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Whitey Bulger Arraigned; Reaction to President Obama's Twitter Town Hall; NASA's Space Shuttle Program Ending; Atlanta School District Caught Cheating; Facebook Rolls Out Skype App; Court Says Military Must End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
Aired July 06, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
E.D. HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone, I'm E.D. Hill, in for Brooke Baldwin today.
It's a very busy Wednesday. We get straight to some of the stories that are unfolding right now.
Accused Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger formally arraigned just moments ago, accused of 19 murders, his plea, not guilty.
Plus, a shocking new warning today from Homeland Security, would- be terrorists surgically implanting bombs into their bodies to smuggle them on to planes.
And, as I said, the president holding a first-ever Twitter town hall.
But we begin with this.
Celebrities, murder and terror victims, many of their phones hijacked. It is going to show you that some of the journalists will do anything to get a scoop on the story. British lawmakers are now debating to do after all these hackings, this after British writers from the "News of the World" newspaper allegedly hacked into cell phone voice-mails, including that of murdered British teen Milly Dowler.
Now, police say the hackers deleted some of Dowler's messages. If so, they may have interfered with a murder investigation. "News of the World" is part of the Rupert Murdoch media empire, which includes "The Wall Street Journal," FOX News, and "The New York Post." Several employees have already been interviewed by police.
"The New York Post" calls the allegations deplorable and unacceptable.
Rebekah Brooks, the editor of "News of the World" at the time, says she is -- quote -- "sickened" that these events are alleged to have happened.
Also, actor Hugh Grant says he's the latest celebrity to be hacked by the tabloid. He spoke to Richard Quest today.
And Richard joins us. He will be joining us in just a little bit. And interesting, what Hugh Grant has to say.
Now, after a decade-and-a-half on the run, accused Boston gang boss James "Whitey" Bulger is back in court today, being arraigned for his alleged role in 19 murders. He pleads not guilty to all of the charges against him. Bulger was the head of a South Boston Irish gang and was the inspiration for the character portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the movie "The Departed."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR: When I was your age, they would say we could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying is this. When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Allegedly, Bulger was also an FBI informant. And we recently spoke to one of Bulger's former associates who's written a book and who bluntly describes his feelings about Bulger's alleged role with the FBI.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN "RED" SHEA, FORMER MOBSTER: Rats in my mob world is a no- no, and especially in Southie. Southie, you grew up, accept your responsibility, even if the guy next to you can't. If you do something wrong, you pay your price for it, and that's just the way it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: More on that story in just a moment.
But now we go to Richard Quest, who interviewed Hugh Grant about this news story.
And I have got to tell you, here in the States, we aren't paying as much attention to it, but it is big news over in the U.K. Hugh Grant among a lot of people who say that their phones were hacked by journalists.
Richard, you talked to him. What did he say?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, you say. The scandal is large, it's growing. The British government today said that there would be a public inquiry when the police have finished investigating.
Rupert Murdoch, who owns the newspaper -- by the way, it's this newspaper we're talking about, it's call the "News of the World." It's the usual salacious gossip and rumor and all dressed up festively with some scantily clad ladies as well.
Unfortunately, when they started wholesale hacking of voice-mail, it went into a different league. Particularly, it was celebrities, it was stars, and now it's being dead murdered girl's voice-mails and the patient parents of bomb victims and the like.
When I talked to Hugh Grant earlier today, Hugh has put his head above the parapet and said it's time to stop. It's time to say, these newspapers, enough is enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUGH GRANT, ACTOR: Well, it began with just personal grievance, because I was a victim of phone hacking. And then I had this extraordinary piece of luck where I ran into an ex-features editor from the "News of the World" itself, in this unlikely scenario where my car broke down. It's a long story.
But, anyway, he started boasting about hacking me, hacking everyone, all the dirty tricks of the "News of the World," their sinister relationship with the Metropolitan Police, their relationship with the prime minister.
And I thought it was all both fascinating and utterly repulsive. And, so, subsequently, I went back to see him. He now runs a pub in Dover. And I dropped in for a pint and a chat and bugged him. I bugged him back. I was wearing a wire, and got him talking all this stuff again, and I published it all in a British paper, the "New Statesman."
And that was the beginning of my sort of obsession with this, and my outrage, because, you know, it's one thing for there to be a very bad newspaper in the country. But when you start to realize it's not one, it's all our tabloids who have been shockingly out of control for a long time, and when you realize how much collusion there's been from the police and how much collusion there's been from our lawmakers, from our government, who need these tabloids, especially the Murdoch press, to get elected, you start to think, I'm not proud of my country anymore. This is not the democracy I thought I was proud of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: And you see, E.D., what happens here is really the size and the scale, the depths and the depravity.
