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Missing Baby Search Turns to Lake; "Starbucks" Biker Feud; FBI Investigation Amish "Cult"; Thousands Flee Bangkok Flood; Stocks Soar on Europe Banking Crisis, U.S. Economic News; Managing the Occupy Protests
Aired October 27, 2011 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Let's get you caught up on everything making news this hour rapidfire.
Lets' go, beginning with, any minute now, we are expecting half a dozen exotic animals to be released, going home with the widow of the man whose actions absolutely terrorized a town in Ohio.
Remember, he released some 50-plus animals last week just before killing himself. Dozens of those animals were killed just to protect innocent people, but six survived. So now she is planning on taking these six animals with her. We are waiting for that moment from the Columbus Zoo. Also, Columbus Zoo director emeritus, animal expert Jack Hanna -- he has a very serious message for her. We're going to talk to him live coming up.
Also, let's get a quick check here of the big board, as I glance down. Take a look at that, the Dow up 338 points at this hour. The reason? A long-awaited debt agreement in Europe. We're going to take you live to the New York Stock Exchange for details in just about five minutes from now.
Also, another amazing rescue from this earthquake rubble in Turkey. According to this Turkish news agency, an 18-year-old student spent nearly 100 hours in the rubble. This was an apartment complex -- was. He was rushed to the hospital. And amazingly, he only suffers from dehydration. The death toll now in Turkey up to 534. As for the number of those injured, that sits right around 2,300.
And the NATO mission in Libya will effectively end Monday, this news coming today after the U.N. Security Council voting to halt military operations. Meanwhile, the family of Moammar Gadhafi is filing a war crimes complaint again NATO with the ICC, the International Criminal Court, claiming Gadhafi was murdered.
And do you remember the young woman in California, she was found naked, bound and hanging from a California mansion balcony? Rebecca Zahau was her name. Her death was ruled a homicide. (SIC)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF BILL GORE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY: Was Rebecca's death a homicide? Again, the answer is no. It was a suicide. To reach these conclusions relied in substantial measure upon the physical evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Well, Rebecca's family never bought the official ruling of a suicide, so today they have had her body exhumed for a second autopsy. That autopsy will be performed by forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht. He has consulted on all kinds of cases ranging from the President Kennedy assassination to the death of Anna Nicole Smith's son, Daniel.
And it looks like former presidential candidate John Edwards will go on trial this coming January. A North Carolina federal judge refused to dismiss charges of violating election laws back in 2008. Attorneys for Edwards, they had argued that those charges were brought by a Republican prosecutor wanting to take down a big-name Democrat.
Also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not allowed to come up here. He's not allowed to be around her. Does he know how to read?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, your honor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he'd better understand. If you even dream about her and you violate my order, you will go to jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Well, those words rang true for Michael Lohan, the father of actress Lindsay Lohan, police arresting him today after violated his probation there in Tampa. He jumped all the way from a third floor balcony trying to just get away from police. Authorities say he hurt his foot jumping from said balcony. They caught him just a short time later.
And TSA pulls a screener from checking luggage because this agent reportedly left an inappropriate note scribbled there, a suggestive note, we'll call it, in a passenger's bag. The passenger found this note and had blogged that it had been left after, quote, "a personal item" was found in her luggage. The TSA is apologizing now and says it has zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and adds it is now disciplining that agent.
Take a look at this hidden camera surprise. The wife of Staff Sergeant Chris Reed (ph) not at all expecting a thing as she's waiting for -- she's waiting for her food, I should say, at the Chick-Fil-A. When Amy Reed's husband walks out with the tray -- tears. Wouldn't you cry? She totally loses it, rightly so. As far as she knew, he was still in Afghanistan on his third deployment. Amy's dad set up the whole thing at the restaurant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN O'LEARY, CHICK-FIL-A: It started off with her just screaming, My gosh! And then she was just shedding tears. And then everybody else started shedding tears. There wasn't a dry eye in the place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Amy says Tuesday night family nights helped her get through her husband's deployment. Look at that. Love those stories.
We are just about five minutes in, a lot to go here in the next two hours, including this.
A deadly turf war is escalating between Hell's Angels and a rival biker gang. And the center of their beef? A Starbucks hangout.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
Better check your portfolios because Wall Street finally has something to like.
Stunning new evidence of torture and executions in Libya, and the rebels appear to be the ones pulling the trigger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And at least 10 of them have been shot at point- blank range.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Moammar Gadhafi is gone, but we're getting a look at the bloodshed left behind.
