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Arrest in Serial Stabbing Case; 30,000 People Swarm for Housing Help; Pakistan Floods and the Terror Threat; Poll Finds Half of Women Would Rather Give Up Sex Than Gain Weight; Study Finds Stress Reduces Chances of Pregnancy; Stocks Down as Investors Worry About Economy
Aired August 12, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips starts now. Good morning Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning guys. Good morning everybody.
He survived a serial stabber. Now listen to what he says to his attacker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless you. That's it. Just -- God bless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Twenty people stabbed, five of them killed. And now finally an arrest.
They are desperate for housing in a horrible economy. Tens of thousands of people waiting to be wait-listed. All of them saying they just can't pay their rent.
Tiger, tamed? Maybe. But his golf game is a disaster. What happens when golf's greatest can't find his game?
It's 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. I'm Kyra Phillips. And you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
PHILLIPS: And that's where we begin. There's been an arrest in a serial stabbing case. A case that has left a trail of carnage and violence across three states. Twenty people have been attacked across Michigan, Ohio, and Virginia since May. Five of those victims have died.
Police officers in Leesburg, Virginia held a press conference just moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFC. CHRIS JONES, LEESBURG, VIRGINIA POLICE: Investigators on the Michigan task force, Leesburg, and the FBI, worked this lead throughout the night. The person of interest was taken into custody. He's currently being held on unrelated charges.
While this is a key step in the investigation, there's still many issues that need to be addressed before we identify this individual as the person responsible for this horrific crime spree.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The person of interest was arrested on unrelated charges at the Atlanta airport. He'll have an initial court appearance in the next few days.
The TSA stopped all flights while they located and arrested this identified man. He was allegedly carrying an expired Israeli passport trying to board a Delta flight to Tel Aviv. But 16 of the attacks and all five of the fatalities occurred in Flynn, Michigan.
WDIV's Jim Kiertzner is there with the latest on the crimes and the capture.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM KIERTZNER, WDIV REPORTER: They had almost 500 tips coming in from the public by showing the suspect's composite. One of those tips gave them the guy here in (INAUDIBLE). Investigators talked with people close to him. They obtained search warrants. They were able to track him electronically on the run through several states.
He was arrested late yesterday afternoon in Atlanta, Georgia. He is scheduled to go before a judge there within the next couple of days to talk about extradition.
This guy is accused of attacking 20 people in three states. Of course here in Michigan, also Virginia and Toledo, Ohio. Five people have been killed here in the Flint area. All but three of these 20 are African-American men and the key is these are vulnerable men.
The victims say he would ask for directions or help. Some were stabbed in the back without warning. Now you can see how he's covered a lot of ground especially just within the last week and a half.
Three attacks in Leesburg, Virginia. Just last week. Then one attack in Toledo on Saturday night. Sixteen attacks here in the Flint area that date back to late May.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And one stabbing victim, a 17-year-old man, slashed several times through the liver, lungs, and heart. But Etwan Wilson talks about that attack and his attacker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILSON: Went to the first house I've seen with the light on. God bless you. That's all I can say to him. I really don't -- I got nothing to say to him. Bless him. I don't know him. That's it. Just -- KENDALL GRAB, VICTIM'S FATHER: Come forward. Bring closure to the situation. Get my son some rest and some peace in this (INAUDIBLE), you know?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: We're going to be following the developments in this story all morning long. So keep it right here to CNN for the very latest.
Now check out this chaos just outside of Atlanta. And police are actually bracing for more of this. Thirty thousand people simmering in the blistering heat for a slim chance to be wait-listed for partial rent vouchers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was unorganized, completely unorganized.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Confusion, frustration, anger, all of that. Flaring up the outside there at the Housing Authority in East Point, Georgia. Twenty people were hospitalized according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. One of them a toddler who went into a seizure because of the heat.
This near mob scene escalated. Also that people could get their hands on a Section 8 application. It's a government voucher program for private housing that's meant to keep rent -- or it meant to actually help make rent affordable for low-income families.
It's also meant to provide safe housing and promote freedom of housing choice. But just to clarify here. Families must make no more than half the median household income for that area.
Now in East Point that's about $32,000. So the vouchers go to those pulling in under $16,000 a year.
The desperation for help in -- in the East Point is pretty visible. And it's audible and it's tangible in and the application process definitely isn't over yet.
Josh Levs is live in East Point this morning for us.
And, Josh, today the city starts accepting those applications. So is there concern that we're going to see a repeat of yesterday's massive crowds?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In terms of what we're seeing so far, the actual look of what we're seeing so far, things are a lot cleaner, a lot safer. You have a lot of police out.
