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Walker's Win And What It Means; Sheryl Crow Has Brain Tumor; South Carolina Guard Held Hostage, Now Free; Author Ray Bradbury Dies; Vegetables Sauteed With Humor; Muslims Sue NYPD Over Surveillance; Downtime Hits Airtime; Interview with Rev. Jesse Jackson

Aired June 06, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Kyra. I'm Suzanne Malveaux and I want to get right to it.

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SARAH PALIN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: The only governor elected twice in one term!

(APPLAUSE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Republican Scott Walker keeps his job as governor of Wisconsin. Walker defeated Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a recall race that has implications for the presidential election.

The vote followed a 15-month battle between unions and their Democratic supporters up against Republicans and fiscal conservatives. Walker's move to limit the power of employee unions set off the recall showdown.

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MALVEAUX: Two things we are watching in Afghanistan right now. One, a U.S. Army helicopter went down today, killing both crew members on board. Military officials believe it was shot down from the ground. I'm going to get more details as they come in.

Also today, two separate suicide bombers hit a crowded market in Kandahar. At least 22 people were killed. It happened near a NATO airfield.

And just the last hour, the White House denied allegations that it is leaking classified security information.

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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, White House press secretary Jay Carney said, and I'm quoting here, "Any suggestion that this administration has authorized intentional leaks of classified information for political gain is grossly irresponsible." Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, they are calling now for a hearing. They're simply outraged over the report in "The New York Times" about U.S. cyber attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities. Now McCain says that these leaks could actually hurt U.S. security.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZ.: The leaks that these articles were based on, our enemies now know much more than they did the day before they came out about important aspects of our nation's unconventional offensive capabilities and how we use them.

Such disclosures can only undermine similar ongoing or future operations, and in this sense it compromises our national security.

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MALVEAUX: Want to bring in senior national security producer Suzanne Kelly. She's in Washington. And Suzanne, first of all, I notice what Jay Carney said. It was very deliberate and it was very specific.

He talked about intentional leaking. When they investigate this and they accuse the White House of leaking, are they saying that they believe it's intentional or maybe this is just something that's happening accidentally?

SUZANNE KELLY, SR. NATIONAL SECURITY PRODUCER: Well, I think, Suzanne, as you know, the president has enormous capabilities when it comes to classifying and declassifying information. And so the accusation is really that the president is using his power, some five months away from an election, to sort of let information slip, which we've just heard the White House is denying.

But when you see things come out like these articles last week that Senator Feinstein and Senator McCain were referring to, they have detailed information about meetings that were so secretive and with so few people in them that the idea is the president had to say it was OK to go ahead and give information to certain reporters and details about these highly classified programs.

Otherwise it just wouldn't have happened. So that's the inference, but you're seeing the White House coming back saying, no, that's not it. These are definitely fighting words, though, in this town, as you know.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about national security here because that's Senator McCain and Feinstein's contention here, that this is really going to be very damaging when it comes to people who are involved in these kinds of operations, when it comes to Iran or other places. How significant is that? Do we know?

KELLY: Well, I would say it's very significant, but you're talking about different kinds of leaks, and it was interesting.

I had coffee this morning with a Hill staffer who works in intelligence and basically said, you know, some of this information is stuff that is getting out -- or actually could sort of compromise ongoing operations where people could get killed, which is what we saw last month with the Al Qaeda leak in Yemen.

And others seem to be more of a managed message, which does sort of appear to be what's going on when you look at the information that's getting out.

Also, with the drone program, you know, John Brennan, who is top adviser to the president on national security, came out and gave a public speech basically saying, yes, we do use drones and we want to be clear that, you know, we use them because they're a very important tool in our arsenal against terrorists.

However, that speech, when I went back to the White House and asked, was never declassified and that is a classified program. So you sort of add up, some of these have like direct implications for operations and those are sort of more probably the leak category, and the rest is more sort of falling into this you're using this for political gain category.

MALVEAUX: Yes, Suzanne, it's interesting here because what seems to be the distinction, I covered the White House many years, they leak all the time. There are people inside these administrations, whether or not it's the Bush administration, Clinton, or Obama, that do leak.

But they are talking very specifically about the kinds of leaks that would impact national security and they're talking about classified information, is that correct?

