Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Six Dead in Netherlands Mall Shooting; Military Cracks Down in Cairo; Manhunt for Suspected Serial Killer; Synagogue Blast Suspect Identified; Flood Watch in Fargo; Director Sidney Lumet Dead; Marking 150th Anniversary of Civil War; Presidential Politics in South Carolina; Budget Deal Keeps Government Running

Aired April 09, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Fredricka Whitfield, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get you caught up on our top stories today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK (voice-over): Six people dead and nine wounded following a mall shooting in the Netherlands. Dutch police said a gunman opened fire killing five people before killing himself. Police are still on alert, possibly due to a letter the shooter may have left behind. Earlier today I talked with Dutch reporter, Henk Van Der Aa.

HENK VAN DER AA, REPORTER, ONE TODAY: It seems there has been a letter found in his apartment or in his car, but police do not want to confirm that piece of information.

But it seems weird that three hours after the shooting they have decided to block off and evacuate new centers, shopping centers in this town. So I think that points to the direction of him leaving the note saying he has also planted other bombing materials in different spots in this town. But that is rumor, it's not a fact. I have not that confirmed that yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: This is Cairo, machine gunfire in the middle of the night. Soldiers in armored vehicles are forcing protesters out of Tahrir Square where they're gathered and rallied for the past few days, again, demanding change. The military council has been running Egypt since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The protesters want Mubarak prosecuted.

And in the U.S., New York police are searching for what could be a modern day Jack the Ripper. They found bodies and remains of several ladies, prostitutes, were dumped along beaches of Long Island. The brutal slayings could be the work of a potential serial killer. The manhunt in search for more victims is expected to expand on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMISSIONER RICHARD DORMER, SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE DEPT.: We've recovered a total of eight human remains on the north side of Ocean Parkway between Oak Beach and the Nassau County line.

Well in California, police released a photo of the suspect in that Santa Monica synagogue bombing. He's described as a 61-year-old homeless man and he's believed to be extremely dangerous. Nobody was injured in Thursday's blast, but the police say the force of the explosion propelled a 30-pound pipe into the roof of a nearby house and shattered windows at the synagogue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Deja vu in Fargo. Flood preps are finished and the city along the Red River must watch and wait for the third year in a row. The Red River is expected to crest above flood stage, and this is the second sandbag effort in just over two weeks. The Red River is expected to crest sometime tonight or tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK (voice-over): And movie director Sydney Lumet is dead of lymphoma at the age of 86. In a career that spent half century, Lumet directed such classics as "12 Angry Men," "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon," "The Verdict" and "Network." His most recent film was "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" that was in 2007. Lumet died this morning at his home in Manhattan.

Visitors are already showing up in South Carolina for re-enactment of the war battles. The 150th re-enactment is Tuesday. They have planned their bombardment of Fort Sumter, a plan in the works for several years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: On the political front, a Republican convention in Greenville, South Carolina, today, drew three potential presidential candidates. Mississippi Governor Hailley Barbour, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum all addressed the convention. Santorum won the straw poll there with 31 percent of the vote. Gingrich came in second with 14 percent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: This is I think the most important election of our lifetime. This president has proven that he is so radical, so committed to a different America, so committed to a world that is, frankly, fundamentally alien to American tradition, that we need to go out to every American of every background and every neighborhood and ask a very simple question, do you want to be a citizen or a subject?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: The U.S. government is still in business today. Democrats and Republicans averting a shutdown with a last-minute budget deal late last night.

As part of the agreement President Obama signed a one-week stop gap funding bill. The House and Senate are expected to vote next week on the other part of the deal, an agreement on $38.5 billion in spending cuts that will keep the government running through September.

CNN's senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash joins me live. Dana, $38.5 billion, to you and I that sounds like an awful lot of money, but in fact it's just a drop in the bucket, right? Was it worth the political jockeying?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Who knows? I mean, we'll see at the end of the day because, you know, it was very, very intense, Deb. It was down to the wire negotiations last night with only about an hour and a half left before the clock struck midnight and major parts of the government going to shutdown.

A small group of negotiators from the White House and the Senate majority leaders and the House speakers' office shook hands and sealed the deal and that's what averted the shutdown. And they sent final word to the House speaker who already briefing his rank and file fellow Republicans about the parameters of the agreement.

