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New Setback in the Gulf; Vatican Rewrites Abuse Rules; Final Hurdle for Wall Street Reform

Aired July 15, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning, everybody.

I'm Don Lemon. Kyra is off today.

Has BP fixed the fix? Well, we're hearing the company's overcome the latest setback.

New rules from the Vatican: having child pornography could be added to its list of most serious crimes.

And a ghost from New York's distant past. A ship from the 1700s is found under the World Trade Center site. What is it?

Quickly, though, we want to talk about the Labor Department's weekly jobless report that just came in this morning. It came out within the last hour, as a matter of fact.

It shows a number of people filing new claims for unemployment fell last week to 429,000. That's still a very big number, though. That's 29,000 fewer than the previous week. Some 14.6 million Americans are still out of work.

We'll talk more about the job market coming up this hour, and we're going to talk about Americans who are sadly losing their homes, more and more of them. It looks like there could be a record number of foreclosures by the end of this year.

And it's another day, another setback in the Gulf oil spill disaster. Here's the latest news on day 87 of this Gulf oil crisis.

Equipment that BP was using to help stop the oil gushing into the water from a ruptured well, well that is now leaking. That forced an immediate stop to the crucial testing that had gotten under way.

The government's point man on the crisis, Admiral Thad Allen, who we've heard so much from -- he concedes that the experts wrestled with the decision and sided with caution. A cautious approach, he says.

Just minutes ago the oil company announced that it is working around the problem and hopes to resume testing sometime this afternoon. We'll stay on top of it for you.

So we want to go to the ground now and get the very latest developments. And for that, we go to CNN's David Mattingly. He is in New Orleans.

Another setback -- another day, another setback, David.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, another setback, but now another step forward. We've got word from BP now that they have been able to remove the leaking line that they had on there, replace it, and now they're back on track to get this all-important pressure testing of this well going again.

They've got a lot of things they've got to do now. They've got to test the seals. They've got to bring the ROVs back online. But again, they are back on track. This leak costing them probably about 24 hours in this process, but they are prepared to move forward again.

Another bit of good news that we found out in the technical briefing was that the oil that we saw spewing out in the Gulf was only a fraction of the oil that's coming out of there. A lot -- they were able to restore the collection procedures to the Q-4000 and Helix Producer up on the surface so they were bringing up a lot of that oil that they were before up to the containment vessels on the surface.

When they get closure and get ready to close this cap in again, they will cut that off and try to do what they were not able to do last night.

Everything seemed to be going so well originally when they closed that first valve and they were able to shut off the oil that was spewing out of the top of that, but that's when they discovered the leak in the choke line, but again they removed the choke line overnight, were able to replace it and now they're going to get back on track with what they had planned and what Thad Allen laid out for us yesterday.

LEMON: David, is there a timeline in all of this?

MATTINGLY: They're not really putting out a timeline because they're sort of feeling their way through this. They've got to make sure that that cap is going to be able to close the way they want it to.

They're going to start doing that a little later this morning and maybe by this afternoon they're going to be able to start resuming their plans to engage with that pressure checking to see if the well can handle the pressure once they close it all up.

And again, that's going to be important because they're going to be getting information that's going to help them when they finally have the final solution where they're drilling down with that relief well to fill it up with cement.

So this is going to be very important over the next 48 hours to see what they learn and what they can do with this. One of the hopes is that in the interim, they'll be able to cap this well and essentially make it hurricane-proof because of a tropical storm or if a hurricane comes through, they'll have to stop all those surface collection operations and move them out for safety. Meanwhile, all the oil would be leaking into the Gulf if they're not able to cap this. So, again, back on track. The next 48 hours, we're going to see how this well works and how this well can handle the pressure as BP continues to go through their technical procedures to make it happen.

LEMON: David Mattingly in New Orleans. David, thank you.

And make sure you tune in to CNN tonight for an "AC 360" exclusive. Three fishermen who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. They heard the explosion in the Gulf and were the first to arrive on the scene of the burning oil rig.

Tonight they share never-before-seen photos and video only with Anderson. That's tonight, 10:00 p.m., only here on CNN.

Meantime, the Vatican is releasing a new rulebook, making it easier to punish pedophile priests and other abusive clergy members. It's all part of an effort to clamp down on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. But it looks like the new rules will firm up existing practices, not rewrite the church's entire approach.

Atika Shubert is live in Rome for us.

Atika, what's changing? What's staying the same here?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, really, there's nothing new in this in the sense that these are really just norms, standards that have been practiced for the last few years or so.

