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Police Found Body in Yale University Wall; Senate Finance Committee Ready to Unveil Health Reform Bill?; What Happened to Blago's Money Man?

Aired September 14, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go ahead and go over now to Kimber Crandall with our affiliate News 12 Connecticut. She's live in New Haven.

Kimber, what's the feeling like there on campus, and how has this affected classes and also issues of security?

KIMBER CRANDALL, NEWS 12 CONNECTICUT CORRESPONDENT: There definitely are concerns here today. We have seen increased bike patrols on campus going up and down the streets throughout the day, the police officers wearing bright yellow shirts, so they're easily identifiable.

In fact today outside the building here where Annie Le used to work, there's a memorial that has been growing with flowers that students have been dropping off. Many of the students here today have told me though that they are most concerned for the family today, and their hearts go out to them on this day that was supposed to be after her wedding, instead they're dealing with a very tragic situation.

PHILLIPS: All right. And we apologize. We have got a little bit of a tough connection with you, Kimber, but stay with me. Your live shot signal is bumping in and out. But we heard what you said.

Let me ask you, I don't know if you were able to hear Mary Snow's report there, our correspondent that's working this story, and what she's saying about the investigation. Anything that you could add to our coverage? Obviously there are so many questions about who the killer is and if the killer knew Annie Le, anything that you can add to this as we push forward on the investigation?

CRANDALL: Well, I actually just got off the phone with police right before coming on here, and they told me they have no suspects, no one is in questioning, and no one has been under arrest. And that's what they're releasing to us at this time.

Of course, we're staying with the story. And the building is still closed here. That's because police say the investigation is ongoing and they want to make sure they can recover all evidence possible from the building.

PHILLIPS: All right. Kimber Crandall there with our affiliate News 12 Connecticut, live from New Haven, thanks so much.

Now Annie Le actually spent a good bit of time thinking about crime and safety at Yale for an article in the med school magazine. It's so ironic when you read the quotes from her piece, which actually ran back in February. Take a look at this.

She writes: "Despite safety measures such as door-to-door escort and shuttle services, the Yale community is still plagued with thefts, some involving frightening confrontations. According to CNN Money Magazine, the City of New Haven has seven times as much personal crime compared to the average for 'safe' cities in the United States. In short, New Haven is a city, and all cities have their perils, but with a little street smarts, one can avoid becoming yet another statistic."

That writing from Annie Le. Our law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks has been following all of the developments in New Haven, I'll talk to him about campus crime and how police are working this case. He's going to join us in just about 10 minutes.

The gang of six is back at work on an historic health care overall. But maybe not for much longer. The three Democrats and three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are not giving up. They're preparing to turn the bill over to the full committee, maybe as soon as tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-MT), CHAIRMAN, FINANCE COMMITTEE: I think basically as senators on and off the committee and the public begins to know more about all this, their comfort level is starting to come up a bit. And I believe that strongly, and I do believe that in the end we'll have significant bipartisan support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The Baucus bill is a lot like the plan that President Obama outlined in his big speech to Congress, including a proposal to tax so-called "Cadillac health plans," those costing more than $8,000 a year for individuals, $21,000 for families. The government would charge 35 percent of the value of those plans above those limits.

CNN's Dana Bash joins me now with the state of the negotiations.

Dana, what's left to be decided?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot left to be decided, but I think that the headline really is what you just played from the Senate finance chairman, Max Baucus, and that is that all six of these senators, including the three Republicans, are still at the table.

They've taken a little break right now, but we expect them back at 4:00 Eastern. And what we are told that they are really honing in on are some of the most controversial issues among these negotiators.

First and foremost, Medicaid. They're talking about expanding Medicaid to help pay for and to help insure many people who are not insured across the country. But one of the questions is, how is that going to be paid for? There are a lot of governors who worry that they're going to have to bear the cost, so working on that fine print, so to speak, is very, very important, especially to many of these Republicans.

The other issue that is incredibly important and has been for years to Republicans, especially those in here, medical malpractice. And they are discussing in these talks, Kyra, ways to deal with curbing medical malpractice, which of course many people blame for the rise in health care costs.

