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About 11,000 Refugees Making Their Way Through Austria; Pope Francis Implores Catholics to Help Shelter Refugees; Exclusive Interview with Sarah Palin; Bernie Sanders Leading Hillary in New Hampshire; Obama Gaining Support on Iran Nuclear Deal: Colin Powell Backs The Agreement; Flight Attendant Suspended For Not Serving Alcohol; Two Drone Incidents At Sporting Events Within Days; Pro- Football Preview. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 06, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:14] MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN HOST: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, 11,000 refugees making their way through Austria today.

The crisis so grave that Pope Francis is now imploring Catholics across Europe to help shelter the refugees.

Plus an exclusive interview with Sarah Palin. What she thinks America needs in the next president, and what she would do if she were in charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think the public gives a flying flip if somebody knows who today is a specific leader of a specific region or religion or anything, because that leader will change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And it's happened again for the second time this week, a drone crashes at a major sporting event.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Hello, thanks for joining me. I'm Martin Savidge in for Fredricka Whitfield who has the day off. We begin with powerful images from the refugee crisis where an estimated 11,000 are crossing in to Austria over the last 24 hours alone. Federal police say 5,000 have crossed into Germany today, the country where most refugees say they are going to seek asylum. After weeks of exhausting travel, a heart-warming scene unfolding in train stations in Munich and Vienna.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

SAVIDGE: CNN's Fred Pleitgen is at the train station where refugees continue to arrive.

Fred, this is a completely different kind of scene that we saw, say, in Hungary. Why is that?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is a lot different. I think there's a whole different attitude here towards the refugees that are arriving. I mean, one of the things that we saw in Hungary is that the regular people there actually they were quite supportive of the refugees. You know, many of the refugees in Hungary, they did receive donations from people there. However, the government seemed to be quite hostile toward the refugees.

There was obviously a lot of problems for them to go across the country. They were stopped at the Budapest train station. None of that is happening here today. And it is certainly very different also when you see the amount of donations that are being brought here to the Vienna railway station.

I was just downstairs in the donation center and it is just overflowing. In fact the organization that is running that center has called on people to stop bringing things, because they have so much at this point. So it really is an outpouring of solidarity.

And it was so interesting also to see when the trains with the refugees arrived here throughout the day, to see people with applause greeting the refugees. And I think that's something that really went a long way to making them feel that they are welcome here. And that's something that was really very important to people. You know, we saw folks arrive here from Syria, from Afghanistan and some of them just break out in tears when they came out and received that welcome. And that's certainly something that was really very emotional and very good to see, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes. I imagine it is for them. And when you talk to the refugees, what do they say is their final destination, Austria, or are they moving on?

PLEITGEN: Yes. Well, most of them say they want to move on to Germany. There are also a lot who are staying in Austria. Austria has taken in a lot of refugees. Per capita actually more than Germany has, at least so far. But right now, what you're seeing is many of them want to continue to go on to Germany.

The interesting is also many of those who want to stay in Austria, they usually make that decision once they cross the border. So earlier than when they arrive here to Vienna, when they tell the authorities I would like to apply for asylum here, they are then brought to shelters where they can at least spend the first couple of nights. They are register there and then they move on to other locations. The ones that go on to Germany are not registered here, although, their names on taken, they are simply put on a train and taken to Munich and then they can register there Martin.

SAVIDGE: Fred Pleitgen in the middle of what is a huge and historic human migration.

Thanks very much, Fred. We will stay in touch.

Today Pope Francis called on religious institutions to help the refugees. At the end of his message, he said quote "I appeal to parishes, the religious communities, the monasteries and shrines throughout Europe to express the reality of the gospel and accommodate a family of refugees. Every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe has to host a family starting from my diocese of Rome."

CNN's Delia Gallagher is in Rome.

And Delia, how many families will the Vatican host?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Martin, the Pope said that he'll start with the Vatican. The Vatican has two parishes, one of which is St. Peter's basilica and the other is called St. Ann's. It is the little church right inside the Vatican gate. `And I spoke to the pope's spokesman, Father Lombardi, just a short time ago and he clarified that the hope there is not that these families will be sleeping inside the Vatican, but that the Pope's appeal was to families who attend mass at these parishes to host the refugee families in their homes.