This new document that's been released today really just codifies those practices and really puts it into law. Some of the new things that we've seen here is an increase in the statute of limitations, not just 10 years now but 20 years.

Also explicitly making child pornography -- the holding of child pornography a grave offense. Also that the abuse of mentally disabled adults will now be treated as equal as that of the abuse of a minor.

So those are some of the specific points. But overall, this document is really about streamlining the process by which a suspected abuser is brought to a church tribunal, and then if found guilty, stripped of its priesthood or otherwise punished.

Now the question is, is this enough? For victims, this is not likely to be much. This is -- these are minor revisions at best. But within the Vatican, this is seen as a very important step.

One indication of that is the fact that the briefing was carried out tonight by Monsignor Charles Scicluna, and he is the chief prosecutor. And he made it very clear that this is a work in progress but it is a critical instrument for him to crack down on child abuse cases.

LEMON: Atika Shubert, thank you very much for your reporting.

Now that we know that -- what the Vatican changes are, the big question is, will any of this work?

CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen weighs in coming up in about a half hour right here on CNN.

There's a new twist to tell you about in the murky case of an Iranian nuclear scientist who claims he was kidnapped by the CIA. "The Washington Post" is now reporting that Shahram Amiri was paid more than $5 million by the intelligence agency to provide information on Iran's nuclear program.

The U.S. says he was a willing defector.

Amiri left Washington abruptly yesterday arriving in Tehran to a hero's welcome. The "Post" says the scientist has not obliged to give the money back but he might not be able to assess it after breaking off his deal with the CIA.

A chilling new vide has surfaced now showing a man believed to be Faisal Shahzad, the man who pleaded guilty in the failed Times Square bomb plot. The tape was obtained from the Arabic language television channel Al Arabiya. And in the clip, the speaker sits next to a gun, mumbling through an explanation about the need for a holy war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAISAL SHAHZAD, TIMES SQUARE BOMBING SUSPECT: This attack on the United States will also be a revenge attack from all -- for all the Mujahideen and the (INAUDIBLE) and the weak and oppressed people of Muslims.

For example, Baitullah Amid Shahid (ph) as well as Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, and all the Muslim Arab that had been martyred, I will take revenge on their behalf and shall -- and I really wish that the hearts of the Muslim will be pleased with this attack.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, here's what Al Arabiya is saying. They say the so- called martyrdom tape physically connects Shahzad to a larger terror network.

The Senate vote on the landmark Wall Street reform bill could come within hours. Democrats have just enough help from Republicans to pass it. But the day is still young and you never know what's going to happen on Capitol Hill.

So CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is on Capitol Hill for us live.

Brianna, good to see you. As I said, you never know what's going to happen. And this has been a long time in the making, really. You were there when the economy was on the brink of collapse two years ago. Finally we're there now. And so what's going on here?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. I mean, Don, those were some really scary times, almost two years ago, in the fall of 2008. We were covering this story around the clock.

I think America was just watching, you know, worried about their personal financial situation, and here we were waiting to see what Congress was going to do. As we know they ended up doing the bank bailout at that point. But yes, the economy was sitting there on the edge of a cliff and here we are today.

This Wall Street reform bill which was born out of that, really a Democratic backed bill, and it is expected to clear, really, its final hurdle today. A key test vote today -- Don.

LEMON: Remember, we were talking about the health care reform bill, and the biggest was like, this is so long. Nobody can read it. It's convoluted. But this thing is more than, what, 2,000 pages long. And that's quite a bit of reading.

KEILAR: Yes.

LEMON: What is in this thing and what will it do?

KEILAR: Yes. We've sort of boiled it down to a few key points just so that you can know some of the big things that are in this bill.

First, it establishes a consumer protection agency. So when you're using things like credit cards or you're getting a loan, this is supposed to stop companies from unfair practices.

One of the other things it does is it regulates derivatives. You may recall those were those really complex financial products that when they flopped, brought down Lehman Brothers, would have brought down AIG had the government not stepped in there. So it regulates those derivatives.

And also it gives the government wind-down power. You know this is something the government can do now with banks. It allows the government to have these similar wind-down powers for these huge financial firms in addition to banks, Don, and what we're expecting here, is that, you know, the votes are there.

Sixty votes are there to pass this just barely. Sixty is what is needed to pass. And that's all there is right now. One Democrat saying he's not going to vote for it. Three Republicans who have joined Democrats. But the bottom line here is we're expecting this to go to President Obama to sign next week.

LEMON: And, Brianna, it seems it's along party lines. And you said just enough support on the Republican side. Then why this partisan divide on this bill?

