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Ariel Castro's Neighbors Struggle To Move Past The Horror; Another Turnaround Tuesday At The Stock Market; Anthony Weiner Set To Appear In First NYC Mayoral Debate; Living Up To The "Oklahoma Standard"; West, Texas Still Desperate For Answers

Aired May 28, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let me just broaden this out because we were talking, you know, if you think about it, Steve, when you plunk your suitcase down, whether you are traveling on a plane, a train, a bus, and it goes away, right, next time you see it is hopefully on a conveyor belt when you've gotten to Destination X.

How common is it for criminals to stash, let's just stick with drugs, you know, a bunch of pot in or near your luggage in hopes of sneaking it through?

STEVE KARDIAN, FORMER POLICE DETECTIVE: Well often they have mules; they have people bring the drugs -- usually across the border. They're even going so far as giving blind people drugs to take across the border.

But I see this more that the drugs were planted prior to them getting onto the bus with the intent of the person that put them there to acquire those and retrieve those after the bus had met its destination.

BALDWIN: So if that were the case, and we don't know that for sure, if that had been, somebody planted these -- 12 pounds of pot is a lot. How could you -- is there anything she could have done differently to make sure that she wouldn't have, you know, been arrested? Anything?

KARDIAN: There was much confusion. Initially they thought it was her husband and then they arrested her.

I see her as the soft -- if it is a bribery case, and we just don't know all the facts, but if it is a bribery case, she would be the softer target. He would be more willing to pay the $5,000 and actually I have something that would resemble that packet of -- this is a 2.2 or a kilo of cocaine that would have been six approximately this weight in size that she would have been transporting.

BALDWIN: That's a lot. Steve Kardian, thank you. We'll follow the case and hopefully if she's innocent, she's able to return to her family safe and sound.

Guilt, pain and shock, a Cleveland neighborhood still dealing with raw emotions as people try to return to normalcy. You remember the pictures here, neighbors living next to that home where those three young women were found, held captive for a decade. They're going to tell CNN why it is so hard still to move on.

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ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another turnaround Tuesday from the CNNMoney Newsroom in New York. I'm Zain Asher. This is "Your Money." A pretty big rally is under way for the Dow right now, although it has pulled back considerably since it touched another interday high this morning.

The rally started in Japan and slowly spread to the U.S. Japanese stocks jumped after a member of the Bank of Japan said it would continue to keep interest rates low.

A member of the ECB made similar comments and that starts a rally there that eventually spread. All of this helped alleviate the worries we saw last week with the U.S. Federal Reserve. Might put an end to stimulus earlier than expected but also helping U.S. stocks is positive economic news at home.

Home prices in the U.S. posted their strongest gains since the housing boom rising nearly 11 percent in March. According to the S&P Case Shiller, more people are buying more expensive homes instead of cheap foreclosures. That plus the fact that home construction unexpectedly fell last month has some analysts worrying that the economy could, in fact, slow down.

But despite that caution, a recovery is under way across the country. Prices are up by more than 10 percent in more than half of the cities in the index.

The biggest increase is actually in Phoenix. Prices are up 22 percent from March 2012. Also at the top, by the way, San Francisco, along with Las Vegas and Detroit, two of the cities hit hardest during the recession.

And the stock market rally and housing recovery are starting to make consumers feel much better about the economy today. We learned that consumer confidence is at a five-year high this month. The conference board said consumers feel more positive about economic and job growth.

And lastly, here's another possible reason stocks are higher today. It is Tuesday. If the gains actually hold, today will mark the 20th straight Tuesday the Dow has finished higher, 20 in a row is a record high for Tuesdays. We need -- we need four more weeks to match the all-time record for any day of the week.

The Dow rose for 24 straight Wednesdays back in 1968.

That is it for me. From the CNNMoney Newsroom in New York, I'm Zain Asher. (MUSIC PLAYING)

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BALDWIN: In just a matter of minutes, Anthony Weiner set to appear in his very first debate as candidate as mayor of New York City. Tonight's hot topic is education. Pundits as we know will be watching to see if Weiner's opponents bring up his past.

Let's go to our chief Washington correspondent and anchor of "THE LEAD,' Mr. Jake Tapper.

