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Tension at Occupy Oakland Protest; Possible Break in Medical Mystery; Greg Kelly Accused of Date Rape; Marriage at Mid Life
Aired January 28, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon here. Thank you so much for joining us.
Breaking news: let's get right to the pictures, shall we? It is coming out of Oakland, California. You're look at pictures from our affiliate KTVU.
This is Occupy Oakland. It has been going on for a while. Let me tell you what's going on here.
Police apparently are making some arrests here within the past few minutes. We're hearing that on Twitter an hour ago. Police claim that they haven't used tear gas.
But according to officials there -- there it is -- some of the Occupy protesters are looking for a new building to occupy, a vacant building, in downtown Oakland. Apparently, they got out of control and police had to go in. And according to protesters, police fired tear gas, even rubber bullets at these protesters. They try to break it up.
Originally, the protesters said, hey, listen, we are going to be peaceful about this. But we're going to try to claim this new space. And as you know, if you have been paying attention to this Occupy movement here, Oakland has been a flash point back in October, a U.S. marine got a fractured skull -- suffered a fractured skull after police hit him with a projectile. And now, we have this.
This has been going on since 1:00 local time. These are -- this is video from our affiliate KGO and you can see the smoke there from some of -- we are assuming that this is tear gas, and you can see now, live pictures and some of the local news affiliates on the ground there preparing for their reports.
But this is Oakland, California. And this has been going on since 1:00. And I give you a timeline here. This started at 1:00 we are told when they gathered and began their march to this new building and then at 2:00, apparently, that's when things started to get out of control -- around 3:00 I'm told -- dozens of police in riot gear showed up -- 1:30 p.m., the march started just after 1:30 p.m. and then dozens of police wearing riot gear turned up.
The protesters were walking through Laney College there in Oakland at about 2:30. Some of them are wearing bandanas over their mouths and others were holding signs saying "we are the 99 percent". And minutes before 3:00, they attempted to breakthrough the fences that you saw, which were surrounding the former Henry Kaiser Convention Center near the Oakland Museum.
And then in response to that, police declared this particular march an unlawful assembly and fired smoke grenades at the crowd. And these marchers turned around and rallied once again at other streets there in Oakland, California, and then they were boxed in by the police officers who are in riot gear. And then at about 3:30 local time there, police once again declared an unlawful assembly and began firing smoke grenades, some protesters reported having officers fired rubber bullets at them. So, they began to retreat. And the whole thing started over.
And now, we have this -- you can see the officers in riot gear in full force. No official estimates of how many Occupy protesters are involved in this, how many Occupy protesters are in this crowd. But you can see, there are a number of them.
Let's give you live pictures now. You can see the signs, Occupy Oakland.
This is really the biggest demonstration that we have seen since this whole Occupy movement began a while ago and it sort of simmered down over the holidays and into the New Year. And now at the beginning of the year now, on this day, we have this going on in Oakland.
Can we hear in of this? Is there a way to hear this? Silent.
This is taken from a helicopter. But you can see people there running after they fired what appeared to be tear gas into the crowd.
We are working to get a reporter who is on the scene, other officials who are on the scene, the police department as well -- as we look at these live pictures. And as soon as we get more information on this, we will bring it to you.
We are not going to go far from this story. So, stand by and stay tuned right here to CNN.
Because we have another developing story now, and this one is a medical mystery and is out of LeRoy, New York.
Fifteen high school students are suffering from an illness that causes uncontrollable twitching and verbal outbursts. So, now, environmentalist -- famous environmentalist and activist Erin Brockovich is getting involved. Remember her from the movie? Julia Roberts played her.
Brockovich says that a 1971 train derailment caused a dangerous chemical spill just three miles from the future site of that high school. She is conducting her investigation now and believes that the bedrock and ground water could be contaminated.
CNN affiliate WROC reporter Carolina Tucker is in LeRoy and spent the day with Brockovich's team. I'm going to talk to her in just a second. But I want to tell you, you want to stand by because our very own, Dr. Drew Pinsky is doing amazing work on this story on HLN. And we'll talk to him in moments.
But first to Caroline.
What did they find, Caroline?
CAROLINE TUCKER, WROC REPORTER (via telephone): Well, Don, really, they haven't found anything just yet. Really, today was all about trying to survey the scene. They went to the school site, trying to get samples from there. The school district does not want to cooperate, says it does not want testing done on the school grounds, thought they were trespassing.
But they did do other testing in other areas. They went to the derailment site where 35,000 gallons of industrial solvent did spill back in 1970s. They went there, took some ground and water samples.
They also went to some homeowners, homes throughout the area near that site and took some samples from the wells that are there. Some of them reach 70 to 35 feet into the ground, took water samples there. And they do plan on taking that, sending it away and getting some results out of this.
