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Twitter War With Taliban; How Did Amy Winehouse Die?; Parents Accused of Abusing Child to Death; Occupy Oakland Protests Turn Violent; Occupy Atlanta Protests Broken Up; PETA Suing SeaWorld for Violating Animals Constitutional Rights; Chris Christie Attempting to Bring Formula One to New Jersey
Aired October 26, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to this.
The rich are getting richer in America. New video of a baby rescued from the quake rubble, and the U.S. launching a Twitter war with the Taliban. Time to play "Reporter Roulette."
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
BALDWIN: Next on "Reporter Roulette," Diana Magnay still in eastern Turkey, the earthquake there now blamed for more than 470 deaths -- Diana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The death toll from Sunday's earthquake has risen to 471, with over 1,600 people injured. But there do continue to be rescue success stories. A 27 and 18-year-old were pulled out of the rubble on Wednesday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Forgive us for interrupting that. Take a listen. You hear the horns?
Chad Myers, perhaps the horns harbingers of things to come?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Eight hundred pounds of explosives will blow a hole in the bottom of this dam. It will be 18-feet-wide. It will be a 13-foot-tall hole blown in the bottom of this concrete. There's 50 feet of silt behind this dam. So the water that comes out of there is going to be very turbid. If you live along the Columbia River, where this river is going to go in, you will see it. You will see this turbid water for many, many days.
BALDWIN: Let's just listen for a second. I suppose the horns are a warning. Get the heck away.
MYERS: This did make hydropower, by the way. This was a 14 megawatt dam. This supplied energy, power to 7,000 homes. Now that power will be gone, but the benefit to the ecosystem, so the fish can swim back upstream and make more fish. BALDWIN: Apparently it's the Yakama Indian tribe who have been saying for years that they have been wanting them to blow this dam up so that the, what is it, not just salmon, but also the trout, restore the habitat, swim upstream. Explain that.
MYERS: Steelhead will have 33 more miles to swim upstream and some of the white salmon will have about 15 miles to swim upstream to spawn as well.
And that pipe you see up on top, that's the water pipe. You see that thing going across from left to right all the way across? That's the water that used to come out of the dam that would go into the turbine. The turbine would turn and make power for these 7,000 homes. That power will not be there anymore, but they will just find power somewhere else and run it along the grid.
This was built in 1913. This dam has seen its better day. We're talking 100 years here already and the fight for this dam has been over 20 years to get finally this cleaned up and moved out of the way. Since the beginning of this taking out the dams to let the fish swim back upstream, this will be 1,000 dams that they have removed, a lot of them smaller and a lot of them 10, 20 feet high. This is 125 feet high from top to bottom. You see on the screen that's 125 feet and from where the camera is to the other side, that's 400 feet.
They are not going to blow the whole thing up. They will only blow a hole in the bottom and the bottom will allow the water and all the sludge to come out from behind. There is a lake behind there.
BALDWIN: There are were a couple of different pictures. They were switching it. We weren't switching it, but you could see the lake.
MYERS: There were people with lakefront property. They are not going to have lakefront property anymore. They are going to have docks that are completely out of the water by hundreds of feet. But they are happy to have a river lake -- instead of a lakefront, they will have a little bit of riverfront property there.
BALDWIN: I was reading the "Seattle Times" article. They were saying this is the second tallest dam in the country to be exploded, as we await the massive explosive. I'm sure the second we turn away from this, it will happen, as is Murphy's Law. So we can stay on the picture a little bit longer.
But, again, remind us, the dynamite, how much again?
MYERS: Eight hundred pounds.
BALDWIN: So it will be the bottom section of the dam.
MYERS: Yes. We will see it right there on the bottom -- almost the bottom left side.
The cool thing about this is that they knew that there were no fish upriver, because the fish can't get there. They can't swim where there's no ladder. There were two ladders years ago. They all got washed away.
They fished with nets out of the bottom of this below the dam. And they carefully trucked them up above the dam and let them re-spawn up the river so now new fish have new places to swim after they will go down to the river, go down to the ocean, and swim back up. They will be going up this river. I think this is the real one now. This sounds more serious.
BALDWIN: Yes, let's listen in.
OK. So I just -- Angie, thank you. She says less than a minute. Less than 60 seconds. That is the good word from the folks at the Condit Dam that this thing will explode.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: We have seen so many buildings come down. Buildings are no big deal anymore. Blowing up a dam is pretty cool.
