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41 Children Killed in Daycare Fire; Polls Closed in Lebanon; President Obama's New Plan to Tackle Health Care

Aired June 07, 2009 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Most times we say a story is devastating and this one truly is; 41 children -- that's how many have now died from a fire that engulfed a daycare center in northwest Mexico. Tonight, we're hearing their parents took desperate measures to try to save them. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez joins us now from Mexico with the very latest on this tragic story.

Thelma, we heard about the parents. We also heard about a man who tried to save these children as well.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Don. That man is 23-year-old Francisco Lopez. And people here are calling him the big hero of the day. Had he not thought quickly and jumped into his pickup truck and actually punched a hole into the wall of that daycare center, that death count, that death toll would have been much, much higher, Don.

Now, all day today, we spend our day at the cemetery -- the main cemetery and we talked to many people like ourselves who weren't related to any of the children or who never even met any of them but we're deeply touched by their stories nonetheless.

We learned a few of their names. We learned about little Paulette Diaz 3 years old, who liked to wear princess, dresses and liked to dance. Her mother played her favorite music at her grave today.

We also learned about a little boy, a toddler who loved to play. His mother cried out that she would never see him wear his cowboy hat again.

Over and over again, we watched these tiny caskets carried out to their final resting places.

So many people are weeping and some cried "Porque" which in Spanish, which means why. And as of today, Don, nobody seems to have any answers.

LEMON: Wow, all right thank you very much, Thelma Gutierrez for that story. We're going to continue to update you on this tragic story.

Again, 41 children, and according to our Thelma Gutierrez who reported earlier -- you can hear the sadness in Thelma's voice. We have been hearing from you guys about just how devastating this story is -- you have been reaching out to us on Twitter and on Facebook.

So continue to send us you're comments.

That man, by the way, when he rammed that truck into the building, Thelma says that children started pouring out and the death toll would have been much higher had he not done that.

Also, we have another developing story here: we're getting an exclusive first look at the five Americans detained in the murder of an American contractor in Iraq's Green Zone. Tonight, they wait for their fates to be decided by American and Iraq officials.

CNN's Phil Black brings us the story and the details from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CNN has obtained exclusive images of American men now being detained in an Iraqi prison in connection to the murder of another American. There are five in total; all private security contractors working for the security firm CTU or Corporate Training Unlimited.

Their names, Donald Feeney -- he is the founder and CEO of that company, his son, also Donald Feeney, Micah Milligan and Mark Bridges and Jason Morten (ph). The five were detained early Friday morning in a raid conducted by U.S. and Iraqi authorities. And they are being held in connection to the murder last month of James Kitterman, a 60- year-old construction company operator here in Iraq who was found bound and stabbed inside the vehicle within the Green Zone.

U.S. embassy officials have visited the five men but their future for the moment is unclear. Should they be charged Iraqi authorities can potentially prosecute them now here under Iraqi legal jurisdiction.

CNN understands that negotiations are under way between the Iraqi government and the U.S. State Department to determine their future.

Phil Black, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Phil.

The polls are closed in Lebanon tonight after a crucial vote. Today's election could unseat Lebanon's pro-western coalition replacing it with one dominated by the militant group Hezbollah. President Jimmy Carter is in Lebanon heading a team of international observers monitoring that process. He says today's election is a long time coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, many of the Lebanese experts say this is the first fair and free opportunity that the people have had since 1972. I think that's 37 years. And so I believe that the people of Lebanon have enough confidence and enough pride in their own country and enough dedication to democracy and freedom so that they will carry out these elections as sincerely and honestly as possible.

And I don't have any doubts about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Early results are expected to trickle in tonight, the official tally to be announced tomorrow.

Eighteen people were killed last night in the Mexican town -- resort town of Acapulco in a wild gun battle between the Mexican army and a group of unknown gunmen. Two of the 18 killed were soldiers. Five of the surviving gunmen were arrested with dozens of weapons reportedly confiscated. A Mexican government statement links the gunmen to organized crimes. Now, despite being a popular tourist destination, Acapulco has a history of violence related to the drug cartels.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is quarantined tonight in China. His office released a statement just a short awhile ago saying the Mayor was on a flight with someone who may have the N1H1 virus, commonly known as swine flu.