And that's why tonight there's nobody in Britain who doesn't have a view one way or the other on the phone hacking scandal.
HILL: And it is. It's so big, as Hugh was alluding to. You have got the police that are allegedly involved in this, you have got politicians. Everybody seemed to be sort of feeding into it. And it just kept growing bigger and really to a tawdry, out-of-control, you know, hacking murder and terror victims.
QUEST: Sure. Sure, because it's been going on for so long. The actual hacking was all in the 2002, 2003, 2004. But we first knew about it when Prince William's phone was hacked in 2005.
Now, from '5 to '7, it rumbles on, this, that, and the other. We're told it's all over. But just in the last couple of years, this thing has come up again. Sienna Miller has received 100,000 pounds, $160,000. Max Clifford received over $1 million. It looks like people like Hugh Grant will receive payments.
So it keeps -- what happens is, the newspaper keeps saying, enough, we have got to the bottom of it, we now know what happened, and then, whoosh. like a fountain, it erupts all over again with more allegations. But this time, we're in a different league. This is like something, because I mean, when the prime minister says he's disgusted, it's deplorable, then you know that we're in deep trouble indeed.
HILL: All right. We will continue following this.
Richard Quest, always good to talk to you. Thanks.
Turning now to the White House, where President Obama had a first this afternoon, a tweet-up. Now, if you're like me, I was tweet-up, what is that? Well, apparently that's what they call it in Twitter land. The president is hosting a Twitter town hall today. Basically, anybody can meet up there, Twitter a question. They keep it of course to the 140-character max, but no limit on the size of the presidential response, and the president answered with a microphone.
Let's bring in our White House correspondent, Dan Lothian.
Now, the president certainly not known for short answers, tweets or otherwise.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
HILL: What were most of the questions about today?
LOTHIAN: Well, look, most of the questions were about jobs, about the economy. Twitter saying that 27 percent of the questions that came in were about jobs; 6 percent were about housing, but the president also getting questions about the big issue right now, which is the raising of the debt ceiling.
And one of the questions specifically was asking the president whether or not he was prepared to issue an executive order to essentially invoke the fourth -- Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which essentially some interpret that the president has the power and the authority to go ahead and just continue spending money, even if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling.
The president sidestepping that somewhat, but saying that he doesn't think that the Constitution should ever come into play here, that a deal has to get done, and he believes that a deal will get done.
But the president, what we also heard from him, is an admission that he has not been perfect in the two-and-a-half years or so. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that probably two things that I would do differently, one would have been to explain to the American people that it was going to take a while for us to get out of this.
I think even I did not realize the magnitude, because most economists didn't realize the magnitude of the recession until fairly far into it, maybe two or three months into my presidency, where we started realizing that we had lost four million jobs before I was even sworn in.
And so I think people may not have been prepared for how long this was going to take and why we were going to have to make some very difficult decisions and choices. And I take responsibility for that, because setting people's expectations is part of how you end up being able to respond well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: And the second thing was, the president said, the decline in the housing market, that it was much steeper than anyone anticipated, that it still has not bottomed out yet, and that his administration has had to tweak housing programs in order to respond to the housing crisis.
So, both the housing and this economy, the situation being much bigger than the president anticipated, he wishes that he could have better spelled this out to the American people, E.D.
HILL: That first answer was interesting, because a lot of people when he was elected said he is the great communicator after Reagan, who did such a good job connecting to people. And he's saying that, no, he didn't do a good enough job exactly in that way.
Now, the other one that I heard came in was from House Speaker John Boehner, and he got in on the action by tweeting a question to the president too.
LOTHIAN: That's right. That's right. And even leading up to this today, House Speaker John Boehner had been encouraging Republicans to join this Twitter feed to answer or ask their own questions of the president. So you had the Republican National Committee sending questions asking about where are the jobs, and so John Boehner was able to get a question in, and it was kind of a funny moment, when he was essentially asking the president about where are the jobs. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MODERATOR: Our next question comes from someone you may know. This is Speaker Boehner.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, there you go.
(LAUGHTER)
MODERATOR: "After embarking on a record speaking -- spending binge that left us deeper in debt, where are the jobs?"
And I want to note that these characters are his fault -- (LAUGHTER)
MODERATOR: Not his fault, not his fault, not his fault.
OBAMA: Well, first of all, John obviously needs to work on his typing skills.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Well, look, the -- obviously, John's the speaker of the House. He's a Republican, and so this is a slightly skewed question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: It doesn't seem like he was expecting it.