KELLY: That's correct, yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, Senator Feinstein was so upset about this she's sort of really flexing her muscle now and saying she's going to introduce new provisions to the authorization bill, the intelligence authorization bill, and she wants a timely notification of when these disclosures are made and the rationale for using them.

Essentially she wants to call the president or the White House on the carpet, if, in fact, they're the source of this information. She also wants more forceful investigations of these unauthorized disclosures.

So as chair of the intelligence committee, she has that ability and they're really sort of now flexing that muscle and it's probably more muscle flexing than grandstanding, but, Suzanne, as you say, you know this town very well. Sometimes the two can look remarkably similar.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. All right. Suzanne Kelly, good to see you. Thank you.

The White House calls it another serious blow to the core of Al Qaeda.

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MALVEAUX (voice-over): This man, Abu Yahya al-Libi, he is dead. He was the long-time face of Al Qaeda, considered the number two man in the organization.

Now U.S. officials say his death this week from an American drone strike is the most significant blow to Al Qaeda since the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. I want to bring in Peter Bergen live from Washington, our national security analyst.

Peter, first of all, explain to us the significance of this number two.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think al-Libi was significant because he enjoyed a lot of fame in jihadi circles because he escaped from Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan several years ago. He's got some serious religious credentials. He's the number two in Al Qaeda or was.

But, Suzanne, I think he's representative of a generation which is increasingly no longer with us, the generation of people in Al Qaeda who were in their 40s or their 50s, people who are people that bin Laden dealt with.

We know from the documents that were recovered in Abbottabad, where bin Laden was killed, that he was in communication occasionally with this guy, al-Libi, and the bench -- that bench has been very much decimated in the last several years.

MALVEAUX: Talk about that bench here because being number two in any terror group, not the place you want to be here. I assume that there's somebody who has already stepped into his shoes.

BERGEN: I think we will, Suzanne, find out it may not be immediate. Typically -- it took six weeks for Al Qaeda to get its act together and appoint the former number two to become the number one, Ayman al-Zawahiri, today is -- who replaced Osama bin Laden. So these things may take a little bit of time but obviously these -- the people in this organization have problems communicating with each other.

The reason it took six weeks to elect bin Laden's successor was probably because of these communications problems as much as anything else. So, you know, I'm sure there will be an announcement on a jihadi website at some point of who this guy's successor will be.

MALVEAUX: And Peter, I want to play a real quick sound bite here. This is Jay Carney, this is the White House reaction, the significance of what it meant to bring this guy down.

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JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And that represents, in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden, another serious blow to core Al Qaeda in what is an ongoing effort to disrupt, dismantle and ultimately defeat a foe that brought great terror and death to the United States on September 11th, 2001.

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MALVEAUX: Peter, is the White House overstating the accomplishment or do they basically -- are they spot on? Do they have this right?

BERGEN: No, I don't think they're overstating the accomplishment. I think it's part of a broader pattern where Al Qaeda is an organization that is in deep trouble. This is further confirmation. If Al Qaeda was a stock for publicly traded stock, I wish I'd started shorting it several years ago. This has been a process that's taken along many years, Suzanne.

It started under the last six months of George W. Bush, where the drone program was much amplified. It was also Al Qaeda's own mistakes in Iraq, where they killed a lot of Muslim civilians, something that was widely covered in the Muslim world.

They've been losing the war of ideas now for a long time. People got polling data from Indonesia to Morocco to Saudi Arabia to Jordan, Al Qaeda, its ideas, suicide bombing, very few people are sympathetic now to that kind of range of thought.

MALVEAUX: All right. Peter Bergen, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Here's what we're working on for this hour.

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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Sunny days are going away on "Sesame Street" in Pakistan. So how do you win the hearts and minds of kids without Elmo?

Then secret surveillance and spying right here in America. Muslims are fed up and filing a lawsuit.

Plus, it used to be a busy commercial street. Now it's the front line of battle in Syria.

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MALVEAUX: It's a show we all know and love. Many of us grew up on it, not just an American favorite, it is seen all over the world.

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MALVEAUX (voice-over): All right. You might know that red guy's name, but the show, of course, it is "Sesame Street," starring world- famous Elmo and his friends. This is how kids in Pakistan have seen the show for the past six months.

