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Egypt Court: Parliament Has to Go; Showdown in Battleground of Ohio; Common Ground on Cutting Spending; Common Ground On Cutting Spending; Sandusky's Alleged Victims Testify; Hepatitis C Cases Traced To Hospital; Foreclosures Spike In May; Another Round of Tuition Hikes; Dangerous Rock Slides In Yosemite; Plight of the Girl Child In India

Aired June 14, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I hope we'll get a chance to talk with her for that latest development.

All right. Thanks so much, Don. See you later. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Suzanne Malveaux.

Let's get right to it.

We have just learned that the prosecutors will be wrapping up their case against Jerry Sandusky this afternoon. More witnesses are taking the stand against the former Penn State coach. One is an alleged victim whose mother called authorities after when she found out Sandusky had showered with her son. Sandusky is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period.

We'll have a live report on today's testimony and developments later on this hour.

And cyclist Lance Armstrong will set this one out. The legendary cyclist was all set to compete in the Ironman France this month, but now that he is under a new investigation involving the new U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, he is on the sidelines.

Some other athletes accuse Armstrong of blood doping and using performance-enhancing drugs. He says that it is not true.

All right. New this hour out of Egypt, that country is a political mess. A social tinderbox, and today, the last thing Egypt needs is more instability. Well, they got it. The highest court in the land declared just a short time ago that Egypt's brand new, just elected parliament must be dissolved.

The parliament has only been in place for four months and the timing could not be worse. Remember, this is a country where the people overthrew a strongman, President Hosni Mubarak, who is serving the rest of his life in prison.

And this coming weekend, a historic runoff election to put the first president in place since that revolution.

Let's get right to Ben Wedeman. He is live in Cairo.

So, Ben, what happened that this judge made this ruling?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a constitutional court, so it's a group of judges who ruled that there were irregularities in the parliamentary elections and therefore parliament should be dissolved. Now, it's very widely been interpreted as a frontal assault on the Muslim Brotherhood, which won almost 50 percent of the seats in parliament, and they are of course are contesting the president, the post of president as well.

Day after tomorrow, Egyptians are supposed to go to the poll s for that second round, and elect a president. But now it is not clear that given that the Muslim Brotherhood received this body blow in parliament, whether they are willing to go ahead and actually participate in the election. I just right now got off of the phone with one of the senior members of this presidential campaign forming the Muslim Brotherhood, he said that at the moment, they are still participating in the election, but that their leadership is meeting this evening, and he said that all options are on the table, including pulling out of this election.

If the Muslim Brotherhood boycotts the election, the whole political process that began with the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak could be up in the air. It's absolute confusion here in Cairo -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, Ben, if that candidate were to pull out of the runoff election, does that mean that the entire process would have to start all over again, the presidential election or would they just continue on with this runoff and go with the results?

WEDEMAN: Well, in theory it could go, it would go ahead. In fact, it's too late for anybody to pull out. It's just two candidates, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Ahmed Shafiq, who is the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, seems very much a symbol of the old regime.

But he would be running against nobody. It would be like the old days of Hosni Mubarak when he had a referendum which nobody gave any legitimacy to. So it's really just throws everything up in doubt and all hopes for some sort of stability and gradual move toward democracy are up in the air.

WHITFIELD: All right. And now, help us to understand what took place yesterday with the return of martial law? What does that mean?

WEDEMAN: Well, it's not technically a return to martial law. The Egyptian justice ministry gave the right to Egyptian police, military police and military intelligence to essentially act as policemen. They have the right to detain, arrest, charge and interrogate civilians, essentially giving them the same rights as the police.

It's not officially martial law, but you could saw it is de facto martial law. This was imposed according to many observers in anticipation of a backlash to today's court decisions.

Now, so far, the streets have been relatively peaceful. We were outside of the constitutional court when the ruling was announced. There was unhappiness and protests and chanting. But so far, we have not seen huge crowds in Tahrir Square, and not many large protests throughout the country, so maybe it hasn't sunk in yet, and maybe Egyptians as many of them are, are simply exhausted from all of the upheaval and want to get on with their lives.

