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Officials Investigate Communications Between Congressman Anthony Weiner and a 17-Year-Old Girl; Casey Anthony Trial Continues with Testimony from a Forensic Entomologist; Republican Presidential Hopefuls Prepare for Upcoming Debate; Financial Experts Give Advice about Employment Scams; New Immigration Law Takes Effect in Alabama

Aired June 11, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM where things unfold live this Saturday, June 11th. I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking news this hour -- a long-sought Al Qaeda figure has been killed by U.S. forces in Somalia. This is an FBI wanted poster showed wanted posters. Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent is joining me now. Barbara, this is something who dates back all the way to the bombing of the U.S. embassies in east Africa. How long has the FBI been looking for him?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: They've been looking for him for years, Deborah, and they're very pleased to final have this case resolved. In fact, a short time ago secretary of state of state Hillary Clinton said the killing of him was, quote, "a significant blow to Al Qaeda."

It was long believed this man was the architect of those 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and he was responsible for other attacks throughout east Africa. In fact, the U.S. wanted him so bad that in 2007 the U.S. military launched a covert airstrike into Somalia, tried to get him. They failed.

But there is no more risky pace possibly on earth than to put U.S. troops than inside Somalia. It was that kind of risk they were willing to go to back then to try and get him.

It is said that he was killed in the last day or so by Somali forces when he tried to flee a Somali police checkpoint. Now, did the Somali police have some tip-off he was coming? Who knows? But the U.S. takes them at their word that they got him.

Somalia right now topping the list of Al Qaeda concerns for the United States. It's in a very rough neighborhood, of course, right next door to Yemen. There is a very rising active Al Qaeda affiliate that's close. It's a tough neighborhood. It's a place that the U.S. would like to get a handle on these Al Qaeda operatives. Today, one mark for the success column. Deborah?

FEYERICK: Barbara, is there any suggestion that there was either some sort of plan under way or because of his presence there, Al Qaeda is or was getting stronger and stronger, because obviously this is key? It's not just somebody who was wanted in a past attack but somebody who could have been wanted in a future attack as well.

STARR: They're describing him as a key operational plane, essentially perhaps the head of Al Qaeda in east Africa in the Somalia region, in the horn of Africa. The CIA director Leon Panetta testified just this week that inside sew mall yes was on the rise, that they had perhaps hundreds of foreign fighters at their disposal and that they were looking to get affiliated across the water there with Al Qaeda in Yemen.

So if you put these two countries together, which are both simply in terrible shape, essentially have collapsing or no central government, rising Al Qaeda organizations, this becomes the kind of threat that is of great concern to the United States, the possibility that they can recruit individuals to come to the U.S. and launch attacks. Panetta even indicated this week that both the CIA and U.S. military covert operatives are very much at work on the problem of Al Qaeda in Somalia. Deborah?

FEYERICK: All right, Barbara Starr, thank you very much. Clearly nobody wants to see both of those organizations linking up together making them stronger. Hopefully this undermines that effort. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

The month of May turned out to be the most dangerous and deadly for afghan civilians in four years. A U.N. report shows 368 Afghan civilians were killed last month by extremist attacks or other world violence. And 57 NATO service members also died last month.

This story is just in to CNN. Top Democratic leaders are now calling on Congressman Anthony Weiner to resign. He recently admitted to sending lewd, online messages to several women. Today he also admitted sending Twitter message to a teenage girl in Delaware. He said there was nothing explicit, indecent, or inappropriate about those messages.

CNN senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash is on the phone. Dana, it has now been stepped up a notch. What's going on?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been stepped up several notches. We have been reporting that there's been great unhappiness and anger at Anthony Weiner behind the scenes by the Democratic leadership but they have been reluctant to stay he should step down until now.

I am told there were private conversations with the democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and another one, Steve Israel, a fellow New Yorker of Anthony Weiner's both privately urged him to resign, saying it's now time to resign, so did Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, all in a very coordinated fashion, one after the other.