(CROSSTALK)
LOTHIAN: That's right. Listen, earlier I had known that, you know, that the speaker was tweeting these various questions and encouraging Republicans to do that.
I didn't expect that this question would get through there, but it did. The president ultimately admitted that jobs have not come quickly enough. So he did give the speaker that point and says that his administration is obviously doing everything that it can to create those jobs. But that was a certainly a good moment during this tweet town hall.
Also, there was another moment at the very top where you saw the president actually tweet, live tweet, I guess the first president to do something like this, where we sent himself a question. So that was another historic moment, if you will, of President Obama.
HILL: All right. Dan Lothian, thanks so much.
Nearly 10 years in the making, at a cost of billions of dollars, and just a year from now, the 9/11 Museum near the former World Trade Center towers will open up. But, today, a lot of people are furious. The New York City Council is deciding whether to charge admission. One of the brave firefighters who ran into the buildings and ended up near death himself will join us to talk about it.
Plus, Atlanta public schools scoring high marks, basking in praise. It turns out it was all a facade, cheating, not by the students, but by teachers and principals.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: In 67 days, we mark 10 years since the 9/11 terror attacks. And on that day, the September 11 Memorial will be dedicated at the site of the former World Trade Center complex. And a year after that, the museum will open. Now, this may outrage you. The New York City Council is deciding whether to charge admission to the museum, maybe as much as $25 per person. Regardless of what it costs, the idea of charging admission at all seems pretty horrible to a lot of folks.
And that includes Jim Riches, a former deputy chief of the New York City Fire Department, a firefighter who ran into the buildings to rescue people. One of the bodies that Jim pulled out was that of his own son. And Jim almost lost his own life. He was in a coma for 16 days.
He joins us now from New York.
And, truly, you are one of the many heroes out there that day. And you are really upset about this. Frankly, I don't blame you. But what have you heard? Why are they considering $25 for admission?
JIM RICHES, FORMER FDNY CHIEF: I don't know.
This was supposed to be a place of remembrance and reverence. And now we have it being a revenue-generating tourist attraction. It's a shame. It's a $65 million annual budget. They have salaries up around $400,000. This was supposed to be for all of America, the National 9/11 Memorial Museum, not just for the rich and the privileged.
And they have made this 95 percent museum and only 5 percent memorial. I think it's a disgrace what they're doing and I think America should be outraged. Gettysburg doesn't charge to get in and neither does Pearl Harbor, and I think they shouldn't charge down at Ground Zero.
HILL: You bring up a really good point. And that is, if they're complaining that they don't have enough money to be able to fund this thing through the year, first, why did they decide to make it so big, but second, those salaries, I was stunned when I looked at those. And you take a look at -- and there's a number of them, about 10 of them, I believe. Those salaries put them into the top 1 percent of earners in America. I mean, that's how rich these salaries are.
Were you surprised by what they're planning on paying people?
RICHES: Yes, they say they're doing a great job and they deserve it, but it's ridiculous.
You have 14 million people unemployed, more underemployed, and they're claiming that their salaries are justified. It's not justified. They're making money off people that died that day. It was the most tragic day in American history. And they haven't listened to the families or anybody else with this museum.
I mean, we don't even have the ranks of the firefighters on the memorial and their ages. We wanted their ages. It's not on there like Pearl Harbor. They refused to do it. They don't listen to us, and we feel that it's wrong to charge that money to get in and pay these people's salaries -- $60 million budget is way overboard. It could be cut.
HILL: Well, it does seem huge. I don't like the idea of charging admission to go to a 9/11 memorial at all or the museum.
But the other issue that you were talking about was that when the whole idea -- and I was there for 9/11. I was there for the first World Trade Center bombing back in '93. When the idea was brought up, it was going to be a memorial. And then it just started morphing. As politicians and all sorts of people in New York City got involved in this, it started morphing into this bigger and bigger and bigger thing. And now we have reached this, museum and memorial, and this $60 million annual budget.
You say you really haven't had a say in this. Do the families feel pretty left out?
RICHES: We are left out. And I tell you, as soon as you walk in, there's a gift shop. They're selling books, T-shirts, and cups. Just like they were yelling about the people --
(CROSSTALK)
RICHES: -- doing, they're doing the same thing. They're being like vultures.
HILL: Wait. They're going to be selling T-shirts? Hold on, Jim.
RICHES: Inside the museum, as soon as you walk in. There's a gift shop as soon as you walk in. They're also going to put our human remains nine stories -- seven stories below grade behind the wall. And they were -- told us at the beginning that the remains were going to be separate and distinct from any museum or visitor center.
