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Hiring Illegal Immigrants; Stocks Rise on Jobless Report; Alleged Spies Due in Court; 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Questionnaire Sparks Controversy; White House's Directive to BP; LeBron James will Announce his New Home Court Tonight

Aired July 08, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories for Thursday, July 8th.

Heat records crumble on the Eastern Seaboard. Now the hot air is sinking south.

BP may cap its gushing well three weeks ahead of schedule.

Plus, a warning from a doctor who studied the health implications of the Exxon Valdez spill two decades ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: BP is forcing them into this situation where BP holds all the cards, and BP is letting these workers get sick.

HARRIS: And he is the grand prize in the NBA's free agency scramble. And the LeBron-athon playing out to its end game tonight. King James will announce his home court.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm melting. I'm melting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, this is very hot. We're not used to this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty disgusting out here. It's hard to go to work in the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm spending more time at work than I otherwise would because the air conditioning is awesome there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The weather is actually so hot, it is killing people. At least two confirmed deaths at this point from the heat. It is sweltering in the Northeast.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Other big stories we're following for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

BP reportedly plans to cap the Gulf oil well by July 27th. "The Wall Street Journal" says that's the same day BP releases its second quarter earnings. For some time now, officials have said drilling on the relief well is ahead of an initial completion day of mid-August.

The king commands the courts. Tonight on ESPN, basketball superstar LeBron James will answer a question people have been asking for months: Will the two-time MVP free agent stay in Cleveland or take a multimillion-dollar offer from another team? Our sports guy Max Kellerman weighs in on the decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's pretty obvious from the facts from day one that if he wasn't staying in Cleveland, the logical destination for LeBron James was New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Huh. All right.

The Pentagon has e-mailed U.S. troops a survey asking them what they think about repealing the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. There are more than 100 questions on it. The president and top military brass support a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell once the military completes its internal review, but some are critical of using a survey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE KORB, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: It's a terrible idea because, really, what you are doing is you're giving the troops the impression that they can change the policy or alter the policy. Also, if you go back and you take a look at how the troops felt about other social changes, whether integrating African-Americans, opening up combat opportunities for women, had you taken a survey, those things -- and you paid attention to it, those things would never have happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Illegal immigrants coming to the United States in search of jobs. What about the companies that hire them? The debate over penalizing those businesses before the Supreme Court now and right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, we have all seen pictures of illegal workers being rounded up. But what about the economies that hire them? The issue of punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants will go before the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. It is another immigration case coming out of Arizona.

Andrew Thomas is a former Maricopa County attorney who helped write the law. He is also a candidate for state attorney general. And Glenn Hamer is president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. He opposed the law and still stands in opposition to the law.

They are both joining us from Phoenix.

And Glenn, let me start with you. This E-Verify system, help me understand this. This is a system that is supposed to help employers and keep them, really, from hiring undocumented workers.

Is the system working?

GLENN HAMER, PRESIDENT, ARIZONA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Well, the system, overall, is working, but there are a few holes in it. The major hole is in the area of identity theft. The system does a good job of determining if a Social Security number is valid, but there are still problems in terms of whether that Social Security number actually belongs to the person who presents it.

HARRIS: OK.

So, Andrew, is fixing that system, is that a commonsense way to go here? And should E-Verify be mandatory for all employers?

ANDREW THOMAS, FMR. MARICOPA COUNTY ATTORNEY: Well, E-Verify certainly is a very effective tool for trying to ferret out illegal immigrants in the workplace, and Arizona law has boot-strapped onto that, and I think it is working effectively. We do have a problem with identity theft, particularly in Arizona, and that relates to our illegal immigration problem. So I agree with Glenn as far as that goes.

But our employer sanctions law has been very effective. It has had a broad deterrent effect, I believe, on illegal immigration, and the studies show that the illegal immigrant population has dropped anywhere from 18 to 30 percent over the last couple years. And I believe the employer sanctions law played a major role if that success.

HARRIS: And Glenn, if you would, explain your view of this, the basis of the challenge to that 2007 Arizona immigration law.

HAMER: Sure. Sure.

