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Sandusky's Sex Abuse Trial Begins; Caught in the Floods; Crashes Minutes and Miles Apart; Robin Roberts Has Rare Blood Disorder

Aired June 11, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Michael, thank you very much.

Top of the hour, everybody. Glad you're with us. I'm Alina Cho, in for Brooke Baldwin.

We are monitoring a series of explosions rocking a neighborhood in Syria. This video is out of Homs. It came into CNN live, which is rare. And we are told that the sounds you hear are from artillery shelling. U.N. Special Envoy Kofi Annan says he is gravely concerned, especially about the large number of civilians believed to be trapped inside these towns. We are keeping a close eye on this.

But first, more news unfolding. "Rapid Fire."

A manhunt at this hour for Desmonte Leonard. He is the suspect in a deadly shooting at an of campus party at Auburn University. Three people were killed, including two former Auburn football players. Reportedly it all started with a fight over a woman.

A raging wildfire in Colorado growing at up to 40 feet a second, nearly doubling in size overnight. It's one of the largest in state history. Close to 40,000 acres have already burned and firefighters are now going door to door to make sure people can get out safely, but some people are fearing that they won't have a home to come back to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't -- I can't imagine that my house is there right now, to be honest with you. I really can't imagine that it is. For how close the fire was. And now I'm not going to have a home and I have no place to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Neighbors say the smoke cloud looks like a volcanic eruption.

Parts of the Gulf Coast completely under water. Flood warnings still in effect in some places after torrential rains caused widespread flooding in the southeast. A few places in Florida saw as much as 22 inches of rain. Pensacola could see damage totaling more than $20 million. The Egyptian government says former President Hosni Mubarak is in a coma today at a prison in a Cairo suburb. The 84-year-old was sentenced to life in prison back on June 2nd for the killing of demonstrators during last year's Arab Spring.

America's attorney general one step closer to being held in contempt. The House Oversight Committee set to take up the measure against Eric Holder. At issue, the gun running operation known as Fast and Furious. Lawmakers want more answers, while Holder claims he was unaware of the operation.

Happening now, prosecutors call their first witness against Jerry Sandusky. We're only a couple of hours into the trial for former Penn State assistant coach who's accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. But this is already an eye-opening day for the men and women of the jury. Our own Susan Candiotti is outside the courthouse for us.

So, Susan, what has happened so far in the courtroom today?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alina, at this hour we believe that (INAUDIBLE) has taken the witness stand as the first person who says that he was abused by Jerry Sandusky. The first person that prosecutor are putting on the stand. But because once you leave the courtroom you can't get back in, we don't have our first hand reports yet. But that is what was supposed to happen right after lunch.

CHO: And what did prosecutors say in their opening statement today, Susan?

CANDIOTTI: Well, the most dramatic moment, Alina, is when prosecutors put up on the screen photographs of eight of the alleged victims in this case. Eight faces of smiling little boys who were as young as, prosecutors say, eight years old when all of the alleged abuse occurred. Some of them now 18 years old, all the way up to 28 years of age.

Also something that prosecutors revealed this day, that Jerry Sandusky's wife Dottie may have witnessed abuse taking place, a sexual assault taking place, in a hotel room. That is what we are told we expect to hear from one of the witnesses.

And we also saw evidence coming into the courthouse this day. Evidence we expect the government to put into the record that they made reference to, including a set of golf clubs. Also including a hockey stick and some other evidence. So this is what prosecutor have already flagged for us, and that is tied to alleged victim number four, who we believe is now on the stand.

CHO: Must be a riveting day in court. What about the defense? What are they saying, Susan?

CANDIOTTI: Well, the first thing out of box, they told jurors that there are no victims in this case, they said, unless prosecutors can prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that there are victims. And they reminded jurors that Jerry Sandusky has consistently said that he is not guilty. That he might have showered with some boys. But the defense attorney said, there is no sexual assault that ever took place.

Alina.

