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Cain Accuser Wants Others to Go Public; Mississippi's Personhood Vote; Penn State to Investigate Abuse Claims; Students Protest Tuition Fee Hike; Italy's Prime Minister to Resign; NFL Player Talks About Penn State Case; Stocks Set to Sell Off; Historic Crew was Secret and Silent; Students Rally for Paterno

Aired November 09, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, guys. It's the top of the hour. And we're talking about Herman Cain. Angry, defiant and leaving no wiggle room in denying that he sexually harassed anyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With respect to the most recent accusation, I have never acted inappropriately with anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And today he faces his Republican rivals in a presidential debate. But it's possible he could soon face an even tougher crowd. All of his accusers at a single news conference. That's the idea actually being pitched by Karen Kraushaar, one of the women who accused him of sexual harassment in the 1990s.

After a news organization revealed her name, she now says she's ready to go before the cameras with women who have similar stories.

Joe Johns is in Washington.

And Joe, just to let our viewers know that is video from a number of years ago where we were seeing Kraushaar. We don't have any new video of her at this point. But on Monday night Herman Cain was on late-night TV laughing, joking, brushing off all these accusations.

Well, yesterday, Joe, it was all business. So what do you think? Is this a sign of just how serious this scandal has become.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, you get the feeling someone here is operating in a parallel universe. The question is, whether it's Herman Cain or his accusers. Cain issued a blanket denial of all allegations of inappropriate behavior with anyone. Quote, "I can categorically say I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period."

So, it will be up to him to defend that statement as far as his plans going forward. Cain did say he is not going to drop out of the race. He blamed Democrats for putting out what he called a troubled woman to make what he called false allegations against him and said he didn't even know the woman, apparently speaking of Sharon Bialek who is representative by attorney Gloria Allred who's given a lot of money to Democratic candidates. Allred denies, of course, being manipulated by Democrats.

Cain also said he would take a lie detector test, though he quickly said he would not do it unless he has good reason to. It's not clear what reason he would consider good. Although it is hard to imagine a better reason than if a number of the accusers threatened to get together and go out in public and tell their stories at one time and one place, which, as you said, is an idea that has already been floated.

PHILLIPS: Well, and Cain has said that he does know and does remember Karen Kraushaar. So tell us more about her and her plans moving forward.

JOHNS: Right. OK. All right. As you know, she's the one who has floated this idea of getting all the accusers together. She works for the government, worked at the National Restaurant Association back in the day. She says she got $46,000 in the sexual harassment settlement after she complained about Cain's behavior.

She just went public, but has also been called on to discuss the fact that besides the Cain complaint she also filed a workplace complaint with a different employer, which is the -- the Immigration and Naturalization Service. She says that was about trying to get some workplace accommodations because she'd been in a debilitating car accident. And that the second complaint had absolutely nothing to do with harassment.

But, Kyra, as we go on and on you can expect as these accusers come out and talk, the things that went on in their past are naturally going to be discussed, as well.

PHILLIPS: Joe Johns, thanks so much.

And our CNN contributor Maria Cardona actually knows Karen Kraushaar very well. In fact Maria was her boss right after Herman Cain. We're going to get her take on Kraushaar personally and professionally next hour.

Well, for millions of Americans, the election results are in and two Republican backed measures go down in flames. One, the controversial parenthood measure in Mississippi. It would have banned all abortions in the state, even in cases of rape or incest.

Senior political editor Mark Preston in Washington.

So, Mark, let's talk about how significant this defeat is.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, very significant, Kyra.

Let's start off in Mississippi as you said. The person ahead -- Personhood Amendment would have defined the idea of the beginning of life at fertilization. And anti-abortion rights supports were very much against this. The fact of the matter is had this initiative passed down in Mississippi it would have given supporters who want to outline abortion a foothold in their effort to try to outlaw abortion all across the nation.

Up in Mississippi, another big loss for conservatives. Specifically the Republican Governor Joined Kasich. There was a law on the books that he pushed through that was rejected by voters up there. His law would have -- was curtailing the rights, the collective bargaining rights of public sector employees.