Well, first, we support penalties against companies who hire illegal workers. There's no disagreement there.

We believe, though, that this is a federal responsibility. Let's remember, the E-Verify database, it's not a state-by-state database. It's a federal database. And we believe that the sanctions should also be on the federal level.

Now, we also support -- we do believe that it would be appropriate. We should have one standard for every company in the United States, and it should be the E-Verify or another system that is bulletproof so employers can easily and without much cost determine the legal status of their employees.

HARRIS: And Andrew, is this another case of the state stepping into an area where the federal government hasn't been as effective as you think and many others think it could and should?

THOMAS: That's exactly right. If the federal government were doing its job, then these reforms would not be necessary. But the reality is, we've had illegal immigration building in Arizona and throughout the country for decades.

The federal government has not done its job, and so you're seeing Arizona, in particular, because we are the hardest-hit state of any in terms of illegal immigration, stepping up and passing one reform after another. And they're working.

They've been upheld by the courts. The employer sanctions law was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, is now going before the U.S. Supreme Court. If I'm elected attorney general, I will defend the law next year. And I think that it's very defensible because they're well-crafted laws, they're working, and they're necessary because the federal government is simply not willing to take care of the problem.

HARRIS: Glenn, can I have you take on a bigger question here? Is there a vested interest by businesses in this country to not push for a tougher verification system? Employers actually want the wiggle room to hire undocumented workers?

HAMER: No. Absolutely not. Employers want a bulletproof, 100 percent functional federal system to determine the legality of their employees.

Now, employers also want a system where they can legally bring in workers of all skill levels, who want to have the ability to bring in high-skilled workers, who want to have the ability to bring in workers in certain industries like agriculture, where you simply cannot get domestic workers to fill the needs. Even in this tough economy, we haven't seen people flood out of Phoenix and move to Yuma to work in the field.

So, there are a number of aspects to this problem, but we absolutely support a workable, even a mandatory, verification regime. But it shouldn't just be Arizona companies. It should be every company in the United States participating in it.

HARRIS: Andrew, OK. Well, then, why did you write the law? Why did you write and push for the sanctions against employers? Do employers have a vested interest in not pushing for stronger enforcement in this area because they want the wiggle room to hire undocumented workers?

THOMAS: Well, I think there certainly are some employers that fall into that category, and they may not be the ones Glenn represents, but there are certainly some shady companies out there. And I know because, as county attorney, we busted a number of them, and we suspended or revoked their business license in a few cases. And we had raids on businesses and found a lot of illegal immigrants employed there, and it was clearly a concerted effort.

So, we do have employers and managers involved in illegal hiring. And, again, the reason Arizona has had to do this is because the federal government has refused to.

They have not taken care of the problem, and any time they're willing to step up and take care of the problem for us, I'm sure we can find something else to spend our time and money on. But we've been waiting for decades. They've refused to do it, and we now have a crisis situation in Arizona, and this law deals with that.

HARRIS: Yes.

And Glenn, one last question. Why is it -- it doesn't feel that enough of the fire is being trained at Congress for not taking up this issue.

HAMER: Well, look, I will tell you right now, the business community in Arizona is aiming its fire at Washington. Andy Thomas is fundamentally correct that this all stems from the federal government's inability and unwillingness to secure our border. And it also stems from the federal government's unwillingness to compensate Arizona for the costs of this problem.

I mean, when Janet Napolitano was our governor, she held a press conference in D.C. demanding hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government, from the Bush administration, to pay for the cost of illegal aliens. Well, those bills are still in her desk now. And I would encourage her to rifle through her desk, and for the federal government to step up and help out the state of Arizona.

HARRIS: Yes. Well, let's aim the fire where --

HAMER: That would be constructive action, in our view.

HARRIS: I kind of agree with you.

HAMER: And that would help dampen a lot of enthusiasm in the state of Arizona to pass these types of laws.

HARRIS: Andrew, Glenn, gentlemen, enjoyed the discussion. Thank you both for your time today.

HAMER: Thank you.

THOMAS: You bet.

