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Ryan O'Neal: Farrah Fawcett Portrait Is Mine; Victim's Family Reacts To Deadly Accident; Sources: Train Engineer Says He Was "In A Daze" Before Deadly Derailment; Web Hoax After Web Hoax Fools Media; Rowdy Fans Rattle The Earth; Spending On Education Fails To Fix Teen Test Score Woes

Aired December 03, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: The battle over this Andy Warhol portrait of actress Farrah Fawcett is now being fought in a Los Angeles courtroom. Fawcett, who died of cancer in 2009, she left her art collection to her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. So now the university is accusing actor Ryan O'Neal, Fawcett's longtime boyfriend, of stealing the portrait. The 72-year-old actor took to the witness stand insisting that Warhol made two prints, one for Fawcett and one for him. CNN's Alan Duke is working this for us in Los Angeles.

And, Alan Duke, we know that Ryan O'Neal admits to taking the portrait. So, why?

ALAN DUKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was completely left out of Farrah Fawcett's will. Everything went to their son, Redmond O'Neal. And -- but what he did about a week after her death in June of 2009 was, he went to her Wilshire Boulevard condominium and took it off her wall and took it back to his Malibu home. In fact, the home where they lived before together back during the 1990s.

What happened in court yesterday was somewhat embarrassing for Ryan and emotional for Mr. O'Neal because he had to talk about his affair with a 25-year-old woman and being caught in the act in the bedroom by Farrah Fawcett I think that in 1997.

So there were a lot of juicy tabloid type tidbits coming out from this trial all over this painting. He says he had one, she had one. But, what the lawyer for University of Texas at Austin say is actually they were both hers. She paid the insurance. She publicly said they were hers. She left all of her artwork to the university she attended in the 1960s.

BALDWIN: Obviously much to do about this particular painting. If one were to try to sell it, Alan Duke, today, how much do you think you could get for it?

DUKE: Well, I'm not an auction near or art appraiser, but I can tell you that the Andy Warhol paintings have gone for upwards of $100 million. This one, officially according to court paper is worth more than $1 million. That's all they had to say. I doubt this going to ever be sold. Ryan O'Neal says he wants it to give to his son, Redmond. Of course, Redmond has gone through an incredible battle with drugs and prison and drug rehabilitation and he was very close to his mother. That's what Ryan O'Neal says his motivation is. I would think the University of Texas is intending to put on display along with the other painting and the other Farrah Fawcett artwork that they have.

BALDWIN: Of course, Alan Duke, thank you very much in Los Angeles.

Still ahead, that Bronx train derailment, an 82-mile-an-hour disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a train to be going 82 miles per hour around that curve is just a frightening thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: New evidence this afternoon on what caused this New York train to fly off the track and a victim's family opens up about this recent loss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin live from New York. A speeding train jumps the tracks killing four people and now an admission by the man operating that train. Two senior law enforcement sources tell CNN that William Rockefeller, seen right here, said he was, and I'm quoting him, "in a daze." This was revealed to investigators.

His colleagues say he is absolutely torn up by the whole thing. His interview with NTSB investigators cut short though because of his emotional state realizing just what exactly has happened. The families of those killed torn apart by this tragedy. One of them, the family of Jim Lovell, talked to CNN about his life and their heart break.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NANCY MONTGOMERY, HUSBAND KILLED IN TRAIN CRASH: I want people to know that Jim was interested in what everybody was doing. He was pure goodness and he lived that and showed that and gave that to his boys every single day. He gave it to his guys that he worked with. He gave that to his family and brothers and nieces and nephews. He gave that to his beautiful daughter. I want people to know how good Jim was.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC360": I -- I saw some of the tweets you were sending out. Tell us about your dad.

FINN LOVELL, FATHER KILLED IN TRAIN CRASH: Well, first off, I just want to say, that my dad was not a victim. I don't want him to be known as a victim. Jim Lovell was so much more than just a victim. He was a loving father, great dad. Best friend, uncle, great co- worker, just always had a smile on his face, never had anything bad to say about anyone. One of the best people you could ever meet. I just want to say I'm so proud and blessed that I was able to call him my father.

COOPER: I lost my dad when I was ten and you guys are just so strong to be able to be able to talking about him. It's important for you, for other people to know about him. That you want other people to know what he was like.

