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Airline Security Shocker; Casey Anthony on the Defense; Pulled Off Plane for Saggy Pants; Inmates Testify for Amanda Knox; Sanitation and Soap; Obama, Biden, Boehner Meet for Golf Summit; 2 Rival Conferences Involve Liberal Bloggers, Conservative Bloggers; Travel of Food Diminishes Food Value; Photo of Embracing Couple in Vancouver Explained; Yammer Combines IM with Facebook
Aired June 18, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here are some of the stories making news right now.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is back home in Tucson today for the first time since she was shot there in January. Giffords and husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, are spending the weekend with family.
Giffords' office says they hope this will be the first of many trips back home.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the United States is involved in peace talks with Taliban insurgents. He says while there have been no high level meetings, there have been contacts.
U.S. State Department wouldn't confirm or deny Karzai's remarks, but it does say it supports reconciliation with insurgents willing to renounce violence.
And a major case of airline insecurity. Police say a man stole another man's identity in order to work as a flight attendant. Alison Kosik joins us now from New York.
Alison, a pretty alarming misstep here for the TSA.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, you said it. I mean, Fredricka, this is really stunning, how this guy was allegedly able to get this kind of job using someone else's identity.
Now, who's exactly - who's - who are we talking about? We're talking about Jophan Porter. He's been charged with six counts of identity theft and three counts of forgery in Miami, among others. American Airlines says it is cooperating with authorities and their investigation.
Now, according to CNN's Miami affiliate WSVN, Porter was arrested at Miami-Dade International Airport on Friday. You're looking at him here at a bail hearing that happened today.
Now, he was charged with - he was found, actually, with multiple forms of phony identifications, including driver's licenses and a passport, and he's being held on a million dollars bond. That's what came out of today's hearing. Now, an ICE official tells us, CNN, that they will deport him once his criminal case is complete.
Now, the big question everybody wants answered is how was he able to become a flight attendant? The airline has put out a statement, but it is not answering our questions. But a TSA spokesperson says airline flight crews are vetted against terrorist screening watch lists, and that it is up to the airline to verify a potential employee's identity and legal status.
And the spokesperson goes on to say that an airline I.D. card, something that Porter had, does not give someone access to secure areas of an airport. Though, Fredricka, we have to remember, he reportedly flew several trips as a trainee before getting caught - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Wow. So, Alison, you know, whose identity did Porter allegedly steal?
KOSIK: OK, we are still connecting the dots with this - with this case, but through a records check in Florida, it appears that Porter used the name of a Bronx man as an alias.
A report from the "New York Post" says that a man had that - that man, actually, had applied for food stamps and was denied that because he had a job at American Airlines. Clearly, that was not the case. The Bronx man, according to this report, alerted authorities and that's what really kicked off this investigation.
But, Fredricka, we have to remember, identity theft, it happens every day. But the fact that he could board an airline, allegedly with a false identity, and actually work for the airline in such a sensitive area is really troubling. You know, the situation really reveals what could be a significant security vulnerability, to say the least, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Alison Kosik, thanks so much, from New York.
All right, now to the Casey Anthony murder trial in Florida. Testy exchanges today between a defense expert and the prosecution. At issue, skeletal evidence from Casey Anthony's daughter, Caylee, and the manner and cause of the child's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WERNER SPITZ, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: So, based on this examination, the cause of death remained unknown for those who did the first autopsy and for me, to some extent, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: David Mattingly is in Orlando, following the trial.
So, last week, a prosecution expert said that she had no doubt it was homicide. The defense is trying to counter that, but there was other drama involving the judge today - David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It got off to a very bad start for the defense today. There's been an agreement all along in place in this trial that there would be no surprises. Everyone was supposed to know exactly what these experts were going to be testifying to as they got on the stand.
Well, today, a - a defense witness started testifying about something that wasn't in his report to the court. It was catching the prosecution by surprise. That was against the rules, and the judge very sternly admonished the defense for doing that.
Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, 9TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT: I would entertain a possible instruction, if the state wants to draft one, about this violation, and I would decide whether or not I will do it. I will reserve the decision whether or not I should proceed to contempt proceedings at the conclusion of this trial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: So a possible contempt proceedings waiting for that defense attorney after all of this was over, and that was before the jury really got to hear any testimony at all today, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Extraordinary stuff. All right. Never a dull moment, that's for sure.
Thanks so much. David Mattingly there, out of Orlando.
So the jurors have seen very little emotion from Casey Anthony in the courtroom so far, and now everyone's wondering whether she may take the stand in her own defense. I talked about that possibility with our legal guys, Avery Friedman and Richard Herman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD HERMAN, LAW PROFESSOR: Three-quarters of this jury has already made their mind up, so get - be on that.
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: That's right.
HERMAN: Imagine the cross-examination if she takes the stand, Fred. They're going to ask her 500 lies that she said and they're going to get her to acknowledge those were all lies.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HERMAN: Then they go to summation and say you can't believe - she's lying to you now. There's no plus of putting her on the stand.
Forget about the incest. That's not a pass to be a pathological liar, because you had incest as a kid. That's not going to fly. He's got to abandon that, concentrate on the forensics, where they're making a great day today. Dr. Spitz was phenomenal today.
FRIEDMAN: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And - and speaking of which, the pictures that we're seeing of Casey Anthony, she's got her head turned away because apparently they are showing some of that forensic evidence. They are showing more photographs, and so she is appearing to be a little unsettled by that.
So Werner Spitz, this pathologist, he's already said that - he describes this autopsy as shoddy. He said, in fact - he testified just moments ago that the duct tape was placed on that skull during decomposition.
Avery, does that sound like a legitimate call or will that be challenged in any way? Is he - is he credible?
FRIEDMAN: Yes. After - after decomposition - and, you know what? Let me tell you something, Fredricka, they got nobody better.
Werner Spitz is world class. No one - he goes back to the Kennedy Assassination. Mary Jo Koepeckne. I mean, he is superb.
This is the first quality witness we have seen supporting the - the defense in this, challenging the - the forensics, the science here. I think this is the only thing that we've seen coming out of the defense team, and it is important.
Reasonable doubt, we - we will have to wait and see. The - the prosecution has not completed its - its cross-examination.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And, of course, you can catch our legal guys every Saturday, noon Eastern, right here on CNN.
A college football player was booted off a U.S. Airways flight, then arrested after he refused to pull up his saggy pants. The flight crew says Deshon Marman's pajama bottoms were below his knees, exposing his underwear at the very least.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DESHON MARMAN, ARRESTED FOR NOT PULLING UP PANTS: My pants were actually not even below my knees, below my buttocks, you know? They were slightly below my waist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, so they see it different ways.
The pilot ordered Marman and all passengers off the plane. He was then jailed on suspicion of trespassing, battery and resisting arrest.
A young couple is talking about this now famous photo showing them - she and he - kissing on the street in the middle of Wednesday's hockey riot in Canada. Scott Jones says he was comforting his girlfriend, Alex Thomas, after they were beaten by police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT JONES, PHOTOGRAPHED KISSING GIRLFRIEND: They started beating us with the shields, like trying to get us to move. I don't know why. We weren't being aggressive towards them or anything like that. But then eventually they passed over us, and that's when we were on the ground.
I was just - she was a bit hysterical afterwards, obviously, and I was trying to calm her down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, CNN International's Ralitsa Vassileva will be joining us with more on this story later on in this newscast.
Recovery efforts at the Japanese nuclear plant are stalled. Details straight ahead.
But first, a salute to fathers around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MASTER SGT. CYNTHIA MESSERSCHMIDT, U.S. ARMY: Hello. I'm Master Sergeant Cynthia Messerschmidt, stationed at Joint Base Balad in Iraq. I would like to wish a happy Father's Day to my dad, Laurel (ph) Messerschmidt, in Maple Grove, Minnesota.
I love you, dad, for all you've done for your country and for all you've done for me and my family. Love you. Bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, checking international headlines now, renewed violence in Southern Sudan. The U.N. says the situation has deteriorated in the past 10 days. More than 150,000 people have fled the violence in clashes over land, oil and power.
