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Car Bomb in Times Square; Obama Visited Gulf Coast Oil Spill; Oil Slicks Crawl Closer to Coast; Terrorism in Times Square: Analyzing the Investigation; Record Flooding in Nashville; Inspiring the Incarcerated

Aired May 02, 2010 - 22:00   ET

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

JOHN KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": We will be staying with it all day long, and join us at "JOHN KING USA" at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Of course, we will continue to update this on both of these stories and all other developing stories.

I'm John King filling in for Larry tonight. Stay tuned for more news on CNN right now.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Two developing stories tonight. New York City on terror alert, and the hunt is on for the person who turned an SUV into a potent bomb capable of killing thousands.

And in the waters of a Gulf Coast lurks a killer to wildlife and business for years to come. The president seeing it firsthand today, but this disaster may be far beyond his control.

Before heading south, the president rubbed elbows with D.C. insiders and Hollywood stars.

Tonight, we go inside the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Good evening, everyone.

Breaking news tonight. CNN has learned the U.S. government is on high alert for car bombs at airports along the East Coast. A direct fallout from that attempted car bombing last night in New York City's crowded Times Square. Inside a smoking SUV parked idling in front of a Broadway theater, investigators say were enough explosive materials to create a huge fireball and many casualties. The mayor of New York City is hopeful tonight that surveillance video, one which shows a white male changing clothes as he left the scene, will lead to an arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: I'm confident that we will find out who did it. There's the commissioner -- police commissioner said earlier in the day, there is no evidence that this is tied in with al Qaeda or any other big terrorist organization, but rest assured, we'll do everything we can. We have all of the resources from the federal government, thanks to the president and Secretary Napolitano and the FBI.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Investigators are already pursuing multiple leads, including a link to this Connecticut junkyard.

All of the very latest developments in this case, plus all of the day's other stories coming up over the next hour.

We have a team of correspondents covering the latest terror threat against the U.S.

Our Susan Candiotti is in Times Square tonight. Dan Lothian is at the White House. And CNN special investigations unit's Drew Griffin is in New York City.

But first, the two heroes who probably saved a number of lives. A New York City mounted police officer. The other, a T-shirt vendor who tipped off that officer. So far, he's been a man of few words, but he is offering some advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you feel good that you pointed this out? Do you feel good that you pointed this out? Do you feel like you made a difference?

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE: What do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This was important for you?

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE: Of course.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: To the people of New York, what do you want to tell them? What do you want them to know? Your message, Lance, to the people of New York?

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE: If you see something, say something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We go now to the quick-thinking police officer, Wayne Rhatigan, who was treated to dinner tonight by a grateful Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Officer Rhatigan said he knew immediately something was wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER WAYNE RHATIGAN, NEW YORK POLICE: Duane Robinson, the vendor, alerted to me a car that was smoking. We went over there and we smelled gun powder with my partner, Pam Duffy, and we knew something was up as soon as we smelled the gun powder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN correspondents and producers have been digging on this story since it first broke last night. Let's get right now to our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti. She joins us with new developments.

Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, some of the latest developments include this. We're learning more about the fertilizer that was inside that vehicle.

You remember that there were some cans of gasoline, some propane tanks, some fireworks, as well as a big metal locker. And inside were eight bags of fertilizer. Now police are telling us that preliminary tests indicates that this really was a non-explosive fertilize fertilizer. That, in fact, you would have needed much more to make this thing very, very, very dangerous.

However, they do say this. That the combination of both the gas cans as well as the propane tanks, if they had been ignited, could have caused enough force to at the very least break out some windows and create a huge fireball that certainly if pedestrians or a passer- by had been nearby, could have produced some casualties. That's just one thing.

Then we talk about that Nissan Pathfinder. Some new information is this. We have learned from a law enforcement source that original early investigative leads had them thinking that the vehicle might be in Texas. Actually, it was supposed to be a surplus vehicle that might have destroyed there. However, apparently it was not. Later leads indicated that, in fact, the vehicle, the Pathfinder wound up right here in the New York Tristate area. And so that is the assumption that they're working on now, that it is here.