BALDWIN: I happen to think blowing up a building is kind of a big deal and a dam as well, but quite stunning pictures here. Again, this is along -- we hope -- thank you, Angie -- this is along the Oregon- Washington border. Again, the dam been around for just about a century, quite tall, 125 feet. We are seconds away from watching this thing, 800 pounds of dynamite at the base, per Chad Myers.
MYERS: It will take six hours for the lake to completely drain away. They are hoping that the top of the dam, the part that you see up on the top left, actually stays and only the water will be coming out of the bottom. That will help the drainage, that will help the silt -- 200 million cubic yards of silt behind this that has to wash down eventually into the ocean. There will be new sandbars and everything from this.
BALDWIN: That's a pretty careful dynamite job not to just--
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Right.
BALDWIN: Right. They're going to disassemble this from top to bottom, when they get the hole in the bottom blasted.
There we go.
MYERS: They do know that it may take two years for all of the fish to come back, because clearly now that this rush of water, there are fish being swept downriver. But the best part about this is how it will regenerate the population of these fish.
I would say that's a success.
BALDWIN: That was the White Salmon River, yes?
MYERS: Yes. MYERS: And now you can see the water getting a little bit clearer. A lot of that turbulence, a lot of that turbid mud coming out of the bottom. No fishing, no water, no boating in this now new river up above it for two years. Maybe next fall, they are hoping, but there will be so much land that will eventually tumble into this river.
It's going to be very, very difficult and dangerous to be in that area. This is like when I watched -- when they took the Colorado and they opened up the floodgates down below the Hoover Dam to make a potential flood, it was a natural flood zone happening because of the dam, but they opened them up and they put just millions and billions of gallons of water downriver, down the Colorado to flush away some of the things on the Colorado. This looks like it. But now they can't close this back up. This is done.
BALDWIN: All right. And there we have it, Condit Dam explosion.
Chad Myers--
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: The top stayed like it was supposed to.
BALDWIN: Yes. No, they did it.
MYERS: Completely successful.
BALDWIN: Thank you, Chad, for that very much.
MYERS: Sure.
Let's pick up where we left off on "Reporter Roulette."
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Barbara, you're learning a little bit more how American commanders are fighting the Taliban with social media. Is this a new technique?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really been evolving over the last several months, Brooke.
This little item comes to you courtesy of our ace Pentagon producer Charley Keyes, who started looking into all of this. When we noticed that the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan was Twittering and their goal was to Twitter against the Taliban who have been using a lot of social media for some time.
What we saw was, every time the Taliban would Twitter, suddenly the military, the coalition would think about it and often respond.
Let me just point you, for example, to one tweet. The Taliban apparently communicated on social media that they had brought down a helicopter. So, ISAF's crack team looks into it. They tweet back and they say this. And I want to quote this tweet -- quote -- "We have no reports of any missing helos. Take any Taliban reports with a block of salt." This is both sides going at each other without the bombs and the bullets, but more in computer. The question is how effective is it? The U.S., the military gets its message out, but do the people of Afghanistan really see it? Very few people in Afghanistan have cell phones, access to computers.
How would they even see Twitter in some of these remote towns and villages? So it's still kind of an emerging kind of Twitter warfare. But it's growing, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Twitter warfare in 140 characters or less. So, quickly, is the whole Pentagon getting into the whole Twitterverse?
STARR: Oh, my goodness, yes.
Where to start? Everybody is tweeting these days, aren't they? I recently found on one of my own Twitter account that one of the senior Pentagon officials had challenged something I said in the news report about the timing of U.S. troops leaving Iraq.
And I will just gently say -- gave it a couple of days, and my reporting turned out to be right.
BALDWIN: We have to all watch what we're tweeting, saying and tweeting, don't we, Barbara Starr?
STARR: Exactly.
BALDWIN: Goodness.
Barbara, thank you very much.
By the way, our viewers can read more about the Twitter war with the Taliban. Just go to our security clearance blog. That is at CNN.com/security. That is today's "Reporter Roulette."
Still ahead, sex ed getting graphic, really graphic. We're going to tell you about this new curriculum that has so got many parents outraged.
Plus, their decisions will affect all of us and our wallets. Now the so-called super committee is going public. We're live on Capitol Hill for that today.