This comes just weeks before Southern Sudan celebrates its independence from the north.
And recovery efforts at Japan's crippled nuclear plant hit another snag today. The power company that runs the Fukushima Daiichi plant has temporarily halted operation of a new cleanup system. Radiation readings in the water were too high.
And ash from Chile's explosive volcano is disrupting commercial flights again. The ash cloud is drifting between 20,000 and 35,000 feet in the atmosphere, which is prime air space for passenger jets.
Canceled flights in Australia and New Zealand have left thousands of travelers stranded.
On to Italy now, an American college student convicted of murder is pinning her hopes for freedom on a motley crew of criminals. Amanda Knox has long insisted that she didn't kill her British roommate years ago. Now, some notorious Italian criminals are backing up that claim.
Our Phil Black is in Perugia, Italy with the latest on today's testimony - Phil.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, five men convicted of serious crimes were called before the court in Perugia today, called by Amanda Knox's defense team to try and help prove her innocence in killing British student Meredith Kercher back in 2007.
The first man to give evidence today was a 50-year-old who is serving a life sentence for the murder and kidnapping of an 18-month- old boy. He was called to give evidence because he says during his time in prison, he became friends with Rudy Guede.
Guede, an Italian man, is also convicted of Meredith Kercher's killing, and this man insists that Guede told him that neither Amanda Knox nor her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, had anything to do with Kercher's murder.
Several other prison inmates were called to try and support that story. And then, the final witnesses of the day, yet another prison inmate, told a completely different story altogether.
This was a man who was serving 16 years for mafia-related crimes. He says his own brother and another man were responsible for killing Meredith Kercher. He just says he does not know where his brother is, he doesn't know who the other man was, and he don't give a very clear explanation about why he was coming forward with this information at this time - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Phil Black, thanks so much for that update.
All right, it's a simple idea, making sure people everywhere have soap. The problem is two million children die every year because of poor sanitation problems.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, washing our hands is routine for most of us. But what if you couldn't afford soap?
This week's CNN Hero saw that need, growing up as a refugee himself, and now he's trying to make sanitation a number one priority.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DERRECK KAYONGO, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: A child of war can be simply described as a kid caught between a rock and a hard place. It is finding all your pieces and trying to put them back together.
I do have something in common with the kids. You wake up every morning thinking, we just want to survive.
Sanitation isn't a priority. We have about two million kids that die of sanitation issues, mainly because they don't wash their hands.
I am Derreck Kayongo. I'm a former refugee. Now I help people fight disease with basic sanitation.
You have some soap for me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Come in here (ph).
KAYONGO: This is great.
The issue is not the availability of soap. The issue is cost. Can they afford it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Housekeeping.
KAYONGO: Eight hundred million bars of soap that the hotels throw away in the U.S. alone every year. We're able to get a lot of soap, which we can process and make brand-new soap out of it. We clean it, melt it, then cut it into final bars, box it and ship it.
CHILDREN: Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome Derreck.
KAYONGO: Being here in Kenya, at this orphanage, is coming full circle, but with good news. It's great for them to have the bars of soap, but also to use it so they can fight off diseases.
Those are clean. That's very good.
One of the things that I've learned from the kids is a sense of resilience. To know that they have this sense of hope and joy is remarkable.
Do I feel like I'm having an impact on them? Yes, I think so.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Derreck Kayongo is with me now, of the Global Soap Project, joining us from Las Vegas. So good to see you, Derreck, and congratulations on people who are learning about your project that you've been working on for a long time.
KAYONGO: Thank you so much, Fredricka. I'm so delighted to just enjoy this particular moment. It's a special moment.
WHITFIELD: So tell me what that moment was like for you, Derreck, to go to Kenya, to deliver this soap, a place where you spent as a Ugandan child, spent time in the Kenyan refugee camps, and now you're returning to Kenya and you are giving something that is so meaningful to so many children and families. What was that moment like? KAYONGO: Oh, my goodness, it's an emotional moment because you're traveling back in time, in a - in a way. But what it meant for me was that I was - we were able to figure out a way to give back, and I think giving back is - is a very special thing. and - and, you know, to - we are coming close to Father's Day, and I think that every father around the world should be giving back, in some way or the other.
