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Americans in Libya Leave for Malta; Libyan Army Defectors; Coach Donates Kidney to Player; The Impact of Unions; 'Day of Rage' in Libya; Global Reaction to Libya; White House Briefing; Helping Homeless Female Veterans

Aired February 23, 2011 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed.

Libyans are turning out in major cities today for a "Day of Rage." The call to protests came on Facebook. Big crowds are expected in eastern Libya, which is now controlled by protesters. But terror grips Tripoli. Witnesses say that government goon squads are roaming the capital, hunting down protesters.

And countries are scrambling to get their citizens out of Libya. The United States will ferry Americans to Malta today; that's an island south of Italy. The State Department says that Libya would not allow the U.S. to land charter flights for the evacuations.

And rescuers pulled dozens of quake survivors to safety in New Zealand today. Seventy-five people are known dead in New Zealand, some 300 are missing. Dozens of them may be buried under this mountain of concrete. Rescuers called off the search at the Canterbury TV building, saying there is no way that anyone survived.

And a CNN iReporter sends this video of two buses on the streets of Christchurch. You can see falling chunks of concrete practically flatten the white bus. And passengers were trapped on the red one. Rescuers had to use sledgehammers and crowbars to free them.

And there are rallies in at least five states today to support public union workers. Now, here's the scene right now in Hartford, Connecticut. These workers, they're angry over proposals in Wisconsin and Ohio. Governors are pressing lawmakers to put severe limits on collective bargaining rights for state workers.

And actress Lindsay Lohan is in front of a Los Angeles judge right now. He may revoke her probation for a drunk driving conviction. Now, that is because Lohan now faces felony charges. Prosecutors claim that she shoplifted a necklace.

And here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day, Libya's defiant leader, Moammar Gadhafi.

Our own Carol Costello, she's joining us from Washington.

And Carol, his own people call him a "Mad Dog." CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Worse than that. Some people call him delusional, paranoid, misogynist, and completely insane. All of those words used to describe Libya's leader, Moammar Gadhafi. After his rambling 90-minute speech, it's easy to understand why so many think Gadhafi is daffy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (through translator): RPG rocket launchers have been provided to Benghazi by the Americans. They have just confused them. They have made them dizzy. They offer them those hallucination pills in order to use them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I'll throw this in for you, too, this picture. There he is with an umbrella, telling his people he did not leave Libya in the midst of a violent rebellion against his rule.

All of this would produce a chuckle, except Gadhafi is now accused of slaughtering his own people. And he's sitting on two percent of the world's oil supply. In fact, a Libyan opposition figure told CNN that a Libyan pilot crashed his plane rather than carry out Gadhafi's orders to bomb Libya's oilfields.

So, if this is true, it could send a jolt to the world's oil markets. And you know what that may mean -- higher gas prices here. So, what to do?

President Obama has so far condemned the violence in Libya in a written statement, but that's not forceful enough for Sarah Palin, who says, "Gadhafi is a brutal killer. And Libya, not to mention the world, would be better off if he were out of power."

So "Talk Back" today. Who should stop Moammar Gadhafi?

Send your comments to my Facebook page, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later in the hour -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Carol, I was just talking to an Egyptian journalist within the last hour. She was asking the same question, why doesn't President Obama speak out forcefully on camera and condemn what is taking place there? We've heard statements, we've heard the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, but not the president. She's looking for a stronger response.

So we're going to have to just wait and see.

COSTELLO: Well, the president is out and about today, and it is possible he could make a comment, but we just don't know. No official word from the White House today.

MALVEAUX: All right. Carol, thank you very much.

Well, getting Americans out of Libya, it's a priority for the State Department, priority one. Officials there worried, after all, after Moammar Gadhafi's announcement, that he will fight to his last drop of blood to crush the uprising against him.

So, right now, a chartered ferry is ready to evacuate hundreds of U.S. citizens from Libya to the Mediterranean island of Malta.

Our Diana Magnay, she is there in Malta. She joins us live.

Give us a sense of how this is going. Are people beginning to leave? Are they able to get to where you are?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Suzanne.

Well, we've been speaking every hour to the U.S. Embassy here in Malta to find out whether that catamaran has actually left, and it still hasn't. It was due to leave three hours ago.