Yet we have them in the basement of a museum down there. And we have a Freedom of Information Act going right now. And we're trying to get them to notify all the families, as they were told it was ethical and professionally correct to notify the family where their remains were going to be placed. And we thought it was going to be like a Tomb of the Unknown above ground. Yet, they're putting them in below in a basement behind a wall.
HILL: All right, Jim, I can tell that you're upset and I certainly understand that.
We will continue watching to see what the New York City Council decides to do. A lot of people go there and visit and they go down to that area to where the World Trade Center was. You certainly gave a lot that day and I'm sure it continues to this day. Jim Riches, thank you very much.
RICHES: We shouldn't have to pay to go into a cemetery. Thank you.
HILL: Yes. It is pretty hard for a lot of people to imagine, but soon Casey Anthony will walk free. But then what? She's tossed her family under the bus in the testimony. She's got limited education. She's got no money. So how will she make it? Some say she will sell her story. Coming up next, how much cash Casey could rake in.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: We have got some breaking news right now. Apparently, an earthquake over five on the Richter scale in Tonga. That's about 1,000 miles from Australia.
Let's go to Chad Myers right now.
Chad, what have you found out?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: E.D., it's a big quake. It's a 7.8, a significant shake here.
HILL: Oh.
MYERS: But it is about 30 miles deep into the ocean. That means 30 miles of padding. When we had the big tsunami in Japan, that shallow quake was just a couple of miles deep, and so the entire bottom of the earth shook, and so the water moved a lot.
Here's Australia right here and there's a big fault line right through here. And at that point, right there on that fault line north of New Zealand right there is where the shake happened. I will get rid of this and get you into the fault lines itself, and where Australia is, a big country right through here.
A lot of faults in here, into Micronesia, Indonesia, and then along the fault line here. Here's New Zealand, Wellington here, the northern island here. This is a subduction zone, two pieces of land, one going under another. The two plates, you know them, the plates we call them, one plate going under another. All of a sudden one shook, really almost the exact type of shake and quake that they had in Japan with the big tsunami there.
But being deeper than the one here, we don't think there'll be as big of a wave. But there are tsunami warnings for parts of the Pacific out here, nothing for where America or even into Hawaii or Alaska. We will keep watching to see if really a wave was generated or not.
HILL: Chad, quick question.
MYERS: Sure.
HILL: How long before you have an idea of that? How do they sense that? Do they send out helicopters? How do they find out whether or not you have got that wave coming?
MYERS: No. There's an amazing product out there, and they're all over the Pacific Ocean. They're called DART buoys, DART. On the bottom of the ocean is a scale, literally. And it measures the weight of the water above it.
If that water goes up by one or two inches, the scale down at the bottom of the ocean can say, hey, that's getting heavier, there must be more water above me. That little wave that just went over the scale will sound the alarm and sound the alert. And that's how they will know whether a wave is actually coming or not. It's an amazing thing. You can go right on -- just go Google DART and find out all about the DART buoys across -- and they were put in -- many of them were put in after the Banda Aceh quake back about seven years ago.
HILL: All right. You keep an eye on that. And we will continue with the rest of the news today, a lot of it.
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: After three long years of searching for the answer to a simple question, what happened to Caylee Anthony, we got that stunning verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to the charge of first- degree murder, verdict as to count one, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: And tomorrow, Caylee Anthony's mother, Casey, will likely walk out of jail a free woman. How did this happen? Listen to an alternate juror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL HUEKLER, ALTERNATE JUROR: What came out was that this is a very dysfunctional family. And they did not handle things well at all. Yes, we all believe, and I'm pretty sure I can say this for all 17 of us, there was some type of horrific accident. The family knows a lot more than what they're -- than what came out at the trial, but they didn't prove that there was a murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Well, one day after that verdict, a lawyer on the losing side speaks out.
This is prosecutor Jeff Ashton and what he said on "The Today Show" this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ASHTON, PROSECUTOR: I cannot believe that's what happened. But, again, beyond a reasonable doubt is a high standard. And, you know, the jurors may have thought as I do, but beyond a reasonable doubt is a high standard. And I respect the fact that they, you know, applied the law to the case as they saw it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: Well, the question so many people are asking today is, could Casey Anthony now get rich from book and movie deals? We do know she has been offered to star in a porn movie. But are more mainstream lucrative deals in the work?
We bring in someone now who can help us figure this out.
Marvet Britto helps people and companies turn their name into a brand. And she joins us from New York.
Now, first off, Casey Anthony's trial drew big audiences, but when you talk to folks, she's got to be one of the most hated people in America. So whatever she sells, will people buy it?
MARVET BRITTO, ENTERTAINMENT, P.R. AND BRAND STRATEGIST: This trial has significantly shifted the winds of Casey Anthony's future.
