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Libyan Woman Alleges Rap by Gadhafi Militia Members; Battle Continues in Libya; More Unrest in Syria; Bad Weather Across Much of U.S.; Geraldine Ferraro Dies; Non-Whites Wanted in California City
Aired March 26, 2011 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A woman shocks journalists by storming into a Libyan hotel claiming abduction and rape at the hands of Moammar Gadhafi's henchmen. Security man handles her before whisking her away. It's all caught on tape.
Plus, out of control on the streets of central London as demonstrations against new spending cuts turn violent. CNN is there among the window smashing and the vandalism.
And it's snowing and flooding on the west coast. Moving quickly to the Midwest. Plus tornado warnings in the south. Chances are there's bad weather where you are now or it will be soon. Our Severe Weather center is tracking it for you.
Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon. The CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
And we begin in Libya with a most disturbing story and the video that goes with it. We have to warn you. It's of a hysterical woman bursting into a hotel filled with journalists. She is screaming, a horrifying story, accusing 15 members of Moammar Gadhafi militia of raping and beating her over of two days. Right away, Libyan security forces move to shut her up, all the while dragging her away to an uncertain faith. They smashed cameras including ours trying to destroy all the evidence. But we do have the video of it and we want to play it for you as it played out without talking over it, and then we'll hear from CNN's Nic Robertson who is staying at the very hotel and he'll explain the story behind all of this drama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(WOMAN YELLING)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Where are you taking her to?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Where are you going with her?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Where are you taking her?
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: All right. It is very ominous to see that woman shoved in the car and driven away like that. She says her name is Eman al-Obaidi. And our Nic Robertson joins us now to explain, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the lady came into the hotel this morning. She was screaming, she was a middle-aged woman, seemed fairly respectable, and she tried to tell journalists her story. She said she had been taken by government gunmen at a checkpoint east of the city, detained against her will for two days. She had been bound, she had been beaten and she said, raped. And the injuries that we could see about her, the rope burns on her wrists, her ankles, the bruises on her thighs, bruises on her face seemed to corroborate what she was telling. She barely began to tell her story and government officials jumped in here in the hotel, one of them even branding a pistol. Jumped in, pulled her away from the journalists, man handled her away.
Jumped then on the journalists, beating, kicking, and punching them. Even taking CNN's camera away. It didn't just get broken in the scuffle, CNN's camera was taken away, systematically smashed by a government official in the corner of the restaurant here in the hotel. Our video taken away. The woman, later officials put a bag over her head as they tried to take her away and she was led away from the hotel kicking and screaming. What this was, and as far as we could see, the government here leads us around the city, takes us to things that they want to see, stage manages the situation, always portraying and showing government supporters. This was the first time someone had been brave enough to try and come on camera and speak against Gadhafi's regime here.
And what we saw was something that we never normally witness here. We see government officials responding to that negative talk about the regime by literally man handling and moving this woman away and beating the journalists and taking their video and smashing their equipment. This is a side of the government that we don't normally see, but this is a side of the government opposition figures talk about a lot. This brutality by the regime of the people that are opposed to the regime. This was a firsthand account for us to witness that here in the hotel. Nic Robertson, CNN, Tripoli, Libya.
LEMON: All right, Nic, thank you very much.
A Libyan government spokesperson says Eman al-Obaidi is, quote, "safe, doing well and being held at the national investigation headquarters." She's supposedly being offered legal aid. Investigators are treating her case as a criminal matter. A spokesmen says, four or five men will be investigated and the government may let journalists see her in just a few days. Of course, we'll going to continue to follow this. And as we have said, this happened in full view of a group of journalists.
Borzou Daragahi is the Beirut bureau chief for the "Los Angeles Times" and witnessed the incident and joins us now by phone. Borzou, Libyan government claims that Eman al-Obaidi is in safe hands right now. But do you think we'll ever see her again? BORZOU DARAGAHI, BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": You know, it's hard to tell. We were told actually a couple of times that we would have a chance to see her, that there would an invitation to go and see her, especially if she agrees to this. And at this point, you know, I think it would be very easy for the government to say, sorry, guys, she doesn't want to see you anymore, she needs her privacy. After all, she's allegedly been raped. And, you know, basically the show is over, folks.
