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Uprising in Libya; Wisconsin Layoff Warnings; Charlie Sheen Broadcast Tonight; Ivory Coast Massacre; Concern Over Mexican Police Chief; iPad 2 for Release
Aired March 05, 2011 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is your Saturday night and we are tracking severe weather that is making its way across the southeastern U.S. It has already killed one person and injured a dozen in Louisiana.
A peaceful protest in the Ivory Coast one moment, a blood bath just seconds later. And you'll see the entire disturbing scene as it played out. Women gunned down in the streets. The shooters, the government security forces.
And a new development in the ongoing drama that is Charlie Sheen. He is taking your questions live. We'll tell you about that.
Plus, the iPad getting some competition from Blackberry. We're taking apart the Playbook and looking at the iPad 2 already headed to stores less than a year after its predecessor.
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LEMON: I'm don lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. A lot of news to get to right now, so let's get you caught up.
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LEMON: And we start in North Africa. U.S. military planes are now assisting people who have been stuck in Tunisia after fleeing neighboring Libya because of ongoing violence. More than 130 Egyptian refugees were today airlifted to Cairo aboard two U.S. cargo planes.
Inside Libya, rebel forces say they repelled pro-Gadhafi troops attempted to retake the city of Zawiya near Tripoli. A closer look at how the U.S. military might respond is just ahead.
The unrest in Libya and across the region is helping drive up crude oil prices. Oil closed Friday at $104 a barrel, the highest in three years. In the U.S., Americans are feeling it at the gas pumps. Some places have soared above $4 a gallon. As of right now, the national average is about $3.50 a gallon.
Virginia police say they are breathing a sigh of relief after the capture of a man they're calling a brazen cold-blooded rapist. Thirty-nine-year-old Aaron Thomas was arrested at his home in New Haven, Connecticut, after being under police surveillance. He's suspected of assaulting women in four states over 12 years. Police say a DNA collected from his discarded cigarette gave them the evidence they needed.
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KIM CHEN, PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA. POLICE: In the last few days, the task force received an anonymous tip from a crime solvers caller as well as they were able to put some information together themselves. And both of these things coincided at the same time and they came up with the name of a suspect that was picked up today in New Haven by the U.S. Marshals.
The work is not over, but I think it's probably a relief for everyone including and probably especially the victims. And we're relieved, too, because hopefully now, there won't be any more victims out there.
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LEMON: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has sent letters to 13 state union leaders warning of possible layoffs soon. The burning dispute over the state budget has sparked weeks of protests and we're told filmmaker Michael Moore joined today's march. More than a dozen Senate Democrats have fled the state to prevent a budget vote.
A sailor is fighting the Navy after he says he was wrongly treated after being found asleep with another sailor. Petty Officer Steven Jones is accusing the Navy of trying to get around the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" by trying to discharge him for unprofessional conduct. Jones says he accidentally fell asleep on the same bed with another sailor when the two were watching a movie and adds nothing sexual happened. His roommate walked in and later reported the incident to superiors.
An Ohio priest is headed to rehab after his drunken tirade was captured on video. Here's what happened after the Reverend Ignatius Kury was arrested and charged with drunken driving, then handcuffed inside a police jail cell.
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REV. IGNATIUS KURY, HOLY GHOST UKRAINIAN BYZANTINE CATHOLIC CHURCH: I'll give you the sermon of the mount. The sermon of the mount is this -- get (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off of me because I'm getting a rash. I'll pay you whatever you want. What do you want? What do you want? You want (EXPLETIVE DELETED), is that what you want? Are you trying to get me to like being a sexual slave?
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LEMON: Reverend Kury has been removed as pastor of the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church in south Akron. His attorney says Kury is, quote, "horrified" by what's captured on video by police.
A tornado touched down in Louisiana today, killing a 20-year-old mother trying to protect her child. Authorities say a tree fell on her in the town of Rayne. The tornado also injured a dozen people. The National Weather Service reports it was an EF2 tornado with winds of more than 111 miles per hour that hit Rayne about 70 miles west of Baton Rouge.
The tornado left a trail of damage that was five miles long. The storm also brought heavy rains to New Orleans, forcing some last- minute changes to the Mardi Gras festivities being held there right now.
Authorities in Mexico are denying reports that a 20-year-old police chief of a border town is missing. Marisol Valles Garcia made news last year when she became chief in one of the most violent towns on the U.S.-Mexico border. A Mexican newspaper reported yesterday that she had fled to the U.S. for safety. But town officials say she's been on leave taking care of a sick child and is due back at work on Monday. Several police officers and mayors in her region have been abducted and killed.