Now the reason for all of the drama was because of differences over how much government spending to cut from the budget. At the end of the day, you mentioned it, the overall spending that they cut was $38.5 billion for the rest of the year. That's $20 billion less than Republicans had wanted, about $40 billion more than Democrats, where they had started so that's one thing.

Another interesting point is that there was a huge sticking point you remember, Deb, at the end, over so-called policy writers that Republicans were pushing for. The most divisive at the end of the day was a plan to eliminate all federal funding for women's health clinics like Planned Parenthood.

At the end, they agreed not to put that in the bill, but they did say that they would have a separate vote on that in the Senate, which opponents say that they're pretty confident that will fail.

And same goes for another non-starter for Democrats and that was defunding the health care law not in this bill, but there will be a separate vote in the Senate, Deb.

FEYERICK: Well, it seems the Republicans in a sense got what they wanted by separating the issues. Everybody was talking about policies. That Planned Parenthood was a sticking point, that president Obama's health care plan.

That is now separate and at least the Republicans get sort of the feeling that they can talk about it and vote on it, and discuss it, and they sort of separate it out from the money issues, right? Is that kind of a fair --

BASH: That's exactly right. That's fair. That's actually something I think Democrats would say this they won on, if you will, because they believe these are not going to pass. They were part of the larger bill, then they would have passed. But one interesting note, Deb, is that there were a couple of those provisions that are still in this bill, for example, here in D.C., this bill says that the D.C. government cannot use its own money, its own revenue, not federal revenue, but its own revenue to pay for at least help pay for low income women's abortions.

That was something that was allowed until or is allowed now, but it won't be when this goes through. But, you know, in terms of the politics of this, very, very interesting. You mentioned the beginning this is such a small, small percentage, less than 1 percent of the budget.

But it's the principle and the politics especially for Republicans who say that they were elected to cut spending so every penny counted for them and that's why they're fighting until the end to get every penny.

FEYERICK: Sure and absolutely. And you can bring it to the bank that both sides are going to be using this as an example during elections as to --

BASH: Yes.

FEYERICK: Why they emerged victorious. Dana bash, always great to talk to you. We'll check in a little later. Thank you so much.

We're now going to go to senior White House correspondent Ed Henry for more on this budget deal - Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If you needed any further evidence that the federal government is open, that's the chainsaw you hear behind me, they're cutting down a tree on the north lawn of the White House.\

These federal workers would not be working doing essentially yard work at the president's house on a Saturday if the federal government was closed. Dramatically it stayed open.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY (voice-over): We're told by White House officials, the president was officially notified about 10:30 p.m. late Friday night, just 90 minutes before the midnight deadline for shutting down the government.

That in fact a deal had been reached about $38.5 billion in spending cuts including a compromise for both parties. Also some of those controversial provisions stripped out so that they could move forward on this, but they don't have a complete deal just yet so they had to do sort of a bridge, a bit of funding known as a continuing resolution.

Keep the government open for one more week while they complete this deal. Interesting, because White House officials are very aggressive about now saying the president was working the phones intently on Friday in the final hours, repeatedly calling Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and calling House Speaker John Boehner four times on Friday to get this across the finish line.

Perhaps to counter that image, that narrative that had been out there that the president was taking too long to get his hands dirty, to get more involved in this budget process. White House aides dismissing all of that saying they were saving him for the end when his involvement would matter the most.

And when the president addressed the American people, he made clear there was not a victory for him. He was trying to say this was a victory for both sides and the country.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We protected the investments we need to win the future. At the same time, we also made sure that at the end of the day, this was a debate about spending cuts.

Not social issues like women's health and the protection of our air and water. These are important issues that deserve discussion, just not during a debate about our budget.

HENRY: Interesting a spokesman for the Tea Party told CNN that he was not very impressed by this compromise figure of $38.5 billion in spending cuts. That while both parties are touting this as the largest spending cut in American history, the fact of the matter is, it's in the words of the Tea Party trivial compared to the larger federal budget.