Elmo speaks the Urdu language. He and the kids learn the three Rs, but also about ethnic tolerance, gender equality, well, all of this coming to an end. "Sesame Street" in Pakistan is shutting down.

I want to bring in Michael Holmes from CNN International. I think people might not even realize how significant this is. "Sesame Street," the role of "Sesame Street," 2007, went with the first lady, Laura Bush, to Egypt. She visited "Sesame Street," their version, in Egypt, (inaudible), and it was about promoting democracy and literacy, that kind of thing.

What is the significance of having this little show, an 8-foot bird, across the world?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, people may not realize just how big it is. "Sesame Street" is, I think, total 150 countries or something like that. Most of it, like in Australia where I'm from, it's the U.S. version. They just run it. And in a bunch of other places they will revoice it in the local language.

But in the case of Pakistan, Pakistan one of -- I think it's about 20 countries that has a co-production and it's actually made in country with a local set and all of that sort of stuff and the local language, as you say, and, yes, and they pulled the funding.

MALVEAUX: So U.S. taxpayers in part are paying for "Sesame Street" in Pakistan, which might surprise a lot of folks. What is the point? What is the meaning of actually having "Sesame Street" in Pakistan?

HOLMES: Yes, well, it's not a Trojan horse or anything like that, but yes, I mean, the U.S. is part of their aid package to Pakistan, which of course runs into the billions of dollars and is often being accused of being a little less than focused.

But in this case it was thought that you empower kids by teaching them -- knowledge is power. You start with the education and education then spreads into a thirst for knowledge, and they want to educate kids there because, of course, an educated population is probably less likely to be a radical one.

MALVEAUX: So why did they pull it?

HOLMES: They pulled it because the company that runs the local version -- It's called Ratipia (ph) Theater Workshop, they got word through a hotline, a tip hotline, that some of that money was being misused. It was being misused in paying for old debts and giving some -- what were described as lucrative contracts to friends and relatives of the people who are running that.

So they pulled it for that reason. It was a corruption reason. The people who run the workshop say, well, they don't believe that's the case. They were told the U.S. ran out of money, which I don't think is the case.

MALVEAUX: And talk a little bit about the significance of -- some people would say is education, others would say it's propaganda or messaging.

But the importance of getting the message early to folks who are overseas, because we take a look at the former first ladies and we have got Michelle Obama and you have got Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, all of them, Hillary Clinton, on "Sesame Street," promoting "Sesame Street" as well as abroad. HOLMES: Well, that's right but I think the key here, as I say, I don't think there's a Trojan horse of getting the American message or American push for democracy or whatever out there.

It's more a matter of getting education out there and getting these -- you know, in Pakistan, 22 percent of Pakistani girls graduate from primary school, let alone high school or college. And what was significant about the -- this Pakistani version, the lead character was a girl who played cricket and had a thirst for knowledge.

So it's about education -- and education then has its own benefits down the track in some of these countries. You know, it's in Iceland to Afghanistan. It's everywhere.

MALVEAUX: Yes. And they're trying to -- at least it seems like what they're trying to do is promote -- for Michelle Obama, it is the healthy eating.

HOLMES: Good messages.

MALVEAUX: Literacy for the Bushes -- and Hillary Clinton, it was about education as well as girls' rights.

HOLMES: Which are these are all universal good messages to have, but in some countries more than others. It is a way of building up a next generation, if you like, who might be a little less, I don't know, extreme or open to messages from others who thrive on the lack of education of young people.

MALVEAUX: All right. Michael, thank you very much.

HOLMES: Yes. Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: It's a small town with deep ties to Penn State, and some of the jury members in Jerry Sandusky's trial actually work for the university.

Plus, don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work, head to CNN.com/TV.

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MALVEAUX: Now to the child rape trial of Jerry Sandusky. He's the former Penn State assistant football coach accused of sexually abusing 10 boys for more than a decade. Right now attorneys are questioning potential jurors.

Sara Ganim, she has won a Pulitzer prize for her coverage of the story and she's with the "Harrisburg Patriot News," also a CNN contributor, joining us from Pennsylvania.