And just a little over an hour ago, the Air Force launched an Atlas V rocket into space for a mysterious mission. The rocket is carrying an X37B space plane. The military isn't providing many details. But officials have said the plane will be used to test out new spacecraft technologies. Two launch attempts were scrubbed yesterday due to high winds and a technical glitch kept the rocket grounded earlier today.
A new photo has been released by the office of wounded Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. It's one of the last images taken of the congresswoman before she was shot in the head January 8th at a rally in Tucson. The man in the photo, Jim Tucker, was shot twice in the rampage but survived. Giffords is continuing her rehab at a medical facility in Houston. The accused shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, has been indicted on 49 counts, including murder and attempted murder.
Before you head into the kitchen to grab a snack tonight, you'll want to hear this. Some types of a popular peanut butter are being recalled. Skippy's Reduced Fat Creamy peanut butter spread and a Reduced Fat Super Chunk may be contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes deadly infections. So far, no illnesses from Skippy brands have been reported.
We begin with a full report now in Libya. Rebel forces claim they've made strategic gains in key cities. They even say they shot down a Libyan jet fighter. But Moammar Gadhafi shows no sign of stepping down.
Right now, the U.S. is trying to stay out of it. But that could change. Things are happening behind the scenes in case the situation spins out of control.
And CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is monitoring that for us tonight.
So, Barbara, how bad do things have to get before there's some intervention?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, President Obama, Don, made it very clear this week that he wants the U.S. military and the U.S. government to be able to respond very rapidly if things do spin out of control. The Pentagon looking at the situation still hour by hour, watching the rebel forces launch their attacks, watching the Gadhafi forces counterattack.
And what we're looking at now, by all accounts, is a period of sustained conflict, if not outright civil war in Libya. This is going to get very messy and make it very tough for the U.S. military to even contemplate stepping in if Libya civilians become you should attack by the Gadhafi government. That's the nightmare scenario right now.
LEMON: Sustained attacks. So, let's talk worst-case scenario. I mean, possibly chemical weapons? What is the worst-case scenario here?
STARR: Well, you just said it. I mean, the Gadhafi regime has stocks of mustard gas. Now, people will tell you, technically, it's not in the form of a weapon right now. But that may not much matter, to be blunt.
The Pentagon has said right now it thinks that mustard gas is secure, that there's no evidence anyone is tampering with it. But that is something that the U.S. government is watching very carefully. Nightmare scenario -- what if Gadhafi forces take that mustard gas, begin to do something with it, terrorize people? What if they simply continue to open up on civilians across Libya?
This is -- this is the problem. The U.S. military, of course, has two amphibious warships in the Med, has an aircraft carrier on standby in the Red Sea. But there is very little stomach for stepping into this conflict right now -- Don.
LEMON: Barbara, the secretary of defense, Robert Gates, said he was against this. What I'm going to talk about. But when the president was questioned on Thursday, when he was meeting with Felipe Calderon about the possibility of a no-fly zone being established, the president said, hey, that's one of the possibilities.
So, what are U.S. officials saying now?
STARR: Well, at the Pentagon, you know, let's think about who's so cautious about a no-fly zone -- Bob Gates, Mike Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs. The commanders who are deeply involved already in the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, frankly, don't want anything to do with a third conflict. And, in fact, if the U.S. military was ordered to undertake a no-fly zone, you are talking about a conflict. You're talking about U.S. warplanes going over Libya, bombing those radar sites, bombing the anti-aircraft sites, and taking lethal action to keep the Libyan air force from flying.
But that said, the other problem is there's very little stomach for the U.S. to get involved by other countries in the region. There's nobody really calling for U.S. military involvement in Libya right now.
And circling back, Don, that's what puts the White House in a very tough spot. If Libyan civilians come under sustained attack, very tough to stand by and watch that and not do anything. But what do you do? And that's the problem even as we speak.
LEMON: All right. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr -- Barbara, thank you.
Much, much more on the crisis in Libya coming up tonight. Make sure you join me and John Vause as we co-anchor an hour-long special coming up at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
Hours after Wisconsin's governor takes another step towards handing out pink slips, the budget protest in Wisconsin, they get some celebrity support. And we'll take you to the state capitol for the very latest coming up.