But let me help everyone understand that what we're seeing right here is not just about this little city of East Point, Georgia. People are driving here from all over the country. In fact, let's zoom in right now. I want you to see some of these cars. Here's what's happening today, Kyra. They're doing their best to keep it organize to avoid some of the horrors that we saw yesterday.
What's happening now is that people who got applications yesterday are driving off and they're being told do not get out of your cars. We don't want to have massive crowds walking around.
Hand them to the officers who were in the middle. Most people who are not coming by car, which also includes a lot of people, will be handing them to the desk behind me. Now this is more orderly and it's a good sign so far. But they just started accepting these applications at 9:00 a.m. We don't know what's going to happen over the next few hours.
We have some video of what happened yesterday. We can go right to that. I want you to see more of what was going on because I want everyone to understand the full picture of what happened yesterday.
Now authorities here tell us they were expecting about 10,000 people. They ultimately had about 30,000 people show up. But they are telling us everyone got an application. Everyone who wanted an application got an application.
What happened was a lot of people came with their families and they weren't expecting all these people to show up. But the people who did get the applications are now in a rush to be among the first to get them handed in. Because this is pretty amazing.
The last time East Point made this available was in 2002. And now -- officials told us this morning it will be probably more than 10 years, more than 10 years, before they can do this again in East Point given the number of people who are showing up for help today.
There are people here from New York, from Chicago and there are so many people who turned out and so many people concerned about getting applications. We saw some of this chaos. Here's a little bit of what happened yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were passing out. For a minute I thought I was going to lose my life in the crowd trying to get a package. People knocking you down. Just all kinds of things. There's chaos out here. And this shouldn't have been legal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The economy is bad right now. And they're willing to offer assistance we have and if they are, you know, it's something you won't want to pass up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are no open slots. And we made that very clear to the applicants that were coming here starring Monday when they started showing up. We made it very clear.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP) LEVS: And, Kyra, just to -- just to give you a sense now of the people who are out here. We talked with a woman -- you're going to be meeting her later this morning. She's in her mid-30s. She has three children. She's 37 weeks pregnant.
She got here on Monday. Camped out from Monday afternoon through yesterday. And stayed through everything. She describes to us some of what she saw in the rush to get one of these applications.
And this isn't the only place she's going. She and thousands of other people are going from here to other cities all over the country. It could be anywhere. It could be near you. If it's a city that is offering some subsidized housing, some help in this economy, people to find housing.
This woman tells us she has a job. She's working several day as week. She wants to get it together for her family for their future. But in this economy, Kyra, she is just really struggling.
PHILLIPS: We're going to follow this story with you, Josh, throughout the morning and the afternoon. Appreciate it.
Within the next few hours or so we are expecting a key legal decision on same-sex marriage. A federal court in California will hand down a ruling of Proposition 8 and whether to implement a judge's decision that the law be struck down.
If so, same-sex marriages would be legal in California. Now last week a federal judge ruled that a voter approved ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. The fight is expected to ultimately land before the Supreme Court.
It will be another day of grueling deliberations in the corruption trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. After 11 days behind closed doors, jurors sent a note to the judge yesterday suggesting that they may be deadlocked.
The judge told them to keep trying and asked attorneys to come to court today in hopes of clarifying any issues that may be bogging down the talks.
Fifteen million desperate flood victims in Pakistan. Now vulnerable to another threat. The Taliban.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, Rob Marciano, what's going on with the severe storms in Maryland?
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right.
PHILLIPS: Pakistan is suffering through its worst flooding in living memory. And the death toll is staggering. More than 1500 people are dead. Fifteen million others have lost their homes, can't find food or medical care.
And now there's yet another threat. The Taliban.
CNN's Dan Rivers joins us now from the capital Islamabad.
Dan, let's go ahead and talk first about the flooding and what's the latest at this point.
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's just a massive disaster that's unfolding here, Kyra. It's spreading through the country. Basically what's happened just here you're talking about the weather there in the states.
Well, what happened here about two weeks ago, they had 26 centimeters of rain in one day. That's getting almost a foot of rain in one day. And it's continued to rain since then as well. And that -- all that water is moving down the -- in this river, this massive river, through the central Pakistan, and it just burst its banks in so many places in the Punjab and the Sindh.
And as you say, it's now affecting 15 million people. We are talking about 1300 people dead. But we're talking about a massive amount of infrastructure damage as well. Just in the northwest, we are talking about 278 bridges that have been destroyed. So you can imagine how difficult it is to get aid to the people that really need it.