A man terrorizes a town, unleashing dozens of dangerous animals before killing himself. Now his wife wants them back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK HANNA, COLUMBUS ZOO: I can't believe this happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Jack Hanna joins me live.
And a high-speed car chase ends with high heels, a G-string and not much else.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the vehicle!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: But the drunken surprises don't stop there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Want to (INAUDIBLE) up these live pictures. These are aerial pictures courtesy of our affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, WBNS (ph). Why are we looking at these images? Because this is or will be the Columbus Zoo. We're watching for a woman by the name of Marian Thompson. She's the widow of Terry Thompson. The two of them had that exotic animal farm just outside of Zanesville, Ohio. You remember the story from last week, 50-plus exotic animals let loose out of their cages before her husband, Terry Thompson, took his own life.
Ultimately, the Muskingham County law enforcement had to shoot and kill 49 of those animals, but six survived. They have been taken care of at the Columbus Zoo, the three leopards, two primates and a grizzly bear. But there is no law that is preventing Marian Thompson from taking these six animals home. And that is what we're told. She is precisely about to do that.
And as she does, we will bring you back to these live pictures as she takes them home. And we'll also talk to animal expert Jack Hanna, who apparently has some words for this woman, as well. We'll talk to him. Stay tuned for that.
Meantime, let's take you "Globe Trekking" here and to go Thailand because thousands tried to flee Bangkok today. They're trying to get away from this massive flood that threatens to bury most of the heavily populated city.
And CNN's Sara Sidner is there. She is reporting that the next couple days will be very dangerous for anyone who hasn't gotten out of the water's way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're standing out in front of the grand palace, one of the most beautiful and adored landmarks here in the city. And what we're seeing are a couple of streets that are starting to get flooded here. We are now seeing that water creep into the inner parts of Bangkok, a great concern for the citizens and a great concern for Bangkok officials, the governor saying today, Look, we can no longer stop this deluge of water from coming into many parts of the city.
Now, earlier today, we were able to get an aerial view. We went up in a helicopter with the U.S. Navy and Marines, who have been doing daily missions to try and ascertain exactly what is happening with the water, where (INAUDIBLE) how quickly it is moving.
And again, what we're seeing is this odd scenario, where you're not seeing necessarily waters rushing in, you're seeing waters creeping in. But we've seen roads that are being swallowed by water. We are seeing the airport from now an aerial view. And this is the domestic airport, not the international airport. The international airport is still running. The domestic airport, though, closed. And we're seeing more water ending up on the runways there.
We also flew over an area that would normally be dry. And what you're seeing is water just for kilometers and kilometers of water going there. You're also seeing factories inundated or surrounded by water. We're talking about factories like Toshiba, for example. We're talking about factories like Toyota. And they are having difficulties now distributing things, so making business very, very difficult, thousands of factories either flooded or surrounded by water.
And of course, the residents, the residents having to deal with this, their houses flooded, their belongings ruined, their lives turned upside-down. More than 300 people have lost their lives so far. We're talking about more than 9 million people affected, and more people will be affected because we are waiting for the high tide which is expected (INAUDIBLE) Bangkok time, and then another push on Friday afternoon.
So there is concern, of course, in the city and we are starting to see some of (INAUDIBLE) you heard from the prime minister today saying that ten centimeters, somewhere around four inches, to up to a meter will be coming into almost of this city, and we are waiting to see exactly how high the waters will go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Sara Sidner reporting from Bangkok. Sara, thank you.
Meantime, let's throw that live picture back up, and let me just remind you we're waiting -- any minute now, we will be seeing this woman, this Ohio woman, come back to the Columbus Zoo and pick up her six animals. This is huge news because, as you remember, those 50- plus animals that she and her husband owned outside of Zanesville just absolutely terrorized this community.
But there's no law preventing her from taking them home. They're hers. We're going to bring you that moment when she pulls up and pulls those animals out of there and takes them home. So stay tuned for that any minute now.
Also in a matter of minutes, the mayor of Atlanta will join me right here in studio, Kasim Reed feeling the pressure as he cracks down on Occupy protesters in his city. Some have said he's too lenient. Others say he's been too harsh. We'll ask him about if he has any regrets about how he's handled the protests so far. Don't miss this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Well, we may have dodged one, folks. We may have finally caught a break vis-a-vis the banks and the overall economy. Take a look, if you would, with me, New York Stock Exchange, the Dow up a whopping 335 points there. The biggest reason of all, really, is this news out of Europe. So European leaders may have finally solved their banking crisis. Look at those smiles there on those faces! They may have solved their crisis and thus averted a possible meltdown.
