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Navy Tracking American's Yacht; Daytona 500 Winner Youngest Ever; America Sends Pizza to Wisconsin; Floating Condo Community in Works; Judge Convicted in 'Cash for Kids' Scheme
Aired February 21, 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, happening right now, we are two hours away from a news conference in Wisconsin with newly-elected Governor Scott Walker. State employees, and you're looking at a lot of these folks here who've been protesting for days now, state employees, primarily teachers here, are in day six of this protests at the capital. You saw them inside.
They're also outside forming, you know, human chains around that capitol building in Madison because of the governor's plans to cut their collective bargaining abilities and increase their health care contributions. You will hear what Governor Walker has to stay on "The Situation Room" coming up. We will also take you live to Wisconsin in a matter of minutes here, but first top of the hour, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN (voice-over): Four decades of power may be on the verge of crumbling, but we can't get a firsthand look inside Gadhafi's Libya. What do we know about him and the people's movement going on inside his country? And what is all of this doing to the price of oil?
The TV movie version about a true murder story is set to air tonight or will it?
And engineers will definitely want to see this one. Look out. The exact moment of a parking deck collapse caught on cam. The news starts now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN (on-camera): Hello and welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin. If it's interesting, if it's happening right now, you're about to see it rapid fire. Let's begin with this. I want to show you Malta. It is a Mediterranean island between Sicily and Libya, and you see the pictures here. Those are two mirage fighter jets belonging to the Libyan air force and Maltese officials says the pilots landed there.
They defected instead of firing on protesters in Libya as they were allegedly ordered to do so. Again, that is according to an official in Malta. We are working to confirm that development.
Also, the Bahrain Grand Prix cancelled. It is one of the world's biggest motor racing events, and officials in the tiny island nation decided to call it off in the face of these growing anti-government protests there. The race was scheduled to begin March 11th.
Staying in the Middle East, we want to take you to Egypt to the new leaders there hosting their very first high-level foreign visitor, British Prime Minister David Cameron, arrived in Cairo today. Cameron's office says Britain is offering to help Egypt in its transition from military to civilian rule.
And closer to home here in Seattle. A park got a bit of a cleanup this weekend from fans of long dead grunge rocker, Kurt Cobain. The park is next to the seatTle house where the Nirvana front man committed suicide 17 years ago. His fans chose this weekend because it would have been Cobain's 44th birthday.
And in west Odessa, Texas, take a look at that mess with me. Folks, that is the result of a runaway bulldozer plowing into not just one but two homes. Yes, a runaway bulldozer. Neighbors say the bulldozer just somehow started on its own and took off. The neighbors say the bulldozer's doors were locked so they had to break a window just try to get inside this thing and shut it down. One home totally destroyed, the second was damage, and from the looks of things, it is amazing no one was hurt.
And to this. Yes, that is an SUV crashing right on through the window of a liquor store in Massachusetts, but I want you to watch this now. The driver, gets out, and you'll notice stumbles a little bit here, tries to grab a beer or two from inside this liquor store, no dice, no luck. He backs it up. There the car goes and takes off. Now, police say Dr. Joseph grillo was stopped shortly after the incident and arrested for DUI. The doctor says he's sorry for what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JOSEPH GRILLO, ARRESTED FOR DUI: I feel very, very badly about what happened, and, you know, plan to take suitable action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The D.A.'s office says this is Dr. Grillo's second DUI incident.
Stay to the Columbus, Ohio now. Police force their way into a condo, the owner is not there, but squatters are. The owner says she abandoned her place just a couple of days before the bank was going to foreclose, and she says squatters moved right in. Police arrested two of those alleged squatters, but the owner has to now clean up that mess.
To North Carolina, look at that face, maybe kind of, sort of cute, a cute little llama wouldn't hurt anyone, would he? Not so fast. Ronnie Griffin of Kings Mountain, North Carolina says he was getting out of his car at a friend's house when Henry, the llama, came after him. Henry had escaped from a nearby pen and from where it was when llamas attack. Griffin, of course, picked up the phone, dialed 911. Fortunately, though, did make it back inside his car.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your phone is breaking up. What has got you hand up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A llama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A llama?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, he is all over me in that car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Really, does Henry sound like a llama name to you? Police and Animal Control officers managed to somehow get the llama situation under control.
In California, talk about a slam dunk. Take a look at this. There he goes. Wait for it. Los Angeles Clippers star, Blake Griffin, jumped over the hood of the car. Here's a better vantage. Jumps over the hood, bam, slamming it home. Amazing. By the way, that is a Kia he was jumping over. The slam dunk contest was part of the whole NBA All-Star Weekend, and Griffin is the 2011 slam dunk champion.