Plus, a peaceful protest turns into a tragedy in the Ivory Coast. Women gunned down in just seconds. Coming up, the devastating scene as it all played out.
And I'm online. I know you're online, too. Check out my social media accounts and let's connect.
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LEMON: Look at that. That's no criminal being tackled by police. That's a Wisconsin state lawmaker. It's a sign of just how tense things have gotten in the political standoff over the Wisconsin budget. State Assemblyman Nick Milroy was wrestled to the ground as he tried to enter the state capitol. The building has been closed to the public and police officers were trying to keep him out.
The Republican Wisconsin governor is trying to balance a budget with spending cuts and by restricting the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions.
Reporter Jessica Gomez has the very latest now from Madison.
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JESSICA GOMEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wisconsin state capitol building closed here for the day. But protesters have not left -- at least not yet. A pretty substantial great for a third weekend in a row.
Meantime, Governor Scott Walker made good on his threats to send layoff notices to several unions late yesterday. Those layoffs, possibly up to 1,500 of them, could happen, he says, as early as April, unless his budget repair bill is passed within the next 14 days, two weeks.
Now, we did speak with one of the 14 state Democratic senators who are holed up in Illinois, avoiding a vote on the bill. Senator Fred Risser says he and his colleagues have been talking to their GOP counterparts all weekend long, he says. But so far, there's no end in sight. There's no deal brokered and he says they have no plans to come back to the state of Wisconsin, not today and probably not tomorrow. And, of course, people here, the protesters here say they have no plans on going home. They're going to stay protesting here at the state capitol.
In Madison, Wisconsin, Jessica Gomez, CNN.
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LEMON: Time for your viral videos. A sight we thought we'd never see. A tractor-trailer lost control on a slippery winter road in central Pennsylvania last month. Luckily, the trucker was in the middle of Amish country. A local farmer hitched up four draft horses and pulled the truck out of the ditch without breaking a sweat. That's what you call real horsepower.
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LEMON: Oh, my God. You could play it out for the entire hour.
Anytime you need cheering up, watch a video of a baby laughing. It works every time. This 8-month-old thought dad ripping up a job rejection letter was hysterical. So dad set up the camcorder and started tearing up the credit card statements as well. It's really cute. What a little nugget.
OK. Our very favorite viral video of the day is next. Plus, a new development tonight on the Hollywood train wreck known as Charlie Sheen. You're not going to believe this one. So, sit tight.
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LEMON: All right. Unless you work for Walmart, you probably don't know what happens each morning before the store opens.
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LEMON: Can you imagine? Every store holds a team meeting with all employees to get everyone pumped up and in a good mood to greet customers. This is a brand-new store in Longmont, Colorado. The store manager was running down highlights from the day before and getting everyone ready for the day ahead, when someone put on a rock 'n roll classic from the 1960's "Surfin' Bird" by the Trashmen -- "Surfin' Bird" by the Trashmen.
Well, say what you want about Walmart, but it's not a bad way to have to start your day.
OK. Let's talk about Charlie Sheen. The Charlie Sheen files just took an even weirder twist. The actor is planning to do a live Internet broadcast on the Internet tonight. It is another episode in the string of strange behavior that intensify after CBS announced it was canceling the rest of the season of his sitcom, "Two and a Half Men."
To sort it all out now, we have our -- can we call you our Hollywood correspondent? ALAN DUKE, CNN PRODUCER: That's --
LEMON: Hollywood insider, Alan Duke, here in the studio. So, instead of sitting at the Paula Lounge, you're sitting here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
But, seriously, let's talk about this, Alan. Sheen gave interviews to CBS, ABC, NBC and others. And now, he's interviewing himself. Do you know if he's going to take questions?
DUKE: Well, I would be surprised if he didn't. Probably via Twitter. He's become very active there. But he's calling it "Sheen's Corner." And it is on Ustream tonight. And it's I guess the first episode of his new show.
LEMON: That's what I was going to ask you because he's under contract restraints or constraints for CBS, with "Two and a Half Men." So, he probably can't do another scripted show. I'm wondering if this is going to be -- if this is the set-up for a reality show that would be -- could be probably one of the number one shows on television.
DUKE: I'm wondering if this whole last week or two hasn't been a whole set-up for that because, you know, one way or the other, Warner Brothers may end up paying him for all those episodes. But he could branch out and start a new show and make even more money.