Sara, what is the update here with the potential jury selection?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning no new -- no additional jurors have been selected, so we're still at nine jurors, which is where we ended yesterday when jury selection concluded for day one. And jurors were dismissed for lunch, told they don't have to come back for two hours. So we're not exactly sure what's going on. We're waiting for an update behind me.

But that's where we are, we stand with nine jurors. They need three more and four alternates.

MALVEAUX: Are they questioning some of the potential jurors there? Are they having a hard time actually getting a full jury pool because of the closeness, the connection with community, with Penn State?

GANIM: We do know it's a continuing theme that a lot of people in this county have a connection to Penn State or to The Second Mile, which was Jerry Sandusky's charity that he started for children and where prosecutors say he met a lot of these alleged victims.

It's a small town, and it's a big university, and that's expected.

However, the judge has said that, you know, he wanted to try to pick a jury here, that just a tie to Penn State was not going to preclude someone from getting on a jury.

We know that's going to be true, because a Penn State rising senior is on the jury. Another person whose father worked at Penn State, has worked there for several years, there's a retired professor and someone with two degrees from Penn State University.

MALVEAUX: Sara, talk a little bit about this ABC News report that Sandusky actually sent these letters, what they're describing as love letters, to some of the accusers. Is that actually going to be introduced as evidence or how is that expected to play out in court?

GANIM: Well, anything could happen. We do expect that one of those men, who is known as alleged victim number four is going to testify first for prosecutors, and his attorney says that letters do exist from Jerry Sandusky and that they will be introduced at trial.

So, you know, when we get to that point in this case, I'm sure we'll know more. We don't know the content of those letters at this point.

I also talked to someone very close to alleged victim number one last night, and he said that that person has also received birthday cards and notes from Jerry Sandusky that contain the phrase, "I love you;" however, they were not sexual in nature.

MALVEAUX: All right. Sara Ganim, thank you so much for the update.

Nothing has changed in Wisconsin but the results of last night's recall election could have a very big impact across the country. What it means to the future of labor unions.

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MALVEAUX: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker keeps his job, but Walker's victory in the recall election has implications far beyond Wisconsin, we know. We're taking a look at what it could mean for fiscal conservatives, for organized labor and, of course, for the presidential race.

Joining us to talk about it, our political editor, Paul Steinhauser; Amy Kremer, national coordinator for the Tea Party Express movement and Reverend Jesse Jackson, long time advocate for workers and organized labor.

Paul, want to start with you so we can set the stage up here. In the end, what happened yesterday, last night, Scott Walker won by 7 percent. The Republicans seem to be encouraged. They think they could make Wisconsin a battleground state in November. Are they being a little bit overconfident?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: No, I don't think so. You know, it's been over two decades since the Republicans have won the state in a presidential contest, but, boy, last night's victory for them really improves their lot in the state, which a lot of organizations were labeling either as lean Obama or a true toss-up.

And here is why. They have got the momentum now, they have got the energy in Wisconsin. Tea Party groups, fiscal conservative groups are now pumped up and they have got energy and they're excited about trying to win the state come November.

Plus, the get out the vote efforts, the ground game on the Republican side, getting your voters to the polls, while their efforts were very successful, obviously, in their win in Wisconsin, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And not surprising, Paul, we know the Democrats and Obama supporters, they're looking at some other numbers here, and those are the exit polls showing strong support for President Obama still in Wisconsin. Break down the numbers for us briefly.

STEINHAUSER: Yes, this is interesting. You just mentioned Scott Walker won by seven points, but take a look at this exit poll from last night from the election of people who voted, and we asked who would you vote for in November. Look, just the opposite here. A 7- point advantage for President Obama over Mitt Romney in Wisconsin in the general election.

And if you go to the next number as well, who would do a better job on the economy, you can see right here the president as well with a narrower advantage, but still an advantage in Wisconsin. So these are the numbers that Democrats are pointing to, the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee right now, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Paul, thank you. Want to bring in Amy Kremer with the Tea Party Express movement.

Governor Walker says that his win is a validation Americans want leaders who are going to cut spending, but I want you to listen here. This is Joe Klein of "Time" magazine. Here is how he figured what happened last night. Here is his take on it.

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JOE KLEIN, COLUMNIST, "TIME" MAGAZINE: I think that what this election says is this, people don't like gimmicks. Scott Walker was elected two years ago. He tried to govern according to the way he saw fit.

