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Beryl Raises Rip Current Danger; Outrage over Syrian Massacre; Logging on, Moving In; Raising the Concordia; Tsunami Debris Litters Alaska Shores; Americans Held for Death of Irishwoman; Franchitti Wins Third Indy 500
Aired May 27, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. So glad you're with us. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM, 7:00 p.m. in the East. I'm Alina Cho in tonight for Don Lemon.
And we begin with a real danger playing out along many beaches along the southeast coast right now. We're talking about rip currents, courtesy of tropical storm Beryl. Daytona Beach alone recorded 70 rescues yesterday. And as the storm bears down, it will likely get only worse.
Our Jacqui Jeras is tracking the storm and its impact.
Boy, what a bummer for Memorial Day weekend.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know.
CHO: You know, you're being told, yes, you can go to the beach, but just don't go in the water.
(LAUGHTER)
JERAS: Right. So you want to stick with the pool. But now conditions are going down hill so significantly you really want to stay inside at this time. The showers and the thundershowers have come in. They're getting very strong, and the heaviest storms are making their way on shore as we speak. So nobody really wants to be on the beach at this point anymore, at least not towards the Jacksonville Beach area.
So this is the area we're most concerned about. Around St. Augustine, kind of sandwiched between there and Jacksonville. And we could see, once some of this red stuff start making its way on shore, we could start to see on the coast some wind gusts getting close to hurricane strength. Seventy-four miles per hour, so that's dangerous.
We've already had many reports in north Florida and south Georgia of some trees coming down and scattered some power outages, and that's going to increase as these winds continue to move in for tonight. Now the storm should be making landfall this evening or overnight, and then it's going to slow down in forward speed and start to curb back on up towards north and the east.
So the weakening is good, but the stalling not so great, and that's the concern, because we'll likely see some flooding associated with this. In fact, we could be talking about anywhere between three and six inches, pretty widespread along and near the center of this storm as it moves through the area.
So this is going to last through the holiday weekend. You can just go ahead and plan to be indoors, unfortunately.
Here's some of the wind speeds that we've been tracking along the coast. These are gusts right now around 30, even up to 40 miles per hour near Brunswick, Georgia. But we're going to start seeing some of those 50s and 60s and possibly pushing up to 70 sometime between now and 10:00 tonight.
CHO: Boy, so this is turning into something pretty serious. All right, Jackie Jeras, thank you very much.
The U.N. Security Council is pointing the finger at the Syrian government for Friday's massacre that killed 108 people including 49 children in the Syrian village of Houla. In a statement the council blames the regime for artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighborhood.
CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom has more from Lebanon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Time and again over the past several months, we've seen -- we've seen international pressure stepped up on Syria, whether it be the U.N. or other agencies. We've seen the EU-imposed sanctions, Arab League monitors went there a few months ago. Now there are U.N. observers there, about 300 on the ground, and yet no matter who was there or what type of pressure is being applied on the Syrian regime to end this cycle of violence, this brutal crackdown that's been going on for 15 months, doesn't seem to be ending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, meanwhile, told CNN that the United Nations has no plan B for Syria, but plan A is looking more and more like a failure.
ITN's Alex Thompson visited Houla and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX THOMPSON, REPORTER, ITN: Hula today, so far the world has seen only fleeting glimpses from rebel cameras.
We're in the southern suburbs, not exactly controlled by the Syrian army, but they're here. We can only film covertly, and they're scared, very scared.
Who knows how many dead bodies lie around here. When I pulled the blanket back, it revealed an old man way past fighting age with a gunshot wound. For well over an hour, we were pinned down here by sniper rounds, terrorists, said the Syrian army. There were rebels. And about 10 meters away from this position, one of the soldiers was hit and taken away quickly, but he left his mark on this town.
Because the fighting continues in this town, it's impossible to verify exactly what happened here. There are no eyewitnesses, there are no civilians. They've both been forced out by the fighting clearly going on all around this town today.
But this is rebel-held Houla, a ghost town. Ask yourself this, then. Why do people flee the area held by the army but remain in the rebel- held zone? After Friday's massacre here, just who are the people afraid of? In these empty streets, the answer seems glaringly obvious.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: And in Washington today, about 100 demonstrators pressed the Obama administration to act, rallying outside the White House today chanting, "Obama, Obama, you decide, human rights or genocide?"