LEMON: Listen -- so, his behavior led the CBS producers to cancel the rest of the season. So, he's now more than what -- out of more than $8 million. Yet he seems to keep generating millions -- you know, there's a -- on Sirius. There's a 24-hour channel devoted to him. He's got a contract with the -- they've offered him a contract with a milk company and, you know, even online site for ads.
I mean, is it -- is it a meltdown or is he just, you know -- I don't know.
DUKE: I think that's the good question.
LEMON: Sly as a fox.
DUKE: You know, it started as a meltdown, literally taken to the hospital in an ambulance the second time in several months, the same scenario, taken to Cedar Sinai.
LEMON: Does he need "Two and a Half Men"? It seems like he doesn't if he's able to generate all this money. I don't if he's if -- you know, if we calculate, has any revenue actually been raised?
DUKE: Well, he just added 1.7 million followers to Twitter this week. And you can -- you can sell tweets for just $10,000 a hit here or there or even more maybe in his case. But he's only tweeted 45 times. Five of them tonight to announce his show tonight on the Internet, live, apparently, Charlie Sheen interviewing himself.
LEMON: It was funny, I fell asleep with the Comedy Central channel on and I woke up and Major League was on and there was Charlie Sheen staring at me from 1989. Why do we care so much about Charlie Sheen?
DUKE: Well, I think right now, there are two things going on. One, it's the train wreck. People love to watch a train wreck. He's been in the E.R. two times in the last several months.
Of course, he was arrested just over a year ago for domestic violence. And there's drug involved. And so, we're waiting for something bad to happen. And, unfortunately, that's what we do with Hollywood celebrities. We watch for that train wreck. And so, people can't take their eyes off of Sheen.
The other thing is he's got followers who really like what he says and they like him and they idolize his philosophy. I think he's an inspiration to some young men, especially whether right or wrong, they see him as their idol.
LEMON: Good for him or bad for him? I don't know if it's -- I don't know if it's bad for him because as I said, he's still making money. And does he need "Two and a Half Men"? I mean --
DUKE: Well, he's got a lot of money. I mean, who needs more money than he's got right now. But unlike Lindsay Lohan, he is not facing any criminal charges right now and he's not in rehab, although some say he should be.
LEMON: OK. All right. Stick around. It's good to have you here. We're going to talk more about Charlie Sheen and again, going viral -- looking, put it that way.
It looks like Charlie Sheen wants CBS to pay -- put its money where its mouth is, too. The troubled actor says he wants to sue the network. Does he really have a case? Our legal analyst Sunny Hostin has the answer for you, coming up.
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LEMON: All right. More now on the Sheen controversy. Sheen says he plans to go after CBS for getting rid of his -- the last eight episodes of his sitcom "Two and a Half Men." Now, he is on the "Today" show. He was talking about the conflict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: The war is that they're trying to destroy my family. And so, I take great umbrage with that. And defeat is not an option. They picked a fight with a warlock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. That's a little odd.
But does he have a case? Does he have a case?
All right. Sunny Hostin is here and she is our legal expert. She's going to answer some questions. A contributor to "In Session" on our sister network, truTV. Also, our CNN Hollywood insider Alan Duke sticking around as well to help us out.
Sunny, I'm going to start with you. You say, yes, Sheen has a case. But how good is his case?
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: You know, I do think he has a case. I will say I never litigated against a warlock.
But basically, it's really -- it depends on what his contract says. And I wish I had a copy of it. I think every legal expert in the country is digging for that. But it really depends on what the contract says.
Interesting for me is that I don't think there's a morals contract which basically means he can do or say whatever he wants, act whichever way he wants as long as he is ready, willing and able to go to work. And he has repeatedly said, "I'm ready to go to work." Now, if there's this thing called a non-disparagement clause, that means he can't talk about his bosses. He can't talk about the production.
I'm wondering if that's there because if you remember, CBS dealt with all of the nonsense until he said those things about his boss. Once he talked about Mr. Lorre, they yanked the show. So, I really, really wonder what that contract says. And if it doesn't have that non- disparagement clause, if it doesn't have that morals clause, I think he'll win.
LEMON: All right. So, then the question is, the millions of dollars -- you know, he's one of the highest paid in Hollywood. Is he going to get that for the episodes even if he doesn't work on the show again?
HOSTIN: If they've breach this contract, again, if there are no morals clause, if there's, you know, non-disparagement clause -- yes, I definitely think they have to pay him for the work lost. He's the highest paid television actor. My understanding is he gets paid up to $1.2 million per episode. If that's true, they have to pay him.