In fact that cut represents far less than 1 percent of the entire federal budget. It gives you an idea of just how much work yet needs to be done, because there are some big, big ticket items involving trillions, not billions of dollars but trillions, like Medicare, Medicaid, some of the big drivers of the U.S. federal debt right now.

Still have to be dealt with down the road as lawmakers work soon on the 2012 budget and try and figure all of these out so maybe there is a little bit of good news out of this compromise that both sides can work together. But this is a tiny, tiny step compared to the big battles they have ahead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

FEYERICK: Thanks, Ed. Certainly a small step for everybody. Well, with the government shutdown averted, President Obama ventured to the Lincoln Memorial this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK (voice-over): Take a look at this new video. It shows him in the crowd, shaking some hands, getting his picture taken, as he welcomed visitors saying the monument is open because of everyone's efforts made last night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Heavy gunfire and military crackdown in Cairo. We'll tell you why, we're live from Egypt in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, bullets flew overnight in Egypt's capitol and soldiers forced crowds of demonstrators to scramble from Tahrir Square. A new strong and public protest movement is sending Egyptians into the streets again. They want more change.

CNN's Ivan Watson is live in Cairo and Ivan, what's fascinating. This is very different from the sort of love that the protesters and the Egyptian military had for one another back in January. What's happening? Why the tension now?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right. It's very different out there. What you have is probably a turning point where that youth protest movement that helped drive a dictator, President Hosni Mubarak out of office appears to be in direct confrontation with the Egyptian military, which took over after Mubarak stepped down on February 11th.

This taking place after the Egyptian military launched a pre-dawn raid to break up a sit-in that was taking place last night in Tahrir Square, the landmark square over my shoulder. Amateur video shows that soldiers came in, en force, accompanied by a hail of gunfire, probably firing up into the air and also accompanied by armored personnel carriers.

Eyewitnesses saw a number of bruised and bleeding demonstrators fleeing the scene. The Egyptian military says part of its goal was to capture several uniformed officers and soldiers who had joined the protesters in the square, in the sit-in, demanding that the former President Hosni Mubarak be brought before a criminal court on charges of corruption. He's been living on the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh on his estate ever since he dropped out of power.

And the protesters accusing the military that is running this country of protecting him so definitely it has ratcheted up tensions between the people and the military. There were a number of burned out vehicles on the scene there this morning. A lot of spent bullet casings littering the ground and demonstrators claiming they had been beaten and tortured.

Listen to what very worried bystander had to say about the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Are you worried right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am much worried about it. Even yourself, how can you see, everything stopped, no activity, nothing at all. This is no good for our stability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Deborah, let me bring you up to date here. Now the situation unfolding is the demonstrators have once again retaken Tahrir Square in the distance here. They have set up barricades once again for the first time really since last February.

The military, we just came from a military press conference, is swearing that it will go in to clean that area out later tonight. Deborah --

FEYERICK: Ivan, just very quickly, the protesters want the top guy, the defense minister, the military guy to basically stand down. They think he's just Mubarak all over again. Is this a little coup? Has the revolution stalled?

WATSON: This is another interesting development, that not only do they want Mubarak to face a court for alleged corruption, but they also want his former defense minister who basically is the chairman of the ruling military council here, the military government, many of them demanding that he step down, including some of those officers who joined the protesters and that put the military here in a difficult position.

How can the military have its own soldiers protesting against it and demanding the generals resign? That really messes up the chain of command and perhaps forced the military to take some measurements that are now being widely criticized here in Egypt.

FEYERICK: Well, Ivan Watson, CNN's eyes on the ground there in Cairo, thanks so much. We'll check in with you later on. Great work as always. Thanks so much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK (voice-over): Well, it's going to be a long night for people who live along the Red River. The mayor of one town is telling homeowners to check their sandbag dikes every hour on the hour, day and night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, it's going to be a long 24 hours for people living along the Red River. Let's bring in meteorologist Karen Maginnis.

Karen, the river is threatening to flood yet again.

KAREN MAGINNIS, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is and overnight and into Sunday, it looks like it could continue to rise, and then we think it will have reached its crest, but a little further downstream, we think by Wednesday, that's at Grand Forks.

We've got some preparations to show you taking place in Fargo. You may remember the river crest in 1997. They've had a lot of snowfall. With the snow melt and the additional rainfall they're anticipating, we could see severe flooding, already major flooding reported and those people are keeping a wary eye on the Red River.