Also, this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Can I just ask you, did you love this child? Can you just answer that question, if you loved this child?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: This couple wrote a book on how to train kids which involves hitting them. Well, a little girl has now died and investigators say her parents were fans of this book. CNN investigates this.
Also, the truth behind Amy Winehouse's death. We now know what killed her. That's next.
But, as we go to break, the moment of explosion in Washington State.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
BALDWIN: Now this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Mrs. Williams, do you like the book "To Train Up A Child"?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no comment today.
TUCHMAN: Can you tell us what happened to your daughter? Do you still say she killed herself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not commenting.
TUCHMAN: Excuse me, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No comment today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Coming up next, a CNN investigation. A couple writes a book on how to train children. The problem is, it involves hitting. Now a little girl is dead and investigators say her parents took this advice way too far. Gary Tuchman on this. He's getting answers. Don't miss Gary's report.
Also, news from the super committee. We will tell you what some members have proposed just this afternoon. We're live on Capitol Hill next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Got a developing story for you now. This concerns the super committee charged with chopping the national debt. Today, they have held this rare public meeting.
And our congressional correspondent Kate Bolduan has just trotted out some details of proposal being floated.
Kate, do tell.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Brooke.
Well, according to Republican and Democratic sources, Democratic members of the super committee during a closed door meeting yesterday, Tuesday, they proposed an offer of deficit savings of up to $3 trillion as part of an agreement that they have been behind doors for months now trying to hammer out a deal to do just that, to reduce the deficit.
But this offer of up to $3 trillion in deficit savings was just about as quickly rejected, we're told by Republican and Democratic sources, by Republicans in the room. As a Republican source tells me, they have called it a nonstarter and according to one source largely political posturing on the part of Democrats, because, as part of this offer, it would call for significant new revenue, $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion in new revenue.
And as you well know, Republicans in that room and outside of that room on Capitol Hill are very much against tax increases. This deal would also call for significant cuts in entitlements, Medicare, and Medicaid, which Democrats say is a major concession on their part, a major concession for their party.
So this is significant at this moment because, for the first time after months of behind-closed-doors meetings, we are hearing for the first time of an offer from members in this room kind of coming out to offer a proposal to reach that solution.
Democrats say they are trying to put it out there to reach a grand bargain. Republicans, of course, disagree with that. Does this mean that negotiations have entirely broken down, Brooke? I would say no. But they are running out of time, as you well know. Their deadline is November 23, fast approaching. As we can see, chatter, if you will, talks and negotiations are definitely ramping up and some significant movement as we're now hearing some details of at least this first offer coming out just now, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK, Kate Bolduan, again you mentioned the deadline, essentially Thanksgiving. Quickly, if they do not reach agreement by then, the so-called trigger mechanisms hit, including what?
BOLDUAN: The trigger mechanisms hit. This would hit domestic programs, really especially defense spending. These would be $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts.
This was put in place as kind of the axe over the head -- I know that's graphic -- over the head of this committee to make them act, because it would be painful, cuts to defense spending and cuts to other programs that no one in Congress really wants.
Here's one caveat. I know this is not a short answer, Brooke, so I apologize. These cuts do go into place in 2013 if they don't reach their deadline. So there is some theory and some talk out there that this gives the committee and Congress a year to try to find additional savings before this axe kind of would fall come 2013.
BALDWIN: Got it. Kate Bolduan for us on the Hill -- Kate, thank you very much.
BOLDUAN: Thank you very much.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
BALDWIN: Up next: Gary Tuchman's investigation into the folks who wrote this book about hitting children, and they have had some deadly consequences. He is demanding answers.
Plus, this:
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: It's really dark around here.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: And I looked everywhere. When I got off the bus stop, my mom wasn't here, and I miss her so much.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BALDWIN: A 5-year-old girl left home alone. What she doesn't know was that her mom was at the hospital, and what the girl does next prompted that 911 call. We're going to play it for you in its entirety. Don't miss this. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This is kind of like a new spin on the movie "Home Alone."
So this 5-year-old girl -- her name is Amelia (ph) -- she comes home from school to an empty house. She waits, she waits, no mom. So what's a 5-year-old to do?
Amelia grabs mom's keys, hops in the car, starts it, throws it into reverse to go find her mother. She can't reach the brake. Remember, she's five. But she does manage to back out of the driveway, land in the neighbor's yard across the street.
