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Lottery Fever for Record Jackpot; Shooter's Brother Speaks Out; Escaping a Killer Tornado; Twitter Users Call for Zimmerman's Death; Paul Ryan Endorses Romney; Lottery Fever for Record Jackpot; Financial Tips for Mega Millions Winner
Aired March 30, 2012 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you. I appreciate that.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Carol Costello. Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM.
Lottery fever sweeping the nation for a mere dollar. Starry-eyed Mega Millions players are taking their chances at tonight's record payout of $540 million.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd buy me a house in Santo Domingo and retire tomorrow. Well, no -- not tomorrow. Saturday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like I'm going to hit it today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to spend it. Buy a house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: What would you do with that mountain of cash? Some legal and financial advice straight ahead.
And remember this image of a tornado slamming into a bus? Now we're seeing exactly what happened just minutes before and hearing from the heroic bus driver who saved nearly a dozen children that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGEL PERRY, SCHOOL BUS DRIVER: And I stopped the bus for a second. Put my hands down, and I said, Dear Lord, what do I do?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Also ahead a pilot's meltdown forced Tuesday's emergency landing of a JetBlue flight. Now investigators are reviewing flight data recorders to try to figure out exactly what happened. We'll dig in, we'll dig in and see what we can learn from these tapes. That will happen later this hour.
And we're down to the final four in college basketball. Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas and Ohio State battle in New Orleans tomorrow with the championship game on Monday night. But first this morning. Are you -- are you just hours away from becoming filthy rich? If you have bought a Mega Millions ticket it could happen. The lottery jackpot of record $540 million and growing. In New York, tickets are selling -- well, they're selling a million tickets an hour there. In Chicago, tickets are going at four times the normal rate. And in Tennessee, lotto officials expect to be selling 6,000 tickets a minute by tonight.
People who buy their tickets at convenience stores are not spending the normal two and three bucks but $50 or $100 worth of tickets, and things will probably get crazier as we approach tonight's drawing at 11:00 Eastern. So that means the jackpot may grow even bigger.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Times Square.
Did you buy your ticket, Susan?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I bought them as part of the office pool. Not here yet, but I'm sure I will before the day is out, Carol. And then dream. Dream of what may be. We'll see what happens.
But any way, you know, if you take a cash payout you would win or take home $389 millions. And here in New York we calculated it. It would be -- because less taxes -- $243 million. I think we could all live with that, couldn't we? We've got -- lots of numbers to play with here. Here this morning, you know, the lines come and go right now naturally because we came to see you. No one is here. But it's been very busy. At one clip he sold about 600 tickets in that case to an office pool. $600 worth of tickets to just one buyer.
So we've got lots of numbers for you. If you want all that money, here's what you could buy. Let's see. Gasoline at $3.90 an hour and if you have a 15-gallon tank you could buy five million tanks worth of gasoline. OK. You want to trip to Disneyworld, who doesn't? For a seven-week stay at one of their resorts, you could make 84,000 trips to Walt Disney World, or as I call it, a little piece of heaven.
How about a Corvette? Is that your style? At $50,000 per Corvette, you could buy more than 7700. I think we could live with that.
Carol, now, I got to tell you, everybody is feeling lucky including Jennifer Lewis.
JENNIFER LEWIS, BUYING TICKETS: Yes.
CANDIOTTI: So, Jennifer, you were telling me before you just washed this pair of jeans the other day, right?
LEWIS: Yes, I did.
CANDIOTTI: You put them on this morning, what happened?
LEWIS: I had $6 in my pocket. So I told my 11-year-old daughter, I says, you know what, mommy is going to -- normally I only play a dollar. But I'm going to take this whole $6 and I'm going to buy six tickets for us.
(LAUGHTER)
LEWIS: So I'm hoping, I'm wishing. I normally take a dollar, I'm going to take $5 extra.
CANDIOTTI: Here's that lucky $6. You haven't bought them yet. You better jump in line, Jennifer.
LEWIS: And I normally always come over here and play.
CANDIOTTI: And what would you buy?
LEWIS: Gosh. A house. A car. Gosh so much. Take care of my mother. And I probably would pay off my oldest sister's house.
CANDIOTTI: Well, I wish you luck. I wish all of us luck. Right? We'll see. Maybe there'll be --
LEWIS: Just a little.
CANDIOTTI: You got it. Good luck to you.
So, Carol, lots of dreams. You know I was talking to some people last night. And I said to them -- two workers at a hair salon. OK? Got the old haircut. And one said to the other, so if you win on Friday night, are you going to be here at work on Saturday morning? And she said sure. To say good-bye to all of you -- Carol.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I can understand that. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.