The White House released a statement accusing the Syrian government of, quote, "unspeakable and sheer human brutality."
A suspected NATO air strike killed eight civilians including six children in eastern Afghanistan last night. A spokesman for the governor of the province says that attack wiped out an entire family. NATO and Afghan officials are investigating right now. They say NATO troops were under attack in the province and had asked for air support.
Taking a look at politics now. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta took aim at Mitt Romney today for his attacks on the Afghanistan withdrawal strategy. Romney has criticized the 2014 date for pulling out of Afghanistan, saying setting a timeline is naive. Well, today on ABC's "This Week," Panetta said the Republican criticism is all campaign rhetoric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: You've got 50 nations in NATO that agree to a plan in Afghanistan. It's the "Lisbon Agreement." An agreement that, you know, others, President Bush, President Obama, everyone has agreed is the direction that we go in in Afghanistan. What is that direction? It's to take us to a point where we draw down by the end of 2014. That is the plan that has been agreed to. And it's a plan that is working.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Panetta went on to say that 2014 withdrawal timeline is the only way to ensure a successful transition to Afghan forces, and he adds, it's a plan that's working.
Blame it on the ego. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says that was the reason that he took jabs at Mitt Romney during the 2008 GOP presidential campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Well, I made a certain amount of personal ego on that. I -- at that point I was probably comparing his record to -- to my record, and maybe it was circumstances or whatever, but I had massive reduction in unemployment. He had a reduction in unemployment of about 8, 10 -- I think it was 15 percent. I had a reduction in employment of 50 percent. They had a growth of jobs of about 40,000, we had a growth of jobs of about 500,000.
So I was comparing what I thought was my far superior record to his otherwise decent record but the numbers weren't as great. That's all part of campaigning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Well, after hearing that, you may not believe this, but Giuliani has actually thrown his support behind Romney. He told CNN's Candy Crowley the digs are all just part of the campaign.
But what a long, strange trip this was. Debris from last year's tsunami in Japan is now washing ashore in Alaska. But is the stuff contaminated? What about radioactive?
And this guy, right there, lives and breathes his job. We mean it. That's because he was squatting at one of the world's biggest Internet companies, and now it's paying off. Investors -- investors, rather, are now looking at his company. We'll have full details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: All right. We've all heard about those workers who let their jobs take over their lives. Well, there is a young man who spent a couple of months living at his workplace, literally. And guess what, his dedication is actually paying off.
Linda Yee of San Francisco affiliate KPIX has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LINDA YEE, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE KPIX: Eric Simons literally lives and breathes his job.
ERIC SIMONS, FOUNDER, CLASSCONNECT: They said, wow, that kid really works hard. And -- I mean, because I was.
YEE: That's because he spent long, very long hours, at his computer every night. He was squatting at AOL's headquarters when he ran out of rent money.
SIMONS: It was like one day I was, like, walking out and there was this couch. And I was like, hmm, that's interesting, like, I could totally sleep on that couch. YEE: Simons was hired by Silicon Valley investors to work on a new incubator. A group that focuses on new ideas. They work out at rented space in AOL's Palo Alto headquarters. But when the program ended Simons wanted to keep going to perfect his idea would help teachers revolutionize education.
It wasn't hard to just move right on into AOL.
In one of your bedroom?
SIMMONS: Yes. And then in the morning I would come there, and before I would work during the day, I would come there, I work out and I take a shower. And so I was already, like -- the only thing I wasn't doing was just sleeping there.
YEE: He stored his stuff in two lockers outside the company gym, and he helped himself to AOL's food.
SIMMONS: They would put out the food, and so it then included like, you know, a cup of noodles, like the ramen stuff, trail mix, like Doritos, like -- just snacks like that.
YEE: For narrowly two months he kept up this ruse, working in the incubator offices on the first floor then sneaking up to the third floor where he'd get a few hours of shut-eye. It's where the security guards never patrolled.
No one caught on but there were whispers. One night the building manager found him and it was over. But Simons said he did what he had to do to build his company now called Class Connect.
SIMMONS: I couldn't imagine going home and basically closing up shop and saying, OK, I'm done.
YEE: He didn't go home and now venture capitalists are investing. Simons is living in a rented house and there's been no backlash from AOL. And he says if he had to, he would do it all over again.
SIMMONS: You know, I'm 20. Like I don't really have - I've got nothing to lose. I've got no money and I got to place to stay, I was like, OK.