CHO: That's right. He says that's just routine in the locker room.

All right, Susan Candiotti live for us in Pennsylvania. Susan, thank you very much.

And we've got a lot more to cover. Watch.

A felony hit and run. Two accidents within minutes. And police say the man behind the wheel is one of the people closest to the president.

Plus, she's already survived breast cancer. Now an emotional Robin Roberts reveals another health scare.

And actress and singer Mandy Moore on Capitol Hill begging the government for help. She tells me why, live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Welcome back.

Parts of the Gulf Coast literally under water. Torrential rains are causing extensive flooding in Florida, prompting emergency evacuations around the Pensacola area. Now the rain is expected to taper off later today, but flood warnings are still in effect for parts of Alabama. Cars, homes, businesses submerged, some under eight feet of water. Take a look at that i-Report there. As much as 22 inches of rain fell in some areas and flash flooding made some roads impassable. In one neighborhood, the high waters washed out a bridge taking whole chunks of the road downstream. CNN i-Reporter Debbie DeMenzes joins me by phone from Pensacola.

So, Debbie, you shot those photos. You were caught right in the middle of it. Tell us what you saw.

DEBBIE DEMENZES (via telephone): Well, I was resting, getting ready to go to work. I work the night shift. And my husband came in and asked me if I had seen it. And we went out in our front yard and in front of our house we already had two to two and a half feet of water. Talking to the neighbors and they said that the bridge was out. And so we walked around to check it out and --

CHO: What did you think?

DEMENZES: It was amazing, you know. When we first seen it, it was about a quarter of the way gone. While we were standing there, a tree went down. We walked around the other way and got to the other side and it was like halfway gone. It was completely gone within about four hours. CHO: My goodness. So it came and went pretty quickly.

DEMENZES: And then shortly after it went all the way out, we lost power. We lost power about 5:00. And it didn't come back on until about 1:00 in the morning.

CHO: Debbie, the pictures are just incredible. I mean, how about your home? Are you OK? And how are you coping?

DEMENZES: We're OK. I couldn't go to work. I was supposed to work Saturday and Sunday night and I wasn't able to go to work, so --

CHO: That's not so bad, is it?

DEMENZES: That's not so bad, but I left my co-workers kind of strapped. But they understood, you know. Better safe than sorry.

CHO: Sure.

DEMENZES: We got a couple of inches of water in our back door and started digging a trench. All the houses along my side of the street, about 10 of them, looked like we were in the middle of, you know, boats floating in the river. The river just flowing on both sides of us, until the bridge finally went out. And when the bridge went out, it subsided a little bit.

CHO: I know you --

DEMENZES: But it was scary. Everybody seems to be safe though. You know, we didn't have any injuries or anything.

CHO: One thing that I read that was just remarkable was that the Pensacola area jail lost power under six feet of water. I mean how is the rest of the town coping?

DEMENZES: We're drying out a little bit. I'm actually in Orange Beach right now in the sun. And it's like nothing happened. But on the way over here, there's still standing water quite a few places. I did venture out a little bit yesterday and had a transformer explode next to my truck, you know. We're just a little shaken up. But as far as I know, nobody really got hurt. A lot of vehicle damage and, like you said, you know, homes -- I know just a building was being threatened. I don't know if it flooded or not.

CHO: Well, Debbie, are you able to drive at all? I mean have the waters receded that much that you're able to get back on the roads?

DEMENZES: Yes. Yes.

CHO: Good.

DEMENZES: And in our neighborhood we actually have a bridge in every way to get into our neighborhood. And they wouldn't let us on the roads unless it was an emergency until this morning after they had somebody come out and check them. And they are starting to dig out the street and stuff from those pictures. You know, it went down pretty fast once it stopped.

CHO: Right.

DEMENZES: Sunday morning it started again and it went right back up. And that scared me, you know, because it went down Saturday and then when it started raining, it was back to two feet in a matter of minutes, but --

CHO: Well, Debbie DeMenzes, I know you say you've been living there since 1999 and you haven't seen rain like there ever, at least in that area since you've been there.