Now we all know that Ohio is going to be a huge, huge state next year, major battleground state in the presidential election. Democrats saw this as a huge win for them, a huge win for unions and, really, a test of how they can mobilize,

Kyra, against Republicans and especially what they say is initiatives are hurtful to American workers -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the Mississippi governor's race and the recall vote in Arizona.

PRESTON: Sure. Just very quickly. Republicans held on to the governor's race, the governor seat down there. Haley Barbour was term limited out. The new governor is going to be Phil Bryant. Also in Kentucky. Very quickly Democrats held on to that seat, as well. Steve Beshear won a second term in -- out in Arizona. A huge loss for State Senator Russell Pierce who lost in a recall election to a fellow Republican.

Pierce is the author of that very hardline anti-immigration law that, of course, has made national and international headlines -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Mark Preston, thanks so much.

And we'll have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, you can always go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.

Well, hundreds of Penn State students show up outside Coach Joe Paterno's home as he returns from practice last night.

And as you can see, coach accused of doing the bear minimum in reporting child rape charges was visibly moved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: We want Joe. We want Joe. We want Joe.

JOE PATERNO, PENN STATE FOOTBALL COACH: And I want you. And I want you guys. It's hard for me to tell you how much this means to me. You know with the kids that are victims, whatever they want to say, I think we ought to say a prayer for them. Because, you know, tough life that -- when people do certain things to you. But, anyway, you've been great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Jason Carroll is covering the story for us from State College, Pennsylvania.

So, what's the latest on Paterno's fate, Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the big question, Kyra. A lot of folks asking, will he be able to stick around and hold on to his position?

His son, Scott Paterno, saying that the report that was out there, saying that Joe Paterno was going to have to step down, even before this weekend's game was false. You heard Joe Paterno speaking in front of his home last night. He was not the only one.

Listen to what Scott Paterno had to say about that report that his father was going to have to resign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any discussion of major strategy has not taken place with anyone that's advising Joe or Joe himself. That's all I can tell you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Nothing between the university --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been no discussion between the university and Coach Paterno. Nothing has changed. ?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: As far as he's concerned he's coaching Saturday and for the foreseeable future?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, nothing's changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So even though you've seen a lot of supporters out there in front of Paterno's home and actually right here on the campus here at Penn State. A lot of critics, as well, Kyra, saying that even though Joe Paterno legally did what he was supposed to do in terms of reporting that allegation of a sexual assault that occurred here, allegedly occurred here on the campus, morally, he just didn't do enough -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Now, Jason, I understand you're getting some new information about possibly more victims coming forward?

CARROLL: That's correct. A source close to the investigation has confirmed to me that a man walked into a police station not far from here claiming that Sandusky had assaulted him. And if that's the case, that would bring the number of victims up to nine.

In addition to that, the police tipline has received numerous calls, more than a dozen calls, coming into their tipline from people claiming to have been assaulted by Sandusky, as well. So, a lot of calls coming in. But this was expected, Kyra, because you'll remember the attorney general said on Monday that given the fact that this man had had so much access to so many young people for such a long period of time, they expected more victims to come forward, but you remember just because people were coming forward and making allegations, those allegations have to be vetted, they have to be investigated before those people can officially be declared a victim.

PHILLIPS: Jason Carroll, State College, Jason, thanks.

Well, thousands of students are storming the streets in London. Take a look at these live pictures right now. They say that they have had it with tuition hikes. So once again, you can see they've taken to the streets. And if this is anything like the last round of protests, well, police are now bracing for the worst.

Atika Shubert is there in London.

So Atika, these protesters are actually working their way toward the heart of the "Occupy" movement, right?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. In fact, several people from the "Occupy" movement have now gone to join that protest. We're actually on a street where those students are going to be coming down. And as you can see behind me, quite a lot of sleeping. In fact there's a very heavy police presence today. Police say they don't want to be caught off guard.

They put about 4,000 cops on the street today and you might be able to see behind me, as well, they boarded up a lot of the offices around here already to try to prevent anybody from smashing in. Banks, in particular, as you can imagine, are very concerned. And police say that if it gets that bad, if it gets violent and disorderly, they do also have the authority to use rubber bullets, if necessary.

