Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

The Power Of Habit; Zimmerman Bond Hearing Set; Syrians Shouting Against Government; North Korea's Space Failure; Obama And Biden Tax Returns; Retiring Police Chief Killed On Duty; Mayor Runs Into Burning Home; Romney To Speak At NRA Meeting; Obama Talks Trade; Next Steps For Zimmerman; Cease-Fire Holding In Syria; Battery-Powered Brains for People with Depression; Status Hearing for George Zimmerman; Mayor Cory Booker Rescues Neighbor from Fire; Home Values May Go Up Next Year; FDA Asks Farmers to Limit Antibiotics in Livestock.

Aired April 13, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

CHARLES DUHIGG, AUTHOR, "THE POWER OF HABIT": -- after the workout routine.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: That will work real well.

DUHIGG: It's counterintuitive, right?

MALVEAUX: That'll work real well with the exercise routine.

DUHIGG: Because the whole reason you're exercising is to try and lose weight or to get in better shape and the chocolate does the opposite of that, and yet we know from experiments that if you do that, you trick your neurology into forming a habit. And within two weeks, you won't need the chocolate anymore. Your brain will have learned you like running or running's sake.

MALVEAUX: Charles Duhigg, thank you so much. We're going to try to -- we'll make this a habit, if you will. We'll have you back.

DUHIGG: Thank you so much.

MALVEAUX: All right, thanks, Charles.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's the top of the hour. I'm Gary Tuchman in for Suzanne Malveaux. Let's get you up to speed.

George Zimmerman has a status hearing just a few minutes from now. He's not expected to appear in court for it. He also has a bond hearing set for next week. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman says it was self-defense. The affidavit says he, quote, "profiled the teenager" and disregarded a police dispatcher's order not to pursue him.

Thousands of Syrians shouting against the government are testing the cease-fire that went into effect yesterday. So far, day two is relatively calm. We are hearing, though, about small clashes and some civilian casualties. The Syrian forces and rebel fighters are, for the most part, keeping their promise to stop shooting at each other. North Korea's long-range rocket launch was a big failure, but world leaders are worried about what could come next. The U.N. secretary general believes North Korea may be trying to save face after the fiasco by doing a nuclear test or making some sort of military move.

President Obama and vice president Biden have released their family tax returns for 2011 as they try to turn up the heat on Mitt Romney over what he pays in taxes. The Obamas had an adjusted gross income of $7,896.74. They paid more than $162,000 in federal taxes. That's about 20.5 percent. The Bidens earned $379,035 and they paid almost $88,000 in federal taxes.

A police chief who was just days from retirement was shot to death in the small New Hampshire town of Greenland last night. Chief Michael Maloney was killed when officers tried to search a search -- serve, that is -- a search warrant in a drug investigation in that small New Hampshire town. Four other officers were wounded. Maloney's death comes on the heels of a new report that shows the number of police officers killed on duty is the highest in almost 20 years. So, why are police deaths so high? In just a moment, I'll talk to the president of the major cities chiefs association, Philadelphia police commissioner, Charles Ramsey.

Well, he may be best known as the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, but today Cory Booker is also being called a hero. He pulled his neighbor from her burning home, today. But the mayor's rescue led to some tense moments with his security team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORY BOOKER, MAYOR, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: When we ascended to the top of the stairs, something exploded, and at that point my security detail did what they're trained to do, which is to get me out of danger. And so detective Rodriguez here and I had a bit of an altercation when he was following orders that is to always protect me. So, he was literally pulling me by the belt and finally I whipped around and we had some words, and he relented. I guess I am his commanding officer at the end of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Quite a morning in New Jersey's largest city. Firefighters say booker's actions likely saved his neighbor's life.

The Trayvon Martin killing has sparked a lot of talk about race, but some say the killing is more about guns and too many of them on the streets. Comedian Bill Cosby is speaking out about it. Here is what he told our Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": So, you saw more a gun issue than a race issue?

BILL COSBY, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: How are you going to solve a race issue when it becomes he said, she said or he said, he said? And the other question is what is solved by saying he's a racist, that's why he shot the boy? What solves that? This and what is he doing with it and who taught him and told him how to behave with this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Candy Crowley, anchor of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," joins me now. Candy, what do you make of Cosby's comments? We know, of course, his son, Ennis, was shot and killed years ago.

