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Navy Captain Relieved of Duty; Pentagon Murder Mystery; New Congress; City Councilman Photographs Man Who Shot Him; Children Threatened in Texas; Anti-Bullying Law Draws Fire; Fake Tweeters Targeted
Aired January 04, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And now, top of the hour, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: I have a shocking picture before you. It captures the moments just before an assassin's bullet takes out a politician, gunned down in front of his family as he was snapping a photo of his wife and kids. But guess who else is in that photo? You have to see this.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): He was a crusader for Vietnam vets and a Pentagon insider, now the victim of a baffling murder mystery. Who killed John Wheeler?
And check out this video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they knew exactly where they were going.
BALDWIN: An ATM thief who wasn't taking any chances.
And how would you feel if your private medical records were dumped in a parking lot?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pages and pages of Social Security numbers.
BALDWIN: Uh-oh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Hello once again. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Lot of news happening right now. We always begin with rapid fire.
And I want to begin with all of this fallout from those raunchy videos shot and shown on board. A U.S. Navy aircraft commander. well, here's the news today. That commander who produced and starred in those profanity- and slur-laced videos has been relieved of his duties. U.S. Navy Captain Owen Honors was second in command of the USS Enterprise when the videos were made just a couple of years ago. In fact, he was later promoted to the ship's captain. And now we're learning he has lost that job. The Navy is investigating also still any other officers who might be involved in those videos.
Next, right there on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this morning, fire department and police dealt with a man who barricaded himself inside a building through in Hollywood. LAPD and SWAT officers believe the man had something to do with a woman found dead of a gunshot nearby. That standoff did finally end when that man surrendered. Still no word on the man's identity or that of the female victim.
Next, it is the worst-case scenario in the case of an Illinois woman missing nearly a month now. Tanya Shannon's body found yesterday in a field about a mile from where her husband was killed in a car accident. You remember this? The couple's car crashed into that pole in the cold after a holiday party. Dale Shannon was driving. He died.
And police had found his wife's fingerprints leading away from that car crash. And deep snow prevented a thorough search until this week. Coroner tests reportedly showed Dale Shannon was drunk at the time of the crash.
Next, a huge fire destroys a condo complex under construction there in New Jersey. Look at those pictures. Massive fire. Amazingly, no reports of injuries. The four-story building was unoccupied. No other buildings are near the site. Calls came in about a smoky smell, apparently from as far away as Manhattan.
Next, a United Airlines flight is diverted after some problems with the plane's communication system -- 255 people were on the Chicago-to-Frankfurt, Germany, flight which landed in Toronto overnight. All passengers took another flight back to Chicago before finally getting to that final destination in Germany.
Next, people might breathe a little easier being scanned at airport security. Take a look at these duds. Attorney Marc Carey has invented what he's calling scanner shirts and underwear.
Yes, the clothes keep private areas from being exposed. Carey says this could be the solution for travelers and the TSA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARC CAREY, ATTORNEY: Nobody knows you're wearing them. They're not protest garments. They're designed to be a reasonable compromise for travelers to allow TSA to do their job, but allow people to travel without a great deal of inconvenience and to preserve their dignity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: These are adult garments designed with patriotic symbols like stars and eagles for cover, while children's are designated with smiley faces.
Next, carton after carton of personnel files discarded next to a dumpster in Plano, Texas. I'm talking Social Security numbers, medical records, employment records, addresses, all belonging to people who worked for a now defunct company called White Rock Networks.
So, I know. You're thinking, how did it get there? Well, my answer, who knows? After a call from the city, a recycling truck came and hauled all those personal records away.
Next, you remember that huge natural gas explosion that leveled that neighborhood in San Bruno, California? Well, federal safety officials have just issued seven recommendations to keep something like this from ever happening again. Regulators call six of them are urgent.
Among the concerns -- here they are -- record-keeping on pipeline pressure limits and pipes that are welded, instead of seamless. The cause of that San Bruno blast still under investigation here months later, but gas pipeline operators across the country are being told to read the recommendations and fix any problems.
Next, if you're going to Italy and, oh, how we all wish we were, right, well, get ready to shell out a little bit more cash. There's now a tourist tax in Rome. Visitors must pay an extra charge to stay at a hotel or visit an attraction like a museum. The new law is sparking controversy because business owners fear it will scare away tourists paying extra money. The city, though, does get, oh, a good 30 million visitors a year. Beautiful.
Next, a woman in Oregon says three strangers are her guardian angels. Mary Lucas (ph), she was just walking along as part of a New Year's resolution when she says a man grabbed her from behind, held a knife to her neck. Police say a 47-year-old registered sex offender was trying to rape and possibly kill her.