DEMENZES: Ever.

CHO: So, I thank you for spending some time with us and just incredible pictures that you sent to us. Good luck drying out.

DEMENZES: OK. Thank you so much.

CHO: All right, thank you.

And we have some amazing video to show you out of China, where heavy rain and flash flooding led to a dramatic rescue. And all caught on video. Take a look at this. You can actually see the man clinging to a tree in the middle of a raging river. Imagine how scared he must be. Rescue crews threw him a safety line, as you see there. Finally were able to get him to shore. Chinese officials say a dam break upstream sent water rushing into the streets and neighborhoods. The heavy rain also caused mudslides and forced the evacuation of several villages.

A felony hit and run in two accidents, and police say the man behind the wheel is one of the people closest to the president. We're getting answers live at the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: The presidential appointee cited with a hint and run suffered a seizure. Commerce Secretary John Bryson was involved in not one but two crashes in southern California. It happened on Saturday night. The accidents were just minutes and just miles apart in the San Gabriel area of Los Angeles County. Now, Bryson was found unconscious and slumped over the wheel of his car. White House correspondent Brianna Keilar joins us live now.

Brianna, the secretary spent the night in the hospital in California. I understand he's already back in Washington. Is there any word on how he's doing?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, no specific word, Alina, on how he's doing, but presumably pretty well since he was able to travel back from the Los Angeles area here to Washington. This following these series of accidents on Saturday, early evening, about 5:00 p.m. local in Los Angeles.

The first accident, according to the L.A. Sheriff's Department, involved Secretary Bryson running into a car that was stopped waiting for a train crossing. He got out of the car and talked to the three guys who were inside the car and then got back into his car and left, hitting the car again as he left. And then it was just a few minutes later when the next accident happened a very short distance away in Rosemeade (ph), just really right next door to San Gabriel, California. And that's when the L.A. Fire Department paramedics responded to the scene. Listen to what someone from the sheriff department -- how they described this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEPUTY TONY MOORE, LA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: When he struck that vehicle, he was basically unconscious behind the wheel. Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic did respond and treated him at the scene. However, he was transported to a local hospital where he was admitted for observation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So he was unconscious at that point according to officials there. And we learned today during the White House briefing, Alina, that President Obama has not talked to Secretary Bryson, but that his chief of staff, Jack Lew, did. And it was the White House that learned last night. So a day after this happened, President Obama learning about these accidents this morning, Alina.

CHO: Well, I mean, I think it was such a surprise to all of us. I mean, did the White House elaborate on whether Secretary Bryson had a preexisting condition or was this seizure a first for him?

KEILAR: No, the White House has not elaborated on that at all and we've asked. I should say the press corps has asked. There is a report out there that perhaps the secretary did have some sort of pre- existing condition or experience with seizures in the past. I'll tell you, CNN has not confirmed that. We don't know if that's true, and we're checking into that, Alina.

CHO: And as we said at the top here, he's been cited for felony hit and run. What's the likelihood of these charges going anywhere?

KEILAR: Well, we should also say that the sheriff department has said that preliminarily drugs and alcohol do not appear to have played a role in this. We know from the sheriff's department that Secretary Bryson voluntarily took a breathalyzer. It came back negative. There's still a blood test that they're -- is sort of in process, if you will. And what we heard from a source at the sheriff's department is that if that comes back negative, the likeliness of authorities pursuing this felon charge are pretty -- you know, pretty low.

CHO: Pretty slim. Yes, you would think so.

KEILAR: That's right.