And back to Libya, the unrest there now affecting oil prices. Alison Kosik is live in New York. And Alison, where do things stand now?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right. Crude prices spiked today, Brooke, right as we watched the anti-government protests in Libya intensify, and here's why those prices are going higher. Libya is a major oil producer where it turns out more than 1.5 million barrels of oil each day. Now, the big fear is that the unrest will wind up leading to a supply disruption there or maybe somewhere else in the region, and that would drive crude prices even higher.
Now, we do know that the oil market is especially sensitive, Brooke, to geopolitical turmoil we saw with Egypt. We're seeing it now. The problem is if prices stay too high for a sustained period, that could wind up eating into our economic recovery because, you know, as those commodity prices drive up food prices, you know, people are paying for, you know, the basics and they have less disposable income to spend on entertainment and clothes. So, that's another big worry when we see oil prices spike the way they have today -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: But you know, not just food prices. I mean, help me understand how this translates when I go to the gas station and fill up my car.
KOSIK: You know what, it is one of these things that there's really no clear answer with this. You talk to some analysts they say if crude prices continue to climb, don't be surprised if we see $4 a gallon gas. Others say because we've got an oversupply of crude at a key U.S. facility right now, that the spike in oil prices, it won't necessarily affect what we pay at the pumps.
So, there are two schools of thought here. You know, it's one of these things, Brooke, where we won't know it's happening until it happens. Just don't be too surprised if you see that gas price creep up a bit when you drive up to the pump.
BALDWIN: So, we won't know yet until it happens. Alison Kosik live in New York.
KOSIK: Surprise.
BALDWIN: Surprise. Thank you.
Coming up next, we have the latest on those four Americans on that boat that's believed to be seized by Somali pirates. We will tell you how now the U.S. navy is involved and what one of the Americans actually e-mailed to a friend just a little more than week ago. We've just gotten this afternoon. You have to wait for that.
Also, conflicting reports about the leader Libya, and whether he's still even in his country. We're going to get to the bottom of that and take a closer look at exactly who is Moammar Gadhafi. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Right now, in the waters, somewhere between Yemen and Northern Somalia, there is a U.S. navy warship, and it's shadowing a yacht. Now, that yacht is believed to be the one hijacked just last week just a couple of days ago with those four Americans abroad. Take a look at the map, and I want to help you understand this. Somali pirates overtook the S.V. Quest, that's the name of that yacht. but just off of Oman on Friday.
Now, the sailing group Blue Water Rally says the yacht split of from the rest of those ships and headed alone to Oman. Take a look at the owners now of the yacht. This is the couple, Jane and Scott Adam, and for seven years now, seven years, they have spent their time sailing around the world. The other half, they spend time in Marina del Rey, California. Their travel mission is this, delivering bibles, but they knew that their travels were not always safe.
A friend of Scott's tells us that in his last e-mail, Scott actually said pray for us, that we have no problems with pirates. Well, we found that out today, that the other two Americans on board that yacht are Phyllis McKay and Bob Riggel from Washington State. Now, this Blue Water Rally director tells "US Day" today that they joined the Adams on this yacht and the four set sail, quote, "on their own."
Deputy Commander of the U.S. navy's fifth fleet says the government is evaluating its options as they, of course, keep watching over that situation, but how about this? Actually, I'm going to be speaking with a friend of Scott Adams that I just mentioned to find a little bit more about the couple's travels, about their faith, their mission, and the dangers they face day in and day out, obviously, on their adventures, so don't miss that. I'll speak with him tomorrow, this time, here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Coming up next, exactly why did several Libyan fighter pilots just land on this nearby island of Malta? Were they really defecting after being ordered to fire on their own citizens? We have the latest. We're going to go "Globe Trekking" next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This is "Globe Trekking," and we're looking at news overseas, and it's dominated today by what appears to be a government in big, big trouble today. Hala Gorani talking on the topic of Libya, and now -- so, we have Libya sort of next to Egypt and Tunisia, both of whom have ousted their leaders here in the past, and it's similar yet different situation.
HALA GORANI, ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT, CNNI: Yes. It's a very different country. I mean, it's a country with a much weaker central government. It's a country that doesn't have as big a middle class.
BALDWIN: Tribal issues.