Still, with some 75,000 parishes between France, Italy, Germany and Spain alone, in addition to the convents and monasteries and other religious institutions, it's clear that the Pope's appeal will go some way to help alleviate the problem of the refugee crisis.

We should also say, Martin, that in some places, this is already in effect. In Milan, for example, the archbishop there says that there are some 900 places available for refugees. Same in Vienna. Their archbishop says that they have a thousand places open for refugees. Of course, there are also catholic services that work year round on the frontlines with refugees providing food, and water and health care.

In fact one of the early responses to the Pope's appeal, Martin, came from the community (INAUDIBLE), which is a catholic social justice community here in Rome that said they want to push the initiative further and suggest sponsorship for families that are coming from the Middle East or Africa, a European family pays for the travel. As we know travel is the big problem here, by sea or by land to get to Europe for some of these families. It can result in making them vulnerable to human trafficking and even in death.

So one of the early responses to the Pope's appeal from this community, the catholic community here saying let's have European families pay for the travel to bring over these refugee families -- Martin.

[14:06:36] SAVIDGE: And Delia, how unusual is it for the Pope to make this kind of a call or demand?

GALLAGHER: Well, it's an invitation in the first instance to all of his religious institutions, as it were. John Paul II made the same invitation in 2004 for religious institutions to open their doors. Pope Francis himself in 2013 was talking to groups of nuns and saying these empty convents, we shouldn't be using them just to make money. We should be using them to welcome the immigrant. So we've heard Pope Francis over and over again make the suggestion

that people open their doors, this time obviously with the emphasis on this particular European crisis. It echoes even louder, Martin.

Delia Gallagher, thank you very much. We will talk to you again.

SAVIDGE: It is being called the city of refugees. No, not in Western Europe, I'm talking here in the United States, and I'm talking about Houston, Texas. As of last year, Houston has helped resettle 70,000 refugees, more than any other American city. Families like this one that had moved to Houston from Syria three months ago. They asked CNN affiliate KTRK to not use their names in fear of the Syrian government. A translator speaks and shares their story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can't live anymore in Syria because there's no security. If they go out, they can get targeted by snipers and barrel bombs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: But after being granted asylum, there are a lot of obstacles for a refugee assimilating into western culture. My next guest knows that very well.

Ali Al-Sudani is a refugee from Iraq. He resettled in Houston in 2009 and he is now the director of refugee services at interfaith ministries there.

Thank you very much for joining us. Welcome. And tell us about Syrian families that you've helped in Houston and give us some examples of, you know, what they have left in Syria and how difficult it is to, say, re-assimilate here.

ALI AL-SUDANI, DIRECTOR, RELIGIOUS SERVICES, INTERFAITH MINISTRIES, GREATER HOUSTON: Martin, thank you so much for having me on to talk about the refugees and the Syrian families. I just want to make sure that I have this correctly the number of refugees, 70,000, this is the number that was settled to the United States in general every fiscal year. And in Houston on average we settle 5,000 -- 4,000 to 5,000 refugees a year, which is definitely more than any other city in the United States.

Syrian families, and like any other refugee, they are leaving their houses, they are leaving their homes, they are leaving their families, and they are coming here to the United States in legal ways to seek a new home in Houston.

SAVIDGE: And you've been through this process. What was the biggest challenge for you when you first got here?

AL-SUDANI: Martin, the biggest challenge is adjustments. You know, I spoke English before coming here to the United States. Most of our refugees who are coming now, they don't speak the language. So the adjustment, English is number one to help them actually to adjust quickly to the culture and the life in the United States.

And, you know, knowing about the American culture except love the city you are and knowing about the rules, the laws, how it works, this is, you know, an adjustment that every refugee is going through on their path to citizenship after five years.

[14:10:11] SAVIDGE: And what about work? Of course, you know, employment is something that, you know, all Americans embrace. It is something that's expected of those who come to this nation, so that's important as well.

AL-SUDANI: Absolutely. The problem is not immigration problem. The problem is every assistance the refugees are getting, they must be in compliance with employment. Within interfaith ministries, we are very proud of our self-sufficiency for these families who are arriving within six months from the date of arrival, 94 percent of our families are self-sufficient. The refugees are resilient. They are hard working. They want to work. They want to earn their living and feel that they are a productive member in their communities.