CHO: All right, Brianna Keilar, thank you so much for the update. We know you're on top of it. Thanks so much. An emotional announcement from "Good Morning America" host Robin Roberts. First, she beat breast cancer five years ago. Now the ABC News anchor is facing another serious health issue. You will hear her emotional announcement, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: I want to share some pictures into CNN, just into us. Take a look there as they sort of focus, courtesy of WBAL, our affiliate in Baltimore. A three-alarm fire there, as you can see. Firefighters on the scene battling this blaze at an abandoned warehouse about two to three stories. You can sort of see, they seem to get a -- got a -- seem to have gotten a handle on it as they continue to fight this fire. Again, it was a abandoned warehouse. Thankfully nobody inside. We're watching this story closely. We'll bring you more if we get more developments.

Meanwhile, I want to share some news with you about one of our colleagues in the news business, Robin Roberts of ABC News. You may recall five years ago she battled and beat breast cancer. Today, on "Good Morning America," Roberts announced another serious health problem. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN ROBERTS, ABC NEWS: Now sometimes treatment for cancer can lead to other serious medical issues. And that's what I'm facing right now. It is something that is called MDS, myelodysplastic syndrome. And if you're looking up and going, what?, I was doing the same thing.

It is a rare blood disorder that affects the bone marrow. And our Dr. Richard Besser has been holding my hand through this and he'll have a lot more information about MDS on our website. And the reason I am sharing this with everybody now is because later today I begin what's known as pre-treatment.

My big sister is a virtually perfect match for me. She's there with Diane and Ann Sweeney. And she is going to be my donor. She's going to be my donor. I know. Yes, thank you, Jesus. And doctors tell me that is going to be a tremendous help in me beating this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: This is a woman with a lot of courage. So, Robin Roberts says she will beat this thing, and we know she will. She also says she will miss a chunk of work after her bone marrow transplant. Joining us now from New York is Dr. Gail Roboz. She's the director of the leukemia program at Cornell University. We want to get a little bit more information about MDS.

Dr. Roboz, thank you for joining us.

So, MDS used to be called pre-leukemia. Exactly what is it and how serious is it?

DR. GAIL ROBOZ, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Thank you very much for having me. And Myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, is a disease of the bone marrow. The bone marrow is an incredibly important organ that makes your white blood cells to fight infections, red blood cells to carry around oxygen, and platelets, the little tiny cells that help you clot if you're bleeding. And this, unfortunately, is a very serious diagnosis that can happen not only after breast cancer treatment, but after treatment for any type of the cancer with radiation or chemotherapy or both and it can also happen to patients who have never been treated for any type of cancer.

CHO: Well, and let's talk a little bit more about that because, as you know, Robin Roberts battled breast cancer, beat it, five years ago, thankfully. And from what I understand, this MDS can be brought on by the chemotherapy and radiation. So, is it certain that these treatments that she underwent to fight breast cancer, is that what caused this?

ROBOZ: So, it's very hard to know absolutely for sure. There may be some information in her what's called chromosomes, or cytogenetics, that suggest that the condition that she has now is what we term secondary, or specifically related to chemotherapy and possibly to radiation as well.

But the problem is, you can't not treat the first cancer for fear of the second one. And the appropriate therapy is always to treat curatively for the tumor that you've got. But the problem is that as the success rates for certain types of cancer, like Hodgkin's disease or testicular cancer, breast cancer, as those success rates go up, unfortunately, there are some patients who will ultimately develop secondary diseases of the bone marrow afterwards.

CHO: What do you suggest that people do then? A lot of people who are watching, who are cancer survivors and have gone through chemotherapy or radiation. They might be scared to death listening to this news.

ROBOZ: Right.

CHO: I mean should they go to their doctors and is there a test to find out if they might have MDS?

ROBOZ: Well, I have to say, she is enormously courageous in making all of this public. And it does such an incredible, incredible service to the world and to patients out there for making this known.

There should not be mass panic. This is a rare event. It doesn't mean that everybody needs to go running to their doctors. But it does mean that people are worried about having successfully beaten one thing and could they be stuck with another. Usually this is a diagnosis that's picked up on routine monitoring blood visits which show an abnormality in the CBC, or the complete blood count. And it doesn't mean that everybody needs to run in and get one right now, but it does mean that patients who are treated for other cancer should be monitored with complete blood counts by either their oncologist or their internal medicine doctor.