CROWLEY: Right, and, you know, it was so interesting talking to him, because he also went on to say that he believes that if people want to have a gun inside their home to protect themselves, that they totally should. He revealed to me that he once owned a handgun and had it in his home for that very reason. But he talked about the kind of empowering effect it has on people to say, well, here is something outside, I'll go see what that is, you know, kind of because you feel empowered to kind of go out, and he sort of blended that into the idea that Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch. He said they should be watching, they shouldn't have guns. They should do -- he said, even the cops call for backup when something is going on, but there's something about a gun that makes people feel very empowered, so he wasn't necessarily anti-gun. He was anti-gun in the wrong places.

TUCHMAN: Cosby's one of my -- Cosby's one of my heroes, Candy, so I think it's really cool that you got a chance to talk to him.

CROWLEY: It was fun.

TUCHMAN: Yes. We want to switch it now talking about guns and talking about politics. Today is the NRA's annual meeting and presidential candidate Mitt Romney is giving a speech along with Newt Gingrich and even Rick Santorum. Now, I understand Romney has not been super supportive of all the NRA's policies in the past, right?

CROWLEY: Not always. He was a supporter of the Brady gun which outlawed Saturday night specials, the sort of cheap handguns that are easily available on the streets. He signed into law in Massachusetts an assault weapons ban. But I will say that he -- you know, when he began to think about running for president, there was an evolution in his thinking. The gun advocate folks in Massachusetts were very angry at him for signing this assault weapons bill. They, of course, as many do, think of that as sort of the camel's nose under the tent, like just a way to get at banning guns completely. The Massachusetts as governor and since then running for president now twice, he said, look, I am a firm supporter of the second amendment, but I don't think it's time for any more gun control laws. I think what we need is to enforce the laws we have on the books. I will say, though, with the NRA, which historically is conservative, historically tends to vote -- certainly on a national level, tends to vote for the Republican. I think that Romney is going to look better -- despite his sort of background, it looks better to them, at this point, than President Obama in terms of their issue.

TUCHMAN: Candy, why haven't we heard very much from the Democrats about gun control? CROWLEY: Because, you know, lots of Democrats have pointed out, and Romney points this out as well, that this state by state, people's attitudes towards guns tends to differ in many ways. If you're a big open hunting states in the interior west or in the Midwest, you know, in Michigan and Missouri and Illinois, certainly South Dakota, North Dakota, all of those states, hunt something a way of life, it's a part of the culture. And so, they look at guns very differently than they do in the big cities of Boston or New York or Washington, D.C., where they tend to see guns as destructive.

So, you know, it is one of those things if you're a Democrat, I mean, take the Brian Schweitzer, governor of Montana, he's very anti- gun control. He's for, as most people say, sensible gun control. But he is a gun rights advocate, so it is not an easy issue, and it's one of those issues that does drive people to the polls. So, Democrats see it as a losing issue as well in many, many spots, and so it's just something they don't want to get into either.

TUCHMAN: Very interesting, Candy. And it's always interesting hearing what you have to say, and you can hear a lot more from my friend, Candy, this Sunday at CNN "STATE OF THE UNION," begins 9:00 a.m. Eastern time.

As we just mentioned, the police chief of a small town in New Hampshire was killed in the line of duty last night. He was just days away from retiring. It's so sad. And New York City police have lost eight officers since the beginning of this year. A new report is showing that more officers are losing their lives while on duty. The International Association of Chiefs of Police found the number of officers killed in the line of duty is at its highest in almost two decades. Here are the numbers. All of 2011, 72 officers were killed by suspects. That's 25 percent more than 2010. And a 75 percent increase from four years ago in 2008.

And joining me to talk about today's tragedy and the bigger picture is the head of the Major Cities Police Chiefs Association and fellow Chicagoan, by the way. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, that's where he's originally from. Commissioner Ramsey, thanks for joining us, first of all.

CHARLES RAMSEY, POLICE COMMISSIONER, PHILADELPHIA: Well, thank you, thank you.

TUCHMAN: What was your reaction today when you heard about the police chief who was so close to retiring in New Hampshire?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, it was a very sad thing to learn, and I certainly want to express my condolences to Chief Maloney's family. It's always troubling whenever we lose an officer in the line of duty.

TUCHMAN: What do you think is behind this rise in the number of officers killed in the line of duty? I mean, many major cities, including yours, Philadelphia, have had a sharp decrease in the number of murders overall, but what's going on with police officers?