But Lucas started screaming. And that is when three men just picking up trash, part of their community service in the neighborhood, scaled a fence, ran to her rescue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT DE-LOS-REYES, SAVED LUCAS FROM ATTACK: We didn't even think twice. We just ran down there. As soon as we ran down there, we saw the knife to her neck. And he was still struggling trying to hold her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The man accused of attacking Lucas now faces kidnapping and attempted assault charges.
Next, several Albuquerque schools getting a bit of a wet start to the new year. Cold weather causing pipes to burst, damaging classrooms. But students maybe a little excited over this, get a little extended break, should not get their hopes up for much of an extension.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will not postpone, delay, cancel any school. We will work around it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Sorry, students. Price tags for the repairs, wow, up to half a million dollars.
Next, the Treasury Department reports the national debt has hit the $14 trillion mark. That's nearing the limit Congress agreed to 11 months ago. A big fight is looming over raising the ceiling even higher.
And, finally, take a look at the Big Board. The Dow is up 20 points at 11691.
(MARKET UPDATE)
BALDWIN: And coming up, I'm going to show you a chilling picture. The story is this. There's a lawmaker, he was shot to death. He was taking a picture of his family. But what it actually shows in the picture could solve the crime. You have to see this. We will show it to you in just a bit.
Also, as conservative leaders get ready to attack what they call wasteful spending, one freshman Republican having a lavish party tonight. And the whole thing involves country singer LeAnn Rimes.
Joe Johns, I don't know where he finds this stuff, but it always makes me -- I always learn something from you every day.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: People are talking.
BALDWIN: People are talking. The "Political Pop," wait for it. It's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: There is a bit of a party in Washington this evening.
And Joe Johns has the scoop here as always in "Political Pop."
And why -- where is the party being held? And it's a bit lavish, is it not?
JOHNS: Right. Well, yes.
BALDWIN: We have the invitation. Aha.
JOHNS: Yes. Set it up. Set it up.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: You set it up.
JOHNS: OK. OK.
Republicans get control of the Congress.
BALDWIN: Tomorrow.
JOHNS: Right. They're talking about austerity along the way, controlling spending. So, what do they do? They throw a big, lavish party in Washington, D.C., a fund-raiser the night before they get control of the Congress. How lavish?
Talking about the W Hotel, pretty swanky, something like $2,500 a ticket, $50,000 maybe even for the high rollers. This is according to one of the conservative bloggers.
BALDWIN: Fifty thousand dollars to get in to --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: -- hotel?
JOHNS: Yes. Right, right, right.
And so big deal. OK. They're going to have LeAnn Rimes there. We have the great picture of her. She's probably not going to show up in the sexy Santa suit, though.
BALDWIN: Oh, gosh.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNS: Yes, we would hope not. This was all the brainchild of Congressman -- well, soon to be Congressman Jeff Denham, sworn in tomorrow. And there's a bunch of other people. This is the invitation.
BALDWIN: Here's LeAnn.
JOHNS: Yes, there you go.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Working the Santa suit.
JOHNS: LeAnn, yes, looking great.
And so you look at the invitation.
BALDWIN: Yes, because look at who the first person who is listed, speaker-designate John Boehner. I don't know --
JOHNS: Invited guests, not confirming.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Right. Apparently, Boehner is not coming.
And the other guy who is really of interest here is the majority leader-elect, Eric Cantor. I called his office. No answer on whether he's going. It's kind of hard to imagine that he might.
BALDWIN: I don't know if you mentioned it, but I think it's important to point out it's not like taxpayers are saying, hey, go. It's private, private donations, private money.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNS: Right. This is private money, completely legal.
BALDWIN: Yes.
JOHNS: We're talking about donations, lobbyists perhaps, people who want to -- to rub elbows with members of Congress.
BALDWIN: Sure.
JOHNS: Happens all the time.
JOHNS: Yes, to be fair, a couple of years ago, 2007, their party, if I remember correctly, at least one of them was at the National Building Museum. It was about $1,000 a head, adjust for inflation, and they got really hit on that. But the reason they got hit on it was because they came in talking about getting rid of the money in politics, the pay to play, getting the lobbyists out of politics and so on, and then they have this fundraiser and bring in the cash.
It's just an admission that, you know, money is the manna's milk of politics and it's probably going to stay that way in the United States.
BALDWIN: I like that. Manna's milk of politics. I like that, Joe Johns.
And finally, the addendum to our "Political Pop" today, and that is, a lot of us, look, we're flying, we're irked at all of the different little fees we're paying to hop on an airplane. Tell me who -- to we say complaining about it?