LEMON: So, you said between 35,000 and 45,000 gallons of this. That was a long time, and according -- what I'm reading and I'll talk to Dr. Drew a little bit about this too in just a second. But, Caroline, from what I am reading and what we are told, this is not our -- this is not our investigating here. This is according to Erin Brockovich. But the spill happened in the 1970s and anyone with any authority when it comes to these chemicals didn't actually get to the scene until the 1990s?
TUCKER: Yes, that is correct. I mean, there was an EPA report that came out that kind of saying, what solvents went into the ground. They do know a lot of that was absorbed into the ground. A lot of it, those wells near where the site was, were turned off.
However, what Bob Bowcock, the environmental investigator working with Erin Brockovich, what he said is that a lot of those wells ended getting turned off and that ground water, though, moves into the other parts of the ground. They have to go somewhere, and that's why there's some concern whether or not other wells may have been infected and whether or not some of that could be flowing the way the water flows and drains down into where the school ground is.
LEMON: All right. WROC reporter Caroline Tucker, can you just stand by for us? Because I want to bring in our Dr. Drew Pinsky now. He joins me now on the phone.
Dr. Drew, I know you spoke with Erin Brockovich last night on your show. An amazing interview. You had spoken. You had the two students on as well in the story on your show.
But you have new information for us now. What do you have?
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN: Yes, I got quite of information. The story has gotten terribly elaborated. I actually spoke directly to the Bob that the affiliate was speaking about there.
First, let me just say, it's a rather complicated story. Erin takes it through it step-by-step. We're going to re-interview that -- we're going to re-air that interview again Sunday night at 9:00 Eastern. It's also available almost in total at HLNTV.com. I would love it if CNN.com would put it up as well. Fortunately, it's not there right now.
LEMON: Dr. Drew, can I stop you right there?
PINSKY: Yes?
LEMON: If you want to -- let's listen to -- because we had the interview from your show, part of it, and then you can take us through new information because you saw Erin Brockovich walks us through it, right?
PINSKY: Yes.
LEMON: OK. Let's listen and then we'll get back to you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN BROCKOVICH, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST: One of the family members, somebody put a note in the mailbox, and it was about a 1971 derailment and the contaminated rock and fill and soil was used to build the new school.
PINSKY: Slow down now. Slow down. You found out. This is something you were able to corroborate?
BROCKOVICH: We are still trying to corroborate that. So, what I did --
PINSKY: So, that's one story.
BROCKOVICH: -- immediately, to research it.
PINSKY: I see.
BROCKOVICH: I went online and, lo and behold, in 1971, there was a very serious train derailment that caused one ton of cyanide to spill and 45,000 gallons of TCE.
PINSKY: OK. TCE is trichloroethylene.
BROCKOVICH: Trichloroethylene.
PINSKY: Is that the same thing that was in your story that we saw in the movie?
BROCKOVICH: No. Hinkley was hexavalent chromium.
PINSKY: Trichloroethylene is a well-known carcinogen. Can it also cause these sorts of neurological problems?
BROCKOVICH: I have read and been involved in cases that we have that TCE can be associated with neurological disorder.
PINSKY: OK. So --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So one of the -- the young lady you saw there in the video next to Erin Brockovich, she is one of the students who says she is suffering from this.
PINSKY: Right.
LEMON: And you see the twitches there. And you also had two of the students on. We'll listen to them. We'll see their interview in just a second.
First, Dr. Drew on with your information.
PINSKY: So, the plume from that original spill would -- in the bedrock, would be just about reaching that school right now. So, Bob, who Caroline had mentioned, went to the school. He was stonewalled. Something he aid that he's worked with Erin Brockovich and the environmental disasters for years. He said this has never happened to them.
The school superintendent gave them a note with a statement on it, saying that the school has hired its own environmental hygiene and safety services company to review the environmental testing that had been previously done. They would not allow him to do the testing. But he went to the site, as Caroline said, of the original spill and he said he has never seen in all of his career, he never seen anything like this.
The spill itself is -- he was supposed to be remediated as a remediation site. And it's almost as this site itself is becoming a source of further contamination. So, it's a double whammy. This is really serious stuff, and we'll be showing the footage of that site on Monday night.
LEMON: OK. Dr. Drew, stand by.
The two young ladies -- two of the young ladies who exhibit, who say they are exhibiting the symptoms from this, they spoke to CNN. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIDYA PARKER, STUDENT: I was in school for a little while after it started. But I ended up leaving the last week of October because I didn't feel I could handle school anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard not be able to do what you love, even going to school. I love going to school. But it's -- it's -- it's hard that -- I think it's even harder knowing that I don't know it's going on. I'd like to be able to answer people if they ask what's happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I said they spoke to CNN. They spoke directly with Dr. Drew.
Dr. Drew, what do you make of this after hearing them?