SAVIDGE: And let me ask you something that's a sensitive issue, but I know it's a feeling of a minority of some Americans, and that is there are concerns that is or other terrorist organizations may somehow try to embed in this flow of refugees and do harm here. What would you say to that concern?

AL-SUDANI: Martin, actually the problem -- the refugees who are coming to the United States, we know when they are coming. They go through a lengthy process of security check and health check that will last for a year. And we have interagency security checks. All of our refugees who are coming here, they are thoroughly checked. All of their background for any other concerns. And all of them have been screened very well. So this issue actually, it doesn't pose any threat to their settlement in the United States.

SAVIDGE: Ali al-Sudani, thank you very much for your insights, sharing your experience and giving us all an idea of what it's like to come to America anew. Thank you.

AL-SUDANI: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Coming up, startling new polls. They show Bernie Sanders overtaking Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire today. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This brand new poll shows some serious signs of trouble for the Clinton's campaign. Who is up, who's down and who is the brand new leader of the pack here in New Hampshire. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:29] SAVIDGE: This morning on CNN we get to see a familiar face here, a familiar voice that we haven't heard or seen in some time, Sarah Palin. And she's opening up about the 2016 presidential race. This morning in an exclusive interview, the former GOP vice presidential nominee and Alaskan governor spoke with our Jake Tapper on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" about the, quote, "gotcha questions" that have been stumping presidential nominees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: I think I'd rather have a president who is tough and puts America first than can win a game of trivial pursuit. Some of those questions, I don't know if other candidates were posed the same question so I don't know if they would have the answers, but I don't think the public gives a flying flip if somebody knows who today is a specific leader of a specific region or religion or anything else because that leader will change, of course, when the next president comes into power just based on the volatility of politics in these other areas. So I don't think the public is so concerned about that.

And then, you know, it's kind of subjective too, right? Whether a candidate is worthy to be given attention and respect and be taken seriously if they don't know the leader of some -- a tribe or a religion or even a country. When -- how about other candidates who may not know the price of a barrel of oil today or how much oil it is that we are importing from foreign nations, unfriendly foreign nations, and we have a ban on exporting our own oil and we have prohibitions and bans on drilling for our own oil. Details may be involved in that, that a candidate doesn't know. Hey, if you don't know that, then you're not worthy of being taken seriously, Mr. Candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Palin also spoke about Joe Biden who has been surrounded by speculations of a possible presidential run. She went toe-to-toe with Biden in 2008 during a vice presidential debate. She also gave her thoughts on how she thought Hillary Clinton would hold up against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Joe Biden is such a character. Nobody has to go in there and be nervous. You can just kind of gauge his personality that, you know, I don't know, it's not that he doesn't take things seriously, but just kind of comes across as being pretty, you know, pretty down to earth, pretty relaxed so that opponent can do the same and at the same time stick it to them if you want to win that debate. Start talking about what your accomplishments are. Start talking about what your intentions are for this country. So man, in those -- in that respect, Hillary Clinton wouldn't do very well against Joe Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Palin also spoke out about abortion and what she would take on if she were in Donald Trump's cabinet. We'll have more of that exclusive interview coming up in just a little bit.

And now surprising news out of New Hampshire. Bernie Sanders is now leading Hillary Clinton in the early voting state by nine percentage points. The Vermont senator now has the support of 41 percent of Democratic voters, where Clinton now only has 32 percent. That's a stark contrast from July, when Clinton was leading Sanders.

Our Sunlen Serfaty is in New Hampshire with the very latest.

And Sunlen, nice to see you. What do these numbers really show us?

SERFATY: Well, they definitely show, Martin, that the momentum is squarely with Bernie Sanders. And it shows that this race here in New Hampshire and in Iowa is very competitive. A lot more competitive than it first was.

Now, let's look at the numbers here in New Hampshire. Hillary Clinton has now fallen behind Sanders. She's polling at 41 -- excuse me, Sanders is polling at 41 percent. That's compared to Clinton who is just polling at 32 percent. But when you look deeper into the numbers, that's when they become a lot more striking because it shows that Clinton has lost a lot of ground. She was leading Sanders by ten points in July, so clearly there's been a significant shift here on the ground in New Hampshire.

Now, to Iowa. Clinton still has her hold on the lead there. She has 38 support as compared to Sanders at 27 percent. But again there are some small signs of trouble for Clinton in Iowa as well. She's leading by a smaller margin. Her support has dropped 11 points since last polled in July.