GORANI: That has tribal and clan issues, that could potentially lead to a situation if the regime falls of more sort of -- of civilian conflict there. More people are armed. More private citizens are armed. So, yes, it is a completely different scenario and could become a lot more violent if this regime falls.
BALDWIN: Now, talk to me about what we know, and I know it's difficult to know much because CNN can't go inside Libya. They have not responded to our requests.
GORANI: Right.
BALDWIN: But there's this tiny island of Malta, about 250 miles, you know, in the water outside of Libya.
GORANI: Right. Two mirage, French-made, mirage fighter jets with Libyan pilots on board landed in Malta.
BALDWIN: OK.
GORANI: And according to our CNN stringer in Malta, according to sources there, they asked for political asylum because they were asked to fire on their own people, to bomb their own people.
BALDWIN: That's what they said.
GORANI: And they refused. And this is the information we're getting from Maltese officials who spoke to our CNN producer on the ground. As anything else related to this story, Brooke, it is so difficult to piece together this complicated story. Where Is Moammar Gadhafi? He's on his way to Venezuela one minute.
That's denied by the ambassador to the UK another minute. Then, is he going to Malta? That's denied yet again. So, we are just trying to put together the pieces of this giant Libyan puzzle. It's a lot harder than it was with Egypt when we were there inside the country.
BALDWIN: You know. You were there. Then, though, you spoke with the Libyan deputy ambassador to the U.N.
GORANI: Right BALDWIN: He's the one really making news today because of --
GORANI: Exactly.
BALDWIN: Because the word genocide.
GORANI: The Libyan mission at the United Nations is saying we are not representing the Libyan government anymore.
BALDWIN: Wow.
GORANI: We are representing the Libyan people. I said to him, well why now? You were happily representing the Libyan government for years before you came out and said this, and this is what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IBRAHIM DABBASHI, LIBYAN DEP. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: I think why now. I think the genocide, the mass killing has reached a stage where no one can stay silent about it. So, today, I saw people are tired at their videos there (ph), and the information says that it has been done in his own residence in (INAUDIBLE). So, I think also one other thing, his son yesterday has somehow declared the war against the Libyan people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right. So, he's stating that essentially this level of genocide, a war against the Libyan people has become intolerable, and he's unable to stay silent about it.
BALDWIN: And he was talking about his son who's on Libyan television, a lot of people describing it as a rambling address threatening civil war. Quickly, we mentioned Muammar Gaddafi and how, you know, the reports in country, out of country, but he's been the leader for 42 years.
GORANI: Yes.
BALDWIN: That's a long time.
GORANI: Well, yes, almost 42 years, and he's got his quirks, his eccentricities, his idiosyncrasies. People have chuckled about it. Of course, now, it's a much more tragic situation unfolding in Libya. Here's a man who runs around usually with sunglasses.
BALDWIN: Women.
GORANI: Women, bodyguards. You'll remember that there was this controversy surrounding his desire, his plan to pitch a tent in Westchester County outside of New York in September of 2009. I think this is actually, in fact, September 2009 when he addressed the U.N. general assembly. OK. So, those plans were cancelled.
Donald Trump was the owner of that particular piece of land, but he has pitched tents in Italy and France, but then, the opponents of this regime are saying, you know, at this point now, it's time to look what's going to go on inside of this country when the attention of the world is on it, but the cameras of international journalists are not inside of its borders.
And it's very important that we keep our eye on it with all the resources that we have inside the country, bring out as much information as we can. We have reports flying around, again, very difficult to confirm, that there might be military campaigns that are now being planned against Benghazi, the Mediterranean Coastal City that that is now under opposition control.
BALDWIN: What a challenge to just keep it all together given the fact that we are not there on the ground reporting it. Hala Gorani, thank you very much.
GORANI: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And still to come here, do you want to know, back in the United States, are we getting closer to a government shutdown? We'll check your "Political Ticker" coming up next.
Also, do you want to know how to get more than 10,000 Twitter followers in 24 hours? How could you do this? You've got to win the Daytona 500, folks, and be the youngest ever driver to do so. We will introduce you to the new 20-year-old, 2-0, king of NASCAR.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: It was a win that a lot of people didn't see coming, including the winner, and by the way, this guy is not even old enough to pop some champagne to celebrate. This story is most definitely trending today. I'm talking NASCAR, folks. Did you watch?
Twenty-year-old Trevor Bayne who won the race yesterday is officially the youngest NASCAR king ever, and this is grabbing headlines today not just because of his age, not just because of his Cinderella story, seemed to come out of nowhere for this win, but also because he is part of the oldest team.