Alison Kosik live for us at the New York Stock Exchange. And Alison, I'm just going to ask you straight up here, did we just dodge a bullet?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what? If you ask the markets, Brooke, they'd tell you, yes, we just dodged a bullet. And I can't argue with that and you can't argue with the rally we've been seeing today, the Dow up 340 points.
Look, with this debt deal, what's essentially happened is Greece avoided a default and we avoided the sort of ripple effect that could have happened if Greece defaulted. So what ends up happening is essentially Greece can pay its bills now. We have some certainty. We have some confidence back -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: I know we're going to talk a little bit more about Europe specifically later on, but we've also gotten some really welcome news here at home, the U.S. economy finally picking up some steam.
KOSIK: Yes. It showed that the economy is growing. It grew at a 2.5 annual pace in the months from July through September. This is third quarter GDP. And since last year, it's really been a bumpy ride, so it is kind of a sigh of relief to see this 2.5 percent number.
You know, what's really good about it, if you look even deeper, and consumer and business spending in the past three months -- that picked up. And that's a good sign because it shows confidence, especially after the first and second quarters, as you see there, we had really tough economic growth. It was less than 1 percent.
But the reality is, the growth that we have in the past three months, it is still not even enough to encourage more hiring, Brooke.
BALDWIN: So what about fourth quarter? What are we looking at for fourth quarter growth? And does this also end, you know, fears of a recession?
KOSIK: Well, first of all, for fourth quarter growth, don't expect it to go like gangbusters. I think what you're going to see is you're going to see the economy continue to grow. It is going to grow slowly.
But the good news is, is that we are going to be moving forward, and that means it's going to put those recession fears to rest. And you know how much we had been talking about a recession here in the U.S., so that is good news.
But the reality is, is we've still got a lot of issues weighing on the economy. We've got weak consumer confidence. We've got local and state governments -- they continue to cut back. And our imports -- our exports, rather -- they continue to decline. And these are all the things that go into that GDP, that economic growth number.
So sure, we will continue to move forward. And the good news is that it's expected to be above 2 percent, and that means that we could avoid a recession here in the U.S., Brooke.
BALDWIN: Alison, thank you. As I mentioned, we'll talk Europe and the big deal that they brokered late last night coming up next hour. Until then, thank you.
Also, taking to you California, it was a pretty tense night in San Francisco. Rumors were flying on Twitter. Police were gathering, and Occupy San Francisco protesters were waiting and watching for a possible police crackdown. That never actually came.
Let to go Amber Lyon. She is at this protest site there in San Francisco. And Amber, I mean, I imagine everyone was on edge, especially given what happened to that young Iraq war vet during the Oakland crackdown. By the way, how is he doing?
AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just talked with hospital officials, Brooke, and 24-year-old Scott Olsen's condition has been upgraded. Friends and family are very relieved. It's been upgraded to fair. He's currently in the ICU in a hospital just miles from here in Oakland.
And we spoke with his mom. She says that her son served two tours of duty in Iraq and -- with no injuries, Brooke, and she was absolutely just shocked that this could happen in the U.S. He was apparently hit in the head with some type of a projectile that fractured his skull during all the protests in Oakland on Tuesday.
BALDWIN: Looking behind you there, mid-afternoon in California, I mean, it seems pretty quiet, just some tents. What are protesters saying there? Do they expect any kind of police action?
LYON: Well, they've been out here in Occupy San Francisco. They've had a couple of eviction notices, so there's been a couple close calls, Brooke. Health department officials came out here. They say that some of these protesters have been violating health codes and that they were asking for them to remove their tents and leave.
But we just spoke with a representative of this camp. She says, You know what? We have not been violating health codes. We've been taking it very seriously. A couple squatters came through, a couple homeless individuals that caused issues. She says those have been taken care of. And they're hoping these tents will be able to stay out here as long as they need because that's what they're calling this, Brooke, an Occupy movement, and they don't want to leave.
And in fact, they say that Scott Olsen's injuries have really galvanized this movement. We saw Occupy protests all over the country yesterday in support of him, especially on the Internet, Brooke. The Internet collective Anonymous came out right away, calling for some type of response and responsibility within the Oakland PD for what happened to Mr. Olsen, even posted badge numbers of police officers they believed were involved and phone numbers for the mayor and the PD. And Mayor Kwan had about 10,000 complaints on her FaceBook page just in one day alone, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Amber Lyon, thank you so much.
