Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Disabled Women Sexually Assaulted; The Scotts Driving Away From Prison; Rutgers Football Injury; Latest Job Report; Patients Denied Organ Transplants Due To Budget Cuts; December Jobs Report Released; Highest and Lowest Rated Jobs; Daley New White House Chief of Staff; Biggie's Murder Case Reinvigorated; Southern Sudan's Freedom Vote

Aired January 07, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right, they are heinous attack against the most vulnerable of victims. Unknown men sexually assaulting several disabled -- severely disabled women. Police in Los Angeles are disgusted and they're determined to identify the guys and bring them in. So, they went public, yesterday, asking for the public's health. And not even a day later they got a big break.

Casey Wian joins us with that, plus personal insights from some officers working this case. Casey, what a remarkable story.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It absolutely is. I'm, here, at Los Angeles county sheriff's department headquarters. And this is where the videotapes were mailed to a few months ago. We had 13 different DVDs containing more than 100 hours of video, of these disabled women, and they believe in a residential care facility, being sexually assaulted by as many as ten male suspects.

Now, sheriff's investigators have spent the past several months trying to identify these suspects, because the video was of such poor quality, in many cases. And, as you mentioned, yesterday, they went public with some of -- some of the images. There's (ph) some stills (ph) of the men, because the images were so graphic, and so disturbing, they have not even allowed us to see the videotape, much less put it out to the public.

Now, what's interesting is there was a letter accompanying these videos that said, that it was from a computer technician who was hired to wipe the hard drive clean from a laptop that was bought by somebody else. And this person said he bought it from a crack head in Englewood for $20. And when the computer technician saw the images on the hard drive, he was so disturbed that he anonymously -- he copied them and, anonymously, sent them to sheriff's department investigators saying, please catch these sick people who were doing these things.

Now, sheriff's investigators had no idea who these perpetrators were until last night. They got a significant break in the case.

It turns out that the Los Angeles police department, some detectives there, recognized two of the suspects. One of them is actually in prison, convicted of financial crimes, neglect, and sexual assault in a residential care facility. The other person was not brought to trial because there was a lack of evidence for the district attorney's office.

So, they think they know who two of these guys are and they're asking for the public's health and anonymous tipster's help in identifying the other suspects. They'll be meeting with the LAPD, later today, to try to put these two cases together. They say it's very, very high priority, because they've been receiving calls from concerned relatives of people in nursing care facilities all over southern California. Worried that their loved ones might have been victimized by these people - Ali.

VELSHI: Casey, why did they decide to go public with this, and how long did the police have the case before they went public?

WIAN: They had it for several months, and they spent hours and hours trying to digitally enhance these images to try to see if they could recognize them. And, basically, they had no luck. So, they decided to bring this case public, and it, absolutely, brought some results last night.

VELSHI: And, Casey, finally, they -- so they think they've identified two of these guys. How many people are they looking for?

WIAN: I'm sorry, I think they identified two of them. I think they've got eight other suspects that they've identified. Individual suspects on the videotape. And we've now got some sound from an interview I did earlier this morning with the lead detective on this case. And he's really -- it's really incredible when you hear what he has to say about how disturbing these images are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was floored. I've seen a lot of terrible, terrible imagery in my current assignment, that involved children and all kinds of other, you know, hideous things, but this was amongst the most heinous that I've ever seen. Poor, defenseless people who can't cry out for help or fend off an attacker, and, what I saw, were just these poor people lying there, being victimized, in the most terrible way I've ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: And, again, as we mentioned, Ali, they'll be meeting with their colleagues in the Los Angeles Police Department to try to identify these other eight unknown suspects.

VELSHI: Wow, what a story. OK, Casey, now that they've got a couple, or, at least, know where one of them is, hopefully, they'll be able to break the rest of it pretty soon. We'll stay on top of it with you.

Casey Wian, in Los Angeles, thanks very much.

OK. A little over a week ago, we brought you the incredible story of Gladys and Jamie Scott. Two sisters serving two life sentences for a robbery netting $11. That's not the incredible part, although, many people call that outrage. The stunner is this. The governor of Mississippi ordered the sisters released on the condition that Gladys, who is seen here on the left, donate one of her kidneys to Jamie, on the right, whose kidneys have failed. Now, Gladys offered to do just that. She's not being cohorts, but as the term of suspending a prison sentence, it's bizarre if not unprecedented. In any event, we have an update on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we're free!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Hope you heard that. The Scotts driving away from a prison in Pearl, Mississippi, a whole lot sooner than state officials had estimated a week ago. But that's not the end of the story or stories, because there are a lot of angles to this one.

CNN's Martin Savidge joins me Jackson, the capitol, to look ahead. Martin, what happens next in this story?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, really, you know, it's interesting, Ali, that getting out of prison is just the beginning of what will be a long road and could be a very convoluted road. They've spent four hours of freedom for the two year sisters after 16 years behind bars.