There's a Wood Brothers racing whose last NASCAR win was 1976. Bayne is the only driver to win the race on his first attempt since Lee Petty in the first Daytona 500 back in 1959. But here's the great thing about him. He is really, really humble. I want you to listen to what he told my colleagues today on CNN's "American Morning."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TREVOR BAYNE, DAYTONA 500 WINNER: It hasn't sunk in to me how big of a deal this is, you know, that we did win this thing and, you know, I never thought in a million years we were going to win our first one. I knew that these guys were capable of it. I knew the 21 team knew how to get to victory lane. Donny Wingo, my crew chief, he's been trying to win this thing for 31 years, and you know, the last time the Wood Brothers had won it was 35 years ago, I think.
So, for us, to get them back where they belong in victory lane is so cool. I mean, everybody here, they deserve it so much, and they -- they put their work in, that's for sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And apparently, Bayne also found this school. He actually started in terms of Twitter with something like 6,000 Twitter followers, jumped to 16,000 in the hour after he ran -- listen to me, ran the race, after he won the race, and then last time, we checked he had 25,000. I'm thinking that's going up from there.
And now, for the latest "Political Ticker" update, she's got -- no, she's not on Twitter, Gloria Borger. We've been trying to get you on Twitter.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You have.
BALDWIN: You would have a lot of followers as well. Live for me in Washington. Gloria, what do you have on this Presidents' Day.
BORGER: Well, because it is Presidents' Day, let's talk about would- be presidents, OK? One of them is Haley Barbour who is spending this lovely day up in Des Moines, Iowa, of course. It's his first trip as potential presidential contender. He's meeting with people who might supply him with some money, people who might supply him with some political muscle up there. So, it looks more and more like he might be dipping his toe in the water.
And, by the way, Haley Barbour had somebody defend him today who is another possible Republican presidential contender. I don't know if you remember, but Barbour was criticized by some because he did not denounce a proposed license plate that would honor a confederate general. Now, this confederate general had also been an early founder of the KKK.
And today, Mr. Huckabee, Mike Huckabee, who may run for president, himself, came out and said that Haley Barbour's credentials on civil rights were, quote, "impeccable." So, another Republican came to his aid -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: What about this item? I know it's been making news, Congress. They're really running out of time for the whole budget resolution.
BORGER: Oh, my God.
BALDWIN: Might history repeats itself? We saw what happened 1995, 1996? I mean, who would want that to happen, a shutdown of the government?
BORGER: Well, first they ran out of town, of course, because they're off for this week.
BALDWIN: Right.
BORGER: And there are some people, and I must say politically it's mostly Democrats talking about a government shutdown because they remember that back in 1995 when that occurred, it did not help the Republicans. It did not help Newt Gingrich. It's very hard to find a Republican who will come out on the record and say, you know what, I think I want to shut the government down because, particularly, the establishment Republicans, Brooke, they remember what happened.
They don't want to do it, but, you have 87 new Republicans in the House of Representatives. Thirty-four of them have never held elective office before, and they want to make a point about smaller government, about more efficient government, about the deficit, and some of them are saying, you know what, if we cannot reach an agreement, we're just going to have to shut this government down. Lots of people believe that would be an absolute disaster, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, I'm glad you made the point. It's the Democrats talking shutdown, Democrats.
BORGER: They are.
BALDWIN: Gloria, thank you very much.
And, I want to remind everyone. We're getting ready to hear from the governor of Wisconsin. Big-name celebrities now joining these thousands of protesters in Madison, Wisconsin, where there is now a human chain, people holding hands all the way around the state capitol. We'll have a live report from there next.
And snow, and lots of it back in the forecast from Washington State to the Upper Midwest. Chad Myers joins our "Reporter Roulette." stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A couple of stories percolating today. You have budget protests, budget cuts and more snow than some people probably budgeted for. You see a theme here. Time to play "Reporter Roulette."
I want to begin, though, with Casey Wian who is in Madison, Wisconsin.
And, Casey, we know, we're about 90 minutes away here from hearing from the governor of Wisconsin, Governor Walker speaking. Are there any signs that a deal, maybe a compromise could be imminent here?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely no signs of that yet, Brooke. There's been talk of it, but the governor has, so far, dug in his heels, and these protesters were upset about his proposal to strip many public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights are not budging either.
Let me show you one of the tactics that these protesters are using now, because there were thousands of them surrounding the capitol, many of them inside. What they have taken to doing now is surrounding people like me, television reporters, to get their message across. You can see all these people behind me.