LOVELL: Absolutely. The type of person you would want to show off in your life.

MONTGOMERY: That morning, he gave me a kiss goodbye in the car like he usually does and then we have to cross paths as I am making my way to the driver's seat. There was a second kiss. We don't usually do that. So, I got a second kiss.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Also, among the victims, 54-year-old Donna Smith, 59-year- old James Ferrari and 35-year-old Ahn Kisook. The NTSB has determined that train was going 82 miles per hour around a curve with a 30-mile- per-hour limit.

Coming up next, online story that you hear about it first absolutely tug at your heart. Maybe you donate a little money for the cause. What happens when the tear jerkers are outed as hoaxes? We followed the money.

Also a disturbing study, American kids falling further behind in math. We will show where the United States ranks and what is causing such low scores. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is a story that tugged at probably your conscience. You read this on the internet. This mother blogs about the raw reality of being poor, really poor. Keilar Martinis writes this, quote. "Nobody gives enough thought to depression. You have to understand that we know that we will never not feel tired. We will never feel hopeful. We will never get a vacation, ever."

She goes on, "I am not beautiful, I have missing teeth and skin that looks like it will, when you live on B-12 and coffee, nicotine and no sleep. Beauty is a thing you get when you can afford it. It's how you get the job that you need in order to be beautiful. There isn't much point in trying."

You read that, you feel for her. It is compelling, right? The blogger cashed in. She raised more than $60,000 through gofundme.com, but guess what, this is all hoax. This is all fake according to the Houston press, which outed, good for them, the blogger as an ex- political consultant who went to boarding school.

It's just one example we pulled for you. The Twitter conversation, here's another in which reality show producer, Elan Gayle tells off this unruly plane passenger named Diane even tweeting pics of handwritten notes to each other. One word, fake.

And the waitress, this was all over my Facebook, cheated out of a tip because she's a lesbian. The accused family denied it showing a receipt with a decent tip on it. What's up with this? What's up with all these internet hoaxes?

Joining me now, senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter and CNN Money tech correspondent, Laurie Segall. Listen, we all read them and are on social media. You read them and feel for these people. Bryan Stelter, to you, first. Walk me through the process of some of these blogs, they grab the story and run with them.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIO MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: We want them to be true.

BALDWIN: Right.

STELTER: We forget the first rule, trust and verify. Check it out first. There is a virality industry with web sites in the business of finding these things and blowing them up. I don't want to pick on any specific ones, but "Buzzfeed" does it and "Huffington Post" and others like them because these things have a lot of interest for people.

BALDWIN: Laurie, let me ask you this because you follow social media. It shows how intimately it can light up on Twitter and also for example, this woman, this blogger, this impoverished blogger. She raised 60 grand on gofundme.com.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Like Bryan said everyone likes a good story, right. Everyone like the feel-good story, but viral the speed of the internet is a whole different kind of speed. That's what happened here. People didn't take a step back. I have fallen victim to this, but sometimes you have to do -- you need to vet.

You know, recently someone named Jim CNN actually reached out to me on Twitter and all of us were saying who is this person? We did vetting, looked and there was a photo of this guy and he was taken off. You have to really operate under the assumption that maybe viral first, but take a look at it.

BALDWIN: What about vetting? Are we not vetting enough? Are these particular blogs not vetting enough? What is the process for that?

STELTER: Well, it sort of the conventional wisdom that is emerging in the media industry that says that sometimes the truth doesn't sell as well as these hoaxes. If a web site writes about something that turns out to be a hoax, the debunking of it isn't going to get as much traffic as the original story.

There are a lot of sources that are wonderful at vetting and live to vet the stories. If you are online and read a story that seems too good to be true. Check it out with a source you trust. By the way, sometimes the stories don't have to be true. The guy on the plane that was making up the story about a mean woman in a row near him, you know, it's a reality TV producer. We had reason to be skeptical from the get go. I think he was a great story teller. He told a fantastic story, but it was fiction.

BALDWIN: If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Brian Stelter, Laurie Segall, thank you both very, very much.

Make sure you tune in, let's give you another plug, Brian Stelter debuts and hosts CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" here, CNN, Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Trusting and verifying all at once. Guys, thank you very much.