WHITFIELD: And then, Ben, let me ask you about the former President Hosni Mubarak who is currently serving life in prison and nearly daily reports coming from the various publications whether inside Egypt or elsewhere that talk about his status and his health and in some cases have even reported his death.

So what is his status? How is he doing?

WEDEMAN: Well, his status is so -- his health situation seems to have stabilized. We got reports from his lawyers from interior ministry officials that he had gone into a full coma. Then they backtracked to say that those who declare it was a full coma were not medically able actually to make that kind of call.

I think that what is clear is that Hosni Mubarak is not happy to be a prisoner in Cairo's Torah Prison. Apparently, he is refusing to talk to the prison staff. He is only willing to talk to his sons who are also in prison awaiting trial on the 9th of July for money laundering.

So, I think more than anything, he is very unhappy with the humiliation of being imprisoned. He's told his wife and his lawyers that he thinks that the prison authorities are trying to kill him. It may really be a case of wounded pride -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ben Wedeman, thanks much in Cairo.

WEDEMAN: All right. In this country now, battleground showdown. President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney both converge in Ohio next hour to deliver dueling speeches on the economy.

They are miles apart on the best way to improve the economy. But today less than 250 miles apart on the campaign trail. Romney will be in Cincinnati, while President Obama speaks in Cleveland.

Jim Acosta joins us live now from Cincinnati.

So, Jim, Ohio is on of the big battleground states, and it always is. Is this a sign of just how important these states will be come November and along the way?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka. I mean, you just have to look at how many times the president has been here since he started the re-election bid, nine times. Mitt Romney, according to his campaign, has been here 20-some- odd times since he started his bid for the presidency.

So, yes, they believe that Ohio is important. No Republican has won the presidency without winning Ohio and on and on.

And what's really interesting about these dueling speeches, Fredricka, we are told officially they're going to start at the same time 1:45. But for Mitt Romney, you have to wonder how will that exactly play out, because there was an occasion recently where they had speeches timed at the same time, and most of the networks went to the president, instead of going the Mitt Romney.

And so, we'll have to wait to see exactly whether or not these two guys go at the same time. But they have been going at each other over the last couple of days on the economy. Mitt Romney was in Washington at a Business Roundtable, laying out his economic plans. He said that the president -- he expects the president to give an eloquent speech in his words today, but he said that words are cheap.

Meanwhile, the president has been doing fund-raisers over the last 48 hours. He was at one fund-raiser two nights ago where he talked about how he inherited a big budget deficit when he came into the office and accused the Republicans of running up the check at the restaurant, and then trying to leave the tab to the president.

So they have been going back and forth over the last couple of days and the job for the president is to stop the bleeding, that bad jobs report he had at the beginning of the month and last week when he said that the private sector is doing fine, he has to stop the bleeding.

And then for Mitt Romney, it's do no harm, because he's been on kind of a roll lately, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, Jim, talk about the crowds? You're talking about 250 miles apart. But what's the distinction of the crowds, the message that might be catered specifically to those audiences since these two might be speaking, might be speaking simultaneously.

ACOSTA: That's right. That's right. Emphasis on the might be speaking at the same time.

I mean, you can look over my shoulder, the sign that Romney has up right now is putting jobs first. And you have to say that the Romney campaign has been very disciplined, very focused on the economy as an issue for the last couple of weeks.

What is interesting about today's events, Fredricka, is that, yes, they're going after the president, saying, oh, yes, that the private sector is doing fine, look at the jobs report, only 69,000 jobs created last month.

But keep in mind that in Ohio, the unemployment rate has dropped dramatically since January of 2010. It was over 10 percent in 2010. It's now below 8 percent and around 7.5 percent, so that the president's campaign can say, OK, on a national basis, we're sort of in this holding pattern here, and sort of plateaued a little bit when it comes to the economic recovery, but in Ohio and other key battleground states, Fredricka, like Virginia, the unemployment rate is going down under the president's watch.