U.S. citizens have been gathering at the port in Tripoli since 10:00 a.m. this morning, local time, 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time. So a good nine hours that they've been waiting to try and get on that boat, but it still hasn't left.

We don't know why. We don't know whether that's because of problems in getting the citizens on board. Its operating on a first- come, first-serve basis. We know that sick people are being granted a place first, and then it's whoever's first there. But we don't know whether it is the authorities who are actually obstructing that ship from leaving.

When it does leave, though, it's only 190 kilometers between here and Tripoli, but it will probably take about six to eight hours, because the waters are pretty rough. So they'll be landing in the very early hours of the morning -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Diana, you've been talking to people. What is their state of mind? Are they frustrated? Are they panicked at this point?

MAGNAY: I have. I was in Rome airport yesterday talking to a lot of the people who have been queuing at the airports in Tripoli for days to try and get out.

There are lots of problems in terms of exit visas, a lot of sort of bureaucratic hindrances that the Libyan authorities are still putting in place at the airport. People are very scared about the situation in Tripoli. They knew that there was a lot of sort of dangerous activity going on in Benghazi, and we heard a lot of people saying, "I didn't expect it to come to Tripoli," and now it has.

So a huge amount of fear, uncertainty, and people very relieved to have finally made it out of the country. So those 600 U.S. citizens who are hoping to board that plane, seriously, they're hoping that they do manage to leave today -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Diana, real quick, tell us, who are these people? Who are these Americans who are actually stuck in Libya?

MAGNAY: Well, we know that some of them are nonessential embassy personnel who have been recommended to leave by the U.S. State Department. Some of them are contractors working for U.S. firms in Libya. We know that there are around 600 U.S. citizens in the country, and thousands more who may have married Libyans who have dual citizenship. So it's probably focusing on getting those 600 U.S. citizens out, which embassy staff are trying to do now -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Diana Magnay, thank you so much.

Well, here is what's ahead "On the Rundown."

A divided army in Libya. There are defectors that are jumping ship and supporting efforts to bring down Moammar Gadhafi.

Also, a college coach who survived Hurricane Katrina makes a big sacrifice for one of his players.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Which is easier, recovering from a hurricane or recovering from a kidney transplant?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Miss Colorado USA has a lot going for her. Beauty, as well as brains. But she is now homeless.

And public labor unions in the headlines as states try to balance the budgets. What would America be like without unions? We're going to break it down for you.

And also, you get to "Choose the News" you want to see, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: OK. Don't forget to "Choose the News." This is how it goes. You know how it goes.

Text message for the story that you want to see in detail. We will air it for you.

So here are the choices.

The Afghan government's plans to take over women's shelters, or the largest weapons show in the Middle East and Africa, or women veterans home from Iraq and Afghanistan who are now homeless. Vote by texting 22360. Vote 1 for Afghan women's shelters; 2 for Abu Dhabi arms bazaar; or 3 for homeless women veterans.

The winning story will air in less than an hour.

Military support for Moammar Gadhafi is apparently cracking. A newspaper reports that a Libyan military jet was deliberately crashed after its crew refused to follow orders to bomb the city of Benghazi.

Plus, troops are now defecting in eastern cities that are under control of the protesters. Our senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, he was the first western TV journalist to enter Libya during this crisis, and he now reports on the divide in the army.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Are you with the regime or with the people's revolution?"

Saif, a Libyan army officer who defected to the anti-Gadhafi forces, is addressing a group of prisoners. They respond in unison, "With the people's revolution."

All but one of these men are soldiers captured in the uprising in eastern Libya, now held in a nondescript house. Many were severely beaten by angry crowds after their surrender, saved from a far worse fate by community leaders. The men insist they didn't want to fire upon the anti-Gadhafi protesters and tried to avoid carrying out their officers' orders.

"We were shooting randomly in the air," says this soldier. "All the guys there were firing up." But the officer, Saif, isn't convinced. "Innocent people died. Innocent people," he says, "your Libyan brothers."

Local activist Shukri al-Hasi suspects they may still be loyal to the regime. "Some units of the army gave themselves up," he says, "but you didn't. We had come here looking for the much talked about foreign mercenaries used by the regime to suppress anti-government protests."

But the only person who might fit that description was Issa Adam (ph), originally from Chad, but a Libyan citizen since the age of 5. He tells an unlikely story of being compelled to board a military plane to the east and suddenly finding himself in the middle of a demonstration. He insists no one paid him to fight the protesters.