PHILLIPS: And perfect opportunity for the Taliban to seize the most vulnerable with regard to recruiting. We always see that happen whether it's the earthquake in Iran to the massive flooding in Pakistan.
RIVERS: That's right. We've see these Islamist charities, like Falah-e-Insaniat, which has alleged links to the terrorist group that was linked to the Mumbai attacks in 2008. They've been out there handing out food, shelter, engaged in a sort of PR war with the government, really, effectively saying, "Look, the government can't provide for you in a time of crisis. But we can."
And, therefore, they're sort of engaged in this hearts and minds campaign in the middle of this big natural disaster. Yes, the bombings and the shootings and the killings have been put on hold temporarily. Instead they're switching tactics, sending out these charity fronts and trying to win people over in that way.
PHILLIPS: Dan Rivers, we'll follow the story. Appreciate it.
Let's scan other stories in our Morning Passport. First, Iran. A new twist in the case of that Iranian woman sentenced to die by stoning for adultery. Sakineh Ashtiani says that she has never met her lawyer and never wanted her case publicized. Her lawyer says that Ashtiani is just making those comments to state-run TV in an effort to save her life.
North Korea, Radio Asia is reporting the country's World Cup soccer team was punished for poor play at the World Cup. The players were summoned to Pyongyang for six hours of interrogation and that the coach was expelled from the Workers' Party and forced to do hard labor.
Last stop, India. The government should make a major decision about the use of BlackBerry. Intel officers are worried about not being able to monitor terrorists using the devices to plot attacks. Any changes in BlackBerry service would affect a million users in India.
Iowa State University and neighboring areas swamped with floodwaters. The football team, armed with sandbags, to the rescue. We're going to show you what everyone there is doing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories of storm in the Gulf is slowing down efforts to permanently seal the broken BP well. The drilling of a relief well has been suspended, and could it take four days to restart that operation after the storm passes.
An arrest is made in connection with a serial stabbing case. A person was taken into custody in Atlanta as he tried to board a flight to Tel Aviv. Five people have been killed, 15 others wounded in the serial stabbing attacks that started in May.
And a federal court will decide today whether same-sex marriages can go on in California. A judge previously put a stay on those marriages while appeals are made in the ruling to overturn Prop 8.
Homes and businesses under water in Ames, Iowa after massive flooding. And a 16-year-old girl was reportedly killed when a rising creek swept vehicles off a county road. Widespread flooding shut down highways, even caused a water main break that left some 55,000 people without water. The basketball arena at Iowa State University was one of the hardest hit areas. One coach told the "Des Moines Register" the gymnasium floor was floating under several feet of water.
Are you stressed out about becoming pregnant? Not a good idea, according to a new study. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at ways to reduce stress and increase your chances of getting pregnant.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So, ladies, what's worse? No sex or extra weight? According to a new poll, half of all women would rather give up sex than gain ten pounds. One-fourth of men feel the same way. Both men and women believe skinny is hot. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed say that losing an average of 23 pounds would make them feel is sexier. The Nutrisystem poll is reported in today's "USA Today."
If your sex life is in order, then pregnancy may be next. But here's a warning. A new study reveals that high levels of stress can reduce a woman's chance of becoming pregnant. Chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta is here.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Still trying to process all of that. I'm not sure --
PHILLIPS: So, obviously you don't have a weight issue. So things must be going really well in your household.
GUPTA: I'm not sure, actually.
PHILLIPS: And you have three kids.
GUPTA: I do have three kids. That was a lot of information that I seriously have got to think about that for a second.
PHILLIPS: Kind of threw you off. Well -- but seriously, we all know that -- losing weight is better than sex. I'm kidding. About getting pregnant. That's kind of what doctors and -- say all the time is, "Don't stress out. Don't worry about it. It'll happen when you least expect it." So what's different here?
GUPTA: It's one of these vague things. They say that about all sorts of medical things, right? Stress is a big problem. But it's hard to quantify. When it comes to alcohol, drinking, obesity, your age, all those things we know affect a woman's fertility, and they could measure that.
When it came to stress, it is a hard thing to measure in first place. They did this study, about 300 women, and they measured this thing in the saliva called Alpha-Amylase, which is a -- sort of a stress marker. And basically what they've found is people that have the highest levels of this stress marker had a diminished chance of getting pregnant.
Keep in mind, when you're a woman around the age of 30, has about a 20 percent chance of getting pregnant in any given month. It's not high to start with. At 40, it's around five percent. If you decrease that by another 12 percent simply because of stress, that's significant. That's what this research was pointing at specifically.