KEILAR: Exactly. It is almost totally on a party line here. That one Democrat -- Russ Feingold from Wisconsin -- who's not voting for it says it doesn't go far enough. You do have three moderate Republicans -- the two senators from Maine and Senator Scott Brown from Massachusetts, who have jumped on board. But by and large, Republicans say that this is overreaching. There's too much regulation. It's going to make credit less available and more expensive. And they say that too many powers are being entrusted to regulators who didn't see the financial crisis coming in 2008, but Democrats say this is hugely important.

This is sweeping legislation that is going to make sure that a financial crisis like we saw almost two years ago doesn't happen again -- Don.

LEMON: Brianna, how are you doing? I only get to see you when I fill in on the days. I don't get to see you anymore. We talk all the time. Everything good?

KEILAR: Yes, everything is good. It's so nice to see you, Don.

LEMON: All right. Take it easy. Have a great day, Brianna.

KEILAR: You too.

LEMON: Workers excavating at the site of the new World Trade Center run smack into a ghost of a past. This one is very interesting to me. I'm sure for you as well. What is it? It's a ship probably from the 18th century? I don't know.

We're going to talk about it, try to get an archeologist who knows something about this to give us some information.

Hello, Rob Marciano.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That is cool stuff. Thank you, Don.

From cool to hot we go. That's another weather headline today. From the northeast to the central plains and heading back towards southern California. Heat advisories in effect.

We're going to run that down plus the potential for severe weather coming up a little bit later in the show. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I was just reading some of the interesting stuff about this exciting discovery at the site of the future World Trade Center in New York City. The "New York Times" reports that the workers that are excavating below street level, they've uncovered part of a ship, and it's probably -- it probably dates back to the 18th century.

We want to get more information on this, to see what it means historically for archaeologists. As a matter of fact, from the site now, archaeologist Molly McDonald joins us. Molly, thank you. You're at the World Trade Center. I understand it's probably a little bit loud there. So what do you think it's from? The 18th century here, and what does it mean?

MOLLY MCDONALD, ARCHAEOLOGIST (via telephone): Exactly. The ship was probably sunk here in the very early 19th century. So most likely the ship itself was built sometime in the 1700s.

LEMON: So the ship was probably built in the 1700s -- you said it sunk here? Was it -- ?

MCDONALD: Yes. It was --

LEMON: It wasn't something that washed up, right, I would imagine? It was something -- was it used as landfill, maybe?

MCDONALD: Exactly. That's what we imagine. Throughout lower Manhattan, there's a huge amount of man-made land. About a third of Manhattan south of City Hall is all constructed land that was built sometime between the 17th century and 20th centuries.

So this area was built out into the Hudson River in the early 19th century, mainly using timber crisps. So there's all kinds of what are essentially log houses sunk all over to create piers and cliffs. And this ship was most likely sunk for the same purpose, to retain land, to create new land. And there's been a handful of ships found that made land over the last 40 years, but it's really quite unusual. So it's exciting to find it here as part of the World Trade Center site.

LEMON: Molly, we heard about these finds. We heard about -- there was one not so long ago by an African-American, I believe it was, an historic graveyard, a burial yard, I should say. And some other things have been found. As you mentioned, other ships and what have you. Was this not touched during the building of the World Trade Centers in the 1970s? This was there before that?

MCDONALD: Yes, exactly. We're actually immediately south of kind of the main bathtub of the World Trade Center site. So the main powers weren't on this location. But yes, we're -- the top of this feature is about 20 feet below ground surface. So this area was not disturbed by construction.

LEMON: Wow. That's amazing. What are you guys doing today, Molly?

MCDONALD: What's that?

LEMON: What are you doing today with the find?

MCDONALD: What was the data that was found?

MCDONALD: What are you doing today, right now?

MCDONALD: Oh. Sorry. Yes. There's so many backhoes and cranes all around, it's hard to hear.

Well, it's very exciting. I'm here with my colleague, Elizabeth Mead (ph), and we're just drawing the ship, trying to document it as best we can and as quickly as we can, because it's not going to be here for very long, I think. We're getting a maritime -- a historic ship expert in today to take a look, and we're going to try to salvage some elements and cut some tree ring datings on the timbers. So we're just kind of scrambling to do the best documentation job that we can before we have to remove this, and the construction of the vehicular security center proceeds.

LEMON: Yes, and Molly, listen, I know you have to go and do your work, but do you have any pictures, any close-ups, anything that we can see so far?

MCDONALD: There's a lot of photographs floating around. So, you know, we can certainly --

LEMON: Can you send us some? Because we'd like to see close up. If you get some, take them on your phone or whatever. Just e-mail it to us so we can show our viewers. I'm sure they want to know. I want to know.