YEE: In Palo Alto, Linda Yee, CBS 5.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Great story.
It was a shipwreck disaster, a deadly one, too. But now it's just an eyesore. Plans have finally come together to finally do something about the wreck of the Costa Concordia. Do you remember that story? So the question is, do they cut it up or try to float it away? We'll have details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHO: On Memorial Day, we always honor those who died defending freedom, but we can't forget those who are missing in action. So every Memorial Day, thousands of motorcyclists remember them by gathering in Washington for something called Rolling Thunder. Many of you are familiar with it.
This year one soldier, Army Sergeant Beau Bergdahl, stands out as America's only known prisoner of war. He was captured in Afghanistan in 2009, and today his father made him a promise.
ROBERT BERGDAHL, SON IS AMERICA'S KNOWN POW: Thanks to you, our POWs and MIAs are never forgotten and they never will be forgotten.
Beau, if you hear me, you are not forgotten, and so help me god, you will come home. We will not leave you behind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: He grew the beard just to show how long his son has been in captivity.
Well, among many monuments to those who lost in war is the Iwo Jima Memorial. And that's a live look there. What a beautiful shot. The memorial recreates this historic image of Marines raising the flag after one of the fiercest battles in World War II. President Obama will honor fallen soldiers tomorrow at Arlington Memorial Cemetery.
Well, off the coast of Italy, crews have put together a spectacular plan to raise that half-sunken cruise ship that sunk, the Costa Concordia.
CNN's Brian Todd has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly 1,000 feet long weighing close to 52,000 tons, every day on its side is looming an environmental disaster. Experts now say they'll salvage the wreck Costa Concordia cruise ship in one piece off the coast of Italy.
One Marine expert says it's like raising a floating city. A salvage leader calls it the largest ship removal by weight in history.
RICH HABIS. PRESIDENT, TITAN SALVAGE: We feel confident we can do it, and we feel confident that with our partners, we will do it safely and with the least disturbance to the environment and the least disturbance to the economy of Jilio.
TODD: American-owned Titan Salvage, its Italian partner and the cruise line provided journalists with footage and animation of their plan. They'll attach heavy cables from poles to keep the Concordia from slipping hundreds of feet into greater depths. Then steel plated slings to support the hull.
(On camera): Then under water platforms 40 meters by 40 meters will be anchored to the seabed by the hull to support the entire vessel. Then tanks filled with water called caissons will be fixed to the side of the ship that's above water to help with leverage.
(Voice-over): At that point, possibly the most crucial part of the operation, it's called par buckling. Massive cranes fixed to the platform will pull the Concordia upright. The caissons will be emptied of their water, replaced by air, which will lift the ship from the seabed, then the Concordia will be towed to a nearby port and demolished.
We recently skirted around Port Everglades, Florida, with officials from Resolve Marine Group which bid on the Concordia's salvage job. Officials at Resolve say one of the options discussed cutting the Concordia into pieces where it sits would have been easier but environmentally harmful.
As for the personnel involved --
(On camera): How dangerous is it to dispose of a ship like this, whether you're cutting it up, floating it away?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody doing any work is going to be, you know, in a weird position, so you're going to have to have safety harnesses and you've got to have training and equipment that can deal with that kind of environment. Because nothing is straight. I you're your bulkheads are your floor and your floor is your bulkhead or wall.
TODD (voice-over): Salvage and cruise line officials say this recovery operation could take up to a year and could cost around $300 million. Joseph Ferrell says cutting the vessel up to sell the metal and other parts for scrap could recoup some of the money lost.
When I asked whether they will sell off parts of the Concordia, an official at the cruise line said no decision on that has been reached.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Debris from last year's tsunami disaster now piling up on the shores of Alaska. It's creating a huge mess, as you see there, and raising fears of contamination and even radiation.
And we want all of you to stay connected to CNN, even on the go. So a reminder, grab your mobile phone, go to CNN.com/TV, or if you're on your desktop or laptop, you can also watch CNN Live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Well, it looks like Japan's earthquake and tsunami some 14 months ago is making an impact on America's shores. Environmentalists say debris from the catastrophe is now showing up in Yacatat, Alaska.
CNN's Casey Wian has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to cut -- hopefully across the medal of Montague Island to the outside on the Gulf of the Alaska Coast and that's where a great deal of the tsunami debris has already come up.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly 140 miles from Fukushima, Japan, is a Montague Island, Alaska reached only by helicopter or boat.
