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Moody's May Review U.S. Rating; Yemeni PM, Officials Wounded; Seven Republicans to Join Debate; Edwards Indictment Expected Today; 2012 GOP Contenders Talk Faith; "Education Makeover" Helps 9th Grader; Mavs Come Back to Beat Heat; NHL Player Picks up Hitchhiking Bono"
Aired June 03, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I wish we could say we look forward to it but it's going to be an unpleasant conversation but a needed one.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Ali.
It's 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out West. I'm Carol Costello sitting in for Kyra Phillips.
Good morning to you.
At any time, an indictment may be announced against former vice presidential nominee John Edwards. A source with knowledge of the investigation telling CNN that barring any last-minute plea deal, an indictment will come down.
As you may recall a grand jury has been investigating whether Edwards used campaign money to cover up an extramarital affair.
Three people in the United States are hospitalized with a deadly new strain of E. coli that has Europe on edge. All three had recently visited Germany. The same strain has killed at least 16 people in Europe.
And just minutes ago, we learned that Jack Kevorkian, the so-called doctor of death, has died. The Michigan pathologist openly assisted terminally ill patients to commit suicide and fueled a national debate on the issue.
This morning a sobering new measure of the economy and more evidence that the recovery is losing steam. Just minutes ago we learned the economy added just 54,000 jobs in May.
That's just awful. And it's a breathtaking drop from the month before when 232,000 jobs were created. And as with all things business, the numbers tell only part of the story.
Ali Velshi in New York with a closer look.
Hi, Ali. ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I'm an optimistic guy. I usually try and find the good part of things. I'm poring this report to try and bring you optimism. And I'll tell you what the optimism is.
We created jobs instead of losing them. More jobs are created in the private sector than in the government. These are two good things. That's about all that's good about this. Fifty-four thousand jobs.
Let me just give you some context.
For the last three months, in each month, we have created more than 220,000 jobs. For the last six months, on average, we've created more than 100,000 jobs. Now 54,000.
Another problem, the number of people long-term unemployed, unemployed for more than 27 weeks, more than six months, has increased by 361,000.
That's tough, Carol, because the longer you are unemployed, the harder it is to get back into the workforce.
Why does that matter if you have a job? Because all of these unemployed people, all of these long-term unemployed people, some of them get government assistance. They are not buying things to create demand and create more jobs. They are not paying taxes. We are creating a bad situation for our economic recovery to have this many unemployed people.
So bottom line, Carol, is -- it is -- I'm glad we created jobs as opposed to losing jobs. It is not enough. It is much less than even the most pessimistic experts were expecting, 150 or 175,000 jobs to be created. Fifty-four thousand jobs is the net number.
Unfortunately I have been digging through. There isn't much good about this.
COSTELLO: Yes, it's ironic that the president is on his way to Ohio to tout job creation and the auto industry bailout.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: On another economic front. There is news that -- actually it sounds pretty ominous. Moody's says it might downgrade the United States' AAA credit rating?
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: So what does that mean? Tell us about it.
VELSHI: Well, remember several weeks ago, S&P said that if the U.S. doesn't get its debt under control, it may, in time, down grade the U.S.'s stellar credit rating. And that had more to do with a message to Washington, to say you guys have to get your stuff together because it looks like you cannot negotiate and compromise enough to get a deal. Now Moody's, another major credit organization, is saying something a little bit different. They are not talking about the long-term negotiations to get the debt under control, they're saying the inability of Washington to get the debt ceiling raised, this cat and mouse game that goes to the last minute, it may go all the way to August when we run out of the ability to pay our bills. That alone might be enough to lower the United States credit rating.
Two pieces of analysis for you on this, Carol. First of all, they're probably right. People should not be playing with fire on this debt ceiling. Those people who say that they're not going to raise it without corresponding cuts are playing with fire. And the cost could be disastrous to the economy.
The second thing, Moody's, S&P and the other credit rating agencies were very late to the game in warning anybody of anything during the financial crisis in 2007. So it's questionable about whether anybody should actually be listening to what they say. They're probably not wrong but they don't have a lot of credibility these days.
COSTELLO: It's so frustrating.
VELSHI: Just calling them as I see them.
COSTELLO: OK.
VELSHI: Yes. It is.
COSTELLO: And we like that about you. Thank you, Ali.
A criminal indictment should be coming any minute for John Edwards. The Justice Department is about to make its move in Raleigh, North Carolina.
CNN's Joe Johns is in Raleigh.