And, really, right now, she has to use a platform in order to shift the winds of perception. I mean, if she's released in a day or two, she can't go shopping as a normal, regular citizen, not being perceived the way that she is.
So, for her, we live in, sadly, a society that exploits tragedies. So the best way that she can rebound from this, if she's ever going to have any type of normalcy in her life, is to share her story. She apparently has a high level of dysfunction in her family, in her background. And because she didn't testify, we never heard a first-person account of her perspective of what took place.
So, I believe that that perspective and that view, that insider's perspective that she can share, will have a high price tag.
HILL: When you look at a lot of the big books that come out, it's because people are willing to say something that folks didn't know before.
Well, the defense came out and they explained what they claim, what she claims happened. Is there a possibility that she comes out and really drops a bombshell? We know she cannot be tried again on a murder charge. So could she come out with something unbelievable?
BRITTO: I believe so.
I believe that she didn't testify, and so whatever she says is going to be new information. It's going to be information that the public hasn't heard from her personally. So I believe that the stakes are going to be very high. They will be very high for books. They will be very high for that first sit-down interview.
And they will be very high for film deals or whatever will come in the future. But more importantly, she has to shift the public's opinion. She was convicted in the most dangerous court in the world, and that's the court of public opinion.
(CROSSTALK) HILL: She seems, as you said, pretty dysfunctional. I'm not sure she's got it all together enough to be wondering or concerned with what people think about her.
I get the sense that at this point, based on, you know, how she's acted in the past, she's probably just in it for the money, what kind of cash. So, based on your experience, when you see people like this -- take like Amy Fisher, the Long Island Lolita -- what kind of money do they get? Are we talking $100,000, $500,000, $1 million?
And who pays that? What kind of organizations are willing to pay to people like that?
BRITTO: Well, in our society today, every media organization who's interested in her story, the stakes will be high based on the offers that come in.
And she will filter those offers. Her, her legal team will filter the offers. So, I would only imagine that, based on cases similar to this, she could stand to earn millions, sadly, from exploiting this case, because that's the landscape of the society that we live in.
So I -- sadly, she will stand to make millions from this tragedy.
HILL: Yes.
And I know that, sometimes, you know, organizations will get around it by not paying that person, but then by paying a consulting fee. So, it's -- there's that little bit of wiggle room there to claim that it's not quite as tawdry as it really is. You know, the --
(CROSSTALK)
BRITTO: Or pay a family member.
HILL: Yes, the -- right.
The Internet is buzzing because everyone assumes there's going to be a made-for-TV movie or a film or something like that. Who would play -- well, let's take a look. These are the most talked about folks -- "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart, bloggers saying they've got the same nose, same mouth. Alyssa Milano - she's played the infamous Long Island Lolita, Amy Fisher, in a movie.
Also a gossips site is putting Lindsay Lohan's name and face out there, saying, well, she's got experience in a courtroom. And a few names getting a lot of support in the chat rooms - "Juno" star Ellen Page, Oscar winner Natalie Portman, and pop star -- not an actress, even -- Katy Perry.
So if any of those stars were your clients, would you want them playing Casey Anthony in a movie?
BRITTO: I mean, in Hollywood, it's all about the role and it's all about a dollar figure. It's not -- an actress's job is to really transcend the moment and become that person. And it's got all the ingredients for a very juicy story. So I would image that if it happens actresses will be clamoring to play Casey Anthony.
HILL: Wait and see. I'm sure we all will. Marvet Britto, thank you very much.
BRITTO: You're welcome.
HILL: Coming up, we are going to, of course update you on the breaking news of a massive earthquake near New Zealand. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back. I'm meteorologist Chad Myers. I want to bring you up to date here on the earthquake. The number has gone down 7.7, but the depth has gone significantly closer to the surface of the water.
And I touched on this a little bit ago. When it was 30 miles deep, there's 30 miles of padding, of rock that doesn't let the earthquake move the water very much. But now we may be only a couple of miles deep.
We're talking a long way from the U.S. This is Tonga. Over here would be Australia. But along the plates, the Australian plate and the Pacific plate, there has been a 7.7 right there, and that was just a few moments ago. A tsunami warning has been issued for the immediate area, and they're even saying there may be some small fluctuations to Hawaii. But no watches, no warnings, no advisories at all for Hawaii or for any parts of the U.S. Pacific -- E.D.