HARRIS: One day we're worried about a double-dip recession, and the next day the market is rallying. We'll find out what they're doing today. Taking stock of your money in a live report, next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's see here. Let's get you to the very best financial Web site on the Web, CNNMoney.com.

The lead story, the world's biggest companies. And, of course, it's Wal-Mart. It's always Wal-Mart, isn't it, leading the pack here?

Let's take a look at the Dow, Big Board.

Thirty-seven points. We're in positive territory here. I'm not sure if we are on session highs, just below, or just above, but we'll talk to Alison Kosik about that in just a second, because we have got some encouraging news when it comes to employment. First time claims for unemployment benefits sliding, pretty dramatically, more than expected by the analysts.

And Alison, what's the reaction so far on Wall Street? We've got a nice little bump, but it's still a small bump.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the rally that we saw at the opening bell, Tony, has lost a little steam, because when it comes down to it, the number that you were talking about is better, but it's really not great. The good news is we're moving in the right direction, we're just not moving fast enough.

The number of new jobless claims filed last week fell by 21,000 to 454,000. The reality is, Tony, that level is still high.

But we are making improvement from the same time last year, where the number was at 571,000. Compare it to two years ago, you know, we've got a lot of ground to make up.

We've still got layoffs happening. Case in point, Wells Fargo is cutting 3,800 jobs.

We're also seeing the ripple effect in the retail sector. Wall Street today is getting retail sales numbers for June, and at best they're tepid. Analysts say these retailers are still having to discount their items just to get people in the stores to spend money.

So, that's the reality out there -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. And we're talking about a slide. And we're talking about some jobs here.

Are these good jobs? Are these good-paying jobs? What are we talking about here?

KOSIK: And that's another issue, because even if there are jobs out there, they're not necessarily quality jobs. And that's what some traders have been talking to me about, is that even if things start moving, and we see jobs start adding there, the quality of jobs out there, that's questionable. And what salaries go with those jobs as well, because that ends up being the buying power for consumers.

The other bad thing is that those jobs could be temporary, and then people are on the unemployment line again -- Tony.

HARRIS: So, if the jobs market is still precarious -- and the numbers seem to indicate that -- I'm trying to figure out how we go from deep depression and a big sell-off to a nice rally over the last couple of days.

Can you explain what's going on here?

KOSIK: Well, I mean, it does. It comes down to jobs.

But then you get these bleak outlooks from the International Monetary Fund, let's say. The IMF came out with this bleak outlook saying that they expect to see slow growth in the next five years, growth at only 2.6 percent in 2015. That's five years from now, and that's worse than where we are at right now.

So, this is really worrisome, because we're still, according to the IMF, going to be plagued by these problems -- the problems of credit, the problems of joblessness, the problems of housing. And the worrisome thing is that, you think about it, we're in 2010. This is five years from now. We could still be feeling the same things we're feeling now then.

Something to think about and something to hopefully prepare for -- Tony.

HARRIS: This idea -- you had a guest with you a couple of days ago who talked about this recovery being more L-shaped than anything else, more than V, more than U. Maybe that's another indication of that.

KOSIK: Exactly. And then you get this worrisome thing called deflation, where we're kind of stuck in this pattern of low interest rates, no jobs, and we don't see the economy moving in that way. You know, it's anyone's guess what can happen, but I think what it really all stems from is we need to see these European debt issues kind of go away. We need to feel a little more secure about what's happening overseas to really feel secure about what's going on here, because we are all tied globally. And what affects them overseas affects us here in the United States -- Tony.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

Alison Kosik on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for us.

KOSIK: Sure.

HARRIS: Alison, good to see you. See you next hour. Thank you.

KOSIK: You got it.

HARRIS: Russians accused of spying while living in the United States could soon be heading back to their homeland, and a Russian scientist convicted for spying for the United States could be part of the deal.

We will go live for the latest in New York.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HARRIS: Ten suspected Russian spies scheduled for arraignment this afternoon in New York. At the same time, word of a spy swap. A Russian scientist convicted of spying for the United States already out of Russia and heading east.

Let's get caught up on this one. CNN's Susan Candiotti with us live from New York.