Let's walk through here and we can show that they have gathered outside another television reporter location on that side of the street and over there. That's the -- CROWD: Kill the bill! Kill the bill.
WIAN: That's the way they are getting their message across. And, you know, they are being very creative and they are very vocal and very energetic. And to answer your first question, they're not showing any signs of compromise, Brooke.
BALDWIN: No. And they're not and they're chanting, so I'm going to let you go. Casey Wian, I appreciate you there at the state capitol, Madison, Wisconsin. Thank you.
Next on "Reporter Roulette," I want to go to Brianna Keilar in Washington where the lawmakers who are not on holiday today, may be watching the state budget battles but worried about their own.
Brianna, talk about the spending cuts bill that passed over the weekend in the wee hours of the morning.
BRIANN KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we're talking about a bill that has over $60 billion in cuts that were proposed by House Republicans, passed in had a mostly party-line vote. We're talking cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, cuts to the nutrition assistance program for women, infants and children, as well as a measure that would defund health care reform. As can you imagine, tough cuts for the Democrats to stomach and that's really the issue, because Senate Democrats are not on board with a number of these that undermine their priorities.
BALDWIN: And that's the crux of it, because if the Senate and the House can't reach an agreement here, the government runs out of money in less than two weeks.
KEILAR: Runs out of money March 4th. Mark your calendars.
But here's what is new today, Brooke: we've learned that House Republicans and Senate Democrats are in phone discussions this holiday week. They are burning up the phone lines, trying to avoid a government shutdown. That's according to a Democratic Senate leadership aide, and they are looking at a solution here by funding the government temporarily with some spending cuts. Not sure exactly what the cuts would be. But there seems to at least be some agreement among Democrats and Republicans on going this route.
BALDWIN: Bottom line, Brianna, is the government shutdown looking less likely than say it did last week?
KEILAR: You know, I think you can say that. We heard from many Republicans on the Sunday shows this weekend that they want to avoid a government shutdown and that they are willing to go this route. Senate Democrats seem pretty encouraged by what they heard, and they told us that. And so, we're definitely hearing more conciliatory sounds all around, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Interesting. Brianna Keilar for me in Washington -- Bri, thank you.
Next on "Reporter Roulette," Chad Myers talking severe weather and snow.
And we saw it in the Midwest. Dare I ask, where is it headed next, to Brianna's neck of the woods?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And that's to Baltimore, Philadelphia and D.C.
BALDWIN: Yes.
MYERS: And I was talking to one of your producers earlier, and they say, where is there going to be snow. And I said, in Washington. And they thought Washington state. No, Washington, D.C.
BALDWIN: District of Columbia.
MYERS: Correct. I saw a very funny iReport about week ago. It said, it was a church sign. "If you're the one praying for snow, please stop."
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: I thought that was just hilarious. And I guess no one stopped in Minnesota because it is still snowing.
BALDWIN: Yes, look at this. How bad was it?
MYERS: Yes. Eden Prairie had 17 inches of snow. OK. And even that's lot for Minnesota, for anywhere in Minnesota, because you got plows out. It wasn't that windy. So, that's good.
But this is the same kind of clipper system that's headed across Ohio, headed across Pennsylvania, and then right into the District of Columbia. XYZ, my old affiliate, back in Detroit.
BALDWIN: Oh, remember those days driving around in that stuff?
MYERS: I do remember driving to work at about 2:00 in the morning before the plows even got out and I was the plow. It wasn't a whole bunch of fun and it wasn't any fun yesterday and they were pushing cars and sliding cars all over the state, from Saginaw right on down through Detroit.
BALDWIN: We're thinking about them.
MYERS: So, yes, more snow to come. Winter is not over, and four more storms in the next 10 days that will affect the Northeast. I'm not saying it's D.C. or New York yet. I can't tell yet. It's too far away, but there are four storms still coming.
BALDWIN: Got it. Chad, thank you.
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: Four -- count 'em, four.
And that was your "Reporter Roulette" for this Monday. Coming up next: talk about a unique way to show your support here. Did you know people from all over the country are sending in pizzas to feed those demonstrators in Wisconsin? Yes, Joe Johns has all the details in today's "Political Pop."
That is next.
But for now let's do this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: They are calling it the pizza showdown. People from all over the world maybe -- maybe even including Egypt here -- they're calling in to order pizzas for the protesters at the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin.
Joe Johns is doing a little digging here on this pizza perplexity in Wisconsin.