The first few hours of freedom have been spent in two ways. Number one, sleeping. They didn't get a lot of sleep last night. You can imagine that with all the excitement of the release coming today.

Two, getting some food and number three, is going to happen behind us, here, and that's a press conference expected 2:00 local time and 3:00 eastern time. And that's when we begin to get answers.

Perhaps, -- Now, I say perhaps, because, as you know, their release is conditional, based upon what the governor set as specific conditions. One, the transplant, if there is a match. Two, they want to be careful what they say because they realize it's a conditional release and it's possible the governor, or those in the correctional department, could change their minds.

So, they are going to be careful for their first appearance, in public, before front of television cameras. But the real concern is the medical condition of Jamie. And that's what her attorney talked about with me just a short while ago. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHOKWE LUMUMBA, ATTORNEY: We're going to get them to medical facilities where treatment for Jamie is going to take place, immediately. Then the doctors are going to have to tell us how long it takes to test. We're not absolutely sure but we don't expect it to take a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SAVIDGE: The test he's talking about there, of course, Ali, is to figure out, actually, if Gladys was a match for her sister. That could not be determined while they are in prison, and, of course, that's critical if the whole transplant is going to go ahead. So, that's one of the first steps.

We know Jamie will be in dialysis tomorrow morning, in Florida, which means they'll be headed there late tonight or sometime very early tomorrow morning. And it's not only health care they'll find there, it's their families. Their mother is very, very anxious to see them.

VELSHI: Martin, what -- I don't understand, Martin. So, they didn't do a test to determine whether one sister could be a kidney donor to the next one. So, what happens if she's not a match?

SAVIDGE: Well, you know, this is the question that's come up many, many times. What if she is not a match? Does that mean, then, that one of the sisters goes back to prison? The governor's office has assured that that is not going the case. In fact, it's been rather interesting. Since the whole announcement came about of the suspension of sentence, it appears that the governor's office has been back pedaling because of the tremendous amount of attention, and, for the medical community, the outrage associated with the kidney donation as being part of some sort of get out of jail plan.

So, I think the governor's office has realized, either it misspoke or that, perhaps, it's no longer wise to continue talking about the kidney transplant. They say, now, it's humanitarian reasons. She needs medical help. She will find that medical help best outside of prison.

VELSHI: And, I guess, part of this -- I don't know whether this came from the governor's office or not, but it is the cost, for the prison service it's a whole lot cheaper to get that one sister, who is getting dialysis every day, out of prison.

SAVIDGE: They anticipated that it was causing about -- the prison system, that means the state of Mississippi, about $200,000 a year, alone, just for Jamie to get dialysis.

So, of course, that means that that's a medical burden, a cost that the state would no longer have to take. It's also humanitarian reasons. What the governor doesn't want to address, and probably wants to avoid, is any question as to whether he thought their sentence, originally, was unjustified and he would be freeing them for that reason. He's not. He's always said it's medical and humanitarian reasons.

VELSHI: Martin Savidge, good to talk to you. What a fascinating, fascinating story with far more angels than you would think having to do with one story. Martin Savidge in Jackson, Mississippi. We'll be hearing more about this later on this afternoon when they hold a press conference.

OK. An athlete in his prime, paralyzed by a tackle and bed ridden. You might think such a devastating injury would make you a little bitter and pessimistic. Not for Eric LeGrand. The Rutgers' football player is making some progress since his October injury, and tells us, in today's Sound Effect, he knows there will be more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERICK LEGRAND, FOOTBALL PLAYER, RUTGERS: I believe that I will walk one day. I believe it. God has a plan for me, and I know it's not to be sitting in here all of the time. I know he has something planned bigger for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Rutgers announced, yesterday, LeGrand has regained some sensation in his body. You can catch that full interview with him throughout the day on ESPN Sports Center.

Now, of all of the economic reports that the government puts out every month, the jobs report is the top on everyone's list.

The latest job report looks good, unless you look closely. We learned today, that the nation's unemployment rate took a tumble last month from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent.

Now, this is a picture of unemployment, jobs gained and lost, since the beginning of the recession that we have just gone through, starting in December of 2007. You can see this all of the way to 2008. The bottom of that, we were losing about 700,000 jobs a month. The end of 2008 and at the beginning of 2009. And then you can see at the end of 2009, we started to gain jobs into 2010. Had a rough time in the middle of the year, but have started gaining jobs, again.

So, for December, we gained 103,000 jobs for the month. Now, what mattered is how many jobs the economy created. This 103,000 that we got in December, that is much lower than expectations. But if you take all that green for the year, what you have is 1.1 million jobs. That's the first yearly gain since that big recession started.