And Susan, if you would, what is the latest on all this intrigue?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tony, this is happening so quickly, it practically makes your head spin. But according to a source with details of this investigation, there are pleas expected from everyone this afternoon at what had been scheduled to be an arraignment. That's where you enter a plea. And we are told that the plea will be guilty.

Now, according to the source, they're going to plead to failing to register as a foreign agent. And as part of a plea deal, the other charge against them, conspiracy to commit money laundering, would simply go away. It would be dropped.

Now, this is all said to be a part of an elaborate spy swap that has been in the works according to sources for several days now. What would happen as part of the spy swap is that, according to a Russian state-run news agency, at least one person, this convicted Russian spy who has been in Russia and convicted in 2004, has already, we have been told, confirmed to CNN, been put on a plane in Russia and has already been transported to Vienna.

Now, according to that Russian convicted spy's lawyer, that's what they were told, that he's already in Vienna, that his father was informed of that information. So this is the man believed to be a part of this huge spy swap.

Remember, 10 people are in custody in this case. One remains at large.

You have children of at least two couples and other children from another couple also involved here. And we don't know what's going to happen to them.

This is all part of a 10-year investigation that was conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office here in Manhattan, as well as the FBI. And so for it to after this amount of time finally come together so quickly is just amazing. And the thing about it is we are told they could be leaving the United States as early as tonight. And, Tony, one last thing. We expect there to be a massive amount of reporters, you can imagine, at the courthouse this afternoon. A lot of people lined up to see for themselves what's going to happen.

And as part of the publicity, especially in this town, one of the newspapers, look at this headline: "Spy Swap," and there's a picture of one of the suspects here, Anna Chapman, the redhead that you've been seeing so much publicity about. The sub-headline, "But Can We Keep Her?"

Already, they're joking about some people who might feel that way.

HARRIS: You know, you have obscured the name of the newspaper, but I think we can figure it out.

Susan, appreciate it. Thank you.

A new tropical depression formed overnight in the Gulf. How will it impact the oil in the Gulf?

Rob Marciano is next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Members of the military receiving a questionnaire, and the question on the table is whether it's a good idea to take the survey on Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Some 400,000 troops are being asked to take that survey about repealing the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. There questionnaire focuses on the impact of the ban. And there are some pretty intimate questions, we understand. But now a legal group representing gay and lesbian troops is telling them not to take the survey.

For more on that, let's get you to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Barbara, good to see you. What's at issue here for this group?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, good morning to you.

What's at issue is there are a lot of worries about this survey that if gay and lesbian service members -- Military members -- respond to the survey, that they could inadvertently be outed and face prosecution and face ultimately being thrown out of the U.S. Military. The Service Members Legal Defense Network represents gay and lesbian service members and they issued a statement this morning saying quote "At this time SLDN cannot recommend that lesbian, gay, or bisexual service members participate in any survey being administered by the Department of Defense."

What they are talking about is the survey that went out yesterday to 400,000 members of the Military, more than 100 questions asking them what they think the issues are to be implemented in the Military if and when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is repealed. That, of course, is up to the President and Congress to do. The idea is Military members are now being asked their opinion, their views, quite remarkable about the implementation challenges.

The questions are remarkably intimate. It starts by basically asking service members in a unit that you serve in, if you knew your commander was gay or lesbian, would you have a problem serving under someone who is openly gay or lesbian? Then it gets on to these questions about behavior in the war zone when, of course, troops are in very close living quarters. It asks, if you had to share a room, bathroom, or open bay shower facilities in a war zone with other service members believed to be gay or lesbian, how would you react? Would you talk about behavior issues? Would you consult a chaplain, or would you just get on with your Military life such as it is in a war zone under any circumstances? And would repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve, would that impact your Military service? Would it make you decide not to serve in the Military?

I have to tell you, this whole issue is becoming increasingly controversial because, as we have talked to experts in the field, they are very delicately commenting on, you know, the Military saw its way through social change decades ago on integration, on women being allowed to serve in Military units. And this, now, these questions, asking the troops their opinion about these types of issues is becoming a very delicate matter, Tony.

