the top U.S. military commander in the region to not be present if something does happen this week. He was scheduled to go to Washington, to testify, but that has now been taken off the books. He is going to stay here.

We saw a similar move by South Korea. The top military commander in this area was supposed to also to go to Washington. That trip has now been cancelled. So, we are seeing the military brass in this region hunker down, trying to get their force and stay in this region because of the potential for conflict now is so high.

LEMON: Kyung Lah, thank you.

The son of evangelist Rick Warren took his own life on Friday. Next, a Warren family friend tells us how this famous family is dealing with the terrible tragedy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In West Virginia, a sheriff shot dead a few days ago was laid to rest today. This is in Mingo County, West Virginia. Sheriff Walter Eugene Crum was eating lunch in his police car, Wednesday, when somebody shot him. It only been sheriff for three months but was already known for cracking down hard on drug dealers. His family believes he was killed because of his tough stance on drug crime. One suspect of the sheriff's killing is in custody now.

Funeral arrangements are still pending for Matthew Warren, the youngest son of evangelist Rick Warren of Saddleback church in California. Just 27-years-old, Warren was found dead in his home on Friday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Reverend Samuel Rodriguez is a friend of the Warren family and he is also a senior pastor of the new season Christian worship center. that is in Sacramento.

Thanks for joining us.

REV. SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ, SENIOR PASTOR, NE SEASON CHRISTIAN CHURCH, SACRAMENTO: Thank you.

LEMON: Have you spoken to the Warrens, Reverend?

RODRIGUEZ: I have not. I reached out and, of course, forwarding my condolences and my prayers. It's a tragic event, but there are a lot of Christians across America and even non-Christians praying for Rick and Warren and the Saddleback family.

LEMON: So, you know the family.

And Pastor, you know, Reverend Warren said that his son's struggle with mental illness, his entire life. How does a church address mental illness, and is the cause spiritual, or is it biological?

RODRIGUEZ: You know, I really do believe that this tragedy offers an opportunity, if not, Don, an obligation for the church to address mental illness with a more forthright spirit, with Grace and compassion and love.

Unfortunately, in many Christian communities, mental illness is a stigma and a taboo, and many of us have failed in addressing it with a deliberate spirit and context actualization. It's an illness. Now, heart disease didn't dilute your Christianity. Having cancer doesn't make you less of a Christian. Theater does mental illness. That's why I believe we need to create space. Imagine if the Christian community would work with mental health professionals in partnership in building firewalls, in addressing mental illness in a more sustainable and viable manner.

LEMON: You know, in interviews the Warrens did hint and did mention their son's mental illness. They didn't name him specifically, but were they open about it? Did you know about Matthew's issues?

RODRIGUEZ: You know, again, as about t pertains to our interactions, Pastor Rick is a wonderful leader across America and particularly in the evangelical community, but we know that in many of our families, we have children if not relatives that struggle with mental illness. And, again, it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity for the church to really rise up and say, look, there are struggles in our families and there's depression.

Christians suffer from depression. There are Christians that fight with suicidal thoughts, and this is where both faith, the vertical and the horizontal, the mental health professionals can come together and combine, reconcile both of those platforms in helping many people that struggle with various mental illnesses.

LEMON: This is the first thing that came to mind, you know, after you think about the family and, you know, you wish them well. But many Christians and many believers would say how could God let something like this happen?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, and this is where faith kicks in. Faith is not for necessarily for those great days. Faith is more importantly for the bad days, not for the perfectly sunny day, but for when the storm rises up and shows up. This is where faith kicks in, that all things do work for good.

In the midst of this pain there is a sovereign, mighty, loving, compassionate god that is giving strength out to Rick and Kate. Rick wrote a book, "the purpose driven life," and wrote about purpose even in the midst of our most difficult circumstances. This is a moment where the peace of God understanding saturates Rick and Kaye and the Warren family and the saddleback church community in a way that we can't logically contextualize but we know that it's there.

LEMON: Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, thank you very much. And give our best to the family.

LEMON: Thank you, my friend.

LEMON: It's been five weeks and still no sight of a New Orleans area teacher.

Terrilyn Monette was last seen in the early hours of March 2nd after leaving a local lounge. Police have no lead. The family hopes that keeping the case in the public eye will help lead to answers. Unfortunately, this story is all too familiar when it comes to missing African-Americans.

This very issue is now the focus of a Special Report by "Jet" magazine, "Missing and Black, where is the outrage?"

Earlier I spoke with Mitzi Miller, the editor-in-chief of "Jet" and I asked her why the disparity between black and white when it comes to missing persons?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MITZI MILLER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, JET MAGAZINE: Eight hundred thousand children under 18 go missing every year. Of that amount, 150,000 are African-American.