The other, very sticky issue, one that we heard loud and clear last week, illegal immigrants, and how not only they are dealt with in terms of the big print in these particular pieces of legislation, saying that illegal immigrant cannot have any kind of health insurance under these plans, but the fine print, how actually that would be verified. That is something that is incredibly important that they're working through here.

And lastly, one of the things that we are told that is still out there that they have to discuss that they haven't really gotten to in detail, another extremely controversial issue, that is the issue of abortion, Kyra. How many of these senators, most of these senators, particularly the conservative Democrats and Republicans in this room say that they want it to be explicit that no federal money through any of these health care plans can go to abortion.

PHILLIPS: So, Dana, what's the bottom line on cost then? Do they have a dollar amount?

BASH: No, they've -- that's one of the things that they've been working on and waiting to hear back from the Congressional Budget Office to what they call, score it, get the amount. One of the Democratic senators, Kent Conrad, came out just a short while ago and said that he actually believes that they believe that this the overall cost will be lower than $880 billion, that is going to be a very good thing for especially some of these moderate Democrats and even some of these Republicans who are very worried because they're hearing it loud and clear from their constituents about this big, giant price tag.

Having it -- you know, the lower they can get it, that is the better for getting this actually done. And particularly, as I said, for these moderate Democrats, who are hearing from their constituents that they just simply don't want the federal government to be spending this much money.

But the one issue that we have to keep our eye, which we're hearing much more about, isn't just the overall cost, but also making sure that what they are talking about lowers the cost of health care for everybody in this country, because that is really the ultimate goal for many of these senators and many of these lawmakers in general.

PHILLIPS: Dana Bash, appreciate it.

Now over the weekend, some of the sound and fury stirred up at those health care town halls spilled over on the doorstep of Congress, but with reform seemingly back on the track inside, what's next for the protests? Our Kate Bolduan pushes forward this hour.

September 14th, 2008, Lehman Brothers, a mainstay of Wall Street, goes belly-up, setting off a crisis that paralyzes the U.S. banking system, worsens the recession, and prompts unprecedented maneuvers by the Federal Reserve and Treasury. Can you believe it has been one year now? The stock markets still haven't recovered, though they have come a long way.

And the Obama administration hasn't sold Congress on new regulations, though the president tried to push forward in his speech that you might have seen live on CNN today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are those who would suggest that we must choose between markets unfettered by even the most modest of regulations and markets weighed down by onerous regulations that suppress the spirit of enterprise and innovation.

If there's one lesson we can learn from last year, it is that this is a false choice. Common-sense rules of the road don't hinder the market, they make the market stronger. Indeed, they are essential to ensuring that our markets function fairly and freely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, a lot has changed in the past year. And if President Obama has his way, much bigger changes are coming. CNN's Susan Lisovicz joins me now to look at what went wrong a year ago and where we might be headed.

What do you think, Susan?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: We've got a ways to go, Kyra, no question about it. I remember vividly what it was like to return to Wall Street after a weekend when the unthinkable occurred. The nation's fourth-largest investment bank, a bank that survived the Great Depression, failed. It was allowed to fail.

That was the demarcation point in the U.S. financial crisis, and one year later, we're far from over it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISOVICZ (voice-over): The exotic instruments that brought about the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history are still hard to grasp. But the economic destruction caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers is not.

BERNIE MCSHERRY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CUTTONE & COMPANY: There was definitely panic in the air. I was here on this trading floor just behind us here in 1987 during the crash, and that was bad, but this was much worse. This was a feeling that the system itself was coming unglued and that perhaps when the morning -- the next morning came up, we might not have ATM cards that worked. LISOVICZ: Lehman failed in an economy already reeling from the government's arranged marriage of Bear Stearns and its seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Some financial experts say it was ultimately the government's inconsistent response to failing companies, and then its warning of a financial Armageddon without passage of an emergency stimulus that triggered the panic in worldwide financial markets.

BILL ISAAC, FORMER CHAIRMAN, FDIC: The government really needs to communicate when you're in the middle of a crisis, that you're in charge, you know what you're doing, and here are the rules. This is what we're going to do to calm this situation down. And we didn't do that.

LISOVICZ: Lawrence McDonald worked at Lehman and wrote a book about it. He says the lesson of Lehman begins at the company itself. He says Lehman wasn't too big to fail, it was too big to succeed.