HARRIS: Boy, it really sounds like it. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.

Barbara, appreciate it. Thank you.

STARR: Sure.

HARRIS: The rumors and speculation will come to an end. LeBron James gets ready to announce his new team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So police in Norway today announced the arrest of three suspected al Qaeda henchmen. Authorities say they were players in a plot targeting the New York subway system last summer, as well as a shopping center in Manchester, England.

International security correspondent Paula Newton is live from London, to connect the dots for us. And, Paula, if you would, how are the suspects connected to the New York City subway plot?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: All of them seem to be connected to a so-called al Qaeda facilitator from Peshawar, Pakistan, who American authorities have given a name to and have issued a warrant, but have no idea where this facilitator might be.

How did they get the information? Through surveillance and intercepts, both through e-mails and phone calls. And what's happened here is they have linked more than a dozen people now to both training and recruitment in Pakistan, then they fanned out to Europe and the United States, plotting things like that attack on the subway that was foiled in the fall.

What's been so interesting here is how interconnected they all have been, according to U.S. authorities, to this kind of training and this kind of very premeditated attack on so-called soft targets or proposed attacks on soft targets.

Now, these three men, one from Uzbek origin, one, an ugar (ph) from China, the other, an Iraqi, seemingly not interconnected. But in some of those intercepts, including a man who was apprehended here in the United Kingdom yesterday, they were talking in e-mails about a marriage. And that marriage, U.S. prosecutors say and British authors here say, was really an event. Whether it was going to be a bomb attack on a mall or a bomb attack on the New York subway system.

And still very chilling, you know, Tony, yesterday we had the five- year anniversary of the transit bombings here in London. The explosives, authorities say they were looking at -- same kind of portable devices. Very crude but their impact, quite deadly.

HARRIS: Absolutely. All right. Appreciate the update. Paula Newton, for us.

Paula, good to see you. Thank you.

A CNN oil alert on Day 80 of the disaster in the Gulf. Oral arguments challenging the Obama administration's six-month ban on exploratory deepwater drilling begin this afternoon in a federal appeals court in Louisiana. This following a scathing report released by an advocacy group on extensive oil industry ties among the court's judges.

Other top stories we're following for you. A tropical depression northeast of Brownsville, Texas, expected to make landfall this hour. The National Hurricane Center does not expect TD-2 to become a named storm and says warnings will most likely be cancelled later today.

Two tourists from Hungary are still missing after a boat was hit by an unmanned barge on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, yesterday. The company that runs the popular Duck Boats has suspended operations around the country. BP says it's relief well drilling is going better than planned. And the government's point man on the disaster today, laying out a timetable for when the work may be finished.

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HARRIS: A little more than nine hours left on the clock. NBA free agent LeBron James about to make one of the most important calls of his career. He's been courted by six teams with every move seized on by a media in overdrive. We're trying to feed it here.

Our sports guy Max Kellerman comments on the hype.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: At every turn, the national media, not just ESPN, but the national media has been led around by their noses by sources with an interest in the information they were leaking. By the time everyone found out the press conference that he's holding tonight is -- or the event, the one-hour televised event at 9:00 p.m. tonight was going to be held in Greenwich, Connecticut, where the Knicks practice, everyone put two and two together. And now this report comes out because it killed all the drama.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": So how do you resist the temptation to be led around by the nose?

KELLERMAN: You have to look - anytime there's been analysis of the actual facts that have come out about this, about LeBron James - that's another thing. You read about the vitriol in the national press, when it looks like, oh, wait a minute, he's not going to the Bulls, he's not staying in Cleveland, he is going to the Knick. The vitriol in the press, he's a prima donna and this whole process is ridiculous. It's sports.

There's stuff going on in the Gulf, right. It's sports. You should have some fun with it. I think the whole thing has been pretty fun. It's been fun to talk about and speculate about. It's pretty obvious from the facts from day one, that if he wasn't staying in Cleveland, the logical destination for LeBron James was New York.

So if you took out the commentary and just looked at the actual reporting, that's the conclusion would you draw. But there were the facts laid out by all of the national media, and even by some of the media in New York. And then the commentary was, the Knicks have no chance. Really? They have the cap room to sign another star. It's the biggest market in the country.