LEMON: Right.

MILLER: That is, according to the FBI, because we spoke to the FBI. We went to the authorities. That's 33.8 percent.

LEMON: Yes.

MILLER: That's -- that's almost double the amount of African- Americans that there are in this country rather. You know, this is serious.

LEMON: Mitzi, when you talk about the coverage and lack of coverage, there are many people who will disagree, many people on social media who are disagreeing with you right.

MILLER: I'm sure.

LEMON: And especially people of color who watch news and they say, you know, I hear about Natalie Holloway and I hear about all of these missing white women and children, but I rarely hear about black children. How can you say that it's not racism? At least -- let me rephrase that, or at least that it's not a double standard.

MILLER: I didn't say it wasn't a double standard.

LEMON: OK.

MILLER: I just think that when we start to say racism we get caught up in that negative energy, and what we need to do accept that the people in power are going to focus on what matters to them. That's why I choose on the black and missing because that's what matters to "Jet." My community matter to me.

And as long as we're not in power we're not able to have the majority of people focusing on our issues. That's why we need to be doing it. That's why we need to be ringing the bells.

LEMON: So, before we run out of time and have a national audience here.

MILLER: Absolutely.

LEMON: Let's talk about solutions. What do you hoping to accomplish by this article? And what can we do in the mainstream media to correct this issue?

MILLER: The primary thing is we need to prevent, no lament. It is so much easier to handle things beforehand than retroactively. But when it happens, we have to organize, we have to alert people and we have to be persistent. We can't stop. We have to keep talking about our stories, don't accept, you know, substandard health. Never give up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thanks to Mitzi Miller.

For skiers, there's nothing like fresh powder. It doesn't get fresher than this, but these slopes are not for the faint-hearted. That's next.

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LEMON: Look at that. There's a light show. It was an incredible light show. It is still going on over the city of Atlanta. Fireworks happening. That is the Dave Matthews band playing, and they are setting off fireworks there. This is the big dance for the big dance tomorrow night. Michigan and Louisville will face off, we know.

But again, that is live in the city of Atlanta. Lots of partying going on. Dave Matthews still playing now. Sting played earlier, as did Florida and other acts. It's all still going on.

Tomorrow night, the big event.

You know, a new ski area has just opened up to the world, but it's definitely not for the faint-hearted.

CNN's Sama Mohsin is in Pakistan and she traveled to the downhill course never touched by man. That's until now. Look at this.

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SAMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the world's highest mountain range, but that hasn't stopped a team of extreme free ride heli-skiers from taking it on. Brice Lequertier is leading the team. In 2003 he climb Everest and skied back down, now he's set for his biggest challenge yet.

BRICE LEQUERTIER, HELI-SKI TEAM LEADER: Well, this is the biggest, highest mountain range in the world. You have a unique terrain. It's so big, so high and so completely undiscovered. The place we flew to nobody has been there. Nobody ever stepped foot there. So, it's exciting. It is just an adventure to start.

MOHSIN: Some of the world's best skiers and snowboarders have flown in from Russia, Canada, France, Serbia and Switzerland for the pioneering project. There are no resorts or commercial Heli-teams here, so the team is working with the Pakistan military to get them to the top of the mountains.

We're just trying to scout out a location, and the helicopter can land where it's safe to go heli-skiing. And when, they found a spot.

Samyra Rashid is the only woman and Pakistani on the team.

SAMYRA RASHID, FIST WOMAN AND PAKISTANI TO HELI-SKI, KARAKORAM: It's absolutely incredible. I can't tell you what a thrill it is to have had the opportunity to come here in this area of outstanding natural beauty to bring people from abroad all over the world who have skied everywhere and myself. I mean, we're all blown away. There's been nothing like it ever anywhere.

MOHSIN: Were you nervous?

RASHID: Extremely nervous. Absolutely petrified getting up there in the really high regions was terrifying but incredible.

MOHSIN: The Karakoram mountain range in northern Pakistan is home to the highest concentration of peaks, over 8,000 meters to be found anywhere in the world. The team that's come here has 500 kilometers of mountain peaks to discover.

LEQUERTIER: Returning here would be a dream because what we discovered here flying around the last two days is basically that you could spend a full life or even ten life discovering terrain here.

MOHSIN: With untouched slopes when nobody has ever skid before, this international team has plenty of adventures ahead. While locals are hoping this will be the kick start they need to boost Pakistan's winter sports and tourism industry.

Sama Mohsin, CNN in the Karakoram mountain range, Pakistan.