So, Joe, what can you tell us?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.
Well, as we have been saying all morning, an indictment of John Edwards is expected barring any last-minute developments. And that is an important caveat.
We do know that there's been a little bit of back and forth discussion on this issue as to whether John Edwards would prefer to plea presumably to a felony, which prosecutors would be pushing for, versus fighting it out in court. And that's obviously a big question for him.
We've been told that John Edwards wants to start a public service law firm. You know he was a very good trial lawyer back in the day before he became a senator, before he became vice presidential candidate, and would like to return to that. But it would be very hard for him to do that, at least in the short-term if he ended up pleading guilty to a felony. Of course, the question, this is when we talked about frankly for years, two years, while this investigation has been going on, is whether money that was given to John Edwards can be construed as a political donation to influence the 2008 election when he was running for vice president or whether it was a gift to try to cover up the fact from his wife that he'd been having an affair and had a child with Rielle Hunter -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Such an ugly story.
Joe Johns, you'll keep us posted, I know, and we'll push this story forward in a few minutes with CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. We're going to ask about Edwards' high-powered lawyer and what kind of defense he'll mount.
Also, this morning, we're keeping a close eye on the violent revolt in Yemen. Witnesses tell CNN that rebel fighters are firing missiles on the presidential palace. Battles are raging and international concern is growing.
CNN's Max Foster is in our London bureau.
Tell us more, Max.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, obviously, Carol, it's a very difficult story to cover because it's a very, very violent place right now. But we do know there are two hot spots in the country, Sana'a and Taiz.
And in Sana'a you have the presidential palace and tribal fighters managed to get a hit there. They managed to throw some missiles in and we've just learned that Yemen's prime minister and six other senior government officials were injured in that shelling on Friday. That's according to a government spokesman speaking to CNN.
Talk now of all-out civil war. Let's have a look at the newspapers. The "Independent" here in the UK. This is their headline, "U.S. envoy embarks on mission to halt Yemen sliding into civil war. Since becoming convinced that Mr. Saleh -- that's the president -- cannot deliver promised reform, Washington has dropped its support of the embattled leader and is now trying to ensure a peaceful transition that will prevent terror groups from thriving."
Let's also take a look at "The Tribune." The "Trib" here in -- around the world. "Fighting threatens Yemen's main airport." The United States and Yemen's Arab neighbors like Saudi Arabia have tried and failed to mediate a peaceful solution to country's political crisis. And are reduced to sit on the sidelines and pleading for restraint.
And Carol, that's certainly the case today. Lots of reports coming in that major street battles. We're going to try to keep you updated, of course.
COSTELLO: Yes. Absolutely. Max Foster, live in London. Thank you.
The gang is all here, or it will be in New Hampshire on June 13th. CNN is hosting a debate. And seven -- count them, seven Republican presidential wannabes will be in the hot seat. Among them, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, and Michele Bachmann.
Yes, Congresswoman Bachmann who has not even made her run official yet.
Let's head to D.C. and Paul Steinhauser who is at the Faith and Freedom Conference.
I know you're going to talk about that in a minute. But first, the debate. I just wondered since Bachman is in, does that mean she's running?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I guess it's a pretty good hint, Carol, wouldn't you say?
Listen, Michele Bachmann, congresswoman from Minnesota, she hasn't even formed a presidential exploratory committee. I was talking to one of her aides this morning. Nothing has changed.
Yes, this is a pretty good hint if Bachmann is coming to our debate, I think that's a strong hint.
You want another one? Guess what? She also said the other day that she's going to go to Waterloo, Iowa. Iowa was where she was born. That's the town where she was born. She'll make an announcement, she says, about her presidential ambitions later this month.
That's another pretty good hint.
Let's take a look at that lineup, though. You just mentioned our debate. Yes, a week from Monday. And take a look at who we're going to have. As you said, seven candidates, let's start with Mitt Romney. He just announced officially yesterday. The former Massachusetts governor. Remember he ran last time for the White House on the Republican side.
Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker running for the White House. He will be at our debate . Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, also a declared candidate. Same with Ron Paul, the congressman from Texas. This is his third attempt at winning the White House.
Bachmann will be there. We just talked about her. Rick Santorum, he makes it official next week. He's the former senator from Pennsylvania. And Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather's Pizza and a radio talk show host.
They will all be there at our debate -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It should be fascinating.
OK, let's talk about the Faith and Freedom Conference and -- there are a couple of no-shows there.