While the Mayor is in Shanghai on an economic development trip with his wife and a member of the state security detail and the statement says, all three remain symptom-free and we have no word on how long this quarantine will last. We will update you on that as soon as we get more.

A big tornado threat in the Plains this evening. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras tracking the storm for us -- Jacqui.

JACUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Don, we've had a number of tornado reports tonight and a lot of hail to talk about and this has been primarily in the nation's mid-section across the Plains.

Here, you can see all the watches which has been stacked up.

Right now, no tornado warnings to talk about but earlier, take a look at these pictures from outside of Colorado, our iReporters got from Aurora, Nebraska, this is from Mark Staff. He said this tornado literally developed near his backyard and he took these pictures just in his basement. So glad to hear, Mark, that you were in a safe place.

Let's just go ahead and look at the other one from Mark, because it's really incredible. There you can see -- here's the funnel that goes all the way down in a little bit of a debris cloud. So that kind of shows you that that storm is on the ground.

Also, another iReporter caught this on his camera; this is from Russell Bramledge (ph). He said that this is probably about 20 miles away from his home, when he took that picture. And now you can see that nice column from that tornado, just some minor damage took place from that system there.

All right, let's go ahead and show you this and what else is going on the radar at this hour. Some of the strongest storms right now moving across southeastern parts of Nebraska; these have a history of producing golf ball sized hail, and did have rotation earlier but we're no longer seeing signs of that.

We're expecting widespread severe weather here throughout the Plains and even possibly extending into the overnight hours as this pushes into parts of Illinois.

Now, the temperature extremes have been just incredible. Look at the differences here. You know something is going to pop when you see 55 in Minneapolis and Sioux Falls and then you are looking a 70 pushing 80 just to the south of there -- Don.

LEMON: Jacqui, thank you very much.

President Barack Obama is back home tonight; he arrived in Washington earlier today, after a four-nation overseas trip -- a trip that included in appeals to the Muslim world and a speech marking the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

His focus now shifts to domestic matters. He meets with Vice President Biden tomorrow to talk about the $787 billion stimulus. Then on Thursday, the President travels to Green Bay, Wisconsin for a town hall meeting. And that is just the beginning.

The President is coming back to a 9.4 percent jobless rate and a sickly health care system. We'll tackle those issues, plus a look back at the commander-in-chief's most memorable overseas moment.

Also, one of the President's biggest political rivals is spending time in the Big Apple. Sarah Palin, not holding back either.

And the mystery surrounding the fatal journey of Air France Flight 447; we have new pictures and we'll tell you about new discoveries.

Plus, you Google, I Google, we all Google, but Google's -- that's a lot of Googles in there -- CEO says there's a long way to go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: More bodies have been found from the crash of Air France Flight 447 in the Atlantic Ocean along with luggage and parts of the plane. We want to go now to CNN's Karl Penhaul. He joins us now live from Recife, Brazil the very latest -- Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A joint press conference by Brazilian authorities ended just a few moments ago, Don. They gave the latest numbers there. They say that now 17 bodies from that doomed Air France 447 Flight have now been recovered from the ocean. It's exactly a week ago now since that flight took off from Rio de Janeiro bound for Paris.

The search area is an area now bigger than the U.S. state of Nebraska; it's more than 700 miles off the mainland of Brazil. It's an absolutely mammoth task.

It's certainly a joint effort though. The Brazilian navy has been joined by a French vessel. The Brazilians so far have recovered nine bodies; the French have recovered eight. Both search teams there say they have seen many more bodies in the ocean and they hope to recover those in the coming hours.

Along with the bodies, they have also recovered many bits of debris from the aircraft itself including seats and pieces of metallic parts embossed with the Air France logo. They also say that they've recovered several hundred piece of luggage as well -- Don.

LEMON: Karl Penhaul, thank you very much for that.

Let's talk now of some business here.

Google, it has become part of our common language. But the CEO says there is a long way to go to the perfect search engine. Cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow sat down with Eric Schmidt and she joins us now live from New York.