Remember, just about a year ago, it did get very bad, thousands of students flooded in to the Conservative Party headquarters and managed to smash their way in through there and police do not want to see a repeat of that today.

PHILLIPS: All right, Atika, we will definitely follow these protests. These live pictures. And if it anything like the last time this happened you and I talked. It got a bit violent and we're hoping it's going to remain peaceful which it looks like it is at this moment.

Atika, thanks so much.

PHILLIPS: Well, after years of sex scandals and corruption trials, it turns out it's the economy that's taking down Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

CNN's Monita Rajpal following the story for us out of London.

So Monita, let's talk about why now and why is the economy becoming the final straw for his tenure? MONITA RAJPAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, the thing is that right now we know what's happening in Italy right now, Kyra. So there are two C words that Italians investors want to hear. And that is clarity and confidence. And it seems as though, they're not getting either of that. What we saw today happening in the markets here in this part of the world is that the Italian bond yields hit about 7 percent. Just -- just over 7 percent and that is like the red zone for investors right now.

Basically an indication that both Italians and investors around the world are not getting that sense of clarity or confidence, despite the fact that Berlusconi announced he will resign. He announced that yesterday basically saying that he knew and understood that he was not going to get a majority support from his own party or within the parliament in itself in order to pass these very stiff -- the budget measures from last year.

And of course in order to go forward and instill some ort of confidence both within the Eurozone, he would need to have this budget measure passed. And of course he got a great talking to from the German and the French heads of state, when during the G-28 to say that he needed to get something done. Saying needed to be done in Italy to get things sorted in Italy.

So they're not getting that clarity or confidence that they need right now. At least that's what the market are indicating.

And also what we're hearing from reaction from around the world, in the newspaper headlines as well. Let me give you a few examples.

The "Wall Street Journal," the Europe edition, have the headlines "In the End. It was the economy." The opinion piece says, "For years Mr. Berlusconi clung to power while fending off sex scandals and corruption trials. By the time Italy began to creep into the crosshairs of the eurozone crisis, Mr. Berlusconi and his forces were caught perilously flatfooted.

Then the "Guardian" here in the U.K. has a headline, "Berlusconi at Bay." It's a common piece, and it goes on to say, there can be no clear indications that in Italy it is the man who is the immediate problem and not the country, whereas in Greece, it has been the other way around.

And finally "The National," it's the paper from the United Arab Emirates, has the headline, coalition turns on Italian premier." And it says, "On the streets of Rome and the provinces in the view of many political and financial analysts, the end of the Berlusconi era is not only near, but offers the country its best hope of finding solutions to its present predicament -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Monita Rajpal out of London, Monita, Thanks.

And a former Penn State football player coached by Jerry Sandusky says he's shocked by the sex abuse case. Buffalo Bills' Brian Scott talks to me, next. Also ahead, thousands of dollars in fireworks igniting all at once. The glitch that made this Scotland display over in the blink of an eye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking stories across country now.

At least 17 employees of Idaho's National Lab will be monitored after suffering exposure to plutonium yesterday. The lab says there's no evidence of radiation outside the facility and there's no risk to the public.

Folks in Goodland, Indiana, say it looks like a bomb went off. The town's 50-year-old water tower unexpectedly collapsed late last night or Monday night, rather, unleashing an estimated 250,000 gallons of water. It damaged nearby homes and it's blamed for igniting a house fire.

And a real-life Gilligan's island, the U.S. Coast Guard delivers. In this case, desperately need food and supplies to seven fishermen who were stranded on a deserted Pacific Island. Australia's royal navy later rescued the men.

Well, the Penn State child rape case has shocked the nation, especially those who played football for Coach Jerry Sandusky. Bryan Scott currently plays with the Buffalo Bills, that's him right there, number 43 making the tackle in this highlight. Scott was a three-year starter at Penn State and played one season under then assistant coach Sandusky, who is now facing these charges of rape.

I spoke exclusively with Bryan earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN SCOTT, BUFFALO BILLS (via telephone): My first reaction was, I really couldn't believe it. And I still can't believe it. This is just like a nightmare. Never in a million years would I have ever thought that Jerry would be capable of doing these things. These allegations are just so serious that I'm just completely floored.