The Red River is one of those rivers that flows to the north essentially it separates the border between North Dakota and Minnesota. Fargo is right about here. Grand Forks is right about here so to be in Grand Forks right about the middle of the work week into Wednesday, before we see the crests there.

Now, the preeminent crest was back in 1997 and in 2009. We're expecting it to come within maybe a foot or maybe two feet but nonetheless a lot of the farm areas here are going to be affected.

Another thing that we're watching for today is the potential for severe weather that's breaking out through the Tennessee and Ohio River Valley. These cluster of thunderstorms making its way very rapidly towards the east at about 50 miles an hour.

There is a tornado watch as well as a number of tornado warnings out for portions of southwestern Virginia and Kentucky, and severe thunderstorms that could rattle South Carolina over the next 24 hours or so as well.

This is the area that we are watching in this purple shaded area, that's where we have the potential for tornadic activity. It is primarily across the Midwest over the next 24 hours that we could see the potential for tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds -- Deborah.

FEYERICK: Thank so much, Karen, we'll check in with you later on. Appreciate it.

Well, one of the most prestigious tournaments in golf is celebrating its 75th anniversary this week, the Masters features a familiar two- some, Ben Crenshaw and long time Augusta National caddie, Carl Jackson who has been walking that course for 50 years. Jackson was just 14 years old when he was caddieing at the Masters.

Earlier, our CNN's T.J. Holmes spoke with Jackson about his work and long time partnership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL JACKSON: I hope it's for my integrity and my character, and second of call, I worked hard and we had bonded. And hopefully again I've proven myself dependable, not to say that other guys was not, but I'm just, with Ben, we just liked and loved one another from the beginning.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: For some of our viewers, a lot of them are familiar with golf and play golf, but, you know a caddie is not just toting around a bag full /of golf clubs out there.

Tell me what makes you good? Certainly you know Augusta National probably like nobody's business, but what else is it that makes a caddie out there so good?

JACKSON: Well, I mean the guys, before they go out today, they're getting their yards books ready, checking their notes and doing their wind maps. And then they're probably going to think about, you know, the right things to say to their golfer, you know, when they get into the situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: A legend. American companies getting rich from Libya, and Moammar Gadhafi. CNN investigates on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Now our top stories. President Obama today signed legislation that will keep the government operating for another week. That was part of the deal reached last night, cutting $38.5 billion from this year's federal budget.

The other part of the deal was a longer term agreement, funding the government through September. The House and Senate are expected to vote on that part of the deal next week.

A Republican convention in Greenville, South Carolina, today, drew three potential presidential candidates. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum all addressed the convention. Santorum won a straw poll with 31 percent of the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), FORMER PENNSYLVANIA SENATOR: There's something fundamentally wrong with what's going on in Washington, D.C., and it's not just a matter of degree. It's not just a matter of sort of more of the same. It's something different than what we've ever experienced.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: In West Texas, firefighters haven't been able to gain control of a massive fire. It's an aggressive wildfire that's already consumed more than 60,000 acres, covering three counties. It's still on the move. The fire east of Lubbock already burned two houses and threatened several more.

California police have identified a suspect in a synagogue attack. He's 61-year-old Ron Hirsch. He's homeless and said to be extremely dangerous. Nobody was injured in Thursday's explosion. The rabbi describes what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RABBI ELI LEVITANSKY, CHABAD HOUSE: There wasn't any sort of panic. When the police department, the fire department came, we realized it was something more serious and we evacuated the building, continued the services on the street.

FEYERICK (voice-over): The force of the blast shattered the synagogue's windows and propelled a 30-pound pipe into the roof of a nearby house.

New York police are hunting for a possible serial killer. They found the bodies and remains of eight women, prostitutes, each dumped along beaches on Long Island. K-9 units and dive teams are searching for more victims. All women advertised their services online. The investigation is expected to expand on Monday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And two huge pumps are headed to Japan to help engineers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. A Russian cargo plane is flying them there. The pumps can channel massive amounts of water into the reactors to help keep them from overheating. Each pump is fully assembled, ready to start working. The new death toll in Japan is nearing 13,000 people.