So, his threat is not an empty one, you know? He's a warlock, he's a winner.
LEMON: OK.
HOSTIN: It's possible that he could win that lawsuit.
LEMON: So, Alan, he's under contract to CBS for this. But can Charlie Sheen, you think, still find work in Hollywood?
HOSTIN: Oh, yes. I mean, he's hot. He's picked up 1.7 million Twitter followers just in a few days. So, this is just incredible. His popularity is branching out and I think we're much more aware of him than we were before. And so, I would think a lot of producers would like to work with Charlie Sheen. LEMON: All right. I want to move on now to another angle. Some people have criticized and say he's not gotten enough play in the whole controversy here and that's Sheen's history with violence against women. Piers Morgan asked him about it during their talk on Monday.
Listen to this.
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PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Charlie Sheen, there have been reports in the papers in the last two or three years hinting at violence by you towards -- one was towards your wife and one towards a porn star in a hotel. Were they true? Did the drugs make you violent? Do you regret what happened on those two incidents?
CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: No. Those are two incidents where the scoreboard doesn't lie. And that, you know, the Aspen thing was thrown out. The judge was like, get this guy out of my county, he brings too much press with him.
And then the police report in New York didn't reflect anything, and those are the guys that are going to report the facts. Their jobs are on the line. So I just offer people those.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Have you ever hit a woman?
SHEEN: I have not, no. No, women are not to be hit, they are to be hugged and caressed.
There was an incident, years ago and everybody thought I hit her. I was trying to contain her and I had her arms and we bought went to the ground and she -
MORGAN: Who was that?
SHEEN: Her initials are B.A. I'll give you that much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: So Sunny, was that accurate? Were the charges dropped in Colorado?
SUNNY HOSTIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: No, that isn't accurate. And we know that he pled guilty, at least that's what's been reported. I don't have the documents in my hands. But I don't think that's accurate. I do have a document in my hand, and that's the temporary restraining order that Brooke Mueller filed against him. And I will tell you, there's - on page eight, there's just a history outlined as she alleges his history of domestic violence towards her.
And it's repeated starting as early as 2009 and ending just recently in February of 2011. So when he says he doesn't touch women, I think that's just a lie. Winners don't touch women. Winners don't beat women. But I think there's significant evidence that he is a loser when it comes to that. LEMON: As we were listening to a portion of that interview on "Piers Morgan" about his statements, you were shaking your head. It's not accurate.
ALAN DUKE, HLN "Showbiz Tonight": No, in August, in fact, he entered a plea deal that called for jail time that was actually served during rehab. He went into a Malibu rehab center and that counted as his time served. So, no, that charge was not dropped in Aspen, Colorado.
LEMON: His publicist has dropped him. He's going on the air waves, so to speak, himself. Do you have any idea - have you ever seen anything like this in your years of covering Hollywood?
ALAN DUKE: No. This tops a lot of them. I have not seen anything quite like this.
LEMON: And Sunny, legally, have you ever seen anything like this?
HOSTIN: Well, unfortunately, I have, being a prosecutor. And I have seen a lot of violence against women. So unfortunately there is a lot of violence against women. And I think that Charlie Sheen is one of those perpetrators.
LEMON: All right. Sunny, Alan, thank you. Thank you. That's not the last word on Charlie Sheen. Just how fast did Sheen develop a Twitter following? Well, so fast it broke an official record. After joining Twitter Tuesday, he became the fastest person to reach one million followers on Twitter. Sheen reach that had milestone in just 25 hours and 17 minutes.
They are two of the most anticipated tablets this is year. The apple Ipad 2 and the Blackberry Playbook. Coming up, we'll show you how they compare.
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LEMON: Turning now to the troubled African nation of the Ivory Coast. We need to warn you the horrific scene that you're about to watch is bloody and it is disturbing. It begins with a peaceful demonstration last Thursday in the city of Abidjan. Women protesting against a man who won't give up the presidency despite losing last November's election. Then without warning, government security forces open fire killing at least seven people.
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LEMON: We warned you. It is horrific. Killing at least seven women. The Ivory Coast is on Africa's Atlantic Coast between Liberia and Ghana. It is slightly larger than the state of New Mexico with 21 million people. It's also the world's largest producer of cocoa, which is the raw material from which chocolate is made.
A major storm system is in the southeast right now. It has brought reports of a tornado 80 miles west of Baton Rouge and downpours on the Mardi Gras celebrations and at least one death of a mother.