It certainly is, Google, part of the vernacular. Everyone says, "Google it." It's just like -- remember, grab me a Kleenex, really a brand or a color, Xerox, Taser, a stun gun, those are all brand names but they're like Google.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: They're brand names but they're worked into our vocabulary. I said that to Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, Don. I said, "What you have is, I can tell my friend I Googled it." He paused for a moment and he said, "Yes, Poppy, but we earned that."

We had a long conversation, about 45 minutes, about the future of this company, about what's ahead for search IT. It's a huge, huge business, driven be 98 percent of its revenues given by advertising.

I asked him what's ahead. It's very interesting when he talks about the way that we search. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC SCHMIDT, CEO, GOOGLE: Right now, searches are primitive. We look back at it 20 years from now, we're going to say, that's how we did it? Because you have to type in key words and you have to sort of guess which answers you really meant.

We want to go from textual search to really meaning. We really want to understand what you meant. We want to be able to answer very complex questions. An example would be, what should you do tomorrow? Those are questions that are very hard to answer right now. But over time, with new development in artificial intelligence, we should be able to answer very, very thoughtful questions.

HARLOW: By looking at where someone is located when they're asking?

SCHMIDT: More importantly understanding a little bit about what the person cares about. HARLOW: And how do you tell a computer what you care about?

SCHMIDT: Well, partly because of the things you look for, partly because of the things you bought, partly because of where you are and partly because of your language and your cultural references. It's not perfect but it's an awful lot better than talking to it in an arbitrary way.

HARLOW: That's the perfect search then to know who you are. Therefore to answer you in that way when you pose any questions?

SCHMIDT: I'm not sure that's the perfect search. The perfect search is where you think the idea and we tell you the answer to the question you didn't even ask. That's a little harder.

HARLOW: I find it fascinating when you said televisions are foolish.

SCHMIDT: It's always bothered me that my television doesn't know very much about me. And I know this sounds strange but why would a television show me the same show twice? Why does it show me ads about diapers when there's no baby in the house? Why doesn't this have a personal mode? The answer, of course, has to be with the way televisions were invented 50 years ago.

All these digital televisions now have computers inside of them. They're uniquely addressable, especially a setup box. It makes sense to me television changes from the broadcast channel model to the highly personal model and that these setup boxes, not only do they deliver the shows that you want, they also show you the ads that are targeted to you. That's probably a very lucrative business over time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: It's probably a very lucrative business, Don. It's a business Google is already invested quite a bit in. You can see that full interview on cnnmoney.com.

LEMON: That is fascinating. He is absolutely right. I sort of wondered that. And we -- sure we do a lot of repeat stuff here on CNN. Why would it show me the same thing twice? It almost sounded like he was talking about a computer when he said, why would it show me the same thing twice? Why wouldn't it target me, and that's exactly what's happening on the Internet.

Did he address the new search engine just unveiled by Microsoft last week; it's called Bing?

HARLOW: You bet he did. I asked him, "What do you think of Bing? Are you impressed?"

And he said, "Listen, it's too early to know." He said Microsoft comes out with a Google killer every year for about five or six years. But he said listen, they have some advantages because, Don, of what he calls a Windows monopoly he says which unfairly gives them an advantage.

We're talking of some healthy competition here. And that means one thing that's good for us, the consumer, right, Don?

LEMON: Yes. He's wondering -- I'm sure they're wondering if people will just say, "Just Bing it."

HARLOW: Just Bing it.

LEMON: "I was binging you and I found out that blah, blah, blah."

Cnnmoney.com, right? That's where we go for all the information, the full interview there. There it is right there.

We'll be talking about that Chrysler tonight at 10:00 as well. Tuesday is the deadline there.

Pain and joy, two sides of foreclosure: two couples. One buying their first house, the second struggling to hold on.

Also, Hillary Clinton was called to service by her former presidential rival. Tonight, she talks about it.

You'll meet Alysa Stanton, the first African-American female rabbi. It is an interesting story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Record foreclosures and dropping home values; it works for some people and it works against others.

CNN's chief national correspondent, John King, has the two faces of the housing crisis from two families in Las Vegas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To some, this is the sound of recovery: new homes being finished on the outskirts of Las Vegas. A few doors down, Donald Leffert and Robyn Eddy-Leffert are moving in, excited to own their first home.