Jake, here's the thing, we know that Weiner is actually doing well in the polls. So let's play the "what if" game. Let's say the debates, they could make or break him.

How do you think he handles the scandal that brought him down in the first place?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: He's been handling it since he started rolling out this mayoral campaign. He sat down with an interview with "The New York Times" magazine and talked about it. And he doesn't turn away questions about it when he's on the stump, and basically I think his strategy has been to exhaust the subject until people don't want to talk about it anymore.

You see he's actually gone up in the polls since the first poll taken about it, when he was in second place behind the city council president, Christine Quinn; now he's gone up five points. She's stayed the same. The latest poll, Marist poll, has her at 24 percent, Weiner 19 percent, just five points behind her.

The fact that he's gaining ground and she has not gone up at all, despite being the presumptive favorite, may help explain why she is not participating in the debate today. The other five Democratic candidates are.

But it is very interesting and the fact is based on today's numbers. There is a big undecided vote, 23 percent undecided, based on today's numbers, he would be -- and he would force a runoff contest. That's not to say he would win, but if neither candidate -- if no candidate gets 40 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff vote and right now it would be her and him.

BURNETT: How about that? So again, that debate happening in a couple of minutes.

You are going to be talking about Eric Holder. We just learned the attorney general is being investigated for possibly lying to Congress.

TAPPER: Yes. I think that there is enough legalistic wiggle room for the attorney general to say he did not lie to Congress.

The question is he was asked about the possible prosecution or at least his answer was about the possible prosecution of journalists in relation to a leaked case. And he was very specific that he knows of no incident where there would be a possible or potential prosecution of a reporter.

That is not the same as claiming to a judge that you might be interested in a journalist in order to obtain a subpoena to get his records, which is what seems to have happened with the FOX News reporter James Rosen, in this very controversial case involving a leak.

What the Justice Department can say and what Holder can say is we never intended on prosecuting him, but we did want to get a warrant to prosecute the leaker.

So that's the wiggle room. It's not being honest and up front and completely open about what's going on, but it is, I think, a defense against the charge of perjury.

BALDWIN: Jake Tapper, we'll see you on "THE LEAD" in a matter of 15 minutes. We'll look for you at the top of the hour. Thank you so much.

TAPPER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I want to -- let me move along and just talk about Cleveland, Ohio, because what happened inside of this home shocked the world. You know the story. Three women held captive as sex slaves for more than a decade. Three weeks ago, they broke free. The cameras for the most part have left.

But sightseers linger and this community is still reeling from the horrors that unfolded there. CNN's Pamela Brown has an update from outside the now-fenced off home in Cleveland.

Pamela?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, ever since Ariel Castro was arrested a few weeks ago, his home here behind me boarded up, guarded by a fence, has become a bit of a tourist hot spot. We have seen people here from all over coming to take pictures, we even spoke to one family who drove six hours just to see the house in person.

So while it has become an attraction for some, for others who live in this neighborhood, it is a haunting reminder.

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BROWN (voice-over): Anthony Westry (ph) lives just two doors down from the home where a decade-long secret came to a very dramatic end.

Is it sort of a creepy feeling to think for all these years they were there, just two doors down?

ANTHONY WESTRY (PH), CASTRO NEIGHBOR: With the boogie man. BROWN (voice-over): He's talking about Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Amanda Berry and holding them captive for years. Now neighbors like Westry say they're just trying to adjust to their new normal.

If we were to spend a day with you, after what happened, right next door, what would it be like?

WESTRY: Almost like a Mardi Gras, just a constant stream of cars.

BROWN (voice-over): But what is a tourist attraction for some, is more of an eyesore for neighbors like Israel Lugo.

ISRAEL LUGO, CASTRO NEIGHBOR: Every time you wake up, you see the same scene there. You got a big old 60-foot gate, (inaudible) around a house of horrors as they say in Cleveland. And you know it's in my backyard, but I wish they could just go ahead and knock it down.

BROWN (voice-over): Though what allegedly happened inside the walls has left an indelible mark, the women's courage has inspired people in this community and beyond.