And while any gain is good, gains like these don't even keep up with the pace of population growth. The economy, wiped out. So, that's another important thing to look at. I'm going to talk more about all of this why my "your money" co-host Christine Romans at about quarter past the hour. She'll be with us, right here, in the Newsroom.

OK, patients denied organ transplants and dying in Arizona because of budget cuts. Hear one man's own words how he's not getting the heart -- the heart that he needs, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: More fallout in Arizona after two patients, who needed organ transplants, died after state budget cuts eliminated the funding for certain types of transplants.

Now, Arizona Senate majority leader wants to the legislature to restore $1.2 million that was cut from the budget, before anyone else dies. Randall Shepherd needs a heart transplant. He's one of the people who has been taken off the list.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDALL SHEPHERD, ARIZONA TRANSPLANT LIST: I received word -- about a year after I was placed on the transplant list, I received word these cuts were on the horizon that there's a chance this was going to happen from my nurse coordinator. And she said, contact your state legislators. Contact everybody that you can. We're working, on our end, to get the word out.

And, then, as of October 1st, I got the official call, that, you know, unofficially on the -- on the inactive list. And until either funding becomes made available or I'm able to raise the funding myself, that there's -- it's not going to - I'm not going to get my heart until then. It's obvious that if the state's broke, it's broke.

And, you know, I can -- excuse me. I can kick and scream all I want, and if there's no money for a transplant, then it's not going to happen. You know, I think there's a lot of areas where cut backs could be made before they get to the transplant cuts. Before things that are, actually, affecting people, you know, in the life and death situation.

You know, and I really feel bad for the governor, for the legislators, those who had to make this decision. And I, certainly, wouldn't want to be their shoes. I wouldn't want to be the one making the call that results in somebody else living or dying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Generous way to look at it. We first brought you this story yesterday. A lot of you -- a lot of you have weighed in on my Facebook page and continue to do so.

Kathy writes, "As a transplant patient, I probably have a different opinion from others. I understand that the federal and state governments can't pay for everything, but patients should not be denied help just because they are poor."

Deb says, "I feel most for the families who must sit by and watch a loved one die for this reason. Can someone please start a foundation which will pay for life-saving medical procedures?"

And continue to post messages on my Facebook page, facebook.com/AliVelshiCNN.

Brand-new figures out today showing that the economy is adding jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped. But why are some economists still worried? I'm going to look beyond -- behind the numbers when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. The December jobs report has just come out. Every year -- every month, in the first week of the month, we get the jobs report for the previous month. Let me show you what it said.

The unemployment rate has fallen to 9.4 percent. That is the lowest rate that we've had since May of last year. I'm going to tell you why I'm not all that concerned about that. Here's the bigger issue, 103,000 jobs added. That's a combination of jobs added minus jobs lost.

By the way, 113,000 of those came from the private sector. So more jobs were created in the private sector than overall jobs. Why? Because the government shed 10,000 jobs. That's been a trend that we've been seeing for several months now, now that we don't have stimulus and we don't have census jobs.

Also, what happens when we get an unemployment report is they give you an update to the previous couple of months. And October and November both saw increases. Their numbers were revised. So we added about 70,000 jobs to the 2010 total. And that brings us to 1.1 million jobs created in 2010. That, by the way, is the best job creation year since 2007.

Now, let's talk more about this with my friend, Christine Romans, who is standing by in New York.

Christine, you're going to -- all sorts of people are going to have all sorts of thoughts about the economy and these sorts of things, but the reality is there are 15 million people unemployed in the United States. We've lost 8 million jobs in this recession. And we should have added another three on top of that. So we're way behind. While this is good. Let talk a little bit more about where jobs are. Good jobs. Good paying jobs.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you say it was the best year for job creation since 2007. Well, what's happened since 2007? It's been utter misery in the American economy, right?

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: I mean so that's -- that's a big asterisk next to --

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: Next to it. Where is the job creation? Well, the job creation is in things, like in this report, in things like health care, leisure and technology -- or leisure and travel, rather, hospitality, in temporary workers. Temporary workers added about 500,000 new jobs in the year. But when you look at how many times have we said it, stem, science, technology --

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: Engineering, math, these are the areas, when you talk to economists and when you talk to engineers, when you talk to people who are making policy in Washington, you say, what do you want your kid to be, what do you want your grandkid to be.

VELSHI: Yes. ROMANS: They name all of these kinds of areas. Just this week Career Cast put together a list of the best jobs of 2011 and those names were on the top of this list, Ali. Software engineer. Apps.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: All kind of new ways that we're using technology in our life and we need software engineers for that. Mathematician, actuary, a statistician. People who can distill information and data. These are -- these are -- we have so much information.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: This is a growing and booming industry. Computer systems analyst. And look at the incomes of those, Ali.