STEINHAUSER: Yes. COSTELLO: Evangelical Christians are really hosting this event and they're kind of picking which candidate they will support. But there are two important no-shows at this event. Who are they?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, I think the biggest important no-show would be Newt Gingrich, who's coming to our debate. He is sending a video to this -- he'll be here by video. But he said the scheduling kept him from here, of course.
You know maybe Gingrich would have a problem with -- he's been married three times. And that could be troublesome to some social conservatives.
Sarah Palin also not here at this event but seems to be beloved by many social conservatives.
And Carol, listen, they are so influential, so influential in the race for the White House in picking the Republican nominee. You want more proof? Take a look at this. Our most recent CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll, look at that. The Republicans we questioned, look at that, just about half of them say that they are either born-again or evangelical. So yes, they are very influential.
Also influential is the man speaking right now, Ralph Reed. You remember him from the 1990s. He was the wonder kid who turned the Christian coalition into a powerhouse in the Republican side after controversies a few years back. He is now back with his Faith and Freedom Conference. This coalition.
It seems to become -- this is the second annual conference. It seems they're going to be a major player on the social conservative side -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK. We're going to be talking a lot about this throughout the day.
Paul Steinhauser, many thanks.
We'll have your next political update in one hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.
We're watching events unfold in North Carolina. A criminal indictment could come any minute now for John Edwards. The former presidential candidate is accused of supporting his mistress with campaign money.
The case goes to trial, the whole sordid affair could be replayed in court. We'll talk more about this with our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.
Also a deadly shooting rampage in Arizona. Police say the shooter was 73 years old. Details ahead from Yuma.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: This could be a milestone day in John Edwards' long scandalous fall from grace.
The two-year investigation to money paid to his mistress could bring criminal charges any minute now. Edwards' powerful lawyer, Greg Craig, is in Raleigh right now meeting with prosecutors. Craig was President Obama's first White House counsel. He's a powerful guy.
Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is here to weigh in.
Hi, Jeffrey.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: How are you doing, Carol?
COSTELLO: Pretty good.
This is -- this is so hard to talk about because so many aspects of it are so disturbing, let's say. But let's talk about Greg Craig first, the powerful lawyer. That's as high-powered a lawyer as you can get.
But can he -- can he mount an effective defense?
TOOBIN: Well, you know, a lot of this story is known but a lot of it isn't. And, you know, what's the great challenge to the Edwards defense team is to separate the scandalous behavior, you know, the fact that he had an affair while his wife was dying of cancer and then, as we all know, he had this baby and he denied it and then he finally accepted it. From the legal issue, because the legal issue is actually very complicated and very unsettled, because the issue here apparently is, two very rich people, Bunny Mellon and a wealthy trial lawyer in Texas gave money, hundreds of thousands of dollars, which went to support Rielle Hunter and this baby.
And the question is: was that money an illegal campaign contribution? And that's not a simple issue, as far as I am aware because the money didn't go through his campaign fund and it went for this other -- you know, it went to support this woman and this child. Whether that's a campaign contribution or not, I think, is a difficult legal question.
COSTELLO: Difficult legal question. Well, Edwards defense team says this is a waste of taxpayer money and time in court. And, you know, it was just a simple payoff for somebody to cover up an extramarital affair. Why are we like prolonging this?
TOOBIN: Well, that's certainly the argument they have been making to the U.S. attorney's office. I mean, if he gets indicted today, obviously, the U.S. attorney's office wasn't persuaded. The question then will be: will a judge and jury be persuaded?
There's also another factual issue that as far as I am aware, at least based on the evidence that's public, is how much Edwards, himself, was involved in setting up this money transfer. A lot of this money, these negotiations, went through his aide, Andrew Young, who was the person at first who claimed to have fathered this child. Then, of course, turned on Edwards and wrote a book about him.
You know, another thing Edwards lawyers are saying, look, this whole thing was set up by Andrew Young and the people who gave the money, Edwards himself was not involved. That's another issue that if this case goes to trial, will have to be spelled out before the jury.
COSTELLO: OK. So, bottom lining quickly, if this goes to trial and John Edwards is found guilty, could he serve jail time?
TOOBIN: Definitely. Without question. If he pushes this case to trial and he gets convicted, definite jail time.
COSTELLO: Jeffrey Toobin, many thanks.
A 73-year-old man kills five and wounds another in a shooting rampage across several towns near Yuma, Arizona. Police say Carey Hal Dyess also killed himself.