You recall, Don, that the police chief did say that they know who the car is registered to. We don't know exactly whether they think that that is the same person that was driving the vehicle, and/or created this device, this contraption that was inside.

Don?

LEMON: All right, Susan Candiotti, joining us from Times Square. Susan, thank you very much for that.

There were thousands of people out and about in Times Square last night, many of them carrying cell phones with creamers. Some of them turned into iReporters and sent their video to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW DERBY, IREPORTER: We've got to go. Everyone! Grab your food up, let's go!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: IReporter Matthew Derby gave us nearly a dozen videos of what he was seeing and hearing. He was stranded for a while. The blockades kept him from getting to his hotel. And what you're seeing here, police evacuates a McDonalds in Times Square.

Matthew visiting from Hawaii was impressed with the NYPD's response. Earlier he told me how people followed directions, but many didn't realize the gravity of the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DERBY (via telephone): It was organized, very well-organized. Nobody really panicked. Everybody just followed, you know, what the police said and got out of the building and went into the street. And then they started pushing everybody up the street. They evacuated the Times Square ticket area where that big red stair well is everybody takes their pictures in that big red eating area.

LEMON: The PTS sign, right?

DERBY: Yes.

LEMON: Yes.

DERBY: And then, you know, they pushed everybody -- they kept on pushing everybody back and then they started telling everybody to go north. And, you know, that's when everybody thought, well, this is really, really getting very serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And of course, our thanks to Matthew Derby for his time and his video. He was able to return to his hotel by midnight.

Let's turn now to the unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. President Barack Obama was on the Gulf Coast today, getting briefed on the oil spill emergency there. But he also was keeping tabs on the dramatic developments unfolding in New York City as well.

Tonight, CNN's Dan Lothian is at the White House.

Dan, what was the president's message when it came to this latest terror threat?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you point out, it was a very busy day for the president and the message is that the federal government will do whatever it can to assist in this investigation. The president placing a phone call to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, wanted to make sure that this -- the federal government and the state government were coordinating in this investigation, and so that's why he placed that call.

But the president also has been getting briefings throughout the day from his top adviser, John Brennan on counterterrorism. He had a more comprehensive briefing this morning while he was headed out towards the gulf. And then I'm told by a senior administration official that throughout the day, the president was getting updates.

Now, while the president was out there, he was making remarks on the oil spill. But he also, before those remarks began, he did make a few comments about what's going on in Times Square. And he wanted to reassure Americans. Take a listen.

Well, what he said, and we don't have that sound, Don, but what the president said is that he would make sure that the government would do everything possible to ensure that americans are kept safe in both domestic and foreign attacks. And the president saying that they will do everything they can to also make sure that this person is brought to justice.

LEMON: Also the president saying today, he would do everything he can to try to -- returning now to the Gulf Coast -- to try to keep this oil slick from reaching the coast and contain it as much as possible. He visited there today. Update us on what he had to say.

LOTHIAN: That's right. And the president went there. He did get a chance to do an aerial tour with Governor Bobby Jindal, as well as John Brennan and others, Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard commander. They did not get a chance to go out to actually to take a look at the slick because weather conditions prevented that. But they did get a chance to go up and down the coastline so the president could get a sense, a lay of the land. It was very important, Robert Gibbs said, for the president to get there and see it first hand.

And then after landing, the president did get a chance to talk to some local fishermen. That's a big problem there, and the president has pledged to do whatever possible to make sure that these folks on the ground who will be impacted, economically, in a negative way, will be made whole -- Don.

LEMON: All right. That's correspondent Dan Lothian. Two big stories, the president following and being kept abreast of.

Thank you very much, Dan Lothian.

Coastal warnings off the Gulf of Mexico. A race against time as an oil slick surface near the shore and just miles from the mouth of the Mississippi.

Also, the Connecticut connection to the Times Square car bomb plot. What investigators found, and how it may lead to police to the suspect behind that attack.

And torrential downpours turn two major cities into death traps. Don't just sit there tonight, become part of our conversation. Make sure you log on to the social networking sites. We are reading your comments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is another major story we are following for you tonight. The edge of the 30-mile slick is creeping closer and closer to the gulf coastline. The slick has tripled in size just this weekend.