And as I finish the interview with Issa (ph), Saif, the army officer, turned to the camera, addressing his fellow officers still siding with the regime. "I appeal to you to join the people's revolt, join the people's revolt." An appeal that might be heeded in an army divided.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, eastern Libya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Well, we have not yet heard from President Obama on the Libyan crisis. We're going to listen into the White House briefing to see -- at the bottom of the hour -- see if there are any comments that will be coming out of that, any further comments from the White House.

(NEWSBREAK)

MALVEAUX: And the baseball coach at Wake Forest University has had his share of trying times. He survived Hurricane Katrina. Now he's made a very unselfish sacrifice for one of his players.

His story from our own David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: How you feeling right now?

TOM WALTER, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY BASEBALL COACH: I feel pretty good. You know, my energy kind of comes and goes.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): He's a little thinner, walks a little slower, but Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter says donating a kidney to an ailing player isn't the toughest thing he's ever had to do.

(on camera): Which is easier, recovering from a hurricane or recovering from a kidney transplant?

WALTER: Oh, recovering from a kidney transplant, without question.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Almost six years before making headlines going above and beyond for one of his players, Walter had to fight for his entire team at the University of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were trying to search for people that we knew.

MATTINGLY (on camera): You didn't even know if everybody was alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the phones, definitely, you couldn't call anybody.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): These former players tell me when their lives were turned upside down, Walter was the one who gave them hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't know what's going on, you don't know what's going to happen. He was there saying, no, we're going to play.

MATTINGLY (on camera): And it's not like Coach Walter didn't have his own problems. After Katrina, his house was flooded and he lost almost everything. It would have been so easy for him to say, that's it, the season's over.

Why didn't you?

WALTER: The players. You know, out of respect and loyalty to the players. It never occurred to me to give up on those guys.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): So with nowhere to live, nowhere to practice, he took the New Orleans team to New Mexico for the semester. Then, for months after, he lived in a trailer on campus, working constantly to keep his team playing and his program together. No one who knew him then was surprised to hear about him donating a kidney to a player. And less than two weeks after the operation, he was on the field for his team's season opener and a standing ovation before the game. Admiration for a coach who shows everyone what it takes to be a winner.

David Mattingly, CNN, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: A great story.

For rescuers pulling victims from the rubble in New Zealand, every second counts.

Our Michael Holmes takes a look at some of the incredible stories of survival that is coming out of Christchurch.

And are you ready to take on the CNN challenge? Here's our question for you taken from the day's headlines.

So, which Supreme Court justice hit a milestone Tuesday by not asking a single question during oral arguments for five straight years? Was it Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or Justice Samuel Alito? Let's see if you're right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Now the answer to today's CNN challenge.

We asked, which Supreme Court justice hit a milestone on Tuesday by not asking a single question during oral arguments for five straight years: Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or Justice Samuel Alito?

Well, the answer, Justice Clarence Thomas. He recently said he thought lawyers should be able to do more of the talking during the hour-long sessions to better explain their legal options.

Dozens have been pulled out of the rubble after the massive earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, but hundreds are still missing.

Our Michael Holmes is here to discuss this crushing reality every passing minute represents. The rescue effort is a topic that we are now covering on "Globe Trekking."

And Michael, you can't help but think about Haiti and all of the people there. I mean, every minute, every hour was so critical in terms of getting people out alive, or even the injured.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's heartbreaking stuff, you're right. And obviously, the death tolls are different. But, yes, you're right, that same frantic and at times heartbreaking hunt for survivors. You know, we're entering the third day now of the disaster. It's tomorrow, if you like, in Christchurch, New Zealand. When the sun rises in a few hours, there's going to be hundreds of people, as you said, still trapped beneath all of that.

I've been there a couple of times, Christchurch. Even though it's New Zealand's second biggest city, it is a beautiful, very quiet sort of place. Almost a country town-like feel. A very tight-knit population, only 375,000 people.

You know, we've been watching some amazing stories of survival unfold there amid all the death. Reports of one woman -- Ann Bodkin (ph), her name is -- Ann Bodkin Allen (ph), rather -- she was pulled from the rubble after 25 hours trapped under her desk in one of the office buildings there. It's in the central business district, a part of the city that was hit hardest by this aftershock.