Let me read to you Nancy Pelosi's statement. "Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help. I urge congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a member of Congress."

It wasn't that long ago that they kind of said that this is his deal, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in particular who is also a fellow DNC chair and fellow congresswoman, she called this a personal matter. Not anymore. The reason they're saying it in a statement, I'm being told, privately is it is insurmountable, a distraction.

And the final straw for these leaders were the reports that we've been reporting all day that Anthony Weiner had a relationship through twitter with a 17-year-old girl in Delaware. Now he is saying very clearly they were not inappropriate at all or indecent, but that was, I'm told, the final straw. What will Anthony Weiner do? That's a good question. We have call and e-mailed his office. We haven't heard back yet.

FEYERICK: What's more is that the longer he holds on, the longer this becomes really an issue for the Democrats. You think of the Republican Chris Lee, a picture of him got out. He resigned, the story was over. It ended. This has now lasted really more than two weeks. So for Democrats it's clear they simply want this over. They want to take it out from Congress and at least handle it privately where frankly it won't get the kind of attention, correct?

BASH: Exactly. The thing is this has lasted from their perspective way to long and it has ended. The stories have kept coming on. And earlier this week they reported there was a stepped up effort privately and publicly to get Anthony Weiner to reside by some of his senior colleagues in the house. That did not work. He said very clearly publicly and I'm being told privately that he wasn't going to resign. He got a little help with the fact there was a poll that came out in his very own district. His own district, 56 percent of them said he should resign.

FEYERICK: Clearly it wasn't survivable.

BASH: He's still there. He hasn't resigned either. These three people, and they're good friends of his, they're saying - we'll let you know what he says.

FEYERICK: Dana Bash, thanks a million. We really appreciate your bringing that to us today.

Well, the court's now in recess until Monday in the Florida murder trial of Casey Anthony. This morning several expert witnesses have taken the stand. Sean Lavin has been listening to this stuff out of the courthouse. Some pretty compelling testimony. They were talking about the duct tape that was found around Caylee Anthony's mouth. Tell us a little bit more.

SEAN LAVIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was some very gruesome testimony today, Deborah. They had not only the duct tape but a bug expert who was brought to the stand that talked about all the flies that were in the Casey Anthony's car trunk. There were flies around. Take a listen what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. NEIL HASKELL, FORENSIC ENTOMOLOGIST: A few days. The body couldn't have been in the trunk of the car for too long because of the progression of the decomposition of the body. The body had to be removed and placed out. It could have initially been placed where it was finally found and it had to be quite fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVIN: Now, Deborhah, Casey's lead attorney in this case, Jose Baez, disagrees with that expert opinion. He has his own expert. He'll bring that up in about a week when he's going to be presenting his side of the case.

FEYERICK: And, Sean, has the prosecution been able to determine without question that Casey Anthony during the period when those flies were in the back of the car actually drove that vehicle or is connected to that vehicle in some way?

LAVIN: Reporter: You know, Casey Anthony had custody of that car. She would drive it all around. She would drive it to the Amscot was one area where it was eventually found. Casey had the car at that time. Prosecutors believe she put the body in the car, didn't know what to do with it and eventually they took the body from the car and put it in the woods where it decomposed with all the trash.

FEYERICK: Clearly she was very emotional during the trial and the thought of having some sort of a body decomposing in the back of a vehicle, especially if, in fact, it is her daughter, she broke down on the stand -- she broke down listening to all the testimony today. Sean Lavin, thanks so much.

The European Court of Justice ruled against France this week in a case involving endangered wildlife. France now faces fines for failing to protect which species? Was it horses, wolves, hamsters, eagles? I'll have the answer on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Before the break we told you that France faces fines for failing to protect an endangered species of wildlife, and we asked you to guess which one. The answer, not eagles. It's hamsters. Only a few hundred European hamsters remain in a small enclave of France. The couth says that France needs to do a better job of protecting their breeding sites and resting places.