CHO: I want to talk a little bit about what she's going to undergo in the coming weeks and months. So, she says she will start pre-treatment, so chemotherapy, starting today. That's so that she can prepare for her bone marrow transplant. I'm curious to know, finding a match with her sister, Sally Ann, and she calls it a near perfect match, is that rare? And what is her prognosis?

ROBOZ: Well, it was a wonderful, wonderful piece of news that she has a match in her sister. Although we have much improved capabilities in finding donors, both in unrelated donors and in sibling donors and using cord blood donors, it's still a fantastic bit of news to have a sibling donor, especially for someone who is in any type of ethnic minority because minorities are underrepresented still in the donor registries.

It also makes timing easier because presumably for her, when she's ready to go, her sister's going to be ready to go. And that makes it very, very nice in terms of getting things move quickly and efficiently.

That said, the process is a big deal. It involves chemotherapy and possibly chemotherapy plus radiation depending on the protocol that they will use for her. And even after the transplant is all done and she's out of the hospital, she will need lots of support, especially for those first few months of recovery.

CHO: Well, she has millions of supporters in her viewers and also her family and friends. I haven't spent a lot of time with her, but I have spent some time with Robin Roberts. She is not only a world class journalist, she is a fantastic person. And we certainly wish her all the best.

Dr. Gail Roboz, thank you for breaking it all down for us and helping us understand MDS.

ROBOZ: Thank you. And best wishes to her.

CHO: Of course.

Up next, actress and singer Mandy Moore joins us live to talk about a cause that is near and dear to her heart. It's a cause for which she is begging the government for help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: The statistics are staggering, 20,000 children in the developing world die every day due to limited access to health care workers.

Actress and singer, Mandy Moore, is passionate about fixing that problem. She has traveled the world in hopes of raising awareness about the need for more global workers in the health care.

Mandy Moore joins me live from Washington. Mandy, great to see you. You are an ambassador for Population Services International, PSI, which is a global health organization. It's not like you're not busy enough, how did you even get involved with this? MANDY MOORE, MUSICIAN/ACTRESS: I was approached by them a number of years ago and asked if I had any interest and not knowing anything I was sort of invited on this trip to South Sudan. I was so incredibly impressed with the great work that's being done on the ground there that there was no way I could say no. I had to get involved.

CHO: Wow. That did it?

MOORE: Yes. That's all it took.

CHO: So you will be making an experience on Capitol Hill tomorrow. Is that a first for you?

MOORE: I've been on the Hill a couple of times in support of child survival programs.

CHO: Yes, tell me what you hope to accomplish.

MOORE: I'm going to be a part of a briefing tomorrow that, as you just mentioned, it's going to be highlighting the importance of frontline health workers. This is, you know, 80 percent of the population in the developing world will never set foot inside a health facility.

So these are the trained volunteer community health workers that people sort of receive immediate treatment from. They are incredibly important. They really are the difference between life and death in many, many cases.

CHO: What really struck me when I was reading about your work in the global health sphere is just how much homework you've done. I mean, you know, first of all 2 billion to 3 billion people worldwide live in poverty. You know that very well.

But, you know, you mentioned you traveled to the Sudan. You even went to the World Economic Forum in Davos this year. I mean, again, you've really done your research.

So in your estimation, what are the biggest problems? I know there are no easy solutions, but how do you fix them?

MOORE: That's a very difficult question. I am by no means an aficionado on global health, but it's something that I'm incredibly interested in and passionate about. I'm so grateful to have the platform that I do because of my job.

So I'm really interested in sort of engaging in new youth leaders and who are going to be the new thought leaders in terms of helping to solve these just insurmountable, you know, number of issues that we have in the global health arena.