LEMON: Borzou, I want you to listen to and I want our viewers to listen and look at a little bit of the drama again as it played out because you see other people being roughed up as well. Roll it and then we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(WOMAN YELLING)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. So, Borzou, you see them throwing the bag over her head, you see the scuffle there. We also saw the cameras, many people's cameras destroyed. Were you roughed up during this?
DARAGAHI: I was not roughed up. I was in the middle of that. And if you look at one piece of the footage, I mean I sort of played a little bit of a key role in -- there was a journalist from a newspaper who was one of the people who was interviewing her. When there was a moment of quiet at the beginning of this whole episode, when people actually trying to get her story. He had recorded this on his cell phone. And they were trying to get this cell phone. At one point, this cell phone dropped to the ground. And at this point, we didn't know that this story would be playing out in the rest of the world within the few hours. So, I took that cell phone and I handed it to a very, very safe person that I very much trusted and explained to them what it was and said to make sure that it gets back to this journalist at the appropriate time.
LEMON: Were people there Borzou trying to help this woman?
DARAGAHI: Absolutely. I mean really we just wanted to get her story. And that was one of the things that we immediately, when we saw what was happening, when we saw that this woman was coming to us, taking this big chance, everyone ran to get their notebooks, to get their cameras, to basically just record what this woman was saying to try to figure out whether there was any veracity to it. Whether, you know, she was, you know, as some people complained from the government, she was drunk, she was crazy or whether something really horrible had happened, which was what we sensed. And we wanted to make sure above all that nothing would happen to this woman, no punishment would befall this woman for daring to speak out to us.
LEMON: OK. Thank you so much. And again, we're going to continue to follow the story. The video Borzou is definitely very disturbing. Borzou Daragahi is a Beirut bureau chief for the "Los Angeles Times." And Eman al-Obaidi is, of course, just one of the millions of Libyans caught up in this conflict. Libyan rebels has seized control of the key eastern city of Ajdabiya. Gadhafi's forces retreated after days of intense fighting. The Libyan foreign ministry says, coalition airstrikes were the main factor. Ajdabiya is a gateway to Libya's enormous oil fields. The situation is very different to the west, we're talking about Misrata. Reuters is reporting French warplanes destroyed five Libyan military planes and two helicopters at the air base there.
This after Gadhafi' has started shelling the city once again. As according to a doctor, Misrata's main hospital. Rebels are trying to push back, but they only have light weapons to use. President Barack Obama is defending American involvement in Libya. He's faced criticism from those who think he should have consulted Congress first and defined the mission better, in his weekly address, the president said, the U.S. should not intervene every time there is a world crisis, but this is not a moment to stand idly by.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: When someone like Gadhafi threatens a blood bath that can destabilize an entire region, and when the international community is prepared to come together to save many thousands of lives, then it's in our national interest to act, and it's our responsibility. This is one of those times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The president will address the nation about Libya Monday night and CNN will bring it to you live with coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday night.
We have seen protests in the streets and nations seeking democracy, and today marching and shouting in a country where democracy already exists. Why Brits are up in arms over parliament's plans to cut spending. We're live in London for you.
And as we standoff with an interesting ending. Why the suspected cop killer demanded local news stations carry his surrender live, and they did it.
You have a voice on this show. Join us on our social media sites. Check us out at Twitter, Facebook and at Foursquare.com. Of course our blog, cnn.com/don.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The unrest in the Mideast has spread to Syria and in a big way, that is a coastal city of Latakia, the latest place where street protests have been met by gunfire. Today's march began peacefully but what happened next is in dispute here. A witness stays a security forces opened fire. A government spokesman blames his shootings on an unidentified group of gunmen. It is not clear how many people were wounded. Today's violence follows yesterday shooting in Daraa in the southern part of the country. Dozens of people have been killed in protests in that city this week, and funerals for protesters have sparked new demonstrations.