LAWRENCE MCDONALD, AUTHOR, "A COLOSSAL FAILURE OF COMMON SENSE": It was just too big to be managed. In essence, Susan, the same group of people that were running a $38 billion institution in 1998, the same group is -- just fast forward to 2007, is running $780 billion worth of risk.

LISOVICZ: But risk isn't as much of a threat to the economy anymore. Rather, it's the almost complete lack of risk, a credit crunch that is yet another legacy of Lehman, one year after its devastating collapse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LISOVICZ: The economy, like the weather and fashion, moves in cycles. And as surely as the sun comes up tomorrow, there will be another bubble. Kyra, the question is, will the financial system be in better shape to handle the next one when it bursts?

PHILLIPS: We don't want to hear about any more disasters like that one, Susan. We just want a recovery on all fronts. All right. Thanks.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: He was supposed to report to prison this week, but now his body is in the morgue. What happened to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's chief money man?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're pushing forward now on the murder at Yale University. Police finding a body hidden in the wall of a med school lab five days after a grad student who worked there disappeared. CNN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks has been following the case for us. And he has got some of the whos, the whens, and even the what's next in the case.

You know, if you don't mind, this case that I was reading about back in 1998, there was actually an unsolved murder there at Yale, a student was killed at an apartment off-campus, that's still unsolved. Would they by chance be looking into that as possibly a connection or?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Whenever you have an open homicide, there's no statute of limitations. So this was back in 1998 when DNA collection was at its heyday and the student, Kyra, was stabbed 17 times, so I guarantee you there is a lot of evidence in that particular case back in December of 1998 that they were talking about, as well as in this case where they say they have a large amount of physical evidence.

Now, are they connected? We don't know. But I guarantee you it's something, because there was a $60,000 reward back then, and no one came forward.

PHILLIPS: So what makes this investigation so tricky? Because they're really being tight-lipped about the details.

BROOKS: You know, right now we don't know what the cause of death. Looks like the manner of death will be homicide, but it happened in a building off the main campus, a little over a mile from the main campus, but it was a very, very high-security building.

You needed a proximity card, an ID card to swipe to get in because they have gone back now, looked at the list, and talked to just about everyone who went in using their card into that building during a particular time frame. There are 75 cameras around this building that show people going in and out.

Now it doesn't sound like there were any surveillance cameras inside of the building, or else we probably would a little bit quicker resolve of this case, Kyra. But keep in mind, after she went missing on Tuesday, there also was a fire alarm, because there was a steam scare inside the building, so a lot of people had to evacuate. Was the perpetrator one of these people?

Now they're saying also that it's not a random act, so what that tells me, they have evidence that they're not sharing with the public right now that says, OK, we...

PHILLIPS: Connected to something else?

BROOKS: It's connected to something or someone in that particular building. Because we saw her go in at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday...

PHILLIPS: Never saw her come out.

BROOKS: ... and never saw her come out.

PHILLIPS: What about the fact that you have to swipe a card in order to get into that building? I've been to these -- on these college campuses, I see how strict that is. So is it possible -- are the odds more toward it being someone who works there, goes to school there, has access to that building? BROOKS: You know, there's always a possibility where you swipe something and somebody runs up and you hold the door for them. You know, that's always a concern at every college campus, especially some that are in urban areas like this.

But from what I'm hearing and what the reports are from The New Haven Register and the Associated Press of where the body was found, possibly in a wire or a pipe chase inside back behind a wall, that says to me, someone...

PHILLIPS: They know the building.

BROOKS: ... that probably knew the building, or is at least familiar. Because you know, everybody -- and I'm sure after we talk about it now, people will be saying, you know, looking at their buildings where they work, oh, I didn't realize we even had these kind of things, and that's normally what most people -- it's innocuous. You walk past it, you don't think anything about it.

But if it's someone who wants to get rid of a body, to hide evidence, they know about these places, or, you know, someone who may have worked in a building at one time or did right now.

PHILLIPS: Got it. We'll keep following the case. Thanks, Mike.

BROOKS: Yes, just a mystery, but we're going to hear more probably in the next couple of days.

PHILLIPS: Great, we'll track it. Thanks.