So it will be s interesting to see if the president calls attention to that today, because he is expected to talk about his economic plans, talk about infrastructure jobs, talk about hiring more public sector workers, because he says, and this is what got him into trouble a little bit, that the layoffs in area and states and municipalities has really done some damage to the economy.

So, it's going to be interesting to see these dueling messages and how they shake out and where the American public wants to go with this. I mean, this is a sort of key debate of the campaign on this economy. Mitt Romney says, nope, I'm going to come in, I'm going to chop the government down to where he thinks it should be, lay off a lot of government workers, lose them through attrition, make their pay equal to the private sector.

The president is saying, no, we should hire more government workers. That will help get the economy kick-started.

WHITFIELD: And we don't necessarily think that these candidates, one candidate and one incumbent are going to be addressing money. But let's talk about that, because that too, is dominating the attention on the campaign trail, particularly Sheldon Adelson, you know, the casino billionaire who backed Newt Gingrich in a big way in the primaries giving $10 million here and another $10 million there. Well, now, apparently giving money to Romney.

Listen to Jon Stewart's take on "The Daily Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: Sheldon Adelson was the guy who was willing to spend an unlimited amount of money to crush Mitt Romney by bankrolling ads in the Republican primary like this.

NARRATOR: For tens of thousands of Americans, the suffering began when Mitt Romney came to town.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel that is the man that destroyed us.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: But in retrospect, now I see we probably deserved it. Romney 2012.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

WHITFIELD: All right. Poking fun there, but it really is very serious business when we talk about the money on the campaign trail. And in fact, "Forbes" magazine is quoting a source saying that Adelson could give as much as $100 million to the Romney super PAC.

ACOSTA: Right.

WHITFIELD: So, just how this money, this infusion of cash impact the campaign and the political process? We're talking most of this money going to campaign ads or in some other ways being distributed?

ACOSTA: You know, this is all going the go to ads, Fredricka. We saw this during the primary campaign.

Newt Gingrich's super PAC was basically bankrolled by the Adelsons to the tune of billions of dollars. That is largely what's going to happen with the Romney super PAC that is out there, that is run by former aides of the former Massachusetts governor.

And so, this is what we're looking at right now is a financial arms race, and some people are going to say, on both sides, critics of Romney will say, huh, look, you are fund-raising with Donald Trump, you're taking all of this money, or your PAC is taking the money from the hotels out in Las Vegas. But the Republicans are going to say, wait a minute, President Obama is fundraising with the editor of "Vogue" magazine and George Clooney.

So, by appearances this is not going to look great for either side, but they are in a situation, Fredricka, where they are in a financial arms race. It is going to be who can raise the most money from now to November, that is largely going to determine who gets the most ads out on the air.

And I'm going to tell you right now, I was just in a grocery store earlier this morning in Ohio and saw a Romney general election campaign ad playing in the supermarket in the middle of the day. It seems very early to see this saturation of the airwaves with all of these ads.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ROMNEY: But both sides have decided this is how they're going to play this game in this campaign.

WHITFIELD: All right. Five months out.

Jim Acosta, thank you so much in Cincinnati, where Mitt Romney will be speaking roughly at 1:45, and then 250 miles away, President Barack Obama roughly at 1:45. We'll be watching them both.

All right. Here's what we're working on at this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): They are outgunned by the military. So, Syrian rebels are turning to homemade bombs.

And then no farms, no food, so why are both sides of the aisle pushing to cut funds for far farmers?

And falling boulders -- putting tourists in danger at one of the country's most popular national parks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A suicide bomb went off next to a holy shrine in Damascus today. We have to allow on eyewitness accounts, because news CNN crews are not allowed into Syria. But the bomb was reportedly packed inside of a car. At least 14 people were hurt. It's not clear if the shrine was the bomber's target.

You are about to see how the rebels in Syria are attacking the military forces sent out to stop them. And you'll only see this on CNN. We managed to get video of opposition fighters while making homemade bombs they use to blow up military trucks and tanks. It's a tactic that was frighteningly effective during the insurgent uprising in Iraq.

