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Italian Prime Minister to Resign; Joe Paterno to Step Down; GOP Presidential Hopefuls to Debate in Michigan; Former Penn State Coach Accused of Child Molestation; Earthquake Aftershock Hits Turkey

Aired November 09, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: There is a lot going on in the world today.

Penn State's embattled Joe Paterno will keep coaching until the end of the year.

It's time now for "Reporter Roulette," and we begin with Jason Carroll in University Park, Pennsylvania, with the Joe Paterno story.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Don, had an opportunity to speak to some of the players from the football team a little earlier this afternoon.

They told me that they feel as though Joe Paterno made the right decision for the team, for himself personally, and they also feel as though, Don, he made the right decision for the university.

But having said that they are still very saddened by the fact that this man that they looked up to for so many years had to retire in this type of way. Want you to listen to what they had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HAPLEA, PENN STATE FOOTBALL PLAYER: I think that in his heart, he thinks he made the right decision and he has been doing his thing for so many years and we are not going to question any decision he makes. We have been behind him the whole time. And he is doing what he believes is best for the program, for us, his staff and Penn State. So, we are just really happy that he is just doing what he believes is right in his heart and we are going to support him.

ALEX BUTTERWORTH, PENN STATE FOOTBALL PLAYER: I think as long as he has been here, he hasn't really ever made a wrong decision. He know what is he is doing. He has been doing it so long and if he thinks it is best for the program, chances are it is going to be the best thing for the program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: For Joe Paterno's part, he does have some regrets. Part of his statement said: "This is a tragedy, one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

So obviously, some regret on the part of the man who was considered a legendary football coach here at Penn State -- Don.

LEMON: Jason Carroll, thank you very much.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

LEMON: Next on "Reporter Roulette," Becky Anderson is in Rome covering the Silvio Berlusconi resignation.

What is the latest, Becky?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We have heard from the president just in the past couple of hours that these austerity measures in the bill that has been sort of hanging around in Parliament will actually get pushed through the Senate this weekend, back to the lower chamber and hopefully, hopefully signed off on.

And that is when the president -- the prime minister says that he will resign. So the president tonight has told us to expect the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi by the beginning of next week, and that should, should have helped the markets calm down a little bit, Don, because we were looking at this sort of vacuum of possibly a month before we saw the back end of Silvio Berlusconi, so now that window is closing.

The problem though is this. We still don't know what will happen after that. Will there be a general election, which is actually what Berlusconi and his party want? That wouldn't happen until February. Or would we see a coalition government ordered by the president here, a coalition government or, indeed, a government of technocrats?

Now, if that were the case, there is a very strong candidate in place here. He has just been made a senator for life today by the president. Doesn't mean he will become prime minister, but he's a man by the name of Mario Monti, very well respected, not just in Italy, but throughout Europe. He has been a commissioner at the European Union for some time.

He was recently charged with rewriting the rules for a potential federal Europe going forward. He is, as I say, very well respected. Keep an eye out for him, Mario Monti. If there is a government of technocrats that is who I think would lead it.

Meantime, these borrowing costs have gone through the roof. As Alison pointed out, the debt here is absolutely huge, $2.5 trillion. Let me give you a sense of the size. That is the size of the Greek, Portuguese and Spanish debt problems combined, six times, as Alison said, the size of the Greek debt pile.

LEMON: Yes.

ANDERSON: There is a real problem here. Tonight, we have seen the bill. It is full of very good austerity measures. But is it going to work? Who knows at this point -- Don.

LEMON: We will have to see. Thank you, Becky Anderson in Rome.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," Max Foster is in London. The BBC reports a now defunct tabloid paid a private eye to spy on Prince William.

So, Max, these are some big allegations. What do you know?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You will remember, Don, that whole phone hacking scandal here in the U.K. started when Prince William noticed that his phone had been hacked. It turned out there are thousands of other victims and that is being investigated.

But we now understand from these allegations, this private investigator, that as soon as that phone hacking stopped, they started traditional surveillance, they started spying on public figures, Prince William amongst them. Let's hear from that private investigator, in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK WEBB, ADMITS SPYING ON PRINCE WILLIAM: Prince William came out with Kate followed by the royal protection vehicle. I followed the royal protection vehicle, knowing full well they were in front and they ended up at Duchy Farm. The royal protection then peeled off and I followed the royal protection around, knowing full well they would go back there, and watched them then go for lunch, et cetera, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: There you are. Comments from a private investigator hired by the "News of the World," controlled by the Murdoch family News Corporation. Don, it's not good for them.