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LEMON: Now to the big stories in the week ahead from White House to Wall Street and to Hollywood as well. Our correspondents tell you what you need to know beginning with the president's plan for the week.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian at the White House.

A major push by the Obama administration this week on gun violence. On Monday, the president heads to the University of Hartford where he will deliver remarks and also meet with Sandy Hook families. Both the vice president and the first lady will also hold separate event on the issue this week here at the White House and in Chicago.

Then on Wednesday the president unveils his much anticipated budget. He will also make a statement and then later on that evening sit down about w a dozen Republican lawmakers in an ongoing effort to reach across the aisle.

And finally on the lighter side, the president will host music legends and honor the naval academy football team.

STEINHAUSER: I'm Paul Steinhauser at the CNN political desk. Gun control is a top issue in a special congressional issue election Tuesday in the Chicago area. The seat became vacant after Jesse Jackson Junior stepped down before being convicted of felony tax charges. The district is dominated by Democrats.

Wednesday, demonstrators urging Congress to act on immigration reform are expected to rally on the west front of the U.S. capitol.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. A big earnings week ahead for Wall Street. We will get quarterly results from aluminum giant ALCOA. We will also hear from two big banks, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo will report their numbers, and a host of economic reports are due out this week. The fed will release the minutes detailing its March meeting on Wednesday.

Then, on Friday we'll get the march retail sales figures, and those, as you know, are key because consumer spending makes up about two- third of economic growth in this country.

So we'll keep an eye on all that have and the latest business news for you on CNN money.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: I'm "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer. Here's what we're watching this week. Real life Magic Mike's (ph), Justin Whitfield and Taylor Cole wrote the wildly famous book "take it of course, the naked truth about male strippers." So, we are going to be one-on-one with him for a special showbiz news-maker interview. We do not know if they will be taking it off. So tune in to find out on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" Monday through Thursday 11:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on HLN.

LEMON: Also, an adult film star in trouble with the law, but it is not for anything she did on video and it is probably not for anything you would ever expect. That's next.

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LEMON: Adult film star Jenna Jameson was arrested this weekend, her second run-in with the law in less than a year. This is her mug shot from a DUI arrest last May. Well, Saturday she was reportedly taken into custody for attacking someone at a private home during her birthday celebration. She was released and given a court date of on a battery charge. Jenna Jameson was at one time one of the biggest names in the adult film industry.

Your weekend box office right now, a remake of a 1981 cult classic "evil dead" debuted at number one costing just $17 million to make. It's already cashed in $26 million in ticket sales.

Tied for second, the animated film "the Croods" and "G.I. Joe." Retaliation both took in $21 million. "Jurassic Park reborn," this time the Dinos are in 3-d. It made $18 million.

There was once considered the greatest ship in the world, and now a plea to save this piece of history from the scrapheap next.

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LEMON: Once heralded as the greatest ship in the world, but now the race is on to save her from the scrapheap.

CNN's Sarah Hoy has our report.

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SARAH HOYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "The SS United States" is sending out what could be its final SOS. Once the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic, America's flagship is in need of a rescue. Larger, faster and safer than the "titanic," the first time the "SS United States" took to the water, she set the world speed record, a feat that has never been surpassed.

But time and money are running out for the ocean liner that carried heads of state and celebrities across the Atlantic in the 1950s and '60s.

Dub the Big U, this lady in waiting could be sold for scrap unless her owners come up with enough money to save her.

The ship's designer, naval architect William Francis Gibbs, put everything that he had into his ultimate ship. The 2,200-passenger liner also doubled as a convertible troop ship if war broke out.

Gibbs' obsession with creating the perfect vessel became his granddaughter's obsession with saving is t.

SUSAN GIBBS, SS UNITED STATES CONSERVANCY: My grandfather was once asked who did he love more, this ship or my grandmother, and he said this ship, 1,000 percent. I mean, this is an extraordinary American achievement, an amazing express of our post-war history, and it would be so tragic to see it destroyed.

HOYE: Dan McSweeney's father worked as a steward on the "SS United States." Today, he oversees the ship's redevelopment project and is looking for partners to help save the liner.

Out of service since 1969, the vintage vessel is now docked in Philadelphia. The goal is to turn the ship into a stationery entertainment complex and museum.

DAN MCSWEENEY. SS UNITED STATES REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT: It's an irreplaceable part of American history. Once it's gone, it will never come back, and we'll never have anything like it in the future.

HOYE: For now the clock is ticking.

GIBBS: Its name is the "SS United States," and she's been here for 17 years because she is not done yet.

HOYE: Sarah Hoye, CNN, Philadelphia.

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LEMON: Beautiful boat still.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Have a great night and a great week.

Good night.