Now a look at top international headlines. It's a celebration fit for a monarch in London today. Queen Elizabeth II turned 85 in April. The British always officially observe her birthday in June when it's much nicer. Plenty of dukes, duchesses, princes and princesses were in attendance.

CIA director Leon Panetta is in Pakistan today. Officials say he's urging Pakistani efforts to step up efforts to hunt militants in Pakistan.

And if you're looking for a new job, check this out. Are you looking for a higher salary or a better work life, and balance, you know? We all want that. Here's a list of best companies for balance. Number four is Scottrade, number three is Mitre. The top two when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: The "Forbes" best companies for work-life balance. Number two is REI, and number one SAS, the software company getting the top spot for the second year.

Now, more than 400,000 people filed for first time unemployment this week, and millions are still looking for full-time work. While any avail jobs sound promising, watch out there. Money experts are joining us right now. Hello, everyone. This is just outrageous.

KEN DOLAN, DOLANS.COM: Hi, Deb.

FEYERICK: Hey, there. This is outrageous, people just preying on folks who are in desperate conditions. What should people know?

DARIA DOLAN, DOLANS.COM: It's sort of like kicking your own dog, you know. They aren't down low enough. Let's just kick them right over the edge.

KEN DOLAN: You know, there are 15 million Americans who aren't working, Deb, but there are plenty hard at work trying to scam people at a very, very difficult time with a lot of these employment scams which we'll talk about. It's unbelievable what people can do to people.

FEYERICK: Now, is it happening online? First of all, what's the first thing? You should not be hired without an interview. That's got to be the first red flag.

KEN DOLAN: Absolutely.

DARIA DOLAN: Think about it. You know you're wonderful. But who in their right mind knows you're wonderful if they've never met you before. Without sitting down to discuss your curriculum vitae, what you've been, what you've done, it's insanity.

KEN DOLAN: This is want ads, any job, any source.

DARIA DOLAN: Most of it is done online.

FEYERICK: We've seen this happen when it comes to scams. People might be saying pay us a fee and we'll help place you. That is something else people should be aware of, startup fees, right?

KEN DOLAN: Absolutely, Deb. We're not saying all of them.

DARIA DOLAN: But then you've blown a piece of a franchise if you're paying those fees.

KEN DOLAN: As opposed to getting scammed. We've got a lot of e-mails to our Web site dolans.com and that is people are asked to send their money overseas. Sayonara.

DARIA DOLAN: That's very hard to track down, overseas. KEN DOLAN: It's gone.

DARIA DOLAN: It's gone.

FEYERICK: Another issue people have to be aware of is that if a company doesn't provide references, for example, explain that to me.

DARIA DOLAN: Well, if you're doing a one-on-one interview or even if you're just responding back and forth over the Internet and you can't seem to find any information about this company, you ask for references because you want to make sure you're actually working with a legitimate company that doesn't have one foot in a bankruptcy court and another foot on a banana peel. If they won't provide those references, reconsider accepting any position where a company won't tell you about itself.

FEYERICK: You have to do your due diligence.

KEN DOLAN: Yes, you do.

FEYERICK: Another thing -- unsolicited e-mails because if you're desperate and you get something, you may say, oh, this is my chance, my shot. What do you have to be aware of?

KEN DOLAN: Not only unsolicited e-mail from companies that don't even know you but sometimes from companies that you may recognize their names because there are a lot of smart people out there, smart scammers who are designing their websites to look very, very much like the legitimate websites of companies. So be very, very careful. If you question something in an e-mail unsolicited, call the company and ask them to send it.

DARIA DOLAN: It's just common sense. There are anywhere between 15 million and 18 million Americans looking for employment. What are the odds that this company just happened to find you and your e-mail address?

FEYERICK: And then the last two really, it's getting compensation that's way above what the job demands and basically not getting something in writing. Those are the last two people have to be aware of, correct?