Now, Clinton out on the campaign trail, she's really been taking pains to downplay Sanders' rise, disputing the notion that Sanders is getting under her skin by all the attention that he's getting and all the big crowds that he's having come out to see him speak. Here's Clinton this weekend here in New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:20:08] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I've always thought this was going to be a competitive primary. And I welcome that. I think that this is a contest. It's a contest of ideas, of policies, of how we present ourselves to the American people. And I am going to work as hard as I can to earn every vote in the New Hampshire primary that I possibly can earn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, senator Sanders has responded and he said he believes that this is a small sign that Clinton's campaign and Clinton herself are getting nervous by all the energy that his campaign is creating. So Martin, I think you can say game on.

SAVIDGE: Yes. I think you can safely say that. And I'm sure that campaign is getting a bit concerned.

Sunlen Serfaty, thank you very much.

We have this reminder for you, be sure to watch the next Republican presidential debate that's hosted by CNN Wednesday, September 16th. That will be starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. Still to come, there is new high-profile backing for the Iran nuclear

deal. We'll tell you who's speaking out in support of President Obama.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:24:54] SAVIDGE: President Obama can add another supporter for the Iran nuclear deal. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is head of the Democratic National Committee and she said this morning on CNN's "State Of The Union" that she is backing the deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:25:06] REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: My number one goal in making this decision was to reach a conclusion based on what I thought would be most likely to prevent Iran from achieving their nuclear weapons goals. And in weighing everything, all the information that I've had in front of me, I concluded that the best thing to do is to vote in support of the Iran deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: President Obama now has what's called bulletproof support for the deal, so it won't be voted down in congress. But that doesn't mean that the political fight is completely over. And today on "Meet the Press" the former secretary of state, Colin Powell, said that he's in favor of the deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Here's why I think it's a good deal. One of the great concerns that the opposition has that we are leaving open a lane for the Iranians to go back to creating a nuclear weapon in 10 or 15 years, forgetting the reality that they have been on a superhighway for the last ten years to create a nuclear weapon or nuclear weapons program with no speed limit. And in the last ten years they have gone from 136 centrifuges up to something like 19,000 centrifuges. This agreement will bring them down to 5,000 centrifuges. All of these will be under IAEA supervision. And I think this is a good outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: I want to bring in general Wesley Clark, he commanded the allied force in Kosovo and was a commander in NATO. He also ran as a candidate for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2003.

General, thank you for being with us.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, (RET.) U.S. ARMY: Thanks, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Strategically, what do you make of Colin Powell's argument, do you buy it?

CLARK: I buy it. I think it is common sense. It's not the deal that everyone might have dreamed about. They're not giving up all their centrifuges. They're not saying never will they have a nuclear weapon or nuclear energy. They didn't throw everything out. But it's a realistic agreement and it can be verified. And if is verified, that's fine. And if it's not, then as general Powell said, we'll walk away from it.

SAVIDGE: Most other countries involves have come out in favor of this deal. But there are two exceptions, one of them being, of course, Israel and to a lesser degree Saudi Arabia. And again, going back to Colin Powell, I want to -- well, just listen to how he addressed those concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: I think they will find over time if it unfolds the way it is designed to unfold, they will see that they have been made more secure by derailing this Iranian nuclear program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And that is the real question. More secure. Do you agree that Israel and Saudi Arabia will be made safer?

CLARK: Well, I think the nuclear -- the overhang of this Iranian program is one element in the region. But there's no doubt that Iran is still going to strive for regional -- there's still conflict in Syria. The Russians have now got involved in it. There's fighting in Yemen. The Saudis and the Emiratis are fighting against forces, so there's no magic here.

This all requires a period of time, it requires diplomatic resolution ultimately. You can't resolve these problems simply by killing people, but I think on balance, the Iranian agreement takes one element off the table somewhat, and so I think it's a positive.

SAVIDGE: President Obama responded to Colin Powell. He tweeted this out. Quote, "thank you, Colin, for putting your experience and expertise behind the important initiative behind our country."

My question to you is that there have been critics in this country that have said the United States, the Obama administration, has backed off of Syria in order to get closer to Iran. I'm wondering is that a bad policy practice?