PHILLIPS: And to get into the technicalities, that when you are stressed out, everything -- tightens up and nothing -- we should explain the dynamics, right? It's not just a mental --
GUPTA: Right. It's not just a -- and that's a big change in the thinking. And what it's physically doing to your body. And what they think with this specifically is it actually diminishes the blood flow. Your blood vessels constrict as a response to stress, it diminishes the blood flow to the woman's reproductive organs, the egg has a harder time getting fertilized, has a harder time getting implanted. So all of that can change. That's why it has an impact.
But, again, this 12 percent number, actually assigning it an objective number to this, pretty significant.
PHILLIPS: Does it matter what kind of stress that the mothers are under? Because there's all different levels. Right? Then what do you do to try to --
GUPTA: Right. That's the million dollar question. How do you control the stress, Doctor? Well, as far as types of stress, it really didn't seem to matter. Although, it was interesting, a lot of women get stressed when they're trying to have a baby.
PHILLIPS: Yes.
GUPTA: Because --
PHILLIPS: They're always thinking about it. They want it to go right, they want to do everything right.
GUPTA: That's right. And the numbers, again, even at age 30, only 20 percent chance in a month. So you didn't get pregnant this month, it's more stressful, it reduces your chances next month. So just knowing the numbers is important. It's not abnormal for several months to go by before you get pregnant.
Also, this idea that people will smoke or drink or something like that to try and alleviate stress, that's obviously a bad idea.
PHILLIPS: Yes.
GUPTA: Much of the way you improve your chances of having a healthy delivery, prenatal vitamins. Think about things that can reduce your stress as well. Meditation, yoga, exercise. Not too much exercise. Take a vacation maybe even. But not like that guy from Jet Blue, probably. You don't want to hit the emergency slide and disappear.
PHILLIPS: That wasn't a good sign of stress relief?
GUPTA: A reboot of your life, there.
PHILLIPS: I guess he won't get pregnant.
GUPTA: He will not get that --
PHILLIPS: For many reasons.
GUPTA: Right.
PHILLIPS: All right.
GUPTA: I'm going to go read that poll again.
PHILLIPS: Remember. Lose weight, much better than no sex, I guess. Here's another talker.
GUPTA: Speak for yourself.
PHILLIPS: I don't know. I've got some weight to lose. Let's talk about babies being born. I don't know if you heard this story or not. What are the odds of this, Sanjay? This is Ella Rose Riehle. She came into the world in Cincinnati Monday night at 11:12 p.m. OK, so what's special about that, you ask? Monday was August 9, 2010. Do you get it right? That's right. Ella Rose's time of birth in numbers, 8/9/10, 11:12. I see a lottery ticket coming out of this. What do you think? GUPTA: A Chinese fortune cookie, perhaps? All sorts of different -- Lots of luck for her.
PHILLIPS: There you go. Her parents aren't stressed out at all, obviously. Everything went well for them.
GUPTA: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: OK. Thank you, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: This hour, Tiger Woods tries to rebound from the worst tournament of his career. We're going to talk to a hall of famer about the game that's been played right there between the ears.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Stocks took a beating yesterday. The major averages all fell by more than 2.5 percent. The problem? Investors are worried about the economy. Let's take a -- well, let's try and figure out what those numbers are going to mean today. Felicia Taylor at the New York Stock Exchange. Hey, Felicia.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. Yes. We've got a pretty rough day ahead of us on Wall Street. At least those are the exceptions right now. Futures are down about 78 as the opening bell right -- opening bell rings right now. We're going to see exactly where the markets open. Probably to the downside. There's been a lot of news to digest overnight as well as to the losses that we saw yesterday, where the markets were down pretty much a loss of two percent across the board. The Dow right now is off about 22 points, that's a loss. Actually about 49 points, excuse me. The losses are gaining rapidly. That's a loss of about a half of one percent.
There is some good news today. That comes from General Motors. It's making money, $1.3 billion last quarter, and that marks the second straight quarterly profit.
Analysts say it should put GM in position to go public again with the stock and repay the $50 billion government bailout. The rest of the signs that we're looking at though are troubles in the tech sector. Cisco's revenue brought fell short of expectations. The company issued the disappointing sales outlook. That's a sign that other companies are not spending money. Cisco shares are down now 11.5 percent.