Again, what's a 5-year-old to do? So Amelia picks up the phone, she calls 911 to ask the police to please put the car back in the driveway.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: It's really dark around here and I looked everywhere.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: When I got off the bus stop, my mom wasn't here, and I miss her so much.
911 OPERATOR: It's all right, honey. Mom is going to come back. Mom probably went looking for you.
Did mom park her car across the street or did you get in the car and move it across the street?
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Somebody moved it across the street.
(END AUDIO CLIP) BALDWIN: Somebody moved it. I smile because just wait until you hear the next little bit. Obviously, she's fearful. But listen as reality sets in for little Amelia.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I see the lights on.
911 OPERATOR: You see the lights on?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: And the car is staying on, running now.
911 OPERATOR: The car is--
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Got to get here quick.
911 OPERATOR: I get to get there quick.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: My mom is going to be pissed at me.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: So it turns out a mixup left Amelia home alone. Police say her mom had been rushed to the hospital. Her dad didn't know he was supposed to be picking Amelia up at school.
Now to this. The Old Testament says, and I'm quoting, "He who spares the rod hates his son. But he who loves him is careful to discipline him," Proverbs 13:24. But CNN's Gary Tuchman says a heartbreaking case in Washington State alleges two parents may have taken that biblical guidance way too far with tragic consequences.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Larry Williams is the husband, Carri Williams the wife. Together they were the parents of eight but now it's seven. The daughter they adopted from Ethiopia is dead, and if the allegations are true, some parents that the parents are hell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I just ask you, did you love this child? Can you just answer that question, if you loved this child?
TUCHMAN: The question is, did Hanna die in the name of god? The Williams lived in a large piece of secluded land in Washington. According to a sheriff's office affidavit, the mother told investigators she found 13-year-old Hanna face down outside the house with mud in her mouth and not breathing. But there was so very much that she left out.
RICH WEYRICH, SKAGIT COUNTY PROSECUTOR: The date of her death was not the first day that she had been struck. TUCHMAN: Here is what the affidavit says. "Hanna had a large lump on her head and several fresh red bloody markings on her hips, knees, elbows, and face." And when doctors performed Hanna's autopsy, they declared the 13 year old was abnormally thin and on the forehead there was a hematoma swollen bruise. There were abrasions on the right and left upper pelvis area, there were patterned contusions on the legs.
Prosecutors are investigating whether those beatings came because of biblical teachings.
The other children, who implicate their parents in the affidavit, told investigators, Hanna was often left outside in the cold as discipline because she was rebellious. Hanna was so weakened from discipline, hours of rain in the bone-chilling cold was more than she could take, according to authorities.
But listen to the initial 911 call from the mother to police. Look who she blames for her child's death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your emergency?
CARRIE WILLIAMS: Yes, um, I think my daughter just killed herself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do you say that?
CARRIE WILLIAMS: Um, she's really rebellious. And she's been outside refusing to come in, and she's been throwing herself all around, and then she collapsed.
WEYRICH: If you didn't stand exactly where you were supposed to stand, that would be considered rebellious, and you could be punished for that.
TUCHMAN: In the affidavit, Hanna's nine-year-old brother told detectives that people like her dead sister got spankings for lying and go into the fires of hell. Detectives say Larry Williams made his son stop talking to authorities after that. We met Larry Williams with his attorney in court during a motion hearing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Williams, can you tell us what happened to your daughter? What do you think god thinks about this case, sir?
TUCHMAN: Among the evidence found in the house, a variety of books and videotapes by well-known fundamentalist Christian authors, Michael and Debbi Pearl, including a book called --
WEYRICH: "To Train up a Child."
TUCHMAN: "To Train up a Child" is a bestselling book which advocates corporal punishment of children from infants on up. The authors of the book say the writings are guided by the teachings in the Bible.
MICHAEL PEARL, CO-AUTHOR, "TO TRAIN UP A CHILD": It says if you spare the rod, you hate your child. But if you love him, you chasten him timely. TUCHMAN: I interviewed the Pearls this past summer because of a chillingly similar case. Kevin and Elizabeth Shots (ph) are now in prison after pleading guilty to killing their daughter Lydia, also adopted from Africa. Taken from their house, "To Train up a Child."