PINSKY: Well, they have got a very fine neurological team taking care of them. But it had been dismissed or they concluded to be a mass hysteria or mass conversation reaction. And for me, it just didn't pass that sniff test. There's some to be some of these girls who really had a biological problem. There are doctors up there right now testing for possible infectious, post-infectious causes of something like.
But this environmental disaster that is ongoing there, I think, is going to bear fruit. In fact, Bob also told me he is trying to look at areas of the community where middle schoolers and high schoolers might congregate. And apparently, there's a limestone quarry in a direct line of this contaminated material that has been leeching it that they may -- the kids may be swimming in.
So, that's his biggest lead right now. He's going right away to check that out.
LEMON: Hey, Dr. Drew, did you say it's going to air on your show on Monday night or on Sunday night?
PINSKY: Sunday, we're going to re-air the Erin Brockovich interview. On Monday, we will be showing you the confrontation with the school, the stonewalling, the footage from the school and this unbelievable footage from the spill site. The spill site still with hundreds and hundreds of decaying drums filled with toxic material within feet of people's living environment.
LEMON: Yes. Dr. Drew Pinsky, 9:00 p.m., tomorrow night, Sunday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Monday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern as well on HLN.
Dr. Drew, thank you so much. And thank you to Caroline Tucker, our reporter on the scene as well.
We're going to move on now and talk about band members from schools across the country gathered in Atlanta this weekend for the battle of the bands. But this year, alongside the music is a message. Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion was killed after a hazing incident back in November.
Now, his parents are on a mission to make students aware of the dangers of hazing.
George Howell reports for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MARCHING BAND PLAYING)
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a showcase of some of the country's most talented bands, the Honda battle of the bands invitational draws thousands to Atlanta's Georgia Dome. But this year, the show started differently.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to take a moment to recognize a (INAUDIBLE) of the marching band community (INAUDIBLE) a moment of silence. Amen.
Let's have a moment of silence.
HOWELL: A moment to support Pam and Robert Champion, their son, a Florida A&M drum major, died in November in a beating in what's being called a hazing incident.
(on camera): How important is it for you to be here right now?
PAM CHAMPION, MOTHER OF HAZING VICTIM ROBERT CHAMPION: I think it's important that we put the message out that we're not against the music at all. We're just against the hazing that goes on.
HOWELL (voice-over): They hope their presence at events like this makes students think twice about the dangers of hazing and we found many of the students are listening.
ALFRED GISTARB, JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY MARCHING BAND: I think it's powerful. I think it's great that the music is helping healing. Music is more than just sounds that come. It's an emotion.
MIKE BEMBREY, JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY MARCHING BAND: It's non- tolerance. You're not here to be hazed.
ROBERT CHAMPION SR., FATHER OF HAZING VICTIM: We lost a son and they lost a drum major, student and friend.
HOWELL: The packed crowd at the Georgia Dome is just a start for this family. They are pushing their message with the t-shirts they wear, #IamChampion, to get the conversation going on Twitter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am Champion.
HOWELL: And they even put together a video that they hope goes viral.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am Champion.
HOWELL: You feel like this makes a difference?
P. CHAMPION: Yes, I do, because it says a lot. It does. It says a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am champion.
R. CHAMPION: We're trying to reach kids at an early age to bring awareness and hopefully this video will help do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: George Howell is here live with me now. How emotional was it for the Champion family to be at this event today?
HOWELL: Don, you know, I follow them for several months now. A when you sit with them, you start to feel the depth of what they're going through. I mean, they lost their son who would have loved to have participated in this event he participated two years ago.
So, they had trouble going to the event. But they say it was important for them because they wanted to make sure that all the students there saw them and that they got the message that hazing should be stopped.
LEMON: Florida A&M did not participate. They did participate in (INAUDIBLE)?
HOWELL: Not this year, and it's unclear whether they would have participated. In fact, the band is suspended as this investigation continues. We still don't know when police will make arrests, how many people police will arrest. But at this point, the band was not there.
LEMON: Good reporting. Thank you, George Howell. Appreciate it.
A Good Samaritan dies while trying to protect a woman he didn't know. Would you do the same thing? Would you risk your life for a stranger?
Our resident psychologist, Dr. Wendy Walsh, on what makes someone run into a dangerous situation. That is next.
And then less than 20 minutes, a television news anchor, the son of New York City's top cop accused of date rape. But does the evidence support the claim?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Going to talk more now on the story from New York that we talked to Dr. Drew about. It's generating a lot of talk. At least 15 students were experiencing a mysterious medical condition that includes uncontrollable twitching.
Behavior expert, Dr. Wendy Walsh, joins me.
Wendy, we heard -- good to see you in studio.
WENDY WALSH, BEHAVIOR EXPERT: In studio, here in Atlanta.
LEMON: Good to see you. You heard what Dr. Drew had to say about this investigation by Erin Brockovich. What do you make of this?