He did nothing illegal, and the public employees' unions, who are used to getting their way, didn't like it, and they tried to unseat him and it's kind of like when the Republicans tried to impeach Bill Clinton in the late 1990s. The public saw it as just a tremendous waste of time and money.

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MALVEAUX: Amy, what do you think of that analysis?

AMY KREMER, CHAIRMAN, TEA PARTY EXPRESS: Suzanne, I think that the people of Wisconsin and the people all across the country are ready for us to get our fiscal house in order and that's what this is about.

It doesn't have -- I mean, I agree that, you know, they didn't think that the recall was necessary, that he was elected, let him serve his term, and it was definitely a waste of taxpayer dollars, but at the end of the day the reforms are working and the facts are the facts.

And the people saw that. And you see it with the exit polling, that 35 percent of households that have union members voted for Governor Walker yesterday.

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MALVEAUX: Amy, does it bother you at all -- I'm sorry. Does it bother you at all, that the cost of this? We're talking about $64 million this recall election. Does that make you cringe at all when you think about the amount of money that was spent just to prove a point?

KREMER: Well, of course. I mean, you know, it was an unnecessary recall. We didn't need to go here. They should have waited. He was elected fair and square in 2010, and he should have been able to serve out his term without going through this. But it was a big victory yesterday, a 7-point win, and I think that speaks volumes for not only Wisconsin, but the rest of the country as well.

And it's about educating people, educating people on the facts and why the exit polling may have shown that, you know, Barack Obama is up there in Wisconsin, I think once we start educating on Obama's record and focusing on November.

I think that's going to turn around because the fact is President Obama didn't go into Wisconsin and campaign for Mayor Barrett because he can't talk about job creation, and Governor Walker could.

So, look, I mean, look at where we're heading with our national economy. It's not good. We're on this cliff about to go over and I think Washington can take some lessons from Governor Walker and Lieutenant Governor Kleefish. I think we will be victorious in November.

MALVEAUXu discredit the exit polls? It shows this he still believed in President Obama. I know you say that you don't believe he's created any jobs, but according to people in Wisconsin, they still believe he's a better choice over Romney.

KREMER: What I said is that it's all about educating voters with the real facts, and everybody has been so focused on Wisconsin and Governor Walker and what he's done since he's been in office.

I think now that we can move forward, they have an important senate race there in Wisconsin. We need to focus on November, and I think that Mitt Romney will carry Wisconsin in November.

MALVEAUX: All right, Amy, we're going to leave it there and bring in Reverend Jesse Jackson here. Reverend, this is undoubtedly a major blow to the labor movement.

Our senior political analyst David Gergen, he put it this way. He said a substantial defeat for labor, for public employee unions, substantial victory for those who have been trying to curb them. How do the unions, how does labor actually get back some of that political clout?

REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Well, it was a devastating blow, but not a fatal one. For example, last night Democrats regained the Senate. They won where the strongholds are in Madison by big numbers, in Milwaukee and Racine.

So now Governor Walker has a Democratic Senate with which to deal. Secondly, Governor Walker outspent Barrett by 9 to 1. There are whole rural areas in which there was no investment in, Democrats lost in a big way, so all is not lost.

My concern is that President Clinton -- President Obama offered an $800 million stimulus for infrastructure and fast rail to connect Milwaukee and Madison, and Mr. Walker turned that -- sent that back.

The result is not having the access to where the jobs are within the city of Milwaukee, 55 percent black male unemployment. There's been no economic growth under Mr. Walker. It's been austerity, but not growth.

MALVEAUX: Reverend, I want to talk a little bit about the union membership here because this is really where it seems a lot of power was lost.

Back in '83, the rate was above 20 percent. There were more than 17 million union workers. Last year you look at that rate, 11.8 percent, fewer than 15 million union members essentially.

So what does that mean for the strength of unions here? I mean, clearly a loss in Wisconsin and there is a trend.

JACKSON: Collective bargaining is under attack and there is an attempt to move from right -- they are under attack. Yet it's the power of working people that gives us our basic benefits and gives us our --

MALVEAUX: So how did the unions become more attractive do you think, Reverend? How do the unions attract the folks who were in the unions before?