RAMSEY: Well, I don't know if we know exactly. Certainly, the easy access to handguns is part of it. But I also think that over the years, we've gotten very good at deploying our personnel based on the technology that we have available to us. As Bratton used to call it, putting cops on the dots, and we've become very good at that. We are also becoming very good at predictive policing. And when you take a look at all those types of changes in our policing strategy, we are actually in the areas where crime is most likely to occur. And then you have technology like shot spotter where if the sound of a gunshot goes off, it automatically notifies our radio dispatch, we immediately send officers to the scene, which means that they're more likely to encounter someone who is armed.

TUCHMAN: Let me ask you this, we know some Congressmen and police organizations have fought hard to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban. What's your organization's stance on that?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, we're in support of a ban for assault weapons, no question about it, high capacity magazines. We just don't see the need for it. Again, sensible gun laws are something that, as an organization, we support.

TUCHMAN: So, the Trayvon Martin killing has put the idea of neighborhood watch associations in the spotlight. Do you think the captains of neighborhood watch associations should have guns while they're doing their patrols?

RAMSEY: No, I don't. I think that if you're involved in a town watch or neighborhood watch, if you see something, call 911. Allow the police to take over and let us handle it. You know, one of the issues that you have in situations like that, and this gun debate in its entirety, you know, police officers go through hundreds of hours of training. Much of that training is devoted to use of force. People are able to get handgun permits, carry concealed, and in many instances receive absolutely no training on when it's appropriate to use force let alone deadly force in given situations. And even though we undergo hundreds of hours of training, including in-service training, we don't always get it right as police officers. So, that's something that really does need to be looked at and needs to be addressed.

TUCHMA: Chief Charles Ramsey in Philadelphia, PA, thank you very much for joining us.

RAMSEY: Thank you, sir.

TUCHMAN: Well, here's a rundown of some of the stories we are covering over the next hour. First this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Syrian protesters pour into the streets testing a fragile cease fire.

And a battery powered brain. Doctors are trying out an experimental treatment for depression. We will show you the device.

And then, he says he did what most people would do to help out their neighbors out. The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker, raced into a burning home through smoke and flames to rescue his neighbor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: President Obama is talking trade. As we speak, he's doing it in a key battleground state, Florida. He is in Tampa talking about strengthening business ties between the U.S. and Latin America, reducing the trade gap between developed and developing countries. Let's listen.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- in fact, that's what I'm going to be doing right after this visit to Tampa. I'm heading to Colombia to take part in the Summit of the Americas, which brings together leaders from the Caribbean and from North, South, and Central America.

Everybody here knows how critical this part of the world is to our economy and to creating jobs. A lot of the countries in the region are on the rise. In Latin America alone, over the past decade, tens of millions of people have stepped out of poverty and into the middle class. So they're now in a position to start buying American products. That means they've got more money to spend. We want them spending money on American-made goods so that American businesses can put more Americans back to work.

Now the good news is, already our exports to the western hemisphere are up by 46 percent since 2009. I want to repeat that because that's obviously important to Tampa. Tampa is one of the biggest ports in the country, and a lot of the business being done here has to do with trade between us and Latin America. So the fact that it's gone up 46 percent since 2009 is a big deal for Tampa.

In Florida, exports to this region are up nearly 30 percent. We now export more to the western hemisphere than to any other region in the world. And those exports support nearly 4 million U.S. jobs.

This is one of the most active trading relationships in the world. And you see it up close here at the Port of Tampa. Every year, more than 2.5 million tons of fertilizer head out from here to farmers in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Engine oils that are produced not far from this port get shipped to countries throughout the hemisphere.

(END LIVE FEED)

TUCHMAN: President Barack Obama in Tampa, Florida. He said he's on his way to Colombia. He's actually going to the Summit of the Americas, which is in Cartagena, Colombia. Cartagena is one of the most beautiful cities in the western hemisphere, on the north coast of Colombia. There will be intense security in Colombia for the visit of all the world leaders for that summit.

Well, a status hearing is underway right now for George Zimmerman. Plus, he's got a bond hearing next week. The man who shot Trayvon Martin could get out of jail after next Friday's bond hearing. I want to bring in CNN legal analyst Mark Nejame. He's a criminal defense attorney in Orlando.

Mark, first of all, welcome to CNN. I worked with you during Casey Anthony. It's nice having you with us at CNN.

MARK NEJAME, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's nice to be with you again. I've been enjoying being with everybody. Thank you.

TUCHMAN: That's great. Well, Mark, first, explain the purpose of the status hearing that's just getting underway in George Zimmerman's case. What do you think will happen today?