With more than half a billion dollars at stake, everyone wants an edge. Is there an app for that? You betcha. Lotto Pro and Lotto Picks to name just a couple. The apps claim to have scoured past results to find the numbers that win the most and will even choose the numbers for you. And fear not, if you do not win, some apps will store the losing numbers so you won't repeat that awful combination.
OK. I want to know. What would you do with half a billion dollars? I think this morning we should just dream together. So go to my Facebook page. Facebook.com/carolCNN, Facebook.com/carolCNN, and tell me all the fabulous things you would do for mankind and then do for yourself, and then we'll put your ideas to the test with (INAUDIBLE), an attorney and CPA. She will tell you how to wisely spend your cash.
Also this morning, we're hearing from a person who claims to have witnessed the deadly shooting that has sparked nationwide outrage. Because of all the passion swirling around the death of that Florida teenager, Trayvon Martin, the self-described witness does not want to be identified, not even by gender. But this person spoke exclusively to Anderson Cooper last night and described the scuffle and the killing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: I saw two men on the ground. One on top of each other, obviously, thinking OK, something really horrible is happening. And at that point not looking out the window I heard the yell for help. One yell for help. And then I heard another, as I describe, this excruciating type of yell. It didn't even sound like a help. It just sounded so painful.
But I wasn't watching out the window during that. And then the next time I looked out the window there are same thing. Two men on the grass. One on top of each other. I kind of felt like -- I couldn't see a lot of movement. It was very dark. But I felt like they were scuffling. And then I heard the gunshot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Also for the first time we're hearing from George Zimmerman's brother. He tells us that medical records will back up his brother's claims that he was indeed injured in that fight with Trayvon Martin.
Martin Savidge is in Sanford, Florida.
So tell us what else Robert Zimmerman said.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, well, it's clear the family of George Zimmerman continues to speak out on his behalf and as you say, the latest is his older brother, Robert. Here's him speaking to "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, JR., GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S BROTHER: He didn't pull out a gun and shoot him. George showed tremendous restraint.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT: But he had the gun on him, right?
ZIMMERMAN: He had a permit to carry that gun.
MORGAN: But where was the gun?
ZIMMERMAN: The gun, I believe, was in his inside -- tucked inside his pant waist.
MORGAN: Right.
ZIMMERMAN: In a waist holster.
MORGAN: So he has pulled it out and he has fired it.
ZIMMERMAN: Well, he has taken control of his firearm. He prevented his firearm from being taken from him and used against him and that's called saving your life. MORGAN: Right. So you believe as a family -- is this what George told you the next day that Trayvon was trying to grab his gun to use against him?
ZIMMERMAN: My father also is on record yesterday night saying that, and again what Trayvon said was either to the effect of I believe this is going to be easy. You die tonight or you have a piece, you die tonight, and then attempted to disarm him. So when you say have a bag of Skittles and an iced tea, nobody just stood there with bag of Skittles and iced tea. You return force with force when somebody assaults you.
George was out of breath. He was barely conscious. His last thing he remembers doing was moving his head from concrete to the grass so that if he was banged one more time he wouldn't be, you know, wearing diapers for the rest of his life and being spoon-fed by his brother. And there would have been George dead had he not acted decisively and instantaneously in that moment when he was being disarmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: And Robert says that his younger brother George Zimmerman has been suffering from post-traumatic stress and other mental maladies ever since that tragic night. He says it's not the same brother he remembers -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Martin Savidge reporting live from Sanford, Florida.
Robert Zimmerman, Jr., is also concerned about what he calls hate-speech surrounding his brother. We're going to talk about that in just about 10 minutes. There's actually a Twitter account that calls for Zimmerman's death.
In 2001, Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub. Now she wants a judge to allow her to go to church. Yates has been committed to a mental hospital since her second trial ended with a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. Doctors at the Texas facility say they will ask a judge to allow Yates to leave the hospital each week just to attend church.
Take a look at this. This bus. It got launched by a tornado through a diner in Henryville, Indiana. Do you remember these pictures? It happened earlier this month. Well, now new video from inside the bus. It shows us exactly what happened moments before the bus driver and her children escaped this terrifying disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PERRY: Are you guys OK?
COSTELLO (voice-over): School bus driver Angel Perry is trying to calm her students as they race to dodge that F-4 tornado begins.
PERRY: We're going to go to the Baptist Church, too. I don't know what else to do. I stopped the bus for a second, I put my hands down, and I said dear, dear lord, what do I do?
COSTELLO: Thinking fast she quickly radios a dispatcher.
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: I know you're busy. It's 3:18, I have (INAUDIBLE) Lewis.