Twenty-two other people still thought to be inside that building. Bodkin Allen (ph), one of about 30 people who was successfully rescued Wednesday from buildings on the two blocks most severely damaged in the quake. You're talking the middle of a city here.

MALVEAUX: Michael, we are now hearing more reports. It's not just rescue efforts, it's now turning into recovery efforts, which is heartbreaking when you think about when people give up the possibility that they're going to be pulling out people alive.

HOLMES: Exactly. It is devastating, as you say.

Workers reportedly abandoning their attempts to recover victims alive from Canterbury Television. I've been inside that building, CTV.

They say the destruction there was not survivable, and it is thought that between 80 and 100 people are still in there, likely dead. Now, among those, a dozen or so visiting Japanese students, by the way, studying English.

International rescue teams arrived, they're on the way. About 1,000 of them working through the rubble right now.

And as you said, time of the essence, and time is running out. I mean, it's just heartbreaking. Our thoughts are with the people of New Zealand through all of this.

The last I heard, too, there's a 26-story building there that had shifted a meter on its foundation. They're terrified it's going to fall down and knock over a bunch of other buildings.

MALVEAUX: Unbelievable. We'll be following the developments, obviously. Thank you very much.

Well, more protests around the nation today in support of unions. So we asked the question, do union workers really have a better deal? We're going to break down those numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

MALVEAUX: Pro-union rallies are getting under way in Connecticut and Pennsylvania this hour. Union workers there are showing their support for Wisconsin's workers who are fighting for their collective bargaining rights. Other rallies today are being held in New York, Georgia, Ohio, and Indiana.

So just how much do unions help workers?

Well, here to help us answer that, our CNN chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, and CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow.

Ali, good to see you. Break it down for us.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right.

Look, unions do a couple of things. One is they have this collective bargaining, which means unlike you or I, who will negotiate with our employer for our salary, a union does it collectively, giving them a little more clout, because if things don't go the way of the union, they can take action.

The other thing it does is it protects workers. In the old days, it was about safety. It still is to some degree about safety and working conditions, but if you wanted to take your employer to court, the union will do it for you in the case of unionized workers.

Let me tell you one of the big differences that collective bargaining makes though. I want to show you the wages.

Take a look at 2010 weekly earnings for union members, $917 a week. Take a look at what it looks like for non-union members. It's a lot lower. It's $717 a week. That's weekly.

Let's take a look at what it looks like annually. Union workers do make more in this country than non-union workers, $47,684. That's about 28 percent more than what non-union workers make. Let's take a look at that right now, $37,284.

Now, where are the biggest differences? They typically come into play with service workers.

These are not goods-producing workers, people who manufacture things, but service workers, like in the state of Wisconsin. Take a look at the difference in service workers.

Union service workers earn on average in this country $707 a week. Take a look at what non-union workers earn, $447 a week. That's the industry in which there's a very, very large spread between them, 58 percent difference between unionized and non-unionized workers.

So the issue here is, you want people to earn well. Unions have done a good job in creating better wages for their workers. But at whose expense? Because these are public service workers, which means it's our tax dollars.

MALVEAUX: So help us understand. If the unions disappeared tomorrow, how long would it take before those unionized workers see their wages go down?

VELSHI: Well, it all depends. First of all, whatever the law says. They may say we're going to break these contracts. When a company goes bankrupt, for instance, they can terminate contracts. But you can imagine, if anybody tries to break a union in this country, this will go through the courts and could probably end up at the Supreme Court.

So, no telling exactly how long it will take if the governor of Wisconsin or other bodies who are trying to break these unions succeed.

MALVEAUX: All right, Ali.

I want to go to Poppy Harlow now.

Poppy, I understand that union membership has gone down, way down, since the union's heyday years ago. Is it realistic now to think that these unions are still necessary when there are a lot of workplace protections already?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Right. I think that's a very good question. And just to add on to what Ali said, Suzanne, one of the labor economists that I talked to this morning when it comes to wages and when would we see wages go down if we didn't have unions, one point he made that I think is critical is that when you have unions in a region, that brings up wages across the board, because you have a competitor company saying, hey, we're union and we'll pay you more.

At the same time, if you have a region that doesn't have any unions, you generally have lower wages. So unions really play into the overall wage of the region or the industry. But your question about how much power unions have, what's happening to them, are they necessary, let's take a look at these numbers, because you're going to see what has happened to unions over the last five decades.