DONALD LEFFERT, NEW HOMEOWNER: It was pre-wired for stuff, networking, it was in a location we wanted. There was very little that needs to be done.

KING: And the price was right. Two years ago, this house sold for $400,000; but now on the market for $179,000.

LEFFERT: Everything else on the paper is the exact same. The only difference is the date and the price.

KING: Las Vegas is Ground Zero in any nation's housing crisis; more inventory, means lower prices.

Had the market not gone down significantly here, would you guys have been able to afford this?

LEFFERT: This particular house, no. We would have been able to afford a house, just not this house. ROBYN EDDY-LEFFERT, NEW HOMEOWNER: And not a decent house.

D. LEFFERT: Not a decent house.

There's another walk in closet over there.

KING: Though Donald and Robyn are mindful their gain followed someone else's foreclosure.

R. LEFFERT: It is pretty sad when you think about the people who have lost their homes. You can't go into a house thinking of it being someone's house or someone's home. You have to think of it being a new experience.

KING: The "Bank Owned" signs are all over town, so many of them that real estate firms offer foreclosure bus tours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're looking for a bargain. We may move from Florida to Las Vegas.

KING: Some agents see hopeful signs, like more offers of late.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you hear the doorbell ring that means someone just bought the property and we have left. Let's go.

KING: Neal Williams also sees evidence of profound change for the worse.

NEAL WILLIAMS, HOMEOWNER: I sat in my upstairs window and watched kids trying to break into a house next door.

KING: Williams says the wave of foreclosures dramatically changed the streets he picked 14 years ago with his children in mind.

WILLIAMS: This is nice neighborhood, a lot of comfortable people to be around. Enjoy the night like tonight, beautiful night, walk around and walk down the street, say hi and talk to people.

KING: No more. Someone recently threw a rock through one of the windows and Williams plans to add cameras to the security lights. And he doesn't oil the gate on purpose.

WILLIAMS: This is my infamous squeaky gate that is one of my alarms.

KING: Williams says renters have moved into some of the foreclosed homes and the sense of community has collapsed: yards in disrepair, trash in the streets, graffiti and crime.

WILLIAMS: There was a shooting just recently a couple of doors down. We have been robbed on several occasions.

I'm impressed, buddy.

I love my son. In one of his classes, he has a gang member. I go shooting once in a while. He asked my son, Thomas, to steal my guns and knives out of my house and give it to him. KING: adding to the fear and frustration is the financial price. He keeps current on his mortgage but his home's value has collapsed.

WILLIAMS: I'm really scared to look. I know it's gone down by quite a bit. My wife says more than half, I honestly don't know.

KING: His neighbor of six months is moving at a big loss because of the rising crime. But Williams is, for now, is adding security systems but holding firm.

WILLIAMS: Do I want to put up with the embarrassment of people saying you look like you live in a prison? I'll deal with that embarrassment but I know that I'm safer. I'm a stubborn son of a gun. This is my house; this is where I'm staying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was CNN's John King, in Las Vegas.

One real estate research company says listed home prices in Las Vegas have fallen 16 percent. Only homes in Detroit have taken a bigger hit with a 23 percent price drop.

More from John King tonight following this broadcast "STATE OF THE UNION" airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, again, right after this broadcast.

President Obama, back from Europe and gearing up the battle in health care crisis; he set a timetable but will anybody follow it?

And Sarah Palin: a long way away from Alaska, new pictures from her trip to New York.

Plus, Alysa Stanton, the first African-American female rabbi; you'll meet her, live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As we noted earlier here on CNN, President Barack Obama is back from his international goodwill trip; the president, touching down at the White House about five hours ago.

After a week highlighting foreign policy, Mr. Obama gets back into the fray of domestic issues, notably health care. The president says it is time to deliver but there is a partisan divide when it comes to government involvement.

Former house speaker Newt Gingrich and senior White House advisor David Axelrod wrangled on the topic today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: But I think when the average American looks to the idea that we're going to have a government bureaucrat decide whether your daughter or your granddaughter gets the treatment you need. If you look at the death rate from breast cancer in Great Britain and the death rate from breast cancer here, I don't think that's a model we're going to accept; a health board to ration health care so the government will decide whether or not you live and very severe restrictions on health care and a government plan so the government can ultimately take over and run the whole system. If you think the government can't run General Motors, why would you think they can run health care?

DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR: Everyone should be interested in health care reform. Health care costs are crushing families, crushing businesses and ultimately, it will crush the federal budget as we've seen. These costs are growing way above the rate of inflation and have been for a very long time. We need health reform.

I think the American people know we need it. I would hope people in both parties would get together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: There is a big grassroots push for President Obama's health care plan this weekend. But it turns out Americans are split over what type of health care reform they want and how to pay for it, if at all.

CNN's deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, here to break it down for us.

Paul, what are Democrats doing to get the government's health care proposals passed?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, Don, we just talked about it. The Democratic Party is going grassroots this weekend, it's called Organizing for America. It's the advocacy arm of the Democratic Party. It's from the old Obama for president campaign.

They were out this weekend across the country trying to generate interest and get people to kind of sign up. They say this is a kick- off for a whole summer push. They want people to reach out to their lawmakers and to urge them to vote for the Obama healthcare proposals. They did this for the Obama budget, we'll see how successful they are for the president's health care proposals.

LEMON: OK, what are the polls saying about health care? As what the polls said about, you know, in the republican race, a possible republican race now, it seems a bit early but you know, the president wants this on his desk, I think he said by October, Paul. So what are the polls showing?

STEINHAUSER: The polls show Americans are split, Don. Of course, everybody wants lower coverage and they want to expand insurance to the millions who don't have it. That's going to be expensive. So here's our CNN opinion research corporation national poll, you can see right there about 47 percent say, raise taxes and that will allow you to cover everybody when it comes to health insurance. But equal amount on just say just the opposite, keep taxes the way they are and don't expand the coverage. So at least, on this point, how to pay for it, Americans are definitely split right down the middle according to our poll.

LEMON: OK, as he said he wants it on his desk by October, that bill for health care reform and to clear the House and the Senate. What are the chances of it doing that? Because it's going to face opponents, since a strong opposition from republicans.

STEINHAUSER: Yes. Donna Brazile, the democratic strategist was on the "State of the Union" today with John King. She said, you know what, it's going to be a long hot summer here in Washington when it comes to health care. She was right.

Action is already underway, a couple of senate and house committees. The president would like to get bills in the floors of both the house and the senate by the end of July, early August before Congress breaks and as you mentioned, a bill on his desk by October at the latest.

Will that happen? There's going to be a lot of pushback from Republicans as you mentioned. They don't like this government insurance plan that's in some of these democratic bills. They're going to fight this tooth and nail. And it could be a tough time because the democrats need the republican votes to get anything passed.

LEMON: All right. Paul Steinhauser, thank you very much. And we ask Paul what people want to hear, here's someone from Facebook who says, I think health care insurance is needed for everyone. However I do want the universal health insurance that is in - I'm trying to look -- in our neighboring countries. I don't want to wait for a transplant if I needed one. So that is from (INAUDIBLE). That is from Facebook again. It's from Yolanda Collier. We'll have more coming up because I want to get that one out as we're talking. Yolanda Collier wrote me that on Facebook.

You know in her first Sunday morning interview since taking the Secretary of State post, Hillary Clinton admits she first passed on the president's offer to become the nation's top diplomat. So what changed her mind? Well she tells long time friend George Stephanopolis of ABC's "This Week."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: When your president asks you to do something for your country, you really need a good reason not to do it. Number 2, if I had won and I had asked him to please help me serve our country, I would have hoped he would say yes. And, finally, I looked around our world and I thought, you know, we are in just so many deep holes that everybody better grab a shovel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, she went on to say that President Obama has proven to her that he is ready to take that 3:00 a.m. phone call. Remember those ads, a point that she questioned during last year's presidential campaign.

So here are some more of your responses. These are these from twitter? These are from twitter. OK. Texaskoz says not a priority. Too spendy, not necessary. The Kennedy plan is garbage as well. No one says how the program will be paid for. If you want to debate any of these topics, send it to twitter, Facebook or Myspace. I'll get to that.

Whosmurry says I'm currently without health insurance. So, yes, that's pretty important to me. MariaNYC says as a two-time cancer survivor with pre-existing conditions and my Cobra expiring next spring, I read this a second ago, really sad, I need President Obama's health care reform to pass.