PERRY: Quiet.
COSTELLO: With chaos all around her, she makes a rash decision.
PERRY: We're going back to the school. Count how many kids we have, please. Eleven? Thank you so much. If anybody needs to call their parents, we're going back to the school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't. I don't know my parents' number.
PERRY: We'll call when we get to school.
There is a tornado on the ground, guys. Quiet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the tornado on the ground north of the school.
PERRY: If you got a book to put over your head, do it. Get in the middle.
COSTELLO: They've got a minute and a half to get out of the way and find cover.
PERRY: There's a tornado right there, guys. Look the funnel cloud.
COSTELLO: In frantic state of mind, she instructs her students on their next move.
PERRY: Don't block me truck. Don't block me. Guys, we're just going to go as fast as we can into the school.
COSTELLO: They make it back to school. The tornado moves closer. They make a run for it.
PERRY: Everybody stay together. Our group together right now. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine -- come on. Come on. Eleven. Go. Go. Go.
COSTELLO: Just moments later, the 18-ton bus moves across a parking lot into a car, lifts into the air and is thrown into a diner. A picture that will never be forgotten in the city of Henryville. The bus is now inside the restaurant.
What also will not be forgotten are the lives saved from the quick thinking of a heroic bus driver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: That's just unbelievable how she got those kids out of that house. But you heard her counting heads as the kids got off the bus. And you hear kids, you know, crying in the background. So how strong were the winds to drag that bus into the diner?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, they EF-4 rated so 175 miles an hour. Certainly could be higher than if you're in different situations as far as, you know, accelerating winds. But how intense that was.
The video that we're getting now from cell cameras and security cameras is just absolutely frightening and chilling. We showed you some yesterday as those -- as that family raced away from the fire. That certainly from Henryville, Tornado. And not quite as terrifying but certainly vivid and when you hear the ladies in this video out of Mexico from yesterday talking, it gives you chills as well.
So we go from inside the tornado there to outside the tornado here. This is in Monterrey, Mexico. I mean it's pretty far from the border and it's pretty close to some mountains.
These two ladies were driving down the road -- and this is at the point where the tornado actually crossed the road. But my friends down at CNN asked about your kind of translating some of what they were saying which was, you know, we're safe because it won't come up and over a mountain. Well, that's a common misconception. You know tornadoes don't care about mountains. They don't just typically happen in them but that's why what makes this pretty rare.
They also said, well, we have our seatbelts on so if it does catches we'll be OK. Well -- I mean it doesn't hurt to put the seatbelt on but certainly they've been made it out of -- OK. But that's --
COSTELLO: So what should they have done?
MARCIANO: Well, you know, the proper thing to do is to stop the car and see where the tornado was going and certainly if you're heading towards it, don't go any further. So try to avoid it. You have the means to at least --
COSTELLO: So try the other way.
MARCIANO: Try to get away from it if you're part of the thing, you know, get out and get into a ditch and just get as low as possible. As a last resort just stay in the vehicle and, you know, hope for the best is -- you know, there's two schools of thought. Get out of the vehicle well, then you risk being crushed or hit by something else. Stay in the vehicle. At least you have some sort of protection but the best of -- the best protocol would be just to try to drive away from it if we can.
COSTELLO: Yes. Or play really hard.
MARCIANO: Yes, that helps, too.
COSTELLO: Well, we're glad this lady is OK. Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes. All right. You bet.
COSTELLO: To the NAACP now it is paradise for college basketball fans. The Final Four tips off tomorrow. Blue grass state rivals Louisville and the University of Kentucky let's play game one. Ohio State and Kansas in the night cap.
Our Carlos Diaz is in New Orleans where the excitement is building and -- you have some mascots with you.
CARLOS DIAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What mascots? These guys. Yes, we have of course Big J and Baby J right here from Kansas. These guys are hoping for a Kansas victory.
You know, there's a great story right now going on with Kansas' Thomas Robinson. He is an amazing basketball player who's gone through a heck of a lot recently, just in -- excuse me, December of 2010, his grandmother passed away. And then the following month, his grandfather passed. And then a week after his grandfather died, his mother died of a heart attack. Robinson told us it was his teammates that really got him through those tough times.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS ROBINSON, KANSAS FORWARD: My teammates, you know, immediately became my brothers and, you know, stronger supporting cast I have. And, you know, coach, he definitely, he's stepped in a strong way for me.
TYSHAWN TAYLOR, KANSAS GUARD: I felt like some people would kind of, you know, go to opposite way and felt like they don't have anything to work for now, you know, and they shouldn't have to work anymore. It doesn't matter anymore. And he kind of had a different approach, one that like, you know, I got to go even harder now.