PHILLIPS: Now, he coached you in 1999. Tell me what he was like. And did you ever get any strange vibes from him or think that his behavior was odd in any way?

SCOTT: As a coach and as a person, he was just, he was top- notch. I saw the way that he interacted with, you know -- well, myself, my other teammates. Even with the Second Mile program, I saw how he interacted with the kids and he just seemed like a great, great person.

And no, there were never any signs of any type of foul play.

PHILLIPS: If you could come face-to-face with Sandusky today, what would you say to him, Bryan?

SCOTT: Oh, man. That's tough. That's tough. That's tough. What really, what can you say?

You know, I'm -- that's a tough one. I don't even know if I would have any words, really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Bryan Scott not only played for Jerry Sandusky, he was roommates with Sandusky's son, John. What Bryan has to say to John Sandusky next hour in CNN NEWSROOM.

Also, U.S. stocks are set for a brutal open. Dow futures are showing a 200-point drop as fears about Italy's debt crisis take hold. We're going to go to New York Stock Exchange for an update.

And this fireworks display, well it dazzled the crowd right off the bat. Then it abruptly stopped. We'll tell you about the glitch that made the whole event short but sweet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it was a once in a lifetime event, a celebration in Scotland topped off by a pretty extravagant firework display. However, spectators got far more than they bargain for.

And Rob Marciano is here to explain the inside details.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: These things are choreographed very specifically. They're now computers are involved. That's when you throw the red flag.

So, this particular display was supposed to take, I don't know, 10, 20, maybe 30 minutes and they blew the whole thing up in 50 seconds. Apparently, there was a bit of a computer glitch and like Kyra mentioned, the audience there got quite a show.

You know, Scotland is a beautiful country. Great things to do.

PHILLIPS: You have great golf courses for scenery.

MARCIANO: Great scotch, what-have-you. Speaking of, don't light any fireworks off in Georgia on Sunday any more because you're allowed to buy booze.

Let's look at some other pictures that are cool. Check this out.

All right? We kind of mentioned this last week. This is the sun, close-up shots of it and that's a coronal mass ejection, an active sunspot that unleashed an ex-flare, solar flare, which is the strongest kind. Luckily, it wasn't pointed at earth at the time.

However, this is what it looked like when it was going down. This limb, the sun rotating in this way. This was on the third or fourth of November as that ex-flare shot out the side of the sun.

But now, the sun and that sun spot, this very large sun spot which is 50,000 miles in diameter by eight times the size of earth is now directly pointed at earth. So, if we get another ex-flare and that could happen, they think this during this week, that has the potential to knock out communications and satellites and things like that.

For our solar (ph) watches, we have a weaker flare that's heading our way tomorrow night. You might see some northern lights in some spots, but we're watching this carefully for the potential of ex- flares, which in the sun, if you relate that to the Scotland story, that would blow all your fireworks at once and that wouldn't necessarily be good.

PHILLIPS: How that all came back to booze in Georgia on Sundays. We don't know.

MARCIANO: It was election day.

PHILLIPS: Only you, Rob. There you go. Only you.

MARCIANO: Good to see you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Always a pleasure.

Well, stocks on Wall Street jumped yesterday after we got word that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would step down. But today is a totally different story -- right, Alison Kosik?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. And today, you want to fasten that seat belt in about six minutes when the opening bell rings. The Dow is looking to fall about 200 points, and the S&P 500, that's going to get hit hard, as well. You know what spooked stocks, the bond market, specifically the 10-year Italian bond yield is above 7 percent. That's a record high. That's crisis level. You know what? That shows there's little confidence.

The fact is, no one wants to loan money to Italy at this point because it's questionable whether Italy can pay its bills, because you go and compare it to what happened with other countries when their bond yields topped 7 percent, as well, they needed a bailout, as well. Greece, Ireland, Portugal, they all needed help within two months that their bonds were topping 7 percent.