MCDONALD: OK.

LEMON: Send them to us as soon as you can. We'd appreciate it, OK?

MCDONALD: All right. We'll do the best we can.

LEMON: Molly McDonald is an archaeologist, and she's down at the World Trade Center site. This find, they believe 18th century ship found there. Interesting stuff.

All right. We turn now to our meteorologist Rob Marciano, Rob. How cool was that, right?

MARCIANO,: Yes, very cool. I'm going to be interested to see what they dig up out of there, maybe date it, try to get a little bit more history.

LEMON: Tells us about -- history. I love that. It's like watching the History Channel. I don't know if our viewers like it, but I do. I watch the History Channel all day, when I'm not watching CNN.

MARCIANO: I'm with you there. You know where your bread's buttered. DC, it's a little bit warm right now. It's going to get even warmer this afternoon. There's the White House, of course. Not much wind. Humidity increasing.

The heat -- hot weather and the heat wave that's been across much of the country is beginning to expand. It's from Chicago back through Dallas. The pink area is where we're seeing some heat advisories that are in effect. Even excessive heat watch in effect for the Pennsylvania area and Philadelphia. So not only the northeast, but the central part of the country.

But this is where, really, the core of the dangerous heat is going to be. 105 and 115-degree heat indexes. Meaning what it feels like when you're outside, actually standing in the shade. You increase that humidity, and as you know, you increase that level of uncomfortableness. Across southern California, you're not going to have as much humidity, but actual temperatures in many spots here will be up and over 100 degrees today. So last week we had temperatures that didn't get out of the 60s and 70s in some cases. Now we're starting to see summer ramp up in this area. Temperatures are going to be more -- well, in some cases record breaking.

Now, where we're going to see a bit of a cool down is across the northern tier in the western Great Lakes, that will suppress some of the heat to the east and to the south. But along this front, of course, we're going to see thunderstorms. We saw a number of them yesterday. Ten reports of tornadoes touching down in the Wisconsin and Minnesota area. Today we'll probably not see that many, but we'll probably see some rough weather anywhere from Michigan back through St. Louis.

96 degrees expected for a high temperature in St. Louis. 95 in DC, as mentioned. The core of that hot air will sneak up to Philly and New York as we go through time, and then, 114 in through Phoenix. So that is dangerously hot weather as well.

OK. Our tornado reports yesterday -- and then also yesterday, I just want to point this out. We saw a lot of rainfall in a lot of different areas. This is the second day in a row we saw this. Mount Holly, New Jersey, over four inches of rainfall. Wilmington, North Carolina saw over three and a half inches of rainfall. Tomahawk, Wisconsin seeing three and a third inches of rainfall. And Lancaster, Pennsylvania seeing three and a quarter inches.

The good news, here, Don, is that we're not seeing an excessive drought in many spots. We're seeing a fair amount of water being dumped in the form of some afternoon summer thunderstorms to at least water some of the grass out there.

LEMON: We like some good news.

MARCIANO: Yes.

LEMON: Thank you, Rob Marciano.

MARCIANO: All right, Don.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

Check your top stories right now It is day 87 of the Gulf of Mexico oil crisis. Equipment that BP was using to help stop the oil gushing into the water from a ruptured well, it is leaking. That has forced an immediate stop to the crucial testing that had gotten under way. A short time ago, the oil company announced that it is working around the problem and hopes to resume testing sometime this afternoon.

The number of Americans filing for first-time jobless claims last week, it dropped to the lowest level in nearly two years. But the number of people filing continuous claims, well, that went up. And the Vatican is releasing a new rule book making it easier to punish pedophile priests and other abusive clergy members, but it looks like the new rules will firm up existing practices, not rewrite the Catholic Church's entire approach.

Back in a moment. You're on CNN

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Why don't we check some stories making news cross country right now? Phoenix police have found a California girl who had been missing for almost seven years. Can you imagine? The girl had just turned a year old when she was abducted from her foster parents. California authorities say she was taken by three of her aunts in 1993. Two of them were arrested, but the third got away with the child. The girl somehow ended up with a family in Phoenix, which apparently had no blood ties to the girl. Acting on a tip, Phoenix police found the girl. Now, she was in good condition and is now in state custody.

Dick Cheney, the former vice president, is recovering from heart surgery at a Virginia hospital. He has released a statement saying, doctors implanted a small pump to improve heart function. Cheney says the operation went very well. A doctor not involved in the operation, well, he tells CNN the implant suggests Cheney has severe heart failure. The former vice president has suffered five heart attacks dating back to 1978.