Earlier, CNN spoke with a doctor who witnessed yesterday's violence in Daraa. He asked us not to reveal his identity to protect his safety. He described what he saw yesterday when security forces confronted unarmed protesters. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The protesters, they had no weapons whatsoever. They're just screaming, "We need our freedom, we need democracy." And the peoples attacking them, it's the security forces definitely, the snipers they brought from Damascus, and official forces to protect the president and his family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A U.N. high commissioner for refugees said yesterday that at least 37 people, including two children, have been killed in Daraa where he said authorities have used live ammunition and tear gas against protesters.
Syria, Yemen and Libya, the latest countries in turmoil. Tomorrow night, CNN looks at how events unfolded, what the future holds for different nations and what it means to the U.S. and the rest of the world. Watch uprising, region in revolt, tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Tens of thousands protesting in the center of a city. Sound familiar? But this time, the rally isn't in the middle east, it is in London. And the reason isn't to unseat a leader, but to protest government spending cuts. There was scattered violence and about a dozen people were arrested.
CNN's Nima Elbagir is in London now. And Nima, I understand organizers claim nearly half a million people took part in these demonstrations. What prompted this huge turnout?
NIMA ELBAGIR, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's an anger that has been reverberating throughout British society that will find resonance both in the United States and across much of the western world. This sense that the taxpayers are paying twice, that they pay to bail out the banks and the major financial institutions that many here believe are responsible for this economic crisis and now they're being asked to bear the brunt for austerity measures that are going to cut the deficit. There's also a huge concern that the ruling coalition, the conservative, democrat coalition is trying to push these cuts it through too fast and too deep, Don.
That they're trying to get this done within a four-year window, which many skeptics are saying is the exact window that will give them a year to make nice with the electorate before the electorate returns to the polls and hopefully, the people will have forgotten what happened to them. But I mean these cuts are cutting its way throughout British society. Estimates are that a third of all charities will be lost because of the public sector spending cuts and that tens of thousands of the poorest of families will lose six percent of their income. So you can understand why this has been such an emotional and angry day here in London, Don.
LEMON: Nima, I have to ask you this, what sparked the violence? We can...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELBAGIR: Five hundred people were involved in incidents of violence. That's not what today was about. What would you say to that?
MAGGIE BRIMNER, PROTESTER: Well, that shows you a temperature change of just how much people feels and just how much people are angry. This really is just a temperature test. This needs to be listened to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELBAGIR: Well, you know, there have been calls to target specific organizations, specific corporations that are accused of tax avoidance, because today's march was called the march for the alternative and that really is an alternative to these public sector cuts. Many people are saying that tax avoidance loopholes should be closed and the money should be coming from the banks that are now seeing huge bonuses to their employees who, you know, allegedly caused this economic downturn. And, you know, and so these banks were themselves targeted today -- Don.
LEMON: Right. It's sad that it had to turn violent. Thank you, Nima Elbagir joining us from London, we appreciate it.
Back here in the United States, a dramatic surrender last night on live television to tell you about. A group of people emerged with their hands up from an apartment building in Athens, Georgia. Police say, all but one were actually hostages of this man, fugitive Jamie Hood. He had been the subject of an intense manhunt, the shooting death of a police officer on Tuesday. At least one of the hostages appeared to be friends with Hood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I'm just glad it ended the way it ended.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Jamie didn't do no harm to all of us and I just want to say, free Jamie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He agreed to surrender but only on live television because he was afraid police would shoot him.
Some sad news to tell you about now. The trail-blazing U.S. political leader, Geraldine Ferraro, has died. She was the first female vice presidential candidate from a major U.S. political party. She ran as democratic Walter Mondale's running mate in 1984. She was also elected to Congress three times from New York. Mondale and Ferraro lost to Ronald Reagan and George Bush in a landslide, but Ferraro's place in history was secure. Her family says, she died of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer she had battled for 12 years. Geraldine Ferraro, dead at the age of 75.