CLARK: Well, I'm not sure that that's actually what's happened. We got into Syria by saying that, first of all, the Syrian revolution against Assad really never had a leader, really never had a political purpose. It was generated by economic failure and just by sympathy for what had happened in other countries across the Middle East with the so-called Arab spring. And so there was never a coalesced opposition.

Meanwhile then Islamist terrorists got in there. They organized. Is came in claiming to be Islamic. And all of this is a stew pot of conflict. It's been used by the Saudis and the Turks to oppose Iran. Now Russia is involved. So this is really complicated. What we have been smart in doing is we've been smart in keeping

American ground troops out of this. This is not something where we want ground troops. We don't want military advisers in there. And we don't want forward air control parties in there on the ground that has to be backed up by combat battalions.

[14:30:11] This is something that these countries in the region are going to fight about for a long time, because it's really about a combination of three things.

It's about regional dominance, Iran versus Saudi Arabia. It's about Turkey's pretensions in the region, Turkey versus Iran and it's about Shia versus Sunni Islam. And all three of those things are elements that we don't have a direct interest in. What we want is a reduction in the violence.

We want to promote humanitarian vision in the region and we want to promote economic development, peaceful economic development. So we can't influence this directly with military forces on the ground and I think we've been smart in avoiding those forces.

SAVIDGE: You're the man that certainly has the knowledge when it comes to military use. Thank you very much, General Wesley Clark, for joining us.

CLARK: Thank you, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Up next, a Muslim flight attendant, she fights back after being grounded for refusing to serve alcohol. Why she says her religious freedom is under attack. Sound familiar?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Faith and the job. It's a conversation that's been talked about a lot this week due to events that have been happening in Kentucky. But now a Muslim flight attendant says that she was suspended for refusing to serve alcohol.

[14:35:03] Shari Stanley says that she is employed by Express Jet and says that her faith doesn't allow her to consume or serve alcoholic beverages. She says that she's being discriminated against because of her religion.

It's a case that as I just said strikes a kind of similar tone to that of the county clerk in Kentucky who is in jail for contempt after saying that her faith doesn't allow her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

CNN's Nick Valencia is here with the details. That's what struck us is the similarities.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are certainly parallels between the case in Kentucky and this one, but Miss Stanley's critics say that she took the job before she had converted to Islam and knew the job responsibilities. Still, her lawyer says that her constitutional rights have been violated and that she's the victim of discrimination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): Shari Stanley says she was suspended from her job as a flight attendant because of her religious beliefs. This week, the 40-year-old Michigan woman filed a charge of discrimination against regional airline, Express Jet.

The issue, Stanley converted to Islam two years ago. She says she only learned recently that her faith prohibits her from serving alcohol. She and the airline did work out an accommodation for two months.

Until she says one of her co-workers filed a complaint against her saying, quote, "she was not fulfilling her duties as a flight attendant by refusing to serve alcohol."

Four weeks later, Stanley's religious accommodation excluding her from serving alcohol was revoked by the airline. She was suspended. Her lawyers said her client's, quote, "Sincerely held religious beliefs should not keep her from being a flight attendant."

A spokesman for Express Jet declined to discuss Stanley's complaint, but in a statement to CNN said, quote, "We embrace and respect the values of all of our team members. We are an equal opportunity employer with a long history of diversity in our workforce."

CNN aviation analyst, Mary Schiavo, says a reasonable accommodation for Stanley may be difficult given she works for a small airline.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: In the case of the airlines where you have just one flight attendant on a flight of 50 seats or less, the pilot can't come out of the cockpit and serve the drinks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: So at the crux of this debate is reasonable accommodation and that could be very difficult because this flight attendant works for a smaller airline. She could very well be the only flight attendant on that flight. As you heard on that piece, you can't have the pilot come back and serve the alcohol to these passengers, reasonable accommodation.

SAVIDGE: All right. So it's interesting. We're going to continue this discussion. Thanks, Nick, very much.

Let's bring in Miss Stanley's lawyer now, Lena Masri. Lena, thank you for joining us. What do you base your legal claim on here and what is it you're seeking for your client?

LENA MASRI, MUSLIM FLIGHT ATTENDANT'S ATTORNEY: Thank you, Martin. The important point to note here is that the airline itself made this adjustment. We know this does not cause any undue burden on the airline.