Affiliate KNXV reports an attorney who represents Dyess' ex-wife in their divorce case is also among the dead.
Just this hour, the U.S. Corps of Engineers Dakota is opening a key spillway in South Dakota. It's the first time ever that the gates to the spillway have been opened. The move is designed to ease spring flooding.
And, finally, 14-year-old Sukanya Roy has the way with words. And today, she is the winner of the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUKANYA ROY, SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE WINNER: Cymotrichous. C- Y-M-O-T-R-I-C-H-O-U-S.
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It's so awesome. Just way she spelled it and her reaction is priceless. In case you are wondering -- I'm not going to say the word again. It means having wavy hair, if you were wondering.
On to the subject of politics, Republican presidential hopefuls and conservative power brokers have packed a Washington hotel for the first day of the Faith and Freedom Conference. Their goal: to reach out to evangelicals and to score their support in the 2012 race.
Dan Gilgoff is the religion editor for CNN.com.
Welcome.
DAN GILGOFF, CNN.COM RELIGION EDITOR: Good to be here.
COSTELLO: OK. So, during the midterm elections, social issues were kind of off the table. Everybody was concentrating on the recession and then in the jobless rate. We still have those problems today.
So, how much influence will social issues and Christian conservatives have in 2012?
GILGOFF: I think they are going to have a lot of influence and a lot more influence than a lot of us suppose. And that's because, you know, you just look at the early primary states, states like Iowa, home to the first of the nation caucuses -- states like South Carolina and, one of the key primaries. In those states, evangelicals constitute about 60 percent of the people who are going to be voting in Republican primaries. There's just no way out of them without winning serious evangelical support.
And another reason is, you look at the Tea Party. That's a lot more of a religious movement than it lets on. And public opinion polls have painted (ph) this out. So, that about half the people who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement also consider themselves part of the Christian right or the Christian conservative movement, it's a lot faithier of a movement than it let's on.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
OK. So, a no-show -- I mean, this is a guy who always attends this event, Newt Gingrich. He's sending, I guess, a video of himself talking. But that's not the same thing as being there. So, why do you think he skipped this event?
GILGOFF: It's unclear why he is skipping this event. What is clear is that he has serious hurdles to overcome in connecting with so called values voters.
COSTELLO: But doesn't this say he feels like he cannot overcome them?
GILGOFF: You know, I don't think so, because if you look at Gingrich, over the last couple of years, he is very quietly but very seriously organized among religious conservatives. The problem he has is that he's been married three times. He carried on an affair that he admits to.
And, you know, I talked recently to the public policy head of the Southern Baptist Convention, which is the biggest evangelical denomination in the country. And he says, just from his informal conversations, that among evangelical women, in particular, there is what he calls an implacable wall of resistance. That's a tough hurdle to overcome.
COSTELLO: I love that term. It's perfect.
So, who is the favorite? I know Sarah Palin is not going to be there. But she's on the bus tour. So, that would be a given.
But is she the favorite of Christian evangelicals?
GILGOFF: You know, if she would enter the race, she would be. But with her out of the race are, that's what's so fascinating early on, that there's no clear favorite for these voters to coalesce around. I mean, since Huckabee announced that he wouldn't be running, you know, he was a Baptist minister who connected with evangelicals in a really big way in 2008.
Now, the question is, could someone like Gingrich wind up connecting with these voters? Could Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman, should he choose to run, they're both Mormons, could they connect with evangelicals?
It's not popular to talk about George W. Bush a lot these days. He's the one candidate in recent history that the Republicans produced that could connect with evangelical voters and the mainstream of the party. And ever since then, the Republican Party has failed to produce someone like that. It's a big problem.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. Thank you so much for joining us, Dan. We appreciate it.
GILGOFF: Sure.
COSTELLO: If you want to read more about the Faith and Freedom Conference and why Ralph Reed matters, because he is leading this thing, right? Check out the belief blog, CNN.com/belief.
Coming up, Kate Middleton slept here. Yes, here. The duchess of Cambridge's childhood home goes up on the auction block. Bidding starts in just about 10 minutes.
We'll have the story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: If you are into royal memorabilia and money is no object, grab your checkbook. The house that the duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, grew up in is being auctioned. And things get started in just a few minutes.
CNN's Max Foster joins us from London.
So, why now?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it hasn't been in the family for some time. Kate lived there until she was 13.