I've been focusing a lot on malaria and sanitation. But obviously this is a huge week in D.C. for child survival. I'm also going to be speaking at the USAID Frontiers and Development Forum.

That's a huge thing that's happening here in D.C. this week all around child survival. So we're really talking about how we can re- examine development in this sort of changing landscape and what we can do to get behind the good fight.

CHO: You know, you mentioned sanitation and I was so moved by this PSA that you did on the importance of hand washing just to prevent diarrheal problems.

But, you know, we were watching that video of the children living in poverty and in some cases starving. It's so tragic. But you know, a lot of people just tend to watch them.

They say, well, that is awful and tune out. I mean, it's one of the biggest problems just getting people mobilized and motivated to help? I mean, is that why you're so involved?

MOORE: I can't help, but be involved especially after being on the ground and seeing the problems that have arisen and that we continue to combat.

But also, I'm really encouraged by the great work that's being done and anybody that finds it hard to engage. I would have sort of -- look, I'm a taxpayer. You're a taxpayer. We're all taxpayers out there. I would encourage people to educate themselves.

Check out USAID's web site. See the great work that is being done and that we're continuing to do. That to me is encouraging and inspiring, and why I'm happy to lend my voice and my support behind anything to do with child survival specifically.

CHO: Well, I wish you the very best of luck. It's great to see you, Mandy. I hope to see you again soon.

MOORE: Any time.

CHO: Good luck on the Hill tomorrow.

MOORE: Thank you very much.

CHO: All right, we have some breaking news out of Maryland where we're getting report offense an unmanned drone crash right here on U.S. soil. We will go live to the Pentagon right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: We have breaking news just into CNN, in Maryland where officials say an unmanned drone has crashed near Salisbury, Maryland.

Chris Lawrence joins us live from the Pentagon with details on this. So, Chris, what happened?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You know, Alina, just got off the phone with both Coast Guard and U.S. Navy officials. We now know that the Coast Guard is cordoning off this area around the Nanticoke River in the eastern shore of Maryland. Apparently, an unmanned drone, a Navy unmanned drone did go down. We know these drones do go down overseas in places like Afghanistan, but for one to go down on the eastern shore of Maryland, that is a little unusual.

I'm told by officials that this was a routine training mission and the drown that went down is a global hawk. It's got a wingspan of over 100 feet. It can fly about 11 miles high. It can fly for over 30 hours.

It's used for reconnaissance. It's been used here in the United States to survey some of the California wildfires, to look at some of the damage from Hurricane Ike and it's also deployed overseas as part of the war as well.

I'm told that the Naval Air Station PAX River has five of these global hawks. One is currently deployed with the U.S. Navy's fifth fleet.

The other four are here and they go through routine training. One of those who was on a routine training flight when it went down in the river today -- Alina.

CHO: Highly unusual is right. Chris Lawrence, thank you very much for that update. Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell you to get on all fours and kick you in the stomach to where you were physically lifted off the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take that toothpick and you know, poke you. Poke you, poke you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His hands would reach down and go into my privates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Those are just some of the allegations of physical and sexual abuse by former gymnasts. Now USA gymnastics is changing its politics and expanding safeguards.

This policy change comes after allegations surfaced of girls being exploited and abused just like the ones we're about to show you. And we want to warn you the details you are about to hear are disturbing. Here's Casey Wian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNE MALVER, FORMER GYMNAST: He disrobed me and forced him inside of me even though I was screaming out in pain and screaming out for him to stop. He wouldn't. I'll never forget the words he whispered in my ear at that time it's this is what you want. This is what all the girls want. CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: During the 1970s and '80s, Doug Boger was a young, charismatic, former champion gymnast turned coach. Now in his 60s, Boger denied the allegations of abuse to CNN's Denver affiliate Casey Yansy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was not abusive to women. I didn't do anything wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All these girls are lying?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WIAN: Julie Whitman was one of Boger stars.