BROOKS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: So what's up with you, Kanye? Dissing little Taylor Swift isn't going to win any points with fans. And you sure found that out last night, didn't you?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Thirty million dollars, that's the bail a California judge set today for Philip Garrido, the man accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard when she was 11 years old, raping her, fathering her two children, and holding her captive for 18 years. His wife Nancy Garrido continues to be held without bail.

Charlotte, North Carolina, who could have done something like this, a pregnant 15-year-old shot in the head and killed while waiting at her school bus stop. Police say the shooting was not random and they're look for a suspect.

Have the fat cats on Wall Street learned anything one year after the financial meltdown? President Obama is not so sure. Speaking in New York today, he said he sees new signs of the high-risk behavior that deepened the recession, and he's confident now the country's financial system has entered calmer waters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Rapper Kanye West, he has had a string of hits and a string of errors, well, from the past. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MYERS, COMEDIAN: The destruction of the spirit of the people of southern Louisiana and Mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all.

KANYE WEST, RAPPER: George Bush doesn't care about black people.

If I don't win, the award show loses credibility. I appreciate it, man. You know, it's nothing against you, I've never seen your video, it's nothing against you, but hell no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: What is this guy's problem? Now we've got a new one to add to his list of crashes. It happened last night on the "MTV Video Music Awards" when teen sensation Taylor Swift beat out Beyonce to win best female video. Kanye West just wasn't having it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: You know, Taylor, I'm really happy for, I'm going to let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Beyonce was shocked, Taylor was stunned, the crowd booed, the producers scrambled, but Beyonce kept this train from derailing with a very classy move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEYONCE KNOWLES, SINGER: This is amazing. I remember being 17 years old, up for my first MTV award with Destiny's Child. And it was one of the most exciting moments in my life, so I'd like for Taylor to come out and have her moment.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, and Taylor Swift did get the final word when we caught with her backstage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: I was standing on stage and I was really excited, because I just had won the award. And then I was really excited because Kanye West was on the stage. And then I wasn't so excited anymore after that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taylor, are there any hard feelings? SWIFT: I don't know him. I've never met him, so I don't want to start anything. You know, I had a great night tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: There you go. She has been raised well, Chad. What the heck? You wonder, someone needs to put Kanye in his place, but hold on a second, let's just go back to Lady Gaga, OK? I mean, we're focusing on Kanye West and Taylor Swift and Beyonce and all this drama, but, dude, this is the "what the" of the night. What is this? She's like caught in a snowstorm.

CHAD MEYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I was looking at it, I went, really? Did you buy that or make that? Where do you buy that? Because that's not in my Sam's Wholesale Mart.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Put a couple of little, you know, birdies in there and you have a nice little nest. I don't know. That -- to me that just struck me a bit odd. All right.

MEYERS: Yes, it's something that comes home from preschool with my son.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: That's what your son makes for the Easter basket.

MEYERS: Yes, it worked, it worked for her.

PHILLIPS: Yes, all right.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: The Bible teaches us to forgive others, but would you forgive your minister for being a convicted sex offender? He committed a disgusting act and now he is in the pulpit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So how did former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's chief fundraiser die? Toxicology results may hold the definitive proof, but they're not expected for weeks. Christopher Kelly was found slumped behind the wheel of his SUV, clinging to life and later died at a Chicago-area hospital. Drew Griffin with CNN "SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT" in Chicago right, now tracking that probe.

So is this going to hurt the government's case against Blagojevich, Drew, or could this possibly hurt his defense?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's a very good question, Kyra. And it was the pressure between the two that some are saying may have led to what they believe now is a death- suicide, that according to the mayor of the town where Chris Kelly was found. He was his chief fundraiser caught up in the Blagojevich case. He was indicted along with the governor, reportedly being pressured to testify against the governor. He also had two other criminal cases that he had pleaded guilty to and was sentenced to go to prison this Friday.