But at this point, Kyra, many are wondering if Italy is too big to bail out. It's drowning in $2.6 trillion in debt -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, so, what happened to all this optimism after Berlusconi said he was going to step down?

KOSIK: Yes. You know, what a difference a day makes. So, yes, the thinking yesterday was Berlusconi's resignation would lead to fiscal changes.

But, you know, reality sets in. There's no quick fix for the debt crisis in Italy. It's this big.

You know, Italy's issues, if you have to compare it to Greece, are bigger than Greece at this point. Italy is Europe's third biggest economy. Its debt load is six times bigger than what Greece is carrying.

Also, Berlusconi's resignation, reality is -- it's not going to help Italy's economy grow any faster.

So, all this reality is setting in now that investors had a chance to sleep on it, to sleep on what happened and, yes, they're looking to run for the exits in about four minutes -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we will bring our viewers those numbers in four minutes. Thanks, Alison.

And coming up, minutes after another accuser goes public, Herman Cain takes the stage and denies any sexual harassment. Our regulars Roland Martin and Will Cain weighing in next.

And later, one of the most popular rap artists of the '90s has died. A look at the life of Heavy D in our "Showbiz Headlines".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. This just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. We're getting word Greece's embattled prime minister will be handing in his resignation to the country's president some time today. We're getting word that George Papandreaou confirmed to CNN just moments ago that his resignation will come after he gives a televised address to the nation. Once again, the Greek prime minister about to resign today.

Top stories now. A year-long investigation finds serious misconduct by mortuary staff at Dover Air Force base in Delaware. Somehow the remains of several U.S. troops killed in action were mishandled, even went missing.

And a new report on Iran's nuclear program has sparked criticism from France, Israel and China. The paper revealed more evidence of military weapons work. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called the findings fabricated.

Everybody relax. We all survived that fly bye-bye the huge asteroid. The 1,000-foot space rock whizzed safely by Earth, giving NASA scientists this rare close up.

All right, the Herman Cain controversy has quickly gone from he said/she said to he said/they said. The Republican presidential candidate finally held a formal news conference to address at least four claims of sexual harassment. And he was defiant about the allegations and his first public accuser.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My first response in my mind and reaction was, I don't even know who this woman is.

I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN political analyst Roland Martin and CNN contributor Will Cain joining me now. Bottom line, guys, do you believe him? I mean, Roland, Cain has gone from cracking jokes about this on Jimmy Kimmel to holding a news conference out of Arizona with flags behind him, notes in his hand, no jokes, denying all allegations. What do you think?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Obviously, he had to hold a news conference because when you had the woman from Chicago come out and actually go before the cameras to actually give her story, that changed this whole situation. Remember, you had anonymous folks talking compared to putting a face on this. And so, he had to address it.

Unlike a lot of other people, I thought the news conference went fairly well. There was nothing he could have done because --

PHILLIPS: Do you believe him?

MARTIN: -- to taint somebody's opinion. Yes.

No, no, no, here's the deal, though. This is the situation he is faced with. It's their word, it's his word. It comes down to a personal credibility and integrity. And so, he could not have satisfied anybody yesterday, even if he said, well, I did it. That was one way of doing it. But he denied it, so, people are still not satisfied.

And so, the voters at the end of the day will decide as opposed to anybody talking right now. What happens in Iowa will determine his fate.

PHILLIPS: What do you think about his so-called change in presentation, Will, and do you believe him?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't -- I don't know, Kyra. I mean, it's as you both have just said, it's a he said/she said, and I don't know it's appropriate for any one of us to say who we believe.

But, look, here's one hallmark of trust of the ability to believe someone. That is consistency. Saying the same statement over and over. Even yesterday at his press conference he said, emphatically, I don't even remember her. But then he said, I might remember her later, I don't know. I'm not sure how the brain works.

He has a habit of making emphatic statements and then altering them as time goes by. This exists both in substance like, I believe in electrified border fence, and then changing that. And it's now existing within the scandal.