HILL: Chad, thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
HILL: Now, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERROL DAVIS, INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We have cheated students. This angers us all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Sure does. Atlanta public schools under fire today. Dozens and dozens of teachers and principals accused of cheating for their students. And the investigation is causing an implosion, possibly even criminal charges. That story is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: A cheating scandal is rocking Atlanta's schools. It's not dishonesty by the students, but cheating by teachers and even principals. And it's not new. Investigators say that it goes back a decade. Ed Lavandera has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two years ago, the head of Atlanta public school's Beverly Hall was named the country's top superintendent. Back then she was credited for turning the Atlanta system into a model of urban school reform and accomplishing significant gains in student achievement.
But Georgia's governor says the state's just completed investigation into the Atlanta school district's standardized testing process found widespread fraud dating back almost ten years.
GOV. NATHAN DEAL, (R) GEORGIA: Testing and results and targets being reached became more important than actual learning on the part of children. And when reaching targets became the goal, it was a goal that was pursued with no excuses.
LAVANDERA: According to the report, cheating was found in 44 of 56 schools investigated, involving almost 180 principals and teachers. Some of those educators could face criminal charges. Superintendent Hall stepped down from her job in June, but in a farewell video message she suggested the culprits acted alone.
BEVERLY HALL, FORMER ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: A segment of our staff chose to violate the trust that was placed in them. And let me be clear -- there is simply no excuse for unethical behavior and no room in this district for unethical conduct.
LAVANDERA: According to the investigative report, some teachers told investigators they felt pressured to cheat on the standardized tests, and school officials missed significant and clear warning signs of test score tampering. Atlanta's interim superintendent says any educator who cheated should never teach in the city's schools again.
ERROL DAVIS, INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We have cheated students. This angers us all. It is hard for us to quantify and often express that anger.
LAVANDERA: Across the city of Atlanta parents of schoolchildren are dismayed by the investigation's findings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They clearly did not do their job and they abused their power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a sad comment about what happens when adults put their own individual interests ahead of the children they serve.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Ed joins me now. So I understand that some of these folks could end up in jail, right?
LAVANDERA: Right. This case, in report is essentially being handed over to three district attorney's offices here in the Atlanta area, and they're going to go through there. And they've got a lot of people that they've talked to. There's a lot of teachers, there's a number of people who just confessed, flat-out, according to this report. And there are a number of people who didn't cooperate, and there are a lot of high-ranking officials.
So, yes, there's a very real chance of criminal charges. And that will probably take some time, but it's definitely moving that way. All of this has been handed over the investigators and prosecutors.
HILL: I recall not that long ago a huge scandal to the Chicago school system. Just a few months back it was the D.C. school system, now Atlanta. Usually they are around these standardized tests. Are the teachers just not teaching kids? Or are they looking for that improvement, like the kids are doing OK, but they want them to do really well, so they get the --
LAVANDERA: Isn't that the knock that you hear across the country, that so many parents have complaints that teachers are simply teaching their kids on how to take a test, that that's essentially what a lot of these classrooms have come to. That's a criticism that's out there. Obviously a story like this kind of reinforces that criticism.
So, yes, there is that concern. And when you start hooking in teacher performance, reviews, salaries in some cases, into how these students perform, a lot of people say, look, you open up the door to this kind of behavior.
HILL: But then without it, how do you figure out how they're doing?
LAVANDERA: Yes. But the real sad case, I was talking to one guy at the governor's office today who said they have children who have moved from elementary school into middle school. They've been told for years that their test scores are great, everything's fine. And they're finding out now these kids, they don't even know how to read. But there were never any warning signs. Their scores had been changed. Everyone believed they were doing fine. And they're way behind. A disservice has been done to, you know, many of these children.
HILL: It's surprising that no one blew the whistle earlier.
LAVANDERA: And the reports talks about that, that whistle -- the fascinating thing that whistleblowers were punished and people who cheated were rewarded.
HILL: Ed Lavandera, thank you very much.
LAVANDERA: You bet.
HILL: Coming up --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I actually didn't grow up to want to be a journalist. In the beginning I wanted to be an astronaut. And so 20 years ago I came right here to space camp in Huntsville, Alabama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: That's right, your beloved Brooke is not here today because she is there. Coming up next, Brooke comes as earthly close as she can to living out her dream of becoming an astronaut. We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Friday may mark the end of the space shuttle era, but it is not the end of humans in space. And it is certainly not the end for those who dream of one day becoming an astronaut. In fact, there is one place on earth that gets you pretty close to the real thing. CNN's Brooke Baldwin goes in depth and is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: If you can't go to space, in Huntsville, Alabama, NASA brings space to you. You think space is pretty cool?
(on camera) You think space is pretty cool?
SASHA NAPOLOV, SPACE CAMP TRAINEE: Yes.