Mike Ramsey is the D.A. who prosecuted the Shotses (ph).
(On camera): What do you think influenced the Shotses to beat and terrorize their child?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The book by Mr. Pearl. There's no doubt about that.
TUCHMAN: Let's say a seven-year-old slugs his sister.
PEARL: You explain to him that what he's done is violent and that's not acceptable in society and it's not acceptable in our home. Then I would take him somewhere like into his bedroom and I would tell him that I'm going to give him 15 licks.
TUCHMAN: With what?
PEARL: Probably on a kid that big, a boy, I'd probably a belt would be handy. I might use a wooden spoon or a piece of, like, plumbing supply line.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A plumbing supply line -- one of the pieces of evidence that Larry Williams give to sheriff's deputies in Washington state after authorities said he acknowledged he and his wife used to strike their children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Williams, do you like the book "To Train up a Child"?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no comment here today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us what happened to your daughter? Do you still say that she killed herself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No comment today.
TUCHMAN: Larry and Carri Williams are out on bond. They have pled not guilty. They've been ordered not to talk to their surviving children who are now in foster homes.
PEARL: I don't use the term "hitting."
TUCHMAN (on camera): What's the word?
PEARL: "Spanking."
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Prosecutors say they have no plan to pursue charges against Michael and Debbie Pearl. When I talked to the authors about the death of Lydia Shots in California, they said their book rejects parents losing control and acting out of anger.
(On camera): So you're not accepting any blame?
PEARL: Absolutely not.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And it's the same sentiment they have regarding the death of Hanna Williams in Washington. The Pearls released a statement on their Facebook which says, "We share in the sadness over the tragic death of Hanna Williams. What her parents did is diametrically opposed to what is taught in the book "To Train up a Child." And it continues in part "The alleged presence of the book makes it no more responsible for Hanna's death than the presence of a weight loss book in the home of an overweight person is responsible for their obesity."
Larry and Carri Williams are charged with homicide by abuse and felony assault of one of their other children. The prosecution is just beginning to methodically go through the evidence, and that includes reading "To Train up a Child" cover to cover.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Mt. Vernon, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Gary, thank you. Larry and Carri Williams have pleaded not guilty in the death of their young daughter.
Coming up next, new developments in the search for a missing baby. Investigators now want to interview Lisa Irwin's brothers and their young kids. But there is a delicate line there. We're going to go over that with you. Plus, find out how the parents responded when police asked to interview them separately.
And PETA taking on SeaWorld. The group is suing, claiming the whales are enslaved. Do they have a case? Sunny Hostin is all over that one. She is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: In the case of missing baby Lisa Irwin, authorities plan to interview the 11-month-old girl's young brothers. Both boys were in the Irwin home the night baby Lisa disappeared out of her crib. And I want to bring in Sunny Hostin, and Sunny, as always, "On the Case" for us. And Sunny, how exactly will this work, because these boys are young. They are five and eight years old.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: That's right. My understanding is that child specialists will be interviewing these children, Not necessarily detectives, because, Brooke, it really takes a particular training, a specialized training because they are very suggestible. You have to be extremely careful when you want to get facts from them.
My understanding is that they were in bed with their mother the night that baby Lisa went missing. So authorities are hopeful and hoping that they will get some information from them, something about what happened. They are also expected to take DNA samples so they can rule out some of the samples that they have taken. And so this will be not the first but the second time that they've had an opportunity to speak with these young boys to get additional information about missing baby Lisa.
BALDWIN: So does this then mean that police are still focusing even more closely on the family here?
HOSTIN: Well, I think it does mean that. I mean, they have given every indication that they are following a lot of leads. They have received over I think 900 so far. But the fact remains that the baby was in the house. This family must know and be able to give some additional leads and information to investigators. And so they are very much still the focus, not necessarily the target of the investigation, but still trying to get more facts from this family.
BALDWIN: OK, case number two, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, suing SeaWorld, basically accusing the marine park of treating its whales like slaves. Explain this.
HOSTIN: It's a little tough to explain. They certainly are going to file this lawsuit in federal court against SeaWorld and, wait for it, Brooke, the five orcas are the plaintiffs here. They are saying that their constitutional rights have been violated.
The problem is, last I checked, Brooke, animals don't have constitutional rights. So an uphill battle certainly for PETA, but they are known for trying to stir things up in the area of animal rights and I believe that's probably what they are trying to do now.