CHRIS PALLISTER, PRESIDENT, GULF OF ALASKA KEEPER: We're out here in a very remote the wilderness, as much wilderness as anywhere in the United States, and we're sitting in a landfill.
This shore is facing away from Japan, actually, but the way the currents and the winds work, it swirls it around and dumps it in here.
The influx of tsunami debris really concerns us mostly because of the amount of Styrofoam that's coming with it and also the toxic chemicals that are coming. We think they're going to have a really detrimental impact on environment out here long term.
WIAN: Chris Pallister has been cleaning Marine debris here for 15 years. Now that task is becoming next to impossible.
PALLISTER: This is a urethane spray and building foam. And we never -- we just never got much of that before, now if you walk up and down this beach, you can see big chunks looking at it all down this beach. That came out of fresh building structures.
I've seen pictures of storage yards in Japan, that huge yards, acres of these things stacked up before the tsunami. Those yards are empty now , and this is where they all are. And I've never seen a big yellow on little this, pretty big. Real bits of Styrofoam all up and down this beach. Zillions of pieces of it. The other thing is albatross and seabirds eat these stuff like crazy and it's killing the hell out of them. Big chunks of Styrofoam, depressed cans --
WIAN: Tests on the first wave of tsunami debris to arrive on U.S. shores have found no abnormal levels of radiation. Still, much of it is toxic.
PALLISTER: I have no idea what was in this. Germicidal bowl cleanser. Now that's not something you'd want to dump into your herring or salmon spawning area. This is going to take years to clean this mess up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is the leading edge in the tsunami debris without a doubt. It's all the lightweight (INAUDIBLE) stuff that flew across the Pacific very quickly. And I think we're looking at years of stuff coming on -- the heavier stuff will come progressively later.
WIAN (on camera): We're in a slightly less remote area of Alaska near the fishing village of Yacatat. And near here across this channel of water, you could see some of the debris that we've collected very similar to what's on Montague Island. At this point, no one knows for certain how this debris is going to get cleaned off these beaches, where it's going to go and who is going to pay for it.
And most importantly, no one knows what else lurks out there in the Pacific that's heading this way.
Casey Wian, CNN, on the southeastern coast of Alaska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: All right. So we're talking presidential politics with folks at a baseball game in Texas. Just watch what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's talking about gay marriage now and he's a Christian. So tell me about bending the rules.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm gay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: So when friends disagree on politics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Coming up on half past the hour, let's get a look at today's headlines.
The U.N. Security Council is condemning Friday's massacre in the village of Houla, Syria. In a statement the U.N. blamed the slaughter on government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighborhood. One hundred, eight people were killed, nearly half were children under the age of 10.
Investigators are looking into reports a NATO attack killed eight civilians including six children in Afghanistan. Reports from the eastern province say last night's attack wiped out an entire family. NATO officials say insurgents in the area attacked security troops and that those troops have asked for air support.
Two Americans are in police custody in Japan in connection with the death of a female exchange student from Ireland. The two men allegedly met the victim at a concert in Tokyo. Later hotel staff found 21-year-old Nicola Furlong unconscious in her room allegedly with one of the men. She reportedly died from being strangled. The U.S. State Department confirmed the arrest but is not providing any more details.
And in Italy, people want to make sure that a long-running, unsolved mystery is not forgotten. You're looking at relatives and supporters of Emanuela Orlandi marching in Rome today. Emanuela vanished when she was 15 years old back in 1983. Theories about her disappearance have pointed to the mafia even the Vatican police are still working the case, just yesterday announced that a priest who used to run a church in Rome is now under investigation.
If you're in the southeast, watch out for tropical storm Beryl. It's not much to think though. The National Weather Service says it's not so much the rain but rip currents, and there is a risk of them until 8:00 tonight Eastern time along many Florida beaches that are threatened by the storm. Daytona Beach recorded at least 70 rescues yesterday alone. Surf conditions are considered treacherous.
He overcame heat and avoided a last lap collision. Now Dario Franchitti can claim the title of three time champion of the Indy 500. That's a tradition there, drinking the milk and pouring it on top of your head. Well, I don't know about putting it on top of your head but drinking the milk is. It's the second year in a row, by the way, that the race was decided by a crash in the final lap. Franchitti won Indy in 2007 and 2010. Today's victory makes him the seventh man to win the race three times.