CNN's Arwa Damon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most of the clips start with a Koranic verse and followed by the title of the group calling itself the Dawud (ph) Brigade of the Damascus Hawks Division.

Partly audible below the swelling Jihadi chorus, a voice says, "This is a suicide bombing mission against Assad soldiers in Idlib. God is great," the voice declares as a van comes into view, apparently approaching a checkpoint. The camera zooms in.

This is one of several clips posted to YouTube by the brigade. The videos are very similar in tone to those that came out of Iraq. As al Qaeda allied insurgents there took on the U.S. military.

But this is Syria, today, outgunned by Assad's forces, some rebels have turned to suicide bombs and roadside IEDs and Iraq-style guerrilla warfare.

They are a bomb's group, yet extremely effective. In this video obtained exclusively by CNN, the Dawud brigade commander, Captain Dawud Hasan Mahmoud (ph), shows how the bombs are made. Cylinders are packed with a lethal concoction of explosives, fertilizer and other chemicals bought locally.

"We don't want to name them so that the government does not confiscate them from the market," Captain Mahmoud says.

Bolts are affixed to the tops of canisters. Once detonated, they will be lethal shards of shrapnel. Wires lead off to a battery.

"This one would blow up a jeep or a pick up," Captain Mahmoud says, pointing to two devices that another rebel is taping together. "For tanks and armored vehicles, we use six to eight bombs."

The Dawud brigade has some 300 fighters and the Damascus Hawks Division he claims is around 8,000 strong, operating mostly in Idlib province.

There is no way of confirming such claims. Mahmoud says his men are moderate Islamists, fighting for democracy.

"We want a democratically elected president and the military that is separate from the presidency," he says.

Captain Mahmoud says they are getting no outside help, not from the leadership of the Free Syrian Army nor the Syrian National Council.

"We are reliant on local donations and whatever we capture from the Syrian military," he says. Their weapons, AK-47s, sniper rifles, automatic machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades -- no match for the Syrian military.

"We are relying mostly on mines and making bombs now," Captain Mahmoud explains.

"One of his units is just back from a mission. We set up an ambush against Assad's army using IEDs," this fighter says, "but they received intelligence about our plan and rerouted their convoy."

Another fighter claims that his group destroyed an armored vehicle.

This is how the battle for Syria is now being fought. Protest has become insurgency -- which in turn threatens to become all-out war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Arwa Damon is joining me live now from Beirut, Lebanon.

All right. So, these are incredible, exclusive images showing the rebels making those bombs. So, how are you able to get your hands on those images?

DAMON: Actually, that video was smuggled out for us by opposition activists. They are becoming increasingly more sophisticated in how they are trying to get the images out, what they're filming, and in working with journalists like ourselves who we are unable to access Syria, because the government continues to deny our visa requests. You can just imagine how precarious it is for those who are involved in just smuggling the video, because if they are caught with that footage, they will be detained if not killed.

WHITFIELD: All right. Arwa Damon, thanks so much for bringing us that reporting.

All right. Back in this country, finally, Democrats and Republicans working together on Capitol Hill? The outcome could end up hurting American farmers.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's face it -- it's not something that you hear a lot about from Congress these days. Lawmakers finding common ground on spending cuts? But that's what a farm bill backed by a Senate Democrat and a Senate Republican is designed to do.

Our Dana Bash takes a look at how it affects the farmers, and whether the savings to taxpayers add up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hans Schmidt is a third generation farmer and ever since he can remember has gotten cash payments from the federal government to help manage the risk of farming. How much?

HANS SCHMIDT, FARMER: About $35,000 a year.

BASH: That's right. He gets $35,000 a year, even in good times when he doesn't need it. But for Schmidt and over a million farmers across the country, that could come to a screeching halt.

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW (D-MI), AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE CHAIR: Welcome to our home.

BASH (on camera): Thank you.

(voice-over): These two senators want to end those payments to farmers in place since the Great Depression. The Democrat and Republican sat at this committee table and made the decision together.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS), AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER: People say back home all the time, whether it's Michigan, Kansas, any state, why can't you folks get along back there and do something instead of spinning your wheels and pointing fingers?