LEMON: And the response from the Murdoch camp so far? Any?

FOSTER: Well, so far they are saying the "News of the World" has been closed down, which is true, so no comment from them, but crucially, James Murdoch, who was the executive in charge of "News of the World," is appearing here in London in front of a parliamentary committee tomorrow.

It was always going to be very thorny exchange, but now it is going to be real -- a real -- really -- real grilling are, because, Don, you know that the shareholders of News Corporation are unhappy with James Murdoch in this position, and he will be put under even more scrutiny right now.

LEMON: All right, thank you very much, Max Foster.

And next on "Reporter Roulette," parents are ordering lollipops infected with chicken pox in an attempt to keep their kids from having the chicken pox vaccine?

Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here.

Really?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Really. It is crazy, it is dangerous and it is bizarre.

So, what's happening is that parents were going on Facebook and were saying, hey, I want to give my kid chicken pox, because I want them to get infected naturally, instead of through the vaccine. And so let me give you an example of something that appeared Facebook.

Someone wrote: "Fresh batch of pox in Nashville, Tennessee. Shipping of suckers, spit and Q-tips available tomorrow, $50 via PayPal."

And so the theory was that a sick kid would lick a lollipop, and then put it in the mail. And then a healthy kid would lick it, get chicken pox, and then wouldn't need to get the vaccine. These are anti- vaccine parents.

LEMON: So is getting the chicken pox safer than the vaccine?

COHEN: No. It is not. And that what is so inexplicable here, is that chicken pox kills. It doesn't kill many people, but before the vaccine, kids would die every year of chicken pox, whereas the vaccine is safe. The side effects are pretty minor.

I don't know why want your kid to have the disease, rather than the vaccine, not to mention the disease is uncomfortable.

LEMON: Yes. It is, as a kid.

Is this legal?

COHEN: It is not legal. The U.S. attorney in Tennessee, which is one of the places this was happening, they came out saying it is illegal to send the virus through the U.S. mail. It's illegal in so many ways, but that's one of them.

LEMON: All right. Can you actually get the disease? If you have a sucker like that, or a candy, can you actually get the disease from sharing a lollipop or a piece of candy that you suck on?

COHEN: OK. This is the part that if it weren't so sad it would be funny.

We are told by experts probably not, because the way you get through chicken pox is through droplets, when someone sneezes or coughs near you. You don't ingest chicken pox, so probably that child wouldn't get sick and that $50 via PayPal for nothing.

LEMON: It is very odd.

COHEN: It is very odd. And those Facebook sites are no longer up probably because they realized it was illegal.

LEMON: For good reason. Thank you. Appreciate, Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: Thanks.

LEMON: And that is today's "Reporter Roulette." I'm going to talk to Don McPherson. He is a College Football Hall of Fame and a social activist. He knew and respected Jerry Sandusky, the Penn State coach accused of raping boys. Hear what he has to say about their time together. That is coming up.

And what do Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain have in common? It might not be what you think.

"Dancing With the Stars" minus one of our own, Nancy Grace. How did she take it?

And tell me this. How do you steal a mink coat and stash it in your underwear during your get away? The story only gets more unbelievable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

LEMON: Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno is retiring at the end of the season in the wake of a child rape scandal involving a former assistant coach. I'm talking to a college hall of famer who knows the accused, Jerry Sandusky.

Also have a wave, a huge wave to show. In fact, it's so big, a surfer broke a world record when he hopped on it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Were you watching television last hour when the emergency alert system was tested? Well, everyone watching television was supposed to see it, but that's not exactly what happened.

Brianna Keilar live at the White House now.

Brianna, what did happen?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, at least anecdotally, Don, not everyone saw this. It certainly didn't go out on all channels. Just reporting what my colleagues here in D.C. and in New York and in Atlanta, where you are, saw, but right now the FCC and FEMA are collecting data and they are trying to figure out how this went.

But we know that it didn't work exactly as was anticipated. And FEMA had said ahead of time that it needed to be tested so that they could see what needed to be fixed. But at 2:00 p.m., this emergency alert was supposed to go out featuring a live presidential alert code. This is actually something that the president would be able to use in the event of a crisis. And this was done at the behest of President Obama.