JACKSON: I think just as the laws have come north, unions must go south where people are working often without the benefits they deserve. This victory last night for Governor Walker is not the final arbiter on what will happen in Wisconsin.

There will be an attempt around the country now to catapult this victory into right to work laws, voter suppression laws, and not just defeating unions, but removing them from the table.

That was the most insulting part. Not that you offer $10 versus $8 and come up with $9. What Mr. Walker did was purge unions from the table, and that will meet great resistance all around the nation.

MALVEAUX: All right, Reverend, since we have you in the chair here on the hot seat, I want to ask you a couple questions about the presidential election. First of all, former President Bill Clinton has been campaigning with President Obama, but he has said some things that really have not been in line with the Obama campaign.

Calling Romney's business career sterling at Bain Capital, talking about the potential of the Bush tax cuts being extended, do you think that he has been helpful to President Obama here?

JACKSON: Well, he has. Every disagreement is not a deal breaker. For example, while some in the campaign want to focus on Bain and focus on a Romney success or lack thereof, there's the other issue of 3 million jobs that go looking for skilled labor.

Three million jobs that are looking for where those jobs are, and given the need to create jobs and access to jobs, President Obama's idea of mass transit, which say you can connect Madison and Milwaukee, Milwaukee and Chicago.

Those would be more interesting in a massive jobs creation program than just narrowing the focus on Bain. I beg your pardon.

MALVEAUX: No, no, please. There are some people who think perhaps President Clinton is in some way trying to undermine the campaign. Do you agree with that?

JACKSON: No. I think he is not a staff member. He is not a consultant. He is a free speaker, and every disagreement or challenge of strategy is not a deal breaker. He clearly supports President Barack Obama. He knows when he came in office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. There were 100,000 troops in Iraq and they're home now. President Barack Obama has a record that's substantial.

MALVEAUX: Would you campaign with President Obama?

JACKSON: I certainly do support him.

MALVEAUX: You support him. Do you plan to campaign at all?

JACKSON: Well, I will be campaigning in the field. I'm not a surrogate, I'm not on the staff, but I believe my investment in him as a voter was a vote I'm proud of.

Because when I look at where we were four years ago with the banks collapsing, the banks have been revived. That the automotive industry running three shifts again in Ohio, for example so when one looks at the record on balance, President Barack has a record of growth we can all be proud of.

MALVEAUX: Do you keep in touch? Do you ever reach out to him or does he reach out to you for advice from time to time?

JACKSON: I certainly reach out to him, talk to some of his staff people just today.

MALVEAUX: You reached out to him today you said?

JACKSON: Talking to some of his staff people just today because I appreciate the road he's on because our economy is growing, albeit slowly, and it would grow even more if the statements had been greater.

When Mr. Walker made the case that $137 million deficit and sent back $800 million they could have built a mass transit. I think that was a job breaker as opposed to a job maker.

MALVEAUX: All right, we have to leave it there. Reverend Jackson, thank you so much.

It is one of Sheryl Crow's biggest songs, yet one night on stage she forgot the lyrics to "Soak Up The Sun." That led to a shocking diagnosis for the Grammy winner.

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MALVEAUX: Singer Sheryl Crow has told her fans on Facebook that she has a brain tumor, but she says it is not cancerous. Crow is a breast cancer survivor and says she will not need surgery, but she is going to need periodic scans to monitor the growth.

The 50-year-old says that she went to her doctor after forgetting the lyrics to her hit song "Soak Up The Sun" while performing. As you can actually hear on the clip.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the words?

SHERYL CROW, SINGER: It's live. Not tape here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Between 6,000 and 10,000 people a year are diagnosed with this type of brain tumor.

Prison guard who was being held hostage by inmates at a maximum security prison in South Carolina is now free. Inmates attacked the guard while he was helping a nurse pass out medicine last night. Now, the nurse was also held hostage, but able to escape. The guard went to the hospital to be treated for injuries.

Science fiction author, Ray Bradbury has died. He was the imagination behind such classic books as "Fahrenheit 451," "The Martian Chronicles" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

Bradbury's books and some 600 short stories predicted the coming of automatic teller machines and live broadcast of fugitive car chases.