Reynolds Wolf is in Venice, Louisiana, tonight where President Obama stopped by earlier today.

Reynolds, what's it looking like where you are now?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, right now, obviously, we've got quite a bit of rain that's coming down and the oil is getting much closer to shore.

Now the question is, where exactly is it? Well, we've heard variances in reports. Some say the oil is as close as nine miles. Others say it's as close as three miles within shore. And we're talking about the heavier crude, which makes up roughly 3 percent of the slick.

But there have been traces, trace elements of the sheen. The lighter oil that is actually made it to some of the barrier islands at the very end of the Mississippi Delta, as the Mississippi river flows out into the gulf.

Now, Don, with that oil getting closer, you have to have some method of containment. And what they're doing is they've been putting out thousands of feet of this emergency boom, the floating barrier up and down parts of the Louisiana coastline near these pristine marshlands and then back over to parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and even into parts of the Florida Panhandle.

So that's certainly one thing that they have. But they also have a little bit more of that in reserve. Some 5,000 feet -- 500,000 feet of that. So when all is said and done, they may have up to 1 million feet of that protective berm put out along the coastline.

Something else they've been using, of course, is that dispersing fluid that they've been using under water. Some of it up to 1,300 gallons of it onto the areas where oil has been venting out. Just a few of the ideas they've been using as this oil continues to pump out, some of it up to 5,000 gallons per day. It's hard to believe. Don?

LEMON: Hey, Reynolds, concern, of course, about the wildlife and it being affected. Any signs yet?

WOLF: Oh, absolutely. I mean, there's no question we've seen some of that. There's a Northern Gannet, which is a type of bird that actually flies in from Newfoundland into the Gulf of Mexico each year. They're a type of bird that actually flies below the surface, flies and then dives below the surface, picks up sea lives (INAUDIBLE) eats it.

This diving bird was actually caught right out in the middle of the gulf, in the middle of the slick, was rescued, brought into a rescue center and will be rehabilitated and released. Anywhere from say seven to ten days down the road, it will be re-released back in the western half of the gulf away from the slick.

However, today, there are 20 turtles that were recovered on the Mississippi shoreline. These were, again, these were Hawk Ridley turtles. They're endangered, protected turtles.

Now they're not sure, don, as to whether or not these turtles died because of oil. There wasn't any of evidence of oil around the turtle. However, they may have been eating fish that actually swam through the oil. So what they're going to do is investigate these turtles and perhaps in days, they'll say that there is a direct connection between the oil slick and the passing of these turtles.

Back to you, Don.

LEMON: Reynolds Wolf. Thank you very much for that, Reynolds.

The fishing industry is an important driver of the U.S. economy, which means this oil could be devastating the spill for fishermen, restaurants, and shoppers at the supermarket.

Just look at these numbers. Consumers in 2008 spent nearly $70 billion on seafood and related products. The industry itself contributed about $35 billion to the gross national product. Louisiana racks up seafood sales of nearly $2 billion a year. The biggest producer in the lower 48. Recreational fishing generates another $1 billion. And sport fishing in the gulf pumps more than $750 million into the Louisiana economy.

A water main breaks in a major U.S. city now a state of emergency. Millions of people are affected and it could be days before the water is safe to drink.

And what every parent needs to know. Why some of the most common medicines that you give your kids have been pulled from the shelves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Breaking news out of Tennessee to tell you about. Heavy rains and flooding have killed at least 11 people across the state. At least five of the deaths are in Nashville. High waters from rain- swollen rivers washed out roads and neighborhoods. Thousands of people have been evacuated, hundreds more had to be rescued from their homes. Some plucked from rooftops. It is the worst flooding the area has seen in decades. Tennessee's governor is calling on his state's national guard to help there.

A huge airline merger is set to be announced on Monday. A source tells CNN Money.com that Continental and United Airlines will announce a deal worth more than $3 billion. The source says the combined airline will be the world's biggest. It will carry the United name and will be run by Continental's chief executive.