And I know, Joe, you've been trying to fact-check this story for a little bit because we don't know for sure if we're talking Cairo, Egypt, or Cairo, New York.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What we're talking about is investigative journalism to track the truth of the pizzas. It turns out most of the story is true. People from all over the country and several foreign countries have been calling in to order pizzas for the protesters in Wisconsin over the last several days. They have been keeping track of it on a chalkboard.
You can actually see on Facebook. The restaurant is Ian's Pizza on State in Madison, Wisconsin. They say over 1,000 20-inch pizzas have been donated to the cause. The restaurant says calls from come from Korea, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Australia, Canada.
BALDWIN: There's the chalkboard.
JOHNS: England, a bunch of places. Yes.
BALDWIN: There's the chalkboard. But what's the deal with Egypt, because that was the big headline, right?
JOHNS: All right. Right.
OK, well, story traces back actually to this pizza place. They put up a Facebook posting on Saturday that mentioned Egypt among several countries where they have gotten donations from and a bunch -- a bunch of blogs picked it up. It's a great headline. Protesters in Egypt unite with protesters in Wisconsin.
But if you look closely at that blackboard, Egypt is not listed in the screen shot. So, we saw that online. We gave them a call. They told us to be perfectly honest they are not sure whether they got a call from Cairo, Egypt, or Cairo, New York. And at this stage, they can only say this call from Cairo, wherever it is, was one of the very early calls they got to donate pizzas. So, the story is about as clear as mud right now.
BALDWIN: But still, you know, looking at that chalkboard, they have definitely gotten pizzas, I guess, called in from other places around the world. So, that's kind of cool in and of itself.
JOHNS: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: So, pizzas on the investigative journalism side, my friend. We need to talk Presidents' Day. Tell me about the tradition of racing presidents.
JOHNS: Right. And this is not exactly the race for the White House though it's fun to talk about. The Washington Nationals baseball team had its racing presidents' tryouts. The racing presidents have been racing each other during the fourth inning of the baseball games here in the city for years now.
Looks like a bunch of college kids try out for the job. I think we have some tape of it. The mascots are, you know, likenesses of presidents --
BALDWIN: Here we go.
JOHNS: -- Thomas -- there you go -- Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln. They run head to head or neck and neck.
BALDWIN: Very large head and large head. Do we know -- do we know -- very, very important question here, Joe Johns -- do you we who won?
JOHNS: No. Well, honestly, we do not because it is a trade secret at this baseball team. They will not tell you who the people are donning those costumes. It's a very closely guarded secret, along the lines of would you want to know who is wearing the Mickey Mouse costume at Disney World? So, probably not.
BALDWIN: Yes, I know. Can't deconstruct the myth there.
Joe Johns, had a little fun on this "Political Pop" on a holiday. It was kind of nice.
JOHNS: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: We'll see you back here tomorrow.
JOHNS: You bet.
BALDWIN: All right, Joe. Thank you.
And the controversial movie about the American student Amanda Knox, it actually airs tonight. But legal challenges to stop that movie continue here. Sonny Hostin is on the case.
And then this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All you have to do is sit in your living room window and watch the world go by and have fun everyday just in your home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Man, oh, man I've been waiting for this story. So, it's not the beach, but there is golf. Would you consider retiring on the river? Stick around, see for yourself what's in the near future for retirees. Hmm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BALDWIN: All right. We're having a little fun, obviously, here. Are you retired yet? Are you counting down the years until you do, the days? Well, what if I were to tell you there's actually a place you can go where if you didn't like the weather you could move. You don't even have to buy a house. Ed Lavandera found a floating condo community. Call it a virtual city on the water.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you think of retiring, isn't this what it should look and sound like?
BILL TOUT, RIVER CITIES: We built this boat you're on now.
LAVANDERA: David Nelson and Bill Tout are banking on this modern day show boat to inspire a new generation of river boat lovers.
LAVANDERA (on camera): This is a huge ship.
TOUT: This will be a 600-foot-long, 108-foot wide, five-story-tall --
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The River City Condo will be a floating city with about 180 condominiums, cruising the country's most famous rivers all year long. Why live in one city when you can see a different one every day?
TOUT: The general rules are, winter down here, summer up there. We never want to see snow and we never want to see hurricane season.
LAVANDERA: The ship is so large, it splits in two to squeeze through tight river spots. A little 18-hole golf course on top, mail delivery, Internet, a medical clinic and a helicopter pad for care flights.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Do you need police officers? Is this place going to get rowdy?