Jacqui Jeras is here to tell us about this weather system and where it's heading and the damage it's leaving behind.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's just a bit of an incredible afternoon and evening and along the Gulf Coast. Really, particularly along I-10 and southern where we got pictures now of the damage. And this is in Rayne, Louisiana, which is in the central part of the state. The National Weather Service now confirming it was an EF2 tornado, estimated winds of 111 to 135 miles per hour, touched down early this morning, around 10:00 or so.
A mother was killed. 12 people were injured. At least 35 homes were damaged including downtown buildings and the local high school. The same parent cell also produced a tornado in nearby Crowley. Three people were injured there, but reportedly not seriously. The storm system continues to be on the move at this hour. And the tornado threat is still out there.
Here's the area we're concerned with across the panhandle of Florida and southern parts of Alabama. And I'm most concerned with this line right here. So it's right along the coastal areas where we could see some waterspouts spin up, possibly a tornado as well as some damaging winds with this. This is a very large, very extensive, very slow- moving system. And there's so much moisture in place with this. And all that rain and even, yes, snow now is moving all the way up into parts of Canada.
Now, the ground in the Ohio Valley, in particular, already very, very saturated. On top of that ground, basically everything is running off with this rainfall. So lots of flood watches and warnings remain in place. It's going to be a lousy weekend as this flooding continues. Be very cautious if you have to travel. Speaking of air travel too, by the way, things we think are going to rough across parts of the east then tomorrow as this storm system continues to make its way toward the Atlantic Coast. Don.
LEMON: All right. Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much.
We're going to check our top stories right now on CNN.
We start with the rebel forces inside Libya. They say they shot down a jet fighter today near the city of Ras Lanuf. They also claimed to have repelled pro-Gadhafi troops trying to re-take the city of Zawiya, near Tripoli. In neighboring Tunisia, U.S. military plans are now assisting people who have been stuck there after fleeing from Libya because of the on-going violence. More than 130 Egyptian refugees were today airlifted to Cairo aboard two U.S. cargo planes. Be sure to tune into our hour-long special on Libya, "The Uprising, "coming up at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has sent letters to the leaders of 13 state employee unions warning of possible layoffs. The dispute over the state budget has sparked weeks of protests. We're told filmmaker Michael Moore joined today's march. More than a dozen Senate Democrats have fled the state to prevent a budget vote.
Rescuers were not able to rescue a man who fell down an abandoned Nevada mine. Devon Westenskow was pronounced dead yesterday. He was severely injured Wednesday when he fell about 185 feet down the abandoned mine shaft. At one point, rescuers were able to lower a camera into the shaft where they spotted him breathing but he wasn't moving. Westenskow worked on a nearby oil rig.
Even though it hasn't come out yet, it looks like the Ipad 2 already has some competition. It will battle it out with the Blackberry Playbook for your money. Straight ahead, we'll show you how the playbook measures up to the Ipad.
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President Obama has warned of a Sputnik moment where the U.S. is in danger of being left behind in the sciences and technology fields. Our Fareed Zakaria introduces us to a successful tech company called Four Square known for science innovation and encouraging others to do the same.
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FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Four Square reportedly grew by 3,400 percent in 2010. Its founders are Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai.
What is Four Square?
DENNIS CROWLEY, CO-FOUNDER, FOUR SQUARE: So with Four Square, what we're trying to do is build applications for mobile phones that help make the world easier to explore for people. People use Four Square to check in at all sorts of places. You can open up Four Square pretty much anywhere you are in the world and it will give you tidbits of things you should be doing nearby. Check in at bars or coffee shops. Whenever they go out to eat or at parks. When they check in, we let their friends know where they can find them.
If I want to check in at Four Square headquarters, I can find Four Square on the list and broadcast it all out to my friends that I'm at Four Square headquarters with CNN.
ZAKARIA: So if you were to - if someone were to say to you, the president or the secretary of Treasury were to call you in and say, we need a lot more entrepreneurship in America, we need a lot more innovation, we need a particular on technology, what should we do to have lots more of this kind of thing, these kinds of companies?
NAVEEN SELVADURAI, CO-FOUNDER, FOUR SQUARE: We've actually been called for advice on similar things. I think a lot of it is - it's two parts. One is to educate students, youngsters about this path in life that you can go do something on your own. If you fail, you just start over again. Or if you fail, the steady job is waiting for you to pick you up and bring you back to where you could be.