By the way, I like something Roland said. My opinion does not matter. Roland's opinion does not matter. You know what matters? He said he would take a lie detector test. There's your story for the next couple weeks. There's the resolution to this issue. PHILLIPS: You know what else I want to ask you guys? And I hope I don't put you in an awkward position, but I'm going to go for it anyway because you know politics, you both know mudslinging and everything else. Usually when these women who claim sexual harassment come forward, you know, the worst is assumed with regard to their character, their motives.

Why is that, Roland? In your opinion.

MARTIN: It is because -- this is about destruction of politics. Remember, in politics, what happens is all about how can I tear down the person who is making the accusation. So, whether it is Democrat, whether it is Republican, that is -- that is always the motive. So, you have to attack the credibility of the person talking.

This is all about credibility. And that's what the issue is, that's the problem.

PHILLIPS: Will, you agree?

WILL CAIN: No, I don't. In fact, I emphatically disagree with both of you on this. I think that in the issues of sex scandals, all too often the accusation serves as a guilty verdict. We saw that with Dominique Strauss-Kahn. If someone says you did something wrong in a sexual -- in a sexual scandal, you are judged to have been guilty.

This woman, is there an effort to tear her down? Well, there is an effort to see if what she is saying is true. And I think that is a valid, valid effort.

PHILLIPS: So, what do you think - go ahead, Roland.

MARTIN: But, Kyra, remember, the point I was making is, when an allegation comes up, if you are a Democratic candidate, what happens is the Democratic machine begins to go after that person to attack their credibility. On the Republican side, if it's Republican candidate same thing.

And, so, one of those mistakes I believe that Herman Cain made yesterday was calling her a troubled woman. You cannot attach such words to anybody because, again, that begins to raise doubt as to what are you trying to say? That was a mistake.

As Will said earlier, stick to your point. If you say it didn't happened, be consistent there. But once you begin to say troubled woman, you're putting doubt in somebody's mind, and it doesn't make you look good.

PHILLIPS: Roland, Will, thanks, guys.

WILL CAIN: Kyra, can I ask a quick question? I don't want to put you in an awkward position.

PHILLIPS: That's all right.

WILL CAIN: Roland Martin just out-unbuttoned me. How many unbuttoned buttons did you go down there, Roland?

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: No, first of all, I didn't out-unbutton you. I'm sorry you don't have a chest, my bad.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Okay, here we go. I think this is harassment right here, and I'm moving out of this quickly. Roland, Will, I'll talk to you guys. Oh, gosh, help me.

All right, coming up next, Nancy Grace gets the verdict on "Dancing with the Stars" last night. We'll tell you what the fans decided in our Showbiz headlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And checking stories "Cross Country" now. In Gracin County, Texas, a lightning strike caused a fire at a salt injection plant. The smoke and flames could be seen for miles. Luckily no one was hurt.

And a few terrifying moments in Fort Myers, Florida. A two- year-old boy slipped off a pier into the river. A 54-year-old man jumped in and he was rescued.

And perhaps the most bizarre story of the morning, a woman was in jail for three days before police found out she had a stolen fur coat hidden in her underwear. Store surveillance video shows her actually stuffing the coat right there under her dress.

Well, one of the hit -- hip-hop's, rather -- most popular artists of the '90s died yesterday. Known as Heavy D. Real name, Dwight Errington Myers.

(MUSIC CLIP PLAYS)

PHILLIPS: Bringing back memories for all of us. That was one of his biggest hits, by the way, "Now That We Found Love." Let's bring in "Showbiz Tonight's"A.J. Hammer for some details on what exactly happened. A.J.?

A.J. HAMMER, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" HOST: This is really sad news, Kyra. Particularly stunning because Heavy D has been out in public a lot recently with his new album. He even performed at that Michael Jackson tribute in Wales a couple weeks ago. But he collapsed at his Beverly Hills home Tuesday morning and died a short time later at a Los Angeles hospital. The cause of death has not yet been determined.

Heavy D's career began in 1987 scene with his group that you're seeing right here, Heavy D and the Boyz. And he had hits like, "The Overweight Lovers in the House" and this remake we're listening to now, the OJ's "Now that We Found Love." He also recorded hit songs with both Janet and Michael Jackson and later on in his career we saw him shift a bit away from music. He got into acting. We saw him in some great movies. "The Cider House Rules" among them, a variety of TV shows, in fact. In fact, he's in the new Eddie Murphy film, "Tower Heist" right now. That's out in theaters.