BASH: Bipartisanship we rarely see these days.

Their farm deal bill cuts $23.6 billion in spending.

ROBERTS: Almost $24 billion.

BASH (on camera): Right.

ROBERTS: Twenty-three-point-six billion to the deficit.

BASH (voice-over): A significant savings to taxpayers, but watchdog groups say that the savings may not last. Why? Most of the spending cuts come from eliminating direct cash payments.

STABENOW: We're going to pay for subsidies if you don't need then, but farming is the most risky business in the world.

BASH: In place of checks from the government, there are new federal subsidies for crop insurance. And some worry in bad crop years, the cost to the taxpayers could explode.

Senators scoff at that.

STABENOW: These are real cuts. Crop insurance makes sense. It's like any other insurance. It's there when you have a loss.

BASH: At the farm, Schmidt says he's OK with losing checks from Uncle Sam he doesn't always need.

SCHMIDT: I'd be happy to give up those subsidies if it's going to help to get our country' fiscal responsibilities back in order.

BASH: But he calls new government help for crop insurance is critical, since farming is so unpredictable. Even now, a good year, problems.

This idle combine was supposed to be cutting wheat when we visited.

SCHMIDT: We were hoping we would be combining today but the moisture on the grain is too high.

BASH: Another criticism of the farm bill: pork in the form of popcorn. Popcorn growers slipped in a provision making sure they too get government help with crop insurance. Here, no apologies.

ROBERTSON: I guess I would call it a specialty crop. And there is demand for it, just go to the movies or just go any place at home.

BASH: Some ask why farmers with high profits these days need government help at all. The weather did allow us to bale hay with Han Schmidt, and he gave us an answer: farmers need a safety net.

SCHMIDT: We all have to eat. The consumers want safe, nutritious and affordable food.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Our Dana Bash is joining us live now from Washington.

So, Dana, you know, this bill is before the Senate right now. Do we think it will pass with the same kind of bipartisan support?

BASH: That is still an open question that is being debated on the Senate floor and probably will be for the next couple of weeks. The issue when you have anything like this, this big, and anything frankly that is bipartisan where you have had a compromise, you're going to get hit from the right and the left, and that is what is happening as we speak. From the right, you have senators who say way too much spending here and way too much from their perspective unnecessary spending.

And from the left, a lot of complaints that there is too much. For example, the farm bill also governs food stamps, $4.5 billion in cuts are from the food stamp program. You have senators like Kirsten Gillibrand of New York saying that just got to be put back in. The Democrat who wrote this bill, Debbie Stabenow, she says the cuts there, she insists, are waste, fraud and abuse and it won't really hurt people who are hungry.

So, they have to keep it in balance the people who wrote this bill to make sure it doesn't get chipped away at on either side. Otherwise, the whole compromise could unravel. It's the art of legislating. It's never a dull moment.

WHITFIELD: It seems like a never a dull moment as you were navigating the tractor pretty good job there. Who knew?

BASH: It was my first time bailing hay, and it was fun.

WHITFIELD: Impressive. All right, thanks so much, Dana, in Washington.

All right, the prosecution in the Jerry Sandusky case is expected to rest today. We will have the latest on the trial that is rocking Penn State.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A surprise announcement at the Jerry Sandusky child molestation trial. The prosecutors will wrap up the case today. We are also hearing from more alleged victims as they are giving detailed accounts of the sexual abuse they allegedly endured at the hands of the former Penn State coach.

Writer Mark Brennan is the founder of fightonstate.com. He has been watching the trial in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania and joining us live right now. Mark, so right now, they are still on lunch break, right and then afterwards there will be at least one alleged victim that will take the stand?

MARK BRENNAN, FOUNDER, FIGHTONSTATE.COM: Yes, it is going to be victim nine and he offered some of the most emotional testimony to the grand jury when he was called before the grand jury.