He wrote the screen play of John Houston's classic film adaptation of "Moby Dick." His publisher said Bradbury died peacefully last night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91.

First Lady Michelle Obama finding humor in the battle over good eating. Last night, Mrs. Obama, she was on David Letterman's late show to tell some veggie tales.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Number two --

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: The White House tool shed contains shovels, trowels, and weed whacker one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Weed whacker one. And the number one fun fact about gardening.

OBAMA: With enough care and effort, you can grow your own Barack- occoli.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Kind of funny.

A group of Muslim-Americans is suing New York police for spying on them. I will talk to a Muslim-American about it and why he says everybody has got to be concerned about racial profiling.

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MALVEAUX: A group of Muslims in New Jersey filed a lawsuit this morning against the New York Police Department. It alleges that the department illegally spied on Muslims as part of an anti-terrorism surveillance program. Well, the program spied on entire Muslim neighborhoods, including student groups, mosques, restaurants. CNN spoke to the head of the group which actually filed that lawsuit.

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FARHANA KHERA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MUSLIM ADVOCATES: All Americans, including American Muslims, care deeply about our safety and security, and so we want law enforcement to basically bring those bad actors, those criminals who want to do harm, and to stop them in their tracks. The problem here, though, is that the NYPD's program targeted -- went much beyond just those who might be engaging in criminal activity. It targeted innocent Americans and targeted them simply based on their religious identity.

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MALVEAUX: I want to bring in CNN contributor Dean Obeidallah, who joins us from New York.

And, Dean, you're a comedian, you're Muslim, born in New Jersey. You uses comedy to try to promote some understanding here. What do you make of what the NYPD is alleged to have done?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, ARAB-AMERICAN COMEDIAN: Well, I'm going to be honest. I performed at a lot of the student groups that were monitored by the NYPD. So if they had surveillance video of the NYPD, I wish you would send it to me. I'd like to put it on YouTube and maybe get some more work at it. But, you know, I try to look at the positive of everything.

Obviously, though, obviously it's wrong to target people by race, religion, or ethnicity. I think few Americans would say, hey, it's OK to call someone suspicious because of their heritage or their religion, as we have in this case. And you know what, the Muslim community is not seeking special treatment. We want equal treatment. The same thing. If someone's done something wrong, follow those leads, prosecute those people. We don't want them in our community either. At the same time, we cannot be considered suspicious or that we -- probably cause for investigation because of our faith. And that's what the issue is and that's why the lawsuit's been filed.

MALVEAUX: Right. So the New York Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly, he came back, he responded to this -- to these allegations back in February saying, look, you know we're -- in his words, "we're doing what we have to do to protect the city." He doesn't think that people's civil liberties were violated. And the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, he backs him on this. There's no internal investigation at all. I mean, what can be done?

OBEIDALLAH: That's why you have to file a lawsuit. That's exactly what's being done. In America, we have a history of using the court system to enforce civil rights. Obviously, most famously, Brown versus Board of Education to end segregation. A case like Loving versus Virginia to end -- ban on interracial marriage. You have to use the court system when you have no other recourse. And that's what happened in this situation, they had to file a lawsuit.

Also, you bring attention to it. Just yesterday there was a press event in New York by African-American community leaders against NYPD because of their stop and frisk policy which 86 percent of the people being stopped and frisked in New York are either African-American or Latino. Common sense is, there's a racial component to that. So it's not just the Muslim community. We are sharing this racial profiling, religious profiling going on at the same time in New York by Ray Kelly and his policies.

MALVEAUX: You know what, we want you to follow up on that. Let us know how this lawsuit goes. Obviously it's a very contentious issue there, and we'll see. We'll see if there's some recourse there. Thank you, Dean. Appreciate it.

OBEIDALLAH: Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

It's easier than ever to connect with friends and family thanks to video chat. Well, now the creator of Napster wants in on the action. But is it too late?

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MALVEAUX: All right. Remember the Justin Timberlake character in the movie "The Social Network"? Well, in real life, it's Sean Parker. He is the co-creator of Napster. Parker was in New York yesterday for the unveiling of a new venture called Airtime. It is a video chatting platform for Facebook and the event big on sizzle including appearances by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Snoop Dogg. But big on fizzle, too. Alison Kosik joining us from the New York Stock Exchange to explain.

