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President Obama, GOP Still Unable to Reach a Deal on Debt Crisis; Bear and Cub Maul 4 Teens in Alaska; Strauss-Kahn Accuser Goes Public; The Mind of the Norway Suspect; Possible Serial Arsonist in Los Angeles; Same-Sex Couples Wed in New York; 75 Retired Players Sue NFL

Aired July 24, 2011 - 22:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news tonight in Washington. Efforts to reach an agreement on the debt crisis failed. Markets around the world already falling even though some leaders of our government say a deal could be done Monday.

Revealed and speaking out for the first time -- the alleged victim of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn incident. The hotel maid telling her story about the day she says the former head of the International Monetary Fund attacked and raped her.

Up in flames. Someone setting fires in Los Angeles. More than a dozen in just the past four hours. Houses, cars, nothing is safe. We're talking live with the L.A. Fire Department tonight.

Students on a wilderness adventure attacked by a grizzly bear and one of her cubs. Bites and puncture wounds are among the injuries, and we're getting the latest on their conditions.

Plus this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Therefore, by the powers vested in me by the State of New York, I pronounce you both married.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: History is made in New York. Same-sex marriage has begun. Even New York City's mayor gets involved by performing a ceremony.

I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. If you weren't paying close attention to the deficit and the debt ceiling talks in Washington, you really need to now. A Sunday filled with TV talking points, face-to-face meetings and party conference calls had brought the debt ceiling debate back to the very beginning. A political stalemate tonight and traders worldwide are surely taking notice. Several overseas markets have opened lower in Monday trading. And U.S. stock futures and trending? They're trending lower right now.

In Washington this hour, power brokers from the president to the House speaker are standing firm unwilling to abandon their positions. Our correspondent, our congressional correspondent, Kate Bolduan, has been tracking the events all day for us in D.C. and she joins me now.

Kate, where do we stand at this hour?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bottom line, Don, after a long weekend of work and of meetings and a lot of negotiating, there is no deal between congressional leaders and the White House. Republicans and Democrats that have been negotiating this, the congressional leaders, they really seem to be moving in different directions rather than toward a bipartisan agreement.

Late this evening, I heard from a top Democratic official that the stalemate, as this person put it, was over this proposal, part of the proposal that Speaker Boehner has been pushing and you and I have talked about, Don, that would raise the debt ceiling in a two-part process. There's a Democratic official telling me that the extension would just -- the short-term extension in their view would not provide the certainty that the markets are looking for in terms of the debt ceiling.

And Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate, he released a statement late this evening saying just as much. He said in part, quote, "Speaker Boehner's plan, no matter how he tries to dress it up, is simply a short-term plan and, therefore, a nonstarter in the Senate and with the president."

So now we really have two different things going on at the moment, Don. We have Speaker Boehner, who appears to be pushing forward with his own party in the House. On a conference call earlier today, he told his members, kind of a pep talk if you will, that we heard from people familiar with the call, that they need to stick together and stick to their principles and agree to something that can pass both the House and Senate, which he noted they would have more detail on possibly tomorrow.

So at the very same time, Harry Reid in the Senate, he is now pushing his own plan, Don, that he now says is going to be $2.7 trillion deficit reduction package that would raise the debt ceiling and, according to Harry Reid, would also meet Republicans' major criteria of having equal spending cuts to the amount of debt ceiling raising -- the amount of any debt ceiling raised.

So, what we're really seeing right now is, despite a lot of conversations and a lot of negotiations over the weekend, it really is seen that there has not been a significant progress at all on a bipartisan agreement and they seem to be moving in two very different paths as we head into Monday.

LEMON: Kate, where do we go from here? What's next?

BOLDUAN: To be honest, I know I've said it several times to you this weekend, it's unclear and it's a fluid situation. We know that obviously members as they head back to town, they're going to be wanting to get more details from their leaders. Harry Reid has a meeting, I believe, with his members at 2 -- I'm sorry, Speaker Boehner, I believe, he has a meeting with his minimums at 2:00 tomorrow. Harry Reid, of course, will be filling in his caucus and his members as well.