BALDWIN: Glad you know the constitution. OK, so what is SeaWorld saying with regard to this lawsuit?
HOSTIN: Well, we certainly did get a statement from SeaWorld, Brooke, and I think we have it here. What they are saying is that "This effort to extend the 13th Amendment, solemn protections, beyond human beings is baseless and offensive. SeaWorld is among the world's most respected zoological institution and they say that there's no higher priority than the animals entrusted to our care, and no facility sets higher standards in husbandry, veterinary care, and enrichment than SeaWorld." So certainly they are defending themselves vigorously.
I think they do have a hard way to go, PETA, because, remember, one of these orcas is Tillicum. Remember in February of last year, he was the one that dragged the trainer underwater and killed her. Not necessarily the most sympathetic plaintiff, and a nonhuman plaintiff at that.
BALDWIN: OK. Sunny Hostin, thank you very much.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Coming up, this -- bean bags, flash grenades, tear gas. Tensions escalating in these protests against Wall Street. You're going to see the battle that broke out there in Oakland.
Also a night after police arrest dozens of protesters in Atlanta, the mayor is now speaking out. He's under pressure to do something about the demonstrations there. George Howell, just interviewed him. He will join me live, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Chaos breaks out as protestors try to reoccupy this plaza outside Oakland city hall in California. In total just about 500 demonstrators were marching through the plaza last night within 24 hours after police dismantled this Occupy Oakland camp. And it wasn't too long before this situation got out of control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SCREAMING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Police say some of the demonstrators threw a number of different items at the officers so that they responded, firing beanbags, flash grenades, tear gas into this crowd, and all kinds of people rushed for cover.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard these loud bangs. And apparently it was the tear gas going off. And then you want to throw up and your eyes are stinging and get red. So I ran a couple of blocks out of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Dozens of people were arrested there in Oakland, California.
I want to take you now to Atlanta now where Occupy is considering its next move after police kicked out the group who had been in the city park. This happened overnight as 53 people were arrested. But unlike Oakland, the Atlanta action was peaceful. George Howell just came back from the park in downtown Atlanta and in fact just spoke with Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed. What did he tell you?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The mayor says this was a very difficult decision for him because he respects the city's long legacy of civil disobedience. But he says there were several safety hazards that made him change his mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KASIM REED, ATLANTA, GEORGIA: My feeling was that this was escalating and escalating out of control. And then after the weekend's events on a Tuesday, we had a gentleman with an AK-47 who was accompanying what appeared to be the leader of the organization, a person that I had met with personally, around the park. He had an AK- 47 assault rifle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: First Mayor Reed says that there was an issue with a hip-hop concert that was scheduled to happen in the park but the promoters didn't have the right permits security. He says that group then aligned themselves with the Occupy Atlanta group and held that concert anyway, and he was concerned that they used generators on site that he says could have caused a safety hazard, a public safety hazard. And he says people stuck hangers into electrical sockets to try to get power.
The mayor also says some in the group made threatening remarks to at least one member of his staff when they entered the park. But unlike what we've seen in several other cities, the arrests last night in Atlanta were peaceful. Police moved in on the protestors late last night after more than two weeks of protests. And 53 people total arrested and are all in the process of being released on bond. But the city estimates it costs a total of $300,000 plus just to police this event and that's according to the mayor's spokesperson.
So at this point we're still waiting to see what happens as these people get out of jail.
BALDWIN: So 53 people arrested last night. How exactly did it go down?
HOWELL: Well, it was peaceful.
BALDWIN: OK.
HOWELL: It was very peaceful. There were no problems as far as making the arrests. At this point they are still in the process of bonding out of jail. They were supposed to hold a press conference today at 11:00. That didn't happen because they are still waiting to get out of jail.
BALDWIN: George Howell, thank you very much.
HOWELL: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Coming up next, a firestorm is a-brewing over sex ed. New York City introducing this new curriculum that introduces 11-year-olds to everything. And we're talking everything from multiple partners to techniques. So how graphic is too graphic. Many parents are up in arms over this. Don't miss this.
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BALDWIN: Out this week, Steve Jobs' biography. In fact, it was Jobs himself who sought out the author, Walter Isaacson, who met with Mr. Jobs some 40 times. And Walter Isaacson sitting down with Piers Morgan tonight.