DARIA DOLAN: Yes. Quick story on that overcompensation. My daughter during the internet craze, she and her girlfriend were both offered edits positions, an internet start-up firm, $100,000 to make spelling corrections.

KEN DOLAN: I don't think so.

DARIA DOLAN: My daughter was smart enough to say, you know what? That's not worth $100,000. She didn't take the job. Her friend did. Her friend was unemployed three months later.

FEYERICK: Be very careful. Ken and Daria Dolan, it's always a pleasure chatting with you. Hopefully we'll save a couple people out there some heartache during difficult times. Thanks so much. KEN DOLAN: Thank you, Deb.

DARIA DOLAN: Thank you, deb, nice to see you.

FEYERICK: And of course you can receive a free copy of the Dolans financial newsletter by requesting it online at Dolans.com.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MRAZ, SINGER/SONGWRITER: Hey, I'm Jason Mraz and we can make an impact by ending modern slavery. I got a group to go with me to Ghana to a fishing village largely operated by kids. There are thousands of thousands of children who don't get the opportunity to go school. They're forced to work this this industry. I had an opportunity to be out on the water and help in these rescue missions.

Human trafficking is happening all across the world and so the more we have awareness about this this is something we can overcome. Join the movement. Impact the world. Go to CNN.com/impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And, of course, there are many ways to impact your world. If you want to help people in the recent tornado outbreak go to CNN.com/impact and see the various organizations that will accept your donations.

And there's lots of fascination with Sarah Palin, but who is she really? 24,000 pages of her e-mails when she was governor Alaska may give us a pretty insightful glimpse. We'll take you there for a live update in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Top stories. A new immigration law is said to be the toughest in the country takes effect in Alabama in September. The governor signed it into law Thursday. Among other things the law requires police to run immigration status checks on anyone stopped for any reason if they can't immediately prove they're here legally. It will also force them to check the residency of every student.

And the focus today in Casey Anthony's murder trial, evidence collected near her daughter's remains and her car. A bug expert said larvae and flies found in the trunk of Anthony's car fit the theory that a body was left in the car but they don't prove it.

An anonymous eBay leader wants to do lunch with Warren Buffett. They've agreed to pay more than $2.6 million for the honor to break bread. That's a record for Glide, the San Francisco charity that's benefitting from the auction.

The big job of scouring Sarah Palin's emails happened just over 24 hours ago. These are e-mails she wrote while Palin was governor. More than 2,400 pages are filled with chatter. CNN's Drew Griffin has been combing through them since their release. Drew, some interesting e-mails involving the oil giant Exxon. Tell us about it. DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a little different twist than what you might think about Sarah Palin and quote/unquote big e-mails. From the e-mails we find she's not afraid to fight big oil and she's tang them on many times as governor. In this e-mail she's talking about a $500 million settlement that Exxon was still fighting. She wrote, "Please have one of your folks draft a short letter to Exxon encouraging them to pay the $500 million. We need to be On the Record telling them to pay up, end this thing, end this misery."

And then, Deb, she said, "We're doing a presser on it." She says to a staffer, "please do a presser on it." The staffer says, "I'm on it." And Sarah Palin says, "Thanks. Can you believe they haven't agreed to end this thing?" The staffer says, "Come on. It's Exxon." That's July of 2008 showing Palin being a governor.

Also there's a little pettiness, Sarah Palin trying to send draft letters to the editor that she has somebody else send in her behest trying to cover up some issue or that issue but mostly it's a hard- working governor.

Deb, what's very interesting overall, as you look at the first two, two and a half years of her governorship, how accessible she was to the media. She doesn't really turn down many requests at all talking about polar bears to her son born with Down syndrome to gas and oil exploration and taxes.

And then, as we know, once she becomes the vice president nominee, the McCain campaign really clamped down on her access to the media. And then she became part of that FOX News cocoon where she wouldn't really talk to anybody but the so-called friendly media. So it's very interesting to see in these first two and a half years of her administration how open and accessible and downright friendly she was.

