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"Right to Die" Law Signed in California; Obama Travels to Oregon Friday; Gun Stocks Surge Despite Shooting; 20 Years from O.J. Simpson Trial. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired October 06, 2015 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:33:44] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Checking top stories. Facebook: one step closer to beaming free Internet to earth from space. The tech giant is now working with a French satellite company to make this a reality. Now the plan would provide Internet access to the people in sub-Saharan African, for example. It's part of an initiative to bring another billion people online using satellites, lasers and drones.
Fans of breakfast at McDonald's will love this story next or if you're just a breakfast any time kind of person. Starting today, the fast food chain will offer that meal all day long. It's part of their effort to boost slumping sales and profits. Now, McDonald's is betting the all-day breakfast will attract new customers without discouraging the loyal burger lovers.
One of the highest paid players in sports is entering an alcohol rehab center. And this comes just as his team is preparing for the playoffs. This is Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia. He shocked the baseball world with his announcement that it's time for him to go to rehab. Sabathia says he won't play at all this postseason and the Yankees are rallying around their star, vowing to win one for CC.
Six people were injured, one seriously, as an Amtrak commuter train bound for Washington, D.C. derailed in Central Vermont; now at least two cars ran off the track yesterday morning in a north field. A preliminary report suggests a rock slide was in the train's path, which caused the accident.
[10:35:08] OK, by definition, it's a matter of life and death. That's what California Governor Jerry Brown said of his decision to sign the Right to Die Bill which makes assisted suicide legal in that state. The law is controversial. It has specific guidelines.
According to our affiliate KOVR, two doctors must determine that a patient has six months or less to live. Two witnesses must be present, only one can be a family member, and patients must have the mental capacity to make medical decisions.
To talk more about this issue, Stan Curtis is joining me now. His wife chose to die with dignity in a documentary called "How to Die in Oregon". And Stan, it's good to have you with us. I'm sure it's a sensitive issue for you. Before we discuss, but I want to play part of this film so viewers can see some of what your family had to go through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With death with dignity, it gives me a chance to think how I want to leave things with him at the end.
STAN CURTIS, AUTHOR: His choice is her pride in herself and her pride in us and her pride in her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll know when my life isn't worth living anymore in which case that choice will seem easy and obvious. And I'll be grateful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Now your wife Cody used Oregon's Death with Dignity Law to end her life in 2009. What's your reaction to this new law in California?
CURTIS: I think it's Based on the law in Oregon, I think it's a very thoughtful and important choice for people to have. I think this is a very important event in life. We all need to be able to talk about it and give meaning to this event in a shared way.
CABRERA: Because it's controversial or because, I imagine, it's hard to let somebody you love go, is it difficult for you to talk about this issue?
CURTIS: Yes, I think it's very difficult for us to talk about this. Our sponsor from HBO for the movie was shocked that her team of 24 documentary experts couldn't really watch the initially movie all the way through, when they had done so many tragedies and you know, blood and war scenes. I think it's a very difficult topic and I'm so impressed that a large state like California could vote this in and the governor could sign this with understanding a personal choice and willing to share that choice for others. I'm very, very impressed with how carefully the what he needed in her family told the story --
CABRERA: Describe for us -- sorry to interrupt -- describe for us what it was like for your family in making this decision, your wife's decision, to die on her own terms.
CURTIS: Well, we had great respect for Cody and her beliefs and her ability to make important decisions, so we were with her on that decision. It was very difficult to talk about and in some ways difficult to support until we could start talking about it. But we really appreciated her example of saying thank you instead of good- bye. Saying thank you really built the family circle and a set of traditions that are helpful today, day by day.
CABRERA: You mentioned that California is one of the larger states that has a law now. There are only five states that have legalized what many consider physician-assisted suicide. Why is that, do you think?
CURTIS: It's so hard to talk about, you know. Even in my family, we have multiple religious perspectives. I'm sure most of the family was not supportive of the law when it was initially voted on. But everybody in my family appreciates Cody's story and her choice, so I think that's a vocabulary that needs to get built.
And for some reason, the western states have made further progress on the sharing of that story with others. I think Canada is also quite advanced in this regard.
CABRERA: Do you personally have any regrets?
CURTIS: No. I'm quite proud of the story. I think it's been very important to all parts of the family and growing the family into a more meaningful set of sharing day by day important traditions. And the kids are now getting married, so we feel like we're growing the family.
CABRERA: Good to hear it. Well, Stan Curtis, thanks so much for spending some sometime with us.
CURTIS: Thank you.
CABRERA: Still to come, even as Americans mourn yet another shooting, gun stocks continue to surge. That story is next.