In Philadelphia, rescue crews saved several people stranded in and around some high water there. One man who wanted to get an up- close look at a flooding creek got a little too close for comfort. He became stuck by the foundation of a pillar in a railway bridge. A fire rescue member was dropped from the tracks above, securing a harness around the man, who was then pulled up. Don't get too close to that flooding water. The man said he was minutes from jumping into the churning water before his calls for help were heard. Probably would have floated away.

One of these days, we're going to get past this epidemic of foreclosures. This won't be the year for it, though, sadly. In fact, we could end 2010 with a record number of them. We're talking about a troubling new report in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. We head to Wall Street now in New York City, where two of the three major averages are riding a seven-session winning streak. Can the gains continue today? We shall see, and we go to Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange with the look at early action. Hey, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. We are seeing some modest losses at the open right now. The Dow and NASDAQ, though, mustered just enough positive momentum to entire yesterday. We're seeing confidence come back into the markets this week because of some better than expected corporate report cards, and a major financial firm is joining the strong earnings parade this morning. JPMorgan Chase follows Alcoa and Intel as the third industry leader to top Wall Street forecasts this week.

The big bank posted an almost $5 billion profit in the second quarter, partly thanks to a rebound in consumer lending. Right now, JPMorgan Chase shares are trading a bit higher. We'll hear from tech giant Google after the close of the day. Shares of the third (ph) engine giant really suffered through a 13-day losing streak as the company struggled with ongoing problems in Europe and in China. And some economic news that could move the markets today, weekly jobless claims tumbled by almost 30,000 last week and that brings them to their lowest level since 2008.

Unfortunately, though, a separate reading on manufacturing in the New York area shows a decline and that's offsetting the enthusiasm a bit. And holding the market gains in check as we see right now. The Dow Industrial is down about 10, the NASDAQ off about 3, and the S&P 500 down about 1. We'll keep an eye on all the market action for you. Don, back to you.

LEMON: All right. Alison, thank you very much.

The foreclosure pains, they just get more painful every day. Where's the medication? Where's the solution? A new report predicts a record number of them this year. The housing crisis is still alive and well. Our Josh Levs is here to break it all down for us. Josh Levs, I said, where's the medication because the pain just gets worse and worse.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, you can really feel if with these numbers, and you can maybe see one little bit of a silver lining, but the fact is it's really ugly numbers. It's just awful. Let's take a look at this. It's now come out from realty track, the folks that follow these numbers carefully. Foreclosure, so far this year, up to the first six months through the first six months of this year, look at that, 1.65 million properties foreclosed so far this year. And so, obviously, you can do some basic math there. That will mean, if it continues at this rate, more than 3 million for the year which would indeed be a record.

Now, let's take a look at what that boils down to for you and your community, overall across the country, one out of every 78 homes at risk. Now, it's not evenly spread, but the fact is all communities are feeling it in some way. Overall for this country, that's how huge it is. Now, let's take a look at what's been happening. It is slightly down. When I say a little bit of a silver lining, this is as good as it gets here. When you look at how bad these foreclosures are, the rate at which they're happening has slowed down a little bit, from the last six months of last year, a little bit faster.

So, it's down 5 percent from then. But something else has happened at the same time right now. Banks are taking a lot more efforts to repossess property, a lot more quickly. That actually is up a little bit. If you look at the last three months, basically, April, May, and June of this year, and you compare that to the last three months of last year. What you have is that bank repossessions are up 5 percent, so a slight increase. And here's what's going on and we have some video. Let's talk about this. There are couple things going on at the same time. What you have are that lenders out there, a lot of these people who give you your money. So, you can have your mortgage in the first place. They have been working with more homeowners to modify mortgages, and also, they've been allowing more homeowners to sell their properties for less than the banks feel that the properties are worth.

That could have been part of the reason there's been some fewer foreclosures. But at the same time, the banks are, you know, we heard about this last year. So many properties in foreclosure and all these properties just sitting there. Banks haven't done anything with it yet. They were just sitting there wasting away. Some people are still living in them. Banks at the same time, while they're working with people to modify, they are also going after those properties more quickly trying to funnel them through the system more quickly.

So, Don, when we think about this, that's the reason that you're seeing it. Two things going on at the same time, you're seeing some cases in which, you know, there's this decrease, but also banks moving faster to get their hands on that property.

LEMON: Josh, what about people who are facing foreclosure? They may be afraid that they might be close. Is there any help for them? Where do they get help?