Other news to report when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Of course, Japan is still in the news. And in Japan, growing concern that high levels of radiation now contaminate the environment around the badly damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. Japanese safety officials say, ocean water 1,000 feet from the facility shows radiation levels more than 1200 times higher than normal. Plant workers right now are pumping fresh water into three of the reactors to flush out sea water and salt. The plant's operators, Tokyo Electric Power, apologized for the contamination of three workers with dangerous levels of radiation. And a spokesman said the hazard could have been avoided if the contaminated water had been tested days earlier when it was first discovered.
Much more on the disaster in Japan, including the severe economic impact of the quake and tsunami is coming up tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Make sure you stay tuned.
In a culture known for its hard-core work ethic, many in Japan now find themselves with no place to live, no job to go to, and even sadder, many loved ones to mourn. There are about 250,000 people living in shelters now. The absence of regularity adds to a crushing burden, the country now faces after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
Human behavior expert Dr. Wendy Walsh, she is here to tell us about the toll this inactivity can take. Dr. Wendy, thanks for joining us. Our reporters tell us that some people in shelters are volunteering to clean up and care for the elderly, but overall this inability to do work and to do what they're used to doing may have serious impact over time, right?
DR. WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: It can have serious impact because they really need to keep busy and get back to routine. You know, I heard that children were headed back to school, even if the schools were demolished. They try to put them on some set schedule very, very important to stay regulated by having those routines and schedules. Those are great article in the "The New York Times," this morning talking about how dentists whose entire offices have been destroyed are going to the refugee centers and giving free dental. They are, you know, people are cleaning, they are helping organize, they are creating, you know, the Japanese are known for their meticulous organization, so they are spending their energy making these relief centers as organized as possible, even bringing in hot tubs, which is very important for Japanese culture.
LEMON: Yes. And Dr. Wendy, on to other big quotable stories, especially when talking about the revolt in the Middle East right now. And Bahrain is experiencing protests and demonstrations' against the government. And in response government, forces destroy the Pearl Monument which is to Bahrain, what Tahrir Square is to Egypt. We kind of effect does destroying this landmark have, Wendy? WALSH: Well, I think it's really interesting psychologically because the Pearl, the monument is the Pearl, meant to talk about the six Gulf States and how their early economy long before oil was based on pearls. So it showed inclusion with those six states. Well, by destroying it, is the government telling the people we don't want you revolting like all these other states. Now, remember, the monument had become someone of a tent village, a carnival atmosphere for people who are beginning to protest, so they wanted to just totally wipe that away. Of course, the government is saying that they destroyed the pearl just to make traffic better, it was disrupting traffic.
LEMON: Yes. And we're looking at before and after pictures, very disturbing. On to Libya now. Four "New York Times" journalists were freed Dr. Wendy after being kidnapped for a week. Their captors beat and bound them and on Tuesday, the four wrote about how they made it through. And you say, the fact that they kept together was a major factor here.
WALSH: A major factor. When terrorists practice terrorism, the first thing they want to do is separate people. So one of the things that helped them keep their sanity, if you will during this was always the words everybody hear, because they were blindfolded, remember, for almost all of this time. So knowing that they were together and being kept together gave them some hope. Also there was some humor. In the last four days, they were kept in a cell and the only thing they could read was Shakespeare. So once they read as much Shakespeare as they could, they joked about whether they should begin acting them out.
LEMON: OK. So, let's talk about religion and taking religion a different direction, Wendy. A new statistical study from the American physical society is forecasting that in nine industrial nations, religion is dying out. For example, right now in the Netherlands, 40 percent say they have no religious affiliation. And by 2050, these researchers say more than 70 percent will follow no organized religion. Why do you think there is this trend to not practice a faith in these modern societies?