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[10:44:41] CABRERA: President Obama will travel to Roseburg, Oregon Friday to meet with the families of those who were shot at the community college. First, funeral services for the nine people who died start on Thursday. Last night students and faculty and just townspeople there in Oregon held a candlelight vigil in honor of the victims of last week's massacre.
[10:45:02] But even as Americans mourn yet another mass shooting, gun stocks are surging. CNN Money correspondent Cristina Alesci is following this story. She's joining me live with more. Unbelievable how much they're surging.
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's incredible. Smith and Wesson -- one of the big three Gun makers is up 88 percent this year. Just to put that in context, look at that line. The S&P is down 3.7 percent and it's Smith & Wesson were in that index, it would be second -- the second best performing stock -- second only to Netflix.
So this is an incredible --
CABRERA: -- that is an apple right.
ALESCI: Yes, exactly. So the biggest gun makers (inaudible) is not far behind what the body's 70 increase so we're seeing increase the across the board really driven by record gun sales. Right now Smith and Wesson is projecting $600 million in sales for this year. That would be a record year and we saw this increase really start happening when Obama took office.
And that's because many people at the time figured that he could propose and maybe follow through on tighter gun laws and that's when the gun enthusiast kind of break down and started buying guns in the anticipation of it maybe -- becoming harder to do so. But that hasn't happened.
In fact, you know, this is something that's really frustrating the President that he has not been able to pass tighter gun control.
CABRERA: Right. And of course, other candidates are talking about increasing gun control as well now.
ALESCI: And on the campaign trail, this has become a huge issue, obviously, with the shooting and the headlines. But if you really think about it, we hear the same arguments. On the Republican side you hear more guns or the solution with Donald Trump out there saying, we should arm school teachers; and then Hillary and the other Democrats calling for tighter gun control.
It's a tough one to come to the middle on because their passions are so high on either side. There's so much money behind exactly.
CABRERA: All right. Cristina Alesci -- our appreciation to you. Thanks for filling us in. That was eye-opening.
The American airlines pilot who died midflight has now been identified. Captain Michael Johnson died suddenly yesterday while flying from Phoenix to Boston.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Medical emergency, Captain is incapacitated. Request handling for runway one zero landing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ambulance will meet you on the south de- ice pad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they going to have a way to get on the airplane quickly or do we need to go to a gate?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They will have a way to get into the airplane quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understood. As long as they have a way to get on the airplane quickly we'll need them to get to the captain. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Initially it was reported an illness that he suffered. Officials now say and they believe he probably had a heart attack. His wife says reality hasn't totally set in yet.
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BJ JOHNSON, PILOT'S WIFE: I don't think it's quite hit yet -- really. I mean he's a pilot. He leaves Sunday night. He doesn't get back until Wednesday. It just feels like he's on his trip, so other than the news, you just kind of -- it's unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Passengers say they knew something was wrong but they didn't realize the pilot had died until hours later. The co-pilot was able to safely land the plane. 147 passengers and five crew members were on board and everybody got off got off safely.
We'll have more news coming up right after a quick break.
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[10:52:35] CABRERA: 20 years, if you can believe it, that's how long it's been since O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. CNN revisits the riveting trial, the bombshell verdict -- it divided the nation.
The O.J. verdict shock of the century airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. And here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILIPS, CNN HOST: Was that verdict about murder or was it about race?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The verdict was undeniably about race.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people saw what they wanted to see. And it's interesting how it was divided in this case right along racial lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll never forget when it was over. A woman came over to me and said, the verdict was like being punched in the stomach. And I said you don't know any of the people. Why was it like being punched in the stomach?
She said it was as if this was my brother and sister. Everybody was involved. And everybody took sides.
PHILLIPS: Everyone had an opinion, and now --
How do you feel 20 years later? Did he do it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My opinion still is I think he's guilty. That hasn't changed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I found him innocent and I believe he's innocent.
PHILLIPS: With all your heart?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All my heart.
PHILLIPS: What's the one thing you can't get out of your mind 20 years later from that trial?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's easy for me.
PHILLIPS: What's that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Son of a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) got away with it. Simple as that.
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CABRERA: And Kyra Phillips doing all that that work. Joining me now, wow -- I mean we just got a little smorgasbord of some of the people you interviewed.
PHILLIPS: And it's 20 years after --
CABRERA: He needs to come back and follow up with that guy. I'll forget being in that live van with my co-anchor. And we were all there because we were covering. I was working in Los Angeles. We had a little Vivitar camera, you know, back in the day. And I remember we were holding it up in the live van, watching the verdict, and my Brad, co-anchor forgot to take the picture because we were so shocked at the verdict that came down.