JULIE WHITMAN, FORMER GYMNAST: Some days it was fantastic. Other days it was, you know, kind of a living hell.

WIAN: She is now leading a group of women pressuring USA gymnastics to adopt tougher sanctions against abusive coaches.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About six years ago, I discovered that Douglas was still coaching. I just kept seeing his name. I thought to myself, I can't let this man continue coaching.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Casey Wian has been investigating these allegations following the story for months now. He joins us live from Los Angeles.

Casey, great to see you. Exactly what changes have been made by the USA gymnastics board in response to these allegations?

WIAN: Alina, what they're trying to do is close a loophole in their rules that allow these coaches who have been accused of physical or sexual abuse to continue coaching in the instance of Doug Boger who was mentioned in our report.

He was banned for life by USA gymnastics because of these allegations over many years. But these gymnasts found out that he was actually still coaching at another gym that was not affiliated with USA gymnastics.

That gym, believe it or now was actually owned by a convicted child molester. So they were exposing this loophole or exploiting this loophole as you said say that as long as they didn't operate under the USA gymnastics organization, they were allowed to continue to keep coaching.

The change that USA gymnastics has made is anything that competes at the national level in competitions must now be a member of that organization, any club or any individual gymnasts.

That will allow them to keep closer tabs on those folks and they will have to sign a participant welfare policy agreement, which spells out what abuse is, what's considered an abuse and how it can be reported if it's seen -- Alina.

CHO: But what about criminal charges? I mean, have any of these coaches faced criminal charges? I mean, how are they really going to be held accountable and how are the gymnasts responding to all of these?

WIAN: Well, a couple of things. In Doug Boger's case, he actually was acquitted of criminal charges decades ago. Some of the gymnasts that have come forward say their families helped finance his defense.

One of the problems with criminal charges in these cases is that they are so old that the statute of limitation has run out on many of them. So in his particular case, it's not likely that any further criminal charges will come forward.

In terms of how the gymnasts are reacting to this, it's a mix bag. They believe that this is a positive step. They are very glad that USA gymnastics is taking this step to tighten these regulations and close the loopholes, but they say there are still loopholes that remain.

For example, some coaches that are not under the USA Gymnastics organization are still able to run camps on their own that are unsanctioned. They would like to see that closed as well. USA gymnastics says it will consider more changes in the future -- Alina.

CHO: All right, Casey Wian, thank you very much. We should mention the new policy changes by USA Gymnastics will go into effect in August.

Well, a Lady Gaga whacked in the head on stage. It happened during a live concert. Find out exactly how it unfolded and how she handled the situation.

First, thinking of taking the family out to the ball game? You better start saving. "24/7 Wall Street" just released a list of the most expensive sporting event tickets.

We're going to go from least expensive to most expensive. So take a look at here. Watching the Boston Red Sox play will run you about $88 a pop. Not so bad.

Listen to this, the L.A. Lakers may not have made it into the championship, but with tickets at $170 a piece, they are still winning.

It's a big night in the hockey world at $199 per ticket watching the Toronto Maple Leafs play is always a very big deal. So what are the most expense sports ticket? You may be surprised. We are going to show you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: All right, it's 10 minutes before the top of the hour. A new study reveals the cost for family to go to a professional sports game.

Now just before the break we gave you three. Now taking the number two spot for all of you NFL lovers catching a New York Giants came will set you back an average of 238 bucks a ticket. And topping the list is football's New England Patriots. The average price for one ticket is $242. Ouch.

Listen to this. Lady Gaga takes a poll to the head and keeps on singing. You can see the "Bad Romance" singer during a concert in New Zealand getting hit in the head with a poll.

The superstar clocked by a back up performer. You can see her staggering backwards there a little bit and rubs her head before leaving the stage. Now Gaga did come back and finish her remaining 16 songs that's a professional for you despite having a concussion.