There's encouraging news for people living around Boston tonight. Crews are making faster than expected progress fixing a major water main break. 2 million people were affected when a massive pipe burst ten miles west of Boston. Tens of thousands are still having to boil tap water for drinking or for cooking.

If you have children, make sure you check your medicine cabinets tonight. The Food and Drug Administration is investigating over 40 different over-the-counter children's liquid medications. You shouldn't use them because they don't meet quality standards.

McNeil Consumer Health Care announced the voluntary recall on Friday. Affected brands include Tylenol, Tylenol Plus, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl among others.

Good omens for the economy, from Detroit to college campuses. Here's Stephanie Elam with this week's "Getting Down to Business."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The Fed is keeping interest rates at historic lows, near zero, but says the economy is showing signs of improvement. And the U.S. auto industry may be starting to roll again.

Ford posted a profit of $2.1 billion in the first quarter as sales jumped, especially in markets overseas. And General Motors says it will add 1,600 jobs as part of an $890 million upgrade of five plants in North America. Find out more when car and truck sales are released Monday.

And if you're looking for a job, things are looking up. According to a Career Builder survey, more than half of workers who were laid off in the past three months have found new full or part- time jobs. And 40 percent of those surveyed negotiated equal or higher pay. Look for the monthly jobs report when it's released on Friday.

And finally, even a weak job market sometimes has its benefits. A record number of high school grads between the ages of 16 and 24 enrolled in college last year, and some experts say it could be due to the shaky economy. Those who didn't go on to college face a 35 percent unemployment rate.

That's this week's "Getting Down to Business," Stephanie Elam, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Still ahead here on CNN, the manhunt for the person behind this weekend's car bombing plot in New York City. The clues police are piecing together that are getting them closer to catching a suspect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Why don't we talk more about the investigation into last night's failed car bomb in New York's Times Square? An important clue is the license plate on the Nissan Pathfinder, which did not belong to that vehicle.

I want to bring in CNN's Drew Griffin of our special investigations unit. He has been tracking that part of the story for us.

Drew, good to see you. So what vehicle did this license plate come from, and how did it end up on this particular Pathfinder?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Well, the second part of your question, Don, is part of the investigation, what they want to know. This is one of the first clues, because as that car was parked there in Times Square, engine running, we could see the license plate. The police, obviously, knew, tracked down that license plate to a Ford F-150 that was supposedly being repaired in a car lot out in Connecticut, in Stratford, Connecticut.

I went there today, no signs of life. It really looked like a junkyard, but what police are telling us, what law enforcement sources are telling us is that plate was removed from that F-150 and placed on this Nissan Pathfinder, potentially a deliberate attempt to mask who was registered to this vehicle as it drove into Manhattan. So that's one of the clues they're working on.

And, of course, you had Susan Candiotti reporting earlier tonight that the VIN numbers, that vehicle registration number, that is actually physically on the car, is registered in the tri-state area. They know who the car belongs to, but they're keeping quiet on exactly who that person is right now.

LEMON: So, Drew, by all accounts, everyone is saying, oh, the New York City police department did a great job. The officer who found this. The T-shirt vendor who led the officer to it. But how much can this thwarted plot be credited to the bomber, who just didn't do a good job of detonating whatever it is that he wanted to detonate?

GRIFFIN: You know, I've been talking about this all day with experts in various fields of security, and I think that's going to be the big takeaway from this, don.

I mean, thank goodness that this guy or this person or this team, whoever put this bomb together, didn't really know what they were doing. Not necessarily amateurish, but such a Rube-Goldberg-esque kind of delivery system that it just didn't go off.

And in fact, one ATF expert said all indications were this thing was going off prematurely, and that's why this guy ditched the car the way he did. The timer wasn't needed, because it was already going off.

But what you have here is a vehicle that penetrated all the securities of New York. It came right into Times Square with propane, with gas, with a fertilizer that maybe we know now was inert, but perhaps wasn't known to this bomber, and all this kind of M-88s and was actually detonated, in the bomber's mind.

It was allowed to get so close to the main center of this that I think that New York had a dry run here, Don. And they're going to have to look and see what the procedures are, what could have prevented this. Certainly, all due respect to the T-shirt vendors, to the police who did everything once they noticed that car. But I think the big question for New York City, how did this vehicle get so far in, and pose such a danger to the people of New York and the world who were down in Times Square yesterday without anybody noticing until an M-80 goes off inside that vehicle.