Let's have a look at it. Let's manage to have a look around. It's quite modest for local standards, four small bedrooms and a couple of living rooms, a lovely garden, though. This is rural West Berkshire. And it goes on sale in an auction which is starting, as you say, in the next couple of minutes, at village hall.
Not used to the sort of attention it is getting today, I can tell you. Lots and lots of journalists have piled in, lots of investors as well. We know that at least one American investor is interested in buying this home.
Just for background, this was the home that Kate's parents, the duchess' parents bought when she was an air hostess and he was a pilot and they wanted to give their family some stability. There was a lovely school down the road.
And what they did is moved in here and they set up a business in the shed at the end of the garden. You might see that in a moment.
And this became a very, very successful business. You are able to see. It's a party planning business. And they became millionaires as a result of that, managed to send Kate Middleton to a very nice public school and the rest is history. For sale.
I will give you the guide price.
COSTELLO: Oh, go ahead.
FOSTER: The guide price is $800,000. Yes.
COSTELLO: Well, that's not bad depending on where you live in the United States. It is a beautiful home. You have a future as a real estate agent, Max. It was described beautifully.
Max foster, live in London, thank you.
Selling hope in the heartland. This hour, President Obama heads to Toledo, Ohio, to discuss jobs and the recent rebound of the auto industry. He says he played a big part in that. We'll have that coming up.
Plus, parents get much-need help in try tog keep one of their sons from flunking out of the ninth grade. A preview of CNN's education makeover, still ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The job market takes a major step back, and that might be an understatement. A new report shows the economy added just 54,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange and, this is just sad news. I can see how the market is reacting right now.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I hear you. Yes, we are already down 72 points. We are just maybe a few seconds into the opening of the day. You know, any way you cut it, this really was just a lousy report. We had an indicator of this on Wednesday when that headline number from ADP was a huge miss. So, yes, this time around, the government report, the one that really Wall Street watches, only 54,000 jobs were added. We expected anywhere from 125 to 170.
You know, it is just yet another alarm bell that the economy is slowing down. The recovery is really slowing down.
There were a few things factoring into this. The earthquake in Japan hit manufacturing. It is actually the first time this year we lost jobs in manufacturing. Those high oil and gas prices are cutting into our spending. That's what's keeping companies from hiring as well.
But you know, there is one optimistic analyst in all of this. He says we should be back on track by the end of the year where we could see job gains, somewhere around 200,000 a month. But you know what? In the meantime, it's painful. Economists are dialing back their forecasts for economic growth. We are watching home prices fall. Consumers are feeling pretty yucky about the recovery. We've got anemic job growth. You know, it's a vicious cycle, Carol, with one area of weakness just feeding into the next. I'll tell you what, don't expect much sizzle in the economy this summer unfortunately, Carol
COSTELLO: I don't think anybody really was expecting much sizzle. But we weren't expecting this either. That's really just kind of depressing. Alison Kosik, thank you.
Still, consider this. President Obama is on his way to Toledo, Ohio, to brag about the auto bailout and how it saved jobs. He is doing that in Ohio in part because Ohio is a critical swing state that helped him win the White House. The bailout did save Chrysler. It's CEO told us so today. And it did add jobs to Ohio's economy. But Republicans say not nearly enough.
Ed Henry is live at the White House. And I understand the president is going to go to that Chrysler plant in Toledo. He invited Ohio's Republican governor and the governor said, oh, I'm busy. Sorry.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this happens from time to time. When the president went to Texas a few weeks ago to talk about immigration reform, the Republican governor there, Rick Perry, said he had better things to do as well. Didn't want to meet with the president.
But I will note that back in February when the president was in Ohio, John Kasich did greet him at the airport then. So, maybe he does have some other scheduling things today. I mean, sometimes he's there. Sometimes he's not. I think what the White House wants to focus on is jobs.
And you're right, the timing could not be more awful for this president, because they want to talk about how great the auto industry is rebounding, and there is no doubt there have been, you know, some positive steps. But at the same time, these job numbers, as you were just hearing from Alison, are just awful. It is piled on top of a very shaky stock market this week, some awful housing numbers this week.
There is a statistic above all that staring this White House in the face. And that's that no president since FDR has been reelected when unemployment is at least 7.2 percent on election day. Right now, it is at least two points worse than that, Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, the only thing -- some analysts might say going in President Obama's favor is the only idea coming from Republicans to create jobs is to cut taxes on wealthy Americans.
HENRY: Well, Republicans would argue, though, as they did when at the White House this week that the other part of their plan, if you will, is to cut spending in Washington. They think the debt piling up has an impact, a terrible impact on the economy right now.