Heavy D was known for having a really sweet sense of fun. In fact, on his Twitter page, his slogan was, I have relentless optimism. I checked his Twitter page. His last tweet from Monday seemed to sound a little more important. He told his Twitter followers to be inspired.

Kyra, Heavy D was 44 and he will certainly be missed.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Well, Monday, the "Dancing With the Stars" judges pretty cruel to our Nancy Grace, A.J.

HAMMER: Yes. Yes. It was going to happen. Unfortunately, it happened last night. Nancy voted off "Dancing With the Stars" but, look, she did great. She finished in fifth place overall on what is a truly grueling competition.

"Showbiz Tonight" did catch up with her after the show last night. Yes, she was disappointed but she seemed really thankful to all the fans who have supported her. Watch what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, DWTS COMPETITOR: To all of the viewers that have stuck by me since way back when, stuck by me when I first started off with Johnnie Cochran, God rest his soul, when I was in the hospital with the twins, Christmases, Easters past, you never forgot us, thank you for voting for us and getting to know Tristan. And hopefully you'll have many more season to know him, and I'll see you on the air.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Kyra, will you join me in a little round of applause? I'm all by myself in here, but I think -

(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)

PHILLIPS: Here we go!

HAMMER: We have to give it up for Nancy Grace.

Look, we got to see different sides of her, and we got to see a little more of her in certain ways. And it was so much fun watching Nancy go through the experience. I think it was life changing for her, having spent some time with her out there in Los Angeles at the rehearsal hall. You can only feel good about what she was able to accomplish, I think.

PHILLIPS: Not only did we find out she is a great dancer, but she has a lot of heart and, you saw a humble Nancy Grace, too, which was pretty cool to see. Usually she's going right after you, and boy, she took that criticism with a good nature for sure. HAMMER: Yes. She would only go after us, Kyra, if we didn't call in whatever the maximum number of times were. Every week she would check with each of us. "I'm at the top of the speed dial, right? You're going to speed dial. You're going to call in, you're going to vote." So, maybe that helped get her through so far in the competition, I don't know. But good for you, Nancy.

PHILLIPS: She always got me with the twins thing. And then asked me if the twins were voting for her. She knows exactly how to get to the core of us, A.J. Well, she's still a winner in our book. A.J. thanks so much.

A.J. is going to back next hour with more Showbiz headlines. Coming up in the 10:00 hour, he'll talk about one of Hollywood's most successful directors walking away from producing the Oscars.

The clock is ticking down on the NBA's latest offer to the players, but the union is not budging. That story just ahead in "Sports."

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PHILLIPS: Well, if there's any doubt that the global debt crisis doesn't affect us, it is. Dow Industrials down 269 points, as you can see. It was just less than 20 minutes ago we reported word that it looks like the Greek Prime Minister, Papandreou will resign today.

Market reaction here, overseas; and in the United States also word about the possible fall of Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. Once again the global debt crisis is impacting our markets, as we speak; the Dow Industrials continuing to stay in negative territory.

They stood as the vanguard during the Cold War and they did it miles beneath the ocean's surface. You're about to meet the nuclear submarine crew that waited silently for orders they hoped would never come. It's today's "Veterans in Focus."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALFRED CHARETTE, U.S. NAVY (RET.): It's not a natural thing to submerge your ship in water. The mission of the submarine is not to give itself away. To remain undetected. We didn't want to make any kind of a noise that a fish didn't make.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the submariners, when they go to sea, that they're in harm's way.

THOMAS M. RUSSELL III, U.S. NAVY (RET.): Basically on patrol for 60 days at a clip submerged all the time.

GREG KANE, U.S. NAVY (RET.): I had to learn my job and learn my job well so I could keep myself and my shipmates alive and healthy.

EDWIN (BUD) ATKINS, U.S. NAVY (RET.): My life depended on my other shipmate. And it didn't matter whether they were seamen or a captain. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are on the USS Nautilus SSN 571, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine. I was on board for four years from 1957 to 1961. When I was on board I was a sonar supervisor. A couple pieces of equipment in there are the same ones that I operated. I think the political climate at the time was one of tension between us and the USSR.