LEMON: Drew Griffin of CNN's special investigations unit. Drew, thank you very much for that.

Police are gathering their evidence, but the key is connecting it to the person behind yesterday's bomb plot. We'll tell you how police are doing it, next with someone who knows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight, state of our nation. We get some perspective now on terror.

And let's get the perspective on the Times Square bombing investigation from Lou Palumbo. He's a retired Nassau County police officer. He also runs the New York-based Elite Agency, a firm that has provided security for heads of state and for major events like the Golden Globes.

Thank you for joining us tonight, Mr. Palumbo. We're hearing that police will soon release surveillance video of the Times Square incident. What is behind the decision to release this video and when do you think something like this -- what is the message of releasing something like this?

LOU PALUMBO, DIRECTOR, ELITE GROUP, LTD.: It's a demonstration by the police department and our law enforcement community to show the public and put them at ease to tell them that we have a handle on things.

LEMON: Listen, you've been listening to all of the investigations. You have been working your sources. You heard from a report here on CNN that the fertilizer was a non-explosive fertilizer. What does this lead you to believe, considering everything that was found inside of that vehicle?

PALUMBO: That the individual or individuals involved in this were trying to be as creative as they possibly could, based on what I would consider to be a limited understanding on how to construct an explosive device.

We know, for example, from the Murrah building with Timothy McVeigh that fertilizer was a key element in that detonation. I think they put as many components together as they thought might cause the detonation and saw what would stick to the wall, Don, so to speak.

LEMON: Police have been asking for videotape, if you have some camera -- you know, cell phone video. There are tons of cameras in that area. But it's not just that area that police should be concerned with, you say. Toll booths, other areas?

PALUMBO: Yes, most definitely. I mean, what I would do if I was the law enforcement agencies investigating this, I go back and create a window of time and examine the tape of all of the bridges and tunnels that access our borough.

For example, you know, on the east side, you have the Triborough Bridge, the most northern, the 59th Street Bridge, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Williamsburg, you have the Battery Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, the Lincoln Tunnel, the GW Bridge.

You also have the Hudson River Bridge, which is up on the Upper West Side, the Henry Hudson Parkway, that separates the most northern part of Manhattan on the west side from the Bronx. I think they need to go back there and just methodically look and see how this vehicle was introduced into the borough with the hope or expectation that the operator of the vehicle could be identified as well through these tapes.

LEMON: You say that there is one link here, something that keeps coming up that has caught your attention with this vehicle. What is that?

PALUMBO: Well, you know, Don, I find it rather curious that somehow a license plate made its way off the front or back of a vehicle in the state of Connecticut behind a locked and gated auto body facility, whether it's a junkyard or, you know, a repair facility, it's academic.

You know, I think that there's going to be a lot of fruition from our agencies looking at this junkyard, or whatever this facility is, and its connection to this vehicle and that license plate.

LEMON: Listen, it's -- there are -- everyone's trying to figure out, is this just something -- someone who was domestic, as they say. Was this a domestic knucklehead, that's what people are saying, or is this international terrorism? Sources have told CNN it's too soon to, you know, decide whether it's international terrorism. But there are clues in this, you say as a security expert, there are clues that would lead you to believe one way or the other.

PALUMBO: You know, I spoke earlier to you about this, and I have to tell you that there are common denominators that exist here between what's been attempted before by international terrorist groups versus domestic.

You know, I would almost have to say that if someone on the domestic spectrum of our terrorists, so to speak, were inclined to perpetrate an act like this, that they would be a little more knowledgeable or literate, kind of like Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh really knew what he was doing when he detonated that truck outside of the Murrah building in Oklahoma City.

I have to agree, I think it's a bit premature to make a decision as to who drove this, but the thing I think everybody has to be mindful of is that someone was intent enough and driven enough, regardless of what the base was, to come into Times Square with a device that could have inflicted many, many deaths, injury and damage to property.