And so that's when he decided apparently that the pressure was too much. Not many people Chicago are speaking about this but for one, Kyra, and that is the former Governor Rod Blagojevich who was on his book tour in New York when he heard about it and made no bones about it. He said, that his friend Chris Kelly under pressure to lie about him in the case with the U.S. Attorney's office and this that may have led to this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: He refused to lie about somebody else, to take a lesser sentence which is what he is getting pressured to do. And in an unprecedented way, he was getting pressured, which appears led to his decision to take his own life and deprive his little girls of their father. And it is just a shocking, shocking turn of events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: We should point out Chris Kelly did plead guilty in two previous cases. He was going to be sentenced and he's going to start serving 8 years in Federal Prison but he still had that third case, the Blagojevich case if you will, hanging over his head. And it's that pressure that Governor Blagojevich was referring to, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, what is the U. S. Attorney's Office is saying about the charges that they were pressuring Kelly to lie?

GRIFFIN: Yes. We've been calling them all day today; there is no comment at all, from the U. S. Attorney's office or the FBI for that matter about this, and everybody seems to be waiting for toxicology results. But again, it appears this is all pointing towards Chris Kelly taking his own life.

PHILLIPS: We'll follow the investigation. Drew, thanks.

The health care fight is still going strong in Washington, but President Obama is in New York, pushing forward on the health of the U. S. financial system. In a speech you may have seen live on CNN, the president marked the one-year anniversary of the shocking collapse of Lehman brothers, and said strong rules of the road are essential to protecting investors, institutions and the whole U. S. economy.

A year after the largest bankruptcy in U. S. history, the question remains: Did Washington make a mistake by not bailing out Lehman?

Alan Schwartz, former CEO of Bear Stearns is speaking out for the first time. His famous firm was saved. Our Poppy Harlow spoke with Schwartz then with the City Group Chairman Dick Parsons in an exclusive interview for CNNmoney.com.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: They didn't save Lehman. Dick, should they have?

DICK PARSONS, CHAIRMAN CITY GROUP: Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I think almost everybody would answer that question today differently than it was answered back a year ago. Yes, but for- it would be the answer. I think the thing that was unanticipated was the effect that the collapse Lehman had on the confidence globally of financial market players that we could continue to do business as we have in the past. And so markets just disappeared, things just froze up. There was even a point in time when interbank trading around the world stopped for about an hour.

ALAN SCHWARTZ, FORMER CEO, BEAR STEARNS: I think the answer is probably yes. I think that if thread a way to do it, but the point Dick says about hindsight is, you know, I wish they had. I think Lehman was a great institution, but if they had, then everybody would be able to criticize the way in which they did it, and we don't know what the outcome would have been. Whatever way they decided to quote "save Lehman," may have caused ripple effects on the market place and then people would be saying, "Look at the idiotic way that they have saved Lehman."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, you can see the full discussion with Dick Parsons and Alan Schwartz only on CNN Money.com.

Phillip and Nancy Garrido seated just feet apart in the California courtroom today. They barely acknowledging each other's presence. The couple charged in the kidnap-rape and 18 year imprisonment of Jaycee Dugard probably won't go to trial for another year or more. And today's bond hearing made official, neither one of them is going anywhere until then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VEN PIERSON, EL DORADO COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: As to Mrs. Garrido, the continued the status which is that she's being held without bail, as to Mr. Garrido the bail was set at $30 million. Additionally, he would have what's entitled of parole hold which would be without bail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, don't know if you saw it there, but Philip Garrido has a big bandage across the bridge of his nose. Apparently when the D.A. was asked about it, he said he couldn't comment on an inmate's private medical condition.

Your first amendment writes on colorful display. Protesters crowding the National malls, speaking out against Uncle Sam's spending sprees. Where are they heading next? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: They're angry about Uncle Sam's big spending, they're dead set against the health care reforms and they're venting on the Tea Party Express. But now the protests are over. So, what's next? Here's CNN's Kate Bolduan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE PROTESTER: President Obama, can you hear us now?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A swarm of protesters from across the country descended on Washington this weekend, loud and frustrated, they railed against big government and the Obama administration.

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: We do not want government involvement in our health care, nor do we want the higher taxation that comes along with such a proposal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE 2: I'm just sick and tired of government growing and spending and taxing everybody into oblivion.

BOLDUAN: The event a culmination of the anti-tax rallies of spring and health care protests of summer, organized by conservative groups like Freedom Works which is led by former House Majority leader Dick Armey.

DICK ARMEY, FORMER HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: What did they say about it? They weren't real. They're astroturf, they don't know what they're talking about, they'll go away. Well, did you go away? Or are you back?