That's why I think the real takeaway from today and these jobs numbers is that it is probably going to play a very important role in these somewhat stalled negotiations over whether to raise the debt ceiling. Because Republicans have been saying, we are only going to raise the debt ceiling if you also put a plan for some real deficit reduction on the table. I think these awful economic numbers this week are going to lead the Republicans to think, at least, they have a strength in hand in really trying to force the president to put some real spending cuts on the table, Carol.
COSTELLO: Ed Henry live at the White House, thank you.
Checking top stories now. Yemen's prime minister and six other senior government officials were injured today in an attack on the presidential compound. Government forces and tribesmen are battling it out in the capital. The officials were praying at a mosque when the attack occurred.
The man known as Dr. Death, is dead. Dr. Jack Kevorkian died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. The 83-year-old doctor assisted more than 100 people in committing suicide.
Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate John Edwards is expected to be indicted today. A grand jury has been investigating whether Edwards used campaign funds to support his mistress, Rielle Hunter.
It seems like we have had a lot of three-run home run games. Is that how you say it? Yes. They have been exciting games.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: It has been out of nowhere, really. Carol, I have to tell you, not a lot of runs this season overall. But in the last three weeks, six different guys have had three home run games. The Giants' Aubrey Huff joined the club last night.
This fourth-inning two-run blast pulled the San Francisco Giants within a run of the St. Louis Cardinals. There it goes. Deep and gone to center field. He comes up again in the seventh inning, and that's another one. He also had a solo shot in the ninth! Three home runs.
COSTELLO: Unbelievable! Aubrey Huff?
FISCHEL: There he goes. His first career three home run game. The Giants win, 12-7. Nice win in St. Louis.
COSTELLO: He didn't do anything with Detroit.
FISCHEL: I'm sorry.
COSTELLO: I know.
FISCHEL: He had such a great year last year helping the Giants to the World Series win.
COSTELLO: He did, he did.
FISCHEL: The Dallas Mavericks' huge comeback this season all through the playoffs. They may have had their best, biggest last night. That is coming up in 20 minutes.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Jeff. We appreciate it.
Parents get a house call from an education expert to help them keep one of their sons from failing the ninth grade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: I want you to meet three teenage brothers. They are involved in a lot of activities. But one of them is struggling.
But I'm looking at three Fs, a C minus. Is he in danger of failing that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is up in the air.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Whew, I would be grounded! A preview of a very important CNN special, "EDUCATION MAKEOVER." That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERRY: A Libyan woman who grabbed the world's attention when she accused Moammar Gadhafi's forces of gang-raping her has been deported back to Libya. Eman al-Obeidy fled to Qatar, seeking refuge. She tells CNN she was beaten, handcuffed and forced on to a plane.
CNN's Nic Robertson is following the story from the Hague. This sounds awful, Nic. What happened?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does sound absolutely awful, and it really seems that Eman al-Obeidy cannot get a break. A member -- a Libyan activist who met with her in Benghazi yesterday and three members of the Transitional National Council - that's the new rebel leadership, also met with her. They said she had a bruised eye, that she had scratches on her arms, that she showed signs of the abuse that she talked about, that she was being forcibly removed from Qatar by Qatari authorities.
Qatari authorities haven't said why they have done this. The UNHCR who had given her refugee status and was trying to get her on a flight to Europe so she could begin protesting as a refugee and come to the United States - she wants to continue her law studies there. And the Qataris refused to allow the UNHCR to take her on that flight, forcibly put her on a military flight, forcibly flew her back to Benghazi. And she was beaten, had her possessions taken from her in the process.
The UNHCR is calling this a violation of international law. And the U.S. State Department is also saying they are very concerned about her safety. She didn't want to go back to Libya. She felt very unsafe with the prospect of that, because of Moammar Gadhafi's forces and everything she has been through.
So, she has been through so much trauma, Carol. And it just isn't over. It is just not stopping. COSTELLO: Coming at this from purely an American perspective, but it just seems like women are hated and feared and - and why would you do such a thing to this woman?
ROBERTSON: It absolutely defies a logical explanation. And why would the Qatari authorities do this? The rebel leadership could have stepped in to do more to help her. And it is not clear why they didn't do that, or at least certain members didn't do that.
She has a lot of supporters in the United States. Both Americans and Libyan Americans who want to offer her help. The State Department as well as is doing everything they can to get her out of this horrible environment to try and give her a start of a better life.