The peak of unionization in this country, we'll pull up the other graphic for you, but the peak of unionization in this country was in 1953, and that's when we had unions at about 27 percent of all workers were unionized.

Last year, it has gone down significantly, just under 12 percent. So the power of unions is fading as their membership fades. That said, a lot more government or public sector workers are unionized, about 36 percent versus just about 7 percent in the private sector.

Now, when you talk about, and we can pull up that 33 percent again, so people can see it, when you talk about the criticism, the heritage foundation has said, look, having all of these unionized public workers is essentially a 33 percent tax on corporations or additional tax on what the government pays out to these workers, because they do get higher wages, as Ali showed you. But we spoke with someone from the freelancer's union and this is interesting, the freelancer's union, Suzanne, is getting a lot more members. They have a big membership here in New York, in California. They're one of the fastest growing unions in the country. What they said, the head of the freelancer's union is, unions aren't dead, but they need to evolve. They need to change.

The freelancer's union actually doesn't have collective bargaining. Something that Ali explained very well earlier. They don't have collective bargaining instead, they night if other ways for their members. So they still there is still a power in numbers, but not the same as it was back in the '50s, '60s, and '70s when we had very different working conditions in this country, Suzanne.

So businesses have changed, what they arguing is the model of unionization in this country needs to change and I think that that should part of the discussion that we're seeing now in Wisconsin and else and where, is maybe not unions, the way they exist now, maybe a different form of unionization. But there will always be strength in numbers, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And it certainly is evolving into a power struggle here. I want to thank you, Poppy and Ali, for making sense of all this. Appreciate it.

Well, he loved his job for 28 years until his doctor told him it would kill him. He was foreclosing on the homes of too many people. We're going to reveal our most intriguing person of the day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Time now for our most intriguing person of the day. David Fields. For almost 28 years, the tax commissioner of Cherokee County, Georgia, loved his job, until his doctor told him it would kill him.

He resigned this month due to the stress of foreclosing on home. Fields suffered acid reflux and crippling depression. He oversaw the foreclosure of almost 100,000 homes last year alone including the homes of people he had known his entire life.

We are keeping a close watch on Libya. It's a day of rage and it is underway. Protesters are turning out in several cities to demand Moammar Gadhafi step down after 42 years in power. This is a scene in the eastern city of Tobruk, which is controlled by protesters.

A Libyan newspaper reports that pilots deliberately crashed a military jet rather than follow orders to bomb Benghazi. That's another eastern city under protesters' control. Moammar Gadhafi has warned he will die fighting rather than give up power. He has called on supporters to attack protesters.

World leaders are condemning the Libyan government's crackdown on protesters, but many are wondering if the global community can do more. I discussed that this last hour with Egyptian journalist, Mona Eltahawy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONA ELTAHAWY, COLUMNIST ON ARAB AND MUSLIM ISSUES: I think beside the moral stand and the outrage, I think the United States and every other country must push for some sort of no-fly zone over Libya, so that Gadhafi doesn't continue to use his air force against unarmed pro-democracy protesters.

And also to prevent any mercenaries being flown in because we hear of a lot of mercenaries being used to fight Libyans. There's a lot the world can do. Britain and France suspended their arms licenses to Libya. It's shameful that all these countries knowing what a dictator Gadhafi is have been selling weapons to him. So there's a lot besides just speaking out. Protect Libyan people today. That is the most urgent thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We still haven't heard from President Obama on the crisis in Libya. We're going to listen into the White House briefing to see if there are any comments.

Well, there's not much time for you left, choose the news, vote by texting 22360. Vote one for afghan women's shelters, vote two for Abu Dhabi arms bazaar, or vote three for homeless women veterans. The winning story airs in about 20 minutes.

And Lindsay Lohan is leaving a Los Angeles courthouse right now. We're going to find out if the judge decided to revoke her probation and send her back to jail.

And are you ready to take the CNN challenge? Here's our question for you. Who recorded the original version of the hit song "Hound Dog." Was it Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, "Big Momma" Thornton, or Little Richard? The answer in a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We asked you one of our CNN challenge questions, who recorded the original version of the hit song, "Hound Dog." Was it Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Big Momma Thornton, or Little Richard? The answer, Big Momma Thornton and her song "Ball and Chain" was later recorded by Janis Joplin.