And tray21 says my priority is still the economy and keeping the country safe. I hope these are Obama's top two items. And survanio says I think the mixture of government health care and private sounds great... Go, Obama, keep those costs down.

Again, you want to debate any of this, don't agree with it, have some ideas, twitter, Facebook, Myspace or ireport.com. We will get them on the air. I'll be on some of those sites in the break, you can talk to me.

You know, she's the first African-American female rabbi. And she is from a Pentecostal family. You are going to meet her. She's going to join us live in just a bit.

Plus Governor Sarah Palin is in New York, why she is such a long way from Alaska and drawing huge crowds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. It's time now for our special series "Up from the Past: African-American firsts. Would you please allow me to introduce you to Rabbi Alysa Stanton. She is the first African- American female rabbi and she's joining me now tonight from Cincinnati. Welcome and thank you very much for coming on today.

RABBI ALYSA STANTON, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN FEMALE RABBI: It's a pleasure to be here.

LEMON: OK. So listen, I got to ask you this question. So you grew up Pentecostal in a Christian family. I will ask you about what led you to that first. But how did your family members react when you said you wanted to convert?

STANTON: Well, I think, I was a seeker from early on. And I think in the beginning, they thought, OK, this is part of Alysa's journey, she's going to explore this religion and go on into something else. As they announced last night during my celebration, I became more and more serious, they realized that this was the real deal.

LEMON: Yes. So they eventually got on board as most families do when they love you, they support you.

STANTON: My family is amazing.

LEMON: Yes. So then what drew you to Judaism?

STANTON: Judaism, I wish I could say there was a pivotal moment but there wasn't. It's been a journey. And Judaism is a way of life. It's not just socially, culturally, religiously, spiritually, it encompasses all of me.

LEMON: In the beginning, when you were thinking about converting, you said this is like some 20 years ago, the Jewish community, you said, was not very welcoming.

STANTON: Actually, it was 22 years ago that I converted.

LEMON: OK. So why do you think they weren't very welcoming to you?

STANTON: It was - I mean, there were not any other African-Americans where I was at the time. And I think I was "the other," it was different. And sometimes difference makes people uncomfortable, unfortunately.

LEMON: And now?

STANTON: Now, I'm a rabbi.

LEMON: And the community welcoming? I'm sure you still get looks, you get questioning looks or eyes, people may ask you, you know, maybe more apt to ask you than someone else who converted, why they converted?

STANTON: That's true. That is true. I must say overall the Jewish community has grown over the years and people have been excited about my ordination. We still have room to grow and I'm excited that bridges are being built and that's wonderful.

LEMON: OK. So we have you here as an African-American first, right? How do African-Americans react to the fact that you converted and that you're now Jewish?

STANTON: Well, when I first converted, many of my African-American friends thought I had "sold out." Some African-Americans cannot understand me being a Jew and me being a rabbi. But for the most part, people have been wonderful. And I've been concentrating on those people who are positive and those institutions that are working together to build towards hope and change and not the negativity. That's not what I'm about.

LEMON: OK. And you believe that there's going to be more like you in the future, a lot more?

STANTON: More like me in what way?

LEMON: Of course, converting African-Americans, converting to Judaism.

STANTON: I don't know. I mean, I can't speak for all African- Americans, I cannot speak for all Jews. I can say that I'm a Jew. I'm a rabbi. I'm proud to be both. I'm African-American. I'm a woman. I'm proud to be both. None of them are exclusive in my life.

LEMON: All right. What are you going to do with this?

STANTON: Do what? Being a rabbi?

LEMON: Yes.

STANTON: I'm going to be the best spiritual leader that I can possibly be with the help of god and my community.

LEMON: That is a very good answer. We wish you the very best of luck. Rabbi Alysa Stanton, the first African-American female rabbi. We appreciate it.

STANTON: Thank you very, very much.

LEMON: Our weekly series, "Up from the Past: African-Americans firsts" continues next week. I'll introduce you to Kathy Hughes. She runs the largest African-American radio broadcasting company in the U.S. and also a television network as well. She's quite a fascinating woman.