VELSHI: Yes. Yes.

ROMANS: Average midlevel income for those.

Now, they all require a college degree, yes. They all require some degree of math stills, yes. Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be liberal arts majors, I guess, right?

VELSHI: Like us.

ROMANS: Because these are the -- like us -- because -- now, I will say, though, that other surveys have shown that the highest paid liberal arts majors have tailored -- or English degrees, rather, have tailored that for science and technology, technical writing and that sort of thing. So you can take other skills and apply them to these really hard (INAUDIBLE).

VELSHI: Right. But the world is in the science and technology world. I've got a column in this month's "Money" magazine, the investor's guide, where we -- you know, we're saying, if you're starting off anew, one of the great careers to get into is accounting. Again, something that requires numbers and math. But if you're making a mid career switch, like you've got information technology there, computers, that's a great place to make a switch into. There's demand. It's growing demand. It's for years to come. And all of those jobs that you listed that I'm talking about are mobile. You can go anywhere in the country and, in some cases, anywhere in the world with those.

ROMANS: And, you know, you even talk to some sort of career coaches who say, if you can tailor your skills for a company that focus on information technology or computer systems or something so that even if that's not exactly your skill set but you're seeking out those sorts of companies that are growing because they also need other kinds of workers. They need clerical worker. They need other kinds of service worker. And maybe that's a way to get your foot in the door so that you can go back to a school in the evening, community college, do some retraining, what have you.

I think the hard part here, though, is, Ali, there are 6 million people who have been out of work for six months or longer and they look at a list like that and they feel insulted because that -- they need a job today, you know?

VELSHI: I understand that. I -- and I hear that. I completely hear that, except that while that job's not coming, at least look to the future. But I totally feel for people who, through no fault of their own, find themselves continuing to be unemployed.

ROMANS: Yes, me too.

VELSHI: Christine, we're going to talk more about this because you and I talk seven days a week. So you can tune in to "Your Bottom Line," which is each Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, where Christine gives you all sorts of good information. I'm joining her on that show this weekend and she's joining me on "Your Money" which airs Saturday's at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 3:00. If you are looking for a job or you know somebody who is, watch both the shows this weekend. We've got lots of information for you.

OK, it's 23 minutes after the hour. Let's check some developments in our top stories.

Although the unemployment rate has dropped, Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke is still painting a pretty sober picture for employment. He told a Senate panel today, not enough jobs are being created to keep pace with the number of people who are looking for work. Bernanke says it will take time for the unemployment rate to return to normal and it could take four or five more years for the job market to get back to where it was before the recession.

A big break for L.A. County investigators. They tell CNN they've identified at least two suspects in a sexual assault case involving severely disabled women. These are composite sketches of four of the suspects, but investigators say 11 DVDs dropped off by an anonymous tipster show at least eight men assaulting 10 women, including one in a wheelchair. It is not clear when or where the assaults took place.

And updating a story we first brought you as breaking news yesterday out of Maryland. A law enforcement official says mail devices that ignited in two state offices each had a small battery and an electric match. Two workers slightly burned their fingers after opening the package. No arrests have been made, but we hope to learn more information when police brief the media later this hour.

Well, William Daley is the president's new White House chief of staff. Ed Henry is going to tell us why some Republicans like the idea. There he is. We'll be right with him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. President Obama has named William Daley as his new White House chief of staff. Now, some say this is another sign of the president continuing his outreach to the business community. Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent, joins me from the White House. What is in your pocket there, Ed?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What, look, you know, I wake up this morning and somebody is on Twitter saying, Ed Henry, you better step it up today, because I guess you were on talking early about the jobs numbers.

VELSHI: Right.

HENRY: And you have a shirt that appears to have about 36 colors in it.

VELSHI: So you thought

(AUDIO GAP)

HENRY: (INAUDIBLE) a little bit of pink in the tie. You pull it out. Are you not a fan?

VELSHI: Grasshopper, we have much to talk about. But nobody knows about the White House better than you do, so why don't we stick to something you know about, Ed, that is -- that is William Daley.

HENRY: Wow.

VELSHI: Mitch McConnell -- the Republicans are actually saying that they like this idea. Mitch McConnell -- I thought -- I heard something that he said that I thought was fascinating.