Now to this, a manmade or should I say fan made earthquake happened last night. Have you heard about this? Coming up next, we will show which football fans actually rattled the earth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Passengers who thought they caught a deadly bacteria on a flight last weekend, they can at least breathe a sigh of relief today because Arizona health officials now says that the man on the flight had tested negative for tuberculosis. He was held in Phoenix over fears he might be infected.

Emergency personnel had to tell passengers on the flight that they have been exposed, that they were advised to contact their doctors immediately. The CDC added the man's name to the no-fly list. But with this news, he is now off the list and free to fly.

If you were watching the NFL last night, you might have heard the announcers mention a few times, actually, the Seattle Sea Hawk fans were going all out to be loud. Here is the big moment. This is the fumble, the return, wait for it. Return for a touchdown. Those fans screamed and stomped so hard they got picked up by a sizometer. They moved the needle.

Chad Myers, I have never heard of this in my life, rumbles of an earthquake, fan earthquake in Seattle.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The seismogram was only a couple blocks away, which is good news, but it did pick up the rumblings of the stadium, the jumping up and down and the sound of the fans cheering. This is kind of an echo chamber because of the way the roof is set up here and here. A regular stadium without a roof like that, the sound goes up and out.

Here? Seattle, it's not that way. It gets echoed down like the echo chamber at the nation's capital. During the second quarter, they broke a different record, the decibel record. They set it at 136.6. Plane takes off at 150. Chiefs took it back last October and now the Seahawks have it at 137.6.

This is what it looked like Sunday night. Not much, a couple cars going by. Then put nit game and the game shows the rumbling. The blue there was the rumbling of when it happened. That was the interception and the return all the way back for the touchdown. There are other parts, we are going zoom in closer. There are other booms in here once in a while.

That right there in white, so you can't see it. In red so you can. That is the runback and touchdown. There are a couple first downs here. This spot there was a third down stand right through here. These are all minutes. That right there was rumbling for more than 65 seconds.

BALDWIN: Crazy. That's crazy they didn't have it for the Alabama/Auburn game. Chad Myers, thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: Coming up, a rabbi is teaching self-defense in his community. The fight against the so-called knock-out game, he will to demonstrate what he's trying to tell people live on the air.

Plus, Delta reportedly boots passengers off this flight to make room for a college basketball team. They apparently lied about it. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: So, a little bit of news for you first. Test scores for teenagers rising around the world. Bad news, it's not happening here. American teen scores are pretty much the same. That means our country is falling behind. Here is CNN's Christine Romans -- Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, in the past three years, American 15-year-olds have fallen further behind in math, science and reading. It's dubious for a country that spends more on education than anything else. It's a key test given to 15- year-olds in 65 countries. The U.S. ranks 36th in math. East Asian countries top all three categories in science, the U.S. ranks 28th. Only in reading are U.S. students really above average and still pretty much in the middle of the pack.

Shanghai takes every spot by a wide margin, but they hardly represent all of China. It's a slim, slim look about the education system in China. The U.S. has slipped in the rankings since 2009. Scores are a little changed from the first report in 2000. What's wrong here?

The report blames weak U.S. curriculum and Education Secretary Arne Duncan calls these results, quote, "A picture of educational stagnation. This is a reality at odds with aspirations to have the best educated work force in the world. He's pushing new common core standards in 45 states, a nationwide drive to standardize education hoping to stem the slide and reenergizing education of American students" -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: We roll on. Hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin live here in New York for you today. News after an admission by the engineer at the controls of the speeding train that jumped the tracks in the Bronx, here he is. This is the engineer. Two senior law enforcement sources tell CNN that this man said he was, quote, "in a daze" before the derailment that killed four and injured more than 60 others. Investigators are now saying that this train carrying 150 passengers approached the sharp curve doing 82 miles per hour. This is around a bend that has a speed limit of 30. He was doing 82. That is too fast for the straight away set at 70 miles per hour. That's the speed limit there.

According to one law enforcement official, this engineer here, his name is William Rockefeller, told investigators he was quote, "going along and I'm in a daze. I don't know what happened." This is a direct quote from him. His colleagues say he is absolutely torn up by this incident.

In fact, the NTSBs interview was cut short because of this man's emotional state. Let's talk about legalities here. CNN legal analyst Paul Callan is joining me. First on that phrase, in a daze, he's not saying he was asleep at the wheel, but he was in a daze. Does that help him, hurt him going forward? Does it matter?