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LEMON: America was once number one across the board in key areas like education, infrastructure, competitiveness and much more. But recently, we have fallen back in every category. So what's it going to take to get the U.S. back on top? Make sure you tune in tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern for the CNN special "Restoring the American Dream" with Fareed Zakaria.
The Ipad 2 is not even in stores yet. Speaking of innovation. And that will happen next Friday, earlier than thought. But there's already talk about what's coming out to compete with it. The buzz on the Ipad 2 reached a crescendo on Wednesday after a surprise appearance by CEO Steve Jobs introduced the new Ipad. Jobs said the 2, that's what he calls the Ipad 2, the 2 is faster, thinner, lighter than the first.
With all this Ipad mania, it makes you wonder, can anything even compete? So Nilay Patel is the managing editor of "In Gadget," a tech web magazine and he's holding a Playbook right now. Do you have the Playbook on what's going on? Is that it?
NILAY PATEL, "IN GADGET," MANAGING EDITOR: It's right here. Can you see it?
LEMON: Of all the tablets out there, why could the Playbook give the Ipad 2 a run for its money? I'm holding the Ipad, by the way.
PATEL: Oh, yes and I got one here too. So actually, the Playbook is a little bit smaller. So if you look at the Ipad. I'll bring this up. Here's an Ipad. And the playbook is just about half as big. So you know, it's smaller, it's a little bit more portable. And the thing about the Playbook is it integrates really well with your Blackberry. So there are a lot of Blackberry fanatics out there who are - they're really into their blackberries. They call them crack berries. They're really into what they can do with a Blackberry.
The Playbook when you get it, it's going to sync to your Blackberry over Bluetooth, it will pull down all your e-mail, pull down all of your calendars, all your contacts. Do it all automatically. It's also really small, as you saw. It's half the size of an Ipad. But it's powerful as well. So this one right now, you can see I've got it running, there's in gadget. It's playing a game. There's an earth simulator going on over there. If I take it over to media, I can open a video. And it will play a video right while it's doing all this other stuff.
LEMON: So you can multi-task on it -
PATEL: You can multi-task really well. As you can see right now, it's running a video. It runs flash in there.
LEMON: That's one of the drawbacks of the Ipad is that it doesn't have Flash. So what are the drawbacks of the Playbook?
PATEL: Well, the Ipad has, what, 65,000 apps on it? That's a lot. It's only going to get - that's only going to keep growing over time. Apple's done a really good job of courting developers to the Ipad. The new Ipad 2 looks pretty great. So R.I.M. and you know, the Blackberry brand, they've got to do a lot to bring developers to the platform and start competing with third-party apps and things like that. Now, there are some rumors the Playbook will eventually run Android apps as well. R.I.M. won't say whether or not that's true. I hope it's true. I think that would really help the Playbook, you know, start to compete right away with the Ipad. But the big question for the Playbook at launch is going to be, what's the app story for it?
LEMON: Yes, so let's get back to the initial question though, can the Playbook really compete with the Ipad?
PATEL: You know, I think it can. Apple is one of the few brands out there that really inspires passion from its users. I think if you ask Blackberry users how they feel about their phones, a lot of them are going to have that same sort of passion for the brand. You take that, you bring that to a tablet. The Playrook really addresses one of the big weaknesses of Blackberry phones which is that it doesn't have a good browser. So it's a lot more portable. It's just this big. If you have a really big purse or you know, a big pocket, you can actually just carry it with you all the time. And it addresses that sort of, you know, "my Blackberry doesn't have a good browser, kind of situation." It addresses sort of games and things like that.
Hopefully over time, R.I.M. is going to make the Blackberry a bit more powerful. But for right now, this is sort of the answer for Blackberry users who want to stay on DBM (ph), who wants to stay their e-mail on their phone and get some of these more powerful, portable computer.
LEMON: All right. Nilay Patel from "In Gadget," thank you.
PATEL: Yes. Thanks for having me.
LEMON: All right. A father and son reunite after nearly six decades. And get this, they found each other on Facebook. Their emotional reunion coming up.
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LEMON: We have this just in to CNN. It's involving crime ridden Juarez, Mexico. The mayor of that city making an admission for the very first time about the violence in his city, a city that's had more than 3,000 murders last year alone.
The president, our president met with the Mexican president earlier this week and they spoke about the violence happening in Mexico. We want to go now to CNN's national desk editor, Nick Valencia. He's on the border in El Paso and he joins us now by phone.