WALSH: And in the Czech Republic, it's already more than 60 percent. First of all, Don, we want to make a big distinction between following a religious organization and having faith in something greater than we are. So traditional religions tend to fall away as people become more educated and Science looks at some of the supernatural things in the writings and teachings of religion and says, oh, well, Science can disprove that. But doesn't mean that Science has all the answers for everything. In fact, we're talking about survivors a while ago. Most studies on survivors show that the atheists die first because if you don't believe in something supernatural, how can you imagine that you yourself have supernatural abilities enough to survive. So faith in something is definitely not going away any time soon, but some traditional religions look at most of the news we're talking about. It's religions fighting religions. And that's not good.
LEMON: Many people believe in higher power but not necessarily organized religion. Thank you, Dr. Wendy, appreciate it.
WALSH: Thanks, Don. Nice to see you. LEMON: A distraught Libyan woman bursts into a Tripoli hotel with a harrowing story to tell you about. It was our top story here on CNN. Security forces drag her away and they try to destroy the evidence. But we've got the video and we're going to show it to you.
Plus this, tornado warnings and watches across the southeastern U.S. right now. And if you live elsewhere, you're likely to have bad weather too, so stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Let's check your top stories right now on CNN.
A Libyan woman bursts into a Tripoli hotel where journalists are staying and claimed that 15 members of Moammar Gadhafi's militia raped and beat her over a two-day period. Security moved quickly to shut her up, dragging her away to an uncertain fate. They roughed up journalists, smashing cameras, including one of our own. The Libyan government claims the woman is being held safely right now.
Meanwhile, Libyan rebels have seized the key eastern city of Ajdabiya. Gadhafi's forces retreated after days of intense fighting. The Libyan foreign ministry says coalition air strikes were the main factor.
A different story to the west in Mesrata. Reuters is reporting French warplanes destroyed five Libyan military planes and two helicopters at the air base there. This after Gadhafi's tanks started shelling the city once again. That's according to a doctor at Mesrata's main hospital. Rebels are trying to push back but they only have light weapons to work with.
And there's more Mideast unrest to tell you about. Syria's coastal city of Latakia is the latest site of deadly protests in that country. Witnesses say security forces opened fire today on unarmed protesters. But a government spokesman blames the shootings on unidentified group of gunmen. At least several people were wounded. CNN has not been granted access to report from Libya.
100,000 people were expected, but organizers say more than double that showed up in London to protest spending cut proposals in the country. 125 people were arrested and several dozen were hurt when police moved in. The demonstration was set up by the Trades Union Congress.
Tornado warnings and watches across parts of the southeast this afternoon, and where did spring go is a good question. A snowstorm is bearing down on the Midwest.
And our Meteorologist Karen MaGinnis is here to tell us all about it.
Karen, as we were talking, as I was reading the top stories, was that a roar of thunder outside the building here?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It certainly was. It looks like, for the rest of the evening across the southeast, we are going to look at the atmosphere that is just ripe for the explosion of some of these thunderstorms. Lots of tornado warnings and several tornado watches have been issued. Wait until you see this red box across a good portion of Alabama into western and southwestern Georgia. That one was issued, set to expire at 9:00 local time.
This other one, you don't see a lot of activity, but that's because the atmosphere is just getting warmed up there. When I say warmed up, I literally mean warmed up. Just to give you an example, for Atlanta, temperatures in the 50s. In Macon, temperatures have been in the 70s. So a sharp temperature contrast, we've got sharp wind contrast. Dew point temperatures are all over the place. So this is going to the area that's sort of the bull's-eye as far as the volatile weather is concerned. And, yes, there you see it, where you see these orange shaded areas, severe thunderstorm warnings. Where you see this purple shaded area, near Macon, that's where we have the potential for tornadic activity.
But this isn't the only area. We've also seen a lot of volatility over in Alabama, but mostly what we've seen have been hail reports, large hail in some instances.