More evidence also today that those little improvement on the labor front. New jobless claims rose last week to the highest level in about six months. So, after just a couple of minutes of -- one minute trade, the Dow now is off almost a full percent. The Nasdaq is getting slammed, down 2 percent, and the S&P is also off about 1 percent this morning -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll track the numbers. Felicia, thanks. There's an old saying, the higher the pedestal, the longer the fall. That's true. Golfing superstar, Tiger Woods, could have used a parachute. His freefall began with a mysterious car crash outside his Orlando home. His wife reportedly freed him from the wreckage with a golf club. But from the start, things just didn't really add up. Then the math got really interesting. More than a dozen women came forward claiming affairs with Tiger Woods.
A waitress boasted of a quickie in a parking lot, and a porn star says she travelled to meet him on tour. Tiger's wife packed up the kids and hit the road. She returned home to Sweden, and Tiger, checked into rehab for sex addiction. Now amid all of the tawdry excesses, Woods becomes a master of understatement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Life in general the last nine months has been very difficult. But just like my dad always says, just keep living.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Sure. Tiger Woods has kept on living, but his golf game appears to be dying. He's coming off the worst pro-tournament of his career. And this hour, he is teeing off again. But is his game being lost not on the greens but between the ears? Just last hour, John Roberts had a chance to talk to hall of famer, Amy Alcott, about the mental part of the game. And I think this proves, John, no matter how good of a player you are, it's the mind that can completely ruin it.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been said again and again and again, Kyra, that golf is a game of inches, the six inches between your ears. It's 95 percent of it is in the head. Tiger was supposed to tee off at 8:20 a little more than an hour ago, but they're in a fog delay. It was straight (ph) to Wisconsin, not sure when they're going to get the players off the course.
But Tiger is definitely going to be trying to perform a little bit better than he did last week at Firestone near the Bridgestone Tournament where he shot 18 over par from the tournament, 30 strokes off the lead and tied for 78th out of the field of 80. If you looked at Tiger last week, you said, is this really the number one player in the world?
He couldn't chip. He couldn't putt. His drives were all over the place. He hit a spectator in the mouth. He's probably lucky, he only hit one of them. So, I asked Amy Alcott who's won five majors herself, is in the PGA and the World Gold Hall of Fames who knows well what pressure is like out there on the golf course. What the heck is going on with Tiger?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY ALCOTT, WON 32 TOURNAMENTS WORLDWIDE: I think he's just going through a period where he's having to, you know, reinvent himself. You know, being at the top, everybody wants to, you know, knock you over and, you know, this is a tough period in his life. And as we all know, in golf, you know, it ebbs and flows. It's all about riding through these tough slumps and coming out on the other side of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, Amy, we've been lucky enough to have advice from Amy a number of times on the golf course. And she is queen of getting her head in and out of the game and figuring out how to beat what she's struggling with through mental strength. So, what did she say Tiger needs to do?
ROBERTS: For one thing, he can get you to pinch-hit when it comes to the drive because you smack when 255 yards last weekend. It sounded like John Daly hit the ball when you connected.
PHILLIPS: It looked like it, too.
ROBERTS: Who really knows what's going on with Tiger? He's working with Steve Foley, a golf teacher out of Orlando. He had, you know, a club on the side of Tiger's head wall (ph). He was on the -- no different than the way (INAUDIBLE) was using at that faithful night after Thanksgiving. He was using it to stop Tiger's head from moving back in his swing. Tiger said his head was moving around just a little bit too much.
But, you know, it all comes down to just you got to get that focus back. And this is what's so incredible about Tiger. He was one of the most mentally focused, most mentally tough players out there on the tour. But now, the wheels have come off and is leaking oil. It's just it's a mess out there on the course. So, he's really got to get that focus back.
Because there are two things that are running out, his number one ranking, Phil Mickelson has poised to take it over if he plays well at the PGA Championship starting today, whenever that fog delay is lifted. And as well, the Ryder Cup is coming up at the beginning of October. Corey Pavin has said, I don't know if I want Tiger on the team or not. I certainly don't want somebody who played like Tiger played last week. And Tiger says, hey, I wouldn't be any good to the team if I shoot 18 over for the tournament. So, a lot riding (ph) on what he does in the next four days.
PHILLIPS: I mean, the Ryder Cup, you know, is this somebody that they want representing the United States? You know, not only as a good golfer but on many levels. So, now that the question is -- but here's what's interesting, he even -- even when he's playing horribly, he still brings in the people and the ratings and he's still making the most money.
ROBERTS: Yes. You know, and to your point about whether or not you want him on the team. Corey Pavin has said he'd love to have him on the team but only if he's playing well. But still, even though Tiger has all of these problems. He's carrying around all of this baggage, ratings go up when he is playing in the tournament. Attendance at the tournament itself goes up. So, he's still a big draw. And obviously, this is a huge, huge hit to his public persona as well as his ability as a player. He just got to work through this and Lord knows what it's going to take, Kyra, for him to finally get through it. But -- it seems he got a lot of work yet to do.