NEJAME: It's highly unusual. It's not typical. And there's nothing in the rules of procedure to allow for this. So that means that the judge has an announcement. I would think that it's going to be one of two things. She's either going to allow everybody to know the direction that she's going to take this case or she's going to remove herself from the case.

My speculation would be that she's going to remove herself from the case. She'll recuse her case and it will be reassigned to another judge. We'll show shortly when she makes her announcement.

TUCHMAN: Why will she remove herself from the case. I mean I've heard she's young. Does that have anything to do with it?

NEJAME: That won't have anything to do with it. She'll state her reasons. I don't really know. But her husband is actually my law partner. So I spoke to her husband about that. They -- she handles everything on her own. She's her own person and a very strong -- and it's her decision entirely. We agreed we would simply not deal with it, not discuss it. I brought it to the attention of lawyers on both sides. Both Natalie Jackson and Mark O'Mara, they were aware of it. If they were going to proceed on it, that would have been up to them. But I think that in light of the fact that I referred Mr. O'Mara to Mr. Zimmerman and the fact that I have knowledge of that and everybody else and I'm serving in an official capacity as a CNN analyst, I think that -- legal analyst, I think that, for the public so that there would not be this perception of anything questionable, she's a very ethical, very excellent lawyer, judge, and I think so that there would not be the appearance of impropriety, which is the legal standard that governs our ethics, as well as the way we're supposed to behave, that would be my guess. I don't know.

TUCHMAN: You were talking about, you know George Zimmerman's attorney personally and recommended him. You also mentioned yesterday that you were actually asked by representatives of Zimmerman twice to represent him and you then recommended the new attorney.

I want to play to you one of his comments last night on CNN and then I'd like to ask you to tell us if you think that it's going to be a major part of a self-defense argument. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK O'MARA, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S ATTORNEY: I will tell you, and you may have seen it on today's TV, he was smaller and younger looking than I thought he was going to be from the one picture that I had seen and everybody else had seen. He stands about 5'8", 185 pounds, I think. So I, at 6'2", sort of tower over him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: So was there a strategy in saying how he, the attorney, towers over his client?

NEJAME: I think that the relative size of any two people embroiled in a physical contact is significant. And I think it will absolutely be an issue that plays into this, as it well should be. I think all the facts need to be brought out. And from what I have come to learn about this case from all sides and from various people, much, much, much of this story has not yet been told and there's been a lot of conjecture and speculation and I think you're going to find that with Mark O'Mara, as well as with the state, that they're going to look at each of those important areas and assess them as this case unfolds.

Even the state, who's, in my opinion, taken the quantum leap of going to second degree homicide as the charge brought, has evaluated what they have and believe they can make a case based on that. But right now they don't have everything. And as the case unfolds with new facts, new evidence, new ways of interpreting them, I think we're going to find that things will change and there will be ebbs and flows throughout the case. That's normal.

TUCHMAN: Mark Nejame, we have a lot more to learn about this case. That is very clear. Thank you very much for joining us. Good talking to you, OK.

NEJAME: My pleasure. Thank you.

TUCHMAN: Well, we're hearing reports of heavy security and snipers on rooftops as Syrians head out in protest after Friday prayers. They're testing a fragile cease fire. We'll get a live report from the region next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: In Syria today, the roar of guns and artillery is replaced by human voices across the country. People filled public spaces today shouting their anger at the Syrian government and putting a brand new cease-fire to the test. The Syrian military and rebel groups fighting them agreed to stand down as part of a United Nations peace plan. CNN's Ivan Watson is in Istanbul today watching developments across the border in Syria.

Ivan, it's good seeing you. It's only been two days of relative calm in Syria. I would assume that you believe it's way too naive to be optimistic about this.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, way too early. There's been too much killing over the last more than a year now, Gary, to suddenly start breaking out the peace pipes. But certainly there's been a little bit less violence. The Syrian regime doesn't seem to be firing its tanks and artillery or firing rockets from helicopters the way it used to. So the opposition have called on their people to go out into the streets and demonstrate, which they're supposed to be allowed to do under this U.N. peace plan.

And we saw demonstrations from the north of the country, all the way down to the south and even the suburbs of the capital Damascus. There were reports of violence and accusations from the government and the opposition that groups of them were breaking the cease-fire. In one example you see some youths throwing stone and Syrian security forces in the distance kind of facing off, but not shooting. That's incredible, Gary. We never saw, over the course of this year, Syrian security forces using tear gas or rubber bullets or batons because they went straight to guns and bullets and killing people. And this does show remarkable restraint from the Syrian security forces.