Speaking of mayors, we are 90 seconds away from the mayor of Atlanta. He is in studio. He's going to join me live, Kasim Reed feeling the pressure as he is cracking down on Occupy protesters in his own city. Some say he's been too lenient. Others say he's too harsh. Does he have any regrets? What's he thinking moving forward? Don't miss this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Occupy protests are putting pressure on mayors really around the country. And police in Atlanta cleared protesters out of a city park early Wednesday. And Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed is here to talk a little bit about what you've been facing in your own city. And I know you've been in contact with other mayors nationwide. I'll ask you about that in a minute.
But first, so it was a couple nights ago. Ultimately, it was 52 arrests in Woodruff Park. And just even reading -- I mean, the whole cover right, right, on "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," and they talk about how, you know, there have been criticisms that you've been too harsh, you've been too lenient. How do you respond to the critics, first?
MAYOR KASIM REED, ATLANTA: Well, I respond that we kept everyone safe, and that was my number one priority. We had protests for three weeks and we have not had any injuries in the city of Atlanta. We've not used tear gas. We've not used mace. We've not used overly aggressive tactics. We arrested 52 individuals. None of them were harmed, and they were released on signature bonds under 30 hours.
So I think that we've acted in a manner consistent with our best values. With regard to criticism, that comes with the job. So it probably means we got it as close to as right as we could. I went out of my way. I signed two executive orders so that the protesters were not violating the law, but it got to a point where you could clearly see that the situation was deteriorating.
There was an unsanctioned concert that, in my opinion, put people at risk. Six hundred people came. There was no security, no security plan. And then about a day later, there was a gentleman walking around the campus with an assault rifle.
Now, in Georgia, it's legal to walk around with an AK-47. But once that happened, I made the judgment that it was time to control the campus and clear it. But we certainly took extraordinary steps. We sent clergy...
BALDWIN: Right.
REED: ... to try to speak with them. Ambassador Andrew Young has been there. Congressman John Lewis went to the campus. They would not allow him to speak, so...
BALDWIN: When you look at what happened in Atlanta, and then you look at -- because I think it was essentially the same, you know, a 24-hour cycle -- what happened in Oakland, you sort of juxtapose the two scenes -- I mean, Oakland, we've seen the pictures. We were showing them this week, where you have, you know, the flash grenades, the bean bags, et cetera, thrown at some of these protesters, some of them dragged away.
Were you worried at all that that could happen in Atlanta?
REED: Well, I was worried. That's why we spent two weeks preparing.
BALDWIN: You did.
REED: I mean, we spent an enormous amount of time. And my compliments go to our police chief and the men and women of the police department. It took three weeks planning...
BALDWIN: But you were worried.
REED: I was certainly worried. I was there. I mean, I was in Woodruff Park multiple times. I was being kept informed real-time. We had officers who were embedded at Woodruff Park, so we were receiving video and audio information real-time.
But you know, I worry all of the time, but when I saw weapons being -- entering into the discussion and we heard the debates, and there was a debate within the movement about becoming more aggressive -- they candidly were frustrated that they weren't getting enough media attention.
BALDWIN: But...
REED: And that's just a risk that I can't take, certainly not with an AK-47.
BALDWIN: On the flip side, though, you're also hearing from people who live in and around Woodruff Park, correct, business owners? What were they asking of you?
REED: Well, you know, 3,000 people live around the park, and for them, that's their front yard. And they basically wanted their quality of life back. And I was willing to take that criticism.
Atlanta is the center of the Civil Rights movement. We have a number of Civil Rights icons who I consulted while this was going on to get their advice. And you know, a lot of people spent 50 years building our reputation as a place of tolerance, and I wasn't going to tear that down.
That's why we spent so much time trying to be gentle with the people that we were removing from the park. We photographed and videotaped the entire process. We took photographs of the police officers and the people that they were arresting.
BALDWIN: Whose idea was that?
REED: It was a combination of my leadership team. It was my idea that women police officers should arrest women and that men should arrest men because I didn't want photos of men dragging women away. So we implemented that.
BALDWIN: Did you...
REED: And so it was a combination of the leadership team.
BALDWIN: You were consulting with other leaders, but also, as you were telling me quickly in the break, you had been in consultation with multiple mayors... REED: That's correct.
BALDWIN: ... across the city. (SIC) Who else have you been talking to?
REED: Mayors have been talking about this. I was with Mayor Emanuel in Chicago. We learned from Chicago. I've talked to Mayor Michael Nutter. He and I were Washington...
BALDWIN: Philadelphia.
REED: ... D.C., the mayor of Philadelphia, when we had the memorial for the King monument. So mayors have been having conference calls about this and just trying to manage...
BALDWIN: What is the crux of that conversation?