I think that's the thing to me that's most alarming. It's not that I feel it's academic, whether it's international or domestic. Whoever it was, was very intent on causing a lot of destruction. They picked the perfect day of the week, a weekend, with perfect weather, and it's one of the days that has the largest, how would you say, conglomeration of tourism of any city in the world. LEMON: Yes. Lou Palumbo, a security expert, an analyst, thank you so much. We really appreciate it, sir. Have a good evening.

And just ahead here on CNN, we'll give you a preview of what will be making news in the week ahead around the country and around the world.

And no hard feelings or are there? Conan O'Brien opens up about the end of his tenure on "The Tonight Show" for the first time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now for the stories you'll be hearing about in the week ahead from the White House to the Pentagon to the economy. Tonight we start at the Pentagon.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon. And coming up this week, the undersecretary of defense, Michelle Flournoy will head to Capitol Hill to talk to the House Armed Services Committee about the war in Afghanistan.

But the big issue that's on everyone's mind is something that's hitting a lot closer to home and that's the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Pentagon will continue to look at its manpower and assets and equipment to see if it can provide even more help to those who are trying to clean up that spill.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. There's a lot coming up this week on Wall Street. Financial reform is front and center and you can expect fireworks over the legislation in Congress this week and Wall Street will be watching it all very closely.

And earnings season continues. Major corporations including Pfizer, Kraft and HSBC will all report their quarterly numbers.

And on Friday, we will get that all-important jobs report. Is the unemployment crisis easing? Well, both Wall Street and Main Street are certainly hoping so. We'll track it all for you on CNNMoney.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. Right now, the big story "Showbiz Tonight" is working on this week -- Conan O'Brien's explosive interview on "60 minutes." Conan's shocking response to getting canned by NBC. The brand-new reaction to Conan's outrage. Plus, fireworks from supermodel Naomi Campbell -- her new interview with Oprah.

"SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" now live at 5 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday and still TV's most provocative entertainment news show everyday at 11:00 p.m. Eastern, a.m. Pacific.

LEMON: All right. Thank you guys.

Time now to check in with the domestic desk.

I'm back. Hey, Jess Jordan, what do you have? Tuesday, wow, a big anniversary coming up on Tuesday.

JESSICA JORDAN, CNN NATIONAL DESK: Forty years of Kent State.

LEMON: Forty years, wow.

JORDAN: Yes. It's an anniversary. There are various events. They've got a vigil. They've got a walking tour they're doing. Just an anniversary of when the Ohio National Guard, where they killed four and injured nine.

LEMON: Every time I hear one of these anniversaries and it's like 20, 30, 40, I go, man, I'm getting old.

And then on Wednesday, we're going to -- in Arizona, the Reverend Al Sharpton National Action Network has an event planned.

JORDAN: Yes. He is going to hold a candlelight vigil and a march at the Arizona Capitol (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: Yes. This is going to continue to go on and on and on with this new Arizona law about showing your identification. Thank you, Jess Jordan.

Hey, Christine Theodorou, let's talk about what you have coming up on Thursday. Not a good week last week for Gordon Brown, but elections in Britain are coming up on Thursday, right?

CHRISTINE THEODOROU, CNN INTERNATIONAL DESK: Exactly. And the old duopoly that we saw, that we used to see between the Tories and the Labor Party is completely blown away by Nick Clegg's performance in the recent debates that they had.

So now we're seeing the three parties really duking it out in the polls. You've got Nick Clegg holding 30 percent of the polls. And David Cameron's party, the Tories, is just a hair ahead of them. And Gordon Brown is trailing the two. But no one is going to have an absolute majority in parliament.

LEMON: All right. Great. Thanks. We'll look forward - we talked here a lot about Wall Street, bailouts, but in Greece, they're going to get bailed out next week and we'll be talking about that internationally.

Thank you, Christine. Thank you, Jess Jordan. We really appreciate it here tonight, you guys joining us.