WALSH: Well, you know, I do think we have to exhaust all possibilities of a biological connection. This is clearly a neurological disorder. But when you hear psychiatrists say, well, it could be a conversion disorder. It could be psychosomatic. That doesn't meant they're faking it. This is a real biological illness that can almost be contagious among groups of people. LEMON: And we have seen other examples of this in the past.
WALSH: Yes. Well, especially, you know, with the sort of the shining example is near the beginning of psychology when Sigmund Freud identified hysteria, where woman would come in, you know, blind and unable to walk. And, of course, this was during when they were repressed in Victorian time, and their bodies were speaking for them. So, this is one possibility.
LEMON: OK, one possibility. But we don't know until it is fully investigated.
WALSH: Yes.
LEMON: OK. I want to switch topics now and we've all heard about women marrying men for their money. But what about a sugar mama? Because there's a new study by the Pew Research center and it is found that in recent years, there's been quite a role reversal when it comes to marriage and making money.
So, do you think that some of these husbands were threatened by their earning wives?
WALSH: Yes, depending on what study you read. Up to 25 percent of American marriages, the woman is the breadwinner, the primary breadwinner.
So, what we are seeing, and we talked about this before, Don, is an unprecedented rise of women in our culture. For every two men that graduate college this year, there will be three women. And women now make up the bulk of the workforce because expensive men were fired in the recession.
And in three urban centers, New York, Chicago and L.A., in the age 25 to 30 peer group, chicks are making more than the dudes.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: So, how do -- this is a weird question to ask -- how can a man still find his identity in society?
WALSH: This is important because men are going through a giant identity crisis. And traditionally, men have been providers and protectors. So, my advice to men, of course, is step up the protection and that protection might take the form of running the family finances. You may bring the bread in, but you can invest it and help it grow and still find some identity through that.
And a lot of men, of course, are adopting more feminine gender roles in the household and women like that. They sometimes find that sexy.
LEMON: I know. But, you know, I guess it's growing. I should say evolving because you say it's an identity crisis. But sometimes through a crisis you grow.
WALSH: It's evolving, exactly. LEMON: OK. I want to turn now to the story, this is from New Orleans. A man in New Orleans was shot and killed this week after he tried to save a woman whose car was being carjacked. Why would someone run into a dangerous situation like that? Is it jus sort of a reaction, a gut reaction?
WALSH: It is an absolute amount of empathy and compassion that trumps any voice in their head that says, save yourself first. And, you know, firefighters have it, some soldiers have it, paramedics have it, police officers have it -- plenty of people jump in and risk their own lives. Hey, people who donate organs to strangers, or family members, are heroes in their own way.
It's this ability to have compassion for somebody else above your own. It's not everybody.
LEMON: It's not.
WALSH: But it's fabulous.
LEMON: Because my natural instinct is to run in the direction to help someone. But it's not -- some people freeze, some people turn the other way they don't know what to do.
So, what should you do in a crisis like this?
WALSH: People definitely react to stress in different ways. But I'd say, if there is anybody there to be helped, that your first reaction should be helping those people. And, unfortunately in this case, this gentleman lost his life.
LEMON: Yes, that is unfortunate. But it is good to see you --
WALSH: Nice to see you, too,
LEMON: -- in the studio here. Thank you.
WALSH: Thank you. I love being here in the mother ship here in Atlanta.
LEMON: Isn't it nice?
WALSH: It's great.
LEMON: We see Dr. Wendy here all the time and on "The Doctors." Thank you. We appreciate it.
WALSH: Thank yo8u.
LEMON: Could a traditional classroom become a thing a past? Are virtual classrooms the future? Well, who better to ask than CNN education contributor Steve Perry? He's going to join us live here in the studio right after the break. There he is smiling, live in what we call the cube.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: It seems kids do everything online these days -- socializing, playing, listening to music.
But what about going to school online? Can classes over the Internet be as effective as classes in a brick and mortar school?
Athena Jones takes a look at getting a full-time virtual education.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Katerina Christhilf is training to become a ballerina, dancing four days a week, up to eight hours on Fridays, when most seventh graders would be at school.
That's why Katerina goes to school here, online.
KATERINA CHRISTHILF, VIRTUAL SCHOOL STUDENT: Sometimes I study in the morning and I do a few classes, and then I'll go to ballet for maybe like three or four hours, and I'll come back home and I'll do some more.
JONES: We sit in on her algebra class led by a teacher a few miles away.
JESSICA HENRY, K-12 TEACHER: Select your best answer, A, B, C, or D --
JONES: Jessica Henry has thought math for 12 years. The last two, online.
HENRY: C was the correct answer. Fantastic.
HENRY: I'm always trying to check for understanding saying do you agree with me? And they can put a certain emoticon next to their face. Yes, I agree. Thumbs up, you know, I agree. Thumbs down, I disagree. Smile, confused face. That type of thing.