CHARETTE: We could be in the harbor and nobody would know we were there. We could be along the coast and nobody would know we were there.

ATKINS: Our adversaries knew that we were out there and they couldn't find us. That's what the Cold War was about.

RUSSELL: We just hoped that every time we went to battle stations that it was a drill because we all knew if it was not a drill, home would maybe in pieces.

CHARETTE: I think we're probably a unique bunch of guys who think that we're better than everybody else; special, special fraternity.

ATKINS: And it's so different than any other service.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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PHILLIPS: Stories making news later today.

2:00 p.m. Eastern the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System will be conducted.

The NBA players union has a 5:00 p.m. deadline to accept the latest offer from team owners.

And the 45th Annual Country Music Awards gets underway 8:00 p.m. Eastern from Nashville, Tennessee.

All right, were following lots of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with CNN's Jason Carroll live in State College, Pennsylvania -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Kyra, calls for Joe Paterno's resignation keep coming in. But that doesn't mean that he does not have his supporters. They rallied in front of his home last night. I'll have an update on that plus the latest in the investigation coming up.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENTT: I'm Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange where I'm watching stocks sell off. The Dow right now are plunging 286 points; this as fears about Italy's debt crisis, cross the Atlantic. The big question here, will Europe's third biggest economy need a bail out? I'm going to have details in the next hour. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen in Atlanta. Just when you thought you've heard everything, a story comes along that makes you go "what"? Parents of kids with chickenpox are having their kids lick lollipops and then they're sending those lollipops to the mail for other families. I'll tell you why they're doing this at the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: All right, guys, thanks so much.

Also next hour: new background on the second woman to publicly accuse Herman Cain of harassment. Her former boss and CNN contributor Maria Cardona joining us live next.

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PHILLIPS: Well, as you know, we've been closely following the Penn State child abuse sex case. And our sports guy, Jeff Fischel is here to talk more actually about Joe Paterno. A lot of people don't understand how much of a coaching legend he is.

JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: No. I mean he's as big as it gets. If there's a Mount Rushmore of college football, Paterno is definitely on it. He always got credit for doing it the right way, too.

He calls it the grand experiment, making sure his athletes are students first, always a high graduation rate. This year, he has another great team. The Nittany Lions are 8 and 1; they're ranked number 12 in the nation. Paterno turns 85 next month. An incredible resume, 409 wins, most ever in big time college football. He's won two national titles since he became head coach at Penn State in 1966.

It's really hard to overstate what he has meant to the school. He and his wife donated over $4 million to the school. When he started, Penn State's endowment was basically zero, now it's over a billion dollars.

So many angles to this sad story Kyra. I know you guys have new details and you're going to have that coming right up to the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: Yes, we do.

FISCHEL: All right. We are now just about seven hours away from the NBA owners' take it or leave it deadline. The players yesterday said we'll leave it. But they hope to meet with owners today for more negotiations. The owners aren't giving an inch. They say they can't afford to and if the players don't take the offer on the table, any future offer will be worse. The two sides are battling over how to split $4 billion in league profits.

NHL last night, Washington Capitals hosting Dallas, the Stars Eric Nystrom takes the outlet pass, skates in and nice move; gets tripped but scores anyway. The Stars win 5-2. The Stars, they're at the bottom of the league in payroll, but they're at the top of the Western Conference standings right now. Check out this wave, 90 feet high. Garrett McNamara rides it for a possible world record, topping the old mark of 77 feet. I say possible because I'm not really sure how you measure that. 90 feet, this happened in Portugal (INAUDIBLE). Look at that nose in the surfboard view.

PHILLIPS: Oh my gosh, that makes me claustrophobic just looking at it.

FISCHEL: I mean I grew up on the beach, but that's crazy.

PHILLIPS: I grew up surfing in San Diego. But that freaks me out.

FISCHEL: Yes. No, no, no, no, no. No thanks.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Jeff.

FISCHEL: Ok, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right.