JOHNS: Sending to camp.
BALDWIN: Yes.
JOHNS: We love Cindy McCain's tweets because she's just so honest.
BALDWIN: Let's show this.
JOHNS: Fantastic. All right, so apparently, she's coming up to Washington, she gets frustrated. "Curbside to check my bag with U.S. Airways. Not only paid for the bag, but had to pay for the privilege of checking the bag." BALDWIN: On the curb.
JOHNS: "Whoa."
Right, and then we have the kicker -- "Does U.S. Airways charge for using the restroom onboard?"
Now, you know the frustration, right?
BALDWIN: She's a tad annoyed at this point.
JOHNS: So I called U.S. Airways, they say, no, they don't charge for using the restroom.
BALDWIN: Just in case you were curious.
JOHNS: Yes, but I haven't heard any more.
BALDWIN: Cindy McCain, you do not have to pay to use the restroom.
JOHNS: There you go.
BALDWIN: Good stuff, Joe Johns.
JOHNS: You bet.
BALDWIN: All right, see you from D.C. tomorrow. Good deal. Safe travels you. You don't have to pay -- yes.
And I just want to let our viewers know here that CNN's Brian Todd will have a lot more on this whole story coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM" about the party the tonight in D.C., not about Cindy McCain's tweeting. The big party that W. and the Republicans coming up tonight on "THE SITUATION ROOM," watch for that at 6:00 the Eastern hour.
And you remember when protesters attacked Prince Charles' car when he was still inside of it. All of those austerity cuts, remember, the students were irked about that. Well, we have brand new video of the whole thing, that is ahead.
And you have to see the picture I've been talking all about all hour long. It apparently reveals a lawmaker's assassin in this one photo. "Globe Trekking" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And here we go "Globe Trekking" looking at some of the big news today that's abroad. Michael Holmes here to help me out, anchor correspondent for CNN International.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Oh, you don't need help.
BALDWIN: You know who this guy is. We just call him Holmes. I actually want to start with a pretty serious story out of Pakistan, this assassination. Talk to me -- who was he?
HOLMES: A big deal. He was the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, which is a very powerful province. His name is Salman Taseer. Now he's also very close to the president.
What happened was he was out shopping at a market actually and he came out and one of his own bodyguards shoots him to death. Why? Well he's in an opponent of a blasphemy law which has become -- it's actually been around for a few years in Pakistan, but it hit the news lately because of a 45-year-old Christian woman who was accused of blaspheming the prophet Mohammed and was sentenced to death under this law.
The Pakistan government is, in fact, against this law being a death penalty thing. And Mr. Taseer, he was against this as well, spoke out against the law, said it wasn't a fair law, it wasn't a right law and he was very outspoken about it.
BALDWIN: And because he spoke out about it, you think that's why?
HOLMES: Yes. Well, the guy who shot him, his bodyguard, actually threw down the gun afterwards and gave up and said that he killed him because of his opposition to the blasphemy law.
This then leads to a whole bunch of other political issues for the government. They've had problems with the coalition, the death of this man who was a big supporter of the president could lead to more problems for a country that's having economic problems, it's got some political woes. It could lead to other things, so we have to keep an eye on that.
BALDWIN: We'll, keep an eye on that. And then, there's this other assassination story that definitely got all of us talking.
HOLMES: It sure did.
BALDWIN: Was he a city councilman?
HOLMES: He was a city councilman in Metro Manila in the Philippians. His name was actually Reynaldo Dagsa. Before we show the photograph, I'll just set it up.
It's New Year's Eve, he's taking photographs of his family, and in this case his wife, his mother-in-law, and his daughter. And take a look at the photograph there, that's the photo he snaps at the moment -- look at the left of your screen -- the very moment a guy appears --
BALDWIN: Pointing a gun --
HOLMES: -- at his head, shoots him in the millisecond after he snaps his photo. The guy on the right, who is not blurred out there, he was a spotter for the gunmen and kills him. He bled to death on the way to the hospital. So the family, of course, horrified and all of the rest of it, the investigation is launched, blah, blah, blah, it's not for a few days until they look at the photographs.
BALDWIN: They look at the photographs and see the moment after he snaps it photo of the gunman.
HOLMES: Who just popped up at that moment and shot him.
BALDWIN: Have they caught him?
HOLMES: They have. They caught him and the other guy the photograph, too. And they are guys with long criminal records. This councilman had been a big supporter of the police in the local community, and there's a suggestion that some of what he did in supporting the police and putting this guy in jail for something else and it was a revenge sort of thing.
BALDWIN: Wow. In the millisecond, just as you said, the millisecond before he was shot.