Nick, why is this admission so significant?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL DESK EDITOR (ON THE PHONE): Well, hi, Don, thank you for having me on. I - the questioning actually was very tough on our part. The mayor admitting to CNN camera that the city is at war. The city has lost many lives, many homes, 3,000, as you mentioned, over 3,000 last year. He was pressed about it. He mentioned - everybody wants crime to go down. People in Detroit, people in Chicago, people here and that's when he said this city is at war, this is a fight. And not only that he says we're winning that fight.
LEMON: Yes. What took him so the long to admit this? Was it because of pressure? Was he just worn down? Because he stood tough for a while saying - I don't know if he was ignoring the problem. But he wouldn't admit that they were at war.
VALENCIA: Well, to be clear and just to be upfront about it, we've been trying get hold of him, I've been trying to get a hold of him for about six months now since he stepped in office. Today, he was in a very public venue. He's taking a much different approach from the last mayor that the city had since he got in office in October. He's been holding social events in some of the poorest neighborhoods this year at Juarez.
Today he was in the southern Juarez in (INAUDIBLE) where 15 students last year, mostly innocent students were massacred. And he was out in a public venue and he apparently felt comfortable enough to go on camera and say this city is at war.
LEMON: As you have been spending time there, give us the mood of the people in that city. What is it like to walk around that city every day?
VALENCIA: Well, in El Paso - I'm in El Paso right now, Don, down on the border. There's not one person in El Paso that hasn't been affected in some way by the violence. Whether you call it spillover, whether you want to say it's indiscriminate violence here coming over to the United States. It's affecting the mindset and the psyche of folks that live in El Paso. I have spoken to many folks since I've been here this last week and all of them said that things have changed. You used to be able to come to El Paso and (INAUDIBLE) Juarez and they labeled it for tourism as the two-nation vacation. From El Paso across to Juarez, people just don't do that any more.
In fact, the "El Paso Times," the local paper estimates about 30,000 people have fled Ciudad Juarez for El Paso, Texas.
LEMON: Nick, can we talk about Marisol Valles Garcia.
VALENCIA: Marisol Valles Garcia.
LEMON: Yes. She's a police chief there in one of the most violent cities and there was some concern that she may have come to the U.S. because for fear for her safety. But it's been reported now that she's just on leave taking care of a sick child. This is a very real threat to authorities there, to police, to mayors and to people who are in public office.
VALENCIA: Well, as we talked about before, Don, you had me on before. As we've talked about, this is a reoccurring theme here. This is a phenomenon of women who are speaking out, taking up positions of power. They are being threatened. They are being - we don't know and we have yet to confirm. There's three versions of what Marisol is up to right now. One has her in Juarez, the other has her in El Paso. Another version even says that she's on sick leave because of her one- year-old baby who has bronchitis. But not to digress, this is a phenomenon. Activists have been killed. Female activists who have spoken out against the corruption in their cities. People are dying here. Innocent people are dying just for speaking out against the crime-ridden nature of what's happening in this area of the United States and the border and Mexico rather. I'm sorry.
LEMON: CNN's Nick Valencia in Mexico with a startling admission, just in to CNN from El Paso. Excuse me, with a startling admission from Juarez, Mexico mayor saying they're at war. For the first time, he's admitting this on camera to journalists. Thank you, Nick. Stay safe.
VALENCIA: Thank you.
LEMON: It was an emotional reunion 57 years in the making and it was all thanks to Facebook. Coming up, we'll take you to a reunion between a father and son who didn't and hadn't seen each other in almost six decades.
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LEMON: in (INAUDIBLE) Tennessee, a very emotional reunion. A father and son reunite after nearly six decades and it's all thanks to Facebook.
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ALVIN MILLER, JR., SON: Well, let me come over to you.
ALVIN MILLER, SR., FATHER: So hard to believe.
MILLER JR.: Yes. Too many years.
MILLER SR.: Too many years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Alvin Miller Sr. hadn't seen his son Alvin Miller, Jr. in 57 years. When Alvin Jr. was 6 years old he left the area with his mother while his father was still in the Navy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER JR.: I've always known somewhere I had the family. And in turn I just couldn't locate.
MILLER SR.: We waited a long time. Thank god we're back together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Alvin Jr. says he's been looking for his family since 1964 and at times only lived a few miles from them.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. Up next my special documentary looking back at the Rodney King beating and the events that divided the nation. It's called "RACE AND RAGE: THE BEATING OF RODNEY KING." It starts now.