And we're just going to have to see how the day develops because they were definitely working hard towards an agreement this weekend and as it was described to me they just hit an impasse, stalemate, and they just were not reaching that bipartisan agreement that they were going towards, even though they all had their eye on trying to reach an agreement to announce before the Asian markets opened. That clearly did not happen -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Kate Bolduan, thank you very much for that.

As Speaker Boehner talked to Republicans at the Capitol, President Obama met late this afternoon with top Democratic leaders at the White House. I talked about the current impasse with our chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So, Jessica, what does this mean? Does it mean everything has stalled? What does it mean?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It means it's deadlocked, Don, and it's just hours now until the markets open in the U.S., and all eyes are in Washington to see how those markets react. At the White House now is a sense of frustration and concern. You know, the president himself said if the markets take a hit, if U.S. economy takes a hit because Congress could not make a deal on the debt ceiling, that is a self-inflicted wound, one that could have been avoided. And at this hour, there is no clarity that a deal will happen by the time the sun comes up in the morning.

LEMON: So what happens now at the White House? There is no further statements going to be given and no one is speaking on behalf of the Democrats. So pretty much this is it until morning.

YELLIN: Well, that's right, but the president spent just over an hour meeting with the Democratic leaders in Congress, discussing amongst themselves their own path forward, alternative ways they could see to get the votes to raise the debt ceiling on their own if they cannot forage a compromise with Speaker Boehner and the Republicans.

You've heard Kate report about the alternative options and there's still hope they could forge a bipartisan compromise. So that's not totally dead. But they're looking at other alternatives. They're trying to see what else is out there because something needs to be done.

LEMON: Oh, man. All right, Jessica Yellin, thank you.

Let's head now to Hong Kong and check in on where Asian markets are headed in early Monday trading. Our Pauline Chiou is standing by with an update for us.

So, Pauline, are markets there reacting to Washington, to the standoff over the debt ceiling?

PAULINHE CHIOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly are, Don. In fact, all the major markets are trading down at the moment here in the Asia- Pacific region. We also watch Australia, as well, that's part of our region. And the Hong Kong Hang Seng is down 0.7%. The Shanghai composite is down 0.9% right now. Both those two indices opened about 35 minutes ago.

Now, China is especially concerned because China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. treasuries. The Beijing government holds about $1.5 trillion in U.S. debt. So the last thing that Beijing wants is for the U.S. to default because it could leave China very exposed.

Now, Tokyo and Sydney have been opened for about more than two hours right now. They're also in negative territory. The Nikkei down by 0.6%. Sydney, the main share market in Sydney is down about 0.8%.

And, Don, this whole situation in Washington is also affecting currencies. The Japanese yen is getting stronger right now. The yen is considered a safe haven currency, so investors dump the U.S. dollar and then they go into safe haven currencies like the Swiss franc or the yen. And now that the yen is a little bit stronger, this hurts Japanese exporters since a stronger yen makes their products more expensive in the U.S. and other countries. And so as a result, we're seeing Japanese stocks, Japanese exporters down. Honda, Nissan, Toyota are all down by 1%. Sony is also down by almost 2% at the moment.

The Aussie dollar is also considered a safe haven currency, is down just a little bit but still stronger than the U.S. dollar.

And one final note, Don, we're looking at commodities as well. Gold futures in Asian trading is up. It's hitting $1,611 an ounce - Don.

LEMON: Do you have any early indicators on U.S. markets?

CHIOU: on U.S. markets? Well, we don't know yet because once Asian trading is over, then we roll over into European trading. So we really have to see how Asian trading ends up and then European markets react to how Asia does and then as a result Wall Street will react to how both Asia and Europe does.

So, we still have a little way to go. It's a little bit too early to tell at the moment.

LEMON: Yes. I asked that because Dow futures in the hour were down more than 100. So we're watching very closely here.

Pauline Chiou, thank you very much, reporting from Hong Kong. We'll check back if something happens. Appreciate that.

Let's go now to CNN contributor and political anchor for New York 1, Errol Louis. He's been watching this debate play out with us from the very beginning.

Errol, thanks for joining us. You know, you have some great insight into Washington and the scene there. What do you make of this whole standoff and this impasse right now?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I thought the standoff was going to go fairly late and, frankly, there's no point in brinksmanship if you're not willing to go to the brink. So I always thought this is going to run into sort of extra innings and get really, really close to the deadline, and that's where we are.