A mall shooting in the Netherlands leaves six people dead, nine other wounded. Dutch police say a gunman opened fire, killing five people, before killing himself. Police belief the gunman acted alone.

And these pictures ran on Libyan state-run TV today. They show Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi visiting a school in Tripoli where students were seen cheering with pro-Gadhafi slogan. Today's date can be seen written on several boards inside the school.

And, long before the uprising against Gadhafi, before the U.S. and NATO bombings, there was money to be made from the Libyan regime. CNN's Brian Todd reports on the U.S. firms that profited from Moammar Gadhafi's money.

BRIAN TODD, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Every day there are accounts from Libya of the viciousness and the brutality of this man. But, before this war, Moammar Gadhafi had renounced terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and had really improved his image with the West, thanks in part to lobbying, consulting, and law firms in the U.S. who made millions off him.

One of them is the Livingston group, which works out of this building. It is headed by former Republican Congressman, Bob Livingston. Federal records show the firm made about $2.5 million over less than two years, setting up meetings with congressmen and looking after Libya's interests in Washington. A Livingston aide said he wouldn't go on camera with us but both the aide and Livingston, himself, have acknowledged the firm's work with Libya.

Livingston and his aides say the firm stopped working for Libya's government in 2009 to protest the release of the accused Lockerbie bomber from a Scottish prison. Another firm, called the Monitor Group, made several million dollars with its dealings with Libya. According to documents posted online by a Libyan opposition group, the Monitor Group charged the Libyan government $250,000 a month between 2006 and 2008. In return, according to the documents, the firm sent academics from Harvard and elsewhere to meet with Moammar Gadhafi.

Some of them wrote positive articles about the Libyan leader. They advised Gadhafi 's son, Seif, on the thesis for his Ph.D. The Monitor Group offered to produce a glowing biography of Moammar Gadhafi for nearly $3 million, which the firm now calls a mistake. The group even proposed helping Gadhafi set up his own national security council. Did The Monitor Group skirt U.S. law in its dealings with Libya? The documents say one person who went to Libya for The Monitor Group, former U.S. Defense official, Richard Perle, briefed Vice President Dick Cheney after returning.

Contacted by CNN, Perle wouldn't go on camera but denied ever briefing Cheney. We couldn't get comment from Cheney's office. Paul Blumenthal of the nonpartisan watchdog group, The Sunlight Foundation, says if Perle briefed Cheney, that part of The Monitor Group's work in Libya could be illegal because it's not a registered lobbying firm.

What did The Monitor Group do that was deceptive in your opinion?

PAUL BLUMENTHAL, THE SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION: Well, The Monitor Group, despite not being a traditional lobbying organization, really should have registered under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, which has a much broader definition of who is a lobbyist and who should register than the traditional lobbying law. And, in this case, they were working to bring intellectuals to Libya who had foreign policy ties in America to elites, whether it was Dick Cheney or people in The State Department, The Defense Department, and they really wanted these intellectuals to be able to influence policy on Libya.

TODD: We spoke with Eamonn Kelly, a partner with The Monitor Group, who is leading an internal investigation into the firm's dealings with Libya.

What do you say to the critics who say you not only made a lot of money off a brutal dictator but you did indirect lobbying for him and you should have registered and didn't do that.

EAMONN KELLY, THE MONITOR GROUP: First of all, we were working in Libya at a very different time in history. The international community at the time that we were undertaking that work believed, as did we, that there was an important possibility that serious and significant reform could take place and we believed we could support that. We were not working for Gadhafi . We were working for Libya. If we discover that there was anything inappropriate that we did we will take all appropriate measures to remedy it.

TODD: Plenty of others made millions off Gadhafi. Randa Fahmy Hudome's lobbying firm got more than a million dollars a year for three years to push for Libya to be taken off America's list of terrorist sponsors. It was all registered and above board.

The critics say you knew about his history, you knew about the chance that he couldn't maybe never change and you made a deal with the devil.

RANDA FAHMY HUDOME, LOBBYIST: I didn't make the deal with the devil. The Bush administration made the deal with the devil. I didn't do that agreement. The Bush administration did it. I only implemented that policy.