It suggested that in order to accommodate Miss Stanley's religious beliefs that she coordinate with another flight attendant on duty in order to ensure whenever a customer asks for alcohol to be served that the other flight attendant would accommodate that request.

She followed that suggestion, that accommodation to the T and it worked beautifully. She never had any incident occur. Even at the time of this particular incident where a flight attendant filed a complaint against her, that flight attendant had also agreed to accommodate that request.

So there had never been an issue come up with respect to Miss Stanley serving alcohol.

SAVIDGE: But this accommodation apparently has fallen apart for whatever reason and as a result the airline is saying now they're not possible, what, to accommodate in some other way? Would your client be willing to accept some other job with the airline, but not necessarily as a flight attendant?

MASRI: So what happened here is that Miss Stanley, upon learning that she under Islam, the new faith that she accepted, that she cannot serve alcohol, she brought this to the attention of her supervisor. She requested that her faith be accommodated.

She did not make any suggestions as to the type of accommodation that would be granted and her supervisor suggested that she work this arrangement out with other flight attendants prior to each takeoff.

Now, this incident that's at discussion right now, another flight attendant accommodated that request, she worked with her. She agreed to provide alcohol whenever another customer asked for it. And there wasn't an issue that came up even that day.

SAVIDGE: That wasn't my question. Let me go back to what my question was. Would she be willing to accept some other position with the airline that doesn't include serving alcohol on the airplane?

MASRI: What we're asking for is that her employment be reinstated and her reasonable accommodation be reinstated as well. Her request is not asking for much.

[14:40:08] SAVIDGE: That depends on the airline. I mean, if you've got two flight attendants or even just one on some of these small planes at least that I've seen, that is actually a big accommodation.

So it could depend on the very specific of the job she has, which again goes back to my question, would she accept some other job with the company?

Because she knew what her faith requirements were and she knew what the employment circumstance was. Nobody came in and was ignorant of what was happening.

MASRI: Well, the point is here is that our society places upon employers an obligation to accommodate the religious beliefs of its employees. They are required by law to ensure that there is a safe environment in place and that employees can practice their religious beliefs freely.

Of course, there are limitations, that accommodation must be reasonable. But what we know here is that this is not an imposition on the airline, because the airline itself made that suggestion and offered that accommodation.

There was never any incident. Now, the airline would have to demonstrate to the courts that there has been some change of circumstances that made this accommodation no longer reasonable.

SAVIDGE: I understand and I respect the argument that you make when it comes to the conditions that should be allowed for a person's faith. But what my question for the third time is, would she accept some other job with the airline other than being a flight attendant?

MASRI: She's not required by the law to do that. The law puts the obligation upon the employer to accommodate her religious beliefs so it's not her obligation to accept another job.

SAVIDGE: To a reasonable extent. It is not a mandatory requirement, it is to a reasonable extent and it seems that they have tried to work something out.

MASRI: Exactly.

SAVIDGE: I'm trying to get from your client whether she is willing to compromise.

MASRI: What she wants is that her rights under her law be accommodated. In this situation, the law requires that the employer accommodate her beliefs. She really -- she's not required to search for another job in order to have her beliefs accommodated.

SAVIDGE: I know this is going to end up in a court of law and I do appreciate it. That's Lena Masri, who is the attorney representing this airline attendant who is now asking to get reinstated. Thank you very much.

MASRI: Thank you for having me.

SAVIDGE: We'll be back with more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41:07]

SAVIDGE: It's the old adage, what goes up must come down. That was clearly on display yesterday at a college football game. Authorities had to deal with a drone scare, another one, this time at the University of Kentucky. It happened last night. The unmanned aircraft crashed into the stadium just before the Wildcats took on Louisiana Lafayette.

CNN's Sara Ganim joins us just outside the stadium where another drone crashed at the U.S. Open. Sara, is it illegal to fly over a stadium with a drone? SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is illegal, Martin. Just think about it. This is one of a handful of places that is illegal to fly a drone. If you are the spectator at the U.S. Open where I am today or at a football game where this happened yesterday, you're not looking up at the sky for falling objects.

You're looking down at the event or the match or the game and presumably enjoying yourself, hoping that falling objects are not going to fall into the stands. This is something that's been happening more frequently. It happened just twice, Martin, now in the last week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seemed as if that fell from somewhere.