Disagreements over politics are as American as baseball and apple pie, so what better place to talk about the 2012 presidential race than at a ball game. Our Ed Lavandera went to a minor league game and talked with fans about whether the candidates are hitting home runs or striking out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you all for coming.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's opening night at La Grave Field, home of the minor league Ft. Worth Cats, the team that brought America's pastime to these parts in 1888. Grover Cleveland was president. This is where young ball players come chasing big league dreams and big league castoffs try to hold onto a last bit of baseball glory. It's a fitting place to talk about the hopes and dreams of Americans.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LAVANDERA: And to talk politics, getting the pulse of voters about the 2012 presidential election. In the first inning, I find Michael Kelly, and it's clear when you come to a baseball game to talk politics, you're the most annoying fan in the stadium.
(on camera): So tell me, we're six months away from the next presidential election. Why did that make you laugh?
MICHAEL KELLY, TRUCK DRIVER: You had to ruin my night.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Kelly drives delivery trucks for a food vendor. He's on medical leave. Worries about social security and health care issues the most but doesn't think politicians can fix either.
KELLY: What's so united about the United States? You got the Republicans, you got the Democrats. They're not working together. They're like those two wheels on the road, one is going this way, one is going that way. They'll never get anywhere, pulling against each other. United be need to be.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Is that frustrating for a guy like you?
KELLY: Very, yes.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): By the time we finish, the Ft. Worth Cats are tied 2-2. We stumble across Carmella Rowe and Roxana Olson in the third inning.
(on camera): You guys talk politics a lot?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Carmella is a hard-core Democrat, Roxana a Republican and this is just about to get interesting.
(on camera): Are they talking about things you want to hear?
CARMELLA ROWE, TEACHER: No. They're talking about (INAUDIBLE) doesn't matter if it gets them votes.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Roxana agrees and says President Obama is the worst violator, too focused on gay marriage.
ROXANA OLSON, REPUBLICAN VOTER: He's talking about gay marriage now? He's a Christian. So talk to me about bending the rules.
ROWE: And I'm gay.
OLSON: I'm your friend, so I don't mind.
ROWE: Does that make me a non-Christian?
OLSON: No. I would break with my church before I break with you.
ROWE: I know. Way to break up a friendship.
LAVANDERA: I feel like Dr. Phil. Now you have something to talk about for the next six innings.
(voice-over): The Ft. Worth Cats are now up 4-2 and we're going to leave these friends alone.
In the top of the 7th, Bob Kempsell and his family are enjoying their night at the ballpark. He works in the energy industry and served in the Navy and he's not a fan of President Obama.
(on camera): You're a Romney guy.
BOB KEMPSELL, NAVY VETERAN: I'm a conservative guy.
LAVANDERA: You're a conservative guy.
KEMPSELL: Yes.
LAVANDERA: Do you like your choices?
KEMPSELL: I wish we were stronger, but I like my choices.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Bob says President Obama represents big government and out of control spending, but one question weighs on him the most.
(on camera): Do you think we were better off four years ago? KEMPSELL: Absolutely.
LAVANDERA: You were?
KEMPSELL: Absolutely I was. And the big thing four years ago, I wasn't worried about tomorrow. I wasn't worried about me getting laid off.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): As we hit the 7th inning stretch, the Cats are holding onto their lead and we find Craig Newmark and Jonniece Courtney. Greg leans libertarian. Jonniece teaches fifth grade social studies and is turned off by politicians.
(on camera): Do you feel like politicians are paying enough attention or have the right answers for education?
JONNIECE COURTNEY, TEACHER: No. Most politicians have never been in education. They just want to pretend they understand education.
LAVANDERA: So if it's Romney and Obama in November, who are you picking?
CRAIG NEWMARK, LIBERTARIAN VOTER: It's unfortunate there's only two, but --
COURTNEY: I'll go for Obama.
NEWMARK: I guess I would have to.
LAVANDERA: You guys don't sound gangbusters about that choice.
COURTNEY: No.
NEWMARK: No.