TODD: Hudome says her contract with Libya wasn't about money. It was about U.S. national security, working with Libya to renounce terrorism, keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of a dictator. She says if Moammar Gadhafi had those weapons now he'd be using them on his own people. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington. FEYERICK: And, getting kids off the streets, out of gangs, and preparing for the future. One woman tackles the South side of Chicago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, too many times crime and gang violence overwhelm Chicago's South Side. When one mom worried that her own daughter might get into trouble, she opened her front door and actually invited gang members inside her home. Now, those gang members call her Miss Diane. We call her this weeks' CNN Hero.

(VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE LATIKER, CNN HERO: Guns, guns, and more guns. These are our young people. These stones represent them. We're losing a generation to violence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody's scared to come out. They get shot at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, they start shooting, you got to grab the kids and run in the house.

LATIKER: People go in the house and close their doors. They don't want to talk about it. But there's some people who are not scared to go outside and I'm one of them. My name is Diane Latiker We opened the community center called Kids Off the Block. We're known as KOB. They are kids that are in gangs, they're homeless, some of them are drug dealers, so they got a lot of issues going on.

Who signed up in Youth Ready Chicago? I tell kids this is a peace place, this is a safe place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really want to be a veterinarian.

LATIKER: We have leadership workshops, GED preparation, music. It's a range of things that goes on in here. We started out with ten young people and the next thing I knew I had 15, then I had 25. At one point I had 75 young people in three rooms of my house and that's how Kids Off The Block started in my living room.

We opened the doors to the new KOB Center in July. Last year we served 301 young people. If they knock on that door, they can come in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was 12 when I got in a gang. Robbing people, stealing. I mean, Diane, she's done changed my life. I love her for that.

LATIKER: I'm no different from nobody else. I just opened my door. Why can't you all come outside and see what's going on in our neighborhood? There are people here who care and I'm one of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: Well, Diane Latiker joins me now with more on her valiant struggle to make her community safe. Diane, what's so fascinating is you were able to see the humanity in these kids and not just the label gang member. Were you frightened in the beginning? You were taking a huge risk. It took a lot of courage.

LATIKER: Yes. And I'm still fighting but it's because it's a passion. I believe in my heart that once we start caring about somebody else that I just overwhelms you and once you see those people that you're trying to help change and do the right thing and become successful there's nothing like it to me.

FEYERICK: Were you worried that some of these kids would take advantage of you, of your home, of the - the kindness that you were offering them?

LATIKER: Of course I was and I worry about all those things but does that negate what I want to do and how I -- I want to help them? No. There's risk in everything that you do but to be able to do something that you love and you're passionate about and then you see those results, no. I believe in my heart that we can do better and that we will do better.

FEYERICK: Now, you've set up a mentoring program for these young people. How are they - do you see them sort of leaving the gang culture and going in a different direction?

LATIKER: Yes. Every day. Every day I see young people who go to college for the first time. They're the first ones in their family who go to college because somebody cared. I see young people go back to high school who thought that they couldn't make it in high school. I've seen young people change their attitude, their life towards their families. I see all of that every day. To me it's worth it.

FEYERICK: Do you think that people need to change the way they see these young people, that, in fact, given a chance, maybe, given another direction that these - these young people will stand up and surprise folks.

LATIKER: They have and they will. I've seen young people who -- who other people have said, the adults say, they're not worth it. When they're over 15 they say it's a lost cause. Well, I've proved a lot of people wrong and I'm not the only one. There are other people around this country who are doing the same thing but it doesn't get publicized. Only the negative gets publicized but it's a lot of young people who have changed their lives and given back to their communities.

FEYERICK: And do you feel safer and what about your daughter? You did this for your daughter. Do you feel your community is better off right now?

LATIKER: I know it is. I know it is. I - I - I don't hear as much gunfire as I used to. I - I don't see as many fights as I used to. I see young people coming in droves to a place where they feel is help. They call my house the House of Hope. It - it - spreads because one teenager tells another teenager and that's how it spreads through the community and I -- yes, I see the results every day.

FEYERICK: Well, Diane Latiker, you are absolutely making a difference and, certainly, the community has a lot to thank you for. Thank you so much for joining us here on CNN. We truly appreciate it.