It doesn't make sense. It really doesn't make sense. But you have got to look at this situation and say, why did the Qatari authorities ignore the U.S. State Department, ignore the U.N. High Commission for the Refugees, break international law and not offer an explanation for all of this.
And why did the rebel leadership not do more to help this woman? It doesn't reflect very well on anyone involved in it, Carol.
COSTELLO: No, it doesn't! Nic Robertson, I am sure you will continue to follow this story. Nic Robertson, live from the Hague.
In Yemen, heavy fighting. The presidential palace under attack. Worries of an all-out civil war now increasing concerns. Al Qaeda sees opening to plot attacks. We will have a live report for you in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: So your child is struggling to keep from flunking out of school, compound that with complications from dealing with divorce and what do you do?
Education contributor Steve Perry met with a family living that scenario. Here is a preview of his weekend special, "EDUCATION MAKEOVER".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): What goes on in a child's home is critical.
Steve Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jacob, do you have homework?
Now, I'll ask you again, how do you know she didn't give you a test today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you didn't do any homework from the time you got out of school. So guess who doesn't get any downtime?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can a vegan flunk health?
PERRY: I want you to meet three teenage brothers. They are involved in a lot of activities. But one of them is struggling. But I am looking at three Fs and a C minus.
Is he in danger of failing that grade?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's up in the air.
PERRY: And then their divorced parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So had you been able to be there in the beginning.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you keep saying that, it's like you are punishing me today about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No I'm not.
PERRY (on camera): What can we do to cut down on some of the communication breakdowns? The challenge really is power. That seems to me to be the issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: More of Steve's interaction with the Buford-Gheiter family tomorrow afternoon on his special "EDUCATION MAKEOVER" at 2:30 Eastern.
But right now, Steve Perry joins us on the phone.
Oh, you feel for that family.
PERRY (via telephone): You do. But this is what happens. This is the modern family, it's single-parented, it's divorced, it's struggling to stay married and this is what we as educators deal with on a regular basis.
Very often, many of us wish that we could follow the family home and be part of the solution. And here, you have a family that is working to find the solutions. They have four biological, three biological children between the two of them, then, dad remarried, he has four more. And then mom, through her remarriage, has two more.
So you are looking at almost 11 children alone.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Wow.
PERRY: In one family unit spread across what, five different adults. So it's a -- it's a powerful experience. And I'll be honest with you, when we went in there. I left and my head was spinning because we were just trying to find a way to get the family to coordinate schedules, but more importantly, to get along.
There is a reason why the family got divorced. And in -- in that discord is where the children had some challenges. And what you see in this special is that different children are affected by divorce differently. They have two sons who are doing relatively well in their life challenged by the fact that their family would not get along. Their mother and father didn't get along.
But one child, the middle child, Jacob, was failing three out of five -- I think it was five subjects. And -- and when we met him, was going to -- was going to stay back in the ninth grade.
COSTELLO: Oh well, we can't wait to see what happens. I have a feeling that it's a positive outcome. At least I hope so.
PERRY: We hope -- it shocked, the ending shocked me. I will be honest. When I went back to the home, I was surprised by what happened.
COSTELLO: Ok, we'll have to watch your special to find out. Steve Perry, thank you very much. You can see Steve's "EDUCATION MAKEOVER". That's Saturday, 2:30 eastern right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Taking a quick look at some headlines that will be making news later today.
A Yale university lab technician will be sentenced this morning at 10:00 Eastern in the killing of a graduate student two years ago. Raymond Clark pleaded guilty to the murder of Annie Le, her body was found stuffed inside a wall at a university laboratory.
One hour later at noon a Federal Appeals Court hears oral arguments from attorneys representing both sides in the NFL lock-out. The court's decision could decide whether the 2011 regular season begins on time or not.
And President Obama visits a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio today to spotlight the auto industry's comeback and the role his administration played in that. He speaks to auto workers at 1:25 Eastern.
We're following a lot of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry.
HENRY: Well Carol, there's an awful jobs report out this morning. A top White House aide calls it just a bump on the road to recovery. But what is the President planning to do to turn it around and what kind of impact will it have on his re-election? We'll have details at the top of the hour.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: And I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Ahead of the President's visit to Chrysler, we had a chance to talk to the CEO of Chrysler all about the bailout. Was it worth it? Did taxpayers get their money's worth? We'll have that answer coming up at the top of the hour.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence with the Pentagon where the military is trying to reign in the rampant use of prescription drugs that is hurting even killing some of our troops. I'll have that story in the next hour.