BILL SELF, KANSAS COACH: There was a whole different level of want, of try in him that I hadn't even seen before.
ROBINSON: Me knowing that I have something bigger to take care of, and I have a little sister at home and I got a family I still have to support and that's just my main focus and my motivation for everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAZ: All right. An amazing story with Robinson right there.
And basically, guys, we went to the French Quarter last night and talk to some tarot card readers. And one tarot card reader told us that Kentucky is going to beat Louisville in the first game on Saturday. And then on the second game, he picked Kansas over Ohio State.
COSTELLO: No.
DIAZ: Kansas -- yes, these guys are very excited about that.
By the way, what do you guys think of the possibility of maybe the Buckeyes betting you guys on Saturday?
Obviously, they find it very funny, Carol. Back to you, live from New Orleans.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Carlos. We'll break away so you guys can fight it out.
Still to come on NEWSROOM: talk of another endorsement for Mitt Romney. Wisconsin congressman and House Budget author, Paul Ryan, gives his support ahead of Tuesday's primary. You'll hear what Ryan had to say in 12 minutes.
And public outrage over Trayvon Martin's killing turns to hate speech online. Twitter users calling for the shooter's death. So why is the page is still up and running? We'll explore that, next.
Also, investigators are combing flight data recorders from the JetBlue flight forced to make an emergency landing on Tuesday after that pilot had that meltdown. Ahead, details on what the hope to find on those tapes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Spike Lee picked up the phone and said, "I'm sorry." Elaine McClain was on the other end of the call. Ms. McClain and her husband George were forced to leave their home after Lee retweeted George Zimmerman lived at their address. He doesn't. Another George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin.
Despite Lee's apology, his reputation has taken a hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: Sending a lynch mob to the wrong address is a bad mistake. But I got to say, even if it was the right address, that's still a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mistake. Sending a lynch mob to anybody's address is a bad mistake, right address, wrong address, lynch mob.
And, Spike, you're a 55-year-old. Leave the cyber bullying to teenagers. You know, it's as immature as stealing Sally Jessy Raphael's glasses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, but this is no joke. There's a certain element out there who fancy themselves vigilantes or worse. George Zimmerman's life is being threatened on Twitter and other social media sites. The hate speech is startling, with people for Zimmerman's murder on a special Twitter page.
Zimmerman's brother, Robert, told Piers Morgan he's worried and had this message for Trayvon Martin's mother.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, JR., GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S BROTHER: To his mother, you know, personally myself, I can't speak for George. This is a tragedy, her son was lost. I feel very badly about that and I want in the end, not for her son's memory to be seen as how degraded our system and turned into mob rule, and went on to a hate speech, you know, carnival hatred and let's go get them and tweeting addresses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We're not going to show that Twitter feed for obvious reasons. But it does call for George Zimmerman's death and still up and running. Twitter refuses to shut the account down.
Joining us via Skype from Baltimore, HLN digital lifestyle expert, Mario Armstrong.
Welcome, Mario.
MARIA ARMSTRONG, HLN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Hey, Carol. Good morning. How are you?
COSTELLO: I'm good. So why won't Twitter shut down this account?
ARMSTRONG: You know, this is interesting. I had to really dig in deep and look at the terms of service, what is the policy of Twitter. And when you start dig deeply into it, you come across sections like offensive content, reporting violent threats, and privacy violations.
And their stance simply is, everyone has different levels of sensitivities towards content. What maybe shocking to one maybe fine to another. Twitter does not pre-screened content and we do not remove potentially offensive content.
So, they're saying hands off. If you have an issue and you want to report that, then they say, notify the authorities. And there is a reporting mechanism through Twitter that you can use.
COSTELLO: OK. So, let's say you use this reporting mechanism and a lot of people say, I really think you should take these tweets, calling for George Zimmerman's death. Would Twitter react?
ARMSTRONG: So, here's the thing: We have a snap shot, an image that I actually took of the actual report of this page. And you can see, there are few different options of what you can actually choose when you want to report some abusive behavior.
The thing is this, I actually filled that out and I actually went to the full process. I did receive an email saying that they did receive my information and then I could click this out to give to local law enforcement.
So, they're looking at it but they hadn't taken any action yet. They said they need time to review my report. So, I think it's an interesting position, but it really still falls back on the individual user.
And I put this out to Twitter to find out how people felt about this. And some people are very divided. Some say Twitter should absolutely take a stand and remove this. Other say once we go down that, that could be a slippery slope. What else would get censored?