FEYERICK: Absolutely, because there really was a shift where she became hostile really towards the mainstream media which she gave a different name to. Is there any suggestion we're going to see any e- mails that follow her governorship or is that just the ones that have been -- that we would have access to?

GRIFFIN: Well, there is a request under way for the remaining of her term. Remember, she quit her term early. But we and other news organizations have asked for the rest of the e-mails that only cover her years as governor, but certainly that portion which she was running for vice president and then when she came back to Alaska to continue her governorship and see how she was then. We're still waiting for it. It took two and a half years, three years to get this from Alaska. So we're still waiting.

FEYERICK: Drew, thanks a million.

Well, CNN is hosting the Republican presidential hopefuls for a debate in New Hampshire on Monday night. It may come at a good time for Newt Gingrich. He's getting ready to restart his cam pain after the sudden resignation of his top staffers. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is in Manchester, New Hampshire. And Paul, is he restarting his campaign, or is he actually trying to salvage his campaign.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It was just Thursday that some of the top staffers, aides, advisers to the campaign, they quit. They jumped ship. Why? They had major differences about how much time he was spending on the cam pair and raising campaign cash fund. Gingrich says he's committed. He'll do whatever it takes. He has the most approved on Monday night right here in New Hampshire with the other six.

FEYERICK: Paul, did the staffers feel that his heart wasn't in it for some reason?

STEINHAUSER: I think they felt he wasn't doing what most candidates do, which is basically spending 24/7 campaigning, making calls, talking to contributors. Remember Gingrich came back from an overseas cruise with his wife and they felt maybe he wasn't committed.

Two of those top staffers were also major advisers to Governor Rick Perry of Texas. They helped him to his re-election last year. Now there is talk that Perry is considering a bid for Republican nomination. Now that these two advisers are no longer with Newt Gingrich, keep your eyes on him.

FEYERICK: There's a chance they may go toward a campaign for them. Is there anybody else that's ready to jump into the race? It's still a little bit new?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. In fact, one of those people is Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah, most recently a U.S. ambassador to China. He's right here in New Hampshire campaigning this weekend. Our Candy Crowley, our chief political correspondent, she teamed up with him last night. He tells her he will announce his intentions to seek the presidency in a week and a half. You can hear the entire interview. We'll have another candidate soon enough.

FEYERICK: And it's going to be very interesting to see the debates, where everybody stands on the issues and how they're being defined at that early stage of the race. Paul Steinhauser, thanks so much. We're going to check in with you a little later on today.

And don't forget to tune in Monday night at 8:00 for the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire. Several candidates will be taking part. CNN's own John King will be the moderator.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: And as if he didn't have enough, new worries for Congressman Anthony Weiner. The list of people calling for his resignation is growing. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DNC chairman Deborah Wassermann- Schultz, and Democratic Congressional campaign committee head Steve Israel are all calling for Weiner to step aside. This comes as they're calling for a new investigation against Weiner. Jason Carroll is in the congressman's home district in queens, New York. Jason, it's looking bleak.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's going to be have interesting to see what happens in the next 24 or 48 hours now that you have top Democrats coming out and saying it's time for the congressman to come out and resign. As I spoke to him earlier, he said nothing has changed in terms of his fans, congressman Weiner telling me he has no plans to step down.

He also defended himself when asked about the sort of online communication he had with the teenage girl from Delaware. I also asked him about that. You'll recall basically there was a teenage girl from Delaware who followed him on twitter after he came to her high school, spoke to them, she followed him. She told him there was no inappropriate contact between the two of them. Congressman Weiner also reiterated that when I spoke to him this morning. He also talked about a number of other issues. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: I just want to get for the record here about the 17-year-old girl because you know that's what a number of people are talking about at this point. I mean in terms of this 17-year-old -- have you had any contact with her?

REP. ANTHONY WEINER, (D) NEW YORK: We put out a statement on that. She's spoken. I think that record is pretty clear.