Basketball. This is another thing that was really interesting --

ROBERTS: Do you have a question you'd like to ask?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": I do.

ROBERTS: Wind him up and put him on the table. KELLERMAN: Basketball is an American team sport where one player makes more of a difference than in football or baseball. So the idea that, well, he can't go to team X because team X stinks - well not once they have LeBron James it doesn't stink anymore. I notice this kind of anger in the press that this 25-year-old who hasn't won a championship yet is making everyone jump through these hoops. The press does not have to jump through these hoops. It doesn't need to be covered. I don't need to be talking about it. ESPN doesn't need to be airing it. We're doing it because there's tremendous interest because he's an interesting player.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Max is mostly right. New York doesn't have a shot. Big dollars and big decision for LeBron James. We will hear from NBA TV analyst Eric Snow and Cleveland Plain Dealer sports reporter Branson Wrights on where they think LeBron will land.

Good, good, good, good, good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A man police calls a serial killer makes his first court appearance in Los Angeles today. Lonnie David Franklin Jr. is charged with killing 10 women over a 25-year span. Detectives used DNA from the crime scenes to find a family member. The tactic led them to Franklin.

Here's CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He preyed at night, trolling the streets of South Central L.A. for victims and there were many. It is believed Deborah Jackson was the first to die. The 29- year-old cocktail waitress left a friend's home on August 10, 1985. Her body was found days later. Jackson was shot to death.

Over the next two decades, he would take many more lives. All but one were black women, some working as prostitutes. Most were shot to death.

DET. DENNIS KILCOYNE, LOS ANGELES POLICE: He would spot them and does spot them, victimize them, and then just discards their bodies in alleys like they are trash. He is a monster.

KAYE: A monster that detective Dennis Kilcoyne pursued for years. And he and his team believed it would only be a matter of time.

KILCOYNE: We've got this beautiful DNA profile, all these dashes and dots and this and that, but there's no name or address or face to go with it.

KAYE: Now they say they do. Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. The 57- year-old was arrested Wednesday in front of his home in South LA. KEVIN MCCLURE, CAPTAIN, LOS ANGELES POLICE: We made an arrest here in the 1700 block of 81st Street of the suspect that has been known to many as "the Grim Sleeper."

KAYE: He's suspected of killing at least 11 women. But for now, police will only charge him with 10 murders. He doesn't have a lawyer and there has been no plea. Police say he is the killer they call "the Grim Sleeper." A name coined because of the long gaps between killings.

News of the arrest reached the family of Alicia Alexander, who on September 11, 1988, asked her father if he need anything from the store. She was found murdered days later.

PORTER ALEXANDER, FATHER OF VICTIM: My body, it was such a good relief that I found that I have.

KAYE: Nineteen years after Alicia was taken, Franklin allegedly claimed his last victim. Janecia Peters was discovered on January 1, 2007. Shot in the back and dumped in a garbage bag.

A quarter after century of killing is over. And now, police say that they can finally put a name to the Grim Sleeper.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: So we're getting news now that the White House is demanding additional answers to questions from BP and the clock is running on getting those answers.

Let's get to our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry.

Ed, what are you learning?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, we've got some new. Senior administration officials here are telling us they've just sent a directive to Bob Dudley at BP. It's going to be written in the hand of Thad Allen, the incident commander. But basically, demanding some answers, because BP, we're told in the next couple of days wants to move forward on two simultaneous actions that could be very dramatic in this whole story.

First of all, they want to move forward on hooking up the Helix, to try to start collecting more oil. As you know, if they hook up the Helix, they think they could collect about another 25,000 barrels a day. But at the same time, BP also simultaneously wants to take the top cap off and replace it with a new sealing cap. The problem in the short-term is that would mean more oil being released out into the water while they try to move forward on these two simultaneous actions.

Right now, they've got about 25,000 barrels a day that's being collected between that top hat and between the choke line. But essentially, they want to take the top hat offline and replace it with the Helix, which would bring in, they hope, about 25,000 barrels a day. The net of all that, what that would mean at the end of the day is, if this were successful, they'd be collecting about 35,000 barrels of oil a day, much more than they are right now. But of course, that's a big if. If everything comes into place.