Wouldn't it be nice to say that he's the lesser of two evils? You know, if you want to look at - I guess the state of politics is that you want to pick the person who will do the least amount of damage.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): In the bottom of the 7th, one of the Ft. Worth Cats hits a three-run homer to make it 10-2. And in a tradition you'll only find in minor league baseball, ushers pass around hats and buckets, collecting donations for the fledgling slugger. That's the kind of economic stimulus all of these fans can agree on.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Ft. Worth, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: An 80-year-old woman's daredevil attempt to go skydiving went terribly wrong. She started slipping out of the harness thousands of feet in the air. We're going to tell you exactly what happened.
And we want all of you to stay connected to CNN wherever you are even on the go so grab your mobile phone, go to cnn.com/tv or on your desk top or your laptop. You can also watch CNN live. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: All right. It was a birthday celebration that didn't quite go as planned. Listen to this. An 80-year-old California woman decided to go skydiving for her big day. Boy, she's fearless, but she certainly never envisioned this. Wow. Scary. Heart-stopping moments as she began slipping out of the harness.
Our affiliate KOVR spoke to the daring lady about her harrowing experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAVERNE EVERETT, 80-YEAR-OLD SKYDIVER: I just wanted to do it.
reporter: The daredevil herself, 81-year-old Laverne Everett. Laverne who lives in this modest studio apartment in Oakdale says she craves a little excitement once in a while. So last year for her 80th birthday, she decided to jump out of a plane.
When you're telling your family that you want to skydive, what's their reaction to you?
EVERETT: Oh, they thought I was very brave. But it's just something I've wanted to do for a long time.
reporter: And so last may Laverne did just that at parachute center in Ecampo.
EVERETT: Once you get on the edge, that's another story. The upper harness came off, you know, it slipped down.
reporter: Laverne said her shirt flew up against her face so she couldn't see a thing, and didn't realize exactly what happened until she saw the video for herself.
EVERETT: I didn't know anything, only to hold on, that's all.
reporter: And now she says it's time to cross out another item on her bucket list.
EVERETT: Well, I never have ridden in a racecar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: God bless her. Honestly, have you ever done skydiving?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No.
CHO: I'm a fraidy cat, there is no way I would do that.
JERAS: Good for her. She seems to have good humor about it.
CHO: You're watching a lot of severe storms, but Beryl in particular. I mean it's coming down hard and it could be upgraded to a hurricane, right?
JERAS: Potentially. It's a strong tropical storm, and there's not a lot of difference between a strong tropical storm and a weak hurricane. You need to be prepared for the worst and now is the time when you really need to hunker down and stay indoors for the night and the winds have been picking up as well as the wave.
We have other threats out there besides Beryl. We've got severe thunderstorms which could cause as much damage if you get hit in one of these severe ones across parts of the upper midwest. And there's a severe thunderstorm watches from Minneapolis stretching down into parts of Oklahoma. Large hail and damaging winds will be the big concern and we're going to be focusing in on severe weather across the upper midwest through the weekend. This is the risk area for tomorrow, and it includes you in St. Louis, Chicago, up towards Milwaukee into Detroit as well as Indianapolis, and there you can see the showers, thunderstorm threat from Beryl as well.
Hot, hot, hot. Man, has the heat on. It's been brutal for a lot of you today. We had a plethora of record highs across the east. Chicago tomorrow looking for 92 degrees. Sustained hot here. 96 in Memphis. New York City 88 and 91 in Washington, D.C. and we have excessive heat warnings in effect for you into Philadelphia where we're going to be seeing highs in the 90s, but you add in that humidity and it makes it feel a lot worse than that. So a lot of weather stories we're dealing with. Hopefully you can get out there and try to enjoy a little bit of your holiday weekend.
Beryl will be the biggest concern as we head into the overnight hours for tonight. We've already had a few reports, by the way, Alina, of people losing power in northern Florida as well as in the southern parts of Georgia and all those rip current rescues. So you know, this isn't a huge major storm, so if you play your cards right and you stay safe, you're going to be OK on this one, but there are threats with it and you do need to take it seriously.
CHO: All right, Jacqui, thank you very much.
On this Memorial Day weekend, we honor those who died serving their country. We also want to remember those who served and came home. Today's CNN hero is a former Marine who has made it his mission to help fellow vets find a new purpose by giving them a new way to serve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE WOOD: In the military, everyone is taught how to lead, they're taught how to follow, solve problems. We really pride ourselves on being ready and willing to go anywhere. I served in the Marine Corps, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. When I first saw the earthquake that hit Haiti, a lot of the images felt that I had seen them before, driving through the streets of Falujah or Afghanistan. I realized that I could actually help out.