PHILLIPS: Yes. I'm rooting for Phil Mickelson. Hometown boy and his wife is fighting breast cancer. I want to see him win.
ROBERTS: And here's another reason to root for Phil. He's going to be in New York on Tuesday, August 24th at the intrepid hitting some, you know, balls into the Hudson River and that because he got a charity that builds homes for homeless veterans.
PHILLIPS: There you go.
ROBERTS: So, you know, if you're going to put your -- if you're going to throw your support behind somebody, you know, Mickelson is a good guy to throw it behind. What just happened there?
PHILLIPS: Yes, I know. Did you hear that? Are you okay, Rob Marciano? Making a big scene back there.
ROBERTS: Did somebody get hit by a golf ball? Tiger hit up. (ph) He hit Rob.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. He threw the club, he was so mad, but looks like everything is OK. It's all calm. It was -- it was -- everything is good.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Everything is fine.
PHILLIPS: It wasn't a steel shaft. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Can I just share something quickly with you? Amy sent me an e-mail because she was talking about Steve Slater saying, she knows plenty of golfers and herself among them who come off the green at the end of 18, you know, same thing, similar to what Steve Slater said -- she said, throw a club in the pond only to find out that their favorite putter that served them so well for ten years is now at the bottom of the lake.
PHILLIPS: Not a good thing. And she knows about jumping in the lake. She became famous for that. All right. John, thanks.
ROBERTS: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Here's something that we're all paying attention to and that's the records that Tiger Woods has been chasing. Talk about the staggering total of 18 major tournaments won by jack Nicholas. After this putt, Tiger may have to be chasing even more. The bear boasts another jaw-dropping accomplishment to match. Watch this incredible putt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Boom. That, my friend, was 100 feet uphill. The 70-year- old Nicklaus drained it, and it happened at his new golf course at Harvard Shores in Michigan, and he celebrated its opening, and of course, that putt with his buddies, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller.
Future of same-sex marriage in California is in the hands of a federal appeals court, and we're going to have an update next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories. An arrest is made in connection with the serial stabbing case. A person was taken into custody in Atlanta as he tried to board a flight to Tel Aviv. Five people have been killed, 15 others wounded, in the serial stabbing attack since May.
Just hours from now, a California federal court is set to issue a key ruling on same-sex marriage. The court is deciding whether to back a judge's decision that struck down the state's ban on gay marriage. That judge ruled voter approves proposition 8 was unconstitutional.
Chaos and desperation in Suburban Atlanta over a chance to apply for federally subsidized housing. This was the scene yesterday at East Point, Georgia, about 30,000 people stood in the blistering heat to try and receive those applications.
A notorious gossip website shaking up the political landscape in Arizona. Features half naked women, talks about the night life in Scottsdale, and it puts Ben Quayle, the son of the former vice president, on the defense. Hear what he has to say about his role on dirty.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Ethics cloud continues to hang over Congressman Charlie Rangel, but last night, the New York Democrat was feeling the love at his 80th birthday party. The party (ph) doubled as a fund-raiser. In some ways, the event was a test of political loyalties to see if any political heavyweights would show up. They did, like New York Mayor Bloomberg and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (I) NEW YORK: Now, I know a few people couldn't be here tonight because as they tell it, either they had to get a haircut unexpectedly or they were sure they'd have a headache. But, Charlie, as you know, they were with you as long as they could be.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): As you can see, Congressman Rangel was definitely living it up there after seeing the New York ballroom, he shouted, this damned sure ain't no funeral. Outside, former mayor, David Dinkins, flipped his middle finger at a protester who allegedly shouted Rangel is a crook. The House Ethics Committee has accused Rangel of 13 violations involving alleged financial wrongdoing. Is that a pink jacket? Pretty fancy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
A gutsy TV ad calling Barack Obama the worst president ever is getting a lot of attention. Remember Dan Quayle, the former vice president hasn't been in the news for a long time? But now his son, Ben, is joining the family business and that got a lot of people talking. The younger Quayle is one of ten Republicans seeking the GOP nomination in Arizona's third Congressional district. He unveiled this controversial ad yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN QUAYLE, CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Barack Obama is the worst president in history. My generation will inherit a weakened country. Drug cartels in Mexico, tax cartels in D.C., what's happened to America? I love Arizona. I was raised right. Somebody has to go to Washington and knock the hell out of the place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The campaign ad was released amid allegations that Quayle wrote a scandalous column for a racy website. More on that now from Jerrod Dillingham of our affiliate, KTVK.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERROD DILLINGHAM, AFFILIATE, KTVK (voice-over): The dirty.com targets party crowd posting pictures of scantily club goers followed by mocking comments.