And so, as I look back at that moment where I put the bar of soap in - in the hands of these kids, it talked a lot about being able to - to solve big problems with simple solutions.
It also meant that we were not forgetting where we come from. Even though I'm an American now, I - I grew up in that area. So it just meant so much to me, to be able to give back and - and give back in a - in a solution best way versus just giving back for the sake of giving back.
WHITFIELD: And -
KAYONGO: This is solving a problem, and that is a health problem.
WHITFIELD: And where did this idea come from? Because so many people, when you go to a hotel and you wash your hands with soap and you leave the soap there, maybe even the next afternoon, they, you know, so - they replace that used bar of soap with a new one.
Is that what happened to you and you said, wait a minute, you know, where is all that soap going?
KAYONGO: Yes. I - I had checked into a hotel and there were three bars of soap - facial soap, hand washing soap and body soap. That did not include the shampoos. And I thought to myself, why do they have soap for every part of your body?
And, you know, I - I took two bars, put them aside and used the one bar. And they came back that evening and they replaced everything. And that's when I knew that something was wrong, and, you know, I went to the concierge. I said, here, the soap is back, because I think they're going to charge me for them. But we laughed about it, and he said, no, everybody, you know, takes their soaps back home.
But it came - the idea came to me because my father made soap, and because of that experience I knew how to make soap and I knew how - how important soap was. So that's how it all began, because I realized that these soaps were being thrown away. Thrown away.
This is 800 million bars of soap thrown away every year by U.S. hotels, enough for them - it's not their fault, because they have to be sanitary. But they throw away 800 million bars of soap.
So I figured we can do something about this, and we can solve the problem back home. WHITFIELD: Amazing. But, you know, it wasn't a simple solution because it really did mean you had to convince a lot of the hotel chains to be a part of this, Marriott among them, on board, who said, OK, we're going to help provide these soaps so that you can do good.
KAYONGO: You know, it - it hasn't been hard at all to convince the hotels. They - they seem to be very, very happy about this because there's a big conversation going on in this country and globally around being green and about - around being environmentally good stewards.
So, I think, as we speak to the hotels, they - they are wondering, oh, my goodness, yes. We always wanted to do this. The challenge, I think, starts to become how they get it to us, the shipping issue and all that good stuff.
But, for now, we are very fortunate. All the hotels that we've spoken to have been very, very gracious and have given us the soap.
WHITFIELD: Derreck Kayongo of the Global Soap Project. Congratulations on your idea coming to fruition and helping so many people around the world.
KAYONGO: Thank you so much, Fredricka, and keep on supporting us, and we hope that everybody can go to the Global Soap Project website, globalsoapproject.org, and - and sign up and help us and support us.
Gob bless.
WHITFIELD: Excellent. I'm certain they will. Thanks so much.
KAYONGO: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: And of course we always want to hear from you at home. Tell us about the heroes in your community. Send your nominations to CNN.com/heroes.
The servicemen and women are heroes as well. This weekend, they're saying thanks to their dads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LANCE CORPORAL ROBERT WIGGINTON, U.S. ARMY: I'm Lance Corporal Robert Wigginton. I'm located in Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.
I just want to give a happy Father's Day to my dad, Robert - Robert Wigginton. I love you, dad. I can't wait to see you. Happy Father's Day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Top stories right now, an airline security shocker. Police say this man stole another man's identity to work as an American Eagle flight attendant.
Jophan Porter faces a laundry list of charges, including six counts of identity theft and three counts of forgery. He was arrested yesterday at Miami International Airport.
And to Orlando now and the Casey Anthony murder trial. Today, a forensic pathologist testified about duct tape found with the daughter Caylee's remains. And when he, the forensic - the pathologist, rather, believed the tape was attached to the child's skull.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it your opinion that the duct tape was applied to the skull after it was fully skeletonized?