You know, our other reporters are out covering the stories that develop every single day around the world and especially those as well in the African-American community. Our Soledad O'Brien has been working on stories that you will see only on July 23rd, 22d and 23rd when CNN presents "Black in America 2." That's going to be two nights, two primetime documentaries. All new stories right here on CNN.

A wild fan disrupts a French Open. We have the video for you. You got to see it to believe it.

Plus, attention Dallas Cowboys fans, we'll show you the football team's new stadium.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Breaking weather news, Jacqui take it away.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We got a tornado on the ground right now, just outside of the Des Moines metro area. This is in Dallas county, storm spotters reporting a rain-wrapped tornado, meaning it's very difficult for you to be able to see it in the Dallas center area. It's moving towards the east right now. It's going to be moving through (INAUDIBLE) and then it's going to be heading to Urbandale, probably within the next 15 minutes and there you can see the tornado warning, extending now in the Polk county as well. So this is kind of in the northern parts and western parts of the Des Moines suburbs so very dangerous situation continuing to evolve. We'll continue to bring you up to date. WE got a little bit of damage in the area being reported already with 70 mile per hour winds in Adel. Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for that, Jacqui Jeras. There was quite a bit of excitement today at the French Open. And we're not just talking about Roger Federer's win. Federer and everybody watching and shocked to see this guy. See him there. He ran into the court in the middle of the match and you can see he tried to place a red hat on Federer's head before security wrestled him to the ground and then later on - this is so weird. Federer said the guy gave him a fright. He said he could it a touch scary. Touch is probably a good word, as we say. The guy may be a little bit touched, we don't know.

By the way, he went on to win in straight sets. All right. That was bizarre.

A lot of sports to talk about this weekend. So take a look at this. A new multimillion dollar stadium with a retractable roof for the America's team, the Dallas Cowboys. It's quite nice plus a look at how auto industry woes are crashing Nascar's popularity.

Also when it comes to the NBA Finals, it's all about the Kobe and the Lakers. I like saying, the Kobe. And there's no way we can leave out the Belmont stakes as well because that was very interesting.

Sports analyst Rick Horrow, West Palm Beach. He is tanner than me. How are you, sir? Good to see you.

RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Hey, I'm fine. I just want to complement you on your tie, first time I've seen the monitor. Good tie, man.

LEMON: Oh, thank you. Is that it?

HORROW: That's it.

LEMON: It's the one you sent me.

The producer is going, two minutes, so you better get it in now. All right. So you saw that Federer thing, that was bizarre, right?

HORROW: Yes.

LEMON: We were on the air not long ago discussing this practice stadium, remember but the Dallas Cowboys have a new stadium there in Dallas. Talk to me about that.

HORROW: Well, the animation you saw, thanks to HKS, it's 100,000 seats. It's the largest facility, it's opening, 3,000 video displays digital. But the more important thing about that, by the way, Jerry Jones and HKS architects have revolutionized the way stadiums are being done. Because they had George Strait and Reba McIntyre last night. I will not and did not sing. But the most important issue about this is the cowboys are playing, the college football, the NBA all-star game, the Super Bowl and the final four in addition to billions of dollars of economic activities. So this is a revenue model that Jerry Jones in HKS have perfected for years to come.

LEMON: Hey, listen, I have to get through these things, I want you to respond to all of them. So let's go real quickly here. Let's talk about Nascar, drop in attendance has got to be a concern here for organizers.

HORROW: Oh, about 50 percent decrease in attendance -

LEMON: Wow.

HORROW: About 13 percent decrease in the ratings and General Motors, of course, had $120 million sponsorship that's at risk. But when they open for business again, which they are now as you know, they're coming back and they have to advertise. So Nascar has been the top growing sport of everybody. They will continue to come back -

LEMON: OK.

HORROW: To get through these next few months.

LEMON: We got 30 seconds, sir. Let's talk about Kobe. They got half the billing, you won they want it for the finals, Kobe and the Lakers.

HORROW: Yes. They got half of it. But now Dwight Howard may be the other half. If Kobe wins tonight, they got three in a row. As you remember back in Orlando and so television ratings are pretty good but it's 45 languages in 205 countries so the NBA's doing all right.