But I have to add a caveat. There are still lives being lost. It's hard for us to figure out how many are dying. And this cease-fire is shaky because the Syrian military has not pulled out of cities and towns the way they are supposed to according to this peace plan as early as last Tuesday.

Gary.

TUCHMAN: Well, that's right, Ivan, I mean one of the parts of Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary-general who brokered this, was, they have to get out of the residential areas. And as far as you know, they haven't completely done that yet, right?

WATSON: They haven't done it at all. I mean the tanks are still there. The checkpoints are still there. You've still got rings of troops around opposition-led towns. So it's still a very dicey situation right now. And the Syrian government has been heavily criticized, not only by the U.S. and France and the opposition activists, but also by Kofi Annan, the man who brokered the peace plan in the first place.

TUCHMAN: All right, now, Ivan, you're in Turkey and you live in Turkey and you know Turkey. What about the refugees and the displaced people who have fled to that nation. Any hope they can return to their homes soon from Turkey?

WATSON: Well, they're a good gauge of how much trust people have in the Syrian government. And so far none of them are going back, Gary. And there's about 25,000 officially in refugee camps in Turkey alone and many thousands more living -- trying to eke out a life here in exile after fleeing their homes. And you just have to remember how traumatic that experience can be. Some of these people have been out of the country for a year. They say they don't trust this government. They've seen too many of their loved ones killed and tortured and arrested. It's going to take a lot more before they will feel safe enough to go back to their homes.

TUCHMAN: This is a very critical time in Syria. Ivan Watson, thank you for reporting this story to us. We appreciate it.

Well, imagine living in a hole so dark you cannot see anything or escape. That is severe depression. Now doctors are trying something new to treat it. It's a battery powered brain. And we will show it to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: Here is a rundown of some of the stories we're working on.

Next, battery-powered brains. Cutting-edge treatment to help people with depression.

Then, Mayor Cory Booker, of Newark, New Jersey, says he felt terror when he couldn't breathe. Some scary moments as he rescues a neighbor from her burning home this morning.

Later, next year may be the year the value of your home starts going up. More on that in a bit.

Now imagine living in a hole so dark you can't see and so deep you can't escape. That's what severe depression is like. It affects millions of people and not everyone recovers. Now doctors are experimenting with a cutting-edge surgical treatment, putting electrodes in the patient's brain.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports in it in his upcoming special, "CNN Reports, Battery-Powered Brains."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In an operating room at Emory University in Atlanta --

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: Right now, we're just going to anchor this one in place.

GUPTA: -- these doctors are trying to use deep-brain stimulation to turn off severe depression.

UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: Figuring out where the blood vessels are and obviously choosing the target, is that right?

GUPTA: It was a procedure just like this done on Edie Gyton.

EDIE GYTON, DEPRESSED PATIENT: I don't think about it, but I have electrodes in my brain.

GUPTA: The target is area 25, a junction box for brain circuits that control our moods.

DR. PAUL HOTZHEIMER, PSYCHIATRIST: Our patients are miserable. It's beyond sadness. They spend most of their day just sitting there, often thinking, you know, why can't I just die?

GUPTA: People who had lived in a block of emotional ice, people like Edie Gyton, who had lived that way for years.

GYTON: It's not that you won't be happy or that you aren't happy, it's that you can't be happy.

GUPTA: Not even when her grandniece, Susan, was born.

GYTON: And somebody handed her to me and I held her, but I didn't even put her face to mine. I just held her, but I was going through the motions and I felt really nothing.

GUPTA (on camera): Nothing.

GYTON: Nothing. Nothing.

GUPTA (voice-over): On the day of surgery, Edie's head was mounted in a rigid frame.

GYTON: The sound of the drill, the feeling of it, and my teeth are going -- like this. I think it hit home to me that you're having brain surgery. Somebody is going into your brain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us.

Sanjay, good to see you.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

TUCHMAN: How does it work? Electrodes in the brain?

GUPTA: It's deep brain stimulation which is something it's been done for some time. What you're seeing here, using this for depression, this is brand new, Gary. This is still in the trial phase.

I want to show you quickly this is the battery pack. You need a power source for this. It sits underneath the skin under your clavicle. This is the stimulator and it runs under the skin and eventually goes into the brain. It has several contacts, several leads, and they actually use that to stimulate this part of the brain, area 25, as you heard there. The area that's responsible they say for depression.

TUCHMAN: So how practical is this? When could we see this actually being used?