Don mentioned the snowfall. We go out to the Sierra Nevada. For California, for some of those higher peaks, they have seen already two feet of snowfall. Some of the wind gusts along those higher crests could gust up to 90 miles an hour. And it looks like this is going to be a good snow melt year for Californians. And they'll have a little bit longer snow season, ski season, that is.
Back to you, Don.
LEMON: Try to put something positive in there with all of this.
MAGINNIS: There you go.
LEMON: Karen MaGinnis, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
We'll be getting back to Karen. Bad weather across much of the country.
You've seen them in most cities, cheap motels, housing families struggling to stay one step ahead of homelessness. Well, when a chef in Anaheim, California, learned just how many motel kids often go hungry, he began serving up a solution one plate at a time. This week's "CNN Hero is Bruno Serato.
(CNN HERO)
LEMON: And Bruno has served more than 270,000 dinners over the past six years.
Remember, all of this year's "CNN Heroes" are chosen from people you tell us about. To nominate someone you know is making a big difference in your community, go to CNNheroes.com.
And speaking of political icons, we want to talk about that. We're going to tell you about former President Ronald Reagan. He said that he didn't know that he had been shot. Tonight, we take you inside the assassination attempt 30 years ago against the nation's 40th president. Details you've never heard before, straight ahead here on CNN.
And now, speaking of political icons, before we go to break, a trail blazing U.S. political leader has died. Geraldine Ferraro was the first female vice presidential candidate from a major U.S. political party. She ran as a Democrat with Walter Mondale as a running mate in 1984. Ferraro was also elected to Congress three times from New York. Her family says she died of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer she had battled for 12 years. Her life story is resonating online as well, with some 3,000 comments already posted on CNN.com in her remembrance. Geraldine Ferraro, 75 years old.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: "I didn't know I was shot," Ronald Reagan said, after surviving an assassination attempt 30 years ago this month. Walking out of a hotel, he thought the pops he heard were fire crackers. Not until his clothes were stripped away on a hospital gurney did doctors find the wound beneath his left armpit.
Correspondent Drew Griffin narrates the sudden events of that fateful afternoon in this excerpt from the documentary "Stalker, The Reagan Shooting." It airs tonight on CNN at 8:00 p.m. eastern.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I heard a noise when we came out of the hotel, and was headed for the limousine, and I heard some noise and I thought it was firecrackers.
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.
REAGAN: One of the Secret Service agents behind me just seized me here by the waist and plunged me head first into the limo.
JERRY PARR, SECRET SERVICE AGENT: As we go in, I go in on top of him. I'm sure I hit my radio or my gun or something hit him in the back.
REAGAN: And I said, Jerry, get off, I think you've broken a rib of mine. And he got off very quickly.
PARR: Inside the limo, our check whether Reagan was all right.
REAGAN: I didn't know I was shot.
PARR: So I ran my hands up under his coat, felt all around his belt with my hands.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Feeling for blood?
PARR: Looking for blood. I took my hands out, no blood. Ran my hands up under his arms, no blood.
REAGAN: Just then I coughed, and I had a handful of bright, red, frothy blood.
PARR: He took out a napkin out of his pocket. He took it out and he spit up on it and there was a lot of blood. It got on my London Fog rain coat. And he said," I think I've cut the inside of my mouth." I said, "Let me look." And it was pretty profuse, bubbly, bright red.
REAGAN: So I said I guess the broken rib has pierced the lung. He simply turned and said, George Washington Hospital, and we were on our way.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): When the president's limo pulled up to the nearest hospital that day, Reagan wanted to walk inside.
PARR: He hitched his pants up and walked out.
GRIFFIN: This is a magazine artist's sketch of what happened next.
PARR: He walked in about 18 to 20 feet and collapsed.