LATIKER: Thank you.

FEYERICK: Well, next month CNN examines the crisis in the public education system and why America's financial future is at risk. Soledad O'Brien reports Don't Fail Me, Education in America, Sunday, May 15th, here, only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, revolution in Tunesia. The President of Egypt steps down. Civil war in Libya. What about Yemen and Syria and the Gulf States. Good question. We're watching but these historic events have one thing in common, driven and powered by people fed up with their governments. That's why we, here, asked Ralitsa Vassileva to join me from CNN International and, Ralitsa, you better believe that leaders in other countries are watching this very, very closely, China especially. They - dissent among the people is not something they want.

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR, CNN INTERNATIONAL: No, not at all and there have been online calls for a so called Jasmine revolution inspired by what is happening in the Middle East, a youth- driven revolution. Very few people have shown up for that but the Chinese authorities have been very nervous about it. First of all, they've stopped access - they've blocked access to any website that has the word jasmine, the word revolution, Egypt. And, also, in the past several weeks they have started a crackdown, increased a crackdown on dissidents, including last weekend they arrested one of their most prominent artists. He is the one who helped design the Nest Egg Stadium.

FEYERICK: Sure. Sure.

VASSILEVA: At the Olympics.

FEYERICK: For the Beijing Olympics.

VASSILEVA: For the Beijing Olympics and he - he has been an outspoken critic of the government and up until now he was able to use his celebrity and popularity as protection. But, it seems like his luck has worn out because he was detained at the Hong Kong Airport last weekend and now authorities are saying that they are investigating him for economic crimes. They don't say what these crimes are. So, obviously, the message, analysts say, they're trying to send is we are going to go after even the popular, you know, the well-heeled. So, that is the message. Watch out.

FEYERICK: And it - it - it's so fascinating because the Beijing Olympics was an opportunity for China to show they were coming into sort of a modern age, they were more open to things and now they've arrested the very person who designed what is such an iconic symbol, that Beijing - that - that bird's nest. Has anybody - has -- has he been heard from since his arrest?

VASSILEVA: No. He hasn't been heard from and it took four days for authorities to even acknowledge where he was. His family, his wife, didn't know where he was but they expected something like this to happen because in the - in the week preceding this they came, they searched his place, they looked at his computers, they took some stuff away. So, his wife says he had this feeling that something would happen and, indeed, as he was - he was at the airport trying to catch a flight to Hong Kong ...

FEYERICK: Right.

VASSILEVA: ... he was detained and for four days the authorities didn't say anything until they came out and said yes, he's been detained for economic - he's been detained on economic - suspicion of economic crimes.

FEYERICK: It's so interesting that a seismic revolution in one part of the world could have ramifications in another, clearly get everybody going. Nigeria. Because elections are going on there and that is a big story right now.

VASSILEVA: Absolutely. It is the most populous nation in Africa and also the biggest oil producer in Africa. Very important nation and what has been interesting is authorities there are really trying hard this time to have better organized elections, fairer, less violence. There has been violence. There have been reports, sporadic, of fraud but these elections are going better than last year and it's very interesting - I talked to a guy who is possibly Nigeria's most famous Twitter activist.

For the first time in these elections he is organizing people who have internet access and cell phones to go around and just monitor the elections, just at a grass roots level and Tweet what they are seeing. And, it - it's just been an incredible phenomenon in a nation that doesn't have that many internet users.

However, the movers and shakers, the journalists, they are the ones who have Twitter, who have internet access and I talked to him a little bit earlier about how he came up with this idea and what he hopes to achieve. Let's listen.

(VIDEO CLIP)

AMARA NWANKPA, TWITTER ACTIVIST IN NIGERIA: Yes, I mean, the - the - (INAUDIBLE) has been very inspiring, watching that on television, on CNN, Al Jazeera, for instance, and it - it actually gives, you know, a lot of the young Nigerians are beginning to look at this and say, you know, we can - we can be more outspoken. We can take our destiny in our hands and, you know, we can - we can bring change.

But, we hope to get a lot more young people positively involved in government in Nigeria. We hope that they would see it as something that they can participate in, that they can contribute to, that's something that's , you know, of interest to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VASSILEVA: And, he says he's got 30,000 followers so far.