And finally, we told this story last month during the whole tuition protests. Thousands of students in the U.K. were protesting over tripling the tuition. So you have this car, this is Charles and Camilla driving along.
HOLMES: This is Charles and Camilla, Prince Charles and Camilla going to the theater, they were going to a concert when they, inexplicably to me, I don't know how the police allowed the route to stay the same.
BALDWIN: News flash: riots happening.
HOLMES: It's all over the city and they allowed them to continue on his route. The protesters were surprised, too, but then, of course, they pounced on the car.
What they've seen, we've seen those photographs of Camilla looking shocked and horrified. What you're seeing there is the photograph of one of the people the police are looking for. This is the first time they released video footage, this is from security cameras, CCTV --
BALDWIN: The first time you're seeing of the people bum rushing the car.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) Of course, paint was thrown on the car. A window was smashed in one of the other vehicles. Charles and Camilla, that memorable photograph of them looking absolutely horrified. And there --
BALDWIN: There are the still pictures.
HOLMES: South of London Palladium where the performance is. You can see the paint there on the window, on the vehicle. And so, the police released this video to try to get public to dop (ph) some of these guys in. See what happens to that. It's a bit grainy, but they're hopeful.
BALDWIN: Looking for them. They have pictures, again, in this case.
HOLMES: Your stomach growling? I can hear it from here.
BALDWIN: Did you hear it?
HOLMES: Oh, man. I skipped lunch. Get something to eat.
HOLMES: Get something to eat.
BALDWIN: Thanks, Holmes, thanks. See you tomorrow.
A superintendent is warning the hundreds of parents about a threatening letter he received, and he's going to join me in a moment here live on CNN to explain what action he is taking and who they think may be behind it. Here he is, good enough to speak to me live. Don't miss this conversation.
Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back.
Parents in particular, I bet you can relate to this. Your know, when the school sends a letter home with your kids to you, the parents, it's usually given a cursory read and maybe tacked up on the refrigerator. But the letter sent to parents -- and I have it right here, it's about two pages here -- in the Bay City School District in Texas has parents very much so frightened, very worried, and with good reason because it threatens to harm their children.
In fact, look at this one line here, we pulled this for you. "Now here are my rules break one and see what happens. Let me be clear, if anyone breaks the rules, I will punish their kids (sic)." Yes, it misspells kids.
Now the letter goes on to threaten that the writer would kill student if certain conditions were not met, and that is the part that has parents most frightened. The letter was addressed to Bay City School Superintendent Keith Brown, who is joining me now from Bay City, Texas.
And, Keith, first, do you have any idea who the author of this letter here might be?
KEITH BROWN, SUPERINTENDENT, BAY CITY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: Absolutely, at this time, we do not. That's the purpose for us publishing the letter was to try to be totally transparent with all of our community members and parents and trying to utilize our community power together to try to solve this crime. BALDWIN: It is. And I have a letter, I've read it. It's riddled with profanity, it's riddled with misspellings. I'm not going to air this person's grievances here on live TV, but I'll just ask you this, might this be some students playing just a really bad joke?
BROWN: That's always a possibility, but in modern times, we have to take all of these threats as serious.
BALDWIN: Keith, you have two daughters, two little girls who go to school in your school district. Also, we know your wife works for the school district. What about their safety? Are you worried?
BROWN: Yes, ma'am, we're all concerned about the safety of all of our employees and our students. Buts as far as my wife and children, they're just as safe as all of the rest of the students in our schools. We're very confident in that or else we would not have allowed them to attend school today.
BALDWIN: What about the safety? What kinds of safety precautions are you taking in your school district to make sure students now, since this letter has been sent threatening their lives, make sure they're safe? What are you doing?
BROWN: Well just like across America, since 9/11 and Columbine, we're vigilant lent every day. We have security measures in place with locked school doors, the buildings are locked down on a daily basis.
As added precautions because of this letter, we worked with the city police to have close drive-bys, we have police at or near or on each campus. Our school district also employs our own school district police that includes a chief of police and he is stationed at the Bay City High School.
So our two largest campuses have at least two to three policemen inside the campuses at all times, they're employed by Bay City ISD and then we're working in conjunction with our local law enforcement here locally.
We depend heavily on community support out here. We have 625 employees that have their eyes open and their ears open. And we're asking them to watch for anything out of the ordinary and get on the cell phones or Twitter or whatever else they're going to use to make sure we're notified and --
BALDWIN: Pass along that information.
BROWN: -- we have quick response time here with law enforcement.
BALDWIN: Keith, in reading the letter, did anything jump out at you, maybe perhaps a clue about who wrote this? Anything?