Well, "Time" magazine called him one of the most important people of the 20th Century. So don't have a cow, but Bart Simpson, he's the random moment of the day. If Bart aged like the rest of us, today would be his 32nd birthday. But thanks to a little TV magic, Bart will always be 10 years old, even though he's been a star for more than two decades.

Lindsay Lohan was back in court today, and Chris Brown can now chat up Rihanna. Our "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" host Brooke Anderson joins us live from Los Angeles with all the details. Brooke, tell us first, we know, we've seen her, she's back in court, Lindsay Lohan. What's happening? BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: She was back in a courtroom today, Suzanne. She actually just left. I believe we have video of her departure. But just about 20 minutes ago, the judge, after he met in his chambers with the defense and the prosecution, addressed Lindsay in open court and he had some really strong poignant words for her.

Judge Keith Schwartz told Lindsay, there is going to be jail time in this case, period. He said he wants her to be a productive citizen, stop causing herself, her family, and others in her life stress. He says he does not want her to be a repeat offender.

It is Lindsay's eighth court appearance in the last nine months. Lindsay's been on probation for a 2007 drunk driving conviction. That probation could be revoked because she was charged earlier this month with felony grand theft for allegedly lifting a $2,500 necklace from a Venice, California store. All the evidence, the police reports, the store surveillance video, all the evidence was presented to Lindsay's attorney just this morning.

So the judge has continued the case until March 10th, when there will be another hearing. Suzanne, at the time, at that time, Lindsay can cop a plea or not. If she does not, a preliminary hearing will be set. She will go toward a trial. But to reiterate, Suzanne, the judge told her this morning, no matter what, there is going to be jail time. He was adamant about that.

MALVEAUX: So she looks like she may serve some more time, OK.

ANDERSON: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Well, a judge ruled today as well that Rihanna doesn't need a restraining order against Chris Brown anymore. Why is that?

ANDERSON: That's right, Suzanne. Chris Brown is now free to go near his former girlfriend. He just can't bother her. A California judge did lift the protective order barring any contact between the two pop stars. And this decision comes two years after brown was charged with assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna.

The judge determined that brown had successfully completed a domestic violence rehabilitation course and it was safe to lift that order, which, by the way, was not set to spire until 2014, three more years. Brown's attorneys asked for the change. Rihanna was not present in court, but her lawyer said that she did not object to the request.

So, Suzanne, there is still, though, a court order though in place barring brown from harassing or stalking Rihanna. So he's still got to be very careful.

MALVEAUX: We hope they're both very happy. OK, Brooke, thank you so much. Today on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," all the buzz on Lindsay Lohan's court appearance. Join Brooke Anderson and A.J. Hammer on HLN at 5:00 and 11:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, last night, CNN's Piers Morgan spoke to "Playboy" creator Hugh Hefner and his fiancee about their upcoming wedding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": No offense to you, but fidelity has never been your strong point. When you say your vows to Crystal, are you actually going to mean them?

HUGH HEFNER, FOUNDER, "PLAYBOY": Yes.

MORGAN: Can you imagine being faithful to her?

HEFNER: I was faithful -- I was married -- my last marriage, which was not successful, I was faithful to it.

MORGAN: So you actually are going to be genuinely faithful to Crystal?

HEFNER: Yes, absolutely.

MORGAN: Really?

HEFNER: No question.

MORGAN: What happens to all the other women in the mansion?

CRYSTAL HARRIS, HEFNER'S FIANCEE: They still come around. Every weekend! Everyone's there.

MORGAN: But they're not allowed anymore to partake --

HARRIS: They're not allowed upstairs.

MORGAN: Really?

HEFNER: Unless she invites them.

MORGAN: So you've hung up your sword, for want of a better phrase.

HEFNER: Well, you never know.

MORGAN: That's what I mean. I mean, Crystal, do you trust him?

HARRIS: Yes, I trust him, we have fun.

MORGAN: But you honestly believe Hef will never ever have sex with any other woman ever again other than you?

HARRIS: I don't know what to say. I'm like what --

HEFNER: I would --

MORGAN: That's what he's saying.