I think there's a possibility though that it could come to a halt depending on what happens in these markets. I mean, you know, the last time we had something like this, I'll take you back to 2008, Don, when in late September, the House voted down a $700 billion bailout package for the banks and the market reacted by losing $1.2 trillion, the first time that ever happened in a single day. That 778-point drop in the Dow Jones average convinced Congress to go back and try it again.

So it doesn't happen often that Wall Street and the Capitol Hill end up talking to each other in this pronounced kind of a way, but that might be what we see in the next few days.

LEMON: Yes, but in this global downturn, we cannot deal with -- we can't take another trillion dollar down in the market.

LOUIS: Oh, no, you better believe it. Listen, that's money that comes out of people's 401(k's), their pension funds. That's real money from real people in the real world. And the gamesmanship that's going on on Capitol Hill will have to come to a halt if they start hearing from the real world that the pain has started to reach people and the markets have noticed.

LEMON: Is that what it's going to take to bring this to an end, do you think?

LOUIS: Well, I think, that definitely is worth doing that. I mean, look, there's been all this talk all along about who's going to be the adults in the room. Is it going to be the president? Is it going to be the speaker? It might be the market that's the adult in the room that says enough of all of this, folks, get this thing done and let's move on to the next problem.

LEMON: All right, Errol Louis, thank you. Stand by because we don't know where this is going to go throughout the evening. We're going to continue to check the markets and Errol, if something happens, one never knows, we'll get back to you. Appreciate it.

In the meantime, there are some terrifying moments for a group of students backpacking in Alaska. They were attacked by a bear. A live report is coming up.

Plus, a man accused of killing 93 people in two terror attacks in Norway is due in court on Monday. We'll have the very latest on the investigation.

And if you want to reach out to us through social media, you can. We're on Twitter, on Facebook with cnn.com/don, and on Foursquare. And check out "Transparent" available anywhere books are sold. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Breaking news to tell you about out of Alaska. A wilderness trek turns violent when a bear and her cub mauled four teens. It happened near the town of Chulitna. The victims were part of a group of seven students from the National Outdoor Leadership School. They were taking a course on backpacking. Joining us now from Anchorage is Megan Peters from the Alaska state troopers. Also will be joining us is Bruce Palmer of the National Outdoor Leadership School which is based in Wyoming. We will get to him in just a moment.

But I want to start with you, Megan. I understand that this was supposed to be a longer trip, the first time that they were out on their own and then how did they get to safety? What happened? How did you help them?

MEGAN PETERS, ALASKA STATE TROOPER: Well, when we first got to the scene, we really didn't know what we were expecting. We were just told that there was a group of teenagers that were a part of this program and they were given a locator beacon to set off as an emergency situation happened that required medical attention or something they just didn't know how to deal with. And, of course, there's also a possibility of false activations or an activation that's not so severe.

When we got on scene, we really for the first time saw what we were dealing with and they were mauled very severely. There were two that were seriously injured with life-threatening injuries, two seriously injured with nonlife-threatening injuries and there were three others that either received minor injuries from the bears or had exposure- related issues.

So, it truly was an emergency situation and the two that were most severe, it was determined that if we moved them, that it would be to their detriment. We didn't want to move them and have more harm come to them than good. So we had to stay on scene with the two most severely injured and the least severely injured until better, more proper care came to the rescue.

LEMON: And we understand that two are in critical condition. Do you know how they are doing now?

PETERS: I actually haven't gotten an update but four are in critical condition. Four in critical condition, two with life-threatening injuries, two with nonlife-threatening injuries.

LEMON: OK. Two with life-threatening injuries, but you don't have -- you don't have an update for us.

PETERS: I don't.

LEMON: Have you been able to locate the mother and her cub and are you going to put them down?

PETERS: We have not laid eyes on the bear and the cub at this point in time. One of the things that we were most concerned about, though, after we got this group of kids out of the field is there were other groups of teenagers out there participating in the program in the general vicinity of where the attack occurred, and our biggest fear is that another group, which doubled across the same bear and have a similar outcome and we want to do everything possible to avoid that.