BOLDUAN: But now that the march on Washington is over, where will they go next?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop the bailout, stop the debts. Stop the tax and spending.

BOLDUAN: Deborah Johannes (ph), who rode the express from California to Washington, insists this grass-roots movement has staying power.

This place was a mass of people, they're now gone. It kind of emblematic of my question, which is where do you go from here?

DEBORAH JOHANNES (ph), TEA PARTY PROTESTER: You know what, at all of our stops, we've encouraged everybody in all those cities to stay involved in your local politics, at your local and at state level.

BOLDUAN: All with a keen eye to the 2010 mid-term election and beyond.

JOHANNES: We want to start early. We want to keep the focus and we want the people to know, "You know what? Your voice does count." BOLDUAN: From here the challenge is trying to keep momentum. Organizers say the focus will remain but also say we can expect another nationwide rally in November marking what they called a start of countdown congressional election.

Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: The so-called, "Gang of Six" is apparently finding common ground. The six senators negotiate and compromise plan for forming healthcare could have a bill ready for the Finance Committee as early as tomorrow. The committee could begin debate on the proposal next week.

A body found stuffed behind a wall at a Yale research lab is now in the coroner's hands. Police are trying to confirm whether the body of that of grad student Annie - Annie Le -Annie - if that indeed is her body. Forensic says on bloody clothes from the scene could be completed today. Police said that they don't believe that the killing was a random act; it could be connected to something else.

Murders in the U.S. are down. The FBI says it's the second straight year that they've seen a drop in violent crimes, and fewer cars were stolen last year too. But hard economic times do have an impact on other areas. Burglaries and thefts are both up.

You would think one prostitution scandal is plenty, but they seem to keep piling on for ACORN, and the liberal group is trying to get out from under it. We've got a special investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: As they say, "Three's a charm." But we doubt the liberal community group ACORN sees it that way. It's facing the latest episode in the prostitution scandal it's been mired in. Joining us with the latest, Abbie Boudreau of CNN Special Investigations Unit. Well, we've seen a string now of compromising videos.

ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is the third video that has been released just today. It's pretty much the same story as either two from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., where a film maker named James O'Keefe and his friend posed as a pimp and prostitute. They walk into the ACORN office on Nevins Street in Brooklyn, New York and ask for help setting up a brothel. ACORN is active in 41 states, and focuses mainly on housing for the poor. It's considered to be a liberal organizing community group. And remember the film maker here is a conservative activist.

BOUDREAU: In the New York video posted today on Youtube, O'Keefe tells the workers he wants to use the house as a brothel, but he doesn't want his name associated with the property since he hope to run for political office someday. And the workers, they want to help him, they try to help, they give him a way to keep his name off the property records and still run illegal operation using underage girls to turn trick,. Now, one of the ACORN workers even advises the prostitute to hide her income in a tin can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACORN WORKER: When you buy the house with a backyard, you get a tin. If Tom Jones is going to beat you and want money you get a tin and you bury down it there. And you put the money right in there and cover it and put it. And you tell a single soul but yourself where it is.

UNDERCOVER FEMALE: Right, I put the money in the tin.

UNIDENTIFIED ACORN WORKER: Cover it with grass and put the grass over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOUDREAU: Now, here's another part of the video that we want to show you where one of the ACORN workers warns the pair that if they're honest they won't get a house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACORN WORKER: You can't say what you do for a living. You're both -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, she's very honest.

UNIDENTIFIED ACORN WORKER: Honest is not going to get you the house. That's why you probably have been denied. If you're going to do that, you've got to start thinking quickly or else you'll be abused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOUDREAU: Or you'll be on the news?

PHILLIPS: No, or you'll be abused. Oh, my, she's got the whole snap going on. So, what's ACORN saying about all this?

BOUDREAU: We did, just minutes ago we just sit down with the Spokesperson

Scott Levinson about all those videos and employees you saw in the two previous videos. We know they have been fired. We asked him about that, we asked him about the employees we just saw in Brooklyn and Levinson says they're investigating, Levinson says it's unclear what just happened but at this point those workers have not been fired. We'll have more from our interview with Levinson today on "The Situation Room" ten o'clock.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Abbie. TJ Holmes is in for Rick Sanchez. What are you working on, TJ?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We're just trying to figure out why we're figuring out why people are behaving so badly these days. Kyra, what is wrong with folks? PHILLIPS: You were at the U. S. open, I thought you had a talk with Serena, I thought you reminded her of her manners, obviously she didn't listen to you, TJ.