And you know, I mentioned it in that part of the piece. It was all about race. That's what it did come down to. I mean people forgot that two individuals were brutally slaughtered and murdered.
At that time, you know, it's coming off Rodney King. There was a lot of anger toward the LAPD. The black community thought the cops were racist.
[10:55:00] Mark Furhman didn't help saying the N word and then there was the little with the planting of evidence with the sock and the rearranging of that. So the doubt was plant. 60 percent of African-Americans thought O.J. was innocent at that time. 20 years later, now more than 50 percent of blacks say, oops, he was guilty.
83 percent of folks in the United States say he was guilty. Boy, do we feel bad taking his side so many years ago.
CABRERA: I mean part of that could also be that he's since been convicted of other crimes, so his character has been tarnished even more in that regard.
PHILLIPS: That's a great point. Because as the years went on, I mean, from the day he was set free and he was walking home, his arrogance, his cockiness, the films that were made, the things he would say. It was just astounding what he would do. And a lot of people did say, he'll do something again. Watch. Watch what will happen.
Tom Lang, one of the lead detectives, he said, yes he's in jail now. He's in Nevada. He's going to rot in that jail cell. But unfortunately, it's for the wrong crime.
CABRERA: How interesting. What stood out to you interviewing some of these folks, like the Goldman family members? PHILLIPS: Oh gosh, I'd tell you the Goldmans, what a beautiful
family. They're still so wounded and so broken. Kim, by the way, is out with a new book. So, folks should check that out online. She actually goes and interviews a number of families, victims of crimes similar to hers and what it was like to deal with the media scrutiny. She did a fantastic job. And it's a different side to Kim Goldman. She's a true advocate, that's for sure.
CABRERA: Number one reason why people should watch the documentary tonight. Maybe you think you know the whole story and you don't need to watch.
PHILLIPS: You will learn more.
CABRERA: Yes, you will.
PHILLIPS: Thanks so much.
CABRERA: All right. Kyra good to have you with us -- thank you. And again, that special report tonight the "O.J. VERDICT: SHOCK OF THE CENTURY" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Let's check top stories now. Scientists from Japan and Canada have won the noble prize for physics. Takaika Kagita (ph) and Arthur McDonald, credited with discovering a particle that's known as the neutrino. That it has mass and the discovery apparently has changed physicist view of the entire universe; two scientists are now going to share a nearly one $1 million prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Cheerios recalling nearly 2 million boxes of cereal. General Mills says the gluten-free boxes may actually contain wheat and those plastic yellow boxes.
A billionaire and his wife both try to avoid a messy divorce trial, at least by settling. At steak is the empire of the hedge fund star Ken Griffin, his is asking for a million dollars per month for expenses including $300,000 for a private jet. Get this $2,000 for stationary costs -- each month. She must be doing a lot of writing.
All right. The mystery of the male ego. Oh, great. Coming from a woman -- I'm sure it really doesn't sound biased. Well, two love- scorned alphas recently duked it out for a lady's affection. I'm not even talking about men. We're talking about moose. And Jeanne Moos shares their story like only she can.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Put up your dukes -- make that your antlers, a fight over a female in mating season spilled on into the streets of suburban Anchorage, Alaska recorded by a father and son hiding behind a car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crazy.
MOOS: When the moose brawl got too close for comfort, the driver of the car fled and Bill and Josh Tyra had to head for higher ground.
BILL TYRA, FILMED MOOSE BRAWL: I filmed a lot of that video from about right here.
MOOS: Where they had front row seats. At least these two weren't as dumb as the Colorado moose that tried to mate with a bronze moose statute. Not since two kangaroos faced off near Sydney, Australia have we seen such a wild kingdom donnybrook in a suburban setting, the guy who shot this set it to Nutcracker, which made sense since that's where many of the kicks were aimed using both legs, weight resting on their tails.
Back at the moose fight, the struggle intensified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One was just like carrying the other one all the way across the street.
MOOS: And that's pretty much how it ended, with the alpha moose giving the evil eye as his rival high-tailed it away. They left behind scattered moose hair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I collected it.
MOOS: The two did manage to bang into the Subaru parked in the driveway leaving a dent or two.
Have no fear, insurance agents assure us as long as the motorist has comprehensive coverage, moose damage will be covered.
But when the top moose went to claim his prize after all the work, what did the female do? She vamoosed.
Kelly: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: All right. Thank you for being here. I'm Ana Cabrera.
"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.