This is one of the alleged victims who came forward after the initial case broke last November. Some of the stuff that we have read about him just gut-wrenching stuff when he was down in Sandusky's basement crying out for help, that sort of thing.

They are saving one of the more emotional people for last. And Agent Susano from the Attorney General's office who has headed up this, I think we are going to hear from him as well. So I think they are saving two of their best witnesses for last.

WHITFIELD: And he, the victim nine, is allegedly the one who was calling out hoping that Sandusky's wife might come to the rescue. Is that the same gentleman?

BRENNAN: Yes, absolutely. Jerry Sandusky's wife as people realize is not in the courtroom. She has been identified as a witness, so she is not allowed to be here. She is sequestered. So it is going to be interesting to see how Jerry Sandusky reacts and his family reacts to what is I'm sure emotional, emotional testimony. WHITFIELD: So after victim nine, will we have heard from all of the alleged 10 victims who are pointed out in the case by the end of today?

BRENNAN: No. We will have heard from eight victims. Remember two of the victims, alleged victims had never come forward so they were identified by Mike McQueary, and that victim, the one he allegedly saw never came forward.

And the victim yesterday that was in question, the alleged victim was the one that the janitors had seen, so two of these victims, alleged victims have never come forward.

WHITFIELD: So, Mark, has the defense been revealing anything to you or other reporters there about what the strategy is going to be right out of the gate. How they will try to discredit these alleged victims' accounts or how are they going to try to debunk all these allegations?

BRENNAN: Well, I think what Joe Amendola has been doing is hammering away at inconsistencies in the various testimonies of the witnesses whether it is been between the grand jury and trial or whether it's between the Curly Schultz hearing, which at least Mike McQueary testified at in this trial.

So he's really hammering away at those inconsistencies. The other thing he's really hitting on and you get a feel for it. The thing he's asking a lot of these alleged victims about is the fact that they have hired civil attorneys.

I think he's going to try to push the fact that a lot of these people he thinks are in it for the money. I'll be surprise though if that starts tomorrow. I think we're going to probably take a day off and I'll I bet the defense starts this case fresh on Monday.

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. Mark Brennan, nonetheless, all of this is moving very quickly with the jury selection last week, and testimony began Monday and now it maybe the end of the prosecutor's case until we hear their closing arguments or any rebuttal witnesses, and here it is Thursday.

All right, thank you so much, Mark Brennan. Appreciate that, founder of fightonstate.com

A troubling case out of New Hampshire hospital, investigators think an employee used dirty needles on patients and then left 20 people infected with a deadly virus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A sudden outbreak of Hepatitis C cases is being linked to a New Hampshire hospital. Twenty people who worked or were treated at Exeter Hospital have tested positive for the virus.

Health officials say anyone treated there since October 2010 should be tested. Plans are under way to test more than 900 people. Officials suspect the outbreak was caused by an infected hospital employee who reused needles on patients. The suspect has not been identified publicly.

And a disturbing setback for the housing market, foreclosures spiked last month. Almost 206,000 homes went into foreclosure in May that is a 9 percent hike from the previous month.

Georgia had the highest foreclosure rate and Arizona second followed by Nevada and California. A big factor in all of this, the multimillion dollar settlement that the banking industry paid for unfair foreclosure practices known as robo signing. The banks were to push ahead the backlog of foreclosures after issue was resolved.

You won't believe how fast tuition is rising for students at public universities right now. We will tell you what it means for your kids' future.

But first a guy who plays the organ and makes it cool. He is young. He wears crystals and leather, and he is on this week's "NEXT LIST."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The organ is not what it's about, it is about the performer. We have a whole community of American organists sort of saying to each other that we need to do something to promote the organ.

And this is a ridiculous and fruitless idea, which is of course doomed to failure, because you don't promote a medium anymore than painters promote the paint in the tube or hear a cellist or rock guitar, but we go to hear them.

Naturally, I want to continue to try to reinvent myself, and there is a camp sensibility to that. My name is Cameron Carpenter and my work is the playing of the organ in an unprecedented way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, parents and students are dealing with yet another round of big tuition hikes. And the rising prices are across the board with both public and private schools charging more. Alison Kosik joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange.