GUPTA: It's being used in clinical trials. Somebody like Edie, just to paint the picture, nothing worked. This wasn't sort of a willy-nilly thing. She tried antidepressants, talk therapy. She tried electroconvulsive therapy. That worked for a little bit but then stopped. She was bad off. Right now, the population of people, very small who are considered refractory. They have no other options. Mainstream, it's still several years away, it's still in the trial phase, but she got an incredible response -- Gary?

TUCHMAN: I may have told you this, years ago when we first met. I once did a story on electroconvulsive therapy, a last-ditch effort for severely depressed people.

GUPTA: Right.

TUCHMAN: Would this come before that?

GUPTA: I don't think so. Not as things stand now. Perhaps in the future they will say, look, we now know enough to say this is safe enough to do as an earlier line therapy, it's effective enough to do. But as you know from your story, Gary, electroconvulsive therapy, as stigmatized as it's been in the past, can be a very effective therapy for some people. It even worked for Edie for a period of time. Bu this is later on.

TUCHMAN: Sanjay does it all. But in addition to doing it all, he has this amazing book on "The New York Times" best-seller list called "Monday Mornings." It's great work. Congratulations.

GUPTA: Appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

TUCHMAN: That's fascinating. Bring it with you. Don't lose it.

GUPTA: I will carry it with me. Thanks.

(LAUGHTER)

TUCHMAN: Thank you.

You can find out more about this new treatment for depression on "Sanjay Gupta, M.D.," tomorrow and Sunday, 7:30 a.m. eastern time. And don't miss "CNN Presents, Battery-Powered Brain." That's Sunday 8:00 p.m. eastern time.

Mayor to the rescue. Cory Booker, Newark, New Jersey, races into a burning home to save a woman's life. He's battling smoke and flames and risking his own life.

(SINGING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker risked his life to save his neighbor from a burning building last night.

But before we get to that, we've just gotten some tape in of the status hearing for George Zimmerman. Let's listen to what the judge said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA RECKSIEDLER, JUDGE: I wanted to disclose it to you as soon as possible so, as I became aware, is why I set this status hearing first thing this morning. That way you all can decide how you wish to proceed.

Is there any -- Mr. O'Mara, you may wish to discuss that issue with your client.

And otherwise is there any other matter or anything that you wish to address at this time from either of the parties?

MARK O'MARA, ATTORNEY FOR GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: Your Honor, I actually had discussed this with my client and had an opportunity to sort of delve into this. (INAUDIBLE). And not only had Mr. NeJame had contact -- contacted but had significant contact with the family (INAUDIBLE) representation and had some agreements in place that I'm not yet fully aware of. Some actual waivers or agreements are in place based upon that contact with the Zimmerman family, I think, even with Mr. Zimmerman, to allow some of those communications to still be discussed and talked about. Obviously, Mr. Zimmerman decided to -- (INAUDIBLE) -- Mr. NeJame decided to act as an analyst and not take on the case. (INAUDIBLE) had presented (INAUDIBLE). My view as well as (INAUDIBLE) are now sort of suggested that I might be the better choice, giving him other names as well.

My concern is this. I think that Mr. NeJame is going to be extraordinarily active in how he both perceives and analyzes this case. He had told me -- (INAUDIBLE) -- concerned about that. (INAUDIBLE. And I anticipate that his role was going to be quite significant as an analyst and that it is going to be more and more difficult to maintain a proper separation between your husband and his position with the firm and Mr. Neale's planned activist role as an analyst and beyond that because of his agreements with the family, again, that I haven't fully understood yet. But I think that the probability that there's going to be communication with the family and Mr. Nejame that -- (INAUDIBLE). Whatever that may be, I'm not aware. But I'm very, very concerned that we're not going to control that and we might get a waiver among the family and that happens to address this very issue.

So I actually talked to Ms. Corey about this this morning before we contacted you about setting up this conference. I talked to Ms. Corey about the exact issue and my concern with it because of the scrutiny this case has been under already and just knowing the type of media scrutiny it's going to be under in the future, and particularly not just the media scrutiny, but the activist scrutiny that we can anticipate will continue. I'm very concerned that this will become problematic as we move forward.

RECKSIEDLER: As indicated previously -- I had indicated previously and disclosed the fact I did learn when we met previously that -- he is the CNN analyst is my understanding or has a contract, Mark NeJame does, directly, so that's why I disclosed it at that time so we could address those issue with your client as well as addressing them with each other. And this issue, I became aware of as well recently, actually late yesterday after my jury trial, and is why I set this hearing this morning for you all to address.