LEVS: There is. Yes. Let's talk about that a little bit. There are great resources in two places I'm going to show you, from the government and from CNNMoney.com. First of all, if you want to know what it's like around the country including in your area, there's a map right here. You don't need the link. I'm about to show you where I posted everything for you. So, this will take you through state-by-state what's going on in your state and other areas around the country where there are fewer foreclosures.

This is the government website, makinghomeaffordable.gov. If you are concerned that you might be close to foreclosure or if you already in those proceedings, you can check out this website. This has the president's plan and informs you what the government has going on. Also, just a feature that I really like because I think it's interesting. We have here at CNN money right now. It's talking about where in America you can find the most affordable homes, and it talks about how the market has completely changed. They're saying number one is Deerfield Beach in Florida.

I want to say median home price because this economy has now gone down $67,000. And there were (ph) two more. Lafayette, Indiana. They're saying median home price there's gone down to $82,000. Let's do one more here. San Antonio, Texas. They're saying now has the third most affordable homes in the country at median income there. But there you go. Home prices about $78,000. I posted all the links I can find to help you.

They're all from my Facebook page which is Joshlevs@cnn. Address right there in the middle. We want to empower you with tools and information because so many people, Don, are being affected by this crisis, and those that aren't yet and a lot of them looking around, being concerned that they might in the coming year.

LEMON: And Josh, as you can see from the information, it's a good time to buy, but unfortunately, not a lot people have money right now. So --

LEVS: Not if you've got to sell, right?

LEMON: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Josh.

LEVS: You got it. Thanks.

LEMON: Some important information. Excuse me. For parents to tell you about right now. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has unanimously approved new mandatory design standards for cribs. I want you to take a look at this. Under those rules, all drop side cribs will be banned. Also mandated, better mattress support, sturdier hardware and better quality wood for crib construction. Now, according to the commission's chairwoman, between November of 2007 and April of this year, there were 36 deaths associated with structural problems in cribs. The new rules are expected to go into effect next year after a final vote by the federal commission.

The Vatican is laying down new rules for dealing with pedophile priests and other abusive clergy members. What's changing? What's staying the same? And what effect the crackdown will have coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

I want to check the top stories right now. Day 87 of the Gulf oil disaster. Equipment that BP was using to help stop the oil gushing into the water from the ruptured well, well, it is leaking right now. And that is forced an immediate stop to the crucial testing that had gotten underway. And just a short time ago, the oil company announced that it is working around that problem and hopes to resume testing sometime this afternoon. We will pay close attention to that one.

And a key Senate vote is expected today on Wall Street reform. It is the final procedural hurdle that will assure the bill moves on to President Barack Obama's desk for signing next week.

And the Vatican is releasing a new rulebook making it easier to punish pedophile priests and other abusive clergy members, but it looks like the new rules will firm up existing practices not rewrite the Catholic Church's entire approach to this.

Sharron Angle, she has helped turn Nevada's Senate race into possibly the hottest and most watched in the country. We're talking to a reporter who got to see Angle in her natural habitat, so to speak, at home in Reno, Nevada. He found out some details about her that you might not hear elsewhere, and we're going to share them with you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: The tea party's biggest test this November, well it has to be Nevada. Sharron Angle versus one of the most powerful established politicians in the country, talking about Senator Harry Reid here. His campaign and other critics claim Angle is out there with extreme views on controversial topics like abortion. The question is, will her views be enough of a turnoff to break anti- incumbent fever? Polls suggest that Reid is trailing.

And David Brody of the Christian broadcast network just got back from Reno. He spent some time with Angle. Good to talk to you. Good to see you. So, you spent some time with her. What did you find out? What was the most fascinating thing that you didn't think you'd find out that you saw?

DAVID BRODY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CBN: I got to tell you, Don, she wore her faith on her sleeve that we really haven't seen as much of this with Angle in the past. It wasn't just that she was talking to me here at CBN, but you really got the sense. I spent pretty much the whole day with her. And look, this is who -- it's part of her DNA. It's who she is. And I just thought it was pretty fascinating that she was very outspoken about her faith and was not hiding her life at all, as they say in evangelical terms.

LEMON: Angle talked about, you know, giving interviews and why we're not going to see her in the mainstream media. So, I want to play a clip for you about that and then we're going to talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARRON ANGLE, U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: People say that I went dark. I didn't. I have done over 60 interviews. I quit counting a couple weeks ago. But the whole point of an interview is to use it, like they say, earn media, to earn something with it. And I'm not going to earn anything from people who are there to badger me and batter, you know, use my words to batter me with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: good strategy, David, or is she really just narrowing her reach by doing this?