We had a trooper in his airplane circling around the area until he located another group. He was able to land, tell them about the mauling. Those teenagers are now going back to their base camp and waiting for extraction from the area.

LEMON: OK. Well, we wish them the very best. Megan Peters, thank you, from the Alaska State Troopers. Sorry, we couldn't get Bruce. We had a little bit of trouble with the phone. We couldn't get him on. But if we get him, we'll bring it to you this hour.

OK. Let's move on now. Frustrated by prosecutors, a woman who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of rape is pleading her case to the court of public opinion. But lawmakers -- or lawyers, I should say, of the former director of the International Monetary Fund say it is a ploy to poison the public against their client. CNN's Susan Candiotti has more on the hotel maid's decision to go public with her story.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, Nafissatou Diallo is the name of the hotel maid who is now breaking her silence, telling for the first time in her own words what she alleges happened to her in the Hotel Sofitel back in the middle of May when she charges that Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her. He has pleaded not guilty to these charges.

Now CNN's policy has been not to identify the name of sexual assault victims. However, in this case, because she is now telling her story publicly CNN is now identifying her. We are hearing from her for the first time in her own words what she says happened. \ She tells "Newsweek" magazine that when she entered the hotel room, she said that she yelled out, "Hello, housekeeping," and heard nothing. And then she said she saw a man, a naked man with white hair, walk out of the bathroom and she said to him, quote, "Oh, my God, I'm so sorry." And he said to her -- according to her, "You don't have to be sorry." But she said he was like, in her words, a crazy man to me. And then she says he allegedly began to attack her.

Now, she also told ABC News, quote, "I want justice. I want him to go to jail. I want him to know there is some places you cannot use your money, you cannot use your power when you do something like this."

Now, the lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn are shooting back, issuing a statement saying -- calling her in their words the first accuser in history to conduct a media campaign to persuade a prosecutor to pursue charges against someone else. And they call the conduct of her lawyers unprofessional.

Now, that prompted a statement in return from the lawyer representing the maid saying that DSK's lawyers are the ones that have been starting a mere campaign against the hotel maid. So they've got a lot of back and forth going on. The next time Strauss-Kahn is scheduled to appear in court is one week from Monday. That's a status hearing. The Manhattan District Attorney's office says it is still investigating the case, but the maid's lawyer says she wanted to come forward because they are very afraid and concerned that she might not ever get her day in court and so she wanted to tell her own story in her own words -- Don.

LEMON: Susan, thank you very much.

Norway is mourning the deaths of 93 people killed in two terror attacks. Most of the victims were teens attending a summer camp. Coming up, hear what police are saying about the suspect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, NORWEGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We tell families across the country who have lost one of their loved ones, you have mine and whole of the country's sympathy and compassion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Norway's prime minister leading his nation in mourning after the shocking terrorist attacks there. A nighttime vigil in Oslo, the city where a car bomb killed seven people near a government building not long after that blast. At least 86 people were gunned down at a youth camp run by the ruling Labor Party. The attacks are believed to be politically motivated and terroristic in nature.

One man is in police custody for both of those attacks. Local media identify him as Anders Behring Breivik. He's due in court on Monday and is expected to plead not guilty. Breivik apparently posted a video and a long manifesto online. Our Nic Robertson has gotten a look at both and the details are truly disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is how the man accused of being Norway's most notorious mass killer apparently wants the world to know him -- a smiling Norwegian nationalist, a serious military-style marksman, not just the cold-blooded killer police say stalked and gunned down innocent young victims on a remote rocky island.

Anders Behring Breivik is believed to have posted these images to YouTube in a 12-minute video embedded in a 1,500-page manifesto just hours before he began his deadly killing spree with a massive car bombing outside government offices.

CNN cannot independently verify their authenticity. Together, the video and manifesto appear to answer how and why the 32-year-old became a mass murderer. The video reveals an intense fear that Muslims will dominate Europe and anger at what the author calls Marxist European governments he blames for doing nothing and a belief that a Christian crusade is the solution, a belief he hid when he met this mainstream right wing politician eight years ago.

JORAN KALLMYR, OSLO VICE MAYOR FOR TRANSPORTATION: I am actually sorry because I didn't -- because if he had said something like that, maybe we could have discovered it.