FEYERICK: That's very impressive, very impressive. Well, our own Ralitsa Vassileva and, obviously, you can always see her on CNN International whenever you're traveling. Great work. Thank you so much.

VASSILEVA: Thank you Deb.

FEYERICK: Well, a mother testifies she was protecting her autistic child from more pain. Prosecutors say uh-uh, that her actions actually killed him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: A Massachusetts mom could face up to 40 years in prison. She is accused of deliberately withholding cancer treatment from her autistic son. He died two years ago. Doctors say his cancer was in remission and he was in the final phase of treatments. Victoria Block with CNN affiliate WHDH has that story.

(VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN LABRIE: He was very, very sick.

VICTORIA BLOCK, CORRESPONDENT, CNN AFFILIATE WHDH: Kristen LaBrie, voice cracking, tells jurors why she didn't give her son, Jeremy, the cancer drugs she was supposed to give him.

LABRIE: I was afraid and I did not want to have to make him get any more sick, any sicker, and I thought that he would die.

BLOCK: The defense hoping jurors see a sympathetic caring mom instead of a woman charged with attempted murder for withholding cancer treatment from her autistic son.

LABRIE: I thought that he would die with me at home.

BLOCK: But the State presented a very different picture of LaBrie, a woman who, at times, appeared sarcastic and combative.

LABRIE: I'm not going to make something up. I don't remember.

BLOCK: The prosecution needled her about her Myspace page on which she called herself Beautiful Disaster and ripped into her ex-husband.

LABRIE: I was home with Jeremy sick and I was venting on a blog.

BLOCK: The State also hammering away at the list of drugs LaBrie allegedly told hospital staff she had been giving her sick son.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that wasn't true, was it, any of it?

LABRIE: It was not. BLOCK: But, at the end of the day, LaBrie's mother said she felt her daughter was going to be ok and that jurors would finally know the truth.

SIMONE COBB, MOTHER: She was an excellent mother to that little boy and did everything in her power to take care of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Testimony in LaBrie's trial is expected to resume next week. And, take a look at this. Crack this code and you could help the FBI solve a murder.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Code breaking is featured in a lot of famous movie thrillers, think The Da Vinci Code or National Treasure. But, at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, there is a small band of people whose real life job is unlocking encrypted communications. Right now, they're stumped, an old murder investigation and they're asking for your help. CNN's Jeanne Meserve has that story.

(VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MESERVE, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: In 1999 in this field near St. Louis police found the body of Ricky McCormick, unemployed, 41 years old. Authorities think he was murdered but why? By whom? Two pages of encrypted notes written by McCormick and found in his pocket could hold key clues but 12 years after they were found, no one has broken the code. Could it just be jibberish?

DAN OLSON, CHIEF FBI CRYPTANALYSIS: I don't think so. We have patterns. We have very consistent character repeating sequences. There are almost rules to whatever language this is. This is not random.

And then, what, G, Q?

MESERVE: Dan Olson's team at the FBI Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit has sliced and diced, theorized and analyzed but still hasn't found the key. They have unlocked lots of other messages relating to murder and other illegal activity.

OLSON: Well, these are codes that are made by humans and they're best broken by humans.

MESERVE: Their biggest triumph - cracking a code created by Brian Regan, convicted of attempted espionage.

OLSON: This message, literally, contains the locations of seven different drop sites in Patapsco State Park in Maryland where Brian hid the most sensitive and the most secret documents that he had stolen.

MESERVE: In the end, a gag photo in Regan's middle school yearbook was the key to decoding the sequence of numbers. What's the most important skill for someone in your line of work?

OLSON: Tenacity. High self esteem. You can't get discouraged. You also have to know when to let it go.

MESERVE: And that's where they are with the McCormick messages. Stumped. So, the FBI is asking the public for help. In a week and a half 2,000 e-mails and 365 letters have provided theories and leads but, as yet, no key to the mystery of Ricky McCormick's death so very long ago. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Quantico, Virginia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Think you can solve this mystery? Well, the FBI has set up a website where you can see the original note and code for yourself. Go to the website. It is forms.fbi.gov/code, all of that in lower case.