CARROLL: For the record just coming from you, can you --

WEINER: Nothing -- careful. Nothing explicit, nothing indecent, absolutely nothing inappropriate.

CARROLL: I just wanted to ask about this, that 56 percent of your constituents say you should not resign and are supporting you.

WEINER: I've made some mistakes, I've acknowledged it. I'm trying to make it up to my wife and my family, but I also have to make it clear to my constituents I want to get back to work for them. Not easy to do in this environment but I'm doing the best I can.

CARROLL: You've been reaching out to a number of people. Can you tell me what advice -- have you spoken to former president Clinton?

WEINER: You know, look, I've made serious mistakes here and I have to redeem myself and I'm going to try to get back to work. They were personal failings and I'm trying not to let them get in the way of my professional work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Once again you can hear the congressman admitting to the faults and mistakes he made. He wants to get back to work, saying he wants to do that on Monday. But, again, Debbie, now that you've got top Democrats calling for his resignation, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens over the next 24 to 48 hours. Debbie?

FEYERICK: Jason Carroll, thank you very much. The drumbeat is certainly getting a lot louder. In a lot of people's minds the name Anthony Weiner is mud this weekend. Nobody is denying that. The question is whether this is permanent. Scandals pass, replaced by other scandals. Let's face it. People have short memories. But today Congressman Weiner's political horizon looks pretty bleak.

Peter Shankman is a branding and social media consultant. Peter, you're joining us. It's interesting to hear congressman Weiner say I have to redeem myself. Is that even a possibility?

PETER SHANKMAN, BRANDING AND SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT: It's a very remote possibility right now. What's very interesting is to see his demeanor now versus two, three weeks ago when he was heckling the news media saying nothing happened, nothing happened.

The biggest problem he's going have is any commercial campaign that comes out against him or a problem, they're going to say how do we know you're telling the truth? If he had come out originally and said here's what happened, I screwed up, it would be over. Keep in mind this is not a twitter problem, Facebook problem or social media problem. It was a stupidity problem. There are certain lines he crossed, whether it was twitter, social network or whatever it may be.

FEYERICK: It's difficult when you have pictures all over the internet.

SHANKMAN: Indeed.

FEYERICK: You do crisis internet. You help with people's brands. Anthony Weiner comes to you. He says, how do you fix this? What do you tell him?

SHANKMAN: To be honest, at this point, he is a young guy. He has a future in front of him or had a future in front of him. Quite honestly he should step down. It gives people a chance to forget.

Keep in mind also, his wife is pregnant, will be giving birth in six or seven months, which is going to bring this back to the forefront. He should do like other New Yorkers do, stay back, they come back and get TV show.

We do love to forgive and forget. He's not letting us forget first. The only thing that can save him is pretty wide nation -- act that takes him out of news, an act of terrorism or something that takes him out of news. That's not happening. Every day it's getting more and more difficult to take him seriously.

FEYERICK: In this particular case, the mea culpa didn't work because there's so much out. There it's never-ending. Do you think that his wife as you mention and the baby will bring back the process, make him perhaps a more sympathetic character or is that just not possible?

SHANKMAN: Again, everyone screws up. What we love in this country, is the only thing we love ripping someone to shreds is building them back up. But before they do that they have to apologize, admit what they've done and get out of the public eye for a while. The bigger question other people are asking is, well, if he's still blames this on twitter and the internet, this is the marijuana responsibility for making laws that, you know, regulate the internet, yet he doesn't even know how to use it. So it really becomes a question of can we trust him ever again.

It was a little different when President Clinton went on TV and said I did have a relationship with Monica Lewinsky. He was the man in charge. They tried to impeach him and it didn't work. That shut it down. If more people are called for him to resign, it's very, very hard to ignore the drumbeat. If I were him, step back, come back in a while.

FEYERICK: Peter Shankman, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

SHANKMAN: Thank you.