HENRY: He did. He was talking yesterday about how, look, for a long time, Republicans on The Hill have been saying that they don't believe there are enough people in this administration who have, you know, run a payroll, created jobs, et cetera. And here's what he had to say about Bill Daley. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: I, frankly, think it's kind of a hopeful sign. He has a business background. You know, we used to -- I used to say the last two year, I don't know whether it's technically true or not, but there was nobody down at the White House who had ever even run a lemonade stand. You know, they were all college professors and former elected officials. This is a guy who's actually been out in the private sector, been a part of business. Frankly, my first reaction is, it sounds like a good idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: So, now, you know, ever had anybody over here join us who ran a lemonade stand. You know, a little bit of a shot at the administration, obviously. Now he's offering, maybe, an olive branch to Bill Daley, saying he does have that business background. Now, on the other hand, I'm not sure that Mitch McConnell or anyone else in the Republican leadership has ever run a lemonade stand either. They've got a lot of career politicians in their leadership as well. Maybe a lot of career politicians in the Obama cabinet as well. But the fact of the matter is that Bill Daley is somebody that Republicans are already signaling they can do business with. That's a good sign for this White House, even though there are some liberals who are unhappy about it.

VELSHI: OK. I was talking to Roland Martin earlier who, by the way, doesn't think either of us can dress, and he was saying --

HENRY: Speaking of pocket square (ph).

VELSHI: This makes no difference. The William Daley thing. The fact that like he's one guy, he's t he boss of the White House. What actually can William Daley do and what might he do to signal the directions that he's going to be -- trying to take this White House in.

HENRY: That's a good point by Roland. I mean, look, I had White House aides yesterday telling me that while there are a lot of liberals worried that Bill Daley, all of sudden, is going to move this president to the middle and make this all very Clintonian, 1995, 1996 all over again, you know, White House aides were saying, well, wait a second, people were saying the same about the influence of Rahm Emanuel.

And I seem to remember that during the health care debate, it was very clear that Rahm Emanuel wanted this president to scale back and not have a big, massive health reform plan like he got in the end. The president overruled his chief of staff and in the end, got what he wanted -- after a lot of struggles, but got what he wanted. So the same may apply with Bill Daley. You're still a staffer to the president of the United States, who was elected and you were not.

But on the other hand, the chief of staff is the gatekeeper here. They're the person who -- the first person to see the president in the morning when he comes down from the residence, comes into the Oval Office, set the agenda, sets the schedule, personnel, you name it. And so, at the end of the day, as well, it's the last person to see the president before he goes back to the residence.

So there's enormous influence in this job. He's going to have a lot of clout. But on the other hand, the president is going to make the final calls.

VELSHI: Ed, I have exactly six colors in my shirt, just so we're clear on that.

HENRY: Six. All right, maybe I exaggerated a little.

VELSHI: You a hip-hop fan?

HENRY: Yes, why?

VELSHI: Well, you stick around for this next story then.

Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, two hip hop icons lives cuts short by gunfire. Now, more than a decade later, are police closer to solving at least one of those cases?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Thirty-three minutes after the hour.

Happening now, Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives say they have identified two men shown in a video who are suspected of sexually assaulting severely disabled women -- severely disabled women. According to the police, the men may be linked to another sexual assault in Los Angeles. The video came from 11 DVDs that an anonymous tipster dropped off in March at the sheriff's department in Monterey, California.

Two sisters serving life sentences for armed robbery in Mississippi were released today on the condition that one of them donate a kidney to the other. The State Department of Corrections say they are no longer a threat to society. The governor noted that the cost of dialysis was a substantial expense for the state.

And the nation's unemployment rate is down to 9.4 percent, the lowest level since May 2009. However, only 103,000 jobs were created in December, which was far fewer than expected. Analysts say the jobless rate went down in part because people giving up on trying to find work.

Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur, they are tow of the biggest rap artists of all time. Both were killed within months of each other in the late '90s. More an a decade later, their murders remain unsolved. But now we're learning that investigators are pursuing new leads in Biggie's case. A law enforcement source tells CNN, it's been reinvigorated because of new information.

CNN's Ted Rowlands looks back on the circumstances surrounding both murders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Las Vegas, September 7th, 1996 -- Mike Tyson is fighting Bruce Sheldon at the MGM Grand Hotel. Multi-platinum rap artist Tupac Shakur is there to watch Tyson, his friend.

After the fight, Shakur rode with his boss, Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records, to a party just off the Las Vegas Strip. Their security team went in separate cars. Knight was behind the wheel, Shakur in the front passenger seat when witnesses say a white Cadillac pulled up next to them at the intersection of Flamingo and Koval. Witnesses then say a gunman in the Cadillac extended his arm out of the backseat window and fired a semiautomatic pistol at Shakur from close range.

(on camera): After the shooting, the white Cadillac made a right-hand turn here on Koval, speeding away. Suge Knight, with Tupac bleeding in the front seat, made a U-turn on Flamingo and started driving back towards the Strip. Two police officers who were on duty heard the gunshots, but when they responded they followed Suge Knight and Tupac, which allowed the white Cadillac to get away.