SPITZ: It is my opinion that the duct tape was stuck on there after the skin had deteriorated, after the skin was decomposed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Judge Belvin Perry also scolded both sides for game playing, but he singled out defense attorney Jose Baez today for not following a court order about witness testimony.
An out of control wildfire forces evacuations in Southeast Georgia. At least 100 homes were evacuated. The fire is burning part of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. It was sparked by lightning.
Flames from several fires have charred some 200 square miles of the wildlife sanctuary.
And a two-inch thick piece of glass protected this toddler from an either hungry or playful lioness at the Colorado Zoo. You hear the giggling.
The kid is named Trent. He became an Internet sensation after his visit was caught on camera, as you see right here. His father, who shot the video, says he knew the glass was there, but he was still a little nervous as he saw the big cat opening her mouth near Trent's head.
Boston Bruins fans are hitting the streets today celebrating the team's Stanley Cup win. The city estimates about a million residents cheered the champs at today's victory parade. The Bruins came back from a two-game deficit to win the National Hockey League's championship against the Vancouver Canucks.
Some people are calling it the golf summit. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner got together for a round of golf today.
Let's bring in White House correspondent, Brianna Keilar.
Brianna, any indication yet how things went? Is everybody happy? Are they playful? BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We don't know. We're still waiting to see if we can get some word from the White House on that in terms of what the scores were, Fredricka. Your money should probably be on Vice President Joe Biden, because he's a pretty good golfer. The speaker is a very good golfer as well. The president, sort of middle of the road.
But, you know, it is really intriguing the timing of this meeting. We have been discussing this, because there are major issues that the White House and Congress are dealing with right now, the debt ceiling talks, the negotiations that have been going on that Vice President Biden has been representing the White House at. That is a huge economic issue.
And then the other issue you have is Libya. Just this week, Speaker Boehner sent a letter to the White House saying that the president would, in his view, and in the view of many in Congress, be breaking the law if he didn't seek Congressional authorization for having U.S. troops involved in the operation in Libya. And the White House, at this point, not seeking that authorization, Fredricka. So the president and the speaker, they shared a golf cart. And anyone who plays golf knows that is a lot of one-on-one time where you got to find some things to talk about.
We may not find out if these things came up, Fred, but, you know, you can kind of see how they would and certainly some of the big agenda items we heard Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, say, you know, they may come up. We think maybe they'll come up.
WHITFIELD: All right, yes, they can't just be talking about the weather during that golf cart ride.
We'll check back with you when it is a little quieter there at the White House.
Brianna Keilar, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Also today, President Barack Obama announced he has a second job, assistant coach for his daughter's Sasha's basketball team. In his weekly address, the father in chief said kids want their fathers to, quote, "be a part of their lives." And he says he enjoys coaching, even though Sasha rolls her eyes every now and then when he objects to the ref's calls.
This is a big weekend for presidential politics. The main event is the Republican leadership conference in New Orleans. But in Minnesota today, there were two rival conferences, one involving liberal bloggers, the other involving conservative bloggers.
CNN's political producer, Shannon Travis, joins us now from Minneapolis.
What is going on there, Shannon?
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, what's going on, Fred, is I'm running down my sneakers trying to shuttle back and forth between the two conferences. They are literally just a few blocks away from each other.
Let's explain to our viewers what is going on. On the one hand, in one corner, you have a liberal conference of bloggers and Internet savvy folks, called the Net Roots Nation. They're in one hotel. And as I mentioned, a few blocks away, you have another conference of conservative bloggers, and other people who are Internet savvy, called Right Online, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, big backer of a lot of Tea Party groups.
At stake is literally battles -- Internet supremacy for the 2012 election for the presidential race, for the congressional races. So both of these groups are trying to basically spark up enthusiasm, raise money, raise awareness. Democrats have traditionally been viewed as having the edge of -- in terms of doing those kinds of things on the Internet. But conservatives want to catch up. That's what the conferences are about, Fred.
WHITFIELD: I also understand that there is some big names that seem to like the conferences, and so they're there.