FEYERICK: Summer is the time to get outdoors and have some fun. But violent storms like this one in Illinois can pop up and create havoc. Ahead, Bonnie Schneider has the forecast and important tips for you on how to stay safe when the weather takes a sudden turn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, it's that time of year when we want to head outdoors and enjoy the weather. But be warned. Storms can come seemingly out of nowhere. Let's bring in Bonnie Schneider. They can pose a really big threat. I was supposed to be in New York. There was supposed to be a Black Eyed Peas concert. It was shut down. It was scary.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is just the beginning of the lightning season. Typically in June, July, August, we see lightning strikes. There are things you can do to stay safe. Take a look at pictures.

As Deb mentioned, these can come with rain and, of course, thunderstorms. But sometimes you get bolts from the blue. It's always a good idea to have your NOAA weather radio. Here are some tips and facts about lightning that you may not know or maybe it's a refresher course. Overall, June and July are the worst times for lightning.

Lightning strikes in the U.S. are about 25 million every year injured hundreds of people and killing nearly 60 people. If you can hear thunder that means lightning is close enough to strike. You want to seek shelter immediately.

It is important to know when you're out camping. Know where your shelter is. It's not a convertible. It's not the tires that keep you safe. It's the metal casing. Keep that in mind. Today we're looking at the threat of lightning right here across parts of the Midwest and into the south and plain states.

We have severe weather advisories popping up into parts of Oklahoma. We're also looking for a little bit of rain popping up here. And some of the rain is causing a little bit of trouble, but luckily not really the threat of severe weather causing too many delays. Across San Francisco, Baltimore, Chicago, light winds in devastation although I do anticipate that to increase.

Another huge weather story we're tracking is the threat of the fires burning over Arizona. You see the winds are picking up. The temperatures are skyrocketing. And with the low level humidity all of that will persist. The winds will pick up in Arizona. The forecast here is not good. The rest of the weekend or country looks hot, but OK. Deb?

FEYERICK: I don't think I've ever seen lightning move horizontally. Thanks, Bonnie.

Well, in Alabama, a crackdown on illegal immigration, the state's new law said to be the toughest in the nation. We'll go live to Birmingham for some reaction.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: A new illegal immigration law that's said to be the toughest in the nation is on the books in Alabama and it takes effect September 1st. Among other things, it requires the state to check the citizenship of every child who enrolls in the school. While supporters defend it, critics say it's racist and mean-spirited. Here's CNN's Rafael Romo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN INTERNATIONAL: A new immigration law in Alabama is already having a chilling effect already. Some say the message for immigrants, legal or otherwise, is you're not welcome here.

DENISE CASAREZ, ALABASTER RESIDENT: Many are afraid. They're planning to go back to where they come from.

ROMO: Some immigrants are particularly concerned about the clause of the law that makes it a criminal offense to provide transportation to an illegal alien.

WINSTON GARCIA, HONDURAN IMMIGRANT: You've got a friend. You never know if they're legal or illegal. If they go in your car, you never know.

ROMO: The legislation was signed into law the week by Alabama governor Robert Bentley, a Republican. He says he's confident the legislation is constitutional.

GOV. ROBERT BENTLEY, (R) ALABAMA: The sponsors of this Bill really worked hard on that. They looked at laws across the country and they looked at the challenges across the country and they did an excellent job in evaluating those. You know that some of those have already been upheld. Some of the Arizona bills have already been upheld.

ROMO: But Hispanic leaders say they're worried about discrimination and racial profiling. ISRAEL RUBIO, HISPANIC INTEREST COALITION OF ALABAMA: We think this opens up for somebody to be profiled. Anybody who looks a certain way or speaks a certain way is at risk. We're talking about reasonable suspicion, and what does that really mean?

ROMO: Rey Brito, the owner of three grocery stores, is concerned about the clause where employers can't hire undocumented workers.

REY BRITO, SUPERMARKET OWNER: It's not good for nobody.