HOLMES: Well, If I had had a talk with Serena, apparently I would have got cussed out if I talked to her. So, no, I didn't talk to Serena. Oh yes, we will be talking about that incident and whether or not -- you know, is this such a trend now? Is this just accepted, this bad behavior? We talk about Kanye all day as well. Yes, he's known for these types of things but you talk about that kind of behavior and also the civil discourse, I guess, when it comes to some of these political campaigns and debates, Joe Wilson getting up and "You lie"? I mean what is wrong with us these days? We'll by talking about all of that, and some about bad behavior.

And of course, Kyra, just a horrible story. Today, this young Yale student should have been heading off for her honeymoon maybe today. They find a body they believe is hers on her wedding day, which was yesterday. We'll continue to talk about that case and the fast-moving developments. Again, news could break on that any moment. We'll be talking about that as well. Just coming up in a few minutes, Kyra, here sitting in for Rick as always. Big shoes to fill back here.

PHILLIPS: Sounds like a plan. All right, we were talking about a Serena. You know, a foot fault turns into a pretty serious case of foot-mouth.

Serena Williams let loose on the line judge in the U.S. Open semi-final this week. Here it is:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, TENNIS PLAYER: I swear to god, I'll f---ing take this ball and shove it down your f---ing throat! Do you hear me? I swear to god. You better be glad. You better be f---ing glad that I'm not, I swear...

PHILLIPS: TJ, talk about contempt of court.

HOLMES: You know...

PHILLIPS: Wait, you know, then comes the news conference after the match, and ahh she had a different tone. Didn't she? Let's just listen.

SERENA WILLIAMS, TENNIS PLAYER: I think she said, "I would kill you." I was like, "what?" But then I had misheard, she never had said that. That was something like, you know, I was like, "Whoa, wait a minute, let's, let's not -- because I'm not that way."

HOLMES: Look, if your defense starts with, "I didn't say I was going to kill you -"

PHILLIPS: I just said "I was going to stuff the effing ball down your effing throat, that's a big difference here." HOLMES: And actually, we're going to talk to somebody of the hour who was actually there. She is actually a PR specialist, helps a lot of athletes, entertainers and what not, but she was actually at that match. Said it didn't come off as bad being there as it did on TV.

PHILLIPS: Oh, no, no, no. I was there, and it silenced the whole entire stadium. Everybody was saying, "What the...?"

HOLMES: She said it wasn't as bad, but again in the heat of competition, who knows, what the video has been rolling over and over.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Put me on that person. I'll debate that person. No, hold on a second, Williams also apologized to a line judge in a statement today, saying she was sincerely sorry, but she's still going, as you know; put her money to put where her potty mouth is. She's been fined $10,000 for not showing the judge much love. But remember this guy? It seems like deja vu all over again, TJ.

PHILLIPS: OK, TJ -- TJ, but wait, there's more! We actually found dozens of McEnroe's verbal volleys on YouTube. Check out this one that we found with French subtitles. It's a classic.

JOHN MCENROE, ATHLETE: You call that volley? Please don't call me that.

(SONG PLAYING)

HOLMES: In French it doesn't sound so bad.

PHILLIPS: Yes, you're right. And you know, it actually sounds beautiful when you hear it in French.

HOLMES: Some people say it's because it was a female doing this, you don't expect -- maybe a guy can be a little rough and gruff like McEnroe, but you don't usually see a woman acting like -- it's not very lady-like, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: That can be a whole another discussion.

HOLMES: It could be.

PHILLIPS: Because we all know we can have a potty mouth. All right, TJ, let's...

HOLMES: Yes, some of the stuff that comes out of your mouth.

PHILIPPS: You know what? You just inspired me, my friend. So, what do you think, folks? John McEnroe's the blast from the past, Serena Williams going off on the line judge - what's the difference?