The reason why the White House believes that in conjunction with BP, they're going to move forward rather rapidly here, is they're getting a weather window. Because of the tropical storms and what-not, they wouldn't be able to do this. But right now they think they have a weather window of about eight days where things will be pretty clear and they may be able to move forward on these two simultaneous actions.

But the directive the White House is putting out just now, is basically telling BP in the next 24 hours, they want answers on safety to make sure these two actions can move forward safely and we don't have a repeat of what we've seen before where all of these promises have fallen through. The White House, we're told, is confident that they'll get these answers from BP this evening. And then tomorrow, in Houston, administration officials working with BP might move forward on these two actions and get it going this weekend. The hope, obviously, that they can start collecting a whole lot more oil -- Tony.

HARRIS: And the White House clearly with this letter, covering its flank in the event something goes terribly wrong here.

Our senior White House correspondent on the story. Ed Henry for us.

Ed, great to see you. Thank you.

HENRY: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: Which city will hit the jackpot as one of basketball's biggest stars gets ready to name his next home. We will talk about what LeBron James would bring to a city in the next hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, and it is plenty.

Plus, two decades later, looking back on the Exxon Valdez oil disaster and the response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY DALTHROP, EXXON VALDEX CLEANUP WORKER: I'm going blind.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: You think you were poisoned out there?

DALTHROP: Yes, yes. Silently poisoned. And that's what's happening to those people down in the Gulf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: CNN's Drew Griffin reports on how BP seems to be following the same playbook.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Take a look at these pictures out of - do we have the pictures? Oh, no, no, no, we don't. Do we have tape of the whale? We've got a beached whale. Just trying to reroute some pictures here in Everett, Washington, very near Seattle. Our Seattle affiliate is providing us some pictures and we'll get you those in just a second. I think I see them cueing up and there you go.

My understanding is that the whale is still alive. No idea of just how long the whale has been beached. You see people -- and there it is right there -- just splashing water on the whale. Probably for as long as is necessary until the tide rolls in, which I believe is pretty soon and hopefully carries the whale back out to sea. But this is the scene developing right now in Everett, Washington, very near Seattle. We'll keep an eye on this and hope for a good-news outcome on this.

The drilling of the relief well represents the best hope of stopping the Gulf oil leak. We've been telling you that for months now. But it is a process with a lot of technical difficulties.

CNN'S Tom Foreman investigates the challenges and the back-up plans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDNET (on camera): This whole idea of drilling down through a mile of ocean water and then two miles of rock and sand, and seabed. Look as we dive down here and just contemplate what we're talking about.

You're going through all of this, all in the hopes of getting something about the size of a dinner plate. That's how big the leaking pipe is all the way down where they're trying to hit it. That's a massive technological challenge. So, what if they miss, then what? Well, for starters, they can try again.

Look at this, these are the relief wells coming in here that we've been talking about all this time. If they were to miss this, with the one that's closest down here, they can dry again. This drill can be repositioned and they can take stab after stab at it trying to get close as long as the equipment holds up and there's hope that it might work.

Then let's say they actually made the intercept. This is what we're talking about. Again, the pipe itself would probably be only about this wide underneath there. They've got to intercept it and then penetrate it from the side, cutting in from the sides over here. Once they do that, here's a measure of how difficult this is and how tough this pipe is. The actual cut in could take a full week to accomplish.

If they accomplish that, though, if that's done, then what you're going to see is the pumping of this heavy drilling fluid or mud we've talked about. It will come down from here into the line, and gradually it will start stacking up in the line as it's pushed upward by the oil. As it stacks up, because it's so heavy, it will be pushing down.

So let's say that's not enough to stop it. Well then Sanjay, the option is, they look over here to the second line. They bring the second line and they try to bring in even more mud at a higher rate, pushing it in, increasing the weight to many, many, many tons. The belief is that somewhere they reach a stasis here, and that cuts off the flow of the oil and it stops it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)