REED: Well, I mean, we want to recognize the frustration, but we have our laws we have to enforce. And I think everyone is going through a sense of being torn. We have to enforce the law. That's our obligation.
And this movement has no leader. So it's very difficult as the chief executive for a city to have no leader, and the demands that have been being made, certainly in Atlanta -- they asked that the name of Woodruff be changed to Troy Davis Park. We were not going to change the name of Robert Woodruff Park. They had issues with Troy Davis's execution. That is a state issue. He was put to death by the state of Georgia. They wanted the MARTA's fares changed. I don't control the MARTA fares.
BALDWIN: Sure.
REED: So...
BALDWIN: Multiple issues...
REED: Multiple issues, yes.
BALDWIN: ... multiple messages, lack of leadership. Mr. Mayor, I appreciate you coming on and helping us understand how it all went down this week.
REED: Well, this is important, and I think this is an important conversation.
BALDWIN: It's important to cover it. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
REED: Well, thank you. Thank you for having me.
BALDWIN: Still to come here, just a short time ago, police launched a new search for that missing baby girl out of Missouri. Crews now are focused on a lake in the search for little Lisa Irwin. This as her family cancels their news conference today because they say they're tired. Jim Spellman standing by live at this lake. Also, we are still keeping an eye on the Columbus Zoo, where a woman is about to reclaim six of those exotic animals, six of some 50-plus she and her husband used to own before last week, he let them loose on their property before he killed himself. It is quite a bizarre story. It is still unfolding. We're going to watch what happens next. Back in 70 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right. Let's put out live picture. Here we go. Live pictures, WBNS.
You're at, I guess, one of the doors there at the Columbus Zoo.
Here's what we've just learned from our affiliate WBNS. We've learned that Marian Thompson will not be able to walk through those doors and retrieve her six exotic pets because according to our affiliate, the Department of Agriculture is now saying that those six animals must be in quarantine. So they're not coming home with her today.
But apparently she can get a hearing. She can get a hearing in the courts in the next 30 days to try to take those six exotic animals home -- again, those animals, three leopards, three primates and a grizzly bear. She wants to them back to her farm. So, we're going to stay on that story for you.
Meantime, new twists and turns on this one today out of Missouri. A new search is now underway for Lisa Irwin, the Kansas City baby who vanished from her crib more than three weeks ago now.
So, police in boats are scouring this lake. This is in a north Kansas City park. Two crews of investigators with dogs are stepping rest of the park. The lake, we're told, is about 10 miles from baby Lisa's home.
Meanwhile, baby Lisa's family is preparing for authorities to question the missing baby's two young brothers.
Jim Spellman is at this lake in Kansas City.
And, Jim, just looking at those some of those aerial pictures, it is quite an active scene. Tell me -- what can you tell me at this hour?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. We've actually just come back to baby Lisa's house here, Brooke. They're out there with cadaver dogs. That's what those dogs were. They're especially trained dogs. They can smell human remains or live humans as well. They can even -- their handlers tell me -- detect scents of a deceased person in that water. They had won out in the swimming in the water, one in the boat and one on the land scouring that area.
They tell us, unfortunately, they didn't get any hits while they were there. They've just wrapped up that search.
Police have been doing this for the last several weeks. They've gone back to put new tools, new resources to try to come up with something. But what they really need here, police tell us, is to have free access to re-interview this family. It's been over two weeks since the parents have spoken to the police in a free interview kind of interrogation meeting. And it has been since the night that baby Lisa disappeared that these two half brothers have been interviewed. That's going to be Friday. Police here hope that will help them recharge, reinvigorate this investigation, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Let me jump in and ask you about that because as you mentioned, that's supposed to happen tomorrow. And it's not just a police officer. We know it is a specialist, trained in child forensic interviewing technique. So, what exactly is that person looking to get out of these little, little boys tomorrow?
SPELLMAN: Well, they want to get any information they can. It's tricky dealing with children. So, these especially trained social workers, they make it non-confrontational - in a comfortable environment for these boys to speak openly. But, you know, they might mix in things from their imagination or mishear things. So it's really -- it's much different than interviewing an adult.
That's not even going to happen at a police station or at their home. It's a special center for doing just this, interviewing children.
So they have a lot of experience in this, not only in crimes but, not missing children but all sorts of crimes they interview children.
So, that will happen tomorrow.
The mother that night has told other media that she was drinking and maybe even have blacked out. So, these boys may have been the only people in the house that evening that, you know, have good memories and recollections. They hope it will be helpful.