REAGAN: A nurse met me and I told her I was having a little trouble breathing and what I thought it was. The next thing I knew then, my knees began to turn to rubber and I wound up on a gurney and --
PARR: And I thought, when he was lying there on the gurney, I did think we had lost him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: He came within inches of killing a president, so is John Hinckley still dangerous? Our Drew Griffin exposes what you don't know about the man who tried four times to kill President Ronald Reagan. CNN presents "Stalker, The Reagan Shooting" tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern only here on CNN.
"The Situation Room" is straight ahead.
Wolf Blitzer, what do you have for us?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: Don, thanks very much.
Lots coming up in "The Situation Room." We'll check in with our reporters, Arwa Damon, Nic Robertson. We'll also go to Cairo, Ivan Watson, on what's going on in Egypt right now, after Mubarak.
Plus, General George Joulwan, the former NATO supreme allied commander, and Nick Kristof of "The New York Times."
Lots happening right here in "The Situation Room" at the top of the hour.
Don, back to you.
LEMON: We'll be watching. Thank you, Wolf.
A former homerun slugger goes to court. That's just one of the cases I'll talk about with our legal analyst, Sunny Hostin, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's talk law and justice now. Sunny Hostin is in New York for us. She's a contributor to "In Session" on our sister network, TruTV.
Hi, Sunny. Let's start with a terrible case.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL ANALYST, IN SESSION: Hi, Don.
LEMON: It's from New York where a social worker there and his supervisor, this week, were charged in connection with the death of an abused 4-year-old girl. The child died last year. The mom was charged with murder back in November. Why are these social workers being charged now?
HOSTIN: Well, I will say it's the first time in New York City's history that a social worker is charged with the death of a 4-year- old, of a child that the social worker was responsible for.
They were charged because the government is alleging and suggesting that they did not do their job. The social worker in question, his name is Damon Adams, he apparently only visited this child perhaps once. Some records show, Don, that he called one time and attempted to visit, and that after the child's death, input further entries into the system, indicating that he actually did have contact with the family.
His supervisor, her name is Shareese Bell. She was also charged with criminally negligent homicide for failing to supervise him.
And I will say although this is novel, it's a very interesting indictment because they're charging them with criminally negligent homicide. That means that they should have known that there was a risk of death and they just ignored it. Isn't that what we want? Don't we want social workers to be responsible? Don't we want them to be effective? After all, they are charged with protecting our children.
LEMON: So you said this is a first, though. What is the concern? Is there a concern about a legal precedent here?
HOSTIN: Well, there is a concern. I mean, there has been all of this outrage all over the country. They're saying there's going to be a chilling effect on being able to recruit people into the social working field.
But the bottom line is it's a very, very difficult field to be in. Yes, it's low-paying but it's so very important. Again, they are there to protect our children. And if they can't do that, they need to be held responsible.
I think really that this is something that we're going to see, Don, more and more and more.
LEMON: And we're talking about state agencies, agencies which often don't have a lot of money here, Sunny.
Let's move on now.
HOSTIN: That's right.
LEMON: We want to talk about former baseball slugger, Barry Bonds. He's facing federal charges in San Francisco. He's accused of lying to a grand jury about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. Sunny, what is the government trying to prove here?
HOSTIN: They are trying to prove perjury. They're trying to prove that he lied to the grand jury in 2003 when he said he never took steroids. That's what's so interesting about this case, Don. He wasn't charged with criminal activity. In fact, he was given immunity when he testified in front of the grand jury, except not immunity for perjury. When I was a federal prosecutor, I always warned people before I took them into the grand jury and before I put them on the witness stand, if you lie to a federal prosecutor or a grand jury, you could be in prison for five years for each time that you lie. He faces up to 30 years in prison for this. So they need only prove that he lied to the grand jury.
LEMON: Hey, let's move on now and I want to talk about religious beliefs here. Everyone has a right to his or her religious beliefs, but let's go to Chicago, because we're talking about a Muslim teacher on the job for nine months. She asked for three weeks off to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, Sunny. The request was denied, she claimed discrimination. The Obama Justice Department has intervened, suing the school district for violating her civil rights.
HOSTIN: That's right.