ROBERTSON: Kallmyr suspects Breivik was attracted to his party's anti-immigration reputation but found them too moderate.

KALLMYR: I probably thought that he would find people inside our Progress Party that will be -- agree with him or something like that and he wrote in his manifesto he was disappointed.

ROBERTSON: The manifesto titled "2083: A European Declaration of Independence" rails against such political inaction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: CNN's Nic Robertson reporting. The manifesto rails against Muslim immigrants, Marxism, even the author's own family members and it goes own to describe the planning of his operation in sickening detail.

Many of the campers attacked in Utoeya Island dove into the water to get away. Some of them couldn't evade the bullets. Others were lucky enough to come across help out there in the water. CNN's Michael Holmes spoke with a boater who suddenly found himself in the middle of a harrowing rescue operation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not a huge boat. How many people did you put in here?

KASPAR ILGAUD, RESCUER: The first round I believe it was 14.

HOLMES: 14?

ILGAUD: Yes. And then I had to address the oldest one of the four left and said, you have to stay ashore. I promise I will come back and get you and they respected that and I said sit down and wait. I went to the mainland. I went back again and they were as agreed upon sitting there and I just waved to them like this and they waved back and we made a contact and got in and got them in the boat. And there were another group further out. We picked up two or three more and went to the mainland. And on the third lap, I think, I picked up eight maybe further out.

It was quite a touching story because, I mean, I realized that three of the young people laying there kind of together behind the stone they actually got shot in the woods and they had transported themselves down to that place and gathered together and I believe they died there, three young people holding around each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Police are still searching the lake for more possible victims.

Still ahead here on CNN, a lot of questions and speculation surrounding the death of Amy Winehouse. The troubled singer was found dead in her apartment on Saturday. When will we know what caused her death? We'll update you.

Plus, a devastating train crash in China. 35 people dead. Hundreds injured. Coming up, details on what caused the accident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now to the death of Amy Winehouse. Britain's "Daily Mirror" reports tonight that her friends say Amy Winehouse's death followed a binge of Ecstasy pills and alcohol. CNN has not been able to confirm this report, but London police say do not know what took her life after finding her body Saturday in her apartment. An autopsy may take place as early as Monday. In the meantime, mementos from mourners continue to pile up outside her flat. The Grammy Award-winning singer was just 27 years old.

Asian financial markets opened lower Monday as traders reacted to the failure of Washington leaders to reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling. President Obama met Sunday with top Democrats and House Speaker John Boehner held a conference call with fellow Republicans. An Obama campaign official tells CNN the president has canceled two political fund-raising appearances on Monday because of the debt ceiling impasse.

Thirty-five people are dead and more than 200 injured after a high- speeding train crashed in China. The cars of the bullet train dangle from a bridge as rescuers struggle to reach the victims. Witnesses told China National Radio that one train stopped on the tracks because of a power outage from a lightning strike. That's when the second train traveling in the same direction rear-ended it, causing four of the cars to derail.

The New York hotel maid who accused the former director of the International Monetary Fund of rape is going public with her story. In an interview with "Newsweek," Nafissatou Diallo describes the alleged sexual assault in vivid detail. Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn are dismissing that as a blatant ploy to turn the public against him.

Now, to the big stories in the week ahead from the capital to tinsel town. Our correspondents tell you what you need to know. We begin tonight at the Pentagon.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon, and coming up this week, new Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who we can't call new for much longer will welcome Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to the Pentagon for some talks. And the Pentagon will also wrestle with how to implement the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Because of the Defense of Marriage Act, certain benefits -- housing, health benefits will not be able to be given to same-sex couples. That means you could have some troops getting some benefits and other similar troops not getting them, something the Pentagon will have a long time and lot of work to do to take care of.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I'm Paul Steinhauser at the CNN political desk. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is in Iowa tomorrow. No, he hasn't changed his mind about running for the White House. He's there to speak at an education summit. But plenty of people actually running for the GOP presidential nomination will be in the state that votes first in the caucuses and primaries. House members Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and former Senator Rick Santorum, they all campaigned there this week.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York, where Wall Street is awaiting another big week of earnings coming up. We'll get reports from Amazon, Ford, Caterpillar and McDonald's. On Tuesday, we'll get two key reports, one on consumer confidence, another on new home sales. And then investors will look ahead to Friday when we get the first look at second quarter GDP. We'll see how much the U.S. economy grew during those three months. We'll track it all for you on CNNMoney.