COSTELLO: Interesting. You know, just as an interesting side note. In Britain, a student got a 56-day jail sentence for posting racist tweets about a soccer player. I mean, is it likely we could see that kind of thing happening in the United States?
ARMSTRONG: Well, you know, it's interesting you bring that point out. I found a report from the Knight Foundation. This report is called "The Future of the First Amendment." And what we found or what they found in this report by the Knight Foundation is that more and more students are becoming more and more educated and increasingly more tolerable about unpopular opinions, to the tune of like 91 percent on a daily basis dealing with it.
So, I don't really know. I don't think in the U.S. we're going to have that particular issue of what you just stated in Britain, although I can't see the future, but I can tell you this. What has taken place is a travesty. I am a parent. I have a son. This is a travesty.
What we do know is that people are mad, people are upset. People want to see the court system work properly. And they're using personal megaphones like Twitter and others to express their sentiment.
I don't agree with the sentiment. It feels like an eye for an eye. I'm not certainly taking that stance. I'm just trying to explain what the social media attitude is like. I just wish people would take that energy and do something more positive with it.
COSTELLO: Mario, I'm sure a lot of people feel that same way you do. Thank you.
I just want to read a response from Twitter because we did contact them. They gave us this statement back. They said, "We don't comment on specific users or the status of accounts for privacy reasons."
We'll see if anymore from Twitter comes out later today.
Thanks, Mario.
ARMSTRONG: Report that behavior, though. They could make it easy.
COSTELLO: OK. Thank you, Mario. We appreciate it.
Some 900,000 people signed a petition to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. We'll tell you what happens in this drive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The campaign to kick out Wisconsin's Governor Scott Walker is moving forward. Wisconsin recall activists have collected 900,000 signatures, 540,000 were needed. Later today, a board is expected to certify the recall elections. They are set for June.
Walker ignited a firestorm of protest at the Wisconsin state capitol last year supporting a bill to effectively collected bargaining for unionized public employees.
Mitt Romney must be pretty darn happy this morning. He scored another key endorsement. This one from Congressman Paul Ryan.
This is how it went down on FOX.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: I have two criteria I'm using to make my decision to vote in our primary Tuesday. Who is the best person to president? Who will make the best president? And who has the best chance of defeating Barack Obama?
And in my opinion, Mitt Romney is clearly that person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So let's talk about that.
Paul Steinhauser is our political editor.
So, Paul Ryan is a hero for the Tea Party movement and conservative Republicans. Will it matter?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: It will help, no doubt about it, because those are two groups you just mentioned where Mitt Romney does not perform so well. He hasn't performed so well in the primaries and caucuses.
And let's take Ryan and add him to Marco Rubio, which endorsement came earlier this week. Former President George Herbert Walker Bush, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, even Senator DeMint of South Carolina, who's considered among Tea Party activist. You're getting more and more of this people coming out and endorsing Mitt Romney just in the last two weeks now.
And Ryan said today, what a lot of others have said, it's time to basically close ranks, get behind Mitt Romney. If this divisive primary battle continues on, that's not good for the party. It helps President Barack Obama. Same message there.
So, it's kind of another sign that the Republican establishment and, Carol, also conservatives are starting to back Mitt Romney. But also, Ryan's endorsement comes four days before Wisconsin's important primary.
Take a look at this, brand new numbers out of Wisconsin this morning. It's basically vital for Santorum this win. If he doesn't, you can see here, Romney up by seven points -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. Oh, I thought you're going to show us a funny DNC ad concerning Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, you know, the bromance thing?
STEINHAUSER: Well, look, you talk about it. Take a look. Take a listen. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When ol' Mitt claps his hands for the Paul Ryan plan that's amore.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When his plan came out. I applauded it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Carol, of course, you know, this is the bill that was just passed yesterday by the House, the Ryan bill. Democrats say, listen, it will take away your Medicare. So, they were quick to come out with this video.
COSTELLO: OK. I just wanted to see it because it was so silly.
Thank you so much, Paul. We appreciate it.
Stories we're watching right now in THE NEWSROOM:
Could this be your last day as a working stiff? Millions of Americans are hoping so. They hold tickets for Mega Million's record jackpot of 540 million bucks drawing tonight. And across the country, ticket sales are likely to push that jackpot even higher.
Your odds of winning? I'm not going to tell you because it's such a buzz kill.
Take a look at this rare tornado sighting in northeast Mexico. This video was shot by two women driving on a freeway in Monterrey. They said rocks and hail hit their car. And on the years they've lived in Mexico, they say they've never seen or even heard about a tornado there.