BROWN: To me, personally, no. In our office, we're in central administration, so we're not particularly aware of anyone that had an issue of after-school detention that it lists in there. And we don't have evidence that this occurred. It's quite possible that it did and was not brought to the attention of one of our administrators --
BALDWIN: Wait, I'm sorry, back up for a second. What actually occurred? Explain that. What would have occurred?
BROWN: They're saying they had an issue with after-school detention and the way it ran. So, we don't know if someone had an issue with after-school detention or not.
BALDWIN: I see. So, nothing that you know of had been reported recently about that?
BROWN: No, ma'am. Nothing has been brought to our attention in central administration about that. So, we're taking this threat very seriously, and we're investigating it.
BALDWIN: I know this was sent to you directly during the holidays. Now, students are heading back to school. Did you have a lot of absentee students today?
BROWN: Yes, ma'am. We had about 50 percent of the student population today was out because of this act of terror.
BALDWIN: An act of terror is what this is.
You will be marking them absent from what I understand. So, that means 50 percent absentees here. From what we've read, doing our digging here at CNN, according to all of these parents posting on Facebook, they are none too pleased by their kids being considered absent. So, what is your response to those perturbed parents?
BROWN: Well, sure. What we're operating under currently is established Texas law for compulsory attendance. However, the Texas Education Agency in cases like this will allow us to apply for a waiver.
We consider this an act of terror. This is a terroristic threat, so we'l; file a waiver with the state of Texas Department of Education, Texas Education Agency and try to retain the attendance for our students and the district.
We have to maintain open doors because we have a lot of students who depend on us for breakfast and lunch for us every day. Over 80 percent of our students are eating breakfast and lunch here every day. We have to be open for those students. We have to provide services for our children. We'll work on the waiver as far as the attendance goes going forward. We can't worry about funding or anything like that. We have to just provide services for the students who show up. That's our duty, that's our diligence, that's our calling here in the Bay City ISD to educate all of the students who do show up.
BALDWIN: Keith, here is my final question to you. If you can take off your superintendent hat and put on your dad hat, you send your two little girls off to school today. What is the final thing you say to them as they head out the door?
BROWN: Well, what I told both of them is have a good day, learn as much as you can and go about yourbusiness as normal. Bay City ISD is open for business. I take this situation seriously as a parent just like anyone else would around the nation. We made our decisions a as family based on the fact that we know that public schools are the safest and best place for all children to gain an education and be safe on a daily basis. We made that decision.
Our daughters were very excited about to school today. My youngest daughter in particular who was threatened told me her junior high is one of the most safest places because her teachers and our police officer are present all the time in the school, and she kind of complained to the fact that they can't get away with anything. So, we feel good about the safety and the security of our schools.
BALDWIN: I'm sorry. You mentioned your daughter was threatened. Can you further explain that?
BROWN: No, she wasn't threatened. She complained that at the junior high, we have so many teachers and our police officer that the kids can't get away with anything.
BALDWIN: Got it. Keith Brown, thank you.
BROWN: Thank you very much.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
Do you play the lottery. The Megamillions now? One huge jackpot. I'm going to tell you what the winner will get -- or winners -- and we'll have to wait and see and his or her odds of buying a golden ticket. They're lining up now. "Reporter Roulette" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The president is back. Health care reform is under fire. And the megamillions jackpot is, wow, fairly large.
Time to play "Reporter Roulette." I want to begin, though, at the White House with Dan Simon (sic). And Dan, my question is this. My first one is this.
President Obama, we know, is back home. There you are from his vacation in Hawaii. How is the president reacting to all of the threats about repealing his health care reform law?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He talked a little bit about that in Air Force One on his way here. He dropped in on reporters back in their cabin and he said, listen, this is politics. This is the kind of thing that happened in Washington, that, quote, "they're going to play to their base for a certain period of time." But he expressed confidence that everyone can work together and really get things done when it comes to job creation, something so many Americans who are out of work want now.
BALDWIN: Also, big news today. The safety -- food safety bill he signed. What does that mean for Americans? LOTHIAN: Well, essentially, it will give the FDA the tools to keep Americans from getting sick. In particular, they'll be able to issue mandatory recalls when there's a problem. In the past, they had to negotiate this with companies. In addition to that, there'll be the development of a system to more quickly track the source of the contamination.
But the question being asked is how will this be paid for. The estimated cost of this over five years is $1.4 billion. As you know, Brooke, this, is not a time when those folks on Capitol Hill want to spend any money. So, it will be interesting to see how this is all funded.