GANIM (voice-over): Just days after a drone crashed into the stands at a match at the U.S. Open, a second drone crashes into a Kentucky stadium. This black and white drone fell into the stands just before kickoff at the University of Kentucky football team's home opener.

A university official says it was being flown by a student, and it was hovering near the scoreboard while skydivers parachuted in during pregame festivities. No one was injured, but drones are backed on the university's campus, and the FAA has banned them from sporting events. Authorities are considering what to do next.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: What we have right now is a real patch work of laws.

GANIM: CNN aviation analyst, Mary Schiavo says banning drones over stadiums simply isn't enough to protect people.

SCHIAVO: There's no requirement that the drones have what's called a go home chip. In other words if your radio signal is broken or you have a problem with your power, what does the drone do? Does it tumble out of control and fall to the earth or does it go home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Early conjecture seems to be that a drone has landed in the stadium seats.

GANIM: Friday a New York science teacher was arrested after this drone slammed into an empty seating area at the U.S. Open confusing broadcaster --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a moment where we're not entirely certain as to what it is that landed in the stands.

GANIM: And temporarily halting games.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think both players heard it. They both stopped and looked at the chair umpire.

GANIM: Again, no one was hurt, but Schiavo says the laws simply have not caught up.

SCHIAVO: There isn't a regulation right now that says those blades must be protected.

GANIM: These incidents are becoming more frequent, with at least three people detained or questioned by police for flying drones over sporting events in the last several months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GANIM: Now, Martin, there are other places that you cannot fly a drone. One of them is at the airport. We know we heard about close calls at airports a lot. Another place is military bases. I mentioned major sporting events like Major League baseball games, the NFL, NCAA games, racing events and the final one where you cannot take that drone out is national parks -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Hard to imagine what they were thinking, those that fly the drones. All right, Sara, thank you very much. We'll be back with more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:53:48]

SAVIDGE: A new NFL season kicks off this week, and you'll see some familiar faces as part of the league's elite, including Denver Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning return. I want to bring in now CNN sports anchor, Rachel Nichols. Hello, Rachel.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Martin.

SAVIDGE: You get a preview of what's coming up at 3:30 Eastern Time here on CNN. Let's talk about Peyton Manning. What's going on?

NICHOLS: In about a half hour from now we'll have our pro football kickoff special, myself and Dan Marino hosting. We have a whole bunch of people joining us. One of our guests will be Peyton Manning. Now, Peyton is 39 years old. He is considered the most talented quarterback of his generation.

But the question is, should this be his last season? Is this going to be his last season? In fact, Martin, it's been so much a topic of debate of how much he really has left in the tank that Tom Brady, really his rival all these years, joked about it.

Did a little trash talk in an e-mail to his father that we now the public have seen because it was unearthed in the deflategate investigation. So when I talked to Peyton, I asked him whether it bothered him that Tom Brady was basically trash talking that he was almost done to his dad. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:55:02] NICHOLS: An e-mail was recently made public in which Tom Brady told his dad he'd ultimately win that friendly rivalry between you two because he's going to outlast you by five or six years. What was your reaction when you heard that? PEYTON MANNING, BRONCOS QUARTERBACK: I didn't read it. Tom sent me a text. He apologized that my name was brought up into this. It was no harm, no foul. It was an unnecessary apology. Tom and I have had a good friendship throughout our careers and will continue to have a good friendship long after we play, so I really didn't give it a whole lot of attention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: Martin, very gracious of Peyton there. Everyone's name comes up in deflategate, right?

SAVIDGE: I think that's a very polite public statement that he made there. So let's talk about what are some of the other big things to look for this coming season?

NICHOLS: Well, Tom Brady and the Patriots are obviously now going to be a huge story line. They certainly have a big chip on their shoulders after everything that's gone on with the NFL. He will, of course, now be allowed to play this coming Thursday night thanks to a federal judge.

I do want to show you if we can get it up, a web page is now selling Tom Brady courtroom sketch skirts. That sketch became very famous during the court hearing, and now you can get it on a skirt, Martin, so maybe you wear that for football kickoff.

SAVIDGE: Very flattering, extremely flattering. Rachel Nichols, thank you very much. We'll look forward to the program. That special will be at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. We'll be back in a moment minus the skirt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)