The idea here is that within just 10 minutes of notice, the president would be able to address the nation from anywhere that he was and it was supposed to go out on all TV, cable, television, all AM/FM, satellite radio stations, and it didn't exactly work. So, FEMA releasing a statement just a short time ago, Don, saying that only through comprehensively testing, analyzing and improving these technologies can we ensure an effective and reliable national emergency alert and warning system. So, presumably, Don, they go back, they figure out what didn't work and they fix it. That will be the idea.

LEMON: Luckily, it was just a test this time. Thank you very much Brianna Keilar. Appreciate it.

A big story today, Joe Paterno stepping down as head football coach at Penn State and stepping down under a cloud of scandal. As we said, he is not just an ordinary Joe. He is the winningest football coach in big-time college history, once upon a time, named sportsman of the year by the eminent publication "Sports Illustrated."

But Joe Paterno, we all know now, was made aware as far back as 2002 about a reported sexual act between a former longtime assistant, Jerry Sandusky, and a boy about the age of 10. It purportedly happened in the shower at Penn State at the athletic facility there, to which the former assistant still had access.

Now, at least seven other boys may have had illicit contact with coach Jerry Sandusky.

Joining me from New York, the college football hall of famer there is Don McPherson.

Don, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you taking the time.

Don also played in the NFL and is a student of sports in society.

I want to read a quote now, Don. It's from Maureen Dowd. And she was writing this in "The New York Times." She says: "Like the Roman Catholic Church, Penn State is an arrogant institution hiding behind its mystique."

So, Don, when you see these students and Penn State supporters rallying behind Joe Paterno, do you see something that is wrong there?

DON MCPHERSON, COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAMER: Well, I don't think there is something that is wrong there other than the fact that these students are looking at their lives a snapshot of today. And I think unlike the Roman Catholic Church, Joe Paterno has his faith because of the fans and from the people around him because he is an icon and something that we all look to for a diversion.

We all can go as fans and go enjoy the game of football and Joe Paterno holds a very special place at a program that also is very special in the way that it's maintained its sense of integrity and reputation over the years.

LEMON: Yes. But there was an incident that was reported as far back as 1998, 1999, and then was one in 2002 and there were others. The athletic director knew, other officials knew. Penn State football reportedly generates $70 million a year.

Is that enough money to cover something like this? There is no amount of money to do that.

MCPHERSON: There really isn't.

And I think the tragic thing about the conversation even that we are having right now is that you have these young men whose lives are irreparably damaged by the behavior, alleged behavior of Jerry Sandusky. And we are talking about the future of an 84-year-old football coach. When you talk about that money, money is germane to this conversation because that is the reason why there was a cover-up, that is the reason why there was steps that were taken by senior members of the administration to maintain the integrity, at least the presumed integrity, of this program.

LEMON: Let's talk about Joe Paterno right now. He has fashioned himself as a leader of men, or kids, as he calls them. How could have -- how could have missed this? And maybe you think he didn't miss it. I don't know.

How could he have not gone to the police about this situation, especially when you have someone saying I saw him having what looked like what was sex in the shower with a boy who looked to be 10 years old?

MCPHERSON: Don, I think that is the piece of this that is going to have even the faithful in State College, Pennsylvania, and around the state of Pennsylvania and college football quite frankly scratching their heads.

Joe Paterno has maintained this level of very, very high integrity of his program and to have this incident happen so many years ago and not even go out and find out who the kid was, not even go out and confront Jerry Sandusky, a man whom he spent most of his life with in the last 30 years, as a player and coach alongside, to go out and not confront that entire situation and maintain the presence that Jerry Sandusky as his coach emeritus on his campus within his program is actually s something that I think is really going to tarnish what a lot of people think is a great career of Joe Paterno. I think it's going to tarnish that career forever.

LEMON: But, Don, this goes beyond football.

(CROSSTALK)

MCPHERSON: Without question.

LEMON: Yes. And in some way, you know, it goes beyond Penn State, because some people, as you can see if you read what the prosecutors allege, some people buried their heads in the sand, and it looks like obviously they did it on purpose.

And even with someone like Jerry Sandusky, with that sort of statue, you shouldn't do that. What it says, very early on, is that someone should have called police. That's what the prosecutor said. Very early on in the allegations, someone should have called police and called them immediately.

MCPHERSON: Don, I have been spending time over the last 18 years doing work around sexual and domestic violence and bystander behavior around that.