So, Alison, how much here?

KOSIK: Yes, here comes more sticker shock for you. The average tuition at a four year public university is up 15 percent from 2008 to 2010. And the big reason for this is because the states cut their budgets. In fact, 40 percent of states and territories have cut a lot of their money that they spend on education, with the biggest standouts being California and Georgia.

But interestingly enough, that's not where we saw the biggest individual increases. The big winner there is the University of Fort Lauderdale in Florida. That's a private school. Tuition there jumped 160 percent.

WHITFIELD: One hundred and sixty percent? Oh, my gosh.

KOSIK: It is incredible. And the biggest public school increase? That was at the University of District of Columbia. Tuition there, Fredricka, almost more than doubled.

WHITFIELD: What? Oh, my goodness.

KOSIK: Yes, it is shocking.

WHITFIELD: That -- those are incredible numbers.

So, there are thousands of colleges, you know, across the country, universities. Are there any bargains out there or is there any hope for prices going down maybe?

KOSIK: Small. There is. So there are three schools that we found that have tuitions under $1,000. The first one, Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas. The next one, Dine College. That's located in Arizona. Both are Native American colleges. And then Berea College in Kentucky. That's the cheapest private school.

But here, listen to this. If you want a bargain in terms of the quality of education you can get for the money you can pay, "U.S. News & World Report" says you've got to go with the big boys. Look at their top five value schools. They include Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Did you know that lots of financial aid is available at those schools. That most of the students who go there pay an average of 70 percent of the sticker price.

WHITFIELD: Really?

KOSIK: So, it's definitely a bargain. But you know what the catch is, Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: What?

KOSIK: You've got to be smart enough to be accepted. That's just the catch.

WHITFIELD: You've got to know how to ask for it at that lower rate, too.

KOSIK: Exactly. That's a part of it.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. All right. Well, that's really eye- opening. Thanks so much, Alison Kosik.

KOSIK: You got it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Look out below. Geologists are worried that rock slides could be putting tourists in danger at one of the country's most popular national parks. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Dangerous rock slides are threatening to permanently close parts of Yosemite National Park. So, what does this mean for the park's almost 4 million annual visitors? Chad Myers is here with more on that. Does it mean that people should not go?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, no, no.

WHITFIELD: You have to be careful? What?

MYERS: It means that there will be some cabins that will be permanently closed or moved.

WHITFIELD: Uh-huh.

MYERS: There are these rock --

WHITFIELD: They're in the line of fire?

MYERS: If you have ever taken a look at even pictures of Yosemite, the walls, the faces of these walls of cliffs of granite are almost straight up and down. Greater than 60 degrees for sure. And parts of the walls will fall off every once in a while. It's just what happens. And, I mean, rocks fall down. Water gets in between.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: It freezes. It breaks away. Trees grow in between the cracks of the rock. The roots get bigger and eventually parts of the rocks fall down. And people are down here on the bottom where the rocks are falling.

So there was an assessment done. It was put together in April. And now the assessment put out now for Curry Village (ph), one of the areas there. A lot of employees live there. Dormitories there. Also people who rent those cabins. They will not be used anymore because of these potential rock falls.

Let me show you this, because this is so cool. This is Google Earth. And we're going to take you right into Yosemite National Park.

WHITFIELD: OK.

MYERS: There's California. There goes the ocean. Here's the valley.

WHITFIELD: It's gorgeous.

MYERS: This is an exact representation of the topography of this area. And into Curry Village, the area down here, is really susceptible to these rock slides. And, in fact, parts of these cabins have been knocked down before. Rebuilt, but left there. Now they're saying, let's not do that anymore. And I read the entire assessment just now. There's not one true safe place in Yosemite. There could be a large rock that falls off any one of these cliffs, down into the valley at any time. But there are just a certain number of areas that are too risky to risk it all, to put people in there sleeping, families in there sleeping, literally. And so there -- for a while, at least, it will reduce the number of cabins available for sleeping. But Yosemite is so amazing. You still have to go see it.