So I went on Facebook and said, I'm going to Haiti. Who is in? Seventy two hours after that, we were on our way to Port Au Prince.
So let's get our gauzes, let's get our (INAUDIBLE).
We got to work setting up a triage clinic.
We realized veterans are really useful in these kinds of situations. I'm Jake Wood and I want to help veterans transition to civilian life and help others in need.
Team Rubicon really started as a disaster relief organization, and then we realized that we can help the veteran community as well. We bring these veterans together to be part of a team once again. They are almost recharged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you get out, you kind of have that feeling of what are you really doing that's important in the world? Team Rubicon has just provided a great opportunity to help people in need.
(INAUDIBLE) as far as most of the work that we do internationally is emergency medical triage clinics. We've gone up to Chile, Sudan, Pakistan. Here at home we've been in Tuscaloosa, Joplin, doing debris clearing operation, search and rescue. We have about 1,400 volunteers and about 80 percent of them are military veterans, helping other people as part of the healing process.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't thank you all enough.
WOOD: There is really no limit to what veterans can do. We have the ability to help and wan to serve. I think it's a win-win situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: And to find out how a fellow veteran's death shaped Jake's mission, go to cnnheroes.com. And you can also nominate your own CNN hero.
Well, we got a question for you. Can you tell if a smile is really a smile? One of the expressions you're about to see is not happy even though this same guy is smiling in both of the photos. Can you pick out which one? Well, M.I.T. researchers say they can. We'll see if you're right, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back. All right, so you may be happy and you may know it, but for the rest of us, how can we tell if your smile is genuine or something else? Take a look at this. One of these smiles is frustrated and one is happy. Same guy, obviously.
Researchers at M.I.T. say they can now tell the difference using new technology. Our national tech expert Christina Warren is here from New York to explain. So this is face mapping, Christina, how does it work?
CHRISTINA WARREN, ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, MASHABLE.COM: Well, what it does is that it is based to tell how long a smile is or how quickly it leaves someone's face but the context is around that smile is. So what the M.I.T. researchers found is that a lot of times people smile when they are frustrated. They might not think that they do but they do, but it's a very quick smile and it quickly disappears, whereas when you are smiling naturally, it is on your face longer and it takes longer to appear. So the new technology, their new computer can distinguish whether a smile is out of frustration or out of happiness based upon how long it is on the face and based on other things like how long it takes to get there.
CHO: All right. So let's put that picture up on the screen again, because I want to know which one is the real smile? Is it the one on the left, screen left?
WARREN: I don't know. That is what I would go with, the screen left.
CHO: All right. Because that is what we need the answer to that. All right. I want to ask you, too, about this next story while we're trying to find out the answer to the last question. I may be one of the few people who does not own an iPhone. I'm going to get one, but I don't have one. I have heard about Siri which, of course, is the voice activated assistant on the new iPhone, and so IBM has come out and said, "Wait a minute, don't use Siri at work," right. What is this about?
WARREN: Well, IBM has a new policy where they allow people to bring their own devices to work. So instead of having like a corporate issued Blackberry or something else, they say "OK, well, you can bring your iPhone to work," but as part of that, they have certain limitations about what sort of services you can use. So for instance they won't let their employees use Drop box which is a very popular file sharing service. They also won't allow users to use Siri, because Siri actually stores history of the questions that you ask it, and some other information in the cloud, and that means that potentially there's a record of it somewhere in Apple servers and IBM doesn't like that idea so they basically said all right we're not going to allow Siri in the workplace.
CHO: It's like an e-mail, never say anything that you wouldn't want printed in "The New York Times" just like with e-mails. All right. Christina Warren, you know, we did get the answer, and we were both right. It's the one on the left, and that is the real smile, and the one on the right is the frustrated. Right. See.
WARREN: That is so cool.
CHO: Our instincts are really, really good, and we got it right. All right. Mashable expert Christina Warren, thank you so much for joining us. Great to se you. Have a good holiday weekend.
WARREN: Thank you.
CHO: Who hasn't been frustrated by the slow moving ketchup. I know I am. You can't get it out of the bottle or if you can it takes a lifetime. Well, M.I.T. has come to the rescue. Stay tuned for Jeanne Moos.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHO: All right. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras just got some new information about tropical storm Beryl. She joins me now with that. So Jacqui, what have you got?