CARLOS DIAZ, HOST, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": I'm Carlos Diaz and here's what we're watching this week. We'll have the details of a Michael Jackson tribute concert being put together by his family. And will the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Maria Shriver split get really nasty over spousal support payments? Catch "Showbiz Tonight" exclusively weeknights at 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on HLN.

LEMON: Now, let's take a look ahead at the weather and how it will impact air travel. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins me now from the CNN severe weather center.

So, Jacqui, you say a couple of regions are going to have some flight delays.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, our weather pattern shifting a little bit, Don, to the point where we're going to see a big increase in the upcoming days of thunderstorms, especially across this region right here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Look at who I'm watching on my iPad.

JERAS: Oh, I love - that's the new CNN app. I love it.

LEMON: It's right there. CNN app. You can get it streaming live.

JERAS: A bit of a delay. I think a little bit like three...

LEMON: Cnn.com/video. There you go. Jacqui Jeras. That's very cool.

JERAS: It's very cool.

LEMON: You can watch it everywhere. I was watching it at breakfast -- I was eating breakfast and watching Fredericka Whitfield like wow. JERAS: Nice.

LEMON: And she's not until noon.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I just gave myself away. All right, Jacqui, we have to update you on a sad story that we told you about last night. It is heartbreaking. It's about a little girl. Her name is Rachel Beckwith. In June, the 9-year-old girl asked friends and family to donate money to charity rather than giving her birthday gifts. Then last night, she died from injuries suffered in a horrific train accident -- traffic accident, excuse me, on Wednesday.

But her inspiring story has led to an outpouring of generosity. Her goal was to raise $300 for a charity providing clean water, drinking water, to people in Africa, and as of tonight, her website has received donations totaling more than $66,000. Imagine that.

You can add to this number. Just go to mycharitywater.org/rachels9thbirthday or you can go to our blog, cnn.com/don. We'll put it up there for you.

As many as 18 suspicious fires in just four days in North Hollywood. We'll ask the fire department what's going on. Is a serial arsonist on the loose?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: That is incredible video. As many as 18 fires erupting around North Hollywood in just the past four days and authorities think they are anything but a coincidence. Los Angeles Fire Department believes all 18 were deliberately set. Now the search is on for the person or persons responsible. On the phone with me now is Matt Spence, the public service officer for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Matt, thank you so much for joining us. Do you believe you have a serial arsonist or arsonists on your hands?

MATT SPENCE, LAFD PUBLIC SERVICE OFFICER: Well, you know, it's important to note that what we do have is an investigation on our hands of several suspicious fires. It's hard to determine and two earlier investigations at this point actually deem it a serial arsonist.

LEMON: Do they have the same sort of MO? Are all these fires started and set at the same time?

SPENCE: Yes, well, you know, we do have, you're correct in that and what your viewers are seeing there are some real dramatic footage of what our firefighters have been dealing with over the course of the last several days. And, yes, this, again, it is over a several-day period starting in the early morning hours back on Thursday, July 21st.

So, you know, while they are very suspicious in nature, excuse me, they do have some factors that many would think are emblematic, in fact, of an arsonist, but...

LEMON: And they're all overnight. That's what I'm asking. They're set at the same time. Is it usually overnight in the cover of darkness?

SPENCE: Yes, early morning hours and, you know, they're all concentrated in one geographic area in the North Hollywood area here in Los Angeles.

LEMON: All right. What are you doing to track them down? Obviously, you're telling people to be very vigilant. But I'm sure you're doing other thing as well.

SPENCE: We are -- We are, indeed. And we're calling on the help of our public. You know, we're asking the public to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious findings. We've established a tip line here for those in Los Angeles and for your viewers that are watching that are out here on the West Coast and in Los Angeles specifically. They can go to our LAFD website for more specific information.