LEMON: Everyone has a right, as I said, to religious beliefs. But 19 days off for a teacher, isn't that a lot, especially when you get the summer off?
HOSTIN: Well, it is significant. However, under federal law, your religious beliefs are certainly protected. And an employer has to reasonably accommodate those beliefs, unless it's an undue hardship. She was a middle school lab instructor. And this the only the only time for the next nine years that she was going to be able to travel to Mecca to perform the hajj, which, under the Muslim religion, each Muslim is supposed to do it at least once in their lifetime. So certainly 19 days, a long time.
But what the school has to prove is that it was such an undue hardship that they couldn't give her the 19 days off. There has been such a debate over this in the legal community. They are saying it's the Obama administration's campaign to reach out to Muslims, that the legal case does not have teeth. I have looked at this case and I think it does have teeth. I certainly think this employer should have or at least could have reasonably accommodated this woman. And so I think, again, this is sort of a case of first impression because of the length of time. As you mentioned, 19 days. Courts have upheld ten days. I think we'll see this going to court because it will set that precedent. What does an employer have to do? How far does an employer have to go to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs? Very, very interesting case. Again, even though there is hot debate, I think the lawsuit does have some teeth here.
LEMON: Sunny Hostin, thank you, as always.
One of the whitest places in America wants to get more diversity into its local demographics. Where it is and what they're doing to attract people of color, coming up on CNN.
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LEMON: Let's check out some of the stories our affiliates across the country are covering.
In Marin County, California, nonwhites are wanted. A wealthy county, a superb of San Francisco, contains seven of the 10 whitest communities in the country. That's according to the latest Census data. And our affiliate, WKPX, reports, now Marin County plans to build more apartments and affordable housing and better enforced anti- discrimination housing laws. This is in response to federal housing authorities who accuse the county of failing to comply with the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Remember this "FOX Sports" video when a whopper storm hit in December? The weight of snow caused holes in the inflatable roof of the Metrodome in Minneapolis. As spring approaches, repairs have just begun. Over the next four months, crews will work ten-hour shifts six days a week to get the roof fixed. It will cost $18.5 million, plus a bonus if the work is done by August 1.
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LEMON: And then there were eight. The elite 8, that is, in the NCAA tournament last night. The game between the perennial powerhouses, Ohio State and Kentucky, came down to the last shot. Ohio State missed it and, with it, a shot at the national title. There it is right there. Kentucky won in an upset, 62-60. The Buckeyes were ranked number one in the nation.
Also joining that select group, Kansas. Richmond's Cinderella story ended abruptly last night when the Jayhawks knocked the Spiders out of the NCAA tournament final. Kansas 77, Richmond 57. Kansas plays Virginia Commonwealth for a chance to go to the final four.
A major victory for Libyan rebels in a key eastern city, but a bloody battle raging for the west as rebels try to push back Gadhafi's tanks.
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LEMON: Several big developments to tell you about in the past few hours from Libya. A Libyan woman burst into a Tripoli hotel where journalists are staying and claimed 15 members of Moammar Gadhafi's militia raped and beat her over a two-day period. Security moved quickly to drag her away to an uncertain fate. They roughed up journalists, smashing cameras, including one of our own. The Libyan government claims she's being held safely right now.
Meantime, Libyan rebels have seized the key eastern city of Ajdabiya. Gadhafi's forces retreated after days of intense fighting. The Libyan foreign ministry says coalition air strikes were the main factor.
A different story to the west to tell you about. In Mesrata, Reuters is reporting French warplanes destroyed five Libyan military planes and two helicopters at the air base there. This, after Gadhafi's tanks started shelling the city once again, according to a doctor at Mesrata's main hospital. Rebels are trying to push back, but they have only light weapons.
I'm Don Lemon at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Thanks for joining us.
One hour from now, "The Disaster in Japan," from the devastation and death to the severe economic impact of the quake and tsunami. That's at 7:00 p.m. eastern.
In the meantime, "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer begins now.