And all eyes will be on New Orleans tomorrow with the NCAA's Final Four play. Bluegrass state rivals Kentucky and Louisville go on game on. Ohio State plays Kansas in the second game. The winners, of course, face off, and the achievement game, that comes your way on Monday night.
We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The National Transportation Safety Board has the flight recorders from the JetBlue plane -- you know, the one forced to make an emergency landing when the pilot flipped out. Passengers and crew restrained the ranting pilot and, of course, as you know the plane did land safely.
But now, everyone wants to know what was this all about?
Lizzie O'Leary joins us from Washington.
So, authorities are going over these night data and cockpit voice recorders. What do they want to hear from them?
LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN AVIATION AND REGULATION CORESPONDENT: Well, the most important thing that they'll probably be looking for, Carol, is what's on the cockpit voice recorder, because then you'll be able to hear what Captain Clayton Osbon was saying to his first officer Jason Dowd. We know some of these details from the charging papers after Osbon was charged federally for interfering with a flight crew.
But it's important to note that we'll actually probably only know -- or we may not know -- investigators will know what's on the last two hours of that cockpit voice recorder. So, it will record up to the point where the plane landed, sort of time it two hours back from that. We may not get those initial indications of what was going on with Osbon. But you will hear or authorities will hear the last two hours of what happened in the cockpit.
COSTELLO: Well, I'm just curious because I can't remember this detail. So, I know that this pilot told the air traffic controllers to be quiet or to shut up. When did that happen -- before the plane took off or while the plane was in flight?
O'LEARY: No, that happened in flight. And that sort of happened about 3 1/2 hours into the flight. Essentially before they had him removed from the cockpit. The first officer we know was essentially trying to get Osbon out of the cockpit but then he got up on his own and left pretty abruptly.
So, it happened just a little bit before that. Probably about three hours into the flight.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Yes, I was just curious because how will the new information -- or how might the new information on these data recorders affect the charges now filed against this pilot?
O'LEARY: Well, they will be able to use them when they look at sort of the fuller picture. Right now, authorities have the affidavits from FBI agents and statements from the first officer. This will give them more of an objective picture of what was going on.
Remember this case would have to probably go forward to a grand jury. There would be an indictment. If that happens at that point, Osbon is still being evaluated medically. So, there are a lot of ifs still as the case goes forward.
Lizzie O'Leary, reporting live from Washington.
Big dance, big concert. NCAA Final Four weekend is here. And we've got some of the biggest names in music joining the party. We're going to take you live to New Orleans. That's just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's time for the big dance. The NCAA Final Four weekend is finally here and we're preparing for our annual Big Dance concert series. KISS, Kid Rock, Jimmy Buffet just to name a few of music's biggest names who will be performing this year.
"Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer joins us from New Orleans.
And, wow, you are lucky man.
A.J. HAMMER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: Here I am. Yes, I am a lucky man. What a weekend this is going to be. The party is about to get under way.
I'm in Champion Square right now, which, of course, is just outside of the Superdome here in New Orleans, where all of the big NCAA basketball action is going to be taking place.
But just a few miles from here is where the Big Dance concert series is going to be happening with a couple of the biggest names in music, along with one of the hottest bands headlining this weekend, the Black Keys are going to be here. KISS is going to kick it all off tonight. Jimmy Buffet is going to take us all down to Margaritaville here in New Orleans on Sunday, Carol. It should be a really good time.
Last year, 140,000 people showed up for all of the free music that happened in Houston over the NCAA Final Four weekend. They're expecting it to be even bigger. I cannot wait. You can feel the energy building here and I'm going to get exclusive access to all these guys. I'll hang out with KISS tonight backstage.
COSTELLO: Oh, you are so lucky. And I must say, New Orleans knows how to throw a party. I'm sure it will be fun.
Let's talk about Chris Brown, because supposedly he grabbed this fan's cell phone in Miami. So, what went down?
HAMMER: Well, this is actually potentially pretty serious for Chris Brown, Carol. What happened is a woman made a complaint against Chris last month saying that he allegedly grabbed her iPhone when she was trying to take a picture. You know, Chris is quite accustomed to fans and people around him trying to take pictures. She alleges that he snatched her phone from her and this led to an investigation.
Now, prosecutors in the case are saying they're not quite ready to wrap it up just yet. They want to speak with more witnesses to find out exactly what happened before they decide whether or not charges are going to be pressed.
Chris Brown, of course, doesn't need this at all because he's still on probation from the assault charges that he faced and was convicted on for assaulting Rihanna three years ago. So, Chris right now waiting this one out, hoping for the best here.
COSTELLO: A.J. Hammer reporting live from New Orleans -- thank you.