But in addition to that, we've recalled off-duty arson investigators. Our arson counterterrorism group with the Los Angeles Fire Department is the lead investigative unit. We're working in conjunction with our friends at the LAPD, the North Hollywood division. We're working around the clock obviously investigating any and all leads that may come our way at this point.

LEMON: Matt Spence is the public service officer for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Thank you, sir.

An historic day for gay couples in New York State. Hundreds got married legally today. We'll look back at the day's highlights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: Therefore, by the powers vested in me by the State of New York, I pronounce you both married.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg doing something that was illegal until today, officiating at a wedding ceremony for a same-sex couple in his state. The groom and groom are both members of Bloomberg's staff. New York is now the sixth state to allow same-sex marriages. The first couple took their vows right after midnight in Niagara Falls and the wedding bells have been ringing all day ever since.

New York City was so swamped by requests for marriage licenses. For today, it had to hold a lottery of 764 open slots. If all those people actually did get hitched, it would be a single day record for the city. Our Susan Candiotti takes us there as New York kicked off a long, happy day of nuptials.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They're the first male couple to say "I do" as cameras rolled at the City Clerk's office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Till death do us part.

MARCOS CHALJUB, MARRYING SAME-SEX PARTNER: When I heard those last words and till death do us part, that's it. I just started to cry and I couldn't stop at that point.

CANDIOTTI: Freddy Zambrano and Marcos Chaljub exchanged vows in front of a handful of witnesses. They met online, fell in love at first sight and have been fighting for same-sex marriage ever since.

FREDDY ZAMBRANO, MARRYING SAME-SEX PARTNER: It's the moment we've been waiting for for years.

CHALJUB: A dream come true for us. A dream come true. This is my husband now, Freddy, as opposed to my boyfriend or my partner.

CANDIOTTI: Becoming among the first same-sex couples to marry in New York, the significance hasn't just escaped them or what they hope to proudly tell their children one day.

CHALJUB: I guess we'll be telling them when we were young, you know, there was no such thing as us being able to get married. And we were part of that day. We were part of like the people who were there when it did happen in New York at least.

CANDIOTTI: They plan on saving the e-mail that told them they won a City Hall lottery allowing them to marry this morning.

CHALJUB: And as soon as I read this line -- Congratulations from the...

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Did you scream?

CHALJUB: Did I scream? I thought everybody could hear me up to the end of the city.

CANDIOTTI (voice over): Freddy works for an insurance company. Marcos, a law firm. Together, they supported the same-sex marriage movement.

ZAMBRANO: I have certain people in my life that they're not totally OK with it but they accept it and just the fact that they respect us because of that, it's really the most that I can ask for.

CANDIOTTI: They've already been wearing their rings for five years.

CHALJUB: We're just going to polish them up and exchange them again since we weren't able to do so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With this ring -- ZAMBRANO AND CHALJUB: With this ring --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thee wed.

ZAMBRANO AND CHALJUB: I thee wed.

CANDIOTTI: But now they have something they did not have before -- a wedding certificate with the words --

ZAMBRANO AND CHALJUB: We're married.

CANDIOTTI: Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Make sure you join me near the end of this hour when we'll bring you more from that ceremony that Mayor Michael Bloomberg presided over. That's in about 15 minutes here, about 10 minutes, as a matter of fact.

Did the NFL keep quiet about the long-term risks of concussions on its players? That's a question in a lawsuit filed by 75 former players including former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill. He gives us a closer look at the impact of those hits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED MCNEILL, FORMER NFL LINEBACKER: I meet people and they talk about the conversation that we had, you know, two weeks ago or three weeks ago or a month ago or whatever and I don't remember.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: If we saw each other again, would you remember me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: His answer right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCNEILL: I meet people and they talk about the conversation that we had, you know, two weeks ago or three weeks ago or a month ago or whatever, and I don't remember.

GUPTA: If we saw each other again, would you remember me?

MCNEILL: Sanjay, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill talking with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta about how all the hits and concussions he endured in pro football have affected his brain. So, joining us now is McNeill's former teammates -- one of his former teammates, NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, founder of the website onemorecustomer.com. Fran, you and Fred played together on the Vikings, and I have one more sound bite that I want you to hear. It's going to be really tough but listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCNEILL: I was actually considering not living. I was actually considering that.