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WALTER ISAACSON, BIOGRAPHER, "STEVE JOBS": He's a deeply, deeply, intensely emotional person. And when people talk about, wasn't he hard to live with as a family guy, wasn't he hard to work with as a business guy? Yes, but how many people have marriages like that, that are incredibly tight, faithful, in which they really sort of fit together, both the sensible side and the poetic side.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": What kind of woman is his wife?
ISAACSON: She is trained at business school, but she also lived in Florence. She has the art and the business connection. She comes out to Stanford Business School, meets Steve Jobs when he gives a talk. He falls madly in love with her in just that one talk, and they have what is a lasting, faithful relationship. She's very creative and innovative.
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BALDWIN: Quick reminder, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" 9:00 eastern time. But until then, stick around because you've got to watch Wolf Blitzer coming up in a matter of minutes on "THE SITUATION ROOM." And Wolf, what do you have coming up?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Get ready, because right at the top of the hour we're releasing poll numbers. A brand new CNN-"TIME" magazine-ORC poll, not a national poll, on Republicans and who they like in the Republican race for the White House, but state. This is much more important. Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, those four states, the first four states to have voting starting January 3, we've got new numbers. All the political news junkies out there, everyone who wants to know what's going on in those four states will be interested to see who comes up on top, second, third, fourth, fifth. Brand new poll numbers from these four states. How excited are you, Brooke, just thinking about what we're about to report at the top of the hour?
BALDWIN: I don't know how I will contain myself in the course of the next seven minutes. But I will --
BLITZER: Should we get that countdown clock on your show?
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BLITZER: Seven minutes, the new poll numbers, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. How's Mitt Romney doing? How's Rick Perry doing? Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, all of them, you're about to find out.
BALDWIN: Good deal. We'll look forward to it, Wolf, in a couple of minutes. Thank you so much.
Meantime, New York City in the middle of a sex-ed battle. Parents are fighting a new plan to teach sex in school. The reason -- the parents say this curriculum that their 11 and 12 year olds would be taught is too graphic. Want to watch my interview, go to my blog, CNN.com/Brooke. You can see my whole interview with the spokesman for the parent group who is, quite, honestly, up in arms over this.
Still ahead, Chris Christie. He's not running for president. He's made that very clear. But he is making plans for 2013. Joe Johns has the "Political Pop" on this one. He's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Time for "Political Pop." We have some super protesters for the super committee today. Also Chris Christie announcing the big race coming to the streets of New Jersey. Joe Johns is always with the "Political Pop." And so, Joe, let's start talking, what, super committee and super heroes?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right now it's big for demonstrations, right. We've got the Occupy movement, we've got Arab spring. And it's almost surprising it took so long to get to super heroes protesting the super committee. If you think about it, it's a natural. Normally this type of street theatre doesn't work so well in Washington, D.C. unless you have thousands upon thousands.
BALDWIN: Is that the grim reaper?
JOHNS: Yes. And maybe they have puppets or something. But this was an antipoverty demonstration representing Oxfam out on the west front of the U.S. capitol today, people making their presence known as the super committee held a deficit reduction hearing today. So nice, fun, safe stuff, red capes, blue capes.
BALDWIN: Only in Washington, D.C., Joe Johns. We haven't talked Chris Christie in a while in "Political Pop." Apparently, he's quite the Formula One fan.
JOHNS: He sure is, and he made this big announcement that they're going to bring Formula One to the state of New Jersey. For all those Christie fans who have been hoping for him to get into the race, this is not the race they were talking about.
But this is an eye towards bringing a lot of tourist money to the state of New Jersey about 2013. Apparently there is going to be a state-of-the-art road course if you will, that's going of the New York City skyline in the background, which sounds like it's going to be quite the exciting race there in about two years.
BALDWIN: And who foots the bill for this?
JOHNS: Well, it's Chris Christie, so you can counter the fact that the taxpayers are not going to foot the bill. He's planning for the Formula One people to do all the spending. You know how that goes. We heard about that with Snooki's TV show.
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BALDWIN: That's right. All right, Joe Johns, we'll look for the Formula One in Jersey coming to a street near you. Thank you so much.
And thank you for watching. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Now let's go to Wolf Blitzer, got quite "THE SITUATION ROOM" coming up for you now in Washington.
Wolf, to you.