(voice-over): There were several possible motives for the murder. Three hours before the shooting, this MGM Casino surveillance video shows Shakur, Suge Knight and their entourage attacking Orlando Anderson, an L.A.-area gang member. Many believe that Anderson, seen here after the beating, and his friends shot Shakur in retaliation. CNN asked Anderson about the accusation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you involved in any way in the death of Tupac Shakur?

ORLANDO ANDERSON, "BABY LANE": No, I was not involved.

ROWLANDS: Anderson was shot and killed months later in a gang- related shooting.

Another theory focused on the gangster world that Tupac sang about. Many believed the murder was part of an East Coast-West Coat rap war and dispute between this man, a one-time friend named Christopher Wallace. Made famous with hits like "Big Papa," Wallace, a New York rapper, was known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G. There had been an ongoing feud between Biggie's record label, Bad Boy Entertainment run by Sean "Puffy" Combs, and L.A.'s Death Row Records run by Suge Knight, which represented Tupac.

Six months after Tupac's shooting, Biggie Smalls came to California to promote an upcoming album. During an interview with San Francisco radio station KYLD, Smalls denied any involvement in Tupac's depth and seemed to want to put any rap war to rest.

CHRISTOPHER WALLACE, "BIGGIE SMALLS": I'm getting over, you know what I'm saying, this whole situation with this East Coast-West Coast thing, you know. Them going through their things and we going through our things. I just came over, you know what I'm saying? Trying to like basically squash it.

ROWLANDS: Four days later, on March 9th, 1997, Biggie Smalls was shot and killed in Los Angeles. Smalls was leaving a music industry party, he was shot at a busy intersection while riding in the passenger seat of this Suburban.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard the shots ring out and everyone started running.

ROWLANDS: The shooting was eerily similar to Tupac's six months earlier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Given the fact they were both gangster rap artists, naturally our people will be contacting the Las Vegas authorities to see if there's any connection in the two.

RUSSELL POOLE, RETIRED LAPD DETECTIVE: Where this blue vehicle is is where Biggie's Suburban was. He was stopped just like this vehicle right here --

ROWLANDS: Former LAPD Detective Russell Poole was one of those assigned to the Biggie Smalls case. Witnesses said the gunman looked like this. He was alone, drove up next to Smalls and shot him at close range.

Poole is convinced that Suge Knight ordered Biggie Small's murder, even though Knight was behind bars at the time. He also believes that off duty LAPD officers who working for Knight's Death Row Records helped plan the murder.

Suge Knight ordered the hit. Reggie Wright Jr., the head of security for Rightway Security and Death Row, organized the personnel to plan the hit, and I believe police officers were a big part of the hit.

ROWLANDS: Poole says he believes Suge Knight also had Tupac Shakur killed because the rapper was planning to leave Knight's Death Row Records.

Poole says he retired early from the LAPD out of frustration because of this case, saying the department didn't allow him to pursue leads that involved other cops.

POOLE: I think I was getting too close to the truth. I think they feared that the truth would be a scandal.

ROWLANDS: Poole later assisted Biggie Smalls mother in a lawsuit claiming L.A. police covered up officers involvement in the shooting.

Bernard Parks was the chief of police when Poole was investigating. He's now an L.A. city councilman. He tells CNN, Poole's allegations are, quote, "absurd." Saying, quote, "We would have never ignored a lead that could have helped us solve that murder.

We couldn't get Suge Knight to sit down for an interview, but he has told CNN he had nothing to do with either murder.

Reggie Wright Jr. did agree to appear on camera. He was Death Row Records head of security who says he ran the company while Suge Knight was in prison.

(on camera): Did you have anything to do with the murder?

REGGIE WRIGHT JR., FORMER HEAD OF SECURITY, DEATH ROW RECORDS: No, sir.

ROWLANDS: Or Biggie's?

WRIGHT: No, sir.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Wright says he believes Tupac was simply killed in retaliation for the casino fight and Suge Knight, whom he says he no longer talks to, was not involved.

WRIGHT: Know that he 100 percent had nothing to do with the murder of Tupac Shakur.

ROWLANDS (on camera): Suge.

WRIGHT: Suge Knight.

Biggie Smalls, I honestly do not know.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Both the Los Angeles and Las Vegas police departments say the investigations into the shootings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls are ongoing.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Well, after years of brutal civil war, southern Sudan votes for independence starting on Sunday. Why the outcome is important to Africa and the United States. I'll tell about that in "Globe Trekking."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time for a little "Globe Trekking" now.

Just two days from a vote for independence in Africa's largest country by landmass that most people thought would ever happen. Voters in southern Sudan go to the polls starting Sunday to decide whether to split from the north and become an independent nation -- pardon me.

This vote is important for several reasons. One, oil fields. As you see on the map, most of the oil fields in the country, the spots in green, are in the southern part of the country. That's dirt poor. Also, the referendum was also made possible by a deal in 2005 that ended 20 years of civil war between the north and south.