BRODY: Don, what I think it is, is really a two-prong strategy. I mean, first and foremost, this is about money for Sharron Angle. Look, she's gone up against Harry Reid. We saw he raised $2.5 million in just this last quarter, $20 million now overall. And, you know, she needs to raise money to take on Reid. And so, this is a big deal for her. She feels, obviously, that if she's talking to some of the more conservative outlets, especially if it relates to radio, that talk radio and blogosphere, more the red state (ph) audience, if you will, that this is going to be a better payoff for her, and she's going to get quote "more bang for her buck."

But look, you know, the other part of it is, she's not going to playing the "gotcha" game at least the way she sees it in the mainstream media. And, Don, you know, we're in a different environment here in 2010. You know, this whole idea of kind of going through the process, sitting down on, you know, all of the cable network shows, I'm not going to say it's a thing of the past, but clearly, there is a different tact here where she believes that she can jut go talk to different media, specialty media, if you will, and, therefore, through the blogosphere and other ways get her point across.

Because let's face it, Don, what's happening, a lot of times in the blogosphere many of the cable networks and others are following some of those headlines, all of a sudden, boom, the mainstream media takes it.

LEMON: You bring up a good point that's why I want to ask you this because I think you mentioned that there are some news that hasn't popped up on the blogs yet. Like what? What are you talking about?

BRODY: Just a few little nuggets and there's more. I mean, the interview lasted 45 minutes, close to almost an hour. I mean, that was just a sampling of what we put up yesterday. But you know, I talked to her about abortion and breast cancer, for example. You know, she's been under some criticism that she says at least there are studies show that there's a link between abortion and women that have breast cancer. We talked about that. She did not back off from that at all.

So I thought that was pretty interesting.

And then we talked about the National Rifle Association, the NRA and Harry Reid; the fact that the NRA may indeed endorse Harry Reid. It's not a done deal yet or anything, but there are -- they could possibly do that and she talks about the fact that -- that would be a bad move in essence for the NRA because she has a stronger record.

So those types of things -- there are a lot more. She talked about Second Amendments rights, talked about the Tea Party, a lot of other stuff to come.

LEMON: Geez, how long did you spend with her? A month? David --

BRODY: You know I felt like it was like the real world with Sharron Angle. It was like a reality show or something like that. I was -- I was waiting for like the Bravo Network to appear. It was amazing. We went to like Lake Tahoe with her. We went to a church group that she spoke to.

LEMON: I would say --

BRODY: All of this is coming up on a 700 Club piece we're doing.

LEMON: David Brody from CBN. I would say don't count that out because we've seen a lot of people go over to reality television and politicians have been among that group. Thank you.

BRODY: Maybe I'll do that. All right.

LEMON: Thank you very much.

BRODY: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston engaged again. It was news to the mother -- mother of the bride, Sarah Palin. We'll have the story behind the story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In Arizona a judge could rule later today on the challenge to the state's controversial immigration law. The lawsuit is being brought by Phoenix police officer David Zalgado. He is asking a federal judge to stop the law from taking it back later this month until it's proven to be Constitutional.

The law requires that police questioned any detainees about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they are in the U.S. illegally. Now critics have said the law will promote racial profiling. Supporters say the crackdown simply enforces federal law.

But David Zalgado is not the only police officer who has filed suit to block the law. A Tucson police officer says he cannot uphold the law in the Latino community where he grew up.

And CNN's Thelma Gutierrez, has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OFFICER. MARTIN ESCOBAR, TUCSON POLICE DEPARTMENT: I have to do my job. I have to serve and protect.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not often a police officer speaks out publicly against the laws he's sworn to uphold, but Officer Martin Escobar, a naturalized citizen and a 15- year veteran of the Tucson Police Department says he can no longer remain silent.

(on camera): Hi, officer.

(voice-over): We met to talk about the new Arizona law that Escobar calls unconstitutional. And as a police officer, he says he doesn't want to have to enforce it. As a private citizen, he's challenging it in federal court.

ESCOBAR: I said, ok, you know what; it's got to be done. It's the right thing for me to do. Sometimes you've got to stand up for what you believe.

GUTIERREZ: Officer Escobar took us to the area he patrols on Tucson's Southside. It's where he grew up.

(on camera): What is this neighborhood like?

ESCOBAR: This is a predominantly Hispanic community, predominantly Mexican community here --

GUTIERREZ: Lots of new immigrants.

ESCOBAR: Lots of new immigrants coming through there; a lot of people that don't know how to speak English.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): He says he and other officers work hard to gain trust in their community. It's how crime gets solved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to stay here by myself because I have no family here.

GUTIERREZ: But now, even the children are running scared he will deport them.