TOUT: No, no.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): David Nelson has lived on a river boat in St. Paul, Minnesota, for 23 years.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Do you think Mark Twain would like this?
DAVID NELSON, DEVELOPER, RIVER CITIES CONDOS: Yes. Yes, I think this is right up Mark Twain's alley. Yes.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): He's selling a new way of retiring. But will it catch on? So far, about 24 units have sold. Construction is expected to begin this summer.
NELSON: All you have to do is sit in your living room window and watch the world go by and have fun every day just being at home.
LAVANDERA: And, for now, show girls and music aren't included.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Kemah, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Did you see that? That ship split in two. OK. We'll move along. We'll check in with Wolf Blitzer, who is in Los Angeles for what is ahead on "THE SITUATION ROOM," Wolf, including the latest on Libya. And still, no one has seen Moammar Gadhafi, although Libyan diplomats say he is in country.
What do you have know coming up?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We know his son, Saif Gadhafi, is in Libya as well. We're going to be all over this story. Huge ramifications for everyone, especially, first and foremost, for the people of Libya right now.
So we've asked Professor Fouad Ajami, the Middle East scholar from Johns Hopkins University, to join us in "THE SITUATION ROOM." We're going to discuss what he senses is happening in Libya in the aftermath of what happened in Egypt, before that in Tunisia, and we're also going to look ahead. What other countries are on the brink right now of moving beyond long-established governments and regimes? Fouad Ajami is going to help us with that.
By the way, Fran Townsend, our homeland security adviser, our contributor at CNN, former homeland security adviser to President Bush, she was in Libya last year. We're going to talk to her about her meetings with Gadhafi, among others.
So we've got a lot of Libya coming up at the top of hour -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: On a much lighter note, Wolf Blitzer, the rumor is you're in L.A. because you're at the NBA All-Star Game. Can you confirm?
BLITZER: I can. I can confirm.
I had a great time. I loved the slam dunk contest. I loved the game last night.
It's a guy kind of thing, I guess. If you like basketball, this is the place to be.
BALDWIN: It's a gal kind of thing, too. I mean, I can appreciate some slam dunks.
BLITZER: I know. There are a lot of gals -- a lot of gals like it as well, but the guys really do like it. And I've been going for years and years. So I always try to make the NBA All-Star weekend. And it's televised, as you know, by our sister network, TNT, so it's a lot of fun.
BALDWIN: Good deal, Wolf Blitzer. Thank you. We'll see you in a couple of minutes.
(NEWSBREAK)
BALDWIN: Now, the TV movie version about a true murder story is set to air tonight. Or will it? And should any college students be carrying guns in the event they are targeted by, say, a campus gunman? One state is considering this.
Sunny Hostin is "On the Case." That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Now I want to get you tomorrow's news today. Let's "Fast Forward."
Tomorrow, voters in Chicago will be heading to the polls to vote for their next mayor. Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is on the ballot, and if no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held in April.
Also tomorrow, Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at a funeral of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Zapata. Zapata was killed in the line of duty in Mexico last week.
Also, former Bell, California, officials, including the city manager, will be in court to face charges related to allegations they misappropriated Bell City funds.
And now a judge using kids is in trouble in this whole scheme to make himself rich. At least that's what this whole story boils down to.
Mark Ciavarella was convicted Friday of taking nearly $1 million for kickbacks for putting juveniles into detention centers his friends owned. Now, he says none of that is true, but the families of the kids who endured this harsh justice say it is about time this judge and another one who pled guilty last year got what was coming to them.
For more, here is Jason Carroll -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, as you know CNN first reported on this two years ago, when it was alleged two Pennsylvania judges had received kickbacks for sending children to juvenile detention, some as young as 10 years old, hauled off for minor offenses such as trespassing and fighting on a school bus. Now a jury has found Mark Ciavarella and another former judge guilty of racketeering and receiving payment for nearly $1 million.
Prosecutors say the payments coming from the builder of a privately run juvenile detention center where the judges sent many of the children. The facility made money by increasing headcount.
The guilty verdict is too little too late for one mother. Sandy Fonzo berated Ciavarella after he was convicted on Friday. Her only child was one of the teens sent to the juvenile detention facility. Fonzo believes it ultimately led to her son's suicide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDY FONZO, SON COMMITTED SUICIDE AFTER INCARCERATION: My kid is not here anymore! My kid's not here! He's dead because of him! He ruined my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) life! I'd like him to go to hell and rot there forever!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, come on.