WHITFIELD: Oh, it's on my list. I must. I have not done it. But, you know, this does not deter me at all. But I'm wondering, Chad, so, I mean, there is always going to be the threat of rock slides whenever you have mountainous, you know, terrain like this, but are we saying that right now it's exceptionally worse or this is on par with the way it usually is there?

MYERS: This is on par. They looked at 500 years' worth of what they think rock slides will be, now far those rocks have done, because there are boulders sitting there, and they can see the boulders, how far do they go. Well, if the boulders went by a cabin already in the past, those cabins are going to be closed.

WHITFIELD: Wow! Incredible.

MYERS: Uh-huh.

WHITFIELD: Still, beautiful pictures.

MYERS: That is something.

WHITFIELD: I've got to get there. Hurry up already, Fred. All right, thanks so much, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: All right, the U.N. deemed it the most dangerous place in the world to be born a girl. We'll take a look at what's going on in India.

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WHITFIELD: A horrifying story out of India. A father is accused of killing his baby just because she is female. A UNICEF report says India is the most dangerous place to be born a girl. Our Sara Sidner takes a look at why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nineteen-year-old Reshma Banu stares at the tiny screen on her cell phone. This is the only place she can see her baby girl alive and well. Three-month-old Efrim (ph) died in the hospital with cigarette burns, bites and a dislocated neck. Police say her own father killed her. Why? Because Efrim happened to be born a girl.

"After my delivery, my husband had come to see me and the baby. After seeing the child, he said, it's a girl? Why did you give birth to a girl," she says. He wanted a boy. An heir. Reshma was devastated when she was given this ultimatum by her husband. "For her wedding, we will require 100,000 rupees for all the expenses. If you can get that amount from your mother, then you can keep her. But if you can't, then kill her." She couldn't and refused to kill her baby. So police say her husband did it himself.

SIDNER (on camera): As brutal and shocking as this case may be, getting rid of babies just because they're girls is nothing new here in India. And many times it's done long before the child is born.

SIDNER (voice-over): How? Sex selective abortions. India has a growing gap between the number of girls and the number of boys. The 2011 census showed for every 1,000 boys, there were only 914 girls. The gap was smaller 10 years ago.

SIDNER (on camera): UNICEF has said India's the most dangerous place to be a girl. Would you agree with that considering what you know about the subject?

DR. ANAND KRISHNAN, ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES: Yes, (INAUDIBLE) this is probably (ph) part of your mortality statistics for girls versus boys, I would say yes.

SIDNER (voice-over): Dr. Anand Krishnan has been researching this subject for years. Sex selective abortions are against the law in India, but he says it's still happening. And he says there are more sex selective abortions among the educated and well off than among the desperately poor and uneducated.

KRISHNAN: And a boy is seen as a better investment to the return.

SIDNER (on camera): When you say that, basically what you're telling me is that families look at girls as a liability --

KRISHNAN: Absolutely.

SIDNER: And boys as almost a retirement --

KRISHNAN: Absolutely.

SIDNER (voice-over): In traditional Indian families, the men marry and bring their bride home to live and take care of his parents. Girls marry and leave the home, providing no extra financial support. Plus, a girl's family can go broke trying to pay a dowry to get her married. Dowry is also outlawed in India, but it's still as common as it ever was.

We traveled to a village the Indian government says has one of the worst ratios of boys to girls in the country, where the government has launched a campaign to change minds. But even though they wear t- shirts with messages about keeping girls, we still found many more young boys.

"Girls are mostly aborted here," she says. "The people want more boys. There's a shortage of girls."

We met Chandravati while she was taking care of her neighbor's newborn baby girl, all the while blowing cigarette smoke into the baby's face. She says the poorest people don't have the money to abort, so they're forced the keep girls. But those who can afford an ultrasound and abortion get rid of female fetuses.

"So much money is required to get them married. Where will the money come from," she says. But for Reshma and her parents, a baby, boy or girl, is a blessing.

"She had just come into the world. She is like a flower bud and he killed her. I lost my --