Now, the Obama administration pushed hard in a bid to prevent a repeat of mass killings that occurred in the western Darfur region, that area on the left in the yellow. More than 300,000 people are believed to have died there as armed groups backed by Sudan's ruling party crushed a rebellion.

Now most, if not all of Sudan's neighbors expect that the outcome of the vote will be independence, which is a step that's needed to maintain peace.

CNN's David McKenzie has the latest from Juba, the capital of southern Sudan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Southern Sudanese are getting more and more excited about the referendum. In Africa's largest country, that could see it split. They fought a brutal civil war against the north for decades. Millions are killed, but now they are in a referendum with a simple choice. Unity is show like this, two hands clapped; separation like this. But the southern Sudanese, all they can sing about, all they can talk about, all they can even dream about is separation.

JOHN DUKU, SOUTHERN SUDANESE GOVERNMENT: To go without saying, if you go out here, you don't see the symbol of unity here. People have decided. The referendum process is just to confirm what people already know. That is independent of south Sudan. The majority of people are for independence. And there is a word for independence, not because they hate the northern Sudan or they don't want to be together with northern Sudan. It's because unity for people of south Sudan mean only one thing. It can mean war.

MCKENZIE: So, southern Sudanese are hoping for peace. As the music counts down to that first ballot cast, they say this is not about unity or separation but a vote about freedom.

David McKenzie, CNN, Tuba (ph), southern Sudan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Let stay in Africa now, but head south to the land of the mountain Gorilla. The World Wildlife Fund has just released some very encouraging news about this critically endangered species. Now, their number has jumped by more than 26 percent in one of two locations where they exist in the wild. And you can see them there. The Verunga Mass Massif (ph) mountain region, as our map show, which spans the Democratic Republic of Congo - that's the sort of green blob on the bottom of the screen. And that spans Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

Since 2003, the population increased from 380 to 480 gorillas. There are also 302 mountain gorillas in Uganda's windy impenetrable national park. That was at the top of your screen. The World Wildlife Fund calls this a remarkable recovery and attributes it to unique collaboration between all three countries to protect the mountain gorillas.

I'm going to go check them out later on this year, I hope.

OK. Let me bring you an update on the stories we're looking at right now. It's 47 minutes after the hour. We learned today that the nation's jobless rate dropped last month to 9.4 percent, down from 9.8 percent in November. We always get these a month late. But 103,000 new jobs were added to the economy. That was a lot but not enough. Short of expectations.

For all of 2010, if you take the whole total, we've added 1.1 million jobs. That's the best year for hiring since 2007, but you remember that the recession started at the end of 2007. So, 2008-2009 were write-offs. While any gain is good, gains like these don't keep place with population growth, let alone replace the 8 millions jobs that the recession wiped out.

Now to some folks who never need to worry about working again. Megamillions jackpot winners and Washington State residents Jim and Carolyn McCullar stepped forward yesterday to claim their half of the $380 million prize during a Washington State lottery news conference. The other winner with whom the family will split the $380 million jackpot has yet to come forward.

If the winner is my executive producer Kelly, I'm expecting a much better birthday gift this year.

New York City emergency workers criticized for their slow response for the Christmas blizzard will now get a second chance to prove themselves because another snow storm has begun charging across the Eastern states. Snow predicted, by the way, as far as Georgia over the weekend. It's already started in the Northeast. Many Northeast airports began reporting major delays early this morning, including LaGuardia, Philadelphia and Newark. Delays are expected through the rest of the day in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. I'll be doing my normal Friday commute, so I'll keep you posted live from the airports.

In today's "Big I," helping students getting a better grasp on math science at their fingertips and at their own speed and convenience. To explain how this works, I'm joined by the founders of - and I love this name -- VirtualNerd.com. Leo Schmlovich (ph) - I think -- and Josh Saltsman. They're joing me from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Did I butcher that, Leo?

LEO SHMUYLOVICH, V.P/CO-FOUNDER, VIRTUAL NERD : No, you got it almost perfectly right. I give you a B-plus.

VELSHI: All right. A couple times, I'll have it perfectly right.

Leo, tell me about Virtual Nerd. I was on it earlier today. I'm past the point where I would necessarily benefit from it, but I know there are a lot of kids who are out there who just struggle with concepts as they try to study them and get lost as to where to go to get clarity. So, tell me how you've solved this problem.

SHMUYLOVICH: Absolutely. Well, you know, I'm going to show you an example right here, as a video. If you were trying to learn how to multiply two polynomials. You might come to this video

(CROSSTALK)

SHMUYLOVICH: Yes, well, sometimes you have to. You never know when you have to do it. And so this video starts playing. I'm going to make it mute for a second just so you can hear me. What's really cool about it in addition to just watching the video, you've got these steps on the side. If I move my mouse over those steps, links appear related to stuff you might ask about.