BALDWIN: Correct you are, Dan Lothian. Thank you, sir, for this at the White House.
Next on "Reporter Roulette," Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the new health care provisions that do go into effect this week. Especially one that affects senior citizens. Sanjay.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, the impact of this shrinking of the doughnut hole could be pretty significant of the seniors.
Think of it like this. We talk a bit about the doughnut hole a lot. You imagine a doughnut. As seniors are starting to -- first start paying for prescription drugs, as they go through the first part of the doughnut, they pay about a quarter, 25 percent of the costs of those prescription drugs. As things stood, when they got to the hole -- the middle part, they had to incur -- they had to pay for all of the costs of the prescription drugs. Until they got to the other side of the hole, about $45 to $50. That's when they started to get relief again.
The impact of what's happening now is that the hole -- the middle part where they were paying for the entire cost of prescription drugs, now they only have to pay it for 50 percent of the cost. So, there you see how the impact is shrinking, the size is shrinking as well.
The trajectory of this incidentally, Brooke, is that ultimately there should be no hole at all. They're saying there may be a cost for seniors all along. Twenty-five percent of all costs of prescription drugs, but it doesn't change when you get to certain thresholds and kick back in when you get to other thresholds. That's the significance of what's happening today, Brooke. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for that. And finally, here on "Reporter Roulette," Allan Chernoff in New York, talking about Megamillions. The jackpot apparently even bigger today. And, Allan, I know you've been out and about where people are buying tickets. I imagine you and some members of your crew buying tickets as well. Tell me, how big is the jackpot now grown? ALLAN CHERNOFFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: The jackpot has grown by 25 million today because people have been buying so many tickets, myself included. Why not? Hey, you know, if you're not in it, you can't win it.
It's grown by $25 million. $355 million right now, Brooke. That is the second biggest Megamillions jackpot in history.
BALDWIN: Whew! Certainly not chump change. So, $335 million, Allen, is that lump sum or less?
CHERNOFF: OK, the way they figure it out, and keep in mind, this game is played in 41 states plus in D.C.. The way they figured it out is it's paid out over 26 years, okay? So, that comes out to a mere $13.5 million. Now if you want the lump sum, $224 million. Not exactly chump change.
BALDWIN: I'm thinking spread it out over time if I were to win. But I don't play. Because I never win this kind of thing.
Let me finally ask you this -- what about the odds? What are the odds in winning the big jackpot?
CHERNOFF: This is something better not to hear if you're not playing. But since you're not playing. It's - of winning the jackpot, one in 176 million. So, somebody will be very, very lucky if somebody wins. There have been 15 drawings where people have not won. That's why we're up to $355 million.
BALDWIN: I always love it when they go in and they surprise the people. When you get to see them and they take about it the next day. So, good luck to whoever the winning - the golden ticker - hold it - the golden ticket holder is. Allan Chernoff, thank you so much. Good luck to you, by the way.
And that is today's "Reporter Roulette."
A couple months ago, Rahm Emmanuel was one of the closest people to the president. Now, as you know, he wants to be the mayor of Chicago. And he just scored a small victory in that mayoral race. Gloria Borger is standing by. She has your political ticker, coming up next.
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BALDWIN: CNN = Politics. Gloria Borger joins me now with the latest from the political ticker. Including - Gloria, we just teased this -- a bit of a victory for former White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel. Small victory, big victory?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Pretty big victory. Because he wants to be the mayor of Chicago, as you know. You can't run for office there unless you're certified that you actually live in the city of Chicago. And Rahm Emmanuel has been having a big fight about that. Because as you know, he's been a congressman. But also, moved to Washington to serve Barack Obama as his chief of staff. And there were some folks in Chicago who said, you know what? You can't live in two places at once. You're really not a resident of Chicago. He had to go through a long, involved hearing with the board of elections. Remember, he testified that even though he had rented his house out, he had left his wife's wedding dress at the house. So, that means, of course, you're going to return because you can never leave your wedding dress at a house you're not going to go back and live in.
So, he won that -
BALDWIN: Of course!
BORGER: He's now he's going to appear on the ballot. So, all he has to do is win the election. He's really, really up in the polls by double digits. So, it looks pretty good for Rahm Emmanuel.
BALDWIN: What about, Gloria, Florida? Rick Scott, now governor of Florida, sworn in today. I understand you and Wolf actually spoke to former governor Charlie Crist. What did he say?
BORGER: Yes. Well, you know, it's always interesting to talk to somebody who has just lost an election.