JONES: Students use their keyboard or a mic to ask questions. Teachers hold monthly phone conferences with students and parents.
(on camera): An estimated quarter of million students and kindergarten through the 12th grade, were enrolled in full-time online schools last year. A 25 percent increase over the previous year. Some parents choose the online schools because their children are struggling in ordinary ones. Others do so for their flexible schedules.
(voice-over): State testing data shows that Virginia Virtual Academy students, that's Katerina's program, didn't perform as well as kids at brick and mortar schools. K-12 says many of the academy students were behind grade level when they joined.
Supporters and critics of online schools say how well they work often depends on the child.
For Katerina, a highly motivated student, it's the right choice. CHRISTHILF: I always wanted to be like a mouse in the nutcracker. I also want to be a fairy in Sleeping Beauty.
Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And we're talking about education there. Maybe no better person to turn to than CNN education contributor Steve Perry. Here's his latest book. It is called "Push Has Come to a Shove: Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve."
And I expect him to sign this copy for me. It's great information. We also have great information about education and students.
You saw Athena's report.
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.
LEMON: There are some people like these virtual schools. Others don't.
What do you think of it?
PERRY: I think that for some students, it's the best way to go to school. For others, it's not. One of the most important things about education today is that children need choices.
And for a lot of children, they get a lot from the one to one that comes from an online academic experience. I have actually seen both college and primary school students, all the way down to primary school in virtual classrooms. In fact, at our school, at Capital Prep, we have virtual classrooms. My two sons who attend Capital Prep actually do that.
LEMON: So, the access for that. That's great. But does it -- it doesn't work for every student?
PERRY: Nothing works for every student. That's part of the problem. Part of the problem is we keep trying to force feed the same type of education for all children. That's just not what it is.
What we have now is we're having not just a reform movement but a renaissance, because so many different educational options are presented to children which for families is just what we want. Many families who have one, two, or three children, they recognize from child to child, there is a difference. And sending that child simply to the closest school to their house is not the best answer for everyone.
LEMON: So, it's an option that should be considered.
PERRY: It has to be.
LEMON: It has to be considered. OK. I'm going to move on because I'm not sure if you've seen this video. I think, I'm pretty sure you have seen it, it's out of Chicago, I'm talking about.
I want to take a quick look at this. Let's put it now.
These teenagers, they gang up on this kid. It is a kid -- and the kid -- there's the kid that's been charged. One is in jail now. He's charged as an adult, right? Eight kids have been charged, I should say.
This video is amazing. Does this sort of thing surprise you?
PERRY: No.
LEMON: Really?
PERRY: Not at all. In fact, unfortunately, it becomes too common.
What happens is the typical bullying has gone to a whole different level. You get any kid with a phone and no good sense, and they begin to videotape these things. What you see really is that this is an indication not just of the child who's being hurt, but the hurt children who are around them because in order for you to cause such harm to someone else you can't love yourself and that's what we're seeing.
LEMON: Yes. As you were talking looking at this video and they're kicking this kid. You can see kicking him in the face and in the head - I don't understand it. I don't understand it.
PERRY: What people don't understand, things in our schools are so much worse than I think most people realize. It's really bad in many schools because so many children feels so broken inside.
LEMON: So what do you do? I mean we always say OK - here's the thing that I know. I'm not a parent but I know this.
PERRY: Sure.
LEMON: There's only so much that you can do at a school - home training. It starts in the home but what can you do to make kids feel safe in there?
PERRY: We're the professionals. We're the ones trained to make children feel better. We can create a lot. of course, home needs to play a role. But we have your children for six and a half to sometimes eight to nine hours a day. We should play a very vital role in that. It's not one or the other. However, we as educators, I see it as my responsibility when someone says (INAUDIBLE) that some kid in a blazer - because our kids wear blazer is having a fight downtown we get in the car and we go down there to make sure it's not one of our ours. Because if it is, it's going to be a whole problem (INAUDIBLE).
LEMON: Everyone has to take some responsibility.
PERRY: Absolutely.
LEMON: It is called "Push Has Come to Shove," Steve Perry's new book. Make sure you get a copy of it and make sure you sign this before you leave.
PERRY: Got you, my man.
LEMON: And to the audience, we want to tell you that your top stories are next here on CNN. The Occupy Movement, you saw at the top of our show. It is back. It has gotten ugly this afternoon in Oakland, California and it appears arrests are being made.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Very busy news day (INAUDIBLE) caught up on the headlines now.
A medical mystery out of LeRoy, New York. At least 15 high school students suffering from an illness that causes them to have uncontrollable twitching and verbal outbursts. Now environmental activists Erin Brockovich getting involved. Brockovich says that a 1971 train derailment caused a dangerous chemical spill just three miles from the future site of the high school. She's conducting her own investigation and believes that the bedrock and the ground water could be contaminated. We'll follow up on that.