Now, if you do -- or choose to file a motion to disqualify me as the judge, of course, Mr. O'Mara, you realize that has to be filed in writing for me to address it. So I am disclosing these matters because I do realize that they are matters that need to be disclosed to the parties so that way they can address them in whichever manner that they choose to be possible or beneficial towards their case. So that's why I'm disclosing it, based upon my obligations, and then you all can choose how you wish to proceed in the case at this time.

If you do choose to file a motion, we do have the bond hearing set next Friday. I would prefer if you could possibly file any motions prior to that so that way I have the opportunity to address it before we get too far into this case realizing the circumstances.

O'MARA: Yes. In my conversation with Ms. Corey I advised her that I think it's imminent. I don't know that -- the issue. I certainly hope -- (INAUDIBLE) -- all the scrutiny of this case -- (INAUDIBLE). Just because I would like -- as I said, to keep the case moving forward in as positive a direction as we can. But I have not had a chance to talk to her about it. It's just more the concern -- it's more the concern added to what the effect would be on the case moving forward. And certainly (INAUDIBLE) I think it has been. (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: We're looking at tape, the status hearing that just occurred for George Zimmerman. The man who they're talking about is our CNN analyst, who is with us right now, Mark NeJame. They are talking about asking the judge, Jessica Recksiedler, to no longer participate in this case.

It sounds like to me, Mark -- tell me if I'm wrong -- but it sounds like they're saying, because your law partner is her husband, they no longer want him on the case because you were actually asked to take this case originally. It's complicated, but is that right? Is that what I'm hearing?

MARK NEJAME, ATTORNEY & CNN ANALYST: Very simply, if I could summarize it, I -- we received a call -- we had permission from Mr. Zimmerman to release this -- on March 13th to represent him. I respectfully declined. Too many family obligations. I just didn't want to be involved at the level in this point in my life with this case. Then the other attorneys got involved. They left the case. And then I got called back by friends of them -- theirs, that they wanted me to take the case. I rejected it. And by then, I had already signed the contract with CNN and I'm now with CNN and HLN to be a legal analyst.

Well, then after that apparently the case was charged and it was randomly assigned to Judge Recksiedler, who ironically, her husband, Jason, is my law partner, who runs and manages the personal injury division of my law firm. Obviously, we have an issue there because I had been contacted by Mr. Zimmerman and had referred Mark O'Mara to the case, his current lawyer, and my law partner is the husband of the woman, who I would be analyzing from time to time in my duties as a CNN analyst.

So all this was apparently brought to the attention and she is doing the right and ethical thing by bringing it to all parties. As I understand, it had already been brought to all parties. She's doing the proper thing on the record.

And the way we're dictated -- governed as lawyers, is we want to make sure that we avoid any appearances of impropriety. Lawyers and judges want to make sure we do that at all times, even if there's nothing going on, which, of course, there's not, so that the public does not have a misunderstanding and that's what's going on here.

So now what she is saying is that the lawyers, namely the state and the defense, now that it's all out there, can file the appropriate motion for recusal if they deem it appropriate. And she'll consider it appropriately. I think that's where we find ourselves right now.

TUCHMAN: Firstly, I apologize for getting Judge Recksiedler's name pronunciation wrong, but I guarantee you, I'm not the first with that last name.

(CROSSTALK)

TUCHMAN: Now we get it correctly.

But basically, what you're saying is the main purpose of this status hearing, which we have just watched, it was very short, wasn't very dramatic visually because people were on the telephone with the judge, but the main purpose revolved around you.

NEJAME: So it seems, or my role with you all. Interestingly, because Mr. Zimmerman had wanted to hire us on two separate occasions, and I respectfully declined that, but then referred the case to Mark. And in between took a position as a CNN analyst. And then, you know, the universe put this case in my law partner's wife's lap, who is a judge in Seminole County. There are four different judges who this could have been assigned to. There's no choice of it. It's a random assignment. There's a one in four chance, a 25 percent chance she would have gotten it. And lo and behold, she did. So we brought it all out to everybody.

I spoke to Natalie Jackson, one of the excellent team representing Trayvon's family. I brought it up, of course, to Mark O'Mara. He knew about it from the onset. So they all knew about it. And then, of course, it came to the judge's attention and so now it's being handled in a proper way so that there's no chaos or misunderstandings or misimpressions about what's occurring.

TUCHMAN: We do the same thing you do, Mark, attorneys, journalists, we try to be open and transparent. It's very obvious you have done so.