He told us, by the way, that he's going to remain an Independent, not going to go back to being a Republican, that he intends to go back to the private sector and get a different kind of job this time. But what was most interesting to me was we asked him about the political future of another Bush, whether there could possibly be another Bush in the White House, meaning, of course, Jeb Bush, former governor of the state of Florida, someone not particularly close to Charlie Crist, because as you'll recall, Jeb Bush endorsed Marco Rubio, Crist's opponent for governor. Rubio won.
And his answer -- let me tease it this way -- it surprised us, because it was particularly nice about Jeb Bush. Very interesting.
BALDWIN: Very interesting.
Gloria Borger with the "Political Ticker" for us this Tuesday.
BORGER: You've got to watch.
BALDWIN: Absolutely. Thank you.
BORGER: Watch "THE SITUATION ROOM." Sure.
BALDWIN: We will, "THE SITUATION ROOM," starting at 5:00, here in just a little bit.
You know how there are those fake Twitter accounts out there, a person claiming to be someone else? Well, now they could be in big, big trouble for doing that. We are "On the Case" ahead.
Plus, stealing an ATM, that's nothing new. But stealing it from a bowling alley by crashing your car through the wall might make a little bit of ATM stealing history. Wait until you see this. That's next.
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BALDWIN: You know the old saying, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it"? Well, someone should have told one captain that it does not exactly apply to boats.
"You Gotta See This!"
Do you see the boat there chugging along, floating easily down a river in West Virginia? Well, it was relaxing until it tried to pass underneath that bridge there and got stuck. Firefighters had to come aboard and rescue the trapped passengers. Fortunately, everyone made it to shore safely.
Next, I wish we had that whole "Green Acres" theme song here. You know, the "Darling I love you, but give me Park Avenue."
Kids, we do not recommend you try this at home. This being skiing down Park Avenue in New York, making this whole avenue, I guess, a bit of a ski slope, this guy did during last week's blizzard. What about the whole saying about objects in the mirror being closer than they appear? How about IQs in the mirror being lower than they appear?
Ouch.
Look, we're glad this guy didn't get hurt even though we're showing it to you here on CNN.
And check this one out. Watch the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
Security cameras -- this is a bowling alley -- caught these guys red-handed. You see the car come crashing through. This is a minivan -- through the front glass doors of this place.
His buddy in the passenger seat hopped out. You're going to see in just a moment how they -- there they go -- grabbing that ATM, shoving it in the back of a car.
Now, police have not caught these guys yet. They're hoping that the front-end damage to that minivan may help track them down. The bowling alley owner says he's not quite sure how much cash was actually in that ATM, but he says it will cost him thousands of dollars to just replace those front doors and fix the damage those guys made to the entryway.
Come on now.
And now for a look at what is ahead for us all in "THE SITUATION ROOM," want to go to Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
And Wolf, I understand you're going to look into the Republicans' effort to repeal the health care law and what Democrats plan to do about that. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We have a good debate coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM" on this very issue, Brooke.
Steve King, the Republican congressman from Iowa, he hates the Democrats' health care reform law that the president signed last year. Debbie Wassermann Schultz, the congresswoman from south Florida, the Democrat, she loves it. And they're going to go at it.
We're going to get both sides. We're going to have an opportunity to hear the pros and cons of repeal versus going forward. We have got some good questions lined up in that area.
As you know, Brooke, the Republican leadership in the House, they say this is issue number one. The first issue coming up in the House of Representatives under the new Speaker, John Boehner, is repealing health care reform. They're going to go at it and we'll see what happens.
But it's an important issue, and we'll obviously -- we'll obviously have a very good discussion on that front.
BALDWIN: We will be watching and listening for it, Mr. Blitzer. Good to see you. We'll see you on "THE SITUATION ROOM" here in just a couple of minutes.
BLITZER: I hope, by the way, Brooke, that the owner of that bowling alley had a good insurance policy.
BALDWIN: Amen, Wolf Blitzer. I know. Not good. Don't try that at home.
Wolf, thank you.
There is one new law. It's against bullying in one state, but not everyone is happy about this. Does it actually protect bullies?
Sunny Hostin is "On the Case" next. But first, this.
You know how we were talking about the big Mega Millions jackpot. It's now up to $355 million. Well, it sounds like a pretty sweet pay day, but take a look at some of the biggest jackpots in U.S. history.
We have the top five for you, starting with this one, just last year. Two -- or I should say now two years ago.
Two winning tickets in New York and California won the $336 million jackpot in Mega Millions.
Number four, in 2005, two lucky Oregon tickets won a cool $340 million in Powerball.
Number four and five will have to move down a notch if someone wins tonight's Mega Millions drawing.