Police have apparently taken some protesters into custody at a massive Occupy Oakland protest. The Occupiers have called this move in day. They are trying to take over a vacant building. But police well they ruled it an unlawful assembly and moved to contain the crowd. We have seen smoke or gas floating in the air but it's not clear exactly what it is. We are following this story for you very closely. We'll update you on any information we get.
A 17th body has been found in the wreckage of the Italian cruise line "Costa Concordia." The woman's body was found today. At least 15 people are still missing. Efforts to remove 2400 tons of fuel from the capsized ship have been delayed until at least Tuesday because of bad weather.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he is convinced that someone in authority in Pakistan must have known that Osama Bin Laden was living there. He talked about the raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader on "60 Minutes." Panetta wonders why no one in Pakistan was suspicious about Bin Laden's compound since it was surrounded by 18-foot walls and he says the U.S. kept quiet about the raid on the compound for fear that someone would tip off Bin Laden.
They're calling it the nation's first major welcome home parade for Iraq war veterans.
Hundreds of Iraq vets marched under the sun in St. Louis today. Organizers decided to hold this parade after the official end of the war last month. Today's event also gave vets access to resources to help them find jobs and readjust to life back home.
The world said good-bye to Etta James today and singer Christina Aguilera closed the funeral service with the music legend's signature song.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA AGUILERA, SINGER: (MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: "At Last," a song about finally finding the one true love. One last time for Etta James. The Reverend Al Sharpton presided over the funeral and read a note from President Barack Obama. James died last week of complications from leukemia. Etta James, 73 years old and she will be missed.
Moving on now, a television news anchor accused of date rape. And if that's not enough, intriguing enough, he is also the son of New York City's top cop. The story just two minutes away.
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LEMON: Welcome back. A former Fox News Channel anchor, a man whose face is on television all across New York each and every week day morning, the son of the city's top cop accused of date rape. Greg Kelly used to be the weekend co-host of "Fox and Friends" and now he is the co-host of a popular "Good Day New York" on the Fox affiliate, WNYW there. His father is New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. And the NYPD is so close to this they removed themselves from the rape investigation. But as our Susan Candiotti explains, there may be some troubling holes in this case.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See those stories again. You know what I mean? It will never go away.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Local TV morning news man Greg Kelly wasn't at his familiar anchor desk this week, landing in the headlines himself after a woman accused him of date rape. Kelly whose father is New York's police commissioner Ray Kelly has not been charged. A woman walked into a police station this week to report the alleged sex assault three months after the incident, a source tells CNN. That legal experts can make prosecution tough.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" TRUTV: In most cases, it's a he said-she said. So when you combine that with a late reporting you now don't have photographs of injuries. You don't have a rape kit. You have no corroborating evidence.
CANDIOTTI: CNN has learned that the woman allegedly told authorities she was star struck when she met Kelly by chance and the two exchanged flirty text messages before getting together for drinks at a popular night spot. The paralegal invited him to her law office and the two had sex, the source says. She described herself as woozy and unwilling.
LINDA FAIRSTEIN, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Knowing that there was a fair amount of alcohol involved doesn't qualify to make you physically helpless. And so the police and the prosecutors would be looking at all of the circumstances surrounding the events.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): The allegation may be further harmed, legal experts say, by her account to authorities that she and Kelly left together and later exchanged non-confrontational messages.
(voice-over): Former sex crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein says that alleged contact may also make it difficult to prove rape.
FAIRSTEIN: She continued to communicate with Mr. Kelly by text and phone and that it was a social communication not an accusatory one. That's not helpful to an allegation that something happened against her will.
CANDIOTTI: The woman says she later became pregnant and had an abortion. A source tells CNN the woman said her boyfriend could not be the father because he had a vasectomy. Police say her boyfriend apparently upset confronted Kelly's police commissioner father at a public event and accused his son of "ruining his girlfriend's life."
Kelly's attorney says his client "strenuously denies any wrong doing and knows the investigation will prove his innocence."
(on camera): One way or the other the investigation will prove whether there's enough evidence to press charges with two reputations at stake.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
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LEMON: All right. Susan, thank you very much.
The debate over immigration getting heated among the GOP candidates for president as they battle it out they may be killing their own chances of getting the Latino vote. We're talking to Latinos to get their thoughts on the candidates, straight ahead.
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LEMON: Let's talk some politics now, shall we? Mitt Romney appears to be opening up a lead over Newt Gingrich just three days before Tuesday's Florida primary.
Romney leads Gingrich, here it is 38 percent to 29 percent in a new Quinnipiac University poll. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum lag far behind. And Romney made stops today in the panhandle telling a Pensacola crowd that President Obama is mishandling U.S. foreign policy.