(CROSSTALK)

TUCHMAN: My question for you is what happens next now with the case? Do we assume that the judge will recuse herself?

NEJAME: Well, I think that since she's not recused herself at this point and because her husband is my law partner, I'd allow another legal analyst to give their opinion on that. While she's sitting as the judge and my partner is my partner -- again, I deal with him every day. He runs our personal injury division. I think that very simply will defer to another legal analyst. But we'll know something probably by day's end.

TUCHMAN: Well, Mark Nejame, I was surprised. We didn't really expect that we would have that during this hearing. But you were the subject of it and it's good that we had you in the chair.

Mark Nejame, thanks for joining us. We look forward to talking to you.

NEJAME: Pleasure.

TUCHMAN: Thank you so much.

OK, home prices are close to bottoming out, which means you may see your home value rise next year. But there is a catch, and we will explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: Home prices have plunged since the housing bubble burst just a few years ago, but now a new study says prices may soon be at rock bottom and ready to rise again.

Joining me from the New York Stock Exchange is Patricia Wu.

Patricia, I think the question on many peoples' minds is when will these prices bottom out?

PATRICIA WU: Gary, the expectation is for this year. And this is key. Once prices hit bottom, there is no where to go but up. We certainly need that for a housing recovery. They have a long way to go, though, to get back to the peak back in 2006. Prices have fallen more than 30 percent since then. Whenever you have value falling that dramatically, it pushes people into foreclosures and short sells. Even if you feel like you manage to stay in your home, you feel like you have less money, because often our homes are our biggest asset. You also feel stuck and you can't sell if your home is worth less. It's welcome news that this new forecast from Reuters that prices are expected to rise 2 percent next year -- Gary?

TUCHMAN: Prices going up. Good for sellers, not necessarily for buyers.

Patricia Wu, thank you very much.

Ever think about what's in your hamburger or chicken sandwich? The FDA does. And it just asked livestock producers for a big change.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: Would you like some antibiotic with that burger? We know for decades that farmers inject their cattle and poultry with antibiotics to help the animal's growth. Health officials are worried it's causing us to become increasingly resistant to antibiotics when we're sick. Now FDA is asking industry to voluntarily limit the use of medicines in livestock.

Our CNN eatocracy editor, Kat Kinsman, joins us now.

Kat, you are dressed perfectly in this segment with that you are meat cleaver necklace.

KAT KINSMAN, CNN EATOCRACY EDITOR: I am.

(LAUGHTER)

TUCHMAN: That's very appropriate. It remains to be seen if they will voluntarily cut back on antibiotics in livestock. In the meantime, where can we find meat without antibiotics?

KINSMAN: The first thing you can do is be a loud mouth and band together with your neighbors. You can get together with your friends and neighbors and other concerned people around you and ask your local purveyors to get in meat that is antibiotic free or grass fed, because those tend to use fewer antibiotics. The more of you getting together and asking for this, the lower the price is going to be.

TUCHMAN: What's the price difference between meat without antibiotics and meat with them?

KINSMAN: There is a cost difference. It's not as much as traditional meat versus organic. There is a little bit. But if you go together in bulk with your friends and neighbors, that cost is going to be driven down even further. And it's worth it in the long run considering your health costs.

TUCHMAN: There's an increase in burger joints that serve hormone and antibiotic meats. Are more people demanding this stuff?

KINSMAN: This is true. Not only is it quality in health, it's also a better taste. Some chains like Farm Burger in Atlanta are growing their own beef. They have their own farms. They know exactly every step in the chain that meat to get on to the bun at the stores. People are responding in tremendous numbers. But it's not until there's a sizable number of consumers demanding that quality that the big guys are going to stand up and say, do you want free range, do you want better health with that?

TUCHMAN: Final question for you, when we see on hamburger packaging that this is grass fed beef. Why is that a good thing? And how does it relate to having antibiotic-free meat.

KINSMAN: Cattle don't necessarily process corn so well on their own and they tend to get infections from that. They are biologically designed to digest grass. And so the less kind of corn and other feed like that in their diet, the less they'll be dependent on antibiotics. It's not definite that they won't receive antibiotics, but it's much, much less.

TUCHMAN: Now it's time for me to have some antibiotic-free grilled cheese sandwich.

KINSMAN: Delicious. Have a great weekend.

TUCHMAN: Thank you. Have a great weekend too.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

Brooke, have a very happy and lucky Friday the 13th.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you. Same to you, my friend. Gary Tuchman, appreciate it.