HARRIS: We don't have a traditional anything, so --

HEFNER: I will never do anything behind her back, let me put it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Tonight, Piers Morgan goes one on one with Larry King. That's tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day, the unrest in Libya. And the defiance of Libya's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, has a lot of you talking back. Our Carol Costello, she's in Washington with some of your responses.

Carol, what are folks saying?

COSTELLO: Pretty strong response. More than 200 so far, Suzanne. Libyan strong man Moammar Gadhafi vowing to die a martyr. Witnesses say terror grips his country with Gadhafi supporters hunting down protesters with machetes. So our "Talk Back" question today, who should stop Moammar Gadhafi?

This from Pamela. She says, "the United Nations should deal with him. I'm tired of the United States being the only savior. And if we step into anything in the Middle East on our own, we will be accused of all sorts of things."

This from Forrest. He says, "if same thing was happening in this country, does anyone think that any other country would try to stick their nose in our business, and especially this country, allow anyone else to do exactly that? Answer -- hell no."

This from Chris. He says, "just wait a while and he will more than likely self destruct."

You can always be part of the conversation, I should say, facebook.com/carolcnn. Continue the conversation. I'm going to check in again because many of our responses have been quite thoughtful and really interesting, quite frankly. So thanks for your comments. I appreciate it.

MALVEAUX: And they keep coming in, huh, Carol?

COSTELLO: They keep coming in.

MALVEAUX: OK. All right. All right, thanks, Carol.

Well, it's time to have some fun with our CNN Challenge. We're going to take some of the stories making headlines and quiz a CNN correspondents. So, who's in the hot seat today? Our own Poppy Harlow from CNN "Money" team.

Poppy, are you ready?

HARLOW: I'm a little terrified, but, yes, I'm ready.

MALVEAUX: We've terrified them before. It's not going to be that bad, trust me. You've got 20 seconds, however, to answer each one of these questions.

HARLOW: OK.

MALVEAUX: So we're going to go ahead and start here with our first question.

Chicago's current mayor is Richard Daley. How long has he held that position? We know that you've got 20 seconds. A, 44 years, b, 22 years, c, 15 years, or, d, 4 years?

HARLOW: Fifteen, c.

MALVEAUX: Oh, Poppy, sorry, a little bit longer, 22 years. We know Rahm Emanuel's going to be taking over that spot. OK, well, we'll get you to the next question.

HARLOW: OK.

MALVEAUX: You got another shot at this here.

All right, Vancouver ranks as the most livable city in the world. What U.S. city ranks the highest? So you've got choices here, a, Pittsburgh, b, New York, c, Honolulu, d, Charlotte?

HARLOW: I live in New York. So it's not New York. I do love Pittsburgh, but it's not Pittsburgh. D, Charlotte.

MALVEAUX: D, Charlotte. OK, let's see.

Oh, Pittsburgh! I would not have picked that, actually.

HARLOW: Ah, I'm so sorry to all the Pittsburgh -- Pittsburghians. Sorry.

MALVEAUX: Pittsburghians. OK. They love Pittsburgh there. I wouldn't have guessed that one. But New York's not so bad.

All right, finally, let's see what our last question here. How many invites -- oh, I love this royal family stuff -- did Prince William and Kate Middleton send for their upcoming royal wedding. How many invites? OK, was it -- A, 500, B, 1,900, C, 4,500, or D, 12,000 plus.

HARLOW: How many did they send? That's the question?

MALVEAUX: Yes, how many invites, invitations to the wedding?

HARLOW: OK, B, 1,900.

MALVEAUX: OK. OK. You got it! You got the answer right.

HARLOW: Oh, my gosh, one for three!

MALVEAUX: Good for you. I know your -- I know your invitation's in the mail, so thank you very much, Poppy.

HARLOW: Me and Kanye West, you got it.

MALVEAUX: All right. I want to go straight to the White House briefing in Washington just to listen in and see if we get any news.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Prior to the decision by the administration about whether or not this case should require heightened scrutiny, heightened constitutional review, because this, unlike the other cases in other circuits, there is no -- there was no precedent, no foundation upon which the administration could defend the Defense of Marriage Act in this case, therefore it had to basically make a positive assertion about its constitutionality.

The attorney general recommended that the higher level of scrutiny be applied and under that higher level of scrutiny deemed or recommended that it be viewed as unconstitutional. The president reviewed that recommendation and concurred. Therefore, again, because of the court-imposed deadline and the necessity that this decision be made, our announcement was made.