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MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm talking about people like Ahmendinejad and Castro and Chavez and Kim Jung-Un and all the other people who threatened the world. And so he opens a hand to them. He wrote a little note to Ahmendinejad the other week. Did you see that? He said "Can we get together for a little meeting?" You know, the foreign policy of pretty please is not working terribly well.
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LEMON: On to the next guy now. Newt Gingrich meantime deflecting poor reviews of his recent debate performances by pointing a finger at Mitt Romney's criticisms.
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NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you cannot debate somebody who is dishonest. You just can't. I mean, people say I'm a good debater, I can't debate somebody who won't tell the truth. And that's just a problem. Because they stand there. For me to react as intensely as their statements would require breaks up the whole room. I mean it makes it impossible to have a civil debate.
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LEMON: Candidate number three now, Ron Paul in Maine this weekend, laying the groundwork for that state's upcoming caucuses which official begin next Saturday.
He had some funny one-liners at the debate and now candidate number four, there he is, Rick Santorum is at home in Pennsylvania. He says that he hasn't given up. Well, that says Jacksonville, Florida. Is he in Jacksonville, Florida? He's in Pennsylvania, right? He says he has not given up on his plans for what has been reported that he is going to drop out on the race. He says he's not going to do it.
OK. That is a live look now at Miami, Florida from our affiliate, WSVN. Voters in that state well they're going to make their voices heard via the ballot box come Tuesday in the GOP primary. They heard from the candidates just a few days ago at the CNN debate where it got really heated over immigration specifically self-deportation. The idea is that to make life in the U.S. so bad for illegal immigrants that they voluntarily choose to leave this country. It got personally between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.
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MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Speaker, I think I described following the law as it exists in this country which is to say I'm not rounding people up and deporting them. What I said was people who come here legally get a work permit. People who do not don't get here legally, do not get a work permit. And those who don't work will tend over time self-deport. I'm not going to go find grandmothers and take them our of their homes and deport them. Those are your words, not my words. And to use that rhetoric suggests to people that somehow if you are not willing to keep people here who violated the law that you're anti-immigrant. Nothing could be further from the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Immigration is a big topic at the debate. Jennifer Korn is the executive director of the Hispanic Leadership Network. She also served as director of Hispanic and Women's affairs under President George W. Bush. She joins us from Washington tonight. And in Philadelphia, attorney and "USA Today" columnist Raul Reyes. Raul Reyes who writes about Latino issues and he has been in the "New York Times" and all over. So we have seen your work everywhere.
Jennifer, I'm going to start with you. Some of the candidates obviously taking this self-deportation issue very seriously. But most Hispanics said, at least the ones I talked to, ones that I know, thinks it's a joke. They even laughed at Romney's response at the debate.
JENNIFER KORN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HISPANIC LEADERSHIP NETWORK: I would say that everybody is focusing on the self-deportation that one term and what we really need to focus on is the fact that we have a very broken immigration system that needs to be fixed. And these candidates are talking about how they would like to fix it.
LEMON: And no doubt. No doubt. There needs a lot of work, a lot of work needs to be done when it comes to immigration.
Raul, my next question is to you, is immigration the most important issue facing Hispanics in this country? What about jobs? What about education?
RAUL REYES, Well, you know, it's kind of funny, because definitely, absolutely, illegal immigration is an issue that does resonate with us. But you know, when they do polls, when you look at the tracking polls, the top issues for Hispanics, are pretty much the same issues as they are for other Americans. You know, jobs, the economy, unemployment. You know, we have the highest dropout rates of any segment of the country. We have a third of Latinos with either a negative net worth or net worth of zero. And we've been disproportionately affected by the foreclosure crisis.
LEMON: What does the GOP need to do to win over Latino voters?
REYES: What the GOP needs to do - first of all, I have to say and I'm a Democrat but they certainly are aspects of the GOP platform that are appealing to Latinos. You know, Latinos are very entrepreneurial, we tend to be more socially conservative than other groups. What the GOP needs to do is maybe go back to its roots.
You know, when you look back it was President Reagan who got amnesty for three million people. And the "A" word is, you know, absolutely out in Republican circles these days. Both President George W. Bush and his father and for a certain time John McCain all supported comprehensive immigration reform and they to a certain extent did win some popularity with Hispanics. What the candidates now need to do, they need a course correction. They need to pivot on these issues. Because otherwise they're going to be so far from the Hispanic mainstream that that they'll doom their own candidacy into the main election.
LEMON: Jennifer, your turn. Sum it up for us if you can.
KORN: Sure. I don't see this as doomsday. They need to engage with the community and pay them the respect that they need. I think that if they can articulate their message on jobs and the economy because Hispanics have 11.3 percent unemployment, way over the average. The national average is 8.5. They're dropping out of high school at 40 percent rate. And those are issues that conservatives do very well on. And those are the top issues and they absolutely, as long as they engaged the community, they could get their vote.