And so for a number of years, I served or on the board of a child sexual abuse organization called Stop It Now. And what I learned in that time is how prevalent this problem is and how little we know about how to deal with it and how to respond to it, because I think if you do go back and read indictment, read the grand jury report on this, it's hard to get through. It's really hard to get through, trying to understand that this would go on in this environment, not some sleazy place in some backroom, but here at the pinnacle of what we think is higher education and integrity in sports and all those things that we think the altruism of this setting.

And to think that that went on there is very shocking to the system. And that's why I'm always talking about a proactive conversation because now it is very difficult to wrap your brains around.

LEMON: Hey, we have to run. But I want to get this out. What is your organization again?

MCPHERSON: My -- I'm an independent social justice educator and advocate, but the organization that I worked with is called Stop It Now.

LEMON: And there is a good organization called OneInSix.org as well.

(CROSSTALK)

MCPHERSON: Correct.

LEMON: And they do great work as well.

MCPHERSON: And also Darkness to Light. There is a lot of people out there doing work around these issues.

LEMON: Don McPherson, thank you.

MCPHERSON: My pleasure.

Tonight's GOP debate puts the spotlight on the hard-hit state of Michigan. And I'm talking to the Michigan governor. Who deserves the credit for the turnaround in the auto industry? I'm going to ask him that coming up. You will hear it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY SNETRO, U.S. NAVY VETERAN: My name is Anthony Snetro.

And I have been playing since I was like 10, 12 years old. I enjoy playing ball. And I can't play like I used to, but, you know, I get a hit once in a while. I joined the Navy in 1942. I was 25 years old. When we were out in the Pacific and we would pull in at an island, you know, they had equipment, softballs and bats and different things. And a bunch of guys would get together and we would start a little game, but it was just for fun, relax your mind, you know?

One of the really scariest things that happened, every evening, the Japanese torpedo bombers would come after us. And the third night, our ship was starting to swing around. And here comes a Jap torpedo bomber plane all aflame right at my eye level. I could have reached out and touched the wing. I -- plainly, I seen the pilot and the gunner in there. And the plane was afire.

A good thing we were swinging, and it just missed us and went along and crashed in the ocean, exploding.

When Veterans Day arrive, it is a happy feeling and a sad feeling, because when it's Veterans Day, the first thing, you think of all the men and women that died. If you believe in the lord, then you say, well, the lord knows my number isn't up. Maybe he lost my number.

(LAUGHTER)

SNETRO: Young fellows that are coming out of the service, at least to be active, go out and get into it. Play basketball. Play golf. Once you start sitting home and watching television, your body is going to just fall apart. You got keep your mind active, keep going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now to suburban Detroit and tonight's GOP debate. With 11 percent unemployment in Michigan, the economy is sure to take center stage. It will be interesting to see how Republican candidates respond to the bailout of the auto industry. Michigan's Republican governor Rick Snyder joins us live from Auburn Hills just outside Detroit and the site of tonight's debate. So governor thank you for being here. But first of I have to ask you, did the bailout save the Detroit auto industry?

GOV. RICK SNYDER, (R) MICHIGAN: The bailout actually was something that really worked if you look at the results of the companies. The real focus has to be on how well things are going today. The auto industry is making a strong come back, and the question going back to the auto bailout is what lessons did we learn and make sure we don't do them again.

LEMON: It is going to be interesting because the candidates there have said, oh, I would have bailed out the auto industry. And it's interesting to be there in your state and hear them say that when many people in your state rely on the auto industry, and it may not have been there were it not for the bailouts. So what do you think the candidates will say tonight? It's an odd position to be in.

SNYDER: What I would say, in many respects, I think the auto industry bailout is being overblown in our state in terms of -- as a key topic in this debate, because if you look at it, as Michiganders, we have gone through difficult times the last decade and we are making a strong comeback. It's very exciting. The reinvention of Michigan is going on.

And our citizens, while they look back, we have all learned in state. Don't spend life looking into the rearview mirror, let's talk about the future. So if anything, I hope tonight when the topics come up, our candidates will talk about what we need to do to create jobs tomorrow, the next day the day after, the next year. We should be talking about innovation, entrepreneurship in our state, and great opportunities. So I hope it doesn't get bogged down in the past, let's talk about the present and the future. Talk about what results will happen in the future.