NIK RICHIE, CREATOR, THEDIRTY.COM: It does have sexual overtones because a lot of the people that I make fun of are half naked.
DILLINGHAM: The dirty's creator, Nik Richie, dropped a political bomb this week. He says congressional candidate, Ben Quayle, helped found the scandalous site in 2007.
RICHIE: We used to party in the club scene together and go out to the bars and try to, you know, chase chicks.
DILLINGHAM: That's Nik's version. Quayle calls the whole thing a smear campaign. But he admits he knew Nik Richie and gave him some advice on starting his business.
BEN QUAYLE (R), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: He asked if I could refer him to an IP lawyer and that's what I did.
DILLINGHAM: But Nik Richie says Ben Quayle did much more, including writing these columns under the alias Brock Landers, about Foxy ladies and such.
RICHIE: He was a great writer. He has great skill. And -- I sent him on a mission to find the hottest chick in Scottsdale. And he succeeded.
DILLINGHAM: Did you write under the name Brock Landers? Is that all your stuff?
QUAYLE: No, I'm not Brock Landers.
DILLINGHAM: You didn't go out and search for the hottest woman in Scottsdale?
QUAYLE: No, a lot of people would like that job. I did meet the hottest girl, my wife and I just got married in April.
DILLINGHAM: And Quayle does admit to joining in on some of the chatter.
QUAYLE: I did write a couple of comments back on the Web site that doesn't exist anymore to try to help drive traffic and that's it.
DILLINGHAM: Nik Richie says the Dirty.com has been a huge success and he hopes his claims attract younger voters for Quayle.
(on camera): Do you have an ax to grind against him? Or why are you bringing this up right now?
RICHIE: I have no ill will against Ben, you know, I really don't have anything bad to say about Ben. I want to vote for the guy.
DILLINGHAM: Nik says he wants to vote for you.
QUAYLE: I just don't like people who are putting out false statements.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, the Arizona prison break. The escapees raised serious questions and now one official says that it served as warning. He says you better expect more like it. We'll explain why.
Flashback to August 12th, 1939. This nation was off to see the wizard, "The Wizard of Oz" starring Judy Garland and her lovable dog "Toto" made its world premiere in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The beloved musical was based on the bestselling novel by Frank Baum. The film went on to win two academy awards for its music and of course signature song "Somewhere over the Rainbow".
And Google, as you can see, paying tribute to "The Wizard of Oz" on its homepage.
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PHILLIPS: The ashes of a World War II hero to be buried next month at Arlington National Cemetery, but his widow couldn't afford the trip. When we heard that Heidi Baker wouldn't be able to attend her husband Vernon's burial, our heart sunk and we wanted to do something about it.
Listen to what Second Lieutenant Vernon Baker did for our country. He was the only black World War II vet to be awarded the Medal of Honor while living. It's a distinction that he earned for wiping out four German machine guns' nests in the mountains of Northern Italy in April of 1945.
When President Bill Clinton awarded him the medal in 1997, Baker said simply, "I was a soldier and I had a job to do." How could this hero be laid to rest without his wife present for the military honors?
Here is KREM's Othello Richards
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEIDI BAKER, WIDOW OF WWII VETERAN: Can keep it together more on the outside, but on the inside, I'm -- I'm just so sad.
OTHELLO RICHARDS, REPORTER, KREM: It's been almost one month since Heidi Baker lost her husband of 17 years.
BAKER: I have been for days now all by myself and I haven't spoken to no one.
RICHARDS: After a long bout with brain cancer, sensing he was slipping away Heidi says Vernon Baker cracks jokes, remained positive and then spoke his final words.
BAKER: He hugged me and he told me he loves me.
RICHARDS: Baker was 90. Nine days ago, hundreds of people went to his memorial service in St. Maries, Idaho. Heidi was presented the American flag, the same flag that draped over Vernon's body the day it left home.
BAKER: I think that was the hardest from the whole service. That was a really, really bad moment.
RICHARDS: September 24th, the Medal of Honor recipient ashes will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
BAKER: The military is not covering any of the trips out there. That's all up to me.
RICHARDS: But she's financially down, needs a job, Heidi can't afford the plane ticket. And she would like to have her grandson and daughter by her side for what she says will be an even more difficult ceremony than the first.