GUPTA: You wanted to end your life?

MCNEILL: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Emotional stuff. Tell us about him as a player.

FRAN TARKENTON, NFL HALL OF FAME QUARTERBACK: I knew him when he came up as a rookie from Southern Cal when he was 23 -- 22 years old. Great athlete. Great linebacker. He got it. Smart. Went back to law school. Graduated from law school and just a great citizen. Couldn't find a better human being than Fred McNeill and to see this, with so many of my teammates, so many of my generation of players has happened because we have concussions and we'd go back in the game.

LEMON: 75 players. 75 and Fred is among them.

TARKENTON: Yes.

LEMON: Suing the NFL, claiming that they knew about the effects of concussions on players' brains and they conceded that the info -- or they concealed, I should say, that info until just last year.

Did you -- are you a part of this suit or -- you're not a part of it?

TARKENTON: I'm not a part of the suit.

LEMON: Did it surprise you?

TARKENTON: It does not surprise me. And not only did then not admit to it, but up until two years ago, Don, the doctors that were working for the NFL were in total denial. They have since fired those doctors. But, you know, the ownership forever has been in denial of this and also the team doctors and the owners and the management of the NFL. I'm not surprised the lawsuit is out there.

LEMON: This is -- you brought in your helmet.

TARKENTON: Yes.

LEMON: This is pretty. I mean that's really what you wore.

TARKENTON: It's nothing. It's just a piece of tin. And this is the helmet I wore in my last game against the Los Angeles Rams.

LEMON: And that's your protection. That was your protection. TARKENTON: There's no protection. And when I got knocked out, it was by two defensive backs who just hit me on the head with their arm. They were 300-pound linemen. They were 185-pound defensive backs, and ...

LEMON: Look at all this.

TARKENTON: And, yes, look at all this.

LEMON: There's a cushion in there and all kinds of things. This is a modern-day helmet. This one, this is college. But it's the same type.

TARKENTON: It's the same type helmet and that weighs about four to five times more than this helmet. Much sturdy, much more protected. This one has no protection whatsoever.

So the real football players, the non-quarterbacks, I mean, I got hit in the head a lot and I got knocked out a lot. But the guys like Fred McNeill and the linebackers and the people that really play football, quarterbacks don't play football, they suffer from this and we have so many of my generation people who are suffering from dementia, suffering from Alzheimer's, suffering from ALS.

I lost a linebacker teammate, Wally Hilgenberg, two years ago, ALS. They gave his brain to a Boston University hospital that's doing a lot of the research and it was -- they connected the dots between his head trauma and his concussions to ALS. First time they've ever done that.

LEMON: Fran Tarkenton. Thank you very much, sir.

You know, for all of you pack rats, a story to justify your piles of stuff. Coming up, we head to the antiques roadshow for the most expensive collection ever appraised in the show's history.

And starting today, same-sex couples could legally tie the knot in New York. We'll take you to a special marriage ceremony officiated by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: CNN founder Ted Turner received the Service Legacy Award for his philanthropy from singer's Usher's New Look Foundation which mentors young people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED TURNER, SERVICE LEGACY AWARD RECIPIENT: I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful, wonderful honor and I believe service is extremely, extremely important and giving back is important and I try and do it in my daily life and to be recognized by this wonderful organization means a lot to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Former President Bill Clinton received the Service Legacy Award last year. Usher started his New Look Foundation 12 years ago.

Five Chinese carved cups set a record at the antiques roadshow in Tulsa, Oklahoma this weekend. An appraiser said the set is worth at least $1 million, maybe $1.5 million. They cups are made of rhinoceros' horns. The owner says he's had the cups since the 1970s. Producers say the record-breaking show will air on PBS sometime early next year.

OK. We leave you tonight with the final moments of the marriage the mayor made today. John Feinblatt and Jonathan Mintz both worked for the City of New York, so when the two got the chance to tie the knot, they got the highest authority in the city to make it official -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: John and Jonathan, we wish for you all life's blessings and insomuch as you have consented to be united in the bonds of matrimony and you have exchanged your wedding vows before all of those present today, therefore, by the powers vested in me by the State of New York, I pronounce you both married.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)