LEMON: It's interesting to me you feel it is being overblown, because without the auto industry, don't you think unemployment would be much worse in your state and digging yourself out of a much deeper hole, and you may not be here, at least that is what the Obama administration is saying. You may not be here talking about how your state is recovering if not for the bailout? That's why I ask.

SNYDER: Well, it was good the auto industry got back on its feet, and it was a challenging time, because the way I describe it is it wasn't about just one company going into bankruptcy, or even two. It's about the whole supply chain potentially collapsing. And the important aspect is it didn't collapse.

How that was done is it worked there might have been other ways that could have worked. Again, yet is are there variations to look at that that could be had helpful for the future but it has made a strong come back, I am very proud of the auto industry in Michigan. I root for him a lot. They're continuing to diversify at the same time. So we have so many good things going on, auto industry, agriculture and high-tech industries with our great research universities. But that's what we need to focus in on, stop fighting about what happened in the past. Let's talk about new opportunities to create jobs tomorrow and the next day.

LEMON: And move on. The country will be watching and I'm sure you will be watching as well. Governor Snyder, thank you so much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This wasn't just talk. They had taken real steps toward carrying out their plans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Men in their 60s and 70s accused of plotting to attract United States government. The men are from the state of Georgia.

Get ready to see a world-breaking wave -- a record-breaking wave and the surfer who jumped on top of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Right there on the top of the wave that is extreme surfer, Garrett McNamara. Extreme is right. This video shows him breaking the world record for largest wave ever surfed by riding this 90-foot- tall behemoth. He rode the wave off the coast of Portugal. The previous record for tallest wave surfed, 77 feet, shattered.

We are now just hires way from tonight's GOP debate, and there's a lot on the line for these presidential hopefuls. Jim Acosta joins me now. Hello, Jim. What should viewers keep an eye on during tonight's debate?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, I wrote up something for CNN.com on the five things to watch for tonight's GOP debate here in Michigan. It could probably be summed up in one thing and that is the accusations that are facing Herman Cain. The key question tonight, will they go there? Will the other candidates try to challenge their conservative businessman on this issue that has dogged his camp paint last week or so?

We saw Mitt Romney given an interview just in the last 24 hours in which he said that Herman Cain should address these allegations seriously. That was sort of a veiled reference to Herman Cain going on a late night talk show and at some point, making light of the whole controversy. So it will be interesting to see he if that comes up during tonight's debate, Don.

The other thing that I think a lot of folks will be watching for is sort of a rerun of fight night that we saw in Las Vegas at the CNN debate there in Nevada just a few weeks ago. You know, as you know, don, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry really went at each other. There was a more combative Rick Perry than we saw in the last debate.

It didn't really help his poll numbers that much. His poll numbers did not rise dramatically. If anything, they have gone down a bit since that past debate. So it will be interesting to watch whether or not Rick Perry goes back into that combative mode, whether or not that helped him at all at that last debate and whether he brings that back again tonight.

And speaking of combative, another Republican who we did not see on stage at the last debate, Jon Huntsman, he may actually try to pick up that mantle of going after Mitt Romney in this debate. He ran a tough ad in the last week that showed a video of a toy monkey flipping over and over again, basically trying to compare Mitt Romney to somebody who is a flip-flopper on a variety of issues.

So, you know, this could be a big smack down as we have seen on previous debates, and it could be a cold, sober discussion on the economy. This state, don is facing an 11 percent unemployment rate there is a lot of misery in Michigan and that certainly will be one of the top issues here tonight, don.

LEMON: Jim Acosta, thank you so much.

We are watching this right now, breaking news, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake in Turkey, reports of a hotel and office building that have collapsed in Turkey. Those reports are coming from Reuters. Our Chad Myers is working on it to get details now. We're going to have much more after a quick break on this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's get right now to meteorologist Chad Myers to talk about the 5.7 magnitude quake that hit Turkey. Chad, there are reports of a hotel and office building that have collapsed in Van, Turkey?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. This is the exact location, don that had the 7.1 earthquake back in late October. So, not -- I know this is an aftershock, but we have to understand, a 7.1 did a lot of damage to the existing structures there in Van, Turkey. So a 5.7 at now only three miles deep, puts a violent rattling to those buildings that have already been compromised. Those buildings are falling down with these aftershocks -- 5.7, three miles deep, not very deep that mean there is not a lot of padding, so you are going to see a violent shaking rather than a rumbling.