BAKER: That's a burial. This was just a service. That's the absolute final. So I'm not looking forward to that, but I have to be there, and that's where he deserves to be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: It looks like she is going to be there because we just got word this morning that Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick is donating his frequent flier miles to Heidi Baker so she can make sure that she can get to Arlington with her daughter and her 9-year-old grandson.
But how many other military families struggle with this? How many husbands, wives, siblings, children are laid to rest after military service without their loved ones by their side one final time.
We'll talk more about Baker's story with Congressman Minnick, coming up next hour at 10:40 Eastern time.
Here are some other stories that we're following for the next hour in the CNN NEWSROOM. Josh Levs, let's start with you.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it was chaos. Some people call it a nightmare as people from all over the country came to this tiny city, East Point, Georgia, for help finding housing they might be able to afford. Today's the next day in that effort I'll have that for you at the top of the hour.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you know, we were just talking about a veteran, and a lot of disabled veterans Kyra are returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan facing a brutal job market, not being able to find work. But we're going to tell you about a program that is really doing miracles, helping vets realize their dreams. That's coming up in the next hour.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano, in the CNN Severe Weather Center. The nation's capital getting rocked this morning with thunderstorms; look at this damage out at Montgomery County, Maryland. Trees down, power out, over 100,000 people at one time without power; we've run it down and get a live report in the next hour.
PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, guys.
Also, which is more cost effective, iPad or paper pad? Some city government officials say that the $500 iPad is saving them big money.
That's coming up next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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PHILLIPS: An update on the search for an escaped prisoner from Arizona. Cops now downplaying reports that John McCluskey and his fiancee are the same couple who robbed a beauty shop in northwestern Arkansas.
The mother of Casslyn Welch lives in the state. The search for the fugitive couple has now moved west again. Investigators say they're focusing on western Montana and southwest Canada. Police say this is how they may look now with McCluskey sporting black hair and a beard; Welch may have dyed her hair blonde.
The prison break in Arizona raises a number of serious questions. Why are convicted killers being housed in a medium security facility? And how can security be so lax that somebody can just merely toss wire cutters over the fence?
CNN's Brian Todd investigates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ominous warning about the Arizona prison break and its violent aftermath. There could be more.
TERRY GODDARD (D), ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I hope nothing happens, but the risk has gotten to be much, much higher.
TODD: That's Arizona's Democratic attorney general, Terry Goddard. He's blasting the state's Republican governor, Jan Brewer in the wake of the escape that officials say has led to two murders.
In an interview with CNN, Goddard accuses Brewer of moving too aggressively to make state prisoners privately run, like the facility in Kingman where the breakout occurred.
And as a result --
GODDARD: When you put these very high-risk, very violent offenders into a private situation which is designed to operate for a profit, and that means they're going to cut costs wherever they can, we are putting the public safety at risk and that's impermissible.
TODD: Goddard points out that also means putting violent offenders into medium and minimum security jails. The Kingman prison is medium security, originally built for DUI offenders. Two of the three inmates who escaped from there are convicted murderers.
There are a total of 117 murders there. Goddard is himself running for governor and will likely be Brewer's opponent this fall. An aide to Governor Brewer said she couldn't do an on-camera interview with us but her spokesman sent an e-mail saying, in part, "The attorney general is clearly being forced to make these reckless and irresponsible statements at the behest of union bosses who back him politically and demand that he attempt to politically exploit this terrible tragedy."
Goddard denies that he's acting on behalf of the unions. The governor's spokesman says they are not cutting prison spending and says the state's system of placing prisoners was also used by former Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano, currently Homeland Security Secretary.
Arnett Gaston, a college professor who once ran New York's Riker's Island prison says private prisons can be effective but he says he wouldn't let guards at private jails watch violent offenders.
(on camera): What couldn't they do?
ARNETT GASTON, RAN RIKER'S ISLAND PRISON: They could not arrest -- they could not effect an arrest. They were not empowered to. They may not have sufficient training in arrest procedure. They may not have sufficient training in escape prevention, riot techniques, responsibilities, responses to emergency situations that could require physical force up to and including deadly physical force.
TODD (voice-over): Gaston says it's important that guards have all that training and certification as so-called peace officers.
An official with the state's Department of Corrections tells us guards at Arizona's privately-run jails like that one in Kingman do not have that certification, and don't have the power to make arrests as guards at publicly run jails can but they say the level of training is the same across the board.
They say the training at that facility was adequate but they acknowledge there was human error on the day of the escape.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