TRAVIS: That's right. You got to pull out your firepower. Yesterday, at Net Roots Nation -- I was there -- you saw the newly minted Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wassermann Schultz. She spoke to the crowd. And Dan Pfeiffer, who, as many of our viewers know, is the White House Communications Direction, he spoke to the crowd. It was a bit of a chilly reception to him. A lot of these progressives who call themselves the professional left, they were kind of a little antsy with the progress of some of President Obama pushing some of those issues.
Today, you had Michele Bachmann, congresswoman, just finishing up. There was a little bit of an incident. She blasted President Obama, but there was a little bit of an incident involving some glitter. A protester posted a video on YouTube saying that she was doused. It is unclear if Michele Bachmann even knew what was going on. And no one was hurt or anything -- Fred?
WHITFIELD: OK. Shannon Travis, thanks so much, Minneapolis. Appreciate that.
And for the latest political news, you know exactly where to go, CNNpolitics.com.
Straight ahead, whether you're cooking dinner at home or eating out tonight, there is a pretty good chance your meal will have traveled more than you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Downtown Aspen, Colorado, is brimming this weekend with the best food and wine around. The annual three-day food fest is under way now. and if you haven't gotten your ticket just yet, you're out of luck. They're actually sold out. And it is easy to see why. Look at that yummy food. It is where you can sample culinary deliciousness from around the world. But have you wondered just how far some of that delicious food you eat actually travels before it lands in your refrigerator or on your plate? You might be surprised, actually.
Kat Kinsman is managing editor of food blog, Eatocracy. She joins me now from Aspen, from the Food and Wine Classic.
Good to see you, Kat.
KAT KINSMAN, MANAGING EDITOR, EATOCRACY BLOG: Good to see you, Fred.
(CROSSTALK)
KINSMAN: Wish you were here with us. It is gorgeous.
WHITFIELD: Me too. I'm bummed I didn't get that ticket. But I'll just live vicariously through you.
So when you talk about the food that made its way to Aspen, you know, we know it had to travel some miles. It's hard to get to Aspen for anyone, let alone food. Give me an idea how this works. How is food tracked to find out how many miles it may have covered to make it to anybody's plate?
KINSMAN: You know, people are more empowered than they ever have been before by just having -- by having the Internet available to them. A lot of producers of chicken and lettuce and things like that are starting to have codes on their packages, and you can go to the web site, type that code in and you find out exactly how far your food has traveled, who the people are who grew it and the conditions under which it was raised. It is empowering.
WHITFIELD: Why do you want to know all that information?
KINSMAN: Well, local is pretty much always going to be better. It will taste better. It won't have been treated in strange ways to make it more viable for a cross-country trip. Let's say tomatoes, average tomato probably takes about 1500-mile journey to get to your plate. They're mostly grown in Florida. It is crazy. And they're picked green. And then they're gassed with ethylene gas so that -- in a warehouse so they can be that beautiful red color once they get to you. And they taste like cardboard.
WHITFIELD: My gosh. Now you turned me off on all the tomatoes I see in the grocery store. I need to pay attention, find out where they came from. But just because it says "organic" doesn't necessarily mean that it was plucked nearby.
KINSMAN: No. No, "Organic" means that it was raised under particular conditions. It certified that the soil was not treated with pesticides. But the best tomato you get is one out of your backyard or your neighbor's backyard. You know exactly how it was raised. You can get more amazing varieties of tomatoes because they weren't bred to be trekked across the country. They may have a thin skin. But these incredible colors and flavors, local is going to be better.
WHITFIELD: OK. That really brings us to those kinds of community gardens we're going to, the farmer's markets. In a lot of neighborhoods, a parking lot may be converted into a weekend farmer's market. So there you're likely to get local0grown you're talking about. Not likely to happen when you go to the big grocery store.
KINSMAN: Some grocery store chains have taken to letting the farmers set up shop in their parking lot. Your best bet is going to be -- to go it a web site like localharvest.org and you can find the farmer's market nearest to you.
WHITFIELD: Fantastic. I learned so much. I had no idea that tomatoes were gassed for that red. I thought they were just plucked when they were green and just naturally reddened before they made it to the grocery stand.