ROMO: The law also makes it mandatory to check the citizenship of the students and law enforcement officers to check the legal status of a person of being illegally in the country.

CLINT TILL, BIRMINGHAM RESIDENT: For me I think there is cause for concern which is why I'm supportive of the bill because I want to make sure -- we want to make sure that people that are here are coming here legally.

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ROMO: And we're live here in alabaster, Alabama, at a grocery story that indicators to the Hispanic community. A lot of customers are concerned with how this law is going to be implemented. We talked to authorities in Jefferson County and they tell me that their jails are overpopulated already and they lack the resources and personnel to enforce the new law. Deb?

FEYERICK: Well, Rafael, it's interesting. What is happening is people are going to make illegal immigrants pariahs, outcasts, they're going to be frozen out. It's really creating an us-against-them, no?

ROMO: What people are telling me is they're concerned about what kind of effect this law is going to have. For example, you can get in trouble if you give somebody a ride and that person is unauthorized to be in this country. There's also a clause of the law that mandates that school districts inquire about the citizenship of their students. So that part of the law is making a lot of parents very nervous. And even though the law doesn't go into effect until Septembers, 1st, there's already a chilling effect here.

FEYERICK: Rafael Romo, thanks so much for bringing us that report.

Shy students are being heard without raising their hand. Just ahead the social media website that's helping out in the classroom.

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FEYERICK: Cell phones, blackberries, and iPads are sometimes banned in classrooms. But one teacher says tweeting is a great way to learn. Here's our Dan Simon.

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DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The distractions are seemingly everywhere. Eighth graders with their electronic devices busy sending text messages during history class.

ENRIQUE LEGASPI, TEACHER: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had an "a-ha moment" there. I said, wow, this is what's going to really engage my students.

SIMON: The teacher, Enrique Legaspi, is talking about when he attended a seminar in San Francisco last February about incorporating Twitter in the classroom. Ever since he told his students to BYOT. Bring your own technology. Whatever connects them to the internet. If not they can use one of the classroom computers.

LEGASPI: We want three Tweets that must be 140 characters.

SIMON: The class is studying World War I. If he asks a question.

LEGASPI: Does anyone know from the book how many people went to prison?

SIMON: Students Tweet the answer, complete with those Twitter hash tags.

LEGASPI: Remember, Damon, make sure you have a pound in front of the www.

SIMON: If he shows a video, they Tweet their feedback.

LEGASPI: Many men died because of the terrible conditions they were living in. I love the way she wrote that. That's a pretty good sentence.

SIMON: It all gets projected onto this digital chalkboard.

LEGASPI: A lot of them, what it did help them with is finding their voice. I have many that do not participate in my class discussions or share what's on their mind so Twitter became that vehicle.

SIMON: For shy students would you say this has had the biggest impact.

LEGASPI: Yes. My shy students, they have really impressed me. I know more about what they're into and try to help them to differentiate my instruction and I can be a really effective teacher.

SIMON: The primary goal for this project is to have greater class participation and Mr. Legaspi feels like he's gotten that. For some of these students it's had a positive impact even outside of the classroom.

OSCAR LOZORIA, STUDENT: I'm a shy person. I'm terrified just speaking to you.

SIMON: Fourteen-year-old Oscar Lozoria says students used to tease him but he feels like his Tweets are making him stand out and get him noticed for the first time.

LOZORIA: People talk to me now, there is no more teasing and they see me like an equal.

SIMON: Most here at Hollenbeck Middle School, a public school in East Los Angeles come from low income families. Legaspi says it shows any school can incorporate social networking into the curriculum.

LEGASPI: Twitter did become this paperless way of sharing what's on their mind.

SIMON: And it's shaping how these students learn 140 characters at a time.

Dan Simon, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

FEYERICK: You can get up to speed on all the technology, gaming & gadgets with Mark Saltzman. Join us on Sunday's at 2.00pm Eastern right here in the CNN Newsroom.