BALDWIN: And, Jim, just quickly, you know, you mentioned that the parents haven't spoken with police in a couple weeks. We were hoping -- you were hoping to hear from the parents' attorneys today. That didn't happen. The media were supposed to get in the home. That didn't happen today.
What's going on there, Jim?
SPELLMAN: You got me. It's really strange, Brooke. They've hired a high-powered New York attorney. And he was here for one day and immediately went back to New York and then Europe. He's been doing press interviews from Rome.
They have local counsel who told us she was going to bring a pool camera wherever -- all the media has one camera's images into baby Lisa's house. That was scheduled for this morning and a press conference.
They then sent out a press release saying they were canceling all that. They were too tired. They were postponing it to next week.
It's a really sort of confusing front they're presenting to the public. That really just wants to help. They do nothing with local media and that's really confused a lot of people and raised a lot of questions frankly about, you know, the tactics the family is taking in this investigation.
BALDWIN: All right. Jim, if you learn anything, if anything comes of that lake search, obviously, we'll pop it back on television and bring that to our viewers.
Jim Spellman for us in Kansas City, thank you so much.
It is being called the worst biker feud in years. Hells Angels and this rival gang fighting one another. Now police are seriously concerned more violence might break out over this coming weekend as this turf war escalates.
But wait until you hear what started this whole thing. It involves coffee. Not kidding. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Two California motorcycle gangs are fighting what is being called the worst biker feud in years and years. So, two bikers have actually been killed and half a dozen more have been wounded since the fighting broke out between these gangs. We're talking about hell's angels and the Vagos.
What's the genesis to all this bloodshed? According to a "Reuters" report out today, this is a turf war. And it all started when the Vagos tried to muscle in on a Hells Angels hangout. That being a Starbucks in downtown Santa Cruz in California.
When we first read this story, we thought really? Big burly bikers maiming and killing one another over lattes?
The rival bikers really did rumble outside this Starbucks. Boots, hammers flew.
In fact, take a look at this mug shot. This is one of the bikers in the fight. Do you see his forehead? That is a boot print.
The biker feud got even bloodier. Five people wounded in a gun fight outside an Arizona casino. And a fight outside a Nevada casino left the leader of the Hells Angel chapter dead.
That was followed by a shooting at the biker's funeral. His deputy was killed.
The suspect is another Hells Angel who is believed to be now on the run. And police are worried there's going to be even more violence over this upcoming weekend as Hells Angels gather to bury the biker who was murdered at his boss's funeral.
Terry Katz is with the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association. He's on the phone.
And, Terry, did this feud really start over the Starbucks? Or the roots -- they have to be deeper than that.
TERRY KATZ, INT. OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE GANG INVESTIGATOR'S ASSN. (via telephone): Well, the Starbucks example is one of the many violent confrontations. Remember that most violence between rival motorcycle gangs or other criminal groups aren't reported to the police because it was by a coffee stop in a metropolitan area. The police were called and that's how they know about this one.
But it goes back probably 35 years when to the Vagos were formed. Remember, they're a gang in California. The Hells Angels started in California.
So, there has been a series of confrontations, and now, a series of very violent ones in the past few months.
BALDWIN: But you say this goes back, what did you say like 3 1/2 decades, but I mean, we're hearing this is the worst biker feud in at least a decade. How bad is it?
KATZ: Well, what you have is, you have to understand that in the world they live in, it's a world of fear. They fear each other.
BALDWIN: Why?
KATZ: They actually, in some cases, fear themselves. So violence is part of their lifestyle. And these just happen to be in public places where they've been recorded. But there have been literally hundreds of confrontations involving violence, most of which don't get reported to the police because it's not a coffee shop or casino or a suburban neighborhood.
BALDWIN: But, Terry, when you talk about fear and how they're living in fear -- I mean, from what I understand, this is termed Hells Angels -- against Hells Angels with that shooting at the funeral of one of the chapter leaders in San Jose. Might there be more of that kind of violence?
KATZ: Well, obviously, the police were outside that event. There were like 4,000 people at the funeral of the San Jose chapter president who was killed by a suspect that has been linked to the Vagos who is now under arrest.
The rule in most of these gangs is you can find one-on-one, hand to hand. Shooting your own member is obviously against their rules. So this individual is either going to get caught by the police or by his own gang. Obviously, the police will be on high alert for the funeral of the member that was killed at his San Jose funeral.
BALDWIN: Hmm, turf war and rival biker gangs, some 35 years and continuing.
Terry Katz, what a story. Thank you so much for calling in.
Still ahead, Congress seems they can't agree on anything -- budget, taxes. But would you believe our weather forecaster now in jeopardy because of this, because lawmakers can't get their act together? You got to hear this. Chad Myers is on that with me.