KINSMAN: There is a great new book by Barry Estabrook called "Tomato Land." And it's the journey of how the tomato got to your plate. A fantastic read for anybody.
WHITFIELD: Fantastic.
Kat Kinsman, thanks so much. That's why you're the managing editor of the blog, Eatocracy.
(LAUGHTER)
Enjoying yourself in Aspen. Next time, I want to come along.
(LAUGHTER)
Thanks so much, Cat.
CNN's coverage of the Aspen Food and Wine Festival continues this afternoon. Don Lemon will talk to Daniel Belud in the 5:00 Eastern hour. Tune in then. Get much more information by going to CNN.com/Eatocracy.
All right, just days after it was taken, it is already an iconic photograph. In the middle of last week's hockey riot in Vancouver, one couple, on the street, right there, embracing, kissing. Why? We explain after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Against a background of violence, love. This photo has gone viral. It shows a couple embracing during the riot that broke out in Canada Wednesday after Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup playoffs and people went nuts.
Ralitsa Vassileva of our sister network, CNN International, is here with the story behind that picture.
Reminiscent of, well, maybe not so reminiscent of World War II and that picture -- RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. That's what I was thinking.
WHITFIELD: -- But there wasn't violence going on around.
(CROSSTALK)
VASSILEVA: There was celebrations.
WHITFIELD: Yes. How did this happen?
VASSILEVA: Well, this couple, they weren't rioters.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
VASSILEVA: They weren't protesting or anything. They just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had watched the game at some friends' house downtown and they were going home and then they heard some commotion and their curiosity got the better of them.
WHITFIELD: Really?
VASSILEVA: So they decided to investigate and see what was going on.
But here is how they explain how they ended up in the middle of a riot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX THOMAS, INJURED DURING RIOT: We were downtown after the game and we were walking across Grandville. Grandville was empty and we realized they're emptying the streets. There is tear gas going off. We were on our way to the sky train and we found ourselves on this street where there was police lined up.
SCOTT JONES, ALEX THOMAS' BOYFRIEND: The cops told us the trains were shut down. Like they were blocking off streets. Tear gas started. We had nowhere else to go. We didn't know where we were supposed to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VASSILEVA: He said that they tried to run away, but she couldn't keep up with him and she fell and she --
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. Like something out of the movies.
VASSILEVA: Then the police, you know, charged at them, and they were on the ground there. They were really terrified.
WHITFIELD: Wow.
VASSILEVA: This looks like a love scene.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it does. VASSILEVA: A very tender, moving moment, but actually they were terrified.
WHITFIELD: That captured moment has it, you know, appearing as though it is a controlled moment. Even some people who are saying, is this really real? Did they plan this? Was this completely spontaneous?
VASSILEVA: Yes, some thought that they were performance artists trying to, you know, to make a stand against --
(LAUGHTER)
-- you know, make love, not war. And you know.
WHITFIELD: Interesting.
VASSILEVA: But actually they were terrified and he was trying to comfort her because she was very scared. She was hit by, you know, a shield from one of the police. They were both -- tried -- the police tried to push them away, so they were terrified, and he just tried to comfort her and that's how he ended up --
WHITFIELD: Chivalrous.
VASSILEVA: They were not aware what was going on. Someone was taking a picture of them. Here, again, in their own words.
WHITFIELD: Wow. So now what -- now what?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: They started beating us with the shields, like trying to get us to move. I don't know why. We weren't being aggressive towards them or anything like that. Eventually, they passed over us. And that's when we were on the ground. I was just -- she was a bit hysterical afterwards obviously, and I was trying it calm her down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: How sweet.
VASSILEVA: That's what they say was going on.
WHITFIELD: Yes. They're sticking to that story. That's the way it is.
VASSILEVA: Yes. But when you look at it, you could think this could be a statement of some sort.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it just looks so perfect.
VASSILEVA: Yes, it looks very perfect.
WHITFIELD: So then, now what for this couple? Did they reveal anything else about their plans, whether this cements the deal for them?
(LAUGHTER)
VASSILEVA: We are in on their relationship, aren't we, through the social media?