A lot of you twitted us on this. One of you actually wrote - "The voice from Queens (ph) was cursing the line, the voice from Compton was threatening to take the ball and shove it."

Ruby put it this way, "The difference is, the usual double standard set for men and women. A woman loses their temper in public and they're labeled as 'the B word.'" And one of you wrote this, "The difference is she's a black female athlete. Any black person that is a public figure will always have a double standard.

And then kitty42 says, "I watched many McEnroe matches where he displayed severe anger management issues. I can't recall him physically threatening a referee." DNMR says, "...seems that they are coming down harder on Serena. A fine is OK, but if they prohibit her from future slams that's too harsh." Thanks to all of you for your tweets. We appreciate it.

Redemption and forgiveness were the concepts in theory, but a Kentucky church has found it's harder to practice what you preach. The newest man of God, did time for sexually assaulting a young boy. Now the church and town are split.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Forgiving others is one of the main teachings of any church. But how far would your forgiveness go if your minister was a convicted sex offender? That's right, a convicted sex offender. It's happening in Kentucky. And Adrian Hopkins from our Louisville affiliates WHAS has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADRIAN HOPKINS, WHAS-TV CORRESPONDENT: On any other Sunday, protesters likely would not have been outside the City of Refuge Center, but this Sunday was different. Because a man charged with sodomy, sexual abuse and intimidation of an 11-year-old boy back in 1998 was ordained, call him Pastor Mark Horrigan, hint the controversy.

RICHARD LAUERSDOFF, OPPOSED TO ORDINATION: One of the things that rather concerns me if this man starts reaching out to other people, what does it keep him from reaching out to child molesters in this neighborhood. We got roughly, I think, at least 13-14 child molesters under this zip code.

RACHEL FOURNIER, OPPOSED TO ORDINATION: It's wonderful that he's a member of this church, but he does not need to be ordained as a minister with a position of that kind of authority and power. It's wrong.

HOPKINS: We were we were not allowed inside the church for Horrigan's ordination ceremony or to ask him or Head Pastor Randy Meadows(ph) any question. But the man convicted of two counts of sex abuse, who served four years and eight months in prison spoke to CNN last week about how he's pursuing this path.

MARK HORRIGAN, PASTOR: I felt because of the acceptance and love and the way that Pastor Randy has reached out to not just me, but a lot of people who have been rejected that God can use me to reach out to those people that need that hope and that light.

HOPKINS: In the friend of the church, Reverend Aletha Field spoke on behalf of Horrigan and Pastor Meadows before the ceremony began.

ALETHA FIELD, REVEREND: In all of it though, this is really about what God has called forward. And I believe that's what the pastor believes and the church members who have been, you know, made aware of all of these way before the media blitz.

HOPKINS: Still members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests say the pulpit is not the place for a man listed on the sex offender registry for life.

COLLEEN POWELL, SURVIVORS NETWORK OF THOSE ABUSED BY PRIEST: I know from my abuse when I was young, that we look up to our ministers and priests and that status gives him more power, and that's what sexual abuse is all about. It's a power play.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really hurts. It really hurts, you know. I said, "I could not believe it." I said maybe they are naive or something is wrong. So, I let my conscience be my guide. That's the reason why I'm here.

FIELD: I know that Pastor Meadows holds his ministry team in very high accountability, whether it's the folks being ordained today or the people previously ordained, and the accountability is just really amazing.

RANDY MEADOWS, PASTOR: Well, I want everyone to know that this church in no way, shape or form will be putting the children of this church in harm's way, the members of this church or brother mark in harm's way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That was Adrian Hopkins, from our Louisville affiliate WHAS. We're going to be keeping an eye on that story and taking your thoughts.

That does it for us. We're going back here tomorrow.

TJ Holmes is in for Rick Sanchez right now.

HOLMES: Bad boys make headlines all the time, but Serena?

WILLIAMS: What did I say? You didn't hear it?

HOLMES: Has a female athlete ever behaved this badly? And that's not nice, and can we all agree, neither is this. So we'll ask it again: What has happened to civil discourse in American politics?

And on what would have been her wedding day, a bride found dead. Her remains in a wall on Yale's campus. We're all over this story as police focus on finding a killer. Tear gas, demonstrators, all the ingredients of "Las Fotos del Dia."