LEMON: Thanks to my two guests.
It is a common debate for those getting married later in life. Should you and your new spouse merge your finances or keep them separate? The answers to that and other personal finance questions, next.
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LEMON: OK, guys. You know you forget everything. Here's a warning, Valentine's day is just around the corner. And maybe some guys or girls are thinking of popping the question. And that's pretty romantic, right? Even if it's a second or third marriage.
Well, before you accept that proposal, I want you to take a look at this. OK, 67 percent of second marriages end in divorce in the United States. 74 percent of third marriages don't make it.
Terry Savage, the author of the book "The Savage Truth on Money" and a personal finance columnist with "The Chicago Sun Times." She's in very cold Chicago, my former stomping crowd where we worked together and now she joins me here on CNN from different city now.
Terry, these are pretty discouraging numbers. Obviously you want to protect yourself. What should you do first?
TERRY SAVAGE, AUTHOR "THE SAVAGE TRUTH ABOUT MONEY": Well, a second marriage or a third is a triumph of hope over experience. And most of those marriages fall apart over money or over children from a previous marriage. So here's something can you do tonight. Just go grab a glass of wine, you and this person you want to marry and you trust and love so much, go online and get your credit reports together. So easy, you an go to annualcreditreport.com. That's a site the government mandates to give you a free credit report from each of the bureaus. Just pick one of the bureaus, you can do it online in a minute or two, safely and securely. And then share that with each other.
Are you surprised about all those credit cards outstanding or the student loans that your fiancee might still have? If you cannot share your credit reports, how can you possibly expect to share your life?
LEMON: OK. All right. That's tough for a lot of people. They'd rather share life than share their credit report. They feel like this is my personal business, I don't want to let it go. Most people have some kind of money plan. Is this a no-brainer for a marriage? SAVAGE: No, no, no, you know, when you get into a second marriage you probably have some assets, maybe a house or a condo, you certainly have built up some savings or some debt. And you two need to sit down. People spend time thinking about planning the honeymoon and what kind of wine they're going to serve at the reception and who's invited but the real issues are things that they leave till later that's a mistake. You need to make a money plan.
For instance, are you going to keep your money separate, keep your own name, keep your own accounts? Are you going to contribute to a household account. Out of which you'll pay the bills. You contribute 50/50 or if one makes more than and the other, is it proportionate? Those are things to talk about. There's just so many issues, Don. You're each going to contribute to your retirement accounts. Whose health insurance? Should you both pay for health insurance? That can be an expensive thing. So maybe you need to make a new will and change the beneficiary on your retirement plan. You want his ex to get all his retirement plan? I don't think so. Just go through a whole long list of things to talk about before you (INAUDIBLE).
LEMON: It can be an issue because my mom - my dad died, my mom remarried, right? And then merging of assets -
SAVAGE: Right.
LEMON: Homes and that sort of thing in second marriages, it is a big deal. It is a big deal, I know. So finally some folks think that this is a romance killer, though, a pre-nup agreement. How about that?
SAVAGE: Yes. Well, you know, people say that "I wouldn't want to do that, it indicates lack of trust." But the fact is it's an awful lot easier to negotiate not only what happens if you split up to but to the property that you have before marriage. You can do it now while you're most in love. You each need a separate attorney and you need to fully disclose your assets. But if you think it's tough now, wait till you see how expensive it is to fight it out with opposing lawyers. So you may want to put things in trust each of you separately for your children or grandchildren, if it's a second marriage. But you need to consult lawyers separately. And a pre-nup is a real good idea the second time around.
LEMON: It's like, you know, you got to get the blood test, you got to get the license, or so maybe you make a pre-nup a part of that as well as, the possibility of at least talk about it.
Thank you very much. Terry Savage, appreciate it.
SAVAGE: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: Always on duty. A police officer shopping at a store when robbers hit. And this story is just getting started. The exciting conclusion two minutes away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Two would-be robbers got an unexpected surprise. An off-duty police officer made her mark in Denver. Sergeant Virginia Quinones interrupted them when they tried to stick up a Walgreens on Thursday. She was shopping when she saw the two men jumped the pharmacy counter and shout at three employees. She put herself between the robbers and the women and fired a single shot, which missed. Both robbers eventually run off. Quinones explained what she was trying to do.
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SGT. VIRGINIA QUINONES, DENVER POLICE DEPARTMENT: I want these men to think this may be a lone woman, however, this woman just may be crazy enough to shoot my ass.
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LEMON: Two suspects have been arrested and are being held for investigation of aggravated robbery and assaulting a police officer.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Yes, she said what you heard. I'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Next, we go to CNN "Into the World's Deadliest Drug Wars" were police are out manned and outgunned. CNN PRESENTS begins right now.