The Mega Million craze is on. People around the country are snatching up lottery tickets hoping to win a record high $540 million jackpot. So, just how big will that jackpot grow? We're going to find out, next.
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COSTELLO: Don't you love all those zeroes? They look awfully nice. Millions of people lining up in 42 states for a chance at more than half a billion dollars. Yes, you know the mega millions jackpot up for grabs. I guess the drawing will be tonight at 11:00 p.m. Eastern.
Joining us from Austin, Texas is Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery and the lead director for the Mega Millions Group. Gary, welcome.
GARY GRIEF, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TEXAS LOTTERY (via telephone): Good morning, Carol. Greetings from exciting Austin, Texas, today.
COSTELLO: Are you crazed?
GRIEF: We are going nuts here, Carol. I know you've been looking at all of the media reports, the lines are streaming out of all of our retailer locations. People are going nuts. They want to pay that dollar and dream of winning over half a billion.
COSTELLO: So how big do you expect this jackpot to get?
GRIEF: About 10:30 Central Time, Carol, we'll have a call with all the other Mega Millions directors and at that time we will look at how our sales have come in since yesterday. And I can tell you I can only speak for Texas, they have far exceeded even our -- our most ambitious projections.
So I can't tell you where it's going to go but it will definitely go up.
COSTELLO: Ok so what's your ambitious projection?
GRIEF: Oh my ambitious projection, I would venture a guess somewhere in the neighborhood of maybe $625 million or $650 million.
COSTELLO: Oh I just -- that's mind-boggling. Like in the near future could we see the jackpot grow to a billion dollars?
GRIEF: Well it's all in the luck of the balls. That's what makes it such a great, fun game. Anybody has a chance to win. You never know if your numbers are going to get drawn. Time will tell, Carol.
COSTELLO: Time will tell. Gary, thank you for joining us.
GRIEF: Thank you. Good luck, everyone.
COSTELLO: Oh thank you, Gary. That does mean a lot coming from the man in the know. We asked you on my Facebook page what you would do if you won this huge jackpot. We have a lot of responses from you. And I appreciate it. If you want to join in, Facebook.com/CarolCNN.
Shannon Nash is back with us, she is a -- an attorney and a certified public accountant. And I just want to -- like people said what they would do with the money. So I want to present their scenarios to you so you can tell them if they have the best idea.
SHANNON NASH, ATTORNEY & CPA: Ok.
COSTELLO: Ok, let me find the first one. This is from Doc. He says, "I'd buy my daughter a new condo in Los Angeles. Then I'd buy myself a few condos. I'd travel to places I've not yet seen and I'd also invest in a few new good restaurants."
NASH: Well at least he's saying he's going to invest. I think most people just think about what they're going to spend the money. I think very short-term. But as history has shown us, that the best policy is to think long-term and think about the fact that this money although it seems like a lot, after you take out taxes and you think about how long you have to live, it may not be as much as you think.
COSTELLO: So he wants to buy all this stuff. He shouldn't do that all at once.
NASH: He shouldn't do that all at once. But of course you know you got, when you win something like that and you're not used to being wealthy, yes, human nature dictates you're going to have to treat yourself. So I think buying a condo or two is ok but going out and you know buying the whole development may be a little ambitious.
COSTELLO: Ok this is from -- this is from another Facebook friend. "Travel. Give most to family and friends". He wants to give most of his money away. And then he also wants to buy a bunch of property and invest.
NASH: Yes again, you know, the family and friends thing I think is admirable but --
COSTELLO: No, wait let's really get into this.
NASH: Right.
COSTELLO: So let's say you give your brother a huge lump sum of cash and you don't really like your sister very much so you don't give her anything. Doesn't that present all kinds of problems?
NASH: Oh absolutely all kinds of problems. Family disputes. Then they wind up in court. It becomes a whole big thing. I think the family thing is probably one of the hardest things for people who win the lottery. That's why I always say the first thing you really do is you go out and you hire competent advisers. Tax advisers, attorneys, financial planners who can show you a strategy and show you how you can help so maybe sort of giving and paying off all their debt, it's like, I'll give you $10,000 and I'll give you $5,000. There's a strategy, if you will, to keep the family harmony. Because it's hard --
COSTELLO: Yes oh, really. So what is the best way to find that responsible financial adviser?
NASH: A couple of ways. You know we're in a society where it really is trusting your adviser is key. So a lot of people are going to do this by word of mouth asking people they admire who do you use? Who are you working with? There's also in this day in age an easy way to figure out who these people are on the Internet.
You can check their histories with bar associations, CPA society, et cetera. So you can see you know how they -- what their track record is then.
And then finally you just have to interview them and make sure that you know, you're compatible because it's a very personal relationship.