And it is right where the Eurasian and Arabian plates come together, a large line of earthquakes happening right through this region. This is not unusual. But the problem is the damage that was already done and the tens of thousands of people that are already homeless in that area because their homes and businesses and everything around them collapsed from the last, now the collapsing continue wells 5.7, Don.

LEMON: All right, Chad Myers, thank you. We will continue to check on that for you.

It is being called home-grown terrorism, men in their 60s and 70 from here in Georgia accused of target the U.S. government. And you are not going to want to miss this -- high school pictures of some of the GOP candidates. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now to the sex scandal that has engulfed Penn State university. If these allegation proves true that the school's football program harbored a sexual predator, will the school be on the hook for potential lawsuits? "In Session" legal correspondent Sunny Hostin joins me from New York. How exposed is Penn State right now?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: You know, I think certainly there is a bunch of civil exposure for Penn State. It is very negligent if the allegations are true that they sort of did harbor this predator. They didn't do enough. In terms of Coach Paterno, I think a lot of pp. are saying is there criminal liability for him? He did what he was supposed to do under the law, certainly. He was supposed to report this to school administrators, Don. He did that.

But I think many people were saying he has some civil exposure as well in terms of failing to do more. There is a legal duty to warn. But most important so many people feel he dropped the ball in terms of his moral obligation to protect children, to do more, to follow up. Once he reported, he needed to basically find out what was the result of his reporting, and he failed to do. So I think civilly there may be something for Paterno and Penn State, but morally, I think we all know they should have done more.

LEMON: I think in most states, if you see or witness this behavior, you are obligated to tell someone in authority, and usually that is usually a police officer. Joe Paterno did tell someone above him, the athletic director are, someone above him why he is not being charged here. But in most states, you are supposed to tell law enforcement, supposed to tell someone. They didn't do that in this is case.

HOSTIN: I think that's right. You are talking about the child abuse reporting laws and medical personnel, they have an immediate obligation to notify law enforcement. School administrators, the same.

However, under the statute, Joe Paterno had to not necessarily report to law enforcement but to report to his supervisor. He did that. In this case, it just wasn't enough. So you are absolutely right, don in most state there is that mandatory requirement, and it applies to educators. It applies to medical personnel. And I really feel when you look at the law, the ball was just dropped and it failed these young boys miserably.

LEMON: Yes. And it is sad all around. Thank you very much, Sunny Hostin.

I want to get to breaking news. We told about the 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Turkey. We have some pictures now, these are live pictures in Van, Turkey, now. There are reports there of a hotel and office building that have collapsed again in Van, Turkey. These are live pictures that we're seeing. And, as Chad said, it happened just shortly that is aftershocks from the 7.1 magnitude that hit Turkey. That's the first live pictures from that earthquake.

I want to talk now about Georgia, a story that's happening in Georgia. It's an improbable case of suspected homegrown terrorism. A group of retired men are due in federal court in Gainesville just today for a bond hearing on charges they plotted to kill federal officials. Investigators say it was more than trash talk and included attempts to obtain ricin and automatic weapons.

CNN's George Howell is covering the story for us. George, this is mind boggling when you think of 60 and 70-year-old men being accused of this or allegedly plotting this. Walk us through it.

GEORGE HOWELL: Don, that court hearing happening right now. And it is a long list of shocking accusations, from buying explosives and ammunition to kill government workers to actually creating the toxin ricin and spreading it on highways throughout the U.S. to kill indiscriminately. Now, when you talk to people who know these men, they say this came completely out of left field.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have known him 34 years. And I am just like the community. I'm shocked.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: Right now prosecutors are making the argument that these men should be denied bond, they say because they are a danger to society.

LEMON: All right. Is this -- people who are their neighbors and family members say they would never do anything like this. These are 67-year-old guys. Is this possibly some sort of misunderstanding? Investigators certainly don't think so.

HOWELL: You hear in that sound bite, people think these are just a bunch of older guys that have frustration with the government. But prosecutors believe they had a plan to create this ricin and spread it on highways.

LEMON: So next?

HOWELL: Next we'll find out if they are denied bond or if they get bond, and then after that a court date will be set.

LEMON: George Howell, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

LEMON: Closing bell in just a few minutes and we want to get a quick check of the big board right now. Let's look at the markets. The Dow is down 406 points. I think when I started this newscast about two hours ago, it was down 345 points. It's still going down. It's getting closer to the end of the trading day.