CHRIS KELLY, JONES DAY LAW FIRM: The e-mails keep coming and coming, wanting to help. And we're trying to channel those now more towards contributions to the fund.

BROWN (voice-over): Chris Kelly of the Jones Day Law Firm runs the Courage Fund, set up for the three women and a little girl rescued earlier this month, raising more than $650,000, with the funds to be equally distributed into four separate trusts.

What does it say about the girls, that they chose to put the money in a trust rather than take the money directly now?

KELLY: They have the savvy and sense to know that they want to have the moneys protected.

BROWN (voice-over): Those who know the women say they're drawing on the same strength that helped them survive so many years in captivity.

KELLY: And they're exceptional human beings, having gone through this ordeal, and to be able to come out of it and start to heal and move forward so quickly is amazing.

BROWN: In addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars already raised for the women, there have been dozens of offers for free services like college tuition for four years, dental care, spa services, but the biggest need remains financial help.

If you want to learn how you can help the girls, go to CNN.com/impact and click on the Cleveland Courage Fund. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Pamela Brown, will do; thank you very much for us there in Cleveland. From that story to another huge, huge story. I was in Moore last week. We still have crews here as people are picking up the pieces and their lives. Coming up, we check in with George Howell with an emotional survival story there. Don't miss it.

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BALDWIN: Tornadoes kill 24 people, injured more than 300 and damaged over 12,000 homes in Oklahoma and a little more than a week ago. People there are facing miles of debris and, of course, months of recovery. But they're living up to what is called the Oklahoma standard. Here is CNN's George Howell.

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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Block by block, neighborhood after neighborhood, words alone don't seem enough to describe the devastation in this part of Oklahoma and nearly everyone here has a story.

CYNDI BEAM, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I was in my tornado shelter when it came. I was home hearing the news when it was time to duck and cover and I got my dogs and I got in there behind the house.

HOWELL (voice-over): First an EF-4 tornado tore through the town of Shawnee, killing two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

HOWELL (voice-over): The next day an ef-5 tornado hit Moore, mangling communities, destroying an elementary school full of students. We were there during the desperate search for survivors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're saying that if we had kids in this school to go look for them.

HOWELL: I would imagine as parents you are incredibly thankful to have your children right here right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I thank God that I got there in time to pick up my nieces, my nephews, my son because I don't know what I would have done.

HOWELL (voice-over): Twenty-four people died that day. Ten were children, among them Kyle Davis, whose funeral was this weekend.

MIKKI DIXON DAVIS, MOTHER OF KYLE DAVIS: There should be a place that if this ever happened again during school that kids can get to a safe place, that we don't have to sit there and go through rubble and rubble and rubble and may not ever find what we're looking for.

HOWELL (voice-over): Help has come from all over. On the campus of the University of Oklahoma, President David Borin (ph) opened the doors of the school's dorms for homeless families.

OU football Coach Bob Stoops donated a stack of gift cards to help tornado victims get back on their feet.

I've heard this thing, Coach, called the Oklahoma standard. What is the Oklahoma standard?

BOB STOOPS, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA: Well, you know, if you watched as everybody has seen over this past week, it's just persistence and a great positive attitude by the people to never give in.

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BALDWIN: George Howell joins me now.

Look at that. People still searching through what was their homes. I saw the Oklahoma standard. You have seen it, yourself.

How are people, though, doing? Here we are one week out.

HOWELL: You know, Brooke, and you were here just a few days ago. You remember seeing debris scattered everywhere, just scattered about.

It's not the case now, Brooke. You see change here is incremental. You see piles all over the place, like this pile. It's really like a whole area of just different piles of debris and it could take months. It could take more than a year to clean this up.

We saw that happen in Tuscaloosa. We're here on the grounds where the school once stood. You look over here at this fencing that surrounds where the school was, a memorial that's been set up here by people, you know, who have friends, who have family members, who have people who were at this school.

It's still unclear, Brooke, whether the school will or will not be rebuilt. That's a question we're still trying to look into. But again, change is slow. Change is incremental. But change, Brooke, is definitely happening.

BALDWIN: If it is rebuilt, whether or not it will have a storm shelter this time. George Howell in Moore, George, thank you.