WHITFIELD: Yes.
VASSILEVA: Most people, I think, like you and me, want them to stay together, right? But you know what? They planned already a trip to California and he's Australian. So after that trip, he goes back home. He was on a working holiday in Vancouver.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.
VASSILEVA: They met and they started dating.
WHITFIELD: Boy, does he have a story to tell.
VASSILEVA: Yes. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: Interesting. I'm glad you're able to bring us the details because, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: -- a picture is worth a thousand words, right? And beyond.
(LAUGHTER)
VASSILEVA: That says it all, Fred. You said it all.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Ralitsa. Appreciate that.
VASSILEVA: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, well, we hope that you're sharing the love this weekend with your dad. Our troops are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA ABOYTES: Hi. I'm Nation 3 (ph), Lisa Aboytes (ph), here in Camp Leatherneck Afghanistan. I just want to say happy Father's Day to my dad, David Aboytes (ph), in California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, better than riding in a helicopter, a roller coaster or speedboat, taking a spin in a stock car on one of NASCAR's most prized motor speedways. That's what I got to do with one of NASCAR'S best driver, Jason Leffler. Face to face, we talked about how he has been racing since the age of 12, what he does in his spare time, and how he has stayed in this level of racing for so long.
The talk was easy. Getting ready for the open track? Well, see for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Whose idea was this?
(LAUGHTER)
I'm actually really excited and I know I'm in great hands with Jason here. So if I'm going to have a first-time race car experience, this is the way to go.
We're in a Richard Petty NASCAR experience vehicle, so here we go. Let her rip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: So the butterflies didn't last long. Face to face with Jason Leffler and fellow NASCAR driver, Joey Logano, next weekend face to face. You don't want to miss it.
All right, time for a summer vacation. If you want the fun but not the crowds, our Joe Carter has some ideas in this week's "On the Go."
(ON THE GO)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, how many e-mails do you have in your business account? For most of us, it's just too many.
As our Dan Simon shows us, there's a new way of communicating in the office and it combines instant messaging with Facebook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's being called the Facebook for business. Silicon Valley executive David Sag, who helped revolutionize payments as a co-founder of PayPal, wants to also advance how we communicate at the office.
Three years ago, he launched Yammer to bring social networking to the workplace.
DAVID SAG, SILICON VALLEY EXECUTIVE & LAUNCHED YAMMER: At every company I have ever worked at there's always this problem that you don't know what your co-workers are doing. So Yammer is really born out of our own need for this product.
SIMON: So Sag built a site that allows employees so that they can most things about work. A hundred thousand companies around the globe are now using it from EBay to Seven-Eleven to Xerox.
Yammer works within a company's internal network so it says the information is secure and not for public consumption.
CAROLINE JAPIC, CORPORATE MARKETING EXECUTIVE, POLYCOM: We're doing collaborative culture and it just enhanced that.
SIMON: Caroline Japic runs corporate marketing for the telecommunications firm, Polycom. She says Yammer is replacing e-mail as the preferred way to communicate with co-workers. Users may put up a post or work related question, and just like Facebook, other also weigh in with their own thoughts.
JAPIC: It's just a new way of thinking. It's how people want to communicate, so we're just giving them the tools to do so.
SIMON: But with sites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and LinkedIn already taking up a lot of our time, are we at a point where social networking is becoming too much, or is this just how we're going to interact now in both our personal and professional lives?
(on camera): Does a company like Yammer exist without Facebook?
SAG: I think Facebook had to come first in the sense that people had to get used to this new way of communicating. We think social networking represents this fundamental upgrade and people's ability to communicate with each other. This has obviously transformed how we communicate in our personal lives. We think it's going to have a similar impact inside the workplace on how we communicate with our coworkers.
SIMON: Yammer and other companies like it have a free version. They make money by offering premium features. They're betting that average employee will prefer social networking over e-mail.
Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And you can get all the latest on all the technology on gaming and gadgets with Mark Feldman (ph). Join us Sundays at 2:00 Eastern time right here in the "CNN NEWSROOM."