COSTELLO: Ok let me see if I have one more. This is from Scott. He said, "I would pay off all of my debt, set some aside for my little sister, nephews and kids college. But a house and car and continue to work as if I hadn't won it all."
NASH: Again, people say a lot of time they would continue to work. I don't know if you can continue to work because everybody now knows that you won this money. All your co-workers, everyone has a charity, everyone has a cause. I think it's admirable but history has shown us most people can't continue to do the work.
COSTELLO: I also said on the Facebook -- on my Facebook page I would continue to work but then thinking about it, it would make you much more bold with your boss, wouldn't it?
NASH: Yes, bold with everybody.
COSTELLO: Maybe not in a good way. Shannon Nash, thank you for coming in. We appreciate it.
The wedding has been planned for a year. Just one problem though, the ceremony is on final four day in basketball crazy Kentucky and the bride's brother well, he's is a Louisville fan. We'll tell you how they're handling that one.
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COSTELLO: Checking stories across country now, a motorcyclist escapes disaster in San Antonio and it's all caught on camera. The car loses control, swerves toward the biker. You'll see it on the left here. But the rider actually didn't panic. He hit the throttle and coolly accelerated out of the sticky situation.
Another narrow escape for firefighters in Michigan and it's also caught on camera. These three guys were on the roof of a burning building, they were trying to ventilate it and the roof collapsed forcing them to scramble for their lives. All three escaped serious injury.
And a tractor-trailer gets into an accident and spills loads of money $5 million worth of coins rolled from the truck after it crashed on a Canadian highway. It would be all fun and jokes except that two people involved in the resulting collisions suffered life-threatening injuries.
Disturbing news for Americans the Obama campaign is creating a huge database about its supporters and potential supporters, but what information is being collected and can you do anything to stop it? I mean, lots of personal information is being collected. Lois Beckett (ph) wrote an article about this we're going to talk to her around 10:10 Eastern.
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COSTELLO: We've got the time final four tomorrow, Jeff Fischel.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: We do.
COSTELLO: In Kentucky, everybody has a dog in the fight, right?
FISCHEL: You're right. I mean one of the games, could it work out any more perfectly in the Bluegrass State, Kentucky versus Louisville. In the Bluegrass State, I mean they are going bonkers.
So far this week, we've talked about houses divided, and there were the men getting kidney dialysis who got into a fight over the game. Now, think of what this is doing to weddings?
Annie Owens lives in Kentucky. She planned her wedding a year ago. The big day's tomorrow. Her brother, Zak, is a huge Louisville fan and a groomsman. She's made sure there is a 50-inch TV at the reception, but her brother is still worried about getting to see the game.
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ANNIE OWENS, BRIDE: It will be about half an hour or so. The reception will start right around tip-off.
ZAK OWENS, BRIDE'S BROTHER: Wedding ceremonies last much longer than that, so I don't believe her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISCHEL: Zak wants it to stay on schedule.
COSTELLO: That is an understanding bride.
FISCHEL: Yes. Seriously, I mean, this is the day. She is supposed to be the center of attention, right? And there's going to be a 50-inch screen TV at her reception.
That's Kentucky for you right there. It should be a great Saturday of college hoops.
And speaking of college hoops, slam dunk contest in New Orleans. Watch James Justice of Martin Methodist College in Tennessee. He is 5'10 -- my size. I cannot do this.
COSTELLO: Wow.
FISCHEL: 52-inch vertical leap.
COSTELLO: Oh my gosh.
FISCHEL: That's the Vince Carter jam. He won of course. I mean that is just incredible. Ok.
The pros. NBA. Two of the best teams in the west, Lakers and the Thunder. Time running out in the third quarter. Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City stops and hits the three at the buzzer. Watch him. Oh, yes, put those holsters back in right there.
Westbrook, and his superstar wonder twin Kevin Durant started slowly, but power's activated in the second half. They combined for 57, the Lakers lose to the Thunder 102-93.
Scary moment in the NHL for superstar Sidney Crosby. He took a puck to the face during last night's game between the Penguins and the Islanders. Crosby has missed a lot of times. He had a concussion last season and concussion symptoms this season. This cannot help. He was bloodied but did return to the game later. That's a good sign for really the biggest star in the NHL. The Isles did beat the Pens.
It's good to see Crosby, at least he's back on the ice because really NHL needs him. He's a superstar and fans want to see him on the ice.
COSTELLO: Absolutely. And we know how to --
FISCHEL: She is? Clearly the Buckeyes are the team for her.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Go Buckeyes. Thanks Jeff.
FISCHEL: Ok.