BALDWIN (voice-over): Every year, 30,000 kids, like 12-year-old Sasha Napolov, come to space camp or space academy to learn what it takes to become an astronaut.
(on camera) What do you want to do when you go to space?
NAPOLOV: Go to Mars.
BALDWIN: Most of these campers come for a week. But for this astronaut in training, I got a day.
TRISH BROWN, CREW TRAINER: To get disoriented --
BALDWIN: First test, the multi-axis trainer, or MAT, which simulates an astronaut tumbling in space.
BROWN: Your center of gravity is your stomach, and that's not going to move. So you're not going to get sick, no matter how you spin.
BALDWIN (on camera): Famous last words.
Five different ways to buckle me in.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: It's going to swing.
BALDWIN: OK, MAT, crank it up. I'm tumbling in space!
BROWN: You doing all right? BALDWIN: Yes!
(LAUGHTER)
(voice-over) Next challenge, walking on the moon.
BROWN: And this one was developed for the Apollo program when we had our lunar mission, so you're going to be walking on a lunar surface.
BALDWIN (on camera): Oh, too cool, this is like walking on the moon, right?
BROWN: Yes.
BALDWIN (on camera): Wait, like this, right?
(voice-over) When you're simulating one-sixth gravity, walking isn't as easy as it looks.
(on camera) It's hard to really have much control. I guess that's what happens when gravity goes away.
(voice-over) Eventually, I got my lunar bearings.
(on camera) The weightless thing is kind of cool.
(voice-over) My fellow campers taking their outer orbit experiences very seriously.
(on camera) It's not easy to be in space, clearly. Not an easy mission you're on here.
SEBASTIAN NIGRELLI, SPACE CAMP TRAINEE: I know. I can't imagine what the astronauts have to do in space.
JESSICA FAHRER, SPACE CAMP TRAINEE: I just love space. I love learning about space. I love really everything about space. And I love to come with my friends.
BALDWIN: So I want to let you in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I actually didn't grow up to want to be a journalist. In the beginning, I wanted to be an astronaut. And so 20 years ago, I came right here to space camp in Huntsville, Alabama. And this is too cool to be able to put on a flight suit and, 20 years later, go back in space. Here we go.
(voice-over) Time for the big test -- commanding a space shuttle mission.
BROWN: Open up your checklist.
BALDWIN (on camera): So this is what like the crew on Atlantis, they'll be sitting just like this -
BROWN: Yes.
BALDWIN: - checking of things they need to do before they go into space.
BROWN: Yes, that's what all the Velcro here is for, to put their checklist books down.
BALDWIN (voice-over): After we run through our checks using a panel that's nearly identical to the one inside Atlantis, we wait for the go from Cap-Com.
BROWN: You guys can sit back and relax and get ready for launch.
BALDWIN: Countdown to liftoff, and then the change in scenery.
(on camera) Oh, look at the stars. So you get into space pretty quickly?
BROWN: Yes.
BALDWIN: So how fast are we going can?
BROWN: We're going up to four Gs.
BALDWIN: Four Gs.
(voice-over) Once we're in space, it's time to suit up for a spacewalk.
(on camera) Here we go, going into space. So explain to me what I'm going to be doing.
LIZ TUDOR, SIMULATION SUPERVISOR: You are going to be using our arms to go up and repair the satellite. There's a damaged antenna that you guys need to replace.
BALDWIN (voice-over): Strapped in, up I go to fix a satellite.
TUDOR: You're going to reattach it in that exact location. Push it in.
BALDWIN (on camera): Got it.
TUDOR: Good job.
BALDWIN: Got it.
TUDOR: All right. All systems look good.
BALDWIN (voice-over): Mission accomplished. So far, so good for my training day, until the final test.
(on camera) You ready, Clayton?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BALDWIN (voice-over): The centrifuge, AKA, the "vomit comet," which reaches 3.2 Gs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you all doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
BALDWIN: Just shy of full throttle, I was done.
(on camera) Oh, my gosh. I had to stop. It was too hot. It was too hot and too small.
(voice-over) So maybe 20 years later, this CNN anchor doesn't quite have what it takes.
NAPOLOV: Nuclear propulsion passes through uranium, and it gets superhot, and it come down the nozzle.
BALDWIN (on camera): Nuclear propulsion is what?
(voice-over) I think I know someone who does.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Let you in on a little secret - she said she shut it down because it was too hot and it was too small. The guys that were filming said she was getting close to being pretty sick. It was that intense there.
Join Brooke, Anderson, and John Zarrella for our special coverage of the final space shuttle launch. That is Friday beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, right here on CNN.