Wow, what happened.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. So, yes, first of all you said it, Suzanne, you know, there were tons of big stars at this event. Olivia Munn, Joel McHale, Jimmy Fallon, even Alicia Keys. And for Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, you know what, they haven't done anything this big since they created Napster together. And you remember Napster.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

KOSIK: It completely shook up the music industry. So what Airtime does is it's kind of similar to what Chat Roulette does, which randomly matches up strangers on the Internet for chatting. But with -- you've got Facebook and you're got a webcam. Airtime actually links people based on common interest. Now, listen to what Parker says about what makes this unique.

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SEAN PARKER, AIRTIME CREATOR: So it's the only live video chat product that's fully integrated with Facebook, that allows you to chat with any of your friends and also experience video with them. So I can share a video and we're both watching it together and I can watch my friend's reaction to it.

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KOSIK: OK. So as for the fizzle, there were a lot of tech problems at this event. In fact, many called it a complete disaster, meaning the rollout. These celebs were trying to test it out at the event but they weren't able to connect with each other. The thing just wouldn't work. They had to wind up fall back on a video demonstration. But I assure you, at least through this CNN Money tech writer tells me that they tested it a few times after the event and it worked just fine.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, they're working out glitches there. OK. We'll give them a chance. We'll give them a second chance there.

How about stocks? How are they doing today?

KOSIK: We've got a nice rally going. The Dow is up 230 points. A lot of this actually has to do with what's happening overseas. European Central Bank, that's kind of the equivalent of our Fed, it extended some of its current stimulus measures. The EU unveiled a plan calling for coordinated banking unions for all of Europe in order to help with future bailouts. That's really giving a big boost to the market to see that support finally happening in Europe.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, thanks, Alison.

Heavy gunfire. Snipers crawling through holes in abandoned buildings.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "There is movement. Be ready. At my signal," he says calmly.

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MALVEAUX: Rebels in Syria say they are fighting until the bitter end.

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MALVEAUX: CNN has obtained exclusive video showing rebel fighters in Syria taking on government troops. Amazing behind-the-scene pictures of how this brutal war is now being fought. Arwa Damon, she brings us the story.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Abu Azbarab (ph) peers out from his makeshift battle position and spots his target. "Give me the radio. Give me the radio," he calls out as a hail of bullets from Syrian government forces drowns out his orders. Movement is spotted to the left. "There it is. There it is," someone shouts. As the armored personnel carrier moves back into sight, a voice cries out. "Look, Kofi Annan," he shouts, mocking the idea of a cease-fire.

These rebels say they are protecting residents of a Homs neighborhood called Khaldiya (ph) from an assault by regime forces. Qahira Street is now the front line separating the rebel stronghold from the neighborhood of El Bayadha (ph), held by the government. Once a bustling middle class shopping area, the street is now in ruins. The local rebel commander, Abu Hadid (ph), crawls through holes fighters smash between buildings to take up position.

There are government forces on a balcony across the road. The 32-year- old peers down the scope. "Is it where the red and blue towels are," he asks? "Affirmative." Khaldiya seems deserted, but the fighters of the Free Syrian Army say it's not just about defending residents still here, but the property of those that have fled. They say Assad loyalists would steal or destroy anything they can get their hands on.

At another position along the street, Hazim (ph) is on high alert. "There's movement. Be ready. At my signal," he says calmly. Syrian government forces are fanning out across the road. "There's movement in your direction," the call on the radio warns. "I am ready," Hazim responds. The 30-year-old machine gunner fires off two rounds, takes aim again, and his weapon jams. Cursing under his breath, he clears it and aims again.

"We can't just have a one-sided cease-fire," he says indignantly. "They can't expect us to come under fire and not respond."

Some of these men are army defectors, but a growing number of civilians are joining the armed struggle. Like 26-year-old Abu Wasfi (ph). He used to attend protests, but that all changed. "My brother defected from the army because he refused orders to kill innocent civilians and demonstrators," he says. His brother was killed defending this very neighborhood last year. "This is his gun," Abu Wasfi says gesturing to his AK-47. But it's hardly a match for the heavy weapons that government forces have. Abu Wasfi and many like him say they will fight till the bitter end. Even if it means the uprising becomes a civil war.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.

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