COSTELLO: Thanks to all of you.
Also, during the lock-out, two NFL players give out hearing aids to the needy in Africa. That's what they're doing now that they have all this time off. Football players, Vernon (ph) and Monte Davis, will join us live to talk about their charity work and also the NFL lock- out.
We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: On this national -- did you know it was National Donut Day, Jeff Fischel?
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: As I've heard. I've heard. As I said there's a great philosopher who once said, "A donut without a hole is a Danish."
COSTELLO: I love that.
Ok. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk sports.
FISCHEL: You know, amazing final few minutes in the NBA finals last night. Miami looked completely in control and then something happened. The Dallas Mavericks really got it going. The guys I follow on Twitter said they fell asleep with a few minutes left. They thought Miami won the game.
There's Dwyane Wade giving Miami a 15-point lead. Guys don't celebrate just yet. Miami got a 13-0 run but here come the Mavericks, on the run. There's Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas goes on a huge run, thanks to the big man.
In fact, with under 10 seconds left it was Nowitzki who hit the big shot. There he goes with the left hand, he has a hurt finger on the left hand -- no worries. Dallas wins big. Series goes back to be tied at a game apiece.
All right. One more thing; Edmonton Oiler center Gilbert Brule and his girlfriend, they were driving when they saw a hitchhiker with familiar face. So they drove back to -- yes, that's U2 lead singer, Bono.
COSTELLO: No.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought we were going to --
GILBERT BRULE, NHL PLAYER: We've been driving for a while and I'm like come on turn around, turn around. So she finally turned around. I yelled at the window and he waved at me and I said it was him. So I got him in the car and we just took him to Horseshoe Bay.
"For my hero, Gilbert". I was ecstatic. I'm going to keep this on my wall forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISCHEL: Bono hitchhiking. He got a backstage pass from Bono to see the U2 concert in Edmonton. Brule sold his tickets to game one of the Stanley Cup finals so he could go. He was headed to Vancouver to see the game. He also got to go backstage and Bono even on-stage thanked Brule for the ride.
COSTELLO: Doesn't Bono know hitchhiking is dangerous?
Thank you Jeff.
FISCHEL: You got it.
COSTELLO: For comedians, Weiner-gate is a gold mine; for the media, it's a mine field.
As for CNN Jeanne Moos, she found some middle ground.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Over Memorial Day weekend we went from toasting wieners to roasting Congressman Weiner.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, THE VIEW: Weiner-gate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The answers to him are un-Weiner like.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Weiner is in a bit of hot water.
MOOS: Leaving those of us in the media searching for the right words to mention the unmentionable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bulging underwear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bulging underpants.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: In sending a picture -- anyway
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it might have been my area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His below the waist area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It may or may not be his package.
MOOS: And what's being delivered often comes in puns from front pages meant to tickle to editorials. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This Weiner is cooked.
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: Is this or is this not Representative Weiner's chief of staff?
MOOS: As "New York Times" reporter John Schwartz tweeted all the bad Weiner puns show that America is emotionally a sixth grader.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The long and short of it is over the weekend you discovered --
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: You didn't just introduce that by saying the long and the short of it, did you Earl?
MOOS: Congressman Weiner's even punning himself.
WEINER: One of the reasons I was perhaps -- forgive me -- a little bit stiff yesterday.
MOOS: Everything is starting to look Weiner-like. There are Weiner cartoons. Isn't that Anthony Weiner in the ballet tights? The news is coming across as comedy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you guys know what your drawers look like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know what I look like in my drawers. I can tell you I can identify my pelvis in a line-up.
MOOS: Some can identify with Anthony Weiner.
The guy behind the camera, Jamie, what's your last name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Weiner.
MOOS: Give me the camera, give it to me.
Talk to me about being a Weiner.
JAMIE WEINER, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Well, you know, being a Weiner is not that bad.
MOOS: Actually, we both know a little bit about being called Weiner. Look what my high school nickname was inscribed even in my yearbook, Wiener.
Because I was so tall and skinny.
But no one -- just watch where you point that thing.
Anyone named Weiner has a love-hate relationship with that song.
These days, Anthony Weiner probably wishes he wasn't one. Even old friends are making jokes.
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: In real life, my memory, this cat had a lot more Anthony and not a lot less Weiner. MOOS: Or comedians -- like shooting fish in a barrel of their pants. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