(on camera): They're afraid of you?

ESCOBAR: Of course, of course. I don't want them to be afraid of me. Officers -- police officers are supposed to be the good guys. We're not the bad guys.

GUTIERREZ: Under the law, Escobar would have to investigate the immigration status of anyone he stopped, detained or arrested. If he suspected that they were in the country illegally.

(on camera): Under this law, you can be sued if you don't investigate. Is that right?

ESCOBAR: Yes that's correct. Yes of course it does.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Within a week of passing the new law, Arizona lawmakers amended it tightening provisions that critics claimed would lead to racial profiling. The state's governor says racial profiling will not be tolerated in Arizona. But Escobar knows how things work on the streets.

(on camera): Are you saying in Arizona, if you come across a person with an Irish accent and a person with a Spanish accent, you'll investigate the person with the Spanish accent?

ESCOBAR: It's most likely the person with the Spanish accent is going to get investigated.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): It's that assumption that bothers him most.

(on camera): Sounds like you can relate to what some of the people are feeling right now.

ESCOBAR: That's exactly what I'm saying. That's why some people are not going to understand what the feeling is unless they've been through it. I've been through it.

That's a school picture of me in elementary school. I didn't have one word of English. I remember then at that time being called a wetback. That used to sting so bad.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Officer Escobar remembers being questioned by border patrol agents as a child and he says he knows exactly what some of these children are feeling.

He argues in his lawsuit that determining who is in Arizona illegally should not be his responsibility. He says under federal law, that job is reversed for trained federal immigration agents.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thank you, Thelma.

Husbands and wives with wandering eyes, using Facebook as a tool for cheating. The nerve. The popular Web site is now a popular cause for untying the knot. That's coming up in the next hour of the "CNN NEWSROOM".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston announced they are engaged to be married. Can you believe that? Even that German octopus could have predicted this. Oh my gosh.

Here's the interesting part. They are not having sex until after they are married. That's what they said.

Let me get this straight. They had sex. She had a baby, and now they're engaged and celibate. Isn't that backwards? It's like they're sexually dyslexic.

Actually Bristol said the one thing she missed most about Levi, his Johnston. So hey, it's an old one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Jay Leno, leave it to Jay Leno to sum it up for all of us. The wedding date may not be set, but the fuss over the groom and bride to be is really just getting started. It's in full swing.

CNN's Kate Bolduan takes a look at the ups and downs of the lives of Bristol and Levi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A picture worth a thousand words. More likely it had many at a loss for words. Posing with their 18-month-old son Tripp, the on again off again, Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston are back with a big surprise.

"We got engaged two weeks ago", "Us Weekly" magazine quotes 19- year-old Bristol Palin as saying. Johnston tells the magazine, "I really thought we were over."

"It felt right, even though we don't have the approval of our parents," says the daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The couple reconnected a few months ago but it's been a very rocky road to get here.

Is your head spinning yet?

Thrust into the national spotlight amid the 2008 presidential campaign, the teenage couple broke off their first engagement shortly after the birth of their son.

BRISTOL PALIN, DAUGHTER OF SARAH PALIN: Don't let a teenage pregnancy take away your freedom.

BOLDUAN: Bristol became a spokeswoman for teen abstinence. Johnston embarked on a media blitz, most memorably posing for "Playgirl". It very quickly unraveled into a nasty feud.

Johnston attacking Sarah Palin accusing the family values candidate of poor parenting.

LEVI JOHNSTON, FATHER OF BRISTOL PALIN'S SON: Sarah was never home. Todd was always out doing his thing, snow machining or whatnot, so there was very minimal parenting in that house. Bristol did what she had to do.

BOLDUAN: Johnston also accused Palin of joking about her son, Trig, who has Down syndrome.

JOHNSTON: She's like, "Where's my retarded baby?" All this and -- it just wasn't right.

BOLDUAN: The former Alaska governor fired back, saying Johnston was only trying to lengthen his 15 minutes of fame.

SARAH PALIN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: I hear he goes by the name Ricky Hollywood now. So if that's the case, we don't want to mess up this gig he has going; kind of this aspiring porn, from the things that he's doing.

BOLDUAN: The fight even made it to court. Bristol and Levi battling over custody of their son; a judge, eventually ordering Johnston to play thousands of dollars in back child support. Then out of nowhere, an about face in the war of words; in a statement to "People" magazine, Johnston apologized for saying, quote, "things about the Palins that were not completely true."

So will this saga impact Sarah Palin's political future?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well family values are very important with many of Sarah Palin's followers. So, if the marriage of Sarah Palin will put her own house in order, it could help her politically --