QUESTION: Well, in making that decision, is the president saying that he believes that marriage does not necessarily have to be between a man and a woman? That that is not -- can not be constitutionally imposed?

CARNEY: The president's personal view on same-sex marriage, I think you all have heard him discuss as recently as a press conference at the end of last year, that is distinct from this legal decision. And he, again, the attorney general and the president were under a court imposed deadline to make a decision in this case. And they did.

And the president, let me make a couple of points about it. The decision is that we will -- the administration will not defend the Defense of Marriage Act in the second circuit. Furthermore, the president directed the attorney general not to defend because of the decision that it's not constitutional, defend the Defense of Marriage Act in any other circuit, in any other case.

Let me also make clear, however, that the United States government will still be a party to those cases in order to allow those cases to proceed so that the courts can make the final determination about its constitutionality. And also so that other interested parties are able to take up the defense --

MALVEAUX: You've been listening to the White House briefing there. Jay Carney, White House spokesman, outlining a couple of news item. One, announcing that the Obama administration is no longer going to order the Justice Department to defense the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage between a man and a woman.

Jay Carney saying that it didn't matter what the president's personal opinion about defining marriage, but this was something that the Bush administration had pushed and the Justice Department believes that this is not constitutional, therefore will not be promoting that particular law. Still, a lot of questions around that.

We're also getting news from the State Department as well about Libya. This coming from a State Department spokesman, that the United States is looking into a full range of tools, including sanctions to pressure Libya, obviously, to cooperate and to meet with protesters and demonstrators and to stop the violence that we have seen in that country.

We're going to have more details about these developments after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: So you text and we're going to air it. Now the winning story for "Choose The News." Here it goes. Some women who have put their lives on the line serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They come home only to find themselves homeless. Sometimes with kids and not many options. Here's our CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, ABC CORRESPONDENT: Imagine a female homeless veteran with children. Where does she turn for help?

STARR (voice-over): If you walked up to this table and sat down, you would not know what these women have been through. There's laughter and gentle smiles, but there is also a certain wariness. These women have slept in alleys, lived in their cars, gone hungry for days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am so blessed that I came here.

STARR: All of these women are military veterans. Some recently back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All are homeless. They are now at this southern California program, run by the nonprofit U.S. Vets Initiative. Many offer only a first name. Druscilla was in the army.

DRUSCILLA, HOMELESS VETERAN: We go through a lot of financial problems, we go through emotional problems, we go through physical -- health problems, and it just -- it just pushes a lot of us over the edge to the point where sometimes we wind up having a lot of psychological problems. And it makes it difficult for us to focus and for us to make it out here in society.

STARR: There are struggles to remain clean and sober. Addiction remains a constant threat. Stephen Peck, president of U.S. Vets, says it's more than just the trauma of war.

STARR (on camera): What are they coming back with? How do they wind up in these circumstances?

STEPHEN PECK, PRESIDENT, U.S. VETS: There is a kind of shocking amount of sexual harassment and actual sexual assault going on. So a significant portion of them are coming back with sexual trauma. And if that is layered on top of their PTSD, then that is a very complex case. And that woman cannot start her life until she addresses that.

STARR (voice-over): Peck points out an area that is about to become a very special place. Homeless women will be able to live here with their children.

STARR (on camera): You're now taking this to the next step and including children in the process.

PECK: We'll be able to take nine women with their children and provide all the requisite services for the women. Their children will be able to go into child care here on site.

STARR (voice-over): Vernita, a homeless Iraq veteran, knows the pain of not being with her children.

VERNITA, HOMELESS VETERAN: The children are expecting mommy to be mommy. Mommy's not that same person anymore, basically. The husband is expecting the wife to be the same wife that she was supposed to be when she left. It's not going to be the same anymore, basically.

STARR (on camera): Do you have kids?

VERNITA: I have kids. Yes, I do. They're not with me.

STARR: And that is part of the price that women are paying, isn't it, right now? Does everybody feel that way?

DRUSCILLA: Yes.

VERNITA: Yes.

VERNITA: Yes. And that's kind of sort of what happened to me. You know, stressful relationships.

STARR : Even now, there are new worries that some federal funding for women's counseling programs may be cut. Steven Peck is again swinging into action to try and make sure that doesn't happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi -- Ali.