Well, it's becoming something of an American tradition. Tens of thousands of fans on a 700-acre form listening to more than a hundred different musicians so on this "Music Monday, we take you behind the scenes of the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RHYS DHARBY, COMEDIAN: Hello CNN viewers. I'm the director here at the Bonnaroo, the greatest festival in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Bonnaroo is so special because of the community it's built over the years. Everybody wants to be part of something. People have really embraced the sense of community that takes place here.

JACK ANTONOFF, FUN: A lot of music festivals have gotten slightly glamorous, which is a bad thing. The fact we're in a really small town that's sort of the middle of nowhere from where a lot of these people are coming from create a scenario where people have to go through a lot to be here and that makes it special when you're out there.

SHARON JONES, SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS: Look another this. How can I not do this? The only thing I hate about festivals, that's the wrong word.

ASHLEY CAPPS, BONNAROO CO-FOUNDER: There are a remarkably diverse people coming out here to share a weekend.

JOY WILLIAMS, THE CIVIL WARS: Everybody is mulling about. There are so many different kinds of people. There are so many kinds of different music. Everybody is welcome.

RICHARD GOODSTONE, BONNAROO CO-FOUNDER: When we look back on the things we're most proud of, it's the fact that people are sharing the special memories they'll be talking about for a lifetime.

DHARBY: That's it for me. Until another year, thanks very much for watching. We'll see you at the Bonnaroo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Kenny Rogers. Be sure to check out all the "Music Monday" interviews on Brooke's blog. You can find that on cnn.com/brooke.

We'll have more on our breaking news out of Maryland where a drone has crashed on American soil. We are getting new details from the Pentagon, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: So how would you feel if you were driving along the highway and you saw a sign reading this mile adopted by the Ku Klux Klan? It could happen.

The KKK is trying to adopt a mile on Route 515 that's in Union County, Georgia. And if these white supremacies get their way, they will need reflectors instead of hoods because they will be responsible for cleaning up litter on that stretch of the road.

CNN's Nick Valencia has been digging on this. So Nick, this is about the "Adopt a Highway" program. I mean, how did this even happen?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Ku Klux Klan chapter in Northern Georgia wanted to -- they said they see signs saying to keep the mountains beautiful. They want to do that.

This isn't a publicity stunt according to them. So they sent this application here. We got our hands on it just at the end of May. The video you're seeing now is a similar case that happened in Missouri in St. Louis where the Ku Klux Klan there in Missouri were allowed to adopt a highway.

CHO: Right, so there's a precedent for this.

VALENCIA: There is a precedent set. The Georgia DOT did comment today just to say they confirmed they got the application. They are set to meet with the state attorney general's office.

CHO: There's no inkling on how they may react to it or which way they might go, is there?

VALENCIA: They didn't want to add further comment. All they want to say is they confirm the application. They're meeting with the state attorney general's office. There is, however, Alina, a state representative that said the state of Georgia should fight in on court.

CHO: On what basis?

VALENCIA: On first amendment basis, which is how the Ku Klux Klan in Missouri was able to uphold their right to sponsor and adopt that section of the highway.

CHO: You've actually spoke to the KKK today? VALENCIA: I spoke to them this morning. They said this isn't a publicity stunt. They don't hate anybody. They said if Latinos can be proud to be Latinos and blacks can be proud to be blacks. Why is it so wrong that they want to be with their own group? They don't hate anybody they said.

CHO: Interesting. You know, the civil rights groups obviously got a hold of this story and they want to classify the KKK as a domestic terror group. If they're able to do that then the DOT might have case not to grant them the right to adopt this highway, right?

VALENCIA: Well, the Southern Public Law Center has come out and identified them as a hate group. Interestingly enough, the KKK has said that they will reach out to the ACLU if they're denied this opportunity to adopt the one-mile stretch of the highway. They said all they want to do is clean it up and be part of the beautification process.

CHO: All right. Well, it's an interesting story to say the least. I know you'll be following it and continuing to talk to the KKK. Nick Valencia, thanks so much.

VALENCIA: Thank you.