So coming up here, we're going to talk about severe weather. It turned into life or death situation. Right now, people are trapped, look at that, on one interstate outside Nashville between two areas of a road that are covered by water. Our Jacqui Jeras is going to tell us what is going on. We'll check in with her, our meteorologist, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: New developments tonight in last night's failed car bomb in Times Square. Police say the owner of the Nissan Pathfinder is in the Greater New York area. A manhunt is on right now for a white male seen on surveillance video leaving the scene of the attempted bombing. Now, video of the possible suspect has also been obtained from a tourist. Officials say if it had exploded, it would have caused a huge and potentially deadly fireball.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is coming to the United States. He's going to address a United Nations conference tomorrow on the U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear energy. The U.S. suspects Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. The 40-year-old nonproliferation treaty is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons around the world.

A multi-car pileup that you have to see to believe. All the work, though, of Mother Nature and fast-moving floodwaters in Nashville. These are just some of the dramatic pictures coming out of Tennessee, which has been deluged with rain all weekend. CNN's Jacqui Jeras is going to tell us right now if the worst is over.

Look at that pileup of cars.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Amazing. The force of water, Don. You know, this is terrible. This is, you know, the worst flooding I've seen in a really long time. This is record levels. Nashville's never seen this much water before in one given time. A state of emergency has been declared. The death toll is rising. It's up to 11 now and two other people are missing after they tried to tie their inner tubes together and float down the river. That wasn't a good idea to start with.

Look at that. You know, things are floating down the river, garbage bins. We've seen vehicles. We've seen houses and annexes floating down. There you can see the National Guard has been called in to help rescue people. There are so many roads that are washed out. Interstates remain closed. Those people trapped on I-40 that you mentioned, west of Nashville, water in front and behind them. There you can see homes being surrounded by water. Thousands of people displaced tonight and new evacuations now in north Nashville near Metro Center due to a leaky levee on the Cumberland River.

Officials are overwhelmed at this hour. There have been at least 600 water rescues, and that number continues to climb. The mayor says he's worried about the infrastructure because of the power of this water. They're asking people to conserve water as well because they're worried about the water supply. Right now it's OK, but they're not sure if that's going to continue.

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Children's Hospital had to move patients after the basement got flooded.

And this is not just Nashville, Don. We've had problems as well in Memphis with hundreds of people having to be evacuated there. So this is not going to go away tomorrow. This is going to continue tonight, but the best thing I can tell you, after 15 to 20 inches of rain in some of these areas, the worst of the heavy rain is over and done with, but now it's headed to the Appalachians. We've got flood watches tonight from Ohio all the way down to the Florida Panhandle.

LEMON: Jacqui, did you know that this is the end of an era here at CNN?

JERAS: Are you talking about our set?

LEMON: The mother ship is going away.

JERAS: Yes.

LEMON: But guess what? This is the last broadcast on the mother ship.

JERAS: I know. Bye-bye, weather center.

LEMON: Yes.

JERAS: So excited. We get new weather equipment, too. You'll have to watch. I'll be there 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning in the "NEWSROOM."

LEMON: It will be fun. It's been great working with you on this center. We'll be even better on the new set. Jacqui, thank you very much.

You know, statistics show the odds are against a convict, and more often than not, he repeats his mistakes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I was in McDonalds, working in the parking lot. Wouldn't even let me inside the building.

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LEMON: One judge is talking tough to help prisoners stay straight. Hear how and why he is doing that.

And who would pay six figures for one piece of paper? Well, they say it's going to happen in June. We'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: More and more states are releasing prisoners early just to save money. So, some say the need to help inmates reform and improve their lives is more urgent now than ever. In tonight's "What Matters," we profile one judge who is taking on the challenge to inspire the incarcerated, since he knows exactly where they're coming from.

Judge Greg Mathis has spent 11 seasons presiding on TV on his own television show. He also leads a black prisoner initiative called PEER where he goes behind bars to try to motivate inmates. PEER stands for Prisoner Empowerment Education and Respect. And earlier, Judge Mathis told me why he started it.

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JUDGE GREG MATHIS, CREATOR, PEER PRISONER INITIATIVE: I'm an ex- offender as a kid and was able to overcome that, get an education go to law school, become a judge, having my record expunged. And so I know that there's a path of empowerment for those who are incarcerated and it's necessary for us as a society to have those incarcerated come home as productive citizens.