Plus, it's no secret. Rick Perry's poll numbers have plunged after a couple of debate performances.
So, the Texas governor appears ready to make a drastic move. Wolf Blitzer is standing by with details on that just in from the world of politics, next.
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BALDWIN: Texas Governor Rick Perry said he regrets participating in all of the GOP debates thus far this year. Wolf Blitzer has some news here with America's Choice 2012.
Wolf, what's the deal? What's the story?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION: He'll be the first, Governor Perry, to acknowledge -- to admit that he has not done well in these debates so far and apparently has no desire to do a whole lot more. He'll do some, but not necessarily all of the scheduled Republican debates, according to Ray Sullivan, his communications director, who told our John King this. "He said we're about 60 days away from votes being cast. The candidates need to spend time in Iowa during those town halls and spending a lot more time with the vote who sometimes have the best questions and press the candidates the hardest."
So, it's clear that Rick Perry doesn't want to do a whole lot more debates. We'll see how many he does. There are at least a dozen maybe more debates in the works between now and the end of January, early February.
This whole thing could be resolved after Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida. If, for example, Mitt Romney were to do really well in those four states, it could be over that quickly. On the other hand, if he doesn't necessarily do so well, it could go into February, March.
And, Brooke, you'll remember four years ago when John McCain wrapped it up relatively quickly. But Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, they went on and on and on, including debates all the way through June. They were waiting for Puerto Rico to work their magic before Barack Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination. So, we'll see what happens this time around.
Speaking of Hillary Clinton, did you see the new "TIME" magazine poll?
BALDWIN: I did.
BLITZER: Hypothetical match-up -- hypothetical match-up. Let's say the president of the United States, Barack Obama were to run against Mitt Romney. According to this "TIME" magazine poll, President Obama would beat Romney by three percentage points, 46 percent to 43 percent. That's within the margin for error of this poll.
But, look at this, if -- and that's obviously a huge if -- if Hillary Clinton were the Democratic nominee and if she were running against Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton would crush Mitt Romney 55 percent to 38 percent. That's a pretty impressive change.
Now, she's not running. She has no plans to run. She's not going to be challenging President Obama for the nomination.
I wouldn't necessarily still rule out the possibility that she could maybe be asked to be his running mate although he seems to suggest that's not happening. She says that's not happening. Vice President Biden doesn't -- he insists that's not happening.
You never know what happens as you get closer and closer, because she is so popular right now and a lot of people think could be a stronger ticket, Obama-Clinton as opposed to Obama-Biden. Although everybody acknowledges Obama loves Joe Biden and wants him to stay on the ticket.
But if he sees his campaign in the coming months going down the drain, he my to call an audible, go to the line of scrimmage as they say.
BALDWIN: Call an audible -- I like that.
BLITZER: I wrote a blog about this a couple of week ago. I said he might have to do a Hail Mary kind of pass, although in this particular case, it would be a Hail Hillary kind of pass.
I'm going to speak about this, Rick Stengal, the managing editor of "TIME" magazine, he spent the last week with Hillary Clinton on the road and he's joining us. His magazine had these polls. We'll talk a little politics, national security, all that stuff.
We'll do that in "THE SITUATON ROOM" which begins, as you know, right after your excellent show.
BALDWIN: Thank you very much. We'll see you in the next hour, by the way.
Meantime, how about this one? The FBI suddenly getting involved in the investigation of a cult -- this cult likes to terrorize people by cutting their hair.
Stay right there.
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BALDWIN: The FBI is now looking into possible cult activity in rural Ohio. And not just any cult here, an Amish cult. This group is suspected of attacking members of the Amish community -- as we first reported last week, forcibly cutting off beards and hair, men and women.
Chris Welch is now following this bizarre story for us. He is in Pittsburgh.
And, Chris, you actually spoke with a man supposedly leading this -- we'll call it a splinter group. Who is he? And how has he responded to the allegations that he or his men are cutting these beards and hair of people in the Amish community? CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. Authorities believe it is the work of this one man.
Several groups of rogue Amish members broke away from traditional Amish and have been attacking, basically going up to home in the middle of the night and ringing the door bell. Pulling men out by the beards and cutting the beards off.
And authorities say this is not just the boring of some kids pulling a prank. Authorities believe it a man named Sam Mullet. And I believe we have some video of him. This video was taken from a raid of his compound in rural eastern Ohio within the last few years.