And number three, this was back in 2000, a $363 million jackpot split by two tickets. We have Illinois and Michigan. And if you think that is something, wait until you hear the top two biggest jackpots. Whew. That's a lot of money, isn't it? That's next.
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BALDWIN: Many of you out there are catching lotto fever. I don't play. I never win this stuff. Maybe you will.
The Mega Millions jackpot, already up to $355 million today. So many people are buying tickets. Not too far actually from the top two biggest lottery jackpots in U.S. history. So, here we go.
Coming in at number two, with the biggest single ticket win ever, the $365 million Powerball back in 2006.
And for the biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history is $390 million. This is Mega Millions. This was 2007, split by two tickets, one in Georgia and one in New Jersey.
I don't know. I feel like if you get that high in the millions, it's a lot of money no matter how you cut it.
All right. It is time -- you know, it's that time of the year when we look at lists of brand new laws that are in effect now here for the year 2011, everything from details in the health care law to the state bans on texting while driving. But there's this new law that went into effect just a couple of months ago that's causing a bit of concern and controversy here in the new year.
It's this anti-bullying law the Massachusetts legislature passed in reaction to the highly publicized suicide of this young woman. This was 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who was bullied by classmates at South Hadley High School.
And I want to bring in Sunny Hostin, who is "On the Case" for us, as always, today.
And, you know, Sunny, this whole anti-bullying law, it sounds like a pretty good idea in theory. So why -- why aren't people happy with this one?
SUNNY HOSTIN, "IN SESSION," TRUTV: I think it is really a good idea. And people aren't happy. It's hard to make anyone happy, Brooke, as you know, when it comes to passing laws.
But this law provides that adults in schools, teachers and the like, must report incidents of bullying, suspected bullying, to the principal. And then it puts the onus on the principal to investigate. The principal must also contact the families, and the principal must also keep track of these bullying incidents. Teachers are also going to receive bullying training, and students are also going to be receiving training.
Now, what are people saying? People are upset because they're saying this puts too much on principals. Principals are so busy. People are also saying things like, well, the law is too expensive to implement. How are we going to pay for all of this training?
They're even saying that, listen, we've already got some good anti-bullying things in process. And so why would we have to tweak those? Why would we have to change those programs?
But the bottom line, in my view, Brooke, is that this is a wonderful thing. It's really shining a light on bullying, and it is now giving states some guidelines in how to deal with it.
BALDWIN: You mentioned how -- and there are a lot of schools who already have those anti-bullying programs in place. Does that mean they have to scrap them and start over?
HOSTIN: Well, some of the complainants are certainly saying yes, that they have to start over. But I don't really think that that is accurate. My read is that maybe they have to tweak some of those very successful programs. But have to scratch them all together? I don't think so.
BALDWIN: Does the law, Sunny, go far enough?
HOSTIN: You know, in my view, I guess having been a prosecutor, and having just sort of seen these bullying cases up close, I don't think it does go far enough. But I think it's a step in the right direction.
It really, again, is giving some guidelines to schools in how to deal with these cases. As we see in the press, it's just happening more and more often.
BALDWIN: We are more and more often. Are there possibly likely to be any unintended consequences here? Will simple conflicts between, say, two students in class suddenly be elevated to bullying status?
HOSTIN: You know, I give principals more credit than that. I give teachers that are trained more credit than that. Certainly, it's possible that these simple schoolyard skirmishes become bullying charges. I don't think that's that probable.
BALDWIN: OK.
Case number two, there's this new law in California aimed at people -- you know, we've seen this time and time again, people who try to impersonate other people online. Case in point, a couple of these people -- these are just a couple of celebrities who have been impersonated on Twitter.
Sunny, my question to you is, does this California law make it illegal now, officially illegal to impersonate a celebrity online?
HOSTIN: It does. And it makes it illegal not only to e- personate a celebrity online, but just about anyone online.
My read of the law says that if you try to pass yourself as someone else on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere online for the purpose of harming, intimidating, threatening or defrauding that person, it is illegal. You can spend up to one year in jail and be fined about $1,000.
So I think it gives the celebrities something to fight back with, and just everyday people something to fight back with if someone is trying to impersonate you online.
BALDWIN: Would you see it perhaps as a way to -- I guess it's also protecting those people whose identities have been impersonated.
HOSTIN: Absolutely. And let's face it, I mean, people do this often not only just to celebrities, they do it at disgruntled employees, disgruntled exes --
BALDWIN: Anyone.
HOSTIN: -- people sort of playing tricks. And now they have got to be careful.
BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you, as always, "On the Case." We'll see you back here tomorrow.
HOSTIN: Thanks.
BALDWIN: And now we go to Wolf Blitzer in Washington with "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.