JERAS: Well, it has intensified a little bit more. It's nearly a hurricane now, Alina. The National Hurricane Center just came out. Hurricane hunters have been flying in this thing and they have found sustained winds now at 70 miles per hour. The cutoff is 74 miles per hour. That's how strong it has to be at a category 1 storm. So we are just shy of that, and we don't want you to focus on this whether or not it is a tropical storm or a hurricane, because there is not a lot of difference.
Basically, we're going to be dealing with some deteriorating conditions especially along the coast, and we've already been seeing that now with some of the heaviest bands that have been coming in around St. Augustine, and moving up towards Jacksonville beach, and the rain just starting to move into downtown Jacksonville.
Now some of the winds have been incredible so far, and we have just got a report on Jacksonville Pier of 50-mile-per-hour winds and gusting up to 58. So there's going to be some damage and tree limbs are going to come down, people are going to be losing power. You need to be staying in your homes for now. These are the wind gusts being reported, 22 miles per hour around Daytona Beach. Look at that, we went up to 40 for a second there in Jacksonville and Savannah where we have already seen some damage here, too, along the 30-mile-an-hour range or so.
We'll talk about the track of this storm, it's moving westward. It's going to be making landfall this evening or later tonight as it moves west and makes its way to the shore, it will start to curve back around and eventually make it back over to open waters by the middle of the week. So when you see a slow-moving storm like that, Alina, you can seem some very heavy rainfall. So flooding will be a concern right through the holiday weekend even into the middle of the week.
CHO: All right. Jacqui, I know you will be watching it very closely and you'll be updating and in fact, you're looking at a live picture right now of Savannah, and you can see the wind blowing there, and if it is blowing on the trees, you can tell, and you know that it is blowing pretty hard there. So we are watching this situation very closely, and you can see the white caps there in the water, and we will be watching for your update, Jacqui, at 10:00 tonight.
Well, the days of waiting hours for ketchup that slowly comes out of the bottle may soon be over. That's thanks to some bright young minds at M.I.T.. Here is CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who among us has not been guilty of the assault on a ketchup bottle, but has technology finally caught up with ketchup?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that thing slide! UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: oh, my god.
MOOS (on camera): Our long national nightmare is over.
(voice-over): Mechanical engineering students at M.I.T. have come up with a super slippery coating that makes anything from ketchup to mayonnaise practically leap out of the bottle coated with the stuff. They call it liquid glide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It works on everything that we have tried so far. So glass, plastic and different types of plastic and metal.
MOOS: Even Tony Soprano would be beholden to these students. And look at how annoyed Tony gets at the dreaded ketchup clog.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) if he starts to talk homicide.
MOOS: Sure there are techniques ranging from the Goodfella's bottle roll to the Heinz 57 trick.
MALE ANNOUNCER: Tilt the bottle at a 45 degree angle.
MOOS: And gently slap it on the sweet spot where the 57 is imprinted near the neck, but liquid glide could make all of those tactics obsolete, and the idea is to apply the coating during bottle manufacturing, and student Dave Smith says it is totally nontoxic.
DAVE SMITH, MIT STUDENT: This is stuff that people already eat in some foods. It is perfectly safe.
MOOS: They have already applied for a bunch of patents.
(On camera): What are the secret ingredients?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well -
MOOS (voice-over): Well, they would not be secret if they Liquid Glide it out of their mouths.
Dr. (INAUDIBLE) and his students are talking to bottlers and food companies, and we asked the folks at Heinz if they were in contact with the Liquid Glide inventors and all they would say was "We love the idea of making it easier to pour out Heinz ketchup," despite the rave reviews -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is amazing.
MOOS: There are the traditionalists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't feel like ketchup would not have the same satisfaction to it if it just poured out that quickly.
(MUSIC PLAYING) MOOS (on camera): Yes, well, guess what the young inventors at M.I.T. are anticipating - I mean do you think this is going to turn you guys into like millionaires?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so.
MOOS (voice-over): They already have a slogan, Liquid Glide, let it slide. No more banging with shoes or mallets or sucking up ketchup. For traditional bottles, Liquid Glide could mean the last gasp.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: And I'm Alina Cho at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. I will see you right back here right at 10:00 Eastern time. "GLOBAL LESSONS, THE GPS ROADMAP FOR SAVING HEALTHCARE" begins right now.