This man, authorities say, the orchestrating all of this and he's been at the center of authorities' focus for a long time now. The sheriff of Jefferson County, Ohio, believes he is up to something much more sinister. Here's what he told me the other day, Brooke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF FRED ABDALLA, JEFFERSON COUNTY, OHIO: He is like a cult leader because what's been going on there is not true Amish. True Amish don't act like that. True Amish don't go out roaming around attacking people throughout the countryside. They just don't do it, true Amish don't do that.
When I tell you nothing moves out there unless he says it moves, that is the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WELCH: And you heard him there. He believes this is a cult.
Now, I took a trip down to try and track down Sam Mullet. I knocked on his door. He did answer. He refused to go on camera and discuss these allegations.
But I asked him, Brooke, how he responds to these accusations that he is running a cult. He says this is not a cult.
As to whether he is behind the beard cuttings -- the beard cutting incidents himself. He said this is a quote from him. He said, "Beard cutting is a crime, is it?" So take that for what it's worth, I guess, Brooke.
But this is a very, very interesting story that I think authorities are keeping their eye on at this point forward.
BALDWIN: Let me ask you, Chris, about the victims. I know you spoke with -- I guess it was about this one man who had his beard cut how many frightened are they and is there anything they can do to protect themselves for fear of it happening again?
WELCH: Well, they're scared. I mean, that's the best way to put it. The people who have been attacked are scared, so are the people who haven't. I mean, it's really covered counties in eastern Ohio. All the Amish are concerned.
But with the folks I spoke to, I spoke to a woman named Arlene Miller. It was her husband Myron Miller who was attacked and pulled out of their house. And she was telling me, look, we've now added locks to our doors.
The Amish -- most of the Amish kept their doors open. The Miller residence, these folks I talked to, always kept their door unlocked when they slept at night. That's changed now.
Here's another thing they've started doing. They keep mace on hand. This is not something we would traditionally associate with Amish culture.
BALDWIN: Wow. So mace on hand. I know that there have been, what, five arrests. We've talk to the sheriff and they think perhaps could be other people involved.
Chris Welch for us in Pittsburgh -- Chris, thanks so much.
Coming up next: weather forecasts. We depend on them every single day. But those forecasts could be in jeopardy because Congress is dragging its feet.
Chad Meyers -- he's fired up about this, right, Chad? We're going to talk about this quick break.
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BALDWIN: Think about how much we depend on accurate weather forecasts, especially when it comes to severe storms. Of course, flights get canceled, schools closed, emergency crews are mobilized. So, tomorrow morning, NASA will be launching this new weather satellite that gathers critical data to make those forecasts. But the overall system could be in trouble because of funding.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is here to explain why this could become a huge, huge problem -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: In the future, we're talking about five years down the road because that's the life expectancy of this satellite that they're shooting off tomorrow morning. Wake up nice and early and see it.
NASA is shooting off a very cool new satellite. It will be a polar orbiting satellite. We'll tell you what that means. There's the rocket that it's on top of. There is the little thing up there. It's gong to go out into space 512 miles, expand its little solar panels and start taking fantastic pictures of the earth. In fact, better pictures than we've ever seen for weather.
The only issue is the next possible launch that they're talking about won't be for six years. That's after the usable, supposed to be, the warranty on this satellite.
What happens if we lose a satellite? Well, you know what? Brooke, there's an awful lot of the world that we don't live in. Sure, there are people out there. There are people that live in Hawaii. There are people that live on the oceans, on islands and things.
But think about how great the forecast is across the eastern part of the country here because we know all about what's happening here? What do we know about there? Or there? Or there? Not very much.
This new satellite will be able to go around the world, around the pole in one rotation like this. And the earth will spin under it. So, it will see the entire world a couple times a day. And it will know whether there are storms in the Pacific that might hit us in eight days, in 10 days.
So, the forecast, the long term forecast will get much better and so there severe weather forecasts in three to five days away. But if this dies before the next one goes up --
BALDWIN: Yes?
MYERS: -- we're in trouble. That's because there are budget cuts all across the government. They're everywhere. Not just for NASA, not just NOAA. They're everywhere.
BALDWIN: So, then, quickly, 10 seconds -- if Congress can't fund this, it is already up there. So, it's just sort of this defunct satellite?
MYERS: No, no. This one will be good for five years.
BALDWIN: Got you.
MYERS: But five years is its life expectancy. And the next one is not supposed to be up -- they didn't have a plan to put it up for well after five years. So what if this doesn't go up very well tomorrow, or what if it only lasts four years, and next one's two years down the road.
Could we be two years without a weather forecast? That'd be ugly.
BALDWIN: Yikes! Chad, thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: Now this.