FONZO: No! You know what he told everybody in court? They need to be held accountable for their actions.
You need to be. Do you remember me? Do you remember me?
Do you remember my son, an all-star wrestler? He's gone! He shot himself in the heart!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Ciavarella faces a minimum sentence of 13 years. He is currently free pending sentencing. Fonzo later told CNN she was outraged the former judge was even allowed to walk out of the courthouse after the verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FONZO: There is no justice. He'll never receive my sentence, what I have to live with every day of my life without my son.
He left on that beautiful day yesterday to go back with his family. I have nothing anymore, and he still has no -- nothing. It was all for nothing. It was all for greed and for more and more. He never had enough, and he took everything from me, and I'll never, never forgive him, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Ciavarella plans to appeal the decision.
The other judge in the case, Michael Conahan, pleaded guilty to racketeering last year and is awaiting sentencing.
And Brooke, it just makes you wonder -- this particular case makes you wonder about the some 5,000 young men and women, children, who were sentenced by these two judges, what happens to their cases. That is the big open-ended question at this point -- Brooke. BALDWIN: Jason Carroll.
Jason, thank you.
And now this -- a controversial movie that many on both sides in the Amanda Knox Italian murder case want to stop. It airs tonight on television.
And Texas gets closer to allowing concealed weapons on campus.
Sunny Hostin is on both of these cases here.
But Sunny, I want to begin with this Amanda Knox movie. Just to remind everyone, Knox is that Seattle foreign exchange student convicted of murdering her roommate in Italy. And the parents of that murder victim, Meredith Kercher, object to the movie, as to lawyers for Amanda Knox.
Now, there are reports -- and we're looking at clips of it right now -- this Lifetime movie -- in fact, Lifetime, the network who made the movie, has already removed the scene that depicts the fatal stabbing of Knox's British roommate. And right now Knox is appealing her murder conviction in an Italian court.
My question to you, are Knox's lawyers right? I mean, Lifetime isn't even broadcast in Italy here. So could this movie even hurt her case there?
SUNNY HOSTIN, "IN SESSION," TRUTV: You know, I think it's quite possible that it could hurt her case. Many people believe that, you know, the media attraction for this case and the media dubbing her "Foxy Knoxy," this sort of siren American that came into Italy with such a whirlwind, really could have affected her case and could have resulted in part to this guilty verdict.
So the fact that this now comes out and the case is on appeal with a new panel of judges, almost a new trial, they do believe that this will eventually get to Italy because of the Internet. We know it could get there, and they think it could affect the trial -- the appeal.
BALDWIN: Is it odd to air this movie, Sunny, while this appeal is under way right now?
HOSTIN: I don't think it's odd at all. I mean, it certainly isn't illegal. And this crime took place on November 1, 2007, so we're talking about three-and-a-half years later. This is something that does occur, a lot of these sort true crime stories that are done. And so, no, I don't think it's unusual at all -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK.
Case number two, let's talk about Texas and this new gun bill that lawmakers there are very much considering. And essentially, this bill would allow college students and professors to carry concealed weapons on campus. A lot of the bill's supporters point to the Virginia Tech killings, claiming it wouldn't have been so bad had the students been armed and able to fire back. That is their defense of some.
Now, Texas has about a half-million college students. That, Sunny, is potentially a lot of concealed weapons. What are the legal merits in this?
HOSTIN: Well, you know, I think that this is perfectly legal when you look at the law. The Second Amendment of the Constitution provides that we have the right to bear arms. This is really sort of a policy issue. The legislature would be within its right to pass this law.
BALDWIN: Now Utah, right, has already passed a bill that allows colleges to decide whether to allow students to arm themselves. Are other states perhaps considering similar legislation like Texas or Utah?
HOSTIN: Absolutely. There are about a dozen states, Brooke, right now that are sort of re-evaluating bans on concealed weapons on college campuses.
Colorado also allows for certain campuses to have guns. My understanding is that right now there are 71 college campuses in the U.S. that allow students to carry conceals weapons. And so while since 2007, gun bills in about 23 states have been rejected, it seems to be an issue that's coming up over and over and over again.
BALDWIN: Right. And here we go in Texas. And we'll watch to see what happens with this piece of legislation there.
Sunny Hostin "On the Case."
Thank you, Sunny. Have a great rest of your Monday.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And my thanks to you for watching.
I'm Brooke Baldwin, here in Atlanta.
Now I'm going to send things over to Los Angeles, to Wolf Blitzer and "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.