Also, Wolf Blitzer joins me from Washington. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is just a few minutes away. You guys are all over this one, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": We're going to have Erin Burnett. She's going to join us at the top of the hour. We're going to assess what's going on. Clearly a lot of pain in Europe, but it's spilling over here in the United States at Wall Street today, 400 points in one day. That's a serious plunge. We're going to assess what's going on.

We're taking a look at all the other developments in the world of politics, national security, big developments involving Iran alleged nuclear weapons program. The IAEA coming up with new information. Barbara Starr's got some new information out of the Pentagon.

Also, the latest on Herman Cain. Will there be a joint news conference from some of these women who are accusing him of sexual harassment? New information on that as well. So, Don, we're all over the news in "THE SITUATION ROOM" as we are every day.

LEMON: We'll be watching. Thank you, Wolf. And I'm sure Wolf will be covering this as well. It's breaking news, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Turkey. Reports of a hotel and office building than collapsed in Van, Turkey. Live pictures you're looking at now. Our Chad Myers, meteorologist, working on it. We're trying to assess some of the damage. We're going to talk about it after a quick break.

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LEMON: Breaking news on CNN. An earthquake in Turkey, 5.7 in magnitude. These are still live pictures, right? Live pictures now from Van Turkey, where it hit. Chad Myers is here, our meteorologist joins us. Is that train or what? I can't see from, it's a building.

MYERS: I think that might be some type of a steeple on top of the building.

LEMON: There are reports of a hotel collapse as well as a bank. A hotel and another building and again. And again, it is about four minutes until 11:00 p.m.

MYERS: Right. It happened at 9:23 p.m. there, a little over an hour and a half ago. A 5.7, not a major quake for a U.S. city, honestly. But this came on the heels of a 7.1 quake about two weeks ago, and then this 5.7 shook the buildings again. This is a significant quake when you realize that this town used to be called Van Castle in sixth century B.C. So we didn't know about earthquake preparedness when some of these buildings were built. This is an ancient town.

LEMON: And we should tell our viewers that you said two weeks ago the 7.1, 600 people in that one died. That killed more than 600 people.

I'm just getting new information, and this is according to Reuters. They said at least 18 buildings including two hotels collapsed after this 5.7 magnitude quake. It struck just south of the city of Van, near the Iranian border. That's what Turkish television is reporting. Another news report said a large number of people were trapped under the buildings and rescue workers could be seen searching through the rubble.

As you can see, Chad Myers, in the live picture that we have there, less than two weeks ago, three weeks ago, they're saying 7.6, we're saying 7.1. Still, over seven killing 600 people.

MYERS: The discrepancy on the numbers, the United States geological survey. The number I gave is USGS numbers. They're local numbers are different.

This town, somewhere between 365,000 to 600,000 people. About 60,000 were homeless after that first earthquake. Literally their homes were destroyed. Now with buildings and cracks in the buildings this 5.7, and a very shallow quake. This is only three miles deep, Don. That means this was a jolt and not a rumble. You would feel this because it is so shallow, you would feel this sharply. It would be a boom, a shock. It would be a crack, where if it were 300 miles deep, the whole area would rumble, but it wouldn't be a shock to the system. But a 5.7 at this shallow at a place where we had so significant damage already, this is going to cause more.

LEMON: Do time and intensity tell you anything about the possibility they may be dealing with another one any time soon?

MYERS: No, this was an aftershock. It already is moving along the quake rift. There may be more aftershocks. That can happen. What I've seen here, you have to understand. This happened something an hour and a half ago. The amount of equipment that's already at this place tells me that the equipment was very close. They already had this equipment from trying to dig out from the rubble before three weeks ago. So now they are digging out again and more people are buried under that rubble.

LEMON: Yes, at least 18 buildings including two hotels, collapsed. That's a lot of buildings to collapse. So we want to tell you, again, Van, Turkey, an earthquake, magnitude 5.7 hit, as Chad Myers said, about an hour and a half ago just less than three weeks after a 7.1 quake struck there killing 600 people. So now there are people trapped, buildings that have collapsed now, and CNN is following this for you very closely. Chad Myers, appreciate it.

Make sure you stay tuned to CNN for updates on this. In the meantime let's go to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Mr. Wolf Blitzer.