So, if you're a student who's not 100 percent sure why you're doing here,, you might ask, wait a second. What is foil? You're talking about foil here. You're talking about (INAUDIBLE). What is foil? And you click on it. Now a new video appears on top of the one you were watching specific to what you were asking about.

So, now while watching an individual video in the comfort of your own home and in a self-guided fashion, you're able to ask question and get specific answers that are specific to you. So we've taken individual videos and connected them in such a way that allows people to actually get a customized learning experience, which is really exciting. And it captures the essence of one-on-one tutoring.

VELSHI: Now, I would say if you combine that with the ability of somebody to ask a question that they haven't got or you haven't got on there, you've got the perfect virtual tutor for kids, particularly those who may not be able to afford the extra help. How might this evolve to - could there be a chat that you could have added to that?

SHMUYLOVICH: Yes, Josh and I actually talked a lot about that.

JOSH SALCMAN, VIRTUALNERD.COM: Yes, absolutely. We actually talked about adding live chats, live support, real time would be one possibility. Another thing we've talked about is sort of more of a curated type of a search where basically you have Virtual Nerd staff who are experts in these different subjects who can actually take inquiries of students and then provide them with a customized playlist of tutorials. So, that's something that's on the horizon.

VELSHI: What are we looking at in terms how you pay for this?

SHMUYLOVICH: Well, basically it's a subscription-based model. You can get one day, one week, one month or up to three months at a time. And you can add time as much as you like. One day is starting at $5, one week is $19. You get unlimited access to all our tutorials on the site.

VELSHI: That is incredible, guys. Thanks very much for doing that. We talk here all the time about the struggles that kids have in school, and this could go a long way to helping a lot of kids out to understanding concepts that are difficult. Josh Shmuylovich - I hope -- Leo Shmuylovich and Josh Salcman.

You'll have to come back more so I can get the names perfectly done. But great to see you guys. Enjoy the rest of CES.

SALCMAN: Thank you so much for having us.

SHMUYLOVICH: Thank you.

VELSHI: And if you want to find out more information about virtualnerd.com - as if you're ever going to forget that URL -- I'll link it to my Web site, CNN.com/ali.

OK, an unlikely candidate for president is making waves that he may run -- I'll tell you who I'm talking about after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Another unlikely candidate is talking about the prospect of running for president. Still some time to go, so I guess unlikelies can do that.

Paul Steinhauser, part of The Best Political Team on Television, andmy good friend, joins me live from the political desk in Washington. Paul, tell us -- I'm sitting down -- who the latest person is.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. This latest person -- I think we all know him and know him pretty well and that is Donald Trump. Here's the deal, Ali. He has been flirting with running for the presidential nomination for a while, but now he is telling CNN he is seriously considering it. That he's talking to his friends. That his friends are talking to him about it. And he talked to our John King on "JKUSA" last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER (via phone): Well, I am sure considering it. I see what's going on with the country. I see how other countries are absolutely just advantage of us like we're a whipping post.

I see what OPEC is doing. You know, John, when they talk about the economies getting better -- it can't get better because every time it gets better, OPEC raises the price of oil and they drain the blood out of the country. So, I see what's going on, and I am seriously considering it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Well, you know one thing, Ali, when you run for president, you need some money and I guess you could say, fairly, that the Donald has some money.

VELSHI: He's got some money.

STEINHAUSER: How about another New Yorker who's has some money? And that is mayor right there, Mayor Bloomberg.

VELSHI: He's go some money.

STEINHASUER: He's got some money. He does, he does.

He got a lot of criticism, and you've been speaking about this for a while. Got a lot of criticism about how he handled the snowstorm. Well, here's some living proof. Check this out. A brand- new poll from Maris. New Yorkers in New York City. Do you approve or disapprove of how Bloomberg was handling his job? Look at that. Was 50 percent in October, down to 37 percent now. I think the snowstorm has a lot to do with that.

But remember, Bloomberg, this is his third term. Not running again. So, it's important, but not the end-all when it comes to --

VELSHI: That's a little harsh if that's all from the snowstorm. I mean, it was a pain but it's just a snowstorm.

Well, he's going to get another go at it this weekend. Snow's coming down heavily in New York right now. Paul, always my pleasure to see you. Thank you so much, my friend. STEINHAUSER: Thanks.

VELSHI: Your next political update from The Best Political Team on Television is just one hour away.

Okay, among the throngs of Elvis fans flocking to Graceland this weekend, this is one very special V.I.P. visitor who says The King's music helped him and his friends stay sane. We'll fill in the blanks in "Odds & Ends." That is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)