LEMON: All right. And we didn't get to see the triple crown jockey. So that didn't happen. Also, you know what I wanted to thank you for my master's cap. I used it today in the yard and I didn't get burned. So I appreciate it.

HORROW: Thank you for that. You will continue to get trinkets from me because of your positive reinforcement. I'll get you a trinket next week.

LEMON: I'm just being nice. Thank you. Rick Horrow, always a pleasure to see you.

First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters soak up the city of lights. We got the pictures for you.

And a 23-year-old rancher hits it big in the lottery. What's he going to do with all that cash? And probably he won't be single much longer I think after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Live from New York, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin? Well, yes and no. She's not doing another guest appearance on "Saturday Night Live" but the former GOP vice presidential candidate and possible contender for the 2012 race is in the Empire State this weekend. Why is that? For the answer, we go live now to CNN's Mary Snow. She's in the Big Apple with some answers for us. Talk to me, Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Don. Well, you know, it's what Governor Sarah Palin isn't saying is what's getting the most attention. All the buzz about a potential political future. She was here on Long Island here in New York just a short while ago. She gave a little talk to an organization that provides care for disabled children, Governor Palin, of course, has a son with Downs syndrome and telling the audience if they have an advocate for the disabled but she didn't really touch upon any talk of politics.

This wraps up three-day trip here in New York state where some of the words were a little stronger and did fear from these non-political causes. Yesterday, she was in Auburn, New York, at a museum honoring William Stewart who had arranged for the purchase of Alaska from Russia and there she talked about proposed cuts to Alaska's missile defense network saying that it would be a show of weakness. She also said decisions being made lately in the country that are not in the country's best interest.

Of course, when she speaks like that, it generates a lot of curiosity about her political ambitions. One fellow republican here tonight says he believes she is testing the waters for potential presidential run. And she attended the Yankees game with former presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. Don?

LEMON: All right. Mary Snow, thank you very much for that. It's loud where she is. We can hear every word. We appreciate it.

President Obama's back from his trip but we'll be talking about what he said overseas for sometime to come. Here are some of the highlights from the week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek his majesty's counsel and discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East.

Goodness sakes. Wow. That's something there.

I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world. One based on mutual interest and mutual respect. And one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap and share common principles, principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. I think this is the best so far.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

OBAMA: Huh? Awesome.

Five guys is close.

That looks like me.

Look at those ears.

Ultimately the United States can't force peace upon the parties but what we have tried to do is to clear away some of the misunderstandings so we can at least again to have frank dialogue. Now these sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time.

As we were walking up, Elie said if these trees could talk and there's a certain irony about the beauty of the landscape and the horror that took place here. More than half a century later, our grief and our outrage over what happened have not diminished. I will not forget what I have seen here today.

So when the ships landed here at Omaha, an unimaginable hell rained down on the men. Many never made it out of the boats. Amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found within themselves the ability to do something extraordinary. They fought for their moms and sweethearts back home, for the fellow warriors they came to know as brothers. To those men who achieved that victory 65 years ago, we thank you for your service. May god bless you. May god bless the memory of all those who rest here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Highlights from the president's trip overseas. The remainder of the first family took in some tourist attractions while in Paris. You'll see the first lady, Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia visiting the Pompideau Center today. The modern art museum is constructed of color coded ducks, Sasha is also spending her 8th birthday in France. I bet they bring home some cool shopping bags to the White House there.

A young South Dakota rancher who won a record powerball jackpot says he will not squander his winnings. Neil Wanless picked up his $232 million check on Friday and the money came right on time. He recently had his mobile home repossessed and owes back taxes. Wanless or Wanless also says he plans to help those who helped his family during hard times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL WANLESS, POWERBALL WINNER: My family has been helped by the community and I intend to repay it, that many times over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He says he plans to buy more land and he promises not to squander his newfound fortune. So there we go. He bought the winning ticket at the town called Winner, by the way. More on the story tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

I want to tell you, we are on twitter, Facebook, MySpace or I-report and Jacqui Jeras is also on twitter. She is twittering about severe weather. Make sure, you stay tuned and log on to Jacqui.

I'm Don Lemon. See you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

"State of the Union" John King right now.