And so that's my inspiration. One, it worked for me and I'm giving back to those who need the same type of motivation. And two, I want to make sure we're safe, and I want to make sure that we don't continue to spend more on incarcerating our young people than we do on educating our young people.

LEMON: All right, that's you. And I've heard your story. I've seen it reported on television. I've heard it in person from you speaking. I've actually met you. You care. You're passionate about it. But how do you get others to care? How do you get the people who are watching at home to really care about prisoners?

MATHIS: Yes, that's a great question, Don, because for the most part society doesn't. They assume if you're convicted and you're in prison, you deserve to be there and you don't deserve any help. So I approach it from the standpoint of fiscal conservatism, even though I'm a Democrat.

LEMON: OK, OK.

MATHIS: And the fact is, it's certainly more fiscal conservative to invest more in education than in -- and rehabilitation than just incarceration. Right now, we have very few rehabilitation programs in the prisons and very few reentry programs when they leave prison. So what happens is, the 50,000 or so that we pay for a prisoner to be housed in jail for one year, he comes back two years later and we're paying that same 50,000 over and over.

LEMON: We've been covering a lot of stories about the violence in Chicago and other cities. I am told there's a direct pipeline from the youth to those prisons and then back again.

MATHIS: Absolutely. There are certainly role models, negative in many urban areas, where the youngsters follow the old-heads, as they call them, who are involved in criminal activity. But there's also a direct pipeline between failed education systems and the prison systems. 80 percent of those in prison have no GED, no high school diploma. So we must also address the failing public schools in the urban areas of America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And our thanks to Judge Greg Mathis.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wasn't sure that I should actually come tonight. Biden talked me into it. He leaned over and he said, Mr. President, this is no ordinary dinner, this is a big (EXPLETIVE DELETED) meal.

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LEMON: President Obama censored on national television, a sign of a successful speech. The White House Correspondents' Dinner. Stick around for some laughs, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Just call the commander-in-chief the comedian-in-chief. President Obama showed off his funny side at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night and no one was safe from the teasing, from the vice president, Joe Biden, to Jay Leno. Take a listen.

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OBAMA: I wasn't sure that I should actually come tonight. Biden talked me into it. He leaned over and he said, Mr. President --

(LAUGHTER)

-- This is no ordinary dinner, this is a big (EXPLETIVE DELETED) meal.

(APPLAUSE)

It's been quite a year since I've spoken here last. Lots of ups, lots of downs, except for my approval ratings, which have just gone down. But that's politics. That doesn't bother me. Besides, I happen to know that my approval ratings are still very high in the country of my birth.

(LAUGHTER)

So, the Jonas Brothers are here. They're out there somewhere. Sasha and Malia are huge fans, but, boys, don't get any ideas. I have two words for you -- predator drones.

(LAUGHTER)

I saw Michael Steele backstage while we were taking pictures, AKA, notorious GOP.

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LEMON: The president's audience, by the way, included everyone from Washington's power brokers to the Jonas Brothers and a whole bunch of Hollywood celebrities.

So, listen, everyone, this is it from the mother ship. It's not it for me. We sent out a tweet. One of the guys here and everyone said, are you leaving? This is the last broadcast and I'm honored to be able to broadcast from the last show from this set, which debuted in December of 1999 as the network's -- part of the network's millennium coverage. So it's been here quite a long time. And boy, some big stories have been told from here. Some big journalists have sat here. I have some big shoes to fill. But we are going to go upstairs to our seventh floor studio. We have a much nicer, beautiful state-of-the- art studio.

So listen, I want to show you some pictures and a couple of tweets. Someone said, oh, my gosh, I thought you were leaving; Don, tell me you're not leaving. Like 20 or 30 of them.

I am not leaving, but this is the last broadcast on this set. So, we took a little pictures and we're having a little fun here. We are going to miss it. State-of-the-art studio upstairs. It will give us much better news gathering abilities and we hope it pays off for you.

So, tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m., it will debut here on the Atlanta -- on our Atlanta facility.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure you tune in "AMERICAN MORNING" 6:00 a.m. for the latest on what is going on in Times Square. Good night.