And a booming blast at a West, Texas, plant kills more than a dozen people. Next we are talking to a first responder who was injured in that massive explosion. His boots were blown 50 feet away, but he only knows that because someone else told him.

ROBERT PAYNE, WEST, TEXAS, FIRST RESPONDER: I don't remember any of that at all. I don't really remember anything until the next morning.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Now to the town of West, Texas, still desperate for answers. It's been nearly six weeks since that explosion leveled the local fertilizer plant. Investigators still don't know what caused that. Fifteen people died in the explosion, many of whom were first responders running to the scene to help.

Ed Lavandera joins me now live from West.

Ed, you talked to this volunteer firefighter who survived the explosion. What did he say?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an amazing story, Brooke, especially when you consider so many first responders were killed in that blast, but a lucky few who responded and were seriously injured could walk away and talk about it nearly six weeks later.

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LAVANDERA (voice-over): Right in the middle of that chaos was firefighter Robert Payne, which makes seeing him now, six weeks later, all the more remarkable.

The explosion, do you remember it?

PAYNE: I don't remember it at all, no. I watch it in video and see how violent it is and how loud it is. No, I don't remember any of that at all. I don't remember anything really until the next morning waking up in ICU.

LAVANDERA: This was the blast site. Payne was trying to retreat and made it about 35 yards away behind a fire truck, which apparently shielded him just enough.

The truck was left a mangled ruin. Somehow Robert Payne survived.

When I visited with the guy that rescued me, Brad, he filled me in on a few things about where I was found and about the fact I was blown out of my boots. My boots were in one place and I was, he described, I think, about 35 feet away.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Payne has nerve damage in his right arm, broken ribs, broken facial bones and bone chips in his leg, and needs surgery to repair his right eardrum, but he's alive. Twelve other first responders weren't so lucky.

MAYOR TOMMY MUSKA, WEST, TEXAS: Those are some of the firefighters that we lost.

West Mayor Tommy Muska took us to the fire station. The names of the firefighters who died are still on the lockers. There are two new donated fire trucks and West firefighters just resumed handling calls again this past week.

LAVANDERA: It's got to be hard for these guys to come in here. MUSKA: They may not want to get back on that horse but they're going to have to get back on that horse. When that whistle blows, we're in charge of this place now and we've got to get on the trucks and

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LAVANDERA: -- coming, right?

MUSKA: They don't quit.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But the hard work is just beginning.

This is the foundation from the building that blew up.

MUSKA: Yes. There are pieces all over this piece.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Mayor Muska needs $4 million just to fix sewer and water lines. And several hundred homes need to be rebuilt. But he does say one building won't be welcomed back -- the fertilizer plant.

MUSKA: We don't have the ability to say you can't build here.

LAVANDERA: What do you think the town reaction would be?

MUSKA: The town reaction would probably be to the point where they wouldn't want to rebuild anyway.

LAVANDERA: And Brooke, the cause here officially is still listed as undetermined. There are three possible things that investigators still haven't been able to rule out. One of them whether or not this fire was intentionally set.

That brings us to a man named Bryce Reid (ph), a former EMS worker, who was fired just a few days after the explosion. He is still in custody awaiting trial on an unrelated firearms charge. We spoke with several city officials here in West who say they don't believe he had anything to do with this, and that this fire was simply an accident, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So quickly, Ed, though, back to that huge piece of land, what will go there? Do they have any idea?

LAVANDERA: Well, it's interesting. We finally got a comment from the spokesperson for the owner of the plant, an 83-year-old man by the name of Don Adair (ph). We asked him if he had any plans to rebuild.

And the spokesperson says it is highly unlikely that at his age that he would rebuild and continue on with this fertilizer business. So this area needs that fertilizer plant. The question is where it will go.

BALDWIN: Ed Lavandera for us in West, Texas, with that update, Ed, thank you so much. And again, just a quick reminder, if you missed anything from the show, we have a blog; you can check that for interviews later on. Go to CNN.com/Brooke.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks so much for being with me. I am back up at 7 o'clock tonight in for "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT." So I hope to see you then. In the meantime, I'm going to turn things over to my colleague in Washington. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.