Now, news just into CNN, federal appeals court has just issued an order blocking the U.S. military from enforcing its "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military. CNN's Supreme Court producer Bill Mears joins us now with more.
Bill, what's happening?
BILL MEARS, CNN SUPREME COURT PRODUCER (via telephone): The whole issue here is whether this "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which has been in place for two decades now, can remain in effect even in name only while this legal fight over its constitutionality is being fought out in the federal courts.
The administration had argued that it's in the process of dismantling "don't ask, don't tell" but it needs more time to implement this major personnel program. So they had argued for more time and that essentially these appeals going on in the courts be suspended while it continues to dismantle it.
But the ninth circuit U.S. court of appeals has issued an order saying the government cannot enforce "don't ask, don't tell" until these appeals are fully implemented or until the policy is completely dismantled.
HILL: All right, Bill Mears, thank you very much. That news breaking right now in Washington.
So what's your Facebook status today? If you're Mark Zuckerberg, it is "Awesome." Next up, the big announce that will change how you use Facebook.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg teased the world last week, promising something awesome was coming to social networking site. Last hour, Zuckerberg revealed Facebook's latest app, Skype -- that's right, Skype on Facebook. Here's Zuckerberg at today's unveiling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZUCKERBERG, FACEBOOK FOUNDER: It's not the case like with traditional Skype where most people have to have downloaded Skype beforehand. So we think that this is awesome because we're using the best technology that's out there for doing video chat with the best social infrastructure that's out there in order to create some really cool new scenarios. So it turns out that dude who I walked by will actually get to video chat with his grandson. So that's cool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Well, let's bring in Katie Linendoll. She helps us understand all the new tech stuff. Katie, you know, I can Skype, I've got a Facebook. If I can do it, it doesn't seem so awesome. What does he think is so awesome about this?
KATIE LINENDOLL, TECH EXPERT: Yes, a lot of people hitting the "like" button on this one. That's because 750 million Facebook users are now able to have video chat capabilities. And it's super simple. With a touch of a button you can now have that one-on-one video chat experience.
And I'm not overly surprised by this news. Rumors on this have been circulating for about a year. But the Skype and Facebook partnership, the announcement was made at a perfect timing, especially off of the heat of Google Plus.
But I want you to understand how it works, because it is pretty simple. If you go to your Facebook page, this will be rolling out over the next week, a select number of users will have it for the next few days, it will actually be embedded in your chat, and there will be a call button on every user's page. You just hit that button. If you have a web cam and they have a web cam, video chat will be enabled. If they don't have a web cam, you can still hear them.
And get this -- if they're not there, you can even leave them a message recorded for when they do sign in to Facebook.
HILL: So it's not that there's something really new. It's just that things we already had are made a little more simple for us?
LINENDOLL: Yes, and I think that's the big news here. I don't think anyone can discount the explosion that we've seen in video chat, especially over the last few years.
Skype for many, as you said, is a household word. A lot of people also turn to Google talk if you have a Gmail account. And now if you're very techie, we have smart phones that have video chat capabilities, and also though smart TVs we could actually have a tele- presence.
But I think the problem here is for somebody, again, that isn't very tech savvy these video chat capabilities can seem a bit overwhelming. Facebook, on the other hand, there's a ubiquity behind it - 750 million people are on it. It's simple. And the set up for video chat is so easy to use. Expect this to be a pretty big feature. We've seen Facebook roll out a number of features that are fairly underwhelming over the years. I think this one, however, can make an imprint.
HILL: It really is changing everything. I was trying to punish one of my kids who got in trouble, so I took his cell phone. And very quickly I realized he didn't even miss it, because I heard him talking to his laptop, and he was doing the exact same thing. Kids have really adapted. This is how they communicate.
LINENDOLL: Absolutely. And I think something we have to be careful about here too, a lot of people aren't talking about the privacy concerns. This falls back on the user. Understand that you have to accept that video call.
For parents, though, you should at least know that Facebook does now have video chat capabilities. Whereas if your kids are on Facebook and those slumber parties are getting a little late, we don't want them to have an upgrade. So do understand how it works, and also maybe it's a time to spring clean with humans and realize that we don't have a few hundred friends that we say we do on our Facebook pages.
(LAUGHTER)
HILL: But it makes you feel so good to pretend you're that popular.
LINENDOLL: I know.
HILL: Katie Linendoll, thank you very much.
LINENDOLL: Thanks.
HILL: Coming up at the top of the hour, if you fly, you need to hear about the Homeland Security Department's new warning. Would-be terrorists now turning to surgery to smuggle bombs and explosives onboard planes. It sounds farfetched, but you know what, it is very real. You need to know it. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
